Ruby Phoenix
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Smokes like a chimney, drinks like a fish | |
| Ruby Phoenix | |
| Player: @jupejuperocket | |
| Origin: | Mutation |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Tanker |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Ruby Gallo |
| Known Aliases: | Ruby Phoenix, Red |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 28 |
| Height: | 5'0" |
| Weight: | 100lbs |
| Eye Color: | Green |
| Hair Color: | White |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Scrounger |
| Place of Birth: | Kings Row |
| Base of Operations: | Kings Row |
| Marital Status: | Married |
| Known Relatives: | Mother, Father, (King's Row) and older brother (estranged) |
| Known Powers | |
| From childhood, has been able to shield herself with a fiery aura. | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Can focus her rage to channel dark powers through her fists. | |
| Equipment | |
| Fists, broken beer bottles, kitchen knives, baseball bats, or anything she can get her hands on at that moment. | |
| No additional information available. | |
If you are curious about Ruby's stories and artwork, feel free to visit this website
Ruby Phoenix was born Ruby Gallo to her parents Maria and Nino Gallo at the hospital in Kings Row. She is the youngest of two children. Her brother, Tony, left home when she was a small child, and was lost to organized crime. Her parents, strict Roman-Catholics, tried to raise her "properly", but Ruby was always stubborn. She refuted their religion and morals, and spent more time running with gangs and hoodlums than she did at home. After being expelled from five different schools, and being arrested countless times for mischief, Ruby's parents finally declared her a lost case, and quietly stepped back to let the Lord bring her back to them.
Ruby's brother often visited them on the holidays, but the dinners were always strained and awkward, her parents coaxing the young man to move back in and find a nice religious Italian girl. Her brother is always sending thugs to check up on her and her family. Ruby is hardly pleased about this, and often sends them packing when they show up.
When Ruby reached 12 years of age, she started slipping out of the house and running with the gangs. She was easily disillusioned as a child by the charade of power and control these men had over her city. She mingled with Skulls, then Hellions, and finally settled with Outcasts. The Outcasts taught her to channel her powers for destructive and criminal goals.
By the time Ruby was a teenager, she was rising within the ranks of the Outcasts. Unlike the men who usually governed the ranks of the organization, Ruby's fury, temper, and ruthlessness made her a very dangerous and unpredictable opponent. Her mastery of her defensive fires and the ferocity of her attacks left few Outcasts willing to challenge her.
Ruby started running 'dyne trades and linked with lower chapters of the Family, her brother disapproving all the while. She would return to her parents and her home each night, but they too feared for their daughter's safety and virtue. By age 17, they pressured her to move out and find a real life.
By age 22, Ruby was known and feared by Skulls, Hellions, and Outcasts alike. So much so, that her name was seldom even spoken. It was rumoured that if anyone defied her in private, that she would bust through the wall and beat the defiance out of her rivals. This was mainly due to a coincidence. Ruby was passing through one of her gang's bases, and overheard one of her lieutenants plotting an overthrow. She was filled with rage, busted through the wall, and proceeded to beat the man to death with her fists. Thus, the legend was born.
At age 25, Ruby was growing tired of the arrests. The police were constantly on her tail, and she had the constant annoyance of capes at every turn. She was sick of the dirty money and the secrecy, sick of the gangs and the backstabbing. She decided that she wanted out.
So, one day, Ruby Gallo simply left. She changed her name to Ruby Phoenix, to symbolize how she rose from the ashes of evil. She got a job at Lou's Diner as a waitress, found a small dingy apartment, and cleans up messes for people too lazy or too important to do it themselves.
She hates living in Kings Row, but it has been her home for her entire life. She spends all the money she earns on cigarettes, beer, food, and rent. It's a vicious cycle she lives in, but it's the only life she has ever known.
Ruby was barely five years old when her entire family noticed something very strange about her. Whenever she flew into a rage, her body would ignite in flames. Her parents kept a stock of fire blankets and extinguishers in the house and were very careful not to unnecessarily piss her off. The insurance companies refused to cover their home in lieu of her destructive tantrums.
Ruby wasn't stupid. She knew she could use the threat of burning the house down to get her way. When she pushed the limit, and her parents refused to budge, she would light the entire house up. Her parents only tried to restrain her once. Her fire burned so hot, they couldn't hold her in fear of receiving serious burns.
Ruby used this fire on multiple occasions to protect herself from the advances of her enemies and rival Outcasts. She struggled with it for years until she could control it to a tee. She can harness the powers of her fire so well now that she uses a simple breath, or ignited fingers or thumb, to light her cigarettes. She can control the temperature and intensity of her fire, and can even make herself resistant to other temperature and mind altering attacks. This comes in very useful in her wars against the gangs.
While wading around in a sewer, Ruby came across a very interesting man named Reinhold. Paranoid in nature, this mysterious man and Ruby actually hit it off. Ruby became fond of him very early on, and gave him her number. The pair have been helping each other with their contacts and leads, and their friendship has transformed into a very strange relationship.
One minute, the two are drinking, smoking, and gambling, the next moment, he kisses her, and a kiss seems to usually be followed up by Ruby punching or slapping him in the face or stomach. It is a weird but consistent cycle.
In any case, there has always been a sort of chemistry between the two, and after being an exclusive couple for a year, they ran away to Vegas and got married.
Ruby used to work a crap job at Lou's Diner. A confrontation at work caused her to break her boss's finger and threaten to blackmail him. He hired a hitman to take care of her, and she traced it back to him and quit (but only after beating him a little bit more for good measure).
After the final confrontation with Lou, the hitman got away, and Ruby and Reinhold have been working together to track him down, and anyone else who may be involved.
Shortly after leaving the streets, Ruby felt like she needed to make amends. She gathered all her courage, and went to visit the District Attorney. She submitted a full confession, expecting to be arrested and locked away, but the DA surprised her by asking her to focus her talents on disrupting the gang activity throughout the city.
Ruby took this offer as a new opportunity, and gladly accepted the DA's contacts. She worked on cleaning up the Hellions in Atlas, the Skulls in her hometown, and the Outcasts in The Hollows. She tagged along with her friend Reinhold to help some of his contacts in the Faultline, and was again pleasantly surprised when the DA approved.
Ruby successfully helped to bring hundreds of Paragon's gang members to justice, and provided she reports in to the DA when he calls her, is guaranteed a Get Out of Jail Free card.
Ruby tends to keep her personal friends, contacts, and criminal moles to herself, but is more than happy to report all general activities to the DA. She suspects she will be released from her arrangement when she works her magic with the Freakshow.
Reinhold had apparently been doing some digging about Ruby, and asked her why she wasn't in the Zigg for all of her criminal activity. She came clean to him, even though she knew it would make him nervous, but her forthcoming and open nature diffused the tension of the conversation.
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