Alchemiss
Context
Freedom Force was a 2002 squad tactics video game, with a 2005 sequel. It received excellent reviews, and remains one of a puzzlingly small number of successful PC games about super-heroes.
It takes place during the 1960s, with a strong Silver Age style and Kirbyesque character designs.
Background
- Real Name: Catherine Larchmont-Price.
- Marital Status: Single.
- Known Relatives: None.
- Group Affiliation: Freedom Force.
- Base Of Operations: The Freedom Fortress.
- Height: 5’8” Weight: 125 lbs Age: 19
- Eyes: Unknown, possibly green Hair: Red
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Powers and Abilities
With powers granted by “The Goddess”, Alchemiss has demonstrated a varied ability to wield what appears to be magical energy.
Most important in early battles because she is the only member of Freedom Force who can close dimensional gates, she can also:
- Hurl bolts of arcane power.
- Shield herself.
- Repulse enemies.
- Perform other mystic feats.
She is also quite attractive and knows it, though she usually relies on her appearance more than her personality.
Magic or Science ?
There is some debate about the actual nature of Alchemiss’s occult abilities.
According to one school of thought, all of her powers are actually normal super-powers, and not mystical in any way. They are manifestations of Energy-X, and not magical. “The Goddess” is little more than a construct in her mind. A fiction through which she can focus the abilities she has received.
The other school of thought, and the one used in this write-up, is that the Energy-X did not actually grant her powers. Rather; these used the latent belief in The Goddess that Emily’s worship implanted in the statue, enabling said entity to reach through.
Finding Alchemiss, she deemed her worthy. Thus, she granted her a certain amount of occult knowledge and the ability to manipulate mystical energies via incantation and gesture. In this, Energy-X was merely a facilitator, and not the actual source of her powers.
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History
Catherine Larchmont-Price was a spoiled Southern girl. She believed in nothing but her ability to make men drool.
Her college roommate, Emily, was an early practitioner of Modern Wicca, at the time numbering barely more than a handful of people worldwide. Catherine scoffed at Emily’s beliefs in “The Goddess”, suggesting that if she spent less time with such “nonsense”, she might be more popular.
One night, a strange purple glow appeared in the window, and saturated Emily’s statue of The Goddess. Emily was away at the time, and Catherine heard a voice in her head calling to her. Entering a dreamscape, she had a vision of The Goddess telling her that she was her Chosen One for the Earth plane, and she found she now possessed mystical abilities!
Dressing up in a… costume, of sorts, she took to calling herself “Alchemiss”. She encountered members of Freedom Force when holes in time and space started summoning large raptors (probably deinonychii) and even a T-Rex to Patriot City.
She managed to shut down the gates that were sumoning them, and ended up joining the group as their first official recruit.
Description
Alchemiss is a sexy young lass who apparently shops at The Fetish Shop for Sorceresses.
Her costume includes a pink lace-up bustier with sleeves and a mini-skirt attached, thigh-high leather boots. Leather gloves that reach her bid-upper arms, and a dark blue cape with the alchemical symbol for Earth on the back (a capital “A” with an extended central bar) attached to a leather collar that covers most of her neck.
Her identity is “concealed” with a domino mask whose sides extend as points twice as wide as her face. Her bright red hair (parted to one side) flows free.
Personality
Superficially, Alchemiss seems to be a spoiled Southern rich girl. Under the surface, she’s a hot-tempered, snotty, spoiled Southern rich girl who snidely insults teammates and gets jealous of any female more attractive than her. She actually does care about the team, though she refuses to admit this.
The only teammates she doesn’t seem to insult are Minuteman, Mentor, Man-Bot, and Liberty Lad. She still calls them names, but there’s no acid in her voice when she does so. In fact, she seems slightly fond of Liberty Lad in a little brother kind of way, and has a SERIOUS thing for Man-Bot.
DC Universe History
Most of Freedom Force should really be kept together. They tend to compliment each other nicely, and have most of their ’bases’ covered.
In this case, they could be dropped in whole cloth into the period between the Golden and Silver ages. Perhaps they held the title of the “World’s Premier Team” after the Justice Society ended, and before the Justice League started up.
Alternatively, Mentor could have been trying to escape with the Gene Bomb during Invasion, and when he fails, gathers many of the Energy X powered individuals as Freedom Force.
