Doctor Doom
Victor Von Doom ♦ Former ruler of Latveria ♦ Independant ♦ Multiverse 668 (Prime)
W H A T I F...?:
"All defeat is merely temporary, the will of Doom triumphs in the end, always."
"Doctor Doom stole Doctor Fate's Helmet?"
The story of Victor Von Doom has been told many times, in dossiers, news programs, and in a truly excruciating multi-volume autobiography totaling in the thousands of pages that was mandatory reading for all Latverian college students. The broad strokes all agree, the son of a sorceress and born into the oppressed Latverian Romani community, he displayed a brilliant mind from a young age and fought against the ruling aristocracy of Latveria. As a college student he met his lifelong rival Reed Richards, and dropped out after an accidental explosion left him with a scar and a lifelong hatred of Richards. He traveled the world, built the advanced armor suit that would become his signature look, and returned to Latveria to lead a successful revolution. Despite achieving so much, Doom never let go of his hatred of Richards and all of his compatriots, and terrorized both the world at large and the Fantastic Four in particular with a seemingly endless stream of schemes. This adversarial relationship took paused when Richards came to him pleading for his help locating his missing wife. Although Doom enjoyed seeing his great rival depending on him for help and was practically salivating at the chance to use the mystical connection he had established with Richard’s daughter Valeria to enact further revenge, all of it proved bittersweet only a few years later. The Baxter Catastrophe seemingly did what Doom could not, wiping out the Fantastic Four, leaving Doom without his revenge and Valeria without her parents. In a gesture wrapped up with equal parts ego, ambition, and genuine care for the child, Doom adopted Valeria and raised her as if she were one of his own kin.
With the Fantastic Four gone, life changed for Doom. His ambitions never truly went away, but some of the urgency did, and his life became more sedate, finding time to dedicate to ruling over Latveria and raising his adopted daughter Valeria. He was still feared and loathed by the world at large, but less actively than before, as his clashes with outside powers became increasingly infrequent, never completely absent but far from the days that established him as an international terror. Some even began to speculate that he might be softening up; those who did voice those ideas made sure they were far beyond Doom’s reach whenever they did so. All of that changed a few months ago when a revolution broke out in Latveria, one that was different from any previous resistance movement he had seen. This one had planning and intention behind it, clearly with the groundwork laid beforehand, it moved swiftly and engulfed the whole country, carefully evading his surveillance network, infiltrating and disabling his defense systems, appropriating the weapons stored away and striking at the perfect time when Doom was distracted by international business. Although he publicly he says that it was purely good luck on their part, Doom suspects that someone orchestrated it all behind the scenes, and swears that he shall have his revenge swiftly and violently for what he insists is only a temporary setback.
Having fled the country has meant Doom has had to adapt to new circumstances. He destroyed much of his infrastructure and stashes rather than let the ungrateful revolutionaries have it, but in his hurry he could only bring the barest minimum of supplies with him. Doom has much to do to rebuild his resources and status. Finding a safe haven outside Latveria proved difficult, his antics as ruler had made him a pariah in the international stage, and now without his official status few were willing to even let him into their country as a free man. With options running low, Doom began to dig deep into his endless list of backup plans, trying to find something that could give him a rapid boost in power, and decided on one of the more speculative ideas, hunting for a particular object of great mystical power.
Victor pursued a lead he had learned of long ago, one that he had never found worth his time until he was so desperate. He stole the Helmet of Fate, an ancient artifact imbued with magical power by Nabu, one of the Lords of Order. Doom cared not for the warnings or the demands it would place on him, he trusted in himself to overcome them. Doom believed in them so deeply that he forged the helmet into his armor, adding a new gold sheen to the faceplate. Unfortunately for Doom, the mystical powers granted by the Helm of Fate are not given freely. Nabu, awoken from his slumber, demands loyalty from Doom, and wishes that his powers be used to set the universe as it should be. Doom now finds himself in an uneasy place, so far unable to find a way out of Nabu’s bargain, but also lacking in other options and fighting a constant battle to stop Nabu from fully possessing his body, for the time being Doom will actually have to devote some of his time to more altruistic pursuits. Whether this will lead to change in Doom, and how the bond between Doom and Nabu will evolve over time remains to be seen.
