A Beachport Reader's Guide

Special: see notes for Rebel Belle below, they mostly all apply to her too.

Appearances to Date: none directly; but her captured costume appears in Valiant Valkyrie in the Zoo Ch. 6

HEXETRESS

Concept: gifted magical-university student who came to Beachport as work-study

Epithets: the Magical College-Girl, the Student Sorceress, Mistress of the Mystic

Public Name: Persephone Planter

Public Identity: Witch; she doesn't' really bother with a Secret Identity, and didn't even have a codename until a while after she arrived when she decided to adopt one to 'fit in'.

Residence: 'the Mystic Manse'; really a sprawling multi-floor loft apartment within a very old and distinguished building that bears a not-passing resemblance to the one from Ghostbusters. Note that since she has no secret identity her residence is public; however the building has a doorman and extensive security to keep the riff-raff out and she often comes and goes from the roof anyways. She does very selectively perform consultations on behalf of paying clients, strictly by prior appointment only as they must be pre-cleared with the doorman; in which case the ground floor of the loft also doubles as her public-facing office.

Character Notes: extremely well-read, diligent, little miss know-it-all, outspoken, no filter, overachiever, supernerd, has had issues with snakes in the past for some reason, has defeated at least one 'dark wizard', is absolutely an original character in every way not based on anything else that has appeared in any other book series ever why on Earth would you think that?!

Sexual Notes: has a long-distance boyfriend, but he doesn't seem to have been very impressive in any real respect. She has been eaten out by another girl at least a few times, but they appear to have done 'the most perfunctory job possible'.

Age: 21

Hair: varies with magic, usually bright blue and wavy

Eyes: varies with magic, usually purple

Race: White (British; posh accent that may be putting on airs)

Body: slender and leggy; appears only modestly endowed but is in reality concealing some giant hooters in her loose top because she's worried she won't be taken seriously for her mind otherwise

Color Theme: Black and Purple

Heraldry: Purple Raven on Black

Costume: Magical School-Girl Outfit. From bottom up: patent leather shoes with long stockings reaching to mid-thigh. Extremely short pleated skirt that barely covers up her butt at the best of times (used to be knee-length but standing around superheroines all day has changed her just a tad). Voluminous top with long baggy sleeves, with her school crest printed on the breast. Underneath is typically wearing skimpy white underwear printed with her school's name and/or mascot. Almost always seen carrying at least one large and ornately decorated tome of magic.

Powers: Sorcerous Prodigy. Extremely powerful and talented, capable of spells witches decades more experienced than her wouldn't attempt, generally regarded as one of the most gifted sorceresses of her own and probably the last two or three generations. That said, magic is a force of chaos in this universe, so while she can do some 'cantrips' safely (like her color-changing spells) she generally follows the 'Discworld principle' of using the big spells as little as possible, and her day-to-day role is mostly as an advisor.

Weakness: due to a miss-cast memory enhancement spell early in her second year, she requires a text in front of her to successfully cast her spells. This is actually not that unusual for mid-tier and lower students from her school, but is something she considers embarrassing because she used to be above that. As a result, taking her book away pretty much instantly transforms her from 'magical schoolgirl' to just 'schoolgirl', with all that implies. It has been suggested to her many times that she try writing or even tattooing her most useful spells onto her body to prevent this; but based on the horrified gape that appears on her face every time this is apparently a very bad idea. She gets it suggested to her often enough by laypeople that she has come up with a stock response of, 'would you get a nuclear control rod implanted in your body just in case you needed it?' Also, even if she does have a spellbook, she's generally also going to need to have her hands free and the ability to see and speak in order to use it.

Vehicles: Broom, as is traditional. Note that, however, Persephone is not very used to fighting from her broom, regarding it mainly as just transportation; which is one of several reasons she is on the Reserve Squad and not the Flying Squad.

