When Champions Begat

[Hermit]

Nighthawk's eyes opened, defying the pounds of protest that action brought to his aching head. Slowly, what had happened came back to him; That idiot scientist, the portal, and closing it with the only piece of organic mass he had big enough to plug it-himself. In retrospect, he had done brighter things.

 

Where the heck am I? He looked around. The place seemed familiar, very high tech, with some almost alien designs incorporated in the architecture. Still, the shape, the basic layout was!

 

"Homestead. I'm in Homestead." Specifically, the medbay area; but the changes were too drastic for a mere overnight renovation. Forcing himself up onto his feet, he moved as quietly as he could. There were voices in the hallway.

 

"I'm telling you, that's him. I ought to know, don't you think?" a woman's voice, confident, yet with undertones of soft humor.

"We can't be sure, and if it is, should we even let him out?" Some guy, who, like the woman, had a Lennie accent, Locals?

"The ramifications of two of him at once in the same time are... intriguing." A third voice responded, but the voice was almost accent free. Too perfect; artificial?

 

He moved closer for another look, and a chance to slip by. No way was anyone 'holding him' here. He saw the backs of the three, and waited to make his move.

 

One of them was a young woman in silver and black, her costume was much like his own, but slimmer, the hood neither so pronounced nor ominous. The second voice belonged to an athletic looking man of mixed heritage in a white costume with blue lightning bolts on it. The last was Defender? No way, the voice was wrong; Nighthawk figured some sort of robot in the armor.

 

Apparently, the robot had radar built in, because it whirled around, "He is attempting escape."

Each assumed a ready posture. Nighthawk drew forth his club obviously with his right hand, and palmed a gas pellet stealthily with the left.

 

The woman smiled at this, noticing both movements, "Blue Bolt, Defender back off. I want this one." She slid her own hands into her cloak, and drew forth two clubs that instantly grafted to each other by a loose high tech wire.

 

Nighthawk didn't have time to play, he threw the pellet at the woman's face, but she deflected with one smooth motion of her nunchuks and brought the weapon in an over hand strike which his club blocked smoothly, and countered with a punch of his now free hand. He felt like he had just punched a brick wall. His thoughts raced, her vest, the same tech as his? No, better. Still, he was rewarded with an ooof sound.

 

Then she kicked him. Strangely, the other two were obeying her request, and not interfering. Nighthawk found it foolish, but he wasn't going to complain about a tactical error on his enemy's part. He countered with a leg sweep, which she narrowly avoided. From there, it got intense, or should have. While it was clear she wasn't holding much back, Nighthawk was increasingly aware that for her, this was indeed, just fun. She wasn't giving this the due seriousness this contest deserved. Under his mask, he scowled.

 

"You're good ,old man." She seemed to mock her statement with an agile block of his latest swing. A grin was on her exposed mouth. Nighthawk's rebuttal was a successful palm strike to her shoulder that rocked her back a bit. He had not fully recovered to top form, and she was wearing him down. The fact she didn't seem to want to seriously fight him became all the more annoying. Nice that she cares, he thought dryly.

 

Wait, that was it. He took her next whirling weapon blow, twisting just to take the edge of the force of it, but then doubled, as if in sudden pain beyond mere battle. The woman’s response was just what he hoped. Her mirthful expression turned to worry.

 

"Are you oka..." then she left herself open bending forward to check on him.

Nighthawk used her momentary lack of balance to pick her up, and slam her to the earth-hard! Then brought his club above her and held it there.

 

Blue Bolt's eyes crackled, "Sucker Punch! you son of a #$#$!"

The downed woman groaned, then called out, "Blue Bolt, don't. My fault; should have remembered he never did play fair."

Then she looked up, pulled back her hood, and with the same eyes that had greeted Mark every morning in the mirror, glibly said, "Hi dad."

[Hermit]

Sorry

 

Sorry for the long story.... I got in the mood for a bit of writing.

