Raveled

... Yes. This could be an opportunity to explore a part of Tona that doesn't get much airtime.

Tiff, is Miss Grue keeping an active scan on this guy? What exactly is she doing with her weird brain powers?

Asli thought back to her second attempt at college. Working eight or ten days a week at temp jobs and then four hours of classes and homework at night. Not to mention two or three hours a night writing music to keep herself sane. Not to mention reading the strange journals that were in the closet when she moved in... Joe probably -- probably -- wasn't practicing magic on the side, but if he was working and getting his degree at the same time, he was a heck of a worker. "You sound like something da la Rocha would sing about," she said. "A union boss who studies history." She smiled, to show that she didn't mean to make fun of him. "Have you always been interested in history? Reading John Clancy and his ghostwriters?"

It would be a good idea to meet back up with Cannonade and Lucy, that was true. Jay fell in line behind the man, taking care to match his footprints as closely as possible while also keeping a look-out for more of his followers. "You didn't really answer my question," she pointed out. "How long have your people been here? AEGIS said this island was uninhabited, but you know English so you must have some contact with the outside world." She paused for a moment, running through the potential scenarios in her head. "If you want to leave, I'm sure AEGIS will send a boat big enough for everyone. Or two boats, even." She didn't even mention the possibility of flying off the island.

Asli let out a long breath and sat back in her chair, trying to let her stress and anger fade. There was something about Mark, maybe just because he had stayed out of the fight or maybe just because he was cute. In any case, his words seemed a good place to let the argument lay. She still didn't want to talk to Nina about anything else, though, and she was supposed to be here to meet Joe, so... "So you know I sing," she said, swirling around her water glass like it contained a rare vintage. "How about you? Mark said that you had a union job."

Aya started moving through the crowds, feeling her skin crawl from having so many Grue nearby. She had left her armor behind, but now the Lor wished she had kept it; having a layer between her and the crowds would be very appreciated right now. She did her best to ignore the feelings and focus on the case at hand. A murder was a murder, after all, and she'd tracked down shapeshifters before. It was all about working the clues and building a case. She didn't talk as the pair of them descended deeper into the Grue section, keeping to herself. Once they were on the appropriate deck, it didn't take them long to locate the factory as it was at the locus of a knot of on-lookers. Aya pushed through the crowd until she was face to face with a Coalition peacekeeper, a humanoid with silvery-metallic skin. She flashed her own credentials and glanced around. "Aya K'Zan, with the Praetorians," she said. "Can you show us the scene?"

Boost is not a good power, and especially not a good power to build your character around if you're not experienced with the system. The problem is two-fold; M&M expects you to hit your combat caps, and combats are usually over in three rounds or less. So a character whose strategy revolves around getting Boosts spends one round getting near the source of their Boost, another rounding Boost'ing themselves, and then has maybe one round to actually contribute before the fight's over. The way I would build this is to have a big Array with different powers linked to different emotional states, and maybe give it a Concentration check to switch between them. Perhaps give him a complication that he has to actually feel anger/fear/sadness/whatever to use those powers. If you are absolutely set on this, I would start with a build that hits his combat caps without those powers; a martial artist, maybe, with full +ATT/-DAM trade-off, so that even alone he can still kick limited amounts of ass. Otherwise I predict you are going to find yourself very frustrated when you cannot contribute materially to combat. Out of curiosity, why can't he tell anyone about his powers?

Aya pressed her mouth into a thin line, forcing her immediate feelings of fear and anger deep into her. "We're going in there," she said, piloting the shuttle closer, "and we're going to vaporize every last piece of Communion technology on either ship. I'm not going to give them a second chance." The shuttle orbited around to the far side of the scrum, giving the three women a good look at the whole situation; the Communion-infected ship was small, a raider or sprint trader, but the vessel under attack was a much larger class, likely a miner. The whole affair vaguely reminded Aya of images she'd seen of parasitic wasps injecting their eggs into larger, unsuspecting creatures. In any case, it didn't take the Lor long to find an open port; she maneuvered the shuttle in closer and prepared to make a seal. She held off on doing that right away, though. The Lor stood and turned to the other two women. "Once we transfer over," she said, "I'm going to have the shuttle back off and take up station-keeping outside the asteroid cluster. At the very least we can keep the Communion from getting this ship. Are you both ready for this?"

