Transhumanauts!
An illustrated cyber-thriller written by Dave Heckman with art by Ton Vivanco.
In the not-too-distant future, the perilous cocktail of environmental turmoil and explosive technological growth is disturbing the secret and ancient roil that is the ways of magic and the other spheres. The whole thing is heading towards an explosive eruption. But there is no clandestine Bureau fighting to control this mess, nor are there caped crusaders to protect us. It’s up to those individuals on the bleeding edge of a frightening future to unite and do what they can to protect humanity.
Our Heroes
A poetess witch, a living skeleton from the time of the Crusades, a punk chick who can turn intangible, and a nanite-powered runaway supersoldier. Their Professor X: a theoretical physicist and scholar of the occult who, thanks to an unfortunate incident, now exists with his soul bound to cyberspace as a digital lich.
“Professor Artemis Kaine, named for a goddess, nom de guerre Arkaine the Sorceress, Art to her friends, and recipient of an eldritch truer name than any I was born with—my names are a game, and my aims are to blame.”
Primary Attributes: A number of pre-prepared magic spells, limited by the complexity of the magic being attempted, attuned from a spellbook in advance of danger and activated with ritual poetry.
“The man I was, he rests in peace. What I am is a living skeleton—nothing more, nothing else. If I choose to remain nameless, it is because I am the unnameable.”
Primary attributes: Fleshless skeleton impervious to pain, exposure, poison, etc. Highly resistant to fire and cold, though extreme cold can make his bones shatter and extreme fire can melt them. Can reform and regenerate if smashed but not totally obliterated.
“You know what they called it? ‘Project Bonebreaker.’ Like, ‘Oh yeah, he punches dudes real hard and breaks their bones, but, also…’ Psssh. I wonder if they knew all along they’d cut some corners. Someone at DARPA has a sense of humor.”
Primary attributes: Cyborg super-soldier with nigh-infinite endurance thanks to supercharged heart and lungs, capable of sustained super-strength and self-destructive bursts of super-strength up to x20, coupled with nanite-powered healing that can fix nearly any non-fatal injury within minutes or seconds.
“You guys remember ‘Justin Tyme?’ I loved that show when I was a kid! I wanted to be a super-spy with time powers like him. So if I’m stuck this way, am I going to have an unbearably corny code-name? You $#^%*&@ bet your *^^ I am.”
Primary attributes: Involuntary partial intangibility, voluntary temporary full intangibility.