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

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

Post by Davies »

Moth Man and Papillion
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Moth Man
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Papillion

Louis Byron never expected to be any sort of a hero. Born just a bit before Black Friday, in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, to a mechanic's family, he was one of the top students in his high school. If his teachers had a complaint about him, it was that he lacked focus; instead of concentrating all his efforts on physics, or biology, or chemistry, he would flutter from one subject to the next as it interested him, demonstrating aptitude but not a deep interest. And yes, flutter was the word that they used.

After high school graduation, he began studies at Duke University, and his 'fluttering' continued as he switched majors repeatedly, to the dismay of his faculty adviser. His associates were even more baffled by his decision not to claim deferment as a student when his draft number was called, but he reported for duty nonetheless. He served as a radio operator in Korea, demonstrating a surprising amount of focus on his tasks, possibly as a result of his experiences in Boot Camp.

After his discharge in 1954, Louis returned home to West Virginia, where he obtained a teacher's certificate and began teaching high school science at the same school where he'd studied just a decade before. He was equally able in all the classes he was given to teach, and confined his tendency to flutter to his private experiments, conducted at home. He also acted as the head of the local Mr. Wizard Club, taking the opportunity to further educate the young people in town about science.

As the age of the supermen began, Louis found himself fielding a lot of questions about how some of the things that they did were possible, and admitting to a lot of uncertainty on the subject. But he never lost faith in the idea that science could provide the answers that he needed, and tried to communicate that to his students as well. In 1958, perhaps the biggest change in his life occurred, when fifteen-year-old Paula Kaminski joined the Mr. Wizard Club. She was an enthusiastic and talented student, and Louis rather enjoyed working with her. He told himself, of course, that he was just interested in her mind. (She would later claim that she didn't share that delusion.)

In 1960, Louis completed an experiment in metallurgy that produced a material which, he was startled to realize, seemed to be defying gravity. An examination of its properties suggested that he'd rediscovered the material which H.G. Wells had termed cavorite, which he'd always believed to be fictional. He was stunned by the implications of this, but planned to patent the material so that the entire world could benefit from its properties. He certainly didn't plan to use it to fight crime.

Fate, however, had other plans. When Paula failed to show up for the club meeting that week, Louis called her house to see what the matter was, and got a borderline hysterical response from her mother. Going there in person, he learned that Paula and her father had been kidnapped by some foreign agents who believed that Mr. Kaminski, who'd fled Poland in 1939, knew the secret location of some kind of buried treasure of their homeland. Louis' first impulse was to contact the FBI, but he hesitated at the thought that they'd put a higher priority on capturing the criminals than saving the lives of the victims. No, what Paula and her father needed was a hero.

He threw together the first Moth Man suit from scraps and the first batch of neo-cavorite that he'd created. It was basically just a flying harness, without any of the enhancements that he'd add later, and the mask was just a pilot's hood that he'd picked up somewhere. Nevertheless, he was able to locate the kidnappers and defeat them, despite their armaments, due mostly to their sheer surprise at being attacked by a superhero. He took Paula and her father back home, accepting the name that her mother gave him with a cough. (Moth Man? Really? Oh well.)

The problem now was that he couldn't release the neo-cavorite like he'd planned -- if he did so, it would be obvious to the criminals he'd just captured who had come after them, and he might be targeted by the underworld. So the only way to use his invention for the betterment of humanity was to keep on using it in the way that he'd already started. So Moth Man was here to stay, and he began fighting crime and rescuing people from that night forward.

When the Institute formed, he was a cheerful volunteer, but was stunned to be chosen, by the President himself, as the group's first leader! It was quite a vote of confidence, though it led to him finally starting to understand what other people called stress. Between his work as a teacher, a club leader, a private crime fighter, a researcher and leading the Institute, he was very much overworked. When the group met to elect a new leader in the summer of 1963, he was happy to decline the nomination, turning the group over to Doctor Freeze, who proved to be much more effective.

