Femme Fencer
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Femme Fencer shows her technique in Atlas Park. | |
| Femme Fencer | |
| Player: | |
| Origin: | Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Scrapper |
| Threat Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Jean Depallier |
| Known Aliases: | Femme Fencer, Fencer, Colonel Fencer, Jeanie-Weinie, John's psycho-stalker, Aunite Jean, Officer in Charge of Discipline and Punishment, the VoPC bitch that hulks out, Botox, and other infamous names too graphic to put here. |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 30 |
| Height: | 6'0 |
| Weight: | 120lbs |
| Eye Color: | green |
| Hair Color: | brown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | French/American |
| Occupation: | Olympic athlete, staff officer in the VoPC (Colonel), adiministrative officer |
| Place of Birth: | New York City, French Consulate |
| Base of Operations: | VoPC headquarters |
| Marital Status: | single |
| Known Relatives: | Andre Depallier (Deceased) |
| Known Powers | |
| R-Virus based transformation, Nightmare projection (Dark Astoria). | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Skilled fencer, legal skills, architectural skills, minor psychic abilities. | |
| Equipment | |
| Impervium Rapier (usually wields two in combat), fencing jacket, suicide vest (when ordered or when Arbiter Death gets upset with her), poisoned dagger (in her boot), Nightmare projection (Dark Astoria). | |
| No additional information available. | |
This article about a character is a stub -- a small, but growing, work in progress. If you're the creator of this character, why not consider expanding it?
"Let man fear woman when she loves: then she makes any sacrifice, and everything else seems without value to her. Let man fear woman when she hates: for deep down in his soul man is merely evil, while woman is bad."
Friedrich Nietzsche
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Contents |
Timeline
Early History
Jean Depallier was born to Andre Depallier, a French Ambassador, and Joan Wolfe, an American attorney. Her mother, Joan, died in childbirth, leaving her father to care for her alone. Jean always blamed herself for the death of her mother. She idolized her father, and did whatever she could to please him. She excelled in academics, earning a full scholarship to Founders' Falls University, where she would eventually earn a degree in architecture.
Despite her success in academics, Jean was also a gifted amateur athelete. As a tomboy with no social life, Jean found peace in the library and the gymnasium. Her lanky muscular frame made her an exceptional athelete, and she qualified for the US national team in no less than twenty sports, including equestrian, swimming, skeet shooting, track and field, gymnastics, archery, basketball and volleyball. But Jean chose to represent the US in fencing, a sport nobody really thought she could master.
They were wrong. As a fencer, Jean was considered unbeatable in épée, her favorite event, and always a serious contender in sabre and foil. She was considered a lock to win all events in the 2008 Olympics, except for one event that would bring her to Paragon City.
Arrival in Paragon City
Jean's father, Andre Depallier, was investigating the Council on behalf of the European Union. His efforts led him to Paragon City, where he soon went missing. When Jean found out about this disappearance, she packed her bags in an attempt to find her only family member and her only friend. With only her fencing jacket and two rapiers to her name, Jean was determined to get answers. But her story would take a disturbing turn when she ran into one organization that would change her life forever.
A Brush with Death
It was a cool evening in Atlas Park when Arbiter Death came to visit. He was looking for a test subject, a guniea pig, to test his new strain of the R-Virus. This is when he met Jean, and he proposed a deal. If she would come back to his headquarters, submit to a small medical test, and join his organization, he would help her locate her father and free him from the Council. Jean accepted the deal, and followed the charismatic leader to his medical facility. Once there, she was infected with a new experimental prototype of the R-Virus that transformed the lanky naiive fencer into a mindless brute. This is when Jean's psychological spiral into madness began. She hated what was done, but it was the only choice she could make to free her father from the Council.
Murder Under the Globe
True to his word, the commander of the VoPC used his resources to track down and free Jean's father. She was to meet him in Atlas Park, where they would take a flight back to New York City. However, the reunion was short lived. A Longbow sniper with a German accent opened fire on Andre Depaller soon after the reunion. Jean was crushed, but Arbiter Death promised her revenge, if she would lend her skills and abilities to the VoPC.
