Played by Tony Jones in the early 1990s in a game run by Keith Grainge
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This game was one in which what the world thought of as superpowers were actually intrinsic magical powers. The mythical age of human prehistory was the last time magic was strong, and it was ended by the use of a powerful anti-magical ritual. Magical beings either coped with their loss of power, died, or fled to other dimensions. Some of the ancient magic users survived this low-magic period and were eventually able to undo the ritual and bring the magic back with themselves as the leaders of the DEMON organisation. As the world began to fall into superhuman-induced chaos, Europe founded the ASH (Anti-SuperHuman) organisation to recruit superhumans to protect and preserve the modern world. In this they were, eventually, successful, but at great cost...
Mercury is a runaway from a colony of shapeshifters, all members of the Bartiban family, who live in the state of North Dakota. The family originated in Cornwall in Britain in the 17th century. Family records show that poor farmer John Bartiban developed the ability to change his face and form to that of any other person in 1618, at the age of about twenty. He soon used his abilities to make his family much richer and more influential. Although Johns private papers show that other people were aware of his abilities, he was able to pay them off to keep quiet. Two of Johns eight children inherited his abilities, and he taught them in their usage as they grew up. Although they could change their shape to that of any person they could see or imagine, family members were able to recognise each other (as well as other people) by scent. It also became obvious that at least one of the children did not appear to age once they reached maturity. However, as time went by the number of people who knew about the strange abilities of the Bartiban family grew. In 1642 the English Civil War began, and with it Puritanism began to spread wider and wider. Although the family tried to avoid anything which would expose them, eventually in early 1644 someone (they never discovered who) informed the Puritans of the families strange abilities. A massive out-cry against these witches followed and forced the whole family (now numbering about twenty-five people) to flee the country for the American colonies under the leadership of John Bartibans unaging son Mark. Several members of the family, including John Bartiban himself, died in the process of escaping from the authorities but no-one was captured and the whole thing was written off as some bizarre Royalist plot. Upon arrival in America the Bartibans settled in an isolated part of Michigan, well away from anyone else. The persecution of the family made Mark somewhat paranoid about contact with normal people so that the family have as little to do with them as possible and react badly to anyone who suggests doing such a thing. Mark (who still leads the family, which now numbers nearly three hundred people of whom about ten percent are shapechangers) sees to it that this rule is enforced. In the early 19th century Mark and the other family leaders saw that the part of Michigan where the Bartibans had settled was becoming too crowded. This lead to a mass migration as the whole family moved to its present isolated location in North Dakota. Even so they could not avoid contact forever, but the other settlements in the area have long since thought of the family as some kind of religious sect because of its isolationist stance and avoidance of modern technology and ideas. Although the Bartibans keep very much to themselves they do marry people from outside wherever possible - Mark and the other leaders of the family know all about the problems of inbreeding.
Marion was born in late 1966. Her parents, Matthew and Emma Bartiban, died in a forest fire when she was very small, so she was brought up by the family of her fathers brother Andrew, but she never really became that close to any of them. Almost since she was able to talk Marion was curious, asking questions about her powers and the rest of the world that the rest of the colony either couldnt or didnt want to answer. She was always discouraged from asking questions by her stepfather and the leaders of the family up to and including Mark Bartiban himself, but their insistence that it was for her own good that she didnt know anything only made her curiosity that much stronger. However, one thing she did agree with her elders on was the necessity of being able to use her powers effectively and from the age of about three, like her contemporaries, she was taught how to change her face and form, and act so as to fit the form she presently had.
As she got older Marion tried to leave the colony several times, but each time she was captured before she could get away. In order to try and cure her rebellious instincts each time she was captured she was beaten and locked up, giving her a fear of confinement which she carries to this day. This also means that she suffers from mild shock/flashback effects if she is Entangled. Despite her tears and distress each time Marion was confined she was told that it was for her own good and she would thank them for it when she was grown up.
