Cherish Sanchez
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Cherish, as Arana De La Sombra | |
| Cherish | |
| Player: @Deathspider | |
| Origin: | Mutant |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Scrapper |
| Security Level: | 45 (MA), 50 (DM) |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Cherish Sanchez |
| Known Aliases: | None |
| Species: | Human (Mutant - half-synthetic, half Human-spider hybrid) |
| Age: | Approximately 20 |
| Height: | 5'9" |
| Weight: | 168lbs |
| Eye Color: | Black |
| Hair Color: | White |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American (White-Mexican-Asian) |
| Occupation: | Former freedom fighter, Licensed Super Hero, college student. |
| Place of Birth: | Unknown, but assumed to be the ruins of Paragon City |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City, Rhode Island |
| Marital Status: | Singe |
| Known Relatives: | Brenda Sanchez (Mother), Deathspider (Father), Belle (Step Mother) |
| Known Powers | |
| Pheromone Generation, Superhuman Speed, Altered Physiology. | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Wall Crawling, Increased Strength | |
| Equipment | |
| No special equipment | |
| No additional information available. | |
Cherish Sanchez is a character in the City of Heroes MMORPG. She is something of a homage to Battle Angel Alita, and Spider-Girl.
Contents |
Personality
Cherish, for a person coming from a horribly bleak and brutal future, is suprisingly cheerful and kind. She is a very loving and caring individual, however, has a particularly harsh sense of justice, and is prone to letting slip some of the more horrific details of her home dimension, usually resulting in awkward silences. She is confused by a lot of things in our time, and this usually leads to amusing faux pas. She is best described as two people in one body - one part of her is still a cheerful, loving little girl, while the other is an efficient, coldly methodical and brutal warrior. Usually, it can be a jarring sight to see her in pigtails, hefting an automatic rifle and gunning down Freakshow or Council.
Biography
Real Name: Cherish Sanchez
Known Aliases: Arana De La Sombra
Identity: Cherish's existence is not known to the general populace of Earth
Occupation: College Student/Licensed Super-Hero
Citizenship: U.S. Citizen
Place of Birth: Unidentified location in North America
Base of Operations: King's Row, Paragon City, Rhode Island
Known Relatives: Miguel Sanchez (Father in an alternate future, Deathspider, Mio Matsuda (Mother in an alternate future, Battle Girl Mio), Eleanor Alcott Sanchez (Step-mother, also known as Belle)
Group Affiliation: Guardian Angels
Former Affiliations: Hazard Guard, Superbabes
Powers
Cherish's powers come from her genetic inheritance from her parents, Deathspider (She gained his wall-crawling powers, as well as his super human reflexes and reaction time), and her mother (Her Machine Telepathy powers, strength, endurance, flight, and altered physiology). Recently, there have been profound changes in her powers and abilities, mostly negative due to an unforeseen reaction to radioactive material - in addition to a devastating cellular degenerative disease inflicted upon her, she also lost a great deal of her former abilities. Swift medical attention saved her life, but not her powers. She now is attempting to start again, concentrating on other aspects of her powers, and discovering new ones (such as her pheromone generation as an offensive and defensive asset).
Wall Crawling
Cherish can cling to most surfaces by her fingertips and toes, via small talons. She can use her adhesion ability not only to cling to vertical and horizontal surfaces, but actually use it in combat to grapple with opponents, and possibly use the ability to cause massive tissue damage by clinging to the opponent’s skin and pulling away, ripping away the surface she was adhering to.
Increased Strength
Cherish has higher than average strength – she can lift up to 2 tons (4000 pounds). In addition, Cherish's leg muscles are highly developed, allowing her to leap up to distances of 340 yards at a time, and able to leap directly up roughly 12 stories into the air.
Machine Telepathy
Cherish had shown the ability to detect and decipher data transmissions, similar to how telepaths detect surface thoughts. For example, if someone was sending a text message on their cellular phone, Cherish was able to detect and understand the message as the signal passes by her general direction. The range for this ability seems to be within a 100 yard radius. This ability extended to any sort of radio transmission, i.e. satellite transmissions, radio, cellular, wireless internet, etc. Cherish had also shown the ability to operate computers and other higher forms of electronic devices by thought alone. This ability was considerable shorter in range, up to 5 feet.
Cherish has since lost this ability, due to her synthetic DNA cellular structure degenerating - this was an ability inherited from her mother, and has since been lost.
Superhuman Reflexes
Cherish has a highly developed central nervous system, thanks in part to her father’s superhuman reflexes and her mother’s synthetic biology. She is capable of dodging a variety of projectile attacks, and her reflexes give her a considerable edge in hand to hand combat.
