Superheroes! Punching Crime! Yeaaaaah! Sign-Up

[Krylo]

Originally Posted by Toastburner B

Superhero Persona: The costume looks like this:

I swear, 3/4s of the reason why I still have a Champions Online subscription is for the character creator.

[Arcanum]

I figure I'll just post what I have now to see if the concept gets approved, and I'll just finish up the bio/affiliations/enemies later. Lemme know what ya think!

Edit --- Added everything that was missing. Now to see if I pass or fail.

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Name: Edgar White
Alias: Shiftblade
Age: Old...ish... maybe. Who knows?
Gender: Male
Appearance: Edgar looks like a man in his early twenties, even though he knows he's at least 40 years old, though probably much much older. He stands at an even six feet tall, has blue eyes, and short, pure white hair that always sticks straight out (which is in fact the reason he keeps it short). He's can always be seen wearing white shoes and cargo pants, and a yellow t-shirt. Underneath his shirt he has an X harness that holds his two shiftblades across his back.

Equipment:
Two Shiftblades: The weapons that Edgar's superhero persona gets its namesake from. In its unaltered form, a shiftblade looks like a foot long, inch thick silver cylinder. When given a psychic command, the shiftblade can change shapes into any weapon the user wishes. This can include, but is not limited to, swords, axes, clubs, knives, sai, gauntlets, shields, pistols (fire's concussive blasts of air that have the strength of a punch. Limited range, and the shiftblade can only change into pistols, no other type of firearms) etc.

The shiftblades are able to change their size and shape due to them being extremely dense in their basic form. When they become larger weapons they become less dense, and more fragile. In order to properly form large weapons such as staves, halberds, longswords, and the like, the shiftblades can be combined together into a single weapon.

Shiftblades are an exotic material from another dimension, and can only assume the shapes of existing weapons. Their shape can not be freely altered outside of the shapes of existing weapons. Also, while shiftblades can be made razor sharp with the right command, Edgar prefers to keep whatever weapon he uses dull so that he won't kill anyone.

Exotic Matter Clothes: Edgar's clothes are made of exotic matter, similar to that of the shiftblades. Upon command his clothes change into his superhero costume with a blinding flash of white and gold light.

Abilities:
Low-level Psychic: Though Edgar doesn't really know it, he is in fact psychic, if a rather weak one. The extent of his psychic power is sending mental commands to his shiftblades, which prompts them to change shape. He does this naturally and with no conscious effort, which is why he isn't aware of his psychic abilities.

Weapon Adept: Edgar knows how to wield every weapon that his shiftblades change into. It comes naturally to him, as though he once spent decades practicing the fighting styles of all these weapons. While he would be no match against a master swordsman, he is skilled enough to hold is own (and win) in a fight.

Flexible Combat: The real trick with shiftblades isn't having all those weapons at your disposal, it's being able to switch between weapons on the fly in the middle of a fight. Edgar has developed his own fighting style that can adapt to the frequent changes in weaponry, without relying on using the unique fighting style of whatever weapon he is wielding.

Extra-dimensional Power: Even though Edgar is unaware of his origins, that doesn't mean he can't take advantage of it. While he is far removed from his original strength and speed, he's still much stronger and faster than above-average humans. He can jump up to ten feet in the air, which he often does in the middle of combat while spinning or flipping, and can punch holes clean through cinder block walls, though he prefers not to since the last time he tried his hand was bruised for a week.

Biography: The first thing Edgar remembers is waking up in a large crater in the middle of a forest that was in the middle of nowhere. He was wearing the same clothes he still wears to this day, along with his shiftblades holstered on his back. As he lay in the crater looking up at a strange sky and strange trees, the name Edgar surfaced in his mind, and he figured it was his. He got up and started walking, since that seemed like a good thing to do at the time. Eventually he found a small middle-of-nowhere town that was full of people he didn't know, but they looked the same as him so he figured he must be the same as them. When he discovered that people had last names he adopted the surname White, which he (creatively) derived from the color of his hair.

