Lightning Lad

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Background

Powers and Abilities

Lightning Lad’s formidable electrical powers enable him to generate and hurl powerful lightning bolts (in DC Heroes RPG terms, Lightning).

If he chooses he can allow the energy to crackle all around his body so that it will hurt anyone touching him (Lightning Being). But he generally only does this when using his powers to their fullest, such as in his battles against Lightning Lord (when use of Electrical Being also raises his RV to his brother’s lightning bolts).

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Lightning Lad is also able to absorb and harmlessly disperse electrical attacks. He can use his power for illumination and has occasionally used bright lightning flashes to blind opponents (Flash).

Lightning Lad is a very skilled pilot and navigator (Vehicles and Scholar Advantage). He also did well at Legion combat training (Dex, Martial Arts) and was well educated in the sciences (Medicine, Scientist). He can fly using a Legion Flight Ring, which as a reservist he is still allowed to wear.

The Evil Hand of the Luck Lords, part 1

Garth has been recognized as “the Unluckiest Legionnaire” throughout his career. He endured:

• A temporary deathlike coma.
• The temporary loss of an arm together with being brainwashed into becoming a criminal.
• The interruption of his honeymoon by an invasion.
• The interruption of his term as Leader with a bizarre illness which led to a nervous breakdown.
• The abduction and transformation of one of his children by an evil god.

This is all in addition to having an insane older brother who is just as powerful as he is and who wants Garth dead.

Accordingly you may want to give Lightning Lad the Unluck Drawback, and you might also, on random occasions, give an opponent of his the Luck Advantage or even temporarily the Dumb Luck power. Or give him a Miscellaneous Drawback (Garth receives half the expected Hero Points for any Subplot in which he participates – at least, sometimes.)

Of course most of what has befallen Garth has just been playing through Subplots, so you might choose simply to have lots of bad Subplots happen to Garth’s character rather than taking the more mechanical route.

The Evil Hand of the Luck Lords, part 2

Unknown to Garth or the Legion, much of Garth’s misfortune has been the result of deliberate and malicious manipulation by the Luck Lords of Ventura. These are the remnants of a once-powerful race of mystics who believed in luck and synchronicity rather than science and probability. Their intuition identified Garth Ranzz as having a pivotal destiny.

They believed that his death could tip the balance between probability and chance, causing science to fall and chance to reign in the cosmos again. Thus, at pivotal moments, when the stars were in convergence, the Luck Lords acted to try and bring about Garth’s death.

Their first attack resulted in him gaining his lightning powers. On at least two other occasions the Luck Lords intervened, trying to manipulate Lightning Lord into killing Lightning Lad. Their last failure apparently caused them to decide that they had failed and they would not intervene again. In other words, Lightning Lad bought off the Unluck Drawback.

However, you don’t have to be ruled by that in your game if you don’t want to.

Note that neither Lightning Lad nor anyone else knows about the Luck Lords’ perennial interference in his life.

Another interesting note: it seems likely that, had the Luck Lords never intervened in Garth’s life, he would never have become the pivotal figure that they foresaw. The intervention of the Luck Lords lead directly to the founding of the Legion of Super-Heroes, and it was the Legion that was responsible for preventing magic from gaining ascendancy during the Magic Wars of 2989.

Had Garth never gained his lightning powers, the Legion might never have existed, and magic likely would have triumphed.

History

Garth Ranzz and his twin sister Ayla were born on the planet Winath, a colony of Earth and member of the United Planets (UP), in the latter half of the 30^th century. Winath was a peaceful agrarian planet whose ecology had a strange effect on humans and other organisms. Nearly every being on the planet was a twin.

Garth and Ayla followed this pattern, but their mentally unbalanced older brother Mekt did not. Mekt’s “singleton” status contributed to his mental deficits. This made for an uneasy relationship with Garth and Ayla. Despite this, the three often spent time together and had many of the same friends.

Even then, Mekt displayed an almost pathological need to be included, and tried to function as a sort of “third twin” to Garth and Ayla.

