Randy Cartier (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

Randy Cartier

Prowess 4
Coordination 4
Strength 8
Intellect 6
Awareness 6
Willpower 5

Stamina 13

Powers
All powers are derived from the X-O Manowar Class Armor. Without the armor, her Strength drops to 4 and her Stamina is reduced to 9. Her Intellect is reduced to 4 without the armor and her Awareness drops to 4, as well. During the time she wore the armor, she also had the Control Ring. The Control Ring has two powers of its own – Detection and Interface, both level 10 and both with the Limit: X-O Manowar armor only. If someone were to take the Armor Control Ring from her, they could theoretically bond with the armor as she and Arci did.
*Blast (100 MGHz pulsed ion beams) 8
*Dazzle (blinding light) 6
*Extrasensory Perception (Remote Eye) 2
*Flight 8 (Extra: Spaceflight)
*Force Field 6
*Gadgets 4
*Interface 8
*Life Support 10
*Immortality 2
*Regeneration 4
*Damage Resistance 5
*Super-Senses 5
*Telepathy 4 (Limit: Only functions with the wearer of the Control Ring)

Specialties
Athletics, Military (Expert +2 bonus), Weapons (Guns)

Qualities
*Slow to trust
*Counterbalances Aric’s strengths and weaknesses
*X-O Womanowar

Background

Randy Cartier is an ex-soldier who temporarily becomes the second X-O Manowar when the original, Aric Dacia, takes a break from the role. Prior to this she worked as Aric’s head of security at Orb Industries. She and Aric eventually became lovers but she was killed during Crescendo’s assault on Orb Industries.

Spider Aliens – Warrior (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

Spider Alien Warrior

Prowess 4
Coordination 5
Strength 6
Intellect 3
Awareness 5
Willpower 3

Stamina 9

Powers
*Affliction (poison bite) 7
*Binding 5
*Blast Rifles 6
*Extra Body Parts (arms/legs) 6 (extras: fast attack, super-speed)
*Gadgets 4
*Leaping 1
*Wall-Crawling 5

Specialties
Military, Wrestling

Qualities
*Nature Worshippers
*View humanity as cattle
*Creators of the alien armors (x-o wolf, x-o commando)

Background

The Spider Aliens are a race of alien conquerors. They are responsible for creating the armored exo-skeleton worn by the Earth superhero X-O Manowar and were frequent foes of X-O Manowar and Solar. They worship nature and have great gardens on their spacecraft – they are meat-eaters, however, and consider it sacrilege to eat the fruits of the garden. These stats for the warrior caste, there are numerous sub-types of Spider-Aliens, including spies, priests, scientists, etc.

Crescendo’s Guardsmen

Posted on by Barry Reese

Crescendo’s Guard

Prowess 4
Coordination 3
Strength 4
Intellect 3
Awareness 3
Willpower 2

Stamina 6

Powers
All of the guardmen’s powers come from their armor. It provides them with the following abilities:

*Blast 5
*Damage Resistance 5
*Supersenses 1 (Nightvision)
*Life Support 2 (Heat/Cold)
*Gadgets 3

Specialties
Athletics

Qualities
*Faceless Minions
*Bullies
*We serve Mistress Crescendo

Background

The men that make up Crescendo’s royal guard are mostly unknown figures. We’re not sure where she finds these soldiers or if their loyalty is a result of true fervor or if they merely follow her for money and power. Their armor is sufficient to overpower most ordinary military forces but one-on-one they cannot stand up to X-O Manowar. As such, they tend to attack en masse.

