New Jetsam feat. Arichamus

[Ari]

Player Name: Arichamus

Character Name: the Golden Ferryman, Nemty("He Who Travels")

Power Level: 15 (250/250PP)

Trade-Offs: None

Unspent Power Points: 0

In Brief: Egyptian astrophysicist enlightened and empowered by the misanthropic god of ferrymen, transformed into a golden voyager of the cosmos.

Alternate Identity: Abdullah Rofalla

Identity: Secret

Birthplace: Alexandria, Egypt

Occupation: Astrophysicist, cosmic ferryman

Affiliations: Aunu(Heliopolis), the Pesedjet of Nine(Ennead), the Pesedjet of Space and Time, Star Island Space Control Center, the Pesedjet of Eight(the Ogodad, secret)

Family: Salama Rofalla(neé Moeen, Mother), Ibrahim Rofalla(Father)

Description:

Age: 32

Apparent Age: Ageless as Nemty

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: Arabic-Egyptian

Height: 6ft/1.8m

Weight: 160lbs/72.5kg

Eyes: Brown/White

Hair: Brown/Lapis lazuli

Description: In his human guise, Abdullah is an awkwardly tall, physically unexceptional man with a deep tan, dark, twinkling eyes behind thick round-rimmed glasses and a short beard around upturned lips. He usually dresses in neat semi-formal clothes and keeps his thick curly hair trimmed short. His voice is deep and rich, and he has a warm, engaging manner.

As Nemty, he is a lithe vision of golden skin, eyes white as pearls and nails of silver, with chin-length strands of lapisl lazuli for hair. A short white shendyt girdled with silver is his only clothing, and he wears silver bracelets, anklets and a silver band around his neck. In contrast to Abdullah's more restrained, modest attitude, Nemty is cheeky and flamboyant, constantly smiling to himself except in the direst situations. He talks fast(very like a stereotypical taxi cab driver with a far wider vocabulary) and his tone usually teasing.

He can at will summon the full spirit of Anti to allow the god to speak for himself, whereupon his head is replaced with a silver avatar of the falcon god with golden claws. Anti's voice is bloodless and hollow, as if from a great distance.

Power Descriptions: Nemty's powers are blazes of light, from the sun-like ray of power that he uses for defence or attack, to the halo that shines above his head when casting his senses outward. His Created Objects are mostly solid blocks or ornate structures made of solid golden light, though he can create almost anything else imaginable.

The Lightbarque, his vessel of exploration and focus of power, is hard sunlight shaped like an ancient Egyptian reed boat, curved up at bow and stern, with an oar resting at the latter end for steering. It can increase in size to a nearly infinite degree, and its center can form a house capable of holding countless passengers. When used to travel, it creates a tunnel that roars with cosmic power.

History: Abdullah's story is fairly simple. Born in Egypt yet raised in the American state of Florida, he at an early age took an interest in space and the wonders of the universe, and after earning his Masters in astrophysics went to the Star Island Space Control Center to be part of the space programme. While there his work took him further and further into the bounds of theoretical mathematics, until at last he had a breakthrough.

In an epiphanic moment(well, few hours), he developed a single formula to perfectly model and predict the motion of any object through the universe, taking into account the impact of various energy forms on its movement. For fun, he used it to try and predict where he would go out for dinner.

In a flash, he found himself standing in a desert, outside a city of light filled with pillars reaching from the golden ground up into the inky sky. A giant silver falcon then flew up and introduced themself as Anti, the Egyptian god of travelers. He told Abdullah that his efforts to enlighen and explore had caught the eye of the Guard of the Western Horizon, and he offered his power and knowledge to the human so Abdullah could help him fulfill his duties in the physical plane to circumvent the "difficulties" of the Pact that barred him. Exhilirated as he was confused, Abdullah quickly agreed and was granted a new shape and the power to survive what his mortal form could never have endured, along with the mighty Lightbarque, a vessel of power that could take him wherever he wished.

Since then, Abdullah has voyaged to other galaxies, dimensions of impossible strangeness and the endless plane of thought. He has also kept up his job at Star Island, and eagerly seeks to expand human knowledge and understanding of the cosmos. He and "Max", driver of the mysterious Phantom Cab, have a friendly rivalry and odd sort of partnership.

Anti, meanwhile, is a different matter. The god wasn't lying when he told Abdullah that he needed help to work on Earth, but his real goal is one he's kept carefully hidden: locating the five-fold soul of Heru, the hawk-headed god of justice and vengeance. He isn't doing this out of special love for the Lord of Horizons, but at the secret order of Isis, goddess of wisdom and magic who sees the recent return of his old nemesis Set as all but a direct affront in need of redress by the return of her son. As Isis knows his true name, Anti is powerless to refuse or speak up about it, adding to an already vicious hatred the silver falcon bears for the goddess whose deception led to his disgrace and the loss of his talons.

More than that, however, the ferryman has come to a (to him) unpleasant realization. Over the eons, while the progenitors of the Pesedjets had some semblance of humanity offsetting their nature as eternal emblems of some aspect of the universe, that personal side has come to eclipse all else. When he lost his talons, Anti realized for the first time that he could feel pain, that hunger and not merely the desire to have had moved him to accept the meal the disguised Isis had offered. He took a fresh look at the way of things, and saw to his horror that now only thin shreds seperated the neterat from the humans who served them. It was with even greater horror that he noticed he had assumed human masculinity as part of his being, rather than as a convenient shorthand. His worst fears were confirmed with the acceptance of the mortal architect Imhotep into the City of Pillars, where the upstart has become the confidante of Ptah, moulder of the cosmos, himself.

Infuriated both at the humiliation and deception of Isis and his epiphany, Anti returned to his duties. But over time this knowledge gnawed at him, and nobody pays attention to the oarsman unless they need him anyway, giving Anti plenty of opportunity to vent his loathesome emotions to sympathetic ears. In this case the Ogdoad, the eight embodiments of the primordial darkness and chaos that had been long before Re willed himself into existence. Like the silver falcon of motion they have a certain nostalgia for the past and see in Anti a potentially useful tool, egging on his sense of injustice and antipathy for mortals in the hopes that he might sow mischief among their complacent heirs in Aunu.

But Anti sticks to his duties, and thus far has kept his mouth shut and is true to his role in the cosmos. He at least has not forgotten why he exists.

Personality & Motivation: Abdullah can come off as an overenthusiastic tour guide or lecturer at the best of times, always eager to share what he knows or thinks, and as Nemty that tendency is doubled. He'll veer off-course to inspect something that looks like it might make for a better time than just going straight to the destination, if asked to explain something he'd sooner show someone by dragging them from one end of the universe to the other, showing the questioner wonders all along the way, than say "Yes" or "Maybe". Despite that he CAN be kept on-point if the task is serious, dangerous or time-sensitive, and he'd never let someone be hurt or inconvenienced if they want his help. He's someone who loves the universe and everyone in it, and will only be dragged into a fight with great reluctance.

