Events: In an alternate universe, in 1893, Nicola Tesla and Anne Morgan Tesla (daughter of financier, J. P. Morgan) met, became friends, and then married. The marriage had a calming influence on the manic Tesla, and the capital of the J.P. Morgan banks allowed him the financial stability to refine and perfect his inventions. Rex was born to the Tesla’s on January 1, 1901. The world is well on its way to becoming a technocratic utopia and his father is on track to perfect his greatest invention yet… broadcast power. Like his sister before him, Rex wanted for nothing in childhood and very early on showed signs of intellectual brilliance and scientific curiosity that were nurtured by his parents. Could the child one day exceed his father’s accomplishments…?

First Aspect: The World of Tomorrow… Today!
Invoke: Rex can create or fix impossible scientific machines to solve problems as a demonstration of future wonders “I’ve got the perfect design for a machine to solve JUST this problem. Give me a minute.”
Compel: Rex sometimes MUST tinker with something that is just a BIT off, in order to make it more efficient/powerful/etc. “Wow, this thing is almost correct. I just have to frammitz the jammerzam here a minute, or maybe fiddle with the doohickey…”

Second Aspect: The astounding Inertia Induction Electro-Spanner
This one-of-a-kind tool (and Universal Gadget) can do anything involving the conversion or redirection of Inertial forces (open locks, start cars, make phones ring, move things across the room, etc.)
Invoke: To help solve a problem using the astounding Inertia Induction Electro-Spanner!
Compel: To cause Rex to go back for his one-of-a-kind tool/gadget…

Your Patron in the Century Club: Sir John Fleming
Events: At age 14, Rex attempts to go back in time (with a vortex manipulator of his own modification), but things go awry and Rex moves laterally into another universe, breaking the TVM! While he attempts to repair/rebuild the TVM, he must do what he can to help this world’s Tesla retain his dignity and gain the credit he deserves in his declining years. At the same time, Rex starts to fight for the right, and joins the Entente’s Ultra Secret Section eXperimental (Section X for short), developing wonder weapons to shorten the war… It was also during that time he met his mentor and member of the Century Club, Sir John Fleming (inventor of the vacuum tube, amongst other things…)

First Aspect: The Temporal Vortex Manipulator is Broken!
Invoke: To refuse requests that may interfere with research/experiments that would lead to fixing the TVM. “I’m a very busy person, sir. I have to get back to my own time and space. I don’t have resources to waste on frippery.”
Compel: Others will convince Rex to help by referring to the potential to fix the TVM. “The rumor is that Dr. Barbaric has been experimenting with time travel. This MIGHT just be the break you’ve been waiting for, Rex.”

Second Aspect: “Newton has a law about this…”
Rex can use his fists to demonstrate that a jaw in motion remains in motion until acted upon by his fists. Similarly, open eyes will close and a straight assailant will double over when acted upon thusly, thereby ably demonstrating the generic concept behind this law of equal and opposite contusions
Invoke: Some times Rex knows his audience isn’t interested in the science behind his points, but the points behind his science can be made with some advice from the Marquess of Queensberry.
Compel: As much as Rex might think some Science lecturing might help the situation, he will respond in kind when fed a knuckle sandwich.

Guest Stars in your Novel: Jack Incognito and Molly Mercury

Events: Nikola Tesla has been kidnapped! Rex Tesla, the great man’s son-from-another-universe, must rescue him before the Madame Phantom and the League of Shadows gain the horrible secret of the one invention Nikola never dared to build… an invention so dangerous, it would threaten the very Earth itself!

Meanwhile, the League of Shadows is terrorizing post-WWI Serbia with “magic.” Will they succeed in their attempt to control the newly minted state of Yugoslavia? Not if Rex Tesla and his friends have anything to say about it! Superstition and myth run rampant in Nikola’s birthplace as these seemingly unexplainable miracles are perpetrated by the League… Madame Phantom may try to cow the populace and frighten the fledgling government into naming her Queen, but a Science Hero can shine the Light of Reason on her tricks!

But will it be enough? After all, a Science Hero can do all of the analysis, but it’s going to take a people person to make all the right contacts to get the full story of what’s really going on. Luckily, Rex has brought in Jack Incognito to grease the wheels and loosen the tongues.

Superstition and myth are never without foundation, though, and Molly Mercury is determined to riddle out the ancient truths and beat Madame Phantom at her own manipulative game.

