Polyphemus Member
They/ Them
- Last Seen: 4 yrs ago
- Old Guild Username: Vulture
- Joined: 12 yrs ago
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- Polyphemus 12 yrs ago
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In
The League - First Blood (Persistent World Superhero Sci Fi and Fantasy, Always Open)
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12 yrs ago
Forum: Character Sheets
Yeah, I'd be fine with a chemical analysis being able to detect it.
They thought to imprison a god?
Name
Maximilian "Maxie" Zeus
Age
36
Gender
Male
Skills/Talents
Zeus is a natural athlete who has long studied the Greek martial art pankration, a vicious combination of boxing and wrestling. Despite his general eccentricity and bouts of actual madness, he is also an excellent organizer and charismatic leader, with considerable skill in keeping his underworld activities concealed.
Powers/Abilities
None
Weakness/Flaw
While he is typically lucid and rational, Maxie's extreme megalomania and narcissism occasionally force him into brief times of insanity where he actually genuinely believes he is a god. These bouts of madness are usually triggered by the extremes of overwhelming stress or incredible good fortune.
Equipment/Resources
Combat Gloves: On the few occasions that Maxie does his own fighting, he dons a specially made pair of insulated gloves, the fingertips of which have been fitted with electrodes that deliver a painful, disorienting electrical shock when he strikes or grabs a person.
Greek Mob: Maxie Zeus is the unquestioned leader of Gotham's Greek Mob, numbering around 40 members, all career criminals, with associates, allies, and owed favors throughout the city. While the gang is not particularly powerful at the moment, its stability and the mere fact that it has survived the Batman and numerous RICO indictments make it an increasingly powerful force in the Gotham underworld.
Material Wealth: Between the legal income from his fashionable nightclub Olympus and the illicit gains from his underground casinos and sale of party drugs, Maxie has tens of millions of dollars squirreled away.
Personality
Maxie Zeus has a fascination with Greek mythology. His unbridled ego and narcissism lead him to have a very high opinion of himself. While he is generous with his money, it is more to flaunt his wealth than out of any sort of philanthropy. The general public considers him just another irresponsible entertainment mogul. He considers the safety or well-being of others inconsequential to achieving his goals. As noted above, Zeus also has occasional breakdowns in which he actually believes himself to be the mythical Zeus. While brief and generally kept secret, these lapses in sanity have gone untreated.
Brief Bio
Maximilan Zeus was nothing special to start with, just another Greek man getting by in Gotham. What made him different, however, was his unquenchable lust for power and respect- working a nine to five job was not ever going to be his scene. He eventually wormed his way into Gotham's small Greek gang. Overshadowed as it was by the bigger gangsters- Falcone, Maroni, Thorne, Grissom, all the rest- the Greeks had managed to carve out a place for themselves with backroom poker games, underworld casinos. It was Zeus' idea to open a legitimate place as a cover, and so the nightclub Olympus was born, a place where the gods came to party. The most happening place in Gotham, City of Sin. Looking out over the bar and dance floor, now the leader of the Greek mob, Zeus truly felt like his namesake.
Then came the Batman, and the war against the political machine. One by one, the big gangsters began to fall. But even as the largest gangs were dismantled, Zeus and his Greeks were left untouched. Maybe they were too small to bother with, maybe it was due to Maxie's skill at concealing his tracks. Whatever the reason, the big boys on the block were gone, leaving the Greeks to take up the slack and Maxie's ego to inflate further. This has been a time of new wealth and prosperity for the Greeks as they've gotten into the market for narcotics as well as gambling, and Maxie plans to set his sights even higher. . .