By contrast, Anti cares nothing for the people he ferries, concerned only with carrying out their wishes with not a thought spared to the rightness or wisdom of what they want. He's cold, distant and calculating, nursing a deep-seated grievance and anger at what he sees as a fatal mistake on the part of the other Heliopolitans, where relatability has become vulgar divine parasitism and slavish imitation of crude matter. He very fervently doesn't want to be a "him", or even a person at all, just a cog in an omniversal order like he thinks he remembers being. That more "human" gods like Horus, Isis, Osiris and Seth ("and...Anubis?!") have been remembered while he is forgotten is a barb in his heart. He blames their strengthened personalities for the quarrels and power-struggles the neterat have endured that set its mightiest against each other.

Oddly enough, he has a profound lingering respect for Set, remembering him from the days of old before the battles with Apep and public iniquity changed him. As well, he sees them as kindred, having both suffered thanks to Isis and her ambitions. He fears nothing in the omniverse save for Sekhmet.

Powers & Tactics: Nemty the Golden Ferryman has considerable control over light, from powerful rays to blinding flares, transforming his physical form into coherent light and creating solid objects of it. By and large Nemty prefers to either avoid fights or else run away, though if pressed he does his best to fight intelligently, such as ducking into other planes to strike from directions his enemies have no way to counter, or Stunting the power to cast illusions to distract and confuse.

---

Complications:

Allies in dark places:

Antics: The Golden Ferryman is given to extravagent displays, and if given half the chance might take somebody all too literally in the effort to impress.

Cocky: The Golden Ferryman finds it all too easy to get careless or overconfident, leading to frankly unnecessary risks.

Enemies: Powers of stasis or chaos(mortal and otherworldly) alike both have it in for the god of travel. He and any passengers would make tempting targets to these forces. Also he and the Loa Legba have an ongoing pseudo-friendly feud, which to anyone trying to reach the outer realms can make the trip that much more perilous.

Hatred: Isis/Aset. Both for her deceiving and disgracing him and for her efforts to strengthen her family at the expense of the other neterat, Anti would do anything to bring down the Queen of Magic or those close to her like Heru.

Hatred: Mortals. When he takes control Anti is utterly callous to the fate of non-divine passengers, disregarding their wishes as openly as he dares.

Obsession: Losing his personhood, seeing the cosmos returned to what it was.

Reputation: In divine and mystic circles he's best known for his great failure.

Responsibility: Star Island Space Control Center. His work as Guardian of the Horizons(until the return of Heru's essence to Aunu).

Secret: Anti's affiliation with the Pesedjet of Eight.

Vagaries of the Cosmos: Anything can happen while trying to go from point A to point B. Even gods can makes mistakes, dimensional planes might shift, powers beyond Nemty might seize control; while most trips are a sure thing, there's always the risk of mishaps on the way.

Abilities: 0 + 0 + 4 + 12 + 10 + 10 = 36PP

Strength: 10 (+0)

Dexterity: 10 (+0)

Constitution: 14 (+2)

Intelligence: 22 (+6)

Wisdom: 20 (+5)

Charisma: 20 (+5)

Combat: 10 + 16 = 26PP

Initiative: +0

Attack: +5, +15 Ray of Re

Grapple: +5

Defense: +15 (+5 Base, +10 Dodge Focus), +4 Flat-Footed

Knockback: -1/-8 with Protection

Saving Throws: 8 + 10 + 10 = 28PP

Toughness: +15 (+2 Con, +13 Protection, +0/+15 Impervious)

Fortitude: +10 (+2 Con, +8)

Reflex: +10 (+0 Dex, +10)

Will: +15 (+5 Wis, +10)

Skills: 116R = 24PP

Bluff 11 (+16/+20/+24 with Attractive)

Computers 9 (+15)

Diplomacy 7 (+12/+16/+20 with Attractive)

Knowledge(Cosmology) 18 (+24)

Knowledge(History) 14 (+20)

Knowledge(Physical Science) 18 (+24)

Knowledge(Technology) 9 (+15)

Pilot 15 (+15)

Notice 15 (+20)

Feats: 5PP

Attractive *2 With Morph

Fearless (Exception: Sekhmet)

Second Chance (Pilot Checks)

Ultimate Skill 2(Cosmology, Notice)

Powers: 6 + 61 + 20 + 1 + 10 + 24 + 3 + 6 = 131PP

Comprehend 3(Languages, Read. Speak/Understand All at once)[6PP]

Device 20(100PP Device; Flaws: Easy to Lose; Feats: Indestructible, Restricted 1 (Divine/Cosmic power users); Drawbacks: Platform(Can be knocked or thrown off, denying use of its power))[61PP] Lightbarque

Protection 12(Extras: Impervious Toughness 15)[27PP]

Waymaking Array 30.5(61PP; Feats: Alternate Power 6, Dynamic Power 6)[73PP]

Base Power: Damage 15(Extras: Penetrating 5, Range(Ranged); Feats: Accurate 5, Affects Insubstantial 2, Dimension 3(All Other Dimensions), Dynamic, Knockback 5(as DMG20), Progression 10(Max., Range of 3mil. mi.)[61PP] Ray of Re

AP: Create Object 10(Extras: Duration(Continuous), Impervious, Movable; Feats: Affect Insubstantial 2, Dynamic, Innate, Precise, Progression 6(500ft/225m cubes), Selective; Drawbacks: Placement(Can only affect the Lightbarque and those on it)[61PP]

AP: Environmental Control 10(Gravity, high/low; Extras: Selective; Feats: Dynamic)[31PP] + Environmental Control 10(Hamper Movement(1/2)(pressure barriers); Extras: Selective; Feats: Dynamic)[21PP] + Enhanced Power Feat 8(Add Progression 8(Area, 2,500ft/1125m. increments) to Env. Control(Light); Feats: Dynamic)[9PP] =[61PP]

AP: Insubstantial 3(Light; Extras: Affects Corporeal, Affects Others, Duration(Continuous), Selective; Feats: Dynamic)[27PP] + Obscure 13(All Visual Senses[blinding light], Extras: Selective; Flaws: Range(Touch) Feats: Dynamic, Progression 7(~6mi./~3km. radius))[34PP] =[61PP]

AP: Nullify 15(Binding Effects(Emotion/Mind Control, Snares, etc...); Extras: Duration(Sustained), Effortless, Nullifying Field; Flaws: Distracting; Feats: Dynamic)[61PP]

AP: Super-Movement 10(Dimensional Movement 3(Any Dimension/Universe), Space Travel 4(intergalactic travel), Temporal Movement 3(any time from any other); Extras: Affect Others; Feats: Dynamic)[31PP] + Enhanced Flight 15(to Flight 20(near light speed); Extras: Affect Others; Flaws: Platform)[30PP]

AP: Super-Senses 60(Detect Desire for Transport[Mental, Accurate, Acute, Analytical, Counters Concealment, Dimensional 3(All Dimensions), Extended 15(Local star system), Penetrates Concealment, Radius, Rapid 1(10x processing)]; Visual Senses: Analytical, Counters Obscure(Darkness, Light), Dimensional 3(All Dimensions), Extended 15(Local star system); Cosmic Awareness[Visual], Direction Sense, Distance Sense, Divine Awareness[Visual], Infravision[Tracking], Time Sense, Ultravision; Feats: Dynamic)[61PP]

Environmental Control 10(Light, bright as daylight)[20PP]

