|
Fighting: |
In |
|
Agility: |
Ex |
|
Strength: |
In |
|
Endurance: |
Mn |
|
Reason: |
Ex |
|
Intuition: |
Ex |
|
Psyche: |
Gd |
|
Health: |
175 |
|
Karma: |
50 |
|
Resources: |
Am (Government backed) |
|
Popularity: |
20 |
Real Name: Rom
Occupation: Former Spaceknight of Galador, now progenitor of a new Galadorian race
Legal Status: Citizen of Galador
Identity: Rom’s existence was known to the people of Galador, the Dire Wraiths, and to many in the U.S. government and military, as well as to many of Earth’s super-human adventurers and the populace of Clairton, Virginia. The general public of Earth, however, did not know of Rom’s existence.
Place of Birth: The planet Galador, location unknown. Although the Galadorians claimed that Galador existed in the “Golden Galaxy” and was then moved to another galaxy by Galactus, it is unclear where Galador’s past and current locations are. Possibly Galador has always existed in the Milky Way Galaxy.
Marital Status: Now unofficially married
Known Relatives: Brandy Clark (unofficial wife)
Base of Operations: Galador, formerly Earth
Past Group Affiliations: Former member of the Spaceknights of Galador
Known Powers:
Acute Senses: Like his Earth equivalent, the terran raccoon, Rocket has Excellent senses of smell and vision, and is able to see in the dark with no penalty.
Equipment:
BodyArmor: Rom’s suit of armor provided him with Incredible protection against all physical, radiation, heatbased, and cold-based attacks. He could survive indefinitely in the vacuum of space.
Flight: Rom’s armor was equipped with twin rocket pods which enabled him to fly at Unearthly speed in the vacuum of space or at Monstrous Air speeds in an atmosphere. Rom also possessed sensors that enabled him to locate space warps with Monstrous ability and range, allowing “shortcuts” through space with CL1000 range.
Regeneration: Rom’s armor has a self-repair capability that provided him with Good Regeneration.
Energy Analyzer: This item could emit ultra-high frequency waves that scanned a being’s molecular structure. This caused Dire Wraiths to emit special waves visible to Rom’s optic sensors. The device could also be used to sense the energy potential of other items and beings. It could trace energy trails of Excellent or high Rank with Amazing ability.
Translator: This micro-computer could translate any language it heard for at least 6 consecutive turns. Once it had learned that language, it could store the information in Rom’s memory banks, allowing him to speak and understand it at will.
Neutralizer: Rom’s only actual weapon. Capable of neutralizing energy fields, when the Neutralizer’s beam is trained on a Dire Wraith, the target is hurled into a dimensional Limbo. Full-power, the Neutralizer could kill any being, but Rom rarely did this as full Karma penalties were applied.
At its lowest setting, the Neutralizer can neutralize radiation poisoning.
Only Dire Wraiths could be sent to Limbo; humans could not withstand the energy
release necessary. Anyone trying to use (not merely touch) the Neutralizer,
except Rom, would take Monstrous damage.
Note: The previous three pieces of equipment are normally stored in a
hyperdimensional pocket when not in use.
Contacts:
Rom was considered the greatest of the original Spaceknights. He worked with several groups of heroes on Earth, including the X-Men and the New Mutants. He was a close friend of Rick Jones and the human Brandy Clark, who later became Starshine. He had the full cooperation of the citizens of Clairton, West Virginia, and Brock Peters, the Torpedo. When the Wraiths threatened to displace Earth from its orbit, Rom cooperated with the U.S. Government, both Peter Gyrich and SHIELD. Rom assisted the mutant Forge in the creation of a larger protoype of his Neutralizer to banish the Wraithworld to Limbo.
Role-Playing Notes:
In many ways, Rom is the archetypical “good guy.” He believed strongly in the triumph of good over evil and never took a life when he could avoid it. Even when he did so he always felt great remorse.
