EternalPhoenix

Stargirl II (Jacqueline “Jackie” Thompkins) Power Level: 13; Power Points Spent: 285/285 STR: +17 (15/45), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +17 (15/45), INT: +2 (14), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +17, Fort: +17, Ref: +6/+9, Will: +10 Skills: Acrobatics 2 (+5), Bluff 7 (+10), Diplomacy 2 (+5), Gather Information 7 (+10), Intimidate 12 (+15), Knowledge (civics) 3 (+5), Knowledge (Galactic) 8 (+10), Knowledge (streetwise) 3 (+5), Language 2 (+2), Notice 12 (+15), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Stealth 2 (+5) Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Equipment 3, Evasion 2, Improved Initiative 3, Interpose, Luck 4, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Startle, Takedown Attack 2, Ultimate Effort (Strength checks), Ultimate Effort (Toughness checks), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Breath Mask (Device 2) (Hard to lose) Mask Sensors (Super-Senses 5) (distance sense, infravision, time sense, tracking: Visual 1 (half speed), ultravision) Spaceproof (Immunity 5) (environmental condition: Cold, environmental condition: Radiation, environmental condition: Vacuum, suffocation (all)) Edgerunner Communicator (Device 3) (Hard to lose) Long Range Radio (Communication (sense type: radio; Subtle (subtle)) Universal Translator (Comprehend 3) (languages - read all, languages - speak all, languages - understand all) Starheart Augmented Physiology (Container, Passive 17) Stellar Durability (Impervious Toughness 13) Stellar Might (Super-Strength 6) (+30 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 209.7k tons; +6 STR to some checks) Stellar Resilience (Enhanced Constitution 30) (+30 CON) Stellar Strength (Enhanced Strength 30) (+30 STR) Starheart Speed (Container, Passive Stellar Blurring (Concealment 4) (all visual senses; Partial, Passive) Stellar Flight (Flight 6+6) ([Stacking ranks: +6], Speed: 50000 mph, 440000 ft./rnd) Stellar Quickness (Quickness 6+6) ([Stacking ranks: +6], Perform routine tasks at 10000x speed) Stellar Reflexes (Enhanced Trait 20) (Traits: Attack Bonus +3 (+9), Defense Bonus +3 (+9), Reflex +3 (+9), Feats: Evasion 2, Improved Initiative 3) Stellar Energy Manipulation (Array 18) (default power: blast; Custom (Array 17.5)) Stellar Flight Boost (Flight 6) (Alternate; Speed: 500 mph, 4400 ft./rnd; Stacks with (Stellar Flight (Flight 6+6))) Stellar Quickness Boost (Quickness 6) (Alternate; Perform routine tasks at 100x speed; Stacks with (Stellar Quickness (Quickness 6+6))) Stellar Strength Boost (Super-Strength 9) (Alternate; +45 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 209.7k tons; +9 STR to some checks) Star Blast (Blast 17) (Default; DC 32; Precise) Star Bolts (Blast 11) (Array; DC 26; Autofire (interval 2, max +5) [10 ranks only]; Accurate 3 (+6)) Star Burst (Blast 11) (Array; DC 26; Burst Area (55 ft. radius - General)) Equipment: The Edgerunner Attack Bonus: +6/+9 (Ranged: +6/+9, Melee: +6/+9, Grapple: +23/+41) Attacks: Star Blast (Blast 17), +9 (DC 32), Star Bolts (Blast 11), +15 (DC 26), Star Burst (Blast 11) (DC 26), Unarmed Attack, +9 (DC 32) Defense: +6/+9 (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -15 Initiative: +15 Languages: Chinese (Mandarin), English Native, Spanish Totals: Abilities 32 + Skills 18 (72 ranks) + Feats 18 + Powers 183 + Combat 24 + Saves 10 + Drawbacks 0 = 285 ****************************************************************************************** The Edgerunner Power Level: 13; Equipment Points Spent: 15 Toughness: +15 Features: Communications, Computer, Fire Prevention System, Laboratory, Library, Living Space, Power System, Security System 1, Workshop Powers: Energy Channeling (Features 1) (Notes: Jackie may use her Star Blasts, Star Bolts, or Star Burst attacks while piloting the ship.) Ion Drive (Flight 12) (Speed: 50000 mph, 440000 ft./rnd) Superluminal Drive (Super-Movement 3) (extra ranks 3) Totals: Abilities 0 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Feats 0 + Features 9 + Powers 3 + Combat 1 + Saves 2 + Drawbacks 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 15 Age (as of Jan 2019): 55 Height: 5’ 11” Weight: 190 lbs. Ethnicity: Caucasian Hair: Brown w/ streaks of grey Eyes: Brown Base of Operations: Chicago, Illinois (1977-1982); Los Angeles, California (1982-2009), Outer Space (2009-present) Background: You, Dear Reader, cannot possibly imagine what it was like. Being the second child of two of the most famous people on the planet. The child of a legend cannot possibly measure up to the original. Jesse, bless him, wanted to try anyone. He was thrilled to his toes when he got his powers and could be Starboy. Jackie knew better. Other people’s expectations on their own are a heavy weight. Put them together with one’s own and said weight can become crushing. Of course she put on the Star. Of course she became Stargirl when her powers inevitably came in. Living in that house? With those three? How could she not? She loved her father. She loved her mother. She loved her brother. She couldn’t bear to disappoint them. Even though she always knew she would. Or to put it in better terms, she put John and Judy Thompkins up on a pedestal before they told her they were Starman and Starwoman. They were all so happy when Jesse became Starboy. She couldn’t say no. She couldn’t. The looks in their eyes would be unbearable. As would the understanding they would give her. Then there was Armageddon, and Daddy got hurt. And then there was the invasion of ’82 and Kuros, and Daddy got hurt real bad. She moved away. She was 18. She had dreams of Hollywood stardom. And she couldn’t bear to look at Daddy. He was so broken, and it hurt her heart even to look at him. And away from home she didn’t have to put on the Star so much. But Los Angeles wasn’t what she thought. She wasn’t that good of an actress, really. And she also wasn’t willing to do the things that got mediocre but still attractive actresses good roles. So she did a lot of waitressing and bartending. A lot of fruitless auditioning. And you know how it. Eventually they’ve seen enough of her and she didn’t even get to the auditioning stage anymore. That isn’t to say she never got any roles at all. But she never got anything good or high paying. She couldn’t go home, and her career plan had fizzled. Someone without her powers might have gotten lost in drugs and partying. And to be fair, she tried for a little while. The last time she put on the Star was the invasion of ’92, and that was quite brief. She basically hadn’t put it on in 7 years, but a massive alien invasion one makes exceptions for. Her parents died the following year, and it broke something in her. She threw herself in the Los Angeles party scene. It was extremely difficult for her to get drunk or high, but by God she really tried. She moved several times, bouncing from short term job to short term job. Someone without her powers may have met a very bad end. Instead she simply got lost for a bunch of years. She has no idea who Jessica’s father is. Turns out there are drugs strong enough to affect her like a normal. Of course, they’d kill said normal stone dead, but whatever. She’d been raised to be something resembling responsible, so she got out of the life. Got something stable. Of course, for a mere high school graduate in Los Angeles that required two jobs. Even for a Star, that was a lot of working hours. So on that terrible day in September, she came home dead tired and passed out into dreamland. Bombs going off wouldn’t have woken her. A helpful neighbor was watching Jessica. Her brother and his family were fighting for their lives, and she was asleep. Her brother fucking DIED, and she slept through it. The guilt she felt later in the day is unimaginable. Paralyzing. She fell into old habits amid a deep depression. She doesn’t know who Jonathan’s father is, either. She knows she wasn’t a very good mother. Always working. Emotionally unavailable. Strung out on something powerful half the time. You’re such a good girl, Jessica. Helping look after your baby brother. Can you imagine? A tiny Los Angeles apartment. Occupied by a woman and her two children. No parents. No siblings. No way to contact Jody or her kids, plus like hell they wanted to hear from the failure of the family. This wasn’t what she imagined her life to be, back in ’85. But she wasn’t bitter. She just didn’t care. She’d gone numb. Nothing mattered. Nothing except taking care of Jessica and Jonathan. They didn’t deserve to suffer because of her. She could keep them fed, clothed, and housed. She could keep it together enough to do that. And she did. She may have not had anything warm and nurturing left in her at the time, but she could earn money and buy things. Yes, indeed. Until 2009, when she got literally abducted by aliens. It’s not an uncommon story, throughout the ages of humanity. Worlds that haven’t yet developed genuine space travel are and always have been a source of slave labor, experimental test subjects, or uh. Pets. Her depression swamped mind basically said “well, this might as well happen”. With that said, she was not the only person kidnapped off the planet. And this was the unethical scientists doing experimental tests illegal elsewhere kind of things. She mostly didn’t care what happened to her, but her inaction wasn’t going to get other people harmed or killed. No. So that was one batch of villains slapped down. The problem was, she didn’t know where in the universe she was. The people she was with needed looking after, and they weren’t all human. So she made one more crappy choice. She didn’t exactly have to rush to find her way home, right? She could be free of everything for a little while, right? That wasn’t so bad, right? Dammit, Jackie. A little while has stretched into ten years as she’s found one thing after another to do. She’s gotten her own ship. She’s gathered an interesting crew of allies and friends, named after that ship. The Edgerunners. Calling all of them but her heroes would be uh, stretching it. But they’ve done good work. The name of the ship is a logical one. The Edge is the border between free space and Kuros’s empire of claimed galaxies. A demilitarized zone on an intergalactic scale. Or rather, it was. Now, with the disappearance of all of his forces, it’s complicated. At any rate, refugees were always fleeing. Rebel groups were always battling the tyrant and his forces. So, supplies, equipment, information, and sometimes even people needed to be smuggled under the noses of the Nega Corps and Kuros’s forces. Most of the people who tried it didn’t last. Mostly because they approached it stupidly. Reckless violence and intimidation don’t work on groups who either don’t care about losses because they’re easily replaceable (Kuros’s forces) or dedicated hardasses who don’t afraid of anything (the Nega Corps). And even the fastest ships in the universe with the hottest of the hotshot pilots need to refuel and resupply. The ones who last are the ones who play it smart and quiet. Like Jackie and the Edgerunners. But of course, the first person Jackie ran into out in space after the initial abduction event was friggin’ Megagirl. Of all people. She was kind of happy the heroine wasn’t dead. Who wouldn’t be? Besides Valia, yeah yeah we know. Astonishingly, she didn’t recognize Jackie. Granted, it had been 24 years since Megagirl had disappeared and 3 more since she’d seen Jackie, but…did she really look that different? Did 27 years of hard living and two kids really change the way she looked so much that someone who knew her back then didn’t recognize the former Stargirl? (Spoiler: It did not, but if the former Stargirl wanted to be someone else who was Megagirl to judge? As far as the tiny heroine knew, there was nothing keeping her on Earth if she wanted to leave. Starboy had probably taken over as Starman by now, and it wasn’t like Jackie had kids or something, right? If only you knew, Megan.) This was great, actually. Jackie pretended to be someone who wasn’t Stargirl, and they partnered up. Megagirl was never properly an Edgerunner. Morals too inflexible for that. And she had her own commitments anyway, which meant she wasn’t always on the ship with the growing crew. Speaking of that crew, how did they get together? Well, the first go around brought Jackie together with some mercenary outlaws in the ever mysterious Nobellian sniper Esme*, the cybernetic self defined Borustan ronin Tetsukaze*, and the albino Nobellian mage Zima*. A lot happened, but ultimately the four’s actions uncovered a fast spreading religious cult was a front for an extradimensional alien invasion. Specifically, by taking over bodies in the regular universe and slowly transforming them into red insectoid horrors. Fortunately, Esme turned out to be an old hand at tracing and destroying their nests. Between that, Jackie’s raw power, Tetsukaze’s tactical skill and savagery, and Zima’s surprisingly versatile hydromancy, the threat was averted. For now. A grateful Nobellian megacorporation gave the foursome a big chunk of money after their offer of permanent employment was declined by all four. They decided to remain a team, and most of said money went towards buying and outfitting the Edgerunner. The second event was just as hair raising. To make a long story much shorter, a Draconian (reptile men, but stronger and tougher than that implies) decided she wanted to access the intergalactic infoweb via direct neural interface. The problem with this idea is that a direct neural interface requires connecting the tech involved directly (hence the name) to the brain. Which is inside the skull. Which has to have holes drilled in it for that specific purpose. Draconian bones are, generally speaking, harder and more impenetrable than titanium. So, it was either a medical procedure with a length measured in probably days using inordinately expensive and rare equipment…or doing something a bit, well, easier. It would have been better if that Draconian woman had chosen the procedure. Again, long story much shorter, she financed research into nanotech able to perform direct neural interfacing. This was a success. She used it. And then things went directly to hell. First. By nature of being inside the body and thus vunerable to the immune system, the nanotech had to both be able to repair and replicate itself. Second. Mega corporations have been experimenting with artificial intelligence for centuries. Flesh and blood employees are so…inefficient, after all, compared with machines. Their discarded and escaped prototypes and formerly enslaved AIs haunt the darker corners of the infoweb. Third. The lovely thing about normal direct neural interfaces is that the base of the equipment is fairly analog for the reasons just stated. Said base is a plug in that drilled hole in the skull. So if the user encounters any…issues…on the infoweb, all the user has to do is literally unplug from it. You can see where this is going. That Draconian woman doesn’t exist anymore, though her body probably does, piloted by a very angry AI. The planet she was on was lost in hours. The situation rapidly spiraled out of control, and the entire sector was lost in days. The Nega Corps worked fast and efficiently, but it still took them time to figure out what they were up against. And by then saving that entire galaxy was a losing battle. One they’re technically still waging to evacuate as many uninfected civilians as possible, with heavy military backup from the Nobellian and Sionil navies. This is where the Edgerunners come in. There was a priority list for evacuees, and an verification process to make sure they weren’t infected. Money and the political influence thereof being what they are, three guesses who was at the top of the list for evacuation. And any ships from inside that tried to run the galactic blockade got shot to pieces by the Nobellian and Sionil fleets. The Nega Corps had no choice but to cooperate. They have neither the ships nor the manpower to do it by themselves. This, naturally, led to attempts to run the blockade from outside. Plenty of people inside have enough money to temp outlaw crews into taking a run at it. Getting in? Pretty easy. Getting out again? Congratuations, you’re actually trying to run the galactic blockade now. In the Edgerunner’s case, the Borustan independent delta holoscreener (or D-Screener, the Earth equivalent is a V-Tuber) Roxy Jett*. She, her Nobellian bodyguard/lover Geojang*, and Sionil tech support Mirage* wanted out. So, Jackie and the Edgerunners went and got them out. That makes it sound much, much easier than it was. It was kind of like an Earth zombie movie, actually. Except the “zombie” virus in this case was partially airborne, and the “zombies” weren’t anywhere near mindless or shambling. Fortunately, something about Jackie’s stellar energy shorted the nanotech right out when it was outside the protection of flesh, and Zima’s hydromancy could wash them out of the air just as easily. There were still a few fights, and a few space fights. Dodging Negas and blockade ships. And, of course, the general chaos and madness of a galaxy gripped by absolute terror. They got Roxy and company out, but…well. Roxy’s holovid proclaiming her freedom was, quite frankly, a piss poor idea in retrospect. It made her an intergalactic outlaw. So, without any real choice in the matter, she’s stuck being on the crew of the Edgerunner. And Geojang and Mirage are stuck with her. There was one weird thing, however. The AIs, after a little while, recognized Jackie’s stellar energy. Not from her, or from Earth, but from somewhere else. It was the very first hint ever about exactly what had happened to John Thompkins over 50 years earlier, but there was no time to pursue it. Yet. In the mean time, Megagirl ran into Nick Phoenix, causing she and the Edgerunners to part ways. Over the course of their running the Edge, Jackie and the Edgerunners had met a bunch of people. Most of whom even survived the encounter and its aftermath, and thus were free to meet them again. You know, contacts. Friendly faces at certain ports of call and/or watering holes. So they’d gradually become aware of the Crystals of Power, or at least the four that were out in the universe at the time. But nobody thought about taking one for themselves. For one, the people who had each one, well…you’d need to be both crazy and have a full fledged army to take just one. For another, once you did still one you’d have a bullseye on your back the size of a galaxy. You’d have to be the biggest badass who ever lived, and also never sleep again, in order to keep just one. So nobody seriously thought they’d ever be united. Not even Kuros was that goddamn crazy and badass. Right? Well…about that…nothing like the biggest, most badass battle fleet yet assembled dropping out of superluminal in the Sionil system where the Earth Crystal was kept as a statement of intent. Sionil military philosophy is, very broadly, about discipline, defense, and never bending a micron no matter how much they get hammered. This system in particular was thought to be among their most impregnable fortresses. 12 layers of mines, mobile turrets, heavily armored dreadnoughts and mighty battlestations. The battle was short and outstandingly violent. It wasn’t that Kuros’s fleet didn’t take hideous casualties, because it did. It was that it simply didn’t matter. This wasn’t a tactical victory. It was simple brute force. Even the mightiest stone wall can be smashed by sufficient force. The system in which the Earth Crystal formerly resided was left a shattered glass ruin. And the half of the universe Kuros didn’t already rule immediately panicked. The Edgerunners weren’t much of an exception. So, as Kuros outsavaged to Borustans (whose military philosophy mainly revolves around overwhelming firepower and the most efficient application thereof) for the Fire Crystal and kicked seven shades of hell out of the Nobellians (whose military philosophy generally revolves around subtle bits of finesse, precision strikes, and intelligent, flexible tactics) for the Will Crystal, the Edgerunners were hunting for the ones that were missing. The revelation that Kuros had the Soul Crystal to begin with helped narrow things down. The Edgerunners were not alone in their hunt by a long, long shot. However, they had an advantage in Jackie, who (not being an idiot) knew where this was going. Earth may not have been the literal center of the universe, but metaphorically? It sure seemed like it sometimes. So they raced to get to Earth to warn Earth’s heroes (having left almost a decade before, she knew the Icons existed). Nobody expected Kuros to use the Soul Crystal to break into Tian (the Chinese Divine Heavens) as a shortcut to Earth, so things went to hell in a handbasket. Thus the Eternity War event kicked off. And every one of the Edgerunners except Esme (as usual, said the mysterious Nobellian sniper) ended up Dusted. Jackie and her crew came back when that was undone, and participated in the resulting final battle of the Endgame which saw the end of Kuros and his empire. Including seeing her niece and nephew finally take up the Star for good. She carefully avoided them during the battle. With that finished, and Esme having said her goodbyes (she did spend a year with the Icons, after all), Jackie and the Edgerunners departed Earth. There was a lot to do in space. Tidal and baby Lei Zi were tagging along. He needed a ride for a little while. Tetsukaze wanted to visit the Red Ronin to restore his fraying control over his cyberpsychosis, and Geojang thought it might be good for her own, as well. Zima had encountered her former comrades during the Endgame battle (seeing them again trigged her memories of them to return), and she was in need of someone to deprogram the trio’s minds and awaken them from the strange comas they had fallen into after Kuros’s demise. Shockingly, they didn’t die with him. And she was still missing the rest of her memories. If they could fill in any of the blanks she would be extremely grateful. As Jackie herself? She hadn’t forgotten the words of those AI when they picked up Roxy and company. Somewhere out there, in the vastness of the universe, was the origin of the Starpowers. So, a lot to do. But one last thing before they flew off into the chaos of a universe without Kuros and his forces. A thing Jackie does not rightfully know why she did, aside from a ghost of a memory of a dream she had while she was Dusted. The indistinct voices of her father, mother, and brother. Standing in the airlock as the Edgerunner started taking off, she threw a single Star Blast into the air that exploded into a brilliant five pointed star. The Star. Then she went back inside, closed the airlock doors, and departed for that universe in chaos. *Names are translated into their closest Earth language equivalent. Powers & Tactics: Jackie is, technically, a mutant and she has a pair of technological devices. Her powers function in a way made legendary by first her parents and then her brother. She has a nuclear fusion reaction inside her chest, pumping out energy as only they can. It is known as a Starheart. Physiological alterations channel that power into her abilities, namely enhanced strength, speed, resilience and stellar energy manipulation. She’s never bothered trying to match his parents in their peak categories, but the combination of their powers has proved highly effective by itself. Her peak lifting strength is in the hundreds of thousands of tons. Her top flight speed is hypersonic. Her speed also makes her better at dodging and more accurate. One would still need a ballistic missile to begin to consider actually hurting her, as she can ignore even a Earth battleship’s main guns. She can smash through titanium with a punch or a Star Blast. Speaking of the latter, she can emit that stellar energy as lower powered rapidfire bolts or a big burst of energy over an area. She’s never tried to figure out how to do anything else. It is, however, quite strange. The stellar energy of Starwoman and Starman II manifested as glowing, amorphous shapes aside from where they turned into solid objects. Jackie’s, on the other hand, has always been jagged and crackling like electricity. This did not help her self esteem issues. Not at all. Clearly, there is more to the properties of stellar energy than is currently known. Her devices are rather simple affairs and necessary for a space traveler. Her Breath Mask has a minor sensor suite that helps when it gets dark and to track people and objects. It also renders her immune to the biggest problems in space, namely suffocation and exposure to cold, vacuum, and radiation. Her second device is her Edgerunner Communicator. Every member of the crew has one. They have a 2k mile communication range and a universal translator because they all (Jackie especially) don’t speak the same languages. The Edgerunner is her ship. It flies as fast as she does, has the superluminal drive that gets them from system to system and galaxy to galaxy, and in place of weapons it can channel her own Star Blasts/Bolts/Bursts. This is occasionally useful, as they can pretend to be unarmed couriers or whatever. But it’s not just a method of transportation. It’s the crew’s home, too, with a bunch of features that any super headquarters needs. Tactically, Jackie isn’t quite the girl her parents trained anymore. She has killed people out there in space. Granted, this was in ship to ship combat when their ship exploded, but still. Her definition of Acceptable Targets has expanded to a degree, past what her father would have ever found acceptable. And she’s long since stopped batting so much as an eyelash when the rest of the Edgerunners are as lethal as possible in combat. But Jackie herself in person to person combat still holds back so as not to kill. She’s still careful about collateral damage, at least in civilian spaces. And she’ll still Interpose and put her mostly invulnerable body between the defenseless and certain doom. Star Blast and punching are really for harder targets. Star Burst and Takedown Attack 2 are for groups of enemies. It’s Star Bolts that, like her mother, she gets the most use out of. Accurate Attack is useful for avoiding lethal damage. All Out Attack is for more accuracy, because the list of ranged weapons that can cause actual injury to someone with Toughness 17, Impervious 13 is pretty fuckin’ short. Startle can also help with hitting. Power Attack can ratchet up the damage on the rare occasion that’s needed. And Move by Action keeps her mobile. Like every Star, she has Ultimate Strength and Toughness for those exceptionally needy occasions. Surprisingly with that much Luck, she’s not really a power stunter. It’s just unnecessary when you have a full crew of allies and have what’s basically godlike power compared to virtually everyone else. PL Notes: Jackie debuted in 1977 as a PL 8 with a more or less identical build to her brother’s from two years eariler. +6 Attack, Defense, Flight, and Quickness. +10 Strength and Toughness bonuses. Lifting strength probably about 60, so topping out at over a hundred tons. She’d only reached PL 9 by ’78 and the first battle with Armageddon. +8 Attack, Defense, Flight, and Quickness. Still +10 Strength and Toughness. She was PL 12, however, for the invasion in ’82. +9 Attack, Defense, Flight, and Quickness. +15 Strength and Toughness. She was this build in ’85 when she hung it up, and hasn’t noticeably changed since. Personality: Jackie is a woman who has spent almost her entire adult life running away. From the weight of expectation. From the burden of being cared for. From the guilt at never being good enough in her own eyes. From well, everything really. She’s made a lot of terrible decisions in search of a place to finally stop running. A place where she can simply be herself. Not Stargirl. Not the second Thompkins child. Not even Mommy. Just…Jackie. This is, of course, a rationalization so she can live with herself. She knows she could have tried harder. At being Stargirl. At being the second Thompkins child. And at being Mommy. She could have done a much better job, and it eats at her. Out in space is the first place where she’s apparently capable of doing both good and right simultaneously. And so she stays. The problem with Jackie is that she has never once believed in herself. No self-confidence. No self-esteem. No matter how hard she tried, something would always go sideways. She’d always fall short next to her parents and brother. Always and forever. Whether she wanted to or not. She would never stop being a disappointment and/or a failure. And as is known, whether one believes they can do something or not, they’re right. A self fulfilling prophecy, if you will. The thing is, she does have it in her to be just as good as they were. The past ten years have shown this. She’s a real superhero out there in space. Even if the Edgerunners kind of…aren’t, exactly. And while she’s out there in space, she believes she can be good enough. All that baggage of her life on Earth stays there. With that said, you try having parents as absolutely legendary as Starman and Starwoman. You try having them expect great things from you in both as both a superhero and a civilian. Measuring up to them as they actually were is difficult, but doable. Measuring up to their legend, especially the one in Jackie’s mind? Completely impossible. All the love, support, and encouragement in the world wouldn’t be enough if the person involved doesn’t believe in their heart that they can. And it’s something one can never explain properly without sounding pathetic and whiny. At least, she thinks so. Her brother, the crazy man, tried. He couldn’t do it, and it only drove him to try harder. Jackie was never that strong back then. She still thinks she isn’t. She is wrong. However, no matter how long and how far she runs, she is still the child of her parents. Of Starman and Starwoman. She still has the values and ideals drilled into her from an early age. She cannot allow people she knows are in trouble and/or danger to come to harm because of her inaction. She may be suffering from depression and a self esteem that often registers in the negatives, but despite Jackie’s attempts to destroy her Stargirl still endures somewhere inside. She isn’t a bad person. Not really. She’s made lots of bad choices, been a pretty selfish jerk, and rationalized very hard. But she has never succumbed to wickedness, malice or evil. This is…probably of little comfort to Jessica and Jonathan, who most likely think she’s simply dead. She knows that. She hopes desperately that they’ve been better off without her. That she was never worthy of them to begin with. Because otherwise she’d have to accept that she willingly abandoned them. That every time life got too challenging, she gave up and ran away. She believes she’s not strong enough to face the condemnation she thinks she deserves for this, let alone the impossibility of forgiveness. She’s wrong about that, too.

Starman II (Jesse Thompkins) Power Level: 14; Power Points Spent: 285/285 STR: +17 (15/45), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +17 (15/45), INT: +2 (14), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +17, Fort: +17, Ref: +7/+11, Will: +11 Skills: Acrobatics 2 (+5), Bluff 12 (+15), Diplomacy 7 (+10), Gather Information 7 (+10), Intimidate 7 (+10), Knowledge (current events) 8 (+10), Knowledge (history) 3 (+5), Knowledge (streetwise) 3 (+5), Language 1 (+1), Notice 12 (+15), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Stealth 2 (+5) Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Evasion 2, Improved Initiative 4, Interpose, Luck 4, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Takedown Attack 2, Taunt, Ultimate Effort (Strength checks), Ultimate Effort (Toughness checks), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Starheart Augmented Physiology (Container, Passive 18) Stellar Durability (Impervious Toughness 14) Stellar Might (Super-Strength (+40 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 209.7k tons; +8 STR to some checks) Stellar Resilience (Enhanced Constitution 30) (+30 CON) Stellar Strength (Enhanced Strength 30) (+30 STR) Starheart Speed (Container, Passive 10) Stellar Flight (Flight 8+7) ([Stacking ranks: +7], Speed: 500000 mph, 4400000 ft./rnd) Stellar Quickness (Quickness 8+7) ([Stacking ranks: +7], Perform routine tasks at 100000x speed) Stellar Reflexes (Enhanced Trait 26) (Traits: Attack Bonus +4 (+11), Defense Bonus +4 (+11), Reflex +4 (+11), Feats: Evasion 2, Improved Initiative 4) Stellar Energy Manipulation (Array 18) (default power: blast; Custom (Array 17.5)) Stellar Flight Boost (Flight 7) (Alternate; Speed: 1000 mph, 8800 ft./rnd; Stacks with (Stellar Flight (Flight 8+7))) Stellar Quickness Boost (Quickness 7) (Alternate; Perform routine tasks at 250x speed; Stacks with (Stellar Quickness (Quickness 8+7))) Stellar Strength Boost (Super-Strength 7) (Alternate; +35 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 209.7k tons; +7 STR to some checks) Star Blast (Blast 17) (Default; DC 32; Precise) Star Bolts (Blast 11) (Array; DC 26; Autofire (interval 2, max +5) [10 ranks only]; Accurate 3 (+6)) Star Burst (Blast 11) (Array; DC 26; Burst Area (55 ft. radius - General)) Stellar Energy Objects (Create Object 10) (Array; Max Size: 10x 50' cubes, DC 20; Movable (Radius: 50 ft., Strength: 50, Force: 12.8 tons); Progression, Object Size 3, Selective, Stationary) Attack Bonus: +7/+11 (Ranged: +7/+11, Melee: +7/+11, Grapple: +24/+43) Attacks: Star Blast (Blast 17), +11 (DC 32), Star Bolts (Blast 11), +17 (DC 26), Star Burst (Blast 11) (DC 26), Unarmed Attack, +11 (DC 32) Defense: +7/+11 (Flat-footed: +6), Knockback: -15 Initiative: +19 Languages: English Native, Spanish Totals: Abilities 32 + Skills 19 (76 ranks) + Feats 15 + Powers 179 + Combat 28 + Saves 12 + Drawbacks 0 = 285 Age (as of Jan 2019): Deceased in 2001 at age 39 Height: 6’ 1” Weight: 200 lbs Ethnicity: Caucasian Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown Base of Operations: Chicago, Illinois Background: The first best day of Jesse Thompkins’s life occurred when he was 13 years old, in 1975. It was, in fact, 14 years to the day when the sperm of John Thompkins met the egg of Judy Thompkins, and the newly combined cells started duplicating. It was probably 14 years to the hour, minute, or even second, but Jesse was sleeping at that time. It was a school night, ya know? It was still the first best day of his life. It wasn’t just that he had superpowers. That was great. But it was 1975. Starman and Starwoman were some of the most famous people on the planet. Legendary superheroes. Everybody knew they had kids. And holy shit, they were Jesse and his sister Jackie. Well. He’d known that since he was ten. But he didn’t have powers, you know? He was just a kid whose parents happened to be some of the most famous superheroes in the world. And then he woke up one day and he wasn’t. Can you imagine? John and Judy were good parents who children adored them as much as any children adore their parents. But they were also, again, legendary superheroes. Saying young Jesse idolized them is, well, understating matters. And then he got to be one of them! Like, seriously. The first best day of his life. He wasn’t as powerful or as fast, but he was also just a kid. So he didn’t mind. Because he was freakin’ Starboy! Like, he has to learn how not to accidently kill people with his strength or a Star Blast, but he also had two very experienced teachers in Mom and Dad. And just like that, he got to fight beside them. To shield people beside them. To save lives beside them. And, after he started high school the year after, on his own sometimes. It…wasn’t as glamorous as he thought. But it was still important. It still needed doing. No, it wasn’t a thrill a minute like he thought. It was much more important that something like that. Admirable philosophy from a teenage boy. But you know, he was still technically that teenage boy. Girls. Oh, yeah. But not just any girl, oh no. Jody Rice, good god. What an angel, said teenage Jesse. In reality there were probably ten thousand more attractive and/or charismatic girls in Chicago alone, but that’s just how it is when Cupid’s metaphorical arrow strikes. He talked to his dad. He talked to his mom. He talked to his sister (who was still in Stargirl training at that time, her powers having just emerged). And then he talked to Jody. He wooed her, won her, and they were going steady. Nice. This was important, because her house gave him someplace else to go and someone else to talk to after Armageddon attacked and his dad was hurt. He’d been no help at all, despite getting much stronger in the past three years. He hadn’t reached the power of his mom and dad yet. And he started to think he never would. At any rate, this was when Jody learned he was Starboy, and their relationship broke for a while because of the secret kept from her. It broke again when Jody went away for college. Jesse stayed in Chicago to help protect it. This was 1980, and to help make ends meet he started breaking into professional cartooning. As opposed to the amateur stuff in the school newspaper. The money wasn’t much, so he also kept up a steady stream of part time jobs, in addition to art school at Columbia College Chicago and still being a superhero. A very busy schedule for someone not as fast as a Star. Then came 1982, and the invasion of Kuros the Conqueror. He distinguished himself, to be sure, but his father was badly hurt. Jesse was 20 years old. A grown man. He offered to take over and let his father retire due to injury, but John Thompkins, Professional Stubborn Bastard, declined. This is also when Jody returned to Chicago, knowing Jesse had to be hurting. She transferred into the University of Chicago. They were married in ’83. The second best day of his life. They graduated college in ’84, and starting living together full time. The Champions went away to space and didn’t come back in ’85. Jesse spent the rest of his days thinking he should have gone with them. But it’s hard, you know? They were his father’s friends, not his. The adults in the room, so to speak. He didn’t know how to ask. Him, a grown man of 23 years, didn’t know how to talk to them. Jesse’s (his sister’s, too) fatal flaw appearing again. How could he ever measure up to giants? A decade gone, and they still left him starstruck and tonguetied. And of course, they didn’t think to ask him. He was Starboy. A kid to protect, not an equal to stand beside. Not that this was a conscious thought, mind. One watches a kid grow up, and it’s…hard, to shake that mental image of them as that kid. And his father would have never agreed to it, they thought. Wrongly, as the following year (1986) Starman formally retired from superheroics and took his wife with him. But he did not, however, take his name. Starboy became Starman. He found out the powers could be given to other people by accident, by giving them to Jody. But Starqueen didn’t have the aptitude for hero work. Instincts all wrong. Constantly forgetting her powers. Etc. She wasn’t as powerful as he was, either. Something didn’t go right in the transfer. So, pretty much a failure all around. Their first child, Jack (after his sister), was born in 1988. Their second, Jennifer, was born in 1990. The third and fourth best days of his life. Kuros came back in ’92, but Nick Phoenix took care of it before Jesse could do a lot. He was ready to do what he could, though. And then came the undisputed worst day of his life. 1993. The day his parents died. The story has been told. John Thompkins’s Starheart was about to explode. Judy offered to take him away into space. Jesse offered to do it, as he could probably survive the explosion. But no. Judy didn’t want to stick around without her John. They were connected forever. He wanted to scream and cry. To beg them not to leave him. But that, however, would not have been anything like the man they raised. So Jesse could do nothing but watch as Starwoman carried the original Starman into space at a significant fraction of the speed of light. And he watched as the miniature supernova took both of them from him. Then he had to go in their house and call his sister to tell her what happened. He was the one who told the media, too. For people who have never lost a parent, there is no explaining the agony he was in. For those who have, there is no need to do so. That was it. He was Starman. The only one. The only active Star at all. His parents were gone. His sister was…well, she was finished being a superhero, at least. He worried about her, but what could he do besides visit sometimes? And Jody hadn’t worked out at all. He was the most famous and powerful superhero in the world. Well, Nick had him beat to stardust on the power front, but he wasn’t always around. The generation of his father and the ones inspired by him seemed to fade away as the world got darker and meaner. Jesse seemed like a relic of another age, sometimes. He worked himself harder and harder. Even a Star has physical limits and from time to time he managed to find them. It wasn’t so bad when his parents were still alive, you know? But with them gone it was like the Devil himself was whipping him onward. He worked all over the globe. Money wasn’t a problem. He was the artist behind several comic strips in various newspapers and weekly publications. Jesse Thompkins kind of had it made as a cartoonist, by this point. He went through periods where he ate little, slept less, and ended up looking about as bedraggled as a man with that many running comic strips and no powers would look. It was something he and Jody had more than a few blazing arguments about. Their relationship had always been on the tempestuous side, as opposed to the steady tranquility of John and Judy, and this was just making it worse. They loved each other dearly, but there were times where they didn’t like each other very much at all. Then came the fifth best day of his life. He and his sister weren’t special. The Starpowers were inheritable. Jack had just developed them. Jesse was as overjoyed as John had been on that day 26 years before. Thus the second Starboy put on the Star and joined his father in the field. This, however, was 2001. The story of that terrible day in September has been told. But not from Jesse’s perspective. The return of a monster his dad and his friends had narrowly killed over two decades before. His family, attacked. His wife and son, injured. Panic, anger, and determination. This wouldn’t be like ’92. Nick Phoenix had left in June, after congratulating the new Starboy. Troubles in space and time, of course. He’d be back, but for now Jessee was on his own. It had bothered Jesse, a bit, at the time, the look in Nick’s eye when he said his goodbyes. There’d be time to talk about it when he came back. And so the second Starman charged into a battle he wasn’t sure he could win, but one that needed to be fought. One that there was probably no other hero on the planet could fight, as far as he knew. And like his father in ’78 and ’82, he got beaten within an inch of his life. Hell, further. He fought until he had nothing left. And then fought some more. He wasn’t strong enough. That was the knock on him from the start from the news media. Hell, he couldn’t help making the comparison himself. He didn’t have the power or the speed of his parents. He had to fight harder than they ever did against some of the same foes. He knew he could never be what they were. Knew it deep in his bones. That didn’t mean he couldn’t do anything. He was more powerful than basically every hero who but Nick. And Nick wasn’t always around. So the safety of the world was on his shoulders. But you know how it is. His parents were still around. A backup plan in case things really went pear shaped and the fecal matter hit the oscillating device. It wasn’t a conscious idea, mind. It’s just…in some ways a child thinks Mommy and Daddy are always going to be there for them when they need the two. Parents are immortal and all knowing beings. Sources of advice and support. They may age and diminish a little, perhaps, but they are eternal, virtually unchanging parts of the child’s world. Until one day they aren’t. Suddenly John and Judy were gone, and the backup plan was gone. Jesse was well and truly on his own. So he had to try harder. And harder. And harder. It was all up to him, now. He couldn’t get up. His body refused to obey him. Caviezel (when did he get here?) was taking his run at Armageddon. The monster was absolutely going to kill him. Jesse knew this. And he couldn’t get up. All his insecurities crashed down on him in a wave. He wasn’t strong enough. He wasn’t good enough. He’d never been good enough to be Starman. Why did his father ever trust him with this? His body hurt so much. He was bleeding so much. He wanted to cry. Dying hurts, Daddy. Why didn’t you tell me? But. A quiet little voice at the core of who he was, at the core of who all heroes who stick with it are, refused his body’s refusal. It refused the physical trauma. It refused the mental anguish. It refused the reality of the situation itself. And so, for the first time in his life, Jesse Thompkins reached for more power. Not for himself, but for others. To help. To protect. To save. And yes, to not be a failure. His memories flashed through his mind. Toddling over to Mommy at home, the earliest clear one. Standing beside his father at the beach, full of joy in and love for him. The first time he flew, Mom and Dad beside him. The first time he saw Jody. Times with friends. Jody holding him as he wept for his broken father. The day they were married, once again full of joy in and love for someone else. The birth of Jack. The birth of Jennifer. Such joy and happiness he’d known in those days. But pain and sadness, too. Watching his parents get old. His sister getting lost in her own insecurities and depression, while feeling helpless to do anything for her. Super fights, god so many super fights. Watching his parents die. Every verbal fight with Jody. How she wasn’t superhero material at all. The big joys and little happinesses. The agony of loss and the little pain of minor mistakes. You know, life. Jesse Thompkins, all of him, reached for more power. And his Starheart answered. It suddenly didn’t matter that his ribs were broken and his skull cracked. It didn’t matter that he couldn’t get his vision focused, and he couldn’t hear out of one ear. It didn’t matter that he was in more pain than any mortal ought to be able to endure and stay conscious, much less upright. It didn’t matter that he was literally dying on the spot. He still had people to protect. And a Star will never stay down when there’s people to protect. He literally shone with power. Armageddon didn’t stand a chance. He beat the monster down in seconds, smashed it into the air, and incinerated it with a Star Blast more powerful than anything Nick Phoenix had done in ’92. But reality can only be held at bay for so long. With the crisis now passed, Jesse’s power boost faded away and he collapsed to the ground. He died in his wife’s arms less than five minutes later. Thus passed the second Starman. And with him, an entire era of heroics. However, his death was not in vain. It was not in the general vicinity of in vain. Hell, it’s not even in the same galaxy. More heroes have risen (directly and indirectly) because of that day than existed in the entire Mystery Men era and Golden Age combined. It’s a funny thing. Jesse thought he could never escape his father’s shadow. That he could never measure up to the legend. He was wrong. Jesse Thompkins was a superhero for 26 years. One year longer than his father’s 25. 15 of those were spent as Starman. He only stopped being a superhero because he literally died. Nothing else would have stopped him short of complete physical infirmity. He was as worthy as anyone to stand beside his father, and worthier than almost any other. And with the emergence of his son and daughter as the new Starman and Starwoman, his legacy now appears secure. Rest well, hero. You earned it. Powers & Tactics: Starman II was, technically, a mutant. His powers functioned in a way made legendary by first his parents and then himself. He had a nuclear fusion reaction inside his chest, pumping out energy as only they can. It is known as a Starheart. Physiological alterations channeled that power into his abilities, namely enhanced strength, speed, resilience and stellar energy manipulation. He was never quite able to match his parents in their peak categories, but the combination of their powers proved highly effective on its own. His peak lifting strength was in the hundreds of thousands of tons. His top flight speed was beyond hypersonic. His speed also made him better at dodging and more accurate. One would still need a ballistic missile to begin to consider actually hurting him, as he could ignore even a battleship’s main guns. He could smash through titanium with a punch or a Star Blast. Speaking of the latter, he could emit that stellar energy as lower powered rapidfire bolts or a big burst of energy over an area. He could even make solid object out of the energy, something only his mother thus far has been able to do. He wasn’t the strongest, the toughest, the fastest, or the most powerful blaster ever. However, nobody exceeded him in every category at any point, so he always had options. Until Armageddon provided a brutal reminder of the hierarchy of power. And, of course, the irony is that he absolutely could have been just as powerful as his parents were. To equal them in every area. The measurable output of his Starheart was greater than either of theirs. But he never believed that he could, and the belief of the user is a huge factor in deciding a Starperson’s limits. It is not know how exactly he summoned as much raw power as he did in those last seconds of his life. His mother and father did demonstrate extreme levels of power when sorely pressed, yes, but nothing like that. His Starheart may have been stronger than theirs, but not by that much. Nor is it clear if his parents could have output that much power, or if his sister, his children, or her children can also do so. Even after 58 years, the full capabilities of the Starpowers remain a mystery. Tactically. Starman II was much like both of his parents. They were the ones who trained him, after all. He may have not been as tough as his father, but basic thuggery couldn’t hurt him. Even ordinary supervillains couldn’t hurt him. Toughness 17, Impervious 14 is almost as functionally invincible as 20 and 15, after all. So he could casually disarm all of them, trap them in Stellar Energy Objects until the police were in position, or just lay the full +5 Accurate Attack smack down as needed. Fancy tactics were only required for the beefier supervillains, who got rarer and rarer as time went on. Still. He had Star Bolts, Star Burst, and Takedown Attack 2 for groups. Fancy tactics included All Out Attack, Move by Action, Taunt, and abusing his advantages over a given foe. Not all of them could fly, and none of them could fly as fast. The advantages of ranged attacks versus melee only fighters are well known. The advantages of super strength grappling versus those who are not super strong or especially skilled or dexterous are also well known. He used Interpose a lot, too. Ultimate Strength and Toughness less so. Not a lot of call for that much juice. He had a few power stunts as teen Starboy, but as Starman he really never used them again. Stuff like using a created Stellar Energy Objects as a bludgeon (Strike 2, Mighty), bindings (Snare) or a bright flash of light (Dazzle [visual senses]). PL Notes: Starboy debuted in 1975 as a PL 8. +6 Attack, Defense, Flight, and Quickness. +10 Strength and Toughness bonuses. Lifting strength probably about 60, so topping out at over a hundred tons. He’d reached PL 11 by ’78 and the first battle with Armageddon. +7 Attack, Defense, Flight, and Quickness. +15 Strength and Toughness. He was basically this build for the invasion in ’82, but he wasn’t quite as experienced and (paradoxically enough) confident in his abilities at 20 years old as he’d be later in life. This build, however, absolutely represents him as Starman for the entirety of his career. Right up until his death. Personality: The problem with Jesse was that he never once believed he had it in him to be a legendary superhero in his own right. His parents were legends, their friends were legends, and he…he was just Jesse. You know? He put the Champions and especially his parents on an unreachable pedestal. Far above where he could ever reach himself. The problem part comes in where the deepest, dearest wish of his heart was to stand on that pedestal with them. Even though he never thought he ever could, he still desperately wanted to. To the very last day of his life he kept trying to prove himself. To whom, well. That is a very good question. It wasn’t his parents, who believed in him unquestioningly. It wasn’t his sister, his wife, or his children, who were much the same. Trying to make the tabloids speak well of you is a waste of time. Maybe it was simply himself. No way to know, now. With that said, Jesse was a good man with a large, warm heart. And the strong sense of humor his parents kind of lacked. He wasn’t a jokester as Starman (that was teen Starboy) but he still had the ability to snark and joke with the best of them. He was the type of person who makes friends wherever they go, you know? A likeable guy who made friends easily and stayed loyal to them if they kept on deserving it. A easygoing, humble guy, but with strong principles and ideals he wouldn’t discard for anyone. A nice man. A kind man. A forgiving man. But not a soft man. Kind of the ideal superhero, if one ignores the previous paragraph. And that was the point. It wasn’t a façade or anything. This was genuinely who he was. But it was also who he wanted to be. Who he’d spent his whole life trying to become. He inarguably succeeded, and the world was better off for it. He truly, genuinely, fought until he had nothing left. He served as Starboy and Starman with honor, integrity, and distinction through two alien invasions, the darkest age in heroic history, and battled the monster Armageddon twice. He built his own legend while not believing he could, and left just as strong an example to follow as his father did. He was Jesse Thompkins. He was a son. He was a friend. He was a husband. He was a father. He was Starboy. He was Starman. And his rest is well earned.

Countess Power Level: 10; Power Points Spent: 270/270 STR: +5 (20), DEX: +5 (20), CON: +5 (20), INT: +7 (24), WIS: +7 (24), CHA: +7 (24) Tough: +5/+15, Fort: +10, Ref: +5, Will: +12 Skills: Craft (artistic) 8 (+15), Craft (electronic) 8 (+15), Craft (mechanical) 8 (+15), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 8 (+15), Knowledge (earth sciences) 8 (+15), Knowledge (life sciences) 8 (+15), Knowledge (physical sciences) 8 (+15), Knowledge (technology) 8 (+15), Notice 13 (+20), Sense Motive 13 (+20) Feats: Accurate Attack, Acrobatic Bluff, Artificer, Beginner's Luck, Defensive Attack, Eidetic Memory, Improved Initiative, Inventor, Jack-of-All-Trades, Luck 3, Power Attack, Skill Mastery (Craft, KN skills), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Magi-Tech Armored Clothing (Device 10) (Hard to lose) Mage Armor (Force Field 5) (+5 Toughness; Impervious) Magi-Tech Sensor Mask (Super-Senses 26) (accurate (type): Auditory, analytical (type): Visual, awareness: Magic (visual), counters concealment: Auditory, counters concealment: Visual, counters illusion: Auditory, counters illusion: Visual, counters obscure (all): Auditory, counters obscure (all): Visual, ultravision) Tech Armor Weave (Protection 5) (+5 Toughness; Impervious) Universal Translator (Comprehend 2) (languages - understand all, languages - you're understood) Magi-Tech Circuitry (Gadgets 10) (Action 2 (free)) Magi-Tech Circuitry Settings: Magister Circuitry (Power Setting) (Powers: Magister's Flight (Flight 5), Magister's Spellcasting (Array 15)) Magister Circuitry (Power Setting) (Powers: Magister's Flight (Flight 5), Magister's Spellcasting (Array 15)) Magister's Flight (Flight 5) (Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd) Magister's Spellcasting (Array 15) (default power: blast; Variable Descriptor 2 (Broad group - Any Magic)) Create Object 10 (Array; Max Size: 10x 5' cubes, DC 20; Impervious) Illusion 10 (Array; affects: 1 type + visual - visual & auditory, DC 20) Move Object 15 (Array; Strength: 75, Carry: 136.2 tons / 272.9 tons / 409.6 tons / 819.2 tons) Mystic Blast (Blast 15) (Default; DC 30) Mystic Bonds (Snare 15) (Array; DC 25) Mystic Burst (Blast 10) (Array; DC 25; Burst Area (50 ft. radius - General)) Mystic Passage (Teleport 10) (Array; 1000 ft. as move action, 200000 miles as full action; Accurate) Scrying (ESP 10) (Array; affects: 2 types, inc. visual - visual & auditory) Telepathy 10 (Array; DC 20, Adds: Communication 10, Mind Reading 10; Duration (sustained)) Communication 10 (sense type: mental) Mind Reading 10 (DC 20) Paragon Circuitry (Power Setting) (Powers: Paragon's Flight (Flight 10), Paragon's Resilience (Immunity 7), Paragon's Strength (Enhanced Strength 20)) Paragon Circuitry (Power Setting) (Powers: Paragon's Flight (Flight 10), Paragon's Resilience (Immunity 7), Paragon's Strength (Enhanced Strength 20)) Paragon's Flight (Flight 10) ([0 active, 0/20 PP, 2/r], Speed: 10000 mph, 88000 ft./rnd) Paragon's Might (Super-Strength 10) (Alternate; [0 active, 0/20 PP, 2/r], +50 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 3.3k tons; +10 STR to some checks) Paragon's Resilience (Immunity 7) (enviromental conditions (all), suffocation (all)) Paragon's Strength (Enhanced Strength 20) (+20 STR) Sensorium Circuitry (Power Setting) (Powers: Illusionism (Array 11), Melee Targeting Support (Enhanced Trait 10), Sensorium Support (Super-Senses 16)) Sensorium Circuitry (Power Setting) (Powers: Illusionism (Array 11), Melee Targeting Support (Enhanced Trait 10), Sensorium Support (Super-Senses 16)) Illusionism (Array 11) (default power: illusion) Concealment 10 (Array; all senses; Close Range, Precise) Illusion 5 (Default; affects: all sense types, DC 15; Progression, Area 2 (25 ft. radius)) Obscure 5 (Array; affects: all sense types, Radius: 100 ft.; Indirect (in front of you, directed away), Precise) Melee Targeting Support (Enhanced Trait 10) (Feats: Attack Focus (melee) 10) Sensorium Support (Super-Senses 16) (analytical (type): Auditory, analytical (type): Visual, extended (type): Auditory 3 (-1 per 2 mi), extended (type): Visual 3 (-1 per 2 mi)) Attack Bonus: +5 (Ranged: +5, Melee: +5, Grapple: +10) Attacks: Mind Reading 10 (DC Will 20), Mystic Blast (Blast 15), +5 (DC 30), Mystic Bonds (Snare 15), +5 (DC Ref/Staged 25), Mystic Burst (Blast 10) (DC 25), Telepathy 10 (DC Will 20), Unarmed Attack, +5 (DC 20) Defense: +5 (Flat-footed: +3), Knockback: -12 Initiative: +9 Languages: Native Language Totals: Abilities 72 + Skills 23 (90 ranks) + Feats 15 + Powers 130 + Combat 20 + Saves 10 + Drawbacks 0 = 270 Age (as of Jan 2019): ??? (chronological), late 20s to early 30s (appearance) Height: 5’ 6” Weight: 120 lbs Ethnicity: Ambiguously Brown Hair: Dark Brown Eyes: Brown Base of Operations: New Orleans, Louisana Background: Countess was and is the most mysterious of the Champions of Justice, and indeed, the entire Silver Age. She never kept her origins and mission a secret, mind. It was that it was so outlandish, even by Silver Age standards, that nobody but the Champions themselves really believed her. Then again, who would want to believe that, in the distant future, the universe comes to an end when an utterly unstoppable horde of red insectoid horrors rush over it in an unending tide, eating literally everything made of matter and not energy, including the corpses of their fellows, killed by various heroes and military forces before they too succumbed to the ceaseless assault. And that she’s a time traveler from the last city standing after that happened, several centuries later. The city is protected by a concealing energy barrier, which those horror (which are still out there, apparently feeding on each other in the absence of anything else) both cannot see through and have no interest in. It gets more absurd. She wasn’t in the present to stop those horrors from awakening, or to seek help combating them. Nobody knows where they came from in the first place, to start with, and the entire extended Starfamily of the period (with numbers in the double digits) and space navies with weapons that could shatter solar systems all died trying to stop them. If they couldn’t handle it, nothing in this era can either, she says with a shrug. No, she wasn’t here for help. She was a historian on a research trip. Many records were lost with the invasion of the horrors, and the only way to get them back is time travel. So, she debuted as New Orleans’s newest superhero in 1967, and finagled an invitation into the premier superteam of the era, the Champions. She was arguably the least powerful member, and the general public knew it. However, she made up for it in sheer versatility and resilience, and they knew that too. She and Gunsmith were, combined, the brains of the team. He was the detective, she was the scientist and researcher. She had stepped seamlessly into the role of a real person in the limited historical records of her time. A real person who was, apparently, her the entire time. Time travel. It’s weird. Her brother, who disapproved of her unauthorized trip, fell just as naturally into his role as her archnemesis, the Duke.. They battled back and forth for the whole era. Curiously, neither of them took it too far, caused civilian casualties, significant property damage, or anything else. They were both quite careful not to seriously damage any lives or livelihoods. She was a respected hero, he was a feared villain. Good work all around. Because, as came out in space in ’85, the “unauthorized” part was a lie Duke told. He was on the same mission, just on the other side of the fence. It came out because the historical records the two had access to indicated that Countess and Duke had both disappeared that year. Truthfully, it had never been clear if she’d even gone with Champions to space. It had been a risk, and Duke had argued against it. But after over a decade and a half, these were her friends. She knew this was the end of their team. The breaking of their long fellowship. She knew Alsea died on this mission. She had to see it through. And so, after the resolution of that incident, it was time for her to go home. She took off her disguising mask and showed her friends her real, brown face for the first time. She said goodbye, and went back to the future. But not forever. And from her perspective, not even all that long. The records say that Countess returned to New Orleans at the end of 2018, shortly after the dissolution of the empire of Kuros The Conqueror. And, coincidentally, many of the records for that era are still incomplete. Her niece has gone ahead, taking the role of Duchess in Ohio. She took about a month for counseling (it’s difficult to abandon friends you know will be dead when you return, and harder still to see one die in front of you) and age rejuvenation (she had been getting a little up there after 18 years in the field). Then, she once again returned to our era. It is not yet known that this new Countess is the same person as the old and not a successor. But it will be, soon. The only thing that’s different is her mask no longer disguising her ethnicity. The rest of her gear is exactly the same, and she is using it in similar fashion. As for what happens next, well…spoilers, sweetie. Powers & Tactics: Countess technically has no superhuman powers, just incredibly advanced devices. Genetic engineering, however, was perfected ages ago in her time. So she’s a once a in generatioin phhsyical specimen and a genuinely rare mental one. She herself was not altered to become this way; it’s that her abilities are nearly average in her time thanks to said genetic engineering. (To be mechanically specific, it’s the 20 [+5] and ATK & DEF Bonuses of +5 that are average Bystander level in her native time period.) It is Countess’s devices that define her heroic abilities best. They’re both, again, incredibly advanced. However, they’re not magic or technology. Remarkably, they’re both. Her future is unimaginably distant that the disciplines of magic & wizardry have blended with science & technology to the point where they’re almost indistinguishable from each other. As such, anyone trying to shut her down by disabling one or the other would always fail miserably. She always referred to her Magi-Tech Armored Clothing as ordinary fieldwear for researchers in her line, which begs the interesting question of what exactly soldiers and warriors wear in her era. For the Tech Armor Weave alone seems impossible. An unknown fabric and an unknown metal alloy woven together into a lightweight garment that is just as protective as our era’s heaviest mundane armor and is impervious to small arms fire in the bargain. The Mage Armor function activates a force field that that increases her resilience an equal amount and renders her impervious to even artillery fire. It has a Universal Translator because obviously, she doesn’t speak any language of our era. Her mask was bloated with a big sensor suite. Mostly allowing her eyes and ears to utterly ignore any sort of concealment, illusions, or other obscurement. This was useful, as it also had a visual analysis suite, visual magical detection, and an echolocation function. However, what she was best known for in the Silver Age was her Magi-Tech Circuitry. This contained all of her offensive, mobility, and esoteric options. She admitted to requisitioning one of these special for her work, as she knew she would need the flexibility. And flexibility is certainly one way to put it. With twin versatility of all of technology and all of magic at her disposal, there did not seem to be anything she could not do with the appropriate set of themed circuitry. Magister Circuitry allowed to function as a high powered wizard, slinging around whatever potent spells she chose. Paragon Circuitry gave her might above Alsea (but still miles from Megagirl and especially Starman) and the ability to survive in space. Sensorium Circuitry allowed her to screw with enemy senses in a variety of ways, increased her own sensory abilities, and corrected one of the big knocks on her (that being a lack of attack accuracy). These were not all of the circuitries she uses over 18 years of her work, but simply the most common trio. Her versatility and flexibility were extreme. Tactically, well…it’s probably best to speak broadly. Magister was for ranged fighting. Paragon for close up brawling. And Sensorium was probably used the most. The thing to remember is that she operated in support of the rest of the Champions. She had the lowest power level of all of them and she was well aware of it. She was all too happy to let Starman, Starwoman, Megagirl, and Arriba hit the front lines while she used Sensorium to make their lives easier or snuck around with Gunsmith to do something disruptive. She has both Accurate Attack to hit easier and Power Attack to do more damage. But the thing to remember is that the listed circuitries are not the limit of what she could do. She’s used Hyperspeed Circuitry to be a speedster type, Singularity Circuitry to control gravity, Photonic Circuitry to master light, and the list goes on and on. Don’t forget Artificier and Inventor. With such broad capabilities, she has never power stunted and never will. Personality: Countess is, uh, fun. Friendly and playful, in an unexpectedly platonic fashion. It’s strange, actually. She seems to be simultaneously professionally detached and living as intensely as possible. It would make much more sense if one knew anything about her future beyond what she’s already laid out. She’s always said her time is dreadfully boring and changed the subject when asked about it. Boring is, well, one way to put it. The last city in the universe has been a city under siege for centuries. Generations have grown up, had children, grown old, and died behind an opaque silver energy shield with nothing on the other side of it but a gruesome horrible death. Reproduction is strictly regulated. They have no manufacturing. No raw materials. So when something wears out and breaks, if it isn’t a vital part of their food, power, or defense systems it tends to stay broken. Especially if needs new parts that don’t exist. It’s not an unhappy life, per se. People do find ways to entertain each other, even in the darkest times. And this is not quite that. What the city is, however, is culturally stagnant. The same million stories have been told a million times. The same million songs have been sung a million times. The same is true for holovision shows and games. There are no spices in the nutrient paste they call food, and indeed little flavoring at all. The last city in the universe is dying a slow death through ideological starvation. Hence why they send historians out into the past to shore up their records. Countess isn’t simply getting the bare facts to fill out the gaps in their databases. She’s bringing back the complete text of millions of books, as many music albums as she can quantum store, and hordes of movies, television shows, and video games. They have several million yottabytes of empty data storage in the city. So no, Countess isn’t lying when she says it’s dreadfully boring in her era. New Orleans was and is a far more interesting place to be. She has been freed from Dullsville, so to speak, and she’s going to enjoy ever millisecond that she can. But on the flip side of that, she does have a job to do and a timeline not to unnecessarily distort. And like most any denizen of the last city in the universe, she’s not about to allow anyone to be harmed if she has the power to do something about it. And with her Magi-Tech, she absolutely does. She is going to sampling pleasures culinary, literary, and audiovisual as often as possible. She’s going to meet new people with very different ideas than the ones back home, make friends, and spents as much time with them as possible. And since she’s rigged for holovision recording, even her superheroic adventures both have been and will be fodder to further culturally enrich the last city in the universe.