Feature 1(Remote Control over Lightbarque)[1PP]

Flight 5(250MPH/2,500FPR; Extras: Affect Others; Flaws: Distracting)[10PP]

Immunity 19(Aging, Interaction Skills, Light Damage, Life Support, Sleep, Starvation & Thirst)[19PP]

Morph 1(Nemty form, Feats: Attractive)[3PP]

Regeneration 5(Resurrection 1(1 day)

Super-Movement 2(Dimensional Movement 1(Earth to Innun), Space Travel 1(Local system)Extras: Affect Others)[6PP]

Drawbacks: (-0) + (-0) = -0PP

[table]DC Block[/table]

ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT

Unarmed Melee DC15 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical)

Create Object Ranged DC20 Reflex/25 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical)

Nullify Ranged(Area, 75ft.) DC20+15 Power Check Effect Nullified

Ray of Re Ranged DC30 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical)

Totals: Abilities (36) + Combat (26) + Saving Throws (28) + Skills (24) + Feats (5) + Powers (131) - Drawbacks (0) = 250/250 Power Points

[Ari]

The World Patrol

The World at Large

On an Earth much like Prime, where men and women and others are granted amazing powers and talents, and changed history in their struggle for the future shape of the world, a tragedy struck.

In 1979, on Earth-H 10, a group of superhuman spectaculars were psionically compromised by a vicious alien menace. They were eventually freed by the efforts of their Centurion, but caused terrible destruction on a global scale, leaving the most of the Earth's people dead, their most basic utilities in ruins, and famine staring the remaining human race in the eye. An abortive nuclear war, only narrowly avoided, had stretched national relations to the breaking point, and public trust in superheroes was all but lost.

Unlike many superteams, the Guardians were not a close-knit band who got along, agreed with, or even really liked each other, their strong and often conflicting personalities meant they spent almost as much time arguing as fighting their mutual foes. But in this crisis, they looked at the wreck they had made of their world, at the faith they had been forced to violate, and vowed to make things right as a team. In order to deal with such a monumental undertaking they expanded their membership, taking in anyone who would help, even former enemies shocked at the result of one of "their own" almost winning.

The Guardians of Earth have made great strides, and even their harshest critics were forced to admit, as fields blossomed and water gushed through repaired pipelines, this unavoidable fact. But in 1984, after their membership had swelled to over fifty people, the heroes and reformed criminals looked at the world they were remaking and remembered all that had been evil, ugly and cruel about it. Many of the team had been outcasts, feared and hated for being what they were, and they knew ordinary people had suffered likewise.

So they vowed to do the unthinkable, to enact the impossible: They would make their world a paradise!

So far, they have succeeded. To visit their world is to catch a glimpse of Heaven, as thanks to the integration of superhumans into regular industry, the inventive minds and mighty bodies of heroes have built a shining silver-gold utopia. While not on the level of the advances seen in 2525, society and technology are far in advance of where Prime is by almost a century, and the environment is in a better state than it has been for over half a millennium. Poverty, fear, hatred, hunger and disease are all things of the past. Utopia Isle, Atlantis and Dakana and every other secret nation have opened their borders, sharing their secrets and wisdom with their kin. Knowledge and memories flow freely, self-expression is celebrated, and differences taken in stride.

Now the World Patrol, the grand consortium of superheroes that grew from the Guardians, counts several hundred super-powered or incredibly skilled members among its ranks, and more join every year. While a peaceful world, Earth has gained recognition and respect for its strength after repelling invasions from space and other dimensions, with many stellar communities counting their planets as "Guardian Worlds" thanks to their close ties with the super-team.

The means that were used to achieve this, however, run the risk of undermining and eventually destroying everything the world's heroes once stood for. It's thanks to the conditioning and manipulation of minds on a massive scale, via psychic and mystic means, that has led to such a rapid enlightenment. Only the constant presence and efforts of superhumans keeps the utopia going, and as the human mind and will are gradually suppressed in favor of an ideal, the danger grows that in place of a living world the world's heroes will have built a glorious cage, the free human will be a cosseted animal and the superhumans mere cogs in a machine beyond their control.

What follows is an overview of the World Patrol, their members and history, and the finer details of the world they live in.

Edited April 6, 2015 by Arichamus

[Ari]

A ragtag band whose constantly-shifting lineup, explosive personality conflicts and fierce camaraderie made it famous long before the nightmare of 1979. They first met battling Baron Samedi in New York City one lazy Saturday summer afternoon in 1960, and while some of them left temporarily, none of the original six ever truly abandoned the team.

 

They have since been replaced from active leadership of the World Patrol, but still do what they can to aid their world.

 

The first lineup was:

 

Beacon I/Legwork(current title):

Real Name: Dr. Silas Meir

Age: 75(born in 1939, Apparent age: late 40's)

Ethnicity: Jewish-American

Appearance: A lanky, tanned, academic-looking man with a mop of curly brown hair starting to gray at the temples, narrow and fine facial features, gray eyes and a soft, weak voice. Usually he dresses in awkward mismatches of casual wear, donning a leather jacket with the World Patrol symbol(a simple depiction of the Earth behind a shield) for his courier work. If called into active duty he wears a striking white and yellow bodysuit with a simplified photon parti-wave on the chest in black.

 

History: A physics undergraduate in New York who discovered a way to harness photonic energy and used it to fight crime, Silas was the youngest member of the Guardians, and in 1979 the last to fall to the Cerebri mindswarm, whose satellites caught his fast-moving mind and sent him across the globe to cause havoc, shut down essential defense networks and murder vital citizens. Shaken by the realization of what they had done, even if against their will, Silas worked tirelessly to coordinate the early stages of the Paradise Protocol, working as a one-man global communication network, supply convoy and recruiter, scouring the planet for new members to help repair their world.

 

Since then Silas has become ever more focused on his job carrying messages, coordinating the efforts of World Patrol psychics and mystics so they can focus their powers on their work, and ferrying presents, mementos and documents all over the globe for whomever asks. Remarkably enough, Silas found time in his busy research schedule to marry and father several children before the Tragedy of '79, and spends time with his family whenever he can. He often invites lonesome World Patrollers or even strangers to family gatherings, and hosts an annual footrace around the entire surface of the Earth for the Swift Squad, Earth's greatest collection of auper-speedsters. Silas is disqualified from the race on the grounds of being "way too fast".

 

Over time, however, his life outside his role as World Patrol courier has shrunk, and Silas has become more and more caught up in the rush of his powers, of the constant burst, the ebb and flow of darting across the globe at the speed of light, everything else falling into a vague haze and blur of commands, questions, replies, well-wishes and the interchangeable weights of parcels and canisters. His scientific work and knowledge are a shadow, and even the Light has left him for its next bearer leaving him to rely on his instinctive photonic manipulation. Now there is nothing but the rush, the endless corridor of life punctuated by the demands of people in a world Silas has found a way to become just another fixture, another miracle of the World Patrol to serve humanity. So long as it keeps him from having to think, he'll run and run and run and never, ever look back and wonder.

