Birdgirl
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Winged wonder! | |
| Birdgirl | |
| Player: @SusieBot | |
| Origin: | Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Scrapper |
| Security Level: | 31 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Robin Starling |
| Known Aliases: | None |
| Species: | Birdperson |
| Age: | 20 |
| Height: | 5' 8" |
| Weight: | 92 lbs |
| Eye Color: | Green |
| Hair Color: | Blonde |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | USA |
| Occupation: | Licensed Super Hero, Student, Pizza Delivery Person |
| Place of Birth: | City of the Birdpeople, Tibet |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City, Rhode Island |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Unknown |
| Known Powers | |
| Flight, Keen Eyesight | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Martial Artist, Tracker | |
| Equipment | |
| None | |
| No additional information available. | |
Since the introduction of wings, I have longed to make a winged character, but have never really nailed a concept/name/costume that I was happy with. Enter Adventure Girl, a character that I loved to play, but could not get into the concept. A rename, respec, and visit to Icon later, Birdgirl was born!
The character obviously owes a bit to Hawkgirl (inasmuch as she's a girl with wings), but not too much (she is neither an alien, a space cop, nor a mace tanker...so there). She also owes a debt to the Seanbaby article about Hawkman, which points out the absurdity of a super-hero's only power being that they can fly.
Contents |
Powers
Flight
Like all Birdpeople, Birdgirl possesses feathered wings, and is capable of flying at high (~60 MPH) speeds for extended periods of time. She also possesses the hollow bones and dense musculature of her people, making her lighter than an average woman her size, but extremely strong.
Birdpeople's wings are generally useless until adolescence, when they begin to grow rapidly and feather. Approximately once a year, Birdgirl's wings will molt for about a week. At this time, she is capable of limited or no flight, and is extremely irritable.
Keen Eyesight
Birdpeople have extremely keen eyesight. Birdgirls' visual acuity is approximately 20/5 (That is, she can see at 20 feet what a person with normal vision can see at 5 feet -- by comparison, a hawk has 20/2 vision).
Abilities
Martial Artist
Raised by monks of the Fei Xing monastary, and taught their ancient fighting arts, Birdgirl is an extremely talented martial artist. The Fei Xing are traditionally a pacifist sect. However, they maintain the fighting arts of their early ancestors, a deadly combination of acrobatics and strikes akin to Iron Palm kung fu. Fei Xing fighting also emphasizes pressure points and physiology, giving an adept of the art the knowledge and precision to cripple a person with a light touch.
Birdgirl has combined this fighting art with the unique properties of her physiology -- super-strong muscles, enhanched reflexes, and the ability to fly. The combination is a devastating form of aerial kung fu that baffles opponents.
Tracker
Birdgirl has recently discovered a super-human knack for tracking and hunting, which has led to the rapid resolution of several missing-persons cases. The combination of keen senses and the inner calm of Fei Xing training, coupled with what can only be described as an innate ability to detect the most minute disturbance, has made Birdgirl an expert tracker.
Weaknesses
Birdgirl is only modestly stronger and faster than an average human, and has no "armor" or protection from weapons. Furthermore, she can not wear armor and fly normally -- a birdperson's wings can only carry slightly more than their own weight (though, under duress, it is possible for a birdperson to carry another individual a short distance).
Background
City of Birds
For three thousand years, the City of the Birdpeople has remained hidden in the Himalayan mountain range. A network of tunnels and aeries heated by volcanic gasses, this city has remained hidden from all but a few -- only the brothers of the Fei Xing monastary have dealings with the Birdpeople, and even they do not know the location of the city. The Birdpeople, facing persecution for their remarkable abilities, retreated into the mountains in ages past, and have remained insular and suspicious of outsiders ever since.
Birdgirl was born in this city, to progressive parents that wished to break the taboos of their ancestors and establish contact with the outside world. To this end, Birdgirl's father established a secret trade route out of the city, trading the rare Ultranadium crystals mined in the City for knowledge and technology from the outside world. Trusting and naive, he did not understand the man with whom he was trading.