After her last unsuccessful escape attempt Marion almost gave up trying to escape and went along with whatever she was told to do, even agreeing to marry the man who had been her childhood sweetheart, Arthur Bartiban, a distant cousin and another shapechanger. As time went by Marions distress and depression grew. Then, in 1987, two weeks before the date of her wedding, she suddenly discovered that her powers seemed to have changed - she was no longer limited to changing into other humans - she could change into literally any other shape. At first she thought this might be something that everyone in the colony could now do, but when it soon became obvious that she was the only one who had suffered this change Marions depression and despair quickly lifted - here at last was a real chance of escape and avoid a marriage she didnt really want to someone who she didnt love. She took a few days to practise with her new abilities, learning their limits. In the process she also stole money and clothing for a new escape attempt. Then the night before her wedding Marion made her escape bid. This time her new abilities allowed her to slip away without anyone else noticing and at last she was free.
Marion hitch-hiked away from the colony in several different guises, rejoicing in her new-found freedom. Although at first she was confused by many of the strange things she saw (such as television) she soon saw the advantages of many of these things and rapidly adapted to the outside world. As she travelled she learnt many new and interesting things about the world, including the presence of other people with unusual abilities known as superhumans who had appeared at about the same time as her powers had changed to their present form. After a few initial problems Marion also learned how to survive on the streets with no-one to rely on but herself. However, she couldnt find anything which explained how her powers (or anyone else's) worked, or why all these people with strange abilities should have appeared at the same time. She decided that if she couldnt find out in books then shed just have to find out for herself. She decided to get as far away from her family as she could, and easily stowed away on a ship heading for Britain, avoiding detection on the voyage with little difficulty.
Upon reaching Britain Marion settled in London, and began to work at a variety of menial jobs in order to have enough money to study. When she wasnt working she was doing night classes to fill in the large holes in her education so that she could go to University. She also learnt dialects of English to aid in her disguising herself. As time went by Marion made enough contacts with people on the street to be able to set herself up a false identity as Nova Kittel (including National Insurance Number, birth certificate and similar details). A Nova Kittel was actually born about twenty-five years ago, but died at the age of about two months allowing the people Marion paid to use her identity and birth certificate to set up the new identity. Marions Roger Ashworth persona was created in the same way.
Eventually Marion had saved and learned enough to be able to enrol at Imperial College, studying biology as Nova Kittel. Over the following years Nova proved an apt pupil, gaining top grades in her studies and completing her degree in only two years. At one point she also took a first aid course, as it was potentially quite a useful thing to know. However, as she learnt more Marion realised that despite her unexpected love of the subject very little of what she was being taught related to what she really wanted to know - how her powers worked, although she did gain an interest in learning how other superhuman powers worked as well as her own. When she graduated Nova decided to stay on and learn more while gaining a doctorate. All through her time in London Marion has occasionally prevented crimes being committed by using her powers. However each time she has appeared different and used somewhat different abilities so no real connection has been made between these incidents.
Her high grades easily let her do this and so, slightly over two years ago Nova began her research. She was able to gain a grant from a medical foundation, the Jensik Medical Institute (JMI), which allowed her to work in the new and little-studied field of superhuman biology. The main problem was her lack of superhumans to study - so far she has been restricted to work using tissue samples and information supplied by the JMI from America, plus secret studies of her own powers. The only other super-powered creature she actually knows, Broadleaf, is reluctant to give away tissue samples. Although she has done some super-powered crime fighting she has not found any other superhumans (although she has helped some causes which she felt were particularly important). Although her work went well, Marion did have a few problems. Novas laboratory was raided by the supervillain King Cobra, who was interested in her work. She only narrowly avoided being kidnapped by him due to the sudden appearance of Mercury, but he managed to escape with copies of her research notes. Since Nova hasnt been bothered by him again she assumes that her work was of no interest to him. As Mercury she still worries about his possible revenge. In the course of her activities as Mercury she also managed to foil a group of IRA terrorists who were planning a bombing campaign in and around London and they now hunt her as well. Nova has also had difficulties with a group of animal-rights campaigners who are trying to stop her work because to them it implies experimentation on both animals and humans. However, they seem more interested in harassing than hurting her. Because of these problems Marion has also set up a second alternate identity (documented in the same way as Nova) as Roger Ashworth, an unemployed biology laboratory technician.
