The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Red Ronin! Netsuko Nishimura! Rinako Saeki! Fujiko Yoshihara! Masaru Kido!)

Where in all of your character write ups will go.
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Davies
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: The Icons! Queenie! Terrifica! Medic! Spike!)

Post by Davies »

I think I see a way to break the curse, but not a survivable one. Would breaking it end whatever keeps the forgotten god involved with this world?
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: The Icons! Queenie! Terrifica! Medic! Spike!)

Post by EternalPhoenix »

Davies wrote: Thu Sep 15, 2022 5:04 am I think I see a way to break the curse, but not a survivable one. Would breaking it end whatever keeps the forgotten god involved with this world?
Yep. It breaks, he's gone to wherever the rest of his pantheon went. The curse is the last thing keeping him in the world. There's actually two ways to break it, in my opinion. This isn't me shooting down whateer your idea is, as I haven't even read it yet.

One is to have Nick Phoenix, Asteroth, Methion, or some other comic tier badass break it because they're just much more powerful than some forgotten god. This could also work if you like 7 badass magicians together and did a group ritual. The trouble with this method is that it would strip Spike of his powers, leaving Los Angeles and the Icons short one of their most powerful heroes.

The other is, of course, simply killing Spike. He doesn't have any children to pass the curse down to. Naturally this is not a good idea because Spike is now both powerless and dead, as opposed to simply powerless. So you'd need one of those cosmic tier badasses just to resurrect him. And if Spike wanted to die he'd be dead by now.

Could try to repower him after one of those, but eh. Nick can't do it. He could only make him a Phoenix Mutate, which comes with its own fresh set of Complications. Methion is a supervillainous mastermind, so if he did do it there would be enough strings to fill a fabric store with. And Asteroth isn't a charity, either. There'd be a price to be paid. If he even bothered to agree to do it in the first place and didn't refuse out of sheer laziness and/or contrariness.
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Icons progress update 7

Post by EternalPhoenix »

Icons progress update 7 let's go (100% finished from prior removed)

Active List
(100% finished)

Inactive Reserves (inactive for various reasons)
Sage (Sagacious Winifred Burke) (Build finished, Background & Personality finished, Powers & Tactics in progress)
Scarlett (real name unknown) (Build finished, Background finished, Personality finalizing, Powers & Tactics in progress)
Crusader (Sir Randall Knight) (Build finished, Notes ready)
Nick Phoenix (Build finished, have to find Notes, bleh)

Hall of Honor (assumed to be permanently inactive by US hero community; this may be incorrect in some cases)
The Shining Guardian (Henry Kim) (Build finished, Background & Personality finished, Powers & Tactics in progress)
Shadowspirit (real name unknown) (Build finished, Background finished, rest to do)
Gunsmith I (Connor Morris) (Build finished, Background & Personality finished, Powers & Tactics in progress)
Megagirl (Megan Price) (Build finished, Background & Personality finished, Powers & Tactics in progress)
Arriba (Jose Vega) (Build finished, Background in progress, rest to do)
Nega I (Hal Scott) (Build finished, Notes ready)
Alsea (Build unfinished, feat selection left)
Countess (Build finished, Notes ready)
Starman II (Jesse Thompkins) (Build finished, Notes ready)
Stargirl II (Jacqueline “Jackie” Thompkins) (Build finished, Notes ready)

No 100% finished ones this time around, but as you can see a lot has been done. Sage, Scarlett, and Shadowspirit has received significant writing. The older a character is/the more that has happened to them, the larger their Background section needs to be. thus I am thanking you in advance for reading Tidal, Caviezel, Sage, Scarlett, Crusader (who will likely stretch like the rest, there's a lot to cover even briefly), and basically the entire Hall of Honor. You have my utmost gratitude. Especially for who's probably the current record holder for longest Background ever, The Shining Guardian.
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: The Icons! Queenie! Terrifica! Medic! Spike!)

Post by Davies »

EternalPhoenix wrote: Thu Sep 15, 2022 4:40 pm
Davies wrote: Thu Sep 15, 2022 5:04 am I think I see a way to break the curse, but not a survivable one. Would breaking it end whatever keeps the forgotten god involved with this world?
The other is, of course, simply killing Spike. He doesn't have any children to pass the curse down to. Naturally this is not a good idea because Spike is now both powerless and dead, as opposed to simply powerless. So you'd need one of those cosmic tier badasses just to resurrect him. And if Spike wanted to die he'd be dead by now.
This is what I was imagining.

Would a clone of him count as a child? Someone starts the process of cloning him, involuntarily. If the curse will be passed down to a viable clone, then I think ending himself and preventing that might seem acceptable when compared to the thought of this whole cycle of abuse continuing for who knows how many future generations. It's a tragic end, but if it allows his offspring to escape this fate ... <spreads hands in uncertainty>
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: The Icons! Queenie! Terrifica! Medic! Spike!)

Post by EternalPhoenix »

Davies wrote: Sat Sep 17, 2022 2:33 am This is what I was imagining.

Would a clone of him count as a child? Someone starts the process of cloning him, involuntarily. If the curse will be passed down to a viable clone, then I think ending himself and preventing that might seem acceptable when compared to the thought of this whole cycle of abuse continuing for who knows how many future generations. It's a tragic end, but if it allows his offspring to escape this fate ... <spreads hands in uncertainty>
There is always the terrifying thought that the god and/or the nature of the curse may not allow him to die without the curse being passed on. It's only one sentence in his writeup, but between the two they defied the literally cosmic power behind the Dusting and kept him alive. If it came to that, he would be willing to try. But again, is it even possible? He doesn't know. Nobody seems to. Whether or not a clone would count as offspring is a deeply metaphysical question, I think. Do clones count as people in the same way those born regularly do, supernaturally speaking? There's no clear consensus. Treat them like they are, certainly, but the truth of the matter has not been anywhere near settled among the writers I've been exposed to. So it's one of those things I'd leave up to the GM at his or her table.
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: The Icons! Queenie! Terrifica! Medic! Spike!)