1963 was also when Paula came back into his life, having graduated from high school two years before and gone off to a finishing school. He was stunned by how beautiful she'd become since she left, and then completely floored by the fact that she knew he was Moth Man, and had since the very beginning. She wanted to join him in his activities, as his sidekick. After all, there were plenty of other women superheroes, so why shouldn't she be one too? Impressed by her conviction but fearful for her safety, Louis agreed to temporarily take her on as a partner -- in a strictly professional sense, of course, he quickly assured her.

She stared, then nodded, wondering as she did, as many in similar situations have, how someone so smart could be so dumb.

Papillion made her debut later that week, and Moth Man planned to propose her for membership at the next monthly meeting of the Institute. Unfortunately, that meeting, scheduled for November 25, was pre-empted by other events. As it turned out, Papillon didn't join the Institute until February of 1964, and her membership caused a certain amount of controversy, with the Cowl angrily arguing that his sidekick wasn't a member, and neither should anyone else's be. Nobody else quite understood his argument, but Papillion was accepted by a majority vote.

Over the next three years, Moth Man and Papillion worked well together, though not as much 'together' as Paula wanted. He remained oblivious to the fact that she was not one of his students anymore. 'Somewhat annoyed, she had a brief relationship with the Meteor, but decided that trying to make Louis jealous was the sort of behavior she'd be disgusted by in someone else. (Besides, something about that guy creeped her out as much as Stardust did.)

Matters finally came to a head in December 1967, when they happened to be in the air over Point Pleasant as the Silver Bridge collapsed. Hurling themselves into action, they managed to limit the deaths to less than a score, but Louis was still clearly haunted by those they didn't save. He finally turned to Paula for emotional support, and she allowed her own desire to control their actions. In the aftermath, Louis believed that he'd made a terrible mistake, but Paula eventually convinced him that she'd been in love with him for a very long time, which should make everything okay, right?

Despite that, it was a troubled relationship from the very start. Given that she hadn't wanted to make Louis jealous earlier, Paula found the jealousy he was now demonstrating whenever she so much as glanced at another man to be frustrating in the extreme. They went through several break-ups over the next four years, which also ended their crime fighting partnership, with every reconciliation starting it up again. Towards the end, Basilea noted that Paula had some unusual bruises, but was told that she'd just taken some hits in a fight earlier. The Hesperan considered intervening, but events outpaced her intentions.

During the Battle of Vietnam, the two of them followed the Meteor's lead in evacuating civilians rather than trying to fight Stardust. Unfortunately, as they were clearing one particular village, Papillion realized that there was still a child in the area that they'd left behind by accident. Moth Man insisted that they get clear, but Papillion went back to save even one more life, with her partner following her ... right into Stardust's path. He annihilated them and the child they were trying to save in an almost perfunctory manner.

In 2003, Point Pleasant unveiled a statue to Moth Man, with Basilea among the honored guests. She quietly asked when Papillion was going to get her statue, and was pleased when she was told that it was scheduled for 2004, and would be on the other side of the Ohio River. "Good," she said. "They were better apart than they were together." Just what she meant by that is known only to her.

Moth Man -- PL 7

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

Powers:
Moth Suit: Removable (-8 points)
* Artificial Muscles: Enhanced Agility 3; Enhanced Strength 4 - 20 points
* Body Armor: Protection 2 - 2 points
* Moth Swarm: Burst Area Visual Concealment Attack 4 - 12 points
* Sensors: Senses 1 (low-light vision) - 1 point
* Wings: Flight 6 (120 MPH), Winged - 6 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Equipment 2, Move-by Action, Set-up, Sidekick 18, Teamwork

Equipment:
Utility Belt (10 points of equipment as needed).

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+10/+7), Close Combat: Unarmed 6 (+9), Deception 6 (+7), Expertise: Science 4 (+10), Investigation 5 (+11), Sleight of Hand 5 (+8), Stealth 5 (+9/+6), Technology 5 (+11).

