Ra in Sentinel Tactics

So after looking at the material in Sentinel Tactics it is at least clear Dr Blake is not Ra currently.   Whomever is Ra now appears to be either a kid, fanboy, or both based on the reaction to seeing Legacy.   The Ra persona seems to have some or maybe all memory of what happened while Dr Blake was actively Ra

Mostly, this just leaves me with three questions. What happened to Dr Blake?  Who is this new Ra? ( someone we've seen before or a new character altogether)   Where did this new Ra find the staff so he could take on those powers? ( knowing the answer to this might answer the first two questions)

Does he have the same staff?

Another good question.   The only picture with the staff from Tactics, the staff of Ra card, looks to be a trophy room of sorts. 

Looking at the The Staff of Ra card in SotM vs ST it doesn't seem like it is the same staff.  The staff in SotM has a disk behind the red gem that isn't there in the ST version.   The ST staff looks more Phoenix or at least bird like at the top compared to the SotM version.  

I think whoever it is, the staff popped into existence near or in front of them, bestowing the power of Ra. If the original Ra vanished in a reality/ time-space event then it would make sense that an artifact like the Staff would find it's way to the next "owner"

Why this kid at this time? If we assume he doesn't do much before meeting up with the FV in the scenario then my guess is it is somehow related to the hulking "anubis" figure suddenly showing up. Either the kid was nearby when Anubis came a calling or he followed the staff when it appeared to the kid.

Interestingly, the text for new Ra reminds me of the Blue Beetle character from Young Justice

Dr Blake got turned into Ra when he found the staff so I don't find it too surprising that it showed up again even with Dr Blake missing.   Makes me wonder if the final event in the SotM story will delve into what happens to Dr Blake.  

So! I got to ask this question at gencon!

The answer I got? We will eventually find out who Ra really is. Take that for what it's worth. I know I have my own theories.  

In reference to which Ra?

Tactics Ra

Did  you make that abundantly clear in the question? No room for misdirection or sneakiness?

Like that matters, Christopher is endlessly sneaky

I heard he trained Maia.

If Christopher let you hear it, it is mostly certainly a conveniently placed lie for listening ears.

Back on topic...

If you read the back of the Ra Card in Tactics, it says that there is a different component - but "he still knows the heroes well and fights along side them with as much as much power as ever. But what happened to im in all these years."

What if Ra burned out and came back, much like the phoenix?  And from that, the staff changed too?

Staff from a different timeline? A Blake Washington from a different timeline?

He's a Cylon.

From the Ra biog

"This was not a burial chamber for a pharaoh, but for a hero.  Many heroes, in fact.  Unbeknown to modern man, the stories of the Egyptian Sun God, Ra, came from the stories of various men who held that staff, each passing it off to a new hero when defeated."

So it there is precedence for Ra not being the same hero through out his "life", and if it can only be passed on on defeat... poor Blake.

Considering the excitable and somewhat starry-eyed conduct of the new Ra it seems like he might actually be a kiddo.

This is an instance where I'm actually comfortable speculating that (if this new Ra is a previously seen character, of course) this Ra may very well be Rook City's own Thiago (the Potential Side-Kick Victim from Spite's Deck).

Different skin colour though. 

Also, I don't think Thiago would have been quite as excited about meeting Legacy, since I imagine he met him previously.

I enjoy the Thiago theory, but I'm fairly certain it's not correct. My somewhat inside-baseball reasoning? I had a chance to talk to Thiago and his dad (they remembered me from two years ago!), they played a game of SotM, and barely even glanced at Tactics. I can't imagine Christopher wouldn't tell them, if that were the case, and they would have been all over the Tactics stuff.

Blake Washington wasn't Egyptian either but he sure gained a different complexion. I think that has little to do with it when a transformation is involved. 

When I compare Blake Washington on Excavation to any other Ra card in Sentinels of the Multiverse, their complexion this very similar, if not the same. Certainly not as big of a change from someone who appears to be of Hispanic descent to someone who appears to be of African descent.

One of the SotM expansions yet to come must feature an african-american teenager who will end up finding the Staff, I figure.

Or a non-American. There are non-American black people too.

He doesn't sound like a non-American to me from his speech, but of course you're right.

Well, Sentinels DOES take place in America, so there’s that…

Well, Sentinels DOES have international travel, so there's that...

Only through super powers or time travel.

That Typhoon took out the rest.

A good chunk of the environments beg to differ…

Maybe he's not even human. He just looks human.

MAYBE he's a Maerynian/Thoratian hybrid that was mutated into a rat beast by Plague Rat, raised in the Realm of Discord by Gloomweaver and trained by Ambuscade to assassinate The Argent Adept because he's also a living manifestation of the most recent Virtuoso Instrument:  Marty Stu's Theremin.

Original character.  Do not steal.

The Freedom Five is based in Megalopolis, which is a generic American city. It would be fair to assume that a large portion of the characters that appear frequently in Megalopolis – Ra, for instance (inferred because he seemed surprised at meeting Legacy, which implies that he did not travel there to meet him, so it is likely that he originated there.) – are therefore American. 

Because they are in America they are therefore American? American is pretty famous as a place where the poor and disposed move to for a better life, I can see many a potential hero going there for exposure, hoping to join the Freedom Five, or 'pilgrimages' from hero fans from other places to visit the museum of the Freedom Five.

Be careful, though. Undocumented gods of the sun are a touchy situation right now.

I think self-deportation might be the only way to get one to leave your country, if you didn't want him there. ;)

Wait until night, his other half will be far easier to kick out.

Er… not that I've put thought into how to kill off the heroes of the Multiverse at all, I'M not a villain at all.

phew I think they bought it.

In all honest, this Ra reminds me of Miles Morales from the Ultimate Spiderman universe.  Perhaps this new Ra knew the old Ra and passed on his powers to him ala Green Lantern.  Whomever he is, I kind of like the happy-go-lucky attitude of the new Ra.  

Ooh!  Miles MoRales!  I'm all for that angle!