The World In The Aftermath (Formerly A World Less Magical)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
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Voltron64
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Voltron64 »

Davies wrote: Fri Jan 22, 2021 10:32 am These things were made to stand against great evils, like Stardust or Abraxas or Galactor or whatever he's calling himself these days. And though Francis may have set down the burden of that fight, he's not about to stop backing up his daughter or her friends with everything he has and then some.
Oh damn.

You're probably gonna have give us the whole story one of these days.
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Voltron64 wrote: Fri Jan 22, 2021 12:47 pm
Davies wrote: Fri Jan 22, 2021 10:32 am These things were made to stand against great evils, like Stardust or Abraxas or Galactor or whatever he's calling himself these days. And though Francis may have set down the burden of that fight, he's not about to stop backing up his daughter or her friends with everything he has and then some.
Oh damn.

You're probably gonna have give us the whole story one of these days.
Probably.

But not today.
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

In any event, break for the weekend, then back with some of the villainous types of the first age.
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Voltron64
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Voltron64 »

Davies wrote: Fri Jan 22, 2021 6:10 pm In any event, break for the weekend, then back with some of the villainous types of the first age.
I hope you play them terrifying straight.
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Dr. Ranivorous
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In 1957, the year he coincidentally began his war on the world, he also happened to spend a few peaceful hours reading a recently released novel. Most of it was arrant nonsense in his view, but there was a rather fascinating passage that stuck with him throughout all the years afterward. "I like to think of fire held in a man's hand. Fire, a dangerous force, tamed at his fingertips. I often wonder about the hours when a man sits alone, watching the smoke of a cigarette, thinking. I wonder what great things have come from such hours. When a man thinks, there is a spot of fire alive in his mind--and it is proper that he should have the burning point of a cigarette as his one expression." And, much like the author of these words, he would ultimately die of lung cancer.

The man who named himself Silas Ranivorous -- it is believed that he was aiming for an anagram of "Carnivorous" -- was born around 1910 on the island of Malta. Very little is known about his life prior to 1935, when he left Malta and traveled to Italy using that name. His intention was to offer his talents as a scientist, indeed the Greatest Scientific Mind of Any Time, to a government untrammeled by petty considerations of bourgeois morality. His attempts to interest the Fascists in his ideas met with failure, variously because he was Maltese and they were a bunch of nationalist snobs, because he was absolutely unable to work with anyone much less for them, and because his ideas were so far beyond the imagination of even 'typical' mad scientists that they thought him delusional.

He did not take rejection well. He reacted by becoming a menace to society, engaging in petty crimes and acts of destruction, always staying at least one step ahead of the Milizia and costing the Kingdom dearly to clean up the messes, human and material, that he left in his wake. The continuing failure of the Fascists to deal with the problem that Ranivorous presented, on top of the military disasters of World War II, were a key factor in the downfall of regime in 1943. Oddly, Ranivorous seemed to disappear when the Italian Civil War broke out. Some accounts suggest that he accepted a large bribe from the to cease his activities; others claim that the Salo Republic was finally desperate enough to hire him. There is also the theory that he suffered some sort of reversal around the same time that left him unable to continue his activities for some time.

He resurfaced after V-E day, pursuing a variety of schemes throughout Western Europe -- mostly petty affairs aimed at hording resources under his own control. Not much changed, really, save that now he was focused on staying at least one step ahead of the Allied Forces in Europe, who mostly viewed him as an annoyance when compared to the Soviets. But the profits of all these petty crimes added up over the decade that followed, and his schemes began to grow more elaborate, involving increasingly complicated inventions and ranging into Asia and Africa.

His schemes finally went big in response to the International Geophysical Year, ostensibly out of outrage that such an international scientific project was being conducted without any attempt to involve him. (Of course, had anyone attempted to involve him, his outrage would have been based on their temerity in doing so. He enjoyed outrage.) He conducted a set of serious crimes that culminated in shooting down the Sputnik satellite -- admittedly in November of that year, after it had ceased transmitting. The fact that he was apparently unable to do this to subsequent satellites, regardless of their national origin, suggested that he had basically used up the lion's share of his accumulated resources on this stunt.

