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

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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Megapteran
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Kaiju
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Daikaiju

Frequently sighted in the air above Dread Island, and a well-known menace to aircraft that have the misfortune of flying into the island's current airspace, the natural habitat of these creatures -- officially named 'great wings', unoffically known as 'living ramjets' -- are the slopes of the island's numerous active volcanoes. The daikaiju variety, of which there are five documented examples, reserve the calderas of these volcanoes for themselves, and possibly for their infant young. However, the offspring of the megapterans are expected to grow up very quickly, as fierce battles between the caldera-dwellers and the slope-dwellers have been documented.

These battles, and certain behavior demonstrated by megapterans during human encounters, has resulted in the species developing a reputation for cruelty above and beyond the typical kaiju indifference to human life. Videotape of a megapteran tearing a passenger jet apart and consuming its passengers one by one has particularly cemented this perspective. Gigantologists dispute this, claiming that the creatures simply engage in normal predatory behavior, and are no more 'cruel' than any other non-sapient animal, but the popular view remains.

However, another perspective has emerged in Japan. Following the discovery of the species' tendency to make their homes in volcanoes, a noted Japanese clairvoyant proclaimed his discovery that there is a sixth megapteran daikaiju resident within Mount Fuji's magma chamber, and that it is responsible for the fact that Japan's greatest volcano has not erupted for more than three hundred years. No other clairvoyant has confirmed this, and some have issued denials, and there is no record of such a creature in local legend. Since then, similar claims have been made about volcanoes throughout the Ring of Fire, with no more evidence. If even one of these claims is true, then the creature is probably saving many lives ... but eventually the volcano will erupt, and the megapteran will emerge.

Megapteran -- PL 10

Abilities:
STR 12 | STA 12 | AGL 4 | DEX -2 | FGT 6 | INT -4 | AWE 3 | PRE 0

Powers:
Beak: Strength-based Damage 1 - 1 point
Firey Flight: Linked Flight 9 (1000 MPH) and Reaction Damage 8 - 50 points
Flame Absorption: Immunity 10 (fire effects); Regeneration 10, Source (fire) - 15 points
Huge Size: Permanent Growth 10; Impervious Toughness 12 - 42 points
Senses: Senses 4 (tracking infravision, acute scent, ultrahearing) - 4 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Improved Initiative, Power Attack

Skills:
Intimidation 2 (+7), Perception 4 (+7)

Offense:

Initiative +4
Unarmed +6 (Close Damage 12 and Reaction Damage 8)
Beak +6 (Close Damage 13 and Reaction Damage 8)

Defense:
Dodge 8, Parry 6, Fortitude 12, Toughness 12, Will 5

Totals:
Abilities 22 + Powers 102 + Advantages 3 + Skills 3 + Defenses 20 = 153 points

Complications:
Survival--Motivation. Animal (no speech, no fine manipulation). Vulnerability (cold).

Megapteran, Daikaiju -- PL 11

Abilities:
STR 14 | STA 14 | AGL 4 | DEX -2 | FGT 6 | INT -4 | AWE 3 | PRE 0

Powers:
Beak: Strength-based Damage 1 - 1 point
Firey Flight: Linked Flight 10 (2000 MPH) and Reaction Damage 11 - 55 points
Flame Absorption: Immunity 10 (fire effects); Regeneration 20, Source (fire) - 20 points
Gargantuan Size: Permanent Growth 12; Impervious Toughness 14 - 50 points
Senses: Senses 4 (tracking infravision, acute scent, ultrahearing) - 4 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Improved Initiative, Power Attack

Skills:
Intimidation 2 (+8), Perception 4 (+7)

Offense:
Initiative +4
Unarmed +6 (Close Damage 14 and Reaction Damage 11)
Beak +6 (Close Damage 15 and Reaction Damage 11)

Defense:
Dodge 6, Parry 4, Fortitude 14, Toughness 14, Will 5

Totals:
Abilities 22 + Powers 129 + Advantages 3 + Skills 3 + Defenses 20 = 185 points

Complications:
Sadism--Motivation. Animal (no speech, no fine manipulation). Vulnerability (cold).
"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 »

Ultraceratops
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Kaiju
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Daikaiju

Like most kaiju, the creatures dubbed ultraceratops can absorb and redirect energy, especially using it to speed up their recovery from injuries. Unlike most kaiju, ultraceratops do this more or less continuously, as the 'energy' they absorb comes from atmospheric vibrations in the audible range -- in other words, sound. The slightest noise in their vicinity is enough to trigger their regenerative abilities, and only an artificial sound-neutralizing field will normally stop it.

