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People who can "sell" superpowers to others?
tigerofcachtice
Posts: 551 Arc User
Hi guys,
I'm looking for people in the Champions RPG canon that can "sell" superpowers to others.
I know of 2 specific instances mentioned in CO itself: Justiciar and Lynx, both in Canada.
Cyberlord enhanced Justiciar via a bionic operation, paid for by his father.
Lynx was an anime-fan who wanted to be a catgirl, had a DNA-altering operation.
Any other cases? The key thing I'm looking for is, somebody asked for these services, there was an agreement of some sort, a trade. It doesn't have to be monetary, nor does it have to be scientific, a mystical Faustian pact is cool, too.
Just trying to learn more about the Champions lore. Thanks in advance.
I'm looking for people in the Champions RPG canon that can "sell" superpowers to others.
I know of 2 specific instances mentioned in CO itself: Justiciar and Lynx, both in Canada.
Cyberlord enhanced Justiciar via a bionic operation, paid for by his father.
Lynx was an anime-fan who wanted to be a catgirl, had a DNA-altering operation.
Any other cases? The key thing I'm looking for is, somebody asked for these services, there was an agreement of some sort, a trade. It doesn't have to be monetary, nor does it have to be scientific, a mystical Faustian pact is cool, too.
Just trying to learn more about the Champions lore. Thanks in advance.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Obviously, also ARGENT.
Warlord is more general weapon dealer, but some things were stolen from him.
Teleos can, in theory, sell genetic upgrades. Also works with villains and other less-than-nice people.
Circle of The Scarlet Moon might sell magic services, maybe magic items, to villains or shady people.
Going into deals with Teleos or Scarlet Moon is pretty much like playing with devil. They may not be entirely honest and there might be a catch somewhere.
Cyberlord did perform cybernetic enhancement for Justiciar's father, although it's not clear if he's still in that business -- his ambitions appear to have grown with his own bionic enhancements. However, the evil corporation ARGENT has performed very sophisticated bionic implantation on a contractual basis, as it did with the master villain Interface.
In Millennium City, Wayland Talos is the premier underworld techno-armorer, having supplied a number of clients with cutting-edge devices to put them in the supervillain game. The mercenary villain Brainchild also supplies criminals with gadgetry.
For selling innate superpowers to people, Teleios is at the forefront. Check the first post on this thread for more on how the Perfect Man operates. The above mentioned Lynx was turned into a "catgirl" by the Overbrain, leader of the villain team, the Brain Trust. But Overbrain seems to offer such services mostly to convert people into his followers, as he did with Lynx. Other criminal geneticists in the setting tend to use their knowledge purely in the service of their own interests.
The "Faustian pact" is definitely a feature of the Champions setting. Several villains have gained supernatural powers from various demons, although the great Mephistopheles appears to be the most aggressive deal-maker among them. The terms of a demonic contract need not be only soul-selling, although they always promote the cause of evil in some way.
More info on any of the above available upon request.
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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That's a good question, I'm interested, too. And this leads to my follow-up question.
How does one go to procure these, y'know, goods and services please? To frame this:
- how to buy from Talos, Warlord or Argent? I assume they don't have an online shop
- how to buy from Teleios? I can see wannabe heroes really wanting to to try this
- how to deal from Mephistopheles? This is the hardest, riskiest, but perhaps most powerful
Consider this scenario please: you're the GM and I'm a non-powered player character, just a civilian, desperately wanting superpowers because I'm so desperate to be a superhero, I'll deal with these characters. Assume I'm just a regular Joe, don't have a lot of money up front, don't even have any interesting genetic quirks, just willing to spend a lot of time and effort in this pursuit. How does this play out please?
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Wayland Talos sells only to villains. His wife died when the Justice Squadron attempted to end a terrorist hostage situation, and Wayland blamed the heroes' interference for her death. This evolved into a pathological hatred for all superheroes, and indirectly for the authority figures who support them. Talos got into the criminal arms game primarily to take revenge on heroes, since he's too cowardly to fight them directly.
Hmmm... interesting questions.
