Jedidiah Joseph Ronald Talbot
(Jay, or JJ, to his friends; "Jedidiah" to his family)
geek and deluded "Jedi Apprentice"
After a 6-movie Star Wars marathon on Saturday with his Sci-Fi club,
and a mix of Jackie Chan movies & various anime all day (and far
into the night) on Sunday with the anime club, JJ walked into school
Monday morning very short of sleep and still running on a high of
heroics and slapstick action-comedy.
At 10:11AM, during recess, the bullies of his high-school (a clique
made of guys from the wrestling team and linebackers from the
football team) ambushed JJ in the bathroom, with the object of
"teaching the geek a lesson" via repeatedly flushing his head.
Always much quicker than average (an early but un-realized forebear
of his magical powers), JJ had actually dodged the first three
attempts to grab him, but he was blindsided by one of the wrestlers
and hit the ground hard; the football players dogpiled on, and a
few moments later he was dragged to his feet, and over to a toilet
stall.
It was at this moment that his "Force Powers" manifested. Suddenly,
with a simple "thrust" gesture, even the heaviest opponent could be
shoved backwards; with a reaching or grasping motion, he could pull
objects to him; with a wave, he could move them about.
Suddenly, the one-sided fight was one-sided in the other direction,
hilariously so. Stall-doors whacked JJ's assailants in the face,
hit them from behind, knocked them into one another. Paper towels
streamed off their rolls like pale brown pythons, wrapping around
arms, tripping legs, tying the bullies in knots. Sinks and toilets
sprayed water in their faces, under their feet, or hit with firehose
force. Before 10:13AM, it was all over.
The school was never able to make sense of the reports. Eleven
trained athletes (known bullies and troublemakers, all) complained
of being "assaulted" by a (notably non-athletic) geek. The bathroom
where it happened was trashed (obviously by a large group). The
only conclusion they could come to -- but could not prove -- was
that JJ must have assembled a group of science-and-engineering-geek
allies to cleverly "booby-trap" the bathroom into a series of
bully-traps, and somehow "tempted" them into trying to beat him up
there.
Everybody involved was suspended for a day, but -- lacking any sign
of others' involvement -- the matter went no further.
After that, JJ occasionally pulled the "Jedi Mind Trick" on a few
bullies -- "You don't need to beat me up. I'm not worth your time.
Move along" -- but undertook a rigorous physical-training program
(based on the scenes with Luke and Yoda on Dagobah). Desptite the
temptations to use it on cheerleaders and other "highschool hotties"
(e.g. "You want to go out with me. You want to make out with me")
he avoided the more-deleterious uses of his power... nevertheless,
he's stuck with a Lawbreaker-4th stunt.
He graduated a year and a half later, and is attending the local JC
(previously university-bound, he has been "distracted" from that
course by his "Jedi Powers.")
He grasps his magic as "Jedi Powers" and follows that template
very closely (he has no realization of the real state of affairs).
If there are Jedi, there must be Sith too... somewhere... and
probably various aliens, too... and sundry bits ofultra-high-
tech. The reality of the supernatural world, as he experiences it,
may well fit within this framework for some time to come, although
several elements (gates to the Nevernever, etc) have no good Star-
Wars-Universe matches, and may shake his new worldview.
Because of the strongly belief-driven nature of one's own magic,
and JJ's belief that he's a Jedi, his magic-driven Hexing power
doesn't affect technology the way most wizards' power does; after
all, Jedi have no problems using technology! JJ sees himself as
an action-hero-in-training, a champion of justice against villainy
(of which bullying is only the first, petty step). Consequently,
his "hexing" ability tends to manifest in battle as making him a
"primary/preferred target" for many foes (unless they have reason
to choose another), and out of battle it gives him improbably-
frequent "opportunities" to fulfill the action-hero persona.
Emergency-services first-responders are beginning to wonder at
how often JJ is there -- RIGHT THERE -- when these life-threatening
emergencies go down. Preliminary police investigations have
cleared him in most of these cases, however -- equipment failure
he could not possibly have tampered with, other peoples' errors in
judgement, etc -- leaving officials puzzled and suspicious, but
not currently inclined to act.
His Character Sheet looks something like this:
Jedidiah Joseph Ronald Talbot, "JJ"
(Jay, or JJ, to his friends; "Jedidiah" to his family)
High Concept: "Jedi-mancer"
Trouble: but... I'm only an apprentice!
SKILLS:
+5 Conviction, Discipline
These are key "Jedi" skills
+4 Athletics, Alertness
Formerly non-athletic, he has been passionate about his
"Jedi Training" for well over a year, and he practices
the mix of stillness and alertness he thinks every Jedi
should master
+3 Scholarship, Endurance
Although he's strayed from the academic path, he's still
a bright Honors-Student kind of kid; his Endurance has also
benefited from his "Jedi Training Regimen."
+2, +1 -- Remain to be filled in. Almost certainly no "Lore,"
however: he doesn't believe in magic or the rest of that
supernatural crap. He's a Jedi!
Powers:
-2 Channeling "Jedi Powers"
(he has no "Focus Item" slots, so I've assigned him the point-equivalent
of a Refinement: +1 Power, +1 Control)
-2 Inhuman Speed (another of his "Jedi Powers")
-0 Jedi Foreseeing (like Cassandra's Tears)
He sees a few moments into the future, enough that in a fight he has
the equivalent Initiative of "Supernatural Speed" (but not the rest of
that ability)... but sometimes people notice that he "reacts" before
whatever it is that he's supposedly "reacting to," so friends and
acquaintances are sometimes getting a bit "creeped out."
-1 Supernatural Sense: "the Force"
Works like in the movies, interpreting supernatural and life-force via
his own persone framework of understanding.
-1 Alternate Hexing: instead of tech-hexing, he tends to be on-the-spot
when emergencies and minor disasters go down, and a preferred target
whenever he gets into battle.
-2 "Lightsaber": for his 15th birthday, his parents gave him one of
the premium handcrafted "lightsaber" replicas that can be bought online.
After he "became a jedi" that day in the bathroom, he tinkered with it
until it "really worked." Treat it as a "Weapon:3" sword, but he uses
Conviction instead of "Weapon" in combat -- it is fundamentally a
magical attack. It can cut through almost any mundane material.
-2 "Jedi Parry": Using his lightsaber & Conviction, he can apply a Block,
and often a Riposte, to almost any attack: even a bullet can be bounced
away, although he needs a separate Discipline roll to re-aim a bullet
rather than having it randomly ricochet.
-1 Lawbreaker (Fourth): "The Jedi Mind Trick" JJ was raised a moral
young man, and is modeling himself on modern heroic imagery. He does
not recognize what a slippery slope he is on with the "Jedi Mind Trick,"
but his rearing and internal modelling have so far prevented him from
slipping down past the -1 level of this stunt.
