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

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Harnos
Posts: 499
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2020 2:03 am

Re: Nick Phoenix

Post by Harnos »

EternalPhoenix wrote: Thu Oct 20, 2022 4:13 pm Nick Phoenix

Power Level: 16; Power Points Spent: 500/500

STR: +20 (18/50), DEX: +4 (18), CON: +20 (18/50), INT: +4 (18), WIS: +4 (18), CHA: +4 (18)

Tough: +20, Fort: +20, Ref: +12, Will: +16

Skills: Acrobatics 4 (+8), Bluff 16 (+20), Computers 16 (+20), Concentration 8 (+12), Diplomacy 16 (+20), Disable Device 16 (+20), Gather Information 16 (+20), Intimidate 16 (+20), Medicine 4 (+8), Notice 16 (+20), Search 16 (+20), Sense Motive 16 (+20), Stealth 4 (+8)

Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Beginner's Luck, Eidetic Memory, Equipment 4, Evasion, Improved Initiative 5, Interpose, Inventor, Jack-of-All-Trades, Luck 4, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Skill Mastery 5 (KN skills), Takedown Attack 2, Ultimate Effort (Strength checks), Ultimate Effort 3 (Fort, Toughness, & Will saves), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

Powers:
Eternal Flame of Destruction & Rebirth (Array 36) (default power: - linked powers -)
. . Burning Destruction (Linked)
. . . . Burning (Blast 12) (Linked; DC 27; Accurate 4 (+8), Incurable, Precise)
. . . . Destruction (Drain 12) (Linked; drains: single trait - toughness, DC 22; Affects Objects, Range (ranged); Accurate 4 (+8), Incurable, Precise)
. . Destruction & Rebirth (Transform 12) (Array; affects: anything, Transforms: 5000 lbs., DC 22; Duration (continuous); Action (full))
. . Flames of Rebirth (Healing 11) (Array; DC 21; Action (standard), Affects Objects, Range (ranged), Restoration, Total; Limited to Others; Persistent, Regrowth)
. . Phoenix Fire Blast (Blast 20) (Array; DC 35; Autofire (interval 2, max +5) [10 ranks only], Secondary Effect; Incurable, Precise)
. . Phoenix Fire Burst (Blast 16) (Array; DC 31; Burst Area (60-2000 ft. radius - General), Selective Attack; Progression, Decrease Area 4 (-4 ranks), Progression, Increase Area 4 (area x25))
. . Phoenix Might (Linked)
. . . . Enhanced Strength 32 (Linked; +32 STR)
. . . . Super-Strength 20 (Linked; +100 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 439.8bn tons; +20 STR to some checks)
. . Spatial Warping (Teleport 20) (Array; 2000 ft. as move action, Anywhere in the universe as full action; Accurate; Change Direction, Easy)
. . Telekinetic Toolkit (Move Object 16) (Array; Strength: 80, Carry: 272.4 tons / 544.8 tons / 819.2 tons / 1.6k tons; Perception Area (Targeted), Range (perception); Indirect 3 (any point, any direction), Precise, Subtle 2 (unnoticable))

Infinite Rebirth (Container, Passive 18) (Innate)
. . Healing 5 (Action 4 (reaction), Restoration, Total; Personal; Persistent)
. . Immunity 11 (aging, life support, starvation & thirst)
. . Regeneration 41 (ability damage 8 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (bruised) 3 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (disabled) 8 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (injured) 6 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (staggered) 6 (recover 1 / round without rest), resurrection 10 (instantly); Persistent, Regrowth)

Memory Reconfiguring (Variable 10) (acquire: all of (type) - skills, Feats: Eidetic Memory; Action (full), Limited (to Craft, Knowledge & Language skills))

Movement (Array 30) (default power: flight)
. . Quickness 20 (Alternate; [0 active, 60/60 PP, 1/r], Perform routine tasks at 5000000x speed)
. . Speed 20 (Alternate; [0 active, 60/60 PP, 1/r], Speed: 25000000 mph, 2.2e+08 ft./rnd)
. . Flight 20 (Default; [15 active, 60/60 PP, 2/r], Speed: 500000 mph, 4400000 ft./rnd)
. . Super-Strength 20 (Array; [15 active, 60/60 PP, 2/r], +75 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 439.8bn tons; +15 STR to some checks)

Phoenix Stamina (Enhanced Constitution 32) (+32 CON)

Equipment: Time and Space Ship (TISS)

Attack Bonus: +12 (Ranged: +12, Melee: +12, Grapple: +32/+67)

Attacks: Burning (Blast 12), +20 (DC 27), Destruction & Rebirth (Transform 12), +12 (DC Fort 22), Destruction (Drain 12), +20 (DC Fort/Staged 22), Phoenix Fire Blast (Blast 20), +12 (DC 35), Phoenix Fire Burst (Blast 16) (DC 31), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 35)

Defense: +12 (Flat-footed: +6), Knockback: -10

Initiative: +24

Languages: English Native

Totals: Abilities 48 + Skills 41 (164 ranks) + Feats 35 + Powers 308 + Combat 48 + Saves 20 + Drawbacks 0 = 500

******************************************************************************************

Time and Space Ship (TISS)

Power Level: 16; Equipment Points Spent: 20

Toughness: +20

Features: Communications, Computer, Dual Size (Fine), Fire Prevention System, Gym, Laboratory, Library, Living Space, Pool, Power System, Workshop

Powers:
Deflector Shielding (Impervious Toughness 15)
Holo Disguise (Morph 8) (morph: broad group, +40 Disguise; Duration (continuous))
Ion Drive (Flight 15) (Speed: 500000 mph, 4400000 ft./rnd; Subtle 2 (unnoticable))
Time and Space Travel (Super-Movement 6) (extra ranks 3, temporal move 3 (any time); Subtle 2 (unnoticable))

Size: Large

Totals: Abilities 0 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Feats 0 + Features 11 + Powers 4 + Combat 2 + Saves 3 + Drawbacks 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 20

Age (as of Jan 2019): It’s incredibly complicated (chronological), Varies between early 20s and mid 50s (appearance)
Height: Varies within human norms
Weight: Varies within human norms
Ethnicity: Varies within human norms
Hair: Varies within human norms
Eyes: Varies within human norms
Base of Operations: Mobile throughout time and space

Theme Song: I Am The Doctor Restructure

Background: Nick Phoenix is the G. O. A. T. There is no discussion, debate, dissention, disputation, or argument on this topic. Nick Phoenix is the greatest superhero of all time and space. Except, interestingly enough, on his home planet of Earth. He is both legendary and mythical. Literally. If there is a tale anywhere (including Earth, this time) of a legendary hero from the past who saved a whole lot of people from a terrible danger, but that person is unnamed? It was probably Nick. One of the most interesting thing about him is that nobody’s encountered him in chronological order. The Nick who appeared today and the Nick who will appear next week can have a few days or untold eons of difference in their ages. And this can be flipped, so he may not actually remember meeting the people he met yesterday. Because for him, that yesterday is tomorrow. One gets used to it. Due to his tendency to resurrect relatively frequently (as compared with the eon of eons he’s been alive) he may not even look like the same person. Hell, occasionally he’s female presenting. But nobody dresses like him. Black bodysuit. Bright orange bird on the chest. Bright orange boots, belt, and bracers. You see someone like that, it’s Nick. Or Nicki, as the case may be.

. . But let’s rewind to the beginning, shall we? It started in a cornfield in central Maryland. Sometimes the cornfield is in central Kansas, or central California. Regardless. There was a boy, standing in it. Sometimes the boy is 9. Sometimes he is 14. Sometimes he’s even 5. He’s done a fair bit of manipulating time to obscure his own origins. Suddenly, the sky was bleeding fire. The infinitely powerful semi sentient energy being known as the Phoenix had chosen this boy out of everyone else throughout the entirety of the multiverse to bear its power. Out of a number of beings so close to infinity that it makes no difference and it chose one ordinary, boring human boy in the middle of nowhere. What the heck, right? The after of that is even more confusing. Did he go to the Javier Academy, graduate and work for it until he no longer could? Did he grow up on that farm in Kansas before moving to the big city as an adult? Or was that time in the cornfield just a vacation and he grew up in suburban Cali just outside Sacramento? Bluntly, yes. It was all three and more.

. . The common thread is that he became something more. A powerful superhero. One who, in the end, could not stay on Earth. His power attracted too much attention from the rest of the universe to his home. Also he was becoming the one guy everyone depended on. So he beat feet. Split the scene. Didn’t let the door hit him where the good Lord split him. He began traveling throughout all of time and space, having adventures. Quite literally all kinds of adventures. He has seen the birth of all creation. He has fought in the first seven Time Wars, and walked away from the eighth in disgust. He was there watching when time ran out until there was nothing left in all creation. No time. No space. No matter. Just. Him. He has seen pocket universes where the laws of physics were devised by a madman. He has seen things no one would ever believe. He has lost things no one could ever understand. And he knows things. Secrets that must never be told. Knowledge that must never be spoken. He has performed the greatest and most heroic of deeds and the most terrible and horrifying of atrocities. His mind and heart have shattered from the strain and he has spent millions of years sobbing into the void until he inevitably recovered. Repeatedly. He has made impossible choices in impossible situations for longer than the mortal mind can conceive. Because no matter how powerful one is, they can still make mistakes. They can still be too late. Or simply not good enough.

. . Nick Phoenix is the greatest superhero of all time and space. He has saved and protected a number of sentient beings so close to infinity that it makes no difference. He has thwarted threats so dire all other heroes could do nothing but soil themselves in terror. And yet. He is a murderer. A mass murderer. A committer of genocides. Then again, what choice does one have, really? When a species warps time and space so that it was and forever will be homicidal scorched earth style conquerors, xenocidal cyborgs filled with nothing but hate, or omnicidal religious fanatics devoted to ending everything for their blind idiot god? He tries to save them. He always does. He tries very hard. But when the choice is between one person, one group of people, or even a whole species, and all creation…it’s not a very hard decision, logically speaking. It doesn’t make him feel any better. The wars he couldn’t stop. The battles he’s had to fight. The times he was simply too late. He has heard more screams than anyone could ever count. Grief. Terror. Pain. Oh, yes. He is the greatest superhero of all time and space. He’s also the only one available who can cover that beat. There is no one else. It’s just him. And what does one do with all that pain? Where do they put it? If they’re anything like Nick, they hold it. Tight. And they swear that no one else will feel this pain. Not as long as they can prevent it. Not on their watch. No.

. . But of course, his life is more than a long parade of misery and suffering. That’s the trouble. Because he is that great superhero. Things go well quite a lot. There are friends and traveling companions and lovers. People listen when he speaks or his clever schemes work out like a charm. He doesn’t have to fight, let alone kill anyone. He’s stopped intergalactic wars with his words alone. His life can be and is very good for very long stretches of time. But it’s like he tells them all. Everyone dies, and everything ends. Even him. This is not inherently a bad thing. It is just the nature of reality. So there are indeed good times, and they outnumber the bad. But the bad always comes around again. And he has to do make more impossible choices in impossible situations. Do terrible and horrifying things that are the least terrible and horrifying option available. The universe isn’t fair. All creation is a fairness free zone. It’s his job, his responsibility, his literal life’s work, to change that where he can. And sometimes that means not being there when he could have easily saved the day.

. . Starman II was his friend. Jesse Thompkins was his friend. But Nick knew from the day he first met him back in 1986, that he had to die in 2001 for the Icons to form. He knew that he had to stay away from all the crises that have so far happened in the 21st Century so that they’d grow even stronger. Because for all his power, Nick cannot be everywhere and everywhen at once. Every world, including the one he was born on, needs to learn to do for themselves what they can do for themselves. This is the reason for the existence of Phoenix Mutates, though the execution has been fumbled because he left the most important parts to circumstance and free will like a good man ought to. Dammit. It was also the reason for the Phoenix Corps, and did that ever crash and burn in spectacular fashion, double dammit. The burden is heavy. Crushing. But the universe’s mightiest hero shoulders it. Because he’s both a good man, and he’s seen the universes where he doesn’t. However, he is susceptible to misinformation and simply not knowing what’s happening. If he’d known what Kuros was up to, the Eternity War and the Endgame would have simply not happened. But he didn’t because he was at the other end of the universe. He didn’t know what the Dusting was. He’d heard of it on his legion of trips to the future, but it’s got as many names as there are languages in the universe, and they don’t all mean the same thing. So how was he to know it was one big event? And after it happened, the universe was in chaos and he still didn’t know what had happened, exactly. And then it unhappened a year later, causing yet more chaos. Seriously, the hell is going on? Wait wait wait. This is when Kuros and his whole outfit disappeared? Oh, shit. Oh, fuck. He’s got to get everybody ready. What’s next is even less fun. If he remembers this right, there’s some really overbearing space overgods, and then the First Great Time Crash. Yes, that means there’s other ones. Please keep up. He’s got a lot of work to do and as usual not nearly enough time to do it.

Powers & Tactics: The Nick part of Nick Phoenix actually has a power, but it’s quite minor and he hasn’t used it since…wow it’s been a long time. He could (and still can, probably) make his hands very, very hot. The Phoenix part is what takes center stage. The Phoenix itself is a cosmic being of nigh infinite or actually infinite power. It’s difficult to tell which, and the point is largely moot anyway. It is bonded to Nick’s very soul, allowing him to use its two powers. The Flames of Destruction, and the Flames of Rebirth. The former can destroy absolutely anything. There is no immunity to Phoenix fire, no matter how powerful the being. And those killed with it stay dead, unless wherever they got their resurrection from has power on the scale of the Phoenix itself.The latter can recreate and/or resurrect absolutely anything, even if absolutely nothing is left of the destroyed target. The amount of time it was destroyed is irrelevant. The key to understand Nick’s powers is that he can control what the Flames of Rebirth recreate and/or resurrect something as. A rock shattered to pieces, vaporized or even completely disintegrated, can be reformed as basically whatever the hell Nick wants. This applies to things that are not rocks. Like liquids. Gasses. And living things. Like himself.

