Honus

These warriors are a creation of the golden age of man by the pre-rifts nation of Britain. By the latter half of the golden age of man, British companies had taken great strides in combining the latent potential of the mind with machines. They had created many weapons of war. One of these was the British militaries super soldier program, which led to the birth of those known as the "Honoured and also as the Knight's Albion". They were called such because they were given the honour of being the first humans to set up a home on a planet outside the solar system. For in the Golden Age of Man the British nation had found the means to open up what later would be referred to as Rifts on the ancient ley lines of that land. They did this using the "psitech" developed by that nation.

This technology came about inadvertently, for it seems that sometimes during the Gulf Wars that raged before the dawning of the Golden Age of Man, much of the ancient wonders of that land were looted by opportunists in the chaos that reigned during those wars. These relics were shipped to the western world and sold in the black markets of the time. Not until the midst of the Golden Age of Man, did one such relic come into the hands of scientists, who after taking it out of its fossilised cocoon, realised they had some kind of advanced weapon, and they tried to unlock its secrets. Whether they managed to do this remains uncertain, but its function was understood by the newly developed "psitech" devices and from that a new device was created using the newly developed "psitech" that could open Rifts to other worlds. For what had appeared on the face of it a piece of antiquity taken in the early parts of the 21^st century was none other than a UWW rifter cannon. How it got there remains unclear, but at the time the scientists had no idea who or what the UWW was, it just remained a mystery as to how such an advanced weapon system got there. The people of the deserts claim in their myths and legends that great mountains of metal had crashed into the desert in antiquity, it is just conceivable that these "metal mountains" were in fact alien spacecraft.

It is known that, before the coming of the Rifts, the British Nation hurriedly shipped an unfinished prototype of this device to their American cousins; it is believed to have been sent to that nation’s covert research facility, somewhere in Texas. While the British used their unreliable working prototype device to send a small force to set up a base on an uninhabited primordial world. All would have been well if the Rifts had not arrived, but they did. The Honus who returned to Earth found that their base A.I had sealed the base for their protection, and would not let them out, due to the hostile world outside the clinical environment of the base. Thinking that the A.I would wake them up when the environment outside cleared, the base personnel went into a suspended animation. The Base A.I did not wake them, as the environment outside became more and more harmful to the personnel as the time progressed. The personnel were hermetically sealed, so as time progress, the outside became dangerous to them, and they became a danger to those outside. In a passing ley line storm someone woke and realized that hundreds of years had passed. The A.I registered an intruder to the base and woke up some of the guards to protect the base. It is unclear whether the intruder was just explorers finding a prerifts base or something far more dangerous, but it meant that humans were awake, and they assessed the situation, rather than rely on an A.I's programme directives to assess the situation outside the base.

To effectively use psionics through machines, the British scientists realized they needed to use pure crystals or gems, as many ancient cultures suggested was the case in the past, such as was used by the mythic city of Atlantis. If the myths and legends have some figment of truth, then a widely held belief was that pure crystals acted as a conduit for the mind's true potential to be released. Early on in this scientific field, suitable crystals were not found and alternative methods to combine psionics and technology were sought.

One such method was found in an early Arabic treatise on technologies of the ancient world. This method suggested that ectoplasm was a great conduit for all types of energy if it was prepared correctly. The treatise listed several methods, which involved alchemical concoctions, which the Middle Eastern alchemists claimed not only allowed the mind to generate ectoplasm, but also to change its nature. The writer of the treatise suggested he had not tested these elixirs but the alchemists in the manuscripts he used for his research, staked their reputations on it. One of the alchemists claimed in his notes that he had this knowledge from a Lemurian. (NB: In the treatise the Arabic words used for Lemurian, may be translated as Djinn from the deep. It was latter European translations that used the word Lemurian). Another Alchemist claimed that in his manuscripts that he deciphered this knowledge from tablets he found in the city of the Old Ones.

