Empathica
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| Amanda off duty ready to relax at the D | |
| Empathica | |
| Player: @BurntHeart | |
| Origin: | Mutant |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Defender |
| Security Level: | 41 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Amanda Waterford |
| Known Aliases: | Empie, Mandy |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 27 |
| Height: | 5' 8" |
| Weight: | 120lbs |
| Eye Color: | Hazel |
| Hair Color: | Green (dyed) |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American/Japanese mix |
| Occupation: | Licensed Super Hero, part time teacher at PRIME |
| Place of Birth: | Tokoyo, Japan |
| Base of Operations: | Kings Row, Paragon City |
| Marital Status: | Engaged |
| Known Relatives: | Hisoka Li Waterford(mother) and Harold James Waterford (father) |
| Known Powers | |
| Psichic blast, Empathy | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Telepath, Empath, Telekinetic | |
| Equipment | |
| None | |
| No additional information available. | |
Empathica is @BurntHeart's first and only attempt at a healer. She was initially inspired by Jean Grey of the X-Men and Diana Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation, specifically the uselessness of her empathic abilities. Empie was meant as a bit of a joke and would comment on things like, "I can feel the anger from that group rushing at us!" in missions. She quickly became much fun to play and started to develop a character of her own of a slightly out of place rich girl trying to be a hero. From that personality trait typical RP questions arose, where'd she come from, how's she rich, where are her parents, why'd she come to Paragon?
Answering those questions has been a slow development for this character into someone who's past and motivations have been fleshed out over time and turning her into someone I thoroughly enjoy playing with and RPing with.
Contents |
Affiliations
Supergroup: The Phoenix Force
Former Supergroups: Guardian Angels Reborn (Disbanded by order of Paragon City Council)
Personality
Empie's personality is brash and generally open, except when it comes to talking about her family. When the topic of her family comes up, she is usually vague and dismissive except around her closest friends.
Living in the shadow of her mother, Ethereal Jade, is something Empathica has struggled to break free from, which is why she avoids discussing her family history. She came to Paragon City to get away from her mother's influence and make her own way as a hero. Since comeing to Paragon everything she has done has been about proving she could make her own way without relying on her mother's name or reputation. This strong sense of self reliance has manifested in a rebellious streak in Empathica a mile wide.
She is flirtacious by nature and not afraid to express her own opinions and has been known to rush first into battle when working missions with team mates. Her rebelliousness is tempered by her empathic link with those she works with, which causes her to feel other's pain and injuries, which can distract her fighting.
Powers
Empathica is a mutant who manifested her powers at the age of 14. Her powers are all psi based, initially beginning with empathic abilities (sensing the feelings of those around her), then developed into telekinetic abilities (the ability to move objects with her mind), then true telepathy emerged (abiity to read the thoughts of others and send her own thoughts to others), and finally her mutation has manifested what are called "Psychic Flames."
Empathic Abilities
The first of Empathica's psi powers to manifest is her empathic abilities. She is able to sense the feelings of others, emotionally as well as physically. In practical use, the ability to sense another's emotions is not terribly helpful, as most people's emotions are easy to read by simply body language, but it has proven helpful in determining when someone is lying to her or not.
The most practical use of her empathic abilities comes in her ability to sense physical distress or injury. Her training as a doctor prior to being a hero allows her to diagnos a team mates injuries mentally and her familiarity with anatomy lets her begin the process of healing them using her telekinetic abilities to repair physical damage or her telepathic abilities to stimulate portions of the brain needed to speed up a persons own natural healing abilities.
Telekinesis
Empathica's ability to move objects with her mind has many uses beyond the healing options it provides. She is also able to telekinetically shove an attacker several yards away, sending them hurling through the air. She is able to lift herself off the ground, hovering in place or propelling herself forward at nearly 60 MPH. Empathica is also able to focus her mind and lash out, telekinetically, creating a swirling votox of air around an enemy, tossing him or her into the air, as well as anyone around them. She calls this little trick her "Psychic Tornado."
Telepathy
Empathica's telepathic abilities only began to surface after her arrival in Paragon City and followed her regular use of her other psi talents in her work as a hero. She is able to read the minds of others, scanning either surface thoughts or probing deeper into someone's mind to uncover hidden or forgotten thoughts and or memories. She is even able to delve into the subconscious of another's mind and project a psi version of herself into what she refers to as the "mentalscape" of another's subconsious.
The use of her telepathic powers is extremely draining on her mentally and is generally only done in extreme situations where there is simply no other options left. She normally only enters the mind of someone willingly and only when invited, there have been rare occassions; however, when she has been asked by team mates to force her way into a villain's mind to attempt to retrieve vital information. This is extremely distastful for Empathica as an unwilling mind is an extremely hostile environment.
Secondary to her ability to read minds, Empathica also has the ability to project her own thoughts into another's mind, sending messages and information, as well as transmitting what she sees while in someone else's "mentalscape". Projecting thoughts is much easier on her, as she does not have to enter another mind and is used often as means of quick and efficent communication with those she knows. Sending and recieving messages with others who have psi talents is also less taxing as it is only the thoughts that are being exchanges and the emotional experience of being in another's mind is avoided.
