Context
This character is an original creation. We often call these “homemades” or “homebrewed” – think home cooking or craft beer.
Many of these characters were created to take part in tabletop role-playing game sessions. Others were invented as a creative writing exercise, often as part of a community event.
As to the French Gendarmerie characters – a number of American community members having occasional need of European supers and feeling that the characters in the MU and DCU such as Le Peregrine (sic) are campy. So I took the liberty of creating a few French supers.
The “lead” character for this series, with more context stuff, is Marianne.
(For decades I knew that I had taken the idea of eyes seeing a decayed future, used in this profile, from an old French sci-fi novella. But, frustratingly, I couldn’t remember which one. As it turns out it was Jacques Spitz’s L’Œil du purgatoire).
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Background
- Real Name: Maréchal-des-logis-Chef Julien “Juju” Branosky.
- Known Relatives: Stéphanie (sister).
- Group Affiliation: ESIGN.
- Base Of Operations: Mont-de-Marsan (near Paris).
- Height: 5’10″ (1.78m). Weight: 175 lbs. (80 Kg.).
- Eyes: Gray. Hair: Light brown, bleached platinum blond.
Soundtrack for this profile.
Obvs.
Powers and Abilities
Staff Sergeant Branosky is a highly trained ESIGN tactical operator. He’s an assault and close-quarter-battle specialist.
His powers (below) giving him incredible accuracy, he’s a perfect fit as a grenadier-voltigeur infantryman, moving quickly over any terrain to deliver pinpoint fire. He thus often serves on point.
Beyond his role as a gendarme, Branosky is — as a hobby — a competent computer programmer and power user.
Five seconds into the future
Julien is a precognitive. He can see what will happen five seconds in the future. This is a visual sense — all his other senses can only perceive the present — and it can keep running as long as needed.
With this sight, Sexy Boy sees things five seconds before they happen. He can switch between present-vision and very-near-future-vision at will.
Sexy Boy can see the consequences his actions will have in five seconds. This means that when he decides to do something, he can adjust what his specific gesture will be over the course of the next five seconds. This implies various time dilation and compression effects, possibly with odd artefacts, when the very-near-future-vision is active.
It took a while, but Julien is no longer disoriented by those effects. Still, they remain physically and mentally headache-inducing.
Four seconds into the future
A typical example is seeing the impact of a bullet fired by his gun. Over the next five seconds, during which he yet has to fire in the present, he can decide that he will shoot in a different manner and see the future bullet impact move in real time as a consequence.
This ability to see what will happen before he starts moving, and adjust his movements, make him incredibly precise and physically assured. If he’s about to step on a slippery surface he has five seconds to adjust his footing, and so on and so forth.
Thus, Sexy Boy will practically never trigger a trap or fall into an ambush.
Three seconds into the future
Furthermore, by making eye contact while his next-five-seconds-vision is active, Sexy Boy can infect another person with future sight.
This will be a much more potent and uncontrollable version of his own ability, and much more a curse than a boon. ESIGN operators occasionally refer to this as le mauvais œil (“the evil eye”).
An infected person has all their senses overcome by perceiving the future. Since future vision is solely a visual sense, it means that everything suddenly goes silent and odourless, the sense of touch is completely numbed, etc.. As to the future-vision proper, it doesn’t provide a five-seconds headstart. Instead, it shifts perception to exactly 78 years in the future.
However, Sexy Boy’s future vision can only be accurate over a few seconds. Five seconds is the sweet spot. When stretched over 78 years all it can do is extrapolate the condition of what it sees, 78 years in the future.
Two seconds into the future
Thus all the infected person can see is a nightmarish, disgusting environment where everything is 78 years older. The buildings are either decrepit or in ruins, most people will be animated corpses or skeletons (except for small children who will appear as aged persons), everything organic is rotten beyond recognition, etc.
Exceptionally collected persons can attempt to manoeuvre in this horrible reality, since it is still a version of the real world. But most people will panic and many will assume they’ve just been banished into some sort of hell.
Sexy Boy can infect several persons with future vision if needed. And he will retain his own ability to see in the very near future. He can also break the infection by making eye contact a second time.
History
A scion of the conservative Western Paris bourgeoisie, Julien never went along with his parents. He wanted to strike out on his own.
He moved out as soon as feasible, taking small jobs – and accepting the occasional cheque from his parents. While his life lacked direction, he was free – and could explore his passions for computers, IRC , and Parisian night life.
During the early 1990s he had various crummy jobs in call centres. Then a friend convinced him to join the military and do his duty as an emerging superhuman.
Feeling that he couldn’t let his burgeoning precog skills go to waste, but certain that he would hate life as a civil servant, Julien gave it a half-hearted try.
Esprit de corps
To his surprise, he discovered he actually enjoyed the camaraderieMutual trust and friendship among people facing hardship together during basic training. As long as he wasn’t away from Paris for too long things were fine. While Branosky had always seen himself as being lazy and a slacker, it become evident that it was more of a pose than his nature.
Due to his reputation as a party animal, he was soon nicknamed Beau Gosse. When French electronica band Air released the single Sexy Boy in 1998, Branosky became known as Sexy Boy, the equivalent of Beau Gosse in English.
