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Create a Hero Theme Team!


Cygnia

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Re: Create a Hero Theme Team!

 

"Yes, my name really is Skylark DuQuesne. My father was an old-school science-fiction fan with a sense of humor. God, I hated his sense of humor. My mother was the mad scientist of the family, though. She was always 'just one good breakthrough away' from commericial anti-gravity. Still is, actually. They were kind of busy when I hit puberty and started having weird dizzy spells. They meant well, but when one of them would take me to the doctor, the symptoms went away and the tests came back negative. All except for the one that said I had a metagene, but it seemed to be inactive.

 

"So when Mom's work suddenly got more involved, the folks tuned out my dizzy spells. Things got worse and worse for me, and no one was answering when I asked for help. So I crawled down to the lab--they'd forgotten to lock the door...again...and saw my mom's anti-gravity generator. And suddenly I knew! This is what was causing my dizzy spells! Being a teenaged brat who was sick to her stomach and tired of being neglected, I had a temper tantrum. Before my parents even knew I was there I'd picked up a monkey wrench and just started bashing at the machine. I must have hit something vital, because it exploded.

 

"When I woke up in the hospital, I was hovering about an inch above the mattress. My metagene had turned on. My folks were apologetic then, but once I got better, it was all 'test this' and 'experiment that'. I was only too thrilled when Ravenswood Academy came calling. Once I got there it was still 'test this' and 'experiment that' but at least I had other kids in the same boat with me, and the instructors knew when to back the hell off. So, now I've got gravity control powers, not the strongest ever seen, there's at least three people stronger than I am just in North America, but enough to let me reach escape velocity while taking a bubble of atmosphere along. For the long hauls I've got this experimental light space suit the NASA boys came up with for super-astronauts like me.

 

"And now I'm Skylark of Space, a proud member of the Saturn Five."

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Re: Create a Hero Theme Team!

 

It began as a dimness, a shadow obscuring certain stars, and only astronomers noticed. It seemed to vanish, only to be found occluding a slightly different patch of sky. The Occlusion, as they dubbed it, was moving. And growing. No, not growing - growing closer. Moving in a helix, spiralling down towards the heart of the Solar System. Tacking, they realized eventually, against the solar wind. It was not just astronomers who took notice now.

Probes were sent, from NASA, JSA, ESA. The images were awe inspiring, the data intriguing and baffling. When telemetry from the first probe abruptly stopped, the course of the great cloud of dust and gas changed - taking it straight towards the next two. A course it continued after it did whatever it did to the next two probes. Whatever it was, it was heading towards Earth. Not towards where the Earth had been when the probes were launched; but on a course to intercept. It was insubstantial as smoke, but it moved as if with intelligence and purpose. And indications were that it had destroyed the probes.

But then came broadcasts; snippets of everything from popular television to the coded transmissions that had been directed at the probes. As if it meant to communicate.

The experimental vehicle named Goliath (after Arthur C. Clarke's fictional space vehicle) was sent next, under the command of Captain Mercedes MacCleod. Goliath was manned - and armed. The mission was to try to persuade this intruder to the solar system to change it's threatening course or, if it were not intelligent or could not communicate or would not be persuaded, to attempt to destroy it with nuclear weapons.

No one was prepared for how fast it could move. When they began trying radio transmissions at two light minutes away, the entity changed course and speed yet again - and the astronauts and their ship were engulfed.

Stunned and helpless listeners at Mission Control heard one of the crew scream "The Captain! She's GONE!" Then nearly ten minutes of radio silence, punctuated by explosions. The spacecraft Goliath was no longer visible on instruments.

 

 

"I was fascinated by these objects. Even taking them apart molecule by molecule, I could not determine what they were. I looked for the source. That is when I first heard your people...perhaps I began to suspect that the probes had been made, and to some purpose. I thought Goliath was another probe. I had taken apart one of the most fascinating pieces when I realized, all at once - this thing, although made of solid matter, incredibly, it was alive, it was a thinking being. I can't explain what I did when I realized I was killing someone, but the only way I saw to save me in that instant of my disintegration was to become me. I...We...fused. And I realized somehow I had become this thing we came out to talk to or to stop, and I saw that I had already disassembled too much of Goliath and the crew were on their suit oxygen, we had to get to Earth. But that took energy, and I was heading towards a star to replenish - but there was plenty of energy right there! All I had to do was put myself between the solid people and those little stars-on-demand, and trigger them, and I could reach Earth before their oxygen ran out!"

