Character Notes for "When You Strike and Overcome Him"

[ysabetwordsmith]

The original post got too long, so here are the character notes for "When You Strike and Overcome Him."


Chadron "Chad" Saint-Aime -- He has fair skin, hazel eyes, and dark blond hair cut short. His heritage is Missouri French Creole. He speaks English, German, and Missouri French Creole. He lives in Springfield, Missouri. Although his family has a strong military tradition, Chad chose to go into emergency medicine instead. He is an excellent paramedic, fast and accurate. His tactical training suits him for deployment with BASH teams, on highway pileups, in cape fights, and other high-risk incidents. Chad is cool as a cucumber, even in hot zones. However, training for fast action on top of congruent personality traits has left him particularly bad at thinking in the long term. He relies on family, friends, and coworkers to help him work through future plans. As a hobby, Chad enjoys collecting donor plaques in photos or rubbings while on vacation. He even owns a few real ones, salvaged from redevelopment projects, and has sponsored a bunch more himself.
Qualities: Master (+6) Calm in a Crisis, Expert (+4) Fast, Expert (+4) Tactical Paramedic, Good (+2) Christian, Good (+2) Collecting Images of Donor Plaques, Good (+2) Patriot
Poor (-2) Long-term Planning

Missouri French Creole is an American dialect of French, more active in Terramagne-America than here. Listen to a sample.


Stonewall (Aaron Jackson) -- Originally he was a black man with dark curly hair and brown eyes. Now he is about eight feet tall, and very bulky, three feet wide at the shoulders. His body is sandstone, primarily chocolate with swirls of caramel and red ochre. Unfortunately he has only two fingers and a thumb on each hand, which contributes to his poor dexterity. He smokes, and one of his habits is striking matches against his skin. ("Yeah, I know, I'm a shitty role model. Deal with it.")
Origin: A rock fell on him while he was exploring the southwest desert. He lay trapped beneath it for days, periodically trying different ways to get loose, without success. Slowly his body began to transform, taking on the characteristics of the nearby stone. As his size and shape changed, so did the balance of the boulder atop him, and eventually he managed to roll it off. By the time he made it back to civilization, he was a fully formed rock-man.
Uniform: Brown dexflan, similar to a weightlifting singlet.
Qualities: Master (+6) Strength, Good (+2) Campfire Tales, Good (+2) Loyalty, Good (+2) Survival Skills
Poor (-2) Dexterity
Powers: Good (+2) Invulnerability, Good (+2) Super-Armor, Good (+2) Super-Endurance
Motivation: To keep people safe.

Anxiety Girl (Adrienne Elwood) -- She has pale skin, brown eyes, and long straight black hair. Her body is slim and boyish, without much flare of breast or hip. She managed to get a degree in Criminal Psychology before her anxiety got bad enough to interfere with everyday life. She also has disaster and safety training. She volunteers with SPOON and occasionally with BASH units to imagine all the things that could go wrong when attacking supervillains or addressing other challenges. This allows other people to plan accordingly, and prevents a great many mishaps. She is determined not to let her anxiety prevent her from being a superhera. In exchange for her help, SPOON is helping her search for a compatible mindhealer.
Origin: She was studying abnormal psychology in college, which included working with prison inmates. One of them escaped, kidnapped her, and tormented her for three days before local police could follow her clues and rescue her. The experience left her with severe anxiety and superpowers.
Uniform: Blue dexflan bodysuit, the chest marked with a blue "A" on a green starburst. Over that she wears locking shorties of green dexflan, green krevel shoes, and a green capery cape. She also wears a narrow mask of green dexflan. Off duty, she varies between hiding her body or trying to look more feminine by enhancing her curves with foundation garments.
Qualities: Expert (+4) Smart, Good (+2) Criminal Psychology, Good (+2) Determination, Good (+2) Disaster Prevention & Response, Good (+2) Fast
Poor (-2) Panic Attacks
Powers: Good (+2) Extrapolation
Motivation: To overcome her anxiety enough to make a difference as a superhera.

