Swarm Villain
Real Name: Swarm, original human host was named Fritz von Meyer.
Occupation: Would-be world conqueror; von Meyer was a entomologist and geneticist specializing in bees.
Identity: Swarm does not use a dual identity,
Legal Status: Inapplicable; von Meyer was a citizen of Argentina with no known criminal record, deceased.
Other Aliases: the Hive, "Bee-Man".
Place of Creation/Birth: (von Meyer) Just outside Santiago del Estero, Argentina; (Swarm) Chicago, Illinois.
Marital Status: (Swarm) Inapplicable; (von Meyer) single.
Known Relatives: (von Meyer) Parents and grandparents (names unrevealed).
Group Affiliation: None; possible agent of the Cockroach Conspiracy.
Base of Operations: Mobile.
First Post-Reboot Appearance: ASTONISHING ANT-MAN #
History: Fritz von Meyer was the grandson of Nazis who fled to Argentina in the final days of World War II. Although his parents and grandparents tried to instill in him the Nazi ideals, von Meyer never fully embraced them, seeing the racist portions of Nazi ideology as outdated. (This may be attributed to von Meyer's infatuation with a childhood friend, Seina Corazon, a Hispanic girl the elder von Meyers saw as a being of a "lesser race".)
From a young age, he was fascinated with bees. This led him to study not only their habits but also their genetics, becoming one of the leading authorities in the field. His primary goal was to develop a strain of honey bees which were resistant to the pesticides used by farmers to protect crops from less benevolent arthropods. He found his most successful choice in the already hybrid Africanized honey bee, which due to various habits is better known as the "killer bee".
Von Meyer was invited to attend an international conference on insect genetics in Chicago, Illinois; he brought several of his genetically modified bees with him, a hive of his killer bees. During one of his presentations, the genetically altered killer bees got loose and attacked him, stinging him to death as the crowd scattered and first responders attempted to disperse the bees. Eventually, all that was left of von Meyer was his skeleton.
But that was not the end. Von Meyer's mind somehow merged with that of the queen bee, creating an entirely new entity. This entity, which took the name Swarm after comments made by those in the audience, drew other bees at the conference into his body. In addition, Swarm used von Meyer's skeleton to give him a semblance of form.
It was at this point that Swarm came into conflict with the adventurers Ant-Man and Wasp, who in their civilian identities of Dr. Hank Pym and Janet van Dyne were attending the conference. Ant-Man attempted to communicate with the bees using the cybernetic helmet he uses to communicate with ants, but was rebuffed telepathically. After a long battle, the Wasp managed to find and kill the queen bee which controlled Swarm's consciousness, causing Swarm to disperse. The two then managed to collect the gene-modded killer bees back in their hives. Unknown to the adventurers, the bees then selected a new queen for the hive from among the previous queen's larvae.
Several months later, the hive attacked and killed another man, taking that man's skeleton as their base and absorbing his mind the same way von Meyer's was absorbed. Swarm then came into conflict with Thor and Hercules outside Houston, Texas, interrupting one of their habitual brawls. The two gods were unable to physically defeat Swarm, but managed to convince Swarm to disperse his body, leaving the host body's skeleton behind.
Where and when Swarm will appear next is unknown.
Age: 45 (von Meyer); 1 (Swarm).
Height: 6' 5" (variable).
Weight: 104 lbs (variable).
Eyes: None.
Hair: None.
Uniform: White or purple gloves, purple hooded cloak.
Strength Level: Swarm appears to possess the normal human strength of a man of the host skeleton's build; however, as a composite entity, this strength may be psychokinetic in nature rather than physical.
Known Superhuman Powers: As a composite entity composed of hundreds of thousands of bees around a human skeleton, Swarm possesses a number of superhuman powers. As a composite hive entity, he is nearly impervious to damage to his body, as most attacks will go right through him; only explosive or chemical attacks have been shown to truly be effective against him. He is able to control all bees composing his body, separating them from him to expand his senses and see and hear through individual bees.
As a collection of bees, Swarm sees in the ultraviolet spectrum and can fly at speeds approaching 30 mph. He can also command his bees to flow from his body to sting a target to death. He requires a human skeleton (or one close enough) to maintain a humanoid form; quite possibly he could take the skeletal remains of any creature to use as a base, potentially appearing as a bee swarm in the shape of a cow, but prefers the human form. (The skeleton may be damaged without harming him.) Should he kill someone for the skeleton, he gains some of the host body's personality traits.
Because of their genetically modified nature, the been composing Swarm's body are practically immune to most pesticides.
Other Abilities: Fritz von Meyer was a geneticist specializing in bees, particularly the hybrid Africanized honey bee, also known as the "killer bee". It is not known whether Swarm possesses the knowledge of his human host or simply the personality.
