Battle Lord
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| "Wage war? No, friend. I AM WAR." | |
| Battle Lord | |
| Player: @The Mercenary | |
| Origin: | Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Tanker |
| Security Level: | 25 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Hayes, Charlie F. |
| Known Aliases: | Battle Lord, The Hammer of Marduk, Voyevoda, The Slaughter God |
| Species: | Ascended Human |
| Age: | 30 and Ageless |
| Height: | 7'1 |
| Weight: | 422lbs |
| Eye Color: | Blue |
| Hair Color: | White |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | African American |
| Occupation: | Protecting Others |
| Place of Birth: | Fort Worth, Texas "Stop Six Projects" |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Marietta Earnestine Hayes, Mother |
| Known Powers | |
| Superhuman strength and resilience, energy manipulation | |
| Known Abilities | |
| None | |
| Equipment | |
| None | |
| None | |
Contents |
Early Life
Humble would be an overstatement of his beginnings. The world he was brought into crawled with roaches and rats. The smell of crack smoke wafted on the breeze that swept through the makeshift wind-tunnels of Stop Six Projects. The sound of gunfire and sirens were the prevalent lullaby many nights. It was here, in this concrete jungle, that Marietta Hayes bore her only child, Charlie.
Born to a single mother in the tough neighborhood of "Stop Six", young Charlie quickly learned what it meant to be the man of the house. His mother worked two jobs to make ends meet, leaving Charlie alone most of the time. Learning to subsist on a diet of ravioli and oatmeal, among other things, taught the young man many lessons. Particularly, self sufficiency. As he grew older and entered high school, things got progressively went from bad to worse. His mother began dating, bringing strange men into their home and into Charlie's life. They came and went, but it was James that seemed to stick around the most.
With James around, Charlie became all but invisible to his mother. All of her time was taken by this man whom she waited on hand-and-foot. It infuriated the young man. Having no outlet for his anger, he turned to sports. Weight lifting, track, football, whatever it took to occupy his time and replace the mother he barely had. In his absence from the home, Charlie noticed several changes to his mother's demeanor. She became timid around James; quiet and submissive. It wasn't long before the bruises became apparent...
When Charlie confronted James, words quickly escalated into a full-blown fist fight. Marietta managed to break the two apart, but turned on Charlie. She told him that he was trying to take away the only happiness that she'd had. That he was being selfish; and that he should respect James. Charlie couldn't hear her words anymore. All he could see was the welt under her eye and the puffiness of her jaw. All he could hear was James' voice, taunting him. Charlie pushed past Marietta and tried to fight with James again, but was quickly pulled away. This time, she gave him an ultimatum. Charlie was told to learn to respect what her and James have, or leave. That night, a 17 year old Charlie made a decision...
File:Lettertomama.png
A New Start
The U.S. Army gave Charlie's life structure and in return, he gave it unquestionable loyalty. What came to Fort Benning, Georgia as a boy swiftly grew into an infantryman. Charlie had immersed himself completely into the military lifestyle. For him, there was no such thing as leave. He had nothing to go home to. His comrades were his family now.
To be more than a Soldier
When the opportunity came, Charlie, now a corporal, volunteered for Ranger training. It was there that he furthered his abilities as a soldier. It was there, under the heavy hands of the Ranger cadre, that his upbringing's "gifts" flourished. To him, it meant nothing to starve. Years of living in a parentless home taught him how to tighten his belt and ignore hunger pangs. To him, it meant nothing to be cold. To be tired. To be wet. To ache. It was there, in Ranger school that he learned to navigate the mountains and the jungle; to be ruthless in battle; to be a master of his mind and body, regardless of the situation. When it was over, Charlie was more than just a soldier. He was a U.S. Army Ranger.
While serving in the 3rd Battalion of the 75th Ranger Regiment, Charlie was promoted to the rank of sergeant. His first tour of duty, in Afghanistan, was where he saw his first bit of combat experience. While on patrol, his squad picked up the radio traffic of a Special Forces team that was under heavy fire. Charlie didn't bother calling in for permission to divert from their original mission. Instead, he called for a helicopter and lead his squad to assist the Special Forces. For their bravery against insurmountable odds, Sergeant Hayes and his men were all promoted one rank and awarded the Silver Star. It was later in that year that Charlie was contacted by one of the members of the Special Forces team he helped rescued and was offered an opportunity to attend the Special Forces Assessment and Selection course. Such an opportunity was not one to be passed up. With the best wishes of his comrades, Charlie began his quest for the coveted Green Beret.
One Last Letter
Upon completing his Special Forces training, Charlie was attached to the 5th Special Forces Group and deployed to the Iraqi/Iranian border as part of a reconnaissance team. His mission was to search for the elusive weapons of mass destruction that no one could seem to find. The days were slow, the nights were long, but while there, he and his team managed to befriend the people of a small Kurdish village. An village elder, known as The Old Mother among the soldiers, spoke to Charlie one day. She told him things that no one else would know. She told him that it was a mistake to completely swear off his mother. She managed to put a crack in his heart. That night, Charlie wrote his mother a letter...
File:Lettertomama2.png
The Incursion
The little Kurdish Village, nicknamed Shangri-La by the soldiers, suddenly came under attack. Heavily armed raiders came during the night and began to pepper the village in gunfire. Charlie and his men scrambled to engage them in battle.
