Indian and Bangladeshi NPCs

Jagadhidh Vidyalaya, “Rudra”

Jagadhidh was an underprivileged kid in Hyderabad when he erupted. One minute he was walking down the road, in the next he was flying in the air, disintegrating anything in his way shouting with glee as halos of light orbited him. Now he is being groomed by the government for use in Kashmir. While officially told that he is only a guarantee of stability, Jagadhidh knows why he is there: to unleash destruction. He knows it is his duty, that his family suddenly is well off, that he is famous and everybody expects the best of him.

His powers and exploits have made him enormously famous in India. When people first began to call him Rudra, he took it as a compliment. But when some took to actually worship him as an avatar of Shiva he became fearful. What if the god took offence? But he was told that the gods would know the truth about him; as long as he acted truthfully he would not be harmed. For a time this calmed him. But over time Jagadhidh has begun to fear that the believers are right: what if he is Shiva? Or even worse Bhairava, the terrible destroyer aspect of the god and not just Rudra, the destroyer of sorrows? Being a teen god-soldier is not fun.

Rudra is India’s most powerful nova, exhibiting an amazing range of powers. He is the gem of the Bureau of Superhumans, and that the military wants to use him has caused much bitter blood. He is known to exhibit a powerful force field, the ability to fly, to disintegrate and blow up objects as well as sizeable telekinesis.

Str : 3, Dex (supple): 5, Sta (unyielding): 5

Per: 2, Int: 2, Wit (quick): 4

App: 3, Man: 2, Cha (regal): 4

Brawl: 2, Might: 2, Athletics: 2, Firearms: 2, Stealth: 1, Awareness: 2, Survival: 1, Rapport: 2, Intimidation: 3, Style: 2, Streetwise: 2, Command: 1, Etiquette: 1

Node: 3, Backing (Indian government): 4, Fame: 5, Followers: 5

Willpower: 3, Quantum: 5, Taint: 3

Mega dexterity 3 (enhanced reflexes, artful dodger)

Mega stamina 3 (resiliency)

Disintegration 1, Flight 1, Force field 2, Quantum bolt 3 (forcefield and quantum bolt only available when flying)

Aberration: unearthly beauty (Rudra looks somehow “divine” or like a statue).

Soak 11 bashing, 6 lethal, +1 bruised level

Initiative 20

When Rubra powers up he floats in the air, surrounded by his trademark orbiting rings of coloured fire (forcefield). He has been trained to aim laser missile guidance pointers, although he personally prefers to unleash devastation using his fire beams (quantum bolt; [10]+8 lethal dice) or “holy cleansing fire” (disintegrate, [5]+dex+desint agg damage).

Nirupama Pant

Famous for her strength; she is among the strongest novas on the planet.

“Bhishma”

Nova terrorist. Said to look like the viewers worst nightmare and able to induce fatal terror in others. What is rumour and what is true about Bhishma is unknown; myths about goblins and vampires are merged with urban legends and the real exploits of Bhishma. What is certain is that Bhishma has attacked Hindus and their homes across India, leaving dead and mutilated bodies in his/her wake.

Urvasi Ganesh

Probably the smartest nova in India. She erupted as a quiet realization that she could think and perceive far faster than anybody around her. She saw the world as a really slow place, where simple dolls move according to obvious rules.

She is actually both a kind and passionate person, but she finds humans so hard to relate to. They are simple and predictable. She instead pours her passion and alertness onto those she can handle: the novas. She is the spider in the net of the Bureau of Superhumans, and often helps find and handle new eruptees. She is also doing what she can to help novas should something go wrong: she is thinking of everything. But she hardly tells anybody.

She is pathologically alert without revealing it. She knows everything going on around her. She is also deeply religious, something that comforts her when she finds humans unbearable: if the gods can stand them, then she can too.

Radjindra Brahmarendra

Indian biotechnologist from Bangalore. After her eruption she found her intelligence vastly expanded and that she could control animals, plants and heal them. She set out to help the biosphere. Radjindra is likely the world’s greatest ecological and biotechnological mind, and is devoting it to improving the health of humans and the environment. She keeps a somewhat low profile but the academic and pharmaceutical world is amazed by the steady stream of papers and patents that are coming from her lab at Cipla Laboratories (a biotech corporation she has co-founded). One of her current projects is a malaria vaccine (soon ready to be shipped) and toxin-binding plants.

She gets along well with the Bureau of Superhumans and especially Urvasi Ganesh. She is also secretly communicating with Jardineiro, but the differences in perspective (Radjindra has a very western modern biology perspective, Jardineiro sees things from a down-to-earth farming perspective) makes collaboration hard. Personally she considers herself the priestess of the living world, sometimes acting as its representative in human affairs, sometimes as an artist trying to show others its wonderful beauty and sometimes as a coordinator trying to get the biosphere and technosphere to work together.

Nag-Kanya

The Nag-Kanya of Bangladesh is known for her ability to control water: to shape it into a huge slithering snake to dig, to be able to walk on it, to divide it or to make it flow out of the ground. She is generally revered and well regarded by the poor, who seek her help to build dams, canals and control flooding.

Julhas Vergese, Nagraj

Nagraj is a Bangladeshi nova that erupted with “snake control”. Or rather, he is composed of “snakes” (actually independent, tubelike parts of himself) that he can shape and send on errands. He has even become able to dissolve into a swarm of snakes/worms that can slither through openings or attack people.

Julhas Vergese was born in Khagrachari and while of Bengal descent he was fairly sympathetic to the Chittagong Hill rebel cause. When he erupted (during a sudden fever attack that got him to break up into snakes) he saw his chance to rise from being an ordinary farmer to a true leader. He set out to organize the remnant rebels into a new force under his lead. Unfortunately for him he was not much of an organiser or leader, and this ”Snake Warrior Army” failed totally. Hunted by the authorities he moved to Myanmar where he hides. He is currently looking for new opportunities for glory.