Leo Frederic Speer was once a leader of Fear Force, a radical right-wing anti-Federal government militia/terrorist group. That is, he had his position as Colonel within that militia until its camp was raided by a combined force of BATF, FBI, and Secret Service agents. While most of Fear Force was arrested and the organization as a whole obliterated, Speer managed to escape.
On the run, Speer was sought out and discovered by VIPER recruiters. He was brought in first as an Agent Commander, but soon was put in charge of a VIPER training camp in rural Oregon near Salem. More recently he's been put in charge of the Salem, Oregon VIPER's nest, serving as the Sinister Samurai's local lieutenant, and he's been handling the post quite well. It was his idea, in fact, to create the "cover story" for the training camp as a pro-government camp called Weekend Warriors. As far as the public knows, Weekend Warriors caters to hobbyists and paintball fanatics rather than political extremists and other radicals. Because of his history with Fear Force as well as the fear he inspires in those among his men who cross him, he has been nicknamed Colonel Fear.
In the parlance of the VIPER Sourcebook, Colonel Fear is part Ruthless Bastard and part Cult Classic, with a little Vengeful Viper thrown in. He runs his nest by rewarding good performance lavishly, and treating stupidity and insubordination harshly. He does recognize that not all efforts are successful, and not only tolerates but readily commends subordinates for a good but unsuccessful effort. Unlike most Ruthless Bastards and Cult Classics, though, the welfare of those beneath him truly does matter; he does what he can to keep morale high, and doles out his severe punishments only for blatant violations. After all, a happy soldier is a loyal soldier. As should be expected of a former anti-government terrorist, he preaches to his men that government is their enemy, VIPER is their friend, and that he will protect them. However, when he's operating under his cover of the manager of a "weekend warriors" camp (which makes an interesting profit independent of the illegal VIPER operations), he waxes patriotic just like any loyal citizen (just enough that some suspicious-minded characters might wonder if he doesn't "protest too much").
"We all know who the enemy is. And I expect that you all know who your friends are. We must
stick together to overcome the opposition. Working together is the key. Now, you all have your
orders. When I give the command, execute!"
Like most VIPER Nest Leaders and their lieutenants, Colonel Fear has no actual superpowers, but uses VIPER technology -- to say nothing of a powerful army of agents and other VIPER resources. The Salem nest is a medium-sized Nest, with about 50 agents, 200 trainees, 12 Commanders, and 20 vehicle specialists.
For VIPER crimes and other operations, Colonel Fear tends to avoid the more mystical and experimental aspects of VIPER's resources (such as Psionics Specialists and some of the more exotic weapons), but uses anything else he can get his hands on. He has several "outposts" that are a part of his Nest, each organized differently (according to the needs of the outpost) and serving a different function. The Nest is efficiently run and financially prosperous, operating in assassination, blackmail, electronic theft, extortion, fencing of stolen property, gambling casinos, and weapons-running (including selling some of VIPER's less- advanced weapons to street gangs).
Blackmail and extortion have been used in the past to exact cooperation from District Attorneys judges, and other officers of the court as well as law enforcement officers and agents. Colonel Fear refuses to get involved in "socially destructive" vice crimes such as drugs, pornography, and prostitution, however, and only associates with the Nest Leaders who are involved in those things out of necessity.
Personally, Colonel Fear carries a Bowie knife, a VR-05 "Pin" Heavy Laser Carbine, and a single flash grenade for weapons, and wears the standard armored suit and force field belt issued to most VIPER Commanders. He is also expert with Commando Training, being able to use the knife with that martial art. When he needs to get around with his VIPER troops, he rides a Diamondback Flying Motorcycle.
Colonel Fear is an imposing-looking man, standing 5'11" tall and weighing a well-muscled 220
pounds. His scalp and face are so well-shaved that the only way to tell that his natural hair color
is black is to look at his eyebrows. His narrow eyes are a dark brown with a heavily penetrating
gaze. When he doesn't have to wear his VIPER uniform (which he only does in action), he is
usually seen in surplus Army-style fatigues.
Colonel Leo Speer (who states publicly that his rank is more of a "job title" than anything like an actual military rank) spends virtually all of his time at the VIPER training facility, and the Weekend Warriors camp that serves as its cover (not to mention a relatively lucrative source of income). While the facility does have satellite television, he only watches the various news channels (CNN Headline News and Fox News Channel being his favorites, in that order). He reads the local newspaper (the Salem Statesman-Journal), generally keeping an eye out for anyone who he thinks would make a good VIPER recruit. He'd be especially interested if a superhero or superpowered vigilante turned out to be recruitable into VIPER. However, he also tracks anything he finds that could lead him to one or more of VIPER's enemies, even if it's something happening far away and carried on international news services.
Aside from this, he lives his life as a near-stereotypical Army man: when in the VIPER sections of the facility, he eats, sleeps, and breathes VIPER; when in the Weekend Warriors sections, he eats, sleeps, and breathes the quasi-military structure there (though he's somewhat more relaxed in his demeanor among WW clients).
Leo Speer is a very private man. Whether acting under his own name or as Colonel Fear, he associates with few, if any, people outside VIPER, or even his Nest. Naturally, because of his position, he has regular contact with the Sinister Samurai (the true Leader of all of Oregon's nests), and somewhat less frequent contact with members of the Serpent Syndicate. He also makes regular contacts with his staff on both sides of the fence, but only Wang Chao-Ling, his assistant, is close enough for him to call friend. Even when he interviews the occasional Weekend Warriors client (to see if this individual would be suitable for recruitment into VIPER), he learns more about them then they do about him.
