Superhero Game

[Tsume]

So, it seems that I've found someone to run it, now all I need are people to play it. Post your characters here, and I'll let PhantomPistoleer look them over and see if they fit into the game. It's really his ball, at this point. If you want to check out the original concept, and look at his rules, they're here:

https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=23966.0.


Thanks!

[PhantomPistoleer]

San Francisco Blues

System:  Mutants & Masterminds 2E
Player Level:  10PL
Power Points:  150PP
Rules:  Only two complications; wide arrays not permitted.

This game takes place in San Francisco and follows the foibles of a homosexual superhero.  Other characters may choose to be homosexuals, heterosexuals, transgendered superheroes.

For further information on the actual setting, please check the GeneX section in my O/O (though GeneX will not be a part of this story).

[VandalSavage]

I could not be more enthusiastic about this game.  Here are my two character applications.


GRIDIRON





Real Name: Avi Chaim Leftkowitz
Aliases: Spangle
Identity: Public
Occupation: Researcher and inventor
Citizenship: Citizen of the United States
Place of Birth: Berkeley, California
Height:  5’9”
Weight: 170 lbs.
Eyes: Hazel
Hair: Brown
Status: Active

Powers: Gridiron’s powersuit is one of the most durable ever created, and features a wide variety of abilities. 

Abilities:  Chaim himself is a prolific genius inventor and researcher on mutant behaviors, neurochemistry and endocrinology.

History: So far as the public knows, Chaim was selected as the genius candidate for a scholarship under Dr. Steven Bracegirdle, astronaut and godfather to the study of young mutant education.  After being studied and educated by the brilliant inventor, Chaim became an inventor in his own right, and during his teen years joined Dr. Bracegirdle as a pair of powersuit heroes, Astro-Bot and Spangle.  Together, they were the vanguard of the superhuman community’s outer space protection, and explored numerous alien worlds.

Eventually Astro-Bot shed his suit and embarked on a booming career in the private sector as Dr. Steve, psychologist to the stars and reality TV show host.  “Spangle,” by then twenty-five years old, became the official hero of the NFL, “Gridiron.” 

However, Gridiron decided to strike his own way, putting crime fighting first, and left the flash bulbs and shooting schedules of the NFL sponsorship to help the world.  He has since issued numerous papers on mutant developmental psychology and biology, administers several philanthropic groups for young mutants, and shows up to save the world as Gridiron.

At least, that’s as far as the public knows.



RED QUARK






Real Name: Ytreja Shub-Nyoth, Majestrix of the Third Degree
Aliases:  Sonja Itreyevna
Identity:  Public
Occupation:  Special Operative for the State Department
Citizenship:  Citizen of the United States
Place of Birth:  Betelgeuse IV
Height:  5’ 10”
Weight:  200 lbs.
Eyes:  Red
Hair:  Red
Status: Active

Powers:  Red Quark can manipulate gravity and so, to a lesser extent, the temporal relativity of herself to reality.  She also has phenomenal physical prowess, both in terms of sheer strength, speed and durability, due to her command of physical reality and her alien heritage.

Abilities: A ruler of her race, Red Quark is masterful at dominating and organizing others.

History:

According to archives from the USSR recording the debriefing of the alien lifeform known as Red Quark:

The alien lifeform, Ytreja, was born as the third princess in line to the throne of Betelgeuse IV, a planet dominated by a rapacious warrior oligarchy.  Betelgeuse IV was invaded by Conqueror, who slaughtered most of the royal family along with the entirety of the life on the planet. Ytreja’s sister, Ytrana, was captured as Conqueror’s consort.  Ytreja was sent by use of a guided gravity field to Earth, in the hopes of enlisting help against Conqueror.  By then, it was too late for the populace of Betelgeuse IV.

Ytreja landed in Siberia in Tunguska, and lay in stasis for several decades before being discovered by scientists of the Soviet Socialist Republics.  After extensive evaluation by scientists, Ytreja committed her powers to the support of comrade Brezhnev personally.  Thereon she was designated “Red Quark” and engaged in secret operations, serving as a cleaner of metahuman affairs.

Her activities were not divulged until the era of Glasnost, when she was declassified and sent to an international superhuman coalition under the UN, the UNIT.  She served there with distinction.  She was cleared of the seventeen counts of homicide brought against her by the International Court, on account of their being ruled justifiable killings.

It was during this time that witnesses from Red Quark’s time in Angola came forward.  They claimed she had operated bandit armies against South Africa on the orders of the USSR.  The evidence was considerable, but with the rise of the post-Apartheid ANC regime in South Africa, the plaintiff’s case found no government support in Africa, and so the charges were eventually dismissed.  UNIT, to escape censure, dismissed Red Quark from active duty and ordered her to counseling under famed metahuman psychologist, Sandra “Flatliner” Quinlan, a former hero herself.

According to what the KGB has been able to learn from Quinlan’s notes, Red Quark admitted to a variety of sexual neuroses during this period:  One, homosexuality.  The other, interestingly, a perverse fascination with discovering her sister’s fate first hand by being captured and enslaved, sexually, by Conqueror. Quinlan, however, was killed by the metahuman known as Vixen to conceal the records of another patient, identity unknown to the KGB.

Since then, Red Quark has moved to San Francisco.  She had been hired by the US State Department as a consultant.  The Russian government is confident she is not giving them not already released or disclosed during the International Criminal Court’s investigation.  The retainer salary she receives is adequate to house her in San Francisco, where she allegedly engages in the BDSM club scene.  Such activities are, however, discreet, and have only attracted the attention of the tabloids.

It is the judgment of the FSB that Red Quark is, at best, unstable.  She is no longer an asset to the Kremlin.  Her case is closed.

[Muse]

*Chuckles* 

I love your charecter profiles there VAndal Savage. 

