BoloOfEarth

((OFF TOPIC)) 
This is an aluminum foil recipe. Serves one. Make multiple separate packets if you are serving more than one.
 
Chicken part (I'm a white meat guy, so it was usually a breast)
1/8 to 1/4-inch thick slice of a medium onion
Garlic powder (two scant pinches)
Dried oregano (two scant pinches)
Bottled Russian salad dressing (two generous teaspoons)
 
Comment: The Russian dressing has honey in it (most salad dressings don't) which makes the baked juice have a nice glaze to it. Other dressings are a real step down.
 
Lay out the foil. Cut the onion slice in half. Separate the rings of one half of the slice, and array them on top of the middle of the foil.
 
Sprinkle a pinch of garlic powder and pinch of oregano over the onion.
 
Pour 1 teaspoon of the salad dressing over the onion.
 
Lay the chicken part atop everything.
 
Repeat the first few steps: separated onion ring halves, garlic powder, oregano, salad dressing, but everything goes on top of the chicken.
 
Roll up the foil to make a sealed packet. Take care to bend the ends up, and don't puncture the foil, so the juice doesn't escape the packet while cooking.
 
Bake on an oven sheet or pizza pan. Starting with a cold oven and a frozen chicken breast right out of the freezer (c'mon, what bachelor remembers to thaw anything?), set your oven for 400 F and the timer for an hour.
 
I prefer to serve this with rice; put a mound of rice on the plate, pick open one end of the packet and pour the juice over the rice. Then open the packet the rest of the way and put the rest on the plate. Strangely, Worcestershire sauce is a good table condiment with this.
 
Note only the knife and the cutting surface and knife are dirtied in the prep process. No pans, unless the foil leaks. Fairly long cooking time, but tasty enough to prepare and serve for a prospective S.O. and even prospective mother-in-law.
 
Five stars. Joe Bob says check it out.

The sad thing is that Putin almost certainly hasn't had to invent anything in relation to control of the press and fixing elections. Those were all well established during the Soviet and Yeltsin eras, and he just inherited them. Of course as ex-KGB he was very familiar with them as well.
 
Things were really bad when Putin took over and he genuinely did a lot of good in stabilising the country. No one would have benefitted from Russia falling further into chaos in 2000, except maybe China. Even Gorbechev admits that Russia really wasn't ready for democracy and things were going to have to be rolled back. He ultimately may be taking notes from China and be building a compromise economy and polity.
 
Meh! Enough real world stuff! Play Vladimir Vladimirovich however you choose - evil bastard, paternalistic patriot, mind controlled 4th Reich puppet or Alien Android! It's sufficient to have had the discussion to explore the options.
 
Actually, here's an idea... in a superhero world maybe the relentlessly macho V.V.Putin is himself an enhanced being. I'd be thinking super-soldier/bionics, though Mind Control or super-persuasion powers could fit right in.
 
Or bitten by a radioactive bear! Yowza!

There's a range of more or less nasty options, depending on how you want your Putin to be.
 
I'd tend to have him tread very carefully in regards to Mother Russia's family. Genuine protective custody would be my default. He will want to be working with this person and not against her. Making it so she can't find them? I'd not buy that. Giving them new lives and guarding them carefully, as with MCU Hawkeye's family, which earns her gratitude and establishes a level of dependence? That's more Putin's style, IMHO.

Another thought -- keeping a Superman-level being like Mother Russia under control requires some forethought.  I made her an actual mother -- son Ivan, age 6 and daughter Irina, age 2 -- and figure that the Russian government has her children, as well as her Earth parents, in "protective custody" as a means to keep her following orders that she might not like.  (Her husband was killed by a terrorist bomb a few years ago, prompting her to stop hiding her powers.  Citing possible terrorist reprisals is a good way to justify keeping her family under lock and key.)  I'm sure they'd also have a ready supply of the kryptonite-substitute on hand, so she doesn't threaten Vladimir directly or just grab her kids / family and run.
 
Ideally, the PCs might eventually figure out that they can really hurt Red Alert by getting Mother Russia out from under Putin's thumb, most likely by the PCs going to Russia themselves and rescuing her family members.  So I'd like to have at least the basics laid out of what they'd be facing.  Underground, lead-lined facility? 
 
What other measures would they have in place? 

Not necessarily corrupt (though there will be some corruption in certain members), but definitely the "ruthless and personally loyal" for the most part.  The Personality writeup for Major Vasilov (yes, I know it's spelled slightly differently than the 4E Colonel Vasalov / Tokamak, but Vasilov is a more common spelling) reads in part:
 
 
 
 
And yes, these are folks sent on covert black-ops missions.  Including an assassination of a defecting Russian spy, which also resulted in the death of an American super who was guarding the defector.  Nothing provable linking the deaths to Red Alert, but everybody in the intelligence community pretty much figures they were responsible. 
 
