This thread is for presenting characters' public image, connections, and their various long-term involvements in Baseline and Nova society.

Characters should only make a single post in this thread, following the format listed below, with edits made as characters change over time.  Most descriptions should be narrative, with relevant traits given in parentheses.

Characters earn 2xp for a completed post in this thread.

Format:

Public Image (Media):
How the media represents the character

Reputation:
How those that have met and dealt with the character represent the character to others.

Ongoing Activities:
Things the character does, from playing in a band and volunteering for specific charities, to fighting crime and building space colonies.

Finances:
(Resources x)
How the character makes their money, where they store it, and where they spend it.

Connections: (For social backgrounds only, no nova backgrounds)
(Background x)
Narrative description of what the background represents to the character

(Background x)
Narrative description of what the background represents to the character

List of Irrelevant Factoids:
little blurbs of a random nature that add dimension to the character, or that the public might latch on to
has 23 cats
likes playing with yarn
gardening officionado
largest go-bot collection in the continental US
favorite color is vermillion

Other Information:
Things that didn't fit elsewere, but are relevant to the character.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:44, Sun 15 Sept 2013.

In reply to Rydi (msg # 1):
Public Image (Media):
Impetus is depicted as one of the most powerful and influential novas on the planet.  Before the events in Colombia, and his year long disappearance, he was the media's golden boy, friendly, funny, sexy and passionately devoted to the greater good. Now he's seen far more warily.  He is opinionated, and may of his opinions run counter to those comfortable to the status quo.  He's now depicted in mainstream media as a dangerous demigod whose powers of persuasion are cause for grave concern.

Reputation:
Arrogant, driven, and devious.  Imp's megalomania has softened a bit since he got Jenny back, but he's still sure that his way is the right way, and that if he has to talk you into believing what he believes he'll do so.  His dedication to the greater good for both humans and novas, and to his friends, is all that keeps him from being seen as a dangerous despot in serious need of dethroning.

Ongoing Activities:
Campaigning.  Imp's aimed at the presidency and he's using all of his global influence to make that happen.

Finances:
Resources ooooo+
In addition to his (formerly) huge salary from Utopia, Impetus is the most sought after male fashion model on Earth, and has been for years.  He invested heavily and early in Core Enterprises, Pandaimonion, and other terat founded enterprises.  He also has stock in many of the major green energy suppliers, and in Triton pharmaceuticals.

Connections:

Contacts: 5.
Imp always knows somebody who can do that thing somewhere.

Backing (Devries): 4.
Imp's relationship with Anna gives him quite a bit of influence with her, and access to the things that she can provide.

Backing (Teragen): 4
Since he quit he doesn't have the pull he used to have, but he still counts many of the major players in the organization as close friends.

Influence: 6
Impetus, despite the media's recent attempts to marginalize him, remains one of the most influential people on the planet through a combination of his fame, his looks, his personal wealth, his global popularity and his vast network of friends and powerful allies.

Fan Club: 6
Imp's hordes of ravening fans are as much an inconvenience as an advantage, maybe more.  There are millions of them out there, and some of them are willing to kill for slights, real or imagined, to their icon.

Suitors: 6
Imp's good looks cause more headaches... He's usually smooth enough to minimize the trouble this causes, but the problem with letting people down softly is that they invariably still have hope for the future.


List of Irrelevant Factoids:
His feet are size 10
His favorite color is blue
His favorite baseline album is Pink Floyd's Division Bell
His favorite Novox group is Green Woman
When he needs real privacy he heads for a secluded Cenote deep in the Yucatan
The golden coin that is fused with his flesh is from the reign of Djoser
He is the owner of the company that produces the ingredients for 3 mile islands.
This message was last edited by the player at 10:20, Sun 15 Sept 2013.

Public Image (Media):

Sean: Almost totally off the public radar, when he's photographed it's because he's in the frame when someone is photographing his current client.  As far as the public knows, he's just an elite chauffeur.

Paidrag: Brash young elite with an unusual suite of powers.

Reputation:

Sean: Competent, calm, and very professional.

Paidrag: Fun to be with but a terrible choice for godfather. In battle his versatility and creativity makes him a formidable opponent to those of a similar power level.

Ongoing Activities:
Sean: Working as a chauffeur and body guard to the world's rich and famous.

Paidrag: Mixing it up in battlefields in Africa, Asia, and South America. And partying in his down time.

Finances:
Resources 2-3
Sean/Paidrag are new hires at Devries, meaning they both have decent salaries, but since they can only take half the usual number of jobs they earn about as much as one normal elite.  Sean also is an avid investor in stocks, and his enhanced intellect, combined with the occasional tidbit he overhears when he's working as Sean means that his portfolio is doing quite well.

Connections:
Backing (Devries) 2
Sean/Paidrag are new employees, they have potential for greatness but still have to prove themselves.

List of Irrelevant Factoids:
Sean/Paidrag's favourite car is the '63 Corvette
Sean/Paidrag's sister is still investigating Seamus' death
Paidrag's accent is always slightly foreign, no matter which county in Ireland you're in.
Sean speaks with a crisp Bostonian accent.
One of Sean/Paidrag's favourite things about working for DeVries is that he will never have to square off against Totentanz
This message was last edited by the player at 10:46, Sun 15 Sept 2013.

