Icons
In the old days (2015) I did a post for every villain in Icons Assembled. I thought I'd bring those over here and possibly update them a bit, it being a different decade.
First up: ConfederApe.
ConfederApe
The official bio says:
An accident in brainwave syncing led to an experimental ape absorbing the intellect of scientist Dwight Givens, along with Givens’s obsession with Civil War history and re-enactments. To the "ConfederApe" the "Lost Cause" became synonymous with the overthrow of human domination. With the power to broadcast mental commands to his fellow apes, he staged a breakout of the research facility and plots rebellion against all humankind.
Text quoted with the permission of Steve Kenson and Ad Infinitum Games, and is not intended to challenge the copyright.
It's easy to treat the ConfederApe as a joke or a one-off villain, so let's not. Let's consider ConfederApe as a credible threat in a comic book universe. (This is tough for me, as I've said elsewhere. As a Canadian, I have no resonance with the Lost Cause fable, and tend to the simplistic idea that people who want to overthrow the government and maintain human slavery are wrong. But I'll try to give ConfederApe a fair treatment...because human treatment of apes is horrendous.)
In some ways, he's the perfect comic book villain: his plans do not involve grubby cash (except as a means to an end), non-lethal (he doesn't want to kill all humans, just subjugate them) and his knowledge of strategy and tactics means that the PCs can never assume his actions are "just random," even if they are.
But what does he want?
A Brief Aside: A GM's Decision
Technically, apes are any of the tailless anthropoid catarrhine primates (look it up on Wikipedia). The group includes gibbons, chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and humans. But "ape" also gets used to mean any tailless monkey, such as the Barbary ape, while excluding humans.
So you have to decide when using the ConfederApe on his usual behaviour: does he control apes in the technical sense, or apes in the casual sense (in which case you can probably throw in all New World and Old World monkeys as well, but exclude humans).
He can do either, but you should pick one. It determines his choices. A ConfederApe who can control human minds is a different opponent than one who controls the monkeys of organ grinders.
(Remember to throw your PCs a Determination Point any time he violates his usual protocol.)
Here, I'm going to assume that he can control the mind of any non-human primate. (I'm also going to risk the wrath of primate researchers by declaring that for my purposes, intelligence or sapience means human intelligence.)
His Goals
Look at his Qualities. They're meant to constrain and define him. Yes, he wants the apes to rise; no, he can't do it dishonourably, because he's a Southern gentleman. If the ConfederApe has given his word, he will not betray you. (Obviously, he doesn't give his word often.) If you're careful, you can strike some sort of deal with him. But he can't just give up: he's a rebel primate.
Really, he wants to create the Planet of the Apes, but he'll settle for founding Gorilla City. This is perhaps the best way to think of him: as a long-range planner who combines both King Solovar and Gorilla Grodd.
Because he's not a genius, you can make the plans stupid, but why bother? A squad of policemen and three officers from Animal Control would be able to catch him if the plans were stupid.
ConfederApe: The Mini Series
Put yourself in his place at his origin: you're a gorilla that has suddenly achieved sapience, you understand how you've been oppressed by humans, and you need to organize to put down the humans. Let's say the facility was in or near Atlanta, Georgia.
Going Ape
ConfederApe broke out of the facility with as many apes as he could bring—capuchins, rhesus monkeys, and other gorillas, including his mate, Nabila. Maybe the best thing to do would have been to hide his intelligence, find out what was going on, but the ConfederApe was overwhelmed by rage when he suddenly understood what they were doing. He was also afraid that they would take away this new knowledge, this new self-awareness. He doesn't know what happened to Dwight Givens; Givens didn't go home that night. (ConfederApe checked: he knows where Givens lives.)
The first thing to do was put distance between his group and the research station. They hopped a freight train heading east and south, to wilderness. He liked the idea of hiding on the Fort Stewart grounds (Givens had fond memories of hunting there), but he also knew there were lethal items on the ground. Instead, he headed to the Savannah National Wildlife Refuge.
There they hid.
ConfederApe had several needs in the early days: He had to hide his people; he had to increase the size of his army; he had to make his apes smart. (Smart apes weren't unknown in the Iconsverse, but they had never bred true.) He stole food, to make their presence less obvious. Several times they were spotted, leading to Bigfoot rumours, but he managed to keep everyone safe.
He started breaking into the Refuge administration center at night, and using their computers. Under pseudonyms, he contacted animal rights groups. Eventually he found one that was radical enough that it wouldn't question the legality of breaking apes from research facilities and jails.
And he discovered superheroes.
