Doctor Cyber
(Pre-Crisis version)
Context
Doctor Cyber is a Bronze Age DC comics villainess who clashed with Wonder Woman. She appeared in spurts from 1968 to 1984 (“Bronze Age” gets complicated in Wonder Woman’s case). There were further appearances, but this profile only covers the pre-Crisis version of the character.
Cyber is originally a typical high-tech international mastermind with a few twists (chiefly her gender). She’s not far from the most out-there James Bond villains, really. This makes her useful for gamemasters looking for a recurring opponent in low-level campaigns.
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Background
- Real Name: Unrevealed.
- Marital Status: Single.
- Known Relatives: None.
- Group Affiliation: Her own international criminal network.
- Base Of Operations: Mobile.
- Height: 5’8” Weight: 135 lbs.
- Eyes: Grey-green Hair: Black
Powers and Abilities
Dr. Cyber runs an international criminal empire with enormous resources. She has :
- Hundreds of agents.
- Numerous and very expensive bases and vehicles (such as underwater bases serviced by a fleet of submarines).
- Significant paramilitary assets.
- An entire espionage network.
- Etc..
Her assets tend to be concentrated in world capitols. But she also has more out-of-the-way installations, such as a Swiss village where everyone worked for her.
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Skills
It is unclear whether Cyber is the technologist behind the more remarkable designs used by her organisation. She might have substantial technological skills. Or she might rely on hired scientists and engineers, plus black market super-technologists.
In any case she doesn’t have medical or biological skills, relying on Dr. Moon for those. Even if she’s not a trained scientist and/or engineer, she’s competent in operating advanced equipment.
While early on Dr. Cyber was comparable to a James Bond villain — though one with a lot of resources and some very advanced Gadgets — she later evidenced a surprising and variable array of abilities while fighting Wonder Woman. These lacked coherence from one appearance to the next, as detailed in our game stats.
History
Doctor Cyber was the head of one of the major international criminal organisations of the mid- and late-1960s. Being secretive and chiefly known through her works, she was often assumed to be a man. High-tech criminal masterminds of the female variety were rare back then.
Cyber’s organisation seemed to revolve around a core run by Cyber herself and crewed by her agents. Orbiting around this core was a number of allied gangs and mobs. These allies tended to be more traditional. They were male-dominated, and using more conservative technology and approaches. However, the best-known allied gang was led by Lu Shan, a woman using some unconventional methods.
The allied mobs are kept on a tight leash, and made to fear Cyber – those who failed her too badly would be eliminated.
Extreme prejudice
By 1968, Cyber’s crime empire was a concern for a number of law enforcement and counter-intelligence agencies. US military intelligence engineered a complex ruse to have Col. Steve Trevor denounced as a traitor so he could infiltrate Cyber’s organisation. Alas, the mission failed. Trevor was nearly killed by the servants of Cyber.
Cyber’s organisation is also known to have launched a paramilitary raid at the monastery where the mystic and teacher I-Ching used to reside. In so doing, they stole a fortune in gems and precious metals. Both the time and place are unclear, but it is reasonable to assume that this occurred somewhere in China, and somewhen circa 1967 or 1968.
At around the same time Cyber’s operatives killed one Archy Miles, the partner of private investigator Tim Trench.
These attacks resulted in an alliance between three persons who became Cyber’s determined enemies.
I-Ching was determined to stop Cyber’s long-term plans, but was too aged to fight by himself. Therefore, he trained and recruited Trevor’s friend — Diana Prince, formerly Wonder Woman — and they set out to foil Cyber’s plans. They would soon be joined by Trench, looking to avenge Miles.
Situation calls for karate, part 1
Before being shot by Dr. Cyber’s henchwomen, Trevor had learned about a plot to use booby-trapped toys to kill the children of Congressmen. Before passing out he told Diana and Ching, who successfully stormed the base building the toys.
The kung-fu duo took out the criminals manning the factory. Dr. Cyber then took remote control of one of the trapped toys to kill the crew’s leader, punishing him for his failure and removing a potential lead for her enemies. Cyber then had one of her agents try to kill Diana in a tricked-out taxi, but that didn’t work.
