Howler's Heroes

[White Howler]

Lion Heart's Background:
Mason Hudson hated his father with a passion. His dad had never spent much time with him, choosing instead to stay out all hours of the night without any explanation. When his parents divorced, Mason’s mother began drinking heavily. She eventually died of alcohol poisoning and Mason blamed his father, calling him a murderer. Mason left home at the age of seventeen and took a job as a waiter in a restaurant, hoping to never see his father again.

One night, Mason was awakened by the sound of shattering glass. He rushed to his front room where he saw the crumpled form of his father laying beneath the broken window. His dad was dressed in a tattered costume of brown and black, and Mason suddenly realized why his father had never been home at night. Mason’s father was actually the Puma, a costumed crusader. The dying man grasped Mason’s arm and pulled him close. Mason began to feel a surge of energy flow throughout his body. His muscles swelled and tore his shirt. And far off he heard the faint sounds of approaching sirens.

“Take the power, son. Continue the fight. I…love…you..” his father whispered as the life flowed out of his body. Hearing the sirens get closer, Mason quickly removed his father’s costume in hopes of preserving his secret identity. He threw the costume in a wastebasket, fumbled for some matches, and began to burn it. Mason wasn’t really sure what he was doing it was all happening so fast. But he figured that his father had either done something dreadfully wrong, or that he had been killed in a battle with some super villain.

The front door burst open and a young rookie raised his gun. “Stop where you are!” he shouted, but something inside of Mason told him to run. He rushed out through the back and down the fire escape, pushing aside garbage bins and fleeing through the dark maze of alleys at incredible speed. When he finally stopped several miles away, he began to weep. What was happening to him?

The next day, Mason’s pictures were plastered all over the newspapers he was apparently wanted for the murder of his father. Mason’s public hatred for the man served as the perfect motive, and his own reaction upon the arrival of the police made him a prime suspect. He decided to go to the only person that he thought would understand a costumed crime fighter called Raven (Duncan Summers). After hearing Mason’s story Raven was convinced that he was innocent.

Unfortunately, though Raven was confident of Mason’s innocence, no other evidence was discovered, and Raven realized that his own techniques would never hold up in court. Thus, Raven decided to help Mason create a new identity that would allow him to continue his father’s fight against crime, he became Lion Heart.

[White Howler]

Cool background for Orion, nice gaming potential and multitude of plot hooks there.

Thank ya Tonpa. I like how it came out also. He's a walkin' plot hook.

[White Howler]

"While your computer's crashin', mine's multitaskin'
It does all my work without me even askin'
Got a flat-screen monitor forty inches wide
I believe that yours says "Etch-A-Sketch" on the side
In a 32-bit world, you're a 2-bit user
You've got your own newsgroup, "alt.total-loser" ~Weird Al Yankovic.

Edwin Ferguson / Pentium

PL: 8 (120pp)

Abilities: STR: 10 (+0) DEX: 10 (+0) CON: -- (+0) INT: 26 (+8) WIS: 14 (+2) CHA: 10 (+0)

Skills: Computers 12 (+20), Craft [Mechanical] 8 (+16), Craft [Electrical] 8 (+16), Disable Devices 8 (+16), Gather Information 8 (+8), Knowledge [Technology] 12 (+20), Search 8 (+16)

Feats: Eidetic Memory, Equipment, Inventor, Master Plan, Speed of Thought

Powers: Comprehend 5 (Code, Languages [Speak and Understand all Languages at Once], Electronics, 10pp), Data Link 10 (Power Feats: Cyberspace; Alternate Powers: Machine Control, Deflect Weapons, Transmit; 14pp), Immunity 30 (Fortitude Effects; 30pp), Morph 2 (Cyber Heroes; Flaw: Only when in Cyberspace; Power Feat: Metamorph; 2pp), Quickness 12 (Flaw: Mental Quickness [-1]; 6pp)

Combat: Attack +4 [Unarmed +0] Defense 14 (12 flat-footed) Init +8

Saves: Toughness +0 (0 flat-footed) Fortitude +NA Reflex +3 Will +10

Equipment: Masterwork Notebook Computer [2ep], Multi-Tool [1ep], Cell Phone [1ep], Digital Camera [1ep]

Cost: Abilities 10 + Skills 16 (64 Ranks) + Feats 5 + Powers 62 + Combat 16 + Saves 11 – Drawbacks 0 = 120pp


"Play me online? Well, you know that I'll beat you
If I ever meet you I'll control-alt-delete you." ~Weird Al Yankovic.

