WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

[Hermit]

This assumes your character has a way to receive a letter from Africa, be it things sent to a public team base, your own actual address (Assuming public id), or someone else who could receive the letter on your behalf and pass it onto you. Whatever way it happens, you end up with an envelope from overseas.

 

Upon opening it, you find the following letter:

 

"Dear Superhero,

My sorry. My English is not very good. My name is Ubru Kantara, and I am 11 years old. I live in Africa, the country of Duhu, in village of Tazera. I have 2 brothers and 3 sisters. I am the oldest, and my father is dead, so it falls to me to protect my mother and they. But I can not.

 

Please save us.

 

Every month, rebel soldiers come, they come into the village and they rape anyone they find. Sometimes they take old men even. If you resist too much, they will kill you. Some of us hide, and sometimes we are found. My mother tells us to hide where the ox used to live, and sometimes it works. I should be a man, I should fight them, but mother will not let me. They have no powers, just guns and knives. The government does nothing, and when their soldiers come in, they take their pleasures of the women as well because our country is poor and our leader sees this as a better way to pay his soldiers than money.

 

The Missionaries from your country who visit are very kind and generous, but they can do nothing. One of them was killed last year and they are thinking of leaving.A few have smuggled people out of the village, but they can not take many. I hope they take my sister to your country...it sounds very nice. It was a missionary who told me about superheroes like you.

 

 

The United Nations people are also nice, the doctors come in and try to help. They give medicine, food, and more, but we must hide it from the rebels and the government. The UN send no soldiers to help us, they say maybe one day they can.

 

One day has long come and gone, still they can not act.

 

Please. Help us. I know you must fight bad men in your country, but we have no superheroes here. Can we not borrow you for a little while? Just long enough to help my village. Last time, one of the rebels took one of the girls away. I think they are now going to sell us.

 

Help me protect my family, I will fight by you if you like, With a hero by my side I would not be afraid. Just come, and you will see

 

Please?

 

I thank you,

Ubru Kantara"

 

 

Research will show that Duhu (or pick another country if fictional ones don't exist in your universe) is indeed in a state of near perpetual civil war. The ruling government has forbidden UN interference as it does not wish to look weak. The news media doesn't seem to deem this story as worthy of any great attention, perhaps because there seems to be no end to it and no easy fix which only adds to the sense of futility.

 

The letter seems to be totally legitimate. Detective types and the like will find no signs of faked handwriting or the like.

 

With effort, your hero can locate where the village is, he might even find the missionary group in question and the churches sponsoring them.

 

To go in as a superhero means violating a nation's sovereign territory and putting yourself above international law.

To ignore it means Ubru and his family are on their own and probably always will be and their village will remain a hell on Earth every 30 days or so.

 

What Would Your Character Do?

 

What COULD your character do?

 

Note:I realize this one could easily get political. Please keep it in character (minus profanity though that would be understandable) and try to respect or at least tolerate any different takes that might arise.

[bubba smith]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

tuff man would WANT to help but his hands would be tied

legally there is NOTHING he can do

[CoreBrute]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Zero Core

The world is going to hell after all an alien invasion. He is amazed someone would ask for him specifically. He would definitely help, he is used to going against government orders.

 

He would probably enlist the help of the long distance teleporter on the team, who is also a priest. That or steal the team jet.

 

He would enact some vigilante justice, rescue the slaves, and take the young children to Britain (the country he is from and the game is set in) if they so want, because the world is going down the drain, let them enjoy it there. He would use the vast funds he has to get them educated.

 

Flux

Would feel very touched by all this, and try and get the rest of the team to come to a decision. He would end up going to the country himself if the team didn't want to help as part of a charity and offer his aid that way (not illegal). If he happens to show up when rebels start attacking, well he just happened to be there so he would fight and help people. He would spend most of his free time doing this.

[Revenant]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Discus: After taking the time to verify this letter, and find the country, there's a plane ticket to buy. If the government tries to stop her, she kindly reminds them she's an independent contractor for them, red white and blue attitude or no. If they persist, she explains that a strong, ticked off, American heroine is a whole lot harder to handle than one that's on good terms with them.

 

That obstacle hurdled, she takes her American Way mentality overseas and begins fighting back. She starts at that village until the military decides it's not worth going there then starts her march towards the capital. Doubt there's much that the government can do to stop her as she could easily destroy tanks either at range or up close and any damage they do to her will heal given a few moments.