As a possible consequence of this, ultraceratops are relatively docile creatures, as kaiju go, and tend towards a herbivorous diet like the ceratopsians they somewhat resemble. However, they frequently supplement that diet with the giant insects and arachnids that are fairly common on (and beneath) Dread Island, and there are documented cases of ultraceratops eating human beings. (They do not, it seems, enjoy that particular taste, and tend to vomit up the victims within a few moments.)

Able to project sonic blasts, the ultraceratops frequently use these blasts to tunnel through the earth. Not only is the sonic energy used as a drill, it is apparently also employed as a 'thruster', allowing the creature to burrow much more quickly than they can normally move. Understandably, this phenomenon has never been directly observed, and defies current scientific understanding in many ways. (There are unlikely accounts of ultraceratops employing this ability to awkwardly fly, but such should probably be discounted.)

There are two documented daikaiju ultraceratops, with a third recorded as deceased following Super-Giant's first sortie. Aside from being much larger, they differ primarily from their kaiju kindred in being able to use their forelegs as arms, at least some of the time. The individual depicted above has been dubbed 'Pronghorn', as they have lost their primary horns in battle with the daikaiju gojirasaurus. Gigantologists are monitoring this particular ultraceratops closely, to see whether the horns will grow back.

Ultraceratops -- PL 10

Abilities:
STR 11 | STA 10 | AGL 0 | DEX -2 | FGT 6 | INT -4 | AWE 2 | PRE 0

Powers:
Horns: Strength-based Damage 3, Improved Critical 2 - 5 points
Huge Size: Permanent Growth 10; Protection 4, Impervious 14 - 48 points
Senses: Senses 6 (extended tracking accurate hearing 2, low-light vision, acute scent, ultrahearing) - 8 points
Sonic Disruption Wave: Perception Range Damage 9; Burrowing 9 (30 MPH) - 36 points
Sound Absorption: Immunity 10 (sonic effects); Regeneration 10 - 20 points

Advantages:
Power Attack

Skills:
Intimidation 4 (+9), Perception 6 (+8)

Offense:
Initiative +0
Unarmed +6 (Close Damage 11)
Horns +6 (Close Damage 14)
Sonic Disruption Wave -- (Perception Range Damage 9)

Defense:
Dodge 6, Parry 6, Fortitude 12, Toughness 14, Will 5

Totals:
Abilities 6 + Powers 106 + Advantages 1 + Skills 4 + Defenses 21 = 146 points

Complications:
Survival--Motivation. Animal (no speech, no fine manipulation). Power Loss (Regeneration, in artificial silence).


Ultraceratops, Daikaiju -- PL 11

Abilities:
STR 13 | STA 12 | AGL 0 | DEX 0 | FGT 6 | INT -4 | AWE 2 | PRE 0

Powers:
Gargantuan Size: Permanent Growth 12; Protection 4, Impervious 16 - 56 points
Horns: Strength-based Damage 3, Improved Critical 2 - 5 points
Senses: Senses 6 (extended tracking accurate hearing 2, low-light vision, acute scent, ultrahearing) - 8 points
Sonic Disruption Wave: Perception Range Damage 11; Burrowing 12 (250 MPH) - 45 points
Sound Absorption: Immunity 10 (sonic effects); Regeneration 20 - 30 points

Advantages:
All-out Attack, Power Attack

Skills:
Intimidation 4 (+10), Perception 8 (+10)

Offense:
Initiative +0
Unarmed +6 (Close Damage 13)
Horns +6 (Close Damage 16)
Sonic Disruption Wave -- (Perception Range Damage 11)

Defense:
Dodge 6, Parry 6, Fortitude 14, Toughness 16, Will 5

Totals:
Abilities 10 + Powers 144 + Advantages 2 + Skills 6 + Defenses 25 = 185 points

Complications:
Survival--Motivation. Animal (no speech). Power Loss (Regeneration, in artificial silence).
"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 »

Protean
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Brought to Earth by a meteorite that fell in the vicinity of Chicora, Pennsylvania in 1958, the creature eventually dubbed the protean entity was responsible for more than thirty deaths over the course of two days. Its rampage was halted when amateur inventor Henry Meddows used a weapon of his own creation, the first known 'freeze ray' to be built on Earth, to paralyze and incapacitate the protean, after which US Air Force troops based out of Olmsted AFB took charge of the monster and arranged for it to be transported to the far north of Alaska, where it was hoped that the low temperatures would ensure that it remained helpless. Meddows went on to a long career as the superhero Doctor Freeze, until his death in 1971.

Well before that, unfortunately, a warm front in 1962 allowed the protean to regain mobility, and it briefly attacked the city of Wainwright before the local temperature cooled enough to return it to its paralyzed state. Doctor Freeze was consulted about the protean's ultimate disposition, but his refusal to use his proprietary technology to simply kill the beast won him few allies on the committee. Depositing it in the Antarctic was considered, as was shooting it back into space. Over Meddows' objections, the ultimate decision was to parachute it onto Dread Island in the expectation that one of the local monsters would put an end to the creature without further risk to human lives. This was finally done in 1964.

