Villainy

This is a story about villains. It's about heroes too I suppose, but it's mainly about villains. In this story/game, you take the role of a person with superhuman abilities. This is made to show how people would really react to having superhuman powers . . . so most of the characters will likely be villains, or at the very least anti-heroes. The setting is unique, so I'm going to have you all read a bit of history first . . . hopefully it isn't as boring as the history we learned in school.

How did we get here?

It all started about two hundred and forty years ago or so with one man . . . Melchior Jefferson. Melchior was born as one of a set of triplets to the founding father to be Thomas Jefferson, and one of his house slaves named Lily. Unbeknownst to the parents, they were actually half-siblings, as Thomas’ father, Peter was also the father of Lily.

Unfortunately having triplets at that time in history with the lack of medical knowledge led to the death of Lily. Thomas looked on the triplets with favor as they grew. While he was unwilling to risk admitting they were his own, he held some pride in them as they grew into strong young men. When the time came to fight the British to form a new country, the brothers were among the first slaves to volunteer for the war, even before they learned that their freedom was part of the payment. Thomas Jefferson told the boys the truth of their parentage that night. Each of the three reacted differently. Balthazar was angry, Gasper was joyful, and Melchior was reserved. It was no real surprise to the young man, and he had long since washed his hands of his father.

During the war, the brothers fought the British with an all-black regiment. As was often the case, they were sent into the thick of battle ahead of the white soldiers on a particular afternoon, and the entire regiment was slaughtered to the last man. That is when the miracle happened . . . Melchior got better. His wounds slowly healed in front of the astonished eyes of the British soldiers. When he suddenly took a breath and sat up, they shot him in the head, rendering him instantly dead again.

Melchior was taken to the British camp where he was tortured for days in ways that only an immortal can be tortured until he finally found the means to escape. Killing his guards, he slipped into the forest by the camp. One by one he tracked down the British soldiers and slaughtered them. Only then did he return to the Colonial Army to give his report.

A sergeant was about to kill him for fear that he was in league with Satan when the general stayed his hand. General George Washington took Melchior under his wing and transformed him into the Colonial Army’s secret weapon.

After the war, Melchior stayed the United States of America’s secret weapon. For one hundred and seventy five years he move from one branch of the service to another; from one war to another; fighting for the country he had helped form. Then in 1951 he got a new mission . . . test subject.

He was asked to submit to tests by Doctor Warren King and Doctor Phillip Graves, the leaders of a project called Prometheus. Project Prometheus was an attempt to understand and possibly replicate Melchior’s amazing abilities. The project was more successful than they could have possibly imagined, allowing them to identify a rare gene in the human genome that under the right, nearly impossible, circumstances would produce extraordinary powers in the human in question. His part in the project done, Melchior returned to the job he knew best . . . serving his country.

When the new heroes and villains began to emerge, The Patriot was at the forefront; leading by example and taking the villains out with extreme prejudice. Secrets can only remain secret for so long. With the death of Warren King in 1993 the secret of the origin of supers came to light. When the origin of supers became known, he reluctantly gave some speeches and made some appearances before returning to his preferred job.

When Axiom Enterprises (run by Warren King II), and Graves Biotechnic (run by the venerable Phillip Graves) started selling superpowers, The Patriot briefly stopped spewing the party line to tell the public what a horrible idea he thought it was, but quickly returned to putting supervillains in the ground . . . which is what he is still doing.

Now if you are one of the rare 5% of the population with the super gene; and you are very wealthy, you can have a super power . . . but they aren't all available and legal. If you are poor and have the gene, you can still get super powers; but that entails exposing yourself to experimentation that can often have devastating side effects.

Where did you get your powers?

I'm part of one of the original projects

• I gained my powers in the 50's in Project: Prometheus

(Origin of the first string of super soldiers, most of whom are dead or very old. It was quite inhumane.)

• I gained my powers in the 70's to the 90's in Project: Cerberus

(One origin of the second string of super soldiers, run by Phillip Graves. Was even more inhumane, and produced mainly villains.)

• I gained my powers in the 70's to the 90's in Project: Daedalus

(Another origin of the second string of super soldiers, run by Warren King. Was more humane, and produced mainly heroes.)

I purchased my powers

• From Axiom Enterprises
• From Graves Biotechnic
• I got them on the black market

I volunteered for experimentation

• With Axiom Enterprises
• With Graves Biotechnic

I'm part of a Special Project

• I am Project: Lazarus (Balthazar Jefferson)
• I am Project: Tinman (Gasper Jefferson)

What are you talking about?

• I'm The Patriot!
• I got them from a foreign power