Visit scenic Korbal

On one fateful occasion, the three were allowed by their parents to travel off-world to a party. Garth, though young, was already a skilled navigator with his pilot’s certificate and was fully qualified for solo outings. However, Mekt insisted on taking the controls and was piloting when the ship’s power cells inexplicably failed.

Mekt’s panicked attempts to regain control managed to steer the three right into a meteor shower. Garth took over again and managed a relatively safe landing on Korbal, “the Lightning World.”

As the three made repairs they realized that the ships’ power cells were depleted and would need to be recharged. Garth tried to lure the native lightning monsters into discharging their bolts at the ship and recharging the craft’s batteries. Or recrystallizing the dilithium crystals, or something else you 21^st century types wouldn’t understand.

Things did not go quite as planned. The electrical discharge from the lightning monsters struck the three teens, not the craft. Against all laws of probability, none of the siblings were electrocuted. Indeed, they were not even hurt.

The intervention of the Luck Lords (see “The Evil Hand of the Luck Lords,” above) had caused the ship’s power failure, leading to the crash landing on Korbal. However, the altering of probabilities to cause the crash also created an improbability factor around the siblings which enabled them to survive.

In trying to change the universe’s fate by ending the life of an otherwise unimportant mortal, they gave Garth and his siblings the power to be important. They were changed, imbued with electrical powers even greater than those of the Lightning Beasts. Using their new powers they easily recharged their spacecraft and returned home.

So electric

Mekt did not stay on Winath long. He soon left home and vanished into the underworld of the galaxy. Garth heard rumors that he was using his electrical powers for criminal purposes. He decided to track Mekt down, to try and reason with him and bring him home, or if necessary, to stop him. His quest to find Mekt sent him to the Mother World, Earth, looking for leads.

En route, Garth met a fellow passenger on the starliner carrying him to Earth. He was a Braalian youth named Rokk Krinn. Krinn was a semi-famous Magno-ball champion heading to Earth to look for work using the magnetic powers common to his people. The two struck up a friendly conversation on the voyage.

Garth’s eye was also caught by another passenger, a beautiful young blonde woman from the Saturnian moon of Titan. He was infatuated with her at first sight.

As Garth and Rokk disembarked on Earth, the young blonde, a telepath named Imra Ardeen, caught Garth’s attention again. She was shouting that assassins were about to strike at another passenger, R.J.Brande, one of the richest men in the galaxy. Thanks to Imra’s warning, Garth’s lightning powers and Rokk’s magnetism, the assassins were captured and Brande’s life was saved.

Mister Brande

Brande was very impressed by the three heroic teenagers. They had displayed faultless teamwork and a willingness to risk themselves for the sake of someone they’d never met. He told them that they had acted as heroes, super-heroes after the tradition of 20^th century legends Superboy and Supergirl.

He suggested that they carry on by design what they had begun by instinct, with his support and funding, and put their powers to good use. The three teens agreed and founded the Legion of Super-Heroes, with Garth taking the name of Lightning Lad. Imra became Saturn Girl, and Rokk became Cosmic Boy.

In addition to his excitement at the prospect of becoming a superhero, and his eagerness to get to know Imra better, Garth also hoped that membership in such an organization would give him the resources to track down Mekt. This did not happen immediately, but eventually Garth’s Legion career would indeed help him find Mekt.

Unfortunately Mekt had become a super-villain called Lightning Lord and he was a mainstay of the Legion of Super-Villains. Mekt’s imbalances only worsened over the years, and on several occasions he has tried to murder his brother.

Legionnaire

Garth’s career with the Legion has been extremely eventful. As a founder, with dynamic powers and personality, he was always one of the more powerful and prominent Legionnaires, especially in the early days of the team.

Two years after the Legion was founded, he became a legend across the UP, and made the Legion a legend as well. He “died” single-handedly repelling an invasion of Earth by the feared conqueror Zaryan, saving Saturn Girl’s life in the process. Garth’s sister Ayla soon joined the Legion, intending to ensure that her brother was never forgotten.

