Hei Se
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
This character was rolled and re-rolled more than any other of my initial creations. I could never quite get the right feel for her. Either the look was wrong or the powersets didn't quite fit the theme. The most recent incarnation made use of Dark Powers and from there I built her backstory with my Cunning Rat character. Now that I've fleshed out that story, I think Hei Se will finally stay put and advance beyond Threat Level 1
| |
| The Dark Snake | |
| Hei Se | |
| Player: Wei Yau | |
| Origin: | Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Corruptor |
| Threat Level: | 1 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Ssybil |
| Known Aliases: | The Cold One |
| Species: | Human/Snake Hybrid |
| Age: | early 20s |
| Height: | Confidential |
| Weight: | Confidential |
| Eye Color: | Confidential |
| Hair Color: | Confidential |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Not Applicable |
| Occupation: | Fallen Guardsmen |
| Place of Birth: | Mercy Island |
| Base of Operations: | The Rogue Isles |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Kuai Lau Shu, soul-twin |
| Known Powers | |
| Confidential | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Confidential | |
| Equipment | |
| Confidential | |
| No additional information available. | |
Contents |
History
Ssybil is a human/snake hybrid. No one knows exactly how she came to be, whether she was the result of a genetic experiment or of more…natural…means. Whatever the case may be, her early life was spent in the Snake Pits which dot the landscape of Mercy Island. In her formative years, Ssybil knew only the darkness of the caverns and the hissing of the elder Snakes.
Daylight would enter her world in the form of Mongoose, the self-styled Snake Hunter of Mercy Island. During one of his routine sweeps of the Snake Pits, he came across the Ssybil cowering in her nest. It was clear to him that Ssybil was different than the other Snakes, first of all she had legs. The Mongoose was indeed an expert on all matters Snake. Secondly, she looked human. You could tell from her face and wild-eyed fearful expression that she was not a cold-blooded boot-to-be like the others.
Whatever it was, something caused Mongoose to refrain from killing Ssybil. Instead, he knocked her out and carried her out of the Snake Pit. Mongoose brought Ssybil directly to the Arachnos scientists at Fort Darwin. He may have been kind-hearted enough to spare Ssybil, but Mongoose was not about to become "Mama" to a leatherback.
The scientists at Arachnos had several Human/Snake hybrids under their control. Attempts to assimilate them into Arachnos had mixed results. Some would become excellent agents, while others could not overcome the liabilities of their "snakehood" and were subsequently eliminated.
Ssybil was rushed through Arachnos indoctrination courses and expedited into the Assassin program. Arachnos had learned not to waste too much time with these hybrids. They were either going to work-out or they weren't and no amount of molly-coddling would change that fact.
Ssybil was paired up with another Arachnos trainee, Laurel Wong. After they had completed basic training together, they were given their first field assignment, to kill Tian Shang Lung.
Tian Shang Lung had only recently arrived in The Rogue Isles and was therefore deemed to be an easy enough target for assassin trainees. If not, the trainees are expendable and any who failed would deserve their fates. The Rogue Isles is a land of Darwinian survival taken to the darkest extremes.
Ssybil and Laurel would succeed in only killing Tian Shang Lung's hired guards before being captured. Tian Shang Lung decided to convert the two would-be assassins into Fallen Guardsmen as her own bodyguards.
However, Ssybil lacked one of the necessary criteria to becoming a member of the Zodiac Guardsmen, even a Fallen one. She lacked even a single drop of Han blood. All Zodiac Guardsmen must have Chinese blood within them.
Tian Shang Lung was about to dispatch the troublesome Ssybil, when she was interrupted by her husband Xi Xiong Ji with a proposal. Xi Xiong Ji had learned how to practice dark magic from Pouhawaiki since his resurrection and knew of a ritual which would bind Ssybil to Laurel. Since Laurel Wong was pure Chinese, the newly bonded Soul Twins would both be valid candidates as Fallen Guardsmen.
Ssybil was re-dubbed Hei Se (黑 蛇) or The Dark Snake. The Soul Twin ritual now bound her to Laurel (now named Kuai Lau Shu) and whenever the two were separated for an extended period of time, both would suffer great pain.
Hei Se was also given some power over necromantic energies by Xi Xiong Ji. He recognized the sadness in Hei Se for it was a mirror of his own. Unable to give her any gift of beauty, he granted Hei Se dark powers to aid her in her new life as a Fallen Guardsmen.
Description
Hei Se suffers under the cruel yoke of Tian Shang Lung, but endures the pain for her soul-twinned sister, Kuai Lau Shu. Hei Se feels responsible for the suffering each undergoes when separated from one another. For herself, the pain is tolerable as it is no worse that the abuse she received from the Snake Elders for being a hybrid. She knows that were it not for her lack of Chinese blood, they would not have been made into soul twins, thus sparing Kuai Lau Shu the pain.
She also feels a familial relationship towards Xi Xiong Ji. This may be a by-product of the dark powers she received from him, or it may simply be her longing for a strong male presence in her life. It is possible that her early encounter with Mongoose imprinted her with a need for a father figure.
Hei Se can manipulate necromantic energies similar to Xi Xiong Ji, though she is not nearly as adept and cannot summon the undead. However, she is able to augment her physical attacks with these negative energies and use them to cloak herself from the eyes of her targets.
She has received extensive hand-to-hand combat training from Arachnos as well as Tsoo martial arts masters. Her natural agility as part-Snake allows her to strike swiftly and dodge attacks.
Allies
Hei Se works with other Fallen Guardsmen in the Rogue Isles, in addition to her soul-twin Kuai Lau Shu.
- Tian Shang Lung (The Celestial Dragon)
- Xi Xiong Ji (The Death Rooster)
- Qiang Hou (The Gun Monkey)
- Kuai Lau Shu (The Cunning Rat)
- Lei Sheng Yang (The Thunder Ram)
Enemies
The Loyal Guardsmen thus far identified in Paragon City are:
- Ti Gou (The Iron Dog)
- Jiang Zhu (The Honest Boar)
- Hou Ma (The Fire Horse)
- Shan Lau Hu (The Lightning Tiger)
- Shi Kuai Niu (The Stone Ox)
- Gui Bai Tou (The Ghost Rabbit)
