Manny's a 24 year old guy who's just trying to find his way in the big wide world. 6'6, but skinny as a rake and with about as much experience with grass, he's nothing overly remarkable, despite the raggedy braids. He rocks around in a beat up old Chevy pickup, he always has a smile on his face and a beer in the backseat, next to his prized violin. Despite appearances, he's not as broke as he would seem at first. A steady income from busking, working as a sandwich artist and selling just a little weed on the side. He's also a mean card player when it comes to blackjack, although he doesn't play for money very often. Matchsticks is fine for him.



Manny is a downbeater. He hears the beat as an endless country fiddle song, bowing and bowing as the background to his life. His particular powerset is focused around empathetic abilities, as well as aiding others. He can innately sense the mood around him like nobody else can, and more than that, can influence it. Many a fight has been disarmed before it began by a few easy words from Manny, and he's not exaggerating when he shows off the notches on his belt. Perhaps a little unethical, but he doesn't see it that way. His other powers include being able to increase the potency of fellow beathearers's abilities, as well as minor healing- he can't bring someone back from the brink, but setting a bone or mending a slip with the kitchen knife aren't an issue for him.



Shockingly, Manny's parents weren't huge on 'The Man.' In an age of ever increasing connectivity and straight-lacedness, his parents were quite the opposite. His grandparents attended Woodstock, smoked dope and got through life, and his parents were Boomers to the extreme. Only a life of ignoring modern technology and the fact that they're decidedly average have stopped them from being Yuppies, and Manny's friends were all of a similar ilk. His family holidays were to nudist camps, his parents would smoke a six pack a day and tell him not to do the same, and he grew up hearing about the evils of corporations and how Mother Nature isn't always something to be ignored.

Thankfully, however, that wasn't his entire upbringing. Modern school taught him the values of 'Big Pharma,' and he's a relatively well-rounded person. Whilst he considered taking a major in botany, the obscene prices of student loans, coupled with a want to do his own thing in life meant that he took a year backpacking, where he picked up playing violin in order to earn a bit of cash on the road. He's visited every six out of seven continents in the world, but returned to his native US just in time to hear the Beat start to pound through life.

He realised that he was a Beathearer when he was twenty two. Slowly but surely, he worked out his abilities and how they worked. He considers himself fairly lucky that not only did he hear the Beat as a type of music that he could play, but his abilities are easy to conceal, easy to pass off as being absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, and easy to practise. Well, apart from his ability to buff up the powers of others. That's by far his most unrefined skill.

Unfortunately though, not much has changed since he began to hear the beat. He still works as a sandwich artist, still busks on the side, still sells the same stuff he sold a few years ago, and still keeps his Beatsmithing on the down low. Something has to change in his life, but he doesn't know how or when that's going to happen.



Really, just looking at a picture should tell you all you need to know. Laid back, bit of a joker, midnight toker. He likes a decent beer, a decent steak and a decent place to rest his head with some decent friends. Really, there ain't nothing unusual about Manny Redwood.

---

---

Name: Brandon Whittaker; in vigilante persona, goes by "Queen of Swords"

Gender: Male

Age: 20

Appearance: For a guy, Brandon is oddly feminine. Dark-haired, light-skinned, and pale-eyed, "twink" would be the term to describe him based on his 170cm height - often dressing in dark, loose clothing in casual settings, he has a fondness for hair gel and makeup that borders on camp, not to mention a few bits of jewellery that often stand out compared to his outfit. Many people question his sexuality as a result. He also shaves his entire body very regularly, and has a lot of dark-coloured tights and gym shirts, though these are for legitimate gymnastics reasons rather than being mere fashion choices.

As the Queen of Swords, his clothing is far more distinctive, and far more girlish, showing off a black-and-red cybergoth design that combines leather, cloth, and metal in a distractingly unforgettable fashion, and very subtly adds and subtracts curves in a way that makes his figure seem legitimately female. Combined with a red and black wig, held on by the straps of a pseudo-plague doctor mask glowing with red LEDs and bearing a voice shifter to make himself sound more feminine, it is extremely difficult to distinguish who is under all the clothing and gear. All that, of course, is to hide his true identity whilst he takes on the streets - or so it would seem, as he never crossdresses outside of acting as the Queen of Swords.

Personality: Normally, Brandon comes across as quite an amicable guy. He dedicates himself suitably to whatever work he is tasked with, usually some form of gymnastics practice, but also understands the need to give himself some downtime too, and isn't so fond of those who don't see the need to calm down at any point (though not to the point of hating them if not given a reason to). That said, he's very anti-drug use, and laments how many of his neighbours indulge themselves in such vices, often encouraging them to drop the drugs in order to improve their fitness. He's also the sort of person who truly believes that the bad side of human nature is something that will eventually be excised from the species, and he nominally espouses that this will be through humanity evolving itself beyond a need for such ill traits.