El Dragón

Public Image (Media):
Due to the US Army's persistent use of El Dragón's image and "war hero" status in promotional ads and public service announcements, the media generally portray him almost as a quintessential American Nova.  His reception overseas, sadly, is often biased by America's current reputation in the region in question.

Reputation:
He generally comes across as a straightforward, consummately professional soldier.  When "out of uniform," he often displays a more lighthearted sense of humor.

Ongoing Activities:
Currently, his primary focus is a search for "enlightenment" through his various meditative practices.  He believes he'll be able to discover a means to cleanse the tainted quantum from his body.  His evenings are usually spent writing or studying.  On those occasions where the stir-craziness starts to get to him, he flies out to explore some wilderness area.

Finances:
(Resources 4)
His income derives from a wide variety of merchandizing projects, handled by his agents (though Dragón carefully vets each one before it goes forward).  Actually, he's been shocked at how much income his merchandising has generated and isn't entirely sure what to do with it all.

Connections: (For social backgrounds only, no nova backgrounds)
(Backing (US Army) 4)
Despite his recent resignation, he retains enough genuine friends among all ranks that, should he need it, he would have access to a considerable amount of military hardware, including some "experimental" gear.  None of these friends are likely to put themselves or their careers in jeopardy for him (nor would he ask them to) but the Army's supply system is sufficiently arcane to allow equipment to be temporarily misplaced or even lost in "training incidents."

(Contacts (Current and former Special Operations operatives) 4)
During his military career he formed bonds with quite a number of current and former Special Operations soldiers, with whom he was unusually popular.  Of those who have left the service, they have drifted into careers such as security, law enforcement, private investigation, investigative reporting, and other fields that appeal to such highly motivated, mission obsessed, skydiving adrenaline junkies.

(Influence (US Public) 3)
Because he was so heavily marketed as a prime example of American values, if he were to take a public stand on some issue, it could cause quite a stir.

List of Irrelevant Factoids:
An avid weiqi (aka "Go") player, he plays online as well as in pick-up games in the parks.
In his teenage years he was a dedicated skateboarder.  He recently refurbished his shortboard and occasionally visits the local skate park.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:00, Thu 19 Sept 2013.

Public Image (Media):
Gale isn't the foremost public figure, but there are a few iconic events that are associated with her.  There's early footage from her eruption, video from Columbia and her recovery, and news reports from her terra-forming work in Ethiopia.  Most recently, the biggest news featuring her is the shooting at the Michaelist wedding.  In general, the media isn't quite sure what to do with her; half the time she's portrayed as the pitiable all-American angel who's been wronged and the other half as a mysterious almost unearthly guardian.

Reputation:
Quiet but reliable.  She doesn't go out of her way to make waves.  She was originally quite insecure, but her confidence has grown with her powers.  She has very little patience for religious fanatics (understandably), but will do her best to help anyone who asks.

Ongoing Activities:
Gale is focusing a lot of her efforts these days into her environmental work, trying to create a better image for herself.  She's also focusing on trying to help new novas and Terats get their feet on the ground, helping out Solitaire's House of Cards and Comstock's new movement.  She spends what remaining precious free time she has surfing the big waves of the world.

Finances:
(Resources 4)
These days, Gale makes most of her money consulting and doing terra-forming projects.  After her Chrysalis, she gets approached for modeling gigs a lot more, her appearance somehow more alluring to the public after she had been out of the media for a while.  She has a personal assistant who handles everything for her, recommended by friends, and lives a relatively frugal lifestyle.

Connections: (For social backgrounds only, no nova backgrounds)
(Backing 1)
Represents support with the Aberrant movement run by Comstock.

(Ally 5)
Thorn.  What started off as a desperate attempt at having no regrets before Columbia blossomed into a serious relationship.  Sure, he had issues and she had issues, but he stayed by her when she was trapped in a plastic bubble, when she slowly lost her powers, and when she went into Chrysalis.  With continents between them most of the time, they've worked hard to keep it going.

List of Irrelevant Factoids:
Gale has surfed all but 5 of the big wave surfing spots listed on Wikipedia.
She consumes double the calories required to maintain her bodyweight.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:11, Sun 22 Sept 2013.

Public Image (Media):
Solitaire's coverage in the media is rather scattershot. She has a rather large stock of goodwill from her time in Team Tomorrow, however, she is also very publicly Teragen, and the scene at the UN showed just how frightening she can be when riled. It varies network to network.

Reputation:
Solitaire is a study in contradictions. Dedicated but flighty, very social but often to keeping to herself. A utterly loyal friend and a very dangerous enemy. She does not care to involve herself in most conflicts, but when she does things tend to break.

Ongoing Activities:
Keeping an eye on the House of Cards.
Training younger Nova's
Keeps trying to find a way to get Comstock drunk
Doing Pantheon things
Keeping a wary eye out for The Other One

Finances:
(Resources 4)
Solitaire has more money than she knows what to do with, she would also have considerably more if she didn't feed most of it into her House of Cards. She mostly considers it a way to keep score in a game that is beneath her, thus hands it off to Kat to manage.

Connections:
Teragen 5: Solitaire is a member of the Pantheon, and is at least well respected by all factions. Even if some disagree with her views, none doubt her commitment to the movement or her personal power and integrity.

