HalcyonKnights:Van

Sunstar
Lables
Danger	+1	Freak	+2
Savior	+1	Superior	0
Mundane	-1
Conditions
Afraid		Angry
Guilty		Hopeless
Insecure
Has Influence Over
Indestructible Girl Sound Judgement of Externalities Superstring

Sunstar

the Nova

Soun Vannakosal ("Van")

A Player Character in Halcyon Knights.

Van, out of costume

Look

• Man
• South Asian (Cambodian)
• Glowing skin (which he can tone down, but never entirely turn off; it flares up with his emotional responses. Even at his calmest, there's something of an inner glow to his skin. It's getting more pronounced as he gets older, too. He's probably incredibly good for people with SAD.)
• Casual clothing (sports gear, bright colours)
• Uniform costume (Vaguely Asian in style, black with neon blue EM circuitry)

Abilities

Control over cosmic energies (solar energy, electromagnetic radiation, heat & light)

Playbook Moves

Burn When you charge up your powers, roll + conditions you currently have marked. On a hit, hold 3 burn. On a 7-9, mark a condition. On a miss, hold 2 burn and mark three conditions. Spend your burn on your flares. You lose all burn at the end of the scene.

Flares

Reality storm: You channel a destructive burst with your powers. Spend 1 burn to directly engage a threat using your powers, rolling + Freak instead of + Danger. If you do, you will cause unwanted collateral damage unless you spend another burn.

Shielding: You call up a fast protective field to stop a danger. Spend 1 burn to defend someone else from an immediate threat, rolling + Freak instead of + Savior.

Worship: You put out a tremendous display of your might. Spend 1 burn to awe an audience into silence, respect, and attention when you unleash your powers.

Elemental awareness: Spend 1 burn and mark a condition to open your mind up to the world around you with your powers. You can ask any one question about the world around you, and the GM will answer honestly.

Backstory

Twenty years ago, Long Soun was the second in command on the first and only sundiver mission. No one knows for sure what happened, but only Soun and two others of the eight crew returned. They said the sun was inhabited; that the beings living there were insular but curious... and powerful. That they had made contact, of sorts - the spacemen's memories and emotions were brought unbidden back to the surface, and their minds battered with surrealistic montages apparently assembled at random from decades of radio and TV broadcasts.

The other two survivors spoke of their experience with terror; Long Soun spoke of his as a moment of profound connection. And it seemed he, too, made an impression. Four years later, during a powerful solar storm that had every radio tower and TV in Halcyon City on the fritz, Long Soun - retired from the Space Corp and running a small private aerospace consultancy - found a baby basket on his doorstep.

When did you first use your powers? Earlier than I can remember; the way dad tells the story, I was two years old and I must've had a nightmare or something. He was in his office, asleep over the radio he used back then to try and talk to mum; he woke up cos the radio started crackling like crazy, and found the house all lit up - every light was on, not just in the house, but all across the neighbourhood. Not that he knew that at the time.

He could just hear me crying, so he ran upstairs... But there was so much light coming out of my room he had to go back and get his welding mask.

I was lying in my cot, screaming my head off, and glowing like a magnesium flare... and there wasn't a shadow left anywhere in the room. Guess I got scared of the dark, or monsters under my bed, or something? He managed to soothe me somehow, and get me back to sleep, but that was the first time.

Who was the first person you accidentally hurt with your powers? One of the neighbourhood kids, Harris Boothe, in the first few weeks of kindergarten. And the kindergarten teacher, Mr Rose. Harry and me, we were instant best friends, but we were only four... so we fought about some stupid toy - a Silver Saviour action figure, I think - and we were both holding onto it super tight, pulling, and yelling at each other. Mr Rose grabbed my arm to separate us, and I think it startled me. I lost my temper... I lost control. A few things around the classroom caught fire, papers and such... but Harry was looking right at me. He's blind now, Mr Rose, too... and Mr Rose's face and arm was all burned up.

Harry and me, we're still friends, even after. And I used to visit Mr Rose every now and then, and help out around the house, but he left town a couple of years back. No one knows where he went. I hope he's okay.

Who, outside the team, helps you control your powers? Doc Suarez, in the electromagnetics lab at Halcyon U. She's not actually a doctor, just one of the technicians there, but she's a proper space nerd and knows everything there is to know about electromagnetic radiation. How to shape it, harness it, direct it... she designed the circuitry in my costume, doesn't it look cool?

Why do you continue to use your powers? Because they're part of who I am, aren't they? You don't stop using one arm just because you accidentally clobbered someone. I just need to work out how to control them better.

Why do you care about the team? If we get big enough, maybe they'll start putting it on TV. And then maybe my mum'll see, and be proud of me. Besides, it's fun to have people to hang out with who understand what it's like being different. Even if I'm the only boy...

Relationships

Long Soun, my dad. Formerly a well regarded member of the Space Corp, and one of the three survivors of the Sundiver mission. Now runs a small private aerospace consultancy, Mekhiev; spends his private time raising his son as best he can, and sending nightly tight-band radio broadcasts sunwards. There's a large antenna on top of the house, and power bills are pretty high.

Invincible Sword Princess! Team-mate and friend, we hang out together; who doesn't love classic Hong Kong kung fu movie binges? American redubs, of course, just for the lols. We have a solemn pact not to take the dubs seriously, but the action is awesome.

I once hurt Sound Judgement of Externalities when I lost control of my powers. It wasn't that long ago, while we were fighting Mad Baron Ludwig that time he and his steampunk android army gatecrashed the opening night of Tosca at the Halcyon City Opera House. Who the hell knows what that was about. Anyways, while the other guys were getting the performers out via the stage door, Sound and me were holding off the steamdroids. We got split up, and there were just too many of them, and I cut loose. A little too loose... The opera house is still closed for repairs, and it's lucky Sound is mostly heatproof. She got pretty scrambled from all the EM radiation I was putting out, though, and she was acting screwy for a week or so before she... regenerated? Self-repaired? Whatever it is, she's only yesterday told us she's ready to jump back in. Doesn't seem like she holds a grudge, but I can't let that happen again. What if it was Superstring? Or ISP!?

Indestructible Girl seems to trust me, for some reason; she's told me stuff about her past that would make your hair curl. I'm not really sure how to respond to that, but I just try to be cheerful and supportive like a good team-mate would, without sounding too much like a self-help book. It gets pretty dark sometimes, and what have I got to reply with? The constant worry that I'm going to wake up and find I've burned the whole neighbourhood down? Or that I'm giving everyone cancer? She doesn't need to hear that.

Harris Boothe, my best friend. He's the one who encouraged me to start with this whole hero business; that I ought to try and do something good with the power I hold. I looked at his burned-out eyes, and how could I say no?

Doc Suarez, research tech at Halycon U's electromagnetics lab. Has been dropping hints that she's got something big in the works. She's been pretty vague about what it actually is so far, but Icaught a glimpse of a prototype last week. It looks more like some kind of particle accelerator, like a mini-CERN - a fat silver hula-hoop feeding through some kind of detection apparatus? There's an osciliscope mounted on top, I recognise that at least. Anyway, as science goes, it looks pretty mad.

Mr Abbà, the new History and Ethics teacher, really has it in for me. What is with that guy? Sure, I made a joke about his name in the corridor and I think he heard, but that can't be it... He's scary-intense, too. It's only history, right... What's the big deal?

Mr Rose, who was my kindergarten teacher. He was blinded in the same incident which blinded Harris, and his face and arm were burned up pretty bad too. I used to visit every now and then, and help out around the house, but he left town a couple of years back. No one knows where he went. I hope he's okay.