As they had nothing to lose and as anything seemed possible in the golden age of man, the British scientists decided to try out these formulae. Many experiments and refinements of the methods later, they found one that actually worked. Not only did it allow the body to produce ectoplasm in abundance, but also to regulate the nature of the ectoplasm, creating a wonder substance. The success of this led the scientists to look further into the Arabic texts, which were translations of works from the ancient world. From them they found the knowledge of the best types of crystals to use and their locations and also how to cut and prepare the crystals for mystic use. Thus with a few modern additions the British scientists were able to combine psionics with technology, and create wonders like Calibre X.

Meanwhile the British Scientists experimented with the "ectoplasm" elixirs, eventually creating modern drugs from them, and eliminating the vast majority of the downsides to the elixirs. When the subject was given these drugs in the correct quantity and timing, it created ectoplasm in the body in great quantities.

The ectoplasm spread throughout the body, into every cell and organ, creating a grid that could be used as an energy conduit. When this grid was stimulated by the scientists using various energy stimuli, it had an amazing effect on the body of the volunteers.

The ectoplasm in the veins and arteries functioned as extra blood cells, giving the body greater oxygen carrying capacity. The ectoplasm in the bones increased the size, strength and reinforced the bone and it added to the musculature development of the body. It enhanced the senses of the body by acting as a secondary nervous system. This new pathway quickened the reaction time of the subject. It also allowed the body to release greater quantities of hormones into the body. With this ectoplasm grid the body not only became healthy but greatly efficient. The subjects were stronger, faster, tougher, and stated they had not felt this good in years. Their vitality seemed to have returned. Once the ectoplasm grid was established in the body, the latent potential of the mind was also unlocked in the subject. Not only did the subject exhibit psionic powers but also they were greatly enhanced.

The scientists noticed that when kinesis and mind energies were run through this ectoplasm, it greatly increased their agitation, causing them to flare and crackle. The scientists believed on average a three-fold increase in power output was caused by this altered ectoplasm.

To make best use of this new ectoplasm, bionic and cybernetic systems that were combined with psionic powers, including psionic weapon systems were grafted onto the subject. The soldier was then trained in the use of the new psionic armaments & weapons.

Powers & Abilities

Attribute bonuses: +D6 to PS,PE, +D4 to PP, +6D6 to speed, +D6x10 HP, +4D6x10 SDC, plus one attack per melee

Psionics and ISP: select 8 powers from all categories excluding super, then select one super psionic at levels 2,4 7, 10 and 13. Psionic abilities can only be used whilst the character is encased in his protective psionic Ecto armour. Physical psionic abilities are used at half the usual ISP cost. ISP base 2D6x10 + 2D6 per level.

Built in psi weapon system/s - ecto psi blades doing 4D6 MDC per strike – the appearance of the blades is based on super psionic abilities – pyrokinesis powers create fire blades etc.

integrated kinetic ‘ecto bullet’ guns – doing 4D6 MDC +D6 at levels 3,6,8,10,12 and 15; with a 600ft range (+100 ft per level)

The secondary nervous system supporting the character provides +4 on all saving throws and provides additional endurance against bio-manipulation and similar attacks against the nervous system (including ‘neuro’ weapons) – halving any penalties, duration or damage and allowing characters to re-roll a saving throw every other melee round.

Ecto-cyber disguise - alter aura and physical features

Ecto armour – activated by 30 ISP; provides 2D6x10 MDC (+10 MDC per level) which can be reinforced with expenditure of ISP – 3 ISP adds 20 MDC to the armour. Fully environmental with an ectoplasm endoskeleton which enhances speed by 20 and doubles the leaping distance and halving fall damage. No prowl penalties.

Ecto ‘limbs’ – the Honus can create prehensile tentacles (similar to ectoplasmic arm) which can be used as a rope to climb, swing and entangle foes – the character can create a limb which reaches 50ft +10 ft per level with the same PS as their own, conveying an additional attack per melee. The tentacle can deliver a single bio-manipulation attack once each melee round at no ISP cost!

Honus are still created in a subterranean ‘cold war’ base in Cumbria – a military base where Special Forces had fallen back to shortly after the coming of the rifts.

This webpage was created by the OneTen rp'ing group. All work that appears on this page is (C) Copyright the OneTen rp'ing group 2011.