 

Personality: Agreeable, honest and upbeat, Silas is always ready to stop and help someone out. He's excited for the future plans of the World Patrol and heartily agrees with their methods and objectives. However, even the laissez-faire speedster has his rough edges. His tendency to try and be a good pal can lead him to the verge of sycophancy, his unthinking forthrighness and lack of tact get him in serious trouble and his optimism has a bad habit of making him overconfident. But that aside he's a reliable and companionable man, with a lot of hard-earned good sense marred mostly by an attitude of disconnection.

 

Relationahips: Silas is trusted and liked by most of the World Patrol, especially the First Wave of heroes and remorseful supercriminals who learned of the Paradise Protocol through him, and who got into the Patrol by his enthusiastic recommendation. His closest friends outside his family are Prof. Susan Sutherland(Beam), Mnene Isifiki(Beacon II), Dr. Storlaz(Tworca, 'Creator') and former supercriminal Professor Perilous. His sole real non-friends are his former adversaries (Minutia) and Mark Clarkson(Madcap II). He is the devoted husband of sociologist Prof. Rebecca Hartlicht.

 

>Speedster

PL increased to 11. 10 ranks in Bluff and Diplomacy, +6 ranks of Knowledge(Physical Sciences) (+8), +2 to Notice (+12); Benefit 3(Security Clearance(Paradise Protocol); Status: Guardian/World Patroller; Wealth 1), Connected, Contacts, Fearless, Interpose. Comprehend 3(translator implant; Speak All, Understand All), Immunity(gene tampering, Aging(1/2), Disease, Poison(1/2), Light Effects, Light Damage, Dazzle with Light Descriptor)

 

 

Centurion, The:

Real Name: Mark Leeds

Age: 97(born 1918, Apparent age: mid 30's)

Ethnicity: Mediterranean-Caucasian

Appearance: By his craggier face and slightly longer hair, with an ugly scar twisting across his right cheek and jaw, Mark is easy to differentiate from other Centurions, even without his red/gold variation of the costume. He wears his white cape bordered with blue over his right shoulder, concealing the stump where his arm used to be. On special occasions he dons either a realistic cybernetic replacement or a heavier, more brutish ironlike 'war' arm.

 

History: Everyone knows the Centurion, rocketed into the Cosmic Coil from a world on the verge of conquest and absorption by the Terminus, granted vast powers by his passage through the omniverse, breaking through the dimensional folds into countless Earths as their greatest champion or their darkest tyrant. One of the great icons of the world since his debut alongside the Inhuman Inferno and the Neptunian in the years of World War II. He who alone escaped the Cerebri mindswarm thanks to Chant's last-ditch blessing shielding his mind, who destroyed the satellites and routed the aliens too late to do more than mitigate the destruction that raged across the planet. Mark lent his Sanctum(here located in the Amazon river basin) and advanced otherworldly technology to the first stages of the Paradise Protocol, ensuring much of its initial success.

 

As on Earth-Prime, the Terminus struck at this world in 1993, though unlike there the Invasion was an utter rout. The fewer and more centralized population centers, better-coordinated and trained superhumans and a world with defenses much stronger than most in the Omniverse did their job, and Omega was sent fuming back into the Terminus after a battle in Manhattan with the Centurion that badly injured him and cost the Man of Adamant his right arm and much of his strength.

 

Realizing that other otherworldly beings might try their luck, Mark had messages sent to all enemies they knew of in the Omniverse warning them that if any attacked their world, the World Patrol would ignore the armies and obliterate the mind, body and soul of their leader. Thus far this has proven a remarkably effective threat, keeping at bay even reknowned conquerors such as Una of the Netherworld and M'Krie the Maker.

 

With the Earth now more or less at peace, Mark has retired from active duty and splits his time between his extended family, helping with construction and landscaping, training the new generation of Patrollers, monitoring the dimensions neighboring their own from his refitted Sanctum, and handling the reams of bureaucratic work that managing a society bent on perfection requires. Of the original Guardians Mark has managed to find a much better balance than the others, though that might just be because the Tragedy of '79 doesn't weigh as heavily on him as it does the others.

 

As a matter of principle Mark takes it upon himself to greet all newcomers to Earth-H Tech 10, and if time permits gladly shows them around.

 

Personality: The Mark Leeds of this Earth is nearly impossible to tell apart from that of Earth-Prime, with only trace differences, like his harsher view on aliens and otherworlders and more cautious attitude in general, observable over a prolonged period. He unconditionally supports the Pacification of supercriminals and the erasure of negative impulses in the public, though the mass enlightenment programme is still something he debates thanks to a deep-rooted suspicion of psychics.

 

Relationships: Mark is on good terms with most of the World Patrol, especially his fellow originals and recruits from the later Waves like Yu-Nus(Unity), and exiles such as Jo Chance and Ka'Komek(Utopian Idol). Some of the former supercriminals, like Professor Perilous and Fraser McGinty(Remora) are still on tense terms with him thanks to lingering, almost instinctual grudges for the man who bested them so many times. More morally-flexible recruits like Tanya Sky(Lady Luck) occasionally clash with him and many of the more independent heroes like Lemuel Lawners(Wild Spider) dislike his heavy-handed and too-serious attitude. He enjoys meeting immortals like Xi Chen(Wanderer), the long-lived such as José Mariano Jiménez, or time-travelers such as Marie Cure for their historical perspective.

 

>The Centurion

Drop to PL13 with appropriate reduction of Power Ranks, Skills, Saves and Combat ranks. Add the Fearless, Leadership, Interpose and Rallying Cry feats. Benefit 3(Security Clearance: Paradise Protocol; Status: Guardian, World Patroler; Fame: global recognition). Extra AP of Healing.

 

 

Chant:

Real Name: Victoria Comtfer

Age: 90(born in 1924, Apparent age: late 50's)

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Appearance: Willowy and with coarse straight black hair streaked with grey draping her shoulders and upper back, a bony face and prominent Roman nose, small green eyes and narrow, wryly-twisted lips. Most of the time Victoria wears trim, soft black comfortable clothes under a dark green kaftan, with her only jewelry an iron ring on her left ring finger. As Chant or on 'official' magical business she wears a green bodysuit embroidered in eye-twisting curled designs, thin black gloves and boots and a wimple-like hood framing her head and hiding all but the lower third of her face. Lenses hidden in the embroidery over her eyes let her see.

 

History: A foundling raised in a circus, Victoria got her gift of tongues from the Howling Dream, which awakened her mind to the voices and names of all things. While under the control of the Cerebri mindswarm in 1979 her words stopped rivers and hearts. Dormant volcanoes sprang to life and storms lashed the planet. When she and the rest of the Guardians were freed, Victoria was the only one who disagreed with the proposed creation of a paradise on Earth, claiming they could never truly atone for what had happened and that restoration would be better for everyone than creating an artificial utopia.

 

Brought around by Mary's arguments, Victoria has since then reluctantly bent her knowledge and powers to keeping the world at large in peace, from commanding the elemental forces governing the Earth to repair the environmental and geographical damage, to forbidding mystic entities from entering her dimension uninvited. While not the Master Magi, her expertise was used to help create the Ban that acts as an even more stringent barrier on top of the Pact, and while localized to Earth-H Tech 10 has proved its worth time and again.

