This week’s R3 Jam character is Angua from Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series…
Might be kind of tough, as there isn’t much visual reference out there officially, that i can see. Any refs people want to post, feel free. It’s a post-fantasy fiction series, she’s blonde and powerful, I kind of get a Uma Thurman in leather armor vibe from her…

http://wiki.lspace.org/wiki/Angua_von_%C3%9Cberwald
http://www.dollymix.tv/2007/07/women_in … _angu.html

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1. TRDL Tribute: Angua [Terry Pratchett's Ringworld]
2. R3 Jam: Modesty Blaise
3. This Week Jam: Flash

Obscura is a privately-funded posthuman employed by the PDI facility in Canso, Newfoundland, as part of the company’s security force, Polaris.

Art and Origin: Thom Chiaramonte

:::

Name: Danica Willow
Affiliation: Polaris

Attributes;

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

Life: 95
Influence: 90

Abilities:

Neurological Disruption: Obscura’s latent posthuman ability involves the projected manipulation of neurological tissue. Specifically, she can cause dysfunction in the language center of the mammalian brain, temporarily disrupting the ability to comprehend and communicate in her opponent. In it’s raw state, this ability is of only 10 Intensity, making it only moderately effective and primarily suited to non-combat stealth operations. However, with the use of her Babel Cloak, the effects of the ability are significantly enhanced: the effective Intensity is raised to 40, and up to 10 targets may be affected in a single attempt. The resolution of attacks involving this ability require no formal Attack on the part of Obscura, but rather an Acumen Save on the part of her opponents. Each target must make a Save, modified by the following:

Range: if the opponent is from 0 – 1 meters from Obscura, a Red Cell is required; 2 – 5 meters, an Orange Cell; 6 – 15 meters, a Yellow Cell. If the target is enveloped by the Babel Cloak in a Grapple Action, the effect is immediate and automatic.

Intensity vs. Acumen: If the target’s Acumen is higher than the effective Intensity of the Attack, the target receives a +1CS to the Save; If the target’s Acumen is lower than the effective Intensity of the Attack, then a -1CS is applied to the Save.

The affects of a successful attack include disorientation and mild shock, reflected in -2CS applied to any Acumen, Observation or Will Actions or Saves; additionally, the target is unable to communicate with others, including verbal, visual and tactile signaling. When first affected, each target must make a Will Save, including the penalty above, or be routed in panic. The duration of this effect is 1-10 rounds.

Note: Without the use of the Babel Cloak, Obscura must make an Action using the normal ability Intensity, and score a Yellow Cell or higher, in order to affect a specific target vs. all within a given selected range. With the use of the Babel Cloak, she may target groups or individuals automatically with no Action required, as stated above.

Weapon Proficiency: Ballistics: Obscura is proficient with ballistic weapons and receives a +1CS to use them effectively.

Origin:

Danica Willow was an executive aide to a business envoy from TomorrowTech, to the newly privatized Posthuman Development Initiative [PDI] in Canso, Newfoundland, meeting to discuss potential collaboration and supply agreements for national contracts during the early days of the private posthuman procurement period initiated largely by PDI’s official rejection of government affiliation. TomorrowTech was a smaller posthuman lab, cobbled together from black market posthuman process data and greay market technologies laterally related to many of the same bio-engineering courses used in early posthuman development by PDI and others in the National Hero escalation period. Considered only moderately more reliable and legitimate than the host of underworld posthuman black labs sprouting up in Asia and Eastern Europe, TomorrowTech had little access to the prime, lucrative contracts with the nations of the European Union and large multi-national corporations beginning to pursue private posthuman teams for public relations, propaganda and cultural value. PDI’s reputation and fairly unique standing as one of the founding posthuman development labs assured it’s desirability as the go-to group for private posthuman contracts, but was unable to meet the outrageous demand for the exhorbitantly expensive posthuman product worldwide. TomorrowTech had the facilities and the labor to met demand, but limited technological experience or quality control. The hope was that an alliance between the two companies could yield a feasible means to meet the international demand for posthuman representation, and undermine the growing interest in theblack market labs with which TomorrowTech was admittedly related.