Post by Davies »

Probably the best answer.
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Candy (Candice Mikkelsen)

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Candy (Candice Mikkelsen)

Power Level: 10; Power Points Spent: 210/210

STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +3 (16), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +7 (24)

Tough: +3/+8, Fort: +7, Ref: +12, Will: +8

Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+15), Bluff 13 (+20), Concentration 12 (+15), Diplomacy 13 (+20), Gather Information 13 (+20), Intimidate 3 (+10), Investigate 7 (+10), Knowledge (business) 2 (+5), Knowledge (civics) 12 (+15), Knowledge (life sciences) 2 (+5), Knowledge (physical sciences) 2 (+5), Language 4 (+4), Medicine 2 (+5), Notice 12 (+15), Perform (oratory) 8 (+15), Search 7 (+10), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Stealth 12 (+15)

Feats: Accurate Attack, Acrobatic Bluff, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus (melee) 4, Attack Specialization 2 (Drain Glucose (Fatigue 8)), Challenge - Improved Distract, Challenge - Improved Feint, Challenge - Improved Taunt, Defensive Attack, Distract (Bluff), Dodge Focus 5, Eidetic Memory, Elusive Target, Evasion, Fascinate (Bluff), Fascinate (Diplomacy), Grappling Finesse, Improved Critical 2 (Drain Glucose (Fatigue 8)), Improved Critical 2 (Hard Candy Weapons (Strike 4)), Improved Initiative, Improved Trick, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Bluff, Diplomacy, KN (civics)), Stunning Attack, Takedown Attack 2, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

Powers:
Hard Candy Armor (Force Field 5) (+5 Toughness; Impervious [3 extra ranks])

Sugar Control (Array 12) (default power: strike)
. . Drain Glucose (Fatigue 8) (Array; DC 18; Range (ranged))
. . Hard Candy Constructs (Create Object 8) (Array; Max Size: 8x 5' cubes, DC 18; Impervious)
. . Hard Candy Weapons (Strike 4) (Default; DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Hard Candy Weapons (Strike 4)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5) [2 extra ranks], Penetrating [2 extra ranks]; Accurate (+2), Extended Reach (5 ft.), Mighty, Subtle (subtle), Variable Descriptor (Narrow group - Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing))
. . Sugar-kinesis (Move Object 12) (Array; Strength: 60, Carry: 17 tons / 34 tons / 51.2 tons / 102.4 tons; Range (perception); Limited Material (Sugars))
. . Sugarstorm (Strike 8) (Array; DC 23; Cloud Area (40 ft. diameter, lingers - General))

Sugar Road (Flight 5) (Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd; Platform)

Attack Bonus: +8 (Ranged: +8, Melee: +12, Grapple: +15)

Attacks: Drain Glucose (Fatigue 8), +12 (DC Fort 18), Hard Candy Weapons (Strike 4), +14 (DC 21), Sugarstorm (Strike 8) (DC 23), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 17)

Defense: +12 (Flat-footed: +4), Knockback: -8

Initiative: +7

Languages: Arabic, English Native, German, Hmong, Spanish

Totals: Abilities 42 + Skills 37 (148 ranks) + Feats 37 + Powers 46 + Combat 30 + Saves 18 + Drawbacks 0 = 210

Age (as of Jan 2019): 35
Height: 5’ 7”
Weight: 135
Ethnicity: 1/2 Caucasian (German/Swedish ancestry), ½ Costa Rican (Hispanic)
Hair: Dark Brown (dyed, normally Black)
Eyes: Hazel
Base of Operations: Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Theme Song: Hit The Ground, by HalaCG

Background: Candice Mikkelsen is a defense attorney in Milwaukee. She’s quite popular among the courthouse dwellers for being extremely attractive, very nice, and a bastion of integrity. Candy is by far the most prominent superhero in Milwaukee. She’s quite popular among the citizenry for being extremely attractive, very nice, and a bastion of integrity. If you suggested that the two brown haired and hazel eyed women with almost identical builds were the same person, you would be laughed out of town. Candy captures criminals and gets them sent to jail. She’s obviously on the side of the law. Candice puts in incredible effort to prevent criminals from going to prison. She’s obviously one of those bleeding heart types, more concerned with the rights of scum than protecting innocent people. The citizens of Milwaukee are uh, wrong. As you already know, Dear Reader, the superhero Candy and defense attorney Candice Mikkelsen are the same person.

. . That, however, is not the only secret she’s carrying. Her sugar powers are not the result of magic, focused telekinesis, or some weird mutation. She’s a Phoenix Mutate. Their collective reputation was already rather poor due to some incidents of death and destruction when their powers inevitably emerged. However, the debut of the Academy’s Alpha Team in 2007, their subsequent battles with Josef Pietrovich’s group (among others), and the emergence of Beta Team later that year pushed things to a breaking point. These were teenagers with the powers of gods. They fought each other with the wild abandon of the former and apparent disregard for life and property of the latter. The debut of Gamma Team in 2011 was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Carlos Javier, the Academy’s headmaster, had too much influence for the federal government to do anything, and Josef Pietrovich was a fugitive already. Some states passed registration laws, but they mostly didn’t work. So all that’s left is several dump trucks full of prejudice from the normies. A Phoenix Mutate gets attacked because of said prejudice, has to retaliate with very strong powers they don’t necessarily have full control of yet or face serious injury/death, and there’s another incident for the nightly news about how dangerous those Phoenix Mutates are. It is, uh, not a stable situation. Especially after the entire Javier Academy and Josef Pietrovich’s group finally joined forces to combat said escalating prejudice and moved to what is functionally an island fortress in the Caribbean.

. . So…obviously Candice doesn’t want to have anything to do with…any of that. Understandably so. Unlike many but not all Phoenix Mutates, she was able to hide the emergence of her powers. The shift in her metabolism was easily explained by her being 13 at the time. She was significantly overweight as a kid, but the excess weight melted away fairly rapidly after her powers emerged. Her sudden increase in fondness for candy and sweet treats was just a new personality quirk. Of course, the actual reason was that her blood sugar requirements had spiked (to the degree that anyone else would have been in a hyperglycemic coma) to support her rapidly developing powers. And always having some hard candy on hand was also a way to practice her control over them. So, she hid her powers all throughout school, university (Northwestern), and law school (University of Chicago, because why move again?). She passed the bar exam in Wisconsin, and voila. The newest member of the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office, serving under who is still the District Attorney, John T. Chisholm.

. . Up until her college days, she had no intention of being anything other than a very good lawyer. But the curriculum at Northwestern opened the door, and a certain encounter shoved her through it. Jackson Park has a statue of Starman II in it. Lovely little exhibit about him, too. This isn’t strange. Chicago was and is the home city of the Starfamily. Grant has another one. Burnam and Marquette have statues of the first Starman. Lincoln Park has one of the entire original Starfamily. Candice’s encounter, however, was in Jackson. Specifically, with a teenage girl who was also visiting the statue that day. Jennifer Thompkins, not that the two swapped names. She was visiting her father. The conversation wasn’t particularly long, and it’s unlikely Jennifer even remembers it. For Candice, however, it was one of the defining conversations of her life. The masked vigilante who appeared for a year or two in Chicago has never been positively identified.