Psychic Flames
Shortly after reaching Security Clearance level 30, Amanda began to manifest a pink glow in her eyes, that would remain for some time after using her psi abilities. Over the next few weeks this glow lasted longer and longer and became pink flames erupting from her eyes when she used her powers, fading to the previous glow, which eventually stopped going away altogether.
Working with Sister Psyche, Antoni Nash from GIFT, and Azura of MAGI, it was determined that Amanda was manifest a rare psi phenomenon known as "Psychic Flames". Amanda was told these flames would intensify and eventually get to the point that her whole body would be engulfed by the heatless flames when she used her powers for extended periods of time.
These Psyhic Flames give her greater control over her psi talents, focusing her mind and body to work as one and add more power to her abilities. When her body erupts in the full burn of the Psychic Flames her abilities are at their strongest and the flames burn a bright white-pink, fading only when she's stopped using her powers.
The bright pink flames that pour from her eyes are a regular feature now, when she's using her powers normally and when not using her powers at all her eyes fade to a pink glow, but the glow never fades to her normal eyes now.
Character History
Amanda Waterford initially came to Paragon City to get out from under the shadow of her mother, Ethereal Jade and make a name for herself. She started out young and naive and since developed into a strong, determined, and formitable hero.
Family History
Amanda's father, Harold James Waterford is a typical American who worked for a time within the political system of the USA. He was appointed US Ambassador to Japan for a time where he met a fledgling Japanese heroin named Hisoka Li, but called herself Ethereal Jade. The two fell in love and married. Harold moved to Japan to allow Hisoka to continue her work protecting Tokyo as the mentalist Ethereal Jade. Harold worked as a consultant attached to the US embassy for several years and maintained his ties to the US political system. The couple had two children, Amanda and Audrey.
As Amanda grew older, her mother's fame in Japan grew, as a premire hero for the city of Toyko. Amanda's own mutation, which she inherited from her mother, manifested at age 14 and seemed to be a lesser version of her mother's own mental powers. Hisoka was disappointed on her daughter's empathic talents, but attempted to train her in the use of psionic ablities nonetheless, focusing mostly on blocking psi attacks and creating barriers for her own mind.
When Amanda went to college and decided she wanted to study to become a doctor or a psychiatrist, Hisoka was thrilled, as these were noble professions to make up for her view of her daughters inability to become a hero. Amanda studied hard in medical school, which was where her telekinetic abilities first began to manifest.
Rikti War
As Amanda was nearing the end of medical school and trying to decide if she wanted to specialize in internal medicine or psychiatry, the Rikti arrived in giagantic saucers over every major city in the world, including Tokyo.
When the war broke out, Ethereal Jade was fighting on the front lines with all the other Japanese heroes trying to protect their island nation. Harold with his ties to the US government still intact was involved in several efforts to coordinate international groups of heroes to work under the larger Supergroups operating internationally. Amanda, at a lose for what to do voluntered her medical skills at emergency field clinics set up behind the front lines. She worked tirelessly through the war and relied more and more on her empathic and telekinetic abilities to save countless lives in the makeshift operating rooms and trauma centers. She finally understood why her mother loved being a hero so much.
At the end of the war, Amanda announced she was quitting medical school and going to devote herself to learning to use her powers more and would follow in her mother's footsteps as a hero. Hisoka was not pleased with this decision, Harold; however, supported Amanda's decision, as he was invited to begin his own work on the ground floor of the fledgling organization known as The Vanguard.
In the year that followed the war, Amanda worked hard at fine tuning her abilities and specialized in healing. During this time her mother, determined she would not have a daughter become a "secondary support" style hero, attempted to direct Amanda in other directions, including introducing her to a young Japanese man named Azumi Chi.
Amanda and Azumi dated for several months and then Azumi shocked Amanda and her family by proposing to her. Amanda had fallen in love with him and accepted happily. The couple began planning their wedding, but as the plans began to move forward Amanda noticed he was spending more and more time with her parents.
Eventually the entire wedding came to a crashing halt when Azumi propositioned Harold and Hisoka for a deal with his father's company which manufactured weapons. He was hoping a marriage between himself and Amanda would result in Harold using his political influence to secure a manufacturing contract for his father's company and the US and wanted Hisoka to act as a public spokesperson for the company. He had only begun dating Amanda and proposed to her to put himself in a position to access her parents.
Amanda's parents were horrified at Azumi's behavior and Amanda called the wedding off immediately. She spent the next few weeks isolated in her room, avoiding contact with everyone. Her embarassement and shame came to an end with a decision. She announced to her family that she was moving to the States, specifically to Paragon City to train as a hero there and distance herself from her family and their fame.
Hisoka begged Amanda to allow her to make contact with members of the Freedom Phalnex to secure a spot for her on Miss Liberty's team, The Vindicators, or even within the organization of Freedom Corps. Harold offered to contact officers of The Vanguard in the Paragon offices to help her get settled and offer her guidance and support. Amanda refused all these offers, pointing out that her experience with Azumi taught her a valuable lesson. Anyone who knew who her family was presented a potential risk and she wanted no connections with her family to follow her to Paragon City. If she was going to make it as a hero it would be on her own and on her own terms.