Interested in Prince’s skills, Cyber tried to recruit her. She set up an ambush in a sinister and isolated mansion, kidnapping the hospitalised Steve Trevor as bait. This also failed, though she captured Trench. At the same time, I-Ching captured one of Cyber’s agents and used hypnosis to have her take them to Cyber’s submarine base.
He and Diana rescued Trench and destroyed the base, but Cyber and her servants successfully evacuated it.
Using information Trench had overheard while he was a prisoner, the trio tracked Cyber down to Bjorland, a Swiss-like country. They discovered a bit too late that everybody in the village was working for Cyber. Cyber herself came to buy off the greedy Trench. Trench agreed to leave with the money and stop hounding her.
Situation calls for karate, part 2
I-Ching and Diana proved less tractable. Cyber and her agents unleashed a dozen hunting falcons before leaving. After I-Ching and Diana narrowly beat the falcons, secret Cyber agent Reginald Hyde-Whyte came in as a good Samaritan to help treat the wounded Ching. His job was to seduce Diana and destroy her.
Thanks to Hyde-Whyte, Diana and I-Ching swiftly reached London to keep hunting Cyber. But her machinations let her conserve the initiative. She sacrificed an unwitting agent to deliver a bomb that killed an ally of Ching and nearly killed Ching himself. Meanwhile Hyde-Whyte vamped Diana, and took her and Ching into another trap.
Lady Rothwell, one of Cyber’s agents in London, tried to stop them. But Diana and I-Ching defeated all opposition and derailed Cyber’s plot to rob wealthy nobles at the conclusion of a society event she and Rothwell had set up.
Hyde-Whyte then betrayed Cyber out of love for Diana. But upon realising that she had been manipulated Diana just beat him up in anger and left. Presumably, Cyber later had Hyde-Whyte eliminated for betraying her.
(It is presumably at that point that the flashback in Wonder Woman v1 #221 takes place. Cyber’s lover, reportedly the only man she ever loved, overhears her ordering the death of an entire security detail who failed to stop Diana Prince. Fed up with Cyber’s bloodthirstiness, the man leaves and calls her a monster. Cyber eventually decides that it was all Prince’s fault.)
Hong Kong gardens
During the next few months, Dr. Cyber set up at least two conspiracies.
One was the construction of six earthquake machines hidden throughout Hong Kong. Though proper power sources for those had to be stolen from third parties, Cyber intended to destroy Hong Kong with her machines, then blackmail other metropolises.
Cyber’s other plan was to have her revenge upon Diana and I-Ching. The boss of one of the Cyber-affiliated mobs, one Lu Shan, was the daughter of I-Ching. Lu Shan wanted to kill her father to avenge her mother. She had apparently joined Cyber’s empire for her shot at this.
Cyber arranged for Lu Shan to procure the power units for the earthquake machines, and dupe Diana and I-Ching into helping her ferry the units to Cyber. The plan was successful, and Lu Shan delivered the goods and their enemies right into Cyber’s Hong Kong base.
Cyber then allowed Lu Shan to take her revenge. The young woman gunned I-Ching down. At this point, things went wrong for nearly everyone.
Disfigured
Luring I-Ching and Diana in had relied on making them believe that Lu Shan was an innocent businesswoman hounded by the murderous Tiger Tong. Once the ruse was over, the leader of the Tong came to Cyber to demand a much bigger payment than had been agreed to. The annoyed Cyber triggered hidden harpoon launchers that slew the tong men.
However, one of the Tiger bodyguards fired an uncontrolled burst as he died. as a result Cyber was hit in the face by a heavy brazier, which then set fire to the room. In the confusion, both Lu Shan and Diana fled to bring their respective mentors to a hospital.
Cyber was now severely disfigured and under intensive care at a secret hospital. But she was still conscious and had Lu Shan activate the rest of her plan. Soon, Hong Kong was rocked by earthquakes that killed thousands. The heavily-armed Cyber soldiers were then deployed to hunt down Diana and her allies, and quash resistance.
Furious over her accident, the heavily-bandaged Cyber issued demands to be made world ruler rather than go with her original blackmail-for-money plan.
Diana forced Cyber agents to reveal where the earthquake machines were. Though Hong Kong had been badly damaged by quakes and tsunamis, she thus saved the city from destruction.