Tsume, I would very much love to be a part of this and have spoken briefly with Phantom Pistoleer. 

[Ixy]

I'm really interested in this... especially considering how the standard concept of female superheroes is SO over-sexualized-- Watchmen addressed this, and how successful costumed heroines are those that model/act/sing as well, and how their lives would be the subject of tabloid-level scrutiny... so what if a heroine was revolted by the idea of dressing in a revealing latex body-suit and having her image plastered on the bedroom wall for every teenage boy to jack off to? 

She'd be pelted with questions at every opportunity-- not about her morality, her cooperation with legal authorities, her rumored ties to organized crime, or how she is living with the grievous wounds rumored to have been delivered in her daring, violent capture of a supervillain-- NO, they'd be asking, "do you have a boyfriend?" or "what's it feel like to be a woman in a violent profession?" or, when it's clear she does NOT fit their mold, "What are you hiding under that suit, anyway?!"

How, exactly, would that feel?

This one's a stretch for me-- though I may be less effeminate than many girls, it's not anything I have experience living.  I think I'd write a concept for a female character who's still struggling to come to grips with her sexual identity-- with that understanding perhaps even being deferred (maybe intentionally) by her immersion into the world of crime-fighting.

OK-- I'll brainstorm today, and will hammer out a character idea by tonight-- going out of town this afternoon to see family, but I will try.

[VandalSavage]

I love your charecter profiles there VAndal Savage. 

Glad to hear it, Muse.  I appreciate the praise.

... so what if a heroine was revolted by the idea of dressing in a revealing latex body-suit and having her image plastered on the bedroom wall for every teenage boy to jack off to? 

She'd be pelted with questions at every opportunity-- not about her morality, her cooperation with legal authorities, her rumored ties to organized crime, or how she is living with the grievous wounds rumored to have been delivered in her daring, violent capture of a supervillain-- NO, they'd be asking, "do you have a boyfriend?" or "what's it feel like to be a woman in a violent profession?" or, when it's clear she does NOT fit their mold, "What are you hiding under that suit, anyway?!"

Rather bloody brilliant point there, Ixy. 

To some extent, we saw such questions posed during this recent Presidential campaign.  My personal political opinions of them aside, a lot of talking head breath was spent opining about the role of sexuality for Clinton and Palin.  I think it's safe to say that the general consensus was that the closer the candidate was to a Hockey MILF mold, the better her chances for success were with "winning the public's heart."

My own opining aside, it is welcome to see such fresh ideas might be involved in the game. 

[VandalSavage]

Here is some background material for my chosen character, Red Quark, presented as excerpts from various archives.  Her path to "superhero" has been long and crooked.  I hope you enjoy some of the scenery as you follow it.

And by all means, if you have any questions or ideas, contact me with them.  I look forward to building a strange, exciting world with you all.

TOP SECRET.  KGB F#36-Omega.  TOP SECRET.

Transcript of Interview #3 with Tunguska Incident Xenomorph.  Recorded at Sharashka Kolyma, March 7, 1974.  Attending physician and interviewer Oleg Mioshin.

[AUDIO BEGINS]

Interviewer: How are you feeling today?

Xenomorph: Uncalm.

I: Why are you uncalm?

X: I am without a throne.  I was robbed from it.

I: What throne do you mean?

X: The throne of my foremothers, Antraxia the Empire Without Dawn or Dusk.

I: Where is this empire?

X: A cow would make me calm.

I: A cow?

X: Yes.

I: We could bring you one.

X: Bring me a serf.  I will make my own cow of her.

I: We have no serfs here.  We are all free citizens now, since the revolution.

X: I will correct this.  I will make my own cow.

I: Tell me more of your empire.  Where is it located?

X: Far from here.  Around a red star.

I: How were you robbed of your throne?

X: On the fourth alignment of the Seers, it was told legions of great locusts would come from the sky.  The waters would be as blood, and the air itself would burn.  The mighty among the people would be as the weak.  All who stood against the doom from the stars would be struck down, and all that submitted to the doom and abandoned hope for mercy would be struck down.  This came to pass.  Its name was Conqueror.

I: It?  This doom was a person?

X: Yes. 

I: Did you see it?

X: I saw him as I was given to the gravity.

I: Given to the gravity?

X: The gravity birth that brought me here.

I: What is this 'gravity birth'?

X: What brought me here.

I: I see.  What happened to your throne?

X: Conqueror came to them, and brought down my mother and my father in combat.  With his hands, he broke them.  He broke my sister, the heir to the throne, with his hands.  And my sister, he took as like unto a cow. 

I: Like a slave?

X: He uses her body.

I: I see.  That is what a cow is to you?

X: Vigorously.

I: Excuse me?

X: He uses her body vigorously and often.

[SILENCE]

X: I am very uncalm.

I: How did your oppressive imperialist regime maintain power?

X: Properly.

I: What does that mean.

X: It means we maintained power as we should.

I: By force?

X: That is what properly means.  Yes.

I: What became of Conqueror?  Is he coming here?

X: Surely, sometime too soon.

I: When?

X: I am uncalm.  Bring me a woman and I will make--

I: Tell us of your use of force against the people first.

X: --a cow of her.

[SILENCE]

I: Tell us of your use of force.

X: We fight.  Woman to woman.  And the herders are separated from the cows in this way.

I: Hand to hand?

X: Whatever part of the body.  Whatever tool.

I: How did Conqueror defeat your people?  They sound fierce.

X: He killed them all.

I: How?

X: No.

I: No?

X: I am very uncalm, and you will bring me a woman now.  If you ask another question, I will destroy you and all here.

I: Why so hostile?

[RECORDING ENDS]

Ed. Note: All the remains of the entire staff of Sharashka Kolyma have, as of 2005, finally been found.