Blue Law (Veril Edinger) -- He has azure skin, sky blue eyes, and Yale blue hair slicked back. He is short and slight, but physically fit, and quick on his feet. His low tolerance for alcohol means that it takes very little to affect him and soon makes him sick, so he doesn't drink and prefers to avoid foods made with alcohol. Veril has a master's degree in philosophy. That and his mellow personality made him a good cop. After developing superpowers, he retired from police work in favor of freelance public safety. Veril handles public relations for his team because he's good with people.
Origin: Someone bombed a First Responders training camp. He was one of the three people to develop superpowers as a result. Their shared origin and Telempathy give the Primaries a team link which helps them make plans and coordinate their powers.
Uniform: Azure dexflan speedo and shoes.
Qualities: Expert (+4) Policeman, Good (+2) Calm in a Crisis, Good (+2) Fast, Good (+2) Observant
Poor (-2) Alcohol Intolerance
Powers: Expert (+4) Moral Compass, Good (+2) Telempathy
Motivation: To keep the peace.

Red Hot (Conley Niles) -- She has crimson skin, merlot eyes, and carmine hair that stands up in a short topknot. Her body is average height and slightly pear-shaped with small breasts, a soft belly, and broad hips. Conley has a bachelor's degree in civil engineering, but later got more interested in firefighting. After developing superpowers, she went freelance on public safety efforts. Conley does most of the professional growth work for the team, finding information and exercises to help them develop and apply their superpowers.
Origin: Someone bombed a First Responders training camp. Conley was one of the three people to develop superpowers as a result. Their shared origin and Telempathy give the Primaries a team link which helps them make plans and coordinate their powers.
Uniform: Crimson dexflan bikini and shoes.
Qualities: Expert (+4) Firefighter, Good (+2) Civil Engineering, Good (+2) Stamina, Good (+2) Passionate
Poor (-2) Argumentive
Powers: Expert (+4) Temperature Control, Good (+2) Telempathy
Motivation: To put out fires and flamewars.

Yellow Jack (Jackson Collier) -- He has dandelion skin, amber eyes, and no hair at all; he's completely bald over his entire body. He has to wear prosthetic eyelashes to keep debris out of his eyes, along with talcum powder and special underwear to avoid chafing. He is tall and muscular. Jackson has a bachelor's degree in psychology. He used to work as a lifeguard, then after he developed superpowers he retired to do freelance public safety. Jackson does most of the work booking events for the team and keeping their records.
Origin: Someone bombed a First Responders training camp. He was one of the three people to develop superpowers as a result. Their shared origin and Telempathy give the Primaries a team link which helps them make plans and coordinate their powers.
Uniform: Dandelion dexflan speedo and shoes.
Qualities: Expert (+4) Lifeguard, Good (+2) Organized, Good (+2) Psychology, Good (+2) Strength
Poor (-2) No Hair at All
Powers: Expert (+4) Forcefields, Good (+2) Telempathy
Motivation: To keep people safe.

Bert Armbruster -- He has sorrel skin, brown eyes, and short nappy black hair. He is sturdy with a muscular build. Bert grew up in the St. Louis part of River City through grade school. Then he moved to Onion City, where he later trained for the BASH team. Eventually he moved to Bluehill for an opportunity to lead their handful of BASH officers. Bert excels at overwhelming difficult targets. However, he's no good at delicate tasks that require de-escalation, and prefers handing those off to someone better qualified. On vacation, he loves traveling to interesting places off the beaten path, and always comes home with great stories to tell about his adventures.
Qualities: Master (+6) Teamwork, Master (+6) Tough, Expert (+4) BASH Officer, Expert (+4) Integrity, Expert (+4) Mixed Martial Arts, Good (+2) Courage, Good (+2) Leader, Good (+2) Strategy, Good (+2) Traveler
Poor (-2) De-escalation Skills

Callen La Salle -- She has fair skin, hazel eyes, and short straight brown hair. She has tattoos on both arms, including a ring of running animals on the left and vines on the right. Callen lives in Springfield, Missouri where she leads the BASH team. She directs the BASH branch in the raid on the Umsetzung Complex. Tough and smart, she excels at her job and never hesitates to dive into danger. People admire her. However, her worldview is overwhelmingly practical; she has no head for philosophy or religion. As a hobby, Callen enjoys geocaching, mostly in Greene County but sometimes farther afield.
Qualities: Master (+6) She's Got Cannonballs, Expert (+4) BASH Officer, Expert (+4) Tough, Good (+2) Geocaching, Good (+2) Reputation, Good (+2) Tactics and Strategy
Poor (-2) Existential Intelligence