 

As one of the few dissenting voices highly-placed enough to be easily heard, Victoria has never stopped questioning and challenging the actions and motives of the World Patrol. Even if consistently beaten when new measures are debated, she doesn't trust her or her comrades' power to really create a perfect society without some fatal loss. However over time this has shifted into a simple contrarian streak, borne by her growing dislike for Mary and her open antipathy for Benedict, and while her arguments are still very pertinent and her interrogations have swerved the Patrol from serious errors in the past, they are increasingly perfunctory.

 

Victoria now spends much of her time reading and writing in her small home on New Manhattan, preparing to pass on her accumulated knowledge to some unknown successor. After decades of labor she welcomes the chance to relax and leave the work of saving the world to the newer generations of World Patrollers. She still occasionally travels the Dream Dimension and the Astral Plane to watch for hidden perils to the minds of Eartth, but mostly keeps to herself and her vast collection of animal, mineral, spiritual and vegetable friends.

 

Personality: Polite and withdrawn, Victoria prefers to observe before acting, letting others speak first as she forms her own opinion. The only break in this trend comes with things she thinks of as obviously wrong, such as the forcing of one's will on another. That her own powers require her to do this to work is something she has long been uncomfortable with. Like many mages she has a flair for the dramatic encouraged by work as a magician's assistant, mostly brought to the fore when speaking on behalf of something, and once given the chance to warm up to people regularly proves herself an intelligent and thoughtful friend.

 

Relationships: Victoria has relatively few contacts or friends in the World Patrol besides Beacon and Diamond, and while a revered member of the mystic community many of her allies in the Sphere of Sirrion are wary of the woman blessed by the Howling Dream, even the open-hearted Master Magi call on her only rarely. Shieldbearer and Chant actively dislike each other, despite their mutual suspicion of the more extreme metods of the Patrol. Her closest friends besides her fellow Guardians are other former entertainers such as stage magician Amelia Adonai (Astarte) or blues saxophonist Martin 'Brimstone' Barrow. She and her long-lost brother Vincent Comtfer (Sigil) are still at odds from years of battling each other.

 

>Truenamer

PL increased to PL12, Saves, Combat and Skills increased; Add Feats: Benefit 4(Security Clearance: Paradise Protocol; Status 3: Guardian, World Patroler, Spherist of Sirrion). Connected, Contacts, Fearless, Well-Informed; Powers: Comprehend +2: Objects, Spirits, to Comprehend 3(Langauges, Speak and Understand All At Once), Immunity:(Aging(1/2), Disease, Poison(1/2)), Super-Senses 2: Detect Spirits, Ranged.

 

Diamond:

Real Name: Mary Salas/ 'Maria Diamante'

Age: 87(born in 1927, Apparent age: late 50's)

Ethnicity: Caucasian/Hispanic

Appearance: A tall and graying matron with broad, gentle features, luxuriant hair and a still-smoky voice. Normally she wears the height of modern fashion, though when on the job she prefers subdued professional suits. She can turn at will into a human-shaped nexus of coruscating energies, which resembles swirls of colour flashing through a diamond. She always wears a small badge or pin with the World Patrol symbol on it.

 

History: A blues singer who discovered her energy-altering powers when attacked backstage by an obsessed fan, Diamond was the hardest hit by the havoc inflicted on their world. The child of immigrants from Puerto Rico, Mary knew what it was like to grow up different, and had become a public advocate for tolerance and partnership between nations, traveling the world with her music and message. It was thanks to her speaking that the world's leaders helped the Guardians build the weapons that enslaved and savaged their planet. Afterwards she was integral in persuading reluctant heroes and criminals to band together into the World Patrol.

 

Now the speaking is mostly done. These days Mary is one of the few original Guardians to actively interact with people outside the Patrol, as she uses her powers to help power energy grids, attends public events, acts as a liaison to the ultrahuman Areteans and Utopia Isle, visits the few remaining sick or infirm on the planet and organizes events to support human-made initiatives. Those trips grow fewer by the year, however, as the Earth gradually homogenizes, and is starting to become a source of concern for the almost aggressively-optimistic woman.

 

By now more a human-shaped conduit of energy transformation than an organism, Mary also spends much of her days in lab experiments, materializing ever more obscure aspects of the electro-magnetic spectrum and synthesizing wavelengths and particles for study by the scientific and super-scientific community. While not a scientist herself, Mary is grateful for the chance to help the world in a more tangible way, with superheroics now taken over by the mostly much younger World Patrol, and her dream of a united Earth now realized.

 

However, the price paid for her dream is high, and most of Diamond's public speaking tours are devoted to easing peoples' concerns, with a greater and greater focus on entertainment and glib catchphrases over real discussion and public relations. Mary puts her heart and soul into every show, whether it's diplomacy with the Hierarchs of Aretea, meeting an old man stricken with brain cancer or celebrating a city's latest crime-free year.

 

Personality: Vibrant, colourful and passionate in everything she does, with every appearance of a practiced and experienced people person. Mary values cooperation and good feeling among both the World Patrol and Earth's regular populace above almost anything else, and has developed a nearly obsessive determination to prove that the sacrifice of total free will and eradication of negative impulses are worth it. Of all the Guardians, she's most favorable to the Pacification and rehabilitation of supercriminals, and the most vocal proponent of Total Uplift, believing it to be the only way to avoid future disasters. A social butterfly, she can't stand to be alone for more than a few hours, and being around conflicting views or opinions puts her on edge. She loves to meet new people.

 

Relationships: Mary once had a soft spot for irascible, brilliant and stoic Benedict, but that's long gone, and the other original Guardians are now further apart than ever. As the most outgoing of the team, she has a vast number of acquaintances she treats like her dearest friends, both in and out of the super-community. Her closest real friend is the enhanced extradimensional-exile daredevil Jo Chance, while her personal nemesis is the hostile and standoffish former Sub Terran despot the Underworlder.

 

>Transformer

(Increase to PL12, add Immunity(Fortitude, Dazzle Effects), Regeneration 10(Recovery, Regrowth, Resurrection(1 day), Persistent, Drawback: Needs Access to Energy); Benefit 5(Security Clearance(Paradise Protocol); Fame(world-wide recognition) Status: Guardian/World Patroller; Wealth 2), Connected, Contacts, Fearless, Interpose; slew of languages including Aretean, Atlantean, Utopian, Sub-Terran)

 

 

Shieldbearer:

Real Name: Benedict Bonhomme

Age: 85(born in 1930, Apparent age: early 50's)

Ethnicity: African-American

Appearance: A towering, muscular, darkly-handsome and sanguine man with a face dominated by bristling wideburns and cold, piercing brown eyes. A few patches of skin on his head and arms shows traces of the cybernetics he's installed to keep up his physique and mental ability. He usually dresses in drab, disposable utilitarian clothes unless working on something delicate or important, in which cases he dons crisp white techical gear and a white coat. His Shieldbearer armor is a bulky deep blue behemoth marked with the World Patrol symbol.

