WARCRY

Notes from Freedom City setting for Warcry

Warcry in flight
(Edited using a picture of dancer Susana Armijo by Horace Langford Jr.)

Warcry

She names herself Cihuacoatl; her subjects call her She-Whose-Cry-Announces-War; the rest of the world refers to her as "Warcry". But she was born Esperanza Juarez Guerrero, of father unknown, to Anunciación Juarez Guerrero, a young nurse who worked in rural cummunities of the Guatemalan hinterland. It was obvious from the day she was born that Esperanza was not like the other kids -- her pallid skin betrayed her Atlantean origin, though her mother took the secret to an early grave. Perhaps because of her status as a loner, Esperanza grew up to be at once fiercely self-reliant, and protective of those she perceives as underdogs.

Esperanza believes that the Space Gods returned to Earth, and one of them was her father. She claims to be the avatar of a pre-Columbian war goddess, come back to free her people from their misery and oppression. Until recently, that made her sound insane, but she as she developed her super-powers, few people were interested in debating the issue. She used her powers to carve herself some territory in the Guatemalan mountains, and instituted a sort of benevolent autocracy. Though she is megalomaniac, she is fair to those she takes under her protection.

When the aliens arrived, the idea of Space Gods was suddenly not so outlandish anymore. Esperanza, or rather Cihuacoatl, had little love for her unknown father as it was; now she feels her destiny is to wrest the Star Khan and Grue's powers from their greedy hands and be her people's champion. And perhaps "her" people is all of Earth's? For now, she is willing to work with "THE BAND OF STEEL" -- Dr. Steel, Madam Shade, Boneyard, Carnivore, Noise, then Whiplash and "Man'O War"... A new pantheon.

M&M2e Stats

Cihuacoatl / Warcry

PL: 10 (150 pp)

ABILITIES: STR: 10 (0) DEX: 20 (+5) CON: 20 (+5) INT: 15 (+2) WIS: 15 (+2) CHA: 20 (+5)

SKILLS: Acrobatics 4 (+9), Bluff 4 (+9), Computers 1 (+3), Concentration (+2), Diplomacy 2 (+7), Disguise (+5), Drive 1 (+6), Escape Artist (+5), Gather Info (+5), Handle Animal (+5), Intimidate 5 (+10), Investigate 4 (+6), Arcane Lore 4 (+6), Medicine 4 (+6), Notice 8 (+10), Oratory 2 (+7), Ride 1 (+6), Search (+2), Sense Motive 2 (+4), Stealth (+5), Survival 4 (+6)

FEATS: Attack Specialization (3) [+6 to Smoking Mirror (Blast) attacks], Defensive Attack, Improved Initiative (1), Uncanny Dodge, Distract (1), Critical Strike, Move-by Action, Power Attack, Taunt, Contacts, Improved Critical (1), Elusive Target, Precise Shot (3), Redirect

POWERS: Blast: "Smoking Mirror" (10), Flight (5), Telepathy (5), Protection (5)

COMBAT: Attack 4 [+6] Defense 4 (4 flat-footed) Init 20

SAVES: Toughness 10 (10 flat-footed) Fortitude 7 Reflex 7 Will 7

DRAWBACKS: Noticeable (Freq DC 10, Sev DC 5), Vulnerable (Freq DC 5, Sev DC 10)

COMPLICATIONS: Honor, Responsibility

Abilities 40 + Skills 12 (48 ranks) + Feats 18 + Powers 45 + Combat 28 + Saves 9 – Drawbacks -6 = 146 / 150

Personality

Ambitious but honourable, driven by the conviction that she has a destiny and a responsibility to rule for the good of the people. She is loyal to allies, but unforgiving toward enemies -- particularly if they are not honourable themselves. She hates a slimy villain.