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Alchemiss
| Dex: 05 | Str: 02 | Bod: 04 | Motivation: Thrill of Adventure |
| Int: 06 | Wil: 05 | Min: 07 | Occupation: Adventurer, College Student |
| Inf: 07 | Aur: 04 | Spi: 09 | Resources {or Wealth}: 006 |
| Init: 018 | HP: 065 |
Skills:
Occultist: 08
Advantages:
Attractive.
Connections:
Freedom Force (High).
Drawbacks:
Attack Vulnerability: Fear / Intimidation (-3 CS); SIA (Man-Bot).
Rituals:
The following rituals are often used by Alchemiss:
- Arcane Bolt
Effect: Energy Blast: 08.
Casting Time: Instant (Dice Action).
Necessary Components: None.
Special Restrictions: None. - Purgatory
Effect: Dimension Travel: 08.
Casting Time: Instant (Dice Action).
Necessary Components: None.
Special Restrictions: Banishment only; the power lasts half as many phases as the RAP’s from the attack. - Repulsion
Effect: Telekinesis: 07.
Casting Time: Instant (Dice Action).
Necessary Components: None.
Special Restrictions: Only to toss an enemy back. - Aloft
Effect: Telekinesis: 08.
Casting Time: Instant (Dice Action).
Necessary Components: None.
Special Restrictions: Area of Effect; tosses EVERYTHING within the area of effect besides her straight up. Use the total weight of everything and everyone around to determine the height they are thrown to. - Gate Disruption
Effect: Neutralize: 12.
Casting Time: Four Phases.
Necessary Components: None.
Special Restrictions: Neutralize only works on the Warp power, or Dimension Travel powers that manifest as gateways. - Blessed Aegis
Effect: Force Field: 06.
Casting Time: Instant (Dice Action).
Necessary Components: None.
Special Restrictions: Completely ineffective against melee range attacks. - Wings of the Goddess
Effect: Flight: 04.
Casting Time: Instant (Dice Action).
Necessary Components: None.
Special Restrictions: None. - Alteration
Effect: Mutation: 09, Enchantment: 06.
Casting Time: Instant (Dice Action).
Necessary Components: None.
Special Restrictions: Enchantment can only add to a target’s RV against a power that does actual continuous damage, such as Poison Touch or Disintegrate, for any phase AFTER the initial attack. Mutation does not follow the normal table, but instead uses the following table:Roll Effect 1 No effect 2 +1 CS RV vs Radiation, Acid. 3 +2 cs RV vs Fire/heat, Acid; +1 CS RV vs Electric -2 CS RV vs Cold. 4 +2 cs RV vs Cold, +1 cs RV vs Electric, -2 CS RV vs Fire/heat. 5 +2 cs RV vs Crushing, +1 cs RV vs Piercing, Radiation; -1 CS RV vs Electrical. 6 +2 cs RV vs Crushing, +1 CS RV vs Piercing; -1 CS RV vs Heat, Cold, and Acid. 7 +2 cs RV vs Piecing, +1 CS RV vs Crushing, Heat, Cold, Electrical, and Radiation. 8 +1 cs RV vs Piecing, Crushing, and Cold, -1 CS RV vs Heat. 9 +2 cs RV vs Radiation, +1 cs RV vs Crushing; -2 CS RV vs Piercing, -1 CS RV vs Heat, Cold, Acid. 10 +1 cs RV vs Piercing, Cold, Electrical; -1 cs RV vs Fire, Radiation, Acid. Both effects last a number of phases equal to the RAP’s of Mutation. Should Mutation fail, Enchantment does not take effect. This power cannot stack on itself. Both Mutation and Enchantment MUST be used at the same time.
- Hex
Effect: Paralysis: 09.
Casting Time: Instant (Dice Action).
Necessary Components: None.
Special Restrictions: Paralysis does not immediately take effect. Instead, for the next 3 AP’s of time after the spell is cast, it is held in abeyance. Should the target attempt any hostile action, or use any superhuman power of any kind that affects another, the Paralysis immediately takes effect and the caster makes the normal roll for the power.
Helper(s): Sébastien Andrivet, KennX, Peter S Piispanen, John Colagioia.
Source of Character: Freedom Force and Freedom Force vs the Third Reich computer games.