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Zeitgeist Blue

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  1. Salvo relaxed her aim on the robots as Replica explained concisely. It was a breath of fresh air talking with someone who got to the important points pronto and Salvo smiled within her interface. Now their communication was getting somewhere.

     

    "Good to know," she said and extended both her arms forward. "Then I'll take care of Stormwarden."

     

    She flew closer to woman in robes at an easy pace, trying to look non-threatening but with her armor she doubted it worked very well. They were the only ones in the air though, and maybe the only ones who could get up and fly, so if it came down to it then it would just be the two of them. Salvo kept Stormwarden on her sights, and then she was right in front of her.

     

    "If you'll come with me."

     

    She shot an armored gauntlet forward and grabbed Stormwarden.

  2. Salvo turned her jets to the ground and flew up. She called herself the Warden of the Storm and from the big, fancy title Nicole could guess she had an ego that didn't fit the warehouse. Nicole hadn't even heard of her, much less care what name the woman bestowed on herself. So when the teenage hero reached Stormwarden's level she decided to cut to the chase.

     

    "Right. I'm giving you one last chance to surrender."

     

    Below her, Nicole noted the robots moving into combat sequences. They were a threat to watch out for and she lowered an arm to point at them as her other remained steadily pointed at Stormwarden. Some help would be appreciated if this was to break out in a fight. Her search heuristics booted up and began to locate Replica and Nicole sent a terse message to go with the search. It'd repeat her message on Replica's radio receiver if she had one or once she got close enough to something that could.

     

    "Located Stormwarden in the main holding area. Need help with her robots."

  3. Nicole emerged from the garage looking a little harried though she had attempted to clean up for the party. She had a clean dress on and her hair was combed, but her pupils were dilated from caffeine and she moved erratically as if distracted. Her fingers twitched as if something was missing but they had not yet registered the loss. She yawned and rolled herself to the washroom, noting the things which caught her interests. Even in the beach portion of the estate, the rooms were filled with reminders of the wealth of the owner.

     

    Paintings, books, electronics and gadgets. There was a painting by a Geraldine Newman and Nicole could imagine and appreciate how much effort it took to fill the life-sized canvas.

     

    From all the voices she could hear to her left, more people were coming and mingling. It wasn't her greatest idea of the best night out but she'd made do with parties before and it she needed the distraction. She peeked through the open doorway and frowned slightly at the scene. She could match the faces with the names but that was different than engaging them in conversation all at once.

     

    She went inside anyway and moved to get some coffee. Her hand grasped reflexively and found air instead of her phone. It's absence was annoying and she sighed in resignation. At least she still had coffee and Corinne's song was something good. If anything, Nicole could always trust her playlist.

  4. Her eyes flew open and she shivered even through the radiant heat of merged steel and flesh.

     

    Father was gone, try as hard as she did to find him. She would have found him where he within the constraints of her consciousness or her armor's programs, but there was little of his trace. As much as his presence annoyed her, his persistent absence was more unnerving. It meant something was wrong. Something powerful enough to worm into Bellicose and subvert its core, Her mind's inner sanctum. Compromised.

     

    But she could find no evidence of it, knowing but really not, and that unnerved her most of all.

     

    She watched Replica sneak into the warehouse. Her antennae port twitched involuntarily and she took a step forward, ignoring the two detectives behind her. She scanned the warehouse in its entirety and visual simulations fired up around her interface, multiple ways of entry. Each requiring different vector solutions and thrusts and achieving multiple results based on factors controlled and environmental.

     

    She chose the one that would maximize her entrance.

     

    Her thrusters fired up, and she revved the flames for a second. Then with a flick of her wrist, she catapulted forward, streaking low. She skidded once, twice on the asphalt then she crashed through the main doors in an explosion of dust and steel cracking.

     

    She thrust her autocannons out.

  5. Reconfigured by the Absurdist.

     

    Salvo

     

    Going to round off her skills and enhanced saves. IC-wise, it's all about reading books and tinkering with the suit.

     

    Skills (+2PP):

    • Removed Craft (Artistic) so now she really needs to use electronics to do magic rituals and etc. Distributed the 5 points elsewhere
    • Knowledge (Arcane Lore) +1
    • Knowledge (History) 3
    • Knowledge (Technology) +1
    • Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) 3
    • Notice 3
    • Search 2

    Device (+4PP):

    • Enhanced Saves (Fortitude +2, Reflex +2, Will +1)
    Spoiler

    SalvoSuperhero.png.7ec21b89d5f64cadede52b24e5373ca9.png

     

    Player Name: Zeitgeist Blue


    Character Name: Salvo
    Power Level: 10 (150/156PP)
    Trade-Offs: -5 Attack / +5 Damage, -5 Defense / +5 Toughness
    Unspent Power Points: 0


    In Brief: Last member of a fallen house who refuses her family's legacy and seeks to make amends. 

     

    Residence: Apartment at Riverside, Downtown Freedom City/Dorm at Claremont Academy
    Base of Operations: Claremont Academy
    Catchphrase: "Locked on... And firing."

