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Player Name: Eternal Phoenix Character Name: Effigy Power Level: 8 (180/190 PP) Trade-Offs: +4 Damage, -4 Attack(Pyrus), None (Pyroboltia); +4 Toughness, -4 Defense Unspent PP: 10 In Brief: Fiery teen sorceress blazing her own trail Residence: Freedom City Base of Operations: Claremont Academy, Freedom City Catchphrases: Various fire related threats, profanity, combinations of the two. Themes: Burn It Down, by Five Finger Death Punch; Burn, by Divide Music Alternate Identities: Wilona Tabana Identity: Secret Birthplace: Freedom City Occupation: Student (grudgingly) Affliations: Claremont Academy Family: No known blood relations; Naomi Ellison (found family) Age: 16 (Born in 2005) Apparent Age: Mid to late teens Gender: Female Ethnicity: Latina (apparently, she dunnos) Height: 5’ 9” Weight: 140 Eyes: Dark Brown Hair: Reddish Brown Description: Wilona doesn’t display an iota of skin below the neck. This includes gloves. Plenty of scattered burn scars (especially the vein like pattern on her right arm), and it makes a girl look vulnerable, displaying skin like that. Civilian attire is battered old hand me downs from charity places. Jeans, when she can get them. She likes reds in her shirts and dark colors in her pants. The Effigy Robes are a dull orange. Brighter at the shoulders and darkening close to red as it goes down her legs. They’re basically a really long tunic with pants underneath secured by a rope belt. There’s a domino mask, too, but sometimes she forgets it. It’s new since Claremont, after all. History: Wilona Tabana doesn’t remember her family. Or if she ever had one. She was a street kid. Homeless. Anonymous. That’s what she remembers. That’s what her life was. That, and the fire inside. And just as often, outside. She was a pyromancer born. Fire obeys her. Maybe not something a grade school kid should have, but eh. Nobody got that hurt. Kids are small. Easier to hide. Scavenging food, dodging cops, discouraging pervs, welcome to life on the street. Winter wasn’t a problem, though summer sucked. She was…kind of lonely. Homeless people can be good company (and sometimes not), but there weren’t exactly an overwhelming number of kids her age. But honestly, she had stuff to do. Got to stay out of sight during school hours, so might as well learn something. She thought maybe, since she can make fire happen, she can do other stuff. Just had to replicate the feeling, right? Right. Well, it wasn’t exactly the same, but hey she could do other stuff. Lot of trial and error between those two sentences, but again she had the time. @$%ing hard, but she could do it. And after she figured that out, she met Naomi. Richie rich girl, born with a silver spoon in her mouth. That’s what the folks she knew said, but they never bothered to talk to her. She was lonely, too. It wasn’t a friendship, exactly. But Naomi knew stuff. Important stuff growing girls should know. And she had food, sometimes. So they hung out, sometimes, between school and her art lessons. It was something. Then the Terminus invaded, and everything went to hell. The nightmare of the invasion cannot possibly be understated. People Wilona had known for years were…gone. Or worse. And for the first time, she had to find out how powerful her fire actually was. It was uh, rather powerful. Blow holes through those metal freaks with the weird poles powerful. 13 years old, and the most potent pyromancer on the street. So she pitched in. At first heroically, but then just to clear enough space to find a good hole and crawl in. Way too many of those freaks, and they were talking an interest in her. Then she came across the smashed limousine. She knew it. The Ellisons used it all the time. The only person in it still breathing was the terrified out of her mind Naomi, so Wilona pulled her out and took her into said hole with her. Freedom’s heroes kicked the Terminus back the hell out of our dimension. Wilona taught Naomi the ways of the street. The latter was mutated by her exposure to Terminus energies, among everything else happening that day. Turning invisible and slinging invisible force was incredibly useful for scavenging food, ducking cops, and discouraging pervs. It also explained by they weren’t bothered in the hole they crawled in. It took time to put Freedom back to something resembling normal. It took more time to sort out all the reports and sightings. But eventually an interesting report about a potent fire slinging young girl crossed the desk of Headmistress Callie Summers. That girl had saved lives that