Spetsnaz File Genius Midnight, #17 - Record of Kills by Hero of the Soviet Union, Red Quark.

11.9.1976 - Rogue agent, Calculatron.  KIA, Damascus.  Death field technology he designed not recovered (destroyed)

1.6.1977 - MI6 operative, Gorgeous Georgine.  KIA, Monaco. 

8.9.1977 - MI6 operative, Dazzle.  KIA, Ankara.

1.5.1978 - Rogue agent, Doctor Colossus.  KIA, Sri Lanka.  Robot army he designed not recovered (destroyed)

6.6.1978 - MI6 operative, Dazzle Junior. KIA, Moscow.  CIA operative, Dingo. KIA, Moscow.

10.13.1978 - UNUM Organization destroyed, all High Primarchs. 304 KIA, Malta.

1.24.1979 - Rogue agent, Anchises.  KIA, Kinshasa.  521 KIA.

8.4.1979 - CIA operative, Virgo. KIA, Delhi.

9.1.1979 - CIA operative, Pisces. KIA, Kabul.

9.7.1979 - Rogue agent, Lion of Punjab. KIA, Kandahar. 1,017 KIA.

It is the opinion of this reporting analyst that the subject displays optimal kill-to-mission ratio, and a totally poor technology recovery rate.  Further, the subject exhibits no interest in learning fighting techniques. 

Our recommendation is that the subject be deployed to deep wetwork in a war zone, as her use for missions not involving wholesale slaughter is limited at best.

[END ARCHIVE]

ICC Court Transcript, 23.2.1997
Defendant: Red Quark
Witness: Obuki Wahusi, former member of the 4th Politburo Field Action Force, Angola
Pro. Atty: Grace Beauclaire.

Grace: Please state again for the record what the purpose of your Field Action Force was in southern Angola.

Wahusi: We were to interdict all Rhodesian and South African incursions, to prevent them from interfering with the operations of the African National Congress.

G: And did that mission change when Red Quark arrived?

W: Yes.  The mission was expanded considerably, to include punitive raids into the territory of Rhodesian military and civilians.

G: Why did you follow the lead of Red Quark?

W: We were under the impression that she was sent by Moscow. 

G: Did you do all that Moscow ordered you to in the 4th Field Action Force?

W: No, no, certainly not.  Much of our ... well, we were independent.  You see, those were desperate times, though, and whatever military aid we could get against the Boers was critical.

G: How did Red Quark go about these missions.

W: She organized us into commando teams, which we were accustomed to, but the training and the actions became far more ... active.  We were running raids almost around the clock.  The whites were on the ropes.

G: Did you find any of the activities ordered by Red Quark  unusual?

W: Well ... Yes, I take your meaning.  Yes, we began treating the hostages differently.  Collecting them.  Collecting the women, at least.  The men she disposed of.

G: Red Quark personally disposed of them?

W: At least half the time.

G: And what happened to the women?

W: They were gathered into enclaves, kept like ... like cattle, kind of.  Naked, most of the time.  Fed and treated like animals.

G: Anything else?

W: Experiments.  They changed them.  Made them ... like cattle.  And all the while, while we were planning ... well, it does not matter.

G: Go on.

W: The Red One would play the music from the film, the Disney film, about the animals, over and over.

G: Which film?

W: I think it is called, "Jungle Book."  She used to hum the song from it, all the time.  "Bare Necessities."  She would hum while working on the women.

G: How long did the women last in captivity?

W: The other song, too.  "Like You."  She would hum it all the time.  It ... it haunts me still.

G: Did you see this man there?  Dr. Sergei Lavrov?  He was known as the Wax Master, we know, for his use of body altering chemicals on--

W: Yes, but ... I must pause.  Please.

G: Mr. Wahusi, it means a great deal--

W: Please.  That song is in my head again.

[END TRANSCRIPT]


From the files of Dr. Sandra Quinlan, attending psychiatrist.  Case #1013, April 4th 2002

...though she does seem to have fully integrated with the notion of civil society.

However, it is our recommendation that Y. should not discontinue counselling.  She continues to express deep-seated, aggressive sexual attitudes toward other women, filling our sessions with detailed descriptions of how she will dominate them.  These fantasies often feature physical violence of a sexual nature, branding and modification of the subject including stretching of the sensual orifices, forced lactation and dehumanization.  These fantasies border on neurotic compulsion, and so without proper treatment, the concern is that Y. will begin acting them out.

In addition, Y. is definitely neurotically obsessed with sexual fantasies involving the alien being known as Conqueror.  Unlike her other fantasies, these are manifest as compulsions to face Conqueror in single combat, be defeated and be taken as his sexual slave.  It should be noted that Y. has fought Conqueror on several occasions, but these repeated contacts seem to only heighten the intensity and detail of her fantasies.  The nature of them are alarming. 

They involve forced impregnation with fatal alien lifeforms, extreme harm to Y's being and degradation under the Conqueror.  It is troubling to think that such a psyche has such a great power and is, with the exception of this therapy, unobserved by the superhuman populace.  It is further troubling to think what would come about is Conqueror ever did manage to defeat Y.

[END FILE]


From: Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice
To: Sonja Itreyevna, alias Red Quark

Red Quark,

For your service to the State Department, I am honored to present you with a Presidential pardon from President George W. Bush. 

As of this writing, your case officer will be removed from your case and the case deemed closed.  We thank you for your service to our efforts, here and overseas, and to the invaluable dedication you have shown to keeping our world save.

Best regards,

C. Rice

[Ixy]

Ok... a little slow, but downloading Mutants and Masterminds at the moment-- sheet to follow soon.

[Rayve13]

I have some possible interest as well, if you're still taking applications. And if I can dig up my M&M stuff (hopes there's an old character lying around as well :) )

[PhantomPistoleer]

As of this date, there's only ONE submitted application!

