[M&M 3e] Defying the Future OOC

[Dorni]

Flint Garret AKA Helios

Mechanics

Spoiler: Power Descriptions

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Heroic Form - Flint transforms himself into Helios, a muscular man wearing a deep red and gold-trip chestpiece with matching vambraces and greaves. Flint uses this form when engaging in heroics to hide his real identity.

Mystic Sense - Flint is attuned to the mystic and is able to sense nearby magical energies and disturbances. Most cult members that gain magical powers from the induction ritual also awaken a mystic sense, with the sensitivity of their mystic sense proportional to their magical aptitude. The Suneaters sometimes call this their 'Third Eye'.

Spells - All spells have the [magical] descriptor.

Sunbeam - This spell fires several fiery bolts that can burn and ignite their target

Solar Flare - This spell conjures a blindingly intense burst of flame that can blind or disorient those within. Flint is able to control the flames to limit the size of the firestorm and to part the flames to limit who is affected.

Combust - Rather than causing a thermal imbalance and manifesting it as flames or heat beams, this spell channels heat energy directly into the target causing it to burst into flames.

Heal - The Suneaters are big on Necromantic magic that manipulates life energy to raise and control the dead, but Flint has found another use for it. This spell supplements a subject's natural life energy and accelerating the healing process to rapidly repair wounds and restore a subject to health.

Drain Vitality - Similar in principle to his Heal spell, Flint can instead drain a target's life energy. The target experiences this as a wave of drowsiness and exhaustion. Although this spell could be lethal if applied too heavily, in practice a target will simply pass out from exhaustion long before the spell is life-threatening.

Mass Drain Vitality - This version of the Drain Vitality spell is less potent than the original but spreads the effect over a wider area, allowing Flint to incapacitate groups of foes at once.

Crossing The Sky - This 'spell' is really a collection of spells that manipulate air. Flint can 'harden' the air and move it as a form of telekinesis. Another use is to channel more power into his Flight spell to reach higher speeds. He can bend light around himself in a small area to become invisible and finally he can 'muffle' the air around him to silence any sound he may give off.

Spoiler: Complications

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I Could Do So Much [Motivation - Doing Good] - Flint has magic. Actual. Magic. True, he’s still working out the means and mechanics of how to manipulate the arcane, but still. Actual. Magic. There’s so much he could do, so many problems he could solve. How can he sit back and do nothing when he could be doing so much to make the world a better place? Unfortunately, he can’t do much of anything for the world right now with this Dome trapping everyone and supervillains running about. And even more fundamentally, what they’re doing is wrong. They need to be stopped.

How Can I Do Any Less [Motivation - Responsibility]. Flint works in a hospital. Sure, it's in accounting and not as a medical professional, but he still sees his coworkers on the hospital floor every day - people doing their best to save lives, carry out life-saving research and better the world. He’s always been in silent awe at the hearts some of them have. Still, heart alone doesn’t keep the hospital operating. Someone has to crunch the numbers and process the paperwork. Flint did what he could from the accounting department to support those people rather than pinching pennies. It was his way of supporting their work. Now that he has superpowers, he remembers those good people - and that there are many good people doing the best they can for the greater good that deserve protecting.

Heroic Alter-Ego [Identity, Secret] - The Suneaters don’t keep the closest watch over their own membership. They’re an apocalyptic doomsday cult inspired by a god of chaos - order and regimentation isn’t exactly their thing, or at least not outside their inner core. Still, even with that low bar they’d certainly recognize one of their back-benchers if they showed up to derail the cult’s plans. So Flint worked out how to alter his appearance for when he goes out to act like a superhero. Flint takes on a conjured heroic form when he engages in superheroics - a muscular man wearing a deep red and gold-trim chestpiece, with matching vambraces and grieves with a flowing cape.

Yep, Definitely a Hero [Identity, Secret] - While Flint’s identity as Helios protects his identity from the Suneaters, he’s also come to insist on using it whenever he’s in contact with others in Forester’s Bay who would resist the League. Although unwilling, Flint is still a member of the Suneaters. He worries that rather than believe him that he’s an unwilling member and a spy, they might think he’s a plant by the Suneaters to lure out other heroes and attack him.

