NPC Stable

[Winger]

Theory: Stash all NPC's here, with NPC campus location.

[Winger]

Center Campus > Library/Computer > Librarian/Media Specialist

Miss Phyllis is well dress, soft spoken, short, slightly round, with an subtle but unmistakable w-lisp, and 'the glasses.' Arts Education degree in the 60's, she is every bit prim and proper, but is absolutely unphased by any level of teen shenanigans. The nerdiest librarian's pets, and most befriended faculty eventually get to see her early photo journalism, her photos from Isle of Wight on her Seagul 4 camera, and can piece together her resilience is because she's been there, done that.

She herds the book-bunker-social-refugees and autistic-spectrum-ocd savants in keeping the vast garden of knowledge tended. She could easily have a photographic memory for all the legends about her. Anyone can point at the still intact dewey decimal card catalog she typed most of herself as an explanation for her knowing of practically ever book ever. But sometimes it feels completely irrational, statistically impossible even, that she 'was just reading an article that might help, just the other day, oh where was that?' and walks straight to the deep, mysterious microfiche archives and pull it out the most obscure, profound clue ever.

Her dried cherry cacao nib brownies at fundraisers and holiday parties are legendary. And a very few adult staff have discovered her off-campus life having a wine at deep eclectic concerts.

[Winger]

East > Stables

Cindy is a platinum blonde haired, blue eyed, Heidi-braids, warm-smile, living definition of the word 'stout.' Hearing impaired without her aides. Breathiest, feathery voice, and not actually that tall, but anyone seeing her command of the animals, and her crew, and just her presence, kind of assumes if a percheron fell over, she'd just pick it up and put it on its feet again. She insists that everyone who visits make time, at least once, to spend a morning grooming the horses for themselves. It's also character building the first time a horse steps on your foot. She appreciates dressage, but is more of a lasso trick, let kids-ride-at-the-county-fair kind of girl herself.

Her husband, Chip, is around sometimes, but more often tending to cattle somewhere far enough away to warrant using an ultralight to commute.

[Hexx]

Center > Main Classroom Building > Literature/Creative Writing Instructor

Ms. Finch, aka "The Savage" is a source of terror to any student wanting to focus on literature studies. Before accepting this post, she was a critic for the New York Times, and she sees no reason to mollycoddle the students just because of their age. She is particularly noted and feared for her backhanded compliments: "Excellent use of white space; next time, see if you can do something with the rest of it."

She believes that you have no business writing unless you have something to say, and that if you cannot write well, then it doesn't matter what you do have to say; all creative writing assignments are thus graded on the lower of those two standards.

Ms. Finch is a classic of the thin-lipped, dour-faced schoolmarm type, dressing conservatively even by the standards of the Academy staff, down to a pair of prince-nez on a chain. She is often seen outside the building, in the area for faculty who smoke, drawing on cigarillos mounted in an ivory holder.

[Hexx]

West Campus > Dorms > Student

Alexis Monaghan is kindly, nurturing, and optimistic. She also has the misfortune of being Kat's roommate. Alexis i's planning on becoming a veterinarian when she grows up, and already volunteers at a local humane society shelter. The slightly plump strawberry blonde tries to make friends but, well, Kat puts up walls faster than Romulus and Remus. About the only thing that gets Kat's notice and semi-approval is Alexis' musical taste--Kat is shocked into genuine laughter the first time Alexis cranks up the Sex Pistols loud enough to get Tamar coming by to gently chide them to be considerate to their hallmates. It's not enough to bond over, just yet, but they can at least tolerate one another's company when the radio is cranked up just below the limit.

Alexis makes friends easily with most people, so having Kat as a roommate challenges her, but she's able to develop a social circle that doesn't include her roomie.

[Volo]

Dave Clanika Evening Senior Librarian. (I do not have a bunch of stuff on him)
An academic and prolific reader. Dave can often be found at the central library from 2 pm through closing at 8 pm. While his Masters is an a Librarian Dave is also a big history buff and polymath who studies and reads as much as he can.

[Hexx]

Off-Campus > Known Heroes > Ex-Guardian Mutants

The Gardener was not only a mutant, he was also probably one of the most politically vocal members of the Guardians while he was on their roster, constantly deriding Western nations for their anti-environmental and anti-conservation policies. He probably would've been pushed out of the group before the current wave of anti-mutant sentiment because of his abrasive attitude towards both governments and corporations (including those who spend a lot of money sponsoring the Guardians), if it weren't for the fact that he was also one of the more powerful members--he can control plants, command and summon animals and turn the weather on his opponents. Since his ouster, he's gone quiet, occasionally showing up to protect Greenpeace ships and other environmental activists who skirt the law in the course of their protests. Of course, this has only fed anti-mutant prejudice in some parts of the political spectrum.

Kat regards his ouster as proof that the Guardians care more about public relations than actually doing things.

[Winger]

Off Campus > Known Villians

Nanotu was liked, but rarely a star. "Nano-tubing," shrinking and borrowing had incredible medical and precision uses, but didn't wow the cameras.

When the failsafes froze in Reactor 2, going underneath it to open the valve was quickly calculated as a suicide mission, unless an untested theorem of microscopically hiding between graphene layers proved true.

With the teams helplessly monitoring outside, Nanotu tunneled in from the drain shell to the frozen plug under the core. Minutes later the plug broke, the vessel drained, and the worst fate was averted.

No one saw Nanotu again. The zone was stabilized. The truth came out that any number of steps could have averted the meltdown, but the executives refused to lose personal face.

One by one, across Japan, executives would tell their spouses of a terrible nightmare, seeing a disfigured corpse watching them at night. Eventually they would relax and finally sleep.

The next morning the spouse would wake to the sizzling and pops and stench of their husband irradiated beyond death. And eventhough the spouse was untouched inches away, the entire building would be condemned as a radioactive hazard and their family could never return.

[Winger]

Off Campus > Known Retired Heroes > WWII Liberty League

Seaman Dutch was actually Chief Petty Officer Kimble, but in WWII, he was The Little Dutch Boy (who stuck his finger in the dike) (and every other entendre), in the headlines of the hero of a sinking ship.

3000 men thanked him for their lives when their Essex-class aircraft carrier took a torpedo to a boiler.

The next moment, Kimble expanded like a blowfish as a giant rubber stopper filling the room and plugging the hole.

Random parts of his body still show the burns, and he never forgot the men he crushed or suffocated in that room, but he held his shape for a week till they reached land saving everyone else aboard.

He served a tremendous career using his strength and expansion to lift collapsed bridges, open tunnels, and hold up burning buildings while victims escaped.

Now in his 90s, he doesn't expect the young generations to remember him in history class, but he still attends conventions and enjoys the crowds and stories.

Since he was out of the limelight long before the controversy, and there were such colorful legends about his deal with Poseidon, or surviving a classified military experiment, that by simply not denying them, he slid under the radar of mutant persecution.

[Highlander]

Off Campus > Legendary Hero or Villian?

There are old stories told in places like Transylvania and other places in Romania of a fallen Knight. He fought well in the Crusades and stood valiantly against the Hordes of Ghangis Khan. It would seem he was immortal until the day he succombed to hatred and killed a man who was beating his wife.

Whatever power that had sustained him through numerous years, decades, and even centuries suddenly left the Knight. He became a shadow of himself as evil replaced the good that was in him. There by earning the title of Knight Shade.

Legend has it that he is trying to atone for his one misdeed, now multiplied. The power that replaced his immortality has made him into a shadow. As a shadow he can become another person's shadow, being able to mirror a person in everyway. Many people have died, victims to their ownselves. The Knight Shade remains at the scene of the murders/suicides until the victim is found. While the body is awaiting discovery, the Knight stands there as a shadow of himself.

[Freemage]

Off Campus > The Block > Known Villan

The Masque, aka David Wilmington, aka Prisoner #546287C, was a longtime, if peripheral, member of the Guardians for several years. He has the power to alter his shape, but only to other human-ish forms. Prior to the incidents that led to him becoming an inmate at the supervillain detention center known as the Block, he was the group's go-to for tasks where infiltration was more important than beating someone's head in. And, of course, he was often the group's undercover man (or woman, when needed), going in and gathering intel to permit the Guardians to hit criminal cabals from all angles at once. Due to the nature of his work, he only rarely was involved with the public side of the group, but he was fine with that, and was close friend to many of the Guardians.

Then came the Gateway Arch incident. A group of terrorists had taken over the observation deck, demanding a number of political concessions in exchange for the lives of the hostages--which, unbeknownst to anyone at the time, included Masque's younger sister, Diane. As there was no chance of anyone entering unnoticed, Masque was not part of the team dispatched to deal with the situation; instead, it was Iron Angel and Power Man who were called in, as they are both fliers who can come in from above (the terrorists' one blind spot) and punch through in a blitz attack, if needed.

It was Peter Venta who made the official call--no negotiating with terrorists. This was both standard operating procedure in general, and was by-the-book for the situation at hand, where it was believed the terrorists were minimally armed, and could thus be overwhelmed before getting many, if any, shots fired into the hostages. Iron Angel and Power Man accepted his decision, and took the place by storm. Unfortunately, no one knew that about half the hostages had been set up with explosive charges on a deadman switch. As it turned out, many of the necklaces were faulty--either they failed to detonate at all, or simply didn't have enough oomph for the intended decapitation effect. Diane Wilmington was one of these. However, the shock of the concussive force was bad enough that she was driven into a coma.

Masque had been an undercover operative for so long that when he saw her name in the list of casualties, he didn't betray any reaction to his teammates, not even letting them know he had a loved one now in the hospital. Instead, he kindled a cold flame, deep inside, holding Power Man, Iron Angel and, most of all Venta, responsible for the tragedy. This led to a months-long psi-op campaign, in which he used his knowledge of the Guardians' personal foibles, in combination with his well-developed espionage skill-set and the powers he uses so adeptly to sow chaos in the ranks. Using nothing more than advanced manipulation and headgames, he managed to induce Iron Angel and Power Man into a head-to-head public battle, and also managed to embezzle a small fortune from Venta's personal assets, as well as from both Force Majuere, Inc. and Guardians, Inc.

If he'd been more patient, Masque might have succeeded in whatever his long-term ambitions were, but his hand was forced when another hostage situation arose; Venta was about to make the same decision to the field team, when Masque pulled out his stun-gun and gave different instructions, posing as Peter. He managed to negotiate the crisis and free the hostages before setting up the terrorists for a double-cross by the field team--but by that point, his own efforts against his teammates had been discovered (in part because Venta himself realized how the money had been embezzled). He was about to kill Venta right then and there when Highwayman, in the nick of time as always, broke in and took David down.

At his trial for embezzlement, assault and attempted murder, he pleaded nolo contendre, saying that while the prosecution's description "of my actions is accurate, I cannot regard myself as guilty, for I have no feelings of guilt whatsoever."

He was convicted, and sentenced to the Block. He remains hugely controversial, and a sympathetic figure to many, in particular because he has never once threatened to reveal the secret identities of his teammates. When asked about it in an interview while awaiting trial, he was aghast at the suggestion--"The families of the Guardians are innocent in all of this. To put them in danger needlessly would be to commit the same crime those terrorist scum did."

It also came up during the trial that he'd once been an intelligence operative for the DHS, and gained his powers as the result of an accident suffered while he was infiltrating the lab of a rogue scientist. He'd been released from service (though not from his legal non-disclosure agreements pertaining to his work) to join the Guardians at his request, and with Venta's personal approval.

Known Powers/Abilities

Physical metamorph, able to adopt almost any human-like form. Masque can both imitate others and create new 'faces' as he wishes. To do an impersonation, he must have touched the subject on a prior occasion (guards at the Block who come into contact with him are immediately removed from his wing of the facility, to ensure he cannot use their faces in an escape attempt). However, there is no known limit to his ability to collect and store subjects for later use. While he does not gain any powers from an impersonation, he can pass for even someone visibly metahuman so long as the facade is not put to the test--he appeared as Iron Angel on multiple occasions during his campaign of revenge, with no one realizing the armor wasn't real.
In addition, when impersonating a subject, he gains certain specific abilities of theirs--namely, he can speak any language they know, and can use any skill they possess without the Unskilled Penalty (Limited Gifted and Speak Language w/Writing).
By training, he would be an unparalleled spymaster even without his powers. He can be considered to have preternatural levels of ability at espionage, infiltration, interrogation and stealth. (Figure he's got the appropriate Super Skills, at low levels, but likely rolling d12+1 or so on such.)