Post by jarrod on Aug 11, 2009 14:52:27 GMT -5
Codename: Arcanum
Real Name: Dexter Hargrove
Group: Other
Template: Mutant and Other (spellcaster)
Disposition: Directionless Hero
Age: 22 (Birthday: February 6th, 1987)
Background: Dexter was born to loving parents, and lived a rather normal life until the age of 12. At 12, both his parents died in a car crash. He himself suffered only minor wounds, and his younger sister (then 10) was gravely wounded. She was given tainted blood, and contracted HIV. They lived in foster homes for a few years until Dexter turned 16. At this time he ran away, taking his sister with him, and 'dissapeared'. Not before they'd been in a foster home with a man deep into the occult. The man bought absolutely everything he could find on the subject, whether he could understand it or not. It was in one of these books that Dexter had found his answer. If magic was real, which it seemed it was from the ancient writings he'd read, maybe there was some kind of magic that could help his sister? Once away from the child care system with his sister, he scrimped together everything he could, to get everything on the subject he could. Unfortunately, the healing magics he had heard about in legends were impossible to find, though he managed to find war magics. The expense of the books, not to mention the expenses of keeping both himself and his sister alive, drove him to theivery, as there was no other way of raising the money fast enough. He'd tried the proper channels, first, but he'd been laughed out of everywhere as soon as he told them what he wanted to do. He loved his sister more than anything, and he had to save her if he could. He robs banks, convenience stores, anything that will get him something easily converted into cash, without easily being traced. He is careful when robbing banks, to take only what the tellers have on hand rather than risk the exploding dye packets that are in movies. He does everything he can to avoid being caught, as his sister's life is on the line. In the seven years since the accident, his sister's HIV turned into full blown AIDS, and Dexter was beginning to grow desperate.
At around this time, he thought he was sunk, because he got caught. He got caught, and they had him in chains, and his sister was still sick, and dependant on him for survival. He spent a long pair of days in a jail cell, feeling very sorry for himself, and for his poor sister. Then he was approached about FLUX.
Dexter was a special case - because there was only one thing he cared about, which meant there was only one thing that gave them leverage over him: He needed to continue his research. Which gave him enough leverage on -them- to require them to provide him with a method of obtaining materials, simply because there was nothing else that mattered. Threatening him with jail, even outright death - neither of these made a difference, because he would have no way to save his sister. Thus, they finally aquiesced, and he signed the contract.
Once in FLUX, Dexter was a model, if quiet member. He mostly kept to himself, because all his spare time was given to his research. When he was required to be doing anything else, though, he was attentive, cooperative, and as helpful as he could be. FLUX was, in fact, the best thing that had ever happened to him - he could continue his research, now, without breaking the law. He was doing good while he tried to save his sister.
Only Dexter didn't save his sister. She found some other group of people on her own who cured her. To Dexter's credit, only a small part of him felt bad that he'd 'wasted' so much of his life trying to cure her, the vast majority of him was overjoyed that she was finally well. He continued on with FLUX, untethered, now, by other responsibilities. Years, however, of seclusion made him awkward, at best, in social situations - so he was still distant from the others. He was, however, always friendly, and willing to try to help any one of them.
Then FLUX fell apart. Some of the members (in some cases with good reason) plotted to free members - which resulted in the destruction and eventual disbandment of the team. Dexter, having stayed loyal to the program, and his contract, however, benefited from this as well. When the team was disbanded, his contract was considered fulfilled, and thus it was he was released with his debt to society paid - he could start his life anew, with nothing hanging over his head. He walked away a free man.
A free man without a purpose, though. What would he do now? Where would he go? He couldn't go to his sister - for fear that other branches of the government would follow him, and he would lead them to her - branches of the government which did things to mutants, bad things. Since his more visible powers were magical, many didn't even realize he was a mutant, though, which kept him relatively safe. Still, that didn't give him a direction, a purpose, or a place to go.