Unfortunately, the meeting did not go well. The executives of TomorrowTech over-reached in their assessment that PDI needed their manufacturing network more than they needed the posthuman development experience of the Canso group, and the proposal for alignment was disproportionately favorable to TomorrowTech, and bordered on blackmail. The stakes were made clear: if PDI did not align with TomorrowTech, the young Hong Kong enterprise would merely gobble up the host of Asian black market labs and create a cheap, somewhat disposable source of posthuman tech for emerging powers in the region. But the PDI agents had done their research, and were familiar with TomorrowTech’s financial ties to Hong Kong triad funding, and were prepared for this eventuality. The master conference suite in PDI’s facility was secretly one of the only Scramble Boxes in the known world at that time, a rumored but never-proven technology clandestinely developed by PDI as a self-defense mechanism against it’s own product: a modular-frequency audio pulse matrix that played havok with the unique molecular properties of the herdened cellular structure of most posthuman physiology based on the PDI design model. While the Scramble Box could not deactivate or dampen true posthuman latent abilities, it could cause sufficient cellular malfunction in posthuman tissue, effectively causing their own bodies to deteriorate sufficiently to incapacitate posthumans within the effective range of the Scramble Box’s interior perimeter.

The moment the TomorrowTech executive team attempted their ambush of the PDI representatives from within the company’s own facility, the Scramble Box was activated, and 5 of the 7 aides to the TomorrowTech negotiators were immediately incapacitated. The remaining three executives, and two normal human aides, were left standing among the quivering bodies of their secret posthuman operatives, with the PDI negotiators in control. However, both sides were at an impasse: PDI security could not enter the conference room without deactivating the Scramble Box, and further, TomorrowTech negotiators now new PDI’s secret technology existed, which was a significant security issue. One PDI negotiator, Gourde Riarden, a former SAS officer and experienced mercenary before joining PDI as a security consultant and later executive in the development arm, made a creative, if startling proposal: Join PDI as an exclusive contract staffer immediately, and receive a salary ten times their current TomorrowTech income; otherwise, face indefinite detainment, as the Canso facility was now operating as an independent city-state with sovereignty granted by the Canadian government.

Aide Danica Willow, weapon drawn, thought for a moment, and was the first to agree to these terms. But in a surprising move, immediately turned her weapon on the other remaining aide, shot him in the chest, then turned and executed the three TomorrowTech negotiators at point blank range. As the PDI negotiators scrambled for cover, the Scramble Box was deactivated and PDI security stormed the room, preparing to move against their TomorrowTech target. Dropping her weapon, Willow announced that she was privy to TomorrowTech’s contingency plan, a bio bomb planted in the belly of one of the three negotiators, triggered to deploy if they didn’t safely return to their plane at the scheduled time. The TomorrowTech team was effectively on a suicide mission, as the terms of their corporate employment included extraction countermeasures.

While PDI management were unsettled by this turn of events, Riarden was impressed with Willow’s decisive action and effective decision making, and not only backed her employment by PDI as proposed (though not necessarily agreed to by the PDI leadership) but suggested her for candidacy in the PDI posthuman program. She began treatments within two months, and was successfully launched as a posthuman operative late that same year, using callsign Obscura. Her unique latent posthuman ability involved the scrambling of the language and communication centers of the human brain, intensified and manipulated as an offensive weapon by her custom Babel Cloak, designed to allow for precision application of her ability. She joined the PDI posthuman security team, Polaris, as their latest member, rather than being shopped out to fulfill contract requests by PDI’s clients. While TomorrowTech had suffered a serious blow in the loss of the five posthuman agents that entered PDI disguised as executive aides and never returned, no further communication between the two companies occurred, and no retaliation for this counter-ambush was attempted by TomorrowTech on an official basis. However, PDI would continue to be the target for posthuman and conventional paramilitary attack, both by zealous government interests, such as their former partners in the United States, and by private posthuman teams acting in the interest of unnamed employers, and even personal attacks by rogue posthuman agents abroad. When the original TomorrowTech posthuman operatives, long assumed assassinated along with the executive negotiators, would reappear on the international posthuman stage, it would be in an entirely unexpected and unconventional manner, and raise serious questions about the posthuman threat to national interests everywhere.

