Rogues Gallery

Running a one-shot, and you'd rather not waste time with character creation? Need some new villains for your next adventure? Starting a new game, and you don't know what character to play? What follows are a selection of Feng Shui characters, complete with backstories and ready to play. Feel free to take these characters and use them as they are, or alter them as you see fit to fit your game. These are my ideas, but they're for you to use. You'll probably notice that not all of these characters fit their archetypes perfectly. I tried to base most of these characters on the starting template, but I also didn't hesistate to change things around to fit my concepts when I needed too. I've included notes at the end of each entry to indicate what changes I made to the basic archetypes. I've also included some homemade stuff, both by myself and other players, in the write-ups of these characters, along with links to where you can check them out.

The rogues gallery is an ongoing process. Check back every once in a while to see who's new here.

Erica James

Erica James is one of the Ascended, with the blood of the serpent running through her veins. Her family is part of the Lodge, and thus she was brought up surrounded by wealth, luxury, and power. Growing up, she was educated at the most exclusive private institutions, where she was schooled in mathematics, science, history, economics, and political science. She was exposed to the greatest works of literature, art, philosophy, and music in human history. She was also tutored by the finest teachers in ettiquette, public speaking, dance, music, and conversation. And finally, as befitting her ancestory, she was taught how to unlock the gifts of her inhuman heritage, as well as various deadly arts of combat. In short, she was groomed to accept her birthright as one of the secret masters of the world. The result was a woman of self-confidence, learning, alluring beauty, strength, grace, and poise.

And a woman who was very, very bored.

Erica grew up having her every desire catered to, and so she quickly grew bored with it all. She did well at her studies because she was naturally smart, not because she applied herself. In truth, she found her “birthright” to be dull and stultifying, and early on she decided she wanted nothing to do with the Lodge. Thus, at the age of 18, she ran away from home. With her access to wealth, it wasn't particularly hard, and for the first time she felt truly free. She wasn't just seeing the world — she was experiencing it — and it was a wonderful sensation. For about six months she wandered the world, and then the Lodge caught up to her. She was dragged back to her father, who fumed at her, hoping to cow her into obedience. It didn't work, in a few months she ran away again, and then was caught again a few months later. This time, she was brought before the Lodge proper, who attempted to seriously intimidate her. However, having been free, she refused to submit, and in a few months she ran off again, and was caught again, and again, and again.

Eventually, everyone involved realized that she would never join the Lodge. The penalty for treachery was death, but in truth she hadn't exactly betrayed the Lodge or interfered with their plans. More to the point, she was still useful to them. After her first incident, her father cut off her expense account. She simply responded by stealing some of his money before departing. The next time he secured his valuables, but she stole them again anyway before departing. The next time he made sure she couldn't take anything, and so instead she began stealing from other people to finance her lifestyle. She discovered that she was good at it, but like everything else, it became boring quickly. She began going after bigger targets, not just for the money, but for the challenge. When the Lodge caught up with her for the last time, they gave her an ultimatum: she would be allowed to leave the Lodge, with the understanding that betrayal meant death. The catch was that she would be required to keep them informed as to her whereabouts, and that she would be required to occasionally perform certain services for them. Erica wasn't happy with the deal, but she realized that it was the best she would get, and so she accepted.

Erica is 28 years old, with pale skin, a lithe, sensuous body, and straight, dark hair that hangs just below her jawline. She moves with an easy grace, her smile is warm and seductive, and her eyes are hypnotic. She prefers short, black dresses and the like, along with restrained but expensive jewelry. When she's working, she wears a full black bodysuit, and carries a variety of hi-tech tools. She carries herself with an air of ironic detachment, as if she finds everything to be somewhat trite and tired (which, in truth, she does). She's not so much cold, but she only warms up to those whom she feels has something new and interesting to offer her. She loves to live life to it's fullest, but she finds that few things seem to be worthwhile. She naturally prefers the finer things, and she's honed her skills to get them. She knows she's not the world's best thief yet, and so most of her jobs are to challenge herself more than they are to maintain her bank account. She's also been called on by the Lodge on a number of occasions, and while she resents the hold they have on her, the jobs they give her are the most difficult and dangerous of her career, and so she secretly has to admit that she enjoys them. Other than this, Erica has no real interest in the Lodge or the secret war, and while she is more than capable of taking care of herself, she doesn't particularly like violence.

