Lost Characters from GURPS I.S.T.

Supers you never knew

The original manuscript of GURPS I.S.T. had several more sample characters than finally appeared in the book. One, Poprock, made it into GURPS Supers, Second Edition as one of the sample characters, but the rest ended up on the cutting room floor. Below are most of those "missing" characters.

Some of these were cut from IST simply because of space limitations, and some were cut because they were just bad -- poor design or silly concept. I'll let you figure out which are which. Just be grateful that I was ashamed enough at least to leave out the Flower Girl and Crossfire, neither of whom made it past the first draft...

One final note -- all these characters were originally written under Supers, First Edition rules -- which itself was part of GURPS Third Edition, Revised. For the convenience of anyone who wants to use them, I've done a quick and dirty conversion over to Second Edition -- but I haven't made an effort to keep the point totals the same. Other than that, no editing or rewriting has been done; you'll be getting my sometimes excessively verbose prose without benefit of SJ Games' judicious cutting... so caveat emptor.

Table of Contents

Heroes

Earth Surfer

Real name: William "Billy" Carruthers
Assignment: IST Tokyo

Human male, age 27, 5'10", 165 lbs., blond hair, blue eyes, heavily tanned skin

ST 12 (20 points)
DX 15 (60 points)
IQ 11 (10 points)
HT 10 (0 points)

Speed: 6.25
Move: 6 (manmade surface), 8 (natural surface), 10 earth-surfing.

Damage:
Thrust 1d-1 (manmade surface), 2d+1 (natural surface)
Swing 1d+2 (manmade surface), 4d+2 (natural surface)
Stone Missile 5d
Wave of Earth 5d

Advantages:

IST Member Rank 4 (85 points)
Status 1 (Default from Rank)

Disadvantages:

Easily Distracted (-20 points)
Hard of Hearing (-10 points)
Hedonist (-20 points)
Overconfidence (-10 points)
Pacifism: Cannot Harm Innocents (-10 points)
Secret: Identity (-10 points)
Weak Will -2 (-16 points)

Super Advantages:

DR 10 (30 points)
Fast Regeneration (Only when on a natural surface -30%; 35 points)
Earth Surfing (Matter Surfing, Only with surfboard -30%; 21 points)
HT +10 (Only when on a natural surface -30%; 123 points)
ST +12 (Only when on a natural surface -30%; 86 points)

Powers and Super-Skills:

Bind-15 (10) (Victim must touch ground -20%, Victim is not pinned -40%; special effect: victim is engulfed by earth to waist; 26 points)
Wave of Earth-15 (5) (38 points)
Mold Earth-11 (10) (48 points)
Mold Stone-11 (10) (48 points)
Stone Missile-16 (5) (42 points)

Non-Super Equipment:

Surfboard

Skills:

Area Knowledge (Australia)-11 (1 point); Area Knowledge (Japan)-11 (1 point); Area Knowledge (Tokyo)-11 (1 point); Brawling-15 (1 point); Carousing-HT (2 points); Computer Operations/TL8-11 (1 point); Cooking (Hobby)-12 (1 point); English-11 (0, native tongue); Fast-Talk-11 (2 points); History (Int'l., U.N.)-10 (2 points); Japanese-11 (2 points); Karate-15 (4 points); Leatherwork (Hobby)-12 (1 point); Professional Skill (Architecture)-13 (6 points); Strategy-10 (2 points); Surfing-17 (8 points); Swimming-17 (4 points); Tactics-10 (2 points); Throwing-13 (1 point).

Quirks:

Olivia Newton-John fan.
Wears "Crocodile Dundee" hat when off-duty.
Always looking for the "perfect wave."
Always goes barefoot, if he can get away with it.
Keeps a "lucky coin" on him all the time.

Story

Billy Carruthers was born and grew up in Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia. A surfer by hobby, and a good one, he spent much of his time on the beaches near his home town. Despite his devotion to the waves, he was a good student, and eventually made it into college, where he chose architecture as a major.

He was surfing on an abandoned beach one day in 1987, trying to forget himself in the waves, when he came across an odd rock. It had a distinctly meteoric look to it, and when he wasn't looking at it directly, it almost seemed to glow. Sitting on the sand in the shadow of a large outcropping of stone, Billy casually examined the rock, then dropped it at his side and lay down to sleep.

As he slept, he had a strange dream: rock and stone bent themselves to his will, and the earth nourished and strengthened him. When he awoke, he was still half in his dream, and stretched out his hand. The outcropping behind him shuddered, then flowed liquidly to meet his fingertips. Shaken, Billy stumbled away from the spot, his surfboard under his arm. Plopping down onto the beach near the waterline, he sat and stared at the altered rock until he could take no more of it. Plunging into the water, he tried to lose himself in surfing. But a wave of earth grew from the bottom of the sea and lifted him up above the water's surface.

Billy found that he could control the earthwave, and had it set him gently on the beach. He packed his surfboard into his car and drove to Canberra and the IST embassy there.

Explaining his situation, Billy received aid and analysis from the embassy. An abbreviated examination of his body and his genes showed that he'd been somehow altered. He wasn't quite living rock, but he wasn't quite flesh, either. A search of the beach failed to turn up the odd meteor which Billy had found, and in the absence of any other ideas, the embassy medic theorized that perhaps the meteor had somehow become incorporated into his body.

