[StarFall/Info] Official Guide to the StarFall Universe #2: Supporting Cast

Ted Brock tbrock1031 at gmail.com
Mon Oct 22 11:39:10 PDT 2012


StarFall Comics
Proudly Presents

THE OFFICIAL GUIDE TO THE STARFALL UNIVERSE

#2: Supporting Cast

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	Even when you have your protagonist and your antagonist, sometimes
it's the *other* people in the story who make the tale memorable.  For
example, over in the LNH (RACC's longest-running imprint), everyone
knows about the heroics of Fearless Leader or Kid Kirby, or the
villainy of Acton Lord or the Waffle Queen, but when it comes down to
it, sometimes the *best* scenes are those about Nyoko or Fred, the
LNH's receptionists.
	Supporting Cast is not a role to be taken lightly. These are
characters that often end up playing second fiddle to the protagonist
or antagonist, but without them the story itself may go nowhere.  They
make the story, and hence the world, more interesting.
	With that in mind, this issue of the Official Guide focuses our
attention on three of the more notable supporting cast members, one
from each author's primary title:
	Dr. Nikola Tesla (from _Tales From the Tesla Institute_),
	Doorway (from _Silver Arrow_), and
	Zeus (from _Spellbinder: Mystic Defender_)


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DR. NIKOLA TESLA                          (Supporting Cast)

Real Name: Nikola Tesla.
Occupation: Engineer, inventor.
Identity: Dr. Tesla does not use a dual identity.
Legal Status: Naturalized citizen of the United States with no
criminal record, legally deceased as of 1943.  It is as yet uncertain
whether he has legally nullified his deceased status.
Other Aliases: None.
Marital Status: Single.
Known Relatives: Milutin (father, deceased); Duka (mother, deceased),
Dane (brother, deceased), Milka, Angelina, Marcia (sisters, deceased).
Place of Birth: Smijan, Austrian Empire (now part of Gospic, Croatia).
Group Affiliation: Head of the Tesla Institute.
Base of Operations: Tesla Institute for Exploratory Sciences and
Engineering, San Francisco, California.
First Appearance: TALES FROM THE TESLA INSTITUTE #1.
History: Nikola Tesla's history from his birth in 1856 until his death
in 1943 is well documented.  What is still a complete mystery to all
is how he managed to return from the dead during the Reality Quake ten
years ago.  He claims to have taken advantage of the Quake itself to
remain when many other entities thought to be side-effects of the
Quake faded.  Biologically, he is a man in his mid 40s, and yet he
remembers his entire life, including his death at age 87.
	The first two years after his return Tesla spent in a legal battle
over his patents, not to mention his deceased status.  During this
time, he acclimated himself to modern technology, marveling at the
wonders that weren't even dreamed of in his day, while complaining
vocally about wasted opportunities.  Overnight, he became a very
colorful celebrity, much to his own dismay.  He was shrewd enough,
though, to parlay his celebrity status into a small fortune.
	Using his newfound fortune, five years ago he founded the Tesla
Institute for Exploratory Sciences and Engineering in San Francisco,
California, which under his leadership has risen to become the premier
"mad science" think tank in the Western world.
	Many of Tesla's inventions, he soon discovered, were being declared
classified in the interests of 'national security', a stance which
Tesla himself found at odds with his ideas of propagating advanced
technology.  He and his Institute have since taken an adversarial
stance towards the government, often releasing the details in press
conferences and public demonstrations against the government's orders.
Height: 6' 6".
Weight: 220 lbs.
Eyes: Brown.
Hair: Brown, with grey streaks.
Build: Average.
Ethnicity: Caucasian.
Uniform: None.
Strength Level: Nikola Tesla possesses the normal human strength of a
man his physical age, height, and build who engages in moderate
exercise.
Known Superhuman Powers: None.
Other Abilities: Dr. Tesla is the world's foremost expert on
electricity.  In addition, he is also renowned as the world's foremost
"mad scientist".  He possesses a photographic memory, enabling him to
recall anything he has seen or read.

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DOORWAY                                   (Supporting Cast)