 

 

"This is...Captain...uh..." Both staticky and hesitant, confused sounding, the voice was still recognizable, and cries of "She's ALIVE!" mingled with cheers, quickly silenced as all wanted to listen, intently. "The crew are in shock, may have radiation poisoning, we're coming back as fast as possible." In response to questions from Ground Control."The Goliath...the ship is destroyed. We're coming back without it."

 

Following the announcement that the astronauts were returning without their spacecraft, there was a moment of stunned silence. Then someone said "The lag is wrong. They are almost 7 light minutes out, but that last response took less than one minute. How!?"

 

"I come in peace for all mankind." Those words, so familiar to everyone present, riveted their attention. "I come in peace for all mankind." Later it would be realized that the broadcast had been on every radio frequency in use, and in several languages. "I come in peace for all mankind." Every channel used for visual images bore an image of the Earth, growing rapidly larger.

 

Mission Control - and much of Houston - was enveloped in a pearly, radiant mist. Fortunately, before too many accidents occurred on the streets of Houston, the unnatural fog withdrew, shrank.....in the infirmary the babbling crew appeared as the obscuring light vanished....and finally became a swirling tornado of light right right in the heart of Mission Control. And then finally resolved into the familiar form of Captain Mercedes MacLeod.

 

But this was not the same person they knew. And she would never be the same again.

 

 

I remember being Mercedes MacLeod. I remember growing up in New Mexico and spending time with my mother's family in Old Mexico...I remember, the first time I made the trip, wondering how the place I had always known could be “newer” than this strange place I was going to. I remember playing with the way stars look and sound.....if I was full of energy I could shift speed and direction just to distort the colors and....the radio waves sound so funny if I do that. I remember my father's gray eyes so light in his dark face. I remember when I told him I wanted to go to the stars – I'd been reading Heinlein, and Norton, and Asimov - he said “Maybe you will. Remember, folks gonna try to hold you down, just 'cause a my color, just 'cause your ma wasn't even born in this country, just 'cause you're a girl...but really, just 'cause they's jealous or ignorant.” I remember, he put his hands on my shoulders and looked so serious “Misty – don't ever believe 'em when they say 'you can't do that!'” I remember daring myself to go to planets, much bigger worlds than this...feeling the awful weight, the pull on every part of my body, not nearly as great as the draw of a star, but without that glorious counterthrust of energy pouring out in the other direction. The stories I loved were First Contact stories....where aliens meet for the first time. I joined the Air Force and learned to fly, I joined the Navy and saw the world, I learned about languages and cultures, I learned about space. I remember the taste of that first strange object....the metal so pure, the shapes so regular and logical, the weird ways electricity flowed in it. And there were more like it! I noticed this world was singing to them. I didn't understand your transmissions, I don't think I really knew it was even meaningful...but I sang back, as I sing back to stars sometimes, as I would sing back to one of my own kind. I'd written papers, I'd been the main author of a report for NASA on the theoretical situation of a First Contact. Sometimes people said things like “Here comes Captain Kirk. Excuse me, Captain MacLeod.” or “First Contact Protocol – Nuke it from orbit, it's the only way to be sure!” but I just remembered what my father said. Then, when they began to think the Occlusion might actually be an alien or a vessel or something of the sort, I was the first choice to command the mission. I had never felt such pride and happiness. I had barely started to take apart this new object when I realized there were things inside very different...I burned with curiosity, I took one apart eager to know what it was, and then the answer came like a nova inside me – it was alive! And I was killing it! I had never felt such shame and sorrow. I don't think my kind usually put together physical objects we've taken apart....I don't know how I did what I did next. But everything that had been Mercedes MacCloud, down to the energy state of every neuron on her brain, was part of me now – and I saw a way to make it so, to keep it so, to....fuse with her. But I don't remember everything. I speak fluent German, I was stationed there, I have a map of the country in my head – I don't remember the name of a single person I met in Germany. And...I feel differently about things. I remember that I have known other beings like me, made of stardust and vapors and patterns of force – but I don't remember them clearly. I think I am less than I was. I feel differently about things. I remember the oath I swore, becoming an officer. But the United States seems like such a small thing now; I remember what it feels like to let a world bigger than Neptune pass through my body.And is an oath sworn by a human, binding on...something else? My name was Mercedes MacLeod. My name was something that cannot even be spoken in sound waves, only in pulses of energy in wavelengths your kind have never measured.I will need a name, for I mean to stay in this system for a long time. Matter in your world comes in such complex, intricate forms! I am sorry I destroyed the shield you meant to use to protect your world. I will take its place for you. Anything smaller than your moon, I can deflect or destroy! Because I could not bear to let some disaster befall a world full of things like you solid people and slugs and volvox and the songs of whales and the Moody Blues.... Call me after what I destroyed unthinkingly, so I never forget and become careless again. Call me Goliath.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary notes that we're not completely happy with this name.

