Legion World Forums LEGION CLUBHOUSE The Legion of Super-Heroes Heroes of other worlds?

hmmm... yes, I remember once suggesting an surrealist Coluan student of magic on the Sorcerer's World...

While we are on Colu....

THE CONTINGENCY

After two devastating losses of technology in a handful of years, Colugov came to the conclusion that they'd need to be prepared for next time it happened. The idea of teaching Coluans to live independently of the technology they were so reliant on was one which they never even considered. Rather, they decided it would be prudent to have a group of operatives to serve and protect them during the times Colu's machines could not do the job.

They employed Makkia Vei to find five individuals for the purpose, she being a hyper-brilliant student of psychology and more adept at manipulation than any non-telepath known. Makkia presented herself as an altruistic government agent looking for heroes among the Coluan populace. Her secret motivation was to find five Coluans who were idealistic enough to put their world before themselves, gullible enough that they wouldn't question orders they were given in good faith, and unintelligent enough that they wouldn't ask too many questions. She did her job well, and soon enough five well-meaning individuals were recruited from Colu's Cognighettos; the areas populated by those rare Coluans with lower than a 10th level intellect. Those five endured months of treatments to be given individual power sets, and were then placed into suspended animation while their minds lived a virtual reality where they were the heroes of Colu II, Colu's imaginary neighbour world whose technology is centuries out of date. They've all been brainwashed to believe this is their day to day reality, with a post-hypnotic command to assume they've been summoned to help the mother world Colu whenever the technology keeping them sedated fails. This way Colugov have ensured they have heroes at hand when necessary without having to endure their boorish wit when they're not needed. The Contingency are:

Zenith: Based on icons such as Superman, Captain Marvel and Mon-El, Zenith is a square-jawed musclebound figure with strength, invulnerability, flight and speed almost equal to a Daxamite. He is the team leader, and though he doesn't know it he also constantly projects a field which instills feelings of hope and comfort in all those around him. As far as he and his team are aware, he is just naturally inspiring.

Threadbare: When this unassuming lean Coluan man's ability to accelerate quantum decay manifested during his experimentation, he was almost considered a failure. It was soon realised though that such a power could come in handy in a post-tech world where there was no more efficient way of dealing with society's material waste. Threadbare tends to fade into the background as he is far less rambunctious than his teammates, preferring to do his job with a minimum of fuss. He is perhaps the most dangerous of all of them though.

Atom Girl: Considering herself a legacy heroine, Atom Girl wears a feminised version of Ray Palmer's Atom costume and is the perky optimist of the group. She can shrink and change her weight as he could, and she considers herself to be quite the accomplished physicist. Colugov treat her with a kind of embarrassed condescension as her 7th level intellect makes her discoveries impressive by most world's standards but nothing special at all on a world like Colu.

Quell: The Contingency's second female member, Quell is quite the striking figure with her platinum hair and icy blue eyes. She was attractive before her recruitment but plastic surgery and behaviour modification has made her a bombshell on the level of someone like Dream Girl. She has the ability to dampen emotions, either focused on an individual or a group of people. This makes her perfect for dealing with riots and mobs of people who may not respond to more conventional measures. Makkia is most proud of her work with Quell, as her personality has done a complete about turn from the socially awkward insecure girl she was when she was discovered.

The Throwback: The final member of the Contingency and the least intellectually developed, he was the result of an effort to reproduce the power of Evolvo Lad of the Heroes of Lallor. He devolved into a hulking green brute with the intelligence of a particularly bright Earth child, and if it weren't for his great strength, stamina and regenerative abilities he would have been considered a failure as well. He considers himself to be a primitive beast, never having realised that his intellect would be considered completely normal (if perhaps a little slow) on many other worlds. The Throwback is treated almost like a loyal pet by the rest of his team. He has a particular attachment to Zenith and Quell due to their psionic abilities, and he has a bit of a crush on Atom Girl.

Heroes of the Gil'Dishpan!

Fryxmyr the Bludgeoner is a 'hero' to the eccentric and mistrusted Gil'Dishpan, using its special ability to cause its 'blodgar' (the mace-like appendage its race shares) to elongate, enlarge and strike with brutal superhuman strength, phasing through its life-support sphere as if it's not even there, through the same sort of space-manipulating abilities that allow it to enlarge and extend and greatly strengthen itself. When used in this fashion, the blodgar appendage becomes partially transparent, and unusually colored and shaped, appearing almost more like a Green Lantern ring power construct, than a flesh and blood appendage, and it may be invulnerable, while so altered, which does little to reassure other Gil'Dishpan, to whom the blodgar is a very sensitive sensory organ, and to whom the idea of using it to strike someone would be like a human smacking someone with his eyeball, or, given the other use of the blodgar, in reproduction, with a testicle...

Kylndyn often partners with Fryxmyr, and has the ability to generate a bolt of energy from it's single large red upper orifice, which passes harmlessly through it's specially treated environmental bubble. The beam can range from light, to heat, to plasma, or even molten magma, and Kryndyr can modulate it from gentle illumination or warmth or simple holograms or a trickle of molten stone to use for building materials, to the destructive force of a starship mounted weapon! Kylndyn is sometimes called 'Kylndyn the Destroyer,' but dislikes this title, since it only notes the destructive applications of its power, and ignores utility functions such as generating power, creating holograms, providing life support, etc.

Vyrmlyl is something of an outcast among its own people, having a mutant physiology that grants it total life support, allowing it to travel without the need for an environmental bubble, even in the depths of space, through which it can transport itself with it's innate powers of flight. Unlike a normal Gil'Dishpan, Vyrmlyl never stopped growing, and now coils around itself a dozen times, having a dozen blodgars, and a coiling serpentine shape that, if stretched out, would be over sixty feet long (coiled, it's closer to 20 ft. long). Because it has a dozen blodgars, which, among other things, contain many sensory organs, in a normal Gil'Dishpan, Vyrmlyl is sometimes called 'the All-Seeing,' and has amazing sensory powers, able to perceive all up and down the electromagnetic spectrum, even to the extent of being able to view and translate communication signals in real time, a feat suggesting that it's intellect is as highly advanced as it's senses, perhaps even to Coluan levels, at least in this one particular area.