Soul_Rippa02 – Cyberspace Persona
PL: 8 (120pp)
Abilities: STR: 16 (+3) DEX: 16 (+3) CON: 16 (+3) INT: 26 (+8) WIS: 14 (+2) CHA: 10 (+0)
Skills: Acrobatics 12 (+15), Computers 12 (+20), Sense Motive 8 (+10), Stealth 8 (+11)
Feats: Accurate Attack, All-Out Attack, Attack Focus [Melee] (7), Cyber Ritualist, Dodge Focus (4), Eidetic Memory, Master Plan, Power Attack, Speed of Thought, Takedown Attack
Powers: Device 4 [Viral Blade – Blast 8 (Power Feats: Accurate (3); Alternate Power: Corrosion 4 (Power Feats: Mighty, Improved Critical x2) 12pp], Device 4 [Cyber Samurai Armor – Protection 5 (Extra: Impervious), Super Speed 2 (Wall Run); 16pp], Super Senses 1 (Danger Sense [Hearing]; 1pp)
Combat: Attack +2 (+9 Melee, +8 Data Storm)[Unarmed +3, Viral Blade +7; 18-20 Crit, Data Storm +8] Defense 18 (12 flat-footed) Init +16
Saves: Toughness +8 (5 Impervious)(8 flat-footed) Fortitude +3 Reflex +6 Will +10
Cost: Abilities 38 + Skills 10 (40 Ranks) + Feats 20 + Powers 29 + Combat 12 + Saves 11 – Drawbacks 0 = 120pp

Pentium's Background:

Edwin Ferguson didn’t have a normal child hood. Then again what state of the art piece of artificial intelligence does? Janet Ferguson, former robotics researcher at ASTRO labs, and current high-tech prosthetics designer for the Grant Conglomerate, built Edwin in 1990 after her husband Kevin died in a freak car accident.

The original body for Edwin resembled a baby, though it could not pass for living. Every single year Janet upgraded the android’s programming, and transferred it’s mind into a slightly more advanced body. Over the next several years Edwin became indistinguishable from any other normal child of comparative age. One thing that Edwin never had however, was comparative intelligence. He learned to speak within a week of being brought online, and after a mere ten years Edwin had adapted his own programming to translate any code, language, or even electrical surges into easily understood information. The android boy also showed an uncanny understanding of computers, and any matter of mechanical devices. He even went as far as to make requests as to future upgrades convincing his mother to making him his own wireless network as a birthday present.

Janet was beginning to fear that she was losing her son, with his intelligence he’d be in college before he reached his twelfth birthday. But a perky pink haired girl soon approached her. This girl, who called herself Gimmick, claimed to represent a school for gifted children that was interested in recruiting Edwin to evolve his unique talents for the betterment of mankind. Janet was wary at first, but when the girl revealed herself to be a bio-android Janet realized that this school could provide Edwin the opportunity for social growth his intelligence always denied him.

Edwin has attended the Claremont Academy for the past two years where he has appeared to under achieve, acing his classes, but taking no interest in the super heroics that enthralled many of the students. Headmaster Summers was originally worried about the android boy, but after his first year Summers discovered the truth. A computer virus that had locked down a dozen downtown Freedom City ATMs was traced to Edwin. Summers was naturally angry, but he saw the young man’s potential. Since then Edwin has received personal counseling from Gimmick, both to expand his skills and teach him the importance of ethics.