The team leader of IST Canberra suggested that Billy stay with them to learn more about what he'd become. Lacking any other direction in his life, Billy agreed; as he discovered the full range of his metahuman talents he became more and more interested in actually joining the IST. Finally, he formally applied; when his basic training was completed in 1988, he was assigned to IST Tokyo.

Billy is an easygoing sort of fellow, with a laconic way of speaking and a weakness for enjoying himself. He has been reprimanded several times over the past two years for lack of attention while on duty; he prefers playing games on the embassy mainframe to serious effort. He has trouble concentrating on anything he considers boring. Off duty he is an ebullient and open friend, given to treating his companions to a night on the town. Although now a full-time IST super, he still pursues his architecture, with the hope that his powers will let him create the buildings of which he's always dreamed.

When Witchwind plans a combat, Earth Surfer's role is varied. His ability to mold earth and stone lends itself well to defensive efforts, but she does not ignore his offensive capability. He is very fond of sending waves of earth crashing down upon the foe, and she encourages this, in its place. Earth Surfer doesn't think much of his Stone Missile power, and rarely uses it in combat.

Typical Dialogue: "Did the earth move for you? It does for me." "G'day, dude!"

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Catseye

Real name: Bonita Patricks
Assignment: IST Tokyo

Human female, age 35, 4'11", 90 lbs., brown curly hair cut short, hazel eyes

ST 10 (0 points)
DX 16 (80 points)
IQ 16 (80 points)
HT 15 (60 points)

Speed: 9
Move: 11

Damage:
Thrust 1d-2/2d-1
Swing 1d/3d+2
(Second damage figure is with Power Blow; +4 to both these when using Karate)

Advantages:

Appearance: Attractive (5 points)
Ambidextrous (10 points)
Combat Reflexes (15 points)
High Pain Threshold (10 points)
IST Member Rank 5 (90 points)
Status 1 (Default from Rank)
Strong Will +5 (20 points)

Disadvantages:

Berserk (-15 points)
Code of Honor: Hone your skills; Use your skills; Serve only those worthy of service; Never fight unless you're sure you're right; Avoid unnecessary combat; Do not be the aggressor; Protect innocents. (-15 points)
Enemy: Nimba Cult 9- (-30 points)
OPH: Smokes smelly cigarillos. (-10 points)
OPH: Swears like a longshoreman. (-10 points)
Pacifism: Cannot Harm Innocents. (-10 points)
Vow: Avenge her sensei's murder. (-10 points)

Super Advantages:

Trained By A Master (40 points)
Invulnerable to Missiles and Bullets (Must make a DX roll -40%; Requires armored gloves -20%; 60 points)

Powers and Super-Skills:

Martial Arts skills:

Super Equipment:

Tiger eye medallion:

Non-super Equipment:

Armored gloves (Steel gauntlets) +2 to hand-to-hand damage, weight 1.
Katana: Dmg Swing+1 Cut, Thrust+1 Imp; Reach 2, weight 5, Fine Quality (+1 to damage); +1 to damage when wielded two-handed.
Nunchaku, 2: Dmg Swing+3 Crush; Reach 1, weight 2; 1 turn to re-ready, -2 to block, parried at -4.
Shuriken, 10: Dmg Thrust-1 Cut; SS 8, Acc 1, 1/2D ST-5, Max ST, weight <$E1/10> lb. each.

Skills:

Acrobatics-22 (1 point); Area Knowledge (Japan)-15 (1 point); Area Knowledge (Tokyo)-15 (1 point); Broadsword (Katana)-23 (1 point); Dancing-23 (1 point); Driving (Auto/Jeep)-24 (2 points); English-16 (0, native tongue); Guns (Pistols)-28 (4 points); Guns (Rifles)-26 (1 point); History (Int'l., U.N.)-15 (2 points); Intelligence Analysis-17 (6 points); Interrogation-15 (1 point); Japanese-15 (1 point); Judo-26 (8 points); Karate-26 (8 points); Knife-24 (1 point); Knife Throwing-24 (1 point); Law (Military)-14 (2 points); Leadership-15 (1 point); Nunchaku (Flail)-23 (2 points); Parachuting-24 (1 point); Philosophy-16 (4 points); Professional Skill (Military Procedure)-16 (2 points); Running-17 (16 points); Scrounging-16 (1 point); Scuba-15 (1 point); Shield-24 (1 point); Shuriken-23 (2 points); Stealth-26 (8 points); Strategy-16 (4 point); Swimming-24 (1 point); Tactics-16 (4 points); Throwing-22 (1 point). (All physical skills are based on DX 24, that granted by her medallion.)

Quirks:

Dislikes extremists of any sort.
Embarrassed by her berserk tendencies.
Has underdeveloped social skills.
Never takes off her medallion -- ever.
Looks at everything in military terms.

Story:

Bonita Patricks was a military brat, born and bred. Raised on a rapid succession of Air Force bases, it was only natural that she enter the Air Force herself as soon as she was old enough. At the time, her gender was a strike against her; her size and attractiveness, too, were disadvantages in the force. But she got through Basic Training by adopting the habits of her comrades: if they were coarse, she was coarser; if they were tough, she was tougher. It worked. Bonita was never the target of sexual harassment or discrimination. She became "one of the guys," and later in her life would regret the limitations it imposed on her social life and development.