Hide Your Power Level [Secret] - Flint and his friends underwent an (impromptu) ceremony, the knowledge of which was supposedly gifted directly to the Suneaters’ High Priest by Apophis himself - to awaken their powers. While Flint commands a powerful affinity for magic, around the cult he pretends to have only a minor affinity for necromantic magic in the form of healing. After all, if they think the maximum extent of his ability is barely closing a scrape or a minor cut, there’s no way they’ll pay that much attention to him and he can just kinda fade into the background. And for the moment they don’t pay much attention, but if he were to slip and the cult learned his true power they’d immediately place him under higher scrutiny, demand he take a bigger role in the cult’s evil plans, or maybe even realize his connection to Helios.

Unwilling Cultist [Secret] - Flint was on vacation with his family in Forester’s Bay when the dome trapped everyone. Flint’s group managed to get by for a time, until they got caught up in a Suneater attack. Amid the chaos and the fire and the screams, Flint’s party was trapped by the Suneaters. Surrounded by cultists, he thought they were going to die until Dante fell to his knees and begged to join the cult. Seeing as they were, again, surrounded by evil cultists, Flint and Sara quickly followed suit. They were allowed to live - and inducted into the cult. Although they're sickened by death and destruction that the Suneaters cause, Flint and Sara find themselves forced to play their parts to keep up the appearance lest the cultists turn on them. This can mean they sometimes need to find creative means to dodge taking part in the cult’s plans and crimes.

Can’t Leave Him Behind [Motivation - Loyalty] - Although Flint and Sara try to remain nameless back benchers, Dante has fully embraced it and now some among the cult recognize their faces as being Dante’s crew. Fleeing would also mean abandoning Dante to sink deeper into the thrall of the Suneaters, and Flint hasn't given up on his brother just yet. He's family, and you don't leave family behind.

Apophis [Enemy] - While he wants to stop the League of the Future, Helios has particularly targeted Aphopis and the Suneaters. On top of that, Helios named himself for a sun god and publicly claims to be empowered by the same in a kind of mirror of Apophis. Safe to say he’s drawn Apophis’ interest, which might just be more dangerous than being hated.

The Suneaters [Enemy] - Helios bears a particular hatred towards the Suneaters. The feeling is mutual as Helios regularly shows up to wreck their plans and be a thorn in their sides.

Does This Come With A Manual? [Quirk, Temptation] - Flint’s magical powers are incredibly versatile and he could command a huge swath of phenomena and be a great force for good… with years of study and practice. Unfortunately he’s had his magic for less than a month and it didn’t come with an instruction manual. While he has made strides in mastering his powers he’s still very much a novice of the arcane. This limits Flint’s ability to cook up new spells on the fly. When attempting to use a Power Stunt to create an impromptu spell, Flint needs to succeed on an Expertise (Magic) check with a DC as though it were a Ritual.

Hunger to Learn [Obsession] - If Flint were to explain his powers, he’s an Int caster. His magic is based on runic manipulation of magical forces, which requires knowledge and study to maximize. Flint is hungry for knowledge and trying to master his magic, and sure, Flint is smart, but he isn’t a genius intellect. He is frustrated by his (to his mind) slow progress. What Flint really needs is a teacher, or failing that a guidebook. Unfortunately, the only places he’s aware that have that kind of knowledge are Apophis and the Suneaters themselves. While he hates the Suneaters they're still the best source of mystic knowledge to help him master his powers. It has helped him some that Dante loves to recount the things he’s been learning from the High Priest in the hopes that they’ll help his ‘struggling older brother’. Still, he’s been trying to discreetly gather books on the arcane and will jump at any opportunity to gain a source of magical insight.

Feo [Responsibility, Quirk] - Ok, Flint is a cat person. He has a pet cat named Feo, who he left at home for the few days he was going to be on vacation and then the dome happened and he misses her and is privately terrified that she was trapped in his house. Although there’s nothing he can do for Feo from inside the dome, he still has a soft spot for animals and tries to protect them from the crossfire of superhero battles.

Packed Light - Flint was trapped in Forester's Bay unexpectedly while on vacation. While he does have his hotel room, he doesn't really have a place to call his own. He also packed expecting to be gone for only a long weekend. While this generally isn't a problem as he's been able to buy most necessities from local stores, that isn't the same as having a place of his own with all of his own stuff. Flint cannot assume access to items unless he can find them in a local store.


Relationships

Dante Garret [Relationship, Enemy] - Ho boy, where to start with this one. Dante is Flint’s brother with Flint being a few years older than Dante. Growing up they fought like only brothers do - which is to say they alternated between incredibly close-knit and bouts of driving each other insane. Now they’re just close-knit, although Dante does struggle with feeling like he was in his older brother’s shadow.

