The world is my canvas, and believe me, I'm gonna paint this city all over by the time I'm done with it.

Name: Lazlo 'Laz' Lopez

Alias: Avant-Garde

Age: 32

Powers






Weaknesses

- Lazlo's trinkets are susceptible to degradation by liquid substances, oil being the least effective whilst alcohol or other products that contain water act as the ultimate Achilles heel to his creations. It would only take a cup of water to completely dismantle most of his creations.

- Disrupting Lazlo's concentration can temporarily disrupt his ability to summon and manifest trinkets until he mentally recovers. This can be done through disorientation of his senses, emotionally shocking him or through the use of pain.

Appearance



Equipment:



Origin (WIP):

You know who I am. You've heard of me. You know my mask, but you don't know the man who made the mask.

This is the story of how I painted Avant-Garde







Personality: Lazlo is an outspoken, brash and highly passionate person, being prone to making impulsive, rash decisions. Thus, Lazlo can be rather easily compromised by his own inner emotions and often acts in a rash manner. Though he is patient to a fault in the creation of his artwork, he prefers being un-organised and adapting to situations on the spot in order to experience more new things.

Due to his years of working as an underground anarchist, Lazlo possesses a rebellious streak towards authority, using art as a means of challenging the will of the corporations. His art is an extension of his soul as if it were, preferring to talk through colors rather than being diplomatic. If the situation allows it, he prefers radical action as opposed to a compromise. Nevertheless, there is an cycle of corrosive self-doubt and denial that has built over the years since Lazlo left Hex's group on whether or not he has achieved anything of worth or has made any changes.

To his friends, Lazlo is quite conversational and particularly enjoys conversations about interpretations of art. He is skittish and often doodles when he's bored.

Misc Facts:

- Currently wanted by the U.S.C.C (United States Corporate Conglomerate) for one hundred counts of vandalism, thirty counts of mischief, twenty counts of arson, one count of wildlife smuggling and resisting arrest.

TYPES OF MATERIALS

- Primers: Addition of primers during manifestation increase the durability of the trinket and the stability of manifesting it to a certain extent.
- Oil Paint: The most traditional source of magic for Paintbinders.
- Chalk: A material associated with alchemy.
- Charcoal: An ancient material used in the days of the Neolithic era.
- Spray Paint: A urban paint.
- Ink - A eastern oriental paint. Trinkets created using ink, particularly in the style of brush paintings, are imbued with naturalistic properties.
- Holo-Paint - A new high-tech paint for a high-tech century. Trinkets created using holo-paint typically exhibit more anomalous properties associated with technology.

STYLES

- Abstract: The opposite of concrete. Trinkets that are formed from abstract art obtain properties associated with abstract concepts or quantities that are ethereal such as emotions.
- Avant Garde: Experimental form of art. Extremely hard to manifest trinkets from. Trinkets manifested from paintings that are considered avant-garde possess powerful properties that are game-changers. A paintbinder attempting Avant-Garde style trinkets is only expected to pull out one in the entire lifetime.
- Baroque: A highly stylised and dramatised form of art. Trinkets formed from Baroque style paintings have their base characteristics amplified in a overblown and completely hyperbolic manner that rarely provides any practical use.
- Cubism: Trinkets created from cubist art pieces possess multi-faceted anomalous properties which means the property changes from the perspective of every person who sees it.
- Pop Art: Considered to be the most mechanical form of art and thereby, limited in interpretation. Trinkets created from pop art possess properties related to the piece of popular culture that the painting references. Yes, you can create a lightsabre.
- Surrealism: A reactionary form of painting where rationalism goes to die. Trinkets created from surrealistic paintings possess properties that directly warp the surroundings of their environment or user in some manner.

COLORS

Red - The color of boldness.
Green - The color of growth.
Blue - The color of serenity.
Yellow - The color of haste.
Black - The color of end.
White - The color of purity.

Relationship with Hex: Even though Hex was sent to capture him, Lazlo still admires Hex and looks at him as a role model. Unfortunately, without Hex's influence, Lazlo returned to his life on the streets to join an underground revolutionary group in South America.

Name: Maysah Marseille (Legal Name) // Maria Martinez (Assumed Identity)
Alias: Stardust
Age: 52

Powers: Plasma Absorption & Manipulation.

Stardust can actively harvest plasma from her surrounding environment, be it from the Earth’s atmosphere or the neon sign of a seedy bar, and store it within her body. She can unleash her charge in a number of ways. Most notably, Stardust can fire off twisting beams of purple plasma from her palms. These blasts extend out to five-yards, have a diameter of a coin, and cut through metal with ease. She can also use her plasma to give her the properties of a solar wind and move at inhuman speeds—say, about five times faster than an Olympic gold medalist, or around 50 meters a second. The added speed gives her physical blows a bit more heft than normal, allowing for her to knockout most unpowered people with a single hit. Finally, she can spend her plasma to generate a hard, electromagnetic shield around her body to protect herself from bullets, some energy weapons, and nasty collisions when moving at breakneck speeds.

Weaknesses: Speedsters are a major headache for Stardust. While she can move at fast speeds, she’s not even in the running when compared to superhuman speeds. Speedsters can easily move in and out of the range of her plasma blasts, leave Stardust in their dust, or strike at her before she is capable of projecting a shield. Furthermore, in some crowded environments they can cause an absolute nightmare for Stardust due to her weariness to cause wanton destruction. As well, her plasma blasts can be subverted by supers who are able to control fire or electricity. For example, a pyromancer could sap the heat out of a blast of plasma or manipulate any fire it creates to Maysah’s determent, whereas an aeromancer could completely strip the electrical charge from her blasts to nullify them mid-attack.

