Aurora Consurgens: NPC Notes

NPC NOTES (For Players)

(Very minor characters, like Mac and crew or Beau, aren’t included in this. Listing is by first name.)

Aaron Dupree: Omega who created the Incident via clones of himself and ODing on drugs.
Andrea: Sullivan’s r2-45 boss, who makes shields and is apparently a stuffed bear. The reasons behind this have not been released, but Sullivan is scared of her.
Archie Rocco: The Best Roommate Ever. He migh be a bit slow on the uptake and lose himself in the muse, but nothing seems to faze him at all for long, including becoming an Omega.
Arnold Lien: Headmaster of Sutherland University.
Artie Fleetwood: Illuminati member, telepath currently containing the Eye inside him. Not having a fun time at all.
Alan Moore: An omega who smells horribly and makes flowers. Currently setting up a flower shop and often used to solve problems by PCs and NPCs. Has only tried to kill himself three times thus far.
Allison: Tempie’s friend, currently trying to deal with ‘weird stuff is real’ as best she can and re-thinking her ideas of how the world works.

Barry: Apparently Old. Also terrible and scary to some NPCs; little is known about him save he was damaged in the mind five years ago and is pro-Omega rights, believing if people are the best humanity can be then everything will work out just fine.
Basil Manning: Omega with fire powers and quills who is trying to adapt to his new status, helped by friends and his parents.
Beckett Holmes: Omega with stone skin and shields; currently working with S.A.F.E but very, very keen to stop the people whose drugs killed his brother.
Breaker: Special Branch police officer who blasts stuff; has scars that Fiona covers.
Bradley Johnson: Omega police officer who often deals with warming people to keep careful; seems able to switch places with civilians who spot a crime.
Becka: Alpha and friend to Tempie, who has shown her real self to them and been rebuffed for the sheer sociopathic overtones common enough to alphas. To what extent it was her doing devil’s advocate is thus far unknown.
Bert Manning: Alpha mad scientist working with the police; often builds steampunk style tech.
Blake Brensen: An alpha-omega on the run who apparently creates memes and is believed to be the pope.

Calrion de Flores: Omega acrobat who is new to the city and feeling his way about it; has yet to encounter Alan, thankfully.
Chester Fields: Teresa’s best friend.
Chris: Skinhead who joined the Circle of Humanity support group in the belief it would be like concentration camps. Has an elderly couple (Bruce and Wanda) agreeing with him.
Claire: Former Black Circle member, murdered after her attempt to trick Mason into joining it failed utterly.
Craig Ensley: Omega as Mason’s school who is an incubus and breaks stuff; unaffected by the effect on the school, he is currently starving due to a lack of real emotions and made some very odd agreements with the headmaster about his scholarship (which seemed to involve sleeping with him).

Damien: Omega kid who looks weird and vanishing stuff; apparently has no moral qualms at all with killing at the tender age of 15 but is also a horrible, horrible liar. Is involved in the Black Chamber, S.A.F.E. and Barry’s group and sometimes gets a bit stressed out over being over-extended.
Diego Perez: Omega anarchist who spraypaints things and teleports; currently evading the police rather handily.
Doctor D: Codename for the person who makes the omega-boosting drugs.

Emily Parker: An omega who seems human, she was raised by a very religious mother and has difficulty seeing the weirder Omegas as NOT demons; she’d have made an excellent Choir member in another life and is still trying to process her own beliefs with the wider world, since she has no desire to throw the baby out with the bath water.
Eye, the: Illuminati supercomputer that exists in the superflow that is the jungian consciousness. Currently suffering from a blue screen of death.

Fiona Baskin: Police officer who can make illusions and often tries to diffuse situations without violence; often partnered with Breaker, who she also attempts to diffuse.

Griffin Dumont: Black Chamber member who can speak to and harm the dead, among other abilities. Very creepy guy who is apparently now Damien’s minder since Griffin killed their last one.