When they were trapped by the Suneaters, Dante opted to join them. After the induction ceremony Dante discovered a strong affinity for death magic. The High Priest took him under his wing, tutoring him, and his power blossomed. In terms of power he’s one of the stronger adherents in the cult and rapidly rising through the ranks.

In fact, since Helios showed up Dante has amassed a string of successes fighting off the hero. Unbeknownst to Dante, this isn’t only due to his own prowess. Dante is roughly equal in power to Flint - strong enough that while Flint could defeat him, he would have to go all out to do it. Flint fears that in cutting loose he’d seriously hurt Dante, which he refuses to do because he hasn’t yet given up on convincing Dante to leave the Suneaters. Any time Helios would Incapacitate Dante, Dante is instead Stunned for a dramatically appropriate length of time (but not more than a few rounds) while he recovers from the attack. If Dante would be at risk of death from another source, Helios must make an effort to save him.

Dante is aware that Flint and Sara are less than enthusiastic about the Suneaters, but they’re still family. He cares for them and is willing to do minor things to help Flint, such as covering for them when they avoid participating in the cults' more dastardly activities, provided that he doesn’t suspect Flint is actively working against the cult. In addition, just as Flint tries to convince Dante to leave the cult, Dante is still trying to convince Flint and Sara to see things his way and embrace it.

Spoiler: ”Why Dante joined the Suneaters”

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The Suneaters are an apocalyptic doomsday cult bent on spreading death and destruction. Why would anyone willingly join them?

Well, Dante did everything he was supposed to. He kept out of trouble, did ok in school, and went to college where he met Aiesha. Sparks flew and they were inseparable. Aiesha was fun loving, hard working, and had big plans for the things she wanted to do and places she was going to see. The whole family loved her, Flint included, and she became a close member of their friend group and practically another member of the family.

In their final year Aiesha was hospitalized with a rare disease. She was forced to drop out of school. Dante stuck with her, going so far to drop out of school to get a job and support her. It was a grueling year but Aiesha made a full recovery. She and Dante got happily married. Things were rough, but they were hoping to get their lives back on track. They had a few months before they learned her recovery had been less than full - her disease was back. This time it claimed her.

Dante was devastated, alone, and facing down a mountain of debt. His job let him go during his bereavement, citing some excuse. He ended up working two crummy jobs to make ends meet. Flint and the rest of the family did what they could to help him, but any time he accepted family charity it hurt to feel more and more like he was the family failure. And so he struggled, grinding it out. That was in fact part of the reason for the trip to Forester’s Bay - Flint and Sara invited him for a long weekend vacation to show him their support and a good time.

And then he encountered the Suneaters. It clicked in his mind. He’d done everything right - everything. For years he did all the things he was supposed to do. And what did he have to show for it? Nothing. He had no respect and was alone with a mountain of debt and multiple crummy jobs that he hated. Help wasn’t coming. The system was rigged against normal people like him, and those in power were only looking out for themselves. It couldn’t be salvaged - the system needed to be burned down. But it was more than that - he hit the jackpot when the High Priest woke his powers, he discovered he had a powerful affinity for necromancy. Thanks to them, he had power now. The cult welcomed and respected him! If he gained enough power he could even bring back Aiesha! It didn’t hurt that his magic greatly overshadowed his elder brother’s. Why would he turn away from the cult and go back to angry customers screaming at him all day and debt collectors harassing him?

Spoiler: ”A further note on Dante”

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Convincing Dante to leave the Suneaters will be nigh impossible. Just as Flint has a character arc set up about growing into his powers and heroics, Dante is set up to have an arc growing into his villainy as a personal nemesis for Flint.

I fully expect that at some point the house-of-cards that is Flint's current situation will come crashing down. Its only a question of what comes first - Flint and Sara giving up on Dante and leaving the cult, Dante learning Flint's true identity, another Suneater learning Flint's identity, or the Suneaters simply thinking Flint is a spy and turning on him.

Perhaps ironically, Dante can actually be trusted to keep Helios’ true identity a secret should he ever learn it. Dante is smart enough to realize that if he were to out his brother, in addition to his own standing in the Suneaters taking a hit, the Suneaters would be willing to strike at Flint’s family and friends to draw him out - people who are largely also Dante’s family and friends. That isn’t to say it's impossible (and right now most of them are protected by the simple fact of currently being back home outside the dome), but even evil has standards and going after his own family to get at Flint would be a bridge too far for Dante. For now. Who knows if he wouldn’t be willing to cross that line in the future.