Erica could be played as either a PC or a GMC, but either way her loyalties are suspect. Her primary concern is for herself, and so she would only be loyal to a party as long as they kept her interested. She's been known to tweak the Lodge by stealing from places they would rather she not, and this has led to friction on more than one occasion. However, she won't directly betray them, if only because she knows what would happen to her. Erica isn't evil, just amoral. She really only cares about herself, and just doesn't really care that much about anyone or anything else. Having been given everything her entire life, she's never learned to appreciate anything.

Hung Jin

Hung Jin was born under the name Takhar to one of the nomadic tribes that existed on the fringes of Imperial China in A.D. 69. The son of a warrior-chieftain, he grew into a fierce warrior and cunning tactician. He eventually came to lead his tribe, and from there he went on to become a powerful warlord. However, with each success he achieved, so to did his pride and ambition grow. This hubris would prove to be his undoing. Takhar was eventually betrayed by his own lieutenants, who had been bought off by Gao Zhang's agents with promises of wealth and land. They led Takhar into an ambush, and though he managed to escape into the forest, he was wounded by one of his own men with a poisoned arrow. As for his betrayers, they in turn were betrayed by Gao Zhang and butchered by the imperial army. Without a leader, Takhar's army was scattered to the winds.

Takhar himself, however, did not die. He wandered in a state of delirium for days through the forests and into the mountains, the poison eating him from within, until finally he collapsed. When he awoke, he found himself lying in the crude hut of an old hermit. At first he was consumed by thoughts of revenge, but his body had been wracked by the poison, and it would take him weeks to recover. At first he felt nothing but hostility for the hermit who had saved him, but as the days passed, and he observed the old man, he finally began to question him. The hermit told him that he had isolated himself from the world so that he might live a life of quiet contemplation. Takhar initially responded to this with scorn, but as he spoke more with the hermit, he found himself more and more drawn in by his words. As the weeks and then months passed, Takhar grew from patient to student as Takhar listened to the old man. The more he learned, the more he grew to regret his old life. He realized that despite all his power he had nothing to show for it except a trail of carnage and destruction. He came to realize that there was a deeper meaning to life, and a greater purpose to his existence. By the time he was healthy again, he had made the decision to forsake his old life and set off on a quest for enlightenment. He buried his weapons, and took on the name Hung Jin. When he awoke the next morning, he found that the hut and the old man had passed. Although it had seemed like months, Hung Jin had been gone barely a few weeks.

For the next ten years Hung Jin wandered China and beyond living the life of a ascetic. He sought out monks, teachers, and philosophers far and wide so that he might learn from them. Eventually his old life seemed like a dream, until one day it was brought crashing back to him. He was wandering through a village when he came upon a band of armed thugs harrassing the peasants. They tried to warn him off, at which point a lifetime of ingrained skills came to the fore. Using only a walking staff, Hung Jin quickly drove off the thugs, leaving several of them dead. Although the peasants were grateful, Hung Jin was troubled. For 10 years he had eschewed violence and conflict, only to find that it had taken hold of him so easily again. However, this time he did not have the luxury of contemplation. The thugs had been in the employ of one of the Thorns of the Lotus, and that night the village was besieged by walking corpses and hopping vampires. Hung Jin realized that to abandon them was to seal their fate, and so he made a deliberate decision to fight. He drove off the undead minions, then found the priest that had summoned them and defeated him after a fierce battle. However, he would not kill him, but rather gave him to the villagers to deal with. Hung Jin realized that isolating himself from the world was not his path. He would need to keep his feet on the ground even as he aspired to the heavens.

