Sundog

Promise of Blood, by Brian McClellan
 
First book in the Powder Mage trilogy, and to a certain extent a re-telling of the French Revolution. Magic exists, and in the kingdom of Ardo manifests as one of three primary ways - Privileged, full function sorcerors who can manipulate the raw essence of magic (to tremendous destructive force if desired) provided they are wearing their power-enabling gloves, Powder Mages, who can manipulate black powder and bullets, and who are feared by the Privileged for their ability to kill at well beyond the range of Privileged sorcery, and the Knacked, who have minor but unique and usually useful abilities - early in the book we are introduced to a Knacked with perfect recall, and another who never needs to sleep. But it becomes clear that, despite their rather arrogant belief in their understanding of the world, Ardo and the rest of the 9 Kingdoms have a fair ways to go to comprehending everything there is to know on the subject of magic.
 
The various characters are well drawn, with comprehensible motivations and flaws. Would recommend this book.

We've had a bunch of disruption to our games, between holidays and a few illnesses.
 

A toss up between...
 
"A beauty? She is one without peer. The Lady has had many statues erected in her honor."
"...among other things."
 
or
 
"What his armor will not deflect, I am sure his skull will."

Arm-Ament
 
Eddie Briggs was a five-time loser, having spent most of his life in prison. That's where he was when Mechanon decided that he needed the new technology hidden in the secret bunker under the prison.
Prisons are designed to stop unarmed prisoners getting out, not genocidal super-robots with hordes of combat drones getting in. The secret bunkers' guard force were better but all that did was kill most of the prisoners in the crossfire. (A few heads were going to roll in the DoD over that one.) One of the defenders got lucky, and blew off one of Mechanon's arms before he was obliterated.
 
Eddie was messily and noisily dying nearby, his right arm ripped out at the shoulder. The mechanical arm landed up next to him.
 
Eddie had no idea what to do, but fortunately(?) for him, the arm did. It linked up with Eddie's shoulder, repaired (and improved...) the wrecked socket, and thus gave itself a mobile body. Saving Eddie's life was an unfortunate side effect as far as it was concerned.
 
The arm took a while to do this, and by the time it was done, Mechanon had retrieved his target tech and left. Uncertain what to do next, the arm let Eddie decide to escape.
 
Eddie would have been happy to go back to petty crime and scams, but the arm was in charge. Whenever it decided to do something, it mentally ordered Eddie to do it. And if Eddie demurred, the arm just turned on all of his pain receptors. It decided to join up with Phantom Limb, for reasons of it's own.
 
The arm has a powerful energy beam, a force field and various sensors, which it generally declines to allow Eddie to access. Arm-Ament is limited by the fact that moving around and tactical decisions are taken by Eddie, who is basically a pretty dumb guy, but offensively it's pretty powerful.

Arm-Ament
 
Eddie Briggs was a five-time loser, having spent most of his life in prison. That's where he was when Mechanon decided that he needed the new technology hidden in the secret bunker under the prison.
Prisons are designed to stop unarmed prisoners getting out, not genocidal super-robots with hordes of combat drones getting in. The secret bunkers' guard force were better but all that did was kill most of the prisoners in the crossfire. (A few heads were going to roll in the DoD over that one.) One of the defenders got lucky, and blew off one of Mechanon's arms before he was obliterated.
 
Eddie was messily and noisily dying nearby, his right arm ripped out at the shoulder. The mechanical arm landed up next to him.
 
Eddie had no idea what to do, but fortunately(?) for him, the arm did. It linked up with Eddie's shoulder, repaired (and improved...) the wrecked socket, and thus gave itself a mobile body. Saving Eddie's life was an unfortunate side effect as far as it was concerned.
 
The arm took a while to do this, and by the time it was done, Mechanon had retrieved his target tech and left. Uncertain what to do next, the arm let Eddie decide to escape.
 
Eddie would have been happy to go back to petty crime and scams, but the arm was in charge. Whenever it decided to do something, it mentally ordered Eddie to do it. And if Eddie demurred, the arm just turned on all of his pain receptors. It decided to join up with Phantom Limb, for reasons of it's own.
 
The arm has a powerful energy beam, a force field and various sensors, which it generally declines to allow Eddie to access. Arm-Ament is limited by the fact that moving around and tactical decisions are taken by Eddie, who is basically a pretty dumb guy, but offensively it's pretty powerful.

XKCD: Time (Collected edition 2013)

Another hour or so for me...
 