In
The League - First Blood (Persistent World Superhero Sci Fi and Fantasy, Always Open)
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12 yrs ago
Forum: Character Sheets
Name: Raymond Harper Sweeney
Codename: Salieri
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Place of Birth: Town and Country, Missouri
Affiliations: Copernicus Marketing, LLC (a BH subsidiary); The Somnambulist
Occupations: Marketing executive, part-time writer, part-time supervillain
Appearance: Ray Sweeney is a moderately handsome, broad-shouldered Caucasian male with stereotypical Black Irish features (dark hair, blue eyes, fair skin). He frequently finds his appearance compared to actor Sean Maher.
Powers: Ray Sweeney possesses the ability to render substances toxic through contact with his skin. The things he poisons do not change appearance, color, smell, taste, or shape, and are indistinguishable from normal substances. Generally speaking, the longer he is in contact with something the more poisonous it will be. This includes animals and other living beings as well, their entire system going into shock if he hangs on long enough to their bare skin. Theoretically, it would be possible for Salieri to poison someone like Zenith to death with enough uninterrupted contact, though the amount of time he would have to be holding onto Zenith to achieve this is ludicrously impossible.
The poison itself is a paralytic: if someone ingests it or otherwise gets it into their system, the first symptoms are a stiffening of the joints, followed by an inability to move, then shutdown of all bodily systems with a high enough dosage.
This ability is under his control, it can be turned on and off as he wishes.
Skills: Sweeney is a fairly talented marketer, however he thinks of himself first and foremost as a writer. He is very skilled in this area and has independently sold numerous works of fiction, though not enough to support (or satisfy) himself. In addition, he has been studying various martial arts and pistol marksmanship in an effort to round out his combat ability. His skill in this area is nothing exceptional, but it at least gives him a leg up on the untrained. Finally, he has made a serious study of the occult and black magic, though his interest is scholarly- he has never attempted a spell himself.
Equipment/Resources: Working a fairly lucrative job, selling several novels and short stories, and wisely investing the proceeds has made Ray Sweeney comfortably well-off (not incredibly rich, but he's got some money in the bank). Using this money, he has commissioned a state-of-the-art suit of unpowered armor, made from lightweight space-age alloys and ceramics and able to deflect bullets and cushion blows from low-powered superhumans. Despite the modern construction, the suit modeled after those worn in the days of pike and shot, complete with a morion helmet and old-fashioned masquerade mask.
In addition, he packs a Smith and Wesson 5906 in 9mm, the bullets usually poisoned as well.
Weaknesses: Without the armor, Ray has all the weaknesses and mortality of your normal human being. In addition, he is a high-functioning alcoholic. While he's smart enough not to drink on the job or while working on a project, he finds it difficult to sleep or relax without a few drinks.
Psychological Profile: Ray is mildly sociopathic: he lacks empathy for others, thinks nothing of lying, feels very little guilt or responsibility for his actions, and has a grandiose sense of self-worth. He is not necessarily egocentric, nor does he think he is better than everyone, but he does often feel unrecognized and overshadowed by the accomplishments of others. This has led him to feel the need to excel at everything and require everyone to know his genius. He is particularly interested in fiction and opera, given his upbringing (below). However, Ray feels stress easily and has a tendency to self-medicate with alcohol.
Biography: On paper, Ray Sweeney had it made for his entire life. His father Daniel was a wealthy, famous novelist and lecturer, his mother Claudia a beautiful and gifted teacher of singing, with a passion for opera. However, his life as a child wasn't that great. Though neither ever raised a finger to Raymond, any social worker would call their treatment of him abuse. He was constantly berated and punished for failing to live up to the high standards set by his parents, in particular his well-known father.
He discovered a talent for writing, and worked hard to develop his natural gifts in that area despite the ridicule he received from his father. Fresh out of Mizzou and working at a well-paying but soul-crushing job at a St. Louis based marketing firm, he spent weekends and evenings tossing back wine and rum and pouring his frustrations and feelings of inadequacy into his first novel, Mad Scene. The novel was eagerly accepted by a notable publisher, who recognized the brilliance of the work and eagerly planned to promote its release. It was sure to be an instant hit, to make Ray Sweeney a household name in the literary world and finally bring him out from under the shadow of his domineering parents.
