Manticore's CADs

[Manticore]

I want to preserve them somewhere for posterity.

[Manticore]

[glow=magenta,2,300]Blink[/glow]
Secret Identity: Clarice Ferguson
Height: 5'5"
Weight: 125 lbs.
Eye Colour: Green
Hair Colour: Magenta

Abilities:
Intelligence: 3
Strength: 2
Agility: 3
Speed: 2
Durability: 3

(Cost: 6 white and 2 red stones)

Actions:
Teleportation: 6
- Her portals make a 'blink' sound when they open and close

Psi-Weapon (Javelins): 4
- If the target takes any damage it may be teleported randomly (GM discretion)

Acrobatics: 2
(Agility Bonus)

Close Combat: 3
(Agility Bonus or Weapon Modifier)
- Javelins
- Use of teleportation in combat
- Street fighting

Ranged Combat: 2
(Weapon Modifier)
- Javelins
- Thrown weapons

Social Skills: 3
- Mutant Culture
- Streetwise
- Social Underclass

Thieving: 2
- Sneaking around
- Running away

(Cost: 19 white stones)


Modifiers:
Mutant, bright pink skin, no visible pupils, pointed ears and facial markings

Wealth: 0
Mental Defence: +1
Reflexive Dodge: +2

(Cost: 3 white and 1 red stones)


Challenges:
Mutant (3 stones)
Non-human appearance (3 stones)
Survivor's Guilt (1 stone)
Haunted Past (3 stones)


TOTAL COST: 29 white stones
6 stones saved


Background:
Clarice Ferguson was born in the Bahamas but moved to Miami when she was very young. It was always obvious that she was a mutant. Clarice's parents loved their daughter very much and always tried to do what was best for her. Clarice's parents were used to being despised as 'mutant sympathisers' or 'race traitors'. They put up with it for the sake of their daughter.

Even as a young child Clarice faced anti-mutant prejudice. She was never accepted by the other kids at school, so she started skipping classes to go hang out with other mutants.

Her mutant friends were like a second family to her. However, some of them were bitter and angry. They started handing out anti-human literature and getting into fights. Clarice didn't approve of what they did, but it didn't matter. The mutant-haters blamed her and her parents as much as those who had been involved in the violence. It was guilt by association.

A fanatical mutant-hater set fire to the Fergusons' house, hoping to "wipe out the whole foul brood in one go". Clarice's parents were killed in the blaze, but she managed to teleport herself out. She spent some time in hospital, recovering. Then she vanished, seeking refuge with her fellow mutants.

Eventually she wound up in 'the Hill'. Clarice is still wracked with guilt over the deaths of her parents. She believes that she could have teleported them both to safety but instead she panicked and fled.

Clarice has found friends among the people of the Hill. She looks up to the Sybil as a mentor. However, she is very shy, naive and she is starting to wonder if Magneto was right. Maybe humans and mutants can never live together in harmony. She distrusts humans and is wary of their intentions. Also, she has a desperate desire to prove herself, as if bravery in the present could redeem her for the failures of the past.

[Manticore]

Raymond Colefield



Actions: (15 stones)
Intelligence: 3
Strength: 4
Agility: 6
Speed: 4
Durability: 4

Abilities: (20 stones)
Detective Skills: 4
- Following a lead
- Interviewing suspects/witnesses
- Looking for evidence
- Former Homicide cop

Drain Energy: 3
-Improved Drain

Mastery of Death: 2
- Communicate with spirits/undead
- "Read Corpses"
- Call Undead (create zombies/skeletons etc)

Close Combat: 3
(Weapon modifier or Agility bonus)
- Fists
- Truncheon/Nightstick
- Hand to hand

Ranged Combat: 3
(Weapon Modifier)
- Handguns

Social Skills: 4
- Police Officer
- Interrogation
- Persuasion
- Vampire Culture/Protocol

Technology: 2
(Intelligence Bonus)

Hypnosis: 4 (As Telepathy)
- Project Thoughts/Control Minds
- Telepathic Communications

Vehicle Operation: 3
- Car
- Bicycle
- Van

Modifiers/Challenges:
Animal Senses 3

Enhanced Vision 3
- See in darkness

Toughness 2
- No 2x damage from Firearms.

Reconstitute Self
(When fed at least 3x Durability in blood "energy" Raymond will recover from almost any wound. However, he cannot recover from being burned to ash or beheaded, which would kill him completely. Also, having a stake driven through his heart would put him into a coma-like state.)

Healing Factor
(Will not heal wounds from fire or holy relics wielded by the Faithful.)

Challenges:
Vulnerable to Fire
(Damage from fire is multiplied by one additional level, from normal to X2, from X2 to X3, and from X3 to X4! Avoid fire!)

Psychological: Fear of Fire

Vulnerable to Sunlight: Sunlight instantly destroys vampires

Psychological: Compelled to feed upon Human blood

Conflicting Interests (1 stone): Raymond doesn't really agree with the Black Tower and he'd rather be doing something else, but he goes along with it because it's his best chance of survival.

A Wanted Criminal (3 stones): Raymond was wrongly blamed for the murders he was investigating before he became a Vampire.

Angst over his condition (1 stone)

An Unusual and Disgusting Power (3 stones): Even among vampires, Mastery of Death is an unusual power, and those that have it tend to be depraved or insane. Although Raymond is neither of those, the other vampires of the Black Tower are keeping a close eye on him- his strange power makes them uneasy. Raymond thinks his Mastery of Death is a rather horrible power and doesn't much like to use it.)

Out of his depth (1 stone): Raymond hasn't been a vampire for very long, and he still has a great deal to learn.

Haunted Past (1 stone): he was "turned" under dark and disturbing circumstances. He doesn't much like to talk about it.

Equipment:

Small Knife (When he has to extract blood from humans Raymond prefers to use this to open a vein instead of his using his fangs. It feels less... animal. Of course, sometimes this is not practical. In a crowded nightclub, for example, a man who appears to be kissing or nuzzling the throat of a woman/another man attracts far less attention than someone who is holding a knife up to someone's throat.)

Denim jacket, various sets of shirts, trousers, coats, socks, underpants, footwear, etc...

Cellphone

Wallet; contains driver's license, credit cards and cash

Background:
"What is a man? A miserable pile of secrets?" (OOC: ;D )

I heard that from a guy who fancied himself as a philosopher. I told him I'd never heard so much crap in all my life and that he shouldn't give up his day job.

Seriously, though... I never knew what it meant to be human until... until I lost my humanity. I never realised that there was a part of me, the essential part of me, the wonderful transcendent spark of life; my immortal spirit... I never realised I what I had until it was gone. Back then, I didn't think about religion much. The idea of a soul- a part of me that would live on forever and might have a chance of reaching heaven or nirvana or whatever- would have seemed too much like wishful thinking to cynical old me. I never realised, not until the last moment... when the vampire blood was already inside me... changing me. And by then it was already too late.

