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The Return of Dr. Poe!
bulgarex
Posts: 2,310 Arc User
In case some people haven't picked up on the cause for the hostility between PSI and Kevin Poe, leader of the New Purple Gang: Kevin's father, Dr. Sebastian Poe, founded PSI in 1986, after discovering what he calls the "Psi Serum," capable of stimulating even the slightest genetic potential for psionic powers in a human being. He used it to create supervillains for PSI, which made it a major player in the criminal underworld. Dr. Poe was later betrayed to law enforcement by his second wife, Madeline (now the PSI supervillain Medusa), and her lover Psimon, who took over the organization. Kevin wants revenge against Psimon and Medusa, and to take over PSI as his birthright.
According to the write-up for PSI in Champions Villains Vol. 2, p. 143, in 1995 Dr. Poe was sentenced to twenty years in Stronghold. He wasn't part of the 2009 breakout, so is still there; but obviously, his sentence will be finished next year.
Sebastian Poe's release, and reunion with his son, could be the impetus for a significant story arc bringing the conflict between PSI and the New Purple Gang to a head, with our PCs caught between them.
According to the write-up for PSI in Champions Villains Vol. 2, p. 143, in 1995 Dr. Poe was sentenced to twenty years in Stronghold. He wasn't part of the 2009 breakout, so is still there; but obviously, his sentence will be finished next year.
Sebastian Poe's release, and reunion with his son, could be the impetus for a significant story arc bringing the conflict between PSI and the New Purple Gang to a head, with our PCs caught between them.
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But yes I can see something great come of that. Just another mission that could have been made by a player if Foundry was available.
And playing by myself since Aug 2009
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Since Dr. Poe was imprisoned, PSI has kept the secret of the Psi Serum for their own use. But Dr. Poe invented it; Kevin's powers are the result of his father experimenting on him when he was a child. So an alliance between the two Poes would likely mean more superhuman members of the New Purple Gang.
Anytime you have telepathic/ mind-controlling villains, it opens the door to cool conspiracy story lines. OTOH war between PSI and the NPG would probably include more gritty street-level action, for people who like that style of play.
What IS it about psionics/telepathy/telekinesis that leads those with such powers more often than not to take up a life of villainy and crime, and so rarely to be the hero and use those powers for good?
Why do those with superhuman mentality so often use their powers for selfish gain and so rarely for benevolent means?
Is the power itself somehow corruptive, or is there another reason for such tendencies?
That's why in comic books usually there are more villains than heroes, with majority of heroes having their own rogue galleries.
It takes strong character to have power and do not abuse it only because you can get away with it.
As for why there are more rogue mentalists than heroes in CUverse...
I think it is because books were made with PnP campaigns in mind and mentalist heroes were a niche left to fill in by player characters.
However, considering a broader rationale from within the "reality" of super universes, I believe meed also hit the nail on the head:
Imagine having the capacity to unearth every hidden secret from other people; to force them to follow your orders like puppets; to change their memories so they don't even recall doing what you made them do, or think they did it of their own volition. That's pretty much the ultimate in "getting away with it" without fear of consequences or even disapproval. How many of us could be strong enough to resist that temptation?
OTOH lots of stories about telepaths describe them as being constantly bombarded by thoughts of people around them, including the secret, ugly things we don't normally reveal to anyone. That's likely to at least distort someone's view of humanity, if not outright drive them insane. Like having schizophrenia, except the voices are real. :eek:
That's a damn good argument. Psionic powers basically driving folks crazy because the voices don't shut up...
If you can read someone's mind, then that means there is data transfer.
That means that you have their secrets and can manipulate them. Fair enough.
But if you can send messages back? If you can make them think thoughts that aren't theirs? Then you're basically evil now.
If you can completely override their mind and control them completely? Okay, now you're a bit scary.
If you can do it to multiple people at once while still functioning in some way? Okay, send out the troops as you are the worst thing ever and you need to be shot.
Telepathy is useful on the small scale, but when you build it up, you pretty much have the potential to take over everything ever.
That is why telepaths may indeed be more common as villains. Because if CC wasn't kind of bizarre and weak in parts in CO, I would predict a 60% rise in players roleplaying as villain-style characters because mental domination is DOMINATION, and that's like the most common evil organisation acronym word right after ESPIONAGE and EVIL
(I personally would use it to be a con artist, just because it basically means easy money)
Back on the topic though, Ooh, Dr Poe would be awesome and make it so, Devs!
(isn't it kind of unfortunate that he technically comes back from jail only just before Istatha V'Han invades Earth and superpowers stop being a thing as per the backstory of the Beyond book?)
But no in all seriousness I like the idea that they might do something with this because we haven't seen much "psionics" focused content in the updates so that would be pretty cool.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
(He eventually hooked up with a group of homeless heroes, the Street People, and started trying to find a level of drunk that would let him use his powers in a controlled fashion...)
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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Glad the suggestion meets with your approval.
BTW the event that ends magic and superpowers on Earth is supposed to occur in 2020, assuming CO doesn't change that detail as they already have several other elements of the setting (and I can't see why they wouldn't if the game's still running then); and the invader in that case will be Tyrannon the Conqueror, not his rival V'han.
Again, the devs own the IP, so can change past history or future events in the original timeline in any manner that works for what they want to do. As I'm sure the publishers of the PnP game would have done without the IP sale, if they were still publishing Champions Universe source books in 2020.
The San Angelo superhero setting for HERO System, published by Gold Rush Games, presented a psionic hero called Mind-Master who became frustrated with the recidivism of villains and criminals he caught. He began, subtly at first, to mentally "reprogram" captured lawbreakers to go straight. Then he started reprogramming people with a criminal mindset not yet arrested for any crime. He became obsessed with the desire to eradicate evil thoughts from everyone. Eventually other heroes discovered what Mind-Master was doing, so he fled and adopted the identity of Mastermind, with a cadre of brainwashed followers dedicated to wiping evil from the human mind.
My super cool CC build and how to use it.
This is essentially why Menton is so terrifying to every government and security agency on Earth. He can do all of that, and more. There's no telling how much of the world he already controls behind the scenes. He once mentally manipulated the populace of the small Central American country of Guamanga to vote for him for president.
Not surprisingly, he's also world-class slime. After an American senator publicly urged greater resources be devoted to apprehending him, Menton sent the senator a recording of himself having his way with the man's wife and daughter.
The Champions Universe has a few veteran mind-controlling heroes who have never gone "dark," at least so far as has yet been mentioned.
Of course, once she crossed it, she continued merrily onward...
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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Would you accept that the inevitable outcome of telepathy is a kink for voyeurism and a significantly-higher chance of baldness?
A friend of mine headcanons that for Marvel (Jean is hairless as an egg, but uses her psy-powers to illusion those lustrous red locks)
You'd have to ask Jean that.
On a sidenote, is Medusa's fire-hair an available option? It ought to be.
Do we have actual writers for the game once more?
If we do, then there's hope for this idea.