From: tgt33358@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Deus Imperator)
Subject: CHAMPS:  Covenant (kinda long, but neet!)
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 04:02:14 GMT

All right, I'm convinced I won't make any cash on this, so I'm giving it to 
you , the little people, with apporopriate copyrights.

Keep in mind, however, that the world I created this for is a dark,
grim one, slowly lapsing into unrelenting evil.  You will probably have
to tone it down.  


Vincent Hamlin grew up during the war years, fascinated by the
 heroes that made fighting so dramatic.  He was obsessed with the
 pulp accounts of their dramatic battles.  He sneered when
 Movietones featured the arrest of Baron Zumdahl, Der Fieder, and
 Mr. Tora, Tora, Tora.  He cheered when Captain Goodguy, Colonel
 Midnight, and The Spinner arrived home, victorious heroes.  But
 no one could compare to Commander Truth and the Privateers.  When
 the war was over, Commander Truth stayed in Europe and hunted the
 Beige Fist, his mortal enemy.  The chase eventually culminated in
 Akron, Ohio, where Truth cornered the Fist in an abandoned
 warehouse.  The Fist claimed he had a hostage, and a bomb, and
 demanded transportation to Brazil.  Word of the arrival of Truth
 in Akron spread like wildfire, eventually reaching George
 Washington Public School, where Hamlin was attending the fourth
 grade.  Upon hearing the news, Hamlin bolted out of class, and
 headed for the warehouse.  Truth, tired of waiting for the Fist
 to make the next move, called his bluff, and charged into the
 building.  It wasn't a bluff.  Hamlin arrived in just enough time
 to see the structure disintegrate in a spectacular fireball.
  Hamlin stood there, tears streaming down his face, waiting for
 Commander Truth to charge out of the building, with hostage,
 barely escaping certain death.  Certain death.  Vincent Hamlin
 thought about that phrase over and over.  He finally returned
 home, set fire to his magazines, and he resolved to dedicate his
 life so that no superheroes would ever have to die again.
     To this end, he dedicated his life to the study of all thing
 superheroic:  biological, mental, psychological, technological,
 and even magical.  He eventually at one point was the U.N.
 foremost expert on Exotic Powers.  However, somewhere down that
 road, he lost some of his childhood dedication.  He instead saw
 the pain supers were inflicting not only on themselves, but on
 normals.  To this end he developed the Synkoptic Synergetic
 System, Online 12, a device which would allow one lifeform to
 share his lifeforce with another.  Thus, someone who was near
 death, and in an unstable condition, could be stabilized using the
 shared energy.  Hailed by most as a brilliant life saving
 technique, it sat on a shelf for 12 years.  In reality, the device
 was impractical.  The only people who could truly benefit from it
 were normals (as the machine could not transfer enough power to
 significantly effect a super) that were so close to death, that
 linking them to another human would really only put the sharer's
 life in danger.  Publicly praised, but secretly dejected, Hamlin
 watched as his life amounted to a hill of beans.  That is, until
 he met Mick Davenport.
     Davenport was a two bit crook who foolishly stole an unmarked
 box from a jackknifed trailer on the expressway.  It happened to
 contain irradiated silicon dust destined for a toxic waste dump. 
 One whiff, and he collapsed.  He awoke in a prison hospital with
 two queer powers:  control over machines, and the ability to
 neutralize one person's power, while helping another's.  He
 assisted the No-Men in substantially increasing their power, so
 that their opponents were easily crushed.  However, to do this
 power augmentation Davenport needed raw power, and the No-Men
 obtained this power by kidnapping normals, and making Davenport
 drain them of all life.  Finally, an incredible battle between the
 Go-Men and 3 supergroups, as well as 1 platoon of UNTIL, killed
 two members of the team, and knocked the rest into deep comas.
  Davenport, a weak individual, hovered near death for many days.