What little life there was left in me was dribbling out through the hole in my neck. I lay on that carpet for hours- well, it felt like hours- staring at the godawful pattern like it was the last thing I would ever see... which, in a way, it was. When I finally got up again, I was a vampire. I was dead inside. There's a cruel irony to all of this; I was given immortal life, but robbed of everything I would need to enjoy that life. My soul was gone forever. If there was a God or any kind of divine being I could appeal to, I would have begged them, pleaded with them: 'I don't want this poisoned gift. Please, give it to someone else, just give me back my soul.' If this was some kind of karmic punishment, and if it was possible to atone for my crimes and regain what I had lost, I would have done it. In that moment I would have done anything... paid any price... let the whole world burn, 'just give me back my soul!'

But it was too late. I was already damned.

Without my soul, I feel... dead inside. It's impossible to fully enjoy anything any more, except when I'm hunting, or fighting, or when there's a possibility of a kill... I've got the instincts of a vampire now. It's like being a serial killer- I only feel truly happy when I'm doing something bloody horrible to someone.

There are times when I wonder: 'how did I get to this point? When did it all go so wrong?' I know the story of my life, of course. I just wondered if there was anything else. Was I always fated to become a vampire? Did I never have a choice? Or was I being manipulated by an unseen hand? Were all my "choices" merely the strugglings of a fly caught in a spider's web. I don't know.

It all started several years ago now. I was a Detective Inspector, working for the West Midlands Police force; I'd been a Police officer for some years then, and as far as I could tell my career was going pretty well, up until the time when I was called upon to investigate some really nasty murders. Bodies were turning up, shrivelled, drained of every drop of blood. It got worse- there were rumours that those corpses had been seen walking about zombie-like, long after they were supposed to be dead.

Nobody seemed to want to help me with the case. It got bloody frustrating after a while. Witnesses were uncooperative or scared. My superiors didn't care. Important bits of evidence "disappeared". Soon, I was very nearly thrown off the case. It was as if someone in authority was making sure that my investigations went nowhere. Or trying to delay me... for some reason.

But I persevered. I managed to track down a man who I desperately wanted to talk to. Me and two other officers went to search his house and, sure enough, we found more evidence there; blood, body parts and so on; it was clear that we had stumbled upon the sanctum of a madman. But we were not alone in that place. Too late, I discovered that we had been lured into an elaborate deathtrap. I... never found out what happened to my friends.

I had injured my leg when the floor gave way beneath me; narrowly avoiding falling onto a set of rusty spikes that would otherwise have impaled me. I found myself in some kind of labyrinth. At every turn I was pursued by some kind of monster- I expected nothing but death- fear concentrated my mind marvellously- and I emerged from the maze and into the bedroom where it turned out that the insane murderer was waiting for me. I tried to put up a fight, but he was incredibly fast. Compared to him, I was as weak as a kitten. I felt his teeth tear into my neck with such force that for a second I thought he had ripped my throat out.

He drank a little of my blood. Not much, though- he was already well satisfied that night. Then he dumped me on the floor, content to watch me bleed to death. However, something must have changed his mind. Maybe he thought I was a worthy opponent, and deserved a reward for my efforts. Maybe he needed a scapegoat to take the blame for the murders he'd committed. Or perhaps this was one last torment on top of all the others. He'd taken my life, and he'd take my soul too.

But there was someone else there that night. A man named Backard. He was a vampire too. You see, vampires have all kinds of laws governing their society; and this murderer had broken just about every one of them. Backard didn't bother to run the gauntlet of deathtraps and zombie-monsters. He made straight for the murderer- my "sire"- and attacked. I wasn't in a position to watch the fight.

Backard won.

Then he had to decide what to do with me. He could have put me out my misery there and then, or he could have chosen to walk away. Instead, he showed compassion. He helped me up and took me away from there. I think he felt sorry for me. He gave me shelter and told me what I needed to know if I was going to survive as a vampire. By that time I was "wanted for questioning" in connection with the recent murders, although there were some that thought that I'd been kidnapped by the real murderer.

I couldn't go back. How would I explain what had happened to me? I'd be breaking the laws of vampires just as badly my "sire" had done. My friends and relatives were all worried about me. I would have loved to go back and reassure them, put their minds at rest. But there was no going back.

About that time it seemed like it would be a good idea to leave the country. Backard offered me a job. He's part of this company called the "Black Tower"; t's run by vampires; and he wanted me to work for them.

Well, I didn't have anything better to do, and Backard was the only friend I had left, so I readily agreed. And that's how I got here, to this place; Phoenix, Arizona. I'd never been to America before, so that was pretty exciting, I guess. I've been working here for a few months now, keeping a low profile. I like it well enough, I suppose.

And that's the end of my story. For now.

Would you like another drink? No? Well, alright. I suppose I've been gabbing on for far too long already. What time is it?

Only half past midnight? Really? Well, I must be on my way.

Good night to you. Drive safely.

See you soon.

[Manticore]

Character Name: Martin
Sex: Male
Age: 11

Abilities: (5 white and 2 red stones)
Intelligence: 3
Strength: 1
Agility: 2
Speed: 2
Durability: 3

Actions: (5 white and 1 red stones)
Pokemon Training: 2
- Trained by his parents

General Knowledge: 2
- Photography
- Wild Pokemon habitats/life cycles

Social Skills: 2
- Pokemon Trainers
-

Photography: 3

Technology: 1

Modifiers:
Wealth: 0

Equipment:

Digital Camera
Several Disposable Cameras
Pokedex
Cellphone


Challenges:

Ambition- he wants to be a professional Pokemon photographer (1 stone)

Prying Relatives- his parents have very high expectations of him (1 stone)

Background:

When they were younger, Martin's parents were well-respected Pokemon trainers. However, they were never able to reach the top tier; they would have liked to have been gym leaders, or members of the Elite Four... or Pokemon Masters. Eventually, they settled down and got jobs, but they never forgot that they had once dreamed of being the best. So they decided it would be best to train their kids up from an early age to be the best Pokemon trainers ever. Yes, their kids would have the chance they never had.

The only problem was that their eldest son, Martin, wasn't what they had hoped for. He wasn't nearly tough or brave or strong enough. They gave him a chance to use some of the truly great Pokemon, like Tyranitar or Dragonite; but no, he'd rather be off playing with his friends or that dratted Zigzagoon. And anyway, the Pokemon wouldn't obey him.

Martin didn't seem to care about being a strong trainer, except to please his parents. His heroes were the great Pokemon photographers and naturalists, who would travel through the toughest and most inhospitable places on the planet to get pictures and films of rare Pokemon in their natural habitat. Those brave men and women were involved in conserving endangered Pokemon and advancing the science of Pokemon- that was the kind of work he wished he was involved in. Plus, they took some really great photos.

In the end, Martin's parents decided it would be best to send him off on his very own Pokemon adventure. Lots of trainers started on their journey at ten years old. It wasn't unusual. And maybe the journey would succeed where their training had failed- and turn him into a master Pokemon trainer.

