Now serving his second term in the Senate, Martin Douglass (D-Nevada) is known as the “moderate voice” of the Senate. Generally about 6-9 Senators will roughly follow his lead, with an even split between the parties following him. The real source of his influence comes from being one of the best orators in the Senate, and his negotiating abilities.
If Dan Layman is most associated with support for the Metahuman Supression Act, Douglass is most associated with the opposition to the act. Neither Senator has ever really been fond of each other, and neither tries to really hide their mutual dislike since the MSA started being proposed. Douglass has proposed a substitute, less invasion bill which is nevertheless still controvertial, and the media enjoys the sniping the two men make at each other when either bill comes up.
Under the Douglass bill, the aptly-named Metahuman Regulation Act, Metas would be given choices. They can live in a city to be established which is modelled after Mutantgrad; join the Metahuman Regulatory Agency (MRA); or take the drugs to suppress their abilities. The MRA would allow a much wider range of employment opportunities for Metahumans, along with providing training for the use of abilities.
Needless to say, everyone likes to attack this bill. Humans First and Dan Layman both say it doesn’t go far enough; meta rights advocates attack the bill for still treating metas like second-class citizens. Questions about the safety of the suppression drug remain raised – Douglass advocates further research and testing.
Douglass’ name was originally made, however, by his association with the Voice of Gaia. A man with an interest in science, he has always preferred to base his positions on the what is the most feasible policy given the available evidence. His wife’s interest in environmental politics rubbed off on him, which lead him to VOG. As a result, he’s used to taking beatings from both sides of the aisle for (a) not being an alarmist, and (b) producing environmental positions based on facts.
Rumours persist that Douglass once claimed to be able to see ‘auras’ around people. However, since the claims only occurred when he was younger, these are generally dismissed by even his enemies as ‘products of the imagination of a very creative child.’
The Senator has a major secret: he is a metahuman himself. This is part of the reason that he is so interested in metahuman rights, and a decent portion of his time is devoted to trying to calm the fears of metahumans. At present, exactly four people are aware of his powers for certain: his wife, father, and two sisters. Some suspect, but nobody has been able to produce any hard evidence.
Senator Douglass has done a fair amount of cover-up work with his powers. They are rarely used, while arguably the reason he was elected and one of the best negotiators in the Senate. He rarely uses them, and one of his sisters swapped the results of his genetic testing for powers with someone else so that the record officially shows he is a regular human.
His powers are rarely used, out of a sense of self-preservation, though he has used them at crucial campaign, press, and political events on occasion.
Powers:
Aura Reading – Senator Douglass has the power to ‘see’ the ambient mental energy around a person, which he dubs an aura. This aura carries information about the intentions and emotional state of a person. Douglass questions the purely physicalist view of meta powers, noting that metas have a remarkably different aura than non-metas.
Aura Manipulation – Mental energy tends to react with the energy of things around it, how your energy projects. Usually, this is a subconscious reaction/projection which goes unnoticed for most people. Douglass is able to control consciously his projection.
The result is an ability to subtly influence emotional responses and dispositions, though he is limited to people physically present. He’s grown practiced enough that he can influence crowds, though this is often much more subtle. The power is most useful at events with the media and meeting with his colleagues.
It must be stressed that this is not control. He can’t force someone to switch positions on the MSA, for instance. But he can make them more likely to listen to what he has to say, and at least undermine their current position.
(Senator Douglass is played by Ian McDiarmid)
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