  Dr. Hamlin saw Mick's only chance was the SSS.  Hamlin hooked him
 up to a convalescing Ogre.  The results were dramatic.  Ogre,
 desperately trying to break his bonds, suddenly lapsed into a
 coma, and Davenport shot up in his minimum security cell, and
 threw Hamlin across the room, nearly killing him.  Hamlin tried
 to reverse the process, but oddly, the energy got stuck somewhere
 in limbo.  A report from the "normal" wing of the hospital told
 that at that moment, a woman who was undergoing radical
 chemotherapy, and who had been hooked to a separate SSS linked to
 her caring husband, wanting to help her pull through, had suddenly
 leapt from the table, fully cured, and hoisted a desk above her
 head.  She eventually came to her senses, and Dr. Hamlin explained
 it as a temporary effect of the type of radiation they were using.
  He also correctly guessed that the effect was temporary.  The
normal energy levels returned to Ogre and Mick stayed unconscious.
  Ogre eventually escaped, but Dr. Hamlin had what he needed:  a
 safe way to immobilize dangerous criminals, and a reliable way to
 cure those who were hurt in superbattles.  When the first major
 prison breakout from Stronghold occurred, Dr. Hamlin requested
 funds from various sources, including UNTIL, the United States
 government, and a front corporation for GUMMI.  With these funds,
 he built a "super" trauma center, where victims of superbattles
 were taken.  Here the authorities could put injured supervillains,
 and be assured they would get the best care, before they stood
 trial for their crimes.  Norms injured in battle also were
 treated, with astonishing survival rates.  (It is unknown to the
 general populace, but 99% of the norm patients at Covenant
 survive, and leave completely healed).  
     Now ten years have passed, and Covenant has paid off all its
 debts.  It is completely self-sufficient, making money off
 insurance companies, who pay them for keeping supervillains alive
 and under sedation, until trial.  Also, a variety of philanthropic
 organizations, some superheroic, make it a point to donate to this
 worth cause.  Finally, legislation recently passed which mandates
 the delivery of injured supervillains to Covenant, to safeguard
 the hospitals where they may escape from, usually causing a great
 deal of damage.  Simply subdued criminals are taken to Stronghold,
 by the usual methods, but anything mandating more than a twisted
 ankle is sent first to Covenant, where the injured are given the
 best of treatment.  One of the primary reasons for the passing of
 this bill was simply the success rate of Covenant, as compared to
 Stronghold.  13.8% of those incarcerated at Stronghold escape
 before their time, while .001% escape from Covenant.  As a matter
 of fact, there has been only one recorded escape from Covenant.
  Psychon, a powerful esper managed to damped the effect of the
 null bands just long enough to use her power to pass by the door
 guards.  She walked perhaps five steps out of the complex, when
 she suddenly dropped like a rock, presumably from exhaustion.  Her
 null bands were amplified, and she was placed back in confinement.
     How can a hospital have a better holding record than a prison?
  Part of the reason has to do with a variety of misconceptions
 surrounding Covenant.  First, Covenant has a virtual army on
 premises at all times.  These are simply orderlies, nurses, and
 doctors with extensive training in coping with life threatening
 situations.  In the event of a breakout, each employee has a
 weapon, suit of armor, both keyed only to the owner, and a specific battle strategy.  The autodocs become sentinels, the first
 line of defense against an escapee.  The computer system
 Hippocrates coordinates various strategies, and the battle ready
 troops, armed with STUN only weapons, move in.  Meanwhile, special
 weapons and tactic teams are briefed, given appropriate weapons
 to dispatch those who are not affected by stunners.  Hippocrates
 has data on every supervillain (and hero), presently known, and
 automatically appraises every visitor, from doctor to patient to
 the president, judging a variety of criteria, including genetic
 potentials, strength levels, and body defenses.  How, you may ask,
 does a computer learn all this from a video?  Truth be told, the
 primary defense of Covenant is the Null Band, a strip of metal
 resembling a dull steel bracelet.  Every visitor to Covenant must
 wear one.  No exceptions.  The purpose of the bands is twofold.
