Maxx

Verthaven: A Bloody Paradise [Completed]

So did the Americans here have a good 4th of July?

Verthaven: A Bloody Paradise [Completed]

Shadeyboy, are you doing Nightingale again?

Verthaven: A Bloody Paradise [Completed]

Rafael Davila

Basic Information

Name:

Rafael Davila-Martinez

Nickname/Alias/Etc:

Ralph

Gender:

Male

Age:

29

Height:

6’3”

Weight:

157 lbs

Home District:

Knightdale Rows

Appearance

Hair Color:

Black

Eye Color:

brown

Ethnicity:

Mexican-American

Physical Appearance:

Rafael is a pretty average-looking guy, albeit rather tall and lean. Though thin, Rafael doesn’t work out much, so he’s not very big in the muscle department. Fighting isn’t his thing, and he figures he’s stressed enough already without lifting immensely heavy weights. Despite being of Mexican descent, Rafael has rather pale skin (though it is still obvious that he is of hispanic heritage). On the left side of his chest above his nipple is the tattoo of a gothic cross, and on the right side of his right calf is a tattoo of an acoustic guitar with wings. All of his tattoos are in black ink. He keeps them concealed at all times when working. Rafael’s always a pretty tense-looking guy, someone who really needs a vacation. His shoulders are tight, and he walks extremely quickly, as if slowing down would get him killed. He wreaks of “news reporter” and cologne. He is seen almost exclusively with a Starbucks coffee in his hand (a venti caffe mocha with a triple shot of espresso). No one knows how the man ever sleeps.
Rafael’s head is heart-shaped, with medium-sized ears and a bush of curly black hair on his head kept exactly at regulation length. His face is somewhat gaunt and tired-looking, though he usually looks professional at least when on camera. Often when he doesn’t have work makeup concealing it, he has dark circles under his eyes from stress and tiredness. He has a small, rounded nose and high cheekbones. He has a small goatee which is well-trimmed to look professional.

Attire:

Business formal 24/7 unless he’s on vacation (spoiler alert; he’s never on vacation). Since he has to deal with soul-sucking media almost constantly, Rafael comes dressed for the job. He wears a slim-cut black suit with a button-down dress shirt under it. Usually this shirt is plain white, though occasionally Rafael will mix it up and wear a plaid shirt instead. Rafael has a massive tie collection and wears a different tie every day of the year, though he always switches to a black tie when he needs to go to a press conference. His suit jacket has a NEST badge on the front, and NEST patches on the shoulders. He wears a black belt and black dress shoes. There is always an earpiece in his ear. He carries a Beretta 92 SF inside of his jacket in case he is ever attacked, but he has never had to use it and hopes that he never will. On rare occasions when Rafael isn’t working, he wears a casual oxford or polo and cargo shorts, showing off his leg tattoo.

Personality

Innate & Outward Personality:

Rafael needs a vacation. Badly. It’s a running joke in the NEST office that Rafael is really a robot and every night Director Caryl shoves him in a closet and plugs him in to charge. Rafael is one of the first people on the NEST scene every day, and one of the last to leave. As such, he is both somewhat caustic and tired almost 24/7. Rafael is known to be viciously deadpan and has a short temper, causing him to often shout at employees. He isn’t well-liked around the office, but his determination earns him a degree of respect. Everyone knows how tough a job Rafael has, being pretty much the only shield between the inner workings of NEST and the soul-sucking vampires that work in the news media. He may be an ass, but he does one hell of a good job. Through years of training, Rafael has managed to learn the ultimate media poker face, an incredible sense of restraint and calm that picks up as soon as he sees the first camera. Remarkably intelligent, he is good at picking his words wisely and thinking before he speaks.
Outside of work, Rafael tries as hard as he can to relax. It’s difficult, though; Rafael is high-strung almost around the clock, and when he gets a chance to calm down, it’s really difficult for him to be calm. This generally causes him to drink a lot, and while few would peg him as an alcoholic, he sure does love himself some wine. Rafael is single, which makes sense considering that he usually works a 98-hour work week. Yep, Rafael is a bigtime workaholic, and while he hasn’t really felt that big a degree of isolation, he has definitely alienated a lot of his friends by almost never being home.

Hobbies/Interests:

Drinking coffee, bossing around interns, arguing, addressing the media. As the Director of Media Relations for NEST in Verthaven, Rafael works a lot. When he’s not working, Rafael reads, worries, and hangs out with his friends at local restaurants and bars. He prefers acoustic music overall, and isn’t a big rock person. He has a pretty big condo in Knightdale Rows (he gets paid a lot), though he doesn’t see it much. When he is there, he usually sits on his leather sofa, drinking wine and watching TV. He is a fan of seafood, especially Hawaiian-style seafood. Despite being Mexican, Rafael doesn’t really like Mexican food. Rafael loves to play guitar, though since he works so much he rarely gets to. His dream is to someday retire to a beach in Hawaii and play guitar or ukulele.

Skills/Talents:

If faced with a large crowd of reporters, Rafael is your man. Having once been a reporter, he knows just what makes them tick and is great at bullshitting stupid questions to get people to shut up. He’d make a good politician someday. In addition to this, Rafael is remarkably intelligent, having graduated from Harvard, though he graduated with degrees in English and Journalism, so don’t expect him to pilot a spacecraft or hack a computer or something. He’s a pretty good guitarist, though considering he doesn’t get to play much, he doesn’t do this often.

Prized Possession:

His Taylor acoustic guitar, which he keeps locked-up in a glass case in his condo so that it doesn’t get damaged.

Quote(s):

“Out of my way! Out of my fucking way! I’ve got to go do my fucking job again!”
“As I have said before, NEST is not a transparent government agency. Our purpose is to protect the interests of Metahuman-Americans and, more importantly for the general population, to protect the interests of the American people from Metahuman threats. To effectively accomplish this goal, we cannot afford to allow the general population to understand NEST’s inner-workings. Doing such would put the people of the United States of America at an incredible risk. Next question?”

History/Bio:

I tire of doing these things…
Rafael Davila was born in Mexico, though he doesn’t really remember it. Before he turned two his family came across the border (legally) and settled in Los Angeles, where his father worked at a law firm. Unlike many other Mexican immigrants, Rafael’s father wasn’t terribly poor, and he had gone to American college to get his law degree. Rafael still felt the pang of discrimination, and he was often made fun of by his white schoolmates. He overcame this by working harder, and soon he was the smartest kid in school, blowing away every test and quiz.
When college time came, every liberal arts school in the country seemed to pounce on Rafael and beg him to come to their school. He wanted the biggest and the best, though, and so he applied to Harvard. By some miracle of God, he got in. At Harvard, Rafael majored in English with a minor in journalism, hoping to become a writer. He graduated and found a job working for the LA Times. He worked there for a few years when he was offered a job by People Magazine, which paid significantly more. Rafael was an above average writer, but the true key to his success was his skill in working with people. He wasn’t as stressed in that point in his life. Due to his people skills and their influx of problems, NEST asked Rafael to come aboard as a media relations officer. After showing that he was particularly good at dealing with media sources, NEST promoted him to Director of Media Relations. (Yeah yeah crappy backstory don’t care).

Relationships

Family:

Felix Davila - Father
Antonio Davila-Martinez - Younger Brother
Jesus Davila-Martinez - Older Brother
Ana Martinez-Davila - Mother
Cecilia Davila-Martinez - Younger Sister

Dynamics:

Lihua VuHong | Decent | Co-worker | "Kind of a jerk, but at least she's a professional. Too few people are these days." |
Sam Clarke | Bad | Inferior | "Asshole." |
| | | "" |
| | | "" |

Abilities

Power Class:

NA

Power:

Does dealing with the media count?

