Bastard Son

{{#if:Bastard Son to a 'potential' recruitWD Oakland|

“	I'd be more worried about the subordinates than about the Elite capes, hehehe. Question is, are you going to surrender right now, will you run, or are you going to fight and maybe get killed in the process? Don't answer too quickly. From all the 'kill me's that my previous catches have given me, I don't think they're too happy in my employ.	”
{{#if:Bastard Son to a 'potential' recruit| —Bastard Son to a 'potential' recruit{{#if:WD Oakland|, WD Oakland}} }} }}

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Bastard Son</default></title>

<image source="Image"></image> <image source="image"></image> <group><header>Basic Information</header> <label>Civilian Name</label> <label>Aliases</label> <label>Gender</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Death</label> <label>Age</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Post-timeskip</label> <label>Ward start</label> <label>Relations</label> <label>Family</label></group> <group><header>Professional Status</header> <label>Occupation</label> <label>Classification</label> <label>Unique Features</label> <label>Alignment</label>

<label>Status</label><format>

Unknown

</format>

<label>Location</label> <label>Teams</label> <label>Previous Team(s)</label> <label>Base of Operations</label></group> <group><header>First Appearance</header> <label>Worm Debut</label> <label>Ward Debut</label></group> </infobox> Bastard Son is a high ranking member of the Elite.

Personality

Audacious and disrespectful of all authority save his own, and possibly those of his peers, other leaders of the Elite. He is willing to give advice to those who pique his interest however.<ref name="WD2.2"> "You're new," he says. "Heh. You did the right thing, announcing yourself. But you forgot to announce your intent." - Excerpt from a canon Weaverdice game</ref>

He keeps up a veneer of sophistication but is more than willing to order people's deaths for annoying him.<ref name="WD2.3"> "Well, if you're going to be rude, I'm hanging up," he says. - Excerpt from a canon Weaverdice game</ref> He has a verbal tic where he says 'Heh' at the ends of his sentences.<ref name="R2" />

Reputation

He earned his high-ranking position in the Elite<ref name="IRC eExperience" /> and has a deserved reputation for ruthlessness,<ref name="WD1.1">"I like the bad side of business," Bastard Son says. "It's more my element, heh." - Excerpt from a canon Weaverdice game</ref><ref name="SB1">Uppercrust would be on the very far end of that sliding scale of legit, justified business and helping out. He's at '1' on the 1-10 scale. Agnes would be like, 2-3.

Bastard Son would be closer to 10. - Conversation with Wildbow on Discord, Archived on Spacebattles.</ref> with his division of the Elite being considered nearly as destructive and violent as the Slaughterhouse Nine.<ref name="PRT82">Varies from case to case. Bastard Son's gang is very nearly as bad as the Slaughterhouse Nine. - Department Sixty Four, PRT Quest thread ii - Page 82</ref> They seemed to have gained this reputation by being the Elite's go-to strike team when softening up a new area for their expansion.<ref name="R1">They remain in play because they, by and large, keep the peace. The most dangerous elements of the Elite (ie. Bastard Son) go up against the most dangerous opposition, which is almost always villainous, they win, and then the more dangerous Elite move on to bloodier pastures and things become stable or mostly stable in the wake of their departure, as other members of the Elite are settled into place there. Not as good as the PRT taking that ground, but better than the slaughter continuing. - reddit comment by Wildbow.</ref>