His first day in the town was full of uneventful exploring, and he spent the night in an abandoned house. That's when the nightmares began. He dreamed he was someone else, fighting in a war against strange creatures. He killed thousands of them himself, while others like him killed thousands as well. But still this Plague of strange creatures came, billions of them, throwing away their lives in an attempt to win the battle. The battle went on for days, then weeks, then months, when suddenly there was a bright flash and Edgar woke up in a cold sweat.

He didn't understand the dream, but he felt another thought surface in his mind. A thought that, while strange and different, he knew to be his. He was a fighter, and a fighter for the forces of good and justice. And just as he fought for glory on the distant worlds of his dream, so too would he fight for glory on this world. Edgar's clothes reacted to that thought, and in bright flash of white light they changed into the costume of the soon-to-be Shiftblade.

Since that day Edgar has been traveling from crime-infested city to crime-infested city, fighting for good, justice, though more importantly glory and recognition.

Superhero Persona: Shiftblade wears a white body suit with a golden X harness on the upper body, upon which his two shiftblades are sheathed across his back in their default combat form of two short swords. He also wears white boots and gloves with golden trim (reaching half way up his shins and forearms respectively) and a golden belt. Finally a white face mask covers the lower half of his face.

Shiftblade is an eccentric force of justice, striking dynamic poses before, after, and sometimes during fights. He's striving to be the most popular and glorified hero of them all, and will not hesitate to make a grand spectacle out of any encounter, especially if there are people watching.

Fun Facts: Edgar is actually a being from another Dimension, though he has yet to realize this. He was hurled out of his own dimension and into this one during the battle with the creatures he decided to call The Plague. In this dimension he has a tiny fraction of the power he had in his home dimension, mainly due to the different natural and physical laws that rule the two.

Edgar still occasionally dreams of the final battle against The Plague, though he believes it's just a by-product of his desire to fight the rampant plague of crime in the world.

Affiliations:
The Crimson Flash: A crimson-clad superhero capable of teleportation and energy blasts that shares the same desires of fame, glory and showboating as Shiftblade. They teamed up briefly to take down a crime syndicate and have kept in touch ever since, bragging to each other about their most recent exploits.

Enemies:
Wraith: A by-product of military experiments to create an invincible soldier, Wraith is capable of phasing between a physical form and a "ghost" form where nothing physical can affect him. Wraith was discarded by the military once he was deemed a failure, and has become bitter and resentful ever since. Shiftblade has encountered Wraith numerous times, with each encounter being pretty challenging due to Shiftblade only having physical methods of attack. (Note: This is pretty much the same Wraith as the character I used in the last RP, except that now he's a villain instead of a hero.)

The Plague: An inter-dimensional virus that can infect anywhere between 0% to 80% of all living creatures within a dimension. The percentage of creatures that can become infected is dependent on the dimension in question. In the case of the dimension that Earth resides in, only 0.000000000001% of lifeforms are susceptible to The Plague. Meanwhile 80% of the lifeforms in Edgar's home dimension were susceptible. The Plague mutates any creature it infects into a combat-oriented form and the creatures, ruled by a hive mind, then proceed to eliminate whatever life remains in the dimension before attempting to travel to the next. Unbeknownst to Edgar, a small handful of these creatures have managed to pursue him into this dimension.

[IHateMakingNames]

Name: Jason Humme
Alias: Step Back
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Appearance: Jason stands at six feet, has blond hair and blue eyes. Most women would rate him well on appearance. He has decent muscles due to being on the move a lot, though he's a bit skinny due to not having constant sources of food. Normally he's wearing ripped or dirty clothes.
Equipment: A taser and a kevlar vest.

Abilities: Jason can travel to another dimension for an instant. He can use this to teleport roughly twenty feet in any direction. However, time works differently in this other dimension, so whenever Jason teleports, he also goes back in time. The further the distance he teleports, the further back in time he goes. At twenty feet he travels back six seconds in time. If something happens that causes the pre-teleport Jason to become injured, current Jason will receive the same injury. After making the teleport, pre-teleport Jason cannot decide to not teleport, as he ends up being forced to at the same time he had done so before. Normally Jason uses this to sucker punch people while they are distracted by his pre-teleported self.