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Re: Create a Hero Theme Team!

 

I believe it is the Palindromedary's turn to pick the next theme :)

 

Somehow, a grasshopper has gotten into my house. I'll take that inspiration.

 

The Mighty Insects are a group of seven to nine (depending on how inspired people get) who share an insect/arthropod type theme. Anything with a segmented body and an exoskeleton counts.

 

Lucius Alexander

 

If I let the palindromedary pick, we'd have The Paladindromes - heroes who fight the good fight and oppose evil coming and going

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Re: Create a Hero Theme Team!

 

I shamelessly recycle materiel.

 

If anyone wants to see a character sheet for Goliath (who first appeared as Captain Nebula, and I still think maybe I should go back to that name...) it's in this thread:

 

http://www.herogames.com/forums/showthread.php/72238-Captain-Nebula

 

Lucius Alexander

 

Sometimes I recycle palindromedary taglines.

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Re: Create a Hero Theme Team!

 

Irwin Shlub is The Flea. Yes, this very unassuming man can shrink to the size of a flea. When he shrinks, he can leap over vast distances and his Strength increases as he gets smaller. What sets The Flea apart from most heroes is that he is also a ventriloquist. You think it's hard to find a tiny flea, try finding one when your looking in the wrong place because he threw his voice.

 

Special note: Once again The flea was an npc crazy person in my game. Sorry again, couldn't pass it up.

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Re: Create a Hero Theme Team!

 

Adam Mervyn McDonald has the power to shrink in size while retaining his mass. At insectile sizes his density is such as to render his body nearly impenetrable. He fights crime as Adamant Ant (not his first choice of name, but the alternatives turned out to be taken....)

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary thinks I should do Bug Boy....

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Re: Create a Hero Theme Team!

 

Kudos also to Lucius on the writeup for Goliath. That' date=' I was able to rep. I'll have to hit Hermit with the repstick when it finally lets me.[/quote']

 

I'm thinking maybe I'll change the name back to Nebula. There was a Nebula class of ship in Star Trek....

 

Lucius Alexander

 

The palindromedary likes Messiah, the name of the asteroid blasting ship in Deep Impact, but that name seems too...messianic?

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Re: Create a Hero Theme Team!

 

"Yeah, I know as Pillbug that I'm not the most intimidating hero on the team, and most people make a lot of jokes at my expense. So go ahead, Ogre, yuk it up. I don't care. Y'see, when I roll up in a ball, I won't feel your fists at all. And then I'll roll all over your sorry butt, and who's laughing now? What's wrong, tough guy, getting your butt beat by a roly poly?"

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Re: Create a Hero Theme Team!

 

Iris Cullen takes to the skies on wings of orange as The Viceroy Butterfly! (She gets mad if you call her "Monarch"). Although she's not as physically strong as her teammates, she does produce a rather pungent chemical spray that can cause an enemy to gag and choke, disabling them for awhile. She can also entangle foes in a cocoon or weave a protective shield wall as needed though both options can take a lot out of her, exhausting her.

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Re: Create a Hero Theme Team!

 

Clement Mathews is Bugshido !, a strange mix of samurai codes, martial arts and a beetle carapace. And he flies. Life just isn't fair. He is into the full Bushido ideal and honour which can and has been used against him.

He can't stand the film Men in Black.

 

(Got the idea from Deviant Art)

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Re: Create a Hero Theme Team!

 

The Caterpillar

 

Morty and Steve high fived as they ran through the alleys of the street with their prize. The old man in that shop had screamed and ranted his head off that the lamp they took was "not for you". Showed what he knew, this thing looked to be worth big bucks!

 

"We're home free, pal," Morty chuckled to his pal as they turned another corner, not noticing the blue smoke that filled in behind them.

 

Steve gave a wide grin, "Yeah, and do you see the gems in this thing? Those alone will have us rolling in green. We got it made."

 

Then both looked up and stopped. They were surrounded by a weird blue smoke so hazy as to practically render them blind. A curt voice with an accent they could not place sneered from the smoke, "Incorrect."

