False Terror
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| The Astonishing False Terror! | |
| False Terror | |
| Player: Not Rhino | |
| Origin: | Mutant |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Controller |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Jack Foster |
| Known Aliases: | FT |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 26 |
| Height: | 5'11 |
| Weight: | 178 lbs |
| Eye Color: | Brown |
| Hair Color: | Black |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Undaunted Founding Member |
| Place of Birth: | Paragon City, RI |
| Base of Operations: | Undaunted Guild Hall |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | None |
| Known Powers | |
| Telepathy, Telepathic Visions, Mind Manipulation, Invisibility, Telekinesis, Flight, Healing | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Able to motivate others, First Degree Black Belt in Karate | |
| Equipment | |
| Crey Cryo Pistol, Various Teleportation Devices | |
| Flight, Defense and Armor Toggle done via telekinesis. Empathy healing is mostly pain soothing via illusion, though he is capable of actually healing wounds. | |
Contents |
Personality
Despite his intensely introverted nature and dubious upbringing, False Terror has become something of a smart alec with his team mates. He is concise and sarcastic; not exactly a no-nonsense type of person, but certainly the type that will not tolerate pettiness or rivalries among his teammates. His enemies know only the cold, dark man they see shortly before being trapped in their own minds, while his friends know him as a kind, good-humored man, and he tries his best to separate the two extremes, so that the criminals continue fearing him while simultaneously not alienating his teammates.
Character History
Born in Paragon City, Jack Foster developed his mutant powers from a young age. As a child he was inadvertently trapping other children, as well as his parents, inside their own illusions. Because of his inability to control his powers, he was taken from his family and, after a series of government deals, wound up in a laboratory being studied by the Crey. The stress left him broken, and at just 9 years of age he developed an entire world all his own, full of his own illusions. Constantly drifting back and forth between the two worlds, he deceived himself into believing he was blind in the real world; a subconscious reaction to the despicable tests being performed on him, as well as a way of turning his illusionary world into a crutch. After years of neglect and abuse, knowing his illusions as his only friends, he was finally freed by Synapse during a raid on a Crey laboratory. Now age 15, he was placed into a special foster home designed for mutants who had suffered indignities due to their powers. It was there that he learned to leave his world of illusion behind and began to develop social skills.
Becoming a Hero
Jack found it difficult to join the real world, and believing himself to be blind didn't help matters. His limited social skills, self-imposed impairment, negative attitude and self-pity alienated most of those that he grew close to. At the age of 21, he found himself so distraught that he tried to take his own life by leaping out the window of his 12th story apartment in Steel Canyon. As he fell, however, a natural instinct took over: self preservation. His latent telekinetic abilities kicked in and he stopped himself from falling just inches from the ground. He was flying! Shortly after, his inability to control himself caused him to hit the pavement with a thud. As he sat up and dusted his bruised body off, fully prepared to try again, he noticed a woman calling for help as a group of Outcasts, a gang of troubled mutants like himself, attempted to rob her at fireball-point. Almost instinctually, he reacted to save the woman. As he confronted the Outcasts, they threatened him with the fireball. As if by instinct, he cast an illusion into the Outcast's mind, causing him to throw the fireball at his own fellow Outcasts, giving the woman time to flee.
This experience allowed him to see his full potential as a Hero, and finding a city in need, he decided to register himself under a name that he felt reflected his abilities: False Terror. Terror, obviously, because his primary ability was to use fear against his enemies so as to leave them helpless; False, because of the illusory nature of his powers; he was adamant that he was not out to physically maim his enemies, but rather, to cripple them mentally just long enough to place them under custody, feeling it was more humane than savagely beating them. The name also had another meaning; to those who preyed upon the innocent, the terror was quite real, and he wanted them to be afraid; but those who were innocent had nothing to fear from him. The name False Terror was intended to reflect that sentiment.
By registering as a Hero, he found both purpose and friends among his fellow Heroes.
Earning the Title
Becoming a Hero was a long, dangerous road. Jack realized quickly that his powers would not lend themselves to a persona of valor or heroism, but rather one of fear. One of the first powers he mastered was the ability to change his appearance at will by creating an illusion around himself. In doing so, he was able to take whatever form he wanted. He began his career by imprinting the image of a winged demon upon the minds of common street thugs, often scaring them into simply running away from the crimes they were committing. He did this all under the guise of common street wear, and most of the victims never even knew he was the one responsible for saving them. Believing himself blind, he learned to sense others by their brain waves.
