Simon Garth - The Zombie from 'Tales of the Zombie'

Simon William Garth

F: Gd (10)
A: Pr (04)
S: Rm (30)
E: Am (50)
R: Pr (04)
I: Gd (10)
P: Ex (20)

Health: 94
Karma: 34
Resources: Shift 0
Popularity: -10 as the Zombie, 2 as Simon Garth.

Talents:
Mystic Origin*
Resist: Domination (See Below)
In life, Simon Garth had Business/Finance


Powers:
Zombie: Simon Garth was transformed into a zombie after his death, and has often been 'resurrected' to serve one master or another. While Garth was initially mindless, time and time again Garth has been shown to regain some of his previous intellect. In addition, Garth's transformation wasn't the normal sort of zombie transformation, and has been discussed by mystics ranging from Damian Hellstrom to Dr. Strange.

As a zombie, Garth has the following abilities:

• Zombie: While a zombie, Garth is more akin to the voodoo sort of zombie, although he was brought back from the dead rather than through the use of traditional toxins. Garth has the following attributes due to his weird nature.
• Invulnerability: Garth is immune to all diseases (including the Marvel Zombies plague, making him the only being in the universe who is totally immune), as well as heat, cold, toxins, environment such as pressure and/or toxic conditions, as well as stunning attacks. In addition, Garth cannot be affected by sensory attacks or any sort, including powers which require sensory effects (Such as Pheromones). Garth will not react to damage normally, simply ignoring it.
• Protections: Garth is protected from permanent damage, capable of being restored if torn apart or shredded beyond comprehension. Garth can fully regain his health and Endurance within 24 hours, faster if he consumes blood. Garth can fully regenerate himself if he consumes flesh or blood, but chooses for the most part not to do so.
• Partial Comprehension: Garth has some partial comprehension on how things work, and therefore can act independently and operate simple machines.
• Terrible Visage: When first encountering Garth, enemies must make an opposed Psyche FEAT (Vs. Good (10) Intensity) or lose the initiative to him. Garth's appearance can cause riots, as people are often terrified at his presence.
• Amulet of Dhamballa: The mystical amulet which resurrected him is often the thing that set Garth apart from the other zombies. The Amulet is one of two such amulets, which grants complete control over Garth. As such, Garth cannot be controlled by any other means than the amulet (Such as Undead Control), but cannot resist any command usually given by the other amulet's holder. Garth can make a Psyche FEAT if commanded to kill/harm innocents or those who were familiar to him in life (Such as his daughter Donna). The Amulets have been destroyed many, many times, and reappear as often, leading some to believe they are mystical artifacts of some sort.
• Plague Carrier: The Marvel Zombie Plague: After the events of Marvel Zombies 3, Simon Garth was made the receptacle for the virus. As such, Garth has become the defacto 'patient zero' of the disease, which is assumed to still be active. While Garth does not actively seek to bite and/or transfer the virus, it should be stated that he is still the main carrier within the 616 universe.
  My write-up on the Marvel Zombie Plague

Contacts:

Simon Garth has been 'acquired' by ARMOR, and theoretically would have the contacts there.
While 'Headpool' was present in the Mainline Marvel universe, Simon Garth was his main associate (and transportation)
Simon Garth also could count (living or dead) on his daughter Donna.


Limitation:
Zombie: Garth is a zuvembie, and as such, has several limitations:

• Uncontrollable Powers - Horrific Visage: Garth's horrific visage is always on, and always causes problems and turmoil wherever he goes.
• Controlled: Garth is under the control of whoever possesses the amulet of Dhamballa.
• code vs. Killing: Despite his nature and early appearances, the Zombie does not go out of his way to harm innocents, and in fact, has gone out of his way to save innocents.

Amulet of Dhamballa

The Marvel Zombie Plague from 'Marvel Zombies'

The Marvel Zombie Plague

Stated to be extraterrestrial in origin (Army of Darkness vs. Marvel Zombies) the 'zombie' plague is a morphological virus which has severe psychological components. Brought to Marvel Earth 2149 by Magneto and Fabian Cortez, the carrier ( a version of Sentry) immediately infected the Avengers, who then began systematically devouring and spreading the plague to the metahuman community. Within three days, the entire planet's metahuman population (with very few exceptions) were affected, and the planetary population was reduced to a handful of survivors.