Cyber briefly captured Diana, but she got too close as she absolutely wanted to show Diana her hideously burned face. The two women fought and Cyber was seemingly killed in the collapse of the base housing the last earthquake machine.
(After the Hong Kong case, Cyber’s criminal empire never seemed to be as extensive as it used to be. She kept her core resources, but it is possible that the mobs once allied with her gradually drifted away as Cyber became obsessed with getting her revenge against Diana Prince).
The beauty hater
Cyber survived, and her organisation recovered from the Hong Kong defeat within months. For a while, Cyber was somewhat insane, and went on a strange crusade against those who exploited female beauty. In order to do this she set up the Tribunal, an American morality organisation terrorising owners of businesses such as strip club.
Eventually, Cyber regained her composure and dropped that crusade. She started focusing on capturing beautiful young women. Her intent was to have unconventional surgeon Doctor Moon transfer her brain into the body of one such subject.
As it turned out, the Tribunal proved useful. One of the club owners they terrorised hired Johnny Double and his friend Diana Prince for protection. Cyber decided to use that to draw Diana into a trap, planning to have her revenge by having Moon transplant her brain into Prince’s body.
Using a newly developed hypnosis serum, she turned the club owner into her catspaw and Double and Prince were captured.
Cypher ordered Moon not to use anaesthetics on Diana for the operation, but Prince used her mastery of yoga to escape from the operating theatre. She knocked Moon out and fought Cyber. The villainess accidentally stabbed herself in the sternum with the scalpel she had picked to fight her hated enemy.
Get Prince
Though Prince and Double assumed that Cyber was dead, Dr. Moon saved her life. His medical ministrations allowed her to make a full recovery.
Moon’s surgeries also rebuilt parts of Cyber’s face. Though she was still obviously disfigured, the facial muscles could be restored. This in turn allowed Cyber to start wearing a technological device called a polymask, allowing her to simulate lifelike, animated images of faces.
However Cyber was still bitter, and wanted to have a real face. This quest led her to develop an interest in the work of Gustav Renault. This famous cosmetician had developed an experimental product would could help rebuild Cyber’s epidermis.
As she prepared to kidnap Renault with the help of a criminal Asian princess, Cyber spotted Diana Prince. Diana was at Renault’s hotel on an unrelated UN mission.
Cyber used machines to drain Renault’s chemical knowledge. She then turned to vengeance against Diana Prince, whom she discovered was Wonder Woman whilst monitoring her. Using Renault’s corpse as bait, she drew Wonder Woman into a trap. But as the Amazing Amazon easily fought off Cyber’s robotic servants, the computer holding Renault’s knowledge was accidentally destroyed.
In anger, Cyber killed her ally then set up another trap for Wonder Woman. She wanted Dr. Moon to harvest Wonder Woman’s face so she could use it to finish restoring her own. However, the chemical Cyber had dosed Wonder Woman with to make her lose control was too potent. This left the Amazon in a state of homicidal rage despite the attempts to subdue her.
Cyber ended up having to flee in fear for her life. Not realising that Diana had regained her composure at the last moment, the crimelord apparently fell to her death.
Revenge !
Cyber survived yet again, and reemerged some years later. This time she had acquired magical skills and was sporting an electronically-enhanced suit of armour.
Determined to have Moon implant her brain within Wonder Woman’s body, Cyber sent her laser-toting agents to capture Wonder Girl and draw Wonder Woman in. Once the Amazon came in piloting the invisible plane, Cyber used her sorcery to take telepathic control of the aircraft and bring Wonder Woman to her base.
Wonder Girl was held hostage to force Wonder Woman to submit to the surgery. But the Amazon only feigned compliance, as she had arranged for Wonder Girl’s teammates the Teen Titans to follow her. Though Cyber’s armour allowed her to engage the Titans in a fight, she was outmatched by Wonder Woman and arrested.
Cyber eventually escaped, and reportedly became an arms dealer selling her wares to developing nations.
The nuclear option
Doctor Cyber returned for yet another revenge plot against Wonder Woman. Exploiting her knowledge of the Amazon’s secret identity, she disguised herself as Diana Prince, infiltrated the military and stole nuclear launch codes. This ensured that Prince would be hunted down as a traitor.
