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Found 10 results

  1. Vibora City Morgue, 13th February 2020, Probably to Early for most Latresia Barnes was not having a good day, already having spent far to long trying to sort out something for tomorrow and it might all be for naught either. She wasn’t meant to be in today but the police had insisted she came in and did this one, a body found abandoned in the Oldcorne district with the old money of there insisting it been handled quickly and quietly. “Female around 20 years old, appears human. Corpse is overly pale and appears emaciated.” she intoned into the recorder as she began to prep for the autopsy, it was always sad when they died this young “No outwards signs of wound on the body, will now open up the body. What the f…?” Opening the corpse the smell of decay filled the room, no something unexpected but not as someone who had apparently died so recently. The source of the smell was more obvious from the internal organs, that appeared withered and mummified and not the type of organs you’d find in someone so freshly dead. It was something that beyond her knowledge, however skilled she was, it was something for those with a very different skill set. “We better get the Police Chief down here, and see if those new superheroes of ours are free to come on down.”
  2. Persephone Vibora Bay, December 2019, A a chilly Thursday evening Camellia Blume lounged on her living room couch, pulling a quilt tighter around her shoulders despite already wearing a heavy sweater. Occasionally she jumped when she caught the flicker in the corner of her eye of the flames dancing in the fireplace. Since her transformation, fire was one of the few things that could still seriously hurt her, and she knew it on a primal level. She'd never been particularly afraid of fire until she'd bonded with the plant-symbiote. But the house she was renting was old; that's how she got such a good deal on the rent in the first place. It didn't have central heating, and, paradoxically, her transformation had also heightened her sensitivity to the cold, so during the winter months, the fireplace was essential. She only half paid attention to the Hallmark movie playing in front of her while she thumbed at her smartphone. For once, Camellia seemed to have a real weekend ahead of her. No supervillains were brawling in the streets or taking the mayor hostage. She didn't have any familial obligations or conferences to attend or new treatment options to research or backlogs of notes from patient sessions to review. No appointments with the accountant or the lawyer she'd had to retain to make sure all the "i"s and "t"s were dotted and crossed for her practice. "Without them, how would I know PRECISELY how much money I'm still losing on it?" She laughed, then mumbled to herself some more. "Maybe I should go up to five session days a week...or would that just make me lose more money faster?" She pulled up her calendar and wrote herself a reminder to email her accountant. She didn't actually write the email; that would tip the scales of work/life balance she was trying so hard to maintain for once. When the movie reached the high point of the lead couple's courtship, Camellia got caught up enough in the moment to open the ErosUnlimited app again. She hadn't known that he was on EU until The MatchMaker recommended his profile to her. In fact, she hadn't checked the app since she'd met him. During the following weeks, she'd gone back and checked his profile again, more times than she'd be comfortable admitting to anyone, least of all to him. But she hadn't messaged him yet. She was hoping he'd reach out first. Maybe he'd recognize Persephone despite her flimsy disguise, or maybe he'd just be drawn to Camellia on her own merits. She kept going back and forth in her own mind. He had me at "Bonjour", but he's movin' about as fast as a herd o' turtles. It's not like I've been subtle. Maybe I came on too strong and scared him off? Or maybe he's just worried about making me uncomfortable. After all, in a way, we are coworkers. Maybe he's just busy. Sure, but so am I. Or maybe it's just wishful thinking on my part and I'm not his type and he's trying to be polite by ignoring it when I throw myself at him. No, there's something there. It can't just be all in my head...can it? Her finger hovered over the "MESSAGE" button hesitantly, then withdrew, then hovered again. "UGH!" Her head snapped back and she rolled her eyes. She typed up a message and sent it quickly, not giving herself enough time to talk herself out of it again. Marcus Dumont received the following message from Camellia's profile: Rapunzel's waiting up here in the tower, ready to let her hair down, if only a knight in shining armor would ride by... ? The woman in the profile pictures looked familiar to Marcus. He'd definitely seen her before, though he couldn't remember where.
  3. Persephone Gather Information DC10: Persephone is a superhero, one of Vibora Bay's official City Defenders. She controls plants. DC15: By superhero standards, Persephone is a pacifist. She's friendly and nonthreatening. Even before she became a City Defender, she was the kind of superhero who waited for the cops and talked to reporters. She doesn't just control plants. She's at least part-plant herself. She doesn't need to breathe. When someone tries to choke or drown her, it does nothing. When she gets shot or stabbed, you can see green stuff inside her, and she doesn't bleed much, if at all. She mostly just leaks a little sap, and then her body knits itself back together. The following information cannot be obtained with a Well-Informed check. It can only be obtained with an active use of the Gather Information skill. A character who actively uses their Gather Information skill on Persephone will not obtain any of the following unless they make a point of searching for potentially restricted information. If they do, then they also need to make a contested Gather Information check against Persephone. If she wins, then she will be alerted to their inquiries. They can avoid the contested check by taking a -20 penalty to their original Gather Information checks for a Discrete Inquiry (or if the have the relevant challenge feat). DC20: Most sightings of Persephone happen in the western half of Vibora Bay. She probably lives in Weston. The New Shadows gang has the word out that they'll pay for any information about Persephone. DC25: Persephone has a secret identity. She's Doctor Camellia Blume, a local psychiatrist. She destroyed an entire pack of New Shadows affiliated vampires, and the rest of the gang wants revenge. DC30: AEGIS has been aware of Persephone the entire time she's been operating as a superhero. They always suspected her of having a secret identity, since she had no known residence or occupation. They had a handful of suspects, including Doctor Blume. But they did not consider Persephone to be a threat, and there were no open warrants for her arrest, so AEGIS only did a routine preliminary investigation into her, and they kept the results strictly internal. When she became a City Defender, her identity became a matter of (secret) record, and AEGIS was able to add that record to their own file on her. An appropriate Profession sub-skill can be substituted for any of these skills. Knowledge (Cosmology) DC30: There used to be an alternate Earth where they genetically engineered plants to form symbiotic bonds with human soldiers, turning them into biological weapons. It wasn't enough to protect them from Omega, and that dimension fell to the Terminus years ago. Persephone has the exact same powers as those hybrid super-soldiers. Knowledge (Life Sciences) DC10: Plants aren't supposed to do that! DC15: Plants are physically incapable of doing that for a dozen different reasons. Physics don't even work that way, never mind biology. DC20: Plants don't just respond to her direct commands. They dive to take the bullet when she doesn't even know she's being shot at. There's some kind of instinctive, intuitive communication happening between them, probably over an olfactory or psychic medium. Knowledge (Popular Culture) Decrease the DC of this check by -5 if your character lives in Vibora Bay, or if they do their research in Vibora Bay. DC10: There's a superhero in Vibora Bay called "Persephone". There's also a green-skinned plant-controller in Vibora Bay. They might be the same person. DC15: Persephone is a superhero, one of Vibora Bay's official City Defenders. She controls plants. DC20: By superhero standards, Persephone is a pacifist. She's friendly and nonthreatening. Even before she became a City Defender, she was the kind of superhero who waited for the cops and talked to reporters. DC25: Persephone doesn't just control plants. She's at least part-plant herself. She doesn't need to breathe. When someone tries to choke or drown her, it does nothing. When she gets shot or stabbed, you can see green stuff inside her, and she doesn't bleed much, if at all. She mostly just leaks a little sap, and then her body knits itself back together. Knowledge (Streetwise) DC20: The New Shadows gang has the word out that they'll pay for information about Persephone. DC25: Persephone destroyed a whole pack of vampires affiliated with the New Shadows. The entire gang has standing orders to capture or kill her. They haven't put a price on her head because they want to be the ones to