Lady Lotus

Melee RV 20

Coordination RV 10

Brawn RV 6

Fortitude RV 20

Intellect RV 20

Awareness RV 30

Willpower RV 30

Lifestyle RV 40

Repute RV -10

Health: Fortune:

56 80

Origin:

The woman known only as Lady Lotus has acquired her powers by several means. She was born with natural psionics, which she augmented with psionic training. Later, she further enhanced her powers with a sacred lotus flower, and then then acquired training in the arts arcane. I guess she could be considered the first example of a psychoturge (more or less) in the Marvel Universe.

Known Powers:

Natural Psionics (Psipathic Powers):

Telepathy (a): Lady Lotus' primary telepathic power is her ability to achieve mind to mind contact with another being, regardless of their biology; as long as they are sentient, this power can be used to talk to them silently. She uses this ability at rank value 20, and can talk to as many people as she likes; however, each doubling of contacted persons reduces this power's range by 1 RS.

Mind Control (t): the greatest weapon Lady Lotus has for the purposes of getting what she wants, this rank value 30 psionic talent allows her to impose her will on others, compelling them to do her bidding - even if they wouldn't otherwise consider working with her. Victims of this power receive a Willpower ACT roll to resist the effects of this power.

Mesmerism (s): Lady Lotus' final telepathic power, this skill allows her to drop a target into a hypnotic trance, if they fail a Willpower ACT roll against this power's rank value of 40. Once her victim is in this trance, she can implant all manner of post-hypnotic suggestions, or extract any information from them that he or she consciously knows.

Natural Psionics (Metapsionic Powers):

Longevity (a): Lady Lotus claims that, upon becoming one with the Buddha, she ascended to immortality. While she has proven to be quite easily injured, the truth is that she hasn't aged a day since she first burst onto the criminal scene back in the 1940s. The ultimate extent of Lady Lotus' super-human lifespan has yet to be determined, however.

Schooling: Novice / Philosophical Magic (Evil)

After she decided that she'd become one with the Buddha, Lady Lotus studied the mystic arts for several years. Her studies followed a decidedly Philosophical bent, though the magic she'd mastered had been corrupted soon after she bent her mind towards the destruction of America, and assumed an overwhelmingly evil bent. Spells she is known to wield include:

Conjuration (u): this spell allows Lady Lotus to summon forth any person, animal, or object she desires, doing so with rank value 20 power. This handy spell even has the side effect of reassembling a conjured object, should it be broken, decayed, or otherwise dispersed. Should an unwilling being become the target of this spell, they can resist it by passing a Willpower ACT versus its rank value.

Illusion Projection (u): Lady Lotus can use this rank value 30 spell to confuse and befuddle the minds of others. This basically allows her to input false sensory input into the minds of anybody within the range of this spell, which is eight sectors, if they fail an Awareness ACT roll versus this spell's intensity. Victims of this sorcery are allowed another resistance ACT every new turn.

Psychic Probe (u): using this spell, Lady Lotus can burrow a tiny magical tendril into the mind of an opponent, and draw forth pertinent information about their identity and general situation. Functioning at rank value 30, this psionic spell greatly enhances her other abilities, as it allows her to tailor her commands and deceptions to the history of her would-be tools.

Limitations / Enhancements:

(none)

Equipment:

Power Gem: acquired by her servants, this mysterious gem greatly amplified the Lady Lotus' psionics. It seemed to increase her extant powers by +2 RS, while also granting her rank value 40 Flight, Force Field, and Telekinesis powers. These all new abilities also benefit from exposure to the sacred lotus flower, working at +1 RS while Lady Lotus has access to both.

Sacred Lotus Flower: thanks to this mystical plant, Lady Lotus has received a significant boost in the effectiveness of her psionic powers. As long as she is under the influence of this sorcerous organism, she can add a +1 RS to any ACT rolls she attempts with her psionics. The duration of this flower's power enhancing properties is unknown at this point.