House of Cards: Solitaire also runs the House of Cards, insofar as it can be run by one person. She set it up to be largely autonomous, but everyone who has been at least Seated at the Table knows who in charge. The network provides her with a good deal of information that she might not otherwise have access too. She is largely content to let it run itself, but she will have a 'chat' with anyone who she deems has strayed too far from her vision of the project.

List of Irrelevant Factoids:
Favorite song is Enjoy the Silence
Would have been a concert violinist if she wasn't Solitaire instead
Likes to sit and people watch cities from the top of tall buildings
One of her bolt-holes is in possession of the most advanced sound system on the planet.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:19, Mon 16 Sept 2013.

Public Image (Media):
It is impossible to browse the Opnet for 15 minutes and not see an advertisement featuring the omni-recognizable carapace of The Kraken shilling for KHI's latest cell phone or delicious snack cake or little blue erection pill.  Amazonian natives have been known to come out of the jungle after millennia of isolation wearing t-shirts bearing the trademarks of KHI constituent companies.  An ever growing roster of world cities, from Austin to Zurich, feature a Kraken Building in their skyline, the most impressive being Stuttgart's massive, hyperboloid KHI Alpha Complex arcology.  It must be noted, though, that The Kraken (the advertising spokescreature) is no more Dr. Wilhelm Förster than the man on the KFC tub is the actual venerable and inscrutable Colonel.  And neither The Kraken nor Dr. Förster are the Hell Kraken.  The omnipresence of the advertising persona serves to distract completely from whatever is within the carapace.  Of that only the most basic biographical information is public knowledge.

Reputation:
Dr. Förster can deliver the best of anything for a price.  The related scientific advancement is free.  And, in fact, mandatory.

Ongoing Activities:
Dr. Förster expands KHI's operations year-by-year; buying land, erecting factories, hiring employees, establishing new product lines.

Finances:
(Resources 5)
If membership were open to corporations, KHI could send delegates to G-20 meetings.  Alas most of its assets are incredibly illiquid.  One can't simply hock a foundry or two when one needs a couple billion in cash and there isn't any stock to sell as KHI is held privately.  Still, enough money circulates that a bit can be skimmed off to cover Dr. Förster's basic needs.  A few million here, a few million there.

Connections:
(Influence 5)
Dr. Förster is fabulously, fabulously wealthy and Kraken Heavy Industries, the company for which he is the director and sole shareholder, employes one person out of every 3200 in the entire world, a number surpassed only by the US Department of Defense and the China Railway Engineering Corporation.  When he talks people listen.

(Cipher 4)
Information about Dr. Förster simply runs out at some point in time in the mid 90s.  As a private corporation, KHI files no documents with the SEC or any similar governmental organization.  As few chartered accountants erupt few have the wherewithal to plod through the labyrinth of offshore entities that is KHI's tax records.  Within the corporation, most truly important information is entrusted only to Dr. Förster's eidetic memory.  Thus, despite a tremendous volume of PR releases, the operations of KHI and Dr. Förster are largely riddles, wrapped in mysteries, inside enigmas.

List of Irrelevant Factoids:
The most popular KHI Confections product is a Black Forest cake that is both delicious and moist.
Most KHI science apparatus is made out of asbestos because it keeps out the rats.

Public Image (Media):
Gravitas was in the media more when he was part of T2M. Nowadays he's mostly off the pubic radar. He's still got a figure in the Generation 1 T2M action figures, and he occasionally makes public statements regarding some project he's working on, but usually he avoids the limelight. His public execution of Geryon has garnered mixed reactions, some laud the action, some claim he didn't go far enough (why isn't he taking out other nova radicals!?), and some denouncing the act as one of 'more senseless violence' in spite of the speech he gave before and after the event itself. It certainly demonstrated to the world that he sits towards the upper echelon of quantum power.
OOC Note: Gravitas suffers from a +2 difficulty penalty when interacting with baseline humans. Despite having low levels of all of the Mega-Socials, this tends to put a negative spin on his actions more often than not. While he can mitigate this effect in person, he cannot do so for recordings and broadcasts.

Reputation:
Gravitas is a professional and attempts to maintain a somewhat formal relationship with any partners in his research or construction projects. He's direct and forthright in his actions, if somewhat unpredictable and certainly inscrutable.

Ongoing Activities:
Space-based development remains a high priority for Dr. Abernathy. Everything from private and commercial space stations and satellites to ground and orbital telescopes and on toward asteroid mining and lunar colonization. He does not, notably, push toward Martian colonization, and when prompted on the topic states that the Moon and the rest of Earth should come first. Once the deserts and oceans are settled and potential colonization techniques have been perfected on the Moon, then Mars will be open.

He also gives semi-regular graduate lectures in general relativity and similarly advanced topics (sometimes even on topics outside of physics). Students and faculty that attend these lectures invariably learn a great deal and, as such, he's in high demand in this relatively small arena (and charges accordingly for his services).

Pet projects include advancing cybernetic prosthetic research (which he will sheepishly admit a certain personal interest in), specialized electronic hardware design, and attempts at novel realizations of sci-fi tropes from his childhood.