534 points
| ST: 10 [0] | HP: 10 [0] | Speed: 6.00 [0] |
| DX: 12 [40] | Will: 12 [0] | Air Move: 10/15 [-4] |
| IQ: 12 [40] | Per: 12 [0] | |
| HT: 12 [20] | FP: 12 [0] | SM: 0 |
| Dmg: 1d-2/1d | BL: 20 lbs. | |
| Dodge: 10 | Parry: 11 | DR: 0 |
Languages: English (Native) [6]; German (Native) [6]; Spanish (Native) (Native Language) [0].
Cultural Familiarities: Latin American (Native) [0]; Western [1].
Advantages: Combat Reflexes [15]; Enhanced Move (Air) 1/2 (Move 15/30 mph) [10]; High Pain Threshold [10]; Injury Tolerance (Diffuse) (Body of Swarm, +40%; Flying Swarm, +30%; Humanoid Form (+50%; Accessibility: Requires Humanoid Skeleton, -20%), +40%; Swarm (Can Affect the Material World), +160%) [370]; Resistant to Pesticides +8 [7]; Single-Minded [5]; Small Piercing Attack (Bee Stings) 1 pt (Homing, +50%; Homing: Extra Passes +2, +20%; Increased 1/2D Range ×5, +10%; Increased Range: Line-of-Sight, +70%; Rapid Fire (RoF 100), +250%; Rapid Fire: Very Rapid Fire, +10%; Reduced 1/2D Range ×1/2, -5%; Final Range: 25/LoS) [6]; Speak With Animals (Specialized: Bees, -60%; Psionic, -10%) [8]; Toxic Attack 1d-1 (Follow-Up: Bee Stings, +0%) [3]; Ultrahearing [5]; Ultravision (UV Only) [0].
Disadvantages: Bloodlust (12) [-10]; Disturbing Voice [-10]; No Legs (Aerial) [0]; Social Stigma (Monster) [-15]; Weak Bite [-2]; Wealth (Dead Broke) [-25].
Quirks: Abrasive [-1]; Belief (Atheist) [-1]; Gloating [-1]; Sarcastic [-1]; Sexless [-1].
Skills: Animal Handling (Bees) (A) IQ+1 [4] – 13; Brawling (E) DX+2 [4] – 14; Computer Operation/TL8 (E) IQ+0 [1] – 12; Expert Skill (Apicology/Study of Bees) (H) IQ+2 [12] – 14; Flight (A) HT+0 [2] – 12; Innate Attack (Projectile) (A) Will+1 [4] – 13; Professional Skill (Beekeeper) (A) IQ+0 [2] – 12; Research/TL8 (A) IQ+0 [2] – 12; Survival (Desert) (A) Per+0 [2] – 12; Survival (Plains) (A) Per+0 [2] – 12.
Techniques: Quick-Shot/TL8 (Guns (Wrist Gun)) (A) def+3 [3] – 18§.
Starting Spending Money: $0.
Role-Playing Notes:
Swarm tends to take on the personality traits of the human hosts he kills and takes the skeleton of, seeing the skeleton itself as a kind of beehive. He is usually driven to attack people who get too close to the hive and has come to see all bees as part of himself. He holds himself as the avenger of bees killed by pesticides.
| BRAWLING | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TL | Weapon | Damage | Reach | Parry | Cost | Weight | ST | Notes |
| – | Brawling Punch | 1d-2 cr | C | 11 | – | – | 10 | |
| – | Brawling Kick | 1d-1 cr | C, 1 | n/a | – | – | 10 | |
| INNATE ATTACK (PROJECTILE) | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TL | Weapon | Damage | Acc | Range | RoF | Shots | ST | Bulk | Rcl | Notes |
| – | Bee Attack | 1 pi- | 3 | 25/LoS | 100 | – | – | – | 1 | [1] |
| Follow-Up | 1d-1 tox | |||||||||
Notes:
[1] Attack is Homing with 2 additional passes.
Design Notes:
1. When he takes a humanoid form, he requires a skeleton to do so. For simplicity's sake it's probably best to treat the skeleton as a "vitals" hit location even if IT: Diffuse lacks vitals. The skeleton would have DR 2, HP 10-12, and IT: Homogenous by itself, separate from Swarm's own stats; reducing the skeleton to 0 should effectively destroy it. This part comes from a discussion on the GURPS Discord server.
2. The mixing of Increased 1/2D Range and Reduced 1/2D Range may seem odd at first, but applying Increased 1/2D first gave me a Range 50/LoS, which was then modified with Reduced 1/2D Range for Range 25/LoS. A single level of Increased 1/2D Range with no Reduced 1/2D Range gives Range 20/LoS. Funky math tricks, and to my knowledge the book does not specify the two are mutually exclusive, although it may be implied. Your mileage may vary.