Also known as "Springald" or "Spring Heeled Jack," Springheel Jack was described by one of his victims as having a "most hideous and frightful" appearance, with clawed hands and eyes like "red balls of fire." The same victim also reported that beneath a black cloak he wore a helmet and a tight fitting white garment like an "oilskin." Other descriptions also mention a helmet and a tight fitting oilskin outfit, as well as clawed fingers and pointed ears. All accounts indicate that Jack was capable of effecting great leaps, and several report that he was able to breathe blue and white fire from his mouth.
Springheel Jack was a bizzare and mysterious figure who plauged England during the 19th century with a series of unprovoked attacks on women. Typically, he would hide in an alley or behind a hedgerow until his victim passed by. He would then leap out and assault her, ripping her clothes with his clawed hands and breathing fire into her face before either leaping away or melting back into the darkness. Jack made his first appearances around London in 1837, coming fully into the public spotlight the following year when he began making attacks within the city proper itself. Armed bands of vigilantes patroled the streets at night looking for him, but without aval. Attacks continued throughout the 1850's and 60's throughout the countryside. In the 70's he was reported to have slapped army sentries, and angry mobs apparently chased and shot at him, also to no effect. Whenever he was cornered, Jack would simply vanish into the night. A sentry who shot at him claimed that his bullet passed through him with no effect. Some have claimed that Jack was actually Henry, the Marquis of Waterford, an young Irish nobleman who supposedly used springs concealed in his boots to leap about. However, not only is it impossible to make huge leaps with bootsprings, but Jack continued his activities for several years after the death of Waterford. He was last reported in Liverpool of 1904, where he was reported leaping from the ground to rooftops and back again. Since then there have been occasional odd reports which suggest that Jack may still be at large, but these are sporadic and unconvincing at best.
Springheel Jack is actually little more than a footnote in the secret war, noteworthy mainly as a failure on the part of the Ascended to control a rampaging supernatural creature in their own backyard. In fact, Jack first began his depredations during a period outside of the secret war, and he seems to have largely stayed out of it even while portals were open to his juncture. Nonetheless, Jack is a genuine supernatural creature, a demon actually, and thus is in some small way tied to the secret war.
Jack gained entry to our world almost entirely by accident. He was let in when a cabal of magicians operating in England attempted to summon a different demon and got him instead. Although spiritualism would not become popular in England for some time to come, there were still dabblers who experiemented with sorcery. Like the group who summoned him, most were made up of bored and jaded aristrocrats looking for a thrill. Most were harmless and clueless, but some, whether by chance or dilligence, did actually manage to achieve some small degree of skill. This is not to say that there were no real sorcerers around at the time, only that those who did exist were sensible enough to lay low and seek out more hospitible locales. At any rate, Jack was accidentally summoned by one such group, who quickly realized that they had no control over the demon. Ironically, the Marquis of Waterford was part of this group, and rumors of his involvement led to him being mistaken for the demon itself.
Springheel Jack, as he was dubbed, was as lucky to be summoned to earth as much as his summoners were unlucky enough in getting him. In the hierarchy of the underworld he was a minor demon, mainly responsible for torturing women of immoral character. Once free on earth, he displayed little ambition for doing anything else. And so for several decades Jack roamed England doing little more than attacking and frightening innocent victims, mainly young women, though rarely doing permenant harm. He apparently had no plans or schemes or even direction beyond these simple acts of self-gratification. He was, however, fast and cunning, and easily able to avoid the fumbling attempts of the Ascended in the area to reign him in. Eventually he disappeared from the scene, and the Ascended were content to relegate hm to the dustbin of historical curiousities. Most assume that he was eventually found by his demonic masters and dragged back into the underworld, but none really know for sure.
Springheel Jack
Attributes: Bod 8, Chi 1 (Mag 8), Mnd 3, Ref 10
Skills: Creature Powers 15, Martial Arts 12, Intrusion 12, Intimidation 12
Creature Schticks: Blast (Fire), Abysmal Spines x 2 (claws), Damage Immunity (bullets), Inhuman Leap
Weapons: Claws (12), Blast (10)
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