Real Name: Francine "Fran" St. Claire.
Occupation: Delivery specialist, former thief.
Identity: Publicly known.
Legal Status: Citizen of the United States with a criminal record.
Other Aliases: None.
Marital Status: Single.
Known Relatives: Franklin (alias Time-Twister, brother).
Place of Birth: San Francisco, California.
Group Affiliation: Former partner of Time-Twister.
Base of Operations: Los Angeles, California.
First Appearance: SILVER ARROW #2.  (Unofficial cameo in CITY STREETS
#13, in the old StarFall Universe.)
Origin: SILVER ARROW #4.
History: Francine St. Claire and her twin brother, Franklin, were born
in the San Francisco Bay area, but orphaned at an early age.
	At the age of twelve, the twins manifested powers: Frank had the
ability to alter peoples' perceptions of the flow of time, while Fran
had the power to open teleportational portals up to ten miles away.
Using their powers, the two fled the orphanage they were raised at and
traveled to Los Angeles.  During this time, they had to steal to
survive, and soon became accomplished thieves.  As they got older, the
pair turned to a life of crime, hiring themselves out as thieves for
others.
	Not long after they turned eighteen, the pair were hired to retrieve
an artifact from the Los Angeles Museum of Natural History, a Chumash
ceremonial dagger.  The caper was interrupted by LA's resident hero,
Silver Arrow.  Doorway witnessed her brother killing a security guard
at the museum as they made their escape.  This incident appears to
have bothered Fran on some level; when Silver Arrow approached her a
few days later, having tracked her down in his civilian identity, she
confessed everything to him.
	The next day, she turned herself and her brother into the police,
testifying against him at his trial.  She served a short term, and was
released after a few months on parole for good behavior.
	Since then, Fran has been attempting to turn her life around.  She
currently runs a personal delivery service and has, on occasion, come
to Silver Arrow's aid.  Recently, however, Franklin broke out of
prison and ambushed her, using doses of the drug Squelch to suppress
her powers.
Height: 5' 4".
Weight: 115 lbs.
Eyes: Brown.
Hair: Brown, worn short.
Build: Slender.
Ethnicity: Caucasian.
Uniform: A two-tone purple bodysuit, with the divider between the
colors running from her right shoulder to her left hip, the lighter
purple above the divider; a dark purple full-face cowl with reflective
lenses over the eyes, black gloves, black boots.
Strength Level: Doorway possesses the normal human strength of a woman
her age, height, and build who engages in moderate exercise.
Known Superhuman Powers: Doorway possesses the ability to open portals
between two points in space up to ten miles distant from herself.  She
is able to move either side of the portal at will, provided she can
see the destination.  Because of this, she prefers to open portals
between places she can see or places she knows well.


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ZEUS                                      (Supporting Cast)

Real Name: Zeus.
Occupation: Head of the Greco-Roman pantheon (for the time being).
Identity: The general populace of Earth does not believe Zeus to be
anything other than a mythological figure.
Legal Status: Citizen of Olympus.
Other Aliases: Jupiter, Jove (his Roman names), the Thunderer, God of
Thunder, King of the Gods, KingZeus11419.
Marital Status: Married, but that hasn't stopped him.
Known Relatives: Gaia (grandmother), Ouranos (grandfather), Kronos
(father, imprisoned), Rhea (mother), Hades, Poseidon (brothers),
Hestia, Demeter (sisters), Hera (sister, second wife), Metis (first
wife, swallowed), Apollo, Ares, Dionysus, Heracles, Hephaestus, Hermes
(immortal sons), Aphrodite, Artemis, Athena, Eileithyia, Eris, Hebe,
Persephone (nee Kore) (immortal daughters).  For his extended family
tree, reference Hesiod's _Theogeny_ and other classical works.
Place of Birth: Isle of Crete, Greece.
Group Affiliation: Gods of Olympus.
Base of Operations: Deific Plane of Olympus.
First Appearance: SPELLBINDER: MYSTIC DEFENDER #1.
History: The mythstory of Zeus (and the Olympian pantheon worshipped
by ancient Greece and surrounding regions) is well-chronicled.  As the
Greek influence grew in the Mediterranean and Middle East, so too did
the worship of the pantheon.  The Romans knew him as Jupiter, often
shortened to Jove, and the Roman Empire at its height worshipped him.
Zeus and the rest of the Olympians were on top of the world, and
enjoying life to the fullest.
	Then something very strange happened.  Roughly two thousand years
ago, Olympus and its underworld realms, Hades and Tartarus, were cut
off from Earth.  As the gods failed to make appearances, their
worship, initially sustained by the highly regimented Roman clergy,
fell off sharply as a sect of a little-known monotheistic religion
that originated in the vicinity of what is now Israel, Syria, and
Jordan grew in popularity.  (Some of the more scholarly gods, such as
Hermes, Athena, and Hephaestus, have attributed this to a "Reality
Quake", similar to the event of a few years ago.)
	Shorn from the worship of mortals of Earth, Zeus and his family
looked elsewhere for worshippers.  These They found on other mortal
planes, ultimately being worshipped not, as on Earth, by a segment of
the population, but by the entire billion-plus populations of these
other planets.
	With the most recent Reality Quake, Olympus regained its ties to
Earth.  However, without their ties to Earth over the last two
millennia, they have grown to where if they were to manifest on Earth
without the aid of various phylacteries, they would destroy it.
Obviously, as the gods of Olympus love mortals - and Zeus in
particular the women - they don't want to do this.
	Zeus was originally the guiding force behind the Mystic Defender
program (see Spellbinder).  Not long after the program was
implemented, however, Zeus was informed about a delightful new
invention among mortals called the Internet.  Since then, he has
discovered console games, online multiplayer games, and online porn,
all of which have caused him to shut himself in his chambers; he has
essentially left the guidance of the Mystic Defender program to his
mischievous son, Hermes.
	Recently, Athena has put forth a motion to remove Zeus from his
throne.  How Zeus will react to this news is yet to be revealed.
Height: Variable.
Weight: Variable.
Eyes: Blue-gray.
Hair: White.
Build: Muscular.
Ethnicity: Olympian (appears Greek).
Uniform: None.
Strength Level: As strong as he needs to be!
Known Superhuman Powers: Zeus has the power to command the weather,
particularly storms and lightning.  In times past, his moods would
influence the weather around ancient Greece; a good mood would permit
clear skies, while a foul mood would cause torrential downpours and
random lightning strikes, among other weather effects.
Limitations: Zeus has a raging libido, which often gets him into
trouble (particularly with his current wife, Hera).  It's a miracle he
wasn't also known as the god of sex!


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