Josephine Francesca Themylthorpe

Portrayed By: Imogen Poots

Oh, brave new world that has such creatures in it!

Codename:

Aethera

Occupation:

Inventor, Woman Out Of Time

Age:

Height:

5'2"

Eyes:

Green

Hair:

Golden

Creation:

Biogenesis

Legacy:

Hybrid

Biography

It was a long time ago.

An even longer time than usual, in fact.

Josephine was raised as the daughter of Joseph Themylthorpe, renowned doctor and rather-less-renowned medical experimenter. He told Josephine that her mother had died young and, broadly speaking, this was true. She grew up as the son he never had, learning alongside him with lightning speed. It was mechanical and electrical engineering rather than genetics that interested her, though, and through his contacts and her own brilliance she gained admittance to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She was not their first female student nor yet their first female graduate, but she did become a spokeswoman for the proliferation of science and technology education — and for the place of women in that bright and utopian future.

Josephine never knew that she was not precisely the daughter of her parents. Dr. Themylthorpe, her father, made something of a Faustian bargain. As one of his era’s foremost researchers into the evolution of humanity, he was approached by a man who offered to make him a bargain. Joseph’s young wife, Christine, had indeed recently died with the child she was carrying. but this mysterious geneticist believed he could bring some light out of this darkness. Christine’s grave was filled with an empty coffin, and the doctor spirited away her and her child’s remains. In a year, a newborn girl was delivered to Dr. Themylthorpe without explanation or instruction.

Josephine was perhaps the first child born of biogenesis. She has no idea, of course.

Her abilities surfaced in her late teens: electricity acted strangely around her, though since many people still did not thoroughly trust electricity anyway this was not an obvious problem. It increased her fascination with electricity, however, and she and her father came to discover that this ability to absorb energy was some kind of inborn power. They kept rather quiet about it, unsurprisingly, and together they constructed dampening devices to allow her to control this more easily. These devices took the form of elaborate metal bracers that extended from just above her wrists to just below her elbows.

These were the beginning of the armor called ‘Aethera’. She devised greater and more magnificent additions — a chestpiece that could heal her if she were injured, boots that could make her fly, gauntlets that could fire bolts of electricity. It was in the Aethera armor that Josephine performed her outreach. She spoke at schools and conferences, in town squares and, at last, at the World’s Fair in Chicago.

It was here that Dr. Josephine Themylthorpe met what seemed to be an early demise. Mad scientists weren’t common, but the World’s Fair was a perfectly likely place to see a giant mechanical spider. When it began to wreak havoc, Aethera soared off to stop it. The dramatic battle ended in the spider’s defeat alongside Aethera’s: she was critically injured, kept alive only by the life support in her armor.

Her father, shattered, gathered his daughter and encased her in a stasis pod of his own design. Until he could save her life, she would sleep peacefully. Meanwhile, her armor went into overdrive, its own biomechanical components beginning to replace vital organs and organ systems. As she lay in stasis, the Aethera armor made Josephine a sort of cyborg long before the word was coined.

Aspects

High Concept:

Steampunk Cyborg Gadgeteer From The Past!!!

"Born" in the mid-to-late 19th century, Josephine Themylthorpe was a gadgeteer and power-absorber until she was critically injured in a fight. Her body became dependent on the life-support in her armor, so she was placed in stasis and has not been awake for nearly two centuries.

Trouble:

Woman Out Of Time

Josephine is thoroughly unused to the world as it is in 2050. It blends utopia with dystopia in ways she never could have imagined. She may be very bright, but she is culturally uneducated and has very little grasp of the world as it is today.

On Borrowed Time

Josephine's armor is currently the only thing keeping her alive -- and it's damaged, nearly beyond repair. She can keep fixing herself, but not forever. She'll need future tech to help her, and that means making alliances with the people who know how to keep her alive. That won't come without a price.

Skills

Superb (+5)

Great (+4)

Good (+3)

Fair (+2)

Average (+1)

Stunts

Mechanical Effect:

Stunt Cost:

Power Suite One: SCIENCE!!!

Josephine is a brilliant inventor specializing in electrical and mechanical engineering. With the help of her father, Dr. Joseph Themylthorpe, she crafted numerous pieces of armor, together called Aethera, to assist her in using the electricity she can absorb and expel:

Gauntlets: Aethera's gauntlets can fire bolts of electricity.
Boots: Aethera's boots allow her to fly.
Chestplate: Aethera's chestplate includes biomechanical components that allow regeneration.

The Aethera armor is powered by Josephine's innate ability to store and expel electricity. As a result, her suit's abilities are restricted by the electricity she has generated.

Note: the Aethera armor is still badly damaged. It keeps Josephine alive, but she can't be removed from it without replacing entire organ systems in her torso.

Power Breakdown

Energy Blast - Make Shoot attacks with a range of up to 3 zones.
Flight - You may fly. Use Athletics to overcome obstacles or create advantages related to flight.
Gadgeteering - +2 Crafts to build or repair complex devices. Know the general function of a machine just by looking at it.
- Master Gadgeteering - +2 Crafts when repairing or building complex devices.
Regeneration - Mild consequence clear at the end of a scene or when they start recovery. Other physical consequences downgrade one slot if available when they start recovery.

Special Effects

Area Attack - Attack everyone in a zone
Extra Movement - You can move up to two zones for free

Drawbacks

Kept Alive by Your Own Devices -If not for your gadgeteering, you wouldn’t be here today. After a horrible accident some time ago, you are Kept Alive by Your Own Devices. -

Collateral Damage

Highly Experimental Device - Once per scene, if someone is taken out (including you), you can pull a highly experimental device out of your pocket, prepared for just such an occasion. Not only does your device completely negate all the stress which would have caused the target to be taken out, it also clears your target’s highest consequence. After that, your device explodes, misfires, goes rogue, or otherwise renders itself inoperable while dishing out some collateral damage.

Power Suite Two: Human Battery

Josephine can both generate and absorb electricity, rather like a human battery. Without the control of her suit, she can still generate and absorb energy but she has very little power to actually control it. The greater electrical energy she can hold also sends her neurons into overdrive; as a result, she is brilliantly, painfully intelligent.