Freakshow

Freakshow
Nate with visible extensions of his suit
Author	/u/spider_dream23
Civilian name	Nate Brooks
Alignment	Rogue
Affiliation	None (Devilfish)
PRT Classification	Tinker
Born	(2006-10-13) October 13, 2006 Devilfish
Status	Active

Some guy got hospitalized by an unknown creature, he and Nate’s mom left the house, frightened and she refuses to acknowledge the freak inside as her son.

Days passed and Neighbors noted some strange things going on around the property, plants and animals showing odd behavior, supposed sightings of cryptids or monsters…

Previous to his trigger he was known for being strange, many rumors surrounding the weird misfit.. how he seemingly traumatized the neighbor kids.

His Father worked as a scientist at the local university especially known for his rather controversial views. He turned out to be a wanted murderer once his first victims became known.

Character Sheet

Appearance

Medium length black hair, green eyes, 1,60 m height. He doesn’t really care much about his appearance. Usually, his hair and skin appears to be somewhat greasy and sweaty while his clothes seem to be old and worn off.

There is some black mold growing on his skin, which can cover him entirely if he wants to hide his identity or protect himself.

Equipment and Resources

At the moment Freakshow is pretty blank and does not have much belongings, besides what he needs for his experiments.

Wealth level: 3

A small makeshift lab

A variety of different plants, and invertebrates.

Enclosures

Books about anatomy, medicine, and biology

A bunch of really good horror movies and games

Tinkertech ( He usually keeps 10 Vials of of R1, 20 E1, 20 N1 etc)

His creations

A bunch of Chickeneggs or other easily transportable creatures/eggs.

Taser

Smartphone

Tranquilizer

Tinkertech

E1 (Enhancer version 1)

• Character: Freakshow

• Appearance: A viscous clear substance often transported in a vial or syringe.

• Abilities: Mutagenic properties mostly used for tinkering, induces slight chance in genetic make-up, but mainly affects expression of certain traits, additionally it increases acceptance of foreign gene material. Normal dose Effect relatively slow. Overdose induces either an increase in performance or death Works on Plants, fungi, and animals but anything like a dog would be more likely to just die. Induces sickness in humans. It causes nausea and disorientation, sometimes people would throw up if they are especially sensitive or got hit with multiple doses. Its somewhat similar to a very short and intense hangover or flu. The effect lingers for a few seconds up to a few minutes. But people will still feel somewhat unwell for the next hour

• Duration: Permanent

• Note: Not very effective in combat, because it’s a pretty slow acting drug, but if used against humans (thrown in their faces etc..) it can sufficiently distract, with immediate nausea.

Name: R1 (Rapid Enhancer version 1)

• Character: Freakshow

• Appearance: A viscous red substance often transported in a vial or syringe.

• Abilities: Notable increase in performance and growth rate, induces rapid conversion of existing body mass into new structures and organs, high mutation rate, causes extreme aggression and appetite. Affected organism immediately start to starve. Works on Plants, fungi, and animals. Induces sickness in humans, more harmful than E1 with additional muscle spasm. Effect can linger for a few minutes up to an hour.

• Duration: Low dosage 30 min, high dosage 5 up to 10 min, always resulting in certain death.

• Notes: Not easy to make and relatively unstable. Often used in combination with organism he brings with him(Chicken eggs, mice, bugs etc..) or anything available in his immediate vicinity, to create unstable abominations. The serum is not able to directly increase size, but affected organism turn more dangerous and able to grow quickly by eating available biomass(doubling their size every 5 min).
• More Info on the Effects of R1 and E1 are here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1CQzFYctIPvYLN6efDLe55phBv62FnkwdMZBLWVKJ4KE/edit

Name: A1(Antidote)

• Character: Freakshow

• Appearance: A viscous green substance often transported in a vial or syringe.

• Abilities: Neutralizes mutagenic and carcinogenic effects Low dosage slows it down, high dosage can fully purge any harmful effect, high dosage kills anything more mutated. Works on Humans, Plants, fungi, and animals. Induces temporary sickness in humans.

• Duration: 10 min up to a day.

• Note: Substance turns unstable once it leaves his field. Can be used to slightly increase life expectancy of unstable creations if the timing and dosage is right.