Appearance

Bastard Son usually has his hair styled in a wild fashion<ref name="WD1.1x">Bastard Son has stubble on his chin, and his suit has no tie, he has rings on his fingers and in one ear, and his mask is a mocking sneer, his hair styled to look messy. - Excerpt from a canon Weaverdice game</ref> while dressing in respectable highly tailored suits, along with adornments like an earring and rings. Confirming his status as a cape, he wears interchangeable masks that have things like leering smirks and mocking sneers cut into them.<ref name="WD2.1">You've done your research. You know who you're dealing with. Uppercrust is gone, and Bastard Son is the one that remains. He stands on the railing-bordered half-floor that overlooks the room below. Wild hair, a suit that one could wear among billionaires, and a mask with a leering smirk on it. He changes the masks with regularity. With so many villains present, he's got his enhanced bodyguards with him. Most remain in the shadows up on the second floor, but there are no less than twelve. Two other parahumans stand by, Elite brought in from elsewhere. - Excerpt from a canon Weaverdice game</ref> He has a distinctive voice that is easily recognizable even over a phone,<ref name="WD3">"I'll put you on."
There's no music or anything as the line hangs. The background noise picks up as you're taken off hold, presumably at another location.
"Director," Bastard Son replies. His voice is distinctive. - Excerpt from a canon Weaverdice game</ref> along with the propensity to chuckle out a 'Heh'.

Abilities and Powers

Bastard Son has a Teacher-like power where he can grant a person extraordinary levels of skill with an unconventional thing/tool/weapon.<ref name="IRC eExperience" /><ref name="R2" /> For example, a subject skilled with yo-yo's could use one to ascend from the ground level of a building to the outside of the second floor,<ref>The phone rings as you make your way to the second floor. Fingernails and Bat enter the lobby, while Yo-yo stands outside. A moment passes, and Yo-yo lunges up to the outside of the second floor. Glancing over your shoulder, you can see the individual's shadow cast through the exterior window, the open door, and touching the wall of the brightly lit hallway, ten feet away. - Excerpt from WD Oakland</ref> while a subject skilled with baseball bats could use one to parry bullets, albeit not perfectly.<ref name="WD eParryBullets">The man with the gun swings his bat as you pop out of hiding. It grazes the first bullet, knocking it off course, where it strikes through his side, bounces off, and hits the second bullet, pinging it away.

He looks odd, as people go, with his way of holding his head and body, his hair is long, and he has scruff on his cheeks, but his clothes are nice. More like someone incapable of taking care of themselves, with a benefactor.

The look he gives you as he meets your eyes is a hollow one. You're dealing with something closer to a zombie than a man, and the thought crosses your mind that he's probably going to do a lot of damage to you when he gets closer, and his bat has more reach than your fingernails do.
[...]
You fire your three shots, while making your way around him. Twice, he parries your bullets, but the last swing is slow, and costs him a precious hundredth of a second, and your bullet punches into his lower thigh.
[...]
The bullets are deflected, but the man with the bat deigns not to follow you, after two very close calls, almost missing the bullets completely. - Excerpt from WD Oakland</ref> Bastard Son and the recipient of his power do not get to choose which skill is granted as it is completely random.<ref name="IRC eExperience" /><ref name="Reddit ePowerDetails">Zoanzon: Does Bastard Son get to choose what god-tier skill is given, the recipient, or is it random? Does the skill have to be weaponized or is that just the logical ending for those he's gifting these considering they're probably his, as you said, attack dogs? Does the gifting strip the sanity and volition, or is that like Teacher where he can strip it like Teacher strips free will: at choice? Is the power gifting for a duration, as long as Bastard Son wants, or till death, and does the sanity issue continue after power-loss if they don't fade only on death?

Sorry for the barrage of questions; Bastard Son's power is a favorite of mine and I just wanna take the opportunity to find out more about it.

(Also since you're seeing this, thank you so much for letting us experience this wonderful setting, and for partaking in the community as much as you do!)

Wildbow: No, no, yes, yes, yes, yes, you're welcome. - Conversation with Wildbow on Reddit</ref> Other known examples of granted skills include roller skates, glass shards, ribbons, paper, ball peen hammers, darts, and fingernails.<ref name="R2" />

However, the subject also seems to permanently<ref name="Reddit ePowerDetails" /> lose their mind in the process<ref name="IRC eExperience" /> as they becomes almost zombie-like and incapable of taking care of themselves without human assistance.<ref name="WD eParryBullets" /> The effect of his power is very detrimental to the subject's sanity and volition, leaving them highly suggestible.<ref name="R2">Bastard Son appears in my Weaverdice stuff on occasion. A predisposition for one note laughs (heh), a teacher-like ability where he awakens god-tier skill levels in use of seemingly random tools and improvised weapons (roller skates, glass shards, ribbons, paper, ball peen hammers, darts) and strips away sanity and volition from the recipients. He's an attack dog with a whole contingent of attack dogs at his disposal.

