Hope City Heroes: Jessica Rogers

Jessica Rogers :: Darkstar

"A metalhead witch with mystic power over lightning and a penchant for destruction."

Personality

Jessica is a bratty, spoiled 19 year old in her second year of college. As most her age she feels indestructible and infallible. She never apologizes for herself or her actions, instead brushing off failure like it was someone else's fault. Deep down, however, Jessica just wants to be accepted and not feel a need to be defensive. She's got a lot to learn, because she repeats mistakes time and again.

Appearance

Jessica tends to wear gothic styles, tight leather, revealing outfits, heavy makeup and metal t-shirts. She either wears large, chunky heeled boots or stilettos. Of particular note is that she carries religious symbols of all major and minor religions. Several of these are also tattooed on her and worked into an overall design. She dyes her hair a vibrant red and stares out with guarded eyes.

Background

Jessica heard a back-masked message in one of her various Norwegian black metal albums that spoke of a dark tome filled with ancient forbidden knowledge; The Occulix Baalis. After tracking it down, and realizing it was a real book, she found it was sealed and locked until accidentally cutting herself on its edge. After the blood fell on it, the latch opened and the words became imprinted on her mind. Now, she has nightmares of previous owners and the vile acts committed with the knowledge within. This alone has driven Jessica to break the cycle and do right with her power, in the hopes she can counter the dreams.

Aspects

Teenage Metalhead Witch

Description

• Invoke

Getting away with something due to her age, appearing more dangerous or mysterious, knowing about various occult things, knowing things about her preferred music tastes, resisting sonic damage

• Compel

Being treated like an "equal adult," being shunned for musical tastes, being shunned for openly admitting to being a witch, being seen as a disappointment, hearing quiet things

Snarky Girl in a Big, Bad World

Description

• Invoke

When attacking someone's mental state, when trying to prove the worth of a "mere mortal," when trying to taunt someone into action

• Compel

When she needs to be respectful, when she's trying to get on someone's good side, when confronted with larger-than-life ideas/people/monsters/etc., when resisting fear

The Occulix Baalis

The Occulix Baalis is constructed of parchment made of human skin, bones from defiled priests, blood from the sacrifice of innocents and gold stolen from holy temples. Though the words of The Occulix Baalis entered Jessica's mind, her soul is deeply connected to the ancient manuscript. Her blood is what opened the book, binding her to it and it to her. If they are ever separated, the words became hazy and clouded as if being viewed through a piece of quartz and she cannot speak the necessary mantras.

• Invoke

When attempting to be intimidating, when provoking someone on purpose, when empowering a spell, when trying to know some old lore

• Compel

When trying to be inconspicuous, when trying to get one someone's good side, when interacting with holy/religious folk, when interacting with the supernatural

Unholy Power, Holy Intent

The unholy manuscript bound to Jessica's soul when she opened the book, granting her power at a terrible cost. Almost every night the teen has horrific nightmares of the events the Occulix Baalis was involved in. When she touches the pages, the book whispers secrets to her. The girl worries that her soul may very well be in jeopardy and hopes that by doing good deeds she can right her own wrongs. Jessica realizes True Evil exists and that she can fight it using one of its own tools. But the road to Hell is paved with good intentions...

• Invoke

When trying to do the right thing, when trying to learn someone's dark secrets or Aspects, when defending herself, when fighting True Evil

• Compel

When trying to help someone, when attempting to be at peace, when trying to show empathy, when using magic against something/one truly holy, when angry or vengeful

Indestructible and Infallible

Jessica is a teen that's had a hard life, gaining trust issues and a strong defense mechanism. She tends to keep everyone at arm's length, despite how friendly she may want to be. Her walls are up all the time and she has a lot of trouble accepting criticism, especially when she knows she's wrong. She deflects and refuses to take responsibility, even though she knows she's only contributing to the problem. However, she's too broken to know how to break the cycle and won't accept help when she needs it most.

• Invoke

When pretending to be strong and tough, when trying to prove a point, when defending against mental attack, when talking herself up to others, when comparing others to herself, when she's obviously right about something

• Compel

When she's obviously wrong about something, when she actually needs help from someone, when she needs to take responsibility for her actions, when trying to apologize, when trying to empathize

Skills

Shoot

Will, Lore

Physique, Athletics, Notice

Provoke, Resources, Contacts, Empathy

Stunts

Mistress of Lightning

• Master Energy Blast

Your shots are especially accurate. Gain +2 to Shoot when using your power.

Book Nerd

• Ritualist

Use Lore in place of another skill during a challenge, allowing you to use Lore twice in the same challenge.

Unholy Senses

• Danger Sense

You have an almost preternatural capacity for detecting danger. Your Notice skill works unimpeded by conditions like total concealment, darkness, or other sensory impairments in situations where someone or something intends to harm you.

Powers

Shocking Intentions

• Power Theme - Basic Electricity Projection

Your powers are electrical in nature, and you’re infused with electrical energy. Whenever you use your power, you create sparks and bolts of lightning.

Static Discharge

• Synergy

Basic Energy Blast

You can fire a projectile of some sort, with a range of three zones, using Shoot.

Static Discharge

• Enhancement

Precision Shielding

You can create much smaller shields, surrounding a single human-sized target within your zone.

Taken with permission, as you normally need to buy Basic Shielding first.

Electric Transmission

• Enhancement

Conductive Trip

You can briefly convert your entire body into electricity and push through conductive material. You can use this power to pass through an otherwise impenetrable barrier, such as a door with a metal doorknob, as an action.

Drawback

Literary Dependency

Must speak spells from Occulix Baalis and have the book in my possession.

Collateral Damage

Through the Grid

You can leap into any electrical outlet in the city and emerge a moment later from another one, provided you have a general idea where it is and you are willing to short out and overload electronics at your destination.