Finances: Resources 5
Quentin owns a number of valuable patents (and is issued more with fair regularity). These combine to generate a handsome sum of money. Some of that money he has aggressively invested into the stock market in order to generate sufficient capital to self-fund his research efforts. He keeps liquid assets in bank accounts all over the world, but especially in the US, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, China, and Japan.

Connections:
Ally 1 - Jack Clark acts as Quentin's personal assistant, scheduling lectures, high-level board meetings, and hiring accountants and such as needed. In practice, he does much of the administrative work related to the Master of Gravity's activities, including the handling of the licensing of his image and name.

Backing (Aberrants) 3
Gravitas works behind the scenes to facilitate and otherwise enable much of the group's activity, though he tries to keep himself out of the organization's spotlight, given his position within the Teragen.

Backing (Teragen) 5
As a founding member of the Teragen movement and a sitting member of its Pantheon, Gravitas enjoys substantial backing and rank within the organization.

List of Irrelevant Factoids:
Quentin was (and is) a Star Trek fan (he prefers Picard). (This is actually illustrated in that when he eventually manifested the ability to open wormholes, they ended up looking much like the one featured in Deep Space 9.)
Quentin was the first known human to stand on Saturn's moon Titan (which he also did without the aid of a space suit).
It is thought (though impossible to confirm for certain) that Quentin has been further from the Earth than any other native of the planet.
Quentin's pinky finger on his right hand is also a highly advanced flash drive.
The amount of gravitational force exerted by Quentin's body on his environment is almost three hundred thousand times stronger than it should be given his actual mass.
Quentin's favorite color is green.
Quentin personally reviews the applications for the annual scholarships he sponsors.

Other Information:
Sanctum 6 (Sanctum Sanctorum)
Gravitas has a base on Mars which acts as a combination home-away-from-home and personal hyper-advanced research lab. It has room for many people to work at once, though typically the only residents are him and close personal friends (who are often in chrysalis).

Public Image (Media):
Phantasm is a perfect media starlet.  Her rare talks with the media show her to be a vapid but well-meaning young rebellious follower who is always ready to support the latest liberal social cause while wearing a fashionably unfashionable $10,000 outfit.  Her time with T2M gets occasional press, but her more daring filmed exploits are seen as the height of her abilities rather than cluing people in that there might be more to her.

Reputation:
Strange.  Surprisingly capable, driven, and convincing.  Still strange though, except when she’s using the constructs, then she’s just downright creepy.  Kind of like that girl from the ring if she were Mickey in Fantasia.  And for people that aren’t friends, that’s the way she likes it.

Ongoing Activities:
Phantasm’s movie and music career still gets the occasional time, but for the most part she is letting her fame perpetuate itself.   She goes out one or two nights a week to be seen with all the right people in all the right places.  She spends the rest of her time helping with the new underground movement, making key contacts among the nova elite, and laying the groundwork for the major conflicts she sees coming.   Since she can process dozens of streams of data simultaneously, she is usually multitasking with OpGlasses or a specially modified KHI MP3 player in her ears, entertaining herself with endless streams of pop culture drivel.

Finances:
(Resources 5)
Phantasm began investing her significant Utopia salary the day she hired on, and she quickly marketed herself to the pop counter-culture machine.  She has her own lines of clothing, makeup, toys, perfume, shoes, portable electronics, snack foods, video games, stationary, cereal, art supplies, candles, pet toys, home décor, wine coolers, bed linens, and messenger bags in addition to her music and movie royalties.  She knows the popularity can’t last though, and has already started investing in the infrastructure that supports her product lines and is looking for the next big nova to take her place.

Connections:
(Nothing)
For all her social maneuvering, Phantasm is an island.  She has no close friends or contacts beyond her former teammates, and she eschews allegiance to any organizations.

List of Irrelevant Factoids:
-Has an aging, terribly burned cat that she rescued from a shelter and treats to a pampered existence.
-Favorite music: Techno, at 10x speed.
-Unsurprisingly loves horror movies; surprisingly horrified by dramas.
-Favorite movie she starred in: remake of “Pretty in Pink” with nova teenagers.
-Has watched every episode of every sitcom ever made, but refuses to watch any reality TV.  It's soul-crushingly depressing.
-Consumed the “souls” of at least 5 nova victims… They’re still chained up inside her mindscape.
-Hates anything made of wool.  It chafes.
-Has a hidden crush on Hell Kraken: he’s just so competent and alien.
-Spends the time between people’s words contemplating how the conversation would play out in various movies.
-Favorite color is white: it always looks good clean, but when it isn’t clean the mess is always artfully displayed.

Public Image (Media):
The media doesn't know what to make of Daphne just yet. She is aloof and often hides behind Laura. She is often referred to as Serenade's little shadow. When they manage to get a glimpse of Daphne alone she comes off as a sweet youth with little to say. Mostly because she smiles and says nothing.

Reputation:
Few people have met Daphne. Still those who meet her find her genial and sweet. They often speak about how they feel like they've known her their whole lives.

Ongoing Activities:
Daphne spends much of her time just trying to figure out where she fits in this strange new world. She is still unsure of what to spend her time doing. She often follows Serenade around to meetings and concerts.

