7/30 Parapsychic Martial Artists

Thomas 'The Dragon' Stellech

In an age of hypertechnology and instant convenience, the Dragon is a massive throwback. He doesn't own a phone, commband, or any other communication device. The only piece of technology he carries is a credstick for the rare occasion when he needs money, usually for tickets on a boat, or airplane. He wanders from city to city, living the life of an ascetic hermit. His feet are rough and calloused from years of walking barefoot across broken highways, forgotten cities and ruins of the old world. A student of Ansatsuken or the art of the murderous fist, Thomas was originally a con man and thug for the Black Dragon Syndicate in the Republic of California. His parapsychic awakening left him shaken. He left the gang after defeating most of them in hand to hand combat, and now seeks both inner enlightenment to understand his soul, and is perfecting his control over his impressive abilities.

Ansatsuken was developed in the Resource Wars as a form of hand to hand combat that had no purpose other than to kill the person being fought. It was never intended to be used in competition, nor did it have an overarching spiritual aspect as many martial arts do. Ansatsuken focuses on delivering powerful and direct punches and kicks. The Dragon is known in martial arts circles for the sheer amount of power he is able to focus into his special attacks. His 'Dragon Punch' is enough to shatter the chest plate of a Centurion type power armor, while the 'Dragon Uppercut' is almost instantly lethal to anything not wrapped in armor, or a fellow martial artist prepared to take the hit.

John Daniel Carlton

Also known as the JDC, John is a popular actor from a series of high action martial arts films. He is better known for his public playboy antics and his offbeat often comedic roles he plays in his movies. He is seldom ever a dramatic or grim lead, but rather a cartoonish buffoon who's good looks and charm outshine his physical prowess and skill. Carlton manifested parapsychic abilities on set, and his career was set after that, making him one of the poster children of publicly accepted parapsychics. John came from a broken home with a relentlessly alcoholic mother and a deceased father. He skirted through drug use and potential gang activity but found that martial arts offered him a way out. His Okinawan instructor was also a regular extra in filming action holovids and got Carlton into movies too. The witty good looking kid from Sacramento quickly rose in popularity, but never forgot his abused past, or hardships growing up in the gutters, in the shadows of the arcologies.

Carlton practices 'Shorin Ryu' an Okinawan martial art that is based on quick concise moves, fluid flexibility and core strength. While he is best known for being nigh untouchable in a fight (This is the part where you try and hit me, then you all fall down) his most potent ability utilizes his exceptional speed and photokinesis to deliver a 'shadow kick' that while not staggeringly powerful almost always take's it's target by surprise, or from a vulnerable angle. Played for laughs in the movies, Carlton frequently delivers punches and kicks to the groin, it is a much worse move in real combat. The power delivered in this vitals strike can sometimes cause foes to instantly black out, and may lead to permanent damage and dysfunction.

Kenworth 'Kenny' Hilton

The rich and spoiled son of Ferdinand Hilton, Kenworth was a rough and tumble youth with no impulse control and a desultory view of the world. Not willing to see the family fortune (The Hilton Space Habitat being among the most expensive pieces of real estate ever) Ferdinand sent his son to a group of martial arts instructors. Unbeknownst to the teachers, Kenworth had erupted parapsychic powers at a young age, and his attitude came from his ability to read minds and influence emotions. While both abilities were weak, he used them both extensively. He learned different fighting techniques, and how to beat each instructor by interacting with their peers. He became a paramount martial artist, and manifested greater physical abilities, but didn't lose the mischievous streak. He has returned to the urban corporate world, traveling in expensive aircraft, owning grandiose things, and traveling with a single bodyguard.

Kenny Hilton has mastered several martial arts styles, and can switch between them depending on the style of fighting his opponent is using. He is also stunningly fast and agile, which makes him a natural for competing in martial arts demonstrations and tournaments. His preferred martial art is Tae Kwan Do and he likes to do more 'work' with his feet than with his fists. He is best known for being able to deliver a stable axle kick.

Liu Shou

The single surviving son of a large family, Liu and his elderly grandmother were evacuated from a 'Storm Surge' caused by the implosion of the Yunnan Dimensional Physics Lab. Exposed to bursts of alien radiation, he was sick for months and it was only the constant attention of the Shaolin monks that saved Liu's life. At the age of 7 the boy manifested nearly uncontrolled pyrokinetic abilities. The monks taught him self control and discipline, and focused his newfound abilities into physical outlets. He became a very powerful fighter, and combined both somatic parapsychic abilities with his pryokinesis to create a formidable martial art. He left the temple, unsatified with the moral stances of the monks and went into the interior of China. He followed the military and sought out dimensional surges where he would use his martial arts skills to protect villages from the monsters that unofficially came out of nowhere to rape and kill. He was doing this work when he was discovered by the White Phoenix Society. He joined the supernatural order of magi and monks who were intent on containing the evil that was hidden from common sight, the demons and the yozis, criminal cyborgs and rogue parapsychics. He is now a pillar member of the order, a master of his pyrotechnic martial art, and some say in line to be the next Old Master of the Society

Shou fights in a classic Kung-Fu style, favoring acrobatic flying kicks, rapid punches and high mobility. His pyrokinesis is manifested as a flame projectile, flaming fists and a 'heatwave' flying kick. He seldom spars other than with the best students, as while a punch or a kick can be pulled to lessen injury, there is no way to pull a blast of pyrokinetic energy. Shou is also able to control and sculpt fire with his thoughts and hands, as well as do small things like lighting a candle from nothing with just a touch of his fingers. Shou has learned that exercising parapsychic abilities can lead to a negative condition where the abilities no longer function under his control, like opening the mouth of a dam too far keeps it from being controlled or closed. This is called 'Burning' and can last for hours or days. Shou has 'burned' several times, typically after major fights against surge beasts or the iron clad soldiers of ACPS parapsychic control squads.

Cadence 'Cade' Sturgis

Cade was a troubled youth since he was barely old enough to walk. His mother was a prostitute, and his father was one of the many men who came into her bedroom. He was raised in the criminal slums of New York, and his education came from the street gangs, the holovids and from violent games and comics. He became a skilled thug, mugger, knife fighter and found his calling as a street fighter. He ended up in jail on a double murder wrap, after killing a gang member and a dirty cop. He became a beast in prison, unstoppable in a fight, the guy who had to be tazered to be incapacitated. He has broken out of prison several times since erupting his parapsychic abilites. None of his powers are flashy, so he has thus avoided the attention of specially trained agents. He frequently wears prison clothes, only steals from rich people or rival gangs, and while poorly educated, is interested in politics.

Unlike many parapsychic martial artists, Cade has Brawl and Improvised Weapons as martial arts, allowing him to use almost anything as a lethal weapon either in rapid combos or in delivering powerful lethal attacks. His style of fighting is heavy on fast attacks, and making the most unseemingly dangerous things into killing devices. He can do more with a pencil than most people can do with a knife, and he has defeated professional combatants with things as bizarre as books, umbrellas, a skateboard, or the thermal vent tube from an alcohol combustion engine.

Bihan 'The Ice-Devil' Ohtsji

The Shen Kuei ninja clan is an ancient and malevolent order that knows the secret of parapsychic martial arts, but refer to the metaphysical realm as the Sanzu, and to cross that river is to enter the forsaken spirit realms. The Shen Kuei have had mystic rites that allowed them to create parapsychic warriors years before many people even know of the abilities or had a name for them. Bihan was born and groomed to become a Shen Kuei assassin, and his spiritual and physical torture were exquisite, as was his loyalty to the masters of the clan. He rose into adulthood as a strong and powerful man, utterly calm and devoid of fury and wrath. All of his negative emotions were channeled inward and into his parapsychic power, cyrokinesis. Rather than ranting and raving, Bihan can cause a room to suddenly go cold, and instead of clenched fists, rain turns into snow. His power is immense, as is his training in hand to hand combat, and his most feared ability is that of freezing a victim solid and then shattering their body with a crushing strike. Bihan is a spiritually desolate man, and his powers have been growing beyond controlling ice and physical enhancement.

Cryokinesis is an uncommon power as cold isn't really an element, or energy source like sound, light, or combustion. Rather it is manipulating a negative force, the absence of heat. Contrary to the laws of thermodynamics, cryokinetics aren't bleeding heat out of one location or manipulating the material on a quantum scale. Rather the heat is simply gone, vented into a mysterious elsewhere. Bihan uses a mixture of Kung Fu and a smattering of other martial arts. He vastly prefers to use his cryokinetic abilities to kill his foes, and has no concern of parapsychic 'burning'. Rather, Bihan considers the 'burn' to be a temporarily manifested god-form of cryokinesis and the Sanzu River.

Carter 'The Buffalo' Grand

Carter was born a poor son of a poor working class family in the contested Great Plains Region. He grew up in poverty and had dreams of wealth and power, but was shown that racism had never really gone away. He was regularly passed over, never given a chance, and on several occasions beaten up by locals. He left the plains farming commune to live in the big city of New Vegas. There he took up being a bouncer, then professional boxing. It was after having his third fight fixed against him that he erupted his parapsychic abilities. He was simply a tank and almost nothing could make him flinch. His punches were anti-tank rounds to his rivals heads and he instantly became a celebrity fighter for his one two knockout. Nothing could stop his stampede punch, or his low brow taste for money, women, and strong alcohol. The Buffalo eventually fell in with the wrong crowd, and lacked the wit to dance the line between rival criminal organizations. Instead of joining the Black Dragon Society, he opted to join with the Asian Yinggui crime organization. The Yinggui had a presence in New Vegas and in the Republic of California, but remained minor players outside of Southeast Asia and Indonesia.

The Buffalo is a known criminal, but rather than bust him and bring him in, the police have made him into a light house to draw other marginalized criminals in. Sometimes its better to leave in an enemy you know rather than have to hunt down the next one. Grand has killed several opponents in the ring, but his deliberate style of punishing boxing is popular with the masses, as is Grand's extravagant and sometimes bizarre lifestyle.