Feel free to work on your character concept(s) here!

Super early preliminary ideas:

The Reformed: Individual trained under one of the Nautilian's lieutenants who broke rank with the flotilla to pursue personal wealth and glory.
The Transformed: Technopath created through less than ethical attempts to blend Cylien tech with the human form.
The Doomed: Individual whose powers appear to stem from a link with The Dark.
This message was last edited by the player at 06:19, Fri 23 July 2021.

All of those have potential, but the last one is tricky.

The Reformed: How long has this lieutenant been active independently? What kind of resources do they have? Are they still active now?

The Transformed: Who was behind those attempts, I wonder? And I suppose the changes go beyond simple technopathy, for this character to count as a Transformed?

The Doomed: I admit I am a little leery about such connections given that the Dark are meant to be a major setting mystery, and I wouldn't want to reveal too much about them too early. Then again, that mystery would need to be explored eventually anyway, and this could be a really cool angle to play with, both in that regard and in others. So to be clear, I am not forbidding this - it might just require some extra care on our part if you choose to go with it, though it can also be very rewarding. In any case, you say "appear" - so there is no certainty about the source? The character simply has some Dark-related abilities? Such as?
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:40, Fri 23 July 2021.

I was fairly sure that Doomed concept would cause problems so it's really no issue to cut it now rather than put a lot of thought into trying to reconcile any complications.

I said 'appear' both for a bit of a fudge (although that doesn't exactly work with the idea of a nemesis really) and because there was the natural contradiction of an unenhanced individual having become a locus for the power of beings who had previously appeared incapable of making such a connection. I didn't have any strong ideas but thought there might have been some kind of space there for explaining things away as actually not being The Dark and having the character discover in time that their approaching end was something other than what they'd been preparing for.

But yeah: shelving that one.

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The Reformed

Honestly I'm not totally sure how to properly answer some of these questions. I haven't got the best understanding of the timeline so it's a bit hard to make judgements about the Whens.

My thought was to frame this lieutenant as someone who had been serving their own interests on the quiet (perhaps piggybacking off their hard-earned authority and responsibilities) to put together a dark mirror of the Nautilian's own enterprise in miniature, seeking to break from their master's isolation and return to the days of high piracy. An effort like that would have be the work of years and likely involve some sympathetic allies to have any real hope of succeeding, thus certainly putting a fair amount of resources at their fingertips, and I'd think of them as having set down ties in piracy, smuggling and the like within the territory they'd laid claim to as well as having established their own pale imitation of the "Secret School," likely more mundane in nature than the original.

As for whether they're still active ... I don't know. Originally I'd considered this PC someone who'd been set on the path to reform after the fall of their previous master, but it could work just as well for them to still be at large as a future antagonist and presence, with perhaps the "When Our Team First Came Together..." only pointing to one of their underlings. Maybe they've just gone to ground (sea?), and while the PC was released from their control and given a second chance after an earlier operation the matter still hasn't been properly put to bed. Could go either way really depending on how we want to play things.

The Transformed

Who indeed!

I feel like this is a concept where you could really go either way: cruel experimentation or a bit more of a Cyborg scenario where things are more above board.

I mentioned Technopathy just to flag up the direction I was going, but I was thinking of taking things in a biomechanical body horror direction, with their implants being far from subtle and having grown beyond their initial scope in a manner that isn't the most pleasant to look at. Probably at least a little Giger.

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The Reformed is my preferred concept at this time.

One thing I was wondering (more to establish a tone and framework rather than in pursuit of any specific agenda):

One of the Moves for The Reformed concerns serious crimes committed in their past, and the options make it quite clear that these actions have a good chance of involving people being seriously injured. Now when I think of this particular playbook's archetype the characters who come to mind are people like Cassandra Cain and Rose Wilson, and those are both characters who had killed before taking a more heroic path. Naturally that leaves me wondering whether that's something I can consider integrating into this PC's backstory or if it has no place in this game given Masks' usual approach.

I'm not looking to play a character who kills while on the team, I'd just like to clear up whether it's part of my narrative toolbox to draw on for this character's past - and I might not do that even if permitted.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:56, Fri 23 July 2021.