. . Candice stopped because law school is grueling even for smart people, and she simply didn’t have the time. After moving back to Milwaukee, though? Candy made her debut. It was a rather simple idea, really. As a prosecutor, she had the inside info on the bad guys, and so when she took them down she what to do make it easier to win the trial. The ethics of these were a little, uh, dubious, but she was Doing The Right Thing, so whatever. It wasn’t like the office rookie got to do anything important anyway. So she wasn’t even affecting her own cases. This distance became hard to maintain as her years of experience accumulated, until a certain event made it impossible. Namely, the Shining Guardian, Shadowspirit, and Queenie busting up a deep rooted Neo-Nazi terrorist cell inside the US Army. While that trio never set foot in Wisconsin, the investigative aftershocks exposed a small group at Fort McCoy, compromising the local JAG office until it too could be exonerated of any wrongdoing. That small group was going to shoot their way out of the Fort and try to execute their horrific plans for Milwaukee…except the base commander was a smart man unrestrained by pride. He’d called in a local superhero, namely Candy, to provide support if needed. To make a short story shorter it was, uh, needed. With the local JAG office enduring an internal Army investigation, the State of Wisconsin got first crack at prosecuting the group. And since they planned to commit their additional crimes in Milwaukee, the Milwaukee County DA’s office got to take lead.

. . The case basically finished off Candice’s belief that the justice system was honorable and fair. She knew it wasn’t, really, after 4 years of putting people in prison. But knowledge and belief aren’t the same. She had tried very hard to be totally ethical and above board, despite being a superhero who may well have gotten her defendants arrested in the first place. There were others who didn’t try quite so hard. Additionally, these guys (the Neo-Nazi terrorist remnants) had gotten a dozen chances only to get more or less slapped on the wrist each time. They were young men with promising futures, after all. Meanwhile Candice had pled out a number of young people (who didn’t do half of what these guys did) she now didn’t like to think about who got slapped with prison sentences measured in years. Three guesses as to the skin tones and/or economic statuses of the former and the latter. She stayed until the verdicts. Guilty on all counts, of course. She was a very good prosecutor, after all. Then she left the DA’s office and immediately joined the public defender’s office.

. . Of course, the following year was when Fletcher (accidentally) made a murderous AI. She wasn’t the most impressive (Spike was noticeably more powerful and Terrifica went full supergenius) during the actual battle, but she was the one who got the word out that the Icons needed help this time. The Icons extended her an offer not because of her combat skills (though they played a part) but because she was a people person and her city genuinely liked her without caveat. This was not a thing that Spike or Terrifica could claim. Gotta have positive role models in the group, too, you know? She sided with Fletcher during the Icons civil war. As an officer of the court, she knows obeying the law is Extremely Important. She was a part of the Eternity War, though no match for Kuros. And she was among the Dusted, so she didn’t appear again until after that was undone and it was time for the final battle. She acquitted herself quite well there, finally cementing her “Sugarstorm” into her regular arsenal. Now, she’s tied for most popular Icon with Queenie, and actually outshines her among het men, lesbians, and other female oriented persons. Seriously, she’s extremely attractive.

. . Candy doesn’t have any regular allies in Milawaukee. It’s a small city by American standards. Less than a million people. Their last big names died in ’92 (Kuros’s revenge invasion) and ’01 (tried to help stop Armageddon, did not go well). She’s the first to stick with it after those two. Hero game is brutal, after all. However. She has her eye on two new folks who surprisingly took up her banner after she was Dusted. A private detective with superhuman strength, and the latest heroic member of an unending family feud. The former’s name she doesn’t know (yet), but the latter is Anti-Venin. Her most persistent enemies include the primary crime boss in the city Lardaceous (big, fat, and physically dense enough to be functionally immobile; with superhuman strength and durability), and batshit crazy The Nutritionist (fruit and vegetable theme mundane weapons, plus her equally crazy gang the Sugarfree Alliance). The arch nemesis of Anti-Venin and other side of that unending family feud, The Toxic Tyrant, has also begun to make waves.

Powers & Tactics: Candy is a Phoenix Mutate. Like all of them, she only has the one simple sounding power, but it’s the sheer breadth and versatility of it that makes her dangerous. To maintain her cover as not-a-Phoenix-Mutate-please-don’t-hate-me, she is habitually sandbagging her power to the point where it now takes effort to access her real strength. Her simple sounding power is control over sugar. But it’s not just table sugar, or sucrose. It’s everything that can chemically be called sugar. Fructose (fruit sugar). Glucose (blood sugar). Lactose (milk sugar). If it’s a monosaccharide, a disaccharide, an oligosaccharide, or even a polysaccharide, she can do whatever the hell she wants to it. Move it like she has telekinesis (she doesn’t, but close enough), tear it out of whatever it’s in (be it food, drink, or living flesh), alter its chemical structure to that of a different sugar, or craft sugar and/or candy substances with a tensile strength superior to that of concrete. Basically she can turn a bag of sugar into what is effectively bulletproof glass in as many pieces and shapes as she likes. Only the “bag of sugar” can be a counter full of baked goods. Or a soda fountain. Or a bar full of malted beer. Or even a person. As previously stated, she is a hell of a lot more powerful than she’s allowing herself to be. The “bulletproof glass” example is just what she does with her power. It is not all it is capable of. Since she’s a lawyer and not a chemist, she has no idea her power also applies to deoxy sugars. Such as deoxyribose (which is part of DNA), fucose (present on the surface of mammal, insect, and planet cells) or fuculose (an important part of avian flu viruses) and rhamnose (which appears in many types of plants as well as being a part of the tuberculosis bacterium).

. . With that said, she leans very hard on constructs made of hard candy. Her default mode is still manifesting hot pink hard candy armor and melee weapons (staves, swords, spears, axes, hammers, etc), and simply beating the opposition up. She is an expert melee fighter, so that’s usually good enough. The primary style she’s trained in is Kunst des Fechtens (German swordsmanship, technically, but it includes other weapons). However she has cross training in Escrima and kickboxing. Post Endgame has seen her upgrade this default significantly, however. Fighting an army adjusted her perspective. The armor is now hard enough that she can ignore any man portable mundane firearm. The weapons hit harder, faster, and penetrate armor more readily. The other candy constructs she creates have the same durability as her armor, and she’s retrained her “base power” (in her mind) of sugar-kinesis to its original strength. She’s welcomed her ability to drain glucose out of a person to tire them and her “Sugarstorm” (a cloud of tiny razor sharp hard candy flakes that can shred enemies) to her regular combat rotation. Additionally, the speed of her “Sugar Road” (a hard candy platform she destroys and recreates as she moves through the air; ground supports are required however) has increased fivefold. She can now effectively fly faster than most cars.