I'm including Mother Russia in the mix because I see her as a genuine heroine seeking to protect and help her countrymen, but forced into Red Alert as a means of keeping a close eye on her (and because she is a major powerhouse.)  I want the players to wonder, what is a person like her doing working with those guys?

The Bear is a major totem of Russia so something like a werebear or a Bear shaped battlesuit ?
 
How about Peter the Great ? He's a giant.
 
I back Lord Liaden's suggestion about General Winter.
 
Then there is always Baba Yaga......
 
You could have Tunguska who has a one shot ever power. But it is a doozie........
 
How about a version of the Unknown Soldier but a Russian ? Look at all those who dies at Tannenburg, Stalingrad, the seige of Leningrad etc.
 
Scorched Earth also sounds good.

Putin's an interesting case study. I read Gorbechev's last memoir recently, and his take on V.V. Putin comes across as more of a competent control freak who doesn't trust anyone else to run the show, rather than someone that's inherently corrupt. 
 
It's worth recalling that he stepped in and fixed a total mess, which WAS horribly corrupt, left by Yeltsin, and that his initial election appears to have been legitimate. Or at least, actually reflected the wishes of the majority of the voters.
 
He's yet to technically exceed his constitutional limits... the Russian constitution limited Presidents to two consecutive terms, but omitted an absolute lifetime two term limit (this was something Putin has exploited, but didn't invent). He served his first two terms 2000-2008, switched to Prime Minister 2008-2012 and was re-elected as President 2012. During Medvedev's term as President the term length was increased from four to six years, so Putin is still in his third term (and first consecutive one). Assuming he's reelected next year, it'll be 2024 before he needs to look at dropping back to Prime Minister again, retiring or changing the rules. He'd be 72, so it's not impossible that he may be planning retirement (though my guess would be not).
 
My take on the kind of super team he'd assemble as a personal one would be "reliable operatives". Not dupes, not corrupt. Ruthless and personally loyal. I really doubt he'd consider blackmail a reliable means of control - too risky. Super special ops would be my take. These are the guys sent out on covert black ops strikes and who have a role in dealing with other teams that get out of hand. Probably have an official role as Presidential Bodyguard (which would by MY suggestion as their official title).
 
There should be other teams of less reliable, but powerful operatives that would be used for non-sensitive work like disaster relief and crime fighting, and have a big positive publicity role... with a reliable team leader.
 
There would also be Army teams for supers that could be relied on to follow military discipline but deemed not suitable for the Presidential Bodyguard. And penal teams aka Suicide Squad would fit in as well. 

OTOH, there's some evidence that the apartment building attacks by "terrorists" in the late 90s/early 2000s were staged by Russian intelligence services.  Those attacks led to a renewed war in Chechnya and greatly expanded Putin's presidential powers.  Also, Putin basically made a deal with the oligarchs, they get to keep their oligopolies and he gets a cut.  He now has a net worth between 80 and 200 billion USD, and owns several hidden dachas around the country.  

I'm not a DC person at all, so I had no idea about the Bombshells Supergirl.  Many thanks for pointing that out.  I'm not at all surprised that the idea of Kal-El landing in Soviet Russia has already been explored in comics - it seems a fairly obvious idea - but I didn't know it had already been done with Supergirl as well.  (Hey, I never said it was a terribly original idea on my part.)  I just don't want her origin to be obvious to the players at first.  Flying bricks are a dime a dozen, after all, so I figure it may take them an encounter or two (with her using heat vision and super breath) before they connect the dots.
 
The cosmonaut origin for Wight actually basically came from Maker's player, who made a mention in her origin backstory (involving an explosion aboard the UNTIL Gateway station) that another astronaut / cosmonaut could have also gotten powers in the same explosion.  I'm adding him to Red Alert mainly to give the PCs a personal animosity with the team.

For Mother Russia, I would suggest that rather than a Kryptonian/ Kryptonite analogue, you take the Daxamite approach, wherein she's vulnerable to an element which doesn't exist on her home world, but is common on Earth. The Russian government keeps that a closely-guarded secret, but not only has weapons made with the element ready to use against her, but could threaten to make that knowledge public should she refuse to cooperate, so all her enemies would know.
 
Since TQM has thrown out a lot of Champions Universe references, I might as well include one from the recently-released Golden Age Champions for Sixth Edition, which may have potential as both character origin and legacy.
 