Luckily for him, his mutant power was of interest to other members of the government, and when FLUX was cancelled, the other agencies gained access to their records. It was actually a research division under the umbrella of S.H.I.E.L.D. who finally approached him about a position in their division doing research into alien technology - his ability to instantaneously understand any written language being invaluable in understanding alien texts.
A position in S.H.I.E.L.D. was not exactly as lucrative as being a high priced lawyer, or a movie star - but it was hardly being a counter-jockey at McDonalds either. Thus - now out of habit as much as anything else - Dexter was able to continue his research into the mystical arts.
Having learned a couple new spells since then, Dexter is even more a potential force than he was before. His training in FLUX, and his experience have given him a solid foundation upon which to build himself into a hero. Something he had enjoyed being as a member of FLUX - something that would -truly- make up for the years he had been foced to be a criminal....
Gender: Male
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 135
Eyes: Amber (note, pupil and iris are both square in shape, tilted up onto one corner)
Hair: Dark Brown
Other distinguishing physical features: None, unless you count ever-present sunglasses.
Powers: Primary: The ability to instantaneously translate any written language, whether character-based or picture-based. He instinctively knows the proper pronounciation of the words. In this way he can learn languages, however, he does not have and eidetic memory, and so to actually learn to speak a language it takes him considerable time and as much effort as it would someone learning one from a text book. This ability can also be used to understand things like computer programming languages, and written codes (if it translates into language, it is, itself, a language).
Miscellaneous: While not mutant powers, Dexter has several abilities that are magical in nature. The abilities are as follows:
1.) The ability to project harmful energy from his hands.
2.) The ability to create a mobile field of energy around his person to protect himself from harm.
3.) The ability to create a field of force around an object or person to keep it from moving.
4.) The ability to fly.
5.) The ability to summon a wall of stone. The wall's height is always ten feet (unless unable to extend this far up due to existing structures), with a variable length up to one hundred feet, it is one foot thick. The wall can not be summoned into a space where a person, or creature already is standing, though it can be positioned over small debris. The wall can be straight, curved, or even made into four connected walls to make a sort of room.
6.) Clairvoyance - The ability to see into areas distant and hidden from view. To see a specific area, he needs to know of its existance, or know its approximate distance and direction from himself. To view a specific person, he either needs to know them personally - and fairly well, have their true name, or something to draw a connection to them (a hair, fingernail, posession with significance to the person, etc.).
Dexter aquires these powers through the use of magical spells learned from ancient texts untranslatable by most, but easily translated by him. Each of these spells are aliased, and at least two posts in length, between which time will be given for others to act in.
Skills: Those of an above average University student majoring in psychology, minoring in economics, and with a talent for research. Further training since joining FLUX includes martial arts training, training with a staff. He also has had some training with firearms, though he never uses them.
Physical Mutations: Just his eyes, noted above. He wears dark sunglasses to hide them.
Personality: Dexter was motivated primarily by his love for his sister. He is, in essence a good man. Unfortunately he had (in his eyes) been forced to work outside the law to do what he feelt must be done - save his sister's life. He is dedicated, disciplined, intelligent, and thurough when he has a goal. He is kind, and tries to avoid hurting others wherever possible.
Clothes: Dexter is a short young man, standing only 5'6". His hair is dark, growing to chin length at the top, and shaved at the back and sides. He wears dark sunglasses which hide his eyes from view. The relatively young man dresses in good clothing, a dark green dress shirt and black khakis. Beneath the hem of his pant-legs are a pair of black boots.
When he is being heroic, however, he dresses up in a wizardly costume, complete with robes, hooded cloak, staff and a black cloth mask which covers the top half of his face. He now wears kevlar beneath the robes as well.
Favorite music and pastime: He prefers classical music, or something heavy.
Quirks, limitations, phobias, ambitions, and other weird stuff: Ultimately Dexter is used to being a driven man, one who works obsessively toward a goal - but currently he is devoid of important goals. This currently makes him feel lost. He also has spent most of his life with his nose in a book - which makes social situations difficult for him at best.