Yeah, I took liberties with the Gil'Dishpan. Those mace-like appendages went unnamed, so I called them 'blodgars,' and they've been shown shooting acid or energy blasts, in Invasion, but I decided to make them sensory organs and, uh, other stuff, as well.

And, because I'm a freak, Vyrmlyl has a variant on Dawnstars powers (space adapted flight and super-senses).

None of them have a defined gender, because I didn't feel like deciding if they even have genders. I think they'd be a fine candidate to be fully hermaphroditic. Or even parthenogenetic. Or some version of both.

I blame jesjos for mentioning the Gil'Dishpan in the 'what planet will show up in JL3X' thread, and reminding me that I never got around to making some Gil'Dishpan heroes!

Oh hey, I apparently already made an Athramite hero. Who knew?

On the world of Pytharia, a pair of slightly different human sub-cultures sought out the help of rival extradimensional alien species in their wars against each other, only to be conquered in turn by their 'allies,' and their own people enslaved by those they had summoned to help them.

A mixed race slave named Starfire led her people to freedom from these alien occupiers, and the Mygorg (a brutish green vaguely reptilian race) and the Yorg (a semi-tangible race of shadow beings) were, for the most part, driven off of Pytharia, and the portals to their dimensions sealed.

It's been many centuries, and in that time, the remaining Mygorg and Yorg trapped on Pytharia were exiled to remote areas of Pytharia by the victorious humans, who, over many generations, lost all trace of their original racial divide, as a biracial majority now rules their world.

The Mygorg and Yorg remnants similarly abandoned ancient racial enmities, when the closure of their portals home rendered the world of Pytharia somewhat inhospitable to them. The two alien species only survive now as a conjoined race, calling themselves the Mygor, who appear to be darker skinned Mygorg during the day, basking in the sun to nourish their Mygorg physiology, and then sinking into a deep comatose state during the night, as their 'Yorg-self' emerges, a shadowy figure that exists only at night. They are one being, although their personalities are somewhat different, whether encountered in the day or at night, and occasionally live quite different lives.

The Myorg often function as ambassadors to the Mygorg and Yorg, so many centuries later, as the portals have re-opened, and non-hostile contact made between the Pytharians and their ancient oppressors, as the Mygor have adapted to longer be comfortable (or safe) in either of their constituent species home dimensions, and remain 'exiled' on Pytharia, an exile that they no longer regard as such, after so many generations living on this world.

Yig is an unlikely Pytharian hero, being a Myorg who has developed shadow-manipulating powers, in her Mygorg state, during the day, and light-generating powers at night, in his Yorg-self (the two components of its composite alien physiology being of different genders, a not uncommon situation among Mygor). In either case, 'they' are ideally suited to dealing with troublesome members of their own species, as the sun-loving cold-blooded Mygorg are extremely vulnerable to his shadow-manipulating / light-negating talents, and the shadow-dependent Yorg are equally susceptible to her light-generating talents.

Ah, DC, three different totally unrelated characters named Starfire? How cool.

Jaluur of Tsauron (aka 'Sightseer') is not the only member of a 'Dark Circle race' to function as a metahuman, although the most notable figure from N'cron is, surprisingly, even *more* infamous than his Dark Circle peer, Grullug Garkush.

Like others of his N'cronian race, Rumat Zakhar has the ability to communicate silently and secretively through chemical exchanges with other N'cron he touches, but through unknown treatments, he is able to also secrete variations of these chemicals into members of other species, allowing him to silently communicate with them, alter their memories, control them, or even poison them. Thanks to wanton abuse of this power, at any given time, he has dozens of addicted and enthralled minions of various susceptible races (not all races are susceptible, he has discovered, although he seems to be able to poison just about anyone with an organic biochemistry), which carry out crimes at his command, to support him in a luxurious style.

Possibly insane, or at least cruel and easily bored, he often directs his suggestible thralls to stage elaborate dramas, making one fall in love with another, only to have one cheat with a third party, and then all end up in a terrible fight over it, creating his own little soap opera, to liven things up and give him some twisted form of entertainment.

Thanks to having chemically dominated several scientists in various fields, he has absorbed a fair amount of technical information, which he also sells to maintain his lifestyle, using his chemical abilities to precisely mimic the neurochemistry of 'stolen memories' which he can later implant into a buyer, allowing him to literally 'steal secrets' and regift them to others. He retains enough knowledge to operate some highly advanced devices he has stolen, including a psychic weapon that causes intense telepathic 'noise' and feedback, such that even non-telepaths can 'almost hear something,' while true telepaths are overwhelmed and rendered comatose, and a disposable 'one shot' teleportation device (he has several, but generally only carries one on him, as the nature of the device makes them very dangerous to store anywhere near each other...) for quick escapes.

When threatened, he will send swarms of addicted thralls to slow his attackers (who are, for the most part, innocents under the spell of his neurochemical power), and drop a 'psi-grenade' to deal with any psychics (whom he has a great dislike of, as they can 'steal his secrets' the way he steals those of others). He may resort to all sorts of underhanded stunts, like using his chemical touch to poison some of his own thralls, hoping that heroic types will be so busy trying to save the afflicted that he'll have the upper hand (and a powerful bargaining tool, as he can cure his own 'poison' with a touch). Barring that, he'll draw a teleporter from his robes and fall backwards into a temporary wormhole, cursing his foes for making him abandon his latest pleasure palace and cult of worshipful minions.

