Background/History: Merriya Highwolf, better known as Koyotie, was born in 1966 in the town of Maple Creek, Saskatchewan; a place she describes in a manner similar to that of Luke Skywalker talking of his home: "If there is a center to the universe, this is the place it's farthest from." Her mother, who Merriya calls "a full-blown American Indian flower-child, hence my unusual first name", was originally named Susan, but by the time of Merriya's birth had changed it to "Sunflower". The identity of Merriya's father is unknown (Not that Merriya has expressed any great interest into find out who he was.). At an early age (around 6 years old) Merriya was left in the care of her grandfather, Christopher Highwolf, and spent the rest of her time with him (Picture her grandfather to be like Chief Dan George, who played Dustin Hoffman's grandfather in Little Big Man.).
This was about the time Merriya began to display heightened physical and mental capabilities. Her reaction time began to accelerate, her physical strength increased, she almost never became sick, and her IQ tests showed a remarkably high level of intelligence. It wasn't until high school however, that her heightened strength first became noticeable, since not many fifteen-year old girls could bench press 300 lbs. Merriya also began her martial arts training at this time, undergoing basic karate instruction at a local school.
During college Merriya was recruited by an -- as yet -- unknown organization (she refers to them simply as "The Company"). It was at this time she received her final training in karate as well as being trained in the more aggressive art of Lei Drit, or Thai kickboxing., with this training concentrating mainly on weapons techniques. She also received training in various espionage skills, dealing mainly with infiltration and possibly assassination. Finally she was given her costume and apparently a code identity of some sort. For reasons still unrevealed (Merriya has proven to be less then talkative on the subject), Merriya departed this group and linked up with the just-organized Northern Lights.
Merriya stayed with the Northern Lights for about a year, which is about how long the group lasted until internal stress caused the team to breakup. After the breakup she joined the Canadian government as a special operative and has had quite a successful career as a paranormal agent.
Personality/Motivation: Koyotie is a rather strongheaded type, direct and to the point. She is prone to acting before thinking and often has a "jump 'em now, figure it all out later" mentality. She has little patience for extended diplomacy or planning, preferring a more straightforward and direct plan of action. Which is not to say she isn't adverse to a covert plan of attack, just as long as she doesn't have to sit around and wait.
A RCMP file profiles her thus:
Merriya Highwolf (code named: Koyotie) can best be described as an adrenaline junkie. She seems to seems to get a rush from putting herself into a dangerous situation and then getting herself out again. While this does mean that she often takes unnecessary risks, it also means she will enter into a potentially dangerous situation without a second thought. A quality that should serve her well considering some of the missions she may be assigned. Finally, I would like to point out that she shows a capacity for extreme violence. This combined with her generally "reckless" behavior could case severe problems in the long run. Care should be taken to ensure that Merriya does not become self-destructive in attitude.
In actuality, there is little chance of Merriya "burning out" or otherwise becoming so addicted to living on the edge she destroys herself. She enjoys being one of Canada's top government paranormal operatives and on more than one instance has referred to her Canadian agent ID as "A license to kick ass...". It should be noted her "adrenaline addiction" effects just about anything she does, and since her agent ID allows her to ignore most traffic laws when on a mission, she has become the acknowledged "queen of speeding tickets".
Quote: (Spoken to The Nine) "Nine on one? Those aren't fair odds, there really should be more of you."
Powers/Tactics: It has been theorized by certain Canadian government doctors that Merriya represents an individual who is at the peak of development in all levels of human performance. Tests have shown she possesses phenomenal levels of strength, agility, endurance, intelligence, and will; levels that although are very high, but are still within the realm of "normal" human capabilities. Merriya, however, has admitted that being an almost "perfect" person does not guarantee a perfect life. "Growing up stronger, faster, smarter, and -- yeah -- better looking then everyone else you know certainly does not endear you to the surrounding population," is her opinion.
Koyotie is highly trained in a variety of infiltration skills and is a master of Shotokan Karate, Le Drit, and Kabri-kabong. When in the field she is commonly armed with a katana. Its sheath is of hardwood and she will often fight with the sword in one hand and the sheath in the other. If engaged in a fight where she doesn't want to shed blood, she use the katana sheathed. Koyotie has also been known to carry a bokken. With either weapon she can deflect most thrown objects. For protection Koyotie wears a suit of flexible Kevlar armor, covering her torso, that can withstand impacts from most small arms. It has several woven layers meshed together designed to defeat penetration by armor-piercing rounds.
Koyotie's combat tactics rely on the fact she is usually so much faster than most everyone else. She will often Dodge or Block attacks on a Phase where she and her opponent act together and then throw high-OCV strikes on the Phases where she acts alone. Against agents and low-powered flunkies she often fights unarmed, using her sword only if her foes pull weapons, or if they prove to be much tougher than they look.
Appearance: Koyotie stands 5'10", and weighs about 150 pounds, with an amazingly well-defined athletic physique. Her hair is deep black and comes down past her shoulders, complementing her dark green eyes.
Her typical costume is a medium blue jumpsuit, with long fringes set along both arms. To this is added white elbow-length gloves and white foldover boots to her knees. Her body armor is white, covering her from the shoulders to just past the groin, with has white fringes set along the back in line with the sleeves. A gray sash is worn as a belt at the waist, along with a gray head band. A katana is slung through the belt. Since she has counted coup in combat she wears two eagle's feathers in her head band.
If required to wear a much less noticeable costume, Koyotie will dress in the classical career-woman outfit, i.e. sport coat, white blouse, thin black tie, trousers, boots and sunglasses. She will also wear the headband (minus feathers). An armored vest (DEF 5, Act 8-) will be worn under the blouse.
Designer's Notes: Koyotie is an agent of the Canadian government and is often used as a bodyguard or special operations agent. She is often found dealing with organized crime (especially in Vancouver). Plots dealing with the Renegades, or Canadian "villains" coming into America, or American "villains" going up into Canada, or the Mafia or Yakuza might feature Koyotie.
Koyotie is a character from a friend of mine's old Nightwatch Campaign (see the character of Avalon for more details). As time went by, and the Nightwatch universe grew in popularity, the Game Master started several secondary games. One of these was the "Northern Lights" campaign, which took place in Canada. My character entry was Koyotie. I played Koyotie for a few years, until the GM decided to end Nightwatch and all the related games. The version presented here never actually saw play, but was a "future projection" written for a possible new Nightwatch campaign that never got of the ground.
Koyotie was originally conceived as a character sketch. I had drawn a picture of a tall, broad shouldered woman dressed in a blue jumpsuit with white armor, gloves, and boots, and I needed a character to go with it. At some point I decided the character's schtick was to be a "perfect" human, with stats at or near 20 in all categories. Naturally she was to be a martial artist. The original version of the character was 249 points and written using 3rd Edition Champions rules. After Champions 4th Edition came out I updated and improved her, resulting (in my opinion) a much more flexible character. At one point I then went through all of my collected PC character sheets and rewrote and cleaned up all of them; adding or rewriting skills and powers in an attempt to improve the character conceptions. This 350-point version was the result. Interestingly enough, HERO System 5th Edition hasn't changed her one bit.
Koyotie is a favorite of mine and is the only Champions character I've ever played who has come close to being killed. After a fight with a villain team called the Renegades, she ended up at 0 Body and -75 Stun. Not a pleasant experience.
(Character sheet created by Michael Surbrook)
