Player Name: Smitty
Character Name: Crowdsource
Power Level: 10 (150/150PP)
Trade-Offs: None
Unspent Power Points: 0
Progress To Bronze Status: 0/30
In Brief: Duplicate-creating scientist with a love of superheroism.
Alternate Identity: Theresa Cruwes
Identity: Secret
Birthplace: Cairns, Australia
Occupation: Archetech Researcher
Affiliations: Australian Super-Hero Network, Archetech (Civilian level)
Family: Pauline Cruwes (Mother, 68), An Liang (Father, 50), Roy Cruwes (Brother by adoption, 16)
Description:
Age: 24 (DoB: 4/21/1991)
Apparent Age: 24
Gender: Female
Ethnicity: Caucasian, Half-Chinese
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 133
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Brown
Theresa Cruwes is a willowy, angular woman with somewhat sharp features in spite of her cheerful demeanor. Although her defined jaw, sharp nose and angled eyebrows give the impression of a serious person when she's at rest, that illusion is usually shattered once Theresa begins talking - she waves her hands about, speaks a little more loudly than is typically appropriate, and has little very respect for personal space when it comes to people she's friendly with. She keeps her walnut hair trimmed slightly longer than her jaw, and it falls naturally straight.
Although she is Half-Chinese, Theresa doesn't show much of her Asiatic heritage: Her skin is fair, though her complexion isn't the smoothest. Despite her desk job, her hands - and knuckles - reflect regular, hard use in her non-desk job and regular training. She is thin, but athletic and well-toned, and although she tends to move in a frenetic and irregular way, it is in no way lacking in the confidence that a proud professional should have.
In her daily life, Theresa prefers to look like the professional she's spent her life being - pencil skirts, tasteful makeup, and while she's at work, usually some sort of lab coat whenever it is possible for her to justify wearing one. Even off the clock, she tends to carry a laptop over one shoulder, and dress in the manner of a woman who is closer to 34 rather than a decade younger: researchers in her field tend to have a reputation, and dressing in a very mature fashion tends to mitigate some of the effects of that perception, even if her personality does not.
When in tights, however, Crowdsource doesn't waste a single breath on professional. Her costume is bright orange and teal, an asynchronous and unsymmetrical mess of confusion. With one leg bared to mid-thigh, a single black bracer/glove, she looks more than a little scattered. From her neck up, all that shows is the area around her mouth - a teal mask wraps around her jaw and chin, over her cheeks, and nose. An orange band over the eyes and the bridge of her nose gives the impression of a domino mask, as a slight homage to the classics. A portion of body armor guards her upper torso and shoulders, flaring out at the shoulders in a manner reminiscint of early sci-fi. The border of this guard is detailed black, along with a black pad around her neck that helps protect against shock if need be. Under her breasts, where the armor ends, is a three-pronged teal symbol that draws attention to her abdomen and wraps around her back - the symbol means nothing, she simply thought it looked neat in a sketch and incorporated it into her costume.
Power Descriptions:
Crowdsource's powers are simple - she can change her appearance, but most importantly, she can create duplicates of herself. When doing either, her exposed skin and clothing tends to take on an appearance not unlike mercury; smooth, semi-reflective, and metallic, before either re-configuring into something new, or splitting apart into a second being. Once she separates from a clone, both take on their normal appearance very quickly.
Crowdsource is capable of using her ability to generate clones to travel quickly, by terminating the process halfway through, and beginning it in the same moment - snapping the portion that comprises her 'true self' forward as it repeatedly attempts to create duplicates. When she does this, her pseudo-liquid form remains metallic and gradually grows more elliptical, flowing quickly through the air as it picks up speed - though she is incapable of flying this way. At all times, Crowdsource must remain close to the ground, or if travelling up a building, close to the wall.
When working with her clone-selves, Crowdsource remains perfectly in-synch. Her attacks are simple punches, kicks and grabs, but delivered by a mob of persons perfectly in tune with each other. When using her abilities for more mundane tasks (like building something), it is rare for the Crowd to communicate besides idle chatter and inside jokes.
History:
Born to a busy, usually distant working mother in a near-rural portion of Australia, Theresa was very nearly raised by her television. She grew up watching stories of heroes in tights and capes saving the day - defeating evil, rescuing kids like her from danger, and setting an example for the world. She loved every second - between school and, eventually, her younger brother, what time Theresa had was spent watching these tales of Superheroism - Doctor Metropolis rebuilding Freedom city, the foundation of the Freedom League, and many others. She daydreamed of one day joining them, wrote stories about the hero she planned to become (That being the Blue Blaster, a girl with the power to shoot any kind of energy from her eyes) and failed terribly at being an artist. Theresa's mother did what she could to indulge her daughter's passion for superheroes with toys, games and movies, provided Theresa did well in school. Luckily, she'd always had a flair for the scholastic, and (although there wasn't much competition in her tiny high school) she graduated valedictorian and was accepted to a respectable college with a full scholarship.