 

When she gets there, she grabs the leader, pulls him very close, and lets him know she'll keep monitoring the situation. He'd best shape up, or there'll be a little shock and awe done to his capital building.

[bubba smith]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

well said revanant

could someone rep him for me?

[Beast]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Wraith:lots of rebel and government arms will go missing

leaders will be haunted and terrorized

 

Silk Detective:lots of dead rebels and government types if caught in the act(lots of covert video)big explosions and lots of .45 cal ammo expended

 

Precision:lots of equipment missing,non lethal but embarrassing traps and catch and release,lots of troops with broken weapon hands and weapons

 

Puma:lots of slash marks and blood

 

Nightmare:leaders changing their minds and working for good

[Balabanto]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

This country would probably get a beatdown from most of my PC groups. Superheroes in Africa would likely be responding to the problem already, and if they weren't, or had taken sides in the conflict somehow, the PC's would beat the living daylights out of them and show them the error of their ways.

 

This is a zero tolerance situation for most PCs. Guns denied. Government denied. You WILL start again.

 

The second step is to cut off the arms dealers. No arms dealers, no ammunition, no tribal warfare.

 

Thanks, Hermit. And repped. I can't wait to run this.

 

Possible plot twists:

 

The writer of the letter is dead. And he's been dead for six months.

 

There is an additional deadly trap concocted by enemies of the hero or hero team who figure that no one will notice if the heroes die somewhere in Africa, destroying their reputation and their life in one fell swoop.

 

A supervillain the PC's know and hate is secretly manipulating the government for his own ends, and that's what's making things worse than usual.

 

African Superheroes on BOTH sides of the conflict attack the PC's, telling them to stay out.

 

The head of their government IS their superhero. And he believes he's doing the right thing.

 

An evil cult is using all of the death and murder as a focus for summoning a powerful death spirit.

[Lord Mhoram]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Black Cat would likely move there for months, and completely clean the place up. She can take on armies by herself..... She'd also work on basic self defense training for the villagers. She's never been a government sponsored superhero, so that wouldn't be a problem. That is exactly the kind of "non superfight" stuff she has done in the past, building or fixing problems like that.

 

Terminal Velocity would freak out, and not know what to do.

 

Angelfire would help, and do a series of concerts to raise awareness and money of the situation.

 

Sift would looks for some sort of spell to tie the abilities of the government to how they treated their people.

 

Ballistic would mobilize his company to start looking at contracts there, but tie that vast economic influence to more humane actions by the government/military/police.

[Kal'El Wayne]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

I like the idea of another surprise twist. The PCs main villain 'just happens' to be there when the PC(s) arrive(s). Of course the twist is that it really is a coincidence, that the writer of the letters was told that they were both superheroes. And the archnemesis is there to help. Can the PCs handle the idea of an alliance? Or will they choose to fight the lesser of two evils?

 

Sir Johnstone will make a small call to a friend and the civil war will stop. Then he will have a friend take over the country and set up a better government.

 

StrangeIron would fly straight over, see if his new penpal was alright, then toast some badguy weapon caches. He'd stop everyone who was armed, no matter whether they where on the government or the rebel side.

 

New Leaf would fly over and see his new friends, get them to hide in a camoflagued hole, two miles away from the village, then stand there and get shot a lot when the rebel troops come. Then he'd talk to them. Half an hour later, the whole group would be rebuilding the village and moving in. Any troops that followed would have the same thing happen.

[Arkham]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Dr. Damascus would teleport to the village incognito and research to insure that all is as described. If the boy is truely a good soul, he would tutor the young boy in the ways of magic, teach him to wield the Powers Arcane so that he can defend his people. Its an origin story! In the meantime, he calls on the very stones, trees and mud to defend the village until the boy is ready to handle the threats to his homeland on his own, with only occasional dramatic intervention by his mentor. International law? Pah! When you are responsible for protecting the entire dimension from threats that Man was not Meant to Know, such things lose their meaning. In true silver-age style, this kind of thing is quickly taken care of and the subject of international treaty never arises, and the boy grows up to be the superheroic protector of his land ( with frequent trips to New York City ).

 

-- Actually, this sounds like a great idea. Since the game I run is in Dr. Damascus's future, I'll add this as part of his backstory for when he serves as an NPC. Now I just need a 'craft' name for the boy.

