Terrors From Beyond

Terrors from Beyond

 

 

In 1947 a spacecraft crashed in Roswell New Mexico. It was a small probe ship with a pair of condemned criminals inside was sent to Earth with the express purpose of causing an incident to give the Vrall a reason to start hostilities. The crash went according to plan and the ensuing frenzy and autopsies were successfully used as an excuse for the Vrall to launch an attack on earth to “Avenge” their fallen comrades.

 

They made a serious blunder though. The Vrall Empire was technologically stagnant and had not seen any major technological improvements in nearly 2 centuries. They assumed that the Earth being part of the galactic backwater would have similar advancement rates. It obviously didn’t. When they arrived in 1963 their battle cruisers were not sufficient to take the Earth by the overwhelming force that they were expecting.

 

After several weeks of assaults and attacks the remaining battle cruisers tried to flee back to their home world. In an effort to escape several of them detonated C-Bombs, which were warheads that split the Carbon Atom, over major population centers. 4 of the 5 were stopped by heroic sacrifice of the men and women of the Earth. The fifth decimated a lone research outpost in the Antarctic. Despite years of study it is unknown to this day what was so important or dangerous at that spot that would cause a whole battle cruiser to panic and bomb it.

 

Appearance, biology and psychology:

The Vrall are a 7’ - 8’ tall crocidilian race with dusky green scales and red eyes with vertical pupils. They are very sensitive to cold. Their skin is hardened due to excessive radiation from their planets binary suns. Which makes them incredibly resistant to their own weapons.

Each city is governed by a brood mother who is responsible for laying the eggs of her brood. More territory means more food and space for the brood and more power for the mother. Her chosen children act as generals and war leaders. She tells them her wishes and they fulfill it.

Warlike demeanor, prefer close combat and shorter ranged energy weaponry. They follow a strict hierarchy. Prone to overconfidence then blind panic once their morale is broken.

 

 

Vrall invasions/Major Incidents

1947 – Roswell. First contact/Crash

1963 – North America. Invasion 1

1975 – South America. Invasion 2

1989 – Australia. Invasion 3

1996 – North America East coast. Invasion 4. Ended before it began due to blizzard

2006 – Southern Europe. Invasion 5.

 

It is said by some that you are not a super hero unless you have punched a Vrall in the face.

They are currently at open war with the Dvyjkk Collective.

 

 

Dvyjkk Collective

 

Several centuries ago the Dvyjkk determined that their species evolution had hit its pinnacle and found the individual with the most perfect genetic makeup. They then used that genetic material to clone bodies and phased out the older less perfect forms.

All bodies are exactly identical initially. Age, accidents and life in general make changes that enable a non Dvyjkk to identify specific individuals.

The collective has a high technological base and relies heavily on low grade AI equipped androids.

Their primary goal is to expand their knowledge bank by any means necessary. If they want to see how gravitons react to a sun they will bombard it, giving little care to the fact that there is a civilization on the worlds that will be wiped out with the destruction of the sun.

 

Appearance, biology and psychology:

The Dvyjkk are the greys that have visited earth for nearly the last 100 years. They are short, with bulbous heads, large black eyes with small noses and mouths. Physically they are weak and easily overpowered.

They are lowly telepathic within their own species. Each Dvyjkk is an individual, but they can access the overall Collective at any time they with.

Aberrant individuals pop up occasionally with no connection to the mind collective. They are typically hunted down and killed. But some have been known to go rogue and escape off planet.

All other races are lesser beings according to the Dvyjkk. To be used or discarded at will. They are not after all perfect like they are. While not actively hostile. Their indifference can be deadly.

 

 

Major Incidents

10/24/1886 - First Contact with Earth, Maracaibo Venezuela

1902-1908 – First base on dark side of the moon.

1962 – Probing begins

1998 – Probing ends. Official apology issued to Alabama, Kentucky and Mississippi

 

 

They are currently at open war with the Vrall.

 

The Swords of Power

Arondight – Sir Lancelot’s sword

 

The sword looks like a functional and lethal warriors weapon with a dark pommel and cross guard. Close inspection of the latter reveals faded and worn water motifs of waves, shells and water life. The blade itself always maintains it’s bright flawless mirror like polish, a quick flick makes all paint, mud and other similar material slide off like water. The edge of the blade glows with a faint blue light when not in active use, while the whole blade itself glows a brighter blue when in active use.