  First, it is a remote link to Hippocrates, keeping the computer
 aware of a variety of diastolic functions.  It takes blood samples
 painlessly, searching for possible allergies and susceptibilities,
 and analyses DNA to cross-check for mutations.  It also keeps
 track of the wearer's location at all times, and is virtually
 impossible to remove.  The band is light, very comfortable to
 wear, and cannot be broken, transformed, teleported out of, or
 desolidified through.  However, the bands perform a second, more
 insidious function.  It is linked to the SSS, and drains the
 wearer of all powers, when Hippocrates activates it, as long as
 the band is worn.  This can be triggered when Hippocrates senses
 a danger, or when its command is overridden.  At present, only one
 person has this power:  Dr. Hamlin.  He too wears a bracelet, a
 master control, which can shunt the power around to any unit,
 including his own.  Most of the time the power drained from
 detainees is stored in specially designed power nodules.  However,
 recently several bugs have arisen in the system:  Containment.
     Firstly, the power surging through the batteries generates an
 incredible amount of heat.  Dr. Hamlin thought that the energy
 could be harnessed to run electrical generators, but since the
 power fluctuates so chaotically, this proved impractical except
 when used to recharge back up batteries.  Second, the power limits
 mandated more cells to be installed, but Hamlin couldn't install
 them fast enough.  He found that as each cell was added, it was
 able to store less power.  Soon the present system would reach
 maximum safety levels, and the results could be disastrous.  He
 then collaborated with Frederick Smythe, a brilliant
 thermodynamics specialist, and built the Virtual Containment
 System.  As designed it could store a limitless supply of power
 in what Smythe called 'Synkoptic baffles.'  This stored the
 synkoptic energy between two columns of metal, designed by Smythe,
 who kept the secret to himself.  When the machine is activated,
 a dim aura forms between the two posts.  This gains in magnitude,
 until it reaches a blinding intensity.  However, during start-up
 tests, Smythe walked between the posts without realizing the
 system diagnostics were running.  He was instantly vaporized,
 taking the secret of the baffles with him.  Dr. Hamlin considered
 shutting down Covenant, but realized the great gap this would
 cause in health treatment for intense trauma cases.  Many
 hospitals had eliminated their high security trauma centers, in
 exchange for increased input of normal patients.  Hamlin
 recognized the need, and carried on.  With Smythe's sparse notes,
 he finished the VCS.  However, some problems with the system soon
 arose, the third problem.  When too much power was stored in the
 system, an unseen difficulty arose:  the aura vanished.  The power
 was present within the system, just not between the two posts.
  Several interns reported seeing a ghostly figure wandering the
 lower levels.  Thinking this some escaped prisoner, they activated
 the Hippocrates system, which subsequently failed to respond.  The
 figure soon disappeared, and the event was forgotten by all.  All,
 that is, except Hamlin.  Checking and rechecking the system, he
 realized that Hippocrates did not spot an intruder because there
 was not intruder.  Hippocrates registered on a low priority energy
 monitor a sudden intense buildup of power in the VCS somehow
 projected into that section of Covenant.  Further research
 revealed the projection was registered before, and seemed to be
 increasing in frequency.  However, Hamlin's double check of the
 VCS showed it to be well within safe operating limits, at least
 as Smythe had forecasted.  Hamlin hypothesized that perhaps
 somehow Smythe's essence became locked into the matrix.  Spurred
 by this realization, he attempted to communicate with the form.
  The result nearly killed him.  Upon revealing himself to the
 thing, it unleashed Powerstryke's Plasma bolt.  Only his
 instinctual activation of a force field through his own band kept
 him from being incinerated.  Strangely, the moment he drained the
 power necessary to summon the shield, the creature vanished.  It
 did not return for several weeks, and during that time, Hamlin had
 the floor holding the containment unit shielded against the energy
 projections.  Further, he ran programs through the VCS which tried
 to bring the entity under control, by conforming it to an
 established Artificial Intelligence program.  The creature
 immediately reappeared and became very violent.  This behavior
 continued, until Hamlin came across a program on a military net.
  He found an AI program which created a guardian for a superhero
 base that protects against supervillain attack.  He was wholly
 unable to find documentation for the program, however.  Running
 it through the VCS caused a surprising reaction.  The form ceased
 its endless assault, and utterly disappeared (Hippocrates still
 registered normal power levels in the VCS, however).  Later,
 Hamlin found that the program was placed by one of Mechanon's
 henchman.  It was that program which caused the robot to break his
 conditioning, and become so misanthropic.  Hamlin was initially
 terrified of what it might do, if it escaped, but eventually,
 after a year passed without incident, he resigned himself to
 constant vigilance.  