Real Name: Dexter Hargrove
Group: Other
Template: Mutant and Other (spellcaster)
Disposition: Directionless Hero
Age: 22 (Birthday: February 6th, 1987)
Background: Dexter was born to loving parents, and lived a rather normal life until the age of 12. At 12, both his parents died in a car crash. He himself suffered only minor wounds, and his younger sister (then 10) was gravely wounded. She was given tainted blood, and contracted HIV. They lived in foster homes for a few years until Dexter turned 16. At this time he ran away, taking his sister with him, and 'dissapeared'. Not before they'd been in a foster home with a man deep into the occult. The man bought absolutely everything he could find on the subject, whether he could understand it or not. It was in one of these books that Dexter had found his answer. If magic was real, which it seemed it was from the ancient writings he'd read, maybe there was some kind of magic that could help his sister? Once away from the child care system with his sister, he scrimped together everything he could, to get everything on the subject he could. Unfortunately, the healing magics he had heard about in legends were impossible to find, though he managed to find war magics. The expense of the books, not to mention the expenses of keeping both himself and his sister alive, drove him to theivery, as there was no other way of raising the money fast enough. He'd tried the proper channels, first, but he'd been laughed out of everywhere as soon as he told them what he wanted to do. He loved his sister more than anything, and he had to save her if he could. He robs banks, convenience stores, anything that will get him something easily converted into cash, without easily being traced. He is careful when robbing banks, to take only what the tellers have on hand rather than risk the exploding dye packets that are in movies. He does everything he can to avoid being caught, as his sister's life is on the line. In the seven years since the accident, his sister's HIV turned into full blown AIDS, and Dexter was beginning to grow desperate.
At around this time, he thought he was sunk, because he got caught. He got caught, and they had him in chains, and his sister was still sick, and dependant on him for survival. He spent a long pair of days in a jail cell, feeling very sorry for himself, and for his poor sister. Then he was approached about FLUX.
Dexter was a special case - because there was only one thing he cared about, which meant there was only one thing that gave them leverage over him: He needed to continue his research. Which gave him enough leverage on -them- to require them to provide him with a method of obtaining materials, simply because there was nothing else that mattered. Threatening him with jail, even outright death - neither of these made a difference, because he would have no way to save his sister. Thus, they finally aquiesced, and he signed the contract.
Once in FLUX, Dexter was a model, if quiet member. He mostly kept to himself, because all his spare time was given to his research. When he was required to be doing anything else, though, he was attentive, cooperative, and as helpful as he could be. FLUX was, in fact, the best thing that had ever happened to him - he could continue his research, now, without breaking the law. He was doing good while he tried to save his sister.
Only Dexter didn't save his sister. She found some other group of people on her own who cured her. To Dexter's credit, only a small part of him felt bad that he'd 'wasted' so much of his life trying to cure her, the vast majority of him was overjoyed that she was finally well. He continued on with FLUX, untethered, now, by other responsibilities. Years, however, of seclusion made him awkward, at best, in social situations - so he was still distant from the others. He was, however, always friendly, and willing to try to help any one of them.
Then FLUX fell apart. Some of the members (in some cases with good reason) plotted to free members - which resulted in the destruction and eventual disbandment of the team. Dexter, having stayed loyal to the program, and his contract, however, benefited from this as well. When the team was disbanded, his contract was considered fulfilled, and thus it was he was released with his debt to society paid - he could start his life anew, with nothing hanging over his head. He walked away a free man.
A free man without a purpose, though. What would he do now? Where would he go? He couldn't go to his sister - for fear that other branches of the government would follow him, and he would lead them to her - branches of the government which did things to mutants, bad things. Since his more visible powers were magical, many didn't even realize he was a mutant, though, which kept him relatively safe. Still, that didn't give him a direction, a purpose, or a place to go.
