VELOCITY

NAME: Maximillian Morell.
OCCUPATION: Sciences instructor at Collegium Caine.
STATUS: US citizen, no criminal record.
EDUCATION: Working on his third doctorate.
MAIN POWERS: Hyperspeed intellect and reflexes.

Maximillian Morell is from an alternate future where humanity has made numerous contacts with alien species, but it still has yet to unite on its homeworld. The United States of his day has to contend with a rogue state known as the Republic of Borneo, Davao, Siam and Myanmar (BDSM). This East Asian superpower has been experimenting with temporal mechanics, and it refuses to enter into any disarmament or biomedical-ethics treaties.

Max’s research has resulted in the Oak Tree Theorem, which posits that an infinite number of alternate universes exist based upon all the possible outcomes of every pivotal historical and prehistorical event. His own past is in one of this universe’s possible futures, but his presence in it means that this universe’s future will follow a different branch of events.

Maximillian Morell’s arrival in Ravensgate is a direct result of the arms race with the BDSM Republic. He was testing a temporal-displacement device for his temporal-mechanics doctoral dissertation. He was also attempting to save the 70 billion doomed inhabitants in and around the solar system of Deneb, which unexpectedly went supernova. The machine, based on the manipulation of the Nth Particle ("Nthium"; discovered by Max in his home timeline), went haywire and dropped Max into Ravensgate in 1999. He is currently trying to find a way to obtain Nthium—-which is found only in deep interstellar space—-and return home.

S: 12 (1.2)            BASIC HITS: 4 (Weight 190)
E: 30 (3.8)            CARRY CAP.: 450
I: 35 (1.8)            BASE HTH DMG.: 1d6
A: 32 (3.1)            HEALING RATE: 3.6
C: 13 (+2/-3/+1)       MOVEMENT: 904” to 2404”
INITIATIVE: 61-70
ACCURACY: +9 (+10 HTH) DAMAGE: +8
HIT POINTS: 102        POWER: 108
DETECT HIDDEN: 22      DETECT DANGER: 26
INVENTING PTS.: 16.6   CASH: unspecified
LEVEL: 6
TRAINING: +2 END, +1 HTH, +2 INT.

POWERS (altered by events in “Anime Mundi”):
1) HEIGHTENED INTELLIGENCE B (+21).
2) HEIGHTENED EXPERTISE (all, +4).
3) HEIGHTENED SPEED (+830” and +28 Base Initiative): When in motion, use MOV instead of CARRY CAP. to determine Base HTH Damage (1d8 up to 960”, 1d10 up to 1920”, 1d12 up to 3840”, 2d8 up to 7680”, etc.).
4) ABSORPTION OF INCOMING HIT POINT DAMAGE:
a) Upper limit of 30 (END) points absorbed per round.
b) Absorbed points fade at a rate of 1 per round.
c) +50” MOV per point absorbed.
d) May expend 1d4 absorbed points for a Power Blast at R=12 (STR).
e) Initiative unaffected by extra speed from Absorption.

SKILLS:
5) HEIGHTENED DEFENSE (+4).
6) HEIGHTENED AGILITY A (+18).
7) HEIGHTENED ENDURANCE A (+15).

WEAKNESS:
8) VULNERABILITY: +4 to be hit, Paralysis.

Velocity

Nevermore's Evaluation: Velocity's brain can process and interpret information at least one hundred times faster than that of the normal human. He is a hybrid-modality, deductive learner--or so it would appear given his ability to process information. This may explain why he obtained a PhD at age 19.

He is one of two people I have ever met who has re-written the IQ tests I've given him--annotated and with footnotes! [See also Frisson.] He and Frisson have at least 100 IQ points on Jeopardy [q.v.], who is the highest-scoring test subject I've been able to measure. Velocity possesses reflexes 43 times faster or more accurate than that of the normal human, and he is capable of expending, converting and/or storing vast amounts of energy.

Velocity's adjustment to our time, approximately two centuries before his birth, is something of a marvel. While he is loathe to study history--ours deviates slightly from his--and is prone to making assumptions, he is not hindered by his unfamiliarity with our time. Instead, he has become a linchpin of the team--physically, intellectually and as a leader.