Wayland Talos or the Warlord are usually described as being contracted through various "underworld contacts": middlemen, business false fronts, people who can weed out the merely curious -- and the undercover law-enforcers -- from the serious clients. In the PnP CU ARGENT would also be reached this way, but in CO they're much more open and accepted (although probably just as cautious about allowing access to their criminal operations). Not the sort of channel a "regular Joe" could easily access. Nor are these operations likely to equip someone without up-front resources or a bankable reputation.
An alternative route to using ARGENT or the Warlord, is to have them kidnap your wannabe hero at random for experimentation. VIPER is known for this, too, and a number of villains, and heroes, gained their powers by escaping or stealing from one of these factions.
Normally Teleios operates as above; but the Perfect Man may take payment in "favors." The villain-turned-hero Flashover gained her powers this way, although the favors in her case aren't specified, other than being "distasteful." Teleios has also been known to grant superpowers to people on a whim, out of amusement or curiosity as to what they'll do with them, without any other remuneration. While I'm not aware of him doing this for someone aspiring to become one of those interfering superheroes, he might choose to make an exception.
I could see your PC visiting various research laboratories, looking for someone able and willing to augment him, until he stumbles across one secretly working for the Perfect Man. Just keep in mind that Teleios is able to program someone's mind without their knowledge to be incapable of harming him, or build exploitable weaknesses into someone's genetic code, should they ever turn against him.
Would-be deal-makers don't find Mephistopheles; he finds them. "Old Scratch" has the uncanny capacity to sense mortals anywhere in the world with the greed, hatred, or desperation to pact with him. He can give them almost anything they want, and always keeps to the precise letter of his contracts. As with most "deals with the Devil," that wording can be twisted to Mephistopheles' advantage. Since he's an embodiment of Evil, the Emperor of Pride won't do anything likely to result in a net gain for Good; but the outcome might occasionally surprise even him.
In the comics, superheroes rarely just buy their powers from someone. They either gain them through accidents, things they invent themselves, or dedicated training. Like the Dark Side of the Force, dealing with villains to gain power is usually faster and easier, but typically ends in grief for someone.
Intriguing. A substantial fraction of the time, the results are probably hilarious to him - but there should be at least some who discover they have powers, and decide to join the heroes. That probably amuses him too, when they show up at his lab and try to fight him, only to discover they can't direct their powers at him...
- David Brin, "Those Eyes"
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I don't think we can conclude from the extant examples that Teleios does this sort of thing frequently. His services to various villains are a business and a major source of income to him. But it has happened enough that it could form the basis for a character's origin.
The story of Flashover and her family is an outstanding example. Danielle Beaudoin was the daughter of the first Flashover, a villain who died fighting the Justice Squadron. Danielle felt it was her duty to avenge her father's death, so she used his old underworld contacts to get in touch with Teleios. After she finished her "favors" for him he gave her flame powers like her father. But Danielle wasn't really a villain at heart, and ultimately reformed and joined the Justice Squadron herself. (Flashover's PnP write-up notes that Teleios is hunting her, albeit not rigorously, intending to "mildly punish" her.)
Flashover's younger brother Phillip was disgusted by this "betrayal," and took up the cause of familial revenge himself. He also sought out Teleios, who out of amusement agreed to augment him. But Teleios chose to give him powers over wind rather than fire. Phillip Beaudoin is now the supervillain Hurricane. (Teleios built a vulnerability to cold into Hurricane, in case he ever had to subdue him.)
Teleios once had a dalliance with a young Indian woman named Jitendra Patil, who was initially ignorant of his true identity. Without her permission Teleios altered her to have powers over wind and water, as a "gift." Jitendra was furious at this violation, but attacking the Perfect Man went about as well as one might expect. She did manage to escape his laboratory, and the trauma of this experience changed her into the supervillain called Monsoon.
Another telling example is the being known as the Landsman, now a follower of the Canadian master villain Borealis. Teleios bred an eight-foot-tall man as his genetically perfect "son," then left him in the wilderness to fend for himself (after arranging the means to monitor his progress). The Perfect Man wanted to see how this "blank slate" would develop without intellectual guidance.