Get your applications in and we MIGHT be able to play this Monday.

[Muse]

HEhehe.  Mine's big, but I'll be working on her tonight, when I get up from my nap.  :) 

She's kind of got a bunch of alternate forms she can only go into one at a time and only come out of slowly. 

[Muse]

Can you clear something up for us Phantom?  Are we supposed to be Mutants in this game?  Or suffer under that onus? 

[Muse]

Shelly Baker

Str    8
Dex   12
Con   10
Int   14
Wis    8
Chrs   10

Attack Bonus   d20+0
Defense      10

Saves:
Fortitude   0+0   =d20+1
Reflex      0+1   =d20+1
Will      0-1   =d20-1


132   Alternate Form 33 (Uncontroled): Shelly's repressed sexuality and powerful creativity merges with her powers in such a way that when she feels endagered or inhibited, she transforms into one of the charecters from her comic books at random to fight crime, then enjoy herself in ways Shelly never would 'til she turns back at sunrise. 

1      Cave Girl Connie
2      Lady Pendragon
3      Gunslinger Gwen
4      Cyberpunk Cinder
5      Space Pirate Pandora


Feats:
Benefit: Wealth

Computers         3+2   =d20+5
Craft: Artistic         13+2   =d20+15
Diplomacy         4+0   =d20+4
Drive            4+1   =d20+5
Knowlege: Art         3+2   =d20+5
Knowlege: Civics      3+2   =d20+5
Knowlege: Current Events   3+2   =d20+5
Knowlege: History      3+2   =d20+5
Knowlege: Pop Culture      3+2   =d20+5
Knowlege: Technology      3+2   =d20+5
Knowlege: Theology/Philosiphy   3+2   =d20+5
Perform: Singing      4+0   =d20+4
Profession: Commercial Artist   11-1   =d20+10


Points   144-4

Drawback:
4   When in alternate form, that forms personality

is in control. 

[PhantomPistoleer]

Can you clear something up for us Phantom?  Are we supposed to be Mutants in this game?  Or suffer under that onus? 

Not necessarily.  Vandal's proposed characters were, respectively, a technical wizard in a battlesuit and an alien. :)

Shelly Baker

Str    8
Dex   12
Con   10
Int   14
Wis    8
Chrs   10

Attack Bonus   d20+0
Defense      10

Saves:
Fortitude   0+0   =d20+1
Reflex      0+1   =d20+1
Will      0-1   =d20-1


132   Alternate Form 33 (Uncontroled): Shelly's repressed sexuality and powerful creativity merges with her powers in such a way that when she feels endagered or inhibited, she transforms into one of the charecters from her comic books at random to fight crime, then enjoy herself in ways Shelly never would 'til she turns back at sunrise. 

1      Cave Girl Connie
2      Lady Pendragon
3      Gunslinger Gwen
4      Cyberpunk Cinder
5      Space Pirate Pandora


Feats:
Benefit: Wealth

Computers         3+2   =d20+5
Craft: Artistic         13+2   =d20+15
Diplomacy         4+0   =d20+4
Drive            4+1   =d20+5
Knowlege: Art         3+2   =d20+5
Knowlege: Civics      3+2   =d20+5
Knowlege: Current Events   3+2   =d20+5
Knowlege: History      3+2   =d20+5
Knowlege: Pop Culture      3+2   =d20+5
Knowlege: Technology      3+2   =d20+5
Knowlege: Theology/Philosiphy   3+2   =d20+5
Perform: Singing      4+0   =d20+4
Profession: Commercial Artist   11-1   =d20+10


Points   144-4

Drawback:
4   When in alternate form, that forms personality

is in control. 

I love the idea, but for it to work, you have to create six different character sheets for six different characters.  Also, I recommend that you give Shelly a magical bent to her, so that she can then summon her equipment (Lady Pendragon could summon excalibur, armor and a flying pegasus, while the space pirate could summon a blaster pistol and a jetpack).

I assume that because she's an artist, she manifested these personalities because she drew them?

[VandalSavage]

Quiz Shows.  Drive-Thru Coffee.  The 1040 Form. 

There are so many aspects of civilization that make Red Quark think she has a clear perspective on how Earth reality works.

Then people like Shelly Baker come along and turn that baby right on its two heads.

[Muse]

I love the idea, but for it to work, you have to create six different character sheets for six different characters.  Also, I recommend that you give Shelly a magical bent to her, so that she can then summon her equipment (Lady Pendragon could summon excalibur, armor and a flying pegasus, while the space pirate could summon a blaster pistol and a jetpack).

I assume that because she's an artist, she manifested these personalities because she drew them?

*grins*  i'm so very glad we're operating on the same level here, Phant! 

Each persona not only acts out a different aspect of Shelly's repressed personality, but also has her own appearance, powers, accouterments, and companion. 

I should change the cave girl's name to Eve, since that's the roll she plays, the innocent being who is not sexually naive but just completely uninhibited and uttery without shame.  No serpent has fed her the apple of civilization and taught her to be embarrassed by taking off her fur bikini.  Her power is super strength, her tool is a great stone club, and her companion is a pacheasephalosaur. 

[PhantomPistoleer]

Okay.  Well, we can work out the kinks of each personality later.

But I don't think character creation will be finished by tonight.  Vandal is done, Ixy just turned in her first draft and Muse will need a bit of time finishing up his first draft.  A bit ambitious, I would say, Muse!  Maybe you could just finish one alternate personality for the first adventure.

[Muse]

Sounds good.  :) 

[VandalSavage]

Given that you seem to suggest that each personality has a distinct social life after the crime-busting is done, perhaps Pandora and Red Quark are pals.

Quark would certainly feel comfortable being friends with a space pirate, and wouldn't understand that Pandora is really just a parody of one. 

Any thoughts?