Can a Science Hero rooted in Logic, a Scoundrel rooted in Deception, and an Academic rooted in Fact bring the Light of Truth and Science to a populace accustomed to Darkness?

Somewhere in the middle Rex, Jack, and Molly must contend with Shadows to determine the outcome!

First Aspect: Dark things fear the Light of Science & Knowledge
Invoke: Fear and superstition feed on ignorance and lack of knowledge. What better tools to combat them than Science and Knowledge (yeah, Rex will even include the “soft sciences” here).
Compel: Rex can, on occasion, be drawn to over-explain, over-educate, or otherwise presume people WANT to receive the light of Science & Knowledge…

Second Aspect: Not exactly the Scientific Method, but effective nonetheless…
Invoke: Rex’s friends don’t always go about things the way he would, but sometimes, when his methods have failed, he’s learned to trust their results.
Compel: On the other hand, you wouldn’t necessarily want them mixing up the gunpowder, now would you?

Events: [Insert Clara novel summary here]

Meanwhile, the ultra-secret Section X dispatches Rex Tesla to help. Rex uses his impressive knowledge of wireless technology to develop “radio transmitters” to track the actual spies, and works with Clara and Alex to make wire recordings of the guilty parties admitting their evil schemes.

First Aspect: “Actually, TESLA invented radio…”
Invoke: Rex knows the in’s and out’s of wireless/radio technology since his grandfather invented it. Any attempts to invent a gadget involving radio tech are at +2.
Compel: Rex can be quite overprotective of the technology, and is shocked – shocked! – that the patent went to Marconi in this world… and he will NOT shut up about it… even if he should.

Second Aspect: I Know All About Levers; They’re Very Similar to Switches…
Electrical experiments often involve throwing large heavy lever and switches, which makes Rex very familiar with the rules of leverage and torque. Rex can use this knowledge to knock a foe off balance, brace a door, demolish a wall, or overbalance a wagon.
Invoke: Anything involving a level or dial motion falls under the realm of an experienced lab technician – some of those transformers and dynamos are gigantic! So it’s not really that much of a leap to think that Rex can use a pry bar to start an avalanche of boulders down a cliff, or set up a spring trap by twisting some rope around a rod.
Compel: So what does that Giant Lever do, anyway? Yeah, yeah, the bad guys are getting away, but what does it DO?

Events: Jack Incognito has larceny on his mind but duty in his heart when he sets his sights on a particularly fine pre-Columbian golden mask owned by a war profiteer tied to a plot to assassinate the President. Before Jack can get his hands on it, he will have to score an invite from the reclusive millionaire Ernest P. Featherstone; escape the clutches of Featherstone’s lovely but unstable daughter; overcome a state-of-the-dark-arts security system; and face his wartime nemesis, die Dunkelmesser – THE DARK KNIFE ! Get ready for a wild ride as Jack lies, cheats and steals his way… …to Justice!

Jack recruits aid from his pal, Rex Tesla, Science Hero. Before long, Rex is helping Jack by brewing up a special “cologne” and helping him find a way around the supposed “magic” security system…

First Aspect: “There’s chemistry, and then there’s chemistry…”
Invoke: Well, biology is a science, and there comes a time when a young man must step out of the laboratory and get into the field…
Compel: Rex often finds that women are just not logical…

Second Aspect: There’s no such thing as magic, only science we can’t explain yet!
Invoke: Rex does not believe that there is any such thing as “magic” or the “paranormal” — these things are merely phenomena that science has yet to explain. As such, he can often resist “magical” or “mystical” effects by using his Science skill to defend (as opposed to Mysteries or Resolve).
Compel: Just because Rex doesn’t believe in them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. You try disbelieving a seven foot werewolf and see how that works out for you…

Rex tends to dress as the situation dictates, suits for everyday work, more formal as necessary, coveralls in the lab/workshop… All of his clothes have many, many pockets. When dressed for “adventure” he tends to wear a white shirt (with or without a vest), jodphurs, high boots, and leather motorcycle coat over it, belted at the waist.

• Portable tool kit
• Swiss army knife
• Gum – Rex loves gum and always has a minimum two packs of Beeman’s, Black Jack, and/or Dubble Bubble on his person
• Cigarette Lighter
• Rolls of gaffer’s tape & electrical insulating tape (impregnated with Chatterton’s compound)
• Miniature Flashlight
• 9mm Browning High Power (1922)
• Assorted widgets, washers, tubes, bolts, and flanges…
• A Gruen wrist watch
• Goggles
• Hip flask
• Pipe and tobacco