Pre-teleport Jasons are not aware that they teleported. He can only cooperate with himself if he planned to teleport beforehand. However, he's gotten quite accustomed to thinking of places he'd teleport, and spotting himself. He can take anything on his person with him when he teleports. He can actually teleport after teleporting, having up to three instances of Jason at once.


Biography: Jason used to be called Phillip Hall. He lived in the United States till he was ten, then moved to Korea because of his father's business. He lived there for five years, when Phillip suddenly disappeared from his home. He found himself back in the US, six years in the past. At first, Phillip freaked out. During this freaking out, Phillip accidentally jumped again, but this time only a few feet from himself. When Phillip was face to face with himself for a second, he still freaked out, but was able to make a rough idea of what had happened. At this time, Phillip could only go back in time for about two seconds, and make very short teleports. He used his new powers for some petty crime so he could afford food and a bus ticket to his old home.

Phillip arrived back at his old home to see his nine year old self playing in the backyard. Phillip then panicked and ran away. He suddenly started thinking of all sorts of paradox problems and time traveling issues. In the end, Phillip decided he could not go home, and had to start a new life. He took on the name Jason Humme and started over.

Jason quickly became a bum. He was only fifteen, so he didn't really know how to survive in the world alone. He thought about using his future knowledge to get money, but he couldn't remember anything important. Phillip had been a child, and out of the country, so Jason knew very little about what was going to happen. During this bumming time, his family had moved to Korea, so he couldn't even change his mind and try to get back into his family. For awhile Jason did petty crimes, but he always felt guilty for doing them.

A few years into being a bum, Jason saw a woman getting mugged and stabbed in an alley. He used his ability to jump back in time and stop the mugger from stabbing the woman. The mugger still got the purse, as Jason was a bad fighter at the time, but he prevented the fatal wounding. The woman called Jason a hero. While Jason had used his ability to help others every now and then when the situation arouse, this was the first time he had really been sincerely thanked for it. Enjoying the moment, this is when Jason decided to became a super hero.

For a year Jason went around the city stopping muggers and other petty criminals. He lived off rewards, kindness of people he saved, and occasionally stealing from stores when times got really bad. Seeing as how Jason Munne didn't actually exist, he had no identity to hide, so he didn't work hard to create a costume or superhero persona. Though, this is when he got his superhero name, Step Back, which was popularized after he tried to explain his power during an interview, telling them that he stepped back in time.

This unfortunately drew a lot of villain attention to Jason, as time travel was a hot topic for evil. A lot of villains wanted to capture Jason to somehow use his ability for themselves. Many super heroes have also sought him out, usually to make sure he isn't a villain or to try and use his powers for themselves. Jason can only travel back up to twelve seconds, so he can never do what others except or want him to do. Still, people come hoping for more, or wanting to dissect him to figure out how his powers work.

Jason never really became a member of normal society. He was to busy being a bum or being a hero. He still bums around most of the time.

Superhero Persona: Having no real identity to hide, Jason didn't work to hard on making his Step Back persona, or keeping it a secret. When he knows he is going somewhere as Step Back, he wears his kevlar vest and a painter's coverall he dyed black. He often ends up heroing in his normal clothes.

Affiliations: Bob: A technology supplier for heroes. No one is sure if Bob invents these things, buys them, finds them, or somehow just acquires them. People aren't even sure if Bob is his real name. Jason is a client of Bob's, but since Jason has no real job he isn't much of a client.

Other heroes: Jason has met a lot of heroes who came looking for him, but hasn't worked with any since they tend to became disappointed with his time traveling powers once it's fully explained to them.

Enemies: The CEO: A normal human, but really rich. He wants to capture Jason to somehow get his time traveling abilities, so he can become richer. Does the usual rich person thing of hiring villains for his plots, and maybe equipping them with rich people technology.

[Astral Harmony]

I swear, everytime I look at that picture of Toastburner B's character, I have a sudden craving for Marshmallow Peeps.

[krogothwolf]

I find it funny his crotch is a glowing yellow ball.

[Arcanum]

Just pointing out that I completed my character sheet. It can be found in its completed glory four posts above this one.

[krogothwolf]

I envision the shiftblade pistol form actually looking like a gust of air in the shape of a fist punching the bad guy.

[Arcanum]

And now that you mentioned that, coupled with Shiftblade's desire to show off, that might just be what happens.

[The Kneumatic Pnight]

Name: Adya Meched
Alias: Vulcan
Age: 42
Gender: Female
Appearance: Adya stands at just under five feet tall, has a slender frame and a light olive complexion. She has large, dark brown eyes and black hair that she keeps cut short and layered now that she has money for such things.
Equipment:
Phrenologic Praxeologizer: A small metal sphere and complex clockwork device worn on the right side of Vulcan’s head that suspends a crystal lens over her right eye. The sphere takes in N Rays as they pass through the heads of humans it’s pointed at and generates a complex, phrenological analysis of the subject’s personality. This information is fed into the Mechanical Praxeologist that creates an axiomatic chart of the subject’s likely courses of action, in broad strokes. The monocle lens displays a composite of this information, which gives Vulcan a leg up when attempting to interrogate or engage in close combat with a single individual. The device will notably not accurately read individuals who are acting upon schemes, plans, or otherwise hidden information: only their instinctive responses to certain events.

Systemic Élan Amplification Engine Mk. II: A series of magnetic devices worn about the torso and arms. Most are kept under the clothes but a blue disc attached to the forehead would be occasionally visible. The Élan Engine utilizes these magnetic discs to alter and modulate the magnetic flows inside Vulcan. The result is a significant increase in physical and mental endurance to levels that more resemble a large, ecstatic infantryman rather than a small woman. The original was built into the Lady Grey armor and allowed Adya to survive the erratic maneuvering and speed stress that could be created while piloting it. Now, it allows her to stand firm in fistfights, shake off pain, and generally pull off things through force of will. As a downside, growing determinator tendencies can make the user more single-minded and less aware of the need for caution. The Mk. II version is less powerful, but makes it easier for Adya to avoid going overboard or losing control of her aggression.

Gauntlets: A pair of articulated gauntlets bearing numerous clockwork bits and bobs. The gauntlets main function, beyond padding her hands and looking fancy, is the use of an Antiperistasis Device. This device uses inert gas to amplify the principle of antiperistasis. This device is then attached to a vacuum tube which is used, through antiperistasis, to generate pressure. These pressure waves increase the power of Vulcan’s punches without increasing their lethality. Clockwork joint assemblies within the gauntlets also help to improve Vulcan’s grip strength. She… uh… hasn’t thought of a fancy name for them, yet.

Phlogiston Inductor Pistol: A small, pistol-like device attached to a fist-sized crystal sphere that seems to be empty. The purpose of the device is to contain and apply phlogiston, the material of combustion, primarily for use as a cutting tool. The phlogiston is short-ranged: it can travel less than a foot in the air before the air combusts, and it will travel respectively shorter distances into more dense materials. This may limit, though not negate, its effect on many types of supermaterials.

Aether Rarefaction Emitters: Small, black, gumball-sized devices that emit a short term field that excites and rarefies the luminiferous aether. The result is a sustained but short-duration region where the medium of light is less present, making it difficult for light to pass through. These are primarily a means of providing darkness, even in relatively well-lit areas, by simply making the area seem darker or more shadowed than it should. Also likely impacts the effectiveness of focused-energy weapons that pass through the region.

Oscillosabre: A single-edged curved blade with a toothed edge and a basket handle. The weapon uses sonic vibrations to increase its cutting power. Vulcan is not very skilled in swordplay, nor is it that useful as a fencing weapon. It mostly serves as a means of dispatching robots and other nonliving entities and as a noble affectation.

Clockwork Wings: A round, oblong backpack made of brass with a vaguely insectoid shape. Besides a few compartments around the rim that store the occasional tool, the brassy surface can open in two sections, revealing a collapsible set of crystal insectoid wings. These wings are driven by a clockwork motor and allow Vulcan to fly.

