[hider=Lightning Rod]
[b]Alias:[/b] Lightning Rod
[b]Real name:[/b] Matthew Forrester
[b]Age:[/b] 22
[b]Gender:[/b] Male

[b]Appearance:[/b] Matthew was an average guy before the armour was bonded with him. Okay, maybe he's a bit shorter than average, standing at 5'7", his build wide and stocky. His hair is short and curly, almost shaved on the sides, and a dark brown. He sports a thick beard on his rounded chin, the hair course and even curlier than his head. His eyes are dark and slightly pinched, dark bags almost perpetually circling under his eyes. His arms and legs are short but thick, his skin tanned dark and his limbs muscled from working outside as a roofer. He often wears jeans and tank tops or t-shirts casually, preferring to dress comfortably than fashionably, which coincides conveniently with the unfortunate side effect of activating the armour attached to his spine. 

Speaking of, the armour, in it's dormant form, runs from the base of Matthew's neck to his tail bone. The thick strip of metal sticks out about two inches from his back, forming a segmented ridge with a plateau about two inches wide, that then slopes down at a 45 degree angle downward to his back. Bright blue accents pulse lightly from the strip, running between the segments and up the edges. The accents run up the armour to collect at a circle of blue light at the base of the neck, which gives off a dull glow.

When activated, the armour explodes outward, wrapping itself around Matthew. Any clothes he's wearing at the time will be ripped to shreds as the segments of the armour seem to fold and unfold out from his spine, tight to his skin. Once completely unravelled, the armour forms a segmented shell over Matthew, reminiscent of chitin. Each segment appears to be made of a dark blue metal, and retains scratches and scorches from every battle Matthew has partaken in. Between each segment of the armour glows bright blue lines of energy, all leading to the armours back, split and joining as it runs up and down the suit. When activated, the circle or "core" at the nape of the neck glows brightly, pulsing with every use of energy. One of the main features of the armour is the helmet, which is domed, pitch black, and appears to be made of a sort of thick glass. The jaw ridged and angular, wrapping around to cradle the dome atop it at the back. As well, on the hands of the suit are a pair of horizontal blue lines, built into the palms of the suit.

[b]Personality:[/b] Matthew is a quiet and introverted person, preferring to finish his work rather than socialize. He has no patience for slackers, and respects those with discipline and focus. This is not to say he cannot to be casual; Matthew enjoys the company of close peers, loving to make people laugh. In a professional environment however, he makes sure to make it clear that there is no room for play. On top of this, Matthew has little need for pleasantries, his bane being the kind who weasel and manipulate their way into success. He believe in actions before words, and shows his loyalties to those who can prove they can be trusted.

[b]Short Biography:[/b] Matthew Forrester was born and raised a labourer. He worked all his young life, quickly moving through vocational college and getting a job as a roofer when he turned 20. He worked for two years like this, until a fateful encounter changed his life forever. Being in the right place at the right time, Matthew came into contact with a crash landed capsule, containing a great power; A semi-organic living armour, that attached to his spine. The armour quickly bonded with the young man's nervous system, becoming one with the human. Before Matthew could even question his situation, another meteoric event releases a gaggle of robotic beasts upon him. Fearing for his life, Matthew inadvertently activates the armour, which empowers him with increased strength, partial flight, and the ability to control electricity. These newly discovered powers allow him to dispatch the beasts, of a similar composition to the armour, and escape. With these new-found abilities, and with no way of remove the armour without killing him, Matthew decides to take these developments in stride, and put his power to good use; He becomes Lightning Rod, a electric-whip toting, no nonsense superhero protecting the common man from those who would take advantage of him.