     

    Alternate Identity: Nicole Whitfield-Hall
    Identity: Secret
    Birthplace: CA, USA
    Occupation: Student
    Affiliations: Claremont Academy, Whitfields, Halls
    Family: Arthur Whitfield (Father), Amelie Hall (Mother), James Whitfield-Hall (Brother), Lauren Whitfield-Hall (Sister), Gregory Whitfield-Hall (Brother), Belle Whitfield-Hall (Sister)

     

    Description:
    Age: 17 (August 13, 2000)Spiderman.jpg.26dc057ba6d18774e71a930db652473b.jpg.7c1e1fbfa1b8c738687622b4600cbcba.jpg
    Gender: Female
    Ethnicity: Mixed (African-Canadian, Caucasian) 
    Height: 5'8" (without armor); 6'1" (with armor)
    Weight: 125 lbs
    Eyes: Brown
    Hair: Black

     

    Power Descriptions:

    While Nicole is innately attuned to magical energies, it is her battle armor, Bellios, which allows her to focus those energies into the powers she uses as a superhero. Once an old and storied magical heirloom, her work on the armor has made it something more, creating within its essence a platform that applies both centuries of tradition and cutting-edge methodologies integrated in a dialectic unity. Bellios usually manifests her powers in set systems with a technological bent, as befitting her leanings.

     

    Yet it is a thing as much of magic as the material world. Intersecting rune arrays tun electrical currents through chiseled patterns in the armor plates. Targeting spirits line up her Gatling guns and missile batteries as a handcrafted dimension, metaphysically tuned and coupled to Bellios, feeds alchemically-imbued ammunition to sate its voracious appetite for firepower.

     

    History:

    Seek Knowledge. Wield Power.

     

    Those were the words Nicole lived by most of her life. It was the words the Whitfield family has lived by and died for for hundreds of years, since the first Whitfields arrived in the Americas to gamble their fortune as plantation owners, since even before then as they lived like nobles in the Old World. These words were writ in gold-plated letters above every door and fireplace in the Whitfield grounds, so that each member of the family may remember the reason for their existence. The Whitfields were many and spread across the world, as befitting a venerable and wealthy family, but those Whitfields who called California their home were those who could trace their ancestry straight and true. The purest and oldest. The heirs of a legacy that was yet to come.

     

    It was this life and lineage, which Nicole was birthed to, third eldest among five siblings. As a younger sibling, she was not expected to inherit much and neither was much expected from her. She was left to her own devices, made busy with everything old money could buy. Servants in livery, the most expensive toys and gadgets, the richest food served in multiple course meals, yet she felt little, if any, parental love as a young child. She wandered the halls of the mansion alone, a small child who barely reached the waist of any adult, under the paintings of her ancestors, their eyes watchful and austere in the low light. Her parents were much too busy to take time off for her, always managing their holdings and grooming James, her eldest sibling when they were not travelling or locked inside their individual studies.

     

    Lauren, her older sister was sent to study in boarding school before Nicole could remember, and at the times the two met, they were even more distant to each other than she and James.  Perhaps then, this would have been a sad life, a childhood with little friends and love, but her personal caretaker took a liking for the young Whitfield, and it was from there that Nicole had experienced a semblance of warmth from another. Elizabeth Leon, her caretaker, took her under her wing, and began to go above and beyond the duties of a servant of Whitfield in attending to her charge’s needs. She was there whenever Nicole needed her - as her only playmate in games of tea or house, or as a shoulder to cry on when either Father or Mother scolded her childish antics.

     

    It was the first time someone truly saw Nicole as more than just a valuable asset to the family. Elizabeth listened to her, and she in turn listened. She learned of her caretaker's family, of Elizabeth's three daughters, the youngest who was her age, and of her husband who was struggling with depression. Elizabeth's bedtime stories were not fairy tales, or fanciful adventure stories. They were of the ordinary, the mundane somehow made wonderful, for it was another world for Nicole.

     

    Years passed and Nicole would grow to adolescence, soon sharing the mansion with two younger siblings, Gregory and Belle, yet like her older siblings spent less and less time with them as she grew older and was sent to an English boarding school. It was also during this time that she drew her parents’ interest. She was a genius among a family which prided itself on producing geniuses, and her intelligence was obvious for anyone with eyes to see. She soaked up information like a sponge and understood lectures meant for students a decade her senior, the many lonely hours she spent pouring over her family library now had paid off, and she had not stopped. Time and time again a servant or janitor would spy the library doors ajar, faint lights open in hours that ghosts roamed awake. They were how she spent her idle time when not with Elizabeth or playing with Gregory and Belle, and neither did she feel a recluse in boarding school, not as much as she did within the Whitfield grounds.

     

    There she had other girls to gossip with, cute boys to sneak glances to, teachers to mock behind their backs. She just tended to develop a fixation for a problem she couldn't solve, or a theory that had caught her interest, and either would occupy the back of her mind, maddening and lingering, until she'd spend hours or days searching and solving, and trying and asking, until she could confidently say she knew all there was worth knowing about that topic. Only then could she dismiss those thoughts that gripped her. It was there that she came to love the wonders of the modern world, how intricate and detailed and interconnected everything was, if only people could see it. Physics led to engineering led to technology led to mathematics led to-- ad infinitum.

     

    She was fifteen when she was summoned to the Whitfield mansion. She remembers, like all things, it was the middle of autumn and school was in full swing, yet she received a phone call. She was to drop all that she was doing and arrive at a earliest date, and she acqueised. A private jet was already waiting for her the same day she had received the call and she flew half the world to California. She was not the only one to be called. Her older brother and sister had already arrived, as had a dozen of her blood relations. The next few days saw a few dozen more arrive - cousins, and Aunts and Uncles - if she was to be technical. Almost every Whitfield of any worth gathered for the first time within a 20-acre estate.

     

    It was unprecedented, and a little daunting for Nicole, even as Elizabeth and Belle greeted her home. Gregory had stayed in his boarding school in France. 

     

    All of the Whitfields gathered within a vast chamber buried in the underground vaults of the mansion, and all the servants and retinues barred from entry. They were in the center of the estate, ley lines tracing energies where beats its magical heart, and patterns upon patterns of arcane sigils and stones dotted the walls, lights tracing paths safe to tread, the family's scrolls and tomes arranged orderly rows. Clearly, this ritual had anticipated for some time, and prepared for with a meticulous patience Nicole knew her parents possessed in abundance.

     

    She read what she knew, for she was not yet a full-blooded mage, could make only guesswork as to the reasons for trappings older than her grandparents, but what she saw indicated a technique that would converge every type of magic and energy present into the one point of chamber. A melding of sorts made larger than life for all those attending now as while they were all of the name Whitfield, and all knew the alchemical arts that so defined the family, decades and centuries had diversified their skills to the point of a sensory jumble. Like crossing a street in Los Angeles and picking out people of different ethnicities. Too many that it gets confusing, yet still holding many underlying characteristics in common.

     

    They began. The lights were shut off, a candle in the center of the congregation. Nicole could just make out her father, mother, then James and Lauren standing at intervals apart. Young Belle then, was not to be a part of their destiny. First, there was chanting, occult languages in different tongues reverberating through the walls and melding into one sonorous note. She does not know how long they had stayed there. She does not remember, she would admit uneasily, what had transpired in the darkness, amid hooded figures, and whispering fell things. The candle had guttered into a cold flicker, and a cackling, wet and heavy and inside.

     

    Her arms burned, and her throat cracked with smoke. She hurt all over but her legs, and when she awoke, barely aware, the chamber was on fire and Elizabeth was carrying Nicole in her arms, a bag stuffed with scrolls strapped on her shoulders. They ran from the chamber, out the basement and the mansion as everything burned. Nicole watched the mansion crumble in flames. Her legs refuse and Elizabeth carried her to the waiting paramedics, and she decided she was dreaming.

     

    The authorities would say it was a stray spark that started the fire. An unfortunate series of events led to this tragedy, the official statement would read, leading to 43 deaths, mostly from suffocation and localized within the chamber, except for one teenager that was rescued by a heroic maid. They applauded Elizabeth and shifted through the rubble, looking for survivors. They did not find Belle.

     

    Gregory would go missing shortly thereafter.

     

    She worried about Gregory and went into mourning, for Belle most of all. She was released from the hospital, a certified paraplegic, to Elizabeth and her family in the meantime, who were her legal guardians now. She saved what she could from the remains of her family's capital. The vultures had picked at everything long before she left the hospital. Through means legal and not so legal,  her family's once vast fortune had dwindled, taken by rivals, and those seeking revenge or restitution. And perhaps it was for the best.

     

    She had canceled her boarding school. There was an itch her brain could not scratch, and a hunch told her she would find her answers by staying. She soon discovered a side of her family that sickened her. They were corrupt, and perhaps that was not a revelation with how rich they were, but in their dealings lives were lost and ruined with the act of a single handshake, and people killed from one spoken word of her parents. She dug into the books, into the diaries and records saved from the fire. She talked to the lawyers and phoned business partners overseas. The Californian Whitfields had its hand in every pie in the city, state, and a significant number in the country and beyond.

     

    Oil spill cover ups, land siezures from the poor, money laundering, arms trafficking, financing the local Mafia, and shaking hands with Mexican cartels. The Whitfields were far worse among the magical community, yet just as insidious, where an overarching authority non-existent. It was a headache to have it all revealed and heaped upon her in a short time, and she cut every connection she could and gave all she could to the authorities. As the only Whitfield left, she had that right, even if many of her family's erstwhile partners did not see it her way. She walked -- rolled rather -- the streets now, instead of the halls of a mansion or an elite boarding school in a far-off country. They were concrete and now, and she couldn't ignore what was in front of her, even as her magic began to die a slow death for no discernible reason.

     

    Seek Knowledge. Wield Power.

     

    Her family had its reasons for everything they've done, excuses more like. But it was something to say to let them sleep at night, and she couldn't say they were deluded. Not when those reasons almost felt right, like this was just the natural state of the world. The strong prey on the weak. Predators eat. Prey flee. Humans fought wars and died and gave birth. And Whitfields learned and gathered.

     

    She woke up one night as she felt eyes watching her. Bellios stood at the foot of her bed, unscathed. Her powers were all but dead by then, and when she had attempted to wear the armor, the recurring psychic backlash left her sick and vomiting food for a week.

