Changes to two villains

[GibNawe]

altering Abbadon and Jihad (from Dark Champions)

I like the concepts and stats for these two baddies but certain elements of their backgrounds won't work for me or my players. 

The approach I’m considering now is to recast them as Evil 80’s movie Commies. 

I’d change the PLRL into the PEOPLE’S League for REVOLUTION and Liberation or something like that. Erase references to the part of the world referred to in Dark Champions  and replace those with Central America and the Caribbean. The terrorists want the US out of their home region and the capitalist governments there overthrown.

I’d need to create a new name for Jihad and possibly for Abbadon.

Isn’t there a fictional Banana Republic someplace in Champion’s lore? I can easily make my own, but it would be a fun tie-in.

Thoughts?

[Ninja-Bear]

I’m sure there’s a Champions fictional Banana Republic but I’m not sure. For Abbandon how about calling him Diablo? It’s in the same vein. And for Jihad  perhaps some sort of Spanish name related to War? 
 

Look up War and La Guerra came up. That sounds usable.

[Scott Ruggels]

L. Douglas Garret used the fictional Costa Diego as his 1980’s Merc combat setting And the Communist insurgency was the FRLN which I think stood for something But I forget. 

[Lord Liaden]

There are eight fictional countries on Champions Earth, three of them "banana republics" in the Americas. I'll summarize information about those three below. That information is culled primarily from Champions Universe (both the current and previous editions, since there are a few differences in what they cover), with supplementary data drawn from Champions Universe: News Of The World, Champions Worldwide, UNTIL: Defenders Of Freedom, Millennium City, Book Of The Destroyer, and DEMON: Servants Of Darkness. The entries start with what's commonly known about those countries, including what government intelligence agencies in the free world believe or suspect about them; followed by the truth of those beliefs and any deeper secrets known only to a few.

 

These nations were originally written up for the 4E Dark Champions supplement, Justice, Not Law, and that book (available from the website store in PDF) includes more details about them. Although that book was written for an earlier continuity, and for Dark Champions, much of the info about those countries still seems applicable. To a large extent the DC countries' timeline leaves off where the newer Champions material picks up.

 

 

Chiquador is a small nation on the Atlantic coast of South America, wedged between French Guiana and Brazil. It was a member of the United Nations from 1960 until 1979, when the democratically-elected government of Presidente Pablo Somohardo was overthrown in a miltary coup by General Lorenco João Garrastazu e Silva. Garrastazu made himself President For Life, installed a "cabinet" of his cronies from the army, and declared that Chiquador was resigning from the UN. In power since that time, he has conducted a military buildup that worries the other nations in the region. Garrastazu maintains a relatively massive army, particularly on his borders, and periodically threatens shipping lanes in the area, or threatens to declare war on his neighbors. As yet he has made no moves to use his army and air force, but he must have something in mind for them, given the money and attention he spends on them. A lot of observers, including many in the United States, keep a nervous eye on events in Macapa (the nation's capital).

By Chiquadoran law, all native superhumans must register with and work for the government, on pain of imprisonment or execution. The only publicly-revealed superhuman actually working for the Chiquadoran government is El Grifo Rojo (“the Red Griffin”), a flying brick whom some observers say is as powerful as Charm Girl of Japan.

Garrastazu is now in his mid-seventies and generally believed to be ill and mentally unstable. The CIA thinks most governmental decisions are made by his Minister of Affairs, Alejandro Subano, who may have contacts within either VIPER or ARGENT. Needless to say, UNTIL, PRIMUS, and other agencies concerned about international peace carefully monitor the "Chiquador situation."

President For Life Garrastazu e Silva poses an even greater threat to the rest of South America than anyone realizes. He’s been building up his military with the aim of eventually launching wars of conquest against his neighbors, but since he knows his army is too small to compete with the likes of Brazil's on traditional terms, he's recruited teams of unscrupulous scientists to develop a crash program to create superhuman soldiers obedient to his will. His researchers  haven’t had much success yet, but their latest “test case” — a crazed, superhumanly strong man whom they released in the favelas (slums) of Rio de Janeiro to  go on a rampage — showed signs of promise. If they can figure out how to make the superhuman soldiers more controllable, Garrastazu can  destabilize, and perhaps conquer, much of South America. And it’s doubtful his ambition would stop there.

