Report on Technomancers (813)
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Contents |
Introduction
Having been asked by Grim to file a report on Kell and Co, I have uploaded the following into the Safe Haven mainframe, cced to The Sentinels and Gabriel. Report writing is kinda a new thing for me and most technomancers because we generally just share memories or hold a conference in our minds, so I apologize if I meander around a bit. Further questions can of course be addressed to me and any other technomancer, so long as you say "please".
((I'm too lazy to set up all the VV profiles so I'm putting everything here until such time as I get off my butt and put the info with the respective character))
Kell: A brief history of evil
Once upon a time, there was a young technomancer named Kell, considered by many to be the most brilliant initiate of his generation. Reviewing the memories of those who actually knew him, I believe he was a friendly, affable kind of person, popular among his peers. As far as I can tell, Kell was a kind and compassionate young man, charming and polite. At the age of 16 he was offered his Chrysalis implants, a full year before such things are normally done in our order. Kell continued to study under several masters until his implants matured and he was granted the status of Adept.
When a technomancer reaches the level of Adept, it is customary for them to spend 3 years away from the rest of the Order, to go off and see the world as part of a coming of age rite. This is so they can commune with their tech, learn about themselves and decide what kind of 'mancer they want to be. We don't know exactly what happened at this point to Kell, but upon his return, the kind and compassionate young man he had been was seriously lacking. This in and of itself isn't totally unexpected, many young Adepts return from their sojourn jaded and cynical, having seen the worst humanity has to offer.
Before becoming a full technomancer, the Adepts must appear before the Circle (the 9 leaders of the Technomancer Order) and perform a truly unique piece of technomancery. All eyes were on Kell, because it was expected his demonstration would be well worth watching, and all eyes were not disappointed. Kell brought three cadavers from the morgue of Paragon Sick Kids hospital. They were the bodies three children who had died of childhood leukemia who had died some time earlier. Before the Circle, Kell raised them from the dead, but these were not crude zombies or cybernetic automatons. Kell had brought them back to life, body and mind.
It was a spectacular bit of technomancery, there is no denying that, or that the Code of the technomancers forbade any such research. Kell pleaded his case before the Circle, arguing that if our order was to know all that can be known, there can be no limitations on our knowledge. Four members of the Circle sided with Kell, and voted not only to make him a full Technomancer, but to amend the Code to allow him to continue his research. Four members of the Circle voted for Kell's immediate execution, to have his Tech flayed from his body. Aldin held the deciding vote.
Aldin was as disgusted with Kell's perversion as any of the others, but feared what such disunion might do to the Order as a whole. Thus he proposed a compromise. Kell would not be flayed alive, but would instead be cast out from the Order, and from that day forward he was to be known only as "The Fallen Technomancer". The Circle agreed, and life went on.
Aldin however, worried of what a rogue technomancer might do wandering the world. Though Kell seemed outwardly repentant, Aldin suspected that it was a ruse. What makes Aldin so insufferable is that he's right more often than not, and so he was with this. Kell began to kill innocent people, only to revive them into twisted creatures following his bidding. He eventually moved his experiments to metahumans, mutants mainly but also demons and mages. Aldin dispatched his finest student, Gabriel, to deal with the threat Kell. As an aside, I'm sure Grim will find a way to explain how Aldin did this not to save innocent life but for some twisted evil plans of his own, and how Gabriel only went along with it not because it's in any way moral but for some more sinister reason. I look forward to hearing more of his great wisdom on this issue, and think it must be nice to be such a paragon of all moral virtues.
In the event that this report falls into enemy hands I won't explain how Gabriel took Kell down several pegs, merely comment that when the dust settled, Kell's powers were broken and he was sent to the Zig for his crimes. How he escaped, how he has managed to regain his powers, we do not know. We've tried asking him politely about it but he seems disinclined to talk to us for some reason. He is now working for John Starkweather, though his ultimate goals remain unfathomable to us.
Burning Hells
The Sentinels have an extensive file on Mr Armegdon and I've included a link to thosse files here. What this file does not contain (yet) is that shortly after his creation, Gabriel got to Mr Armegdon and put a mental block in his brain which kept the Nictus from overwhelming it's human host's mind. Thus the awesome powers of the most evil nictus to ever live would only be useable when both the light and dark parts of his psyche were in agreement. For a while Mr Armegdon seemed to accept his lot in life, and while he did work for Starkweather for several years, he also helped to cause a serious decrease in the Paragon City crime-rate. Unfortunately, Kell removed the mental block in Mr Armegdon's mind and has apparently given him technomancer implants to augment his powers. Mr Armegdon is now devoted to Kell, and he has a bit of a grudge against Gabriel and the rest of us.
It should be noted before you all start yelling at me, that I was not a technomancer at the time of Mr Armegdon's creation and had nothing to do with it. When I discovered what happened to him, I can't say I was thrilled but it was already done. There is no sense in denying that this is clearly a major Charlie Foxtrot. Although considering the number of Council soldier huddling in the Zig, crying for their mommy's at the mention of Mr Armegdon's name, I think we can call this Karmatically even.
Conclusions
There are several things I haven't explained here because I honestly don't know the answers yet. How is Kell seeing into Safe Haven? Is he loyal to John Starkweather or is this an alliance of convenience? How far does Mr Armegdon's loyalty extend? Can Kell be bargained with into leaving the rest of you alone in exchange for. . . well something.
There are also some things I could add to this report I'm not going to, for several reasons. First if this report falls into enemy hands I'd rather not explain how the Tech works or exactly how much I know. Second, as I am not fully trusted by y'all, I have my reservations about several of you. Third, it seems my popularity rises in direct proportion to my usefulness, and who doesn't like being popular?
If you have any further questions this report doesn't answer, feel free to come and talk to me and I will clear up that which I can clear up.
