Blood Archer
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| [[Image:|300px|]] | |
| Nothing is a Longshot! | |
| Blood Archer | |
| Player: @Hyperburn | |
| Origin: | Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Mastermind |
| Security Level: | 36 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Thomas Remington Steele |
| Known Aliases: | 'Chi no ite' [Blood Archer]; 'Makiwara' [in captivity]; 'Tono'['Lord' by his Ninja] |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 35 |
| Height: | 6'2" [188cm] |
| Weight: | 194 [88 kg] |
| Eye Color: | Blue |
| Hair Color: | Brown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Owner & Director of Red Arrow Services, Ltd. |
| Place of Birth: | New York, New York, USA |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City, Rhode Island, USA |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Remington Steele IV [Father - deceased], Constance Brennan Steele [Mother - deceased], Winchester Steele [Brother]; Remington Steele V [Brother] |
| Known Powers | |
| Has had extensive tattoo work over his body utilizing mystical inks to increase his ability to run and leap distances. Trained with shinobi sorcerers learning illusion and summoning spells to permit him to blend with his surroundings nearly turning invisible and to summon a Japanese Oni to serve him. | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Due to daily rigorous intensive exercise, Blood Archer's fitness level is at the peak of human performance. Blood Arrow has 20/10 vision with hand-eye coordination that is near perfect. Blood Archer is a prodigy with a bow. | |
| Equipment | |
| Blood Archer's principal pieces of equipment is his compound bow and a variety of specialty arrows. | |
| ' | |
Blood Archer is quite a mystery to the heroes of Paragon City and villains of the Rogue Isles. Not beholden to any one side, Blood Archer follows his own moral compass. He has been known to assist one side and then, seemingly without warning, has been known to undermine their efforts. [Author's Note: The concept of Blood Archer came about with the idea ‘what if Oliver Queen was kidnapped and held captive by ninjas instead of stranded on a desert Island?’. His origin story draws from concepts found in Shakespeare’s King Lear, The Count of Monte Cristo and Homer’s the Odyssey.].
Contents |
Origin
Steele Arms
Steele Arms International started as small arms manufacturing firm back in 1915 when ‘old man’ Winchester Steele began manufacturing small arms for a burgeoning weapons market. At the start of WWI, Steele was one of a few arms manufacturers supplying the US Army. An unbroken chain of sons and grandsons have stood at the helm of Steele Arms as it grew and supplied the US military through various wars until today.
Early Years
Thomas Steele, the man who would become Blood Archer, was born in New York City on December 28, 1984. Thomas was the third son to Remington Steele IV, the CEO of Steele Arms International, but the first child of his young second wife, Constance. Remington Steele had married the young Constance Brennan, his former Executive Assistant, in 1976 over the protests of his 12 year old twin sons, Remington and Winchester. Their mother, Elizabeth, had hung herself dead after their father, Remington, had successfully divorced her when her dual addictions to alcohol and pain killers became intolerable. The suicide note and her body were found by her son, Winchester. In the note, she blamed her husband’s philandering and abandonment had driven her to drugs, alcohol and her eventual suicide. Remington Steele doted on the young Thomas as he distanced himself from his twin boys. The loss of their mother and the emotional abandonment of their father created a secret enmity between the twins and Thomas that would define their relationship. Eventually, young Thomas and his mother would be emotionally abandoned themselves when Remington Steele pursued other interests. Nevertheless, Thomas enjoyed a happy childhood and attended the best private schools. When Thomas was eight years old, in a rare display of affection, Remington Steele decided to spend a day with his youngest son to watch a movie. As it happened, the Turner Classic Movie Channel was running an Errol Flynn marathon and together they watched, The Adventures of Robin Hood. It was this film that began young Thomas’ love of archery and heroics.