It was soon discovered, however, that Zaryan’s freeze ray had placed Garth in a deathlike coma.

He was revived some months later, thanks to the sacrifice of Proty, a alien mascot/pet of the Legion’s Chameleon Boy. Proty, a telepathic blob of shapeshifting protoplasm from Antares, had his life-energy transferred into Garth’s suspended form (preventing Saturn Girl from making the sacrifice herself, as she intended). Proty “jump-started” Garth’s own life-force and reviving him from suspended animation.

Not long thereafter, Lightning Lad lost his arm to a mutated Dxaundii space-creature which the interstellar press rather luridly called the “Super Moby Dick of Space.” Though initially outfitted with a cybernetic arm, advances in biomedical techniques held out hope of the arm’s eventual restoration, which did eventually happen.

Before that, however, one of Lightning Lad’s doctors took the opportunity to hypnotize Lightning Lad into acting as his criminal catspaw as the villain Starfinger. The Legion eventually captured Garth/Starfinger, and Saturn Girl freed Garth from the true villain’s hypnotic commands.

Why I love Saturn

Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl had begun a romance in earnest after Garth’s revival from his “death”. The two were eventually married. They delayed their marriage for some years because of provisions in the Legion’s original constitution forbidding married heroes (which they ironically had helped to write).

During their honeymoon, Mordru, the evil wizard who is perhaps the Legion’s greatest foe, manipulated the Khund Empire into launching yet another invasion of Earth. For a short time, Mordru actually succeeded in conquering the planet and capturing nearly every active Legionnaire.

Garth and Imra donned their costumes again and returned to fight. This was one of Garth’s finest hours ; his leadership skills were instrumental in freeing the Legion and securing Mordru’s defeat. In the aftermath the Legion revised its constitution to allow married members and invited Lightning Lad and Saturn Girl to resume their active membership.

In the next leadership election, Garth was elected the 11^th Legion Leader.

Garth’s new pattern of triumphs proved to be short-lived, as his term was particularly tumultuous. The stress was immeasurably worsened when he contracted a strange illness, a fever which began subtly causing his electrical powers to feed back into his own brain.

This caused a pattern of increasing stress, slowly worsening irrational behavior and depression. During this time Garth resigned the leadership, feeling himself to be a failure. That was followed by collapse and near catatonia, before his fever finally broke and he was successfully treated.

Retirement

Shortly after Garth’s recovery, he and Imra decided to start a family. They retired after the birth of their son Graym, though they were granted (along with fellow founder Cosmic Boy) the status of Special Advisors to the team. Garth happily took on the role of father, though he worried a little about Graym being a “singleton” like Mekt.

Unknown to the Ranzzes, Graym was actually a twin. The other child had been mystically stolen at birth by Darkseid, transported back in time, and transformed into the monstrous creature Validus. Thus, he would menace his parents and their teammates before he’d ever been born.

Darkseid’s machinations were eventually revealed, and he restored Validus to human form. Graym is now back home with his family.

Against the Archmage

Shortly after that, in the wake of the Universo Project, Imra decided to resume her Legion membership. Garth remained a Reservist and stayed home with the children. Thus Garth was not even an active member of the Legion when the event that the Luck Lords had years ago intuited but not understood finally occurred.

On Zerox, the Sorcerers’ World, an ancient being of Chaos known as the Archmage burst his prison. He reached out to spread chaos across the galaxy. Technology failed as reality altered and magic seemed on the verge of gaining ascendancy again.

But the long-ago intervention of the Luck Lords, intended to have exactly this result, now prevented magic’s rise. Their prophecy, like so many others, turned out to be self-fulfilling. Their interference in the life of Garth Ranzz had led directly to the founding of the Legion of Super-Heroes, which served as the galaxy’s bulwark against the Archmage during the Magic Wars.

The Archmage was cast down, and science triumphed. Garth, who was not even present at the battle because he was caring for his children, had nevertheless struck the decisive blow in the battle. He had done so way back when, as a child of 13, he helped found the galaxy’s most legendary super-team, the Legion of Super-Heroes.