Augur (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

Augur

Prowess 2
Coordination 2
Strength 2
Intellect 4
Awareness 4
Willpower 4

Stamina 6

Powers
*Immortality 1 (Limit – Source: Augur’s immortality fades if he is not within close physical proximity to Mistress Crescendo)
*Magic 4

Specialties
Linguistics, Mental Resistance, Occult

Qualities
*Fiercely loyal to Crescendo
*Craven
*Snazzy Dresser

Background

Very little is known about the man called Augur. He was the loyal Vizier to Mistress Crescendo and was at her side when she toppled Orb Industries and also when she teamed up with Baron Zemo to threaten both X-O Manowar and Iron Man. It seemed that he had been her advisor since the days of the Visigoths but it’s unknown if he was kept alive through Crescendo’s machinations or if he himself was immortal. He is an intelligent schemer but too much of a coward to directly face a foe without lots of backup. He apparently died during a multiversal crossover but given the timey-wimey nature of such things, he might still be alive.

Gamin (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

Gamin

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

Stamina 7

Powers
*Images 8 (Limit: Can only produce three-dimensional images of herself)

Specialties
Athletics, Sleight of Hand (Expert +2), Stealth

Qualities
*Master Thief
*Flirtatious
*Beneath it all, she wants to do the right thing.

Background

Gamin uses sophisticated technology to project false three-dimensional images of herself. Gamin is also a thief and went after Aric’s X-O Manowar armor but ultimately she seems to find Aric more attractive than his armor and settles for a kiss. They become friends until she is killed by the armor after it is corrupted by the Darque Power of Master Darque.

Mistress Crescendo (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

Prowess 2
Coordination 4
Strength 3
Intellect 5
Awareness 4
Willpower 7

Stamina 10

Powers
*Energy Blast 8
*ESP 8
*Force Field 8
*Illusion 7
*Immortality 4
*Teleportation 8

Specialties
Leadership (Expert +2 bonus), Military – Tactics (Expert +2 bonus)

Qualities
“I will not allow you to steal that which is rightfully mine!”
Absolutely loathes the Visigoths
“You fear me? Then it is as it should be!”

Background

Very little is known about Crescendo’s past. She is a former Egyptian queen who was deposed by the Visigoths. Upon discovering that Aric of Dacia (aka X-O Manowar) was the last surviving Visigoth, she set out to destroy the company he owned (Orb Industries) and kill everyone that he was close to. This led her to murder Aric’s closest friends (Randy Cartier and Ken Clarkson), destroy Orb headquarters, and set Aric on the run.

Eventually, she discovered a portal between her universe and another. Teaming with Baron Zemo and several other villains from that world, she unsuccessfully sought to rewrite reality. Her scheme was foiled by the combined efforts of X-O Manowar and Iron Man.

Crescendo is mostly a blank slate and you can easily add or subtract details as needed. She is very powerful, immortal, and beautiful in a Bart Sears/Andy Smith-illustrated kind of way. She has armored footsoldiers and an adviser named Augur.

Alloy (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese

Alloy
aka Paul Bouvier & Shanhara

Prowess 5
Coordination 5
Strength 7
Intellect 4
Awareness 5
Willpower 5

Stamina 12

Powers
*Blast (100 MGHz pulsed ion beams) 8
*Dazzle (blinding light) 6
*Flight 7 (Extra: Spaceflight)
*Interface 5
*Life Support 10
*Immortality 2
*Regeneration 4
*Damage Resistance 6
*Stretching 5

Specialties
Aerial Combat (+1 bonus), Athletics (Expert +2 bonus), Martial Arts (Expert +2 bonus), Military (Expert +2 bonus), Weapons – Guns (Expert +2 bonus)

Qualities
Twisted Perception of Reality – Blames Aric for his Death
I’m no longer human!
Dark Mirror of X-O Manowar

Background

Paul Bouvier was a former soldier and special agent of the Department W, a task force of the Canadian Secret Service. He was poisoned by Spider Aliens while he saved the lives of Aric Dacia, Randy Cartier, and Turok. Instead of dying he decided to sacrifice his body to bond with an X-O Manowar Seed and become Pol-Bekhara, a new Good Skin for Aric. Because the Manowar Class Armor was never designed to have a human life create it, Paul never merged correctly with the armor and he managed to gain control over the armor and recreate himself soon after. In his madness, he now blamed Aric for his death, discounting the sacrifice that he himself had made.