How the plague works:

The Plague is spread through fluid contact with the virus, requiring very little contact to immediately infect a hero or villain. A simple scratch can affect a hero within minutes (As seen in Marvel Zombies: Dead Days). The plague then begins to alter the individual's biochemistry, causing them to vomit up blood and other organic materials while it replaces them. Within minutes of introduction, the individual's physiology is altered to the point of no return, shutting down the healing and regenerative properties of the human body, arresting decomposition and cellular activity. In essence, the individual is dead, with continued brain function and partial digestive adaptability.

Within seconds that the physical symptoms have stopped, a psychological component begins to take effect, creating a psychosomatic element that creates great pain in the individual unless the individual consumes the flesh of the living. The pain subsides for minutes or seconds, but returns within one to six hours with greater intensity, lessening the time in which the consumption of flesh sates the pain. During this period, the individual's primary concern will be to sate the hunger, and will abandon any previous connections to family, friends, and allies in order to stop the pain. (As seen with Spider Man in Marvel Zombies: Dead Days when he ate Aunt May and Mary Jane).

If the individual can go without devouring anyone for a significant length of time, the hunger will abate and finally disappear, restoring the individual's personality to their 'normal' level, albeit with full memories of what they have done.


Game Mechanics:

For the purposes of the game, an individual is infected when they are exposed directly to the virus via an infected person, usually through bite. Once the hero is bitten, the following occures:

The hero must immediately make an Endurance FEAT against +2cs of their current Endurance. The FEAT is to determine the length of time before they themselves become infected. Androids and Robots do not need to make such a FEAT, nor do any heroes whose state is considered 'unliving'.

Regeneration, Recovery, resistance to Disease, or any healing abilities cannot arrest the plague once infected.

Depending on the FEAT result, the following time-frame is used to determine how much time a hero has before they turn:

-White: Immediate conversion within the same round of infection
- Green: 1 round before the conversion occurs
- Yellow: 1 to 10 minutes before the conversion occurs
- Red: 1 hour before the conversion occurs.

Note: Once the conversion occurs, the hero immediately begins to suffer the psychological need to feed:

- Heroes can resist the psychological compulsion by making a Red Psyche FEAT at - 2cs.
- Heroes lose all Karma once the conversion occurs.
- Heroes will immediately attack and consume those immediately nearby with intent on killing and devouring.

Once a hero undergoes conversion, they immediately become NPCs (unless your judge is running a Marvel Zombies campaign...ewwww)

The hero immediately loses any regeneration/healing abilities, and begin to slowly decompose. They retain their intellect and skills, as well as most of their additional powers. If their powers utilize something akin to worthiness or noble actions, they immediately lose access to them.

In addition, individuals gain the following:
- Unliving state: The infected do not feel pain, except for the hunger, and as such can even suffer dismemberment without even slowing down. As such, they cannot be killed through conventional means, such as complete molecular destruction or full destruction of the brain. The brain is the key component that drives the infected, and it must be completely destroyed to stop the infected. The infected can survive any condition including beheading (As seen in Marvel Zombies 2, issue 1) and do not require anything to continue to exist, save to stave off the hunger. In essence, the infected are immortal, remorseless beings who are parodies of their former selves.

- The hunger: The relentless drive that the infected suffer. At any time, the infected can try to resist the hunger, by making a series of Red Psyche FEATs. The first FEAT is to stop from devouring, requiring a Red Psyche FEAT at -2cs. If successful, the infected can resist the hunger for up to one hour, allowing them to be incarcerated or held in a detoxification center. The next FEAT is a Red FEAT at -4cs which will allow the Infected to resist the hunger through the worst parts of the addiction. The final Red Psyche FEAT is at -6cs, which is the worst part of the addiction. Should the infected manage to make the FEATS, they will overcome the hunger, and therefore, can be warily treated like the heroes they once were...however...

Should an infected ever devour a living being again, they immediately resort to the creatures they have become, requiring them to undergo the process again.


A Cure?

At this moment, there is no known cure for the Zombie Plague. It is reasoned that a cure would require both Mn (75) and above Reason and Mn (75) and above resources with additional talents to develop a cure or vaccine. Neither Mr. Fantastic or Doctor Doom came close to uncovering a solution to the plague, and agreed that fleeing the Earth was a better solution. If a cure was possible, it would have to be administered PRIOR to full conversion into an infected, during the first stages of exposure. Once the infection has set in, it is nearly impossible to reverse it, requiring nothing short of reality alteration.