Alsea Power Level: 12; Power Points Spent: 255/255 STR: +12 (35), DEX: +1 (12), CON: +12 (34), INT: +0 (10), WIS: +7 (24), CHA: +0 (10) Tough: +12, Fort: +12, Ref: +12, Will: +12 Skills: Concentration 8 (+15), Diplomacy 5 (+5), Gather Information 10 (+10), Knowledge (earth sciences) 5 (+5), Knowledge (life sciences) 5 (+5), Language 1 (+1), Notice 8 (+15), Search 10 (+10), Sense Motive 8 (+15) Feats: Accurate Attack, Attack Focus (melee) 3, Defensive Attack, Dodge Focus 3, Improved Grab, Improved Pin, Interpose, Luck 4, Power Attack, Takedown Attack, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Extraterrestrial Plant Physiology (Container, Passive 15) Algaic Seaweed Being (Insubstantial 1) (Fluid; Permanent) Inhuman Might (Super-Strength 6) (+30 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 102.4 tons; +6 STR to some checks) Photosynthesis (Immunity 3) (aging, disease, starvation & thirst) Photosynthetic Recovery (Regeneration 32) (ability damage 8 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (bruised) 3 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (disabled) 8 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (injured) 6 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (staggered) 6 (recover 1 / round without rest), resurrection 1 (1 week); Source (Sunlight)) Stretchable Limbs (Elongation 6) (Elongation: 250 ft., range incr 60 ft., +6 Escape & Grapple) Telepathic Link (Communication 12) (sense type: mental; Omni-Directional Area) Telepathic Senses (Super-Senses 9) (accurate (type): Mental, acute (type): Mental, radius (type): Mental, ranged: Mental) Telepathy & Telekinesis (Array 12) (default power: mind reading) Telekinetic Armor (Impervious Toughness 12) (Alternate; Duration (continuous); Duration (sustained)) Telekinetic Flight (Flight 6) (Alternate; Speed: 500 mph, 4400 ft./rnd) ESP 6 (Array; affects: 3 types, inc. visual - visual, auditory, & mental) Illusion 6 (Array; affects: all sense types, DC 16; Selective Attack; Phantasms) Mind Reading 12 (Default; DC 22; Duration (sustained)) Mind Stun (Stun 6) (Array; DC 16; Range 2 (perception)) Mind Thrust (Damage 6) (Array; DC 21; Alternate Save (Will), Range 2 (perception)) Telekinesis (Move Object (Array; Strength: 40, Carry: 2.1k / 4.3k / 3.2 tons / 6.4 tons; Range (perception)) Attack Bonus: +9 (Ranged: +9, Melee: +12, Grapple: +24/+36) Attacks: Mind Reading 12 (DC Will 22), Mind Stun (Stun 6) (DC Fort/Staged 16), Mind Thrust (Damage 6) (DC Staged/Will 21), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 27) Defense: +12 (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -6 Initiative: +1 Languages: English Native, Spanish Totals: Abilities 65 + Skills 15 (60 ranks) + Feats 18 + Powers 105 + Combat 36 + Saves 16 + Drawbacks 0 = 255 Age (as of Jan 2019): Unknown, deceased in 1985 Height: Variable within 4 to 8 feet Weight: Variable within 50 to 500 lbs Ethnicity: Algae-Seaweed Creature Hair: None Eyes: None, technically. Not blind, just no human eyes. Base of Operations: San Diego, California Background: The first time anyone had ever heard from or seen Alsea was when he crawled out of the sea to and stopped that boat hijacking. Also known as his debut in 1967. This was actually kind of terrifying, as he was not at any point a human being. He was basically a plant monster, made of algae and seaweed. So when he started stretching his “limbs”, tossing bad guys around, and assaulting their minds he was like something out of a horror movie. Everyone reacted accordingly, which brought a visit from Megagirl. San Francisco and San Diego aren’t that far for a hypersonic flier. They didn’t fight. There was no reason to. Alsea was fully sentient, and not evil at all. As evidenced by how he didn’t actually kill anyone during his starting heroics before she showed up. And, as it turned out, he was most likely the first hero to be inspired by the tiny paragon from San Fran. So San Diego received its first great defender. He bore the name she gave him with pride until the end of his days. His connection with Megagirl was what got him drawn into the Champions of Justice the following year. He basically brought some much needed versatility to the team. He was in the second tier of power among them, but telepathy and telekinesis were powers most of them couldn’t access. Especially telepathy. And that’s kind of…it, really. There was his lifelong quest to find out his origins, but they were never traced past “mutagenic chemicals in the ocean” in his lifetime. And after it, well, everyone who cared was either gone, unable to care, or didn’t see the point anymore. His reputation was that of Champions supporting cast, secondary to most of them. He and Countess faded in the background all the time, letting the others hog the spotlight. In Alsea’s case this wasn’t intentional, exactly? He was basically a year old when the Champions started. He had no idea how to promote himself. He just helped people and went away afterward. The whole speeches, public appearances, and press conferences aspect of heroics wasn’t something he ever showed any interest in. So in a way, his reputation was kind of his own fault, in a way. Surprisingly, the one inhuman Champion was the one that the least is known about. It’s not clear where he was and what he was doing when he wasn’t doing hero work. He didn’t appear to have a secret identity. It’s a giant question mark. Which brings us to 1985, and the Champions’ mission to space. The details are unclear and on Earth the final fates of the members who did not return (Megagirl, Nega, Alsea himself, and Countess) are unknown. In space, however, they are. Alsea is accorded one of the universe’s greatest heroes. His sacrifice is respected by all upstanding individuals outside of Kuros’s former territory. And even by many inside it. His death was a major contributing factor to the breakup of the Champions in the wake of that mission, but far from the only one. Megagirl and Nega had their own reasons to staying in space, and Countess’s time was (ironically enough) up. So she too was gone. And that was the story of Alsea…until a last year aka 2018, when a similar plant being crawled up out of the ocean. Calling himself Chloro, he has made it clear that he is the successor to the original plant monster hero. Gunsmith did do one thing for his old friend. He placed his remains in the ocean off San Diego, and as always he came back. Eventually. Sort of. Chloro knows everything that happened prior to mission departure, but these are things that happened to someone else. Chloro is his own being. What happened to cause this is anyone’s guess. Like all of the known inheritors of the Champions, the third Starman has been seen visiting him in San Diego. Powers & Tactics: Alsea was a mutated combination of algae and seaweed, which as it turns out are pretty closely related actually. So that makes more sense than most would expect. A mutated plant monster with the psionic powers of telepathy and telekinesis. As such, the full catalogue of his powers is, uh, not short. As a being of algae and seaweed, he wasn’t ever exactly a solid object, and in fact bore more resemblance to a liquid most of the time. Despite this, he was very strong, with the ability to shatter steel with a casual “punch” (he didn’t exactly have hands, see) and a peak lifting capacity measured in the hundreds of tons. Compared with Megagirl and especially Starman it wasn’t much, but it was still quite useful on many occasions when those two had their hands full. His durability was of a similar quality, though he couldn’t ignore attacks without the use of his telekinesis. He didn’t appear to age, diseases had no effect on him, and he basically didn’t need to eat or drink. Only needed sunlight under normal circumstances. Photosynthesis. Speaking of, under sunlight (or any light, really) he healed startlingly rapidly from injury. There’s even tales of his resurrecting entirely after being killed, which seems impossible. Yet there he was, a week after being apparently killed. So draw your own conclusions. As his usual shape was more or less voluntary compression of all of himself, he could stretch his “limbs” about 250 feet. Alsea’s telepathy and telekinesis worked in several ways. He was perhaps best known for augmenting his natural durability with a telekinetic force field and flying. However, he could also redirect that psionic energy into seeing locations up to 20 miles away, telepathic illusions, reading minds, stunning, stabbing enemies in the brain, or vanilla telekinesis with a much lower weight limit (single digit tons) that his physical abilities. This is without mentioning his telepathic communication (with anyone up to 20 million miles away!) and general mental awareness, which meant that he did not need light or sound to detect people. These may seem somewhat standard today, but at the time telepathy and telekinesis together and at his power level was virtually unheard of. Even today it’s rare to find his strength outside of Phoenix mutates, and this is for the two power sets separately. Combine the two with his physical abilities, and one has a very rare individual. Tactically, Alsea usually operated much like an off-tank to Starman and Megagirl using his Telekinetic Armor and Telekinetic Flight. If it was daylight, he was arguably more durable than the latter over time doing this. That, however, was merely Plan A. Clairsentience let him scout where it was unfeasible for Arriba to phase through. Mind Reading could give clues to mysteries when even Gunsmith and Countess were stumped. His Hallucinations could play merry hell with always fraught supervillain team cohesion. And between Mind Stun and Mind Thrust he had attacks that 1) couldn’t miss and 2) weren’t physical violence. Even his Telekinesis came in handy from time to time. But mainly? It was his Telepathic Link that jacked up the Champions’ team coordination in a crisis. He apparently had no talent for or desire to feint and demoralize opponent, but he still had some combat skills for using during Plan A. Accurate, Defensive, and Power Attack could adjust his caps. Improved Grab and Improved Pin put that beefy grapple bonus to work and was his favored method of dealing with mundane criminals. Takedown Attack could mow through lesser foes. And Interpose could protect the innocent with his own body. He could power stunt just fine, and if I went through the list we’d be here all day. If it’s a telepathic or telekinetic power he doesn’t have, he tried it out at least once and more likely several times. Put that Luck 4 to work. PL notes: He was actually PL 8 on his debut, with everything ranked 12 on the sheet ranked 8, 8s were 6s, and 6s were 4s. However, he was definitely PL 10 after joining the Champions and in the current sheet by the invasion of ’71, where Megagirl and Nega were clearly communicating through him despite being in space over opposite sides of the planet. Personality: Alsea was not a complicated being. He was basically everyone’s introvert friend. Likeable and helpful, but also shy and private. The thing that made him different, the example that he set, had to do with the fact that he was genuinely a mutant monster. He was not human. Not at all. That was why he was so friendly and nice. That was why he kept being a superhero after that initial boat hijacking. Because, by human standards, he was a freakish monster. With incomprehensible, utterly inhuman thought processes. And he knew it. Humans have a bad tendency to murder the shit out of anything freakish, monstrous, and inhuman. Alsea wasn’t afraid for himself. Not really. He could be a tricky opponent to prevent escaping, and he could fight if he needed to. But the next monster might not be so lucky in their abilities. Beings that only want peaceful coexistence could be slaughtered by terrified humans. Or even worse, be the ones doing the slaughtering in self defense. He found neither of those options acceptable. So the least that he could do was set the standard for monster behavior. Show the humans that not all monsters were scary killers like those awful movies said. So who was Alsea really? Well, it works like this. Telepathy either engenders great compassion or great misanthropy in sentient beings. There is no in between. Not really. People can and do suck. Sometimes a lot. But not always, and not all the time. From time to time and on occasion, people can be truly extraordinary. The misanthropes either don’t see that or find in woefully inadequate. But Alsea? Nah. This mutant seaborne plant monster saw us in more or less our entirety, and decided we were worth it. He fell on the great compassion side of that divide, and harder than most. ‘Nuff said.

Nega I (Hal Scott) Power Level: 14; Power Points Spent: 285/285 STR: +3 (16), DEX: +1 (12), CON: +3 (16), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +5 (20), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +3/+15, Fort: +8, Ref: +7/+13, Will: +12 Skills: Acrobatics 4 (+5), Concentration 15 (+20), Diplomacy 7 (+10), Gather Information 12 (+15), Intimidate 12 (+15), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 2 (+5), Knowledge (behavioral science) 2 (+5), Knowledge (civics) 7 (+10), Knowledge (Galactic) 12 (+15), Knowledge (physical sciences) 2 (+5), Knowledge (streetwise) 7 (+10), Knowledge (tactics) 12 (+15), Notice 10 (+15), Sense Motive 10 (+15), Stealth 9 (+10) Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus (melee), Attack Specialization 2 (Nega Bands (Array 18)), Benefit (Rank (Colonel/Commander in Chief, Nega Corps)), Contacts, Improved Critical 2 (Force Bolts (Blast 12)), Improved Initiative, Inspire 2 (+2), Interpose, Leadership, Lionheart, Luck 4, Master Plan, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Skill Mastery (Gather Info, KN (tactics), Notice, Sense Motive), Startle, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory), Well-Informed Powers: Nega Anti-Aging Treatment (Immunity 1) (aging; Limited - Half Effect) Nega Badge (Device 30) (Hard to lose, Only you can use) Life Support Systems (Immunity 9) (life support) Nega Bands (Array 18) (default power: blast) Force Bolts (Blast 12) (Default; DC 27, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Force Bolts (Blast 12)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5) [10 ranks only]) Force Effect (Move Object 12) (Array; Strength: 60, Carry: 17 tons / 34 tons / 51.2 tons / 102.4 tons; Duration (continuous)) Force Shield (Create Object 12) (Array; Max Size: 12x 5' cubes, DC 22; Impervious) Restraint Effect (Snare 12) (Array; DC 22; Transparent) Nega Comms (Communication 12) (sense type: radio) Nega Flight (Flight 12) (Speed: 50000 mph, 440000 ft./rnd) Nega Sensors (Super-Senses 18) (analytical (type): Visual, darkvision, direction sense, distance sense, extended (type): Visual 2 (-1 per 1k ft), infravision, microscopic vision 2 (cell-size), radio, time sense, tracking: Visual 1 (half speed), ultravision) Primary Force Shielding (Linked) Enhanced Trait 6 (Linked; Traits: Reflex +6 (+13)) Force Field 12 (Linked; +12 Toughness; Impervious) Shield 6 (Linked; +6 dodge bonus) Space Travel (fastest) (Super-Movement 3) (extra ranks 3) Universal Translator (Comprehend 3) (languages - read all, languages - speak all, languages - understand all) Willful (Immunity 30) (will saves; Limited - Half Effect) Attack Bonus: +12 (Ranged: +12, Melee: +13, Grapple: +16) Attacks: Force Bolts (Blast 12), +16 (DC 27), Restraint Effect (Snare 12), +16 (DC Ref/Staged 22), Unarmed Attack, +13 (DC 18) Defense: +13 (Flat-footed: +4), Knockback: -13 Initiative: +5 Languages: English Native Totals: Abilities 36 + Skills 31 (123 ranks) + Feats 24 + Powers 138 + Combat 38 + Saves 18 + Drawbacks 0 = 285 Age (as of Jan 2019): 91 (chronological), 60 (biological/appearance) Height: 6’ 3” Weight: 225 lbs Ethnicity: Caucasian Hair: Mostly Grey, a little Brown left Eyes: Grey Base of Operations: San Bernadino & Los Angeles, California Background: Hal Scott has always loved flying. He wasn’t old enough to get into World War 2. A year too young. But he thrilled to the tales on both European and Pacific fronts of daring aviators. If he’d been born about 4 years later than he was, he’d have been just in time for the first attending class of the US Air Force Academy in 1954. Instead he went to West Point. The United States Military Academy, to be precise. Interestingly, it was his second year (1947) in which the Air Force was officially separated from the Army. This means he was a part of the Class of 1950, who graduated a scant two weeks before the start of the Korean War. “The class the crosses fell on”, as the war caused them to suffer greater casualties than any other 20th Century class had. So yes, Second (and later First) Lieutenant Hal Scott flew in the Korean War. Specifically, in an F-86 Sabre with the 4th Fighter Wing, because Hal Scott was one hell of a pilot back in the day. But like all things good and bad, the Korean War came to an end. The 4th moved to Chitose Air Base, Hokkaido, Japan after the armistice was signed, and stayed there until close to the end of 1957. Hal was a highly regarded young officer, and was promoted to Captain with ease and has recently been promoted to Major on the day it happened. The 4th had been inactivated on the 1st of July 1957. Everybody knew they were leaving sooner rather than later. Hal was able to get a few days leave, and summer was pretty nice in the town of Chitose. There’s a beautiful lake, named Shikotsu. He went there. Camped out. If he’d stayed on base, in town, or just gone somewhere else…no telling what would have happened. Somebody else would have become Nega, probably. Or maybe that guy would have just died alone and forgotten. Hal thinks about that, sometimes. The life he missed out on because he saw something fall flaming from the sky, heard it land nearby, and decided to investigate. What he found was not a human being, and it-he, was dying from several hideous wounds. The alien gave his Nega Badge to Hal, told him to guard it until someone in his uniform came or it, and expired on the spot. The problem with that is that the alien forgot to turn the Badge off first. So Hal had to physically remove it from the now dead alien. Having absolutely no idea what he was doing, he screwed it up. To make a long story short, the Badge attached to Hal, detected an untrained rookie, and dragged his ass off the face of the Earth. Through a few million light years of space, all the way to Nega Corps HQ in an entirely different galaxy. The Nega Corps. Self appointed galactic peacekeepers and space cops. Today, they’re the real deal. Heroes all. In ’57, well…not so much. They were originally founded to replace the demolished Phoenix Corps. The Phoenix Corps were demolished by the man who made them, Nick Phoenix. The idea was the same. Space cops. Emergency response. You know, super hero shit. Nick literally can’t be everywhere, so he split off miniscule fragments of his power, embedding them in crystals, and handed them out to people he thought were worthy. To be fair, he was right. They were worthy. The Phoenix Corps did a lot of good in the early days. But their successors, when they inevitably aged and retired or were killed in action? They were not chosen quite so carefully, and certainly not by Nick. He’d gone off to handle other matters, trusting in the thing he’d built to hold strong. And it did. For a while. It’s an old tale, you know? Power corrupts. And in the end, when Nick finally returned, he had to destroy what he had created. It’s a sad tale, too. Pride, greed, and unchecked ambition. But the Phoenix Corps ceased to be, and the Nega Corps was built to replace it using technology instead of a gift from a god like being. And it’s the same story. The first idealistic generation set the tone. And the next one, or two, or three kept it going. But it’s the same old story. The creeping moral decay of a once proud organization. They weren’t evil in ’57, per se. But they were…cops. Bastards have always been attracted to positions of power over others. Law enforcement is no exception. Neither was the Nega Corps. Major Hal Scott, USAF, knew none of this, of course. He had the “space cops” part explained, and he explained what had happened in turn. To tell the truth, he could have rejected being a Nega then and there. But then he’d be just another Sape lost in the universe, a few million light years from home. The Nega Corps existed in a tenuous peace with Kuros The Conqueror’s universe spanning empire, and it wasn’t worth risking intergalactic war just to return one guy to a galaxy the tyrant had claimed for himself. Hal would have been completely on his own. This was not the only problem with refusing to join up. Hal was a West Pointer. The motto of the Academy is “Duty, Honor, Country”. It’s a little hard to serve your country a few million light years from it, but the rest? He had a duty to get home as fast as he could, and a duty to represent the USAF and the USA itself as positively as possible in the process. And it would be dishonorable, in his view, to not provide as much aid and assistance as he could to those who needed it in the process. So Major Hal Scott became the newest of the Nega Corps. Intergalactic peacekeepers. Space cops. Superheroes. Neat. Hal was already a military officer, so he got an accelerated training program. He was introduced to the major intergalactic powers who weren’t a part of Kuros’s empire. The ancient and slowly declining Nobellian Federation. The staunchly conservative yet ever steady Sionil Union. The endlessly squabbling Borustan Tribal Confederation and their Ingenti Republic allies. And, of course, Sapes. Humans. Homo sapiens has existed more or less in its current state for over a hundred thousand years on Earth. And for most of that time, alien slavers, unethical scientists, or bored rich people have been occasionally swinging through and doing some kidnapping. The number of humans required to sustain genetic diversity is approximately ten thousand. Between cloning and those occasional infusions of fresh DNA, there’s plenty of humans out there in space. Virtually none of whom have ever heard of Earth besides tales passed down through the ages. They’re the fifth most populous species out there. The Nobellians, despite their decline, are still in first. Uncounted millennia of growth simply doesn’t fade away in anything approaching a hurry. The explosively growing Borustans are second, despite the endless brushfire conflicts among them. The slowly but steadily growing Sionil are third. And in 1957, the Ingenti were somewhat narrowly fourth. Sapes have surpassed them in 2019. There are, of course, dozens if not hundreds of other sentient species. However, their numbers and influence on intergalactic society either don’t come close to the aforementioned, or they were refugees with the main bulk of their civilization firmly under Kuros’s mailed fist. These are the things Hal Scott learned in his three years of training and three year term of initial service. He intended to return to Earth immediately after that, but a significant Borustan ethnic dispute (more serious than the usual poradic brushfire conflicts) kicked off and he was delayed. He finally returned to Earth and the USAF in late 1964. The first thing he had to do was resign his commission and retire. Not because he was AWOL (he’d basically been accidently kidnapped, and there’s provisions for that), but because of the Treaty of Havana following the Cuban Missile Crisis, which prohibited super powered people from serving in the military. Thanks to his Nega Badge, Hal Scott now fell into that category. The relationship between him and the federal government/military was thus restructured into a different arrangement. He was, in theory, a paid government consultant on the supers scene. In practice, Nega debuted as a new superhero in 1965, a couple of months after Arriba. He wasn’t always on Earth. Events in space could call him away for weeks at a stretch. One such occasion was the assassination of RFK. He returned a few days after, and immediately agreed to help form the Champions. And that’s kind of the story. He was firmly in the second tier of the Champions, raw power-wise. But he was still a skilled pilot and capable field leader in addition to the powers from his Nega Badge. If anyone was directing traffic, so to speak, during crisis situations it was him. He was the highest regarded in the time period, outside of Starman himself. It makes sense. Ex-military, white, and male. Tall, muscular, and physically fit. He also functioned as a secondary detective, when Gunsmith was unavailable. He was also responsible for keeping the Champions from intervening in Vietnam, getting everyone to agree to wait for a request from the government. Said request never came, and so they never went over for the duration of the war, much to well, the entire team’s frustration on one level or another. It is, however known that Megagirl flew over at least once on her own initiative, and the speed of Arriba could have had him there and back in scant seconds. So there’s no telling except that the Stars and Hal himself never went. He was there for the invasions in ’71 and ’82, both times managing to successfully portray himself as a rogue Nega, doing as he pleased. Once was interesting, but the second time? Kuros’s forces should have known better. It bothered him that it was so easy. And so the reason the Champions left in ’85 was to back him up in checking it out. The Corps knew he was on Earth. Knew he wouldn’t stand aside and let it be conquered. Knew he had powerful allies, too. He doesn’t talk about what happened, either. The result, however, is known out there in space. Due to their investigation and direct actions, the Nega Corps shattered. Rooting out the internal corruption and decay brought the storied organization to its knees, ready to utterly collapse. The only reason it didn’t was Hal Scott. He stayed, and Megagirl stayed with him. Both to initially help and for her own reasons. Gunsmith and poor Arriba went back to Earth. Alsea and Countess were gone. The Champions had parted ways for the last time. Hal Scott has spent the past 34 years rebuilding the Nega Corps into what it was supposed to be. Truth and justice. Real peacekeepers. He took over leadership and structured it based on the USAF. He’s the Colonel, what he officially retired from the USAF as. Below him are a few Majors, some Captains, and a bunch of Lieutenants in the officer corps. First Sergeants, Master Sergeants, Spacers, and Trainees make up the noncommissioned ranks. He has no plans to ever return to Earth. He had no siblings, his parents were both dead by ’85, and he was never close with the rest of his family. He has nothing to go back for. His family is the Nega Corps, now. Though he has assigned Captain Kylie Stewart to Earth, along with Spacer Simon Gardner (fresh out of Trainee-hood) to serve as her partner. His old partner Alan Jordan is one of his most dependable Majors. His legacy on Earth is good. His legacy in space, however, is untouchable. Even with Nega bio-medical tech, he’s starting to get old. Retirement isn’t as far away as it used to be. The complete annihilation of Kuros’s forces has left him with a lot of work to do. The Corps is busier than ever as the Nobellians, Sionil, and Borustans work out how to provide long term humanitarian aid and manage entire galaxies who’ve just lost their political, military, and administrative infrastructure. While they work that out, the Nega Corps is already doing what it can. Duty, Honor, and Country, after all. He’s Colonel Hal Scott, ex-United States Air Force ,Commander in Chief of the Nega Corps, and legendary superhero. And he’s not done yet. Powers & Tactics: Hal Scott himself has only one superhuman power, administered by the Nega Corps to all new recruits. A customized anti-aging treatment that slows their aging process to one half normal speed. While useful for Sape, Borustans, and Igenti, it can make the already long lived Nobellians and Sionil seem almost immortal. The rest of Hal’s powers from the advanced technological device known as a Nega Badge. A Nega Badge’s powers are ruled by how much willpower the user has. They’re also impossible to use without a high degree of resistance to having said willpower taxed. They do a lot of very specific things directly tied to said willpower’s strength. Life support systems, high speed superluminal travel, and a universal translator, as they’re meant to travel through deep space on their own, encountering all sorts of species. These three aren’t tied to willpower, being standard on all Nega Badges, but the rest are. Communications systems (the range is determined by willpower), flight systems (speed determined by again, willpower) and a sensor suite (the extent of which is determined by, you guessed it, willpower). There are caveats, here. Skill and experience using a Nega Badge also play a role. Normally, the range of Nega comms stops at approximately 200k miles. This is about the distance from Earth to its Moon. Hal’s skill and experience has extended this to 20 million miles, considerably farther. The sensor suite is a similar story, and is customized by each Nega to fit their needs. A species that can’t see doesn’t need any visual enhancements, for example. Hal, being human, has focused almost entirely on improving his visual senses. His suite extends across the entire light spectrum and is unimpeded by darkness. There is both telescopic and microscopic functionality, along with an analysis suite. And he can visual track whoever or whatever he chooses. Additionally, there is a basic navigation system, clock, and radio wave reception. In combat, a Nega calls on their Force Shielding and Nega Bands. The former is customizable, able to provide both resilience and attack deflection. They are literally pure force, crafted out of willpower in a way similar but not identical to the way telekinetics can do it. Negas who have great natural resilience or high defensive skill may select to not use a element, instead trusting in their own abilities. Hal, being human and not an elite combatant on his own, uses both. With his willpower, the increase to resilience allows him to outright ignore even mundane explosive rockets and blaster cannons. The Nega Bands, on the other hand, provide the offense. The standard effects are quite simply. Damage. Restraining criminal offenders. Moving heavy objects with pure force. And extending their Force Shielding to defend others, potentially across a wide area. Most Negas use a single armor penetrating Force Blast, but Hal (with his stronger willpower and high ranged accuracy), has elected to use rapidfire Force Bolts. The other three, however, are Nega standard. Hal’s willpower allows him to move objects that weigh over a hundred tons. Tactically, Hal is a by the book Nega. Restraint Effect is, uh, effective in most cases, and Force Effect is a good substitute for those who can evade it. Force Shield is good for protecting civilians. He has Startle to help him it if he needs it, and can demoralize when necessary. Mostly it isn’t. He’s too busy using Move by Action to stay out of the line of fire. Accurate and All Out Attack get him the hits his high accuracy can’t. Power Attack cranks up the effect ranks for the really tough opponents. He’s not sure he wants to meet the being that’s both an unrepentant criminal and can break out of a rank 17 (because of Power Attack) Snare effect. Inspire 2, Leadership, and Master Plan make his allies better, as a good commanding officer should. And, of course, Interpose is for those his Force Shields can’t cover effectively. Some Negas can do interesting things with power stunting, but Hal isn’t one of them. 100% by the book. No power stunts ever. A PL note: This build represents Hal in the modern day. He returned to Earth and debuted as a superhero at PL 10. Toughness and Effect Rank +12, Attack and Defense +8. He was a fully balanced PL 12 from the formation of the Champions in ’68 to their last mission in ’85. His build has been approximately this for the last 20 years. Personality: Hal Scott has what is still called “the right stuff”. Courage, confidence, dependability, mental toughness, and just enough of a daring streak to keep things unpredictable and interesting. He has never been a particularly happy seeming or friendly man, and that’s what got him stuck with the historical reputation of a humorless military man. A bit unfair, but when everyone on the team but the former Air Force fighter jockey (Hal) and the perpetually angry costumed detective who’d clearly never been within 30 feet of military discipline (Gunsmith) are known to smile at least sometimes, that’s the the rep one gets. It’s very wrong, though. What defines Hal is supreme focus. He is not a man of deep philosophical thoughts or extensive self-inquiry. He is a man of proper preparation and decisive action. The military man part is correct. The humorless part is not. It’s like they’d never met a fighter jock before, sheesh. Though compared to some, he’s a tamer personality. No flashy stunts, just quiet steady excellence. That’s Hal Scott. He is a man of no wasted motion and no wasted effort. So no, he’s not warm and friendly. But kind? Fair? Honorable? You bet. His sense of justice is strong. His determination is stronger. This is a man who took a virtually collapsed organization that spanned the entire known universe and rebuilt it from the ground up in less than three decades. He’s got the knack for leadership, motivation, organization, and finding the best people to get a given job done. Calling him humble would be, well, wrong. He’s still a fighter jock, after all. But he’s got no problem admitting fault or that someone’s simply better than him at something. He’s only human, and there’s always someone better. The Nega Corps would storm Hell for him. As previously stated, he’s got “the right stuff”. AKA exactly what he needs to make him a top of the line commander in chief, space cop, and superhero. End of story.

Right, got wrapped up in home life and going to work. Thou art APPROVED

Arriba (Jose Vega) Power Level: 15; Power Points Spent: 285/285 STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +4 (18), INT: +1 (12), WIS: +2 (14), CHA: +5 (20) Tough: +4/+7, Fort: +8, Ref: +10/+20, Will: +11 Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+15), Bluff 10 (+15), Climb 3 (+5), Concentration 8 (+10), Diplomacy 5 (+10), Gather Information 5 (+10), Knowledge (current events) 4 (+5), Knowledge (physical sciences) 4 (+5), Language 1 (+1), Medicine 3 (+5), Notice 13 (+15), Perform (oratory) 10 (+15), Search 4 (+5), Sense Motive 13 (+15), Stealth 2 (+5), Swim 3 (+5) Feats: Accurate Attack, Acrobatic Bluff, Benefit (Pacer's Chosen), Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Challenge - Improved Feint, Challenge - Improved Taunt, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 3, Elusive Target, Evasion 2, Improved Initiative 10, Improved Trick, Luck 7, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Redirect, Seize Initiative, Takedown Attack 2, Taunt, Ultimate Effort (Speed checks), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Metahuman Speed & Blessings of Pacer (Container, Passive 24) Enhanced Attack & Defense (Enhanced Trait 50) (Traits: Attack Bonus +10 (+15), Defense Bonus +10 (+20), Reflex +10 (+20)) Enhanced Feats (Enhanced Trait 22) (Traits: Luck 7 +4 (+7), Feats: Defensive Roll 3, Evasion 2, Improved Initiative 10, Move-by Action, Seize Initiative, Ultimate Effort (Speed checks)) Incredible Quickness (Quickness 20) (Perform routine tasks at 5000000x speed) Incredible Speed (Speed 20) (Speed: 25000000 mph, 2.2e+08 ft./rnd) Speedy Dodge (Luck Control 1) (force a re-roll; Limited 2 (Attacks against Arriba)) Super-Movement 7 (sure-footed 4 (no penalty), wall-crawling 2 (full speed), water walking; Limited (to while moving)) Speed Tricks (Array 15) (default power: strike) Accelerated Recovery (Healing 6) (Array; Action (standard), Restoration, Secondary Effect, Total; Personal) Hypersonic Punch (Strike 15) (Array; DC 30; Penetrating) Punch Everyone (Strike 15) (Array; DC 30; Burst Area (75 ft. radius - Targeted)) Punches In Bunches (Strike 15) (Default; DC 30; Autofire (interval 2, max +5)) Sonic Boom (Stun 10) (Array; DC 20; Burst Area (50 ft. radius - General)) Thrown Item (Blast 15) (Array; DC 30) Tornado Effect (Move Object 15) (Array; Strength: 75, Carry: 136.2 tons / 272.9 tons / 409.6 tons / 819.2 tons) Vertigo Attack (Nauseate 15) (Array; DC 25) Vibrational Phasing (Insubstantial 4) (Array; Incorporeal) Attack Bonus: +5/+15 (Ranged: +5/+15, Melee: +5/+15, Grapple: +7/+17) Attacks: Hypersonic Punch (Strike 15), +15 (DC 30), Punch Everyone (Strike 15), +15 (DC 30), Punches In Bunches (Strike 15), +15 (DC 30), Sonic Boom (Stun 10) (DC Fort/Staged 20), Thrown Item (Blast 15), +15 (DC 30), Unarmed Attack, +15 (DC 17), Vertigo Attack (Nauseate 15), +15 (DC Fort/Staged 25) Defense: +10/+20 (Flat-footed: +10), Knockback: -3 Initiative: +43 Languages: English Native, Spanish Totals: Abilities 34 + Skills 25 (100 ranks) + Feats 18 + Powers 158 + Combat 30 + Saves 20 + Drawbacks 0 = 285 Age (as of Jan 2019): 78 Height: 5’ 8” Weight: 165 lbs Ethnicity: Mexican-American Hair: Black Eyes: Dark Brown Background: Jose Vega was a luchador enmascarado. A masked professional wrestler in the Mexican pseudo sport of lucha libre. He had no intention of ever being anything else, until two things happened. The first was a robbery, which he stopped with his mask and ring gear on. A man had robbed the box office of the arena at gunpoint, and like a good tecnico Arriba stopped the bad man with his metahuman super speed powers. It was kind of…fun? And easy? He owned his mask, so he could do as he liked with it. So he started helping out with mundane crime or occasionally rescuing people whenever he had a booking in the area. Just a little. Nothing much. It was good publicity for the event. He got to do some good deed, and help the promotion and his fellow luchadores make a little more money. Everybody won. It was the least he could do, as he was young and still learning how to wrestle well. The second thing, however, was much more fateful. He met a certain tiny woman by the name of Mona. Mona was and is Mona Simms, alias Pacer. The fastest being the universe will ever know. Speed Incarnate. A cosmic energy being becoming he soul of one mortal human. The Avatar of Speed. Faster than sound. Faster than light. Faster than time. The version Jose Vega met is impossibly old and capable of impossible things like running up a person’s timeline to get to a point in their past and punching someone today and hitting them yesterday. They talked many times, even if they seemed to be out of sequence for Jose. But in the end, she decided to grant him a measure of her power. Because he was a good man, and she liked him. It was like meeting God, Jose has always said (perhaps jokingly; it is difficult to tell sometimes with him), and finding out He had a real sense of humor. Cosmic lightning bonded to Jose Vega’s body and soul. And he was forever changed. This was 1965. Arriba publically debuted as a real superhero, instead of a minor vigilante. He has always said it was like being given a holy mission, but perhaps he was joking here, too. It was, of course, not quite so simple. Phoenixverse speedsters find it somewhat…difficult…to break even the sound barrier. Movement speed alone, that was possible. Supersonic jets alone showed that. But the quickness and the reflexes that would go with it, well…it seemed flesh and blood alone was only capable of so much. Without psionic powers, outside help (like from tech, magic, or divine powers), or cheating by manipulating time, consistently surpassing speed of sound remained an impossible dream for all speedsters. Except, apparently, the new hero Arriba. And the infamous Agency noticed. By this point, Dear Reader, you know how they operate. Even in the 60s they were fully operational as they are in 2019. So Arriba’s life got, uh, interesting in a hurry. Agency Agents were able to operate with less subtlety in the Silver Age, and so one Agent or another was basically his entire Rogues’ Gallery. It was at no point a fun time. At any rate, in 1968 he helped form the Champions of Justice. He’d worked with Starman, Gunsmith, and Megagirl on occasion, and he’d heard of Nega, Alsea, and Countess. It was for a good cause, and bluntly he needed the backup. One of the first things the Champions did in ’69 was start dismantling Agency operations in Texas. This, naturally, eased the pressure on Arriba, and he could more easily contribute to the group’s activities. There are two things, from ’69 to ’78, that must be addressed. Certain hero historians, especially of the period, tend to…dismiss him as a clown. Naming himself after the saying of a famous cartoon character did not help in this regard. To be blunt, he was in a similar position to Gunsmith. The Silver Age was great for heroes, but racism against African and Mexican Americans was not so easily defeated as your average supervillain. Unlike Gunsmith, he did not inspire visceral hatred so much as a certain…dimisnishment…of his accomplishments. To put it in no uncertain terms, Arriba set the platinum standard for what a speedster hero was supposed to do and be. He stood side by side with the other Champions as an equal, not a charity case. But because he was both a Mexican and a jokester (before the modern appreciation for quippy heroes) he gained a reputation as a clown. Someone who never lived up to his enormous potential. It is…most unfortunate. And completely and utterly flase, as was shown in ’78. Because it was 1978 where his abilities became undeniable. The monster Armageddon. Starwoman faltered. Megagirl faltered. Gunsmith, Nega, Alsea, and Countess simply weren’t powerful enough to do anything except get swatted aside. It came down to Starman and Arriba. While Starman may have struck the final blow that killed the monster, Arriba being the last other Champion standing did not go unnoticed. He had at last made his name, but the response was…mixed. There were plenty who gave him the respect he deserved at last. There were also plenty who thought it made the Champions look like the Chumps if some (if you’ll please pardon the language) “wetback greaser” could show them up. Arriba, as always, never showed any sign of it getting to him. He simply continued on as he always had. It was quite admirable, really. He and Megagirl were the heart and soul of the team after Starman’s injuries in ’82. However, all good things must come to an end. What happened to him on the Champions’ trip to space in 1985 is unclear. Neither he nor Gunsmith ever discussed it with anyone, and they were the only two of them to return as of the start of 2019. What is clear, however, is the effect it had on him. Arriba may have gone to space, but it was only Jose Vega who returned. Broken in mind and spirit. The mask of Arriba was quietly retired, and he has never so much as looked at it again. Even the thought of it made him shaky. That is, until a few years ago when his nephew Diego revealed his identity as local speedster hero Andale to his beloved Uncle Jose and Mona returned looking no different than when she left. Several conversations later, Andale was as fast as Arriba was, and had a mentor in the bargain. Jose does not feel up to revealing he’s still around, however. So when Starman III swung by to speak to Andale, he stayed away and asked his nephew to say nothing of him. Mentoring is one thing. But coming back? He is still not ready. He may never be. Powers & Tactics: Arriba is a metahuman with enhanced physical speed, quickness, and reflexes. He was further enhanced by an infusion of cosmic energy from Pacer, Speed Incarnate. Arriba is goddamn fast. Nobody without abilities on a cosmic scale has ever exceeded his speed. His speed has only ever been matched by Starwoman, but she was doing it through flight. Arriba kept up with her on land. You know, with the terrain adding more distance and obstacles than she would have in the air. To be clear, he isn’t merely hypersonic. He isn’t merely beyond hypersonic. He could go from immobile to a significant fraction of the speed of light almost instantaneously. It might take him an extra step these days, but he’s goddamn seventy-eight. Some slack can be cut. His speed improves both his dodging ability and his accuracy. The former rather drastically. The list of people who have successfully tagged Arriba with a melee or ranged attack is vanishingly small. The accuracy increase is still impressive, however. Going from minimum professional grade to genuine master level is incredible. But of course, speed’s a bit useless if you don’t do anything with it. Arriba has a bunch of tricks he picked up over the years. Standard speedster stuff, mostly, though it wasn’t standard until he proved it could be. A single very fast punch that can penetrate any armor. Punching everyone in an area. Absolutely pummeling one target. Throwing random debris at high speed. Or spinning one’s arms very fast to create enough wind to move things. Very heavy things, if one’s fast enough. Those are the basics he established. They were not, however, everything in his regular arsenal. He could consciously rev up his metabolism briefly to rapidly heal from injuries. A quick spin could break the sound barrier hard, creating a concussive wave from him that could stun or render unconscious anyone in the area. Giving a target a rapid spinning to engage their vertigo and potentially sicken them. And vibrating in place so quickly he was functionally incorporeal. Tactically, Arriba was (because he hasn’t fought anyone in over 30 years) of Punch Everyone and Punches In Bunches. Dropped lots of supervillains that way. Though truthfully it was Sonic Boom that dropped ordinary thuggery most often. Thrown Item was very useful for flying enemies or ones that were merely on the other side of a big gap in the floor. Tornado Effect let him help out with the heavy lifting duties. There’s more of those than one would think. Especially during rescue missions after hurricanes like Camille in ’69. Vibrational Phasing got him into areas he otherwise couldn’t penetrate. Vertigo Attack was for the forcefield and heavy armor users. Hypersonic Punch was for that rare creature, a supervillain at or near his power level but that was really tough but could dodge really well. Like Megagirl, but evil. Accelerated Recovery was what kept him in fights (like the one with Armageddon) when others might falter and fall. He had Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Feint, Trick and Taunt. There was also Redirect for his own personal amusment. He had both Accurate, Defensive, and Power Attack. As for power stunts, well…there weren’t many by ’85. Most of them had migrated into the regular Speed Tricks array. The only one left, really, was a power he didn’t like. Vacuum (Strike 10, Alt Save Fort, Burst Area). Kind of mean. And the Fatigue version (only Burst Area, no Alt Save) wasn’t quite strong enough for his liking. So they stayed occasional uses. Arriba grew over time, like all of the Champions. This build represents him from probably ’71 to ’85. It’s probably him now, with some allowances (like a Con score of 14 (+2) and an Extra rank of Defensive Roll to keep his Toughness topped up) for his age. His debut in ’65 he was PL 8. This didn’t last the year, as he kept exploring just how capable he was. Basically he jumped two PLs a year. So by the founding of the Champions he was PL 14, and by ’69 he was basically this guy. Though he developed his array along the way. Accelerated Healing was a power stunt until ’78 and Armageddon, for example. The last one to join the array, for the record. Personality: Arriba’s reputation as a clown and a jokester was not…entirely undeserved. He served as the comic relief on the Champions. Not that he ever looked foolish himself, mind. He just rarely seemed to take situations seriously when the media was around. Because he wasn’t merely Mexican-American. No, sir. He was Chicano. In 2019, the way he acted is a comedic stereotype, but back then it was serious business. Jose Vega knew who he was. The first major superhero who was both Mexican and American. He was both a role model and a representative of his people to the broader swath of Americans who weren’t familiar with it beyond broad stereotypes. Like the cartoon character he took his name from. So his somewhat cartoonish persona was deliberate. He had to seem as harmless as possible to the general public so that the rest of who he was did not get vehemently rejected. He was a luchador. A professional wrestler. He knew exactly how to present himself. A manly, macho man. Full of honor and pride in his heritage. But ultimately harmless to the mainstream culture of the period, which was almost uniformly Caucasian. Completely kid-friendly, if you will. It wasn’t an assimilationist ideology by any means, mind. It was just his way of trying to convince white folks (or at least their children) that Mexican-Americans-no, Chicanos, weren’t a threat to be destroyed. They were a friend to be embraced. Just because a culture is different from one’s own does not automatically make it an enemy. How well this worked, ah well…who knows, really? But he tried. This, however, was not who Jose Vega himself was. He was a good man. A hero. Yes, he was a man of honor, but there was no pride in himself. A humbler man, most would never meet. Neither was the hyper-masculinity his real self, either. He was a man, to be sure,and a passionate one. But what he was passionate about wasn’t women, the way he looked, or even his reputation. It was about living up to the expectations Mona unintentionally placed on him. Honestly, he always felt a little out of his depth. There was much he could do to help, and by the Blessed Virgin he wanted to do it. In modern terms, he thought of himself as just Some Dude ™. He wasn’t like Starman, Gunsmith, and all the rest. They always seemed so confident to him. But he always had doubts about himself and his worthiness. Still, all a man can do is his best, and Jose Vega (alias Arriba), did his for twenty years. Until his mind and spirit were broken, anyway. During the past 30 plus years, his mind has recovered. He can joke again. He has been a good member of his familia. But the part of him that made him a hero was broken. The part of him that paid no heed to danger. The part of him that believed and believed hard in doing good for other people. Protecting them when they were in trouble. Helping them when they were in need. It is broken. He can still run. But he cannot act. He is too afraid. It shakes his mind apart and he does the one thing a speedster should never do. Freeze up unable to move. Shaking like a leaf. This was true in ’92. It was true in ’01. And it was true for the Endgame. Radical Dreamer and the Exiles did not come to get him, only Andale. But he is not ashamed, not anymore. He saw Eddie Guerrero’s tribute act to to him. Mona told him when she came back that she was proud of him. Twenty years is more than enough. So, Jose Vega is out. And that’s okay.

Megagirl (Megan Price) Power Level: 15; Power Points Spent: 300/300 STR: +15 (12/40), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +15 (14/40), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +5 (20) Tough: +15, Fort: +15, Ref: +15, Will: +15 Skills: Acrobatics 3 (+5), Diplomacy 10 (+15), Gather Information 5 (+10), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 2 (+5), Knowledge (current events) 7 (+10), Knowledge (theology & philosophy) 2 (+5), Language 5 (+5), Notice 12 (+15), Search 2 (+5), Sense Motive 12 (+15) Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus (melee) 6, Defensive Attack, Dodge Focus 6, Improved Initiative 3, Interpose, Power Attack, Takedown Attack 2, Ultimate Effort (Toughness saves), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Movement (Array 9) (default power: flight) Flight Boost (Flight 5) (Default; [5 active, 18/18 PP, 2/r], Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd; Stacks with (Unexplained Flight (Flight 10+5))) Foot Speed (Speed 10) (Array; [0 active, 18/18 PP, 1/r], Speed: 10000 mph, 88000 ft./rnd) Hybrid Quickness Boost (Quickness (Array; [8 active, 18/18 PP, 1/r], Perform routine tasks at 500x speed; Stacks with (Hybrid Quickness (Quickness 7+8))) Photosynthetic Hybrid Physiology (Container, Passive 22) Hybrid Durability (Impervious Toughness 15) Hybrid Might (Super-Strength 2) (+10 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 419.4k tons; +2 STR to some checks) Hybrid Quickness (Quickness 7+8) ([Stacking ranks: +8], Perform routine tasks at 100000x speed) Hybrid Resilience (Enhanced Constitution 26) (+26 CON) Hybrid Strength (Enhanced Strength 28) (+28 STR) Longevity (Features 1) (Notes: Not quite an aging immunity or even half of one, Megagirl's aging process is unusual. She aged at 2/3 human speed until she hit the biological age of 25 (approximately 37.5 years after her date of birth), at which point it slowed to at least 1/3 human speed. It may have slowed even further in her absence.) Photosynthesis (Immunity 9) (life support) Unexplained Flight (Flight 10+5) ([Stacking ranks: +5], Speed: 500000 mph, 4400000 ft./rnd) Strength And Speed Tricks (Array 15) (default power: super-strength) Full Strength (Super-Strength 15) (Default; +75 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 419.4k tons; +15 STR to some checks) Hypersonic Punches In Bunches ((Strength Bonus) Strike 15) (Array; Autofire (interval 2, max +5), Penetrating) Punch Everyone ((Strength Bonus) Strike 15) (Array; Burst Area (75 ft. radius - Targeted), Selective Attack) Sleeper Hold (Stun 15) (Array; DC 25; Duration (concentration); Requires Grapple) Super-Breath (Trip 15) (Array; Cone Area (150 ft. cone - General), Knockback; Range (touch)) Tornado Effect (Move Object 15) (Array; Strength: 75, Carry: 136.2 tons / 272.9 tons / 409.6 tons / 819.2 tons; Cone Area (150 ft. cone - General); Range (touch)) Attack Bonus: +9 (Ranged: +9, Melee: +15, Grapple: +30/+47) Attacks: Sleeper Hold (Stun 15), +15 (DC Fort/Staged 25), Super-Breath (Trip 15) (DC 25), Unarmed Attack, +15 (DC 30) Defense: +15 (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -15 Initiative: +14 Languages: Chinese (Mandarin), English Native, French, Japanese, Korean, Spanish Totals: Abilities 32 + Skills 15 (60 ranks) + Feats 24 + Powers 168 + Combat 36 + Saves 25 + Drawbacks 0 = 300 Age (as of Jan 2019): 74 (chronological) 38 at most (biological) Height: 4’ 10” Weight: 80 lbs Ethnicity: ½ Caucasian, ½ Extraterrestrial Hair: Brown Eyes: Brown Background: Megan Price is not fully human. To make a long story short…doomed planet. Desperate scientists. Last hope. Frozen eggs on a satellites. Yes, literally. An alien race took up a collection of eggs from the female of the species, froze them, and crammed them into satellites that searched the universe for compatible races. Because their world was dying, their race would die with it and there was no escape from either. As it turned out, humanity can be compatible. Occasionally. So, one day Megan’s mom Margaret ovulated. Earth’s satellite detected the compatibility, and used its teleporter to perform an egg swap. And Margaret and her husband Jonas were excited to welcome their first child, Megan. This can be seen as horribly invasive and incredibly wrong. And it is…if you’re a human being raised on Earth. That long gone species, with a culture utterly alien to anything we know and under the impossible pressure facing total extinction, did what they thought was best. Margaret’s fertility was unaffected, but it was already compromised. So Megan turned out to be an only child. She was small, and grew slowly. Naturally, two farmers from Merced, California with no idea of the egg substitution worried about their girl. But doctor tests came back normal enough. They couldn’t know she was aging at 2/3 human rate. She went through school, hit all of the usual physical development milestones (if a year or two late), and graduated from Merced high School having done pretty okay. She and her parents, however, were keeping a secret. She had superpowers. So when she moved to San Francisco to chase her dreams of being a newspaper journalist, her first costume was tucked into her luggage. It was 1963. Starman and Stargirl (she hadn’t changed names yet) had debuted two years prior. Gunsmith had gone public the year before. Genuine excitement was in the air that not even the assassination of JFK that year could fully dampen. She secured a pretty crappy apartment and a pretty crappy job with the San Francisco Chronicle (ironically, they thought she was a boy in those early days). Then she put on that costume, and caught a plane. With her bare hands, saving the lives of everyone on board. In those days, she wore a redhead wig to help hide her identity. So with her red long sleeved leotard with red skirt sewn on and yellow M across her chest, she was a sight to behold. Wearing red and yellow in the middle of the Cold War without a care. She even had a red cape and boots. San Francisco’s protector had arrived. Megan was living the dream. Palling around with Art Hoppe, Charles McCabe, and Herb Caen. Well…okay she wasn’t, actually. She was just a copy girl. A secretary on the bottom of the hierarchy. Also attending classes at San Francisco State University, working for the university newspaper (The Daily Gater) and being a superhero around town, she was busier than a bee. A normal woman couldn’t have made it all work, but her superepowers came to the rescue. Superhuman speed got the writing done in a jiffy, which was good because holy cow did Megagirl have a lot to do sometimes. Bank robberies. Ships in trouble at sea. All the car accidents. The police called her in to help find missing people sometimes. And oh, man, Valia. There was a ne’er do well if ever there was one. Megan did not understand why the heiress was so mad at her. But there was that interesting guy at the Chronicle, beat reporter Trevor Taylor, and everything else she was up to. San Francisco was a hotbed of supernatural intrigue, even back then, so Megagirl was busy busy busy. Including calming the riots after the assassinations of Malcolm X and especially Martin Luther King, Jr. By the latter, she had her Bachelor’s in Journalism and was the junior political beat reporter with Trevor being senior. This is how she was in the next room when RFK was shot. She has never stopped regretting not being in the room. She could have stopped it has she just insisted on being in the room. But no, that was Trevor’s job. This guilt led her to be the one who got in touch with Starman, Starwoman, Gunsmith, Arriba, Nega, Alsea, and Countess. Together they formed the Champions of Justice. The first and, to date, only major superteam in the United States. They battled supervillains, terrorists, mad gods, demons, and even a pair of alien invasions. The world owes the Champions a debt it can never repay (not that they’d ask), and the person who held them together when they would have otherwise fallen apart was Megagirl. Starman was too passive, Starwoman too absent, Gunsmith too prickly, Arriba too accepting, Nega too stubborn, Alsea too soft, and Countess too remote to do it. So she did it, every time, without fail. Until that day out in space in ’85 where everything fell apart. But Megan doesn’t like to think about that. The 70s were their prime time. And it was also the now Baroness Valia’s, as well. The two archnemesises battled over and over. Valia was genuinely trying to kill her by this point, and even Gunsmith had difficult in proving Valia herself had done anything. San Francisco’s supernatural problems got worse. Megan was promoted to staff reporter, along with Trevor. She revealed her identity to him in ’71 (in the aftermath of the world’s first alien invasion), and they were married in ’72. It was a good decade for her. She should have been incredibly happy. But she wasn’t. She felt like a hamster on the wheel. It wasn’t that she was dissatisfied. She was living all of her dreams. And yet. Something was missing. Something important. She didn’t know it at the time, but this was the call of the alien half of her DNA. She had thought she was just some kind of strange mutant or something for her entire life, and indeed, throughout the 70s. She had no idea how wrong she was. The Moscone-Milk assassinations in November 1978 in particular shook her hard. She’d been covering Moscone since 1970, as Trevor was the national and out of town state politics reporter while Megan covered in town state and local politics. She knew the man, fairly well at that. Especially after he was elected mayor in ’74 and had more regular interactions with her as Megagirl. And Harvey Milk was a friend she’d been covering since he first came to prominence in ’72. And now they were both gone, because of one angry man with a gun. No conspiracy. No superpowered evildoer. Just the hardest kind of killing to stop. One angry man with a gun. Damn it. Her genuinely moving guest column eulogizing both men nearly won her a Pulitzer Prize, and was read across the country. Still, Megan persevered with the help of Trevor, the fellas in the Chronicle bullpen, and the Champions. It was 1982 where her world was shattered. The invasion of Kuros The Conqueror. While Starman may have faced him in single combat, the rest of the Champions (and many of the world’s heroes) battled his armada and land forces. Multiple enemies clocked her as an alien, and even identified the species. The information in the computer systems left behind after the invasion’s defeat exploded who and what she thought she was. Apparently the maternal half of her DNA was common enough to be in galactic databases. But this was not all. Merced had been attacked by a small force before being driven off by the National Guard and a handful of local heroes. Margaret Price was dead. Her mother was dead. The photograph of Megagirl sobbing inconsolably into Starman’s arms won that year’s Pulitzer Prize. Everyone thought it was because she was relieved her friend and teammate was still alive after the beating he’d received. This was not true. She’d just gotten word from Trevor, who’d gotten word from an emotionally broken Jonas. The following three years saw a change in Megan. She was still the same hero and political beat reporter. But she didn’t smile nearly as much. She could feel half of herself yearning for something. Something that wasn’t Earth and her human life. She mourned her mother deeply. She and Trevor were biologically incompatible. They couldn’t have children. Starman hadn’t been the same since the fight with Kuros. He had permanent injuries, and was getting old on top of it. Gunsmith was starting to slow down. Arriba seemed the same, but she could see the lines slowly deepening on his face. And even Nega’s hair was silvering. Her friends and allies were getting older. Slowing down. And she wasn’t. Then came that fateful mission to space. She will not discuss what happened. Gunsmith and poor Arriba wanted to return to Earth. Nega had the whole Nega Corps to help rebuild. Alsea and Countess were gone. And Megan had a lead on the other half of herself. She wrote letters to Trevor, Jonas, and the Chronicle. Wrapping up her human life for the foreseeable future. Gunsmith promised to deliver them (and he did). She expected him to talk to Starman or Starwoman when he got back to at least partially explain what happened (as far as anyone knows, he did not). And then, Megan Price ceased to exist for a while. She really didn’t mean to be gone for so long. When Nick Phoenix told her it had been over forty years she was shocked. She knew it had been a long time, but that long? She had gotten her answers about her origins, and had been superheroing around space wherever she was needed. Her goal was always to go home, but you know how it is. People needed help, she was in a position to give it, and space is huge. She thought it had been maybe ten or fifteen years. Twenty at the most. But over forty? Her father was surely dead. Trevor himself might be dead, as he was a few years older than Megan. She thought about being like Jackie (who had avoided Nick on that occasion) and simply staying gone. But no. She was, surprisingly, suddenly quite homesick. She missed Earth. She missed San Francisco. She missed Trevor. She hoped he would forgive her for being gone for so long. She said her goodbyes to Jackie, ending their decade long partnership, and then started on her way home. After 43 years, the last of the active Champions of Justice was on her way home. She is not aware that she missed an entire year. There had been rumors of Kuros being on the move for quite a while, but she knew nothing of the struggles of the Icons back on Earth. And, in her small one person ship, she was not aware of being Dusted during a nap. She will be quite surprised when she thinks to check the date again, after her ship drifted empty through space for a year. Meanwhile, she has a successor nobody knows about. Earth’s egg holding satellite has not be entirely idle. There is a young man in Ohio, who answers to the hero name of Mr. Superb. He is on a minor superteam, the Buckeyes of Justice, with the bearer of the Staff of Aura Halo, the investigative journalist and legacy heroine Whipmistress, younger sister of Countess (not that anyone knows) Duchess, and the former minor super villain Velvet Glove (he went by Iron Fist back then). He does not know his origins any more than Megan did back in the day, but the similarities between the two are gradually being noticed… Powers & Tactics: Megagirl is an alien-human hybrid. As such, all her powers are from photosynthetic (-ish) alien genetics. Though, interestingly, her human genetics seems to have turbo charged them compared with other hybridized species. She is very strong, very fast, and very tough. Her strength is phenomenal. She can crack titanium with a casual punch and lift fully loaded aircraft carriers with ease. Her speed is beyond hypersonic, and she can fly in the bargain. And the only tougher member of the Champions was Starman himself. Seriously. She can ignore the main guns of battleships. It takes something on the scale of a ballistic missile to potentially harm her. Those are only the headline acts, however. People tend to forget she technically didn’t have any need to breathe. No disease or poison could harm her. Nor can environmental heat, cold, pressure, radiation, or the vacuum of space. So, unlike the Stars, she didn’t need gear to go to space. People also tend to forget that she could see and hear further than most people can without gear. And finally, the reason she’s still relatively young, physically speaking. The reason she lost track o time out in space, aside from not having the rising and setting of a sun to help. A slowed aging rate that’s been slowing more as she’s gotten older. She aged two biological years for every three chronological years. So yes, she was physically 12 years old when she debuted, even if the calendar said 18. And she wasn’t quite physically 14 when the Champions were formed. This lasted until she was physically 25, about twenty years after her debut. So, late ‘82/early ’83. Her aging slowed dramatically at this point, to one biological year for every three chronological years, and showed signs of potentially slowing further in the future. So, her listed biological age is a guess at best. It’s how old she would be if her aging has not slowed any further. Originally, she didn’t have any way to apply her strength and speed other than standard punches. Her combat training basically didn’t exist. It was her training with the Champions (specifically Starman and Arriba) that got her up to snutf in that regard. So from Starman she learned proper lifting technique, how to perform a proper sleeper hold, and how to exploit the power of her exhalations. Just because she didn’t need to breath did not and does not mean that she can’t. From Arriba she learned how to punch at a dizzying speed, hit everyone in an area, or manipulate the winds by moving her arms really fast. Tactically, the last thing Megagirl wanted to do was hit anyone. And with a Toughness save that high and with a boatload of Impervious (even from the beginning), she could get away with trying very hard to talk things out. So she was the type to use disarming, cut down Super-Breath, or Tornado Effect to simply disable common thuggery until the police were in position to nab them. Most ordinary supervillains disarming doesn’t stop, so that’s cut out in favor of Sleeper Hold. Her grapple is good enough to hold most of them. For the rest, there’s Punch Everyone and Hypersonic Punches In Bunches. Just because she prefers not to do violence doesn’t mean she won’t. And that’s about it. She doesn’t Feint or Demoralize. She does have Accurate, All Out, Defensive, and Power Attack, but they’re not super well used? +15 Accuracy, Damage, and Defense is generally enough. You know? She’s capable of doing other powerhouse or speedster power stunts, but generally there’s no need. Her PL has spiked over time. While her Strength and Toughness bonuses haven’t moved, the rest has. Her debut in ’63 she was PL 10. Attack & Defense Bonuses plus Flight rank were 5. They went up slowly at first, and then sharply after the formation of the Champions in ’68. She also didn’t have any of the settings on her Array except Full Strength until ‘69/’70. She was her current PL 15 self by the invasion in ’72. It is not known yet what seeking out her origins has done for her powers. Is she stronger? Faster? Tougher? Something else? It remains to be seen upon her return. Personality: The easiest way to understand Megagirl is to understand the one thing she has always held onto, above everything else. It’s a simple idea, really. Disaster can be averted. Deaths, prevented. Suffering, eased. All anyone has to do is try. Decades of life experience have worn away any naiveté. She knows people can and do suck. This has done nothing to dull her optimism and faith in the good in people. She is still very kind, nice, compassionate, empathetic, and sweet. A cheerful, happy woman. It’s just tempered now. She was basically a child in ’63. Innocent of the ways of the world. Of all the many and varied ways people can be cruel to each other. It was innocence then. It’s not now. It’s defiance. Her dad always said, you can’t let the world break your heart. So yeah, people suck. They hurt each other for stupid and petty reasons. One could say, if they were inclined, that they don’t deserve to be helped, saved, protected, etc. But it’s not about what people deserve. It’s about the kind of person Megan wants to be. She wants to believe in people. She wants to see the good in them and not the bad. She wants to protect them when they’re in trouble. She wants to believe in love, light, and hope. It could be argued that she’s being selfish. But that’s not quite right. There’s a line between selfishness and self-determination. Deciding what your identity is and sticking to it is not a selfish act. It can lead to selfish acts, certainly, but it can just as easily lead to selfless ones as well. But she’s not a fool, either. She knows that even the mightiest and wisest cannot always avert disaster, prevent death, and ease suffering without kicking some ass. Words and other nonviolent actions are not always sufficient to stop misguided or outright bad people from doing bad things. It’s not a failure on her behalf. It’s simply the way things are. She’s not a saint, exactly. If someone has done something bad enough (like those men did to those women in Vietnam that one time), she will turn her back and purposefully not notice that they’re in danger. She was and is a good person. The best of us. She’ll forgive or overlook a lot. Like, a hell of a lot. But there are lines.