 

History: The armored hero Shieldbearer was the first to fall to the Cerebri mindswarm embodied in Cosma. At the time a little-known New York state politician and brilliant inventor whose family company, Bonhomme Manufacturing, once served the world, Benedict was forced to trick his fellow Guardians into helping him build the brainwave-amplifying satellites that ensured Cosma's brief yet catastrophic victory on Earth through its superhuman defenders and menaces. Shieldbearer's other contribution were his dozens of experimental armors that he sent on a rampage across the globe. After regaining their minds thanks to the Centurion, Benedict was the first to look over their world in its ruins after the Tragedy of '79, and suggest they do more than merely rebuild what was. He had to go into hiding when he and the Guardians unmasked, and the world learned of what he had done.

 

In the decades since then Shieldbearer has left a substantial legacy of defences and civic work. The network of psi-bafflers that blanket the Earth prevent future mental attacks, the powerful force-field emitters that nearly all citizens use have shrunk accidental deaths to nearly nothing. Under his direction all rebuilt cities have the capacity to transform into shielded fortresses, and workers all over the world use his armor designs for most hazardous situations. There's even a force-field under construction to shield the entire planet from attack, though it won't be completed for years.

 

Benedict has seen nearly none of this, however. The man lives in his laboratory with half an ear on daily newsfeeds and World Patrol reports, working day and night, desperate to try and make up for his failing. Compounding this is a severe drug addiction he developed long before the Tragedy, which has weakened his once-peerless mind and left him a self-loathing shadow of what he used to be. He's still vital and sharp for an old man, thanks to the work of Dr. Moby the Human Amoeba, and with the assitance of countless human and robot helpers isn't likely to stop churning out super-tech for decades to come, and still handles most of the day-to-day technical problems of the world.

 

Personality: Withdrawn and almost monosyllabic, with a dislike of either formality or familiarity, Benedict is by now wholly a man of matter, with his earlier distrust of magic and religion now hardened into open contempt for them and their practitioners. He holds fast to the values of the Old World despite his futurism bent, believing that the proposed Total Uplift scheme, where the world's psychics and mystics force enlightenment on all humanity, is a fatal breach of human freedom to choose. For the most part he stays out of any discussions or debates, keeping to himself and only dealing with technical matters through proxies and go-betweens, a deep, pervasive anxiety preventing him from leaving his lab or actually meeting and dealing with other people in person.

 

Relationships:

Most other tech-focused Patrollers are at least acquainted with the man, and he's not shy about giving advice if it's asked for or he thinks it should be heard. Fellow Old World inventor Dr. Amelia von Kauf (Mite) and childhood friend Lt. Col. Jack Smith (Silverhawk) are closest to him, and some of the few able to really reach or persuade him. Most mystics on the Patrol are on bad terms with him, and he utterly loathes both the 'converted' villains he works with and joksters like Lemuel Lawners (Wild Spider).

 

 

>Battlesuit PL increased to 12, with Exotic saves, Knockback, Attack, Defence, Toughness and Damage adjusted accordingly; Additional Skills 8(buying Knowledge(Business)/(Civics) 12 (+17) and History 8 (+13)) ; Additional Feats of Benefit 5(Security Clearance(Paradise Protocol); Status: Guardian/World Patroller; Wealth 3), Eidetic Memory, Equipment 7(for a well-appointed super-tech team base skyscraper that turns into/is also a doom fortress), Fearless and Interpose. Add Immunity 3(Aging(half-effect), Disease, Poison(half-effect); Power Feats: Innate)

Edited July 12, 2015 by Ari

[Ari]

Placing.

Edited March 30, 2015 by Arichamus

[Ari]

Player Name: Arichamus
Character Name: Ku Bei
Power Level: 10 (150/150PP)
Trade-Offs: -5 Attack / +5 Damage, +5 Defence / -5 Toughness
Unspent Power Points: 0
In Brief: A counselor born on a world where the Ming Dynasty never fell, with great power and great flaws.
Alternate Identity: Baijiazi Ru Chong
Identity: Secret
Birthplace: Earth-H Isloate Empire 6, Xiang(Hunan) Province
Occupation: Veterans counselor, Superhero
Affiliations: Midtown Counseling Center, Superheroes
Family: None who would admit it.
Description:
Age: 60
Apparent Age: 37
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Southern Han Chinese
Height: 5' 2"
Weight: 140lbs.
Eyes: Brown/White
Hair: Black
Description: Short and broad, with hooded eyes and a studied neutral expression on her round face that deflects rather than draws attention, Chong could vanish into most
crowds with ease. Her tendency for drab, utilitarian and muted clothing for work and general life helps this enormously, and apart from a few scars on her neck and short hair scraped back into a small bun she's fairly generic in appearance. Chong's voice is low, husky and unemotive, with a distinct yet unplaceable Chinese accent that leaves each word separate and distinct.
As the heroine Ku Bei, she stands tall in a flowing red uniform streaked with gold that covers her from head to toe, an ornate, fearsome red laquer mask concealing her identity whilepermitting vision and a heavy tabard stretching from her shoulders to her knees. Her arms up to the bicep are padded and her legs up to the knees are armored. As Ku Bei she is muchhbolder and more forceful than in regular life, and never speaks unless absolutely necessary.
Power Descriptions: The extradimensional energies that Chong uses cause the air to crackle before they're even fully unleashed, and even just using them to sharpen her
senses causes her eyes to glow from within with white-hot fire. When used offensively, they become a roiling torrent of primary-coloured power that seems to tear itself into the universe, connecting her to her target almost instantly. If used to enhance her speed after-images flicker around her 'real' position even while apparently standing still, Taking flight sheathes Ku Bei in a shell of colourful force that warps the air around her and leaves a streak of red and blue in her trail. Only when used to increase her strength is the power invisible and inaudible.