In the past two years Edwin has channeled his energy in new ways. First he’s developed a huge crush on Gimmick, imagining her as the only person that could possibly understand him. Also his once malicious computer antics have taken on a new dimension. No longer does he destroy systems, instead he breaks in and makes improvements. Naturally his idea of an improvement may not always be in line with that of the systems’ owners. For example, he recently hacked onto a server of the online RPG Heroes of the Freedom League (the officially licensed Freedom League computer game!) and decided the game was too predictable. He used his skill with computers to change the core Freedom League members into their Tyranny Syndicate counterparts. While this caused massive chaos on the server, those who fought and survived remember it as the best, most intense week that anyone had every played in the game. The company was furious and administrators tried to reverse the effect before Edwin had finished his event. However computer programs set up to stop him stand little chance. Because in cyberspace the quiet Edwin Ferguson is Soul_Rippa02, an unstoppable cyber samurai whose viral blade destroys other programs and barriers as though they were paper.

Since he’s arrived at the Claremont Academy Edwin has only met one significant challenge, The Freebooter. The two met when they both approached the same system. The two fought, and in the end Freebooter’s Techno Pirate easily defeated Edwin’s Cyber Samurai. This turn of events may yet make a hero out of Edwin as he now spends a lot of free time trying to track down and thwart the Freebooter’s cyber terrorism. Though few outside the net are aware of it, the war being waged by these two master hackers may well shape the future of the internet.

[Taliesin]

Oh, this one is just cute. Can't wait to hear his history.

[White Howler]

Update to Azoth The Wanderer's Background:
Eric Windhorst, a young soldier from Liverpool, was just nineteen when stray shrapnel killed him somewhere in a muddy trench in Europe. He had been fighting with the Yanks in WWI, giving his all against the German threat. But now, he was dead. Or was he?

His eyes opened upon a dark and musty place, lit only by a flickering candlestick. The voice, which pierced the gloom, sounded ancient and foreboding. “Eric Windhorst, you have been chosen as my new apprentice. I snatched you from the clutches of death, and you will repay me with your service. To disobey me is to perish.”

Eric shuddered at this bewildering nightmare. The voice soon manifested itself as an ancient man, cloaked in scarlet and indigo. His breath was like the stale air in a forgotten tomb, his clawed touch was that of a corpse, and his voice echoed as though they did not come from a living tongue..

Eric had no idea of how long he was in that place – it seemed like centuries. The arcane creature trained Eric in the mystic arts of manipulating reality, altering fate, all with magical formulae that predated every civilization that Eric had ever heard of. The ancient sorcerer hoped that Eric would someday rule at his side. But his training was too thorough, and Eric eventually discovered the way to escape. As the Ancient One swore revenge for the efforts he had wasted on an “ ungrateful, insignificant mortal,” Eric fled back to his own world.

At first, he was disoriented. It took him several hours to realize that nearly seven decades had passed since his abduction. More over, he had also moved geographically; he was now near the bustling metropolis of Freedom City. He quickly discovered that he needed money to survive, and knew that he had to prepare for the Ancient being’s retaliation. So he decided on a desperate course of action; he magically manipulated a shipment of priceless artifacts witch he then sold and donated to various wealthy people and museums.

With his tainted winnings, Eric purchased a large estate and began to reorient himself to this new era; He enrolled at the local university and quickly earned doctoral degrees in psychology and parapsychology. As he was getting comfortable Eric received an invitation to a party in the city. He didn’t know the person who sent it, but he cautiously came.

What he discovered was no party, he’d stepped into the secret sanctum of Adrian Eldrich, Earth’s master mage. Eldrich was aware of Eric’s illegal activities (having arranged to buy the majority of the stolen artifacts). He was also intimately familiar with the magical techniques that Eric had been trained in. When Eric was most expecting to have to defend himself from Eldrich’s power the master mage made an offer. He’d been looking for an apprentice to eventually take his place defending Earth mystically, and Eric’s experiences had made him uniquely suited for the position.

Eric soon discovered that Eldrich’s method of teaching was very hands off, admitting that Eric had the talent to take the job Eldrich gave his apprentice free reign to follow his more heroic instincts. However the Master Mage would offer advice, and force the relatively young sorcerer to examine his own motives and actions. Someday Eric will be the most powerful mage on Earth, but with an immortal master it may take him a while to earn his trust.

[Psistrike]

Now Pentium is the kind of character I would love to play myself, especially in a campaign with a lot of cyberspace activity. Maybe even a cross-over with the Reboot universe. Great job and can't wait to read his history, White Howler.

[Wisp]

Pentium is awesome. I can't wait for his bio either.