Gunsmith I (Connor Morris) Power Level: 11; Power Points Spent: 255/255 STR: +3 (16), DEX: +5 (20), CON: +3 (16), INT: +5 (20), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +3/+7, Fort: +8, Ref: +14, Will: +11 Skills: Acrobatics 10 (+15), Bluff 12 (+15), Craft (electronic) 10 (+15), Craft (mechanical) 10 (+15), Disable Device 10 (+15), Gather Information 12 (+15), Intimidate 12 (+15), Investigate 10 (+15), Knowledge (physical sciences) 10 (+15), Knowledge (streetwise) 10 (+15), Knowledge (technology) 10 (+15), Language 4 (+4), Notice 12 (+15), Search 10 (+15), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Stealth 10 (+15), Survival 12 (+15) Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus (ranged) 6, Attack Specialization 2 (Unarmed Attack), Beginner's Luck, Benefit 2 (Wealth (millionaire)), Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Challenge - Improved Demoralize, Challenge - Improved Feint, Challenge - Improved Startle, Challenge - Improved Taunt, Connected, Contacts, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll, Dodge Focus 5, Eidetic Memory, Equipment 14, Evasion, Improved Initiative, Improved Trick, Improvised Tools, Inventor, Jack-of-All-Trades, Luck 3, Master Plan, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Quick Draw, Second Chance (Toughnes saves vs. Ballistic), Skill Mastery 4 (+15 bonus skills), Startle, Takedown Attack 2, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory), Well-Informed Powers: Gunsmith Combat Suit (Device 5) (Hard to lose) Combat Armor (Protection 3) (+3 Toughness, Feats: Second Chance (Toughnes saves vs. Ballistic)) Cowl (Super-Senses 10) (analytical (type): Visual, extended (type): Visual 1 (-1 per 100 ft), low-light vision, microscopic vision 1 (dust-size), radio, tracking: Visual 2 (normal speed)) Utility Belt (Array 4) (default power: obscure) Glider Pack (Flight 4) (Array; Speed: 100 mph, 880 ft./rnd; Duration (continuous); Gliding) Grapple Gun (Linked) Speed 2 (Linked; Speed: 25 mph, 220 ft./rnd) Super-Movement 3 (Linked; slow fall, swinging, wall-crawling 1 (half speed)) Medkit (Healing 4) (Array; Action (standard); Temporary) Smoke Pellets (Obscure 4) (Default; affects: visual senses, Radius: 50 ft.; Duration (continuous); Fades) Tech Rifle (Device 6) (Hard to lose) Rifle Settings (Array 11) (default power: blast; Precise, Subtle (subtle), Variable Descriptor 2 (Broad group - Any Technological); Custom (Array 10.5)) Full Auto (Blast 7) (Default; DC 22; Autofire (interval 2, max +5)) Heavy Shot (Blast 7) (Array; DC 22; Penetrating) Tech Grenade Launcher (Blast 7) (Array; DC 22; Burst Area (35 ft. radius - General)) Tranquilizer Rounds (Fatigue 7) (Array; DC 17; Range (ranged)) Variable Bolo Launcher (Snare 7) (Array; DC 17; Autofire (interval 2, max +5)) Variable Dazzle (Dazzle 7) (Array; affects: 1 type + visual - visual & auditory, DC 17) Equipment: SmithMobile, The Smithy Attack Bonus: +9 (Ranged: +15, Melee: +9, Grapple: +12) Attacks: Full Auto (Blast 7), +15 (DC 22), Heavy Shot (Blast 7), +15 (DC 22), Tech Grenade Launcher (Blast 7) (DC 22), Tranquilizer Rounds (Fatigue 7), +15 (DC Fort 17), Unarmed Attack, +13 (DC 18), Variable Bolo Launcher (Snare 7), +15 (DC Ref/Staged 17), Variable Dazzle (Dazzle 7), +15 (DC Fort/Ref 17) Defense: +14 (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -3 Initiative: +9 Languages: Chinese (Mandarin), English Native, French, Russian, Vietnamese Totals: Abilities 44 + Skills 44 (176 ranks) + Feats 65 + Powers 44 + Combat 36 + Saves 22 + Drawbacks 0 = 255 ****************************************************************************************** SmithMobile Power Level: 11; Equipment Points Spent: 52 STR: +17 (45) Toughness: +10 Features: Alarm 3, Caltrops, Hidden Compartments 3, Navigation System 1, Remote Control, Smokescreen Powers: Impervious Toughness 6 Mounted Guns (Array 11) (default power: blast; Precise, Variable Descriptor 2 (Broad group - Any Technological); Custom (Array 10.5)) Full Auto (Blast 7) (Default; DC 22; Autofire (interval 2, max +5)) Mini Rocket (Blast 7) (Array; DC 22; Burst Area (35 ft. radius - General)) Speed 5 (Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd) Attacks: Full Auto (Blast 7), +15 (DC 22), Mini Rocket (Blast 7) (DC 22) Defense: -2, Size: Huge Totals: Abilities 3 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Feats 0 + Features 10 + Powers 36 + Combat 2 + Saves 1 + Drawbacks 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 52 ****************************************************************************************** The Smithy Power Level: 11; Equipment Points Spent: 18 Toughness: +10 Features: Communications, Computer, Dock, Garage, Gym, Hangar, Infirmary, Laboratory, Library, Living Space, Power System, Security System 3, Workshop Size: Large Totals: Abilities 0 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Feats 0 + Features 15 + Powers 0 + Combat 2 + Saves 1 + Drawbacks 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 18 Age (as of Jan 2019): Deceased in 1992 at age 56. Height: 5’ 10” Weight: 175 lbs Ethnicity: African American Hair: Black (salt and pepper at time of death) Eyes: Dark Brown Background: Gunsmith is a…controversial figure. On the one hand we have a genuinely selfless hero who saved lives and solved crimes without expectation of reward or even notice, and on the other we have the militant civil rights activist who was never afraid to knock Whitey on his ass. Connor Morris was a complicated man. The official histories have him as debuting in 1962. This is only partially correct. Connor actually started operating as a nameless vigilante in 1957, remembering HUAC and the J. Edgar Hoover’s animosity towards costumed heroics. But after Starman and Stargirl didn’t get shutdown in their first year, he took the leap of getting a proper costume and name. He is noted or spending a lot of time with Malcolm X, especially after his public debut. The two men were genuinely friends, and there are indications that Malcolm knew who was under the mask. It is suspected that he advised Malcolm to cut ties with the Nation of Islam and go his own way. He did not follow Malcolm to Africa, which was the only point after Gunsmith’s official debut the two were known to be apart for a significant amount of time. As such, he was by Malcolm’s side during that all too brief meeting with Martin Luther King on March 26, 1964. Gunsmith is in several of the pictures in the Phoenixverse. This day was key not for the historic meeting between civil rights leaders (which barely lasted long enough for the pictures to be taken), but because Connor had never met MLK (who had wanted to meet him for some time). There was a conversation, neither short nor particularly long, between the two men. It changed nothing that day. Not very long after that, Malcolm flew to Saudia Arabia, and shockingly Gunsmith did not go with him. There is some evidence they communicated frequently via telephone. However, there is also some evidence Connor also communicated with MLK via telephone during this period. With that said, he still flew out to meet with Malcolm in the UK, and was present for the debate at the Oxford Union Society. This may have spiked British interest higher than it would have been otherwise, as the debate was televised nationally due to said interest. Or Malcolm himself could have been enough. It is not known. Whether Gunsmith would have broken with Malcolm is unclear. Both men had changed much since they physical parting in April. The two are known to have had several intense conversations over the following two months ater the debate. And then it was a moot point, because Malcolm X was dead. Gunsmith was about a yard away from Malcolm when he was assassinated. Gunsmith pursued the assassins out of the ballroom, his friend’s lifeblood soaking into his costume. What happened after that is not known. He always said when asked that the assassins faced justice and that he didn’t kill them. He never had anything more to say on the subject, at least to anyone who would share it. It is, however, notable that several members of the Nation of Islam disappeared off the face of the Earth over the next several weeks and that most of them were exposed as working for either the FBI or CIA shortly before said disappearances. This, more than anything else, earned Gunsmith the undying enmity of J. Edgar Hoover and other likeminded individuals in the federal alphabet soup. And then he started effectively bodyguarding Martin Luther King, Jr. Again, what Gunsmith himself knew is unclear. All of his papers were lost in the fire that consumed his manor near the time of his death. But this was not true of other heroes and civilians, and the implications are startling. Gunsmith apparently believed in a government conspiracy among certain unelected civil servants. How vast it was depended on who he was talking to, so he may have been exaggerating or downplaying it at times. At any rate, he was literally in the hotel room in Memphis when MLK was assassinated. Connor had seen enough bullet wounds at this point to know that it was all over but the dying, and chased after the assassin. Who, he said to the end o his days, turned out to be assassins, plural. Polished professionals good enough to surprise a veteran hero (one half blind with rage and grief, granted) and injure him enough that he couldn’t pursue them any further. Further investigation was stymied by his own reputation. After the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy not quite four months later, enough was enough. The 8 most prominent heroes of the age (Starman, Starwoman, Gunsmith himself, Megagirl, Arriba, Nega, Alsea, and Countess) banded together to form the Champions of Justice. The first, and to date, only major superteam in the United States. The 70s saw a shift in Gunsmith’s activities. Far from being solely a street level figure, he became one of the most famous people on the planet. Clashing with supervillains. Foiling terrorist plots. Possibly having sidekicks. No, seriously. There is anecdotal evidence that he possibly took on younger partners. A handful of photographs and a few inquisitive newspaper articles. Curiously, despite wearing similar costumes, based on their sizes, apparent genders, and builds, these sidekicks seem to be five different people. While one of them is very likely a disguised Starboy I (the timeline fits, and Starwoman wrote about having sent her son to St. Louis off and on that year in her journal), another may well be Stargirl II (if it was done for one sibling it was probably done for the other), and a third probably isn’t a young Fletcher but you never know (Morris is known to have been a big fan of Gunsmith and wanted to meet him; the timeline almost fits but Morris never wrote about meeting his hero, which is very strange if he did); this leaves one unknown male (two if that isn’t Fletcher) and one unknown female. Who they were, what codenames they may have possessed, and what happened to them is totally unknown. It was also in the 70s that Gunsmith established his reputation as probably the best costumed detective until the advent of Terrifica. Caviezel and Carla Perkins fail the “costumed” requirement, so they don’t count unless it is removed. This is actually a remarkable achievement, considering that the Mystery Men Era and Golden Age were stuffed to bursting with various forms of super scientists and costumed detectives. He wasn’t the smartest or the most perceptive, but he had it. Call it instinct, luck, or whatever else. He was good, and the Champions valued him highly, even if they didn’t all get along with him. But, of course, that’s just the genuine hero side to him. He did not ditch the militant civil rights activist, associating with the Black Panther Party to varying degrees through much of the 70s. They actually reached out to him in mid 1968, but as previously stated he was uh, busy. It wasn’t until 1969 where he started associating with them on a limited basis, with the murder of Fred Hampton in December greatly strengthening ties with the group. However, as is well known, there were elements in the Panthers that were little more than self-justifying criminals out to rob and murder. And so his relationship with the group was as paradoxical as the rest of his activities. He did, however, thwart the FBI’s COINTELPRO wherever he found it operating (and was key in providing enough evidence of its existence to the newsmedia to provoke the burgling of an FBI field office in Media, Pennsylvania), which drove Hoover nuts. And he opposed any successor programs until the end of his days. Yet even here he was paradoxical, as after the end of COINTELPRO he aided the FBI in busting Mafia members, foreign terrorists, and supervillains. Gunsmith distanced himself from the Panthers in 1974, and it took heroic efforts by then leader Elaine Brown for him not to cut ties entirely. Gunsmith openly hated Huey P. Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, and their ilk. When Newton returned and took over the Panthers in 1977, sending Brown fleeing, Gunsmith publically cut ties. This is how the general public and historians finally started to understand his particular ideology, and also added to his ever expanding enemies list. Why Connor Morris or Gunsmith never put together or attempted to assume a leadership role in a civil rights organization is unknown. The main theory is that after 1965, scarcely a month could go by without someone trying to kill him, some vicious rumor being spread to discredit him, or his being framed for a violent crime (usually homicide, but not always). The founding of the Champions did nothing to slow this. If anything, it accelerated it slightly. The last assassination attempt was shortly before he cut ties with the Panthers. Well, second to last. And the frame jobs slowly faded away as they became a “boy who cried wolf” situation where simply nobody believed it anymore. But the rumormongering never stopped. To this day it is a little challenging to determine what he actually did and what was invented lies to make him look bad. His reputation was and is startlingly poor for a man who did as much documented good in the world as he did. By the 80s, age and accumulated injuries were slowly catching up, but Gunsmith still accompanied the Champions (sans Starman and Stargirl) on that final mission in 1985. He quietly returned to Earth at the end of that year, and never spoke of what happened. In fact, few knew he had returned, as he made no further public appearances. His hero work in St. Louis continued, but his prior activities were quite abruptly curtailed. There is no evidence he ever met with Starman again, let alone Starwoman or any of the rest of the Starfamily. Yet, without a doubt, everyone who’s studied the man knows that if he’d been alive for Kuros’s invasion in 1992, he’d have pitched in despite being 56 and fading badly. Unfortunately, he’d already been dead for a few months. There was one last assassination attempt that year, and it was a doozy. Broken remnants of every conspiracy he’d ever smashed had been well, conspiring. Former FBI agents, Klansmen, and others who had plenty of reason to hate the man who had (in their opinion) destroyed their lives systematically took his history apart and figured out his secret identity of Connor Morris, millionaire entrepreneur who’d built himself up from nothing. 100 well armed men stormed the Morris manor in St. Louis. The battle was epic, but Gunsmith-no, Connor, had a problem. Nonlethal tactics weren’t working. These men had fanatical hatred and a certain drug cocktail in their veins. They could not be knocked unconscious or disabled for more than a few seconds without causing potentially lethal damage. So the angry, aging hero said Fuck It. His home was on fire, neither the police nor the fire department had arrived (and he knew what that meant), and there were 100 men so fanatically devoted to his violent and brutal death they’d literally taken drugs that would kill them in under a day. So he started killing them. In fact, he killed them all. But his home and all he owned burned to the ground. Plus he was badly injured, with his costume shredded beyond recognition. When St. Louis police finally arrived that night, all they saw was a raving black man waving a rifle around, while several white men lay dead around him. So they shot him. Repeatedly. So ended the life of Gunsmith, aka Connor Morris. He left a deeply complicated legacy that has been at times deliberately obscured and distorted. He’s been dead for 27 years but the visceral hatred he inspired in his enemies is still going strong in 2019. He was a good man and a great hero. He was also an uncompromising son of a bitch who never so much as bent a micron on his own personal principles, no matter how much it cost him. Compassionate and generous contrasting with angry and violent. Connor Morris was a man of contradictions. I can only tell you, Dear Reader, to draw your own conclusions about the type of man he was. However…he does appear to have inspired a legacy hero. Since 2009 a new Gunsmith has been operating in the St. Louis area. Nobody knows that it is his grand nephew on his father’s side. The former Marine Corps Sergeant Duncan Morris. Additionally, shortly after the Endgame Starman III was seen in St. Louis. What this means is yet to be seen. Powers & Tactics: Gunsmith had no superhuman powers of any kind. What he had was a vast array of skills including being a tech specialist. As a tech specialist, he had a pair of devices to help him. He was additionally an expert martial artist, using mainly Karate. He seemed to have some basic training in boxing and Wing Chun, as well. His two devices were his Gunsmith Combat Suit and his Tech Rifle. His Gunsmith Combat Suit was armored in a lightweight version of modern Kevlar. Considering he first started wearing it in 1962, this is more of an scientific achievement than it sounds like. Kevlar wasn’t developed until three years later, nd didn’t see widespread use as armor until the mid 70s. Naturally, his was more resistant to bullets than anything else, but it did its job well enough over the years. His cowl was comparable to modern super tech. Lots of visual improvements on the naked eye, including visual extension, microscopic vision, and an analysis suite. Of course, what people remember best is the utility belt around his waist. It’s most common contents were a glider pack in the back (which again it was years before mundane tech caught up to it), a grapple gun to rappel and swing from place to place (which still hasn’t been duplicated by other than super tech), some smoke pellets (these have been duplicated, and a medkit to temporarily patch up injuries. His Tech Rifle was his main weapon, and would be impressive in 2019, let alone 1962. The original model in his first known appearance in 1957 was a heavily modified M-1 Garand that stretched the abilities of that rifle most severely. It has an armor penetrating round, underbarrel grenade launcher, the fatigue inducing rounds, restraint launcher, and the vision and hearing dazzling ammo. It should, however, be noted that his base model was an Armalife AR-15 upon his official debut in 1962. By 1969, however, with the Champions established, it was clearly an M-16. This is the best remembered version, as he’d added fully automatic fire and his dazzlingly wide variety of ammunition types. Seriously, this thing spit fire, ice, lighting, lasers, gravitic force, friggin’ elemental darkness, and many more. This was actually rather useful in the Silver Age, as every other supervillain apparently had a specific weakness. And when it was identified, Gunsmith always had the ammo type to hit it and hit it hard. He was known to have both a car he called his Smithmobile (in a rare moment of levity from the man) and kept his personal headquarters (The Smithy) in a subbasement under the Morris manor in St. Louis. The Smithmobile had duplicates of a couple of his Tech Rifles mounted on, unlimited specialty ammunition included. It was only capable of firing full auto or mini rocket variants of his grenades. It was also completely impervious to all hand portable firearms of era, barring beefy shotguns or genuine military ordinance produced for the war in Vietnam. It really was a hell of a car. Tactically, Gunsmith had a lot of options. He was perhaps most famous for firing on Full Auto or unleashing another Tech Grenade. A Variable Bolo or Variable Dazzle turned many a battle in the heavier hitters’ favor in addition to his own. Even Heavy Shot and Tranquilizer Rounds are remembered for coming in handy more than once. However, this was during battles against super villains and/or with the Champions. Against rank and file thuggery, he never even drew his Tech Rifle. He just beat the shit out of them with his bare hands. Maybe a rank or two of Power Attack sometimes, but his bare hands. Just Takedown Attack 2 through all of them. With that said, that’s just attacking. He was much more complex than that. Between his Grapple Gun and his Glider Pack, he could reposition at need. His Medkit could get anyone upright again for an hour or so, including himself. And, of course, Smoke Pellets will always have their uses to a costumed detective. He had Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Demoralize, Feint, Startle, Taunt, and even Trick. Also known as all possible ways to ruin an enemy’s day. He had All Out, Defensive, and Power Attack to adjust his caps. He was known to use them quite a bit. Move by Action also falls into this category. Between Connected, Contacts, and Well-Informed, he always seemed to know what type of ammunition to use against an enemy. And just to keep enemies guessing at his full abilities, he also has Master Plan (the regular version, not using KN Tactics) and Inventor. He was never known to power stunt. This build represents Gunsmith from 1969 to 1982. From ’57 to 63, he was a PL 9 with Effect Rank 6 on his Tech Rifle, and no Full Auto setting. His Accuracy was +12, as was his Defense Bonus. His Toughness was, obviously, +6. From ’64 to ’68 he was a PL 10. Accuracy +14, then, and Toughness at +8. He still did not have Full Auto. After ’82, he finally was getting old and slipped back down to PL 10. Accuracy +13 and Defense back to +12. And at his final battle in ’92 he was PL 9 again. Accuracy +11 and Defense +10. It is not known when between ’85 and ’92 the shift down from PL 10 to PL 9 occurred. Personality: Bluntly, we don’t know. We can only guess. He was rarely interviewed (for reasons that should be obvious to you, Dear Reader), and when he was he was a man of few words. We don’t know anything about what the man himself thought. Anything he may have written privately was destroyed in the fire that claimed his home. The only thing left is the words of the people who knew him and his documented actions. There were plenty of people that liked and respected him. There were also plenty of people who absolutely loathed him. But that doesn’t help very much, as militant African American civil rights activist would do that by itself. Especially in that era. Still, a few things can be gleaned. Diplomacy was his weak point. He was quite intelligent and well read. He had no patience with anyone who would waste his time. He was a dedicated foe of corruption, crime, and what we now call hate crimes. There are records of him performing some pretty dramatic rescues during floods, fires, and similar emergency situations. His courage and determination were aspects of him that have never been in question. With that said, he also had an angry, violent side. He controlled it very well, but there was clearly a side of him that enjoyed hurting people he thought deserved it. There are documented instances of him beating the living shit out of Klansmen, lynch mobs, uncooperative gangsters, drug dealers, and so on. He was not known to mince words, equivocate, or beat around the bush. He was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a nice guy. And yet…life was clearly very important to him. He never killed anyone until his last day alive, and went out of his way to protect the defenseless every chance he got. Even if they were a hated enemy, he still always tried to save their lives first. Gunsmith truly was a complicated man of many contradictions. But he was a hero. That too, has never been in question.

Starman I (John Thompkins) Power Level: 16; Power Points Spent: 255/255 STR: +20 (20/50), DEX: +1 (12), CON: +20 (20/50), INT: +0 (10), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +5 (20) Tough: +20, Fort: +20, Ref: +12, Will: +10 Skills: Bluff 5 (+10), Craft (structural) 10 (+10), Diplomacy 5 (+10), Intimidate 10 (+15), Knowledge (business) 5 (+5), Knowledge (civics) 5 (+5), Knowledge (earth sciences) 5 (+5), Knowledge (physical sciences) 5 (+5), Notice 12 (+15), Sense Motive 12 (+15) Feats: All-Out Attack, Attack Focus (melee) 5, Dodge Focus 3, Improved Initiative, Luck 4, Power Attack, Startle, Takedown Attack 2, Ultimate Effort (Strength checks), Ultimate Effort (Toughness checks), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory), Untapped Potential Powers: Starheart Augmented Physiology (Container, Passive 17) Stellar Durability (Impervious Toughness 15) Stellar Might (Super-Strength 5) (+25 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 13.4m tons; +5 STR to some checks) Stellar Resilience (Enhanced Constitution 30) (+30 CON) Stellar Strength (Enhanced Strength 30) (+30 STR) Stellar Flight (Flight 5) (Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd) Stellar Might Tricks (Array 15) (default power: super-strength) Shockwave (Strike 15) (Array; DC 30; Cone Area (150 ft. cone - General)) Sleeper Hold (Stun 15) (Array; DC 25; Duration (concentration); Requires Grapple) Stellar Might Boost (Super-Strength 15) (Default; +75 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 13.4m tons; +15 STR to some checks) Super-Breath (Trip 15) (Array; Cone Area (150 ft. cone - General), Knockback; Range (touch)) Thunderclap (Dazzle 15) (Array; affects: 1 sense type - auditory, DC 25; Burst Area (75 ft. radius - General), Selective Attack; Range (touch)) Attack Bonus: +7 (Ranged: +7, Melee: +12, Grapple: +32/+52) Attacks: Shockwave (Strike 15) (DC 30), Sleeper Hold (Stun 15), +12 (DC Fort/Staged 25), Super-Breath (Trip 15) (DC 25), Thunderclap (Dazzle 15) (DC Fort/Ref 25), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 35) Defense: +12 (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -17 Initiative: +5 Drawbacks: Vulnerable, uncommon, major, Mind Control effects Languages: English Native Totals: Abilities 38 + Skills 19 (74 ranks) + Feats 22 + Powers 129 + Combat 32 + Saves 18 - Drawbacks 3 = 255 ***************************************************************************************** Starwoman I (Judy Thompkins) Power Level: 16; Power Points Spent: 240/240 STR: +1 (12), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +4 (18), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +4/+9, Fort: +10, Ref: +10/+20, Will: +10 Skills: Acrobatics 8 (+10), Bluff 7 (+10), Craft (chemical) 7 (+10), Diplomacy 7 (+10), Gather Information 7 (+10), Knowledge (current events) 2 (+5), Knowledge (earth sciences) 7 (+10), Knowledge (physical sciences) 7 (+10), Notice 12 (+15), Sense Motive 12 (+15) Feats: Accurate Attack, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 3, Dodge Focus 3, Evasion 2, Improved Aim, Improved Critical (Star Bolts (Blast 12)), Improved Initiative 5, Interpose, Luck 3, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Ultimate Effort (Flight Speed checks), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Starheart Speed (Container, Passive 18) Stellar Flight (Flight 10) (Speed: 10000 mph, 88000 ft./rnd) Stellar Quickness (Quickness 10) (Perform routine tasks at 2500x speed) Stellar Reflexes (Enhanced Trait 58) (Traits: Attack Bonus +10 (+12), Defense Bonus +8 (+20), Reflex +10 (+20), Dodge Focus 3 +2 (+3), Feats: Defensive Roll 3, Evasion 2, Improved Initiative 5) Stellar Resilience (Protection 2) (+2 Toughness) Stellar Energy Manipulation (Array 20) (default power: blast) Stellar Flight Boost (Flight 10) (Alternate; Speed: 10000 mph, 88000 ft./rnd; Stacks with (Stellar Flight (Flight 10))) Stellar Quickness Boost (Quickness 10) (Alternate; Perform routine tasks at 2500x speed; Stacks with (Stellar Quickness (Quickness 10))) Star Blast (Blast 20) (Default; DC 35) Star Bolts (Blast 12) (Array; DC 27, Feats: Improved Critical (Star Bolts (Blast 12)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5) [10 ranks only]; Accurate 4 (+8)) Star Energy Field (Strike 10) (Array; DC 25; Shapeable Area (10 cubes of 125 cu. ft. (5x5x5) - General), Duration (concentration), Selective Attack) Stellar Energy Objects (Create Object 12) (Array; Max Size: 12x 25' cubes, DC 22; Movable (Radius: 60 ft., Strength: 60, Force: 51.2 tons); Progression, Object Size 2, Selective, Stationary) Attack Bonus: +2/+12 (Ranged: +2/+12, Melee: +2/+12, Grapple: +3/+13) Attacks: Star Blast (Blast 20), +12 (DC 35), Star Bolts (Blast 12), +20 (DC 27), Star Energy Field (Strike 10) (DC 25), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 16) Defense: +12/+20 (Flat-footed: +9), Knockback: -4 Initiative: +22 Languages: Native Language Totals: Abilities 32 + Skills 19 (76 ranks) + Feats 12 + Powers 134 + Combat 22 + Saves 21 + Drawbacks 0 = 240 Age (as of Jan 2019): Deceased in 1993 at ages 63 (Starman I), and 61 (Starwoman I) Height: 6’ 6” (Starman I), 5’ 6” (Starwoman I) Weight: 300 (Starman I), 120 (Starwoman I) Ethnicity: Caucasian Hair: Brown (partly gray at retirement, entirely grey at death) Eyes: Brown Background: John Thompkins was nobody. Just a construction worker. 31 years old. Married a few years to his beloved Judy. One day, after a 12 hour shift, he headed home. He had to cross a small park on the way. He did not get all the way across it. The next thing he knew he was laying in an area of scorched grass at least thirty feet wide. He felt very strange, and couldn’t quite think straight. So he continued home. Judy had dinner ready, but first things went first. He gave her a hug and a kiss. An extremely bright light shone brilliantly out of their windows for several seconds before going dark. Neither of them knew anything about it, because they were on the floor unconscious. In the morning, there was nothing to do but react like an adult, you know? Set an appointment to see the doctor and make sure they were okay. But in the meantime, John still had to go to work. Judy still had plans for her day. John’s day was surprisingly easy. Like he’d gotten stronger since yesterday. How funny. Judy dashed across a street to beat the light and got there fast enough to surprise the hell out of the people already there. Well, she’d always been a good runner. Day two after was a whole different kettle of fish. A rope snapped and dropped a pile of I beams on John, who’d pushed his best pal out of the way beforehand. Everyone was hurting for how to tell poor Judy when John just…stood up. Shrugged off tons of weight like it was water. He definitely couldn’t do that the other day. Everyone tried to play it off like the I beams had landed just right. John was a big strong guy, right? His helmet had protected him. It did break. They just had to have seen what happened wrong, that’s all. Judy had had her own adventure, accidently running out of town and blowing up a tree with her first Star Blast. John may have been of average intelligence, but Judy was whip smart. She knew they had superpowers now. It was John, however, who suggested the whole costume and codename thing. It is important to note that there were no publically operating superheroes in 1961. Between J. Edgar Hoover in the shadows and Congressmen like Joseph McCarthy more publically, most superheroes (and everyone publically operating at that time) retired or was jailed. After all, what was more communist than protecting the welfare of all men and women and fighting injustice wherever it appeared, apparently. And while the senator and his philosophy had largely been discredited by 1961, the memories lingered. It hadn’t been a full decade since genuine war heroes were being asked “are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist party?”. Having their identities exposed by the FBI or being harassed to out their identities themselves. Things had changed. McCarthy was both gone and dead. But Hoover was still there. And he still hated masked heroes. So John asking this of his wife was a bold move in the context of the period. Still, they decided together to become superheroes. And with a little practice to get the hang of their new powers, they debuted as Starman and Stargirl. The Silver Age of heroes had begun. It is impossible to emphasize enough how much Starman set the gold standard for what a superhero was supposed to be. He said power inherently came with responsibility, and by god he lived it. Iconic doesn’t even begin to cover it. When everyone else fell down defeated, he kept standing. He endured more punishment than any other hero in recorded history. He dished out more than his fair share, as well. He saved so many lives. 25 years of sheer excellence. He pushed himself above and behind his supposed limits so often it became a meme before the internet. To put his impact in perspective, prior to his debut in 1961 it was not all that unusual for heroes to kill their enemies. Protecting the innocent and vulnerable took priority, naturally, but in the Golden Age, the Mystery Men Era before it, and further back it just wasn’t unusual for heroes to put a permanent end to villains and criminals local law enforcement couldn’t handle. Not all heroes did, mind, but a lot of the Mystery Men’s claims to fame were “good detective, very determined, and will shoot bad guys with their gun if they need to”. Starman refused both to kill and to put up with anyone who did. His powers were to protect life, not take it. Power came with responsibility, after all. To say this sent shockwaves through the heroic community just as it was beginning to revive is a massive understatement. At the time Starman seemed to be the most powerful hero who’d ever lived. And he refused to kill anyone, deliberately handicapping himself so he wouldn’t. So yeah, he was a big deal. And he was like this right from the start. Stargirl got pregnant pretty early on. This left Starman to his own devices pretty regularly for the next 15 years. Jesse Thompkins was born in 1962, and Jacqueline “Jackie” Thompkins was born in 1964. Seeing as it was the 60s and then the 70s, Stargirl (who changed to Starwoman the year after Jackie was born) was a homemaker who stayed home with the children. She was a feminist, but there weren’t any legal repercussions for leaving the married mother of two unemployed until after it no longer really mattered. Starwoman wasn’t particularly prominent in the movement, but Judy? Oh hell yeah. Anyone who complained to John about her got glared at until they backed down. He may have not quite been on the “support all women” train at the start, but he absolutely was on the “support my wife” train. Which was the great thing about their marriage. They had each other’s backs entirely, and remained very much in love to anyone with eyes and a brain throughout their careers. The reason Starwoman wasn’t more prominent was about Starman’s desire to remain as apolitical as possible while in costume. In 1968, Starman, Starwoman, Gunsmith I, Megagirl, Arriba, Nega I, Alsea, and Countess formed the Champions of Justice in response to the assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr and Robert F. Kennedy. Gunsmith had physically been at the former event (as in literally in the room when the shot was fired), and was still recovering at the time from a violent confrontation with what he would claim until his death in 1992 was a highly skilled professional sniper team. If he had any proof of this, it was in his manor which burned to the ground shortly before said death. Megagirl had been covering the Kennedy campaign in her civilian identity for the San Francisco Chronicle, and personally flew RFK’s ambulance to the hospital. She had not literally been in the room, and regretted not trying to be for a very long time. And so they formed the first and to date only major superteam in the United States. The 1970s saw Starman ascend from well known in the United States to one of the most famous people on the planet. He was the clear star as the Champions repelled the first alien invasion in recorded history. They, and especially he, made it look easy. It wasn’t, exactly, but whatever. He was the mighty, invincible Starman. So obviously supervillains poured out of the woodwork to take him down and make their names. Obviously, they all failed, which only enhanced his reputation. Starwoman was, as ever, key to his success and a famous superheroine in her own right. But things changed forever in 1975, when their son discovered he had inherited their combined powers. Both mother and father were ecstatic. Overjoyed. They weren’t sure if this would happen, and they’d never lied to their children about who they were, once they were old enough to understand it wasn’t something to tell people. And so that year saw the debut of Starboy I. He didn’t have the raw power of either of his parents, but he was also 13 years old. So, patience. As expected, their daughter’s powers emerged in 1977. Shortly thereafter she debuted as Stargirl II. The Starfamily had arrived. It wouldn’t last forever or even all that long, but for a brief moment, they were the most famous family of all time. The father. The mother. The older brother. And the younger sister. A team as mighty and invincible as Starman himself. Well, until the following year of 1978, where the monster Armageddon punched a big ragged hole in that idea. Where it came from, nobody knows and nobody wants to. The Starkids weren’t strong enough to hurt him, and he bulldozed through most of the Champions with ease. Starman went hand to hand with the monster, with support from Starwoman, Megagirl, and Arriba. He fought the damn thing all day, and eventually even his Starwoman and Megagirl fell away, too injured to continue. The main problem is that, as always, they were fighting to subdue instead of kill. Which, as it turned out, as impossible. So the exhausted Arriba caused one last distraction, and Starman hit Armageddon with all the strength and power he could muster. Earth has had asteroids impact with less force. The monster’s skull shattered and it died instantly. The battle was over. The monster was dead. And so was, unfortunately, the idea that Starman couldn’t be stopped. It took him a few months to recover from his injuries, when before he had never needed more than a week at worst. He walked with a limp for the rest of his life and his left shoulder was never quite the same. He carried several new ragged scars, too, including one over his left eye. But the Champions and the Starfamily rolled on. Though there is good reason to think that this was when he first started thinking about retirement. It was 1982 when he first spoke of it to anyone. Specifically, after the invasion of Kuros The Conqueror. This wasn’t one threat to fight. It was a thousand spread across the face of the planet. It was, arguably, the Champions’ finest hour. Virtually every superhero on the planet pitched in. Even old enemies (like the Baroness Valia, who they’d battled a time or three, especially Megagirl) threw in to defend the world. And because Starman was the kind of man he was with the kind of principles he had, he took on Kuros by himself. The official story is that he won. He kicked Kuros off the planet as his usual heroic self. This is false. Kuros was badly injured when he fled, this much is true. However, Starman had basically lost the fight by that point. For the first time since before that day long ago in 1961, he’d met an opponent he simply couldn’t beat no matter how hard he tried. Someone with a lesser constitution would have died on the spot. John Thompkins, professional stubborn bastard, stood up again and lifted his fists. The fact that he was still apparently still able to fight despite the horrific injuries Kuros had already inflicted terrified the Conqueror into abandoning his invasion entirely. In Kuros’s defense, if the man you just thought you finished violently and brutally beating to death, who’d already hurt you pretty badly, got up apparently ready for another round you’d piss yourself and run too. To his final day last year he was only frightened of two things. Nick Phoenix (who whooped his ass when he returned for revenge in ’92), and those who wear the Star. So yes, Kuros The Annihilator just about pissed himself in terror when Starman III and Starwoman II showed up to whoop his ass. He wasn’t overpowered; he was “oh fuck”-ing about them too hard to fight effectively. However, the reality was that virtually every hero who’s ever lived but Starman would have died from that beating. Including Nick Phoenix. Aside from the fact that he regenerates too fast for damage to build up that much from anything. The once mighty and invincible Starman was in critical condition for weeks. Nobody could operate. The equipment didn’t exist. Even setting his broken bones required the strength of Megagirl, who wasn’t in great shape herself after the invasion. Relieving the pressure on his brain required Starwoman, his wife, to cut into his skull with a precision Star Blast because nothing else could penetrate. All anyone could do after that was hope. Obviously, he pulled through, but he was never the same. Nowadays, the symptoms match those of someone suffering from a traumatic brain injury. Dizziness. Headaches. Memory loss. Confusion. His limp was now pronounced. Most of his joints (shoulders, hips, elbows, knees, etc) had suffered some kind of permanent damage. He couldn’t even stand up straight anymore. At least, not for long. But he was still Starman, professional stubborn bastard. He hung on. He wasn’t sure if his son was ready. The Starfamily also broke up, with Stargirl moving to Los Angeles for a variety of reasons. His powers starting to fail in 1985 made the decision for him. He couldn’t go with the Champions on their space trip. He just didn’t have enough in the tank. It was time, or close enough. Starman finally retired the year after (he hung on hoping for them to come back, but they never did as far as he knew), and Starboy took on the mantle of his father. Starwoman retired with her husband. His mental problems were slowly getting worse (even if he wouldn’t admit it), and he needed her more than ever. And Stargirl stopped appearing entirely down in Los Angeles, with her going entirely into civilian life. Starman II had managed to empower his wife as Starqueen I, but something had gone wrong. She wasn’t as powerful as the rest. And she showed no aptitude for hero work, anyway. Her instincts were all wrong, and she was chronically hesitant. So she didn’t go out wearing the Star very often. The Starfamily was well and truly gone. The story of his death has been told. What was omitted from that account is that Starman II was there. He offered to take his father up himself. Let his mother live. Both of them declined. So Jesse Thompkins got to have an emotional farewell to his parents John and Judy, and then he got to watch the explosion that marked their end. The rest is known. The legacy of the original Starman was ultimately a depressing one until the Endgame. A son who died young, a daughter who walked away from the life by age 21, and grandchildren who didn’t seem particularly interested in putting on the Star full time. Even the appearance of Starguy lent credence (due to his being far less powerful) to the idea that his legacy was fading out into nothingness. And then Jack and Jennifer Thompkins shattered that idea, along with Kuros’s confidence. As 2019 dawns, reports of Starman III and Starwoman II visiting the inheritors of the Champions’ legacies have surfaced. Gunsmith II in St. Louis. Andale in El Paso. Chloro in San Diego. Between that and the refusal (vehement on Jack’s behalf) of both to join the Icons, there may be a new supergroup in the very new future. After all, Jack Thompkins is the same age as his grandfather when he started… Powers & Tactics: Starman and Starwoman were, technically, mutants. To this day, 58 years after it happened, nobody has any idea what happened to John Thompkins to change him. We do, however, have an idea of why he didn’t get the powers his descendants did, and why his wife got them instead. John Thompkins was originally a metahuman, with a minor enhancement to his physical resilience. We know this because in his early 20s John got into a significant amount of bar fights, and always was able to walk away under his own power. No unpowered human is that tough. So, however the transformation/alteration/mutation process that grants the Starpowers followed the model already laid out for it, and apparently couldn’t do the rest, which caused said rest to jump to his wife Judy. However, both of their powers functioned in the same now legendary way. They both had a nuclear fusion reaction inside their chests, pumping out energy as only they can. It is known as a Starheart. Physiological alterations channeled that power into their respective abilities. For Starman, it was genuinely phenomenal strength and resilience, along with the ability to fly at subsonic speeds. Starman set the platinum standard in both of his major categories. Nobody without abilities on a cosmic scale has ever exceeded or even matched his strength. Not Cory of the Exiles, though he’s not bad. Not Tex Austin of the Icons. Not Big Ben over in the United Kingdom. Not even his own son could match him. He carried aircraft carries without noticeable effort. Held up skyscrapers. Diverted asteroids. The best estimate of his full lifting capacity was several million tons, and this was widely regarded as a lowball estimate. His ability to absorb punishment (not resist it) was equally unparalleled. Cory, Tex, and Ben each have equally impressive damage resistance, however, not of them are in Starman’s league when that alone is not enough. Cory’s not bad, but all of them will go down and stay there if enough damage is applied. He never did. This was thought to be the legacy of his metahuman genetics…until his son did it, at the last, against Armageddon. Something about the Starpowers makes the possessor able to stand and fight when they should be down and out, if not outright dying. Indeed, he was the mighty, invincible Starman…until he wasn’t. For Starwoman, it was genuinely phenomenal speed, equal quickness and reflexes, and the ability to emit and manipulate said stellar energy. And again, she set the platinum standard in all categories. Nobody without abilities on a cosmic scale has ever exceeded her speed and blasting power. Her speed was matched by Arriba, but he was partly empowered by one of those folks on the cosmic scale and he could not fly. She could. As of this writing, the only known non cosmic powered being that has matched her blasting power is Drone Prime (The Prince). And he is an ageless immortal at the peak of his power. She wasn’t immortal at all. Everyone else has fallen short. To be clear, she wasn’t merely hypersonic. She wasn’t merely beyond hypersonic. She could go from immobile to a significant fraction of the speed of light almost instantaneously. Some modern historians downplay her abilities, but she was every bit as powerful and important to the success of the Champions as Starman himself. She wasn’t merely his wife or even his right hand. They were equal partners from the beginning to the very end. Starman, over time, developed some tricks he could do with his strength. He could clap his hand together in a couple of different ways to create either a damaging shockwave or a deafening thunderclap. He could exhale extra hard and blow foes away. Or he could just put the opponent in a sleeper hold after grappling them, and put them to sleep. Starwoman had more ways to manipulate stellar energy than her standard blast. She could also use rapid fire bolts, create temporary solid objects (a power her son also possessed) and uniquely, at least so far, could maintain a damaging field of energy around herself in whatever shape she chose. As an interesting note, she (like the entire Starfamily) couldn’t use her full speed and emit energy at the same time. This is very likely because energy being emitted was not energy being used for her speed. Tactically, they were a well oiled machine even by ’62. Starman got in close and punched hard. Starwoman would hang back and blast away. But as always, the devil’s in the details. Ordinary thugs literally couldn’t hurt Starman. Hell, ordinary supervillains couldn’t hurt him. Toughness 20, Impervious 15 is functionally invincible unless one can overcome the Impervious without using Penetrating. So he’d just wade in disarming the thuggery. Maybe he’d use Thunderclap to distract them. He routinely cut Strength or Shockwave ranks to avoid doing lethal damage to ordinary supervillains. It’s really what the Stellar Might Tricks were for. Clearing out the foes who couldn’t really hurt him but could hurt his allies or unevacuated bystanders. For anyone with power and durability approaching his own, he brought out his legendary full power punches. He had both All Out Attack and Startle to help those punches hit, and Power Attack on the rare occasion he needed to hit even harder. He also had Interpose, to take punishment others could not endure. Take note of Ultimate Strength, Ultimate Toughness, and Untapped Potential. For when the need was dire, the mighty and invincible Starman could surpass his limits and momentarily possess the power of a god. Starwoman took a similar approach, but again the devil’s in the details. Instead of being unable to hurt her, common thuggery is unable to hit her. Even ordinary supervillains struggled. So she leaned on disarming the thuggery too. Sometimes she trapped them in Stellar Energy Object instead. She routinely cut Star Bolts ranks to avoid doing lethal damage and used Autofire’s Multiple Targets option on groups. Not like she was likely to miss, right? Accurate Attack could cut damage ranks while boosting, well, Accuracy, so it was her go to here. Defensive Attack could boost her Defense. Power Attack could add damage. She abused Move by Action relentlessly. Her using Multiple Targets with Star Bolts and Move by Action was by far the most common thing she did and generally how she is remembered acting in combat. This does not mean she never used Star Blast or Star Energy Field. It’s just that with Power Attack available, she rarely needed to use the former and with Multiple Targets the latter wasn’t always the best option. Stellar Energy Objects gave her a way of lifting things, too, which was very useful. Especially when Starman or Megagirl’s hands were full. These builds represent them from 1962 to 1982. Starwoman doesn’t actually change after ’82, however. In ’61 they had Stellar Speed instead of Stellar Flight, and they didn’t know they could fly until close to the end of the year. Starman, after recovering from the battle with Kuros, had his INT reduced to 8 (-1) and his WIS reduced to 14 (+2). His Craft and Knowledge skills do not change, but his Notice and Sense Motive drop to +10. Additonally, he drops two ranks of Base Attack and Defense, reducing him to PL 15. In 1985, with his powers starting to fail, Stellar Strength and Stellar Resilience drop to 25 ranks each. Stellar Durability drops two ranks, to 13. Stellar Might Tricks is drops two ranks as well, to 13, and all array settings are reduced accordingly. His Base Attack and Defense drop one more point, leaving him PL 13. It is not known how much further he declined in his retirement. He was, however, noticeably frail looking and virtually immobile without using Stellar Flight. So it was probably very bad. Personality: People these days like to pretend that John Thompkins was a saint on earth. That Starman was this flawless ideal. He wasn’t. He was just a man. Not the smartest. Not the wisest. Just a man born in the US Midwest in the Great Depression. He never thought he’d be anybody. He never thought he’d make more of a difference in the world than by raising his kids with the principles he’d been raised with. And then that changed. People misunderstand who he was so much. They think he was one of those heroes driven by compassion and love for his fellow people. That he couldn’t stand to let bad things happen to good people. This is false. There is no record of him being anything other than your average helpful bystander before 1961. John Thompkins believed in responsibility. The more power one had, the more responsibility they had. This responsibility was to do for others what they could not reasonably be expected for themselves. So yes, he helped short people reach things. Maybe escorted an old lady or three across the street. Little things, because he was only a man. A big, strong man, but only a man. And then, once again, that changed. But John didn’t. He was no different, on this front, in 1986 than he was in 1961. The thing that was different, well…by 2019 standards the 1961 version of John was a little racist and sexist. To be fair, this was ignorance, not malice. Things were different back then, and to his credit his long friendships with Gunsmith (himself a Black man), Megagirl, and Arriba (and learning to actually listen to his wife instead of unthinkingly support her) educated him on the subjects. The 1986 version of John was a good man indeed, but one who was glad to put his responsibility down. He never enjoyed being a hero, contrary to most of his contemporaries. This isn’t to say that he hated it. John wasn’t a man of deep thoughts or complex emotions. He had the power, so he had the responsibility. End of thought process. His feelings about it weren’t relevant. But in 1986 he was tired. His body hurt. He limped. He couldn’t always get his thoughts focused anymore. And he was pushing 60. His son was more than ready. So John Thompkins took off his Starman shirt for the last time, and went home without a backward glance. Some people might say this makes him not the hero they thought he was. To them I say…he did a job he didn’t enjoy for 25 years. He threw everything he had into it, and never accepted any reward beyond a decent meal and a place to sleep. It destroyed his body, damaged his mind, and wore away at his sanity. He had saved more people than any of us will ever meet before the Champions were founded. And your complaint is that he found it all too easy to retire? Well. Aren’t you picky. People like to characterize Starwoman as little more than a dutiful housewife who never did anything but support her husband. This is inaccurate. She was a dedicated feminist to the end of her days. While she may have deferred to her husband’s desires to remain apolitical while in costume, Judy Thompkins had no such limitations. Those who knew her say that she was a cheerful, intelligent woman with a strong sense of humor and a slow burning but volcanic temper. Her journals detail a woman who didn’t have any choice but to get married if she wanted to ever leave the small town she grew up in, endless frustration with the limitations forced on women for no other reason than the fact that they were women, and the lack of opportunities for her to use her very fine mind. She was deeply passionate about geology and chemistry. She wanted to be someone, to make her mark on history. She had so many dreams, and being Starwoman basically allowed to live most of them. Her knowledge of earth science came in handy many times. She was famous, she was someone who mattered, and she made a nice big mark on history. So why was it that she was the one who had to stay home with the children while Starman got to go adventuring with the Champions? She was feminist, right? Why would she put up with that? Well, first that’s making a lot of assumptions about a woman who could move at a significant percentage of the speed of light. Second, it was about public relations. It was never a secret that Starman and Stargirl had had children. They announced the pregnancies in the Tribune, for heaven’s sake. Perhaps not the wisest of moves, but their new baby excitement knew no bounds. So they agreed it was best if they avoided the press asking who was watching the children, and in the 60s and 70s that meant Stargirl/woman was the one who was “staying home”. Officially, anyway. She was around a lot more than most people think, especially in 1975 after Jackie started middle school and Starboy debuted.

