Difference between revisions of "Kaiser Tarantula (Beta)"

Revision as of 04:39, 18 September 2012

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Kaiser Tarantula, as seen in Crab Spider power armor
Kaiser Tarantula
Player: Kaiser Tarantula
Origin:	Natural
Archetype:	Arachnos Soldier (Crab Spider)
Level:	Confidential
Primary Set:	Arachnos Soldier/Crab Spider Soldier
Secondary Set:	Training and Gadgets/Crab Spider Training
Epic Set:	Unobtained
Personal Data
Real Name:	Unknown
Identity:	No civilian identity
Aliases:	No consistent aliases
Species:	Human
Date of Birth:	Confidential
Age:	Confidential
Height:	7 feet, 10 inches (8 feet, 2 inches in armor)
Weight:	260 pounds
Build:	Athletic, heavily muscled
Eye Colour:	Green
Hair Colour:	Blonde
Skin Complexion:	Pale olive
Distinguishment:	Surgically-attached Crab Spider pack
Medical Status:	Healthy
Financial Status:	Confidential
Religion:	Religious adherence to Arachnos philosophy
Sexuality:	Heterosexual
Marital Status:	Single
Known Relatives:	Unknown
Biographical Data
Nationality:	Arachnos
Ethnicity:	Confidential
Legal Status:	Unknown
Place of Birth:	Unknown
Education:	High School Graduate, Arachnos Training Regimen
Occupation:	Confidential
Group Affiliations:	Arachnos (Tentative)
Base of Operations:	A secret laboratory somewhere on Sharkhead Isle
Residency:	Rogue Isles
Known Powers
None
Known Abilities
Peak human physical conditioning, extensive combat training, skilled at weaponry and robotics maintainance
Equipment
Heavily-customized and upgraded Arachnos Crab Spider armor, Crab Spider servolimb pack, cloning lab, robotics facility
Awards and Collections
None
Licenses and Certificates
Finds licenses futile
IC Accessibility of Article
Arachnos dossiers, PPD threat databases

Kaiser Tarantula is a villain upon the Beta server, an Arachnos Soldier of the Crab Spider variety. Vicious, power-hungry, and fanatically loyal to the Arachnos ideal, if not its leadership, he's always looking for new opportunities to obtain power for his own ends.

Origin

Kaiser Tarantula's original identity is largely unknown; what is known from fragmentary records that survived the purging of his history, is that he was inducted into Arachnos at the tender age of 14, and he offered himself up for experimentation by the Arachnos science corps not long after, taking the risk that the experiments would make him stronger. What followed was an experimental, extreme-intensity training, diet, and mental conditioning regimen that has since been adapted and abbreviated for use on common Arachnos troops.

The training worked. Kaiser Tarantula grew from 5' nothing to nearly seven-foot-ten inches in height (over 8 feet in full armor) in the space of eight years. He emerged from the training program a mountain of a man, possessed of tremendous strength, stamina, and commitment to the Arachnos cause. However, the due to the excessive time the training took, and the fact that his exceptional performance was largely due to beginning as such an exceptionally young candidate, the training program had to be cut down and modified for use on rank-and-file soldiers. Kaiser Tarantula was secretly considered a failure, and relegated to the Wolf Spider corps as a result.

Unfortunately for Arachnos, Kaiser Tarantula is nothing if not ambitious. Conspiring with Alan Desslock, he added his own name to the Destined Ones list, securing his independence from Arachnos's chain of command. With the freedom being a Destined One allowed, he began to play the field of the villain groups of the Rogue Isles, always with the objective of gaining power in mind. His one true goal is to gather enough power to surpass Lord Recluse himself.

Powers and Abilities

Kaiser Tarantula is, beneath the armor and weaponry, a normal human being of exceptional height and physical development. He can bench-press about 400 pounds, and can run a mile over level ground in about 4 minutes from a standing start. That, however, is where the similarities end.

