Reverie is a rogue posthuman, with an agenda to ruin the national posthuman program in revenge for the loss of her family while under government protection.

Art and Origin: Thom Chiaramonte

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Reverie

Name: Michelle Mattesi
Affiliation: n/a

Attributes:

Melee: 20
Reflex: 25
Muscle: 15
Vigor: 15
Acumen: 20
Observation: 35
Will: 20

Life: 75
Influence: 75

Posthuman Latency Nullification: Reverie’s latent posthuman ability involves a mutation of her endocrine system, releasing an organic chemical compound, similar to a synthesized pheromone, that disrupts the nano-cellular activity in the bodies of posthumans in close proximity to her. The compound is released voluntarily, and is odorless and colorless, and has an Intensity of 50 and Range of 3 meters. Any posthuman within range must make an Orange Cell Save using their primary Ability Intensity, or be effected by the compound with a complete disruption of their bio-enhancements, of which the vast majority of true posthumans carry, from nanobots to chemical synthetic enzyme releasing agents. Victims suffering from this effect witness a complete collapse of their posthuman abilities, with a dynamic result: each affected posthuman must make a Vigor Save: a Red Cell result means that the posthuman is rendered powerless for 1d10 rounds. An Orange Cell result means they are rendered powerless for 1d6 days, and take 20 DP of internal damage from their system disruption; a Yellow Cell result means powerlessness for 1d10 weeks, and 40 DP of internal damage; a Fail means apparently permanent ability loss, 60 DP of internal damage, and a third Save, also Vigor, or the posthuman falls into a coma that lasts for 1d10 weeks. All posthumans, regardless of the results of their initial Ability Intensity Saves, also suffer localized malfunction of their sensory input: an Observation Save must be made, with a Yellow, Orange or Red Cell result resulting in -1CS to all Observation Actions, and a Fail preventing her presence from being registered either through sight or smell, though the affected posthuman may hear or feel her. All secondary sensory effects occur for the duration of combat, and must only be resolved once, at the beginning of the encounter. Lastly, and of greatest potential impact, each posthuman who is affected by an Ability loss must make a one-time Ability Intensity Save: a Fail results in a single round overload of their Ability’s manifestation: if the posthuman generates ice with 40 IV, for example, they would manifest an involuntary full-power release of this Ability at maximum range, which affects their own Life (regardless of any Invulnerability they may have to their own Ability), others in range, and potentially Reverie herself.

Origin:

Michelle Mattesi was a mid-level executive at TraumaSafe, the leading mobile surgical station deployment provider in the United States. The mobile surgical station concept was developed by TraumaSafe as a prototype for wartime medical units, but the concept was stolen by a rival company and deployed for civilian use, leased to major hospitals for on-site medical emergency needs at accident and disaster sites. While TraumaSafe was eventually able to gain dominance in the market, the losses associated with buying out or legally challenging their rivals were considerable, and the company teetered on the edge of bankruptcy before an in-flux of investment capitol from a silent partner allowed the company to survive. Ultimately, TraumaSafe would go on to become the industry standard in mobile medical services, but not without controversy. Rumors of mafia connections and government investigations dogged the company for several months before slipping out of Wall Street’s awareness as the posthuman national hero movement began to accelerate in the public consciousness.

TraumaSafe was very much involved in the mafia, and the capital that saved the company was made money. Mattesi became aware of this through her annual account audits, and became troubled over the moral implications of this secret deal. An undercover DEA investigation tracking the movement of gray-market surgical supplies approached her about certain material in TarumaSafe’s supply facility that were being watched as part of the operation, and Mattesi revealed the larger scope of the conspiracy, fearing prosecution. The feds, suddenly aware of a much larger underworld operation at work, manipulated Mattesi into cooperating with the investigation, spying on TarumaSafe executives and turning over financial and administrative records, in order to help build a case against the executives apparently responsible for the mafia connection. As part of the deal made with the feds, Mattesi would testify against Leo Gamintola, TraumaSafe’s CFO and the executive responsible for bringing in the made money that saved the company, in return for witness protection for her and her husband and three daughters.