Arondight is said to enhance the wielder’s natural abilities to beyond normal men. And to give a supernatural fighting ability. It is sometimes paired up with Lancelot’s shield, which grants the bearer the “unflagging endurance and the strength of three men.”

 

Current user is Crusader a member of Storm Patrol in Seattle.

 

 

Excalibur aka Caledfwlch – King Arthur’s sword

 

From the Dream of Rhonabwy –“Then they heard Cadwr Earl of Cornwall being summoned, and saw him rise with Arthur's sword in his hand, with a design of two chimeras on the golden hilt; when the sword was unsheathed what was seen from the mouths of the two chimeras was like two flames of fire, so dreadful that it was not easy for anyone to look. At that the host settled and the commotion subsided, and the earl returned to his tent.”

It’s abilities are unknown.

Excalibur has only been used by one man. That is King Arthur himself. It waits for him to be reborn to reclaim it.

 

 

Shén zhī jiàn aka the Sword of God – Atilla the Hun’s Scimitar

 

The Roman historian Jordanes, quoting the work of the historian Priscus, gave the story of its origin:

"When a certain shepherd beheld one heifer of his flock limping and could find no cause for this wound, he anxiously followed the trail of blood and at length came to a sword it had unwittingly trampled while nibbling the grass. He dug it up and took it straight to Attila. He rejoiced at this gift and, being ambitious, thought he had been appointed ruler of the whole world, and that through the Sword of Mars supremacy in all wars was assured to him.”

The Sword of God is very deadly scimitar that has a bronze pommel and elaborate abstract etchings along its blade. When it is used it always seems to catch the sun’s light and flash and sparkle.

The user is said to gain great charisma, stamina, the power to turn invisible and the ability to summon a flying spectral steed, sometimes known as the King of Ghost Horses.

 

It is being used by a man also called The Sword of God in the northern region of China.

 

 

Heaven’s Gift – The arming blade of Joan of Arc

 

Heaven’s Gift is the most unassuming and plain of all the Swords of Power. It looks like a simple knights arming blade made out of a dull redish metal with a black crude forged pommel and grip that are a single piece. The grip is wrapped in a stained white cloth.

Fire is the source of this weapon’s power. An interesting quirk of the sword is that it can only be used by a woman. A man trying to use it will get burned. When activated the user is given wings of fire and is surrounded by a corona of fire and flame that does not harm her but will hurt her foes. The sword has an ability called the Dragon’s Breath, which produces a cone of flame at the users demand. Unlike most of the other weapons it does not enhance the users natural abilities in any way.

 

The current user is unknown.

 

Taming Sari – The Kris blade of Hang Tuah

 

The Taming Sari kris, which was named after its original owner an invincible Javanese warrior also named Taming Sari, has a unique construction. It is constructed out of twenty-one different types of metal forged into a unique dark iron colored alloy. It has a solid polished wood handle of dark stained wood. The wavy triangle shaped blade seems to shimmer internally.

 This magic blade has more properties than the other blades, making it one of the most powerful.  It empowers its owner with invincibility, grants him the ability to turn ethereal at will and move with great speed. It was said that Taming Sari could do the bearer’s fighting for him - if the bearer was menaced or in any danger, the kris would leap out of its sheath, fly through the air and attack the assailant.

 

Its current whereabouts are unknown

 

Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi ("Grass Cutting Sword) – the Blade of Yamato Takeru

 

A fine simple looking Katana made of a white metal and a red wrapped hilt, the Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi is one of the finest swords ever created by Japanese sword masters. It is always accompanied by a fine black lacquered wooden sheathe. It’s simple appearance belies its strength and power.

The Kusanagi-no-Tsurugi gives its wielder the ability to control the wind itself. It has the need to make its new master prove him or herself before unleashing its true abilities. When the blade is mastered it enables to user to fly and summon whirlwinds at will in addition to the wind powers.

 

Its current whereabouts are unknown

 

Hungering Tooth – The Macuahuitl of Tlacaelel

 

A primitive vicious looking weapon made of sharp obsidian points imbedded in a blood stained wooden blade the shape of a cricket bat. It is worn and damaged looking but has a resilience that prevents it from breaking. It has a handle wrapped in dried shark skin. Of the eight Swords of Power it is debatable if it or the Crocea Mors is the elder.

Rage. Power. Strength. The three words that describe this weapon. Its user gains a great strength and resistance and becomes capable of berserk blind rages. The blade hungers for blood and drives its users to destroy the weak and those it considers beneath it. And in its centuries of use has been quenched with the blood of an innumerable horde. The Hungering Tooth is said to actually be possessed by a malign intelligence.

