Zema Alston
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| "It's Whateva..." | |
| Artista | |
| Player: @Art2 | |
| Origin: | Mutant |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Blaster |
| Security Level: | 40 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Zema I. Alston |
| Known Aliases: | Z , Zee, Pretty Boy |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 18 |
| Height: | 6'2" |
| Weight: | 190lbs |
| Eye Color: | Gray-Blue |
| Hair Color: | Brown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Brazillian/Haitian/African |
| Occupation: | College Student, Intern |
| Place of Birth: | Atlanta, GA |
| Base of Operations: | Brooklyn, NY |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Rashard I. Alston (father), Cristy Alston (mother) |
| Known Powers | |
| Pyrokinetics, Energy Absorption, Touch Sensetive, Hypersense, Super Human Conditioning. Enhanced mental speed, telepathic blocks, and latent capability to activate mutagens. | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Olympic acrobatic capability, with basic understanding of computer mechanics. Experienced flirt (YES!) and adept writer/journalist. | |
| Equipment | |
| Sidekick ID and a Digital Camera (Nikon Coolpix P5100), iPod, Jetpack (Our Last Hope) | |
Misc.
| |
Contents |
'Character Biography'
In his first apperance (in Paragon City), Zema Alston is introduced as a calm, but excitable smooth-talking teenager from Brooklyn borough in New York City with mutant powers that involve his melanin, subconscious and imagination. He uses these powers, and seems to have unsavory motives for being a hero. He claim unethical inspirations, saying his reasons involve fame, and fortune. As of yet he has not revealed his true purposes to fulfilling the hero role. Without any Paragon Hero Registration, he remains a vigilante. One of the few faces amongst the city without a true alter-ego, he tries managing his life as a college student and young face of justice. Without any apparant enemies, and little fame to his name, he has done little to dent the mass villian problem in Paragon City publically, and is considered by most news reporters as a "Nobody Hero".
Origin
June 4th, 1989 Zema Alston was born to the world. The seventh, and last of an established family, he was the only child born outside of California, New York or overseas. Zema Idris Alston was born to Rashard and Cristy Alston, who worked within a secret society, but lived quite normal lives. His father was a writer, musician & businessman that delved in Comic Books, Jazz, and the record industry.
A diverse, busy, but disciplined man, Rashard set the precedent for his children. Zema, as the youngest, was raised to a large family where he developed an imagination, and likabity in his household. Although shy as a child, he was always watchful as a child and seemed to have an affinity for art, and all creativity. Encouraged by his parents, and sibilings, he became introvert.
When he began schooling, his unique perspective was commonly hushed, leaving him insecure, but also untrusting. Rarely did he rely on those he met, and seemed to associate with those loneliest amongst the crowd. Schooled at a school with a diverse population, he encountered a variation of people of diverse backgrounds. It was in these toddler years that a fascination with the sun merit some ill attention from teachers, and those he called 'outsiders'.
Early Years
"...and I thought that I knew you
better than that, better than that
better than that, better than that"
- The Pharcyde
Musician, graffiti artist, aspiring author, basketball player, illustrator are just a few words to describe Zema's childhood. An imaginative boy, he did well in school, but rarely paid attention. Packed with friends of opposites, he never found a true idenitity amongst the crowd and was lost in the shuffle as elementary school progressed. The exclusion only worsten as awkward spells came over his mind in 5th grade. Unlike most mutants, his powers came to long before puberty and were strongly expressed in an incident on the playground.
After his imagination permitted him to explode a basketball pole with unstable kinetic energy, he was forced by school officals into a home school program. Uncertian of the extent of his bio-kinetic mutation, local colleges & universities queried for further dissection and expiremantion. All ventures were disproved by his parents.
Two years pass and his imagination continued to extend the capabilities of his prowess. Overflowing with energy (coined as 'creative energy') he marked subway trains with unique markings that bore semblance to graffiti, and extended his soundwaves during jam sessions at his father's studio. Despite the lack of attention from scientist as the years of request were sent by denial, Rashard and Cristy Alston remain paranoid. Rarely allowed time outside alone, he was finally encouraged so on his 12 birthday.
