Dblade26 — Roleplayer Guild

This is a WIP

Name: John Sunday Keller

Codename: Strix

Age: 29

Gender: Male

Place of Birth Boston, Massachusetts

Affiliations: KellerCorp, Finances and works with The League, potential association or occasional partnership with Pariah

Occupation: CEO and majority shareholder of the Keller Corporation, Philanthropist and occasional inventor.

Appearance: In his day to day life John S. Keller keeps up the appearance of a wealthy socialite and occasional serious businessman. While his more illicit activities certainly require a lot of muscle development, he's hardly a hulking figure, slim but well-defined rather than broad-shoulder or barrel chested with a bit of a sharp, angular face. He could be considered handsome, with grey-blue eyes and usually messy black hair, although he's a bit too pale and usually has rings as if he doesn't get outside during the day enough or sleep enough at night. He's of about average height and his is typically carefully micromanaged to be as close to the human optimum as possible, though strangely his clothing is often disheveled as though he doesn't usually put in the effort. His body is covered in numerous scars due to his more...active lifestyle although he usually takes pains to make sure these are covered up.

In costume most of him is concealed by the Strix suit except for a small mouth portion. The suit is a dark charcoal grey meant to help him blend in with dark and urban environments, with the cowl shaped to look like a great-horned owl and built-in goggles completing the effect by partially concealing his eyes and giving them a huge, inhuman and predatory look. The cape is long enough to wrap about his body and the strong but flexible weave of nano-fibers it's made of are patterned for a distinctive feather-covered appearance, a resemblance further reinforced when the cloth re-aligns into the wing shape Strix uses for gliding. The main body of the suit is designed to look like an unnerving cross between armor and bony organics although it is the same charcoal grey color as the rest of the suit. Strix's utility belt is a sleek series of cylindrical dispensers and containers with a few loops and sheathes for his various tools and a compartment for the miniaturized motor that works his grapple-gun and another for his Echo system. The gauntlet portions are made to look like talons while still serving their function and even the boots are shaped to reinforce the talon'd foot imagery. The overall intended impression is an owl-like motif meant to spread rumor, confusion and fear among the criminal element.

Powers: Strix has no powers.

Skills: Strix is an extremely formidable martial artist, having begun training seriously when he was just nine years old and traveled all over the world to study with various masters in numerous styles of both armed and unarmed combat. He is also an expert investigator and detective with expertise in criminology and forensics. Perhaps most importantly he has a brilliant mind for all things technological, which aside from his considerable with hacking and computers manifests in notable feats including personally designing the lightweight, sound-dampening full-body armor and glider that is the Strix Suit, along with his personal V/STOL aircraft and many of his numerous gadgets.

Apart from these things stealth operations and infiltration are also an area in which he is talented, supplemented by his training in ninjutsu. He can speak English, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Arabic and Japanese. He has some considerable skill with ranged weaponry, mainly his thrown weapons like his feather-shaped throwing knives and 'pellets', but he despises guns. He also has enough skill in acrobatics and free-running to do things like hop roofs and traverse environments via swinging on his grappling hook and utilizing the wingsuit-like properties of his cape. He has enough skill with aircraft piloting to pilot his customized V/STOL aircraft.

Equipment/Resources: Strix's suit itself is a valuable piece of equipment as it is made of a combination of various lightweight synthetic aramids, para-aramids and even high-tech nanofibers, giving it's wearer limited protection against numerous threats including gunfire, heat and flames, electricity and concussive force. The gloves contain retractable incredibly sharp 'talon' blades for use as climbing and cutting tools as well as last-ditch weapons. The cape's nano-fiber weave provides further protection and can be re-aligned into a broad wing-like design that enables Strix to temporarily glide or break falls. The Strix Suit's eye-lenses allow for telescopic and magnified vision and also display the Echo System's sonar mapping ability as a HUD, meaning Strix can effectively see in the dark similarly to echolocation, The lenses also prevent him from being identified via retinal scan. The cowl itself has a small amount of lead lining both to increase the effectiveness of headbutts and prevent the wearer's identification via X-ray measures and also has audio filters that cancel out sounds in ranges and volumes detrimental to the wearer.. The boots and legs are designed to be somewhat impact absorbent to help avoid injury when jumping from high places, and the entire suit itself has been manufactured in order to have sound dampening qualities that mean combined with his stealth training Strix can move virtually noiselessly, which also aids the accuracy of the Echo System.

Strix's utility belt and its' contents are his most useful tool in his war against crime and evil. Their typical contents are as follows:

-Two grapple-guns capable of launching seperate lines that can be fed through the micro-motor in his belt.

-High-tension lines and grappling hooks for the same that can be loaded into the grapple-guns and micro-motor.

-Micromotor for the grapple lines stored in the belt, it is capable of being detached from the belt and firmly attached to multiple different surfaces enabling them to be the central focus of grapple lines as they are pulled in.

-a pair of stun guns with variable power settings, though the higher the output the faster the batteries drain, and of course higher outputs aren't safe for use on normal humans. Can use both projectile dart and close range "stun drive" settings.

-A rebreather/air filter capable of sealing onto the uncovered part of Strix's face to protect from chemical attacks.

-Numerous 'pellets' stored in separate compartments. Pellets are handheld capsule-like devices primarily used as tools and throwing weapons that come in many varieties his standard load-out includes 'glue' pellets that either ooze or explode into a gooey, incredibly strong adhesive substance that is also a strong insulator, 'Ice' pellets that burst open and release super-cooled helium in order to flash freeze targets,'stun' pellets that are effectively flashbang grenades, and 'smoke' pellets that release smokescreens. He also has explosive pellets that can be set to timed or trigger function.

-feather-shaped throwing knives, both in true sharpened knife or shuriken-like variety and blunted variety
.
-The Echo System. One of Strix's most useful gadgets, it is a device capable of emitting sound in a wide scope of frequencies and volumes, including those audible to humans and those far above and below. This enables it to do things including linking up with the cowl's HUD in order to give Strix 'sonar-vision', emitting infrasound that can disorient or unnerve opponents, and even emitting bursts of sound loud enough to shatter glass or temporarily deafen foes.

-Strix has also developed a V/STOL stealth aircraft capable of faster-than-sound speeds for his more distant out-of-town work as well as for combating certain potential threats. It can be equipped with conventional missiles and weapons if needed as well as with payloads similar to some of his 'pellets', but almost always is equipped with defensive countermeasures against anti-aircraft weapons.

Apart from any of his equipment as Strix, John Sunday Keller has substantial wealth, both as CEO and majority shareholder of KellerCorp and as sole heir to an already very wealthy family.

Weaknesses: Strix is still an ordinary human underneath his suit and skills, meaning he can get injured or killed as easily as any human. The suit itself is hardly a full guarantee of protection as it is not designed to protect from bladed weapons and the safety it provides from fire, radiation and other forms of harm are all somewhat limited, ensuring the only real way to avoid any harm is not to get hit. Strix's driven and sometimes paranoid nature could also be considered a weakness at times.

Psychological Profile: Strix sees much of the world as something controlled by what he calls The Conspiracy. Everything is connected, often in ways so subtle that no one ever really notices, or bothers even trying to notice. The murder of his parents was just the initial shock that opened his eyes to the truth. He has dedicated his life to unraveling the sinister web of control The Conspiracy has around the world and exposing it. This can at times actually serve to make him a much better detective, as he's willing to investigate leads and connect dots in ways that others would have to be crazy to even consider. While he's definitely more than a little obsessed, he is actually willing to and capable of work on unrelated cases and problems, especially ones that would threaten harm to innocent people.

In his life as John Sunday Keller, he is part laid-back party-going socialite, part inventor and CEO part and philanthropist. There are numerous reasons for his secret identity. The most obvious of course is that by maintaining a civilian life, he deflects The Conspiracy's suspicion. His active social life is an excellent source of information on those agents of the conspiracy that move at the upper-levels of society. His job as CEO and a contributing inventor of KellerCorp both keeps his parents' legacy alive and provides him with numerous resources in his crusade for the truth. Lastly his philanthropic activities are both to honor his parents' memory and to weaken the conspiracy by creating his own positive influence in the wider world. With all of this in mind, he plays his dual roles with the same level of dedication, though he might look at you funny if you accuse him of enjoying his civilian life.