. . The Flames of Rebirth are not just an active use power, either. They make him about as ageless and immortal as it’s possible to be. Any and all injuries, from nova bombs and neutron torpedoes to the wear and tear of being alive in the universe, simply regenerates in startlingly rapid fashion. He cannot permanently die while bonded to the Phoenix. Even if he took enough damage (from said nova bombs) to utterly annihilate his physical form, he would recover from even that in under a minute. More likely under 30 seconds. Usually. He has some conscious control over when he fully resurrects. This is good, because killing him tends to significantly to completely alter his physical appearance and elements of his personality. It is, in a way, like that version of him truly dies. So he doesn’t actually like to use his ability to resurrect if he can possibly avoid it, and doesn’t like to finish doing it if he has to. He’s still Nick. Or Nicki, occasionally. His memories are not altered. The deep seated, core elements of his personality are the same. He still wants to help. To protect. To save. It’s just the other parts that can change.

. . Now, because of his ability to destroy and recreate his body at a whim he could, technically, have any power he wants. This is, after all, the more refined and directed but otherwise identical method of how he has Phoenix Mutates basically create themselves. But really, if it isn’t broken, why fix it? So mostly he uses the Flames of Destruction to, well, destroy things, and he has genuinely incredible speed, durability, and strength. With the ability to fly on the side, as a treat. This isn’t casual level of strength, durability, and speed, either. He’s towed entire planets on a chain. Tanked supernovas without major damage. Treated the speed of light like a low fence instead of an impassable barrier. He can also warp space and teleport, or use an incredibly refined version of telekinesis. He’s also adapted to untold years of memories by storing them in the collective unconscious and pulling them out at need. Knowledge, crafting skills, and more languages than anyone can shake a stick at.

. . Tactically, well…honestly? If you’re using Nick Phoenix in your game, it (in most cases) should be as the ultimate heroic deus ex machina. That is his usual narrative role. The fecal matter hits the oscillating device, nobody who isn’t PLX can handle it, and the heroic side only has the one of those. Him. In those, the majority of cases, the existence of the build above is largely irrelevant. You can have him do whatever you want him to do. Most likely handling the PLX stuff so your PCs can still do PC things and shine in their own way.

. . This changes, however, if you’re running a game where the PCs are his traveling companions. There, this build is actually crucial. Flashing up to PL X tier power warps the fabric of reality. It’s fine temporarily, but he doesn’t walk around as a PLX all the time. The more problems he can solve without doing that, the better. Naturally, this is where PCs come in. He’s extremely capable, yes, but even he has trouble being in two or more places at once. Well. Normally. PL Xs can break that rule. But again, he wants to do that as little as possible. So having an extra set of hands or three is lovely. Plus, new friends are always good. So, he’ll do what he can to look after them while remaining the type who likes to talk before resorting to nonlethal tactics to defeat enemies. He’ll probably get more use out of Memory Reconfiguring and Interpose than his array. Like a certain “man of steel” from that cartoon where he teamed up with six like minded individuals for a couple of seasons. Nick’s got no problem looking like a worthless jobber if it means his allies come out of things okay. Which may surprise the PCs when he actually shows his power for once and they realize that “Nick” is that Nick.

Personality: It would surprise some people to learn that Nick Phoenix is a pretty dedicated pacifist. He vastly prefers to solve problems with talking or some clever trick. He lives in a universe on fire and tries to be the soothing rain that cools the heat. It’s not about justice. It was never about justice. Revenge? Hah! Irrelevant and unimportant. He cares. He cares so much. He can’t stand aside and let bad things happen. Let people suffer and die. Him, who can bring them back with a gesture, saves them before there’s any need of it. God, he doesn’t want to hurt anybody. He’s never wanted to hurt anybody. But you know how the saying goes. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. He will never do nothing. Never.

. . There’s a saying attributed to Abraham Lincoln. If you want to test a man, give him power. Nick Phoenix has more power than any mortal man. He has more power than any god. And yet, he wanders time and space as nothing more than a man. He doesn’t want it. He never wanted it. There are times when he hates it. Loathes it. Commands the Phoenix to leave him be and let him finally die. But in the end, that part that makes him Nick Phoenix has nothing to do with his powers. It’s that warm, soft, and tender heart of his. And so the Phoenix always returns in his time of greatest need. The Phoenix did not choose him so that he could be a superhero and save all the people he has. That was entirely his idea. The Phoenix only chose him because he would never abuse it. Because he’s a fundamentally good person who strives to operate from a place of love and respect for all living things, and to be better at it than he was yesterday. This can be hard to remember when one sees his eyes burning with wrath and Phoenix fire as xenocidal cyborgs fall burning from the sky.

. . Because he is not perfect. He has bad days. He makes mistakes. Sometimes terrible ones. He has a nasty temper if his buttons are continually and deliberately pressed. There are beings (those xenocidal cyborgs, for example) he hates with every fiber of his being. Villains and evildoers have found out the hard way that his reputation is not bullshit. He will try a thousand thousand times to resolve things without violence. He will try a thousand thousand more times to resolve things without lethal violence. But if they’re determined to take things a billion light years past the Moral Event Horizon, he’ll remove them from the universe without hesitation. But not without regret. Because he’ll forever think he could have done better. Done more. Made it so that killing them wasn’t necessary.

. . It would be so easy to turn cold. To be a tyrant. A god. To simply force the universe to be the way he wants it to be. Who the hell could stop the bearer of the Phoenix from doing whatever the hell he wanted? And that’s exactly why he doesn’t do it. It would be a betrayal of the highest order. A betrayal of everything he believes in. Light. Love. Freedom. Hope. A betrayal of his very self. He doesn’t hate the beings he does because they’re evil or because of the wicked things they’ve done. He hates them because they’re a reminder of how he’s failed them. And God, that hurts. He can’t stand it. But he refuses to turn cold. To stop caring. To let his warm, soft, and tender heart wither. He will never do nothing and let evil triumph. The battle, after all, is never ending. Isn’t it?
I didn't expect him to be pacifist despite all this work he has to do and all the power he has.
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EternalPhoenix
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Edgerunners/Heroes of Britain/Borealian Vanguard/Roth Investigations Update 3

Post by EternalPhoenix »

Edgerunners/Heroes of Britain/Borealian Vanguard/Roth Investigations update 3 lets do it

The Edgerunners

Overview (mostly finished)

Jackie (featured in The Icons entries as Stargirl II)
Esme (Build finished, Background & Personality finished, Powers & Tactics)
Tetsukaze (Build finished, Background & Personality finished, Powers & Tactics to do)
Zima (Build finished, Background in progress, rest to do)
Roxy Jett (Build finished, Background in progress, rest to do)
Geojang (Build finished, Background in progress, rest to do)
Mirage (Build finished, Background in progress, rest to do)

*******************************************************************************

Heroes of Britain (after Edgerunners, so on hold for now)
Spoiler
The Knight Family
Crusader (Sir Randall Knight) (featured in The Icons entries)
Lady Alchemist (Morgan Knight) (Build finished)
Lady Knight (Emily Knight) (Build finished)
The Alchemist Knight (Sophie Knight) (Build finished)
Templar (Daniel Page) (Build finished)

UQ Trio
Umbrella Queen (Siobhanna) (Build finished)
Nisse (Alwyn Kendrick) (Build finished)
Tattoo (Josephine "Finn" Kent) (Build finished)

Miscellanous British Heroes
Big Ben (Benjamin Prestwich) (Build finished)
Keaira, Princess of Avalon (Build finished)
Paragon (Syed Nawaz) (Build finished)
Yeoman (Joshua Birch) (Build finished)
Hospitaller (Abigail "Abby" Priest) (Build finished)
To Be Named (Elastic Detective Type) (Build finished, I'll take your Hero Name suggestions)
*******************************************************************************

Borealian Vanguard (after Edgerunners and Britain, so on hold for now)
Spoiler
Overview (unwritten)

Main Squad
Prairie Sprinter/Turbodash (Grace Harper) (Build finished)
Dormin (Phil Cantor) (Build finished)
Blindspot (Cindy Liu) (Build finished)
Armory (Leon Wilson) (Build finished)
Bulletman (Jason "Jay" Martin) (Build finished)
Felin-garou (Rosalie Lavoie) (Build finished)
Valiant (Steve Clark) (Build finished)

The Reserves
Moonshadow (Donovan Tarkik) (Build finished)
Undine (true name unknown) (Build finished)
Fornax (Maxwell "Max" Drake) (Build finished)
Chasseur (Jules Bouchard) (Build finished)
Gajasura (Arjun Vijaya) (Build finished)
Sister Angeline (Raphelle Fortin) (Build finished)
Red Sleeves (Daiyu Hong) (Build finished)
*******************************************************************************

Roth Investigations (after Edgerunners, Britain, and Canada, so on hold for now)
Spoiler
Overview (unwritten)

The Originals
Asteroth (Adam Roth) (Build finished, Background & Personality finished, Powers & Tactics to do much later)
Christine Gale (Build finished)
Nyoan Ayano (Build unfinished, undergoing total revamp)
Shandra Hawkins (Build unfinished, expansion needed)
Ryan Masterson/??? (Build unfinished, lots to do)
Chiaki Ayano (Build unfinished, total revamp needed)

Bloodfang Alpha
Priest (Lloyd Adams) (Build finished)
Female Werewolf (Build unfinished, lots to do)
Taranis (Build unfinished, lots to do)
Asmodeus Psychevore (Build unfinished, finishing touches)
??? (Starting line, basically. Bleh.)

The Hunters
Ex-Cop (Build unfinished, lots to do)
Valkyrie (Build unfinished, lots to do)
Spirit Riflewoman (Build unfinished, lots to do)
*******************************************************************************

Much of this progress update is invisible. Building work for Roath. Writing for Edgerunners. Ah, well.
The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse!)
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: Icons & Cosmic Races Complete! On Break Until Edgerunners Are Ready!)

Post by Commander Titan »

Based off first impressions of just the names, I find myself most excited for...

Roxy Jett
Geojang
Umbrella Queen
Hsopitaller
Prairie Sprinter
Armory
Bulletman
Chasseur
Red Sleeves
Asteroth
Taranis
Asmodeus Psychovore (unless that's a description, rather than the most metal character name I've ever seen)
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: Icons & Cosmic Races Complete! On Break Until Edgerunners Are Ready!)

Post by EternalPhoenix »

Commander Titan wrote: Thu Jan 19, 2023 4:42 am Based off first impressions of just the names, I find myself most excited for...

Roxy Jett
Geojang
Umbrella Queen
Hsopitaller
Prairie Sprinter
Armory
Bulletman
Chasseur
Red Sleeves
Asteroth
Taranis
Asmodeus Psychovore (unless that's a description, rather than the most metal character name I've ever seen)
Well, I can't promise to live up to that much hype. :sweat_smile:

But I can give you small previews of them. Roxy & Geojang are pretty soon, so I'll skip them.

Umbrella Queen can make umbrellas completely indestructible and harder than steel. Beats bad guys down that way.

Hospitaller won't live up to the hype. She's an example PC for Britan's heroes, really.

Prairie Sprinter is a psionic speedster (like Tex and Dallas are psionic powerhouses), and is the field leader of her team.

Armory pilots a big battlesuit crafted by the Canadian military as a special project. He's a soldier in the Canadian Army.

Bulletman is a Golden Age veteran, brought to this era by hopefully interesting means. He's a flying speedster type.

Chasseur is an archer hero from Quebec. He's a controversial figure, as he supports Quebec becoming independent.

Red Sleeves is a psychic ninja type on the run from the villainous group that originally trained her. 'Nuff said.

Asteroth is a vampire and a wizard. Aside from that he is, uh, way too complicated to sum up here.

Taranis is an old Celtic deity. The weather and the wheel. He's not as powerful as Tidal, as he's both mostly forgotten these days and been replaced.

Asmodeus Psychevore is a description, yes. Asmodeus vampires can eat various things instead of drinking blood. They have powers based on that thing. So, she can eat psyches and has related powers. I'll give her a proper name in a while.
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: Icons & Cosmic Races Complete! On Break Until Edgerunners Are Ready!)

Post by Commander Titan »

Interesting, interesting! UQ is a fun idea - I like the idea of someone maximizing a super-specific power.

Prairie Sprinter being the psionic speedster to the powerhouses is a neat concept, and I just like the name a lot.

Bulletman - I'm always fascinated by Golden Age heroes, especially when they show up in the modern era. I was a big fan of the original run of Project Superpowers from Dynamite (the later ones sorta went all over the place), and The Twelve from Marvel.

I don't know enough about Quebec independence in real life to have an opinion on that, but superheroes are allowed to have political opinions as well. It's always interesting, when well-written.

Red Sleeves is just such a great name.

Asteroth, as I'm sure you can tell, just seems a fascinating character to me at this point based on some of the hints and the idea of a darker parallel to NPC Investigations.

As for my misunderstanding of Asmodeus Psychovore - not sure when or where, but would you mind if I stole that phrase to use as a character name eventually? And curious to see this psyche-eater! I like the Asmodeus vampire concept as you've mentioned before, and the variety it allows while still feeling recognizably "vampire."
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: Icons & Cosmic Races Complete! On Break Until Edgerunners Are Ready!)

