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After months of leftovers, updates, and various odd bits of trivia here in the ‘Phile, we now present two great characters from the EXCALIBUR comic book for your game universe: Cerise, an alien energy wielder; and Kylun, a mutant swordsman of Ee’Rath. They’re the new allies of the British superteam, Excalibur. These two have only recently been inducted into the team but have already proven themselves heroes on Earth and other worlds (and can soon prove their mettle on the battlefields of your MARVEL SUPER HEROES TM game universe as well).
POWERS: Light Force: Cerise has the AM (50) rank innate ability to generate and manipulate crimson energy fields for a wide variety of effects, many of which have yet to be revealed. For now, Cerise has exhibited the following variations of her power:
Force Blast: Cerise can generate Force bolts of up to AM (50) rank and range.
Force Fields: Cerise also manipulates her crimson energy into force fields of IN (40) rank covering her area. If her field is extended over an expanse greater than one area, its defensive rank is reduced by -1CS; Cerise apparently cannot maintain fields over three areas in size, though her versatility in shaping these fields seems limitless. Her standard fields are protective force bubbles in which to carry people (apparently as extensions of her flight power), walls for unidirectional protection, tubes, and semimalleable personal fields to protect and retrieve others. Cerise can generate a field across distances of up to four areas away from her.
Flight: Cerise can fly at an EX (20) air speed alone; if carrying any passengers (maximum of 1,000 lbs.) within a connected force field, she can maintain a GD (10) air speed.
EQUIPMENT: Transit Suit: Cerise arrived on Earth wearing a beetlelike suit of alien armor from her home planet. The suit’s capabilities are as follows:
Body Armor: The transit suit is made of unknown materials that afford the wearer AM (50) protection from energy attacks and IN (40) protection from physical and Force attacks. It also has a life-support system capable of maintaining life for up to two weeks unaided.
Dimensional Scanner Gloves: Cerise’s gloves (with the main components removable for localized scanning) provide holographic monitors that scan surrounding space and allow the wearer of the suit to navigate hyperspace to reach preprogrammed coordinates. The limited scanners contained in Cerise’s gloves have a range of eight areas and can detect energy, space, or time fluctuations or abnormalities with AM (50) ability.
Dimensional Transit: The transit suit allowed individuals to travel through hyperspace at Shift Y (200) interplanetary speeds.
The suit’s Dukane Drive capabilities utilized energy- and space-manipulation principles totally unknown to current space-travel theorists of the MARVEL UNIVERSE. The drive units on Cerise’s armor have burned out and may not be repairable with current Earth technology.
TALENTS: Cerise exhibits a wide variety of talents, including Spacecraft Pilot, Bilingual (Native Shaskofrugnonian and English), Astrophysics, Temporal Physics, Electronics, and Martial Arts C.
First appearance: EXCALIBUR #46 (cameo, face unrevealed); EXCALIBUR #47
HISTORY: Very little is known about Cerise’s background. She prides herself on her rank, boldly exclaiming quite often that she is a warrior of the Grand Jhar, genestock of Subruki, Zarstok, and Kuli Ka. Whether the latter three are her ancestors or parents is unknown, though some familial relationship is suggested.
Cerise arrived on Earth while travelling from her homeworld of Shaskofrugnon (a previously unknown planet). By her markings, she was en route to the Phlegmnon Rim frontier. As she passed through the Quassion Field of Tryar, she encountered extreme turbulence throughout hyperspace and real space (undoubtedly caused by Necrom’s recent attempt at multiversal convergence. A vortex formed, and Cerise’s transit suit burned itself out before she entered a dimensional rift and materialized in the dimensional nexus within Excalibur’s lighthouse.
Cerise’s arrival was timely, as she was quickly accepted as an ally and member of Excalibur after a minor fracas with the Technet, who were guests of Excalibur at the time. She aided the team in the fight against Necrom and the Anti-Phoenix, and both she and Kylun comported themselves well during the multiversal crisis (detailed later). Cerise now resides with the other members of Excalibur in Braddock Manor.
ROLE-PLAYING NOTES: Cerise is an extraterrestrial warrior-adventurer, one with experience beyond her seemingly few years. She is friendly and warm- mannered to those she meets, but she can become cold and overly analytical when presented with a mystery. Cerise has traveled the universe seeking excitement and adventure, arriving on Earth by accident and staying since it seemed she could have a lot of fun here. Though she comes from a technological society far more advanced than our own, Cerise seems somewhat naive and innocent on Earth.
In your own game campaigns, Cerise could just as easily fallen in with the PC heroes as with Excalibur, so she is quite adaptable to nearly any campaign. Much fun role-playing can be had while the PCs acclimate Cerise to the complexities of Earth’s culture (try to explain American political systems, television sitcoms, and hot dogs to someone with no comparable frames of reference). Her powers are quite spectacular, so imagine her problems if she wishes to work with heroes who rely on stealth and subterfuge. As a hero, Cerise is quite dependable, and her dimension-traveling experiences open up an infinite number of new doors for PC heroes if they wish to explore the spaceways with her Though she is not such, Cerise could be perceived as a villain for an adventure or two. Imagine a beetlelike alien teleporting into the middle of Times Square, with its universal translator damaged. The alien (Cerise) is confused and disoriented from her dimensional trip, and she cannot comprehend the native language; her appearance and language, of course, do little to calm the crowds, which promptly panic. If your PC heroes tend toward knee-jerk reactions, Cerise may find herself hunted down as a hostile alien until she can fix her translator. Of course, there are many who can fix it for her, but what should happen if she meets a friendly (but always unctuous) Wizard looking for a new member for his latest Frightful Four? Perhaps others from her world later come to Earth looking for her; they might assume that the PCs are holding Cerise against her will, and they’ll seek to free her from her captors? Or, maybe her dimension-hopping armor is stolen by one of your campaign’s villains. Cerise and your PC heroes might need to find some other means of crossing dimensions to chase him. The opportunities are endless for this naive but powerful alien in your games, so take advantage of them.
F IN (40)
A RM (30)
S EX (20)
E RM (30)
R TY (6)
I GD (10)
P RM (30)
H 120
K 46
R GD
P 5; 50 on Ee’Rath
POWERS: Bestial Appearance: Kylun’s mutant physiology grants him catlike eyes that allow him Night Vision (no penalties for fighting in normal darkness) and a fullbody covering of light brown fur that provides a FB (2) Resistance to Cold.
Sound Duplication: Kylun has the IN (40) rank mutant power to duplicate any sound he hears. He apparently cannot change the tone, pitch, or volume of the stimulus, simply reproducing sounds exactly as he hears them. There is no audible difference between the actual sounds and those Kylun produces, so voice scans do not detect any abnormalities.
Swords of ZZ’Ria: Kylun’s magical swords are indigenous to Earth 148, known to its natives as Ee’Rath, and are rare and wondrous artifacts bestowed on this gifted warrior. The two swords are made of an unknown metal but have UN material strength due to their enchantments. Created by one of Ee’Rath’s greatest sorcerers, the two swords can cut through anything but those creatures who are pure of heart; in Kylun’s hands, the swords each deal out 25 points of Edged Attacks damage to all inanimate items or evil beings. In addition, the swords have the power to cut through and disrupt any energy barriers (especially magical energy) of less than UN strength. Kylun’s swords, when not in use, are magically held in place on the back of his costume.
EQUIPMENT: Dagger: Kylun also carries a wide-bladed enchanted dagger for use as a missile weapon (range of two areas) that inflicts 15 points of Edged damage to its target; it has an innate Resistance to Magic of EX rank.
TALENTS: Kylun has the talent of Weapons Specialist with the Swords of ZZ’Ria (MN Fighting rank). His other talents include Martial Arts D & E, Thrown Weapons, and Resist Domination.
First appearance: EXCALIBUR #2 (as Colin); EXCALIBUR #42 (as Kylun the Warrior)
HISTORY: Kylun originally was born Colin McKay in our Earths England; his catlike eyes marked him as a mutant from birth. When he was seven years old, his parents were killed and he was kidnapped by the Vixen, Britain’s equivalent of America’s Kingpin of Crime. Colin escaped the Vixen and her men, hiding in a derelict English factory. The factory’s previous inhabitant had been Tweedledope of the Crazy Gang, a savant inventor who threw together pieces of scrap metal, a transistor radio, apple cores, baked beans, a rubber spider, and other garbage to inadvertently create the artificial life-form now known as Widget. Widget befriended Colin and kept him company, a fact the lonely Colin never forgot. When the Vixen and her men came to the factory to recapture the boy, Colin escaped through a dimensional portal created by Widget and arrived on the barren, icy plains of Ee’Rath.