Apart from life as a crimefighting owl-themed detective and partying genius billionaire, John likes various different kinds of tea only partially eu3 to its' effects as a stimulant and has an obsession with all things sweet that he says fuels his brain despite requiring him to work out intensively and counteract it nutritionally in order to maintain his physique. He intensely dislikes killing and guns, with most of his weapons designed with non-lethal applications. He's fond of many genres of music, but especially Free Jazz, as it has fewer established patterns and structures, which he says relaxes him. His favorite kinds of food are Mexican, Italian and Chinese.

Biography: John Keller was born the child of Frederick and Amy Keller, an pair of incredibly affluent 'old money' New Englanders who spent much of their time on philanthropy and social improvement. Their wealth was further bolstered by Frederick's family company The Keller Corporation, a multinational, multi-industry conglomerate with branches in everything from aeronautics and robotics to safety gear and medical equipment, but specializing in the research and development of and applications for so-called 'cutting edge' technologies. John lived about as happy a life as possible, with loving parents and a more comfortable life than many people could even dream of. One of the things John liked most was spending as much time as he could around the various labs and workshops of KellerCorp's applied sciences division, trying to learn everything he could about the sort of work that went on there, eventually even showing hints of an aptitude for technology remarkable in a young child.

However, John's happiness was shattered forever when he was just eight years old. His parents had just taken him to see a movie and they were on their way back from the cinema when they were stopped by a gun-wielding mugger. John's father tried to talk the mugger down but the man panicked and fired, killing both of John's parents in front of him and then fleeing the scene. To John, the world stopped making sense on that day, and justice ceased to exist. It seemed impossible to him that his parents' deaths were simply a random act of desperation and violence. There had to be more to it, some secret his father had uncovered, or the anger of a business rival or the mob or something. But if the universe wasn't going to make sense and if there truly was no justice, then he would simply have to make sense of it on his own and create justice for himself.

From then on John began training himself in both mind and body despite his young age. Between diligent study with the best schools and private tutors his not-inconsiderable money gave him access to plus all of the information the best minds at KellerCorp's disposal could give him, John Keller forced himself to be as close as he could to a true child prodigy, learning as much as he could about everything that he could in order to become brilliant enough to figure out the complex, perhaps even all-encompassing conspiracy he knew must be behind his parents' deaths. While his knack for all things technological moved from a hobby to a sharpened weapon as he contemplated tools for his crusade, he also put much emphasis on learning criminology, forensics and investigative techniques, believing that only the world's greatest detective would be able to solve a mystery that had the whole world fooled. Aware that those behind The Conspiracy were dangerous enough to have his parents killed and that he could rely on no one but himself, he trained physically just as relentlessly, honing his body and studying as many martial arts as he could with near-blinding drive and dedication in preparation for his revenge.

By age 14, John felt that what he could learn at home, even with the numerous resources at his disposal, was not enough. Thus he began travelling the world to find different teachers. He studied ever more diverse martial arts and investigative techniques while also attending various schools and universities and subtly probing for signs of The Conspiracy.

When The Awakening hit the world, things finally began making sense again for John. Life was suddenly revealed to have endless possibilities, endless new twists in The Conspiracy, and now with the world a bigger place filled with even stranger people all out in the open, he could finally begin his hunt for them. But he knew he couldn't do it as just John Keller. A mere man would be too easily killed, too easily stopped, and besides, he wanted to punish all those responsible for The Conspiracy's evil in the world, to drive fear into their hearts. So he adopted the identity of Strix, using modified KellerCorp technology of his own design and choosing the owl motif both to invoke the feeling of a silent hunter of the night and because of the connection between owls and secret knowledge in some civilizations, representing his quest for the 'real' truth.

So he returned home and began hunting for The Conspiracy, starting with the same sorts of street-level thugs that killed his parents to see what they knew and moving on from there. Occasionally he would find himself stopping crimes and super-villains along the way, usually those in some way connected to The Conspiracy. This got him labelled as a superhero and a vigilante, although that was never really his intent. His search for agents and plots of The Conspiracy have taken him all over the place even now that he has established himself as Strix, and despite his 'eccentric beliefs' he's managed to work with several other heroes. With the founding of the League Strix has finally found an organization hopefully free from the Conspiracy. With their help, he might finally be able to make the world make sense again and create true justice.

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