Aberrant RPG - What's your character like? Part 2

[Charr]

Quote:

Originally posted by Thomas of Minneapolis:
Not to mention if she wasn't secretly squirreling away money, she'd probably have every excuse to be a 6.

You don't generally "squirrel away" that much money. It's like gravity, a little isn't too noticeable but alot creates big nasty effects on the neighborhood. You're talking about having the wealth of nations tucked away in a coffee can somewhere.

[Femme Darkle]

Hmm, as far as 5 being the limit goes, the Player's Guide says that both Anna DeVries and The Mathematician have personal holdings in excess of five dots of Resources. This does conflict with the listing for Anna in the Elites book but I think there is an explanation. As far as I can see, no-one can have that much money as a private individual but _they_ have it as a sum of their personal wealth and the effective resources they have access to as heads of the DeVries Agency and Core International. So Endeavour could have that much money of the Hino Corporation (sic?) is on a par with these two organisations.

I seem to remember there being someone with Backing 6 listed in one fo the books somewhere but I can't find the reference. It might be a reference to Pax having it in Project Utopia.

A background at 6 might be possible in the gamee but going by the examples it should represent something so vastly more than the normally available 5 as to be virually unique. No more than a few individuals in the world could have amassed so much wealth or power as to justify them.

Just my lurking two cents.

[Jager]

I also like looking at it this way:

Wealth is relative to your environment, and represents alot more than just money. I see is as your share of the world's wealth, per sea.

In the pulp genre, you are much more likely to still (as from the late 19th cent.) have people with an obscenely high percentages of the entire world's wealth. This fades, as the true multinationals and nation-states take center stage in the world's economy. The Princes of Brunei, the Vanderbilts, Rockefellers, and Gettys don't lose their wealth, so much as their percentage of the grand total diminishes.

Right now, one of the richest people in the world has a total net worth around (US)$100 billion. That's alot, but compare that to the GNP of the top ten countries. A drop in the bucket.

Put it another way:

It's easy to secretly accumulate a few million dollars here and there. Suprisingly, people do it relatively regularly. The problem being, once you hit a certain wealth threshold, you start popping up on various agencies radars. They look for this kind of accumulation of wealth.

Okay, back to James and Endeavor:

Yes, I think James (with his M-Int 5, and hoop-load of appropriate skills could accumulate in various stocks, bonds, currency, and property wealth equal to a decent european GNP, lets say Spain or Italy. That is an obscene amount of wealth, built up over a decade of careful planning. That's the danger of a Sphinx.

Endeavor, on the otherhand, may have a net worth in the billions. Maybe as high as (US)$10~20 billion.

-While hino polymer is interesting, does it really have such a market potential to generate more?

-While Endeavor gets her fat paycheck, royalties, ect., she spends a great deal, too. A freaking floating island? A high tech speed yacht?

Endeavor has alot, but she spends alot, too.

If she moves to "Resources 6", I want a hell of a good reason not to laugh, okay.

On Sphere's suggestion:

How about altering some of those super-backgrounds?

Wealth beyond Avarice should be somehting like Multinational (meaning you have controlling interest in a major multinational corp.)

Artifact- Is it really appropriate in the Nova Age?

Enigma- Pretty cool as is, but then, I'm a spook-nut.

In Charge- Seeing how it is the Backing uber-thingie ... it would depend on what you were looking at. It fits best in the Cult-leader mode, I guess.

Kingpin- Very duable with patience, planning, and the right Mega-Socials.

Legions- you want tons of followers? Okay.

Renown - I think Prodigy may already have this one. It is much more of a Sphinx thing, for the obvious Sphinx, anyway.

Sanctum Sanctorum- Something I see much more up Endeavor's alley. After all, what is Endeavor Point?

As always, just something to think about.

[Lemmy Chillmeister]

Quote:

Originally posted by Femme Darkle:
Hmm, as far as 5 being the limit goes, the Player's Guide says that both Anna DeVries and The Mathematician have personal holdings in excess of five dots of Resources. This does conflict with the listing for Anna in the Elites book but I think there is an explanation.

I do too. WW did an absolutely shameful job on the Players Guide because of

A) Not thinking most of the PG stuff through.

and

Once they were done thought that simply looking at the cover constituted editing the damn thing.