Superheroes might not be against the idea of ape self-rule, but they would be against the subjugation of humanity.
After thinking about this for weeks, ConfederApe came to a couple of conclusions.
- He had to keep freeing apes wherever possible. But until he could make the apes smarter, he couldn't hide with them. Superheroes would find him, which means they would find the others, who couldn't escape on their own.
- He had to foment discontent among the humans. He had seen even in the research facility that the humans weren't monolithic in their feelings toward apes and ape captivity. That was something he could use.
- He needed to be a symbol. Even if only a small fraction of humans agreed with him, a small fraction of seven billion would be many humans. They would have to rally around him.
That was the origin of ConfederApe. That's the reason for the vest and the hat and the name.
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Ape
Again using the freight trains, ConfederApe returned to Atlanta. In Atlanta, he was going to make his first appearance as ConfederApe.
He planned to be on camera and distract attention from his animal rights associates...and the surest way to find cameras and people was to go to a baseball game.
He attacked during the seventh inning break. He was mistaken for a zoo mascot.
In anger, he tore up the field, broke the scoreboard, and smashed the box office. When Animal Control officers showed up, he tricked them into shooting each other with tranquilizer darts.
The crowd loved it. The home team had been losing, so the distraction was welcome. They paid no attention to the plight of the apes.
Defeated, ConfederApe went into hiding. He was a supervillain whom no one recognized as a supervillain. He needed to refine his plan. To get the attention he needed, he had to attack superheroes directly.
But not in Georgia. Instead, wherever your heroes are located.
His Tactics
Remember his goals: money, awareness, and make apes smarter so they can be free.
First, he needs money. He has a community that must be hidden and paid for; he has habitats that must be saved so that some day there can be a place for apes to live. Any untraceable high-value item is a good bet for ConfederApe. He steals diamonds and other gems or bearer bonds when he can.
Second, he needs to raise awareness. An assault on superheroes at a known location (with cameras) does that.
Third, he needs to raise the intelligence of his apes. ConfederApe is interested in any technological or magical system for increasing intelligence or any hero or villain who has become intelligent.
His normal technique is to find a location with captive apes, break them out, and use them to help him with whatever job he has in mind. He makes it quite clear that he is controlling the apes, and it is not their fault. (If it comes down to it, he would rather they were re-captured so he can rescue them again.)
ConfederApe travels, in the hopes of keeping the authorities away from his people. He does make trips back there, whenever his females are in rut, because he is hoping his transformation will breed true.
His Relationships with Other Villains
This part is even more “just a suggestion” than the rest, but here's my take on how ConfederApe relates to the rest of the provided villains:- Count Malocchio
- “I dislike him, but I find him useful. Warbride tells me he feels the same way about me. I'll work with him, sure, but I see the wrong kind of Old World colonialism and oppression in what the Count does to really feel comfortable with him. That being said, if the Count offered some way to uplift the apes, I'd take it.”
- The Creeper
- “I like the idea of him more than I like him. When the apes rise up, we will need someone to re-establish the plant world, and the Creeper can do that. On the other hand, Carl is a bit full of himself; he just assumes that plants are better. Look, they're necessary but not better than apes. He has no appreciation for alcohol—he calls it 'yeast piss.' Also, he scorns cotillions, a social construct that I find fascinating.”
- The Gila-Master
- “He's a fellow animal man. I suppose I should like him. I work with him, but you know that everything is is eventually going to go wrong. First there's that whole 'Chosen One' thing—I find that offensive. Yes, I'm trying to save the apes but that's not Christ-like, that's more Moses. Second, it always seems to come back to Saguaro. There is a time and a place, and he does not understand that. No, things eventually go wrong with Gila-Master, but they can be quite good at the beginning. The trick is getting out before he causes the end.”
- Grudge
- “He's a loose cannon. He's fine if he's kept on a short leash (so to speak), but you don't ask him to plan anything.”
- Speed Demon
- “He's a nice human. I like him. He can have all the human women he wants. He likes wine, which I find a bit odd. I like his taste in music.”
- The Troll
- “You know he's shot apes? In the Congo. He bragged about it once. Also, he's a beer man, which I find vulgar.”
- Ultra-Mind
- “We don't have a lot of common ground, but I think there's someone interesting there. For instance, he doesn't care if all the humans get destroyed. I like that. I just don't know how to communicate with him. Still, he's useful, and I'll generally do what he asks, because when I call in those favors, I think they'll be quite important.”