take it. Knowledge (Theology & Philosophy) DC10: Persephone was a figure from Greek mythology. DC15: In Greco-Roman myth, Persephone has something to do with plants, and winter. DC20: Persephone was the daughter of Demeter (Ceres) and Zeus (Jupiter). Hades (Pluto) kidnapped her and tricked her into marrying him and becoming queen of the Underworld. She spends half the year with her mother on Mount Olympus, but she has to spend the other half in the Underworld. Demeter's grief at her daughter's absence is what causes winter. It's unlikely that the superhero of the same name is directly related to her in any way. Camellia Blume Gather Information DC10: Camellia Blume is a self-employed, fully licensed and board-certified psychiatrist living in Vibora Bay. Her practice in Weston is publicly listed. DC15: Camellia was born in Vibora Bay in 1989. She grew up in Easton, where the rest of her family still lives. She went to private school for primary and secondary education, then attended college at Sinclair University, and medical school at the University of Florida in Vibora Bay. She graduated high school in 2007, got her Bachelor's degree in 2011, and got her M.D. in 2015. She worked as a model in both America and Europe from ages 12-26. She was a cheerleader and frequent beauty pageant contestant (always at least a semifinalist) from middle school up through college. In high school, she was homecoming queen, prom queen, class president, and captain of her cheerleading squads. In college, she was a vice-president of their chapter of the Omega Beta Gamma sorority. She has a twin brother, who's married to one of her sorority sisters, with two children. Her parents are also both Sinclair alumni. Her mother was a cheerleader and her father played football. Her mother runs her own interior design firm. Her father and brother are both executives at Vibora Petroleum. Doctor Blume's practice charges her patients on a sliding scale based on their income, and accepts every insurance provider. The following information cannot be obtained with a Well-Informed check. It can only be obtained with an active use of the Gather Information skill. A character who actively uses their Gather Information skill on Persephone will not obtain any of the following unless they make a point of searching for potentially restricted information. If they do, then they also need to make a contested Gather Information check against Persephone. If she wins, then she will be alerted to their inquiries. They can avoid the contested check by taking a -20 penalty to their original Gather Information checks for a Discrete Inquiry (or if the have the relevant challenge feat). DC20: Doctor Blume's practice is just her, working out of a rented apartment. Not only is she not charging what she's worth, but on some of her patients, she might not even be breaking even. Blume's parents own over a hundred restaurant franchise and rental properties across Vibora Bay and north Florida. Her father was an engineer at Vibora Petroleum before moving up to management. The lady's squeaky clean. She's never been sued, never been arrested, never gotten so much as a speeding ticket. Her parents never even grounded her when she was a kid. Why are you even asking about her? DC25: Doctor Camellia Blume is secretly the superhero Persephone, one of Vibora Bay's official City Defenders. DC30: AEGIS had always suspected Doctor Blume of being Persephone, but since she was not considered a threat and there were no open warrants for her arrest, they only did a routine preliminary investigation, which was kept strictly internal. When she became a City Defender, her identity became a matter of (secret) record, and AEGIS was able to add that record to their own file on her. An appropriate Profession sub-skill can be substituted for any of these skills. Knowledge (Behavioral Sciences) or Medicine DC10: Camellia Blume is a psychiatrist, fully licensed and board-certified. She runs her own publicly-listed practice. She charges her patients on a sliding scale based on their income, and she accepts every insurance provider. DC15: Camellia Blume earned her M.D. from the University of Florida Vibora Bay, one of the top medical schools in the country. She completed her residency at their teaching hospital. DC20: Camellia Blume graduated from UFVB with honors. DC25: Not only is Doctor Blume not charging what she's worth, but on some of her patients, she might not even be breaking even. Knowledge (Business) DC10: Camellia Blume is a self-employed psychiatrist. Her practice is publicly listed. She charges on a sliding scale. DC15: Camellia's father and twin brother are both executives at Vibora Petroleum. DC20: Camellia's mother runs an interior design firm. They mostly do theme parks, museums, and private residences. Her father started at VP as an engineer before moving to management. DC25: Camellia's parents own over a hundred different residential properties and restaurant franchises throughout northern Florida. Not only is Doctor Blume not charging what she's worth, but on some of her patients, she might not even be breaking even. Knowledge (Popular Culture) DC10: You've seen that woman's face before. DC15: That woman is a model. You've seen that face before in a print advertisement somewhere, in a magazine or a newspaper, or on a billboard. DC20: That's Camellia Blume. She used to be a model and a cheerleader, and she won a bunch of beauty pageants. DC25: That's Camellia Blume. She was a model from 2001-2015, a cheerleader at Sinclair University from 2007-2011, a cheerleader for the University of Florida Gators from 2011-2015, and a runner-up in the Miss Florida pageant for three years in a row, from 2008-2010.
  4. @RocketLord Camellia's reputation tables are at the bottom of Persephone's guidebook page. With her full name and professional details, Marcus can do basic online searches and get most of the information listed there, even with his low-to-nonexistent bonuses in the relevant skills.
  5. Vibora Bay. Easton Tangle. Dragoneer’s Townhouse. It had been a few-ish days since the whole giant…zombie…lizard…thing…and Dragoneer was still just a bit cranky. It was all right, honestly, he’d had a concert and then a match so he’d been having a busy and productive night. But maaaaan, what a way to make your debut onto the scene. UDK was dressed as he always was, and was pacing in front of his own front door. He’d never admit it, but meeting new people was stressful. He never knew how they’d respond to his unique brand of personal charisma. The townhouse was full of his merchandise (posters, action figures, one standee, etc), with photos of friends and family (except those with the surname Maguire) scattered on the walls and tables. Hey, Niro? The invitations went out, right? I didn’t daydream that? Didn’t think about it instead of doing it? Niro Saki, bestest pal to the one and only Ultimate Dragon Knight, was seated on UDK’s couch, reading a thin paperback. He too, was dressed as he always was. Around him on a few tables was a lovely spread of refreshments. The bigscreen television was on but muted. He did not look up. No, Dragoneer. You followed through. I watched. UDK nodded and kept pacing. Cool. Cool cool cool. Cool. I guess they’ll…be here when they’ll be here. He blew air out through his mouth. Niro turned the page. A watched pot never boils. The moment I leave is when the first one shows up. Paranoia. Gospel truth. I somehow doubt that. Dragoneer stopped pacing. All right, I’ll…watch TV, I guess. He sat down in his recliner and unmuted the television for the latest celebrity news. Ironically, it was not news to him. Because it was about him and his move to Vibora. Click. New channel, hello sports.
  6. City Hall, Vibora Bay. September 5th, 2019. Noon. In a conference room just down the hall from the mayor's office, seven very unique individuals were gathering around a long table in comfortable chairs. Coffee and bagels had been provided by the mayor's staff, but several of the heroes of Hurricane Dorian craved more substantial fare, so a take-out menu for the Mediterranean place next door led to the room now being full of the smell of seasoned lamb and other savory delicacies. While the food did indeed smell delicious to young Taye Sullivan. So while the others were splitting up the various meats, rice and breads, she poured herself a cup of hot water and took a seat. "It's indeed exciting to have the opportunity to work with you all again," she said in her clear, deep voice as she fished two clear Ziploc bags out of her coverall pockets; one appeared to hold a few pieces of rusted metal, the other several spark plugs. "Of course, last night's work largely took place in the heat of the moment, with little or no planning. it will be interesting to see how we work together when we have more time to talk about things like strategy or logistics." Taye gingerly took several pieces of rust out of the bag and carefully crumbled them into her hot water, which she then stirred with a plastic spoon. "Perhaps we should first take the time to talk about our abilities, strengths and weaknesses before we go any further? As of right now, I am primarily limited to assuming vehicular shapes, but I hope to move beyond that by testing myself further." She took a sparkplug out of her second bag, popped it in her mouth, and washed it down with a sip of rust tea, all the while looking at the others expectantly.