Limits:

NA

Weaknesses/Drawbacks:

NA

Other:

Verthaven: A Bloody Paradise [Completed]

Sam Clarke

Basic Information

Name:

Sam Clarke

Nickname/Alias/Etc:

Sam, Renegade, KINGFISHER FALCON

Gender:

Male

Age:

34

Height:

6’0”

Weight:

190 lbs

Home District:

Knightdale Rows

Appearance

Hair Color:

Dark brown

Eye Color:

brown

Ethnicity:

English, Mexican, Cherokee, though he is still caucasian.

Physical Appearance:

Sam is a decently handsome individual, muscular and well-built. He is a man who obviously knows his way around the gym, and it is clear that he is quite physically active. He has strong, broad shoulders, a barrelled chest, and chiseled abs. His skin is tanned from spending long hours outside. Sam’s right bicep has a tattoo of the American flag on it. Around said flag are the words “Don’t tread on me.” On the upper right side of his chest is a tattoo of a Mendel NEST badge. Around the badge are seven names, presumably of Sam’s friends who died in combat. The badge is tattooed over a bullet scar.
Sam’s head is rectangular, long with a sharp jawline. He’s got slightly larger-than-average ears and an average nose. His hair is a dark brown and is combed in a fade, with the top combed back and the sides shaved down to a buzz. Sam has a wide mouth and a smile of mostly cleverly-disguised false teeth, especially along the right side of his lower jaw. His eyes are brown and his eyebrows are dark and tough-looking.
Sam generally walks with his chest puffed out and his head scanning around him. He seems confident in his posture, but yet his eyes are always darting around behind his aviators, looking to see if he’s being watched. His voice is low and intense-sounding, with a definite southern drawl.

Attire:

On-duty: When on-duty, Sam wears full NEST KINGFISHER tactical gear, which essentially looks like a more-molded version of full police tac gear minus the helmet. It contains a vest, shoulder guards, bicep guards, vambraces, gauntlets, hip guards, a cup, thigh guards, kneepads, shin guards, and boots. The gear is made of polythene plastic with an outer and inner layer of a Kevlar and Aramid Fiber weave. The vest portion of the armor contains a much thicker version of this weave like a bulletproof vest does. Each set of armor is tailored to the agent wearing it to contour perfectly to their body, making it as mobile as possible. As it is armor designed to fight metas, it is equipped to handle several common meta threats. The armor is insulated from electricity, is fireproof up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit, and is shock-resistant, reducing the amount of damage taken from physical attacks (though if anything with super strength hits him, he’s still going to feel it). Under the armor, Sam generally wears urban camo pants and a thick long-sleeved shirt (made of a material which is highly fire-resistant), though if it's overly hot out, he'll get rid of the sleeves and wear a black tee shirt under the armor. On the shoulders of his gear are patches displaying the NEST KINGFISHER badge. Sam doesn’t wear a helmet, but he always wears a pair of blue-tinted mirrored aviators to cover his eyes. When in assault mode (like, he’s about to attack a heavily-armed facility or something) Sam will don a pair of night-vision goggles as well as a helmet and a face shield.

Since Sam is a NEST agent and might be seeing a good bit of combat, I’ll describe his weaponry here. Sam’s go-to gun is a nickel-plated Glock 22 with a modified 20-round magazine. This weapon he keeps on him at all times, even when he’s not in-uniform. When fighting, he screws a silencer onto the gun. When he’s on a mission, Sam also carries with him the Beretta ARX 160, an automatic carbine. The gun is designed to fire 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition (what an M16 generally fires), but Sam generally loads the gun instead with magazines containing Praetoriphor capsules, though in NEST circles said substance goes by the more foreboding name of Serum 17. Serum 17 is a gaseous serum which targets and destroys cells with atypical human DNA. It was originally designed as a cancer treatment (known as Praetoriphor) but a scientist working for NEST KINGFISHER altered it to be used as an aerosol weapon against metas. Exposure to the serum causes chemical burns, severe pain, and weakening of physical defenses (biological armors of any kind). The serum is nonfatal, however. Sam also carries a basic combat knife with him.

Off-Duty: Sam’s off-duty attire is generally cargo shorts, a tee shirt of some kind, and his trademark blue aviators. He wears a gold wedding band on his left hand (he always wears this, but when on duty his gloves conceal it) and around his neck he wears a bullet on a chain (also on when he’s on-duty). Said bullet was taken from his chest when he was shot on-duty during the Mendel Gang War. He never takes it off. When it gets cold, Sam wears a denim jacket and jeans.

Personality

Innate & Outward Personality:

Sam is a tough warrior of a guy who’s just beginning to settle down into a normal life. He’s generally a confident (maybe a little over-confident) and mentally-tough guy, doing whatever he needs to do to get the job done. You can accuse Sam of many things, but being a coward is not one of them. Sam puts his life on the line time and time again. He’s known to be pretty reckless in battle, and were it not for his power he probably would’ve died years ago. He’s as loyal as he is brave. Being more of a follower than a leader, he will generally listen to commands and has trust that whoever is in power knows what they’re doing. Over the years Sam has gained a great deal of pride, however, and he will not do other people’s dirty work. Sam generally tries to stick to the plan, but on a few occasions his reckless nature has caused him to go all Leeroy Jenkins on a mission.
Sam’s not some ideal hero, however. He’s a workaholic, first and foremost, and worse than that he often uses work to avoid problems back home. He took the Verthaven job to attempt to escape his marital problems, which are becoming quite troublesome on his mind. While he is fearless when facing the barrel of a gun or the fire of a metahuman, Sam isn’t quite so courageous when it comes to family matters. Sam’s family in itself has definitely taken the edge off of the old Falcon. He can’t really be as reckless as he used to be because he has a wife and a kid to come back to now. This makes him hesitant, especially when in a highly-dangerous situation where hesitance could spell failure.

Hobbies/Interests:

Being a dad now, Sam has begun to enjoy more dad-esque things such as fishing and grilling. He absolutely will not do golf, however, and any friend of his who offers him a game of golf knows that they’re in for a facefull. Sam smokes cigars a lot, and is quite a cigar aficionado, though with the kid around he’s begun to stop smoking as much. When his buddies are in town, Sam will hang out with them and share a beer or two, though he generally doesn’t drink unless in a group. On clear nights, he will go out for a drive with his Harley. Sam’s music is generally rock, and his favorite bands are Foo Fighters, AC/DC, Shinedown, Bon Jovi, and Avenged Sevenfold. He’s begun to listen to country some as well, and it’s not uncommon for Sam to be listening to Toby Keith or Kenny Chesney. He watches Sportcenter a lot. His favorite football team is the Cowboys and his favorite baseball team is the Rangers.

Skills/Talents:

Well let’s get all the combat out of the way before we talk about normal things. Being an elite member of an elite squadron of NEST, you don’t generally want to get in a fight with Sam. He is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and is a killer streetfighter. Having once been a boxer in high school and college, he has fairly good feet and throws one hell of a jab. He is a master marksman on the Glock 22 (it means he passed the highest level of accuracy qualifications) and is fairly accurate on the rifle as well, though he’s still training to get marksman status for it. He’s fast too. Sam’s certainly not as quick as he used to be, but he can still outrun your average goon.
Aside from fighting, Sam’s decent at many things, but he’s not really good at things which don’t require punching or kicking. He’s handy around the house, meaning that he knows how to change a lightbulb or install appliances. He knows his way around a toolbox, but he’s no carpenter. When he was a kid, Sam was in a band, and he still remembers how to play guitar, though he has only just recently begun to practice it again. Sam is also good with a barbecue, and makes the best pulled pork you’ve ever eaten, an old family recipe. He’s a master at Cornhole.

Prized Possession:

He used to say the bullet around his neck, but now he’s a grownup so he feels required to say “my family”.

Quote(s):

“Time to watch me disappear.”

