Basic InformationName: Alice Shepherd
Nickname/Alias/Etc: Regicide (gamertag)
Gender: Female
Age: 18
Height:5’4
Weight: 100lbs
Home District: University Row
AppearanceHair Color:Black
Eye Color: Green
Ethnicity: Caucasian American
Physical Appearance: Alice is confined to a wheelchair, and that is what most people tend to see first, not the relatively pretty face or the slim figure, but the contraption of aluminium bars and wheels that allows her to move around.
She is below average height for a girl, but is almost painfully thin, with slightly drawn, features that it would not be unfair to call sharp. Her nose is just a hair from being called beaky while every point of her face seems somehow papery, though not because of her complexion, but as a result of the impression that if she moved too fast she might cut you. It would seem harsh and if she hadn’t mastered the art of a welcoming expression, and even then her features can sometimes appear unfriendly and cold. She often laments her case of resting bitch face and seems to be unable to make much difference even with the use of makeup.
At 5’4 she would never have been towering over people anyway but she sits straight in her wheelchair regardless, refusing to try and hide. The rest of her form however, continues the theme begun by her face. Alice is one of those people blessed (or cursed) with an absurdly high metabolism, and seems to remain thin no matter how bad her diet. Her arms are bony, and unusually long, but thanks to their occupation as her main method of locomotion, are toned, though not particularly muscular. Her collarbones stand out starkly, in complete contrast to her chest which is decidedly less protuberant.
Her legs are still her best feature, even if she can no longer walk on them, long and smooth skinned, not an athlete’s but toned enough to display that she was at least active. The small amount of time since the Fiend’s attack has already begun to take its toll, and her legs are now thinner and clearly less in use despite physical therapy.
Attire: Alice always professes not to really care about how she dresses, but to anyone who really knows her, it’s clear that is more of a front than a reality. Since her injury she has developed a tendency to wear bright and eye catching t-shirts or blouses, often with psychedelic designs. She’ll usually top this with a bright scarf around her shoulders. Her lower half however is a different story. Though not so different as to attract attention, Alice will wear rather plain long skirts, or more usually jeans, and rarely shorts or more revealing items.
PersonalityInnate & Outward Personality:Alice is still angry, it was only a short time ago that she lost the use of her legs and the memory and the pain is still very fresh in her mind. She was more resigned to it when it was simply believed to have been an atrocity committed by the Fiends, but when NEST’s involvement was revealed she was confused, upset and angry, and that anger is still with her. She is not going to wallow in self-pity though, even if she doesn’t know what to do. She is not yet accustomed to her new status as disabled, and will occasionally become frustrated at how difficult some things now are. Sometimes this frustration can extend to people who offer to help her, especially considering her independent and self-reliant nature, though she tries not to show it.
Alice is, perhaps not surprisingly, relatively pessimistic in her outlook, she does not look positively towards the future, not that this makes her negative and depressing however. She just has generally negative expectations, and jokes that at least she will always be right or pleasantly surprised. She doesn’t assume the worst of people at least, she just doesn’t expect anything of them either, if you’re looking for someone to believe you can be better, Alice is not the one for you.
Hobbies/Interests:Alice is a dedicated player of Vorpal, a popular MOBA based Esports game, she is dedicated enough that it in fact takes up most of her time, leaving little time for other interests besides the occasional book and her school work.
Skills/Talents: Alice is an extremely talented Vorpal player, with the potential to go far in the professional scene. As a result of her experience she has a relatively accomplished tactical mind, albeit one that would need to adapt to real life situations.
Prized Possession:Her laptop.
Quote(s): “I’m not scared of dying, I’ll just respawn.”
History/Bio:Neither of Alice’s parents are particularly successful, in fact, were it not for the fact that Victoria Shepherd’s job provided health insurance was particularly generous then Alice may not have even been alive, let alone able to function. Her mother is a nurse, and her dad a long distance trucker, as a result neither of them was home much once she was old enough to go to kindergarten and look after herself.
It never bothered her, their parents had a few friends with kids about their own age, so she was rarely home alone, often spending evenings at a friend’s house. That could not be the case every night however, and she became more than accustomed to letting herself in, feeding herself, and putting herself to bed. It was a somewhat lonely life for a child, even with friends, coming home to a frequently empty house bred a strong sense of independence and self-reliance in Alice at an early age.
