Alright, honestly fresh out of entirely original ideas, so I figure I'll just toss out an old favourite with a few modifications.
Also, forgive me if it's a bit rough, even for a WIP; kinda running on the vague memory of sleep.
Edit: FINISHED.
Name – Duncan McKay Alias – Champion (sometimes reffered to as the 'Hero of Halifax' or the 'Lion of Nova Scotia') Age – 26 Powers – CELTIC MAGIC: As the (supposed) descendants of some badass mage-knight of ancient Welsh and Brythonic legend, Duncan's family is no stranger to funky powers showing up in their ranks. His granddad, for example, was blessed with an unnaturally long life; something that saw him through both World Wars, Korea, Malaya and a brief stint as a mercenary in Vietnam but could still pass for a guy in his forties to this very day. Another good example would be Duncan's dad— God rest his soul— who was built so impossibly, stupidly, insanely tough that it took the Taliban two weeks and an obscene amount of rockets, bullets and bombs to stop his one-man rampage through Helmand Province after they made the mistake of hamburgering his entire platoon and kidnapping a bunch of schoolgirls in the village they were staying in.
It is weird for these powers to manifest so strongly as they have in Duncan, though. And neither his grandpappy or the big ol' family Book of Weird Things compiled over the centuries can really explain that. These abilities include...
Strength: Duncan, despite only standing at a good 5'6" on a good day, is... for a lack of a better way of putting it, strong.Very Strong.Ridiculously friggin' strong. So much so that while he hasn't yet beaten the Captain in an arm-wrestling contest, he has at least made the guy grunt, strain and work for it every time.
Magic Resilience: Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it), Duncan found out quite early on in his superhero career that his lineage makes him quite resilient to a great deal of offensive magics; with most of your more typical elemental-based spells simply ricocheting off him on impact. Experience has taught him that there are... a lot of exceptions though; the kind of magic that throws a giant rock at his head for instance is still, well, throwing a giant rock— And will hit him just as hard as it would anyone else. The more esoteric kinds of magic— curses, hexes, glowing ropes that make you tell the truth, etc.— also tend to have an easier time getting around his defenses.
Flames of Annwyn: Easily the most 'out there' of Duncan's powers; the ability to summon up and make use of an inexplicable magical blue fire either as a projectile, something to wrap his fist in or even to envelope his entire body with. Being magical in nature, the boy also has a fine control over what and how it burns; from an intense inferno that'd turn titanium high carbon steel alloys to silly putty, to a pleasantly warm breeze on a summer's day to even occasionally weirdly brisk and cool. Made all the more confusing by the fact that you could be standing right smack-dab in the middle of it and wouldn't feel a damned thing unless he wanted you to.
This was the first power Duncan ever manifested, and (thankfully) the one he has the most control over, describing it to anyone who bothers to ask how it works as 'Kinda like a weird, wispy fifth limb'.
Endurance/Nigh-Invulnerability: Pretty self-explanatory; the kid can really take a beating— being of that same tier of toughness you'd find Kryptonians, Amazons and particularly juiced Atlanteans in— and doesn't tire easily either, even under the kind of strain and exertion that should turn a normal man into hamburger meat.
(Theoretical) Super Speed: Now, for someone as strong as our boy the Champion is, ya gotta figure that would extend to the muscles in his legs too, right? I mean, if he can punch that hard and fast, it'd make sense that he could run like all hell too, right? Weeeell... you would be correct— and as a matter of fact, he's done that a few times in the past— there is the slight issue that, unlike a Kryptonian or an actual speedster,Isaac Newton thoroughly has him by the balls. Making the vast majority of his attempts to go fast end with an abrupt, headlong collision into something hard, unpleasant and just a bit embarrassing... so he generally avoids doing that.
Flight(?): Recently, during a bout of sparring, Champ learned that he could... kinda float and stay right side up if he really puts his mind to it. Though he hasn't actually gotten much use out it as yet, as any subsequent attempt to expand upon that and actually fly have ended rather poorly; with results varying between suddenly being stuck floating upside down or pinned to the ceiling, uncontrollably spinning like a top, launching himself backwards and on at least one occasion, slamming into every single wall around him before embedding himself four feet into the ground.
Suffice to say, he's decided to stop messing with it for the time being.
Water Breathing: Kind of the random outlier among his talents, though he's hardly one to complain about not drowning.