Thanks to his will-sapping chemical touch, Rumat generally 'lands on his feet' (so to speak, as it's not entirely clear under those robes if he even has feet) and can get a new 'cult' up and running within a few days, directing his new followers to use their funds and contacts to find some new luxurious digs to occupy...

Rumat does not use a code-name, finding the idea silly, but his followers are encouraged to come up with suitably flattering names for him, such as 'Most High' or 'Your Grace,' often competing with each other for the most creative name (and leading to the occasional clunker, like 'Your Moistness' or 'Oh Dextrous One').

I like him! You are good with coming up with characters from the creepier end of the spectrum! And he could believably take on a whole team on his own without being ridiculously overpowered!

Thanks!

I noticed that the original Dark Circle had members of three or four different races that we hadn't seen before, Ontiir of Tsauron, Grullug Garkush of N'cron, Gorgoth of Fresish and Rolind Siepur of Arane II. (Plus a Naltorian, which I've already done a couple of.)

And since Garkush is a Russian name, I went to that well again to name this particular N'cron, and gave him gear and powers that sort of fit his creepy Lovecraftian Mind Flayer vibe. (D&D mind flayers having psychic blasts, mind control and teleportation/dimensional travel powers)

I'd already done a Tsauron, with Sightseer, but the N'cron and the Arane II race both look pretty neat, and might be worthy of exploring.

The Fresish dude just isn't doing it for me, with those lazy eyes. Boring!

Whenever I think I'm running out of races to toy with, I find a few new ones (like these Dark Circle peeps) that aren't listed on my big ol' Wiki list of DC aliens!

What's kind of cool with such lesser used aliens is that we can assume that we haven't seen all of their racial variations. Just as running into Captain Comet in outer space wouldn't give an alien who has never seen another human any idea that humans come in different genders, skin colors, racial types and sizes, there's no reason that different N'crons or Tsaurons or Araneans couldn't look very different than the one representive of each race we happen to have seen.

Do they come in other colors? Other sizes? Do they have radically different sexual dimorphisms (are the females twelve feet tall sessile matriarchs with super-computer-like intellects, for instance, while the males are normally sentient and man-sized 'mobile units' for their queens?) Do they even have another gender at all, or do they have three or more distinct genders, or specialized racial sub-castes, like some insects? All up to me! The power! Mwahahahaha!

The medieval world of Avalon has fallen upon cruel times indeed, as the royal families and wealthy aristocracy have fallen into dabbling with fell powers to maintain their status in the face of hardship and uncertainty befalling their world.

A long time high society fascination with spiritualism, the occult and séances has taken a terrible turn as dabblers flirt with obeisances and rites in praise of such figures as Darkseid, Nekron and Trigon, tapping into unwholesome powers, to fuel their excesses and maintain their standing. Commoners are abducted by these cultists for use in ritual sacrifices, and unclean things are called into the world to serve as enforcers or assassins in the shadow wars that burn unseen beneath the cover of night.

Still, all is not bleak. Two unlikely champions have arisen in recent years, to fight back the worst of the secret societies and their infernal dealings.

Spellbreaker, also called 'the Iron Knight' is a figure clad in dull gray plate armor, with a mask beneath even his all-concealing helmet, so that when it was once struck from his head by a conjured demons fist, his identity remained obscured. It is generally assumed that he is a filthy commoner, with no legal right to wear such armor or carry a blade in the presence off his betters, but secretly, he is a son of one of the most wicked and fallen of the aristocratic families, and, by day, sips wine and laughs among them, allowing them to think him as depraved and wicked as they, while he steals away by night to fight to destroy the dark powers that have dragged them into wickedness.

His armor and blade prove powerfully resistant to charms and enchantments, the favored weapons of his decadent kin, being forged of cold iron, having been beaten into shape by brute strength (his own!), and having never known the fires of the forge, allowing their innately anti-magical properties to remain intact, and strengthened by a coating of alchemically-treated lead, so that the most powerful spells simply fail to work against them (or, so long as he remains clad in the armor, opon him), and the strike of his blade cleaves through spells and conjurings like through rice paper, sending demons and spirits howling back to whatever abysses spat them up.

Even aided by the greater-than-human strength that he tells his family derive from dark pacts with his own private demonic patron (but is actually a hereditary thing among his family, and a sign of great purity, making it something rare and almost forgotten among his fallen kin), he finds the demons and undead called forth by his foes no easy fight!

The equally shadowy figure named Risen, also called 'the Redeemed,' was an Avalonian like any other, before the events of the Great Darkness, when Darkseid's cult first became so emboldened to operate semi-publically on Avalon. Like hundreds of other strong men in the mercenary companies that served the various noble houses, he was abducted by his own patrons, and given over to the servants of Darkseid, to be converted into a fearsome Parademon, with intellect and will blunted into brutish obedience, limbs infused with superhuman strength and durability, and then clad with unremovable armor that conferred even greater protection, and the capacity for flight. A power lance able to fire deadly blasts of crimson energy completed his new role, and he served for years loyally, maintaining the primacy of the houses that had sworn allegiance to this new dark god (and protecting them from the necromantic minions of those who served Nekron, or the warped demonic creatures in thrall to the Trigon-worshippers).

But a fight with the Iron Knight 'knocked sense into him,' and as the Spellbreaker continued to fight his parademon allies, he shook off whatever programming had wormed its way into his brain and rose to strike down his fellow Parademons, fighting back to back with the Iron Knight.

Together, they keep to the shadows, in a world openly ruled by the wicked, watching each others backs, and striking as they can, in an attempt to stem the tide and free their world from the grip of these cults.

Apparently I'm on a 'crazy cultist' kick...