:::

You can see this illustration herein the TRDL Universe Gallery.

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Q Suzuki is a renegade Japanese posthuman, popular among the rebellious youth but considered a symbol of the dangers of super-normal experimentation by the conservative public.

Art and Origin: Thom Chiaramonte

:::

Q Suzuki

Name: unknown
Affiliation: n/a

Attributes:

Melee: 30
Reflex: 40
Muscle: 20
Vigor: 30
Acumen: 40
Observation: 40
Will: 10

Life: 120
Influence: 90

Abilities:

Cybernetic Enhancements: Along with the physiological refinements as a result of her posthuman treatments reflected in the Attributes above, Q Suzuki’s arms were amputated at the shoulder and replaced with cybernetic replacements, made from a titanium underlayment and substructure and sheathed in a steel resin amalgam, providing 40 points of Armor over 40 Core in each limb. Each palm is fitted with a flamethrower with a fuel tank buried in the forearm, capable of generating 30 points of incendiary damage over a 5m range. In addition, heavy electromagnets in each finger allow Q Suzuki to suspend her entire body weight from one hand when gripping a ferrous object, a provision that enables her to scale metallic structures.

Regeneration: Nanocelles circulating in Q Suzuki’s blood and spinal fluid remain dormant until injury, where they assist her natural healing process by recombining to repair damaged tissue, fractured bone and nerve damage, and facilitate the rapid reproduction of blood cells. This allows for rapid regeneration, at the rate of 20 points of Life per 5 rounds of rest.

Jetpack: Q Suzuki’s back is fitted with a segmented titanium support structure, which houses a compact jetpack, powered by a micro-fuel cell. It allows for a Range of 40, and sustained flight for 30s at a time before requiring 10 rounds of recharge.

Origin:

Very little is known about the renegade posthuman using callsign Q Suzuki. It has long been rumored that she was an early participant in the Covert Star Initiative, the Japanese posthuman development program designed under the supervision of Dr. Go Kuniyoshi, though this has never been confirmed officially by the Japanese government. However, a destructive brawl through Downtown Tokyo, between Q Suzuki and Surujin ultimately led to the public announcement of the renamed Shining Star team as a national security and defense detail for the Japanese government and protectors of it’s citizenry.

Though the government had attempted to cover up the truth about the posthuman combat that laid waste to several structures in the Hospitality District, surveillance camera footage was leaked to the international media, showing both combatants for the first time clearly, forcing the government to hastily confirm Surujin as a government operative, and move Covert Star into the public spotlight. The team would clash with Q Suzuki several times, the national criminal working alone most often, but occasionally collaborating with other posthuman criminals in the pursuit of illicit crime throughout Asia. Q Suzuki would remain a thorn in the side of the Covert Star program, as she would always ultimately evade capture, adding to her mystique in the press, and allowing her to develop a fervent fanbase among rebellious Japanese youth.

:::

You can see this illustration herein the TRDL Universe Gallery.

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Related posts:

1. TRDL Character Factory, No. 06: Surujin
2. TRDL Character Factory, No. 81: Dr. Go
3. TRDL Character Factory, No. 89: Iridise

This week’s jam is Medusa, from the mythological context. I’m doubting anyone will be disappointed if you bang out a sweet, sweet Marvel Medusa, of course, but the objective is to play with the classic historical myth. Snake hair and linen!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medusa

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Iridise is a member of the Japanese National Defense Team, Shining Star.

