HEROID
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Man or Robot? | |
| HEROID | |
| Player: @Heroid | |
| Origin: | Technology/Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Tank |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Roy Kirby |
| Known Aliases: | Thunder Wonder, Lord of Chaos |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 40-something |
| Height: | (Robot form)8' (Human form)7' 1" |
| Weight: | (Robot form) 900+ lbs. (Human form) 300 lbs. |
| Eye Color: | Hazel |
| Hair Color: | Brown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Security guard |
| Place of Birth: | Georgia, USA |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City |
| Marital Status: | Married with children |
| Known Relatives: | Ma and Pa Kirby, wife Peggy, children Ben, Ace and Alice |
| Known Powers | |
| Invulnerability, Superstrength | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Limited shape shifting | |
| Equipment | |
| Confidential | |
| No additional information available. | |
Is he the creation of technology or magic? And what is he really? Man? Machine? Or something else entirely?
Contents |
Affiliations
Roy "HEROID" Kirby is one of the Main Guys in the Other Guys, a low-key supergroup based in King's Row, where he shares leadership responsibilities with Steel Butterfly and Clobber-Girl. He's also employed by Maggie's Rock in security.
Personality
"I ain't th' most deloquent speaker in th' city. But when I say somethin', even if I don't mean it, I do. I'm a 'live an' let live' kinda guy. If ya wanna live like ya live, it don't make no nevermind with me, so long as ya don't try ta git me involved. Then I'm a don't 'piss me off' kinda guy. If yer a friend o' mine, yer a friend o' mine. If yer a enemy, then yer a enemy. 'Cept a couple times I met Dreck at a bar in Indy Port. We got along real good fer a few minutes when th' Fam'ly come in an' tried to lean on th' bar owner. Too bad he ain't a good guy -- 'r I ain't a bad guy."
Powers
HEROID, in robot form has incredible strength and invulnerability. In human form, Roy Kirby still has strength far above normal but is nowhere near indestructible. He does operate in his human form, sometimes carrying a magic sword from Lost Lemuria.
Primary Set
The HEROID titanium-alloy body makes him nearly indestructible. The power jewel in his chest allows him almost limitless power with which he can generate a very localized force field which augments his metal body.
Secondary Set
Designed for extreme environment rescues, the HEROID body has incredible strength. He is able to lift several tons and can withstand extreme pressures. His legs are designed to allow him to jump great distances.
Abilities
Roy Kirby is a shape-shifter. This power was granted to him by the magics of Ireland Love and Shae Firewarder, and by the unique properties of his power crystal. He is able to change from robot form to human form, and Shae Firewarder has suggested that he may have even greater abilities.
Weaknesses and Limitations
Roy Kirby has been targeted by the Lords of Order and Chaos to someday become the Lord of Chaos, Destroyer, spinner of the cosmic Wheel of Destruction. As such, the Lords are constantly meddling in his life, usually through their agent, the Bringer of Dreams.
While extremely strong, HEROID is nowhere near as strong and powerful as Ascendant, whom Roys considers "more'n strong! He's damn near allimpotent!"
Crey Industries has developed a small device which looks like a black box that can be used to "shut down" Roy when he's in the HEROID body.
Roy also has a weakness for alcohol, and is prone to very unwise behavior when drunk. He has some indiscretions in his past that may come back to haunt him.
Equipment
As HEROID, Roy Kirby eschews the use of weapons, preferring his own abilities. However, in human form, he often brandishes a magic broadsword.
Character History
Roy Kirby was born Benjamin Percival Kirby in Georgia, USA. He quit high school to follow his uncle to work for Crey Industries Mining Division. He travelled the world with Crey and attained the twenty years required for his retirement with full benefits, but enjoyed the work so much that he put off retirement.
Early in 2004 a mining accident changed his life forever.
A cave-in trapped several of Ben Kirby's co-workers and an experimental robot was brought in to rescue them, and Ben was chosen to pilot it...