As the Queen of Swords, the full depths of his delusions of grandeur come to the fore - in truth, he sees evil as something that must be dealt justice, and as evolution is very well known for being utterly random beyond whatever survives the breeding cycle, it is therefore true that evil humans must be taken out of the genepool by force rather than guile. He is fully willing to perform this work himself, considering the fact that he hears the Beat proof that he is worthy of this difficult task, and if other Beathearers oppose him, then evidently they have misjudged what they must do, or else fail to recognise what Brandon considers obvious.

History: Brandon was born into a decent enough family, but very frequently showed off tendencies toward more feminine pursuits; he never bore an aptitude for soccer or football, but loved to read and dance, was an avid theatre fan, and was very keen on gymnastics by the time he reached high school. Thus, he wound up being bullied very frequently throughout his years of education; in particular, one boy in high school found a target in Brandon, a boy who at some point developed the power to produce rocky spires to trip or hit people with. Whilst this was no fun for anyone else either, Brandon in particular often wished that boy would suffer some horrible accident, or that he'd suffer in such a way that he'd never bully anybody again.

Brandon's wish would be answered one fateful day, when in the middle of a class he started hearing some sort of music in his head. It was dramatic and fast-paced, reminiscent of a lot of the shows he watched on television as a child, shows featuring heroes beating up the bad guys, shows where the heroes were always in the right. That music inspired Brandon, when he was confronted by that boy again during his lunch break, to kick the boy in the stomach, for which he got beaten up a bunch, though with surprisingly little injury after a quick check-up by the nurse.

By the time he'd gotten out of the nurse's room, that boy's belly had split open in the middle of the schoolgrounds, spilling his organs in front of hundreds of screaming teenagers. The boy received prompt medical treatment and barely survived, but from then on was forced to use a colostomy bag, and- much as Brandon had wanted- never bullied anybody again. It took a few days for the gears to fit together, but Brandon eventually realised the truth: he'd done that. He'd manifested the Beat, and defeated somebody he considered evil.

From then on, his self-image developed in a somewhat twisted fashion, boosting his confidence greatly, but leading to some vile conclusions. He'd gained the power to fight against evil and injustice; that evil hadn't been taken down by any legitimate systems to date; the fact he existed and could do it therefore meant he must in lieu of anything else; since the tools given to him obviously encouraged doing so in a violent fashion, he'd have to use violent means; and that was fine, as those with power regularly committed far worse acts on a regular basis. At some point, something in his brain stopped functioning properly, and by the time he graduated from high school, he'd managed to convince himself that people who performed evil acts weren't human enough to justify letting them live, meaning it was fine if he mutilated them, or even killed them.

What wouldn't be fine would be what happened if he was discovered cutting people up willy-nilly. He had to do it, but he also had to avoid being seen doing it, at least as himself. He had to dissociate himself from such killings as much as possible... and how better to do so, he decided, than to pretend to be female when performing his deeds? Thus, as soon as he moved to a new town to be closer to his college of choice, he ordered a cybergoth outfit designed to make his frame seem feminine, complete with fake plague doctor mask to hide his features.

Since then, every so often, reports have shown up in town about people being discovered missing limbs, disembowelled, and decapitated, not to mention far worse injuries; yet, all victims are visibly seen to have been in the act of committing a crime in the process, and so it happens that too many of those reports simply go unheeded, whether or not they could be followed up on to begin with...

---

---

Beat Heard As: Action orchestral.
Beathearer Type: Beatrunner
Beat Abilities: Generation of ultrasonic vibrations that, when suitably focused, allow him to disrupt molecular bonds on contact and consequently cut through nearly anything with his hands, feet, arms, and legs, even allowing up to a few minutes of delay before an actual cut is made if focused correctly. Substantially enhanced speed, durability, and awareness of his own body, possibly a side effect of his vibrations. Reduced need for sleep - about four hours a night is sufficient for him to remain fully alert. Modified response to potentially traumatic events, leaving him unaffected by the sight of extreme blood and gore.

---

---

Employment: College student and aspiring professional gymnast - he hasn't decided upon Olympic or stage yet.
Accommodations: Three-room, relatively cheap apartment, about an hour's walk from college. Paid for by his parents on the understanding that he doesn't drop out.
Transport: Public or foot. Cars are expensive.
Skillset: Reasonably intelligent, with a particular bent toward kinaesthetic intelligence, providing a keen sense of balance regardless of the surface or his footwear. Extremely flexible, able to bend his body in graceful yet athletic postures. Able to leap quite a substantial distance into the air and land unharmed through a combination of his Beat-borne speed and gymnastic skill.
Anything Else: N/A

(So I know the picture is an android... Just pretend he isn't?)

---

---

Name: Glenn Strivelyn
Gender: Male
Age: 23
Appearance: As image. Usually has paint/clay stains all over him.
Beat Heard As:Sludge Metal/Alt-Rock/Whatever this is
Beathearer Type: Beatsmith.