 

The smoke closed in a bit more, and they found themselves coughing but now they could see a man in a trenchcoat with a fedora, and in his left hand some sort of long stemmed cigarette or something that seemed to be a never ceasing source of the smoke. Between the brim of the hat, and the blue smoke, it was impossible to make out the stranger's face.

 

Morty felt his eyes were going to cross trying to do just that, "Who in hell are you?"

 

"Incorrect again," The stranger sighed, "We are not IN hell. Therefore I am not anyone in hell, I am someone HERE. You really are rather dim. If you insist, call me The Caterpillar"

 

 

Steve drew his gun, "Back off, man, or I WILL shot you."

 

Morty nodded, "Yeah, that smoke gives cover, but this alley is only so big."

 

The Caterpillar sighed, then ordered, "Recite. Criminals are?"

 

Steve opened his mouth to tell this Caterpillar guy to kiss off, but instead found himself curtsying like a little girl, and speaking out in a clear school class report tone, "A superstitious cowardly lot...."

"We plan and plot but we always get caught," Morty said after his own curtsy.

Then both chimed in together "Our evil schemes all come to naught. We're a superstitious cowardly lot!"*

 

"Exactly," The caterpillar said as the two crooks came out of it.

 

"Holy @###!" Morty cried out. Steve was shaking and drew his gun out again.

"You two really are a most WRETCHED height," said the man in front of them, and again smoke blew over them.

Suddenly both gun and lamp were too heavy in the hands of the criminals, as they began to dwindle, shrivel, and diminish into the folds of their clothes. The gun clambered to the side, but the lamp was lifted by another tendril of blue smoke and flew to the Caterpillar.

 

"I can't breath in here!" Morty cried out from somewhere within his BVDs.

 

"This is not happening, this is NOT Happening!" Steve was almost crying, which might be forgiven of him as he was no longer a 'grown' man by strictest definition.

 

They managed to slide free of the clothes, each as naked as the day they were born, and above them loomed the man calling himself the Caterpillar.

The mystic looked down, "Much better. Still, one side will make you bigger, one side will keep you small." And with that, lamp in his free hand, the Caterpillar turned and started to walk way.

 

"Wait!" the three inch tall Morty cried out, "WHAT side of WHAT will make us bigger?"

 

There was a departing snort of contempt, "Your jail cells, of course." And with that, the sorcerer was gone.

 

Morty blinked, "He says we'll turn back when we go to jail? No way, I'm a three timer."

 

Steve had stopped crying, but grabbed a sock and put it up against himself, "You do what you want, Morty. I'm turning myself in right now."

Steve prepared to make the trek to the thirteenth precinct, and less than a minute later?

Morty followed.

 

* -The recitation was stolen from a Batman Beyond episode :)

 

I think that's nine.

New theme for a team:

The Sisterhood of Eowyn

An arrogant and chauvinistic mystic member of a supervillain team has cast a spell in a great ritual stating "No man will notice us or even remember our crimes unless we will it. Even in the face of evidence, all men's mindseyes shall drift from the truth of our very existence." Now a sizable supervillain group runs amok in the city doing as they please. However, not all superheroes are men, and for magic, that's enough of a loophole to work around. Women can observe the crimes and remember them. Sadly, they find any plea to any male authorities to be falling on deaf ears.

 

That's where the Sisterhood comes in. Realizing that their masculine counterparts are utterly bespelled, a group of superheroines have assembled to capture the villains, and find a way to break this spell which is quite powerful. Some may have been teammates before and are frustrated by half (the male half) of their team thinking they're crazy. Others of the hastily drafted sisterhood are more used to working alone. Not all of them may get along, but they realize they're the only ones who can get this job done.

 

There are at least six members but feel free to go up to eight if you feel so inclined.

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Re: Create a Hero Theme Team!

 

"I'm thinking that maybe we should boot Cheer Girl from the team."

 

"What? She's hell on wheels in combat. And it's not like we can be extra picky."

 

"When she shows up for combat, sure. That's maybe...two-thirds, half our battles? She almost never sticks around after the fight, she doesn't come to planning meetings, she won't tell us her secret identity."

 

"Oh, like you share all your personal details. I'll talk to Cheer Girl, see if I can get her to open up about why she's being so erratic about attendance, but you have to understand that not everyone has your extreme dedication to crimefighting. And sometimes teenagers, they just have difficulty talking about their problems."