 

Its current user is Blood Wrath who haunts the larger cities of the eastern coast of the United States.

 

 

Crocea Mors – The Gladius of Julius Caesar

The Crocea Mors, which is Latin for Yellow Death, is a shiny steel gladius forged by Rome’s finest metal workers during the height of Caesar’s reign. It has a soft white suede handle that is lightly wrapped in a thin bronze cabling. The rounded pommel and the hilt are decorated with the imperial eagle, tooled in the golden iron. It is a fighting general’s weapon. Both ceremonial and functional.

The bearer of this weapon gains great personal magnetism and charisma, limited precognition and supreme mastery of battle in all its forms. Be it the court or the skirmish lines. It is also said that everyone cut by the blade would weaken and die, their strength wasted away.

 

Its current owner is unknown.

 

Powers Classification System

Here is my Powers Classification System.

(That’s right, all caps)

 

How it is set up is using Source and Effects.

Source is how you gain or have the power. Effects is the use broken down into finer sub classifications.

To use example of two heroes we have seen:

Betony is a H:MyChV

Her power source is Hereditary, thus the H

The effects of her power are a description of her magic. Mystical (My), because it is magic oriented, Channeled (Ch), because she has to preform rituals to focus and cast it, and Variable (V), because it has many different uses.

 

While Roland is a E:PsiBM

His power comes from an Experiment (E)

His power effects are Psionic (Psi), because well he has psychic powers, Biological (B), because they originate within his own body not an outside source, and Mental (M), because of heightened mental facilities that the experiment has given him.

As you can see I am trying to be semi vague but give the system room to flex for the core rating. Afterward I can break down individual specifications with ratings from 1 to 10. 0 being baseline human. Anything higher than that is considered an extraordinary ability. The individual specifications for the heroes or villains I take care of as I create them.

 

This is what I have so far.

Source		Effects
Accident	A	Biological	B
Bestowed	B	Channeled	Ch
Experiment	E	Cosmic	C
Hereditary	H	Creative	Cr
Mutation	M	Elemental	El
Object	O	Energy	E
Unknown	U	Enhancement	En
Curse	C	Fortune	F
Constructed	Con	Intuitive	I
Training	T	Mental	M
		Mystical	My
		Paranormal	Pa
		Physical	Ph
		Psionic	Psi
		Scientific	Sci
		Supernatural	S
		Technical	Tec
		Variable	V
		Spatial	Sp

 

 

In the previous incarnation of this blog we had a good conversation about the powers and how they were combined and identified.

I have cleaned it up and posted it down below here for greater clarification. (Special thanks to Oliver and Oiliver. Yep 2 of them.)If you have ideas or questions of your own please post them in the comments.

 

 

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Questions and Answers

 

If Experiment covers the results of mad science, I assume Bestowed is for powers gifted by other entities (gods or spirits or whatever)?

Correct to both.

And Accident would be... the guy who gets hit by lightning and gets superpowers for no particular reasons? What about the guy who trips in a vat of radioactive goo/applied phlebotinum and starts throwing cosmic energy around, is he Accident or Experiment?

Both of these would be accidents. Unless he was experimenting on himself. And due to his procedures it happened. Then that would be classified as an Experiment.

What's the difference between Paranormal, Supernatural and Mystical?

Paranormal are Vampires, Werewolves and other Mythical creatures.

Supernatural is power or ability granted by a higher being that keeps on passing on from 1 generation to the next. (From here to eternity you and your descendants will have the ability to speak to frogs.)

 Mystical is magic use or magic based abilities.

 

What is Bestowed?

Bestowed is sort of a 1 off/first generation gift from a higher being. (I am choosing you to be the avatar of Laundry and Freedom) That ability stops with you and can be taken away at any time by that higher being.

 

What's Intuitive?

The person who picks up a TV remote and knows exactly every function of it and how it works. And who knows how to make it shoot laser beams with minimal modification. A gadetieer who makes things that science says cannot work is highly Intuitive.

 

Is Intuitive limited to the mad science? What about ESP? Precognition, clairvoyance... just knowing stuff.

 

Intuitive would go with them perfectly as well as something like knowing a martial art due to watching it in action in a movie. Or being a locater. (I don't know how, but I know the secret Vault is over there.)

 

Is Enhancement about people whose power lets them get a boost from normal, or is that covered by the number stuff?