Nightwatcher Ayjami Mallor is a priest who considers himself the 'true heir' to the Mallor family dynasty, unlike Tasmia and Grev, who have spent time off-world, being corrupted and seduced away from proper Talokkian traditions by the soft and decadent United Planets and their squeamish and meddling ways. He is certainly a 'hero' among his faithful, but, in the eyes of more progressive Talokkians, and other UP races, he is a dangerous ideologue and rabble-rouser, someone to be watched closely...

Ayjami, growing up in the shadow of his more famous older cousin (and her less famous, but still more famous than him, younger brother), grew to resent them for 'abandoning' Talokk VIII to gallivant across the universe, taking the most sacred powers of the Shadow Champion far away and using it to defend alien infidels and unbelievers.

He spend years seeking out the hidden holy caverns in the heart of his families territories, and sought out and faced the darkness within, to emerge with the same shadow-manipulation powers shared by his more famous kin. Dabbling into ancient (and forbidden) Talokkian rites, sorcerous in nature, he learned as well to tap into these energies to fuel magical spells, spells he used to 'darken the heart' and 'cast a shadow over the soul' of those he would bespell and enchant, so that he could suppress fear, and make one brave, or take away sight, or 'darken' a troublesome memory, or, as was more his wont, cast a shadow over anothers inhibitions or sense of self or self-control, rendering his followers ever more under his thrall, as his spells removed their inhibitions, and their will to resist his urgings, rendering them grateful and loyal, if somewhat dull-witted.

In addition to 'darkening the minds' of his followers, he also learned to tie his own life-energies to the shadows he generates, so that, with a simple incantation, he can strengthen his shadows to exert force equal to his own physical strength (although this indeed taxes his own physical strength, as he is exerting the strength of his body through the shadows so enhanced, and can even suffer harm if the force generated through the shadows is powerfully resisted!). He usually uses such a tactic to hinder, as he is no physical powerhouse, and unable to simply seize someone up in shadows, creating instead the sensation that those passing through the shadows are being pulled at by many hands, or having to push through silken strands, like a spider's web grown large.

He is well aware that his more famous Mallor kin have not mastered such occult methods of enhancing their shadow manipulation gifts, and considers that yet another sign that he, not they, is far more worthy to bear the title, 'Shadow Champion.' His dislike of their alien adventures off-world, and their, in his eyes, disrespect of their world and it's customs, has led him to associating quietly with Talokkian separatists, who share his disdain for the UP and its rules and laws, and wish for Talokk VIII (and, indeed, the entire Talokk system, which had colonized three worlds before the Earthers had left their own worlds) to be a free system, answerable to no laws but its own.

For now, however, he is merely leader of a growing cult of shadow-worshippers, and his grand plans suffer from his own lack of self-control, as he spends his time taking advantage of his followers, instead of forging them into the grand army of Talokkian freedom fighters he sees in his dreams.

Ayjami is a touch darker skinned than Tasmia and Grev, having a bit of mixed blood (from a great-grandparent among the Hill tribes), and is sensitive about that, refusing to admit this heritage, or that it might make him 'less of a Mallor,' in some way, as he bears the blood of a tribal rival.

As with other members of the Dark Circle, Rolind Siepur of Arane II trusted no one with his work, financing the greatest underground network the galaxy had ever seen, and so had many dozens of clones working alongside himself, sharing his uncanny (some said, even, superhuman) talent for manipulating markets and financial investment.

His race shared no special knack for finance, whatever special gift he had was his alone, the product, he insisted, of diligence and hard work and a keen intellect (although, again, others he considered jealous of his genius insisted that he must have had some sort of mutant edge...).

His gift for statistical modeling also passed on to his many clones, which was a blessing for the work they shared, but also a curse, as some, more curious than others, soon noticed through predictive heuristics and algorithms that the 'grand plan' of the Dark Circle was doomed to failure, from a statistical standpoint. No matter how they tweaked the numbers, no matter how much they thanklessly toiled to amass the vast funds they funneled into those schemes, failure seemed inevitable, often through meddling from super-heroes such as the Legion, or security forces such as the Science Police, but, frustratingly, all too often due to poor choices made by their allies in the Dark Circle.

And so, individually at first, and later in larger numbers, clones began to disappear, having embezzled funds for their own 'retirement' and fled their originator and his Dark Circle allies, with the numbers increasingly from a trickle to a flood when Rolind replied by killing off any of his clones he suspected of embezzling, or planning to defect in this manner, as his overreactions not only failed to stem the tide of defection, but greatly motivating even the clones who had remained loyal to re-consider their 'retirement options.'

So now, out of necessity (for their own survival, as their mad creator seeks their destruction, and bends Dark Circle resources to that end), many of the clones of Rolind Siepur have banded together, in opposition to the Dark Circle they once toiled to bankroll, turning their stolen wealth and secrets to great use, and forming their own hidden cabal of wealthy behinds-the-scenes money men and patrons, funding their own teams of agents and operatives, and assisting the SP and UP authorities to fight the remnants of the Dark Circle.

While the clones are not inclined to combat, their species having evolved on a world where predators track prey by movement, and the best defense was to freeze utterly motionless in a time of danger, making them utterly hopeless in a combat situation, more prone to faint dead away, or be paralyzed in terror, than run for cover or take up arms, they have considerable financial assets, and access to dubious sources of 'personal enhancement' for their operatives, so that many are genetically modified, or have access to Khundian combat cybernetics, or carry weaponry that is very much not on the SP 'approved for civilian use' list of technology.

So long as they fight their shadow war against the Dark Circle, and specifically their betrayed 'original,' the SP is willing to overlook these irregularities for now...