[Manticore]

Character Name: Gwydr of Lypatha
Sex: Male
Race: Orc
Class: Ranger

ABILITIES:
Intelligence: 4
Strength: 4
Agility: 3
Speed: 3
Durability: 4

ACTIONS:
Close Combat: 5
(Weapon Modifier or Strength Bonus)
- Sword
- Axe
- Fists
- Dagger
- Spear

Ranged Combat: 3
(Weapon Modifier)
- Javelin
- Bow
- Slingshot

Animal Kinship: 2
- Dog
- Elk

Thieving: 2
(Agility Bonus)
- Stealth
- Move silently

Hunting: 3
- Tracking
- Ambush
- Foraging

Social Skills: 2
- Tribal culture
- Orc Legends

Use Magical Device 1
(Intelligence bonus)

Leadership: 1

Medical Healing: 1

MODIFIERS:
Orc,
Enhanced Vision 2 (See in Darkness)
Enhanced (Animal) Senses 1
Mental Defence [+1]
Initiative [+2]
Toughness (+1)
Wealth [0]
Favoured Enemy- Merixan Empire

CHALLENGES:
Orc [3 stones]
Haunted Past [2 stones]

EQUIPMENT:
The Blade Reforged (+3)
Battleaxe (+2)
Leather Armour (+1 Defence)
Cloak
Wand of Magic Missile: Force Blast 1, Hunting/Seeking, 47 stones can be used before requiring recharging.)
Shield (+1 defence)
Sword (+2)
Belt Pouch (contains a few coins of various metals, sizes and weights.)
A cheap metal amulet (stolen from Draco Axos, hah!)
Bow(+1)
Quiver of 20 Arrows (+1)
Backpack (contains 3 torches, tinder and flint, trail rations, a rope and a spare set of clothes)

[Manticore]

Character Name: Peter Wisdom
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 140 lbs.
Hair color: Black
Eyes: Brown
Species: Mutant

ABILITIES: (10W stones)
Int: 3
Strength: 3
Agility: 3
Speed: 3
Durability: 4

ACTIONS: (39 stones)
"Hot Knives": 5 (15W stones)
- 2x dmg (+2 to CL)
- can be combined with Close Combat or Ranged Combat
(As Psi-Weapon)

Close Combat: 6 (4W stones)
(Agility Bonus or Weapon Modifier)
- Use of Hot Knives in combat
- Black Air Training
- Hand to hand Combat
- Sneak Attacks
- Martial Arts
- Dirty Tricks

Ranged Combat: 6 (4W stones)
(Weapon Modifier)
- Hot Knives
- Grenades
- Handguns
- Machine guns
- Thrown objects
- Anti-Tank Weaponry

Acrobatics: 3 (1W stones)
(Agility Bonus)

Black Ops: 6 (6W stones)
- Covert Operations
- Infiltration
- Intimidation
- Counterinsurgency
- Assassination
- Spying

Leadership: 4 (2W stones)

Vehicle Operation: 4 (2W stones)
- Light Vehicles
- Military Aircraft
- Military Vehicles
- Fast Cars

Social Skills: 6 (4W stones)
- Seduction
- Persuasion
- Secret Agent
- Mimicking accents
- Convincing liar
- British Culture

Technology: 2 (1w stone)
(Intelligence Bonus)


MODIFIERS: (7W stones)
Mutant, human appearance
Reflexive Dodge: +1
Wealth: (3)
Mental Defense: +5
Energy Defense: +3

TOTAL: 56W stones


CHALLENGES: (-16 stones)
Mutant (3 stones)
Bad Habits: drink, cigarettes, etc (1 stone)
Minor Psychological Restriction: Despair (1 stone)
Amnesiac Dissonance: Black Air kept him "sedated" for more than a decade. This new world is strange and unsettling to him. (2 stones)
Haunted Past: all the terrible things Black Air did to him... and that they made him do. (3 stones)
A Dangerous Job: Spying (2 stones)
Deadly Enemies: (4 stones)
1) Apocalypse would be enraged by Pete's treachery if he knew.
2) There are many ambitious servants of Apocalypse who would seek to use Pete Wisdom's death to curry favour with their dark lord.
3) Various rebel groups operating within Apocalypse's Empire hate Pete Wisdom just as they hate all of Apocalypse's servants.
4) Black Air doesn't like mutants very much. They wouldn't much care if Pete Wisdom were to turn up dead.


Background:

Peter Wisdom was a young teenager living in England during the time of Apocalypse's rise to power. He had a rough home life; an abusive alcoholic father and a mother who was too timid to stand up to him.

He was also a mutant with the power to generate incredibly hot "blades" of energy from his fingertips. These powers manifested at an early age, and he was registered as a mutant. Because of the incredible destructive potential of these "hot knives", he was marked out as a recruit by the sinister organization known as 'Black Air'.

Black Air was a government-sponsored programme formed for the purpose of taking on those covert missions that the British Secret Intelligence Service was far too squeamish to consider; assassinations, acts of sabotage and mass murder. They took Pete Wisdom and turned him into a living weapon.

It would be years before he regained any sense of self or identity from underneath the layers of mental conditioning and brainwashing. Pete Wisdom had missed the anti-mutant riots, the witch hunts and the Sentinel attacks that had followed in the wake of Apocalypse's rise to power. He did not see the news reports flooding in: the USA was gone, Japan had become an irradiated wasteland and Central America was vanished beneath the sea. The news that all of Eurasia had been united under a single High Council must have reached his ears, but at the time it meant nothing to him.

For a long time, he was barely even human (er... mutant?). He was a mindless automaton used for only one purpose: killing. Black Air used him to "clean up" after their missions, and he did an excellent job.

Eventually, Black Air decided that they needed a more versatile tool. They returned to him his memories, his ability to think for himself, his identity. He was alive again. Then they began to teach him what had happened in the time he had lost. They made him one of their own; he became the perfect spy; a master of deception, subterfuge and dissimulation. Soon, they would send him on missions all over the world, and so he learned a great deal about those parts of the world that had survived the coming of Apocalypse.

His most recent mission was to infiltrate Apocalypse's inner circle and use that position of power and influence to gather information for the Human High Council. This was easy enough for him to achieve; he slaughtered a few of the infinites and the mudir, condemning them for their "weakness"; set up a few displays of casual cruelty and an apparently fervent belief in Apocalypse's grand design; and that was all it took. Apocalypse was impressed by this deadly new mutant, and Pete Wisdom (who was using the codename "Knives") was made a Prelate.

It has been more than a year since that time, and only Black Air knows that Prelate Knives is anything more than he seems. Indeed, he has earned the hatred of the X-men and some of the other resistance groups who see him as one of Apocalypse's most loyal servants.

Even the psychics who have been called upon to probe his mind do not realise his deception; Black Air's constant messing about with his brain has made him difficult to read; even a detailed scan leaves the mind-reader with the impression that he is little more than an amnesiac with a shaky grasp of reality (although this would probably not stand up to scrutiny if a really powerful psychic was determined to punch through his barriers).