As noted above, Speer has a passion for anything related to the military or military life. He prefers to wear surplus Army fatigues and similar wear, to the point that even his VIPER uniform has a more utilitarian look to it than most. He actually prefers the bland institutional food served at the VIPER/Weekend Warriors facility over anything else he's ever tried. Essentially, if it relates to military life, he likes it; if it doesn't he has no interest.
Colonel Fear is an unusual sort for a Nest Leader (even a Lieutenant). Unless a character is actively Hunted by VIPER, he has no interest in harassing him. He does send his VIPER trainees out for occasional "real-world" exercises, but he changes their targets every time so that any given business is normally only robbed by them once (those Hunted by VIPER make up virtually all of the exceptions).
His most obvious use in a campaign is as the effective VIPER Nest Leader for anything coming through Salem. He may not even show up in person at first, if the group is relatively new and/or low-powered; on the other hand, a well-known, high-powered group could find him present early on, soon to be accompanied by the Sinister Samurai himself! In addition to the activities described above, VIPER's activities in the Salem area include influencing political activities in Oregon, including throwing elections in favor of candidates they like, finding out which government officials are corrupt and putting them on VIPER's payroll, and convincing appeals judges and State Supreme Court justices to make the decisions VIPER wants.
The other obvious use for Colonel Fear takes place when the PCs trace one of VIPER's agent training facilities (and there are several of them) to Salem. They could either get the location and discover later that it's the same as the Weekend Warriors camp; sign up for the Weekend Warriors camp for a vacation spot and uncover the VIPER training by accident; or learn of the connection between the two, and enter Weekend Warriors undercover to investigate. What happens then is, of course, up to player action and GM preferences.
Finally, Colonel Fear is featured in the Snake Wars scenario elsewhere on this website. And, of course, the GM can probably devise many other adventures around this character.
This rendition of Colonel Fear's character sheet differs slightly from what's described in the Snake Wars scenario. This is because of the greater freedom that comes from putting up an entire character sheet (as opposed to just a text-only description, which works at its best when made as short as possible).
Colonel Fear's Bowie knife is built using the Blade Weapon Limitation, a -¼ Limitation from Dark Champions (page 82). It essentially means that the weapon will not cut through materials like stone and brick, and must be properly used or it will become dull (losing DCs as it's abused).
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Val | Char | Cost | Roll |
|
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|
15
20 20 13 18 14 20 10 8 8 4 7 40 29 |
STR DEX CON BODY INT EGO PRE COM PD ED SPD REC END STUN |
5
30 20 6 8 8 10 0 5 4 10 0 0 1 |
12-
13- 13- 12- 13- 12- 13- 11- |
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| Cost | Powers and Talents | END | |||||
|
10 7 30 12 5 3 25 3 |
VIPER Weapons:
Bowie Knife: 1d6 HKA (1½d6 w/STR), Armor Piercing, Blade Weapon, OAF Flash Grenade: 2d6 Flash vs Sight, Explosion, OAF, 1 charge VR-05 "Pin" Heavy Laser Carbine: 12d6 EB, +3 OCV, No Knockback, Act 15-, 2 clips of 12 charges VIPER Defenses: Armored Uniform/Helmet: 8 PD/4 ED Armor, OIF Force Field Belt: 6 PD/3 ED, OIF, 3 continuing Charges of 5 minutes each Helmet Visor: 5 Flash Defense vs Sight, OIF Diamondback Flying Motorcycle (see VIPER) Two-Way Helmet Communicator: Radio Transmit/Listen, OIF |
2+ [1c] [2×12c] [3cc] |
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| Cost | Martial Arts (Commando Training) |
Adj. OCV |
Adj. DCV |
Base Effect | Phase | ||
|
3
4 4 4 4 4 4 4 |
Aikido Throw
Boxing Cross Choke Escape Hold Judo Disarm Karate "Chop" Kung Fu Block |
+0
+0 -2 +0 -1 -1 -2 +2 |
+1
+2 +0 +0 -1 +1 +0 +2 |
6d6+v/5, Throw
8d6 Grab Head, 3½d6 NND Escape @ 45 STR Grab Three Limbs @ 40 STR Disarm @ 40 STR 1d6 HKA Block, Abort |
½
½ ½ var ½ ½ ½ ½ |
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|
12
2 |
+3 Damage Classes (figured in above)
Use Art With Blades & Clubs |
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| Cost | Skills and Perks | Roll | |||||
|
3
3 3 3 3 10 3 2 2 2 3 3 2 3 3 3 4 4 3 |
Acrobatics
Breakfall Climbing Combat Skill Level: +1 w/Commando Training Combat Skill Level: +1 w/guns Find Weakness w/VR-05 Interrogation KS: Military Procedure KS: Military World KS: VIPER Oratory Paramedic PS: Martial Arts Instructor PS: Soldier (INT-based) Survival Tactics TF: Air Vehicles, Land Vehicles WF: Common Melee Weapons, Small Arms Weaponsmith (slug-throwers) |
13-
13- 13- 11- 13- 11- 11- 11- 13- 13- 11- 13- 11- 13- 11- |
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| 100+ | Disadvantages | ||||||
|
10 10 15 20 20 15 15 10 10 |
Distinctive Features:
Style Disadvantage (medium group, noticed) VIPER Univorms (easily concealable, major reaction) Hunted by: National Security Agency (As Powerful, NCI), 8- PRIMUS (More Powerful, NCI), 8- Normal Characteristic Maxima Psychological Limitations: Hates the US Federal government (common, strong) Ruthless (common, strong) Reputation: Ruthless VIPER leader, 8- (extreme) Watched by: VIPER (More Powerful, NCI), 8- |
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| OCV: 7 DCV: 7 ECV: 5 Phases: 3, 6, 9, 12 | |||||||
| 107 Char + 202 Powers & Skills = 309 Total = 100 Base + 125 Disads + 84 Exp | |||||||