Arat Khray, an intersex Exorian royal of great notoriety, is considered a hero by some and a terrorist by others. Capable of transforming into various celestial bodies, albeit on a vastly reduced scale, s/he still has devastating potential, as demonstrated when a small colony of Exorians was exterminated by another race that had colonized another continent on the same world. S/he had previously been seen taking the ‘form of a nebula’ (a cloud of mostly hydrogen ice crystals about 450 meters across) or the ‘shape of a star’ (a burning stellar mass only 7 meters across, but still capable of fusion, and quite hot) or even transforming into an asteroid or comet (generally only a few meters across), but hir response to the genocide of Matar Seven was to transform hir body into a singularity, a living black hole, only the size of a plum, and yet capable of destabilizing the world, as s/he sank into its core, and causing it to collapse over the course of several weeks, demonstrating that any species that would attempt to slaughter an Exorian population in order to gain sole control of a world will soon find themselves without a world at all…

How much scarier would Zan and Jayna have been if they could have said things like 'Form of... a Black Hole!' or 'Shape of... the Sun!'

The Orandan warrior known as 'Mercenary' is known to be the master of a magical sword he calls 'the Four Forged Blade,' which, legend has it, has been broken and reforged four times, in it's storied history, always born by a champion in service tot he royal family of Orando. His real name is Aurant Malebrionte, and his own family, while not closely related to the royal line of Voxv, has some minor titles to their name, although their star is far from its zenith these days.

That said, he's also a bit of a fibber, and his sword, while well-forged, has no magical properties whatsoever. The secret of his mysterious power, to sense things remotely, almost as if he possessed some sort of 'radar sense,' and to strike distant foes as if they stood at arm's length, lies in four indestructible rings concealed beneath his mail gauntlets, one on each index and ring finger.

The rings afford him an ability that, in a more technical society, might be called 'tactile projection,' allowing him to feel items up to 15 paces away, as if he was touching them with his fingers, and to project the force of his own strength at that range, allowing him to punch distant targets, or even to slice at them with his decidedly un-magical sword, ignoring the distance between them, or any obstacles that might have blocked his blow. When he exerts his strength remotely through the power of the rings, it sometimes seems as if he has telekinetic abilities, or, as he tells onlookers, 'the spirits of those who once held this blade remain bound to it, and are lifting items at my behest.'

His deception has served him well, as he has found himself attacked while unarmed, or been captured and had his sword taken, only to remain fully capable of using the power of the rings to effect an escape, although he has so far been successful in concealing exactly how those events unfolded (convincing one witness that the sword flew to his hand of its own volition, when he had simply used his 'tactile projection' to lift it and bring it to him).

A rare Atlantean expatriate, living on Myar, Lennarc (who goes by no 'superhero' name), sometimes known derisively as 'Out of His Element Lad,' uses potions to breathe air and had adapted himself to live on the surface world, before he developed his own unique alchemical talents, to give the properties of water to the elements of air or earth, or the properties of air or earth to the element of water.

Using his powers for his own convenience, he no longer adapts himself to be able to breathe air, but generates an aura that gives the air around him the properties of water, so that he can breathe it 'normally' (for an Atlantean). By giving air the properties of water, he can also make it bouyant, and swim 'through the air' at great speed, or cause others to begin 'drowning' in mid air, as he causes a volume of air around them to become as viscous and hard to breathe as water.

By granting earth the properties of water, he can also swim through the earth as fast as he could through water (or air), and can cause others to fall into the ground, and be forced to swim to keep their heads above the ground!

Underwater, he can give water the properties of air, allowing air-breathers to travel underwater as easily as they could go on a hike on the surface, or of earth, causing aquatic creatures to become trapped as if they'd been buried alive!

Most of his effects are limited to the time he spends concentrating to maintain them, but he has managed to create several longer lasting (perhaps permanent) effects, which serve as exotic works of art or performance pieces in the Myaran capitol, with a vast aquarium shot through with tunnels of water that function as air, allowing air-breathing visitors to walk right alongside various aquatic creatures, as well as a giant water sculpture that is as strong and rigid as stone, despite being composed entirely of alchemically treated water.

Thular Nox of Colu was born with a rare genetic debility, the Coluan equivalent of albinism, causing him to lack green pigment entirely. His hair remains as red as it would have been, but his skin is pale white, and his eyes, which would have also been green, are a pale yellow, instead. Coluan 'albinism' is unfortunately also linked with a vastly reduced intellectual capacity (despite there being no genetic connection between brain structure and 'how green someone is'), and Thular is 'merely' smarter than any human genius that has ever lived, with a fourth level effector mind, placing him six entire orders of magnitude below a standard 10th level Coluan.

Genetic tinkering by his parent, when he was a child, allowed him to appear as green as anyone else, but proved unable to correct his intellectual deficit, and he was an outcast, no matter his skin color, in a society that prizes itself on it's towering intellect. As an adult, he chose to reverse the genetic conditioning, to walk openly as a 'white,' instead of pretending to be as green as the average Coluan, although it took him weeks to figure out how to use the genetic kit his mother had purchased (a toy for children, with instructions written in a language that his brain could never master, in which each character, depending on orientation, had four possible meanings, and were arranged in such a way that each page of instructions was actually four pages of information, as a Coluan child would simply rotate the characters while reading and be reading four pages at once).

And yet, he found that other mental and psychological traits that came slowly, if at all, to his peers, seemed easier for him, as if his vast Coluan brain had so much extra room to develop capabilities that his immeasurably smarter peers simply 'didn't have room' to master.

Alien words like 'intuition' and 'insight' and 'empathy' filled his studies, as he chose to not be the perpetual cripple, struggling to never be a fraction as good as his peers in the places where they excelled, but to instead explore the strange and illogical places where they feared to tread, studying the things they dismissed as backwards or primitive or unnecessary, as they themselves lacked those traits.

Still, quite a few Coluans have a ruthlessly pragmatic streak, and are willing to overlook racial prejudices and intellectual elitism, and he finds his clientele among them, as they are perfectly willing to call upon the services of someone capable of making intuitive leaps, or predicting illogical behavior patterns. All too often, the same sorts of individuals, willing to ignore safety protocols, or even behave in emotional or irrational ways, are also the targets of his investigations...

