Character Name: Arclight Real Name: Alyona Sokolov
Side: Evil
Gender: Female Height: 5'7”
Weight: 140 lbs
Age: 21
Physical Description: An somewhat average looking Caucasian female of Slavic descent with blonde hair and blue eyes. Her costume (if you can call it that) is very minimalist - knee-high boots, a bikini top and bottom, a choker collar, and a domino mask, all in white.
STR: 10
END: 13
INT: 10
AGL: 15
CHA: 11
Level: 2nd
XP: 2,496
Basic Hits: 3
Hit Points: 7 Healing Rate: 0/9/day
Movement: 38” (running), 572" (flying)
Power: 48
Carrying Capacity: 161 lbs
HTH Damage: 1d4
Damage Modifier: +1
Accuracy: +2
Detect Hidden: 8%
Detect Danger: 12%
Inventing: 30%
Inventing Points: 2.0
Reaction Modifier: -
Training: Strength
Powers/Talents
Absorption (light-based attacks): gains 2 pts of Power for every point of damage that would normally be done by a light-based attack. Also, can gain one point of Power per minute from sufficient ambient light (sunlight, strong indoor lighting) that her skin is exposed to.
Flight: 130 mph (572") - this is much more taxing than most flying characters have to deal with, as PR cost is 1 pt per
turn, not per hour.
Force Field: can only use the 'Force Screen' option; can not be used as a Pummeling attack.
Heightened Expertise: +4 to hit with Light Control attacks.
Light Control: range 30", 2d8 damage, PR=1.
Weaknesses
Mute
Areas of Knowledge
Transportation, Crime
Character Notes/Origin/Personality: The daughter of Russian emigres who moved to the U.S. and the fall of the Soviet Union, Alyona was something of a problem child, falling in with a local street gang during her teenage years. As she got older, she became the 'wheelman' for various armed robbery attempts. Eventually arrested, she spent a couple of years in juvenile hall, to be released on her 18th birthday.
She drifted a bit on her release, committing small crimes, a little more careful not to get caught again. Eventually, she wound up joining the
Scarlet Queen's gang of henchman, putting her skills as a driver to good use. Things weren't going too bad for her, all told; the Queen paid her minions fairly well, and those that got captured usually got rescued from jail fairly quickly. It wasn't a bad gig, from her way of thinking.
However, as the Queen's superpowered followers grew in number, so did the number of superheroes who came into conflict with the Queen and her minions. One such foe was
Nemesis, a vigilante who injured and killed several of the Queen's non-powered henchman, as well as seriously injuring a couple of her superpowered followers before being forced to retreat. Alyona was one of the henchmen seriously injured by Nemesis, her throat slashed by the vigilante's dagger.
Alyona was rushed by her compatriots to an underground doctor who asked no questions and took cash up front. The doctor managed to save the young woman's life, but could not restore the damaged vocal chords; Alyona would never be able to speak again. As a form of compensation, the Scarlet Queen gave Alyona a choice to be bestowed superpowers; Alyona accepted, despite the risk; she hoped that if she survived whatever new abilities would be granted her would somehow be able to restore her power of speech.
Alyona survived the process, gaining several light-based powers, but nothing to heal her destroyed vocal chords. This has left Arclight (as she is now called) conflicted. She is grateful to the Scarlet Queen for her new abilities, but on some level she also blames the Queen for what has happened to her. For the moment, she still follows the Scarlet Queen - the Queen's minions and followers are the closest thing to family she has these days - but under the right circumstance she might betray them, if it benefited her enough. However, she knows that despite her powers she's not really cut out for solo activity, and that the chance of her getting any followers of her own are fairly slim, so the payoff for such a theoretical betrayal would need to be extraordinary, enough so that she could start a new life entirely.
Overall, Arclight is a fairly solid (if somewhat unimaginative) team player, and generally works well with others, despite whatever misgivings she may have. Two things might override her willingness to work with others. The first is if an opportunity shows up to somehow heal her damaged throat. The second is a chance to revenge herself against Nemesis. Either of these situations would probably cause her to forsake whatever mission or goal her allies are set upon, abandoning her compatriots if necessary in favor of her personal obsessions.
Campaign Use: As noted above, Arclight will usually be encountered as part of a team. Despite her defensive abilities, she knows that all it takes is one good blow to take her out of a fight, and so she works in tandem with others. She will often try to blind foes so that her allies can more easily take them out of the fight.
If needed as a solo villain, she will probably be encountered trying to find a way to heal her damaged throat, perhaps kidnapping or coercing a healer like
Sanadora towards that end. In such an instance she might make a good threat for an inexperienced solo superhero.