[Matryoshka]

Signy,the richest character I have(in any game) is a personal Billonire.Wile partially owning many mid/large companies,and fully owning a few small companies,and lots of realastate.Most of her wealth is tied up,in her toys,and games. She has her fingers in many pies.

But, I wouldn't say she has resources of 6.She has a lot of the other back grounds.But putting back grounds like resources at 6,takes more than just money.I mean if you made Endeavor, resources of 6..LA would have an 7-8,California 9-10..US 11+.

[Femme Darkle]

The PG did have some major flaws, true, but I would rather have it as it is than not at all. The editing work one it was rushed but we had been waiting for it for so long they might have worried about losing people if it dragged out any longer. I assume they must have been under a lot of pressure to get out something that would woo people to the game given that it was more or less canned a while after it came out.

There were a few nice pieces in there, remember. Information Manip and some of the new Extras. Then there was the IC bits at the front, the psace travel and the OpNet diary. Plus, who could ever forget the QNA? Given this, can't we try and forgive them for the gadgeteering rules, the lvl 6 powers and the strengths/weaknesses cludge? No? Oh, ok then.

I've never had a problem discarding the bits that I don't like from a game (*cough* Directive book *cough*) and keeping the gems. Even the Mastery system has some merit, despite the huge power disparity it creates. Overall, I was happy paying what I did for it even if it didn't live up to the standards of the Core Book or Teragen.

[Violette 'V' D'Aronique]

Can we forgive them?

No.

[Hugin]

Ok, well, how about we see some updates from other folk? I'd like to see what we are all walking around with. I mean, what does Ashnod look like? She's been a Nova for over 15 years. How about Jager? I've seen his early stats, but what about now?

[Jager]

Femme Darkle, that's one of the big problems with Aberrant, and WW in general. There is alot of good stuff in there you would like to use, but then some really crappy stuff comes along and ruins the game.

IMHO, what the designers wanted in the game was Mastery. Its what the way they wanted to describe Godhood. DemiGod, Lesser God, Greater God ....

Base novas are like demons and angels, scurrying around, but not completely beyond the reach of mere mortals (with mass drivers).

They never really contemplated the effects of either MegaSocials or MegaMentals on the world.

Come on now!

The tech section blows. Pop one permanent taint, and I create a functioning cold fusion engine. Pop another, and I create an FTL drive.

Why are we stuck on earth, again? Any of us?

Exactly how does baseline humanity (in a democratic and open society) deal with Count Orzaiz? God help us if he had REAL ambition, like wanting to becoming ruler of a major european country, or even better, force the EU into becoming an effective union, then becoming its leader.

The World's largest economy in the hands of one being, and it would be all legal, doable, and nigh-unstoppable.

I guess China first brainwashes its novas, and when that fails, they kill them. We are never told exactly how the nation with 1/6th of the world's population (and therefore roughly 1/6th of the world's novas) handles its nova crisis.

Wait, am I ranting?

Don't get me started on the sterilization program. Good Lord, how insane was that? Not to mention, just exactly how they managed to pull it off. I would have prefered that novas be naturally sterile, instead of that trype.

The problem we face, as STs and Players, is that we have to work at making the game work. It isn't always easy, but I've seen it work. Like fow other systems I have seen, it requires alot of cooperation between the ST and players on a mechanics level. Otherwise, the game explodes, due to common sense and a dash of clever thinking.

Node Spark, anyone?

[Jager]

James, I haven't decided what Jager would be like now. If nothing else, I have seen other player who have earned their way up to uber-godhood, or atleast think they have, and I have had much time to contemplate what Jager should be like, versus is like.

Hell, at one time, the ST said "time passes, have a ton of xp" just to see what we would create from it. To see what directions we would go in.

Did I earn it? I was in the game, so yes. Really? No, I didn't earn it. No one earns that much xp.

The more I witness, the more I think there should be some sort of cap on things. Especially here.

For instance:

-When did you erupt? After all, how many novas erupted in 1998, anyway? Let's not look into pre-Event novas at this time.

-What is your xp curve? There should be a minimum and maximum of xp a nova can earn in a year, less we all become Sandy Davis's. Unless, that's what we want.

-When should anyone break the Q:6 barrier?

-What influence does your nova have on the world?

Just how many novas are multi-billionaires? Have legions of nova followers? Are travelling off to the stars?

Must game now. Later.

