Hoplon Kaukhos
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| Hoplon Kaukhos | |
| Player: Enantiodromos | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Brute |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Paul Ganas |
| Known Aliases: | Bronze Shield, Pericles |
| Species: | human |
| Age: | 24 |
| Height: | 5' 11" |
| Weight: | 180 lbs |
| Eye Color: | dark brown |
| Hair Color: | brown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | U.S. Citizen |
| Occupation: | Superhero |
| Place of Birth: | Paragon City |
| Base of Operations: | Helen Point & East Gate |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | parents, sisters |
| Known Powers | |
| bronze shield, an aspect of the Well | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Confidential | |
| Equipment | |
| shield | |
| No additional information available. | |
Paul Ganas was a poor kid growing up in the shanties by the mouth of the Red River, between Helen Gate and Eastgate. All his friends struggled to get noticed by the tough guys they idolized -- the Warriors.
Contents |
Origin
Full of intelligence and tenacity, Paul trained harder than any of the others, but he resented the appropriation of Greek symbols, disliked fascists, and managed to get out after his initial meteoric rise through the Warrior ranks.
With a partial ride as an archaeology student at Brown University, he spent several years on digs. In Aidonia near Nemea, he and his professor made an amazing discovery-- a fully intact bronze shield like nothing they'd ever seen, and far too old for where they found it. Paul was the first to touch it and it made him immediately feel queasy. He tried to warn the professor, but the man didn't listen and was instantly killed. Traumatized by his teacher's violent death and memories of brutal training with the Warriors it reawakened, Paul took the shield and fled back home to hide it.
Recent History
Once home, he discovered the Warriors were worse than ever-- running drugs and protection rackets against the poorest folks in town. He started a campaign to fight back and take over the organization, to make it a force for good. The shield lent him impossible levels of power, and seemed linked to something that lingered in the spirit of the Warrior organization. He also discovered using it was slowly killing him, and for a brief period, retired, until getting into a skirmish with the has-been hero Stalwart. Resigned to finishing what he started, Paul fought his way to the top of the Warrior organization, combatting the 5th column wherever he found it, gaining renown as a Hero of the City, and once he unlocked the secrets of the Midnighter Club, spent much time helping Imperious against Romulus in Cimerora.
Allying with Alexander Pavlidis on the night of the final battle with Mot, Paul challenged and defeated Odysseus for leadership of the Warriors. He also learned that the shield was natural kin to both Odysseus' Fists of Vulcan, and to the God-Killing Sword Paul stole from Tub Ci. He repeatedly resisted the temptation to wield more than one at a time, turning them over to the Dream Doctor until the final battle, in which he used them, then gave them to Tielekku once Mot was slain.
Appearance
Not much above average height, Paul has a lean frame, wavy brown-black hair and similarly colored eyes. He wears the red headband and khaki vest of the Warriors, and carries the enormous bronze-like shield with him at all times. His left eye and left forearm are gruesomely burned and desiccated from the overwhelming energies of the shield. There are also more zombie-like figures who carry the shield, a withered corpse with shiny yellow skin, a hollow-eyed man of living bronze, and a figure of pure bronze energy. These may or may not be Paul in some extreme state. Or possibly the energy of the shield itself taking human form and a semblance of intelligence.
Personality
Paul is bright, philosophical, and driven by an unquenchable will to defy those who are cruel.
Arch Enemies
Paul's main foe, now that he has risen to prominence and assumed control of the Warriors, is the being known as "Nine Lives." Of as-yet-unrevealed origin, capable of transmitting its consciousness from one host to another, preferred hosts being humans and (possibly) cats. Is it a witch? An Egyptian demigod? A mutant? Hard to say. But hints at a human origin and a period of time it was subsequently forced to "hide" in a feline host, disrupting its sanity, possibly just before WWII, during which it was a known operative for the Nazis. Tendency toward sadism and predatory behavior, claims to be in constant pain. Evidently incapable of dying-- exact parameters of transferring consciousness unknown, but known to be triggered spontaneously by near-death. Possesses a tremendous if unreliable pool of knowledge and skill taken from many previous lives including stealth and unarmed combat. Also, phenomenal sensory acuity and pain tolerance, as well a surface telepathy type awareness of possible hosts.
Abilities
Will and Training
Paul self-selected for greatness among a generation of poor kids in Paragon city. Not only was he tough and agile, but he had a seemingly limitless will. His hours-long training sessions with Warrior senior weapons-masters became legendary, repeating for years on end as he came into manhood.
He has been told that it is his will alone that made him the superb physical combatant he is, and his will alone that set him on a course to recover one of the most potent artifacts of the Well of Furies in existence.
He is also quite philosophical in outlook, bright, well-read, and experienced with middle eastern archaeology, though his stoic demeanor reveals little of this.
The Shield of Ares
That it belonged to Ares is poor speculation, but the shield Hoplon Kaukhos carries, made entirely of a bronze-like metal, has astonishing powers both as a means of protecting its wearer by absorbing shocks and energy perpendicular to is face, but also can be used as a devastating weapon, magnifying energy absorbed from blows or used to move it on-edge (parallel to its face). The more it is used the more powerful it becomes. It also quickly kills anyone who tries to pick it up if they lack either enormous reserves of will, or a specific ancestral connection to the Olympian gods.
Heritage
There have been those that suggested that Pauls ability to wield the Shield stems from his maternal bloodline through his grandmother, about whom he can find no information at all, and may have been an Amazon, directly descended from Ares.
Inspirations
- Captain America
- Wonder Woman
- Thor
- Ozymandias
Challenging Odysseus before the Battle of Mot