day, and newer reports indicated she was still alive and in the city. Finding her would prove to be quite challenging. No fixed address. Avoids cops and superheroes like the plague. A hell of a lot smarter than she pretends to be. Getting through to her would prove to be an even greater challenge. Wilona was naturally suspicious and hostile to anything resembling an authority figure that wasn’t like, a kindly nun or something. Granted, all of them (from a certain point of view) wanted to curtail the huge amount of personal freedom she currently enjoyed to live her life the way she saw fit. That’s a hell to the no on that one. Miss her with all that talk about the law, responsibility, or whatever. Wilona did what she thought was the right thing to do, and to blazes with anyone who tried to make her do otherwise. The headmistress had to handle this carefully, or Wilona would absolutely refuse to cooperate. Her actions since the Invasion indicated a desire to be a superhero, but she was clearly aware that as a minor, the law was not on her side as far as operating independently of…well, anything and anyone who wasn’t Naomi. Hence avoiding cops and superheroes like the plague. So instead of the direct approach, the headmistress played to her curiosity and obvious intelligence. Rather than command, Ms. Summers and her agents questioned. Better clothes. Better food. A safer environment. More people who care about her. Doesn’t she want these things? Doesn’t she want these things for Naomi? Wilona, predictably, got pissed off. But it was obvious these were things she wanted. She wasn’t stupid. These were things she’d considered for a while now. The stumbling block was, as ever, surrendering even the tiniest bit of her autonomy. So she was kind of stuck, and thus, nothing changed. So, Ms. Summers offered a solution. She would become Wilona’s official guardian, just long enough so that she could become emancipated. She, with the Ellison estate’s cooperation, also did this for Naomi. So both would be effectively independent, because Naomi inherited her parents’ uncountable riches, they didn’t have parents of any kind, and honestly they’d been living independently for three-ish years anyway. Much longer in Wilona’s case. This meant that neither had any legal obligation to remain at the Claremont Academy if they no longer desired to be there, and Ms. Summers was perfectly willing to waive the financial obligation. This made it so much easier, so Wilona agreed to attend and live there. Only on a trial basis, she insisted. Sure, whatever. Personality & Motivation: Wilona Tabana comes in three layers. Cockiness and braggadocio for days when she’s playing around. Anger and intimidating pyromania when the gloves come off. And finally the core of her, a stubborn willfulness that makes even the more recalcitrant mule look pliant. She’s extremely self-reliant and independent, to a literally self destructive degree. She has the burn scars to prove it. Nobody makes her choices for her. She’ll destroy herself first. Well, maybe whatever’s restraining her first. But still. She’s got to have everything her own way, and the only way she’ll ever do anything is on her own terms. She doesn’t trust anyone besides herself. Okay. Naomi, some. But not completely. She plays up her temper and pretends to be a pyromaniac to push people away. Keep them at a distance. She does have a truly volcanic temper, but it’s not nearly as hair trigger as she pretends. She doesn’t have any special love for fire, though, aside from how it’s helped her out over the years. She will do whatever it takes to avoid feeling vulnerable or helpless. These things aside, she’s not a bad person, really. She’s got the heroic spirit, and does care about others. Though, she’s only a pain in the ass if you disrespect her free will and autonomy. Don’t do that, and she’s an excellent friend who will respect your free will and autonomy in turn. Because you see, her autonomy thing just applies to her. She's not about to champion the cause of free will throughout the world. That would be interfering with the free will and autonomy of others. Like hell she's gonna do that. So how does she justify fighting crime? Well, she's not stopping the bad guys from making their own choices. But she can and does choose to blast them in the face for it. Choices have consequences, after all. Her character arc, surprisingly, is not about learning humility or how to control her temper. It’s about learning how to be comfortable with being vulnerable and/or powerless. Power Descriptions: Wilona’s pyromancy