It was in college, exposed to all the new media and ideas she could handle, that Theresa discovered the second great passion of her life - science. She devoured content whenever she could, filling her class schedule to the breaking point and, for a time, shelved her dreams of flying about and saving the day. Although she'd always been a social creature, Theresa had grown up relatively isolated; it wasn't until college that she realized what she'd been missing, and for the first time, had to make a choice between work and friends. As much as she loved what she was learning about, Theresa began opening up more and more to the people around her. Although she tore through a syllabus like a party at a buffet, she learned to budget her time and make room for friends. Barely.
Upon receiving her final degree - in Chemistry - Theresa decided she'd had enough of the collegiate life and made up her mind to return home and enter the workforce. It was on this trip home that she came across the scene of an accident in the road, far and away from help - an unmarked tanker truck had blown into the wrong lane and collided with a school bus, showering the area with dangerous chemicals and putting the family inside at risk. A childhood dream screamed for her immediate action, adult wisdom told her that doing so would be likely to get her killed. Before she'd made up her mind to help, Theresa was pulling on a raincoat and gloves, halfway to the bus.
Dangerous, unknown chemicals gushing down over the bus, Theresa began the arduous process of pulling the largely unconscious children from the wreckage, using her poncho'd body as a shield. The smell of diesel in the air and a smoking engine told Theresa she didn't have much time, and try as she might, she began to realize she wouldn't have the time or strength to pull each and every person free of the accident before an explosion occurred and leveled both truck and bus, or the saturation of the chemical mixture reached such a point that her already-lightheaded self passed out and certainly died. Much to her dread, Theresa began to reflexively do the math on how many she'd be able to save, how many she'd be able save safely, and which children had the best odds of survival. She was't enough to help all of them, and the relentlessly optimistic woman had hated nothing more in the entirety of her life.
Unbeknownst to Theresa, (though it might have been knownst to her if she'd been thinking rationally) a decade-old cheap emergency poncho is no real protection against a deluge of smoke and liquid harm. In her frantic attempt to pull unconscious bodies from the wreckage, Theresa had been more steeped in the experimental, classified chemical than any of them. Her skin began to take on a metallic sheen that Theresa could not see through her smoke-stung and watery eyes, her form more appearing to be a semiliquid mass in the vague configuration of a human than anything else. Where Theresa needed pause to choose between one life or the other, her form split and reformed itself as smoothly as water flowing from one glass to the next, until there were nearly five of her acting in tandem. Only when the school bus had been emptied did the Theresas pause to review their work, returning to human form - at which point, they all became aware of each other, and all but one popped out of existence. Half a heartbeat later, the conjoined wrecks exploded violently, resulting in a lengthy hospital stay for Theresa Cruwes.
While she recovered, the Australian Superhero Network got wind of what'd happened through standard outlets - the story of a single woman who'd managed to pull nearly forty kids free of a burning bus by herself. The story itself made national news, for a time, although exactly what the truck was carrying and who it belonged to was never discovered. Much to Theresa's relief, the curious eyes of international news was stolen away by some demonic mess in Freedom City, allowing her to retain (she hopes) her secret identity as she began training with the ASN - fulfilling a childhood dream, by becoming a superhero.
Once again, Theresa was incredibly busy - and perfectly fine with it. The support of the Australian Superhero Network gave her a secure environment to hone her developing skills, advice on how to balance her personal, professional, and heroic responsibilities, and the contacts to try and figure out exactly what'd been done to her - though in the latter case, she didn't exactly try too hard to find out. As best as she could tell, her body's composition was still fundamentally human, but on a base, chemical level, was becoming something synthetic and self-replicating. Her cellular structure was, in a vague way, free-flowing and self-replicating, allowing her to change her appearance at will or form entirely separate selves by re-arranging the molecules and air around her in the same way advanced nanomachines are theorized to one day be able to build more of themselves from whatever material they can find. Truth be told, that was exactly what was happening to her - nanomachines were gradually replacing her body at a cellular level, allowing her form to be fluid and giving her the capability to duplicate herself via rapid self-replication.
After nearly two years working with the ASN, her persona as Crowdsource reasonably well-defined, Theresa decided that the more of a reputation she gained in Australia, the easier it'd be for some ne'erdowell to link Crowdsource to that old news event. She sought someplace she'd be able to really spread her wings - both as Theresa Cruwes and Crowdsource - while still being able to find out more about the source of her powers. Archetech seemed the most logical next step, and with her qualifications, it wasn't hard for Theresa to get accepted to a job as a low-level research assistant in Freedom City. A friend in the ASN helped push her immigration paperwork through, and before long, Theresa arrived to begin her new life in Freedom City.
