All right, let's get the Love Train rolling.
DC Year One: Character Application:
Character Name: Clark Kent, also known as The Superman
Alignment (Hero, Villain, Walking the Line): Hero
Character Speech Color and Font (actually say what it is, like Blue Comic Sans): Royal Blue, Georgia
Powers and Abilities:
From the files of General Sam Lane:
The Superman's alien biology has granted it phenomenal physical power. According to studies from (NAME DELETED), each cell in its body works as a solar-powered microscopic fusion reactor, the incredible energy output manifesting in several different ways. It is immensely strong, able to move an ocean liner with its bare hands, as well as fast enough to travel at speeds approaching Mach 3, and while claims of it being able to fly are thus far unsubstantiated, it has been recorded as being able to leap distances of several miles.
The Superman has also exhibited extraordinary senses, particularly it eyes. It is theorized that the alien can see the entire electromagnetic spectrum-- and emit various kinds of radiation from its eyes, most commonly in the form of lasers that can cut through solid steel. It has also been reported to 'hear' events happening at great distances, although the exact mechanism of this is unknown, since it has been shown to sense these events before the sound waves could reach its eardrums.
While it is extraordinarily tough, the Superman has its weaknesses and limitations. From all observed instances, the alien can only use its powers for a short time-- roughly five to seven minutes-- before fatigue begins to set in, after which its strength and invulnerability seem to fade. It seems impervious to anything short of heavy artillery, but a sustained barrage may be enough to incapacitate it. It has also shown to be pained by the use of hypersonic weaponry. Most notably, however, was its apparent poisoning in the presence of (REDACTED)-- on loan from our liason in the private sector, (NAME DELETED).
Character Origin/Backstory:
Twenty-five years ago, the night skies over Smallville, Kansas, lit up like the Fourth of July. A meteor shower, completely undetected by NASA or anyone else, rained down on the fields of the small town, causing a brief panic but thankfully little actual damage. The anomalous nature of the meteor shower itself made Smallville something of a hub for UFO enthusiasts and conspiracy theorists for years to come, but the people who live there never made much of a fuss about it. After all, it was only a few rocks, most barely the size of a baseball.
The good people of Smallville, however, had no idea about the mysterious silver sphere that came down in the wheat fields of Jonathan and Martha Kent.....
.....to say nothing of the baby inside of it, wrapped in a bright red blanket.....
Growing up, Clark Kent knew he was different from the other children. He could see things that nobody else could, the color of radio waves and wireless, the auras of living things. He saw people and animals that, according to everyone around him, didn't exist. He carried his red blanket everywhere, often tucking it into his backpack at school. While many of his classmates saw him as eccentric if not outright delusional, he did make a few friends, including fellow social Pariah Pete Ross and his first real glimpse of love, Lana Lang.
It wasn't until age ten that Clark started to realize just how different he was. Sneaking out after dark to look at the stars with Lana, Clark saw the world crawl to a halt when a drunk driver lost control of his car and jumped the curb, threatening to run the two of them over....until Clark caught the car with one hand. The accident was written off by the police as a drunk simply seeing things, but Lana and Clark knew what happened, and promised to each other to keep it a secret.
Through his teenage years, however, more 'incidents' like this began happening, and it became harder and harder for Clark to keep his secrets safe. Over time, he found he could lift heavy equipment and huge boulders with barely any effort, or run across forty acres in less than ten strides. Apart from his incredible abilities, he began having strange dreams, glimpses of people who were completely strange but immediately familiar to him, of a world he didn't recognize but that he still knew. When he asked his parents about it, they finally believed he was ready to know the truth....that he was not from this world.
This revelation shook Clark to his core, and instilled in him a powerful wanderlust. Feeling uprooted and adrift, Clark left home at age seventeen, taking up a career as a freelance journalist. He tried to keep his distance, to stay objective purely as a reporter, but time after time his conscience got the better of him, causing him to intervene when people's lives were in danger. This often led to him making enemies, mostly small-time warlords or cartels, but there were others as well.....powerful, well-connected enemies who would go to great lengths to find just who this "angel in blue jeans" really was...