As well, Stardust’s powers have some caveats. They have absolutely no subtlety. A sound like cackling electricity emits from her when she is charged with plasma, and when she is out of costume her hair lifts through static electricity and she glows a faint neon purple. Another problem with holding a charge is that her stored plasma generates a slight magnetic field. This field tends to interfere with, if not completely fry, electronics when she touches them. Finally, her powers drain her energy quickly. A handful of blasts or several seconds of speed or shields will completely drain her battery. This is not a problem when she is outdoors due to her being able to draw upon an almost limitless supply of natural plasma from the Earth’s atmosphere or space, but her ability to recharge is greatly limited indoors—almost wholly dependent on praying for an open window or a bunch of fluorescent lights.

Finally, Stardust has the physique of a physically fit woman in her fifties. She can’t see or hear any better than the average human, and when she gets hurt the recovery time is the same as anyone else. Likewise, she pretty much always has to shield herself when she uses her speed boost, or she risks breaking her bones.

Appearance: Maysah is a woman of Algerian descent with a clean complexion and dark features. Her black, wavy hair is streaked with the occasional gray and kept in a low, loose bun. Her eyes are a bright hazel and shine with a curious attentiveness. Some light makeup is used to disguise the wrinkles around her eyes, while creams fight a losing war against the stress lines on her forehead. Her face is symmetrical and heart-shaped. Her eyebrows are immaculate. Her lips are full but are prone to slide into a think smirk. Her smile is white and straight, although it's a rare sight to see these days. Maysah is tall, a hair shy of six foot, and has an athletic build. Her voice is a dry rasp, and she talks just loud enough for someone to catch that the thing she muttered might've been a jab at them. Her fashion style mostly consists of a defeated uttering of "Maybe if I throw on a cardigan?” combined with some sort of blouse, dark jeans, and flats.

Her Stardust costume is almost as flamboyant as its namesake. Maysah wears a skintight, black bodysuit that is printed with the design of a nebula all over it. The bodysuit was specifically made to create an optical illusion effect when stared at that makes it appear as if the stars and space debris are moving. The bodysuit completely covers her face, although she can easily pull down the mask. She wears a long pair of silver, reflective gloves and thigh-high boots with no heels so she can actually run with some ease. Over the suit she wears a brown, short-sleeved, long-tail coat that has no special properties other than the fact that it keeps her from being completely frozen all of the time and hides the seem of her suit. Plus, she believes that it looks cool.

Equipment: The Stardust Signal — Or what we like to call a smartphone. While it may look like Maysah just enjoys a bulky, latched phone case, it is actually composed of the same materials used in Faraday cages to block electromagnetic fields so Maysah doesn’t have to worry about destroying her phone whenever she charges up her plasma.

Magical Medication — A gift from Hex, Maysah carries a small medicine bottle. Each pill is actually a high-powered glamour spell that, once consumed, alters Maysah’s appearance—her hair is gray and a different texture, her skin is lighter, her eyes are brown, and even the bone structure on her face is different. Hex would send her a bottle every month. She only has five pills left now. Each one lasts eight hours.

Origin

Personality: Maysah was an idealist who dropped her arms just long enough for life to beat her down into a cynical pulp. She believed in doing the right thing for most of her life, and feels like she was betrayed by her own optimism. The only justice the world ever sees is a constructed one—an artificial silver lining to keep people docile. She tried playing outside of the societal rules that keep the rich on top and the poor distracted, and for her troubles she was rewarded with a heaping dose of reality that hit her with the force of a Mack Truck. It broke her. She was drained of her motivation and considered her compassion a hindrance instead of a boon. Apathy became the mainstay, because anything else was too painful.

As Stardust she was one of the most respected superheroes that nobody liked to work with. She truly seemed to be in the game for the right reasons, and it was clear that she always considered her actions before she made a move. She was also the most goddamn stubborn person to work with, with a know-it-all attitude and self-described “playful assholery” that heavily favored the latter part. Despite seeming to have completely given up, her stubbornness is still alive today. She takes a sort of grim pride in knowing that the fact of her very own existence is probably making somebody stress right now.

These days, Maysah is fairly quiet and reserved, especially when she is around strangers or trying to pass as Maria. She’s polite, but keeps everyone at an arm’s distance and slips by the judgmental smirk every now and then. However, this isn’t the case when she is with her peers. She views other superheroes with a bit of disdain. For all of their put ons, they never really accomplished anything. Maysah doesn’t hide her disappointment in them. It comes through in her barbed, snide remarks and is telegraphed through her body language. She seems to enjoy a good argument, and the best way to earn her respect is by dishing a good verbal beatdown right back at her.

Although she has never brought it up to anyone but close peers, Maysah is absolutely terrified of her powers. She knows just one errant beam could end the life of an innocent, and so she has always taken caution when using them. However, what is more terrifying to her than accidentally murdering someone is intentionally doing it. When she was younger the thoughts never even entered her mind, but now those violent urges against the people that wronged her seep into her brain when she is at her most vulnerable. She's afraid she might act on them. Worse still, she's afraid she'd like it.

Misc Facts: Stardust mostly operated inside of Quebec and had a stellar record over her decade long career. She apprehended hundreds of non-powered criminals, beat a few dozen “supervillains”, and exposed 7 US statesmen, 4 corporations, and 3 Canadian senators. Despite what the media might report, Stardust has never actually been responsible for any fatalities—although there has been the occasional maiming.

Maysah Marseille is currently wanted in the United States and Canada. While vigilantism is a gray area, she is liable for destruction of property, slander (of the multiple politicians and corps she has accused of participating in illegal activity), a failure to appear for multiple trials, and the mass manslaughter of about fifty coworkers. Only the last one doesn’t have any merit.

Victoria Manford, aka the woman most likely responsible for the reveal of Stardust's identity, is still alive, although in her seventies. As far as Maysah knows, she still lives in Cedar Fort and may or may not still be in prison. Likewise, the murderer of Maysah's husband has never been caught, and as of right now it is considered a cold case. Maysah never looked into either of them. She’s afraid of finding them because she has a pretty clear image in her mind of what she would do.