Personality & Motivation:
Crowdsource is optimistic, cheerful, and energetic to a fault - she rarely hesitates before plunging headlong into nearly anything in life, savoring any new experience she can get her hands on, any chance to prove herself, or any opportunity to make a new ally. A lifelong superfan of Superheroes, Crowdsource does her best to exemplify what she sees as the very best of the breed - doing good for good's own sake, protecting the weak with her life, and always coming to the aid of a friend in need.
Unsurprising for a one-woman platoon, Crowdsource takes unit cohesion in teamups very seriously. It isn't unlike her to butt into her comrade's business to make sure they're doing alright, invite herself into harm's way, or, at times, assume that everyone is operating on the same wavelength that she and her duplicates are. Cooperation comes second nature to her, which can sometimes give the (entirely correct) impression that she's planned out an entire encounter, said nothing, and simply assumed that her fellows had reached the same conclusions she had.
Although her energetic and at times devil-may-care attitude give one a fairly solid impression that Crowdsource is a moron, the fact remains that while she's certainly not a super-genius, she's brilliant in her own right and fastidious to a fault. She's a walking brainstorm, used to having the wiggle room to throw herself into encounters and trust to her wide breadth of knowledge to see her through in one piece.
Powers & Tactics:
At the core of her skillset, Crowdsource is a woman who can make more of herself - up to around twenty is as many as she's tried at once. With that many hands on deck, she has no problems punching, grappling, and kicking most enemies enough times that she can subdue them in a relatively harmless fashion. Generally, she prefers to direct her clones from near the back like a general - as they can be remade if they get splattered, but she is fairly confident that she cannot.
She's also fairly adept at using her duplicates in a more utilitarian fashion - assisting with mundane tasks, spreading messages or gathering information, acting as spies, or working together to lift heavy things. Crowdsource has recently been experimenting with having a clone observe her and her allies fighting while safely outside combat, where they're better able to look for weaknesses or give tactical advice. Complications:It's not you, it's my enemies.Theresa Cruwes moved to the near-literal other side of the Earth to avoid her small family being drawn into danger by her career choice. Knowing that her career as Crowdsource had drawn them into harm would be nearly more than she could bear, and so Theresa defends her secret identity with a fierce passion - entrusting nearly nobody with both halves of her life. That said, besides her secrecy, there is very little set in place to actually protect her family besides the already spread-thin and understaffed Australia Superhero Network, so Theresa's best hope of safeguarding her mother and brother lies in keeping her identity secret and trusting that nobody is going to consider it worth searching rural Australia in hopes of taking hostages to use (very effectively) against her. Theresa's mother is a retired stewardess who owns a horse ranch, and her brother is a homeschooled, laddish delinquent - neither have much ability to defend themselves against so much as an armed thief, let a lone a grudge-carrying supervillain.Me's a CrowdThough not in the obvious sense - while Crowdsource is quite obviously a superhero who creates more of herself, she's intentionally disregarded or failed the research the underlying cause as to why she's able to do these things once doused in mysterious chemical X, afraid that figuring out what's happening to her body and still-developing powers might result in an answer she's not going to like. Unbeknownst to her, the development of her powers has a simple and direct cause; her body is slowly being converted into a single, sentient swarm of nanomachines, which explains the metallic and semi-liquid appearance she takes while actively using her powers, as well as her enhanced durability and flexibility since the accident, and weakness to water. While this conversion will never rob her of her humanity in and of itself - united as the swarm will be in believing itself to be the singular being she's always been - it does have the serious potential to mess with her self-identity and sense of who she is once the transformation has progressed to a point where she cannot ignore it any longer. Targeting her status as a human being is a good way to poke a stick into a very sore, sensitive place for any enterprising badguy looking to momentarily paralyze the typically upbeat and optimistic woman and force an existential struggle on her. Regardless of how much of Crowdsource is human and how much is