Iridise

Name: Riku Numi
Affiliation: Shining Star

Attributes:

Melee: 20
Reflex: 45
Muscle: 15
Vigor: 25
Acumen: 20
Observation: 25
Will: 30

Life: 105
Influence: 75

Abilities:

Light Generation: Iridise can generate a tightly focused beam of light energy, similar to a laser, and strike targets at great distances with pinpoint accuracy. Her Ability Intensity is 50, and she can strike a target as small as 1cm in diameter at 50 Range. Her skin glows faintly in low-light conditions, which is an involuntary manifestation of her power. The damage caused by her Attack is proportional to the range of the Attack: Targets up to 5 meters from her take 50 DP; 6-20 meters take 40 DP, and 21 meters to maximum range take 30 DP. She may only fire one beam at a time, and has trained to aim with either forefinger. If her hands are restrained, she may generate the beam at a point approximately arm’s distance from her face, but at 20 Intensity, Range and Damage, and she must make a Will Action in order to attempt this form of attack, which is done at the onset of the round, without penalty.

Origin:

Riku Numi was a television news anchor in Tokyo who began her career at a small independent news station broadcasting on a public access bandwidth channel, to an audience too small to accurately measure statistically. Despite being attractive and intelligent, she might have languished in the minor leagues for years had she not been fortunate enough to be the sole journalist to discover, and report on, Covert Star’s first public appearance, in the pursuit of a rogue posthuman through the streets of the Downtown business district. Covering a string of petty vandalism incidents on local businesses after hours, Ms. Numi’s recorded broadcast was interrupted by the explosion of the facade of a neighboring building, which showered her and her crew with glass and debris. Despite being injured, Riku continues to report live on the events transpiring, as her cameraman captured footage of covert operative Surujin engaging in melee combat with the escaped posthuman known as Q Suzuki. As late night partygoers and tourists ran for cover, the street was literally lit on fire in the battle, and dozens of civilians were burned alive. Riku reported on it all, even as the melee moved close enough to her position that she could hear Surujin’s armor sizzling from the heat. Unfortunately, while Riku was protected from the flames by her cover under an overturned limousine, her cameraman was not so fortunate, and succumbed to the flames. As the battle pushed onwards through the Downtown corridor and into the hospitality district, Riku passed out from the smoke, only to be revived sometime later by emergency crews sifting through the wreckage in search of survivors.

Riku was treated for smoke exposure, lacerations and minor burns, and was considered extremely lucky to have survived the accident. Eager to contact her producer, she was stunned to discover she had been placed in security quarantine by the Interior Ministry. After several hours of interrogation by unnamed government agents, she was informed of her cameraman’s death and the loss of the footage which, due to the electrical interference caused by the explosion, had not transmitted to the station. In shock and still exhausted from the experience, Riku agreed to a gag order presented to her as a matter of national security. Though her personal safety may in fact have been in doubt, Riku never actually perceived the danger she was in, having been the only living witness to the disastrous results of the secret Covert Star Initiative’s failed candidate breakout. Though it is not clear who intervened on her behalf, a decision was made to include her in the pool for the next round of potential posthuman candidates for the Initiative, based on her pleasant appearance, bravery and fortitude proven under highly stressful circumstances. She was considered along with several models and minor actors as part of a move to bring a charming, attractive aesthetic to the Covert Star program, once it was clear that public exposure would be inevitable, and the Covert Star team, still primarily engaged in foreign operations, were less than photogenic and tested poorly internally for public acceptance. She was ultimately selected for the program, and after a significant amount of psychological conditioning, was eventually convinced that her duty to the Japanese people, and her potential as a posthuman defender of the innocent, would convince her to dedicate her life to public service as the public liaison for Covert Star’s national identity.

Riku’s posthuman processing was part of the first batch of the new courses developed to be less invasive and more precisely tuned to the physiology of the individual candidate. As a result, she experienced little discomfort in the process, and while her posthuman latent abilities were initially fairly moderate in intensity, she learned to focus her abilities through her training, into a practical offensive weapon. While they initially only mainfested as a soft glow emanating from her skin, she was eventually capable of collecting the energy her body was radiating into a tightly focused, modular beam of destructive force. While not technically a laser, this gave her the ability to strike targets at significant distances with pinpoint accuracy. After intensive combat training, Riku, originally the meekest member of Shining Star, would grow to become not only the team’s public liaison, but one of the most photogenic and popular members, of whom candid paparazzi footage was the most valuable.