Kidnapped after a party with his closest friends at Sal's Pizzeria. Later that night he was on his return home by a shadowy figure, to wake the next day with the previous night's dealings seemingly unknown to the family.
The Rogues
"There's a natural mystic blowing through the air;
If you listen carefully now you will hear."
-Bob Marley
A week pass, and the figure returned. When the shadow entered, Zema's father stood in the room at the door. When the lights flicked on it was revealed that the kidnapper was actually his oldest brother Lamar. He was the only other child of the family to manifest a mutant ability, which contributed to the families calm reaction. Although Lamar's mutation had been private, he had developed around the same age as the young Zema.
Exposed, it was released that Zema had been apart of "The Rogues" operation for two years since his mutagen expressed itself. "The Rogues" was a project originally formed by Martin Lieber (a former CIA Associate Deputy Director). Over the pass two years Zema had been trained to work as an operative in the secret mercenary company (PMC). "The Rogues" found he had an uncontrollable amount of energy flowing through him, to a point Zema couldn't withstand. Martin Lieber had only recently modified Zema's powers, making him significantly less powerful, but able to control the still considerably large amount of power in him.
The refreshed with new talent, with the new squad leader's mantle being handed to Lamar (codename: The Art) since he was one of the remaining two from the founding members. Zema joined, in spite of his parent's heed, working on many missions under the handle Artista.
Rikiti Sabotage
“I'll play it first and tell you what it is later.”
-Miles Davis
A year passed as Zema became an active member. Jobs took him from Paris to Tokyo for mysterious clients. In the shadow of his older brother Art (Lamar), he worked as an exceptionional agent of The Rogues operation on a number of missions. On the day of his induction reunion to The Rogues he went on his first solo mission. At the age of thirteen he headed an undercover operation for a 'R.Foss' in the Knives of Artemis. A week slipped by as he was reformed in their ways.
The client requested information on their interworkings. Zema retrieved the minimial info, establishing the present documents undisclosed on the Knive's behavior. In spite of his infilitration mission he came across "Rebecca" he divulged his position to only to later find she was apart of the Knives of Artemis. Left unexposed, he still wonders to this day as to why she did not give him up.
Little is known of Zema’s actions and adventures over the next months, only that he became a superb operative and made many contacts (and quite a few enemies) during that time. Approximately two months before the Rikiti Invasion he went on his last mission.
A client, going under the handle Vetrano sent the team on a rudimentary sabotage mission. Charged to lead the White Plain's End Zema fronted a barrage of earth shifts. In a surprise attack, after planting the requested equiptment down, the team was hit by an unknown source.
The Rogues were under the mistaken belief that "Vetrano" simply wanted to twart a communication link through location for reinforcement to take out the planned sight. Instead, a slaughter commenced from abound as the landing sight was actually scheduled for the Rikiti. However, he never learned the truth, as The Rogues were sent to a massacare upon the assignment's completition.
Unable to stop the annihilation, he managed to save one other member named Nani before the two were thrown in a coma from the blast. The Rikiti landing was sabotaged, but only delayed two months later.
Post Invasion
The Rikiti Invasion was an inevitable event. Amidst the confusion that took the world during the Rikiti Invasion Zema was bedridden with the injuries to his body, pride and heart from the team's fatal last mission. The lost of his brother and the other teammate was too much to bare. Even as the pains of the warring heroes echoed through the land he kept his focus on school, not that his parents approved of anymore heroric behavior with the lost of their first born.
During this period, he became another face amongst the bunch. Eventually all the attention he merit from his endowment faded and he was back in public school for his last two years of high school. Much of those years are shrouded in mystery, conflict, romance, friends and foes that led him on a trip to Paragon. Although he had been assigned jobs there before, he had never walked the streets like a civilizan, and gotten the chance to enjoy the place.Although little is known about this infamous first trip to Paragon, many bar patrons recall a grand performence from him on stage with his sax, while a few local heroes rumored he saved Ms. Liberty from a possible gunshot. Little has gone down on record, but his visit's purpose is still being investigated by those that have tracked him from his Rogue days. Since his initial visit, he has returned to the heroric scene. Few reporters take him serious, with much talk about him being a playboy and in it for the fame. Despite the few wise-cracks that he gets for his heroric deeds from Paragon's reporting crew, he gets very little attention.
