Stickman
aka Abraham Klee
Copyright Barry Reese

ADVANTAGES: Ally (Belladonna) -8D, Intimidating Grin -2D
DISADVANTAGES: Fanatic (never satisfied) +3D, Unattractive Appearance +2D

POWERS: The Stickman has been transformed into an eight-foot-tall, wood-like entity. Instead of blood, his limbs contain sticky sap. He no longer needs to eat or sleep but he does need occasional exposure to sunlight as he seems to derive nourishment from a form of photosynthesis. His altered form provides him with the following abilities – Superattributes: Physique 8D, Elasticity (stretching arms only) 1D, Longevity 10D, Sustenance (photosynthesis) 9D, Healing (self-only) 5D, Natural Armor (tree bark) 2D, Resurrection (self-only) 7D

BACKGROUND: The Stickman first came to prominence in the final days of the second World War, when rumors of his appearance in the burning ruins of Berlin came to light. The Stickman pillaged a number of sites that had once been home to Hitler’s Occult Forces Project, accumulating quite a collection of artifacts in the process.

Later, after an encounter with the masked hero known as The Peregrine in 1946, the truth about the Stickman was revealed: his real name was Abraham Klee.

Klee had been a member of various Thule-related cults in the thirties and early forties but when the Nazi party inevitably absorbed the Thule worshippers in Europe, he’d broken free of them. Klee held no love for Jews or for any of the other ‘sub-human’ races that the Nazis held in such low regard, but he abhorred Hitler and his rantings. There was just something about the man that rubbed Klee the wrong way.

And so Klee had begun his own private study of the occult. Blessed with a fine inheritance after his parents died in a plane crash, Klee sank most of his money into the acquisition of an impressive collection of mystic artifacts. Amongst his holdings was a Unicorn horn dating back to the time of the Flood; a 13th Century edition of the Necronomicon, bound in human flesh; and the fabled Onyx Goddess, which he gained possession of after defeating the Peregrine in their first encounter.

The most important item that he claimed was the Crimson Gem, a fist-sized jewel that Klee had found in Saudi Arabia. The Crimson Gem was reputed to possess the power to bequeath immortality on those who activated it… and Klee had done just that. At first, he’d felt nothing different and had assumed that the Gem was, like so many other objects he’d collected, a disappointment. He’d gone to bed early that night, suffering from an unusual drowsiness. When he’d woken up, his skin had begun to harden into bark-like strips… and his limbs had grown into thin branches. When he bled, it was an oily sap that oozed from the wounds… but at last he’d found his immortality.

After moving to America, he found himself allied with a young woman named Harriet, who had adopted the identity of Belladonna. Experimented upon by Nazi scientist, Belladonna was able to survive sub-zero temperatures and she was also able to freeze the blood in people’s veins. The duo ended up in a series of battles with the Peregrine and in a difficult partnership with the vampire lord named Dracula.

Eventually, the Stickman was seemingly destroyed by the Peregrine but it should be noted that he regenerated from an apparent demise once before and may have returned again in an untold adventure.

Klee was never satisfied – he himself declared that he was a victim of perpetual “hunger,” always desiring more and more. If he had a nice home, he wanted a bigger one. If he successfully wooed a beautiful woman, he craved one that was more attractive. As such, his lust for power would drive him to greater and greater acts of evil.