WILD CARDS  for the World of Darkness, by Richard Scott

Note : this is my own interpretation of these events, of course.

Wild Cards is copyright 1993 by George R. R. Martin and the Wild Card Trust.
This is not intended to infringe on these copyright rights, and is for 
the  purpose of providing a background information for gaming fans only. 
None  of the ten files following should worry them, or White Wolf.

The Wild Cards series grew out of a SuperWorld game (the Chaosium game
company's now defunct superhero gaming system. I had a copy, didn't like it
much at the time as it wasn't four color comic enough, but it *was* suited
to the Wild Card universe, being lethal like Gurps Supers) This game also
included John Miller as Yeoman, his wife as Peregrine, Melinda M. Snodgrass
as Dr. Tachyon, George R. R. Martin as the Turtle, and Walter Jon Williams
as Modular Man.

So, it was only natural to take this and convert it to another grim and 
gritty universe, the Gothic Punk World of Darkness.


Introduction

	Two alien princes involved in a chase across the galaxy. A mad  
scientist and a World War Two ace fighter pilot struggle in a gondola 
high above New York City. These two events will change the fate of the 
world as we know it. How? The  Wild Card virus.

	The Takisians, a scientifically advanced alien race, decided to try 
an experiment. They wanted to be able to give themselves super powers. 
Their  mastery of genetic engineering and spaceflight gave them the  
opportunity to do so.

	The population of the planet Takis is divided into two classes, a  
ruling class of feudal elite royalty, and a large working class. 
However,  there is an even greater distinction between these two classes. 
Takisian royalty have highly developed psychic powers of  
telepathy, mind control, and the like. The rest of the population are  
'psi-blind' as they say, and have no such abilities.  This widens the gap  
between the two classes. Some of the elite are even so powerful  that 
they are literally Mages of the Mind and Life Spheres.

	Genealogy and breeding are hence extremely important to the Takisian  
elite, and the reciting of the complete name of an individual is quite  
lengthy. They use controlled breeding to aim at producing even higher 
and  more potent mental powers in future generations. Women are 
sequestered  in their own palatial wings, as breeding is so important to 
the Takisians. Children stay with them to a certain age, around 13. There 
is no interbreeding allowed between the elite and lower classes.

	Takisian royalty is divided into several factions by family and  
political groups, and feudal intrigue and infighting is common. 
One of the reasons women are sequestered is for 'protection' from 
assassination. Breeding is so important to them that the loss of a  
child-bearer and her child is devastating. Death is also common for 
males, as  well, of course, with family infighting, as well as 
fighting  between factions. Females are far more likely to be targeted by 
assassins as their death can ruin breeding lines.

	So, one faction turned to their incredible scientific skills to give  
them an edge, to give their people even more power. They also had the 
means to test it a giant experiment, with the superluminal spaceflight 
capabilities of their sentient spaceships. A Takisian spacefarer formed 
a  mental bond with one of these mollusc-like sentient organisms, and 
for their  companionship and love would gain the ability to travel in 
space inside these these telepathic organisms, who were capable of faster 
than light travel.

	The pre-eminent researcher for this particular branch of the family,  
Prince Tisianne (who became known as Dr. Tachyon in popular parlance 
somewhat  later on Earth) developed Xenovirus Takis-A. Otherwise known as 
the Wild Card Virus. Now, these Takisians needed to test their virus on 
somewhere with compatible germ plasm. Did such a place exist? Yes, a 
small  planet orbiting a yellow sun. A planet known as Earth. The Takisian 
scouts had  determined that interbreeding was possible between the two 
races, so the  inhabitants of Earth were perfect test subjects.

	Tachyon was horrified by this, and determined to oppose it. However,  
his fellow family member Ansata took his work and a container of the virus, 
and headed for Earth. They fought in space but Ansata still held his lead,  
despite the valiant pursuit of Tachyon in his ship named Baby.

	Upon reaching Earth the virus container was lost. It passed through  
more than one pair of hands until reaching the possession of the 
nefarious  Doctor Tod. The container appeared meteor-like upon reaching 
the Earth, but Tod was able  to determine what it was, after his 
henchmen  Fred and Ed bought it from  the farmer who had found it for a 
paltry sum.

	Tachyon tried to persuade the Americans to look for Ansata's ship,   
but the government and military intelligence, being the oxymoron that it is,  
did not take him  seriously, or really believe he was an alien and the 
Earth was in danger.

	Tod and his henchmen used the container as an extortion 
threat against the city of New York, demanding millions to prevent the 
release of the alien  virus. Tod was acting like a true mad scientist. 


Wild Card Day - September 15th, 1946

 	Doctor Tod's airship  was high above the city so that the released 
virus would spread far and wide. Normal planes of the time would not be 
able  to reach Doctor Tod. There was only one man who could stop Doctor 
Tod.  The acclaimed fighter pilot hero Jetboy, and his modified jet 
plane,  the JB-1, the first jet the US had.

	Jetboy took off, along with an escort of other fighter planes. The  
other fighters reached their limits in the upper atmosphere, tracers  
straining to reach Doctor Tod's ship, but failing. Jetboy flew on, guns  
blazing to little effect, the JB-1 straining, fighting the altitude. 

	He managed to leap to the gondola of the airship, but he was 
in trouble.Tod had his thugs Fred, Ed, and Filmore with him, and all 
were  armed.However, a  gun was dangerous thing to use in an airship. 
The cabin depressurised,  two of the thugs plummeted to their doom, Ed 
survived.

	This left Jetboy to struggle with Tod, and struggle they did.  The 
situation became precarious, the gun, the flammable airship, the virus  
container. All this changed the course of human history.

	"Die Jetboy Die!" Doctor Tod said as he shot the pilot hero four  
times.

	 "I can't die yet, I haven't seen "The Jolson Story," said 
Jetboy.   

        This was how Ed reported the last conversation between the two.

	Jetboy failed.

	Both Tod and Jetboy died, and the virus spores were released over   
the city. This caused widespread panic as infection began, and led to the  
declaration of a state of emergency. The explosion at 58,000 feet had 
caused  a fine mist of them to descend through the air. (along with the 
remnants of the JB-1 and the airship.

	Tachyon was horrified at what he saw, and tried to approach the  
government to offer help, telling them he was an alien. He was not very  
successful at first. He did his best and what he could, however. Because 
he was genetically identical to a human there was no way to tell he was 
an alien, except by his ability to mind control the testing scientists. 

        As soon as the military realised what had happened, General Marcus 
Meadows flew Tachyon straight to the site of the disaster.

        But was this what really happened?