Calavera (ICONS Writeup)

Calavera
Valerie Gray
created by Barry Reese

Prowess 3
Coordination 3
Strength 3
Intellect 4
Awareness 4
Willpower 6

Stamina 9

Powers
*Blast 8 (Extra: Magical)
*Immortality 1
*Servant 5 (Valerie can raise the dead, which function as shambling warriors at her control)
*Postcognition – Speak with the Dead 8 (Valerie can revive the recently deceased – they are compelled to answer her questions until the time limit (generally around 5 minutes) expires, after which they cannot be revived)
*Telepathy 6 (Limit: Only works with ravens)
*Life Support 10

Specialties
Art – Writing (Expert +2), Occult

Qualities
Creepy – she makes people who are ‘sensitive’ very uncomfortable
“I really shouldn’t be enjoying all this death and mayhem so much, should I?”
Sometimes gets unwanted visions of people’s deaths

Background: Valerie Gray is the great-granddaughter of famed hero Lazarus Gray. Her grandmother was also the daughter of Gravedigger, another famed hero of the past. As such, is the product of multiple heroic legacies and was seemingly destined for greatness from birth — however, her father (the hero known as Geist) did everything in his power to drive her away from the family business. As such, she grew up thinking her father was an absolute jerk. Eventually Valerie became a successful mystery novelist, working under a pseudonym and trying to keep everyone from knowing of her connection to Lazarus Gray. When a massive conspiracy targeted her on the brink of the apocalypse, Valerie found herself dealing with attempts on her life, even as she was dealing with the death of her beloved grandmother. Unwittingly, she had exposed herself to a set of sugar skulls that had belonged to her Gran — these sugar skulls were portals to Deadworld, a gateway between the living and the death. As a result, Valerie is ‘partially dead’ – meaning that she no longer ages, she’s unnaturally pale, her skin is cold to the touch, and people get a bad ‘vibe’ from her. These energies also transformed her into the hero Calavera and she was essential to saving the world from the forces of Heaven and Hell. Though not the most powerful hero, she has a strong sense of purpose and always seems to find herself in the right place at the right time.