Irradicator
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| [[Image:|300px|]] | |
| Irradicator | |
| Player: Calamity Cain | |
| Origin: | Science |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Blaster/Brute |
| Threat Level: | 50/22 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Radomir Nikhilovich Rykov |
| Known Aliases: | Radek (nickname for Radomir) |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 41 |
| Height: | 1.85 m |
| Weight: | 74 kg |
| Eye Color: | Brown |
| Hair Color: | Brown & Gray |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Russian |
| Occupation: | Supervillain |
| Place of Birth: | Norilsk, Russia |
| Base of Operations: | Mercy Island, Rogue Isles |
| Marital Status: | Unmarried |
| Known Relatives: | Nikhil Rykov (Father, deceased) |
| Known Powers | |
(via Power Armor)
| |
| Known Abilities | |
| Genius Intellect, Scientific Expertise | |
| Equipment | |
| Power Armor, Power Gloves, Power Belt, Polonium Knife | |
| ' | |
Contents |
Biography
Appearance
Within his power armor, Radek is an imposing 1.8 meters tall, with a fearsome, macabre facemask guarding his jaw, mouth, and nose. His armor possesses a dull sheen that allows some light to gleam off its yellow and green surfaces. Depending on its actuation, one can see the black elastic underlayer that Radek wears beneath his armor's plates. Even without full activation, the armor is warm to the touch, especially near the gauntlets and boots. As Radek moves in his armor, its greaves may clank upon hard surfaces, and the heaviness of the armor is apparent by the way the floor shudders beneath every step. The pitch of its servos as Radek moves is low and evident even in combat, perhaps a sign of the power needed to move his armor - or of poor maintenance.
When engaged in combat, Irradicator's armor may glow yellow and green, especially around the hands and forearms; bleeding visible radiation as the armor struggles to contain and direct the decay of dangerous isotopes. When shielded all manner of effects may be observed: a faint globe of green light as alpha and beta particles are swarmed into a shell of protection, a yellow-green aurora as Irradicator's emissions interact with magnetic fields or localized static, and sometimes a steady cloud or fog of sickly yellow-green particles as the villain intentionally irradiates the proximate ground and air.
His voice is attenuated and amplified by his facemask, and Irradicator's breathing, especially when hastened, is audible and reminiscent of a scuba diver's. Meanwhile Radek's glaring brown eyes are almost omnipresent. A scowl seems to be this villain's natural state, and he regards much of the world - certainly its human population - with contempt. Irradicator speaks with an intelligible but nonetheless thick Russian accent.
Outside of his armor, Radek stands at an average 1.7 meters with a slender build. His frame is wiry and without an excess of muscle. His skin is fair, even pale, and his dark brown hair grays at his temples. Radek prefers simple, austere clothing, and his favored outfit seems to be a black turtleneck and brown slacks. He wears black leather Chelsea boots on his feet, and a metal link belt containing an emitter buckle around his waist.
Radek's small stature and pallid appearance does not invite admiration, but he nonetheless carries himself as if nothing can weigh him down, as if everything and everyone has already tried.
Personality
To say Irradicator thinks highly of himself would be a masterstroke of understatement. Radek Rykov is the sort of person who refers to himself in the third person. He relies on no one but himself, and has done so his whole life - or so he believes. Only the most grim of circumstances will convince him to act otherwise. To him, other people are either obstacles, or tools. It is rare for him to regard another with any measure of respect, and even more implausible that he'll admit it. However, you do not need to get in his way for him to look down on you. He sees the faults in other people all too well, and is happy to remind them. His manner is spiteful and contemptuous. Even his humor is marked by degradation and malevolence. Truly, if this man has a heart, it is so well buried beneath fury and disdain that it serves as a singularity of hate; nothing good escapes.
Despite all this, Radek is, nominally, a civilized individual. He is well groomed and disciplined, even in his interactions with others. It only makes his brusque demeanor that much more focused, however. No, Irradicator is also pragmatic, insofar as his ego allows it. Often it is easier or more productive to go through the motions of normative behavior, or act within the bounds of the law. But it's obvious to anyone paying attention that it grates on him. When Irradicator does not have his way, you can be sure it irks him to no end, and that he's only biding his time to have his way next time.
So, if there were to be such a person, to whom would he pay respect? Radek respects strength and force of will. He respects pragmatism, even when, and perhaps especially, when it is destructive. Radek values grit and determination, and admires bloodthirstiness. Brutality and cunning are virtues in his eyes. The world is a terrible place. You must be terrible to survive, and even more terrible to take control. Though an intellectual of a sort, many of his contemporaries may regard Radek as an "intellectual brute" (and have in the past), for he is not the wide-eyed, curious investigator one might expect from a scientist. He is a man of science, but in the same way the headsman is an authority on human anatomy. "Does it work?" That's the primary metric of Irradicator's research. Everything else is secondary.
A fast track to earning Irradicator's ire is impracticality and what he often describes as "foolishness". Cheerfulness, giddiness, joy, contentedness, love, hope - all these are offensive in Radek's eyes. If they're not complete wastes of energy, they are to him pathways to slavery and weakness. Mercy is not in Rykov's vocabulary.
In fact, if you truly want to awaken Radek Rykov's wrath? Try crossing him.
Nothing is more cause for obliteration (figurative or otherwise) than daring to challenge him. After all, he is Radek Rykov, and you are not. What do you know?
Powers & Abilities
- Radioactive Blasts - Irradicator's primary mode of attack is directed blasts of radioactive material, directed from his armor's gauntlets. Heating radioactive materials to a plasma state, his armor can then be used to launch and direct these globs of irradiated material at his enemies. He can also direct radiation in a beam for precision attacks when necessary. Depending on the temperature of his projectiles, Irradicator's blasts may be small and fast, or large and slow, and either collide with their targets as a flash of irradiation and heat - or stick to his enemies as a sort of radioactive napalm.
- Radioactive CQC - Up close, Irradicator employs a similar mechanism, but instead of launching these plasma formations at his foes, he leaves them coalesced around his fists, before driving them into his enemies. Combined with the superior strength his armor provides, Irradicator's radioactive fists are capable of breaking all manner of defenses down in a few short blows.
- Irradiation - For times when energy expenditure is not a concern, Irradicator will simply light himself up like a Chernobyl Christmas tree, and saturate his surroundings in deadly alpha, beta, and gamma particles. This is how he deals with mobs of enemies, or denies territory in a chase or protracted fight.
- Ray Shields - By arranging free particles in a constantly orbiting pattern, Irradicator can maintain a shell of radiation that protects him against other radioactive attacks, fire, slow projectiles, and electric attacks.
- Flight - Irradicator's armor is capable of nearly supersonic speeds once airborne.
- Teleportation - A technology new to Irradicator, and at times infuriating, he nonetheless utilizes a prototype teleportation device for escape, sneak attacks, and long distance travel where time is a factor. Currently he's working on being able to teleport others.
Equipment
Locations
Atomgrad
So named for the closed cities of the Soviet Union that conducted nuclear research & development, this is Irradicator's base of operations in the Rogue Isles. Atomgrad was arduously and painstakingly constructed from Snake tunnels beneath Mercy Island, which the villain spent almost a year irradiating. Hundreds of Snakes were killed as he conquered square foot after square foot, inch after inch of subterranean real estate. Even more difficult was the base's construction, as he marshaled the most discreet contractors and free agents to build his underground complex while under constant harassment from the enraged reptile-men. The great project is still not yet actualized, but shows no signs of being halted, as Radek Rykov drives a near constant work schedule. Gradually he has coerced some of Mercy's destitute to join him underground, under the promise of high paying positions with no strings attached to Arachnos interests. Of course, those who take him up on the offer quickly learn that Radek Rykov is no saint. If the Snakes on the warpath don't slay the workers, Irradicator's experiments might.
Atomgrad's key facilities are the nuclear power plant and nuclear refinery, which are integral to Irradicator's interest. Not only must he produce fissile material and nuclear waste for his experiments and the powering of his armor, he has also begun the dangerous but lucrative path of selling this material on the black market to the highest bidder. There is a rumored third major piece to the Atomgrad puzzle - a blank outline in the blueprints - but as work proceeds on the rest of the base, Radek has yet to let his contractors in on the secret.
Other features include a cargo processing area, a control room, a briefing room, a laboratory, a medbay, a workshop, and Radek's personal quarters, which also feature a secret escape tunnel from the complex.
Irradicator has so far managed all this right under the noses of Arachnos, and he is keenly aware of the risk. But every day Atomgrad remains a secret is another foundation laid, another bulkhead forged, and another Gamma Tower erected. Let them come. If they dare the Snakes and his wrath? They will pay for it.
Weaknesses
Irradicator has no weaknesses...or so he would have his enemies believe. Though it is true that the villain is a formidable intellect, a brutal combatant, and divested of any personal attachments one could exploit, he is still only human. Even he, in his ego, knows this all too well.