Quirks:

Bigotry: in her many encounters with Americans of various stripes, the Lady Lotus has demonstrated considerable disdain for those not of 'pure blood', like herself. She seems to let the racist commentary flow quite freely when in their company, and as such, must pass a Willpower ACT roll at -2 RS to curtail this despicable tendency, should she ever consciously wish to.

Vow / to Destroy America: despising the treatment of Japanese-Americans during the second World War, Lady Lotus has vowed to avenge this injustice by wiping America from the face of the earth altogether. If she goes a long period of time without at least trying to further this goal, Lady Lotus will begin to get antsy (per the Action Addict quirk).

Skills:

Business / Finance: Lady Lotus knows her way around money. Casually setting up business fronts for her criminal activities, she should receive a +1 RS on any Intellect ACT called for concerning money management, whether it happens to be legal or not. After all, she's a master of disguising her intentions, financial or otherwise!

Languages / English and Japanese: a native of Japan, Lady Lotus naturally has the ability to read, write, and speak the Japanese tongue fluently. However, she moved to America after her twenty-first birthday, and as such, has learned to master the English language as well, using it just as effectively as she can her native speech.

Martial Arts styles A, B and E: though she typically prefers to leave physical violence to her minions, Lady Lotus nonetheless has considerable martial prowess. She may attempt unarmed attacks at a +1 RS, doing so with a +1 initiative modifier, and may Pound or Concuss an opponent regardless of any differences in Brawn or Fortitude between them and herself.

Contacts:

It would be nice for Lady Lotus if she could claim the members of the Super-Axis as contacts, but the sad truth is that she mind controlled them into acting as a team on her behalf. In fact, Baron Blood was the only member of her impromptu team that willingly assisted her in her mission to destroy America, and he may be on more cordial terms with her than the others.

Since breaking with her fellow fascists after a particularly violent fallout with the U-Man, Lady Lotus was left to her own devices. However, in her ultimate bid to reacquire her Celestial-built power gem, she founded or co-opted various organizations, including Armed Response, a heavily armed security force ostensibly formed to fight gang violence - though said violence was of her instigation, naturally.

Costume:

While furthering her criminal agenda, Lady Lotus is most often clothed in a low cut, seductive indigo evening gown. It reaches down to her ankles, and is split on the side to show off her legs. She also wears black high heels and most often has a cigarette holder on her person, if mostly for effect. She never adopted a stereotypical 'super villain' costume.

At least, during the so-called Golden Age. As time progressed, Lady Lotus adopted the identity of Lotus Newmark for a while, a seemingly legitimate businesswoman with a penchant for... expressive attire. Most of her outfits, though varying in color and their exact components, had a tendency to be quite revealing - usually a tactic to more easily distract the targets of her predation.

Personality:

Lady Lotus is a vengeful woman with delusions of grandeur. Believing herself one with the Buddha, she acts as though her plots were simply the will of the cosmos. Assured of the primacy of her people over all others, Lady Lotus gleefully indulges in all manner of crimes against those she feels has wronged them - though at the same time ever scheming to greatly increase her own, personal power base.

Real Name: unknown
Occupation: criminal mastermind
Legal Status: naturalized American citizen with a considerable criminal record
Marital Status: single
Alias(es), if any: Lotus Newmark, several others
Group Affiliation: former member of the Super-Axis

Height: 5' 7"
Hair: raven black
Eyes: brown
Weight: 135 lbs
Other Distinguishing Characteristics: Lady Lotus, when posing as Lotus Newmark, wears green-tinted contact lenses.

Story:

The woman known only as Lady Lotus has her roots in pre-War Japan. Having been born with potent psionic powers, she meditated for years to increase their inherent capabilities. Eventually, after years of such internal soul searching, the Lady thought that she had become one with Buddha, and inhaled the pollen of the sacred lotus flower to further enhance her psionic potential.

Lady Lotus then studied mystic teachings for several years, acquiring the ability to wield several magic incantations in addition to her psionic powers. Feeling her time in Japan was done, she collected her meager belongings and made for America, wishing to build a new life for herself in the so-called Land of Opportunity. Things changed after Japan entered World War 2, however.