On a happier note, while studying for her first degree Nova met James McArthur, a young black undergraduate chemist. As time went by they fell in love. James also stayed to do postgraduate research and although they do not live together she and James are very close. About one year ago Marion told James about her powers and some of her background. At first he was surprised and a bit shocked, but he soon got over it and now loves her as much as ever, which makes Marion happy as she had been worried that he might think she was some kind of freak...
About a year before she finished her doctorate Marion heard about a tree which had supposedly become sentient and animated in Kew Gardens. Going to investigate she found that the new reports were true. She introduced her self to the tree, which called itself Broadleaf, and after a few initial difficulties they started to get to know each other. Since then Mercury and Broadleaf have kept in occasional contact, but have not really had any opportunity for crime fighting together, as until recently Marion has been too involved in finishing her doctorate.
Some time ago Mercury was covertly contacted by Rachel Powell, the head of ASH, the EC anti-supervillain organisation who had managed to track her down and suspected that Mercury was really Nova Kittel. She was invited to join a proposed team to combat the continuing and increasing threat of super-powered criminals. Intrigued, and also interested in finally meeting some other superhumans, Marion agreed, and also helped Rachel recruit Broadleaf. The EC were willing to pay extremely well (about $100000 per year), and also agreed to co-fund ,with the JMI, a research laboratory to study superhumans to be run by Marion in her Nova Kittel guise. This laboratory consists of her Imperial College lab moved to ASH mountain fortress headquarters in Switzerland (for protection against the attacks of individuals such as King Cobra) and merged with ASHs own lab. She has told the EC committee which oversees the superhuman group, but not the Jensik Medical Institute, that Mercury is really Nova Kittel. The rest of the scientists in the lab also do not know this which has lead to a little tension due to her being occasionally absent for no reason. This is especially apparent in the case of Francois LaValle, a French researcher who was the head of the ASH lab before Nova was placed in over his head and who is trying to subvert Nova's position and take control of the group back from her.
At Marions suggestion James has also moved from London to Switzerland, and now works for ASH developing new forensic techniques.
Because Marion does not actually want to reveal her family to the world she has a cover story which she tells people who she feels should know something about her background (James alone knows the true story). It is basically similar to her real background but leaves out all mention of the Bartiban family and her American origin. The cover story is that her real name is Marion Barton. She was born in the East End of London in 1966, but was orphaned at the age of three when her parents died in a fire. She was adopted by a couple, Andrew and Joan Mitchell. Unfortunately they were very strict and wouldnt let her explore things the way she really wanted to, so she became more and more resentful of them as she grew up. Despite her foster parents objections she managed to get a place doing a biology degree at Imperial College. Half-way through her degree, in 1987, she developed her shapechanging powers. Her foster parents tried to get her to hide her powers but Marion had had enough, and has not spoken to them since. After she got her first degree Marion carried on and did a PhD, which she recently completed. She still hasnt spoken to her parents since 1987.
Although Marions main interest is her curiosity, which provides her main motivation for her research and meeting other superhumans. She also has a highly developed conscience which forces her to intervene to stop any threats to innocent people, although she has severe qualms about killing people. Marion dislikes unfairness, as a by-product of what happened to her as she was growing up. Because of this she prefers to tackle things head-on and will not normally imitate friends without permission. Because of having had shapechanging powers almost from birth Marion is completely adapted to them and has no problems with imitating or acting like people of different age groups or the opposite sex to herself.
When not working and not with James Marion usually either reads (almost exclusively non-fiction on many different subjects) or watches TV. She is fascinated by TV having never seen one before her escape and almost has one in every room of her home. When she is in the TV will usually be on, even if only in the background. Marion also enjoys going to the cinema and eating exotic or foreign foods, for similar reasons.
Since starting to work with ASH Mercury has been found by the Bartiban family. From talking to a cousin, Thomas, who was captured by ASH after an attempted kidnapping of James but later let go she learnt that the entire Bartiban family seem to have left their old location en masse for somewhere else, on the orders of Mark. Also, as far as Thomas knows, none of the family have developed abilities beyond the family norm. Eventually Marion could take no more of ASHs corrupt and end-justifying-the-means behaviour and left, with James, for a (hopefully) new and better life on Asgard, helping Odin rubuild the place in a way more to his taste.