[Hugin]

Jager, you bring up some good points. There are some problems with canon, more with the system. I guess I just looked at them as fairly fixable.

MegaSocials are only as effective as they can be when they're being used. They don't reprogram a mind or personality permenently. Orzaiz is incredibly convincing when he's in your face, but when you, the Prime Minister of Whereverpotamia, gets back to the office you regain your senses. They dealt with it in Wild Cards first book pretty realistically.

Node Spark? Oh my god. I let one of my players have that one. Geeeeeeeez. Bad Idea. The only good thing was that he wasn't a Terat so he didn't have Chrysalis. He went from taint 4 to taint 7 in no bloody time. Yes, some of the powers, Node Spark and most of the 4+ just shouldn't be in a game. Waaaayyyyy too disruptive.

MegaIntellect I do think was poorly thought out. I don't see any reason for taint to be aquired due to research. If FTL technology is in any way shape or form possible, then discovering it should bring about taint. If it isn't possible, than it isn't possible. Maybe you can gadget it, but that's just using quantum, not science. However, it should still take mass amounts of time, money, resources and political clout to be able to bring about world changing technology. In my TT that's one of the things that caused Prodigy to go hermitlike, he kept trying to bring technology out, but while he had money and resources he didn't have the ability to get past Utopia and the UN. It wasn't worth the effort. After he went Terat it didn't matter to him anymore. But, you can't really have a player character as a worldchanging techotype. What do you play? "Oh, I'm spending the day in the lab while everyone else follows the story." ? Kind of boring. Me, as an ST wouldn't allow a player the ability to create technology all the time and still play whatever game we were playing.

The sterilization problem isn't really a problem to me. Proteus, and more specifically Thetis, is presented as a fanatical. Fanatics, even effective fanatics, aren't always rational. Sometimes the decisions they make are bad ones. The sterilization program is one of them. It's a decision that helps undermine belief in Utopia, generate a sense of paranoia among Novas and helps foster along the eventual confrontation. I think it was meant to be a bad idea, from the storytellers point of view.

As for China, I have no problem stating that environmental factors, nutrition during childhood, and lifestyle has a major effect on the likelihood of erupting. Yes, China has bunches of folks. But most of them live very static lives, with little food, little movement and a fairly crappy existence. Lots of agriculture going on there. Same in India. Eruption from stress seems to come mostly from those times in which you experience unusual trauma. If your life is filled, from day one, with crapload after crapload of misery, instead of erupting you simply get used to it.

[Ashnod]

Last time I had stats posted, even upon saying it was only an approximation of how I play Ashnod here, some people assumed that what I posted was something publicly known. Even abilities she'd never used in public.

As such, I won't be posting any public updates for Ash unless the site requires it. If you'd like to know where I envision her at current time plus 10 years. PM me.

[David 'Dr. Troll' Smith]

My richest character (by far) is Doctor Chronos. He turns the old and rich into the young and less-rich. Basic math tells me he can earn about a Billion dollars a year or so.

The problem is that is income. And at 1B$ a year, you aren't going to get to resources 6.

,,

Quote:

Jager: I think James (with his M-Int 5, and hoop-load of appropriate skills could accumulate in various stocks, bonds, currency, and property wealth equal to a decent european GNP, lets say Spain or Italy. That is an obscene amount of wealth, built up over a decade of careful planning. That's the danger of a Sphinx.

Endeavor, on the otherhand, may have a net worth in the billions. Maybe as high as (US)$10~20 billion.[/QB]

You don't get to Resources 6 by having a large paycheck. You get it by having resources 5 and then investing that!

James could (in theory, and probably in practice), take ALL his money, invest it, and make it 20% greater in a few days/weeks/whatever. That isn't an extra billion, that's a 20% increase on his net worth.

(I know some day traders, playing with their networth is their power, and their weakness. The weakness being that if they screw up bad enough they are bankrupt).

[Jager]

The sterilization problem isn't really a problem to me. Proteus, and more specifically Thetis, is presented as a fanatical. Fanatics, even effective fanatics, aren't always rational. Sometimes the decisions they make are bad ones. The sterilization program is one of them. It's a decision that helps undermine belief in Utopia, generate a sense of paranoia among Novas and helps foster along the eventual confrontation. I think it was meant to be a bad idea, from the storytellers point of view.

One problem being Thetis wasn't brought in at the beginning and the assumption is that Proteus was up to its dirty tricks from the start, when it didn't even exist.