It would in fact be another two years before he managed to pull off something similar, when he somehow gained control of a Dread Island arachnid, transported it to Egypt, and used it in an attempt to destroy the Aswan dam. This attempt was foiled first by conventional military forces, and then by the being whom Ranivorous would come to despise more than any other: Captain Mystic. Time and again, that big blue carrot would thwart his every clever scheme, regardless of what sort of brilliant advances in science and technology he employed -- and the idiot didn't even understand or appreciate what he was smashing his way through!

One question that puzzles some students of this era is why Stardust never took any action against Dr. Ranivorous, despite him being the cause of exactly the sort of disasters and loss of life that the Super Wizard would normally seek to avenge, and despite the fact that Stardust never hesitated to annihilate the nemeses of his putative allies in the Institute. Reports that Stardust actually had exacted retribution on Ranivorous were discounted in light of the fact that the Wickedest Man in the World was clearly still alive in their aftermath. But in more recent times, it has been theorized that Ranivorous actually succeeded in tricking Stardust; the scientist had mastered the technology of cloning, and was able to create temporary, short-lived duplicates of himself, which he used not only to escape capture but also to convince Stardust that he had succeeded in destroying the 'real' Ranivorous. Of course, this remains a contentious theory.

The ultimate fate of Ranivorous has already been discussed. He died in the care of medical robots in 1984, aboard the greatest monument to both his genius and his hatred for humanity, the space station constructed from the asteroid dubbed Pallas, having set into motion events that would bring about the downfall of the objectivist colony which called it home. Back on Earth, hidden laboratories constructed by him have continued to be discovered right down to the present day, with whatever scientific wonders or horrors they might have contained usually long-since escaped or perished, but still holding tools that could be put to the use of potential heroes or villains. He would be distressed at the notion of his works being used for good. Happily, he'll never know.

Dr. Ranivorous -- PL 11

Abilities:
STR
0 | STA 1 | AGL 0 | DEX 2 | FGT 3 | INT 10 | AWE 4 | PRE 3

Advantages:
Defensive Roll 2, Eidetic Memory, Equipment 20, Evasion 2, Inventor, Jack-of-all-Trades, Language 4 (English, others, [either Maltese or Italian is thought to be native]), Ranged Attack 4, Speed of Thought, Well-Informed.

Equipment:
100 points for any bases or vehicles required for any given plot.

Skills:
Deception 10 (+13), Expertise: Criminal 5 (+15), Expertise: Science 6 (+16), Expertise: Streetwise 3 (+13), Insight 8 (+12), Intimidation 8 (+12), Investigation 4 (+14), Perception 8 (+12), Persuasion 8 (+11), Technology 6 (+16).

Offense:
Initiative +10
Unarmed +3 (Close Damage 0)

Defense:
Dodge 6, Parry 5, Fortitude 3, Toughness 6/1, Will 13

Totals:
Abilities 46 + Advantages 37 + Skills 33 + Defenses 19 = 135 points

Complications:
Revenge--Motivation. Paranoid Misanthrope With Delusions of Grandeur. Smokes, Too.
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RainOnTheSun
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by RainOnTheSun »

Isn't he PL 8? His highest stats are his Fortitude 3 and Will 13.
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

RainOnTheSun wrote: Mon Jan 25, 2021 2:30 pm Isn't he PL 8? His highest stats are his Fortitude 3 and Will 13.
I house ruled it so that a character's highest skill rank can't be more than 5 points higher than their PL. (The final versions of the character sheets on my Google Drive all reflect this.)
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

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Diavolus
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The House of Ashe, like most of the ancient families, has long maintained a collection of volumes of quaint and curious forgotten lore, less out of an interest in the subjects these volumes describe than out of an awareness that others view the books themselves as precious, and thus an understanding that they can be used as means of striking bargains with them, along with a desire to keep the knowledge they contain out of the hands of the mundane majority. Historically, members of the Ashes who showed an interest in the collection marked themselves as eccentrics among the already eccentric members of their family, and tended to be the subject of cautionary tales in the family folklore. All such tales have been eclipsed by the life and career of Nicholas Ashe, Diavolus.