In the winter of 1939 Kiril Lenskii was a young officer in the Soviet army serving in his country's war against Finland. Badly wounded in an attack that wiped out the rest of his unit, and overcome by the severe winter cold, Lenskii collapsed unconscious over underground caverns which released strange gasses. As they entered his lungs his body began to change. He awoke to discover that not only was his body healed and stronger than before, but he was now immune to the cold, and could even create intense cold, snow, and ice over limited areas. Given the code name, General Zima ("winter"), over the course of World War II Kiril Lenskii became the Soviet military's leading superhero, and remained so for many years.
 
All seven of General Zima's post-war children developed super powers. Today there are over two dozen "super" descendants of General Zima active in Russia. (It would be reasonable to expect a few of their relatives to have emigrated to other countries at some point.) Although his history doesn't explicitly state it one way or the other, there's no reason to assume superhumans from his lineage necessarily manifest the same types of powers as their ancestor. General Zima's origin implies his abilities resulted from his body adapting to a specific environment. (General Zima has a full write-up and character sheet in GAC.)

Red Doom
Tokamak II (Colonel Sergi Vasalov) - Powered Armour [481pts]
Red Shield (Lyndon Johnson Kaufman) - Mutate Silver Avenger & Powered Shield [336pts]
People's Commando (Vlad Kyrlov) - Mutate Cybernetic Supersoldier [447pts]
Loupe Garoux (Pierre Jaquard, French Communist) - Thug & Mystic Werewolf [105 & 375pts]
Marathon (Nicholas Trikelis, Greek) - Martial Artist & Weapons Specialist [285pts]
Soyuz Proletariatski (George Pasternik, Russian Cosmonaut) - Duplicator w/Density Powers [546pts]

New Guard
Ivan (Dimitri Tiomkin) - Mystic Brick, Metamorph w/Growth Powers, & Martial Artist [395pts]
Cosmo (Vladimir Cossack) - Mutate Cosmic Powers [395pts]
Sputnik (Uri Kamononv, Ukrainian Cosmonaut) - Mutate Telekinetic w/Body Armour [338pts]
Perestroika (Karelia Sholokov) - Mutant Mentalist [273pts]
Nemesis (Constantin Kowalski) - Mutate Electrokinetic Energy Projector & Flyer [317pts]
Scarlet Sentinel (Hans Borscht) - Inventor & Giant Robot [277 & 261pts]
Disinformer (Antiocj Drezhavin) - Super Spy, Doppelganger, & Gadgeteer [400pts]

Independents
General Mayhem (Boris Tiomkin) - Mystic Brick, Metamorph w/Growth Powers & Cold Powers [502pts]
Erg (Alexi Andropov) - Mutate Powered Armour & Metamorph w/Body of Radiation [406 & 378pts]
Bolshevik Barracuda (Leonid Leoniv) - Mutate Metamorph w/Water Powers [303pts]
Cold Warrior (Boris Greshenko) - Scientist/Inventor, Powered Armour w/Cold Powers [365pts]
Tokamak I (Anya Andreyev) - Powered Armour w/Plasma Powers [355pts]
St. Peter's Star (Elena Lidiinovich, Russian Cosmonaut) - Mutate Energy Projector & Flyer w/Light Powers [390pts]

Warsaw Pact (European Enemies)
Cavalry ( , Polish) - Mystic Martial Artist & Weapons Masters w/Medieval Weapons & Armour [pts]
Carpathia (, Czeck) - Mutant Brick w/Growth Powers [pts]
White Rose (, Bulgarian) - Mutant Spy, Energy Projector & Metamorph w/Shrinking Powers [pts]
Bastian of Budapest ( , Hungarian) - Mutant w/ Force Field Powers [pts]

Mass Reaction (Villainy Unbound)
Ringer () - Mutant Metamorph w/Shapeshifter Powers [pts]
Bomb () - Mutate Energy Projector w/Radiation/X-Ray Powers [pts]
Echo () - Mutate Telepathic Powers [pts]
Fallout () - Mutate Energy Projector w/Radioactive Powers [pts]
Flower () - Mutate Energy Projector w/Radioactive Powers [pts]
Meltdown () - Mutate Brick w/Body of Radioactive Slag [pts]


European Enemies Debugged
http://surbrook.deve...ro/herorev.html

Eurostar (Conquerors. Killers. & Crooks) 
Durak of Eurostar - Mutate Brick [pts]
???


