Approved Tech Pride of the Poisoner

[Trenchcoat Man]

Source: Cover of Hellblazer #181 (Illustrated by Tim Bradstreet, published by DC/Vertigo Comics)​

Intent: To offer a “Second Chance” defense and a mild offense to a character whose disposition disables him from participation in traditional Force/Tech flavored duels. To make the character more bizarre and the universe he lives in more bizarre with him. To provoke imagination in regards to unique, PC crafted Force philosophy and illustrate how subtle power hindered with crippling weakness can still be played for Strength.
Development Thread: N/A
Manufacturer: Trenchcoat Man’s Guttermagick
Model: Tattoo
Affiliation: Invisible Witnesses to the Defilement of Our Beloved Sister Susan; Rabid Harlequinade
Modularity: Can be adapted from its original form, but not without a new trip to the tattoo artist (Or someone ELSE with a sharpie and a mind for this obscure, maniac bathapoodoo. A back’s a hard place to reach, after all)
Production: Unique
Material: “Ink” (Gutter juice, rodent/bug guts, cheap whiskey, cheap junk, Trenchcoat Man’s algae-tobacco spit, tears of a homeless man, and a little handsoap to add bubbly mystery to the concoction)
Description:

The thing about magick, mate, is that any bastard can do it.​

A clever solution for a clever fellah, Benedict has utilized his expertise in all things occult to develop (Read: Completely make-up) a circuit by which to redirect Force-channeled electricity.

(“Wait, which occult readings are you talking about specifically?” Oh, y’know, some underground, ancient holocrons you’ve probably never even heard of…)

As the electricity arcs through the “Ink,” the circular “gears” etched onto his back begin to turn, converting the Force manifestation of his opponent’s ire into something poisonous to their being, feeding it back to them (Now recolored a gross, olive-green color and screeching a discordant sound like Force Lightning in reverse) by the unbroken energy arc emitting from his or her fingertips. The “Ink” is then destroyed, and Benedict must get the tattoo redone off-panel before his next thread.

The “poisoning” is more of one of hard drugs rather than serpent’s venom, and it’s up to the player to determine whether or not they’re vomiting, stoned, seeing dragons, or tearing at their skin to get the spiders out.

Weakness: Only works against Force Lightning or similar abilities once per thread.

Strengths: Can be used against multiple sources so long as the attacks are conducted simultaneously. Has a 100% success rate provided the opponent doesn’t have some degree of mitigating factor already in play.

Classification: Anti-Force Elemental Attack
Weight: Weightless
Quality: Class 10 for its function; Class 0 for all else

Other Feature(s): In order for the tattoo to function as designed, Trenchcoat Man must have either a lit cigarette or an ignited lightsaber in his hand. (Note: It is within his capabilities to use Force Lightning to light his cigarette during the commission of this counterattack)

*This submission should be judged with the understanding that the Force Philosophy to which Benedict (Trenchcoat Man) subscribes to has crippled his development, and that, even at the level of Sith Lord, he is forever unable to learn staples of the Offensive Force Power tree, such as Force Lightning, Force Choke, or even Force Wave. Instead, he functions by way of indirect, ad-hoc, DIY, multiple-post count ritual magick, and as such, has few ways with which to respond immediately to imminent threat. This “Technology” would grant him one (while also falling in line with his tradition of pre-meditated ritual, don’tchaknow).

 

[Valik]

After consulting some other judges who know Trenchcoat Man much more well than I do I've learned that it seems I am to Alchemy what you are to some twisted form of Sith Magic, and, without scouring down Canon Sources, I believe Sith Magic could accomplish something like this. Defending against one Lightning attack a thread is nothing for me to worry about, though I am curious. Does applying the tattoo, especially multiple times over the course of X months/years have any side effects on the Gutter Mage?

[member="Trenchcoat Man"]

EDIT: Additionally, one more thing I forgot. Exactly how long does it take Trenhcoat Man to construct these tattoos? Specifically, could he do them on the fly? In the middle of a battle even? If so how much concentration, or cover, would he need to carry it out?

 

[Trenchcoat Man]

[member=Valik]

It stands to reason that, particularly with the junk/heroin being among the ingredients. that some form of addiction or physical impairment would result from frequent reapplication of this tattoo. That said, however, while the ingredients are potentially damaging individually, the "Ink" is more than the sum of its parts, and the characteristics of said parts are sacrificed to the whole by way of his crude, city-oriented Force Magic. Previous Trenchcoat Man posts on this site were, unfortunately, lost to the Purge, but within them, Benedict's relationship with the Force is very much described as one of Addiction anyway, particularly regarding sentient suffering due to the passive sinning and selfishness of city dwellers. He also exhibits the taint of Force Corruption (Missing teeth, offcolor complexion, general sickly demeanor) which only becomes neutralized after a few minutes of him talking, giving him the opportunity to deploy Zeltron pheromones and Force-assisted charisma which move to adjust his appearance in the 2nd person's mind's eye to something more attractive.

In short, with all his present lifestyle choices, it would be difficult to place exactly what the side effects would be and how much they would actually contribute. He's just sorta trashed in general.

He's also primarily a non-combatant, any physical confrontation a failure on my part to write him correctly. So, ideally, he should only very rarely have to reapply the tattoo in the cases where an enemy player suddenly spawns behind him out of nowhere. In that event, it would act as a Lupin III-esque Get Out of Jail Free card and allow him the opportunity to reflect on his life decisions and maybe, in the future, make better ones.

RESPONSE TO EDIT: To construct them? Like, come up with the design? He could probably doodle them on the fly, and even invent a new "ink" just as quickly. However, based on the size of this one, it would be very difficult to do in the heat of battle, one reason being that he can't draw on his own back. The absolute fastest would require a skilled tattoo artist, a la Tisha Tosh, to do it for him somewhere safe, as the tattoo must be quite convincing to untrained and even trained eyes and can't just be haphazardly scribbled on (Which would probably way hurt). That's after the ingredients for the "Ink" are recovered, too. Any additional tattoos or bizarre creations will, of course, be run through this Tech forum for checks.

A more on-the-fly example would be a modification to the intended purpose. For example, he could alter or have help altering one of the symbols with a Sharpie, which could replace the poison affect with one of power amplification, where, say, some Sith Lord could hit him with Force Lightning, Benedict could lend his "Strength" (Whatever the hell that means), feed it back to the Sith Lord, and the Sith Lord could shoot out a more powerful version or whatever. The inverse is conceivable, too, but I don't know why any Sith Lord would continue to feed Benedict energy if he was clearly absorbing it. Altering a tattoo is more difficult than making one up, as it has to consult an already present Logic and then jive with it.

It would be rare to find Benedict to happen to have a tattoo gun on his person.

 

[Valik]

No inhuman benefits to sustained tattoage, no applying a lightning-b-gone tattoo mid battle. This looks good to go on my end. Abuse and those my higher will do despicable no-good things to you. Have fun [member="Trenchcoat Man"].

 

[Thurion Heavenshield]

Approved.