Superheroic Visitants

   To continue with the character-list theme, here we have a set of Continuum-II super-heroes (or super-villains, depending on who you ask). As usual for super-beings, quite a few of these have wandered into the Champions game – and may get into any other game at any time. Super-beings are like that.

   To continue with the collating, Eclipse II is currently fully compiled, the formatting and art insertion is up to page 50, with the indexing, legal folderol, bookmarking, and final cover assembly to go.

   So for some Continuum II Superheroes we have…

   Adversary: A low-level samurai with a powerful talent for Energy Channeling. She is capable of focusing and redirecting energy from an immense variety of sources, including other characters. As a side-effect, she is virtually invulnerable to energy-based attacks. Otherwise, she’s a fairly typical samurai. She usually uses light samurai body armor, classical samurai weapons, and a capacitor system in the armor to ensure that she has some energy available to work with in an emergency.

   Apparition: A Magister Empyrean Mage (a form of quasi-psychic magic, reliant on skills – hence he was a rogue who had used several of his major skills choices improving his talent) and minor psychic (a few disciplines based around Vibratory Powers), he’s a powerful, eccentric, mage. Besides his major empyrean talent, he dabbles in invocation, geomagnetics, and several other branches of magic – as well as in anthropology. He’s a fairly high-level character – and has been involved in a number of magical squabbles. He does often need help, since any number of silly things and conditions affect his empyrean magic.

   Boreas: Armsman and master of winter magics, Boreas has undergone a version of Full Military “Cyborg” Conversion – he’s dead. A corpse possessed by an ancient eskimo “spirit of vengeance”. Capable of flight, windreading/radar sense, “full (Un-?)life support”, and vast resistance to injury, his talent for “winter magics” is augmented by his ancient skills and by his own inner ice. He also has minor (apparently) psychic talents – including the ability to locate his targets, to possess another frozen body/”shell” if his current body should be somehow destroyed, and to “attune” himself to the arctic environment and sense what’s going on in a wide radius.

   Caithlin Sherath: A shaman and shapechanger (with an affinity for the bear-form and nature/totem spirits as “contacts”), Caithlin is an amateur detective, and tends to call on spirits to gather information – rather then for more direct assistance. She has recently contacted a “balefire spirit” – a radiation elemental, which has granted her a small pool of radiation magic. She finds this extremely worrisome, unnatural, and dangerous, so she does her best to avoid even thinking about it.

   Captain Steel: An armsman-cyborg from an unpleasant, militaristic, possible future, Captain Steel is grimly determined to prevent that future from coming to pass. His systems include various special sensors, augmented strength and speed, built-in armor, cable throwers (100′ range, may be electrified at whim), assorted weaponry, a force shield generator, and teleportation (although it seems to have a variety of limitations). Captain Steel probably has many more cybernetic systems which are as yet unrevealed (most of his talent points went into it or his background knowledges).

   Corona: A low-level Thaumaturgist (a type of magic dependent on planetary energies and using dangerously unstable feedback loops to manipulate them) capable of a variety of animations, summonings, and disruptions, coupled with a modest “intuitive” talent for light magic (using much safer, if far less powerful, powershaping) and lots and lots of influence and wealth. Corona has collected quite a trove of arcane volumes and minor magical gadgets, and usually equips herself with something appropriate to the “occasion” (mission) if she has any warning. She is fond of a ring which allows her to shift her appearance grants (very) low-level telepathic abilities.

   Crucible: A youthful swordswoman, who possesses a potent thematic psychic gift – neural manipulation. This can be used in a variety of ways – including enhancing and diminishing other people’s psychic abilities. This can even be used to activate latent psychic abilities, but both amplification and (especially) activation of such powers is quite painful – and often dangerous. On a less drastic level, she can induce a variety of sensations, temporary paralysis, fits or convulsions, and so on. She can even enhance herself to some degree – boosting her dexterity greatly and her intelligence somewhat less.

   Emeraldfire: A low-level Powershaper (a spontaneous mage, capable of working spells dealing with particular fields – in her case, philosophical fire and nature) with a limited telekinetic talent (her disciplines were Flight, Telekinesis, Personal Force Field, Pyrokinesis, and Kinetic Bolt). All of Emeraldfire’s powers have a green-flame power signature. She is a Brazilian Indian and has something of a mixed reputation – heroine and/or guardian of the forest, depending on who you ask.

   (The) Hauntsman: A Ghost-Adept, the hauntsman wields many of the usual ghostly abilities (Major; Appearance Shift, Teleportation, Sense Fears. Minor; Chill Touch, Limited Speech, Psychic Tracking – and Spectral Imagery. Inherent; Empyrean Form and Manifestation). He’s a telekinetic, although he has developed the ability to call up a pack of hound-spirits to “hunt” with him. Like most ghosts, “the” Hauntsman is addicted to dramatics. After all – the psychic energies released that way add to his strength (hence the tradition of foreshadowing appearances and gradual build-ups). Unlike most ghosts, the Hauntsman has more disciplined psychic abilities to draw on as well, but a little extra is always nice. He usually manifests as a masked man in worn leather with a coil of rope and a hunting horn hanging by his side, but may vary his appearance at will, even to the point of invisibility. He’s also fond of taking off the mask to reveal an empty hood, the viewers own face – or the snarling head of a wolf. His “true” voice is rarely used as, being telekinetically generated, it is tiring to use. He does tend to indulge in thunder-crashes to announce his appearance and in blowing hunting calls.