Bah.

[Lemmy Chillmeister]

Ashnod. Oh yeah, I remember that. Let's keep that in mind people. Powers are only evident to those who've seen them used or seen reliable reporting on that usage or those rare few who can suss out a Nova simply by looking at them. And that's rare. Quantum Attunement isn't too rare, but the ability to accurately figure out what is being attuned is. Prodigy has never claimed to know the future and would keep it very quiet that he can. As far as he is concerned, only idiots reveal that they know what the future can hold. Only his disrupt and his disorient have been used in a manner that could be consired public record.

A nova like Ashnod, who is public about her opinions, but as far as I know, has never been public about displaying her powers, should still be an enigma to most folks.

Jager-Hey, like I said, I acknowledge there are some weaknesses in canon. With a bit of a fix in the timeline, my workaround works around the weakness. Most of it, I suspect, can be laid at the feet of Mr. Blackwelder and his apparent obsession with making sure that there are no heros in Aberrant.

[Ashnod]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jager:
One problem being Thetis wasn't brought in at the beginning and the assumption is that Proteus was up to its dirty tricks from the start, when it didn't even exist.
Bah.

Well, if we accept what was said in the APG, Proteus was around before Utopia. The THETIS PROPOSAL on the other hand was not, but there is mention of Proteus being turned into a "wetworks" department before N-Day ever happened.

[Jager]

Again, if the Aeon Society knew that novas were coming, why did they elect to declare war on them from the start?

Were in the Hell is Mercer during all of this?

The idea that Project Utopia needs a wetworks department is ludicris, especially if the Aeon Society already had one. Why not call the Aeon Society the Star Chamber, and have done with it.

Also, wrap it up by having Mercer coming back and killing them all, or die trying.

Bah.

[Ashnod]

I personally believe that Mercer knew everything that is coming. I think everything that is happening with Proteus is occuring with his sanction, but not his direct approval. As in, he knew the Aberrant War was going to happen, with his unique power there's no reason he couldn't know it, and he gave the Proteus department directives to deal with it and be quiet about it. He didn't necessarily know how they were going to about it, the specifics of it were likely unknown to him, or, even more frightening, is he knew what they were going to do and let them do it anyway.

Knowing what Divis Mal/Dr. Primoris/Michael Donighal was going to end up doing to the world by initiating the dawn of the eximorph, he probably realized he had no other choice. There's no indiction that Mercer can change time, after all, only travel through it, and sometimes he'd simply have to allow fate to run its course.

If nothing else, the "innocent nobility" of the Pulp era Adventure is just GONE by the time Aberrant comes around. The time of the swashbuckling, fisticuffed, righteous defender of good has passed and in the face of what Donighal was unleashing, it's very possible that Mercer simply made what we view as a poor decision.

[Preston]

That is a grim testament of mankind's hope. It must be that some people don't believe in heroes, and that Good must equal stupid. Rather pathetic, actually.

Mercer calusly kills generations of novas unborn. Didn't Mercer's vision lead to the creation of the Aeon Society and it's ideals? I guess all that high-minded talk was just rubbish.

Donighal creates hell on earth because he is lonely.

sigh

[Lemmy Chillmeister]

Well, nobody accused Blackwelder of being a real upbeat guy.

[Ashnod]

Quote:

Originally posted by Preston:
That is a grim testament of mankind's hope. It must be that some people don't believe in heroes, and that Good must equal stupid. Rather pathetic, actually.

Mercer calusly kills generations of novas unborn. Didn't Mercer's vision lead to the creation of the Aeon Society and it's ideals? I guess all that high-minded talk was just rubbish.

Donighal creates hell on earth because he is lonely.

sigh

Well, probably something along the lines of preventing new Novas from being born isn't killing them. And if Novas become more numerous than they already are, and people see new Novas being born in rapid numbers...

And, more directly, look what happens to humanity after the Novas leave Earth. Sure, there is a dark period, but in the end, they flourish and grow on their own.

Well...minus the interventions that lead to the Prometheus stuff, and all, but still...

Even in Trinity, AEON is looked upon with a very suspicious eye.

I don't personally believe Mercer gave his approval for the sterilization strategy, myself, but he has to know about it. There's also the very disturbing possibility that he knows about but is powerless to stop it.

