Cold Rocks Super Squad Characters
The Gamer
Xander McGruder
The Gamer is a resident of Cold Rocks and the only member of the Super Squad who somehow has Citizenship. In civilian life he has made a name for himself by defending Video Games, and challenging authority of government to interfere in our lives. He has also become famous for being the man who beat Doctor Destructeaux. In his super hero persona he is less well known as The Gamer, a nerd who touches Video games and takes on aspects of them. But never uses them very creatively, preferring the direct damage games leading to his games being less differentiated and just straight up improvements over previous ones. For example his Halon game is a direct improvement over previous mainstay Duke Nukem 3D. Despite this his variable forms lead him to be less recognized than other team members. He does, however possess a base of his own, which he inherited from his ex-girlfriend Ultra-Girl. The Titan Tower, now known as the X base, has many facilities and allows the team to be launched to missions. He’s getting older and time on the island has improved him physically, but he still has too much pull for how charisma-free he is.
His brother was Brooke McGruder, also known as Aegis, also known as Black Suit Aegis.
His Sister was River McGruder, precocious improbably intellectual teenager who grafted a Krell robot arm onto her own body, with disastrous results.
His Mother is Catherine McGruder, war criminal and evil medical scientist who developed the super soldier programme by throwing numerous children under the bus along with numerous adults, even her own husband.
The Gamer is one of those characters that takes a lot to maintain, it can be rewarding, but I think it dis-incentivizes improving the character because of how long it takes. The complexity of the character clearly also leads to decision paralysis. Too many options leads to some being forgotten, or realised too late.
Soviette
Svetlana Ivanova
Soviette is an American Born woman of Russian descent. Her parents arrived in America when a number of mutants and political dissidents fled Russia ahead of a purge and were allowed to set up in Nevada. Soviette dislikes America, and feels oppressed, being a woman who focuses more of the negative rather than the positive. She lives alone in a shabby apartment in the un-natural cold she prefers. She possessed a fish called Anatoli, and a stuffed Baby Harp Seal toy she calls Sniffy. She is intelligent, although this seldom comes across, Attractive and emotional. She wants to be a great hero, but finds it difficult to gain support when society and the media are against her. Svetlana works at a local Nerd Store at the card counter mainly, and also as a Model. She is famous for dating Sexual Chocolate Anthony Smar, a tech billionaire. Her Super-Heroine alter ego is Soviette, a Red clad Vaguely-Russia themed heroine with the powers of cold. She is blamed for a phenomenon called Global Storm Soviette after she tried to use her powers to reverse Doctor G.R. Eenpeace’s Global Warming Machine. The resulting global mix of hot and cold caused massive storms which ravaged farms, livestock and people globally. The Media and the government claimed her death toll topped 3 million dead, however the actual direct deaths are closer to three to four hundred. Feeling tremendous guilt over this she is trying to somehow make up for it, but the mere sight of her, especially after the movie, is enough to cause panic in those she is trying to save. She wants to save the world.
Her Father is Ivan Servanaya, a worker at the local Steam Plant, formerly on the Politburo.
Her Mother is Ilyena Servanaya, a local woman in this town. And secret Mutant, and former Russian Heroine. She still has the outft.
Her Best Friend is Nikita Natlova, a mutant speedster who does not know she is a mutant, and hates mutants.
Soviette has become known for the variety of noises she makes, rather than any kind of heroism, also she is known for Sovietting, which is a by-word for when you reveal a secret somehow, almost compulsively. Her player has had an action figure made of her, although the cosutmer has been working on it for eight years, and he;s never getting it back… let’s be honest. I’ll let her save the world if he shows up with the finished doll. I swear it.
Skinwalker
Wakan Nighthorse
Chief Break Everything, as he is known, is a Native American Indian, who contacts the spirits in order to shape shift into various totem animal anthropomorphous Figures, such as The Buffalo and the Eagle. He wishes to preserve the world from acts that can destroy it, and joined the Super Squad because that is the game we are playing. He spends much of his time trying to infiltrate local legitimate businessman Lusious MotherFucking King. Skinwalker sometimes feels directionless and overwhelmed, but wants to help. His elder The Chief is a casual man trying to make Wakan realise he has already got what he needs, but doesn’t want to give up his only client, and source of pizza. Skinwalker, for hsi part of the Super hero dynamic, is plagued by bad press, but there are some who are obvious fans of his. He seems to be trying to form a relationship with the Russian woman Svetlana Ivanova, not Soviette… Okay yes Soviette, but not the hero he is in a team with, another one. A shorter more muscular Soviet heroine who has come to the west from behind the Ion Curtain with the new Ambassador. But Skinwalker doesnt’t need no woman, he’s already the total package.
I don’t got a lot on Skinwalker, the character seems to shift slightly as it’s player forgets things and wants to move in different dirsctions, maybe the player should come have a chat with me, hmm?