She made her way up though the ranks, and was assigned to the Air Force's anti-terrorist division, the Tactical Neutralization Teams. In the TNT she was extensively trained in both armed and unarmed combat, strategy and tactics, and in the use of intelligence.

Despite her assignment, she spent an uneventful decade in the Air Force, finally reaching the rank of Chief Master Sergeant. In 1982, she left the force and settled in her family's ancestral home of New Orleans, Louisiana. Searching for work in the field of security proved unfruitful; no one would believe the petite Bonita was capable of all she claimed. She was forced to take a series of temporary security guard jobs.

To keep her skills up, she sought a sensei in the martial arts. Very few met her standards. Of those she thought might be capable of teaching her more, most turned her down after seeing her in action. Only one, an elderly Oriental gentleman, professed to be able to teach things she did not know already. Bonita began studying with him. Soon, engrossed by the knowledge he was imparting to her, she began studying full time, to the point of moving into his cramped quarters. Without saying a word, he approved, and began supporting her as she learned.

For a year she studied under him, learning things that she thought were possible only in bad martial arts movies. Then one evening she came home to find him dying -- murdered by the Nimba Cult (see GURPS Super Scum, p 24). With his last breaths, he warned her of the Cult and then directed her to a hidden panel in the floor, where she found a tiger eye medallion. Giving it to her, he gasped out his final words, "Don't avenge me -- flee!" Then he died in her arms.

Faithful to her sensei's instructions, she fled -- to Los Angeles. She discovered the medallion's effects almost immediately. Despite her sensei's final words, she was intent on avenging his death. After acclimating herself to the medallion's effects, and further sharpening her skills, she presented herself to the local IST embassy. Her hope was that she could gain access to the U.N. computer network, and could track the Cult down with it.

In the years she's been with the IST, she has been diligently pursuing the Cult, although she has not yet located them. However, because they've attacked her several times over the past few years, she has convinced COPPF that there is some conspiracy out there attacking martial artists. Her pursuit is now an approved project with a small budget.

Bonita has few friends, even among close teammates. Her singlemindedness about pursuing the Cult, plus her retarded social skills, leave her little opportunity or ability to relate deeply with the people around her. She is respected for her combat ability, but that is the most feeling that her teammates have for her. Those who know anything of her past are sympathetic, but attempts to get closer to Bonita slide off her emotional walls.

The conflict between her Berserk and her Pacifism is a source of great distress for Bonita. Her Pacifism is a philosophical stance from her sensei's teachings. But her Berserk is a fact of her biology. When the battle fury takes her, she is a mindless fighting machine. If she harms an innocent during a berserk, she will anguish about it for days afterward.

In combat, Catseye is Witchwind's equivalent of the derringer pistol: tiny, easily overlooked, and exquisitely deadly. Catseye's code of honor prevents her personally from being an aggressor, but once a combat has been engaged, she may enter -- to the sudden dismay of the enemy. Her berserker tendencies make her a difficult element to fully plan for, to Witchwind's despair, but when combined with her great skills, they make her virtually unstoppable.

Typical Dialogue: "Hai!" (Crunch of splintering bone.)

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Impact

Real name: José Peréz Melendez

Male human, Hispanic-Black, age 38, 6'2", 145 lbs., black hair, blue eyes, sallow skin

ST 15 (60 points)
DX 12 (20 points)
IQ 12 (20 points)
HT 14 (45 points)

Speed: 13.5
Move: 240

Damage:
Thrust 1d+1
Swing 2d+1

Advantages

Appearance: Handsome (15 points)
Patron: Gay Urban Task Force, on 9 or less (15 points)
Patron: Original members of IST New York, on 6 or less (13 points)
Strong Will +2 (8 points)

Disadvantages

Duty to GUTF (not life-threatening) (-15 points)
Social Stigma: Homosexual AIDS victim (-5 points)
Terminally Ill (One year to live): AIDS (-50 points)
Unluckiness (-10 points)
Vow: Protect those being preyed upon by gay-bashers (-10 points)
Wealth: Struggling (-10 points)

Super Advantages

DR +25 (Only while running -20%; 60 points)
Increased Speed +7 (175 points)
Super Running X 4 (80 points)

Skills

Area Knowledge (New York City)-15 (6 points); Area Knowledge (USA)-12 (1 point); Artist (Graffito)-12 (4 points); Bicycling-14 (4 points); Brawling-15 (8 points); Computer Operations/TL8-12 (1 point); Cooking-12 (1 point); Dancing-13 (2 points); English-11 (1 point); Fast-Talk-14 (6 points); Guns (Pistol)-15 (2 points); History (Int'l., U.N.)-11 (2 points); Judo-12 (4 points) Knife-12 (1 point); Professional Skill (Masonry)-14 (6 points); Running-15 (8 points); Spanish-12 (0, native tongue); Sports: Football-12 (2 points); Strategy-11 (2 points); Streetwise-11 (1 point); Tactics-11 (2 points).

Quirks

Incensed by bigotry of all kinds.
Resigned to his illness.
Leaves a battle if he starts bleeding.
Collects video tapes of Humphrey Bogart films.
Loves to explode stereotypes.