In Oakland, three such attack dogs cornered a skill-thief thinker with the ability to have the skills and talents of everyone within a one-hundred foot radius. Said skill-thief was capable of using the three attack dogs' skills (yo-yo, baseball bat, fingernails) but didn't have said weapons at their disposal, exactly, and was too panicked to improvise. Casey-at-the-Bat swatted bullets out of the air with their aluminum bat, just to give you a sense of what was in play. The player used their 'I can unleash my powers for incredible effect, but only once' perk, gaining the skills and capabilities of everyone within 5 city blocks, and still wound up shooting themselves in the head (using their enhanced skill to ensure it worked) to avoid letting Bastard Son have them.

(That might sound like bad GMing, but it was an auction bid for powers and the player took 'maximum difficulty first session' in exchange for more points. There were ways out, and getting within swing range of Casey-at-the-bat wasn't one of them.)

The Elite position him where their hold is in question. They know what he's like and they work around it. - Comment by Wildbow on Reddit</ref>

Bastard Son is known to enhance non-parahumans<ref>You're ignored, and there are few opportunities to talk before things get underway. Bastard Son makes his way down the stairs, joined by two capes and two of his enhanced normals, while the others stand near the railing, overlooking the scene. One rocks in place, and another is singing softly to herself. It's an ominous backdrop for this particular scene.
It's clear from the outset that he's merciless. The leader of the Elite launches straight into the running of the city, and you get the impression that he's crafting every statement in a way that makes things harder on the new people. You're only barely able to keep up. - Excerpt from WD Oakland</ref> and has used his power to have a whole contingent of subjects at his disposal.<ref name="R2" /> When meeting with other villains in Oakland, he brought a dozen enhanced bodyguards with him.<ref name="WD2.1" /> Bastard Son sent three of his subjects to seize a skill-thief, alive or dead.<ref>Apex received a phone call, this time from Bastard Son, one of the Elite. With Poe gone, Bastard Son is working to put the Elite on the map, and as it happens, the Digital Boys have a standing arrangement with the Elite, giving them first dibs on new members. Bastard Son has heard about Apex, who divulged her strengths and weaknesses to the Digital Boys, and sends his people to seize her, alive or dead. - Summary from WD Oakland</ref>

The powers of skill thiefs or copiers work against his subjects.<ref>As you head up the stairs, you pick up new skills. Three individuals are approaching from the front, and what you're picking up feels... exceedingly wrong.

The skills you're grasping are needlessly specific, the full applications beyond even your understanding... relating to baseball? Yo-yos? Fingernails? - Excerpt from WD Oakland</ref><ref name="R2" />

History

Background

Became a major player among the Elite, gaining experience and a reputation. He functioned as the 'tip of the spear' or enforcer, for the elite. Brought to the fore when the group was moving into an area or in conflict with another villain group.

Post-Echidna

With the failing health of Uppercrust, Bastard Son was one of several high-level members who were jockeying for a higher position within the organization.<ref>“A little bit. Depends on who you’re talking to, and where you find them. Different subsidiaries, different branches, each led by one of the head members. The Gentleman, Agnes Court, Blueblood, Regis Rex, Bastard Son… and the others, a bit of shuffling in the works, while we decide what happens when Uppercrust passes. Nothing you need to concern yourself with. Each group has their own style, and that’s alright, so long as it doesn’t interfere with the rest of us.” - Department Sixty Four,PRT Quest thread ii - Page 82</ref>

Trivia

• Debuted by Wildbow in WD Oakland.

References

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