Relationship with Hex: Stardust is indebted to him. Stardust and Hex never got along on personal levels, and they clashed in their methodology on professional levels. However, they respected one another for their righteousness, and Stardust has Hex to blame for keeping her from swan diving off of her downward spiral. If it wasn’t for him she’d likely be dead by now, or at the very least in a super max security prison surrounded by criminals she had sent there. His death also directly affects her currently pathetic existence: she is a wanted woman, and without his glamour pills to keep her incognito the future is looking tumultuous.

Name:


Alias:


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Weaknesses:


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Origin:





Personality:


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Relationship with Hex:

Settled in the early 1700s by Eastern European immigrants, Autumn Hills, is one Cedar Fort's many ethnic neighborhoods. Tinged with a darker reputation it is rumored to be home to organized crime elements and occult spirits that tend to discourage outside visitors. Which is a shame, because Autumn Hills is heaven for any visitor who likes charming and/or cluttered curiosity shops, spicy pierogis, or fresh, flavorful pirozhki just out of the oven. Night falls early here though, and Autumn Hill's mystic and crime-ridden reputation keeps most non-residents away after dusk. Brave souls may venture out at night to catch a glimpse of Spellbound, the mysterious guardian of Autumn Hills, on one of her nightly patrols.

Adjoining the neighborhood is the Cormack Historical Cemetery. Largely abandoned, the once sprawling cemetery has slowly turned into a dark, twisted forest as the landscape has been relinquished to nature. The grand mausoleums and elaborate tombstones of a bygone era remain standing, crumbling slowly as they lay hidden beneath years of foliage and dust.

Name:

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Alexander Mackey

Alias:

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The Tower

Age:

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44

Powers:

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Walking Fortress - Centurion; Alex's old designation as a part of the UK's now-scrapped Walking Fortress project, his powers still hold firm in the present day. Through the development of his powers in the army's testing phase, followed by honing them during his time in the Special Air Service, Alex's set of powers have these distinct features:

• Enhanced Optical Targeting Systems; One part of the parcel that were the augmentations he received, his eyes now contain specialised lenses that are wired to a cybernetic computing implant in his brain. These allow him to analyse structures and targets, identify them as either friendly, neutral or hostile, along with other supplemental information like facial recognition and position on a mini-map in a heads-up display. The implants are not advanced enough to read vital signs or allow track of multiple targets and their firing trajectories, but is still good enough to analyse the trajectory of, say, a single bullet from a sniper.
• Immovable Object; Alex can, when standing still with BOTH his feet firmly planted on the ground, root himself in place to prevent himself from moving, the augments in his feet anchoring himself into the ground. In this state, Alex's feet are completely immobile and can only be moved with the strongest of pushes that goes over the limits of his own endurance and the limitations of his cybernetic body.
• Super Strength; Alex possesses the strength of several dozen men within his augmented muscles, and can easily lift a medium-sized bus, jump as high as a small building and run faster than most humans can, though not as fast as those with super speed. This, coupled with the armour he possesses, literally turns him into a running, jumping battering ram.
• Reactive Armour Class - Tower of London; By virtue of his defense-based augments and powers, Alex also possesses a superhuman tough skin, akin to Colossus in terms of durability. This "second skin" is a layer of super strong and tough nanites, formed into kinetic reactive plating that can respond to incoming threats detected by Alex's ocular implants while providing an even level of armour all over his body. This enhances the toughness of his own skin, already strengthened by his original superpower.
• Energy Channel; the superpower he was meant to have as a child growing up, Alex is able to redirect energy in many forms; electricity, light, heat and kinetic force chiefly among them. When Alex is confronted with an incoming source of any of those types of energy, he is able to absorb it into his body and then redirect it elsewhere through his hands and only his hands. The amount of force that he can absorb is directly proportional to the force he is able to redirect out of his hands.

Weaknesses:

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Alex is a slow, plodding individual even though he's built for speed faster than your average man. He is loud, heavy and moves like a truck on legs, thus he is often the victim of anything that's faster than he is. His cybernetics are also a few generations behind the current year and, as a result, his armour is less durable than is visible. Sure, he shrugs off small arms and assault rifle fire like it's nothing, but placing Alex in front of a machine gun position or anything bigger than an RPG and his armour will struggle to compensate, even failing in places if he takes enough damage. The nanites that make up his armour are able to self-regenerate, but the process takes days to even weeks, and once that protective layer is gone, the only thing left is his resilient skin protecting him, and even that has its own limits. This makes Alex a very tough individual, but a focused effort and enough firepower will bring him down.

Along with this, the cybernetics within Alex are old and he is outclassed by even the simplest of current generation military-designed augments. Going up against anything that was produced in the current year is going to be a challenge for him.

Appearance:

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Standing six feet five and weighing a good 220 pounds of muscle, Alex is well enough built of a man for most women to call him a stud. He has brown eyes and a head of shoulder length, shaggy brown hair, with a long, thick nose and thin lips. His hands are big and thick yet soft and gentle, belying his calm, gentle nature. A small scar is etched on his right cheek, as well as another over his left eyebrow. He normally dresses in simple garb, often wearing a tee-shirt, plain blue jeans and shoes underneath a dark green grocer's apron when he's at work. However, he will never be seen without his signature silver signet ring on his right index finger. This ring is decorated with a kite shield on its front, and engraved on the shield are the coat of arms of his ancestors; clockwise from the top left, a gothic cross, an eagle, a castle tower and a sword. He also has a silver chain, on which dangles a locket with a family picture inside it, whose case is engraved with an ornate castle tower. When he's not at work, he usually wears his signature navy blue flat cap along with any kind of shirt that strikes his fancy, usually a polo or a plaid, short-sleeved collared shirt, along with jeans and shoes.

The augments that Alex possesses also leave him in a less-than-human state. The nanites that make up his armour typically manifest as a rippling wave across his skin that settles into a very traditional hexagon shaped lattice that covers his entire body, but is most prominent on his chest and arms, where the lines in the lattice are actually visible. His eyes, although brown, also produce a very slight glow from the ocular lens implants there that are also miniature monitors for his HUD. There is also a small SAS logo imprinted on his right temple, near his hairline and concealed by his fringe, along with a bigger tattoo of the same logo on his right upper arm.