Offense:
Initiative +4/+1
Unarmed +9 (Close Damage 5/1)

Defense:
Dodge 10/7, Parry 9, Fortitude 5, Toughness 4/2, Will 6

Totals:
Abilities 38 + Powers 33 + Advantages 24 + Skills 21 + Defenses 19 = 135 points

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Distractible. Relationship (Papillion.) Secret Identity.

Papillion -- PL 6

Abilities:
STR
3/-1 | STA 1 | AGL 5/2 | DEX 2 | FGT 2 | INT 2 | AWE 3 | PRE 2

Powers:
Moth Suit: Removable (-8 points)
* Artificial Muscles: Enhanced Agility 3; Enhanced Strength 4 - 20 points
* Body Armor: Protection 2 - 2 points
* Moth Swarm: Burst Area Visual Concealment Attack 4 - 12 points
* Sensors: Senses 1 (low-light vision) - 1 point
* Wings: Flight 6 (120 MPH), Winged - 6 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Move-by Action, Set-up, Teamwork

Skills:
Acrobatics 4 (+9/+6), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+6), Deception 4 (+6), Expertise: Popular Culture 4 (+6), Insight 4 (+7), Perception 5 (+8), Stealth 3 (+8/+5).

Offense:
Initiative +5/+2
Unarmed +6 (Close Damage 3)

Defense:
Dodge 9/6, Parry 9, Fortitude 3, Toughness 3, Will 5

Totals:
Abilities 26 + Powers 31 + Advantages 4 + Skills 14 + Defenses 15 = 90 points

Complications:
Thrills--Motivation. Relationship
(Moth Man.) Secret Identity.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
MacynSnow
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by MacynSnow »

MOTH MAN & PAPPILLION:
- i like how your world's Hank Pym addresses some of the issues i always had with Marvel's. Don't get me wrong, i'll defend the Character all the live-long day(i'm a fan of the "Adventurer Scientist" trope after all), but the simple fact is the Pym & Janet Van Dyne weren't good for each other. He couldn't give her the attention she wanted and She couldn't understand the mental issues he had.
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

They're also intended to be comments on Hawkman and Hawkgirl, to some degree -- the delay in Papillion's joining the Institute references the way that the silver age version joined the Justice League long after her introduction, as well as the fact that the golden age version was never in the Justice Society at all.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
RainOnTheSun
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by RainOnTheSun »

I never liked Hank Pym or the Wasp much. Then I watched Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Now Janet Van Dyne is one of my favorite superheroes.
MacynSnow
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by MacynSnow »

RainOnTheSun wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 4:40 am I never liked Hank Pym or the Wasp much. Then I watched Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes. Now Janet Van Dyne is one of my favorite superheroes.
I was always a fan of "The Adventurer/Heroic Scientist" trope and i honestly Think Both Hank Pym(and Janet Van Dyne by proxy) and Hawkman got raw deals due to one mistake by an Artist(the now infamous "Slap heard 'round The World") and Editor(not readin the books your in charge of). The characters and concepts are perfectly good, even great if used CORRECTLY(Especially Pym's growing mental issues and the Hall's growing indifference to their Son's achievements) but due to what subsequent writer's did to them because of the above mistakes, they became jokes or too Radioactive to handle. It's a shame & something that'll always "Grind My Gears"(to quote the Mighty Peter Griffin) when they get sandblasted like they do....
MacynSnow
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by MacynSnow »

Davies wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 4:35 am They're also intended to be comments on Hawkman and Hawkgirl, to some degree -- the delay in Papillion's joining the Institute references the way that the silver age version joined the Justice League long after her introduction, as well as the fact that the golden age version was never in the Justice Society at all.
Ah, i can see it now. And your right, it was odd that OG Hawkgirl never got the JSA invite untill modern times(which was even weirder as they had OG Wonder Woman in their already...)
Any chance they had kid's?(and wouldn't THAT be a fun environment to grow up in...)
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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...)
No, by the time they were sexually intimate, the Pill was readily available and Paula was using it.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
MacynSnow
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by MacynSnow »

Davies wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 6:29 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...)
No, by the time they were sexually intimate, the Pill was readily available and Paula was using it.
Well, that's One bullet dodged in your world(while i'm a fan of all four, both the Hawks & Pym's make a Horrible environment to raise children)...
Sidney369
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Sidney369 »

Davies wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 4:35 am They're also intended to be comments on Hawkman and Hawkgirl, to some degree -- the delay in Papillion's joining the Institute references the way that the silver age version joined the Justice League long after her introduction, as well as the fact that the golden age version was never in the Justice Society at all.
Especially since Shiera first donned the costume in a JSA story....
Always ask before you use someone's Original Character.
Never ever use them without permission. Only Villains do that.
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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 20, 2021 6:34 am
Davies wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 6:29 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...)
No, by the time they were sexually intimate, the Pill was readily available and Paula was using it.
Well, that's One bullet dodged in your world(while i'm a fan of all four, both the Hawks & Pym's make a Horrible environment to raise children)...
Their figurative heir is Darkwing, whose flying suit is derived from studies of earlier models of theirs, and thus also Talon ... and thus also any children Lonnie Lawson might one day have.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
MacynSnow
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by MacynSnow »

Much better in my mind, honestly.
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Sidney369 wrote: Wed Jan 20, 2021 6:40 amEspecially since Shiera first donned the costume in a JSA story....
I had forgotten that detail. <shakes head>
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Quark
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The beginnings of sizewarping technology occurred when Michael Newton, who would be credited with advancing it further than anyone before John Wright, was only an elementary school student, and are somewhat obscure. By 1938, a Dr. Alexander Thorul (called Thorkel in the fictionalized version of these events; his birth name remains unknown) had developed a method of reducing a biological organism's size to one-fifth of its size through exposure to certain radioactive gases. His ostensible goal was to reduce the impact of human beings on their environment; from his later actions, it seems much more likely that he had ambitions of being the only full-sized human being in a world of the diminished -- essentially, a god.

However, his process had a number of drawbacks, most notably the fact that it tended to kill its subjects. He brought in a small group of researchers to assist him in correcting this flaw, which they did. He rewarded them by making them the next experimental subjects, killing some of them when it became apparent that the process was still limited in that it would eventually wear off. He was himself killed before he could finish the job, and his victims returned home, with one of them passing information about their experiences on to the Office of Scientific Investigation, and another selling the story to Hollywood.

The Office investigated the remains of Thorul's laboratory and were able to reconstruct his process. It was added to the organization's files of potentially useful but also dangerous technologies, to be used only in emergencies. Whether or not it was ever actually employed to that end in the years that followed remains classified -- the one likely case, in 1953, involves an accidental release of the gas -- but, as with the Griffin Formula, research continued in the hope of making it more useful.

Michael Newton had been working for the Office of Scientific Investigation for four years, since shortly after he obtained his second doctorate, when he was given the assignment of continuing that research in 1960. He was only supposed to work on the subject for half a year before being rotated back to field work, but something about the subject fascinated him as nothing before it ever had. He spent a full year working on it, and achieved greater results than any prior researcher.

He identified the energy frequencies involved, so that the phenomenon could be projected as a ray rather than needing to be taken internally as a gas. This also facilitated its use on inorganic material -- objects could be reduced as well as living creatures. In addition, it could reduce the size of its target by a slightly greater amount. However, Newton's version of the process only lasted a minute, on average, making it less useful for espionage purposes than the original. However, Newton included in his final report speculation that a subject were to be subjected to the radiation on a constant basis, while wearing an emission device, he would be able to remain in a constant state of miniaturization, only reverting when the device shut off.

As it happened, that final report was not delivered to the Office, which had been shuttered before Newton reached his conclusion. It was instead presented to his current employers at the FBI's Department of R&D, who in turn passed on a summary of their project to the Director, who arranged a meeting with Newton. The Director complimented Newton on his work, and then asked the scientist what he thought of the recently created Institute. Reading the room correctly, Newton replied that it seemed potentially dangerous to the American people. The Director smiled and nodded, and laid out the details of Newton's first job for his new employers.

Quark, a superhero employing a Newton Field emitter in his costume as well as a pair of wrist-mounted Newton Beam projectors, made his debut a month later. He quickly became the first non-founding member of the Institute, just as planned, keeping an eye on the group's activities for the Bureau, the Director, and -- theoretically -- the American people as a whole. It didn't take him long to figure out that there were no real threats to the American people in the group, but he kept filing his reports all the same. When urged to 'find' (read manufacture) evidence that wasn't there, he reported unfortunate failures that might expose his infiltration if repeated, which kept his handlers pacified.

The mission lasted up until Quark's death in the Battle of Vietnam, where he was the first member of the Institute to fall in battle. He attempted to use an experimental version of the Newton Beam to reduce Stardust to a minute size in hopes that he could be more easily dealt with. Not only did it not have the desired effect, the device caused Stardust to increase to an even greater size, large enough that he crushed Quark beneath the sole of his boots with his next footfall.

In the aftermath, the Bureau attempted to train a new agent to use the Newton Field emitter, only to discover that it didn't have the same results for any other user,, acting simply as a portable self-directed Newton Beam. It has been suggested that Newton had tuned it to his own unique biology, or that he was unwittingly a superpower whose abilities required some technological mediation. Regardless, the sizemorphic field generator was put back on the drawing board, with numerous other scientists trying and failing to improve on Newton's work in subsequent decades ... until John Wright began his work on the subject.

Quark -- PL 8

Abilities:
STR
2 | STA 1 | AGL 3 | DEX 3 | FGT 4 | INT 7 | AWE 3 | PRE 2

Powers:
Shrinking Suit: Continuous Shrinking 8 (-2 Strength, +4 Dodge, +4 Parry, -1 Speed, +8 Stealth, -4 Intimidation); Removable (-5 points) - 19 points
Shrink Ray: Ranged Shrinking 8 Attack, Independent, Extended 2, Increased Mass 6 (3200 lbs); Removable (-6 points) - 26 points

Advantages:
Defensive Roll 2, Evasion, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Trip, Inventor, Move-by Action, Skill Mastery (Technology), Uncanny Dodge.

Skills:
Close Combat: Unarmed 3 (+6), Deception 6 (+8), Expertise: Science 5 (+12), Insight 6 (+9), Intimidation 0 (+2/-2), Investigation 4 (+11), Perception 4 (+7), Ranged Combat: Shrink Ray 5 (+8), Persuasion 8 (+10), Stealth 0 (+11/+3), Technology 5 (+12).

Offense:
Initiative +3
Unarmed +6 (Close Damage 2/0)
Shrink Ray +8 (Ranged Toughness 8)

Defense:
Dodge 10/6, Parry 10/6, Fortitude 4, Toughness 6/1, Will 6

Totals:
Abilities 50 + Powers 45 + Advantages 9 + Skills 23 + Defenses 11 = 138 points

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Secrets (identity, actual loyalties.)
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Doctor Freeze
Image

The story of how a twenty-five-year-old amateur inventor named Henry Meddows ended the rampage of the Protean entity, using a device that projected what appeared to be a ray of 'cold', has already been told. But the story is deeper and stranger than that simple summary would indicate.

Henry Meddows' earliest memories were of the funeral of the man whom he believed to be his father, who passed away when he was six. Thereafter, it was just himself and his widowed mother in the old house outside of Chicora. She spent most of her late husband's fortune arranging for her son's private education, hiring tutors and buying texts. Henry's technical genius was apparent from a young age, and his first inventions were labor-saving devices allowing them to maintain their home, followed soon by a skin cream to help both himself and his mother to cope with their albinism.

In his late teens and early twenties, Henry found himself fascinated by snow and ice, notably by the way that water tended to expand its volume when it froze, unlike most liquids. He developed the somewhat outré theory that there were other liquids that had this property which had just not yet been discovered yet, and set about changing that. When asked, by one of his few friends, how this would benefit the world, he admitted that he wasn't sure, and volunteered the confidence that he sometimes felt like a sculptor 'discovering' the shape of a statue in a rock.

Regardless, he did in fact discover his 'infrawater' -- a substance that absorbed heat from its surroundings as it froze at room temperature, and expanded in volume several hundred-fold as it did. The discovery occurred just a day or so before the Protean began its rampage, which Meddows, horrified by the loss of life, naturally tried to stop. After hearing that a teenager had managed to momentarily escape from the creature after using a fire extinguisher on it, Henry theorized that infrawater could incapacitate the entity. And his theory proved correct.

That evening, while he recounted the episode to his mother, who had been bed-ridden for the past several years, she listened in somber silence until he reached the end of the somewhat rambling tale, and then nodded before telling him that there was something he needed to know. She had thought that it would be best to take this secret to her grave, but Henry was clearly walking the same path, and it would be cruel to hide it from him. The man he had always thought of as his father had not been.

In the early 1930s, Rosalind Richards had been romantically involved with a noteworthy surgeon and philanthropist in her native New York. Accounts of his discomfort around women had been slightly exaggerated in a series of juvenile novels about his activities. Rosalind had known much of his past, about the strange way he had been raised, and about his ambivalent feelings towards that way. But she also knew that, regardless of his ambivalence, he believed that it would be the best way for any child of his to be raised.

She disagreed. And so, when she discovered that she would bear his child, she made the impossible choice to walk away from their relationship, marry another man, and never see the great love of her life and the father of her son again. She had raised Henry to become a different sort of person, hopefully more happy in his life than his father had been. But nature would apparently tell, regardless of her intentions.

Henry was stunned at this revelation. At first, he tried to comfort his mother by assuring her that this episode had been a unique one, that he had no intention of going off to become some sort of crusader. And he meant it when he said it, continuing his experiments and caring for her in her final illness. When she finally passed away a few months later, he made an attempt to contact the man she'd told him about, but that individual had already departed for what would become his own last adventure. Alone in a world that was clearly stranger than he'd ever imagined, Henry Meddows chose to do the only thing that made sense to him. And so Doctor Freeze, cold-wielding superhero, was born.

He joined the Institute, and served as its leader over two terms, striving to lead by example. He was well-known for observing a code against killing that applied to all life, not just humans; this led him to clash with the military when they wanted his help to permanently end the Protean, and with Stardust on multiple occasions. Well, to call the latter 'clashes' is an exaggeration -- he would get angry and even raise his voice with Stardust, who would respond with stoic indifference. He was never mad enough to attack the other man, though Henry would and did try to get him thrown out of the Institute on several occasions.

His end came early in the final battle. Attempting to cover the withdrawal of civilians from the area under attack, he employed an experimental version of his Freeze Gun that produced a larger amount of 'ice' than he had ever managed before, shaping it into a wall designed to slow Stardust down. The Super-Wizard proceeded to reduce the material to its liquid form, resulting in a torrent that drowned Henry Meddows before he could escape. His body was recovered and lies buried in Chicora's cemetery; there is a small museum devoted to his activities there, based out of his former headquarters. Versions of his freeze ray have been used by several others, heroic and villainous, in the decades since.

As far as anyone knows, he had no children of his own. But most believe that to be the case of his father, too.

Dr. Freeze -- PL 8

Abilities:
STR
1 | STA 1 | AGL 3 | DEX 3 | FGT 3 | INT 7 | AWE 3 | PRE 2

Powers:
Freeze Gun: Array (31 points); Easily Removable (-13 points)
  • Blasting: Linked Ranged Damage 8; Linked Ranged Affliction 8 (Resisted by Fortitude, Overcome by Damage; Hindered, Immobile, Paralyzed); Reduced Range - 31 points
  • Sculpting: Continuous Create 8, Innate - 1 point
Protective Gear: Immunity 6 (cold damage, cold environment); Protection 4; Removable (-2 points)

