As promised, this is the final installment in the series of articles on the Wild Cards version of Rio de Janeiro. This time I'll describe a few jokers, a deuce and some adventure seeds.

Jokers

These are some of the jokers and joker/aces active in Rio (and Brazil). They are listed chronologically, according to when they drew their joker. Like in the history section, the present here is the early 90s.

Cabo Jumento [Corporal Jackass]

Name: Felipe Gonçalves
Born: 1926/Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Draw: February 17th, 1947
Ability: Not truly an ace, Cabo Jumento is extremely fit for someone his age.
Mutation: Cabo Jumento has a jackass' head.

Felipe grew up hearing he was a jackass -- dumb, strong and stubborn - and he believed it. But he also had a good heart and when the government announced it was sending troops to fight in Europe, he enlisted. War only made Felipe's innate goodness stronger; after all, someone had to stand up to all the evil in the world. Felipe came back from Europe and resumed his life, but then the wild card struck. Still confused by his transformation, Felipe sort of drifted for those first months of violence. Like the other jokers, he was relocated to Santa Teresa, where his daze continued. Until one day, when he snapped out of it and prevented a mob of nats from lynching a helpless joker. Felipe emerged from the fight with bruises and a few cracked ribs, but the joker was alive and he had earned the fledgling Curingolândia community's respect. Someone found out he was a cabo (corporal) during the war and they started calling him Cabo Jumento. Soon, he became a synonym for order and whenever there was trouble, someone would call him to sort it out. Felipe's other claim to fame among jokers was in the sexual department. People (especially women) said that his head was not the only part of the his body that was jackass-like... Eventually, Felipe found a few like-minded jokers and formed a posse, a would-be police force. In 1976, thanks to Zé Pudim, he attained a semi-official status as a true police officer, which was confirmed 12 years later. Felipe gained a precinct and a patrol car, and his fellow posse members became officers as well. Corporal Jackass knows he's getting a bit old for his job, but he feels fine and has no intention of leaving his post. As he puts it: "I'll only retire to the cemetery."

Zé Pudim [Joe Pudding]

Name: José Augusto Monteiro Góes
Born: March 9th, 1933/Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Draw: February 17th, 1947
Ability: None
Mutation: Zé Pudim is overly obese, brown-skinned, sweats constantly and smells of cinnamon.

Physically, José Augusto resembled his family: black-haired, fair-skinned and good-looking. But inside, he couldn't be more different. José Augusto was bookish and shy. The intricacies of high society and social maneuvering had no appeal to him - in fact, he was afraid of rich powerful people. Unfortunately, his family was old money and his parents were always trying to make him one of them. Then the wild card came and changed everything. Before, his parents were only disappointed in him; now, they were disgusted and terrified of his new form. A solution was quickly found: José Augusto would live in Curingolândia with every care provided for and the Monteiro Góes would forget they ever had a son touched by the alien virus. José Augusto reveled in his new independence. He was free from everything he hated and could concentrate on all he loved. For him, the virus had only externalized what he felt inside, that he was different from his family. José Augusto realized he had more in common with the other jokers than he had ever had with the Monteiro Góes. As the years passed, his love for Curingolândia only increased, but he was not blind to the problems facing his adopted community. In 1976, he found the perfect opportunity to do something about it. He broke his deal with his family and contacted his parents, blackmailing them into bankrolling his plan for Curingolândia. It worked, but his father was so beside himself, he had a stroke and died. When he needed money again, in 1989, José Augusto had to deal with his older brother, Ricardo, who, at first, refused to concede, doing so only when José Augusto threatened to contact their elderly mother. Today, Zé Pudim believes that Saramandaia, and Rio jokers in general, are in a far better situation than they were 10 or 20 years ago - hell, better than even a few years ago. He is an optimist and, for him, the future is looking brighter. He would think differently if he knew what his brother and some of his friends, the Card Sharks, are planning...