For more than a decade, it was thought that the plan had in fact been successful, and that the protean had been eliminated by, for example, the snow snakes that live on the northern coasts of the island. At that point, it was discovered that the protean had in fact taken up residence in the island's large central lake -- now called Blood Lake, for obvious reasons -- and grown even larger than it had been during the height of its attack on Chicora. However, it appears to have reached its maximum possible growth, with a consequent reduction in its all-consuming hunger. It rarely attacks anything, except when provoked.

On the other hand, it is also now large enough that it periodically 'calves' off smaller versions of itself, which leave the lake and attempt to consume anything that they come across. The majority of them are killed by snow snakes, with others typically being annihilated by other types of monsters. None have been discovered off of the island, but the possibility that they might be keeps some people up at night.

In addition to such concerns, noted gigantologist Professor Nakamado Iemasa has argued that the introduction of the protean entity, and the later introduction of gerolds, to Dread Island's ecosystem, is the unknown factor that caused the origin of the daikaiju. While this theory does have its defenders, most other students of the island and its inhabitants are dubious that thirty years would be enough to produce such a change in its local species. Experimental proof, of course, is almost impossible to come by, as no one is particularly keen to take any of these creatures off the island for study. At least, no sane person wants that.

Protean -- PL 12

Abilities:
STR 12 | STA 12 | AGL 0 | DEX -4 | FGT 8 | INT -- | AWE 2 | PRE --

Powers:
Blob: Immunity 25 (fire effects, life support, sensory afflictions); Permanent Insubstantial 1; Movement 2 (slithering, wall-crawling); Regeneration 10 - 19 points
Gargantuan Size: Permanent Growth 12; Impervious Toughness 4 - 40 points
Molecular Acid: Reaction Damage 10, Secondary Effect - 40 points
Tendrils: Sustained Extra Limbs 4 - 4 points
Tremorsense: Senses 4 (extended 3 ranged touch) - 4 points

Advantages:
Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Seize Initiative

Skills:
Close Combat: Grab 4 (+12).

Offense:
Initiative +4
Unarmed +8 (Close Damage 12, plus Reaction Damage 10)

Defense:
Dodge 6, Parry 12, Fortitude 12, Toughness 12, Will NA

Totals:
Abiities -8 + Powers 132 + Advantages 3 + Skills 2 + Defenses 10 = 139 points

Complications:
Hunger--Motivation. Weakness (becomes Hindered, Immobilized, and Paralyzed when subjected to cold damage).

The smaller proteans mentioned can be represented using the Blob archetype from the Deluxe Gamemaster's Guide, with the addition of this creature's Immunity, Regeneration and Senses powers, as well as its Weakness.
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Scorpia
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First documented in 1999, the entity dubbed Scorpia was one of the first 'unique' daikaiju, in other words a creature which had never been identified as a smaller kaiju. While there are giant scorpion-like creatures on and beneath Dread Island, Scorpia resembles them only in very simple ways, with 'her' wings being only the most readily apparent difference. (That gendering has stuck to the creature even though it is now well-documented that it is probably the least appropriate gendering of any known kaiju.) The wings give non-gigantologists fits, incidentally -- they are much too small to generate lift for a creature of Scorpia's size, much less the weights 'she' has been demonstrated as lifting. Yet disabling them has prevented Scorpia from taking flight, which would indicate that gravity control is not responsible.

Scorpia's assigned gender is not the only assumption that clings to the creature, despite efforts to demonstrate its falsity. The daikaiju has a reputation as the 'benevolent kaiju', or 'the human friendly kaiju'. Both opinions were formed from early sightings, where Scorpia did not retaliate against human attacks, despite suffering injuries from them, and seemed to be deliberately steering battles away from settlements. There was also the way that 'she' would carry the kaiju victims of 'her' paralytic sting away from the battles, seemingly returning them to Dread Island.

Another factor might have been Scorpia's vulnerability. While able to fight other daikaiju as an equal, the creature was nevertheless killed in battle in 2001, during Cerebron's attack. The remains decayed remarkably quickly, preventing any scientific analysis. A month later, however, Scorpia was once again in action as though nothing had happened. The best guess was that Scorpia had produced an offspring that had quickly grown to resemble 'her' 'mother'. This happened several times over the next few years, with some assigning numbers to Scorpia identities, even though they were all identical and only one was ever seen at any given time.

