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Welcome back to "Enemies Revisited". This time, I'm focusing on Wyvern, the mythical menace that first appeared in the very first Enemies supplement in 1981. Wyvern was created by Bruce Harlick and illustrated by Mark Williams (the later's art is shown below on the sheet).
I really connected to the character the first time I saw it in that classic supplement. I really think it was the artwork by Mark Williams that hooked me. I first used the character as an opponent for a player's solo run during college. The art and the stats worked fine for me, but I couldn't make the origin fit into my game world (I used published organizations like Viper but I do not use UNTIL). So, that's mostly what I tweaked here - the background and origin.
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Background: John MacDougal was a victim of "right place, wrong time". This very eager thief heard about supposed wealth in an English country manor and decided to break-in to rob the place during the middle of the night. What he didn't know was that the owner and his acquaintances were dabblers in the dark mystic arts. While observing them amidst one of their midnight rituals from a catwalk above, John lost his footing and dropped in on the ceremony in full-progress. He landed in the center of their chanting circle, just as mystic green flames were starting to rise. John screamed out in anguish as he felt his body and head pounding.
When the chanting stopped, the circle of dark-robed men thought they had successfully summoned a mystical beast to do their bidding. However, the presence of a human in the circle botched their spell. Instead, the body of a wyvern was merged with that of the man, and thus rendering the combined form immune to their control. The Wyvern lashed out at the would-be mystics, killing a few and injuring the others with its razor sharp talons and mighty strength. It then stretched its wings, soared off through the skylight of the atrium and vanished in the night skies. At some point, the creature found its way across the Atlantic Ocean and began terrorizing towns and cities along the Eastern seaboard. This brought it to the attention of the authorities and the super-human community. Wyvern has had many battles over the years and has even spent time in one of the maximum security Stronghold facilities. Motivation: Most of John's original human nature vanished after the bonding occurred. What was left was the beastial nature of the wyvern. His goals now are survival based (food, shelter, freedom). To keep him imprisoned requires sedation. Because of this, he is very anti-social and prefers to keep to himself. His communication skills are very limited; he understands what is said to him but cannot articulate his own thoughts. He mostly responds in growls and roars, with the occasional word here and there. |
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