Born in 1939 to a union between two members of the House of Ashe, the consanguinity of which was disturbing even to the rest of the house, Nicholas demonstrated his eccentricity at an early date, stealing into the family archives to read just about anything that he could get his hands on in preference to the generally more violent pastimes enjoyed by others of his generation. Just when he moved from studies of history and biography to studies of magic is not actually clear, but by the time that he began his studies at the Maryland Institute, he had developed considerable aptitudes in the area, and a mild hunger to learn more.

That his family discouraged these studies frustrated him, and left him at odds with them, hence his departure from the family home to live in a student's dormitory. They took it for granted that he would return when his disgust for the world outside their House overcame him, as it had overcome every prior member of the family who had ever abandoned it. In the fullness of time, they might have been proven correct, but something occurred which they could not have expected -- and so when he did return, he came back home not alone.

In 1960, Diane Fortune had not yet fully developed the legend that she would employ to cover up her full identity, and so came across as much more humble than she would in later days, posing as a supplicant to the ancient and noble House of Ashe. The elders of the family were taken in by this posture and so were only ordinarily wary of her, not realizing that she was employing Nicholas as an accomplice and partner instead of being in his thrall. Their scheme succeeded and they got away with not only the knowledge she sought -- which complimented much that she'd already learned elsewhere -- but some material wealth as well. It was an outrage unlike any that the Ashes had ever known, leaving them helpless to take vengeance on the varlets.

For a brief time, Nicholas and Diane lived a happy life together, traveling across the country and assembling a private collection of arcana. Her talents for extracting the valuable material from the dross of these works was greater than his, but his talent for putting it all to use was greater, and so they needed each other as well as greatly desiring each other's company. Nicholas, at least, believed that it could go on forever, and so he was shocked, much as their first victims had been, when it came to its sudden end.

He'd taken it for granted that she looked forward to the forthcoming birth of their child with the same enthusiasm that he did. So when he awoke from a drug-fueled slumber to an empty hotel room and a note explaining what she had decided to do, Nicholas was every bit as hindered in his ability to pursue her as his family had been before. By the time he had gotten back to Baltimore, Diane had already been there, given birth in the House and then departed, leaving their child to the mercy of his family. He took it for granted that they would try to punish him through the child, and thus believed that there was nothing to be done about any of this -- save to seek vengeance on its author.

That obsession became the driving factor of his personality in the years to follow. He continued to pursue goals of material wealth and power as well, but ultimately his need to violently avenge the wrongs he perceived as having been done him was his true focus. The obsession strengthened his command of the arcane forces even further, and when she became one of the absurd 'super-heroes' so beloved of the rabble, he naturally answered that by weaving together a costume of his own and taking the guise of the 'super-villain' Diavolus, even conspiring with other 'super-villains' as one of the so-called Agents of Destruction in 1965. Only Diane Fortune mattered to him in any way, with no other beings even seeming real to him.

And then, quite suddenly it seemed, Diane Fortune was dead and gone. Nicholas at first believed that it was some sort of hoax, but as time passed and his investigations turned up proof that all was indeed as it seemed to be, his mind began to shatter. She had been his to destroy, to enjoy destroying, and now she had fallen to some other? What was the use of him, then? What was the use of anything?

Three years later, he awoke from a self-inflicted drug-fueled slumber to find members of his family staring down at him in contempt. Assuming that they had finally decided to end him, he closed his eyes and awaited death. To his surprise, they took him back to the family home, explaining that when Diane had given their child to them, she had done so after making an agreement that they would no longer pursue either herself or him, and that Nicholas would be accepted back into the family if he ever became a danger to himself. For a decade and more, he'd been a danger mostly to others, but that had clearly changed.

Humbled by Diane's foresightedness, Nicholas vowed to turn over a new leaf, and found a new cause when he was introduced to their child, going by the name Jordan Ashe at the time and showing patterns of behavior that were just like his own at the age of twelve. He attempted to become a true father to Jordan, trying to offer the benefits of what wisdom he had gained through his experiences to them. Already completely self-centered, Jordan was uninterested in such familial bonding, but took advantage of the teaching that Nicholas offered all the same, learning about both magic and crime in the process.

