Masterplan Lad

Masterplan Lad is a trickster archetype net.hero and ex-cosmic being created by Jeanne Morningstar.
Alter Ego:	Dee Xauriel McKenna
Aliases:	None
Primary Writer:	Jeanne Morningstar
Status:	Member of the LNH (Classic Team), member of The Liminals
Usability:	Usable With Permission

History

The individual who calls themself Masterplan Lad has a largely unrevealed history as a member of the posthuman protectors of time and space known as the Knights Temporal. As a junior agent, using he/him pronouns and lacking a True Name, it's known that they encountered and fell into a relationship with the time-trickster known as Chaos Theory, and helped resolve the conundrum of the 2000 Ame.rec.an Presidential election.

They were first seen in-story on a mission to protect Ultimate Mercenary from the Knights Temporal's sworn enemies, The Centre, as well as from the Anti-Moderator's Headhunter servant. They shepherded UM through various alternate timelines, but the story got too confusing for even the writer to follow, and UM and MPL fell into Limbo along with the Headhunter. There, Masterplan Lad maintained continuous consciousness for six years, regaining some memories of their mortal self.

After Beige Midnight, the Crossover Queen captured them and revealed that the Knights Temporal had been erased from history. She asked Masterplan Lad to help her revamp the Looniverse, but they rejected her, and helped UM, Victoria Arden, Net.Access and Manga Girl II escape. Together, they used the power of the Crossover Citadel to leap from storyline to storyline; while visiting the Infinite Leadership Crisis, Masterplan Lad joined the LNH and briefly lead the team. Finally, they won the freedom to exit Ultimate Mercenary altogether...

...sending them into the Sixniverse, and Just Imagine Saxon Brenton and the Writers of RACC in: RACCies the Final! Symphony of Genesis. MPL's adventures there haven't been told yet, but it's known that they lost their status as a Knight Temporal and became mortal.

Masterplan Lad arrived in Just Another Multi-Writer Cascade That Will Probably Never Have an Ending, having lost UM and their memories of the intervening time. There, the Saviors of the Net were plotting to destroy the Looniearth to end the rift crisis. With some help from Chaos Theory, MPL offered an alternative strategy – throwing a chunk of pure Beige Midnight into the rifts. This worked; it also resulted in MPL tripping and falling into a rift themself...

...which dumped them out two years earlier, sans even more memories, in the midst of Legion of Net.Heroes Volume 2 #50. They reconnected with the LNH proper, helping in the fight against the Dorf invasion, and worked with them until the point where they caught up with their previous timeline, where they managed to rejoin their companions after all of the excitement had ended.

Afterwards, they, Victoria, Net.Access and Manga Girl formed their own subgroup, The Liminals, and had adventures in metafiction and identity, including making a connection to alluring trenchcoater Maria Hart that nudged their sense of identity in a new direction.

During the sabertooth crisis, they worked alongside Chaos Theory to keep the complex continuity of the story together and hold back emanations of anxiety from the Real World. But in one branch of continuity, their Plot Device was destroyed; and they were drawn inevitably thru the other branch, to the moment when they would catch up with it. They willingly made the choice to let it happen, in order to save Manga Girl; and in the end, the Real World Minus One version of their Writer sacrificed their authorial power to bring them back from the brink of death.

As they healed, their identity matured, and they started using they/them pronouns; with Maria's helped, they unlocked a new, angelic powerset that no longer relied on the destroyed Plot Device.

Personality

Initially, they were aloof, distant and intellectual. Over time – especially after their six-year ordeal in Limbo and the discovery that their order was dead – they gained more sympathy for their human charges, and built up a lot of anger towards their Writer. After meeting Maria and their near-death experience, they resolved much of these dark feelings and began exploring their true self.

They are some flavor of nonbinary, and use they/them pronouns. They listen to a lot of really arcane progressive rock; the Peter Gabriel era of Genesis is their favorite band.

Powers and Abilities

Originally, Masterplan Lad wielded a Plot Device (in the shape of an umbrella) which possessed various spatiotemporal and perceptual abilities, such as shifting between dimensions, tracking the source of energies, recovering memories lost to retcons, and cloaking MPL and others from anyone's perceptions (including their own). As a posthuman Knight Temporal, Masterplan Lad had continuous consciousness of every moment of their life and did not require sleep.

During their adventures, Masterplan Lad became mortal, losing their Knight Temporal abilities. After their Plot Device was broken, they shifted to a more magical mindset, working with continuity in a more direct way; they have analogues to many of their former abilities, with much less direct control but a deeper sense of connection.

They possess cosmic senses that give them an awareness of the deeper structure of time, space, continuity and the universe.

Appearance

A handsome young man in distinguished, old-fashioned suit. He grew a beard during his six years in Limbo. Has a British accent.

Relationships

Tends towards intense but ill-defined relationships; is in a torrid relationship with Maria Hart, and has an on-again off-again complicated Thing with Chaos Theory.

Appearances

• Ultimate Mercenary #1-7
• Just Another Multi-Writer Cascade That Will Probably Never Have An Ending #4, 6, 9, 11, 13
• Legion of Net.Heroes Volume 2 #50-54, 58.5.ENDING
• WikiLull #3, 7
• The Liminals #1, 3.5, 4-9, 11
• Cover Gallery #1004i, 61i
• Hungry, Hungry Sabertooths! #10, 14, #ERR_19834_ASKDAFJKADSLF, 6pi III, 24, 32, 50, EPILOGUE (Side B)
• Another LNH Title? Really? #11
• Legion of Net.Heroes Volume 3 #3
• Leadership Cry.sig: Net.ropolis 2023 #8, 12