Story

José Melendez was a born a mutant. From the days when he was an infant and his incredibly fast reflexes began appearing, everyone in his neighborhood knew that he was special, that he was going to go somewhere. When he started walking, he moved so fast that his parents finally had to tie him to the radiator in their Spanish Harlem apartment to keep him from running off. Then, too, the young José also would hurt himself if he ran into things fast enough. So he learned to control his speed almost before he learned to talk.

As he grew into adolescence, the neighbors and his family kept reminding him how special he was. Sometimes it was needed: although he loved to play football and other sports, he was barred from school teams because he was a super. And sometimes he felt different, disturbingly so, as he watched other guys with their girlfriends in school and on the street.

His powers seemed to grow as he did. By the time he was sixteen, he was outracing cars on the highways that ran through Manhattan. And when he ran, he now had a glow around him which protected him from the wind -- and, as he discovered the day he tripped in a pothole, protected him from harm.

José saw little use for his power outside of having fun and playing sports. Since he was barred from professional sports because of his powers, he saw little else open to him besides going into the family masonry business. For ten years he worked as a mason for his father. Then, in 1983, a building he was working on collapsed; with his speed, he rescued six of his co-workers and came to the attention of IST New York, which recruited him. After his basic training, he was returned to New York to serve under Argurous Astraph.

His tenure at IST New York lasted five years, by which time he had reached Rank 5. José had realized he was gay before he was out of his teens, and although he was not promiscuous, he contracted AIDS in 1986. Between his accelerated metabolism and the medical facilities at IST New York, he managed to keep the disease slowed to a crawl. But eventually he resigned from the team in 1988.

For six months he was at leisure, and going stir-crazy from inactivity. In the five years with IST New York, he had become used to using his powers almost all the time. He couldn't go back to the way things were before then. He approached the Gay Urban Task Force and offered his services. Now, in his last year of life, he feels a certain sense of fulfillment in trying to make conditions better for other homosexuals against a rising tide of intolerance.

José is a quiet man with a certain sadness about him. Although gaunt and sallow from the effects of AIDS, he is still handsome. A casual person, he makes friends easily, and takes their loss badly. Although not excessively emotional, he has no compunctions about displaying his feelings.

In combat, he concentrates almost exclusively on reversed Step and Attack maneuvers and Slam attacks. He avoids opponents with cutting weapons bigger than a switchblade, even though his aura would protect him from almost any hand-held weapon.

Typical Dialogue: "Just passin' through, man!"

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Jellicle

Real name: Anestasia Yu
Assignment: IST Taipei

Female human, Eurasian, age 25, 5'7", 125 lbs., black hair, green eyes

ST 10 (0 points)
DX 16 (80 points)
IQ 14 (45 points)
HT 12 (20 points)

Speed: 7, 8 in feline forms
Move: 7, 10 in sabertooth form

Damage:
Thrust 1d-2
Swing 1d
(Sabertooth form: clawing for 2d+1 Cutting per paw, plus 2d+1 Impaling bite)

Advantages

Acute Hearing +5 (10 points)
Acute Taste and Smell +5 (10 points)
Animal Empathy (5 points)
Appearance: Attractive (5 points)
IST Member Rank 4 (85 points)
Musical Ability +4 (4 points)
Night Vision (10 points)
Status 1 (Default from Rank)

Disadvantages

Enemy: Chinese government on 9 or less (-40 points)
Fanaticism: Opposed to Communist government of China (-15 points)
OPH: Makes "cutesy" cat noises in human form. (-10 points)
Secret: Identity (-15 points)
Sense of Duty to Chinese people (-10 points)
Sense of Duty to Team (-5 points)
Stubbornness (-5 points)

Super Advantages

Claws (Feline form only -30%; 11 points)
Costume (15 points)
Discriminatory Smell (Feline form only -30%; 11 points)
Enhanced DX +4 (Feline forms only -30%; 66 points)
Enhanced ST 26 (Sabretooth form only -40%, -10% Growth bonus; 73 points)
Full Coordination/2 (Feline form only -30%; 70 points)
Growth X 1 (Useable only in feline form -30%; 7 points)
Shrinking X 2 (Useable only in feline form -30%; Can shrink only to size of a kitten -20%; 32 points)
Silence +5 (25 points)

Powers and Super-Skills

Morph-15 (1) (Does not need Morph Memory +100%; Limited to feline shapes -30%; 80 points)
Control Animal-19 (15) (Cats Only -60%; Only at Full Moon -40%; 36 points)
Sense Animal-19 (4) (Cats Only -60%; Only at Full Moon -40%; 25 points)

Skills

Animal Handling-16 (1 point); Archeology-12 (1 point); Area Knowledge (China)-14 (1 point); Area Knowledge (Hong Kong)-14 (1 point); Area Knowledge (Hong Kong/China Border)-14 (1 point); Boating-14; Brawling-15/19* (1 point); Calligraphy (Chinese Characters)-17 (4 points); Chinese (Hong Kong Patois)-13 (1 point); Chinese (Mandarin)-14 (2 points); Computer Operations/TL8-14 (1 point); Cooking-14 (1 point); Dancing-16 (2 points); Diplomacy-12 (1 point); English-14 (0, native tongue); Fencing (Hobby)-16 (1 point); Guns (Any)-14 (default); History (Int'l., U.N.)-13 (2 points); Judo-16 (4 points); Musical Instrument (Cello)-21 (10 points); Musical Instrument (Piano)-17 (2 points); Musical Instrument (Violin)-19 (6 points); Riding (Horse)-19 (1 point); Stealth-21/25# (25*/29*)# (4 points); Strategy-13 (2 points); Swimming-16/20* (1 point); Tactics-13 (2 points); Veterinary-16 (1 point). (*Useable in feline form with +4 DX bonus) (#Includes Silence bonuses.)