Aya sped the shuttle through space, spinning it in a corkscrew. Part of it was showing off, part of it was defensive; the SOS was a pretty generic signal, without any of the details she would have expected. It might have been activated by accident -- or it might be that whatever was happening had already killed everyone on board the ship. The coordinates lead them to an asteroid thicket. The metal-rich rocks bounced around the sensor returns and Aya had to concentrate on not getting smashed. She managed to avoid any damage, though, and as they rounded the largest rock in the thicket they abruptly come on the source of the distress call, and the Lor officer had to stop herself from screaming. There were two spaceships there, locked together in a web of mining clamps and waldo arms and shining, creeping metallic fibers. One of the vessels seemed more or less normal, but the other was covered in growing patches of glowing, geometrical circuit board patterns. It was an affect the entire galaxy had learned to fear: a ship in the midst of being consumed by the Communion. Aya's heart was pounding in a sudden rush of fear and anger, and she had to swallow to be able to speak. "How is a Communion ship out here," she demanded. "We destroyed the mothership, it should be inactive. How is there a newly-infected ship out here!?"

Blue Jay'll work it. Not sure where she should go, but she'll work it.

Feel free to just describe finding it.

Okay, the thread is up here.

Rollz and suchlike for here.

Space rippled uncannily, and suddenly the Praetorian shuttle was hanging there. Aya K’zan smiled to herself as the ship reverted to realspace, her hands hovering over the Deltrazi controls. She had studied hard to learn how to pilot the Praetorian vessels, and while they didn’t trust her with the homeship she was able to fly the shuttles around. It was a small thing, but it meant a lot to her. Her hands dropped and the sublight engines warmed up, moving the shuttle. She hadn’t quite mastered the technique of coming out of warp at speed, and given the circumstances she felt the need to keep the vessel moving. “We’re at the location of the distress signal,” she said, speaking to the other two women in the shuttle. “Are you picking it up?”

Harris looked at his drink, swirling it around in the glass for a moment before answering. "Why did Edmund Hillary climb Everest? 'It was there.' I spent twenty-eight years on different boats before I messed my leg up, and then I spent two more years behind a desk just lookin' at them. My whole life has been wet -- swimming in the water, sailing over the water, diving through the water. I've the money, and I don't really care to do much with my time except for digging up old wrecks." He sipped his drink again. "Most of the time people don't mind too much. Most of the time people are happy when I can prove what happened to granddad or whoever."

Asli was forced to hold her tongue when the waiter reappeared. He was brave for stepping into the conversation, but it meant she didn't have much time to pick her meal. Fortunately, everyone else went ahead of her and she was able to find a noodle dish with grilled chicken, and no part of it sounded haram. Asli waited for the waiter to disappear, then leaned forward again. "The world you're talking about doesn't exist," she said. "There's no country on the planet where economic and judicial security for one part of the population didn't come at the expense of another part. And okay, maybe mine doesn't either. I do think some of the social democracies in Europe are doing a heck of a better job than America is, even if they might edge too far into secularism. But I will not accept any system with a tyrant over one where the common man or woman can make changes."

Blue Jay could make the most bedeviling corn maze. "Three steps down this path is the deadfall. If they go left, then they get the paper haystacks covering glue traps." "Great, but where did the pitchforks go?" "That's if they get past the deadfall."

Any other Praetorians want to get in on this?

"But who decides what those best interests are?" Asli leaned forward again, stabbing her finger at Nina. "What do you do when your great societal calculations decide that war is inevitable and you need a generation of soldiers? Spike the genetics to produce strong, tough brutes and not worry that they all have IQs in the 70s? What do you do when you think the best future for a child is as a garbage collector and his parents want to put him in AP classes? Tell them that their child is too stupid to hang with the future doctors and lawyers? If this if how you build a future society," Asli felt like she wanted to spit those words out, but settled for sneering over them, "then you still have way too much of your father in you."

Asli narrowed her eyes. "Sure, why not? Let's all be one. The only question is, which one is that? Your one, sipping wine and chatting casually about inferior races? My one, where pop music is punishable by jail time? Mark's one, where crossword puzzles are the secret Mensa tests?" She held out both hands, moving them up and down as she weighed the options. After a moment she folded her arms again and fixed Nina with another hard look. "I don't know a lot, but I know this much -- there is no one world where everyone is happy. Just look at me." She gestured down at her body. "I'm never going to be in a Hollywood movie, unless I'm the sassy best friend of a skinny, blonde twig. But you know what? I'm fine with that. I don't want to be an actress and I don't want to starve to look like Kate Moss or Natalie Portman. I don't want a 'one' life -- I want my life."

