Catalyze
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Catalyze, sans helmet, doing what she does best. | |
| Catalyze | |
| Player: @Tir McDohl | |
| Origin: | Technology |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Controller |
| Security Level: | 22 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Catherine Lucas |
| Known Aliases: | ' |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 20 |
| Height: | ' |
| Weight: | ' |
| Eye Color: | Grey-blue |
| Hair Color: | Black |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Student and lab assistant |
| Place of Birth: | Paragon City |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | ' |
| Known Powers | |
| Suit controls radiation to the extent that it weakens, strengthens, or even encases others in ice. | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Highly adept with technology, with the ability to use, repair, and even make mild alterations to most machines. | |
| Equipment | |
| Power suit, which has a multitude of built-in features. | |
| While she built her suit, it was using what appears to be alien technology. As such, she doesn't fully understand it, but can make repairs and improvements to it. | |
Inspired by various characters in gaming, Catalyze was a somewhat vague concept. Her inspirations include Gordan Freeman and Melissa China(from Zak McKracken; bonus points to anyone who actually played that) with various original elements thrown in to help support the playstyle concept.
Contents |
Origin
An above average intellect had Catherine Lucas on a path to become a successful scientist in Paragon City. With no mutant augmentations or life-changing insect bites, Catherine found herself pushed to the limits of academic ability in class after class of superhuman students. Despite her exceptional skills and knowledge, she constantly found herself at a severe disadvantage, giving her a slight self esteem problem that persists even today.
In the middle of her college years, she was working as a lab assistant in a project that hoped to develop a new energy program that would launch the world into a new age. Instead, something inexplicably went wrong. Every failsafe failed, every dangerous reaction that wasn't supposed to be possible suddenly happened, and a nuclear disaster seemed unavoidable.
Instead, Catherine awoke to find the entire lab intact and no one injured. The lead scientist was the only team member not accounted for. In his stead, however, was a letter.
Suit and Abilities
Within the letter, specifically addressed to Catherine, was a lengthy handwritten set of instructions for the construction of a power suit. Not fully understanding the concepts behind the strange instructions, construction was slow. Eventually, however, it became clear that it was within her ability to complete it. The suit itself is considered to be alien technology unlike any found so far. It is also not inherently more or less advanced than other civilizations' offerings.
Radiation Control
The most obvious ability of the powersuit is its control of radiation. Specifically, the suit can draw in thermal radiation from almost any object, convert it into other types of energy, and project it in harmful or beneficial ways. This ability often draws comparisons to Positron's own antimatter suit, but Cat is quick to explain the differences. It is not nearly as strong as most radiation users, but it is extremely safe.
Ice Control
Early in her experiments, Cat discovered that the suit was capable of drawing the right amounts of energy from around an object that extremely hard ice would form around it. This is often used to hinder or completely immobilize enemies. Oddly, this side effect seems to be far more powerful than the main effect. It is also potentially highly dangerous, since it wouldn't take much error to cause severe crippling damage to extremeties. As a result, she is careful to never attempt to cause actual harm using this process, but instead tries to simply hinder enemies while someone else handles the actual "arrest."
Personality
Cat is a naturally quiet person. At no point did it ever occur to her, even living in Paragon City, that she would ever consider fighting crime. While her ability in science and technology is remarkable, she seems extremely unsure of her abilities, and often aims low.
Hero Personality
Quite content to stay in the background and subtly help her superpowered allies, she often feels guilty about not being able to do more. She is extremely incapable of fighting crime on her own and is forced to almost exclusively rely on others. In spite of her timid nature, she inexplicably made her true identity public knowledge.
Private Personality
Not a party girl by any standards, Cat leads an incredibly boring life when not fighting crime. For reasons unknown, Cat seems to be a popular target for tabloids. As such, there are incredibly bizzare rumors surrounding her interests. One such rumor is her taste in music, which reportedly, at first listen, appears to be techno, but it seems to be of a very bizzare nature that no one has yet identified. One unidentified source cited, "It sounds like what people thought the music of the future would sound like 20 years ago. Even the song titles didn't make any sense. What the hell does 'Inda Glop Oda Krell' even mean, anyway?" Tabloid stories about her always take a turn for the absolutely bizzare, including one story which claimed she had left the planet for Spring Break.
She is a notorious neat freak, with a reputation for immediately cleaning possessions of hers that anyone else has touched.
Trivia
- Drawing on a number of inspirations, the least known is possibly the one that most heavily influences her personality. Melissa China, from Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders(awesome game, by the way), is a bit of a neat freak and almost a buzzkill when compared to her wild friend, Leslie Bennet.
- The name Catalyze originally had roots in some science process that I found on Google while looking for something that used both radiation and ice. Since I hardly remember(let alone understand) it, the "science" of the suit was dumbed down to what it is now.