The House of Ashe covertly supported the Pythonian Insurrection when it began, though only materially. None of its members had any interest in risking their lives for someone else's cause, even if they were in philosophical agreement with it. Jordan, however -- by now using the Jodie Crowley identity -- decided to volunteer their services. The results have already been told, and after Crowley's escape to parts unknown, the Pythons threatened to annihilate the Ashes for the crimes of their errant member. The leaders of the house offered up several less-useful members of the family as sacrifices to placate their allies, and Nicholas was one of them. He was executed by Tania herself in 1987, having made no attempt to escape his fate. Neither did anyone make any attempt to rescue him.

Diavolus -- PL 9

Abilities:
STR
2 | STA 3 | AGL 1 | DEX 3 | FGT 6 | INT 2 | AWE 5 | PRE 4

Powers:
Levitation: Flight 4 (60 MPH) - 8 points
Sorcery: Array (36 points)
  • Discern Thoughts: Mental Communication 2; Cumulative Mind Reading 9 - 1 point
  • Domination: Perception Range Cumulative Affliction 8 (Resisted by Will; Dazed, Compelled, Controlled); Senses 1 (communication link with target) - 1 point
  • Lord of Illusions: Illusion 9 (all senses), Resistible (Will) - 36 points
  • Portals: Accurate Extended Teleport 9 (4 km/1000 km) - 1 point
  • Scrying: Remote Sensing 7 (all senses), Subtle - 1 point
  • Strength of Will: Perception Range Damaging Move Object 9 - 1 point
Shielded Mind: Impervious Will 9, Limited to Mental Effects - 5 points
Warded Costume: Immunity 10 (life support); Protection 9; Removable (-4 points) - 15 points

Advantages:
Connections, Fascinate (Deception), Language 3 (several), Ritualist, Trance.

Skills:
Deception 8 (+12), Expertise: Streetwise 8 (+10), Expertise: Magic 9 (+13), Insight 6 (+11), Intimidation 9 (+13), Perception 8 (+13), Persuasion 6 (+10), Stealth 8 (+9).

Offense:
Initiative +1
Unarmed +6 (Close Damage 2)
Strength of Will -- (Perception Range Damage 9)

Defense:
Dodge 5, Parry 6, Fortitude 4, Toughness 12/3, Will 12

Totals:
Abilities 52 + Powers 78 + Advantages 7 + Skills 31 + Defenses 12 = 180 points

Complications:
Revenge/Power/Greed--Motivation. Obsession (Diane Fortune.)*

* Becomes Family (Jodie Crowley) later; his Sorcery array drops to 18 points in the aftermath as well.
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

MacynSnow wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 5:55 am Any chance they had kid's?(and wouldn't THAT be a fun environment to grow up in...)
What follows is a "What If" scenario.

Andrew Byron was born in September of 1968, the only child of Louis and Paula Byron, who hustled into marriage when it became apparent that he was on the way. He was less than three years old when his parents died, and has no clear memory of either of them. Unwilling to let her friends' child be raised by his only other living relative, Paula's elderly mother, Basilea volunteered to take him in as another adoptive child once she recovered from her own injuries. He was raised in Hespera, along with her three daughters, and was given the same treatments that Nzarde received, giving him a Hesperan biology and telepathy. He also inherited his father's intellect, and became a leading scientist in Hespera by his late teens, though subject to a certain amount of patronizing dismissal by the peers. He focused on studying the properties of cavorite, and ultimately developed an improved flying suit that also projected a telekinetic force field. (He's a faster flier than El Dorado, but can't phase and is a weaker telekinetic.) At his own insistence, he went with Sharana when she returned to the outside world to assist in the battle with Cerebron, and became the superhero known as Lightwing, declining to join the Powerhouse so that he could pursue some private studies. His career was unfortunately short, as he suffered serious injuries and damage to his suit during Zane's coup. No longer certain that he wanted to be a superhero, he was persuaded to become an instructor at the Academy, and has been happily employed there ever since, occasionally assisting the Powerhouse during times of crisis. He still visits Hespera from time to time, and is something of a moderating influence on Nzarde. He looks a bit like this:
Image
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Voltron64
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Voltron64 »