Abilities: Zen Machinist

I think when it first happened, I didn’t notice. There was something there that I didn’t quite understand, but I was too caught up in my pride and my rage to see it for what it was. I spent a long time blind before I returned to the heart… to the pulsing thrum of the engine of all things. And then I noticed and it was so much bigger than me. It was like I heard a heartbeat, but not mine. Or, mine and so much more. And all these possibilities were open to me, like I could just reach out and touch them and there they were, on the ground, alive where once there had been scrap.

Biography: Adya was born and raised in the crumbling slums of New Samarkand by her father Azad. She and her father survived through salvage and repair of discarded trash. Adya worked with her father as she grew and slowly became more skilled at finding, fixing, and tinkering with machines, and at surviving in the crime-filled streets of New Samarkand.

Eventually the surge of superpowers caught up with New Samarkand as the requisite chin-laser ubermensch, usurping the name of Temür, bound together many of the city's gangs in a bid for power over the city. In the resulting terror and resistance Adya's father, her only family, was killed and her home ransacked. While attempting to repair the damage, filled with rage at Temür and his thugs, she felt something in her change. An expansion of consciousness of how the machines around her might fit together. In a day long bout of inspiration, she created an impossible suit of power armor in the image of the early science fiction books she used to escape into. An armor she named Lady Grey.

Piloting her new Superweapon, she took it on a rampage through the gangs of New Samarkand, ruthlessly hunting down Temür. On her warpath, she came upon the idealistic Mólot, a hero from the north who fought in the name of the poor and oppressed and was, too, intent on stopping this Temür. Eventually, the duo caught up with Temür, and Lady Grey savagely overpowered him. When Mólot attempted to intervene, as idealistic heroes are wont to do, she tore both of them limb from limb.

As the stress and days of battle wore off, Adya found herself struggling to comprehend what she had done. Feeling cold and alone and terrified of her own single-minded rage, she left Lady Grey behind and fled as far as she could. But as her lack of contacts or education made life difficult, and the desire to create, and to protect people from the pain she had experienced, grew inside her, she eventually found she couldn't keep her thoughts away from the promise offered by the burgeoning ranks of superheroes. Eventually, she created a new identity, based again in the books she used to love, and took up the name of Vulcan. She takes no great pains to hide her identity as she considers her old self left behind in slums nobody ever cared about.

Superhero Persona: Vulcan’s costume consists of Jules Verne inspired Victoriana: an armored, brass-studded waistcoat of vivid burgundy leather over a white dress shirt with a broad wing collar, fitted black trousers with flared legs to accommodate heavy brass boots, and a close-fit black tailcoat that falls to just past her knees in back and filled inside with numerous pockets. More utilitarian accessories include a utility belt, mechanical gauntlets, her eyepiece, her backpack, and an armored derby hat.

In social situations, Adya has some trouble shaking her deep-seated anxiety and fears of inadequacy, so instead of flowery idealism, she tends to keep quiet and disconnected. Her real home is on the streets, where she livens up, particularly in combat, where she tends to slip back to her roots: fighting how the small fight to survive and cursing with an unconscious offensive posture. The horrors of her actions still firm in her mind, she maintains a complete prohibition on killing in any instance, and has found that quiet understanding and the occasional blind eye towards petty crime can sometimes keep it from escalating into more deadly crime.

Affiliations: Her time on the streets in and around the nameless city have left her with a network of connections to the underworld. Many of these people have cleaned up their life with her guidance, some have not. But the occasional friend of a friend with many eyes who know what to look for can often dredge up what the underworld wants to hide.

Enemies:
Serp: Mólot’s blade-wielding partner might eventually find Adya in her search for revenge.
Temür left behind a large organization of people looking to create a new world empire. If any of them find out who Adya is, she may have an entire organization on her tail, or worse.

Notes: I still eat bones and shit ghosts.

[Toastburner B]

Blast it, I'm coming up a complete blank with Discharge. I need to try something else.