A Stitch in Time
At the dawn of The Washouts stood the perfect face. A love-hate relationship had been built with Zema since his introduction to the Paragon Hero circuit. A bundle of fans that eat cheezits in the dark, or danced endlessly at nightclubs found Zema's personality refreshing amongst the crowd while public officals critized his behavior as uncaring, rude, and absurd. A perfect facade had been built, setting up for a sponsorship that only matched his awkwardness.
While the Rogue operation made it's third installation, Zema has begun to crack. Unable to live in these two different worlds, he has encountered treachery and testing foes in the form of the social stratus, and battle field. although highly despised for taking small jobs, he has invested life in an array of solo missions off-record for the reincarnation of the operation, directly from the founder. Entrenched in a world of terror that goes beyond the bounds of earth, his doppleganger life of playing the fool, fighting small-time and universal villians alike, while trying to do school have created an irritable, further distancing man.
Little attention has come to this as his celebrity climbs amongst the ranks with mixed feelings. No public press meetings have been made since the faithful "New Arrival! Washouts" was made at the start of the year. Unable to be truthful to his new colleague, acquaintaces and friends, he has found himself in a world of trouble.
Lately he has faced the trepidation of his own plot. Unable to show his true abilities, he is a crippled champion in the face of trouble. He fakes to fill the role he has personified since his introduction to the Paragon scene, finding himself to be bit by an awkward beast that sucked at his blood, only to encounter a cannibal beast the next day. Behind all this he has also been in a widespread search for his friend Hope in the latest issues.
Relationships with other heroes
"They say people in life are seasons
And anything that happen is for a reason"
- Kanye West
Zema has a warm spot for few people, but he isn't cold. Much, if not all, his emotional contact is reserved for women. When a child, he dedicated much of his time to his mother, while heeding his father's wise teachings. Extremely layered, with boundless distrust, he disarms most strangers with an attention-wanting persona, while he keeps them at a distance.
During the events of his mutation, Zema befriends a number of friends. Yet, by the first time he comes to work in Paragon City he has regressed to distancing, brutally honest, flirt which is a ploy to keep people away from him so that he doesnt have to relive the pain of being betrayed, or left alone. Even the loose bonds he has created with the woman he has encountered in Paragon, and with his new team are filled with jokes so to keep the trust inadequete, and unworthy of any emotional attachment. Although a self-proclaimed "helpless romantic", he tries too hard to weed the bad ones out - only to hold his guard up more often than he should.
Zema has found common ground with the clown being known as High Jinks who, like Zema, is far more comedic and light about his day-to-day troubles, which include being disliked, insulted, and generally received wrong. Although they commonly are found underminding one another, the two have formed a duo of infamy and investigation when searching the Rogue Isles for one of many of Zema's old love interest.
When he is with other heroes, Zema is met with little favor, especially from The "Great" Statesman. The international face for Heroism and Paragon have had a few run-ins since Zema entered the city. However, Statesman has come to apprehensive about judging his ability after reading about Zema's "secret files" that entail loose affilation to the classified Rogues. Subsequently, he has a horrible relationship with the media after his first press-meeting where he mooned the cameras and jokingly said Freedom Phalanx should elect him the new leader. In spite of his childish humor, he remains respected by some of the highest officals, and greatest heroes for his undisclosed information. Yet, it has never been a public matter, and he most recently has been rated the "Least Useful Hero" by "Under the Cape" magazine.
Since Zema's arrival to Paragon City, he has been drawn attention form a plethora of girls...and even a man. When he first began his escapades in Paragon, he gave a large amount attention to cyborg/woman named Hope (Our Last Hope) before her disapperance. Since, he has taken interest in a writer/soft porn star named Wivern. After many futile attempts, he has got in good with her. Recently he has been seen with her in 'Pocket D' where he has danced, and even drunk (Zema doesn't drink alcohol) with her. During one of their sightings Zema was attacked by a reptillian creature, where Wivern/Alison tried helplessly to heed the attack. Nursed back to health, onlookers recalled him leaving with her that night to sleep on her couch.
Since his recent escapades that have revealed the depth of his powers, his friends have been pushed away, and brought back in a tug-a-war of solitude.