Adolescent and College Years
Although his father was largely absent from his life, Thomas' mother provided the necessary love and discipline that he needed. In particular, Thomas' mother was very strict when it came to manners to the point of obsession. As a consequence, Thomas has developed impeccable manners. It was during this time that Thomas learned archery spending many hours practicing. At 12 years old, Thomas' mother was diagnosed with cancer and died six months later. Thomas was sent away to boarding school for gifted boys in Connecticut soon after. Although Thomas had excellent grades and his behavior in class was impeccable, Thomas would frequently sneak out of his dorm room silently in violation of the school curfew policy. It was during this time, Thomas practiced his archery skills incessantly and honed his skills of moving silently, climbing, and utilizing darkness for cover. Thomas graduated the boarding school with honors and was accepted to Columbia University. Initially having high grades, Thomas’ grades progressively declined because of his excessive partying and carousing. Thomas joined the Columbia University Archery Club often winning inter-collegiate competitions. After graduating Columbia University with a BA in Philosophy, Thomas entered their MBA program. Thomas was chosen as an emergency replacement to one of the US Archery Team members in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. Thomas made it to the medal rounds and won the Bronze Medal. Thomas spent the next few years acting as the “millionaire playboy” jet-setting around the world being seen with royalty and Hollywood starlets. Then one day, Thomas was abducted from his hotel room in Tokyo, Japan. The next few years would come to define Thomas Steele.
Abduction & Imprisonment
Thomas was abducted from his hotel room in Tokyo, Japan where he was hooded and transported many miles away to a mountain fortress in a unknown location and held captive among ninja. For the next two years, nearly everyday, Thomas Steele was used as a human practice dummy for Iga Clan Ninja as they practiced taijutsu techniques. Steele was even used as a target and test subject for blunted shuriken and smoke bombs. The shinobi began to call him 'Makiwara' as an insult for his status as a human punching post. Out of pure survival and observation, Steele crafted an eclectic brawling style that he progressively honed against the Iga Clan Ninja. The Iga Clan ninja masters quickly realized that Steele was a valuable training resource for their ninja. Steele bides his time memorizing the compound lay out, guard sentry patterns, and weapon storage locations patiently waiting for the day to escape. Although his captivity was brutal, it was made bearable by frequent visits of Mariko Hara, an Iga Clan Kunoichi who would bring his meals and tend his wounds. Steele would later dicover that it would be Mariko who would intercede on his behalf to prevent the cruelty of other shinobi.
Rescue & Indoctrination
During the fourth year, Steele began to lose hope thinking that he may never have the opportunity to escape. Then one day and without warning, as Steele was being escorted to the main practice area for another day of being a practice target, the compound came under assualt from the Koga Ninja Clan. As the two shinobi clans clashed, Steele sought to escape his guard escort and find cover hoping to use this as an opportunity to escape. When he heard the shouted order to kill him screamed across the courtyard, Steele did his best to defend himself from his shinobi guards. Although he defended himself valiantly, Steele was losing ground dreading that the killing blow was just moments away. Collapsing to the ground, Steele prepared himself for the inevitable. Suddenly, a Koga shinobi engaged Steele's guards killing them. As more shinobi engaged his rescuer, Steele sought free himself from his bonds and escape. Just as he freed himself and was about to escape, his rescuer suffered an injury to his leg. Struggling to fight off four Iga Clan shinobi who surrounded him, the Koga ninja was sure to fall. Steele was momentarily wracked with indecision...do I escape or help him? Picking up a fallen katana, Steele fell upon the Iga ninja killing two instantly and, together with the Koga ninja, killed the others.
Realizing he cannot escape without leaving his rescuer behind, Steele carried the Koga ninja searching for a place of safety. Looking around, Steele decided the only place of safety during the chaos was up into the guard tower. Carrying the injured Koga ninja on his shoulders, Steele traversed the steps to the top of the guard tower. Laying the Koga Ninja down, Steele surveyed the tower and the surrounding chaos. The compound was overrun with small battles happening everywhere. Looking around in the tower, Steele discovered a strung bow and a huge store of arrows. Taking up the bow, Steele began to strike out at the Iga Clan Ninjas from his lofty perch. Many an Iga Clan shinobi fell that day and it was Steele's skill with the bow that turned the tide of the battle into the Koga Clan's favor.