To keep Wonder Woman busy Cyber issued a few nuclear launch orders, forcing the Amazing Amazon to intervene and prevent WWIII. As a further means to delay her opponent, the daring Cyber installed her current HQ right in the basement of a supposedly highly secure US military installation. She then captured Sofia, a reformed criminal who had been adopted as an Amazon, to scan her mind for intel.
Nevertheless, both Wonder Woman and Steve Trevor located Cyber’s hideout. Though Cyber managed to hold her own, her plans were wrecked by the intervention of a god. Eros came barging in, claiming to be the real Steve Trevor. He then violently assaulted Cyber for having him murdered him years before.
In the confusion and as Wonder Woman restrained Eros, Cyber’s getaway aircraft was accidentally hit by one of the automated turrets she had activated to cover her retreat. Once again Doctor Cyber appeared to perish in an explosion.
Crisis
Cyber survived, of course. During the Crisis on Infinite Earths, she was recruited to help the Anti-Monitor’s forces on Earth-S. Cyber and T.O. Morrow where the two main allies who helped Dr. Sivana capture and gag the entire Marvel Family in human form.
This plan was wrecked when a small team of heroes from Earth-1 (the Martian Manhunter, Platinum of the Metal Men, and the Atom (Ray Palmer)) freed the Marvel Family so they could join the universal fight for survival.
Description
Dr. Cyber was originally a beautiful woman. She was usually dressed in a way more befitting to a luxurious tropical lounge than a high-tech crime base. She usually wore her black hair in a bob, liked mascara and enjoyed wearing local fashions while operating abroad.
She enjoys luxury, and is usually found in swank locations wearing posh outfits.
Personality
Cyber is your typical high-tech criminal mastermind of those days, with an extra dose of viciousness and vindictiveness. For undisclosed reasons she prefers to have her agents all be attractive, young and fashionable women. She will even consider recruiting opponents who happen to match this description.
Cyber seemed to consider that women were automatically more competent than men. Though she apparently considered keeping Tim Trench as a servant of a more intimate nature at one point.
Cyber is not a fan of loose ends. If somebody is no longer useful to her, she’s almost guaranteed to have them killed. She doesn’t seem to enjoy watching such executions, but she will almost never hesitate to give the order. This includes ordering the death of those agents of hers who failed her.
Cyber doesn’t always want her opponents dead. Initially she was interested in hiring Diana Prince, and she successfully bribed Tim Trench off since that was less messy than having him slain. Still, her preference for only leaving bodies behind likely help explains why her organisation resisted law enforcement efforts so well.
Other traits
Generally, Cyber prefers subtlety and intricate plans, back-up plans, back-up plans for back-up plans, and deathtraps. She’s fond of drawing her opponents into traps by engineering situations where everybody, enemies and supposed allies both, turns out to be Cyber agents having run an elaborate charade.
If her opponents have demonstrated genuine competence, she will assume that they’ll somehow survive her next attempt to kill them. Thus, Cyber will have a back-up plot to dupe them and lead them into her next trap. Which will have a back-up plan.
After her disfigurement, Cyber becomes even more venomous and hateful. She hates conventional depictions of female beauty to the point of enjoying the destruction of costly works of art representing beautiful women. She gets fixated on Diana, both because she’s beautiful and because she irrationally blames her for her disfigurement.
Cyber, who took pride in being gorgeous, wants to find a way to restore her looks – which is impossible through any conventional surgery. She tends to think a lot about beauty, power… and revenge against Wonder Woman.
After the “mod karate era” ends, revenge against Wonder Woman and stealing Wonder Woman’s beauty become her one constant bit of characterisation.
Quotes
“My empire is far-flung, as you have guessed ! I am able to contact any part of it instantly ! […] Soon, I shall be powerful and rich enough to topple whole governments !”
“Remember — Cyber does not extend generosity twice !”
“This is a message to the people of Hong Kong — and the world ! What you have seen demonstrated here in Hong Kong can be duplicated by me anywhere in the world ! My earthquake machines can level every city on Earth ! The governments of Earth have but one way out – they must declare me supreme ruler !”
“Meanwhile, I’ll give orders for the Tribunal to disband ! It has served its purpose — to deliver into my hands the person I hate the most ! Revenge, dear doctor — it is a lovely thing !”
“I fight for what is rightfully mine ! You destroyed my face — it is only correct that I take yours !”