For that matter, it's possible that AEON doesn't even know what Thetis is doing, not completely.

So many possibilities.

[Preston]

Yeah, the whole Alien intervention thing to stop novas from ever apearing on earth. Yeah, that.

I never got the idea that mankind was "flourishing" in Trinity. Especially if your North American, or French. Hell, even if you're are European, life is harsh, but I get the feeling that white people are inherently evil, greedy, and stupid, so they deserve to be f**ked. Or, so WW tells me, anyway.

France gets effectively nuked.

North America is a facist/military oligarchy, more or less. But, Hey! we lost our Heartland to a taint plague.

How much self-loathing do these people have for the land of their birth? Jeesh.

Atleast the Chinese, Indians, and Africans put all their problems behind them and make magnificant strides in the future. Must be nice to gloss over centuries of religious, ethnic, and social problems with the wave of a hand. Too much population? No problem. Not only will we feed them all, we will educate them, and get them all jobs.

No industrial infrastructure? Done by next week.

Lack of needed raw materials? We will invent something for you.

Crickey! I would appreciate my semi-realistic games to be somewhat realistic, occasionally.

-gripes, mutters, ... goes back to his cage.

[Preston]

For that matter, it's possible that AEON doesn't even know what Thetis is doing, not completely.

Re-read the PU book, pg. 90.

As for what Mercer does or doesn't know...

APG, pg. 56.

[Ashnod]

I must be missing the reference, hon. What passage are you wanting to me to look at and of what significance. We know that AEON created Proteus, but I can't find any passage that states how much she actually reports to them. I know they are fighting Laragione's desire to minimize Proteus' power.

[Ashnod]

Quote:

Originally posted by Preston:
Yeah, the whole Alien intervention thing to stop novas from ever apearing on earth. Yeah, that.

I never got the idea that mankind was "flourishing" in Trinity. Especially if your North American, or French. Hell, even if you're are European, life is harsh, but I get the feeling that white people are inherently evil, greedy, and stupid, so they deserve to be f**ked. Or, so WW tells me, anyway.
France gets effectively nuked.
North America is a facist/military oligarchy, more or less. But, Hey! we lost our Heartland to a taint plague.
How much self-loathing do these people have for the land of their birth? Jeesh.

Atleast the Chinese, Indians, and Africans put all their problems behind them and make magnificant strides in the future. Must be nice to gloss over centuries of religious, ethnic, and social problems with the wave of a hand. Too much population? No problem. Not only will we feed them all, we will educate them, and get them all jobs.
No industrial infrastructure? Done by next week.
Lack of needed raw materials? We will invent something for you.

Crickey! I would appreciate my semi-realistic games to be somewhat realistic, occasionally.

-gripes, mutters, ... goes back to his cage.

Yeah, well, better that than a slave race under eximorph rule? Or extinct?

[Jager]

Hmmm .... were is the thinking that she isn't telling her real bosses what is going on? I mean, the Aeon BoD knows what her purpose is. I don't see a reason she doesn't keep them informed. To do otherwise, would be to incite a lack of confidence in Thetis' ability to govern Proteus, which would be fatal, don't ya think?

Besides, it states that they willing fund unethical research over at Triton. These people already have blood on their hands.

I agree. We don't know who tells what to whom. On the otherhand, if someone is keeping secrets, the fine folks at WW usually tell us, gleefully.

My vote is for some serious behind the scenes editing by some of the folks here.

What does Mercer know, and what is he doing about it?

Who makes up the Aeon Society's Board of Director? What kind of people are they?

[Kirby1024]

As Styles said, this is what happens when someone else takes over another's dream. The one problem with leaving your business to your subordinates is that, as a general rule, you're not going to get someone who thinks the way you do. Worse, the person you put in charge may be ousted by someone with a little more ambition.

We know that Mercer most easily moves to 1998, the Aberrant War, and the 2nd Hammersmith event. Now, even if he arrives in 1998, sees all these people crapping on his vision for personal gain, he has a problem - he can't know how far it goes down. In 1998, the Nova problem has already started, so it's not like he has time for an indepth analysis of exactly how far down the corruption goes (of course, knowing Mercer, he may have made the time. But we never really know when Mercer decided to drop in on 1998).