     At about that time, GUMMI resurfaced, deadlier than ever.
  During the society wars, which eventually led to the destruction
 of VIPER and UNTIL, many casualties were taken to Covenant for
 treatment.  Some of the VIPER agents were injured in the Los
 Actios tragedy, where a strategically placed GUMMI bomb ruptured
 the nuclear generator during a UNTIL raid.  The bomb, containing
 a genetically altered virus, was further mutated by the radiation.  The effects on the agents was...drastic.  Most lapsed into comas,
 only being kept alive by the SSS.  The courts were filled with
 conscious agents, and these victims were allowed to be shuffled
 off until they recovered consciousness.  Dr. Hamlin surmised that
 many had developed powers, dangerous powers, that could be
 potentially life threatening if taken out of stasis.  This was
 proven when a family ordered the release of a UNTIL agent to their custody.  When the band was removed, he exploded, killing half the
 family.  Dr. Hamlin obtained a court order that allowed him to
 keep anyone in the hospital, until he deemed them safe for
 release.  After the tragedy, no one disagreed. 
     Power flowed through the VCS like never before.  Each day some
 mortally wounded super arrived at Covenant.  Hamlin was able to
 completely heal their smashed bodies, but their psyches, so close
 to death, would be a long way in recovering.  The coma room filled
 to capacity, and the hospital was forced to expand this wing.
  Hamlin fell further into despondency.  The game was always the
 same.  The most powerful villains would get healed up, be released
 for trial, escape, kill more norms, and return after millions of
 dollars in damage to property, and countless lives lost.  He
 became committed to stemming the tide of dangerous criminals once
 and for all.
     He started a covert war, first urging Congress to pass
 legislation, making Covenant the #1 hospital for those supers
 injured in combat, mandating that all seriously injured supers be
 sent to Covenant for treatment and storage until trial.
  Covenant's success in keeping villains confined made this highly
 acceptable to congressmen in high crime areas.  Many human right
 groups screamed cruel and unusual punishment, but less criminals
 wandering about meant less damages, less casualties, and lowered
 insurance rates.  Congress passed it without a hitch.  
     Hamlin then started his second phase.  He concealing a
 miniaturized SSS unit on a superhero's costume, while he was
 dropping off an injured criminal.  Then he placed the hero in such
 a position that he confronted a dangerous villain.  Dr. Hamlin
 amplified the power of the wearer's attack at a critical moment,
 easily defeating the opponent.  Then Hamlin uses a ranged
 invisible stun ray, projected through the SSS nodule, keeping the
 villain out for the count.  When the villain was brought in,
 "barely alive," he was placed in the coma room, another victim of the super war.  Hamlin was beginning to make a difference.  Then
 Generic Man appeared.
     Well, he wasn't called Generic Man at first...He first
 appeared in New York, over Times Square.  A jaywalker crossed the
 street.  Generic Man incinerated him.  A businessman spit on the
 ground.  They buried him in a thimble.  Someone attempted to take
 two papers from a newsbox.  He became an integral part of the
 wall.  Police were called in, and they were not at all successful
 in stopping the "criminal."  The Champions were called in to stop
 him, and the being seemed eager at their arrival.  They let him
 have it, both barrels, and seemed to hurt the villain.  He
 suddenly disappeared.  His general appearance, a glowing white
 form, with shades of black, and emanating strange black radiation,
 and his black and white view of law and order got him labelled
 "Generic Man" by the press.  A week later, when he appeared over
 Philadelphia, a costume seem to form.  Black lines streaked across
 his chest, with corresponding numbers.  As he utilized various
 powers, the sequence of numbers changed.  It would seem he changed
 to fit public opinion.  GRASP, a Philadelphian group, attempted
 to arrest G-Man, and he crippled them so badly, they all were
 taken to Covenant.  Strangely, the bands did not work to
 resuscitate the heroes.  They lie in comas to this day.
