Isos
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Isos | |
| Player: @Isos | |
| Origin: | Mutant |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Corruptor |
| Threat Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Ethan Steele |
| Known Aliases: | Confidential |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 29 |
| Height: | 6'3" |
| Weight: | 180 lbs |
| Eye Color: | Blue |
| Hair Color: | Blond |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Arachnos Operative/Mercenary |
| Place of Birth: | King's Row, Paragon City, Rhode Island |
| Base of Operations: | St. Martial, Rogue Isles |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Maxwell Steele, father (deceased); Kristin Steele, mother (deceased) |
| Known Powers | |
| Radiation Blast, Radiation Emission | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Radiation blasts and emission. Tech suit grants flight, targeting accuracy and perception, and armor. | |
| Equipment | |
| Heavily modified Mk. II Watts Industries power suit. Arachnos Bane Spider mace. Usually equipped with additional gifted/stolen weaponry and gadgets. | |
| No additional information available. | |
Isos is one of the Rogue Isle's most feared super villains. While primarily working for Arachnos, Isos also dabbles in mercenary work on the side for various villains and villain groups.
Contents |
Affiliations
Allies
- While Isos does not tend to keep close friends, he has ties with the villains Audio Warp and Lady Satanica, occasionally calling upon them for jobs that one man is incapable doing.
- The villains Mind Harlot and the Killer Dynamo are old allies of Isos. The bulk of their partnerships were spent in their early careers in the Rogue Isles, but were cut short when Mind Harlot retired and the Killer Dynamo went missing.
- Arachnos's own Black Scorpion works closely with Isos. While the two have not had the most pleasant history, both men have a grudging respect for each other. Black Scorpion supplies Isos with gadgets and tech suit upgrades in exchange for mercenary services.
- Isos is an avid member of the Vanguard and aids the group in eliminating the Rikti menace. Due to his grudge against the Rikti, he even does it for free.
Enemies
- Isos's main nemesis is Jason King, better known as the heroic Atomic - Avenger, one of Paragon City's elite heroes. Once the best of friends and teammates, Isos betrayed the Atomic - Avenger and left him for dead as he went on to further his own career.
- Dr. Timothy Watts, head of Watts Industries, is another one of Isos's nemeses. Better known as the hero Stratovolt, Dr. Watts pursues Isos to seize back the tech suit that Isos stole from him in his early career.
- The Freedom Phalanx has listed Isos as one of the top threats to Paragon City after numerous defeats of members of the Freedom Phalanx and the Vindicators.
Alternate Variations
- Leptos, the Praetorian version of Isos, is actually a freedom fighter on Praetorian Earth, aiding in the fight against Emperor Cole.
- The Cimeroran version of Isos, Atomos, fights alongside Romulus against the armies of Imperious. While he loathes Romulus, he pays substantially better than Imperious for his expert services.
Powers
Radiation Blast
Isos was born with the mutant ability to manipulate atoms, enabling him to fire blasts of charged atomic particles in the form of radiation.
Radiation Emission
Isos's control over atoms also allows him to charge and manipulate particles to the benefit of his allies and the hindrance of his enemies, giving him the ability to heal and mutate his allies and infect and hinder his enemies.
Extra Abilities
Isos's Mk. I power armor, stolen from Watts Industries, provides the armor he needs to endure the assaults of any potential enemies and contains integrated rocket boots, allowing him flight. Inside his helmet is also a H.U.D. that displays combat vitals and an advanced targeting system.
Personality
Isos has a cold, collected personality that either garners respect or gathers enemies. Overly sarcastic and with a dark sense of humor, Isos is a perfect example of a cold-hearted man who does what is necessary to get the job done with little fuss, little show, and maximum efficiency. Unlike most super villains, Isos is not actually a coldblooded monster; he believes that civility and respect are values that should be had by all, but is also not afraid to show brute force when needed. Also rather uniquely, Isos is not necessarily pure evil; his cold-hearted personality just leads him to believe that those who take what they can and give nothing back are the ones that will survive.
Costume
Isos's costume is a heavily modified Watts Industries Mk. I power suit. Shortly after stealing it, Isos stripped down its inboard systems and adapted it to not only be compatible with his control over atoms, but to actually power itself from his nuclear energy. He also gave it a fresh coat of green and yellow paint and squeezed out the maximum amount of power from the suit's rocket boots. The suit was later modified again by Black Scorpion, upgrading the armor and on-board H.U.D.
Equipment
Isos's suit also sports a built in communications system for easy contact with employers and teammates as well as a rebreather system to protect him from toxic gases and other harmful substances. A dispenser around his belt holds capsules of mutagens designed to incapacitate targets, and Isos also tends to carry other weapons and gadgets gifted to him or taken from enemies.
Weaknesses
Isos does not feel as bound by moral issues as most people, and thus is not afraid to act in sometimes extreme measures if the time comes. He is also predominately driven by money, which has led some to believe that he is greedy. However, this is not true; Isos simply sees money as a catalyst for personal advancement. Physically, Isos's biggest weakness is his general lack of resistances; while his armor can easily deflect most bullets, stabs, slices, and energy blasts, it fares poorly against fire, ice, and negative energy attacks, and if an attack manages to make it through his armor it provides little resistance to damage other than the toxins filtered out by his rebreather.