. . Tactically, well, as stated she still mostly relies on her Hard Candy Weapons. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. She has both Improved Feint to help hit Improved Taunt to potentially do more damage, and Takedown Attack 2 to just mow through low level enemies. With that said, Hard Candy Constructs are excellent cover to protect civilians with, and Sugar-kinesis can bury the battlefield if there’s enough sugar around. Drain Glucose can be surprisingly effective on single targets. And the Sugarstorm proved its worth against the armies of Kuros. Sugar Road and Move By Action keep her quite mobile. She has both Accurate and Power Attack. Improved Distract and Improved Trick have their uses, as does Stunning Attack. She only has one regular power stunt left. Hard Candy Blast (Blast 12). She’ll have to develop some more, as two out of the prior three are now in the regular rotation. How bothersome. Do not forget that she is a Phoenix Mutate, and thus has Untapped Potential for free. So when she uses Extra Effort, she gets three ranks of additional effect instead of two. This can be used with Extraordinary Effort, as well. When she does this, it is a documented effect known as Plus Overdrive.

Personality: Candy is, fittingly enough, a sweetheart. She’s just like, really nice. Kind. Generous. Compassionate. Empathetic. Etc. A very likeable people person. Cheerful, optimistic, and confident. Kind of the ideal hero, really. And that’s the point. Candice, obviously, isn’t some perfect ideal person. But when she forms the hard candy mask on her face she puts on the performance. Because the civilians need it. They need their hero to keep smiling even when things get tough. Or panic will start to set in, and they’ll start making increasingly poor decisions out of fear. So, she has to show them she’s on top of the situation and everything is fine. Even when she has absolutely no idea what she’s supposed to do. Even when she’s terrified. It’s part of a hero’s job. Their responsibility.

. . This is the point where either the negative elements of her personality or the downsides of the positive get airplay. But…there aren’t any, really? She doesn’t always make the greatest decisions, but who does? Her sense of legal ethics is shaky, but that’s true of all lawyers who are also superheroes. She was 17 when Starman II died. Almost a legal adult, but still a kid in many ways. It was a tragedy, sure, but it had almost nothing to do with her, you know? But that little talk with Jennifer. The ethos of Starman, whichever one it was. Power inherently came with responsibility. She stood there, in front of the statue of a man who’d given everything he had to protect people, next to the daughter who missed him terribly, and felt ashamed. She may not have had quite as much power (in her opinion) as a Star, but she still had more than most. She could do a lot of good with a law degree, but this did not inherently require her to abandon her powers. She could do better. Do more. So she does. ‘Nuff said.
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Z (real name unknown)

Post by EternalPhoenix »

Z (real name unknown)

Power Level: 10; Power Points Spent: 225/225

STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +2 (14), INT: +5 (20), WIS: +5 (20), CHA: +5 (20)

Tough: +2/+4, Fort: +7, Ref: +10/+14, Will: +10/+12

Skills: Acrobatics 7 (+10), Bluff 10 (+15), Climb 3 (+5), Diplomacy 10 (+15), Disable Device 5 (+10), Drive 7 (+10), Gather Information 10 (+15), Intimidate 10 (+15), Knowledge (streetwise) 10 (+15), Knowledge (tactics) 10 (+15), Language 1 (+1), Notice 10 (+15), Sense Motive 10 (+15), Sleight of Hand 2 (+5), Stealth 12 (+15), Swim 3 (+5)

Feats: All-Out Attack, Assessment, Beginner's Luck, Challenge - Improved Demoralize, Challenge - Improved Distract, Challenge - Improved Feint, Challenge - Improved Startle, Connected, Contacts, Defensive Roll 2, Distract (Intimidate), Elusive Target, Evasion 2, Improved Critical (Bar Smack (Strike 3)), Improved Initiative 2, Jack-of-All-Trades, Luck 5, Master Plan, Master Plan 2 (tactics), Move-by Action, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Seize Initiative, Set-Up, Skill Mastery 2 (Bluff, Diplo, Gather Info, Intim, KN (tactics, Notice, Sen Mot, Stealth), Startle, Takedown Attack 2, Teamwork 3, Ultimate Effort (Toughness & Will saves), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory), Well-Informed

Powers:
The Instinct (Container, Passive 10) (Innate, Subtle 2 (unnoticable))
. . Enhanced Attack & Defense (Enhanced Trait 26) (Traits: Attack Bonus +6 (+15), Defense Bonus +4 (+14), Reflex +4 (+14), Will +2 (+12))
. . Enhanced Feats (Enhanced Trait 4) (Traits: Defensive Roll 2 +1 (+2), Evasion 2 +1 (+2), Improved Initiative 2 +1 (+2), Feats: Seize Initiative)
. . Instinctual Danger Sense (Super-Senses 13) (counters concealment: Mental, counters illusion: Mental, counters obscure: Mental, danger sense: Mental, extended: Mental 3 (-1 per 2 mi), radius: Mental, ranged: Mental, uncanny dodge: Mental)
. . Lucky As Hell (Luck Control 1) (force a re-roll, Feats: Luck 5; Uncontrolled)

Z's Education Bar (Device 1) (Easy to lose)
. . Bar Smack (Strike 3) (DC 20, Feats: Improved Critical (Bar Smack (Strike 3)); Mighty)

Z's Special Phone (Device 2) (Hard to lose)
. . Communication 6 (sense type: radio; Subtle 2 (unnoticable), Variable Descriptor 2 (Broad group - Any Technological))

Attack Bonus: +9/+15 (Ranged: +9/+15, Melee: +9/+15, Grapple: +11/+17)

Attacks: Bar Smack (Strike 3), +15 (DC 20), Unarmed Attack, +15 (DC 17)

Defense: +10/+14 (Flat-footed: +7), Knockback: -2

Initiative: +7/+11

Languages: English Native, Spanish

Totals: Abilities 44 + Skills 30 (120 ranks) + Feats 32 + Powers 64 + Combat 38 + Saves 17 + Drawbacks 0 = 225

Age (as of Jan 2019): 33
Height: 6’ 1”
Weight: 225 lbs
Ethnicity: African American
Hair: Black
Eyes: Dark Brown
Base of Operations: Baltimore, Maryland

Theme Songs: Zero, by Shwabadi x Sinewave Fox and I Run This Jungle, by City Wolf & Tone Assassin

Background: Z is an enigmatic figure. He is the first Five Year Vet to come out of Baltimore. Ever. There is no record of any other superhero getting past the five year barrier. It’s not because it’s an exceptionally dangerous city for heroes. It’s that the problems there are deeply intractable. Stuck in the twin shadows of Washington, DC and Philadelphia. Only half a million people inside the city limits. The gang violence is without end. Over 300 murders per year, highest per capita in the United States. It’s a city that’ll break your heart. There’s no one criminal or supervillain responsible for the state of the city. There’s no one organization to take down and save the day. The city’s problems are systemic. Poverty. Neglect. Corruption in both city government and law enforcement. And these have bred a criminal subculture and a general hostility to the police department. Yet it is not a city without hope. It has some of finest medical facilities in the world. A football team that’s routinely in the playoffs. And a hero devoted to saving it from itself.