History:
The Prime Director of Galador, learning of the Dire Wraith attack which destroyed the entire space fleet, asked the general populace of the planet for volunteers to sacrifice their human bodies and undergo surgical conversion into an army of cyborg warriors called Spaceknights, who would be adapted for the rigors of combat in outer space. Rom, the first of millions to volunteer in response to the public call, was one of a few hundred to be accepted and undergo conversion. He underwent surgery in which his brain was transplanted into an exoskeleton of cybernetic circuitry and armor, onto which his autonomic and central nervous systems were grafted. The rest of Rom’s original body, along with the rest of the original bodies of the rest of the Spaceknights, was safely preserved on Gatador. The Galadorians intended to restore the Spaceknights to human form once the war with the Dire Wraiths was over.
Rom and the other Spaceknights left Galador to stalk Dire Wraiths throughout the universe, and did so for nearly 200 Earth years. When a Galadorian probe detected a major concentration of Dire Wraiths on Earth, where shapechanging Wraiths disguised themselves as human beings, Rom volunteered to go to Earth to deal with the Wraith menace alone, lest the presence of the Spaceknight armada unduly alarm the local populace. Mentus, ruler of Galdor, agreed to Rom’s proposal and dispatched him. Rom arrived on Earth in recent years, landing in the town of Clairton, West Virginia.
Believing themselves defenseless without the Spaceknights, the Galadorians created a new generation of cyborg Spaceknights, who were designed to be more formidable than the originals.
Rom returned to Earth and continued his war against the Dire Wraiths. The Wraith sorcerers succeeded in destroying most of the population of Clairton, whose people had befriended Rom, including Brock Jones, the Torpedo.
However, Brandy Clark, who had fallen in love with Rom, was not killed by the Wraiths. Seeking to become like Rom, she had been magically united with the Spaceknight armor of the deceased Spaceknight Starshine by the Dire Wraith called Doctor Dredd. As the new Starshine, she became Rom’s closest ally in the war against the Wraiths. However, Clark was returned to human form by the creature called Hybrid.
The Wraiths intended that Wraithworld merge with the Earth, taking Earth’s place in space. A large number of Earth’s superhuman champions joined Rom in battling the Wraiths as Wraithworld approached. Then, in space, Rom used his Neutralizer weapon to power a gigantic neutralizer designed by the Earth scientist who calls himself Forge. Rom turned the power of the gigantic neutralizer against Wraithworld itself, canceling out its mystical energies, and thereby causing Wraithworld to cease to exist. Since the Dire Wraiths throughout the universe drew their mystical energies from Wraithworld, no Wraith sorcerer could use magic. Rom used his Neutralizer to banish all the remaining Wraiths on Earth to Limbo. (However, Dire Wraiths still exist elsewhere in the universe.) His mission on Earth completed, Rom left Earth to journey in outer space.
Later, the alien Beyonder sent Brandy Clark to Galador. She discovered that the new generation of Spaceknights had taken over the planet and destroyed most of its humanoid population. Thanks to a Shi’ar Stargate, Rom and a number of Spaceknights known as the Spaceknight Squadron also reached Galador. One of the second-generation Spaceknights, Heatwave, destroyed the cryogenically preserved bodies of the first- and second-generation Spaceknights without orders to do so from his leader, Dominor. The second-generation Spaceknights killed the remaining humanoid Galadorians.
Dominor had hoped that the secondgeneration Spaceknights would return to human form and act as progenitors of a new, stronger Galadorian race. However, Dominor now planned to mate with Brandy Clark, so that they would become the parents of the new Galadorian race. Opposed to Dominor’s plans, Rom defeated him in battle. In despair, Dominor used Rom’s Neutralizer to commit suicide.
The rest of the first-generation Spaceknights found Rom on Galador, and Clark found the cryogenically preserved portions of Rom’s body within an ancient crypt: they had not been destroyed after all. Rom returned to human form, and now he and Brandy Clark live happily together on Galador, protected by the first- generation Spaceknights. They intend to become the progenitors of the new Galadorian race themselves.