The novel was set to be released December 21st, 2012. The day of the Awakening.
Of course, Mad Scene was completely overlooked and forgotten in the general chaos of that fateful day. The book, brilliant as it was, became a mere footnote, usually lumped in with his father's body of work. To Ray, it just wasn't fair. Once again, he was being overshadowed, and he couldn't have that. Over the next few years, he wrote several novels and short stories, but none quite lived up to the standards he had set for himself, none were good enough to grab the public eye or capture the raw emotion of his first novel.
Finally, in late 2015, it hit him. The coming of the supers was to blame. Who wanted fiction when a real-life drama of incredible proportions was taking place every day, in the streets and skies above? Only when they were gone would the truth and beauty of his fiction be recognized.
Ray Sweeney began to research, and to plot. He obsessively studied the major and minor superheroes in St. Louis: Dervish, Red Scorpion, of course the media darling the Spirit of St. Louis. And it was then, without benefit of superpowers and immense resources, that he formed a plan.
Ray approached a dangerous fringe religious group, the Cult of the Somnambulist, dedicated to the worship of a demon who possessed the bodies of the sleeping. Impressing them with his occult knowledge, Ray put a proposal to them. The cultists would invade the limestone caverns beneath the venerable Lemp Mansion, allegedly one of the most haunted buildings in the world, and perform a ritual designed to tap the spiritual energy of the place and give physical form to the Somnambulist, the unstoppable power of a physical demon rather than the filtered form it took through possessing mortals. The cult was charmed by the idea, and agreed to carry it out on New Year's Eve of 2015, the same night Copernicus Marketing celebrated the holiday in the rented hall of the mansion above. They stormed the mansion with an armed force, holding the guests (Ray included) hostage to hold off the police as they worked their rituals in the caves below. Even the Somnambulist had come, occupying the sleeping body of a nine-year-old boy.
Ray's plan was simple. Concealing a gun on his person, he would shoot down whichever hero responded. They would never expect their death to come from one of the hostages they were protecting.
He never got the chance, having underestimated the heroes. He and the other hostages were teleported away by Sonja Simpson before he could even draw his gun. The cultists and the Somnambulist were dealt with in a vicious battle beneath the earth, and Raymond was never connected to the scheme. Yet still, the rage and envy only grew within him. He had once again been brushed aside, as though he was nothing, outdone by freaks with powers.
Raymond Sweeney Awakened on the first day of January, 2016. Or, another theory he has entertained, perhaps the Somnambulist somehow gave him his power. Whichever it was, Ray soon discovered he could wilt flowers in his hands, poison glasses of water with the touch of a fingertip. Ray now had the means to wage his war on the superheroes, those who had taken away his much-deserved recognition. He was patient and careful about becoming a supervillain, however, taking the time to learn as much as he could about his ability and how to use it. Raymond experimented on animals (gradually moving up to the homeless), secretly commissioned a suit of armor from the secretive underworld craftsman known only as Artisan, and learned some basic combat skills. The final test came when he used his powers to murder his own father, the poisoning ruled a stroke by the coroner.
Dressing himself as the harbinger of doom Il Commendatore from the opera Don Giovanni (beat into his head by his abusive mother), Ray has taken the name Salieri, in honor of Antonio Salieri, a 18th century composer. Legend says that Salieri grew so envious of the genius of his contemporary Wolfgang Mozart that he poisoned the other man with arsenic, to make room for the mediocrities of the world to be recognized as well.
And now, Salieri plots his public debut, planning how best to take on the League itself for their unpardonable crimes against his ambition.
Codename: Salieri
Age: 27
Gender: Male
Place of Birth: Town and Country, Missouri
Affiliations: Copernicus Marketing, LLC (a BH subsidiary); The Somnambulist
Occupations: Marketing executive, part-time writer, part-time supervillain
Appearance: Ray Sweeney is a moderately handsome, broad-shouldered Caucasian male with stereotypical Black Irish features (dark hair, blue eyes, fair skin). He frequently finds his appearance compared to actor Sean Maher.