Anyways, I was wondering what you think the offspring of various Champion characters (Including any of your own) might grow up to be like. I know a few folks have played "legacy" campaigns, and kept it in the family, so to speak.

 

In comic book universes, children of supers tend to become supers themselves, even if not always on the same side. So indulge in a little vanity for your characters, and if you would, consider what their next generation might be like.

[Chuckg]

Starguard -- *is* almost still a kid (18 years old), it's too early for her to think about *having* one.

 

(note -- I am well aware of the teen pregnancy rates, but Starguard could get kicked out of an early Silver Age comic for excessive niceness, so she's still the exception to the rule.)

 

Baron von Darien -- vampires don't have children. At least, not the normal way... and after the last time he tried it and it worked out disastrously, the Baron has already decided that he's not going to Embrace anyone else.

 

Dr. Pain -- I see him nagging his son (who inherits his brick powers, natch) to go to school. Go to college. Go to a *good* college. Go to grad school. Be one of them supergenius superheroes, not just a wrestling bum like his old man.

 

And if he has a daughter, not a son? Same diff, only he nags less hard, 'cause, well, daddy's little girl will have daddy wrapped around her little finger.

[Starlord]

QuantumSeeker

 

Racially-mixed nucleonic-energy wielding martial artist with a mean streak. He never wears a shirt, and occasionally substitutes shurikens for energy blasts.

[Blue]

Quite snazzy there, Hermie. The opening grabs you right off, which is important (especially in a long post ). It's clear and well executed. I can describe a scene (colors, textures, moods, etc) pretty well, but never had much flair for describing fights, so I admire that.

 

CU Characters and offspring... I'm not the authority on that. I think if I introduced a few legacy heroes from existing ones, I'd likely use characters that aren't featured in 5e. Like Seeker's Daughter (Hot blonde aussie martial artist female)... that sort of thing.

 

As for my own:

Due to certain disadvantages and character personality points, Audra Blue will never have children. Anthem may have kids some day, but its hard to picture her grown up. Uncle Slam... may have a few bouncing around that are not known to the world. He's been a soldier for longer than many of his fans have been alive; he's been to many ports, if you get my drift. His son would not have the same kinds of powers though, and I think he would likely resent the absence of his famous father... always a good trait for a young supervillain arch-nemsis type.

[Redmenace]

Nothing to apologise for, I enjoyed it.

 

You wouldn't want to see what my player's characters beget.

[lemming]

Good story Hermit.

 

For one campaign we had an entire geneology mapped out.

Scales is a grandfather, Hmm, probably great grandfather by now. He's over 100... (It helped that it was until he was in his 70s before turning into a cursed metal monster)

 

His son disappeared in the 50s, though his grand daughter did a bit of adventuring.

His nephew wanted what was coming to him via inheritance so he picked up the curse as well.

 

One of the heroes allies in the campaign I run is the daughter of a super-villian. (He died and the clone hasn't done anything illegal...)

[Lord Mhoram]

Nice vignette Hermit.

 

Dunno about the CU characters too well, so on to my own.

 

Ballistic - I have no idea. The only living person he has any kind of romantic sparks with is another superhero The Marshall. He is a excop supermage supersuit. She is a Cap level patriotic character with connection to a Green Lantern like galactic peacekeeping force. (They fight crime - sorry). Thier kid would be scary. Both parents are intense and very moral and old fashoniod and involved in law enforcement in some way, and would justification for just about any power in the book.

 

If I built that character, she would probably end up being a somewhat mystic urban character, a street level, but one who didn't kill, and treated the police okay. She would probably be something of a minibrick as well.

 

 

 

Blackcat is arguably the worlds best martial artist, and he SO is a reformed villian who is in the top 5. So the kid would grow up doing martial arts. So this kid could just be a chip of the old blocks and is a total MA geek. If he got tired of that, or because of all the wierd energies mom and dad were exposed too, I could see him being a mutant (Cat started as one before being depowered) and end up with some basic force projecting powers, or something.