One of Juju’s best friends, another habitual carouser, was a close combat instructor for his unit. He recommended Branosky for ESIGN service. Sexy Boy’s accuracy and ability to never be caught flat-footed led to his recruitment by the elite “ninjas” of the Gendarmerie.
It also greatly helped him pass the various tests and endure the gruelling training.
Now a Maréchal des logis-Chef (the equivalent of a Staff Sergeant, normally addressed as “Chief”), Julien has taken part to dozens of ESIGN operations. He also runs a successful blog about Parisian nightlife, and occasionally plays rhythm guitar.
He has a reputation for seducing nearly-but-not-quite-underage party girls that is solidly grounded in fact. His status as law enforcement protect him from the consequences, and his peers mostly frame this as being an enviable and manly winner.
Description
Julien sports a strange mixture of boyish yet decadent charm, and an attractive but weird double entendre smile. He has various piercings, although regulation have him remove them before putting on an uniform of any kind.
He is 27, and intends to remain so for a long while.
Personality
Sexy Boy still has nonchalant, lazy, unruly mannerisms. Yet he will instantly become a disciplined and focused soldier when needed. His superiors tend to tolerate his sloppy-looking behaviour, knowing this is almost entirely an act.
He spend about four nights per week scouring the Paris nightlife, where he is well-known and quite popular. Most people think he’s some kind of affluent dilettante or computers guy. Almost none know he’s actually a gendarme – and Chief Branosky prefer it that way.
He has been suffering from headaches since his teenage years due to his double vision between present and future. Juju often explains that since he has a permanent headache anyway, he might as well get drunk, smoke and run on too little sleep.
Quotes
“Comme d‘hab, vodka-Red Bull, et fais-toi plaisir sur la dose. Ça donne comment ce soir ?”
“The usual, vodka-Red Bull, and make it a serious one. How’s the scene tonite ?”
“Ils regardent pas de mon côté. Je peux me laisser tomber sur la rambarde et les neutraliser en repoussant le rideau, mais dégagez moi les vitres quand je commence à tomber.”
“They’re not watching my side. I can drop on the railing and take them down by pushing the curtains aside, but I need snipers to blow the windows out when I start falling.”
DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Sexy Boy
| Dex: 09 | Str: 04 | Bod: 05 |
| Int: 06 | Wil: 05 | Min: 05 |
| Inf: 05 | Aur: 05 | Spi: 04 |
| Init: 034 | HP: 050 |
Powers:
Danger sense: 12, Sensory block (All senses): 12
Bonuses and Limitations:
- Sensory Block is total for most senses, but only partial for Sight – many aspects of the environment can still be seen.
- Danger sense adds to Initiative (+1) but cannot predict anything more than 0 APs of time ahead (-1).
- The top 5 APs of DEX (and DEX-linked Skills Acrobatics and Weaponry) are Powered and Contingent upon Danger Sense.
Skills:
Acrobatics*: 09, Artist (Guitar): 03, Martial artist: 06, Medicine (First aid): 02, Military science: 05, Scientist (Computers): 04, Vehicles (Land): 05, Weaponry (Infantry weapons)*: 09
Advantages:
Iron nerves, Familiarity (British pop music), Scholar (ESIGN/GIGN tactics), Schtick (Sure-footed, Bullet Placement (Low), Trick Shooter (Weaponry (Firearms)).
Connections:
ESIGN (Gendarmerie superhuman squad, High), Parisian clubbers (Low).
Drawbacks:
MPR (Migraines).
Motivation:
Responsibility.
Occupation:
ESIGN operative.
Wealth:
005
Equipment:
- MOTOROLA MX-330 TACTICAL RADIO [BODY 04, Radio communication: 06 – a small, black mike-and-earring piece of equipment].
- TACTICAL VEST AND VISORED HELMET [BODY 04, Flame immunity: 02, Invulnerability: 05, Shade: 01, Skin Armor: 02, Limitations: Invulnerability and Skin armor are only effective vs attacks by slashing and piercing weapons (-2FC each), Invulnerability cannot be used to counter *continuing* loss of Current BODY due to Killing Damage (-1FC), Partial Coverage (Can bypass Powers with a +3CS OV Trick Shot); Real Armour] plus optional GAS MASK [BODY 03, Sealed systems (respiratory): 05].
- Manhurin MR73 .357 magnum revolver [BODY 04, Projectile weapons: 05, Ammo: 06, R#02, Recommended STR: 03, Drawback: Long reload time].
- Extended mag Sig-Sauer P226 9mm pistol [BODY 04, Projectile weapon: 04, Ammo: 17, R#02].
- H&K MP-5 submachinegun [BODY 05, Projectile weapons: 05, Ammo: 07, R#02, Advantage : Autofire].
- Flash-bang grenades (x5) [BODY 03, EV 02 (Area of effect 1 AP), Flash: 07 (Area of effect 2 APs), Sensory block (earring): 09, Note : all Powers are Combined, Grenade drawback, R#03].
- Tear gas grenade (x1) [BODY 03, Fog: 03, Chemical attack: 04, Grenade drawback, Bonus : Chemical attack and Fog are Combined (Chemical attack is active thorough the Fog), R#03].
Source of Character: Homemade.
Helper(s): John Colagioia.