Finances:
(Resources 0)
Since running away from home Daphne hasn't really had any resources, though she really doesn't need much. Her few needs are provided by Laura. Though Daphne has been spending some time looking for something to do in order to try and repay her new found friend for her kindness.

Connections: (For social backgrounds only, no nova backgrounds)
(Mentor 5)
Daphne has found a friend in Laura, but she is still looking for someone to teach her what it is to be a nova. How to use what she has been given and more importantly something to believe in. Laura can help give her the confidence to be more than a lost girl, but she lacks that person to show her what it means to truly live.

List of Irrelevant Factoids:
Daphne loves big band music, especially jazz and blues.
Nat King Cole is her favorite musician and considers him the best Jazz Pianist of all time.
Daphne usually tells people pink is her favorite color, but only those closest to her know it is actually white.

Public Image (Media):
Flare had been one of the more public faces in Utopia, after members began leaving T2M:A.  The Michaelist Wedding fiasco backfired for the terrorists, and the view of a broken Nova, bleeding and crying as she tried to find her sister's hand was in contention for the Pulitzer Prize.  She became a more 'human' face for novas.  Someone who was much closer to the baseline populace than many of the god-like beings.  Flare herself is largely unaware of this, as she has been trying to maintain a low profile.

Reputation:
Dependable in a fight and for her teammates, but definitely flaky in thought.

Ongoing Activities:
Flare is strongly interested in leaving Utopia.  She rarely takes initiative in large plans, even about her own future, and is currently searching for a new purpose.

Finances:
(Resources 4)
Flare has had a few attempts at fame, but nothing that made her a fortune.  Most of her money comes from endorsements for a few products and the willingness to show up for media events.

Connections: (For social backgrounds only, no nova backgrounds)
(Contacts 2)
Flare hales from a multi-generational family of police.  This, combined with healing several officers in police shoot-outs has led to her having favorable connections with the police.

Influence Media 2
Flare is quite willing to make appearances whenever the media have an event.  This has given her some influence, and allowed some of her indiscretions to be downplayed

List of Irrelevant Factoids:
-Flare is studying medicine.  She wants to have a medical degree to better use her healing powers with patients.  It has yet to occur to her than probably any hospital in the world would give her huge amounts of pay and clientelle to just use her healing powers.
-Flare is a terrible swimmer
-She is a major T2M:A fangirl despite being on the team, and has a few boxes of memorabilia in her apartment

Public Image (Media):
Joe is hardly on the media radar at all. His strange appearance isn't conducive to pitching products, something a terrible commercial with a limited run Joe did for an Italian seafood fast food chain proved fairly concisely.

Still, he's fairly well known in certain circles with concerns at sea, though thanks to working through his partner Terri he often never meets any of the people involved face to face. Unfortunately for Joe even in those circles he's definitely regarded as something of a screw-up by the major corporate interests that have done their homework, and strained working relationship stories from the people who've insisted on working closely with him have made a mark too. On the other hand, his special skills in sorting and recognizing oceanographic microorganisms make him something of a go to specialist for certain projects, and he's credited with discovering or assisting in discovering a dizzying array of new additions to the modern encyclopedia of things like plankton.

Reputation:
It's very, very hard for baselines to feel comfortable on any level with Joe. His strange appearance alone would be off-putting, but he's also not particularly skilled in interpersonal relationships and he also constantly emits a low level of a pheromone that the most charitable description of as "like that scene before the killer pops out of the dark in the horror movie and everyone knows it's coming, but all the time, in the daylight, just from being around the guy." That being said, he's noted as a dedicated worker with very little complaints or demands except for his insistence on a well-lit working space. He works very cheaply compared to other Novas, and he doesn't tend to force himself into situations or come with a lot of baggage compared to some.

Terri has a less polite reputation, at best, and some people of a more feminist bent have looked askance at Joe and Terri's relationship at times; but given the alternative of dealing with Joe face to face or Terri, most people would choose Terri every time.

Ongoing Activities:
Joe has spent most his life, Nova or otherwise, at sea. Even though he's not as intrinsically linked with the ocean as some Novas are, he still spends so much time aboard his yacht or commuting between salvage and research vessels that few people ask him to do much besides ocean-related activities. Joe specializes in solo deep sea exploration and salvage, far away from the coasts and deeper than is cost efficient for most baseline technology to carry them in a real working environment. Joe's helped identify wrecks and retrieve black box recorders, as well as oil rig repair (though in truth, with his new senses he finds oil prospectors at sea nearly intolerable.)

In his free time Terri has convinced Joe to use his command over microorganisms to coax such things into mediums for sorting, naming and study. He admires less rudimentary sea life, but the same issues Joe has dealing with baseline humans mean that even in the sea most of the sea life gives him a wide, respectful berth. Joe also isolates and sorts new baseline microorganisms he runs across, under the notion that someone else might be able to do something with them later. One summer Joe isolated 26 new strains of the common cold, just from a short vacation to Fiji that didn't agree with Terri.


Finances:
   Resources 2

Joe is nearly a pauper by some Nova's standards. Neither himself or Terri are terribly concerned with money beyond satisfying their means, and even when the occasional large paychecks make their way into their care they're both committed to various charitable causes like MADD, Greenpeace, etc. Joe's main investment is his sailing yacht, Sea Porter, which is rather larger than his finances might otherwise suggest but is A. Paid for and B. Joe and Terri's primary residence.