Pheromone Generation
Cherish now naturally produces a variety of pheromones that change function and effects depending on the situation and mood, much like her father, Deathspider, although not to his degree of ability. Normally, in combat, she produces a debilitating chemical that can produce blurred vision and cause significant neural dysfunctions that can severely hamper her opponent’s accuracy in melee combat. Prolonged exposure to the scent can result in ocular hemorrhages, nerve damage, and psychosomatic effects of various sorts, usually related to the scent the target perceives. She has also produced an attraction pheromone which usually affects the opposite sex. Instead of an ‘objective’ scent, the actual scent is dependent on the target, since the neurotransmitters Cherish produces are subjectively experienced, and will manifest themselves depending on what the target associates the situation with, then a particular scent will become evident. For example, in combat, the target might experience the scent as the smell of gunpowder, blood, sweat and adrenaline, burning ozone, and the like. Likewise, in social, friendly, or romantic situations, people in the vicinity may detect a pleasing scent that they associate with such events.
This is a new found ability for Cherish, and she is discovering how to utilize it.
Altered Physiology
While not possessing superhuman strength, Cherish was capable of inflicting grievous wounds to opponents in combat. Her fingers were capable, when directed at the proper angle, to puncture up to 3 inches of solid steel, which lent itself to her martial arts techniques with deadly effectiveness. In addition, her preternatural speed and reflexes allowed her to perform kicking techniques at higher velocities, thus inflicting massive damage. Her body, again not superhumanly resistant to damage, was hardier and able to absorb the massive shock her combat style sent through her body.
Cherish had seemingly lost a large percentage of her combat effectiveness, and is, in essence, learning new techniques since she cannot rely on her old fighting style anymore. Even if she had her old reaction times and speed, if she attempted one of her high velocity kicks, she would shatter every bone in her leg from the force of impact. Instead, she now relies on her strength and speed, delivering several high impact strikes with her fists.
Flight
Cherish had the ability to fly through unknown means. She gained this ability after a battle in the Terra Volta reactor core. She believed it is a mutation of the zero point energy her body produces in infinitismally small amounts, but this is open to conjecture. Regardless, Cherish has recently lost this ability, with a host of other powers.
Paraphernalia
Cherish, in her own timeline, used several different styles of firearms and projectile weapons. In 2006, she occasionally used weaponry picked up from dead or defeated opponents. She would often wrench a rifle away from an opponent, shoot them with it, and use it in combat until it was depleted of ammunition, then used it as a melee weapon until it shattered, then going back to using her feet and fists.
Skills and Knowledge Base
Cherish Sanchez benefits from her genetic origins, but also from, literally, being trained from birth to survive and thrive in an insanely hostile environment by the surviving members of the Hazard Guard. She is an accomplished survivalist, capable of operating in a variety of conditions including radioactive zones, bio-hazard zones, and hostile urban areas, courtesy of many years traveling with her appointed guardian. She is a trained marksman, specializing in rifles and assault weaponry, as well as their care and maintenance. Her ‘computer telepathy’ lent itself well to a variety of technological talents, learned from other members of the Guard. Although Cherish no longer is able to telepathically link with machines, she is still quite computer savvy. Cherish is also trained in Kyokushinin karate, Aikido, Tae Kwon Do, and a variety of techniques culled from other martial arts disciplines, training under her parents.
Character History
It is 2092. The world is dead.
The landscape is a mixture of radiation poisoned earth, ruined shells of cities, and large swaths of vegetation run amok as the gargantuan Children of Hamidon roam the earth, devouring all in it’s path, leaving intelligent, malevolent plant life in their path.
There are some survivors of the Final War. Freakshow Tribes lurk in the Wastelands, preying on survivor caravans, searching for technology and raw materials to extend their cybernetic lives. Nemesis Automatons lurk in the ruins, at war with anyone foolish enough to disturb them as they go about their macbre mockery of the routine of human life. Some descendants of the Council and their robotic minions live underneath the cracked and dead earth, at war with seemingly everybody that’s left.
There are humans left, living in fallout complexes or ekeing out an existence in the Wastelands, constantly under attack by the scavengers and marauders, but living on the brink of extinction has exacted a heavy toll – between their enemies and the dangers of mutation and insanity, they are brutally pragmatic, unafraid to turn their weapons on strangers if they represent even the slightest threat to the survival of the clan.
The dominant species, of course, are the Children of Hamidon. Much larger than their ancestor, they are unstoppable forces of twisted, perverted nature. In their wake, they leave large tracts of mutant vegetation that kill any humanoid that dares enter their confines as they go about their task of terraforming the ruined Earth.
Still, some Heroes remain.
What happened?
Quite simply, Hamidon got smart.
It had become something of a routine for a horde of Heroes to descend into the Hive and attempt to destroy Hamidon, sometimes on a daily basis thanks to Hamidon’s incredible regenerative abilities.
But as the months wore on… it began to learn. To anticipate. And it got stronger. Smarter.
Until one day, it killed every hero that descended upon it. That day changed everything. The next day, Statesman personally led hundreds of heroes, along with the Freedom Phalanx and many other prominent hero teams…
And they all die.
Hamidon’s retribution is terrible, his wrath all-encompassing. Constantly being defeated, only to regenerate and be nearly killed every single day, it had adapted, evolved, into most powerful organism on the planet. The heroes were devoured, their energies adding to Hamidon’s strength.
It broke through the War Walls, into Eden, where it met the second wave of attackers. The battle was brutal. Power signatures were visible from space. With the armies of The Devoured Earth at its disposal, the Heroes were worn down, their strength ebbing as the battle raged for hours… then days… The fifth morning of the battle, the last hero, Positron, was absorbed into the Hamidon.