Base: the Mystic Manse, her two-story loft apartment; see above. Note that among other things the Manse contains her library, and her ritual chamber where she tries out new spells. The building sits on a convergence of ley lines that Persephone picked out through divination. Inconveniently this ended up landing in one of the most expensive luxury apartment buildings in all of Beachport, which she normally could not afford, but Kaja Hammer graciously stepped in to assist with that part. As a 'magical convergence' site, and given the kind of things she gets up to, it is not unusual for the Mystic Manse itself to be the source of a new supernatural incursion into Beachport.

Aegis Host Status: Shield Herald (officially on temporary leave from her Uni, though it seems in danger of becoming indefinite)

Aegis Host Rank: Reserve Squad, Rank 3

Aegis Host Clique: the Exotic Nerds (Tiger Queen)

Relations: none significant known to date; that said is pretty attached to Valkyrie for two reasons. First, as head of the Aegis Host, Valkyrie is the one who has to sign off on her 'work study' forms for her college. Second, as you might imagine, Persephone is absolutely thrilled to be able to pick the brain of a Real Live Ancient Norse Demi-Goddess for arcane secrets. Unfortunately, she is continuously frustrated in this by the fact that Valkyrie while in Asgard was herself far more fascinated with mortal culture and never bothered to study any of that boring old stuff much at all.

Backstory: from a very young age Persephone Planter was widely regarded as one of the most gifted witches of her own, and possibly the last two or three generations. Early in her career, while still in magical boarding school, she had some adventures that seemed to involve defeating at least one dastardly Dark Wizard - details are obscure. Whatever that was about, naturally, after graduating at the top of her class, she immediately enrolled at the most prestigious magical university in the world. In short order she was pursuing five degrees at once. It was around this point that she cast the ill-advised memory charm that ended up giving her her only significant handicap.

However, at some point in her third year, Persephone apparently became a little restless. Only she knows her true thoughts. Some whisper that, after a lifetime of over-achieving, the proudly brainy sorceress was finally starting to suffer some burnout. Others, that she had gotten bored and was looking to relive some of her childhood excitement.

Regardless, upon hearing that the notorious Dark Sorceress known as Lady Luna had resurfaced in Beachport, Persephone made a fateful decision. Obtaining a leave of absence from her prestigious Uni, she decamped to Beachport, where she is officially attached to the Aegis Host as their magical liaison and advisor, in a bit of work-study. Shortly thereafter, hanging around superheroines all day caused two very noteworthy changes: first, she started using a codename. Second, her skirts suddenly started getting much, much, MUCH shorter.

Special 1: No, this is not based on anyone else. You must be mistaken. That would be ridiculous. Original character, do not steal!

Special 2: She really doesn't like snakes for some reason. Had very bad experiences with some sort of snake-themed thing at some point. Still, not a reference to anything at all. Don't be silly. Please, see point 1.

Special 3: No, I haven't actually provided a name for her 'prestigious magical uni'. We may get there eventually; it hasn't exactly been in focus to-date.

Appearances to Date: Valiant Valkyrie in the Zoo Ch. 2, Alpha Angel vs Valiant Valkyrie, Ending 1 (minor role)

KATY COLT

Concept: rodeo cowgirl turned quick-draw superheroine

Epithets: the Fastest Filly in the West

Public Name: Katherine Boswell

Public Identity: rodeo cowgirl, horse trainer, trick shot performer

Character Notes: 'you can take the girl out of the country but you can't take the country out of the girl', horse-lover, loves wild open spaces, thrill-seeker, likes fast motorcycles, men come and go but horses are forever, trained performer, takes great pride in her skills, can't live without her horses, eyes up men the way she would a stallion purchase, finds grooming her horses calming... have I mentioned the horse-girl thing yet?

Sexual Notes: at one time she spend a ton of time hanging around rodeo arenas in little more than a bikini... and took full advantage of that to ride as much cowboy as any cowgirl ever has. However, things took a turn when she met and fell for another superhero... only to have him die in her arms under peculiar circumstances (see Vehicles below). Since then, well aware he is watching her, she has never felt able to move on - and so is currently multiple years into an intense 'dry-spell', which she finds particularly hard to deal with after once getting seen-to whenever she liked. Like more than a couple superheroines who find themselves in this sort of position, she makes due with plenty of toys.

Age: 24

Hair: Blonde, to the shoulder blades

Eyes: Gray

Race: White (Texan)

Body: Very fit and curvy, well-developed muscular ass, wide-legged stance, big breasts.

Color Theme: Pastel Red White & Blue

Heraldry: Pastel Texas Flag

Costume: Pastel Texas Flag bikini (in deference to her far more powerful relative the Star Sheriff, who wears the 'real thing'); surrounded by typical cowgirl getup: cowgirl boots, leather gloves, gunbelt with holsters; all of brown leather. Brown cowgirl hat. Sometimes chaps as well, depends on the situation, but usually not on a street patrol.

Powers: carries two pearl-handled six-shooters, with which she is an extremely fast and deadly shot. Given advance notice she will often come with special bullets she has gathered from various sources, such as stun rounds; but has a limited stock of these so generally doesn't risk them unless there is a known need. Is also a professional rodeo rider, who is also just as skilled and adept on the back of a motorcycle as she is on a horse.

Weakness: Is a normal human, punching her works just fine. If you take her guns, she's a decent bare-knuckle brawler who could probably take a typical street thug one-on-one, but isn't going to last long if even modestly outnumbered or against anything with superpowers.

Vehicle: Herosteed, her custom motorcycle. Early in her career Katy became both professionally and romantically involved with a hero named Lawman, who was a cop turned superhero who rode an advanced prototype motorcycle. Unfortunately, on one of their adventures Lawman was mortally wounded, and the only way to save him ended up being to transfer his consciousness into his motorcycle's AI brain. Since then, with the now robotic Lawman's (very very eager) approval, Katy took the motorcycle as her own super-vehicle.

This has proved to be a bit of a double-edged sword for the deceased hero. On the one hand, he still gets to feel Katy's scantily-clad buns pressed to the top of his 'head', and her big breasts against his sides, bouncing away furiously as she 'rides' him - over and over and over again. On the other hand, in the event Katy does ever get boned by someone else, there's a good chance he's going to have to watch. In the meantime, Lawman's presence inside Herosteed gives it a limited ability to auto-drive and respond to vocal controls. In particular this, along with special thigh controls, helps explain why she is quite good at performing maneuvers upon it no-handed, while using both hands to shoot her guns.

Note that Herosteed has space for a second person on the back, but Katy is loathe to carry another heroine as a passenger unless she absolutely has to - because she is well aware that means her ex-boyfriend is going to feel a *different* heroine's scantily-clad buns pressing against him. So far, Katy hasn't come clean with anyone else about the truth behind her motorcycle... although the other heroines have noticed she seems really fond of washing it, often while wearing as little as possible, and swear that a couple times they've seen her kissing it...

Aegis Host Status: Shield Bearer

Aegis Host Rank: Reserve Squad, Rank 2

Aegis Host Clique: Clique Wanderer: Katy is seen as neither insider nor outsider but is able to wander freely between most of the cliques. This is in part due to her close connection with the Star Sheriff, who everyone wants to stay on the good side of. She would be in Exotic Nerds - except she shoots things, which several of them don't like. They'll overlook that, because of the above, but she's still not 'one of them.'

Relations: She is the Star Sheriff's great-great-grand-niece. Specifically, she is the direct descendant of the union between Star Sheriff's brother and her best friend, who fell into each other's arms and boned to comfort each other right after she 'died'. Like - literally right after, she was watching it from space as they did it. She is the spitting image of said Best Friend, so Star Sheriff has a deep sentimental attachment to her, over and above the other obvious reasons.

Backstory: Katy comes from a long line of West Texas ranchers. For generations, while they owned vast swaths of trackless semi-desert, the family constantly teetered on the edge of losing everything to drought or a sudden drop in cattle prices. Then, it turned out their vast tracts of land also had vast reserves of oil, and money suddenly ceased to be a concern anymore.

Still, though she grew up in the lap of redneck luxury - with two swimming pools and a fleet of chromed trucks surrounding their newly palatial 'ranch house' - Katy was still raised to think of her family as ranchers and cow-folk first and foremost; even though their herds now represented an insignificant element of the family finances.

Growing up on the vast family property, Katy devoured stories of her heroic ancestors, and devoted herself entirely to trying to live up to them in her own person. From a very early age she learned to ride, to rope, and to shoot. Precisely because money was no object, she had unlimited time and funds to devote to her hobbies, and was constantly traveling all over Texas and the Southwest in order to compete.

But then, things took a turn for the worst. Although raised thinking her family had virtually infinite money, this was not actually true. Her grandfather, the family patriarch, it turned out, had racked up a slew of gambling losses as well as a string of bad investments; all of which left the family badly in debt. This only came out after his funeral. Things were so bad, they were in danger of losing their ancestral ranch itself; whose oil revenues were their only remaining significant source of income.

Katy, being a good and dutiful daughter, wanted to help. And she knew how she wanted to do it. Having been raised from birth to be superlative at a range of impressive skills, she wanted to turn pro - and try to earn back in prizes and endorsements what they needed to save the ranch.

Her family refused. They thought it was beneath her.

So, she did it anyways - in secret. Putting on a mask, she adopted the secret identity of Katy Colt, and began competing on the professional circuit in a number of events. And, since she was already masked, it didn't take long to go even further - she started to show up to competitions wearing less and less underneath her otherwise required gear - to the point that soon enough she started competing in what was soon to become her trademark pastel Texas Flag bikini, underneath her chaps and vest and gunbelt.

And, as you might imagine, at least with a certain sort of beer-swilling fan, she proved immensely popular. Even when she didn't win - and she won a lot, much to the consternation of her more straight-laced opponents, for she was indeed extremely good - she still got tons of endorsement money. In the end, her plan worked. Between her winnings and the money she made from her advertising appearances and the like, Katy was quietly able to inject enough cash into the family finances to save her ancestral home. Although she didn't tell them where it came from, saying some investments had paid off. Fortunately, they didn't ask too many questions.

From there, it was only one tiny step to her final form. Already competing in a mask and skimpy costume, performing riding and shooting tricks, it was only a matter of time before she took things one step forward. The catalyst was a chance (actually not chance at all, but Katy didn't know it at the time) encounter with the Star Sheriff, who had come to check in on her long-lost descendent. Awed by the realization that not only was her famous ancestor from her childhood stories alive, but she was one of the greatest super-beings humanity had ever produced, in very short order Katy was inspired to follow in her wake. Taking the very last cowgirl-booted step, Katy Colt at last clambered up onto her motorcycle and began to roar out onto the streets, and not just into the arena. And thus, a new superheroine of Beachport was born.

Appearances to Date: A Game of Stealth, Valiant Valkyrie in the Zoo Ch. 6

MISS METROPOLIS

Concept: psychic beauty queen turned super-influencer and celebrity

Public Name: Lorelai Lee

Public Identity: Miss Metropolis; has not had a secret identity for one single second of her career. TV celebrity, social media influencer, spokesmodel, talk show hostess, actress.

Character Notes: poised, highly controlled, penetrating gaze, quick witted, vamps continuously, must be the center of attention at literally all times, imperious, demanding, high-maintenance, goes through boyfriends like candy but generally doesn't let them get anything, likes to tease, likes to taunt, tempestuous, short tempered, can dish it out but you'd better not expect her to take it, knows her worth and won't accept one cent less, born to be a princess, will take your boyfriend in a second just to show you she can, wears a million masks so you'll never know which one is the real her, throws tantrums at the drop of a hat and then becomes lovey-dovey a moment later, manipulative, natural seductress, cannot turn it off, doesn't care what you think of her (or so she says), lazy, has people to do that for her, yes honey that's a very nice Hermes handbag I have one just like it my maid uses to empty the trash