  7. In Brief: Moonstone meets Poison Ivy meets Sue Storm, with a dash of Venom, and side helpings of Elle Woods and Blanche Devereaux. Character: Persephone Power Level: 14 (Built as PL10) Tradeoffs: None (At PL10: -2 Attack / +2 Damage, -2 Defense / +2 Toughness) Power Points: 205/205 Unspent Points: 0 Alternate Identity: Camellia Blume, M.D. Identity: Secret Legal Status: Municipal Defender (City of Vibora Bay), USA citizen with no criminal record Birthplace: Vibora Bay, Florida Base of Operations: Vibora Bay, Florida Residence: A rented house in Atwater Occupation: Municipal Defender (City of Vibora Bay), Psychiatrist (self-employed, private practice) Affiliations: City of Vibora Bay (Municipal Defender), Sinclair University (alumnus), University of Florida School of Medicine (alumnus), Omega Beta Gamma (alumnus), Florida Board of Medicine (licensed physician), American Medical Association (board-certified psychiatrist) Family: Lena Blume née Moore (Mother), Bernard "Bernie" Blume (Father), Jason "J.B." Blume (Younger fraternal twin brother), Pamela Blume née Moldoff (Sister-in-law), Abigail "Abby" Blume (Niece), Alan Blume (Nephew), several aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents DESCRIPTION Age: 30 (Date of Birth: 1989) Apparent Age: 30 Gender: Female Ethnicity: White (Anglo-Germanic) American Height: 5’10” Weight: 140 lbs. Hair: Human Form: Platinum-Blonde, Plant Form: Purple Eyes: Human Form: Blue, Plant Form: Purple A friend once described Camellia as “Grace Kelly’s head on Kate Upton’s body”. She has brilliant blue eyes set into a heart-shaped face, framed with a mane of shiny and thick platinum blonde hair which falls down well below her waist. She has the kind of hourglass figure that usually requires aggressive corsetry, and most of her substantial height is in her long legs. Her voice is heavy, breathy, and deeper than most people expect, with a slight Southern drawl. She carries herself with the calm, quiet confidence of someone who’s accustomed to being welcome everywhere she goes. She has a big smile, and it gets a lot of exercise. She has an extensive wardrobe; more than one person has joked that they’ve never seen her wear anything twice. A skilled seamstress, she has personally altered most of her clothes, both to better fit and support her body, and to replace the buttons and clasps with magnets, which allows her to get in and out of them quickly (a trick live stage productions use to cope with frequent costume changes). Her personal style, heavily influenced by the local climate, consists mainly of above-the-knee sundresses in bright colors and floral prints, paired with some kind of ornate sandals, more often than not with 4-5 inch heels that make her tower over most of the people around her. During the couple of months a year where the weather in Vibora Bay dips below 70F, she’ll switch to sweater dresses with higher necklines, swap out the sandals for closed-toes or boots, and add some heavy tights for extra warmth. In more casual settings, she sometimes trades the dresses for crop tops paired with denim short-shorts or short skirts, and on the beach, which she visits every chance she gets, she rocks the bikini. She loves jewelry; pearls are her favorite, and she owns pieces in every color of the rainbow. Outside, she’s rarely seen without both oversized sunglasses, some kind of a large, floppy-brimmed straw or silk hat with a bow or flower on the ribbon, varieties of which she also owns in every color. In professional settings, she wears decorative glasses with clear lenses, mainly in the hope that she’ll be taken more seriously once the “smart people have poor eyesight” stereotype cancels out the “dumb blonde” trope, but also because it gives her another accessory to play with. When she uses her powers, her skin turns green, and her eyes and hair both turn purple. Her hair grows even longer, almost touching the ground, and it takes on a life of its own, gently floating and swaying as though she were underwater. Her ability to shape plant matter with her thoughts also extends to her own body. She can make plant appendages like vines, thorns, leaves, and roots sprout from her skin, with whatever pigmentation or texture she desires. Her costume is a leotard made from such appendages, consisting of thousands of overlapping leaves growing out of her skin, and falling away when she switches back to a human appearance. There's usually a flower in her hair, growing straight out of her head. She can also release luciferns and their catalyzing enzymes into parts of her body, causing them to glow. She does this most often with her hair and eyes. HISTORY Camellia Blume's family has roots in the east side of Vibora Bay going back at least as far as her great-grandparents on both sides. Her family are all wealthy, highly educated professionals, with real estate holdings across north Florida. Camellia beat her “little” twin brother J.B. into the world by a few minutes. She grew up in a Cluet Farms mansion, immersed in luxury and privilege. Her teens and early twenties were a hurricane of private schools, cotillions, debutante balls, modeling jobs, and beauty pageants, just like her mother before her. Like her mother before her, she was the queen of her high school. Unlike her mother, she was a benevolent queen, who never tolerated bullying. She attended Sinclair University, a legacy admission, like her parents before her. She joined the same sorority her mother had belonged to. She was a cheerleader like her mother before her. She even spent a year studying abroad in Paris, like her mother had at her age. But ultimately, she decided that, while dancing and modeling were fun, they weren't a fulfilling career. She wanted to spend her life helping people in a more direct manner. So after she graduated from Sinclair, she applied to UFVB's prestigious medical school. At first, her parents did not approve, though they knew well enough to cloak their objections with polite euphemisms. But as far as they were concerned, a mostly-black school on the west side of the city, even a nationally renowned one, may as well have been another planet. Camellia stood firm. In 22 years, it was the first time she ever made a real decision for herself instead of just following in her parents footsteps. Her parents refused to pay for it, and even threatened to cut off her trust fund. But she'd saved enough of the money she'd made from a decade of modeling jobs and pageant prizes to take a big bite out of the tuition, and she was willing to take out loans to pay for the rest. The idea of their little princess taking on debt horrified them more than the idea of her living in Weston or going to school with black people, so they relented. After four years of medical school, Camellia chose psychiatry as her specialty, combining her academic prowess and her social skills to make the world a better place, one person at a time. After another four years, she completed her residency and obtained her medical license. She rented an apartment in Far Weston (separate from the rented Atwater house she lived in), and started her own practice out of it, living off of her trust fund until she accumulated enough patients to make her practice self-sustaining. Her refusal to charge patients more than they could afford, or to limit her clientele to the wealthy, slowed that process considerably. Camellia kept a garden at home, and her office space was filled with flowers. This caused one of her first patients visible distress. But he wasn't floraphobic. Instead, he seemed to be suffering from auditory hallucinations, or some other delusion. He claimed that one of his wife’s plants was talking to him. No one else seemed to be able to hear the voice, but it was growing louder and more insistent, while not making any sense, and he was convinced it was coming from the purple orchid his wife had brought home a few weeks prior. After a few weeks of talk sessions and a prescription for anti-anxiety medication failed to yield any results, he brought the orchid in question to his session, and refused to bring it back home with him. She didn’t think it would help his recovery to force the issue, so she let him leave without it, intending to return it to him later. The orchid was sitting on the front seat of her car during her commute home. That commute was interrupted when she drove by what appeared to be a mugging or assault taking place in an alley just off the street. She pulled off into the alley, flashed her lights, honked her horn, and shouted that she was calling the police, hoping to scare away the attackers. But the attackers were a pack of vampires affiliated with the New Shadows gang, and they weren’t mugging their victim; they were about to feed on him. They used their superhuman strength to flip her car over, trapping her in the alley. But as they started to drag her out of the wrecked car, she heard a woman's voice inside her mind, and it seemed like time froze. The voice offered Camellia power, the power she would need to survive this ordeal and many like it. But she could only give Camellia that power if they were “bonded”. Camellia decided that, whatever that meant, it was better than letting herself or that poor man be killed, so she agreed. Time started passing again, and the orchid started moving under its own power, shattering its pot and pressing itself against Camellia. The flower somehow phased through her flesh and bone, sinking into her chest. She felt its roots expand throughout her body. It occurred to her that this should have been painful or terrifying or disgusting, but instead it was invigorating. Leaves and bark sprouted from her flesh, covering every inch of her skin. The vampires were shocked when they reached for a human but pulled out a humanoid plant-monster. Their claws and fangs couldn't pierce her bark-armor. Acting on instinct, she summoned plants to her aid, and they responded. Roots from a nearby tree stretched and snaked through the dirt before bursting bursting up out of the ground, breaking through the concrete like it was glass. The roots hardened into spears and impaled the vampires, who all collapsed into piles of ash. As soon as the danger had passed, the leafy armor dried up and crumbled off of Camellia’s skin. She used her cell phone to call an ambulance for the bleeding man and a tow truck for her totaled car, and she tended to his wounds as best she could while they waited. She told the police that she’d turned too fast into the alley and flipped over, which must have scared away “the muggers”. The wounded man didn’t contradict her. Camellia spent the weeks after the incident telepathically communing with her new symbiote, learning what little the symbiote knew of her own history, and growing accustomed to her new abilities and the changes the symbiote was making to her body. The symbiote had been part of a race of semi-sentient plants engineered and grown as biological weapons by the humans of another Earth in an alternate dimension. That dimension fell to Omega, and this symbiote happened to be on a part of that Earth which wound up floating in the Terminus instead of being annihilated. When a rift opened up near the symbiote during the most recent Terminus incursion into her