It would not be until 2011 that the full details of Scorpia's life cycle were understood. During one of the creature's deaths, an expedition to Dread Island decided to infiltrate the cave in the island's southeastern mountains that previous explorers had identified as 'her' home. They discovered an enormous 'egg', but also a large collection of paralyzed kaiju, most on the verge of starvation. As they watched, the egg hatched and an immature verson of Scorpia emerged ... then promptly bit the other kaiju and sucked out all their fluids, growing to full size in the process. 'She' then produced another egg, before realizing that there were intruders in the cave and driving them out, killing two of them in the process.

'Good' and 'evil' have nothing to do with the residents of Dread Island. They are nature in its purest form, red in tooth and claw and stinger. And yet despite this, Scorpia is nonetheless an aberration among the kaiju and daikaiju, for they do possess human normal intelligence. This was confrirmed by none other that Basilea, who was able to both read Scorpia's mind and communicate with them. Yet the creature would only make two statements. "You do not belong here. You must leave."

Scorpia was not on Dread Island when this communication occurred. It took place in California.

Scorpia -- PL 13

Abilities:
STR 12 | STA 10 | AGL 3 | DEX 3 | FGT 10 | INT 1 | AWE 4 | PRE 0

Powers:
Flight: Flight 4 (120 MPH), Wings and Linked Enhanced Strength 13, Limited to Lifting - 17 points
Ground Speed: Enhanced Advantages 3 (Improved Initiative 3); Enhanced Defenses 6 (Dodge 3, Parry 3); Speed 6 (500 MPH; includes +1 from Growth) - 14 points
Gargantuan Size: Growth 12, Permanent; Impervious Toughness 6 - 46 points
Paralyzing Sting: Progressive Affliction 16 (Resisted by Fortitude; Hindered & Vulnerable, Defenseless & Immobilized), Extra Condition, Limited Degree, and Linked Progressive Weaken Strength 16, Limited to Immobilized targets - 64 points
Rebirth: Immortality 1 (1 month); Regeneration 5, Source (kaiju bodily fluids) - 4 points
Senses: Senses 4 (radius darkvision, acute scent, ultrahearing) - 4 points

Advantages:
Agile Feint, Defensive Attack, Evasion, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative 3, Improved Trip, Move-by Action, Uncanny Dodge

Skills:
Acrobatics 8 (+11), Intimidation 4 (+10), Perception 8 (+12)

Offense:
Initiative +13
Unarmed +10 (Close Damage 12)
Paralyzing Sting +10 (Fortitude 16 and Weaken Strength 16 [Resisted by Fortitude])

Defense:
Dodge 13/10, Parry 13/10, Fortitude 13, Toughness 10, Will 7

Totals:
Abilities 38 + Powers 145 + Advantages 7 + Skills 6 + Defenses 25 = 221 points

Complications:
Survival--Motivation. Avoids Humans. Hunts Monsters. Reputation ("good").
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Voltron64
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Voltron64 »

Nice take on Mothra.

And I just can imagine all the various standard procedures and tactics towards the various kaiju and daikaiju.

Like Daikaiju Megapteran? Kill on Sight. Send in Paragon or Super-Giant.
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Shock »

I love seeing Acrobatics and Agile Feint on a creature with Growth 12
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Voltron64 wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:10 pmLike Daikaiju Megapteran? Kill on Sight. Send in Paragon or Super-Giant.
Pretty much. And then there are the next two, who are more or less "All Hands on Deck" type monsters.
Shock wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:30 pm I love seeing Acrobatics and Agile Feint on a creature with Growth 12
Well, if you can do Acrobatics in plate armor ... and I noted that Scorpia is really fast for something so big, based on my fragmentary memories of how fast Shelob was moving before I fainted dead away.
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Voltron64 »

Davies wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:47 pm
Voltron64 wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:10 pmLike Daikaiju Megapteran? Kill on Sight. Send in Paragon or Super-Giant.
Pretty much. And then there are the next two, who are more or less "All Hands on Deck" type monsters.
Kthulu and Tiamat... :shock:
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Shock »

Davies wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:47 pm Shock wrote: ↑
Tue Jun 16, 2020 4:30 pm
I love seeing Acrobatics and Agile Feint on a creature with Growth 12

Well, if you can do Acrobatics in plate armor ... and I noted that Scorpia is really fast for something so big, based on my fragmentary memories of how fast Shelob was moving before I fainted dead away.
Just in case it didn't come across, that was amusement not criticism.
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Davies
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Shock wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:58 pm