is, well, fire. Even when she’s holding a spell in her hand, it looks like her hand is on fire. Light, heat, etc. So when she casts a fire spell, it’s hot. Contained so it does what she wants, sure, but anybody adjacent is going to feel the flash of intense heat and accompanying wind as the fire is emitted. Her other powers are not pyromancy. They are obviously self taught basic magic. Crude, amateur work. Her teacher ought to be ashamed…except she’s never had one, so it wraps back around to kind of amazing. They’re all basically all some shade of blue. Fortius is extremely translucent, as is Castillius as they’re force effects, but the others tend to be a solid color. Powers & Tactics: Wilona is an inborn pyromancer and self taught magician. She has a burning soul, and as such her pyromancy’s energies come directly from it. Her fire magic comes as naturally to her as breathing, and requires no special incantations or anything else to use. Regardless of how she prefers to use it. Pyromancy isn’t the most flexible of ‘mancies, and Wilona not knowing subtle if it bit her on the ass doesn’t help. Basically she throws a lot of fire around. Pyrus is one big blast, Infernus usually a thrown fireball (though she can do a sudden explosion instead when she’s feeling fancy), and Pyroboltia is a series of weaker blasts. Fire Control she genuinely doesn’t see as a spell, and it arguably isn’t one. Fire just obeys her will. They are all done with her right hand. Always. Her other spells are different. She needs to do them the way she figured out how to do them or they won’t work. They’re all cast with a specific gesture with her left hand and calling out the name of the spell. And they use ambient mana, not the energy generated by her soul. Fortius is a shield of force that augments her Effigy Robes. The gesture is pressing her hand to her sternum. Libertas is commanding the wind to carry her aloft. The gesture is her hand outstretched to her side. Aerus Servinius makes wind-based telekinesis happen with a literal wave of her hand. Castillius sees her slap her hand to the ground to make fields of protective force rise up from it. Sensus Displacius has her slap the heel of her hand against her forehead to literally displace her senses. All the names can’t be winners. She doesn’t have a magical tradition, at least not in the traditional (heh) sense. She appears pseudo-Hermetic, but that’s only because of the Western pop cultural version of Hermeticism being so pervasive. She technically didn’t have to use dog-Latin and a fancy gesture, but that’s what wizards do, right? And libraries are free. So her power stunts with her “Wizardry” array are going to be very basic and unsubtle. No Concealment, Incorporeal, or attack powers. Tactically, Wilona prefers the direct approach. Move action Startle, +4 All Out Attack with Pyrus. One opp, smacked down. Mmmmaybe throw in +4 Accurate Attack if they have like, only human durability or something. Infernus works well for groups, and Pyroboltia also synergizes well with a successful Startle. Her other spells are for utility and support, which is not really something her partnership with Naomi has seen her doing a lot of. Still, provided she hasn’t been ordered/commanded/whatever to do it, she has no problem sliding to a support role. Flight is very useful for staying out of melee range. So many ugly beasties want to rip your face off. As for power stunts, she has a couple Dazzles (in single target and perception area varieties) and a single target Snare (made of solidified fire, somehow) possible for Pyromancy. For “Wizardry” it’s a bit more complicated. Basically, the spells in it are successful ideas she’s tried out and practiced until they consistently worked. They’re quite literally the only ones she knows. So under normal circumstances, she’s incapable of power stunting with her “Wizardry” array. What would change this is exposure to another magician. She’d have to witness them doing something she can’t. Then and only then would she be able to power stunt her own version of such an effect. Given, of course, that it wasn’t something too subtle or an attack power. Complications: The Building’s On Fire, And It’s Probably My Fault: Wilona is a pyromancer, a fire sorcerer. And she’s not a particularly subtle one. It’s not impossible that she’ll set something on fire she didn’t intend to when she misses with a Pyromancy array attack. Like the building she’s in. Or the forest. Or the-you get the point. A GM may aware a Hero Point for triggering this. Yay, New Burn Scars: Her pyromancy cuts both ways. She is not immune to fire at all. Repeated use of it without breaks can cause her to start to overheat and burn. Extra Effort or several rounds consecutive use can add extra Bruises and/or Injuries, Daze/Stun her for a round, or anything else a GM might think up. Naturally, a Hero Point is awarded if this occurs. 