Desperationado
 
Kelly Bight was into drugs from the minute he was introduced to them. Hs mother blamed his genetics - his father, Peter Briggs, had been a stoner for years before he went into the army and disappeared. (https://www.herogames.com/forums/topic/74339-create-a-villain-theme-team/page/202/#elControls_2828297_menu).
 
By the time Professor Hyde showed up, Kelly was an emaciated shell, the kind of semi-alive thing that shows up on anti-drug PSAa. He was desperate for his next fix.
 
Kelly hit the jackpot, at least as far as any super-soldier or enhanced human project would be concerned. He came out of his coma built like a Greek God, with bulletproof skin, faster and stronger than any ten men, able to leap hundreds of meters, with enhanced senses including supersensitive hearing and telescopic vision. Incredibly tough, and even if injured, he healed in minutes.
 
However, the mind inside the physical god was still Kelly Bight, and nothing had changed there. Kelly's physical addictions were cured, but his mental ones still raged - and he could not get high. His new body just cycled any drugs he took back out again with no effect. Alcohol he could drink by the kiloliter with no effect. Injectables? First, try to get through his steel-hard skin, and even if you do - no effect at all. Pills? Might as well have been sugar.
 
Kelly's body may be that of a god, but his mannerisms are those of a junkie. That, and his obvious looks of desperation, have given him his name - Desperationado.
 

It truly delights me that I live on the opposite side of the continent to where Sydney Funnel Webs do.
 

It truly delights me that I live on the opposite side of the continent to where Sydney Funnel Webs do.
 

Hopalong Rabbit
 
Questionable whether he's a villain, but Hopalong Rabbit is certainly a problem for OK Clown. He's actually Princess Bareback's pet rabbit, and isn't he just the cutest thing!
Problem is, Hopalong has a habit of getting out of his cage, and into trouble. Like bouncing his way into a construction site full of dangerous machinery, or a factory loaded with the same. Of course, OK Clown will then have to save the little rabbit  - isn't he cute! - and naturally, Hopalong is always just ahead of the pile driver's fall or the cutting saw's sweep - leaving the hapless clown chasing after him to take the hit...
It should be noted that in all of the shorts Hopalong was in, at the end the bruised and battered OK Clown returned Hopalong safely to his cage - whereupon the camera zoomed in on Hopalong - who sniggered.

Black Ice
 
John Ling is neither black, nor does he have cold-based powers, which confused reporters for a while (everybody else figured it out fast). His actual power is to influence the friction coefficient of any materials around him, making it horribly sticky or as slick as, well, black ice.
John invented his gloves, which enable his amazing abilities, but this has been his one success story. Everything else he's invented has been a complete bust, or worse, something he then had to adopt his costumed ID to stop (the autonomous, self-replicating senior's walking frame was especially embarrassing...). Of course, he could make a fortune if he sold his friction control tech, but he'd have to think of that, and his brain is always full of new ideas. Right now, he's working on lunar energy.

Makes sense. And given the change in times, I'll say he changed his supranym to Purifying Flame.

Hah, didn't realise that (and I live in Perth). I'll try and think up a different term.

Croweater
 
Michael Deward was probably the oldest on Timelapse"s list. At 115 he'd been a doddering, senile resident of a nursing home, forgotten by everyone, he'd even outlived his grandchildren. But once, he'd been the scourge of the Klan.
 
Back in the 1920s and 30s, a young black man with bulletproof skin, pyrokinesis, and anger issues, he'd cut a swathe across the South. Finally, a bunch of heroes decided they had to stop him, he was killing too many people, even the ones that sympathised agreed he needed to be stopped.
 
And, after a brutal fight, he did face a court. Michael was sentenced to 120 years in prison, but only because they couldn't figure out a way to execute him.
 
He broke out half a dozen times, and went right back to killing Klanners. The last time, PRIMUS took him down when none of the hero groups were willing to get involved. Croweater as just too problematic morally for most.
 
Michael was sent to a nursing home in the early 80s due to the onset of Alzheimers. Given the politics of the day, it as the equivalent of sweeping an old shame under the rug. He's been there ever since.
 
But now - well, he recognizes that the Klan ain't what it used to be. But he's still angry, and he's still out to get the people he blames for keeping the black man down - but now it's prosecutors who give preferential treatment to non-blacks. Cops who make their quotas off black neighbourhoods. Politicians who set those quotas, knowing full well what they're asking.
 
He's gonna eat the new Jim Crow just the same as the old one. It's all gonna burn.