   Ironstar: A “red-sun” Adept, Ironstar wields stellar energies, adjusting his body and projections according to the various levels of a red giant sun – ranging from the superheated compressed matter of the core to near- vacuum. Combined with his enhanced strength, endurance, and total immunity to flame, he can be formidable in a fight. He is a bit new to his power and tends to use it sloppily – as well as with a bit too much enthusiasm.

   Minotaur: Actually an Armsman with a bizarre form of “Combat Armor” – an empyrean (quasi-psychic) construct which makes him an incarnation of strength and virility. It’s powers include vast strength, incredible toughness, total immunity to many environmental hazards, and enhanced sexual talents. He also has a powerful psychic talent for “life energy manipulation”. Overall, something of a juggernaut. (He is reported to have formidable mystic/psychic defenses as well). He is an avid archaeologist, and has come up against Nightstalker at least twice before. He is very definitely not subtle.

   Nightwalker: A youthful Cleric of Set, with a talent for bloodbinding, a variety of acolytes, and the skill of minor psionics (darkness powers, including flight and intangibility). Nightwalker has appointed himself the guardian of the relics of Ancient Egypt, and so may be a villain or a hero, depending on the situation and your point of view. He has a good deal of social influence, various contacts, and quite a lot of money. He is fond of using bloodbinding to generate a “hypnotic touch” effect.

   Ragpicker: This babbling, incoherent, “bag lady” has two major psychic monotalents – Function Enhancement and Luck – and a remarkably effective psychic screen. Schizophrenia will do it for you. Telepaths and such can get into serious trouble trying to probe or manipulate her mind. She’s quite good at looking harmless, at scrounging – and at boring people to sleep. She’s been known to use a cigarette lighter as a flamethrower or to accidently block machine-gun fire with a trashcan lid.

   Seeker: An extradimensional visitor (an elf), Seeker is a formidable adept specializing in Dimensional Warps (primarily to travel and tap into various energies) with an adaptive talent which allows him to adapt to the dimension – and, more immediately, to various attacks. He usually carries an advanced computer/database/sensor system – and is pretty good with high-tech equipment.

   Shaken: A classic Ninja, enhanced by a modest talent for imbuing missiles with various energies and inhuman toughness. She may have limited precognitive powers as well, since she certainly shows a remarkable ability to get out of the way, anticipate opponents moves, and to bring along unexpectedly useful items. Some reports indicate superhuman strength, but these are few and far between – which may indicate temporary enhancements, caution, or merely misinterpreted martial arts skills. Unsurprisingly, Shaken specializes in espionage and covert strikes.

   Stutterer: A mid-level Guardian, possessing a potent psionic talent for Temporal Fugue and considerable skill in the martial arts, relying primarily on vital points and touch techniques. While he is capable of taking up to one action per phase for several rounds, and can even manage sixteen in a one-round burst, he simply isn’t at his best against hyped-up metahuman antagonists. He’s best at taking out a squad of ordinary thugs, especially if you want it done without hurting anyone.

   Template: A talented adept (a master of psychic abilities), Template has the bizarre psychic ability to take on forms and powers drawn from the popular imagination, ranging from “common” figures (an authoritative policeman or wise old doctor) thru mythological archetypes (an ancient witch or dragon) to assorted “cultural icons” (Celebrities, Frankenstein). Sadly, the forms innate tendencies are a problem; he tends to behave appropriately – and often has difficulty returning to his basic form, making him most reluctant to try the truly exotic possibilities.

   Thornn: Sightly crazed, Thornn is a Witch (Telepathy and Weather-Weaving, both low-grade), who wields the usual “elemental”/nature magics and possesses a curious talent for “plant powers” (she has tough, woody, flesh, secretes various toxins and drugs, can cling to surfaces, has great resistance to poisons, heals quickly in sunlight, can speak with plants, and may possess other, similar, abilities). She tends to see herself as a wanderer of the wilderness and a guardian of unspoiled nature, but at least twice has slipped into a maniac, alternate, personality and called up toxic elementals, smog spirits, hallucinations, and lethal weather to assail despoilers of the wilderness, such as factories, lumbering companies, and polluters. She has a habit of rescuing people lost in the woods and in the Canadian wilderness.

   Warlord: “The” Warlord is a mid-level Guardian with a potent hyper-sensory talent. He has also developed low- level psychic abilities – granting him weapon-mastery, superb tactical abilities, and an ability to tamper with other people’s sensory perceptions. He uses a variety of weapons and minor devices, notably various forms of “blackout bombs”. While not terribly powerful, Warlord usually manages to be extremely effective.

   Windwalker: A powerful Vampire Powershaper (capable of spontaneously casting spells dealing with Illusion, Necromancy, and Enchantments, Windwalker was originally a fairly minor mage. The vampire-transformation left him much more powerful – much too powerful for his “creator” to fully control. A little self-enchantment took care of the rest, as well as quite a few of the usual vampire weaknesses. He’s become quite fond of melodrama and of playing up the “vampire” motif to ridiculous levels.