[Rayve13]

I'm still here. Working something up as a Stalker/hunter sort, Ghost Hound. Not sure if I want the tech, magical, or genetically engineered bent though. Did find the M&M book though, so huzzah!

Edit: Now absolutely not sure what to do. I'd say don't wait up for me. If I miss the opening, so be it. Maybe I can work in later.

[Muse]

How are we doing? 

[PhantomPistoleer]

We're still trudging. :D

[VandalSavage]

Trudging joyously, though.

If you're about done, Muse, want to talk character background connections?

[PhantomPistoleer]

He's working on his dinosaur.  I hope he's using minion feats!

[VandalSavage]

I have a special place in my heart for the Pachycephalosaurus.  Glad to have him on the team.

[PhantomPistoleer]

I just don't get it.

He could have chosen almost any dinosaur.

And he chooses this guy. :/



Denver the Last Dinosaur.

[VandalSavage]

The thing's a colossal phallic symbol with underdeveloped forelegs. 

All makes sense to me.

[Muse]

*grins* 

I do love my pache.  :) 

[VandalSavage]

Some "Team-Up" ideas for Red Quark and Shelly Baker:

The Prolific Shelly Baker Issue #14 - "The Brood of Doctor Tranicos!"

In this incident, Shelly tries to foil a robbery involving African natives of a hyena spirit mask.  She is bested, but manages to track down the natives by their garb to a tribe in southern Africa. 

Meanwhile, Red Quark is lured by the disappearances of some of her old cohorts from Angola to return there.  She is ambushed by an enemy from back in those days, the wicked Doctor Tranicos, a half-hyena Boer who intends to use Quark as a vessel for a new generation of hyena demons that he will summon the spirits of through the mask - she provides the bodies, the mask infuses them with the spirits.

Shelly in the form of Eve breaks into Tranicos' hideout in time to save Quark from this vile fate, and together they defeat the monstrous doctor.


The Prolific Shelly Baker Issue #32 - "To Live and Die and Live Again in San Francisco"

Shelly meets a hot, avant garde graphic artist - Hecate Rush - who is turning the art world on its ear, thanks to new opportunities and investment. 

Then Rush turns up dead, and Red Quark was seen fleeing from the scene of the crime!  With no marks on Rush's body, this is a mystery.  When Shelly goes to the coroner's, she finds the kindly coroner, Estes Carmichael, dead, and Quark is stealing Rush's body!

Cinder emerges, taking on Quark.  The two tangle through the streets of Frisco, ending their clash atop the Golden Gate.  Cinder is defeated and Quark gets away.

She starts trying to track Quark down, and finds her apartment.  And who does she run into there but Hecate Rush and some rat-like, well-dressed women.  Rush reveals to Cinder that she's part of a coven of vampires now - her benefactors, who collect the most controversial artists to keep their immortal lives interesting.

Quark arrives in time to keep Rush from making Cinder into her vampire-blood-addicted slave, and the two resolve to bring down the Vampire Art Collectors. 

They infiltrate a kinky club that Rush's benefactors were thought to frequent, but aren't invited into the back room until Quark comes up with the "brilliant scheme" of openly making out with and fondling Cinder. 

Once invited in for some "fun," they reveal their identities, eliminate the Collector coven - with the exception of Rush, who flees - and save the day.

[Muse]

*Wipes away tears of mirth* 

Truly inspirational, Vandal.  :) 

I'm going to have to get going on my other forms quick.  :) 

[VandalSavage]

Truly inspirational, Vandal.  :)  

Glad to hear you liked them, Muse.  I figured stories with a Silver Age attitude and a slightly political, artistic edge would be appropriate for Shelly's book.

Here's a third one, though of course, I'm open to more, and should you be inspired to create some yourself, I'd love to had them added to our Crossover Canon.

The Prolific Shelly Baker Issue #40 - "Disco Will Never Die"

A development in the Castro District has locals protecting a historic building scheduled for demolition - a famous disco - and among them is Red Quark.  There, Quark and a crowd of protesters stand and will not be moved.  But it's next door, where the buildings have already been brought down, that draws Shelly's interest, as she goes to examine possible Native American artifacts found under the demolished site.

They also draw the malevolent interests of The Past Master, Dr. Temperance Withernaut, the disgruntled history professor who has the ability to manifest historical figures and objects so long as he holds an artifact with a connection to them.  Past Master, acting to protect the site, summons a horde of Indians and an Allosaurus, and Eve leaps into action to prevent them from wrecking the construction crews or crowds of protesters.  Despite Eve's desperate situation, Quark refuses to move from the building, even when all others flee.

In a last-ditch effort, Eve hurls the Allosaurus into the disco, directly into Quark.  Enraged by the beast and protecting her disco, Quark joins the fray and trounces the giant carnivore and its Indian cohorts, allowing Eve to overcome the Past Master and save the day.

[Muse]

Sorry to be such a pain, but we are still doing this, right? 

[Ixy]

PhantomPistoleer just helped me finalize my character.  Looking forward to it, guys :)

[VandalSavage]

PhantomPistoleer just helped me finalize my character.  Looking forward to it, guys :)

Most definitely. 

Ixy - care to come up with some ideas on how your character and Quark might've associated in the past?

[Ixy]

She's not a front-page-news superheroine, but there's a strong possibility that she'd have background ties.  I'll send you a message with ideas in a bit.

[Ixy]

OK-- here's a little intro-something for my character.  Hope you like it, and hope we can start soon!

At this point, my character's public identity is 'Blackbird'-- she's not one for calling cards, press conferences, or interviews.  Every time the authorities have attempted to contact her 'at work,' she's disappeared.  Her tactics are hit-and-run, and frequently her targets' guilt is ambiguous-- though their being targeted by Blackbird is usually accompanied by the anonymous delivery of surveillance material, physical evidence, or a newly discovered eye-witness.