Most recently, Pete Wisdom has learned that Sebastian Shaw and Adrienne Frost are hatching some kind of plot together and he has gone to Angel's "Heaven" to find out what they are doing and whether he needs to put a stop to it.


Psychological:

Peter Wisdom hates what Black Air has done to him. They took everything from him, stole almost a decade of his life and brought him back to this dreadful dystopia where everyone and everything he ever loved is dead. He was always a mutant, but they turned him into a monster. Yet, despite all that, he has continued to serve them, loyally, at great personal risk. His superiors are wary of him; they know they have no hold over him; they fully expect him to betray them.

Why, then, does he continue to serve? Pete Wisdom is no fool. He knows that his superiors consider him no more than a useful tool at best; and a filthy mutie that should be destroyed at worst. He has no friends, few allies and no real loyalties. He is horrified and disgusted by everything that Apocalypse has done to the world, but he is no less troubled by the things that the Human High Council has done in the name of survival. So why...?

He didn't experience the rise of Apocalypse or the years that followed in the same way that everyone else did. In some ways, he is still the young man he was before Black Air got their claws into him. He feels like a man trapped in a nightmare and that at any moment he will wake up and there will be his mum telling him to get ready for school and everything will be all right again.

Pete Wisdom is a wounded and despairing man. His soul is blackened by the horrific things he has been forced to do. He sees no real value in his own life and he wonders if death would be more merciful. Now, he lives only to destroy his enemies; he sees Apocalypse as the source of all the evils of this new era, and he serves Black Air and the Human High Council because he believes they are the only ones with the power to bring about the end of this Age of Apocalypse.

[Manticore]

Character Name: John Constantine
Species: Human
Height: 6'0
Weight: 158 lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Blond


ABILITIES: (7 stones)
Intelligence: 4
Strength: 2
Agility: 2
Speed: 2
Durability: 3

ACTIONS: (34 +2 red stones)
Social Skills: 7
- Con Artist
- Trickster
- Annoying Git
- Professional Criminal
- Occult Community
- British Culture
- Mentor

Thieving: 3
(Agility Bonus)
- Con Artist
- Fraud
- Hiding

General Knowledge: 5
(Intelligence Bonus)
- Demonic Protocol
- Magical Lore
- Student of Human Nature
- Punk Rock
- Gruesome Trivia

Close Combat: 2
(Strength Bonus or Weapon Modifier)
- Dirty Tricks
- Magical Weaponry

Ranged Combat: 3
(Weapon Modifier)
- Handgun

Mastery of Magic: 3
(Intelligence Bonus)
- Increase Action Modifier

Mesmerism: 6
- Can not read minds
- Mental Bolts*
- Control Others
- Project thoughts and Create Illusions
- Erase/Edit Memories

Summoning/Exorcism: 5
- Tends not to bother with Binding.

MODIFIERS: (8 white stones +1 red stone)
Human
Demon blood*
Wealth: (1)
Magical Defense: (3) (from Mastery of Magic)
Mental Defense: (6) (from Mesmerism)
Bad Reputation (+1 to Social Skills)
Lucky Bastard (+1, as Good Luck)

(TOTAL COST: 50 stones, minus challenges. Shall we say the remaining 2 stones are taken up by the demon blood thing?)

EQUIPMENT:
Silk Cut Cigarettes
Trench coat

Numerous Spell books and magical reagents (at GM discretion)
Extensive List of Contacts

NOTES:
John doesn’t use his magic powers very often, except for Mesmerism, which he uses quite casually. He has shown himself to be capable of some very powerful magic, although it usually takes a long time and requires him to look up some spell books. If the plot requires that he travel to hell or summon up a Golem then he’ll probably use his Mastery of Magic action… very, very slowly. I justify giving him the Mental Bolts option to Mesmerism because although John doesn’t go in for psychic blasts and beams, he nevertheless has driven a few people mad on occasion, and this was the best way I could think of to represent that.

Demon Blood courses in John’s veins. It has shown itself to be as much a blessing as a curse. It can heal people by blood transfusion, but then they will share the taint. The demon blood has some acidic properties (being lethal to vampires and other nasties that might want to drink his blood), but it has also provided numerous demons with, uh, leverage over John. It’s best used as deus ex machina, really.

CHALLENGES:
Haunted Past (3 stones)
Deadly Enemies (5 stones)*
Can’t Drive a Car (1 stone)
Psychological Damage (1 stone)
Owes a few favours… (2 stones)
Adrenaline Junky (1 stone)
Nicotine Addict (1 stone)

*Most Prominent of whom are the First of the Fallen; Nergal, the King of the Vampires and the Family Man, but also includes other demons, angels, criminals and cultists.

BACKGROUND:
“I'll tell you the ultimate secret of magic. Any fool could do it.”

John Constantine is a bastard. Oh, sure, he’s saved the world plenty of times and taken on angels, demons and the Devil himself. But he’s also managed to get a number of people who cared for and trusted him maimed, killed or damned in the process. He is the embodiment of London (despite what Hollywood producers and Neo might lead you to believe), a strange and intoxicating mix of the arcane and the urban, of mysteries hidden in shadowy alleyways and secrets of dying religions and underground cults. He is the leather and discontentment of punk rock mangled in a head on collision with the trench coat cool and self loathing of noir. A silk cut cigarette and c0cky Cheshire grin that slip out of the darkness with every secret you’ve ever wanted to know and he’ll tell you if it suits him to do so. More a trickster than a sorcerer, more a con man than a magician, Constantine is a righteous bastard from a long line of righteous bastards. He may have demon’s blood coursing through his veins, but it’s the piss and whisky of being a Constantine that makes him what he is. In a time when being an anti-hero in comics really just meant you were a kind of pissed off character who didn’t mind killing, along comes this Sting look alike with his trademark trench coat and cigarettes and the kind of hard boiled wee weeiness mixed with cynicism and self hatred that would make a Raymond Chandler novel read like Chicken Soup for the Soul. His dialogue was laced with an acid wit and his actions were dripping in moral ambiguity. Fans loved him and from making straight men out of the protagonists in Swamp Thing and Sandman to playing mentor like a grinning bastard Obi-Wan to Tim Hunter in Books of Magic to his own misanthropic misadventures in Hellblazer, the fledgling Vertigo line had him as a kind of standard bearer for the attitude of the imprint. He’s even managed a bit of crossover appeal to the mainstream…most recently in an Americanized and watered down Hollywood adaptation, but also more faithfully as the inspiration for the popular characters of Giles and Spike on Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Still...he's really just a bastard.

(From www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=32545&page=1 )

John Constantine has been many things in his time: runaway and rock star, madman and mage, con artist and hero. But above all else he remains Constantine.