Connections:
   Follower 2 (Terri Easton)

Where Joe goes, Terri goes. Joe is the puddin' to Terri's codependent masochistic   Harley Quinn. Joe needs Terri to interface with baselines, and Terri needs Joe for the pain and terror that washes away her past.

Irrelevant Factoids:

• Joe played linebacker in high school, but his grades and general bad attitude precluded college.
  
• Both Joe and Terri are former alcoholic and substance abusers. Joe's been clean since his eruption made such activities impractical or impossible, but Terri is still plagued by her inner demons.
  
• Joe has six siblings.
  
• Has recently become enamored of tennis.
  
• Has spent a small fortune on his comic book collection, and has a storage unit in Hong Kong filled with meticulously maintained boxes of the periodicals.
  
• Everything Joe eats now tastes like chicken with gravy, except for avocados and peaches.
  
• Has a phobia of the dark.
  
• Favorite musician is Aimee Mann, and he has an autographed picture of the artist above his bed.
  
• Secretly wishes he could have a cat, but animals hate him and so he declares he doesn't like animals.
  
• Tuesdays are roleplay night on the Yacht, and it's much less kinky than he's willing to admit to most people.
  
• His yacht is named after David Dixon Porter.

This message was last edited by the player at 21:36, Thu 19 Sept 2013.

Public Image (Media):
Baroness has worked quite hard to avoid much media exposure. When she has, it has always been under an assumed name (the most common being Roselyn Hill but others have included Katarina Sullivan and Morgan Golding.) Her most frequent appearances are in tabloids where she was photographed with a political figure or celebrity at some event or another. Often there includes such captions as "Singer-Songwriter Adam Nation seen talking to mysterious Nova," or "CEO Executive and Senator hopeful Richard Dunton caught with Nova. Is his marriage safe?!" It is more common for her to be caught in the background of photos of persons of power or celebrity. Her Copycat ability means she has rarely been caught as herself, but even with that she is usually painted as simple arm-candy or seductress (that is, when they aren't using the word home-wrecker.)

Reputation:
Reserved, Proper, and more than a little Devious. Even those closest to her feel a distance. Given the amount of secrets she has about herself, and her webs of connection she's built up, any given person feels like they don't know everything about her. She doesn't come across as untrustworthy per-say. Just that she's a little shifty.
Socially she adheres to etiquette and is almost never openly impolite. She doesn't pander and while that may be off-putting to those who fall out of her circle, those within take it as a sign of respect. She has been known to show cracks in the cool facade regarding her vanity, either from praise or slight.

Ongoing Activities:
Baroness's main activity up until recently, as she has been trying to integrate more into Nova society, has been to work as a consultant for corporations looking for that politicking edge. Most have been up-and-coming technology firms who are looking to get a leg up in the ruthless and crowded field. Her manipulative abilities have made her ideal for infiltration of rival businesses from her employers at all levels, to more open acts of coercion, to simple advice on advertising and office management. She'll often play many fields at once, the game being to see how many sides she can play off one another so that they all believe they've won. She has pulled back from it some in order to delve into the Nova world which she had avoided immediately after her eruption in order to flex her new muscles and reinvent herself.

Finances:
(Resources 4)
She was able to amass a sizable stockpile through her work with various companies. She would then continually reinvest into them while  assuring their continued growth. Some might accuse her of insider trading (she knew which company was going to have a sudden lucrative deal and which was going to have an early upset and cheap stocks before finding a competitive edge) but given that it is essentially her "work" that causes these fluctuations, it becomes difficult territory. She keeps herself in a comfortable lifestyle but avoids unnecessary displays of wealth. She prefers to keep the majority of her wealth either in circulation of investment or hard assets like gold and silver, art and antiques. Not only does she find it helps divert attention but she also finds such assets ideal for "sensitive" deals where she doesn't want to leave an obvious trail.

Connections:
(Contacts 3)

Field: Business-- Caroline Shubert; Executive Director of Pangia Images, a multinational image consulting firm's networking and new market division. Caroline was one of Baronness's previous employers and has the nova to thank for her current position. It wasn't that she wasn't well suited for the position, she was in fact incredibly intelligent and goal oriented--she just didn't quite have the expertise for manipulation. After she was set up as the CEO's confidant (mysteriously seeming to enjoying everything that was near and dear to him) the previous executive was found embroiled in a salacious sex scandal that found him removed from the position. She has knowledge and influence across many different types of baseline businesses including their practices and long-term goals.

Utopia-- Henry Castwell; Nova Research lab assistant. Once Baronness had erupted and before she managed to find other areas of employment, she was briefly in contact with Project Utopia. During which she underwent examination as to the extent of her powers. And--wouldn't you know, a lowly, slightly awkward nova lab assistant found himself rather attracted to her. Of course he was and is well aware of her manipulative abilities---but she put considerable time into getting to know him. His  abilities are entirely delegated to having incredibly fast speed regarding data management which made him exceedingly useful as an assistant, but rather lowly compared to the mega-intelligence surrounding him. He was still nova though and his baseline colleagues always had a certain distance. So the attention of a woman like Baroness, even under manipulation, was welcome. She continues to keep in touch and it makes him rather valuable regarding at least some of the inner workings of Project Utopia.