Kelsa Caldwell -- She has ruddy skin, hazel eyes, and long curly hair that was dark but is now going gray. She is tall and strong. Kelsa was raised in a Missouri biker gang and later joined the marines to serve as a military nurse. After her tour of duty, she settled in River City, Missouri where she has worked as a field nurse alongside paramedics in the ambulance service. Now she tends to lead medical teams during important missions. Fearless under fire, she can analyze a situation and formulate an effective response. She directs the support branch in the raid on the Umsetzung Complex. Kelsa is one of the best support directors in the state. However, she's not the best person to call when following an exit strategy is important. She doesn't know when to quit.
Qualities: Master (+6) Combat Medic, Master (+6) Tough, Expert (+4) Leadership, Expert (+4) Marine Corps Veteran, Good (+2) Honorable, Good (+2) Tactics and Strategy
Poor (-2) Knowing When to Quit

Deployment of nurses and doctors in ambulances varies. Local-Sweden requires a registered nurse in every ambulance. Terramagne-America considers this overkill, but does take advantage of field nurses and field doctors on hospital staff. Most hospitals have at least one of each, usually from military training, who can be deployed to major incidents as a way of boosting onsite care. However, bigger cities often have a Maximum Life Support ambulance staffed with a field doctor and two field nurses -- sometimes more -- as a step above Advanced Life Support service. Local-America uses transport nurses primarily for shifting patients between hospitals. Putting nurses in an ambulance provokes outrage from paramedics.


Maddox Adams -- He has ruddy skin, brown eyes, and brown hair buzzed almost down to the scalp. He is divorced with three kids, all under the age of 10. His wife got custody because she claimed that he never spent enough time with them because of his job, which was not entirely untrue, but definitely unkind to him and the kids. Maddox lives in River City, Missouri where he works for the fire department. Strong and tough, he can handle a hose with the best of them, but has enough experience to spend more time in leadership roles now. He often gets assigned to manage big, messy scenes such as interstate pileups or industrial fires. He serves as the incident commander during the raid on the Umsetzung Complex. His Army experience helps him keep a cool head in a crisis. Maddox enjoys the wilderness and campfire cooking. He also likes team sports.
Qualities: Master (+6) Firefighter, Master (+6) Leadership, Expert (+4) Strength, Expert (+4) Tough, Good (+2) Army Veteran, Good (+2) Citizen, Good (+2) Campfire Cooking, Good (+2) Naturalistic Intelligence
Poor (-2) Misses His Kids

Carl Bernhardt -- He has fair skin, beady black eyes, and short black hair that is going gray and receding at the hairline. His ancestors moved from Germany to Argentina during World War II, carrying on less-than-ethical scientific research. When people objected to that, his parents moved from Argentina to America to escape the heat. In high school, Carl studied Spanish and went to Argentina with his classmates, wanting to visit some of his relatives there. Upon discovering that some of them were still in the family business of shadowy experiments, he decided to stay and get involved himself. His personal interest developed into studying superpowers, connecting with the family background through his desire to replicate superpowers as a way of furthering evolution. Eventually his research led to him fleeing from Argentina and bouncing around several other countries. Wanted by various authorities, he is currently back in America.
As a psychopath, Carl excels at manipulating people for his own ends, and feels no empathy or remorse. He disregards laws, morals, and the rights of others. He views the whole world as a lab and everything in it as materials for his experiments. However, Carl also fakes being normal well enough to fool almost everyone except for his hapless captives. He is calm, logical, and organized in his plans. Most people take him for a respectable scientist and tend to do whatever he wants. But anyone who has dealt with psychopaths or narcissists gets a bonus for recognizing him -- you can see it in his creepy, soulless eyes if you know what to look for. The problem is that nobody else will believe you when you try to warn them about how dangerous he is.
His experiments have produced a number of substances, gizmos, super-gizmos, and even a few people that Carl has sold for exorbitant prices. Turq is one of the few to survive and escape. That's an example of the skill level: a lot of theoretical knowledge, some equipment, but in live subjects the results are often fatal and even when they're not fatal there are significant flaws. This irritates Carl to no end, and sometimes makes his buyers unhappy too. But that's okay: he can always kill them if they complain.
Origin: Eugenics. The family has spent decades dabbling in everything from breeding programs to genetic engineering in hopes of improving the human race, and occasionally they take personal advantage of techniques that seem promising.
Uniform: Usually a business suit or lab wear.
Qualities: Master (+6) Psychopath, Expert (+4) I Can Kill You in So Many Ways, Expert (+4) Master's Degree in Biology, Good (+2) Dexterity, Good (+2) Knowledge of Superpowers, Good (+2) Wealth
Poor (-2) Wanted by the Authorities
Powers: Expert (+4) Super-Intellect, Good (+2) Super-Gizmology
Motivation: To learn everything about superpowers.