“So keep struggling, Wonder Woman, and my revenge will be complete… when every inch of your flesh is as scarred as my own disfigured face !”
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Dr. Cyber (original stats)
| Dex: 03 | Str: 02 | Bod: 03 | Motivation: Power |
| Int: 07 | Wil: 07 | Min: 06 | Occupation: Mastermind |
| Inf: 06 | Aur: 05 | Spi: 05 | Resources {or Wealth}: 017 |
| Init: 016 | HP: 035 |
Skills:
Animal handling (Falconry): 05, Artist (Actress): 04, Charisma (Persuasion): 06, Weaponry (Melee): 04
Advantages:
Credentials (her own organisation, High), Headquarters (Expansive – at least a half-dozen Expansive bases throughout the world, many of them with extensive security and death traps), Rank (Captain – Cyber’s organisation’s paramilitary assets are roughly the equivalent of an infantry company of the US Army).
Connections:
Underworld (High), Doctor Moon (Low).
Drawbacks:
After her accident, she acquires a Distinct Appearance, a Serious Rage and a SIA toward Vengeance upon Diana Prince/Wonder Woman.
Equipment:
These pieces of equipment were usually used but once, then vanished in continuity limbo. The more notable ones were:
- Walther P-38 [BODY 04, Projectile weapon: 04, Ammo: 07, R#02]. Cyber doesn’t seem to usually carry, but she can of course get a handgun whenever she needs – usually to take a hostage or threaten a prisoner.
- Surveillance drones [BODY 01, Eyes of the cat: 13, Flying: 04, Shrinking (Always On, Already Factored In): 05, Thief (Stealth): 04, Drawback: Eye of the cat is not Mystic-Linked and is treated as Radio coms: 06 for purposes of interception, jamming, etc.]. These tiny drones can relay excellent quality video and audio to Cyber, who thus can have eyes and ears almost everywhere.
- Will-bending serum [BODY 01, Hypnosis: 04]. A serum discovered by Cyber’s scientists in 1972, which can exert a degree of mind control. It can leave people in a trance-like state, or force them to comply with instructions as per standard Hypnosis. The modest APs mean that it is only likely to work on ordinary folks, though.
- Polymask [BODY 01, Chameleon: 06, Limitation: Chameleon is limited to pre-programmed faces and voices]. In the mid-1970s, Cyber’s face has been repaired enough for her to wear a sort of transparent glass facial cover, within which she can project lifelike faces to disguise herself ; one of the setting is of course her pre-disfigurement face. The polymask is controlled by a touch interface housed in her pendant.
- Plastic shroud [BODY 16, Snare: 18, Ammo: 01, Bonus: Snare is its own AV, BODY has Hardened Defences (except, presumably, against cutting tools)]. This transparent, thick plastic film is ejected from a projector hidden in the ceiling ; it covers a man-sized subject and keeps tightening if the subject tries to struggle free. The plastic cocoon was tough enough to hold Wonder Woman. It is sealed, and the air inside will run out within Phases, leaving the person inside to suffocate.
- Khimyoan psycho-chemical [BODY 01, Hypnotism: 12, Limitation: Hypnotism is limited to inducing one Catastrophic Irrational Attraction, Rage or Psychological Instability in the subject]. This exotic chemical comes from the Himalayan nation of Khimyo (feel free to use a real-world area, such as one of the Pradesh, instead) and was provided by Cyber’s ad hoc ally Princess Elaa. Cyber soon turned against Elaa and gunned her down, keeping the secret of the chemical. The chemical was used to drug Wonder Woman’s food and induce a state of homicidal rage.
- Knowledge-Draining Computers [BODY 04, Data storage: 15, Mind probe: 06]. Cyber twice used a technology that reads and copies information from a human brain, even if the subject is unwilling. The information is stored on a computer.
- Flying hot wire [BODY (Hardened Defences) 12, Claws: 18, Flight: 08, Laser beam: 18, Snare: 12, Bonuses: Snare is its own AV (+1 or +0 depending on house rules), Claws and Laser beam can be Combined ; Limitations: Laser Beam has No Range, Claws and Laser Beam can only attack a Snared target, Loss Vuln. (Claws and Laser Beam can only use as many APs on any given Phase as the APs of force exerted against the Flying Hot Wire to break the Snare — note that it doesn’t include the force exerted by a non-Snared person helping the Snared person break free)].