Days after her family went into government-sponsored hiding, her DEA liaison reccommended Mattesi for the fledgling posthuman development program being sponsored by the United States, which was, at that time, recruiting viable candidates for treatment through law enforcement and military connections. Mattesi, being a former college-level athlete and remaining active in endurance sports as an adult, fit one of the desirable profiles as established by the Posthuman Planning Directorate’s public relations thinktank, and in fact, she was fast-tracked into the program as an ideal candidate, and was promised that her considerable salary for participation would be available to her family, who would remain in hiding. With no career options remaining with TraumaSafe, and desiring to leave the company well before the investigation would be made known publicly, Mattesi took the offer and became one of the posthuman candidates intended to seed a post-Liberty Group team.

While her posthuman treatments were initially successful, they did not perform at the level expected. She had been conditioned with a course designed to, they hoped, stimulate her endocrine system to release an organic chemical compound, similar to a synthesized pheromone, that would cause others in close proximity to suffer localized malfunction of their sensory input, preventing her presence from being registered either through sight or smell. The objective, at the time, was to design a posthuman team for covert operations to perform actions om domestic soil that might negatively affect the approval ratings of the popular Liberty Group team. Mattesi’s abilities were intended to allow her to perform stealth operations against other posthuman and non-posthuman agents, as a preventative measure, as the United States was beginning to detect resistance to the US/NEAI-driven posthuman programs abroad.

Unfortunately, when Mattesi’s abilities did not manifest in field tests, her recorded chemical analyses were marked erroneous, her training halted, and she was forcibly retired from an active role in the program. While she remained an employee of the federal government, and was given an option to assist in the training and management of other posthuman candidates, her reduced role was troubling and frustrating for Mattesi, as she had grown to greatly anticipate her posthuman identity and professional future. Reluctantly, she accepted a role training new candidates, and found herself managing the athletic regimen for her former co-candidates.

Three weeks later, despite the DEA’s attempts to cover up the error, Mattesi received word from a friend in the Justice Department, that she should check in with her family immediately. As part of the deal reached with the feds, her family had been moved to an undisclosed location and was to remain in hiding until after her completion of the posthuman program and creation of a new identity as part of her reassignment after graduating and entering her professional arrangements as a posthuman operative. However, after pressing her DEA liaison for their whereabouts, was horrified to learn that a contractual legality required that the witness relocation program for her family be terminated once her active role in the posthuman program ended. Due to this technicality, her family was left unprotected, and their identity masking was lifted within government records. The were found brutally murdered and disemboweled, stuffed into a supply container in vandalized TraumaSafe vehicle in an industrial area outside of Detroit.

Enraged and deeply in shock, Mattesi lashed out at her fellow program aides, severely injuring two and mortally wounding a security officer. When posthuman candidates in her field training group burst in to restrain her from further attacks against her staff, they were rendered immediately disoriented and apparently powerless. Susprised to realize that her abilities had indeed seemed to have manifested, but only against posthuman targets and beyond mere sensory deprivation, Mattesi swore revenge against the program that led, in her eyes, to her family’s murder. Before she was done, the entire graduating class of posthuman candidates were de-powered and either murdered or severely injured by her attacks. Fleeing the facility, Mattesi went underground, only to resurface months later in an assassination attempt on members of the Liberty Group, thwarted only by the intervention of 21st Sentry who, as a normal human, was unaffected by her abilities.

The murders of her husband and children were never formally solved because the crime was buried, as the DEA attempted to distance itself from the crisis, the family officially declared victims of a traffic accident in the local paper. While TraumaSafe might have escaped involvement in the scandal as well, the mysterious and abrupt suicide of two members of the TarumaSafe executive group, including Leo Gamintola, raised questions about the stability of the company, and it was soon bought out by former rival LifeLine and closed operations the same year. Under the assumed name Reverie, Mattesi escaped to Europe and began targeting posthuman national heroes, promising to relieve them from the burdens of their posthuman roles, permanently.

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