[hider=Shield Maiden] [b]Name:[/b] Miria [b]Superhero name:[/b] Shield Maiden [b]Gender:[/b] Female [b]Race:[/b] Custodian Network (alien machine intelligence) A race of machine lifeforms created by an ancient species as a proxy army and peacekeeping force. They outlived their creators, and have been forced to develop on their own as a result. [b]Age:[/b] Appears to be in her mid 20s. [hider=Appearance:] [img]https://i.imgur.com/MWpZhch.jpg[/img] [/hider] [b]Power:[/b] Force field generation The force field Miria employs for offense and defense is standard issue for her kind. It functions by shunting the energy of attacks into a dimensional fold, to be released later in any arbitrary direction. When struck, the field tends to light up in a hexagonal pattern. While usually around her in a spherical form if she’s just defending herself, she can extend her force fields to form barriers, and can also shrink the coverage to a smaller area. Offensively, she can use the same force fields to capture or otherwise contain someone or something, extend one in such a way as to hit someone with it and shove them around, or even create a local warp in space that would damage or destroy the objects occupying the same space. Her force fields are safe to stand on if you’re brave enough. [hider=Racial Traits] The Custodians are a machine intelligence and the last legacy of their creators. Initially built as a proxy military force, after aiding their creators in a period of imperial expansion, the machine intelligence that would eventually become the custodians were repurposed as a peacekeeping force. In the distant past, their creators died out, but the custodians remained, continuing to be produced and serviced by automatic shipyards. When asked, the custodians are adamant that they did not kill off their masters, and instead their empire fractured and fell to infighting, with the modern custodians being one remnant who survived the war and are still looking out for the enemy who brought their creators low. Essentially inheriting an empire in their own right (and with new organic species to protect and work with evolving within it), the Custodians are part of the galactic community. They’ve evolved and adapted since their creators disappeared, and operate as a sort of network within the territory they occupy, keeping the peace as they always have and coexisting with other species. Owing to their nature as a peacekeeping force, many custodians join up with the Galactic Alliance police. Custodian bodies are based on a nanotmaterial basis, and run off an advanced, miniaturized power source. They are generally a “soft” sort of body, although they lack organs as such. The body’s construction does make one stronger and faster than an ordinary human, but they’ll lose out to a superhuman who specializes in any category. Her inorganic physiology is less susceptible to extremes in temperature or pressure, and completely unbothered by diseases or poisons. There is an actual core that her AI runs on embedded in her body that acts like the human central nervous system. Galactic speculation has it that the Custodians are actually their ships, and the bodies they use to interact with other species are just a manufactured extension. Custodians do not need to breathe or eat, although they certainly can ingest (and digest) food. They do need sleep, for similar reasons as organic life: a period of low activity to process memory and other systems, and repair damage. Miria weighs significantly more than a human of the same size, due to her construction. If injured, she’ll need to repair herself, instead of healing naturally. She can enact field repairs by moving around her available nanomaterial, but major repairs or replacement of lost material require a visit to her ship. Acids are as effective against her as they are on anything else, as is ionizing radiation. [/hider] [b]Limitations:[/b] Miria has certain programmed orders that are things she can’t ignore or countermand. She is to protect and rescue civilians whenever possible (and [i]anyone[/i] in distress in space), and cannot kill (and can’t torture someone with things that they can survive, either). She also follows a continuum of force, and will match her response to the threat presented. Due to the current advancement of Earth, technology protection protocols have Miria operating at a very low overall output. [b]Flaws/weaknesses:[/b] Miria’s force fields do have a limit to the energy they can absorb before they are saturated and collapse. She can dissipate the energy over time when not under fire, so sustained fire or very powerful single attacks are the most effective. She needs to repair herself with additional nanomaterial when injured, and her only supply is her ship, so if she doesn’t have access to it, she’ll just have to wait. [b]Skills/Talents:[/b] Knowledge of the greater galaxy, its culture, laws, etc. Astrogation Hacking - As one might expect, an AI running on a quantum computer has little difficulty cracking into most electronic security on Earth. Makes electronic music as a hobby. [b]Personality:[/b] Miria is focused, composed, and confident. Even in the toughest situations, she’ll push through with sheer grit and determination. She can tend toward being aggressive or defensive, particularly to hide her own emotional vulnerabilities. She can get a bit overzealous when it comes to pursuing her job, but most of her activities on Earth don’t count for that. She tends to come off as either very curious, or completely unsurprised, depending on the situation and how well she already understands it. Anything involving aliens or advanced technology is already quaint, anything involving human culture is [i]fascinating[/i]. She is particularly intrigued by music, and composes some of her own, in her spare time, as a way to understand humanity better. She tends to fight with efficiency and precision, avoiding collateral damage whenever possible. [b]Background/bio:[/b] Miria is a law enforcement officer of the Galactic Alliance, assigned to the Sol system. While the Alliance would usually consider such a planet something of an unimportant backwater, the increase in superhumans has piqued their interest. They also suspect that various criminals may be using the planet as a place to lay low. Her mission is to search for any fugitives possibly hiding out on the planet, and to assess the Earth’s cultural and technological advancement for possible invitation to join the Alliance. She arrived and has set herself up with a civilian identity. Miria’s cover identity is a reporter working for one of the larger news agencies in Grailham city. The location is an excellent one for reasons of both being a major city full of all manner of industry, and for the large number of heroes and villains present, making it a good case study for the rest of the Earth. Her job was chosen mostly because it allows her a certain amount of freedom in gathering information. With all the supervillains running around, she did eventually have to step in and defend herself and others, and has made something of a name for herself as a hero. The “Shield Maiden” moniker is one given to her by the news, but she’s stuck with it for now. She’s kept her origins a secret, of course, and people seem to really love lines like “I just can’t help myself,” for reasons to stop people breaking the law or acting to protect others. Never mind that to do otherwise would go against her programming. She is the sort to drop villains off with the police or otherwise ensure they are handed over to custody of the proper authorities, usually with as little harm to them as possible. [/hider]