Beginning in Paragon
After coming to Paragon Amanda made friends with another new hero named High G, a fellow mutant with the power to manipulate gravity and siphon kinetic energies from objects and people around him. Amanda and High G worked on several missions for GIFT together, but while investigating a sewer in Kings Row, High G disappeared. Amanda was encouraged by Antonio Nash to contact The Guardian Angels Reborn, a group based in The Row, for help in tracking down High G.
Amanda quickly became entangled in a plot which involved the disappearance of several mutant heroes in the sewers and working with GAR discovered a Lost mastermind known as The Preacher Man was behind the kidnappings. Preacher Man managed to kidnap Brimstone Bobby during the investigation and Amanda worked closely with GAR in trying to retrieve him and the other missing mutants.
Bobby was found, after Preacher Man had transformed into a horribly mutated Rikti version of his old self. The group had discovered Preacher Man's plans to turn a group of kidnapped mutant heroes into an army of Rikti soldiers under his command. The plot was foiled and Bobby was returned to his normal self, but at a cost, High G's mutated Rikti form had gone to far to save him and he was killed during the battle.
Time as an Angel
After the Preacher Man incident, GAR officially welcomed Empathica as a full member of the group. Her mother, Ethereal Jade, was not pleased as GAR had a reputation of skating a thin line between hero and vigilante. During her time with GAR, Empathica was involved in several adventures including a kidnapping at the hands of an ancient Eygptian diety, Suphet and a coma brought on by contact with Spirit of Stone's mind and subsequent attack on her psychic form by the werewolf that was hidden in his mentalscape that Stone himself was not even aware of. She was also savagely attacked by a horribly mutated being from an alternate dimension and had one of her eyes sliced out of her head by these creature. The eye was later magically replaced by Suphet during her kidnapping as he was infatuated with her and aimed to make her his queen.
During these trails, Empathica grew into a stronger and more determined person, standing on her own against all manner of evil, never calling to her parents for aid. She learned to rely and count on her team mates in Paragon and grew well beyond her prior status as a poor little rich girl.
During GAR's defense of Perez Park against forces of alternate Rikti from another dimension than the typical Rikti are from, Empathica was in command of one of the four units sent in by GAR and their allies to cause a distraction and allow their strick team to enter the portal the alternate Rikti's home dimension. Her leadership of her team seemed to come natural to her and marked the first time she had taken on the role of leader for a team, a role she learned to grow into.
Life with The Phoenix Force
After City Hall disbanded GAR for their work with known villains during the alternate Rikti crisis, Amanda along with several other members of the former GAR joined forces with The Phoenix Force. Phoenix Force had been a small tight knit group at the time with strong ties to many GAR members, so the fit seemed only natural.
Initial growing pains and meshing together of the two teams resulted in The Phoenix Force being organized in three layers; The Wings, The Flames, and The Talons. The Wings would be the more public face for the group, while The Talons would focus on covert operations out of the public eye. The Flames, the branch that Empathica joined, would focus on investigation. During the restucturing of the group it was decided that leaders needed to be choosen for each branch of the group and Empathica was elected leader of The Flames.
Once the membership settled into their own nieches, leadership for any of the particular branches was minimal, as most of the members of the group were established heroes already and needed little direction or supervision. This evolution for the group, freed Amanda to pursue other areas of interest to her.
Beginning of a Romance
Prior to the disbanding of The Guardian Angels Reborn (GAR), Empathica was involved in the rescue/resurection of Brimstone Bobby, who at the time had melded with a Kheldian Warshade and was known as Blackstar Bobby. Bobby had appearently been killed by the return of his arch nemisis The Lost abherant called The Preacher Man. He had, in fact, been trapped in an energy state. This energy was detected by The Council and tracked down and retrieved. Bobby was then reconstituted by Dr. Jerrico of The Council for their own nepharious purposes. Full story:Glimmers and Motes
During this rescue of Bobby, Empathica had to enter his mind to try to find out what had been done to him and restore his memories. While in Bobby's mentalscape, Amanda discovered his strong romantic feelings for her. Once his memories and mind were restored to him, the two began to date.
After the disolution of GAR the, Bobby and Amanda found themselves on yet another adventure linking their lives together even further. A message from an alternate dimension brought the two of them face to face with an alternate reality in which they had married and had twins, a son and daughter. In this reality these twins where in danger of being sacrificed by Bobby's sister, Dark December. The rescue of the twins and subsequent relocation of them in this dimension added a new level of complication to their relationship, as they were now parents of their alternate dimension's children. Full story: There are worlds other than this
Thanksgiving of 2006 brought with it further changes and deepening of the relationship between Empathica and Brimstone Bobby as he proposed to her over Thanksgiving dinner at the PRIME school. Full story:Thanksgiving in Paragon
Now engaged the two are currently making plans for their wedding and attempting to raise their children from an alternate dimension until the time comes to return them to their original home.