- Warbride
- “I like her. She appreciates a fine bourbon, and she's not nearly as fragile as she looks. She brings me Blue-Rays sometimes (streaming can be spotty at the hideout) and we try to figure out human civilization. I had an idea once that would have used her, Speed Demon, and Ultra-Mind, but I couldn't find the right level to approach Ultra.”
Story ideas
- ConfederApe hears about the Creeper, and he is curious. Granted, Carl had only a qualitative leap in self-awareness and not a quantitative one, but apes are so close that it might be enough. He breaks the Creeper out of jail, and agrees to commit a series of crimes in return for the Creeper's secret. The Creeper has no real secret (and many apes are mostly vegetarians, which Carl is dubious about).
- The Ultra-Mind has increased his intelligence, and finds the ConfederApe's little crusade amusing. The Ultra-Mind's genetic accelerator could be used to give apes intelligence, with a few modifications. Or the Ultra-Mind would like to build a device that will turn all humans into apes (except for the ones he deems suitable for evolving). They might strike a deal, where the ConfederApe steals a few parts he needs. The ConfederApe is initially unaware that the Ultra-Mind has no interest in honouring any bargain. (The Ultra-Mind is not a gentleman.)
- The ConfederApe needs to sway public opinion more, so he embarks on a scheme to make the heroes look bad. Whomever they are fighting, the ConfederApe and his cohort of apes make sure that there is collateral damage, that people are going to get hurt, and that someone (if necessary, a hired someone) is there to catch the footage on their cell phone.
- ConfederApe has freed apes from a secret military base. The base was being used to test biological weapons, and there were about two dozen rhesus monkeys and a dozen apes (chimpanzees and gibbons). The base has extensive security, but it's designed to keep an infected ape from getting out, not a human-intelligence ape from getting in. The virus stocks are safe, but two of the apes are in the incubation period and may be infected. This strain has been modified to weaponize it: heroes have about twelve hours before the apes are contagious. (If they get that way: the virus was still being tested.)
- ConfederApe commits a series of robberies in the American South, in Georgia. The robberies indicate he is tracing Sherman's March backward, Savannah to Atlanta. Sherman burned Atlanta; what will ConfederApe do? Savvy players note that the Atlanta zoo has the largest collection of gorillas in North America: over twenty, and that the robberies could finance someone to take that many gorillas back to Africa. He doesn't intend to be at the zoo; he'll be causing a ruckus at a Civil War site. However, using materials he has purchased from Professor Hominid (or stolen, while he had him controlled), a hired flier for an animal rights organization is going to steal the entire gorilla enclosure and transport it back to Africa.
- You know that animal rights organization I just mentioned? Turns out they were lying. They're just crooks. They are now holding the gorillas for ransom, and they're sending the demands to ConfederApe. He commits robberies, sends them money, and when it totals ten (or a hundred) million dollars, they will set the apes free. (Probably.) This outrages ConfederApe's Southern honor enough that he is even willing to ask the players for help. The players discover that the crooks are planning to keep ConfederApe paying money while they resell the apes to various shady agencies, zoos, and research institutions.
- Where does ConfederApe live if you don't want to use the Refuge? You'd think an intelligent gorilla and his monkey minions would be hard to hide, but no: he lives in a traveling zoo. Well, it claims to be a traveling zoo, and perhaps before he showed up, it was. A combination of circus sideshow and zoo, Tribe of Greystoke has reasons to buy ape food and paperwork to travel. Oddly, they don't seem to get many performances (that business strategy of showing up and then looking for gigs doesn't work well), but that's okay: they're understaffed. Goodness knows, they're never lacking for cash. ConfederApe's only rule is to avoid committing crimes in the same city as Tribe of Greystoke. Except it's in the players' town, and so is a trade between zoos, letting a number of orangutans be shown at the local zoo. Will ConfederApe break his long-standing rule, or does he have a clever plan that will disguise his troupe and free the orangs? He doesn't have much time: the apes are due to be shipped back to their home zoo at the end of the week.
- The ConfederApe has less a fondness for Dwight's vegetative body and more a fear that if Dwight ever returns, ConfederApe's intelligence will slip away. Something happens to Dwight's body—it's stolen by organleggers, or Sock Puppet decides to use it, or X takes it away because no one will miss it, or Dwight's widow's boyfriend decides it's standing in the way of their marriage—and ConfederApe goes mad with worry. He and his minions descend upon the city and begin to track the body...incidentally stealing while they're there to support themselves. Can the players discover the connection between a missing man in a coma and the ConfederApe's crimes?
Original posted on DreamWidth at http://doc-lemming.dreamwidth.org/206884.html.
