Born to Dr. Jerry and Marlena Hornsby in 1971 outside of San Antonio, Texas. Jerry was a brilliant biochemist and a founding member, part owner, and a Director of the multinational-by-way-of-Texas corporation PetroDyne Chemicals. Marlena was a charming society wife and a product of genteel society. While Jerry worked and Marlena was active socially, Jacob was left to his own devices as a child, with a string of harried nannies that couldn't keep up with the little hellion. Sports were Jakob's thing, but in lieu of organized teams he'd settle for any absurdly dangerous physical challenge. By the time he was in middle school he had years of little league and Pop Warner behind him and a dresser load of trophies. In high school he wrestled, played baseball, and started as a running back all at the varsity level his freshman year and junior varsity for basketball where his short stature slowed him down slightly. His senior year started with him a given for any number of sports scholarships, with scouts well familiar with him and there was even some national awareness of his skills after he was covered in an issue of Sports Illustrated along with other top up-and-comers in a September 1990 issue.
However, this was not to be. Jakob's athletic mastery was not strictly equitable; they were made possible by the fact that he was born with a superhuman physique caused by his fathers exposure to experimental 'super-soldier' serums in the 60's when he was working as a contractor for the United States Government. Though Jerry himself was not noticeably altered, his genetic structure carried the potential for superhuman might, and he passed this on to Jakob. In a early football scrimmage match in his senior year Jakob's leg was broken. He was taken to the hospital by EMT's, but by the time they got to the emergency room the bone had already completely knitted itself back together. The EMT's shrugged it off as a false alarm, but Jakob knew better. This was the 1st time he really realized that he was not normal. That night he told his father about the incident, and though skeptical at first Jerry took a swab sample and then ran some tests on Jakob's DNA the next day at the lab.
He was astounded by what he found and, thinking ahead, destroyed all the test results. That night he forbade Jakob from playing on the school teams further, and stressed that he must hide his abilities. The ramifications of Jakob's powers being revealed could be disastrous for the family fortunes at the very least. Sports were the only thing Jakob really cared about so of course he rebelled against this mandate, and the two got into a very loud shouting match. Jerry called the school the next day and ordered that Jakob not be allowed to play, and a very ugly silence developed between the two over the next 2 months. Jakob, in all his teen glory, was growing angrier by the day, wracked by frustration and also the oppressive feeling of being a freak. Jakob's anger was turning to hate for his father, the authority figure keeping him from his favorite activities.
However, fate took a hand. Soon thereafter, the PetroDyne main lab in San Antonio, where Jerry's offices and lab were located, were raided by a group of super powered criminals who proceeded to kill several innocent employees and make off with a vat of chemicals! Unfortunately for Jakob, his father Jerry was among the slain. In fact, the vat of chemicals stolen was the culmination of Jerry's attempts to duplicate the super-soldier serums Pantropex-5 and Pantropex-9 he had worked on for the government as a young scientist in the 60's, which he suspected were the cause of Jakob's altered physiology. Someone in the lab leaked information that Jerry was working on some kind of a super serum, and a super villain attack was clearly the inevitable result.
In the aftermath, little was known of who the assailants were due to the speed of the attack and the fact that almost all of the witnesses were killed. However, Jakob was devastated by the death of his father and filled with guilt that he had died with anger still between them. Jakob, normally a laid back and unfocused youth, felt a burning vengeance form deep inside of him, and he decided with the total self assurance of a 17 year old super-athlete that he would exact restitution from the culprits. The next night he donned a makeshift costume and snuck out of the house to seek revenge. Unfortunately he didn't really have much of a plan or any idea of where to start.
He never did find out who was behind the attack that killed his father and in time his fury faded leaving only driving compulsion, but not before many misadventures and encounters with other criminals, both powered and not, occurred. He met up with several other young supers in various parts of Texas while following one stray lead or another, or dealing with random tangents as they occurred. He finished high school in a daze, up most nights in his alter-ego, and left home for a time 'to find himself' despite his mother's protests that he should go to college. Jakob took to calling himself 'The MOD' (MOD for short) due to the way his powers work, MODifying his musculature as needed for the task at hand, and encountered the Silver Avenger of Dallas on one of his misadventures. He struck up a rapport with the Silver Avenger, and they worked well together. At the Silver Avenger's behest Jakob went through the process of becoming a Sanctioned Superhero and has maintained excellent relations with PRIMUS in general since then.
