|
Fighting: |
Am |
|
Agility: |
Un |
|
Strength: |
Mn |
|
Endurance: |
Un |
|
Reason: |
Ex |
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Intuition: |
Mn |
|
Psyche: |
Am |
|
Health: |
325 |
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Karma: |
145 |
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Resources: |
|
|
Popularity: |
85 |
Real Name: Unrevealed
Occupation: Traveler, free spirit
Legal Status: Unknown
Identity: The Runner’s existence is not generally known to the citizens of Earth
Place of Birth: Unknown
Marital Status: Unknown
Known Relatives: None
Base of Operations: Known Universe
Past Group Affiliations: Elders of the Universe
Known Powers:
Body Armor: The Runner’s golden skin is tougher than ordinary flesh, giving him Excellent protection against all attacks.
Immortality: The Runner is immortal. He will not die if reduced to Zero Health and Shift 0 Endurance.
Invulnerability: The Runner is invulnerable to all hostile environments, including hard vacuum. He is invulnerable to heat, cold, energy, electricity, and radiation attacks. He is immune to the effects of poisons, diseases, or aging. He can be affected by slams and stuns, and is vulnerable to mental and magical attacks.
Cosmic Energy Control: The Runner is skilled with the manipulation of cosmic energy, and can use it to “run” at CL5000 speeds without fatigue. He can also channel the cosmic power into beams of energy or force at Shift-X intensity. The Runner can raise his Agility or Intuition to Shift-X rank for 10 rounds, and he can also use his power to track any unusual disturbance in the universe at Unearthly rank. As a trivial application of Cosmic Energy, the Runner can speak any language he cares to pay attention to.
Talents:
The Runner is nimble, and is considered to have Martial Arts E and Acrobatics skills. He is also charismatic, gaining a + 1 CS to any rolls he might make in conversation with another sentient being. He is also conversant with Astronavigation, for such times as he might want to know where he is.
Contacts:
The Runner is a member of the Elders of the Universe.
Role-Playing Notes:
The Runner gained entry into the Elders of the Universe due to his monomania for speedy exploration. He has dedicated his eternal life to being the first entity to witness the entire universe. The Runner has almost no other interests, and he often appears to others as frivolous. This easy-going attitude (perhaps augmented by discrete uses of Cosmic Power) makes it easy for the Runner to make friends with almost anyone he meets in his journeys.
History:
Like all Elders of the Universe, the Runner’s true origins are lost in antiquity. He is the sole survivor of a race that inhabited one of the first galaxies formed in the wake of the Big Bang. He once told the Silver Surfer that he is five billion years old.
Although both his galaxy and his race died long ago, the Runner found some key to longevity that enabled him to escape the fate of the rest of his species. The exact nature of this key remains unclear, but it seems related to total freedom. On one occasion, he told the Silver Surfer that had he been forced to endure captivity on one planet, he would have died.
At the same time, Runner’s freedom seems to prohibit the assumption of any responsibility for mortal life. He once informed Moondragon that a star would go nova in a decade or so. When Moondragon asked him to warn the inhabitants of the planets orbiting the star, Runner responded, “Alas, I don’t think I have the power to do that. I gave up much when I chose the path of freedom.” Apparently, the responsibility for warning the occupants of the star system would interfere with the freedom that is the key to his immortality.
Runner lives to see all there is in the universe and derives his greatest joy in the simple act of running through the universe. Presumably, he does not wish to die until he has seen the entire universe—a task close enough to impossible that he will not lose the will to live for billions of years.
If he ever does see the entire universe, however, Runner faces an eternity of boredom. Grandmaster recently tricked Death into barring all Elders from its realm. Perhaps the prospect of the universe’s finiteness compared to everlasting life is what convinced Runner to join the other elders in their recent bid to destroy Galactus. The destruction of Galactus might bring the end of the universe and the birth of a new one to destroy. The Elders were foiled in their attempt by the Silver Surfer, Mantis, and Nova. The Runner’s fate at this time remains uncertain.