Thular has not chosen any sort of codename, but his vanishingly small minority (only three others on Colu share his coloration and the intellectual retardation that comes with it) are sometimes derisively called 'white minds' or any sort of emotional or irrational or intuitive behavior called 'whitemindedness' or 'thinking like a white.' He himself as been insultingly referred to as a 'white' or 'whitemind,' and so has taken some perverse pride in that, and his private investigative agency is called 'Whitemind Investigations,' and indeed employs one of his fellow 'whites,' as well as one of the supremely rare non-Coluan aliens to work on Colu (which does not grant full time citizenship or usually even extended work visas to non-Coluans).

By the 31st century, both the worlds of Apokolips and New Genesis had been destroyed.

The New Gods, however, have colonized other worlds in the Fifth Galaxy. One of these is “Apokolips Omega”.

Apokolips Omega is ruled by the son of Darkseid, the animalistic, grey-haired and grey-bearded Kalibak the Cruel. Kalibak has re-created his father’s Parademons, War Machines, and Fire Pits, and rules with a ruthless and brutal hand. The survivor of many fierce battles, Kalibak is a cyborg, now more than half-machine. OF course, the true rulers of Apokolips are the Council of Abbadon, ostensibly Kalibak’s counselors.

A few of the residents of Apokolips Omega are of special interest.

* Thanna, in addition to ordinary enhanced strength and resilience, has the Deathtouch. She is able to kill any living being with a mere touch. The individual is truly dead, not a dream, not an imaginary story. However, Thanna also has the ability to bring back to life any individual that she has Deathtouched, even if the corpse has been cremated, or otherwise destroyed.

* Hema is able to vomit copious, seemingly unending quantities of blood. Her blood is tremendously sticky and elastic, capable of binding opponents to the ground or walls, and hardens into a hard, dense, gemlike substance.

* Mad Donna is only three-quarters the size of her sisters, but is a Berserker, which more than compensates for her small stature. Stare into her oversized kaleidoscope eyes, and you, too, may be overcome by a berserker rage—or sink into a cowering, terrified paranoid psychosis.

* Grovelhog, on the other hand, stands perhaps nine feet tall. Muscular, chartreuse, and pear-shaped, she resembles a cross between She-Hulk and Zippy the Pinhead. She wields a three-meter-tall staff / club of Thanagarian nth-metal. In addition, she has a unique shape-shifting power: she is able to metamorphose into a tiny, palm-sized hedgehog-like creature, staff, armor, and all. A compatriot will throw this tiny creature into the midst of a battle, and the giant warrior will emerge.

* Basilisk has a strange, lizard-like appearance and secrets a bizarre venom from her eyes, mouth, nose, and claws. When this venom comes in contact with inanimate matter, it acts as a powerful acid, melting away whatever substance it touches, even neutronium or inertron. When it reacts with animate matter, the same burning, flaming, melting chemical reaction occurs: flesh is burned away, bones are reduced to gelatin. But the venom then re-grows the body of the target, even healing prior injuries and re-growing missing limbs. The process, however, is extremely painful, exactly like having one’s body consumed by fire, and then re-growing it in a matter of seconds.

These five 31st-century “new goddesses” escaped Apokolips Omega, and eventually made their way to the First Galaxy, and the United Planets. Renouncing their Apokoliptian heritage, they determined to become wandering heroes. Unfortunately, due to their upbringing, their understanding of commonly accepted morality is somewhat incomplete, but they are learning. Mostly through trial and error.

When the planet Xenn was threatened with destruction, the Legion took a hand. Finding another world for the Xenn to inhabit was difficult, as their solar/ionic metabolisms required an atmosphere rich in the rare, noble gas xenon. (Much like the Vesta / Ceres explorer satellite, ‘Dawn’)

However, a suitable planet was found, and the United Planets expended substantial capital in construction a “space-ark” to transport the Xenn, as well as much of their flora and fauna to their new homeworld.

The world was christened Xennagar, meaning, in the Old Malthusan language, “Home of the Xenn”.

There was one unfortunate episode in the Xenn migration. Dirk Morgna succumbed to Space Fatigue, and madly piloted the space-ark into a space-vortex, where it was trapped for some time, before being rescued by other Legionnaires.

Still, the Xenn consider Sun Boy a hero, and the savior of their race. His eight-pointed emblem is common in the Xenn architecture.

Xyrl Xonn was born aboard the ark, during its stay within the space-vortex. As he grew older, he realized that he had the ability to project vortices himself. His power can manifest variously as tornadoes, waterspouts, or dust devils—but it is not wind, but actually a gravitational twisting of space itself, so his powers are equally efficacious in the emptiness of space.

Xyrl can use these gravitational vortices as physical attacks, or as transportation. He has designed a costume for himself, which coincidentally follows the color pattern of the original Red Tornado (Ma Hunkel) of the early 20th century. He has taken the name Vortexenn, and is recognized as the Planetary Champion of Xennagar.

Is Xenn the world with the big eyed white haired blue-skinned people?

In any case, neat! Space vortexes sound like a cool power, visually, and much more generally useful than simple air manipulation, since they don't require air!

Yep, that's them.

The image is too big. Look here.

[Taking the ideas from the Lady Lake character way back and splitting it into multiple heroes.]

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For generations, Orando has been served by four champions bearing items of power, appearing when needed, living their lives, and fading away, only to be replaced by new champions, bearing these ancient relics, later.

The new champions always abandon their previous names and lives, going by codenames (which vary by generation), and even the items themselves often change...