Quirks

Actively follows Chinese politics.
Ardently hates Chinese government.
Haunted by weird dreams about cats.
Collects T.S. Eliot memorabilia.
Interested in archeology.

Story

Anestasia Yu, a Eurasian girl growing up in Hong Kong, had a passion -- music. She played many instruments; she excelled in three: cello, piano, and violin. Anestasia's talents were great enough that she received a music scholarship to Hong Kong's most prestigious university. In college, her interests broadened a bit; as a result of an undergraduate course, she took to archeology, and often volunteered for digs.

One summer, Anestasia was taking part in an extended dig in a remote part of Red China. Spending the summer there, she saw in detail the lives of the people, and gaining their trust, learned much about life under the Communist regime. Combined with her father's horror stories about his youth in China, the tales she heard led her to a strong hatred of the Communists.

Anestasia's role in the dig, like many others', was the back-breaking, laborious clearing of layer after layer of dirt from the staked-out site. One day, she came across a sculpture of a tiger, carved from a single piece of jade the size of a milk crate. It was the prize find of the entire trip; when they returned to Hong Kong, the tiger ended up on display in the university's museum.

She felt strangely drawn to the tiger, and came to look at it often. One night, on the first day of the full moon, she visited the museum just before its closing. As she stared at the jade tiger, a shaft of moonlight fell through a skylight and illuminated the tiger, which suddenly seemed to animate and leap at her. She fainted; when she was awakened by the museum's caretaker, the tiger was still in its case -- it hadn't moved at all.

Stumbling home, Anestasia found herself followed by every cat in the neighborhood, until exasperated, she cried out, "Leave me alone!" As one, the cats vanished. That night, she had weird, feline dreams. Awakening, she felt strange, and fell upon all fours when she tried to get out of bed. Crawling to her mirror, she was dumbstruck to see the reflection of a tiger. In her panic, she somehow triggered a change; in seconds, she had changed back to normal, still in the leotard she had worn bed. Skipping her classes for the next three days, she explored her shapechanging abilities -- cautiously at first, then with greater and greater enthusiasm.

Nicknaming herself "Jellicle" from the work of T.S. Eliot, Anestasia began a part-time career dedicated to smuggling refugees out of China. After she graduated from college, she joined the IST for access to their resources, and was assigned back in Hong Kong at her request.

Jellicle's primary power is feline shapeshifting. She has a range of cat and catlike forms from kitten to sabertooth; in the latter she is a fierce fighting machine, with her strength and hit points doubled. In addition, on the two or three nights of the full moon each month, she can sense and control cats. For her own amusement, she invokes these powers by reciting from "The Song of the Jellicles" in Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. In order to best make use of her super skills, she schedules her refugee efforts for the full moon.

Anestasia is perceived as having something of a split personality by her teammates. Although a friendly young woman, it is clear that she is hiding something. Some of her teammates know about her extracurricular activities in China, so they understand her better, but she does not dare make her "hobby" known to the team at large. For one thing, her commander would not approve, and would cut off her access to the resources for which she joined the IST in the first place. For another, the Chinese government has issued a reward for the death of the "tiger-woman," and the revelation that she is a member of an IST would strain the U.N.'s already-shaky relationship with China.

Jellicle requested and was granted a transfer from IST Hong Kong shortly before ownership of the city reverted to the Chinese.

In recent months, Jellicle has had the opportunity to work with Alley Cat (GURPS SuperTemps, pp. 6-7) in New York City on a joint SuperTemps-IST project. The two became friends and keep in regular contact.

In combat, Jellicle avoids high-powered blasters and other death-dealers. Her role is usually scouting or ambush. Generally, she is assigned to handle the weaker or more easily intimidated foes. Her most common forms in combat are the sabertoothed tiger (see GURPS Bestiary, pp. 55-56) and leopard (Bestiary, p. 34).

Typical Dialogue: "Roarrrrrr!"

