M.O.D.

The Master Of Destruction

M.O.D.
Quotation "I’ve seen things you people wouldn’t believe."
First Appearance Kalos Cavalcade #1, 1945
Real Name Unknown
Identity Public ID
Player NPC
Origin Altered
Archetype Tank
Team Affiliation Solo
Base Of Operations Atlanta, GA, USA
Range Of Operations Local

Description

Age 120 Nationality American
Height 188 cm (6' 2") Hair Mixed grey and black
Weight 111 kg (245 lbs) Eyes Brown
Gender Cis Male Sexuality Heterosexual

MOD ("emm oh dee"), as he is now almost always known, is an aging black supervillain who, after Paragon's destruction of Atlanta, moved to the city and apparently changed his ways, becoming an altruistic servant of those who remain within the ruins. He also enforces a blockade called the Atlanta Compromise, which keeps state and federal authorities out of the city while allowing individuals to come and go.

MOD is a tall, dark-skinned African American man with a powerful build, greying hair, and dark brown eyes. He looks to be in his sixties, but he’s much older than that, having been born in rural Alabama in the late 1890s.

Attributes

Agility 2
Brawn 5
Endurance 6
Presence 4
Reason 3
Power Level 5
  • Normal Lift: 170 t (locomotive)
  • Max Lift: 550 t (747 passenger plane)
  • Throws (25 kg): 11 km
  • Max Range: 100 m
  • Max Area: 10 m radius

Skills

  • Athletics
  • Culture
  • Deception
  • Diplomacy
  • Hand-to-hand Combat
  • Stealth
  • Survival

Gifts

  • Famous
  • Hard Target
  • Indefatigable
  • Master Plan

Powers

Bulletproof
Constant, Self-only
Damage Resistance
Constant, Self-only
Environmental Immunity
Constant, Self-only
Strike
Standard action, Hand-to-hand, Normal
Super-jumping
Move action, Self-only
Super-lifting
Constant, Self-only

Equipment

Binoculars, Full Size (PL 2)
Flashlight (PL 1)
Radio (PL 2)

Movement

Base Move Double Move All-out Move
Run 4 m 8 m 24 m (14 km/h)
Swim 2 m 4 m 12 m (7 km/h)
Jump 3,500 m

Personality

MOD is a quiet man, preferring to let his actions speak for him. He has a temper, and he knows it: he sometimes struggles to restrain his impulses and keep a cool head. He is much smarter than anyone gives him credit for, which has often worked in his favor even though it rankles his pride. As a result of his many years of experience as a black man in the United States, and his long criminal career, MOD distrusts the authorities and is skeptical of other people's motivations.

Motivations

Rebellion
The character doesn't fit into the larger society.
Compassion
The character wants to protect others and alleviate their suffering, particularly the innocent and the helpless.

History

There was never a time that MOD wasn't aware of race and the social divisions it causes, though it was decades before he thought of it in those terms. All he knew was that there were white folks and there were black folks, and everything was easier if you stayed with your own people. By the time he became a young man, he began to understand that no amount of equality under the law would bring true fairness to black Americans until they got "an equal chance at the dough". In other words, economic opportunity was a requirement for racial equality.

MOD believes that he gained his powers as the result of a medical experiment conducted by doctors from the United States Public Health Service in 1915. The subjects, poor sharecroppers (both black and white), were told that they were being given a new preventative treatment for influenza. Of the nearly 200 test subjects, only two survived. MOD was delirious or sedated during most of this time: all he remembers of that time is pain, and then fire, and then awaking in a ditch months later, many miles away. His powers surfaced slowly in the following years, so that for a long while he thought he was just strong, tough, and fast, rather than superhuman. It was not until 1918, when a quarrel with a group of white soldiers returning home from the Great War resulted in an unintended death, that MOD realized that he was something more than human. MOD fled Alabama, shedding his old name and identity. He never saw his family again.