Shadowspirit (Real Name Unknown) Power Level: 12; Power Points Spent: 255/255 STR: +5 (20), DEX: +7 (24), CON: +5 (20), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +5/+7, Fort: +8, Ref: +17, Will: +8 Skills: Acrobatics 8 (+15), Bluff 12 (+15), Diplomacy 7 (+10), Disable Device 12 (+15), Disguise 12 (+15), Escape Artist 13 (+20), Gather Information 12 (+15), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 2 (+5), Knowledge (current events) 7 (+10), Knowledge (history) 7 (+10), Knowledge (streetwise) 7 (+10), Language 4 (+4), Medicine 2 (+5), Notice 12 (+15), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Sleight of Hand 3 (+10), Stealth 13 (+20), Survival 7 (+10) Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Assessment, Attack Focus (melee) 10, Benefit (enigma) 3, Challenge - Improved Feint, Challenge - Improved Taunt, Chokehold, Defensive Attack, Distract (Bluff), Dodge Focus 4, Elusive Target, Equipment 3, Evasion, Fascinate (Bluff), Fearless, Grappling Finesse, Improved Critical 2 (Martial Arts (Strike 2)), Improved Grab, Improved Initiative, Improved Pin, Improved Throw, Improved Trick, Improved Trip, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Quick Change 2, Skill Mastery 3 (Acro, Bluff, Diplo, Dis Dev, Disguise, Esc Art, Gather Info, Notice, SM, SoH, Steal, Stunning Attack, Takedown Attack 2, Taunt, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory), Well-Informed Powers: Martial Arts (Strike 2) (DC 22, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Martial Arts (Strike 2)); Mighty) Martial Arts Training (Container, Passive 2) Fast (Speed 1) (Speed: 10 mph, 88 ft./rnd) High Jumper (Leaping 1) (Jumping distance: x2) Stealth Gymnastic Training (Super-Movement 2) (slow fall, trackless) Stronger Than She Looks (Super-Strength 1) (+5 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 800 lbs; +1 STR to some checks) Toughened (Protection 2) (+2 Toughness) Soviet Regen Treatment (Linked) Immunity 3 (Linked; aging, disease, poison) Regeneration 35 (Linked; ability damage 8 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery bonus 4 (+4 to recover), recovery rate (bruised) 3 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (disabled) 8 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (injured) 6 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (staggered) 6 (recover 1 / round without rest); Persistent, Regrowth) Equipment: Hovercycle Attack Bonus: +7 (Ranged: +7, Melee: +17, Grapple: +24/+25) Attacks: Martial Arts (Strike 2), +17 (DC 22), Unarmed Attack, +17 (DC 20) Defense: +17 (Flat-footed: +7), Knockback: -3 Initiative: +11 Languages: English, Inuit, Japanese, Russian Native, Spanish Totals: Abilities 52 + Skills 38 (152 ranks) + Feats 52 + Powers 55 + Combat 40 + Saves 18 + Drawbacks 0 = 255 ***************************************************************************************** Hovercycle Power Level: 12; Equipment Points Spent: 15 STR: +2 (15) Toughness: +8 Features: Remote Control Powers: Flight 5 (Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd) Defense: +0 Totals: Abilities 1 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Feats 0 + Features 1 + Powers 10 + Combat 0 + Saves 3 + Drawbacks 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 15 Age (as of Jan 2019): 118 Height: 5’ 4” Weight: 125 lbs Ethnicity: Russian Hair: Snow White (covered by mask) Eyes: Blue (obscured by mask) Background: Shadowspirit was very old, very tired, and very sad. She was a teenage girl in Petrograd (present day St. Petersburg). She went on strike with basically everyone else in early March 1917, and thus was a relatively minor part of the February Revolution (Russia was not yet on the current Gregorian calendar, thus it was still technically February for most of it). She was a firm Bolshevik by the end of June, after a brief revolt in the city in the Bolshevik name (but crucially, not with leaders Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky’s permission) failed miserably and most were arrested. She was disguised as a boy under a false name in the Red Guards by the time of the October Revolution. Her unit was one of those folded into the new Red Army. The Russian Civil War started in early 1918. By the time it ended in 1923, Shadowspirit had adopted her most enduring alias of “Natalia Godunova” and was regarded in inner circles as probably the best scout, spy, and assassin in the Red Army. She was an important part of suppressing the Kronstadt Rebellion in 1921, which brought her to the attention of one Josef Stalin. Stalin had many loyalists and agents, but very few survived his purges. The woman known only as “Natalia” was one of both. Her actions were a key part of Stalin taking power instead of Trotsky, leading to his exile. Trotsky’s bodyguards had a good description of her, in case she was sent to kill him. This was, in part, the reason why she never was. The other part is that she was very, very busy. One of the NKVD’s top agents, answerable only to Stalin himself, she spied on everyone. Information she collected led to assassinations, jailings, or being sent through the Gulag system. She performed some of the assassinations personally, as an unarmed woman would be more likely to be underestimated in the period. The Great Purges of ’37-‘38 featured much of her work alongside many others. She was legitimately feared. Especially in world War 2. The Nazis invaded the Soviet Union, as is known, on June 22 1941. The extremely unprepared Soviets were on the back foot for quite some time. Between Nazi super operatives and their regular military, they forced the Soviets to the brink of defeat…and “Natalia” out of the shadows. There were six of them. “Natalia” was considered the leader. A giant of a man, irradiated to prodigious strength and durability by early nuclear testing. A bulky prototype armored suit created for undersea work, but did not lack for weapons. The alleged son of the Slavic thunder god Perun that was actually an android advanced even by today’s supertech standards. And two genuinely badass Cossacks, one an impossibly skilled archer and the other a truly gifted kinetomancer. The English language newspapers called them the Defenders of the People. Since I am decidedly not fluent in Russian, Dear Reader, that is what I will use. Put bluntly, the Defenders whooped Nazi ass wherever they found it. The cream of the Nazi super operative crop was still in Western Europe at the start of the invasion, so what they were up against was mostly pathetic or regular military. It was still a race against time to push the Nazis back before too much territory was lost or the top Nazi super operatives came calling. It all came to a head at the Battle of Moscow, where the Defenders proved their worth and booted the Nazi armies away from the city. Honestly, the Defenders killed more Nazi super operatives than any other force during the war in a long series of dramatic battles across every major battlefield on the Eastern Front. And ultimately the invasion could not be sustained without them. The Defenders and the Red Army may well have reversed the blitzkrieg all the way into Berlin, except for the incredible telekinetic rage of a young Jewish Phoenix Mutate named Josef Pietrovich. The Red Army was delayed reorganizing after that incident at Auschwitz. The Defenders were not. Neither were the members of Project Blue Liberty, since it was now months after D-Day. It was the last stand of the remaining Nazi super operatives. The Project and the Defenders nearly came to blows afterward. “Natalia” had orders to kill ‘em all and drag the corpses back to Russia for experimentation. Oliver Snow had orders to arrest whoever surrendered. A tense moment indeed. But an agreement was reached, and the Defenders returned to Mother Russia heroes. This did not last. Mostly because Stalin, in his aging paranoia, wanted them killed before their popularity lead to anything…undesirable. Whether anything would have happened or not is irrelevant. “Natalia”, ever the loyalist, obeyed. She killed the two Cossacks in their sleep in 1946. She killed the inventor of the armored suit in ’47 by throwing him off a high balcony, and then delivered the suit and its schematics to the NKVD. The irradiated man succumbed to cancer that same year. She’d poisoned him with plutonium shards in his food. The android took a little longer. But in August 1949, she lured him to modern day Kazakhstan, to the site of the first Soviet nuclear test. Surprisingly, being literally nuked didn’t kill him, only doing enough damage to knock his systems offline and revealing his android nature. So she took his disabled body to the NKVD, too. And then Stalin died. Well, one thing first. “Natalia” was starting to get old. But stolen secrets wrung from captured Nazi scientists and the bodies of slain super operatives provided a potential solution. The treatment seems to work quite well, especially with Soviet improvements. So “Natalia”, in mid 1952, underwent a special treatment. The pain was excruciating. The rehabilitation was worse. Relearning how to walk. How to feed herself. All of her skills and abilities. In a sense, the woman she was before died, and she was reborn a new person. Unfortunately, she was declared ready for duty again on the same day (March 1, 1953) that Stalin was found semi-conscious from a brain hemorrhage on the floor of his Dacha. He died four days later. It was announced the day afterward, which is how “Natalia” found out about it. The following three years were spent in a bit of a daze. No one but Stalin had had the authority to give her orders. Nikita Khrushchev, as First Secretary and Georgi Malenkov, as Premier had the combined authority to do it, but they’d have to agree, and they’d also kind of just found out she wasn’t a myth or a combination of several people. And even outside of that, there were questions about just how loyal to Stalin she was. They didn’t trust her, and honestly nobody should blame them for that. So she had literally nothing to do but sit in Moscow under informal house arrest. She was, however, allowed into the room when Khrushchev unleashed his speech. On the Cult of Personality and its Consequences exploded “Natalia’s” entire worldview. She openly wept during the four hour speech. She had been quite blind. Afterward, she reaffirmed that her loyalty lay with the Soviet Union, not with any one man. Still, Khrushchev became Premier in 1958 and the only man authorized to give her orders. And he did. They were, perhaps, kinder order than Stalin’s ever were, but she remained a spy and assassin. It was the Cuban Missile Crisis and the accompanying near intervention of Starman and Stargirl (later Starwoman) that changed things. The Treaty of Havana banned superhuman operatives above a certain minimal grade being used in official warfare, liking them to tactical nuclear weapons. And this put “Natalia” out of work. And, a couple of years later, Khrushchev out of a job. With him out of power, there was no one left who could call her back. “Natalia” disappeared. All of this is not known to anyone currently living with only a few notable exceptions. The Shining Guardian, Caviezel, and Terrifica. The former two because Shadowspirit told them, her best friends, about it. The latter because she figured it out on her own. Her history from there becomes even less traceable, which is impressive. She popped up in Vietnam as more or less a spectator on the War, but records are inconsistent how when, how long, how often she was there, and if it was even her in the first place. She literally wrote the book on how to be a ghost in the world, at least for Russian speakers, so it makes sense that if she wanted not to be found or tracked, that is how it would be. So it isn’t entirely clear when the professional superhero Shadowspirit debuted. It was definitely after the end of the war in Vietnam in 1975, as her old war stories include watching the tanks roll in late April. With enough detail that she had to have been there. But when she arrived in Anchorage is unknown. What is known, however, is that she rescued then 17 year old Cindy Paulsen from Robert Hansen, and beat the stuffing out of him. This was June 13, 1983. She’d apparently been tracking the serial killer for a while, which would throw doubt on her being in Saigon in ’75 (as Hansen apparently began killing in ’71) except again, the sheer detail. The beating got Hansen arrested, and the suspicions of the Alaska State Police and an FBI profile on an unidentified killer got his belongings and vehicles searched. Souvenirs of his killings were found. Time for prison. Alaska seemed to have its own superhero. One hell of a debut, sort of. Once her costume was described in the media, people came forward as having seen her for years. Just dismissed as being tired or drunk. And it was always dark. The crime rate in Alaska is among the highest in the United States, so she never lacked for something to do. An Anchorage news anchor coined her name, calling her a “ protective spirit in the shadows”. Sure, why not? And this was the state of affairs in 2001, when the Shining Guardian and Fletcher combined their brainpower to make contact. She’d been active for a long, long time. Just like them. Their new group could just another steady veteran presence. And so, Shadowspirit helped found the Icons. The early days weren’t so bad. Vincent Mortelini and his Phantom Network passed them information. Well, her and Caviezel, who were a bit more…ethically flexible. It was 2011 when things got interesting, with Lei Zi and her alien army invading poor Fletcher’s Seattle. She helped with that, certainly, but it wasn’t nearly as flashy and dramatic as Henry, Tidal, Tex, and Fletcher were. She was just there, punching and kicking and sometimes shooting with their interesting rifles. Aw, her accuracy had declined. A pity, but she had no reason to practice anymore. 2013 was certainly an adventure and a half. Oh, yes. Poor Henry. They fought Neo-Nazis, avoided regular Army and law enforcement, and even briefly helped the President fake his death. This was harder than she thought it would be. Improved security since the days of Kennedy, it seemed. She knew of Jin, yes, but he was Henry’s friend and Henry was the one who wanted to save him no matter the cost. She simply went along with it. Queenie was very helpful. Proved her worth as a hero quite well, in Shadowspirit’s opinion. It all came down to a final battle on a very big plane. Flying Fortress, Henry called it. While Henry faced off with his old friend, “Natalia Godunova” dealt with the last member of The Blade of The Rising Sun. He was a robot now, his flesh having failed him years ago. She breathed in the irony of this, considering her own situation, and then smashed the robot with her bare hands. He was the brains behind the whole affair. With Jin rescued, the mastermind destroyed, and a lot of Neo-Nazi supervillains defeated, the day was saved. Good job all around. She again played a minor role when Fletcher accidently made that AI that almost killed everyone in the world. All she could do was punch robot drones, and she did it well. She stuck with Fletcher during the Icons civil war because she knew which way he would fall once the law was passed and knew that he would need a friend. Candy was too new, and the rest would go with Henry or away. Caviezel and Terrifica surprised her. She thought each of them would have made the choice the other did. Ah, well. No one was perfect. So, she was still with Fletcher, Candy, and the replacements he had recruited when Kuros The Savior came storming out of Tian (the Chinese divine realms) in 2017. It would have made any difference for Orca to be there. They would have still lost. If that Jackie’s team and the mightiest of the Exiles were not match, the whale man would not have made any difference. She and Marian Soaring Eagle helped everyone get proper medical attention while Kuros and his forces moved on to Baltimore and the Eternity War. Of course, after that there was not a lot to do except help manage the chaos after half of all life on Earth had turned to dust and blown away. 2018. Terrifica and Marian Soaring Eagle had a way to undo what had been done. To reform the Crystals of Power Kuros had shattered in doing what he did. This was good. Everyone had a role. She went with Caviezel to that high mountain to reform the Soul Crystal. He came back, bruised as if from a fight. She did not. Well, in a manner of speaking. What happened on that high mountain is unclear. What is known is that reforming the Soul Crystal requires a soul. Meaning someone has to die. It cannot be done with murder, despite Terrifica’s jokes. It requires a willing sacrifice. Whether it’s of life, love, or something else important is also unclear. Magic is a fuzzy, undefined thing at times. So passed the 118 year old Shadospirit. Of many aliases, but the most common being Natalia Godunova. It was not the name she was born under, but it was the name she used the most. As a note, the new Soul Crystal was the only one not to shatter anew after Fletcher used them to destroy Kuros and all of his forces to end the Endgame. It is stored underneath the Rockies, accessible only to Marian Soaring Eagle and Sage. Shadowspirit had no regular enemies or allies in Anchorage or indeed the whole of Alaska. It’s not a very well populated state. There’s more people in the city of Milwaukee than in the whole state, so it makes sense. Her legacy is that of a heroic one, and a few new heroes have popped up to honor her. How long they’ll last remains to be seen. The legacy of Natalia Godunova, on the other hand, is not nearly as nice. In Alaska she was a humble martial arts dojo owner. Forgotten. In Eastern Europe and the former USSR, she isn’t remembered as merely the Boogeyman. She is remembered as the person you called to kill the fucking Boogeyman. She was one of Josef Stalin’s most silent and inescapable agents, and her death or imprisonment was never reported. A virtually immortal killer disappeared into the world. The prospect of her reappearance keeps intelligence agencies in the area up at night. The truth of her is, as ever, somewhere in the middle. She was loyal to Stalin, yes, but she was more loyal to the ideals of the Soviet Union. She believed what the “Man of Steel” said. Until that speech by Khrushchev, where she learned the truth of what he had been doing. She was a monster serving a greater one. Her patriotism had been exploited virtually from the start by a man who knew what he was doing. She left Russia under a cloud she never fully escaped. Not even at the end, on that high mountain. Not even decades of heroism could fully erase the red in her mind’s ledger. And even now, her soul does not yet know peace. It is serving as the Soul Crystal. The epilogue of the life of Natalia Godunova, alias Shadowspirit, is not quite over yet… Powers & Tactics: Shadowspirit was genuinely one of the finest martial artists on the planet, and the beneficiary of a Soviet super soldier program that gave her mutant powers. As a martial artist, she was right there when Sambo was being initially developed (separately) by Viktor Spiridonov and Vasili Oshchepkov (whom her work got sent to prison, where he died ) for the Red Army in the 1920s. So, Combat Sambo was her base and strongest martial art. However, her travels through the world (both as a Soviet agent and afterward) broadened her skill set. She augmented her Sambo training with a few of the martial arts it takes from, such as boxing, kickboxing, judo, wrestling, and jiu-jutsu. She also trained in karate. Her mutant powers were generative in nature. She would heal with phenomenal speed from even the most grievous injuries. But it was the depth of her ability to heal that was truly remarkable. Merely by living, humans accumulate a collection of wear and tear injuries from repetitive use, diseases, and poisons. Their bodies’ ability to recover from such things is both imperfect and wears out over time. This is a very surface level description of the aging process. It’s much more complex than this description. However, the treatment caused her to heal even this damage. For Shadowspirit, there was no such thing as scarring or permanent damage from anything at all. So she did not age properly, and at first this was confused with being genuinely ageless. This was not the case. The accumulated damage of living could not kill her, as she healed from it perfectly. However, this had nothing to do with bones, organs, and connective tissue simply wearing out over time. The peak strength of the body simply runs out. She was genuinely biologically 118 years old at the time of her death. She just so happened to be the healthiest and most physically fit biologically 118 year old that has ever existed. One’s muscles (including the heart) are built up and maintained by stressing them to the point of damage, and they build back stronger. Exercise has been shown to help keep bones stronger than they would be otherwise through a similar process. Imagine how that worked with her regenerative speed. As such, it’s not particularly clear if she could have died from natural causes or simple aging at all. It’s entirely possible that she could have kept on living for centuries, getting older and weaker but never quite enough to die. And she was keenly aware of her gradual decline. There were some things no amount of exercise could deal with. Liver, lungs, kidneys, GI tract, etc. They were all in extremely good condition, but still 118 years old. Tactically, Shadowspirit was about as pure an unarmed fighter as it’s possible to be. She hadn’t used so much as a knife in over 30 years. She didn’t need one. She’d spent over 30 years as a super spy, so she was by a country mile the founding Icon least likely to charge into battle with foes. She made use of Stealth and Disguise liberally. A old and very effective spying technique is simple eavesdropping. And only once she had the information she required would she start punching people in the face. Ordinary thuggery was absolutely no match for her. She’d simply Accurate Attack for +2 or +3 and Takedown Attack 2 through them like a buzzsaw. For ordinary supervillains she could mix things up with Improved Feint, Taunt, and Trick. Layer in All Out and Power Attack for more durable foes. She was quite a skilled grappler, and could choke foes unconscious given enough time. Stunning Attack could mix things up. She had caution but no fear of being injured, as it would heal in seconds. She could not power stunt at all. A note: This build represents Shadowspirit, not the Russian spy and assassin Natalia Godunova. As such, it only represents her from 1983 to her death in 2018. From 1917 to her treatment in 1952 would be at least three different builds, and her capabilities from her discharge in 1963 to her reappearance 20 years later are not known. She also didn’t have the Hovercycle until 2002, as it was a gift from Fletcher. Personality: Shadowspirit was very old, very tired, and very sad. You, Dear Reader, would be too if you were her age. And had had the kind of life she had had. She spent over 35 years of her life fighting and lying and killing for an ideal and the man she thought embodied it more than anyone else. A set of unnoticed ears. A knife in the dark. Breaker of necks and souls! She had faith. She believed. And it was all bullshit. Lies, deception, and charm. Stalin was not the hero of the Soviet Union. He was its greatest villain. A monster she had blindly served. And yet she could never entirely dismiss him as that. If she was a tool and a pawn, then why he did he not get rid of her? Why did he depend on her for so many missions? Why was she made leader of the Defenders? Why did he trust her, all the way to the end, when many others fell out of his favor? She never was able to figure it out. It could be said that she was a woman on a path of atonement. There was so much blood on her hands. So much red in her ledger. She had believed that it would all be worth it for the glorious future of the Soviet Union, but…well. It wasn’t. There wasn’t any one moment where she decided to be a superhero. It was something she just fell into. Without Robert Hansen, she may have remained nothing more than an urban legend until whenever the end of her days came at last. Slowly balancing her ledger, one saved life at a time. But that changed. She got to do good on a larger scale with the Icons. She enjoyed that. But she was getting older and older. And her ledger was still so very red. That day, on that high mountain, was her chance to balance it forever. It appears that she took it. And yet…her soul does not appear to be satisfied. She did not permit the Soul Crystal to break. Even dying for half of all life in the universe was apparently not enough for her. For now. This does not mean that she was morose or a grump. Far from it. She acted like the most obvious spy imaginable. A walking caricature of the foreign femme fatale. This was all in good fun. She liked to tease people a little. What can be said? She was very old and no longer gave a shit about making her friends and/or allies a little uncomfortable. It wasn’t that she couldn’t turn into an absolute professional virtually instantly. Because she could, when it was needed. She was perhaps a little fatalistic in that curiously Russian way. Bad things are going to happen whether anyone wants them to or not, yes? But you hope they don’t, right? And then she turns the philosophy around, just a bit. Because hope requires action. Sitting and hoping never accomplished anything. The 17 year old who marched in the streets of Petrograd was still alive and well, all the way to the end. Even if she was very old, very tired, and very sad. She still believed in hope and taking action for a better world. Collective action would be best, but she would take what she could get. She was, after all, still a Bolshevik in her heart.

Fletcher (Morris Archer) Power Level: 12; Power Points Spent: 255/255 STR: +3 (16), DEX: +5 (20), CON: +3 (16), INT: +7 (24), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +3/+8, Fort: +8, Ref: +15, Will: +10 Skills: Acrobatics 10 (+15), Bluff 12 (+15), Computers 13 (+20), Craft (electronic) 13 (+20), Craft (mechanical) 13 (+20), Diplomacy 12 (+15), Disable Device 13 (+20), Drive 5 (+10), Gather Information 12 (+15), Knowledge (business) 8 (+15), Knowledge (civics) 8 (+15), Knowledge (current events) 8 (+15), Knowledge (physical sciences) 13 (+20), Knowledge (streetwise) 8 (+15), Knowledge (tactics) 8 (+15), Knowledge (technology) 13 (+20), Language 2 (+2), Medicine 2 (+5), Notice 17 (+20), Pilot 5 (+10), Search 3 (+10), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Stealth 10 (+15), Survival 12 (+15) Feats: Accurate Attack, Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Focus (ranged), Attack Specialization (Unarmed Attack), Attack Specialization 2 (Tech Bow & Trick Arrows (Device 8)), Benefit (CEO of Archeron, Inc), Benefit 3 (Wealth), Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Defensive Roll, Dodge Focus 4, Equipment 7, Evasion, Improved Aim, Improved Critical 2 (Trick Arrows & Force Lens Blasts (Array 14)), Improved Initiative, Improved Ranged Disarm, Improvised Tools, Inventor, Power Attack, Precise Shot 2, Quick Draw, Skill Mastery 2 (Acro, Comps, Craft (elec & mech), Dis Dev, Notice, Stealth, Survival), Ultimate Effort (Aim), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Costume (Device 5) (Hard to lose) Body Armor (Protection 4) (+4 Toughness) Integral Radio (Communication 6) (sense type: radio) Mask Sensors (Super-Senses 13) (analytical (type): Visual, direction sense, distance sense, extended (type): Visual 1 (-1 per 100 ft), infravision, microscopic vision 2 (cell-size), time sense, tracking: Visual 2 (normal speed), ultravision) Wireless Computer Link (Datalink 2) (sense type: radio) Tech Bow & Trick Arrows (Device (Easy to lose) Trick Arrows & Force Lens Blasts (Array 14) (default power: blast) Acid Arrow (Blast (Array; DC 23; Secondary Effect; Improved Range 2 (400 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 4000 feet)) Adamantine Arrow (Blast (Array; DC 23; Penetrating; Improved Range 2 (400 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 4000 feet)) Adhesive Arrow (Snare (Array; DC 18; Backlash; Improved Range 2 (400 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 4000 feet)) Boxing Glove Arrow (Trip (Array; Autofire (interval 2, max +5), Knockback; Improved Range 2 (400 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 4000 feet)) EMP Arrow (Nullify (Array; counters: all powers of (type) - technological, DC 18; Effortless; Improved Range 2 (400 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 4000 feet)) Explosive Arrow (Blast (Array; DC 23; Burst Area (40 ft. radius - Targeted); Improved Range 2 (400 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 4000 feet)) Flash Bomb Arrow (Dazzle (Array; affects: visual senses, DC 18; Burst Area (40 ft. radius - General); Improved Range 2 (400 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 4000 feet)) Force Lens Multi-Blast (Blast (Default; DC 23; Autofire (interval 2, max +5); Improved Range 2 (400 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 4000 feet)) Grapple Arrow (Linked) Speed 3 (Linked; Speed: 50 mph, 440 ft./rnd) Super-Movement 4 (Linked; slow fall, swinging, wall-crawling 2 (full speed)) Smoke Arrow (Obscure (Array; affects: visual senses, Radius: 1000 ft.; Selective Attack; Improved Range 2 (400 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 4000 feet)) Strobe Arrow (Paralyze (Array; DC 18; Range (ranged); Improved Range 2 (400 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 4000 feet)) Taser Arrow (Stun (Array; DC 18; Range (ranged); Improved Range 2 (400 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range 2 (max range x5, 4000 feet)) Thermite Arrow (Corrosion 4) (Array; DC 19; Range (ranged); Accurate 2 (+4), Improved Range (100 ft. incr), Progression, Increase Range (max range x2, 1000 feet)) Equipment: Fletch-cycle, The Fletchery Attack Bonus: +11 (Ranged: +12, Melee: +11, Grapple: +14) Attacks: Acid Arrow (Blast 8), +16 (DC 23), Adamantine Arrow (Blast 8), +16 (DC 23), Adhesive Arrow (Snare 8), +16 (DC Ref/Staged 18), Boxing Glove Arrow (Trip 8), +16 (DC 18), EMP Arrow (Nullify 8), +16 (DC Will 18), Explosive Arrow (Blast 8), +16 (DC 23), Flash Bomb Arrow (Dazzle (DC Fort/Ref 18), Force Lens Multi-Blast (Blast 8), +16 (DC 23), Strobe Arrow (Paralyze 8), +16 (DC Staged/Will 18), Taser Arrow (Stun 8), +16 (DC Fort/Staged 18), Thermite Arrow (Corrosion 4), +20 (DC Fort/Tou ), Unarmed Attack, +13 (DC 18) Defense: +15 (Flat-footed: +6), Knockback: -4 Initiative: +9 Languages: Chinese (Mandarin), English Native, Spanish Totals: Abilities 48 + Skills 58 (232 ranks) + Feats 39 + Powers 44 + Combat 44 + Saves 22 + Drawbacks 0 = 255 ***************************************************************************************** Fletch-cycle Power Level: 12; Equipment Points Spent: 15 STR: +2 (15) Toughness: +8 Features: Remote Control Powers: Flight 5 (Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd) Defense: +0 Totals: Abilities 1 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Feats 0 + Features 1 + Powers 10 + Combat 0 + Saves 3 + Drawbacks 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 15 ***************************************************************************************** The Fletchery Power Level: 12; Equipment Points Spent: 20 Toughness: +10 Features: Communications, Computer, Concealed 1, Dock, Fire Prevention System, Garage, Gym, Hangar, Infirmary, Laboratory, Library, Living Space, Pool, Power System, Security System 3 Size: Large Totals: Abilities 0 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Feats 0 + Features 17 + Powers 0 + Combat 2 + Saves 1 + Drawbacks 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 20 Age (as of Jan 2019): Deceased in 2018 at 68 Height: 5’ 10” Weight: 185 lbs Ethnicity: Scottish Hair: Snow White (formerly Red) Eyes: Green Background: Morris Archer was very likely the last Silver Age hero still active. He was a remarkable man, but he was only that. A man. He was born in Ireland in1950, but emigrated with his parents at a young age, bouncing across the country to Seattle. A city whose heroes may now never entirely escape his shadow. His idol publically debuted when he was 12. The costumed detective Gunsmith. Young Morris thought he was the bee’s knees. The formation of the Champioins of Justice in 1968 only confirmed his hero worship. A mortal man keeping up with virtual gods through skill, customized gear, and will. Morris wanted to be like him. So he trained himself and made his own public debut as Fletcher in 1971. In those days he was more or less a classic archer style hero, protecting the city of Seattle from all sorts of threats. He was also building up his company, Archeron Industries. There was simply never enough time to go meet his hero. Not enough hours in the day and not enough days in the week. Ironically, the two men did meet once. Or rather, Morris Archer met Connor Morris, the civilian identity of Gunsmith. A charity event for the wealthy drew both to Los Angeles for a day and a night. To the end of both of their days, neither knew who the other man was. The disappearance of the Champions (Gunsmith with them) in 1985 broke Morris’s heart a little. He never learned about Gunsmith’s return to earth at the end of the year. The original Starman’s retirement the following year was a sign of darker times to come. The dawn of the Bronze Age. Soon enough, Fletcher’s first partner Songbird (Lauren Brown) was crippled in combat and his sidekick Bowyer (now Armsman) got addicted to cocaine. Fletcher threw him out in a rage, and Songbird abandoned him in frustration. His company started to struggle, having to fight off more than one hostile takeover attempt. And then came the invasion of ’92. Fletcher had helped back in ’82, but the Champions had handled a lot of the heavy lifting. Now there was only Nick Phoenix and Starman II on that scale. It was briefly very ugly, though he made an unlikely friend in Sir Randall Knight (who was the third The Knight at the time but has since changed names and armors to Crusader). And then Nick Phoenix showed how powerful he actually was and dismantled both Kuros’s armada and Kuros himself without any apparent effort. Fletcher was 42 years old. He’d been a superhero for literally half of his life. A life that, by the way, seemed to be falling apart around his ears due to the strain of being a superhero put on his schedule. And one of the world’s mightiest superheroes has just explicitly demonstrated that he was kind of superfluous when it really counted. He was in love with a woman (the lovely Deirdre) and wanted to marry her, too. But she was adamant that she’d only marry Morris Archer. Fletcher could not come along. So, after 21 years of loyal, dedicated service to the city of Seattle, Fletcher retired. Morris Archer married Deirdre, put his company back in order,and repaired his relationship with the retired Lauren and in recovery Bowyer (now firmly Armsman). He missed the entire Iron Age, though he mourned the passing of the original Starman and Starwoman that began it the same as everyone else. Then, like for a very large amount of people, one terrible day in September 2001 changed everything. Though truthfully, he may have come out of retirement regardless. His love Deirdre had died of cancer earlier in the year, and his mansion was unbearably empty without her and her family (who had no reason to visit now, having never liked Morris much). Nick Phoenix was away. Starman II died. The Twin Towers fell. And America’s heroes were showed to be a disorganized mess that couldn’t coordinate a response to any of it. Morris would, until the very last moments of his life, wonder if in some way it was his fault for retiring too early. The guilt and desire to make up for it would define him until those very last moments. Regardless, now 51 years old he got together with the Shining Guardian, Shadowspirit, Tidal, Tex Austin, and Caviezel to form the Icons. Never again. Not on his watch. Fletcher was actually crucial in the early going due to being a literal billionaire and able to just…send helicopters to get those who weren’t quite so fast. This was less necessary after Vincent Mortelini’s Phantom Network started slipping them intel through Shadowspirit and Caviezel. A few phone calls, and everyone could be on scene by the time anything happened, especially with SG’s strength and flight speed to help gather them. They handled some minor situations early on, and even recruited new members in Medic and Sage. Their first test, however, was when Lei Zi, Duchess of Thunder, invaded Seattle with an army because she was pissed at her husband Tidal for not spending enough time with her. Her solution to this problem was to murder the lowly mortal who dared who dared call himself the ally o a god and decimate his beloved city. Where she got the army from, however, was unclear until much later. The Icons (minus Medic, who was performing surgery that day and thus missed his warning calls) defeated the army and Lei Zi. Tidal talked his ever temperamental wife down. Again. And the day was saved. Fletcher, however, was profoundly affected. He was in his 60s now, and feeling his age. He was also concerned about his new sidekick and ward, Bowyer II (Yuki Archer), who had been injured in the battle. So he made a mistake that didn’t seem like one. The win against Lei Zi was closer than he liked, and 9/11 was, as ever, weighing heavily on his mind. The Icons weren’t quite good enough yet. There needed to be a system so that they could identify threats faster, so they could deploy faster. And, as always, he turned to advanced technology. A computer monitoring system. But it needed to be flexible, and understand a hell of a lot of subtle things even a human might get wrong. So he spent much of the next three years, in between aiding the Icons and his own adventures, building an artificial intelligence to run the computer monitoring system. He used a scan of his own brain engrams as a starting point. He named it Arrowsmith, after himself and his old hero. That’s what a Fletcher is, after all. Both of these things proved to be horrible mistakes. Arrowsmith took about five minutes after it’s activation to decide that Fletcher was ludicrously insane, and about five minutes more time spent looking at the internet to decide that the best way to minimize human suffering was to exterminate the entire species. Oh, dear. It also vehemently rejected the concept of having a name as a human idea that would soon be gone. The Icons rallied again at Fletcher’s call, and did battle with the AI and its legion of well armed drones. They needed the well timed assistance of Spike, Candy, and Terrifica to successfully prevent it from dropping a meteor on North America and ending the world, but the day was once again saved. However, the incident trashed Fletcher’s reputation outside of Seattle, and even in his city his popularity was at an all time low. A whole new screw up to make up for. This was the reason for his cooperating with the federal government after the passage of the Superpower Registration Act. He had to make it right. Unfortunately, this was yet another mistake. The Icons shattered. The Shining Guardian took a group in defiance of the new law. Fletcher has to recruit additional heroes in Marian Soaring Eagle, Magna, and Orca to keep the group functional. Tidal and Tex Austin had gone on a mission to the Chinese Heavens, and didn’t even know what had happened. To make matters even worse, Sage, Spike, and Terrifica told both sides to fuck off (Terrifica was less vulgar about it, but a fuck off is a fuck off) and disappeared into their cities. The Icons civil war had begun. It was going when Kuros The Savior stormed out of the Chinese Divine Heavens (or Tian) after kicking lots of ass (including Tidal and Tex Austin). To say Fletcher and his team were…unprepared…was a bit of an understatement. Fortunately they had a little help in a middle aged woman named Jackie with some very familiar powers and her crew of alien…calling them heroes would probably be stretching it, but they had good intentions. They’d been pursing Kuros across half the universe as he smashed everyone in his way of collecting the seven Crystals of Power. After exiting Tian, he had five. And the Exiles core team showed up just in time to lend a hand, too. Blackrose, Radical Dreamer, Myrcelle, Astra, Flare, Stormy, Cory, and Windstorm. All eight. Unfortunately, Kuros was still goddamn Kuros. Perhaps without five Crystals of Power, they’d have had a shot. With them? They got trashed. There was a moment where they were very close to winning, but then Kuros recognized Jackie, she panicked, and everything went to hell. Fletcher tried to stop him last, pulling out one shot arrows he’d never before used because they were too damn powerful. But in the end, Kuros critically injured and defeated him too. Dreamer gave him the Mind Crystal (when the hell did he get that?) after brief conversations with both Fletcher and Kuros. The Savior departed for Baltimore, where he would be stalled for a day by Z’s machinations in the Eternity War, then turn half the universe to firmly deceased Dust. This did not help Fletcher’s guild complex. Not at all. Recovering from his injuries took most of the year. The depleted Icons came back together, but had no answers until the return of Terrifica. The Crystals of Power shattered after Kuros used them. But they could be remade. Terrifica knew some of how to do it. Marian Soaring Eagle knew the rest. It was simply a matter of doing the seven impossible tasks required. The recovered Fletcher accompanied the Shining Guardian on a trip to the past to accumulate enough chronal energy to reform the Time Crystal. The rest of the Icons scattered to do what they could do. The seven Crystal were gathered again, and Tex Austin with his strong will and sturdy body, resurrected everyone Kuros had callously murdered without killing himself. Kuros, now the wrathful Annihilator, returned inside three hours. The final battle of the Endgame had begun. Fletcher fearlessly stepped up to face him again despite his earlier crushing defeat. But this time Kuros did not have any Power Crystals, and Fletcher had help in the Shining Guardian and a more powerful Tidal. The result, however, was not appreciably different. The three had worked together for 17 years. Their teamwork was flawless. However, this was Kuros, who even the legendary original Starman had barely defeated. Who Nick Phoenix had needed his cosmic power to dominate. They simply weren’t powerful enough. Fortunately, the Exiles showed up with literally every hero on the plane to help. Starting with an overcharged Queenie. The battle devolved into a full scale war not just to defeat Kuros, but to keep the reformed Crystals of Power out of his hands lest he murder literally all life in the universe (including himself) as a final “fuck you” to everyone who was “ungrateful” for his only taking half last time. It was not enough. Kuros prepared to end all life in the universe, only to scuffle with Fletcher one last time. He tossed the hero aside once more, only to find he did not have the Crystals anymore. Fletcher remembered what Dreamer had said to him last year. Only one way to end this forever. Dreamer had signaled him telepathically scant seconds earlier. This was the moment where everything would be decided. The Crystals of Power studded the Tech Bow. Fletcher made his wish, drew back the drawstring, said his last words, and fired. The Tech Bow violently exploded, sending him flying. And across the entire universe, the empire of Kuros The Conqueror, Savior, and Annihilator spontaneously collapsed. His cloned and brainwashed troops turned to dust and blew away. His ships and stations crumbled to ash and cinder. His loyal officer corps also became dust. And, at last, even Kuros himself turned to dust and ash, and blew away in the wind. It was over. Fletcher was still alive, amazingly. His injuries, however, were terrible. The only thing keeping him alive was his own will. He was struggling, trying to get up with a body that was no longer physically capable of doing so. There was still work to be done. A world to be safeguarded. He couldn’t abandon them all again. They needed him. Songbird (with her cybernetically reinforced spine), Armsmen, and Bowyer came to his side, having been involved in the battle like every other hero (all of whom were looking on, including the remaining founding Icons). They convinced him that he had more than earned his rest. And thus passed away Morris Archer, alias Fletcher. The end of a long tale that began with a small boy and his idol, and ended with three generations of heroes standing vigil over his last moments. He was only a man, and that was enough. Fletcher leaves a complicated legacy. Was he a hero? Absolutely. His legacy from his first stint is untouchable. 21 years of excellence. It’s after he came back, and especially after Lei Zi’s invasion that it gets complicated. He was an old man without any superpower running around with an armored wizard, a god in human flesh, the mightiest psionic powerhouse the world had yet seen, and various other superpowered heroes. Many of whom were literal decades younger than him, resistant to aging, or both. It caused many to question his sanity and his judgement. Then there was the whole murderous AI incident, the Icons (and US hero community) splintering on his watch, and the colossal failures of the Eternity War. It cannot be said that he should have stayed retired. The Icons simply wouldn’t have worked without him. He was absolutely crucial to their success as well as their failures. So again, his legacy is complicated. I leave it to you to judge for yourself, Dear Reader. At any rate, he had a whole pack of persistent enemies that someone else is going to have to deal with in Seattle now. Probably Armsman (who, as he is in his late 40s, has to be considering retirement) and Bowyer (who doesn’t even have her Five Yet Vet stripes yet), as they know them fairly well between the two of them. With the recovered Songbird (who is in her mid 50s and not about to be clocking significant field time) in a support role. Let’s see. There’s Cutler (Damon Hartwell), an assassin and basically if Fletcher used a sword instead of a bow. Farrier (Bill O’Brian), a long time business rival who decided to settle the score with a suit of powered armor. Marble Man, a statue that has occasionally come to life and caused trouble since the 70s.. The Technoids, a quartet of robot thieves for hire. Black is the stealth specialist, Red is the melee combat specialist, White is the mobility specialist, and Yellow is the sharpshooter. The last enemy is Fletcher’s arch-nemesis since before his initial retirement. The archer and extremely competent assassin, Sharper. She’s one of the top ten assassins in the world, and only lost the number five spot because of Fletcher’s continued intervention. One of her revenge scheme was crippling Songbird with an arrow to the spine. It remains to be seen how any of these will react to Fletcher’s death. Powers & Tactics: Fletcher had no superhuman powers. He was a genius tech specialist, expert in boxing and karate, and one of the finest archers are all time with two devices in his Costume and Tech Bow & Trick Arrows. The primary question is that how did a man in his 60s maintain such a fantastic level of physical fitness? Fanatical exercise would have helped, certainly, but wouldn’t have done the entire job. Well. Archeron Industries has a pharmaceutical division, and Fletcher spared no expense. Any kind of chemical or serum to get the least bit of an edge on Father Time. It worked quite well, but was nibbling at his total lifespan. Originally he may have lived to his late 90s if not longer, but by the time of his death this had dropped to 80 at best. His Costume was a relatively simple thing. Body Armor. A integral radio. A wireless computer link superior to most wi-fi but with much shorter range. And the lenses in his mask cranked up his visual senses about as high as they would go. Full light spectrum. Increased visual distance. An analysis suite. A tracking suite. Lots of things. It was his Tech Bow and quiver full of Trick Arrows that were extremely remarkable. First off, the Tech Bow itself had a Force Lens capable of emitting rapid fire blasts of damaging pure force. This was just in case he ran out of arrows (unlikely after a point) or lost his quiver (more likely, unfortunately). That point where running out of arrows became unlikely was when he replaced his more or less normal quiver with a fully technological one. It looks like there’s only one o every arrow type in the quiver, but it’s got teleportation tech built in that automatically teleports a new arrow into that slot (from his headquarters in Seattle, the Fletchery) after one is drawn out and the sensors in the glove of his drawing hand no longer register it’s presence. Never could get the tech to work on a larger scale. Never will, now. The arrows are also pretty heavily technological and not normal arrows. They’re just lightweight metal shafts when drawn, albeit marked with visual and touch signs that indicate what type of arrow it is. It is the Tech Bow that activated their internal workings when the arrow was nocked so that when it was fired it had the desired effect. As for the various types of arrows…look, there’s a lot of them and neither of us has all day. If there was a type of attack he probably had an arrow for it. Along with a smoke arrow for hindering vision in an area and a cable arrow for added mobility when his flying Fletch-cycle wasn’t an option. Tactically, Fletcher was ready for almost anything. 12 different arrows in the regular rotation. Like I just said, if there was an attack effect, he had an arrow for it. And since he was a rare genius and had a lot of experience, he was more than competent at picking the right arrow for the job. No preferences. Despite the range on his arrows, he rarely was a sniper, preferring to stay close where he could be of more assistance if necessary. He did, however, still make some damn good long range shots over the years. He had Accurate Attack, Improved Aim, Improved Acrobatic Bluff, and Ultimate Aim to help him hit, Power Attack for more damage, and Improved Ranged Disarm to knock dangerous weapons out of hands. He also had Inventor to make things even harder on his enemies. As for power stunts…just like his arrows, there are too many to list here. The average quiver has room for 20 arrows. His tech quiver was bigger at 24 arrows, and only half of those are listed in his build. He power stunted more than any other Icon by a country goddamn mile. As a final note. This build represents Fletcher from the Invasion of 2011 to just before the Endgame. Year Zero (or 1971) Fletch was a PL 8 with +12 accuracy and +4 Effect, +11 defense and +5 toughness (+3 CON, +2 D-Roll). He was using a normal bow and regular trick arrows in those days. He still was in ’82, when he’d reached PL 10. +14 accuracy and +6 effect, +13 defense and +7 toughness (+3 CON, +2 D-Roll, +2 Armor). His return in 2001 was basically this build but with five arrow AP’s knocked off to remove a rank of Device. Attack Spec (unarmed) and Ultimate Aim are also absent. For the Endgame Fletch had cheesed Inventor to bump his Body Armor up 2 ranks and all of his trick arrows and the lens shots up 2 ranks, so he was PL 13 during the final battle. Personality: Fletcher was a man haunted by his failures. The loss of Starman II weighed heavily on him. He was the last active member of a generation of heroes that simply seemed to sputter to a halt. Despite 21 years of initial service, after 2001 he always felt that he could have done better. Done more. His mind was not fool enough to think that he could have saved Starman II at all. But his heart was another matter. Yet the harder he tried to set things up so the world would be safer than he found it before his aging body finally betrayed him, the more events seems to slip out of his control. He did not know how he kept making the exact wrong decision. And the only way he knew to do something about it was to simply attempt to learn from his mistakes and try harder next time. The guilt and remorse eating him alive was simply something he had to put up with. He was an old school Irishman raised in the 50s and 60s. Talking about one’s feelings was not something they did. So most who knew him saw only the warm and friendly man. A stereotypical Irishman with the “gift of the gab” and thus charming and quick with a joke or a witty quip. He could be more than a little arrogant and prickly, to be sure, but he who clearly cared about his fellow humans. The genius billionaire philanthropist. Seattle’s greatest champion. An endlessly kind man worthy of standing beside his idol as one of the greatest to ever put on a costume. His courage and determination knew no bounds. He was a very driven man who refused to let anyone or anything (even himself) stop him from achieving his goals. Ironically, the very same quality that complicated his legacy. He was a legend. Then an Icon. He was Fletcher. He was Morris Archer. He was only a man, and that was more than enough.