John's mother died giving birth to him, and so John was left to live with his older sister, Cheryl, and his abusive, alcoholic father, Thomas. John hated it, and frequently attempted to run away from their home in Liverpool. John took after the long line of Constantine's, having a natural ability in magic, and fell in with many of England's mystics as a young man. He also fronted for a punk band called Mucous Membrane, where he sang lead vocals for their big hit, "Venus of the Hard Sell." The roadie for the band was Frank "Chas" Chandler, the man who became John's oldest, best (and only surviving) friend.

In 1978, John and a group of occultists went to Newcastle, to try to exorcise a demon that was haunting the Casanova Club. In trying to battle the demon Nergal, the soul of a young girl, Astra Logue, was trapped in Hell. This pushed John's mind over the edge, and he spent the next few years confined in the Ravenscar Mental Institution. Eventually, John was released, and, finally repaired, he went back to his old ways of mysticism and con artistry.

John discovered that a doomsday cult called the Brujeria was about to bring about the Apocalypse. John calls on his old friends from Newcastle, as well as a new ally, the Swamp Thing, and a collection of the world's greatest mystics, in attempting to combat them. The plan succeeded, and Swamp Thing fought back the darkness, but at the cost of all of the friends John had involved, as well as Zatara and Sargon, something his old lover Zatanna has never been able to forgive. Shortly thereafter, John found out his sister and her husband, Tony had gotten involved with a cult, and was drawn into a war between two opposing cults, The Redemption Crusade and Damnation Army. In saving his kidnapped niece, Gemma, John was drawn into combat with the Damnation Army's leader, the Demon Nergal, and destroyed him

John learned after this that years of hard living and smoking had cost him his health, and that lung cancer will take him in a few months. John sought out a mystical cure, and not finding one, came up with a last ditch gambit: he sold his soul to the First of the Fallen, a malevolent being whose time in Hell predates that of Lucifer, and also to his two chief Vassals. If John were to die, they all would have to claim his soul, a war would ensue, and Hell's army would be too weakened to fight heaven. The demons healed John, and he gleefully flipped them off as he left. The First of the Fallen was not so easily defeated, and he continued a campaign of terror against John, that cost him his sanity for a time, many of his friends, as well as Kit, his one true love. John eventually had a demoness, Ellie, who owed him a debt, stab the First, killing him and banishing him from Hell.

The battle had dire ramifications, as a power struggle in Hell ensued. The demon Buer appeared to John. Buer had gone to the banished First, and found that to restore him to power, the most hated man on Earth must give up his soul. This was, of course, John. Buer offered him the one thing he couldn't turn down: if he were to give up his soul, Buer would release the soul of Astra. John worked some amazingly powerful magic, conjuring a double of himself using demon blood that was transfused into him years ago be Nergal, and the double kills itself, restoring the First, freeing Astra, and punishing Buer for trying to manipulate John. The shadow of Newcastle was finally lifted from John, as was the threat of the First.

John went to America, called there by an old acquaintance named Lucky. Lucky killed himself, and John was arrested for murder. He let himself be jailed out of guilt for not stopping Lucky. Only after a brief stay in jail was it revealed what really happened: Lucky was promised enough money to take care of his wife for the rest of her life by S.W. Manor, an incredibly rich man who John had conned years before, to kill himself and blame John. Constantine took a trip across America to find Manor, and arriving at his home, pulled off one more con, resulting in the death of Manor and the government agent who had been using John against Manor.

Most recently, John was forced into battle against the oldest of evil's, a Beast that Adam had not named before it fled Eden. John, with the aid of Gemma, Chas, a new friend, Angie, and the Swamp Thing, were able to fend off the Beast, but at the cost of John's memory. He currently is wandering London with no recollection of his past acts, and pursued by a demon known as Rosacarnis. Of course, this is John Constantine we're talking about. He always seems to land on his feet.

Constantine is one of the best mystics in the world, but he only uses his magics when necessary. He prefers to use his wits and inherent charm to confound his adversaries. He's a scrappy man, and not bad in a fight either.

(Copied from www.comixfan.com/xfan/forums/showthread.php?t=28743 )








John Constantine is a bastard.

He lives life on a knife edge, dabbling in magic and trickery because he can, because he enjoys the thrill and the danger. Whether you think of him as a reluctant angel, a cheap and flashy con artist or a diabolical criminal genius; he still remains a ruthless individual who will do whatever it takes to win. He has taken on angels and devils and saved the world, many times. But he is haunted by the ghosts of the friends and loved ones who have been maimed, murdered and damned to hell in the process. He is a liar, a trickster, a damned soul, an anti-hero and a mentor to a number of superheroes. And a cold-hearted bastard, too.

He caused his own father to wither away with a magical curse.

But in times of trouble, he’ll slip from the shadows with his silk-cut cigarette and Cheshire cat grin and save the world in spite of itself.

"I'm the one who steps from the shadows, all trenchcoat and cigarette and arrogance, ready to deal with the madness. Oh, I've got it all sewn up. I can save you. If it takes the last drop of your blood, I'll drive your demons away. I'll kick them in the bollocks and spit on them when they're down, and then I'll be gone back into the darkness, leaving only a nod and a wink and a wisecrack. I walk my path alone...who would want to walk with me?"

[Manticore]

Argh... this isn't it, by any means. I must have lost a dozen CADs over the years.

I've lost Manticore and Firestrike, the first two characters I played on these boards. I've lost John Darkholme... both of them.

Damn it.

I should have thought of this years ago.


EDIT: I'll post some of my EUROTEAM characters here when I've finished typing them up.

[Manticore]

Oh, wait, I found a copy of the original Manticore's CAD, but not his background...


My Character: Manticore (Matt Garner)

Challenges: Mutant: Useless wings, scorpion tail, black eyes and chitinous claws (Should be good for at least 6 white stones, including stones for being a mutant.) Also Psychological: Rage against humans for destroying his wings.

Power: Transfix: 8 (based on telepathy but with limitations.)
1) Attack vs mental defence and intelligence to stun/ cause damage. (+2 to cost level?)
2) Can not read minds (-1 to cost level)
3) Requires eye contact (-1 to cost level)
4) Power out of control (-2 to cost level)
Total cost level: 6 (cost: 4 white stones?)

Note: Manticore prefers not to use this power, instead preferring to rely on agility, strength and close combat ability.

Abilities: Int: 4 Str:7 Agi:5 Spd:4 Dur:4
Total cost: 2+6+3+2+6= 19

Actions:
Close combat: 5
Ranged Combat: 3
Acrobatics: 4
Wall-crawling: 3
Vehicle Operation: 2
Social Skills: 4
Leadership: 2

Total cost: 3+3+2+1+2+2/3= 9 and 2 red

Modifiers:
Animal senses: 3
Reflexive Dodge: +3
(+3 to cost level but -1 because I bought animal senses as well)
Wealth: -1
Mutant,

[Manticore]

Many of these old CADs are a bit crap but they show how far I've come.