nanite, though, she will always be Theresa Cruwes - Crowdsource - and a hero.:Weaksauce WeaknessMuch of Crowdsouce's body, and the source of her powers, are due to the fact that she is being converted into nanomachines - nanomachines that find it incredibly difficult to work in, of all things, water. In the rain or otherwise soaked with water, attempting to use her powers is incredibly painful and makes her prone to all sorts of odd, weird little glitches. Typically speaking, she'd prefer to withdraw and dry out rather than continue fighting under such circumstances. Not using her power while wet typically won't harm her, but lengthy amounts of time soaked tends to result in a slightly dizzy, disoriented state not unlike being drunk even when not using her powers. Although her semi-liquid form is able to travel slightly over water, if she were suddenly brought to a stop, she'd surely fall in and be all but unable to do so again.:Leader WannabeCrowdsource is very much a superhero fangirl, and grew up fantasizing about the day she'd become a hero, herself, and take her place among the pantheon of Earth's Mightiest - with herself as the star of the show, of course. Deep down, a part of her thinks that it's her destiny to lead, in spite of her relative inability to effectively manage other people and complete inexperience. In a subordinate role, she's not unlikely to snark whoever is in command, well-intentionedly undermine them, and generally make a nusiance of herself - being able to command 20ish highly trained crimefighters any time you want tends to make a person assume they're eminently qualified to command. Despite being brilliant in her own right, Crowdsource's impulsive and laissez faire attitude make her a poor leader.Tell me about my FatherTheresa has never met and knows next to nothing about her father, An Liang, who as far as she knows lives 'somewhere in China'. Unbeknownst to her, he's not the nicest guy - involved in a number of criminal enterprises - and exposure of their relationship would cast a serious negative light on Crowdsource as well as her family. Although An Liang is aware that his fling with an older woman about two and a half decades ago resulted in a child, he's never bothered to find out anything about that child - but that would change if he discovered she was a super-powered scientist he'd be able to potentially exploit. Theresa desperately wishes she knew her father, learned Chinese for the express purpose of one day meeting him, and would eagerly chase any information regarding him and any half-siblings she might have... though it's doubtful she'd like what she found out. ((Note: I've intentionally left what An Liang does for a living, as well as any potential half-siblings Theresa might have, intentionally nebulous in case some enterprising threadmaster wishes to come up with an interesting plot using them or something.)) Abilities: 0 + 4 + 2 + 8 + 4 + 4 = 22PP Strength: 26 [10] (+8) [+0} Dexterity: 24 [14] (+7) [+2] Constitution: 26 [12] (+8) [1] Intelligence: 18 (+4) Wisdom: 14 (+2) Charisma: 14 (+2) Combat: 12 + 12 = 24PP Initiative: +7 [+2] Attack: +6 (+12 Unarmed) Melee, +6 (12 Unarmed) Ranged,+6 Defense: +12 (+6 Base, +6 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed Knockback: -5 [-4] Saving Throws: 0 + 1 + 6 = 7PP Toughness: +8 (+8 Con, +0 [Other]) Fortitude: +8 (+8 Con, +0) Reflex: +8 (+7 Dex, +1) Will: +8 (+2 Wis, +6) Skills: 72R = 18PP Acrobatics 8 (+15) Climb 2 (+10) Computers 11 (+15) Skill focus Craft: Electronics: 12 (+16) Skill Focus Disguise 0 (+2/+7 w/Morph) Drive 4 (+11) Intimidate 1 (+1) Knowledge: Physical Sciences 12 (+16) Skill Focus Knowledge: Current Events 4 (+8) Languages 1 (Mandarin, English [Native]) Notice 8 (+10) Sense Motive 8 (+10) Skill Focus Survival 1 (+3) Feats: 17PP Acrobatic Bluff Attack specialization: unarmed 3 Dodge Focus 6 Evasion Master Plan Move-By Action Power Attack Skill Mastery Takedown Attack Teamwork: 1 Powers: 20 + 2 + 10 + 14 + 16 = 62PP Duplication Array 8 (16 pp, PFs: Alternate Powers 4) [20 pp] BP: Damage 0 (Extras: Area [Targeted, Shapeable], Selective) {16/16} AP: Damage 0 (Extras: Autofire, Secondary Effect) {16/16} AP: Communication 3 (1000 ft) (auditory) [3] and ESP 3 (1000 ft) (all senses) (PF: Rapid [x10]) [13] {16/16} AP: Quickness 10 (x2500) [10] and Speed 4 (100 MPH/1000 ft per move) (PFs: Wall Run, Water Run) [6] {16/16} AP: Super-Strength 4 (Effective STR 46, Heavy Load: ~6 tons) {8/16} Morph 1 (humanoids) (+5 Disguise) [2pp] Enhanced DEX 10 (to Dex 24/+7) [10 pp] Enhanced CON 14 (to Con 26/+8) [14 pp] Enhanced STR 16 (to STR 26/+8) [16 pp] DC Block Attack Range Save Effect ================================================================= Unarmed Melee DC 23 Tough [Staged] Damage [Physical] Totals: Abilities (22) + Combat (24) + Saving Throws (7) + Skills (18) + Feats (17) + Powers (62) - Drawbacks (0) = 150/150 Power Points