Fluency in Latin, Greek and Old Welsh: Kinda comes part and parcel with growing up in his particular family. Though generally useless in most circumstances.
Can Cook: Truly his greatest power of all, because it's the one his mom gave to him.
Weaknesses – Not Actually Invulnerable: Despite all his resilience and durability, any foe in his weight class or above can (and indeed, in the past, has) pound him into the dirt.
Magical in Nature, but Magically Vulnerable: Unlike a wizard, or any of your more typical spell-casty types that gain their abilities from years of study, an outside source or the occasional culty demon ritual, Duncan's abilities are intrinsic to his very being. Which can be one hell of a double-edged sword as any effect that actively dampens magic will quickly depower him on the spot and, through prolonged exposure, inevitably lead to extreme fatigue, internal hemorrhaging, organ failure and finally death. It also means he has a much harder time than most fighting off magics that attack his mind instead of his body.
Not a Kryptonian: It should go without saying, but... Duncan can't survive in space. He also has to eat, sleep, drink and breathe if he wants to keep on living and, though in some cases he's more resilient than others, he's not at all immune to poisons or toxins ingested orally or inhaled as a gas.
Personality – Plucky, Clever, Reliable, Rough-Around-the-Edges, Genuine Experience – Six Years Appearance/Face Claim – Actually keeps two costumes. Not for any symbolic reasons, mind you, but to rotate between while the other's in the wash. Occasionally wears his granddad's old leather jacket over top and sometimes even a ballcap from some local minor-league hockey team or some pub, too.
According to Welsh legend, long ago, during the twilight years of a dying Empire, when the last bloodstained caligae of the Roman Legions stepped off the shores of Britannia never to return, Cynyr the Red, King of Dyfed was granted a vision by Arawn, master of Annwyn; the mythical 'Otherworld' of Celtic belief.
In it, he witnessed a man— as yet unborn— a mighty warrior and a slayer of giants. Stubborn, with a temper that burned forever hot, but with a heart that would be eternally cold. A peerless soldier, completely devoid of fear, able to brave fire or water like no other man alive and possessing the ability radiate an unnatural heat from his hands, to go over a week without the need to sleep or breathe or to grow as tall as the mightiest tree if he so wished it.
This man was Cai Hir (Kay the Tall, to the English), his own son. Foster brother and dear friend to Arthur Pendragon and hero of Camelot, whom the Once and Future King himself would supposedly recall in the (fragmented) 10th Century poem Pa Gur:
"Prince of the plunder, / The unrelenting warrior to his enemy; / Heavy was he in his vengeance; / Savage was his fighting. When he would drink from a horn, / He would drink as much as four; / When into battle he came / He slew as would a hundred. Unless God should accomplish it, / Cai's death would be unattainable. Worthy Cai and Llachau / Used to fight battles, / Before the pain of livid spears [ended the conflict]. On the top of Ystarfingun / Cai slew nine witches. / Worthy Cai went to Ynys Mon / To destroy lions. / Little protection did his shield offer / Against Palug's Cat."
Though unquestioningly loyal, and a great champion of the realm, these same legends almost always end on the same note; that at some point, Kay and Arthur have a falling out, with the former leaving the latter's court and swearing never to return. Later myths, usually those written by the French or Germans would go even further, portraying the knight as a boorish, bumbling, bullying jackass that existed just to get in people's way— usually around the same time Lancelot started showing up in Arthurian Lore.
Most scholars gloss over that as just that old habit of poets and fanfic writers downgrading old heroes to make the new ones that would replace them look better.
Duncan's family, the McKays (a bit of a coincidental name, don'cha think?) have a slightly different opinion on the matter. Mainly because they possess the only written, firsthand account of it all by virtue of their forefather knowing how to write.
As it turns out, the rift between Kay and Arthur wasn't down to some funny song, joke or prank, but down to the fact Kay was the first to clue into the fact that Lancelot (noted in the family book as the rough Welsh equivalent of 'That Gallic Prick') was trying to bang his foster brother's wife. And so responded in the most 'Kay' way imaginable— by beating him the ever-loving hell out of with his bare hands before the rest of the knights piled on top of him to make him stop before he killed him, leading to his disgrace and exile from Camelot when not a soul at court actually believed him. And, with time, his vilification in later myth.