Riku never spoke of what she experienced, and was not easily recognizable as the reporter she once was who had been presumed dead in what had the authorities claimed had been a freak disaster caused by a ruptured gas main. Ironically, footage from security cameras capturing the tail end of Surujin’s battle with Q suzuki would surface in the international press, and accelerate the public announcement of the Covert Star team. In the end, the government knew it would be unable to keep the Covert Star Initiative a secret for much longer, and Riku’s addition to the team as Iridise was timed to coincide with their public announcement, as the newly-renamed Shining Star, making her very much both a symbol for the positive public identity for the group, and an intimate connection to the covert operation that could have doomed the program in the eyes of the Japanese people.

:::

You can see this illustration herein the TRDL Universe Gallery.

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Related posts:

1. TRDL Character Factory, No. 90: Q Suzuki
2. TRDL Character Factory, No. 81: Dr. Go
3. TRDL Character Factory, No. 06: Surujin

This week’s jam is Selene, from the film Underworld.
If you have to dig up three hours worth of Kate Beckingsale photo refs, it’s jut a hit you must take for the team.

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Geiger is a member of the criminal enterprise: The Gorgon Gang.

Art by Joao Marques
Origin by Thom Chiaramonte

:::

Geiger

Name: Rhys Bolles
Affiliation: Gorgon Gang

Attributes:

Melee: 35
Reflex: 20
Muscle: 25
Vigor: 30
Acumen: 15
Observation: 20
Will: 20

Life: 110
Influence: 55

Abilities:

Radiation Emission: Geiger’s involuntary latent posthuman ability is the generation of an unknown form of radiation, frequently misidentified as antimatter, or theta, radiation. It seeps from his body at an uncontrollable rate, and unchecked would reach a range of approximately 6 radial meters from him at all times. The effect of this radiation is different on organic and inorganic compounds: both suffer a breakdown at the molecular level, but with different manifestations. While the effect of the radiation on inorganic materials primarily causes a dark red discoloration and some material elasticity (obvious physical deformation and breakdown of most physical material, along with 50% Structure loss, the effect on organic material is much more devastating, with organic cellular material caking and cracking, with fluids draining from the cracks with a decidedly orange-red hue. Living creatures affected by this radiation take 40 DP every round of exposure, and 1 DP every following round cumulatively until treated for radioactive exposure.

Geiger wears a tightly sealed, interlocking suit of ceramic composite armor on a permanent basis, which offers 40 AP. If he takes damage through the armor, he will begin to leak radiation at a rate proportional to the reduction of his life. For example, if he takes 11 points of damage through his armor, this represents 10% off his Life, and he subsequently will begin leaking a 10 IV field around his body, emanating from the impact point of the attack, and at 2m range. The armor must be repaired in order to stave off the leak, and this can be done by Geiger himself or trained members of the Gorgon Gang and its support staff, using patch material Geiger carries with him in a parcel on his back, which is applied like a paste.

The suit also allows Geiger to control the release of his radiation, by focusing it and manipulating the radioactive particles, allowing him to make a 30 DP ranged attack.

Origin:

Rhys Bolles was a mid-level enforcer for a splinter group of the Irish Pride League (IPL), the radical terrorist group that formed from agitators that condemned the peaceful integration of the IRA into Irish political life. This group was particularly violent, willing to attack any and all civilian targets, and even retaliate against attempts by the IPL to rein them in as their actions were undermining the more strategic moves the IPL was making. In a bloody pre-dawn raid, an IPL hit squad infiltrated the splinter group headquarters and assassinated most of their number. Bolles and another enforcer, an African national named Raphe Hubert, survived the blitz and fled the country.