By playing so close to the vest, she's failed to establish a reputation among law enforcement agencies, and her lack of panache and big-name targets makes her of very little interest to the media.   The only real reputation she's gotten has resulted from alternate-medias and electronic blogs: scraps of video, witness accounts, and-- embarrassingly-- fanfic and creative art... underneath the armor and helmet she wears seems to be a very attractive female body.  Surrounded by mystique, dressed in matte-black like a gothic-fandom character, and beating criminals to a pulp with leather-gloved fists-- she doesn't fit the mold, but she's earned something of a 'cult following', to be sure.  My main focus is on the irony of this situation, as I described earlier.

___________________________________________

The website is titled HotHeroines.com.  The banner and border are in a metal-stylized, hard-edged photoshop compilation of the faces and busts of a half-dozen superheroines-- a couple, at least, are fictional (despite rumors to the contrary, you know this for a fact) but a couple are rock-stars of the world of supers... possessing at least mediocre talent for their enforcement of justice, but in most cases their real talent is in PR-- their uniforms, where possible, are designed to reveal more than they protect.  They have blinding interview skills, agents, legal teams, and contracts... this particular site.  Their faces are captured, airbrushed or photoshopped into the most sensual expressions possible-- lips pout sensitively, eyes smoulder in faces that portray a mixture of lust and boredom. 

The topic of this page: "Top 5 Super-Hotties TO BE-- hotheroines.com predicts the future of super-booty!"

Each of the heroines below includes a write-up, including embedded video, pics, and known bio information.

"#1: Emily Benedict, 16-year-old daughter of famous matron-heroine Denise "Shooting Star" Benedict.  Considered for the list for her obvious potential once she reaches legal age in the US.  If she lives... rumor is that her brother was crippled for life last year in a battle with arch-villain "Silverwolf", though the family insists his injuries were not life-threatening.  On a sidenote: it's rumored that she has more than one thing in common with her mom-- there's a chance she's already got a sex tape out there!  Of course, if that's valid, we couldn't link to it on our US server.  Please don't arrest us, FCC!"
(Chaste photo-gallery follows, including mom 'in-uniform' hugging the girl to her chest-- though clearly being careful to occupy most of the photo's frame, nearly pushing her daughter aside, it seems...)

"#2: Coming in second is "Palisade", a young woman who disappeared after one press conference, just after she claimed public responsibility for breaking up a local ring of the Yakuza.  Check out that cute grin, you can TELL she's proud of herself!  Maybe she should have worked a little harder on that secret identity... sayonara, baby!  Anyway, here's hoping we have a sequel from this hottie!"
(attached is a flash video link to a news website with highlights from her brief press conference.  She seems hopeful, arrogant, self-absorbed... the media loves her immediately.   Too bad the embedded video is tagged as 'last known interview'.)

"#3: Further down the list is the mysterious "Blackbird"-- sure, maybe she wears the helmet to hide one dog of a face, but she can take ME for a walk anytime!  And who knows?  Maybe she's like the hot cheerleader who's insecure, so she volunteers to wear the mascot outfit?  Guess only time will tell!"

(the attached amateur video link picks up with a shakey, obscured camera angle, then the flare of a streetlight-- vibration causes the image to tremble, and there's the audible sound of rapid breathing.  The cameraman, evidently, has climbed at some effort onto a chain-link fence, and it jangles audibly in the audio track. 

He whispers, the sound hard to distinguish-- someone's added subtitles, though, in English and Spanish.  "There's five guys down there, in the street--" the zoom tightens, and shapes can be made out, men in dark clothes-- one wears a 'Niners jacket, another black bomber jacket, one in just a muscle-shirt is huge-- at least 6 1/2 feet and built like a freight train.  Some smoke, but they're standing around some heap on the sidewalk.  The cameraman continues to whisper.  "They've got some guy on the ground..."  He tries to tighten to get more detail, but the digital zoom kicks in and the picture becomes a little blurry.  "I called the cops," he hisses trying to get a focus on the men's faces one-by-one, "but they're not here yet, and I think that guy might be dead... oh shit, I think he's dead--"  the crumpled form on the ground can now be made out as a young man, Asian perhaps, his face a mask of blood.

The camera widens its frame back-- "I'm going to keep filming until the cops get here, just in case they can't catch--"  there's a flicker of shadow, the men turn around, looking around them-- "what was that?"

A scream-- someone wasn't there, but now just is-- a black-clad form, helmeted, armor-jacketed, appears in their midst.  It's not at all apparent where she came from, but she appears so suddenly that the camera man falls off the fence.  "Oh shit, oh shit--" he breathes in a soft whine, forcing himself to his feet as the camera comes back to action in his hand-- he climbs the fence again, and there are shaky angles of the ground, the fence, a dumpster-- then he finds his frame again and zooms in-- four of the men are down and completely still on the ground.  "How-- What the fa--?" and then, clearly, he sees 'how the fa--' when the black-clad form-- half the size, perhaps less than that, in comparison to the muscle-bound, bald-shaved thug-- turns an aerial cartwheel-kick that lifts him cleanly into the air.  His arms dangle limply, and it seems he's in an unconscious state before he's reached the ground. 

"Holy SH--" the cameraman exclaims, louder than he should, perhaps-- the black-armored girl turns her face toward him in a shap-- "--IT?" he says and then she takes two running strides toward him, disappearing instantly from view.  "Wha?  Where'd she--" then the sound of the chainlink crashing and the camera angle goes wild, matched by the cameraman's scream of surprise.  "Oh, GOD, I'm sorry-- I was just filming for the cops--" in the camera angle, one long, slender leg is bent, as if she's crouched over the prone cameraman.  "I called the cops, I-- I did!  Look, look at my cell!"  There are the soft tones of a Motorola clicking open, buttons responding to touch.  She's checking his call history.  "I-- I just, wha-- who are you, anyway?"  No verbal response, but the soft click of the phone closing.  She walks right past the camera, and in the distance one can hear the low wail of sirens... evidently, she didn't know the camera is still filming, because she's walking away with a purposeful stride, almost lazily, a little sway in what look to be lovely hips, before she disappears from the frame.  Then, she's gone, the cameraman's fumbling, filming empty alleyways, "Damn, where'd she go..?"

