Name: Atticus Tyren
Alias: Blake Rowe
Age: 22
Personality: At the best of times Atticus is self-absorbed, sarcastic, and abrasive. He often looks down on those who annoy him (which is a rather easy thing to do), those who lack class or tact, those who whine about their problems, and those who act superior to others (which is rather ironic considering he has an air or superiority at all times). Atticus is quick to insult and slow to apologize, often talking down to others for no apparent reason. Despite these rather difficult-to-handle mannerisms he is not a bad person at heart and is sometimes prone to sudden acts of kindness and empathy, though they are often accompanied by some snarky excuse.
When deadly serious, all manner of attitude and insult disappears as Atticus becomes single-minded in his pursuit. He will not rush in foolishly and will instead approach an obstacle with a cold and calculated cunning that is frightening to behold. When a true goal is at hand, he will stop at almost nothing to achieve it and will not hesitate to destroy anything, or any
one, in his path.
Being born and raised in the upper crust, adept at hiding his true nature. Atticus found it rather easy to blend back into ‘normal society’ after the Civil War. Through tact and manipulation, he is able to maintain a façade of normality that has fooled most of those around him. Inside, however, he despises the upper class and the government who sought to use him as a weapon. When faced with government workers, collection squads, soldiers, and the like he is prone to reacting violently and without mercy.
Appearance: Atticus stands about 5’10” with a light wispy build, fair skin and dark eyes. He is quite handsome, with a strong jaw and full lips, and his wavy brown-blonde hair is always carefully styled to give him a sleek modern look. His clothes don’t quite match up to the same level of style as he's usually seen in a light brown jacket over a button-down shirt and jeans.
Powers: Blood Manipulation – Atticus is able to control his own blood through force of will: bending and molding it into various shapes and changing its consistency outside of his body. At its most basic form, the powers allow him to create tentacles or spikes up to 5 or 6 meters in length. By manipulating the platelets within the blood he is able to make weapons that can pierce or cut surprisingly strong materials like body armor, some metals, and even concrete. Due to the nature of this power, Atticus must create self-inflicted wounds in order to draw the blood out of his body. This gives him a certain advantage when fighting enemies who leave lots of cuts or gashes as the strength of his ability would slightly increase as he sustained more injury.
As this power develops Atticus will be able to extend the range of his manipulation, create more complex shapes with his blood, and sense the blood of others. This will eventually lead to a slight amount of influence over blood that is not his own which will grant him many useful and deadly abilities.
Weaknesses and limitations:
Blood Loss – As would be imagined, the more Atticus uses his powers in a short period of time the weaker he would become as blood is inevitably lost through his manipulation. This can lead to light-headedness, dizzy spells, unconsciousness, and even death if not kept in check.
Required Outlet – Due to the fact that his blood must come
out of his body in order for him to use it, Atticus is put at an extreme disadvantage when fighting enemies who do not cause blood-drawing wounds.
Short Range – At Atticus’ current level of mastery, he is only able to extend his powers about 6 meters from his body.
History: Atticus was born on the upper east side of New York City to his mother, Eliza, and his father, Senator Ames Tyren, a very powerful and influential man in the political circuit. The younger of two sons by three years, Atticus found from an early age that his parents held no particular love for him and was constantly overshadowed by the accomplishments of his brother, Emerson. If Atticus got an 'A', Emerson got an 'A+'. If he got silver in the national tennis circuit, his brother got gold. Nothing Atticus did or accomplished was ever enough to please his parents. Despite this obvious trend, Atticus actually loved his brother deeply and the two got on very well with Emerson often intentionally redirecting his parents anger and disappointment
away from his brother.
This all changed, however, the day Emerson was killed. He was attending Yale University when there was a horrible school shooting led by another student. 37 students and teachers were killed that day: Emerson being one as he attempted to shield a fellow student from the gunfire. To the media and the public it was all seen as a random tragedy caused by an unstable boy and poor gun regulations. To those with enough power to learn the truth, the shooter had recently discovered a certain ability to hear others thoughts. The feverish scribblings in the journal confiscated from the boy's room indicated that hearing the mutterings and ramblings of everyone's mind at all hours of the day was enough to drive him insane. This was well before the great Civil War, before 'Unnaturals' came into the public eye, and so the government had certain protocols in place to ensure it all stayed quiet as more and more cases appeared around the country.
These protocols did not extend to the Senator Ames Tyren, who quickly learned the truth of the matter and thus began taking subtle steps to ensure these 'monsters' would be dealt with. And so it was that the first several laboratories were funded, all off the record of course, and the measures were developed to locate and contain those who might be deemed 'dangerous' and uncontrollable. They would be captured and studied in the hopes of developing effective countermeasures and weapons needed to protect the citizens of the United States.
After Emerson's death, things took a turn for the worse for Atticus. Blaming the death of their favored child on the life of their second, the physical and mental abuse became almost too much for the boy to bare. Still he worked for their affections in every way he knew how and received many awards in academics, musicianship, and athletics throughout his entire high school career. But even being granted admittance to Harvard could not please Atticus' grieving parents.
It was only a few weeks before moving to University that Atticus noticed something strange about him, or more specifically about his
blood. He could make it squirm, twist, and move beneath his skin: he could
feel it moving through his veins. At first he didn't understand until one night when he accidentally dropped a glass and caused his father to go into a fit of rage. Striking the boy, Ames sent him to the ground where he sliced his hand upon a shard if glass. In a moment of panic the blood that dripped from the wound lashed out and defended Atticus, much to the horror of his parents. Though he begged him not to, Ames immediately went to the phone and called the number of a special squad trained to handle the 'monsters'. With cold expressions, his parents watched silently as they came in and beat the boy into submission before wrapping a black bag tightly around his face and dragging him into the night. They drove for hours until they were far away from the lights of the city and when the bag was finally pulled away young Atticus found himself in the dim sterile cell that would be his new home.
For nearly four years he suffered beneath the scalpels and tests of the doctors who saw his kind as nothing more than a new animal to dissect.
They broke him down in every way imaginable, but at the bottom; when everything had been stripped away; Atticus found a sort of
control. Through careful planning he bided his time until the moment was right and he struck, slaying his abusers and making an escape from that horrible place hidden deep in the northern forests of New York state. Through some miracle he made it back to the city, taking what he needed to survive the trip, until finally he'd returned to his parent's penthouse. There he found his mother, broken and withered from years of carrying a heavy burden, and though he'd had the intention to kill her she begged for his forgiveness at her mistake, saying they'd been too scared and grief-stricken to know what they were doing. Atticus immediately sensed this half-truth, for he knew his father had held no such regrets as the man led the country's crusade against the 'unnaturals'. He meant to wait for him, to kill the man who would send his own son to a fate worse than death, but it was taking too long and he could not bare to put such harm on his mother after seeing what she'd become. Instead he opened his father's safe and took with him an incredibly large sum of money and several incriminating papers regarding the so-called 'House of Powers'. Bidding a last farewell to his mother, Atticus left the penthouse behind and made his way into the world that now feared his kind and that would forever see him as an outsider.