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Russian Resources:

List of Russian superheroes
http://en.wikipedia....ian_superheroes

The Red Star
http://en.wikipedia....ki/The_Red_Star

GURPS Russia
http://www.sjgames.c...s/books/Russia/

Mythic Russia
http://mythicrussia....ress.com/about/

Rifts® World Book 17: Warlords of Russia™
http://www.goodreads...s_World_Book_17

Rifts® World Book 18: Mystic Russia™
http://www.goodreads...3.Mystic_Russia

Rodina (Mother Russia) 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodina

Slavic Mythology 
http://en.wikipedia....lavic_mythology


Cheers


QM

Hi, all!

I'm creating a Russian superteam -- basically, Putin's superpowered enforcement arm, which has a boring official name like Bureau 86 but is colloquially known as Red Alert -- and I'd like a little input.  Membership thus far is:
 
Major Vasilov -- the son of the late Colonel Vasilov (from Champions 4E Classic Organizations' Red Doom), who is a literal super-spy thanks to cybernetics and super-solider serum Darkforce -- a darkness-controlling mutant with a sadistic streak, able to see/listen through shadows, teleport through them, and even summon a creature of darkness to do his bidding Mother Russia -- what if the baby sent from a doomed planet was a girl instead of a boy, and landed in Russia instead of Kansas?  Trickshot -- an archer, because one third of all superteams have archers, and the other two thirds suck. Wight -- barely alive former cosmonaut, horribly burned during atmospheric re-entry and able to drain / steal bio-energy; he's also the frequent nemesis of Maker, one of the PCs in my Champions campaign, since both got their powers in the same orbital accident. 1)  I'm still looking for a few more members for Red Alert.  I don't want this to be formerly-Soviet Stereotype Superteam, so please don't suggest "Comrade Collective" or the like.
 
2) Writing up Mother Russia, I need something to be her version of kryptonite.  Figuring that most of the rocks carried in the wake of her escape pod would have landed in the then-Soviet Union when her ship entered the atmosphere, I figure an element in meteorites discovered by Soviet scientists in the 1980s might have been given a USSR-centric name.  But what?  Sovonite?  Stalinite?  Mosconium?  Or am I breaking the rule in #1 above by doing this?

A bit of flavour text I wrote up for the Militia unit I'm playing in this month's Warhammer 30K campaign, Swamptober -
 
 
The King's Own Immemorials AKA the Electi Regum, AKA The Majestic XIIth AKA "Those toffee-nosed bastards"
The most lauded battalion on Herrio 7-3 before that world was brought to compliance, the King's Own were hand-chosen from the planet's nobility, and equipped to the most exacting standards. When King Kacer the Seventeenth bent the knee in the face of the overwhelming superiority of the Crusade Fleet, the new Planetary Governor thought it would be politically wise to continue the tradition. Not only would this assuage the honour of the previously-ruling families, but it would ensure that the sons of those families were sent off-world where they couldn't foment any trouble for the new regime.
The Immemorials accepted this new situation without much complaint (or perhaps failed to realise the intent of the order) and continued much as they had before - as a collection of vainglorious bluebloods, that treated war as a day at the hunt, and used their subsidiary regiment as batmen and beaters until they could finish off the enemy with pre-compliance gravitic rifles and expertly placed kill-shots.
Needless to say, they did not take being dropped into the noisome nitre-encrusted swamps of Metallikus at all well.
 
 
 
The Satapatis-Baronet de Quincy snorted with disgust. He's had his batman scrub his boots four times today, and they still weren't clean. "What's the problem with you, man, you must have done it a hundred times!"
Vurger shrugged. "Don't know sir. Might have something to do with the swamp, sir."
de Quincy narrowed his eyes. Every part of Metallikus that they'd seen so far was some flavour of swamp, mire, morass, or petrochemical sludge pit. "Are you trying to be funny, Vurger?"
"No, sir. Wouldn't know how, sir."
"Exactly." de Quincy stalked around the room, and scowled at the crust of nitre forming on the outside of the armourglass window. "What regiment were you with before you were attached to the Twelfth, Verger?"
"Second, sir."
"Second? Second? Now what do they call the second? Turnip-eaters?"
"Turnip-farmers, sir."
"Did I look like I asking you? Turnip-farmers. Well, your regiment is seconded to the Twelfth now, and you'll damn well behave like it! And that means no talking back, and no trying to be funny, and damn well following every order I give you! Scrub them again!"
Vurger renewed his pointless attempt to clean the officer's boots.
de Quincy glowered out at the horizon, and the disturbingly fleshy vegetation, and the bubbling brown mud. "If only we'd been part of the Third Legion's fleet! Now there's a Legion that knows how to treat people of rank!"
His batman paused in the scrubbing. "The Emperor's Children, sir?"
"Yes, the Emperor's Children, you damn fool! Did I say you could stop cleaning?"
"Nossir. Right away sir. It's just I thought the Third Legion were fighting on the other side, sir."
"Nobody's paying to think, man! And help me get my kit on, I feel like inspecting the troops."
Vurger sighed and stood up, helping his commanding officer into the breathing harness and weaponry frames, and moving to fetch his own. He muttered something under his breath. de Quincy whirled on him, bristling with anger.
"Did you just say something, Vurger?"
"Brass Hat, sir. Brass Hat. You've forgotten it." the batman replied, snapping his heels together and gesturing to the onion-domed, spiked lion's helm.
The Satapatis-Baronet snatched it off the table, and slipped it on over the filter hood. "It's not brass, you idiot, it's gold-chased platinum." He stomped off towards the airlock.
"Yessir, sorry sir. I'm sure the enemy will be very impressed."