     This vicious attack lead to a national outcry for the capture
 of G-Man, but no one seemed capable of catching him.  Part of the
 problem was his erratic appearances.  He came and went as he
 pleased, all over the country.  Since he followed no apparent
 logical pattern, no proper defenses could be prepared.  One day
 he would stop any crime it beheld, and other times it would attack
 maliciously.  The experts were clueless.  All save Hamlin.  He
 knew guessed the origin of the creature, and decided to capture
 it before any more people were hurt.  His greatest creation was
 destroying his greatest dream.  He equipped a team of superheroes
 with weapons he felt were capable of neutralizing G-Man.  At
 first, they seemed to have slowed the creature, which was in a
 passive state, but G-man's sudden assault incinerated a martial
 artist.  Hamlin, watching from a safe distance, flew into a rage.
  He drew power from his SSS unit, and prepared to do battle with
 his creation.  However, the moment the power flowed through the
 unit to him, Generic Man disappeared.  He finally realized his
 error in thinking:  the power which comprised G-Man could be
 siphoned away by the system.  The nature of synkoptic power was
 its instability in potential form.  Basically, the power needed
 to be used as often as possible, or else it was prone to project.
  Hamlin merely gave the system rudimentary intelligence to form
 the power, and shape it to its programming.  The solution was
 obvious:  keep it in motion. This, however, was more difficult
 than it sounded.
     The design of the system promoted pooling in some form,
 whether it be in patients, the VCS, or in the energy limbo between
 locations.  This stagnation animated G-Man.  Hamlin's only safe
 recourse, without radically redesigning the system was to
 oscillate the power levels within himself.  However, he soon
 discovered this power regularly coursing through his body was
 highly addicting.  He eventually struck upon a plan.  The moment
 he heard a report of G-Man sighted, he drained the power into
 himself, stopping the assault.  This was never more than once a
 week, but sometimes it was damn inconvenient.  This plan is not
 that efficient, since G-Man has taken to doing more damage in the
 shorter time he had.  Also, this seems to have killed off the
 peaceful, law-abiding aspect of G-man entirely.
     The truth about G-man is a bit more complex than Hamlin
 believes.  Instead of two personas, G-man has three.  One, the
 malicious part, is a side effect from the AI program.  The second
 is the remnant essence of Smythe, trying to do the right thing.
  The third is the least often seen, and yet the most powerful as
 well as influential.  It is the essence of the motivating force
 in the SSS:  Mick Davenport.  Hamlin doesn't realize this.  Mick
 has twisted the Smythe part into doing unspeakable acts, and has
 managed to suppress this side from coming to dominance.  Smythe,
 when in control, now mostly tries to take G-man away from where
 he would harm people.  
     Covenant's business is, sadly, booming.  It has in its halls
 many powerful villains created during the VIPER-UNTIL war, which
 never really saw the light of day, and are all but forgotten.
  Several excellent investments allowed total financial autonomy
 for the hospital, and this is exactly what Hamlin demands.  He
 remembers the horror of the SABRE Program, which allowed Villains
 to work off their debt to society by performing dangerous heroic
 actions, while wearing a stasis collar.  Pyrite freed his
 companion Dyrge, while the supers were trying to defuse an active
 nuclear bomb lost in the Mojave during the war.  Pyrite picked the
 wrong time to fire his hyperbolt, as ENGineer was cutting the
 fuse.  Eight villains died, along with their five federal escorts
 ten miles away.  The radioactive cloud increased cases of cancer
 in the Southwest by 1500% over the next five years.  The plan was
 needless to say, scrapped.  Hamlin sees Covenant as the last best
 hope for an increasing supervillain problem, but with the
 resurfacing of G-Man, he doesn't know where it's all leading.