This anti-Wonder-Woman weapon is made of two small flying nacelles linked by a cutting wire. The modules rush man-sized target and entangle it using the wire (Snare). If the tangled subject tries to break the wire, it tightens and heats (Claws, Laser Beam) by redirecting the force exerted against it. Thus, while Wonder Woman could presumably have broken it, it would have been very painful and would have left a web of permanent, large scars all over her body – which was Cyber’s goal.
Cyber-enhanced
The stats block above centres on Cyber as she was portrayed during the “mod karate era” of Wonder Woman tales – though the equipment includes Gadgets that were used throughout Cyber’s subsequent career.
When Diana Prince becomes Wonder Woman again, she and Cyber continue to clash. During each of these encounters, Cyber manifests a new set of abilities, the previous one more or less disappearing.
After her disfigurement, Cyber stated that her hate gave her superhuman strength as she engaged Diana Prince in combat. Whether it actually did is impossible to say from the material. But it is *possible* that Cyber’s Physical Attributes are all boosted to 05 when she fights an opponent whom she ferociously hates.
In game terms that would be a Loss Vulnerability diminishing her Attributes to the listed levels when she’s not in the throes of ire.
1982 – magic and technology
In 1982, Dr. Cyber evidences mystical abilities, though those are impossible to quantify. She stands in a traditional pentagram and projects her willpower into Wonder Woman’s plane from miles away, successfully wrestling telepathic control of the plane away from the Amazon.
This is only possible thanks to machines built by Doctor Moon to enhance Cyber’s psychic might while they run. And those have to be redlined for the take-over to take place.
The 1982 appearance also has her sporting some sort of cybernetic body armour. The baseline stats are unclear. It might be something along the lines of CYBER ARMOUR [/BODY/ 07, Energy absorption: 04, Radio coms: 06, Shade: 01, Bonus: Radio communications can also be used to remotely control properly prepared equipment, such as automated blaster turrets within her base].
Most remarkably, Cyber’s ARMOUR has Mimic: 12, limited to energy-based powers that hit her or are active within 0 APs of her, plus Power Reserve (any Mimicked Powers): 03 and Multi-Attack 1 (any Power enhanced through Power Reserve). She has used Mimic to duplicate Starfire’s starbolts. But she also Mimicked Kid Flash’s Superspeed when he came close, absorbing Speed Force energy.
Note that Mimic can use the APs of what it Mimics as its AV (+0 or +1 depending on house rules), including APs that are from the Power Reserve. For instance she can Mimic about 10 APs of Energy Blast, add 3 APs to Energy Blast using her Power Reserve, and use it with an AV and an EV of 13. Cyber keeps the armour in her later appearance, but the powerful Mimic power she used to engage the Teen Titans vanishes.
1984 – More gadgets, more skills
In her 1984 return she displayed field skills – DEX 04 STR 03 BODY 04, Martial artist*: 04, Weaponry (Exotic): 05. She also carried custom-built field equipment. She had her polymask (detailed in the stats block), but also a BRACELET [BODY 02, Energy blast: 09, Scientist (Computers): 08, Range: 01, Superspeed: 04, Limitations: Range and Superspeed only applies to Scientist (Computers) and Superspeed is Tasks Only].
The BRACELET could shoot a potent pinkish-purple beam (called an Omni-Beam) capable of acting as concussive force, as shearing energy or of taking over a computer and hack it. She also carried the Flying Hot Wire described above, her most efficient anti-Wonder-Woman weapon.
Lastly, her ARMOUR was now equipped with an invisibility device [BODY 03, Invisibility: 08, Limitation: the device has Ammo: 01, and this charge only lasts for a few minutes] which was chiefly useful to flee.
Bebots
Most of Cyber’s agents are fit, attractive young women. They seem locally recruited — her henchwomen in the US were American, those in Hong Kong looked Asian, etc. — and to all have standard infantry training.
Since women with such training were rare in the 1960s, one may assume that Dr. Cyber has a full-featured training and indoctrination camp somewhere in the world, with professional ex-military instructors.