Pretty much my thinking. There are some ways to play it, but... tricky.



The Nautilian went into hiding in the late 70s, towards the end of the War and a few years before the creation of New Atlantis. I don't really need an exact timeline, just trying to get the sense of how big a deal this person would've been to the rest of the world. Just another minor upstart who was active for a few years a while back is different from someone who terrorised the world from the War's end to this day. That would tend to affect how others see the character.

What sort of abilities are you thinking of for your character?

Re: killing (putting this here since it relates to this character), yeah, that's also tricky. It makes the most sense to allow that for Reformed than anyone else. After all, they are defined by having done very bad things on purpose in the past, but trying to be different now. (Compared to a Nova who could very well have killed people - but not on purpose.) On the other hand, it seems likely to seriously affect the tone of the game and everyone else's experience. After all, it would pretty much have to come up at some point.

On reflection, though, I would allow it - the requirement from the core book is that the character is not someone who "solves problems by killing" now. Also, considering the setting, sympathetic characters who have killed in the past are probably more of a given than they would be in a generic Masks game. Such themes might come up eventually anyway. So yes, you can use this tool if you think it works best for your concept, just be careful with it and be prepared for consequences. The examples you mentioned seem like a valid way of handling it (more so Cassandra since she had more extenuating circumstances and quit afterwards).



Got it. By Cyborg scenario you mean it was used to save the character's life when no other options were available? I could see something like that - the technology is far ahead of Earth's, and does include tools for cybernetic conversion (that may or may not have been properly calibrated for humans, at that). Study of it is heavily restricted by law pretty much everywhere - only the governments and groups with special permissions from governments are supposed to do it, and then in maximally safe conditions. Of course, some do it on the sly anyway...

It could also just be an accident from illicit research, really. Something might have activated on its own and no one could stop it from converting the character due to insufficient precautions.

Okay, so what's coming to mind (RE: The Reformed) is this:

When the Nautilian excused herself from the global scene it led to a schism in her organisation - short term, a year or two max after their disappearance. One (or perhaps more) of her lieutenants and their followers broke away with the intention of taking their skills, resources and technology and using them to return to the glory days when the sea was theirs to rule. While this faction did have a figurehead leader it lacked for true unity, and many of its captains and seneschals were as much concerned, if not more so, with carving out their own petty kingdoms as strengthening the whole. They made a menace of themselves for perhaps the better part of a decade, but eventually internal power struggles and concerted actions by the former Allies led to a beheading. The faction splintered without that veneer of common leadership and went a thousand different ways, some elements being eliminated in short order while others clung on and solidified powerbases that still exist today.

The PC was shaped in the system that came about in the aftermath of this, a child abducted and put through a crude recreation of the ‘schools’ that had once existed under the Nautilian. She was a favoured prospect of the organisation's former head, and following their death remained in the custody of their loyalists, being shaped into a weapon meant as much to target the operations of former allies as more standard fare. So in that sense she never truly acted as a threat in her own right under a genuinely big name; her villainous days were under one of the more powerful blocs born of the organisation that really held the world's eye - powerful but a small fish in a big pond.

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I'm certainly going to be going with either Weapons and Martial Expertise or Ferromancy. Right now I'd probably lean towards the latter as it helps explain both why they were taken and favoured.

I think it's unlikely I'll make this character someone who has killed. It wouldn't be totally unfitting but I don't think it's at all necessary.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:21, Sat 24 July 2021.

All that makes sense - and establishing that there are active technopirate groups out there could be a very useful hook for an island setting.

Could you elaborate on how you envision ferromancy? Not just metal manipulation but some form of magic?

Sorry, that was a mistake on my part. My brain wants to say Ferromancy when I still mean Ferrokinesis like in the Playbook; I wasn't trying to take things in a different direction.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:34, Sat 24 July 2021.

Ah, I see. Still, that's curious in another way - some people might draw comparisons with the Steel Caudillo, given his similar superpower. Might just be a coincidence, of course, but that would never stop anyone.

That had actually gone completely under my radar; I'm guilty of only skimming the section on the Warlords beyond those who immediately grabbed my attention. Certainly makes sense in-universe as another hook to explain why someone might be willing to make a big investment in a kid with these powers and work to mold them into a willing follower, and it's definitely a comparison I can see being thrown their way, yeah.