She soon developed an interest in video games, booting up the family’s aging computer to pass the time and find more friends online. Even so, she maintained a high grade point average in school, and was courting a number of scholarship offers before the Fiend’s attack on the fair. It soon became apparent that she had something of a gift when it game to video games, or MOBAs at least, specifically the popular game Vorpal, and at fourteen she began to attend LAN events around the city, though not as a competitor. While there she spoke to a Vorpal personality who had been invited to cast the tournament, impressed by what she was saying, he encouraged her to keep playing and maybe even to try out for a team.
The idea sat in the back of her mind for some time, until three years later when she decided that maybe she should try it, after all, it couldn’t hurt. Most teams were reluctant to recruit a seventeen year old, and a girl for that matter, but she stuck at it, and joined a team spread across the West Coast of the US. Her parents were understandably hesitant about this, but their attempts to make her play less of them game gained little traction, and it didn’t seem to be having an effect on her school work, and it made her happy. They played in a few online tournaments and usually gave a relatively good showing, but it wasn’t until the month after her eighteenth birthday, and three weeks before the Fiend’s attack that they actually won one, coming first and earning a prize pool of five hundred dollars to split between them. At that point her parents realised that this was something that Alice did love, and did want to continue, and their objections, while not quite stopping entirely, certainly no longer had any real passion behind them.
And then the fair happened. Alice had gone out to it to spend time with her ‘real-life’ friends, and by all accounts, they were enjoying things, until the Fiend’s broke out their weapons and opened fire. Caught in the initial attack, Alice was lucky to survive, hit by seven bullets, while two of her friends were killed instantly. Her mother was of course distraught when she discovered that Alice was one of the many casualties in Verthaven Central’s overflowing ER.
Alice was in a coma for four days, but woke by some miracle relatively healthy, with the exception of her legs. Three bullets, in a tight grouping had penetrated her back and severed her spinal column in two places; she had lost the use of her legs. She was held in hospital long enough to stabilise her spine, and then for some time after to ensure she was in a stable enough condition to be at home. Her father managed to procure some time off work while her mother was unable to as a result of the huge numbers of casualties in unstable conditions in the aftermath of the Fiend’s attack.
She’s had a few appointments since, ensuring that her health is still relatively stable, and she has one meeting a week with a physical therapist and an occupational therapist. It is hard, but she is slowly adjusting to her new lifestyle, strange though it is.
RelationshipsFamily: Victoria Shepherd – Mother
Michael Shepherd - Father
Dynamics: Jennifer Caspin | Good | Friends | "It's nice to know someone interested in games who's a girl, even if she hates taking advice." |
Meifeng Vuhong | Neutral | Friend of a friend | "She seems pretty intense, but still kind of fun, I've only really met her in passing though." |
AbilitiesPower Class:Other
Power: Alice’s ability is rather unusual, and comes in two parts, though neither can function without the other. The first is to project her mind from her body, separating from it entirely, and leaving her physical form in a dreamlike state. The second part is to create a physical host for her consciousness, a tangible being formed from energy that can physically interact with the world.
In this she is not limited to merely one form, but can in fact generate a number of different projections, each with their own physical appearance, traits, idiosyncrasies and abilities. She is currently only aware of a number of these forms, and they have clearly taken inspiration from her passion, as each takes the form of a different character from Vorpal.
Knarr – This form is clearly that of one of the more prominent tanks in Vorpal, a short, stout, red skinned figure with no end of anger issues and Napoleon’s syndrome. ‘He’ is about as wide as he is tall, and ‘he’ is only 5 feet tall, but there is an awful lot of power contained in that dense figure. The association that Alice’s mind has created generates a form that is incredibly resilient, able to brush off low-calibre bullets with relative ease, and only pausing at rocket propelled grenades. Those broad shoulders are also able to muster impressive strength, and ‘he’ has a lifting power of approximately a ton. However, with that comes a disadvantage, though strong and tough, Knarr is slow, not only as a result of ‘his’ short, stump-like, legs, but also the speed with which ‘he’ can bring ‘his’ strength to bear. It shouldn’t be too hard to avoid the blows thrown by this fearsome beast of a figure, but if one connects it would deal serious damage. This form also tends to make Alice feel invincible however, and she is a lot easier to provoke into confrontation when projecting this form.