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Network

Real name: Chen Yen-chih
Assignment: IST Jerusalem

Male human, Chinese, 5'8", 96 lbs., black hair, black eyes

ST 8 (-15 points)
DX 10 (0 points)
IQ 15 (60 points)
HT 10 (0 points)

Speed: 5
Move: 5

Damage:
Thrust 1d-3
Swing 1d-2

Advantages

IST Member Rank 5 (90 points)
Status 1 (Default from Rank)
Reputation +1 outside China as heroic defector (5 points)

Disadvantages

Bad Sight: Nearsighted (Wears glasses) (-10 points)
Bad Temper (-10 points)
Miserliness (-10 points)
OPH: Clears his throat every minute or two (-5 points)
OPH: Picks his nose (-10)
Pacifism: Cannot Kill (-15 points)
Sense of Duty to Humanity (-15 points)
Skinny (-5)

Super Advantages

DR 5 (Affects Others +40%; Area Effect +50%; Selective Effect +50%; Area of Effect Based on Telepathy Range +40%; Only While Insubstantial -10%; 40 points)
Insubstantiality (No Encumbrance +10%; 88 points)
Invisibility (Invisible to infravision +20%; No Encumbrance +10%; Only While Insubstantial -10%; 48 points)

Powers and Super-Skills

Telepathy Power-16 (Affects Others +40%; Area Effect +50%; Selective Effect +50%; Only While Insubstantial -10%; 184 points)

Skills

Accounting-13 (1 point); Administration-15 (2 points); Arabic-14 (1 point); Area Knowledge (Beijing)-15 (1 point); Area Knowledge (Israel)-15 (1 point); Area Knowledge (Jerusalem)-16 (2 points); Bicycling-11 (2 points); Chinese (Mandarin)-15 (0, native tongue); Computer Operations/TL7-16 (2 points); Computer Operations/TL8-16 (2 points); Detect Lies-13 (1 point); Diplomacy-14 (2 points); Economics-14 (2 points); Guns (Pistol)-12 (1 point); Guns (Rifle)-12 (1 point); Guns (Submachine gun)-12 (1 point); Hebrew-14 (1 point); History (Int'l., U.N.)-14 (2 points); Judo-10 (4 points); Research-14 (1 point); Savoir-Faire-16 (2 points); Strategy-14 (2 points); Swimming-10 (1 point); Tactics-14 (2 points).

Quirks

Overachiever
Stridently ex-Communist
Conspicuous consumer
Lisps when very excited
Still horrified by Tiananmen Square massacre; has nightmares about it.

Story

Chen Yen-chih is one of the results of a 40-year program, started from the first days of the Peoples' Republic of China, to breed supers. For decades, metahumans were brought under the government's thumb and encouraged to marry and have children. The government paid for all the expenses of living for these privileged Chinese supers, and offered a bonus of a year's salary for every child after the first.

The project was kept very secret. At first it was for purely military reasons, but later, when the Chinese government enacted its "one family-one child" population control laws, the possibility of a public backlash provided extra reasons. The certainty that the U.N. would object to the project ensured its secrecy after 1982.

Yen-chih was born in 1968, in the second generation of children in the project. His parents, both teenagers at the time, were themselves supers and children of supers. The government agency in charge of the project kept pairing "obvious" dominant strains, in the hopes of getting a cosmically-powerful metahuman. Yen-chih was not it.

However, his power surprised the project leaders when it manifested. He would vanish, and then any person he chose within 70 yards of him would be included in a telepathic network. Each had access to all the rest, and to him. All were under protection of a limited mindshield, and somehow Yen-chih's mental presence provided them with a light physical protection as well. To the men running the project, he was the perfect Communist military tool: all the men, linked as one, protected by their unit. He had no choice: at age 19, he was in the Army.

It wasn't called that, of course. To get around the 1982 Ban, it was called an Honor Guard for the Forbidden City. Half of its complement were normals, but the other half were all supers. It was thus that Yen-chih was on duty through most of the student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. Ordered to pay no attention to it, Yen-chih was horrified by the bloody massacre that ended weeks of peaceful protest. Without a moment's thought he fled his post and joined the foreign supers in the Square in rescuing the leaders of the student movement.

Chen Yen-chih formally defected that night, and offered his services to the IST by way of thanking them for spiriting him out of China. He has only recently been cleared and assigned. During his debriefing, he revealed China's breeding plan to the U.N. for the first time.

Yen-chih, unfortunately for his teammates, is not an entirely likeable person. He grew up slightly warped in the project village, with a decidedly un-Communist love for money. A privileged person since his teens, he often loses his temper if things don't go his way. But these traits are balanced by his tendency towards overworking and his sense of duty.

In combat, Network's role is to link his team into a single fighting unit. The Jerusalem team sees perhaps the most combat of any IST force, and Network gives them the edge in organization that they sometimes need. Undetectible and unharmable, he is never in danger, and likes it that way.

Typical Dialogue: "Everybody -- link in!"

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Nightscream

Real name: Ursula Gaffney
Assignment: IST Ottowa

Female human, American, age 27, 5'8", 135 lbs., light brown hair, hazel eyes

ST 10 (0 points)
DX 13 (30 points)
IQ 18 (125 points)
HT 10 (0 points)

Speed: 6.75
Move: 8

Damage:
Thrust 1d-2/3d+2*
Swing 1d/6d*
Sonic Blast 10d
(*With ST device.)

Advantages

Acute Hearing +10 (10 points)
Acute Taste and Smell +5 (5 points)
Danger Sense (15 points)
IST Member Rank 5 (90 points)
Status 1 (Default from Rank)
Voice (10 points)

Disadvantages

Blindness (-50 points)
Epilepsy (Controlled with medication) (-30 points)
Secret: Identity (-10 points)
Sense of Duty to Friends and Companions (-5 points)
Truthfulness (-5 points)

Super Advantages

Parabolic Hearing X 5 (20 points)
Radar Sense, 15-hex range (Active Sonar) (65 points)
Sensitive Touch (10 points)
Silence +4 (20 points)

Powers and Super-Skills

Sonic Blast-16 (10) (Instantaneous +20%; 104 points)
Mimicry-16 (1) (22 points)

Super Equipment

Magical Anklet

Non-super Equipment:

Second Chance Hardcorps bulletproof vest with inserts (PD 2, DR 35, 25 lbs.).