Cerli Pavão [Cerli Peacock]

Name: Cerli Alcântara Gomes
Born: 1934/Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Draw: 1969
Ability: None
Mutation: Instead of hair on her head, Cerli has a magnificent peacock tail; she also has peacock feet.

Cerli was a content housewife with two kids and a tranquil, if not happy, marriage. Her only concern was that she felt old and ugly, despite being only 35. This feeling intensified until one day, while on a bus in Copacabana, Cerli's joker turned: her hair began falling and her feet aching. By the time she reached home, she was bald and could barely walk. Her husband took her to the hospital, only to find her completely turned the next day. He abandoned her soon after and took the kids. Left with almost nothing, Cerli moved to Curingolândia. Desperately in need of money, she realized there was a market for peacock feathers thanks to Carnaval. Every three months, Cerli would pluck all her feathers - in a painful, grueling process - and sell bagfuls to the samba schools. She used the money to start a small business cooking and selling quentinhas (delivery meals) that was highly successful in the neighborhood. Five years later, she no longer needed to cook, having hired more people to help her, and concentrated on running things. When Zé Pudim created Pavão Mysteriozo (Mysterious Peacock), she was the logical choice as manager, both because of her appearance and her experience in running a food-related business. Cerli shined in her new role. She understood the importance of Zé Pudim's plan and worked hard to make it come to fruition. Thanks to her fame, she was able to reconnect with her kids. Cerli is still around, running the restaurant and functioning as one of the pillars of the community in Saramandaia.

Coisa Ruim [Bad Thing, a nickname for the Devil]

Name: Lucas Mendonça
Born: 1970/Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Draw: At birth
Ability: None, but pretends to have the evil eye.
Mutation: Coisa Ruim resembles the classic Devil image, with red skin, pointy ears, short curving white horns protruding from his forehead and a non-prehensile tail that ends in an arrowhead. To complete the look, he cultivates a goatee. When Coisa Ruim is angry or excited, wisps of smoke escape from his mouth and nose.

Lucas' deeply religious parents were appalled by his visage at birth. His father accused his wife of consorting with the Devil and left home. Her mother distraught and feeling forsaken by God, left her newborn son with the pastor of her parish and moved to another city. Although the pastor did try to raise Lucas as a normal kid, the boy could sense the disgust on the faces of the parishioners, who secretly called him Coisa Ruim, and would always get into trouble. When he was 11, Lucas run away from home and went to Saramandaia, where he was quickly absorbed into the local gang. Using his appearance and viciousness, Coisa Ruim clawed his way to the top of the organization, becoming a trusted lieutenant of Tigrão (Big Tiger), Saramandaia's crime lord between 1987 and 1990. Another lieutenant, Perna-de-Pau (Wooden Leg), ousted Tigrão from power with the help of Coisa Ruim, who became his second in command. Two years later, it was Perna-de-Pau's turn to fall to a bloody coup orchestrated by the ruthless Coisa Ruim. Now the undisputed ruler of Saramandaia's criminal underworld, the demonic-looking joker wants to expand his operations. He is no longer content to operate solely in the joker neighborhood and has been stockpiling weapons and aggressively recruiting jokers and nats. Soon, he will make his move.

Quati [Coati]

Name: Unknown
Born: 1977/somewhere in Pantanal, Brazil
Draw: At birth
Ability: Enhanced sense of smell
Mutation: Quati is mute and has small claws, short upswept reddish-brown hair and a similarly-colored furry prehensile tail.

Nobody knows who Quati's parents are. She was abandoned in Pantanal at an early age and survived, but lack of contact with humans turned her into a wild child. She was found by Guará when she was seven. He took pity on her and decided to raise and teach the joker girl. Thanks to his efforts, Quati got reacquainted with civilization. Her name was given to her by the rangers, who thought that she resembled that animal. She seems to agree, because she always refers to herself by that name and has never asked for another, even though Guará tried different ones. Quati developed her own sign language. The only other person completely fluent in it is Guará, but a few rangers know a smattering of words.

Cascagrossa [Tough-hide]

Name: Josué Oliveira
Born: April 1st, 1971/Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Draw: 1979
Ability: Super-strength and armor-like skin.
Mutation: Cascagrossa is seven feet tall, full of muscles and has bony deposits under his skin that confers a misshapen aspect to his body, even though it has normal proportions.

Josué wasn't very bright, but he was a scrapper. Shorter than usual for his age, Josué would always be picked on by the other kids in Saramandaia, where he was born, but in all of the fights he would dish as well as receive. When he was eight, Josué was jumped by several boys who beat him up mercilessly. There were so many, that not even his feisty spirit was enough and he crumbled under the onslaught of fists and feet. Until he screamed. It wasn't a scream exactly, more like a roar. The punches and kicks meant nothing to Josué, who now had to contend with the pain of feeling bones and muscles expanding in his body. In less than a minute, Josué went from three to six feet and from 45 to 450 pounds. The bullies fled, but eventually Josué, who now called himself Cascagrossa, got revenge on all of them. It didn't take long for local crime to recruit Josué. He works for the Saramandaia gang to this day, not caring who is in command, as long as he gets to punch people.

Deuce

These are several deuces in Rio, but none more famous than Alejandro Orzabal, a hairdresser that has reached ace-like levels of celebrity.

Alejandro Orzabal

Name: Marlon Álvares dos Prazeres
Born: 1965/Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Draw: 1973
Ability: Alejandro can mold hair into any shape he wishes, an effect that lasts for a few hours.

Marlon had the ability to mold his hair any way he wanted without any mousse or gel, a skill that came in handy when, during his teenage years, he fancied himself a punk rocker. Marlon worked in the barbershop belonging to the father of his best friend, Péricles, as a janitor. When Péricles' father died, the few remaining clients left, leaving the shop in a dire financial situation. As the two friends tried to come up with a way to save the business, Marlon played with his hair and Péricles realized those shapes should not be possible. After a few experiments, they realized Marlon had a superpower - a pretty lame one, but a superpower nonetheless. Péricles soon had a plan to cash in on his friend's deuce. He sold his car and renovated the barbershop into a hairdresser salon with Marlon as the star. But Marlon himself had no appeal, besides his power, so Péricles invented a new persona for him. He dressed Marlon up as a cross between a gypsy musician and a flamenco dancer, and taught him how to fake a Spanish accent. And so was born Alejandro Orzabal, o Ás dos Cabelos (the Ace of Hairs). That was five years ago. Today, the small salon in Méier, a lower middle-class neighborhood, has expanded and become a franchise. Marlon and Péricles no longer stay there, their main branch being in Leblon, an upscale neighborhood. Alejandro has become a celebrity among celebrities and getting an appointment with him is almost impossible. Marlon is not gay, neither in real life nor as Alejandro, a fact that has caused some trouble with the husbands of the Ace of Hairs' female patrons. Lately, there's also been some friction between Marlon and Péricles, since the former believes that as the star of the show he should be earning a bigger cut, and the latter is fed up with his partner's diva behavior.

Some Carioca Cards seeds

Here are some seeds for your campaign. Since a Wild Cards campaign can have any number of takes, I refrained from specifying how the PCs get involved. I just state that they are someplace or someone approaches them. The specifics, obviously, are left to you.

The Brides of Cussano: During a night on the town, the PCs bump into Quati. The girl is scared to death and running from a group of armed men. Confronting the men will result in a shootout, as they are hell-bent on recapturing the joker teenager. If the thugs feel the fight is not going their way, they will retreat. The PCs, assuming they are victorious or escape, will eventually learn that Quati is in Rio accompanying Guará. She fled from his watchful eye to explore the city and was captured by the men, who locked her for two days with other joker women. Before the PCs can contact Guará, they will be attacked again. This time, the thugs, led by the strong, competent and ruthless Mr. Kabaong, will come prepared for ace powers and packing ludicrous amounts of firepower. They will go out of their way to not hurt Quati, but have no qualms about killing the PCs, unless they happen to be female jokers of exotic beauty, in which case they will also be captured. If Kabaong and his goons fail, they will try again later with more men and weapons. If they succeed, they take Quati (and any other PCs) to a warehouse near the harbor. If the PCs track Kabaong down, they find Quati and the other female jokers caged and about to be transferred to a ship. Kabaong works for Cussano, a rich Filipino ace whose sexual preferences run toward women of exotic and alien appearances. Cussano is present at the warehouse and, if push comes to shove, will fight alongside Kabaong and his thugs. His power is turning into an Oriental dragon, complete with claws, fangs, armor-like scales and a low-level flying ability. Saving Quati will make Guará a friend of the PCs.

Lights over Pantanal: While in a tourist hotel in Pantanal (for vacation, business etc.), the PCs hear about the strange lights that have been seen in the sky. A local group of ufologists believes it's another group of aliens visiting Earth and mounts an expedition that very night to meet the 'visitors'. They are found the next day butchered. The hotel owner, knowing the PCs are aces (he's a big wild card fan and knows a lot about even obscure aces), asks for their help. He fears there might be a Swarmling around, one of many that still roam the wilderness and once in a while pop up near towns and cities. If the PCs investigate, they do find a first-generation Swarmling: a lone pack carnivore. After killing it, they will see the lights in the sky. Further investigation will reveal the lights are really caused by an alien ship. The Network sent a scout vessel to collect Swarm genetic material and critters that can be sold somewhere else in the galaxy. The PCs may not know about other aliens besides the Takisians, but it will be clear these are not wild carders - the spaceship is a dead giveaway. However, the important detail is that the aliens have not captured just Swarmlings, they have also netted Caiman, the ace-turned-joker. By the looks of it, the aliens are wrapping things up and the PCs have until before dawn to free Caiman or he will be shipped to orbit. As an added difficulty, the leader of the aliens is a dangerous-looking robot (actually, a Ly'bahr). How will the PCs save Caiman? Will they even think he should be saved? If the PCs know about the Network, they may try bargaining for him, but negotiating with the Network might be even more dangerous than fighting the Ly'bahr.

A Friend in Need: Péricles, Alejandro's friend and business partner, approaches the PCs. He is worried about the safety of the deuce and the future of their joint venture, since the Ace of Hairs has been having an affair with the trophy wife of powerful businessman Ricardo Monteiro Góes. Péricles asks the PCs to convince Alejandro to end the relationship or, failing that, keep an eye on him. Unbeknownst to everyone, Monteiro Góes knows about the affair and plans to use it to foment anti-wild card sentiment by having his wife killed and framing the deuce for it. The PCs finally get a hold of Alejandro in his apartment, but he is in no mood to talk, since he's expecting his lover. While the PCs are there, she arrives, but it isn't her actually, just a model dressed as her. She's accompanied by a group of armed men who are there to subdue Alejandro and plant the body of Monteiro Góes' dead wife. If the plan goes south because of the PCs, Monteiro Góes will direct his efforts against them, starting an investigation on their lives, acquaintances, friends etc. He will strike them where they will hurt most, all the time exploring the wild card prejudice angle. The PCs will probably (maybe it will take more than one adventure) figure out the businessman is behind their troubles and, if they investigate him, will find out the family was a major contributor to the Saramandaia renovation of Curingolândia in 1976 and the Beija-Flor carnaval in 1989. Further investigation will reveal the monthly deposits to Zé Pudim. The only way to call off Monteiro Góes' dogs is to threaten to expose his family's link to the joker. The businessman will leave the PCs alone, at least until his mother dies (which should happen a few months later). Then, he will ramp up his Card Shark plot against the Rio de Janeiro wild carders - and, more specifically, the PCs.

Phew! My first multi-installment article and it is a three-parter. Funny thing is I'd probably be able to write a few more Wild Card columns, but I'll give it a rest (for a while). I hope you liked them. Feel free to share any comments, suggestion and criticisms on the forum. If you ever run this, let me know too.