Recently Jakob has come to Millennium City following up some possible leads regarding attacks on various chemical labs in the area, with a slant towards labs researching biochemical based human improvements. Soon after arriving in the city, he responded to a general distress call to assist the local superheroes, The Champions, in a battle with the scourge of humanity itself, MECHANON! Jakob's regenerative abilities came in handy after that battle, to be sure!
What Jakob doesn't know is that Teleios is ultimately responsible for his father's death, as the unidentified super villains were actually some of Teleios's cloned minions. Teleios is always interested in acquiring mutagenic biochemicals after all. Teleios became aware that The MOD is hunting a trail that ultimately leads to him and subsequently made plans to kill him via third parties by an ambush in Dallas early in The MOD's career, which Jakob survived and escaped with the help of the Silver Avenger. However, some of his blood was left at the scene and a sample made its way to Teleios's hands. Analysis of the blood was very revealing to Teleios and his heightened genius quickly correlated the strange biochemistry he was seeing through the microscope with the biochemistry of test subjects he had been unsuccessfully applying Pantropex-5 and Pantropex-9 to for the last several months, along with several permutations of his own devising.
Teleios was intrigued and instead of killing The MOD he decided to observe him. In the interests of testing his limits Teleios has on occasion contrived scenarios using cloned flunkies and occasionally hirelings to put The MOD in harms way. Teleios usually manages some means of monitoring the outcome; typically through a biological technique he mastered a decade ago to extract the information directly from a brain's memory core. This tends to be fatal to the subject of course, but no one ever said science was painless. Because Teleios has many other plans and plots going on, this interference isn't constant but on occasion Teleios has some time free and looks in to see how his pet project is progressing.
The leads which brought The MOD to Millennium City originated from Teleios so perhaps he has some new plan involving Jakob that has yet to hatch. Eventually, once Teleios is satisfied with the information he has gathered on The MOD in the field, he will likely collect The MOD for further "direct testing" in a controlled environment, and eventually a final autopsy. Only time will tell when that day will come....
After some misadventures ending in Millennium City and involving the Millennial Men, Mod was jumped and captured by unknown assailants working for the underground superhuman gladiatorial organization known as The Arena. Subjected to some form of mental reconditioning, The Mod was robbed of free will and forced to fight in the Arena as a gladiator for over two years until he was inadverdently saved when Major Savage and Silver Avenger Sanchez spearheaded a PRIMUS sting operation and shut down the Millennium City Arena. The Mod underwent extensive personality reconstruction therapy, and after a few months was checked out as being back to his old self again. His memory of the Arena years is very hazy but he sometimes has flashback nightmares that upset him; this has lead to him leaning on his ability to go without sleep much more than previously but even still he often doesn't get enough sleep. After his recovery he became very involved in the HERONet Initiative and is one the primary volunteer representatives of the program. He works closely with Major Showdown and several other volunteers in this capacity.
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The MOD Plot Seeds:
Bionetics Inc has a lab in Dearborn that is savagely raided by unidentified super villains, with 13 scientists killed or wounded. Some new chemical substance the lab was working on was stolen, and only 1 of the scientists that knew what it was is still alive; sadly the attack left him in critical condition and in a coma! While investigating this crime the PCs catch sight of some masked man on a nearby rooftop observing the crime scene from afar! It is of course The MOD investigating this crime for himself, and fully aware that it has the exact same M.O. as the lab attack that killed his own father over a decade ago. Will the PC's become involved in helping him in his 16 year quest for vengeance, or will they mistakenly pursue him as a suspect?
A gang of 9 teenagers calling themselves "PT-9" has appeared on the streets of North Detroit and are taking over blocks in a series of turf wars. They seem to be indestructible, with a lot of street stories circulating of members shot with entire clips getting back to their feet a minute later. All of the 9 seem to have superhuman physiques and to have athletic ability equivalent or superior to Olympic-class athletes. In fact, they seem to have the same general powers as....The MOD!
One of the PC's got their powers in a chemical-accident. Teleios becomes aware of this accident and sends minions to a) collect the chemical compounds involved and b) collect the 'specimen' -- the PC! When the minions raid the laboratory where the chemicals are stored The MOD becomes involved, and arrives just in time to foil Phase 2 of the minions plan, saving the PC's bacon! Will The MOD team with the PC's to discover the source of this strange turn of events?
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