She was replaced by Panzerlilly.
Marions default form is about 5'6" tall with short dark blond hair, grey eyes and a slender build. She is much stronger and fitter than she appears normally (though she can look like anything she wishes). Although her native accent is American, Marion now normally speaks with a faint East London accent.
Her Nova Kittel form looks very different from Marion Bartiban - Nova is 5'10" tall, with green eyes and fairly long black hair (showing one or two grey hairs and usually worn tied back in a ponytail or bun). She is also much prettier (Comeliness 20) and more striking (Presence 20) than Marion. She also has different looks and complexion. Nova speaks with a fairly refined home counties accent.
Roger Ashworth (should he ever be needed) appears to be about thirty, 6' tall and running to fat with brown eyes, receding brown hair and a slight Liverpudlian accent.
Marion also has a form which she uses when she wants to make an impression. This is 6' tall and very attractive and striking (Comeliness 34 and Presence 28). It has iridescent mirrored silver skin, long wavy purple-black hair which moves as though it is in an unfelt breeze and bright purple eyes and silver-white teeth. This form wears a costume which is a purple and black leotard with purple and black knee-length boots and elbow-length gloves, and an almost floor length royal blue cloak.
In addition to these standard forms Marion also has some forms designed to scare or intimidate. These include a vampire, a tiger-striped cat-woman, a werewolf, an elongated insectoid horror and an Alien (as in the movie).
All of Marions powers are products of her shapechanging. The RKA is firing quills; the entangle is wrapping a target in hair-like tendrils; the Clinging is sticky pads like a gecko; the extra Strength is caused by shifting more of her mass into muscles (including expanded joints for extra leverage, somewhat like a Pak Protector) which can also take the form of tentacles for grabbing or clubs for hitting; the extra Armour is growing armoured plates (which turn off when her shapechange goes off); the Stretching is simple elongation of limbs and the HKA is claws or spines. She can also use her powers to make herself appear much more attractive or impressive than normal, grow wings for flying or gliding, extra arms and also how to turn into a dolphin-like form to swim at speed, or a form configured to run fast. She has also learnt how to form internal 'air tanks' which enable her to hold her breath for longer than normal, gills to breathe underwater, and also how to form structures which protect her body against extremes of pressure. From her knowledge of zoology and brain function she has also been able to mimic the infra-red sensing capability of the pit viper, which enables her to see by heat alone.
Although Marions powers do not affect the material of her clothing she is able to internalise her clothes when changing so as to appear to be wearing anything.
Like Marion, ten percent of the other members of the Bartiban family have shapechanging abilities and a discriminatory sense of smell. Unlike her they are limited to human forms only, with different family members having different levels of control. They are also limited to Normal Statistic Maxima. Two members of the colony, their leader Mark and his wife Emma, are physically unaging. This is in part responsible for the colonys reactionary attitude to innovation and the outside world in general. Marion may be unaging, but is too young for its effects to have had time to become noticeable. Although her abilities are much more wide ranging than those of the other members of the Bartiban family, the older members of the family, and Mark especially, are much more practised with their abilities than she is with hers - they can for example hold a shape even when asleep or unconscious and track by scent alone. Because members of the family have had a discriminatory sense of smell for hundreds of years the family have developed a specialised vocabulary to better describe things smelled with their enhanced senses.
Mercury usually carries a variety of useful items about her person (mainly in her belt pouches). These include:
| Pens and a pad of paper | Pocket computer | Compass |
| Walkie-Talkie | Watchman TV Set | Lockpicks (concealed in various places) |
| Penlight Torch | Swiss Army Knife | Reel of strong fishing line |
| Credit card in the name of Mercury | SAS-type pocket wilderness survival kit | Passport in the name of Mercury |
| Pocket medical kit | Variety of drugs | Painkiller tablets |
| Injectable painkillers | Injectable tranquillisers (various strengths) |
Two pounds sterling worth of small change in the currencies of each of :
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All drugs are kept in an armoured box with the needles separate from the syringes and the drugs themselves in plastic containers so that if they are broken the drugs cannot be accidentally injected into Mercury due to her being cut on their sharp edges.
The Original Mercury and Mercury with Experience in Champions terms.