Just in case it didn't come across, that was amusement not criticism.
We good. 8-)
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Voltron64 wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:57 pm
Davies wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:47 pm
Voltron64 wrote: Tue Jun 16, 2020 8:10 pmLike Daikaiju Megapteran? Kill on Sight. Send in Paragon or Super-Giant.
Pretty much. And then there are the next two, who are more or less "All Hands on Deck" type monsters.
Kthulu and Tiamat... :shock:
One of these days, when I have a fair amount of disposable income, I'm going to commission a fan art parody of the cover of The Brave and the Bold #28, with Cthulhu taking Starro's place.
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Kthulu
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Howard Phillips Lovecraft was, among many other things, an inveterate collector of quaint and curious forgotten lore. He didn't believe a word of it -- well, that's not true, he was far too willing to believe that people whom he viewed with contempt believed parts of it -- and he was perfectly willing to incorporate parts of it into the stories he constructed. Just as he later incorporated rumors that he'd heard about a naval operation in 1928 into a novel that he wrote in 1931, he also incorporated the minutes of a meeting of the American Archaeological Society in 1908 into a story that he wrote in 1926. There's no reason to think that he believed these minutes to be anything other than evidence of human depravity -- or rather that of certain kinds of human.

There's no evidence that the cult encountered by a certain New Orleans police detective had existed prior to about 1879, when it formed in response to the end of the Reconstruction era in the American south. Betrayed by church and state, a vanishingly small number of men created, they thought, a mythology of a being who would overthrow the world that sought only to harm them. The cult of Kthulu Urilia reached the height of its influence in the first decade of the twentieth century, and raids such as the one conducted in 1907 began its destruction by the authorities, less for any harm that it did than because no such organization of a people viewed as inferiors could be allowed to survive. By the twenties, it was all but a memory.

Yet Kthulu was and is real, and in his tomb in Urilia he slept the sleep of the dead, and dreamed, as he had for eons. He predated the Olympians, and the Titans. If, as some have claimed, the kaiju are the creations of the Titans, then it seems likely that they were made in imitation of the dreamer beneath the sea, whom these beings left to his own devices, perhaps out of dread. And though he was worshipped by human beings for less than an eyeblink, if indeed such does not describe humanity's entire existence, fate brought it about that his name continued to be spoken long after faith in it had died.

Perhaps that drew him forth from his sleep, or perhaps the stars at last turned right, in the year 2003. Warned by satellite imaging, the heroes of the Powerhouse assembled as this rough beast shambled across the surface of the water towards the Pacific coastline of South America, their minds shielded from his fell influence by both technology and mysticism. They readied themselves for the greatest battle of their lives ... and then Blakestone tilted her head.

"Guys," she said. "I think he ... no, it's an idiot. A great blind idiot." She shook her head. "No, no, I can't ... this thing is the Walter Mitty of its species. Everything it has ever pitched out into the collective unconscious, all the bits about it being the great priest king of it's kind? All just sick fantasies. This isn't going to be easy, but ... this is no god. It's just a monster whose butt needs kicking."

And kick its butt they did, and have (with some assistance) three times more in the years since then. Whenever defeated, the being dissolves into greenish smoke which seems to dissipate, then apparently reforms within Urilia (49° 51’ 0” S, 128° 34’ 0” W) to engage in whatever planning the blind idiot can handle. Attempts to capture the gas before it can disperse have not been fruitful. Invading Urilia has been discussed, but the likelihood of this awakening more beings like Kthulu -- who might not be idiots -- has led to the notion being tabled.

The ideal situation would be to return it to its sleep, so that it won't trouble humanity for the remainder of their existence on this planet, but this is also currently beyond anyone's power. More investigation is needed, and it seems likely that the entity will not cooperate. Meanwhile, there has been a marked increase of worship of this entity by beings who feel betrayed by the world ... which includes many descendants of those who so despised Kthulu's first known worshipers. Of course, Kthulu neither knows nor cares about any of this.

Kthulu -- PL 14

Abilities:
STR 15 | STA 14 | AGL 3 | DEX 3 | FGT 9 | INT -2 | AWE 3 | PRE 0

Powers:
Aquatic: Immunity 14 (cold effects, drowning, heat, high pressure, poison); Movement 1 (environmental adaptation [water]); Swimming 9 (250 MPH) - 25 points
Drive The World Insane: Hearing Perception Area Progressive Affliction 11 (dazed & sensory impaired, compelled & sensory disabled, controlled & unaware), Sustained, Extra Condition; Area Communication 3, Limited to compelled and controlled subjects - 89 points
Gargantuan Size: Permanent Growth 14; Protection 4, Impervious 16 - 62 points
Rebirth: Immortality 1 (1 month) - 2 points
Senses: Senses 4 (darkvision, extended mystical awareness) - 4 points
Tentacles: Elongation 3, Limited to Extra Limbs; Extra Limbs 4 - 6 points

Advantages:
Chokehold, Close Attack 3, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Improved Initiative, Move-by Action, Power Attack.