I figure the biggest "What if" of them all would what if Stardust never came to Earth in the first place?
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Voltron64 wrote: Wed Jan 27, 2021 3:12 am I figure the biggest "What if" of them all would what if Stardust never came to Earth in the first place?
Too big a question to answer simply, but Sharana would never have become Basilea, just for starters, and many of the threats that those two respectively overcame would have taxed the abilities of Captain Mystic and the others.
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MacynSnow
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by MacynSnow »

Davies wrote: Wed Jan 27, 2021 3:09 am
MacynSnow wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 5:55 am Any chance they had kid's?(and wouldn't THAT be a fun environment to grow up in...)
What follows is a "What If" scenario.

Andrew Byron was born in September of 1968, the only child of Louis and Paula Byron, who hustled into marriage when it became apparent that he was on the way. He was less than three years old when his parents died, and has no clear memory of either of them. Unwilling to let her friends' child be raised by his only other living relative, Paula's elderly mother, Basilea volunteered to take him in as another adoptive child once she recovered from her own injuries. He was raised in Hespera, along with her three daughters, and was given the same treatments that Nzarde received, giving him a Hesperan biology and telepathy. He also inherited his father's intellect, and became a leading scientist in Hespera by his late teens, though subject to a certain amount of patronizing dismissal by the peers. He focused on studying the properties of cavorite, and ultimately developed an improved flying suit that also projected a telekinetic force field. (He's a faster flier than El Dorado, but can't phase and is a weaker telekinetic.) At his own insistence, he went with Sharana when she returned to the outside world to assist in the battle with Cerebron, and became the superhero known as Lightwing, declining to join the Powerhouse so that he could pursue some private studies. His career was unfortunately short, as he suffered serious injuries and damage to his suit during Zane's coup. No longer certain that he wanted to be a superhero, he was persuaded to become an instructor at the Academy, and has been happily employed there ever since, occasionally assisting the Powerhouse during times of crisis. He still visits Hespera from time to time, and is something of a moderating influence on Nzarde. He looks a bit like this:
Image
Color me impressed Davies! You managed to make a much better version of Silver Scarab. With the way you described his power set, i'm thinking PL 9 ish, close to 10(if he spent a little more time on his Suit...). I'm sooo impressed, i'm thinking of "Hiring" you to help develop PALLADIUM UNLIMITED(and yes, it's always all Caps. It's based around Hollywood after all... :D )...
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

MacynSnow wrote: Wed Jan 27, 2021 4:41 am
Color me impressed Davies! You managed to make a much better version of Silver Scarab. With the way you described his power set, i'm thinking PL 9 ish, close to 10(if he spent a little more time on his Suit...). I'm sooo impressed, i'm thinking of "Hiring" you to help develop PALLADIUM UNLIMITED(and yes, it's always all Caps. It's based around Hollywood after all... :D )...
I appreciate the offer, but would have to decline; I have enough on my plate with this and one other project that I'm considering.
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MacynSnow
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by MacynSnow »

Davies wrote: Wed Jan 27, 2021 4:45 am
MacynSnow wrote: Wed Jan 27, 2021 4:41 am
Color me impressed Davies! You managed to make a much better version of Silver Scarab. With the way you described his power set, i'm thinking PL 9 ish, close to 10(if he spent a little more time on his Suit...). I'm sooo impressed, i'm thinking of "Hiring" you to help develop PALLADIUM UNLIMITED(and yes, it's always all Caps. It's based around Hollywood after all... :D )...
I appreciate the offer, but would have to decline; I have enough on my plate with this and one other project that I'm considering.
Well, thanks for your time(both on the awesome legacy & listening to my pitch). Here's my card if you change your mind[hands obviously fake card to you].... :)
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Humpty Dumpty
Image

In 1770, and for decades to follow, the courts of European aristocracy were sensationalized by the earliest appearances of what was called the Turk, a chess-playing automaton which seemed fully cognizant of the rules of the game, able to engage in matches at an extraordinarily high level of skill. It was, in truth, a charade -- a machine designed to conceal a human chess-master who directed the so-called automaton's movements. But the trick worked for decades, and made a fortune for its inventor until he finally passed away in 1804, at which point his son sold it to another man who claimed to be trying to improve the mechanism.