History:
Earth-H Isolate Empire 6 is ruled by a Ming Dynasty that never fell, instead steadily increasing its borders and refining its science to heights undreamed of, and leveraging its advances to take and retain control of a world that has grown to accept and even revere its masters.
Born into a high-class family on the bank of a major irrigation canal in Xiang province, Chong grew up without the keen social graces and talent for persuasion her siblings had, blocking her from the traditional way her family made its living. Instead she turned a talent for catching details others would miss into a career in the Psych Division of the Imperial  Armed Forces.
However, she soon found that her job largely entailed talking with 'problem' soldiers and trying to find out if they harbored ill-will towards the regime, needed re-conditioning or simply needed a change of pace, scenery or society. In the course of the endless reports, meetings, tests, ambush interrogations and exhausting official visits from the Phoenix Court, Chong gradually developed a deep and abiding hatred of her job, her superiors, her inferiors and the people she had to talk to. It even grew into a loathing of her world itself.
It was a relief to meet one soldier who just needed someone to talk with someone outside her post in the Andes Range. It was almost by accident that Chong started asking about the other woman's past missions, and she instantly regretted the long series of dates, skirmishes and depositions that had seemingly taken her all over South America. Until she mentioned a mission that had taken her to her present posting, where she had fought a rogue science enclave in their secret lab lair filled with strange gadgets, including an archway that none of the soldiers were allowed to touch as technicians examined it.
Intrigued, Chong used her reputation as a meek, guileless nobody to arrange a visit to the science enclave. Before that she had feverishly researched any scraps of information on the arch, discovering to her astonishment that it had the power to breach her dimension's barriers. The idea of escaping her Earth, when the official word of the scientific community was that such a thing was impossible, was irresistible to Chong. There she persuaded the technicians to activate the device, and plunged into the portal it created which flung her into the Cosmic Coil.
She landed in Earth-Prime during the 1960s, Chong's trip infusing her with otherworldly powers at the cost of leaving her memories confused and faded. Meeting the Centurion and the Freedom League, Chong was initially mistaken as a refugee and fellow survivor from Centurion's Earth, thanks to her dim recollections of an eternal empire and advanced technology ruled by an imperial family. She was never part of the League or other groups, unfamiliarity with the 'local customs' and her own powers substantial sides as to why. Instead she slowly gravitated into the role of a mediator between superhumans in Asia, and established a small psychotherapy clinic in Beijing(her Mandarin  already oddly close to that spoken in Earth-Prime's China).
Things might have gone on more or less indefinitely (Chong very carefully hiding her tue identity), if not for a chance meeting with the Centurion in 1970, when the two worked to rescue a crew of Russian astronauts whose rocket had met a meteor shower on the way to the Mir station. While gathering the pieces of the ship, an especially large meteorite threatened to destroy the craft, and Ku Bei leaped to stop it, shattering the rock with her eye-beams and pulverizing the larger chunks. However, on the way down Chong found her strength failing, and by the time they reached the ground she fell unconscious.
The Freedom League examined her, and discovered that pieces of the meteorite had torn into her, pieces with high densities of iron and aluminium. Removing them was painstaking work, and even afterwards the poison seeping through her body couldn't be stopped. In a desperate move, the Centurion sent her into the Zero Zone, to wait in the land of eternal stillness and silence to wait until they could find a cure. For many long years Chong waited in the eerie mist, the world drifting and changing as hope rose or ebbed with each message. She only knew the Centurion was dead months after the fact. There was nothing to do but mull over her own life, the shock having finally restored her memory.
At last, in 2015, the cure arrived, and Ku Bei returned to life. Out of time, in a world that once again was utterly unlike what she knew, she kept to what she did know and opened a new clinic with the financial aid of the League(jumping the necessary hoops a breeze after decades of contemplation). Now Baijiazi Ru Chong works as a veteran's counselor in Southside, only on rare occasions flying out to battle criminal supers in the regalia of Ku Bei. It's often difficult work, draining and almost thankless, but at last she has a life where she can make a difference to others, and serve nobody's will but hers and the needs of her patients.
Personality & Motivation: Chong is retiring and subdued. She gives out as little as she can when in public, is largely impassive and prefers to steer conversations to talk
about anyone but herself. She's instantly suspicious(though it's usually hidden) of any attempts to get to know her. Thanks to her past, people in positions of inherited authority inspire little but disdain in her, including legacy heroes who she sees as merely stealing the prestige and achievements of another.
To people who depend or rely on her Chong is as unfailing and trusty as she can manage, prompt with any assistance she can offer and generous with it. When with her patients she is far gentler and more open than in public.
Powers & Tactics: Being decades out of practice and her relatively little training has left Ku Bei as a fairly unskilled combatant. If trying to reason with her opponent doesn't
help, she just tries to lure them away and after her, either by giving the impression that she's much more or less powerful than she really is.

---

Complications:
Look out!: Ku Bei's eye-beams follow the movement of her eyes, and thus if distracted or control over her powers is disrupted they become dangerous to more than just who she's
fighting.
Out of the fold: The Phoenix Empress would be happy to reclaim Chong, both to secure a possible lab specimen and to enforce her edict forbidding travel to other worlds(which
do not exist, no matter the supposed evidence to the contrary).
Out of time: While she does keep up on current events as best she can, Chong is still ignorant of finer historical details about Earth-Prime.
Not on file: Besides what few places the League has helped her file paperwork to, Chong is practically an unperson, and if she disappeared wouldn't be missed until long afterwards.
Abilities: 30 + 0 + 10 + 10 + 0 + 0 = 50PP
Strength: 40 (+15) *105 (+42) with Super-Strength
Dexterity: 10 (+0)
Constitution: 20 (+5)
Intelligence: 20 (+5)
Wisdom: 10 (+0)
Charisma: 10 (+0)

Combat: 10 +20 = 30PP
Initiative: +8
Attack: +5
Grapple: +25, +38 with Super-Strength
Defense: +15 (+10 Base, +5 Dodge Focus), +5 Flat-Footed
Knockback: -3/-45 with Bracing

Saving Throws: 2 + 6 + 6 = 14PP
Toughness: +5 (+5 Con, +0/+5 Impervious)
Fortitude: +7 (+5 Con, +2)
Reflex: +6 (+0 Dex, +6)
Will: +6 (+0 Wis, +6)

Skills: 24R = 6PP
Diplomacy 7 (+7)
Knowledge(Behavioral Sciences) 5 (+10)
Language 2(Mandarin(Native), English, Latin)
Notice 10 (+10)
Feats: 10PP
Accurate Attack
Benefit 1 (Use Knowledge(Behavioral Sciences for Sense Motive checks)
Defensive Attack
Dodge Bonus 5
Improved Initiative 2
Powers: 2 + 9 + 5 + 2 + 35 = 53PP
Flight 1(10MPH/100FPR[2PP])
Immunity 9(Life Support)[9PP]
Impervious Toughness 5[5PP]
Super-Movement 1(Space Travel 1, local system travel)[2PP]
Way of Extremes Array 15(30PP Array, Feats: Alternate Power 5)[35PP]

Base Power: Damage 15(Extras: Range 2(Perception); Flaws: Action (Full-Round))[30PP]
AP: Dazzle 10(Visual, Mental)[30PP]
AP: Flight 10(1000MPH/10,000FPR; Extras: Affect Others)[30PP]
AP: Super-Speed 13(100,000MPH, 1,000,000FPR; 10,000x faster physical tasks)[26PP] + Enhanced Feats 4(Improved Defence 2, Move-by-Action, Second Chance(Reflex
Saves)[4PP] = [30PP]
AP: Super-Senses 30(Auditory Senses: Analytical, Extended 3(1000 Notice Increments), Danger Sense, Penetrates Concealment(Flaws: Limited(not through iron); Ultra-
Hearing: Accurate, Extended 2(100 Notice Increments). Mental Senses: Direction Sense, Distance Sense, Radio; Visual Senses: Analytical, Extended 3(1000 Notice increments),
Penetrates Concealment(Flaws: Limited(not through iron); Infravision: Tracking; Microscopic Vision 2(Cell-Sized Objects): Acute, Analytical; Ultravision)[30PP]
AP: Super-Strength 13(+65 Effective STR; Feats: Bracing, Groundstrike, Shockwave, Thunderclap)[30PP]

Drawbacks: (-4) + (-3) + (-5) = -13PP
Vulnerability(Iron, Very Common, Moderate(DC=x1.5))[4PP]
Vulnerability(Psionic damage, Common, Moderate(DC=x1.5))[-3]
Weakness(Aluminium, Common, Major(-1 drain on all Ability scores)[-5PP]

[table]DC Block[/table]
ATTACK RANGE SAVE EFFECT
Unarmed Touch DC30 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical)
Damage Perception DC30 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical)
Dazzle Ranged DC20 Reflex/Fortitude Dazzled (Mental, Visual senses)
Groundstrike Area(Burst 130ft.) DC1d20+42 Strength check Tripped
Shockwave Area(Cone 130ft.) DC23 Reflex / DC28 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical)
Thunderclap Area(Cone 65ft.) DC23 Reflex / Fortitude Dazzled (Auditory Senses)

Totals: Abilities (50) + Combat 30) + Saving Throws (14) + Skills (6) + Feats (10) + Powers (53) - Drawbacks (13) = 150/150 Power Points Edited March 31, 2015 by Arichamus

[Ari]

Because the bios are taking an unreasonably long time, some worldbuilding, because I know just how much people love being told this stuff. Indoor spaceship battles< important.