Surfacing in Canada, Bolles and Hubert began taking on risky scores and making names for themselves in Vancouver’s growing underworld markets, eventually attracting the interest of scouts employed by the murderous Gorgon Gang, at that time, laying low after their brazen kidnapping of a prominent banker in Los Angeles. In fact, they were the subjects of an international manhunt, as their crime had been a cover for a much larger heist that struck at the core of the United States government, though this was a highly classified piece of intelligence, and not known,even by the Interpol-based squad searching for them. Seeking to bolster the ranks, the Gorgon Gang had been, as Hammer and Tong would say ‘building the farm team’ for several months, with the intention of introducing new blood to the group before their reemergence, not so much to strengthen their capabilities, but rather to gain members more expendable to use as decoys in case their pursuers caught up with them.

Bolles and Hubert were recruited by Gorgon Gang scouts, and entered a pre-qualification training program to test their physiological capabilities and suitability for inclusion in one of the growing number of black market posthuman development labs for which Vancouver was becoming known. Bolles was identified as a viable candidate for a posthuman process, but Hubert was rejected on the grounds of psychological instability.

Bolles underwent a violent and fairly reckless course of treatments designed to foster a latent posthuman capability to emit offensive radiation, based on similar course profiles used on other black market candidates. However, the treatments were not entirely successful, and Bolles was unable to contain the radiation his cells began emitting. The lab was prepared for this eventuality, knowing full well how unstable the treatments were. An insulated radiation suit had been prepared as a contingency, and was quickly utilized to help Bolles contain his surging radioactive release.

Accepting the reality that he would never be freed from the suit that not only protected others from his unstable abilities, but helped stabilize his own life signs, Bolles agreed to proceed with the program, and was given a tightly sealed, interlocking suit of ceramic composite armor, which would not only protect him in battle, but allow him more precise control over the measured release of his radioactive energy discharge.

Joining the Gorgon Gang, Bolles, now using the callsign Geiger, proved himself to be a vicious but skilled soldier, and gradually became integrated into the ranks of the team.

Interestingly, his rejected former partner, Raphe Hubert, would later surface as King Imperiale, and rise to significance as a major international threat in the years to come.

:::

You can see this illustration herein the TRDL Universe Gallery.

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This is a piece done for the R3 Jam, the subject being the DC hero of many identities, Firestorm.

I have to admit, I never liked the character. Impossibly powerful, with very little cohesive substance behind the use of it, limited creative energy on the behalf of the writers and artists, a tacky costume, and frankly, underwhelming human angle, what with the two souls in one garish costume concept. That said, I had to give it a go. Unfortunately, the combination of my disinterest in the character and some general exaustion produced this piece, that seemed to get worse and worse as I tried to salvage it. Worst of all, I later discovered a new version, well outdated now, but wildly reimagined version of the character, a costume I wish I had drawn now. Ah well. Forward!

You can see this illustration herein the TRDL Tribute Gallery.

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This is a piece done for the R3 Jam, the subject being the classic Captain America villain, Arnim Zola.

I love this guy, and always have. Marvel’s penchant for putting faces where they don’t belong (stomachs, tanks, planets) and omitting faces where they do (Awesome Android) always baffled and delighted me, when I was too young to understand how much drug was at work in the Bullpen. Anyway, Zola was always pretty cool looking, holding a Kirby Whatsis in his hand or whatever, but the colors were a bit much. When I saw a more contemporary take, I had to do it. I gave it a little TRDL style, but not much deviation…

You can see this illustration herein the TRDL Tribute Gallery.

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Big Man of Peaceful Dreams is a member of the Japanese posthuman national team, Covert Star.