Advantages:
Benefit 2 (independently wealthy), Equipment 10, Evasion, Improvised Tools, Inventor, Jack-of-all-Trades, Leadership, Power Attack, Skill Mastery (Technology), Uncanny Dodge

Equipment:
Utility Belt (10 points of equipment as needed)
The Icebox: Size Large; Toughness 10; Features: Communications, Computer [1960s computer], Fire Prevention System, Hangar, Holding Cells, Laboratory, Library, Living Space, Power System, Security System, Workshop - 15 points
Icewing: Size Huge; Strength 8; Speed 7 (air); Defense 6; Toughness 10; Feature Immunity 10 (cold effects) - 25 points

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+7), Close Combat: Unarmed 4 (+7), Expertise: Science 6 (+13), Insight 6 (+9), Investigation 3 (+10), Perception 8 (+11), Ranged Combat: Freeze Gun 5 (+8), Technology 5 (+12), Vehicles 5 (+8).

Offense:
Initiative +3
Unarmed +7 (Close Damage 1)
Freeze Gun +8 (Ranged Damage 8 and Fortitude 8)

Defense:
Dodge 9, Parry 7, Fortitude 5, Toughness 5/1, Will 9

Totals:
Abilities 46 + Powers 27 + Advantages 20 + Skills 24 + Defense 20 = 137 points

Complications:
Discovery--Motivation. Albinism. Fame. Honor (code against killing.)
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Captain Mystic (I)
Image
Image
Unmasked

Francis Tyler's mother told everyone that her husband had been killed when the Nazis invaded Belgium, and that she'd fled back home to the United States with their child so that he could be raised in the Land of Liberty. This was, Francis would eventually learn, untrue. She had not been married to his father, a French journalist noted for having undertaken numerous motorcycle expeditions, and they had been parted by a quarrel, not death. When Francis found out that his father had been a collaborator, he decided not to inquire any further about the man.

As a child, though, Francis knew none of this. He grew up in the company of his aunt and uncle while his mother worked as a secretary for a great metropolitan newspaper. Later, he would join her as an office boy for the Herald Tribune, and eventually became a young reporter -- a 'cub' in the newspaper jargon of the day. He had a fascination for the strange stories that were becoming more and more common, but his wilder imaginings were gently (and not so gently) curbed by the editorial staff, notably Owen LeBrett.

Still, his talent for finding the story could not be denied, and so he found himself sent on expeditions across the country, and then across the world. It was while on one such journey, taking him to Cairo to cover the account of a giant scorpion monster who'd been repelled from destroying the Old Aswan Dam at high cost, that he discovered the Amulet of Jedidiah in the ruins of a tenement that had been leveled by the creature's rampage. It fascinated him, though he wasn't sure why, and when he attempted to consult with scholars about it, he was told that it was nothing more than tourist trash. The hieroglyphs read 'almin', which was just an Arabic name of no particular significance. Probably it was the signature of whoever had carved the thing.

Nevertheless, he remained intrigued, and finally succumbed to the strange impulse to put it on. "I wonder what you were thinking when you made this thing, Almin?" he said aloud -- and then everything changed. He abruptly became a figure in blue and gold, far more robust than he'd ever been before, filled with more power than he knew what to do with. But that confusion lasted only a moment, as the sounds of screams from outside the hotel room told him that something was amiss, and he soon learned that the scorpion monster had not been as dead as they'd believed. He didn't even think twice before launching into battle with the beast, pounding it into oblivion.

When he returned home, Francis was beset with questions about the mysterious superhero who'd emerged from nowhere to physically battle an atomic monster with his gloved hands. He considered telling them the truth, then decided that it was best to act as though he was still outside the story, an observer ... albeit one who had spoken to the helmed figure, who asked to be called Captain Mystic. He became known as the source for stories on the Captain, and the fees for the stories helped to support both himself and his mother.