A Deathly Obsession Begins: The Early Career with the VoPC
Jean quickly started to develop into an asset for the Phalanx of Paragon (Villains of Paragon City). She established herself as a security guard, ensuring nothing could harm Arbiter Death or the other flag officers. She also went out on missions, proving herself to be an excellent duelist. On more than a few occasions, her R-Virus state was artificially induced, sending her into a mindless rage. Her commrades soon learned that when Jean was in this state, she would attack friend and foe with equal ferocity. Her fight against the superlizard Red Komodo left her mangled one day, and required plastic surgery and physical therapy to heal. She became a junior officer within months.
Jean started to look upon the Phalanx of Paragon as a sort of surrogate home during this time. She would look at Arbiter Death as a kind of surrogate father, and Trooper Harris and Arbiter Fallen as surrogate uncles. This is, in some measure, due to the fact that she had no natural family of her own anymore.
A Deathly Obsession Festers: The VoPC Coup
After an extended leave of absence training for the world championships in 2009, Jean went back to the Phalanx of Paragon headquarters to find that it had been taken over by Irmine after Arbiter Death was placed in cryo stasis. Initially, she swore loyalty to Irmine, but quickly learned of a resistance organization, Starkweather's Association, in the Rogue Isles. She threw her lieutenant diamond in Crystal Lake, and remained in hiding until she could meet up with the Arbiter Death loyalists in the Isles.
Little is known about Jean at this time, but what we do know is this. She learned that with proper mental conditioning, she could keep the R-Virus in remission. She also had realized how empty her life had become without her surrogate family. She resented the fact that her home and family was taken away from her, and survived these years on a kind of fantasy: to give Arbiter Death a home, with her, if he were ever freed from cryo stasis.
A Deathly Obsession Deepens: Jean and the VoPC in 2012
That day would come in May of 2012. Having just been freed from cryo stasis, John Starkweather (Arbiter Death) was looking to establish the Phalanx of Paragon (Villains of Paragon City) once more. Jean was one of the first contacts he met, assigning her the rank of captain in short order. Her mission was to use the skills she learned in architecture school to design him a new compound. She quickly took to her task, and many of the initial buildings in the new Phalanx of Paragon headquarters were of her design. She also became a force on the battlefield, earning the rank of colonel after the attempted coup of Samuel Evans at King's Row.
Her fondness towards Arbiter Death grew, but given that she was shy, never let her feelings toward him show. This would degenerate into a kind of mad obsession. When captured by Jagged Edge and Doctor Lewtvig, she refused food and water, thinking that eating or drinking would constitute a betrayal. Her only strength at this time was her thought of Arbiter Death and the life she wanted to build together with him.
When Arbiter Death resurrected his dead wife, Jean was crushed. Indeed, thoughout the years, Jean blamed Sophia for all of the pain in John Starkweather's family life. In her mind, Jean thought she was better for John, but she would never let these thougts be known for fear of losing him. Her desire to please Arbiter Death reached such levels that when John Starkweather wanted a cargo ship owned by Jagged Edge destroyed, she wore a vest, packed with explosives, to ensure the job was done. Indeed, she would have given up her own life rather than disappoint her love.
On the battlefield, Jean can be seen close to John. She keeps an eye on her commander, and quickly throws caution to the wind when her commander bites of more than he can chew. She became so madly determined to protect her unrequited love that, one day, John Starkweather had to pull Jean off of a Vampyri corpse that happened to take her beloved commander to the ground.
Then, for some mysterious reason, Jean stopped her degeneration into madness. Few people know, exactly, why she became peaceful towards Sophia, why she stopped wearing suicide vests on missions, why she stopped cutting herself in her room, and why she looked after Arbiter Death's children so attentively. Despite all the pain and loss she encountered, Jean became resolute and determined to watch over Arbiter Death with a new kind of importance and seriousness.