404, Mana Not Found: Her other magic relies on ambient mana found in the world. If she’s been using them heavily, she’s in a barren wasteland or something (since mana comes from living things), or some other reason that makes sense, there can just not be enough mana around for them to be used. A GM may aware a Hero Point for triggering this. Temper, Temper: While Wilona’s temper isn’t as easy to trip as she pretends, it is truly volcanic in nature. Like most people, she can normally keep a lid on it. However, harming Naomi, trying to outright control Wilona herself, or just doing something incredibly evil in her presence are all excellent triggers. In such a state, she is completely irrational and likely trying to do her level best to completely incinerate the target of her rage whether or not this is possible, anyone is trying to stop her, or is even a good idea. A GM may award a Hero Point for this complicating everyone’s lives further. Abilities: 0+2+4+10+0+10=26 Strength 10 (+0) Dexterity 12 (+1) Constitution 14 (+2) Intelligence 20 (+5) Wisdom 10 (+0) Charisma 20 (+5) Combat: 6+6=12 Initiative: +1 (+1 Dex) Attack: +3 Base (+4 Ranged, +8 Pyroboltia) Grapple: +3 (+12 Aerus Servinius) Defense: +4 (+3 Base, +1 Dodge Focus, +2 Flat Footed) Knockback: -10 w/Force Field & Robes, -5 no Field, -1 with neither Saving Throws: 2+3+12=17 Toughness: +12 (+2 Con, +4 Protection, +6 Force Field); Impervious 8 Fortitude: +4 (+2 Con, +2) Reflex: +4(+1 Dex, +3) Will: +12 (+0 Wis, +12) Skills: 48 SP= 12PP Concentration 12 (+12) Intimidate 10 (+15) Knowledge (arcane Lore) 5 (+10) Language 2 (Latin, Spanish, English Native) Notice 5 (+5) Sense Motive 5 (+5) Stealth 4 (+5) Survival 5 (+5) Feats: 40PP Accurate Attack All Out Attack Attack Focus (ranged) Dodge Focus Luck 2 Power Attack Precise Shot Second Chance (concentration checks to maintain powers) Sidekick 30 (Invisigirl) Startle Powers: 73PP (All powers have “Magic” as a source descriptor. Effect descriptors are noted where necessary) Array 13 [26 PP, Feats: Alternate Power 3] (Pyromancy, all fire effects) [29 PP] Base Power: Blast 12 (Feats: Improved Crit 2) (Pyrus) [26/26PP] Alternate Power: Blast 8 (Feats: Progression, Increase Area 2; Extra: Burst Area [40-200 ft radius]) (Infernus) [26/26PP] Alternate Power: Blast 8 (Feats: Accurate 2; Extra: Autofire) (Pyroboltia) [26/26PP] Alternate Power: Move Object 12 (Extra: Range [perception]; Flaw: Limited [to Fire]) (Fire Control) [26/26PP] Array 9 [18 PP, Feats: Alternate Power 2] (“Wizardry”) [20 PP] Base Power: Move Object 6 (Extra: Range [Perception]) (Aerus Servinius) [18/18PP] (air/wind effect descriptor) Alternate Power: Create Object 6 (6x5’ cubes; Extra: Impervious) (Castillius) [18/18PP] (force effect descriptor) Alternate Power: ESP 6 (Visual & Auditory, 20 mile range) (Sensus Displacius) [18/18PP] Device 2 (10PP Container, Flaw: Hard to Lose) (Effigy Robes) [8PP] 25DP Total Protection 4 (Feats: Quick Change, Subtle; Extra: Impervious) [10DP] Flight 3 [6PP] (Libertas) (air/wind descriptor) Force Field 6 (Extra: Impervious 4) [10 PP] (Fortius) DC Block: Name Attack Bonus Range Save & DC Effect Unarmed +3 Melee 15 Toughness Damage Pyrus +4 Ranged 27 Toughness Damage Infernus N/A, Area Ranged 18 Reflex half, 23/19 Toughness Damage Pyroboltia +8 Ranged 23 Toughness (Autofire) Damage Abilities 26 + Combat 12 + Saving Throws 17 + Skills 12 + Feats 40 + Powers 73– Drawbacks 0= 180/190

June 8, 2022. Claremont Academy Dorms. First Floor. After school. Effigy and Invisigirl BOOM BOOM BOOM. “Paperboy, get your trunks on! Pool time now!” Wilona was already bikini-ified, though it was hidden underneath loose yoga pants and a thin hoodie. All of which, obviously, were yellow/orange/red with flame designs. Because subtlety. Naomi was in a one piece with the same loose yoga pants plus thin hoodie combo over top of it. Only she was in bland grey. So what was goin’ on? It was a hotass day. Wilona was bored. And she wanted to go swimming. Swimming alone sucked ass. So she’d corralled Carmen, who was hanging out in the lobby, and started pounding on her teammate’s door. Did Wilona know a place to go swimming? You bet your ass. Did she know Luke was also in the room? Hell, no. Would she have cared if she did? Hell, no. The more the merrier.