 

World in Full: The Creations of the Vitalords

 

Areteans & Odotii

 

One of the omniversal constants has been that the Preservers make mistakes. Two of them on Earth-H Tech 10 are its versions of the Ultima and Fomorians, the Areteans and the Odotii, both experiments in evolution steering that led to the advancement of what would become homo sapiens.

 

The former hail from the immense, many-colored flying super-city called Arete, which can travel nearly anywhere imaginable except to other Earths. Areteans have through engineering, natural selection and infusion with super-technology managed to achieve immortality, tap into the same kind o cosmic energy that powers their home, and unlocked the psionic potential of their race to its full extent. For over a million years they were forced to remain on Arete, their flawed evolution preventing them from surviving away from the cosmic furnaces. Their isolation and seclusion have allowed them to hone this to the point of making every native of the city the pinnacle of mental and physical stature, with a mastery of sciences that humanity at large is ignorant of. But this leaves them all almost perfectly equal and homogenous genetically. Tempestuous and fiercely competitive, they strive to distinguish themselves in power or focus from their fellows both as a personal challenge and as a recognition that if they remain static they will surely perish. Their race is as the clouds, united by their shared essence but proudly individual, and when brought together often combative. They have no leader and bridle at any even attempted order, only recognizing the choices made by them gathering and pooling their telepathy in the creation of the All-One, the psychic gestalt of their species. They leave few things unrelated to morality untested or untried. They resemble modern Africans, though are notably larger and uniformly in better shape. Everyone wears different clothes, the only slightly unifying touch being the presence of glowing high technology and headwear that might or might not serve a practical purpose.

 

The Odotii are occasionally seen on the surface, but they mostly dwell in the endless tunnels and dark techno-sorcerous fortresses of Sub-Terra. In them the Preservers encouraged genetic mutations to make humanity more adaptable, which by now means that every child is unique not only as a combination of genes but also as a form of life. Most of them have almost no resemblance of humanity, and are alien or monstrous, and the high mutation rate leaves some without even the intelligence of their cousins. Others, a number that has grown steadily thanks to careful culling and nurturing of genetic lines, develop talents ranging from quirks of biology to powers on par with the mightiest supers. This coupled with their widely varying lifespans and the dangers of their habitat would normally spell doom, but the race survives and even thrives in the icy dark caverns and flaming crevasses. In part their fragile society is responsible, binding every Odoti together in iron codes of thought and action. From birth they are taught to obey, and only the strongest or most cunning are able to resist the brainwashing enough to grow up and help make the rules. There is no room for individuality in their ranks. As well, they have forged a slender friendship with their world's Serpent remnants, who have taught them how to operate and bind themselves to the ancient magic and technology of their forebears, granting the race a welcome bit of stability and permanence in the unfriendly underworld. By and large they are rigidly orthodox, resistant to changes in thought and wary of the world above. They are currently led by a more human-esque Odoti named Ork, who was born with incredible durability and longevity that's increased with Serpent science and his fusion with the shape-changing artifact known as the Chimeric Brand.

 

Both races, ironically, attempted to aid Atlantis in its age-long struggle against the Serpent Empire of Lemuria. After the Cataclysm that claimed both nations, they retreated by an unspoken agreement from the Earth's surface, forbidding any of their members to make contact with their cousins above or below. However, both parties broke the agreement on numerous occasions throughout history, often trying to thwart exiles or dissidents from the other race. Aretean interventions brought about the legends of mighty heroes and vengeful gods and the Odotii seeded myths of monsters like trolls or demons. They both stepped in to help fight off the Terminus Invasion of 1993, marking a sharp turning point in their joint histories.

 

With the rise of the World Patrol, humanity and super-humanity have been busy reaching out to their estranged brethren, slowly closing the ancient gaps between the three peoples. Aretean science is accelerating their development of paradise on Earth, and Odotii genetics are beginning to create a new kind of humanity to live in it. 

Edited April 6, 2015 by Arichamus

[Ari]

Thunderball: The Arena of Death

A world that is a lethally arid wasteland wracked with murderous storms on one hemisphere, while the other is so lush and filled with life that walking for five days without at least a million other life-forms trying to kill you is a marvel. Even the trees are out for blood. Vast, tempestuous seas which weave and curdle around the continents, thrashing with horrors that are luckily mostly too big or too stupid to do much besides eat anything else in sight. Constant thunderstorms loud enough to make holding conversations of any kind next to impossible. Perpetual daylight glaring down.

A super-structure of othnodized glass and meta-tempered ferro-tungsten that spans the planet, brimming with terrifying weapons and mind-boggling vehicles, holding at its summit a gun powerful enough to destroy the planet itself. On its pedestal are written and engraved instructions in most languages on its operation, and a strict warning not to use it. An entire chemistry laboratory the size of a mainline dreadnaught stuffed to the rafters with poisons and super-serums beyond count, and the resources to make even deadlier things.

A cartload of 400 fresh combatants arriving every ten years, with phase-lines linking to each other to monitor the luckless souls who will do battle on this material Hell.

This, then, is the Thunderball.

An arena-world unlike any other, the Thunderball was discovered by a younger Kinan Khan during his last expansions, the one halted by the efforts of the Lor Republic, Daedalus of Earth and Mentor's Star Knights. The Star-Khan crash-landed on the planet, and fought his way off-world using the utterly-nonsensical technology left behind by a race that apparently had once lived there. The experience was enough to cure the Khan of stone-sickness(the desire to feel a planet beneath your feet after prolonged travel in artificial gravity) for most of the rest of his life, and inspired him to announce a new kind of blood sport.

The great arenas of the Stellar Khanate are mostly made by sapient minds and hands, orchestrated spectacles where cunning and people skills counted as much as brute force and a killer's heart. Thunderball removes that safety net. The people sent to fight on the Thunderball are political rivals, hardened criminals, tributes from client worlds, seasoned fighters, hunters, nihilists, romantics and robots.

Their goal: achieve whatever objectives the bloodthirsty crowds throughout the Khanate vote for. That can be anything, but mostly boils down to surviving for a few days before pickup. Only after a Khan's Command was 'don't use weapons' regretfully struck from the pool of options. Contestants have annihilated species, detonated natural landmarks, established civilizations, performed extremely dangerous experiments and gone on elaborate, multi-stage tournaments. All while fighting diseases, the weather, hunger and a planet's seemingly inexhaustible supply of deadly wildlife that includes every form of animal, vegetable and mineral variants. Even a visiting kinigosi contestant described the severity of its trials as "a trifle excessive."