I have two heroes who are the victims of VIPER experimentation. Another hero.. I bascially imported a company called "The Power Brokers Inc." from the Marvel Universe. This is a shadowy organization of super-scientists who grant super powers for a price. Usually for participation in a super powered fight club for profit. After serving the agreed upon time in the fight club... the newly powered hero's debt is considered paid. Granted they have to survive the fight club.
IIRC the Power Broker's process was revealed to cause a high percentage of deaths or severe deformities in the people who undertook it. Also, Curtiss Jackson who ran the company administered an addictive drug to the augmented people under the guise of "stabilizing" their treatments, to keep them dependent on and working for Power Broker. Like I said, it's never simple when you seek help from villains.
That example reminds me of another "augmenter" in the Champions Universe, Bastion Alpha Security, detailed in the book, Cops, Crews, And Cabals. It's a well-known and successful private security company, founded by a former superhero, Anderson "Titan" Powell. The key to its success is the so-called Bastion Process, which boosts the physical abilities of its field agents. Its elite agents actually achieve low-level-superhuman stats. Besides security work BAS personnel sometimes act as outright mercenaries in foreign countries, although generally in support roles. The company downplays or spins this part of its operations. [SPOILERS BELOW!]
No one outside criminal circles knows that BAS also sometimes provides manpower to criminal organizations such as VIPER, or will even expose their personnel to the Bastion Process, creating "super-thugs."
Only Anderson Powell and his secret partner, Dr. Ivan Fortus, are aware that the Bastion Process dramatically shortens a recipient's life span. Depending on the degree of augmentation an agent will live from ten to only two years. All BAS recruits sign a ten-year contract, after which they supposedly become free agents. Obviously none of them live long enough to achieve that. To cover the truth Powell sends those approaching "deadline" on especially dangerous missions, or even murders them himself.
I just have a follow-up with this, for anyone. Teleios seems a perfectionist, but would he experiment on people in a way that would deform them? I can see it go either way.
Only perfect augmentations - he's the Perfect Man, he's a reputation to keep.
Flawed augmentations - it works exactly as intended...but the body burns out, which he knows
What do you think, based on what you just feel from CO, or the source materials?
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It was fun! I enjoy exploring permutations of the CU's background. :cool:
Teleios's definition of "perfection" seems to depend on what his intention is for a given creation. If the function he wants for it doesn't involve esthetics, he's indifferent to how it looks. Consider his "Chameleon Claw" hunter-assassins, a hybrid of human, cat, and octopus which is "able to pass as a man in bad light." (Evil Unleashed p. 37) Or the enormously strong humanoid monster called Obelisque which he lent to VIPER: hulking, obsidian-black skin, white fangs, glowing yellow eyes, hairless from the waste up but covered in thick black hair from the waste down. (Found in Champions Worldwide.)
I should add that there's no mention of Teleios causing serious accidental flaws. I think we can assume that at this point in his career, if he sets out to make an organism a certain way, it turns out pretty much as he intended.
The "as intended" part is what I really can wrap my head about. It's like when you find a bug with Microsoft products, they'll say it's "by design". If you find a bug with Apple products, they'll go even further and say it's "a feature".
Now I can totally see how Teleios operates. The Perfect Man, in his mind, is beyond reproach.
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One notable example is the endless parade of artificially-grown women he creates for his personal sex-slaves. When he tires of them he "recycles" them by throwing them into his tissue vats -- frequently alive and screaming.
As you should; he's pretty loathsome. He only deals with clients in a civilized fashion because that's beneficial to him.
IIRC during a past forum discussion of Teleios, one player wrote that that background suited a character she/he was creating.
But with Teleios, it would be entirely possible that he would let her go deliberately, only allowing her to think she escaped, to study her interactions with normal people and/or superheroes. It's also been revealed that Teleios sometimes engineers a telepathic link to his computers into one of his creations that he releases into the world, so he can follow its experiences without its knowledge. The aforementioned Landsman is thus now the perfect unwitting spy for Teleios in the camp of his Canadian rival, Borealis.
With the caveat that Dr. D almost always delivers what he promises, for either option. And most of the world knows it.
Of course, Dr Destroyer is not a suitable replacement for UPS for a courier job. Asking him to do so will lead to you yelling OOPS as he makes you suffer an accident.
Annoying Dr. Destroyer is usually deadly. Actually angering him is worse.