dimension, she pulled up her roots and let herself fall through. The symbiote offered to separate from Camellia if she so desired, but Camellia refused when she learned that separation would require intensive surgery which could kill both of them. Instead, Camellia decided to cope with whatever changes might come, and put her new abilities to good use, making the world a better place like she’d always wanted to. PERSONALITY & MOTIVATION Camellia's behavior comes from a combination of a naturally big heart and being raised in a semi-aristocratic subculture in which tradition was revered and courtesy was paramount. She strives to always be polite, modest, generous, and forgiving. She hates to see people suffer, even when they deserve it. She’s sensitive to the moods of the people around her, and it’s important to her to make those people as comfortable as possible. Her guiding principle in daily life is “Make everybody feel welcome, and never make anybody feel second-rate.” She greets everyone with a warm smile and an opening for as much small talk as they'd like, and she almost never swears or insults people. When someone else commits a faux pas, she’s far more likely to ignore it or attempt to cover for it than she is to draw attention to it or mock them. She values integrity, both in herself and in others, so she won’t lie to protect people’s feelings, but she will distract, deflect, and omit. Every child gets told at some point “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”, but unlike most children, she took that sentiment to heart, leaving the hard truths for one-on-one sessions behind closed doors. She detests bullying of any kind, and she won't hesitate to step in and put herself between the bully and their victim. She loves social interaction and embraces every opportunity for it. Everyone has a story, and she wants to hear them all. She make a point of maintaining correspondence with all of her family, former school friends, sorority sisters, and coworkers. Once you're part of her world, you don't leave. She remembers every birthday, and she sends hand-written “Thank You” notes for everything. She likes attention, which is fortunate, because she’d get plenty of it whether she liked it or not. She doesn’t demand the spotlight, but she’s very comfortable under it. She’s a hopeless romantic who falls hard and fast both in and out of love. She doesn’t expect or demand old school chivalry, but she’s a total sucker for it. POWERS & TACTICS The symbiotic alien plant which fused with her has transformed her body on the molecular level into an ambulatory plant. She looks human on the surface, but beneath the skin, her flesh, blood, and bone has mostly been replaced with cellulose, sap, and wood. Her plant tissues are more durable and resilient than her old flesh, her aging process has slowed considerably, and she can completely regrow any lost body parts. Her body engages in photosynthesis, so she doesn’t need to breathe or eat food, though she still does, both for the pleasurable sensation and because she can derive nutrients from it; it’s the equivalent of spreading fertilizer over crops. She can also extend roots from her body down into soil to obtain water and nutrients, but eating and drinking feels more familiar. In addition to nourishing her, exposure to sunlight also super-charges her body's healing process. With an infusion of direct sunlight, her body is able to mend grievous injuries that would normally take hours or days to heal in a matter of minutes. The diseases and poisons of animals no longer affect her, although certain chemical fertilizers have effects on her similar to those of caffeine or alcohol when she discreetly adds them to her coffee and cocktails (which also makes those drinks toxic for anyone else). However, as a plant, she is more vulnerable to dehydration and extremes of temperature, her tissues are more flammable, and defoliants and herbicides which would be harmless to a human will kill her in a matter of seconds. But if she is killed, a piece of her corpse can be re-planted like a cutting, and, if it is able to take root and it gets the water, nutrients, and sunlight it needs, then it will eventually regrow her entire body. Through the symbiote, she can psychically detect, communicate with, animate, control, and alter plants. She can make them move and act on her behalf, and she can transform them extensively, shaping them like clay, greatly increasing or decreasing their size, strength, and resilience, and making them sprout flowers which burst open to unleash sedative latex, or psychoactive pollen which can cause hallucinations and render the victim susceptible to suggestion. She doesn't strictly need to take any physical action to alter or control plants, but she uses physical gestures to help herself focus. In battle, she looks like she's dancing or conducting an orchestra. Most of the transformations she causes reverse themselves quickly once she stops exerting the mental effort to maintain them; permanent changes require greater effort. Nearby plants respond to her unconscious desires and survival instincts, moving out of her way, or moving and stretching to protect her, blocking or swatting aside incoming attacks. Her ability to shape plant matter with her thoughts also extends to her own body. She can make plant appendages like vines, thorns, leaves, and roots sprout from her skin, with whatever pigmentation or texture she desires. In battle, she often grows an extra layer of thick bark over her skin, harder than rock. She can release luciferns and their catalyzing enzymes into parts of her body, causing them to glow. In a battle, engaging directly with supervillains is her last resort. Her first priorities are healing the wounded, and using her Create Object and Move Object powers to protect bystanders and other heroes, either by shielding them or by moving them to a safe place. When she does fight directly, she attempts to restrain or incapacitate her foes while doing as little harm as possible. She can create vines to whip or strangle, or thorns to cut and stab, either from her own body or by altering other plants, but she’s so loathe to inflict direct harm that she refuses to do so in all but the most desperate of circumstances. COMPLICATIONS Accidents: Her powers are potentially destructive, especially when used indoors. Tree roots might burst up through floors or streets, while tree branches and stretched bushes come crashing through windows and walls. The GM can give her a Hero Point if the use of her powers causes a setback. Perhaps she triggers an effect like Environment Control which hinders her in the rest of the fight. Or maybe she endangers bystanders, and she must try to rescue them while the villain is still attacking. Alternately, the GM can give other PCs a Hero Point in exchange for making her attack powers affect her allies as well as the villains. For example, if she were to use her Fatigue power to spray a villain with a plant-derived sedative, and another hero then used a melee attack against that villain, the GM could declare retroactively that the Fatigue effect had acquired the Contagious extra, and some of the sedative was transferred from the villain to the melee-attacking hero, who now has to save against the Fatigue effect as well. Enemy (New Shadows): The pack of vampires Camellia destroyed on her first night as Persephone were affiliated with the New Shadows gang. The gang doesn't know that Camellia is Persephone, but they have figured out that Persephone is the one who killed their comrades. They haven't put a bounty on her, because, as a matter of honor and reputation, they want to be the ones to avenge themselves. But they are offering a reward for information about her and her whereabouts. The changes the alien symbiote has made to Persephone's biology make it unlikely that vampires would derive nourishment from her bodily fluids or that they would be able to transform her into another vampire, but they do intend to make her suffer and die for her affront against them. If repeated attempts to capture or kill her fail, then they may swallow their pride and seek outside assistance. If the gang got word of her presence in a particular place, then they could show up and make a bad situation even worse. Fame: Between helping to bring down "Croczilla" during Hurricane Dorian, spearheading the subsequent relief efforts, and becoming one of Vibora Bay's official municipal defenders, Persephone is becoming quite the local celebrity. The GM can give her a Hero Point when being recognized inconveniences her in some way. For example, a civilian trying to meet her or get a picture of her may put themselves in danger (intentionally or not) during a crisis situation, distracting her from the task at hand. "Good Thing You Can Heal!": Persephone's ability to regrow lost limbs and come back from the dead is practically an invitation for the GM to maim and kill her. Since her powers do not require the use of her hands, and her Flight effect allows her to move without using her legs, if the GM intends to give her a Hero Point in exchange for the loss of limb, then they should impose some other negative condition upon her to reflect the trauma (see pages 170-171 of Mutants & Masterminds 2nd Edition for a list of options). However, if her Weakness to defoliants and herbicides is what kills her, then she should not get a Hero Point, since she already got power points for that drawback. Her Resurrection power requires a week to take effect, so killing her will effectively remove her from the current story, rendering a Hero Point reward irrelevant, unless the other PCs have access to an effect which could speed up the process, such as Boost, Resurrective Healing, or Dimensional Movement to a plane where time passes more quickly. A GM can, however, give her a bonus Hero Point at the start of a different story if she was removed from the current one in such a manner. Honor: She will always choose to help bystanders, even if it means letting the villain get away. She always uses the minimum force required to incapacitate a villain, and she will accept any surrender immediately. Even though she’s good at sniffing out lies, cunning villains can manipulate her by telling her what she wants to hear. The GM can give her a Hero Point if this causes some sort of setback, such as a penalty on a Sense Motive check or a free surprise attack against her. Hopeless Romantic: Friends and family have joked over the years that she "falls in love with every man she meets". The GM can give her a Hero Point in exchange for giving her a circumstance penalty on opposed interaction skill checks like Bluff or Diplomacy, or saving throws against effects like Emotion Control (Love), if her opponent is a man with a high Charisma score, interaction skill bonus, and/or the Attractive feat, or if the player and GM agree that he’s “her type”. The GM can also give her a Hero Point if she suffers a setback on account of being distracted by attraction, such as being surprise attacked. Finally, the GM can give her a Hero Point in exchange for forcing her to make a saving throw or skill check to avoid being Dazed or Fascinated, as if the attractive character had and used those feats, even