Even though he turned out to be absolutely right in the end.
But that's old history, lets skip ahead about a thousand years and a few thousand miles across the ocean to Halifax, Nova Scotia. A coastal port city on the Atlantic easily dwarfed by the likes Metropolis or Gotham that Kay's descendants, and more pertinent to this CS, our boy Duncan call home.
Now, old Kay, realizing what he was and that all his freaky powers were probably hereditary in one way or another, did his kids the courtesy of writing all that down as well. Turns out he was right about that, too. And since that day, pretty much every generation of the family since has had at least some form of his powers, or a mutation thereof. But after so many years, they were always prepared for it.
Suddenly realized you can bench a car? Probably what Arthur was getting at with that whole 'Slew as would a hundred' thing. Weird blue fire? Well, Papa Cynyr did say something about 'Unnatural heat'... Get hit by a bus and did more damage to it, than it to you? Remember that line about 'Death would be unattainable'?
So honestly, once his powers started to manifest around his twelfth birthday, it was less of a world-shattering, life-changing come to Jesus moment and more 'That annoying thing that made him stop playing hockey'. What was unusual, however was how many of these talents the boy began to manifest, and how strongly they were appearing; the last time the magic fire showed up in the family, for example, was with his aunt... and the most she could manage was heating up her coffee with it in the morning, Whereas Duncan can outright melt steel with it. And his strength? That's something that hasn't been seen to that degree since perhaps Kay himself.
For a brief moment, he considered actually making use of these talents of his, putting on the spandex and doing his part to make the world a better place... Before abruptly deciding that was a job for Captain Marvel or something and going on to live a mostly normal life, showing an aptitude as a mechanic quite early on in his youth, where he spent most of his days tinkering in his granddad's garage until finally graduating highschool and getting an apprenticeship at one of the local shipyards; working on everything between tugs, heavy freighters and the occasional naval frigate or cruiser.
And honestly? It was all working pretty great for him up until six years ago, when, during his lunchbreak on an overtime shift, some dude with scaly armour, a shiny pitchfork and a bad attitude rose out of the harbour and started trashing the place, all while raving something about this being the 'First, insignificant hurdle to his conquest of the surface'. Honestly, Duncan's memory's a little hazy on the details; what with the Atlantean Asshat literally destroying his career, having to shove his coworker out of the way of the actual laserfire from said asshat's goons, the nearby naval base and the American destroyer visiting it loudly calling all hands to battle stations and what looked suspiciously like his own car flying over his head to embed itself in the roof of the Wendy's across the street... his mind was in a different place.
What he's been told, though, is that apparently he got so fed up with the whole thing that all five and a half feet of him began stomping his way up to the offending Atlantean. Who, finding this kind of amusing, ordered his men to cease fire in order to "Let the little surfacer have his shot."
And that's when McKay kicked him right in the balls. So hard in fact, it produced a shockwave the shattered every window for half a kilometer. Seconds before ripping that golden fork out of his hands and repeatedly whacking him over the head with it for good measure.
Handily, Aquaman, who'd evidently been in the water the whole time dealing with the much larger force therein before cleaning house on the surface, arrived by his sixth swing. Defusing the boy from making a seventh with a disarming "Hey, uh... Chum? That is not how you use the Trident of Neptune..."
A quick talk later, and Duncan learned that the man he damn near rochambeau'd into low orbit was The Oceanmaster, and if the guy had actually taken him seriously from the get go, he'd likely be very dead and that he probably shouldn't make a habit of doing that too often. Still, the King of Atlantis thanked him for his part in returning the trident, and sent him on his way. Noting that they'd probably be in touch.
Two days later, in the midst of taking a break from applying for Employment Insurance online in his PJs to watch the blurry viral video of him kicking Oceanmaster in the balls on Youtube, Aquaman showed up at his front door. With a wide grin on his face, a box of Atlantean 'thank you' cookies in his hands and frickin' Captain Marvel to his left, wearing that big, dorky grin of his. Evidently, gossip about McKay's handling of the Arty's estranged had made the rounds in the hero community until it finally made it's way all the way up to The Wizard, who quickly recognized Duncan for what he was and sent his boy in red to have a little chat.
Duncan's been doing the hero thing as the Captain's plus-one ever since, eventually being asked to join the Justice Society as a heavy hitter for the new team.