---

---

Personality:
Usually rather laid-back, but has anger issues. Most of the stuff he does he does on an impulse, but will commit to doing those things. Has a nigh unmatched passion for the things he cares about, and is strangely open to new ideas.

History:


Employment:
Um... he's working on that. Currently just inconsistent drug-dealing. He makes very odd sculptures which don't have much of a mainstream appeal, but some are willing to pay money for them.

Accommodations:
Shitty little studio apartment near a pub and a garden. The apartment has three rooms: A kitchen, a bedroom, and a toilet/shower room. It doesn't have a bath, so bathroom just doesn't feel right to him. Rent of $263 a week.

Transport:
Public or legs. Eventually he may be able to create controllable platforms of Sound to ride on, but he's far from there yet.

Anything Else:




Interests:
Creation, Destruction, Punk Music, Chemistry, Wine (although he can't afford it), and The Arts

Outlook/philosophy:
A huge cynic. He has very few fucks to give. Especially if someone is overly optimistic or faithful. This doesn't stop him enjoying what he enjoys or hanging around the people he hands around, though. He believes that life is for the living. His pessimistic attitude is a result of many disappointments, and is mainly there so that he's either right or pleasantly surprised.

He's a strong misanthropist, and believes that the solution to all problems is to eradicate humans. His reasoning for this is that humans are the ones that define what a problem is. There are no problems if there is nothing to define what a problem is. He also believes this because he has seen civilisation as a massive failure. There were many chances to rise above, or truly become better, but we fucked it all up. As we get richer we get more stuff, more respect, and more advanced. We also just get more hopeless, more lonely, more hedonistic.

---

---

Name:
Mahlik Tillman

Gender:
Male

Age:
24

Appearance:
Standing at 5'11 with a varying weight. Slim but athletic build and a distinctive scar on is left jawline.

Beat Heard As:
Instrumental Hip-Hop / Funk

Beathearer Type:
Beatrunner-
Mahlik can use a form of self gravity which allows him weight manipulation. This allows him light mobility (near super leap, running across water, climbing, airtime, and some speed) Along with heavy attacks/body (near form density increase to bit harder, make himself nearly immobile or immovable, And possibly incapacitate an individual. Even use a combination in shifting weight for various circumstances. There's one skill that mahlik is still learning to use properly and that's creating a gravity armor/field to cover parts of his body. (More of repulsive gravitational armor to deflect attacks, mostly attacks of solid/liquid matter that tries to hit him. It takes concentration to keep it up and it depends on the intensity and force of what's hitting him. If utilized in offense, it could add a little more push back force upon impact.)

---

---

Personality:
A little rough around the edges but has a heart of gold. He tends to get himself into trouble and has a potty mouth. He's usually speaks his mind without thinking the consequences but his intentions and goals in life are actually noble. The trouble he gets into are caused from his bravery or ignorance towards the dangers and circumstances that he's faced against. He does have care for people in general but if you're a close acquaintance that Mahlik could call a friend, he's loyal to the end. And he has love for the bitches (Only calls ladies that because he don't know their names individually. No sensitivity needed)

History:
Out of the mouth of Mahlik:
"There really ain't too much shit to talk about. I'm a army brat. Constantly changing schools, never had time to make friends, always had to prove myself to muh-fukkaz. Always fightin', dealin with my 2 older brothaz who thought it was funny to treat me like shit. I always had hand-me-downs and because of that, I started speaking out about how messed up it is that I'm always getting the short end of the stick."

"I was always active. Taking up mixed martial arts, played football, took gymnastics and parkour. I was always smaller than most so I had to always run to get away from trouble. My life changed when my Pops left my Ma and my Ma turned abusive and a drunk. had to get the hell out of this because I had no one to turn to."

"I got on my own when I was 17, hustlin'...doin what I can to survive until one day...this beat man...this beat came out of no where and just played in my head over and over. Now...this may sound funny and may sound like I'm on some shit but...I gained powers...it was crazy though because I was feeling as light as a feather and then as heavy as a car. But that beat though...it never left me. And since then, just kept grindin' and started doin' somethin' I always wanted to do....help people...help the kids. And that's what I'm doing to this day while I handle business like how my Pops taught me...learn several different trades so you'd be able to do damn near anything and that's what I do with my business."

"I get hit on sometimes by both men and women. My Ma told me to make sure I have good friends in my life that will always have my back. If i find someone I click with cool...if not...fuck it..still grindin' baby..."

His Habitat:

-He has his own oddjobs business. It stretches from Cleaning to Deliveries, catering, being a cameraman for amateur porn, photography, dog walking, security, and anything that Mahlik can think of that he could possibly do. If he's in a hustle, he'll fight for money or race. Local vigilante

-Rents an apartment but is usually spends time in other's homes.
-Drives a yellow and black Suzuki GSX-R750
-Has a love for eating. Majority of the time, he's seen eating a something.
-Owns an English Bulldog named Juggernaut