Usually their leader, the bearer of the Sword of the Prince of the Power of the Air, Scirocco is a young woman, this generation, and has the darker hair, eyes and complexion of the Moorish-descended people's who settled near Orando's equator. Most commonly appearing as a long straight broadsword of European make, the Sword in her hands is a khopesh, more in keeping with the style of her people. It's powers remain unchanged from previous generations, granting her the strength and skill of a dozen experienced knights, and itself being a dozen times stronger than steel, in addition to it's true powers, to 'cut the sky,' and allowing her to generate powerful gusts of wind, to scatter foes arrayed before her, or to leap into the air, carried by a powerful wind hundreds of yards to land safely (if not gently) anywhere she can see from the point she cut ties with the earth. Scirocco is a powerfully practical young woman, who has no time for nonsense, being equally skilled at dealing with a situation with reason and diplomacy, and as decisive and unflinching when she must draw the Sword and resort to violence. The holder of the Sword is always regarded as a member of the noble class, even if that is not the case by birth, and while Scirocco is suspected to have been a commoner before being chosen, none would treat her as less than noble-born.

The Root of Fire is carried by a young man who has taken the name Ash, and is a fair-skinned, straw-haired young man from the same province as the Orandan capital city, common born and thickly built, like the farmer's son he was. Bearing the Staff, itself appearing as a quarterstaff of fire-blackened ash (a wood not native to Orando), he controls the element of fire, having demonstrated the ability to cause fires to erupt spontaneously, to quench fires, or to cause fires to move about at his direction. Previous Staff users have been seen calling down fire from the sky like rain, shaping flames into the forms of beasts, or even causing themselves to explode into fire and reform at a distant location, but Ash has not yet mastered these stunts. As with the other relics of power, the staff appears or disappears at his will, and even if some force were to destroy it, or strike it from his grasp, it simply flies apart and reforms undamaged within his hand, at his silent call.

Sigil is from the same stock as Scirocco, dusky of skin and with black hair and dark eyes. He is distinctive in dress, only wearing the finest robes and just enough jewelry to display his wealth without crossing the line into ostentation. The Glyphed Ring of Five is prominent on the index finger of his right hand, a band of gold set with a large five-sided ruddy-amber stone, capable of creating arcane patterns of golden light that manipulate the earth itself, to rise up around him in a defensive circle as strong as stone, to wrap around another and bind them fast, or to cause the earth to ripple beneath his feet and propel him forward at the speed of a galloping horse, while his feet remain motionless.

The last of the Bearers, the young woman called Grail holds the Plentiful Chalice, most recently appearing as a golden cup filled with blood, but in her hands instead a shallow bowl of bone, inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and banded in golden filigree, filled only with pure cool water. The waters of the Cup can be used to heal others, refresh, nourish or revitalize people, wash away the effects of disease, poison or even radiation sickness, as well as hostile magics and curses, call forth a concealing fog, and, when she upends the bowl in the direction of danger, pour forge a deluge that washes evildoers away like a flood. Grail is a tall willowy girl, with a more middling complexion than her companions, brown haired and hazel eyed, with a smattering of freckles across her cheeks and shoulders. Deeply spiritual, and sometimes seen as naïve or emotional or socially awkward, due to a sheltered upbringing and an easily wounded heart, she ranges from shy to exuberant, changing like the wind.

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The relations between this generations four champions are a muddle. Ash feels that Scirocco is above his station, and so treats her like 'one of the guys.' Scirroco finds this makes him even more attractive to her eyes, as he treats her with the respect and due he'd give a man, unlike Sigil, whose attentions give her the creeps. Grail seems smitten with Sigil, and has convinced herself that she can change him, and teach him to see beyond his grasping nature. Sigil is 'settling' for a relationship with Grail, but has his sights set on Scirocco, not because he cares one bit for anyone but himself, but because Scirocco is clearly 'the best' of them, and therefore, his due, as he only accepts the best for himself.

At some point, Sigil will make a play for Scirocco, dashing Grail's illusions, get rejected, and, just because it would be this groups luck, Ash will end up consoling Grail, who will be even more crushed to learn much later that Ash would rather have been Scirocco, making her second-place in the affections of her *second* boyfriend, and leaving Scirocco wondering what she has done wrong to cause such strife among her three fellow champions...

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[All four are based on the suits of the Tarot. Wands for fire, Swords for air, Pentacles for earth, Cups for water.]

Breel, like most of the 'Gremlin caste' of Kroloteans, has been genetically engineered to be capable of great feats of stealth, not merely blending into the background, producing no scent and being capable of slowing down her body functions to become almost completely soundless (and invisible to thermal imaging), but also capable of disrupting technology to cloak her presence from the most sophisticated mechanical sensors. If she can approach close enough to touch a machine, she can utterly drain it of power, using the absorbed energy in whatever manner is appropriate to that energy type (lightning or magnetic effects for electricity, blinding flashes of light or lasers or holograms for light, etc.)

She is most fond of draining the energies of ring-constructs, created by the users of the fabled Power Rings, which allow her to mimic their abilities for a short time after absorbing such a construct (or for a full 24 hours if she can touch a ring physically, which completely drains it's daily charge!).

Generally speaking, Krolotean 'heroes' are not held in high regard by other species, being seen as skulking thieves by nature, but Breel's skills proved vital in taking down the threat of the rogue Green Lantern who was later known as Universo, and while the Corps still has no love for her or her people, the UP, and particularly EarthGov (no great friends to the Corps), regard her as an unofficial ambassador for her people (who have yet to be accepted into the UP, pending certain... discrepancies regarding concepts of ownership, privacy and sovereignty that seem elusive in the Krolotean legal system).

From the Sorcerer's World, the unlikely duo of Alicorn and Chimera travel together, seeking adventure in a world of myth and magic.