Character Notes
still working on this
1) Jean is not evil, but she does evil acts because of her feelings towards Arbiter Death. Over time, he has become her father figure, her unrequited love, her ideal for a husband, the ideal father for her children, her inspiration in life, her personal Jesus, and everything to her. In her eyes, he can do no wrong. She will kill women and children for him, if ordered. She will protect him at the expense of her own life, if necessary. She will make excuses for his shortcomings. She will do absolutely anything and everything to please him and to gain his approval.
2) A lot of this obsession began with the psychological impact of possessing the R-Virus strain she is infected with. She knows Arbiter Death might be the only one who can help her, and she feels if she does enough to win his affection, he'll cure her. It's also something that is deeply affecting her ability to relate to others, especially men. She's nervous that if anybody found out what she mutates into, they would look at her as disgusting. The VoPC, however, accepts this about her, which is also why she is fanatically obsessed with the organization.
3) The R-Virus strain she was infected with is not normally contageous and, for the most part, is dormant. It is an extremely powerful mutation of the basic R-Virus that causes radical morphological changes when it becomes active. Activation occurs in one of two ways: either in cases where there is an extreme threat to self-preservation, or when triggered artificially by VoPC means. When her virus is active, Jean becomes mindless, attacking both friend and foe. The creature she mutates into is, essentially, devoid of higher brain functions and runs on its limbic system alone. It is impossible to reason with, to communicate with, or to persuade. When the danger has passed, or the creature suffers debilitating injuries and is left alone for awhile, the virus will go back in its dormant state, turning Jean back to normal. When this happens, Jean is--essentially--drained. She does not remember what she did as the R-Virus creature and usually must be carried or assisted for a short while until she recovers physically.
4) The R-Virus strain Jean was exposed to has had several benefits on her physiology. She's faster and more agile than normal, easily the equal of a world class runner, high jumper and gymnast rolled into one. She's slightly taller than she would be, naturally. Her muscles are stronger than they would appear. She has, surprisingly, very keen senses. Despite wearing glasses on occasion, they are only cosmetic. Her eyesight is beyond 20/20 and she can hear frequencies slightly above and below the normal range for human beings. Her skin and hair folicles are very sensitive, and Jean can notice subtle variations in temperature and air currents, allowing her to "feel" changes in the environment that elude normal senses.
5) All these advantages, however, come at a price. Her body fat percentage is radically below what is considered healthy, due to her increased metabolic rate. Despite eating far more calories than she needs each day, she has difficulty putting on weight. Her skin is rather sensitive to sunlight and burns easily when exposed to UV radiation. The infection has more or less shut down her reproductive tract because of the androgen levels in her blood, making it difficult for her to conceive or carry a child to term. She's aging slightly faster than normal, due to the increased strain on her telomeres. She still has a libido, perhaps even an increased libido because of her androgen levels, one that she represses by burying herself in her work. Mentally, she suffers from breakdowns and depression. Whether or not these side effects can be halted or, perhaps, reversed is unknown.
6) Due to an increased exposure to John Starkweather's flashbacks to Dark Astoria, Jean has been able to harness some of the properties of Dark Astoria. Simply put, she can unleash some flashback or negative experience on others, making them "relive" that event in a particularly grim or twisted way. This is a facet of her that she does not fully understand or control. Often, her subconscious mind projects images, especially to sensitive psychics like Daisy Starkweather or Natalia Fairweather.
How Femme Fencer is Played
Roleplay (RP): This character is played with strict roleplay discipline. Messages done in emote or in unbracketed chat are coming from Femme Fencer herself. Messages done with out of character brackets ((OOC)) are coming from me, the player portraying Femme Fencer, usually to prevent misunderstandings or for matters of efficiency. I do this to maintain the suspension of disbelief for you and the others around me. Similarly, I do not make a habit of using shorthands to describe people, places and things that occur in Paragon City (examples: AV, ITF, hardcap, zones, blueside, DFB, build) or 1337speak (examples: build, grind, boss, loot, hardcap, PvP, lol, brb, afk) in open chat. Mistakes happen and sometimes we forget these little rules, but I try to follow them as much as possible when playing Femme Fencer.
Mature Roleplay (MRP): Think of Femme Fencer as a character in a film with at least a PG-13 rating and, in some cases, an R rating. She does some rather ruthless things in the game, like killing characters in cold blood and engaging in graphic torture. The people I play this game with generally have pretty thick skins; they are mature enough to understand that if I strap you down to a table and carve "FF was here" on your chest, I'm just playing a role. But for some others, it might be disturbing. I will try to ask characters I don't know very well if they would consent to a graphic scene before I set it up. But mistakes happen, and sometimes I shoot a character played by someone who doesn't feel like getting shot, or torture a character of someone who can't handle the experience very well. When this happens, just know that it isn't personal. I'm just trying to be a part of a story that can take a dark turn once and awhile.
Erotic Roleplay (ERP): I don't play this game to ERP. That said, Femme Fencer has a life in the bedroom, just like any other adult. Bedroom scenes aren't off limits, but they have to happen naturally and in character. If your character feels like kissing her, kiss her. If your character feels like touching her, touch her. Depending on the context, one act might lead to another, and you might end up playing out a bedroom scene if she really likes you and wants to take it there. Just keep in mind that she has emotions, needs, standards, an image she'd like to maintain, and all the other things any woman feels before letting herself go. But here are a few rules. If you feel you have to know more about the player who plays Femme Fencer before doing it, do it with another character. If you feel you have to know more about the player who plays Femme Fencer after doing it, you'll get put on /ignore. I don't do OOC fantasies. I don't want to know if you get off on ERP. I look at it as a literary exercise and a character study, like writing a bedroom scene for a soap opera or a romance novel.
Text Fight Roleplay: This character will text fight with you, using chat descriptions to indicate attacks and counters. When text fighting, I take the following factors into account to determine responses(from least important to most important):
Realism (it's important for the suspension of disbelief, but we've all got superpowers, so we can have a lot of tolerance here)
Powers (what your character has to throw or defend)
Levels (how experienced or powerful the characters are)
Descriptive Flair (how artistic is the attack)
Drama (the fight has to be interesting to the peanut gallery, which means it shouldn't end on the first few attacks)
Fairness (you can't expect the same character or team to win each and every time the two square off)
Numbers (being outnumbered three to one is an disadvantage that can't be ignored)
Fun (the goal of text fight should be to give your opponents reasons to text fight in the future, not to disuade them from text fighting in the future)
Sometimes, I make controversial attacks or defences subject to random chance (/e rolldice). This is especially true in my R-Virus form, since it is a kind of non-canon "second wind." I fight determined, but I have no problem with taking the fall on occasion, especially if I'm the "heel" or the antagonist. What I won't do is lose every time, especially if I or my group is continually losing and not getting a bone every now and then. Why walk into traps if I can't get out once in awhile?
Homages
Still working on this
Television Homages: Captain Elizabeth Lochley (Babylon 5), Kira Nerys (Star Trek: Deep Space 9)
Actresses most likely to play Femme Fencer: Lara Flynn Boyle, Alexandra Paul, Kate Beckinsale
Game Homages: Lucy Stillman (Assasin's Creed), Naomi Hunter (Metal Gear: Solid), Jill Valentine (Resident Evil), Anna Navarre (Deus Ex)
Comic and cultural Homages: Black Widow, Maria Hill
Song Homages: Monster (Skillet), "Summer" (Presto III)The Four Seasons (Vivaldi), #1 Crush (Garbage)
Quotes About Femme Fencer
A place for in-character (IC) contributions on or about Jean Depallier, the Femme Fencer
"Ah - Jean, Jean, Jean... there's just so much I can say about that woman. Trustworthy, reliable, *dedicated*. Everything my members should aspire to be. Seriously, if it wasn't for her drive to rebuild us in our darkest hour - then who knows where *I'd* be. Let alone the VoPC" - Arbiter Death
"Even though she isn't my real aunt, Aunt Jean is the best. She helps me out when I'm confused, which is more often than I want. She does amazing work designing the base. And, she is a great person. I love you, Aunt Jean." - Dasiy
"She prays too much. Yet, an excellent fencer and trainer. In any combat, I want to be on her side." - Kora Lee