. . They say cities get the heroes they deserve. If that’s true, then it’s a hell of a reflection on Baltimore that they have Z. He is, without a shadow of a doubt, the darkest of the Icons. Before his recruitment to the Icons, he was considered nothing more than an urban legend. A boogieman that would get you if you were bad enough. BCPD’s files knew better. He is technically wanted in countless violent assaults. No murders, however. BCPD considers him just another gang leader, albeit one with an interesting moral code. Killing is bad, but maiming and crippling are a-okay. For once, law enforcement basically has it right. Z is in fact a gang leader. He does, in fact, commit acts of extreme violence on people committed to being his enemies. Without killing them, amazingly. The rest, though, the police have no way of knowing to begin with. He doesn’t tell people, generally. It’s Z after a certain fictional masked hero from Spanish Mexico. And, nowadays, after a certain anime protagonist turned violent revolutionary. Because yes, Z is plotting a violent revolution, but not of the type you’re probably thinking of, Dear Reader. His plan is to conquer that criminal subculture. He would prefer to do it by winning hearts, but some folk are hardheaded. Don’t know how to listen when people talk sense. That’s aight, tho. A broken knee, busted collarbone, or shattered spine takes them out of the game just as effectively. And makes other folk more likely to discard their hardheadedness. Surprisingly, this is working. Slowly but steadily, Z is taking over Baltimore’s criminal underworld. It seems impossible, but then a lot about Z seems impossible. Like how he’s still alive.

. . The story Z tells about his early days is that a friend of his was killed in a shootout. Collateral damage. As always, nobody saw nothin’. Quick and easy superhero origin story. Except this is Baltimore, the city that’ll break your heart. The usual methods don’t work. Not in B-more. Or rather they do, but then it twists on the hero involved. Like congratulations, you locked up that robber. Except his baby momma was counting on that money to pay off her loanshark. His two cousins hate you, and tell everyone they know that you’re a piece of shit who nobody should cooperate with. And now her cousin has to commit robberies to help her out. You see, Baltimore is one of the biggest small towns in the world. Ain’t but six degrees o difference between one resident and another. Trying to knock down any one of its problems is like trying to kill the Greek hydra without any fire, or volunteering to be Sisyphus. Z knows this well. He spent years trying in the traditional heroic way. Did some good here and there, but he was basically a hamster on a wheel. No progress made. More and more enemies who wanted to kill him. And a list of allies that shrank faster (via death or abandonment) than it grew. He came within a hair’s breadth of not just picking up a gun, but trying to kill his way out of the problem. Because he had the gun in his hand and the intent to use it before one of his allies made him see sense.

. . Z needed to change tactics. So he did. Instead of trying to be a traditional superhero, he went in a different direction. Gang leader, and organized crime boss. Take out everybody else, become the new kingpin of Baltimore’s underworld. In essence, transforming himself into the hardest of the hard motherfuckers. By the time he became a Five Year Vet, the word was out. Z wasn’t someone to be fucked with. Regular superheroes just beat bad guys up. Z was, as previously stated, leaving people crippled and maimed. Like he’d gone full psychopath or something. Except…one, he wasn’t killing anyone. Two, he was clearly building his own crew. And three. The why he did not hide. Every single one broke one of Z’s new rules. They’re several of them, but they basically boil down to don’t do any kind of significant physical, financial, or material harm to people. Break Z’s rules, and he breaks you. Period. No exceptions. No mercy. No pity. But on the flip side, anybody who needs help so they don’t have to break his rules can get in touch. He’ll either help them out or he knows someone who will.

. . Yeah, Baltimore will break your heart. But it can also lift you up again. Z was initially limited in what he could do, but one grateful person led to another. And another. And another. Contacts. Allies. People willing to step up and fight for a better city but ho didn’t want to be actual superheroes. Jessica Alton, mother to Tigress of the Exiles. Moriel of the Earthbound Host. Bai Ling, Tibetan pacifist martial artist. To name a few. Z does not fight alone. This is how he is slowly saving the city. A list o contacts and allies a mile long, and a willingness to brutalize as many as it takes for the rest to get the message. Because of this, he only has one persistent enemy that is an individual, as many larger criminal organizations like the Bloods, Crips, and Black Guerrilla Family have branches in or near the city. This enemy is Frank Lloyd, a corrupt bail bondsman who both has his own local crew and isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty. For obvious reasons, Z and Lloyd have never come face to face in the street. They’ve exchanged words, but always with Lloyd at a safe distance, with people between them (like on opposite sides of a full church on Sunday), or in a public area like a shopping mall or midday downtown street. He’s a crafty motherfucker, clearly.

. . At any rate, Z never intended to be anything more than Baltimore’s darkest protector. Until the Shining Guardian recruited him to replace the, uh, “staying out of it you idiots” Terrifica as a strategist and resident knower of stuff. Which, with his contacts and allies, isn’t as much of a stretch as it initially appears. To his credit, he didn’t appear out of his depth during the Eternity War. It was his clever scheme (using the Time Crystal that he somehow had. Where’d you get that, Z?) that delayed Kuros collecting the last of the Power Crystals by a full day by basically hiding it deep in Baltimore. The unfortunate part is that this only encouraged Kuros to summon his armies to the city, thus triggering the titular Eternity War between the Shining Guardian’s Icons faction and Z’s gang versus Kuros and his armies. Z was unfortunately among the Dusted, which left his city in even greater chaos. Still. His return during the Endgame was an unexpected rallying moment, and he’d brought his entire gang with him. Thanks for the portal, Blackrose. You’re a real one. He acquitted himself quite well during that final battle. He may not be quite the strategist that Terrifica is (which is no insult to a man without enhanced intelligence), but his perspective and ideas are dramatically different. Between that, and being the only Icon with his own personal army at his beck and call, it could be said that Z made his name that day.

. . Which is why it’s kind of strange that nobody’s seen him in person since. He’s made plenty of phone calls and sent plenty of text messages. Jessica Alton, Moriel, and Bai Ling say that he’s fine and they’re just acting as intermediaries at his request. Z himself has confirmed this by phone. But uh…if that’s true, then where is he, what is he doing, and why are the Icons not responding for requests for information about him? Nobody, not even his closest associates, knows where he lives, his real name, or even what he looks like under all that Ravens merch. Even as he has hit the height of his fame, Z remains an enigmatic, mysterious figure. He’d have it no other way. Apparently.

Powers & Tactics: Z, as far as anyone knows, has no superhuman powers. He’s just got really, really good instincts. Apparently. Though…street level heroes speak of having an “instinct” for the work. Just…knowing what you need to do when you need to do it. All the best heroes have tended and do tend to display such a thing to some degree. And the poor ones rarely ever. So it’s not impossible that this is the truth. That his instincts for hero work really are just that keen. At any rate, something’s going on. Because nobody’s that accurate or that dodgy without professional training, and by his form Z clearly has little to none. Luck also appears to generally be on his side. And few people have a, well, instinct for dangerous situations like he does. When something’s wrong he just…knows. Not specifically what it is, but all the same.

