Marvel Universe

 
So, the Thursday Group just finished the first three games of our Marvel Universe campaign. It was a nice buildup to what will ultimately be the pivotal point in our characters' young lives.  

We're playing 15 year-olds at the Massachusetts Institute for Higher Learning, run by Emma Frost (yes, THAT Emma Frost). It's a small school, only six students in the enormous manse, though our studies consist more of battle training than anything useful like Social Studies or even Math. Such is life at the MIHL. And it's in the Ultimates universe, so it a little different and quite interesting at the same time.

My character is a proto-typical goth wannabe, without actually being a goth wannabe. He wears black, avoids light and "fun in the sun", and is generally just plain weird. He is this way because only three months ago he discovered his mutant powers during a mugging where he tore the soul out of not only the mugger, but his parents as well. Not only did he kill three people in the blink of an eye, but he made himself a ward of the state who bounced around foster homes that just couldn't deal with either his past, or his teen angst, passive-aggressive attention seeking behavior. He's the male version of Raven on Teen Titans, but with serious psychological problems. He calls himself "Draven" because he hates his real name. The State of Mass has placed him in the care of the MIHL

His powers began with Life Vision. He can see the life energy of living things as an aura or a halo, which is different for humans and mutants. This is treated like dyslexia; something that's always "on" and he's just learned to deal with. Then he can generate pain by touch. If you know anything about the Marvel system, this can go up to 8 stones, which to my understanding could leave someone crippled, screaming on the ground. (This is an offshoot power of Telepathy, which I view as yet another way he senses the life around him). Finally, he can rend souls. This took come creative semantics skinned over the rules-set (basically an inverted Force Blast), but it's 8 stones of x3 damage which tears a soul from a body and pulls it apart to dissipate in the air. He's weak as a kitten afterward, and the amount of damage he does is proportionate to the amount of pain it visits back onto him.

In short, my character likes to be alone so that he doesn't have to consciously ignore his Life Vision, he doesn't like being touched as a precaution on the off-chance he accidentally blinds someone with pain, and he's morbid because he killed is own parents and no one else will "connect" with him (partially because he won't let them because he's afraid of accidentally killing them, too). He's really just a good kid, but he can do very bad things.

So, last game we were dealing with one of our fellow students, who also happens to be the de facto leader of our little group, who is incapacitated by shell-forming substance shot from a Sentinel. Tony Stark, who owed Miss Frost a favor, apparently, couldn't do anything about it. When our Headmistress left to consult another party, we were visited by the X-Men. Cyclops, it seems, wants his brother back... his brother Havoc who is currently encased in some strange shell-forming substance shot from a Sentinel. We call Miss Frost who is currently engaged in a meeting with an evil sounding man who insists that we deal with the X-men if we ever want to see our Headmistress again.

Gaby/Artemis takes the reigns and goes into full "protect those who can't defend themselves" mode and won't let them take Havoc -- because if he wanted to be with them, he wouldn't have ran away to the MIHL. Shanny/Solace supports her and backs her up when things start going to hell. Jeff/Meltdown couldn't be happier that he's getting a free ride back to the Xavier Institute to be an X-Man. And Draven is torn:

On one hand, Jeff is the only person he's connected with since his parents died. He gave Draven a new perspective to cope with his grief and even encouraged the search for a good Hero name. He could go with Jeff and be one of the X-Men, who he knows to have peaceful goals.

On the other hand, he's a ward of the state, and the State put him in the MIHL. If he goes to be an X-Man, he'd be a fugitive. He'd be spitting in the face of the Miss Natasha, the social worker who had worked so hard to help him. He'd be running from more than just himself.

So, Draven walked off the loading ramp of the X-Men's jet and back to Gaby, Shanny, and the only other student, "Blink".

"Why didn't you go?" Blink asked.

"I can't. I'm a ward of the state," Draven answered.

"Would you have gone if you weren't a ward of the state?"

"Probably.

Blink walks past in disgust.

And now we're moving on with our campaign rotation. I'm very interested in getting back to Marvel, because Draven is going through a major change. No more crying at the mention of his parents or his powers -- Jeff said to be tough, to be cold. Death is very cold. No more holding back his powers because he doesn't want to hurt anyone -- the State sent him there for a reason. Death does not discriminate.

With Jeff gone and Alex/Havoc still incapacitated, Draven is the man of the house. He remembers one of his father's sayings, echoing in his head since he arrived, "Whoever has the ability to take action, has the responsibility to take action." And he has the name that Jeff helped him create.

Behold... Mortis.

Robert