Each of the Four Horsemen represents one of four
ideals: war, disease, famine and death. The leader of the group, Death, created
the other Horsemen through the power of his mystic Terminus Sceptre, and is
using them to help him search for similar artifacts. The Four Horsemen are supernatural
beings that spread chaos and destruction wherever they tread. They have become consumed by anger and hate
and derive a perverse feeling of enjoyment and accomplishment from the sorrow, destruction and death that they cause.
Each of the horsemen has his own particular focus for destruction. War uses feelings of blinding rage, anger, hatred, revenge,
prejudice and greed as part of his arsenal; all of which are used
to incite acts of aggression, war, murder, and wholesale destruction. Famine uses indifference, ignorance and desperation
born
from hunger and the desire to survive, as well as hate and
prejudice, to sow its seeds of despair, sorrow, death and destruction. Pestilence spreads sickness/disease often assisted by the
Deaths, prejudice, and hatred of others. Death is the brains and
nurturer of the other three. In many respects, he symbolizes the
culmination of the others’ activities and serves as the general
who inspires, directs and encourages chaos and slaughter at the
hands of his tireless and loyal troops.
The Horsemen engage in large-scale acts of senseless destruction, from which they would seem to derive no direct gain. They could be considered terrorists, save that they have never allowed any opportunity for their victims to buy them off — indeed they have never issued demands of any kind. Anyone who attempts to interfere with their activities is treated most harshly. Death has been searching for lost artifacts of a similar nature to his Terminus Sceptre. From time to time he has picked up on some tenuous leads, usually "sensed” through the Sceptre. The plan of action in each case is the same. The Horsemen arrive at a location determined by Death, and while most of the Horsemen then indulge themselves in expressing their aspects, Death and Pestilence search out the object of Death's quest. Death has picked up a number of small objects of a nature seemingly similar to his sceptre, but none of them have proved of any use. Still this has not deterred Death in continuing his search. The attack on the heroes was yet another link in the chain. Death was after an item left with THUNDER. He didn't know initially that it was guarded by them. Death often scouts potential artifact sites before attacking, sometimes with the aid of one or more of his more subtle followers.
| Death | ||||
 |
Name | Steven Wakson | Alignment | Chaotic Evil |
| INT | 13 | STR | 10 | |
| WIS | 10 | CON | 14 | |
| CHA | 9 | DEX | 14 | |
| AC | 0 | MR | 18 | |
| HPs | 160 | Age | 41 | |
| Category | 9th level Avatar Divine | |||
| Powers | Harm, Necroscopic Touch, Medium | |||
| Sorcery Mastery | Necromantic, Diabolical | |||
| Biography | ||||
| While everyone has the full range of human emotions,
in many people one emotion, one trait, may dominate. This is especially common
in people of exceptional willpower or in unbalanced personalities. Steven believed that
this dominant trait, or Aspect , could be summoned forth
to control an individual's personality. In so doing, the
subject would be able to tap unguessable power. By drawing upon the power of the
Terminus Sceptre, Steven
called forth his own Aspect. Thus was born Death, first of
the Horsemen. He knew that if he examined a large
enough group of people, he could find a subject with any
Aspect he desired. Death could, if he wished, conjure forth such Aspects as
Courage, Nobility and Strength. However, he saw advantage in doing so. Death concentrated instead
upon the darker side of human nature. He began creating
Horsemen, one by one, summoning forth such Aspects
as War, Famine, and Pestilence.
Not everything went Death's way. He could never be certain exactly what Aspect a
subject would produce. Deciding that additional Horsemen might be more than he could control, Death made use of other powers in the Terminus Sceptre. In an elaborate ceremony, he summoned a wraith from the nether planes to serve him. The spirit was totally enslaved to Death's will and possessed a number of useful abilities, such as flight and the power to drain life energies. The remaining Horsemen are quite content to follow Death's lead. While the dominance of one Aspect gives enormous power, it also limits the scope of the person's desires. Each of the Horsemen is obsessed with his or her Aspect. Death is careful to allow the other Horsemen sufficient opportunity to exercise their Aspects, just ensuring that they do so in a manner beneficial to his plans. The Horsemen also feel varying degrees of gratitude to Death for his gifts of power, and varying degrees of Death that he might somehow take the power back if offended. Death has experienced trouble in controlling the other Horsemen once they have been set free to ravage and destroy. This has led to long, pointless battles with interfering superheroes. |
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| Famine | ||||
 |
Name | Mya Sokee | Alignment | Chaotic Evil |
| INT | 13 | STR | 12 | |
| WIS | 10 | CON | 20 | |
| CHA | 10 | DEX | 15 | |
| AC | 0 | MR | 11 | |
| HPs | 130 | Age | 21 | |
| Category | 7th level Avatar Divine | |||
| Powers | Absorb Life, Attribute Leech, Manipulate Adipose (especially reduction of fat) | |||
| Sorcery Mastery | Biomancic, Diabolical | |||
| Biography | ||||
| Mya Sokee was very sick as a child; for her first few years
it was difficult for her to eat more than a little at a time. Though completely cured by the time she turned four, she always felt hungry, even after consuming enough food for three people her own age. Never without food at hand, poor Mya grew fat, and was unmercifully taunted by one and all about her chubbiness. Mya hated her tormentors; Mya grew to hate everyone. They should know what it means, she felt, to go constantly hungry. When Death one day offered her the chance to inflict hunger and misery on all her old enemies Mya delightfully accepted, and Famine was born. Famine's hatreds are hardly rational. She dislikes healthy people, for she never was; she hates skinny people, for they seem to have never known the lash of their fellow man's contempt; but most of all she despises fat people, for they remind her of her old self. Famine is somewhat fragile. Slamming hand-to-hand assaults hurt her more than any other kind of attack. As a result, she naturally tends to avoid the company of big hulking brutish bricks, often dodging and calling for help from her fellow Horsemen. Any form of healing or regenerative effect used on Famine conflicts catastrophically with Famine's own aspect. The result is a severe shock to her system, to the point of possibly knocking her out of a battle altogether. Famine's appearance is that of a person shrunken by long starvation to a mere skin-wrapped skeleton. In fact, anyone who lays eyes on Famine has a very hard time believing the villain can possibly still be alive. |
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| Pestilence | ||||
 |
Name | Damian Sackorf | Alignment | Chaotic Evil |
| INT | 13 | STR | 13 | |
| WIS | 10 | CON | 11 | |
| CHA | 8 | DEX | 10 | |
| AC | 0 | MR | 10 | |
| HPs | 130 | Age | 35 | |
| Category | 7th level Avatar Divine | |||
| Powers | Infectious, Putrefy, Control Insect | |||
| Sorcery Mastery | Void Elemental, Diabolical | |||
| Biography | ||||
| Damian Sackorf always had a frail, sickly appearance. Although healthy, he manipulated everyone about him by complaining of his various illnesses. Damian became quite an expert on diseases. For years he split his time between studying existing ones and inventing new ones to spring on his unsuspecting audiences. He grew to love the attention, the power over others that his 'sickness' brought him. And with each poor sympathizer Damian sucked in, his lust for newer and greater illnesses grew. Death ran across Damian in a doctor's office, and was very impressed with Damian's act. Death offered Damian a job, which was gleefully accepted. And with the raising of Damian's Aspect, Pestilence joined the Horsemen. Now Pestilence could share his illnesses with the world at large. He loved to see people fall ill and weaken, while he remained strong. Pestilence hated to be foiled, and healthy people, especially abnormally healthy ones like superstrong 'bricks'. But Pestilence does have his weaknesses. Like Famine, any kind of applied regeneration or healing power conflicts with his Aspect, dealing grave injury to his system. Pestilence is also especially vulnerable to the traditional enemies of Pestilence; the purging of the sick by fire and acid. Pestilence's appearance is a ghastly one. His skin is a fleshy, light green colour, scored by deep crevices and gullies. His eyes have a feverish glint, his hair is coarse, dead black. Pestilence wears an outfit of ragged clothing, like that found on a rotting corpse. Whatever colour it may have been has faded to a dirty grey. As a final touch, Pestilence wears a tattered shawl about his head. | ||||
| War | ||||
 |
Name | Kim Archer | Alignment | Chaotic Evil |
| INT | 10 | STR | 150 | |
| WIS | 10 | CON | 50 | |
| CHA | 11 | DEX | 25 | |
| AC | 0 | MR | 50 | |
| HPs | 140 | Age | 32 | |
| Category | 7th level Avatar Divine | |||
| Powers | Enhanced Strength, Enhanced Stamina, Enhanced Regeneration, Enhanced Molecular Structure, Infuse Weapon Fire and Cold, Accelerated Vision and Hearing | |||
| Sorcery Mastery | Combatic, Diabolical | |||
| Biography | ||||
| Kim Archer was the stereotypical professional soldier. Serving with honour in the Green Berets in Afghanistan throughout the entire war, Kim faced (he thought) a long, bleak future in a military which belonged to a country which would no longer use it. And Kim didn't like the idea one bit, for he loved combat, the conflict and noise of pitting himself against the enemy, testing for who was the superior warrior. Kim knew he wasn't cut out for a peacetime army. So he left the service, travelled to Africa and tried his hand at soldiering for gold. It was there that he met Pestilence, and through him Death. Death offered him unending conflict, and a slot in the Horsemen. Kim fairly leaped at the chance, and became War. Now Kim is thoroughly enjoying himself. Whenever the Horsemen fight, War is in the heart of the battle, selecting the most appropriate opponents for himself, sometimes stopping to offer advice and tactical hints to friend and foe alike. Death often tries to order War to smash this opponent or that, but War basically ignores him, only occasionally doing something for Death to keep him happy. War does after all feel somewhat indebted to Death for the gift of his powers. Any mental attempt to turn War aside from his chosen path of violence and combat runs directly counter to his Aspect; the result can be most damaging to War's nervous system. As it is, War is somewhat vulnerable to sly, underhanded attacks; poisons and toxins have an enhanced effect on his souped-up metabolism. The one thing War cannot stand is taunts or insults to his profession. To War, warfare has a long and glorious tradition on this planet, and is an occupation employing only the finest, fittest individuals the race possesses. Any attempt to sully the finery of war can literally drive War into a berserk rage. War's appearance is that of a large, powerfully-built man, wearing an abbreviated outfit of vaguely Roman-like armour. The armour is obviously too brief to be anything other than for show. In addition, War carries a very large, double-bladed waraxe, which he may swing either single or double handed. Normally War doesn't resort to the axe, preferring to rely upon his own innate strength. But if he meets a worthy opponent, or one who doesn't show the proper respect, the axe will come out. | ||||
| Nightmare |
|
Each of the horsemen and woman ride a 9th level Nightmares which they can summon at will. A nightmare resembles a large black horse, though flames wreathe its hooves and trail from its nostrils. It is able to travel to the Dreamscape and can bring its rider therewith. Nightmares sometimes serve powerful evil creatures as mounts. Nightmares are hateful of material life. They will often attack any creature they encounter (and will sometimes attack the lower planar creatures, too). Type: Undead Spirit Setting: Graveyards, cemeteries, underground tunnels and catacombs, caverns, sewer tunnels and complexes, abandoned mines, abandoned warehouses, the basements of old tenement buildings and houses, swamps, marshes and bayous, small or remote islands, derelict ships, deserted shopping malls. Era: Any Physical Traits: Nightmares look like large, powerful horses with a jet black coat. Nightmares have glowing red eyes, flaming orange nostrils, and hooves that burn like embers. Their flowing manes and great tails are ragged and wild. Height: 1.6 metres Weight: 250 kgs Mobility: Mystical Sensory Organs: Mystical Communication: None Reproduction: None INT: 3D6, WIS: 3D6, STR: 3D6, DEX: 3D6, CON: 4D6, CHA: D6, MR: 6D6/flight 11D6, HPs: 6D8 +6 AC: -4, Thac0: 13 Abilities: 2) Their burning hooves each inflict D6+4) points of damage per attack and will set any combustibles on fire. 3) Nightmares emit a smoking, hot cloud of noxious vapours. It blinds and chokes all those within 10 feet of the evil steed. Victims must make a saving throw vs. paralyzation or be at a -2 penalty on their attack and damage dice. 4) Although they have no wings, nightmares are able to magically propel themselves through the air at an impressive rate. Feeding Habits: Fresh human flesh. Lifespan: Unknown |
Terminus Sceptre - The arcane relic of the Ancient Ones known as the
Terminus Sceptre can be used to confer great power upon its
wielder. The actual powers granted may vary according to
individual needs and particular personality bents. Anyone who touches the sceptre will be subject to a torrent of horrid, seemingly insane
images from the times of the Ancient Ones, while the sceptre attunes itself to his touch. This period will last for
approximately one minute, while the new wielder of the sceptre will most likely be frozen in place. Anyone who has
kept his sanity while undergoing this process may afterwards handle the sceptre at any time, without any penalty.
The Terminus Sceptre may be used to reverse its earlier
effects, freeing anyone unwillingly altered by Death. The
Horsemen likewise could be returned to their original,
human states. However, it is most unlikely the the new
wielder of the scepter will realize that such a reversal of
individuals subjected to long-term transformation by the
scepter would only be temporary; only an equally longterm treatment by the scepter would permanently destroy
the Horsemen's superhuman identities.
Others may lust after the Scepter’s powers; the Dark Raiders, the Cult of Kali,
the Order of Stygia, etc.