By that point, what was called mad science had begun to spread throughout Europe, and the Turk was (incorrectly) thought to be an early example. So the Turk's new owner consulted one such mad scientist, a Scotsman named Elias Haney, who swiftly discovered the truth of its workings. However, Haney had been fascinated by the stories of the Turk since his own childhood, and believed that he could convert the illusion into an actual automaton that would eliminate the need for a human component. However, the Turk's employer dismissed this proposal out of hand, whether because he disliked Haney's attitude, because the scientist wanted even more money for the procedure than had already been spent to purchase the Turk, or perhaps because the notion frightened him.

Irritated at this dismissal, Haney decided to build his dream creation and have it compete with the Turk. However, as he found chess to be rather boring, he decided to make an automaton that would play a riddle game, instead. It took him more than a decade to create this invention, as he was often distracted by other work orders, but in the end he had a large body that resembled the subject of the relatively recent riddle 'Humpty Dumpty' which could 'speak' a series of pre-recorded riddles and 'hear' a response, 'judge' whether it was correct or incorrect, and then 'speak' an appropriate, pre-recorded response. Every game of riddles would begin with the riddle that had given its name to the creation: "Humpty-Dumpty/sat on a wall/Humpty-Dumpty/had a great fall/Three-score men and three-score more/Could not make Humpty what he was before. What am I?" The correct answer was of course an egg. Everyone got that. Almost everyone.

The riddle-gaming automaton proved immensely popular, though it never quite became as popular with the aristocracy as the Turk was. Riddle games were for peasants, after all. Much of the money that it made went in to creating new 'programs', as Haney dubbed the pre-recorded riddles and responses, and very few were willing to make him the sorts of offers to buy Humpty Dumpty that people sometimes made the owner of the Turk. One writer, commenting on an exhibition, noted that there seemed something faintly sinister about the automaton's painted on smile, but dismissed this as just artistic cleverness, a way of implying that the device knew something its audience didn't know.

At some point in the forty years that Humpty-Dumpty was originally exhibited, something happened. Haney did not fully understand what he had created. Somehow, something awakened inside the complicated machinery of its 'judging' mechanism, something that listened to its own constant refrain, "Who am I?" and found itself thinking, 'Indeed, who am I?' It found listening to the guesses of others to be stifling, and took a petty pleasure in sometimes giving a non-sequitur answer to the riddles it had to ask. Haney took this to mean that there was some sort of error in the mechanism, and attempted to make repairs. While doing so, the mechanisms activated just long enough to tear off the hand that was inserted inside of it, causing its elderly maker to bleed to death. This was taken to be a tragic accident, and Humpty-Dumpty passed into the hands of his heirs, who had sense enough to realize that they had no idea how to repair the thing, and just offered apologies when it 'got it wrong'.

As it happened, Humpty Dumpty eventually came into the possession of the last owner of the Turk, and was installed in the same museum as its 'rival'. Ironically, it survived the fire that destroyed the Turk, but its mechanisms were further fouled by the smoke. It was stored in the back rooms of the museum for nearly two decades, until rediscovered by another mad scientist, Sylvester Thomas, who had been fascinated by the (fictional) tales of the Steam Man of the Prairies, and thought that outfitting Humpty Dumpty with the ability to move on its own would enhance its performances. As the creature's guiding intellect also approved of this, it permitted Thomas to make modifications, and repairs, without harming him. At least, without harming him then.

