Characters: Baskerville
Real name: Lady Blaise Anna Mortesme Baskerville
Occupation: Officer in MI: 0; The Department of Her Majesty's Superhuman Services (aka Trafalgar).
Identity: Known to the public
Legal Status: Citizen of the United Kingdom with an extensive juvenile criminal record, fully pardoned by order of the Crown
Place of Birth: Devonshire, the United Kingdom
Known relatives: Sir Garth Baskerville (father, deceased), Lady Elaine Tottingham Baskerville (mother, deceased), Garvin Baskerville (brother, deceased), William Baskerville (brother, deceased), Sir Gareth Baskerville (grandfather, deceased), Sir Pinkerton Baskerville (great grandfather, deceased)
Group Affiliation: MI: 0 (Trafalgar), T.A.S.K.
Powers and Abilities: Baskerville is a "mid-level" telepath and powerful telekinetic. Her telepathy allows her to "read" the surface thoughts of others. Once she is connected to someone's mind she can synchronize her reflexes and reactions a fraction of a second ahead of theirs. This is the basis of the combat technique she developed at TRAFALGAR (tele-predictive combat); Baskerville predicts and counters opponent's moves before those moves are even made.
Baskerville is a very powerful telekinetic, however most of her telekinetic ability is focused on changing the manner in which her family's curse works through her. She can create a monstrous wolf like creature out of pure psionic energy. This hellhound is powerful enough to knock a car on its side and its claws can rend concrete. The hellhound (Grimspound) possesses a savage demeanor which Baskerville claims is the malevolence from the demonic hound "leaking through."
Due to her telepathic abilities and extensive training from her instructors at TRAFALGAR, Baskerville is a formidable hand to hand combatant. She is also an expert in the use of her necklace and belt "weight and chain" kusarigama like weapons. (The pendants on her necklace and belt are weighted and attached to metal cords)
Brief Personal History: Blaise Anna Mortesme Baskerville is the youngest child born to Sir Garth and Lady Elaine Baskerville of England's West Country. Although the Baskerville's had largely fallen out of favor with the Royal circle, they had always retained an air of notoriety and mystery due to the family's starring role in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles -- the famous Sherlock Holmes crime novel. Although most of the world believes Doyle's novel to be entirely fictional, it actually contains many nuggets of truth (the Baskerville line is indeed cursed). However, pressure from the Crown caused the author to alter the nature of family's curse in his writing.
Doyle led the world to believe that the Baskervilles' curse led family members to eventually meet bloody and violent deaths as victims of a "hound from hell." The truth was much more macabre -- certain members of the Baskerville lineage were cursed to transform into demonic, bloodthirsty hellhounds under the light of the full moon. While transformed into these terrible beasts, the poor accursed had no control over their actions and throughout history, many of these poor souls eventually committed suicide or were killed by other family members. So it was that in every generation a member of the House of Baskerville would meet a tragic and gruesome end, keeping the legend of the hound alive.
Blaise Anna Mortesme Baskerville was only seven years old when she witnessed her father and uncles kill the hound that was her grandfather. The trauma of that event kick started her latent psionic abilities as she touched the minds of both beast and man at the moment of the hound's death. By the time she was 10, Blaise was already using her telepathy to help her steal from local shops and to win the many fights she was getting into at school. Her rebellious behavior and experimentation with drugs and alcohol landed her in boarding school after boarding school and she became part of a minor scandal when she seduced one of her teachers at the age of 16, causing the woman to lose her job. When that school year ended, agents from MI: 0 -- the Department of Her Majesty's Superhuman Services (commonly known as TRAFALGAR), visited the Baskerville manor. They were there to extend an invitation to Blaise to join the Department but ended up witnessing the Baskerville curse unleashed. In the light of a full moon Blaise began to transform into the hellhound ... but the shock of the metamorphosis caused her second ability-telekinesis, to manifest. Surprisingly her psionic abilities interfered with the hellhound's manifestation. Instead of becoming a monster herself, Blaise was able to project the hellhound as a creature of pure telekinetic force.
She was off to TRAFALGAR the next day.
At TRAFALGAR, Blaise was shocked to discover that the Baskerville's had a long and distinguished history with MI: 0. Baskervilles had served as superhuman agents during both World Wars and her great grandfather had even helped foil an attempt on Winston Churchill's life. During the next three years Blaise learned how to control her hellhound (which she nicknamed Grimspound) and her trainers at TRAFALGAR also helped her develop a combat style that worked in concert with her telepathy. While her attitude and actions often made her the recipient of disciplinary actions, Blaise was a stellar candidate. After completing her training she chose the codename Baskerville (the codename she shared with her great grandfather) and was deployed on missions with other TRAFALGAR operatives including The Guvnor, Cauldron, Big Ben & LittleJohn, Brixton Bob and Sir Everyman. Baskerville excelled as a TRAFALGAR agent and seemed poised for an exceptional career.
Blaise was overseas on a mission when the rest of the Baskerville family was attacked and killed by The Sons of Mordred (a magic based terrorist group). Blaise was now Lady Blaise, the last Baskerville. The loss of her family caused Blaise to once again turn to drugs and alcohol and when her impairment threatened a mission she was placed on medical leave. The last straw came when she allegedly created a scene at the wedding reception of Prince William and Kate Middleton (reports are that she drunkenly groped Pippa Middleton's rear).
As part of TRAFALGAR's obligation to T.A.S.K., Lady Blaise Baskerville was assigned to be a member of T.A.S.K.'s new trainee pod. Her TRAFALGAR superiors hope that time away from the UK and exposure to John Henry and his organization will help Baskerville turn the corner and clean up her act.
Written by Damion Gonzales
Character design by Sean Isaakse