Name: N1(Neurostimulator 1)

• Character: Freakshow

• Appearance: A volatile pink substance often transported in a vial or vaporizer.

• Abilities: Calming effect on his creations, makes them less aggressive and more suggestible, high dosage works like a sedative. Only works on mutated creatures, though if directly hit with it, people would get a similar feeling of being high, but guess what?.. it still gives them cancer if used too much.

• Duration: 10 min up to a day.

• Note: Has a very pleasant smell to it.

Name: Gary

• Character: Freakshow

• Appearance: A black and slimy, tadpole like creature, with a long slippery tail ending in two forceps like appendages, ten spider-like legs on his underside, each one with sharp pincers. Two pairs of complex eyes and a mouth with a dozen sharp teeth with two mandibles on the tip of his tong. His back equipped with venomous spines. 80 cm Body length with a span of 30 cm.

• Abilities: Amphibious and surprisingly fast, able to climb walls and slip through the smallest space. Nasty bite, the venom of his spines is relatively weak, but very painful. Gary has a good sense of smell and relatively good eyesight even at night. He can regenerate his tail as well as his head.

• Mentality: Gary seems much more aggressive than he actually is, he is very curious towards new people, immediately trying to bite them, not with full strength only gently as a greeting, you actually won’t feel any pain. Though anything with similar or smaller size to himself is fair game and counts as prey. He is very protective of his master, becoming agitated once Nate gets stressed, if shit hits the fan he goes for the face, able to rapidly attack and retreat, if possible, trying to burrow into flesh.

• Lifespan: Only a few weeks

• Notes: Freakshow’s first creation, he himself isn’t even sure how he created him or what his base is, but he certainly jumped out of the aquarium to attack Mom’s boyfriend.

Name: Adaptive Bio-Suit

• Character: Freakshow

• Appearance: A dark fabric made of living mycelium, like a second skin it grows around his body, almost fully enveloping him, additionally he wears a set of swim googles.

• Abilities: A mutated kind of mold, it can grow moderately fast but only once it meets his skin, as it needs a constant and direct exposure to survive. The fabric is very flexible and durable, but far from bullet proof. The suit responds to Freak’s emotional state and can retreat or grow if he wills it.

• Duration: Until he decides to remove it.

• Note: First Prototyp which will serve as a template for further experiments once he is able to work with a new variety of different organism.

Name: Sphere of influence (No official name yet)

• Character: Freakshow

• Appearance: Fungi and plant like organism, first growing in a root/Myzelium-like fashion, until it starts to mature/bloom. It is hard to distinguish from his suit, because its integrated into it. It forms small honeycomb like fruiting bodies.

• Abilities: “Sphere” feeds on his sweat and on small amounts of blood, processing it into a volatile and pheromone like substance, which it constantly starts to secrete, spreading it into the surrounding air. Effectively generating a sphere around him that affects his creations. The field is essential to sustain some of his creations and also allows him to enforce some form of subconscious control. It also works as a weak booster if he feels agitated(similar to his trigger situation), his field becomes stronger, slightly(but not that noticeable) enhancing the abilities of his creations and allowing for more accurate control. It has a Range of 10 m to 50 m. The range and potency increases with time and stress. “Sphere” reacts to Freakshow’s emotional state, able to detect the smallest change in attitude or chemical composition of his sweat and blood. Adjusting its own release of pheromones in respond to this. Though its also very sensitive, immediately starting to shut down any activity if it gets hurt via chemicals, heat, cold etc.. Disrupting his ability to control or sustain his creations. Usually it recovers after a few minutes but can go dormant for much longer if more than 50% of his suit gets damaged. It emits a sweet smell of vanilla but will cause nausea and headaches if people stay in his range for an extended amount of time. they would just feel a bit unwell but besides that it hardly affects humans at all.

• Note: He is working on a greater and more stationary variant of it.

Skills and Specializations

Nate is skilled at rationalizing death or work in situations others would be easily overwhelmed or too grossed out to be useful. Able to precisely patch up injuries almost like a skilled Chirurg. He can utilize a variety of medical and biological knowledge even without any support of his tinker power. His father figuratively and literally beating the knowledge into his head, working on animals dead or alive, sometimes even other victims as well.

Experienced at handling a variety of creatures, venomous, poisonous or dangerous in other ways and proficient in utilizing different drugs, many of which he was forced to experience the effect on himself.

He is well versed in science fiction and a bunch of other media(comics etc..), able to utilize that knowledge as inspiration for his creations.

Cooking is one of the few things he enjoyed learning from mom and he got pretty good at it. Skilled at preparing various dishes many people would mistake for something, straight out of an restaurant. Though the majority would probably still decline once they realize what kind of ingredients he uses, as nowadays he would often cook utilizing his own creations.

He is somewhat exceptionally good at karaoke, but more embarrassed than proud about it. Claiming those evenings were the most traumatic experience he had to endure.

Mentality

He tries to be friendly but is actually very apathetic concerning the well being of strangers, though he can show compassion towards anybody he views as a friend and deep inside he does seek companionship with others. There is a hidden vulnerable, more emphatic and heroic side of him, which he mostly keeps buried to cope with the trauma.

Nevertheless he would never describe his past as traumatic, nor acknowledge how it actually affected him and instead rationalise the Events or repress important Details, to view them in a much more positive or neutral way than they are.

Freakshow does not shy away from talking about his past and seems pretty open about it but would do it in a cold and distanced demeanor almost like it happened to someone else, with a tendency hide certain details, which could make him seem more vulnerable.

He has a habit to purposefully scare others away, trying mask his own insecurity and awkwardness by being monstrous, as well as to test if someone is just like everyone else or worth his interest…

Overall Nate is very curious and often oblivious to any consequences of his actions, with a tendency to do things just because he can. He often appears to be shy and reserved, even scared of others but simultaneously can be surprisingly fearless in other situations, sometimes almost thrill seeking and self-destructive.

Because he spend most of his life shutting everything off and diving into movies and his own imagination, he his very oblivious to most things, viewing others more as NPCs until he get to know them better.

His fucked up childhood and less than good role models, did a toll on how he views the world. His perspective somewhat skewed because of it, the power not really helping with that. Growing a facehugger-like creature inside of a dog to scare the owner would be something he calls a prank. Death does not really faze him, though his own death would be something he rather avoids.

Naturally he has no qualms experimenting with animals, but he can be very protective towards some of his creations he invested more of his time in, treating those like precious pets or loved ones rather than tools.

He has a tendency to show off and seek appreciation, combined with his warped morality resulting in him having no qualms working with heroes or villains as long as he can tinker and display his creations.

Power

Freakshow is a Bio-Tinker specialized in mutations, genetic engineering and splicing of (basal)life.

He usually utilizes his own blood and sweat as well as different genetic material he is able to collect, as a basis for his tinkering

This allows him to create different drugs and to enhance certain traits of a species or to mix different genetic materials to create something entirely new, able to change the entire biological make up of a species and to combine what shouldn’t be possible. By mixing and enhancing certain traits he is able to vaguely predict the outcome, but in the end his creations are unpredictable, and he does not actually know what fuck he just created.

He can only work with traits and abilities a species already has and not just turn them into something entirely different. Yet his power does account for issues which normally would occur if he for example creates a giant bug, mostly by giving him ideas how to reinforce their anatomy. Nevertheless the more shard-support a creation needs, the more of his attention and work would need to go towards it, leaving less for everything else.

Creations seem to respond to his subconscious if they are inside of his field, otherwise they act on their instincts, but he has some influence on how they are supposed to behave. He can also change their behavior with certain versions of his mutagen.

Experiments need to be maintained by a constant dose of the substance, sometimes a bunch of different vials as well as surgery, depending on how affected they already are. This also limits how many of his creations he could sustain, as most of them depend on shard shenanigans to stay alive.

Slightly changed life (enhanced growth etc..) survives by just staying in his field and would return to normal once he leaves. More mutated organism would need a regular dose of the refined substance and other work or they rapidly start to degrade .

This also depends on the organism. By default, his power would not work on anything too small for him to notice, but some refined versions are able to affect smaller lifeforms, regardless anything microscopic would need constant exposure to be viable and immediately die after seconds once they are unable to feed on the substance

Big organism would need more time and available biomass as well as more of his attention. Though any organism able to enter a state of hibernation with almost no metabolism would need much less maintenance until revived.

Generally, he needs a base organism as a template, to then feed it with different versions of his serum or to inject it into different parts of the creature. At this point he can add new genetic material and influence how it would affect the basis organism. The template does not need to be a complete creature, he can work with tissue or even cells, but this will greatly influence the outcome. Its also more difficult for him to keep small tissue samples or individual cells alive.

Sometimes creations may turn out to be uncontrollable or more monstrous than usual, especially if he holds himself back from tinkering or using his power in creative ways (his shard’s way of expressing how pissed it is).

Even if his power does not really work on humans, he can technically work with human DNA if it gets mixed up with enough nonhuman material, but still this will make his work much more difficult and unreliable.

His power may work on Master minions/power creations, Changer/Breakers or Case 53’s if it’s something biological and different(nonhuman) enough but results can’t be predicted. This is only relevant for future tech once he starts to study other parahumans.

He isn’t able to directly work on himself or other people, but could make parasites to do the job, still his creations are unable to permanently change or enhance anything besides creating internal damage.

Usually parasitic organism will rapidly or almost immediately degrade inside of an human host, but are potentially able to survive if he floods the host’s system with some variants of his drugs. Also only relevant for future tech.

Classification: Tinker (Master/shaker)

Trigger type: Single natural Trigger, can second trigger

Example

The situation appears to be dangerous… what should he do?

Anxious he pulls out a vial…. A red one…. He never tested it…. Should he do it or better…

“Fuck it.” He throws it against the dog that keeps chasing him.

At first confused, the animal cries out in pain as it starts to grow additional legs and eyes until it dies shortly after.

The owner catches up, ready to shoot Nate but suddenly what once was a tapeworm changed into a snake like abomination, slithering out of the carcass it immediately tries to burrow into the leg of the thug.

Backstory

Nate grew up confused, his family far from normal.. mom tried to, but actually just wanted him to behave, to be a good kid others would find cute… to control him.

While he would watch horror and science fiction movies with dad every time she was away.

If he couldn’t sleep because of the movies mom would notice, causing his parents to argue, with dad treating him like a traitor after.

Still he tended to go more along with dad, as mom just dragged him from one unbearable activity to the next.

On his tenth birthday dad showed him his collection, and how to handle the animals, most of them being invertebrates but also some reptiles, plants and other stuff.. he brought from work. There was a silent agreement to never talk about the collection at home and he understood why as there was already enough fighting as it is, mostly because of him.

From there on Dad often took him along showing and teaching him his work. Most of the time to have him help with something.

At school people usually avoided him, at least once he started to be himself instead of pretending, still there were kids he viewed as friends until he fucked up not even sure why they stopped interacting with him, sometimes seemingly their whole family kept them from meeting each other.

The situation at home grew worse after he almost died because he made a mistake handling something of dads collection.

His parents fought more often and more violent, practically waging war against each other.

Mom disposed part of dad’s collection, while he at one point just killed the cat and made furniture out of it, coercing Nate to help with the taxidermy.

After that they fought one last time until neighbors called the police and dad just left.

Things were about to change but they didn’t, or they did but not in a good way. The evenings still shaped by arguments and violence. Dad’s gone but there is another guy filling the same niche.

Nate tried to spend his days ignoring it, diving into the things he loved or learnt to love. He knows what dad did and how he sometimes helped, but one day everyone seemed to know it. Things became public and the few relationships he cherished unbearable. The bullying got to a point where he almost couldn’t leave the house, but he dealt with that fear and weaponized it.

Which only made everything worse.

Nate glares at it, the door is locked, he did it to be safe but the knocking gets louder, they already found what he kept in the basement and what he recently did at school…. Only the collection, his projects… his stuff in here are left. The gaze of fearful eyes wanders through the room, to the enclosures and to leftovers from dads old collection, jars, bottles and parts… evidence!

He tries to think to have ideas a way out of it until he triggered.

His head exploding from overexposure to images of new worlds and beings, dividing themselves and blending into each other, death over and over… being reborn and discarded. Organism warped in every possible way monsters, looking… at him. Species destined for doom and worlds falling into chaos….. weapons with the will to survive…..

Few days passed until his first Creations started to emerge.