In the aftermath, all of the Iga Clan shinobi in the compound was either captured or killed. As it turned out, Steele's Koga ninja rescuer was the one of the sons of the leader of the Koga Ninja Clan, Kenji Tohei. During the assault on the compound, it was Kenji's assignment to find Steele and abduct him alive out of the compound. It was the Koga's original intent to ransom Steele but because of his actions both in saving Kenji's life and his intercession in the battle against the Iga Clan, Steele was given his freedom and the opportunity to join the Koga Clan. Steele asked the Koga Ninja leader to spare the life of Mariko to which he granted. In gratitude, Mariko swore to serve Steele as his kunoichi retainer.
The Koga shared the whole story of Steele's planned abduction. A large corporate concern hired the Koga Ninja Clan to abduct him to blackmail his father. Due to a recent Ninja War between the Koga and Iga Ninja clans, leadership of the Iga Clan successfully intercepted communications regarding the planned abduction of Thomas Steele and pre-empted the abduction to disgrace their rivals, the Koga Clan. The Koga attempted to ascertain the whereabouts of Steele but where unsuccessful for several years until they had a break that resulted in their raid of the Iga compound. Their investigation also revealed that, although there was no hard evidence, the abduction was facilitated by his own half-brothers. The emotional strain of Thomas Steele's abduction was too much for ailing heart of Remington Steele IV who died of a heart attack soon after. This left the control of Steele Arms to his eldest sons. Remington and Winchester further consolidated their control over Thomas' interest in the company by having him declared dead after three years.
Thomas Steele agreed to stay among the Koga Clan to train, hone his skills, and learn the way of the shinobi. During that time he earned the respect of the Koga Clan and in two years, Steele's earned the right to command a team of shinobi. His new retainers where those ninja whom Steele had saved during the battle against the Iga Clan.
Powers
Blood Archer is a human being with no superhuman powers. However, Blood Arrow has received irezumi [tattoos] from the shinobi horishi [ninja tattoo artists] using mystical inks similarly used by the Tsoo.
Shinobi Sorcery
Although vested with no innate powers, Blood Archer is training under shinobi sorcerers learning rudimentary summoning and illusion spells. Blood Archer has had extensive tattoo work over his body utilizing mystical inks to enhance some of his physical capabilities and grant him limited powers. The mystical tattoos have increased Blood Archer's ability to run and leap distances far above even the most gifted athletes. Furthermore, his sorcery skills now permit him to blend with his surroundings nearly turning invisible and permit him to summon a Japanese Oni to serve him.
Abilities
Blood Archer is a world-class archer and marksman. He is natural athlete and his level of fitness is equivalent to an Olympic-level track and field competitor. His superb reflexes and hand-eye-coordination make him one of the most proficient archers in the world. He is also trained to throw knives, darts, and shuriken. He is a skilled. albiet unconventional unarmed combatant, thanks largely to his time as a captive of the Iga Ninja Clan and, later, the ninjitsu training he received with the Koga Ninja Clan. Blood Archer is a highly capable and charismatic team leader and a shrewd combat strategist. In his secret persona as Thomas Steele, he is a talented weapon designer, particularly relating to traditional weaponry such as bows, arrows, blades and hand-thrown projectiles. He has also designed anti-personnel weaponry like caltrops, glue bombs, and flash grenades. Steele is a shrewd businessman and investor who has significantly increased his trust fund principal many times over.
Personality
Once a millionaire playboy well known for his immaturity and lack of self control, his experiences at the hands of the Iga Clan and his training with the Koga Clan ninjas changed him significantly. Now, Thomas Steele has great self-control and discipline tempered by the impeccable manners that was honed in him by his mother. Nevertheless, Thomas Steele still has not shed his taste for beautiful women and is often found in the company of them.
Thomas Steele also relishes the role of leader and sensei often actively recruiting similarly trained people to either join his firm, Red Arrow Services, Ltd. or to develop third-party consultant relationships to leverage in time of need.
Occupation
Thomas Steele is the Founder and CEO of Red Arrow Services, Ltd. The firm provides unconventional services relating to protection, investigations, surveillance, procurement, and terminations. In most cases, assignments for clients are performed by Steele and his ninja. On ocassion, Steele has employed third-party consultants to provide specialty support as necessary. Red Arrow Services' list of clients span the spectrum of political ideology; from Longbow to Arachnos, Paragon City officials to The Family, captains of industry to everyday citizens.