     

    By the coaxing of Elizabeth, she decided to fly to Freedom City and resume her schooling. She was frustrated and without hope, disgusted by her family's activities - a useless feeling, lugging an armor that did nothing but make her ill. Still, perhaps she could find a solution in the city of heroes and start anew, far away from the death of her family and the toxic they left. So she transferred half the money she had inherited with Elizabeth and her family, as much as it was a pittance compared to what her family once held, it was a large sum for them and it felt like the right thing to do to thank them for everything.

     

    She flew out the next day.

     

    She was eligible for Claremont, if just barely, and wasn't that cute.

     

    For two years she was the most useless student to grace its halls. Stuck in a wheelchair and magic that fizzled pathetically, if she could even get it to work, she would have been kicked out if it weren't for her intelligence and ability to create tech and mystical devices. She brought with her the family scrolls, even if she could recall their contents easily enough, and could call on mystical energies that did not originate from within. Magic rituals and petty concoctions, she knew how to make them. Electronic riff-raff that would not have been out of place in a gadgeteer's arsenal.

     

    All the while the familiar presence lay heavy upon her mind. It was the strongest pull she had ever, and it was directed in its entriety to Bellios. She let herself fall into that obsession, working for a year upon that construct of ancient arcana. She learned so much more than she would within the confines of a classroom, or the laughable practicums the teachers would give to her. She dreamed of bolts and runes, and incantations and coding. And when she was not buried within Bellios, within the confines of her work, she was formulating ways to improve it, to create more energy, more power, because it hungered.

     

    For two years, barely anyone outside her scheduled classes saw her. During class, her presence was almost non-existent, her output just enough to pass.

     

    But just before the end of the school year she rose from her fugue, as if she had fallen asleep or into a coma and had only woke up, though she remembered everything as clear as day. Groggy, head aching, her insides feeling like jelly, she looked up to take in her work.

     

    And it was beautiful.

     

    Personality & Motivations

    Nicole is, if anything, inclined to extremes. When something deemed important should done, then it should be done to the fullest of one's abilities or not at all. She is analytical, perhaps a bit too cerebral at times, but mostly means well, especially regarding the well-being of those she meets. She tries to be friendly, taking the time to engage in small talk and get to know people before making judgments about them. In a similar manner, she prefers to have all the facts before committing on a plan of action. This does mean she is prone to taking too much time when presented with an abundance of information, perhaps even contradictory reports, until someone pushes her to act.

     

    Perhaps as a way to atone for her family's wrongdoing, she has chosen to bear the mantle of a superhero, opposing those her parents would have gladly drink wine with. They were failures, she'd be quick to admit, but she won't be like them. And like everything worth doing, she has taken no half-measures.

     

    Powers & Tactics:

    Though not trained or experienced in fighting, Nicole's common sense lets her understand to fight where she is strong and her foes are not. She prefers to keep her distance, flying and invisible as she overwhelms her opponents through judicious use of firepower. When hemmed in or grounded, she will attempt to cut her way free from the fighting, blasting her way out.  Her arsenal also heightens her senses, encompassing machines and magic, which she can use to observe her opponents and perform reconnaissance undetected until she wishes to reveal her presence, usually through an opening salvo.

     

    Complications:
    A Parallel Path: Aside from her studies in Claremont Academy, the looming graduation and all that entails, and her nighttime superheroing as Salvo, Nicole still needs to find time as an intern in Archetech, providing quality yet affordable technology and energy to the less affluent locals of Freedom City. It's given her another purpose to work towards, and she takes this as a personal task, small a help as it is. She's met several people because of this, both from Archetech and Freedom City, but it does mean she's starting to see that part of the city as her turf, in addition to the magical hotspots. Sense of responsibility included. She will go out of her way for these people and places, more so than usual, even if she will not admit so. (Responsibility)

     

    Collateral Damage: Like it says on the tin: collateral damage. Turns out, holding the trigger of two fusion autocannons spinning at 3,000 rounds per minute each and firing super-heated metals in the city, or anywhere with infrastructure, isn't the smartest idea. Who knew? Nicole does, intellectually, but in the heat of battle there isn't time to think; only the surge of adrenaline and energy blasts flying. It's unfortunate, but damage does happen, especially when she pushes the suit to its full potential. Needless to say, there are consequences when this happens, even if she wins the fight. (Accident).

     

    Father Dearest: Her father isn't the nicest of people and just when Nicole had thought she had gotten rid of him, his ghost, or at least a very convincing simulacrum of it, has inhabited Bellios as its machine spirit. She has tried to get rid of it, but he unfortunately seems to be staying as an unwanted but essential component. Thankfully, he does seem more agreeable, seeing as she is his only heir. And while he wishes to see her alive and well, he cares not one whit for anyone not a Whitfield. This has sometimes resulted in a struggle between parent and child when their objectives conflict with each other, usually pitting risk anfthe acquisition of artifacts against her responsibility as a superhero (one other thing he cares little about). But his long term goals, if he even has one, are still a mystery.

     

    Of course, in a contest between man and spirit, more often than not, it is not often clear who will win.