if he did not. Medium (Plant Control): The GM can give her a Hero Point in exchange for arbitrarily deciding that there are no plants close enough for her to use her Plant Control array. At the GM’s discretion, this could 1) deprive her of the power entirely, 2) make it operate at a reduced power rank, since she would have to harvest material for the plant structures from her own body, or 3) make it acquire the Tiring or Side-Effect flaw, for the same reason. Normal Identity: If a villain were to restrain her or otherwise render her helpless, then they could surgically (or violently) remove the symbiote plant from inside her chest. If this were to happen, then all the changes it has made to her body would gradually revert, and she would lose all her powers and become a normal human again. Both she and the symbiote would suffer from withdrawal, and either of them could die, especially if the symbiote was removed violently. If the GM ever caused such a horrendous thing to occur, then giving her a Hero Point would be the least they could do. Phobia (Fire): Fire is one of the few things which can cause her serious harm, and she has an instinctual fear of it. The GM can give her a Hero Point in exchange for forcing her to make a Will save against an Emotion Control (Fear) effect. The GM is free to assign the effect whatever power rank they choose, but it should take into account the size and intensity of the fire (the effective Damage rank) and her proximity to it. Power Loss (Immunity): There are some circumstances in which her Immunity powers would not apply. These circumstances are too rare to merit a Power Loss drawback or a Limited/Medium/Source flaw. She still ages, but more like a tree than a human, so she has Immunity to Aging. The GM can temporarily Nullify that Immunity, give her a Hero Point, and force her to save against an effect with the "Aging" descriptor. She is Immune to Critical Hits by default because, while her body is not truly homogeneous, she has so few vital areas that the chance of hitting one of them is not statistically significant. If an enemy scores what would normally be a critical hit against her, or hits with an attack which would normally gain bonus damage from Sneak Attack, then the GM can decide that she has been hit in one of those vital areas, temporarily Nullify her Immunity, give her a Hero Point, and force her to save against the increased attack DC. She is not affected by the diseases or poisons of animals, but she is affected by the ones which target plants. But while those are not rare in real life, they rarely come up during play. If the GM exposes her to a plant disease or a poison which affects plants, then they can give her a Hero Point and force her to save against them. She may suffer the effects of Suffocation if she is caught in a vacuum, or immersed in water too dark and deep for any sunlight to trigger her photosynthesis. Similarly, if deprived of both food (either animal food or nutritious soil) and sunlight, then she will begin suffering from starvation, despite her Immunity to it. The GM can give her a Hero Point if she is caught in such circumstances and begins suffocating or starving. She is not Immune to Thirst at all. Power Loss (Regeneration): She has Vulnerability drawbacks for several damage descriptors. When she suffers Damage with one of these descriptors, the GM can give her a Hero Point and act as though the incoming Damage effect has the Incurable power feat, effectively Nullifying her Regeneration power and forcing her to recover at the normal rate with the normal amount of required rest. Responsibilities: As one of Vibora Bay's official municipal defenders, Persephone has not just a moral obligation to defend the city, but a legal one as well. Camellia, meanwhile, has a large, active social network of family, school friends, sorority sisters, and former coworkers. She’ll drop everything to come to their aid. The GM can give her a Hero Point if a request for that aid comes at the worst possible time. She also has standing appointments with paying clients at her psychiatry practice four days a week, with the potential for emergency calls during off hours. The GM can give her a Hero Point if her day job somehow interferes with her hero work, or vice versa. Secret (Identity): The GM can give her a Hero Point if a potential reveal of her identity causes her some sort of setback, or if a villain learns her identity and then creates a setback for her by going after her friends, family, and/or patients. Soft-Hearted: She doesn’t like to see anyone suffer, even villains. As good as she is at telling truth from lies, she’s still a sucker for a sob story. The GM can give her a Hero Point in exchange for a penalty on checks like Sense Motive to discern the truth behind a wounded-gazelle gambit. Where others may see “A hard man doing a hard job, willing to make the tough choices and do what’s necessary”, she sees only callousness and cruelty which she cannot abide. She’s as likely to come to blows with “grim dark avenger” vigilantes as she is with actual supervillains. The GM can give either her or another PC a Hero Point in exchange for forcing her either to not take a certain action which would harm another person, or else to take a certain action which would prevent harm to another person or end harm they were already enduring. For example, if a villain appeared to already be restrained, incapacitated, or severely weakened, and another PC were still attacking them, or interrogating them in a violent or threatening manner, then the GM could invoke this complication, force her to put a stop to it, and give either her or the other PC a Hero Point. ABILITIES 48PP Strength: 10 (+0) Dexterity: 18 (+4) Constitution: 30/18 (+10/+4) Intelligence: 14 (+2) Wisdom: 24 (+7) Charisma: 24 (+7) COMBAT 14PP Initiative: +4 (+4 Dex) Attack: +4 Base, +8 Plant Control Grapple: +4, +20 Plant Control Defense: +8 (+7/+3 Base, +1 Dodge Focus), +4/+2 Flat-Footed Knockback Resistance: 11/2, 6/2 once Unreliable Impervious is depleted SAVING THROWS 3PP Toughness: +12/+4 (+10/+4 Con, +2 Protection; Impervious 10 [Unreliable, 5 uses]) Fortitude: +10/+4 (+10/+4 Con, +0PP) Reflex: +8/+4 (+4 Dex, +4 Enhanced Reflex, +0PP) Will: +10 (+7 Wis, +3PP) SKILLS 120R = 30PP Acrobatics 6 (+10) Bluff 13 (+20)Distract, Skill Mastery, Taunt Concentration 3 (+10) Craft (Artistic) 8 (+10) Diplomacy 8 (+15)Connected, Fascinate, Skill Mastery Gather Information 13 (+20)Contacts Knowledge (Behavioral Sciences) 13 (+15) Knowledge (Life Sciences) 13 (+15) Knowledge (Popular Culture) 3 (+5) Languages 2 (English [Native], French, Spanish) Medicine 3 (+10) Notice 1 (+8) Perform (Dance) 3 (+10) Perform (Oratory) 8 (+15)Skill Mastery Sense Motive 13 (+20)Skill Mastery Swim 10 (+10) FEATS 15PP Benefit 2 (Status [Vibora Bay City Defender], Wealth) Connected Contacts Distract (Bluff) Dodge Focus Fascinate (Diplomacy) Interpose Leadership Luck 3 Quick Change Skill Mastery (Bluff, Diplomacy, Perform [Oratory], Sense Motive) Taunt POWERS 109PP Enhanced Constitution 12 [12PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Body) Enhanced Defense 4 [8PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Animate Plants, Plant Control, Psychic) Enhanced Reflex 4 [4PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Animate Plants, Plant Control, Psychic) Environment Control 1 (Light [Level 1]; Area: 5ft radius; Extras: Action [Move]; Flaws: Range [Touch]) [1PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Bioluminescence, Plant Body, Shapeshifting) Flight 2 (25MPH, 250ft per Move Action; Extras: Affects Others; Flaws: Platform) [4PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Animate Plants, Plant Control, Psychic) Immunity 9 (Aging; Critical Hits; Disease; Own Powers; Poison; Starvation/Thirst; Suffocation) [9PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Photosynthesis, Plant Body) Impervious Toughness 10 (Extras: Force Field [Free Action, Sustained Duration]; Flaws: Unreliable [5 uses]) [5PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Bark Armor, Plant Body, Shapeshifting) Morph 1 (Broad Group [Humanoids]; Extras: Duration [Continuous]; Flaws: Action [Move], Limited [Plant-People]) [1PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Body, Shapeshifting) Plant Control 17 (34PP Array; Feats: Alternate Power 6) [40PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Psychic) Base Power: [34PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants) Move Object 12 (Range: 10 120ft Increments, 1,200ft Max; Lifting Strength: 60, Heavy Load: 50 tons; Feats: Accurate 2 [+4 Attack], Improved Critical 2 [18-20], Improved Pin, Indirect 3, Subtle, Variable Descriptor [Animating plants, either to move themselves, or to grasp and move non-plant targets]) [34PP] Alternate Power: [34PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants, Plant Growth) Create Object 12 (Range: 1,200ft; Volume: 12 cubes; Toughness: 12; Lifting Strength: 60, Heavy Load: 50 tons; Extras: Duration [Continuous]; Flaws: Feedback; Feats: Indirect 3, Progression [Size] 4 [100ft cubes], Selective, Stationary, Subtle) [34PP] Alternate Power: [34PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants, Flowers, Psychoactive Pollen) Emotion Control 12 (Extras: Secondary Effect; Flaws: Range [Ranged, 10 120ft Increments, 1,200ft Max]; Feats: Accurate 2 [+4 Attack], Improved Critical 2 [18-20], Indirect 3, Mind Blank, Reversible, Subtle) [34PP] Alternate Power: [34PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants, Flowers, Sedative Latex) Fatigue 12 (Extras: Range [Ranged, 10 120ft Increments, 1,200ft Max], Secondary Effect; Flaws: Action [Full], Distracting; Feats: Accurate 2 [+4 Attack], Improved Critical 2 [18-20], Indirect 3, Reversible, Sedation, Subtle) [34PP] Alternate Power: [34PP] (Additional Descriptors: Medicinal Plants, Plant Body) Healing 11 (Extras: Action [Standard], Restoration, Total; Flaws: Distracting, Limited [Others]; Feats: Variable Descriptor [Healing plants with florakinesis directly, or using plants to make super-salves to heal others]) [34PP] Alternate Power: [21 + 13 = 34PP] (Additional Descriptors: Animate Plants, Grasping Branches/Roots/Vines) Snare 12 (Range: 10 120ft Increments, 1,200ft Max; Extras: Linked [Trip]; Flaws: Feedback; Feats: Accurate 2 [+4 Attack], Improved Critical 2 [18-20], Indirect 3, Reversible, Subtle) [21PP] Trip 12 (Range: 10 120ft Increments, 1,200ft Max; Extras: Linked [Snare]; Feats: Improved Throw) [13PP] Alternate Power: [34PP] (Additional Descriptors: Shape Plants) Transform 12 (Plants; Extras: Duration [Continuous, Lasting]; Flaws: Action [Full], Distracting, Range [Touch]; Feats: Accurate 2 [+4 Attack], Extended Reach [10ft], Improved Critical 2 [18-20], Indirect, Progression [Mass] 3 [Rank 15, 25 tons], Subtle) [34PP] Plant Telepathy 2 (4PP Array; Feats: Alternate Power) [5PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Control, Psychic) Base Power: [4PP] Comprehend 2 (Plants 2 [Speak To; Understand]) [4PP] Alternate Power: [4PP] Super-Senses 4 (Postcognition; Extras: Simultaneous; Flaws: Medium [Plants]) [4PP] Protection 2 [2PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Body) Regeneration 9 (Recovery Rate: Bruised 3 [No rest], Injured 6 [No rest]) [9PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Body) Regeneration 4 (Recovery Rate: Staggered 1 [20 minutes], Disabled 2 [1 hour], Resurrection 1 [1 week]; Flaws: Source [Sunlight]; Feats: Regrowth) [3PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Cutting, Plant Body) Super-Movement 1 (Permeate 1 [1/4 Speed]; Flaws: Limited [Plants]) [1PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Animate Plants, Plant Control, Psychic) Super-Senses 5 (Plant Awareness; Descriptor Frequency: Common; Sense Type: Mental, Default Extras: None; Extras: Acute, Radius, Ranged) [5PP] (Descriptors: Alien, Plant Control, Psychic) DRAWBACKS -14PP Vulnerability (Cold effects; Frequency: Common; Intensity: Moderate [+50% Effect Rank]) [-3PP] Vulnerability (Dehydration effects; Frequency: Uncommon; Intensity: Minor [+1 DC]) [-1PP] Vulnerability (Fire/Heat effects; Frequency: Common; Intensity: Moderate [+50% Effect Rank]) [-3PP] Weakness (Defoliants/Herbicides; Frequency: Uncommon; Intensity: Moderate [-1 Con]; Time: 2/round) [-7PP] ATTACK RANGE SAVING THROW EFFECT Unarmed Touch DC15 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) Create Object Ranged DC22 Reflex Trapped Dropped Object Ranged/Area DC22 Reflex Avoided DC27 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) Emotion Control Ranged DC22 Will (Staged) Calm: Removes all Emotion Control conditions Despair: Shaken/Helpless Fear: Shaken/Frightened/Panicked Hate: Attitude = Hostile Hope: Removes Despair and Fear Love: Attitude = Friendly/Helpful/Fanatical Fatigue Ranged DC22 Fortitude (Staged) Fatigued/Exhausted/Unconscious Healing Touch DC21 Fortitude (Harmless) Healing Move Object Ranged Grapple vs +22 Pinned/Bound Thrown Object Throwing (Str 50) DC27 Toughness (Staged) Damage (Physical) Snare Ranged DC22 Reflex (Staged) Entangled/Bound Transform Touch +5ft DC20 Fortitude Transformed TOTALS Abilities (48) + Combat (14) + Saving Throws (3) + Skills (30) + Feats (15) + Powers (109) - Drawbacks (14) = 203/205 Power Points
  8. September 4, 2019 Vibora Bay, Florida 11PM It's a dark and stormy night. This sort of thing happens a lot in Florida. As Dorian rolled up on the east coast of Florida like God's own judgement, the people of Vibora Bay remembered Michael last year and took action. Some people left, some people stayed home, and everyone mourned all those lovely tourist dollars that _could_ have come the city's way during the ruined Labor Day weekend. As it is, by all accounts Vibora is going to come through this one better than people feared. Having spent his wrath against the east coast, Dorian is rain, lightning, and high winds, but not the near-apocalypse that was last fall's city-wrecking storm. On the other hand, that's bad enough! Six inches of rain and high winds closed the schools and universities today, and most businesses shut down too. Mayor Barker (who weathered the last storm with flying colors) was on Channel 7 last night to tell the citizens of Vibora to be ready for anything. They have to be, because nobody's going anywhere with all this rain. The traffic's always bad in the Panhandle though, especially on the spur that takes you up to the big west-east Interstate 10, so people in Walton County have a lot of experience with sheltering in place. People facing floods have moved into city-run shelters - many public buildings are full of people. Red Cross workers and other volunteers are on the scene - though most of them are actually out of town helping with the aftereffects of Dorian further east. Many streets are impassable, the beaches are closed, and rescue crews and emergency personnel are on high alert. Things are bad - but not quite hero bad. The last you heard, Siren went east to help with the aftermath of the storm there - it's just the hometown heroes on the scene today. Around 11 o'clock at night, just as trusty local weatherman Tom Bonilla appeared on your screens to give you the latest tracking information on Dorian, there's a tremendous flash of lightning and clap of thunder that booms across the metropolis - and from Seagrove to Rosemary Beach, the city's power goes dark. - The University of Florida - Vibora Bay Outside Gibbs Residence Hall "Go to Hell!" In the rain and lightning, two men were yelling at each other in the shelter of the brick patio in front of the old residence hall. "So you've been down here this whole time, spying on me!?" Riley was shouting at his double, heedless in his anger of the other's physical prowess. "I told you before - I do not need your help! I never will!" "...fine." Riley didn't shout back at his double, he didn't even punch him in the face. He turned and walked away, pulling up his poncho as sheets of rain cascaded down onto him, the winds so strong he felt them buffet him as he walked out onto the campus parking lot where he'd stashed his bike. It wasn't good biking weather but if you knew what you were doing and could see in the dark, you could get through fine - even dodge the cops if you took the backroads. Good thing the roads to the swamp hadn't actually flooded yet. Riley got on his bike, grabbed the handlebars - and closed his eyes for a long, hard moment. No. No, hell, no, I am not going to do that. He opened them again and revved his engine with a rumble so deep he could feel it between his legs far more than he heard it. If he was going to get back home, he needed to leave right now. He clicked on his headlamp - and suddenly, there was a flash of light in the sky, and a deep boom, and the campus streetlights winked out. Adjusting his shoulder bag, Riley permitted himself a sigh.
  9. So we've got our first four VB PCs approved, and hopefully more to come soon. Any ideas what kinds of stories we want to tell? I for one am very intrigued by the swamp just North of town.
  10. Persephone Alternate Identity: Camellia Blume, M.D. Base of Operations: Vibora Bay Concept: "Moonstone meets Poison Ivy, with a dash of Venom, and side helpings of Elle Woods and Blanche Devereaux" Table of Contents Allies, Associates, & Enemies Costume & Appearance Current Role & Hooks Design Notes Headquarters History Personal Life Personality & Motivation Powers & Skills Timeline Reputation Allies, Associates, & Enemies Allies Brother & Sister-In-Law Camellia's younger brother J.B. is her fraternal twin, born a few minutes after her. He entered the workforce, got married, and started a family several years before Camellia did, only staying in school long enough to get his MBA. He and his wife, Pamela, have two small children, Abby and Alan. Pamela was Camellia's sorority sister and best friend in college. Camellia set the two of them up in the first place. She adores her niece and nephew, and the feeling is mutual. Parents Camellia Blume’s parents, Lena and Bernie, met while they were both students at Sinclair University. Lena was a cheerleader, and Bernie played football. They both stuck around long enough to earn Master’s degrees, hers in interior design and his in engineering. After graduation, she started her own design firm, while he went to work for Vibora Petroleum. He started as an engineer, but he quickly ascended to upper management. Her family also owns dozens of rental properties and restaurant franchises, in Vibora Bay and across north Florida. Her father and grandfather have both been members of the elite Mahogany Club since before she was born. Camellia is their little princess and there's nothing they wouldn't do to indulge her, but she tries her best to stand on her own two feet. Associates City of Vibora Bay As one of Vibora Bay's official municipal defenders, Persephone works directly with the city government. A small handful of city officials, including Mayor Richenda Barker, even know her secret identity. Extended Family Camellia maintains contact with the grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins on both sides of her family. Professional Contacts & Sorority Sisters Camellia was one of the vice-presidents of her chapter of the Omega Beta Gamma sorority at Sinclair University. She worked as a model and pageant contestant in her teens and early-to-mid-twenties, including during her year in Paris. She spent four years at the University of Vibora Bay School of Medicine, the most prestigious medical school in the state of Florida, and another four years completing her psychiatric residency at the world-renowned UFVB hospital. She's maintained all of her contacts from those worlds. Her Christmas card list includes models, photographers, newspaper and magazine editors, fashion designers, university professors, doctors, nurses, hospital administrators, and dozens of women who went on to become and/or marry some of the wealthiest and most influential people in every walk of life on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Enemies The New Shadows The pack of vampires Camellia destroyed on her first night as Persephone were affiliated with the New Shadows gang. The gang doesn't know that Camellia is Persephone, but they have figured out that Persephone is the one who killed their comrades. They haven't put a bounty on her, because, as a matter of honor and reputation, they want to be the ones to avenge themselves. But they are offering a reward for information about her and her whereabouts. The changes the alien symbiote has made to Persephone's biology make it unlikely that vampires would derive nourishment from her bodily fluids or that they would be able to transform her into another vampire, but they do intend to make her suffer and die for her affront against them. If repeated attempts to capture or kill her fail, then they may swallow their pride and seek outside assistance. If the gang got word of her presence in a particular place, then they could show up and make a bad situation even worse. Costume & Appearance A friend once described Camellia as “Grace Kelly’s head on Kate Upton’s body”. She has brilliant blue eyes set into a heart-shaped face, framed with a mane of shiny and thick platinum blonde hair which falls down well below her waist. She has the kind of hourglass figure that usually requires aggressive corsetry, and most of her substantial height is in her long legs. Her voice is heavy, breathy, and deeper than most people expect, with a slight Southern drawl. She carries herself with the calm, quiet confidence of someone who’s accustomed to being welcome everywhere she goes. She has a big smile, and it gets a lot of exercise. When she uses her powers, her skin turns green, and her eyes and hair both turn purple. Her hair grows even longer, almost touching the ground, and it takes on a life of its own, gently floating and swaying as though she were underwater. She is a skilled seamstress, an asset she had already made extensive use of on her normal clothes before she ever got superpowers, altering them to better fit and support her body. After she became a superhero, she altered them further, fastening them with magnets to make them quickly and easily removable (a trick stage productions use to facilitate frequent costume changes). Her superhero costume is a leotard composed of thousands of overlapping leaves growing out of her own skin. When Camellia turns into Persephone, she triggers the pigmentation changes, grows the leaves, and