Politics-- Bradly Lancaster; American Diplomat. Baroness found her way into Bradly's life early on after her eruption. It was when she was testing the limits of her ability to get close to figures of power. She got wind that he was in the city on a layover and she found her way into his hotel bar. Normally such a figure would be under a great deal of scrutiny to avoid any nova compromising but she knows discretion as well as overt manipulation. She got herself a number of "one-on-one" sessions with the man and her other...talents had him quite happy to speak to her a little more freely than he necessarily should. While she hasn't openly manipulated him, and is wary to do so or risk losing him as a contact, she has found him to be quite informative in the current sphere of baseline politics.

(Ally 2)
A particularly nasty low-level nova named "Harvest Moon" who she has "employed" on a number of occasions (she has used more than a little of her manipulative talents to get exceptional discounts. He views her as a close friend. She views him as a pawn) for the more blatant underhanded activities that she has needed done. She keeps him on a monthly stipend, even when she isn't actively employing him, just to keep him out of trouble when she doesn't need him.

(Cipher 3)
Baroness has worked very hard to protect her history and identity. Given her manipulative abilities she has managed to duplicate and forge a whole slew of false records about herself. While she has not been able to entirely eliminate the truth, she has created an impressive web of false leads in the hope that she can confuse anyone curious long enough for her to find out who's looking and how to---redirect their interest.


List of Irrelevant Factoids:
Favorite color is black. It's so elegant!
She secretly collects pig figurines.
She's a little obsessed with false objects. As in her apartment opens up into a space that looks like a very tiny, sparsely decorated studio apartment. When in reality it's little more than a stage set. She spent an obscene amount of money to work in false doorways that open up into the various rooms of the several apartments she has purchased. Almost nothing is just what it seems. False books, foldaway beds and tables, false sockets, false drawers, one-way mirrors. None are actually filled with anything incriminating, but she amuses herself by filling them with strange or misleading items for the reactions. This extends to her jewelry and clothing that often have hidden compartments.
She is not fond of animals. And not just because she loves her fur coats.
She loves junk food and is the only thing she legitimately hides around her home.
She still maintains an aggressive dental hygiene routine.
She plays dress-up with her homunculi all the time.
Hates driving, plain yogurt, and stuffed animals.

Other Information:
She keeps her real name a secret for a reason. Being called Lorelei or any version of it will make her infuriated. Like, cut your pretty face infuriated.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:22, Tue 24 Sept 2013.

Public Image (Media):
Comstock's public image has gone through the wringer several times over the years, giving wildly divergent public images.  To his fans and supporters, he's a heroic, charismatic man who has made a genuine difference in his home city and around the world through philanthropy, hard-fighting and public works.  To his critics, he's also a reckless hot-shot with an ego that demands he put his name on buildings and monuments, ramble on with naive speeches, and generally lack any kind of political savvy.  The problem here is that Comstock hired a self-interested agent and never really wanted to cooperate with her efforts to build a media presence, and so others have projected onto Comstock whatever positive or negative qualities the public sees in nova-kind as a whole.  However, there’s one thing no one argues: Comstock prefers to do things hands-on.  No vacations across the world, no fancy cars, and no delegating.

Reputation:
Beyond the public reputation for philanthropy and shilling for his home state of Nevada, Comstock’s nova reputation may be summarized in three adjectives: tough, genuine, reliable.  These qualities and his powerful idealism carried him to leadership even when there were more charismatic and capable people available.  These qualities also landed him with a potent reputation among Elites and socialites for being a rigid, by-the-book bore.  There are very few individuals in some rarified circles that have seen him loosen up, and generally those individuals know him well enough to realize how his insecurities define him.  The sly and vicious know that calling him a “wind-up toy” or “tool” can rile him up, but that he’s as likely to lash out as he is to just clamp his brain shut and check-out emotionally for a time.

Ongoing Activities:
Comstock used to build shelters, help with Las Vegas construction projects, fund-raise for hospitals, and put computers and new resources in schools for kids via the Amargosa Charitable Trust.  By 2008, however, he’s turned the Trust over to his agent to continue managing and vanished off the public scene.

Vigilantism and Vigilance occupy most of his time now.  The fledgling organization needs safe houses, private air strips, money and other resources, which Comstock diligently accumulates.  Out of control novas need to be thwarted, Utopia needs to be checked, and vulnerable novas need to be protected.  Comstock still wanders the streets of Las Vegas and its suburbs when he has time, just to patrol and thwart anything that strikes him as out of the ordinary.  He also, somehow, still puts in three days a month on the moon working for the corporate interests behind Luna Colony, though the method by which he gets there varies.

Finances:
Resources 5
Comstock sunk most of his T2M money into the Amargosa Charitable Trust, and then found ways to make more money so he could help his adopted city develop.  He's done with all that now.  The Trust and the Foundation have been informally turned over to his controlling and spiteful agent, Laura Richards, and a managing board of Southern Nevada locals.  He no longer shills cars or tourism board videos.  He doesn't compete for prizes in the XWF.