Not only is Radek Rykov subject to the same pitfalls of biology and psychology that his fellow humans are, he is particularly prone to illness. Ever since he was young, he had a weakened immune system. To some extent, he has aged out of this sickly state, but his diet of coffee, cigarettes, and tequila doesn't exactly strengthen his body's defenses. He regularly puts off sleep and food in favor of work. His stamina is fueled by hatred and will alone - his body is constantly in some manner of fatigue or fighting off some bug.
But even Irradicator's intellect has its limits. Though capable of great cunning and sophisticated planning, Radek has on more than one occasion been described as an "intellectual brute". Even with his mind's capacity for abstract problem solving, his impatience and perhaps overconfidence in himself causes him to take the simplest and most brutal solution, when a more subtle approach could suffice. Finesse is rarely a word Radek contemplates; his speech, his actions, his inventions are practical and blunt. When pressed, the villain may relent from his single-minded ways, and attempt to formulate a more even-handed solution, but too often he sees only his goal and marches towards it, consequences be damned. This is occasionally an advantage - but often a shortcoming.
As such, Irradicator's inventions - namely his armor - is a brutally simple piece of equipment. It is impossible to hack remotely and hardened against both physical damage and electromagnetic disturbance. However, he only maintains his armor as often as absolutely necessary, leaving it perhaps not as fully optimized and "well oiled" as it could be. So long as it has enough fuel and range of motion to destroy his enemies, Radek is satisfied. This leaves a handful of openings for his enemies to exploit.
So with all that being said, it should come as no surprise that Irradicator loathes compromise and new ideas. He'd sooner spurn a potential ally than give up his turf, and he'll take tried-and-true brutality over a creative new approach nine times out of ten. He is not easy to sway, and does not play well with others, although since coming to the Isles, this has changed, albeit by degrees; his stubbornness and ego may yet be his undoing.
Allies
Enemies
Timeline
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- Strength In Numbers - Irradicator's debut bank robbery, taking on the Bank of Founders Falls on his own.
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Roleplaying Hooks
- Irradicator is not a household name, but he is a rising (or falling) star, and those who follow current events closely would know of him.
- Radek is Russian, but bears no affection for the Motherland; its Soviet past even less so. He hates the color red, and prefers tequila to vodka.
- Irradicator is one of the leading experts in radioactivity in the world. Before he was a villain, he was a fairly unethical scientist who nonetheless published papers that have been cited many times by his contemporaries and furthered knowledge in his field. Your character may know him from his work - or his misdeeds in the scientific field. For now PST for details if you think this applies.
- Irradicator is a known thief of nuclear materials, including nuclear weapons. To date, he has stolen three, twice for experimentation and once for leverage against the French government. Now he is known in the black market as a premier nuclear proliferator. He has yet to openly sell nuclear weapons, but he sells any waste and materials he does not use for his own experiments.
- Though he loathes most of its patrons, Radek often agrees to meet new contacts and do business in Pocket D, for its nearly unbreakable security and isolation from authorities. If you spot him having a drink, he's likely there on business. Maybe that business is with your character?
- Radek's powers are suitable for smash & grab jobs, or tasks which place no value on innocent bystanders or collateral damage. He is no mere mercenary, but if you're recruiting a team of evildoers for some nefarious end, and your character has heard of him, Irradiactor could easily be on the shortlist. Prove to him how he may gain from joining you, and he just might. Just mind the radiation...
Trivia
- Irradicator comes by way of my deep affection for the character of Lex Luthor. He is the greatest criminal mind of our time, after all! There's something you love to hate about a character that self absorbed, and who also manages to back it up with his actions, until he's proven to be murderous and maniacal underneath. I also channel quite a bit of Doctor Doom, Baron Zemo, Bane, and bits and pieces of radioactive sideshow villains throughout comics and animation, like Radioactive Man and Atomic Skull.
- I'm fond of wordplay, hence the character's sobriquet: a blend word of "irradiate" and "eradicator".
- This is the first time I've ever played a Radiation-based character or power set, and the first time I stuck with a Blaster for any length of time. I deeply enjoy playing the character, even OOCly. I'm still learning the ropes as far as builds go, but even slotted lazily, the character feels like a powerhouse. That only reinforces the character's presence, I think.
- Radek's voice is still in development. But if you've played Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge, I imagine him sounding like the Apocalypse Tank voice, albeit one notch higher pitched and a bit faster in cadence.