Powers: Ray Sweeney possesses the ability to render substances toxic through contact with his skin. The things he poisons do not change appearance, color, smell, taste, or shape, and are indistinguishable from normal substances. Generally speaking, the longer he is in contact with something the more poisonous it will be. This includes animals and other living beings as well, their entire system going into shock if he hangs on long enough to their bare skin. Theoretically, it would be possible for Salieri to poison someone like Zenith to death with enough uninterrupted contact, though the amount of time he would have to be holding onto Zenith to achieve this is ludicrously impossible.
The poison itself is a paralytic: if someone ingests it or otherwise gets it into their system, the first symptoms are a stiffening of the joints, followed by an inability to move, then shutdown of all bodily systems with a high enough dosage.
This ability is under his control, it can be turned on and off as he wishes.
Skills: Sweeney is a fairly talented marketer, however he thinks of himself first and foremost as a writer. He is very skilled in this area and has independently sold numerous works of fiction, though not enough to support (or satisfy) himself. In addition, he has been studying various martial arts and pistol marksmanship in an effort to round out his combat ability. His skill in this area is nothing exceptional, but it at least gives him a leg up on the untrained. Finally, he has made a serious study of the occult and black magic, though his interest is scholarly- he has never attempted a spell himself.
Equipment/Resources: Working a fairly lucrative job, selling several novels and short stories, and wisely investing the proceeds has made Ray Sweeney comfortably well-off (not incredibly rich, but he's got some money in the bank). Using this money, he has commissioned a state-of-the-art suit of unpowered armor, made from lightweight space-age alloys and ceramics and able to deflect bullets and cushion blows from low-powered superhumans. Despite the modern construction, the suit modeled after those worn in the days of pike and shot, complete with a morion helmet and old-fashioned masquerade mask.
In addition, he packs a Smith and Wesson 5906 in 9mm, the bullets usually poisoned as well.
Weaknesses: Without the armor, Ray has all the weaknesses and mortality of your normal human being. In addition, he is a high-functioning alcoholic. While he's smart enough not to drink on the job or while working on a project, he finds it difficult to sleep or relax without a few drinks.
Psychological Profile: Ray is mildly sociopathic: he lacks empathy for others, thinks nothing of lying, feels very little guilt or responsibility for his actions, and has a grandiose sense of self-worth. He is not necessarily egocentric, nor does he think he is better than everyone, but he does often feel unrecognized and overshadowed by the accomplishments of others. This has led him to feel the need to excel at everything and require everyone to know his genius. He is particularly interested in fiction and opera, given his upbringing (below). However, Ray feels stress easily and has a tendency to self-medicate with alcohol.
Biography: On paper, Ray Sweeney had it made for his entire life. His father Daniel was a wealthy, famous novelist and lecturer, his mother Claudia a beautiful and gifted teacher of singing, with a passion for opera. However, his life as a child wasn't that great. Though neither ever raised a finger to Raymond, any social worker would call their treatment of him abuse. He was constantly berated and punished for failing to live up to the high standards set by his parents, in particular his well-known father.
He discovered a talent for writing, and worked hard to develop his natural gifts in that area despite the ridicule he received from his father. Fresh out of Mizzou and working at a well-paying but soul-crushing job at a St. Louis based marketing firm, he spent weekends and evenings tossing back wine and rum and pouring his frustrations and feelings of inadequacy into his first novel, Mad Scene. The novel was eagerly accepted by a notable publisher, who recognized the brilliance of the work and eagerly planned to promote its release. It was sure to be an instant hit, to make Ray Sweeney a household name in the literary world and finally bring him out from under the shadow of his domineering parents.
