Mayday

Mayday 's parents died when she was 4, murdered. Her grandparents would have died much earlier also due to the radiation fallout all across Europe leaving her to be raised by the family retainers. Her innate mechanical skills help her to help the small group keep going. Repairing things scavenged from the wreckage until her psi abilities appear at puberty. These allow her to help fight off marauders coming after their resources but she'll have to get strong fast to do it, and more ruthless than she is now. As she takes in refugees her community grows and they become a fortified town that struggles to recover lost technology and literature or art (music mostly) to keep civilization alive. She marries and has children. LineDrive is swept into a marauder gang at a young age and abused until old enough to prove his worth as one of them. With no education and not much brains he is just another marauder until the day his band attacks a group able to defend themselves and he gets shot, knocked clean off the rover and left for dead as his friends leave. The defenders run him off but on foot without supplies or protection he has nowhere to go and is saved by a compassionate young woman who nurses him back to health. Amazed and confused, he charms her into marriage and becomes a member of her family working to improve things. Wraithe , her father and brothers find their way back to home and set up a fortified area that she grows up in. Everyone learns to fight and when her father is killed in a raid her mother remarries. The group of ex-military has no long range goals beyond survival, eventually someone will recruit them into his vision but until then they hoard weapons and food. ShadowCross grows up in a community that thinks it is well protected from the marauders. They are wrong. The men are killed except for her uncle, a master weaponsmith, the women are captured and enslaved and children either killed or enslaved. Elizabeth has a very bad time due to her extreme beauty and her mind snaps from it. The ShadowCross personality steals a weapon from her uncle's workshop and kills several before being gunned down herself. No chemical upgrades to render her metahuman unfortunately. Metallion the female Magneto grows up in a commune of scientists working for a warlord in Germany. Cute and precocious she grows into a vain, beautiful and powerful woman, an excellent tool the warlord uses to destroy his enemies ability to defend themselves. Eventually she realizes her love for the warlord is not returned, she gets jealous of other women he has taken to bed and throws a screaming fit. No fool, his men use non-metallic means to trap her and if she does not listen to reason he has her brainwashed to be a bit more loyal next time. She becomes little more than a mindless pet he turns on his enemies.

True, but she is a cold fish and doesn't really LIKE people. In her youth she fell deeply permanently in love, he was killed and life permanently soured for her. She's bitter, arrogant, unfeeling. She's not a pretty young thing which I think most bidders would prefer. No plastic surgery, she is too thin and bony, has no chest, no grace. The clothes she wears are power suits. They are tailored to fit but don't suit her, they project the image she wants them to and there is no femininity in them or in her actions or reactions. She's a neutered human being and it would take someone very special to draw her out. Even being on her best behavior she wouldn't be much fun for the winner, I think.

Re: Been There I could see Sabre falling into this belief as well although she is not a MetaHuman it is logical. So long as the Meta is Pure...

Sabre , Wraithe and ShadowCross have no way to avoid the women's roles of wife and mother without their technology and chemical injections. They live and die as wives to a merchant or castle servant, with a horde of munchkins underfoot. ShadowCross may become a Lord's mistress, she has the body and looks for it as does Metallion. Metallion would find her magnetism powers get her burned at the stake. Useful against armored knights, but not so good against bows and arrows or wooden pitchforks. Being from the lower classes she is either married off young, becomes someone's mistress or works in a tavern or brothel. LineDrive 's powers work as Deflection/Reflection, up to and including energy beams. He joins a performing troupe rather than work hard on a farm all his life and does pretty well against thrown veggies. Akhen'Isis receives intact the powers of an ancient egyptian sorceress/priestess and returns to 'her' ancestral homelands of the Nile to find them controlled by the Fatamid Caliphate descended from the Prophet Mohammed's daughter Fatima. Amidst the conflict going on between Turkey, the muslim Caliphate and Byzantine Empire she sets up a small revival of the religion of Isis in Egypt that becomes a Cult after her death a few centuries later.