Art and Origin: Thom Chiaramonte

:::

Big Man of Peaceful Dreams

Name: Dr. Ryogo Hideki
Affiliation: Shining Star

Attributes:

Melee: 35
Reflex: 35
Muscle: 60
Vigor: 60
Acumen: 70
Observation: 25
Will: 30

Life: 195
Influence: 125

Abilities:

Powered Armor: BmoPD’s powered armor is a SOKAK-derived Stage II Carapace Type design, housing a secondary containment system that provides life support for the occupant. The powered armor provides significant Body Armor [50 AP] and is extremely light-weight relative to it’s mass, thanks to the use of honeycomb polymers. This also allows the Magnetic Repulsion system located in its back assembly to provide substantial levitation and flight capability [40 Intensity, Range and Speed] while consuming very little power. The armor itself, completely loaded with ordinance and power cells, weighs under 1,600 kg. The armor and all systems are powered by a bank of 6 cells which regenerate in UV light and allow for near-continuous operation under passive and combat conditions, unless in the absence of UV radiation, where the suit loses 10% of its rated Armor, and -1CS to all Physical Attributes, each day until shut down to preserve Life Support at 10% power. The Armor rating of the powered armor is directly driven by the power level in the cells, which are thrice redundant (2 cells are required for full operation) as the honeycomb polymer plating system is held together at the molecular level by an energy web. The powered armor provides a range of sensors including thermograph, low-light, and telescopic vision which add +2CS to Observation Actions. It should be noted that while the pilot of a Carapace Type armor is normally entirely contained within the torso of the system, the occupant of the BMoPD armor is entirely integrated with the secondary containment module, as his body was largely destroyed. Therefore, even if the armor’s 120 Core Strength is obliterated, the occupant will survive, unless the 50 Armor/ 50 Core secondary chamber is also breached. If the occupant’s Life is reduced to zero, the armor is considered destroyed, and the secondary containment system enters Life Support mode, but the occupant is not technically dead.

Plasma Cannon: The right forearm of the powered armor contains a dual-field plasma cannon, capable of emitting a pair of strikes, the first causing 40 points of damage, and the second, following by less than a millisecond, causing 20 points of damage. The dual-field design was developed to penetrate energy-resistive armor systems, where the first pulse is resolved against the opponent’s Armor, while the second passes through the armor to affect the target internally. If the Attack was successful, the target will take, at minimum, the 20 DP from the secondary pulse, even if the primary pulse was negated by Armor. This weapon can be fired once every two rounds.

Reactive Rockets: The powered armor houses five Reactive Rockets: three in the torso, and two in the upper left forearm. Any or All rockets can be fired in a given Action, and will pursue their intended target(s) using a guidance system based on both heat and mass identification. Each rocket employs an effective Reflex of 30 and will pursue the target with 20 Speed and 100 Range, until intercepted, out of range, detonated, or otherwise destroyed. Each rocket will cause 50 points of explosive damage.

Magnetic Mine: The right hand of the armor contains two Magnetic Mines, each of which can be deployed once. The mine latches onto the target with a clamp and triggers a 40 IV magnetic pull towards the Earth’s core, flattening the target to the ground or nearest horizontal surface. If the surface has a Structure greater than 40, the target is incapacitated but unharmed, unless a Yellow Reflex Action is performed on a subsequent turn. If the surface is less than 40 Structure, the mine will propel the target through the structure until it is stopped by a 40 Structure or greater surface. The target will take 20 DP as it passes through the collapsing structure.

Origin:

Dr. Ryogo Hideki was a principle innovator in the Japanese posthuman development program in it’s initially secret incarnation, the Covert Star Initiative. Working closely with Dr. Go Kuniyoshi, Dr. Hideki’s expertise in both experimental physics and bioscience helped his mentor and colleague more easily adapt the raw, somewhat unpredictable posthuman processes to a streamlined delivery system that yielded far more consistent and viable results. In some circles, it was speculated that Dr. Hideki was as much responsible for the success of the posthuman development, particularly in Japan, that led to a deliverable posthuman asset with consistent reliability. The Covert Star Initiative facilities were adapted from robotics and mechanized research programs, in which the Japanese government had become a world innovator, and while Dr. Kuniyoshi believed passionately in a pure posthuman process, Dr. Hideki, who had previously been involved in the robotics programs, believed that a combination of posthuman treatments and bio- and cyber-mechanical adaptation, would yield more efficient results. Though they worked very closely, tensions existed between Dr. Hideki and Dr. Kuniyoshi. Hideki grew concerned about the theoretical science Dr. Kuniyoshi developed as the underpinning of his posthuman treatments, and grew frustrated at his mentor’s refusal to discuss their origins or entertain alternate methodologies that might prove less destructive to the posthuman candidates, many of whom, at that time, suffered injury or death as a result of the experiments. Eventually, Dr. Hideki’s improvements to Dr. Kuniyoshi’s principle methods proved far more consistent in producing viable posthumans, and the program began to shift towards his safer, more predictable courses of treatment. In addition, Dr. Hideki was a vocal advocate of a public, official announcement of the Covert Star team, comprised of the primary successful posthuman candidates who had comprised the initially black-ops team, engaged in security services for the government. Outraged at what he saw as a betrayal of his innovations in posthuman design, and vehemently opposed to public acknowledgment of posthumans as evidenced in America and Europe, Dr. Kuniyoshi ceased his involvement with the Covert Star Initiative, and returned to his private lab, refusing all communication attempts.

Dr. Hideki, one of the few researchers who actually knew the reclusive D. Kuniyoshi privately, was disturbed at his colleague’s abrupt withdrawal from the program, and visited Kuniyoshi’s home to discuss the matter, discovering the lab located in the sub-basement of the estate. There, some confrontation occurred, though the exact nature of the conversation was never clear. What was initially reported as an accident, however, led to much speculation among the Covert Star Initiative research team, as Kuniyoshi’s lab, and home, was destroyed in what appeared to be an implosion of considerable magnitude. Dr. Kuniyoshi was not recovered from the ruins, though the mangled form of Dr. Hideki’s body was found, suffering from severe physical trauma.

Dr. Hideki’s body was immediately airlifted back to the Covert Star labs, where the majority of his torso was saved, though his limbs and part of his skull were destroyed, and many of his organs had failed. As the Covert Star facility still housed an active mechanized asset program, a powered-armor system designed for deep space exploration was adapted to enclose Dr. Hideki’s torso and life support requirements. This system was designed to counteract the effects of muscular atrophy and skeletal deterioration from prolonged gravitational separation, and involved the permanent fusing of the pilot with the equipment, and was considered radical for the time. Within three months, Dr. Hideki had not only gained consciousness with no signs of mental trauma, but proved to adapt extremely well to his new exoskeleton.

Adamant that he play a continued role in the Covert Star Initiative, and seemingly driven by a new urgency, he pushed aggressively for a public acknowledgment of the Covert Star field team. He would not speak about the conversation he had had with Dr. Kuniyoshi, only describing it as a heart-breaking discussion that was cut short by an unexpected failure in one of Kuniyoshi’s off-the-books experiments in his basement lab, team psychologists suspected strongly that Dr. Hideki’s confrontation had revealed something deeply disturbing and morally incompatible with Dr. Hideki’s psyche. Regardless, while questios remained about the fate of Dr. Kuniyoshi, the debate about the Covert Star team was rendered moot, when events would transpire to reveal them to the public.

Once the Covert Star team had been exposed, Dr. Hideki instructed his exoskeleton to be incorporated into a secondary shell of powered combat armor. Emblazoned with bright, colorful graphics to offset the armor’s menacing appearance, he appeared alongside the now-renamed Shining Star field team in their official announcement to the world. As he was, in some sense, the father of many of their posthuman treatments, and certainly the more empathetic of his scientific colleagues, his place on the team was graciously embraced by his posthuman progeny, and while it took him some time to adapt to the armor’s functional capability, he would prove to be a capable combatant, though far less willing to engage in violent confrontation as some of the others, far preferring to engage in support and relief efforts wherever possible. His general lack of combat training, and his resistance to offensive attacks, led the Covert Star propaganda group to build his persona a certain pacifist mystique that embraced his personal moral stand, and the Big Man of Peaceful Dreams soon became one of Japan’s most prized heroes.

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You can see this illustration herein the TRDL Universe Gallery.

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