"اين الذهب؟" The raiders kept asking. "Where is the gold? Where is the gold?!" But the villagers would not answer. Charlie and his men quickly decided that they'd take no prisoners. The team split. Charlie lead the assault against the raiders while Sergeant Tommy Strickland, a communications specialist and fellow Green Beret, called for air support and commandeered a truck to load people to take them to safety. Charlie and three other soldiers had taken defensive positions behind walls and engaged the enemy in a fire fight.
With the helicopter nowhere to be found, Charlie and his men found themselves in a world of hurt. Charlie suggested to his men that they begin a tactical withdrawal and ordered them to fall back toward the darkness of the desert while he set up a diversion. The plan worked, for the most part. The three soldiers with Charlie managed to get away and escape into the desert night. Unfortunately for Charlie, he was captured...
The Interrogation
The scent of gasoline brought Charlie back into consciousness, causing him to stir. He could feel the ropes digging into his wrists and ankles; soaked burlap covering his face. Suddenly, the bag was snatched off. A series of questions was asked, questions concerning gold and the presence of the American military so close to the Iranian border, but Charlie refused to talk. They beat him, but he refused to scream. They cut him, but in his mind, he did not bleed. To him, there was no pain. And true to his creed, he spat upon his enemy's face. Though his blood poured forth from his wounds, deep into the earth, he gave his foes nothing; even as he stared down the barrel of that AK-47...
The Ascension
There was a bright flash from the barrel, then silence. I could see nothing, I could feel nothing. I knew what this darkness was. Immersed in an endless sea of ink, my limbs lighter than air, I accepted that I was dying...
For my arrogance...I died.
For my insolence...I died.
For the people of Shangri-La...I died.
Obedient to my orders to never give up anything to the enemy, I died. Or, so I thought...
"Fio Bellum..." A voice said unto me.
Suddenly, my eyes snapped open. I could see the face of my thought to be killer, staring down at me in horror. A strength unlike anything ever felt before charged through my veins. The strength I felt on the inside exploded on the outside in the form of blazing light. With uncanny might, I rose from my seat. Again, the voice spoke unto me...
"Fio Bellum..."
The words drove me to fight. Never had I moved so fast...never had I felt so strong. I grabbed the man who shot me by the throat and lifted him toward the ceiling. He emptied the entire magazine into my chest, only to see every spent round fall to the ground in crumpled heaps of lead. I slowly tightened my grip, amazed by the power that my blazing hands unleashed. My fingers dug into his flesh. The sound of him gasping, pleading pathetically for his life, only spurned my anger. The madder I got, the stronger I felt. As I swept his body over my head and slammed him to the ground, I could feel every bone in his body crumble to dust..
I knew not where I was, but every raider I could find reacted the same way. A horrified stare, then they opened fire. No blade or weapon could harm me. I severed limbs from bodies. I crushed skulls with my bare hands. I felt the rage, anger and fear of my foes feeding my strength. Even my feet defied gravity. In every sense of the word, I felt like a god...
It was there and then that I knew that I was something far more than a man. What it was, I did not know. But my life was changed forever...
To Become War: Origin of Power
Charlie soon learned that his newfound power was indeed an act of divine intervention. The gods of the Greek Pantheon had often chosen warriors of the world to bless with divine might. It was Ares, the god of War, that looked down upon Charlie and bestowed upon him a celestial strength. Fio Bellum, he said unto Charlie. Become War.
Munus Ferrum (Willpower)
Hardened as iron, The Battle Lord's flesh is tougher than that of mortal men. His drive to fight and will to win, infused with the spiritual
Munus Furor (Energy Melee/Manipulation)
The God of War has blessed his Battle Lord with the fury of a million Spartans. The glowing light of his strikes can shatter bones and spirits alike, rendering his foes dazed and helpless...
Ira Pango (Super Strength)
The Battle Lord's strength far exceeds that of mortal men. It has been said that The Battle Lord is capable of snatching a moving train off the tracks. Maybe that's why The Council stopped using the old Red Line to transport weapons across Russia...
Commanding Presence: (Taunt/Presence/Invoke Panic/Psychic Resistance)
The Battle Lord has a natural air of authority about him. His voice is commanding, his stare enough to crush weaker men. If one were to look deep into his eyes, they most likely could not read him. He is a battle hardened warrior, through and through. Such is not a gift of Ares, but one of the reasons he chose him. Years of training and battle taught him how to lead and reassure others. It also instills fear in his enemies...
An Inconvenient Truth
Charlie knew that with his newfound blessings he could never return to the military. He knew that they would take his power and attempt to exploit it for selfish gain. He knew if he were to return to his mother, he would put her in grave danger as well. He thought it best to let her believe he perished in the desert. Now homeless, he began to roam the desert, hunting those who would bring harm to others. He lived among the people of the Persian Gulf, where they affectionately called him The Hammer of Marduk. In parts of southern Russia, he was called Voyevoda, or The Warlord. Among the raiders and miscreants who heard the tales of this American boogeyman and his brutal exploits, he was referred to as The Slaughter God. None of those names stuck to his heart. None but the one instilled upon him by the god of war himself. Battle Lord.
To Paragon!
Years of roaming the world as a vigilante took Charlie to many places. The Middle East, Russia and several parts of Asia brought him into contact with many people. It was the group W.I.S.D.O.M., a Japanese team of super powered beings, that pointed him in the direction of Paragon City; a place in dire need of heroes and strong leaders. When Charlie reached Paragon, he saw the antics of many of the so-called heroes there and instantly knew he had his hands full...
Forward to battle! To Victory!