Personality
Zema Alston is a dynamic, spirited, thoughtful, introvert, yet sociable young man. Analytical, but also unnoticably modest, he commonly undermines his own thoughts as unworthy. Always contemplative, he covers his seriousness with a goofy facade. Introspective, and rare to blame others, he seems to be a loyal figure. Unknowingly conflicted, he is quite layered and seems publically as a fun-loving person. In spite of his amusing persona, he is not trusting. Few people know his full personality, because he doesn't allow them. Instead of showing his complete person, he keeps most people at a distance.
A true assimlator, he seems to meld and become like the people around him, but he is also disciplined and has a strong moral code which doesn't allow him to lose his core amidst other's behavior. Instead of conflicting with other's thoughts, Zema is a youth that masterminds, and calculates his words. Rarely blunt or mean, he mostly functions off of charm and feeds on being enjoyed. Since he is not confrontational, Zema remains witty enough to keep his messages hidden and points precise.
Although young, he bares a strong respect for women in spite of the culture he is involved in. He is no hard-worker though. He holds a strong belief behind "working the smartest, instead of working the hardest", and carries that throughout much of his personality. Quite spiritual, and taken up by moments - he seems to be able to relate to a lot of different type of people. Also, innovative, he is very creative and can be perceived as abstract.
Most of these dynamic parts are shroud in his assimilation complex. Although he doesn't drastically change for people, he doesn't present himself in extremely offensive manners so as not to anger others. One of the least confrontational heroes known to Paragon, but also most layered - he keeps a very low profile in the hero circuit while managing to be a social animal that can not do without people.
Powers and abilities
Zema/Artista is a mutant with the ability to manipulate, and innately absorb kinetic energy. He can charge objects with instable kinetic energy, but his true prowess lies in his imagination. Since he can manipulate kinetic energy, he has displayed the ability to turn air into fire, and his hands into thermal weapons.
Zema Alston is skilled in thought processing with great speed, and all aspects of artistre. One of his trademark tricks is to mark walls with a bio-kinetic energy that signs like graffiti, turning the very wall into a work of art and a possible threat for explosion. His other tricks have included singing a piece of sketch paper when he was in a tight situation, unable to access the room door from his angle tied up, creating a work of visual art through the ash to distract his target. One of Artista's most powerful attacks consists of focused absorption of the sun's energy, while rechanneling it directly onto an enormous grouping for explosive contact that timed by his bio-kinetic signature.
Artista's power provides him with superhuman agility, flexibility, dexterity, speed, reflexes, coordination, and balance, possessing all the physical attributes of a human body naturally evolved for constant motion as a living generator of bio-kinetic energies. This also creates an interference of mutant powers that require touch to activate, such as absorption and drain. Also, his imagination's abstraction of memory and matter seems to be products of his mutation (possibly his first) and encompass his brain's speed creating imaginative walls that telepathetics can not intrude while conscious.
Zema possesses a subtle telepathetic power. He can compel people to see his imaginary world, and consider his thought notions from long distances. These telekinetic bonds, for his prowess over this mutation is weak at best, require an emotional attachment that triggers a mental connection/network. It has been theorized that Zema is able to achieve this by bio-kinetically charging the brain matter of the target individual only unknowingly, because his own mental blocks.
Zema customarily wears a suit of highly articulated light upper-body armor and customized material. He is moderately trained in martial arts, particularly Tai Chi Chuan or taijiquan , which coupled with his training and natural mutant abilities, makes him a superhuman combatant. He is an excellent hand-to-hand combatant, utilizing street-fighting techniques and acrobatics.
In his youth, Zema was bestowed with all forms of kinetic energy, allowing him to charge all matter within his line of sight by mere thought alone, but his failure to control it caused him to become a danger to all people. With his powers diluted by 'The Rogues' operatives, the portion of Zema's brain stem responsible for his full mutant powers became dormant. However, it unclear that his secondary mutation might be able to jumpstart his mutagen once more from it's dormant state for full power.
Zema is semi-bilingual in both English, Spanish, and Amharic.
Trivia
- Zema's voice is based mostly on an artist named AZ
This article about a character is a stub -- a small, but growing, work in progress. If you're the creator of this character, why not consider expanding it?