Skills:
Deception 10 (+10), Intimidation 4 (+11), Perception 8 (+11).

Offense:
Initiative +7
Unarmed +13 (Close Damage 15, Reach 3)
Drive the World Insane -- (Perception Area Progressive Affliction 11)

Defense:
Dodge 9, Parry 9, Fortitude 15, Toughness 18, Will 11

Totals:
Abilities 34 + Powers 188 + Advantages 8 + Skills 11 + Defense 29 = 270 points

Complications:
Destruction--Motivation. Delusions.

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"
Last edited by Davies on Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Voltron64
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Voltron64 »

Davies wrote: Wed Jun 17, 2020 6:24 am "Guys," she said. "I think he ... no, it's an idiot. A great blind idiot." She shook her head. "No, no, I can't ... this thing is the Walter Mitty of its species. Everything it has ever pitched out into the collective unconscious, all the bits about it being the great priest king of it's kind? All just sick fantasies. This isn't going to be easy, but ... this is no god. It's just a monster whose butt needs kicking."

And kick its butt they did, and have (with some assistance) three times more in the years since then. Whenever defeated, the being dissolves into greenish smoke which seems to dissipate, then apparently reforms within Urilia (49° 51’ 0” S, 128° 34’ 0” W) to engage in whatever planning the blind idiot can handle. Attempts to capture the gas before it can disperse have not been fruitful. Invading Urilia has been discussed, but the likelihood of this awakening more beings like Kthulu -- who might not be idiots -- has led to the notion being tabled.

The ideal situation would be to return it to its sleep, so that it won't trouble humanity for the remainder of their existence on this planet, but this is also currently beyond anyone's power. More investigation is needed, and it seems likely that the entity will not cooperate. Meanwhile, there has been a marked increase of worship of this entity by beings who feel betrayed by the world ... which includes many descendants of those who so despised Kthulu's first known worshipers. Of course, Kthulu neither knows nor cares about any of this.
Kindred spirits, I suppose.
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Re: A World Less Magical But No Less Fantastic

Post by Davies »

Tiamat
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What good is it to be one of the mightiest beings in the world, when you are all too aware that the world is a speck of dust suspended in a sunbeam?

The tomb was uncovered in Iraq, not long after the fall of the Baathists in 1988, not far from the ancient city of Der. Its excavation was a decades-long project, which allowed the fact that it was being sponsored by the Pythonian Insurgency to pass unnoticed. The director of the operation avoided capture when the Pythons were broken up, as all those who knew of his connection to the organization had died in battle. Pythia herself took the secret of this project to her grave, believing that it would lead to her vengeance on the world. She may yet be right.

Not until 2009 was the entire complex exposed to the surface, and not until then were the great doors carefully opened. Wondrous things were thus exposed, but the time of treasure hunting archaeology was long in the past, and most of those present were more motivated by scientific discovery rather than a desire for wealth. Which was why they were so surprised when the director grabbed one of the ritual objects, cackled madly, and chanted a certain phrase in Sumerian. Their surprise and the director's exaltation ended very quickly a few moments later, when the entity imprisoned within the tomb, now freed, grew to its full size.

The five headed dragon that began to rampage across the Middle East was, inevitably, dubbed Tiamat. After conventional military forces were demonstrated to be ineffective against the beast, the Powerhouse was contacted, and engaged with it. The running battle crossed over the Indian Ocean and into the South Pacific before the heroes were finally forced to withdraw after having disabled only three of the heads. This was apparently enough for Tiamat to also retreat and seek a place to recuperate, and, as if drawn by instinct, she chose Dread Island for her destination.

Later that day, a human female washed up on one of the beaches of Dread Island's southwestern extremity, and was taken in by the Mahani people who live there. The implanted Argus agent among the Mahani suspects that the so-called amnesia victim must be a superbeing of some sort, but has no real idea of her true identity. For her part, Tiamat is content to live among these humans, learning about how current human society works. The notion that this environment is very far from the way that most humans live, that things have changed greatly for humanity in the thousands of years she has been asleep, does not occur to her, as they had not changed much at all in the thousands of years she had existed before that.

If encountered in her human form, Tiamat appears as a perfectly normal human female of around forty years of age, with features typical of a Western or possibly Central Asian ancestry. Her wings and claws are accessible to her in this form, but usually hiddden. Anyone familiar with Nike will note a distinct resemblance between the two women, though that name (and for that matter the name 'Tiamat') means absolutely nothing to her. She speaks no living language, though her telepathy is both versatile and subtle enough that she can communicate with any sapient creature.

Her greatest wish would be the opportunity to leave this sad little planet and wander the stars, as she remembers doing. Why she can't just do this bewilders her, but her attempts to fly out of the atmosphere have always failed. Something is still binding her to this planet, and she suspects that it would be simpler to destroy the planet itself than to end the binding. That is not something she would voluntarily do -- while without mercy, she is not mindlessly cruel -- and so she stews in annoyance and confusion.