[Manticore]

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From the files of the ORDO XENOS


CASE FILE- “Ruadhain the Pathfinder”

Species: Eldar

Status: Known enemy of the Imperium

• Ruadhain was born on the Alaitoc Craftworld.

• He found their rigid adherence to the Eldar Path stifling, and left to wander the stars as a Ranger.

• The Alaitoc are at war with the Imperium. As an inexperienced youth, Ruadhain was captured by Inquisitor Kellerman, and sentenced to excruciation.

• Unfortunately, he was rescued before he could be broken.

• He then returned to the Craftworld for a while and took up the Path of the Warrior.

• The elders were suspicious of him, and he found himself unable to settle down. Again, he left, following the urge to wander.

• Over the course of the next few years, he assassinated several members of the Ordo Xenos.

• The Inquisition tried to hunt him down. Rather than let himself be caught again, he vanished into the Webway.

• (?) A Ranger matching Ruadhain’s description was seen on Myglar’s World, years later. Theory:He was there to recover artefacts from the alien ruins. (?)

• We have no record of what Ruadhain was doing during the next 50 years. (?) Theory: He was exploring distant, dangerous worlds, far from the Imperium (?)

• At some point, Ruadhain became what the Eldar call “trapped” on his path as a wanderer. Other Eldar seem to view him with a mixture of fear, pity and respect. (Note: Is this ‘single-mindedness’ a weakness we can exploit?)

• Ruadhain resurfaced on Lucan IV, during the purge. The Space Wolves and Imperial Guard Gudrunite Rifles suffered unacceptable losses trying to root out the Eldar forces.

• On Parnis, during the Eldar lightning raid, Ruadhain killed the Chaos Sorcerer, Karl Zedenko, with a (lucky or well-aimed) shot.

• With the Battle of Voltemar, the Eldar won a pyrrhic victory against their dark cousins. Reports suggest that Ruadhain and his Rangers were the only ones to survive the battle unscathed.

• Later, (for whatever reason?) Ruadhain was involved in the Eldar battles against the rising power of the Tau Empire.

= = = Notes Compiled by Interrogator Glogauer end here. = = =


• Addendum: this Eldar has fought many more battles against loyal Imperial forces in the past hundred years. Is there nothing we can do to rid ourselves of this foul Xenos? +++Mordan Constantine, Deathwatch Veteran+++

• Addendum 2: From my “studies” of the Rangers we have captured, it appears that this “Ruadhain” has earned the enmity of the Chaos Daemon N’kasha. If I may make a suggestion, perhaps we could use this to rid ourselves of two enemies at a single stroke? +++Inquisitor Xanderous+++

(Admittedly, the Daemon will likely return after a few centuries of banishment, but this is as effective a method as any.)

• Addendum 3: I see that this file is, regrettably, incomplete. To my knowledge, this Ruadhain has also battled the Orks, the Necrons and those festering Hrud. +++Inquisitor Rafel+++

• Addendum 4: And, most alarmingly, I have received suggestions that this Ruadhain may have infiltrated Imperial society at the highest levels. +++Inquisitor Massimo+++

• Addendum 5: (This note has been removed by the originator.)

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[glow=red,2,300]RUADHAIN[/glow]

Abilities: (10 WS)
Intelligence: 4
Strength: 3
Agility: 4
Speed: 4
Durability: 3


Actions: (24 WS)

Black Ops: 5
- Infiltration
- Stealth
- Assassination
- Spying
- Escape

Close Combat: 4
(Agility Bonus or Weapon Modifier)
- Eldar Martial Arts
- Swords
- Knives
- Shuriken Pistol

Hunting/Tracking: 5
- Concealment
- Outdoor Survival
- Spot/Set Ambush
- Scouting
- Follow Trail

Leadership: 4

Ranged Combat: 7
- Expert Marksman
- Sniper Rifle
- Shuriken Pistol
- Grenades
- Alien Weapons

Social Skills: 4
- Alaitoc Craftworld
- Eldar Military Protocol
- Eldar Rangers
- Eldar Lore

Technology: 5
(Intelligence Bonus)

Vehicle Operation: 3
- Eldar light vehicles


Modifiers: (10 WS)

Eldar
Fast Shot (+2), Sniper Rifles
Psychic Sensitivity*
Targeting (+3)
Reflexive Dodge (+2)


*As Precognitive Flashes. The Eldar are a psychic race. Any of them may, if they choose, take the path of the Seer or Warlock. Ruadhain has never tried to hone this raw potential, but it gives him something of a sixth sense where psychic danger is concerned.

TOTAL COST: 44 stones - 9 from Challenges


Challenges:

Trapped on the Path of the Wanderer (3 stones)

Loyalty to the Alaitoc Craftworld (1 stone)

Deadly Enemies: The Daemon Prince, N'Kasha (3 stones)

Deadly Enemies: Inquisitor Kellerman (2 stones)


EQUIPMENT:

Soulstone (All Craftworld Eldar carry one of these to trap their souls at the instant of death, keeping them out of the reach of She Who Thirsts.)

Ranger Long Rifle (+5, 2x dmg, range: 5, various forms of enhanced vision)
"A sniper rifle equipped with highly sophisticated sights." "[Eldar Rangers] use their long rifles to deadly effect, their energy bolts finding the neck joints and eye sockets of even the most heavily armoured troops."

Shuriken Pistol (+4, 2x dmg, range: 2)

Mesh Armour (+2 defence)

Chameleoline Cloak (+2 to stealth/concealment, or defence vs ranged combat)

Combat Knife (+2 CC weapon)

[Manticore]

Improved CAD:

Character Name: Natasha Stark
Species: Human/PA
Gender: Female

Abilities: (Total cost: 8WS and 2RS)
Int: 3
Str: 2/7
Agi: 3
Spd: 2
Dur: 2/4

Actions: (22WS and 2RS)
Close Combat: 5
(Weapon Modifier or Strength Bonus)
- Hand to Hand
- Unarmed combat
- PA combat

Social Skills: 4
- KGB Protocol
- Seduction
- Spying
- Scientific Circles

Black Ops: 3
- Spying
- Intelligencer
- Infiltration

Leadership: 2

Ranged Combat: 5
(Weapon Modifier)
- Pulse Bolts
- PA weapons

Technology: 4
(Intelligence Bonus)

Pulse Bolts: 7 (9WS, according to MURPG core book)
- Range: 5
- 2x Dmg

Flight: 7

Modifiers: (6WS and 2RS)
Wealth: (1)
PA life support
PA Toughness (+4)
- No 2x Dmg from firearms

Targeting (+2)
Shield (+3)

Bio

The second world war dragged on longer than anyone would have guessed. The Americans were bogged down in their own campaign against Japan. The British fought bravely but they were cut off from allies and they could not hold out for long. When the Germans destroyed Birmingham with a new atomic bomb then it was all over. The British surrendered quickly. Pragmatic as ever, they accepted their new rulers with good grace. All Jews that had fled to Britain were rounded up in concentration camps on Dartmoor. Churchill was applauded by Hitler for having led his people so well against impossible odds. The stress and shame was too much for the Prime Minister, and he wasted away soon after.

