Guardian of the Mother (aka Gothm, aka Marius Strøm)
Player: Soren
Google Handle: Soren
Rank: Seasoned Experience: 28
Race: Human
Power Level: Four Color
Attributes: Agility d6, Smarts d6, Spirit d10, Strength d6, Vigor d6
Charisma: 0; Pace: 6/d6; Parry: 5; Toughness: 11 (3)
Skills:
- Fighting d6
- Intimidation d4
- Notice d6
- Taunt d4
- Swim d6
- Survival d6
- Climb d6
- English d4
- Persuasion d4
- AB(Superpowers) (Free: Setting): He's a superhero.
- Killer Instinct (Human)
- Brawny (Hindrance): +1 Toughness, Strx8 for Encumbrance
- Elan (N1): +2 when spending a Bennie
- Luck (N2): +1 Benny per session (4 total)
- Beast Master (S1): Animals will not attack without provocation; gain permanent animal ally (Extra)
- Beast Bond (S2): May spend Bennies on behalf of animals under my command
- Major: Vow: Protect the environment
- Minor: Stubborn
- Minor: Ruthless
- Super Karma: Dependency: Unpolluted Soil Gothm must remain in contact with bare earth/vegetation, in a generally unpolluted environment (a city park can suffice, but may take two hours instead of one, and certainly not if the park is built on a former Superfund site). Failure to do so results in a level of Fatigue, each day, which can result in death.
- Mother's Call: 20
- Animal Control 5 (Summonable +4, Telepathic Link +1): 15
- Matter Control—Plants (Constructs +3, Requires Materials -2): 5
Gothm can call upon the Mother's other children in times of need. He can summon great beasts, or even swarms of smaller ones, and issue telepathic commands to them. He can also cause plant-life in the area to become animate, forming barriers and even attacking his enemies. Use this list for possible animals.
- Mother's Body: 8
- Breath: Flight 4 (Switchable: Blood +2, Switchable: Bones +2): 8, max Switch 4
- Blood: Aquatic 2, Super Swimming 2: 4
- Bones: Burrowing 2 (Pace +1), Toughness 1: 4
- Mother's Wrath: 22
- Earthquake 2 (Depth +3, Earthshake +3): 8
- Storm 3 (Downpour +1, Gale Force +1, Lightning Strike +3): 8
- Whirlwind 2 (Large Template +2, Twister +2): 6
By calling upon the Mother's rage, Gothm can summon terrible storms (1d6 rounds to call up/dismiss, covers 5 mile radius, -1 to most actions, visibility 12", Agility roll to run in mud without falling) complete with periodic gale force winds (Spirit to summon, LBT, 24" Range, Strength roll or Prone + Shaken) and lightning strikes (Spirit to summon, 3d10 Heavy Damage), massive tornadoes (LBT, 24" range, moves at Spirit speed, summon takes 1 round, or 2 indoors, Strength Check -2 or be thrown 1d10" in random direction, 2d6 Damage, +1d6 if hit an object, always Shaken), and even cause the earth itself to open up beneath his opponents' feet (Agility roll to avoid, or be Shaken and take 3d6+3 damage from the fall; must unshake before extracting).
- Mother's Scourge: 5
- Immune Disease 1
- Negation (Contingent: Infection Use -1; Limitation: Vigor Only -2): 2
- Infection (Contagious: +2; Strong: +1; Carrier -1; Limitation: Extra-Terrestrials Only: -2): 2
Long Gothm's most sinister power, it has recently become something both more terrifying and more targeted. Now only extra-terrestrial beings (such as the hated Sarpah) are able to be actively infected with disease, but any such entity must also suffer a reduced constitution. Furthermore, the infected are, themselves, contagious, meaning the disease can work its terrible wrath upon an entire population if quarantine is not swiftly and strictly enforced.
Background:
Marius Strøm was a Norwegian political activist with Greenpeace and similar organizations (some a bit more... aggressive in their approach to protecting the environment) when the aliens invasion force landed. He signed up almost immediately to help fight them off, as it had quickly become apparent that they comprised an ultimate manifestation of the notion of an 'invasive species', one that threatened the entire biome, as they plundered the planet's natural resources.
While in training, he was given the opportunity to volunteer for the A.R.E.S. project, and once again, signed up without hesitation. The particular division of A.R.E.S., he was delighted to discover, was centered on the Gaia Hypothesis, the notion that the planet itself was capable of forming a defensive reaction to threats to its environment. Of course, the scientific field mostly discussed this in terms of self-corrections to the climate and mass extinctions which cleared the way for new species to arise, but Marius had always found the idea that there was literally a "Mother Nature" capable of correcting her wayward children to be inspiring.
And when they infused him with power, he discovered how right he was. As soon as his powers became active, he could feel the Mother's pain from the invasion. The scientists in charge of the project, upon hearing his description of her, divided over whether he was encountering some sort of spirit, or a manifestation of the psychic trauma of the invasion, or even just his own brain's interpretation of that sense of the environmental discord. He, however, has never doubted that she is literally Mother Earth--Gaia.
And his powers certainly were well-suited to his beliefs. He was a heavy-hitter in numerous battles, turning the planet itself against the invaders. As victory began to go from remote hope to near certainty, though, Gothm (a name given him by the A.R.E.S. PR division, who wanted to avoid the possible religious conflicts that could arise from his self-designation as "The Guardian of the Mother"), he began to consider new possibilities. He started advocating, loudly, for a more environmentally conscious world government to form once the battle was done.
And, whereas before he'd just been another 'hippie crackpot', easily dismissed, he was now a very public Hero of Humanity, and his pleas swayed many. It wouldn't be fair to say that the decision to round up the products of the A.R.E.S. project was a direct response to him, but rather, to what he and a few similar individuals represented--a challenge to the old order. But more importantly, Marius himself provided the Powers That Be with what they truly needed--an excuse.
Where many of his fellow activist heroes took the early hint to keep things subtle, that was never Marius' way. When governments began working to bring the superheroes under control, he resisted, directly and forcibly. He also began attacking whaling vessels, oil rigs and other obvious sources of environmental distress. He was always scrupulously careful with the lives of those on-board, knowing that he could not build a new world on shed blood. But it didn't matter--footage of the attacks terrified the public, and galvanized support in boardrooms and government back offices for a more aggressive approach to the 'A.R.E.S. problem'. To this day, many of his former allies blame Gothm (among others of a similar activist bent) for the purge.
He, himself, remains convinced that it is necessary to remove those in power to save the planet. "What good does it to save the Mother from an outside infection, if we just turn around and continue to shatter and poison her body?"
Gear
Wealth: $4000