I'm thinking that the PC is someone from a region that was still deeply unstable in the wake of WW3 - perhaps a refugee or orphan of a local conflict - who had been (very cautiously) using their nascent powers as just another tool to help them get by, doing their best to stay under the radar and avoid any unwelcome attention that might come with being special. Naturally they failed to do so in the long run (perhaps being caught trying to steal from someone with ties to the organisation or using them to defend themselves or another) and found themselves uprooted and dragged into a new life.

I quite like the idea that their relationship with the original 'big bad' was a positive one, if distant. They only really knew them through circumstances deliberately framed to present a kindly and understanding air, with any questions about their business and ways spun to emphasise concepts like freedom, family, and the deeds necessary to survive (nay, thrive) in a world gone mad. Whether their relationship would have stayed so sunny in the long-term never truly came up given the pirate lord's untimely death. Instead it merely gave their successor ammunition to push the PC in darker directions - anger, grief, revenge. Take as they have taken from you.

So to be clear, the original boss was the pirates' figurehead?

Were there others put through the training system? Were they allowed to socialise? That could be an interesting NPC hook.

Also, the character just trained under the original boss, but the successors put them to work? The Redeemed has to have done at least something to count as an ex-villain, I think - just training to be a superpirate wouldn't be enough.

So to be clear, the original boss was the pirates' figurehead?

Yes, sorry if that's got a bit hazy.

My intention is to have the PC as someone who was once connected to a genuine upper-mid tier villain (but never directly acted as a villain under them specifically) so that they can have that complicated element of still having positive feelings towards someone who the world views in no uncertain terms as a bad person. There are aspects of the PCs personality and worldview that were shaped by their relationship with a (somewhat) principled villain which left them open to an ideology built on harming others, to being abused and weaponised by those with looser principles, and ultimately to finding an angle on the world which let them take a more heroic position of their own.

Were there others put through the training system? Were they allowed to socialise? That could be an interesting NPC hook.

Yes.

The PC is someone who was picked up and brought into the system early (probably at something like 12-13) after displaying her powers, and were it not for the Boss' intervention it's not totally clear what might have become of her - there wasn't a standard protocol and some parties weren't keen on retaining a literal child for years with the added complication of powers. At the Boss' will she was effectively 'adopted' and to be given a chance to grow into her powers and circumstances alongside a looser regimen for a number of years, and while this was hardly without its own share of problems it certainly did help with her both coming into a better understanding of her gifts and finding a true sense of belonging and loyalty towards the enterprise. Some people took to calling her "Little sister" in time.

As for the program itself, it was really quite a scattershot thing. The Nautilian had always played her cards close to her chest, and that meant that the inner workings of many of her systems still weren't really known even to those who had been in her inner circle. Without defectors from within the secret facility to flesh out a training program or established ties to return to the days of sourcing stock from the witch hunts, the Boss and their underlings had largely returned to more traditional recruitment rather than seeking out those with extraordinary gifts. There were exceptions of course but those were more opportunistic pick-ups than the norm. Even putting aside the challenge in acquiring willing and stable recruits with powers or magical talent, any necessary facilities and knowledge would have to be built around them rather than ... however the Nautilian had managed such things.

The PC would have been rubbing shoulders with others - overwhelmingly without powers - who were her elders pretty much as a rule. Certainly she was kept on a short leash early on, but in time came to be at the very least begrudgingly accepted; she learned very quickly not to make trouble.

It’s not at all implausible that she had, say, a mentor (or someone who assumed that role) with powers, and certainly in later years as she got into her mid-late teens she’ll have been working with peers, although I imagine things might have become quite a bit more strict by then. There’s definitely room to establish NPC characters from her previous existence.

Also, the character just trained under the original boss, but the successors put them to work? The Redeemed has to have done at least something to count as an ex-villain, I think - just training to be a superpirate wouldn't be enough.

Once again, sorry if this hasn’t been very clear up to this point.