And yet, he's still wealthy, amassing a new fortune inside a year to fund Vigilance through its infancy.  He’s worked hard -- he continues to collect paychecks from the Russian Conglomerate responsible for the moon base, and perform other exotic labor tasks for discrete and high paying individuals -- but he’s also cheated: he can permanently change one metal into another, and purchased three scrap yards in Nicaragua for raw materials to make gold, silver, tungsten, and other rarer, more valuable materials.  Most of these materials have been sold to KHI or the Luna Colony conglomerate at below market rates.

Connections:
Contacts 5
After Bahrain, Comstock wandered for a few months, coming to terms with recent events while simultaneously building something more stable and reliable from his old poker buddies and wartime accomplices.  These contacts have helped him put Vigilance together, and he’s careful not to ask too much of them.  Four out of five major contacts are presented here:

[Project Utopia] Senai Solomon, an Eritrean-born security officer for Project Utopia, was a feature at Dillon’s poker nights during the Equatorial Wars.  Today, he’s a spy for Vigilance in Addis Ababa, periodically reporting back everything he can dig up on Project: Utopia’s activities.  He’s just security, so there’s a limit on how much he can dig up, but Dillon is glad to have anyone still in the Utopia fold willing to give him the time of day.

[Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department] Capt. Jaime Stoermer, in charge of the LVPD Special Unit, is barely out of his probationary period as a lieutenant.  He knew Dillon back in school, before he erupted or went military, and Dillon reconnected with him when he needed help going vigilante.  A lot of cases fell right into Jaime’s lap thanks to Comstock and Flare’s efforts to clean up the streets, which in turn helped him climb the ranks.  Now he’s in charge of bringing in rogue novas and operating the LVPD’s armored drones, courtesy of KHI.  So long as Vigilance helps to keep Vegas clean, Jaime is willing to share information.

[Elites] Hydra, a Brazilian elite with seven years of success under her belt, has traded favors and information with Comstock in the past.  Generally, she comes out ahead in their arrangements, being more manipulative and mercenary than Comstock imagines and able to sell incidental information along to Anna DeVries or other contacts.  But Comstock finds it valuable to have an elite friend who can advise him of the latest trends in privatized nova warfare, so he tries not to mind too much when she gets more than her fair share of gold and glory.

[Central America] Carlos Luna, a nova philanthropist who founded his own international aid organization in 2001, has been a friend and business associate for Comstock since the Equatorial Wars.  He was always rather judgmental of Project Utopia and other meddling NGOs, but now that Comstock has shaken off the Utopia leash Luna has made himself more accessible in exchange for promises that Vigilance will look out for Luna’s people if they ever need it.

Backing [Vigilance] 5 Adversarial Background: Wanted 2
As the founder and commander of Vigilance, Comstock has near absolute authority within the small group and a great deal of public exposure.  He has designs for the future, as well, designs that have put him in the cross-hairs of more than a few governments and organizations around the world.  By mid-2008, after Vigilance completes its first “terrorist” acts, he is a wanted man.  Project: Utopia and the Directive know better than to mobilize strike teams or hit squads, but they also have every reason to make his life miserable and prevent him from using public resources.  The warrant for his arrest usually states something along the lines of “wanted for questioning, use extreme caution and immediately call for backup.”

List of Irrelevant Factoids:

• Dillon still tries to keep in touch with his family:
• His parents, Bob and Susan, have a nice house he built for them in Indian Springs, Nevada.  They raised Dillon Mormon, and though he does not precisely share their faith they are supportive of him.
• His older brother, Terrence Amargosa, was a protective overachiever, but did not handle Dillon’s eruption and subsequent success well.  Comstock gives him an allowance, which he has habitually wasted in an endless cycle of trying to put his life back together before falling into bad habits.
• His uncle, Jim Amargosa, lives in Cedar City, Utah and works with the Utah Shakespeare Company.
• His sister, Mary Allred, and one of her children were killed in a car accident by the Medellin Cartels to send a message.  Comstock tries to keep in touch with her husband, Joe Allred, and his five remaining children.  His two nephews and three nieces don’t have much time for Comstock, but the youngest, Katy, has made a full recovery thanks to Comstock’s money and Triton’s medical advances.
• In the year after Colombia, Comstock began a vigilante campaign in Las Vegas as a way to pass time and feel like he was doing some good.  He recruited Flare into his ‘hobby’ because of her family’s police background, and the two have developed a closer friendship with some unresolved tension.
• A nova-celebrity and model by the name of Lydia Divine has some sort of interest in Comstock, but he’s never loosened up enough to really reciprocate or puzzle it out.
• Though he’s reluctant to admit it, he works too much.
• He won a silver medal for the United States in weight-lifting at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Nova Division.
• He’s not actually very good at poker, despite his steely expression.
• He’s fond of basketball, but plays it less and less now that nova powers make it so easy.
• When pressured or in emotional turmoil, he tends to “lock-down”, his brain’s altered anatomy and psychic shielding leaving him emotionally cut-off and deadened.  He’s alternated between embracing this strange side-effect of his eruption and avoiding it out of fear that it’s making him an inhuman monster.
• Only recently has he deliberately exposed himself to mercury.  Dr. Zero gave him a vial of the stuff back in Training Camp, but he’s had a major fear that if he tried to emulate the material he would start poisoning the world around him.