Mentat

Mentat was a psionic mutant superhero. He was an established superhero for several years and an eventual member of the Contenders.

## Origin

Milosh Morozov was a Russian-born mutant who had a very minor telepathic ability. Unfortunately, this marginal power made him a candidate for KGB scientists interested in experimenting with psionics. Their goal was to create a small army of fanatical psionic agents to be their agency's trump card in espionage operations. Though most subjects of these experiments died or went insane, Milosh was a resounding success; the implant installed in his amygdala did increase his telepathic abilities tenfold and the scientists were delighted with his new capabilities.

But after his ordeal in the secret hospitals below KGB headquarters, the young man had no desire to become the Kremlin's agent. The implant had given him a small but potent mind control ability, which he concealed from his captors until an opportunity to escape presented itself. Narrowly managing to make it out alive, he fled to America, where he hid from pursuing KGB hit squads.

Eventually, he realized that he could not remain hidden forever, and he lacked the strength to defy Russia's best. So he styled himself as a psychic hero, "Mentat," and joined a ragtag group of fledgling supers in order to find safety in numbers.

Although that group eventually disbanded, he had gained enough strength by that point to make it on his own, and he went into hiding once more. He returned years later to investigate an unstable psionic disturbance, which turned out to be emanating from the Ringster. Offering his aid to the young hero, he reluctantly became embroiled in their adventures, and decided for reasons of his own to lend his strength to the Contenders as a permanent member.

Mentat was killed in 2020 when he boarded an alien superstructure that was weaponizing the sun's energy to destroy the Earth. Mentat succeeded in disabling the structure from within, but was slain when the ring sank into the sun's corona. Rather than heading into the afterlife as normal, his spirit opted to travel to Mars instead, where the details of his final fate are currently unknown.

## Appearance

Mentat was a tall, thin Caucasian man. He appeared artificially aged by the tribulations he'd experienced. Beneath his full head of hair, his scalp and neck showed significant surgery scars that never fully faded.

## Personality

Mentat was the "grumpy old man" of the Contenders. Despite being the most veteran hero on the team, he typically let the others formulate plans and helped to carry them out. While not afraid to act alone, he prefered not to take the vanguard when possible, allowing others to take the spotlight both in combat and in social situations. When his teammates asked too much of him, Mentat tended to grumble, and he had been known to threaten them with unpleasant mental trickery if they didn't give him his space.

Despite this, Mentat had proven his heroic nature on more occasions than the rest of the Contenders combined. He had resisted bribes and opportunities for revenge in favor of doing the right thing, and had even faced down his overwhelming phobias for the sake of helping others. Of all the Contenders, he had the most clear sense of right and wrong, and there are lines he refused to cross even when the rest of his team disagreed with his decisions.

## Powers

Mentat was one of the most powerful psychics of the 21st century. Most psychics have either entirely telepathic abilities (called "espers") or entirely physically-manifested abilities (called "kinetics"); Mentat was once a pure esper, but after removing the KGB's implant from his brain stem he was able to fully develop telekinetic abilities as well, a combination almost no other psychics can boast.

Mentat's abilities were extremely versatile, and almost too numerous to mention. A sample of his most commonly used abilities are:

* Telepathic scanning to read a target's thoughts or even comb their memories;
* A mind-link that allows up to five individuals to communicate over an unlimited distance;
* Teleportation, both short range and global-scale;
* The ability to safely transfer himself and passengers to the mysterious Astral Plane;
* Telekinetic attacks ranging from spontaneous explosions to blades of pure force

For defense, Mentat not only made use of an advanced armored bodysuit, but used his nascent precognitive abilities to predict where a blow would land and move to deflect as much force as possible. This made him far more resilient than he appeared, and he was in fact the team's most "brick"-like character, at least in regards to his ability to absorb punishment.

#### The Endstone

After the defeat of Cú Chulainn, Mentat's powers expanded exponentially when he agreed to become the Herald of Terminus, a nearly-dead god whose portfolio includes barriers, roads, and the boundaries of all things. Terminus granted him the Endstone, a pearl-like gem that confered a sliver of the god's power to Mentat. This strange suite of powers allowed him to conjure force fields for protection or to capture targets, as well as to craft solid barriers of nearly any material. He could pass through walls of any thickness, or even sunder them completely. He also had the ability to impose mortality on immortal beings, essentially consigning them to the "end' that they should otherwise have.

## Weaknesses

Mentat's brain implant made him highly vulnerable to disruption by electric shocks, even from mundane tazers; however, after removing the device, he has eliminated this weakness and has few other physical complications.

Mentat's primary weaknesses stemed from his phobias. He was paranoid, thanks to the fact that he had spent most of his adult life on the run from the KGB's agents and Soviet-aligned supers. He also had an intense fear and distrust of scientists and particularly doctors. Overcoming these aversions was extremely difficult for Mentat and had proved challenging on more than one occasion.