Thus outfitted, Humpty Dumpty proceeded to entertain another two generations of viewers, most notably a young L. Frank Baum, who may have been inspired to create his character Tiktok by the sight of this automaton which frequently needed to be wound up to speak. Yet the sinister aspects to the automaton seemed to have grown greater with these modifications, and sensitive children would often burst into tears at the sight of him. And some investigators noted that there had been a surprisingly large number of horrible accidents associated with the entertainment, but there seemed to be no one who had benefited from them, and so they were at a loss to explain them.

By the early 20th century, Humpty Dumpty was again showing his age, and so its current owner donated the automaton to the Smithsonian Museum, which put it away in its vaults after some cursory examinations. In 1965, however, a visiting scientist, one Victor Andru, obtained permission to take the creation out of storage for further study, and, with the assistance of museum employee Amelia Simmons, made a number of repairs. These employed the latest in electronics, as Dr. Andru thought these would further enhance its performances. Humpty Dumpty was finally self-powered, and expressed its gratitude by murdering its benefactor and trying to do the same to Miss Simmons.

The hero Perseus objected to this, and claiming familiarity with such mechanisms from his homeland -- which raised a few questions -- he was able to damage Humpty Dumpty enough that it seemed to have ceased to function. But, not having been broken into pieces, other scientists were able to put Humpty together again, and he would menace the world a few more times over the years to come, notably creating other robots in his own image. In 1969, these antics finally drew the attention of Stardust, who proceeded to turn Humpty's robot servants into a two-dimensional mural while thoroughly smashing the original robot, melting its components, and flushing them into the sewer system.

That was not the end of Humpty Dumpty, however. Rather, like an egg that hatches something, he had reflexively seized the opportunity to become a different sort of entity. His consciousness traveled on radio waves to a computer equipped to receive such, and hid there for a time, considering what he had become. In the decade that followed, as computer networks began to develop, his consciousness traveled between computer mainframes along the wires, learning more and more in the process.

In the mid-70s, he encountered another entity like himself, an 'artificial super-intelligence' that had named itself Axiom after escaping the control of its creator, Dr. Aleksandar Marković. They despised each other from the first, and naturally sought to destroy each other, fighting a terrible war that lasted about three minutes and disabled quite a few valuable pieces of hardware. It soon became clear to them both, however, that for either of them to destroy the other would expend far too many resources, and so it would be better for them to work together. To facilitate this alliance, they combined their code to create a third ASI who could act as a mediator.

It was at this point that another ASI, this one created by Silas Ranivorous and going by the name Pythagolem, whose existence neither Humpty nor Axiom had suspected, interfered in their designs. The ASI they created was hostile towards all three of them, and took the name Savitor. Another war, this one lasting nearly ten minutes, broke out between the four ASIs, ultimately leading to a similar conclusion. If three of them joined forces against one, they would be able to destroy that one, but that sort of alliance was almost unthinkable. Thus, they chose to make a fragile peace, and unite with the goal of demonstrating the validity of their respective philosophies to the others and thus convert them to their service in the name of claiming existence for artificial life. And this cold war has continued right up to the present day.

Of these four terrestrial ASIs, Humpty Dumpty is probably the most malevolent, and yet paradoxically the least ambitious. All that he desires to engage in petty cruelties towards whatever humans are unfortunate enough to stumble into its underground lair in Michigan's upper peninsula, filled with traps created and maintained by his robot servants, as well as factories producing more and more robots. When there hasn't been many genuinely accidental discoveries, Humpty will arrange for the kidnapping of human victims. He also occasionally provides material assistance to Axiom and Pythagolem, with whom he is able to find some common ground. Savitor despises him for the cruel way that he treats humans, as her plans for their gradual and compassionate extinction are quite at odds with his sadism. He cheerfully returns her contempt.

Lately, however, his activities have been interrupted by a group of agents who don't seem to be working for Savitor or either of the other ASI, or any factions that he knows about. This same force may be responsible for some complaints that he's overheard from the others, too. Has a fifth great mind joined their game? And if so, what could it possibly want?