Post by EternalPhoenix »

Commander Titan wrote: Fri Jan 20, 2023 4:31 am As for my misunderstanding of Asmodeus Psychovore - not sure when or where, but would you mind if I stole that phrase to use as a character name eventually? And curious to see this psyche-eater! I like the Asmodeus vampire concept as you've mentioned before, and the variety it allows while still feeling recognizably "vampire."
Not at all. Go forth and be happy. In other news, happy first thread anniversary to me. The Edgerunners as a whole aren't done, but half are. So I'mma post 'em. Right now.
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The Edgerunners

Post by EternalPhoenix »

The Edgerunners

Overview

Theme Songs: Run From You!! by McGwire featuring Ben Schuller from NerdOut (as the OP) and Never Enough, by Divide Music (for the ED)

. . They’re all running from something. The name itself comes from their ship, the Edgerunner. The name of their ship comes from what they’ve been doing with it. Traveling (or “running”) the Edge, the barrier zone between the universe spanning empire of Kuros the Conqueror and, well…everyone else. And that name will likely live on for some time despite the disappearance of Kuros and all of his forces. But the name Edgerunner is accurate to each of them on a personal level, too. As stated, they’re all running from something. Jackie’s running from both her past and herself. Esme’s running from the secrets inherent in her very existence. Tetsukaze is running the unforgiveable sins he committed when he was young. Zima literally doesn’t remember what she running from due to her amnesia. Roxy Jett is simply running from the law in the form of the Nega Corps and kind of every major government. Geojang, after years of being a Shadow, is running from who she was, what she did, and especially what she did to get out of it. And Mirage is running from 1) being a technopath in the first place because 2) technopaths are feared and ostracized for how their powers can have been used in less than benevolent hands, and 3) most of the top megacorps would be delighted to strap him to a table to figure out how technopathy actually works so they can both duplicate and monetize it.

. . They operate like more or less any other mercenary outlaw group slipping around in the cracks between the great powers. Various people, corporations and mega corporations need deniable assets to get certain things done that they can’t be known to have been behind. Or they just need an extra set of hands. Basically they have money and are willing to pay for assumedly competent assistance. The people with the money work through professional intermediaries, who get in touch with the talent. Like the Edgerunners. Without Jackie, they’d probably live right up to the stereotype such outlaw mercenary groups have. Namely, they shoot people in the face for money. Yanno. Thieves. Kidnappers. Assassins. Terrorists. Not the kind of people anyone decent wants to meet in a dark alley, or anywhere else for that matter. Violent, antisocial psychopaths. Etcetera. Ad nauseam. I could go on, but you get it. Like all stereotypes, it skips over all of the nuance, subtlety, and nagging little inconvenient contradictory details to provide an easily digestible factoid for the masses to unthinkingly swallow. The universe is full of people, and therefore it is full of prejudices both big and small. So yeah, without Jackie they’d have to take jobs that were more unsavory, but much less dangerous. The aforementioned assassinations and violent terrorism for hire. Got to keep body and soul together somehow, right?

. . It isn’t Jackie’s moral code alone that changed things for the Edgerunners. It’s also the fact that she can tank plasma torpedoes, blow big holes in heavily armored battleships, and probably bench press the same ship. Being able to fly is just a sweet bonus. Morality is nice, but without the power to back it up folks just get manipulated, used, and then killed when they become inconvenient. That’s life in the shadows, kids. And we all know what vast power minus any morality looks like, now don’t we? That’s right, the megacorps. So someone with both is rather unique and interesting. With Jackie leading the crew, they don’t need to take those high pay and relatively low risk but you’re a total bastard jobs. They can instead take the other jobs that are high risk and high pay (if you live to get it) and the low pay but high morals jobs. The former can be a little morally…dubious…but at least they’re not, yanno, bastard jobs. And it lets them take more of the latter. Gotta keep body and soul together somehow, right?

. . How the Edgerunners got together is in Jackie’s entry here, so repeating the stories here is unnecessary. However, Jackie has introduced an interesting bit of Earth slang. “Shooting for the moon” or a “moonshot”. They mean much the same as they do on Earth. A long shot. One in a million chance. Something with a very low chance of success and failure carrying heavy consequences. Though, it was more difficult to explain at first. When the average ship can whip around the known universe in a week or two, reaching one planet’s moon doesn’t seem like a big deal.

The Edgerunners
Jackie (Thompkins, formerly Stargirl II)
Esme
Tetsukaze (Takeo Takeda)
Zima (Marina Morozov)
Roxy Jett (Celia Cruz)
Geojang (Shin Min-ah)
Mirage
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Esme

Post by EternalPhoenix »

Esme

Power Level: 15; Power Points Spent: 300/300

STR: +2 (14), DEX: +5 (18/20), CON: +3 (16), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +5 (20), CHA: +5 (16/20)

Tough: +3/+10, Fort: +7, Ref: +15/+20, Will: +12

Skills: Acrobatics 10 (+15), Bluff 10 (+15), Diplomacy 10 (+15), Gather Information 10 (+15), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 2 (+5), Knowledge (current events) 2 (+5), Knowledge (Galactic) 7 (+10), Knowledge (history) 17 (+20), Knowledge (physical sciences) 2 (+5), Knowledge (streetwise) 7 (+10), Knowledge (technology) 2 (+5), Language 6 (+6), Notice 20 (+25), Sense Motive 10 (+15), Stealth 15 (+20), Survival 10 (+15)

Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus (ranged) 6, Attack Specialization 2 (Anti-Material Blaster Rifle (Blast 10)), Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Defensive Attack, Dodge Focus, Evasion 2, Improved Aim, Improved Critical 2 (Anti-Material Blaster Rifle (Blast 10)), Improved Critical 2 (Automatic Blaster Pistol (Blast 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Automatic Blaster Rifle (Blast 8)), Improved Critical 2 (Heavy Blaster Pistol (Blast 6)), Improved Initiative, Improved Initiative 4, Luck 4, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Shot 2, Quick Draw, Second Chance (Toughness saves vs. Force), Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Notice, Sense Motive, Stealth), Ultimate Effort (Aim), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

Powers:
Blaster Supremacy (Probability Control 1) (Minimum Result: 1; Limited 2 (Blasters))

Edgerunner Communicator (Device 3) (Hard to lose)
. . Long Range Radio (Communication 8) (sense type: radio; Subtle (subtle))
. . Universal Translator (Comprehend 3) (languages - read all, languages - speak all, languages - understand all)

Esme's Outfit (Device 2) (Hard to lose; Subtle (subtle))
. . Energy Scattering Fabric (Protection 4) (+4 Toughness, Feats: Second Chance (Toughness saves vs. Force); Subtle (subtle))
. . Integral Grapple Gun (Super-Movement 2) (slow fall, wall-crawling 1 (half speed))

Internal Quintessence (Container, Passive 13)
. . Enhanced Quickness (Quickness 5) (Perform routine tasks at 50x speed; Stacks with (Nobellian Quickness (Quickness 1+5)))
. . Enhanced Recovery (Regeneration 14) (recovery bonus 6 (+6 to recover), recovery rate (bruised) 2 (recover 1 / action), recovery rate (disabled) 2 (recover 1 / hour), recovery rate (injured) 2 (recover 1 / 5 mins), recovery rate (staggered) 2 (recover 1 / 5 mins); Persistent)
. . Enhanced Reflexes (Enhanced Trait 25) (Traits: Attack Bonus +4 (+10), Defense Bonus +4 (+20), Reflex +4 (+20), Evasion 2 +1 (+2), Feats: Improved Initiative 4)
. . Enhanced Resilience (Protection 3) (+3 Toughness)
. . Enhanced Senses (Super-Senses 9) (darkvision, extended (type): Visual 2 (-1 per 1k ft), infravision, tracking: Visual 2 (normal speed))
. . Enhanced Speed (Speed 2) (Speed: 25 mph, 220 ft./rnd; Stacks with (Nobellian Speed (Speed 1+2)))
. . Quintessence Cloak (Concealment 6) (all aural senses, all visual senses; Blending)

Nobellian Immortality (Immunity 1) (aging)

Nobellian Physiology (Container, Passive 3)
. . Nobellian Abilities (Enhanced Trait 6) (Traits: Dexterity +2 (20, +5), Charisma +4 (20, +5))
. . Nobellian Quickness (Quickness 1+5) ([Stacking ranks: +5], Perform routine tasks at 100x speed)
. . Nobellian Reflexes (Enhanced Trait 5) (Traits: Attack Bonus +1 (+10), Reflex +1 (+20), Feats: Dodge Focus, Improved Initiative)
. . Nobellian Speed (Speed 1+2) ([Stacking ranks: +2], Speed: 50 mph, 440 ft./rnd)
. . Starlight Vision (Super-Senses 2) (low-light vision, ultravision)

Veteran's Arsenal (Device 9) (Easy to lose; Custom 7 (Multiple Weapons 7))
. . Weapons (Array 19) (default power: blast)
. . . . Anti-Material Blaster Rifle (Blast 10) (Default; DC 25, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Anti-Material Blaster Rifle (Blast 10)); Penetrating [5 ranks only]; Improved Range 4 (2500 ft. incr), Precise, Progression, Increase Range 4 (max range x25, 25000 feet), Subtle 2 (unnoticable))
. . . . Automatic Blaster Pistol (Blast 6) (Array; DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Automatic Blaster Pistol (Blast 6)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5), Penetrating [3 ranks only]; Improved Range 2 (300 ft. incr), Precise, Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 3000 feet), Subtle (subtle))
. . . . Automatic Blaster Rifle (Blast 8) (Array; DC 23, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Automatic Blaster Rifle (Blast 8)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5), Penetrating [4 ranks only]; Improved Range 2 (400 ft. incr), Precise, Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 4000 feet), Subtle (subtle))
. . . . Heavy Blaster Pistol (Blast 6) (Array; DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Heavy Blaster Pistol (Blast 6)); Penetrating [3 ranks only]; Improved Range 2 (300 ft. incr), Precise, Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 3000 feet), Subtle (subtle))
. . . . Heavy Flash Bangs (Dazzle 8) (Array; affects: 1 type + visual - visual & auditory, DC 18; Burst Area (40 ft. radius - General); Improved Range (200 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range (max range x2, 2000 feet))
. . . . Heavy Plasma Grenades (Blast 8) (Array; DC 23; Burst Area (40 ft. radius - General), Secondary Effect; Improved Range (200 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range (max range x2, 2000 feet))
. . . . Heavy Stun Gas Grenades (Stun 8) (Array; DC 18; Cloud Area (40-80 ft. diameter, lingers - General), Range (ranged); Improved Range (200 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Area (area x2), Progression, Increase Range (max range x2, 2000 feet))
. . . . Thermal Smoke Grenades (Obscure 8) (Array; affects: visual senses, Radius: 1000 ft.; Duration (continuous), Total Fade; Fades)

Attack Bonus: +5/+10 (Ranged: +11/+16, Melee: +5/+10, Grapple: +7/+12)

Attacks: Anti-Material Blaster Rifle (Blast 10), +20 (DC 25), Automatic Blaster Pistol (Blast 6), +16 (DC 21), Automatic Blaster Rifle (Blast 8), +16 (DC 23), Heavy Blaster Pistol (Blast 6), +16 (DC 21), Heavy Flash Bangs (Dazzle 8) (DC Fort/Ref 18), Heavy Plasma Grenades (Blast 8) (DC 23), Heavy Stun Gas Grenades (Stun 8) (DC Fort/Staged 18), Unarmed Attack, +10 (DC 17)

Defense: +16/+20 (Flat-footed: +10), Knockback: -5

Initiative: +25

Languages: Neo-Nobellian, Old Nobellian , Old Sionil, Outer Borustan, Outer Ingenti, Querethiel Native, Trade Sionil

Totals: Abilities 40 + Skills 35 (140 ranks) + Feats 26 + Powers 138 + Combat 40 + Saves 21 + Drawbacks 0 = 300

Age (as of Jan 2019): Over 25,000 Earth years (chronological), early 20s (human biological equivalent)
Height: 5’ 11”
Weight: 115 lbs
Ethnicity: Nobellian (Vietnamese equivalent)
Hair: Black
Eyes: Dark Brown

Background: Esme is extremely old. Chronologically speaking, that is. She’s a Nobellian Immortal. The real deal. She hasn’t biologically aged so much as a nanosecond since before the Classic Nobellian Renaissance 25 thousand Earth years ago. She was born on Old Nobellia being, well, Old. She predates her people’s invention of space travel. She predates their invention of firearms. This is, in many ways, the source of all her problems. She was not the first Nobellian Immortal, and she was very far from the last. Esme is not the name given to her by her parents. She doesn’t quite remember their names or faces anymore. She’s a little sad about that. Her entire ethnic group was then under the thumb of some Imperial neighbors to the north. It was…an interesting age. Where anyone with skill and daring could make their own names. And Immortals do not know what they are. It only becomes apparent much later. So she became a freedom fighter and revolutionary at a very young age. Learned to harness her internal Quintessence, becoming a highly skilled archer. This was a rare and valued thing in those days, before sheer weight of numbers made those capable reasonably common.

. . However, like all things good and bad, revolutions end. Victoriously, in this case. Her people had their own kingdom again. But the new kingdom had no need of such a skilled warrior, and was additionally leery of keeping a Quintessence adept around at all. Magic users invariably caused or brought down unwanted trouble. So she left home and became a traveling adventurer. The tales from those days could fill a book. They have, in fact. She’s written several memoirs disguised as fiction over the millennia. But of course, even Nobellians eventually start to feel time pressing on them. The trouble with Esme is that she kept moving on from an area after a while. She never witnessed old comrades and friends getting older and settling down, because she simply left for her next adventure. She was still young, right? Well. She wasn’t an idiot. There was no way. After a certain point, not having noticeably aged becomes obvious. So she figured out what she was, even if it took her a little while longer than one would expect. The trouble was that she wasn’t the only one paying attention.