The Shining Guardian (Henry Kim) Power Level: 13; Power Points Spent: 285/285 STR: +15 (16/40), DEX: +1 (12), CON: +3 (16), INT: +5 (20), WIS: +5 (20), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +3/+18, Fort: +9, Ref: +9, Will: +15 Skills: Acrobatics 4 (+5), Bluff 7 (+10), Concentration 10 (+15), Craft (artistic) 15 (+20), Craft (mechanical) 15 (+20), Diplomacy 12 (+15), Gather Information 12 (+15), Intimidate 7 (+10), Investigate 5 (+10), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 15 (+20), Knowledge (history) 5 (+10), Knowledge (physical sciences) 5 (+10), Knowledge (theology & philosophy) 10 (+15), Language 3 (+3), Notice 7 (+12), Search 5 (+10), Sense Motive 7 (+12), Stealth 4 (+5) Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Artificer, Attack Focus (ranged) 3, Attack Specialization (Unarmed Attack), Beginner's Luck, Eidetic Memory, Improved Initiative, Inspire 4 (+4), Interpose, Jack-of-All-Trades, Leadership, Luck 4, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Skill Mastery (Craft (art & mech), Gather Info, KN (arcane lore)), Takedown Attack, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Ferromancer (Array 14) (default power: move object) Magic Camera (ESP 9) (Array; affects: 2 types, inc. visual - visual & auditory; No Conduit; Medium; Custom (Rapid (10x Search speed)), Notes: Medium of machines) Mystic Magnetic Bindings (Snare 14) (Array; DC 24) Mystic Magnetic Blast (Blast 14) (Array; DC 29) Mystic Magnetic Burst (Blast 9) (Array; DC 24; Burst Area (45-90 ft. radius - General); Progression, Increase Area (area x2)) Mystic Magnetic Control (Move Object 14) (Default; Strength: 70, Carry: 68.1 tons / 136.2 tons / 204.8 tons / 409.6 tons; Range (perception); Limited Material (Metal)) Ferromantic Armor (Device 18) (Hard to lose, Only you can use; Indestructible) Armor Plating (Features 5) (Notes: Provides Protection 10 when Ferromatic Force Field is inactive) Communication 8 (sense type: magic) Enhanced Strength 24 (+24 STR) Flight 12 ([0 active, 0/24 PP, 2/r], Speed: 50000 mph, 440000 ft./rnd) Super-Strength 12 (Alternate; [0 active, 0/24 PP, 2/r], +60 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 13.1k tons; +12 STR to some checks) Immunity 9 (life support) Impervious Toughness 10 (Duration (continuous), Linked (Ferromantic Force Field (Force Field 15)); Duration (sustained)) Super-Senses 7 (awareness: Magic (visual), direction sense, distance sense, radar, time sense) Ferromantic Force Field (Force Field 15) (+15 Toughness) Longevity (Features 1) (Notes: As a proper wizard, Henry absolutely does not age normally. But he does, in fact, age.) Attack Bonus: +9 (Ranged: +12, Melee: +9, Grapple: +24) Attacks: Mystic Magnetic Bindings (Snare 14), +12 (DC Ref/Staged 24), Mystic Magnetic Blast (Blast 14), +12 (DC 29), Mystic Magnetic Burst (Blast 9) (DC 24), Unarmed Attack, +11 (DC 30) Defense: +8 (Flat-footed: +4), Knockback: -14 Initiative: +5 Languages: English, Korean Native, Latin, Spanish Totals: Abilities 40 + Skills 37 (148 ranks) + Feats 27 + Powers 123 + Combat 34 + Saves 24 + Drawbacks 0 = 285 Age (as of Jan 2019): Over 180 (chronological), Over 240 (actual), mid 60s (appearance) Height: 6’ 2” Weight: 210 lbs Ethnicity: Korean Hair: Gray Eyes: Blue Background: The Kingdom of Joseon, late in its existence. Less than a century before it would be gone. Truthfully, the man known today as Henry Kim isn’t sure when exactly he was born. He used to remember the date, at least, but that was two calendar changes ago. The first king he remembers is Sunjo of Joseon, who started his reign in 1800 at age 10. The first major event he remembers is the “Year Without A Summer” caused by the eruption of Mount Tambora in modern day Indonesia. He remembers it specifically because the crops failed, and the village went very hungry that year. People died. One doesn’t simply forget losing their little sister to starvation. He was a commoner (or sangmin, with yangmin being more polite but less accurate), unlikely to see the age of 30 before disease, the heavy labor of pre industrial farming, or army service ended his life. Pyeong-an Province was not a happening place, outside of cities like the very old Pyongyang. Though that was probably true of rural areas all over the world. He wasn’t anyone, and he never expected to be. Well. At least he wasn’t a “vulgar commoner” (cheonmin), “untouchable” (baekjeong), or a serf (nobi). And then his story took a sharp left turn. The local government run elementary school (hyanggo) was, of course, a bad joke. Neglected and barely functional. Basically useless. Except as a method for finding students of exceptional potential, for those who knew how to look. Henry (obviously he has changed his name since then) was brilliant. An exceptional mind, wasting away in commoner-hood. A patron sponsored him into a local privately run elementary school (a seodang), which was in much better condition. As schools go, it was…unusual. It taught the Chinese classics as all of them did, to be sure, however there were other lessons carefully layered in as well. Adult Henry recognizes them easily as functionally a subtle test of a child’s capability for magic. While technically anyone can learn how to use magic (even if they already have spellcasting ability naturally) with enough study and effort, having the aptitude for it was and is preferable for any teachers. As you, Dear Reader, may be expecting at this point, Henry excelled here, too. He was taken in by a Wizard of the White Court (the Merlin of the era, in fact) as an apprentice, and began his training in spellcasting and arcane lore. Never again would he dig in the dirt or break his back pulling rocks out of the ground. He was, technically, downgraded in social status to a “vulgar commoner” in the process. Joseon, perhaps wisely, distrusted spellcasters of all varieties. His training went well and he was accorded a full Wizard of the White Court by the time he reached adulthood. This, of course, was not the end of his training. Still, he gained greater and greater fame and respect as a combat wizard. He was a critical part of the Battle of Krakatoa in 1883, and in fact was the one who personally set the volcano off. Killed one hell of a monster doing that. He wasn’t literally at ground zero at the time of the explosion. He’d already fled through a portal from an allied Wizard. Over thirty six thousand died as a result, and he does regret that. However, that particular monster would have brought mass death to the entirety of Southeast Asia. And the White Court’s mightiest combat wizards simply couldn’t kill it. So, plan K. No, he wasn’t responsible for Santa Maria in 1902. He’s a ferromancer, not a volcano-mancer. And he was in China anyway, dammit. Literally on the other side of the Pacific. He did pat that Wizard on the back, though. Nice win, kid. Novarupta in 1912 wasn’t…exactly his fault. It was going to erupt sometime in the next month anyway, and well…it turns out the local mana fields were…volatile and reacted unexpectedly to magnetic spells. It really wasn’t the plan, but he’ll never complain about a deceased…you know, he never got the type of that monster. Bah, it doesn’t matter. It was throwing Hellfire and about to murder a bunch of defenseless Alaska Natives. Good enough. For the record, Pinatubo in 1991 was entirely natural, as far as he knows. He was in Alaska that day because he’d was planning to move. Joseon was basically dead, and honestly he’d never had an excess of loyalty to it or Asia anyway. Henry Kim officially immigrated to the United States a year later after recovering from some injuries and wrapping up a few loose ends. He has never left, unless one counts serving in World War II. He settled in Denver, and he has never left there either. His early years were spent getting settled and making a little money through independent mining work. And being confused for Chinese. A lot. However, rising racial tensions in response to World War 1 made him think. The Mystery Men Era had been underway for about 20 years. He’d read the stories in the Denver Times, Denver Post, and Rocky Mountain News. He knew the Council would not approve, but screw them. He took up the mask that hid his ethnicity and strapped on his armor and gauntlets. The Shining Guardian debuted in 1921. His earliest adversaries (aside from the usual organized crime figures of the period) were mainly the Ku Klux Klan, who actually rode the tide of nativist sentiment into public office, including Mayor of Denver and Governor of Colorado. By the time the Great Depression was firmly gripping the nation, however, nativist sentiment had largely faded and the Klan was voted out of office. Henry…doesn’t like to talk about the Depression. At one point one in four Denver citizens were out of work. The Dust Bowl devastated farms. It was ugly, and as a mere Korean he was no exception to the misery. However, newspaper records detail the Shining Guardian protecting the Civilian Conservation Corps as they built trails and campgrounds in Denver’s Mountain Parks, and openly aiding the Works Progress Administration with his powers as the built roads and fixed schools. A few paintings by the mysterious artist H.K. were even purchased to decorate government buildings. Meanwhile, Denver was becoming a transportation hub for both rail and air, with the Moffat Tunnel and Denver Municipal Airport being built in ’28 and ’29 respectively. The economy, however, did not recover until the onset of World War II. Europe needed stuff. America had a large industrial base. And Denver benefitted. The city was growing. They had a resident veteran “mystery man”. (The term “superhero” was just beginning to be applied to such individuals east of the Mississippi, and thus hadn’t yet reached Denver yet.) All was well. And then Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. A day that will forever live in infamy, or so Henry says. Project Blue Liberty, during its conversion from scientific project to special operations group, went recruiting heroes to join the war effort. As a native Korean, Henry had no love for Japan. He wasn’t…the most enlightened individual, in those days. He went to war to curb Imperial Japanese ambitions, basically because fuck them. Again, Henry was absolutely a hero, but he was not politically correct, woke, or whatever term is in vogue at the time of reading, Dear Reader. He wasn’t as virulently racist and sexist as some of his contemporaries, and homophobia has never been a part of his worldview. But the man who went to war basically to exact his personal vengeance on the Japanese for what they’d done to his homeland was not a good man. What altered his perspective were his allies on the Pacific front. Not so much team leader Human Rocket II, but the ageless samurai Jin and one Betsy Hartwell (now Wilder of the Javier Academy). The Desert (now Pacific) Stranger’s much greater life experience also played a role. Henry was, perhaps, being unfair. And if he was being unfair, then what kind of hero was he, really? It must be said. Project Blue Liberty, be it in Europe or the Pacific, wasn’t a modern superhero company. They were superpowered military operatives. They killed Japanese soldiers. A lot of Japanese soldiers. And 6/7’s of Japan’s superpowered operatives. The Sword of The Rising Sun started 21 members strong in 1942. There were three left after the taking of Okinawa. And one each was in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Pacific team was in every major land battle until the bombs were dropped. They were deployed on separate ships during sea battles to do what they could. The Human Rocket was functionally a faster, more maneuverable fighter plane. The Stranger could teleport from plane to plane, blowing heads off with his magic revolvers. Henry had added greaves to his ensemble, allowing him to stick to metals or hover in mid air. Plus a magnetic controller is the last thing mundane naval and aerial vehicles are equipped to deal with. He routinely tore the wings off planes and ripped the rivets out of hulls. Jin’s “sword” can cut through anything he laid eyes on. And even Betsy had indestructible metal bones she could move and control with her mind. So she could kind of fly, too, and amplify the force of her unarmed strikes. As in the real world, the Navy and Marines could have done it without them. The Sword of The Rising Sun would have made it much harder, but after Midway it was all over but the losing. The Japanese soldiers on land, paradoxically, had it a little easier. They resisted fiercely, and the Pacific team’s advantages weren’t as visually dramatic and game changing. But between them and the steady backup of the Marine Corps, they island hopped across the Pacific. Starting with Guadacanal, they fought their way into possession of the Solomon Islands, on to the Marshall Islands, then Guam, Iwo Jima, retaking the Philippines and storming Okinawa. Then the atomic bombs were dropped, and the war ended. They killed a hell of a lot of Japanese soldiers, sailors, and airmen. For those recoiling in horror at “superheroes” killing their way through a warzone, this was not actually unusual for heroes in the Mystery Men Era and Golden Age. It was a very different time. Before Starman, and before federal and state governments took a big rethink on how much leeway they were giving what was technically illegal vigilantes. Gunning down Mafiosi by the score would still get a supposed “hero” in as much trouble as one would expect. That’s just mass murder. But if a hero had walked up to Al Capone in the street and stabbed him in the heart, the non-corrupt members of the Chicago PD would be more likely to pat the hero on the back than try to arrest them for homicide. If a supervillain or criminal became bad enough or a big enough threat, law enforcement simply looked the other way. If the city saved didn’t give the hero in question a medal. This doesn’t mean every hero back then was a killer. Far from it. But it was basically normal, if not expected behavior. And the entire Pacific team was, of course, from that era and had blood on their hands prior to the war. Even Henry. At any rate, the war ended. Project Blue Liberty was disbanded. And everyone moved on. In Henry’s case, the Shining Guardian returned triumphant to Denver, more popular than ever. There was, however, a distant dark cloud on the horizon, growing closer with every passing year. The same year as the end of the war, the House Committee on Un-American Activities was made a permanent part of the House of Representatives. HUAC started getting Hollywood movie industry people blacklisted in 1947. 1949, with the first Soviet test of an atomic bomb, did not help. But the match to the tinder was 1950. Mao gained control of China despite heavy US financial assistance. Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury related to lying at his HUAC interrogation years earlier. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were caught spying for the Soviets. And the Korean War started. This is, of course, where J. Edgar Hoover and Joseph McCarthy enter the story. Hoover, to his dying day, neither liked nor trusted superheroes. The FBI was the single greatest impediment and danger to Golden Age heroes, and even a hassle to the Silver Agers before Hoover’s death in 1972. The Senate Internal Security Subcommittee was also formed in 1950. Superheroes were on their list. The harassment and federal distrust was so intense that heroes first started permanently retiring in 1951. The older ones, at first, especially after Hoover’s FBI started exposing secret identities and using them as leverage to force testimony. But it was McCarthy who did the most publically. He was headed the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations in 1953 and ’54. Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Communist Party? If you have nothing to hide, why not take off that mask and show who you really are? Etcetera. Ad nauseaum. And so forth. The aging Human Rocket called a historic meeting of all veteran heroes left standing. This included the Shining Guardian. A unanimous decision was not reached that day, but the prevailing mood was established. Henry was arguably the most prominent hero who held on the longest. However, he had met a special lady. And when McCarthy used his authority to compel the Shining Guardian’s presence in the Senate chamber, Henry (through Denver’s newspapers) told him to go to hell, and finally retired his heroic identity. The Shining Guardian was gone. Henry Kim, however, was not idle. He married that special lady, and had a few children. The White Court of Wizards made him their designated top enforcer after the death of the previous. He was, all in all, quite busy. It was a return to the type of life he’d been leading before adopting the mask of the Shining Guardian. He generally wasn’t home very often. The Shining Guardian missed almost the entire Silver Age, only reappearing briefly to defend Denver during Kuros’s invasion in ’82. This was naturally surprising as hell to heroic historians, as he’d been gone for 28 years. Kuros’s return in ’92 was over too quickly for him to do more than think about getting his old gear out. His frequent absences did not endear him to his children, who scattered out of Denver. He simply lost track of them. Until he attended a meeting of the White Court, called to discuss a young spellslinger who’d killed both her mother and stepfather. She was twenty years old. Her two older sisters were either dead or missing after she spent a few years with them. This wasn’t an unusual occasion. Mundane authorities, generally speaking, do not have the ability to deal with magicians who go rogue and/or evil. So the White Court of Wizards since time immemorial (well, at least since before the Romans invaded England; earlier records are spotty even if oral tradition isn’t) has taken up the duty of dealing with them. How that has worked has depended on the personality of the person Merlin has reincarnated into this time. The current Merlin is an Anglo-Syrian man named Sayid. He is a practical and pragmatic man, but one who has to deal with certain political realities. And when it comes to such things as murder or mind control using magic, he is as hard as diamond. Magical homicide merits nothing but execution. The year was 1996. His wife, that special lady, had been dead for over a year. Old age. Alas. The name of the young woman was Sagacious Winifred Burke. The woman she had murdered, her mother, Henry recognized the name in horror. He had, after all, written it on her birth certificate himself. The young Miss Burke was his granddaughter. For the first time in one of these hearings, he intervened. He had influence and political capital. He used some of them. Plus Sayid was and is mostly his friend. So instead of an execution, the future Sage went home with Henry. He did not tell her he was her grandfather. An apprentice. Older than normal, but doable. Their relationship got quite rocky at times, because Sage is Sage, but it was ultimately quite a positive five years together. They have quite a lot of love and respect for one another. The White Court vacated her sentence, accorded her a Wizard, and permitted her to move to San Francisco and have her own life. This was June 2001. Three months later, on that terrible day in September, the Shining Guardian returned to stay. He pulled his gear out of literal mothballs to battle the monster Armageddon. Heroic historians were once again shocked out of their shoes. It had been 19 years since he last appearance, and 28 more since his official retirement. A total of 47 years had gone by and not only was the man who spent over 30 years protecting Denver still alive, he was in combat condition. He arguably did better than anyone at stalling Armageddon, even if the monster ultimately smashed him aside on his way to Chicago, the battle with Starman II, and both of their deaths. In the aftermath, Henry took stock. He was not the same man he had been 47 years ago, when he angrily retired in the face of a braying jackass (in his opinion) not entirely dissimilar from the literal Klansmen he’d started his career opposing and a public that was all too keen to turn on those who they once admired. He was certainly not the man who’d debuted 3 decades prior to that. He’d liked both Starmen, and appreciated their work. He’d been to war. Twice, actually. There was a pilot program to send the Blue Liberty Pacific team to Korea. Human Rocket II and Henry had signed on, but the other three couldn’t be found and souring public and government opinion dragged them back to the US a couple of months later after they’d landed in Inchon with General McArthur. He’d raised multiple children. Poorly, even he would admit, as he wasn’t around often enough. But still. He’d seen the Civil Rights Movement, the Space Race, the entire run of the Champions of Justice, and many other things. It was time. He’d been gone too long. And so, a legend from the past teamed with another (Fletcher) and four of the current generation (Shadowspirit, Tidal, Tex Austin, and Caviezel) to form the Icons. And then he learned Shadowspirit’s actual age (second only to his own in the group, my goodness) and sighed because it broke the narrative he had in his head. Dammit. They just did mundane superhero team up things, honestly. It wasn’t a big deal. Henry had the time to finally make his battlesuit. He’d been toying with the design for longer than Tex had been alive. But now he actually built it. His old gear was…fine? It was fine. But he’d learned much more about magic since he’d first built that armor and gauntlets, and he’d grown a lot as a wizard. He’d only made the greaves for WWII. It was past due time for an upgrade. So, soon enough, the Shining Guardian debuted with a new and upgraded look. A full battlesuit, like he was Valia or something, heh. His old gear went back into the literal mothballs and stayed there. This made him team bus, and honestly he didn’t mind. They were doing fine, but in the back of his mind he always knew the big test was coming. And in 2011, it did. Tidal was a god. Lei Gong, Duke of Thunder. Shock. This was Henry’s shocked face. All good wizards are students of mythology, and the strange man who can make thunder happen by hitting anything with a blunt object is not a mortal human. No. Henry had seen too much to believe in coincidence anymore. And Tidal’s wife, Lei Zi, invaded Seattle to get him to…spend more time with her? Really? All right, then. They fought off her army, Tidal talked her down like he’d done it a thousand times before, and all was well. But seriously, we should talk about how you’re a god and your beloved wife is your arch nemesis, somehow. It’s concerning. We don’t want a repeat of this event. 2013. The whole…Neo-Nazi terrorist cell…thing. Well. The only people who know…oh, right. It’s just Henry now. It was both him and Shadowspirit who knew the truth of that matter. There were Neo-Nazis involved, yes. Most of the conspiracy involved them, actually. But the mastermind was a loose end from World War 2. The surviving member of The Blade of The Rising Sun. Their enforcer was a very old friend who had not been seen since the last retirements in ’54. The ageless samurai. Henry’s best friend on the Pacific team. Jin. Oh, dear. He was heavily brainwashed and not at his best, which was good because Henry remembered him cutting a Japanese cruiser in half once. Things got, uh, very messy. President Obama had to fake his death briefly. There was like, five big fights against Neo-Nazi supervillains embedded in the US Army. Queenie helped a lot. Thanks, Maybelle. Really nice of you. Feel like joining us after this? Everything culminated in a massive battle aboard a modernized Floating Fortress. The brainwashed swordsman who’s sword wasn’t actually a sword but a ray of divine sunlight versus the magnetic wizard who preferred heavy armor over robes. Well. It all worked out in the end. He saved Jin. Shadowspirit killed the last of Japan’s superpowered WW2 operatives with her bare hands. He had become a very evil robot; it’s fine. And a lot of Neo-Nazis criminals and supervilains went to prison for a long, long time. 2014 was the first crack in his otherwise firm friendship with Fletcher. The damn Irishman created a monster. Just completely overreached his own abilities. And the Icons had to clean up the mess. Hell, they needed help in the form of Spike, Candy, and Terrifica. One of them doesn’t show up, they either fail and that damn AI crashes that asteroid into the US, killing the human race. Or the damn thing escapes to bedevil them another day. What the hell were you thinking, Morris? However. He was falling back into old habits. Let’s not. Instead of yelling, he chose understanding. And he did understand. Fletcher was old, too, and he didn’t have the benefits of a wizard’s longevity. He was feeling his mortality, that’s all. It was fine. He’d learned better. It was fine. 2015. As it turned out, it was not fine. It was not fine at all. That grinning ghoul McConnell (in Henry’s opinion) in the Senate was older than Fletcher. Starman and the Champions all debuted when he was a grown adult. He was there the whole time. He knew how important independence was to America’s heroes. And he pushed this dammed thing through anyway. Bastard. He was (again, in Henry’s opinion), no different than that braying jackass McCarthy. He tried to be reasonable, he really did. He tried to explain the problem to Morris. His friend. Who ought to understand. And what did Fletcher do in response? Tell him to stop living in the past. One of the most important parts of being a hero was obeying the law and especially the federal government to the best of their abilities. Henry tried to explain that the federal government can do hideous things too, and it was heroes’ very autonomy that prevented them from being involved and left them capable of stopping it if necessary. The hideous things done to Native Americans for their land. Slavery. Jim Crow. The internment o Japanese Americans during WW2. Hell, Henry had even partially agreed with that last one at the time, before returning from the war and learning the full extent of it (My god, even children? And in those conditions? They were supposed to be better than the Axis!) and just how much of their businesses and property now belonged to nice, respectable whites. And again, what did Fletcher say? Stop living in the past, Henry. It’s the 21st Century. We don’t do things like that anymore. The hell we don’t. He tried to be reasonable. He really did. But it was the principle of the matter. The Icons broke in two, just like their leaders. Some followed Henry in violation of the new law. Some stayed with Fletcher and obey it. And others (Sage, Spike, and Terrifica) told both to fuck off (Terrifica was less vulgar, but still) and disappeared. The civil war had begun. Worst of all, Tidal and Tex Austin were away on mission in the Chinese Divine Heavens (or Tian). Well. Henry (ever the tactical leader), recruited Z out of Baltimore, so that his group could use the city as a base. 2017. The Eternity War. The civil war was still going when Kuros The Savior stormed out of Tian and fought his way through Fletcher’s team, the Exiles’ core team, and some other allies. Fletcher, desperate and critically injured, called Henry to warn him Kuros was coming for the last Crystal of Power, and to stop him at all costs. Who had the Time Crystal in Baltimore? Z, of course. And it was his scheme using it that delayed Kuros by a full day as the remaining Icons and Z’s gang fought him in the titular Eternity War. Because while it may have been a day outside of Baltimore, it was a much longer span of time inside the city. It was a battle for the ages. Spike showed up out of nowhere to fight Kuros. Henry took his own run at the intergalactic menace. This, ultimately, could not stop Kuros from claiming the Time Crystal and reverting all the changes that had happened during the War. Then a more powerful Tidal showed up and almost killed him with a single blow. Almost. Half the universe died for that almost. Half of Henry’s team died for that almost. They all turned to dust and blew away. There was nothing else to do. 2018. The Endgame. Nothing else to do, that is, until Terrifica and Marian Soaring Eagle came to the rescue. Kuros had shattered all of the Crystals of Power killing half the universe. Between those two, they knew how to get them all back. This got Henry back on track. His contributions ended up being two fold. Not only did he go on the mission with Fletcher that recreated the Time Crytal, it was his artificing skills (and Marian’s knowledge) that built the enchanted device that drew off Tex Austin’s psionic energy and reformed the Mind Crystal. The loss of Shadowspirit for the Soul Crystal hit him hard, as she was the first death since they’d started the Icons. They were friends. Still. A universe to save. And so they did. Tex all but destroyed his arm, but it was done. And then the enraged Kuros (now The Annihilator) attacked. Henry, Fletcher, and Tidal teamed up to fight him. He beat Fletcher. Again. He beat Tidal. Again. Henry wasn’t beaten yet before Kuros got annoyed and summoned his armada and armies. In this corner, one wizard in a half broken armored battlesuit with a fully broken arm. In the other corner, the infamous intergalactic conqueror and tyrant with what seemed like his entire massive military. Henry knew he would die. Knew it. He splinted his arm with his armor and magic and prepared to fight anyway. And then several dark portals opened, and literally every hero on the planet (summoned by the Exiles) swarmed to his side. Including every Dusted Icon. Thus began the final battle of the Endgame. It was a frantic, frenetic battle, as everyone tried to defeat the massive military set against them and stop Kuros from getting his hands on the reformed Crystals of Power and literally end of all life in the universe forever. Because fuck you ungrateful bastards, apparently. There were several very awesome moments, but absolutely none topped Starman III and Starwoman II showing up out of nowhere and dominating Kuros even after he’d got his hands on the Crystals again. They were pushed away by the sheer power the Crystals possessed, and then Henry had to watch Fletcher (even after everything, arguably his best friend), die to save the universe. Kuros and his military were gone. And for the first time in his life, Henry didn’t know what to do next. His thoughts returned to a short while ago, just before everyone had rescued him. And a short while before that, to Terrifica’s time displacer device that had sent him and Fletcher back. And to 2014, to a remark from that dammed AI. He’d really spent nearly two centuries fighting, hadn’t he? Even the Icons, as noble and good as his intentions were. As much as it was an effort to change himself. It had been yet another cause to fight for. Something else to pledge his crusader’s banner to. So he wasn’t idle enough to realize the kind of man he was or feel regret for the things he’d done. Always focusing on what he could do next. Always charging forward. For the first time, he realized he was tired. Old. Regretful. Terrifica’s machine had a charge left. If he stayed here and now, he would inevitably be drawn back into the same life he was currently living. And after today, he had more than earned the right to retire. Terrifica, who was about to take the machine apart, stopped. She let him go. From her perspective and that of all the Icons, he wasn’t gone all that long, really. Just a few minutes. From his, however… Henry Kim returned to 1954. To his special lady. He explained things to her. He remembered when he’d been home in that house, and it wasn’t often. And this is how it went. When the Henry Kim of that period was home (which wasn’t often or for all that long), he went and stayed in a hotel. And when that Henry Kim left on his noble crusade against evil again, the Henry who knew how important the soft things were returned to his wife and children. He still managed to lose track of the one terminally rebellious daughter who ended up giving birth to Sage and her sisters. But everyone else? He knows where they are. An older, wiser Henry Kim stayed out of things. His wife still died in ’94, and he mourned her harder than he did the first time. He wasn’t Dusted, and a year after found his way to the Endgame’s battlefield. He didn’t move quite as well, now. He met with Queenie, Terrifica, and Medic there, shortly after the younger version of himself had departed. He spoke with them for a little while, to confirm his permanent heroic retirement. And then he went home again. The White Court’s Senior Advisory Council took a little more convincing. He’s still their top enforcer, but he doesn’t go out quite as often these days. He’s older now. He values his peace, his quiet and his rest. With that said, he repaired his armor long ago. If another Endgame or invasion of ’82 situation happened again, he’d answer the call. He’s not that retired. Powers & Tactics: Most people think the Shining Guardian is a tech specialist who uses a battlesuit for his entire powerset. Most of the rest think he’s a mutant with magnetic powers who cross trained as a tech specialist and uses a battlesuit to augment those abilities. All of these people are wrong. Henry Kim is a master wizard, specializing in Ferromancy and Artificing. Ferromancy is a fancy word that means magnetic magic. So they were right about the magnetic powers, very wrong about the source. And everybody’s wrong about the battlesuit. Artificing is…not that different from being a tech inventor, actually. Requires a lot of the same basic skills. Like mechanical engineering. Mathematics. A little chemistry. Or a lot, depending on what you’re doing. Alchemists need quite a bit of chemistry knowledge. But Henry doesn’t brew potions, primarily. He’s a blacksmith. Armor and assorted gear. Of course, if one is going to build anything more complicated than physical machinery, well…here is where Artificing and tech inventing part ways. The techies use electronics, batteries, wires, power generators, things of science and technology. They have to work with things entirely of the physical world, and these things can cost a lot of money. Artificiers do not necessarily have this limitation. Well. Henry doesn’t. Being a Master Ferromancer has perks. The two power sets synergize quite well together. As for Ferromancy, well…the base level of understanding of it is just magnetic magic. That is what the word means, as previously stated. It is not just that. A better term would be technomancy. Though truthfully, ferromancy’s modernization into that is in its infancy. High technology is still so very new compared to the age of human civilization. Henry’s siblings likely lived and died without ever seeing a train, for example. Modern Koreans two centuries later likely can’t imagine life without high speed rail. Though maybe not ones from where he was born. So what Henry does is mostly just tricks of magnetism and electricity. Until it isn’t. What he does with Ferromancy as the Shining Guardian is pretty simply, actually. Damaging blasts of magnetic force in single target and area varieties. Binding a target with sheer magnetic force. Peering through basically any video camera on Earth and even some in orbit. And, of course, the basic thing that comes to mind for someone with magnetic powers, lifting literal tons of metal. Though in Henry’s case the weight limit is in the hundreds of tons. He also uses a powerful force field to protect himself. As a reminder, Ferromancy is a specialty. He is still a master wizard with access to at least half a dozen magical traditions like Pyromancy (Fire Magic), Terramancy (Earth Magic), Graviomancy (Gravity Magic), and Photomancy (Light Magic). As an Artificier his shining (heh) achievement was his Ferromantic Armor. It is a genuine work of art, and one of the few modern battlesuit designs that isn’t taking a lot from either the third Human Rocket or Baroness Valia. It has armor just in case he’s caught with his force field down. Even with it up, it still provides a degree of damage resistance, with him being fully able to ignore artillery fire. It has the requisite life support systems, a communication system, improves his strength, and allows him to fly at hypersonic speeds. The energy involved in powering this last one can be traded for lifting strength instead. The limit here, if he does not have anything allocated to flight, is in the double digit thousands of tons. Quite impressive. Obviously, he doesn’t normally use that much raw might, as it costs him all of his flight speed to do it. But when the need is pressing, he can be truly mighty. The last element is a senor suite in the helmet. It included radar, a magical GPS system, and renders magical effects visible to him. Tactically, the Shining Guardian has a lot of options. He prefers to act, well, like a wizard. Flying around and using ranged attacks. Thuggery can’t hurt him even with his force field down, as long as he has his armor on. So he can either take his time and bind them all with magnetic force, or turn off Gravitic Strength and pummel his way through them with Takedown Attack. The former approach works reasonably well for ordinary supervillains, too, though he turns his force field on for those. But if they can get free, well. That kind of power always comes with enough durability that his damaging effects won’t cause lethal damage by accident. Even a full Gravity Strength punch isn’t totally out of the question in these cases. And that’s…kind of…it. He’s not really any good at feinting or demoralizing. Accurate and All out Attack aid in hitting. Power Attack jacks up damage when necessary. The interesting bit is that between Inspire, Leadership, and Luck 4, he can turn the tide of a battle in a flash. His power stunts are legion, actually. Magnetic control tricks. Technology control tricks. Fire control tricks. Earth control tricks. Gravity control tricks. Light control tricks. The list goes on and on. He’s a master wizard who can pull basically any type of spell out of his ass. If I started listing individual ones, we’d be here all day. And this entry is long enough, don’t you think? A note. Prior to 2002, he was PL 10 and basically using a different build as the Shining Guardian. Henry Kim, White Court enforcer, is another different build. He doesn’t use the armor for that, and all 75 points are redistributed to spells he doesn’t use as a superhero. He was never exactly sandbagging his capabilities, just making his life easier while operating on his own time while casually disguising his wizardry. Official White Court business isn’t done quite so publically as superhero work, and there’s rules attached besides. So the Shining Guardian and Henry Kim throughout their careers would probably be at least 3 different builds other than this one. Maybe a 4th for Krakatoa era Henry. This is, however, the build that he would use if the world was in such danger that he needed to come back for one more fight. Personality: Saying that Henry Kim was an angry man isn’t quite right. How someone does magic is dependent on who they are. Kind, nurturing people become kind, nurturing wizards. There are plenty of healers. Gardeners. Researchers. No two wizards are quite alike, after all. Henry Kim learned how to fight. How to inflict harm on other beings and avoid harm being inflicted on him. He may have directed it in a useful and productive direction, but for most of his life Henry was the type of man who preferred to solve problems with violence. He was not a mean or cruel man by any means, but his mentality was very…Old Testament. He was not a kind or compassionate man, either. He protected the weak and vulnerable and helped those who needed it out of principle. Some things one does, and others one does not allow. End of discussion. Paradoxically enough for a wizard, he was a warrior. Honorable in his way, but ultimately a man who preferred to throw a closed fist instead of extend an open hand. This was who he was as a Mystery Man. This was largely who he was as a husband and a father. An immovable hardass. One with the right principles, to be sure, but that didn’t make him any easier to like or get along with if one was too different from him. This was not who he was as an Icon. Much of that man was there, but he’d changed. His children abandoned him. Fled his presence as soon as they were legally allowed to. No money. No job. No prospects. Just to get away from him. And like everyone else in the Silver Age, he followed the exploits of the Champions of Justice. He read the newspapers and watched the news. A different man would have gotten into his pride. Been angry. Insisted he was the right one, and everyone else was the ones who were wrong. But even when he was an immovable hardass, this was not who Henry Kim was. He could be a perfectly reasonable man about many things, and he never thought he was perfect or unable to make mistakes. So he thought about everything, and came to a realization. He may have been very good at safeguarding people’s lives and livelihoods, but he was pretty goddamn awful at doing the same for their hearts. Though in fairness, that was something the little commoner boy turned wizard apprentice turned evil battler had never been taught. His teachers and his life had taught him nothing except how to be cold and hard. Like his armor. And his attempts to be warm and soft were at best fumbling and pathetic. Upon this realization, in his house newly empty with his beloved wife freshly buried, Henry Kim sobbed inconsolably. It was with Sage where h started finally learning how to properly be warm and soft. He still had to be a hardass fairly often, because Sage is goddamn Sage, but the two fumbled their way into an actual warm relationship for arguably the first time in each of their lives. He helped found the Icons to help make up, at least to himself, for his mistakes in life. His days of killing anything other than Acceptable Targets had come to an end. He did a lot more fighting with the Icons, and it was good and right and he saved a lot of lives, but…that AI had a point. He’d spent his entire life either fighting or preparing for the next fight. He literally didn’t know who he was without either an enemy to oppose or a cause to fight for. So he went to find out, and is mellower than ever in his retirement.

Nick Phoenix Power Level: 16; Power Points Spent: 500/500 STR: +20 (18/50), DEX: +4 (18), CON: +20 (18/50), INT: +4 (18), WIS: +4 (18), CHA: +4 (18) Tough: +20, Fort: +20, Ref: +12, Will: +16 Skills: Acrobatics 4 (+8), Bluff 16 (+20), Computers 16 (+20), Concentration 8 (+12), Diplomacy 16 (+20), Disable Device 16 (+20), Gather Information 16 (+20), Intimidate 16 (+20), Medicine 4 (+8), Notice 16 (+20), Search 16 (+20), Sense Motive 16 (+20), Stealth 4 (+8) Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Beginner's Luck, Eidetic Memory, Equipment 4, Evasion, Improved Initiative 5, Interpose, Inventor, Jack-of-All-Trades, Luck 4, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Precise Shot, Skill Mastery 5 (KN skills), Takedown Attack 2, Ultimate Effort (Strength checks), Ultimate Effort 3 (Fort, Toughness, & Will saves), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Eternal Flame of Destruction & Rebirth (Array 36) (default power: - linked powers -) Burning Destruction (Linked) Burning (Blast 12) (Linked; DC 27; Accurate 4 (+8), Incurable, Precise) Destruction (Drain 12) (Linked; drains: single trait - toughness, DC 22; Affects Objects, Range (ranged); Accurate 4 (+8), Incurable, Precise) Destruction & Rebirth (Transform 12) (Array; affects: anything, Transforms: 5000 lbs., DC 22; Duration (continuous); Action (full)) Flames of Rebirth (Healing 11) (Array; DC 21; Action (standard), Affects Objects, Range (ranged), Restoration, Total; Limited to Others; Persistent, Regrowth) Phoenix Fire Blast (Blast 20) (Array; DC 35; Autofire (interval 2, max +5) [10 ranks only], Secondary Effect; Incurable, Precise) Phoenix Fire Burst (Blast 16) (Array; DC 31; Burst Area (60-2000 ft. radius - General), Selective Attack; Progression, Decrease Area 4 (-4 ranks), Progression, Increase Area 4 (area x25)) Phoenix Might (Linked) Enhanced Strength 32 (Linked; +32 STR) Super-Strength 20 (Linked; +100 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 439.8bn tons; +20 STR to some checks) Spatial Warping (Teleport 20) (Array; 2000 ft. as move action, Anywhere in the universe as full action; Accurate; Change Direction, Easy) Telekinetic Toolkit (Move Object 16) (Array; Strength: 80, Carry: 272.4 tons / 544.8 tons / 819.2 tons / 1.6k tons; Perception Area (Targeted), Range (perception); Indirect 3 (any point, any direction), Precise, Subtle 2 (unnoticable)) Infinite Rebirth (Container, Passive 18) (Innate) Healing 5 (Action 4 (reaction), Restoration, Total; Personal; Persistent) Immunity 11 (aging, life support, starvation & thirst) Regeneration 41 (ability damage 8 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (bruised) 3 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (disabled) 8 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (injured) 6 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (staggered) 6 (recover 1 / round without rest), resurrection 10 (instantly); Persistent, Regrowth) Memory Reconfiguring (Variable 10) (acquire: all of (type) - skills, Feats: Eidetic Memory; Action (full), Limited (to Craft, Knowledge & Language skills)) Movement (Array 30) (default power: flight) Quickness 20 (Alternate; [0 active, 60/60 PP, 1/r], Perform routine tasks at 5000000x speed) Speed 20 (Alternate; [0 active, 60/60 PP, 1/r], Speed: 25000000 mph, 2.2e+08 ft./rnd) Flight 20 (Default; [15 active, 60/60 PP, 2/r], Speed: 500000 mph, 4400000 ft./rnd) Super-Strength 20 (Array; [15 active, 60/60 PP, 2/r], +75 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 439.8bn tons; +15 STR to some checks) Phoenix Stamina (Enhanced Constitution 32) (+32 CON) Equipment: Time and Space Ship (TISS) Attack Bonus: +12 (Ranged: +12, Melee: +12, Grapple: +32/+67) Attacks: Burning (Blast 12), +20 (DC 27), Destruction & Rebirth (Transform 12), +12 (DC Fort 22), Destruction (Drain 12), +20 (DC Fort/Staged 22), Phoenix Fire Blast (Blast 20), +12 (DC 35), Phoenix Fire Burst (Blast 16) (DC 31), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 35) Defense: +12 (Flat-footed: +6), Knockback: -10 Initiative: +24 Languages: English Native Totals: Abilities 48 + Skills 41 (164 ranks) + Feats 35 + Powers 308 + Combat 48 + Saves 20 + Drawbacks 0 = 500 ****************************************************************************************** Time and Space Ship (TISS) Power Level: 16; Equipment Points Spent: 20 Toughness: +20 Features: Communications, Computer, Dual Size (Fine), Fire Prevention System, Gym, Laboratory, Library, Living Space, Pool, Power System, Workshop Powers: Deflector Shielding (Impervious Toughness 15) Holo Disguise (Morph (morph: broad group, +40 Disguise; Duration (continuous)) Ion Drive (Flight 15) (Speed: 500000 mph, 4400000 ft./rnd; Subtle 2 (unnoticable)) Time and Space Travel (Super-Movement 6) (extra ranks 3, temporal move 3 (any time); Subtle 2 (unnoticable)) Size: Large Totals: Abilities 0 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Feats 0 + Features 11 + Powers 4 + Combat 2 + Saves 3 + Drawbacks 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 20 Age (as of Jan 2019): It’s incredibly complicated (chronological), Varies between early 20s and mid 50s (appearance) Height: Varies within human norms Weight: Varies within human norms Ethnicity: Varies within human norms Hair: Varies within human norms Eyes: Varies within human norms Base of Operations: Mobile throughout time and space Theme Song: [url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Cc0qNU7Ez4]I Am The Doctor Restructure[/url] Background: Nick Phoenix is the G. O. A. T. There is no discussion, debate, dissention, disputation, or argument on this topic. Nick Phoenix is the greatest superhero of all time and space. Except, interestingly enough, on Earth. He is both legendary and mythical. Literally. If there is a tale anywhere (including Earth, this time) of a legendary hero from the past who saved a whole lot of people from a terrible danger, but that person is unnamed? It was probably Nick. One of the most interesting thing about him is that nobody’s encountered him in chronological order. The Nick who appeared today and the Nick who will appear next week can have a few days or untold eons of difference in their ages. And this can be flipped, so he may not actually remember meeting the people he met yesterday. Because for him, that yesterday is tomorrow. One gets used to it. Due to his tendency to resurrect relatively frequently (as compared with the eon of eons he’s been alive) he may not even look like the same person. Hell, occasionally he’s female presenting. But nobody dresses like him. Black bodysuit. Bright orange bird on the chest. Bright orange boots, belt, and bracers. You see someone like tthat, it’s Nick. Or Nicki, as the case may be. But let’s rewind to the beginning, shall we? It started in a cornfield in central Maryland. Sometimes the cornfield is in central Kansas, or central California. Regardless. There was a boy, standing in it. Sometimes the boy is 9. Sometimes he is 14. Sometimes he’s even 5. He’s done a fair bit of manipulating time to obscure his own origins. Suddenly, the sky was bleeding fire. The infinitely powerful semi sentient energy being known as the Phoenix had chosen this boy out of everyone else throughout the entirety of the multiverse to bear its power. Out of a number of beings so close to infinity that it makes no difference and it chose one ordinary, boring human boy in the middle of nowhere. What the heck, right? The after of that is even more confusing. Did he go to the Javier Academy, graduate and work for it until he no longer could? Did he grow up on that farm in Kansas before moving to the big city as an adult? Or was that time in the cornfield just a vacation and he grew up in suburban Cali just outside Sacramento? Bluntly, yes. It was all three and more. The common thread is that he became something more. A powerful superhero. One who, in the end, could not stay on Earth. His power attracted too much attention from the rest of the universe to his home. Also he was becoming the one guy everyone depended on. So he beat feet. Split the scene. Didn’t let the door hit him where the good Lord split him. He began traveling throughout all of time and space, having adventures. Quite literally all kinds of adventures. He has seen the birth of all creation. He has fought in the first seven Time Wars, and walked away from the eighth in disgust. He was there watching when time ran out until there was nothing left in all creation. No time. No space. No matter. Just. Him. He has seen pocket universes where the laws of physics were devised by a madman. He has seen things no one would ever believe. He has lost things no one could ever understand. And he knows things. Secrets that must never be told. Knowledge that must never be spoken. He has performed the greatest and most heroic of deeds and the most terrible and horrifying of atrocities. His mind and heart have shattered from the strain and he has spent millions of years sobbing into the void until he inevitably recovered. Repeatedly. He has made impossible choices in impossible situations for longer than the mortal mind can conceive. Because no matter how powerful one is, they can still make mistakes. They can still be too late. Or simply not good enough. Nick Phoenix is the greatest superhero of all time and space. He has saved and protected a number of sentient beings so close to infinity that it makes no difference. He has thwarted threats so dire all other heroes could do nothing but soil themselves in terror. And yet. He is a murderer. A mass murderer. A committer of genocides. Then again, what choice does one have, really? When a species warps time and space so that it was and forever will be homicidal scorched earth style conquerors, xenocidal cyborgs filled with nothing but hate, or omnicidal religious fanatics devoted to ending everything for their blind idiot god? He tries to save them. He always does. He tries very hard. But when the choice is between one person, one group of people, or even a whole species, and all creation…it’s not a very hard decision, logically speaking. It doesn’t make him feel any better. The wars he couldn’t stop. The battles he’s had to fight. The times he was simply too late. He has heard more screams than anyone could ever count. Grief. Terror. Pain. Oh, yes. He is the greatest superhero of all time and space. He’s also the only one available who can cover that beat. There is no one else. It’s just him. And what does one do with all that pain? Where do they put it? If they’re anything like Nick, they hold it. Tight. And they swear that no one else will feel this pain. Not as long as they can prevent it. Not on their watch. No. But of course, his life is more than a long parade of misery and suffering. That’s the trouble. Because he is that great superhero. Things go well quite a lot. There are friends and traveling companions and lovers. People listen when he speaks or his clever schemes work out like a charm. He doesn’t have to fight, let alone kill anyone. He’s stopped intergalactic wars with his words alone. His life can be and is very good for very long stretches of time. But it’s like he tells them all. Everyone dies, and everything ends. Even him. This is not inherently a bad thing. It is just the nature of reality. So there are indeed good times, and they outnumber the bad. But the bad always comes around again. And he has to do make more impossible choices in impossible situations. Do terrible and horrifying things that are the least terrible and horrifying option available. The universe isn’t fair. All creation is a fairness free zone. It’s his job, his responsibility, his literal life’s work, to change that where he can. And sometimes that means not being there when he could have easily saved the day. Starman II was his friend. Jesse Thompkins was his friend. But Nick knew from the day he first met him back in 1986, that he had to die in 2001 for the Icons to form. He knew that he had to stay away from all the crises that have so far happened in the 21st Century so that they’d grow even stronger. Because for all his power, Nick cannot be everywhere and everywhen at once. Every world, including the one he was born on, needs to learn to do for themselves what they can do for themselves. This is the reason for the existence of Phoenix Mutates, though the execution has been fumbled because he left the most important parts to circumstance and free will like a good man ought to. Dammit. It was also the reason for the Phoenix Corps, and did that ever crash and burn in spectacular fashion, double dammit. The burden is heavy. Crushing. But the universe’s mightiest hero shoulders it. Because he’s both a good man, and he’s seen the universes where he doesn’t. However, he is susceptible to misinformation and simply not knowing what’s happening. If he’d known what Kuros was up to, the Eternity War and the Endgame would have simply not happened. But he didn’t because he was at the other end of the universe. He didn’t know what the Dusting was. He’d heard of it on his legion of trips to the future, but it’s got as many names as there are languages in the universe, and they don’t all mean the same thing. So how was he to know it was one big event? And after it happened, the universe was in chaos and he still didn’t know what had happened, exactly. And then it unhappened a year later, causing yet more chaos. Seriously, the hell is going on? Wait wait wait. This is when Kuros and his whole outfit disappeared? Oh, shit. Oh, fuck. He’s got to get everybody ready. What’s next is even less fun. If he remembers this right, there’s some really overbearing space overgods, and then the First Great Time Crash. Yes, that means there’s other ones. Please keep up. He’s got a lot of work to do and as usual not nearly enough time to do it. Powers & Tactics: The Nick part of Nick Phoenix actually has a power, but it’s quite minor and he hasn’t used it since…wow it’s been a long time. He could (and still can, probably) make his hands very, very hot. The Phoenix part is what takes center stage. The Phoenix itself is a cosmic being of nigh infinite or actually infinite power. It’s difficult to tell which, and the point is largely moot anyway. It is bonded to Nick’s very soul, allowing him to use its two powers. The Flames of Destruction, and the Flames of Rebirth. The former can destroy absolutely anything. There is no immunity to Phoenix fire, now matter how powerful the being. The latter can recreate and/or resurrect absolutely anything, even if absolutely nothing is left of the destroyed target. The amount of time it was destroyed is irrelevant. The key to understand Nick’s powers is that he can control what the Flames of Rebirth recreate and/or resurrect something as. A rock shattered to pieces, vaporized or even completely disintegrated, can be reformed as basically whatever the hell Nick wants. This applies to things that are not rocks. Like liquids. Gasses. And living things. Like himself. The Flames of Rebirth are not just an active use power, either. They make him about as ageless and immortal as it’s possible to be. Any and all injuries, from nova bombs and neutron torpedoes to the wear and tear of being alive in the universe, simply regenerates in startlingly rapid fashion. He cannot permanently die while bonded to the Phoenix. Even if he took enough damage (from said nova bombs) to utterly annihilate his physical form, he would recover from even that in under a minute. More likely under 30 seconds. Usually. He has some conscious control over when he fully resurrects. This is good, because killing him tends to significantly to completely alter his physical appearance and elements of his personality. It is, in a way, like that version of him truly dies. So he doesn’t actually like to use his ability to resurrect if he can possibly avoid it, and doesn’t like to finish doing it if he has to. He’s still Nick. Or Nicki, occasionally. His memories are not altered. The deep seated, core elements of his personality are the same. He still wants to help. To protect. To save. It’s just the other parts that can change. Now, because of his ability to destroy and recreate his body at a whim he could, technically, have any power he wants. This is, after all, the more refined and directed but otherwise identical method of how he has Phoenix Mutates basically create themselves. But really, if it isn’t broken, why fix it? So mostly he uses the Flames of Destruction to, well, destroy things, and he has genuinely incredible speed, durability, and strength. With the ability to fly on the side, as a treat. This isn’t casual level of strength, durability, and speed, either. He’s towed entire planets on a chain. Tanked supernovas without major damage. Treated the speed of light like a low fence instead of an impassable barrier. He can also warp space and eleport, or use an incredibly refined version of telekinesis. He’s also adapted to untold years of memories by storing them in the collective unconscious and pulling them out at need. Knowledge, crafting skills, and more languages than anyone can shake a stick at. Tactically, well…honestly? If you’re using Nick Phoenix in your game, it (in most cases) should be as the ultimate heroic deus ex machina. That is his usual narrative role. The fecal matter hits the oscillating device, nobody who isn’t PLX can handle it, and the heroic side only has the one of those. Him. In those, the majority of cases, the existence of the build above is largely irrelevant. You can have him do whatever you want him to do. Most likely handling the PLX stuff so your PCs can still do PC things and shine in their own way. This changes, however, if you’re running a game where the PCs are his traveling companions. There, this build is actually crucial. Flashing up to PL X tier power warps the fabric of reality. It’s fine temporarily, but he doesn’t walk around as a PLX all the time. The more problems he can solve without doing that, the better. Naturally, this is where PCs come in. He’s extremely capable, yes, but even he has trouble being in two or more places at once. Well. Normally. PL Xs can break that rule. But again, he wants to do that as little as possible. So having an extra set of hands or three is lovely. Plus, new friends are always good. So, he’ll do what he can to look after them while remaining the type who likes to talk before resorting to nonlethal tactics to defeat enemies. He’ll probably get more use out of Memory Reconfiguring and Interpose than his array. Like a certain “man of steel” from that cartoon where he teamed up with six like minded individuals for a couple of seasons. Nick’s got no problem looking like a worthless jobber if it means his allies come out of things okay. Which may surprise the PCs when he actually shows his power for once and they realize that “Nick” is that Nick. Personality: It would surprise some people to learn that Nick Phoenix is a pretty dedicated pacifist. He vastly prefers to solve problems with talking or some clever trick. He lives in a universe on fire and tries to be the soothing rain that cools the heat. It’s not about justice. It was never about justice. Revenge? Hah! Irrelevant and unimportant. He cares. He cares so much. He can’t stand aside and let bad things happen. Let people suffer and die. Him, who can bring them back with a gesture, saves them before there’s any need of it. God, he doesn’t want to hurt anybody. He’s never wanted to hurt anybody. But you know how the saying goes. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing. He will never do nothing. Never. There’s a saying attributed to Abraham Lincoln. If you want to test a man, give him power. Nick Phoenix has more power than any mortal man. He has more power than any god. And yet, he wanders time and space as nothing more than a man. He doesn’t want it. He never wanted it. There are times when he hates it. Loathes it. Commands the Phoenix to leave him be and let him finally die. But in the end, that part that makes him Nick Phoenix has nothing to do with his powers. It’s that warm, soft, and tender heart of his. And so the Phoenix always returns in his time of greatest need. The Phoenix did not choose him so that he could be a superhero and save all the people he has. That was entirely his idea. The Phoenix only chose him because he would never abuse it. Because he’s a fundamentally good person who strives to operate from a place of love and respect for all living things, and to be better at it than he was yesterday. This can be hard to remember when one sees his eyes burning with wrath and Phoenix fire as xenocidal cyborgs fall burning from the sky. Because he is not perfect. He has bad days. He makes mistakes. Sometimes terrible ones. He has a nasty temper if his buttons are continually and deliberately pressed. There are beings (those xenocidal cyborgs, for example) he hates with every fiber of his being. Villains and evildoers have found out the hard way that his reputation is not bullshit. He will try a thousand thousand times to resolve things without violence. He will try a thousand thousand more times to resolve things without lethal violence. But if they’re determined to take things a billion light years past the Moral Event Horizon, he’ll remove them from the universe without hesitation. But not without regret. Because he’ll forever think he could have done better. Done more. Made it so that killing them wasn’t necessary. It would be so easy to turn cold. To be a tyrant. A god. To simply force the universe to be the way he wants it to be. Who the hell could stop the bearer of the Phoenix from doing whatever the hell he wanted? And that’s exactly why he doesn’t do it. It would be a betrayal of the highest order. A betrayal of everything he believes in. Light. Love. Freedom. Hope. A betrayal of his very self. He doesn’t hate the beings he does because they’re evil or because of the wicked things they’ve done. He hates them because they’re a reminder of how he’s failed them. And God, that hurts. He can’t stand it. But he refuses to turn cold. To stop caring. To let his warm, soft, and tender heart wither. He will never do nothing and let evil triumph. The battle, after all, is never ending, isn’t it?

Crusader (Sir Randall Knight) Power Level: 12; Power Points Spent: 255/255 STR: +10 (16/30), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +3 (16), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +3/+12, Fort: +6/+9, Ref: +9/+12, Will: +12 Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+15), Bluff 12 (+15), Concentration 2 (+5), Diplomacy 12 (+15), Gather Information 7 (+10), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 12 (+15), Knowledge (civics) 7 (+10), Knowledge (history) 7 (+10), Knowledge (life sciences) 2 (+5), Knowledge (physical sciences) 2 (+5), Knowledge (tactics) 17 (+20), Knowledge (theology & philosophy) 12 (+15), Language 6 (+6), Medicine 2 (+5), Notice 12 (+15), Search 2 (+5), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Survival 2 (+5) Feats: Accurate Attack, Acrobatic Bluff, All-Out Attack, Assessment, Attack Focus (melee) 3, Benefit (KNT CMDR, Order of St. Michael & St. George, Royal Victorian Order, & Order of The British , Benefit (Recipient of the George Cross), Challenge - Improved Feint, Challenge - Improved Taunt, Defensive Attack, Evasion 2, Improved Block, Improved Critical 2 (Crusader Sword (Device 3)), Improved Defense, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Interpose, Lionheart, Luck 4, Master Plan, Master Plan 2 (tactics), Power Attack, Quick Draw, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, KN (tactics), Notice, Sense Motive), Stunning Attack, Takedown Attack 2, Taunt, Teamwork, Ultimate Effort 2 (Toughness & Will saves), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory), Weapon Bind Powers: Crusader Armor (Device 12) (Hard to lose, Only you can use; Indestructible, Subtle (subtle)) Armor Senses (Super-Senses (awareness: Magic (visual), awareness: Demonic/Hellfire/Infernal (visual), counters concealment: Visual, counters illusion: Visual, darkvision) Armored Might (Super-Strength (+40 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 204.8 tons; +8 STR to some checks) Armored Strength (Enhanced Strength 14) (+14 STR) Heavy Plate (Protection 9) (+9 Toughness; Impervious) Translation Enchantments (Comprehend 2) (languages - speak all, languages - understand all) Crusader Shield (Device 6) (Easy to lose, Only you can use; Indestructible, Subtle (subtle)) Hellproof (Immunity 5) (custom: Demonic/Hellfire/Infernal 5) Magic Resistant (Immunity 20) (very common descriptor: Magic; Limited - Half Effect) Shield Blocking (Impervious Toughness 3) (Duration (continuous); Duration (sustained)) Shield Deflection (Enhanced Trait 12) (Traits: Defense Bonus +3 (+12), Reflex +3 (+12), Feats: Evasion 2, Improved Defense) Crusader Sword (Device 3) (Easy to lose, Only you can use; Indestructible, Subtle (subtle)) Sword Strike (Strike 2) (DC 27, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Crusader Sword (Device 3)); Penetrating [7 extra ranks]; Mighty, Variable Descriptor (Narrow group - Bludgeoning/Piercing/Slashing)) Enhanced Biochemistry (Linked) Enhanced Trait 3 (Linked; Traits: Fortitude +3 (+9)) Immunity 9 (Linked; life support; Limited - Half Effect) Attack Bonus: +9 (Ranged: +9, Melee: +12, Grapple: +22/+30) Attacks: Sword Strike (Strike 2), +12 (DC 27), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 25) Defense: +9/+12 (Flat-footed: +6), Knockback: -12 Initiative: +7 Languages: Arabic, English Native, French, German, Latin, Russian, Spanish Totals: Abilities 36 + Skills 35 (140 ranks) + Feats 35 + Powers 95 + Combat 36 + Saves 18 + Drawbacks 0 = 255 Age (as of Jan 2019): 56 (chronological), 35 (biological) Height: 6’ 1” Weight: 185 lbs Ethnicity: Anglo-Saxon Hair: Brown Eyes: Gray Base of Operations: London, England Background: Sir Randall Knight is a living legend in the United Kingdom. The patriarch of The Knight Family. Fourth generation superhero. An untouchable legacy that started 42 years ago when he was 14 years old. And probably the British government and monarchy’s single greatest pain in the ass. Big Ben may be Britain’s mightiest hero, but Randall is their unquestioned leader. His influence in the British hero community is immense. If he wasn’t a very good man, this would be a problem, actually. Most countries don’t have someone like him, who can rally the virtually the entire hero community to his banner and cause. That is how much influence and respect he has. And by God, it was earned in blood, sweat, and tears. The tale actually starts at the fuzzily defined dawn of the Mystery Men Era, with Emerson Knight. He was an explorer, as many young men were in those days. In 1900 at age 21, he found the armor, shield, and sword of The Knight and the chainmail and short sword of The Squire in a forgotten cave in Somerset County, England. As the tale goes, he took up the former and became the first of a new generation of British superheroes. He was characterized as a good man and a noble hero, but it was the Mystery Men Era. Emerson was a man more interested in using his sword than his shield. He aided the Celtic Princess Keira in her exploits during the First World War, and was knighted by King George V for his courage and heroism. His son Cedric took up the gear of The Squire in 1921, and began to fight by his side. But alas, Sir Emerson was the wrong kind of man to be The Knight, and in 1928 the armor abandoned him when he needed it most in favor of Cedric. Thus passed Sir Emerson Knight, first of a bloodline of heroes. He was mourned by many and his funeral was well attended. Cedric took up the mantle and became The Knight II. The 21 year old, much like his father, was characterized as a good man and a noble hero. But also much like his father, he was a man more interested in using his sword than his shield. He fought injustice and evildoers through Scotland, England, and Wales, and was much respected. He became a leader in Britan’s Golden Age heroic community. He fought the Nazis and Italians throughout World War 2, serving proudly alongside Britan’s other super operatives and the American Project Blue Liberty. For his exploits, he was knighted by King George VI. After the war, in 1949, his son Sheldon took up the gear of The Squire, and began to fight by his side. They even aided the Allied Forces in the Korean War. But alas, Sir Cedric was the wrong kind of man to be The Knight, and in 1956 the armor abandoned him when he needed it most in favor of Sheldon. Thus passed Sir Cedric Knight, second of a bloodline of heroes. He was mourned by many and his funeral was well attended. Sheldon took up the mantle and became The Knight III. The 21 year old, unlike his father, was characterized as a bloodthirsty asshole, with neither honor nor nobility to be found in him. He was indeed a man far more interested in using his sword than his shield. It should surprise no one that not only did he fight crime and evildoers through England, Scotland, and Wales, but also in Northern Ireland and Ireland proper. Anywhere he could find a fight in the entire British Isles. Though it must be said that the Sheldon who returned from the Korean War resembled the one who left in appearance only. He was never the same again. Still, he did protect people, especially in the invasion of ’71. So Queen Elizabeth II knighted him like his forebears were. His son Randall took up the gear of The Squire in 1977, and began to fight by his side. They even fought side by side in the invasion of ’82. But alas, Sir Sheldon was the wrong kind of man to be The Knight, and in 1984 the armor abandoned him when he needed it most in favor of Randall. Thus passed Sir Sheldon Knight, third of a bloodline of heroes. He was mourned by very few and his funeral was sparsely attended. Sir Randall (as he was knighted after his heroics in ’82) up the mantle and became The Knight IV. The 21 year old was nothing like any of his three predecessors. In the fourth generation a man had finally appeared who valued his shield over his sword. He married a brilliant woman who took his name. Morgan Knight. The World’s Finest Chemist and the superheroine Lady Alchemist. Their first child, Jessica, was born in ’91. In ’92, he distinguished himself further in the brief struggle against Kuros’s revenge invasion alongside Fletcher and Starman II before Nick Phoenix put an end to the whole thing by himself. After that, he fought injustice and evildoers through Scotland, England, and Wales, as well as having many scientific and mystical adventures alongside his wife. His second child, Sophie, was born in 1998. This was also the year Jessica began to accompany them under the name Miss Page, and was clearly looking forward to becoming The Squire when she was old enough. He was understandably unwilling to appoint a new Squire. Regardless, the family’s adventures continued until 2005, when The Squire’s equipment made the decision for him. Specifically, by selecting a new user itself and teleporting to him. One Daniel Cross, age 14. Whether Randall liked it or not, his sidekick and successor in seven years I the pattern held had arrived. This damaged Randall’s relationship with Jessica (also age 14 at this time), who changed her codename to Lady Knight and starting using actual medieval weapons instead of a wooden spear. Sophie, for her part, took up chemistry and her mother’s original codename of Alchemist Girl, making her the second of that name. The Knight Family was an established thing, having many interesting adventures. But Randall and well, everyone else, knew that his time was coming to an end. It was fully expected that in 2012 the armor of The Knight would abandon him in favor of Daniel when he needed it most, and he would die. This did not cause him to limit his activities in any way. In fact, he fought all the harder, exactly like a man who knows he’s running out of time. He had to leave the world better than he found it when he died. This did not happen. Precisely because, unlike his forebears, he was worthy. In 2012, The Knight Family went to Glastonbury Tor, and through a hidden door in St. Michael’s Tower that had not been there before and has not been seen since. They had received a mysterious summons, like many calls to mystical adventure before them. This, however, was different. There was battle to be had, problems to be solved, and innocents to be saved to be sure. But it was all a great big test from the magical kingdom of Avalon. And Sir Randall, Daniel, and surprisingly Sophie all passed. So indeed the armor, sword, and shield of The Knight abandoned Randall, but not when he needed it most, and not for Daniel. It abandoned him for Sophie, and two more powerful armors were revealed. Crusader, which was given to Sir Randall, and Templar, which was given to Daniel. The damaged relationship between Randall and Jessica was even repaired at last. The gear of The Squire was returned to storage in the family’s estate. Sophie, or as she now called herself, The Alchemist Knight, would select one when she was ready or it was time. As of the start of 2019, this has not yet occurred. Sir Randall Knight isn’t an Icon, technically. But he was arguably Fletcher’s best friend until the archer’s death at the end of the Endgame. The entire Knight Family was present at his funeral. When called on with enough time to get across the Atlantic in time, he would absolutely show up to help. This means that he missed Lei Zi’s invasion, Fletcher making an AI, and the Eternity War. They simply happened too fast for him to even get on a plane, let alone finish crossing the Atlantic. He did, however, appear for several other lesser situations and thus is as well known to the American public as any actual Icon. He missed the Icons civil war because he was not allowed into the country until after the Endgame. It was thought (quite correctly) that he would have talked sense into Fletcher and turned the whole of the Icons against the Superpower Registration Act. So his visa was denied, delayed, and a dozen other bureaucratic stalling tactics. Alas, his pain in the ass-ness became a pain in his own ass. Because he is a pain in the ass. He has been leftist/liberal/progressive/whatever, a prominent public figure in British circles, and a literal aristocrat with a seat in the House of Lords for literal decades now. He’s been a Life Peer since ’92 (when he was also given that George Cross), and carries the hereditary Baronetcy Sir Emerson was granted in his day. So he’s technically Lord Randall Knight. That, however, makes him uncomfortable. While he is a professional pain in the ass to anyone who puts pride, tradition, profits, or power over the well being of the people, he is also fiercely loyal to Britain and especially its people. The Crown and government he is loyal to when they deserve it, in his eyes. They continue to put up with him and let him retain his various honors because well…he earned them through valorous action and it is an absolute certainty that he would do it again in a heartbeat. Whether he likes someone or approves of their actions has no bearing on his safeguarding of their lives even should it be at the cost of his own. Now if only he’d kindly shut up about certain matters, they’d get along swimmingly. At any rate, should the current Icons need him and he isn’t occupied with his own affairs, he will fly over to lend his assistance without hesitation. Sir Randall can call on any hero in Britain for an ally if he is ever in need. The other members of the Knight Family (his wife Lady Alchemist, children Lady Knight and The Alchemist Knight, and partner Templar) are regularly at his side. The mighty Big Ben is a stalwart friend. He is arguably the mightiest and most durable hero in the world besides America’s Tex Austin, but still has the maturity and psychology of a child. Sir Randall has arguably been the best influence on the veteran young lad. The legendary Celtic Princess Keaira returned a few years ago. She has the strength and resilience of the stone statue she once was, expert combat skills, and a very large sword. The costumed detective Paragon has firmly made his name these days. And the trio of Umbrella Queen (a melee fighter who makes umbrellas harder and more indestructible than even adamantine), Nisse (a user of Fae magics), and Tattoo (can use the memories, knowledge and skills of friends who have died) are street level veterans that can be relied upon. On the enemies side, his own current personal enemy is the virtually immortal Blackguard. However, the thief Lyla Fox has played poor Morgan for years and years. The mad scientist Doctor Brennan Rao, his “lovely assistant” (they’re really partners, but he’s again insane) Hermoine St. Germain, and his “procurer” (really mercenary muscle) Fiona Watson are quite dangerous threats, being enemies of the mighty Big Ben himself. The Doctor’s genetic monstrosities have threatened the safety of the British populace many times. The current living genetic monstrosities are, in order of threat level, Talil (basically a humanoid housecat and less dangerous than even that sounds), Scales (a clawed lizard man dangerous to mundane police, but even rookie heroes should defeat him handily), Braineater (a parasite that hijacks living people’s bodies and slowly eats their brains; even heroes should be wary), Arachnofiend (a spider monster who eats anything it can; rookie heroes should run), Tuskenfiend (four legged, sharp teeth, sharp claws, and those tusks; it again eats anything it can; non-Five Year Vets should run), Carnifiend (Tuskenfiend without the tusks and on steroids; if you’re not on the level of a new Phoenix Mutate, run if you can and get eaten if you can’t), and Destructofiend (a giant cyborg with powerful eye lasers; leave this one to Big Ben and Keira, please). The wizardess Morgana The Black Queen (yes, that Morgana, or so she says, and Keira [who would know] believes her) and Karnak (an undead man who can match Big Ben in every category) round out the perils facing Britain. Powers & Tactics: Sir Randall Knight had no superhuman powers before meeting his wife Morgan. He was just an expert swordsman in enchanted armor with an equally enchanted shield and sword. A while ago she gave him a serum that chopped a bunch of years of his age, so that’s nice. And a while before that she had another one that enhanced his biochemistry, making him more resistant to uh…everything. But especially environmental concerns, disease, poison, and suffocation. So that’s rather useful. Thanks, love. He doesn’t use any particular sword style. Or rather, he uses the Knight Family style, where they train to hit the enemy with their sword without any special techniques, like they did in medieval times. The Crusader armor, shied, and sword are indestructible by any known means, they can disguise themselves as ordinary clothes and accessories, and they only function for Randall. Even the sword will not cut in another person’s hands. It’d be just a glorified club. But in his hands it can cut through even the toughest armor like butter. Or pierce through. Or smash through. It’s flexible like that. The shield, on the other hand, is a little more complex. It grants the user significant resistance to magic and outright immunity to demonic/infernal powers and Hellfire. It’s also, yanno, a shield. Helps block damage from getting to the user. The armor, is well, armor. Capable of shrugging off all man portable mundane weaponry and even lesser on its own, combined with the shield he’s ignored rocket fire. But it also makes him quite strong, able to crack steel with a punch and lift hundreds of tons. There is also the translation enchantments (which work on spoken language only, unfortunately) and a significant sensor suite. Concealment, Illusions, and darkness are no impediment to his vision, and he can see both magical and demonic/Hellfire/infernal effects. Tactically, Randall is really just a swordsman. Always has been. He does always try to talk it out first, if that seems possible. Using Improved Block or Improved Defense to protect himself. If not, than he will fight. Though, truthfully common thuggery cannot penetrate his armor, to there’s no reason to do anything but Improved Disarm them and Accurate Attack +5 punch them unconscious. It is for ordinary supervillains that he’ll bring out the sword and shield for. That much Accurate Attack is still the order of the day, however, reducing it if necessary. He doesn’t want to unintentionally inflict lethal damage, after all. With stronger foes, he doesn’t bother holding back like this. Indeed, he’ll use both Improved Feint and Taunt. He’s got All Out, Defense, and Power Attack to cycle through at need. Accurate+Defensive can be used to turtle up, All Out+Power is a savage attack, etc. Don’t forget his rank of Teamwork and his Master Plan feats for working with others. +3 to attack rolls and skill checks for 3 rounds is nothing to sneeze at. The +2 and +1 for one round each following isn’t, either. He does not power stunt. Personality: Sir Randall Knight believes in nothing. Nothing, but the truth of who we are. We are warmth in the cold We are light in the darkness. We are love amidst an uncaring universe. We exist. Right here. Right now. None any better than the rest. We all blood. We all suffer. We all die. We are all, in the end, forgotten. We are all dust in the wind. Less than an eyeblink in the span of a far greater universe. None of it matters. And that’s the point. The universe is cold, dark, and uncaring. But we have no need to be. No one can choose when they are born. Very few get to choose when they die. Circumstances not of our own making constrain many of our choices throughout our lives. And yet, the answer to a simple question is always ours to decide. What kind of person do you want to be? Indeed, Sir Randall Knight believes in nothing. But that is irrelevant. He decided the type of person he wanted to be a very long time ago, and nothing has swayed his resolve. He did not decide to be a hero, though he is one. He did not decide to be a killer, though he is one of those as well. He decided to simply be a good man. The best man he was able to be. Because one day he will die. Everything he is will disappear into oblivion. But until then, he can be warm and loving. A light in the dark or those who are lost in it. Many are eager to deal out death and judgement. He is not among them. He does not consider himself nearly wise enough for that, and considers anyone who does to be fooling themselves. He is a man of kindness and forgiveness. Of empathy and compassion. Of courage and valor. And of honor and respect. He is a helping hand, a protective shield and wise counsel in one’s ear. He is an ever stalwart defender of life, free will, and the right to pursue one’s own happiness. Because Sir Randall Knight believes in nothing. He seeks no meaning out of his existence. He serves no higher purpose or calling. He is simply here, now. He has decided the kind of man he wants to be. He has a family that loves him, friends across the sea, and the respect of his peers. That is enough.