     

    It Hungers for War: Bellios is first and foremost a machine of war. Its pistons hum in anticipation of battle, and the monistic links blur the line between wearer and suit. When Nicole rages, it responds with greater power. When Bellios rages, she responds by pushing it to its limits. Additionally, it is very susceptible to the appearance of the Fae. A whiff of emission from those foul beings causes in it a single-minded bloodlust. Luckily, these episodes have been rare, but less extreme emotions do sometimes bleed off, turning the well-thought out into just plain compulsive.

     

    Man and Machine: When Nicole enters Bellios she becomes more than human, and more than just an amalgam of steel and flesh. They become one, in all definitions of the word. The world outside sees one being and acts accordingly; any power that would have effected either her, as a mere human sorcerer, or the techno-magics enmeshed into Bellios would affect the whole that Salvo has become. To be able to process this, Nicole's mind translates the changes into a reality she could comprehend, creating a HUD and "eyes" to see from her helmet. Anything that would blind her, or interfer with the magic and electronics in the armor, would scramble that visual interface and all essential information arrayed within it .

     

    Something in the Dark: Many small things go Nicole's way at just the right time, and just the right way, to make her life easier. In much the same way, she finds herself in situations that would seem contrived in any book or movie, yet leading to additional difficulties she must overcome. While these minor coincidences are merely irritating or helpful during her everyday, they are more disastrous during a serious superhero mission. There is a crawling, nagging feeling of being watched whenever they happen, though even her armor's sensors can find no trace, magical or otherwise, to confirm her suspicions.

     

    The Gift of Blood: Family legend traces their line stretches back to the age of Christian Rome, during the first centuries of the first millennium. During that time, the pope decreed the library destroyed. Unable to bear such wanton waste of knowledge, her ancestor had made a pact with an agent of a powerful being from another world. He would be given the ability to save the contents of the library, but he and his offspring must bear a price (or a blessing as the official version states), and a destiny to be fulfilled long after his death. Whatever the truth is, Nicole and those of her blood possess, without fail, a compulsion.

     

    Knowledge, especially forbidden knowledge, is the sweetest water, and she occasionally finds herself using her powers to fulfill her family's quest. While non of her episodes have reached the two years working on Bellios, many smaller episodes are still smaller occurences, particularly during her heightened magical state while using her armor. Nicole's obsession has her pursue information above all else, usually by absent-mindedly hacking into databases when she is in the suit, though there are many other ways she may go about this. These seem like good ideas at the time, but done at the wrong time, and with the wrong systems, and a slip-up may land her in serious trouble. (Obsession)

     

    The Sins of Family: Ever since finding out about her family's unsavory secrets, Nicole has endeavored to do good where they would do wrong. Still, there are those who see her as nothing more than the last Whitfield or a foolish girl. Most see her as no better than those bearing the same name. Yet some would go out of their way to rid her for revenge or opportunity. While there are enough in the mundane world, it is the magical community who has suffered the most from her family's excesses. As few and isolated as they are, they have long memories. And many ways to trace magic signatures.

     

    Whitfields and Halls, they say, are particularly distinct. (Enemy and Reputation)

     

    This Magic of Mine: Her magic isn't so hot when outside Bellios, understatement of the year, but her armor does act as a focus for her magic, heightening it into a weapon of mass destruction. While most of her inner energy transfers seamlessly into its various systems, a leak is unavoidable sometimes, and a once controllable yet feeble magic turns uncontrollable and potent; a combination that's often bad news. Though she may choose to hold it inside for a time, risking her magic's side-effects, she must eventually discharge the surge of power. A badly-timed spike, or an unwanted manifestation of that magic, could turn the tables very quickly. Not always for the better.

     

    Abilities: 0 - 2 + 0 + 14 + 0 + 0 = 12PP

    Strength: 18/10 (+4/0)
    Dexterity: 8 (-1)
    Constitution: 20/10 (+5/0)
    Intelligence: 24 (+7)
    Wisdom: 10 (+0)
    Charisma: 10 (+0)

    Combat: 6 + 5 = 11PP
    Initiative: -1
    Attack: +3 Base, +3 Melee, +3 Ranged, +5 Weapons Suite Array [+9 Containment Foam, +10 Missile Batteries]

    Grapple: +18/4/0
    Defense: +5/3 (+3/2 Base, +2/1 Dodge Focus), +1 Flat-Footed
    Knockback: -7/0

    Saving Throws: 0 + 0 + 0 = 0PP
    Toughness: +15/0 (+5/0 Con, +10 Protection)
    Fortitude: +7/0 (+5/0 Con, +2/0)
    Reflex: +7/-1 (-1 Dex, +8/0)
    Will: +6/0 (+0 Wis, +6/0)

    Skills: 68R = 17PP
    Computers 10 (+17)

    Craft (Chemical) 5 (+12)
    Craft (Electronic) 8 (+15)
    Craft (Mechanical) 5 (+12)
    Disable Device 6 (+13)
    Knowledge (Arcane Lore) 8 (+15)

    Knowledge (History) 3 (+10)
    Knowledge (Physical Science) 5 (+12)
    Knowledge (Technology) 8 (+15)

    Knowledge (Theology and Philosophy) 3 (+10)

    Language 2 (English, French, Spanish)

    Notice 3 (+3)

    Search 2 (+9)


    Feats: 5PP
    Artificer

    Benefit (Wealth)
    Eidetic Memory
    Inventor

    Ritualist

     

    Powers: 113 + 1 = 114PP

     

    Device 28 (Battlesuit, Magical, Tech; 145DP; Extra Effort [Device]; Feats: Restricted [Beings with Magic]) [117PP]

    Descriptors: All (Hermetic) Magic and Technology combined. Magitech.

     

               Protocol Sy 7.6 (38PP Container) [38DP]

                           Enhanced Strength 8 [8DP]

                           Enhanced Constitution 10 [10DP]

                           Enhanced Combat 1 (Defence 1) [2DP]

                           Enhanced Saves 16 (Fortitude 2, Reflex 8, Will 6) [16DP]

                           Enhanced Feats 2 (Attack Specialization (Weapons Suite), Dodge Focus) [2DP]

     

               Communications 4 (Radio, 1 mile; Extras: Area; Flaws: Action [Move]; Feats: Selective, Subtle) [6DP]

     

               Hexagrammic Paneling 4.8 (24PP Container) [24DP]

                           Immunity 9 (Life Support) [9DP]

                           Protection 10 [10DP]

                           Living Metal 5 (Regeneration; Recovery Rate [Bruised (1 Round), Injured 4 (1 Round)]) [5DP]

     

               Sensory Suite Array 5.5 (13PP Array; Feats: Alternate Powers 2) [15PP]

                          BESuper-Senses 13 (Direction Sense [+1], Distance Sense [+1], Radio [+1], Radar [+3]; Radar [Enhancements:

                          Accurate (+0), Acute (+0), Analytical (+1), Counters Concealment (+2), Counters Obscure (+2), Extended 2 [1,000 ft] (+2),

                          Radius (+0), Ranged (+0)]) {13/13}

                          APSuper-Senses 13 (Mental [Magic] Awareness [+3]; Awareness [Enhancement: Accurate (+2), Acute (+1), Analytical (+1),

                          Counters Concealment (+2), Counters Obscure (+2), Extended [1,000 ft] (+2), Radius (+0), Ranged (+0)]) {13/13}

                          AP: Data Link 5 (Radio, 5 miles; Extras: Area, Linked [Enhanced Feats]; Flaws: Check Required [Computers]; Feats: Machine Control,

                          Online Research, Rapid 4 [x10,000], Selective, Subtle) {13/13}

     

               Servo-Dynamos 6.5 (13DP Array, Feats: Alternate Power 2, Dynamic 3) [18DP]

                          DBE: Flight 0-6 (500 mph / 5,000 per Move Action; Feats: Subtle) {0-13}

                          DAPSuper-Strength 0-6 (Effective Strength 16-46, Heavy Load ~200 lbs-~6 tons) {0-12}

                          DAP: Invisibility Matrix 0-1 (Invisibility; All Visual Senses; Feats: Close Range) {0-9}

     

               Weapons Suite Array 19.5 (39PP Array; Feats: Alternate Powers 5) [44DP]

                          BEKinetic Beam 10 (Blast; Extras: Linked [Dazzle], Range [Perception]; Flaws: Action [Full]; Feats: Knockback 8 [18 Total],

                          Variable [Energy/Tungsten]) {29} + Dazzle 10 (Visual; Extras: Linked [Blast], Range [Perception]; Flaws: Action [Full]) {10}

                          = {39/39}

                         AP: Containment Foam 11 (Snare; Extras: Regenerating; Feats: Accurate 2, Affects Insubstantial 2,

                         Improved Critical 2 [18-20]) {39/39}

                         AP: Flamethrowers 10 (Hellfire; Extras: Area [General, Cone], Vampiric; Flaws: Range [Touch]; Feats:

                         Affects Insubstantial 2, Dimensional 2 [Magical], Incurable, Split Attack 2, Variable Descriptor 2 [Electricity/Fire/Water]) {39/39}

                         AP: Fusion Autocannons 15 (Blast; Extras: Autofire; Flaws: Distracting; Feats: All-out Attack, Improved Critical 2 [18-20],

                         Precise Shot 2, Power Attack, Split Attack, Variable Descriptor 2 [Any Metal]) {39/39}

                         AP: Matter Manipulation 12 (Transmutation; Flaws: Duration [Concentration], Range [Touch];

                         Feats: Extended Range, Precise, Progression) {39/39}

                         AP: Missile Batteries 10 (Blast; Extras: Area [Targeted, Burst]Feats: Accurate 2, All-out Attack,

                         Attack Focus [Ranged], Homing, Improved Critical 2 [18-20], Indirect, Power Attack) {39/39}                    

                

    Magic 1 (2PP Array; Flaws: Unreliable) [1PP]

               Dazzle 1 (Visual + Auditory) [2PP]

     

    Drawbacks: -2 + -1 + -4  = -7PP

    Disability (Paraplegic) -2PP (Frequency: Uncommon; Intensity: Moderate)

    Nearsighted -1PP (Frequency: Uncommon; Intensity: Minor)

    Normal Identity -4PP (Frequency: Very Common; Intensity: Moderate)