The novel was set to be released December 21st, 2012. The day of the Awakening.
Of course, Mad Scene was completely overlooked and forgotten in the general chaos of that fateful day. The book, brilliant as it was, became a mere footnote, usually lumped in with his father's body of work. To Ray, it just wasn't fair. Once again, he was being overshadowed, and he couldn't have that. Over the next few years, he wrote several novels and short stories, but none quite lived up to the standards he had set for himself, none were good enough to grab the public eye or capture the raw emotion of his first novel.
Finally, in late 2015, it hit him. The coming of the supers was to blame. Who wanted fiction when a real-life drama of incredible proportions was taking place every day, in the streets and skies above? Only when they were gone would the truth and beauty of his fiction be recognized.
Ray Sweeney began to research, and to plot. He obsessively studied the major and minor superheroes in St. Louis: Dervish, Red Scorpion, of course the media darling the Spirit of St. Louis. And it was then, without benefit of superpowers and immense resources, that he formed a plan.
Ray approached a dangerous fringe religious group, the Cult of the Somnambulist, dedicated to the worship of a demon who possessed the bodies of the sleeping. Impressing them with his occult knowledge, Ray put a proposal to them. The cultists would invade the limestone caverns beneath the venerable Lemp Mansion, allegedly one of the most haunted buildings in the world, and perform a ritual designed to tap the spiritual energy of the place and give physical form to the Somnambulist, the unstoppable power of a physical demon rather than the filtered form it took through possessing mortals. The cult was charmed by the idea, and agreed to carry it out on New Year's Eve of 2015, the same night Copernicus Marketing celebrated the holiday in the rented hall of the mansion above. They stormed the mansion with an armed force, holding the guests (Ray included) hostage to hold off the police as they worked their rituals in the caves below. Even the Somnambulist had come, occupying the sleeping body of a nine-year-old boy.
Ray's plan was simple. Concealing a gun on his person, he would shoot down whichever hero responded. They would never expect their death to come from one of the hostages they were protecting.
He never got the chance, having underestimated the heroes. He and the other hostages were teleported away by Sonja Simpson before he could even draw his gun. The cultists and the Somnambulist were dealt with in a vicious battle beneath the earth, and Raymond was never connected to the scheme. Yet still, the rage and envy only grew within him. He had once again been brushed aside, as though he was nothing, outdone by freaks with powers.
Raymond Sweeney Awakened on the first day of January, 2016. Or, another theory he has entertained, perhaps the Somnambulist somehow gave him his power. Whichever it was, Ray soon discovered he could wilt flowers in his hands, poison glasses of water with the touch of a fingertip. Ray now had the means to wage his war on the superheroes, those who had taken away his much-deserved recognition. He was patient and careful about becoming a supervillain, however, taking the time to learn as much as he could about his ability and how to use it. Raymond experimented on animals (gradually moving up to the homeless), secretly commissioned a suit of armor from the secretive underworld craftsman known only as Artisan, and learned some basic combat skills. The final test came when he used his powers to murder his own father, the poisoning ruled a stroke by the coroner.
Dressing himself as the harbinger of doom Il Commendatore from the opera Don Giovanni (beat into his head by his abusive mother), Ray has taken the name Salieri, in honor of Antonio Salieri, a 18th century composer. Legend says that Salieri grew so envious of the genius of his contemporary Wolfgang Mozart that he poisoned the other man with arsenic, to make room for the mediocrities of the world to be recognized as well.
And now, Salieri plots his public debut, planning how best to take on the League itself for their unpardonable crimes against his ambition.
In
The League - First Blood (Persistent World Superhero Sci Fi and Fantasy, Always Open)
→
12 yrs ago
Forum: Casual Roleplay
BlackSam3091 said
Overlord eh? I like the sound of that. I dunno about you Poly, but I'm starting to go MAAAAAAD with power.
Time to issue arbitrary commands to satisfy my lunatic whims.