     G-Man is being controlled primarily by the Mick Davenport
 Aspect.  If any of the other sides does something that would
 interfere with Mick's "master plan," (through G-Man, he is
 covertly collecting a huge amount of money and valuables, so that
 he will be a very rich man when he is taken from the SSS), he will
 twist G-Man's actions, making the attempt fail.  He knows that he
 is an integral part of the machine, and realizes that Hamlin would
 sooner die than free him.  If necessary, Mick will act on this
 knowledge, making G-man's last act be the death of Hamlin.  Since
 Hamlin has kept the secrets of the SSS to himself, Mick feels that
 all those linked to the machine will be disconnected.  He is
 unaware that in the battle that put him here, parts of his brain
 were irreparably damaged, and being removed from the machine will
 kill him.  Further, if he uses the power of G-man on Hamlin, the
 power will simply flow into Hamlin's band, creating a feedback
 loop which will kill everyone linked to an SSS band.

Powers: 
     Hamlin:  Skilled Normal, extensive knowledge of medicine,
 cybernetics, and superpowers.  Has many high level contacts in
 government and with various supers, and is extremely wealthy.  He
 runs Covenant, a medical research facility.  He keeps the SSS
 controller on his wrist at all times.  Through it, he can drain
 any wearer of their powers, and summon powers to amplify his own
 gifts, as well as utilizing the powers of those hooked to the SSS.
  He can also amplify the power of anyone wearing a SSS unit.  Only
 he can authorize the transfer of powers to someone, unless
 Hippocrates, the true controller of the SSS, deems someone is in
 a life threatening situation, an will act accordingly.  Through
 the combat training mandatory for all Covenant workers, he
 possesses Martial Arts:  Aikido with an enhanced nerve strike (4d6
 NND, +3 OCV, -3 DCV, 1 phase delay), which is used to incapacitate
 lively patients, without harming them.  Hamlin is a bit
 Machiavellian, with a long road paved with good intentions.  Above
 all, he will do anything to keep people from suffering, whether
 they are norms or supers, and if that means keeping people in a
 coma, so be it.  However, if anything threatens him or Covenant,
 he will act with swift ferocity to eliminate the threat, perhaps
 even adding them to the coma room.
     Appearance:  Ht: 5'11"  Wt. 86 kg. Hamlin is a healthy 53 year
 old, who keeps his body in peak physical shape.  His hair is
 black, greying a bit on the sides.  Hamlin felt his personal
 crusade was more important than getting married and starting a
 family.  He regrets this, but daily has to deal with families
 shattered by the tragedies he must deal with daily.  He prefers
 long sleeve shirts, which hides somewhat the band he always keeps
 on his wrist.

     Generic Man:  What else can you say about a being who
 possesses the composite powers of most of the supers in the
 various HERO supplements.  He can mix and match powers and
 advantages / disadvantages, creating virtually any effect.
  However, for every advantage he picks above +1/2, he must match
 it with another  limitation of equal value.  Most of the time, his
 power runs at 0 end, but he has been known to cut into his own
 reserve.  The strangest effect of the energy, the reason why he
 is really called generic man, is the fact that his has no specific
 effect.  When he flies, he doesn't generate gravitons, when he
 shoots e-beams, he doesn't fire plasma bolts.  He simply "flies"
 and "shoots."  Thus anyone with a power vs. a specific special
 effect is out of luck.  What keeps Generic Man from being the most
 deadly force in the universe is the incredible psychological
 stress of the three in one mind, which makes G-man constantly
 hesitate in his actions.  This also produces a dangerous 2d6 HKA
 Damage field VS. mind powers.  Also, anyone who tries a power
 drain, suppress, dispel, or transfer on him feels the effect of
 a micro-feedback, a 5d6 AVLD vs. Power defense.  G-man has, in
 effect, a roughly 1000 pt. cosmic power pool, changeable at will.
  He also has another dire power.  The ability to tamper with power
 structures is an innate ability for G-man.  He subsequently has
 learned many new tricks, including a powerful transform which can
 add or subtract ads and lims from supers by simply touching them.
  He enjoys this greatly, as it makes his opponents doubt their own
 abilities.  The affect is achieved via a 9d6 cumulative major
 transform.  If the amount of transform points thus created is
 greater than or equal to the char points necessary to add or
 remove the ad/lim, transformation takes place.  Only one ad/lim
 can be removed at a time, but a switch can be made.


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