[Hermit]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Dr. Damascus would teleport to the village incognito and research to insure that all is as described. If the boy is truely a good soul, he would tutor the young boy in the ways of magic, teach him to wield the Powers Arcane so that he can defend his people. Its an origin story! In the meantime, he calls on the very stones, trees and mud to defend the village until the boy is ready to handle the threats to his homeland on his own, with only occasional dramatic intervention by his mentor. International law? Pah! When you are responsible for protecting the entire dimension from threats that Man was not Meant to Know, such things lose their meaning. In true silver-age style, this kind of thing is quickly taken care of and the subject of international treaty never arises, and the boy grows up to be the superheroic protector of his land ( with frequent trips to New York City ).

 

-- Actually, this sounds like a great idea. Since the game I run is in Dr. Damascus's future, I'll add this as part of his backstory for when he serves as an NPC. Now I just need a 'craft' name for the boy.

 

I agree it's a great idea. I really liked your origin story in the making take on it

[Certified]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Fallout (Giant ball of living radiation/formally human): This would tear at Fallout, he is not wealthy and he is not subtle. Although he could fly there on his own it would be like driving a slow car all the way. Using what status he has as a hero he would do what he could to create a public outcry and bring this to the news, possibly starting a Duhu charity.

 

If at all possible Fallout would try to arrange a more diplomatic visit to the village after bring the situation to national attention. While visiting the village, should rebel's happen to attack... well that's another story.

 

- - -

 

Apollyon (Occultist/Mystic Brick): As he deals primarily with the hidden places of the world it does not seem to be to far from the ordinary that he could slip into the country undetected. Likely linking up with smugglers to follow the illegal trade routes. once inside the country he would try to find out what the real story was on the ground. Why are the rebels fighting what are the motivations of the government.

 

From the description is sounds as if both factions could be just as bad as one another. Should this be the case Apollyon would help in migrating independents to safer locations using what money he has to take care of supplies and his powers to take care of problems along the way.

 

Time permitting Apollyon would try to undermine whatever side seems to harm people, again this is likely both parties, while attempting to locate a viable third faction. Without revealing his presence or intervention. Although, he could not be directly involved he would do what he could behind the scenes to support this new faction. Hopefully his actions would make it clear that should this new faction fail to honor needs of the country someone is watching and taking action and that they need to be better than their predecessors.

 

This would likely be played out between other events such as watching other heroes getting abducted (See Raptured). As he would not be there all the time it would hopefully make it more difficult to prove his intervention.

[Vulcan]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Siberian Tiger: Well, with a name like that, it's pretty easy to figure out what he'd be doing... Let's just say that the next time that bunch of soldiers came to raid that villiage, not one of them would ever be returning. And with a 30+ PRE, surely one of them would talk when threated with becoming Tiger-Chow. (He'd never actually do it, people taste terrible and there are sooo many tastier critters running around Africa...) So from there it's go find whoever issued the orders, then wash, rinse, repeat.

 

Not terribly heroic by some people's standards, I'm sure. But it would solve the immediate problem. Probably not the long-term ones, though.

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Super Model would never see the letter. Her manager handles her mail, and would probably destroy it out of fear that she might actually get involved and provoke an international incident.

 

Earth Girl would set up shop in Tazera indefinitely, tending the sick and hungry and providing a very visible super-hero presence to scare off marauding rebels And if armed conficts arose, well, guns and knives can't do much when the ground underfoot turns against you.

 

Kurzhaan the Conqueror would deal with the situation the same way he dealt with similar things back in his own time: lots of dead rebels whose severed heads adorn pikes as a warning to anyone who might follow in their footsteps. I can see the situation escalating badly if the government's military got involved. Odds are Kurzhaan would either end up overthrowing the government of Duhu and declaring himself king, or getting taken down by African or international super-heroes.

[nexus]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

I like the idea of another surprise twist. The PCs main villain 'just happens' to be there when the PC(s) arrive(s). Of course the twist is that it really is a coincidence, that the writer of the letters was told that they were both superheroes. And the archnemesis is there to help. Can the PCs handle the idea of an alliance? Or will they choose to fight the lesser of two evils?

 

Nice twist!

 

[Guest Admiral C]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

well said revanant

could someone rep him for me?

 

Done.

 

If this situation occurred with any of my past characters our team would probably don disguises and go help. Maybe even have some other friendly supers pose as us while we were away.