History/Bio:

Sam was born in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. He was born into a military family, with a father who fought in Grenada and the Gulf War, an uncle who served in Vietnam (his uncle was actually a helicopter door gunner in ‘Nam, possibly the most dangerous job you could have) and a grandfather who served in World War II. As such, he spent his childhood listening to war stories. Though his father was in the military, the family didn’t move around very much, though Sam did spend a few years at Quantico in Virginia. When For the entirety of his childhood, Sam Clarke wanted to be a United States Marine, just like his father. In high school, he played football and was an all-star linebacker (which in Texas is saying something), and he was captain of his school’s ROTC. He was all set; at his mother’s request, he would attend Texas A&M on a football scholarship and do Navy ROTC so that once he got out he could enlist. However, just as he was about to go to college, the government enacted Proclamation 18: a law which outlawed metahumans in the US military.
Now Sam knew about his power since he was young. One night when he was ten, Sam’s house was broken into while he was sitting in the living room. He was so terrified that he turned invisible, and later his parents walked around the room trying to find him as he cried. He had never really cared much about his powers, though, and rarely used them. Knowing how much discrimination metas were put under, his parents never told anyone that their son was a meta, and Sam never told anyone either, not even his best friends.
But not telling people wouldn’t get you through a genetic test. Sam was denied entrance to Texas A&M’s ROTC. He was crushed, and nearly failed out of school. He came with the news to his father; his father just told him how much of a disappointment he was. Crushed, Sam dropped out of school and turned into a bum for a year or so, sitting around and drinking, wallowing in his own self-pity. Then a friend of his took him to Mendel, Louisiana, and introduced him to NEST. Immediately, Sam decided that he was going to join them. With their help, he got into Mendel University and got a degree in criminal justice. On the side, he worked with the Wright Institute, which trained him how to use his powers properly.
After graduating college and the Wright Institute, Sam began NEST training, which lasted two years. Due to his football and boxing when he was young, Sam was very talented at hand-to-hand combat, and his powers made him even more effective. For about three years, he patrolled as a normal member of NEST, and quickly showed himself to be an excellent warrior. Then, in 2005, the Mendel Gang War began. The Vanguard lieutenant known as Black Mamba was murdered by a member of the Skulls known as Jack Frost, and a war broke out which would last about six years. Sam was instrumental in the fight against the gangs, and at the fever pitch of the war in 2010, he was promoted to KINGFISHER, an elite unit of NEST designed to combat metahuman gang violence. Using a combination of his powers and deep-cover operation as a member of the Skulls, KINGFISHER was able to topple the gang and put the leader of the Skulls, a bloke who went by the name Skeleton, behind bars in a maximum-security prison designed specifically to combat his power. Sam himself killed one of Skeleton’s lieutenants, known as Diablo. The battle took its toll on KINGFISHER, however, and five of its fourteen agents were killed. This was the battle when Sam was shot, and the bullet around his neck is the one that was taken from his chest. This pretty much ended the gang war, and ever since NEST has been attempting to hunt down the leader of the Vanguard, who disappeared after her home was attacked by a KINGFISHER strike. Now that Sam was thirty, he figured that it was time to settle down. He got married relatively quickly, and now has a three-year-old son. Recently, he’s been having some problems with his family. His wife wants him to be home more often, and the pressures of being a father are taking a toll on him. So he decided to take a job in Verthaven with a few other KINFISHERs, an operation aimed to stop the war between the Red Crowns and the Iron Cross. Little does Sam know, however, that a much worse threat is about to terrorize Verthaven.

Relationships

Family:

SgtMaj. Daniel Clarke - Father - 61
Carla Clarke - Mother - 60
Capt. James Clarke - Uncle - 65
(the older) Sam Clarke - Grandfather - Deceased
Miranda Clarke - Wife - 31
Sam Clarke Jr - Son - 2 ½
Bravo - Dog (German Shepherd) - 6

Dynamics:

Carl Semken | Good | Firing Range Buddy | "Damn, that guy doesn't have a face." |
Michelle Gallus | Good | Co-Worker | "She's a good agent, someone who I'm glad is on my side." |
Anastasia Lytvyn | Wary | Partner | "Nightingale, as they call her, seems somewhat trustworthy, and she saved my ass before, but something doesn't seem quite right about her. I want to like her, but I'm not sure if I trust her completely yet. Only time will tell." |
Rafael Davila | Bad | Co-worker | "Asshole." |
| | | "" |

Abilities

Power Class:

Super-System Biological

Power:

Invisibility: You can’t hit what you can’t see. Sam Clarke has the ability to bend light around him, causing himself to become completely invisible. When his power is activated, he becomes impossible to pick up with the naked eye and motion sense technology. In addition to this, since Sam bends light around himself, he is invisible to thermal cameras as well as night vision of any kind. Sam has the ability to cause any object touching him to also become invisible, though the largest thing which he’s done this with is a ten-year-old boy. Through training, Sam has learned how to use his power so well that he can independently cause different parts of his body to disappear, allowing him to, for example, cause his leg to turn invisible as he’s kicking, making it harder for enemies to dodge. Sam also has the ability to, when completely invisible, make himself sound-proof, allowing him to move in silence. He can switch off his soundproofing to use comms devices, however.

Limits:

As with all things, there is a time limit to how long Sam can stay invisible. The most that he’s done in one sitting is two-and-a-half hours, and by the end he was incredibly exhausted.

Weaknesses/Drawbacks:

Vibrations, primarily. Intense vibrations cause Sam to shake so much that he becomes visible temporarily. This prevents him from turning invisible while on his motorcycle, and also causes him to flicker into appearance for a split second every time he fires his gun (this, as you will see, is both a weakness and a strength) and when he’s running particularly quickly/bumping into things. This means that Sam must become at least visible for a split second when fighting, making it easier for enemies to identify him. The vibrations cancel out his soundproofing too, so you hear the gun firing and such.
Secondly, while others cannot see Sam, Sam can’t see himself when invisible either. This means that in order to prevent himself from being an uncoordinated mess, he has to have very good kinesthetic awareness. If he’s distracted, he could literally forget where he is and hurt himself. This also presents a problem with aiming. While Sam has memorized where he keeps his guns, he cannot see down a sight that is invisible. This is where his vibration weakness comes in handy slightly. Sam has learned how to aim in the intervals between shots, allowing him to see the gun at the same time that his enemies see him. On the first shot, however, Sam might as well be blind, and he is absolutely dreadful at shooting from the hip.
Thirdly, Sam is not immune to certain forms of detection. Pressure plates, for example, will still trip when he steps on them, and telepaths can sense his brainwaves. If Sam is discovered, his powers give him no protection from a well-placed bullet, and his lack of headgear makes it not so difficult for a well-trained marksman to end Sam Clarke’s days with a bullet to the head.

Other:

Sam rides a black Harley Davidson XL883 Sportster into battle. It is painted all black. Sam also owns a black 2013 Chevy Silverado with a ram bar on the front. It doubles as an undercover police car, and contains a NEST scanner as well as sirens.

The Pretender by Foo Fighters

Sample Post:

Verthaven: A Bloody Paradise [Completed]

Sam Clarke

Basic Information

Name:

Sam Clarke

Nickname/Alias/Etc:

Sam, Renegade, KINGFISHER FALCON

Gender:

Male

Age:

34

Height:

6’0”

Weight:

190 lbs

Home District:

Knightdale Rows

Appearance

Hair Color:

Dark brown

Eye Color:

brown

Ethnicity:

English, Mexican, Cherokee, though he is still caucasian.