The Russian campaign had ground to a standstill. The two powers were in a quandary. Stalin had converted a basically medieval nation into a modern superpower with well over a million men under arms. However, the Germans had atomic bombs. Stalin had already proved that he would not hesitate to throw away many lives for the sake of the war. Over the winter, Russia and Germany signed an uneasy truce.

It was a truce that lasted. Over that winter, Hitler died. Some say poison. Some say a heart attack. Some say he was shot by a jealous lover but the SS covered up the evidence.

Anyway, without their charismatic leader, the German Third Reich began to crumble. The campaign in the Middle East was not going well. When the conquest first began it seemed impossible that the various squabbling tribes, ethnic groups and religions would work together for any common cause. Nevertheless, five years after the Germans moved in, all those groups got together to kick the Germans out. Even the threat of the atomic bomb did not much faze them. The Germans were shaken by the fanaticism they found there. They didn't want a war with Russia as well.

The Americans had developed a nuclear weapon of their own, which they used on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to devastating effect. Japan surrendered.

So, Russia, Germany, America (and their ally China) got together to sign a truce that officially ended the Second World War and divided up the spoils.

This outcome of the war meant that a different international ethos was fostered. In our world, after the war then there were many people who believed that the world was divided up into winners and losers (the creator of Bugs Bunny, for example). In this other world, their creed was even crueller.

Vast numbers of Jews, Gypsies, Homosexuals and members of many other minority groups were exterminated. Genocide became an acceptible passtime. In Russia, anyone who spoke out against the regime was packed off to a work camp or simply murdered. Freedom of speech died. It is estimated that Stalin murdered millions of his own people yet is still remembered as a great leader. In America, the effects of this were that racism reached levels hitherto unreached. The Ku Klux Klan were really powerful and had a lot of support from millions of Americans. In the South, it was actually surprising to see a tree that didn't have a black guy hanging from it. Of course this couldn't go on.

The Black Power Movement hit back with violence. America was stricken by civil war. It was a bitter, nasty war in which everybody's worse traits came out and great savagery was recorded. Large numbers of white non-Jewish Americans fled to Germany.

One family was that of Tony Stark, who would later become one of the most brilliant minds the Nazi party owned. While the civil war raged, they came to Germany in search of a better, stable life.

As Tony Stark grew up his brilliance was quickly realised and he was taught by many equally brilliant, amoral German scientists. Stark had an aptitude for making weapons of war. Many of his creations were shipped to either side in the American conflict.

At a conference, he was met by a young woman who was the sister of a Russian scientist. She was Natasha Romanov. Stark fell in love with her and she seemed to reciprocate his feelings.

Natasha Romanov was secretly a KGB spy who had been 'educated' to seduce the great man, who Russia recognised as a threat. Her spying was invaluable, and allowed Russia to get several years ahead of the arms race. However, the Nazi party knew that somebody was leaking information somehow, and believed that Stark was a traitor. This view was given credence when Stark had a mid-life crisis of sorts and began to empathise with his 'test subjects' (mainly Jews, low-grade mutants, blacks and Arabs). Stark saw himself as a monster and the Nazi party as an abomination. He tried to redeem himself by destroying the weapons he had made and by freeing as many of the test subjects as he could.

Of course the Nazis could not permit that, so they had him tortured and then shot. End of story. Or so it should have been.

Natasha Stark, the Russian spy, stole one of Stark's prototype battlesuits. She was never sure why. She had been given therapy to prevent any interest in men; acting lessons so that she could feign desire for them and make all the right noises at the right times.

She hadn't expected to fall in love.

Or to lose him.

She became the leader of a group of super-heroes called the Avenging Angels. They fought bravely and well against tyranny and oppression in dozens of countries. After such a long period of corrupted and evil stability, Germany was ready for a revolution. (The Avenging Angels included Quicksilver, Nightcrawler, Doctor Doom, Scarlet Witch, Ulysses Klaw, Elizabeth Braddock and many others).

However, in one battle against Russia's premier superteam the Soviet Super-soldiers (who viewed her as a traitor), then Natasha seemingly died heroically fighting against the Brothers Rasputin. However, in the ensuing explosion she was actually displaced in time...

[Manticore]

CAD for eventual alterations:


Character Name: Peter Wisdom
Height: 5’9”
Weight: 140 lbs.
Hair color: Black
Eyes: Brown
Species: Mutant

ABILITIES: (11W stones)
Int: 4
Strength: 3
Agility: 3
Speed: 3
Durability: 4

ACTIONS:
Force Blast: 6 (4W stones)
- Range: 4

"Hot Knives": 5 (15W stones)
- 2x dmg (+2 to CL)
- can be combined with Close Combat or Force Blast
(As Psi-Weapon)

Close Combat: 6 (4W stones)
(Agility Bonus or Weapon Modifier)
- Hellfire Club Training
- STRIKE Training
- Hand to hand
- Use of Hot Knives in combat
- Martial Arts
- Assassination

Ranged Combat: 5 (3W stones)
(Weapon Modifier)
- Grenades
- Handguns
- Machine guns
- Thrown objects
- Sniper Rifles

Acrobatics: 4 (2W stones)
(Agility Bonus)

Black Ops: 6 (6W stones)
- Covert Operations
- Infiltration
- Intimidation
- Counterinsurgency
- Assassination
- Spying

Leadership: 4 (2W stones)
(Note: Wisdom suffers a -1 situational modifier when it comes to delivering inspirational speeches)

Vehicle Operation: 4 (2W stones)
- Light Vehicles
- Military Aircraft
- Military Vehicles
- Fast Cars

Social Skills: 6 (4W stones)
- Seduction
- Persuasion
- Secret Agent protocol
- Military protocol
- Socialite
- British Society

MODIFIERS: (7W stones)
Mutant, human appearance
Reflexive Dodge: (+3)
Wealth: (4)
Mental Defense: +1
Energy Defense: +2

CHALLENGES:
Mutant (3 stones)
Alcoholic (1 stone)
Chain-smoker (1 stone)
Atheist (1 stone)
Haunted Past (2 stones)
Misanthropy (1 stone)
Rival (1 stone) (Black Knight)


Long before the Inferno Crisis, Peter Winston Wisdom was recruited by England's shadowy Black Ops group, STRIKE. His mutant powers had manifested long before then, and he was chosen for the section of the Intelligence services that did the dirtiest jobs. His destructive powers made him ideal for assassination and extermination. He was a member of Black Air and Excalibur and a number of other groups that have since disbanded.

During the course of his years of service he has acquired a number of bad habits, such as an addiction to alcohol and nicotine and a weakness for beautiful women. And he's seen enough friends die and enough dreams fail that he has a deeply cynical attitude towards life and his fellow human beings. He's seen aliens, demons and weird unexplained crap that would be best forgotten. And he's an atheist.

