From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

Storm Devil
Player:
Origin:	Magic
Archetype:	Controller
Security Level:	25
Personal Data
Real Name:	Aaron Cooper
Known Aliases:	None
Species:	Human
Age:	37
Height:	6'6"
Weight:	220 lbs.
Eye Color:	Brown
Hair Color:	Brown
Biographical Data
Nationality:	American
Occupation:	Contractor
Place of Birth:	Tempe, Arizona
Base of Operations:	Paragon City, Rhode Island
Marital Status:	Currently separated
Known Relatives:	David Cooper, father, deceased; Rain Cooper, mother; Lynn Cooper, wife; John Cooper, son; Ben Cooper, son; Jessica Cooper, daughter; Adam Cooper, brother; James Cooper, brother; Samantha Cooper, sister; Amanda Cooper, sister
Known Powers
Heat and flame generation and manipulation; weather control; flight
Known Abilities
Confidential
Equipment
Confidential
No additional information available.

My first level 50 character, and one who performed the neat trick of taking the creative reins away from me and dictating his own life. I had to respect him for that, and he's never steered me wrong. I've had his origin worked out in my head for quite some time, but I've only just recently decided to commit it to a cohesive treatment. He's still a blast to play, even on his second time through the game.

How It All Began

Aaron Cooper is the firstborn son of David and Rain Cooper. His parents' marriage was scorned by Rain's family, as they were desperate for her to marry within her tribe. For years, Rain had been told that she must protect her family's bloodline, that she was meant to have a son who would be a "Great Protector", but only if he were of pure Hopi descent. However, from the moment Rain noticed David Cooper, she knew that her heart would always be his. David was a stalwart member of his community, but as laconic as he was virtuous; more than one neighbor remarked that the saying, "no blood from a stone" was created for men like him. To Rain, though, David was a bedrock of normalcy and good sense upon which she could make a stand against the unceasing imploring of her tribal elders.

Growing up near the Hopi Reservation, Aaron pretended not to notice the stares, sneers, and denigrations his mother's people directed at him. His family was enough for him, and when his parents continued to have children of "mixed race", Aaron became incredibly protective of his younger siblings. One epithet was persistently ascribed to Aaron over the years; "Storm Devil". When he asked his mother what was meant by this particular phrase, Rain Cooper laughed and said it was nothing more than the superstitions of old men. In this, she would be proven wrong.

Not long after his fourteenth birthday, David took Aaron out for a driving lesson. As they came to a stop sign, Aaron's foot slipped from the brake onto the accelerator. They lurched into the intersection, and their car was struck on the passenger side. David would not survive this accident, and Aaron's world cracked wide open. His father had been his hero, his pure idea of what a man should be, and now that man was gone from his life, from his family's life, and Aaron was at fault.

As the years went by, Aaron became more and more withdrawn, until the day that a delegation of his mother's people came to him and told him that he was needed. A "great demon" had been unfettered, and they were calling on Aaron to re-imprison the beast. The young man scoffed at the elders, but they were implacable, and finally Aaron agreed to go with them. What he saw beneath the earth that day would again change his world.

Aaron beheld a frightening vision of a purely wild entity, not a personification of elemental chaos so much as a perversion of natural order. A swirling mass of flame and wind, fleeting in substance and form. The beast, the elders told him, had been kept at bay for time immemorial, always held in check by one of Aaron's ancestors. However, with the bloodline "sullied" by his parent's marriage and children, the elders had struck upon a new, desperate plan; they meant to sacrifice Aaron to the beast, as a peace offering, a barter they hoped the beast would accept as retribution upon the family that had abated his horrible fury for so long. Haltingly, Aaron submitted to their designs.

As the tribal elders prepared Aaron for the ritual, he told himself that he deserved this, that had he not killed his father, none of this would be happening. While it didn't quite make sense, Aaron's guilt clouded his judgment. It was then that he heard his father's voice. David Cooper spoke in his son's ear even as the dagger was poised above his naked throat, and Aaron listened.

"This isn't your destiny, son. Trust me, I know. Your family needs you, they need for you to take care of them. There is a way to get rid of that monster, but it's not by dying. This is what you need to do..."

As the dagger descended, Aaron snatched it from his intended executioner and turned to face the beast. The abomination seemed amused, but Aaron was upon it in a flash, and the battle was joined. The elders watched, marveling first at the young man's obvious imminent death, and then curious as to why the beast hadn't immediately destroyed him. Something was aiding the boy, and as the battle raged, it was obvious that the beast was losing. In their hope, they called for Aaron to force the monster back into its prison. Instead, the boy laughed.

"His prison? No. No, I think it's time that we ended this, for good this time."

With that, Aaron threw aside the dagger and leaped towards the beast. Wrestling it to the ground, he forced it to submit, to call him master. The beast's flames guttered and died, and in an instant, it was no more. When Aaron turned again to the elders, his eyes contained the wild fire which moments ago had threatened to engulf him body and soul. The old men drew back, but Aaron pacified them.

"It won't be bothering you again; its fire and wind are mine. You used to call me Storm Devil? How right you were, old men...how right you were."

What Happened Next

• • Coming Soon**