Hung Jin is a large, burly man, standing almost 6 feet tall with a stocky frame. He has long, unruly hair which he keeps tied behind his head, and thick, bushy sideburns. His skin is tanned and coarse from years of walking in the sun, wind, and rain, and it is covered with numerous small scars from his days past. He wears only the robes of a monk, along with sandals, a wide straw conical hat, and a rope belt, and he carries only a bamboo staff. Although he looks like a vagabond or a ruffian, his demeanor is calm and his manner gentle, if a bit gruff. He is also well versed in several schools of thought, and he always welcomes the opportunity to learn more. Hung Jin strives to maintain an even temper, to avoid conflict, and to control his emotions. However, he also realizes that he needs to balance his old self with his new self. Further, after the incident in the village, he began to take an active interest in the world around him. He soon learned of the rise of the Lotus, and he has dedicated himself to fighting their influence in whatever small way he can. He refuses to take a life, but he will use non-lethal force to protect himself and those around him. This prohibition does not apply to evil spirits, demons, and the undead, who deserve only destruction.

Tanqueray

Early in life, Mike DeCaro knew that he wanted to serve his country. He grew up in a small New Jersey town, his life relatively uneventful. After high school he enlisted in the Navy, and then soon after made it into the ranks of the Navy Seals, where he served with some distinction. He was sent over to the middle east during the Gulf War, and his unit was sent on a covert mission deep into Iraqi territory. Toward the end of the mission his unit was accidentaly discovered by enemy forces. Outnumbered, they were forced to take refuge in the mountains, and in doing so Mike became seperated from his unit. He took refuge deep within a cave to avoid being discovered. He found it to be oddly moist, yet dusty, but otherwise nothing unusual happened. Eventually he was contacted by his unit, he rejoined them, and made his way back into friendly territory. He reported the incident, and forgot about it.

It was a few weeks later while stationed in Germany when things first changes began. The last name of a colonel that Mike had once met was slightly different. A street he had once passed seemed to be in a slightly different place. A waitress he had talked to at a bar a few months ago was gone, and no one there ever remembered her. At first Mike tried to brush it off, but the changes became more frequent, and more noticable. People he knew had different names, or different occupations, or didn't remember him at all. Records began to turn up different, or missing. Buildings and streets began to change names, or loctaions, and phone numbers turned up wrong too. Mike became paranoid, unable to understand what was happening. He began to suspect that he had been exposed to chemicals during the Gulf War, and he became erratic. Eventually, he was given a medical discharge and sent to a veterans hospital for observation, but the doctors could find nothing wrong with him. He returned home to find things had changed there as well. Only his parents seemed to be unchanged, and they took him in again. Then, two weeks later, they were both killed in a car accident.

This final blow was more than Mike could stand. His stability shattered, Mike disappeared into the depths of New York city and into the bottom of a bottle of Whiskey. For weeks, or maybe months, he lived on the streets and in the gutters in an alcoholic fog, his grip on reality tenuous. Eventually, however, his survival instincts took over, and he came out of his haze. In doing so, he slowly strayed into the criminal underworld. His background made him useful to certain individuals, and so he found himself taking on a variety of jobs to pull himself out of the hole he had dug for himself. However, recent events had changed him, and he was no longer quite as sane as he used to be. He became known for pulling reckless and dangerous stunts while on a job, and some said he had a death wish. Only his training and experience, and his inherent will to survive, kept him from being killed on more than one occasion. It was during this period that he picked up his nickname, both for his hard drinking, and for his seemingly crazy behavior.

What Mike didn't know was that back when he wandered into that cave, he accidentally stepped into the Netherworld. As a result, he became immune to lateral reincarnation. Shifts in the secret war created the minor changes he experienced, but no one else noticed them. No one, that is, but the Ascended. They also took note of Mike, and in him they saw an ideal recruit. The last step was to shatter his sense of stability, and then offer him a new foundation. Thus, they had his parents killed so as to sever his last tie to his past. However, it backfired, at least in the way they had planned. They weren't able to use him directly as an agent, but they arranged for him to be drawn into the criminal underworld so as to utilize him indirectly, at least in a minor way. They didn't expect his instability, however, and eventually they were forced to write him off as a failed opportunity. They're still aware of him, but they don't keep close tabs on him anymore.

Tanqueray, as he now known, is just over 6 feet tall, with dark eyes, short brown hair, and a perpetual five o'clock shadow. At 31, he's still in good shape and handsome in a rugged sort of way. He prefers leather jackets and old jeans, and he always seems to carry himself with a sort of casual indifference. However, when in a tight situation he becomes sharp as a razor, and he seems to radiate a palpable aura of edgy cool. He's extremely focused under fire, but also prone to taking dangerous risks. This is one of the reasons he never fully entered the criminal underworld — no one considers him stable enough to be trusted fully. The other reason, however, is the innate sense of values his parents instilled in him. Although he's done some questionable things, he's never done anything outright evil. His personal code of morals are too strongly engrained for this to happen. And so he continues to live on the fringes of society, never really looking past the next day, and still aware of the subtle things that keep changing around him, and still trying to make sense of it all.

Johnny Lee

For all of John Lee's life, he's been a face in the crowd. Born in the Kowloon area of Hong Kong, John was the third of what would be five children. His parents gave him his name because they couldn't think of anything else and, quite frankly, they were busy at the time. Like most of the other kids in Mongkok, he learned some martial arts when he was young, and this was the one area where he exceled — comprably speaking. He studied at a monastery and acquitted himself well, but not so that he stood out from the other students. On the streets, he managed to avoid getting into many fights, mainly because he went relatively unnoticed. The rest of his life went much the same way. He did everything everyone else did, but never seemed to stand out. He decided to get into the HK movie business with the hopes of making a name for himself. He found work, but always as a stuntman, a nameless thug, or in a bit part. No one ever criticized his work, but no one particularly remembered it either. Frustrated, John decided to move to the U.S.A., thinking he would stand out in Hollywood. However, things went the same as always; he found plenty of work, but all the same as in Hong Kong. He did stuntwork, appeared as an extra in a variety of films, and had a few small parts in a couple of straight to video releases. He always made enough of an impression to get another job, but never enough to get anything else.

However, one day everthing changed, though not in a way John would have ever expected. John was working on his latest film, Seven Deadly Strikes of the Ninja, when a bunch of guys in black outfits with swords crashed the set. At first John thought it was part of the film, until he realized that the guys in black were really kidnapping the lead actress, and that they were hacking up anyone in their way. Things got weirder when a lighting tech, a makeup artist, a maintenence man, and the leading man's girlfriend all leapt into the fray and started kicking butt, until a bunch of black sedans pulled up and began spilling out armed goons in suits who opened fire. However, panic really broke out when the 10-tall demon appeared in a flash of light and smoke and began trashing the scenery. Through all this confusion, John saw the lead actress get stunned by a lucky blow and hustled off into a stretch limo by a couple of the ninja. This finally set him into motion. Leaping into the fray, he tossed aside ninja and gun-toting mooks alike before leaping onto the hood of the limo as it took off. He clung onto the roof as the limo sped through traffic, chased by the goons in the black sedans. Then they pulled into what looked like an abandoned warehouse, and John thought they were done for. However, the car kept going, and when they passed through the opposite doors John found himself in some kind of underground tunnel. The car finally skidded to a halt, and John went into action. He jumped the ninjas as they piled out of the car and began wading his way through them, until the one guy in the car not dressed in black pajamas — some Chinese guy with a squeaky voice — called in the reinforcements. John found himself fighting for his life against a horde of nasty things with tentacles, teeth, and claws. Fortunately, the four bystanders who had joined the fight earlier showed up and helped distract the demons long enough for John to jump the squeaky Chinese guy, who was in the process of struggling with the now concious lead actress. John jumped in, handed out a kung-fu beat-down, and sent the bad guy packing.

After the fight, John got the skinny from the rest of the group. The actress went by the nickname “Silver Fist,” and the four bystanders who had been posing as crew members and the like were her part of her band. They had all banded together under her leadership to help protect humanity against evil sorcerers, futuristic mad scientists, and a host of other bad guys who wanted to take over the world. From there on, they quickly filled John in on time travel, the Netherworld, the Dragons, and the secret war. Finally, since he had acquitted himself so well, Silver Fist asked John if he wanted to join them. It didn't take more than a moment before John said yes, and in doing so embarked on the biggest adventure of his life.

As you would expect, John Lee looks rather, well, average. He's good looking and fit, but not in a way that stands out. He's of average height and build and has short black hair. He still does small parts in movies, but it no longer bothers him that fame and stardom have eluded him. As a member of the Dragons, he's finally found a place where he can make a difference. People still forget his name and his face, but no one who's ever faced him in the secret war ever forgets the experience.

Esteban Manrique

Born in Spain in 1966, Esteban Manrique began his career as a promising apprentice in the court of Huan Ken when the Four Monarchs still ruled the earth. From the onset Esteban displayed a natural ability for sorcery and an easy grace and charm which made him stand out. However, to the dismay of his instructors, Esteban had little inclination for hard work, prefering to skip classes for the excitement of the city, coasting on his talent instead of putting effort into his studies. He soon discovered he had an affinity for gambling as well as sorcery, and he soon became well known in the gaming dens of Madrid. He was punished several times for neglecting his studies, and only a forced relocation to the countryside allowed him to complete his training. Nonetheless, he was resentful at his loss of freedom. He had tasted the high life, and he was determined to live it.

With his studies completed, Esteban used his contacts, and a few favors, to work his way into the Thunder King's court. Although not a warrior, he impressed Huan Ken with his sorcerous skills. More importantly, he knew how to show the Thunder King a good time, and so soon he became a part of his inner circle. For a few years he lived in style, honing his talents at gambling and spellcraft and enjoying the weatlh and prestige that came with them. However, he eventually came to the realization that something was missing. He could have power, but what he really wanted was freedom. It was around this time that agents of Ming I began making overtures to him, and soon thereafter he defected to the side of the Darkness Queen. The details of this are sketchy; some say he was a traitor, others that he was acting as a spy for Huan Ken, while others still that he planned to betray them both. What is certain is that when the critical shift occured which wiped out the Monarch's power on earth, Esteban Manrique did not follow any of them into the Netherworld. He was now a free man, and while his sorcerous powers were diminished in the new world, his gambling talents were not.

After the shift, Manrique travelled across the world, where he soon developed a reputation as a high-stakes gambler. For a few years he lived once again in comfort and style, until the assassins from both the Darkness Queen and the Thunder King began showing up. Esteban was forced to use his long dormant magical skills to defend himself, and that in turn drew the attention of the Ascended, who also put killers on his trail. For several years Esteban played a very dangerous game, hiding out in the Netherworld when the Ascended got too close, and then returning to the modern juncture when the Monarchs came after him. Some nights he slept in opulent high-rises or on private yachts, others in seedy back alleys in some nameless exile village. Finally, Esteban found a place among the Dragons, the only faction which offered him support without restricting his freedom. His natural talents, as well as his ability to move effortlessly through both the street and high society, has made him a valuable asset to their cause.

Casey Ryan

Growing up, there were two things Casey Ryan loved more than anything else. Once was Charlie's Angels, and the other was visits from her uncle Jimmy, a former cop turned detective. She could sit for hour, enraptured by her uncle's true-life tales of crime and justice. As she grew older, she suspected that the tales were both at once embellished and cleaned up, but it did nothing to deter her enthusiasm for following in his footsteps. When she was old enough, she enrolled in the police academy, with dreams of becoming a detective. She graduated with high marks, and soon found herself walking a beat. However, she discovered that, for the most part, police work involved a lot of paperwork , boredom, domestic disputes, and drunks. Life on the force in a small town was not living up to her expectations.

Casey's rather routine life took an abrupt turn when she recieved word that her uncle had mysteriously vanished. What's more, he had instructed that, in the case of his death or disappearance, his business was to be entrusted to her. Despite her shock, Casey quickly decided to quit the force, relocate to the west coast, and take up her uncle's detective agency, with the intent of discovering what had happened to him. Once she had settled in, she discovered that working as a private detective was no easy task, and neither was locating her uncle. That was three years ago, and since then Casey has become a moderately successful private detective with a lot of unusual adventures to her credit. During one of them, she became involved with a masked avenger known as Shadowsilk, and in doing so inadvertently discovered her true identity. Since then, the two have become friends, and even begun to working together loosely, teaming up to solve cases and bring criminals to justice.

Casey Ryan is 28 years old, with shoulder-length blonde hair, blue eyes, and fair Irish skin. She has a passion for the 70's which is reflected in her choice of clothing, which usually includes chunky-heeled shoes, bell-bottoms, a butterfly-colllar blouse, a tight brown leather jacket, a wide neck-scarf, and a pair of oversized, yellow-tinted sunglasses. She loves to go out dancing at 70's themed nightclubs for fun, and her record collection has some truly scary selections. Casey still envisions herself as a street-tough private eye, but her childhood fantasies have been tempered with real life experience. She may be young, but she's not naive, and she doesn't take crap from anyone. She knows that her job is rarely glamorous, and that the bad guys often get away. Still, she's doing what she's always wanted to do, and for the most part, she has a great time doing it.

Shadowsilk

The child of a Japanese mother and an American father, Karen Sakawura's parents both died in an accident while she was very young, and she was raised by her grandfather in the U.S. Her grandfather taught her martial arts at an early age, along with the history, culture, and philosophies of the east. At the same time, Karen immersed herself in American culture, and grew up wearing blue jeans, flirting with boys, and reading comic books, merging both cultures into her own sense of personal identity. She went on to earn a master's in Eastern Studies, with plans of teaching or working in a museum.

However, Karen's life was shattered when tragedy struck in her twenty-second year. She came home to find masked intruders in her home, and her grandfather's body on the floor. They turned on her, at which point years of training and discipline. She lashed out with a skill and a fury she never knew she had, and sent her attackers fleeing. Kneeling by her dying grandfather, she learned the shocking truth about her past. He told her that she was descended from an ancient Japanese ninja clan and that they were responsible for her parents' death. However, that was all he could tell her before he died. Leaving her with a mystery as to why they were killed, or why they had come back after all these years. On that night, Karen swore to uncover the truth, and to bring the murderers of her parents and her grandfather to justice. On that night, Karen Sakawura became the masked avenger known as Shadowsilk.

That was four years ago. Since then, Karen's quest for answers has only seemed to lead her to new questions, and her personal mystery is still unsolved. In the course of her search, Karen has had to delve deep into the heart of the criminal underworld, and in doing so has become something of an urban legend. Although she is still focused on her goal, she has expanded her mission to fighting crime throughout her city, hoping possibly to spare others from her pain. She's also taken on a partner of sorts, a private eye named Casey Ryan who inadvertanly discovered her identity. The two work together loosely to fight crime throughout the city, and have become good friends as well.

Karen Sakawura is now 28 years old, with eurasian features and a petite but strong body. She teachs at a local college while working toward her doctorate, and she is an accomplished gymnast and martial artist as well. She has a friendly demeanor and easy smile, and people tend to warm up to her easily. As Shadowsilk, her voice turns icy and menacing. Her outfit consists of a tight, mid-thigh length black leather jacket, black stretch pants, black leather gloves, and thigh-high black leather boots. She keeps her nearly waist-length brown hair tucked up under a wide-brimmed black fedora, while a long red scarf, wound over fer face below her eyes, keeps her identity a secret.

Dr. Henry Simms a.k.a. Jack the Ripper

by Dave P. Blewer

Dr Henry Simms is mad, he truly believes that it is his destiny to become an immortal demigod. His lust for power led him to join an obscure Masonic Lodge. He was led to believe by his sponsors that he could garner great influence and even magical power within their structured circles of power. He was, however, soon frustrated in his ambitions, although the lodge wielded great social and political influence, Simms soon came to believe that the sorcerous power that he had been promised did not exist. Disgusted he started to research the background of the Lodge and follow his fellow lodge members, to learn their secrets so that he could blackmail them into revealing these so called magical secrets.

Simms was horrified to learn, through overheard whispered conversations and burglary, that the Lodge that he belonged to was but a sham. The true Lodge used himself and other pledged members as expendable servants and slaves, his life and wishes meant nothing to his “Masters”, and he would only benefit as a byproduct of their labyrinthine schemes and not by his own hard toil. He also learned that these members of this Secret Lodge with a Lodge were not even human, but creatures that only appeared human. They had many and diverse great powers, but they feared true magic for it could dissolve their very bodies. Armed at last with a potential weapon against these creatures, Simms secretly (for he feared these creatures) started to search for the arcane and hidden rituals and spells that had been passed down through the ages.

Simms' occult research led him to an obscure Sumerian manuscript that detailed a magical ritual, involving multiple sacrifices that would allow the magician to “Walk the Ages”. Simms interpreted this to mean that he would become the undying entity of his dreams, and if he was undying, he could destroy these creatures that had caused him to feel fear for the first time. He set about his gruesome task with gusto, and so Jack the Ripper, the most notorious serial killer of all time, was born. Simms chose his victims from those he despised the most, the whores, knowing that no one would miss them or care? Simms ritually slaughtered five victims and left their bodies in locations that, when plotted onto a map described an arcane symbol, meaning “Never Changing”.

As Simms completed the ritual, a shimmering portal opened before his eyes. Beyond the portal could be seen a series of caves that were lit with some sort of unearthly light, seeing that the portal was starting to shrink, he dived through. In doing so, Jack the Ripper entered the Netherworld, become an Innerwalker, and did indeed gain the ability to Walk the Ages, just not in the way that he had hoped for. Simms soon adapted to the new world that he found himself in. He spent the next few months exploring the Netherworld and discovering as much about the various factions as he could. He was mightily amused to find that the Blade Freaks worship him as some sort of Messiah, though he despises their methods as “crude and unconstructive”.

Simms has visited all the Junctures currently open in the Secret War, but does not feel comfortable in them, and prefers to stay in the Netherworld. He finds the 69 AD Juncture “too primitive” for his tastes, although he can kill without risk of capture there. He despises the Lotus, and his xenophobic nature does not allow him to trust them. He avoids the 1850 juncture, as he is very aware that his younger self can be found in the London of that time, and he does not want to draw attention to that fact. He is also wary of the Ascended, but less so now as he has discovered their secret. He kidnapped and imprisoned a member of the mighty Lodge within the Netherworld, only to witness her transmute into a mouse. He is very amused that the world as he knows it is run by mice. The 1996 and 2056 Junctures worry him, as the advanced police procedures and communications of those times have caused him a few close scrapes. Only his ability to create Netherworld Portals has saved him from capture.

Simms supports himself by operating as a sometime mercenary assassin, killing for those who can afford his rather meagre demands. He is quickly building a reputation as one of the more vicious killers to be found in the Netherworld. Simms has recently been contacted by the Vivisectors, with whom he finds some affinity, and has become one of their secret agents. So far he has refused any Arcanowave devices until he can use them competently, although the Variable Mass Scalpel does fascinate him.

Dr. Simms is a well-groomed, attractive man with an impressive handlebar moustache, He typically wears Victorian three piece suits and stove pipe hats, but also wears a surgeons apron when making a kill, to protect his suit from the blood splatters.