For years, he tried to avoid attention and trouble, traveling from one small town to another, changing his name every month, surviving on odd jobs and the charity of the kindhearted. But this was the 1950s and it proved impossible for a black posthuman to lie low. He was placed on a list of "domestic threats" and a military task force was assigned to capture him, under the command of an Army captain. Every time they caught up to him, a shootout would erupt, innocents would get hurt, and MOD would lose his temper. Some soldiers died in these encounters, and governmental resolve hardened.

Finally, in the 1960s, he decided he could run no longer; the nation would not leave him alone, and so he would beat it at its own game. He would become the super villain they made him out to be, but he would win where others lost. He adopted the nickname "Master Of Destruction" from sensationalist newspaper stories which had tracked his 1950s odyssey, and devised a criminal strategy that capitalized on his powers: he would act as a distraction, causing as much property destruction as he could while keeping police and other bystanders focused on him. While he was "putting on the show", reliable accomplices would burgle carefully-selected safes nearby. It took several of the Master's "rampages" for law enforcement officials to realize what was really going on, and in that time MOD acquired a large financial stash. Once his routine was discovered, he adapted, continuously using misdirection to complete his crimes while relying on his personal invulnerability to avoid capture. One memorable case occurred in 2004 when, in a brawl with Paragon, MOD was hurled through an 80-story residential tower. It was only after the fight was over that authorities discovered MOD had, when thrown through the building at nearly the speed of sound, broken through an otherwise-inaccessible "safe room" within the tower. The room contained a fortune in stolen masterpieces of classical art, pieces which earned MOD millions when sold to private collectors.

With the destruction of Atlanta, MOD changed his ways again, entering the fourth and final Act of his life. He had already been in near-retirement, since he no longer needed money and found his career as a "human punching bag" to be increasingly unfulfilling. Moreover, he was getting slow and, most remarkably, his invulnerability showed signs of fading. He left for Atlanta the evening of Paragon's attack and, even before the Justifiers had tracked the former hero down, MOD was rescuing civilians from the Ruins. While other posthumans have occasionally come to Atlanta, MOD has been by far the most visible. He lives north of the city, above the Deadline, but patrols the Ruins daily and has a good relationship with the inhabitants and leadership of Terminus. He is not blind to the irony that, in his youth, he was fleeing The Man, but now he has become The Man, at least in Atlanta.

MOD's uneasy agreement with the remnants of Atlanta to the north, with the governor of Georgia, and with the federal government, permits humanitarian aid to enter the ruins as well as scientific research teams. The military is, however, not permitted, nor is anyone acting in an official capacity as a representative of the federal or state government. While the Army and National Guard could certainly overwhelm MOD and force their way into the Ruins if ordered to do so, political considerations have made the so-called "Atlanta Compromise" into an indefinite reality. The American public supports reconstruction of the city in the wake of Paragon's Fall, but the federal government has been unable to summon the political will to finance such an enormous undertaking. So long as MOD's blockade of the city is respected, this decision is successfully put off; because MOD has also captured public sympathy, the governor of Georgia and the President can use "ongoing negotiations" as a cover for their own inaction.

Powers and Abilities

Although he is no longer in his prime, MOD is still immensely powerful: strong enough to lift a jumbo jet, and tough enough to shrug off light artillery fire without a scratch. His powerful legs can propel him over three kilometers: far enough to leap over the tallest building in a single bound. While extremes of temperature or lack of sleep make him uncomfortable, they do not significantly impair his ability to function. He can hold his breath indefinitely, and while he does need to eat, his endurance is such that it would take months of deprivation before he was in any danger of dying from starvation. MOD could walk across the ocean floor from Asia to North America, if he had a flashlight and a compass.

Summary

Character Points Spent: 50
Unspent Experience: 0
Attributes 33 + Skills 7 + Gifts 4 + Powers 6 + Modifiers 0 = 50 / 50