Nemesis had discovered the energy potential in Ultranadium crystals, and tracked the Birdperson trading party back to their City. He then attacked, sending endless streams of Nemesis soldiers and merciless automata into the tunnels to exterminate any resistance. To their credit, the Birdpeople put up a valiant resistance, but they were overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Seeing the City fall because of his actions, Birdgirl's father committed himself to die in the onslaught -- but he sent his young daughter out into the cold, hoping that she would be recovered by the Fei Xing monks.
Aerial Kung Fu
The young girl wandered in the mountains for more than a day before she was recovered, frostbitten and near-death, by the monks of Fei Xing. They took her in, expecting to return her to the City when they next met with the birdpeople -- but the Birdperson envoy never came. After a month, the monks chose to raise the girl in their temple.
For ten years, she trained and studied with the monks. They taught her what they knew of the Birdpeople, and taught her the ways of the Fei Xing. Most importantly, they taught her their ancient fighting system (known only as Fei Xing), a derivative of Chinese martial arts that emphasized fluidity and grace.
When Birdgirl's wings developed, she began ranging over the mountains around the monastary, seeking out the ancient, half-remembered city of her birth. In time, she discovered the smoking ruin that had once been the Birdperson city -- and therein, she found the remains of Nemesis' automata. These she carried back to the Fei Xing temple, demanding answers.
Crime-Fighter
The Fei Xing brotherhood knew little of Nemesis, but could not dissuade Birdgirl from seeking her own answers. They sent her out of the mountains with little more than the clothes on her back. From the small towns of the Chinese plains, she wandered to the sea. In Hong Kong, she discovered her first clues to the identity of the automaton's creator.
From Hong Kong, she made her way to Paragon City, and there discovered her true purpose. Marveling at the role of super-heroes in protecting the city, she swore to become one of them, using her unique gifts to battle injustice, while seeking a path towards a confrontation with Nemesis. With the aid of City Hall, she established a heroic identity, and enrolled in classes at Paragon University.
In the year since she appeared in Paragon City, Birdgirl's life has entered a comfortable routine. During the day, she attends classes, and works delivering pizzas (by flying the pies to their drop-offs, she has become the company's best deliveryperson). But at night, she dons her crimson costume to battle injustice as Birdgirl, winged warrior of Paragon's skies!
Trivia and Notes
Costume
In the past two weeks, I've sunk a ton of money (and three Veteran costume changes) into Birdgirl's costume, but I think I'm finally pleased with it. Some highlights:
- The wings. Birdgirl started out with all-white wings, but it looked pretty awful. The texture of the wings in-game is really good, and benefits from mixing colors. After some experiments in shades of brown, she is rocking a gray-and-white that looks good.
- The mask. This was the killer, as it's tough to create something in-game that says "bird". It finally came together with the addition of Galaxy Glasses (which are over-used in-game, and rightly so -- they look awesome). I was originally going to use a different set of goggles, but she ended up looking too much like Sparrowhawk.
- Skin. I usually don't like female super-heroes that show a lot of skin, but I made an exception in this case. While it's not indecent, the "Athletic" top is cut a little high. Still, it's a good look -- if I ever apply to a Golden Age supergroup, I hope they can overlook it.
- The pants. The pants/belt combination really makes it for me. This is about the only thing I lifted whole hog from Hawkgirl -- if you study Hawkgirl's costume, you'll notice she has a "briefs over tights" thing going on that looks really good. So I stole it.
- The chest symbol. Like most of the chest symbols in-game, I'm not thrilled with it. The "Eagle" and "Falcon" symbols are used quite a bit in-game, so I avoided them (and, again, trying not to completely rip off Sparrowhawk's look), but I'm not in love with the "Bird" chest symbol. In my ideal world, it would be something a little more abstract. Now that I think about it, I may try the "Raven" symbol when I get home. I forgot about that one.
This may be a lot of text just about a character's costume, but I've put more thought into this one than any other. Unlike most of my characters, Birdgirl took real work to put together, and I'm happy with the result. If you see her flying back and forth in the same spot, it's because I'm watching her fly from various angles.