Luckily for him, his mutant power was of interest to other members of the government, and when FLUX was cancelled, the other agencies gained access to their records. It was actually a research division under the umbrella of S.H.I.E.L.D. who finally approached him about a position in their division doing research into alien technology - his ability to instantaneously understand any written language being invaluable in understanding alien texts.
A position in S.H.I.E.L.D. was not exactly as lucrative as being a high priced lawyer, or a movie star - but it was hardly being a counter-jockey at McDonalds either. Thus - now out of habit as much as anything else - Dexter was able to continue his research into the mystical arts.
Having learned a couple new spells since then, Dexter is even more a potential force than he was before. His training in FLUX, and his experience have given him a solid foundation upon which to build himself into a hero. Something he had enjoyed being as a member of FLUX - something that would -truly- make up for the years he had been foced to be a criminal....
Gender: Male
Height: 5'6"
Weight: 135
Eyes: Amber (note, pupil and iris are both square in shape, tilted up onto one corner)
Hair: Dark Brown
Other distinguishing physical features: None, unless you count ever-present sunglasses.
Powers: Primary: The ability to instantaneously translate any written language, whether character-based or picture-based. He instinctively knows the proper pronounciation of the words. In this way he can learn languages, however, he does not have and eidetic memory, and so to actually learn to speak a language it takes him considerable time and as much effort as it would someone learning one from a text book. This ability can also be used to understand things like computer programming languages, and written codes (if it translates into language, it is, itself, a language).
Miscellaneous: While not mutant powers, Dexter has several abilities that are magical in nature. The abilities are as follows:
1.) The ability to project harmful energy from his hands.
2.) The ability to create a mobile field of energy around his person to protect himself from harm.
3.) The ability to create a field of force around an object or person to keep it from moving.
4.) The ability to fly.
5.) The ability to summon a wall of stone. The wall's height is always ten feet (unless unable to extend this far up due to existing structures), with a variable length up to one hundred feet, it is one foot thick. The wall can not be summoned into a space where a person, or creature already is standing, though it can be positioned over small debris. The wall can be straight, curved, or even made into four connected walls to make a sort of room.
6.) Clairvoyance - The ability to see into areas distant and hidden from view. To see a specific area, he needs to know of its existance, or know its approximate distance and direction from himself. To view a specific person, he either needs to know them personally - and fairly well, have their true name, or something to draw a connection to them (a hair, fingernail, posession with significance to the person, etc.).
Dexter aquires these powers through the use of magical spells learned from ancient texts untranslatable by most, but easily translated by him. Each of these spells are aliased, and at least two posts in length, between which time will be given for others to act in.
Skills: Those of an above average University student majoring in psychology, minoring in economics, and with a talent for research. Further training since joining FLUX includes martial arts training, training with a staff. He also has had some training with firearms, though he never uses them.
Physical Mutations: Just his eyes, noted above. He wears dark sunglasses to hide them.
Personality: Dexter was motivated primarily by his love for his sister. He is, in essence a good man. Unfortunately he had (in his eyes) been forced to work outside the law to do what he feelt must be done - save his sister's life. He is dedicated, disciplined, intelligent, and thurough when he has a goal. He is kind, and tries to avoid hurting others wherever possible.
Clothes: Dexter is a short young man, standing only 5'6". His hair is dark, growing to chin length at the top, and shaved at the back and sides. He wears dark sunglasses which hide his eyes from view. The relatively young man dresses in good clothing, a dark green dress shirt and black khakis. Beneath the hem of his pant-legs are a pair of black boots.
When he is being heroic, however, he dresses up in a wizardly costume, complete with robes, hooded cloak, staff and a black cloth mask which covers the top half of his face. He now wears kevlar beneath the robes as well.
Favorite music and pastime: He prefers classical music, or something heavy.
Quirks, limitations, phobias, ambitions, and other weird stuff: Ultimately Dexter is used to being a driven man, one who works obsessively toward a goal - but currently he is devoid of important goals. This currently makes him feel lost. He also has spent most of his life with his nose in a book - which makes social situations difficult for him at best.