Periodically, her frustration with the current situation (and loneliness, honestly) becomes too much for her, and she slips away from the Mahani to walk into the water and emerge, miles away, in her draconic form. She doesn't exactly rampage in the way of a kaiju, but nothing that she encounters, whether human or monster, is safe from her. She will retreat if enough of her heads are damaged ... and what constitutes 'enough' varies from encounter to encounter. She would be stunned at the suggestion that there is anything wrong with making these attacks. This is simply the exercise of her vital powers in a life affording them as much scope as this world will allow.

Tiamat -- PL 15

Abilities:
STR 18/4 | STA 19/5 | AGL 2 | DEX 0 | FGT 9 | INT 1 | AWE 4 | PRE 0

Powers:
Dragon Claws: Strength-based Damage 1 - 1 point
Dragon Wings: Enhanced Defenses 14 (Dodge 7, Parry 7)*; Flight 8 (500 MPH), Wings - 8 points
Gargantuan Size: Growth 14 - 45 points
Human Form: Morph 1 (human-like form), Quirk (only at minimum size) - 4 points
Multiple Heads: Continuous Heroic Summon 13, Controlled, Horde, Multiple Minions 3 [5 minions], Feedback, Mental Link, Quirk (only at maximum size) - 130 points
Senses: Senses 7 (accurate extended hearing, accurate acute scent, ultrahearing) - 7 points
Telepathy: Mental Communication 3; Comprehend Languages 2 (understand and speak all languages); Impervious Will 8 - 26 points
Titanic Endurance: Immunity 11 (aging, life support); Impervious Toughness 14* - 25 points

* Tiamat's Enhanced Defenses and Impervious ranks are limited to the number of Growth ranks she has active; she only ever activates even numbers of Growth.

Advantages:
All-Out Attack, Evasion, Improved Initiative, Power Attack, Startle

Skills:
Close Attack: Claws 2 (+11), Expertise: Extremely Ancient History 8 (+9), Intimidation 6 (+13/+6), Perception 8 (+12).

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +9 (Close Damage 18/4)
Claws +11 (Close Damage 19/5)

Defense:
Dodge 9, Parry 11, Fortitude 19/5, Toughness 19/5, Will 11

Total:
Abilities 50 + Powers 308 + Advantages 5 + Skills 12 + Defenses 16 = 365 points

Complications:
Frustration--Motivation. Fish Out of Water. Neither Regard Nor Hatred For Humanity.

Tiamat's Heads - PL 13

Abilities:
STR 11 | STA 11 | AGL 2 | DEX 0 | FGT 9 | INT 0 | AWE 4 | PRE 0

Powers:
Bite Attack: Strength-based Damage 3 - 3 points
Firey Breath: Cone Area 2 Damage 13 - 39 points
Huge Size: Permanent Growth 10; Immunity 10 (life support); Protection 4, Impervious 10 - 54 points
Mindless: Immunity 30 (Will) - 30 points
Senses: Senses 7 (visual counters all concealment and illusion) - 7 points

Advantages:
All-out Attack, Close Attack 3, Improved Grab, Improved Hold, Power Attack, Teamwork

Skills:
None.

Offense:
Initiative +2
Unarmed +12 (Close Damage 11)
Bite +12 (Close Damage 14)
Firey Breath -- (Cone Area Damage 11)

Defense:
Dodge 9, Parry 11, Fortitude 12, Toughness 15, Will Immune

Totals:
Abilities 34 + Powers 134 + Advantages 8 + Defenses 19 = 195 points
Last edited by Davies on Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:18 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"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 »

Nike
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It was all so very long ago, and possibly very far away. She was born into a world of wonders, and cossetted by her father, Great Dyaus, and her dear brother, Endil, and all of her other brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, cousins ... so much family that she never wondered where her mother was. This was all four thousand years ago, if she reads the stars right, and most likely on the moon called Ganymede.

She was eight years old when the world ended. No one told her what was going on, as her beautiful home began to tear itself apart. Perhaps none of them knew any more than she, for all their grown-up wisdom. She and the other children of the Olympian court were pressed into suspended animation capsules, to be sent through portals to the safer worlds of the empire and sleep until they were recovered. Nike's last clear memory is of her aunt Metis pausing in closing the capsule, staring down at her with grief, and murmuring, "All that we've destroyed, you must build again." Then darkness engulfed her, and she slept.