Mayday , the equivalent of high nobility at the time, would be married off in a dynastic marriage if her psionic powers have not yet developed. Considering them a gift from God she becomes an Abbess or a Prophet and uses her powers of telepathy to assist the King Louis VII of France in his endeavours. She accompanies him on Crusade along with his then wife, Eleanor of Aquitaine whom she admires for the Court of Love the Queen creates. When Eleanor's fidelity becomes in question, Melody bears witness to the truth of it, possibly negating the foundation of the Plantagenet dynasty in England. Louis, knowing the plans of every crowned head in Europe, expands the coalescing France far beyond its current borders and causes endless strife for England, Spain, Italy and the other surrounding countries. She takes part in witch trials and the Inquisition and after her death becomes a Saint.

Mayday's DNPC is her grandfather and only living relative. She knows that he must have been in WWII of course but can't picture him as anything other than the wine grower he is. She'd be surprised and a little shocked to learn that he was in fact a superhero of the french Resistance who later assisted in the Pacific Theatre, the Madagascar conflict of 1947, Korean War, Morocco conflict of 1953, Algeria in 1954, Tunisia in 1952 and 1961 when he retired full time and that it is because of him that she has mutant powers. She'd look up every news story on him in those days and demand to hear all about EVERYTHING. (And be very glad that no, he wasnt a nazi sympathizer) ShadowCross hates her husband, if he developed superpowers it would screw up his political ambitions to use them in crimefighting unless they were psi-based which he would definately use to his advantage. The two would have much more interesting fights at home though.

Mayday's grandparents would have been collaborators in the Zorro style. Assuming they didnt get caught at it she is born in much the same way as now and raised to one day take up the fight herself. She studies engineering and quietly builds a robotic force to assist her until she can locate other freedom fighters. If her grandparents were caught, her father was a baby and put into a state orphanage, then a work camp. Mayday grows up in a camp and is secretly taught by a professor sent here for not following the Party line. When he dies of age, disease, malnutrition or execution, she is motivated to take action and breaks out to begin a one woman crusade. Sabre as a german descended blue eyed blonde genius lives the good life producing tech for the Reich's war machines and has a blond blue eyed husband and children as any good citizen should... She advocates sterilization of impures and lesser races, due to her own genius and upbringing in this nazi culture she cannot see otherwise and never will. Metallion grows up in Austria, a blue eyed blonde and joins the nazi super team where her narcissistic nature prevents her from asking deep questions. Wraithe is american born in the work camps. Her father and brothers lead a resistance cell and it is her sole desire to do the same. When they are betrayed and executed (by her soon to be step-father) she is forced to go Sarah Conner on those responsible. Les Gitane, my family of gypsy mages, hide out from the nazis via concealment and magic alike. They see the nazis collecting magical artifacts and take a 'Death of a Thousand Cuts' approach to the nazi regime by stealing these artifacts, leaving fake boobytrapped objects, assassinating key figures if the time is right, stealing and altering government documents. A death for each Gitane killed and there are alot of dead gypsies in the death camps... They become the go to people for false travel papers and ID cards, weapons... everything you need, if you have the cash or something worth while to barter.

Mayday would be an otter, a raccoon or a mongoose. Sabre would be a crane. Gangly, leggy and flying. LineDrive would be.... hmm. An otter? I can see him floating around, opened can of beer on his tummy, eyes half closed asleep. ShadowCross would be a pissy looking fluffy black feline.