Physical Appearance

Esperanza/Warcry sports long dark hair, and black eyes with occasional flecks of gold. Her skin is somewhat pale and moist-looking, an inheritance of her unknown Atlantean father. She is quite attractive, and her sharp cheekbones and nose clearly show her native ancestry as well.

Villainous Motivations

She believes she is the reincarnation of an Aztec goddess, with a responsibility toward her people and a destiny to rule. Her megalomania is tempered by a sense of noblesse oblige, but she is ruthless in her opposition to those she sees as oppressors. Before the arrival of the Grue, she concentrated her attacks on multinational corporations exploiting the native peoples and natural resources of Central America as well as any would-be dictators (other than herself, anyway).

Allegiance

First and foremost, she is loyal to "her people". This was at first the poor native people of Central America, but she has since expanded that concept to anyone she takes under her protection. She is also loyal to allies and has already formed a certain esteem for the haphazardly assembled members of the Band of Steel.

History & Heroic Origin

???.

Battle Tactics

???.

3x3 NPCs

FRIENDS

• Simeon Juarez Escudero, her grandfather, who raised her after her mother's death. A dour, severe, but honourable old man and a devoted catholic, horrified with his grand-daughter's blasmemous pretentions to godhead, who nevertheless still loves her.

• Dr. Madelene Emmerling, a Dutch-born archaeologist studying pre-Columbian civilizations. After an inauspicious start when Warcry thought Emmerling had reached Chantico in order to plunder her people's cultural resources or to spy on behalf of some enemy, the two became friends. Madelene Emmerling is a short, blonde, forty-ish woman with startling blue eyes and gold-rimmed glasses, an easy laugh, and nerves of steel. She is extremely well-read and fluent in a dozen languages.

•  ???

CONTACTS

• Manuelita Perez Thompson, a muckraking journalist who compiles information on corporate corruption and abuse, and occasionaly supplies Warcry with useful information. Manuelita started by working for the financial section of the L.A. Times, then moved up to the Wall Street Journal, eventually becoming completely fed up with corporate greed. She left to write a whistle-blower book that was successful with left-wing readers, and used the money to found her own independent magazine and Web site, based out of Eagar, Arizona (population: 4,265 ) -- a decision that appeared wise a few years later, after the alien invaders leveled most large cities.

• Rob Zinser, a hacker and fan of all things occult or bizarre, who styles himself a Fortean investigator. Rob's idea of a career is to emulate the X-Files "Lone Gunmen", but with better fashion sense. In the last two years, he has been accumulating as much information on the Star Khan and the Grue as he could.

•  ???

ENEMIES

• Jack Donald, CEO of StarBase Coffee, who cut his teeth by rising through the ranks of Albertson's, Bromwell's Department Stores', and Harvest Supermarkets' corporate sharks. His tactics of employing super-villains to stage fights near competing coffee outlets in order to clear the way for new StarBase stores is notorious, and he refuses to use Fair Trade-certified shade-grown organic goods for more than a fraction of the company's coffees and teas -- which he marks up by an extra 25%. Of course, in his secret identity as Dark Roast, he too now battles the Star Khan and the Grue, which makes things awkward at SHADOW meetings.

•  ???

•  ???

LOCATIONS

• Chantico, the City-State domain she carved from the Guatemalan highlands. As the Aztec goddess Cihuacoatl, she had her people rebuild the ancient city that had lain in ruins around the mysterious temple where she received her birthright and her powers.

•  ???

•  ???

ORGANIZATIONS

• THE BAND OF STEEL, a loose cooperation of former super-villains now working with the Overshadow and his SHADOW cells to organize the resistance against the Star-Khan invaders and their Grue minions.

• Global Exchange, an international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world. Before leveling corporate headquarters, Warcry always verifies whether the megacorp supports fair trade and workers' rights. The righteous are spared, the greedy punished. Warcry works with Global Exchange to set up cooperatives of coffee, cacao, and yerba mate growers in Central America.

•  ???

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NECESSARY EVIL in FREEDOM CITY