Skills

Area Knowledge (Canada)-17 (1 point); Area Knowledge (Ottawa)-17 (1 point); Bard-16* (1/2 point); Climbing-12 (1 point); Computer Operations/TL8-18 (1 point); Dancing-12 (1 point); Diplomacy-17* (1/2 point); English-18 (0, native tongue); French-17 (1 point); German-16 (1/2 point); History (Int'l., U.N.)-17 (2 points); Hobby (Sculpting)-11 (1/2 point); Karate-15 (16 points); Literature-16 (1 point); Poetry-14 (default); Philosophy-15 (1/2 point); Professional Skill (Speech Therapy)-17 (1 point); Psychology-15 (1/2 point); Running-10 (4 points); Sign Language (ASL)-16 (1/2 point); Sign Language (Spelled)-16 (1/2 point); Stealth-19/23 (8 points); Strategy-17 (1 point); Swimming-13 (1 point); Tactics-17 (1 point); Teaching-17 (1 point); Tracking-13 (default); Ventriloquism-18 (4 points). (*Includes Voice bonus.)

Quirks

Doesn't know that her anklet is a magical artifact.
Loses her temper with people who patronize her.
Fiercely loyal to true friends.
Acts very silly when she relaxes with friends.
Always turns down promotions to Field Commander (Rank 6).

Story

Ursula Gaffney was born blind, but gifted with a number of enhanced senses which more than compensated for her lack of sight. Not that she could use them at first; she had to take Special Education courses in elementary school to learn how to use her sonar.

With puberty, and then high school, her sonic powers began to appear. By this time she was very tired of her "minor super" status and was desperately trying to fit in. So she hid her new powers, and learned to disregard the more intrusive of her super senses. She took up cross-country running because it was one of the few sports from which her powers did not disqualify her. In her spare time she read everything she could, and learned yoga.

When she went to college, Ursula decided to study speech therapy, because she felt herself uniquely qualified for the field. Taking courses in special studies and in teaching not only prepared her better for her intended career, but helped her understand the processes by which she was taught to use her enhanced senses. Feeling more at ease with herself, she returned to cross-country running on the college varsity level.

Fortunately, in making the transition to college she left her "neighborhood super" reputation behind. Although she did not pretend to be a "normal" blind person, she did not draw attention to her gifts. As a result, she felt more like a real person; because she felt that she finally fit in, she found that she had more time to spend on accomplishing new goals.

After graduating and acquiring her certification, Ursula took a job in a private school in Dallas as a speech therapist. In her free time, she began to explore and polish her sonic abilities, much as she exercised the rest of her body. This was lucky, for she stumbled upon an operation of IST Dallas'. Several of their number had been captured by members of the White Knights of the Double Lightning Strike, who were planning to destroy the IST Dallas building. Ursula's surprise addition to the remaining team members turned the tables on the White Knights, and their plan was smashed.

When all the legal and police parts of the matter were finished with, Oddball, the leader of IST Dallas, suggested that she consider joining the IST. Applying, she was accepted and stationed in Ottawa upon finishing her basic training. She is currently dating a young man who doesn't know that she's a member of the local IST team, and whose last gift to her, an antique anklet, is a magical artifact that has boosted her strength significantly (unbeknownst to either of them).

Ursula is a private person by nature, and slow to make friends. However, when she does give her trust, she is a staunch and steady companion. Although most of her life she has been more inconvenienced by being a super than aided, she has come to terms admirably with her powers. In the company of people with whom she is comfortable, she can relax and be giddy, a side of her seen only in the form of snatches of humor when she's in uniform.

In combat, she can be deadly, but her preferred strategy is misdirection. Between her mimicry power and her ventriloquism skill, she can sow considerable confusion among the enemy before she even considers an attack with deadly force. She also is the infiltrator among IST Ottawa; her silence and sonar allow her to sneak into virtually anywhere.

Typical Dialogue: "Hey, listen to this! <<Skreeeeeeee>>!"

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Villain

Rebound

Real name: Eduardo Caravalho

Male human, Brazilian, age 29, 5'7", 145 lbs., dark blond hair (slicked back), green eyes, thin mustache.

