Gray Gryphon
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Gray Gryphon | |
| Player: @TakelGryph | |
| Origin: | Science |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Blaster |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Victor Hayward |
| Known Aliases: | None |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 30 |
| Height: | 6'4" (1.93m) |
| Weight: | 227lb (103kg) |
| Eye Color: | Gray |
| Hair Color: | Black |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Staff Researcher, Portal Corp. |
| Place of Birth: | Royal Oak, Michigan |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City, Rhode Island |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Nate Hayward (father), Melissa Hayward (mother), Pete Hayward (brother) |
| Known Powers | |
| Pyrokinesis, chronokinesis, flight | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Doctorate (transdimensional physics) | |
| Equipment | |
| AERIE (Advanced Engagement, Reconnaissance, and Interception Exosuit) Power Armor | |
| No additional information available. | |
Contents |
Origin Story
The poet Delmore Schwartz once wrote that "time is the fire in which we burn". For Dr. Victor Hayward, that line is somewhat more literal.
A Portal Corporation researcher, Victor had invented what he believed to be a safer way to explore alternate realities: the Dimensional Tether, a safeguard that would immediately "yank" a traveler back to their home reality if imperiled. One day, Victor went to a known safe dimension, Lambda Mu 31-11, to test the recall process. Unfortunately, an improperly tested software update caused Victor to be sent to what can only be called "somewhere else".
By the time the Tether brought Victor home, three alternate timelines had gotten twisted around his own: one where he was a priest of an avian deity long forgotten on Primal Earth, one where he was a pyrokinetic mutant, and one where he was an agent for a clandestine organization that used time itself as a weapon. And he had not been pulled away from those timelines cleanly.
Victor Hayward had become the Gray Gryphon.
Behind the Beak
Dr. Victor Hayward is still on the Portal Corporation payroll. Even before his identity became public record (a condition of his Freedom Phalanx reserve membership), his employers were aware that Victor and the Gray Gryphon are one and the same; due to the fact that Portal Corporation regularly seeks out superhuman assistance, a blinding protocol has been implemented for any formal requests in order to avoid any appearance of bias. (This protocol doesn't apply to requests made by individual employees or researchers, as opposed to Portal Corporation as an entity.)
Victor is capable of transforming back and forth between his "human" form and his Gray Gryphon form at will, although when not in the latter form he cannot access any of his powers.
AERIE
On occasion, Victor will don a suit of powered armor he calls the AERIE (Advanced Engagement, Reconnaissance, and Interception Exosuit) armor. It serves as a testbed for technology designed by a "friend of a friend": Evan Goldbach, the Golden Guardsman. In addition to providing additional protection, it adds a targeting overlay for his powers and contains an onboard AI. However, it's very uncomfortable to wear for prolonged periods, and tends to interact poorly with certain aspects of his time-manipulation powers; as a result, he typically only wears it when absolutely necessary.
Unsorted Trivia
Thanks to a jointly-published paper with Dr. Wanda Sims, Victor has an Erdös number of 3. The paper in question outlined an algorithm that allowed for a quicker search pattern for alternate dimensions to which a stable portal could be created.
The avian deity that Victor's alternate self served has had its name "erased from the memory of all who live" on Primal Earth. Even if he were told the name, he would not recognize or remember it for more than an instant at most. While AIs or ghosts might be capable of remembering the name, this is not something Victor has yet been able to test.
Despite having full knowledge that his alternate self was a literal priest, Victor considers himself an alatrist: entities powerful enough to count as gods clearly exist, but he sees no reason to worship them and finds the very category of "god" to be arbitrary at best.
Victor earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan, and his doctorate at UC Berkeley. While at the former, a group of engineering students blew out a transformer when trying to turn a potato gun into a railgun. The event has since become a staple of the unofficial "please remember that safety mechanisms exist for a reason" speeches given to students that the faculty think might become future superheroes or supervillains.
Victor is estranged from his parents, although he refuses to comment on the circumstances beyond statements along the lines of "they're assholes, and I've made my peace with the fact".
