TJ White
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
TJ White... Demigod! The Scion of Poseidon [1]
The 'dalliances' of the gods are well known and well documented, dating back to the earliest written histories of antiquity. The resultant offspring of these 'encounters' are both divine and mortal - not quite gods, but not quite men. Demigods have been painted by DaVinci, sculpted by Michaelangelo, and immortalized by Shakespeare. Throughout all of human history the Greek Pantheon have sewn their divine lineage through the veins of mortal beings...
Twenty-three year old TJ White is only one of the most recent born into this Olympic Legacy. The son of Poseidon and a hippy Yachter from Tasmania, TJ is a twenty-something on a quest to fulfill his role as a hero. [2]
TJ's origin is neither mysterious, nor dramatic. His mother, Loretta White, spent the majority of her life on the water. Although completely bereft of any super abilities or powers to speak of, the woman became intuitively connected with the sea from her youth. She sailed for leisure, pleasure and trade. She became friends with a fellow sea-farer who she crewed with during the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, and eventually that friendship became physical. They never fell in love or became romantically involved, but simply enjoyed each other's company during long dark nights over the water. When Loretta eventually became pregnant by the seafarer, he revealed himself to be Poseidon, god of the sea, in the guise of a sailor. After this revelation, he vanished and she has not seen him since.
Theodore Jewett 'TJ' White was born eight months later in Hobart, Tasmania where he lived (when not on the water) for most of his life. Loretta's first clue that things weren't normal for her child were when his cries shattered windows. As a baby, his wailing could be painful for any within earshot. And although, the sonic barrage became more tempered as he aged, other abilities began surfacing.
As a small child, the smiling lad would reach into the sails of yachts and seemingly fill them up, almost pulling the small sloops from their moorings. His tantrums became accompanied with peals of thunder from nowhere. And at ten years old, his mother found him hovering over his bed mirthfully grinning ear to ear.
At fourteen years old the demigod became enamored with the thought of becoming a hero and was encouraged by his mother in this endeavor. At twenty (though he'd intended to leave a year and a half earlier and didn't quite get to it), TJ left Hobart and made a long slow meandering trip towards the east coast of the United States towards Paragon City. He got there when he was twenty-three.
When it comes to combat, TJ only has his abilities to lean on. He is loathe to take or give a punch and in truth, would prefer a peaceful resolution to any conflict. He is a consequential pacifist, due largely to his mother's hippy influence and tends to not get involved in a fight unless completely necessary. However, his Poseidon paternity is made evident in the following supernatural ways...
Sonics And Sonar.
TJ is capable of producing ultrasonic and infrasonic frequencies, much in the same way that marine mammals do. These can be tuned into waveforms that are damaging to his opponents. These effects are not limited to auditory senses as they can be shaped to cause harm via bone conduction. He is also capable of radiating sonic waves and then interpreting the echo (sonar), also much like marine mammals, in order to sense things not immediately visible to the human eye. This is also helpful in blocking or making ineffective many forms of scanning equipment.
Caller of the Winds.
One of TJ's more impressive abilities is that of 'Wind Caller.' He has limited ability to affect the climate in his immediate vicinity. Cold and wild winds, micro-thunder cells, and obscuring fogs are examples of these abilities. He cannot change the weather locally or regionally and in fact his powers are limited by distance. He could not, for instance, create a micro-thunder cell outside of a very specific proximity to his body.
Air Pressure Manipulation.
By altering the pressure of the air directly around his body and a few meters in any direction, TJ can create vacuums that move him about in the atmosphere effectively giving him the power of flight. Because of the amount of energy required to move air on a molecular level this power is limited in range. He can, within certain parameters, use this ability to move others about in flight should they stay close to him.
