Manta
(Endworld)
Context
The mutant Manta appears in the Endworld 1980s post-apocalyptic novels.
For context, we suggest that you first read the The Family organisation profile.
Background
- Real Name: Unrevealed.
- Marital Status: Single.
- Known Relatives: The Brethren (descendants).
- Group Affiliation: The Brethren.
- Base Of Operations: West Seattle.
- Height: 6’4″ Weight: 210 lbs. Age: 72
- Eyes: Black Hair: None
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Powers and Abilities
Manta is a mutant born with sea-life features. His skin is green ; he has gills and a fish-like appearance. He’s able to live on both land and in the sea (he also swims fast). In fact, he’s more adapted to living in the sea than on the land.
As a mutant he’s nearly superhumanly strong and tough (including a strong immunity against common pollutants, radiation and other toxins). He’s also equipped with strong teeth and long claws.
Manta, the first of his breed, ages very slowly. His sister lacked this factor and died of old age.
Skills
Being pretty smart, he learned a number of skills. He is able to use electrical and mechanical devices, and even improve them slightly. Additionally, he’s an able architect, and saw to the reconstruction of West Seattle. Manta also knows how to handle large sea vehicles such as destroyers. He’s an experienced tactician.
He generally fights with melee weapons, chiefly swords.
Since he saw use in it, he’s become a master in training animals, mostly to attack. He’s used birds and giant beetles this way.
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History
The mutant Manta was born of human parents. These parents, who also had a daughter, loved their children and tried to protect them the best they could. Both children, unfortunately, were born deformed and mutated. They were basically adapted for sea life, green in color and with a terrifying appearance.
Other people wanted to destroy the kids. But the parents managed to get the two children to the sea, in which they easily could survive.
Manta then grew up hating mankind for what they had done to him and the world that was in ruins. He decided early on that the Earth had to be cleansed from humans and that his sort should inherit and repopulate the Earth.
He thus created a new race by breeding with his sister and the children, with time, grew into many in numbers, calling themselves the Brethren.
The Brethren
Manta, being the first, and the leader, planned for how to accomplish his goals. He rebuilt parts of East Seattle to his own liking, including the rebuilding of the Seattle Aquarium into, what he called, a Humarium. The Humarium would then be filled with any humans the Brethren could capture and enslave. This mostly meant the Sharks polity, residing in East Seattle.
The plan worked for many years, and Manta attempted enslaving on a greater scale. Manta faked an emergency radio signal for the New Republic of California. The Republic responded by sending a destroyer with complete crew to Seattle.
The Brethren managed to capture the entire destroyer, transferring the crew to the Humarium. The ship was, when time was ripe, to be used for transporting the Brethren to distant corners on the Earth to colonize it.
Rescue mission
One of the crew managed to escape the Humarium with a long-range radio and sent out an emergency signal before being recaptured. The signal was picked up by the Family Warrior Hickok. Hickok, Blade, Yama and Rikki flew to Seattle in a VTOL-plane (owned by the Republic) to free the slaves.
The Warriors were separated. Blade, Rikki and Yama had a run-in with the Sharks in East Seattle. Only Hickok reached West Seattle and was captured by the Brethren. He managed to escape the Humarium, collected weapons, and started a revolution along the other prisoners. The rule of the Brethren was overthrown and in a final confrontation Hickok met Manta.
Hickok shot a bullet in each of Manta’s eyes, finishing both Manta’s life and his plans. During the revolution, Manta’s headquarters was blown up and most of the Brethren were killed. Later, the remaining Brethren were tracked down and killed by the former slaves.
The former prisoners and the Sharks took control of Seattle. The Warriors and the inhabitants of Seattle parted as allies (Seattle Run).
Description
Manta is a quite long, muscular, green-skinned mutant. His features are somewhat sea-creature like in that he’s black round eyes, sharp teeth, gills etc..
He’s the only member of the Brethren that also has a triangle formed of skin from his head to his shoulders (it’s seen as the mark of the leader). Manta’s voice is a hissing rasp…
The only clothing he ever wears is a pair of green shorts.
To most humans his appearance is extremely frightening and it’s common that they become paralyzed with fear in his presence.