I meant your characters but you can insert your own travel itinerary as well. I have all the Heinlein books and both versions of Podkayne of Mars but despite him being my favorite author my first skip would be to Barsoom. Followed by Star Trek. Baron, as always I love your character's reaction. :-) Sabre doesn't read much fiction, she would prefer sci-tech universes so she can study (steal) their technology to add to her own. After a long night of testing when your brain doesnt think normally, she'd do something crazy and go find a universe where the Loch Ness monster is real, and go find him. But then she gets some rest and her 'I dont have time for childish pursuits' mindset kicks in and its back to the lab, and the photos in a drawer. Manx, a psychic child being hunted by evil corporations, would go to Oz or to NeverLand. Maybe to Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Land or Mr Rogers Neighborhood. Oz would be great, if not for the evil flying monkeys. Wraithe would appreciate a place like Babylon 5 or Star Wars, a place with a Just War to fight. She doesnt read much.

Oh great. Since Mayday probably just killed her husband after working so hard to find him... she wastes three months searching for the meaning of his last words. Any caches of artifacts, dimensional magics, blood droplets and then when it becomes clear to her that she is pregnant with his child she has tests done by both human doctors and mystical types to ascertain what her child might be. While it COULD be him reincarnated and all is well, his Contract to a demonic overlord broken, it cant be that easy. Either way abortion is out of the question. She sees legal experts and makes certain her affairs are in order including the very difficult problem of her being the last heir, and the child her only heir. She has her eggs frozen and in the event of her death they will be fertilized by a preselected donor sample and a host mother found to carry her heir to term. She informs her grandfather of the impending event and selects names for the baby, sets up a nursery and has doctor/mystic visits every week to make sure things are normal, or that they are not. She asks American Valor and Kalie, an Elder vampire to serve as god parents knowing Kalie will not let the child harm others and will be ruthless enough if it becomes necessary. And she communicates with her child in the womb via telepathy. If irredeemably evil she will do what she can to realign its mind and if that doesnt work give the newborn over to the godparents to take appropriate steps. Put the child in stasis, whatever it takes.

ShadowCross would without hesitation seek out an Amazons rule the Men universe and set herself up with a few man-slaves to do the dishes and housework. LineDrive would venture out into a western themed universe and have a drink with Wyatt Earp once his baseball career ends. Otherwise he would vacation there and return for the season.

Towards his last books Robert Heinlein introduced the concept that the characters and settings of books are real, somewhere else, to those who like them. His characters travelled from their own universe to the Land of Oz, John Carter's Barsoom, Doc EE Smith's Lensman world, Mark Twain's Yankee in King Arthurs Court and so on, ending up in a world he himself had written earlier featuring Lazarus Long. They hypothesized that persons who liked Pulp novels of the Maltese Falcon Chandler style would find worlds like that while romance novelist fans could land in those. So I wondered, if given the opportunity ('magic' space ship?) to travel to alternate dimensions what ones would he go to and would he stay or only visit, living here in 'the real world' of Champions...?

Not necessarily, there is at least one Con (I forget which one, DragonCon?) where some of the costuming borders on walking porn.

Mayday thinks carefully and then places an ad in next months Super Hero World magazine for applicants, with an Email address to receive a questionnaire listing such things as powers, age, skills, education and willingness to relocate to the area. Over the next month she winnows down the several Million WannaBe entries and invites the top 30-50 to a quiet farm in Kansas miles from anywhere. Lodging, plane ticket and food provided. At the farm she has set up interview schedules but also a scenario they have not been told of designed to test their heroism, humanity and ability to work with others. The farm will come under attack one night and the heroes will have to defend it and the NPC staff (volunteer soldiers or androids) from the 'threat' while she monitors them, as she has done all weekend. It isnt about winning although raw power helps, but how you play her game.