History
Childhood/Teenage Years
Ethan Steele was born in Paragon City, Rhode Island in 1982. Growing up in one of the shadier sides of King's Row, Ethan quickly learned that some form of power was needed to get by unharmed; to him, this power was money. However, in his high school years Ethan's family moved to the much better off neighborhood of Baumton, where in school he met and quickly became fast friends with Jason King. However it was during this time that Ethan discovered he had more power than he ever could have dreamed of; one night a pair of thugs broke into the Steele household, and when Ethan and his father went to investigate he was gunned down by the robbers. Furious, Ethan unleashed a volley of radiation upon the thugs, killing both of them. It was then that Ethan realized he was different. His friend Jason urged him to put his abilities to use for good, and Ethan agreed to join the military with his friend after high school.
Early Mercenary Years
Jason, however, believed that the two could better make a difference outside of the military, and suggested to Ethan that the two form a sort of super mercenary team, despite Jason's lack of true powers. Ethan, realizing that such work could easily grant him the success he desired, agreed, and the two exercised all of their connections within Paragon City to purchase body armor, weapons, and other equipment. The two registered with the Paragon City government as heroes and began selling their services to those who needed them; mainly, the military, who frequently employed the men as a special operations strike team.
The Rikti War
When the Rikti War broke out in 2002, Jason and Ethan were employed practically full-time by the military to help combat the Rikti threat. Nearly four months into the war, the duo was tasked with assisting a military unit in clearing out a particularly infested portion of the Rikti underground. Jason, plagued by a sudden weapon malfunction, was forced to stay behind and let Ethan and the squad of marines take point and charge into the caves. As Ethan and the soldiers ventured in, they encountered a squad of Rikti, and, in the fierce firefight, Ethan was incapacitated by a Rikti priest and was forced to watch his squad brutally slaughtered in front of him. Enraged, Ethan broke free of his captor's mind powers and decimated the entire squad in a fit of rage. Ethan, driven nearly insane by what he had just witnessed, coupled with his outburst of rage, stumbled deeper into the cave and nearly collapsed. Jason, who had been trying to track down Ethan, came across him some minutes later, where he found Ethan to be a much darker man. Ethan, in his sudden mental state, realized that he neither cared nor felt emotion for who he operated for; after all, why would he risk his life to save merely normal people for close to no reward when he could instead be working for an organization with less questionable ethics and be profiting? Ethan, his mind made up, turned to face his friend and informed him that their partnership was at an end. Jason, caught off guard, began to raise his weapon. Ethan saw this as a threat and realized that Jason was too soft to join him. Ethan lashed out against his friend and blasted him with a heavy dose of radiation and apathetically left him for dead, charging deeper into the cave to escape the military reinforcements who he knew were coming.
On the Lam
Ethan, now a wanted man, escaped from the caves and quickly began looking for work in Paragon City. For a few years Ethan found work that did not suit his tastes as well as he wanted to; covering thugs during simple smash and grabs and defending shipments of Superadine and weapons were not what he had in mind. He wanted to gather respect and go on the high paying, dangerous jobs that only the most powerful villains and mercenaries were assigned. Now intent on finding some way to make himself more powerful, Ethan set his sights on Watts Industries, led by the genius Timothy Watts, and broke into their labs in Talos Island one night, killing several security guards and obtaining a prototype Mk. I power armor suit. Ethan spent months modifying the suit to adapt to his powers, fly faster, and provide better defense, as well as painting it in a green and yellow radiation theme to match his powers. With his work complete, Ethan donned his suit and became the mercenary Isos, in honor of his control over atoms and isotopes. Isos instantly saw an increase in respect and profits amongst the villain groups of Paragon City, working in higher profile thefts and assassination jobs. However, Dr. Watts, better known now as the hero Stratovolt, hunted down Isos mercilessly for stealing such a powerful suit from him, and finally after several months of tracking the two power-suited meta humans faced off in a showdown that resulted in Isos's defeat and imprisonment in Zigursky Penitentiary.
Life as a Super Villain
One the same night of Isos's imprisonment, Arachnos broke into the Zig, liberating those who they called "the Destined Ones." Isos was among these, and, although he did not understand, he didn't complain, and fought alongside Arachnos. After stealing his suit back from the prison's security, he battled through the waves of security and rowdy prisoners and caught a flier to the Rogue Isles.
Early Work
Upon reaching Mercy Island, Kalinda explained to Isos that he was one of Lord Recluse's Destined Ones and that he could do a great service for Arachnos in the future. Seeing an opportunity to profit and gain some power, Isos stayed in the Rogue Isles and worked with the goal of impressing Lord Recluse in mind. After fighting his way out of Mercy Island, Isos began to prove his worth in Port Oakes while working for Mr. Bocor and the Radio, and then proceeded to work in Cap au Diable, where he began forming ties with Marshal Brass and Arachnos. He later went on to do much of his work in St. Martial. Isos continued to work across the Isles, raking in money and gaining power and respect as he went.
"Golden Period"
Eventually Isos made it to Grandville, where he signed on for work with Arachnos's Black Scorpion. After several grueling jobs and even a battle with his mentor, Isos secured himself a permanent position within Arachnos when he proved himself to be the Destined One, and began taking jobs for even Lord Recluse. Isos's power grew from there as he worked for other members of Arachnos and other contacts on the side, bringing down some of Paragon City's most powerful heroes and bringing in more fame and success than even he ever dreamed of.
Current Work
Isos still works closely with Arachnos, carrying out jobs that Lord Recluse would normally trust to few others. He also still works for other contacts on the side, if the price is right. Isos continues to clash with his old friend Jason from time to time, as well as Dr. Watts, but neither hero can ever seem to bring him to justice permanently. Ever since a visit from Mender Ramiel of Oroborous and the revelation that he holds the power to become an Incarnate, Isos has been working to unlock his inner Incarnate and grow even more powerful.