As for a costume, Alex is normally clad in a navy blue flat cap and a black domino mask, mostly concealed by his shaggy hair. He wears a white turtleneck shirt emblazoned with a large Union Jack flag across the front underneath a brown trench coat that's normally left open. The length of chain that serves as his weapon is normally wrapped around his left arm. On his legs he wears a pair of beige cargo pants and steel-toed boots. On his hands are a pair of black leather driving gloves.

Equipment:

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• A length of extra heavy-duty chain that serves as his primary weapon. It is usually wrapped around his right forearm.
• His fists and feet, naturally.

Origin:

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Born into a family of capes, Alex and his twin sister Shirley both didn't develop their powers until their teens, due to their parents being supers as well. Robert Mackey and Berenike Anil weren't exactly the best parents but they still raised a sterling young man and a graceful young woman, juggling their lives as famous superheroes while raising their two children and maintaining the business of their family-run grocer's in the little, sleepy village of Staithes in North Yorkshire. His father was one of the UK's greatest supers, a matter manipulator known as Excalibur. A great hero and inspiration to his children, but a lousy drunk and too full of pride in his identity as a cape. His mother, Berenike, often referred to as their great mother Bear, was also the Egyptian heroine Banshee, with her powers of sound manipulation and flight. She was kind and caring, even understanding of Robert's mistakes, which is why she married him; to keep him on the straight and narrow while they raised a family of their own.

Growing up in such a sleepy little town, Alex and Shirley had an idyllic life against a backdrop of serenity. When they were just kids, they didn't know that their parents were superheroes who regularly tangled with criminals and villains in other parts of the UK. Friends of their parents were more common sights than their actual parents and it was this absence of parental figures that made Alex into a headstrong young man who often took charge of the family's errands and chores while his parents were away. It wasn't until both he and Shirley grew into their teens and developed powers of their own that a decision had to be made. Robert and Bere hung up their capes and instead dedicated their newfound free time to their kids, teaching them how to control their powers along with being the parents that they should have been. Together, the super-powered family used their talents not to fight crime, but to instead help their community and live a semi-normal life. Their little grocer's shop down by the quay soon grew in popularity from their use of powers to help both themselves and others in need in their village. After all, it wasn't every day that you'd see the local fisherman's son hauling a broken down tractor into town for a fix by hand, or for his mother's beautiful songs to ring through the town square during the spring festival.

But with time came progress and the march of technology was only in one direction: forward. Alex and Shirley passed their teens and became young adults. As the years went by, Robert retired from the fishing life due to a back problem and his old age, while his wife continued to teach in their village's school. Alex, in a state of conflict about supporting their family and their home, decided one day to run away to the army. Without telling anyone, he left his quiet home and enlisted, around the same time his sister also left home to pursue her own career. He soon proved to be a few levels above the other recruits from his powers, much to the amusement of the officers in charge of new recruits. His displays attracted the attention of some powerful people in the British Army, who convinced the still young and naive Alex to join up with a strange, experimental group within their ranks. A secret project called the Walking Fortress Project, using newfound advances in cybernetic enhancements to build young men into super soldiers. Alex's natural powers of enhanced strength and durable skin made him the perfect candidate, hell, even the mascot of their project.

It was through this project that Alex became the Centurion. A walking tank, the perfect balance of man and machine, augmented by nanites and empowered by his own superpowers, with a name given to the tank that had become a British staple since post-WWII. He was assigned to the SAS as part of their counter-terrorist unit and, for a good few years, Alex became their spearhead, sent into dangerous situations along with regular soldiers to help them clear obstacles that would cost many lives if attempted by just men alone. His armoured skin, though tough, sustained several scars during his many tours of duty that he refrained from removing, stating that each was a trophy from a battle that he'd won. The bond that grew between him and the men in his unit was a strong, firm bond that seemed almost unbreakable.

Up until he was discharged with full honours. In the time it had taken for Alex to become a capable, proven hero, the leaders of the Project had developed newer, better Walking Fortress models, and just like that, he was replaced. Not without proper ceremony, of course, but to Alex it felt like he was being treated like a product instead of a human being, which he was, at the core. After his discharge, he moved to a small apartment in London and attempted to look for work, which resulted in a rather big coincidence: he ran into his sister there too. As brother and sister caught up, having not seen each other in years, Shirley told him of the Knights Anglais, a prominent superhero group based in the UK, sponsored by the royal family, that was linked to a global network of capes that responded to worldwide threats on a near-weekly basis. With their powers, she told him, they could join up and become actual heroes, just like their parents had been. The pay was good, the benefits were great and there was an entire community of empowered people that they could be a part of.

Joining the Knights was easy; his background in the military, his powers and his parents being two of the best capes in the business meant a guaranteed spot in the membership, but for him, maintaining the image of a squeaky clean, heroic and family-friendly cape was difficult. He was assigned a partner on day one, a more senior cape who was to assess his capabilities, but soon found out that there was more to being a hero than he thought there was. His time in the army meant he cared little about image, the complete opposite of what he was expected to do in the Knights. King William ran the Knights personally, treating the group like they were the country's personal super-powered military, while the Queen Consort advised him on public relations matters and helped the capes maintain that standard. Making sure that the heroes under their name were the spitting image of what Britain stood for and protected. He was given the name of Tower, as in Tower of London, and though he struggled, soon he wore the Union Jack on his chest as one of their team leaders. The two siblings shared in the fame and fortune of their newfound careers, soaking in the success as they honed their control of their powers while helping the senior heroes handle threats all across the country.

In 2035, there was a great event. The lead capes of the Knights Anglais met with the heads of a major US superhero organisation that had set up the world's first school for capes, and their first-ever graduation ceremony was due to take place. King William and his wife Kate both decided they would send a team of representatives to the States to show their goodwill and continue to maintain good relations with their neighbour. And so it was that Alex and Shirley Mackey, along with their teammates, were to travel to the US as the representatives. However, the Royals also needed icons of their own hero program to ensure that all of their best interests were on display, and the most convenient candidates were the parents of two of their newest heroes.