Description

Garth is a tall man of fairly muscular build, with bright blue eyes and red-blonde hair.

His costume is dark blue trimmed with white, with two lightning bolts streaking diagonally from his shoulders to his chest. He tends to wear a variation of his costume frequently even when not active as a Legionnaire, which apparently is not as odd by 30^th century fashions as it would be by ours.

Personality

Garth was always a flashy and dynamic personality. He provided the early Legion with much of its energy and drive – not to mention an infusion of raw power.

He could be reckless, but always in the cause of heroism and helping others. He has always been selfless in that way. Even before gaining his powers Garth showed poise in a crisis and the ability to put aside his personal fears in order to do what needed to be done.

At times he has been underestimated, particularly since his illness and mental breakdown. But with that exception, whenever he is put to the test he has risen heroically to the occasion. Still, Garth’s energy and drive have been sublimated in recent years into raising his family. Thus, he seems perfectly content to put aside his role as a fighter in order to be with his sons.

He has almost always been the more “domestic” partner in his marriage, though sometimes with imperfect success, as his many disasters with the autochef illustrate. So far, he doesn’t seem to miss the life of a superhero at all. Raising his sons is adventure enough for him.

Quotes

“We’re going about this all wrong ! We forgot the most basic element of strategy : the best defense is a good offense !”

Lightning Lord: “So noble, my little brother — such a wimp. Hiding behind your “goodness” so you don’t have to face the fact there’s nothing in this universe you want enough to have the guts to take.”
Lightning Lad: “I prefer giving, Mekt – but since you’re in such a rush to take, take this !” (Big zap)
Lightning Lord: “ARRRRGH !”

Saturn Girl: “Garth, my love – you know what we have to do. Our powers alone are not enough to make the difference.”
Cosmic Boy: “Maybe no one’s powers are enough, Saturn Girl- but we’re a team, ever since the day the three of us met.”
Lightning Lad: “You’re right, both of you. And it’s time we called the whole team in.”

“No !! I will not accept this ! I’m not crazy ! I’m not ! You can play games all you want, Trapper ! You’re not going to win. You hear me ? You can’t win ! I won’t let you !! I’ll take whatever you dish out, Trapper, and ask for more !! You hear me ?? C’mon, I’m ready for you !”

“My parents always said I had an inner strength I didn’t know was there. Maybe I didn’t really believe them. Maybe there was a lack of faith on my part. But they always had faith in me – and now I know they were right.”

“I met Imra, and joined the Legion — and ended up dead…. I came back once, Mekt – because she loved me enough to risk her life for mine. Love won’t let anything stop it — and with that, I don’t need my powers – or luck – to bring you down !”

After the Five Year Gap

The Garth Ranzz of the Five Year Gap storyline was very, very different in many ways. The Garth Ranzz of the Glorithverse had become a confirmed non-combatant. He had moved back to Winath with his family where he was running a very successful farming operation called the Lightning Ring Plantation.

He became wealthy doing this. Garth used that wealth and the foodstuffs they grew to help the UP, battered by the Great Collapse of the economy after the Magic Wars. He and Imra recently had two more children, twin daughters named Dacey and Dorritt, who show telepathic aptitude. Also, his brother Mekt is reformed and sane and is one of his lieutenants at the Plantation.

However, Garth’s luck continues to be poor in some ways. His son Garridan (formerly Validus) has been found to carry a virus as a legacy of his abduction by Darkseid. The Validus Plague affects Winathians and Titanites, causing deformation and in some cases death.

As a result Garridan has to live on Quarantine World away from his family while a cure is sought. (On the plus side, Garridan retains the “mental lightning” powers he had as Validus.)

Garth himself was afflicted by the Plague and has some deformation and blotching on his right arm (the one that was regrown) and right leg. Thus, he now walks with a limp and uses a cane.

