Doc Williamson
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
Contents |
Character Information
History
Early life and studies
Elaine Williamson was born in Burlington, Vermont, the son of Mirna (b. LeFebvre) and Raymond Williamson, a local restaurateur.
She studied exobiology in college but majored in Applied Meta-Physics at the University of Vermont (UVM) where she received her bachelor's degree in 1992. She received an Sc.D. from Columbia University in 1998, worked as a research assistant for the J.M. Rutherford College of Meta-Physical Sciences for 3 years, then joined the staff of the Pandora Project as one of their senior research scientists.
The Pandora Project and Enora
As a research scientist for the Pandora Project, Elaine's area of expertise was 'the physics of metaphysical manifestations' (i.e. magic).
When the Project's headquarters was attacked during Paragon City's 'Power Crash', she was fatally wounded by an explosion in the lab where she was hiding. Bleeding profusely and trying to get to safety, her hand brushed against the spilled content of a yet-to-be-cataloged crate she had just received from M.A.G.I. She heard a voice inside her head asking if she wanted to live, to which she simply answered 'yes'. 'Very well, then', the voice said, and she was transformed into a white-skinned, red-eyed, winged female humanoid. Her wounds were gone and she was able to escape the burning building thanks to the fire-manipulating powers that humanoid possessed.
At first, Elaine believed that her body had been transformed into another form, but she soon discovered that 'Enora' was the name of a separate entity that had somehow merged with her dying body. Only one of the two could exist in the Material Plane at one time; when Enora was in control, Elaine's psyche receded into some kind of fugue-like state: she could exert only minimal influence on what Enora (now inhabiting her body) did or said, and it took a tremendous mental effort to forcibly return to her body.
Fennec Enterprises
While the time that Enora and Elaine spent on the Material Plane was at first more or less equal, as time went by Elaine had to exert more and more willpower to effect the change. Fearing that Enora might succeed in taking complete control of her body she sought the help of Kiera Ovelia Devros, a member of Fennec Enterprises.
After a series of violent outbreaks on Enora's part and fearful of bringing harm to her newfound allies, Elaine left Paragon City for an undisclosed location where she tricked Enora into believing she was committing suicide (going so far as having a recovery team resuscitate her after she was considered clinically dead). Unwilling to be saddled with a corpse, Enora severed her bond with Elaine and left her for dead.
The Return of Enora
After this traumatic experience, Elaine tried to rebuild her life with her new allies: she accompanied the rest of Fennec Enterprises to a few missions and participated in their social activities. But she was soon plagued by nightmares where she was still Enora, bounded and taunted by the succubus' Netherworld rivals.
According to Sahael al-Tanim (an ally of Fennec Enterprises), Enora "has disincorporated from this plane of existence. Demonic energy cannot be destroyed. It can be scattered, it can be banished. But it cannot be destroyed". This means there's a possibility that she will return - but it could take centuries.
Personality
Elaine Williamson is a tall (6'0') woman of slender build, who looks to be in her 30s even if she's in her mid-40s. She is fairly easy-going despite the years being joined to a demoness. She is quick-witted but not acerbic, with a tendency to ramble on when the conversation turns to her specialty (metaphysics). She is willing to give most everyone the benefit of the doubt - except Enora: she had a rather dim view of the succubus, calling her a "monster" and expressing the opinion that she was "past redemption".
She sees herself as somewhat of a prude, which contrasted with Enora's wanton mores. She prefers practical, mundane clothing but would often "wake up" (i.e. regain control) dressed in whatever extravagant or even indecent attire Enora had chosen.
During the years she was joined with Enora, she developed self-taught expertise on self-hypnosis and relaxation techniques. She tried the 'primal scream' technique once... and burned down the low-rent hotel she was staying at the time. She stuck to meditation after that.
She lists Asimov, Heinlein, Zelazny, Byrne, Waid, and Robinson amongst her favorite authors, and she likes red wine (especially Vermont's "Big Barn" and "Riverbend") and Sam Adams beer.
She learned some French during the summers she spent as a teenager at her parents' summer home near Lake Champlain.
Abilities
Her main area of expertise is in discovering the physical foundation of magical effects and phenomena; among others, applications would be the interfacing of technological components and magical artifacts. For example, she was able to adapt Oranbegan power crystals to power a Rune Soldier Rifle (with a red crystal) and a Force Field projector (with a green crystal).
As a consequence of the link she shared with Enora, and with the succubus having been dispatched, Elaine "inherited" the full extent of Enora's powers and abilities, including flight, fire manipulation, and limited invisibility. She has demonstrated so far greater control over them than Enora did, possibly due to Elaine's more rational, less emotional character.
She can channel superheated quasi-plasma from an other-dimensional source. It appears as red-orange "flames" but is, in fact, more heat than fire. She can use those "flames" in a variety of offensive and defensive manners, and can unconsciously control whom they affect, causing them to target opponents while leaving allies unharmed. She can also use her "flames" to heal herself to some extent - in theory, any intense source of heat would do as well.
Her body and mind have been altered to accommodate those new abilities: she can sense magical beings or objects with metaphysical properties, ex. protective incantation on books and she did not seem to physically age between the time of the incident at the Pandora Project and the day she severed her bond with Enora (possibly as a side-effect of her peculiar relationship with the succubus).
She has little skills in hand-to-hand combat but is a crack shot (1st place in UVM's Sharpshooting Tournament 3 years running).
Equipment
In the field, she wears a specially-made environmental suit (fire-resistant and acid-resistant, it also helps regulate the wearer's body temperature) and goggles (to help tone down the glare from her flames). Her suit's belt has pouches that house various tools and pieces of equipment that she may need during a mission.
Her field uniform and several other outfits are stored within the "Carvalo's Bracelet of Many Things" she wears on her right wrist. It is an artifact using a minor translocation spell to store items (in this case, pieces of clothing). All she needs to change her outfit is to concentrate and touch one of the many charms on the bracelet. Elaine mentioned she acquired this artifact as part of her training.
One of the 'perks' of being joined to Enora was that she had to sign most of her fortune to Elaine to access it. After centuries of hoarding valuables, Enora's fortune was considerable. Elaine has several bank accounts as well as several "caches" scattered all over Paragon City and the Rogue Isles. This is how she can afford a suite at the Republican, one of Paragon City's swankiest hotels ((headcanon)).
While not in uniform, she wears reading glasses.
Thesaurus
Doc Williamson is prone to ramble about some obscure but possibly related study or item during missions ((these are all made-up...)):
- Adaptive knowledge
- - Previously unknown information is revealed by a bound entity on a "need to know" basis.
- Aetheric pulse wave
- - Most magical items and beings emit this type of measurable energy.
- Baddeley Scale
- - something to do with the long-term memory of preternaturally long-lived entities.
- Bio-Aetheral Scanner
- - A large medical equipment used to take detailed scans of souls. Useful to determine if possession is real, or a psychological condition, or just plain fakery. Based on [Kirlian] techniques.
- Carvalo's Bracelet of Many Things
- - An artifact using a minor translocation spell to store items (usually clothing). Elaine acquired one as part of her training.
- Daemonicus Yarva
- - A book used in an article on Dr. Czernin.
- Esotericus Yabbanis
- - Another book
- Exo-Metamorphs
- - Pseudo-scientific jargon for 'Kheldians'
- Fantosi's Lecture
- - a 13th-century text about the way previously unknown knowledge can resurface during some religious experience.
- Freeling's theorem
- - (More or less) "Getting rid of the object of a ghost's fixation might be a way to break it out of its current state."
- Herschel's drawings
- - Warding images, similar to Xeden's tattoos
- Ignis Arcanum
- - the arcane artifact on loan from M.A.G.I. to the Pandora Project on which Dr. Williamson was working at the time of the attack which resulted in her merging with Enora the Succubus. Probably where Enora had been imprisoned. The item was lost after the attack, and it has not resurfaced yet.
- Kanigher's research on sundered spirits
- - A study related to the article on Dr. Czernin.
- Kreskin charts
- - ((no idea...))
- Landaumer's Probability Index
- - ((no idea...))
- Lansing's database of demon classification
- - All we know is that Class 4 (proto-demon) and Class 9 exists.
- Local Tale of Mahir El-Sabah, 1572
- - The first recorded exchange between demons and humans
- Locario's Third (or Fourth, at least) paradigm
- - "Some meta-abilities or manifestations occur after the initial event."
- Maclean's hypothesis
- - "Ghosts are energy-based "mirror images" of people that previously existed, replaying the same pattern of actions over and over. Only when a human presence intersect those pattern than the ghost see a disruption and focus on it."
- Morgenstein's papers on ectoplasmic entities
- - A study related to the article on Dr. Czernin.
- Morlay's paradox
- - One of a seemingly-infinite number of paradoxes dealing with time travel...
- Polymorphic re-agents and aetheric level meters
- - Two suggested security measures for Fennec Enterprises HQ.
- Prague Gestaltz Incident of 1896
- - A large creature made of rats was rumored to be seen in Prague in 1896.
- Renfeld's Attunement
- - hitherto unknown inherited magical abilities often stay dormant until a specific trigger event.
- Rotger's Celestial Entreaties
- - scholarly text about, amongst other subjects, celestial politics.
- Transformative possession
- - Type of possession where the body of the possessed undergo some kind of transformation. A known case occurred in Hamburg in 1957.
- Yarva Demonicus Enora
- - A chant used by Elaine to resist Enora...