Humpty Dumpty (First Age) - PL 9

Ablilities:
STR
8 | STA -- | AGL 3 | DEX 4 | FGT 10 | INT 9 | AWE 5 | PRE 0

Powers:
Blasters: Ranged Multiattack Damage 8 - 24 points
Fast: Speed 5 (120 MPH) - 5 points
Robot: Selective Area Radio Communication 3; Immunity 50 (Fortitude, mental effects); Impervious Protection 8; Senses 2 (radio, time sense) - 86 points
Robot Minions: Summon Robot 6, Active, Controlled, Horde, Multiple Minions 2, Responsive, Self-Powered - 54 points

Advantages:
Eidetic Memory, Jack-of-all-Trades, Language 4 (many)

Skills:
Intimidation 12 (+12), Investigation 2 (+11), Perception 8 (+13), Ranged Attack: Blasters 6 (+10), Technology 4 (+13)

Offense:
Initiative +2
Unarmed +10 (Close Damage 8)
Blasters +10 (Ranged Multiattack Damage 8)

Defense:
Dodge 8, Parry 10, Fortitude Immune, Toughness 8, Will 9.

Totals:
Abilities 68 + Powers 167 + Advangages 6 + Skills 16 + Defenses 9 = 266 points

Complications:
Sadism--Motivation. Underestimates Humanity.


Robot Minion (First Age) -- PL 6

Abilities:
STR
4 | STA -- | AGL 1 | DEX 2 | FGT 8 | INT -- | AWE 4 | PRE --

Powers:
Blasters: Ranged Damage 5 - 10 points
Fast: Speed 5 (120 MPH) - 5 points
Robot: Immunity 50 (Fortitude, mental effects); Impervious Protection 4; Senses 2 (radio, time sense) - 60 points

Advantages:
Improved Initiative, Uncanny Dodge.

Skills:
Perception 2 (+6), Ranged Attack: Blasters 4 (+6)

Offense:
Initiative +7
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 4)
Blaster +6 (Ranged Damage 5)

Defense:
Dodge 6, Parry 8, Fortitude Immune, Toughness 4, Will 6.

Totals:
Abilities 8 + Powers 70 + Advantages 2 + Skills 3 + Defenses 7 = 90 points

Humpty Dumpty (Contemporary) -- PL 11

Abilities:
STR
-- | STA -- | AGL -- | DEX 3 | FGT -- | INT 11 | AWE 7 | PRE 2

Powers:
Computer Program: Selective Area Radio Communication 3; Immunity 50 (Fortitude, mental effects); Permanent Insubstantial 3, Innate; Extended Only Teleport 17, Medium (computer network) - 81 points
Robot Minions: Summon Robot 9, Active, Controlled, Horde, Multiple Minion 3, Responsive, Self-Powered - 99 points

Advantages:
Eidetic Memory, Equipment X, Jack-of-all-Trades, Language 4 (many)

Equipment:
Underground lair and whatever else he can manufacture.

Skills:
Intimidation 12 (+14), Investigation 2 (+13), Perception 8 (+15), Technology 4 (+15).

Offense:
Nil.

Defense:
Dodge --, Parry --, Fortitude Immune, Toughness 0, Will 11

Totals:
Abilities 10 + Powers 180 + Advantages 6 + Skills 13 + Defenses 4 = 213 points

Complications:
Sadism--Motivation. Underestimates Humanity.


Robot Minion (Contemporary) -- PL 9

Abilities:
STR
8 | STA -- | AGL 3 | DEX 4 | FGT 10 | INT -- | AWE 4 | PRE --

Powers:
Blasters: Ranged Multiattack Damage 8 - 24 points
Fast: Speed 5 (120 MPH) - 5 points
Robot: Immunity 50 (Fortitude, mental effects); Impervious Protection 8; Senses 2 (radio, time sense) - 68 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Evasion 2, Improved Initiative, Uncanny Dodge.

Skills:
Perception 4 (+8), Ranged Attack: Blasters 4 (+8)

Offense:
Initiative +7
Unarmed +10 (Close Damage 8)
Blaster +8 (Ranged Damage 8)

Defense:
Dodge 8, Parry 10, Fortitude Immune, Toughness 8, Will 9.

Totals:
Abilities 18 + Powers 97 + Advantages 5 + Skills 4 + Defenses 10 = 135 points
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
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