The story of Victor Von Doom has been told many times, in dossiers, news programs, and in a truly excruciating multi-volume autobiography totaling in the thousands of pages that was mandatory reading for all Latverian college students. The broad strokes all agree, the son of a sorceress and born into the oppressed Latverian Romani community, he displayed a brilliant mind from a young age and fought against the ruling aristocracy of Latveria. As a college student he met his lifelong rival Reed Richards, and dropped out after an accidental explosion left him with a scar and a lifelong hatred of Richards. He traveled the world, built the advanced armor suit that would become his signature look, and returned to Latveria to lead a successful revolution. Despite achieving so much, Doom never let go of his hatred of Richards and all of his compatriots, and terrorized both the world at large and the Fantastic Four in particular with a seemingly endless stream of schemes. This adversarial relationship took paused when Richards came to him pleading for his help locating his missing wife. Although Doom enjoyed seeing his great rival depending on him for help and was practically salivating at the chance to use the mystical connection he had established with Richard’s daughter Valeria to enact further revenge, all of it proved bittersweet only a few years later. The Baxter Catastrophe seemingly did what Doom could not, wiping out the Fantastic Four, leaving Doom without his revenge and Valeria without her parents. In a gesture wrapped up with equal parts ego, ambition, and genuine care for the child, Doom adopted Valeria and raised her as if she were one of his own kin.
With the Fantastic Four gone, life changed for Doom. His ambitions never truly went away, but some of the urgency did, and his life became more sedate, finding time to dedicate to ruling over Latveria and raising his adopted daughter Valeria. He was still feared and loathed by the world at large, but less actively than before, as his clashes with outside powers became increasingly infrequent, never completely absent but far from the days that established him as an international terror. Some even began to speculate that he might be softening up; those who did voice those ideas made sure they were far beyond Doom’s reach whenever they did so. All of that changed a few months ago when a revolution broke out in Latveria, one that was different from any previous resistance movement he had seen. This one had planning and intention behind it, clearly with the groundwork laid beforehand, it moved swiftly and engulfed the whole country, carefully evading his surveillance network, infiltrating and disabling his defense systems, appropriating the weapons stored away and striking at the perfect time when Doom was distracted by international business. Although he publicly he says that it was purely good luck on their part, Doom suspects that someone orchestrated it all behind the scenes, and swears that he shall have his revenge swiftly and violently for what he insists is only a temporary setback.
Having fled the country has meant Doom has had to adapt to new circumstances. He destroyed much of his infrastructure and stashes rather than let the ungrateful revolutionaries have it, but in his hurry he could only bring the barest minimum of supplies with him. Doom has much to do to rebuild his resources and status. Finding a safe haven outside Latveria proved difficult, his antics as ruler had made him a pariah in the international stage, and now without his official status few were willing to even let him into their country as a free man. With options running low, Doom began to dig deep into his endless list of backup plans, trying to find something that could give him a rapid boost in power, and decided on one of the more speculative ideas, hunting for a particular object of great mystical power.
Victor pursued a lead he had learned of long ago, one that he had never found worth his time until he was so desperate. He stole the Helmet of Fate, an ancient artifact imbued with magical power by Nabu, one of the Lords of Order. Doom cared not for the warnings or the demands it would place on him, he trusted in himself to overcome them. Doom believed in them so deeply that he forged the helmet into his armor, adding a new gold sheen to the faceplate. Unfortunately for Doom, the mystical powers granted by the Helm of Fate are not given freely. Nabu, awoken from his slumber, demands loyalty from Doom, and wishes that his powers be used to set the universe as it should be. Doom now finds himself in an uneasy place, so far unable to find a way out of Nabu’s bargain, but also lacking in other options and fighting a constant battle to stop Nabu from fully possessing his body, for the time being Doom will actually have to devote some of his time to more altruistic pursuits. Whether this will lead to change in Doom, and how the bond between Doom and Nabu will evolve over time remains to be seen.
P L O T ( S ) & G O A L ( S ):
I want to try telling a story about Doom outside of his comfort zone, where is trying to pick himself up after a setback, on the backfoot and scrambling, and one where he is actually compelled to do some heroics. I want explore what effects this will have on his psyche, and if there are noble intentions buried somewhere within him or if it has all truly been swallowed up by his own ego. I’m also hoping to dive into the mystical aspects of DC and Marvel because both of those have a lot of great material to play with. Doom is going to be a roaming character, focused on investigating some initial questions at the start, and moving where those threads lead. Doom wants to find out who back the coup in Latveria, and find a way to secure the helmets power without having to deal with Nabu. Nabu is interested in uncovering the plots of the agents of Chaos, and later on I’m also going to try and look at what motivates him, delve into what are the true intentions behind the Lords of Order and the cosmic war. These could end up being tied to other characters plots or remain independent, depending on whatever people prefer, and he'd also be open to brief appearances and intersections if not actually tied into anything important.
C H A R A C T E R N O T E S:
I’ve been talking with Ezekiel to try and hash out some of our characters’ shared histories, hopefully we can smooth out any inconsistencies that arise.
Supporting cast is minimal at the moment, have left it intentionally vague as to where exactly he stole the helmet from to avoid creating issues for other players.
Supporting cast is minimal at the moment, have left it intentionally vague as to where exactly he stole the helmet from to avoid creating issues for other players.
P O S T C A T A L O G: