“Take your place with your fellows, Gilf Scanlan.”
Scanlan turned and took up a position between Icsain and Vays, both of them moving slightly to afford room for his inclusion.
“Our armies from now on will consist of the dead, of puppets, and of machines. We will no longer endanger the lives of men, nor will we make use of genetically engineered simpletons. Generals of the 21st Generation, we salute you.
“Forbis Vays. You will assume the First position, heading the newly formed Titan Squad.”
“Thank you, Lord Emperor,” Vays said with a bow.
“Brin Karvasti. You will formally join Forbis Vays as a Specialist on the Titan Squad.”
“Thank you, Lord Emperor,” Brin said, nodding uncomfortably in a nervous attempt to bow, then bowing properly.
“Though the Titan Squad is incomplete,” the Emperor said, “we salute you. Once we have resumed contact with the rest of the Empire, the Artifact Competition will be held as planned, and we will perhaps consider Locsard for a potential candidate.
“We are close to The Place with Many Doors. I can sense it. In its way, it attempts to dissuade us, to deny us, to repel us. We will not be deterred. We have already come too far. Great rewards always require great sacrifice. We will not let what has already been sacrificed go to waste.
“That is all.”
To Be Continued. . .
SHADE DOSSIERS
Salton Stoakes
General, 19th Generation, Retired
* * *
Category: F-Gene Fighter
Discipline: The Longsword Knife, Secret Sword
Height: 165 cm
Weight: 70 kg
Gravity Rank: 25
RPP: 1,750
RMP: 100
Birthdate: 9,794.356
Artifact: Suicide Knife
Artifact Rank: 20
Dark RPP: 35,000
Dark RMP: 2,000
Active Dates: 9,850-10,350
Residence: 1026
While Dark with the Suicide Knife, Stoakes is sheathed in shadow and seems to possess little substance; he is more like a dark, animate mist, though he is in fact solid at his core. In this state he weighs a single kilogram and can float given strong enough winds or thermals.
Though Stoakes is an accomplished, self-taught fighter, the Suicide Knife has the ability to capture the image of up to 20,000 individuals in the Midnight Mirror, the reflective surface of the dark blade, and subject them to mass suicide. When an image is recorded upon the Midnight Mirror, Stoakes stabs himself to have the effects dealt to the reflections’ owners.
The Knife provides other powers that, combined with Stoakes’s skill, have made him quite useful to the Emperor as a covert operator, even in his retirement.
Bela Fan
First Specialist, Blue Squad, Retired
* * *
Category: Psychic
Discipline: Cryokinesis
Height: 148 cm
Weight: 40 kg
Gravity Rank: 22
RPP: 880
RMP: 4,100
Birthdate: 9,477.103
Artifact: Cold Front
Artifact Rank: 22
Dark RPP: 19,360
Dark RMP: 90,200
Active Dates: 9,500-10,000
Residence: Planet 649
When Dark, Bela Fan is covered in a thick, protective layer of glossy white enamel that flexes to accommodate her every move. She also gains a prehensile tail, two meters long, issuing from her lower back and buttocks, which she can use quite effectively as a weapon. The tail is 25 centimeters in diameter at its base and tapers to a one centimeter point.
In addition, her Artifact significantly bolsters her cryokinesis. This, combined with her mastery of Sinzer Method Projection, makes her quite deadly, able to flash-freeze her opponents through and through.
Dolma Set
Specialist, Blue Squad, Retired
* * *
Category: F-Gene Fighter
Discipline: Liquid Palm
Height: 172 cm
Weight: 74 kg
Gravity Rank: 28
RPP: 2,072
RMP: 100
Birthdate: 9,473.084
Artifact: Essential Oil
Artifact Rank: 20
Dark RPP: 41,440
Dark RMP: 2,000
Active Dates: 9,500-10,000
Residence: Planet 832
While Dark with the Essential Oil, Dolma Set takes on the appearance of an anthropomorphic cross between an eel and a shark. His mouthful of glassy fangs can infect opponents with a debilitating hallucinogenic poison. His “skin” while Dark is made up entirely of folding placoid scales, which can smooth down to make him nearly frictionless.
While Dark, the Essential Oil also surrounds Set in a bio-electric field that is sensitive to external pressures. When the external pressure is exerted by matter in a liquid state, Set gains limited control over the liquid. Among other benefits, this gives Set unparalleled speed and freedom within liquid media. Directing the power away from his person, Set can gain control over sizable volumes of liquid, enabling him to summon forth Un Azameio, a semi-independent mass that responds to his commands and his will.
Stafros Lowe
Specialist, Blue Squad, Retired
* * *
Category: F-Gene Fighter
Discipline: Lead Cloud Steps
Height: 190 cm
Weight: 82 kg
Gravity Rank: 25
RPP: 2,050
RMP: 100
Birthdate: 9,471.142
Artifact: Eternal Spring
Artifact Rank: 20
Dark RPP: 41,000
Dark RMP: 2,000
Active Dates: 9,500-10,000
Residence: Planet 815
While Dark, Lowe is an anthropomorphic frog with metallic, electric blue skin. His eyes are strangely faceted yellow-green gems. He has a three-meter long tongue with a bony harpoon tip which can be launched with deadly speed, force, and accuracy. At each shoulder is a sealable “pod” that houses 7 launch tubes which can fire pollywog drones. These drones can act as fairly slow smart bombs—they can fly or swim to designated targets—detonating on impact, or they can, in two minutes, “evolve” into simple copies of Lowe (up to a total of 140 copies at one time, each with an RPP of 8,200) who will brawl until their allotted lifespan of one hour is up and they explode. The smart bombs’ explosions are twice as strong as the copies. Though through his martial art Lowe can effectively fly, the Eternal Spring grants him phenomenal leaping ability, which allows him to cover more distance more quickly.
Wheeler Barson
First General, 20th Generation
* * *
Category: F-Gene Fighter / Psychic
Discipline: 9 Order Fist / Gravity Sense & Control
Height: 221 cm
Weight: 110 kg
Gravity Rank: 25
RPP: 2,750
RMP: 2,900
Birthdate: 10,322.106
Artifact: Gravity Spike
Artifact Rank: 22
Dark RPP: 60,500
Dark RMP: 63,800
Active Dates: 10,350-10,691 (killed 10,691)
Residence: Root Palace
The Gravity Spike is visible when Barson is Dark, and he appears as an anthropomorphic black unicorn. While Dark, the black of his body seems to possess depth and has been observed to cause vertigo in some.
The combination of his abilities, as both an F-Gene Fighter and a psychic, make him one of the strongest Shades the Empire has ever known. His Singularity Punch, though inexplicable to even the most advanced science, does exactly what people say it does, producing a microscopic black hole that can be banished immediately by Barson’s will.
Mefis Abanastar
General, 20th Generation
* * *
Category: Psychic
Discipline: Concentration, 9 Order Fist
Height: 145 cm
Weight: 38 kg
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Gravity Rank: 25
RPP: 760
RMP: 5,000
Birthdate: 10,327.255
Artifact: Focusing Lens
Artifact Rank: 18 (36)
Dark RPP: 13,680 (27,360)
Dark RMP: 90,000 (180,000)
Active Dates: 10,350-10,691 (retired 10,691)
Residence: To Be Determined
It may be that Mefis Abanastar is constantly in his Darkened state. His face is always covered and completely obscured by the Focusing Lens. He is darkly clad, literally from head to toe. Besides the Emperor, no one alive knows what Abanastar looks like or what color his hair is.
The Focusing Lens allows Abanastar to augment just about anything, ranging from the physical to the abstract, through an arrangement of lenses which he is able to produce.
Though Abanastar isn’t an F-Gene Fighter, he has intermediate mastery of the 9 Order Fist, which has served as an invaluable aid in developing his powers of concentration.
Tia Winn
General, 20th Generation
* * *
Category: Psychic
Discipline: Dream Control
Height: 215 cm
Weight: 80 kg
Gravity Rank: 10
RPP: 800
RMP: 4,000
Birthdate: 10,326.192
Artifact: Keepsake Cameo
Artifact Rank: 18
Dark RPP: 14,400
Dark RMP: 72,000
Active Dates: 10,350-10,691 (retired 10,691)
Residence: To Be Determined
As is the case with many psychics, Tia Winn does not have a separate Darkened state, but had her skin permanently bleached by her Artifact when she received it.
The Keepsake Cameo significantly boosts Tia’s innate ability to create, enter into, and control the dreams of others, enabling her to create a shared experience for up to 36,000 people. Her dreams are vivid and memorable, but if they lead to violence or death, the victims suffer the same fate.
Lor Kalkin
First Specialist, Death Squad
* * *
Category: Psychic
Discipline: Cancer
Height: 174 cm
Weight: 75 kg
Gravity Rank: 25
RPP: 1,875
RMP: 5,300
Birthdate: 10,475.253
Artifact: Contamination Pump
Artifact Rank: 22
Dark RPP: 41,250
Dark RMP: 116,600
Active Dates: 10,500-10,691 (killed 10,691)
Residence: Root Palace
When Dark with the Contamination Pump, Lor Kalkin becomes a giant, sickly-purple walking cancer, increasing to 3 meters in height and 3 meters across at the shoulders. He is surprisingly agile for his bulk, however, and is able to direct his potent psychic power to instill rot through unnatural growth by touch or up to a range of 20 meters. His innate discipline enables him to regenerate tissue at an already fantastic rate, but with the aid of the Contamination Pump, he is, perhaps, physically immortal, able to reconstitute himself from significant loss of body mass.
Forbis Vays
First Specialist, Titan Squad
* * *
Category: F-Gene Fighter / Psychic
Discipline: Single Element Ghost Sword / 20% Physical Augmentation
Height: 180 cm
Weight: 80 kg
Gravity Rank: 25
RPP: 2,000
RMP: 1,000
Birthdate: 10,663.015
Artifact: Titan Star
Artifact Rank: 22
Dark RPP: 44,000
Dark RMP: 22,000
Active Dates: 10,688-Current
Residence: Root Palace
While Dark, Forbis Vays is clad in a gleaming suit of angular armor that will conform, to some degree, to his will to temporarily adapt to circumstances. Along with its excellent defensive properties, the Titan Star also provides a potent weapon, the Titan Saber, which is housed within the helmet, its hilt forming the distinctive horn rising up from the forehead.
When Vays invokes his psychic ability to augment his physical characteristics by an additional 20%, his armor undergoes a physical change in order to release the power.
When sufficiently enraged while Dark, Vays gains access to the Grudge Star, a devastating attack that crucifies his opponents and subjects them to six explosions, the intensity of which are determined by a combination of the degree of his indignation and his composure in the face of that indignation.
Brin Karvasti
Specialist, Titan Squad
* * *
Category: Psychic
Discipline: Suggestion/Compulsion
Height: 157 cm
Weight: 45 kg
Gravity Rank: 5
RPP: 225
RMP: 4,200
Birthdate: 10,664.304
Artifact: Dharma Engine
Artifact Rank: 18
Dark RPP: 4,050
Dark RMP: 75,600
Active Dates: 10,688-Current
Residence: Root Palace
Brin’s Artifact becomes visible at her back when she goes Dark, but otherwise she doesn’t change physically. She has the innate ability to make people do what she says. In general, her victims must be able to hear her voice, but she is able to transmit her power, chaining it between minds when they are in close proximity to one another.
Of course her Artifact substantially increases this ability, but it also enables her to inflict the Dharma Clock on individual victims. This attack crucifies the victim and forces him or her submit to first psychological then physical trauma according to “guilt” they feel based on criteria—genuine, manufactured, or twisted—set by Brin.
Jav Holson
First General, 21st Generation
* * *
Category: F-Gene Fighter, Superior Grade
Discipline: 18 Heavenly Claws
Height: 172 cm
Weight: 73 kg
Gravity Rank: 28
RPP: 2,044
RMP: 500
Birthdate: ??,???.???
Artifact: Kaiser Bones / Ritual Mask
Artifact Rank: 20 / 15 (30)
Dark RPP: 40,880 / 30,660 (61,320)
Dark RMP: 10,000 / 7,500 (15,000)
Active Dates: 10,682.031-Current (replaced Karlan Farsal)
Residence: Root Palace
Jav was the Block 2 champion at the 10,688 Artifact Competition. He won the Kaiser Bones, and thus replaced the ailing Ritual Mask and removed the imminent death sentence that came along with it.
While Dark with the Kaiser Bones, Jav looks like a stylized skeleton, with the actual bones providing excellent protection. The space between the bones is inky black that seems like animate “nothing” and offers somewhat less protection. Besides the standard augmentation, the Bones enable Jav to animate and control up to 20,000 skeletons, making them rise from their graves and fight on his behalf. He can sense bone matter, “feeling” it as well as “seeing” it through earth or flesh and blood. The Bones also make Jav exceptionally resilient in that they respond quickly to physical damage, rebuilding and restoring tissue at a fantastic rate.
That the Ritual Mask survived its supposed expiration has surprised everyone, Jav included. Like all Artifacts, it augments Jav physically by a factor equal to its rank. In addition, the Ritual Mask is capable of initiating the Mikai Curse, which cycles up in intensity, forcibly wrenching blood—spilled and readily available or through the very pores of the skin—from all living things in an 200 meter radius to start, with this limit expanding as the Curse intensifies. This blood is drawn directly into the Mask until the Mask is satiated and reaches its maximum, doubled potential. The Mask appears to be have even greater restorative abilities than the Kaiser Bones, using the blood obtained through the Curse to repair any and all damage. Jav has gained some control over the functioning of the Mask, but the Mikai Curse remains a weapon dangerous to friend and foe alike.
Raus Kapler
General, 21st Generation
* * *
Category: Psychic
Discipline: Electrokinesis
Height: 246 cm
Weight: 230 kg
Gravity Rank: 10
RPP: 2,300
RMP: 2,900
Birthdate: 10,533.124
Artifact: Resurrection Bolts
Artifact Rank: 20
Dark RPP: 46,000
Dark RMP: 58,000
Active Dates: 10,689-Current
Residence: Root Palace
On receipt of the Resurrection Bolts, Raus Kapler’s skin color underwent a permanent change. His skin is now pale and seemingly translucent, revealing a gray or even greenish hue beneath. The Resurrection Bolts are visible as smooth metal circles on either side of his neck until he goes Dark, when the Bolts extend out beyond his skin. When Dark, his skin darkens further and more metal bolts rise up along the lengths of his arms and along his spine.
The Bolts enhance Raus physically, as is the case with all Artifacts, but they significantly increase his ability to produce electricity to both heal and destroy. His ability to stimulate regeneration of lost tissue makes him one of the most resilient Shades ever produced, though his power is not on par with that of Lor Kalkin. The Bolts also enable him to infuse the dead with a portion of his power, bringing up to 20,000 corpses back to a semblance of life, and which he alone can control.
While not as focused or well-developed as Jav Holson’s ability to sense bone, Kapler is able to “feel” the presence of likely raw materials for his power, if only vaguely.
The Blood Solution (Approaching Infinity Book 3) Page 36
