This was the French government Overman team, originally formed during the early 1880's as agents of the French government. Its members were :
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The leader of the Imperial Guard, very impressive, tough and strong with the ability to increase both his size and mass. Born in 1845, Francois was originally an actor, who had come to Paris to play in the more famous theatres there. When his powers developed, he immediately gave up his acting career and volunteered himself to the government. Because of his presence and leadership abilities he was quickly appointed leader of the Guard. He tended to be very restrained, even in combat, except when annoyed, when he could become very vicious. He was very conscious of social differences and tended to insist on their observance, sometimes to the detriment of team performance. This was especially the case with Revenant de Bois, who he tended to just ignore except to give her orders. Although injured somewhat in WWI he survived almost unscathed and also fought well in WWII. However, like the rest of the Guard he died in the Russian nuclear attacks of 1917.
Francois was 6'1" tall, with dark hair greying slightly at the temples, piercing grey eyes and a handsome, striking appearance. His powers consisted of extreme toughness combined with an ability to grow to twice his normal height and increase his density far above normal, boosting his already-superhuman strength to incredible levels. Because of his acting past Francois was well-trained in oratory and general public speaking.
The second member of the Imperial Guard, arrogant, lecherous, over-confident and sexist, upper class, from near Nice, with fire powers and the ability to fly. Born in 1862 he discovered his powers when. His actions in trying to blackmail The Amazon into becoming his lover in 1881 were responsible for her leaving the group and set her on the path which eventually led to the creation of the nation of Minerva. Because of the severe beating she gave him when she left he always harboured a grudge against her. Although he made it plain at almost every opportunity that he thought he, rather than Bastille, should have been put in charge of the Guard, he nonetheless served the Guard well despite being very badly injured at one point in WWI. He married in 1894 and eventually fathered two children. In 1898 he disregarded orders and tried to wreak his revenge against The Amazon by single-handedly attacking her during the war for Minerva. Unfortunately for him she proved to be a superior combatant, and he died even before falling from a great height to the ground. Phillipe was an arrogant, over-confident and vengeful man who considered himself to be above the law and who had no compunctions about using and manipulating the rules in order to get what he wanted.
Phillipe was a very handsome, striking man with dark hair and brown eyes, about 5'8" tall. His powers consisted of a very powerful fire blast, a less powerful fire blast which could cover a very wide area and which would remain burning for as long as he devoted part of his concentration to it, an almost complete invulnerability to heat and flame and the ability to fly at high speed. He was also immune to temperature extremes and could see in the infra-red.
An ex-military training Sergeant who immediately volunteered for duty when he became aware of his powers during a skirmish against some natives in Africa. He helped to train other Guard members in military skills and tactics. Jean was very loyal to France (although he apparently did not think about it much), obeyed orders from a superior without question, was somewhat hot-tempered, and hated the Germans (due to the Franco-Prussian war). He fought because it was the only thing he knew how to do. His powers allowed him to survive WWI and most of WWII without injury. However, like the rest of the Guard he died in the Russian nuclear attacks of 1917.
Jean was tall, muscular and ugly, with greying black hair and light brown eyes. Because of what he had seen and been trained to do in the army he was hardened, cynical, precise, neat and taciturn. Although Jean was faster than a normal human he had no offensive powers, relying on various fighting techniques learnt from years in the military. His powers mainly consisted of an ability to deflect attacks away from himself, which he could also use to reflect ranged attacks back at any target.
A young girl who was only 50cm tall with gauzy insect-like wings which allowed her to fly, slightly green skin, green-brown hair, bright green eyes and claws, with the ability to psionically mask herself from detection by other living minds. Her family were very poor squatters on farmland near Bordeaux, living by petty theft and what they could grow. When her powers developed in 1882, at the age of thirteen, she used them to help her family until the Imperial Guard turned up to investigate these rumours of an Overman (pre-empting The Amazon). Although they were initially unimpressed she managed to convince them she was worth taking on in return for providing for her family. With her family given proper housing and her father a good job she joined the Guard. Although she grew to somewhat dislike the other members of the Guard (especially Firebrand and Bastille) for their attitudes she remained loyal and obeyed orders because of her family. She became quite hardened but not particularly cynical. Marie survived WWI and the first part of WWII with little harm to herself, but like the rest of the Guard died in the Russian attacks of 1917.
Capable of changing shape to imitate any human, strong, fast and tough, highly trained in combat and martial arts, L'Espion was perfect for espionage work. Born in 1849 in the countryside near Besancon to a middle class landowning family, he joined the army at the age of sixteen and saw a fair amount of action, both abroad and at home in the Franco-Prussian war. Renee left the army to take over the family holdings in 1879, after the death of his father, having to learn about business from the ground up. In late 1882 he was thinking of his father while doing some accounts when his mother walked into the room, looked at him, screamed, and fainted. When he had rushed over to help her he glanced in a mirror and saw that he looked exactly like his father. Wishing to return to his normal appearance so as to calm his mother down, he saw his features shift and slide back into their normal configuration. After comforting his mother he practised with what he guessed were his new Overman abilities, finding he could become anyone, even women. He also seemed to be stronger, tougher and faster. Jean immediately offered his services to the French government, and was soon accepted under the name of L'Espion. Over the following years he served his government and the Guard well, often using his powers to operate alone on spying and infiltration missions. He was responsible for a number of infiltration/sabotage missions into what became Minerva, but several times only narrowly escaped with his life after encounters with Lupa of the Liberators, whose enhanced senses were capable of penetrating his disguises. He was especially effective in WWI and WWII, but like the rest of the Guard died in the nuclear attacks of 1917.
Jean's appearance could be changed by an act of will into that of any other human being and would stay that way even he slept or was knocked out. His original appearance was 5'4" tall, with light brown hair and very dark brown eyes.
Capable of running at nearly the speed of sound, and generating energy for various effects. Born in 1865, the second son of an upper-middle class businessman from Lyon, Charles was never an intellectual and showed little inclination for business; instead he was an outstanding sportsman. He was the youngest ever member of the French national rugby squad in mid-1882, when in the midst of a particularly brutal scrum, while he was on the ground having his head jumped on, he suddenly manifested the ability to generate bolts of energy, blowing the man who was mauling him to the ground, badly injured. Everything went quiet in shock, and Charles rushed over to the fallen man at incredible speed, and not knowing what he was doing, healed him back to full health. Everyone was amazed at this sudden transformation, not least Charles. He wondered what he was going to do now - he immediately realised that there was no way he could continue his sporting career and resigned from the team as the only honourable thing to do. A few days later Bastille of the Imperial Guard arrived, and told him that although he could no longer serve his nation on the rugby field he could serve it in a greater way as a member of the Guard. Charles considered the offer for a few seconds, and accepted, joining the Guard under the code-name Velocite. He experimented with his powers, and discovered that he was incredibly fast, could run at over 1200 kph, healed very quickly and had various energy powers - he could generate two different autofire ranged bolt attacks, one of which could kill, the other of which just stunned; an energy sword; he could heal others; and lastly he was fast enough that he could deflect attacks of all kinds away from himself. Although he was badly injured serval times during WWI, his powers always enabled him to be back on duty very quickly. Like the rest of the Imperial Guard he was killed in the Russian nuclear strikes of 1917, at the age of 52.
Charles was very handsome and fairly striking, with light blonde hair, brown eyes and a fair complexion. He was about 6' tall. Although his over-confidence could get him into trouble, Charles was an honourable foe, and always looked on the bright side of things. He enjoyed the fame and glory which came from being a member of the Imperial Guard, and never bothered to conceal his identity (although this did occasionally cause problems for his family).