Sara Garret [Relationship] - The youngest of the Garret siblings, Sara has the toned build of an acrobat or dancer. She’s strong willed and not afraid to stand up for herself, which she’s had to be to survive having two older brothers both trying to look out for her. She shares Flint’s revulsion toward the Suneaters, but also has enough of a survival instinct to keep her head down until they can either figure something out or pull Dante out of the cult. Unfortunately for her, while her newfound powers aren’t nearly as strong as Dante’s, they’re unique enough that they drew the cult’s attention.

Sara awakened an aptitude for Probability magic. Her abilities can’t rewrite reality or make the impossible happen, when things are hanging in the balance she can tip it. The High Priest has assured her that if she develops her abilities she could follow threads of possibility until she can Prophecy.

Unbeknownst to either Dante or Flint, Sara is also hiding the full extent of her abilities. GM chooses in secret:

• Cat affinity - Sara can draw upon a cat’s essence to increase her agility. She can also transform into a cat, allowing her to go unnoticed. She uses this form to spy, hide, or just plain escape for a few hours to explore the city as a feline.
• Prophecy - Sara has downplayed her own gifts and already has the ability to invoke prophecy. She can go into a trance and see fragmented glimpses of future (and possible future) events. Although she can try to direct the visions toward the results of particular courses of action, she doesn’t have solid control over what she sees.
• Other - Sara has some other mystic affinity of the GM’s choice. Have fun!

Spoiler: Backstory

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Flint’s childhood was more or less unremarkable. He stayed out of trouble and did pretty well in school without too much effort. He played sports without any intention of ever turning pro and got into a good college. That isn’t to say he was a drifter - from a young age he was always very inquisitive - just that like most kids he was never sure what he wanted to be.

Which is another way of saying that no child dreams of growing up to be an accountant, but when you follow what you’re good at - numbers, puzzles, and being level-headed - eventually it just made sense to Flint as a career path. Flint ultimately landed an accounting job in the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit. It was not inspiring work, but it supported him well and came to see it as his way of making the amazing things the doctors did on the floor possible.

Flint has one sibling - a younger brother Dante - and they fought like only siblings do. They alternated between being incredibly close-knit and bouts of driving each other insane. Now that they’re adults they’ve settled into being close, keeping frequent contact with each other. They have an annual tradition to meet up for vacation with just the three of them. This year’s trip was to Forester’s Bay, which was when the Dome came down.

At first they were just as confused as everyone else. Trapped under the dome and unable to leave, they hunkered down in their hotel rooms. They made it almost a week before trouble found them.

They were walking through the main drag when they got caught up in a Suneater attack. One minute they minding their own business when suddenly in march a bunch of weirdos in red scaly robes and carrying hooked knives. Comical first impressions aside, the scene quickly devolved into fire and chaos. Flint’s party found themselves trapped and surrounded by cultists. They were convinced the cultists were going to kill them until Dante fell to his knees and begged to join the cult. Seeing as they were, again, surrounded by cultists, Flint and Sara followed suit. They were allowed to live and were inducted into the cult.

Back in one of the cults’ lairs, they underwent an induction ceremony, the knowledge of which the High Priest claimed had been gifted to him by Apophis himself, which would ‘open their third eye’ and awaken their potential. Whether or not that was true, the ceremony itself was several minutes of agony. When it ended, the High Priest welcomed the Garret siblings into the Suneaters.

Since that time, it's been a nonstop struggle. While has embraced being a Suneater, Flint and Sara have done their best to keep up appearances as loyal members lest the cultists turn on them. They’ve both done their best to hide their abilities and ‘blend into the crowd’ as nameless backbenchers where they can avoid taking part in the cult’s crimes. This has worked out better for Flint than for Sara, for though Sara lacks anything like the raw power that Dante commands, her aptitude for probability magic has drawn some interest from senior cult members hoping she’ll advance to the point of being able to peer into the future and Prophecy.

Still, Flint hasn’t been able to simply hide in the back and watch while the Suneaters spread chaos and destruction. Someone had to stop them. Flint set about training his magic in secret, experimenting on his own and making use of any bits of mystical knowledge he’s been able to obtain from the cult or his brother. He created a spell to hide his identity by changing his form into something more fitting for a Hero - and something that would be sure to anger the Suneaters. He picked a likeness of the sun god Helios. It wasn’t Egyptian, but it seemed prudent to him that if he chose the likeness of Ra that the cult’s connection to Aphophis would let them realize that his likeness was a fraud too soon.

And boy did he anger the cult. As a back bencher he was still aware of the cult’s activities - and somehow Helios always seems to show up to battle them.