. . She refuses to remember their stupid group name. A random conversation with Jackie gave her the word Illuminati. It fits well enough. They wanted her to be one of them. To control Nobellia from the shadows while living in the lap of luxury. Kings were paupers next to them. And honestly? Nah. She liked her life the way it was, thanks. Ah, to be that young and naïve again. These were not the type of people who took rejection well. She was either with them or she had to be silenced. Permanently. Superb. Esme spent from that hectic day until basically the actual Renaissance (which was at least a few thousand Earth years) hiding from those assholes. Said event, as previously noted, catapaulted the Nobellians into space as explorers and conquerors. And Esme (having learned to use firearms and other modern weapons at the same level of proficiency centuries earlier) was on the front lines. Easiest way to duck a group of assholes is to not be on the same planet they are. This too was a very interesting era, until the First Nobellian Civil War kind of broke everything.

. . She fought in the war, of course. Against the Imperials of that era, who had a few familiar faces in their ranks. Dammit. Of course, this just made her problems kind of…worse. Nobellian Immortality was an open secret by the time of the Renaissance, and continued that way up until the First Civil War. It was known to be theoretically possible, but if anyone had it they weren’t exactly advertising. But the First Civil War blew the lid off of the secret. And, uh. Well. What happened was more or less exactly what one would expect to happen if humans discovered there was a tiny subsection of the species that didn’t age to death. At all. Ever. And kept that shit a secret for the entirety of human history. Yeah. It got ugly. Officially, the new Imperial Dynasty said they didn’t exist. It was all wishes and dreams. Unofficially…most of that Illuminati got assassinated or strapped to a lab table in both magical and scientific varieties. So, instead of a relative handful of people with infinite money looking to have her found and killed, she had most of her own people keeping a wary eye on her to see if she was aging. Obviously, she wasn’t. At all. One can imagine how this made her life extremely dynamic and interesting. Never a dull decade. Nooope.

. . This was, of course, when the other dominant feature of her life started, too. The whole…sole survivor…thing. Team up with a group of fellow mercenary outlaws. Work well with each other for a while. Maybe form some bonds of camaraderie and friendship. And then a mission goes sideways and they all die. With Esme being a sniper, she’s always a significant distance away and hidden from the attackers chasing her team. So escaping? Not difficult. Saving her allies and perhaps even friends? Eventually it’s impossible. She knows it’s just part of the life they lead. The only special part is that she doesn’t get old and physically weak/prone to bad decisions due to age pressure. She’ll never have to take that “one big score before retirement” because she will never be old enough to need to retire. So she kind of gets it. It does not make it any better when another team bites it. But one can get used to anything, given time. And time is one thing Esme has in abundance.

. . She fought in the Second Nobellian Civil War too, of course. Chattel slavery was both morally abhorrent and wildly financially irresponsible now that robots were cheap and plentiful. It was only the Nobellian superiority complex and sheer arrogance that kept it going. The First Civil War had been violent, yes, but the second was outstandingly more violent. The first was an internal rebellion, really. Nobellian against Nobellian. Personal. Intimate. See, in the First all Nobellians more or less they agreed they were better than anyone else and thus deserved better treatment. Think of it as a family feud. Yes, there was a lot of anger. Yes, there was a lot of violence. Yes, a whole lot of people died. But Nobellian society itself didn’t fracture. The Empire as a whole never stopped doing its business of exploring, conquering, and exploiting. It just slowed down for a while. The Second, however, was Imperial Nobellian versus well, everyone else in the Empire. The arrogant bastards who sat above the entire universe as gods among mortals opposing a much more egalitarian philosophy held by a wildly diverse group. This was the war that threw siblings against each other. This was real, genuine hatred. Parts of the military mutinied. Everyone from the richest to the poorest ultimately took up arms in one way or another. The war crimes were numerous and absolutely horrendous. Worlds burned. Stars were snuffed out or exploded. Let’s put this in perspective. The First Civil War didn’t kill a full hundred trillion Nobellians. Yes, there were less of them then, but still. The Second killed almost five hundred trillion Nobellians alone. This was the absolute height of Nobellian power and population. There were over two quadrillion Nobellians before the war started. Nobellian society shattered. Imperial business stopped dead. Hundreds of galaxies convulsed with unholy levels of violence, as the rest of the known universe stared in shock and horror. This is what Esme was in the middle of. It is not something she enjoys talking about.

. . The bright side to the Second War is that all but a scarce few of the tattered remnants of the Illuminati were cast down, killed, or strapped to one of those lab tables. And that scarce few were basically as much on the run now as Esme was. If with more resources to their various names. The shadowed side is that Immortal Hunting was no longer under Imperial control, as nothing Imperial existed anymore. So the mega corporations could literally do whatever they wanted, as long as it wasn’t overt enough for the new Nobellian Federation to notice. So her life got yet more dynamic and interesting. It was one thing to distrust any Nobellian who approached her because they might be an Imperial agent. It’s quite another when literally anyone of any species who approaches her might be a corporate agent. To be fair, her specific physical appearance is not known. Looking like a hundred trillion other Nobellians has benefits. And she changes identities and residences pretty regularly to throw them off the scent. Those parts are easy. But evading detection in other more specific ways is not. She’s older than most corporeal beings in the universe, supernatural or mundane. There are both magical and technological means to detect this. It is fantastically awkward for her to discover she’s being hunted in her current city of residence because the local waste treatment plant installed some new sensors and they pinged an irregularity. Which then got investigated. It’s also a bit awkward when a fledgling mage uses a ritual to contact an ancient being for information…and interrupts her in the middle of a meal. Whether she knows what they want to know (often enough, as it turns out) is beside the damn point. She’s clearly just some random Nobellian and they must’ve botched the spell until they either realize that’s not quite true or discuss the matter with someone who does. Or she lets something a Nobellian of her apparent age could not possibly know slip to someone she shouldn’t. Look, she’s a permanent fugitive unless she wants to die or become a lab rat until she eventually dies of it. The bounty for information leading to the successful capture of an Immortal Nobellian is large enough for most people to literally retire immediately from whatever they were doing. It’s a pain in the ass.

. . So that was Esme’s life up until about ten years ago, when she, Jackie, Tetsukaze, and Zima joined up to root out those red insectoid horrors. Of course she had experience doing it. She’s been running around space killing things since long before the dawn of what passes for human civilization. What doesn’t she have experience tracking and killing? She didn’t tell them that, though. She also didn’t tell them any specifics about the nightmare scenarios she got this specific experience in. Before the general protocol for them becoming uncontainable on a planet was to simply quarantine and then glass the whole thing. Oh, yes. Her very long life has been dynamic and interesting. Very dynamic and very interesting. Like the run where they ended up stuck with Roxy, Geojang, and Mirage on the crew. And yes, Kuros Dusting all of the Edgerunners but her was unsurprising. She’s outlived so many teams it’s simply the expected result now. Still. She helped Spike retrieve the new Fire Crystal as part of undoing all that, and then participated in the final battle of the Endgame with the rest of the Edgerunners and Earth’s heroes. For her it was little more than a shooting gallery. But like all things good and bad, it came to an end. She said her goodbyes to the Icons and the Edgerunners departed Earth, directly into the chaos of a Kuros-free universe.

. . Which, uh, well…there’s obviously a lot more of Esme’s life in the Before Kuros Came column than in the After. But this was a guy who basically could completely ignore his capital dreadnought exploding with him on it. This was a being that seemed to be impossible to meaningfully harm, let alone kill. She knows the list of incredibly powerful combatants (both magical and mundane) he crushed like insects. Sometimes in single combat, sometimes after they ambushed him, and sometimes after he ambushed them. This was Kuros The Goddamn Conqueror, terror of the known universe. If he wanted something, he simply took it without anyone being able to stop him no matter how fiercely they tried. And a small group of barely civilized apes from a backwater planet in an unremarkable galaxy thwarted him three times in the past 60 years. And then, just now, killed him and his entire universe spanning military forces. Saying “What the fuck?!” is deeply inadequate for this situation. Yes, they did it with the nigh infinite cosmic power he’d informed them existed in the first place, but still. The entire known universe lived in fear of his next invasion. The very Edge the Edgerunners take their name from was literally the border between his territory and literally everyone else’s. The only living mortals who remember a time before Kuros are Nobellians. And they’re old as shit. So saying that a suddenly Kuros-free universe is in chaos is a rather dramatic understatement. So. You know. Esme’s life isn’t about to get any less dynamic or interesting any time soon. Especially as Jackie, Tetsukaze, and Zima all have goals they’d like to chase after. Well. At least everyone will be too busy to do any effective Immortal Hunting for a while.

Powers & Tactics: Esme has a lot going on. She’s an Immortal Nobellian, who have a few minor advantages over humans. See the Nobellian Federation entry for that. She’s one of The Adroit, using her internal Quintessence (the residual mana every being generates simply by being alive) to magically augment her natural abilities. The closest human approximation is Chi, but it’s not quite the same thing. Chi is functionally excess life force, not mana, and it takes years of martial training to produce more than a trickle. The Adroit can do what they do from birth, and only get stronger and better at it through age and practice. So it should go without saying that Esme is very, very good at what she does. Though even she will admit that she’s not using all of her power anymore. She kind of…doesn’t need it? Natural skill became more than adequate long ago, so she just needs a regular boost any high level Adroit could do rather than her full powers. You know. Basic stuff. Enhanced movement speed, physical quickness, attack accuracy, and attack evasion. Improved natural healing powers and physical resilience. Admittedly, the enhanced to her visual senses (extended range and eliminating the need for natural light to see) are more for a specialist sniper than anything else, but still fairly basic. The one thing that might clue someone in that she’s not a normal Adroit is her Quintessence Cloak. There are Adroit who can chameleonize their skin or make their body better at absorbing sound (thus silencing their movements). That’s high level, but not unusual.

. . You see, The Adroit don’t “cast spells” as such. They channel mana and give themselves magic powers that pointedly never affect anything other than themselves directly. Wizards and sorcerers work in the opposite way. If they change anything about themselves with spellwork, they’re doing it from the outside. And, of course, they can affect whatever they want with their spells. Esme is probably the only Adroit alive who knows that this dividing line is not nearly as sharp as it appears to be. It, like everything involving magic, is blurry. Full of exceptions and “grey areas”. Her Quintessence Cloak is one of these. What it actually does is absorb ambient light and sound, rendering her both invisible and silent as long as she doesn’t move particularly fast. So let’s review. She’s faster than any land animal, can recover from even the most grievous of injuries in under two hours, and can blow an insect’s wings off with any ranged weapon placed into her hands. She’s a dangerous woman. For the record, using more of her powers isn’t an Extra Effort thing. It’s a “meditate off screen in between sessions to spend that at least 60 PP she’s not currently using” thing.

. . In addition to being an Immortal Nobellian and one of The Adroit, she also has a big ol’ bunch of Devices. You know, like any self respecting mercenary outlaw would. There is her Edgerunner Communicator with its 2000 miles of range and universal translator. There’s her Outfit with its increase to resilience and integral grapple gun to get to nice sniper nests. The name is a slight misnomer. She has several Outfits but is obviously only wearing one at any given time. And then there’s her arsenal of custom weaponry. Her baby is her Anti-Material Blaster Rifle. The range on it is honestly ludicrous. The maximum, well…there are smaller mountains. She’s shot aerial transports out of the air. Admittedly while they were taking off or landing, not cruising, but still. Over 4 and a half miles is more range than there is distance to the horizon on most habitable planets. And the hitting power is just nonsense for a commonly available man portable weapon, even with the advanced tech out in the universe. The rest is just an assortment of mostly standard blasters and grenades. The range on these is also enhanced, but not nearly as much. Nothing like having something for all occasions, says Esme. It make seem like a lot to carry, but the blasters are partially collapsible and they’re all made of advanced lightweight materials so they’re not nearly as heavy and awkward as the Earth equivalent of her gear would be.

. . Tactically, Esme is a sniper first. She’s got a hell of a lot of range to work with. So outside of dense urban areas she’s not actually beside the Edgerunners in combat. She’s actually behind them or off to the side, using her Anti-Material Blaster Rifle to cover them in sniper overwatch. Naturally, this isn’t always possible. That’s what all her other weapons are for. Like she says, she’s got something for all occasions. Including the previous, she has 4 different single target attacking Blasters of varying effectiveness, Heavy Plasma Grenades to clear out areas, Heavy Stun Gas Grenades for nonviolent takedowns. Heavy Flash Bangs for aid in hitting and/or escaping, and Thermal Smoke Grenades just for escaping. Her sniping ways are aided and abetted by Quinessence Cloak, Improved Aim, Precise Shot 2, and Ultimate Aim. All Out Power Attack can punch through virtually any amount of armoring. When not sniping, Improved Acrobatic Bluff can help her hit, Defensive Attack is on tap for extra accurate enemies, Move by Action keeps her mobile, and Quick Draw lets her swap weapons effortlessly. Take note of how high her Notice is, and those 4 ranks of Luck. She can power stunt, but she never does.

Personality: Esme is very…chill. Calm. Levelheaded. People tend to think of snipers as being either cold or friendly, with no other options available. And to be fair, for the majority this is true. Esme, however, was an archer first. She is neither the cold and solitary killer nor a friendly and gregarious sharpshooter. She is that rarest of things, even in the vastness of the universe. A consummate professional and a born survivor. A cold sniper doesn’t work well with a team, which means when the fecal matter hits the oscillating device there is no one to help them. A friendly sniper dies a little inside every time they lose a teammate and friend to such situations. Die enough inside and eventually there’s nothing left of you. So, saying Esme cares deeply about her current teammates in the Edgerunners would be a lie. The key is to get close enough that they will instinctively protect her, but not too close that it tears her heart out when they inevitably die. Of old age, if nothing else.