snaps her civilian clothing off. She has the whole process down to less than a second. When it's time for Persephone to turn back into Camellia, she just snaps her civilian clothing back on, changes color, and lets the leaves fall off. They quickly dry out once they're no longer attached to her. There's usually a flower in her hair, growing straight out of her head. She can also release luciferns and their catalyzing enzymes into parts of her body, causing them to glow. She does this most often with her hair and eyes. In her civilian life, Camellia has an extensive wardrobe; more than one person has joked that they’ve never seen her wear anything twice. Her personal style, heavily influenced by the Vibora climate, consists mainly of above-the-knee sundresses in bright colors and floral prints, paired with some kind of ornate sandals, more often than not with 4-5 inch heels that make her tower over most of the people around her. During the couple of months a year where the weather in Vibora Bay dips below 70F, she’ll switch to sweater dresses with higher necklines, swap out the sandals for closed-toes or boots, and add some heavy tights for extra warmth. In more casual settings, she sometimes trades the dresses for crop tops paired with denim short-shorts or short skirts, and on the beach, which she visits every chance she gets, she rocks the bikini. She loves jewelry; pearls are her favorite, and she owns pieces in every color of the rainbow. Outside, she’s rarely seen without both oversized sunglasses, some kind of a large, floppy-brimmed straw or silk hat with a bow or flower on the ribbon, varieties of which she also owns in every color. In professional settings, she wears decorative glasses with clear lenses, mainly in the hope that she’ll be taken more seriously once the “smart people have poor eyesight” stereotype cancels out the “dumb blonde” trope, but also because it gives her another accessory to play with. Current Role & Hooks Even when she was an independent superhero, Persephone tried to make herself available for any crime-fighting or disaster relief opportunities which presented themselves in the Vibora Bay metropolitan area. Now that she's one of the city's official municipal defenders, she has not just a moral obligation to do so, but a legal obligation as well. As far as she's concerned, there's no problem too small for her to help with. At one point she literally used her powers to bring a stuck kitten down from a tree, and she still considers it her best superhero moment. She lacks the power to cover a larger region, and even within the city, her mobility is limited. She can command local plants to ferry her around like a sort of relay race of ski lifts, but at only 25MPH, it's usually faster for her to just take her car. She would rather be loved than feared. She always tries to resolve a situation peacefully, and if things get violent, she always uses the minimum force required, and she's quickly becoming known for that. Even when she was an independent hero, she would gladly stick around long enough to make any bystanders feel safe, and to talk with and assist rescue workers, police, and the media. Design Notes Persephone is an exercise in taking tropes normally reserved for villains and making a hero with them instead. Her color scheme is the green/purple/orange combo colloquially known as "Secondary Color Villain", to contrast with the "Primary Color Hero". She's a blonde, blue-eyed white girl from the South. She used to be a cheerleader and a sorority sister. Her powers include Emotion Control, delivered by what is basically poison. She's a traditionally feminine and unashamedly sexual adult woman who wears a revealing costume and fights indirectly through what are basically summoned minions. Normally, all of those things would scream "villain", or, at best, "Character it's OK to kill", in any genre. Persephone is as far outside my own wheelhouse as I've ever strayed as a role-player, an exercise in embracing and playing with tropes I used to avoid like the plague. She's both a Southerner and a "basic white girl", two types of people whom I used to hate, mock, and write off at first glance. I also used to look down upon any feminine and/or sexually alluring RPG characters, dismissively calling them "GM's Girlfriend PCs". Persephone was born out of the cultural and emotional evolution I've felt happening both in the larger geek culture and in my own life. A lot of us have been doing some growing up and waking up all at once to the nuanced truth that the declaration of all things soft-feminine to be "bad" is rooted in misogyny. What's "bad" is making one thing, whether it's one type of femininity or masculinity or anything else, the only available option, and forcing people to adhere to rigid stereotypes which don't fit them. Tomboys shouldn't be mocked or punished for not being girly-girls, but the reverse is also true. We're waking up to the fact that the whole idea of the "Mary Sue" character archetype in RPGs and genre fiction is rooted in that same misogyny, so, in defiance of that, I went ahead and gave Persephone several "Mary Sue" traits, like the infamous purple eyes. Similarly, while it's a problem when every female character in a work is forced to be titillating for an assumed hetero male audience, it's not an innately bad thing for a female character (or anyone else) to be "sexy", and cheesecake can be fun without being creepy, although everyone has their own boundaries when it comes to that sort of thing. Headquarters Camellia lives in a rented two-bedroom house in Atwater, one of the better neighborhoods in the worse half of the city. She could afford to live in Easton, where she grew up and where the rest of her family lives, but she's trying to save money, dip as little as possible into her trust fund, and achieve some semblance of independence. Like most Floridians, she has a small pool in the backyard, and both the back and front yards are dominated by her extensive flower gardens. At any given time, there are also multiple vases filled with fresh flowers in every room inside the house. She uses her second bedroom as a mixed home office, sewing room, and walk-in closet. The walls are covered with framed photographs of family and friends, occasionally broken up by art prints, mostly Monet and Van Gogh. She also rents a studio apartment in Far Weston, not as nice as Atwater but far from the worst neighborhood Weston has to offer. She uses the apartment as an office, so that she doesn't have to see clients in her home. It's her attempt to force some work/life balance, and to keep a professional boundary between her and her patients. The apartment-office is as filled with flowers as her home. It is furnished with a couch and several plush chairs surrounding a coffee table, a desk where she keeps her notes and her work computer locked up, and a mini-refrigerator she keeps stocked with a couple pitchers of sweet tea she always offers to her patients. Framed copies of her university and medical school diplomas and other credentials adorn the walls, along with some more Monet and Van Gogh prints. History Camellia Blume's family has roots in the east side of Vibora Bay going back at least as far as her great-grandparents on both sides. Her family are all wealthy, highly educated professionals, with real estate holdings across north Florida. Camellia beat her “little” twin brother J.B. into the world by a few minutes. She grew up in a Cluet Farms mansion, immersed in luxury and privilege. Her teens and early twenties were a hurricane of private schools, cotillions, debutante balls, modeling jobs, and beauty pageants, just like her mother before her. Like her mother before her, she was the queen of her high school. Unlike her mother, she was a benevolent queen, who never tolerated bullying. She attended Sinclair University, a legacy admission, like her parents before her. She joined the same sorority her mother had belonged to. She was a cheerleader like her mother before her. She even spent a year studying abroad in Paris, like her mother had at her age. But ultimately, she decided that, while dancing and modeling were fun, they weren't a fulfilling career. She wanted to spend her life helping people in a more direct manner. So after she graduated college, she applied to UFVB's prestigious medical school. At first, her parents did not approve, though they knew well enough to cloak their objections with polite euphemisms. But as far as they were concerned, a mostly-black school on the west side of the city, even a nationally renowned one, may as well have been another planet. Camellia stood firm. In 22 years, it was the first time she ever made a real decision for herself instead of just following in her parents footsteps. Her parents refused to pay for it, and even threatened to cut off her trust fund. But she'd saved enough of the money she'd made from a decade of modeling jobs and pageant prizes to take a big bite out of the tuition, and she was willing to take out loans to pay for the rest. The idea of their little princess taking on debt horrified them more than the idea of her living in Weston or going to school with black people, so they relented. After four years of medical school, Camellia chose psychiatry as her specialty, combining her academic prowess and her social skills to make the world a better place, one person at a time. After another four years, she completed her residency and obtained her medical license. She rented an apartment in Far Weston (separate from the rented Atwater house she lived in), and started her own practice out of it, living off of her trust fund until she accumulated enough patients to make her practice self-sustaining. Her refusal to charge patients more than they could afford, or to limit her clientele to the wealthy, slowed that process considerably. Camellia kept a garden at home, and her office space was filled with flowers. This caused one of her first patients visible distress. But he wasn't floraphobic. Instead, he seemed to be suffering from auditory hallucinations, or some other delusion. He claimed that one of his wife’s plants was talking to him. No one else seemed to be able to hear the voice, but it was growing louder and more insistent, while not making any sense, and he was convinced it was coming from the purple orchid his wife had brought home a few weeks prior. After a few weeks of talk sessions and a prescription for anti-anxiety medication failed to yield any results, he brought the orchid in question to his session, and refused to bring it back home with him. She didn’t think it would help his recovery to force the issue, so she let him leave without it, intending to return it to him later. The orchid was sitting on the front seat of her car during her commute home. That commute was interrupted when she drove by what appeared to be a mugging or assault taking place in an alley just off the street. She pulled off into the alley, flashed her lights, honked her horn, and shouted that she was calling the police, hoping to scare away the attackers. But the attackers were a pack of vampires affiliated with the New Shadows gang, and they weren’t mugging their victim; they were about to feed on him. They used their superhuman