. . He carries a pair of technological devices, though calling the metal longshoremen’s bar he calls his Education Bar technological is a stretch. It’s a glorified club, but it works. His phone, on the other hand is rather special. For one, it’s not a phone. It’s a radio communication device that can connect to the cellular network. Or any other tech based network. And unless one can detect radio waves, it’s undetectable. Even if one can, it still requires pretty good perception to detect.

. . Tactically, Z is both street level mook destroyer and consummate team player. His only method of direct attack is a swift Bar Smack, but those who only watch out for that are doing him a grave disservice. Improved Demoralize, Distract, Feint, and Startle. Set Up. Teamwork 3. And Master Plan 2, which on average will grant a +3 bonus to skill rolls and attack checks for three rounds, followed by +2 and +1 for one round each. Beginner’s Luck and Jack of All Trades let him try his hand at anything and do reasonably well. Z is the type of hero who works best with a team and does everything he can to make them better at what they do. Connected, Contacts, and Well-Informed keep him in the know and supplied with teammates to support. And for when he has to fight himself, All Out and Power Attack are on deck. For reasons that should be obvious, he can’t power stunt at all.

Personality: Z is the other angry black man on the Icons. Folks tend to think of Spike first in that category, because he’s more prominent and often much louder. Z is low key. Quiet. Subtle. Because while he may be angry, his anger management skills are excellent. They need to be, because what he’s angry about isn’t something one man with a glorified club can change. His city is slighted. Mistreated. Ignored. Neighborhoods either rot unseen or get gentrified, pushing out the original residents. He’s not being fair. People are trying. They’re always trying. It’s just Baltimore. The city that’ll break your heart. But also the city that’ll lift you up again. His city knows the meaning of loyalty, for better and for worse.

. . It’d be a stretch to call Z a good man. Good men don’t leave people weeping in the street with shattered knees. But he’s honorable, fair, and he keeps his word. He’d pass the “get the little girl’s kitty out of a tree” test easily. He can be kind, generous, and helpful to his allies. He can also be cold, cruel, and vicious to his enemies. You come to his city, you obey his rules. Or you suffer the consequences. That’s how it is. End of story. Well. One last thing. He doesn’t enjoy hurting people. His anger does, but he doesn’t. It’s regrettable, but necessary. Don’t like it? Then why are you in Baltimore?
The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse!)
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EternalPhoenix
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Icons progress update 8 for 25k Views

Post by EternalPhoenix »

Icons progress update 8 for 25k Views let's go (100% finished from prior removed)

Active List
(100% finished)

Inactive Reserves (inactive for various reasons)
Sage (Sagacious Winifred Burke) (100% finished)
Scarlett (real name unknown) (100% finished)
Crusader (Sir Randall Knight) (Build finished, Background in progress, rest to do)
Nick Phoenix (Build finished, have to find Notes, bleh)

Hall of Honor (assumed to be permanently inactive by US hero community; this may be incorrect in some cases)
The Shining Guardian (Henry Kim) (100% finished)
Shadowspirit (real name unknown) (100% finished)
Gunsmith I (Connor Morris) (Build finished, Background & Personality finished, Powers & Tactics in progress)
Megagirl (Megan Price) (Build finished, Background & Personality finished, Powers & Tactics in progress)
Arriba (Jose Vega) (Build finished, Background in progress, rest to do)
Nega I (Hal Scott) (Build finished, Notes ready)
Alsea (Build unfinished, feat selection left)
Countess (Build finished, Notes ready)
Starman II (Jesse Thompkins) (Build finished, Notes ready)
Stargirl II (Jacqueline “Jackie” Thompkins) (Build finished, Notes ready)

For crossing the 25K view boundary an Icons post jumps ahead in the queue and you get another update post. What's that, 21 or 22 out of 32 entries finished? How neat. Really should finish Alsea's build, but eh. I'll get to it. Still another Icon on Tuesday, that hasn't changed. It's just Marian Soaring Eagle instead of Z now.
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: The Icons! Queenie! Terrifica! Medic! Spike! Candy! Z!)

Post by Davies »

EternalPhoenix wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 3:32 am Z (real name unknown)
... fascinating.
"I'm sorry. I love you. I'm not sorry I love you."
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: The Icons! Queenie! Terrifica! Medic! Spike! Candy! Z!)

Post by EternalPhoenix »

Davies wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 3:42 am
EternalPhoenix wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 3:32 am Z (real name unknown)
... fascinating.
You will have to be much more specific. I don't know what part you're talking about.
The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse!)
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: The Icons! Queenie! Terrifica! Medic! Spike! Candy! Z!)

Post by Davies »

EternalPhoenix wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 4:00 am
Davies wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 3:42 am
EternalPhoenix wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 3:32 am Z (real name unknown)
... fascinating.
You will have to be much more specific. I don't know what part you're talking about.
ALL OF IT.

I suspect that if I'd actually watched The Wire rather than picking up what I have through osmosis and deciding that my blood pressure can't handle the rest, I'd be even more impressed. It is a much, much cooler and more grounded take on this archetype than anything I've attempted.
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: The Icons! Queenie! Terrifica! Medic! Spike! Candy! Z!)

Post by EternalPhoenix »

Davies wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 4:03 am
EternalPhoenix wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 4:00 am
Davies wrote: Mon Sep 19, 2022 3:42 am

... fascinating.
You will have to be much more specific. I don't know what part you're talking about.
ALL OF IT.

I suspect that if I'd actually watched The Wire rather than picking up what I have through osmosis and deciding that my blood pressure can't handle the rest, I'd be even more impressed. It is a much, much cooler and more grounded take on this archetype than anything I've attempted.
You know, I've never seen The Wire. I've just lived here my whole life. It may be a piece of crap town but it's my piece of crap town.
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: The Icons! Queenie! Terrifica! Medic! Spike! Candy! Z!)

Post by greycrusader »

I really like how you stretched the boundaries of what a character can do with what is superficially a very limited power, the ability to control sugar molecules; your combo of research and imagination opens up how effective a hero such as Candy can be, despite having what most would believe at first thought would be a practically useless ability for crime-fighting/adventuring. And this is with the character psychologically restricting herself form her full potential! Nice job.