Septimus – An elderly bearded wizard who moves with surprising haste considering his hunched form, his reliance on a staff and his advanced age. Dressed in long, flowing blue robes he has a shock of long white hair and carries a staff with a suspicious looking blue glow about it. Though as capable of hitting things with his staff as any Tolkien rip-off, that is not in fact the true talent of this aggravatingly cautious, know-it-all sorcerer. This form’s stock in trade is forcefields, ‘he’ can create and maintain up to two stationary forcefields, or one that he can move with himself, these need to be within eyeline, and are connected by a thin strand of energy as they feed off the energy of the projection itself. These shields can stop most bullets that don’t originate from a 50.cal, at least for a number of shots, approximately thirty, though this can vary depending on the stopping power of the weapon in question. Thanks to the nature of surface area and force they can also stop a small car before giving out. Septimus himself is relatively easy to put out of action, and two or three solid gunshots or a sound beating could easily cause this form to dissipate.
Alabaster – The character that was clearly developed to appeal to teenage boys, with pointed ears, flawless skin, and of course, a perfectly toned hourglass figure. Oh, and her skin is pure, porcelain white, which fits perfectly with her haughty, aristocratic temperament. She is also dressed somewhat more unashamedly than Alice would ever be comfortable with, with large areas of exposed skin covered by what would clearly be ineffective as armour and shifting, crossing ribbons in royal purple. These ribbons terminate in blades, one for each hand, and she is capable of whirling and whipping them round with terrifying speed and accuracy. Each blade is double edged and glows with a faint light, and appears to be capable of cutting through everything from Kevlar to the barrel of a gun and everything in between. She is also possessed of what could easily be compared to peak human agility, capable of surprising acrobatic feats. Alabaster is the most fragile of the three, one or two good shots and she’s out of the fight, though due to her fantastic speed and agility, landing those hits can be tricky.
These are not necessarily the only forms that her projection can take, but they are currently the only ones she has learned to create. It is eminently possible that she will be able to generate other forms, though they would be constrained by the limits of her energy projection. These creatures are energy projections, so they don’t sweat, or smell of anything besides perhaps slightly burned ozone. Abilities that only affect organic beings also won’t work on them, though they will of course work on Alice.
Limits:This ability is not without its limits, and significant ones at that. First, Alice needs to be in the right state of mind, that is to say, asleep. And it has to be genuine, tranquilising her knocks her out, and as a result, knocks out her power, she needs to be in a state in which she can dream. That is not to say drugs are completely out of the question, those which merely have a drowsy effect can assist her in achieving the desired dreamlike state and it is possible that in the future she may learn to access her power through trance. Unfortunately, the precarious nature of this state means that she can be shocked out of it, instantly dissipating the form she had generated and yanking her mind back into her body, with all of the disorientation and discomfort that comes with such and experience.
Alice’s maximum range is approximately eight miles, once her projection reaches that range they will begin to weaken, and eventually dissipate after only a few metres beyond it, though she can push a little further at the risk of ashing. She also cannot project that far immediately, the projections need to manifest within the same room , only a few metres away, and make their way from there.
It takes time to create each projection, not a lot, but Alice cannot simply switch between them at will, she must first dismiss one, then begin to form a new one, a process which can take up to two minutes if she is not already strained. These projections are not indestructible, and nor are they permanent, they take energy to create and maintain, and Alice can only keep a projection active for two hours, less depending on the amount of punishment they take or energy they expend.
Ones consciousness can be shaped by the form one inhabits and as a result of her familiarity with the characters and their playstyles, Alice’s personality can also be slightly affected, as Knarr she would be more aggressive and confrontational, as Septimus incessantly careful and insufferably know-it-all, and as Alabaster she would be arrogant and supercilious. These personality changes can even accompany her consciousness back into her body for a short time afterwards.
Weaknesses/Drawbacks: Alice absolutely needs to be asleep or in a trance-like state in order to project, if she can’t sleep then she cannot use her ability. Similarly, if you wake her while she is projecting, then the projection will vanish immediately and she’ll probably have a crippling headache for some time afterwards. Also, once she’s created a form, it takes time to change to another one, and then that other one has to walk all the way there.
Knarr is tough, and strong, but extremely slow and easily baited into bad situations. By contrast Septimus has little in the way of defences beyond the innate abilities of the form, and can be put down with a few shots or a sound beating. Alabaster is even more fragile, and easily put down, though capable of amazing feats of speed and agility.
Other: Alice’s legs are paralyzed and she cannot walk.
Sample Post:Optional
BlazingBark,
Mixtape Ghost N,
Jen,
Atrophy,
silvermist1116,
NoriWasHere