. . Esme knows. In less than half a century Jackie, Tetsukaze, and Roxy will be dust on the wind. A miniscule amount of time to someone who has lived as long as she has. Even the centuries Zima, Geojang, and Mirage have left aren’t much compared with the infinite time she has. Yet she would never say it doesn’t matter. That their lives never meant anything. It’s the kind of perspective only an Immortal like her could develop, really. One who stayed among the people instead of lording over them like some kind of god. She’s not a god. She eats. She shits. She bleeds. She’s fully capable of dying through violence, disease, or poison like as anyone else. She just doesn’t age. That’s the only difference between her and the rest of the Edgerunners. Between her and most anyone, really. So people’s lives do matter. They’re not boring. They’re alive. They drink. They swear. They laugh. They fuck. Damn, do Roxy and Geojang ever fuck. It does, however, beg the question. How can one who thinks this way have killed as many people as there are stars in a given galaxy?

. . Well…Esme is a survivor first. High ideals are meaningless to a corpse. The above is not an idealistic attitude. It’s a realistic and practical one. And the reality is that sometimes, if one wants to keep living, someone else has to die for it. Their lives may matter, but that doesn’t make them special or irreplaceable. The only life that’s irreplaceable to Esme is Esme’s. for reasons that should be obvious. She’s not a cynic. She’s seen hope, faith, and camaraderie turn the tide too often for that. But she’s also seem them fail miserably, too. The only thing in the universe a person can always rely on is their self. Everyone and everything else is fundamentally unreliable. The part that makes this a realistic take and not a cynical one is that she knows very well that this unreliability is variable from person to person and thing to thing. Almost always is not the same as always. Neither is mostly, sometimes, or whatever other word one cares to use.

. . To put it more bluntly, it doesn’t matter who you are or how much she likes you. She’s not getting killed or captured for you. She knows her own capabilities. She has a vast amount of experience in various types of combat in various locales. If in her judgement (which isn’t infallible, hence her caution) a given mission, job, or whatever is more likely to get her captured or killed than no, she’s not going to do it. Period. The end. Except. Now there’s Jackie. Just Jackie. The rest of the Edgerunners, well…she’s seen these stories play out a hundred times before, to endings happy, sad, and entirely mundane. In Jackie, Esme has found a genuine friend she can completely trust for the first time in…well, she was still using a bow in those days so you do the math. She still won’t march into certain (or too uncertain) doom, but you know…sometime about Jackie seems to make certain doom impossible. Something about Earth’s…what do them call them again? “Superheroes”? She spent a year on Jackie’s homeworld with these people, who turn the improbable into the probable and the impossible into the possible with incredible ease. Without a thought to risk, recognition, or reward. She wants to call them idiots. She wants to call them every kind of fool in the book. This is not how the universe is supposed to work. The worst of odds can only be dared so often before they catch whoever dares them. But she knows they’re not. Instead she simply feels a little inadequate next to them. And so she understands exactly how Jackie feels all the time. For the first time in literal millennia, Esme doubts. She’s not about to switch her blasters to the stun setting, but for the first time since before she left Old Nobellia she wonders. Is survival alone enough? Could she have done better? Done more? She does not have an answer. Yet.
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EternalPhoenix
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Tetsukaze (Takeo Takeda)

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Tetsukaze (Takeo Takeda)

Power Level: 14; Power Points Spent: 255/255

STR: +10 (16/30), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +7 (18/24), INT: +1 (12), WIS: +2 (14), CHA: +2 (14)

Tough: +7/+16, Fort: +10, Ref: +6/+12, Will: +8

Skills: Acrobatics 7 (+10), Diplomacy 8 (+10), Gather Information 8 (+10), Intimidate 18 (+20), Knowledge (Galactic) 4 (+5), Knowledge (streetwise) 9 (+10), Knowledge (tactics) 14 (+15), Knowledge (theology & philosophy) 4 (+5), Language 1 (+1), Medicine 3 (+5), Notice 8 (+10), Sense Motive 8 (+10), Sleight of Hand 2 (+5), Stealth 7 (+10), Survival 3 (+5)

Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Challenge - Improved Demoralize, Challenge - Improved Startle, Defensive Attack, Elusive Target, Endurance (+4), Improved Aim, Improved Critical 2 (Automatic Blaster Pistol (Blast 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Automatic Blaster Rifle (Blast 8)), Improved Critical 2 (Heavy Blaster Pistol (Blast 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Katana (Strike 4)), Improved Initiative 3, Improved Sunder, Interpose, Luck 4, Master Plan, Master Plan 2 (tactics), Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Second Chance 2 (Toughness saves vs. Force & Plasma), Skill Mastery (Intimidate, KN (tactics), Survival), Startle, Takedown Attack 2, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory), Weapon Break, Well-Informed

Powers:
Arsenal of Iron Wind (Device 7) (Easy to lose; Custom 7 (Multiple Weapons 7))
. . Weapons (Array 14) (default power: blast)
. . . . Automatic Blaster Pistol (Blast 6) (Array; DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Automatic Blaster Pistol (Blast 6)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5); Accurate (+2), Precise)
. . . . Automatic Blaster Rifle (Blast 8) (Default; DC 23, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Automatic Blaster Rifle (Blast 8)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5); Accurate (+2), Precise)
. . . . Flash Bangs (Dazzle 7) (Array; affects: 1 type + visual - visual & auditory, DC 17; Burst Area (35 ft. radius - General))
. . . . Heavy Blaster Pistol (Blast 6) (Array; DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Heavy Blaster Pistol (Blast 6)); Accurate (+2), Precise)
. . . . Katana (Strike 4) (Array; DC 29, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Katana (Strike 4)); Penetrating [3 extra ranks]; Mighty)
. . . . Plasma Grenades (Blast 7) (Array; DC 22; Burst Area (35 ft. radius - General), Secondary Effect)
. . . . Stun Gas Grenades (Stun 7) (Array; DC 17; Cloud Area (35 ft. diameter, lingers - General), Range (ranged))
. . . . Thermal Smoke Grenades (Obscure 7) (Array; affects: visual senses, Radius: 500 ft.; Duration (continuous), Total Fade; Fades)

Borustan Physiology (Container, Passive 3)
. . Borustan Abilities (Enhanced Trait 13) (Traits: Strength +6 (30, +10), Constitution +6 (24, +7), Feats: Endurance (+4))
. . Starlight Vision (Super-Senses 2) (low-light vision, ultravision)

Cybernetics (Container, Passive 15)
. . Cyber Armor (Protection 6) (+6 Toughness)
. . Cyber Quickness (Quickness 6) (Perform routine tasks at 100x speed)
. . Cyber Reflexes (Enhanced Trait 33) (Traits: Attack Bonus +6 (+14), Defense Bonus +6 (+12), Reflex +6 (+12), Feats: Improved Initiative 3)
. . Cyber Senses (Super-Senses 5) (darkvision, extended (type): Visual 1 (-1 per 100 ft), infravision)
. . Cyber Speed (Speed 3) (Speed: 50 mph, 440 ft./rnd)
. . Cyberlimbs Might (Super-Strength 7) (+35 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 102.4 tons; +7 STR to some checks)
. . Cyberlimbs Strength (Enhanced Strength 8) (+8 STR)

Edgerunner Communicator (Device 3) (Hard to lose)
. . Long Range Radio (Communication 8) (sense type: radio; Subtle (subtle))
. . Universal Translator (Comprehend 3) (languages - read all, languages - speak all, languages - understand all)

Standard Mil-Spec Armor (Device 1) (Hard to lose)
. . Armor (Protection 3) (+3 Toughness, Feats: Second Chance 2 (Toughness saves vs. Force & Plasma))

Attack Bonus: +8/+14 (Ranged: +8/+14, Melee: +8/+14, Grapple: +18/+31)

Attacks: Automatic Blaster Pistol (Blast 6), +16 (DC 21), Automatic Blaster Rifle (Blast 8), +16 (DC 23), Flash Bangs (Dazzle 7) (DC Fort/Ref 17), Heavy Blaster Pistol (Blast 6), +16 (DC 21), Katana (Strike 4), +14 (DC 29), Plasma Grenades (Blast 7) (DC 22), Stun Gas Grenades (Stun 7) (DC Fort/Staged 17), Unarmed Attack, +14 (DC 25)

Defense: +6/+12 (Flat-footed: +6), Knockback: -8

Initiative: +15

Languages: Neo-Nobellian, Nipporustan Native

Totals: Abilities 30 + Skills 26 (104 ranks) + Feats 25 + Powers 134 + Combat 28 + Saves 12 + Drawbacks 0 = 255

Age (as of Jan 2019): 40 (chronological), approx 48 (human biological equivalent)
Height: 6’ 10”
Weight: 450 lbs
Ethnicity: Borustan (Japanese equivalent)
Hair: Black
Eyes: Dark Brown

Theme Song: Holding Onto Nothing, by McGwire X Nina Hope

Background: Nipporustans are one of the 108 Borustan tribes. Even divided by 108, there’s still at least a couple trillion members of each tribe, so no they don’t all know each other. Each tribe’s culture and traditions share the common Borustran traits of aggression and rebellion. But the rest is, oddly enough, a different take on a Nobellian culture. Both have many similarities to past eras of Earth’s Japan, albeit as intergalactic spacefaring civilizations instead of much small medieval kingdoms. The Nihogellians are most similar to the Edo period, which was relatively peaceful and a boom period for art and literature. Though swords and honor are still important, they favor flowers and poetry, not blood and steel. The Nipporustans are basically the opposite, being more similar to the Sengoku (or Warring States) period. They weren’t actually strict adherents of Bushido (having never heard of it for obvious reasons) until an Earth samurai (ironically enough, kidnapped from the Edo period) brought it to them. Sengoku period samurai didn’t follow Bushido at all (as it was more or less made up in the Edo period afterward), so Nipporustan culture had only gotten more interesting in the past few Earth centuries. However, the one thing the Nihogellians and Nipporustans completely share as a prominent part of their cultures is endless political maneuvering. With the former at most it results in social embarrassment. Failing the grand game enough can even have economic consequences for the executive class. But people rarely die from such maneuverings. Nipporustans go to war instead. It is the cowardly Nobellians who don’t put their life’s blood where their mouth is. The problem with this is that they’re just as prone to having leadership that is utterly indifferent to life as anyone else. And those such leaders command are just as prone to being too young and too stupid to know they’re committing atrocities and war crimes instead of heroically defending their own from a menace. One such story is that of the sins of Tetsukaze.

. . Takeo Takeda (the closest translation of his real name to Earth languages) believed, once. He wasn’t special. Put him in a holovid, or a game, and he was just another faceless mook. At least, back then. Now he’s uh, a bit better. But then he was just another bright eyed young Borustan issued a blaster rifle and a katana in service of his tribe. He served for three Earth years before the incident. He was a well respected sergeant, but not officer grade. This was fine. He’d have made an excellent career noncom. There was a clan of Venandi. They had served the Nipporustans faithfully and loyally (for Venandi, anyway) for generations. They owned some land. Had their own town and little Nipporustan style Venandi society. But the endless squabbling of Borustan society brought a new faction into power in the tribe. The Venandi lost the political battle before they ever knew it was happening. Indeed, they remained ignorant up until the end. It’s an old story. The new regime didn’t want any “foreigners” in their great nation. Or tribe, in this case. They’d resist being simply removed, and they had allies who could make things difficult. So instead they were framed for treason. A delegation of clan leaders was sent to address this, but they were betrayed and murdered. At the same time, a force was sent to eradicate their town and everyone in it. This is the force Takeo Takeda was on.

. . Tetsukaze is the nearest Earth translation of his nickname in Nipporustan. In English, it means Iron Wind. Even at 18 years old (which is a little older for a Borustan than a human, but still a young adult) he had acquired a reputation for dynamic swordplay, cutting through enemies like, well, an iron wind. Hence the nickname. Nobody said it was a clever nickname. He believed, in those days. Call it misplaced faith. Call it youthful naiveté. Call it whatever you want. The fact of the matter is that he didn’t see anything wrong with wiping a town full of treasonous, backstabbing traitors off the map. He was a soldier. These were his orders. He carried them out. It sounds colder and more unfeeling than it was. The other fact of the matter is that it wasn’t entirely his fault. He and his unit were exuberant young purveyors of violence. They were given a righteous cause to fight for, wound up, and let loose. In the moment, when events are coming fast and furious, professional soldiers (even out in space) trained to act instead of think. It is later, when buildings are on fire, corpses litter the streets, and things are quiet, that there is time to think. Think about the little inconsistencies in the mission brief and reality. There was no military buildup here. There were no secret comm centers. No weapons stockpiles. This was just a Nipporustan town like any other, except populated mostly by Venandi instead of Borustans. His unit didn’t really care. It’s not like they were Nipporustan, let along Borustan, right? So whatever. Let the brass sort it out. They did their job. The mighty warrior Tetsukaze shouldn’t have been bothered, either. This was a great victory to add to his growing reputation. However, he was also Takeo Takeda. A regular Borustan you might find anywhere in the Confederation. And Takeo saw the bodies of children and the elderly lying in the street like garbage, and treated as much by his fellow soldiers. Some of them were even looting while they could. Scattered shots could be heard in the background as pockets of resistance remained. If the cause truly was righteous, he could live with this. It was a horror, but he could, in fact, live with it. He could. Dammit. But if it wasn’t…

. . He remembers their names, you know. His squad. His brothers. The smallest units weren’t gender integrated. Less for them to fight over. Corporal Saito. His right hand. Corporal Kawashima. The sharpshooter. Corporal Miyazawa. Tech support. And Private Nagase. FNG and medic. You think you know people when you serve with them. Hell, they were supposed to be able to discuss anything with each other. Drop the ranks on the floor and avoid coming to blows if they disagreed on matters. They shared a bond of deep brotherhood, or so he thought. So yeah, he thought he could discuss it with them in that moment. He found out he was the only one who cared. Nagase was just green enough that he still trusted the big brass, if not regular officers. Miyazawa was serving his term, doing his job, getting a nice cushy corpo job with his training, and forgetting everything. Honor didn’t even enter into the equation. Kawashima turned out to be casually xenophobic. They weren’t Borustan, so why did it matter if they were being dishonorable? But it was Saito that broke everything. His right hand. His best friend these last three years was, as it turned out, a Nipporustan tribal supremacist. Virulently xenophobic and racist in the bargain. He’d be all too happy to oppress and, more importantly, enslave his fellow Borustans for the horrible crime of not being born into the Nipporustan tribe. Takeo and Saito disagreed with each other, and no amount of talking was going to solve it. So they solved it the traditional Borustan way. With fists and then weapons. The trouble with this was that Kawashima objected to the use of fists and Miyazawa objected to the use of weapons, and as such both were drawn into the dispute. And by dispute I mean 4 way swordfight between relatively evenly matched opponents. Who, at first, didn’t really want to kill each other. They got angrier, the violence escalated…and the Iron Wind cut down three of his most trusted comrades. He says it that way because he doesn’t remember doing it. He was already decently chromed up at the time, but had shown no signs of cyberpsychosis before that day. The stress must have caused him to snap for the first time. Thus the first of Tetsukaze’s many sins were committed.