When the United States military began detaining Japanese-American citizens in the irrational belief that it would prevent sabotage, Lady Lotus exploded in a rage, deciding that America had lost its right to exist. Using her magics to disguise herself as a Chinese shop-keeper, Lady Lotus began to weave together a scheme to achiever her vengeful goals.

Her first direct action towards the completion of this goal involved her enslaving the Atlantean renegade known as U-Man to her will, to help her abduct the Golden Girl, one of the Kid Commandos. Lady Lotus hoped to sway this other Japanese-American super-human to her cause. The girl loved her country, however, and refused to go along with Lady Lotus' agenda.

The girl then took apart Lady Lotus' hideout, and had pretty much freed herself when a hastily assembled rescue team arrived. However, Lady Lotus had fled by this time, and was already at work on her next dastardly scheme. She was going to assemble a whole team of super-powered villains to help her defeat these Invaders who felt the need to interfere with her plans!

She arranged for the resurrection of Baron Blood, who had been slain some months back. Originally, he didn't want to join this plot of the Lady's, but she convinced the vampire by offering him a large amount of his native soil, which he could have in exchange for being her resident assassin. With U-Man still under her sway, Lady Lotus only needed a few more thugs to round out her so-called Super-Axis.

These two minions came in the form of Master Man and Warrior Woman, who were also quite unimpressed by the concept of serving her. Not wishing to bargain with these fools any longer, Lady Lotus simply seized control of their minds, as she had done with the U-Man, and prepared them for action against the Invaders. However, one of those heroes found her first.

Sending her Super-Axis on to its destiny, Lady Lotus confronted the Human Torch, who had found her camouflaged shop. Entering his mind with her magic, she learned that the Torch envied Captain America for spending time with his would-be love, Spitfire, and made the deluded android believe that the star-spangled hero had in fact seduced her.

Enraged, the hero went to assault the Captain just as the Super-Axis attacked the Invaders. This quickly devolved into a chaotic mess, until Namor managed to douse the Torch's flames and snap him out of Lady Lotus' hypnotic suggestions. The tide of battle quickly turned after this, and the Super-Axis found themselves soundly beaten, the surviving members of the team fleeing for their lives.

Lady Lotus next appeared after acquiring a mysterious gem that greatly augmented her psionics - this on top of the effects her sacred lotus flowers provided for. Before she could use this gem to acquire ultimate power, however, Lady Lotus was denied the gem's potent ability by the Young Allies, who caused it to be buried beneath a Hollywood movie set after she set off an earthquake with it.

Craving its power but unable to recover it for the nonce, Lady Lotus then went underground, biding her time. Having more than enough time to reacquire this artifact of great power, Lady Lotus began to work towards legally acquiring the movie studio it was buried beneath, though her schemes were hampered for a time when the U-Man, wanting vengeance on Lady Lotus, violated her in the worst way possible.

Forcing himself on the villainess, the U-Man humiliated her bigoted sensibilities by forcing her to carry his half-Atlantean offspring. He would continue to torment Lady Lotus for quite some time, which might be why she adopted the alias of Lotus Newmark. In this newer identity, Lady Lotus engaged in all manner of criminal activity throughout Los Angeles for decades, all done with the goal of reacquiring ultimate power!

After infiltrating several local gangs, and founding a security firm with the express purpose of protecting the rich from the violence she herself instigated, Lady Lotus managed to fleece Los Angeles' wealthy enough to ultimately purchase the movie studio her gem was buried beneath. When her enthralled workers finally found the thing, however, Lady Lotus was suddenly attacked by the new Captain America!

Having recognized her when she attended the funeral for what she thought was the last surviving Young Ally, the Captain (actually Bucky) at first failed to prevent Lady Lotus from acquiring the gem. However, he got it together with the aid of his friends and various contacts in SHIELD, and ultimately pried the gem from Lady Lotus' grasp, capturing her so she could be tried for her many crimes over the ages.

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