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Dragonsong

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  1. Twenty Questions

    It was hard to imagine that Shyne had ever been a fitting name for the planet.

    Crouched low on his hoverboard to reduce his sensor profile, Defiant sped over the jagged, barren rocks far below, his eyes alert for Omegadrone patrols. He'd chosen to fly just below the great grey-brown mass of clouds that hid the sky, close enough to disappear into them if he was spotted but far enough away to actually be able to see. The smog was practically impenetrable, not quite opaque but layered so thickly on itself that only the faintest light ever managed to pass through them. Night on Shyne was not so much when darkness fell as when the dark got darker.

    Beneath him, sprawling out for miles, was one of the reasons for the dark clouds. A deep pit had been gouged into the bedrock, a downward spiral of tracks that accommodated hundreds of automated mining machines that ate the hole larger, like spots of rust on a thin sheet of metal. Plumes of smoke curled up from each as the collected waste rock, useless to Omega's endless war effort, was flash-incinerated to make way for the metals that would forge new weapons for the vast legions of Omegadrones. It would become a sweltering rain of ash and sand in a few hours.

    This site was getting close to camp; they would have to move soon. But such concerns could wait a little while. Leaving the mining site behind at last, Defiant ascended into the choking clouds. If not for his suit, he was uncertain whether he would suffocate or boil first. He was simply thankful that his faceplate blocked out the smells of a dying world, corrosion and despair. Once he was well into the clouds, a needle in a gaseous haystack, he grabbed hold of the edge of his hoverboard and jumped off of it with both feet.

    The device retracted into a small, backpack-sized block, which he pressed into place at the back of his suit as he fell. Spreading his arms and legs, he spun downward, the wind whistling past him as he burst through the pollution and saw the distant ground coming up at him. It had been a sea once, before he was born, but water was of little use to a despot who makes use of mechanical soldiers, and so it had been drained and vented into space to grant easy access to the minerals below. Defiant couldn't even imagine what it would've looked like, such vastness.

    His safe-jump thrusters kicked in about halfway down, gradually slowing him from terminal velocity until he hit the ground in a crouch with about as much force as if he had hopped from one foot to the other. It was safer to approach the base this way; sometimes the Omegadrones tried to track him by the whine of his hoverboard's engines, but his safe-jump systems were almost silent. Activating his mimetic stealth systems, which left his body as little more than part of the landscape even to his eyes, he began to walk the last mile back to the camp.

    Through the entire journey, the coming raid had occupied his thoughts. The last time he had made a bold move, half his followers had been wiped out. His fingertips brushed the armor plate over his ribs, tracing the outline of the scar beneath. There was a good chance that his next plan would end the same way, despite his precautions. But there wasn't much choice. In a year, two at best, the entire surface of Shyne would be consumed, and its entire population processed. There would be nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. He had to try to delay that inevitability.

    This time, with the infiltration planned the way it was, there was a good chance he wasn't coming back if something went wrong. That didn't frighten him; deep in his heart he knew he had always been living on borrowed time. In two years that debt of life would be collected, no matter what he did, barring some tremendous miracle that would borrow a little more time still. As a leader he always put side his fatalistic thoughts; Defiant truly believed that he could make a different, even when Trent Venfield knew that he couldn't.

    But if he died on this raid, some part of him wanted people to know the truth. He wanted it known that he pushed ahead not because he was blind to the hopelessness of the situation but because he knew that only action could lend his limited life meaning. And so, three quarters of the way back, he paused and withdrew a small, flat disk from one of his armor's external pockets, seated himself on a relatively flat slab of rock, and flicked the little device on. He was silent for a moment, gathering his thoughts. Then he took a deep breath and began.

    "I’m called Defiant, but my name, my real name, is Trent Venfield. I'm recording this on..." He stopped to check the chrono system embedded in the armor of his left forearm, then remembered that the stealth systems were active. Posterity could endure an educated guess. "On December third, twenty-six eighteen common era. Tomorrow, I will lead a strike force into the primary Omegadrone factory that has been established on my homeworld and attempt to destroy it with my Oblivion Bomb."

    "I'm recording this message in case that raid turns out to be a one way trip, successful or otherwise. To a lot of people I am the suit; Defiant, and nothing and no one else. In their eyes I don't have doubts and I never even consider giving up. But that's not the way it is. I'm as human as anyone else, as much as whoever is holding this recording, I hope. And I'm here to tell you that, if I didn't make it back from tomorrow's mission, you can do what I did. It's not about being superhuman. It's about being stubborn, about refusing to stop acting."

    Trent - and he really was Trent in that moment, not the symbol Trent projected - scanned the barren horizon, his faceplate protecting his eyes from gravel-laden winds that could flense the unprotected within minutes. Beneath that plate of nanometal his gaze became faraway as he contemplated where to begin his tale. At the beginning would probably be best. "(1)I was born in what was left of Coldriver, on the edge of the District Eleven nature preserve. I grew up like any of you, always running, picking through the ruins for food."

    "Underneath the armor, I probably (2) look like any of you, too. Average height, with the thick build that comes with a life of working hard to stay alive and that tired look we all have. Our parents had that horror in their eyes, that disbelief, but we all know what to expect. We're just tired. But when you've gotten people killed, like me, you look a little different from the rest. (3) The way you move, the way you speak, that changes. People tell me what an inspiration my voice is, but when I listen to it all I can think is how hollow I sound. Hollow and small. So I don't think."

    There was no stopping now; everything flowed, like the weight on his chest turning to water and trickling out through his mouth. Here was his chance to say what could never be said in person. "(4) I decided to stop just being kicked and kick back when my mother died. Her name was Anna, and she died because she wasn't sure she wanted to keep living. That's when I knew how much death scared me, and that's when I got the trait that brought me this far, (5) my strength and my limitation: the biggest never-say-die attitude on Shyne."

    "It's because of that attitude that I'm still fighting, more than nine years later; no matter how much evidence I see that there's no way to win, and that everything I do only pushes my oncoming death back a couple of weeks at best, I push logic aside and keep doing what I'm doing. It's gotten a lot of people killed, and it's nearly gotten me killed more than once, because I act when it's hopeless. But there's no point in thinking about the inevitable. All you can do is focus on what you can change and then change it the best you can. That's what makes Defiant tick."

    "I don't (6) hate Omega. Not really. My world wasn't taken from me; I was born into where I am. You don't hate a force of nature, something you take for granted, something that will last a lot longer than you will; you shouldn't, at least, because it's a meaningless hate. What I hate is hopelessness. I hate feeling like there's nothing I can do, like nothing I've done has been worth anything. Life is too short for anything you do to be worthless; wasted time is the worst kind of waste, the kind you never recover. But hopelessness isn't a force of nature. You can beat it."

    Trent looked out over the plain of ash and rock around him and wondered about that. He'd beaten hopelessness; he didn't let himself feel it. But some rational part of him knew that Shyne was the very image of hopelessness, an endless plain of bleak resignation. And yet there he was. "You beat hopelessness when you stop thinking and start acting. I don't mean you don't plan, or observe what's around you. I mean that you become like a machine. You take in the data, pick the best way to act, and act on it. Computers aren't depressed. They don't ponder, they compute."

    "I'm not claiming that it's easy. It hasn't been for me; it's fair to say that (7) my mind's a mess. There'll be nightmares, and there'll be doubts, and they'll get tangled up like cables in your pocket until you're not sure if anything is real. That's when you need to run a wire past your think center, straight from eyes and ears to arms and legs. You stay awake as long as you can, and when you finally crash, make sure someone's watching. You'll want to do stupid things when you wake up." His thoughts turned to the patchwork of scars on his arms.

    "But you have to keep going, because the only thing worse than being dead, the only thing that really (8) scares me, is turning into a dead man walking. When you stop caring and turn hollow inside, and all you do is wander around thinking about how doomed you are until the day you die, it wasn't worth it to be alive. That's why you have to beat hopelessness; self-pity is seductive. Think too hard about how much reality sucks for you and your mind collapses in on itself. You stop acting." He'd seen it happen. More than once he'd come very close to that state himself.

    "I'd like to say that (9) my goal is to drive Omega off of Shyne, but if I think about it - and I try damn hard not to - I know that I can't. So my goal, in the end, is to stay alive as long as possible, and to make every second that I'm alive mean something. Sometimes one makes it hard to do the other, but it's worked for nine years. (10) My place in the world is that I'm alive and I don't ask why. I just do, and I lead by example. I do what I think is right, the best use of the time I've got, and I try to help everyone else do the same."

    "We're a mixed bunch, those of us who act. Some of us are in it to avenge something we never lost; we never had it to start with. Some of us are in it to win, and we lost before we began. Some of us are in it to survive, and we'll all die in the end. It doesn't matter; (11) I don't judge. It doesn't matter what you set out to do, it matters what you accomplish. And the sad truth is that I've gotten a lot of them killed; sadder is that I'd do it again. (12) The mission is bigger than all of us. That's why I'm recording this. It has to go on when I get myself killed."

    Trent began to walk as he spoke, the faint crunch of gritty dust underfoot filtered out by the recorder's systems. "Part of the... contemplation bypass, you could call it, is that (13) you can't get close to people. No one person's life, your own included, should matter to you any more than any other based on arbitrary distinctions. No friends, no lovers, only leaders and followers, assets and liabilities. You will try to balance keeping them alive with working toward the mission, and no matter how cold you are it will break your heart."

    "After my mother died, I left my father, (14) my only living family, behind. He used to be determined, full of life. He was a doctor, a healer. His name was Adam. He loved my mother; she was a part of him, a big part, and when she died be became hollow inside. He collapsed into himself. I knew that if I watched him die, too, the same would happen to me. Was it callous to leave him behind at a time like that? Yes, and I hate myself for it when I think about it. But I don't. I can't afford to. I'm a leader and a symbol, and until a replacement comes I'm too important to lose."

    "(15) People wouldn't describe Defiant as the cold, calculating figure he really is. They would call him an inspiration, a light in the darkness. They would say that he cares about each and every one of them, and they're not wrong. But the way he cares, the way in which he has no choice but to care, isn't what they're hoping for. Defiant remembers names, whispers encouragement, and never backs down or shows fear. But when people say he's more than human, they're wrong. In many ways, too many, he is much less. He is as artificial as the metal plate people call his face."

    "(16) Is he an inspiration, a role model? Perhaps, but only because our world is so fallen. He shouldn't be, in a better place. No one should have to strip away what they are to stay alive. But in our reality 'should' doesn't matter, only is. Because (17) if there's a supreme being he's either not all-powerful or not all-loving, so I'm hoping there's not. I've built my life, and the symbol of Defiant, around the assumption that when we die we're snuffed like a glowlamp with the batteries pulled out. All that matters is what we do here and now, and how it affects those who survive us."

    Trent paused, seating himself beneath a jagged outcrop; he was nearing the camp, and he didn't want the others to hear what he was saying. Not yet, and maybe not ever. Steadying his breathing, he continued. "In a perfect world, (18) Defiant would work alone. I could make enough of a difference without putting anyone else at risk, without having to throw good people into the line of fire ever again. But that's not the way it works here. Here you have to make the choices that tear you apart inside, and you have to make them repeatedly, because it's the only way."

    "Why is it up to me? Because I'm different from the others. I made the choice, and I have the power to back that choice up. (19) People with power beyond that of the masses have the responsibility to use that power to help those without it. Am I helping? I'd like to think so. I'm taking the doomed and giving their lives meaning, and I'm as much a member of that category as any of my followers. If you're going to follow in my footsteps, this is important: you're not better than any of them. You have an obligation to them, and they owe you nothing. To follow is their choice."

    He stood once more, ducking to avoid braining himself on the rocks above, and began to walk again. But as his finger hovered over the recorder's "stop" button, he considered another possibility. "(20) Trent, if it's you that's listening to this some time in the future, I hope you have the chance to become a better person than I've been. I never wanted to make sacrifices, but here I am. If you get the chance to do the right thing without compromise, don't examine it, just take it. Put this behind you and don't look back, even if you only get one last moment of glory."

    With that he flicked the recorder off, felt around for one of his armor's external pockets, and tucked it away. Then he walked down the hill, toward the cave that housed the camp. That had been too much introspection; the nightmares would be intense that night. But he couldn't think of that now. There was a raid to finish planning, quite possibly his last, and quite possibly the blow that would finally slow the inexorable progress of Shyne's lingering death...

    Hell Questionnaire

    Introduction

    Who are you? Sum yourself up in one sentence.

    I'm a determined warrior armed with the technology of a dead world.

    Do you have any nicknames, street names, titles, or nom de plume?

    I've been called Defiant for years; what's the sense in stopping now?

    What is your full birth name?

    I was born Trent Andrew Venfield.

    Where do you live?

    I live in Freedom City. I'm used to not having a house; I've done it my entire life.

    How old are you? What year were you born (if applicable)?

    I'm twenty-eight. I was born in the year 2590, as far as the people of Shyne are concerned, but here on Earth my effective birth date was April 22, 1983.

    Physical Traits

    What is your gender? If not applicable, please explain.

    I am male.

    How would you describe your heritage?

    I come from Shyne; the eleventh district, in the north.

    How tall are you?

    I am five feet ten inches. My biosuit adds about two inches to that.

    What is your body type?

    I'm fairly solid, but most of my weight is muscle; food was scarce on Shyne.

    Do you have any particular weaknesses, such as allergies or physical disabilities?

    No, not that I'm aware of, unless lots of scar tissue counts.

    How do you carry yourself? Are you graceful, or heavy on your feet? Can you be stealthy, do you walk with confidence?

    I move upright, with confidence, but I don't ever waste movement. But there's a slump to my stance, an exhaustion that sleep doesn't take away. I leave stealth to my biosuit's systems.

    Describe your skin, eye, and hair color.

    My skin is pale, unhealthily so; in more than twenty-eight years on Shyne I never saw the sun. My eyes are dark blue, and my hair is medium brown.

    How do you wear your hair, if applicable? Do you have facial hair?

    I try to keep my hair short, but sometimes I don't get around to cutting it and it hangs into my eyes. My face is often covered in thin stubble that's not worth the trouble of shaving.

    Do you consider yourself attractive? Do others?

    I hadn't thought about it; it hasn't mattered. I suppose I'm somewhat handsome beneath the grit and the lines of exhaustion.

    Do you have any scars, tattoos, piercings, or birthmarks?

    I have a lot of scars; my arms, chest, and back are a mess. Long and thin scars, short and thick ones, straight ones and curved ones, I have them all. But most of them don't hurt any more.

    Do you resemble anyone famous?

    I wouldn't be the person to ask; I don't know much about pop culture. But I doubt it.

    Do you have a dominant hand?

    I'm right handed.

    What kind of clothing do you wear?

    I'm almost never out of my biosuit. If I were, I don't know what I'd wear; something simple and unrestrictive, I suppose.

    Do you wear makeup?

    No. Not likely, somehow.

    What is your vocal range? Is your voice distinctive in some way?

    I have a relatively deep voice; it tends to be monotone, hollow. I'm working on that.

    Do you have any distinctive habits, nervous tics, or mannerisms? Where did they come from, and what causes them? Do other people notice and remark on these habits? Do they annoy you or other people?

    My hands shake sometimes; makes it hard to hold things. It's irritating, but I cope, and I hide it well.

    History

    Where do you come from?

    I come from the planet Shyne. It's in the Terminus now.

    Have you made any major moves, or do you live in your hometown?

    I've been hurled across dimensional walls, plus tens of thousands of light years of space.

    Do you feel loyal to your country of citizenship? Do you consider yourself patriotic? How do you feel about the government of your country?

    I feel loyal to the people of Shyne, if there are any of them left. Our "government" was a strip mining operation.

    How do you feel about the place you come from?

    Shyne was hell, but it was our hell, and we weren't going to lose it without a fight.

    Where is your home town? What was/is it like?

    I was born in Coldriver, on the edge of the District 11 nature preserve. I'm told it was beautiful in its day. I only ever saw the burnt-out ruins.

    Growing up, were most of the people you knew similar to you, or were you somehow a minority? How did that affect you?

    Total destruction of your planet's cities is the great equalizer. Everyone was on the same level: afraid and possessionless.

    Is there something you've always been really good at or really bad at? How has that affected your life?

    I've always been good with machines; I credit my mother for that. That skill has made everything I do possible.

    Were there any traumatic experiences in your early years (death of a family member, abandonment, orphaned at an early age)?

    You haven't been listening well, have you? I'll spell it out. My planet was a blasted wasteland before I was born. I was in danger of starving to death every day for twenty-eight years. My mother died before my eyes when I was nineteen. I abandoned my father and sent good people to their deaths. Trauma is one way to put it.

    Briefly describe a defining moment in your childhood and how it influenced your life.

    The day I built my first toolkit, my mother was so proud of me. Every time she asked to borrow it, no matter how bad everything else was, I felt so, so proud. I buried her with it. You can always replace things; you can never replace people.

    What stupid things did you do when you were younger?

    There was no time for stupid things. Stupid things got you killed.

    Where did you go to school? How much school did you have, and did you enjoy it?

    I never went to school. What I've learned I either got from my parents or from field experience.

    Do you have any mementos of your childhood? What are they, and why did you keep them? If you have none, why not?

    My possessions are functional things. I carry the hoverboard I built at age seventeen because it works. I would carry the toolkit I built earlier than that, but I have my reasons. Not practical reasons, but I run on sentiment rarely enough that it doesn't get in the way of the mission.

    When did you decide to become a hero? Why? Did anyone influence you one way or another in the decision?

    I don't know about being a hero, but I decided to hit back when my mother died. It was later, when I saw that I couldn't do enough alone, that I became a leader. Maybe now that I'm not hitting back or leading I can be a hero.

    Is the reason you give people for becoming a hero different than your real reason? If so, why?

    I never told anyone that I started to fight because of my mother. They had to believe that it was a crusade against injustice, not just revenge. I still don't bring the truth up much. It's not important; what's important is what I do now. Actions are more important than motivations.

    Do you have any deep, dark secrets in the past that may come back to haunt you?

    I'm not a hero, not really. I got people hurt trying to do the right thing. This is my chance to make up for that.

    Do you represent yourself as being different from who you really are? Why?

    I represent myself as being single-minded because I'm trying to be single-minded. That doesn't mean I've managed it yet.

    If you do have these secrets, what do you fear would happen if the truth became known? How far would you go to protect those secrets?

    I won't reveal them, but I won't protect them either. If they come out, I probably deserve it.

    Do you have any sort of criminal record? If so, is it public knowledge?

    Not here. On Shyne I was the number one enemy of the "government", but they barely noticed most of the time.

    Family

    What are your biological parents' names?

    Adam and Anna.

    Were you raised by them? If not, please explain and describe who raised you.

    They raised me.

    What was their standing in the community? What did/do they do for a living?

    My mother was an engineer, and my father a doctor.

    Where are your parents now?

    My mother was killed when I was nineteen, as I said before. My father... I don't know where Dad is now. He's probably gone too.

    Did your family stay in one area or move around a lot?

    We had to keep moving; they would find us if we didn't. Eventually they did anyway.

    How did you get along with their parents? How do you get along with them now (if applicable)?

    I was very close to my parents, as close as any child can be. But not any more, or ever again. There's no helping that.

    How do your parents view you now, or how would they?

    I hope they'd be proud, but that's an idiot's hope. They'd be worried, that much I can say for certain.

    Do you have any siblings? If so how many and what are their names? Describe your relationship with them.

    I'm an only child; my parents wanted a bigger family, but I was only born because I was conceived before the planet fell.

    What was your birth order in the family?

    First and only.

    Where are your siblings now (if applicable)? Do they have families of their own? What do they do?

    In my dad's imagination, if he's still... Yeah.

    Do you stay in touch with them or have you become estranged?

    I'm not that crazy yet.

    Do you love or hate one member of the family in particular?

    I loved my parents equally. I still love them equally. I just don't think about it; it doesn't do any good.

    Is any member of the family special to you in any way (perhaps, as a confidant, mentor, or arch-rival)?

    Same answer as the above.

    Are there any black (or white) sheep in the family (including you)? If so, please explain.

    Not really. We didn't judge each other.

    Do you have a notorious or celebrated ancestor? If so, please explain, including how it has affected your life.

    Possibly. I have no idea.

    Do you have a partner and children currently? If so, please describe them.

    No, and I highly doubt I ever will.

    If you do not have a partner or children, do you want them someday? How firm are you in your opinion on this, and what might change your mind?

    That would be a distraction, a risk, a weak point. You can't do that and still center your life on your mission. I've had chances, and this is the reason I've never taken them.

    What type of person would be your ideal mate?

    I... don't know. I don't suppose it matters.

    Relationships

    Do you have any close friends? If so, please describe them, and how you came to be close to them.

    As leader, I couldn't afford to value any one person over another for reasons other than simple merit. I acted friendly because it was inspirational. I didn't have friends.

    Do you have a best friend? If so, how did they become your best friend? How close are you to your best friend?

    Perhaps... Perhaps Sarah Cypher counts. She stuck by me through everything, through my biggest failures, and always believed in me. She was almost as dedicated to the mission as I was, but she had time to be full of life. I wanted to love her like I know she loved me, but I couldn't afford to. I wish I could have.

    If you were to go missing, who would worry about you?

    No one, I think, and that's the way it should be.

    Have you lost any loves? If so, how did it happen, and what did you do?

    Sarah and I were together when the Oblivion Bomb detonated. Maybe she was transported like I was. But probably not.

    Do you have any bitter enemies? If so, please describe them and their history with you.

    When your enemy is faceless and impersonal, it's hard to hate it. They're just machines. The Omegadrones have been and, I hope, always will be my enemy, but is our enmity bitter? I don't think it really can be.

    If you have enemies, how do you think they might attempt to work against you in the future?

    If the Omegadrones come to Earth, they'll have bigger concerns than looking for one fugitive. Besides, they have no idea that I'm alive.

    What is the worst thing someone has done to you?

    Taken my mother. I'll never forget watching that happen. I wish I could, but I know I shouldn't.

    Where do your loyalties lie? In what order?

    My loyalties lie first to the mission, second to the people, and third to myself. Perhaps, with time, I will manage to switch the first two. I'd be a better person for it, if not a better warrior.

    Who or what do you trust the most? Why?

    I trust myself to get the job done or die trying. I always have, and I don't plan to start acting differently.

    Who or what do you despise? Why?

    I despise a waste of a life. We've all got such little time. To spend yours doing nothing, that's a tragedy.

    What qualities do you admire most in other people? Are these qualities you possess?

    I admire drive, dedication, and zeal; those I've got. And I admire compassion; that I'm working on.

    What qualities do you hate most in other people? Do you have any of those qualities?

    I hate hopelessness, laziness, ad apathy, and if I ever end up with any of those I'm finished.

    Do you have a secret identity? If so, who knows it? Do you hide it from people who are close to you? Why?

    I've never hidden who I am beneath the figure of Defiant; I've just never advertised it, either.

    Do you work well on teams and in groups? Are you a leader or a follower?

    I've been a leader, a director, for years, but it's always gotten people hurt. I'll be glad to work alone, where I have only myself to put in harm's way.

    Are you on a super team? If so, how do you get along with your comrades? Do you trust them, or do you have secrets from them?

    I'm not on any sort of team at present.

    Are you a member of any church, fraternal organization, club, committee, political party, or other group? How much time do you spend on that?

    My only obligation is the mission.

    Personality & Beliefs

    Who are your heroes?

    The people who can make a difference without going to the extremes I've gone to.

    Did you ever become disillusioned with former heroes or idols? If so, why and what were the circumstances?

    I've never had them before; until I came here, I wasn't sure they existed.

    Do you like being a hero? If so, what is the most rewarding part? If not, what makes you keep doing it?

    I'm not sure I deserve to be called a hero, but the rewarding part of doing what I do is making a difference. When my life matters somehow to the wider world, even to just one other person, that's reward enough. I'm part of something, and my very limited time hasn't been wasted.

    Is there anything that would make you give up hero work, or even switch sides?

    If I discovered I was doing more harm than good, I would stop. I don't know what I would do afterward.

    What are your short term goals (what would you like to be doing within a year)?

    I want to be established in the city, working at my mission, doing something unambiguously right and good.

    What are your long term goals (what would you like to be doing twenty years from now)?

    If I'm still alive in twenty years, I hope I'm doing much the same until the day I'm not capable of it any more.

    What is your greatest fear? Why? What do you do when something triggers this fear?

    My greatest fear is becoming hollow, falling into the trap of self-pity. It would make me useless, cause me to waste my life and lose my potential. And then I would die all the same. I hold tight to the mission to stop this from happening.

    Is there anything you would give your life for?

    If it was required, I would give my life to save someone else's. I'm a little too eager to do that, now that I think about it. I'll have to be careful.

    How do you feel about money and material wealth? Do you desire it or disdain it? Are you miserly with what you have, or do you like to share? Is it a mark of success, or a means to an end?

    Money would be useful, but I can make do without it. It doesn't make you happy and it doesn't make you live any longer, not in and of itself, so the only use of a heap of cash is to get something that's more useful than a heap of cash.

    How do you generally treat others?

    I try to treat others with respect, and I don't jump to conclusions about them. Until they prove that I can or can't trust them, I won't make assumptions in either direction.

    Are you a trusting person? Has your trust ever been abused?

    I trust people to act according to their natures. When people don't, or when they reveal natures different from how I had them pegged, it takes me by surprise.

    Are you introverted (shy and withdrawn) or extroverted (outgoing)? Do you have a lot of self-confidence?

    I am a social introvert; I can deal with people just fine, and I do on a regular basis, but I need time alone to recharge. I am self-confident in that I believe I have the power to pursue my mission. Beyond that, I have my doubts. I try not to think about them.

    How do you act around attractive, available members of your preferred sex?

    The same way I act around anyone else. They're no less deserving of respect.

    What are your most annoying habits?

    I wouldn't be the person to ask. I imagine others find it irritating that I am so single-minded; "downtime" is not a word in my vocabulary.

    Do you feel contempt for any general category of people? Who are they, and why?

    I wish that people would at least try to live to their potential. Those who don't even make an effort irritate and depress me, but I wouldn't say I hold them in contempt, exactly.

    What is your favorite food? Do you prefer any particular type of food? Do you take the time to enjoy your food, or do you eat as fast as you can?

    I've subsisted off of soy grown in caves and salvaged prepackaged foods for my entire life. To try something that can genuinely be called food is something I look forward to.

    What is your favorite drink (alcoholic or otherwise)?

    I wouldn't know, but water tastes wonderful after a day or two without it.

    What is your favorite treat (dessert)?

    Again, I wouldn't know.

    Are there any specific foodstuffs that you find disgusting or refuse to eat?

    I've eaten a lot of things that look and taste vile in order to stay alive; I'm pragmatic in my choice of diet.

    What is your favorite color? Are there any colors you dislike?

    Hadn't thought about it. Maybe orange, subconsciously; it features prominently enough in my equipment.

    What sort of music do you like? Is there any that you hate?

    It always helped me focus to have a good beat going while I'm working on building something. It doesn't really matter what.

    If you have a favorite scent, what is it?

    Insulation gel. Brings back good memories.

    Do you have a favorite animal?

    There were no animals left on Shyne except for some hardy bugs. I'll have to wait and see.

    What is your most treasured possession? Why?

    My biosuit. It's Defiant's face, and that makes it all-important to my mission.

    Do you enjoy "roughing it", or do you prefer your creature comforts?

    I've always roughed it. Creature comforts would be nice, I'm sure, but I don't need distractions.

    Is there a job or a task you would absolutely refuse to do?

    Steal. Commit murder. Anything that causes undue harm.

    Do you consider yourself a spiritual person? If so, how do your beliefs affect your life?How important is it to you?

    I'm not one for spirituality. If higher powers exist, so be it. I expect to be snuffed out when I die, and I live accordingly.

    Was your faith influenced or molded by anyone special?

    No. My faith, or lack thereof, was built out of growing up in hell.

    If you belong to a religious organization, how often do you attend? Do you have a specific place of worship, or friends within the organization? How much do you agree with the beliefs of your organization?

    This doesn't apply to me.

    Could you kill? Have you killed?

    I can destroy machines, certainly; I've done it for years. But I can build machines, too. I don't take lives. You can't replace people.

    What circumstances led to you forming that conviction, or taking that action?

    A life of watching people die.

    Are there circumstances under which you believe it is permissible to kill? What are they?

    Only to prevent something worse. I would hate to have to make that judgement.

    How would you react to watching someone kill another person? Would your reaction be different if the killer was a friend or an enemy of yours?

    No matter who it was, they would have to face judgement for that act.

    How would you react if something important was stolen from you?

    The only things important to me are the things I need for my mission, so I'd go looking.

    How would you react to public humiliation?

    I would focus on my mission; I'm good at not feeling.

    How would you react if a good friend or relative were purposely or accidentally killed? Has it happened to you?

    It's happened. I would take steps to combat the killer, then focus on my mission. Again, I'm good at not feeling.

    What do you consider to be the worst crime someone could commit and why?

    A crime that makes people wish they were dead is even worse than one that actually kills them.

    If your life were to end in 24 hours, what five things would you do in those remaining hours?

    I would let myself feel again. I would mourn for the people I've lost. I would tell the people I care about how I really feel about them. I would pass my equipment on to someone who could use it well. And I would die watching the sunset, if at all possible. We didn't have sunsets on Shyne.

    Career & Training

    Do you have any special training in your hero skills? If so, where and how did you get it?

    Much of what I know about machines comes from my mother. The rest I learned in the field.

    Who taught you the most about your heroing abilities? What was your relationship with that person?

    Other than my mother, I haven't had any significant mentors.

    Do you have any particularly unusual skills? How did you acquire them?

    I wouldn't say so. I have mundane skills that I have taken to unusual levels.

    Do you do something besides hero work for a living? Have you ever done anything else, or do you plan to?

    No, the mission is the only thing I focus on, and I plan for things to stay that way.

    What is your preferred combat style?

    Quick and to the point, whether at range or up close.

    Have you ever received any awards or honours?

    No, nor should I.

    What skill areas would you like most to improve in? Is there anything you can't do that you wish desperately you could?

    I hope, over time, to become a more skillful fighter, and to upgrade my equipment. I wish I was innately superhuman, in a way; I could put less effort into getting ready for the mission and more into actually doing it.

    How do you act around people who are more skilled than you in areas you'd like to improve? Are you jealous, or do you try and learn?

    I certainly hope that I try to learn. Jealousy doesn't do anyone any good, so it's one of the emotions I try to bypass.

    Lifestyle & Hobbies

    What is a normal day for you? How do you feel when something interrupts this routine?

    A normal day is spent out on patrol. If it's interrupted, its either because I need to spend time on my gear or because something has happened to me. I'll always hope for the former.

    Do you have any hobbies, or interests outside hero work? What are they, and where did you pick them up?

    Not really. The mission is what gives my life meaning and purpose. I'm not a well-rounded person.

    What do you do for fun?

    I find building things very satisfying.

    Do you have a costume? What does it look like?

    My biosuit is composed of black nanometal with a deep orange faceplate and readouts.

    How do you normally dress when not in costume?

    I normally dress in my biosuit. Outside of it, I try for loose, mobile clothing.

    What do you wear to bed most nights?

    My biosuit is my bed. I don't have a home.

    Do you wear any special jewelry? What is it, and what does it look like?

    No, I don't.

    Do you have a special place where you keep your valuables?

    On my person.

    What's your preferred means of local travel? How about long distance?

    I use my hoverboard to get around. I haven't had to travel long distance yet; I guess it'll depend on the distance.

    Miscellaneous

    Have you ever made a will, or tried to make arrangements for your death? What provisions did you make?

    I haven't yet. I probably should. I want my equipment to end up with people who will use it for the right reasons.

    If your features were to be destroyed beyond recognition, is there any other way of identifying your body?

    That's grim. Other than the distinctive equipment I use, I suppose there's not.

    What would you like to be remembered for after your death?

    I'd like to be remembered as someone who gave everything he had to make a difference for the better.

    Do you believe you pose a threat to the public? Why or why not?

    I don't think so. I would never turn on the public willingly, and greater heroes could slap me down relatively easily if I were somehow mind controlled.

    What do you perceive as your greatest strength?

    My determination. I don't quit. It's the defining feature of my life.

    What do you perceive as your greatest weakness?

    My one-dimensionality. I see the world along very clear, simplistic lines, even when it doesn't actually work that way.

    As a player, if you could, what advice would you give your character? Speak as if he/she were sitting right here in front of you. Use proper tone so they might heed your advice...

    It's not wrong to live in a way beyond constant action, and it's not wrong to feel. Your life will be a lot more fulfilling if you let yourself do at least a little of each.

  2. Reputation Chart

    Defiant's reputation chart may also be found here.

    Gather Information:

    DC10: A dark-armored figure on a hoverboard has taken to patrolling Downtown Freedom.

    DC15: This man goes by Defiant, and uses incredible future technology to fight crime.

    DC20: Defiant's real name is Trent Venfield, and he's a tough fighter even without his technology.

    DC25: Defiant is a refugee from another dimension who arrived in Freedom City in December of 2011.

    DC30: Defiant was a rebel leader on a world in the Terminus, fighting to free his planet from Omega.

    Knowledge (Technology):

    DC10: Defiant's "hoverboard" doesn't hover, exactly. It is completely unaffected by gravity, and operable in high altitude, in vacuum, and underwater.

    DC15: Defiant's staff is a modified version of an Omegadrone's standard weapon.

    DC20: Defiant's biosuit is studded with tiny thrusters which enable him to fall in a safe, controlled manner from any height.

    DC25: Defiant's biosuit, though as advanced as unique feats of modern super-science, shows signs of being a standardized design.

    DC30: Defiant's technology is powered by miniaturized cold fusion energy cells. This is beyond incredible.

    Knowledge (Life Sciences):

    DC15: Despite his origins far beyond Earth, Defiant is biologically a normal human in every way.

    Knowledge (Pop Culture):

    DC15: Defiant's staff is a modified version of an Omegadrone's standard weapon.

    Knowledge (Streetwise):

    DC15: Defiant often tells criminals he apprehends how lucky they are to live in the world they’re ruining.

  3. Trent Venfield - Defiant

    Gather Information:

    DC10: A dark-armored figure on a hoverboard has taken to patrolling Downtown Freedom.

    DC15: This man goes by Defiant, and uses incredible future technology to fight crime.

    DC20: Defiant's real name is Trent Venfield, and he's a tough fighter even without his technology.

    DC25: Defiant is a refugee from another dimension who arrived in Freedom City in December of 2011.

    DC30: Defiant was a rebel leader on a world in the Terminus, fighting to free his planet from Omega.

    Knowledge (Technology):

    DC10: Defiant's "hoverboard" doesn't hover, exactly. It is completely unaffected by gravity, and operable in high altitude, in vacuum, and underwater.

    DC15: Defiant's staff is a modified version of an Omegadrone's standard weapon.

    DC20: Defiant's biosuit is studded with tiny thrusters which enable him to fall in a safe, controlled manner from any height.

    DC25: Defiant's biosuit, though as advanced as unique feats of modern super-science, shows signs of being a standardized design.

    DC30: Defiant's technology is powered by miniaturized cold fusion energy cells. This is beyond incredible.

    Knowledge (Life Sciences):

    DC15: Despite his origins far beyond Earth, Defiant is biologically a normal human in every way.

    Knowledge (Pop Culture):

    DC15: Defiant's staff is a modified version of an Omegadrone's standard weapon.

    Knowledge (Streetwise):

    DC15: Defiant often tells criminals he apprehends how lucky they are to live in the world they’re ruining.

  4. Trent Venfield - Defiant

    A desperate, never say die rebel from a world cast into the Terminus by the reckless hubris of its greatest minds, the hero known as Defiant led his people in a hopeless war against infinitely greater forces of evil. Pushing the grim certainty of his own failure and death from his mind, he fought tirelessly until the day he was snatched from certain doom by a strange quirk of fate, hurled across the walls dividing dimensions on a wave of energy. He awoke to find himself very much alive, in a world that could not have been less like his home.

    [floatr]PRCvg.jpg[/floatr]

    His goal now is to defend that world, and to keep it from becoming any closer to his own.

    Theme Music:

    The Planet Shyne: The Catalyst - Linkin Park

    Hopeless Struggle: Isabella, Leader Of The Resistance - Jesper Kyd

    He Stands Defiant: Protectors of the Earth - Two Steps from Hell

    A Broken Warrior: Dark Harbor - Two Steps from Hell

    Index:

    Thread List

    Reputation Chart

    Questionnaires

    Links:

    Character Sheet

    Wiki Page (Under Construction)

  5. Thanks! I'm glad you like the biosuit. I think I've corrected the problems now.

    Sorry about the blast staff mishap; I'd assumed that the Alternate Power feat included its own point cost as part of the available points to purchase the alternate power, but that actually doesn't make much sense now that I think about it. Wishful thinking, I suppose. I've updated that as well as the DC block, and cleared up the formatting errors you pointed out (sorry about that!), so hopefully everything is all set!

    Cheers,

    Dragonsong

  6. Allo, all. I've been around for a bit, but let's make it formal, shall we?

    I'm a student in my freshman year. I've been playing RPGs, mostly DnD, since I was too young to really understand the rules, and I was into forum-based writing even before that. I've been doing DnD online on and off for years, but since I've had to leave home I've been looking to be a part of something bigger and longer lasting than a lone campaign. I found this site on TV Tropes, and I've heard only good things, so I decided to apply.

    I'm here to fight loneliness and write stories, and I'm all out of... never mind.

  7. Special thanks to Raveled, Derin, KnightDisciple, and Airon for making this character possible.

    [floatr]8cfxm.jpg[/floatr]

    Player Name: Dragonsong

    Character Name: Defiant

    Power Level: 10 (150/155PP)

    Trade-Offs: +2 Attack / -2 Damage

    Unspent Power Points: 5

    Progress To Bronze Status: 5/30

    In Brief: Battle-hardened rebel from the Terminus, out to defend his new home.

    Alternate Identity: Trent Andrew Venfield

    Identity: Public

    Birthplace: Coldriver, Administrative District 11, Shyne

    Occupation: Presently None

    Affiliations: Presently None

    Family: Adam Venfield (Father), Anna Venfield (Mother)

    Description:

    Age: 28 (DoB: April 22, 1983)

    Apparent Age: 28

    Gender: Male

    Ethnicity: Caucasian

    Height: 5'10"

    Weight: 180 lbs

    Eyes: Blue

    Hair: Brown

    Trent Venfield looks very tired for someone so young.

    Rather handsome but unkempt, with smooth, well-proportioned features being overtaken by rough stubble and deep bags under his soft blue eyes, he stands dowel-straight and still manages to look heavy-laden. Premature lines furrow his forehead , and his cheeks are gaunt. Short, messy chestnut hair frames his face, sticking up at odd angles at the back and reaching down toward his eyes. Yet his posture is tense at all times, coiled tight and ready to spring, and his gaze is iron, unbowed and unconquered.

    Trent's Biosuit hides his weariness, leaving only the imposing visage of Defiant. The flexible nano-plates that form the armored exterior cling closely to his muscular frame, and the soft glow of his dark ochre faceplate, featureless and yet vigilant, makes him seem somehow beyond human. Astride a battered hoverboard, with a heavily modified Omegadrone stave in hand, he is swift and forceful, the very avatar of a people's will to survive against the odds.

    Power Descriptions:

    The most obvious of Defiant's powers are those of his Biosuit, a dark-steel-colored body glove of nano-plating and refractive fibers with deep ochre showing through at the joints and on the faceplate. When its stealth systems are active, however, there is nothing to see at all; light bends around the suit, while sound and smell are entirely absorbed by it. Miniature thrusters line the arms and legs, an integrated parachute of sorts to save the wearer from falling to his death.

    Defiant also carries what was once an Omegadrone's staff, though his modifications to the device since it fell into his hands have been extensive. Small compartments along the blasting end house an electrified shock prod and a carbon foam projector; the former delivers a stunning jolt to whomever the staff strikes, while the latter entraps a target within layers of expanding, rapidly-drying and hardening foam. Finally, Defiant moves astride a battered, often-repaired hoverboard, a racing device in its day and now a weapon against evil.

    History:

    In the far future of the twenty-sixth century, mankind reached out to colonize the stars in a great Confederation of Planets. Possessing incredible technology, including the secret of traveling far beyond the speed of light to reach distant solar systems, the people of the little blue planet launched a great age of space exploration to rival any effort the species had previously undertaken. National identity faded away, replaced by a human unity undreamt of in the divided societies of the past.

    Truly long-distance travel, however, remained incredibly risky, and that lent it the allure of danger that ever calls to bold hearts. Such was the case with the colonization of Shyne, a glimmering orb on the far side of the galactic disk from Earth. To conquer it would be an amazing symbol of humanity's power to adapt and overcome, a friendly challenge to allies and a bold statement to foes. And so a colonial expedition was organized and launched toward that far-off world.

    Yet the alien Grue Unity, ever an enemy of any society that refused to bow to them, would not allow this challenge to succeed. Rather than interdict the colony fleet with their own warships, which would bring down terrible retribution upon them, they sent a team of elite infiltrators to sabotage the faster-than-light travel systems of the human vessels. In this mission they were successful, escaping undetected moments before the ships launched. And as the ships prepared to enter hyperspace, they vanished.

    As humanity mourned what appeared to be a horrible accident, claiming the lives of tens of thousands, the colony ships were well underway. The sabotage had not acted as intended; instead they had caused the vessels to travel through time as well as space, and when they arrived on Shyne it was in the Earth year 1900. Their triumphant messages of success could not be detected by the Earthlings' primitive communications systems, nor were any additional supplies coming. The people of Shyne felt abandoned.

    Despite the sudden isolation, Shyne thrived. Though their later discovery of the hyperdrive sabotage, which they lacked the resources to fix, confined them to the planet, they made the best of their situation. Gleaming cities rose into the sky, surrounded by and filled with plants and animals imported from Earth. A population of fifty thousand became a million and then still more over the years that followed. All was well. And then, in 1982, it all went wrong.

    Few of Shyne's inhabitants had ever really understood the hyperdrives that had brought them to the planet; they were incredibly complex devices, powered by unique elements and brimming with quantum particles for which the 21st century had no name. To fix them was one thing, an effort attempted from time to time without success. But to reverse-engineer them was quite another, and when a team of scientists attempted to recreate the drive they triggered a dimensional instability that pulled them into the Terminus.

    In a way, Shyne was lucky; Omega did not need to raid the world, for it was now in his domain. Instead he could occupy it, bleed it dry over the years, and then discard it as dust when its potential was exhausted. Though Shyne's defense forces fought valiantly, they were unaccustomed to war, for the planet had existed peacefully since its founding. The entire world fell within a week, its population forced into internment camps as its resources were stripped away.

    Trent Venfield never knew the utopian Shyne of the past. Born in 1983 to parents who had managed to avoid capture by the Omegadrones, his childhood was a whirling blur of fleeing from one cave or burned-out building to the next. His mother Anna had been an engineer before the planet's fall, and put that expertise toward building devices to conceal their presence from the occupiers. Trent became an assistant in this process from a young age, taking solace in the certainty of machines.

    Yet all around him it was the certainty of machines that was transforming Shyne into a barren hell. Nature preserves were consumed, their flora and fauna alike stripped down to their base elements for processing. Cities and mountains were crushed and stripped of useful metals, leaving only jagged mounds of broken rock and concrete. The only structures left untouched were the high-walled internment camps and the vast, blade-sleek Omegadrone factories they fed into.

    As he grew older, Trent went from helping with his mother's projects to building some of his own. He rescued usable bits of technology from piles of salvage whenever he could, tinkering with the components of computers and guns alike. At the age of fourteen he built his own set of tools, so sleek that his mother was always asking to borrow them. At the age of seventeen he refurbished a racing hoverboard, replacing all of the internal components in a process that took him several months.

    Two years later, the Venfields and the families they were traveling with cut it too close. While searching for increasingly scarce packaged food from before the planet's fall they were discovered by an Omegadrone patrol; in their panicked flight more than half of their number was either blasted down or dragged back to the internment camps. Among the casualties was Trent's mother. Angry and devastated, Trent left the group he had traveled with all his life, including his father, behind.

    It was time to do more than just run, he decided; it was time to hit back. He spent a year wandering, gathering up other survivors who wanted to do something more than just survive and repairing the weapons of the ill-fated planetary defense force. He was wise enough to know that he needed to start small: pick off a few sentries here and there, gather strength, gain experience before going further. Some of his group left in the first year of its formation, frustrated by seeing his promises of revenge limited by caution.

    It was from the first Omegadrone he ever destroyed that Trent took the staff that would become his signature weapon. He tinkered with it constantly, both to make it visually distinct and thus avoid friendly fire and to add versatility the original design lacked. Using this new weapon, one which the Omegadrones did not expect to face, he grew bolder; the group began to ambush full patrols on occasion, bringing down several in their entirety. But there were always casualties, no matter how well they prepared.

    Placed in the unenviable position of giving orders that would almost certainly result in deaths, Trent seemed to age far more rapidly than his years would indicate. Somewhere deep in his heart he knew he was fighting a war he couldn't possibly win; his numbers dwindled daily, and were finite to begin with, while his foes had no such limitations. Every drone destroyed was replaced by another, converted from the unwilling body of an innocent neighbor or relative. Yet he refused to lie down and take it, whether or not victory was possible.

    The young man's darkest hour came when he was twenty-four. Having led his fellow rebels for half a decade, he became confident in his ability to command, perhaps too much so. Wanting to even the scales of the war, he planned an assault on one of the smaller internment camps; this would not only reduce the enemy's capacity to manufacture Omegadrones but also gain him a large group of new recruits. Arming his ragtag band as best as possible, he set a distraction on the far side of the planet and attacked.

    The results were horrific; the automated defenses were more than sufficient to hold off the rebels, who never even reached the walls. Trent himself was badly wounded and spent six months in hiding as he gradually recovered; many of his followers fared far worse. Of the survivors, only a few stayed with him, their belief shaken by the utter failure of the attack. Yet Trent, once recovered from his injuries, still refused to give up. The only way to avoid his crippling guilt was to keep pushing forward, and so he did.

    At the end of his time in hiding, he discovered an amazing opportunity: with most of Shyne's resources completely stripped away, the Omegadrones were moving one of the immense colony ships down from orbit to be disassembled. Moving swiftly and silently, he and his remaining band salvaged the vessel's main computer. Though much of the data was corrupted, Trent was able to recover schematics for a number of devices that had been developed on distant Earth, among them a nano-weave Biosuit.

    It took nearly two years of raiding and salvaging, nipping at the heels of Omega's efforts with little result, to gather the components required for the suit, especially with the intensive modifications that Trent had made to the design. But when he finally assembled it, he immediately knew that it was more than just a protective device; it would become a symbol. When he donned it Trent Venfield faded away, and in his place stood Defiant, tyranny's foe.

    The remaining rebels flocked to Defiant's banner as word of his victories against the patrols spread. Trent made no secret of who he was, but with time even the survivors of his failed internment camp assault came to accept him once again as success mounted on success. For the first time, the rebels of Shyne truly became an irritation. Patrols increased, only to be picked off one by one. Strip mining efforts were sabotaged, the machines blown apart and the metals they had collected stolen.

    But Shyne was still being consumed, and after nearly thirty years the process was almost complete. The final strip mining runs would leave the planet little more than dust, and the last of the population was scheduled to be herded into the factories. Trent knew that all would soon be lost, but Defiant gave no thought to such things. He planned a new, bold move to slow the process, just as he had before, but this time he was wiser. He would not assault the camp; that was expected. He would destroy the factory.

    The rebels spent nearly a year building the Oblivion Bomb, a device designed to simply disintegrate everything in its vicinity. This would be placed in the center of the planet's largest Omegadrone factory; Omega could see how he liked seeing things that belonged to him reduced to nothingness. The factory, less guarded than the adjacent camp, was infiltrated and the bomb placed and armed. Then, suddenly, a vast force of Omegadrones surrounded the facility with Defiant and his strike team still inside.

    They had been sold out by one of their own, terrified of his seemingly inevitable death, who had given their location in exchange for freedom; the promise, of course, had not been kept, for Omega and his servants care little for bargains or fairness. The Omegadrones swarmed into the factory's halls, determined to disarm the bomb, while the rebels fought them off as best they could, hoping both to escape and to ensure that the mission had not been wasted. In the end, the struggles of each doomed the other.

    The Oblivion Bomb did not explode so much as simply pulse, sending out an energy wave that left nothing and no one standing where the factory had once been save a vast, empty hole. Defiant only hoped that the rebels would find a new leader to continue the fight, that somehow Shyne might be saved, or at least escaped. He felt nothing. And then he opened his eyes and found himself lying on his back on a world of blue skies, the aches of his body telling him that he was still alive.

    For at the center of the Oblivion Bomb, powering it, had been the malfunctioning hyperdrive that brought humankind to Shyne.

    Personality & Motivation:

    Trent isn't a genius, but he is smart, smart enough to know that he had no chance on Shyne. Yet he put aside that knowledge because it didn't accomplish anything. For years he deceived himself, let himself think that he was making a difference; he knew he only had one shot at life, and he made the simple decision spend it doing something worthwhile whether he could succeed or not. His determination was infectious partially because it was so unusual, and it became his legendary mask as much as his armor, hiding his faults and doubts.

    It stands to reason, then, that Trent's presence on Earth leaves him very confused. He has no one to lead and no all-important mission. Most of all, he has discovered that the lifting of the grim certainty of going down fighting has left him without a clear path or purpose. He is a hero partly because he knows it is right, partly because he wants to defend a world that's so much better than his home it's incomparable, and partly because he has no idea what he would do with himself otherwise.

    As someone who had to grow up fast and then lead without showing hesitation, fear, or doubt, Trent is finding it strange to be in a place where he can genuinely feel emotion. Nothing is expected of him; he can live his life however he chooses. But he only knows one way to live, and one way to go about living that way. His relationships have been about allies rather than friends, a choice made to help him lead without bias. It will be a long time before he overcomes this way of thinking, if indeed he ever does.

    Powers & Tactics:

    Defiant is a skillful fighter both up close and at range, with a number of methods of incapacitating foes at his disposal. His staff is usually his only weapon, but between it and the protection afforded by his suit he can hold his own in a direct battle. His hoverboard lends him mobility, allowing him to catch fleeing foes, negotiate difficult terrain, and fire from a position of advantage. His suit's stealth systems allow him to scout an area before moving in as well as to ambush his enemies.

    In short, Defiant is equipped for a wide range of situations.


    Complications:

    Health Issues: Trent's years on Shyne were not kind to him; though he's quite physically fit, an unpleasant combination of old injuries and stress-related complications has prematurely aged him in body as well as mind. Since he doesn't know what else to do but be a hero, the situation is unlikely to improve.

    Illegal Alien: Trent makes no secret of his name or origin (though he doesn't publicize it, either), but that doesn't change the fact that he has no legal status, job, property, or education. He is technically a dimensional refugee who never actually went through border control.

    Terminus Refugee: Though the escape of a single rebel from a world that will soon cease to exist matters little to Omega, twenty-eight years of hell matter immensely to Trent. Though generally level-headed and unemotional to the point of being frustrating, Terminus-related phenomena make him uncomfortable at best.

    "You Don't Know How Good You've Got It": Earth is a big step up from Shyne, to put things very mildly, and Trent is absolutely determined to make sure that it doesn't suffer the same fate his home did. Usually this manifests as a cold anger toward the criminals who drag down the planet for everyone else. In case of external invaders, however, he gets a whole lot angrier.

    Abilities: 6 + 8 + 4 + 6 + 4 + 4 = 32PP

    Strength: 16 (+3)

    Dexterity: 18 (+4)

    Constitution: 14 (+2)

    Intelligence: 16 (+3)

    Wisdom: 14 (+2)

    Charisma: 14 (+2)

    Combat: 24 + 12 = 36PP

    Initiative: +8

    Attack: +12

    Grapple: +15

    Defense: +10 (+6 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed

    Knockback: -5

    Saving Throws: 6 + 6 + 8 = 20PP

    Toughness: +10 (+2 Con, +4 Mimetic Stealth Biosuit, +4 Defensive Roll)

    Fortitude: +8 (+2 Con, +6)

    Reflex: +10 (+4 Dex, +6)

    Will: +10 (+2 Wis, +8)

    Skills: 72R = 18PP

    Craft: Electronic 12 (+15)

    Computers 12 (+15)

    Concentration 8 (+10)

    Diplomacy 8 (+10)

    Disable Device 12 (+15)

    Knowledge: Technology 12 (+15)

    Notice 8 (+10)

    Feats: 13PP

    Defensive Roll 2

    Dodge Focus 4

    Equipment 1

    Evasion 2

    Fearless

    Improved Initiative

    Inventor

    Uncanny Dodge (Hearing)

    Masterwork Electronic Tools (1 EP)

    Masterwork Disable Device Tools (1 EP)

    Masterwork Laptop Computer (1 EP)

    Mini-Tracer (1 EP)

    Night Vision Goggles (1 EP)

    Powers: 12 + 3 + 16 = 31PP

    Device 4 (Blast-Staff; Flaws: Easy to Lose (3pp per rank)) [12PP]

    Base Power:Blast 8 (Staff Bolt (Energy); Feats: Alternate Power 2, Improved Range, Precise) [20PP]

    Alternate Power: Strike 5 (Staff Bash (Physical); Extras: Linked (+0) to Stun; Feats: Mighty) {6PP}

    Linked Power: Stun 6 (Shock Prod (Energy); Extras: Linked (+0) to Strike) {12PP}

    Alternate Power: Snare 7 (Carbon Foam Projector (Physical); Feats: Improved Range, Precise, Reversible, Split Attack) {18PP}

    Device 1 (Hoverboard; Flaws: Easy to Lose (3pp per rank)) [3PP]

    Flight 5 (Hoverboard; Flaws: Platform (-1); Speed: 250 mph) [5PP]

    Device 4 (Mimetic Stealth Biosuit; Extras: Hard to Lose (4pp per rank)) [16PP]

    Immunity 9 (Bio-Regulator; Provides Life Support) [9PP]

    Super-Movement 1 (Gravitic Stabilizers; Provide Slow Fall) [2PP]

    Protection 4 (Flexible Nano-Plating) [4PP]

    Concealment 8 (Mimetic Stealth System; Flaws: Blending (-1), Passive (-1); Feats: Close Range; Concealment from All Visual Senses, All Auditory Senses, and All Olfactory Senses) [5PP]

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

    DC Block

    
    ATTACK                 RANGE     SAVE                        EFFECT
    
    Unarmed                Touch     DC18 Toughness (Staged)     Damage (Physical)
    
    Staff Blast            Ranged    DC23 Toughness (Staged)     Damage (Energy)
    
    Staff Bash             Touch     DC23 Toughness (Staged)     Damage (Physical)
    
    Shock Prod             Touch     DC16 Fortitude              Stun
    
    Carbon Foam Projector  Ranged    DC17 Reflex                 Snare
    
    

    Totals: Abilities (32) + Combat (36) + Saving Throws (20) + Skills (18) + Feats (13) + Powers (31) - Drawbacks (0) = 150/155 Power Points

  8. Yes, it would've been, but this has style points :D . In any case, my final change for this thread will be to put eight ranks in concentration, switching the two points needed out of the Fortitude Save modifier; now that Defiant has a nice sealed suit I'm not as worried about that, and +8 is the guideline I've been given anyway. With that done, I'm off to make my application.

    A major thank you to everyone who helped me! I really appreciate all the advice I've received.

  9. Oh dear. My mistake. For some reason I read "2 points" instead of "2 ranks" per sense type, and thought I was okay because of the Blending flaw. I've now modified it by adding the "Passive" flaw in addition to "Blending"; if I can get 2 ranks for 1 point, the math should work out correctly (4 ranks = 2 points for visual, 2 ranks each = 1 point each for auditory and olfactory, and 1 point for the feat = 5PP).

    It'll still be good for initial surprise attacks and for sneaking around, and since Defiant has other assets in a fight this shouldn't be too much of a setback. Perhaps I can modify it to work closer to how it was originally once I get some more PP under my belt. In any case, if I've still done it wrong please do let me know. Thanks again!

  10. Thank you both! Plunging to one's death is to be avoided. Fortunately, Airon's idea is not only pretty neat but also works out very nicely points-wise. I don't see anywhere that says that Flight with the Platform flaw can't be taken as a device; as I understand it, it would just mean that the power can't simply be "reactivated" with a concentration check if Defiant gets knocked off his hoverboard, which fits better in any case.

    Thanks to the flaw I can get the same rank of Flight for half the cost, which freed up three points. I decided to combine the fact that Defiant needs a parachute with the fact that an easy to lose life support device doesn't make much sense, as getting it ripped off while in vacuum would be just as unfortunate as getting one's jetpack ripped off while flying. This led to the transformation of the Bio-Regulator into the Mimetic Stealth Biosuit, inspired in part by Crysis.

    In an effort to consolidate points I cut half of Defiant's equipment and folded its functions into the suit; after all, the device is now hard to lose and thus makes a better store of points than equipment anyway. The Biosuit now acts as life support, a parachute, armor, and stealth capability all rolled into one. I had to cut some points to make it all fit, unfortunately including Master Plan and the related skill and feat, but I got it all to work in the end.

    Without further ado, Defiant v3.

    Player Name: Dragonsong

    Character Name: Defiant

    Power Level: 10 (150/150PP)

    Trade-Offs: +2 Attack / -2 Damage

    Unspent Power Points: 0

    Progress To Bronze Status: 0/30

    In Brief: Battle-hardened rebel from the Terminus, out to defend his new home.

    Abilities: 6 + 8 + 4 + 6 + 4 + 4 = 32PP

    Strength: 16 (+3)

    Dexterity: 18 (+4)

    Constitution: 14 (+2)

    Intelligence: 16 (+3)

    Wisdom: 14 (+2)

    Charisma: 14 (+2)

    Combat: 24 + 12 = 36PP

    Initiative: +8

    Attack: +12 Melee, +12 Ranged

    Grapple: +15

    Defense: +10 (+6 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed

    Knockback: -5

    Saving Throws: 8 + 6 + 8 = 20PP

    Toughness: +10 (+2 Con, +4 Mimetic Stealth Biosuit, +4 Defensive Roll)

    Fortitude: +8 (+2 Con, +6)

    Reflex: +10 (+4 Dex, +6)

    Will: +10 (+2 Wis, +8)

    Skills: 72R = 18PP

    Craft: Electronic 12 (+15)

    Computers 12 (+15)

    Concentration 8 (+10)

    Diplomacy 8 (+10)

    Disable Device 12 (+15)

    Knowledge: Technology 12 (+15)

    Notice 8 (+10)

    Feats: 13PP

    Defensive Roll 2

    Dodge Focus 4

    Equipment 1

    Evasion 2

    Fearless

    Improved Initiative

    Inventor

    Uncanny Dodge (Hearing)

    Commlink (1 mile radius radio communication) [1EP]

    Electronic Toolkit (Disable Device on elec. locks) [1EP]

    Lockpick Set (Disable Device on mechanical locks) [1EP]

    Masterwork Tools (+2 on Craft checks) [1EP]

    Night Vision Goggles (Darkvision or Infared Flashlight) [1EP]

    Powers: 12 + 3 + 16 = 31PP

    Device 4 (Blast-Staff; Flaws: Easy to Lose (3pp per rank)) [12PP]

    Blast 8 (Staff Bolt (Energy); Feats: Alternate Power 2, Improved Range, Precise) [20PP]

    Alternate Power: Strike 5 (Staff Bash (Physical); Extras: Linked (+0) to Stun; Feats: Mighty) {6PP}

    Linked Power: Stun 7 (Shock Prod (Energy); Extras: Linked (+0) to Strike) {14PP}

    Alternate Power: Snare 8 (Carbon Foam Projector (Physical); Feats: Improved Range, Precise, Reversible, Split Attack) {20PP}

    Device 1 (Hoverboard; Flaws: Easy to Lose (3pp per rank)) [3PP]

    Flight 5 (Hoverboard; Flaws: Platform (-1); Speed: 250mph) [5PP]

    Device 4 (Mimetic Stealth Biosuit; Extras: Hard to Lose (4pp per rank)) [16PP]

    Immunity 9 (Bio-Regulator; Provides Life Support) [9PP]

    Super-Movement 1 (Gravitic Stabilizers; Provide Slow Fall) [2PP]

    Protection 4 (Flexible Nano-Plating) [4PP]

    Concealment 4 (Mimetic Stealth System; Flaws: Blending (-1), Passive (-1); Feats: Close Range; Concealment from Visual Senses, Auditory Senses, Olfactory Senses) [5PP]

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

    DC Block

    
    ATTACK                 RANGE     SAVE                        EFFECT
    
    Unarmed                Touch     DC18 Toughness (Staged)     Damage (Physical)
    
    Staff Blast            Ranged    DC23 Toughness (Staged)     Damage (Energy)
    
    Staff Bash             Touch     DC23 Toughness (Staged)     Damage (Physical)
    
    Shock Prod             Touch     DC17 Fortitude              Stun
    
    Carbon Foam Projector  Ranged    DC18 Reflex                 Snare
    
    

    Totals: Abilities (32) + Combat (36) + Saving Throws (20) + Skills (18) + Feats (13) + Powers (31) - Drawbacks (0) = 150/150 Power Points

    If it turns out that it's illegal to combine the Platform flaw with Flying that's part of a device I'll have to take Platform Flying without the device (as I want to keep the hoverboard idea), in which case I'll probably drop Defiant's exotic saves to +8 across the board and reinstitute the Master Plan chain. Other than that I don't see any potential errors, but if they exist I would be grateful if someone would point them out.

    Thanks again for all the help thus far!

  11. Oops! Good catch on the illegal Linked. That was a holdover from when Strike was the main power, and I forgot to delete it when I put Blast there instead. Fixed now, and I've added the flight speed (which I believe should be 250mph, unless I'm reading the table wrong). If there are other formatting errors, I'd be glad to fix them; I don't want to make this any more frustrating for the staff than I already have.

    Thanks for the help!

  12. Thanks, Derin and KnightDisciple; those are excellent points. Building off of the advice I have received, I now present Defiant v2. Every day I'm shufflin' (points around, that is).

    In order to gain some powers while maintaining "normal human" status, I decided to go the Device route. I wanted something more "superhero" than a gun, and the illustration of the Omegadrones near the passage that inspired me depicted them with some nifty staff-blasters. As Defiant has been fighting the drones regularly it seemed reasonable that he could purloin one of them and modify it with his tech skills.

    I also gave a little thought to getting around and decided to go with the classic jetpack to avoid the "hero on the bus" issue. To finance these two devices I lowered his saves (a little), used Defensive Roll properly (I hope), eliminated most of his equipment (and re-jiggered the rest), scrapped the feats built around tripping with the chain, and made use of Dodge Focus. I also decided to lessen the Attack/Save DC trade-off to +2/-2.

    Quick question about alternate powers and the Linked extra: can I use the points from the original power and divide them between two linked powers? For example, is it legal to do as I have done below and say that the alternate power of a 20PP Blast 8 (with 4 feats) is Strike 5 with the mighty feat and Stun 7, both with the Linked extra (6PP + 14PP = 20PP)? I have a sinking feeling it's not, in which case I'll have to discard "mighty" and take Strike 8 with Penetrating and a couple of feats.

    Whatever the result, thanks again, all!

    Player Name: Dragonsong

    Character Name: Defiant

    Power Level: 10 (150/150PP)

    Trade-Offs: +2 Attack / -2 Damage

    Unspent Power Points: 0

    Progress To Bronze Status: 0/30

    In Brief: Battle-hardened rebel from the Terminus, out to defend his new home.

    Abilities: 6 + 8 + 4 + 6 + 4 + 4 = 32PP

    Strength: 16 (+3)

    Dexterity: 18 (+4)

    Constitution: 14 (+2)

    Intelligence: 16 (+3)

    Wisdom: 14 (+2)

    Charisma: 14 (+2)

    Combat: 24 + 12 = 36PP

    Initiative: +8

    Attack: +12 Melee, +12 Ranged

    Grapple: +15

    Defense: +10 (+6 Base, +4 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed

    Knockback: -5

    Saving Throws: 8 + 6 + 8 = 22PP

    Toughness: +10 (+2 Con, +4 Tactical Vest, +4 Defensive Roll)

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

    Reflex: +10 (+4 Dex, +6)

    Will: +10 (+2 Wis, +8)

    Skills: 80R = 20PP

    Craft: Electronic 12 (+15)

    Computers 12 (+15)

    Diplomacy 8 (+10)

    Disable Device 12 (+15)

    Knowledge: Tactics 8 (+11)

    Knowledge: Technology 12 (+15)

    Notice 8 (+10)

    Stealth 8 (+12)

    Feats: 16PP

    Benefit (Knowledge: Tactics on Master Plan)

    Defensive Roll 2

    Dodge Focus 4

    Equipment 2

    Evasion 2

    Fearless

    Improved Initiative

    Inventor

    Master Plan

    Uncanny Dodge (Hearing)

    Commlink (1 mile radius radio communication) [1EP]

    Electronic Toolkit (Disable Device on elec. locks) [1EP]

    Lockpick Set (Disable Device on mechanical locks) [1EP]

    Masterwork Tools (+2 on Craft checks) [1EP]

    Night Vision Goggles (Darkvision or Infared Flashlight) [1EP]

    Tactical Vest (Protection 4) [4EP]

    Urban Camo Clothing (+5 Stealth in Urban environment) [1EP]

    Powers: 12 + 6 + 6 = 24PP

    Device 4 (Blast-Staff; Flaws: Easy to Lose (3pp per rank)) [12PP]

    Blast 8 (Staff Bolt (Energy); Feats: Alternate Power 2, Improved Range, Precise) [20PP]

    Alternate Power: Strike 5 (Staff Bash (Physical); Extras: Linked (+0) to Stun; Feats: Mighty) {6PP}

    Linked Power: Stun 7 (Shock Prod (Energy); Extras: Linked (+0) to Strike) {14PP}

    Alternate Power: Snare 8 (Carbon Foam Projector (Physical); Feats: Improved Range, Precise, Reversible, Split Attack) {20PP}

    Device 2 (Jetpack; Flaws: Easy to Lose (3pp per rank)) [6PP]

    Flight 5 (Jetpack; 250mph) [10PP]

    Device 2 (Bio-Regulator; Flaws: Easy to Lose (3pp per rank)) [6PP]

    Immunity 10 (Bio-Regulator; Life Support, Starvation and Thirst) [10PP]

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

    DC Block

    
    ATTACK                 RANGE     SAVE                        EFFECT
    
    Unarmed                Touch     DC18 Toughness (Staged)     Damage (Physical)
    
    Staff Blast            Ranged    DC23 Toughness (Staged)     Damage (Energy)
    
    Staff Bash             Touch     DC23 Toughness (Staged)     Damage (Physical)
    
    Shock Prod             Touch     DC17 Fortitude              Stun
    
    Carbon Foam Projector  Ranged    DC18 Reflex                 Snare
    
    

    Totals: Abilities (32) + Combat (36) + Saving Throws (22) + Skills (20) + Feats (16) + Powers (24) - Drawbacks (0) = 150/150 Power Points

    I'm envisioning the bio-regulator as being part of a system that covers his entire body but is primarily housed in a mask which can be snatched away, leaving him exposed to the elements; hence the "easy to lose" designation, which might otherwise be a little hard to justify for an item that grants life support. The same system recycles body waste, which explains the starvation and thirst bit.

    Any and all suggestions are welcome!

  13. Hey, all! I'm very eager to get writing on what looks to be a truly amazing site. Unfortunately, my understanding of the MnM rules is... limited. Coming from a DnD background, where your class is built for you, I ended up with a trainwreck of a first attempt. To prevent my fridge-stuffed mistakes from clogging up the character bank I'll post my new concept here.

    I'm not terribly worried about whether the build is powerful or not, but I need a character that I can write as not getting his rear handed to him in every single thread as well as (obviously) one that's rules legal. Any advice anyone can provide is greatly appreciated. I hope to avoid the like of the memorable reminder that my mighty wizard could be grappled by "small woodland creatures" this time around.

    I was flipping through the Freedom City book when I happened on an interesting tidbit about worlds in the Terminus dominated by Omega, their populations gradually processed into Omegadrones. Naturally I felt a need to make a rebel. My first character went overboard with the magic, so this time I'm looking at a "no powers" character. Melee combat is based around his use of a chain to trip and disarm, which he'll combine with various bits of supporting equipment to help him survive in other situations.

    I hope you'll forgive me for not writing out the backstory beyond the seed I've given just yet; that part takes me about three times as long as the character sheet on a good day, even for a system I'm just starting to figure out. I'll form the sheet with the concept as the primary guideline and put the flesh on the skeleton when it's application time.

    Defiant, PL 10

    Player Name: Dragonsong

    Character Name: Defiant

    Power Level: 10 (150/150PP)

    Trade-Offs: +5 Attack / -5 Damage

    Unspent Power Points: 0

    Progress To Bronze Status: 0/30

    In Brief: Battle-hardened rebel from the Terminus, out to defend his new home.

    Abilities: 6 + 8 + 4 + 6 + 4 + 4 = 32PP

    Strength: 16 (+3)

    Dexterity: 18 (+4)

    Constitution: 14 (+2)

    Intelligence: 16 (+3)

    Wisdom: 14 (+2)

    Charisma: 14 (+2)

    Combat: 30 + 20 = 50PP

    Initiative: +4

    Attack: +15 Melee, +15 Ranged

    Grapple: +18

    Defense: +10 (+10 Base, +0 Dodge Focus), +5 Flat-Footed

    Knockback: -5

    Saving Throws: 8 + 10 + 8 = 26PP

    Toughness: +10 (+2 Con, +3 Undercover Vest, +5 Defensive Roll)

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

    Reflex: +14 (+4 Dex, +10)

    Will: +10 (+2 Wis, +8)

    Skills: 76R = 21PP

    Acrobatics 8 (+12)

    Craft: Electronic 12 (+15)

    Computers 12 (+15)

    Diplomacy 8 (+10)

    Disable Device 12 (+15)

    Knowledge: Tactics 8 (+11)

    Knowledge: Technology 12 (+15)

    Notice 8 (+10)

    Search 8 (+11)

    Stealth 8 (+12)

    Feats: 21PP

    Benefit (Knowledge: Tactics on Master Plan)

    Defensive Roll 5

    Equipment 5

    Evasion 2

    Fearless

    Improved Disarm 2

    Improved Throw

    Improved Trip

    Improvised Tools

    Inventor

    Master Plan

    Uncanny Dodge (Hearing)

    Blaster Pistol (Blast 5 (Energy), Range: 50ft) [10EP]

    Chain (Strike 2 (Mighty), +2 to Trip and Disarm, Range: 10ft) [7EP]

    Commlink (1 mile radius radio communication) [1EP]

    Night Vision Goggles (Darkvision or Infared Flashlight) [1EP]

    Rebreather (Provides 2 min (20 rounds) of oxygen) [1EP]

    Undercover Vest (Protection 3, Subtle) [4EP]

    Urban Camo Clothing (+5 Stealth in Urban environment) [1EP]

    Powers: 0 + 0 + 0 = 0PP

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

    DC Block

    
    ATTACK      RANGE     SAVE                        EFFECT
    
    Unarmed     Touch     DC18 Toughness (Staged)     Damage (Physical)
    
    Chain       Touch     DC20 Toughness (Staged)     Damage (Physical)
    
    Blaster     Ranged    DC20 Toughness (Staged)     Damage (Energy)

    Totals: Abilities (32) + Combat (50) + Saving Throws (26) + Skills (21) + Feats (21) + Powers (0) - Drawbacks (0) = 150/150 Power Points

    This character, in addition to being an experienced techie, has a "rebel leader" vibe thanks to Diplomacy, Know (Tactics), and Master Plan. I'm considering removing that aspect by taking out those skills and feats, dropping his Charisma to 12, and going a more combat-focused route with Improved Initiative x2, Improved Block x2, and Weapon Bind, plus Uncanny Dodge on sight in addition to hearing just in case (and to soak up that last point). I am confident I could write a good background either way.

    Alternatively, I could keep the leader and otherwise do much the same by dropping his reflex save to 10 and giving him Improved Initiative, Improved Block x2, and Weapon Bind. This might be a better idea, especially from a background standpoint; saves aren't all that interesting to write. I'm definitely leaning this way now that I've thought of it.

    Thoughts?

  14. Hm. I did not think this through as well as I should have. Could I request that this thread be deleted, please? I balanced my points to the Nth degree, but I misread the rules in a number of unfortunate places; the combination has made this a bit of a trainwreck. Take two will be better.

    That said, thanks for the prompt response and the helpful advice! Next time, no more min-maxing; being torn apart by squirrels would be an ignominious end.

  15. [floatr]2gqNR.jpg[/floatr]

    Player Name: Dragonsong

    Character Name: Numen

    Power Level: 10 (150/150PP)

    Trade-Offs: -5 Attack / +5 Damage

    Unspent Power Points: 0

    Progress To Bronze Status: 0/30

    In Brief: Demon-hunting sorcerer cursed with a tenuous hold on his soul.

    Alternate Identity: Ulysses “Yule†Eriksson

    Identity: Secret

    Birthplace: Denver, Colorado, USA

    Occupation: Unemployed

    Affiliations: Presently None

    Family: Joseph Eriksson (Father, Doctor), Patience Hall Eriksson (Mother, Doctor), Annabeth Ericksson Tremain (Sister, Businesswoman), Thomas Tremain (Brother-in-Law, Lawyer), Andy Tremain (Nephew, Toddler)

    Description:

    Age: 28 (DoB: December 1, 1983)

    Apparent Age: 28

    Gender: Male

    Ethnicity: Caucasian

    Height: 5’10â€

    Weight: 155 lbs

    Eyes: Sea Blue

    Hair: Chestnut Brown

    Of roughly average height, with smooth features and a lanky build, Yule is relatively handsome. His deep blue eyes are distant, as though seeing something beyond his immediate surroundings. Short chestnut-colored hair casually parted to the right frames his well-proportioned face, to which stubble that refuses to move beyond scraggly and actually become a beard clings unevenly. There are long bags beneath those faraway eyes and a slump to his posture that speak of perpetual exhaustion.

    Even so, he radiates calm collectedness and perfect focus.

    Power Descriptions:

    Yule’s magic is not particularly flashy, but it's still obvious that he's the one casting it thanks to the teal glow that surrounds him and his target while he's using it. He doesn’t have to move or speak to invoke it, though he sometimes does in order to help himself focus; he simply wills results to happen, pitting the power of his soul focused by the lens of his mind against the defenses of whatever foe he is battling. This can take the form of lifting and throwing cars, turning metal to ash, or opening yawning black gates that move him instantly across great distances, all without moving a muscle.

    History:

    The Alabaster Cabal was ancient when Atlantis fell; by the turn of the second millennium CE few remembered its existence, let alone its origins, and yet it endured. While the Supreme Sorcerers of Earth busied themselves protecting the dimension from the many and varied threats that assailed it, always on the defensive, the Cabal was striking back. They invaded the Netherworlds of the multiverse, doing battle with their Supreme Sorcerers and burning away shadows with searing light. Even more commonly, they battled the forces of the Infernal Dimensions.

    The Cabal was ever a thorn in the side of demons, for they cared nothing for rightful punishment; all was fair in war. They snatched tortured souls from the depths of hell to stop them from empowering their foes. They bound devils in mystic containers buried in Antarctic ice or even burning in the hearts of stars, for to destroy them was merely to give them the chance to form their bodies anew. And they used their power to break infernal contracts, cutting off the supply of souls at one of the most common sources wherever they could. When Tartarus lay empty, they vowed, and not before, they would be content.

    Members of the Cabal were expected to dedicate their entire lives to the pursuit of this goal, with no distractions, no outside commitments, and no hesitation. To find candidates with the focus, drive, and single-mindedness necessary to meet these criteria was never easy, but in the modern age of self-indulgence and skepticism fewer and fewer such men and women ever knew of or cared about the secret war. So when a bright young man like Ulysses “Yule†Eriksson went looking for something to dedicate his life to, the Cabal was glad indeed to be found.

    Yule grew up to be a thoughtful, outgoing youth with a love of mythology and an attitude that put people at ease. Smart and hardworking, with a full ride to American University and competitive offers from half a dozen other prestigious colleges, he nonetheless found that he was not content with his life. He wanted a cause, something he could believe in and work toward unconditionally, and he couldn’t find it in politics or even community service. There were always shades of grey; he was always forced to ask if what he was doing was unambiguously right, and he always had to answer “noâ€.

    At the age of seventeen, the summer before he was to attend college, he left home to look for such a cause. Though a homebody at heart, and very close to his family, he felt that leaving was necessary no matter how painful it was. Since he was not yet an adult he could only go so far; he was, for all intents and purposes, a runaway, and that limited his travel options. He would probably have been found in short order if not for a combination of his own determination and sheer chance; in the little town of Purgatory, in southern Utah, he happened to encounter a member of the Cabal.

    The sorcerer, whose name was Trent Drake, sensed something unusual about the youth, and the two of them ended up talking over cups of coffee. When Yule expressed his desire to dedicate himself to something unconditionally good, without moral complexity, Drake knew that he had found a promising candidate. Revealing who he was, he made Yule the offer the young man had been waiting all his life to hear. It would not be easy, Drake warned, and there was no guarantee that Yule would ever be able to channel magic; some people simply never could, and most people lacked the focus. But the choice was still clear.

    The next five years of Yule’s life were spent under Drake’s tutelage, isolated in the secret dimensional fortress of the Alabaster Cabal. Months passed in meditation, pausing for little save a few hours’ sleep and a simple meal every so often. It was three years of this search for perfect focus before Yule manifested his first spell: moving a pebble the size of his knuckle an inch without touching it. Yet concentration and experience built upon one another, and his pace of learning shot upward over the following two years. He became a potent telekinetic, able to crush a car by looking at it.

    To force his student to continue learning at the same voracious pace, and perhaps even faster, Drake put him in the field: by his twenty-fourth birthday Yule had literally been to hell and back, an experience that shook him but reaffirmed his sense of purpose so powerfully that he finally felt certain he had chosen the right path. Nearly four years later he was a rising star amongst the ranks of the Cabal, propelled by a soul burning bright with purpose. This soul drew notice from the highest ranks of the organization: it could not match them, and likely never would, but it was wasted as a footsoldier.

    On Yule’s twenty-eighth birthday, Drake came to him flushed with pride. He explained that the young sorcerer had been granted a great honor, and imparted a secret: the original founder of the Cabal was still alive, countless millennia after the crusade against hell had begun. This being, mighty and righteous, was sustained by the souls of powerful young mages like Yule so that its crusade could continue forever, and it had just deemed him worthy to lend his own soul to this preservation. A piece of him would live on forever, granting power to the greatest among them.

    Yule knew the consequences of surrendering his soul: he would lose not only his magic but also his empathy, becoming a sociopathic, murderous husk that would be cast into utter oblivion when death finally took it. Drake explained that it was indeed so, and that Yule would be “euthanized†after the removal of his soul to prevent him from hurting anyone; this was the ultimate sacrifice, one that would guarantee him a place of honor in the histories of the Cabal’s unending battle. In all the millennia this custom had been practiced, not one mage had refused to do this greatest of duties.

    Yet Yule did what no other had done: full of fear, he hesitated. His devotion was not to the Cabal; it never had been. He had dedicated himself to the battle, to a worthy struggle against certain evil, not to any institution. Perhaps more importantly, he was afraid of dying a lonely, forsaken death, stripped of everything that mattered and denied any chance at an afterlife. So he did what no other had done: he said no. Drake, in shock, took this message to his superiors. After long deliberation, they decided that refusal was never really an option; it was for the good of the order. The mages of the Cabal came in force to ensure that the command was obeyed.

    In a second betrayal, Yule broke the sanctity of a hall that had never seen bloodshed in eons of existence. He fought back tooth and nail, his back to the wall and his tremendous determination turned toward survival. Yet he was but one mage; he could not stand against the Cabal’s greatest. In disgust they struck him with a powerful curse designed to strip away the soul he had sought to retain, then cast him out, banishing him to the world from which he had come. Yule hardly felt the loss of the purpose he had worked so long and so hard to gain: he was in survival mode, his soul the only thing on his mind.

    Throwing all of his power into the working of a great spell, Yule found that he could only delay the inevitable: he could slow the weakening of his soul but not stop it, like clamping his hands over a spurting fountain. One day, perhaps one day very soon, he would become that vile shell unless he could find some way to stop the bleed or restore what had been lost. This became his purpose: to become whole again before he became a monster consigned to utter destruction of both others and, ultimately, himself. And so he journeyed to the place he had always heard was the home of powerful beings who might be able to help him: Freedom City.

    To hide who he had been, he took the name of Numen.

    Personality & Motivation:

    Yule is greatly changed from when he was a youth. Where once he was vibrant and outgoing he became calm and reserved, listening more than he spoke and able to focus to a degree unmatched by most mortals. Now the second great change in his life has occurred: the young man who has braved hell itself more than once is afraid. His own mortality is crashing down on him; everything he ever worked for, let alone took for granted, is ticking away. He could become a maniac devoid of the only things he values, morality and his power to do good, in six months or six minutes. There is no way to know when his defense will be undone.

    Beneath the all-consuming need to find a way to survive his impending destruction, Yule knows that he has been cut off from his real purpose. He secretly wonders if the Cabal was right and he was selfish to refuse to make the ultimate sacrifice; his only defense is to assure himself that he is still devoted to the cause of good, and that leaving the Cabal hasn’t changed that. This need to believe that the Cabal’s demand was unreasonable drives him to ever-greater acts of heroism, partly because he knows that such is the right use of his powers and partly to salvage the joyous purpose he once felt.

    Quiet and courteous, Yule is more readily convinced by actions than words. He trusts when a reason to trust is demonstrated and mistrusts when given a reason for such, doing his best to avoid making assumptions based on appearances. He is out of touch with the world because he has spent the past decade away from it in places where its happenings are irrelevant, but is simultaneously patient and eager to understand. He does not often confide in others, especially after his sudden falling-out (to put it mildly) with his longtime friends in the Cabal, but is loyal and supportive to those who earn his respect.

    Powers & Tactics:

    Yule is a mobile combatant, teleporting across the battlefield before assailing his targets with powerful magic. His power, drawn from his soul and focused through his mind, does not require speech or gesture and often visually consists of only a soft teal glow, making him considerably less flashy to watch than many wizards but no less effective. Though accustomed to fighting demons, with whom he did not have to pull any punches, Yule is a believer in the value of life (especially with his own in such jeopardy), and his control over his magic is easily capable of reducing his attacks to nonlethal levels of strength.

    Complications:

    Cabal’s Disdain: Though once a promising member of the Alabaster Cabal, Yule is now a living stain on honor otherwise unblemished for millennia. This does not sit well with his former allies.

    Fading Soul: Bit by bit, Yule is suffering a fate worse than death, likely followed by utter death. The very first effect of this process is nightmares that terrify someone who has been to hell and back without fear.

    Identity: Yule keeps his identity secret by using the name of Numen both to protect his family from demonic enemies made during his time with the Alabaster Cabal and to avoid the shame he feels at leaving them a decade ago.

    Out of Touch: It’s been ten years since Yule spent any significant amount of time on Earth. He has no property save what he carries, is legally dead, and is utterly unfamiliar with the events of the past decade.

    Powerful Enemies: Yule was, until recently, an active part of an organization that was a thorn in the side of the rulers of the Infernal Dimensions for millennia. Now he has no allies among them and no fewer grudges against him.

    Abilities: 0 + 4 + 0 + 6 + 6 + 4 = 20PP

    Strength: 10 (+0)

    Dexterity: 14 (+2)

    Constitution: 10 (+0)

    Intelligence: 16 (+3)

    Wisdom: 16 (+3)

    Charisma: 14 (+2)

    Combat: 0 + 10 = 10PP

    Initiative: +10

    Attack: +0 Melee, +0 Ranged

    Grapple: +0

    Defense: +10 (+5 Base, +5 Dodge Focus), +3 Flat-Footed

    Knockback: -0

    Saving Throws: 10 + 8 + 7 = 25PP

    Toughness: +10 (+0 Con, +10 Force Field)

    Fortitude: +10 (+0 Con, +10)

    Reflex: +10 (+2 Dex, +8)

    Will: +10 (+3 Wis, +7)

    Skills: 48R = 12PP

    Concentration 12 (+15)

    Diplomacy 6 (+8)

    Knowledge: Arcane Lore 12 (+15)

    Knowledge: History 10 (+13)

    Language 2 (Latin and Arabic, two mystical languages)

    Notice 6 (+9)

    Feats: 11PP

    Dodge Focus 5

    Fearless

    Improved Initiative 2

    Trance

    Uncanny Dodge 2

    Powers: 65 + 12 + 0 = 77PP

    Magic 30 (Feats: Alternate Power 5) [65PP] (Spellcasting (Magic))

    Base Power: Mental Blast 15 (Mind Needles (Magic, Mental)) {60/60 Magic PP}

    Alternate Power: Disintegrate 12 (Ashen Laughter (Magic); Extras: Range (+1)) {60/60 Magic PP}

    Alternate Power: Telekinesis 15 (Mage Hand (Magic); Extras: Damaging (+1), Perception (+1)) {60/60 Magic PP}

    Alternate Power: Nullify 15 (Counterspell (Magic) Extras: Counters All Magic Descriptor Powers (2PP per rank), Duration (+1), Power Resistance (+1)) {60/60 Magic PP}

    Alternate Power: Teleport 9 (Arcane Gate (Magic); Extras: Accurate (+1), Portal (+2); Feats: Change Direction, Change Velocity, Turnabout, Progression (Portal Size) 2) {60/60 Magic PP}

    Alternate Power: Astral Form 11 (Path of Silver (Magic, Dimensional); Feats: Subtle 2, Dimensional 3) {60/60 Magic PP}

    Device 4 (Sun Droplet Brooch (Magic); Flaws: Easy to Lose (3PP per rank)) [12PP]

    Force Field 10 (Luminous Armor (Magic); Extras: Impervious (+1)) {20/20 Device PP}

    Drawbacks: (-4) + (-1) = -5PP

    Impoverished (General; Frequency: Uncommon; Intensity: Minor) [-1PP]

    Recurring Nightmares (General; Frequency: Very Common; Intensity: Moderate) [-4PP]

    DC Block

    
       ATTACK         RANGE             SAVE                 EFFECT
    
     Mind Needles  Perception        Will DC 30              Damage
    
    Ashen Laughter Perception  Fort DC 22/Tough DC 27   Tough Drain/Damage
    
     Mage Hand     Perception       Tough DC 30              Damage
    
     

    Totals: Abilities (20) + Combat (10) + Saving Throws (25) + Skills (12) + Feats (11) + Powers (77) - Drawbacks (5) = 150/150 Power Points

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