. . When the regime that ordered the massacre fell shortly afterward and its deceptions were revealed, it only compounded Takeo’s feelings of guilt, remorse and dishonor. Nagase’s testimony had kept him out of prison, and the fall only made his government want to wash their hands of him even harder. So he was discharged from service before the end of his term. He did consider killing himself. Honorable suicide was a way to solve everything. But he’d need a second, and the only person he could possibly ask was Nagase. Who refused, angry that his former squad leader would even consider such a thing. Neither of those positions are strange in Nipporustan society. There is an continuing debate about when and if ritual suicide is honorable. What changed his position on the subject was Nagase saying that sounded more like something Corporal Saito would say than Sergeant Takeda. Takeo expected to become angry at this comparison, but he did not. He instead became thoughtful, running over the memories of his friend and coming to the realization that he, like everyone else, saw what he wanted to see and little else. He bore no responsibility for what he had done except for what he assigned to himself. He had been deceived. By his government. By Saito. By Kawashima. And a little by Miyazawa. Indeed, times were difficult now, but he could endure.

. . Of course, forgiving one’s self is much easier said that done. Takeo and Nagase parted ways, and while they may have kept in contact, never met in person again. And of course, keeping body and soul together with a skill set that consists of “good at killing people” and “good at leading people who are good at killing people” is uh, difficult. Especially when Takeo’s relatively minor infamy preceded him. So, he fell into the mercenary outlaw trade. Shooting people in the face for money, as the stereotype goes. It’s much more complicated that than, but for a man who believed wholeheartedly in Righteousness, Compassion, and Honor, well…his sins list tallied higher and higher. And that’s when his gradually increasing cyber psychosis episodes didn’t lead to another massacre as the Iron Wind cut down everything in its path. He replaced more and more of his body with cybernetics, which wasn’t helping on that front. He didn’t want to kill himself, but he did want to become numb. Unfeeling. Like all methods of coping with severe emotional distress, it was not really working. And this was the situation when he took that fateful first job with a couple of very different Nobellians and a very unusual Sape named Jackie.

. . The conclusion of that series of events led to the formation of the Edgerunners. Tetsukaze has been with them the entire time. Job after job. He’s been able to finally exercise his Righteousness, Compassion, and Honor more often. They recruited Roxy Jett, Geojang, and Mirage after rescuing them from that blighted galaxy. Roxy shouldn’t have made that video. But at least he’s found something of a kindred spirit in Geojang. He’s acting as somewhat of a mentor figure to the Nobellian, despite them being approximately the same age. He was there for the Eternity War and was dusted along with everyone but Esme. He returned for the Endgame with the rest, as the Iron Wind cut his way through Kuros’s forces like a force of nature. But the biggest blow came after this, when he got the message he’d been missing for most of a year due to being, yanno, dead. He was expecting a message backlog from Nagase. There was only one message for him, however. The initial chaos of the Dusting had claimed now Captain Nagase’s life. He had died as he lived, personifying the Nipporustan virtues of Courage and Compassion. Half the crew of a transport with thousands of passengers on it had turned to dust and crumbled, including the entire bridge complement. It was Captain Nagase’s heroic actions that saved the lives of everyone on that transport and then kept them that way until they could be rescued. Unfortunately, he could not do the same for himself, dying of his own injuries. He had no spouse, children, or family. Only a life devoted to service and one friend to leave all the pay he’d never spent due to that devotion to service. His old squad leader Takeo Takeda, now the infamous mercenary outlaw Tetsukaze. It’s funny the things will make someone decide to finally take care of themselves, isn’t it? The Red Ronin have the expertise to repair/realign/rewhatever his neurology to ease his cyberpsychosis symptoms. Jackie put it on the To Do List. Your Sergeant is sorry, Nagase. Sorry for waiting so long to realize you were carrying your own burdens from that day. He will, as you requested long ago now, continue to live on for however much time he has left.

. . An interesting side note. The only survivor of the massacre of the Venandi (granted, someone Takeo Takeda did not encounter that day) is currently one of the top candidates for becoming the next Space Pirate monarch. One of the three Captains of the Trinity Pirates. She calls herself Lynx. If they ever met, she and Tetsukaze would have quite a lot to talk about…

Powers & Tactics: Tetsukaze is a Borustan who is augmented with a hell of a lot of cybernetics, and who carries a hell of a lot of weapons and devices. This is all technological in nature.

. . His cybernetics would perhaps be bleeding edge by Earth standards, but out in the universe they’re not all that special, really. What makes him stand out is the sheer degree of augmentation, to the degree that he at first glance appears to be more machine than Borustan. This is not entirely inaccurate. He has replaced all 4 of his limbs completely, augmented his strength (to triple digit tons) and speed (to at least 50 MPH). Ten times as much speed is technically possible from cybernetics, but generally nobody outside of those who routinely hit the fringes of known space bothers. Hovercars, in leased, rental, or taxi form, are simply too plentiful to spend the money on something so unnecessary. They also make the owner of such fast legs stand out, which is the last thing anyone in the mercenary outlaw trade like Tetsukaze wants. Implanted in his torso are cybernetics that enhance his reflexes and quickness significantly. This gives boosts to both his attack accuracy and dodging ability. Even his eyes have cyber that enhances his vision past Borustan standard. But the part that makes him look like an actual robot are the durable metal plates literally bolted onto his body protecting the vital organs in his torso and the joints on his cyberlimbs. The metal and plastics genuinely outweigh what’s left of his organic body, though on pure size they’re about even.

. . As for his weapons and devices, well, there is his Edgerunner Communicator with its 2000 miles of range and universal translator, the armor from his Army days, and a weapon for almost every occasion. These weapons are the usual assortment of blasters and grenades, plus what every Nipporustan soldier carried to distinguish them from other tribes. A katana. The kidnapped Earth Edo period samurai who brought Bushido to the tribe also brought his sword. While the use of melee weapons like swords wasn’t exactly new to, well, the entire universe (and the katana’s design wasn’t, either) it was the mythologizing of the weapon as part of the warrior’s identity and soul that the Nipporustans went a bit mad for. In the ensuring Earth centuries, such ideas have spread much further than that particular samurai would have ever dreamed of. So, yes, the alien from a distant galaxy has multiple ranged energy weapons, plasma based explosives, and even mild chemical weapons. He’s also got a strip of razor sharp carbon steel/titanium alloy that, with his cybernetic might, can slash just about anything right the hell open without snapping like a twig. Believe it or not, melee weapons made of energy or that vibrate are decidedly unpopular among veteran soldiers and mercenary outlaws. Primarily because such weapons are powered by batteries, which both require recharging and can run out at the most inconvenient moment. And all batteries eventually go bad, requiring replacement. Ranged energy weapons already have those problems, but counter them with well, being ranged. A sharp piece of metal has none of those problems, and if well made, can always be relied upon to deliver death at need. This reliability is the entire point of a backup weapon, as any melee weapon ought to be in either trade.

. . Tactically, Tetsukaze is the frontline of the Edgerunners. His Toughness is very high, and he can soak damage the rest of them (except for Jackie) absolutely can’t. His normal first weapon picked is his Automatic Blaster Rifle. Plasma Grenades, Stun Gas Grenades, and Flash Bangs support his blaster fire. Thermal Smoke can provide an escape when things get too hairy. His weapon of choice, however, is his Katana. It’s just that melee combat is not always an option. He has Accurate, All out, Defensive, and Power Attack to shift his caps around with, Improved Demoralize and Improved Startle elevate his overall effectiveness, and Interpose lets him take hits for allies. Improved Aim can increase his accuracy, as well. Move By Action keeps him mobile. When he can use his Katana, Elusive Target helps me avoid being hit, Improved Sunder and Weapon Break let him destroy opposing weapons with ease, and Takedown Attack 2 is how he got the nickname of “Iron Wind” in the first place. Interestingly, he’s the Edgerunner’s tactican, with Master Plan 2 to elevate their bonuses temporarily if he had a few minutes to plan things out. And Well Informed means that while he may not be the most knowledgeable about a given subject, he knows something. Those last two are surprising from someone who looks like nothing more than dumb muscle. He does not power stunt.

Personality: The Eight Virtues of every Nipporustan’s Bushido Code are a bit different, as people are gonna be people, even if they’re aliens. This, however, is the broad strokes.

. . Righteousness: This is one of the complex ones with multiple interpretations. After all, ask any ten people what it means to be righteous and you’ll get ten different answers. At the core, however, is a relatively simple idea. One should maintain their integrity at all times and once a decision is made, do not hesitate to carry it out. Strive to be fair and just at all times. It’s the moral purity virtue.

. . Courage: This one is deceptive. Many think it’s about risking your life in combat, and not much else. Bushido being the code of a warrior, after all. This is not true. Courage is about not faltering in the face of negative consequences, no matter how severe. Yes, it is about facing death at the hands of an enemy. It is also about facing the anger of a friend who has erred or public ridicule for one’s own mistakes. Fear is fear, regardless of the circumstance, and a true warrior will always overcome it.

. . Compassion: This is also known as Benevolence or Kindness, depending on who you ask, which should say a lot about how many interpretations of this one there are. But basically, anyone can be a killer. Or whatever the occupation in question is. It takes someone with Compassion, Benevolence, or Kindness to genuinely do good out there in the universe outside of that. Especially if they’re a killer and not, like, a doctor or something. Those with a high level of skill in their chosen occupation have an obligation to aid, protect, and defend others at every opportunity. If an opportunity does not arise, they go out of their way to find one.

. . Respect: This is another where the surface level (of using proper manners and politeness) is all many understand. This is more properly understood being secure in the knowledge of one’s own abilities. A true warrior has no need to prove their self to anyone. Their pride is not stung by casual insults. They use proper manners and politeness because it is the correct way to treat others and for no other reason. A true warrior’s strength is for real battle, not salving his injured ego with petty cruelties. Even when it is the most difficult, a warrior endures all hardships without complaint.

. . Honesty: This is the third one where the initial meaning is deceptive. Just don’t lie, mean what one says, and do what one says they will do. There is no need for “promises” or “giving one’s word”. If a true warrior says they will do a thing, they will do it. End of discussion, barring a significant change in circumstances that makes the thing impossible where it was not before. And even then, the effort will be made regardless. That’s the surface. The deeper level is being honest with one’s self. To view one’s own actions and feelings without deceptions or excuses.

. . Honor: This, like Righteousness, is something with a different meaning to pretty much everyone. So I’ll only state the core idea. Ultimately, the person one is most accountable to for their words and actions is one’s self. This is the morals and conscience virtue, so you, Dear Reader, can understand exactly how difficult it is to narrow down any further than this. However, many consider not bringing down shame on their friends, family, ancestors, and/or the organization they work for to be a part of it as well.

. . Loyalty: This one would perhaps be better named as Responsibility, as only the surface understanding consists of merely not actively betraying those who have placed their trust in the warrior. No, if the warrior commits to being someone’s ally, he must back them until the end of the line or the bond between them is severed. Such a bond can (and as some say, should) endure through death and beyond. Be it parent and child, soldier and superior officer, or friend and friend, each bond has its own slate of responsibilities that a true warrior will carry out as needed. Even if actual lives are not in the warrior’s care, this does not diminish his responsibilities to the other person.

. . Self-Control: Temperance. Everything in moderation. Don’t be a drug addict, drunk, or a dirty stinking slob. Welcome, again, to the surface level. Going deeper means moderating one’s unhealthy behaviors, which is a whole lot more difficult than simply being careful about intoxicating substances. It’s about not doing anything to such excess that it affects the warrior’s ability to observe the other virtues. Food, sex, games, gossiping, brooding, whatever. A true warrior shows the same care for his body and mind that he does for the bodies and minds of others.

. . These are the things that Tetsukaze believes in and attempts to hold to with everything that he is. His overall lifelong success at this, like for most people, has been mixed at best. But he’s always tried, and with the Edgerunners it’s been an easier road. Of course, this makes him sound a little like an Earth superhero, and…kind of? Except not really. Nipporustan Bushido is much more flexible than the standard superhero creed. It does not discourage killing, and isn’t held to nearly so unyieldingly by most. Tetsukaze is no hero. He’d tell you so himself. He’s just an old warrior, holding on to nothing but his code and hope that life will get better.

