Name: Edward Storm Epic Identity: Magus Age: 28 Faction: Epic Abilities: Elemental manipulation (fire, water, wind, earth) limited to the element actually being present or able to form in order to manipulate it, Earth power localized Weakness: Non-natural objects (anything man-made that cannot occur in nature) Personality: Edward is still an introvert, though being a hero has forced him to come out of his shell some. He will interact with the people he saves, and with the people he confronts, but he still prefers to otherwise keep to himself. He does feel that organizing all the heroes of Epic City to protect the city against all threats at all times would be a good strategy, but his introverted personality and limited social skills leaves him unqualified to coordinate such a strategy. Appearance: Edward is a tall man, measuring about 6 feet tall, give or take about half an inch, with a fairly lean build, though he is by no means skinny. He has fair skin that has begun to gain a light tan recently, lessening the contrast with his pitch black hair. His eyes are nearly steel gray in color. His nose is longer than normal and slightly hooked, as well as being a bit crooked after a few fights that ended badly for him when he had first gained his powers. He keeps the hair on top of his head, as well as his beard and mustache, short and neatly trimmed, though it still remains very thick and often unruly, resulting in a few cowlicks and tangles somewhere that he just can't get out. Edward prefers to dress simply most of the time, wearing wool or cotton pants and shirts, or slacks and a button-down shirt for occasions when he needs to dress up a bit more. As far as his costume goes, he usually just wears a long frock with slightly wider than normal sleeves, reminiscent of the robes of the stereotypical magi of fantasy, over his normal clothing. He also has a staff which he crafted to help focus his power. It is mostly a rod of quartz about 4 feet long, but has a core of copper through the center which extends to a band around the quartz where he grips the staff. It is topped with a spherical head made of an amalgam of silver and gold. He has found that quartz, being the most abundant mineral in the earth, is useful for channeling his earth power while the high conductivity of copper, silver, and gold makes conjuring fire or water easier, and the staff can also stir up enough air for him to be able to use his wind powers even when the air is completely still. Background: Edward was, and still is, a comic book nerd, though having a regular job as well as his hero-ing job has caused him to fall behind on some of his comics. From an early age, Edward was fascinated by superheroes and dreamed of becoming one himself one day. Living in Epic City, where Supers were commonplace, this wasn't too far-fetched an idea; he just had to wait to get some superpowers. As a child, Edward wasn't the most social of people, preferring to live vicariously through the droves of superheroes he read about in his comic books to actual human contact. At home, he spent much of his time in his room with a stack of comic books by his side. At school, he hung out with the other comic book nerds and talked about comic books with them during recess and lunch, but he never really got close enough to any of them to call them friends. His introverted behavior left him severely lacking in social skills, though he performed well in any tasks that allowed him to work alone. Edward discovered that he had become an Epic on his 14th birthday when, instead of blowing out the candles on his cake, he inadvertently made them blaze higher and hotter. He blew at them in a panic, and was able to put them out, but the cake was ruined, being covered in melted wax and becoming over-cooked from the unusually hot candles. The incident terrified Edward's parents, but rather than let Edward know this, which they feared may cause him to become a villain, they hid their fear and chose to laugh the incident off and congratulate Edward on becoming an Epic like he had always wanted. For a short time, Edward was afraid to read comics for fear that he may inadvertently set them ablaze, but like a drug addict that keeps coming back to the drugs, Edward couldn't stay away from his comics for very long, and he soon realized that, for some reason, his powers didn't work when he was reading his comic books, or at the very least, they weren't strong enough to cause any damage, though it would take him a long time to find out why this was so. In order to keep Edward out of trouble while he learned to control his powers, his parents chose to homeschool him during high school, which he didn't mind as he didn't have many real friends at school and he still preferred to keep to himself whenever possible. His high school career was rather uneventful, but during his junior year, while walking home from a quick shopping trip, using his wind power to speed him on a bit, he had a bit of a nasty run-in with a couple Kryptonites. The thugs noticed the wind was moving differently around Edward and realized he must be an Epic. Having nothing better to do, they assaulted Edward, bringing him to the ground and landing a hard punch to Edward's face, breaking his nose, before Edward was able to set one thug's coat ablaze while the other was distracted with the cops that happened to show up at just the right time. Both thugs were arrested and Edward was taken to the hospital. His nose healed well enough, but was permanently deformed. From then on, Edward did his best to lay low, not letting anyone know about his powers. The thugs who attacked him were put away for a long time, but not before the Kryptonites were informed of Edward. Luckily, the gang doesn't know very much about Edward since the two hapless thugs hadn't had time to discover much about their target before they were captured and taken away. When Edward turned sixteen, he applied for a job at a local comic book/baseball card/novelty shop as a way to earn some money for himself as well as to indulge in his nerdy interests at a special employee discount that was even better than his existing extreme loyalty discount. He kept this job through the remainder of high school, and after graduating he kept the job, working longer hours while taking business classes at a local community college. After a few years he transferred to a four year university to get his degree in business management, but he was able to do an online program so he could continue to work at the comic book store. After he got his degree, he worked at the store for another three years before the owner retired and passed the business on to Edward. He enters this story just days after he has acquired the business. (shared characters if needed) Edward's Employees: Name: Alexander Masters Alias: Zander Age: 18 Faction: Normal Personality: Zander is a pretty normal teenager. He likes reading comic books and collecting Epic trading cards, but his truly "nerdy" habits end there. He enjoys spending time with his girlfriend of 10 months and experiencing the freedom that graduating high school has afforded him. When working, he gets along with his brother well since any interaction the two have is generally business-oriented and/or related to topics for which they have a mutual interest. Outside of work, Zander and Nathan still get along as well as one could expect from brothers, though Zander will still pick on his little brother occasionally. Appearance: Zander is tall and lanky, measuring just under 6 feet in height with a skinny build that has gained some muscle from his sporadic involvement in various sports throughout his life. His thick mop of black hair gets in his eyes frequently and he carries a comb in his hip pocket for when it happens. His eyes are blue-ish gray and closer together than most people's eyes, making him appear slightly cross-eyed when he looks straight ahead, which has led him to adopt the habit of turning his head slightly to one side most of the time to lessen the effect. His face is otherwise unremarkable with a black beard and mustache beginning to grow. For clothes, Zander chooses to dress simply, wearing tennis shoes, jeans, and graphic tees with funny or sarcastic phrases. On hotter days, he will wear sandals, cargo shorts, and muscle tees. Background: By the time Zander was born, Epic City had already been annexed from the United States and superheroes were commonplace on the island. Some of the kids Zander went to school with were already beginning to gain powers, and in the early years, when kids don't quite understand these sorts of things, Zander was usually one of the ones to show the young Epics kindness amongst the teasing and bullying that they often endured. His actions cost him some friends, but earned respect and gratitude from many more. Zander became a friend to Epics and even some Freaks. At the age of 16, Zander applied for a job at Epic Comics and Collectibles. Since the owner was planning on retiring soon and Edward was interested in taking over the business when that happened, the owner felt an arrangement where Zander worked under Edward's supervision while he took the day off would be a good arrangement for all involved, and so he hired Zander. For the first week, he stayed to make sure everything ran smoothly, but once he was convinced that the situation was perfectly under control, he would hand the reins over to Edward as soon as Zander came into work, and then he would go home for the rest of the day. Name: Nathaniel Masters Alias: Nathan or Nate Age: 14 Faction: Normal Personality: Most people consider Nathan to be almost a nerdier copy of his big brother. He is a more avid comic book reader and more devoted collector of trading cards than Zander (he has complete card sets of most Epics and Freaks). He also enjoys watching anime and has recently gotten into Steampunk and LARP. He idolizes Magus and has declared himself to be Magus's biggest fan, often wearing a frock like the one his hero wears, even when it's really too hot to practically do so. Nathan gets along well with his brother, but he does annoy Zander from time to time (sometimes on purpose, other times by accident). His general disposition is cheerful, and he often has a smile on his face. Appearance: Nathan is shorter and huskier than his brother, measuring about 5'4". He has a thin build like his brother, but is naturally just a bit larger and has no muscle to speak of. His hair is somewhere between strawberry blond and red in color, and he keeps it fairly short so that he doesn't have to take too much time with it as it becomes very unruly when it gets too long. His face is generally unremarkable, with hazel eyes, the slightest bit of fuzz growing above his upper lip, and two dimples at the sides of his face, but a few girls have mentioned that he's cute, which always brings a blush to Nathan's face when he hears it. Nathan's fashion sense is something of a hodgepodge of his various interests. He often wears a t-shirt with a print of one of his comic book heroes or one of his anime shows under a long wide-sleeved frock, jeans or shorts depending on the weather, and black tennis shoes or sandals. He also likes to carry a replica of Magus's staff whenever possible. Background: Nathan was born on the same day Edward Storm gained his powers, though Nathan doesn't know this. He was about 5 1/2 when Magus made his debut as a hero for Epic City. At first, reports of Magus were few and far between, but the reports often referred to him as a champion for all the people of Epic City, unlike many of the Epics who would often fight amongst themselves, causing large amounts of unnecessary collateral damage in the process. And while Magus never involved himself in major problems the way Epics like Dragon Heart and Traveler would, he still became a famous hero in his own right, and Nathan though he was cool. Nathan first learned to read from Zander when the older brother would read his comic books to Nathan late at night when Nathan, for whatever reason, couldn't sleep. The brightly colored pages and amazing adventures captivated young Nathan Masters and he was quickly enslaved by the comic book obsession. His next obsession was Epic trading cards, which began on his 8th birthday when Zander gave him Magus's first two trading cards along with a pack of cards that contained other well-known Epics. The fact that Magus was already on the cards was enough to get Nathan into the hobby. His interest in anime was sparked at age 10 when a friend of his showed him a few shows during a sleepover. When Zander went in for his first day at work at Epic Comics and Collectibles, Nathan asked the owner if he could work too. Since Nathan was only 12, he couldn't legally work there, but the owner gave him a few small tasks to do so he could feel useful and paid him for the work. Two years later when Edward became the owner of the store, he gave Nathan more responsibilities and paid him minimum wage, but since Nathan still wasn't old enough to legally work, Edward keeps him off the official payroll, but Nathan does have an Epic Comics and Collectibles polo that he wears when he's working.