As he came into contact with more and more resistant foes, such as The Damned or the Bone Daddies, he found his tactics not as frightening as they were to the lesser enemies. These gang bosses were hardened street veterans, and were not easily frightened. Jack found that he would need to continue developing his abilities if he was going to continue fighting crime in the face of such dangerous opponents. He donned an appearance more familiar; something frightening to criminals, but respected by citizens: the costume of a Hero. Garbed in black, his abilities grew and he learned to alter the world around his opponents entirely. Furthermore, he learned that his illusions could affect far more than just the two senses of sight and sound; they could, in fact, affect all of the senses, including touch. Because of this, he was able to inflict pain upon his opponents, and soothe the pain of his allies.
As his powers continued to develop, he began facing tougher enemies. He helped Lt. Wincott root out the Trolls and Outcasts in The Hollows, even going so far as to hunt down the leader of the Outcasts, Frostfire, and put him in custody. Bruised and battered from his contact with criminals, Shortly after this time, he joined forces with Cryotenacity to clean up the streets of Steel Canyon, Talos Island and Brickstown. In doing so, the two grew as Heroes. When offered a role in a newly formed government-funded department known as The Echelon, False Terror joined and became a key figure in the group's early history. It was while part of this group that he grew the most, learning to project more dangerous and corporeal illusions, as well as becoming a powerful Empath. During his time with the Echelon, he confronted his past, and freed himself from his self-imposed handicap, using his eyes to see once more. In doing so, he finally threw down a heavy burden that he had been carrying for many years.
As The Echelon began to fall apart, False Terror found himself unaffiliated once again. Continuing his work with Heroes like Cryotenacity and Pink Awesome, he eventually joined The Silver Guard. While part of the Silver Guard, False Terror expanded his horizons, traveling to new dimensions and combatting new threats, such as the Praetorians.
His place within The Silver Guard left him frustrated, as he felt his skills were underutilized, and he never formed any real bonds with his fellow Guardsmen. After a few short months he decided to take his leave from the Silver Guard.
Having reached his full potential as a telepath, he now sought to increase the potency of his telekinetic abilities. Though he had earlier mastered using his telekinetic ability to propel himself in flight, he now sought to use it in new ways. Through intense focus and concentration, he found he was able to project a telekinetic field that he could use to protect himself from harm, and when overwhelmed with enemies he found too difficult to control, he could use this telekinetic force in the form of a powerful burst to keep them in check long enough to refocus his efforts on manipulating them. In mastering his telekinetic abilities, False Terror found that the corporeal nature of such abilities was slightly reflected in his abilities of illusion. This discovery was staggering, as it meant that the things he was capable of projecting upon his opponents were not entirely illusory in nature, and that he was capable of, with powerful concentration, making his illusions "real", to an extent, or rather, real enough to step over the boundary of what is real and what is illusion. This boundary is what prevented him from healing wounds and creating powerful allies, and now, this boundary had been blurred. Through intense concentration, False Terror discovered he was capable of actually affecting reality rather than just his enemies' perceptions of reality, as he had previously believed. By doing so, he is capable of physically healing wounds and physically harming enemies, though he has rarely used this ability because of the intense strain it places on him and the intense focus it requires.
Dauntless in his pursuit of justice, False Terror's experiences had left him at the pique of Heroism; there was very little left for other Heroes to teach him, and he now began setting his sights on the new generation in hopes of becoming a mentor. Over the next few months, his adventures with Pink Awesome made headlines as he taught the new Hero the ropes the hard way; by preventing Rikti invasions.
Soon after forming cautious, temporary alliances with Heroes like Pink Awesome and Hammerstorm, False Terror would always find himself on his own once again, fighting the good fight on his own terms. He remained that way for almost a year, but soon enough everything would change.
The Undaunted
While sleeping one day in his apartment in Steel Canyon, Jack experienced a painful assault on his senses as a powerful telepathic vision came to him in his dreams. He was awakened by the sound of screaming in his head as Steel Canyon College was nearly destroyed by an intense battle raging on the campus. He immediately shifted appearance into the familiar False Terror and flew out his window as fast as he could to the campus. As he arrived, he discovered who he thought to be Statesman fighting off a group of extra-dimensional entities that were quickly overcoming him. Leaping into the fray to assist the veteran Hero, False Terror helped him fight the enemies back. Unwittingly scanning his mind, False Terror discovered that the man he assumed was Statesman was actually not Statesman. He immediately turned his attention on him and began questioning him, believing that he was perhaps an alternate dimension Statesman; namely, Tyrant. The man revealed himself to be Patriot of Paragon, an alternate version of Statesman from Earth 231.
As False Terror questioned him, the Canadian Loonie showed up and, seeing what appeared to be False Terror battling against someone who looked similar to Statesman, he also assumed the worst and began attacking Patriot of Paragon. Confusion erupted as the hordes of enemies continued to attack, and soon Pink Awesome and Earth Protector were on the scene. Quickly learning of his error, False Terror and the rest of the Heroes began to fight alongside Patriot to defeat the entities. Whether by sensing the disturbance or the presence of Loki in Pink Awesome, Hammerstorm, the embodiment of Thor, showed up and lent a hand as well.