3mpr3ss
Doctor Diana Destructeaux
A Half-Japanese young woman who has, for reasons known best only to her, has infused her body with nanomachines. The daughter of Doctor Destructeaux, the infamous Supervillain, and Keijo Kasanagi, a super heroine from 2525. Diana Destructeaux works for an engineering firm, and in her spare time works on nanotechnology and robotics, also plays video games. Diana possesses genius intellect and was able to complete her doctorate programme by the age of 18. She is employed by Nikko-Shinjihara in their design and development department, her participation in company events and programmes is normal, being a member of the Judo club, and an in-fielder for the company baseball team. Despite this her lineage has made her isolated, so she built herself a friend, in the form of an android she called K8. Earlier in her life she removed her own arm in order to graft a replacement nano-cybernetic arm on to herself. She was one of the people abducted by King Kamehamayhem during the 2013 Archeologists Convention.
Following the abduction, and adventures trying to return to America, the group was repeatedly captured by the Red Banner, at each of these instances, Diana was separated from the others and tortured for information, such as “Who are you?” “Where did you receive your cybernetic arm?” “Tell us how to enlist the co-operation of Xander McGruder” “What is your relationship with the others?” “How does a Japanese become so good at electronic games as you?” and “Wouldn’t you like the pain to stop?” Believing that giving up any information would lead to harm for herself, her people and the others, she refused to answer. As a result she now has nightmares, a fear of electricity and severe trauma over the experience. She fears she will not be able to resist again, and now has doubt about her self image.
Diana was created for the sole and only purpose of calling her Doctor Destructeaux to pull one over on the players… It was of dubious success. Diana is one of the NPCs who just power-crept up too damn high, along with River. Because of the way the rules are. I’m blaming them.
Akula
a.k.a Sarah Sharke
A normal, happy if poor 14 year old girl. We’re talking about Sarah here, fourteen, just starting to notice the boots theory of economic unfairness, and BLAMO! Mutant gene kicks in after her step father tied her up in a sack while he was drunk and threw her off a bridge into the river, mistaking her for the cat he didn’t like. The stress caused her mutancy to kick in and well, naturally she turned into a shark. This caused a lot of panic, other people weren’t too happy about it either. Driven away, desperate and hungry, she was easy to catch and shoot by local Police. Mutants of her kind, they have two options. Government service, or death. With the risk of her growing hungry and entering a feeding frenzy mode, the government chose to inter her with the DMV induction progremme. When she came of age, she opted for a Naval enlistment. Being able to swim underwater with great speed, and not need to come up for air, she was a natural choice for Search and Rescue and E.O.D. Now dubbed Akula she finds friendships near impossible to make, thanks to her mutancy and the known fact that if driven into a hunger frenzy, she will eat anything handy. THe cold dead eyes don’t help.
I’ve been bouncing around the concept of Akula for a long time, not a lot of the characters we have are antho type, and a lot ofg mutants have obvious deformations, and player mutants are almost always attractive and capable. I threw her in at the end of all things to see how they acted, and how meta they would get in trying to deal with an obvious monster and threat, Player Characters are always too understanding. I’m gonna drop the head-fin maybe… it’s not good.
Camille Flage
Camille Flage is a 22 year old female SIS director in charge of operations planning. A position she ill likes, preferring field operations in the SAS. Flage is a mutant possessing heightened strength and reflexes, when exposed to solar radiation this power grows in effect, at the cost of her skin turning green, the effect is not even and spreads in patches, giving her a camouflage pattern appearance, hence her name. In practicality she is never exposed to sunlight long enough to become completely green. A clone, and part of a mass cloning project run out of a secret lab in Brazil, she was acquired in a Lebanese open air slave market by the Crown, which led to the operation to find and break up the laboratory. Flage remains to this date a slave owned by the Crown, which she takes comfort in, although slave ownership is frowned upon and the Crown has released most of its property. Flage prefers not to.
A serious woman not given to frivolity, publicly. Privately she has been forced to acquire passtimes. She has won an academy award for a screenplay she wrote “Wayward Son”
She resents Soviette for making her look good.
Since Soviette’s Birthday party, Camille seems to have gotten engaged.
Camille is obviously a re-personalization of the Street Fighter Character Rainbow Mika, I wanted my own Chun Li to use for our game, and I am addicted somehow to the frosty repressed type. Players like to try and fix them, not sure why, it’s a bizarre habit that makes no sense to me.
Red Devil
a.k.a Soviette
a.k.a Svetlana Ivanova (The “Real” One)
Svetlana is a 22 year old female Soviet Russian Superheroine and operative. A position she likes, very much. Ivanova is a mutant possessing heightened strength and reflexes, enhanced by Soviet Atompunk Super Science. A clone, and part of a mass cloning project run out of a secret lab in Brazil, she was acquired in a Lebanese open air slave market by the agents of the KGB. Svetlana has been deployed to America to help further the aims of the USSR, but has been contaminated by western people and ideas, and may not go back home. She has spent time with locals, and finds many contradictions to her indoctrination.
She is annoyed that there is another Svetlana Ivanova, who has a much prettier body than hers, she never used to care, but now she is trying to attract the interest of Wakan Nighthorse, she finds the lack annoying.
You know the old comic book plotline where there is a copy of the hero and the hero needs to stop them from bringing their good name into ill repute. Well, I wanted to do a more innocent version of it, this woman is ACTUALLY Soviette, and her name is even the same. Tah-Dah!
