And now, here’s the fourth Checkmate Gangster. (Hmm, I don’t know how I feel about that term.)
The Knight
“Your feeble power cannot withstand the might of the ancients!”
Alias: Doctor Joan K. Night
Approach: Prideful
Archetype: Bruiser
Health: 45 + (
× 5)
Powers
Leaping 
The Mace of Wayland
Mechanical Steed
Power Suit 
Qualities
Bounding Battler
Close Combat
Fitness
History
Magical Lore
Status: Health
Green zone 
Yellow zone
Red zone
Calculate the Knight’s GYRO zones using the table on page 239 and her final health value, adjusted for .
Abilities
Airborne Swing (A): Attack using Leaping and use your Max die. Either Hinder that target with your Mid die or Attack another nearby target with your Mid die.-
Glorious Strike (A): Attack one target using The Mace of Wayland and use your Max+Min dice. If that Attack causes the target to change zones, Boost using your Mid die. That bonus is persistent and exclusive. - Knight’s Armour (I): Reduce damage taken by physical and energy sources by 1 while in the Green zone, 2 in the Yellow zone, and 3 in the Red zone.
-
Mecha-Charge (A): Attack one target using Mechanical Steed. Use your Max+Min dice. Defend against all Attacks against you by all other targets until the start of your next turn with your Mid die. - (U) Ancient Power (I): Increase all of the Knight’s power dice by one size. (When using this upgrade, the Knight has 20 additional Health.)
(M) Master of Mysticism (I): If you have access to proper materials, automatically succeed at an Overcome in a situation involving harnessing magical forces.
The Knight
Alias: Doctor Joan K. Night
Gender: Female
Age: 40s
Height: 5’6”
Eyes: Amber
Hair: Brown
Skin: Light
Build: Fit
Costume/Equipment: A suit of black and white techno-plate armour with a chess knight symbol on the breastplate.
Approach: Prideful
Archetype: Bruiser
Biography
Dr. Joan Night was an accomplished archaeologist. She had spent countless hours of work on her historical and anthropological studies, and was rewarded by numerous accolades. One day, while out at a dig site in Germany, Dr. Night uncovered a very peculiar artefact. It appeared to be the head of a mace, but it looked completely new, seemingly entirely unaffected by what must have been centuries buried in the earth! Mystified (and against her better judgement), the doctor grasped the mace head, and a voice as deep as the mountains and as ancient as the earth spoke to her mind. It said that this mace was crafted by the legendary smith Wayland, who had forged arms for the likes of Beowulf and Charlemagne. The mace told how it had lain dormant for centuries, and how it now demanded be wielded once more in battle!
The Mace of Wayland cause a handle for itself to materialise out of thin air, and Dr. Night took it up. It compelled her to go forth and find worthy opponents with which to do battle. So Joan went to the nearest town and cried out a challenge on the streets, daring anyone to confront her. Luckily, a heroic superhuman was nearby, who managed to defeat Joan and turn her into the authorities.
The Mace was separated from Joan, a fact that she was grateful for, as she despised being turned into an instrument for violence by it. However, even when separated, Joan could still hear its voice in her mind, coercing her to take it up again. A few months later, Dr. Night gave in again, and once again took up the Mace. Again she was defeated by heroes, and again she lived a time uninfluenced by the ancient weapon. Unfortunately for Joan Night, this cycle would continue for some time.
During one such outing, Dr. Night crossed paths with another super-criminal, an ambitious American speedster named Jenn Victors. Later, Jenn—now calling herself the Queen—would seek out a mace-influence Joan a second time with an offer to be the second member to join the Checkmate Gang, a criminal crew that she herself had recently joined. Joan, urged on by the Mace, gladly accepted the new opportunity to seek out and do battle with more foes. Thus she was dubbed the Knight. She also suggested another recruit for the gang: a fellow academic that she had worked with, who had also turned to villain after exposure to a strange phenomenon; a physicist named Prof. Jeremiah Crawford.
Capabilities and Motivations
The mystical Mace of Wayland conferred a number of extraordinary traits to Dr. Night. It granted her increased strength and toughness, the ability to leap great heights and distances, and knowledge of battle and of mystic matters.
After joining forces with the other members of the Checkmate Gang, the King constructed two pieces of technology for the Knight to augment her combat capabilities. The first was a suit of techno-plate armour, which could shield Joan from attacks and increase her strength. The second was a robotic horse, which served as the Knight’s mount during battle.
Upgrades
Normally, the Mace of Wayland only augments the Knight physically and mentally. However, in times of dire need, it can enhance her with a magical aspect, increasing her power and might tenfold.
Editor’s Notes
Yeah, I’m sure that there have been countless characters with the “K. Night” pun in their names, but, eh… Also, she’s called Joan after Joan of Arc, the first historical lady knight that I thought of.
Knight probably got the most reworked from her original design out of all the Checkmate Gang. I first had her as a Predator, not a Bruiser, on the basis that she did one-on-one duels with people, because that’s a knightly thing to do. But then, after writing the part about the mace compelling her to fight a bunch in her bio, I thought it odd that it would limit her to one foe at a time. So I changed it. (I also originally had her with the Power Dampening Field, not Power Upgrade.)
Hmm, there are a number of unintentional similarities betwixt the stories of the Knight and the Bishop. They’re both venerable academics who stumble upon some supernatural thingamajig, which then influences their behaviours in a way that causes them to start conflict. Again, none of this was intentional; it just kinda happened.
Relatedly, I’d view that both the Knight and the Bishop could fairly easily be redeemed—you just have to remove the supernatural influence from them. For the Bishop, it would be pretty tough to actually do that; meanwhile, for the Bishop, it’s easier to remove the mace from her (although I imagine that it would have to be kept separate for a little while for the influence to wear off), but the influence eventually calls back out to her, urging her to find and claim it again.
Also, I just noticed that half of these crooks have names that begin with the letter J: Jenn, Jeremiah, and Joan. Weird.