The Rainfall Project (Pra'ect Doshz)

The scientists and government of the Soviet Union have always been interested in the factors that generate variance, and gave their scientists more leeway than any other government save the Nazi regime in analyzing and reproducing the effects. These efforts were decentralized for many years, with pockets of scientists working on different problems. These efforts intensified during the Quiet Years, when the absence of variant emergence worldwide left the USSR no choice but to explore generating variant powers through mechanical means.
     When Dolphin appeared, marking the reemergence of variance worldwide, the USSR started tracking individuals they thought were likely to have variant powers, based on the results of their decades of research. One of these paid off: Shtorm was analyzed at the moment of his variant emergence and for months afterward, providing the USSR with concrete data concerning the nature of variance and its effects on the human body. All of the variant science projects were streamlined and unified into a single operation, code-named the Pra'ect Doshz, or the Rainfall Project. The project began a 25+ year mandate to develop variants and variant technology.
     Since the basis of the Rainfall Project is the data gathered from Shtorm's variance, the research most often produces results based on electromagnetic energy. The Project has had several successes, some beneficial accidents, and more than one betrayal. Those who do gain powers from the Rainfall Project are studied for several months and then moved into the SSM proper. The project is not a separate organization, but the research, technology and generation branch of the SSM. Still, project survivors share a certain camraderie not present between other SSM members.
     Aspects of Rainfall Project technology have appeared worldwide, the result of international espionage. Most of these are barely functional, lacking the complete picture and years of expertise, but they sometimes have some effects. The most notable of these is the technology used by Canada to create the Exordium File, which was based on old Rainfall project theories and modified first by Dr. Nickolai Malachai and then the American variant Technomancer. The Host and the SSM once worked together to eliminate the development of another such facility in Costa Diablo.
     Some survivors of the Rainfall Project include:

Fusion
The first "accidental success" of the project, Fusion was a Project scientist who was hideously mutated by a reactor accident. The project rebuilt his body using experimental EM field generators to contain the plasma, and his body is now radioactive bio-plasm, changable back to flesh and bone by force of will. While he is technically a result of the project, he lacks any feeling of loyalty or commitment to the project; he is a virtual slave to the SSM and the GRU.

Infiltrator
One of the first great successes of the Project was the development of a "portable" invisibility device that warped EM radiation from just above to just below the visible spectrum around the wearer. The prototype device was classified ultra secret, and one of the USSR's best agents was outfitted with it for use against the West. Unfortunately, after a few successful missions the agent in question stole the device and notes, destroyed the backup copies, killed the scientists responsible and disappeared. Infiltrator is now a free agent, and the Rainfall Project has spent years trying to duplicate his device, to no avail. Infiltrator himself is now a professional international mercenary.

Fugitive
One of the first successful inductions of EM powers into a "low potential variant" (a normal human deemed to have little variant potential), the goal of the Project, Fugitive is another defector, though ironically not as visible as Infiltrator. Fugutive's powers involve the generation of electromagnetic force fields that he uses to mimic telekinetic and flight powers, as well as a temporary transformation of EM energy to body mass, allowing him to enhance his height, build, weight and strength for a period of several hours. Fugitive and his family fled Russia, leading the SSM on a chase across the USSR and Europe until they vanished into the USA. His daughter is Arclight of Section Eight.

Rainfall
Perhaps the most loyal graduate of the project, her code name reflects one of the side effects of her powers: Rainfall is capable of electromagnetic invisibility, an organic version of Infiltrator's device. Unlike Infiltrator's device, this EM warping produces an audible effect, that of a light static, similar to the sound of a television tuned to a dead channel, or the sound of light rain. Rainfall's EM based variance also increases her strength and durability, and she is a capable unarmed combatant and spy. She is the official field instructor of the newest generation of SSM variants.

Particle and Wave
Fraternal twins, this brother/sister pair were subjected to identical treatments, and as a triumph of Rainfall project science, received identical powers. Both are more durable than the average human, and can run much faster, but their primary ability is the generation of blinding light. Wave has learned to spread this over a larger area, while her brother is learning to 'lase' the energy release. Both have recently joined the SSM, and fall under Rainfall's tutelage.

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