The idea I’ve been working with (which I’m very open to changing if it’s too unwieldy!) is that the PC was originally brought into the organisation under the original Boss and began preliminary training after a bit of an easing in period, not quite being treated with kid gloves but certainly being given time to find her feet. Though this ramps up over time, she’s never committed to a situation that demands she act as an actual combatant under the Boss. It’s only after their death, as the new regime looks to reassert itself, that things go a bit more Red Room. It certainly helps that she’s more than a little motivated to chase some retribution of her own.

During the handful of years before the present day she certainly cut her teeth in the theater of villainy writ large.

That all makes sense to me. I wouldn't worry about things being unwieldy. After all, she moved on from that life in any case, and I could introduce elements from it as the situation might merit it. But the more I have to work with, the better.

So, what exactly was with the pirates' ideology? I would guess it's "us, together, against the world", but the original boss also frowned on unnecessary cruelty and maybe even struck alliances with poorer coastal communities while preying on the rich and defying the lawful authorities (i.e. the old school pirate play book, which of course also makes good pragmatic sense), while the successors threw all those things out of the window in favour of more ruthless conduct? Or did they also start treating people within their "family" worse, using them as disposable tools?

[This probably gets a bit rambly. Sorry in advance.]

I’d say that sounds about right.

I’m inclined to think of them as more like a crime family (or perhaps a number of families) operating beneath an overboss. One of the criticisms of the Nautilian that first arose during WW3 and played into the splintering of her organisation in its aftermath was her refusal to take more. The rebels who parted ways with her at least partially represented those who had wanted to claim more territory and wealth for themselves, inflict greater losses on their enemies, and enjoy more independence rather than binding themselves to their leader’s mysterious grand designs. They absolutely were ruthless, but there was also (at least initially) a common vision that they could rebuild their empire in a way that would be stronger without the Nautilian choking individual ambitions.

Over time that doesn’t exactly hold up. Conflicting visions, personal greed, distrust and betrayal – it all makes any kind of oversight from above difficult to enforce.

On paper there’s a spirit of "us, together, against the world" and the understanding that alignment and loyalty is the best defence against outside threats or internal schism, but in practice those with power all have their own powerbases and blocs that drift further from group identity over time. When people have licence to live by their own rules it only gives them cause to resent any efforts to influence their actions, whether that be for the greater good or to reign in any ‘problem’ elements. It’s this which eventually leads to the cycle of deposing the boss of bosses, though in a far less respectful manner than the Nautilian was allowed.

I would frame the Boss under whom the PC was recruited as someone who understood the value of being both loved and feared. They were certainly capable of being cruel and callous enough to excel in their field and command respect, but at the same time they believed that it was important those close to you genuinely trusted you – more than the Nautilian had ever granted her own inner circle. They weren’t strictly a better person than their peers, but they thought (especially as the years went by) that the best way to avoid getting a knife in your back was to make sure people near you had your back. The rest of the world can burn, but my own are my family and I’ll always do right by them.

Their successor(s) stray from this not because they’re worse people but because of circumstance. With foreign powers breathing down their neck and civil war at hand they didn’t have the breathing space to take things easy and pushed everything to a war footing, changing tact from playing peacemaker and looking to hold things together to cutting out the rot before it could spread any further. That air of family evaporates because in that power struggle as survival at any cost becomes more important than that terms on which they survive.

I kinda like the idea that the reason the PC had a good relationship and sense of understanding with the Boss was the result of their past. They understood what it meant to live a life where you did whatever necessary to protect the things important to you, and the Boss presented them with this idea that you can’t change the world – the threats are too many and great, and more powerful people have tried and failed – so you seek strength for the sake of your own. Through family and shared purpose you can move beyond just surviving and seek to thrive and prosper instead, no matter what the world throws at you.

[insert your own Vin Diesel meme here]

In the time that follows that idea becomes impossible to hold onto. Power and vengeance are satisfying and sustaining in their own way and there’s still a sense that darker deeds are being done in the name of holding everything together, but any sense of heart’s gone out of it. She has become a mere tool and weapon; she is just surviving, not seeking more. It eats at her, and in the end it leaves fertile ground for differing viewpoints once she’s removed from that environment.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:05, Sun 25 July 2021.