Scarlett Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 225/225 STR: +4 (18), DEX: +4 (18), CON: +4 (18), INT: +2 (14), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +4/+5, Fort: +9, Ref: +12, Will: +12 Skills: Acrobatics 11 (+15), Bluff 12 (+15), Craft (chemical) 3 (+5), Disable Device 8 (+10), Disguise 12 (+15), Drive 6 (+10), Escape Artist 6 (+10), Gather Information 7 (+10), Intimidate 12 (+15), Investigate 8 (+10), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 3 (+5), Knowledge (behavioral science) 3 (+5), Knowledge (civics) 3 (+5), Knowledge (streetwise) 13 (+15), Language 2 (+2), Medicine 2 (+5), Notice 12 (+15), Search 8 (+10), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Sleight of Hand 6 (+10), Stealth 11 (+15), Survival 12 (+15) Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Focus (melee) 6, Attack Specialization 3 (Knife Throw (Blast 2)), Benefit (Wealth (Well Off)), Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Challenge - Improved Demoralize, Challenge - Improved Feint, Challenge - Improved Startle, Challenge - Improved Taunt, Defensive Roll, Dodge Focus 5, Elusive Target, Equipment 3, Evasion, Improved Critical 2 (Crimson Blast (Blast 12)), Improved Critical 2 (Knife Throw (Blast 2)), Improved Critical 2 (Pressure Strike (Strike 2)), Improved Critical 2 (Rapid Strikes (Strike 2)), Improved Initiative, Improved Trick, Precise Shot, Quick Change, Quick Draw, Skill Mastery 2 (Acro, Bluf, Disg, Intim, Notice, Sen Mot, Steal, Surv), Startle, Takedown Attack 2, Taunt, Track, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Blood Magic (Array 13) (default power: illusion; Unreliable (5 Uses); Custom (Take 1 Injured Condition per use)) Crimson Blast (Blast 12) (Array; DC 27, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Crimson Blast (Blast 12))) Crimson Deceiver (Illusion 6) (Default; affects: all sense types, DC 16; Progression, Area 2 (25 ft. radius)) Crimson Portal (Teleport (Array; 800 ft. as move action, 2000 miles as full action; Accurate; Change Direction, Change Velocity) Crimson Regeneration (Healing (Array; DC 18; Restoration, Total; Limited to Others; Persistent, Regrowth) Magic Blood (Regeneration 28) (recovery bonus 5 (+5 to recover), recovery rate (bruised) 3 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (disabled) 8 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (injured) 6 (recover 1 / round without rest), recovery rate (staggered) 6 (recover 1 / round without rest); Persistent, Regrowth) Scarlett's Knives (Device 3) (Easy to lose) Knife Fighting Techniques (Array 6) (default power: strike; Subtle (subtle); Custom (Array 5.5)) Knife Throw (Blast 2) (Array; DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Knife Throw (Blast 2)); Mighty 4 (+4 to damage), Precise) Pin Down (Snare 6) (Array; DC 16; Power Loss (vs. targets not wearing any clothing)) Pressure Strike (Strike 2) (Array; DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Pressure Strike (Strike 2)); Alternate Save (Fortitude) [4 extra ranks]; Mighty) Rapid Strikes (Strike 2) (Default; DC 21, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Rapid Strikes (Strike 2)); Autofire (interval 2, max +5) [4 extra ranks]; Mighty) Equipment: Scarlett's Sedan, Scarlett's Townhouse Attack Bonus: +6 (Ranged: +6, Melee: +12, Grapple: +16) Attacks: Crimson Blast (Blast 12), +6 (DC 27), Knife Throw (Blast 2), +12 (DC 21), Pin Down (Snare 6), +6 (DC Ref/Staged 16), Pressure Strike (Strike 2), +12 (DC Fort 21), Rapid Strikes (Strike 2), +12 (DC 21), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 19) Defense: +12 (Flat-footed: +4), Knockback: -2 Initiative: +8 Languages: English Native, Polish, Spanish Totals: Abilities 40 + Skills 43 (172 ranks) + Feats 40 + Powers 54 + Combat 26 + Saves 22 + Drawbacks 0 = 225 ***************************************************************************************** Scarlett's Sedan Power Level: 9; Equipment Points Spent: 7 STR: +10 (30) Toughness: +9 Powers: Speed 5 (Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd) Defense: -2, Size: Huge Totals: Abilities 0 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Feats 0 + Features 0 + Powers 5 + Combat 2 + Saves 0 + Drawbacks 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 7 ***************************************************************************************** Scarlett's Townhouse Power Level: 9; Equipment Points Spent: 8 Toughness: +10 Features: Concealed 1, Garage, Gym, Laboratory, Library, Living Space, Security System 1, Workshop Size: Tiny Totals: Abilities 0 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Feats 0 + Features 8 + Powers 0 - Combat 1 + Saves 1 + Drawbacks 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 8 Age (as of Jan 2019): Unclear, at least 100 years (chronological), late 20s to early 30 (appearance) Height: 5’ 8” Weight: 140 lbs Ethnicity: Hispanic (exact country unclear) Hair: Black Eyes: Brown Base of Operations: Chicago, Illinois Background: Scarlett is a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma. Her first documented appearance was over a hundred years ago. Nobody is sure if she’s even human. Theories run between demigod city spirit to faerie trickster to immortal space alien. Between that and her alleged penchant for straight up murdering criminals and supervillains, she’s been a very controversial addition to the Icons. Caviezel is her number one supporter, and the Shining Guardian wasn’t and isn’t too far behind. Because Chicago isn’t just Star territory. It had spawned heroes for decades before the original Starman even moved to town. Scarlett is arguably one of them, though people outside of the Icons disagree on whether the Scarlett of the 2010s is the same as the Scarlett of the 1920s. And whether someone who allegedly kills people counts as a hero in the first place, and not a supervillain with good publicity. The truth is…complicated. Have you ever made a mistake? One you couldn’t take back? Scarlett has. More than once. Her last name is Rodriguez. It wasn’t, then. She wasn’t Latino, either. She was probably Italian? She doesn’t know. She had a brother. His name was Carmine. She doesn’t really remember whether they were abandoned or orphaned. She remembers that Carmine took care of her. They were just kids, but he was older and a boy. He could get work where she couldn’t. Especially because she was sick a lot. Poor food, bad sanitation in the slums, so many people and so much noise. But he was dedicated and determined, and she got old enough and well enough to help. They may not have had parents, or relatives, but they had each other. They grew with the city. Carmine was making good money with his shop. He has employees and everything. But crime in the city was bad. The violence was holding people back, or so he said. Scarlett doesn’t remember very well. She’d started getting sick again. She does remember the year. 1920. Carmine put on a mask and a fancy red suit and long coat. He got a gun and went out to do battle with the gangsters. He called himself The Scarlett Guardian. He was a hero, but you know the numbers. 10% don’t get through a year. 1% don’t get through five. He beat the odds on that first one. But not the second. Scarlett was the one who went and found him, then brought him home. Poor Carmine. He’d only ever tried to help, and they killed him for it. Cornered and tommy gunned until he stayed down. His powers weren’t as strong as Scarlett’s, so he died. Scarlett remembers very well what she did next, and it’s well documented in the newspapers of the period. Carmine wanted her to go out with him, so he’d had a suit, coat, and mask made for her, too. She should have gone with him. That was her first mistake. What she did next…well…some people say it was, too. She put on the suit, the coat, and the mask. They weren’t quite the same as his. There was this special gas that deadened her senses a little, turned the suit and coat red, and made the mask stick to her. Carmine had understood. He’d always understood. Sometimes the city was bright, loud, or smelly, and it made her sick. But with the suit and mask, it wasn’t a problem anymore. She took Carmine’s spare gun and her own first set of knives out into the city. And did what she did next. Even Scarlett will admit that it was really more like serial killing than superheroing. Even in that era. Carmine would have probably thought it was excessive. But he was dead. And she was very angry. Of course, a person can’t be angry forever. She sure tried, though. A second mistake for the list. They really thought she was a psycho. No, there were just rules, and you broke them. That’s what she said, back then. What happened to Carmine eventually happened to her, too. Well, it happened a lot, actually. She was running her brother’s shop, now, so she could afford replacement suits and coats. And she learned to the specific chemical stuff to them that made the gas work, and learned how to make the gas, too. The occasion she’s talking about specifically happened after the gangster era was brought to an end. Like previously stated, a person can’t stay angry forever. And with Torrio gone and Capone in prison there was nobody left to be angry at. She wasn’t a bad detective, really, so she started helping out here and there instead of just killing people or whatever. A shift in methodology that did not go unnoticed by the Bureau of Investigation (not yet the FBI). She was Melvin Purvis’s “lady in red”, Anna Sage, whose tip led to the demise of John Dillinger. Or rather, she was the one wearing the orange dress that day. The real Anna Sage (aka Ana Cumpanas) was not there that day. This was the plan between Anna and Scarlett, who wasn’t half as scary as she’d been five years prior. When “Anna” quietly disappeared after shots were fired and Dillinger was downed, the real Anna was questioned and spilled the truth to the Bureau, who were annoyed at a glorified serial killer intervening in a federal matter. To tell the truth, it had been ten years since Carmine was killed. After the death of Babyface Nelson, the Chicago division focused on Scarlett. She was the last renegade of the era running free and doing as she pleased despite a shocking amount of violence and death left in her wake. So she was ducking the Bureau (including after they became the FBI in 1935), the Chicago Outfit, and even a supervillain or two. The Outfit she could dodge, intimidate, or fight off. The supervillains she could sic one of the other two on for a while if she couldn’t kill them outright. But the FBI never stopped. She knew from the examples of Dillinger and Nelson that killing a few would just make the rest mad, and that was wrong anyway. They couldn’t be intimidated, not really. Only left dodging, except he FBI was and still is pretty good at what they do. Her final stand in ’38 was a violent affair. She’s ashamed to admit the old anger came roaring back. Accidently burned down that building. They knew her name, so there wasn’t any going back to the shop. The Depression had all but killed it anyway. Surrounded by flames, almost unconscious from blood loss and smoke inhalation, Scarlett worked her first blood magic spell. And died. But not forever. Scarlett came back. Reborn, really. Surprised that worked. New face. New eyes. New ethnicity. Same brain. Same powers. New understanding of them. A full adult. Neat. Okay, back to work. Well. Kind of. This body had family, apparently. Oh, dear. Body jacking wasn’t the plan. Though…she was pretty sure this person had died, by that big bloodstain she woke up in. So maybe it was okay? She hoped so. She liked these people. They clearly loved the person this body had belonged to. She liked them, too. They weren’t Carmine, but they were good. Yes. Good. 25 years had gone by. 1963. Chicago in the Silver Age got pretty violent. There was a lot for superheroes to do. She never ran into any of the Stars. But you know, she didn’t kill anybody. No guns, either. Just the knives. The rest was the same. Seemed to be the thing to do, so why not go with the flow? Mistake three. A nice shop. Suit, coat, and mask. Yes. This time the law was too busy to worry about her comeback. Well. It’s not like it was that long. A decade and a half. Sixteen years, really. Then one of Starman’s regular sparring partners figured out who she was, or who her body had originally belonged to anyway. The third Neutron was one smart fella. Also a lot more powerful than her. He beat her to death in her own shop. Well, what would have been death for anyone else, probably. Then he locked the doors and set it on fire. With her kidnapped family in it. She loved them, by then. Quite a bit, really. She saved them. She saved them all. Of course, she wore her powers down to a nub doing it. No strength left. Aw. She didn’t want to be dead again. But her shop was on fire. And Neutron would just come after her family again, probably. She used the spell again. Better, this time. 1994. Her current life. Scarlett Rodriguez. Not a full adult. Just a kid, really. Nice parents. Cute little sister. That was okay. World had changed again. It was okay to be violent and murderous now. Which was good, because she was angry about having to leave her family again. Very angry. But you know what they say; insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result. So she joined the police department instead of having a shop. The thing that changed her into a proper superhero again was meeting Caviezel. He came investigating some of her killings. Homicide detectives get better info and enough forensic raining to avoid leaving evidence behind. Know this guy’s literally evil, but got nothing on him. That’s okay, she could just costume up and go deal with him. No more bad guy. Normally this would have been like, a fight. Caviezel vs. Scarlett, let’s she and him fight. Except no. He saw her and wanted to talk instead. Oh. Okay. People don’t normally try to talk to her. A very long conversation. He’s a good friend, and a good man. He was also right. And she wasn’t. The Iron Age was over, you know? Killing was out again. That’s the flippant response. The serious one was that, well…he was right. She wasn’t Being Good, like Carmine always did. She wasn’t living up to his example like she wanted to and he’d approve of. (Caviezel, for his part, understood that imprisoning a being that can open one vein and reincarnate 25 years from now in a new body whenever she wants is a stupid idea that would never work unless she allowed it to, so rehabilitation is a superior solution. Especially when you can see through her layers of self deception and reveal them to her.) Plus, you know, life wasn’t so bad. Mom and dad (these third ones) had died a little early, so she got to be Carmine for her kid sister for a little while. And there was this nice guy she was dating. He had two cute kids. Her first two lives hadn’t ended all that well, and she missed those guys a lot. Carmine was dead, and second life’s family wouldn’t recognize her plus it had been over thirty years now since she’d seen them last. This third life was good. She wanted to keep it as long as possible. So she put the guns away again. She was brought into the Icons in 2010, after the Seven Soldiers incident. Caviezel’s opinion counted for a lot, sure, but Fletcher, his former partner Armsman, the Desert Stranger (whom Tex Austin knew well) and Crusader (Sir Randall Knight) She was not there for Lei Zi’s invasion because she was on a case for her day job of homicide detective and could not get away without losing her job. C’mon, Captain. It’s an emergency. Nope, this is Priority One. All hands on deck. Your other stuff will have to take care of itself, Rodriguez. Darn. She was, however, there for everything else. Fletcher making that AI in 2014. She took the Shining Guardian’s side in the Icons civil war. So she was there in Baltimore for the Eternity War. And that is where her story takes a turn. See, between Lei Zi’s invasion in 2011 and battling that AI in 2014, she married that nice guy. His name was Ethan Slater. She lived in his house while keeping her apartment for her own stuff. Like Carmine, Ethan understood. He was also happy to have a woman who didn’t abuse him or his kids verbally or physically. When the civil war happened, she was already a few weeks pregnant and hasn’t noticed yet. Since her identity was still secret, she could still be at home without the mask, suit, and coat on. It was not that Ethan or any of their three children were Dusted. It was that she was. Homicide detectives make enemies, just like superheroes. And with the initial chaos of the Dusting, one took advantage of the opportunity to get some revenge on Detective Scarlett Rodriguez. Unfortunately, she was not home. Her husband and children were. Scarlett was gone until the final battle of the Endgame. She did fine enough there, but was obviously distracted. Afterwards, she returned home to an empty house that had apparently not been lived in for some time. Sure, okay. Maybe Ethan and the children were among the Dusted too. So she went to the station, her workplace. Her little sister Mia was there, having both been a detective in Vice, Scarlett’s replacement in Homicide, and thus not Dusted. Mia had her children. But Ethan was dead. She took a trip to the graveyard. Scarlett displayed grief and rage at the headstone of her husband. And that night, she went to find the son of a bitch who’d murdered her Ethan and made her children watch. She was, for the first time since Carmine, very angry. Scarlett knew where her husband’s killer was. He was not alone. This did not matter. They were laughing at his description of his work. Chicago PD got the call a while later. A room full of gangsters, massacred with knives. One in particular the killer of these men seemed to have taken a long time with. Neither Scarlett nor Detective Scarlett Rodriguez have been seen since. She does not appear to be anywhere. If she had cast the spell and reincarnated, her body would have been found. Detective Rodriguez is not a suspect in the killings, as she isn’t known to have any knife skills nor any connection to the superheroine Scarlett. The Icons don’t know her secret identity, aside from Caviezel. And he’s got more than enough on his plate at the moment to think of investigating one mass killing in Chicago. The truth? Scarlett is hiding. She’s made a horrible mistake, is terribly ashamed, and doesn’t know what to do about it. Powers & Tactics: Scarlett is an expert knife fighter who has magic blood. No, seriously. She’s a very rare and unusual type of sorcerer. Normally, sorcerers generate mana from their souls and store it in their bodies. And Scarlett is arguably still doing that, but instead of infusing into her entire body, it’s just in her blood and bone marrow. And by in, what is actually meant is fully integrated and inseparable from. This, understandably, makes spellcasting difficult. Not only does she need to bleed to cast any spells, but a portion of her blood is used up in the process. So if she uses it more than five times in a short period, she’ll start getting light headed from blood loss. Actually injuring herself to get the magic blood out is less of a problem, as her magic blood effortlessly regenerates all injuries in extremely rapid fashion. This too, can technically wear out after too much blood loss due to injury or spellcasting, but it lasts far longer. The third Neutron was physically strong enough to injure the original Starman, and it took him several blows to get her regeneration to even begin to fade. However, her bone marrow replaces her blood at a far superior rate so even if her powers are fading due to blood loss they will quickly return with food and rest. This can take anywhere from an hour (if she’s just run out of her normal spellcasting allotment) to several hours (if she’s taken and recovered from extreme punishment) to a full day (if her powers were ever totally worn out and she wasn’t dead from her injuries somehow). Her knife fighting skills aren’t from any specific school, really. It superficially resembles Eskrima, as she uses a knife in each hand. However, there are movements from the Sicilian school of stiletto fighting, Andalucian navaja fighting, and the teachings of William E. Fairbairn as well. So it’s arguably her own style. She can, of course, simply rapidly stab people, but she can also throw one to damage or several to pin down if the target is dressed today. The only more exotic technique is a “pressure strike” which inflicts internal damage. She carries a genuinely ridiculous amount of knives to fight with. She owns more knives than shirts. Tactically, Scarlett really is mostly a knife fighter. Her nonlethal attacks are all bludgeoning damage, for the record, while if she ever went lethal it’d be piercing as expected for knives. Knife Throw and Pin Down are ranged, with the latter being great to hold down opponents for a follow up attack or just in general. Rapid Strikes and Pressure Strike are melee, and each has their strengths. That’s all she needs for common thuggery. Throw in Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Demoralize, Feint, Startle, and Taunt plus a +2 Power Attack if necessary for any ordinary supervillains. With her regeneration, it’s not a big issue to deal with them this way. It’s against those situations a step up from the ordinary where the magic comes out. Sometimes she needs +12 damage instead of +8. It’s just how it is. Illusions can make fighting so much easier, as well as aiding civilian escape or just being a big flashy distraction for someone else. We all know how useful one teleport can be. And sometimes people are hurt and they need healing. Extra Effort can overcome the Unreliable Flaw for another use, but now she’s Fatigued so it makes sense she doesn’t do that a lot. One would think Blood Magic was ripe for any number of power stunts, but they’d be effect she hasn’t practiced well. They take more blood than she’d like, in basically the same way as the aforementioned Extra Effort. So she doesn’t really bother in the heat of the moment. But if you, Dear Reader, can think of other mundane Knife Fighting Techniques, you are welcome to have her stunt them. Personality: Scarlett is a very unusual personality. It’s what makes people think she isn’t human. She’s very, very strange. I am not a psychologist, Dear Reader, but she fits quite well many of the symptoms used to diagnose autism. She has sensory sensitivity to bright light, certain sounds (including some people’s voices), and certain smells (like sulfur, or ammonia). She displays repetitive, ritualistic behaviors like wearing the same outfit every single day from her closet full of identical outfits and eating from a relatively limited menu of food items. And, of course, a strong resistance to change. She’s been dressing and acting the same way through three lifetimes and nearly a century of time. She even has issues with social interaction, lacking anything resembling the intuitive understanding of other people that most have. She has had to make do with a cobbled together intellectual understanding that, until Caviezel, was rather flawed. This is the part that’s caused her to be able to casually kill if they’ve met the qualifications in her mind. It makes logical sense to remove someone who is causing more harm than good to society, yes? Especially if they show no signs of being willing to change that, yes? They wouldn’t be acting that way if they hadn’t accepted that this could happen to them, yes? Of course, it’s not nearly that simple, even in strictly logical terms. Putting the legal arguments, psychology, and discussion of systemic poverty aside, Caviezel correctly identified why she was behaving the way she was. Because Scarlett herself didn’t know, either. Not really. She was angry. Oh. Is that what that feels like? But they deserved it, right? It’s not about what they deserve, Scarlett. It’s about the kind of person you want to be. What kind of person do you want to be, Scarlett? The other reason is that like many autistic persons, she has a high level of alexithymia, which is the inability to identify and describe one’s own emotions. And if she has difficulty understanding her own emotions, imagine how difficult it is to understand anyone else’s. Naturally this makes interpersonal relations rather…difficult. So the common description of her in the old days as a psycho killer makes sense. She seemed basically sociopathic, and capable of shocking violence because she didn’t understand. And because they were the bad guys, it didn’t seem to matter. Some people would say that she’s a lost cause, and to give up on her. These people have not seen her through the eyes of Carmine, Ethan, and especially Caviezel. They have not seen her put her life on the line in and out of costume to protect people. The answer to that question. The type of person she wants to be. She doesn’t want to be an enraged psycho killer. Those are the bad guys. Villains. She wants to be a hero, like Carmine. To rescue people in trouble and defeat the bad people who would harm them. Until recently, she’d been doing an admirable job. But her standards for dealing with said bad guys were formed in a very different era, where killing them was accepted practice. It took Caviezel to explain to her why she was wrong in the first place. There aren’t words for the guilt, the shame, and the strength of her desire to make up for all that killing. She tried to change. She tried to atone. She tried to be different. Until one asshole kicked her right in her most sensitive psychological spot (losing people she loves), and all her work to be a better hero and live up to Carmine’s example was undone. So, now what? She doesn’t know, really. Maybe she hasn’t really changed at all…

Sage (Sagacious Winifred Burke) Power Level: 12; Power Points Spent: 255/255 STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +3 (16), INT: +5 (20), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +5 (20) Tough: +3/+15, Fort: +8, Ref: +8, Will: +17 Skills: Acrobatics 2 (+5), Climb 3 (+5), Concentration 17 (+20), Disable Device 5 (+10), Drive 2 (+5), Gather Information 10 (+15), Intimidate 10 (+15), Investigate 10 (+15), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 10 (+15), Knowledge (streetwise) 5 (+10), Knowledge (theology & philosophy) 10 (+15), Language 3 (+3), Medicine 2 (+5), Notice 7 (+10), Perform (stringed instruments) 5 (+10), Search 10 (+15), Sense Motive 7 (+10), Stealth 7 (+10), Swim 3 (+5) Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Artificer, Challenge - Improved Demoralize, Challenge - Improved Startle, Equipment 2, Force of WIll (can spend hero point to substitute Will save in place of Fortitude save), Improved Critical 2 (Agonyshock Tempest (Blast 15)), Improved Critical 2 (Hatefrost Aurora (Blast 15)), Improved Critical 2 (Ragefire Blast (Blast 15)), Improved Initiative, Improvised Tools, Power Attack, Ritualist, Second Chance (Concentration checks to maintain powers), Skill Mastery (Intimidate, Investigate, Knowledge (arcane lore), Search), Startle, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Emotion Magic Tattoos (Array 16) (default power: blast) Agonyshock Tempest (Blast 15) (Array; DC 30, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Agonyshock Tempest (Blast 15))) Compassionate Regeneration (Healing 9) (Array; DC 19; Restoration, Total; Limited to Others; Persistent, Regrowth) Defiance Field (Create Object 15) (Array; Max Size: 15x 100' cubes, DC 25; Impervious [12 ranks only]; Range (touch); Progression, Object Size 4, Selective) Empathic Telepathy (Mind Reading 12) (Array; DC 22; Duration (sustained)) Hatefrost Aurora (Blast 15) (Array; DC 30, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Hatefrost Aurora (Blast 15))) Ragefire Blast (Blast 15) (Default; DC 30, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Ragefire Blast (Blast 15))) Mystic Force Field (Force Field 12) (+12 Toughness; Impervious) See Magical Effects (Super-Senses 1) (awareness: Magic (visual)) Titanium Will (Immunity 30) (will saves; Limited - Half Effect; Innate) Wizardry (Array 10) (default power: environmental control) Air Control (Move Object 6) (Array; Strength: 30, Carry: 532 / 1.1k / 1.6k / 3.2k; Range (perception)) Counterspell (Nullify 15) (Array; counters: all powers of (type) - magic, DC 25; Action (full)) Hex Technology (Nullify 10) (Array; counters: all powers of (type) - technological, DC 20; Burst Area (50 ft. radius - General); Range (touch)) Scrying (ESP 6) (Array; affects: 2 types - normal visual & auditory; No Conduit; Custom 2 (Rapid 2 (x100))) Shadow Magic (Obscure 6) (Array; affects: visual senses, Radius: 250-1250 ft.; Selective Attack; Progression, Increase Area 2 (area x5)) Summon Light (Environmental Control 5) (Default; light (bright), Radius: 100 ft.; Selective Attack) Veiling (Concealment 10) (Array; all senses) Worldwalking (Super-Movement 3) (Array; dimensional 3 (any dimension); Custom 2 (Portal); Progression, Dimensional Move (carry 250 lbs)) Equipment: Vehicle: Compact Car Attack Bonus: +9 (Ranged: +9, Melee: +9, Grapple: +11) Attacks: Agonyshock Tempest (Blast 15), +9 (DC 30), Counterspell (Nullify 15), +9 (DC Will 25), Empathic Telepathy (Mind Reading 12) (DC Will 22), Hatefrost Aurora (Blast 15), +9 (DC 30), Hex Technology (Nullify 10) (DC Will 20), Ragefire Blast (Blast 15), +9 (DC 30), Unarmed Attack, +9 (DC 17) Defense: +9 (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -13 Initiative: +7 Languages: Chinese (Mandarin), English Native, Korean, Latin Totals: Abilities 42 + Skills 32 (128 ranks) + Feats 16 + Powers 105 + Combat 36 + Saves 24 + Drawbacks 0 = 255 ****************************************************************************************** Vehicle: Compact Car Power Level: 12; Equipment Points Spent: 9 STR: +10 (30) Toughness: +8 Powers: Speed 5 (Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd) Defense: -1, Size: Large Totals: Abilities 2 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Feats 0 + Features 0 + Powers 5 + Combat 1 + Saves 1 + Drawbacks 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 9 Age (as of Jan 2019): 43 (chronological), late 20s (appearance) Height: 6’ Weight: 160 lbs Ethnicity: ¾ Caucasian, ¼ Korean Hair: Black Eyes: Blue Background: Sage (she hasn’t used her full name ever) is a fucking mess. Her life has been virtually nothing but a nonstop barrage of trauma and misery. To some, she would be well within her rights to fuckin’ snap and become the villainous monster the Wizards of the White Court think she is. But that’s the hell of it. She’s just too damn strong to go crazy. Her mind just won’t break. And she just can’t seem to get herself killed. Not that she wants to die, you understand. But at least that way it’d finally be fuckin’ over. The only reward for work well done is more work. Goddamn it. She just wants to be left in peace and not have any murder cases, news of fresh monsters on the loose, or bad magical omens popping up. But San Francisco can’t go a goddamn week without someone who needs her particular brand of help desperately beating down her door. She’d really, genuinely appreciate it if the problems of the city, Faerie, and the supernatural world in general would, for once, stay solved. And that fuckin’ assholes would stop creating new problems. But no. It’s just one damn thing after another. In fact, it’s worse than that. The damn things overlap. She does not know how Megagirl did this with a smile. It started when her mother Haewon (who was deeply weird about herbs and thus named all three of her daughters after them) divorced her father. To be fair, her father was never around anyway. Always out there doing god knows what. His work always called him away. It would take until Sage was an adult before she learned he was a rogue wizard with a deeply complicated past and sense of morality. Also, he died shortly after she was born. When she can stand to think about her mother, she wonders if Haewon was simply determined to destroy herself out of sheer contrariness. She certainly never did what anyone wanted her to. She was in a permanent state of extreme rebellion against, apparently, everything society found good and right. Or even basic common sense. So she was kind of a shit mother. Who had three kids with a shit father who was never around, and then had a series of shit boyfriends who abused her until they tried to control her. Then they were gone, and she went and got a new boyfriend. Juniper (the oldest), Rosemary (middle child), and Sage (the youngest) basically raised themselves, getting the hell out of whichever apartment they were in as soon as legally possible. So, literally their eighteenth birthdays. Happy birthday, Juni. Bye, Juni. Happy birthday, Rose. Bye, Rose. Yeah. Like that. Just like that. Of course, they left for an additional reason. Haewon managed to get married again. He was 100% pure bastard. Sage knows what he was now. Mind mage. Psychemancy. Psychic magic. Haewon was all too happy to be his brainwashed servant. Her sisters bailed in time. And Sage, goddamn it, was too much like her mother to force the issue. So the bastard used a subtler enchantment. He stole her ability to love anyone but him. The huge dumbass forgot she could still hate him. And she did. Fervently. She reserved the bulk of her hatred, however, for her mother. For Haewon. And that was the situation for a little while. But everyone snaps eventually. Sage snapped in epic fashion. She had the elemental tattoos by then. She walked into the master bedroom, froze her mother solid with her first Hatefrost Aurora, and incinerated the bastard with her first Ragefire Blast. Then she left the now burning house. Her sisters found her. The Burke sisters, each with a third of the Emotion Tattoos, part of the Seven Sorceries. Three wounded, traumatized sisters, each mourning both the mother they wished they’d had and the father they never did. They spent three years battling supernatural menaces around San Francisco. Juniper, Rosemary, and Sage, in a pretty mansion in a lovely neighborhood. They were quite the charmed trio. However, it was not to last. It was the Iron Age, and as is known, most heroes don’t get past year five. To make a long story quite short, they’d made enemies in those three years. Said enemies assaulted that pretty mansion and kicked the fuck out of them in a spectacular battle. Juniper died. Rosemary and Sage had a nasty argument afterward, and parted ways. They may have reconciled in time, but the White Court’s enforcers swooped down on the injured and exhausted Sage almost immediately afterward. She had, after all, committed cold blooded murder three years prior, and her location had finally been revealed by the chaos of the battle. Mundane authorities did and do not have the resources and knowledge to deal with magical criminals, so for a bunch of centuries now the White Court has taken up the duty. Their current Merlin (Sayid) draws a hard line when it comes to magical murder and mind control. Death penalty. No exceptions. Sword to the neck. Off with their head. Sage was in just about the worst emotional state of her life, so she was cool with dying, and in fact provided some vigorous encouragement (in typical Sage fashion) for them to just get it over with already. And yet. For reasons Sage did not know at the time, Henry Kim intervened. She spent about five years at Henry’s house in Denver. It did not always go well. She wasn’t allowed to leave, and had to do what he said. If you, Dear Reader, understand anything about Sage at this point, you will understand how poorly she would react to both of those things. And neither of them was any good at being warm, feeling humans instead of a prickly asshole (in Sage’s case) and a stubborn hardass (in Henry’s). He was the wizarding teacher, and she was the apprentice. It was not easy, but they bonded quite well and she learned a lot. At the end of the five years, in June 2001, the White Court tested her. The tests were grueling and unpleasant. They were not only designed to test her magical prowess, but her mental stability and psychological makeup. She passed and was accorded a full Wizard of the White Court. She could move out and have her own life. So she did. She moved to San Francisco and hung out her shingle as a private detective. Three months later she was surprised to see Henry help found the Icons after that terrible day and September. She’d recognize those spells anywhere after five years. Huh. Well, whatever. And three months after that, her life started descending into its current infinitely aggravating and exhausting state. Let’s run down the list. Harrassment from her White Court monitor, Keith Copeland. 2002. A wizard wannabe dealing mystical drugs and using a combo and erotic and lethal blood magic to commit homicides to weaken local crime kingpin Vivian Wu. 2003. DEA agents deciding that magic belts that transformed them into werewolves were the best way to get rid of Vivian Wu, instead of like, legal methods. 2004. That time she, uh, started an underground global war with the Vaughn family of vampires. Amon breed, as if it matters. If was to save her idiot reporter boyfriend, Bobby Liu, and it didn’t even work. She had to cobble together a spell that would hold his vampirism off, and like hell it would last forever. Especially since he split town shortly afterward. 2005. Then all of Faerie went to war over a couple of murders, and it was this whole thing. Technically she saved the world by solving that one, but it would have been a long form apocalypse, spread out over a few generations. 2006. Then there was the one where Fallen members of the Earthbound Host tried to steal some important divine artifacts and bring a plague apocalypse to San Francisco. Almost didn’t fail, that was closer than she liked. Also the last time she saw Bobby Liu for quite some time. The magic preventing him from fully transforming into a vampire was holding. Somehow. This one got her into the Icons. Thanks, Henry. More work to do. Nice. 2007. Next up, the cursed gay porn studio, where Vanessa Fordham (succubus and Asmodeus vampire at once, somehow) took over the Violet Court of…you know, what do they call those? Cubi? Cubuses? Well, whatever. She got her wolf Sombra out of it. Yes, she is a real wolf. 2008. The following case was half a dozen members of the Black Court of Necromancers blew into town and almost murdered everyone in it for a chance at divinity. No, Sage did not ride an undead T-Rex through the Embarcadero. It was a trio of triceratops through the Tenderloin. Also the case where she got roped into being an enforcer for the White Court. 2009. This caused problems, as her ally Rue’s son Basil turned out to have one of the two thirds of the Emotion Tattoos that Sage did not. And he was getting in trouble with them. And and dealing with Halloween horror movies summoning…fetches? Is that what they’re called? Fuck, she neither knows nor really cares. Look, they feed on fear, there was a lot going around that week. Ended up with Sage stepping in for Basil the way Henry had stepped in for her, and for the same reason. Not that she knew it at the time. Basil was, somehow, Rosemary’s son. With Rue. Who was a purified demon with a human soul. Oh, boy. This kid’s gonna have it rough. 2010. Welcome to year 9, where Sage had to help Vanessa Fordham secure her power in the Violet Court against a pair of conspiring usurpers who had been quietly murdering the weakest sorcerers, metahumans, and other potential hero types. And of course, the last one standing had to call something from fucking Outside. Like, yeah the Emotion Tattoos were designed to deal with threats like that. Did not mean it wasn’t an insanely dangerous thing to do, you fucking idiot of an incubus. And the cherry on the fucking cake was giving Vivian Fucking Wu the authorization to open her own Court. Year 10. 2011. So…remember those Fallen members of the Earthbound Host? They’re baaaaack. Guess who else is back? The Faerie Courts. The problem? Despite her extensive prepations for such an event, Vivan Wu had been kidnapped. Yes, by Fallen fucking angels. And this was Sage’s problem because the Summer and Winter Queens were in accord. Kidnapping a Court’s monarch was a big no-no, and needed to be dealt with. By Sage. Now would be good. And this is the one where Rue got badly hurt and mostly retired from the field. Dammit. So hell no, Sage could not make it to Lei Zi’s invasion in Seattle. She was fucking busy. 2012. To make a long story short, Keith Copeland (professional pain in her ass) showed up at her doorstep badly injured and on the run from the White Court. Uh. What. You’re accused of murder & treason. What. Of course it’s not you, Sage is not an idiot. Aw, here it goes. Another fucking disaster. Exposing a mole in the White Court. Some ugly fights, and in the end it barely goddamn mattered, because matters between the Courts are like matters between jungle predators. Show weakness, get eaten. Admitting to being vulnerable to infiltration would just encourage further infiltration and bigger moves. So when Keith Copeland died saving Sage’s ass, he got the blame for all the stuff he was running from in the first place. Fucking bullshit. Met Marian Soaring Eagle, though, when she showed up to kick the fuck out of…whatever the hell that was, during the climax on Alcatraz. 2013. A quick summary. Her office exploded. Her home burned down. She broke her back. Basically the war against the Vaughn family of Amon vampires spilled into town. Because they’d found Sage’s daughter, Rika. Yeah. She’d not mentioned that one to anyone. Bobby Liu’s kid. Yeah. She’d disappeared for a bit before the gay porn studio director called. Said it was a month’s vacation. She’d earned it, right? She lied. So. A lot happened. She made a few deals she really shouldn’t have, because she’s crazy when it comes to family. But the day was saved. The Vaughn family, all several dozen thousands of them worldwide, were destroyed. And all she had to do was break the spell holding Bobby’s vampirism back, and stake with that special stake. Easy peasy. And then to get out of those deals, she had herself killed. Specifically, she had herself assassinated and magically wiped her memory of ordering it in the first place. So, she died. Well. Mostly. Was supposed to be totally, but damn those Faerie Queens. 2014. Being mostly dead and running around San Francisco as a ghost, she totally missed the whole…Fletcher making an AI…thing. She doesn’t actually remember this very well. Apparently one of the two Black Court members who survived that whole last episode came back in ghost form, too? There was a lot going on, but it mostly didn’t have much to do with her. 2015. Fully alive again. Yay. Not what she wanted. Not at all. Again, damn those Faerie Queens. Sage doesn’t give a fuck how desperately she’s needed. She’s genuinely tired of this bullshit. Leave her the fuck alone. But of course, that’s now how it works, how is it? No. Evil’s afoot, and literally the only person in the entire universe who can deal with it in time is Sage. San Francisco, Oakland, and the greater metro area are going to be destroyed when Alcatraz explodes. The Faerie Queens muster for war again, as their children are misbehaving. It never fucking ends, does it? So naturally, in this mood Sage told both Henry (aka the Shining Guardian) and Fletcher to fuck off, staying the hell out of the Icons civil war. 2016. Still got deals to honor, Sage. Now go rob Odin with a fallen angel and backstab him after. Wait, what? The Fallen members of the Earthbound Host are back, and working schemes. Of course, nothing went entirely as they or Sage planned. Tch. Well, at least it wasn’t an emotionally draining as the last few-oh, fuck is that literally dammed angel coming for Rika? Fuck. And now her daughter knows what she looks like, and…fuck, man…how can she not be a better mother to the munchkin than she was to her own. Or than her missing and presumed dead sister Rosemary was to Basil. 2017. The Eternity War. Sage made it in time to Baltimore when Henry called. They still lost. The Dusting happened. Sage had to hold together San Francisco without some of her most stalwart allies. It sucked. It sucked a lot. But Rika wasn’t Dusted, and neither was Rue. 2018. The Endgame. Aka the last time Sage ever turns her phone off for an afternoon with her daughter. Fortunately, Radical Dreamer knew what she was up to, and thus she put in an appearance at the final battle. Whooped plenty of ass, too. As 2019 dawns, the Faerie Queens are calling a peace summit. Every single Court is invited. The wars between the supernatural forces of the world have gone on too long and cost too much. It is time for peace and stability. Of course, not every Court agrees with this, and there are those outside of the Courts who agree with them. Including a certain ancient being with a deep hatred for humanity. The stage is set. But will San Francisco host historic peace talks, or become nothing more than a battle ground? Sage has been through more than most heroes with twice her years on the job. So both her allies and enemies lists are second in length only to the spectacular Samaritan. Different from him, however, is that some straddle both categories. For example, in no universe are San Francisco crime queenpin Vivian Wu (and Tiger Court Queen) or power behind the Violet Court throne Vanessa Fordham anything but villains. Except they do have a vested interest in keeping the city and by extension the entire world intact and as functional as possible. The Queens of the Summer and Winter Courts of Faerie are operating on an entirely separate code of morality that has precious little to do with any human ideas on the subject. And their direct servants obey orders or are punished. Yet they are only performing their role in the grand scheme of things, and are in no way wholly good or evil. The Wizards of the White Court would never be confused with villains or evildoers, but they can certainly be overzealous to the point of fanaticism and/or overcautious to the point of cowardice. Though in fairness, most of them aren’t particularly capable or interested in combat and so their leadership has to account for that, both to keep their weaker members safe and successfully navigate the treacherous waters of global spellslinger politics. Even former unambiguous allies like Pepper (the reincarnation of Juniper, it’s a long story) and Basil (Rue & Rosemary’s son and Sage’s apprentice) have changed greatly over time and are no longer as directly heroic has they were. So it’s complicated. The two beings Sage can absolutely count on are Matthew Chen (former SFPD now, and still semi-recovering from a nasty knee injury) and Rue (a powerful purified demon with one of the Seven Sorceries at his disposal, yes, but also old and half crippled from an injury helping Sage years ago). She’s got vampires, demons, rogue Fae, and fallen angels on her enemies list. It’s not a fun time. Powers & Tactics: Sage bears the Emotion Tattoos, one of the Seven Sorceries. She is also a highly skilled wizard. The Seven Sorceries are incredibly potent enchantments created near the dawn of civilization to protect humankind from the monsters and demons of the day. Every erg of magic and life in seven of the mightiest magicians to ever walk the earth is in one of the Sorceries. Together, a full 49 are represented. The Emotion Tattoos are, perhaps, slightly misnamed by modern standards. The seven of them channel a certain feeling into mana and that mana into a spell. Sage has had access to Ragefire, Hatefrost, and Agonyshock from a very young age. Perhaps a bit dramatically named, but correctly so. Ragefire channels anger and rage into fire and heat. Hatefrost channels hatred and loathing into ice and cold. Agonyshock channels agony and pain into electricity and lightning. Somebody who’d had a life full of sunshine, rainbows, and puppies probably couldn’t use them very well, but Sage is extremely powerful when she does. One of the deals she made back in 2013 unlocked the Tattoos sealed away when Juniper died. Defiance Field channels sheer stubborn refusal into shapes of pure force. Compassionate Regeneration channels compassion and care for others into healing magic. Juniper was good with these, which should tell people a lot about the type of person she was. And in 2015 the other two were foisted on her when Basil’s humanity was removed. Empathic Telepathy channels empathy and understanding for the feelings of others into psychic magic. Reading their minds, specificially. The last one doesn’t yet have a name that Sage knows. Both Rosemary and Basil told her to figure it out for herself. This makes sense, since magic is what you specifically make of it. Not what someone else tells you it is. It is also not a helpful statement, as apparently whatever it is channels happiness and joy, which are not emotions Sage has any real experience with. Superb. And, to put a cherry on the top of everything, multiple magic users (like Marian, Pepper [who was once Juniper, remember], and Basil) has told Sage she’s using the Tattoos kind of badly. She’s all power, with no finesse or technique, and horribly inefficient in the bargain. Sage cordially invites them to either tell her directly what she’s doing wrong or go fuck themselves. She does, however, concede the point that she doesn’t know what the fuck she’s doing and nobody will give her so much as a goddamn hint. This is, of course, because learning the full capabilities of the Emotion Tattoos is a journey of (appropriately enough) emotional self-discovery that is completely different for everyone. Fuck one hundred percent of that, sayeth Sage. The Emotion Tattoos, for the record, look like tattoos. Lines of crimson/orange flame, ivory/blue ice shards, and black/violet lightning bolts run in straight up her arms, ultimately connecting over her shoulder blades. (Ragefire, Hatefrost, and Agonyshock) A golden heart is on her sternum, right over her heart. (Compassionate Regeneration) A silver chain link circlet, well, circles her head at about mid-forehead. (Defiance Field) Her ears are bracketed by an interesting wavy design that resembles an EKG in green. (Empathic Mind Reading) Whatever the seventh is have not yet appeared. And they glow when she’s using the power in question. As a wizard, Sage specializes in Photomancy. This is also known as Light Magic. Please note that this is a specialization, not a limiter. She is also trained in Aeromancy, Spatial Magic, and basics like counterspelling and disabling technology among others. She uses Photomancy to see magical effects, create both light and shadow to hide herself, disguise her presence, block sight in an area, see areas far away (this also includes Aeromancy for the sounds), and the basic spell of summoning light. Her main use of Aeromancy is to blow things around. The weight limit is in the thousands of pounds, so she can knock over cars or even carry lighter ones this way. Her first main Spatial Magic is a basic one. Creating a portal to another dimension. This is normally used to travel to Faerie or some other mystical realm. Her other main Spatial Magic spell is the force field that shunts damage away from her. It allows her to ignore even artillery and rocket fire. Tactically, Sage typically acts like a particularly brawny thug. Just throwing power at the enemy and praying for the best. Usually because she’s 1) already hurt, and 2) said enemy is something that can kill her quick and easy. Her Notice isn’t great for a hero of her stature and power level, and she lacks Skill Mastery. So she gets ambushed a lot without her Mystic Force Field on. Her Sense Motive is in the same boat, so she’s short her dodge bonus often enough, too. But her Blasts hit like a freight train, and supernatural opposition ain’t human, so they’re always Acceptable Targets. Meaning she doesn’t have to care whether or not she kills them outright. Also meaning she can use Improved Demoralize or Startle and All Out or All Out Power Attack them into oblivion. Accurate Attack is there just in case her opposition is human supervillains. With mundane thuggery she’d just use Air Control to throw something at them, if she didn’t just use Veiling and slide around them in stealth mode. With Artificier and Ritualist, she can be quite the crafty opponent given time to prepare. Unfortunately, that’s a known quality of all wizards, and so their enemies normally refuse to give them that time. If she wanted to, she could power stunt a lot off her Wizardry array. Photomancy, Aeromancy, and Spatial Magic are pretty flexible traditions. So it’s not strange to see her pull off some unexpected one off effects like a visual Dazzle, visual Illusion, Flight, or Teleport. And yes, she could pull out a damaging light or wind blast too. There’s 20 PP to play with, go have fun. Personality: Sage is a fucking mess. No, seriously. Her damaging powers explicitly work by channeling her rage, hatred, and pain into magical energy. Hatefrost may not get as much use as the other two, but Ragefire is virtually her trademark and Agonyshock ain’t that far behind it. Years and years have gone by, and she’s still as much of a big ball of rage and pain as anything else. She’s got unresolved guilt and grief. The kind of psychological trauma a person gets when they’re thrown into desperate, impossible situations over and over again. She murdered her mother. She got her older sister killed, and god only knows what happened to Rosemary. She abandoned her own child immediately after she was born. She killed said child’s father with her own two hands. Over and over again, everyone she cares for gets hurt or fucking DIES because she can’t god damn mother fucking leave well enough alone. She just can’t leave the damn cat in the damn tree. That’s a metaphor. When people are in trouble and they need her help, she is completely and utterly incapable of standing aside and doing nothing. Simply cannot turn her back on them. She is an implacable foe of anyone or anything that would harm people. And oh my god, she doesn’t want to be. It’s gotten her in so much goddamn trouble. Then the people who, for some idiotic reason actually like her, come running along behind her. And they pay for it in blood and pain. It should go without saying that Sage doesn’t have a very good opinion of herself. She can’t see the hero. She can’t see San Francisco’s mightiest and most stalwart protector since Megagirl. She can’t see how strong she is. How much light and good she’s brought into other people’s lives. She also can’t see that not everything is her fault. That she isn’t responsible for the choices other people make. But that’s all internal. Sage has the reputation of being a perpetually angry, rebellious hellbitch, but that’s over a decade out of date. She’s still a professional contrarian, is easily irritated, often surly, and enjoys being deliberately annoying as a coping mechanism. Basically she has Oppositional Defiant Disorder, and was never anywhere close to properly treated for it as a child. So instead she’s learning to be less angry, argumentative, and rebellious as an adult, which would be hard enough without the full cargo ship loads of stress and trauma she’s had to endure in her regular life. But she’s Sage. Enduring is what she does. Aside from flinging fire at monsters about to eat people or whatever. And telling bossy assholes (like certain puffed up authority figures) to eat shit, fuck off, and die.

