Dark Vizir
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| [[Image:|300px|]] | |
| At this time, no one has been able to get a good picture of Black Dawn | |
| Black Dawn | |
| Player: @Red Komodo | |
| Origin: | Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Mastermind |
| Threat Level: | ' |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Unknown |
| Known Aliases: | Unknown |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | Unknown |
| Height: | Unknown |
| Weight: | Unknown |
| Eye Color: | Unknown |
| Hair Color: | Unknown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | United Kingdom |
| Occupation: | Leader of the terrorist group known as the Eclipse Empire |
| Place of Birth: | Presumed to be somewhere near London |
| Base of Operations: | Unknown |
| Marital Status: | Unknown |
| Known Relatives: | Unknown |
| Known Powers | |
| None | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Extreme intellect, mechanical skills, leadership skills | |
| Equipment | |
| See 'Devices Currently in Use' and 'The Black Dawn Costume' | |
| Hates most metahumans, but carries respect for those of Natural or Tech origin. Motives for crime currently unknown. | |
Dark Vizir, while not my first villian, is definately one of my favorites. He is cold, ruthless, and above all, cunning. While his past is shrouded in mystery, obvious inspirations include Professor Moritary (the arch-nemisis of Sherlock Holmes), Darth Vader, and Marvel's Doctor Doom. His attitude towards metahumans is both inspired by and a direct reference to Colonel William Striker from the X-men movies (who in my opinion, is much cooler than the religious zealot he is in the comics. Seriously, there are enough people like that in the real world.)
Contents |
History
Not much is known about the Dark Vizir's past. His true identity has been kept a closely guarded secret from authorities, and even those he trusts within his organization. What is known is that the name is nothing more than the highest rank in the organization, and that his eyes and ears are the Black Dawns.
Before he was the Dark Vizir, he was a Black Dawn. This Dawn, and in essence the Eclipse Empire, appeared in the United Kingdom sometime in 2001, using the chaos of 9/11 and the First Rikti Invasion in order to recruit the first of many soldiers. The group started as a mercenary/assassin group, but quickly escalated to terrorism when they attempted to seized the Globe Theatre and its occupants in order to ransom money from the British government. When peaceful negotiations failed, the group threaten to destroy the entire theatre, and only the quick reaction of the remaining members of the Dawn Patrol prevented the bomb placed under the stage from going off. The group went down to low-key crimes afterwards, raising money and gaining troops for their private army. It was then that Black Dawn made himself known as the leader, often appearing in public in his trademark costume, heavily protected by his own band of troops, and narrowly avoiding capture several times by local heroes. This continued until 2007, when the heroes considered the Eclipse Empire to be no longer much of a threat. That's when Dawn put his most cunning plan to date into action.
One by one, men in his organization took the places of members of the British Parliment in a coup that lasted almost the entire year. Eventually, almost every chair in Parliment other than the Prime Minister was a loyal (or blackmailed) member of the Eclipse Empire. Luckily, a telepathic hero caught on to his plan, and alerted the authorities, most of whom Black Dawn didn't bother dealing with in his arrogance. The men in office were swiftly arrested, although Black Dawn himself managed to escape. In a rare loss of self-control, Dawn then ordered most of his men to attack Buckingham Palace, but due to his own disorganization and the Dawn Patrol, his troops didn't make it past the front gates. Afterwards, Dawn and his remaining men fled the United Kingdom, and headed to the Rogue Isles.
Redently, he has taken over leadership of the Eclipse Empire as the Dark Vizir through unknown means. His current plans are unknown, but he has, after much prodding and near-captures, agreed to offer his services to Black Scorpion. While this would seem to be an admission of defeat to most, those who know the Vizir are suspicious about this move, especially considering Black Scorpion's low intelligence and history of manipulation.
Personality
Dark Vizir's personality is almost as mysterious as he is. He is strangely polite to the point of being alien, hinting at a proper upbringing, but that doesn't stop him from being totally heartless when it comes to fufilling his objectives. He has been known to murder people who defy him or stand in his way, is not above using blackmail to get people to obey him, and even using hostages and his own unwilling lower-ranked soldiers as decoys of himself and higher ranking members of his group. While he is usually level-headed and confident in his abilities, he doesn't often underestimate his enemies, and easily makes allies when it benefits him. Sometimes, however, he loses his cool and ends up sending mass amounts of his troops on suicide missions. The Dark Vizir has an extreme prejudice against metahumans, especially mutants and those who get their powers by altering their DNA, due to the fact that they seem to have vast powers that they didn't work to achieve in most cases, and as such seem to waste that ability instead of using it to rule over lesser beings. For this reason, he doesn't see or treat them as humans. Psychologists who have reviewed the Vizir's criminal profile have determined that he is a classical psychopath and sociopath, even though he tries not to show it. Due to his unique view on metahumans, some have also determined that he has a secret jealousy of them. Black Dawn calls these people idiots, and simply states he wishes to prove that he doesn't need superhuman abilities to become powerful.