     

    DC Block

    ATTACK                         RANGE         SAVE                                                 EFFECT
    Unarmed                       Touch            DC 19/15 Toughness                     Damage (Physical, Bludgeoning)
    Kinetic Beam                Perception   DC 25 Toughness (Penetrating)   Damage (Energy/Bludgeoning)

    Dazzle                            Perception   DC 20 Reflex/Fortitude                  Dazzle (Staged)

    Containment Foam      Ranged        DC 21 Reflex                                    Snare (Staged)

    Flamethrowers             Ranged         DC 25 Toughness                           Damage (Electricity/Fire/Water)

    Fusion Autocannons   Ranged         DC 30 Toughness (Autofire)         Damage (Physical)

    Matter Manipulation   Touch            DC 23 Fortitude                              Transmutation

    Missile Batteries          Ranged         DC 25 Toughness                           Damage (Missiles)

    Dazzle                            Perception   DC 11 Reflex/Fortitude                  Dazzle (Staged)

     

    Totals: Abilities (12) + Combat (11) + Saving Throws (0) + Skills (15) + Feats (5) + Powers (114) - Drawbacks (7) = 150/156 Power Points

     

    Totals: 145/145 Device Points

     

     

  6. This sounds like a fun thing I could do.

     

    I haven't yet used Nicole fully suited up in a combat thread yet, so it'd help me put it down to writing.

     

    Perhaps something involving magic or high tech? A combat thread without where I could let go of holding back (ie. Up the collateral damage to eleven). I wouldn't mind having another PC to thread, even waiting for another one.

  7. Lights flickered and motors whirred feebly back to life, systems sounding green and operational down her interface, and Nicole stirred awake.

     

    Her body ached and so did her mind expressed within the whiteness of her psyche. She remembered the walls tearing down from this plane, pushing past her sensory breakers, overwhelming them with the force of reality unchecked. Colors and non-colors, a million images from a million planes and times and she saw them all, knew them as intimately as if she lived her whole life in repeat.

     

    A hand goes up in self-defence, red in blood that was not but was precious nonetheless, so much color in the dark of a moonless alley... She cackles madly. Three deadborn and one live to act as the host of multiple souls, and somewhere a mother howls in childbirth-agony... The smell of perfume is sharp, almost painful to her nose that had known nothing but the manure of camels and the slop she would feed the farm animals.... His wife lays her fingers on his shoulders, massaging away the tense muscles. There is too little time in the world for simple pleasures like this and so he relaxed, fully immersed... Bile rises, sickly acidic and bitter of stomach acid. The last of her dinner was was already coloring the carpet an unsightly green, but she could still taste the traces of nachos...

     

    Nicole started, fully cognizant of where she was and who she was.

     

    She was Nicole Whitfield-Hall and as Salvo she had crashed within the outskirts of Freedom City, leaving a deep furrow of tossed earth behind her when she crashed. Her eyes hurt but she could see the aftereffects, feel it too.

     

    "Run diagnostics," she muttered as she materialized her form, systems booting up fully, and she looked around. Something, somewhere was wrong. Things had changed but nothing within her could hint as to what.

     

    Father was still there, hands cupping his face and looking as bad as she felt though a smile graced his thin lips. As if feeling her gaze on him, he opened his eyes, meeting hers. "You felt it too didn't you?"

    She cocked her head. Normally she wouldn't acknowledge him, but this wasn't normal and he took that as encouragement to continue.

     

    "You've studied the histories as well as I, better even. The causal aftershocks manifested usually with the shifts of realm breakage." Father smile grew wider. Nicole knew he only smiled like that when he was pleasingly surprised, and he was rarely surprised or pleased. "That blasted rat's been a thorn in my and your mother's side for a very long time. I'm glad to know he's dead now."

     

    Nicole glared at him as her thrusters flared to life, startling the bystanders surrounding her prone form.

     

    Someone beside her was shouting but she ignored them and picked herself up, bits of grass and soil on her armor. Things were urgent and she knew people would be moving fast to hedge their plays. There were others like her, practitioners who if everyone pooled together could best know the next course of action.

     

    She rocketed straight into the sky. "There'll be a new one."

     

    "Oh, I know. It was merely Adrian Eldrich who irked me."

    "Then I'll make sure the next one pisses you off even more."

     

    She pushed her father from her thoughts and closed her eyes, focusing even as the air outside screamed.

  8. "Well there goes Mr. Tulink..."

    Holding the sandwich she was eating for lunch, Nicole followed Sharl's flight with her eyes. She could almost see the flight patterns around him; trajectory back to Emerald City. It would take several hours to cross to the West Coast with his present flight capability, but armor was more comfortable than couch on airplanes. Ergonomic design was an almost forgotten factor for most people who didn't have to wear mechanized limbs to be able to walk.

     

    She took a bite from her sandwich and turned to look at her fellow students. She furrowed her brow at Huang. He was right, though thinking back as to why was like ripping a bandage off a fresh wound. Maybe she was wrong to react that way, they all were, but... she only had control over herself.

     

    "I'm sorry," she said, forcing her words out. "For before. We shouldn't have fought, but you two were acting like assholes and so was I. So maybe we're all assholes?"

