Carl Harvey Semken

Semmy, Static Man, Callsign: Wrangler

Male

35

5’6

145.7 lbs

Isabella Isle, Knightdale Rows

N/A

N/A

Unidentifiable

Carl’s appearance is pretty easy to describe. Lean build, not too skinny, and absolutely no discernable features whatsoever. Due to Carl’s powers, his skin is literally a veil of constant static. Eyes, ears, nose, mouth, nothing is visible. The static itself shifts between images and colors but that’ll be explained more in the power section.

Carl’s normal attire are his work clothes. Standard issue NEST wear; buttoned shirt, lightly armored vest, utility belt, gloves, combat pants, boots, and kneepads, all a combination of blacks and grays in terms of color. Carl also wears a balaclava most of the time on operations to keep his abilities in check, so he doesn’t accidently give a teammate or hostage cardiac arrest or something. When he’s off duty, he usually dresses in collared shirts and jeans. Weather doesn’t seem to affect his preferences for attire. It's unclear if he even feels the heat.

Carl’s an alright man, if not a little too prideful. Coming from the southern states, he was raised on some questionable lifestyle choices and social views, but most of the very unfavorable ones were wiped away during his early teenage years. However, Carl today still comes across as someone who may end up saying the wrong thing every now and again. His palling around and relaxing nature are often peppered with minor criticisms of those around him and talking about people behind their backs. And he’ll deflect just about any insult thrown at him as well. Angered or under stress, he’ll often resort to rude remarks and unnecessary defenses. Still, when someone gets on his good side and manages to stay there for a while, he’ll always try his best to act appropriately around them.

Carl is a gun enthusiast which, for someone living in California, isn’t the best thing to be. Thankfully his status as a NEST agent gives him access to their armament reserves, so he spends a lot of time in the firing range. He’s also a budding guitarist, having recently discovered the effect his static fingers have on plucking strings.

Carl has always been a pretty good singer, able to modify his own vocal output to a considerable extent. He applies this to his guitar playing, but the former is definitely better than the latter as of current.

His Taylor 210 Deluxe Dreadnought guitar, sent to him by his adoptive father after he displayed interest, Milo having long since stopped performing. Carl cherishes the thing, almost treats it like it’s his child, even if he’s not very good with it yet.

“Look at me.”

Carl Semken was born on the fourteenth of June, 1980, in Houston, Texas. Straight out of the womb, he was a confirmed meta-human, with his weird static skin and pseudo-synthesized voice. His birth parents were definitely not interested in keeping him, so they put him up for a special adoption program operated by NEST officials. It took a few years, but he eventually ended up in the care of an older gent living further west, in Big Spring. The man’s name was Milo Crane, and he owned a sizeable amount of land. Carl was not his first adopted child, and the property acted as an isolated little community for meta-humans, even though Milo wasn’t one himself, nor were some of the helping hands there. Counting Carl, there were a total of eight meta-humans living there, all varying in make, shape, and abilities.

It was a strange upbringing, but it worked out. Most of the meta-humans were Texas born, and so had adopted the expected mannerisms and accents. Carl himself was no exception, even though he didn’t leave the property much. He was the only meta-human there that didn’t look anywhere near normal so, he caught quite a few eyes when he was away. It didn’t mold him into the greatest kind of person, but he got by. Eventually however, he reached the point where the little community just wasn’t enough for him, plus the overbearing sense of distaste coming from outside caused him to desire an environment he could feel more comfortable in. That environment turned out to be Academy 218.

Milo helped Carl apply for an education there, both to help him uncover what his abilities allowed him to do and to provide him with a more vibrant, friendly setting. Carl attended Academy 218 and quickly deemed it one of the greatest turns of his life. He made a few friends, he learned a good bit, and best of all, he found out about NEST. Even before attending, he’d exhibited the desire to become some form of authoritative figure, to counteract the prior half of his life. After his education was done with, he applied for a NEST junior training program. His studying of memetic hazards and noise frequencies quickly proved useful for pacification and combat support. Once he was out of the program, he started off as an officer for a range of western areas, mainly Washington state. Seattle was nice, but it wasn’t offering much in the way of action. So Carl requested a transfer.

Now he’s in Verthaven, and he’s been there for a good six years, helping to keep the peace and run ops when necessary. He’s since moved up from being an officer to an agent and has earned more and more privileges, he writes home every now and then, and overall, he’s quite happy with his life.

Carl is unaware of the identity of his biological parents, and has never displayed any interest in meeting them. He doesn’t even know if he has any siblings.

Michelle Gallus | Neutral | Dino-Lady | "Eh. Not really a fan. Kind of get the feeling she hates my guts though. Not gonna bother asking her if that’s the case." |

Cerebral, Super-System (Biological)

Carl’s skin is substituted by what is presumably a layer of constant static. It’s fuzzy, it makes that low hum, everything. Through the detecting of thought patterns, Carl can project just about any form of image onto himself. Most visuals at first seem unremarkable, but it doesn’t stop there. Over the years, Carl has trained himself to be able to produce memetic hazards. What this means is that Carl can induce varying emotions and physical effects in people who have Carl in their field of vision. To provide some examples, Carl can cause someone to feel horribly nauseous, effervescently euphoric, or even go into cardiac arrest.

What’s more, Carl can produce audios in much the same way he can produce visuals, meaning pitches and frequencies that correlate to both new and similar effects on people. For example, a form of white noise that has a quicker calming effect on people. Audio helps where visual doesn’t work, as it were. Carl’s physical touch can also affect electronic devices in minor ways. Touching has hand to a television screen will cause it to fuzz up some. Plucking a guitar string will give it more heavier vibrations. It’s not the most useful trait, but it has its moments.

Carl’s powers are very dependent on range and proximity. The full effect of any memetic hazard can only be attained if a person in question is standing a few feet in front of him. Any further than that and the results will begin to rapidly diminish. What’s more, the effectiveness of any memetic hazard depends on how much of Carl’s static skin is visible once he initiates it. If it’s just his head, end result won’t be much. If he takes off his shirt, much better. If he gets full on naked in front of someone, it’s essentially a hundred percent effectiveness.

Carl’s bane is magnetism. A fridge magnet will mildly irritate him, and an industrial-sized magnet would almost assuredly be the end of him. Magnets cause Carl’s skin to become distorted and, depending on the magnet’s strength, immediately negate any form of images or noises he attempts to produce.

Nothing of note.