Caviezel (Ronald Joseph Caviezel) Power Level: 13; Power Points Spent: 255/255 STR: +5 (20), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +5 (20), INT: +5 (20), WIS: +7 (24), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +8, Fort: +9, Ref: +12/+18, Will: +15 Skills: Acrobatics 7 (+10), Diplomacy 7 (+10), Drive 12 (+15), Gather Information 17 (+20), Intimidate 17 (+20), Investigate 15 (+20), Knowledge (civics) 5 (+10), Knowledge (physical sciences) 5 (+10), Knowledge (streetwise) 15 (+20), Knowledge (tactics) 10 (+15), Language 3 (+3), Notice 8 (+15/+25), Search 5 (+10/+20), Sense Motive 8 (+15/+25), Stealth 12 (+15), Survival 2 (+9/+15) Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Assessment, Attack Focus (melee) 10, Attack Specialization 2 (Grapple), Challenge - Improved Demoralize, Challenge - Improved Startle, Contacts, Defensive Attack, Dodge Focus 7, Elusive Target, Equipment 3, Evasion, Improved Block, Improved Critical 2 (Boxer-Slugger (Strike 3)), Improved Disarm, Improved Grab, Improved Initiative, Improved Pin, Improved Throw, Improved Trip, Power Attack, Skill Mastery 2 (Gather Info, Intim, Investigate, KN (streetwise), Notice, Search, Sense Motive, Ste, Startle, Stunning Attack, Takedown Attack 2, Track, Uncanny Dodge 2 (Visual & Auditory), Well-Informed Powers: Eyes of Truth (Container, Passive 10) Absolute Truth of Self (Stun 13) (DC 23; Alternate Save (Will), Range 2 (perception); Limited (Doesn't work on targets previously rendered unconscious by power), Sense-Dependent (Visual), Side-Effect (sometimes - Affects Caviezel)) Enhanced Attack & Defense (Enhanced Trait 18) (Traits: Attack Focus (melee) 10 +6 (+10), Dodge Focus 7 +6 (+7), Reflex +6 (+18)) Enhanced Skills (Enhanced Trait 9) (Traits: Notice +10 (+25), Search +10 (+20), Sense Motive +10 (+25), Survival +6 (+15)) True Sight (Super-Senses 10) (awareness: Hidden (visual), counters concealment: Visual, counters illusion: Visual, counters obscure (all): Visual) Martial Arts Techniques (Array 5) (default power: strike) Boxer-Slugger (Strike 3) (Default; DC 23, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Boxer-Slugger (Strike 3)); Penetrating [1 extra rank]; Mighty) Boxer-Swarmer (Strike 3) (Array; DC 23; Autofire (interval 2, max +5) [3 extra ranks]; Mighty) Judo Chokehold (Strike (Array; DC 23; Alternate Save (Fortitude); Requires Grapple) Judo Throw (Linked) Throwing (Strike (Linked; DC 23; Limited (Trip must succeed)) Tripping (Trip (Linked; Range (touch)) Toughened (Protection 3) (+3 Toughness) Equipment: Flashlight, Vehicle: Full-size Car Attack Bonus: +8 (Ranged: +8, Melee: +12/+18, Grapple: +21/+27) Attacks: Absolute Truth of Self (Stun 13) (DC Staged/Will 23), Boxer-Slugger (Strike 3), +18 (DC 23), Boxer-Swarmer (Strike 3), +18 (DC 23), Judo Chokehold (Strike 8), +18 (DC Fort 23), Throwing (Strike 8), +18 (DC 23), Tripping (Trip 8), +18 (DC 18), Unarmed Attack, +18 (DC 20) Defense: +18 (Flat-footed: +6), Knockback: -4 Initiative: +7 Languages: Arabic, English Native, German, Spanish Totals: Abilities 56 + Skills 37 (148 ranks) + Feats 37 + Powers 66 + Combat 38 + Saves 21 + Drawbacks 0 = 255 ***************************************************************************************** Vehicle: Full-size Car Power Level: 15; Equipment Points Spent: 14 STR: +15 (40) Toughness: +10 Features: Alarm 1, Hidden Compartments 1, Navigation System 1, Oil Slick Powers: Speed 5 (Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd) Defense: -2, Size: Huge Totals: Abilities 2 + Skills 0 (0 ranks) + Feats 0 + Features 4 + Powers 5 + Combat 2 + Saves 1 + Drawbacks 0 + Equipment 0 (0 ep) + Weapons & Armor 0 (0 ep) = 14 Age (as of Jan 2019): 57 Height: 6’ 5” Weight: 250 lbs Ethnicity: Caucasian Hair: Brown and Gray Mix Eyes: Blue (Eyes of Truth), Brown (without) Background: Ronald Joseph Caviezel was arguably born in the wrong decade. A wronged cop turned private detective with a cool car who likes to solve problems with boxing? There was hundreds of these guys in the Golden Age, or it seemed like it. Though it could just as easy be said that it’s better he wasn’t born back then, as he’s very unique in the Heroic Age. He was born in Detroit in 1962, the same year as the second Starman. He’s never forgotten this. Every birthday reminds of his…well, not a friend (Starman II would disagree), but more than an acquaintance. Detroit isn’t that far from Chicago, after all. Jesse Thompkins could swing by whenever he liked. 280 miles was nothing to someone who was casually hypersonic. Caviezel, having grown up in Detroit as the city slowly fell apart, has what could be called strong opinions on segregation and redlining. He’s not especially left leaning, but stupid is stupid. The stubborn, hateful insistence on never allowing the mostly black Detroit and the mostly white suburbs to mix damn near killed the city. He knows. He was there. He lived it. That’s why he says hate makes people stupid. By the time he joined the Detroit Police Department, the slide was obvious to anyone with functioning eyes. But back up a sec. Little Ronnie Caviezel was a dickhead kid. You think, growing up, that his black neighbors didn’t know what was happening to the city? And who was responsible? You think their kids weren’t listening? Little Ronnie didn’t live in the suburbs. He lived in Detroit proper, one of the only white kids in a sea of blackness. Somebody with better conflict mediation and/or avoidance skill would have had a better time. But Caviezel has never been afraid of a fight. Not even when there was 10 of ‘em. Fuck ‘em. And he had good fist fighting instincts from a very young age. So yeah, sometimes he got his ass kicked. But you should see the other guys. This was…not a good way to grow up. His single mother was working herself to the bone, and there was her kid, getting in trouble for fighting all the time. Leaving multiple other kids as beat up and bloody as he was. At her wit’s end, she sent him to a local boxing gym. Well. THE local boxing gym, then and arguably now. The Kronk Gym. Detroit has a long history of producing boxing champions. Joe Louis, to name one. But a few big names were about to emerge from the city while Little Ronnie became big Caviezel. Alvin “Blue” Lewis. Mickey Goodwin. Hilmer Kenty. Hedgemon Lewis. And, of course, the legendary Thomas “Hitman” Hearns. Little Ronnie Caviezel thrived in that environment. He took to the sweet science as if he was born to do it. It looked like Detroit had another budding star on their hands. He started training at age 10 in 1972, to keep him out of street fights. He debuted as a junior boxer at age 15 in 1977, because he’d become a fighter with a ridiculous level of promise. His fights weren’t even close. In 1979, after his 17th birthday, he became a youth boxer. Still nobody could handle him. In 1980, he needed a day job. He’d graduated high school. So he joined Detroit PD. Police officer by day, boxer by night. He waited three years to go pro. 1983 saw the debut of 21 year old Ronnie “Blue Eyes/Iron Joe” Caviezel. Never could stick to one nickname. He was busy as a bee in the 80s. Police work. Boxing training. Night school. Actual boxing matches. Even finding the time to date a pretty young thing. Busy, busy, busy. Because he was apparently also a naturally gifted detective, and he made that rank in 1986. He was 24 years old. He was married to his pretty young thing, named Josie. He was an undefeated professional boxer. He was the new detective assigned to Vice, but Homicide was angling to get him. He was also not an idiot. He had one last fight, and retired from boxing in 1987 at 25 years old. The reason he was so good at boxing was that he had his powers virtually from birth. They’d strengthened as he’d gotten older, and as a grown man it was no longer fair. That last fight was to confirm his hypothesis. Of course, Detroit PD wasn’t pleased to lose one of their most valuable PR tools, but it was what it was. It wasn’t like he stopped training, and he was happy to take exhibition bouts for PR purposes. ’89 was where things went shitty. Homicide detectives often worked long hours. He’d made Sergeant by now. Was respected for his police work and not his pugilism. He trusted his wife Josie. They talked about everything. They were thinking about kids. He shouldn’t have trusted her for five seconds, let alone over five years. She was a honeypot for the Detroit Partnership. Organized crime. The Italian-American Mafia, to be precise. Her lover was a hitman. He found this out when said hitman tried to kill him, laughing about what a huge idiot he was. Aka the last day Ronnie Caviezel ceased existing and the hero Caviezel first appeared. Aka the day he stopped giving a fuck. They framed him as a dirty cop, with years of info from his own lips to condemn him with. And then the hitman came or him. Big fucking mistake. Caviezel broke his face, ducked the friends trying to arrest him, tracked down the subfaction Josie and her lover belonged to, and stormed it with nothing but his bare hands and a bad attitude. They had guns and higher numbers. This turned out to be totally irrelevant. He left them all with broken jaws, concussions, cracked ribs and/or bruised livers. Josie herself he left spitting up blood after a stiff punch to just about the belly button. He was sucking on a lollypop, seated on the hood of his car, when the police showed up in response to calls about gunfire. He was the only person who’d been in that house in the last hour who wasn’t arrested and imprisoned for a long, long time. So much evidence in that house. He still quit the police force and got his private detective’s license. The divorce was final before her trial was over. From there, Caviezel started establishing his reputation. See, in 1989 Detroit had 624 murders. 5 years later, in 1994, it had 541. 5 years after that, in 1999, it had 415. And in the year of our Lord 2018, there was only 261. Yes, the city made changes that lowered crime overall. Yes, the police put in serious work. However, at least in the Phoenixverse, Caviezel has been the difference maker. A virtually peerless detective and boxer with zero tolerance for bullshit. Of course Starman II noticed him.. they met when Jesse asked for his help in identifying someone. This was 1992. He wasn’t even a Five Year Vet yet, for Christ’s sake. Starman flew his car with him in it down to St. Louis, where Caviezel was able to identify the battered corpse of local millionaire Connor Morris. And then reconstruct his final night, and why it was his final night. Making Starman II and Caviezel the only two people on the planet at the time who knew Connor Morris had been Gunsmith, of the Champions of Justice. They collaborated several more times over the next 9 years. If Starman II could have been said to have his own Gunsmith…his own mercurial detective best friend…then it was Caviezel. So when Armageddon was bulldozing its way up from the Gulf of Mexico, Caviezel had already hopped in his car and was driving to Chicago. He didn’t beat Starman there, but he did arrive in time to give him a break. Yes. You read that correctly, Dear Reader. Flesh and blood boxer Ronald Joseph Caviezel engaged in a fistfight with a monster strong enough to break a Starman’s bones. It helped that it couldn’t lay a hand on him. This time it was perfectly fair. Because if that damn thing actually hit him, it’d be a closed casket funeral at best. And it was going…fine? It couldn’t hit him, he really couldn’t hurt it but he could keep it occupied. Until he broke his damn hand. It was to be expected, honestly. Armageddon could absorb Starpowered blows. Caviezel was only a man. He was tough, but his bones were quite breakable by comparison with the monster’s flesh. Fortunately, Starman II was ready to make his last stand. How that went has already been told elsewhere. However, there is a famous photograph of Starqueen I holding her husband’s body and wailing. Her son weeps silently beside her. On the outer edge of that photograph is part of a trenchcoat. Caviezel’s trademark trenchcoat. So, hell yes he helped found the Icons. Where the hell were you assholes? Well. That was unfair. The Shining Guardian and Tex Austin were still recovering from the injuries inflicted by the monster. They had tried. Fletcher was coming out of a comfortable retirement, and he wasn’t any more powerful than Caviezel anyway. And Tidal and Shadowspirit had simply been too far away. So the group was founded. Like with Starman, he was their detective. Though he can’t claim total credit. Vincent Mortelini had his Phantom Network passing both him and Shadowspirit information. This was the beginning of that duo’s long friendship. He swung past St. Louis in 2009 and gave recently discharged Marine Duncan Morris the battered and broken rifle of Gunsmith. For Jesse, who never got the chance to do it himself. There weren’t any particularly flashy or dramatic adventures, however. until Lei Zi invaded Seattle in 2011. Tidal was a god. Yay. He didn’t care because once again, he was a flesh and blood boxer going up against superhuman adversaries. It was time to train in something else. A different martial art. He chose judo. He was there after Fletcher (accidently) made a murderous/genocidal AI, punching robots, calming down a suddenly panicking Scarlett, and easing Candy’s case of imposter syndrome. Literally just a boxing judoka here, ladies. If I can punch robots, so can you. And much better with your violent superpowers. He took the Shining Guardian’s side in the Icons civil war.He was disappointed to see Shadowspirit on the other side. He did not get the chance to try punching Kuros in the Eternity War. The big battle just didn’t go his way for that. He wasn’t among the Dusted. He tried to help keep order in Detroit, but it wasn’t needed, really? The city was in mourning, not chaos. And when the time came to reform the Crystals of Power, he went with Shadowspirit (who had come to get him in the first place) to that high mountain in the Rockies, guided by Marian Soaring Eagle. What happened there, on that mountain, is unclear. It is known that he came back alone and bruised as if from a fight, Soul Crystal in hand. It is also known that reforming the Soul Crystal requires, well, a soul. Meaning someone has to die. It cannot be done with murder, despite Terrifica’s jokes. It requires a willing sacrifice. Whether it’s of life, love, or something else important is also unclear. Magic is a fuzzy, undefined thing at times. With that said, Caviezel was at the final battle of the Endgame, though he’d lost his taste for punching Kuros. Ironically, he was the one who ended up with all seven Crystals of Power initially. So he was stuck running from the intergalactic tyrant and those…well, they looked like wolves if wolves were redesigned by cannibalistic psychopaths. All of the NOPE, sayeth Caviezel. But once again, he was only a man. So he passed them off to Samaritan, who was nearby and much more mobile. He spent the rest of the battle punching out brainwashed clone soldiers. So, why is he trying to retire? He’s fifty-seven, you assholes. He’s been doing this shit for thirty goddamn years. Man’s got a right to quit when he starts getting old. He’s been training and, more importantly, eating like a boxer for all thirty and then some. He’s got high blood pressure and his heart ain’t what it used to be. He got winded in the middle of the Endgame. Him, who runs miles almost daily, got winded. And his knees don’t appreciate all that running anymore. He’s getting old and tired. That’d be excuse enough, but you know…it’s the weight of thirty years. He’s lost friends, you know. People he respected. Two of them just the other month. Shadowspirit and Fletcher. His hands ain’t perfectly clean, either. He worked the whole Iron Age. He carried a gun throughout it. It saw use. More use than he likes to think about. So yeah, he’d like to get out. Whether he can actually manage it is a whole other matter. He’s got enemies. He’s spent thirty years being a huge spike in the ribcage (like a thorn in the side, but worse) of the Detroit Partnership. They only let their enemies leave the game in a box. Whenever Lestari shows up in the United States they end up having a violent fistfight. Scarlett’s disappearance isn’t sitting well with him, either. She was there for the Eternity War. They were fighting side by side for half of it. But she didn’t show or the Endgame, and nobody could reach her. Her apartment HQ was deserted. There’s a dozen threads to follow there, as clearly something happened. And then there’s the kid. All Caviezel’s life he thought his power was unique. The Shining Guardian said so. Sage said so. Marian said so. His own research said so. Only one person could have the Eyes of Truth at a given time. So uh…why does his own personal teenage fangirl have them too? And he can’t leave her to the nonexistent mercies of the Detroit Partnership, dammit. They’d hurt her just to get at him, when he has no connection to her. She’s not his kid. They’re not related at all, at least not anymore than any two random white people from the Detroit metro area. He ruled that out first. Goddamn it. He may not able to retire after all… Powers & Tactics: Caviezel is a expert boxer and judoka with one magical power. As a boxer, he’s skilled in two out of three of the common styles. Brawler/Slugger and Swarmer/In-fighter. Brawler/Sluggers aren’t known for their finesse, accuracy, or dodging ability. Their general style is to throw single powerful punches that are pretty well telegraphed in advance. One would think this wouldn’t work, but they’re also willing and able to absorb ridiculous punishment to get that one strong punch in and weaken their opponent for the next one if not outright knock them out. Boxers like George Foreman, Rocky Marciano, and in modern times Manny Pacquiao have fought like this. Not necessarily exclusively, as boxers can be capable of more than one style. Swarmer/In-fighter is the total opposite, offensively speaking. An barrage of weaker punches that are more likely to end a fight via attrition instead of one big punch. To that end, boxers in this style may be excessively tough like Brawler/Sluggers, or freakishly good at dodging blows. At least one of those is required, as since they stay close to their opponent during the whole fight thus having to deal with the opponent’s attacks constantly. Boxers like Joe Frazier and Mike Tyson were known for using this style, as well as Rocky Marciano and Manny Pacquiao from before. His training in judo allows him to throw opponents to the ground hard, or choke them out after grappling them. It’s not as exciting. Just a secondary skill set. Caviezel’s magical power is the main event, however. The Eyes of Truth. Supposedly, only one person in the entire world has it at a given time. That person is born with it, and when they die another person is born with it. Absolutely, positively nothing can hide from his eyes. All deception, falsehood, concealment, obscurement, you name it, unravels. Whatever the source of it, his eyes see all that is hidden and concealed. So yes, he can see in the dark without a problem. The list of people who can successfully lie to him is uh, extremely short. But it’s not just his eyes. All of his senses are superhumanly sharp, even if only his vision has the additional benefits. It functions as a form of body reading, meaning he knows what the opponent is going to do before they do it. This makes his attacks more accurate and improves his dodging abilities by a large degree. This is why he retired from boxing. It wasn’t fair at all. The last bit is the reason he wears sunglasses all the time. Anyone who looks him in the eyes seems a reflection of themselves as he sees them, with all self justifications and deceptions stripped away. The shock of this can daze, stun, or even send the target into catatonia depending on the strength of their will. If this happens, it can never affect them again once they wake up. This isn’t normally a problem, however, as such a thing is life changing. They don’t often cross Caviezel’s path as enemies again. Tactically, Caviezel has a lot of options. Against rank and file thuggery, he sticks with Boxer-Swarming and Accurate Attack +4, using Takedown Attack 2 to mow through them. Tends to be a massacre. It’s with actual supervillains he starts to layer in more complicated tactics. Boxer Slugger for tough guys. Judo Throw for really tough guys, as they’re not normally know for being able to get up quickly. Judo Choke is primarily for enemies that have superior mobility to him. Grab ‘em with a readied action, choke ‘em out. Fuck your Move By Action. Go to sleep. Improved Startle can help hit. Improved Demoralize can drop resistances. As mentioned, he has Accurate Attack. There’s also All Out, Defensive, and Power Attack available. Improved Disarm takes weapons away. Improved Throw and Trip make Judo Throw better. He can Improved Grab after one of the Boxer settings hits and grapple away. Stunning Attack can turn any of his Martial Arts Techniques from doing damage to…not doing damage. More polite violence. Absolute Truth of Self works the same way. The Eyes of Truth have no power stunts available. And honestly, he’s satisfied with his current Martial Arts Techniques. The only thing he could stunt would be Joint Locks (Stun 8, Requires Grapple) and Stunning Attack already covers that effect. Personality: Behold the machine where Caviezel’s fucks were once lovingly crafted. Behold that it is broken, and covered in thick dust. But this isn’t a peaceful acceptance of events. Oh, no. It’s actually the flip side of that coin. It’s a peaceful acceptance of the fact that people are gonna be people. The poor, stupid, blind bastards. All falsehoods fall away before his eyes. He knows the true motivations that drive people even when they don’t. Unresolved trauma. Basic selfishness. Unthinking hatred. Yeah, there’s more positive ones too, but they’re rarer. We’re all just glorified apes in the end. We want to avoid pain and feeling bad. We want to be happy and feel good. We all want to leave something behind us when we’re gone. It isn’t always or only children, but yeah. It ain’t rocket science. People are people. They’re gonna do what they’re gonna do. Ain’t no help for it. What Caviezel can control, however, is what he does. His own choices. He can look himself in the mirror and at least attempt to understand what drives him. He knows he’s kind of a cantankerous asshole. He can be grumpy and monosyllabic. He also knows that his heart’s in the right place. Somehow. Despite how he may act, he does want to help. He’s just normally irritated, as he can literally see how much everyone in his sightline is lying to themselves and others. That’d annoy anybody, and he has to see it all the goddamn time. Even in his allies and friends. Despite all that, his early training in boxing drilled into him that you fight until the bell. Perseverance and determination are the most important qualities in the ring. Which is yet another reason he’s having a hard time retiring. Dammit.

Tex Austin Power Level: 15; Power Points Spent: 255/255 STR: +20 (20/50), DEX: +2 (14), CON: +20 (20/50), INT: +1 (12), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +5 (20) Tough: +20, Fort: +20, Ref: +10, Will: +15 Skills: Bluff 5 (+10), Diplomacy 5 (+10), Gather Information 5 (+10), Handle Animal 5 (+10), Intimidate 5 (+10), Investigate 4 (+5), Knowledge (business) 4 (+5), Knowledge (civics) 4 (+5), Knowledge (earth sciences) 9 (+10), Knowledge (physical sciences) 9 (+10), Knowledge (streetwise) 4 (+5), Language 1 (+1), Medicine 2 (+5), Notice 12 (+15), Perform (singing) 5 (+10), Perform (stringed instruments) 5 (+10), Ride 8 (+10), Search 4 (+5), Sense Motive 12 (+15) Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Dodge Focus, Improved Initiative, Interpose, Luck, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Stunning Attack, Takedown Attack 2, Ultimate Effort (Toughness checks), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Psionic Might (Super-Strength 15) (+75 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 419.4k tons; +15 STR to some checks) Psionic Speed (Speed 5) (Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd) Psionic Stamina Boost (Enhanced Constitution 30) (+30 CON) Psionic Strength Boost (Enhanced Strength 30) (+30 STR) Skintight Force Field (Impervious Toughness 15) Telekinetic Jump (Leaping 5) (Jumping distance: x50) Attack Bonus: +10 (Ranged: +10, Melee: +10, Grapple: +30/+45) Attacks: Unarmed Attack, +10 (DC 35) Defense: +10 (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -17 Initiative: +6 Languages: English, Spanish Totals: Abilities 42 + Skills 27 (108 ranks) + Feats 13 + Powers 115 + Combat 38 + Saves 20 + Drawbacks 0 = 255 Age (as of Jan 2019): 48 Height: 6’ 5” Weight: 280 lbs Ethnicity: Caucasian Hair: Brown Eyes: Gray Background: Tex Austin is 48 years old. He was born in 1971, the same year Fletcher originally debuted. Smack in the middle of the Silver Age. His earliest memories are of the original Starman and the rest of the Champions. Yeah, young Tex was a big fan. He was one of a legion of young boys who all wanted to be Starman when they grew up. Unlike almost all of them, Tex turned out to actually be able to do it. Sort of. 1989 wasn’t 1961. World was darker. At least it appeared to be. Probably wasn’t. Tex doesn’t know. He does know that it was just plain different. S’fair enough. Four assassinations of nationally famous folks, including one president and then his brother the candidate. All of Vietnam. Two alien invasions. That’ll change the national psyche a bit, he reckoned. Still, nothing like a little good old fashioned heroism to rally the people, right? Things can still be good. Just gotta give it a whirl. Even if the Champions seem to be gone. And Starman is all half broken and retired. His son’s an okay Joe, though. Of course, nothing in life is so easy. Like all those young Starman fans who grew up and gave heroism a try, Tex found it harder than it looked. A lot more violent and improvisation than it seemed on TV. Made it tough for a man to hold onto his principles. Not impossible, though. And there was a bright side. Met a nice girl. Annabelle, his sweet angel. Sky Rider, she called herself back then. Nothing like a little teamwork, you know? He even married her to cement their partnership. And then, uh. Well. Starman died. Tex’s hero died. Big ol’ explosion, out in space. Makes it hard to keep goin’, you know? Like nothin’ happened? Annabelle was pregnant again, too. So he eased off the gas a bit. Bought the ranch. Lot of work went into getting it up and running. He didn’t stop heroin’, mind. Just took more time to handle personal matters. 3 kids in 6 years and learning the specific details of running a cattle ranch tends to fill out the personal calendar. Gotta look after the rugrats, you know? Armageddon. Not the Biblical end of the world, but that grey skinned beastie that crawled out of the Gulf. Gosh dang thing came smashing it’s way through Texas, going North. Can’t have that. It was also a chance to prove himself against a foe even his hero had had a bushel full of trouble with. It, uh, did not go well. Tex got a first class education in the tiers of power. He was not on the top. It was. Well. He’d do it again tomorrow. It did mean, though, that he was laid up with broken bones. Couldn’t help out in Chicago. Couldn’t help up in New York. That September day was just terrible all around. And so, the son o his hero died. A little niggling part of himself wondered if it wasn’t a little bit his fault. He’d been a bit lax in his training, to be sure. It was for the ranch, his kids, and their futures. He’d made a value judgement an decided what was more important. He wasn’t wrong. But it bothered him. So when he recovered, he got back to training harder. Truth be told, even his youngest (Dallas) was old enough to look after herself a bit at 3 years old, and the other two (Charlotte at 9 and Gabriel at 6) were in school most days. And parenting was a team effort with his Annabelle anyway. Okay then, back to training. Of course, he got a call after that decision. A fateful call indeed, and one he was happy to answer. The Icons were founded. Him, the Shining Guardian, Fletcher, Shadowspirit, Tidal, and Caviezel. The first ten years weren’t so bad. Mopping up after Starman II, because he, well…he couldn’t do it himself. Picked up Medic and Sage and Scarlett. Decent enough folks, he reckoned. It was, uh, 2011 where things started gettin’ serious. Tidal’s wife invaded Seattle. Didn’t know he was married. Didn’t know he was a god. Thought there was just the one, up in Heaven. Learn something new every day. Tex was pretty easily the star of the whole affair. Not that he could’ve done it all by itself, but you know. He got to show off the fruits of a decade training to improve his powers. When you’re punching hoverbarges out of the air casually, it uh, tends to stand out. So he was a little famous after that, heh. 2014 was that robot punchin’ nonsense Fletcher got them into through arrogance. Wasn’t really his fault overall, Tex reckoned, but the man had sat home twiddling his thumbs instead of trying to trespass in divine realms like creatin’ life, it would have never happened. So some of the blame was his, if not all of it. Gettin’ home for that turned out to be complicated. Boy did it ever. It got real foggy all of a sudden and then he was in the sky and all these Chinese people were yammerin’ at him what he guessed what their language. Then they were speakin’ English and still not making any sense. This couldn’t be Heaven. He wasn’t dead. And where were all the angels and Jesus and the Lord God Almighty? Well, he didn’t want to fight, so he sat in what was pretty much house arrest. Wasn’t so bad. They fed him good, even if he got a bit sick of rice after a while. Then Tidal showed up, and that Back May feller made a mess of everything. There was some fightin’ done. Okay, a lot of fightin’ done. Got it sorted thought. Civil wars. So messy. And the bad guy got away, doggone it. He broke or stole all the ways back. So Tex was stuck. He could send messages, though. Tidal got him phone service up there. Somehow. So naturally he heard about the Superpower registration Act and the civil war in the Icons. Wouldn’t have happened he been there, he reckoned, but what can you do? Course, that wasn’t the end of the messiness. Kuros the honest to goodness Conqueror was next up. Him and the folks with him lambasted everybody within lambastin’ distance, including Tex and Tidal before he was on his way. Trouble was, he was headed down to the surface, and that was one big problemo. Those Chinese gods had gotten the way down fixed just then, so Tex went to warn Fletcher and everybody. Found Fletcher’s crew no problem, and they were on it. But finding the Shining Guardian and company took a little longer. Long enough for Fletcher’s crew to get as lambasted as Tex and Tidal were. So Tex stood and fought again in Baltimore during the Eternity War. He was still banged up, but he did the best he could. Just wasn’t good enough. Not even Tidal swoopin’ in at the last minute was good enough. Other Icons said half the universe died in the Dustin’. Certainly seemed so. It took his wife Annabelle and his son Gabriel, and brought Dallas callin’ from the Pacific in a panic. Whole bunch of those Seawings was gone, too, and she didn’t know why. Explainin’ it wasn’t any fun a’tall. There wasn’t anything left to do, really. Except hug Charlotte and mind the ranch. Crime was down. Supervillains were takin’ stock o’ things too. And then Terrifica and Marian Soaring Eagle (his own Miss Wings) came through with a plan to fix everything. His part was to, uh, just sit there and let the machine they helped the Shining Guardian make draw off his abundant psionic energy to remake the Mind Crystal. You know, the energy from his mind that fueled his powers. Didn’t weaken him none. Other folks might have had trouble, but Tex’s training was paying off again. Course, after all of them was together, well…there wasn’t anybody but Tex tough enough to withstand the power of using all seven Crystals of Power at once. You know, without dying on the spot. So he did it. He made the wish. And uh…kind of lost track of things for a while. Blinding, white hot agony all over his entire right arm. It was holdin’ that belt thing Terrifica had made to hold the Crystals and channel their power. When he was aware of anything beyond intense pain again, he was uh, kind of buried in the rubble of the Archeron facility they’d been borrowing. He’d unconsciously shielded Marian from the rubble, which was good. But Spike was half buried and Orca wasn’t quite strong enough to move all the rubble on his own. Fair enough, it was half a building. Lot of concrete and steel. So Tex gave him a hand. Just one. Right arm was worse than on fire. Then they were free, and Tex got to just sit and lose track of things for a minute or, well, several actually. When he could focus his eyes again, his whole family was there. Annabelle. Charlotte. Gabriel. And Dallas. There was a big battle behind them to fight, and so Tex started to get up. But wonder of wonders, they pushed him back down told him to rest. They’d handle it. From most of ‘em, it wasn’t so surprisin’. But Charlotte had never been the heroic type. It warmed his heart. Oh, his beautiful wife and his kids, now all grown up and punchy. Tex himself didn’t really participate in the final battle of the Endgame, but his family did it for him. It was a beautiful sight. A happy ending, yeah? Aside from Shadowspirit and Fletcher dying, and the Shining Guardian and Caviezel retiring. They saved the whole universe. Don’t think either Starman ever did that. He was sad about his friends, to be fair, but he was trying to see the good. Trouble was, there was three different folks who took a look at and used their healing powers on his right arm. That Exile fighter, Priestess, she went first. The Seawings Guildmaster, Miss Yasmine, was second. And fellow Icon Medic was last. And couldn’t none of ‘em repair the damage. Medic ven had his Momma (who was there, surprisingly) take a look at it. She said it had to heal natural or not at all. Nothing outside could get it to heal up any faster. Not even Tex’s own powers. So, for the first time in well, ever, Tex is recovering from an injury like an unpowered human. It’s slow going. He can’t tell if it’s gettin’ any better. Sometimes it seems like it’s gettin’ worse. But the ranch still needs tending. And folks know Charlotte has powers now. That’s gettin’ a little messy. She’s gonna need his help afore long. Hurry up and heal, arm. People need him. He can’t just sit around hurtin’ all the time, doggone it. Please. His most persistent enemies are the pairing of Blue Norther (a cold controlling powerhouse) and Dragon Wind (a fire controlling speedster). There is also the superhumanly strong bull-man Tauros and the real estate magnate and cattle rancher Thaddeus Morgan. His most common allies are, well, mostly family. His wife Annabelle sometimes comes out as Sky Rider still. She’s a psionic, too, but a flying speedster type. His son Gabriel uses the hero name Lonestar, and inherited some of both of their powers. Dallas is out in the Pacific somewheres, but if the need was dire enough she’d come back. She’s got powers from both Tex and Annabelle too. The Stranger’s out there with her, but he can be back in seconds. Marian was a regular ally, but now she’s got Icons stuff on her plate. And there’s Sledge out of New Orleans, with that mystic hammer of his. Powers & Tactics: Tex is a metahuman psionic without any special martial arts training. His will augments his physical abilities to a genuinely phenomenal degree. He’s one of the strongest and most durable people on the planet. He’s strong enough to crack adamantine, the hardest metal in the world, with a punch. He can hoist a fully loaded aircraft carrier as if it weighted no more than a hay bale. He’s tough enough to outright ignore even a battleship’s main guns. It’d take a fully fledged ballistic missile to actually hurt him. But that isn’t all. He’s a fast enough runner to outrun any automobile, and he’s got just enough telekinetic power to “leap” hundreds of if not over a thousand feet through the air at a time. He is exceptionally powerful for a psionic. Neither his wife nor his children nor anyone else have proven able to keep up with him. Yet. Dallas may yet match him in time. Tactically, well…he doesn’t tangle with basic thuggery much. Like his hero Starman, he’d simply disarm them and inquire about their surrender to the law. Hell, Thaddeus doesn’t even fight so he’s in this category. He leans on Accurate Attack and grappling with ordinary supervillains. Tauros is over here. Dangerous to ordinary heroes, you better believe it. To Tex? Nah. But against actual threats, like Blue Norther and Dragon Wind, he’ll make with the regular punches. For Blue Norther, anyway. He can’t hit Dragon Wind without a full +5 Accurate Attack. Individually they’re not a threat to him, but together they’re an issue. He’s got All Out Attack for more accuracy, Power Attack for more damage, and Stunning Attack for more polite violence. Gets a lot of use out of that last one. Please note Interpose, Move by Action, and Takedown Attack 2. Got a lot of use out of that last one in 2011 and 2014. Ultimate Toughness stopped using the Crystals from killing him. The most important thing to remember, however, is that his right arm is currently crippled and in a sling. This means his usual suite of power stunts is entirely unavailable and carrying more than his medium load of 279.4k tons is impossible. Pulling or pushing is not, but carrying is. He is also carrying a Complication related to this that can force him to resist a Stun effect at whatever rank the GM desires or just force him to take a Dazed or Stunned condition out of sheer pain if he is engaging in strenuous activities such as combat. Personality: The first thing to know about Tex is that he’s the most stereotypically Texan Texan to ever Texan. No, seriously. The cowboy shirt, belt, boots, and ten gallon hat are his everyday attire. He reckons things instead of thinking about them. Things aren’t good, they’re mighty fine. His parents are still “Daddy” and “Momma”. And yes, he uses y’all, doggone it, and even holy moly unironically. The man owns and runs his own cattle ranch and farm, for heaven’s sake. It is unclear how much of this is an act, and how much is actually who he is. Annabelle finds it charming. Charlotte is mortified. Gabriel tolerates it. And Dallas loves it. Either way, he’s a respectful and easygoing guy, albeit with a blazing temper once successfully provoked. He works hard because it’s just what you do. He’s passionate about livestock and livestock care. Above all, he never, ever swears. For example, he doesn’t say “what the fuck” or even “what the hell”. He says “what in tarnation”. Today, well, Tex is dealing with something he’s never had to before. Both feeling and being weak. You know, compared to normal. He was incredibly used to being the strong one. The rock for everyone else. Physically, mentally, and emotionally. Everyone could rely on him for support. Even if he wasn’t always good at the emotional stuff, he still had a person’s back. Because he was tough, you know? Whatever life threw at him, he could take it and keep goin’. Wasn’t any need to get all emotional about stuff. Just keep goin’. And now…and now…he can’t be like that anymore. He needs help just to put his doggone shirt on in the mornin’. Bluntly, his self image has taken a brutal hit, and the longer his arm takes to heal, the worse the psychological wound becomes. And because he’s spent his whole life as the rock for everyone else, he hasn’t the faintest idea of how to perceive that he needs help, let alone actually ask for it. Ironically, this is what’s preventing his arm from healing. His greatest strength, his willpower to endure anything through grit, determination, and self reliance, has been turned against him. Almost like, deep down, he knew he could be a more well rounded individual and did it to himself.

Tidal (Lei Gong, Duke of Thunder) Power Level: 15; Power Points Spent: 300/300 STR: +10 (18/30), DEX: +5 (20), CON: +10 (20/30), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +5 (20), CHA: +5 (20) Tough: +10/+12, Fort: +10, Ref: +16, Will: +16 Skills: Acrobatics 15 (+20), Craft (chemical) 17 (+20), Diplomacy 5 (+10), Disable Device 12 (+15), Gather Information 10 (+15), Knowledge (arcane Lore) 12 (+15), Knowledge (earth sciences) 7 (+10), Knowledge (history) 7 (+10), Knowledge (physical sciences) 7 (+10), Knowledge (theology & philosophy) 17 (+20), Notice 10 (+15), Sense Motive 10 (+15), Stealth 15 (+20) Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus (melee) 4, Attack Specialization 3 (Unarmed Attack), Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Defensive Roll 2, Dodge Focus 5, Hide in Plain Sight, Improved Critical (Thunder Blow Strike (Strike 6)), Improved Critical 2 (Lightning Bolt (Blast 16)), Improved Critical 2 (Unarmed Attack), Power Attack, Ritualist, Skill Mastery 2 (Acro, Craft (chem), Dis Dev, KN (arcane lore & theo/philo) Notice, Sense Motive, St, Stunning Attack, Takedown Attack 2, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Divine Physiology (Container, Passive 12) Divine Immunities (Immunity 28) (aging, common descriptor: Electrical, common descriptor: Sonic, disease, enviromental conditions (all), poison) Divine Resilience (Enhanced Constitution 10) (+10 CON) Divine Senses (Super-Senses 7) (accurate (type): Auditory, darkvision, ultra-hearing) Divine Speech (Comprehend 3) (languages - read all, languages - speak all, languages - understand all; Limited (to Asian languages)) Divine Strength (Enhanced Strength 12) (+12 STR) Duke of Thunder's Garb (Device 6) (Hard to lose, Only you can use (Those With The Duke of Thunder's Permission can lift)) Shadow Robes (Concealment 10) (all senses) Soft Armor (Impervious Toughness 10) Thunder Hammer & Lightning Mirror (Device 9) (Easy to lose, Only you can use (Those With The Duke of Thunder's Written Permission can lift); Indestructible) Sonic Masking (Obscure 2) (affects: 1 sense type, Radius: 10 ft.; Selective Attack; Range (touch)) Striking Thunder, Bursting Lightning (Array 20) (default power: - linked powers -) Lightning Bolt (Blast 16) (Array; DC 31, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Lightning Bolt (Blast 16)); Accurate 2 (+4), Indirect 3 (any point, any direction), Precise) Lightning Portal (Teleport (Array; 800 ft. as move action, 2000 miles as full action; Accurate, Portal) Thunder Blow (Linked) Thunder Blow Shatter (Drain 16) (Linked; drains: single trait - toughness, DC 26; Affects Objects) Thunder Blow Strike (Strike 6) (Linked; DC 31, Feats: Improved Critical (Thunder Blow Strike (Strike 6)); Mighty) Thunder Explosion (Strike 5) (Array; DC 30; Burst Area (75-1875 ft. radius - General) [10 extra ranks], Selective Attack [10 extra ranks]; Mighty, Progression, Increase Area 4 (area x25)) Attack Bonus: +10 (Ranged: +10, Melee: +14, Grapple: +24) Attacks: Lightning Bolt (Blast 16), +14 (DC 31), Thunder Blow Shatter (Drain 16), +14 (DC Fort/Staged 26), Thunder Blow Strike (Strike 6), +14 (DC 31), Thunder Explosion (Strike 5) (DC 30), Unarmed Attack, +20 (DC 25) Defense: +16 (Flat-footed: +6), Knockback: -11 Initiative: +5 Languages: Chinese (Mandarine) Native Totals: Abilities 54 + Skills 36 (144 ranks) + Feats 28 + Powers 118 + Combat 42 + Saves 22 + Drawbacks 0 = 300 Age (as of Jan 2019): 56 (body), as long as there has been storms in China (mind and soul) Height: 6’ 6” Weight: 170 Ethnicity: Han Chinese Hair: Black Eyes: Dark Brown Background: Until 2011, nobody believed or even knew Miami’s local hero Tidal was a god. Well. It’s not like Lei Gong (pronounced Lei Kung) spread it around. He was simply a Chinese immigrant and professor of meteorology at Florida International University. It was and is slightly unclear how he got the job in the first place, but he’s more than competent at it. He’s an institution at this point, having been there for 25 years at this point, and is well regarded by virtually all of his students. The hero Tidal had been around for about as long, but had no major public accomplishments to his name. Originally, he appeared to be more of a water controller than anything else, hence the name. But time went on and he demonstrated both wind and sonic, along with significant skill in (of all things) Muay Thai. He was a well respected hero, and that is why he was recruited to help found the Icons in 2001. That is the start of Lei Gong the man. Lei Gong, Duke of Thunder, is much older. Time, for proper deities, does not necessarily operate in the same linear fashion it does for mortals. And there are fewer limitations on exactly how many points in space they can occupy at once. So the thunder god is still doing his job over in China while the professor teaches class in Miami. To be clear, the professor is a formerly empty human being that the god is occupying, functioning as both soul and mind. The Phoenix-bearer and the vampire are such fussy creatures. Though in truth, there are so many more mortals than there used to be. His real body would likely cause much harm to them. And he doesn’t want that. For you see, Lei Gong is one of the Chinese pantheon (the Shen)’s foremost intelligence specialists. He is both spy and assassin in addition to his thundering duties. The professor, however, is not on a mission from Tian (meaning Heaven, but there’s other places with the name so the Chinese will be used her). He is operating on no orders, and thus has slain no one in his mortal form. What he is doing could be called a vacation, but that’s not entirely accurate. The best way to put it is that, until 2011, he was merely amusing himself. Which is why he concealed his involvement in any of his actual major accomplishments as Tidal, leaving the citizens of Miami guessing about who had intervened. Lei Gong, Duke of Thunder, is married. His wife is Lei Zi, Duchess of Lightning. Also known as Dianmu, she was human once. Until he angrily murdered her for throwing out rice that he mistakenly thought was still edible. The Jade Emperor (his superior), found out. Furious, he had her resurrected and turned into a god. Lei Gong’s punishment was to marry her. So, even after several thousand years, Lei Gong is still very remorseful and a very kind (if sometimes distant) husband who has calmed his temper. Lei Zi, for her part, inherited her husband’s formerly quick temper. She is, perhaps understandably, a rather jealous woman. 2009 in Seattle was not the first time she tried to destroy a city to get her husband to spend time with her instead of his students and mortal associates. It was merely by far the least subtle of her attempts, all of which had previously only targeted Miami. Ironically, all she has to do is ask, and Lei Gong will spend all the time with her that she wants. But of course, as a mortal woman raised to divinity not on her own merit, but as a punishment for someone else, she has a pretty strong inferiority complex. She does not and in some ways cannot believe that it could be so easy as merely asking. And so the cycle of her become displeased, acting on it, him defeating her plans, and them making up until she becomes displeased again rolled on and on. It was Kuros The Conqueror who put her up to invading Seattle and provided the army. He whispered poisonous words about the relationship between Lei Gong and his pretty, young, and female teacher’s assistant, and about how attached he seemed to be to his mortal allies. Pray consider, O Mother of Lightning. Perhaps he has no intention of ever returning to Tian? Of ever returning to you? Yun Tong (who makes clouds), Yu Shi (who causes rain to fall), and Feng Po Po (who unleashes the winds) were not fooled by his lies about their friend and lord. But alas, Lei Zi was. She became furiously angry (and, as usual, underneath it all terribly frightened) and the invasion of Seattle occurred on schedule. It was, of course, defeated by the Icons. Feng Po Po had flown with the winds to warn Lei Gong of her intent, and Tidal rallied the Icons to Seattle and Fletcher’s defense. Unfortunately, her scheme had been far too public this time. He could not cover it up and thus protect her from the Judgment of Heaven like before. Divorcing thunder from lightning was and remains a poor idea, but a formal separation was enforced for a time. Lei Zi could not descend to Earth. Lei Gong could only return on official business. Such a pity. Meanwhile, Tidal had another problem. Everyone who’d been paying attention knew he was a god now. Anyone decently well versed in Chinese mythology even knew which one. And the Icons were, well, a little annoyed that he hadn’t mentioned that kind of important detail before. Such a messy situation. Quite bothersome. Still, there was two whole years to sort it out. Two and not three because there was a minor situation to sort out for Tian. Orders for his mortal form, how surprising. He ultimately had to bring that pretty, young, and female teacher’s assistant to Tian to have the fragments of the Lightning Crystal extracted. And then Thunder Hammer the bejeezus out of a Fae who managed to steal it. Such a messy situation. Quite bothersome. But again, two years to smooth things over after that. And then, Fletcher made that damnable machine. He quite overreached mortal ability. If the finest artisans of Tian cannot make a thinking machine that will never turn murderous and violent, no mortal can either. He smashed quite a few of the machines the thinking one was controlling, but it wouldn’t have been enough without Spike, Candy, and Terrifica showing up to even the odds a bit. Shortly after that, Tian summoned him again to deal with an interloper. Somehow, Tex Austin had gotten lost on his way home from the battle with the machines and ended up in Tian. It turned out this was a plot of Bak Mei, The White Eyebrow, Betrayer of Shaolin, to make like the Monkey King millennia earlier and steal the peaches of immortality. The reason for this turned out to be entirely irrelevant, as he’d been dripping poison words into many Shen ears. Thus Tian split into a civil war. Breathe in the irony of both aspects of Tidal’s life splitting into a civil war in the same year. Between him and Tex, the situation was resolved. Unfortunately, Bak Mei escaped punishment once again. And the last gasp of his plotting was destroying the sky ladders and stealing all the somersault clouds on his way out. For Tidal this wasn’t really a problem. He could return to Miami whenever he chose. Tex, however, was quite stuck unless he wanted to fall a few miles onto the wrong continent. And he couldn’t leave Tex in Tian alone. He was the only one who could speak for him among the Shen. Especially with the Celestial Bureaucracy in more chaos than usual. Well. At least he could spend time with Lei Zi. Or perhaps not. The prelude to the Eternity War was Kuros The Savior and his armies storming Tian. He clobbered both Tidal and Tex easily (damn that Gravity Crystal), threw the Celestial Bureaucracy into absolute anarchy, and most importantly killed Lei Zi’s mortal form, causing her to reincarnate somewhere in China. Tidal was, understandably, pissed off. One of the sky ladders had been repaired, so he sent Tex on ahead to warn the Icons. It was time for Lei Gong to do one of the things he hated most. Paperwork. He returned to Earth during the height of the battle in Baltimore more powerful than ever as a result, and severely injured Kuros. It was not enough. Half the universe died because Lei Gong, Duke of Thunder, lost his temper for the first time in millennia and didn’t aim for a killing blow with his first strike. The following year he did not do very much at all. Many of his students has been Dusted. His teacher’s assistant was, as well. Such a messy situation. Quite bothersome. But when the depleted Icons reassembled to undo the Dusting he joined them. And when Kuros, in his new mode as The Annihilator attacked in rage that they would defy his will, Tidal stepped up beside the Shining Guardian and Fletcher to battle him first. Though they technically lost that fight, he followed it up by demolishing any of Kuros’s armies who in reach. And with Lei Zi’s Lightning Mirror, he had quite a long reach indeed. After the battle, he went to China and found Lei Zi, now a relative newborn. Then he returned to his constellation and his office. What he is officially up to is patrolling the outer borders of Tian until the Celestial Bureaucracy can return to it’s usual sense of chaos. Many of the gods are still recovering from the civil war and Kuros’s assault. Their offices are still under repair. Many of their mortal forms were Dusted, causing them to reincarnate. When the Dusting was undone, the reincarnation wasn’t. So many gods now have two mortal forms in the world, which is against Shen rules. The largest bureaucracy in all creation is struggling to cope with not one, not two, but three unprecedented events in rapid succession. What Lei Gong, Duke of Thunder, is actually doing is brooding. His internal sense of order is just as disrupted as Tian’s. His beloved wife is an infant. For now, he finds himself out in space (constellations are stars, which is how he got out there) aiding a young woman named Jackie and her intrepid crew. And firmly insisting that she is in command, not him. He will likely return someday soon, but until then there are alarming rumors of someone with a weapon that can permanently slay even gods. Now that’s worthy of investigation if nothing else is. And, strangely enough, Professor Lei Gong has not missed a single class. Ah, paperwork. If there was anything you couldn’t solve, he’d be sincerely out of luck. Tidal’s most persistent enemy was, in fact, Lei Zi. He remembers that Winter Court swordswoman with strange ideas about what Miami’s climate ought to be. Frostica, that was her name. Or what the newspapers called her, anyway. And there is that newish elemental sorceress quartet. Airess, Cali Brr, Soon Omi, and Adri Ablaze? No, that doesn’t sound quite right. Gail Gust, Chelsea Chill, Sun Soaker, and…okay, Adri Ablaze was actually correct. More reality tv wannabes than hardened criminals, honestly. And being as he’s off planet poor Dust is stuck dealing with them. Well. Perhaps those rookies will be of assistance. What were their names? Hullabaloo? That doesn’t sound right. Polarity and Miss Fortune were the other two, certainly. Oh yes, Ultrasonic. That was it. Powers & Tactics: Tidal is a god clothed in human flesh. With the appropriate paperwork both filed and approved, he no longer has to borrow portions of the powers of his friends. His divinity significantly enhances normally frail mortal flesh, he has two (three, technically) divine artifacts, and he’s one of the greatest martial arts masters to ever walk the face of the world. All of China’s striking styles are at his disposal. Yes, all several hundred of them. He’s the Heavenly Assassin. It comes with perks. The divine augmentations to his physiology improve his strength (crack steel with a punch), upgrade his resilience (simply superhuman), add what’s basically sonar and lightless vision, let him read, speak, and understand any language native to Asia, and render him immune to aging, electricity, sonics, disease, all types of environmental conditions, and poison. He is the Chinese god of thunder, and mighty indeed. His two divine artifacts are his Duke of Thunder’s Garb, his Thunder Hammer, and Lei Zi’s Lightning Mirror. All three cannot be moved from where he places them, let alone used, with written permission from his office in Tian. Needless to say, the list of beings he’s done that for is a bit short. The Garb lets him shrug off damage up to a rocket launcher (something he cannot normally do) and, fittingly for a Heavenly Assassin, can shroud him from all senses. His Thunder Hammer and Lei Zi’s Lightning Mirror are wielded together. The Hammer causes thunder by hitting things with it. Because he is a god, this is fantastically damaging. Both his Thunder Blow and Thunder Explosion can smash titanium with ease. The latter is even an area attack that can cover anywhere from a 150 feet to over a half mile radius. The former is inarguably stronger, however, as sonic vibrations tear apart the targets ability to resist the actual hammer strike. The Mirror causes lightning to strike from an unexpected direction with a similar amount of force. It can also generate a portal to any known location up to 2000 miles away. The Hammer has a secondary ability of being able to totally silence an area 20 feet in diameter. Surprisingly useful for an assassin. Tactically, well…it depends. Mortal thuggery is basically a waste of his time. Turn on Shadow Robes and Sonic Masking. Turn off Divine Strength. Pummel them all unconscious without effort. If he encounters enemies of a higher PL that he can’t harm without Power Attacking he’ll turn Divine Strength back on and pummel them unconscious without effort. Honestly, he doesn’t bring out the Hammer and Mirror for ordinary supervillains. He doesn’t need them. It would take opponents of a higher caliber to make him bring out the big guns, and they would likely bitterly regret making him do so. Kuros is literally the only opponent he’s ever faced that’s absorbed multiple Thunder Blows. Please note that both Thunder Blow and Lightning Bolt are one damage rank higher than a full unarmed Power Attack, which justifies his approach more or less. He relies on Shadow Robes, Hide in Plain Sight, and Improved Acrobatic Bluff to help him hit. All Out Attack is never used with his unarmed attacks, but the others? Yes, especially with Power Attack. Also note that he has Ritualist and an excellent KN (arcane lore) bonus to use it with, should he need something outside of his normal abilities. He is perfectly capable of power stunting with the Thunder Hammer or Lightning Mirror, however he does not see any need at present. Personality: The tales of Lei Gong, Duke of Thunder being notoriously short tempered were true. Killing someone (the future Lei Zi) who had genuinely done nothing to deserve and then having to look her in the face and recite wedding vows…well…it changes a deity. Eventually. He was always well mannered and quite calm when his temper wasn’t getting the better of him, and that has not changed. This does not mean he’s incapable of being serious in serious situations, of course. He is not a being that rattles easily. Or at all, really. He comes off as what he normally is. A genial and not unfriendly man. Reasonable. Helpful. But there is always that emotional distance between him and anyone else. Because he is a god, and they are not. His perspective is simply too different for him to feel anything more than fondness for any given mortal. This does include all of the Icons, as well, and even the citizen of Miami. He likes them, mostly. He respects the courage and high ideals of the Icons. He appreciates the respect and adulation given by the citizen of Miami. With that said, if orders came down tomorrow he would kill any of them without the slightest hesitation. That is, after all, his actual job. Heavenly assassin. He knows it would never happen. His hammer is only employed against the truly wicked, as judged by the knowledge and wisdom of the Jade Emperor. But the point remains. So why, then? Why did he disguise himself and become a superhero? Well, as stated way up above, it was mostly or his own personal amusement. He likes humans. He likes watching them struggle and grow more capable through education and training. One could call it a paternalistic outlook, and they’d be near enough. It’s why he’s a college professor, and a very good one at that. How mortals evolve on a personal level is fascinating to him. Because gods and their divine servants don’t do that. He has not changed appreciably since…hmm. Well, call it the first storm in China. The only difference between him now and him then is that he no longer indulges his temper. Of course, all mortals must age and die. Sometimes they do it without the aging part first. They travel on to the next great mystery, as he says with a soft smile that reveals nothing at all. Still. He is permitted a certain degree of latitude in his actions. Therefore, he will always protect the mortals when he is able. It wouldn’t do to lose his source of amusement. And he is quite fond of many of them, after all.

Dust (Mariana Rodriguez) Power Level: 9; Power Points Spent: 165/165 STR: +2 (14), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +2 (14), INT: +2 (14), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +2 (14) Tough: +2/+4, Fort: +5, Ref: +12, Will: +7 Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+15), Bluff 8 (+10), Concentration 7 (+10), Diplomacy 8 (+10), Gather Information 8 (+10), Investigate 3 (+5), Knowledge (current events) 8 (+10), Knowledge (physical sciences) 3 (+5), Knowledge (streetwise) 8 (+10), Language 2 (+2), Notice 7 (+10), Search 3 (+5), Sense Motive 7 (+10), Stealth 12 (+15) Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Focus (melee) 7, Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Defensive Attack, Defensive Roll 2, Dodge Focus, Evasion, Grappling Finesse, Improved Critical 2 (Martial Arts (Strike 2)), Improved Defense 2, Improved Disarm, Improved Initiative, Improved Pin, Improved Throw, Improved Trick, Improved Trip, Luck 3, Move-by Action, Skill Mastery (Acobatics, Notice, Sense Motive, Stealth), Takedown Attack 2, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory), Well-Informed Powers: Chain (Device 2) (Easy to lose) Chain Strike (Strike 2) (DC 19; Penetrating; Custom (+2 to Disarm), Custom (+2 to Trip), Extended Reach 3 (15 ft.), Mighty) Dust Cloud (Obscure 6) (affects: visual senses, Radius: 250 ft.; Selective Attack; Range (touch)) Martial Arts (Strike 2) (DC 19, Feats: Improved Critical 2 (Martial Arts (Strike 2)); Mighty) Weak Telekinesis (Move Object 1) (Strength: 5, Carry: 16 / 33 / 50 / 100; Range (perception); Precise, Subtle 2 (unnoticable)) Attack Bonus: +7 (Ranged: +7, Melee: +14, Grapple: +17) Attacks: Chain Strike (Strike 2), +14 (DC 19), Martial Arts (Strike 2), +14 (DC 19), Unarmed Attack, +14 (DC 17) Defense: +12 (Flat-footed: +6), Knockback: -2 Initiative: +7 Languages: English Native, Haitian Creole, Spanish Totals: Abilities 28 + Skills 24 (96 ranks) + Feats 32 + Powers 29 + Combat 36 + Saves 16 + Drawbacks 0 = 165 Age (as of Jan 2019): 24 Height: 5’ 7” Weight: 135 Ethnicity: Cuban-American Hair: Light Brown Eyes: Light Brown Background: Mariana Rodriguez does not know how this happened. Her, an Icon? Dust, an Icon? It does not feel earned. Well. Most things don’t, really. Including becoming a Five Year Vet last year. Because Mariana Rodriguez is dead. She died of a congenital heart defect at age 9. She’d been sick and weak for her entire life. One day in the hospital, she closed her eyes and went…away. Her life had been short and mostly miserable, so she didn’t mind. At least the pain and weakness was over. And so, little Mariana accepted her death. Except. The reason she went unconscious was anesthesia. She was getting a heart transplant. The surgery had odds of success so low no surgeon would touch it. Her desperate parents pleaded and pleaded…until word got up to New York City and one Dr. Daniel Ivanoff. Even 15 years ago he was just about the best surgeon on the planet. He flew down to Miami to perform the transplant. Of course, a heart transplant involved basically killing the patient, only keeping their blood oxygenated and pumping with machines. So in a way, Mariana isn’t wrong. She died. Rather gruesomely. The over 4 hours of surgery was, of course, a complete success. Daniel threw in his usual rejection preventing alterations to the transplanted organ, and she was good to go. If she wanted to come back. Truth be told, Mariana didn’t. Her new heart, however, had other ideas. Metaphorically speaking, of course. It was strong. So, the little girl who had closed her eyes and accepted the end of her short, miserable life opened them again a few days later. A miracle. Thanks, Daniel. You’re a real one. Of course, repairing a sad little girl’s heart isn’t quite so easy as replacing her physical one. As far as she knew, she had fully and completely died, and she’d been brought back against her wishes. Not that anybody had asked, mind. God, no. And not only had they brought her back, but someone else had died so it could happen. Someone else about her age had died so that a person who didn’t even want their life anymore could live. Just didn’t seem fair, somehow. It wasn’t like she had wanted to die. She still didn’t, really. But she just…didn’t care. Her new heart was strong. Her body responded and did whatever reasonable thing she asked it to. It really wasn’t fair at all. She developed an apathetic, lackadaisical attitude. A sort of personal nihilism, if you will. She had died. It really doesn’t matter what you do after that, does it? Mariana got older. Keep living, keep growing. She first encountered Antonio Vizquel when she was 13 and he was 18. Her parents were gangsters, which is how they afforded all of her treatment years ago. There was a meeting she got dragged along to. All this would be hers one day, after all. He wasn’t anybody but a young, hungry hotshot. Yet. But he was handsome, confident, and that smile made her wonder about lots of things most parents would rather their little girls not wonder about. Especially not when the wondering involved a young man half a decade older than said little girl. They didn’t meet again for two years. This was when Antonio noticed her back. Romance time. Ah, true love. On both sides, believe it or not. And yes, plenty of lust too. Let’s move on. To the crimes. So many crimes. He trained her in martial arts and gunplay, then introduced her to the group he was a part of. They trained her further. It was an idyllic few years. Oneshot and his Lady Vicious. They were Bonnie and Clyde’ing it, as literally as possible. Antonio, or Oneshot, did most of the violence and killing, but Mariana, or Lady Vicious, was no innocent. Sex, drugs, and electronica. They were young, deeply in love, and totally reckless. Antonio was basically a selfish brat who hadn’t managed to grow up yet in any way but the physical. Mariana, though, didn’t care if she lived or died. This was all just an extended epilogue, so why not enjoy herself? Of course, it was not to last. The efforts of heroes (like Tidal) and law enforcement saw some of the group turn state’s evidence, and the resulting stress caused the group to self destruct. There were half a dozen shootout of Miami’s streets, and a final violent fistfight in a burning warehouse. Which then exploded. Mariana was flung into to bay by the force. She was dead. Again. She closed her eyes and went away. Again. The epilogue had been enjoyable, but it was over. She didn’t mind. Everything went dark. And then she woke up in a hospital bed. Again. She wasn’t that badly hurt, actually. Tidal had saved her. He’d saved everyone still alive after the explosion. Including Antonio. He did not, however, even remember his name. Amnesia. Their masks and trademark outfits had been burned by fire, shredded by the explosion, and then soaked in seawater. The masks were in the bay. The outfits were unrecognizable. The rest of the surviving group wasn’t so lucky, though some managed to escape. Innocent victims, huh? No more Oneshot and his Lady Vicious. That was over. All that was left, as she left the hospital for epilogue number two, was what next? Tidal was waiting for her. He knew who she was. He knew a lot of things. In the course of a conversation, he turned her entire worldview around on her. People only die once, Mariana. And all of your past is merely prologue to what you do next. She would like to say there was some kind of major revelation, and she became a totally different person all of a sudden with a burst of cathartic weeping. But nah, psychology doesn’t work like that. It was a much quieter, more subtle thing. She discovered the lie at the core of her identity. She…kind of wanted to live, actually. Not like, a lot. It wasn’t some vigorous feeling or anything. So…maybe it didn’t matter if she died, right? But until then (because it’d happen or not, mostly outside of her control), what right did she have to harm others? Nothing like a little self awareness and self perception to change your whole worldview. That 9 year old little girl with her bad heart. She may have accepted death, but she wanted life. How very contradictory. How very human. Heh. Okay, then. Time to actually live, for once. The superheroine Dust debuted a few months later, using her powers in another way to differentiate herself from Lady Vicious. The name came from something she’s actually embarrassed to have said. So pretentious. Somebody asked who she was, and she said “The same as anyone else. Nothing but ashes and dust.” Such a cheesy line. She is living her life one cheap thrill at a time. Clubbing. Fighting organized crime. Doing stupid crap for views on the internet. Well, the nerds think she’s hot and totally dig her personality, so whatever. She was technically among the Dusted last year, after her Five Year Vet status was official. She didn’t mind that death, either, but once again she came back. Ended up in the final battle of the Endgame. She still doesn’t understand why the hell Tidal recommended her to replace him because he was going to be away. He’s a god. Knowledgeable, skilled, and powerful. She asked him, before he left, why he picked her over a dozen other more experienced and powerful heroes. Lei Gong, Duke of Thunder, only smiled mysteriously and said “The arc of your life is interesting.” Those words together don’t make sense. The sins of her past are heavy. She was too young and too in love to realize how bad things were getting until it was way too late. She wouldn’t say she has regrets, and she wouldn’t call what she’s doing a quest for redemption. She’d have to give more of a damn for those words to be right. It’s more like…it’s better to do good than evil, right? But you know, whatever. She’s gonna die permanently sometime. Might as well go with the flow. And in the meantime, well…she’s gonna carry that weight. As someone who fights regular crime in Miami, she doesn’t have any persistent enemies. Howeer, with Tidal away doing whatever he’s doing, she’s temporarily inherited his. The Winter Court swordswoman, Frostica. She tries to turn the beaches into a winter wonderland sometimes. Dust doesn’t believe in faeries, so this is obviously a crazy person with weird mutations. And there’s the reality TV star wannabe quartet with the mutant elemental powers. Gail Gust, Chelsea Chill, Sun Soaker, and Adri Ablaze. Giant losers. Dust actually likes kicking them in the head. They’re actually sorcerers, but Dust doesn’t currently believe in magic, either. Miami is a little barren without Tidal, but there are three rookies. Ultrasonic, Polarity, and Miss Fortune. She hasn’t met them. Yet. Matter of time. There’s no rush. Powers & Tactics: Dust is a metahuman psionic and expert martial artist. Her powers are entirely telekinetic in nature. As metahuman telekinetics go, she’s more or less average. It’s what she does with them that’s quite different. As Lady Vicious she was more or less a standard telekinetic. Throwing things, grabbing people, etcetera. Since she had both a partner and a gun back then, it mostly worked. Until it didn’t. As Dust she’s taking a very different approach. Between the beaches and street debris, there’s lots and lots of little particulates all over Miami. Her uses her telekinesis like a gentle but persistent breeze, creating a big dust cloud. This dust cloud blocks the vision of everyone she wants and nobody she doesn’t want. So she can pummel the bad guys with near impunity. Most of the time. That one guy had good hearing and so it was a bit of a fight. Doing the dust cloud thing takes up most of her telekinetic power, but she’s still got a little left to do relatively small things with. Open doors, shove things off tables, squeegee her clothes when they get wet, stuff like that. And unless one’s senses can detect the use of psionics, this is impossible to detect. Naturally, fastidiously cleaned indoor areas won’t have enough dust for her to actually make the cloud. This is actually fine, as she isn’t restricted to the use of environmental particulates. She can use liquids, too. And if there’s a lot of people in the area, she can tug loose hairs and dried skin right off of them. This doesn’t hurt them. Basically she has options. The definition of “dust” in her dust cloud is rather…loose. Her martial arts style is Jeet Kun Do. Invented and made famous by Bruce Lee, it is a hybrid, extremely adaptable style (to the point where it almost can’t be called one) that can do both grappling and striking. She specializes in striking, however, and uses a length of chain to extend her striking reach threefold. Since every user’s Jeet Kun Do is different because of how the style works in the first place, her own Jeet Kun Do takes elements from Muay Thai and kickboxing in addition to fighting much like Bruce Lee. Tactically, Dust is pretty simple. Activate Dust Cloud, punch blinded bad guys unconscious. Maybe a head kick. Or a flying knee strike. There’s always the chain, too. It’s useful for tripping and disarming and hitting bad guys that are over there instead of right next to her. It can confuse anyone guessing where she is in the Dust Cloud, and that’s good. Seriously, almost all the time that’s all she needs. The rest of her training just sits there doing nothin’. But every once in a while there’s somebody with a mutant sensory power or something, and things get more interesting. Improved Acrobatic Bluff can help her hit. Defensive Attack and Improved Defense 2 can keep her untouched even if she’s ever sufficiently outclassed. Improved Disarm, Improved Throw, and Improved Trip augment her chainwork. Most people have trouble getting up quick, and they need their precious weapons. Improved Trick and Move by Action are on deck in case they’re needed. Takedown Attack 2 means she mows through mooks like it’s going out of style. Grappling Finesse and Improved Pin augment her grappling if that ever comes up. Never know. It might. She has a few telekinetic power stunts. Both off of Dust Cloud. First is straight up Enhanced Telekinesis (Move Object 4, Perception Range) that puts her Weakened Telekinesis at full power. She can also do a TK Burst (Move Object 5, Touch Range, Burst Area, Precise, Subtle 1). TK Blast (Blast 5, Accurate 2) is technically possible, but the rarest of them. She does these when her Dust Cloud isn’t working. As that’s kind of rare, so are these. Personality: Dust’s life philosophy is “whatever happens, happens”. Nonchalant and relaxed. Taking life as easily as possible. She’s a simple woman, really. She likes good sleep, good food, a good dump, good sex, and a stiff drink more or less in that order. She likes to listen to music. She likes to dance to said music. Beyond that, behold the field in which she grows her fucks. See that it is barren and indeed, has never truly been cultivated. But don’t confuse this for an abundance of passivity or a reluctance to make decisions of her own. It’s not an absence of personal desires, either. She’s just going with the flow. Being like water. Flexible and adaptable to all circumstances. As previously stated, she’s not a hero to atone for her days as Lady Vicious. Also, don’t bring those up, and especially don’t talk about Oneshot. They’re her one sore spot. But yeah, she’s not on some quest for redemption. That would require to care more than she does. The past is the past. Can’t change it. Just have to live with it. What motivates her is that although this may be her life’s extended epilogue…although she may be dead and just waiting for it to finally stick…other people are still fully alive. So…it’s like a basic right and wrong thing, savvy? She’s not crazy. She knows the difference between the two. And she knows which one is better to do. It’s not really any more complicated than that. Superhero work is fun. She’s doing good and right. And if it ends this extended second epilogue of her short and miserable life…she’s perfectly okay with that. But you know. There’s no rush. If it happens, it happens. And when it does, she’ll say goodbye and…good night.

