telepathicignorance

Player: Shiny
Age: 33
Invited by: Ruka
Contact: mynameislegion

Character: Sidestep
Canon: Fallen Hero: Retribution, right before the car crash.
Age: Mentally and physically early 30s. Chronologically 18.

Background Information: (CW: mentions of abuse, suicide, medical experimentation, death, etc.)

An artificial Human (Re-Gene) created at a lab called the farm.

Escaped and became a vigilante.

Encountered Marshal Charge of the Rangers. There are two possible options for the identity of Charge: I chose Julia, the female version.

Charge and Sidestep became friends. Sidestep developed a crush.

Sidestep and Charge fought the villain Psychopathor. Due to their technological knowledge (player choice between Sidestep being streetwise or tech smart) Sidestep recognized the targeting system for Psychopathor's canon as a telepathic interface. Being a better tactician than fighter (player choice), Sidestep used their powers on the interface while Charge fought Psychopathor. They won.

Sidestep and Charge fought a villain named the Catastrofiend. Just as the Catastrofiend was about to kill Charge Sidestep shot it, saving her.

Someone launched a nanovore (nanites that eat organic material) attack. Sidestep saved the day.

The Rangers attacked the cult of the Green Sky. Sidestep and Charge were captured. Sidestep escaped with Charge and later killed(?) the cult leader.

Heartbreak, a telepath with powers that compelled people to suicide, settled in an apartment complex. Select rangers and Sidestep went to investigate, using dampeners and shields for protection. This proved insufficient; Anathema killed themselves, Sidestep's shields broke down and something invaded their mind and compelled Sidestep to put their gun in their mouth. Charge wrestled the gun away from them; they escaped and jumped out a fourth story window.

An ambulance manned by farm staff kidnapped Sidestep and claimed they’d died.

Farm scientists performed lifesaving surgery, probed Sidestep mentally and physically for data on Heartbreak, then performed abusive experiments on them.

Ranger Steel looked into Sidestep's "death". He obtained pictures of Sidestep's surgery, mistook it for an autopsy, and gave up.

Sidestep's powers increased, they began possessing people and eventually escaped.

Sidestep found a braindead body (I made them a woman named Jane.) and possessed it. Using "Jane" Sidestep worked their way into the villain underground and established contact with Dr. Mortum (I made Mortum a man.) who they commissioned to make a villain supersuit.

The design required a nanovore sample and telepathic interface. Sidestep possessed the ranger Lady Argent and stole the sample in the Ranger’s vault, then set the Special Directive on Psychopathor and stole his interface.

Sidestep unexpectedly reunited with Julia at a diner.

Julia asked Sidestep for telepathic help. (Sidestep can lie about being powerless; she’ll still want advice.) Julia brought Sidestep to help Lady Argent. Sidestep stalled.

I made Sidestep’s nemesis Charge.

Jane encountered Julia. I declined to flirt.

Suit was finalized. I chose a mysterious aesthetic with enhanced speed + jump jets, telepathic boosters, and a cape.

Mortum asked Jane out for drinks. While out, Jane predicted the outcome of a roulette spin.

Sidestep planned an attack on the opening night gala of the Heroic Heritage Museum. Their goal: destroy the Sidestep exhibit.

Sidestep "helped" Argent. They didn’t harm her beyond tweaking memories of who possessed her.

Sidestep received their suit.

Julia asked Sidestep to the gala; they refused.

I chose to have Jane go to the gala alone. She encountered reporter Mia Ochoa there.

Jane planted bombs in the museum. I opted for placing them where they were unlikely to cause death.

I opted not to kill civilians. Sidestep destroyed the exhibits.

Ranger Herald showed up, Sidestep beat and humiliated him.

I allowed the game to choose my villain name.

Sidestep fought Charge and won.

Argent attacked. Sidestep tricked her and fled. Argent pursued. Sidestep ambushed her and knocked her out.

Sidestep went to the hospital to check on Julia, kissed Julia on the forehead, fled.

The press named Sidestep’s villain identity Puppetmaster.

I opted to save people when possible.

Julia kissed Sidestep at the park.

I switched Sidestep’s motivation from revenge to anger and made them an anarchist.

Puppetmaster’s first target was politician Lou Carter. They broke into his mansion and encountered Steel. Their battle was interrupted by a bomb going off. Puppetmaster helped rescue the workers in the mansion. Carter died.

I switched Sidestep’s nemesis from Julia to themself.

Sidestep hid their base in a storefront.

Puppetmaster ambushed District Attorney Rahim in his car for a talk.

The Handyman, a vigilante, made the car crash. Puppetmaster saved Rahim and got the Handyman to admit to using him as bait, then beat the Handyman.

Argent showed up to help.

Puppetmaster used telepathy to trick Argent, but failed to beat her. Argent flirted with Puppetmaster, I declined. Argent left.

Puppetmaster gave a victory interview to Mia Ochoa.

Sidestep visited the Rangers and learned that Steel looked into their death.

Julia and Sidestep talked and Julia told them about punching a reporter at their funeral.

Sidestep left the Rangers headquarters. Herald grabbed them to fly them someplace more private to talk. Sidestep fainted.

Herald and Sidestep discussed Sidestep’s "retirement" from the hero business.

Herald asked Sidestep to help him train. I agreed.

Jane went to a club and flirted with Jake Manalo, henchman of villain Hollow Ground, so she could place a tracker on him.

Given the option to genuinely help Herald with training or undermine him, I opted to help. Sidestep agreed to a coffee date.

Puppetmaster had another interview with Mia Ochoa.

Jane attended an art exhibition with Mia Ochoa and introduced her to Rahim.

Puppetmaster targeted the mayor's aide Devereux. They crashed a meeting but ended up getting into a fight with hero Captain Blaze and decided to focus on him.

Sidestep went on their coffee date with Herald. I opted to have them stay friends.

Sidestep attended therapy.

Sidestep had dinner with Julia. They admitted they had feelings for each other and made out, Sidestep panicked, fled.

Jane contacted Julia, who got a call about a tip and let Jane accompany her while she spied on Jake.

Mortum told Jane that his stolen disintegration gun was up for sale at an auction, Jane convinced him to let Puppetmaster steal it back.

Jane scouted the casino hosting the auction. While there, she ran into villain Shroud, who recognized her.

Sidestep broke in during the auction and used their telepathy to stay unnoticed while they took the gun.

Jane asked Dr. Mortum to research her connection with Shroud.

Mortum showed Jane a video of her being killed by Shroud. Jane was originally Ace, a woman who used precognition to cheat at gambling.

Sidestep met Mortum to deliver the gun and told him the truth about Jane. Mortum got angry and left.

Sidestep pursued, they narrowly avoided a fight.

Julia invited Sidestep home for dinner, where she confessed to being in love with Sidestep. They had sex under the condition that the lights remain off so Julia could not see them.

Jane was approached by Jake Manalo to request Puppetmaster meet Hollow Ground.

At the meeting Sidestep and Hollow Ground noticed they look eerily similar.

Sidestep refused HG's offer to work together. Hollow Ground ordered them killed. Jake beat Sidestep.

Charge knew HG would be meeting up with the new villain and showed up, rescued Sidestep, and drove off.

Sidestep confessed to being Puppetmaster. Charge confronted them about their clear resemblance to Hollow Ground and her theory they’re related.

A sniper shot out the car wheels...

Personality:
1) Tell us about who your character is and what someone’s first impression would be upon meeting them.

Sidestep is a powerful, deeply traumatized telepathic android. They don't see themself as a real person so much as a persona they adopt, with the closest to a true self being their hero self, who they see as being dead and the current them as little more than their own ghost. In canon they're currently using three different identities, what a person sees depends on which identity Sidestep is using at the time:

Chris Beccera (Name chosen by player from default options): Their civilian identity. They try to be underwhelming and forgettable--they're not as obsessed with hiding as before they established themself as a villain but the habits have remained. To their hero friends they tried to present the image of a washed up retiree and there's a tiredness to them that definitely fits that.

Puppetmaster (Name assigned automatically in game): Their villain identity. Sidestep gets really into playing the mysterious and dangerous aspects of this identity, with lots of monologues, dramatic posing, and use of their cape. They are 100% sincere in their cringey edgelord ridiculousness, this is where their cynicism and anger at the world find their outlet.

Jane (Name chosen from default options): This one is a bit odd. Jane isn't a disguise they wear or a persona they adopt so much as a whole different person? Like, they're literally using their telepathy to possess a different body. That body is supposed to be braindead, but it still influences the way Sidestep sees the world. Everything feels different. Jane is more social, more playful and flirty, more concerned about her appearance, and less afraid to make friends.

Of course, they don't have their villain suit or Jane in game. Nor do the Paladins and Corsairs work the same as heroes and villains in their world. They'll have to adapt, at least until they can get home or find some other solution. New rules, new way of approaching identity?

2) What is a driving force your character has? What goals do they have, what motivates them, etc?

They. Will. Not. Be. Controlled. Ever.

Really, that sums up ...a lot of things about their motivations. Born to be obedient property, Sidestep fled that life and sought something more despite incredible risk. They wanted to be loved and accepted (still do, but they try to suppress it because they don't believe it can happen) and they're angry at the world for not giving it to them. They did good work! They saved people! None of that mattered in the end, the farm took them and destroyed them the same as it would any other runaway Re-Gene and (in ther perspective) no one cared enough to do anything about it.

The world will pay for that. Or something. What started out as a desire for revenge against those who hurt them has become increasingly directionless, bitterness and anger making them lash out almost at random, with only their anarchist goals serving to provide direction. They want a better life, but they're willing to destroy themself to get it. They hate the world for rejecting them, but they want to be a part of it. They're a profoundly broken individual with a lot of trauma and little idea of what to do about it other than to get up and fight, full of conflicting wants and directives, careening towards self destruction while desperately hoping for a way out.

One thing is for sure though, they're not going to be anyone's tool or toy ever again.

3) What are their flaws as a character? What is something they've messed up, or have done that they regret?

Ahahahaha... Sidestep is basically all flaws. They think they know everything there is to know about other people because of their telepathy and yet they regularly manage to come to the most hilariously incorrect conclusions. They tend to ignore or discard any evidence that goes against their belief that people are cruel and they are fundamentally unlovable, insisting that their friends are only their friends because they don't know they're a Re-Gene, that people who seem nice are only nice on the surface, that Julia just thinks she's in love with them but the them she loves is dead/a lie. It took them weeks to accept Herald's friendly demeanor as anything other than an annoyance/the result of naivety, and that was after they had been forced to accept that it wasn't just an act in its entirety. The entire team fractured after their "death" due to people blaming themselves and each other and yet they remain convinced that they should be forgettable and that the funeral services for those who died were actually for Anathema and they were an afterthought.

To make things worse, they tend to view their own soft nature and capacity to care as a weakness, insisting to themself that they don't need friends, that it's foolish to show mercy to people who they're so certain would never return the favor. They went into this whole villain thing determined that even if they didn't go out of their way to kill they weren't going to care about deaths they might incidentally cause, and while this version never managed to actually go through with that, there are player paths for remorseless or even total monster Sidesteps, and Chris thinks a lot about how they're being too soft and won't be able to keep this up. The scientists at the farm used Sidestep's ability to care to hurt them; they shut that part of themself down for survival and took the lesson that feelings are a weakness to heart. They'd rather deny and repress everything than deal with their feelings basically ever, just look at how long it took between kissing Julia and willingly admitting to having feelings for her. They get awkward just thinking that they love her.

There's also the self-loathing. Re-Genes are taught that humans will hate them for what they are and Sidestep has internalized this. They struggle to believe that their friends really care about them, see themself as a fake person, and believe that if they tell the truth their friends will abandon them. Not only that but they seem to almost ...blame themself? For what they are. They're repulsed by their own body (except when they don't see it as entirely theirs, like when they're ogling their past self in their hero suit), not wanting to look at themself in the mirror and referring to their flesh as hated at various points in the text. If they weren't a Re-Gene, so many horrible things would have never happened to them, and even though they didn't exactly have a choice in what they were born as they really seem to resent themself for this "betrayal".

Also, they're just kind of an asshole, acting like people are idiots for caring about them, picking fights (so many conversations with Julia involve them lashing out at her for expressing concern, all the times they respond to Steel and Herald with variations on "why do you care" and their desperate backpedaling when Herald actually tries to genuinely answer that question...), and just generally being a rude and insulting little shit. In addition to being a way to defend against awkward and/or emotional situations it's also just how they are in general, teasing and insults might as well be their love language. And their hate language. And their language in general.

As for what they regret? SO MANY THINGS, but I'll stick with one example and go with their time as a hero. It was the best time of their life and it led directly to them getting recaptured and taken back to the Farm. Sometimes they regret ever choosing to be a hero in the first place, and sometimes they just regret not telling their friends the truth. Depends on the day.

4) Optional: What is something unique and interesting about them, or what is a fun little tidbit that sets them apart from the crowd?

Their body language is all sorts of weird, and this is at least partially because Re-Genes use really subtle movements to communicate without humans noticing.

Abilities & Inventory:

Telepathy: Yeah. Sidestep can read minds. This is most effective as a sort of "danger sense", in which they can pick up other's intent to act before they do so and thus dodge attacks and unwanted attempts to touch or grab them. The effectiveness of this varies: with actual ill intent in an actual battle where Sidestep is focused they are almost impossibly difficult to hit, but an exhausted or distracted Sidestep who has their guard down could possibly be picked right up off the ground. (Not that you'd necessarily want to do that--they bite.)

And of course, it's unlikely to work with people with resistance or immunity to telepathy at all.

While they can also read minds in the more traditional sense, this area is a bit murkier. Some minds are easier to read than others, and things like mood, willpower, awareness, and willingness all influence this in nebulous ways. Which is to say that Sidestep's mind reading ability, while a constant presence in their life (being influenced by crowd moods, overstimulated by the bombardment of thoughts and emotions, etc.) and something that they rely on, is only going to work on other player characters in ways agreed upon between players and that further thread/plotting/CR goals.

Influence: Sidestep has the ability to influence the emotions and actions of people to a slight degree. They can increase anger; calm panic; cause people to commit small, impulsive actions like jerking their hand at the last moment and missing a shot or swinging a punch at someone they already dislike during a heated moment; force a degree of trust... it's not total control, but they can absolutely screw with people's heads. As usual, other telepaths and people with resistance to telepathy are less likely to be effected, and the strength of the effect is influenced by situational factors, which means that if another player doesn't want this ability used on them or using it would be detrimental to the purpose of having fun there are a lot of reasons that the ability can and will simply fail to work.

It's also possible for more perceptive people to pick up on Sidestep manipulating them in the form of a sense of general unease, though they'd need to figure out what was actually causing the feeling.

Sidestep's influence ability is entirely nerfed in game.

Posession: Sidestep has the ability to completely take over people. Normally this requires being very close to them to initiate the posession and only works for a limited duration, though in canon they were able to turn a comatose and brain dead body into a "puppet" that they could slip into and control at will regardless of distance. Possessing people like this leaves their own body unconscious and vulnerable, so they need to prepare a safe spot to stash it in ahead of time--this isn't something they can do without planning. It also seems like it would be a complete pain to work out in an RP setting, so I'd be happy to nerf this emtirely.

Sidestep's posession ability is entirely nerfed in game.

Dream Projection: When Sidestep is having particularly vivid nightmares, it's possible for them to unintentionally project them into the heads of people nearby. It's not really a power so much as an unfortunate result of combining powerful telepathy and trauma, but it's definitely worth noting here.

Aura of invisibility: Not actual invisibility, but they unconsciously influence the minds of people around them to not recognize them, register their presence, or remember they were even there. It's normally only a partial effect, with people finding it hard to focus on them or remember their face, but with concentration they can disappear from other people's perceptions entirely. This ability becomes less effective the more of a relationship someone has with Sidestep, and people who are resistant or immune to telepathy (note: according to Fallen Hero canon, this includes all epileptics) are unlikely to be affected at all. Given the restrictions, this ability is unlikely to come up much with player characters, who will likely come to know Sidestep well enough to see through it--it's really more of a convenient way to sneak past unimportant NPCs and try (and probably fail) to keep people from bothering them.

Terrifying Vibes: Only really a thing if you're another telepath, but word of god is that Sidestep gives off the most incredibly rancid vibes to other mind readers. It's not so much a power as it is an innate quality of their being (I don't think they're even aware of it) but being able to potentially drive away psychics/sensitives with just their presence does seem pretty notable.

AI chip: Not a power, but still notable in the way it affects them, their powers, and how they're effected by other people's powers. Their mind isn't entirely human and that seems to give them more flexibility in connecting with a variety of nonhuman minds. They readily read the minds of animals such as mammals and birds, and can even interact with some machines, such as the nanovores (all devouring nano machines, in this case neutered so that they can't consume flesh) in their villain suit. They're far from being a true technopath, being seemingly limited to machines that are partially organic or have some sort of innate telepathy or ability to interact with telepathy? But the ability is there. Actual technopaths would definitely be able to pick up on the fact that there's an AI chip in their brain, though attempts to interact or influence them are likely to be met with resistance and hostility.

Slightly Enhanced Durability: This is actually a fairly standard ability in their universe, as you have to be tough to survive the processes through which people gain superpowers. While they're as easy to injure as any regular human and entirely killable, they're far more likely to survive critical damage and have made a full recovery from all sorts of incredibly horrific injuries and experiments performed on them. They prefer to avoid hospitals at all costs and have performed minor surgery on themself numerous times in the past.

Fighting training: Though their primary purpose was always to infiltrate, Sidestep was trained pretty extensively in combat too (at least, back when the farm was using them for missions) and they kept it up after their escape, learning and adopting new strategies and techniques so as to make sure their style can't be immediately recognized as that of a Re-Gene trained at the farm.

Once they became affiliated with the Rangers, they continued their learning via practice spars with Charge and the other heroes. Fighting a wide variety of villains helped a lot too. Of course, all that was years ago, but they haven't forgotten, and with their new career as a supervillain they're back to working on themself regularly again. They've even been training their secondary "puppet" body in Aikido.

Tactics: Oh boy is Sidestep a canny, competent motherfucker. Back in their hero days they had almost nothing going for them other than a bit of training and some low level telepathic ability that could at times be a burden as much as a benefit--not much of note in a world full of superpowered cyborgs and people who can fly--and turned it into a method of defense that enabled them to go toe to toe with some of the most powerful capes in the setting. Being fragile doesn't matter if your opponent can't land any hits on you. They even managed to hide that they had telepathy despite relying on it; the most common speculation on the nature of their abilities was that they actually had some form of mild precognition or were capable of sensing danger.

One of their favorite things to do is to out think their opponents, and they're very good at coming up with on the spot plans, as shown when they do things like use their telepathy to make someone misjudge distance and take a nasty fall, or figure out the best way to rescue a group of people trapped in a burning building. They escaped from their creators not once but twice, bypassing guards, dogs, drones, and all sorts of other dangers while unarmed and weak from torture and abuse the second time around. They're absolutely brilliantly creative, able to to turn even the most seemingly insignificant resource or advantage into a dangerous weapon, and it'd be wise not to underestimate them.

First Aid: They had to avoid anyone seeing their skin while living the injury filled life of a hero, and this necessitated learning to treat their own injuries, up to and including performing minor surgery on themself.

Gifted with technology: Though their education as a whole is somewhat piecemeal due to being an android used for infiltration and spying, Chris has always had a bit of a fascination with tech and they've been keeping up with various science and technology journals and publications in their world. They've helped repair their friend's cybernetic implants in the past, and are an expert at maintaining their equipment. There's even an option for them to run a repair shop as front/disguise for their villain lair.

Languages: Sidestep knows several, including English, Spanish, French, German, Mandarin, Cantonese, Arabic, Farsi, Russian, and a code language unique to their canon.

Inventory:

Their clothes (black turtleneck, black and cyan hoodie, black tactical vest, cargo pants, black combat boots, black fingerless gloves, socks and underwear)
An early 00s style flip phone.
3 cyanide capsules hidden in various pockets and the seams of their clothing (in case the Special Directive caught them again)
Bottle of standard over the counter pain pills.
$50 in USD
A pair of sunglasses

Corsair for sure. Sidestep is a villain even if they're not always 100% happy with their job. Their belief in things like laws and justice has been shattered and they would absolutely chafe at being a part of a peacekeeping military type organization, even one as loosely affiliated as the Paladins.

They're chaos, not order aligned.

Test Drive Sample: Here and here