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Thread: The Mercury Man

  1. #1
    Site Moderator geeman's Avatar
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    Here`s a new (slightly tongue in cheek) awnshegh. While it was obviously
    inspired by the discussion of the T2000 as a viable BR character I like to
    pack in a lot of additional, speculative material into these kinds of
    things, so there is actually some stuff in here that might be useful in a
    campaign even without the awnshegh. There`s a couple of hints in the
    background regarding some past topics discussed in this forum that I`ve
    found entertaining. Hopefully you guys will too.


    The Mercury Man
    No one knows the origin of the being called the Mercury Man and he has
    shown no inclination to tell his tale. It is not even known if the Mercury
    Man is, in fact, a man. His amorphous body and ability to take on any
    humanoid appearance has led to considerable speculation as to what his
    actual physical form may be. Many believe that he is an elf, for his first
    recorded appearance was in that form as he emerged from the forested lands
    of the Sielwode, and he does seem to favor a thin-featured, elf-like
    countenance even as a human. Others doubt that he has any true elven
    heritage, for what little information that has been leaked from the
    secretive elves of the Sielwode indicates that he slew many of them as he
    crossed that land. Not surprisingly, no elven people claim him as one of
    their own.
    Some say that the Mercury Man is not an awnsheghlien at all. He is an
    agent of Azrai`s ghost, the Cold Rider, sent from the Shadow World to wreak
    havoc upon the lands of light. Others point out the similarities of his
    metallic body to that of the construct Ghurdelli and speculate that his
    origins lie in infernal planes even further afield than the Shadow
    World. The Gessarin College of Bards believe that the Mercury Man`s
    appearance is the beginning stages of a prophetic poem being
    fulfilled. The poem was written shortly after the death of Michael Roele
    by the founder of the Gessarin College and Keeper of the Imperial Records,
    Stenobus Rall. [Note: The meter is thrown off somewhat in translation from
    Andu to English, but the rhyming scheme has remained miraculously intact....]

    The Gorgon slew the noble Roele
    And threw his body down
    But the Black Prince lost his mighty soul
    Which passed into the ground

    The blood of kings has slept for years
    Through agony and strife
    Soon shall end this time of tears
    When he returns to life

    All those who know of what will come
    Will have much cause to sing
    For as a boy called Sara`s son
    There shall return a king.

    Once more will have the Iron Throne
    An emperor to bear
    For in the very earth was sown
    His royal derriere

    [Sorry, I couldn`t resist.... The last line should be really "The blood of
    Roele so fair")

    His cause will cross all of Anuire
    The lands again unite
    He`ll claim his place as Roele`s heir
    For that is his birthright.

    But ere his rule can ever start
    Before he takes his place
    He must escape one with no heart,
    Nor eyes, nor ears, nor face

    The boy must pass a trial by pain
    And conquer all his fears
    Or the soul of Roele will sleep again
    For another thousand years

    Whatever the truth of the Mercury Man`s origin it is clear that he is a
    ruthless and single minded killer that feels no remorse nor pity.
    It is recorded that the Mercury Man crossed into Medoere in 1483MR
    where he slew many soldiers and civilians alike. Those killings, however,
    seemed incidental to his purpose, for after killing a young priestess of
    Haelyn in the province of Byrnnor he disappeared. None know what form he
    took to evade capture, but he went unnoticed until witnesses in Gulfport
    town of Clear Shores (Osoerde) reported seeing a man who appeared to be the
    local constable suddenly "come alive with blades that sprouted from his
    very hands" quickly murdering a young boy and his mother while they were at
    work repairing fishing nets. When authorities went in force to the home of
    the constable to place him under arrest they found his body there along
    with the rest of his family, viciously killed. It appeared that they had
    been killed several hours before.
    The whereabouts of the Mercury Man are presently unknown.

    OK, so all we need now are stats.... My plan was to duplicate the T2000`s
    abilities for the most part, so he`d have a vicious unarmed attack, a power
    like Alter Self, damage reduction and/or some sort of
    regeneration. Anything else?

    Gary

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  2. #2
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    Nice idea. However I would like to point out that Mercury is a very dangerous (biological) material. As a result it has more a Superhero or a SciFi flair.

    Make shure to include some biohazard or poison stats. Without magic a "lifeform" of mercury should not be possible. It's extremely toxic, even for people feets away.
    my purpose is now to lead you into the Pallace where you shall have a clear and delightful view of all those various objects, and scattered excellencies, that lye up and down upon the face of creation, which are only seen by those that go down into the Seas, and by no other....

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    I seem to remember an awnshegh with this general profile... The Gorgon
    killed him (or so we are told) by freezing him with his petrification
    ability...

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  4. #4
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    Originally posted by Birthright-L


    I seem to remember an awnshegh with this general profile... The Gorgon
    killed him (or so we are told) by freezing him with his petrification
    ability...

    You mean the Diabolyk. If you follow the previous thread, you find out that geeman intended something different.
    my purpose is now to lead you into the Pallace where you shall have a clear and delightful view of all those various objects, and scattered excellencies, that lye up and down upon the face of creation, which are only seen by those that go down into the Seas, and by no other....

  5. #5
    Site Moderator geeman's Avatar
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    Azrai writes:

    > Nice idea. However I would like to point out that Mercury is a very dangerous (biological) material. As a result it has more a Superhero or a SciFi flair.
    >
    > Make shure to include some biohazard or poison stats. Without magic a "lifeform" of mercury should not be possible. It`s extremely toxic, even for people feets away.

    I wasn`t even really thinking that he`d actually be mercury. I was just
    thinking some amorphous metal. Aside from mercury being the most obvious,
    the M in Mercury had a cute alliteration with the M in Man. Better, at
    least, than the Q in Quicksilver would have. Same stuff, I know, but I had
    really been thinking it would be more of a flavor description than the
    actual chemical makeup of his body.

    Gary

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  6. #6
    > Azrai writes:
    >
    > > Nice idea. However I would like to point out that Mercury is a very dangerous (biological) material. As a result it has more a Superhero or a SciFi flair.
    > >
    > > Make shure to include some biohazard or poison stats. Without magic a "lifeform" of mercury should not be possible. It`s extremely toxic, even for people feets away.
    >
    > I wasn`t even really thinking that he`d actually be mercury.

    Mercury has relative toxicity - and there are many, many forms. Some can be leathal in drops, dermal, oral, or inhalation and some you can safely drink small amounts (still not recommended).

    A poisoning-type of mercury man is kind of a cool idea. He could leave fragments of his blades inside the victim and you could have them cause some nifty effects.

    He might have an Int Drain as a secondary effect 2 weeks.

    Eosin

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  7. #7
    Site Moderator Ariadne's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Eosin the Red

    Mercury has relative toxicity - and there are many, many forms. Some can be leathal in drops, dermal, oral, or inhalation and some you can safely drink small amounts (still not recommended).
    I'm still of the opinion you SHOULDN't drink Mercury and its compounds. Letality in drops is partly right for oral, but not for dermal (only, if you take a bath of mercury) or inhalation. You're right that HgS (Zinnober [spelling??? I only know the German word for this paint color]) is less toxic than HgCl, because it's hard to split. I've further heared that you might get mercury compounds if you have cancer, but it still isn't this healthy...

    The mercury man seems to me of being of mercury itself (as an element) and that's... err... yes, that's toxic. An INT loss is a great idea... Another thing you can get from mercury (apart from less concentration) are neurotoxic things (several emzymes get blocked or you get shaky for example) so you might include an additional CON, STR or DEX damage.

    The greatest problem of the poisoning damage is that most things will happen about 5 to 20 years later (but so what, it's fantasy)...
    May Khirdai always bless your sword and his lightning struck your enemies!

  8. #8
    >>>>> I`m still of the opinion you SHOULDN`t drink Mercury and its compounds. Letality in drops is partly right for oral, but not for dermal (only, if you take a bath of mercury) or inhalation.>>>>>

    "An accidental spill of several drops of dimethylmercury onto the gloved hand of a female chemist resulted in the onset of diarrhea and nausea 2 months later which persisted for 3 months, then was followed by severe CNS toxicity, with profound effects on the cerebellum and eventual death, about 5-6 months post-exposure. Estimated initial body burden of mercury was approximately 1,344 milligrams (Siegler et al, 1999)."

    Organic Mercury is the most neurotoxic. Elemental Mercury is rather benign (IMO). Inorganic can be the most deadly (Acute nephrotoxicity and shock). But within each of these areas are some specific types that are more or less toxic than the categorical standard.

    "Large quantities of (elemental) mercury have been accidentally released into the gastrointestinal tract during surgical manipulations without serious effect. Non-persistent fistulous tracts were the only reported reaction (HSDB, 2002). "


    Guess what Eosin does to feed his kids? :)

    We could make a Mecuric Chloride Man but that just doesn`t have the right ring to my ear. He could cause the person to be "shaken" if they fail a save after being hit (Hard to do anything with bloody ummmmm... well you get the point.) That is still to fast for real life but it sounds good or bad whichever you prefer. :)

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  9. #9
    Site Moderator kgauck's Avatar
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    Maybe we could call him the Mad Hatter, and he could throw odd tea parties
    for the queen of hearts and other notable regents.

    Kenneth Gauck
    kgauck@mchsi.com

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  10. #10
    Ya beat me to it. Mad as a hatter, hot as a hair.


    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "Kenneth Gauck" <kgauck@MCHSI.COM>
    To: <BIRTHRIGHT-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM>
    Sent: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 10:12 PM
    Subject: Re: The Mercury Man [2#1427]


    > Maybe we could call him the Mad Hatter, and he could throw odd tea parties
    > for the queen of hearts and other notable regents.
    >
    > Kenneth Gauck
    > kgauck@mchsi.com
    >
    >
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