Golden Age Legacy – Captain Marvel Sample Story Arcs – The Legend of Unky Dunky: Aquaman and Mera have decided to take a honeymoon. And, unfortunately for the Champion, have also decided to drop the kids off in his care and disappear into the ocean before he could object. Now, with a vengeful Oceanmaster watching and waiting for a chance to correct his previous humiliation, Black Manta looming in the shadows at this golden opportunity and knowing full well that he is in no way qualified to be even a temporary dad to the pair of hyperactive Atlantean kids, Duncan turns to the rest of the JSA for help. Let the babysitting begin.
Godwin's Law: Though his granddad was far from being a costumed superhero, his actions during both World Wars earned him the eternal enmity of certain people of a decidedly Teutonic persuasion; A due vendetta that Baron Krieger, otherwise known as Captain Nazi intends to collect on.
The Ticking Clock:"This is no trivial matter, Boy. You are, by your very nature, a creature of the arcane, and your body will not tolerate it's absence lightly. You'll have a day perhaps, maybe two, before the horror of what has transpired truly begins to manifest; the rotting of the marrow in your bones, the failure of your immune system, the decay of the organs still in your body followed by nightmarish hallucinations as your brain desperately fires out signals to something that isn't there anymore. All the while your muscle fibres unbind themselves from eachother, the flesh drops from your body and veins and arteries begin to leak like sieves; ensuring that even if a remedy did exist to mask the pain— which of course, will be beyond the comprehension of a mortal mind— it would be completely useless.
I wish you luck in reclaiming what was stolen from you, Dear Champion... or at least in finding a more merciful end than this."
TL;DR: Someone's stolen Duncan's magic mojo. Are you a bad enough dude to help him get it back?
Additional Notes – Some highlights from his career so far:
-Trapping Livewire in a Commodore 64. -Stopping a magically animated Statue of Liberty from flattening a corrupt New York Mayor (and all the buildings between him and her) by, when all else had failed, flirting with her in French. -Adventuring to Themyscira with Aquaman and the Captain to recover a plant that could cure Aquaman's very sick (and very pregnant) wife. -Getting their collective asses completely stomped on by angry Amazons while doing so. -Returning with the plant, and then having to deliver the babies (twins, go figure) when Mera went into labour. Aquaman (after spending the previous day and night completely devoid of fear, unrelenting, undaunted, and as the very rock that had kept all of them alive) fainted on the spot while Marvel realized what was going on, turned pale and then an interesting shade of green and before excusing himself into the nearest bathroom. -Consequently, being known as 'Unky Dunky' ever since those two kids learned to speak. -Being allowed to drink coffee in the Batmobile exactly once.
@Sir Lurksalot If you switch Superman to Captain Marvel/Shazam and Aquaman into Neptune Perkins it would be much more in line with the Society. I think I remember this guy from the old Justice League Unlimited days.
@Sir Lurksalot If you switch Superman to Captain Marvel/Shazam and Aquaman into Neptune Perkins it would be much more in line with the Society. I think I remember this guy from the old Justice League Unlimited days.
@Omega Man Done. Though honestly, kinda in a rush because I have to head out to work in a bit, so I might have half-assed the arc suggestions a little.
Also went with Dan the Dyna-Mite instead for a secondary because I actually had a minute to flip through the wikis this time and he looks like fun.
Probably need another player as our Hawkwoman doesn't appear to be as active as some of the rest of us....
I just don't think the interest was there for this one, even after the Black Adam film hit theaters. I've got a couple more ideas for RPs written up, just trying to decide which one to roll with. One idea is an X-Men - New Mutants idea with a theme: making DC characters into mutant variants in the Marvel landscape. If @Sir Lurksalot, @Martian, or @Divine Darkness wanna check out Titans Academy we're currently down a player or two!
I'll look into Titans Academy. But I do hope that this RP gets off the ground. I've always been interested in WWII era supers and how they evolve over the years.
I'll look into Titans Academy. But I do hope that this RP gets off the ground. I've always been interested in WWII era supers and how they evolve over the years.
Another idea was a Golden Age setting just with OC's. I think my next Interest Check will just be a general ideas thread with a handful of concepts.
I know its been uhhh... two-ish years, but I recognize some others from the old Young Justice RP, as well as that discord thing we had going on awhile back. Shame this fell through, because I was definitely interested.