So it went. The entire Mackey family, Robert and his wife well into their late 60s, travelled to the US of A, specifically to the town of April Springs in Utah, where the Academy of Virtue compound was located. The school, a fresh startup financed by some of the richest supers in the States, was celebrating the graduation of their very first class of capes, handpicked from across the nation to represent the United States on a global stage. The entire event was scheduled to be held over the course of a week, with the graduation itself being preceded by a "live mission" where the graduating class' best students would go through a simulated incident to rescue some hostages and showcase their powers. Many other notable heroes were present throughout the event, including one Harrison Moore, aka Hex, a magic-based cape that the senior Mackeys had worked with in the past. The old friends bonded over drinks and Robert introduced Hex to Alex and Shirley on day one, leading to the veteran hero giving the two newbies some tips on their career, including how to limit their powers so they didn't overburden their bodies, along with the importance of rest and having outlets to unwind and de-stress.

The last day rolled around. The situation was in place, the two best graduates, a telekinetic sharpshooter and an elemental manipulator, were geared up and ready to go. A starting bell was rung and the game was underway. But the finale of the event didn't go according to plan, it was never meant to. From the start, the volunteers for the simulated scenario had been bribed and replaced by extremists, fanatics who held a great disdain for supers, having been a witness or even being a victim to the collateral damage of fights involving multiple capes taking a toll on the regular man's life. Simulated rounds were replaced with real bullets, actual explosives in place of fake charges and hostages that were replaced by armed double agents. As the scenario progressed, the subversions became more and more evident, culminating in the death of the sharpshooter to a supposed blank round.

It was then that all hell broke loose as the armed extremists dropped the charade and began attacking the amassed supers. In the midst of the chaos, the Mackeys regrouped and made a game plan, along with Hex and several other American capes, to take out the hostiles and save as many as they could from the slaughter. It was a messy, knock down drag out fight, but many lives were saved that day by the actions of the brave supers, both British and American. However, the losses were equally great. Most of the graduating class were wounded, several killed in the fighting, and many other civilians, some of them the parents of the younger capes, others family members or friends, were lost in the chaos. But chief among the losses were Excalibur and Banshee. The two elderly capes fought their hardest, but their age was their downfall. Without quick reflexes and less control over their powers than in their prime, Robert Mackey and Berenike Anil were among the casualties, their deaths a heroic sacrifice to ensure the rest of the class could escape to safety.

Many tears were shed, that day. Although British and US heroes renewed their solidarity through the crisis, several high key figures in the superhero community, as well as several other capes and many more civilians were dead. Families had been torn apart and what should have been the Academy's crowning achievement was instead its biggest tragedy. For Alex and Shirley, it was too much. Without much pause for thought, they left, taking their parents' bodies with them back to Britain, where arrangements were made. Excalibur and Banshee were buried side by side and given a hero's send-off, with many of the survivors from the incident in attendance, Hex among them. The veteran cape attempted to console the two distraught siblings and was able to, for the moment at least, calm them down enough to set them straight. He advised them to take some time off to themselves so they could settle the affairs of their parents and find a new course in life. So they did. Alexander and Shirley Mackey hung up their capes and returned to their village, heads hung low as news of the tragedy reached their home.

The next twelve years were a slow burn. The Mackey siblings returned to their normal lives in the village; Shirley teaching young children while Alex helped out at the docks, both of them co-managing a bakery in their family's name. Life slowed down and returned to normal for the ex-heroes and soon most forgot the tragedy, instead choosing to remember the fallen as heroes instead of dwelling over their loss. And so, the Mackey name faded into relative obscurity.

Personality:

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Alex is a soldier, first and foremost. He is loyal, determined and a driven individual when in uniform or costume, protective of his peers and a focused engine of destruction when given the order to do so. However, when the cape is off and the domino mask hanging on a wall, Alex is one of the most chill people you'll ever meet. His favourite thing to do in his free time is enjoying a cold beer while watching the boats drift across the harbour at home, relaxing in a lounge chair as he listened to the waves gently splashing against the docks. His time spent as a licensed cape meant that he had to learn how to be a good listener too, a skill he already had in the army, but his hero time added empathy into the equation.

All this put together makes Alex a lovable oaf and a gentle giant. A soft-spoken individual who chooses his words carefully and is gentle with everyone he meets, on account of his strength being way higher than normal. Always willing to help someone in need, not afraid to voice his concerns about a situation, and a slow, thoughtful individual who takes the time to plan out an encounter. A family man, above all, caring for his twin sister Shirley, along with the other residents in Staithes. Alex treasures bonds the most, between friends and family, and it is these bonds that empower him to do even simple things like waking up in the morning and helping out with the dishes. He draws emotional strength to supplement his own resilience from his sister and his friends in the village, keeping himself distracted and focused on the now, instead of the past.

The Academy tragedy took a heavy emotional toll on Alex's psyche. He carries the scars of the battle deep in his heart and isn't proud to talk about them. He often shies away from conversations regarding that day and hides the depression and emotional stress from his friends and loved ones, not wanting them to worry about him. If there were things to be said about Alex's emotional weaknesses, it would be that he's grown to be too sensitive to be a soldier. An effective soldier would be able to not let their emotions override their decisions, but Alex simply has a heart that's too big. He just doesn't want any more tragedy or sadness to happen in his life any more. For all the strength that he possesses, Alex's emotions are strong but also brittle, prone to fracturing because of stress or being reminded of past events.

Misc Facts:

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Alex thoroughly enjoys a good pint of beer to relax. His favourite comfort food is vanilla ice cream with chocolate sprinkles.

Relationship with Hex:

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Alex was good friends with Hex, by virtue of his parents being friends with him too. The advice that the old cape gave him and his sister will always stick with him as wise words from a dying generation of heroes.