After defeating their enemies, the Heroes joined Patriot of Paragon as False Terror led him to the safety of his apartment, hoping to conceal him before the media arrived so that they could sort out the confusion. Earth Protector opted to stay behind, saying he would stall the media, perhaps trying to seem valiant, though probably inspired moreso by his willingness to take credit for stopping the attack. Patriot explained his situation, that those entities were pawns of a powerful being that had come to destroy his planet and that he thought he was sacrificing himself by destroying a Portal Corp Portal so as to create a powerful shockwave that would destroy the entity. He explained that his effort was successful, but that it had an unintended consequence; the portal's destruction spawned an unstable portal that sucked him and the pawns of the entity into it shortly after the shockwave went off. It just so happens that the portal he destroyed was the portal that led to our Earth, and without it existing, there was no stable way for him to return to his home dimension. Patriot, who had been significantly weakened to the point of nearly dying by the immense burst of energy released by the shockwave, explained that his primary goal was to find a way back. In awe of the sacrifice Patriot was willing to make, False Terror and the others agreed to help him, and officially registered themselves as a Super Group in order to do so. Brought together by coincidence, these Heroes now have reason to stay together as allies. Galvanized in their pursuit of justice and resolute in their goal of helping this foreign Statesman return home, they are The Undaunted.
Abilities/Powers
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- Telepathy, His most primal mutant ability is that of telepathy. He is a very powerful telepath that is capable of probing the minds of others.
- Telepathic Visions, He is capable of sensing faraway disturbances using his telepathy. This ability first manifested as he slept, and continues to do so. While sleeping he receives visions of what is happening in his dreams, and he can use this ability if he concentrates while awake.
- Mind Manipulation, His most feared and perhaps most potent ability is that of controlling the minds of his enemies. He draws his namesake from this ability, as it his his most frequently used ability in the prevention of crime. He can overcome the senses of most beings and project sights, sounds, tastes, fellings and smells upon them. He can use this in many ways, including trapping his enemies and leaving them helpless, making them believe their allies are their enemies, and making them believe they are being badly injured. Perhaps lesser known is his ability to use this ability on his allies in order to soothe their pains and assuage their fears.
- Shape Shifting, By projecting an illusion upon himself he is able to take whichever form he wishes. Often mistaken for mimicry, this is in fact a complex illusion that allows him to perfectly mimic whatever he wants, so long as those that see it are not able to overcome his illusion projection. He uses this ability in a variety of ways, including manifesting a costume and making himself completely invisible.
- Telekinesis, False Terror is able to use telekinesis to create kinetic fields around himself and others. He is able to use this ability to fly as well as to create a powerful field around himself that repels incoming attacks.
- Reality Alteration, After experimenting with telekinesis, False Terror began to realize that his powers are not confined to the realm of the mind, but that he is capable of truly altering reality. Through intense concentration he is able to alter reality in a variety of ways, including causing physical harm to his enemies, creating powerful beings that can cause real damage to enemies, and healing the wounds of his allies. He is able to do this by concentrating intensely and doing the same thing he would normally do to cause these things to happen in the minds of those he is affecting. Causing them to actually happen is a very stressful and draining experience, and is normally not done unless there is dire need.
Physical Skills
- False Terror has worked hard to keep up with fellow Heroes who had the luxury of superhuman adrenaline. He has trained himself with intense cardiovascular regimens to become a workhorse, and as such, he has a level of stamina that exceeds that of ordinary humans. He is also stronger and faster than the average human, but no where near meta-human levels.
Vulnerabilities/Weaknesses
Easily caught off guard when focusing on specific targets, he can be beaten by any conventional means. His telekinetic shielding is strong but does not make him invulnerable, it can be overcome and he can be killed. Though his mind is extremely powerful, his telekinetic shielding does not protect him from mental attacks. He is susceptible to them but highly resistant because of his powerful telepathic abilities. Due to his heightened ESP, he is extremely susceptible to attacks that specifically target telepaths.
Friends and Foes
Allies
The Undaunted
Pink Awesome
Cryotenacity
Patriot of Paragon
Costume and Attire
To be added.
Contact Creator
- In-game: @Not Rhino
- User:Omake
- CoH official forums: Ceros
Trivia
- Despite his upbringing and appearance, False Terror is not in fact emo.
- The creator reads some comics from time to time but doesn't have the time to read avidly. Likes to read limited series and one shots, usually stuff from DC. Some favorite heroes include Superman, Spiderman, Batman, Booster Gold, Blue Beetle (Ted Kord)
