Villain A Day (Serpent Sphinx)

[doc_lemming]

One-sentence summary: A resurrected magical pharoah, out to create a New Kingdom.

I've always felt that Serpent Sphinx has a rather lackluster origin. There's nothing wrong with it, and it's in keeping with many comic book stories, but certainly you might want to make it more personal for your players. Perhaps the Emerald Scarab token is hidden in the sarcophagus, and some person your players know touches it. Perhaps you can free the host by managing to remove the gem in the first 48 hours or before more than half his Stamina have regenerated (which is an interesting problem for your slasher-types).

He makes a good foe for any Egyptian-themed hero, and even if they can handle the mentalist aspect, the Wizardry makes him powerful (though you might have to hand out a lot of Determination Points).

But consider how a mind-controller out for world domination would work. Because the Serpent Sphinx comes from long ago, his first few attempts would use force: he tries to create an army of supervillains that he controls. But after that, he might well become more indirect. Yes, a magic spell that gives a powerful servant is useful--but why not be elected president and then change the rules?

Perhaps he starts by controlling a country, which can be done by establishing control over the titular ruler or, in the case of the United States, the members of the Electoral College. (Did you know that a startling number of states establish no repercussion if a member of the Electoral College votes for someone who did not receive the majority of the votes?)

When heroes attack him, a standard technique would be to mentally control a number of people in the area and use them as hostages. ("Let me go, or these six people will jump to their deaths off the edge of this building. Even your vaunted speed cannot get to each of them in time.")

Social scientists have determined that any ruler needs to have the support of those who help. Serpent Sphinx's magic certainly lets him bestow small favors and blessings on his helpers, and might make them willing to help him even when not mentally controlled. What will your heroes do if the commander of the submarine with the nuclear missiles actually wants to help the Serpent Sphinx?

By the way, in a nod to the modern version of The Mummy, the Serpent Sphinx is just the right guy to march on the city with an army of skeleton warriors, perhaps retrieved using a magic ritual and GM Fiat. Perhaps he is at war with Baron Kriminel, who has a vested interest in keeping the current regime; I imagine one battle is at the national cemetery near Arlington, with Egyptian skeletons summoned by a spell versus the reanimated dead of American wars, and the living caught in the middle.

(Have you noticed that for the ICONS villains, the "comics" the villains first appear in belong to heroes who would be challenged by them? The Serpent Sphinx doesn't appear in the pages of The Whisper; Recluse doesn't appear with All-Star. A nice touch.)
Story Ideas

• Some character's loved one is the reincarnation of a favorite wife or lover. And once the loved one comes under the sway of the Serpent Sphinx's mind control, they might be gone. (A Mind Control power of 6 means that the Serpent Sphinx wins a majority of the time against even strong-willed normal.)
• Through the use of a magic ritual, he can resurrect old aides, but he needs suitable hosts for them. He can only enact the ritual once a week, and he needs other special ingredients he must steal fresh, so the players have a number of chances to stop him...but every time they fail, the Serpent Sphinx has one more powerful ally.
• Some relative of Dr. Akbar recognizes the ring on the Serpent Sphinx's hand, and the heroes begin to research the problem of banishing the Serpent Sphinx and retrieving Dr. Akbar. Is it possible? Can the heroes do it?
• After a moderately hard battle, the Serpent Sphinx is captured, but what the heroes don't know is that he has already command of a guard, and the power suppressor he is fitted with doesn't suppress powers. He is sent to the supervillain jailÎíÎõwhere he has his pick of supervillains to form an army. He frees them. Do they escape successfully? Even villains who were not chosen for the army might get out.
• Heroes have failed in a different adventure, and a Lovecraftian horror is loosed on the world. The Serpent Sphinx decides he has to take matters into his own hands, and begins the long (and bloody) ritual that will bring back the main gods of the Egyptian pantheon: Anubis, Set, Apep, Ra, Horus, and so on. They have a battle to fight, and they do...but can the heroes contain the collateral damage as gods collide? And what about afterward? Will the Serpent Sphinx get the earthly treasures he bargained for?
Posted on DreamWidth at http://doc-lemming.dreamwidth.org/136465.html. Try http://doc-lemming.dreamwidth.org/136465.html?mode=reply to reply there.