Name:

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Shirley Mackey

Alias:

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Beacon

Age:

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44

Powers:

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Light Manipulation; Shirley is able to create, shape and manipulate visible light, being able to control light to weaponise it or use it as a defensive aid. She can solidify it into shields, use concentrated laser beams to super-heat and shear holes in targets, or bend the light around herself to create illusions or to hide her presence in a bubble of invisibility. Shirley can also channel her light through any objects she holds, so as long as they're mostly metal or transparent.

Weaknesses:

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Shirley's biggest foil in terms of powers is anything that can absorb or reflect the light and heat she projects. Failing that, Shirley is still bound by her own body's limits, not sharing her brother's immense endurance and defensive capabilities. In a way, she is far more mortal than Alex is, and far more vulnerable in that regard.

Appearance:

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Standing a mere five feet five inches tall and weighing 155 pounds, Shirley is much smaller than her brother is. Her hair and eyes are the same shade of brown, and her hair is long and curly, flowing past her shoulders. She regularly keeps her hair tied in a braided ponytail and shares the same fashion sense as her brother, dressing simply in a blouse or shirt, jeans and shoes when at work or out. She too has a signet ring worn on her left index finger, though a smaller one for her dainty hands. The bronze chain she wears also has a locket on it, on which is engraved a Roman gladius and contains a picture of her family. With the advances in technology, Shirley opted to get cosmetic cybernetic implants across her body, elaborated on below, but the LCD strips in her arms and legs often glow to life when she's excited or focused on her powers. When they're off, they fade to match her skin colour, becoming almost invisible against her skin.

For her costume, Shirley wears a pair of aviator shades on her face, with her hair tied up in a bun held in place by two long, thin hairpins, the rest of her hair kept under a baseball cap. She keeps the lower half of her face hidden by wearing a turtleneck shirt with the neck pulled up over her nose, with short sleeves so as to not impede her light cybernetics. Over this, Shirley wears a sleeveless hooded sweatshirt and jean shorts with sneakers and thigh high translucent leggings that keep her warm while also letting the light of her cybernetics bleed through the fabric.

Equipment:

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• Her hands, often used as focuses for her light beams. She likes to have her hands in the shape of handguns, since the idea of "finger guns" firing actual laser beams amuses her.
• Advanced cosmetic cybernetics given newfound purpose with Shirley's powers, in the form of ultra-thin LCD strips along her arms, legs, chest and back, and even in her fingertips, that light up with a mere thought. She is able to control the colour of the lights, along with their intensity, with a tiny computer implanted into her brain, and she uses these cybernetics to create more light for her to use as a weapon or defense.
• A short staff, made of reinforced aluminium and a strengthened composite of plas-steel and titanium, with an outer layer of the same flexible LCD strips that are in her body. The staff lights up in the same way her implants do, connected wirelessly to the implant in her brain.

Origin:

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Shirley gained her powers similar to her brother; they manifested during her teens and when her parents retired to take care of them, she was taught how to harness her abilities to control and manipulate light. She helped out around their home village, mostly doing odd jobs and providing the occasional light show for easily amused children in the local school or for festivals. Much of Shirley's life remained similar to her twin brother, Alex, up until he disappeared one day from their family home. At first, it drew a panic among the resident and her parents especially, but her father's connections proved to be a powerful tool; a few calls and he found out Alex was in the Army and there was not much they could do about it.

It was around this time that Shirley also made up her mind to seek her fortune elsewhere, though through much more mundane means. Her plan was to move to London and study in a local university to get a Masters in Construction Engineering. Her parents were supportive of her decisions and Shirley moved out within the year, taking up residence in a dorm in London while she focused on her studies. Time passed rather quickly, Shirley graduated with her Masters and began a brief career in the industry, using her powers of light manipulation to help her colleagues visualise building plans or to highlight potential structural weaknesses. But as much as the job paid the bills and gave her a stable place in the workforce, she began to grow tired of the boring job and began seeking other options for herself.

Thus was how she stumbled onto the Knights Anglais, and by extension her long lost brother. Reunited with family in London, the siblings enrolled into the Knights and made a name for themselves. Shirley took on the heroine name of Neon for her light-based powers, later changing her name to Beacon, and shared in the spotlight with her brother. But where Alex had to take on cybernetics because of his job in the army, Shirley was given a choice about it. During her training as a super within the Knights, one of her tutors noticed that her light powers, although powerful, she could only control by pulling light from around her. While not totally debilitating in terms of her superhero career, her tutor gave her the option of getting some very light cybernetic implants; LCD strips that could generate her own light so she could function in darker areas. There wasn't much choice; Shirley knew the risks and she went for it.

And the rest, as they say, is history. When the Academy tragedy rolled around, Shirley was the one who had to drag her brother out of his depressed funk, making sure the family still had plans for the future. She took care of him emotionally after they retired, pushing to see a therapist for his issues while making sure the rest of their affairs were in order. The bakery was being supported, the school still had teachers and her brother wasn't being a sad slob of a man. Over time, Shirley mellowed out and now she runs the family bakery while her brother works in the docks, content with living life out of the spotlight.

Personality:

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Contrasting her brother's mellow nature, Shirley is more eager and active in her personality. She is warm and bubbly, not quite as energetic as she was when she was younger, but still a bundle of joy to be around. Shirley cares about the small joys in life; cracking open a freshly baked loaf of bread and letting the smell fill her nose, the sound of children's laughter filling a quiet spring morning, wind blowing ripples through the green hills of her home in the countryside, things like that. Her love for her family and friends knows no bounds, especially for her brother, after he suffered through battles and much more loss than she ever experienced. She cares for him like a sister would, encouraging him to be more open about his emotions and venting about them to her or his therapist.

