First 'short post'

Since I have things planned for today, rather then attempting a thought-provoking post at all, I'll put to paper (so to speak) a character I've had in my head for a long time.

As mentioned in one of the first posts, I am a roleplayer, but more then that I learn new roleplaying systems semi-regularly, and plan out possible campaigns in those systems. Currently I'm considering a campaign using the 'Hero' system used in Champions PnP RPG. Essentially this allows super-hero characters, which means I have to come up with Super-villains. And so, here exists a Supervillain.

If you happen to be a fellow RPG player and considering using these characters, feel free, just mention that you got them from this blog. In the highly unlikely event of you wishing to use these characters in something that will make you money, please be kind enough to contact me first.

MALICE

History: John State was an ordinary petty crook, of no notice to anyone or anything. He was one of the usual suspects if any crime was bungled within his area, and lived on scraps. This was made all the harder for him by the fact he'd had a taste of luxury. An orphan, John was passed around foster home to foster home, most of them a blur, only one of them standing out. It was a wealthy couple of extraordinary money, they gave him everything he could ask for. It was his own fault they rejected him in the end, he couldn't leave behind his bullying ways and child-learnt habits of stealing. He continued to grow up bitter, towards the world, other people, everything. It was about this stage he first started to show signs of sadomasochism.

Acting as hired muscle one night, John found himself helping others rob a chemical plant of something. Things went wrong, as they often did for John, but in this case they went right, in some weird manner. The criminals were caught, but not by the police, by the private security firm working for the company they were stealing from. The police were never called, and all those caught 'volunteered' for clinical studies. None of the others that went in with John were heard of again. John, either through luck or sheer force of will, survived the trials his body was forced through. Eventually his physical form was a twisted lump of what was once a man and the researchers had done what they set out to do.

They had brought forth rudimentary psychic powers in a person. He was able to feel the pain of others, without even necessarily seeing them. This is where the researchers made an enormous mistake. When experimenting on this once, instead of bringing the normal 'scum of the Earth' type they usually did experiments one, they were in a rush and so kidnapped an innocent person off the street. This innocent person's pain had a rather different reaction within John. Rather then simply cause him to react, it caused his muscle to swell and his body to grow. Rather then a mewing shadow of a man, inside the cell, within a matter of seconds, stood a four meter tall beast, a creature of muscle and sinew and scales, enjoying the feast of innocent suffering it was feeling, and wanting more.

Needless to say, John escaped at great expense of life. He is still free to this day, operating under the name 'Malice'

Personality/Motivation: In many ways, Malice is a weak individual. He blames others for all his own failings, claiming nothing bad as his fault, and refusing to acknowledge his mistakes. He doesn't have much self confidence, although he hides this behind a facade, and he is accutely aware of his lack of learning. This means that with the right coaxing, it isn't particularly hard to get him working for you. The only thing more engrained in his mind then his enjoyment of other's suffering, is his hatred of authority figures, as he blames them for his failures (of course).

Malice's motivation is two-fold. Firstly, his more 'sophisticated' side wants what he never had in life. Wealth and respect. While he sometimes confuses respect and fear, in general he simply wants alot of money, and for people to treat him like someone important.

His more sadistic side, however, just wants those who do not deserve it to suffer. He is almost addicted to the sensation of innocents suffering now, and often succumbs to the temptation to make them suffer, despite how much trouble it may cause him.

Powers/abilities: In normal human form, Malice is a tall, strong man who can easily outfight an untrained individual. He nearly always carries with him a handgun (although the type varies based on what he can scavenge), and is reasonable at many 'tricks of the trade' for someone working as a petty crook. He can forge some very basic documents, tail a person without being seen (as long as they do not know to look for him, or anyone), and pick a simple lock. His latent psionic abilities allow him to sense pain and suffering of others, although it is only the suffering of those who do not deserve it that that trigger the transformation.

The pistol he carries is not for combat sake, however. If Malice needs to fight, what he will often do is find a large group of innocent bystanders, hide among them, and then shoot someone. The pain the victim feels as well as the terror of everyone within earshot over hearing gunfire is more then enough to allow him to change. In his altered form he is four meters tall with shoulders two meters wide, and weighs about twenty six thousand kilograms. He has strength enough to lift a small truck over his head without breaking a sweat, and his hide can resist small arms and some heavy arms fire with ease. His strength and incredible toughness alone makes him a threat, but perhaps the most terrifying part of this is how his sadomasochistic side seems to be predominant. This, combined with his near radar-like-sense for innocent victims means that no one is safe when he is out of control. Perhaps most terrifying about all this is just how difficult it is to defeat Malice. Possibly based on the same terrifying process that turns a normal sized man into this behemoth, when he is genuinely injured, his body can - in a matter of minutes - recover from the most greivous of injuries.

Appearance: In his normal human form, Malice usually wears an old, patchy trench coat with baggy pants and a baseball cap to hide his face and untamed mane of black hair. He is a tall man, over six feet easily, with a strong build. His skin is leathery in appearance and makes him look far older then the thirty years of age he has.

In 'Malice' form, his leathery skin becomes an amalgam of scales and fur. His hair extends to run down his spine to mid-back, along the outside of his arm from shoulder to wrist and around his waist (as a pseudo-loin-cloth, thankfully), becoming almost fur-like as it does so. The exposed parts of his skin becomes covered in blood red scales, the only area uncovered being above his pectoral muscles to his head. His neck looks like a hodge-podge of muscles and vigorously pumping veins, throbbing obscenely up towards his terrifying face. Tightened muscles draw his lips back into a skull-like grin and turn his eyes into an unnerving glare.


There you go. I hope that was an enjoyable read.

Just out of interest, do me a favour and read it through again, pondering ways outside of psychics (the obvious method) you think this guy could be defeated.