Enhancement is an all-around boost to someone’s physical and mental abilities. They become essentially a better version of themselves. It covers a lot of small upgrades. Not any of which separately are enough for their own classification. You might heal a bit faster, or be a bit stronger or faster.

Energy is, what, shooting stuff? How about a force-field, is that Energy? Cause if I get two guys with the same A:E rating but one of them can only defend himself and the other can melt my face, that's a pretty significant difference. Or is it Creative? Is Creative about creating material stuff or would it include a psychic construct or whatever (something solid made out of "energy", to use the comic book term, instead of matter)?

 

Energy is eyebeams, beams shooting out of your hand, or armor constructed out of energy itself. A force field if coming out of a person is energy. A force field if coming out of your battle armor or O:E (Object: Energy) I am using it as sort of a catchall that gets explained in the details.

Both the guys in your example would have A:E, But Guy 1 would have Defense 4 added, while guy 2 would have something like Offensive 4, maybe Beam 4 or Caustic 4 because of the face melting part.

Creative is making your suit of battle armor, or a chemical that will make you grow 10 feet tall and purple and go smashy smash. Creative would also cover energy constructs. Made from your space... belt, an energy constructive space belt user would have O:CrEC, or something very close to that depending on his origin story

 

What about someone who's limited to manipulating existing stuff instead of creating his own? Someone who creates a flame out of nowhere is rated E, but what about Pyro from the X-Men?

 

Good one with Pyro. Maybe something like M:ElVCr? While he doesn't create it he can make it do whatever he wants. He would have something like Fire 1 Control 4 as sub classifications.

 

 

What's the difference between Scientific and Technical?

 

Scientific is using math to figure out that there is a parallel dimension full of brain eating vampires. (Reed Richards) Or what a detective would use to track a brain eating vampire serial killer. (Batman)

Technical is building a machine to travel there and let the brain eating vampires out and the suit of battle armor to fight them. (Tony Stark)

 

 

Correct me if I'm wrong: Biological means your powers come from your body and Physical means your powers affect your body?

 

Biological more meant it was a part of you/generated from you without any outside help.
Physical was more super strength, invulnerability, regeneration, super speed and powers along those lines. Your powers effected by your body.

 

How about draining? Draining ambient heat, draining electricity, draining your enemy's life force... It might be used to recharge your powers or simply be its own end.

 

Draining would be a form of Energy with the sub classification of draining or leech

 

 

 

 

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What's up next

It has been a few months of posts here, all the way from back in August!

Wow!

So it is time for a little break from our friends in Storm Patrol.


But before I do that it is time for some team bios and little bit of world building.

For the next 5 or so days I will post a different member of the newly named Storm Patrol so you can see a little of how they got to where they are, their power set and a few other interesting facts.

Then next Tuesday I will post the Powers and Abilities chart and on Thursday you will learn all about The Swords of Power.

And the week following that I will introduce you to a new team also based in Seattle. The Emerald City Defenders. (If you click on their tab on top of the page you can find their logo, if you haven't already.)

With out saying much I think their introductory story is probably one of the best stories I have written.

And that will take us right into November. So stick around I am pretty sure that you will enjoy it.

It all starts again.

The B and C list heroes. The other guys. The ones not quite good enough for their own endorsement deal. The ones that people go “Who?” when they hear their chosen code name.

 

You know them. The guy who can just run pretty fast. The girl who can talk to fish, but not breathe underwater. The stretchy guy, you will always run into a stretchy guy somewhere.

 

The people and teams that patrol the mean streets of Century City, Bozeman, Cleveland, or El Paso.

These stories are about them.

 

Well maybe not those guys exactly, but someone pretty close.

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Hello readers… All 2 of you. At least I think there are 2 of you left who check here occasionally…

 

After way too long of a time away I am picking this back up again. Life slowed back down and got closer to sane levels, and my imagination has being clamoring for an outlet for again. I have been rewriting, fleshing out and editing all of the old stuff on here to get my brain back into the swing of things. It feels like it is working.

 

So starting for the next few months I will be posting up chunks of the stories every Tuesday. It will be larger chunks than before, so they will get up faster. The larger chunks will probably continue up to January then posts of probably around 1/3rd of the size you will see will start appearing with all new material.

 

Also, I will be pulling the old unedited first drafts of everything before the new stuff goes up. That way everyone who is a new reader isn’t confused by the old clutter. I am archiving the good ones with the helpful comments though. Too much good info to get rid of.

 

So kick back and relax.

Tuesday everything starts all over again. Better than before.