As such, any quick direction he'll attempt to do will have to be a triage thing. I get the Impression that the Aeon Society is quite large, even excluding Utopia. Mercer's vision, by 1998, probably isn't shared by even a sizable minority of the higher ups - Even the Stalwarts with Optimised Metabolism, like Tuesday Childe, are only singular people. They can't lift up the entirety of the Aeon Society all by their lonesome.

As such, it's entirely likely that Mercer had a lot to do in a very little time during the Galatea insanity. It's possible he was keeping his options open. It was possible that he had very few options open. Sure, he could oust the entire board of directors, but who do you replace them with? Mercer doesn't belong in 1998, not really. He knows precious little about the time in which he finds himself, and he hasn't the time to perform a wide-scale restructuring of the organisation supposedly fulfilling his dream.

I suspect that Mercer may have toyed with staying for an extended period, trying to sort through the problems with Aeon, and the larger problems with Thetis and Proteus, but even if he stayed, again, he's only one guy, with possibly a board of directors against him, looking at the bottom line (strange for a philanthropic organisation, but not entirely out of the picture).

Now, there are uphill battles, and there are sheer cliff faces. I suspect that the remaining original Aeon Society members look at their old organisation with a tear and a sense of loss. Such a great organisation, making a mockery of what it was supposed to represent. Hope, Sacrifice, Unity, all three just as important. I'm sure that if the entirety of the original Aeon Society were still present, and Donighal hadn't left for the Dark side, there'd be a lot more Hope in the world, for there was once a time when where the Aeon Society trod, Hope Followed. Now...

If Mercer's still in this era, he's either given up in disgust, or is frantically trying to pull what few strings are left to him to reign in Proteus, and to help Utopia live up to it's name. He's probably also looking very seriously at the Board of Directors, and trying to find some idealistic go-getters who might be able to replace those he feels have been there too long. Maybe he's making some headway, but history shows it may be too little too late...

[Hugin]

Kirby-He speaks rarely, but when he does.

[Mary Masters]

Why does all that sound like the story behind the fall of the Jedi? At least if you strip out all the time-travel stuff?

[Alex Craft]

I’ll probably never properly stat out Alex, so I’ll put down what I have for posterity. This is more-or-less public record - he’s been out of action for a while, but it can still be dug up with very little effort. The only exception is that nobody outside of Utopia knows of his Entropy Control and related aberration.

Alex Craft

Attributes are uniformly high - mostly fours and fives. One, maybe two, dots in Mega-Dex, -Sta, -App, -Cha, and -Wits. Three, maybe four, in Mega-Per and -Int.

Physical and Social enhancements are few and lean toward subtle effects. Several Mental enhancements, with Quantum Attunement and Analyze Weakness being givens.

Abilities are broadly strong - most being at least two. High marks in Resistance, Academics, Bureaucracy, Science, Rapport, and Etiquette, as well as Perception abilities in general.

Backgrounds

Attunement 3, Contacts 5, Dormancy 1, Node 5, Resources 3, and a few currently unnamed Allies

Powers specialize in quantum perception and probability manipulation. The later specifically includes high numbers in Entropy Control, Armor (expressed as ‘luck’), and Luck. There may be a couple of similar powers with rather low scores. As for the quantum perception side of things, he has a custom power - essentially a souped-up version of the Quantum Attunement enhancement (suggestions on how to write this power out are welcome). He’s also developed 3 or 4 dots in Quantum Forgery (total forgery), and a couple dots of Disrupt.

Aberrations

-Alex has almost no control over Entropy Control - he can turn it on and off but does not control the actual effects. However, these effects are reliably powerful, chaotic, and destructive over a large scale.

-Alex puts out a resonance on the quantum level that most novas perceive as an almost subliminal whine or hum - somewhat irritating until one gets used to it. Other novas with quantum attunement tend to get migraines after long-term exposure. When he attunes to Eufiber, a feedback loop is established between him and the fiber, giving him an instant migraine.

History

Alexander Craft was 27 when he erupted - a perfectly uninteresting person in a perfectly uninteresting life teaching physics to surly American high schoolers. The eruption grew slowly and happened gently - the product of growing depression at the pointlessness of his life rather than a reaction to some sudden event. He immediately went to a Rashoud Facility, and carefully forgot his previous life.

Since then, his life has been all about staying busy. He rapidly picked up degrees and certifications, showing a great ability to absorb knowledge and a marked aversion to specialization. He also seemed to have trouble devoting himself to any one pursuit for more than a year or so, skipping from job to job within the Rashoud Facilities, Utopia, and Triton.

For the first couple years, he worked for the Rashoud Facilities, first in public relations and later moving on to legal work. In 2004, a lone anti-nova gunman emptied a magazine into him, demonstrating Alex’s previously unnoticed ability to defensively manipulate probability. Growing bored with being a lawyer and playing off of his newly discovered ability (as well his hypersensitivity to quantum energies), he switched jobs, doing field work for first the Rashoud Facilities and then Project Utopia (though he never joined T2M).

During this time, he began constantly pushing himself to grow, developing new variations on his powers. In 2008, he moved again, this time into Triton’s research division. Most of his early projects involved research into quantum energy and quantum backlash syndrome, but his excellent track record and often demonstrated loyalty soon brought him into various classified projects. During his years at Triton, he continued to push the limits of his powers, but also found taint beginning to creep up on him. His newer abilities were proving more and more difficult to control, and he eventually stopped pushing for fear of taint infecting his established powers (this last is not public knowledge).

In early 2012, Alex left Triton and entered a semiretirement, citing unspecified moral issues. He has been doing intermittent freelance work to maintain an acceptable standard of living, but has done little of importance over the last two years - even largely withdrawing from the nova community.

[Alex Craft]

1 or 2 dots Pretercognition as well

[Tourmaline]

Here's a bit about Tourmaline:

Strength 3, Dexterity 3, Stamina 5

Perception 3, Intelligence 3, Wits 3

Appearance 4, Manipulation 2, Charisma 3

might 2, athletics 3, Martial arts 3, stealth 1, endurance 3, resistance 3, awareness 2, science 3, arts 2, rapport 2, style 1, streetwise 2 etiquette 1

Mega dex- 1 accuracy

Mega Stam- 3 regeneration, resiliency

Mega App- 1 first impression

Willpower 6, Taint 4-(green hair, lips, fingernails, unnaturally green eyes) Quantum 5

Molecular Manipulation- 3 (shape alteration, molecular alteration, second skin)

Quantum Bolt- 2 (laser)

Invulnerability to Energy- 2

Boost- 4(strength)

Absorbtion- 1 (energy)

That seems about right. I haven't quite cemented her history or personality, but she has been a T2Mer for a few years.

[Jager]

Backgrounds, which T2M has she been with, and a presonality and physical description, please.

Yeah, I know I'm impatient.

BTW, could you chat with The Paragon, Violette V V-something, Vixen, and Codex. They are our resident Utopians. Doc Troll is a new hire with the Project, as well.

The Paragon is some nebulous Utopian insider.

Violette is a member of T2MAmericas, and has been for some years.

Vixen is a contractor for the Project.

Codex is a relatively new recruit for T2MAsia/Pacific.

Doc Troll is a relatively (one year) new nova, who has a short but contraversial career as a DeVries Elite behind him, and has joined the Scientific branch of Project Utopia.

If I have overlooked any other Utopians, I apologize.

I hope these people can help.

[Violette 'V' D'Aronique]

In the original stories, V and Tourmaline went through their T2M training time together.

[Tourmaline]

Quote:

Originally posted by Jager:
Backgrounds, which T2M has she been with, and a presonality and physical description, please.

So demanding aren't we?

I never really care to much for backgrounds but here to make you happy:

node 3, eufiber 2, allies 1, resources 3, backing 1, influence 2

She's primarily worked with T2M Europe, and as V mentioned, they went through training together.

personality: she is kind and a bit soft spoken, however she has been known to have a bit of a temper at times. She sees beauty in all things and wishes to protect it.

as far as a physical description, check the profile, you may remember seeing the picture before.

Oh, and her name is Emiline Cole.

[Miss Baby]

I will not fully stat out Anne Baby,mainly because I don't really think it's needed or good.She has every mega at 1-2 with wits,and intelligence,charisma at 3,her powers focus around sound/radio waves, and density increases.

She is a nova from 2009.

[Ghostwriter]

Codex has been with Utopia for five or six years, but has only recently begun to make herself known. Technically, she's with T2M: A/P, but because of some physical disabilities she's never gone in the field. She's pretty much a filing system for Splash, with administrative aide tossed in.

Hope that helps,

Codex's Player

[Nightfall]

Name: Irini Mikhailova Nature: Judge Demeanour: Survivor Residence: New York City

Strength •••

Dexterity ••••/• (Steady)

Stamina •••••/• (Determined)

Enhancements: Physical Prodigy, Adaptability, Resiliency (9 Nova)

Charisma •••

Manipulation •••

Appearance •••• (Exotic)

Enhancements:

Intelligence •••

Perception •••• (Insightful)

Wits •••• (Shrewd)

Enhancements: (3 Nova on Attributes)

Skills:

Endurance •••, Resistance •••, Awareness ••, Linguistics • (Russian (native), English), Streetwise ••• Martial Arts ••• (Dirty Manoeuvres), Stealth •, Athletics ••, Style •• (Seduction), Rapport ••, Subterfuge •• (Seduction), Intrusion •• (Lock Picking), Legerdemain ••• (Pick Pocket, Switch Object, Palm Object)

Willpower: •••• (1 Nova)

Quantum: •••• (14 Bon, 3 T. Nova)

Quantum Pool: 28

Taint: •••• (Aberrant Eyes)

Initiative: ••••••••

,,

Quantum Powers:

Gravity Control •••• (Gravity Field, Gravitic Flight, Gravitokinesis, Gravity Shield) (9 T. Nova, 5 Nova)

Backgrounds:

Resources •, Node •, Dormancy •••, Cipher ••, Contacts • (Moscow)

Flaws/Merits:

Secret – 2 (Prostitute); Minority – 1 (Illegal Immigrant); Phobia – 2 (Water); Depression - 2

Description:

Irini Mikhailova is a tall Russian woman in her early twenties with a slender build and pale skin that contrasts with her long dark hair, enhancing her exotic looks. Her eyes are an ordinary enough blue when she is dormed, but when she is not, they are literally eye-shaped windows into a clear night’s sky, showing neither iris nor pupil, just endless wells of black sprinkled with stars. She tends to wear shabby, provocative clothing and speaks poor English with a thick accent.

Her powers are rarely revealed and are deprecatingly referred to by Irini as “just floating me or things.” She can manipulate gravity to fly and lift things, or turn away physical attacks, or just alter the local fields to suit her needs. Because she erupted in adverse circumstances (having her head shoved in a bucket of water), she can also survive a number of environmental conditions, and to deal with the constant shifting of gravity, her body has become both tougher and more athletic.

She is bright, likeable and persuasive by normal baseline standards, but life on the streets of Moscow and New York has sharpened her wits, perception and reflexes. Because she is an illegal immigrant, Irini keeps a low profile and dorms a lot, relying on the only profession she has ever known to make a living. However the young Russian woman wants more and is currently looking for more respectable work.

[Essex]

Okay, I'm having a little trouble fully building Essex. Basically, he is a clone/rip off of Mr. Sinister as far as powers go.

According to his entry in the latest Marvel RPG he has these Powers and Abilities

Force Blast

-I figure this is just a Quantum Bolt, nothing special

Telekinesis

-Again standard

Telepathy

-He has a lot of abilities here like Control Others, Psychic Surgery, Mind Blocks and Astral Travel

Shape Shifting/Phase Shifting

-I think the standard Shape Shift and Density Decrease defined as some sort of body alteration ability will work here

Healing Factor

-I plan on using the Regenration enhancement and a heavily modified Healing power for this

Mental Defence

-He seems to have a lot of this so I figure either max out on Psychic Shield or a few levels of Invulnreability: Mental for this

Limited Prescience (READ: Danger Sense)

-Intuition fits here

Toughness

-Marvels version of Armor, so a level or two of that

Immortality and Reconstitue Self (Instant)

-I figured the closest I could get to reconstituting himself would be Healing with Reflexive put on but I'm not sure. I have no idea how to pull off Immortality.

Sinister also seems to have a healthy dose of superhuman Physical abilities and Intelligence

While the Marvel version of Sinister seems to focus on his Telepathic abilities , I want Essex to be more interested in his Bio-Shifting powers.

So, any suggestions?

[Jager]

At one point and time, there were a list of experimental enhancements here. Not sure were they are now.

Anyway, there was a "tree" of Mega-Stamina that allowed you become immortal. It started with Regeneration.

How much stuff does Essex/Sinister do with super-science and the like and not with direct application of mutant ability?

Having been out of comic collecting for over ten years, I'm not up-to-date on what Mr. Sinister has become.