Croweater
 
Michael Deward was probably the oldest on Timelapse"s list. At 115 he'd been a doddering, senile resident of a nursing home, forgotten by everyone, he'd even outlived his grandchildren. But once, he'd been the scourge of the Klan.
 
Back in the 1920s and 30s, a young black man with bulletproof skin, pyrokinesis, and anger issues, he'd cut a swathe across the South. Finally, a bunch of heroes decided they had to stop him, he was killing too many people, even the ones that sympathised agreed he needed to be stopped.
 
And, after a brutal fight, he did face a court. Michael was sentenced to 120 years in prison, but only because they couldn't figure out a way to execute him.
 
He broke out half a dozen times, and went right back to killing Klanners. The last time, PRIMUS took him down when none of the hero groups were willing to get involved. Croweater as just too problematic morally for most.
 
Michael was sent to a nursing home in the early 80s due to the onset of Alzheimers. Given the politics of the day, it as the equivalent of sweeping an old shame under the rug. He's been there ever since.
 
But now - well, he recognizes that the Klan ain't what it used to be. But he's still angry, and he's still out to get the people he blames for keeping the black man down - but now it's prosecutors who give preferential treatment to non-blacks. Cops who make their quotas off black neighbourhoods. Politicians who set those quotas, knowing full well what they're asking.
 
He's gonna eat the new Jim Crow just the same as the old one. It's all gonna burn.

Orcadius
 
Prince of the seas, lord of the oceans! Orcadius opposes the Golden Scorpion, not because of any positive feeling for the modern world, but because he seeks to conquer it himself!
Orcadius has an undersea base, not especially loyal minions (primarily due to his habit of feeding "failures" to his "Orcas" - actually, tiger sharks, as he hasn't managed to get Orcas to attack people). His major problem is that he isn't actually that smart, he's not a real mastermind, he just has a knack for getting people to do what he says, including captive scientists.
Orcadius does have good underwater tech, and his minions are competent, but his plans often leave something to be desired.
Orcadius looks like a man in a stylized, high tech deep sea suit, shaped to look like a Killer Whale, or Orca. Which is exactly what it is.

Goldcrest
Princess Charlotte Adélaïde is of the royal family of the House of Luxembourg-Nassau, a bearer of powered armor which she uses to aid the Peacekeepers in their humanitarian endeavors. Exactly who made this armor for her is unknown, but it is a work of art, borrowing designs from the National bird of Luxembourg, so it had lovely golden highlights in feather like designs and glittering extendable wings of great elegance.
The armor is not just for show. She can achieve great speeds in it, and while not as strong as Crooked Mick at his full height, the exo-skeleton can lift a lot. She has a sonic burst built in that can be used for combat, but is more often used to tunnel through debris to rescue those trapped in landslides and quakes before she flies them out to safety. It is also extremely agile with an amazing sensorary array. The government of Luxembourg refuses to divulge where the suit , which is as good as such as Defender's  or Anklyosaur's (Though behind Iron Ronin) or better, came from. Some say the government won't share, because the government doesn't know!  
The most outrageous rumor is that that the royal family of the constitutional monarchy of Luxembourg was approached by aliens  who decided they would do to speak for all of Earth Kind. If Charlotte can prove a true hero to the planet over the next few years, Luxembourg will be given some great uplift. Maybe faster than light engines, maybe food replicators, or even something greater!
It's unlikely this is so, but IF it is? No pressure.
 

Ruby of Fire
Kyra Azar is a pyrokinetic from Iran. She cannot create fire, only control it, but that control is wide spread. Because of this, she is almost always on missions involving wildfires and the like, for she can, with a brief moment of concentration, snuff out it out over a square kilometer! She much prefers that to making fire hotter, or using it as a weapon for she's a gentle soul.
Despite her power, or perhaps because of it, Kyra has some problems. She finds her own home government oppressive, and is often torn between protesting it and risking her family being hunted down or imprisoned, or defecting, and risking the same. To placate the government and not make a fuss, she dresses in a hijab, though she sympathizes with those who have spurned it. Unbeknownst to most, she is also in a lesbian relationship with an American UNTIL agent who is not a believer (Which is a triple offense to some). Were this to be found out, it would certainly mean her forced return to Iran, or put all she loves at risk.