Gutsy Mary

by Dave P. Blewer

As Jack the Ripper completed his ritual that punched a temporary portal through into the Netherworld, the sorcerous power swirled around the corpse of his last victim Mary Kelly. Her newly formed and confused ghost was pulled through the gateway along with her killer…

The Secret War has left a lot of orphans in the Netherworld. The Dispossessed and the Timeless are often victims, innocent bystanders in the many battles that rip through the caverns of the Netherworld. Sometimes they are killed for trying to defend their homes and families, and sometimes they die for simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. The children of these victims often group together for protection, becoming nearly feral as they roam the caverns and cause mayhem. There are even rumours of cannibal tribes of children who, sick of the bland taste of shaped food, are “adding a little meat to their diet”.

In the nebulous world of alliances and battles that is the Netherworld, only one person seems to care about these children, a wraith known as Gutsy Mary. Mary has gathered as many of these children as she can in an area of the Netherworld that she calls The Schoolhouse. Here she and a small band of Dispossessed teachers and professors try to teach children the skills that they'll need to survive in the Netherworld. The dispossessed are proud of their school, and many veteran warriors will rush to its aid if it is ever threatened.

Mary has recently heard rumours of a killer stalking the Netherworld who is very familiar to her. Jack the Ripper has finally resurfaced, and Mary wants revenge. It looks like she is going to have to learn some lessons of her own, and not the sort she would ever teach her children…

Mary is a beautiful young woman who wears a full bodice dress popular at the turn of the century. This dress is often streaked with mud and soot. Sometimes her eyes look extremely sad, as if she was remembering pain from long ago.

At first glance, Mary's inability to pass insubstantial through water seems insignificant. However nothing could be further from the truth. She is unable to pass through or over water, ice or even steam, period. I suggest that a Blast special effects that incorporate these effects cause an extra two points of damage. Rainstorms are one of Mary's great fears, as she takes ten damage every shot until she reaches shelter.

The Schoolhouse

Although this Netherworld Feng Shui site is known as The Schoolhouse, it appears to be a small Eastern European keep, complete with pendants, adorned with the emblem of an unknown lord (A sword piercing what appears to be the sun), which flutter in a non-existent wind. Obviously designed for warfare (it even has a moat), Mary has done what she can to make the Schoolhouse as homely and welcoming as she can to her wards. Many of the rooms are painted in bright colours (especially, the dormitories) and children's drawings hang in all the corridors. Mary has even installed televisions in a few of the rooms and convinced IKTV to broadcast some educational programs. IKTV seems to do this in the early hours of the morning, and Mary has been less than successful at procuring or shaping a video recorder at this time.

Gutsy Mary, The ghostly schoolteacher, and a few other dispossessed tutors do their best to impart knowledge into the minds of many of the orphans that the Secret War has created in the Netherworld. The Netherworld Exiles are very proud of their school and its teachers, and many would flock to its aid should it be threatened. There has even been a request broadcast on IKTV for a skilled shaper who could fashion a park around the school

As well as the normal benefits of Attunement, the school seems to have an unusual effect on visitors that has been dubbed “The New Boy Effect”. The Schoolhouse isn't very large, yet newcomers find it very easy to get lost within its halls, visitors have to be taken (usually) by a pupil to whichever room or person it is they wish to visit. Otherwise guests have been known to wander the halls for hours. Those attuned to the site are immune to this effect, and the children are usually attuned during their first day. This also rather handily gives them a neophyte shaping skill.

Intruders must roll their Chi (Target Number 12) or become horribly lost. The amount by which they fail the roll is the number of minutes they wander the halls before arriving back at exactly the point they started. Furthermore, all Intimidation rolls made against these intruders are at +1 AV, as everyone seems that much more fearsome, wiser or downright cooler than those who aren't attuned.

All content copyright ©1997-2004 by David Eber, unless stated otherwise. (Read the legal fine print.)

Last modified: