Incredibubble
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| [[Image:|300px|]] | |
| Bubba in action! | |
| Incredibubble | |
| Player: @Calvarium | |
| Origin: | Science |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Defender |
| Security Level: | 23 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Cal'tok kor'xan Thaxa |
| Known Aliases: | Rigil Kentaurus, Bubbly, Bubba |
| Species: | Thaxite |
| Age: | approx. 17.5 Earth years |
| Height: | 5'10" |
| Weight: | 160 lbs |
| Eye Color: | Silver |
| Hair Color: | White |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | United Worlds citizen of 3108; honorary naturalisation as US citizen has been proposed in 2008 as well. |
| Occupation: | Terran hero; Thaxite historian. |
| Place of Birth: | Thaxa (α Cen A-IV) |
| Base of Operations: | The City of Saris, Prime Construct of Thaxa; TTK operations based in Galaxy City |
| Marital Status: | No lifemate at this time. |
| Known Relatives: | Many, via "groupmind" psi-link. |
| Known Powers | |
| Force Field, Psychic Blast | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Image-based telepathy, limited but rapid linguistic absorption. | |
| Equipment | |
| Small gold ring on right middle finger. | |
| Noted for physical inability to laugh, quasi-religious convictions. | |
Contents |
Foreword, OOC.
Incredibubble is a character that arose from a discussion of DC Comics' "Legion of Super-Heroes" on CapeRadio, a global channel dedicated to the eponymous Internet radio station. Several of us decided to create a tribute supergroup, The Tomorrow Knights, and we have been playing the associated characters regularly. "Bubba" is quickly becoming my favourite character, and I enjoy watching him write his own story as he interacts with humanity and his friends both new and old. Inspirations for my little blue buddy include the Legion's "Element Lad", the "Arilou" from Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III's absolutely wonderful Star Control II computer game, the "Andorian," "Trill", "Borg", and "Cytherian" races from the Star Trek franchise (YES I AM A TREKKER, surprise!), Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, and a good portion of me flying by the seat of my pants. I owe a lot to my fellow Knights and Cape Radio for helping make Bubba so damn much fun to play. Any factual or canonical errors are my fault entirely. Now, on to the gory details!
Argument
Born in Terran common year 3091 on the fourth planet of Alpha Centauri A, Cal'tok kor'xan Thaxa is his people's chosen representative to the pan-dimensional organisation known as The Tomorrow Knights. His homeworld, known similarly as Thaxa, has always been intimately concerned with the mental and spiritual development of their human close-cousins, but merely in an observational capacity; semi-isolationist Thaxa had been involved with Terra physically on only a few occasions that had been largely dismissed by Terran locals not from trailer parks or cattle ranches near isolated, arid areas such as Roswell, New Mexico, or Groom Lake, Nevada.
This dismissive Terran "foo fighter, weather balloon" attitude was acceptable to the Thaxite population, whose combined psionic abilities kept their planetary system cloaked from Terran observation devices until Terran common year 2875. It was then that Thaxa finally decided to become known, making its first official diplomatic contact with the little blue human planet and its endearing desire to colonise things.
Soon thereafter, it became imperative that the known worlds (including that of the Rikti, with whom both Terra and Thaxa made a very uneasy peace soon after) be united under one banner to stave off aggression from outside influences both overt and insidious... and also, prevent the chronospatial collapse that threatened reality as they knew it.
Therefore, when offered the opportunity to visit Terran common year 2008 by his companions, Cal'tok quickly jumped at the chance to serve. The adventures he has are not only historically fascinating to him, but also provide Cal'tok an opportunity to help humanity increase in its wisdom and move away from the barbaric hostility that threatens to collapse its cultural framework.
Personality
Like all Thaxites, Cal'tok was born into a group-consciousness, a collective mind-link that in Terran languages normally translates closest to "Wisdom". When he posted to TTK headquarters in 3105, the separation from his Thaxite brethren was most difficult. Feeling lonely in a way only other beings from collective-consciousness can truly understand, Cal'tok has an intense need to "belong".
He is young for his kind, and because of this he is quite ingenuous, open, and friendly. Cal'tok prefers to believe in the basic goodness of all things granted the gift of life rather than the confusing mistrust the outsider may experience on Terra. To adapt more efficiently, Cal'tok has taken a number of steps. Having chosen the human-sounding name "Rigil Kentaurus" (blissfully unaware that the astronomer he rescued from a group of Sky Raiders gave him a name that was a sly reference to his very own home star-system), he has been introduced to many new customs and experiences. When not occupied with business concerns, he particularly enjoys socialising with new people and dancing to indigenous music as provided by The Cape and its various DJs.
As a Defender of the People of Wisdom, Rigil will do all he can to learn new things, especially Terran modes of speech. Rigil does not share the opinions of his brethren concerning vocal communication. Thaxites are capable of speech, but do not practise vocalisations after a very young age, when the psi-link between the new mind and his brethren has fully established itself. This love of vocal communication led Rigil to introduce himself to a number of native Terrans - especially Leonard 'Lenny' Wisniewski, the Brooklyn-born proprietor of the Drenched Donuts franchise in Faultline whose shop Rigil protected from a very hungry group of Lost - and enroll in a conversational English class.
Because of the wisdom he has gained, Rigil is pleased with himself, and thus is always trying out new phrases and modes of speech; although he is aware that this alternately frustrates and amuses his friends, he persists, hoping to speak as a native one day. Ultragirl, a Terran delegation member, and Brina Fletcher, a local friend known as Archerina, have been invaluable to Rigil in this respect.
Rigil's typical abhorrence of hostility has placed him in some very dangerous situations that he has been lucky to escape from, even for a Thaxite Defender. He sees no creature as unworthy, never considering a living being hostile until it endangers his companions, a weaker creature than he, or himself. This makes the concept of "innocent until proven guilty" immutably literal to him. Some of those that Terrans call villains, he considers friends because he has not yet experienced hostility from them.
There are of course exceptions to every rule.
Although normally a kind, placid soul, Rigil is intensely frustrated by untruth and the use of recreational drugs, both of which are forbidden in the Thaxite system of quasi-religious belief as "mind poison". Further, his homeworld's experiences with the Rikti have caused him to approach near-racism at times. Those who engage in untruth, hinder free will, fail to seek wisdom, or sympathise with the Rikti race can earn derision and even wrathfulness from him.
Powers and Abilities
Simply put, on his own homeworld, Rigil is nothing special. All Thaxites are psi-linked, able to access one another's thoughts, experiences, and racial memory at any time. They are able to use this psi-link to defend each other, creating a telekinetic field that deflects most incoming harm and can even be used to repel the initiator of the hostile action itself.
Certain Thaxites are able to project telekinetic energy into the minds of other beings, as well, affecting synaptic activity and causing any of a number of side-effects. These include lethargy, loss of physical control, synaptic shutdown, and hyper-activation of pain receptors.
Telekinesis allows Rigil to levitate when he needs to (due to Terra's lesser gravity, he is actually able to fly from place to place if he chooses); also, Rigil can communicate telepathically with those who share his sensitivity, and is able to sense emotional disturbance to a limited degree. This is particularly useful in the case of Aspera, another telepathic member of Rigil's delegation who often seems irritated by Rigil's apparent naiveté.
Limitations
1. Near-fanatic unwillingness to tell a lie. Rigil's usual time-travel disorientation caused him to misinterpret Saturn-Nine's instructions after arriving in the past. He weakly reconciled the cover story he understood he was required to have with potential worsening of the time-stream anomaly his delegation was sent to repair. The result worked at counter purposes with his beliefs, causing him great discomfort.
Perhaps subconsciously to ease his crisis, he produced a tale so full of holes that no one in his right mind would have believed it. Claiming to be a resident of Cleveland, Ohio that just arrived in Paragon City on the bus, Rigil explained his characteristic blue-skinned, white-haired, silver-eyed Thaxite features as a result of air pollution and mangled a number of pop-culture references in the process. When the truth came out, it disappointed his new friend Ixiie, who was really looking forward to visiting Cleveland, the most awesome place in the whole universe. Ixiie thus far remains one of the only Terran denizens that can pronounce even part of Rigil's true name vocally, which impresses (and surprises) him. Believing he had injured her seemingly innocent trust caused Rigil even greater discomfort and a small crisis of faith.
Rigil now understands that one can choose not to reveal information and still avoid lies.
The knowledge of this unfailing truth requirement could be devastating in the wrong hands.
2. Thaxites are extraordinarily sensitive to external psychic influence, as evidenced during a long series of excursions that eventually led to the defeat of the Clockwork King. Rigil became physically ill during these, receiving "feedback" from the King's control of his mechanised minions. This caused his usual control of his more hostile emotions to slip, occasionally leading to rash and uncalculated behaviour that might have endangered his friends.
3. Rigil's lack of collective-consciousness access has made him very sensitive to subtle forms of deception. This can be used against him by a canny villain who earns his trust, which Rigil could too freely give as a result of his cultural upbringing and inexperienced youth. Although Rigil's friends are the most suitable available substitute for his fellow Thaxites, they are not the same... and the Thaxa of this timeframe is unreachable even to Rigil.
The possibility exists that Rigil could be used for subversion while totally unaware it was taking place.
4. Although this is not combat-exploitable, it could be a social problem: Thaxites cannot laugh, although they smile in many of the same situations humans do. As Rigil experiments with humour, it can be hard to tell if he's kidding or simply being obtuse and Thaxite. If he somehow alienates a fellow creature through humour, it may be because he does not punctuate his jokes as humans will. To offset this, he has begun to mimic the physical appearance of laughter, but he does so silently.
5. Thaxite neurological structure does not allow for protection against sleep-related effects without external assistance. Rigil is easily prone to confusion effects from hostiles, and time travel tends to disorient him greatly for a short period. For example, the recent arrival in common Terran year 2008 caused him to forget nearly all he knew about his fellow Knights.
Recent Developments
When study showed that the chronospatial anomaly his delegation were sent to investigate was more stable, Rigil returned briefly to Thaxa of 3108. The time had come for a "gaining" ceremony, which is similar in concept to the Jewish bar mitzvah of Terra. As a result of his passing the challenge presented him, his Thaxite name has been modified to reflect his standing as a full member of the Thaxite adult community. Rigil's brethren were alternately amused and shocked that he had "gone native" during his time in the past, but he has since returned to 2008 a much happier Thaxite, and is anxious to share the new wisdom he has accumulated with his friends, human or otherwise.
In other news, he has also been in contact with the Ouroboros organisation, and is serving in a diplomatic capacity as the link between Ouroboros and his fellow Knights. Further information will be presented as available - for now, Rigil and his teammates are watching Mender Silos and his companions very closely.
Further cultural observations continue, as well. Rigil was recently a guest at a Terran wedding, and is now very interested in bonding customs; although his status as a citizen of the future prevents him from exploring these in a participatory capacity, it has crossed his mind that he could be experiencing an unrequited "crush" on certain individuals that he is far too Thaxite to offend by mentioning verbally.
In conclusion... for now. More OOC.
Bubba's story is still developing, he's quite new and none of the ZOMG HUMONGO GIANT HERO STUFF has happened to him yet outside of a couple moderately interesting AV fights. Thank you for taking the time to read, please stay tuned! I'll update, with images, once all the purses Bubba has collected from gangbangers are returned to their rightful owners.
Also, if you see him zooming around the city, don't be afraid to yell "Wisdom, Bubba!" at him. He likes that kinda pretentious, cryptic-sounding Thaxite stuff... and hey, a blue boy can never have too many friends.