Dropzone
Daria Bowsman is a former military brat who was raised on patriotic high ideals as she was carted in her childhood and early teens base to base, place to place, all over the world. She actually considered joining the military herself, mostly to follow the family legacy, even going as far as learning how to shoot guns when most other girls were more concerned with make up and Boy Bands.  When her powers first surfaced, Daria was not alone. She teleported herself and several students by accident  to the roof of the school, an incident that resulted in one panicked peer going off the ledge and breaking a leg. Daria had been outed as a 'filthy mutie'. The rancor stunned her! While it would be folly to say her life was free of discrimination, she had bought hook like and sinker the lessons her parents had told her about how everyone on base , regardless of beliefs, skin color, or creed, was an American just like her. Apparently, this acceptance ended with mutantcy. She saw the disgust in her father's eyes, and the fear in her mothers. And her parents said she would be going away where they could.. fix her, and make sure she didn't hurt anyone else. With visions of experimental labs or isolated cells... Daria vanished, reappeared a mile away, and kept on going.
 
That was several years ago. During which Daria traveled the world under her own power, and did what she had to do to survive. Some of her actions would have put her in the supervillain category, or even super mercenary, but it all felt so empty. Her idealism had been shattered, but the shards of it, the need to believe in something to have worth, lingered and cut. Then, at age twenty one, she ran into Kinematic. He had heard of a teleporting woman who worked as a smuggler among other things. He explained to her she was not alone though she had been mislead. There was no unity possible between the super powered and the norms; the latter would always fear the former. It was Us Vs Them. But the mundanes had a lot of advantages, numbers, tech, and more. He could use her help.
 
Where once there was Patriotism, now came ideas of Mutant Supremacy. Whether you hate the mundanes or not wasn't the point, Mutants were at war, a war they didn't ask for, but they had to finish as the victors. The only other options were slavery or genocide. Daria took on the code name Dropzone, recognizing that her chief use for the team would be as transport for the loyal. She can, after all, teleport quite a few people well over a mile at a time, or just herself with greater rapidity and reaction time. She's also learned tricks, like teleporting a bullet so it comes from a different direction or bypasses a barrier. She's even reversed the attacks of others at her back at the attackers. The fact she speaks three languages besides her own (to varying degrees of fluency) and understands some other cultures better also comes in useful. But she has no illusions; it's her powers that make her worthwhile. Oddly, her teleportation always makes targets feel as if they're falling even when they aren't. Yet another reason she took the name "Dropzone"
 
 
 
 
 

Crooked Mick (Actual name Archie Green) took his handle from a Folklore giant of a man from his native Australia's tall tales. His power isn't nearly so fanciful. He can grow to forty feet tall, gaining great strength and endurance, but a side effect of the shift in size is that his features become far less symetrical, causing him to lurch (Though with his long strides he still moves faster walking than some men sprinting) and making his face just ODD looking as well as less attractive. That said, he's a good looking fella when at his normal 1.78 Meters with an easy going smile. Some mistake him for a rough around the edges chest thumper but in truth, he's got a brilliant mind with a deep education in archetecture and civil engineering. More than once, that knowledge has allowed him to shore up a crumbling building long enough for people to get out. He also is a fair swimmer, having  dived into flood zones and acted as a human life boat.

Guard
 
Han Jin grew up in the Triad, his father was a member, his older brother still is, his younger brother is seeking to be. He took the oaths at an unusually young age, after covering for several superiors at a heist gone wrong. Loyalty is rewarded.
While Jin was in prison, enemies of the Triad attempted to eliminate him, and despite his skill at brawling managed to seriously injure him. He was then offered the opportunity to participate in a medical experiment - if it succeeded, he would get time off his sentence, and while he was in the medical wing, his enemies couldn't get at him. Jin agreed.
The experiment was to awaken the perceptive areas of the mind, and it was quite successful. Too much so for most of the subjects, who couldn't deal with the enhanced flow of information, and went slowly mad. Han Jin did not. He learned how to "dial down" the effect in normal life, and thus was able to sleep and act normally on a busy street without sensory overload.
He also realized it had not done as the scientists had hoped. They had wanted to enhance the existing senses; actually, they had made him psychic, able to see everything around him, 360 degrees, and through walls and the ground, only metals blocking his vision. He kept this knowledge to himself.
They reluctantly released Jin as agreed, and he has served the Triad faithfully ever since, as the ultimate look out and security man.

Oh, the burn on that last joke...
 

My players usually add a codicil to that:
 
"When considering the availability of improvised projectiles, remember that people are things."
 
That was during the Aberrant session where I panicked and threw a lava villain into the Atlantic Ocean from Madagascar.  Those rules could be a wee bit silly at times.
 "That is not an octopus' garden.  Not at all." - on sighting R'lyeh for the first time