Cohn was raised as a warrior, becoming one of the premier fighters for the Sorceress’ Sisterhood. Kylun’s body took on his current bestial appearance as he grew, and this heightened the stories about this great warrior. Fame, however, mattered little to Kylun. As he reached the age of majority, he chose as his symbol an approximation of Widget’s original form, then gained the love of the Princess Sa’Tneen, the heir to the Sisterhoods dynastic rule. The couple’s joy was soon interrupted by the sorcerer Necrom and his druids, who conquered Ee’Rath and subjugated its peoples. Necrom soon drained the planet of much of its life in the sorcerer’s relentless quest for more power, as he hoped to bring the multiverse under his own malevolent rule.
Kylun led a revolt against the rule of Necrom, culling an army from the long suffering natives of Ee’Rath. He saved his lover from becoming a sacrifice on Necrom’s altar, and together they led the rebel army to Necrom’s Dark Citadel. Necrom had drained much of the life of the planet into himself, and he prepared to go to another Earth through the cross-time chamber in his citadel. He stopped long enough to animate the remains of his worlds Excalibur team (Captain Britain 148, Thor, Black Knight, Spider-Man) to fight Kylun and Princess Sa’Tneen. The animated heroes were quickly defeated, but the princess was slain before they could stop Necrom’s entrance into his Chamber of Infinity, which would take him to Earth 616, the prime (Marvel) Earth and current home of the Phoenix. Kylun followed Necrom through the chamber, his heart filled only with hate and revenge. Kylun rematerialized inside the lighthouse of Excalibur, mistakenly thinking Excalibur was responsible for the destruction of his adopted world. After meeting Nightcrawler and ascertaining his heroism, Kylun worked alongside Kurt and the exiled Technet, and was on hand with Excalibur to see the release of the Anti-Phoenix from its prison in County Sligo, Ireland.
Necrom, fortified by the absorbed power of the Anti-Phoenix, soon made his presence known in England when he slaughtered a contingent of 19 F.I.6 agents in London, draining their life forces and nearly killing a British mutant hero, Micromax. Necrom then played his final gambit, confronting Excalibur and their allies outside the lighthouse.
Kylun, with Cerise, Micromax, and Feron (a young mystic trained to wield the Phoenix force); led an attack on Necrom while Excalibur quickly repaired the damage Necrom had done to the multiverse when he attempted to converge all the various universes. Despite this repairing and strengthening of the dimensional walls that separate each universe, the repercussions of such widespread dimensional havoc will occur for years to come. Kylun managed to wound Necrom with his swords, damaging one of his eyes, but Necrom abandoned the battle and fled to Otherworld to confront Rachel Summers, the Phoenix. The Phoenix vs. Anti-Phoenix battle destroyed an entire solar system light years away. Necrom was defeated by Rachel when she gave him the full power of the Phoenix. Necrom couldn‘t absorb that much power, and he exploded; Ra- chel’s body teleported back to Otherworld clad in the green and gold costume of Earths first Phoenix, Jean Grey. Kylun has been accepted as a member of Excalibur along with Cerise, and the entire team now resides in Braddock Manor following the destruction of the Tower that Crosses Time (a.k.a. the Excalibur lighthouse).
ROLE-PLAYING NOTES: Kylun is, despite his martial talents and fearful loos, a relatively shy and reserved hero. This is all the more remarkable due to his accomplishments as a rebel leader on Ee’Rath. He is quietly confident in his own abilities and remains calm in any combat situation. His leonine features belie a young, fiercely loyal heart and slight insecurity over his insignificant mutant power. In the short time he has been with his teammates, he has quickly gained their respect and trust, things he cherishes all the more because of his lonely childhood. Most of all, he is loyal to Widget, his only friend from his youth before being teleported to Ee’Rath.
In your game campaigns, Kylun fits easily as a trusted ally and skillful warrior, His use of swords will be hard to explain to local law-enforcement officials, and it may easily get him into trouble until the properties of his swords are discovered. Though he is a native of Earth, his mutant appearance could be disguised by calling him an alien from Ee’Rath (helping his Popularity score). He reacts quickly to danger and often leaps into battle regardless of planning or strategy, unless he is in command.
Though initial mistrust of Kylun might come from his appearance, he can become one of the best allies your PC heroes have met in quite a while. Though he would never fall in with any established super villains, he could become a lone vigilante; as Spider-Man has known for years, the media and public can view him as a menace regardless of any heroic deeds he might perform. Once Kylun finds an ally that he (and his swords) could trust, he will try to ally with that person for aid against Necrom (should the latter return) or any other evil that makes its presence known.