It seems like it must be pretty hard to be an atheist in a world of demons and magic. But when Pete Wisdom sees the whole glorious mess of it all he can't help but feel sceptical. He can't see anything worthy of worship or any philosophy that fully explains the human condition. And the Asgardians and the Demons remind him too much of the alien overlords he occasionally had to defend Britain from. Just because they have an interesting gimmick and powers far beyond Earth science doesn't mean they're divine. Or maybe it's just that he's got a perverse sense of humour.

Pete Wisdom is in peak human condition, despite his many bad habits. He is a superb marksman and martial artist. And of course, he has his mutant 'Hot Knives' power. He can fire concentrated thermal energy from his fingers, and he has enough control over this power to be able to fire at devastating long range or to use the 'knives' much like claws. He is a charming, ruthless gent; an excellent spy and a capable pilot.

When the Inferno Crisis began, Pete Wisdom was pressed into service once again. STRIKE suffered heavy casualties during the first few stages of the war, when they were used to assassinate demon field commanders, destroy enemy supplies and steal their battle plans. When the Hellfire Club were reformed into their new role as defenders of the realm they decided that Pete Wisdom was exactly the kind of man they needed for their Inner Circle, and they invited him to take up the role of White Knight. Thus far he has attended a number of grand society events, rooted out spies and executed prisoners.

------------------

What was I doing when all Hell broke loose?

'Well, I was (and why should I hide it?) in bed with a beautiful woman (I can't even remember her name now). That was when old Dai Llewellyn called me up and told me that something horrible was going on in NYC. None of their local heroes could handle it. Parliament were dithering. And STRIKE- had been called in by SHIELD. They needed reinforcements from a friendly nation. The fact that they were asking for help was what scared me sh*tless. I mean- this was America! Gung ho, jingoistic, freedom-loving America! I never expected America to have to ask for help fighting anything. Especially not from little old Blighty.

Before we could help them we were called upon to defend London. The Hellstorm- that's sort of the Infyrno equivalent of an air force- came down upon us like a meteor shower. It was bloody hell. Absolute chaos. Enough to make people lose their sanity right then n' there. But we persevered. Terrifying stuff. Anthony Stark was at the heart of the defence, with the old British superheroes alongside him. Tooth n' nail fighting. I saw friends of mine dying all around. So many. So many! Oh, so many demons. I could have been killed at any moment (there were so many demons there's no way I could have fended off them all)- just dumb luck, I s'pose. I was in an offensive role. Me and the others in STRIKE had to take down the big demons, the leaders and the masterminds. And we won! Yes, we won, although the cost was heavy. It was then that the job offer from the Hellfire Club came through. And I realised there was nothing left for me in STRIKE. All my friends were dead.

I said to Scratch, I said to him: 'Stay close to me, I'll keep you safe.' Of course, I lied. Poor bastard's dead, along with all the others.

[Manticore]

Name: Water Amazon
Secret Identity: Ito Shizuko (Japanese word order)

Abilities: (9w+1r)
Int: 2
Str: 2
Agi: 2/3
Spd: 2/4
Dur: 2/4

Actions: (13w+2r
Close Combat: 2
(Speed Bonus)
- Amazon fighting powers
- Use of Water in combat

Healing (Magical): 2

Social Skills: 3
- Little Miss Perfect
- Yamato Nadeshiko
- Popularity Power!

Cooking: 3
(Not Particularly Useful)

Acrobatics: 1
(Agility Bonus)

Mastery of Water: 4
- Force Blast
- Create/Manipulate
- Transform into Element
- Immunity to effects of Water

Flight: 3
- Ride on a column of water

Modifiers: (3w)
Transform Self (Into her Water Amazon Form)
Reflexive Dodge (+2)

Background:
Nobody knows Shizuko very well. She's not a very interesting person, really. She's nice, warm-hearted and she's quite popular at school, but honestly, she's a bit bland. All her life, she's tried to be good and kind and to follow everyones' expectations of her, but it hasn't won her happiness or success.

Also: her parents are going through an acrimonious divorce. Both of them are using her to hurt the other. It's usually best for her to stay out of the house, stay away for as long as possible. And that's why she likes being the Water Amazon. She can put her energy into problems she can solve (fighting bad guys) instead of those she can't (the divorce etc).

Challenges:
Rotten Home Life (2 stones)
Fairly Popular, But With No Real Friends (1 stone)

8 STONES SAVED (I'll bump up some of her actions after she's got some more experience.)

[Manticore]

(Partial credit goes to Dorkknight23)

Codename: Massacre Boy
Secret Identity: Ethan Carver
Species: Cyborg/Mutant

Abilities: (19w+2r)
Int: 2
Str: 6
Agi: 5
Spd: 4
Dur: 5

Actions: (20w)
Explosions (as Fireworks): 7
- 2x dmg
- Collateral Damage

Close Combat: 2
(Strength Bonus or Weapon Modifier)

Ranged Combat: 2
(Weapon Modifier)

Black Ops: 1
- He claims to have been trained as a Spy. Yeah right.

Jet System (Flight): 4

Social Skills: 2
- Moodiness
- Whining

Technology: 2
(Intelligence Bonus; Repair Technology [Functions like Medical Healing for Machinery])

Vehicle Operation: 1
- Crashing into things

PA Hip-Launching Rocket Launcher (+3)
(Armor Penetrating or Area Effect, specify when loading; Only 2 rounds per load; Phallic overtones intentional)

Modifiers: (7w+1r)
Cyborg/Mutant, mostly human appearance
(PA) Cybernetic Senses (+2)
(PA) Toughness: 3
- Nullifies Armor Penetration
- No 2x dmg from Firearms
Mental Defense: +1
(PA) Targeting (+1)

Challenges:
Haunted Past (3 stones)
Moody (1 stone)
Extremely callous (1 stone)
Various Psychological "Issues" (3 stones)
Whiny (1 stone)
Glory Hound (2 stones)
There's a warrant out for his arrest (2 stones)
If you look closely, it's clear that he's not entirely human (2 stones)
Mutant (3 stones)
Teen Angst (1 stone)
Deadly Enemies (various vaguely-defined groups who are out to get him) (1 stone)

Total: 50w (-20 challenge stones)

Background:
Massacre Boy has a really mysterious past. But it was horrible; full of darkness and misery and stuff. At one point he was turned into a cyborg. Also, his parents are dead, his sister is dead, his brother is dead, his dog is dead, his goldfish is dead. They're all dead, damn you! Damn you all to hell!

Anyway, he saw the respect and fame that all the other superheroes (like the Avengers and the Fantastic Four) were getting and decided he had to get in on that. So now Massacre Boy goes around fighting crime and saving the world by killing people, blowing sh*t up and causing massive collateral damage. His superhero name (he chose it because he thought it sounded cool) has turned out to be curiously prophetic.

He's like totally awesome and stuff! Buy all three alternate covers (also with holofoil and a free trading card) of his comic book today!

Buy them, damn it, or he'll f*cking shoot you!!!