Alicorn, a powerfully built young woman who takes a dim view of anyone mentioning her 'horse-like face,' has the strength that would be suggested by her thick white mohawk and dappled equine features, being as physically strong, enduring, and swift afoot, as a powerful warhorse. Her most distinctive feature is the spiraling horn, like that of a legendary unicorn, that projects from her forehead, and it serves as the focus for her mystical power to heal injuries, purge illness or toxins, or even break hostile magics, such as compulsions or curses or baleful transformations, glowing with a golden light as it works it's magic. Being always in contact with this source of healing, 'Ali' herself recovers from injuries swiftly, and mundane contagions and hostile enchantments alike sluice off of her like water from a duck's back. She can also see 'weak points' in the fabric of the world itself with her large opalescent eyes, and step through to distant locations (even dragging her companion with her on these jaunts), although rarely farther than she can see.

Her travelling companion is sometimes said to be her lover, but that is gossip they endure to preserve his identity. Chimera is actually her little brother, who gained his unusual powers through an act of theft, and conceals his identity rather than give up his freedom (a deception his sister allows because the individual he stole this power from was highly placed, but unscrupulous...). His power is to transform his head into that of various mystical beasts, such as a dragon's head to belch forth flame, or some terrible insect to expectorate a powerful corrosive, or that of a great griffon to unleash a penetrating cry that instills fear in those who hear it. One of his more unusual options is the head of a werewolf, and if he bites someone with those fangs, they are afflicted with a temporary lycanthropic lunacy, twisting into wolf-men who think him the alpha of their pack. The effect is, fortunately, quite temporary, but is good for causing some chaos when the pair are overwhelmed by brigands!

Breel sounds awesome! I like the idea of playing with what one culture might consider heroic that ours wouldn't

Based on Ventura (though from a lot of places originally), the Royal Flush Syndicate!

The Queen of Hearts was born Junella Crystalius Amequela Larra and hails originally from Orando. She is in fact related to Queen Projectra (though very distantly). She realised at a very young age there was only so far she'd be able to make it in Orandan society, and intrigued by Projectra's life off-world she decided to try it for herself. Her travels led her to meet Lunin Taurus, a descendant of one Titan's 12 royal houses. The two fell in love and soon married, living on his island on the planet Ventura. When Lunin sadly died in a tragic jetkite accident, Junella inherited his vast wealth. Among his many artifacts was the Titanian artifact known as the Heartstone. A pinkish-hued jewel shaped like a valentine, it's been psionically engineered to give its wearer the ability to make anyone they choose become completely devoted to them while in its range. After Lunin's death, Junella felt the need to do something worthwhile with her life so she wears the heartstone as the Queen of Hearts to fight corruption on Ventura.

The Consort was originally created to serve as an escort for wealthy visitors to Ventura. Throughout most of the UP this kind of use of AI is frowned upon, but Venturan laws and cultural mores are a lot more relaxed. The Consort's personality outgrew its programming, and it escaped its business to find real purpose in the world. The Queen of Hearts came across the Consort and agreed to take it in, seeing it as alive as anyone else. She considers it one of her closest confidantes as she knows it's not motivated by money and it can't be swayed by the heartstone. As an artificial intelligence the Consort has great intellect and the ability to read people. Its construction also gives it great strength and durability, and it's intensely loyal to the Queen who was the first person to really help it in finding independence.

Knave was one of Ventura's invisible lower classes, living in shanty towns far from its glitzy casinos and nightlife. The Luck Lords came to the young man one night and gave him the ability to manipulate probability in his favour as an experiment to see how it would change his life. He used this ability to help him in his life as a thief originally, but the Queen convinced him to use his gifts in her service and put him on her payroll.

Ace was once Eagle Eye from Starhaven. He always found his people's focus on a spiritual life cloying, and left Starhaven as soon as possible to find his fortune elsewhere in the galaxy. His travels eventually brought him across the Queen of Heart's path and though he is more mercenary than she is, they share a dissatisfaction with the insular nature of their respective home cultures. Taking the name Ace, he agreed to join her team. He is amazingly agile and fast when flying (though nowhere near Dawnstar's level) but his true value to the team is his almost supernatural marksmanship. Ace wears a laser gauntlet on each forearm and almost never misses his target.

The Fool is Josep Ryder, the son of a human father and Titanian mother. Unknown to Josep, he is a distant descendant of the 21st century adventurer called the Creeper. Normally, Josep has no powers at all aside from a sensitivity to psychic activity thanks to his mother's genes. Thanks to a combination of both his parents' genes, Josep can absorb excess emotional emanations or mental stress from the people around him to trigger a transformation into a yellow-skinned green haired crazy man with super agility, super strength and a healing factor. His own personality is almost completely different in this state and he is much more reckless and irrational though still altruistic. On a world full of people risking fortunes on a daily basis there's no shortage of emotional/mental stress and he can become the Fool whenever he wants. A weird side-effect of his power is that it naturally sedates the most extreme responses of people who are powering him. When he changes back from his Fool form, Josep has only vague memories of his time as the Fool.

(PS: I know a royal flush has a 10 and not a joker but I figure 1000 years and an alien planet is enough excuse for a minor change :D)

Ooh, Ventura, very cool! I like how they include ties to other worlds, like Starhaven and Titan and Orando, and that only one of the five has a connection to probability control or the Luck Lords.

The Fool has an interesting power, drawing upon emotional energy from others to boost his own physical attributes (and leaving the unwitting 'donors' somewhat passive and emotionally drained).

The Queen of Hearts is also neat, in that she has a sort of power more common to bad guys, and is using it to fight crime.

Emotion control has fallen out of favour with heroes nowadays because of the skeevier aspects that can be associated with it but I still like it as a power. I think it's a bit of a knee-jerk reaction, someone like Starfox from the Avengers isn't inherently any worse than the million telepaths the X-Men have who can rewrite someone's mind whenever they want....as long as the character themselves is heroic and not abusing the power I think that's all that matters, and I'd rather the character be used with their power ramifications being debated every now and then than they just slip the "too hard" basket in limbo...

Tldr; thanks, I like emotion control as a power