Personality
Manta is intelligent and cunning. As seems common among mutants, Manta believes that he is superior to human scum. He’s completely convinced that humans are an evil thing and should be cleansed from the Earth, and that mutants, such as himself, should lead Earth into a new era of greatness.
Although he has a very rough way with people (he enslaves them) he’s not stupidly overconfident (only nearly so). Apparently he thought that humans, that had destroyed the world, should help him, as slaves, to build it up again as he saw fit.
He, of course, likes to gloat and boast about his superior plans to everyone.
Other mutants, and particularly the Brethren, are his equals while humans are scum that should be used for any ends. He certainly wouldn’t hesitate to kill a human, but prefers to keep them around as a slave instead (producing the valuable algae called kelp) and even allowing them to breed since that increases his free workforce.
Manta also believes that the Brethren should be spread around the world colonizing it anew.
Quotes
“Humans are scum. One day the Earth shall be cleansed from them.”
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
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Manta
| Dex: 05 | Str: 05 | Bod: 06 | Motivation: Power Lust |
| Int: 06 | Wil: 06 | Min: 04 | Occupation: Leader of the Brethren |
| Inf: 06 | Aur: 04 | Spi: 05 | Resources {or Wealth}: 006 |
| Init: 017 | HP: 025 |
Powers:
Aura of Fear: 03, Claws: 06, Systemic Antidote: 04, Swimming: 04,Ultra Vision: 02, Water Freedom: 07
Skills:
Animal Handling (Training): 07, Charisma: 05, Gadgetry: 04, Military Science: 04, Vehicles (Sea): 05, Weaponry (Melee): 06
Advantages:
Area Knowledge (Seattle), Leadership, Life Support (No need for Radiation Protection), Familiarity (Architecture), Slowed Aging.
Connections:
The Brethren (High).
Drawbacks:
MIA (enslaving humanity), Strange Appearance.
The Brethren
| Dex: 03 | Str: 04 | Bod: 03 | Motivation: Following Leader |
| Int: 02 | Wil: 02 | Min: 02 | Occupation: Henchman |
| Inf: 03 | Aur: 02 | Spi: 03 | Resources {or Wealth}: 002 |
| Init: 008 | HP: 005 |
Powers:
Claws: 04, Systemic Antidote: 02, Swimming: 04, Ultra Vision: 02, Water Freedom: 05
Skills:
Weaponry (Melee): 03
Connections:
The Brethren (Low).
Advantages:
Life Support (No need for Radiation Protection).
Drawbacks:
Strange Appearance.
New Advantage: Life Support (No need for Radiation Protection)
Cost: 75
This Advantage is custom-made for Genres based in post-Apocalyptic worlds. Such worlds that basically are ’the radioactive wastelands after WW III‘ are often filled with unhealthy amounts of radiation. Radiation can lead to nausea, cancer and in worst case, immediate death. This Advantage grants the character complete protection against any and all ill effects from the high amounts of background radiation present. It is powerful enough to enable the character to freely wander around in the ground zero area of an earlier nuclear explosion.
The Advantage does, however, have a practical limit; whenever a character with this Advantage is attacked by, for example, weapons that generate radiation blasts the character may add +6 APs to his RV against all such attempts (and as such is not completely immune).This effect is cumulative with radiation protection based on Sealed Systems.
Useful examples of radiation affecting chemicals follow below:
- Rad-Away Syringe Effect: Actually enables the normally illegal Recovery Roll (in realistic Genres) from radiation damage and regenerates tissue damage derived from Radiation as if it had Energy Absorption (Radiation) 5 or Systemic Antidote (Radiation only) 5, with the appropriate boni. This chemical is seen in the computer games Fallout and Fallout 2, and used in the author’s Apocalypse-DC Genre.
- Rad-X pills Effect: Temporarily (10 APs time) bestows the user with the Life Support (No need for Radiation Protection) Advantage. This chemical is also seen in Fallout games.
- Soames pills Effect: Purifies 1 gallon of water from radiac ; basically it uses Energy Absorption (Radiation) 5 on that water, purifying it for drinking. These pills are seen in the post-Apocalyptic world of the DC series Hex.
Source of Character: The Endworld Series by David Robbins.