Everyone posts under their desk from now on.
In
The League - First Blood (Persistent World Superhero Sci Fi and Fantasy, Always Open)
→
12 yrs ago
Forum: Casual Roleplay
Everybody loves the Drama Llama.
In
The League - First Blood (Persistent World Superhero Sci Fi and Fantasy, Always Open)
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12 yrs ago
Forum: Character Sheets
Exponentially makes sense, as more and more of his strength would go towards supporting his own weight otherwise.
I feel it's pretty detailed as is, enough to know where you're going with it, feel free to add to it as you like. I'll stop just short of saying it's approved, because I'm not sure if that's my job or not, but you definitely have my thumbs up.
I feel it's pretty detailed as is, enough to know where you're going with it, feel free to add to it as you like. I'll stop just short of saying it's approved, because I'm not sure if that's my job or not, but you definitely have my thumbs up.
In
The League - First Blood (Persistent World Superhero Sci Fi and Fantasy, Always Open)
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12 yrs ago
Forum: Casual Roleplay
Krein said
I've always considered making Abaddon into an anti-villain instead of an anti-hero. Depending on how all the stuff involving him plays out, I'll see what I decide to do with him.
I can easily see him having a falling-out with the League.
In
The League - First Blood (Persistent World Superhero Sci Fi and Fantasy, Always Open)
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12 yrs ago
Forum: Casual Roleplay
I should make a Bad Dude character as well.
In
The League - First Blood (Persistent World Superhero Sci Fi and Fantasy, Always Open)
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12 yrs ago
Forum: Character Sheets
Alright, guess I'll put on my co-GM hat for the first time. Hope I'm not overstepping my bounds here.
I really like the character, think he has a ton of potential, especially if he hits downtown Milwaukee. I just have a few questions I'd like cleared up, if that's cool.
Firstly, is there any way of reaching whatever's left of Harold's mind? You mentioned it might be possible to get Anguish into a docile state, taking that one step further, could hypnosis or telepathy or something possibly put him into a lucid state?
Second, is he constantly growing or is it just when he absorbs fire? In either case, what's the rate of growth? Not looking for any hard or fast rules, just, say, how much it would take for him to double his current size. Also, I take it his strength increases exponentially rather than proportionately.
Other than that, excellent sheet.
I really like the character, think he has a ton of potential, especially if he hits downtown Milwaukee. I just have a few questions I'd like cleared up, if that's cool.
Firstly, is there any way of reaching whatever's left of Harold's mind? You mentioned it might be possible to get Anguish into a docile state, taking that one step further, could hypnosis or telepathy or something possibly put him into a lucid state?
Second, is he constantly growing or is it just when he absorbs fire? In either case, what's the rate of growth? Not looking for any hard or fast rules, just, say, how much it would take for him to double his current size. Also, I take it his strength increases exponentially rather than proportionately.
Other than that, excellent sheet.
Pascal opened a chair himself, sat down, wordlessly took the deck of cards. His long, thin fingers expertly cut and shuffled the deck, fanning the cards and then closing them back into a coherent deck with a snap. He dealt. "Five-card draw," he said to Scott, Tide, and Erik, his voice barely above a whisper. While he hadn't felt terribly social lately, there may come a time when his life depended on the action or inaction of these men. It would be good to know a little about them. You could tell a lot about a man from the way he played cards.
He tried a smile, hoped it didn't look as hollow as it felt. "Pascal Souchon. The pleasure is mine, Messieurs." He checked his hand. It was poor. Cross-table talk might make it easier to bluff and figure out everyone's tell. "So," he said casually, "Where does everyone come from?"
He tried a smile, hoped it didn't look as hollow as it felt. "Pascal Souchon. The pleasure is mine, Messieurs." He checked his hand. It was poor. Cross-table talk might make it easier to bluff and figure out everyone's tell. "So," he said casually, "Where does everyone come from?"
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