 

Cheer Girl is an attractive young woman who wears a skimpy "generic" cheerleader costume. She's very acrobatic, extremely flexible, and stronger than she looks. She can use her baton as a "boomerang" weapon, twirl it to deflect attacks or just use it to hit people as part of her "martial art". Her "pom-pom bombs" have a variety of explosive effects. She's always peppy and optimistic, often bursting into cheer routines and spelling out words in banter.

 

Out of combat, Cheer Girl comes across as a bit vain and a lot of a ditz, who seems primarily fixated on boys, clothes and sports trivia. Despite not wearing a mask, she deflects all attempts at inquiring about her personal life. Since joining the Sisterhood of Eowyn, her secretiveness seems to have increased.

 

 

Bob Jenkyns was not happy when the genie interpreted his two separate wishes to become a superhero and to date a cheerleader as "become a cheerleader superhero" especially since he didn't even get to be a male cheerleader. His final wish, "turn me back", gave him an "off button" for his superhero form, but the genie didn't seem pleased by that, claiming "that wasn't a good choice" before she vanished.

 

Since then, he's desperately striven to keep the fact that he turns into Cheer Girl a secret, which has created the need for wilder and more bizarre excuses for his disappearances. It's not doing his chances of graduating high school on time any favors. He also doesn't like the fact that Cheer Girl's personality, which starts as an overlay on his own, gradually becomes more "natural" and "normal-seeming" the longer he stays in that form. It becomes harder and harder for her to want to change back, and Bob worries that one day his real personality will just disappear as Cheer Girl decides that his life isn't necessary.

 

It's gotten worse since Cheer Girl joined the Sisterhood. When he's in his normal identity, Bob doesn't remember why she joined the Sisterhood, large parts of the conversations that take place, and almost all the combats are a blank. While he is Cheer Girl, he tries to leave notes and reassurances about what's going on, but they never penetrate through the villains' spell of forgetfulness. Thus Bob is ever more reluctant to transform, just when Cheer Girl is needed the most.

 

 

Story Seed: If, after finally learning Cheer Girl's secret, the player characters track down the djinnya that transformed Bob, she will admit to anyone but Bob that Cheer Girl "has a destiny" that her reversions into Bob are only delaying. Bob Jenkyns must "die" so that Cheer Girl can live out her vital destiny, further details unavailable due to unbreakable oath.

 

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Re: Create a Hero Theme Team!

 

Sarah Lancaster is Brick. She is plain of face but muscular. When you can out bench press the linemen in the high school football team you get noticed. Particularly when they are 2 years older than you. And when you can bodyslam one of these linemen when they are attempting to tackle you, the other kids give you a wide berth and think twice before insulting, slandering or playing tricks on you. There was nowhere for Sarah to go to fit in at school and the forces did not want her when she graduated. And hero teams ? Well they want someone who looks a little bit more attractive. The Sisterhood needed a brick and Sarah fits the bill just nicely. Brick may not be the fastest person in the world but she is strong and has outsmarted speedsters and martial artists who thought she could not him them.

Brick wears a plain costume with open face. The people who have shot her in the head particularly the face and those who tried to decapitate her have lived to regret it. She has added protection around the knee joints, ankles, hamstrings, elbows and wrists of the costume.

Brick is remembered for throwing a tank at someone to stop them getting away.

 

 

EDIT: The Forces means Armed Forces. But us Brits tend to phrase it as Forces for short

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Re: Create a Hero Theme Team!

 

She only refers to herself as The Sophia and claims she is immortal. A powerful sorceress, ever-slowly she pushes towards finding weak spots at the villains' cover spell. Meanwhile, in what spare time she has, she's been analyzing the magicks cast to see if there's a way to use it against the evil magicians themselves. She is a grim woman, not prone to banter or being social.

 

 

She's also very much an "ends justify the means" person. She's figured out Cheer Girl's secret and is in contact with the djinnya who cast the spell. The Sophia is doing her best to escalate Bob to his "destiny" behind the scenes -- and if that makes him permanently stay a woman then so be it. Likewise, while she hasn't yet figured out a way to dispel the cloaking magic of the villains, The Sophia has figured out a way to "twist" it, using the sorcery to not only hide herself from the villain team -- but temporarily hide the villains from themselves. She has quietly eliminated a few minions of the villains in this way without the rest of the Sisters knowing. Until she gains more knowledge and insight into the overall plans, she's staying her hand about eliminating any of the more powerful villains involved.

 

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