Orichalcum Orichalcum is a supervillain team formed about 4 years ago around three individuals: Alexander Nickels, Justine Nickels, and Caesar McKenzie. Their powers are based on technological gadgetry (mostly several sets of armored suits), and they specialize in theft and espionage rather than direct combat. Personnel Alexander Nickels is the president of the privately owned Nickels Enterprises. A brilliant metallurgist, he began his ascent to the heights of the financial world 15 years ago, when the poorly managed lab he worked at faced bankruptcy. Convinced he could run the business better than his employers, he was able to arrange enough financial backing to buy out the company and find out. He was, it seems, correct. Through shrewd deals, inspired sales pitches and a genuinely impressive series of products, he built his new company into a force to be reckoned with. Since Alexander bought out most of the original investors about 5 years ago, he has near total control of the company, though there is some speculation that NE might soon go public. For the moment, Nickels Enterprises remains a fairly powerful business, and many believe another 10 years under Alexander's stewardship could see the company rivaling Knight or Anders. Unbeknownst to most people, Alexander is also Gold, the ringleader of Orichalcum. He designed the various armors, and much of the sophisticated gadgetry they wield. He finds the group useful as a means of industrial espionage, and as a test bed for some of his inventions. Obviously, the devices used by known criminals will appear quite different from those used by a law-abiding company; the theories and methodology behind them, however, are quite similar. Justine Nickels is Alexander's wife. Officially, Justine was a private detective before her marriage, but those in the know suspected she was more of an industrial spy. Just how she and Alexander met each other isn't well known, but they certainly got along well. She now runs public relations and marketing at Nickels Enterprises, where her charm and intelligence have been quite a success. Within Orichalcum, Justine is known as Mercury. Her skills at covert operations means that she gets most of the solo assignments, but she works just as well with a team. She is probably the least effective direct combatant of the three, however, focusing more of stealth and surprise. Caesar McKenzie is an ex-marine. A college friend of Alexander, he is now the chief of security at Nickels Enterprises, and also doubles as Alexander and Justine's personal bodyguard. He is a well built man, who tends to his tasks with a laconic efficiency. He has turned down at least one offer from a rival firm, and based on their alleged offer, he must be quite good at his job. Caesar serves Orichalcum as Bronze, the heavy artillery. Both he and his armor are the most capable in combat. Beyond the three main members, Orichalcum is known to hire mercenary assistance. First, it will often outfit well trained normals with a simplified form of powered armor when simple numbers are needed. The armor might not make them much of a match for most superheroes, but it will definitely outclass the average security guard. Second, when special talents are required, Orichalcum will employ freelance supervillains; they have a fairly good reputation among the underworld for such contracts. Equipment and Tactics The heart of Orichalcum's might as a supervillain organization lies in the fours sets of armor Alexander has designed. The Gold-Class armor is used by Alexander himself. It is a well rounded model, capable of combat and infiltration missions. It is also capable of fielding any of the newest gadgets Alexander wishes to test. [Its actual combat power is left as a GM call.] The Mercury-Class armor Justine uses is not meant for serious combat, though it can certainly fight if necessary. It is loaded down with sophisticated stealth systems and security countermeasures, however, rather than military equipment. Justine can use the suit to its utmost capabilities. The Bronze-Class armor is built for sustained combat. In fact, it is so large and powerful, it cannot be used without the sub-dermal cybernetic implants Caesar was outfitted with. Caesar is quite happy with the implants, which greatly increase his combat potential outside of the armor (though he is rather disdainful of larger scale cybernetic enhancements). [This is the extra-boomity armor, driven by the crackerjack pilot.] The Silver-Class armor is designed as a "mass production" model, meant to enhance normals. It comes in four flavors. Silver-Alpha is for espionage missions, favoring stealth. Silver-Beta is for maximum combat potential. Silver-Gamma is a blend of espionage and combat, the most common variant. Silver-Delta is designed to be used by robots, which Alexander hopes to get working soon; he would like an alternative to having to hire mercenaries in some scenarios (sadly, while he can build a capable robot, he cannot design an AI to drive it). [Read: mooks.] Tactically, Orichalcum favors a hit and run technique. Most often, Mercury (sometimes with mercenary backup) will strike a target covertly; hopefully no one will ever know she was even there. When supervillainy is actually called for, Gold and Bronze will crush any resistance while Mercury attempts to secure the objective. Silvers will escort both groups. The three main members have spent a good deal of time training together, and are capable of formidable teamwork. Sadly, it is rarely possible to have enough time to achieve quite the same level of integration with their mercenary support. Alexander is a pragmatic man, willing to take what he needs and justify it later, but he has his limits. He prefers to avoid bloodshed whenever possible. He's not particularly squeamish, he simply feels that life-threatening injuries (or outright murder) is too harsh a sentence to inflict on people simply doing their jobs (in this line of work; he would be less picky against military targets or troublesome superheroes). For that reason, Orichalcum activities are often carefully planned to minimize potential innocent bystanders. Additionally, Orichalcum and their mercs make every possible effort to avoid actual violence to police officers; they'll disable equipment, disorient, or box them off away from the action, but they won't injure or cause large scale damage to them if it can be helped. Alexander knows this letter-of-the-law approach won't earn him any thanks, he simply believes that the police would be a hell of a lot more motivated to go after someone who has really hurt them. The cops are certainly not going to ignore Orichalcum, but they won't be pulling out all the stops either. The Spellsmith Link Reynard foiled one of Orichalcum's robberies at the beginning of his second career as the Spellsmith. It was a major one, an attempt to steal a sophisticated piece of government technology, and its failure did not please Alexander. While Alexander is not a man given to petty vengeance, he recognized Technocery as something other than traditional gadgetry. Once he realized that the former Scarlet Sorcerer had found a way to fuse magic and technology, he was determined to learn how. Unfortunately, his attempts were dismal failures. [He studied up on magic as best he could, but a man like Alexander really has no way to differentiate practical magic from simple superstition] Thus, Orichalcum now has three main objectives where the Spellsmith is concerned. The first is to obtain some samples of his work. Reynard has published several papers, but thus far every attempt to duplicate his results Alexander has tried failed. He now wants to obtain some of Reynard's own devices, to see if they would work under lab conditions. [They wouldn't work either, BTW, since none of the mages Alexander has hired for his work has learned the "knack" of casting magic through circuitry. Whether it is ever possible eventually is a GM's call] Secondly, Alexander wishes to gather first-hand data on the Spellsmith's powers in action. To this end, he has constructed various sensors which can be installed on any Orichalcum armor. These will be installed on any missions when contact with the Spellsmith is deemed likely (there are plans to seek out fights with Reynard should this be necessary as well). Thirdly, the Spellsmith is actively trying to bring down Orichalcum. Reynard may or may not suspect that Alexander is Gold [GM's call. Probably works better if I do suspect, but not really important], but he was impressed by their coordination. Given more time, they could become a truly formidable threat. Best to bring them down now. Given that he is hunting for them, Alexander believes it best occasionally turn the tables on him.