All my best.
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Marian Soaring Eagle

Post by EternalPhoenix »

Marian Soaring Eagle

Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 225/225

STR: +1 (12), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +2 (14), INT: +6 (22), WIS: +7 (24), CHA: +3 (16)

Tough: +2/+4, Fort: +6, Ref: +12, Will: +12

Skills: Acrobatics 8 (+10), Bluff 7 (+10), Climb 9 (+10), Concentration 8 (+15), Diplomacy 12 (+15), Gather Information 12 (+15), Handle Animal 2 (+5), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 14 (+20), Knowledge (earth sciences) 4 (+10), Knowledge (theology & philosophy) 9 (+15), Language 5 (+5), Medicine 3 (+10), Notice 8 (+15), Ride 8 (+10), Search 9 (+15), Sense Motive 13 (+20), Sleight of Hand 3 (+5), Stealth 8 (+10), Survival 13 (+20), Swim 9 (+10)

Feats: Accurate Attack, Attack Focus (melee) 3, Attack Specialization 5 (Grapple), Contacts, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Dodge Focus, Endurance (+4), Evasion, Grappling Finesse, Improved Aim, Improved Disarm, Improved Grab, Improved Initiative, Improved Pin, Improved Throw, Improved Trip, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Ritualist, Skill Mastery (Knowledge (arcane lore), Search, Sense Motive, Survival), Track, Uncanny Dodge (Mental), Well-Informed

Powers:
Hunting Rifle (Device 3) (Hard to lose)
. . Hunting Rifle Shot (Blast 5) (DC 20; Improved Range 2 (250 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 2500 feet))
. . Scope (Super-Senses 1) (extended: Normal Visual 1 (-1 per 100 ft))

Judo Techniques (Array 2) (default power: - linked powers -)
. . Chokehold (Strike 4) (Array; DC 19; Alternate Save (Fortitude); Requires Grapple)
. . Joint Lock (Stun 4) (Array; DC 14; Requires Grapple)
. . Standing Throw (Linked)
. . . . Throwing (Strike 4) (Linked; DC 19; Limited (Trip Must Succeed))
. . . . Tripping (Trip 4) (Linked; Range (touch))
. . Striking (Strike 3) (Array; DC 19; Mighty)

Last Scion of Three Bloodlines (Features 1) (Notes: Supernatural Beings lose all Powers (if they don't have a CON score, their Fort Immunity remains) and have their Physical Ability Scores reduced to Bystander ranks when in combat with Marian. This is functionally a PLX ability that can't be quantified with numbers, but it's important to list here. It also has no effect on humans, aliens, and other mortal beings. She also has no control over it whatsoever. She neither turns it on nor off. It just happens because of who she is.)

Readied Rituals (Variable 4) (acquire: any one of (type) - powers, limited to: magical powers; no attack effects; Action 2 (free); Unreliable (5 Uses))

Spirit Talker (Comprehend 1) (spirits)

Spiritual Senses (Super-Senses 6) (accurate: Mental, acute: Mental, awareness: Spirit/Soul Awareness (mental), radius: Mental, ranged: Mental)

Attack Bonus: +11 (Ranged: +11, Melee: +14, Grapple: +26)

Attacks: Chokehold (Strike 4), +14 (DC Fort 19), Hunting Rifle Shot (Blast 5), +11 (DC 20), Joint Lock (Stun 4), +14 (DC Fort/Staged 14), Striking (Strike 3), +14 (DC 19), Throwing (Strike 4), +14 (DC 19), Tripping (Trip 4), +14 (DC 14), Unarmed Attack, +14 (DC 16)

Defense: +12 (Flat-footed: +6), Knockback: -2

Initiative: +6

Languages: Cheyenne, English Native, Hopi, Lakota, Spanish, Ute

Totals: Abilities 42 + Skills 41 (164 ranks) + Feats 31 + Powers 48 + Combat 44 + Saves 19 + Drawbacks 0 = 225

Age (as of Jan 2019): 33
Height: 5’ 4”
Weight: 120 lbs
Ethnicity: Native American (hybrid of Cheyenne, Hopi, Lakota, and Ute)
Hair: Black
Eyes: Dark Brown
Base of Operations: Mobile, in Mountain Time Zone, USA

Theme Song: Falling Down, by Zach B featuring Sailorurlove

Background: Marian Soaring Eagle is a study in contradictions. Clearly she cares about her people. She’s proud of being a Native American, to the point where she changed her legal name to better represent who she is. But by the same token she is very much a creature of the 21st Century, with no real patience for “the old ways”. If she were someone else, this really wouldn’t matter. Unfortunately, she is the last scion of three old shamanic bloodlines. Old as in they were old before a single European had ever set foot on American soil. You see, North America has a prison. A supernatural prison, where all sorts of incredibly dangerous and nasty creatures are imprisoned forever. Well. Not forever. Until the seven shamanic bloodlines that imprisoned them run out. At the time, long before any European had set foot on American soil, this was unimaginable. Today, well…four of them are gone. And the last member of any of the rest is Marian. She does not like it, not one bit.

. . Marian wasn’t raised in mysticism. She wasn’t even born on a reservation, for god’s sake. She was born in Santa Fe. She went to school, grew up, and knew nothing about the whole “Last Scion” thing. Being Native was both good and bad. Good because millennia of history, their own languages and stories, just fantastic. Loved it. The bad, well…racism, obviously. Cultural appropriation. Etc. You know. And this was her life. Until a cousin she’d never met died, and the ghosts of her three grandfathers (that she’d also never met) appeared to her and told her of her destiny. Oh. Oh, fuck that. Fuck one hundred percent of that. She wanted to be a search and rescue specialist not…not a Magical Native American! Jesus, what a cliché. She told her ghostly grandfathers where to go and how to get there. She’d have kids eventually and they could bother them about it. Less than a week later the first cultist tried to murder her, ranting and raving about how their masters would drown the world in blood or some bullshit. This was weird, but whatever. Crazies were everywhere, right? Of course, that loser was not the last one to give it a shot, and some of them had freaky powers. She couldn’t hold down a job, because these goddamn assholes would cut through anyone to get to her. God. Fucking. Damn. It. Fine. She hit the books. Listened to some old stories from folks on various reservations. And she went from irritated to completely terrified. Not like, screaming terror either. That slow, cold, paralyzing fear that simply grips you so hard you can’t think, let alone move. It seemed like every single horrible monster from the old stories was both real and crammed deep under the Rocky Mountains somewhere. And the only thing keeping them there was the beating of Marian’s heart. Fuck. Double fuck. Triple fuck. Quadruple flying mother fuck. Whether she believed it herself or not was totally irrelevant. What was relevant was that a whole host of murderous fanatics did. She didn’t want to be murdered, obviously, but if the stories were true…well, she’d better not get killed before she procreated, if you know what I mean. So. Super duper. Time to learn how to defend herself. Some judo. Some marksmanship. And yes, damn it all, some shamanic magic from her three grandfathers.