Over time, Clark began to see that if he really wanted to help people, then maybe the answer didn't lie in running away from his alien heritage, but instead embracing it. At age twenty-five, Clark returned to Smallville and began crafting a new identity, gleaning what little he knew about his people from the ship he arrived in, starting with the realization that the big red 'blanket' he was wrapped in wasn't a blanket at all-- it was, in fact, a cape. The second part of his new persona came from his dreams, the visions of his long-lost world, and in particular a symbol, maybe some kind of family crest: a diamond-shaped shield with what looked almost like the letter 'S' inside.
Armed with a Bachelor's in Journalism, a suitcase full of blue T-shirts with his alien logo on it, and his trusty red cape tucked away in his luggage, Clark Kent set off to start a new life in the city of Metropolis......
Why this character?
Most of you guys know me, and in particular know my feelings about Superman. I don't think it's much of an exaggeration to say that Superman is my religion. And as such, I plan on crafting a mythology that's worthy of the greatest hero in all of fiction-- at the very least, one that isn't constantly turning him evil and having him murder people and be super-depressing all the time.
What can you bring to the RPG?
Apart from running the thing? Damn good character work and storytelling. And my secret recipe for five-alarm chili that will knock you on your butt.
Provide a short sample post as your desired character, in three paragraphs or more and featuring at least one line of dialogue:
Something's wrong. I can tell even two blocks away, something is off about this.
A few seconds ago, I got word about a crane collapsing near the Queensland Bridge. It's taken me longer than I'd hoped to get there from the
Planet-- one of the problems with the big city is that it's next to impossible to get a straight path long enough to build up some real speed, but I still manage to make it to the site just before the whole structure goes into free-fall.
Several hundred tons of steel and concrete begin to rain down onto the streets below, and then I see it. A single, bright blue SUV. And inside, a family of four. I have maybe two seconds to do something before they're crushed by the falling debris.
For me, though, two seconds is a lot of time.
I get enough of a running start that the world blurs around me for a split-second, before my reflexes kick in and everything but me starts to move at a snail's pace. Trying to catch the crane won't work-- there's so much mass spread so far that it would simply snap in two if I tried it. The only real option is to move the car itself.....but at my speed, it would be like an eighteen-wheeler plowing into it.
Something's wrong about all this, I
know it. But those people are going to die if I don't do something. So.....here goes.
As I close in on the SUV, I stick my right leg out and duck low, sliding like I would in baseball. I get a hand underneath the rear axle and I heave, flipping the SUV into the air and clear of the falling debris. Now, of course, the car is airborne, and the impact isn't going to be pretty.
Grabbing into the pavement to make a quick turn (and accidentally scooping up a deep groove in the asphalt), I follow underneath the car, taking in a deep breath. Once I'm directly under it, I exhale as hard as I can, letting out a gust that your average tornado would be jealous of, which actually manages to slow the SUV's fall. Once it's within arm's reach, I grab the SUV and set it gently on the ground.
I can see the headline now-- "Superman: World's Greatest Shock Absorber."
Still, something's off. I open the door to the SUV to check on the family inside.
"Is everyone--......what?"
They're all unconscious, limp in their seats. Quickly, I focus my vision to scan their bodies for injuries. No sign of trauma, but there's something nasty in their bloodstreams. They've been drugged.
Something's wrong, and now I know what it is. There's no one else around. The streets were cleared, except for this one poor family, drugged, and set out underneath a deadly accident like.....
.....like
bait.
"Superman! Stand down!"
Out from about a dozen lead-shielded hiding places come a squad of men in olive drab. They're wearing thick, high-tech armor, and carrying some very sinister-looking weapons-- LexCorp models, from the looks of them.
"We have you surrounded! Now get on the ground and put your hands on your head, or we will open fire!"
"Is this really necessary, guys?" I say to them.
"Now you're intentionally endangering innocent people to flush me out, all in the name of national security?"
"This is your last warning, alien!"
I don't like to start fights. I never have. Tempers flare, people lose control and hurt each other.....I hate the whole thing.
But I also
really don't like bullies. And General Lane and his boys are crossing a line with this one. So right now, I have to decide if I run from the bullies again.....or if I turn around and hit them hard enough to make them leave me alone for a while.
"You know, I'm sure the Daily Planet would love to hear about this, Lieutenant.......Corben?"
"Wh--......how did you--"
"The name tag on your jump suit," I say, singling out the ring-leader.
"That new nano-weave armor you're wearing is pretty thick, but I can still read your name plain as day."
"That's--....that's enough!" He sputters, before drawing his weapon.
"I am giving you til the count of three--"
"Better make that one," I say, balling up my fists.
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