High Evolutionary Non-Villain Antagonist
Real Name: Herbert Edgar Wyndham.
Occupation: Geneticist.
Identity: Secret.
Legal Status: Citizen of the United Kingdom with no known criminal record, legally deceased.
Other Aliases: None.
Place of Birth: Manchester, England.
Marital Status: Single.
Known Relatives: None.
Group Affiliation: Former employer of the Changeling and commander/creator of the Knights of Wundagore.
Base of Operations: Wundagore Mountain, Romania.
First Post-Reboot Appearance: UNCANNY X-MEN #
History: A landed British nobleman attending college in the early 1930s, Herbert Wyndham worked closely with fellow aspiring geneticist Arnim Zola before their friendship soured over their differing opinions of the rising National Socialist (Nazi) party in Germany. Laughed out of Oxford for his theories on genetics and evolution, Wyndham liquidated the remains of his property and purchased a plot of land on Mount Wundagore in the Romanian Balkans, where he intended to build a private research facility to further explore his theories. On Mount Wundagore, he discovered a large uranium deposit; hiring local local workers to mine it, he sold the uranium to interested parties (other than the Nazis), most notably both the United States and Soviet Union governments. The sale of the uranium netted Wyndham a small fortune, which he parlayed into his research facility.
At some point in the past, Wyndham became friends with a biologist named Jonathan Drew. Through unrevealed means, Wyndham gave Drew various spider-related powers, which Drew later passed on to his daughter, Jessica.
As part of his experiments, Wyndham mutated several animals, giving them humanoid frames and human-level intelligence, dubbing them his New Men. In order to keep them from running amok, he organized them into a chivalric knightly order, the Knights of Wundagore, with himself as the High Lord Evolutionary, a title which later became simply the High Evolutionary.
Apparently before creating the Knights of Wundagore, the High Evolutionary subjected himself to his forced evolutionary process. This process greatly improved his mental faculties beyond the peak of human ability, as well as enhancing his body. Since then, while he has continued to engage in genetic engineering he has also developed many other technologies far in advance of what has been released to the general public.
Most of Wyndham's past exploits have yet to be recorded. It is known he had dealings with the outlaw team known as the Shadowguard during the late 1980s to early 2000s, although the details of said dealings are currently unknown.
The High Evolutionary's first recorded activity in the modern era involved a scheme to forcibly evolve the entire populace of New York City and the surrounding area into mutants. For unknown reasons, he blackmailed the mutant thief Changeling into assisting with this scheme; the Changeling betrayed him to the X-Men, who prevented the scheme from coming to fruition. Afterward, the X-Man known as Beast wondered aloud if the Evolutionary intended to succeed, or if he intended the Changeling to betray him.
More recently, the Evolutionary dispatched a pair of his Knights, Sir Mongoose and Sir Boar, to capture the superhero Captain Marvel for study, who unknown to most people was a member of the alien Kree race, not human. The Knights were successful in capturing Marvel (though only because Marvel voluntarily surrendered for his own reasons), and brought the Captain to the High Evolutionary's citadel on Mt. Wundagore. Upon discovering the Captain's alien origins (after taking a genetic sample), he told the Captain he was free to go. The Evolutionary hid the fact that he'd started making a human-Kree hybrid based on splicing Marvel's genetic code with a human's from the Captain.
Where the High Evolutionary will surface next is anyone's guess.
Age: 108.
Height: 6' 2".
Weight: 200 lbs. (without armor).
Eyes: Brown.
Hair: Brown.
Uniform: Silver-plated body armor with a red surcoat, red gloves, red boots, silver belt, silver gorget, red full-face helmet.
Strength Level: The High Evolutionary possesses superhuman strength enabling him to lift (press) roughly 1,500 lbs.
Known Superhuman Powers: The High Evolutionary has evolved his own brain the to limits of human potential, giving him a superhuman intellect. In addition, he is now immune to all terrestrial diseases, poisons, and environmental syndromes (like altitude sickness and the bends), is able to heal from nearly any injury, including being able to regrow severed limbs, and is effectively immortal. As a side effect of his superhuman intellect, his mind effectively closed to telepaths unless he wishes otherwise.
Other Abilities: Even before his self-imposed forced evolution, the High Evolutionary was a genius geneticist, a pioneer in the field.
Paraphernalia: The High Evolutionary's armor provides him incredible resistance to injury, and has circuitry which enhances his ability to regenerate limbs. He has stated that even if he was physically reduced to a liquid state, his armor would rebuild his body and restore his mind; whether this is the truth or hyperbole/exaggeration is unknown.
1,860 points
| ST: 30 [200] | HP: 30 [0] | Speed: 8.00 [0] |
| DX: 16 [120] | Will: 20 [0] | Move: 8 [0] |
| IQ: 20 [200] | Per: 20 [0] | |
| HT: 16 [60] | FP: 16 [0] | SM: 0 |
| Dmg: 3d/5d+2 | BL: 180 lbs. | |
| Dodge: 11 | Parry: 11 | DR: 210/150 (armor) |
Languages: English (Native) (Native Language) [0]; German [6]; Russian [6]; Serbian [6].
Cultural Familiarities: Eastern European [1]; Western (Native) [0].
Advantages: Academic 4 [20]; Artificer 4 [40]; Compartmentalized Mind 4 [200]; Elder of the Universe [400]; Gadgeteer (Quick) [50]; Less Sleep 4 [8]; Mind Shield 20 [40]; Natural Scientist 4 [40]; Photographic Memory [10]; Regeneration (Fast: 3 HP/min) [50]; Regrowth [40]; Status 4 [0*]; Wealth (Multimillionaire 1) [75]; Wundagore Rank 5 [25].
Disadvantages: Callous [-5]; Killjoy [-15]; Megalomania [-10]; Obsession (Genetic Mutation) [-0†]; Xenophilia (12) [-10].
Quirks: Dislikes Communists [-1]; Dislikes Nazis/Neo-Nazis [-1].
Skills: Battlesuit/TL12 (A) DX+2 [8] – 18; Electronics Operation/TL12 (Scientific) (A) IQ+0 [2] – 20; Electronics Operation/TL12 (Sensors) (A) IQ+0 [2] – 20; Games (Chess) (E) IQ+0 [1] – 20; Inventor! (WC) IQ+5 [84] – 25; Scholar!(WC) IQ+5 [84] – 25; Science! (WC) IQ+5 [84] – 25.
Starting Spending Money: $4,000,000 (20% of Starting Wealth).
* Includes +2 from Wealth (Multimillionaire 1) and +2 from Wundagore Rank.
† Included in the Elder of the Universe trait; each Elder (including the Evolutionary) has a separate and distinct Obsession.
Role-Playing Notes:
The High Evolutionary is a man who has lost touch with his humanity. He now seeks to fully understand the process of mutation and evolution, seeing the rest of the world as one great lab experiment.
| DX | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TL | Weapon | Damage | Reach | Parry | Cost | Weight | ST | Notes |
| – | Punch | 3d-1 cr | C | 11 | – | – | 30 | |
| – | Kick | 3d cr | C, 1 | n/a | – | – | 30 | -2 to hit |
Design Notes:
1. While not a true Elder of the Universe, he matches the racial package perfectly, including having developed TL12 and TL12^ technology (via his Inventor! skill) based on theories far in advance of modern science.
2. Wundagore Rank 5 represents his command of the Knights of Wundagore. Going by the "The Arithmetic of Rank" sidebox on p. 14 of GURPS Social Engineering, this represents an average of 2000 New Men as part of his domain.