There was never any recovery. Not until the year 2012 of the current calendar was Nike awakened, when the suspension capsule's failing power supply gave up the ghost. She emerged to discover that its suspension had been failing for long enough that she had aged perhaps a decade during her long sleep. She didn't have time to contemplate that, however, as she was starving and horribly dehydrated. Somewow, despite her weakness, she managed to take flight out of the underground chamber and emerge onto the surface of Mount Olympus, startling a pair of hikers when she crashed on the ground before them and begged for water.

One of the hikers was Petros Katapelis, a retired professor of classics, who was struck by the similarity between the young woman who'd just appeared before him and what remained of the Winged Victory of Samothrace. The story she told of what had happened to her, related between bites of beef jerkey and swigs of water, had the professor's eyebrows permanently raised. He'd heard countless stories about how the ancient gods of his nation had been aliens, rather than the poetic metaphors that he'd always thought they were, but none delivered quite so earnestly as this. His personal inclination was to believe that this was just a young woman whose mind had cracked under the weight of her super-powers' emergence ... but what if he was wrong?

Taking her into his home, Professor Katapelis did the best job he could in educating Nike about the world in which she lived now, and all that he knew about the gods of lofty Olympus, too. Much of it sounded familiar, much of it slighty familiar, and some of it was totally alien to anything that she'd known. Her major conclusion, helped by her knowledge of the stars, was that her family had been gone a very, very long time, and that they were never, ever going to come for her.

A while she mourned, and then she set about the task that her aunt had given her, millenia past. Rebuilding Olympus is probably beyond her abilities, but helping humanity to achieve the heights that Olympus once knew might be a more feasible task. So she has taken on the role of protector and consoler to the people of Greece, while sometimes venturing beyond its borders on matters of import. If she was a child in a grown woman's body when she awoke, the last eight years have forced her to grow up very quickly, and she strives to exhibit a calm maturity that she learned from the Professor, with whom she still lives under the guise of his (fictional) niece Neith.

Perhaps the greatest advantage in her quest was her discovery, in the cavern where she slept, of preserved seeds for a certain species of peach tree -- the legendary fruit of immortality, from which the wine called ambrosia was made. Both she herself and the Katapelis family are eating of this fruit, which now grows on land that they own, though the humans only experience a slight reduction in the aging process when compared to how it affects her. Nike is considering how best to introduce this to the human race as a whole.

Her greatest foe is the being known as Prometheus, who appeared out of nowhere and assaulted her for no reasons that she understands. The name did not mean anything to her until Professor Katapelis told her the story. If it is true that he is some old enemy of her family, then she did not learn of his existence in her childhood, and does not understand what he is trying to accomplish in hurting her. She has managed to survive his attacks, but never really defeated him in any way, which frustrates her a great deal.

While Nike was invited to join the Powerhouse, she has politely declined, preferring to focus her efforts on Greece and its environs rather than be constantly drawn into global affairs. She is quite willing to help other heroes when they come to her homeland, however, and would be very interested if any of them could help her get out to Ganymede to find out what, if anything, remains there. If someone were to help her against Prometheus, she'd find a way to move mountains on their behalf.

Nike -- PL 12

Abilities:
STR 10 | STA 8 | AGL 6 | DEX 4 | FGT 12 | INT 1 | AWE 4 | PRE 3

Powers:
Eagle-Eyed: Senses 3 (extended vision 2, rapid vision) - 3 points
Gift of Tongues: Comprehend Langagues 3 - 9 points
Olympian: Immunity 4 (aging, cold, disease, poison); Impervious Toughness 8; Regeneration 5 - 17 points
Wings: Enhanced Advantages 3 (Defensive Roll, Improved Initiative 2); Enhanced Defenses 4 (Dodge 2, Parry 2); Flight 6 (120 MPH), Winged - 13 points

Advantages:
All-out Attack, Assessment, Close Attack 2, Defensive Roll 2, Fearless, Improved Critical (unarmed), Improved Initiative, Inspire, Teamwork.

Skills:
Acrobatics 6 (+12), Athletics 3 (+13), Expertise: Magic 8 (+9)*, Expertise: Tactics 8 (+9), Insight 10 (+14), Intimidation 8 (+11), Perception 6 (+10), Persuasion 5 (+8).

* INT-based.

Offense:
Initiative +6
Unarmed +14 (Close Damage 10)

Defense:
Dodge 12/10, Parry 14/12, Fortitude 12, Toughness 10/8, Will 7

Totals:
Abilities 96 + Power 42 + Advantages 7 + Skills 27 + Defense 11 = 183 points

Complications:
Responsibility--Motivation. Friend (Petros Katapelis and family). Nemesis (Prometheus). Power Loss (Olympian, must consume ambrosia weekly). Reputation (The Last Olympian). Secret (Peaches of Immortality).
Last edited by Davies on Mon Aug 03, 2020 12:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
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