Hades: Self-titled omega who is seen as a giant threat; can turn alphas into omegas and feed on evil, though he left the city shortly after a confrontation with Kami et al, leaving his peole to carry out his will. (It has been claimed that he has no desire for the police to toss the Twins at him)
Hole and Hurt: Twin omegas who were part of the same project as Kami. They are quite powerful, one being akin to a black hole, the other entropy, share senses and don’t like being too far from each other. The police often use them, out of necessity, to deal with major threats.

Ignatius Hanrahan: Professor at Mason’s university who is unaffected by the weird aura of the place and doesn’t much care for Omegas.
Ivan Koshchey: Illuminati member who worked on the Prodigy Project. Not a nice person at all.

James Forsythe: Tempie’s father, who has years of experience in the world and in literature to somewhat prepare him for the reality of the world. He seems to be taking his daughters changes and new friends in stride thus far.
Jane Ceil: Alpha with special branch who deals with keeping the other members in line and looking after the twins when no one else is free.
Jerry Welker: The kind of Omega whose ability suits him. He’s terrible private, which makes being friends with a telepath difficult. (Also says as few words as possible, except when the GM forgets this. He gets less absurd in this regard when discussing music or drunk.) At present, he’s expressed no real stake in Omega issues and prefers a normal life.
Jillian Connor: New Omega who can fly and zap energy; has been recruited into S.A.F.E. by Mason and may have a thing for him.

Kaegan Maher: 11 year old omega with power over insects and leaping talents; wants to be a Superhero and convince PCs to be the same. Tends to break down when arrested or fighting a ‘villain’ who is actually a hero as the world has then gone off the superhero comic vision in his head.
Kelly Fisher: Omega who looks like a grey alien; she can heal, works in movies and takes great delight in teasing others.
Kirk Watson: Mayor’s aide who deals with all Omega stuff in the city. Seems to have whats best for everyone in mind, though his office is often less useful in implementing this.
Kim Li: Works for S.A.F.E. and can see genetic code; seems interested in Omegas primarily from a research perspective.

Lambert Duchall: Choir Omega member who, along with his sister Simone, tried to kill Basil. They were driven away but, unlike his sister, his zeal appears to have bee untouched by Tempie.
Lance Christensen: Alpha police officer not allowed into Special Branch because of his rather violent solutions to the problem of omegas.
Leo Dowell: Alpha turned Omega who works for Hades. Very, very sure of his skills and often gets in over his head with problems. Despite being a complete bastard, he is willing to work with PCs for goals that benefit him. Easily offended when someone insults his, ah, clothing.

Mabel McGuire: Police forenics expert who can see through bones etc. Seems quietly efficient.
Marcus Wampler: Omega with power over his ipod who apparently sees a division between omegas who can pass for human and those who cannot. Has yet to replace hearing aids with the ipod since he has no idea if he’d randomly stop being an omega or not. Is also terribly girlshy.
Misha: Shadow-alien from an alternate world who is currently living in Teresa’s shadow and preparing for plans to lead the invasion of this world. Really.

Nattie St. Germain: Best-friend and roommate to Kami. Currently leading the S.A.F.E. field team and coping rather well with being an Omega. Seems determined to Make A Difference, which is slowly but surely pulling the two of them apart.
Nicky (Nicholas) Christmas: an omega who volunteers at the local homeless shelter; has yet to actually appear in the game. (Given the length of this list, is that a surprise?)

Probably crazy: See Quentin.

Quentin Witherspoon: An omega tied to the oceans, he’s an Oceans Rights activist who is probably insane and definitely crazy.

Rakasha (aka Jaladhi Dev) Omega who looks rather nasty and works for Hades.
Ralph Compton: Internet investigative reporter with very little skill for it. He is, however, willing to jump off the deep end into the weird.
Raymond Terril: An alpha whose observational skills allow im to bill himself as a psychic; used by the police.
Roland Drake: Omega at a starbucks with unconscious super-charismatic powers.
Ronald McGee: Waffle House cook whose specials sometimes do odd things to people.
Ryan Mitchell: Apparently a lucky police officer with only one arm, so how losing an arm is lucky is anyone’s guess. Often makes sure the twins don’t do anything too horribly and adjusts situations in the favour of the police.

Sally Jenkins: Ally of Barry’s with many eyes whose primary talent seems to involve not being around whenever PCs are.
Samson Hardcastle: Alpha, former ace whose hardcore stance on Omegas has been changed by Mason. Possibly a free agent for hire now.
Sebastian: Good friend to Tempie who wants to become more than friends, to a level even he was unaware of. Currently very embarrassed about this.
Shamanic Elder Porpoises: Fish who taught Quentin to speak to fish and so forth. (See Quetin and ‘probably crazy’ for details.)
Shelby Smythe: Omega who can make people see nightmares; forced to work for Hades in return for drugs to help his sister but seems okay now.
Shen: An alpha’s alpha from another universe, trapped in this one and working for r2-45. Apparently immune to all omega powers and seriously creepy.
Sinjin Smythe: telepath and telekinetic who recently awakened; has been gifted with nanites so his powers don’t burn his body out too fast as his ALS has apparently not gone away so much as been semi-countered by TK powers.
Sullivan Willoughby: R2-45 splice who is involved with tagging omegas and apparently trying to get Kami to join their organization. Poorly. There is some evidence that this is intentional.

Tanya Richiusa: Unknowing omega who turns a pro-human support group with the aim of making humans and omegas get along; has recently been horrified to have skinheads join it.
Thelma Bates: Kindly healer with many cats. Looks after Omega strays and her own granddaughter and is very much neutral in all respects.
Toby Sykes: A security guard who lost his job to Omegas. Pro-humanity, but not to the point of skinheads.
Tommy Nash: The laziest Alpha ever. Give how fast he picks up this and his tendency to provide rather, well, blunt solutions to problems, this is probably for the best.
Trent Windle: Friend of Malik’s who is trying to adapt to being an omega, how odd other omegas are and that Malik isn’t the person he thought he was. With limited success.
Trevor: Claiming to be a clone of himself (and the internet, sometimes), Trevor has a talent with machines -- and information -- that makes him useful and valuable, if one can put up with his relentlessly cheerful and geeky personality. Has issues with Barry’s ideas of ‘Rights right now’ and such and has claimed SA.F.E. exists partially to stop him from becoming Evil.
Twins: See Hurt and Hole.

Vince: The useless band manager who wants to Make It Big. So far his lack of success has been his only notable feature, though he has pushed for the band to be Distinctive.
Vincent Gorsky: Hospital doctor and vampire from another world who, along with his daughter, claims to be trying just to get by in this one. Now owes Trevor a favour; goals and motives remain unknown.

Wendy Tiede: Human heading up the police Special Branch; competent and willing to think outside the box.

Aurora Consurgens: SAFEty First!

(Aka the pamphlet Nattie does up for Temperance)

S.A.F.E.

SAFE stands for Safeguarding Against Future Exploitation. Broadly, the first mandate is to protect humans from being exploited by Omegas. The second is to educate humans about Omegas and so protect them from humans as well. Imagine if you woke up one day with the ability to walk through walls at will and see-through skin. Your family is poor, your dad just got laid off from work and now everyone stares at you with no clue what to make of you. neighbours whisper about demons or freaks or the justice of God and you have nothing to say against it, having no clue what happened to you. Further, there is a bank six blocks away and you know that slipping into the cells to nab safety deposit boxes would be a piece of cake. You might not want to, not at first, but your dad can’t get a new job and you blame yourself, Then the neighbours lose some money kept in a jar, and they decide you took it.

From there, the end of the story writes itself: crime, suicide, or running away. SAFE wants to permit Omegas to start over, make different stories, find better paths and uses for their talents when we can. The police will arrest, detain and possibly kill Omegas. Our job is to fight them if we must, but after to offer choices, to try and understand and offer up options. To that end, our field team is deployed to stop threats and problems the police are not equipped to and other members exist to defuse situations before they reach the point of intervention, or to find Omegas and educate them about themselves before they make the wrong choices.

Everyone screws up. But we believe people deserve second chances, and even third chances: SAFE even hires Omegas (with rather good wages offered) if their talents and personality fit the group, help them to find jobs and plans to work with other kind of outreach groups to prevent disasters before they happen. Make no mistake about it: An Omega can be a natural disaster if pushed too far by the world, and by word we mean people:

* If people think you are a criminal, it’s a hard thing to keep fighting against that and not eventually give into expectations.
* If people name someone a monster, they can help to create a monster.
* If the world seems to hate you, it’s terribly difficult to not internalize some of that hate.

But you wouldn’t? Or never would? Perhaps not. But we are not assuming Omegas are going to be saints, or that they should be judged by higher moral standards than anyone else through no fault of their own. If we can educate Omegas about their nature, the world about Omegas, and stop the few bad apples among us from tainting the rest, then the world will be safer for everyone. It isn’t an easy job, and it won’t ever be an easy calling, b ut no one ever made the world a better place without striving to make people better people. And the only way to make a better person is to educate away ignorance and fear.

Aurora Consurgens: The Doctor Is In

The official file: Little is known about the individuals collectively known as Doctor D, save that they operate out of various floating labs and supply enhancing drugs to various people, all entirely ilegal. Distribution is entirely word-of-mouth and the cost of the hits is often less than five dollars, and can be bartered down further with trade. Given the cost to make the drug, one either assumes a strange villainous philanthropy ('Everyone deserves drugs, so I will bankrupt myself giving it to them') or some other, darker motives involving possibly psychological dependency, but the latter doesn't hold out as repeated users report no increase in fees.

Proposed solution: Pass onto SB.


The Special Branch File: The D Drug (street names for it are many and varied) are a series of drugs that boost both Alphas and Omegas in terns of actual abilities. They seem to be derived from blood samples from at least one Omega, possibly two, and have a very short shelf life. The drug proper seems to be sent directly to the labs, where it is synthesized into injectable form (pills have been reported but not yet seen). The injectable version must be used within 2 hours of being made or becomes inert and useless, which goes a small way to explaining the cheap price.

The labs used tend to be underground and there are at least 2 active in the city at any one time, moving at least weekly. Given at least five staff and distribution costs of the raw material, precisely how and why this is really being funded remains a mystery. Several samples are held in the Basement in suspension but obviously testing them is not a viable proposition.

Noted effects from users include a high, which is only to be expected with an increase in abilities. Weaker Omegas seem to become much more powerful than already strong ones, which increases the danger of loss of control and power. Thus far, the fatality ratio seems to be around 10%, with users in an agitated state more likely to OD on the drugs. (Curiously, more alphas OD than Omegas, but that may be because Omegas physiologies differ greatly.)

All 'staff' of the Doctor D labs encountered have telepathic suicide codes in them and are unable to divulge useful data. As the vast majority tend to have needle marks, it's quite possible that many of them were users at some point before being recruited in. All camera footage of the Doctor D delivery people have shown the same person, suggesting an Omega, plastic surgery or a cloning procedure. A telepath is obviously involved at some level and rumoured invisible soldiers exist to protect the product as well.

Addendum: Clearly, whoever set this up has no desire to be caught and has set up the system to hide as best they can. Alpha experimentation on Omegas seems the most likely source, based on evidence of previous experiments on Omegas, and a captive/blackmailed telepath is possible, though unlikely.

The drugs do seem to work only on alphas and omegas and are also marketed to them: meaning that until they begin destabilizing the human world, resources to deal with the issue will likely be limited.


Proposed solution: When Mitchell next stumbles on a cell, get the twins their asap and remove it with extreme prejudice. Do this five or six times and the distributors are likely to end up leaving the city alone.

Note: Two labs removed thus far; no change noted in Doctor D plans as yet.

[Magin note: Hole has expressed, via Hurt, a dislike of continuing this plan unless no people are harmed. Who the hell proposed this anyway? - Jane]