I have always had a fondness for the misunderstood swamp monsters in comics. Ranging from
Swamp Thing to
Man-Thing to the short-lived
Bog-Beast, the sub-culture of horror and action comics of the misunderstood swamp creature is one with a proud history, going back to the original swamp monster, the Heap. While perhaps not as famous as the above-mentioned creatures, the Heap was the first, and perhaps most original, of the Swamp-men. Every incarnation or pastiche since has borrowed elements of his story, and I think that he should be mentioned (Along with every other Airboy character for that matter).
Aircel did a fairly amazing job of re-introducing the Airboy mythos to comics, and including the Heap. Image 're-imagined' the Heap for
Spawn, and it's pretty clear that Man-Thing was an homage to the original, if not most of Swamp-Thing's later origin and the Parliment of Trees.
That being said, it's time for the Heap!
The Heap
Baron Eric von Emmelman
F: Ex (20)
A: Gd (10)
S: In (40)*
E: Am (50)
R: Typ (06)
I: Typ (06)
P: Rm (30)
Health: 120
Karma: 38
Resources: Fe (2)
Popularity: - 5/5
Talents:
Mystic Origin*: (In the later appearances involving the goddess Ceres)
Pilot
Military
Multi-Lingual (Prior to being the Heap) English, German
Powers:
Plant Body: The Heap's entire mass is made of vegtable matter, and is capable of resisting many forms of damage. The Heap is completely immune to natural disease toxins, as well as having other abilities such as:
- Armor Skin: The Heap's bio-mass is considered to give him Am (50) armor skin
- Invulernability: The Heap is invulnerable to natural disease and toxins.
- Increased Strength: The Heap can regenerate its mass and increase its strength to Am (50) through a simple Psyche FEAT. The Heap's health also increases
- Immunity to Stun: The Heap cannot be stunned in conventional means. Any situation that requires a stun effect is ignored by the Heap.
- Amorphous Body: As a being made up of vegatable matter, the Heap ignores certain kinds of attack, such as traditional shooting attacks or thrown weapons (The weapons either pass through the Heap or have a chance to be stuck). The Heap can also grab opponents and 'smother' them in its mass, requiring an opposed strength check or begin the drowning process.
- Regeneration: The Heap can regenerate damage simply by absorbing nutrients from other organic sources, such as plants, nutrients from soil, or animal matter (See Limitation Below)
- Resist: Magic: The Heap has some natural resistance to magic, at Ex (20) ability, brought out in the Aircel revised origin that included the goddess Ceres.
Contacts:
Airboy
Skywolf
The Goddess Ceres
Ricky Wood
Limitations
Despite his powers, the Heap has several key limitations:
1. Vegtable Body: As a plant-based being, attacks specifically against such do an additional +2cs damage to the Heap. In the case of powers based around plant control, the controller must make a power FEAT vs. The Heap's psyche. If the Heap loses the contest, the Heap's form is under the whim of the plant controller.
2. Monstrous Visage: The Heap is a gigantic (7' to 9' tall) monster, which requires anyone encountering the Heap to make a -2cs Psyche check in initial dealings.
3. Mute: The Heap cannot speak.
4. Limited Skills: While the heap has awareness of its previous life, it cannot use the skills of the Baron.
5. Dependency on outside types of Oxygen: The Heap has been shown in the past to need to absorb nutrients and most importantly oxygen from outside sources, usually using cattle or similar herd stockl