OOC for this. @EternalPhoenix @Electra @Dr Archeville @Spacefurry

GM The Painted Desert, Arizona October 4th, 2020 10:00 AM "Sorry kids, grandpa wasn't kidding about this desert being hell during storms." Blue Squad had been told that they would be going on a field trip to Arizona, to the painted desert, to meet up with a Doctor Macedon for a survival class. Leon might have heard about his friends' trip the year before, and how the aging Doctor Macedon had decided to swear off any and all future field trips after yet another trip to the past through the Magic Mesa, but maybe this time would be different? The whole thing had started out pretty well. Doctor Alexandra Macedon had picked Blue Squad up at the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport with an off-road van with enough space for the entire crew, their luggage and Danica's ride. It turned out she was the previous doctor Macedon's granddaughter, and she had been more than happy to take up the task of leading another squad on a survival class. They had reached their dropoff point and then proceeded out into the desert. A few hours later, a sandstorm had started kicking up, slowly growing in strength and intensity. "We gotta find shelter! Anybody see anything?" Doctor Macedon's long brown hair was kicking around her in the wind already, while she fought to keep her stetson secure on her head. Up ahead, the group could see a mountain that just so happened to have a cave.

GM An afternoon in the middle of July, 2021 Claremont Academy For whatever reasons, a group of students had arrived early at Claremont this year, before the classes were even about to start. They came from very different lives, and had very different powers, but for whichever reasons, they were to stay at Claremont, along with a few others, during the summer months. And, despite the summer vacation, they needed someone to show them around, and that job had fallen to Luke and Leon. They had probably complained, but headmistress Summers had promptly shut them down by reminding them about some of their misbehaviour during the past school year. They four new students, Onyx, Effigy, Invisigirl and Freedom Eagle were all ready in normal clothes, waiting for Nightscale and Paper to show them around.

OOC for this. @Nerdzul, @Spacefurry: Feel free to move to the simulator and set up an area, then I'll come up with some bad guys for that. And everyone roll some initiative.

Claremont Academy, Leonard Fox Auditorium Bayview, Freedom City, New Jersey Wednesday November 3, 2021 Inside the front entryway to the large auditorium building on campus waited two members of the Freedom League for the pair of Claremont students they had been paired with. One of the League members was five foot five woman in a recognizable bright yellow form-fitting bodysuit with a this black and white checkered pattern strip running down the side of the arms and legs. Most of her head was covered in a matching yellow mask, with only the lower part of the face exposed. Long brown hair in a ponytail stuck out the back of the mask and a pair of hi-tech, mirrored goggles covered the speedster’s eyes and upper half of her face. Over the last few years, Velocity had actually become much more acquainted with Claremont, if from behind the scenes. Over the last three years she and her husband had been foster parents for a Claremont student. Next year, her own son would be a freshman at the school. But of course, today was not about her connections with the school, it was about what her and her fellow League member might be able to do in terms of assisting a pair of current students.

Kord Dormitories, Forth Floor Claremont Academy, Freedom City, New Jersey Saturday, September 4, 2021 After a Summer back in her apartment in New York, along with some time at the Summers family home, Callie had already moved back into the dorm. Now she was sat in the common room checking her social feeds, waiting for new and returning students. Apparently older her wanted her to take some more responsibility so had tasked her with being the floor greeter for the new school year. She was giong to do her best, in was in her blood after all, but she wasn’t going to make an effort until absolutely necessary.