Physical Appearance:

Sam is a decently handsome individual, muscular and well-built. He is a man who obviously knows his way around the gym, and it is clear that he is quite physically active. He has strong, broad shoulders, a barrelled chest, and chiseled abs. His skin is tanned from spending long hours outside. Sam’s right bicep has a tattoo of the American flag on it. Around said flag are the words “Don’t tread on me.” On the upper right side of his chest is a tattoo of a Mendel NEST badge. Around the badge are seven names, presumably of Sam’s friends who died in combat. The badge is tattooed over a bullet scar.
Sam’s head is rectangular, long with a sharp jawline. He’s got slightly larger-than-average ears and an average nose. His hair is a dark brown and is combed in a fade, with the top combed back and the sides shaved down to a buzz. Sam has a wide mouth and a smile of mostly cleverly-disguised false teeth, especially along the right side of his lower jaw. His eyes are brown and his eyebrows are dark and tough-looking.
Sam generally walks with his chest puffed out and his head scanning around him. He seems confident in his posture, but yet his eyes are always darting around behind his aviators, looking to see if he’s being watched. His voice is low and intense-sounding, with a definite southern drawl.

Attire:

On-duty: When on-duty, Sam wears full NEST KINGFISHER tactical gear, which essentially looks like full police tac gear minus the helmet. The gear is reinforced at vital spots with Dragonskin, a kevlar-like material which can stop most ballistic weapons. As it is armor designed to fight metas, it is equipped to handle several common meta threats. The armor is insulated from electricity, is fireproof up to 600 degrees Fahrenheit, and is shock-resistant, reducing the amount of damage taken from physical attacks (though if anything with super strength hits him, he’s still going to feel it). On the shoulders of his gear are patches displaying the NEST KINGFISHER badge. Sam doesn’t wear a helmet, but he always wears a pair of blue-tinted mirrored aviators to cover his eyes. When in assault mode (like, he’s about to attack a heavily-armed facility or something) Sam will don a pair of night-vision goggles as well as a helmet and a face shield.

Since Sam is a NEST agent and might be seeing a good bit of combat, I’ll describe his weaponry here. Sam’s go-to gun is a nickel-plated Glock 22 with a modified 20-round magazine. This weapon he keeps on him at all times, even when he’s not in-uniform. When fighting, he screws a silencer onto the gun. When he’s on a mission, Sam also carries with him the Beretta ARX 160, an automatic carbine. The gun is designed to fire 5.56×45mm NATO ammunition (what an M16 generally fires), but Sam generally loads the gun instead with magazines containing Praetoriphor capsules, though in NEST circles said substance goes by the more foreboding name of Serum 17. Serum 17 is a gaseous serum which targets and destroys cells with atypical human DNA. It was originally designed as a cancer treatment (known as Praetoriphor) but a scientist working for NEST KINGFISHER altered it to be used as an aerosol weapon against metas. Exposure to the serum causes chemical burns, severe pain, and weakening of physical defenses (biological armors of any kind). The serum is nonfatal, however. Sam also carries a basic combat knife with him.

Off-Duty: Sam’s off-duty attire is generally cargo shorts, a tee shirt of some kind, and his trademark blue aviators. He wears a gold wedding band on his left hand (he always wears this, but when on duty his gloves conceal it) and around his neck he wears a bullet on a chain (also on when he’s on-duty). Said bullet was taken from his chest when he was shot on-duty during the Mendel Gang War. He never takes it off. When it gets cold, Sam wears a denim jacket and jeans.

Personality

Innate & Outward Personality:

Sam is a tough warrior of a guy who’s just beginning to settle down into a normal life. He’s generally a confident (maybe a little over-confident) and mentally-tough guy, doing whatever he needs to do to get the job done. You can accuse Sam of many things, but being a coward is not one of them. Sam puts his life on the line time and time again. He’s known to be pretty reckless in battle, and were it not for his power he probably would’ve died years ago. He’s as loyal as he is brave. Being more of a follower than a leader, he will generally listen to commands and has trust that whoever is in power knows what they’re doing. Over the years Sam has gained a great deal of pride, however, and he will not do other people’s dirty work. Sam generally tries to stick to the plan, but on a few occasions his reckless nature has caused him to go all Leeroy Jenkins on a mission.
Sam’s not some ideal hero, however. He’s a workaholic, first and foremost, and worse than that he often uses work to avoid problems back home. He took the Verthaven job to attempt to escape his marital problems, which are becoming quite troublesome on his mind. While he is fearless when facing the barrel of a gun or the fire of a metahuman, Sam isn’t quite so courageous when it comes to family matters. Sam’s family in itself has definitely taken the edge off of the old Falcon. He can’t really be as reckless as he used to be because he has a wife and a kid to come back to now. This makes him hesitant, especially when in a highly-dangerous situation where hesitance could spell failure.

Hobbies/Interests:

Being a dad now, Sam has begun to enjoy more dad-esque things such as fishing and grilling. He absolutely will not do golf, however, and any friend of his who offers him a game of golf knows that they’re in for a facefull. Sam smokes cigars a lot, and is quite a cigar aficionado, though with the kid around he’s begun to stop smoking as much. When his buddies are in town, Sam will hang out with them and share a beer or two, though he generally doesn’t drink unless in a group. On clear nights, he will go out for a drive with his Harley. Sam’s music is generally rock, and his favorite bands are Foo Fighters, AC/DC, Shinedown, Bon Jovi, and Avenged Sevenfold. He’s begun to listen to country some as well, and it’s not uncommon for Sam to be listening to Toby Keith or Kenny Chesney. He watches Sportcenter a lot. His favorite football team is the Cowboys and his favorite baseball team is the Rangers.

Skills/Talents:

Well let’s get all the combat out of the way before we talk about normal things. Being an elite member of an elite squadron of NEST, you don’t generally want to get in a fight with Sam. He is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, and is a killer streetfighter. Having once been a boxer in high school and college, he has fairly good feet and throws one hell of a jab. He is a master marksman on the Glock 22 (it means he passed the highest level of accuracy qualifications) and is fairly accurate on the rifle as well, though he’s still training to get marksman status for it. He’s fast too. Sam’s certainly not as quick as he used to be, but he can still outrun your average goon.
Aside from fighting, Sam’s decent at many things, but he’s not really good at things which don’t require punching or kicking. He’s handy around the house, meaning that he knows how to change a lightbulb or install appliances. He knows his way around a toolbox, but he’s no carpenter. When he was a kid, Sam was in a band, and he still remembers how to play guitar, though he has only just recently begun to practice it again. Sam is also good with a barbecue, and makes the best pulled pork you’ve ever eaten, an old family recipe. He’s a master at Cornhole.

Prized Possession:

He used to say the bullet around his neck, but now he’s a grownup so he feels required to say “my family”.

Quote(s):

“Time to watch me disappear.”

History/Bio:

Sam was born in the suburbs of Houston, Texas. He was born into a military family, with a father who fought in Grenada and the Gulf War, an uncle who served in Vietnam (his uncle was actually a helicopter door gunner in ‘Nam, possibly the most dangerous job you could have) and a grandfather who served in World War II. As such, he spent his childhood listening to war stories. Though his father was in the military, the family didn’t move around very much, though Sam did spend a few years at Quantico in Virginia. When For the entirety of his childhood, Sam Clarke wanted to be a United States Marine, just like his father. In high school, he played football and was an all-star linebacker (which in Texas is saying something), and he was captain of his school’s ROTC. He was all set; at his mother’s request, he would attend Texas A&M on a football scholarship and do Navy ROTC so that once he got out he could enlist. However, just as he was about to go to college, the government enacted Proclamation 18: a law which outlawed metahumans in the US military.
Now Sam knew about his power since he was young. One night when he was ten, Sam’s house was broken into while he was sitting in the living room. He was so terrified that he turned invisible, and later his parents walked around the room trying to find him as he cried. He had never really cared much about his powers, though, and rarely used them. Knowing how much discrimination metas were put under, his parents never told anyone that their son was a meta, and Sam never told anyone either, not even his best friends.
But not telling people wouldn’t get you through a genetic test. Sam was denied entrance to Texas A&M’s ROTC. He was crushed, and nearly failed out of school. He came with the news to his father; his father just told him how much of a disappointment he was. Crushed, Sam dropped out of school and turned into a bum for a year or so, sitting around and drinking, wallowing in his own self-pity. Then a friend of his took him to Mendel, Louisiana, and introduced him to NEST. Immediately, Sam decided that he was going to join them. With their help, he got into Mendel University and got a degree in criminal justice. On the side, he worked with the Wright Institute, which trained him how to use his powers properly.
After graduating college and the Wright Institute, Sam began NEST training, which lasted two years. Due to his football and boxing when he was young, Sam was very talented at hand-to-hand combat, and his powers made him even more effective. For about three years, he patrolled as a normal member of NEST, and quickly showed himself to be an excellent warrior. Then, in 2005, the Mendel Gang War began. The Vanguard lieutenant known as Black Mamba was murdered by a member of the Skulls known as Jack Frost, and a war broke out which would last about six years. Sam was instrumental in the fight against the gangs, and at the fever pitch of the war in 2010, he was promoted to KINGFISHER, an elite unit of NEST designed to combat metahuman gang violence. Using a combination of his powers and deep-cover operation as a member of the Skulls, KINGFISHER was able to topple the gang and put the leader of the Skulls, a bloke who went by the name Skeleton, behind bars in a maximum-security prison designed specifically to combat his power. Sam himself killed one of Skeleton’s lieutenants, known as Diablo. The battle took its toll on KINGFISHER, however, and five of its fourteen agents were killed. This was the battle when Sam was shot, and the bullet around his neck is the one that was taken from his chest. This pretty much ended the gang war, and ever since NEST has been attempting to hunt down the leader of the Vanguard, who disappeared after her home was attacked by a KINGFISHER strike. Now that Sam was thirty, he figured that it was time to settle down. He got married relatively quickly, and now has a three-year-old son. Recently, he’s been having some problems with his family. His wife wants him to be home more often, and the pressures of being a father are taking a toll on him. So he decided to take a job in Verthaven with a few other KINFISHERs, an operation aimed to stop the war between the Red Crowns and the Iron Cross. Little does Sam know, however, that a much worse threat is about to terrorize Verthaven.

Relationships

Family:

SgtMaj. Daniel Clarke - Father - 61
Carla Clarke - Mother - 60
Capt. James Clarke - Uncle - 65
(the older) Sam Clarke - Grandfather - Deceased
Miranda Clarke - Wife - 31
Sam Clarke Jr - Son - 2 ½
Bravo - Dog (German Shepherd) - 6

Dynamics:

| | | "" |

Abilities

Power Class:

Super-System Biological

Power:

Invisibility: You can’t hit what you can’t see. Sam Clarke has the ability to bend light around him, causing himself to become completely invisible. When his power is activated, he becomes impossible to pick up with the naked eye and motion sense technology. In addition to this, since Sam bends light around himself, he is invisible to thermal cameras as well as night vision of any kind. Sam has the ability to cause any object touching him to also become invisible, though the largest thing which he’s done this with is a ten-year-old boy. Through training, Sam has learned how to use his power so well that he can independently cause different parts of his body to disappear, allowing him to, for example, cause his leg to turn invisible as he’s kicking, making it harder for enemies to dodge. Sam also has the ability to, when completely invisible, make himself sound-proof, allowing him to move in silence. He can switch off his soundproofing to use comms devices, however.

Limits:

As with all things, there is a time limit to how long Sam can stay invisible. The most that he’s done in one sitting is two-and-a-half hours, and by the end he was incredibly exhausted.

Weaknesses/Drawbacks:

Vibrations, primarily. Intense vibrations cause Sam to shake so much that he becomes visible temporarily. This prevents him from turning invisible while on his motorcycle, and also causes him to flicker into appearance for a split second every time he fires his gun (this, as you will see, is both a weakness and a strength) and when he’s running particularly quickly/bumping into things. This means that Sam must become at least visible for a split second when fighting, making it easier for enemies to identify him. The vibrations cancel out his soundproofing too, so you hear the gun firing and such.
Secondly, while others cannot see Sam, Sam can’t see himself when invisible either. This means that in order to prevent himself from being an uncoordinated mess, he has to have very good kinesthetic awareness. If he’s distracted, he could literally forget where he is and hurt himself. This also presents a problem with aiming. While Sam has memorized where he keeps his guns, he cannot see down a sight that is invisible. This is where his vibration weakness comes in handy slightly. Sam has learned how to aim in the intervals between shots, allowing him to see the gun at the same time that his enemies see him. On the first shot, however, Sam might as well be blind, and he is absolutely dreadful at shooting from the hip.
Thirdly, Sam is not immune to certain forms of detection. Pressure plates, for example, will still trip when he steps on them, and telepaths can sense his brainwaves. If Sam is discovered, his powers give him no protection from a well-placed bullet, and his lack of headgear makes it not so difficult for a well-trained marksman to end Sam Clarke’s days with a bullet to the head.

Other:

Sam rides a black Harley Davidson XL883 Sportster into battle. It is painted all black. Sam also owns a black 2013 Chevy Silverado with a ram bar on the front. It doubles as an undercover police car, and contains a NEST scanner as well as sirens.

The Pretender by Foo Fighters

Sample Post:

Rafael Davila

Basic Information

Name:

Rafael Davila-Martinez

Nickname/Alias/Etc:

Ralph

Gender:

Male

Age:

29

Height:

6’3”

Weight:

157 lbs

Home District:

Knightdale Rows

Appearance

Hair Color:

Black

Eye Color:

brown

Ethnicity:

Mexican-American

Physical Appearance:

Rafael is a pretty average-looking guy, albeit rather tall and lean. Though thin, Rafael doesn’t work out much, so he’s not very big in the muscle department. Fighting isn’t his thing, and he figures he’s stressed enough already without lifting immensely heavy weights. Despite being of Mexican descent, Rafael has rather pale skin (though it is still obvious that he is of hispanic heritage). On the left side of his chest above his nipple is the tattoo of a gothic cross, and on the right side of his right calf is a tattoo of an acoustic guitar with wings. All of his tattoos are in black ink. He keeps them concealed at all times when working. Rafael’s always a pretty tense-looking guy, someone who really needs a vacation. His shoulders are tight, and he walks extremely quickly, as if slowing down would get him killed. He wreaks of “news reporter” and cologne. He is seen almost exclusively with a Starbucks coffee in his hand (a venti caffe mocha with a triple shot of espresso). No one knows how the man ever sleeps.
Rafael’s head is heart-shaped, with medium-sized ears and a bush of curly black hair on his head kept exactly at regulation length. His face is somewhat gaunt and tired-looking, though he usually looks professional at least when on camera. Often when he doesn’t have work makeup concealing it, he has dark circles under his eyes from stress and tiredness. He has a small, rounded nose and high cheekbones. He has a small goatee which is well-trimmed to look professional.

Attire:

Business formal 24/7 unless he’s on vacation (spoiler alert; he’s never on vacation). Since he has to deal with soul-sucking media almost constantly, Rafael comes dressed for the job. He wears a slim-cut black suit with a button-down dress shirt under it. Usually this shirt is plain white, though occasionally Rafael will mix it up and wear a plaid shirt instead. Rafael has a massive tie collection and wears a different tie every day of the year, though he always switches to a black tie when he needs to go to a press conference. His suit jacket has a NEST badge on the front, and NEST patches on the shoulders. He wears a black belt and black dress shoes. There is always an earpiece in his ear. He carries a Beretta 92 SF inside of his jacket in case he is ever attacked, but he has never had to use it and hopes that he never will. On rare occasions when Rafael isn’t working, he wears a casual oxford or polo and cargo shorts, showing off his leg tattoo.

Personality

Innate & Outward Personality:

Rafael needs a vacation. Badly. It’s a running joke in the NEST office that Rafael is really a robot and every night Director Caryl shoves him in a closet and plugs him in to charge. Rafael is one of the first people on the NEST scene every day, and one of the last to leave. As such, he is both somewhat caustic and tired almost 24/7. Rafael is known to be viciously deadpan and has a short temper, causing him to often shout at employees. He isn’t well-liked around the office, but his determination earns him a degree of respect. Everyone knows how tough a job Rafael has, being pretty much the only shield between the inner workings of NEST and the soul-sucking vampires that work in the news media. He may be an ass, but he does one hell of a good job. Through years of training, Rafael has managed to learn the ultimate media poker face, an incredible sense of restraint and calm that picks up as soon as he sees the first camera. Remarkably intelligent, he is good at picking his words wisely and thinking before he speaks.
Outside of work, Rafael tries as hard as he can to relax. It’s difficult, though; Rafael is high-strung almost around the clock, and when he gets a chance to calm down, it’s really difficult for him to be calm. This generally causes him to drink a lot, and while few would peg him as an alcoholic, he sure does love himself some wine. Rafael is single, which makes sense considering that he usually works a 98-hour work week. Yep, Rafael is a bigtime workaholic, and while he hasn’t really felt that big a degree of isolation, he has definitely alienated a lot of his friends by almost never being home.

Hobbies/Interests:

Drinking coffee, bossing around interns, arguing, addressing the media. As the Director of Media Relations for NEST in Verthaven, Rafael works a lot. When he’s not working, Rafael reads, worries, and hangs out with his friends at local restaurants and bars. He prefers acoustic music overall, and isn’t a big rock person. He has a pretty big condo in Knightdale Rows (he gets paid a lot), though he doesn’t see it much. When he is there, he usually sits on his leather sofa, drinking wine and watching TV. He is a fan of seafood, especially Hawaiian-style seafood. Despite being Mexican, Rafael doesn’t really like Mexican food. Rafael loves to play guitar, though since he works so much he rarely gets to. His dream is to someday retire to a beach in Hawaii and play guitar or ukulele.

Skills/Talents:

If faced with a large crowd of reporters, Rafael is your man. Having once been a reporter, he knows just what makes them tick and is great at bullshitting stupid questions to get people to shut up. He’d make a good politician someday. In addition to this, Rafael is remarkably intelligent, having graduated from Harvard, though he graduated with degrees in English and Journalism, so don’t expect him to pilot a spacecraft or hack a computer or something. He’s a pretty good guitarist, though considering he doesn’t get to play much, he doesn’t do this often.

Prized Possession:

His Taylor acoustic guitar, which he keeps locked-up in a glass case in his condo so that it doesn’t get damaged.

Quote(s):

“Out of my way! Out of my fucking way! I’ve got to go do my fucking job again!”
“As I have said before, NEST is not a transparent government agency. Our purpose is to protect the interests of Metahuman-Americans and, more importantly for the general population, to protect the interests of the American people from Metahuman threats. To effectively accomplish this goal, we cannot afford to allow the general population to understand NEST’s inner-workings. Doing such would put the people of the United States of America at an incredible risk. Next question?”

History/Bio:

I tire of doing these things…
Rafael Davila was born in Mexico, though he doesn’t really remember it. Before he turned two his family came across the border (legally) and settled in Los Angeles, where his father worked at a law firm. Unlike many other Mexican immigrants, Rafael’s father wasn’t terribly poor, and he had gone to American college to get his law degree. Rafael still felt the pang of discrimination, and he was often made fun of by his white schoolmates. He overcame this by working harder, and soon he was the smartest kid in school, blowing away every test and quiz.
When college time came, every liberal arts school in the country seemed to pounce on Rafael and beg him to come to their school. He wanted the biggest and the best, though, and so he applied to Harvard. By some miracle of God, he got in. At Harvard, Rafael majored in English with a minor in journalism, hoping to become a writer. He graduated and found a job working for the LA Times. He worked there for a few years when he was offered a job by People Magazine, which paid significantly more. Rafael was an above average writer, but the true key to his success was his skill in working with people. He wasn’t as stressed in that point in his life. Due to his people skills and their influx of problems, NEST asked Rafael to come aboard as a media relations officer. After showing that he was particularly good at dealing with media sources, NEST promoted him to Director of Media Relations. (Yeah yeah crappy backstory don’t care).

Relationships

Family:

Felix Davila - Father
Antonio Davila-Martinez - Younger Brother
Jesus Davila-Martinez - Older Brother
Ana Martinez-Davila - Mother
Cecilia Davila-Martinez - Younger Sister

Dynamics:

| | | "" |

Abilities

Power Class:

NA

Power:

Does dealing with the media count?

Limits:

NA

Weaknesses/Drawbacks:

NA

Other:

Fallen (Robots versus Superhumans, Now Accepting)

Wow. I thought more people would show up for Robots Vs. metas. It's the two most popular kinds of roleplays in one.

Fallen (Robots versus Superhumans, Now Accepting)

Needs moar beep boop.

Fallen (Robots versus Superhumans, Now Accepting)

SO I'm planning at least one more major Coroner. There will be a few NPC ones too, but their powers will be useless against machines, so they'll die quickly (a blood manipulator and a disease manipulator). I'm not writing a whole sheet for a one-post cameo.

Fallen (Robots versus Superhumans, Now Accepting)

Let's get this party started!

Charon, Lord of the Dead

NAME: Charon
AGE: 45
GENDER: Male

---

APPEARANCE: Charon is a man standing at 6’5” and weighing around 120 lbs. He is severely underweight, his bones showing through his skin. He is sickly pale, almost white as a sheet despite being of Mexican heritage. He is obviously severely malnourished, yet he never acts hungry. Charon is bald, and his entire head is painted to look like a white sugar skull, with red accents, face paint that makes his mouth appear like that of a skull’s. In Mexican fashion, the skull is decorated with red flowers, and there are black rings outlined in red around the eyes. He wears contacts that make his irises appear to be red. Clothing-wise, Charon wears a pair of black trousers, a black dress shirt, a black tie, and a long black leather trench coat which trails down to halfway down his calves. This trench coat is buttoned up all the way up to the collar, which hugs his neck like a priest’s collar. He also wears a pair of black boots styled to look like dress shoes. Obviously, everything which Charon wears is black, and everything is fully buttoned-up even when it’s incredibly hot. Charon never seems to feel hot, however, and he does not sweat (visibly, at least).

---

PERSONALITY: Crazy, merciless, somber, Charon is a manifestation of Death itself. He is a registered psychopath, completely without remorse of any kind and is viciously sadistic, carving the faces of his victims to look like a smiling skull. He’s nuts, but not in the maniacal run-through-the-streets-screaming kind of way. Charon is more like Hannibal Lecter, viciously polite and courteous until he gets a chance to kill. He often cradles those whom he murders as they die and explains to them exactly what is happening to them, adding to the creep-factor. He has at least mild schizophrenia as well, and can often be heard having conversations under his breath with nobody. He is viciously intelligent as well, with a master’s degree in mortuary science.

---

POWER(S)/CUSTOM(S): Entropy manipulation. Basically, Charon makes shit break. He has the ability to cause things to become less-ordered, essentially corroding and disintegrating whatever he attacks. A human body hit by Charon’s blast will show quick evidence of rapid decomposition, and the living target will die of organ failure quickly if they don’t die of shock from watching themselves decompose. Death comes to a living target of Charon within thirty seconds, and there is no cure. They just fall apart and die. Of course, you’re not fighting Charon with men. You’re fighting him with machines. Machines have a different reaction to the blast. Often they show signs of corrosion and rust, and prolonged exposure causes internal components to corrode and break. In the case of armor, Charon often exploits the weak points in armors, and can cause cracks in large metal sheets. Charon is also good at exploiting weaknesses in structures, and can easily bring floors or older buildings crumbling down (just before Exodus, he actually brought the Statue of Liberty crumbling down, killing dozens of people). His powers can be either discharged through touch, or through a unidirectional beam of rippling energy (appears like a beam of shimmering air). Physical contact is significantly stronger than the beam is. When Charon uses his powers, black and purple sparks shoot from whatever the power touches. Charon has become so good at using his powers that he can actually create force fields of it, protecting himself from physical attacks. Charon’s entropy powers have also made himself resistent to the effects of entropy. He does not age, and since his body does not sacrifice heat to entropy, he rarely needs to eat or sleep. His body is also kept cool at all times due to this (thus why he never sweats or feels hot). Charon is also immune to disease. He will never die of natural causes. Ever. Charon also has a very high pain threshold. He is by no means immune to damage, but he can take beatings that other people wouldn’t be able to take and not feel pain.

Oh, and as an extra measure, Charon carries with him a foot-long dagger (sheathed on the left side of his coat), and a MAC-10 machine pistol (which is kept in a holster on the right side of his coat).

Now for weaknesses. Charon’s powers firstly don’t work on gases, liquids, or gels. Amorphous robots are immune to his powers (not that there will be many of those). Secondly, Charon’s powers are weakened by larger surface areas. Spreading out his blast weakens it. This is why Charon can practically disintegrate small things like bullets and small rockets effortlessly, but can’t just disintegrate a whole robot. The larger an object and the more surface area an object has, the less-powerful his effects become. Robots with large surface areas and self-healing polymers will find that Charon’s blasts are weakened to the point that they can put themselves back together just as fast as they are damaged. Charon’s powers cannot shoot through objects (though if he touches things they can travel along the object to things touching it like electricity can) and his powers are also pretty much useless against rocks (but not metals). Charon’s high pain threshold also makes him a bit reckless, and his overconfidence combined with this often causes him to make foolish tactical errors which put him in jeopardy. Charon’s powers also don’t work on crystals like diamond.

---

HISTORY: Rafael Menendez was born in Mexico City. From a young age, it was obvious that the boy was quite different from others. So antisocial and, quite frankly, violent was he that he had to be taken out of classes and homeschooled through high school. His only friend growing up was his older brother, who acted more like a father to him than anyone else. Rafael discovered his powers at age fifteen, when his brother was hit by a car, which promptly kept going. The vehicle was found lying on its top in the middle of the road, all four tires dry-rotted and the body a grizzly mess. It was never able to be traced back to Charon himself, but those who knew him suddenly became quite wary. His brother, meanwhile, died a few weeks later due to poor medical care. The family was devastated, but Rafael didn’t seem to care much on the outside. On the inside, however, he was forever changed.

Though Rafael had no people skills, he was very intelligent, often teaching himself, and so he wound up attending college in America on a full scholarship. He received a degree in biology and then a masters in mortuary science, hoping to be a mortician. His family wanted him to raise enough for them to come to America too, but when he thought about it, he didn’t really care about his family. They never heard from him again.

It was the year after he started working at a morgue in Pittsburgh that he committed his first murder. People knew that there was something not right about Rafael, and many of his co-workers suggested that he go to see a psychiatrist. Rafael wanted no part of it, and he worked hard to conceal his differences. Often he would be seen having conversations with no one, and he talked to himself constantly. When confronted about it, he would often react violently, once punching a co-worker in the face for interrupting him rudely. Finally, this got to the point where Rafael was laid off until he got mental help. His boss even offered to take him to therapy and pay for half of it.

Rafael’s boss (well, what was left of him) was found three days later in an empty cold chamber at the morgue. It was easy to trace it back to Rafael; he wasn’t as experienced with killing as of yet, and so he was quickly found and arrested. he went quietly and pleaded guilty for reasons of insanity in court. He was taken to an asylum in Baltimore, one which specialized in mentally-ill metahumans. He stayed there for a few months, until one day when his doctors found the lock on his door completely rusted out. Rafael fled the city and ended up in Chicago. He assumed a new identity and attempted to take up another job at a morgue using papers falsely printed for him by some professional criminals. He stayed there for about six months. Then someone tried to get him help again. This time, it was a girl by the name of Melissa who worked with him. He invited her over for dinner, and then, this time sure that he kept her body free of DNA, killed her, carved her face, and tossed her in the Chicago River.

Not long after her murder, Rafael was walking down an alley when two goons ambushed him. Using his powers, he killed both of them and tossed their corpses in a dumpster. It turned out that the two men worked for the mob, and that a kingpin in Chicago had his eyes on Rafael. He approached Rafael later that night and offered him an incredibly high-paying job to be a hitman. Rafael accepted, and soon added a string of ridiculous murders to his track record. He was famous for breaking into even the most impenetrable rooms, once even breaking into a prison to carry out a hit by rusting the doors open. During this time, he was known as The Angel of Death, and would often wear an angelic mask stained with blood to hide his identity. He became so well-known that a vigilante known as The Watcher came after him. The Watcher defeated Rafael and he was locked back up in the asylum. This time escape was more difficult, but with the help of the mob he was able to break out. A few days later, Rafael’s body was found floating in the Chicago River. He was confirmed dead by police and the search ended.

Buuuut they were tricked. Rafael had long since infiltrated morgues around Chicago, forming a network known as the Mourners. Most Mourners were insane like Rafael, and saw him as some kind of savior who would one day free them from their disease. Rafael had always been as paranoid as he was intelligent, and so he made a plan to fake his own death. He shaved his head and made it into a wig, which was sewn into the head of a corpse who happened to look very similar to him. He had the mob 3D print a skin graft of a hand with his fingerprints, and these were swapped for the cadaver’s hands. He had also been collecting his own blood, taking out samples a pint at a time until, over the course of a few months, he had an entire body’s worth of extra blood. He drained the cadaver of blood and injected his own. Then he shot the body several times in the chest and dropped it into the water. This was when Rafael took up his head paint and became known forever as Charon, Lord of the Dead.

Charon quit the mob and dedicated his efforts to the Mourners, who had become quite an expansive organization that included several metahumans. When the mob didn’t appreciate his leaving to make a rival organization, the Mourners came after them. All of the mob’s old metahuman hitmen worked for Charon now, and so they hardly had a chance. The fighting caused widespread damage in Chicago, and once more The Watcher was on the case, this time working with police to take down the Mourners.

For years, The Watcher and Charon were the worst of enemies. They had a Batman and Joker kind of dichotomy, neither strong enough to truly take the other out. There were wins and losses spread out across the midwest and east coast, and eventually The Watcher, combined with a unit of the FBI known as KINGFISHER, were able to defeat Charon and topple the Mourners.

Then Exodus happened. Charon broke out of prison (this time solely with outside help since his prison was made of stone and quartz crystal) three days before Exodus and travelled to New York, where he celebrated the fall of humanity by destroying the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Chrysler Building. Now that organized governments were no more, Charon was free to destroy as he pleased. He met up with others, and began to form a new organization of the most violent and dangerous metahumans. Serial killers, arsons, revolutionaries, outlaws, all of them flocked to Charon’s side. And he welcomed them. Together, several metas united and defeated The Watcher and what was left of KINGFISHER, destroying Richmond, Virginia in the process. The Watcher was killed, and Charon threw a party where he and his men watched his body burn. They celebrated the next day by destroying the campus of Georgetown University and crumbling the Washington Monument. They became known all over as The Coroners, the most dangerous of metahuman outlaws. Normally they kept to themselves, occasionally destroying do-gooders who threatened them and trafficking drugs into the new societies being built. They co-existed with the meta societies, not messing with them in exchange for being left alone to their own devices. Charon and his team of villains now roam the countrysides primarily, wreaking havoc and having fun being bad.

---

OTHER:

Charon’s theme: Hysteria by Muse

Hehehehe. Nobody puts the FUN in FUNeral like Charon.

Fallen (Robots versus Superhumans, Now Accepting)

Darren Sharpe

NAME: Darren, but he is now known to all as “Mr.Wildfire”
AGE: He stopped aging, but he is in his thirties.
GENDER: Male (?)

---

APPEARANCE: The organism which was once Darren Sharpe hardly resembles an organism anymore. Darren’s body consists of a humanoid shape made out of burning chips of wood. Body shape-wise, it resembles Darren’s former body, a man of average height who is slightly overweight. He is about six-and-a-half feet tall, but both his height and weight fluctuate violently. The debris itself is constantly burning, causing the inner layer of Darren’s body to glow red-hot like coals. He releases a wispy stream of smoke when not actively using his abilities. Darren’s eyes glow bright red, as does the inside of his mouth. His teeth glow a softer red. The core of Darren’s power is situated in his chest where his heart once was. There lies his inner-fire, a small, round core so hot that it burns blue. A similar ball of blue fire burns in the center of Darren’s head, which is more-or-less what’s left of his brain (how he still thinks has to do with information that would ruin the rp if I told you). Darren’s body is constantly burning, and when he is angry or uses his powers, the small fires all over his body expand, making him look less like a man made of wood and more like a giant fire.

---

PERSONALITY: There isn’t much of one left. Darren was once a fairly calm, but the process of turning into a giant fireball made him essentially go crazy. He is incredibly aggressive, almost constantly angry, and loses his temper quickly. He’s fairly unintelligent, reacting more on emotion than on reason. This causes Darren to be extremely dangerous and unpredictable, albeit somewhat dim. Darren isn’t “Evil”, per-say, he’s just got Hulk-esque anger issues and, with the right mind pushing him (ie Charon, who you’ll meet later), he can easily be turned into a killing machine.

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POWER(S)/CUSTOM(S): They don’t call him Mr.Wildfire for nothing. Darren is a living fire. Essentially, his mutation caused an inner fire to form in his chest, a spot of white hot heat which quickly caused the rest of his body to burn up. In place of his flesh, Darren now has a body comprised primarily of wood and charcoal, which burns at about 260º Celsius (500F) at the surface when in resting condition, and when angry burns at around 537º Celsius (1000F). The inside of Darren’s body burns much hotter, and his core is a sweltering 2300º Celsius (4170 F). Not only is Darren hot, but he can project his heat offensively. Darren can blast fires from his fingertips that burn extremely hot, allowing him to scorch enemies or burn away obstacles. His fires have the capability to reach about 2000º Celsius (3100 F) at maximum energy, hot enough to melt most metals (though he can’t sustain a blast that hot). Darren’s body projects heat into the area around him, drying out wood and other flammables nearby. This causes his attacks to be extremely unpredictable and dangerous. Oftentimes, Darren’s fire attacks cause massive wildfires that skyrocket to insane temperatures, destroying everything around him. When Darren begins to run out of fuel, he can actually telekinetically draw wood and ash to himself, tearing it up in the process and adding it to his composite body. Since he’s made of burning wood, Darren is excellent at camouflaging himself amongst wildfires, and is nearly impossible to find in such situations unless he allows himself to be found (or unless you track his brainwaves).

In addition to this, Darren is incredibly durable. Because his body is composed entirely of wood held together by a telekinetic force, he can take quite a beating. Darren’s body has a knack for putting itself back together when he is physically damaged, making him more-or-less immune to physical attacks like swords, bullets, or explosions.

Now that you’re freaking out, time for weaknesses. According to the laws of stoichiometry, a fire needs three things to survive: oxygen, heat, and fuel. Considering that Darren is a giant living bonfire, he needs these three things to live.

Firstly, fuel. Darren consumes his own biomass constantly, meaning that he needs to replenish his supply. The hotter Darren burns, the more biomass he burns up and the closer to starving he gets. This means that the more Darren uses his power (as well as the hotter his fires are and the more sustained they are), the weaker he gets. He can replenish his stores by consuming combustible matter (which is telekinetically drawn to him), but if he runs out of fuel, he will die within minutes. This is why he avoids big cities and stays in the countryside, where he burns everything he finds to the ground and literally leaves a trail of ashes in his wake.

Secondly, heat. Darren’s most obvious weakness is the thing which kills a fire: water. When I say “water”, however, I don’t mean “pour a bucket on him”. I mean, “drop that sunnovabitch in the ocean and run away.” Darren burns so hot that, in a fight, rainfall and small quantities of water are useless against him; they evaporate before they can harm him. Dropping Darren in a large body of water or spraying him with fire-extinguishing chemicals, however, is a different story. If Darren is placed in a large body of water, he will die almost instantly, and fire extinguishing chemicals both immobilise and kill him. If Darren’s fire goes out, he will just collapse into a pile of wood chips.

Thirdly, oxygen. Darren’s fires often burn so hot that they suck up all of the oxygen in an area, depriving whatever’s inside. This causes Darren to move towards the edge of a large fire often, but if he’s cornered, he can run out of oxygen and die. He can also be smothered, but that is probably too tall of an order to be considered practical.

Physically, Darren has two weak spots: his brain and his core. Both are glassy orbs which radiate intense heat, and both control Darren and keep him alive. If either is destroyed, Darren is a dead man. They’re very well-defended, however, and are difficult to hit, especially considering that the most common place to find Darren is in the middle of a wildfire.

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HISTORY: Darren Sharpe was born in Baltimore. He was a pretty normal guy, a peaceful and introverted kid who didn’t have many friends growing up. He was quite intelligent, always one of the top people in his class, but his shyness often ostracized him from others. When he was thirteen, he discovered that he was a metahuman, capable of creating and manipulating fire. For a while, this was great fun, and he used his powers frequently, entertaining people and acting like a universal lighter. He became quite popular all of a sudden. Then one day in Darren’s freshman year of college, he woke up to find that his dorm room was on fire. There was a burning hole in his chest, and he watched as his bedposts disintegrated and filled the hole in his chest.

He was taken to Johns Hopkins Hospital’s ER, where he was directed to their Metahuman Medicine department. They attempted to treat him, but the mere presence of Darren in a normal ER room deprived of flammables would cause doctors’ hair to burn and would blow windows out. He was transferred to a secure facility made of concrete, where he was studied as if he were a science project. He quickly became half-wood half-flesh, and the flesh he had was badly burned. Skin grafts did nothing. After a while, Darren decided to leave. The doctors didn’t want him to, and he began to feel as if he were about to receive the “experimented on by evil mad scientists” backstory.

So he killed them. He didn’t mean to initially. He tried very hard not to, in fact, but when they tried to keep him from leaving, he got so angry that he set the lab on fire and escaped out of a window. Three scientists died in the flames, and Darren was on the loose. He tried to go back to a normal life, but he simply could not. He got so angry all of the time, and his former friends now wanted nothing to do with him. What’s worse, the fire was soon traced back to him, and the police had a warrant for his arrest. He became a famous criminal, dubbed “Wildfire” by the media. He became responsible for several arsons and murders, once even burning down an entire city block. He couldn’t steal much because he burned money to the touch, and he had no reason to be hired because he didn’t need money or food or shelter to survive. After Darren blew up several cop cars, a vigilante known as The Watcher decided to take him down. He blew a fire extinguisher up in Darren’s face, and he was knocked unconscious, rendered unable to manipulate his fire. He was locked up in a secure, fireproof room in a local psychiatric hospital/prison, where he was treated for his severe anger issues. By this time, his body was entirely wood, so medicine would not work on him. After he was in the asylum for about a year, he was rescued by the supervillain Charon, who freed the metas in the asylum and let them loose on the world. It was about this time that the humans abandoned their planet, and Darren celebrated their defeat by burning down the city of Baltimore.

He had several more run-ins with The Watcher, as did his partners in the Desperados, but after The Watcher was killed, Darren was free to roam America, discovering the great forests and amber waves of grain and then burning them to the ground.

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OTHER: Darren’s favorite wood to eat is Mesquite. He always liked Mexican food.