. . That was 2007. Marian has a reputation now. Professional badass and spiritual heavyweight. Also, she donated some of her eggs for women who can’t have babies normally, and she knows they’ve been used. 21st Century tech for the win. So “last scion” is maybe a bit of misnomer. But she still doesn’t want to be murdered, and dumping such a tremendous responsibility on a child seems like a shitty thing to do. Because she knows they’re not just stories now. She’s been to the prison that she is the sole warden of. Even with a will as strong as hers, she had nightmares for a week. She is a search and rescue specialist for those lost in the desert or the mountains. She spends a lot of time in the wilderness, actually. It’s a lot easier not to get found that way. And there’s a lot of work to do with the spirits of the land and sky as well. They’re ill treated by modern Christianity, and the initial settlers were openly hostile. So sometimes they take revenge, and that’s bad news for anybody human in the area. Both of these are good work. They need doing. But Marian is always a little annoyed. Because she’s a walking cliché, and she doesn’t like it. Not one bit.

. . She joined the Icons Civil War on Fletcher’s side, because like hell she needed the federal government after her too. She was there for the Eternity War, but Kuros outclassed her in power by several country miles and she is not an idiot. Very luckily, she wasn’t among the Dusted. Very unluckily, her biological children apparently were, as she was ducking fanatics about once every two weeks. Yes, even in the middle of nowhere. Really good tracking spells, apparently. How annoying. She played a key role in undoing the Dusting with her vast magical expertise. Knowing how to reform the Crystals of Power is as much a magical ritual as it is a scientific endeavor. Terrifica brought the science, and Marian brought the magic. As a result she was there during the Endgame, trying very hard not to get killed in the massive battle. Today, with the Shining Guardian retired and Sage way too busy, she’s the resident magical specialist in the Icons. Oh, yay. As a side note, she kept the one Crystal of Power not to shatter again. The Soul Crystal, containing the soul of Shadowspirit. Well, “kept”. It’s underneath the Rockies in the super prison, not in her back pocket.

. . Marian has one consistent ally. Her poorly named boyfriend Super Biker, with his sentient alien motorcycle that gives him superhuman strength and resilience. And one persistent enemy. The…actually, it’s not clear what Croy is, aside from ungodly powerful and imprisoned underneath the Rockies for being outstandingly hostile to humanity. One would think it’d be kind of difficult to get messages out from a prison that doesn’t allow visitors on pain of joining the inmates or a gruesome horrible death. And yet, Croy must be managing somehow, as his cultists try to murder Marian every other Thursday (metaphorically speaking). While there’s plenty of other fanatics (washed and unwashed) after her life, it is Croy’s who seem to have the easiest time finding her. Which isn’t even a little disconcerting, why do you ask. Hearing a master’s name consistently from these nutjobs isn’t unnerving at all, why would you think that. And the horns all over his humanoid goat like body and the very sharp teeth in his mouth aren’t intimidating in the least. Don’t know why you brought it up.

Powers & Tactics: Marian has several things going on. She’s an expert judoka, carries one technological device in her Hunting Rifle, and has a variety of magical powers. The Hunting Rifle has superior range to mundane rifles and a scope to let her see as far as it can shoot. Her judo techniques, however, are a bit more complicated. She can grapple, throw hard enough to injure, strangle, inflict pain with joint locks, and even (surprisingly to the uninformed) simply strike as non-grappling arts do.

. . Her magical abilities are more complicated still. She can sense spirits of all kinds with her mind. Spirits of land, sea, and sky. Spirits of fire and storm. Spirits of things living, and of things that once were. There’s a lot to see out there, if one knows how to look. And she can talk to and understand them all. Sometimes this is very annoying, as they like to bother her while she’s getting laid or on the toilet in the morning. The other part of her magical powers is that she’s an extremely capable ritual magician, able to keep 5 finished rituals on hand for use at any given time. Her magical tradition is…well, she doesn’t use one. The best analogy she’s doing what Jeet Kun Do or modern MMA do to martial arts. She takes what works for her and bins the rest. Because by god if she has to be a Magical Native American she’s going to do it her way. With that said, her cobbled together tradition does have limitations. She doesn’t do anything actually offensive or damaging, and the power level of these readied rituals is relatively limited. The beefier rituals she can’t hold onto and must use immediately. There is also the Last Scion effect, which is elaborated on in her build.

. . Tactically, Marian is a little tough to predict. She follows the driving philosophies of judo, “maximum efficiency, minimum effort”, “mutual welfare and benefit”, and “softness controls hardness”. So she’s not the type to beat the living shit out of the opposition unless there’s literally no other way. She uses her Readied Rituals for utility and battlefield control, letting her allies handle the rough stuff. Also, she’s primarily a rescue style hero anyway. She finds hikers lost in the mountains; she doesn’t beat up street criminals. Her Readied Rituals are often sensory effects, like Illusion, Concealment, or ESP. Though one is always a movement effect; most likely Teleport but not always. This, contrary to appearances, does not mean that she’s incapable defending herself. She carries her Hunting Rifle in plain view, and will toss an attacker to the ground hard with a judo throw. Or she can simply grab them and either choke them out or stretch their joints until they pass out from the pain. Actually physically Striking is a last resort, but always a option. She has Accurate, Defensive, and Power Attack for use at need. Improved Aim helps her hit with her Hunting Rifle. Improved Disarm can be remarkably effective against those reliant on weapons. And Ritualist can be used on its own or to turbocharge her next Readied Ritual. Understandably, she doesn’t power stunt.

Personality: Most heroes choose the life, but some are shoved into it kicking and screaming. Marian isn’t quite one of these, but its close. She’s a good person, full of compassion for her fellow humans. She was going to help people by being a search and rescue wilderness specialist, after all. But it still wasn’t her idea. So, surprisingly, she brings a very…down to Earth…perspective to the Icons. She’s the deadpan-iest and snarkiest of the deadpan snarkers, which is a hell of a thing in a group that contains both Terrifica and Samaritan (no slouches in the snark department). In a world where heroes can be battling space aliens one day, demons another, and homicidal robots on a third she makes sure that her allies know that this shit is ridiculous. But not some kind of negative way, where she’s insulting it. She’s simply trying to maintain something resembling a civilian perspective.

. . She’s basically the token normie, only snarking off as opposed to constantly freaking out. She doesn’t fight crime. She’s a rescue hero. The only times in her normal life when she has to fight is when another fanatic shows up to knife her or when a big land predator (like a bear or mountain lion) decides she looks tasty. She has judo for one and a gun for the other. Fights against teams of supervillains or whole alien armies is not in her wheelhouse. With that said, simply quitting the Icons has never occurred to her and honestly never could. Because, weirdly enough, they need her help. And she’s never been able to say no to someone truly in need. She was always going to be a hero, even without the Last Scion stuff. Would’ve lacked the super part, but all the same. She’s just in denial about it, that’s all.
Last edited by EternalPhoenix on Mon Sep 26, 2022 3:03 am, edited 1 time in total.
The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse!)
The Archetype Blendarama!
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