Equipped with a suit of Arachnos Crab Spider powered armor, his physical strength and stamina are amplified several times, allowing him to go toe-to-toe with even the mightiest of Paragon City's heroes. The Crab Spider Armor also comes equipped with a Crab Spider Servolimb Pack, which is directly connected to his nervous system via surgical attachment to his spine, allowing him to move the four clawed limbs as though they were his own. Among the weapons mounted in each of these limbs are a Longfang heavy machinegun, a Channelgun energy cannon, and a grenade launcher capable of firing various munitions. Each limb is tipped with a monomolecular-edged claw of solid Impervium, ensuring that no hero can escape a close-ranged confrontation with him unscathed. In addition to this, he also carries an Arachnos standard-issue assault rifle, a souvenir of his days in the Wolf Spider corps, although he's seldom seen actually using it save to launch web grenades at fleeing opponents. Outside of active villainy, Kaiser doesn't lack for hobbies. Proficient at weapon design and robotics maintenance, he keeps a small supply of customized, personally-modified Arachnobots, which he built himself after stealing some Arachnobot blueprints during a raid on an Arachnos base.

Kaiser's adolescence spent in an Arachnos training camp has warped his mind, instilling the ideals of Arachnos as his driving motivation above all else. Despite this, he bears little actual loyalty to the organization, seeing it as limiting the growth of his power. He believes that the best way to serve Arachnos and its ideals is to treat it as a client, rather than a master. This strange duality of his loyalty is something other Arachnos agents find frustrating. He will cheerfully sing Lord Recluse's praises and preach Arachnos philosophy, even when working directly against Lord Recluse's stated goals. This dichotomy makes him difficult to read and even more difficult to control; he is very much a loose cannon.

Due to the eight year training regimen, Kaiser Tarantula is a master of battlefield tactics and a capable leader. His fanaticism is simultaneously inspiring and terrifying, and some say he has a voice that just compels one to follow orders - in reality, that ability comes from a device pilfered from Baron Zukor's corpse; the Suggestion Engine. Though the loss of Baron Zukor and Kaiser's own lack of psychic potential has weakened it significantly, the Engine still serves to make his statements unusually stirring. Coupled with his skills in battlefield tactics, he can easily improve the performance of any villain willing to cooperate with him and follow his instructions.

Weaknesses

Kaiser's primary weakness, in a world of superheroes and supervillains, is that underneath the armor, the training, the physical development, he's an ordinary human. If his equipment fails and his allies rebel, he can die just as easily as any other man. Keenly aware of this limitation, Kaiser Tarantula prefers to be the first to strike, using the element of surprise to throw opponents into disarray. Similarly, due to the risk of his armor being opened up like a can by a Hero with super-sharp claws or swords, or just monstrous levels of super strength, he typically fights from a distance, only lashing out with his Crab Spider claws from close range once the enemy's been softened up by his Channelgun, Longfang, and grenades.

Kaiser's other weakness is his unchecked ambition. He will jump at almost any chance to gain power, often taking seemingly-insane risks to do so. Usually, he is canny enough to avoid catastrophe, but it's only a matter of time before reckless ambition turns around to bite him. A promise of power is an exceptional method of baiting him into a trap, and he has reputedly fallen for this several times, though as of yet no ambusher has succeeded in killing him. Even midlevel supervilains, such as Dr. Graves, and heroes such as Ajax and Overdrive have all failed to take him down.

Kaiser Tarantula used to operate a cloning lab, staffed by the now-defunct Mane Corporation. It was used to produce back-up clones to carry on in his stead, should he perish for whatever. Sadly, due to the involvement of Praetoria and the supervillain Protean, this laboratory, and all of the clones within, were destroyed, save for one, which Kaiser rescued. Why he rescued the clone, and then subsequently spared it to live its own life, is unknown, but the fact that there is a second person out there, who shares his exact appearance, capabilities, and skills, down to the cellular level, represents a significant threat to him. The destruction of the cloning lab means that, once well and truly killed, there will be nobody to replace him. The loss of the cloning lab has curtailed his rampant ambition somewhat, but if anything it's only made him more ruthless and more likely to dispose of any threat to his wellbeing.