Female Linedrive without sports as she grew up would not have an outlet for her laid back lifestyle and would probably end up pregnant, dropping out of high school as an unwed mother and not discover her powers until dead on her feet from working two minimum wage jobs to support her baby, stepped in front of a car and absorbed the full impact of it. Later on when the energy is released when she gets angry at someone over something, I just hope it isnt at the baby. So her scummy landlord becomes a red slushy paste on the wall and Bobbie and little Bobby go on the run. Rumors get around and she receives shelter from (Pick an organization) who teach her to be a more covert asset. The pay is good and she is protected from the police, well paid living in a nice place with a full time nanny. Older than her years now, she tries to protect her son from her profession but the truth will out. Male Wraithe goes through life exactly the same but without the chip on his shoulder. Goes through Cyberline II and becomes a PRIMUS Silver Avenger without any problems, and eventually marries a pretty homemaker to raise a passel of kids. Male Sabre marries later in life, a trophy wife to give him heirs to his corporate fortune. Not much change except that he relishes the armored hero's lifestyle for awhile in his 40s to regain his lost youth...

Legacy Mayday is still alive and well in France with several children and grandchildren. Revered for her role in freeing France from the nazis she is a national treasure and advisor to many french Presidents on hero and supernatural affairs, and probably was instrumental in the creation of a UN sponsored super team to combat global threats. She still has her ties to vampires she met in her youth. Although that initial contact did not go well, she has since helped many of them to remain in hiding and also acted as go btween so that they could serve her country and the world now and then. She teaches her descendents Duty and hopes they are happier than her life was. Could be France's UN Ambassadress on the Security Council, as a telepathic mutant that would be interesting... Legacy Sabre has no children, long ago retired from the Sabre suit and has developed her corporation into an international one selling armor and high tech weapons primarily to governments. Legacy LineDrive never made it to the Hall of Fame but is retired comfortably, still in Florida, supported by his twin children from a one night stand he doesn't even remember, but he could not refuse the infants and shaped up his life, going on to coach for several years. His children are patriots, like himself, and energy absorbers/projectors in a local hero team.

Re: Alternate Earth Characters #1 My GMs hate the way I waste points. If they wanted an evil version they'd make it themselves. Evil Mayday would know all the dirty secrets in her town and blackmail for money, bases, equipment, a really top quality chef and penthouse in return for her silence. She would demand the base be built underneath a new prison scheduled for construction, with plenty of bathrooms, an olympic sized pool and meditation grotto. Then manipulate the criminal justice system to get the very best sent to 'her' prison where she can mind alter them at her leisure, forming a criminal army of the Underworld. Any heroes trying to assault her base will have to fight through both the security and the prisoners. Oopsy, did I mention the cell unlocking mechanism? Enjoying tech as she does she probably has had noted scientists in the field of robotics and cybernetics kidnapped and housed in some cells to build her android duplicates, Dr Doom style. Evil ShadowCross would be freaky. As the power hungry manipulative wife of the equally power hungry and manipulative Adam Scott, hubby would be Mayor of New York, then on to Senator when the 'incident' happens. A Good side emerges inside her struggling for dominance. Adam clues in and quietly has her treated with electro shock therapy to erase this new personality before it gets a toe hold, and picks up where the two left off, on the way to the White House. Evil Sabre secretly uses her scientific genius and powerful battlesuit to make a whole lot of money robbing banks or better yet cruise ships full of rich passengers in the middle of nowhere. Ransom time! Then with enough cash on hand she takes over a small nation with significant mineral and industrial resources and rules with an iron fist. Farms out her intellect and new battlesuit clad army to other would be world conquerors waiting for them to reach too high too fast so that she can turn on them and have it ALL. Evil LineDrive isnt divorced. He murdered his ex-wives instead and next time married wealthier ones. Anyone who interfered in his baseball career and rise to the top will meet unfortunate accidents or injuries and when time comes to retire, he will have a large bank account waiting for him in Switzerland, and hire himself out to the CIA as a covert assassin. His powers are invisible and his aim is extremely good. His patriotism is still there but the enemies of this great nation cannot be allowed to continue. Axis of Evil? Not for long... China threatening Taiwan? He can be on the next flight out. Heck, why let the CIA in on the gig. He'll do it solo. Evil Marjorie is exactly the same but the Tremere organization she works for is considerably nicer. Like vampire MENSA. They will still spend all their time jockeying for position with the other vampire Clans and she will still be stuck in the middle of the top ranks due to that darn blood bond. Alternately, she was an Order of Hermes sorceror before they became the Tremere vampires and extremely old thanks to youth potions. She would not have been taken unawares and forcibly vamped. With her full sorcery in play she alerts the other Mage Clans and they wipe out the nascent Tremere line before it ever gets started. She uses her new status to become one of the most powerful leaders in the Order of Hermes but, like Tremere she notices the magic of the universe is dying, and she with it. Potions cannot keep her eternally alive any longer and so she captures a powerful vampire and experiments until she has duplicated Goratrix' work, becoming the founder of the new Tremere line. Evil Carmen is an NPC with very minor powers but an extremely high charisma. She surrounds herself with the powerful in a cult of personality and friendship. The Evil Carmen will do the same only her allies and guests will be more ruthless and they will over time become the Illuminati, those who rule the world but quietly. A steel fist in a velvet elbow length glove. Her teleport booth network will include an orbital space station, a moon base, and another larger space base under construction armed with nuclear missiles, weather manipulation technology and heat lasers. A benevolent tyranny, a new golden age will begin, a Renaissance of Art and Literature but anyone who steps out of line will be dealt with and she will possess nuclear weapons to make sure heroes keep their distance. Some hidden near major cities, others in areas where highly destructive earthquakes and tsunami will result in the devastation of California and Japan at the very least. Washington DC will not be a target as the president will be one of her close friends, but New York City, London, Rome (the Vatican), Mecca, and Jerusalem will be on the short list.

There are elements of the WildCard virus in this as well. You have no choice about it, you manifest and deal with it. Most turn into grotesque monstrosities, a few gain livable powers, like the normal looking girl who can make water. And then there are the rare lucky ones who get USEFUL powers. The virus was used by aliens who are similar to human and so were testing it on us before using it on themselves. Lucky us.... Strikeforce: Morituri was an excellent book, combining that with the dying hero searching for his replacement, I like that.

Mayday would be happy to and build some sort of tech gift for her date to keep. She's cute but more wholesome than sex kitten unfortunately. ShadowCross would never put herself up for sale which is too bad cause she's built like a Playboy bunny and likes to wear tight leather outfits and play with whips. On second thought, maybe she would.... Marjorie would be surprised to be asked but allow it. She has an untouchable aristocratic air around her most of the time so would not appeal to most people's tastes however. LineDrive, yes, so long as he doesnt have to spend any money. He'll pick up a single long stemmed rose on his way there but thats it. Wraithe, it would have to be cleared by her supervisor but sounds like good publicity for PRIMUS so long as the bidders are screened for possible supervillains or VIPER/DEMON agents. While good looking she has been in the military way too long, and is not drop dead gorgeous. She does have some interesting cleavage that might help.... Sabre could not participate. As an armored hero with a Secret ID and paranoia she'd have to stay in the armor or masked and is over 40 anyway. Not much of a date. There are several heroes who respond to these What If questions that various of my characters would find interesting and bid on, some for the fun of bidding and some to win no matter what.

I have several of my hero bios up (usually with pictures) at http://www.geocities.com/cyn_starwars/characters.htm Some have sheets, most do not but we played 4th Ed 250 points so they would not be of use to you anyway. My highest character Mayday is at 308 I believe.

Ok. So what IS Reality Storm?

Id say if they have the Wealth to afford one and it is a tool let them have it. If the laptop or lockpicks give them bonuses to skills then let them buy the Levels and call it 'super lockpicks'.

So what DID it do?

How much of all this is yours or your research (did you make it up or borrow from libraries)? Particularly wondering about the indian and the snakes but the red dragon thing too. Kind of wish there were some other points of view being written, especially Batman and the mystics rather than the 'tech' side but very nice. Might want to break them up into smaller doses as well next time.

I would suspect that the reason there arent many heroes able to take on Dr. Destroyer is because they assume that the players will.