If there was any real problem with the situation, it was that he almost never had any real time to rest. Between his reporting, his solo heroism and his work with the Institute, he had to be ready for action at all hours. And being Captain Mystic, the perfect exemplar of truth, justice, and the American Way, the man who did not lie, smoke, drink or swear, was a hard burden to bear for a man who had a normal level of enjoyment of the simpler pleasures in life. People who knew Francis could tell that he was under stress, but they thought it was just the difficulties of life in the sixties that were getting to him.

And then the nightmare began. He took the field in the Battle of Vietnam relatively late, believing that the might of his Amulet would allow him to face Stardust as a peer. He was disabused of this notion very quickly. Even when he broke past his own limits, wielding the light as a weapon for the first time, it didn't even faze the Super-Wizard. The best that could be said was that he was still alive, though broken in many ways, when Stardust finally moved on. The Captain forced himself to rise once more, but the Battle was over by that point. The villain had fled. And the hero ... was someone else.

The Captain was airlifted to a hospital in Japan to have his injuries treated. When the nurse asked him if he could take off the helmet so she could see if he had injuries beneath it, he wearily agreed. Off it came, and he asked her how bad it was. She smiled, a gentle smile, and told him that he was a very handsome fellow, with just a few bruises. She showed him his face in the mirror, and he was startled to see that it was the face he always had, not that of the super-being he'd always imagined. He was just a man, who'd done what he'd been able to do, and whether or not it was enough was for later generations to decide.

He didn't start dating that nurse, one Sasaki Yui, until he'd been out of her care for a while, and he was sure that his feelings were genuine, and that she shared them. They were married in 1974, and their only daughter was born in 1975. The injuries that he'd suffered troubled him throughout the remainder of his life, and so he abandoned his heroic identity when Yuriko was born, focusing on studying and learning about the Amulet, changing what it could do so that the next user would be better equipped to fight the never-ending battle.

When Francis died, in 1988, he was somewhat stunned to discover that there was, at least in his case, an afterlife. Some part of his consciousness was preserved within the Amulet. He cannot easily communicate with his daughter, and she does not know that this fragment of his mind still exists, but he has continued to study the Amulet of Jedidiah from within, and in the process learn about its connections -- tenuous though they may be -- with other Artifacts. 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.

Captain Mystic (I) -- PL 11

Abilities:
STR
12/8/0 | STA 10/0 | AGL 8/0 | DEX 6/0 | FGT 10/1 | INT 1 | AWE 2 | PRE 6/3

Powers:
Amulet of Jedediah: Activation (Standard Action; -2 points)
* Amulet Attacks: Array (15 points)
  • Bringer of Light: Environment 7 (bright light) - 1 point
  • Magical Strength: Enhanced Strength 4; Leaping 7 (900 feet) - 15 point
* Amulet Augmentation: Enhanced Agility 8; Enhanced Dexterity 6; Enhanced Fighting 9; Enhanced Presence 3; Enhanced Stamina 10; Enhanced Strength 8; Immunity 10 (life support); Impervious Toughness 10 - 108 points
* Amulet Database: Comprehend 4 (languages) - 13 points

Advantages:
Defensive Attack, Evasion, Improved Defense, Improved Initiative, Inspire, Language 3 (several), Power Attack, Skill Mastery (Investigation), Takedown.

Skills:
Athletics 6 (+18/+14/+6), Expertise: Current Events 8 (+9), Expertise: Streetwise 8 (+9), Insight 10 (+12), Intimidation 6 (+12/+9), Investigation 8 (+9), Perception 9 (+11), Persuasion 7 (+13/+10), Stealth 6 (+14/+6).

Offense:
Initiative +12
Unarmed +10/+1 (Close Damage 8/0)
Magical Strength +10 (Close Damage 12)

Defense:
Dodge 10/2, Parry 12/3, Fortitude 12/2, Toughness 10/0, Will 9

Totals:
Abilities 14 + Powers 127 + Advantages 10 + Skills 34 + Defenses 13 = 198 points

Complications:
Doing Good--Motivation. Fame. Family (mother.) Power Loss (Amulet, cannot activate if unable to speak.) Secret Identity.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
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