I am putting together a thread for Corona and a few other Praetorians. This is going to involve shady spaceship dealers, space battles, assimilation, and the Communion. Any takers?

So to answer a question right off: Life Emergency Counselor (not Emergency Life Counselor) is a job I made up. Seth works with people who have just gone through a dramatic and/or traumatic life change, helping them to keep their sh-- in order and shepherding them through until they can achieve a new normal. Within the hospital he works with people who have a terminal diagnosis, have just lost a loved one/guardian, or have been diagnosed with a major illness like diabetes or a treatable cancer. He also works with recently released convicts, especially those with superpowers, to integrate into society.

My next planned PC. Durf beat me to the punch of making a dream-themed PC, but I think this character has a good niche nonetheless with his Cthulhu-ish overtones. As always, PEACH and enjoy. Player Name: Raveled Character Name: The Stranger Power Level: 12 (180/180PP) Trade-Offs: None Unspent Power Points: 0 Progress To Platinum Status: 0/30 In Brief: An inhuman creature bonded to a human shell. A protector of the dreamscape. Alternate Identity Identity: Seth Machan (Secret) Birthplace: The Dreamspace/Atlantis Occupation: Life Emergency Counselor Affiliations: Project Freedom, Freedom City Medical Center Family: None, and innumerable. Description Age: ~16,000 years old (Incarnated during the Pleistocene) Apparent Age: Mid-thirties Gender: Male Ethnicity: Caucasian by default Height: 5’ 8” Weight: 140 lbs Eyes: Brown Hair: Black Seth Machan is not a man who stands out in a crowd. He’s of average height and skinny, with unlined skin and dark hair that grows straight and smooth and thick to the nape of his neck. He favors black Oxford shirts, dark sport coats, slacks and dark brogues. He’s almost never seen in anything more casual. He often wears a silver lapel pin depicting what looks like a leaf or frond. When on patrol, the Stranger does not wear a cape or bright colors. He still wears a black shirt, a black sportcoat, and black slacks. His feet are bare, though, and his hair is wild and tangled. His hair isn’t just black anymore either; it almost looks absent, like it absorbs all light that touches it. His skin becomes pale as china, and his face becomes a smooth expanse of flesh from his brow to his chin with mere slits for his black-on-black eyes. The frond-symbol moves to his forehead and has the same not-quite-there coloration as his hair. In the dream realm, the Stranger looks even less human. Superficially he still appears to be a man in pale skin with messy hair and dark clothes, but his face is a stylized noh mask and he rarely takes his hands out of his pockets. Instead, his sport jacket bulges like there are great, tunneling creature moving underneath it, and either the hems of his slacks cover his feet or his feet meld into the dream terrain. Power Descriptions: The Stranger’s powers come from his otherworldly lineage. His body is not something that grew around him; it’s a thing he constructed. As such he has incredible control over his biological processes, rendering him immune to virtually all the natural toxins that plague humans. In addition he can tap into his eldritch nature to empower himself, either to supercharge his physical body or attack his enemies’ minds in different ways. If he’s injured , he can reach out and absorb the power within a particular person or object to heal himself. Finally, as a creature native to the mindscape, he can enter the minds of sleeping creatures and travel via dreams to any other dreaming creature in this universe. In the realm of dreams, he is much more powerful and much stranger. He can reshape the dreamscape to his will and uses that to create walls and other structures to defend himself or tie up enemies, or to create attacks to overwhelm his enemies. He can even attack the very nature of the dream dimension itself to remove enemies History: The history of the creature most often known as the Stranger goes back to ancient Atlantis. A mage, his name forgotten to all, became aware of the strange beings that prowled on the edges of the dream realms. He enticed one in and captured it, forcing the creature to manifest physically. At first the creature was a formless mass, but as it spent more time around humans the spirit took on a more human form. Eventually the mage created a body for it, for the dream entity to move around