[Power-Glove]

Pentium and his net.alt rock.

[Swordfire]

"It's all about the Pentiums, baby!"

I love the stack of soda cans leaning against the side of the casing. So when's his background being written up?

[White Howler]

Pentium's Background:

Edwin Ferguson didn’t have a normal child hood. Then again what state of the art piece of artificial intelligence does? Janet Ferguson, former robotics researcher at ASTRO labs, and current high-tech prosthetics designer for the Grant Conglomerate, built Edwin in 1990 after her husband Kevin died in a freak car accident.

The original body for Edwin resembled a baby, though it could not pass for living. Every single year Janet upgraded the android’s programming, and transferred it’s mind into a slightly more advanced body. Over the next several years Edwin became indistinguishable from any other normal child of comparative age. One thing that Edwin never had however, was comparative intelligence. He learned to speak within a week of being brought online, and after a mere ten years Edwin had adapted his own programming to translate any code, language, or even electrical surges into easily understood information. The android boy also showed an uncanny understanding of computers, and any matter of mechanical devices. He even went as far as to make requests as to future upgrades convincing his mother to making him his own wireless network as a birthday present.

Janet was beginning to fear that she was losing her son, with his intelligence he’d be in college before he reached his twelfth birthday. But a perky pink haired girl soon approached her. This girl, who called herself Gimmick, claimed to represent a school for gifted children that was interested in recruiting Edwin to evolve his unique talents for the betterment of mankind. Janet was wary at first, but when the girl revealed herself to be a bio-android Janet realized that this school could provide Edwin the opportunity for social growth his intelligence always denied him.

Edwin has attended the Claremont Academy for the past two years where he has appeared to under achieve, acing his classes, but taking no interest in the super heroics that enthralled many of the students. Headmaster Summers was originally worried about the android boy, but after his first year Summers discovered the truth. A computer virus that had locked down a dozen downtown Freedom City ATMs was traced to Edwin. Summers was naturally angry, but he saw the young man’s potential. Since then Edwin has received personal counseling from Gimmick, both to expand his skills and teach him the importance of ethics.

In the past two years Edwin has channeled his energy in new ways. First he’s developed a huge crush on Gimmick, imagining her as the only person that could possibly understand him. Also his once malicious computer antics have taken on a new dimension. No longer does he destroy systems, instead he breaks in and makes improvements. Naturally his idea of an improvement may not always be in line with that of the systems’ owners. For example, he recently hacked onto a server of the online RPG Heroes of the Freedom League (the officially licensed Freedom League computer game!) and decided the game was too predictable. He used his skill with computers to change the core Freedom League members into their Tyranny Syndicate counterparts. While this caused massive chaos on the server, those who fought and survived remember it as the best, most intense week that anyone had every played in the game. The company was furious and administrators tried to reverse the effect before Edwin had finished his event. However computer programs set up to stop him stand little chance. Because in cyberspace the quiet Edwin Ferguson is Soul_Rippa02, an unstoppable cyber samurai whose viral blade destroys other programs and barriers as though they were paper.

Since he’s arrived at the Claremont Academy Edwin has only met one significant challenge, The Freebooter. The two met when they both approached the same system. The two fought, and in the end Freebooter’s Techno Pirate easily defeated Edwin’s Cyber Samurai. This turn of events may yet make a hero out of Edwin as he now spends a lot of free time trying to track down and thwart the Freebooter’s cyber terrorism. Though few outside the net are aware of it, the war being waged by these two master hackers may well shape the future of the internet.

[Psistrike]

Now that character background makes Pentium a whole lot more interesting. I definately would love to play him in a Freedom City setting now.

[Power-Glove]

The coolness never ended for Pentium. Great job, Howler!

[White Howler]

Thank ya Psistrike & Power-Glove. I'm glad ya like Pentium!

[Jedi Morningfire]

Neat background for Pentium, and a nod to Meta-4 w/ Gimmick to boot. I liked the twist that the only reason he's even started becoming a hero is becuase he want's to avenge his hacker's pride.

Cool background for Lion Heart as well.

[Taliesin]

Pentium's quote is pretty cool, too. What, does he rap on the side?