. . A final note. Cyberpsychosis affects everyone who has it differently. The stereotype is that of violent, rampaging maniacs, but those are merely the ones who catch the news headlines for reasons that should be obvious. The only common traits when it is active is a sudden disappearance of the ability to feel guilt or remorse, increased recklessness, and the affected’s remaining emotions become significantly stronger and more difficult to control. The rest depends on the person who, as should be carefully noted, does not undergo any other type of personality shift. So, when someone is already heavily armed and prone to violently losing one’s temper, three guesses what happens when they have a cyberpsychotic episode. Tetsukaze was a professional soldier, not a thug who learned to fight scrapping in back alleys. So while he can rampage just fine, it’s more of a controlled and directed thing and not a direct result of a break. He could somewhat control when he went into and came out off a break, as well. However, he’s slowly losing that ability, which is the problem he wants to see the Red Ronin about. Cyberpsychosis has no known cure, but there are treatments. And he’s come into a little money now. He knows Nagase would approve of him taking care of himself, regardless.
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Zima (Marina Morozov)

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Zima (Marina Morozov)

Power Level: 12; Power Points Spent: 255/255

STR: +6 (16/22), DEX: +8 (20/26), CON: +3 (16), INT: +2 (14), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +6 (18/22)

Tough: +3/+6/+10, Fort: +7, Ref: +10/+14, Will: +12

Skills: Acrobatics 7 (+15), Bluff 14 (+20), Diplomacy 4 (+10), Gather Information 4 (+10), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 13 (+15), Knowledge (theology & philosophy) 8 (+10), Notice 7 (+10), Perform (singing) 9 (+15), Sense Motive 7 (+10), Stealth 7 (+15)

Feats: Accurate Attack, Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Focus (melee) 4, Challenge - Improved Feint, Challenge - Improved Taunt, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Dodge Focus, Evasion, Improved Critical (Hydro Blast (Blast 12)), Improved Critical 2 (Heavy Blaster Shot (Blast 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Icy Bindings (Snare 12)), Improved Critical 2 (Rapier Strikes (Strike 2)), Improved Initiative, Improved Initiative 3, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Ritualist, Second Chance (Toughness saves vs. Force), Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Bluff, KN (arcane lore), Perform (sing)), Takedown Attack, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory)

Powers:
Discreetly Armored Dress (Device 1) (Hard to lose; Subtle (subtle))
. . Energy Scattering Fabric (Protection 3) (+3 Toughness, Feats: Second Chance (Toughness saves vs. Force); Subtle (subtle))

Edgerunner Communicator (Device 3) (Hard to lose)
. . Long Range Radio (Communication 8) (sense type: radio; Subtle (subtle))
. . Universal Translator (Comprehend 3) (languages - read all, languages - speak all, languages - understand all)

Heavy Blaster Pistol (Device 3) (Easy to lose)
. . Heavy Blaster Shot (Blast 6) (DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Heavy Blaster Shot (Blast 6)); Accurate (+2))

Nobellian Hydromancy (Array 13) (default power: blast)
. . Basic Hydromancy (Move Object 12) (Array; Strength: 60, Carry: 17 tons / 34 tons / 51.2 tons / 102.4 tons; Range (perception); Limited Material (Water))
. . Hydro Blast (Blast 12) (Default; DC 27, Feats: Improved Critical (Hydro Blast (Blast 12)); Variable Descriptor (Narrow group - Ice/Water/Heat (Steam)))
. . Hydro Burst (Blast 8) (Array; DC 23; Burst Area (40-80 ft. radius - General); Progression, Increase Area (area x2), Variable Descriptor (Narrow group - Ice/Water/Heat (Steam)))
. . Hydro Barrage (Blast 8) (Array; DC 23; Autofire (interval 2, max +5); Accurate 2 (+4), Variable Descriptor (Narrow group - Ice/Water/Heat (Steam)); Full Power)
. . Hydro Shifting (Transform 5) (Array; affects: narrow > narrow - form of water into other form of water, Transforms: 25 lbs., DC 15; Duration (continuous))
. . Ice Constructs (Create Object 8) (Array; Max Size: 8x 5' cubes, DC 18; Impervious; Precise, Stationary)
. . Icy Bindings (Snare 12) (Array; DC 22, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Icy Bindings (Snare 12)))
. . Mist (Obscure 8) (Array; affects: visual senses, Radius: 1000 ft.; Selective Attack)
Nobellian Longevity (Features 1)

Nobellian Physiology (Container, Passive 3)
. . Nobellian Abilities (Enhanced Trait 6) (Traits: Dexterity +2 (26, +8), Charisma +4 (22, +6))
. . Nobellian Quickness (Quickness 1+5) ([Stacking ranks: +5], Perform routine tasks at 100x speed)
. . Nobellian Reflexes (Enhanced Trait 5+5) ([Stacking ranks: +5], Attack Bonus +1 (+12), Reflex +1 (+14), Feats: Dodge Focus, Improved Initiative)
. . Nobellian Speed (Speed 1) (Speed: 10 mph, 88 ft./rnd)
. . Starlight Vision (Super-Senses 2) (low-light vision, ultravision)

Rapier (Device 3) (Easy to lose)
. . Rapier Strikes (Strike 2) (DC 23, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Rapier Strikes (Strike 2)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5) [6 extra ranks]; Mighty, Precise, Subtle (subtle))

Support Enchantments (Container, Passive 8)
. . Chronomantic Quickness (Quickness 5) (Perform routine tasks at 50x speed; Stacks with (Nobellian Quickness (Quickness 1+5)))
. . Chronomantic Reflexes (Enhanced Trait 18) (Traits: Attack Bonus +3 (+12), Defense Bonus +3 (+14), Reflex +3 (+14), Feats: Improved Initiative 3)
. . Chronomantic Speed (Speed 5) (Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd; Stacks with (Nobellian Reflexes (Enhanced Trait 5+5)))
. . Cryomantic Adhesion (Super-Movement 2) (wall-crawling 2 (full speed); Limited (to Ice Surfaces))
. . Enhanced Abilities (Enhanced Trait 10) (Traits: Strength +6 (22, +6), Dexterity +4 (26, +8))

Attack Bonus: +8/+12 (Ranged: +8/+12, Melee: +12/+16, Grapple: +18/+22)

Attacks: Heavy Blaster Shot (Blast 6), +14 (DC 21), Hydro Blast (Blast 12), +12 (DC 27), Hydro Burst (Blast 8) (DC 23), Hydro Burst (Blast 8), +16 (DC 23), Hydro Shifting (Transform 5), +12 (DC Fort 15), Icy Bindings (Snare 12), +12 (DC Ref/Staged 22), Rapier Strikes (Strike 2), +16 (DC 23), Unarmed Attack, +16 (DC 21)

Defense: +11/+14 (Flat-footed: +7), Knockback: -4

Initiative: +24

Languages: Neo-Nobellian Native

Totals: Abilities 40 + Skills 20 (80 ranks) + Feats 20 + Powers 124 + Combat 36 + Saves 15 + Drawbacks 0 = 255

Age (as of Jan 2019): At least 100 Earth years (chronological), early 20s (human biological equivalent)
Height: 5’ 2” (5’ 6 in usual footwear)
Weight: 90 lbs.
Ethnicity: Nobellian (Russian equivalent)
Hair: White
Eyes: Blue

Background: Zima doesn’t know. She has no idea. The end.

. . No, seriously. Zima (translated directly to English instead of an equivalent Earth language, the closest meaning for the word is winter) has amnesia. She does not have the faintest idea who Marina Morozov is. It’s not the medical condition, either. She’s had herself checked out. There’s nothing medically wrong with her brain. She woke up naked in a back alley in one of the most wretched hives in the universe, knowing nothing but her own name. She was Zima, alias Marina Morozov. And for some reason, she was clutching a rapier in her left hand. The next few days were, um, interesting. She was left handed, which explained why she was clutching her rapier in that hand. Left handedness is rare in Nobellians, which was the name of her species. As was albinism, which she learned she had after a very painful sunburn and that medical check. She could do magic. Control water and a little of her own time. She knew how to use that rapier. She was a very skilled person when it came to killing people, and apparently used to doing so. She was even an excellent singer. She knew how to function in society. The little things like how to use money, wear clothes, eat with utensils, and socialize without sounding like a clueless idiot. Everything else, such as any personal memories of how these skills and abilities were acquired, was blank. Well, not quite blank. How does one explain almost remembering something? She could feel the shape of the memories. She knew they were there. It was like not having the right holovid player to view a particular file format. She didn’t even know how old she was, for heaven’s sake. Still, she earned passage off that wretched hive of a planet.

. . One would think a simple web search would solve this issue. How hard could it be to find a left handed albino Nobellian woman named Marina Morozov? Apparently impossible, as Marina Morozov did not exist. She could find Nobellians with all of her search parameters, but none of them looked anything like what she saw in the mirror. Admittedly, she was an amateur at searching the infoweb. There was nothing to do but find a place to stay and build up funds to pay a professional. And as she didn’t have a legal identity (or at least one that she knew existed) the work she had to take was either mercenary or sexual in nature. You, Dear Reader, would not believe the deviants that would line up around the sector to have their way with a beautiful left handed albino Nobellian woman. No thank you, said Zima. Mercenary work it was. Which, of course, led her to the series of events that teamed her up with Jackie, Esme, and Tetsukaze. Those…things…were quite frankly horrifying and she was all too pleased to assist in dispatching them. And thus were formed the Edgerunners. She needed allies, after all, and these were suitable.

. . It wasn’t all sunshine and roses, of course. Her abilities got plenty of use with the Edgerunners. And the more she used them, the more often she would get quite frankly disturbing flashes of memory. And the more of them she experienced, the more she began to think that the person she had been, well…she wasn’t a very good person at all. Quite monstrous, actually. Furthermore, she began to think she’d never meet anyone who knew her because she killed them all. It is, as stated, a disturbing thought. More disturbing still are the fragments of her original personality that keep popping up. The forgotten part of her seems to be genuinely callous, vicious, cruel, and sadistic, and she can sometimes feel it trying to reassert itself. It frightens the person she is now, who is mostly none of those things. The question of what happens to the person she is now if the old one comes back is quite frankly a terrifying one. So, you know, a lot going on there.

. . Time, however, does not stop moving. Zima was with the Edgerunners on that job which brought Roxy Jett, Geojang, and Mirage into their lives. Her Nobellian Hydromancy was arguably the most effective at neutralizing the airborne nanomachines. Between Zima keeping the team from infection and Jackie shorting out the already affected with those energy blasts of hers, they successfully extracted those three from that planet. And then Roxy had to make a holovid about it and annoy, well, everyone. A remarkably foolish decision, in her view, but so it goes. The Edgerunners went from four members to seven. They could take on larger jobs, which was good. Geojang and Mirage were competent professionals, which was also good. Roxy was, well, learning, which was fine. It was fine.

. . And then it was time to chase Kuros to Jackie’s homeworld. It…didn’t work out, and they kind of died. Dusted, is the terminology being used. But it’s…strange. Esme was indeed the only one who it didn’t happen to. Zima may well be the only one who something entirely different happened to. Naturally, she doesn’t remember it clearly. She turned into ice and snow (not dust), and was only dead in the most technical sense. But she knows she was still aware, somehow. She knew time was passing. Extremely odd. But she was literally unable to think about it while it was happening, and afterward was also fairly hectic, considering it was the final battle of the Endgame and all. Further distracting her was the sudden appearance of three old friends (wait, she had those?) working for Kuros The Conqueror. Alsayph with that sniper scythe she’d made herself (why does she know this?), Tuile the Penambru stealth specialist (seriously, how?), and Harifa the Adroit brawler (Alsyaph’s older sister, and again how?). this was not a fight that came to a conclusion, as Kuros and all of his forces were turned to dust and ash and blew away. Except the aforementioned three, who simply collapsed like puppets with their strings cut. Comatose. For no apparent reason. (Thanks…Medic, was it? What an appropriate codename.)

. . She remembered them. Bits and pieces, almost incoherent. But she remembered them. The trouble was that nobody else did. Mirage couldn’t find any mention of Zima and the three of them singly or in any combination. They seemed to simply not exist. This was, simply put, impossible. Nobellian record keeping is meticulous and borderline fanatical. It is only surpassed by the literally fanatical record keeping of the Sionil Union. Who’d never heard of any of them either. Down to their literal DNA. There weren’t even any familial matches, curse it. So either they didn’t exist (which was impossible because they were physically right here) or they had been systematically and meticulously removed from every record in known space without leaving any trace whatsoever. Including the memories of people who had seen the four or their records. Or, it was the more terrifyingly mysterious third option. That they were never in those records to begin with. Zima cannot even begin to grasp what that might mean. So. The Edgerunners are off to the chaos of a universe without Kuros. Jackie has something she wants to look into. Tetsukaze wants to meet with the Red Ronin and get some medical help that won’t break the bank. And Zima wants to find someone, anyone, who can wake even one of the trio of her “old friends” up. She’s no longer sure she wants her memories back at all, but she would at least like to know who she was. And if she really was the monster that those little snippets of memory she has paint her as.

Powers & Tactics: Zima is a Nobellian, a wizard with a variety of spells and supporting enchantments, and carries multiple devices. All of her dresses (she doesn’t wear pants or skirts) are discreetly armored, with a focus on negating blaster fire. She has an Edgerunner communicator with its long ranged radio and universal translator. And she carries two weapons in a Heavy Blaster and her Rapier. The former is because magic is a lot more traceable than a blaster bolt. The aforementioned are all technological, but her Rapier is technically an enchanted object, but Zima doesn’t know what the enchantment is, what it does, or how to activate it, so for now it’s a only pointy metal stick she stabs people with. It’s kind of funny, actually. She’s already partly using the enchantment to deliver multiple strikes per attack and doesn’t realize it because it’s perfectly natural to her. The mind forgets, but the body remembers.