(From Ghost in the Machine) A buzz like the biggest beehive he had ever imagined filled his ears. But it wasn't his ears was it? It was audio receptors. The buzz ended just as the the lights came on and he could see. He looked around the room and realized that the color perception on the video processors was a bit off. The technicians' clothes were all pale pink instead of laboratory white. He looked down at his own limp body lying in the coffin-like "pilot seat". He looked dead. For the first time since agreeing to do this, Ben wondered if he had made a mistake.
A fleshy fist banged on his back and he spun around. Mike, the mine supervisor.
"Ben! You've got to get going! They don't have much longer!"
Ben took a few steps toward the opening bay door. The Hazardous Environment Rescue Operation Intuitive Drone -- HEROID -- moved with him, not like his own body would, but close enough. A feeling of exhilaration replaced the doubt he felt before. This equipment was different from any drill or land mover he had operated before. It wasn't like operating the machine, but rather that he and the machine were one.
Two-hundred feet ahead, smoke billowed from the mine entrance. Fifteen men were still down there. Fifteen of his friends. He put his mind to the task at hand and rushed into the roiling darkness...
After the successful rescue...
Loose dirt and soot was caked on him. His body was still too hot to touch and sizzled and steamed when the techs started hosing him off. Doctors worked with the rescued men and Ben watched them through the clouds of steam. Waiting ambulances drove away with sirens blasting, leaving only the billowing smoke and the firetrucks to show that deadly disaster had been narrowly averted.
Only the smoke, the firetrucks, and him.
The techs were checking out every system, having him lift his arms and stand on one foot to check his balance and movement. They held up colored cards and said, "What color do you see?" but he told them that the video processor had not been quite right from the get-go. They played a range of frequencies and volumes of sound to check the audio processor. They asked him his name. His place of birth. His mother's maiden name. Every system, including his mind, was functioning perfectly.
"This thing worked great! It's a dream!" he told them as they worked. "Now, when do you get me out of it and revive me?"
The techs stopped their work. They all looked up into his optical receptors, then looked down and away. No one answered him.
Something had gone wrong with the process, and Ben Kirby was trapped in the robot body. Crey Industries assured him they would find a way to return him to his body, and in the meantime, they sat him up as a hero in Paragon City to be a "goodwill ambassador" for the company to the many heroes of the city.
After several weeks of hero work, HEROID and another superhero, Purple Nebula, were investigating Dr. Vahzilok when they found Kirby's body among other bodies that Vahzilok was experimenting on. Devastated that Crey Industries had lied, Kirby turned his back on the company. He entered a dark period of depression as he faced a lifetime of being imprisoned in a robot body.
Purple Nebula had taken tissue samples from his dead body and used them to have a clone created. The clone was supposed to be a "blank", without its own sentience, but when Kirby's "soul" was being transferred into the clone, he realized that there was already a "soul" there. Kirby shared his memories with this "soul" and allowed the clone to assume the identity of Benjamin Percival Kirby. This kept Kirby's parents from finding out that their real son had "died".
After this, Kirby -- now going only by the name, HEROID, tried several times to destroy himself, only to find that it was nearly impossible. Only his feelings for Ireland Love kept him from persisting in his suicide attempts.
It was Ireland Love who insisted that "HEROID" was not a proper name for a human being and game him the name, "Roy" Kirby. Ireland Love would not give up on his quest to have his humanity restored, and soon she, Shae Firewarder, and Purple Nebula combined their resources to magically make him human again.
Since then, Roy is considerably less angsty, and has married Peggy Lovelace, an analogue of Ireland Love from another dimension.
Trivia
His legal full name is Benjamin Roy Kirby, and he goes by Roy. Roy is married to Peggy Lovelace Kirby and the couple has twins, Ace Valor and Alice Margaret Kirby. He has a cloned son, Benjamin Roy Kirby, with whom he shares custody with Ireland Love.
contact
@Heroid
To read the complete adventures (so far...) of Roy Kirby, go here: http://heroid.robotjetpack.com/HEROID%20Stories/index.htm