Soldiers and Recruitment Methods
The Dark Vizir is not new to recruitment. He chooses who will join his organization carefully, often spying on potential minions for about a week before attempting to recruit them. He first attempts to recruit them by persuasion alone. If that doesn't work, he tries to hire them, usually offering different fees depending on the potential soldier's preferances. If this fails, he resorts to his most sinister form of persuasion: blackmail, usually in the form of death threats towards the target's friends and family. He has recruited not only fresh troops, but has caused soldiers from organizations like the Sky Raiders, Blackwater (before and after its scandal), Goldbrickers, Nemisis, Malta, and even Arachnos to defect to him, usually acquiring technology from the organization in question as well. He sometimes even replaces these missing troops with loyal spies from his own organization, allowing him to keep tabs on almost all the groups in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. His methods of training involve rigorous exercises that teach soldiers spec ops and infiltration, meta-human combat, and programs that instill loyalty, ferocity, and courage into his troops. As an added incentive for loyalty, he usually offers his troops luxuries and privilages that most other groups refuse, like satellite TV, recreational activities, and even allowing some soldiers to get romantically involved with each other... which he can later use as blackmail material, should the need to arise. A very strict requirement for recruitment is that new members are 100% human, but he is willing to overlook cybernetic implants or certian types of spellcasters, especially considering the heroes he's now going up against.
Devices Currently in Use
These are the devices that the Dark Vizir and his men have been known to use. There are most likely more that are not documented here.
- Malta Power Sapper - Blueprints of the feared Malta Power Sapper has gotten into the hands of the Eclipse Empire, and is standard equipment amongst the Empire's higher-ranking soldiers. This makes them very deadly, even to the strongest super-human.
- Eclipse Rifle - An heavily-upgraded version of the Orestes Rifle developed by Malta, this weapon is one-of-a-kind at this point, and is the weapon of choice for the Vizir himself. It can function as a normal gun and as its designed purpose... disable mystical powers, specifically those granted by the Well of Furies.
- Smoke Grenades - Developed by Arachnos, the Vizir hs modifed the smoke to be longer lasting and to be much thicker. He usually only uses this for quick escapes.
- Mobile Combat Shield Generator - A mobile force field generator made for combat, it protects those that have a specific beacon on their person. The Vizir usually distributes these beacons among his men, and ones with limited battery power to whatever villians he might be working with at the time.
- Seeker Drones - Small floating circular saw-like drones that home in on any moving object not tagged by the same beacons that work for the MCSG.
- Trip Mines - Basically, the name says it all. Again, it does not trip if the person is wearing the special beacon.
- Hologram Projector - Used by the Vizir to command his troops from afar, scout areas before he goes into them, or talk to people he doesn't entirely trust, these mobile projectors uplink to his helmet, allowing the Dark Vizir to see, speak, and hear from long distances.
- Teleporter - A handheld machine that the Vizir can use to teleport after a set charge time. This teleporter is still a prototype, and as such is only keyed to a few locations. As such, he only uses it to escape from a dangerous situation or get to his 'flagged' locations quickly.
- Quin-Jet Jump Pack - A jump pack built by the Vizir for personal long-distance travel or a quick escape/chase. It has a limited power supply, so he can't use it continuously.
- Raptor Pack - Used when the jump pack isn't fast enough, this is easily acquired technology, and thus not notable except for the fact that the Vizir currently has no other way to get around quickly.
- Trip Mines - These mines are used by the Vizir for their intended purpose: traps and ambushes. He also uses a few for security at some points
- Detonator - Perhaps one of his cruelest inventions, the Vizir has most of his lower-ranking recruits strap bombs disguised as bulletproof vests to themselves. In cases of hesitance or other instances where a soldier makes him angry, he uses them as a suicide bomber to destroy his enemies or provide a distraction.
- Scorpion Shield - A modified version of the personal shield Black Scorpion gives to his charges, it is designed to repel most attacks. Prone to shorting out.
- Hypnosis Ray - A design reportedly reverse-engineered from technology used by a Paragon hero he fought, the Dark Vizir has built it directly into his goggles. For most cases, he has programmed instant commands such as 'fear me' and 'do not attack'. However, in cases where he can focus long enough while it's active, he can hypnotize people to do his bidding. He is reluctant to use this feature, however, as he considers it 'cheating'.
The Dark Vizir Costume
The Dark Vizir's suit is for the most part tailored by the Vizir, for the Vizir, and is the perfect stealth and combat suit. This suit's apperence is meant to intimidate adversaries, but the real marvels are on the inside. First of all, the suit is full-body and airtight, not only preventing the Vizir from leaving any DNA and fingerprint evidence at crime scenes, but also prevents him from emmiting an aura or odor of any kind, even to metahumans with super senses. It is rumored that the suit would allow him to survive for long periods of time in conditions that would usually kill a normal human, being able to supply food, water, and air to him. In any case, the entire suit is surprisingly durable, able to withstand extreme heat, cold, highly acidic conditions, and impacts from meta-humans with super strength. The helmet has not been studied much, as no Vizir has been captured alive, but it is shown to attach to the rest of the suit independantly. While the helmet itself is a relic passed down from Vizir to Vizir, each new Vizir has added their own upgrades to it, and as such it is the most advanced part of the suit, and nearly indestructable. The built-in visor have a HUD, complete with targeting systems, and a hypnosis ray directly built in (see above). The mouthpiece is almost completely closed off, being a combination rebreather/voice synthesizer. Despite this, the Vizir can still drink while wearing it, although eating is a problem.
Trivia
- Despite his confidence, the Dark Vizir is extremely paranoid. Whether his paranoia is justified or not is more of a personal opinion than fact.
- Dawn's theme song (if you like those sort of things) is 'Gasoline' by Kicking Harold