Inside, she harbours her own doubts and worries that she isn't doing enough for the family business. That she's letting her parents down, or that she's not doing a good job in consoling and reassuring her brother. Shirley frets and worries a lot about things in her life that she sometimes can't control, leading to anxiety problems that only worsened after the death of her parents. She's most afraid of losing control of her life, and by extension her brother, because he's the only family she has left and she's afraid of losing him. Her anxiety also often manifests as feelings of self-doubt and self-loathing, a vicious cycle of self-blame and regret that she can't fully control or understand. But she survives. She has Alex as her anchor and her home as her foundation, and in her heart, past the anxiety and negative thoughts, she knows that she is still loved by those around her and that carries her through life.

Misc Facts:

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Contrary to her brother, Shirley enjoys a good meal of fish and chips as comfort food, and her favourite flavour of ice cream is Rocky Road.

Relationship with Hex:

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Like her twin brother, Shirley was also good friends with Hex. Unlike Alex, she kept in contact with Hex infrequently, up until he dropped off the radar and subsequently disappeared.

Name: Isaac J. Castle
Alias: Nightmare
Formerly: Wild Card
Age: 36
Powers:

A call to the void. – A dark ability he barley understands, similar to what you would call shape shifting just in a different light. Entering into a trance and muttering words he does not know or remember, a black void opens beneath him and he sinks in. after a certain amount of time, a creature will emerge that he shares a mental and physical connection. What emerges has only referred to itself once as Naswaru. Once the creature is dismissed or destroyed, he will appear were it last stood unharmed but fatigued.

Evolved specimen – there is a 5% chance that whatever comes back through the void is evolved or at a higher level than the others of the same type. These specimens have stronger and have more powerful ability’s. However, they are harder for Isaac to control and he is more susceptible to their natural urges and instincts.



Weaknesses:

When he dives he never comes back the same, there is a toll that must be paid for making the call. Sometimes it’s just a memory, it can be changed, erased, or not even his own. It could manifest as a twitch or unknown desire. Normally he comes back with personality traits of the beast.

If someone were to ever gain control of his mind and force him to call to the void, he nor the person who forced him to will be in control of the demon. The creature will do whatever its primary goal would be without the care for collateral damage. If the creature suffers enough damage or is out for at most 6 hours it will dissipate and Isaac will be rendered unconscious.

It takes a little time for him to complete the incantation and slip into the void, if someone were to interrupt this the call would not work and he would have to try again. It is not instantaneous.

Even though the creature looks like it is from another world, he is still just a human and suffers from the same ailments and issues regular humans have.

Eventually the beast will consume him entirely, this is what Hex warned. Without his pendant the beast has more influence on his reasoning and compulsions.

Appearance:

An average built man, standing 5’9 and weighing about 180 Lbs.

Deep sunken brown eyes, a thousand yard stare, and a permanent scowl are the first to greet you when you first meet him. Always sporting short neatly shaved hair and looking like he had not shaved for the last few days. The smell of smoke and cheap cologne, not strong enough to put someone off but definitely there.

His skin always looks a little dirty and covered in various tattoos of different colors and images. These tattoos hide scars of a tortured and broken past long before he was given his ability. One thing that stands out with these tattoos and markings is several symbols of other hero’s. Some forgotten to time, others who are no longer among the living, and a few that still walk the streets and back allies.

He has the look of someone who has seen or done some very bad things and has no one to blame but himself for it. Wearing an old patched up and partially reinforced leather trench coat that’s adorned with patches and pins. Under that is normally business clothes and some reinforced slacks that have seen better days. A tie, black but occasionally red, hangs lazily around his neck and an old leather backpack make up his traveling clothes.



Equipment:

Other than his average reinforced clothes he carries a staff that doubles as a walking stick. Strong metal ground to a point on one end and electricity surging through the other. Isaac is highly trained and skilled with most melee weaponry, gaining the skills mostly out of boredom than anything.

Origin:















Personality:

Isaac is a cold and quiet man, always trying to atone for what he has done through his actions. He will always be the first to offer assistance or help. Often spending what little money he has on helping others in need with food or shelter. If he senses they are having issues or are just lonely he may even break out of his cold personality and try to talk to them.

Slow to anger with a depressed look about him, he finds himself sometimes thinking a bit too much on the given circumstances. The last thing he wants is to get into a fight and will try his best not too unless given no other choices. He has a fear of his ability’s and what they can do and does not like to show them off. However if asked, he is more than willing to open up and talk about them.

He isn’t one to lose his composure or give up early more than likely he will try his best and give it his all on any given task. Always the protector, he would never leave anyone behind and is always willing to make the sacrifice play.

Misc. Facts:

Isaac enjoys singing and playing the guitar, he usually carries a holographic guitar but has an old wooden one at the church. He also enjoys Asian style foods more than others, always finding the time for a good noodle shop.

On a bad day or after a change the voice of Naswaru lingers and talks to him. One could very well see him as being crazy for having a conversation with some one who isn't there.

Naswaru wasn't always a demon, in the beginning it was an angel and it has slowly grown more dangerous and twisted with every use.

Relationship with Hex:

Hex was a strange character, a man that wondered into his church one day while Isaac was still fighting crime and wanted to speak to him about their god. After a brief conversation he revealed he was not here for the religion but for him, to talk to him about his power. Isaac being one to not turn someone away, listened to what he had to say. After their talk about eldritch magic and entities from another realm meant to fight evil, Isaac was more than convinced to let the man attempt to help him. The help he received was in the form of a necklace that helped him control the ones he banded too. Now with him gone Isaac feels indebted to the old man to at least make an effort to figure out what he was doing.

Name: Eli Evans

Alias: Biomancer

Age: 64

Powers: Organic Manipulation and absorption.

Eli can control, manipulate, and absorb organic matter provided he is touching it. The more organic matter he has access to, the more drastic things he can do with it. Most often it involves rapidly healing himself or others, making weapons or armor out of his body, using his body as a weapon, or turning organic matter into weapons.

Due to his primary ability, Eli can have superhuman physical attributes. Long years of forced retirement and age have degraded this, however, and he is only capable of lifting 1.5 tons and running at 50mph with reflexes capable of catching an arrow in flight. He can only keep either the strength or the speed going at a time, however. Both puts too much strain on his body.