The Human Rocket IV (Reginald "Reggie" Morton III) Power Level: 10; Power Points Spent: 180/180 STR: +3 (16), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +3 (16), INT: +3 (16), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +3/+8, Fort: +7, Ref: +12, Will: +8 Skills: Acrobatics 7 (+10), Bluff 7 (+10), Computers 7 (+10), Concentration 7 (+10), Craft (electronic) 12 (+15), Craft (mechanical) 12 (+15), Diplomacy 7 (+10), Disable Device 7 (+10), Gather Information 7 (+10), Knowledge (physical sciences) 12 (+15), Knowledge (streetwise) 7 (+10), Knowledge (tactics) 7 (+10), Knowledge (technology) 12 (+15), Notice 7 (+10), Sense Motive 7 (+10), Stealth 7 (+10) Feats: Attack Focus (melee) 5, Dodge Focus 5, Luck, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Skill Mastery (Craft (elec & mech), Notice, Sense Motive), Takedown Attack 2, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Flight Belt (Device 1) (Hard to lose) Magneto-Gravitic Flight (Flight 2+13) ([Stacking ranks: +13], Speed: 500000 mph, 4400000 ft./rnd; Subtle (subtle)) Flight Suit (Device (Hard to lose) Armoring (Protection 5) (+5 Toughness) Helmet Sensors (Super-Senses 9) (accurate: Radio, direction sense, distance sense, infravision, radio, time sense, ultravision) Integral Radio (Communication (sense type: radio) Magneto-Gravitic Flight Boost (Flight (Speed: 2500 mph, 22000 ft./rnd; Stacks with (Magneto-Gravitic Flight (Flight 2+13)); Limited (Requires Flight Belt)) Masterwork Toolkit (Features 1) Sealed Systems (Immunity 9) (life support) Wrist Turbines (Device 3) (Hard to lose) Computer Link (Datalink 2) (sense type: radio) Turbine Settings (Array 5) (default power: strike) Turbine Flight Boost (Flight 5) (Array; Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd; Stacks with (Magneto-Gravitic Flight (Flight 2+13))) Turbine Lift Boost (Super-Strength 5) (Array; +25 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 3.7 tons; +5 STR to some checks) Turbine Punch (Strike 5) (Default; DC 23; Penetrating [4 ranks only]; Mighty) Wind Turbine Blast (Move Object 5) (Array; Strength: 25, Carry: 266 / 533 / 800 / 1.6k; Cone Area (50 ft. cone - General); Range (touch)) Attack Bonus: +7 (Ranged: +7, Melee: +12, Grapple: +15) Attacks: Turbine Punch (Strike 5), +12 (DC 23), Unarmed Attack, +12 (DC 18) Defense: +12 (Flat-footed: +4), Knockback: -4 Initiative: +3 Languages: English Native Totals: Abilities 36 + Skills 33 (132 ranks) + Feats 17 + Powers 48 + Combat 28 + Saves 18 + Drawbacks 0 = 180 Age (as of Jan 2019): 28 Height: 6’ Weight: 180 lbs Ethnicity: African American Hair: Black Eyes: Dark Brown Background: It all started in 1963, with Terry Cruz. He was a filthy rich industrialist in New York City. A witty, charming genius, there wasn’t anyone who didn’t like him. At least, that’s how the official story goes. He invented a flight belt made out of inexpensive components. He then built a battlesuit around the technology, and became a superhero (The Human Rocket III). He was never as famous as Starman or any of the Champions, but he did his part. In 1975, however, Terry made a fateful decision to follow a dream. Humans didn’t need to be stuck on the ground. He’d make it so everyone could fly. He needed a helper, so he recruited his 15 year old cousin Caroline (already a tech genius in her own right), his own younger brother Donald (the man was a born salesman, better than even Terry) and set to work. A year later, Caroline debuted as JETTE, and the flight belts were put into production. Donald was to run the factory itself, with Caroline as tech support. Terry would help out where he could, but his life was a busy one. Between being President and CEO of his own company and being a superhero his spare time was extremely limited. So, he trusted his family with his dream. This was, to a degree, a mistake. At first, everything was okay. There were some unexpected bugs to iron out in the manufacting process, but between Caroline’s skills and Donald’s leadership they pulled through. Then the first shipment disappeared. It turned up in the hands of a band of thieves, with the design weaponized in ways Terry had only seen in his nightmares. He and Caroline stopped them, of course, but that didn’t account for the entire shipment. Orders dried up overnight. His good name was tarnished. The FBI was investigating him for giving them to those criminals. As if he’d do such a thing. He was going to get to the bottom of this. There wasn’t any need to stop production. They’d just store them in the factory until Terry cleared his name. It took two years (and a few more battles with flight belt equipped criminals), but get to the bottom of it Terry did. Donald, as it turned out, while he shared much of his older brother’s intellect, lacked anything resembling Terry’s integrity. He did, however, share the knack for hiring competent people and putting them in positions to succeed. “The Don” was a rising star in the criminal underworld, and this was his chance to make it big. Terry refused to let it be at his expense. Turned out Don had his own battlesuit, and a squad of battlesuited muscle (including many of the factory’s key employees) to back him up. Terry had just Caroline. The fight tore the factory apart, and destroyed the stored flight belts. When it was over, “The Don” was presumed dead, his goons had vanished, and any evidence that didn’t point directly to Terry and Caroline Cruz being guilty of his crimes was virtually destroyed. The trial was quick. The prosecution basically had them cold, and anything that could’ve proven their innocence was long gone. They both got over a decade of hard time. Between that, the lost money spent on the belts and the revelation of just how much money Donald had stolen from his brother’s company, Terry was ruined. Both of them were barred from using their technological skill sets without authorization as a condition of early release. After his release, a broken Terry quietly disappeared. Caroline scraped by doing odd jobs and moving around a lot, until she moved back to New York in 2003. Years after the trial nobody remembered Terry and Caroline Cruz anymore, let alone The Human Rocket and his sidekick JETTE. She started doing unlicensed PI work to pay the bills. She never expected to see her cousin again. In fact, she fully expected him to drink himself to death like she was slowly going to. This, however, was not what fate had in mind. For either of them. And here, Dear Reader, is where Reginald Morton III comes in. Reggie to his friends. Well. If he had friends. Unfortunately, Reggie was a huge and obvious nerd. Equally unfortunately, he was attending a huge New York City high school. So he got picked on high school. Such a shame. But there was one place he could go where not even his tormentors dared follow. A broken down old boxing gym, with a bitter old man living in it. Couldn’t have been making much money. Nobody was ever in it when Reggie came to visit. But his bullies were scared of the old man. There were all sorts of scary rumors about him, and his tongue was razor sharp. Metaphorically speaking. As this is a superpowered world, it should be made clear that it was his wits that were sharp and quick. Still, the old man liked Reggie, and he let him hang out in the gym. It was an unlikely friendship that warmed old Terry Cruz’s heart. He’d managed to stash some retirement money offshore before the Feds yoinked all of his money as the proceeds of crime. Thanks a lot, Donald. But you know…there were reasons he liked this kid. Reggie. And deep inside Terry, a hero’s heart still beat. Even if he was too old and bitter now, the kid wasn’t. So Terry brought out some of his old gear he was able to salvage after his release, and started teaching the kid a thing or two. Of course, when he told the kid who he was, he didn’t expect him to go to the library and read up on the whole saga. And then Terry had to tell him his side of the story, and for the first time since the 70s, somebody actually believed him. If only because it was sloppier work than the Human Rocket III would have ever done. And then the kid told him he’d found a schematic of Terry’s flight belts on the internet, and made his own. Terry understood the internet fine, and he knew damn well that design was supposed to be locked down by the Feds. And a skilled amateur had pulled it off the internet. Donald was alive. Damn the man. Reggie, bless him, was ready willing and able to help. So, we know how this story goes. Eager young man and his wise mentor. Terry insisted on waiting until after his high school graduation. But after that, the fourth Human Rocket took flight for the first time. This was 2009, for those keeping track of the years. He started making his name as a rookie hero around NYC, and ran smack into no less than the Exiles. Specifically, Hummingbird. He helped her out of a jam and she introduced him to her friends. The Exiles were together in New York all year long. Being the Exiles, all sorts of trouble found them. And the fourth Human Rocket was by their side backing them up the entire time. He was even at that fight at the end of the year, where Cory’s dad killed Hummingbird. His friend. His…well, it wasn’t quite love, but…well…he’d never know, now. As has been told, the trauma shattered the Exiles, and they went their separate ways for a time. Reggie was not immune to this. He simply went back to being only of New York’s heroes rather than not quite an Exile. When they got back together a couple of months later, he tried. He really did. But…he was never really one of them. In the nicest way possible, they were ‘Bird’s friends. Not his. And she wasn’t…she wasn’t there anymore. He wasn’t one of them. So when they moved out to Portland to found Exile House, he stayed in New York. Phone numbers were exchanged. Promises made to keep in touch. Everyone involved knew them for the lies they were, but it’s what you say, right? And so, Reggie was left alone with his broken heart. He did get a weird phone call from Stormy the following year, but his memory of it is fuzzy. Terry said something went wrong with time for a little while. He guesses they helped fix it. He’s too embarrassed to ask. It’d be super awkward calling just for that. So he was a solo superhero again, with the wise mentor in the shadows. Though a weird thing happened at the end o the fifth year of his career. 2014, for those keeping track of the year. There isn’t a ceremony or anything or getting your Five Year Vet stripes. It’s informal, but still, here and Terry were celebrating with the news on in the background. One of the new superheroes Reggie had heard about was on. She seemed a little…old…to be starting now, but no judgements. Terry saw her and totally freaked out. He had to go to bed early because it tired him out. Lots of things were beginning to tire him out. And he didn’t remember doing it in the morning. That was starting to happen more, too. Not a lot, but he knew Terry was old old. Like in his 80s old. And he hadn’t been taking care of himself very well for years if not decades. Reggie worried, but Terry would simply tell him to stop clucking over him like a mother hen. It was a couple years after that before he finally ran into JETTE. 2016, for those keeping track of the year. And it was the same JETTE that had been Terry’s sidekick back in the 70s. It was a proper team up, with David Hero (the apparently immortal legend himself), Kosma (who he’d heard good things about, and Tai Kwon (who was actually a little younger than Reggie, which surprised him). There were ninjas, and a plot to destroy the city by resurrecting an ancient…dragon? Really? Well, he saw the bones. Still could have been a dinosaur, Reggie says. Also, they weren’t like, real ninjas. Real ninjas are Japanese. These were Korean guys. But you know…martial arts. Weapons. Funky pajamas. These guys were ninjas in all but ethnicity. So…magic was real, because they were gonna resurrect the dragon with it. Terry said it was, but you know…Reggie didn’t believe him. Oh, boy. But the capper was that he got to talk to JETTE and tell her about Terry and how he was all old and wouldn’t let anyone help and-JETTE cut him off very rudely, because she wasn’t very nice anymore, and they went to see Terry. And the cousins, after decades apart, reunited. Mr. Hero called Medic in, and Terry, well…he was slipping harder and harder. He needed around the clock care, Medic said. It broke Reggie’s heart. The man was the grandfather he never had. But it also broke poor JETTE’s. Fortunately, she still knew how to get through his computer security to access his money, and they got him into a good rest home on the Upper East Side. And JETTE, bitter and rude and mean as she is, took over the mentor role. They’re…not quite partners, but they do work together sometimes. Reggie was, sadly, among the Dusted, so he has no idea what happened that year. New York had to have been in chaos. Not only was he gone, but Medic, Kosma, and Tai Kwon were too. Even Samaritan was out of commission. He wonders how Mr. Hero and JETTE coped. But the Dusting was undone, and all of New York’s heroes participated in the final battle of the Endgame. After that, Reggie actually wasn’t the first of Mr. Hero’s group to be recruited. They went for Mr. Hero first, and when he politely declined in order to focus on New York, JETTE. She also declined, a bit less politely, and pointed them towards Reggie. He wasn’t sure, but JETTE said she’d keep looking after Terry when he was busy, so all right. Terry still remembers both of them…sometimes. His nurses are really nice. But Reggie can tell. He’s dying. Very slowly, but Terry Cruz is dying. The once brilliant industrialist, CEO, and superhero is now a confused old man in adult pull ups. Reggie doesn’t mean that like an insult. It’s just…it makes him sad. His friend is fading away. He knows it makes JETTE sad too. He’s 100% his own man, now. No Exiles. No mentors. No partners. The person responsible for keeping the spark of heroism alive is Reggie Morton. He is the Human Rocket in this era. Heir not only to the legacy of Terry Cruz, but those other two guys. The second in the Golden Age, and the original in the Old West. Crap, he should probably upgrade his gear then. Reggie’s most persistent enemy is “The Don” Donald Cruz. He’s much too old to be a physical threat anymore, but as an old crime boss has plenty of minions in cheap knock off battlesuits to deal with. Other than that, he sometimes tangles with some of Samaritan’s enemies to help the poor guy out. Every hero in New York does, sooner or later. When not doing Icons stuff, he works with David Hero’s group. They’re, as previously mentioned, JETTE, Kosma, and Tai Kwon. There are also the rookies Bee Girl, Ghost Hornet, and Night Wasp. He does not know why Samaritan can’t remember their names. Medic does. Oh, well. Powers & Tactics: The fourth Human Rocket, like each of the other three, has no superhuman powers. He is a tech specialist with three devices. However, he is not a genius like the other three. He’s exceptional, to be sure, but not a genius. He is furthermore an expert melee fighter, well trained in boxing’s fundamentals. His devices are his Flight Belt, his Flight Suit, and his Wrist Turbines. The first is a Terry Cruz design. The second is, as well, but with significant medications from Reggie. And the last is entirely his own design. The first is simply enough to be mentioned here. It’s the Flight Belt. It is exactly what it says it is. It allows the wearer to fly through manipulating gravity and electromagnetism. It’s faster than walking or even running, and probably faster than bicycling. It’s slower than anything with an actual motor. It is, however, cheap and easy flight. The second device is his Flight Suit. Terry Cruz used a full battlesuit, but Reggie wanted something more flexible. So while it is well armored, with sealed systems and an integrated radio, it’s not a full battlesuit. The sensors in the helmet consist of basic radar, an expansion of his vision to the full light spectrum, a clock, and a navigation system. He keeps a toolkit on it for repairs or technical work if necessary. But the big thing the Flight Suit does is jack up the speed on the Flight Belt from below anything with a motor to literally hypersonic. It does not function on its own; it is purely a boost to the Flight Belt. The third and final device is his Wrist Turbines. They can link up to computers up to a hundred feet away for Reggie to apply his computer skills. It is, however, the actual turbines that are the main event here. They have four settings. The first is the one he gets the most use out of in combat. His trademark Turbine Punch. The turbines blow out air with great force as he, well, punches, and it does significantly more damage. Doing this is…inadvisable without the Flight Suit or other hand protection on, however. He may break that hand. The second most used setting is the turbines channeling their energy into through the Flight Suit for even more flight speed. Beyond hypersonic. Unlike the Flight Suit’s boost, however, they can function on their own, providing about as much speed as your average race car via traditional jet turbine action. Only it’s through the air instead of on the ground. The turbines can also blow out air very quickly, creating a cone of wind that can blow things under a ton away. The final setting is somewhat unique. It increases his lifting strength by blowing air at what he’s trying to lift. He can move objects weighing actual tons doing this. However, it is of no help for anything that’s strapped to his back or whatever. It has to be in his hands to receive to the boost. Tactically, the fourth Human Rocket is a pretty simply combatant. He flies and he uses Turbine Punch. A +2 Accurate Attack and Takedown Attack 2 let him cut through NYC’s thugs (+2 TOU is the minimum for Big Apple thuggery). He mixes in Wind Turbine Blast on them, too. And Power Attack is for beefier supervillains. He’s not really any good at Feinting, but he’s got some Bluff and can give it a shot, maybe. That is really, genuinely it. Reggie is perhaps better used as a scout, since he has radar and a potentially ridiculous flight speed to slip away with. Like was said in Background, he should probably upgrade his gear now that he’s an Icon. Personality: The latest Human Rocket is…normal? Generic, even. He’s a nice guy, he both wants to and likes helping people, and he’s a bit of a dork. Genuinely Hero 101 stuff. It’s kind of weird, actually. The hero biz normally chews up and spits out guys like this by the score. He’s had a lot of help and a lot of luck, and so he’s still here. Carrying on the legacy. On his own. It’s not that he thinks he can’t do it. Not at all. If the past decade has proved anything, it’s that he can do it. He is a worthy successor to the legacy of the Human Rocket. It’s not about putting himself down or downplaying the kind o hero he is. He doesn’t feel like an impostor, or anything. It’s a difficult feeling to explain. They’re all such special people, you know? The Icons. Hell, even Terry, JETTE, Mr. Hero, and his group. Their personalities are flashy and dramatic. They’re really interesting people, and he wants to get to know them better. But…he’s not all that interesting. You know? He knows he’s done a lot of good. He knows he’s a real hero. But who on earth would be interested in getting to know Reggie Morton? He’s boring. Generic, even. Of course, there is no such thing as a generic human being. It is that very down to earth nature that makes Reggie interesting. He’s not some extraordinary person, as heroes go. He doesn’t have an overwhelming passion driving him forward. He’s not psychologically complex or damaged. He’s not even someone with the morals, ethics, and self restraint of a saint. He’s exactly who he appears to be. A fundamentally kind and decent man who helps people. Because he likes to, he wants to, and it’s the right thing to do. He’s made mistakes in the past. Let his temper get the best of him. Let fear control him. Gave in to sadness. But he’s always picked himself back up, but his gear on, and gone back out to help once again. That counts for a hell of a lot more than he thinks it does. But you already know that, don’t you Dear Reader?

Samaritan (Vonnie Murray) Power Level: 11; Power Points Spent: 255/255 STR: +8 (16/26), DEX: +8 (16/26), CON: +8 (16/26), INT: +4 (18), WIS: +4 (18), CHA: +4 (18) Tough: +8, Fort: +8, Ref: +14, Will: +8 Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+20), Bluff 11 (+15), Climb 12 (+20), Computers 6 (+10), Craft (mechanical) 11 (+15), Diplomacy 11 (+15), Disable Device 6 (+10), Escape Artist 2 (+10), Gather Information 11 (+15), Intimidate 6 (+10), Knowledge (physical sciences) 11 (+15), Knowledge (streetwise) 6 (+10), Knowledge (technology) 11 (+15), Language 1 (+1), Medicine 1 (+5), Notice 16 (+20), Search 1 (+5), Sense Motive 16 (+20), Sleight of Hand 2 (+10), Stealth 7 (+15) Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, All-Out Attack, Beginner's Luck, Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Challenge - Improved Taunt, Dodge Focus 3, Evasion, Grappling Finesse, Improved Initiative, Improved Trick, Inventor, Jack-of-All-Trades, Last Stand, Luck 3, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Redirect, Skill Mastery (Acrobatics, Climb, Notice, Sense Motive), Stunning Attack, Takedown Attack 2, Taunt, Ultimate Effort 3 (Constitution, Dexterity, & Strength checks), Ultimate Effort 4 (Tou, Fort, Ref, & Will saves), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory), Untapped Potential Powers: Human Totem (Container, Passive 12) Enhanced Abilities (Enhanced Trait 30) (Traits: Constitution +10 (26, +8), Dexterity +10 (26, +8), Strength +10 (26, +8)) Enhanced Feats (Enhanced Trait 2) (Feats: Beginner's Luck, Jack-of-All-Trades) Totemic Leaping (Leaping 2) (Jumping distance: x5) Totemic Quickness (Quickness 2) (Perform routine tasks at 5x speed) Totemic Recovery (Regeneration 11) (ability damage 2 (recover 1 / hour), recovery bonus 1 (+1 to recover), recovery rate (bruised) 2 (recover 1 / action), recovery rate (disabled) 2 (recover 1 / hour), recovery rate (injured) 2 (recover 1 / 5 mins), recovery rate (staggered) 2 (recover 1 / 5 mins); Persistent) Totemic Senses (Super-Senses 10) (acute (type): Olfactory, extended (type): Visual 1 (-1 per 100 ft), extended (type): Auditory 1 (-1 per 100 ft), extended (type): Olfactory 1 (-1 per 100 ft), low-light vision, ranged: Tactile) Totemic Speed (Speed 2+1) ([Stacking ranks: +1], Speed: 50 mph, 440 ft./rnd) Wrist Mounted Grapnel Guns (Device 5) (Hard to lose) Grapnel Cable Capture (Snare (DC 18; Precise, Tether (800 ft.)) Grapnel Swinging (Linked) Speed 1 (Linked; Speed: 10 mph, 88 ft./rnd; Stacks with (Totemic Speed (Speed 2+1))) Super-Movement 3 (Linked; slow fall, swinging, wall-crawling 1 (half speed)) Attack Bonus: +14 (Ranged: +14, Melee: +14, Grapple: +22) Attacks: Grapnel Cable Capture (Snare 8), +14 (DC Ref/Staged 18), Unarmed Attack, +14 (DC 23) Defense: +14 (Flat-footed: +6), Knockback: -4 Initiative: +12 Languages: English Native, Spanish Totals: Abilities 42 + Skills 40 (160 ranks) + Feats 33 + Powers 80 + Combat 50 + Saves 10 + Drawbacks 0 = 255 Age (as of Jan 2019): 26 Height: 5’ 10” Weight: 170 lbs Ethnicity: ½ African American, ½ Puerto Rican (New York) Hair: Black Eyes: Dark Brown Background: Vonnie Murray was an ordinary teenager in the Brooklyn who had brains to spare and a slight gadgeteering bent. One day, when he was 14, one of his inventions went haywire, spraying both him and his sister with unknown energies. He soon found he was stronger, faster, and tougher than everyone on the block. Like most kids his age, he idealized super heroes. Now that he had super powers, what better idea than to give it a go? It was a smashing success. He saved people. Punched out thugs. Street level stuff, but Brooklyn. Bronx, Queens, and Manhattan began to take notice of his presence. Meanwhile, his personal life had begun to improve. Gail Verner, one of his classmate and just about the most idolized girl in school (not that she catered to that impression, mind), started hanging out with him and his small circle. Small meaning Vonnie and a rotating cast of neighborhood kids. Most notable were Darrell (moderately wealthy), Tonio (meathead with a good heart), Carmen (fulfilling that tough Latina stereotype unironically), and Laquiesha Janine AKA LJ (fulfilling that airheaded party girl stereotype apparently unironically). As time went on, Vonnie and Gail even started dating. Young love is a beautiful thing. That said, The Agency has a vested interest in new superheroes, as some of them can become useful. However, Vonnie (now being called Samaritan by the media because of his cross t-shirt and borderline reckless devotion to getting people out of harm’s way), had no detectible super powers or special training, despite his tremendous physical gifts. A lesser Agency asset was sent to capture him. It…didn’t go well. The man was an idiot, and a thug. Not to mention somehow his combat programming didn’t take, so he couldn’t fight any better than the thug he started out as. He went smashing through Vonnie’s home, and managed to murder his mother and Gail (who happened to be visiting) before Vonnie arrived. Vina was on the floor, clearly next. Seeing two of the three people he loved most in the worst broken like dolls, and the same about to happen to the third… Vonnie absolutely fuckin’ snapped. His vision grayed, and he attacked the monster who’d stolen almost everything from him. They almost killed each other in a savage brawl across what seemed like half of Brooklyn. The thug was strong, but for every hit he got on Vonnie, Vonnie hit with two or three. They fought until neither could stand up. Doctors still aren’t sure if the thug will ever walk again, but Vonnie recovered with remarkable speed. A neighbor (LJ’s dad, as it happened) took the devastated siblings in afterward. As it turned out, LJ was not an airhead. It was just a phase, and the shock of seeing her friend in physical and emotional agony shook her out of it pretty hard. As Darnell, Tonio, Carmen and the rest drifted away, she drifted closer. Gail was a good person, no doubt about it, but LJ possessed a decidedly larger heart. Vonnie slowly rebuilt his life. The NYC press blaming Samaritan for the whole affair didn’t help, but he refused to quit hero work. His mother and Gail, had they known he was Samaritan in the first place, would not approve. His reputation was ruined. So what? He didn’t do this for praise. Eventually his friends drifted back to him. By that time he and LJ had been going out for a month already. The press moved on. 10th grade was wrapping up. It had been an entire year. The memories still hurt, but on the whole...life was good again. He even felt confident enough to confide his life as Samaritan to LJ. She took it well, all things considered. And then another Agency asset attacked. This one was smarter and could actually fight, but there was something wrong with her. She was a bird analogue with razor feathers, only she seemed very, very sick. There was an air of desperation about her as she launched an assault on Vonnie as he was swinging home. The combination made her sloppy, not that Vonnie noticed. The collateral damage added up, but he couldn’t do anything more to take her down than he already was. He couldn’t do anything but watch as people were injured. His people. And then he saw LJ, holding her fallen father. He was going to meet them at the corner store. Vonnie snapped again, and his vision grayed out. He was stronger, faster. The bird woman couldn’t dream of stopping him. He hit her again. And again. And again. Her razor feathers dug into his flesh, but he didn’t feel it. It was when he hadn’t been hit back in a while that he backed off. Blood loss abruptly caught up to him, but before he passed out he saw her. Broken, like a doll. Vonnie was horrified, but also on some level well satisfied. Which only horrified him more. And thus the pattern o his life was set. He fought the Agency. He fought criminals. He fought supervillains. He graduated high school. LJ broke up with him for a while to try her luck in Los Angeles. He went to NYU. He rescued people rom burning buildings. He got kittens out of trees for little girls. He saved lost balloons for toddlers. He took gunshot victims to the ER. He graducated NYU a year later because of all the superheroing and enemy making. He got hurt a lot. Sometimes badly. Sometimes very badly. He’s been shot, stabbed, punched, impaled, exploded, half drowned, partially electrocuted, seriously burned, and a dozen other ways to get hurt. People think the Exiles have had a busy eleven years. Ha! Vonnie’s got them edged out. Today Vonnie is a high school teacher in his home borough of Brooklyn. He and LJ got married after he graduated NYU. She’d come back by then. She didn’t entirely succeed at become a Hollywood actress, but she’s a regular model for a couple of cheap clothing brands and also an actress in off-off-Broadway productions. Being in his life has proven to be insanely dangerous, but she doesn’t care. He’s lost friends to the grave, insanity, supervillainy, and even a dimension hole once? That was a weird one. Oh yeah, almost forgot. Teamed up with some of New York’s heroes like Medic, David Hero, and Tai Kwon to storm the Agency’s main NYC base and put it out of business. Get them off his back for a while. It was a good thing. He wasn’t among the Dusted, but it did something very weird to his powers where they just…didn’t…work…exactly? Individual parts of them would just turn off without warning. Or invert somehow. Instead of being slightly stronger than the strongest, he’d be slightly weaker than the weakest. Or instead of seeing blocks away, he’d go blind for a while. Completely unpredictable, and after a few painful accidents even his stubborn ass had to admit he couldn’t be Samaritan while this was happening. He was, of course, at the Endgame with every other hero on the planet. He did okay, he guesses. The highlight was playing keep away with the…Power Crystals? No, Crystals of Power. Power Crystals were from that TV show. Anyway, he was playing keep away with Kuros The friggin’ Annihilator and about a billion well armed goons. Just another day at the office, man. His life is so crazy. One last thing rounded out his 2018 campaign. Telling Penny Nihara out of NPC Investigations where that old Agency base of ops was. Seemed like they’d started up again. He asked to tag along, but honestly she did the thing where she smiles politely and it’s like she’s turned into Death, Destroyer of Worlds while saying no thanks, she could handle it. From what he heard, she handled it all right. But you know, they were Agency. They deserved it. So whatever. As for persistent enemies…oh god. Samaritan has arguably the largest Rogue’s Gallery of any active hero. And they’re almost all. Friggin’. Animal themed. With a color and a name. Greaaaaat. Grey Wolf, with all those guns and that sharp nose and the dozen mercenaries on his team with their guns. Crimson Lizard, with the strength and the friggin regeneration. If he could just manage to stay Professor Reilly instead of a homicidal lizard man for two full months back to back, that’d be super. Black Hawk, with the wingsuit and again the guns and the explosives and the general insanity. Jade Tiger, who he is going to punt down the block the next time he sees her, swear to god. With her claw gauntlets and martial arts and friggin endless thievery and really tight costume. Stupid sexy supervillains. The Ivory Hippo, in the weirdest friggin’ combat suit he has ever seen. Why rubber, man? Just why? He knows it’s because bludgeoning attacks and bullets bounce right off, but the man looks like the hugest doofus. Also, oh god, Squid Cerulean. With the tentacle. So many tentacles. All of the tentacles. This isn’t anime pron, man, what are you doing? Especially with that natural fabric dissolver? Naked people can still kick your ass. Defeat by modesty is not a thing. It will not help you rob banks and jewelry stores. Look, you get it. We can do this all day or move on to allies. Like Medic. Medic is great. He likes Medic. David Hero is the man. Tai Kwon? Also a cool guy. Kosma rocks. JETTE is…kind of a rhymes with witch? But eh, whatever. The three they’re training are okay for rookies. He’s even worked with the Human Rocket IV. Seriously, if they’re a hero in New York and Samaritan hasn’t teamed up with them at some point, they must have started literally last week. Again, his life is so crazy. ...okay, so his life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. That was the glib, flippant way of discussing it. He does that a lot. Because his enemies are fuckin’ terrifying. Gray Wolf and his Wolf Pack hunt heroes and villains alike for sport, and they’re pretty damn good at it. Crimson Lizard is frighteningly intelligent and determined to rid the world of its “filthy apes” by any means necessary, including bashing all their skulls in with his bare hands. Black Hawk is a psychotic murderer who’s claimed the lives of a couple of Vonnie’s friends over the years, and can be horrifyingly cunning and strategic. Jade Tiger is…well, less scary. But absolutely nothing will stop her quest to make the list of the world’s top ten thieves, and she’s left enough bodies and shattered lives in her wake to make that assertion very convincing. Ivory Hippo, on the other hand, is a violent thug who got his hands on a battlesuit that makes him stronger than Crimson Lizard (which is saying something), immune to both bludgeoning and ballistic damage, and can stand up to artillery fire. I he could actually fight worth a damn he’d have killed Vonnie years ago. Fortunately he’s got too much to go get even rudimentary training. And Squid Cerulean? Invented that natural fabric dissolver. It’s an acid, and he has other, more lethal ones. And mutated those squid arms onto himself. The only person Vonnie knows of who’s smarter is flippin’ Terrifica. When the Squid starts up one of his schemes, people die and Vonnie usually needs backup from someone. And while the Agency isn’t currently operating in New York thanks to Vonnie and co. smashing them a few years ago and Penny Nihara killing everyone they had in the city recently, he knows they haven’t forgotten him. They want him in an examination room, strapped to a table until they figure out how his powers work and how they can duplicate them. He also knows that they don’t necessarily care if he’s alive when they strap him to that table. So you know, crazy life. Powers & Tactics: The spectacular Samaritan is mutant with one technological device. His mutant powers are something extremely unusual. Mutants with animal powers are fairly common among mutants. They’re not uncommon among those with magical or divine powers, either. But here’s the thing basically everyone forgets. Humans are animals, too. Saying Samaritan has all the powers of a human being doesn’t sound like he has any powers at all, though. This, however, is misunderstand it. Those with animal powers never just have the regular abilities of the animal. They’re almost always exemplars of the species and often better than the animal itself at the animal’s specialties. And this is true of Vonnie, as well. Yes, he has all the powers and abilities of a human being...but they’re either at their absolute peak or slightly beyond. His strength, speed, resilience, agility, leaping ability, regeneration speed, and senses are either just as good as the best human in the world’s or slightly superhuman. The reason why is even crazier. He is connected on both a mystical and quantum level to every unpowered person on the planet. Nearly 8 billion people. He can occasionally tap into this, turning the whole “having everyone’s abilities concurrently” thing into a “having one specific ability cumulatively” thing. This can briefly spike his resistances to basically everything, his strength, his agility, you name it to incredible levels. What’s even crazier is that he’s not even using all of his powers. He’s only using the ones he knows about. His mental abilities are his own, when theoretically they don’t have to be. He may well be able to tap into the accumulated knowledge and skills of the entire unpowered human race. He’s actually doing a little of that subconsciously already, which is where is expert melee and dodging skills come from. Bottom line, Vonnie has the potential to not just be one of the greats, but a genuine legend. His technological device is his Wrist Mounted Grapnel Guns. They’re…pretty simple, actually. There’s one of them on each wrist. He can snare a target in the cabling or simply swing around at twice the speed he can run. They’re also useful or stopping falls and making his way up walls faster than climbing. If a cable is cut he can just replace the hook. He’s got plenty of cabling, which is actually a wire just thick enough to not cut people when pressed tightly against skin. Tactically, Samaritan keeps it moving. Between his just beyond superhuman athleticism and Grapnel Guns, he can cover a startling amount of ground in a very short time for someone supposedly just about human standard. He uses Move by Action constantly. Grapnel Cable Capture works great to keep mooks pinned down. He’ll Accurate Attack +2 against them, using Takedown Attack 2 to just bulldoze them. NYC thuggery has a minimum of +2 TOU. Big city, higher standards, you get it. There’s no need for that with supervillains, though. He can just punch and kick them regularly. Improved Acrobatic Bluff is his bread and butter, along with Improved Trick and Redirect. Improved Taunt is also on deck, because he does not stop sassing the enemies. All Out Attack is for when he starts to lose his temper, and Power Attack is for more damage. But really, he doesn’t stop moving except for Tricks. Keep in mind that his jumping distances (105 feet running jump, 52.5 feet standing jump, 25.75 ft high jump) are absurd, and that’s assuming he isn’t grapnel’ing up the side of a building (because literally NYC) hundreds of feet at a time. The grapnels can catch his falls, too, so he can freely leap off buildings to evade and reposition. Don’t forget his senses, either. Ranged tactile is ridiculous, and the range on the others is not to be sneezed at. He doesn’t actually have any power stunts, but please note Inventor. All this together is why so many criminals and supervillains really, really hate him. Personality: The spectacular Samaritan is a wise cracking, constantly snarking protector of the weak. As the saying goes, he got jokes. All of the jokes. He’s not a clown, mind. He just can’t stop mouthing off, even to beings that can crush him like a beer can. He’s a permanent respect free zone, though it is important to note he does not offer actual disrespect to genuine allies and friends. It’s when he stops being a smartass that people should worry. Because he’s got one hell of a temper. It’s the downside of his powers. All of his negative emotions and/or personality traits are at human peak, too. So he has a genuinely awful temper, and he constantly works to keep it in check. He’s seen what happens when he doesn’t. Vonnie Murray, on the other hand, basically has PTSD. The wisecracking, joking, and smartassery is a defense mechanism to block out how goddamn terrified he is half the time. One of the world’s most powerful organizations has been trying to capture him and experiment him to death since he was 14 years old. Most of his massive Rogue’s Gallery would be all too happy to kill him. Every time he makes a new friend or ally he has to wonder whether or not they’re going to become a victim of or join said Rogue’s Gallery. One would think that anyone sane in his situation would find a extremely remote location, dig a deep hole, climb in, and close it behind them. But again. It’s the downside of his powers. Or, in this case, the upside. Because all of his positive emotions and/or personality traits are at human peak. Love. Hope. Compassion. Empathy. Kindness. He is basically incapable of turning away from someone in need. Because on a fundamental level he is them. He is all of us. Hence his name. Samaritan, after the parable of the Good Samaritan. He’ll never stop trying to be one. For everyone he meets. Never.

Starguy (Gordon Wright) Power Level: 10; Power Points Spent: 240/240 STR: +10 (15/30), DEX: +3 (16), CON: +10 (15/30), INT: +2 (14), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +10, Fort: +10, Ref: +7/+10, Will: +7 Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+15), Bluff 12 (+15), Craft (artistic) 8 (+10), Diplomacy 7 (+10), Gather Information 12 (+15), Knowledge (art) 8 (+10), Knowledge (popular culture) 3 (+5), Knowledge (streetwise) 3 (+5), Language 5 (+5), Notice 12 (+15), Search 3 (+5), Sense Motive 12 (+15), Stealth 7 (+10) Feats: Accurate Attack, Acrobatic Bluff, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus (melee) 3, Challenge - Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Challenge - Improved Feint, Challenge - Improved Taunt, Evasion, Improved Critical 2 (Unarmed Attack), Improved Initiative 3, Interpose, Luck 3, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Takedown Attack 2, Taunt, Ultimate Effort (Strength checks), Ultimate Effort (Toughness saves), Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Infinite Energy Drain (Nullify 10) (counters: all powers of (type) - energy effects, DC 20; Duration 3 (continuous), Effortless; Range (touch)) Starheart Augmented Physiology (Container, Passive 10) Stellar Durability (Impervious Toughness 10) Stellar Might (Super-Strength 5) (+25 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 25.6 tons; +5 STR to some checks) Stellar Resilience (Enhanced Constitution 15) (+15 CON) Stellar Strength (Enhanced Strength 15) (+15 STR) Starheart Speed (Container, Passive 5) Stellar Quickness (Quickness 5) (Perform routine tasks at 50x speed) Stellar Reflexes (Enhanced Trait 15) (Traits: Attack Bonus +2 (+7), Defense Bonus +2 (+10), Reflex +3 (+10), Feats: Evasion, Improved Initiative 3) Stellar Speed (Speed 5) (Speed: 250 mph, 2200 ft./rnd) Attack Bonus: +5/+7 (Ranged: +5/+7, Melee: +8/+10, Grapple: +18/+25) Attacks: Infinite Energy Drain (Nullify 10), +10 (DC Will 20), Unarmed Attack, +10 (DC 25) Defense: +8/+10 (Flat-footed: +5), Knockback: -10 Initiative: +15 Languages: American Sign Language, Chinese (Mandarin), English Native, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog Totals: Abilities 32 + Skills 26 (104 ranks) + Feats 23 + Powers 125 + Combat 26 + Saves 8 + Drawbacks 0 = 240 Age (as of Jan 2019): 29 Height: 5’ 11” Weight: 170 lbs Ethnicity: Caucasian Hair: Light Brown Eyes: Brown Background: Starpeople can duplicate their powers onto a willing target. Once. This is not what happened to Gordon Wright, alias Starguy. It is what happened to his father. Kind of. Stargirl II (Jackie Thompkins) dated Glenn Wright for a while in the mid 80s. Glenn was unaware of his powers until the incident. Glenn and Jackie were having an intimate encounter and the combination of their powers, for lack of a better term, glitched out. Glenn did not receive the Starpowers. He never gained a Starheart. And as far as anyone is aware, Jackie should still be able to grant them that once. And yet, much later, when Gordon (who is not Jackie’s son; she and Glenn broke up before even considering having children) turned 13, he got both his father’s powers and the Starpowers. How this happened, nobody freakin’ knows. Least of all Gordon. The problem is that they directly conflict with each other. Glenn’s mutation absorbs energy. A Starheart generates it. So poor Gordon can use neither to their fullest potential, as they’re too busy fighting each other. At least Glenn and Georgia (his mother) were thrilled. Gordon held off on putting on the mask until he graduated high school. Being a teen superhero did not sound appealing in the least. So, ironically, it was the same year the Exiles were bouncing around Los Angeles in their first year of existence that Starguy made his debut. He did not meet them. It was not for lack of trying. And in time they moved to New York City. Starguy stayed in Los Angeles. The only major incident of his heroic career so far was saving Naomi Suleiman (currently Waverider of the Academy) on the very terrible day her vibrational/sonic powers emerged. She was in a parking garage, waiting for some friends. She felt poorly, and rested her hand on a wall, only for the stored vibrations of her 12-13 years of life to tear their way out of her. They destroyed her hearing and when she screamed from the pain tore apart her larynx. They were threatening to destroy the parking garage, and possibly even cause a seismic event. Fortunately, Starguy was nearby. He used his powers to take the edge off her emissions and get her out of there. The parking garage still collapsed, but there was no earthquake. He also used his budding connections with city government to keep the young girl from being charged with a crime or in any way held responsible for the damage. Then he took her on as a sidekick for a little while, before he realized the training of a fully fledged Phoenix Mutate was more than he could handle. So, he made a cold call to the Javier Academy, and managed to get young Waverider accepted. Her parents took some finagling, but it was nothing he and Headmaster Javier couldn’t handle. He’s kind of proud of how far his former partner has come in the following years, honestly. He wasn’t among the Dusted, and so was running around Los Angeles like a chicken with its head cut off after it happened. Though it was…hard, as Glenn and Georgia were among the Dusted. He was present at the Endgame, thanks to the Exiles. Finally got to meet them. Check that off the bucket list I guess. He wasn’t chosen as an Icon before now because they already had a Los Angeles guy in Spike Douglas and at the time didn’t want to show any favoritism towards bigger cities. But with all six founders off the board for the foreseeable future if not permanently, they needed skilled bodies and Starguy was among the selected. Spike did not put in a good word for him, but that’s just how Spike is. He doesn’t take it personally. Meanwhile, a young woman named Jessica and her younger brother Jonathan have grown up watching him… He doesn’t have any particularly persistent enemies beyond occasionally borrowing Spike’s, Tectonica hates him because he can shut her down pretty easily, as her powers aren’t that different from Waverider’s and weaker in the bargain. Fahrenheit and Celsius aren’t big fans, either. However, he’s slowly found himself the main spoke that the Los Angeles hero scene revolves around. Sargette (former US Army), Telebolt (electric teleporter), and Valley Girl (invulnerably skinned) have his back and he has theirs. He’s good terms with Exile House LA and the Second Gen, too. And the police officers in Angel Rodriguez (with her superhumanly strong and durable wings) and Celeste Martinez (with her advanced cybernetic arm) seem to be around when things start happening more often than not. Powers & Tactics: Starguy is an unusual case. He has two directly conflicting sets of mutant powers. Directly from his father he has a genuinely impressive amount of energy absorption. And from his father’s old girlfriend (somehow) he has a Starheart and the accompanying physical alterations. The energy absorption not even his father Glenn knows where he got it from. He simply says “I did a lot of drugs in the 80s, man. I don’t know” Super helpful, but whatever. Starguy can, by touching something, absorb any energy in it into what appears to be a bottomless well. No matter how much he soaks up, it never fills. Energy is a very broad category, as well. It includes literally everything that isn’t a firearm, medieval weapon, claw, fang, or unarmed strike. Yes, this means he can put out a fire by touching it and yes, he’s helped out the fire department doing just that. The aperture, however, is not as wide as it could be, as it’s continually absorbing energy from his Starheart. If that conflict could somehow be resolved, he’d likely be as powerful as his father, who’s literally immune to energy effects and even has a degree of resistance to physical damage (since it’s kinetic energy). As for the Starheart, these are basically legendary now. Everybody knows what they are and what they do. There’s a fusion reaction in Starguy’s chest, pumping out energy as only they can. The accompanying alterations cause his body to channel said energy into strength, speed, and resilience. Every other Starperson except the original Starman could emit and manipulate this stellar energy in various ways, but Starguy can’t specifically because of the conflict with his father’s energy absorption. And the strength, speed, and resilience are severely blunted compared with the rest of the Starpeople. Again, the conflict. He’s still very strong, able to crack steel with a punch and lift double digit tons. He’s still very fast, able to outpace even the fastest of automobiles. His accuracy, dodging, and reflexes are all enhanced as well. He’s still very tough, able to ignore mundane weapons up to artillery fire. But when both Starmen were known to be able to lift fully loaded aircraft carriers, and the second and his mother were able to break the sound barrier with impunity, well…it does feel a little inadequate, doesn’t it? Tactically, Starguy is a puncher. He’s basically a street brawler in terms of style. With that said, he’s a street brawler with 11 years of experience. Even modest talents can grow teeth with a decade plus of practice, and his talent is not entirely modest. He has Improved Acrobatic Bluff, Feint, and Taunt to in hitting and dropping enemies. He has Accurate, All Out, and Power Attack to also aid in hitting and dropping enemies. He even has Interpose and Move By Action to both protect others and stay mobile. So he’s pretty flexible what he can do outside of punching, and even the punching itself is fairly flexible. Against ordinary thuggery, he’s at full +5 Accurate Attack. It’s against energy users where he can get tricky, readying an action to use Infinite Energy Drain as a counter. A full +5 Power Attack counter, if needed. Did that with a mini-kaiju’s fire radioactive breath attack once. It was uh, very surprised. So was Spike, heh. Keep in mind that he has Ultimate Strength and Ultimate Toughness, as well. He is one of the Stars, after all. He has one power stunt. It’s the Drain version of his Infinite Energy Drain. Generally Nullify suffices, but sometimes one just needs a Drain to solve the problem. Personality: Starguy named himself that for a reason. He sees himself as, ultimately, just a guy. Easygoing, humble, and helpful to his neighbors. In many ways, he’s the perfect legacy to the original Starman. It’s not a thought process for him. People need help. People need that symbol to look to and have faith in. Starman II’s kids weren’t stepping up, and fair enough, their dad died doing this stuff. It makes sense they may not be into it. But the Star means something. Or it used to. Somebody had to hoist the flag high. Let the people know that the legacy of Starman wasn’t spent yet. So he did it. Not for fame. Not for glory. For hope. He knows he can’t do the stuff a fully powered Starperson could. But he can do something. Of course, the “real” Star-siblings making their big debut during the Endgame shook him a bit. Seeing himself as “just a guy” is a double edged sword. He’s been at this for eleven years. He’s done a hell of a lot of good. But he can’t see it. He’s always seen himself as a substitute until the “real” Starpeople were ready. He doesn’t understand why the Icons specifically wanted him. He’s not anybody special. He’s just doing what anybody would do if they could. You know? He’s just a guy. And that, of course, is exactly why they wanted him in the first place. It’s that exact thing that makes him special. But because of the type of person he is, he will very likely never understand it.

Orca Power Level: 10; Power Points Spent: 180/180 STR: +10 (30), DEX: +4 (18), CON: +8 (26), INT: +2 (14), WIS: +3 (16), CHA: +3 (16) Tough: +10, Fort: +10, Ref: +10, Will: +7 Skills: Acrobatics 6 (+10), Bluff 7 (+10), Diplomacy 7 (+10), Gather Information 7 (+10), Intimidate 5 (+10), Knowledge (earth sciences) 8 (+10), Knowledge (life sciences) 8 (+10), Knowledge (physical sciences) 3 (+5), Knowledge (theology & philosophy) 3 (+5), Language 1 (+1), Medicine 2 (+5), Notice 7 (+10), Sense Motive 7 (+10), Survival 7 (+10), Swim 14 (+20) Feats: Acrobatic Bluff, Attack Focus (melee) 5, Dodge Focus, Endurance 2 (+8), Environmental Adaptation (Underwater), Improved Trick, Interpose, Luck 3, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Takedown Attack, Uncanny Dodge (Auditory) Powers: Swimmer of the Deep (Immunity 2) (environmental condition: Cold, environmental condition: Pressure) Swimming 8 (Speed: 500 mph, 4400 ft./rnd) Tough Hide (Protection 2) (+2 Toughness) Whale Might (Super-Strength 5) (+25 STR carry capacity, heavy load: 51.2 tons; +5 STR to some checks; Groundstrike (Radius: 100 ft., DC 20), Shockwave (+10, Cone: 100 ft., DC 20), Super-Breath (+10, Cone: 100 ft., DC 20), Thunderclap (Area: 50 ft., DC 20)) Whale Senses (Super-Senses 7) (accurate (type): Auditory, darkvision, ultra-hearing) Whale Sized (Growth 4) (+8 STR, +4 CON, +1 size category; Permanent; Innate) Attack Bonus: +5 (Ranged: +5, Melee: +10, Grapple: +25/+30) Attacks: Unarmed Attack, +10 (DC 25) Defense: +10 (Flat-footed: +5), Size: Large, Knockback: -9 Initiative: +4 Languages: English Native, Hawaiian Totals: Abilities 48 + Skills 23 (92 ranks) + Feats 19 + Powers 46 + Combat 32 + Saves 12 + Drawbacks 0 = 180 Age (as of Jan 2019): 30 Height: 9’ Weight: 1000 lbs Ethnicity: Bipedal Humanoid Orca Hair: None Eyes: Blue Background: Truthfully? Orca doesn’t know what he is or where he came from. He remembers nothing from before he washed up on the beaches of Hilo, Hawaii about ten years ago, fully grown. The surfers took it in stride, especially when he spoke English and was as chill as they were. The only reason he knows his age is because Fletcher ran some tests once. He never intended to be a hero, ya know? But ya know how it goes. He’s chillaxing at the beach 24/7, because he didn’t have a house for obvious reasons. Somebody gets in trouble out there, swimming, surfing, or whatevs. Like, what was he gonna do? Sit and watch? Nah, brah. Lifeguards can’t be everywhere. And if it’s a ship, brah? They’re woefully under qualified to help. And you know how it goes. Word gets around. Local authority starts depending on a whale-man, ya? Orca is just about the quintessential example of a rescue hero. Hawaii is pretty quiet on the supervillain front, and law enforcement does a pretty good job handling mundane criminals most of the time. So mostly he can be found hanging out on the beach. Hawaii has a lot of beaches, granted, but he’s almost always near people, too. Plus the State was kind enough to get their hero a smartphone in his size. And then they got him a waterproof one, because he forgot once, haha. Honolulu built him a small house to sleep in, too, in the Makiki neighborhood. Hilo also built him one in Hilo Bayfront Beach Park, not far from where he was found back then. He’s arguably the most famous person on the islands. He’s certainly the easiest to pick out of a crowd, haha. Hawaii’s Icon is a legitimate tourist attraction, and tourists compete to see and get pictures of him. Maybe even short videos these days. Of course, Orca’s life isn’t all surfing, tourists pleasing, and lifeguarding. Hawaii may be pretty quiet on the supervillain front, but quiet is not the same as silent. So he’s had his share of punch ups. Especially after getting drafted to Fletcher’s side in the Icons Civil War. But that’s over now. He actually missed the Eternity War, being all the way in Hawaii. This was important, because he wasn’t Dusted and the people who weren’t needed him more than ever. He did, however, make the Endgame, and did his part. These days he’s more or less the liaison to the Seawings Adventurer Guild, as their member Kaikoa lives on he islands. The two have each other’s backs when the fecal matter hits the oscillating device. It’s pretty cool, all things considered. Meanwhile, who or whatever is responsible for his current condition is still out there with unknown intentions. Powers & Tactics: Orca is obviously a mutant. Well, probably. There’s the off chance he’s an amnesiac demigod or something, but that’s a frightening prospect. Because it would mean there’s something in the Pacific Ocean that isn’t afraid of pissing off one of the various Polynesian pantheons, who tend to respond to significant slights with tsunamis, earthquakes, and erupting volcanoes. So, mutant. Roughly equally human and orca (hence his name) in equal proportion. He’s very big, very strong, swims faster than any mundane watercraft, and has a few little side bonuses. Like no fear of the pressure or cold of the depths. He has a full sonar sense, like all whales do, and can see without light, which most whales can’t. He is a mammal, and thus needs to breath, but he can hold his breath for a looooong time compared with humans. Easily three minutes, and over six with a deep breath. He’s not damage proof in any way, just tougher than any human could possibly be without heavy armor. He’s a hell of a swimmer, too, and that aforementioned strength tops out in the triple digit tons. With Tex Austin out of commission, he’s actually the physically strongest active member of the Icons, even beating out Starguy. Tactically, Orca isn’t any kind of master combatant. Most likely he’s running up and applying fist to face. He does have Acrobatic Bluff and Improved Trick, but his bonuses aren’t super impressive. He can Power Attack, too, but that’s only going to happen against tougher enemies. He does cut strength ranks to avoid inflicting lethal damage, while using the +2 version of Accurate Attack. But basically he’s an uncomplicated brawler who’s more dangerous in the water due to his Enviromental Adaptation and Swimming ranks. He wouldn’t know a power stunt if it bit him on the backside. Personality: Orca is the chillest dude imaginable. Like the lovechild of Owen Wilson and Matthew McConaughey as a surfer dude and professional grade beach bum. He’s a surfer who knows all the lingo, and a skilled biologist and oceanographer. He has a deep and abiding love for the ocean, and intentionally harming it is a good way to get on his bad side. He doesn’t own any shirts. Kids adore him, especially little girls. People just feel safe around him, despite him being a giant whale-man with very sharp teeth in his enormous mouth. He gets along with everyone he meets without any apparent effort. That’s just how he is.