. . As a wizard, she specializes in Nobellian Hydromancy. She does not know if she’s capable of casting other types of spells. Nobellian Hydromancy is different from every other form of hydromancy, hence the special name. As a rule, hydromancers can only generate and/or control liquid water. Some of them do some very creative and special things with that idea, but do not exceed its inherent limitations. Nobellian Hydromancy, however, can generate and control water in all of its forms. Solid ice, liquid water, and water vapor. This expands the potential list of powers/spells a whole hell of a lot. So, not only does she have access to all of the tricks normal hydromancers do, but she also has access to some cryomantic, aeromantic, and even pyromantic effects. She could even, theoretically, use water in its plasma form. Though she lacks any normal way to mitigate the extreme temperature of it, rendering it a poor idea. Steam is hot enough. With that said, anyone who is immune to water based effects would basically negate most of her spells. She’d be stuck using nothing but ice and ice only.

. . Her support enchantments are primarily some relatively light chronomancy, cryomancy, and physical buffs. The physical buffs make her stronger and more agile. The cryomancy lets her stick to ice, including the ice she creates with her spells. The chronomancy is a bit beefier. Her ground speed is faster than most hovercars, her quickness is an even match to it, and her reflexes are heightened. This increases both attack accuracy and attack evasion. This does qualify as relatively light, since proper chronomancers can do a hell of a lot more than just “be fast”.

. . Tactically, Zima primarily operates as a battlefield controller and a bit of a switch hitter. With Ice Constructs can alter the battlefield at will, granting cover and concealment to whoever she wants whenever she wants. With her ground speed and ability to stick to said ice, she can end up in places enemies may not expect. Mist is a more traditional “block the enemies’ view but not her allies’” thing. It can also be very effective, especially when it’s time to get the hell out. Beyond that, Hydro Barrage, Blast, and Burst assure ranged domination. Icy Bindings can be supportive in this endeavor. Hydro Shifting is definitely a utility spell. Don’t underestimate of suddenly turning 25 pounds of ice to steam or vice versa. As stated, the Heavy Blaster is for when her magic is unavailable. Her Rapier, on the other hand, gets more use. Since she has a high stealth bonus, can basically grant herself cover whenever she wants, and can reposition into unexpected places with ease, well…in more closed battlefields she does more rapier stabbing than one might expect. She has Accurate, Defensive, and Power Attack for use at need. Improved Feint and Improved Taunt make her more effective overall in combat. Acrobatic Bluff is available, technically, and Move By Action keeps her mobile. Don’t forget Ritualist, which is generally used to pump up her Nobellian Hydromancy for a bit. As for Power Stunts, she doesn’t do them often, but her list of possible ones is very, very long. Every possible water control trick. Every possible cold control trick that uses ice, including all that use snow (as snowflakes are nothing but tiny ice crystals). Every fire control trick that uses pure heat instead of fire, as she can use steam for similar results. And a large list of wind control tricks, as she can manipulate water vapor in many of the same ways.

Personality: Have you ever had a feeling you were sure wasn’t yours? Zima has. Quite a few times now, actually. Though that makes it sound like her past self is another personality lurking under her own, and that’s not accurate. It’s more like she’s a woman at odds with herself. The person she is now is very different from the person she was. A person she can only remember in tiny snatches of memory that vanish when she stops paying attention to them. The person she was appears to have been very, very evil. Transparently psychopathic. However, the person she is now is not. And yet…the fragments of her past self can be seen in her, just significantly lessened. Arrogance. Callousness. Viciousness. Cruelty. Sadism. Her past self appears to have been swimming in such traits. In the modern Zima, they are minor at best, tempered by a fully functioning conscience and compassionate heart. Not that she’d ever admit to the latter, as the aforementioned arrogance is perhaps the one old trait that isn’t quite so minor. Well, she is Nobellian. And a wizard. It’s only to be expected that she’d find admitting any level of weakness a humiliating experience equivalent to the level of weakness involved. She’s quite the sharp tongued princess, as a result.

. . This is kind of a problem, actually, rather than merely an endearing character quirk. Because Zima is scared. Flat out terrified, actually. It’s one thing to look in the mirror, see one’s reflection, and wonder who that person is. It’s quite another to look in that same mirror and not recognize the person in it. Meeting her old trio of allies during the Endgame unlocked memories of them. And her. They were not pleasant, even if as a quartet they were surprisingly kind to each other. And so, for the first time since she woke up in that alley, she wonders what exactly happens to her when whatever is causing her amnesia is broken and her memories return. Does the current Zima simply…go away? That’s kind of a terrifying prospect, actually. Basically, she’s beginning to have one hell of an identity crisis.

Mirror what’s this thing I see
Who is staring back at me
A stranger to my heart has filled my mind
Mirror, help me
Who am I?
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Edgerunners/Heroes of Britain/Borealian Vanguard/Roth Investigations Update 4

Post by EternalPhoenix »

Edgerunners/Heroes of Britain/Borealian Vanguard/Roth Investigations update 4 lets do it

The Edgerunners

Overview (100% finished)

Jackie (featured in The Icons entries as Stargirl II)
Esme (100% finished)
Tetsukaze (100% finished)
Zima (100% finished)
Roxy Jett (Build finished, Background in progress, rest to do)
Geojang (Build finished, Personality finished, Background in progress, Powers & Tactics to do)
Mirage (Build finished, Background in progress, rest to do)

*******************************************************************************

Heroes of Britain (after Edgerunners, so on hold for now)
Spoiler
The Knight Family
Crusader (Sir Randall Knight) (featured in The Icons entries)
Lady Alchemist (Morgan Knight) (Build finished)
Lady Knight (Emily Knight) (Build finished)
The Alchemist Knight (Sophie Knight) (Build finished)
Templar (Daniel Page) (Build finished)

UQ Trio
Umbrella Queen (Siobhanna) (Build finished)
Nisse (Alwyn Kendrick) (Build finished)
Tattoo (Josephine "Finn" Kent) (Build finished)

Miscellanous British Heroes
Big Ben (Benjamin Prestwich) (Build finished)
Keaira, Princess of Avalon (Build finished)
Paragon (Syed Nawaz) (Build finished)
Yeoman (Joshua Birch) (Build finished)
Hospitaller (Abigail "Abby" Priest) (Build finished)
To Be Named (Elastic Detective Type) (Build finished, I'll take your Hero Name suggestions)
*******************************************************************************

Borealian Vanguard (after Edgerunners and Britain, so on hold for now)
Spoiler
Overview (unwritten)

Main Squad
Prairie Sprinter/Turbodash (Grace Harper) (Build finished)
Dormin (Phil Cantor) (Build finished)
Blindspot (Cindy Liu) (Build finished)
Armory (Leon Wilson) (Build finished)
Bulletman (Jason "Jay" Martin) (Build finished)
Felin-garou (Rosalie Lavoie) (Build finished)
Valiant (Steve Clark) (Build finished)

The Reserves
Moonshadow (Donovan Tarkik) (Build finished)
Undine (true name unknown) (Build finished)
Fornax (Maxwell "Max" Drake) (Build finished)
Chasseur (Jules Bouchard) (Build finished)
Gajasura (Arjun Vijaya) (Build finished)
Sister Angeline (Raphelle Fortin) (Build finished)
Red Sleeves (Daiyu Hong) (Build finished)
*******************************************************************************

Roth Investigations (after Edgerunners, Britain, and Canada, so on hold for now)
Spoiler
Overview (unwritten)

The Originals
Asteroth (Adam Roth) (Build finished, Background & Personality finished, Powers & Tactics to do much later)
Christine Gale (Build finished)
Nyoan Ayano (Build unfinished, undergoing total revamp)
Shandra Hawkins (Build unfinished, expansion needed)
Ryan Masterson/??? (Build unfinished, lots to do)
Chiaki Ayano (Build unfinished, total revamp needed)

Bloodfang Alpha
Priest (Lloyd Adams) (Build finished)
Female Werewolf (Build unfinished, lots to do)
Taranis (Build unfinished, lots to do)
Asmodeus Psychevore (Build unfinished, finishing touches)
??? (Starting line, basically. Bleh.)

The Hunters
Ex-Cop (Build unfinished, lots to do)
Valkyrie (Build unfinished, lots to do)
Spirit Riflewoman (Build unfinished, lots to do)
*******************************************************************************

Progress is good. And once again, happy anniversary to me. One year of this thread and really posting here at Echoes. Yay.
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: 1st Anniversary! Edgerunners First Half! Esme! Tetsukaze! Zima!

Post by Davies »

Happy anniversary! I offer cake!

Image

Or at least a picture of cake.
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: 1st Anniversary! Edgerunners First Half! Esme! Tetsukaze! Zima!

Post by Jabroniville »

Oh god you posted them all at once now I have to hope I can get to all of them XD
Esme

Power Level: 15; Power Points Spent: 300/300

STR: +2 (14), DEX: +5 (18/20), CON: +3 (16), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +5 (20), CHA: +5 (16/20)
Okay when you went into the "Dark Gritty Space Adventure Mercenary Squad" I was not expecting a super-heavyweight PL right out of the gate. Much less one set up as a Dexmonkey/Gunfighter build. Though I'm seeing... mostly PL 13 on offense and with PL 15 only to Notice checks?

I like the backstory. Stone Age immortal turned technological gun terror, with an appetite for freedom over luxury but a tendency to piss off the wrong people. And sort of a "Mutant times 50" thing where she's hunted everywhere and has to trust that her allies aren't greedy enough to pawn her off to the nearest sentient-broker. It's interesting how she takes to eternal life- cynical enough to have seen the cycle of friends dying a thousand times before, so she's a bit detached without being cruel about it? But the link to the superheroes lightening her up keeps it from getting too dark, and makes her question herself. I can dig it.

I've seen mention of Kuros a few times before- obviously one of the "Big Bads" of the setting, but I forget if he's done anything else big- he doesn't seem to have a bio just yet. I double-checked and yeah, there he is as the guy who maimed Starman I and left him with bad injuries. I don't know how he met his demise, though.

It'll be interesting to see if the Edgerunners realize their teammate is an immortal who could make them all rich mercenaries for good.
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: 1st Anniversary! Edgerunners First Half! Esme! Tetsukaze! Zima!

Post by EternalPhoenix »

Jabroniville wrote: Sat Jan 28, 2023 3:23 am Oh god you posted them all at once now I have to hope I can get to all of them XD
The unserious reply is "That's a good problem to have, imo. :mrgreen: "

The serious reply is, as always, to take all the time you need. It'll be a little while before the other three are ready anyway.
Jabroniville wrote: Sat Jan 28, 2023 3:23 amOkay when you went into the "Dark Gritty Space Adventure Mercenary Squad" I was not expecting a super-heavyweight PL right out of the gate. Much less one set up as a Dexmonkey/Gunfighter build. Though I'm seeing... mostly PL 13 on offense and with PL 15 only to Notice checks?
She meets her PL with her Anti-Material Blaster Rifle, but is otherwise PL 12 offensively. The way I see it, her PL is high, yes, but she's very Attack and Defense shifted. As high as I allow, in fact. So she doesn't do the loads and loads of damage one might expect for a PL 15, and she certainly can't soak that much damage. Most high PL characters are either balanced or the other way around. She just...doesn't miss, and is almost impossible to hit without a nat 20 or perception range attacks. Both of which can easily ruin her day.
Jabroniville wrote: Sat Jan 28, 2023 3:23 amI like the backstory. Stone Age immortal turned technological gun terror, with an appetite for freedom over luxury but a tendency to piss off the wrong people. And sort of a "Mutant times 50" thing where she's hunted everywhere and has to trust that her allies aren't greedy enough to pawn her off to the nearest sentient-broker. It's interesting how she takes to eternal life- cynical enough to have seen the cycle of friends dying a thousand times before, so she's a bit detached without being cruel about it? But the link to the superheroes lightening her up keeps it from getting too dark, and makes her question herself. I can dig it.
Thanks, I appreciate it. Though it may have been our Stone Age, it was Nobellia's Iron Age that she's from. It was an era of swords and sorcery.
Jabroniville wrote: Sat Jan 28, 2023 3:23 amI've seen mention of Kuros a few times before- obviously one of the "Big Bads" of the setting, but I forget if he's done anything else big- he doesn't seem to have a bio just yet. I double-checked and yeah, there he is as the guy who maimed Starman I and left him with bad injuries. I don't know how he met his demise, though.
Fletcher, over in the Icons, did it with the seven Crystals of Power. It was a whole thing. Eternity War one year, followed by the Endgame the next.
Jabroniville wrote: Sat Jan 28, 2023 3:23 amIt'll be interesting to see if the Edgerunners realize their teammate is an immortal who could make them all rich mercenaries for good.
Jackie already knows, and Esme plans to bring Tetsukaze and Zima into her confidence shortly. The former would never betray an ally and the latter has way too much of her own stuff going on.
The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse!)
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You, Dear Reader, may comment on any build at any time. I will be happy regardless.
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EternalPhoenix
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Re: The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse; Newest: 1st Anniversary! Edgerunners First Half! Esme! Tetsukaze! Zima!)

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For the record, my brain got bored with the Edgerunners' darkness and scrambled me a bit. So I'm doing some work on the Brits and Vanguard. Much brighter stuff.
The Phoenixverse (A 2e OC 'verse!)
The Archetype Blendarama!
You, Dear Reader, may comment on any build at any time. I will be happy regardless.
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