Unfortunately, Garrastazu e Silva is becoming increasingly senile, and his plans for conquest have become more outlandish. Alejandro Subano is an agent of ARGENT. President Garrastazu brought him in originally to help develop the superhuman-soldier program, but now he's wormed his way into the cabinet and Garrastazu's confidence. Through Subano, ARGENT is now running a series of experimental programs in the jungles and secluded coastlines of Chiquador, and every day brings its plans closer to fruition.

Costa Azúl:  An archipelago consisting of three principal islands and several smaller ones located south of Jamaica and Haiti, Costa Azúl has a well-deserved reputation as a haven for drug smuggling, money laundering, and other criminal activities. Its former long-time leader, the notorious Colonel Enrique Pineda, tried to maintain a facade of normalcy to attract tourists, but was well-known as one of the most corrupt officials in the Western Hemisphere.

In 2003 credible evidence obtained by the CIA and presented to the President and Congress indicated that Pineda and his government were responsible for sheltering and training a group of supervillains calling itself Los Aplastantores ("The Crushers"). These villains committed a terrorism-for-pay attack in Washington, D.C. in July 2003 that would have destroyed the Lincoln Memorial if not for the timely intervention of the Sentinels. (To date the Crushers have refused to say who paid them to make the attack.) On top of Pineda's well-documented role in international drug smuggling and money laundering, this was more than the Unted States was willing to tolerate.

In November 2004, the United States invaded Costa Azúl and overthrew Col. Pineda, taking him to the mainland for trial and imprisonment. The US army occupied the country until 2006, withdrawing following "democratic" elections. Since then a series of councils and leaders has tried to steer the country down a better path, but it remains better known as a hotbed of criminal activity than a tourist destination.

Guamanga:  A tiny nation between Honduras and Lago de Isabél, Guamanga is afflicted with poverty and despair. A mere five percent of the population owns approximately ninety percent of the land, consigning the peasantry to a life of subsistence tenant farming. Many have turned to the drug trade, or the theft and sale of Mayan relics from archaeological sites, to survive.

In 1994, ARGENT attempted to engineer a coup in Guamanga to oust the die-hard Communist president, Martín Orama-Tijernas, and replace him with a figurehead it could control. Fortunately, the Justice Squadron got wind of the plot and stopped it, doing significant harm to ARGENT’s interests in the region. Long-forgotten superweapons and other relics of the conflict occasionally appear, causing more trouble in this already troubled nation.

In 2005 Menton used his powers to manipulate the Guamangans into electing him their president — the first step in a planned campaign of world conquest. Thanks to some help from what the authorities later discovered was ARGENT technology, he was both able to affect thousands of people at once with his power and do it without leaving psychic traces. The United States and the United Nations mobilized their forces, but did nothing more at first. Although everyone knew what Menton had done, there was no proof -- and without proof, the UN in particular, was not willing to overthrow a seemingly legally elected official. That would have set a dangerous precedent the UN desperately wanted to avoid... so it found another option.

Working through back channels, UNTIL secretly hired two teams of mercenary villains and sent them after Menton. Their attack was not going well... but then Rakshasa, Dr. Destroyer's shape-shifting minion, disguised as one of Menton’s mind-controlled followers, shot Menton point-blank in the back of the head, rendering him unconscious. Menton was confined under "hot sleep" in Stronghold until he awakened in 2009 and freed himself, precipitating the second major breakout from the super-prison.

 

 

[GibNawe]

On 5/28/2020 at 2:07 PM, Scott Ruggels said:

L. Douglas Garret used the fictional Costa Diego as his 1980’s Merc combat setting And the Communist insurgency was the FRLN which I think stood for something But I forget. 

Probably Revolutionary Front for National Liberation (but in Spanish).

 

Thanks for the replies, guys. This is all very helpful!

 

 

 

Edited May 30, 2020 by GibNawe

[GibNawe]

La Guerra or La Guerrera (the warrior , feminine) sound good for Jihad.

 

Diablo is a great substitute for Abbadon. Though given Abbadon's Biblical origins, it may work just as well in the new geographic context. Or Apollyon?

 

The rest of the rewrite is really easy. I just cross out some words and pencil in some others. Voila, evil 80S Action Movie Commies/terrorists/assassins.

 

Again, thanks to everybody who responded.