    Nicole closed her eyes, unused to this, and her visor came down. Thrusters engaged and she lifted from the ground. Her father clapping sarcastically.

     

    "We have homeroom in 15," Nicole said to Corrine. They were the same batch, even if Corinne didn't know that. Nicole had seen the list of students before the school year had started and now that list was committed to memory.

  9. Nicole was standing there. Waiting, hands on her hips, as Corrine returned to the group back to normal.

     

    "Your powers alter your mannerisms. Perhaps the changes go as deep as your character," Nicole notes, her visor retracted to show her face frowning in thought. "Assuming from the cosmetic and not-so cosmetic effects your other half exhibited, I'd guess the changes stem from a reordering of your brain."

     

    She shakes her head. The implications were interesting; transmutation of two beings sharing one body. The ritualization required to even begin to separate the two, and where to store the one and the other?  Into an artificial being? Nicole would have asked Corrine's opinion, but Nicole knew from experience such thought experiments made others uncomfortable and was considered a faux pas. A shame, considering the insights one could gleam from honest, open discussion.

     

    Nicole quirked her eyebrows at Citizen's comment.

     

    "Because of the threat of violent retaliation. But there isn't any better way, is there?"

     

    Even if there was, she was not sure people would care to look for one and even if they had it within their palms, go the lengths to introduce the new paradigm. It was a simple but unfortunate characteristic; to be boxed into situations inherently opposed to find the best way forward, instead of just what will do at the moment.

  10. Nicole came back a few seconds later holding two books in her arms. One book was an old thing, thick but small and leather bound, pages frayed and yellow, and the other was a thinner volume, newer with bold words printed on the cover. She pushed the thinner one to Mirror. 'MYSTICISM AND AGRICULTURE: The Beginnings of Industry' the title read.

     

    "If you plan to properly look for something you need to understand the context," Nicole said as if lecturing to a class. "Magic wouldn't be anything without the background to situate its constituent elements, would it? Neither would much of human culture either."

     

    She nodded to the books Mirror had shelved, rolling her eyes behind her helmet. Those were a start but there was always more.

     

    "As for what I'm doing, I'm doing research." She held out the old book, a journal actually. "The Life of Doctor Jan Vanderwall: 1918 - 1989"

     

    "He was a medical doctor with an interest in transplants," Nicole explained, her voice darkening with disgust. "But also a practitioner of rituals and the transference of life forces between humans and... other things."

     

    She shook her head and noticed Mirror had cleaned up. "But nevermind that. You're leaving then?"

  11. "Built in electro-plasmic refractors," Nicole said, tapping her visor. "Captures a wide broadband of energy and translates the data into coherent images. Mary stands out like a lightbulb."

     

    She pointed an armored finger at the ghost. "And I'm not surprised you'd think that. There's some slight fluctuations in your friend's signature even now. Looks like she's undergoing a metanoia of sorts. Could be ontological or a retro-time snap of something but I wouldn't know unless I examine her closely."

     

    Nicole looked around and true to the guy's words the library needed some Spring cleaning. Cobwebs stained the dark corners of the ceiling and the furniture was stained at places where liquids had spilled over the years. A sorry state of affairs but one that couldn't be helped and so Nicole pushed it out of her mind. What was disconcerting were the books and all that their paper insides held.

     

    What would happen if this library were to be sold off?

     

    Lost. All that could be, more precious than gold.

     

    "Hmm," she hummed tunelessly, thinking, then shook her head and stepped to the bookshelves away from the duo. "Just looking for a book. Last I heard, libraries were public, though we're both up late tonight."

     

    "The pot calls the kettle black. You know how it goes."

     

    Picking her way through the aisles, her in-armor speakers and receptors allowed her to converse with Anton as if they were standing next to each other.

  12. "I--" Nicole began hotly before she cut her sentence off with a shake of her head. The tension in her evaporated through the steam vents and she planted her boots firmly on the ground, stalling her mechanisms into sleep. Her blood cooled as she looked from Huang to Corinne though her eyes still narrowed at the simmering conflict. Instead of readying for a fight, the two were now bickering against each other and Mr. Tulink.

     

    Nicole closed her eyes behind her visor. She was still giddy but it was fading together with the promise of a fight, but she still had to speak up.

     

    "They were wrong to trust him," she said with forced calm. "But that's why we're trying to make up for it. I didn't go here or to Archeville to work for madmen and both of you wouldn't too. But what you're saying isn't helping."

  13. "I was patrolling," Nicole said with a sniff that somehow translated to her external speakers. She said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and as if by asking her reasons he was stating how he lived under a rock. Yet, her answer wasn't the complete truth.

     

    Libraries were filled with dusty old books that took ages to go through but as much as she wanted it to, not everything was transposed into a digital format. There was still a lot of things that was only written down in paper - old histories, names of pets, tidbits unimportant enough to be forgotten by today. Like the particular cloth worn by a man on a particular summer's eve.

     

    That could be a start. For one thread.


    "It's like you've never seen a hero before," she said sarcastically. Then she pointed to Mary at the corner of the room.

    "But I know why you're here. She's a spirit, and one you're trying to help her by finding her identity."

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