The last line of defense lay in Founder’s Falls, the civilian population evacuated as the military and Longbow set up their positions and their war machines. The few remaining heroes awaited the arrival of the scourge, knowing that their friends and loved ones now were part of the Enemy. Still, their resolve was admirable.
Their efforts were futile.
Day Seven saw the Hamidon swarming through Steel Canyon, it’s protoplasmic form cascading through the streets, the gigantic rock monsters its guards against any last survivors. There was no organized resistance. That night, the first nuclear bombardment of Paragon City began. The radiation was something it was quite capable of withstanding… and using the essences of the Heroes it had absorbed, was able to thrive. It grew stronger, larger. Soon, it surged beyond the confines of Paragon City, ready to feed on the terrified population of Rhode Island and beyond. Continued bombardments had no effect save to stimulate further evolution inside the monster.
By Day Twelve, most of the Eastern Seaboard was a radioactive wasteland, with the legions of the Devoured Earth arrogantly striding over the land, much to the horror of the rest of the world. If the Heroes were gone, who would stop Hamidon?
Day Fifteen, Lord Recluse answered. After a lengthy bombardment of chemical and biological weaponry, the Lord of the Rogue Isles took a massive contingent of villains, looking to dispose of the beast, or bring it under his control. His forces fared no better, those that were able to retreat bore horrific injuries… the others were devoured and absorbed.
Day Twenty, the Hamidon surged over the Mississipi River. It’s massive form was miles wide, utterly unstoppable. That was when the President made his decision. It would prove to be the world’s undoing. At 10:45pm Central Time on September 1st, the United States launched its entire salvo of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons on the Hamidon. The assault did its job admirably. Weakening the creature’s defenses with the chemical and biological weapons, the hydrogen bombs destroyed Hamidon… and released the pent up energies of thousand upon thousands of living creatures, and the superhumans it had absorbed. The result?
The earth suffered a cataclysmic extinction level event. The oceans surged, the surface of the earth buckled and strained and shifted, toppling cities over the globe. The skies were filled with debris and ash, superheated steam. Psionic energies surged over the earth, if not killing people outright, it drove billions insane, triggering more nuclear detonations, mass suicides…
Hell on Earth.
By Day Ninety, 95% of the world’s human population was dead or dying. The survivors clung to a tenuous existence, alone, terrified, in the aftermath.
Their children, and their children’s children would learn later that parts of the Hamidon survived the explosion. The irradiated, sentient Children of Hamidon began to grow and communicate. The humans had chosen to abandon their world, they reasoned. It was thiers now, and they would transform as they saw fit.
Cherish
Cherish was born in the year 2072, in an alternate future where the Hamidon had evolved and destroyed much of humanity in a massive conflict. Her parents, the modern day Heroes Deathspider and Battle Girl Mio, along with the rest of the super team, the Hazard Guard, had disappeared in a Portal, to another dimension, when this conflict occurred. The massive psychic assault had driven the Portal Corp researchers monitoring the team in an alternate dimension had been driven insane by the Hamidon, and as such, the team was flung far into the future. As they emerged into the post-apocalyptic wasteland of thier former home, they began to despair... but life goes on, and so did the Hazard Guard. The team began rescuing survivors and refugees from roving bands of maruaders and psychopaths, quickly establishing themselves as one of the few super humans still alive on Earth, and eventually becoming something of a roving army in the wastes. It was into this world Cherish was born.
Raised among superhumans, fighting and surviving, Cherish learned from an early age how to defend herself and cultivate her mutant powers, often wandering the wastes with her protector, Vhailor. As she came of age, her parents decided that this world was no place for thier daughter to live, and under the pretext of sending her back in time to prevent this horrible future from happening, they reactivated a Portal and sent her back to our time for her own protection.
Arriving in late 2006, Cherish was in shock at the world that was. It was months before she made contact with her parents, and her sudden arrival into her parent's lives added strain to an already teneous relationship, and by the end of the year, her parents parted ways and found other lovers, and Cherish struck off on her own, angry and bitter at herself and her parents, for they were not the people she knew growing up - they had not endured and matured through the struggles of her dark future, and as such, they were completely different. That disparity was hard for the girl to take.
Eventually her and her father reconciled, and Cherish resides in King's Row, in her father's old apartment, building a life for herself in this strange new (old) world, closely monitoring the Hamidon, going to college, and occasionally venturing out to exercise her birthright - that of a Hero.
Recently, Cherish suffered a massive loss of power and ability when long-term exposure to a radioactive element caused the synthetically synthesized DNA that was part of her being to effectively become scrambled and mutated. Although medical treatment was soon provided, saving her life, she discovered that, for the first time in this world, she couldn't hear the clamor of electronic signals. She was slower, weaker - the treatment that saved her life cost her the abilities that enabled her to fight crime.
Humbled and alone, Cherish is currently adjusting to her new status quo, testing her limits and living life as a (somewhat) normal person. Finding a friend and lover in a teammate, Psychist, Cherish is finally appearing to have a fufilling existence in the present day.