A twiiiist, part 1

Then came a twist that was lauded by some readers and hated by many others. It was revealed/retconned that Garth’s mind is really that of Proty, the protoplasmic, telepathic, shapeshifting blob that tried to sacrifice its life to revive Lightning Lad, way back when.

Apparently all it accomplished was projecting its own mind into Lightning Lad’s body. Ever since, Lightning Lad has been the mind of Proty (I) in the body of Garth Ranzz. Thus it was Proty who was a member of the Legion for most of its history, married Saturn Girl and fathered their children, etc.

Given that this story occurs in an alternate timeline – er, an alternate alternate timeline, I guess – you may or may not acknowledge it in your own. If you do, then there are some changes that need to be made. The original Garth personality would have Minor Rage and possibly some psychological problems.

Given the behavior of the SW6 Legionnaire Live Wire (a younger clone of Lightning Lad, complete with ‘original’ personality) in threatening his teammates with his powers, he may even be a Thrill Seeker, and probably has a SIA to Saturn Girl.

Note that these are NOT traits of Lightning Lad originally. They were written into the character about 30 years after the fact. Confusing, huh ?

In any case, in this version of the character, that “original” Garth personality would only have been around for about 2 years of the Legion’s history, during the very early Adventure Comics days. So most campaigns won’t have to address that issue at all.

A twiiiist, part 2

Proty in Garth’s body would have the stats listed above, plus a Serious Irrational Attraction to hiding his true identity, and Guilt about doing so. He’s so scared of this being revealed that he treats it like a Dark Secret. Which in fact you may think it is, depending on what you think the reaction would be to its being generally known.

Apart from his fellow Proteans, only Ayla, his ‘sister,’ knows who he really is, having recently heard him in conversation with other Proteans. Therefore, Saturn Girl should no longer be listed as a Confidant, while his sister Ayla should take that place.

Writeups.org John Colagioia has raised the interesting possibility that maybe Garth really is Garth, and only thinks he is Proty. ”Not lying, but wrong. Figures he died, and was brought back to life with foggy memories, but with all of Proty’s crystal clear memories, including his plan to sacrifice himself. What would *you* think ?”

This seems just as possible as any other scenario and would add an additional layer of pathos and irony to the situation. I don’t think it would have any effect on game stats, though. Nor does it make it any less skuzzy to pretend to be somebody you’re not, and take that person’s place with his friends and family, not to mention the woman he loves.

Even if Garth isn’t really doing that, he *thinks* he is…

Low power

On a completely different note, during the Five Year Gap storyline all three of the Ranzz siblings seem subtly less powerful than they were in the original timeline. This is reflected in our game stats.

DC Universe History

Lightning Lad exists in the post-boot LSH, of course, as Live Wire. Their personalities and stats have by this point diverged considerably, and this version of Lightning Lad is only likely to be seen again via Hyper-time.

But, if you want a 30^th century timeline that is as close as possible to the Pre-boot and Pre-Crisis reality, but still consistent with the modern-day DCU, then probably the most essential need is to have Clark Kent in the Legion as Superboy. Even if he was never a Superboy in the 20^th century.

Have the LSH meet a teenage Clark Kent and invite him to the 30^th century to become a Legionnaire, honorary or not as you please, as Superboy. With that in place, the Legion’s pre-Crisis history can be as intact as you want, with the caveat always in place that inconsistencies are due to imaginary stories or chronicler’s errors. Or even 30^th century cartoons.

There are all sorts of other possibilities if you are mixing and matching timelines to come up with your own. Some of these include filling Superboy’s historical place with Arn “Iron” Munro of the Young All-Stars, using Power Girl or Fury (mother or daughter) for Supergirl, or substituting the Martian Manhunter for Superboy. Hey, he fills in for everybody else, and I don’t *think* he’s R.J. Brande this week….

By Chris Cottingham.

Helper(s): John Colagioia, Mayfair’s Legion Sourcebook v.1 and 2995 Sourcebook; age and personal chronology from 2995 LSH Sourcebook; history and background from Who’s Who and Who’s Who in the Legion.

Source of Character: DC’s Legion of Super-Heroes comics.