There's a rough-cut, and the scene is redbrick and asphalt staccatoed by police and ambulance lights.  "These," says the same cameraman as before, sounding much more confident now, "are the guys I videotaped earlier tonight, beating that kid on the street."  They're being strapped to individual gurneys, backboards, and one is being zipped into a black body-bag.  "I mean, I wasn't really expecting it to be like this-- I thought that they'd be okay, just taken to jail-- but, ah, from the looks of these guys?  I think jail would be overkill--"  there's a few voices off camera, one sounds delirious-- over the shoulder of a young EMT, the cameraman's able to film the speaker.  "It was, it was..." the one blubbering is the big bald guy... it takes four EMTs to lift his backboard onto a stretcher.  "It was beautiful, it was a bird-- it was like a black bird, flying... it was like a bird..." then he starts convulsing.

"Get the paddles, we're losing him--" someone screams.  The camera blacks out as a hand covers it, a blue shirt and silver shield visible between the fingers-- "YOU CAN'T FILM HERE, THIS IS A CRIME SCENE--" and the feed ends.

The video prompts... "Watch again?" the control buttons popping up to pause, rewind, or repeat. "Watch again?" the control buttons popping up to pause, rewind, or repeat.

[VandalSavage]

The video prompts... "Watch again?" the control buttons popping up to pause, rewind, or repeat. "Watch again?" the control buttons popping up to pause, rewind, or repeat.

Quark fixates on the screen: Red pixelated eyes fused to pixelated monitor. Incandescence reflecting incandescence. Stillness seizing the popping buttons.  Concentration bright as a plasma torch, bright as the monitor.  A perfect circuit.

She clicks watch again.  Watches.  Unmoving.

She clicks watch again.  Watches.

The ivory coin of her face does not change.  Her stare does not shift.  A recommended video pops up.  She clicks.

She watches Slow Motion Laughing Baby.

The video prompts... "Watch again?" the control buttons popping up to pause, rewind, or repeat. "Watch again?" the control buttons popping up to pause, rewind, or repeat.

Quark fixates on the screen.  Incandescence reflecting incandescence.  A perfect circuit.

She clicks watch again.  Watches.  Unmoving.

She clicks watch again.

After a time of concentration that, for a human brain, would stretch the minutes spent watching over centuries, a thought comes to Quark.  She is lonely.  She is without family.  Without progeny.  Without Empire. 

A cool satisfaction fills her.

Quark fixates on the screen and clicks "Watch Again."



Ixy - lovely introduction piece.

As per PhantomPistoleer's earlier request, might we come up with the times Quark and Blackbird banded together to defeat evil (or a reasonable facsimile thereof)?  They would likely be odd, accidental encounters, as Quark does not spend time fighting crime, so much as stumbles over it and crushes it while treading through San Francisco in an alien daze.

[Rayve13]

Our fearless director is also helping me get finalized as well, so should be before long. A Hindu martial artist, enjoying enlightenment and violence in San Fransisco, the world beyond the mountains.

[VandalSavage]

Our fearless director is also helping me get finalized as well, so should be before long. A Hindu martial artist, enjoying enlightenment and violence in San Fransisco, the world beyond the mountains.

Any idea how we would know each other?  PhantomPistoleer requested we come up with three crossovers, per character pair. 

Quark likes Boba drinks.  You might have bonded with her that way.  Perhaps we repulsed an attack by "The Otaku" on the gathering of Asian schoolgirls at our local Boba place.

[Rayve13]

If Quark has any interest in yoga or health, that's an easy meeting idea. My plan is to have him working as a yoga instructor at a gym. He's also pretty quick to respond to things, so simple happenstance meetings, at least the first time, also work.

And beating up on Otaku of any sort can be entertaining.

"I've got your chakra right here fanboy!"  ;D

[VandalSavage]

If Quark has any interest in yoga or health, that's an easy meeting idea.

She could have tried yoga at some point.  Let's go with that as a good starting point.

[Ixy]

Ixy - lovely introduction piece.

As per PhantomPistoleer's earlier request, might we come up with the times Quark and Blackbird banded together to defeat evil (or a reasonable facsimile thereof)?  They would likely be odd, accidental encounters, as Quark does not spend time fighting crime, so much as stumbles over it and crushes it while treading through San Francisco in an alien daze.

I'm really glad you liked it!

As far as system goes, I'm still nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs, but I think I have a good grasp of concept and style right now, and I'm looking forward to playing with you guys.

How's this sound for a background connection with Quark? ---

10/30-- Devil's Night, 200?, Alvord Lake District (aka Junkietown)
This district near Haight street's derelict population of nocturnal ghouls is not known for its candor.  Haunted by junkies, hookers, muggers and thugs by day, what is usually a contained instance of city corruption became an explosive clusterfuck thanks to the hand-tooling of a methodical beast known as Vast Nightmare, a disturbed, brain-damaged bio-chemist from Los Angeles rumored to have gone mad on the fumes of his botched experiments at manipulating the finer points of mind-control, hallucinogenic, and personality-altering drugs. 

By carefully manipulating and distributing a massive amount of morphine through Junkietown, he coordinated a mass-attack on society-- while his intent was unclear, it's possible that this was intended as a distraction or, perhaps, merely a test-run for a later coordinated attack on the city.  Hundreds were wounded and killed in the ensuing mayhem that lasted for six largely uninterrupted hours, and Blackbird would have been right there in the midst, subduing everyone she could reach, throwing junkies out the windows of homes they'd broken into, dragging injured cops out of the front lines, and coordinating evacuation routes where police vehicles couldn't reach.

Perhaps she'd have been overwhelmed by the crowd at some point, or managed to get herself hemmed in...

[Rayve13]

That could even work as a multi-connection. A riot is bound to draw several crime fighters.  :)

[VandalSavage]

Perhaps she'd have been overwhelmed by the crowd at some point, or managed to get herself hemmed in...

That sounds grim, grotesque and just about right for a link with Quark.

She's reluctant to get involved with most trouble, but a disturbance of that size would definitely beckon irresistibly to her.

Likely she could come to Blackbird in her moment of need and help her subdue the crowd.  A generous rinsing with gravity could keep them in check, cutting a swath to where Vast Nightmare himself was.  Then while Quark kept the unwashed masses off of Blackbird, she or Diamond Tiger could leap in for the Sunday punch against the bad guy.

As a later connection's idea, Quark could have been an asset to Blackbird in fending off some former-Soviet villain looking to take revenge on Coyote's progeny.  She could catch wind of the villain's plot as he foolishly tries to contact her to help, play along only long enough to get the evil genius thinking he's won the day, and then help Blackbird pummel him into goulash.

[Ixy]

As a later connection's idea, Quark could have been an asset to Blackbird in fending off some former-Soviet villain looking to take revenge on Coyote's progeny.  She could catch wind of the villain's plot as he foolishly tries to contact her to help, play along only long enough to get the evil genius thinking he's won the day, and then help Blackbird pummel him into goulash.

If so, Blackbird probably would have very little information-- Quark probably knows more about Coyote than she does... I imagine that she might be a source of information when Blackbird's ready to 'accept the mantle' of superheroine, but right now I like her being in the dark (no pun intended).  Maybe Quark could have showed up and given the classic, "guess what?  I can find you, so can he."  We could even write that out, if you'd like, but I can give you a quick summary of what to expect-- denial, confusion, and resentment of her father's lack of guidance.

Of course, the question is whether or not Quark could have found Blackbird 'on the streets' or if she'd managed to locate her via her secret identity.

That sounds grim, grotesque and just about right for a link with Quark.

She's reluctant to get involved with most trouble, but a disturbance of that size would definitely beckon irresistibly to her.

Likely she could come to Blackbird in her moment of need and help her subdue the crowd.  A generous rinsing with gravity could keep them in check, cutting a swath to where Vast Nightmare himself was.  Then while Quark kept the unwashed masses off of Blackbird, she or Diamond Tiger could leap in for the Sunday punch against the bad guy.

It would make a good juncture point for the three of them, certainly.  Of course, I'm just kind of 'hail-mary'ing the whole Vast Nightmare idea-- That would be two instances that Blackbird would be really, really pissed/embarrassed about: requesting help when needed isn't a talent she's mastered.

She would probably have gotten swarmed because she was reluctant to take someone out-- say one of the lunatics going homicidal on the populace turned out to be a street-kid she recognized from her secret identity-life, somebody she tried to help out.  Let's call that kid EZ, a 14-year-old runaway whose uncle shot him up with smack as a gag when he was 11, and he'd been hooked for years, but was trying to kick the habit. Let's add an element of darkness and have him not survive the incident.

The lesson, at least, is: don't hesitate.  Question is, did she learn that lesson yet?

[VandalSavage]

...Maybe Quark could have showed up and given the classic, "guess what?  I can find you, so can he."  We could even write that out, if you'd like, but I can give you a quick summary of what to expect-- denial, confusion, and resentment of her father's lack of guidance.

Of course, the question is whether or not Quark could have found Blackbird 'on the streets' or if she'd managed to locate her via her secret identity.

Given two factors: Blackbird's non-existent relationship with her father and Quark's almost-total lack of concern for most matters, in particular superhero activities, I think it best that the post-Soviet villain - let's call him Red Vengeance - would have located Blackbird first.

Red Vengeance was a "cleaner"; part of Quark's unit of awesomely powered superhumans dispatched by the Soviets to seal any lower-powered leaks and threats to the Socialist Republics.  Vengeance was far more gung-ho than his fellow former Red; he truly believed in closing cases, whereas Quark was just intrigued by the opportunity to annihilate interesting and distinctive targets.  So, having found an old case file on Coyote that contained Kremlin recommendations of eliminating him, Vengeance took it upon himself to close his file.

Unable to find Coyote, Red Vengeance did discover Blackbird's public identity through his file.  He tracked her down to San Francisco, where he knew Quark to be, and enlisted her help.  Together, they located and grabbed Blackbird.  Once Quark realized who Blackbird was - the woman who had been at her side during the Hell Night debacle - she lulled Red Vengeance into a false sense of security and then freed Blackbird.  Together, they defeated Red Vengeance. 

So far as Quark is concerned, they could kill him.  She could always hide the body in the sun, after all.

Thoughts?

[Ixy]

I'm not too sure that I want Quark to be solely responsible for saving Blackbird's life twice AND to know her secret identity.

[VandalSavage]

I'm not too sure that I want Quark to be solely responsible for saving Blackbird's life twice AND to know her secret identity.

No problem.  I am tossing out ideas at this point.

[Muse]

So, as of December Ninth ideas are still tossing? 

Let's do this!  :) 

[Muse]

Now I have Cave Girl Eve and Outlaw Gwen Taylor going. 

Any ladies or anyone at all care to help me give these splinter pesonalities personality?  Ever since I realized that the cave girl was 'Eve', I've been wondering wether 'lady pendragon' was Jean of Arc or Lilith.