the city and see its wonders. The creature survived the mage and was inherited by his family, but it was never regarded as anything but a monster to be studied and contained. The spirit’s body did not age or die, however, and it was around to see the city sink. The spirit escaped to Mesopotamia, settling among the proto-Sumerians in the region and tried to live as just a man. However, there was a suffering that he couldn’t ignore. The dreams and minds of Atlanteans and mages were protected, but out in the wilds there were monsters and demons and worse to prey on people. The spirit had the knowledge of thousands of years of observing the greatest mages in history, and his own nature allowed him to travel to the dreamworld and do battle directly with the predators there. Time passed, and the creature traveled the world. Every place that he found evil preying on innocents he fought against it, often triumphing, sometimes dying, always returning. He’s spent tens of thousands of years this way, observing humanity’s slow climb up it its current state. He settled in Freedom City a few decades ago and eventually found a job with the Freedom Medical Center, helping those who had recently gone through a traumatic life change. He remains a defender of the dreamscape, though, a terror to nightmares and an eerie defender of the waking world. Personality & Motivation: Seth appears rather distant to most people, even cold. Even when he claims to have strong feelings on a subject, he’ll often explain himself in a detached, logical fashion. This can be unsettling when he acts calm and collected in a stressful situation, even carrying on casual conversation in the middle of dangerous fights. The truth is that Seth views humanity as a fascinating mystery, full of questions and inconsistencies. He’s spent tens of thousands of years in and among them, and yet every day there is something that surprises him. He will protect humanity until he can unravel their mysteries. Powers & Tactics: There’s a marked difference between how the Stranger fights in the physical world and how he fights in the dreamworld. In the physical world he’s more or less a straight-up brawler, mixing bone-shattering blows with the occasional psychic dagger. If he’s too injured he can reach out and eat the energies that sustain a certain thing, dissolving it to dust and repairing himself. As a last resort he can drop the illusion of normality that covers him and subject everyone who can see him to his true, unnatural, mind-shattering shape. In the dreamworld fighting the Stranger is like fighting the land itself. He can use the mutable landscape to cause mountains to crash onto an opponent, freeze them solid one moment and boil them alive the next. He’s much less restrained in these fights, since all the damage is metaphorical; it takes a concerted effort to kill someone in the dreamscape, allowing him to fight with much less restraint. Complications Not Meant to Be Seth is a creature not of this dimension, and his very nature is against the rules of this dimension. This means that animals react negatively to his presence, either becoming angry or running away from him. Staring into the Abyss Seth’s magical and psychic nature is a stain on the world. Anyone observing him with Magic Awareness or Mental Awareness will immediately know that he is something weird and dangerous. Constant Observer Seth is fascinated with the actions of humanity and its reasons for such. In the heat of the moment he may stop acting to simply observe, or even to interrogate someone engaged in delicate work. Never Forget In his very first incarnation Seth was essentially a slave of an Atlantean wizard. While that family is long dead, he still doesn’t trust any Atlantean or anyone of Atlantean descent (including Ulti-men and the inhabitants of Ultima Thule). Abilities: 0 + 4 + 0 + 2 + 10 + 6 = 22PP Strength: 30/10 (+10/+0) Dexterity: 14 (+2) Constitution: 10 (+0) Intelligence: 12 (+1) Wisdom: 20 (+5) Charisma: 16 (+3) Combat: 12 + 12 = 24PP Initiative: +2 Attack: +6 Melee, +6 Ranged, +10 Pseudonatural Dreams Grapple: +6/+20 Defense: +10 (+6 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed Knockback: -10/-5 Saving Throws: 8 + 4 + 5 = 17PP Toughness: +10 (+0 Con, +10 Protection, 10 Impervious) Fortitude: +8 (+0 Con, +8) Reflex: +6 (+2 Dex, +4) Will: +10 (+5 Wis, +5) Skills: 100R = 25PP Diplomacy 7 (+10) Intimidate 17 (+20)Skill Mastery Knowledge (Arcane Lore) 14 (+15)Skill Mastery Knowledge (Behavioral Sciences) 14 (+15)Skill Mastery Knowledge (Civics) 9 (+10) Knowledge (Current Events) 9 (+10) Knowledge (History) 9 (+10) Medicine 5 (+10) Notice 10 (+15) Sense Motive 6 (+11)Skill Mastery Feats: 10PP Dodge Focus 4 Challenge (Fast Startle) Fearless Ritualist Second Chance (Will save vs. Mind Control) Skill Mastery (Intimidate, Knowledge [Arcane Lore, Behavioral Sciences], Sense Motive) Startle Powers: 4 + 6 + 1 + 28 + 37 + 7 + 1 = 84PP All powers have the pseudonatural and magic descriptors Flight 2 (25 MPH) (Forsake the Earth) [4PP] Morph 2 (Any humanoid, +10 Disguise, Feats: Metamorph, Quick Change 2) (Shape this Shell) [6PP] Morph 0 (+0 Disguise, Feat: Metamorph) (Dream Self) [1PP] Pseudonatural Biology Container Immunity 30 (Fortitude, Feat: Trance, Flaw: Half Effect) (Constructed Body) [16PP] Protection 10 [10PP] Immunity 2 (Ageing, Sleep) [2PP] Pseudonatural Dreams Array 15 (30PP, Feats: Accurate 2, Alternate Power 5) [37PP] BE: Enhanced Strength 20 (Extra: Linked [+0] [Impervious]) + Impervious Protection 10 (Extra: Linked [+0] [Enhanced Strength]) (Inhuman Might) [30/30PP] AP: Stun 10 (Extras: Range/Ranged, Sedation) (Psychic) (You Sleep) [30/30PP] AP: Damage 10 (Extras: Range/Ranged, Alternate Save [Will]) (Psychic) (Visit Your Nightmares) [30/30PP] AP: Emotion Control 10 (Extras: Action/Free, Area/Perception, Feats: Mind Blank, Flaws: Limited [Fear], Range/Personal, Sense Dependant [Visual]) (Unveil Myself) [21/30PP] AP: Damage 10 (Extras: Range/Ranged, Vampiric) (I Hunger!) [30/30PP] AP: Dreamwalking [14/30PP] Super-Movement 1 (Dimensional 1 [Dream dimension]) [2PP] Teleport 20 (Anywhere in the universe, Feats: Change Direction, Change Velocity, Flaws: Limited [Long-Range Only], Medium [Dreams]) [12PP] Super Senses 5 (Mental sense, +Accurate, +Acute, +Radius, +Ranged, Feat: Extended [100 ft], Uncanny Dodge) (Spatial Awareness) [7PP] Regeneration 1 (Resurrection, 1 week) [1PP] Drawbacks: (-0) = -0PP DC Block ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Inhuman Might Touch DC 15/25 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) You Sleep Ranged DC 20 Will (Staged) Sleep Visit Your Nightmares Ranged DC 25 Will (Staged) Damage (Psychic) Unveil Myself Melee/Area [Perception, Visual] DC 20 Will Fear I Hunger! Ranged DC 25 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Pseudonatural) Totals: Abilities (22) + Combat (22) + Saving Throws (17) + Skills (25) + Feats (10) + Powers (84) - Drawbacks (0) = 180/180 Power Points Powers: 7 + 41 + 37 + 7 = 92PP All powers have the pseudonatural and magic descriptors Morph 2 (Any humanoid, +10 Disguise, Feats: Metamorph, Quick Change 2) (Dream Self) [7PP] Pseudonatural Biology Container Immunity 30 (Fortitude, Feat: Trance) (Constructed Body) [31PP] Protection 10 [10PP] Dreamcrafting Array 15 (30PP, Feats: Accurate 2, Alternate Power 5) [37PP] BE: Create Object 10 (Extra: Moveable) (Modeling the Dreamscape) [30/30PP] AP: Damage (Extra: Autofire, Range/Ranged) (Dream Barrage) [30/30PP] AP: ESP 10 (200 000 miles; All senses, Flaw: Feedback) (Spy on Dreams) [30/30PP] AP: Concealment 10 (All senses, Extra: Linked [+0] [Insubstantial]) + Insubstantial 2 (Gaseous, Extra: Linked [+0] [Concealment]) (Fade Into Dreams) [30/30PP] AP: Dimensional Pocket 10 (Extra: Range/Ranged) (Into My Dreams) [30/30PP] AP: Snare 10 (Extra: Contagious) (Dream Quicksand) [30/30PP] Super Senses 5 (Mental sense, +Accurate, +Acute, +Radius, +Ranged, Feat: Extended [100 ft], Uncanny Dodge) (Dream Awareness) [7PP] Drawbacks: (-0) = -0PP DC Block ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT Dream Barrage Ranged DC 25+Autofire Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) Into My Dreams Ranged DC 20 Reflex Trapped Dream Quicksand Ranged DC 20 Reflex (Staged) Snare

Asli ignored Mark's attempt to change the conversation, leaning forward and speaking directly at Nina. "And who decides who gets what job, hm? Who decides what a kid is 'supposed' to be? What happens when you have someone who is engineered and molded and guided like a missile at computers and programming -- and one day he picks up a brush and discovers that the only way he's going to be happy is if he can paint all day?" She sat back and folded her arms. "What you're talking about sounds like some Brave New World bulls---. Trust the government that it has your best interests in mind, 'cause that never goes wrong."

Blue Jay A Problem Like Dead Island Miras Is This One of Those Dates? Corona Praetorians: The Deadly Dozen Caveat Emptor GM Don't Go Into the Water