[Twilight]

Interesting question. Well my namesake is only seventeen at the moment so he's a wee bit young to start having kids and he realises that. However, that hasn't stopped him from having some rather colourful relationships over the years.

 

He's currently got a romantic relationship going with fellow superheroine Blue Angel so she'd be the most likely person he'd end up having children with. He'd try to give the child of that marriage the life he didn't have himself growing up [he was a runaway street kid before being found by his mentor Lady Midnight, who arranged for him to be adopted by a rich family]. He'd make sure the kid got a good education and if the kid wanted to be a superhero Twi would make sure he or she got the best training available. The offspring of this union would likely have thier mothers powers and thier father's brains, making them quite formidable indeed if properly trained. Rather like a combination of Batman and Hawkman.

 

The far more interesting possibility however, is a child of Twilight and the supervillainess Bad Penny. Twilight met Penny on one of his first cases and they've had a Batman/Catwoman style relationship going ever since, with the difference being that Penny and Twi have actually done more then kiss if you get my meaning. Anyway, the child would definetly have his or her mother's luck powers and would probably be raised by his or her mother, since Twi wouldn't even know about the child unless Penny told him. Given that Penny is bipolar and delusional, though thankfully non violent generally, this would be one messed up kid indeed.

[Lord Liaden]

I have to admit, I haven't had much in the way of actual offspring in my campaign, even in the way of "legacy" characters. I haven't played in a campaign (as opposed to GMing) in some time, and hadn't given it much thought. The closest would probably be American Eagle, of Freedom Squad/VOICE fame. The third man to take the name was Phil Nagurski, kid brother of Bob Nagurski, the gadgeteer hero Hardhat of the Freedom Squad who was killed by VOICE. Phil had his brother's engineering genius, but idolized American Eagle II. When that veteran retired Phil modified the mechanical wings into an entire powered exoskeleton, and became A. E. III

 

BTW that's a fine story, Hermit. I've noticed that most of your writing has good pacing and buildup, and a strong sense of character that comes out in the little details you include.

[Argus]

Children

 

Argus actually has three children.

An adoptive daughter of a super villain who was put away for life. She asked that the girl be taken care of.

Twin boys.

 

The daughter has powerful mental powers like her mother. She works as a child psychiatrist. The boys have powers one of them can not be seen if he doesn’t want to be. The other is a teleporter.

 

Some of my other characters have had children also.

 

A.

[Bartman]

Well I'll try Defender.

 

Defender will eventually have kids. He can do no less. When one is a member of a long line of adventurers, keeping the line alive is nearly as important as being an adventurer. He won't marry from within the team though. Those relationships will always be the ones which got away. Instead he will meet and fall for some woman with a very strong personality. She will have to be a wild success at something, although not necessarily metahuman. His kids would almost certainly keep his personality and continue the tradition.

 

So lets go with this. After several encounters Defender falls for Lady Blue. A torrid on-again off-again relationship follows, eventually resulting in her getting a pardon due to heroic acts involved in saving the city. She is also placed in witness protection, due to the amount of dirt she is able to dish on various former partners. They marry shortly after. Over the next few years they have thee boys. And Defender goes into semi-retirement shifting from leader of the Champions to mentor and backup member. However to protect his family, he keeps his heroing identity secret.

 

His oldest son, James IV, is groomed to take over the family affairs. He develops a rather cynical attitude about the families history of public works, and develops into a greedy business type. Not really a bad fellow but not cut in the same mold as his forebearers.

 

His second son, Robert, becomes the playboy Defender always played at but never really was. Unfortunately he falls into the wrong crowd. Although he doesn't relly have any skill for criminal work, he climbs in bed with the mob, where his society contacts make him a useful tool for those with the skills. By the time he realizes what a mess his life is, he is at a crossroads. He can either embrace it fully and become the mobster he has been playing, or he can attempt to redeem himself.