Charon the Ferryman - "Though inland far we be, Our souls have sight of that immortal sea, Which brought us hither." ~William Wordsworth, Intimations of Immortality
Alex - "Most of us, I suppose, are a little nervous of the sea. No matter what its smiles may be, we doubt its friendship." ~H.M. Tomlinson
Demetra - "When the wine goes in, strange things come out." ~Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller, The Piccolomini
Jason - "Keep your feet on the deck, your hands on the tiller, your eyes on the horizon and your beer in the fridge!" ~B.E. Marshall
Aurora - "A person should go out on the water on a fine day if he would see Nature really smile. Never does she look so delightful, as when the sun is brightly reflected by the water..." ~Augustus William Hare and Julius Charles Hare, Guesses at Truth, by Two Brothers
Rhodes - "The sea has never been friendly to man. At most it has been the accomplice of human restlessness." ~Joseph Conrad
Melantha - "The great sea makes one a great sceptic." ~Richard Jefferies
Andreas - "The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea." ~Isak Dinesen
Julian - "I find myself at the extremity of a long beach. How gladly does the spirit leap forth, and suddenly enlarge its sense of being to the full extent of the broad, blue, sunny deep!" ~Nathaniel Hawthorne, "Foot-prints on the Sea-shore"
The Sea is in his Eyes.
In appearance, TJ does not seem any different than any other man of his age apart from two distinguishing characteristics:
- When TJ is out of costume (yes he has one) and using his abilities he prefers to remain anonymous, so he shrouds himself in a storm to cloud his identity.
- TJ's eyes are a vivid reflection the sea. From a normal distance, they appear blue upon blue. Upon closer inspection, the sea's calm serenity or churning wrath is evident, depending on his mood.
TJ is slim to athletically built, but more toned than overly muscled. He speaks with a Tasmanian lilt to his already Australian accent. He also loves to run his fingers through his own hair.
Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea.
In personality, TJ is remarkable amicable. He's always looking for common ground or to quell conflict. He's got kind things to say in most cases and would prefer to call every man a friend. He's outgoing and social. Generally, if he is around he is laughing or smiling. And once he has a friend, he considers them that for life.
Wrath, however, is another part of his psyche. If brought to anger he can have a relentless tongue and uses his words to hurt people. He also will not forgive betrayal. Ever. For any reason.
Laziness is another aspect of who TJ's make-up. It's a characteristic he is largely proud of. He's likely to be lounging around most of the time, whether at his motel or at the D. He'd rather not do anything. His idea of an ideal time is lying alone on a small sailing vessel moored to a pier. The one exception to this is when he is sailing. He will not quit on the open water and is a valued member of any sailing team.
Luff and Touch.
When it comes to romance, TJ has two speeds and no middle ground. He is either a 'one-night stand and goodbye' type fellow, or he wants something that is pretty much eternal. He plays innocent when flirting or being flirted with, but he makes it obvious. Being that up to his arrival in Paragon City he was a drifter, he's never had much use for relationships that are on a slow burn and hasn't given much thought to knowing people on a deeper level. He's not opposed to it, by any means, but tends not to 'go there' unless he feels the payoff is an obvious win.
Though he isn't necessarily looking for love, he wants it to be a tempest when it arrives.
He also gets bored quickly. If the doldrums set in before a storm of feelings hit, he'll jump overboard.
Fly by Night.
Sailing is a huge part of TJ's life and it truly is his passion. He loves crewing any sailing vessel from a small one-man dinghy to a large yacht. Conversely, any sailing vessel that is not under wind power he takes almost a vehement offense to. The reason for his love of the the water is the connection it allows him to feel with his father. He's never felt abandoned or disconnected from Poseidon because he feels they are bound by the sea. From a very young age, he's felt as if the oceans were rocking him to sleep every time he slept on a boat of any kind.
Though his mother owns a vessel that she races on the other side of the world, TJ does not have a sailboat of his own. He dreams of one day owning a three masted Bermuda sloop called 'The Storm Soul.'
Footnotes
- ↑ Yes...this is my second demigod. I would apologize if I felt bad about it. But what with the Demigod SG up and running I needed a non-Jace participant.
- ↑ This is an alt. He was created when Jace was unavailable IC to play with and sorta stuck.
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