On operations, Cyber’s henchwomen wear fully-covering uniforms that generally hide their gender, and back then unmasking them often surprised their opponents. Some of these agents seemed to share Cyber’s opinion that most men were naturally less competent than women.
| Dex: 03 | Str: 02 | Bod: 03 | Motivation: Uphold Cyber |
| Int: 03 | Wil: 02 | Min: 03 | Occupation: Soldier |
| Inf: 03 | Aur: 02 | Spi: 03 | Resources {or Wealth}: 003 |
| Init: 009 | HP: 005 |
Powers:
Iron will: 04
Bonuses and Limitations:
Iron Will is a Skilled Power, and can only he used to resist interrogation ; it stems from hypnotic conditioning.
Skills:
Military science (Camouflage, demolition): 03, Vehicles (Air, Land, Water): 03, Weaponry (Infantry weapons): 04. Some are trained in Animal Handling (Falconry): 04.
Advantages:
Familiarity (Military equipment and protocols), Rank (private first class).
Connections:
None.
Drawbacks:
MIA toward Serving Dr. Cyber.
Equipment:
- HELMETS [BODY 05, Shade: 01]. The standard uniform for a henchwoman serving directly under Cyber is grey coveralls and this visored helmet, though there later were variants (such as green robes).
- MAT-49 9mm submachinegun [BODY 04, Projectile weapon: 05, Ammo: 07, R#03, Advantage: Autofire]. Those are issued for combat missions.
- Truncheon [BODY 03, EV 03, R#02]. Those wooden night-sticks, standard for their day, are issued when the goal is to capture opponents.
- Luger P08 9mm pistol [BODY 04, Projectile weapon: 04, Ammo: 07, R#02]. Issued for close-quarter combat. If the goal is to capture, they’ll be held by the barrel and used as clubs [EV 03].
- S&M M36 Chief Special [BODY 03, Projectile weapon: 03, Ammo: 06, R#03]. Most agents carry those as a backup – a snubnosed .38 compact revolver that was the standard holdout weapon back then.
- Tear gas mini-grenade [BODY 03, Fog: 04, Chemical attack: 04, Grenade drawback, Bonus : Chemical attack and Fog are Combined (Chemical attack is active thorough the Fog), R#03]. These small things are carried by squad leaders, and usually used to cover a retreat.
- “SAUCERBIKE” [STR 04 BODY (Hardened Defences) 06, Flash: 04, Running: 06, R#02, Limitations : Flash only to provide steady illumination ; BODY can be ignored to shoot riders as a Trick Shot].
This strange wheeled vehicle is very low to the ground, and the crew (one driver and two shooters) ride it prone on their bellies. It’s vaguely similar to a motorcycle with two side cars, mated with a manta ray. The well-armoured “saucerbike” (which is not named in the stories) seems pretty good at what it does – ferrying two gunpersons quickly and efficiently, while allowing them to fire accurately even at high speeds.
- “CENTICAR” NONAWHEELER [STR 05 BODY (Hardened Defences) 07, Projectile weapon (Autofire): 08, Running: 06, R#02, Limitations : BODY can be ignored to shoot riders as a Trick Shot]].
These strange little cars have nine wheels, which seem mounted on individual articulated supports keeping the body of the car stable even while driving over very uneven terrain, such as rubble. There’s also a pintle-mounted .30 machinegun. One such car carries a driver, a machinegunner and two riflewomen. The “centicars” (like for saucerbikes, this is a made-up name as they are not named in the story) are deployed when operating in difficult terrain, such as the ruins of a city.
- JEEPS. Standard WWII surplus Jeeps are used as the standard, non mission-specific vehicle for Cyber’s agents.
- DEATH CAB FOR CUTIES [STR 05 BODY (Hardened Defences) 06, Running: 06, R#02]. This is a standard taxi that has been tricked out to trap the passenger using door locks and a retractile Plexiglas shield between the driver and the passenger.
This vehicle is used to eliminate opponents by trapping them, driving toward a body of water and bailing out. Before she would drown, Diana Prince discovered that one could escape by clearing the way to the trunk and using the usual tools therein to force it open – providing yet another answer to the old question of what an attractive woman is going to do with all that junk, all that junk inside the trunk. - THREE-PERSON SUBMARINE. Of course they have minisubs ! They also have SNOWMOBILES and, well, nearly anything they might need, really.