strength to flip her car over, trapping her in the alley. But as they started to drag her out of the wrecked car, she heard a woman's voice inside her mind, and it seemed like time froze. The voice offered Camellia power, the power she would need to survive this ordeal and many like it. But she could only give Camellia that power if they were “bonded”. Camellia decided that, whatever that meant, it was better than letting herself or that poor man be killed, so she agreed. Time started passing again, and the orchid started moving under its own power, shattering its pot and pressing itself against Camellia. The flower somehow phased through her flesh and bone, sinking into her chest. She felt its roots expand throughout her body. It occurred to her that this should have been painful or terrifying or disgusting, but instead it was invigorating. Leaves and bark sprouted from her flesh, covering every inch of her skin. The vampires were shocked when they reached for a human but pulled out a humanoid plant-monster. Their claws and fangs couldn't pierce her bark-armor. Acting on instinct, she summoned plants to her aid, and they responded. Roots from a nearby tree stretched and snaked through the dirt before bursting bursting up out of the ground, breaking through the concrete like it was glass. The roots hardened into spears and impaled the vampires, who all collapsed into piles of ash. As soon as the danger had passed, the leafy armor dried up and crumbled off of Camellia’s skin. She used her cell phone to call an ambulance for the bleeding man and a tow truck for her totaled car, and she tended to his wounds as best she could while they waited. She told the police that she’d turned too fast into the alley and flipped over, which must have scared away “the muggers”. The wounded man didn’t contradict her. Camellia spent the weeks after the incident telepathically communing with her new symbiote, learning what little the symbiote knew of her own history, and growing accustomed to her new abilities and the changes the symbiote was making to her body. The symbiote had been part of a race of semi-sentient plants engineered and grown as biological weapons by the humans of another Earth in an alternate dimension. That dimension fell to Omega, and this symbiote happened to be on a part of that Earth which wound up floating in the Terminus instead of being annihilated. When a rift opened up near the symbiote during the most recent Terminus incursion into her dimension, she pulled up her roots and let herself fall through. The symbiote offered to separate from Camellia if she so desired, but Camellia refused when she learned that separation would require intensive surgery which could kill both of them. Instead, Camellia decided to cope with whatever changes might come, and put her new abilities to good use, making the world a better place like she’d always wanted to. Personal Life Camellia invests a great deal of time and effort into maintaining her extensive network of family, school friends, sorority sisters, and coworkers (both from her modeling days and from the teaching hospital where she completed her residency). Once you're part of her world, you don't leave. She calls and sends cards for every birthday and anniversary, and she sends hand-written “Thank You” notes for everything else. Her psychiatry practice and superhero activities take up most of what time remains. When she somehow manages to squeeze a few more drops out of her schedule, she likes gardening, sewing, cooking and baking, and making occasional trips to the beach or to go out dancing at night clubs. She has no regrets about putting her personal life on hold for the sake of her career, but it's not on hold anymore. She has an active profile on ErosUnlimited, where she's hoping within the next few years to find a guy to settle down with, get married and have kids. Personality & Motivation Camellia's behavior comes from a combination of a naturally big heart and being raised in a semi-aristocratic subculture in which tradition was revered and courtesy was paramount. She strives to always be polite, modest, generous, and forgiving. She hates to see people suffer, even when they deserve it. She’s sensitive to the moods of the people around her, and it’s important to her to make those people as comfortable as possible. Her guiding principle in daily life is “Make everybody feel welcome, and never make anybody feel second-rate.” She greets everyone with a warm smile and an opening for as much small talk as they'd like, and she almost never swears or insults people. When someone else commits a faux pas, she’s far more likely to ignore it or attempt to cover for it than she is to draw attention to it or mock them. She values integrity, both in herself and in others, so she won’t lie to protect people’s feelings, but she will distract, deflect, and omit. Every child gets told at some point “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all”, but unlike most children, she took that sentiment to heart, leaving the hard truths for one-on-one sessions behind closed doors. She detests bullying of any kind, and she won't hesitate to step in and put herself between the bully and their victim. She loves social interaction and embraces every opportunity for it. Everyone has a story, and she wants to hear them all. She likes attention, which is fortunate, because she’d get plenty of it whether she liked it or not. She doesn’t demand the spotlight, but she’s very comfortable under it. She’s a hopeless romantic who falls hard and fast both in and out of love. She doesn’t expect or demand old school chivalry, but she’s a total sucker for it. Powers & Skills Camellia Blume is a medical doctor with a specialty in psychiatric medicine, fully licensed to practice in the state of Florida. The symbiotic alien plant which fused with her has transformed her body on the molecular level into an ambulatory plant. She looks human on the surface, but beneath the skin, her flesh, blood, and bone has mostly been replaced with cellulose, sap, and wood. Her plant tissues are more durable and resilient than her old flesh, her aging process has slowed considerably, and she can completely regrow any lost body parts. Her body engages in photosynthesis, so she doesn’t need to breathe or eat food, though she still does, both for the pleasurable sensation and because she can derive nutrients from it; it’s the equivalent of spreading fertilizer over crops. She can also extend roots from her body down into soil to obtain water and nutrients, but eating and drinking feels more familiar. The diseases and poisons of animals no longer affect her, although certain chemical fertilizers have effects on her similar to those of caffeine or alcohol when she discreetly adds them to her coffee and cocktails (which also makes those drinks toxic for anyone else). However, as a plant, she is more vulnerable to dehydration and extremes of temperature, her tissues are more flammable, and defoliants and herbicides which would be harmless to a human will kill her in a matter of seconds. But if she is killed, a piece of her corpse can be re-planted like a cutting, and, if it is able to take root and it gets the water, nutrients, and sunlight it needs, then it will eventually regrow her entire body. Through the symbiote, she can psychically detect, communicate with, animate, control, and alter plants. She can make them move and act on her behalf, and she can transform them extensively, shaping them like clay, greatly increasing or decreasing their size, strength, and resilience, and making them sprout flowers which burst open to unleash sedative latex, or psychoactive pollen which can cause hallucinations and render the victim susceptible to suggestion. She doesn't strictly need to take any physical action to alter or control plants, but she uses physical gestures to help herself focus. In battle, she looks like she's dancing or conducting an orchestra. Most of the transformations she causes reverse themselves quickly once she stops exerting the mental effort to maintain them; permanent changes require greater effort. Nearby plants respond to her unconscious desires and survival instincts, moving out of her way, or moving and stretching to protect her, blocking or swatting aside incoming attacks. Her ability to shape plant matter with her thoughts also extends to her own body. She can make plant appendages like vines, thorns, leaves, and roots sprout from her skin, with whatever pigmentation or texture she desires. In battle, she often grows an extra layer of thick bark over her skin, harder than rock. She can release luciferns and their catalyzing enzymes into parts of her body, causing them to glow. In a battle, engaging directly with supervillains is her last resort. Her first priorities are healing the wounded, and using her Create Object and Move Object powers to protect bystanders and other heroes, either by shielding them or by moving them to a safe place. When she does fight directly, she attempts to restrain or incapacitate her foes while doing as little harm as possible. She can create vines to whip or strangle, or thorns to cut and stab, either from her own body or by altering other plants, but she’s so loathe to inflict direct harm that she refuses to do so in all but the most desperate of circumstances. Timeline 1989 Camellia Blume is born in Vibora Bay. 2001 Camellia Blume begins working as a model and competing in beauty pageants. 2007 Camellia Blume graduates from a private high school in Vibora Bay, and begins attending Sinclair University. She joins the Omega Beta Gamma sorority and the cheerleader squad for Sinclair's NCAA teams. 2011 Camellia Blume graduates from Sinclair with honors, and begins attending the UFVB school of medicine. She joins the cheerleader squad for the UFVB Gators. 2015 Camellia Blume graduates from the UFVB medical school, and begins her residency at the UFVB hospital. 2019 Camellia Blume finishes her psychiatric residency, becomes a board-certified physician, and starts her own psychiatric practice. During an attack by the New Shadows, she bonds with a symbiotic plant from an alternate universe and gains superpowers. She becomes a superhero, taking the name "Persephone". Storm of The Century: Persephone teams up with Cheval, The Immutable Betsy Brooks, Sagrado Corazon, Speed-Demon, Torque, and The Woodsman, to repel an incursion by an undead crocodile kaiju and its zombie horde. Rough Draft: Persephone meets with the other heroes from "Storm of The Century" to discuss the mayor's offer to back an official Vibora Bay super-team. Persephone becomes one of Vibora Bay's official city defenders. Dragon's Harvest (IN PROGRESS): Persephone and the other Vibora Bay Defenders meet The Dragoneer at his home. Even The Mere Reports of Such (IN PROGRESS): Persephone and the other Vibora Bay Defenders investigate a haunted house. Thy Golden Stair (IN PROGRESS): Persephone and Cheval meet up on ErosUnlimited. 2020 Deep Runs The Dreadnaut (IN PROGRESS): The Dreadnaut holds Vibora Bay hostage. Transylvanian Mix Tape (IN PROGRESS): Persephone and Sagrado Corazon help The Immutable Betsy Brooks look into the local vampire problem.
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