I'll take the cool ranch, as long as it has some horses and room for them to run.  Then after a good ride I can sit on the front porch, eating nacho cheese Doritos.
 
Horses vs. Cows

Take Your Mothra To Work Day

Shouldn't that be 100?

People tell you you're not allowed to sing Dust in the Wind
 
New Topic: Signs you are now in a Progressive Rock Band in the 70s

What Methodology did George Burns used to invent fire?
 
NT: George Burns returns to life and ready to play what part in what movie?

Tendril
 
Calvin Wines was one of the good guys. He served his country as a marine for six years, got wounded at war, received medals and honor, and wanted to be back on the field, to help his brothers at arms. The army only permitted him to act as a trainer and recruiter; so he did it till his contract was due. Then he became a security consultant, and was always trying to help people wherever he might go.
One day, he and his team were hired by the Sentinels, as part of their base security, and Calvin relieved in working with superheroes. He deeply wished to become one, to help even more people.
And it happened. After one of the capes missions, Calvin seized  a batttle serum, and took the risk to try it on himself. He became faster, stronger, tougher. He became the Ward, a new born hero, that the Sentinels trained as a stagee. But the serum was demanding, and started to have dangerously draining effects on his body and psyche. Again the Sentinels helped him, and they healed him, destroying any trace of the serum in his cells.
Calvin was devastated to be a normal guy again. But even his friends from the Sentinels couldn't do much for him.
 
And he became bitter, envious, jealous. He worked with them as a physical trainer, and stayed close, hoping something could be done for him. He spied on them, plotted whatever he could to get back his abilities, to no avail.
Till that day, when the team revealed some of an evil plan from King Cobra and COIL organization. Against the superheores advise, Calvin wanted to show them he was still a hero. Of course he got captured. Of course, King Cobra easily detected the poison in his heart and mind, and turned him into one of his minions. The bio-genetical virus turned Calvin into Tendril. Now he was powerful enough again, fast strong and tough, and lethal. That's all he wanted finally : power. The rest of his good personality having been erased by COIL leader virus.

I, Butchrock Manslab, am also shocked
 
*macho nod*

I am always reminded of Joe Piscopoe's (whatever happened to him?) "Vermin" character from Johny Dangerously"     "I am disabled.  I'm Psychotic!"

Q: How do you milk a sheep?
 
A: Offer a slightly upgraded version of the same phone and charge $700 for it.

How do you catch a unique rabbit?


 
 
How do you catch a tame rabbit?
 
 
 

Not all supervillains (and supervillainesses) are dark, brooding, tortured souls.  Some of them are just out to have fun.  One such supervillainess is Lash.
 
Sure, she's got a whip that can cut through hardened steel (at least, when she extends the monomolecular lash).  More often, she extends a thicker, electrified metallic lash that shocks most people senseless.  But she doesn't use her whip to slice and dice her opponents, or even cause them lasting harm.  Nor does she seek to do property damage, destroy companies, or any of a dozen truly hurtful things many bad guys and gals do.  She just likes to steal (always from wealthy people or highly successful businesses and banks who can afford to take the occasional loss), play her own unique brand of "tag" with superheroes, and (hopefully) flounce off to rob another day.
 
Her partner-in-crime is Play-Deaux, a tiny (fist-sized) amorphous alien she rescued from a Duchess Industries research lab.  Members of Play-Deaux's race are symbiotic creatures, contact mentalists able to latch onto a sentient being and either read its mind, alter its sensory inputs, or outright control it.  Play-Deaux is relatively young and still learning to use its powers.  It's also naive about the whole symbiote / host thing and tends to "ride up front" (e.g. on a host's forehead or hand) rather than hiding out of sight under clothing like many of its more careful brethren.