[CptPatriot]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero"

 

Captain Patriot: The Sentinel of Freedom would be appalled by the letter. After going to the UN and verifying that the status in that country is valid, he'd go to work.

 

He'd get some help from his contacts to get inserted into that country with any allies he has; likely his girlfriend, Justice.

 

After getting their supplies in order and entering the country, she would meet up with the local leaders, find where the rebels are situated and prepare the village for the next incursion.

[JackValhalla]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Scarlet Raven: Given a couple of hours of prep, Raven's one of the strongest mentalists on the planet. And though she works for the government, she has no qualms about defying them for a cause. So, a little psychometry, a lot of mind scan, some telepathy.. she'll get to the bottom of this. And if she doesn't like what she finds, it's "Scanners" time!

 

Snow Leopard: Would probably spend at least a day waffling about what to do, but in the end would steal some money, travel to Africa, set up camp, and wait to catch the marauders in action. Then, he would make a huge mess out of them and all their accomplices. Then, he'd steal everything valuable and move in on the capitol city!

[Querysphinx]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Thunder: Would recon the area (This would take about 20 seconds from start to finish). They she'd start call in favors from every government agent, NGO, and businessman she's ever saved. She'd lean on the UN for permission for a humanitarian interdiction and then she'd be riding the spearhead of the biggest air drop since the Berlin airlift. With construction equipment on the ground she'd take a very liberal view of self defense for the humanitarian mission and make life a supersonic hell for the Janjaweed.

[Clonus]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

 

To go in as a superhero means violating a nation's sovereign territory and putting yourself above international law.

.

 

Bah. Stuff and nonsense. A superhero is not a nation, and rarely represents one. You wouldn't be violating international law, you'd be, possibly, violating the law of the nation you're interfering with.

[Pól Ruadh]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

El Aguila Azul was raised in an orphanage run by the Catholic Church. He would contact his mentor, Father Ruiz, formerly the crimefighting luchador El Aguila Sagredo and arrange to join the nearby mission.

If, by chance, a mysterious, superstrong and bulletproof masked man should happen to show up the next time the soldiers are in town, well... who knew?

[Captain Obvious]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

(people taste terrible and there are sooo many tastier critters running around Africa...)

 

You're just letting the fact that they have faces and they beg you and/or God for mercy and scream for their mothers put you off. They actually taste just like pork.

[Trebuchet]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Zl'f would grab five or six of her fellow MidGuardians and go kick some bandit buttocks. The decision to intervene would be unanimous; MidGuard was specifically formed to deal with crises (such as this) that couldn't be solved by more ordinary means. While MidGuard prefers to stay on good terms with local governments*, they have and will continue to intervene despite those governments' objections in such situations.

 

*Pretty much the only governments that don't appreciate MidGuard are dictatorships. Imagine that.

[Vulcan]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

You're just letting the fact that they have faces and they beg you and/or God for mercy and scream for their mothers put you off. They actually taste just like pork.

 

That's my point (he has bitten quite a few, after all). There are sooooo many animals tastier than... pig.

 

As far as begging for mercy? "Wherrre was you'rrre mercy when these women and childrrren werrre the ones begging?"

[Tigereye]

Re: WWYCD: "Dear Superhero" (Warning: Ugly situation)

 

Deuce is a member of the World Watchers. Even if there was interference from a friendly government, this is exactly what the Watchers were chartered to stop. It may be in a way "beneath" them, but the mention of rapes and abductions for G*d-knows-what would get his interest, as it engages his sense of WW2-era gallantry towards women. He would probably get those Watchers who can go incognito to do so to get to the real reasons behind the abductions and rapes. He would even go alone if necessary, as a lone ex-spy with the World Watchers' resources could do a lot of damage to the government of Duhu. He probably would not be alone, though. Huntress, his psionic alien "shadow", would be appalled at the treatment of innocent, unarmed humans and would definitely want a piece of the action. Others would also want to participate for their own reasons.

 

If a supervillain happened to also be along to fight alongside the Watchers, it would depend on the villain, their known motives and their crimes. Deuce would be very naturally suspicious of the motives. If a villain was the motive force behind the crimes, of course, Deuce would move hell and Earth to make sure they were brought to justice even if a little deadly force was involved (although he does not like to kill, he has no CVK at all).

 

Book Deuce a flight to Duhu. He'll find his own transport to Tazera. Ubru Kantera has at least one new ally, and a most resourceful one at that...