 

His third son Christopher, ends up with all the brains of the family. It is thus no suprise that he ends up being the only one to uncover his parents' pasts. By the time he enters Millenium City University he has been able to copy his fathers armor while making a number of 'improvements' to it. On his 19th birthday Defender flies into the skies of MC again. At this point his parents realize what he is doing. After a brief but intense confrontation the torch is passed. Christopher isn't his father though and takes and even more steady and cautious approach to crimefighting. He proves to be a better scientist and detective than his father. But he never equals the first Defender in combat or leadership. And his brothers remain important NPCs throughout his career.

 

Hows that?

[lemming]

Nice Bartman

[Kristopher]

I'm absolutely loving this thread. Good ideas and great writing. Keep it up. I'll take a shot at it when I get home tonight.

[Hermit]

Nice Bartman, the only thing I might disagree with is it seems Lady Blue didn't seem to have much influence as mom.

[Bartman]

Originally posted by Hermit

Nice Bartman, the only thing I might disagree with is it seems Lady Blue didn't seem to have much influence as mom.

 

Well it was off the top of my head. She doesn't have much of an impact because it is mainly Defender's story and because she was a late addition inserted at the last moment. I may make some revisions anyway as I got the James' numbers wrong. I made Defender's oldest kid the IV when he should be the V.

[Hermit]

Gotcha, and no worries; really, that was my only problem with it, and it's a minor nit to pick at that. I didn't even notice the number error till you brought it up.

[McCoy]

Haven't tried this with Champions characters, but have been trying some fanfic for the next generation of X-Men. In addition to the established characters Legion (David Xavier), X-Man (Nathan Grey-Summers), Ms Marvel (Rachel Summers) and Marvelman (Franklin Richards), some of the characters include:

• Angel Daughter of Psylocke and Archangel; telepathy, winged flight, non-focused "soul sword"
  
• Deimos & Phobos Identicle twin sons of Daniel Moonstar and Dogpound; telepaths and lighweight bricks
  
• Flux son of Polaris and Havok; touch range transformations, reshapes metal by thought, destroys foci (especally power armor)
  
• Hip Hop son of Frenzy and Toad; limited invulnerability, super strength below the waist only, master of Capoeira, affects a Caribbean accent despite being born and raised in Jamaica, New York
  
• Mongoose son of Viper and Wolverine; Martial Artist with regeneration, few enhanced senses
  
• Shadow Wolf son of Shadowcat and Colossus; Ninja with desolidification
  
• Snow Leopard daughter of Storm and Wolverine; animalistic martial artist with limited weather control (wind/cold only, no flight)
  
• Steel Shadow daughter of Shadowcat and Colossus, younger sister of Shadow Wolf; brick, density control from desolid to several tons
  
• Wildcat son of Jean Grey and Wolverine; berserker martial artist, psionics only when not berserk (Jean Grey placed psychic circuit breakers in his brain, he can channel the Phoenix force, but only when calm. He cannot accept that the circuit breakers are there for his protection, channeling the Phoenix Force has side effects if you miss your EGO roll, and he greatly resents Nathan and Rachel)
  

[Siberian Tiger]

Originally posted by McCoy

Mongoose son of Viper and Wolverine; Martial Artist with regeneration, few enhanced senses

Snow Leopard daughter of Storm and Wolverine; animalistic martial artist with limited weather control (wind/cold only, no flight)

Wildcat son of Jean Grey and Wolverine

 

That Logan - he's one randy bug*er isn't he ?

[McCoy]

Originally posted by Siberian Tiger

That Logan - he's one randy bug*er isn't he ?

Yep. Backstory is that Mongoose was sired by AI, Snow Leopard out of love, then Logan and Jean got together after Cyclops and Storm were KIA.