- Some agents were puzzlingly equipped with Motorised Gyro-Bikes [BODY 04, Running: 06, R#02] and Jousting Lances [BODY 05, EV 04, Note: when Charging, the Lance rather than the wielder gets damaged ; Note : the lances can be equipped with a blunt end for Bashing damage]. Agents thus equipped can be considered to have Weaponry (Lance): 05, since they move quickly on their uniwheels.
- A less perplexing piece of specialised equipment are the Laser Pistols [BODY 02, Laser beam: 09, Ammo: 12, R#03] that were used by Cyber agents who captured Wonder Girl. These weapons can inflict Bashing damage (somehow), and are normally issued to markswomen to capture high-value, low-superhuman targets.
These agents are good enough to be allowed to Team Attack once or twice during the fight against their main target, overwhelming the person through sheer volume of fire coming from multiple directions.
Killer falcons
Cyber is a falconry enthusiasm. She owns an impressive number of hunting falcons, and enough of her agents are trained in falconry to manage the aviary. When there’s a handful of skilled opponents to kill, it’s not uncommon for Cyber to have a dozen falcons brought in, and to leave the falcons to do the dirty work.
| Dex: 04 | Str: -03 | Bod: 02 | Motivation: Avian predator |
| Int: 00 | Wil: 01 | Min: 01 | Occupation: Bird of prey |
| Inf: 01 | Aur: 00 | Spi: 01 | Resources {or Wealth}: N.A. |
| Init: 005 | HP: 000 |
Powers:
Claws: 02, Flight (Winged): 06, Shrinking: 04, Telescopic Vision: 07
Advantages:
Lightning Reflexes; Sharp Eye.
These deadly birds will Team Attack without hesitation – making them very dangerous given the quantity they are typically released in.
Cybernauts
After Wonder Woman recovers her superhuman powers, Cyber deploys three agents that look just like her human agents in the US, but turn out to be robots (INT/WIL roll against an OV/RV of 05/05 to spot that the robots do not quite move like humans would).
Wonder Woman easily destroys these three Cybernauts, making it impossible to determine what their likely degree of strength and durability was. Here are some completely hypothetical stats :
| Dex: 04 | Str: 09 | Bod: 04 | Motivation: Programmed |
| Int: 02 | Wil: 01 | Min: /// | Occupation: Combat robot |
| Inf: /// | Aur: /// | Spi: /// | Resources {or Wealth}: N.A. |
| Init: 006 | HP: N.A. |
Powers:
Self-Link (Gadgetry): 09, Skin armour: 05
Bonuses and Limitations:
Skin armour also works against energy attacks.
Skills:
Weaponry (Firearms): 04
Presumably, these robots were named “Cybernauts” as a wink toward the Avengers TV series, since Diana Rigg’s Emma Peel was a major inspiration for the revised Wonder Woman.
Cyber later used two robots shaped like green humanoid monsters (picture below), who seemed to have broadly similar stats.
Bird-machine
Cyber once deployed a purple robot to keep Wonder Woman occupied. This sophisticated machine had the following stats :
| Dex: 06 | Str: 11 | Bod: 12 | Motivation: Programmed |
| Int: 02 | Wil: 02 | Min: /// | Occupation: Combat robot |
| Inf: /// | Aur: /// | Spi: /// | Resources {or Wealth}: N.A. |
| Init: 008 | HP: N.A. |
Powers:
Bomb (Self-destruct): 14, Self-Link (Gadgetry): 12, Self-Manipulation: 08, Skin armour: 02
This robot first appeared like a giant robotic bird, then Self-Manipulated into a giant sphere behaving much like a tennis ball to survive a fall. The sphere then became rigid and grew spikes, rolling down a road and threatening to crush cars and pedestrians. It then turned into a rocket, which self-destructed in an attempt to kill Wonder Woman.
It was monitored by a console using cameras and microphones to perceive what was going on (Eye of the cat). So presumably these strategies were enabled by a human operator. Of course, keeping Wonder Woman busy relied on the fact that she wouldn’t just punch the robot into scrap metal, due to the genre conventions of those days.
Source of Character: Wonder Woman volume 1.
Helper(s): Ethan Roe, Darci.
Writeup completed on the 30th of March, 2011.