After a battle with Aric for control, Aric purged Paul from the armor (depriving it of sentience in the process). As the two were fighting near the remains of Aric’s original armor, Shanhara, Paul was able to merge with the remains and become a new being, Alloy. Because Shanhara was essentially dead, the merger rendered Paul completely insane and he sought out Aric to kill him. After a fierce battle that triggered an avalanche, Aric rose from the snow with Alloy’s severed head. He cast the head aside and departed.

Given that he literally IS the armor, there’s no reason to assume that being decapitated would prevent him from returning.

Alloy appeared to have all the offensive capabilities of a Manowar Armor but as he was comprised of a destroyed armor, he was not stable (physically nor mentally). Alloy also exhibited the ability to flex the metal parts of his arms to increase his physical striking range. Overall, Alloy is not as powerful as X-O… but his insanity can sometimes give him an advantage. Note that he still remembers his training as a mercenary and is thus adept at a number of things that a normal man would not be.

X-O Manowar (Icons Writeup)

Posted on by Barry Reese


X-O Manowar
Aric Dacia / Aric of Dacia

Prowess 6
Coordination 5
Strength 8
Intellect 6
Awareness 6
Willpower 6

Stamina 14

Powers
All powers are derived from the X-O Manowar Class Armor. Without the armor, his Strength drops to 5 and his Stamina is reduced to 11. His Intellect is reduced to 4 without the armor and his Awareness drops to 4, as well. Aric is the only one that can command the armor because he wears the Armor Control Ring. The Control Ring has two powers of its own – Detection and Interface, both level 10 and both with the Limit: X-O Manowar armor only. If someone were to take the Armor Control Ring from him, they could theoretically bond with the armor as Aric did.
*Blast (100 MGHz pulsed ion beams) 8
*Dazzle (blinding light) 6
*Extrasensory Perception (Remote Eye) 2
*Flight 8 (Extra: Spaceflight)
*Force Field 6
*Gadgets 4
*Interface 8
*Life Support 10
*Immortality 2
*Regeneration 4
*Damage Resistance 5
*Super-Senses 5
*Telepathy 4 (Limit: Only functions with the wearer of the Control Ring)

Specialties
Aerial Combat (+1 bonus), Athletics (Master +3 bonus), Leadership (+1 bonus), Weapons – blades, bludgeons, and throwing (Master +3 bonus), Wrestling (Expert +2 bonus)

Qualities
“With this new skin, I am the strongest one! With this new skin, Aric rules!”
Hates the Spider Aliens
Conan-In-A-Can

Background

X-O Manowar is Aric of Dacia, a Visigoth barbarian with a powerful suit of high-tech armor. Aric was abducted from his people in the 5th Century by a race called the Spider Aliens, who took him on board their spaceship. Eventually he was able to escape after stealing a suit of X-O Manowar Class Armor, one of the most powerful weapons ever designed. Aric returned to Earth, but thanks to complications of space travel, found that several centuries had past and everyone he knew was dead. Using the armor to seize control of a corporation secretly being run by the Spider Aliens, Aric became the CEO of Orb Industries. With the assistance of his allies Ken Clarkson and Randy Cartier, Aric became a successful business and hero. Eventually, his friends and his company were destroyed by the villain Crescendo. There are multiple accounts of Aric’s end – in Rai # 0, the story of his eventual demise was recounted but in the final issue of his own series it was suggested the entire 60+ issue run was nothing more than a dream.

X-O is probably my all-time favorite Valiant hero but I put off doing this writeup for a long time because I wasn’t sure how to approach it. There were times that he seemed incredibly powerful but other times where he was portrayed at a lower level. Ultimately, I decided to go with some pretty powerful stats but a lot of how tough he would be portrayed in a battle comes down how to intelligently he uses his abilities.