Weaknesses: Eli is old, and hasn't used his powers in twenty years. It hurts to use his powers, he's rusty at the various techniques, and in general is slow at using his powers.

Anything to do with fire Eli despises. Burning generally makes it difficult for him to quickly heal and anything he makes from organic matter only provides fuel for fire.

Eli is incapable of manipulating any inorganic matter. Metals, gases, plastics, etc etc.

Anything that doesn't attack Eli's organic matter specifically (Hexes,curses, psionic attacks, mind control, etc etc) Eli is very vulnerable too.

Manipulating organic matter requires energy and most often that energy is drawn from whatever is being manipulated. As Eli is most often manipulating his own body, he's often using huge amounts of energy and as such requires and equally huge if not larger caloric intake to off set it. If Eli can't regain energy, he can't use his powers.

Eli can survive and heal most wounds and, if given enough biomass absorbed, even regrow limbs but those all require his brain to be intact. Anything going through his skull and hitting his brain is guaranteed to kill him.

Appearance: Eli stands at 5ft 7in with a strong, stocky build. His forced retirement has caused him to lose the fitness of his youth as he reluctantly became used to a career where he didn't have to be ready to fight at any given moment, but beneath the layer of fat he's still powerful and capable of holding his own in a fight. His white beard and hair are kept carefully maintained, trimmed to an exact length and style. Bushy eyebrows are usually found drawn together above harsh brown eyes and a broad nose that more often than not has its nostrils flared. His lips are typically drawn into a scowl, making the multitude of wrinkles on his face even more apparent. Especially when he grumbles in his deep rumble of a voice.

His general clothing tends to be jeans and t-shirt. Simple, but kept clean and immaculate. It is rare to find him in ripped or dirty clothing by choice.

His costume used to be a menacing suit of organic armor, capable of conventional weapons and most heavy firepower. He isn't capable of covering his entire body in such a material anymore and now only generates a thin layer over his body to provide mild protection and hide his identity. Not much good it does, since his trial, but old habits die hard.

Equipment: In general, Eli has basic body armor, a pistol, and a battle rifle. He hasn't used any of them in over a decade, but keeps them on hand in case a situation ever arises where he needs to use them.



Personality: Eli is most obviously characterized by an almost total lack of empathy for his fellow man. He never cared for the plights of anyone but himself and his family. And since his family is all either dead or have turned their backs on him, he cares even less. He views the world as a cold and merciless place and the people in it even more so. Kindness and mercy are only weaknesses that others will use to either stab you in the back, or force you to carry them through every difficulty they encounter. He views superheroes as the ultimate manifestation of that foolishness, people using powers to help those who don't want to help themselves, opening themselves to attacks they normally wouldn't be open too with their abilities. Villains are worse, greedily trying to take as much as they can, assuming that because they have powers they're unstoppable. As such, he generally finds most other supers to be insufferable.

The notable exception to his lack of empathy is children. Eli either sees his brother and himself in them, or perhaps thinks they're the last vestige of innocence in the world. Regardless, the only time anyone is able to see Eli be gentle or kind is when dealing with kids. He's even been noted to do some of the 'stupid heroics' he mocks superheroes for when they're in danger.

A generally practical and ruthless person, Eli favors an 'by any means necessary' methodology. It typically doesn't matter what has to be done or who has to be sacrificed to get the job done, Eli is willing to do whatever is the most efficient route to getting an objective accomplished. Control and detachment are traits he values and prides himself on, ignoring the fact that he himself struggles at times with control and detachment.

Eli lacked tact since before his self-imposed exile. A little under twenty years of being in isolation has made that even worse. In general, he shouldn't be the one doing the talking and it would be best to have someone nearby to shut him up if the team is in a delicate situation that needs to be talked out of.

Eli is still values family above all else. He has no idea where Frank is, or if Frank is even still alive, but he would do anything for his brother without question. When they were in the military, this extended to their squad that they would operate frequently with but he even has less of an idea of where any of them are. Dead, presumably, in some war or operation by the USA government.

Despite the tough and immovable persona Eli presents, he's afraid of not dying. Immortality seems like a curse, rather than boon. It was a constant worry of his when he was younger, that his powers wouldn't let him age or die and he'd have to live forever or kill himself. It was a relief when he began showing signs of aging, even though he knew that it was most likely his subconscious influencing his powers to prevent them from manipulating his cells. Heroes who were immortal or undead always unnerved him, and he kept his distance as best he could. As if they could infect him with their immortality.

Misc Facts: Eli likes to keep himself and his gear immaculate and well-groomed. A minor neurotic tick, he frequently uses his powers to keep his hair a certain way, his nails trimmed, so on so forth. He's used his power endless times in his life to prevent scars from forming.

Eli has a working knowledge of how the human body is put together and operates, and how various organic structures in the animal, plant, and insect kingdom are put together and operate. He has spent his years studying how they work and what makes them work, on the off chance that Frank would reach out to him and he'd need to use his abilities once more. It never came to be, but now that the Special Agent has reached out to him he can finally put them to good use. Hopefully.

Eli has a tendency to unconsciously hum as he focuses on something.

Eli likes arachnids. He had a pet Goliath tarantula he let go before heading to Cedar Fort, and he still misses Suzy.

Relationship with Hex: Hex and Eli were rivals, of a sort. Whenever Eli would be hired to do something for a corporation or a villain who didn't want their hands to be dirtied or any connections to lead back to them, Hex would be there spouting some general bullshit line about using their powers for good. He always annoyed Eli, with his oozing self-righteousness. His hexes were incredibly frustrating as well, given how they affected Eli as a person and not just his organic material. Occasionally Hex would convince Eli there was enough profit in helping the 'good' side that they'd work together, but such occasions were rare. Hex was the one who prevented Eli from being incarcerated for life, though Eli doesn't know what was said or why, still reeling from his brother's betrayal. Presumably some vision of his about Eli's 'potential.'