ST 10 (0 points)
DX 14 (45 points)
IQ 12 (20 points)
HT 13 (30 points)

Speed: 6.75
Move: 6, 177 in maximum bounce (total bounce distance 5803)

Damage:
Thrust1d-2
Swing 1d

Advantages

Ambidextrous (10 points)
Double-jointed (5 points)
Very Handsome (when not inflated) (25 points)

Disadvantages

Dependent: Sister in circus. Competent (26-50 pts.) loved one, appears 12 or less (-24 points)
Secret: Identity (-20 points)
Sense of Duty to Sister (-5 points)
Stubbornness (-5 points)
Wealth: Struggling (-10 points)

Super Advantages

Costume (15 points)
Bouncing-30 (Nuisance Effect: Body inflates to a ball, -3 on reaction, -15%; 306 points)

Skills

Acrobatics-19 (40 points); Area Knowledge (Brazil)-14 (4 points); Animal Handling-13 (6 points); Brawling-17 (8 points); Carousing-14 (4 points); Climbing-15 (4 points); Cooking-13 (2 points); Dancing-13 (1 point); Fishing-14 (4 points); Jumping-20 (32 points); Knife-13 (1/2 point); Knife Throwing-16 (4 points); Lockpicking/TL7-10 (1/2 point); Performance-10 (1/2 point); Portuguese-12 (0, native tongue); Riding (Horse)-13 (1 point); Running-12 (2 points); Sex Appeal-15 (6 points); Spanish-9 (default from Portuguese); Stealth-9 (default); Teaching-12 (2 points); Traps/TL7-10 (1/2 point).

Quirks

Never has time for the news.
Lapsed, but guilt-ridden, Catholic.
Vain and boastful around family and friends.
Always gets nervous when committing a crime.

Story

Eduardo Caravalho grew up with a traveling show in Brazil, and knew no other life than that of the circus. His was a circus family, acrobats all, and always had been, back to their gypsy roots in Portugal. When he was 25, his parents died, leaving him their meager possessions and the guardianship of his 14-year-old sister, Sofia. Herself a skilled acrobat, Sofia and Eduardo continued the tradition of the "Flying Caravalhos" with their brother-sister trapeze act.

However, as Sofia grew older, and the circus grew more run-down and rag-tag, Eduardo knew that this life was not good for her. She was growing into a lovely young woman, with as sharp and clever a mind as he had ever seen. Although she tried her best to hide it, Eduardo knew that secretly she longed to leave the circus and go to college in Brasilia -- but love of her brother and lack of money prevented her. Loving his sister no less than she loved him, Eduardo decided that, whatever it took, she would have her dream.

And so it was that whenever their circus visited a town or city, they left in their wake two or three burglaries. Never anything large or spectacular, the crimes were hardly noticed by the local authorities, let alone connected with the ragged circus which had recently graced their town. Slowly, Eduardo began to accumulate the money his sister required; deposited in a stable foreign bank, it accumulated interest and grew.

He did not enjoy being a second-story man. It made him nervous, and he knew that nervousness was deadly in any dangerous job. One night in late 1988, Eduardo's nervousness grew too strong. A misplaced twitch of the arm, and the job was bungled -- alarms went off throughout the building. Eduardo panicked, and ran to the roof. From nowhere, it seemed to him, dozens of guards and police appeared, cornering him against the edge of the roof, backing him into the corner of the building. His only escape lay across the ten-foot chasm between this building and the next. Measuring his chances with the guards against the possibility of missing the building, Eduardo hesitated for only a split-second. Then he hurled himself across the gap.

He missed.

Hurtling to the ground, he tried to recite an act of contrition, but never completed it. He struck the pavement. But at the moment of impact, Eduardo did not die, to his utter surprise. Almost as if in anticipation of the blow, his body changed. With a sound like tearing rubber, his body expanded into a sphere, with only his hands, feet, and head exposed. His outer clothing ripped away, leaving only the spandex singlet he had worn in the trapeze act that night. With a hollow, rubber-ball sound, Eduardo hit the ground and rebounded back up into the night, the bullets of the guards bouncing harmlessly off him with little "ploink" noises.

By the time he managed to arrest his wild movement, he was miles away from the scene of the crime. Managing to roll his ungainly form under a bridge that crossed a culvert, Eduardo leaned back and wondered if he would ever be normal again. Almost before he completed the thought, his rounded body collapsed upon itself with a hiss, and he was again the trim acrobat. Inflating and deflating himself over the next few minutes, Eduardo learned how to change at will. Then, realizing the hour, he hitched a ride back to the circus, hoping Sofia had not begun to worry about him.

Eduardo has continued his "night job," but now he uses his metahuman powers to take on more lucrative and thus more dangerous targets. He is careful to avoid inflating anywhere there might be security cameras, and to avoid bringing unwanted attention on the circus, he performs his robberies at wider intervals and farther from the circus' route. All the money still goes into his sister's college fund, which has grown significantly. He hopes to surprise her with it when it reaches $75,000, and expects that it will reach that total before 1991 ends. When that happens, he will retire from his criminal career.

Or will he? The question has been on his mind lately. Despite his nervousness, he has begun to enjoy his life of crime. Even more than acrobatics, the danger of crime appeals to him. He has begun to toy with the idea of going public, and challenging another super just for the experience. But so far, he has not acted upon his daydreams. Until Sofia graduates from college, he will not do anything to jeopardize her future.

In combat, Rebound will be at a loss. He has never used his power as anything other than a means of transport, and thus has no idea what it can do in a fight. He has never fought another super, and in fact pays little attention to the news, so he knows near to nothing about the abilities of local metahumans. His first superbattle will likely be a rout, with Rebound fleeing as soon as he realizes that he cannot withstand his opponent.

Typical Dialogue: "Look out below!" <<Ploing!>> "Sorry about that!"

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This page was created on October 1, 1997.
Last modified March 12, 2011.