[b]Powers, Skills & Equipment:[/b] The armour grants Matthew with several very fortunate boons. The first is an increased, superhuman strength. Putting a dent in a steel plate or concrete wall only requires the swing of an arm for Matthew, and lifting the weight of a large car is strenuous, but doable. The feet of the suit are fitted with boosters, strong enough to, when supplementing a jump, allow Matthew to cross distances with mighty leaps. The main ability of the suit is to draw electricity into itself for later use from any source. It is able to pull electricity at range from open circuits, such as outlets, live wires, and lightning storms, and from closed circuits at touch, such as power lines or generators. The capacity of storage is incredibly high, but is not infinite. The suit has the ability to fire bolts or arcs of pure electricity from it's hands, as well as manifest whips of concentrated energy. The suit has also proven quite resistant to intense heat.

[b]Weakness:[/b] While deactivated, the armour provides no protection or strengths to Matthew. This means that attacks of opportunity would be quite effective against him. This is compounded by the fact that Matthew must activate the suit manually by tapping the core at the base of his neck, and thus can be restrained to prevent him from powering up. Additionally, Matthew has no form of martial training, and relies completely on the abilities of the armour to fight. An unfortunate side effect of activating the armour is that any clothes being warn at the time will be ripped to shreds. This means that Matthew will be left... compromised, once he powers down. If drained of all power, the suit will deactivate. This includes scenarios where the armour expends all of it's energy, or ones where the energy is somehow forcefully removed. The armour has also proven rather weak to the cold; frigid conditions or cold based attacks cause the armour to short or seize, eventually debilitating it completely. Delving into the hypothetical, the power storage of the armour is very large, but not infinite. If it were to be overloaded, the core of the armour could catastrophically melt down, the implications of which could be monstrous.


[hider=Full Biography] Matthew Forrester is the son of a simple labourer, and was happy to take up the mantle. He breezed through high school on mediocre grades, and quickly powered through vocational college, all the while working with his father to build up his experience. This resulted in his graduating at the age of twenty, and moving on to the work force only a few months later. Matthew worked as a roofer for two years, and couldn't be happier with his work. The salary was of little concern to him, second to the joy of his occupation.

It was a hot summer day in Claychester, and Matthew was working alone on the roof a small bungalow a dozen kilometres from down-town. A sudden, crackling boom thundered through the sky, startling the labourer and drawing his eyes to the sky. His eyes darting over the clear skyline, Matthew scanned for the source of the sound. Perhaps a super sonic plane was flying overhead? 

What he saw was nothing short of breath taking. A bright, blue light was slowly growing bigger over his head. As it grew bigger, a hissing screech grew louder until, in a shatter crash, the light struck the ground with amazing force. Matthew dove down, shielding himself with the peak of the house from the blast. Chunks of concrete and asphalt flew over his head in the deafening explosion, and a large chunk of the road struck the roof of the house, crashing into the room below. Matthew rushed to his ladder, which had luckily not been knocked over in the event, and quickly climbed down.

In the aftermath of the impact, a smouldering crater was left in the road. Pieces of asphalt littered the road, and car alarms blared, set off by the shock-wave of the explosion. Matthew approached the smoking crash, and noted that there didn't seem to be anyone else on the street- it was mid day, and everyone was at work. Finally arriving at the edge of the crater, Matthew looked down into it in awe.

The hole created by the impact must have been at least 20 metres wide, encompassing the full width of the road, the side-walk, and into the lawns on either side. At the centre of the shallow hole lay a cylindrical capsule. (TBC)[/hider]

Fun facts:
[list]
[*]Matthew is afraid of spiders. This fear manifests today as a burning hatred of anything creepy-crawly, and he has cause hundreds in damages in trying to destroy them.
[*]Matthew's favourite food is meatloaf. It reminds him of his childhood.
[*]In Matthew's younger years, he suffered from vertigo. After a rather nasty fall down the stairs, hitting his head, however, he was miraculously cured.
[*]Matthew actually isn't very fond of the design of his armour. "Don't get me wrong," he'll tell you, "It's fucking cool, but there's something about it that seems... familiar. I don't know, maybe I just don't like the colour."
[/list]

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