 

The real suprise is that Frenzy and Toad got together. When asked what she saw in him, Cargill replied "He has super strength below the waist, and can lick the back of his own neck. What do you think?"

[Koshka]

Hadn't thought of it much, but a character I'm running currently could be regarded as a legacy hero. There's no supers in her family tree, but her family has been passing the knowledge of Resplendent Dragon Kung Fu down through the generations. She may start getting pressure from Grandfather to marry and have a kid to carry on the teachings. OTOH, she's currently having problems with some of the big names of the local Martial World because "everyone knows" women and half-Chinese are incapable of learning true Resplendent Dragon, and she's both. Too much grief, and she may decide to adopt one of her full-blooded cousins instead if the question of passing on the teachings ever comes up.

 

(And don't yell at the GM -- I made up the bigotry bit myself.)

[Hermit]

Hmm, thinking of my own characters...

 

Apex- He already has a daughter, but gained his powers after her birth. It is possible one day they might transfer to her, but unlikely. She might, however, insist on training herself so she could be a crime fighter. A martial artist of sorts, seeing as there is not much super tech in the campaign right now.

 

Lonestar- There's a little lady of the law he's smitten with. I can see Lonestar , years later, having one or two kids with her easily (assuming she said yes to the proposal). Given his own mixed up bag of powers, likely one of the kids would have say Growth and STR, the other flight and all sorts of funky vision powers. If they were both sons, he'd be urging them into superheroing like their old man, if they were ladies, well, he'd help them do the same if they wanted, but he'd be slightly over protective when it came to strange men oggling his daughters.

 

"Ah'm a sure you're going to have Titaness back by 10, ain't that right there young fella?" *Pop knuckles*

 

 

Recluse- Who knows what Grandmother Spider has planned?

 

SLAMMER- His DNA was.. strongly tweaked by aliens. His most likely lady to marry is a mentalist. Yeah, very likely super powers would get to the kids. Hopefully Slammer wouldn't spoil any of them into super villiany.

 

SURGE: Surge IS a legacy hero.

 

Wildcard: I have this insane image of Wildcard, and his kid sidekick Deuce. Let's not go there.

[Kristopher]

You know, I really wanted to try this with my three PCs, and I just can't get a handle on it.

 

T'Shenk Kennet - right, who's going to sleep with a 1000-year-old winged green saurian demon with claws that can cut through steel and jaws like a beartrap on crack? And who would he ever be able to love after losing so much over and over and over again?

 

Gunner and Mayhem - I wish I'd been able to play them long enough to dig into the campaign setting to this degree, but in both cases the game short-circuited in a few months because of unreliable participants.

[lemming]

I can't believe I didn't think of Spectrum

She's actively dating and things are getting a bit more serious between her and Nightshade. So we'll see where that might end up.

Though when she had the extra personalities, she might not of been playing it safe. Though zornwil didn't have her wake up next to anyone during that time at least. Could of been his version of Wolverine.

[FenrisUlf]

Ooh, legacy characters! My favorite.

 

Well, as for two of the characters I've done -- Fenris is still a teenager himself. That, and he's a wolfman (think a 6'5" crinos from WW:TA), so he might have problems finding a woman who wants to be the mother of his offspring. Though he does have ancestors he might meet sometime, time travel being something relatively common in our campaign.

 

Battleaxe is a legacy heroine. (Her mom died in the Battle of Detroit, in case you're wondering). She has tried to avoid her own mother's mistake by making sure her 16 year old daughter knows about her adventuring career, which has led to its own problems. I.e., little Annie is making up a costume and wants to become her sidekick. The fact that Ann and Fenris are about the same age, and she thinks he's cute, is only going to make things worse in the future. After all, Battleaxe is both a world-class martial artist and the chosen wielder of the 'Labrys of the Mother', defender of women, etc. & so on -- how would YOU like explaining to that lady why you got her daughter back two hours late?

 

Though a distant-future Labrys wielding she-wolf does have some possibilities...