Kane Blackmane
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| “Shee-enna-ha!” | |
| Kane Blackmane | |
| Player: @Realtrek | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Energy Tanker |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Kane Blackmane |
| Known Aliases: | none |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | -very- well preserved 40-ish |
| Height: | 6’ 2” |
| Weight: | 215 |
| Eye Color: | hazel |
| Hair Color: | jet black |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | US Citizen (Eastern Band Cherokee) |
| Occupation: | Adventurer / Shaman |
| Place of Birth: | Cherokee, North Carolina |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City |
| Marital Status: | married to Deborah Blackmane |
| Known Relatives: | Sid Blackmane (father); Nancine Blackmane (mother); Jael Blackmane (daughter) |
| Known Powers | |
| Spirit-magic enhanced super-human strength, speed, resilience, recovery, healing and endurance; flight; reputed developing magic energy projection (concussive bolts); limited teleportation abilities for himself and others within close proximity | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Notably enhanced (heightened animal-level, not superhuman) tactile senses; these can be further augmented to super-human levels if Kane focuses on a particular Animal Spirit to enhance one or more senses – limited telepathic/empathic abilities, usually with those he has emotional connection with, or those who become close friends; like all mages – weavers or imbued (like Kane) – he can soul-gaze with another | |
| Equipment | |
| Enchanted Kevlar-thread body-suit; re-inforced gloves; PDA with adjustable comm-frequencies to include GPS locator for those tuned to the same frequencies (though, this is not needed for those to whom he shares empathic/telepathic links, or tracks them by scent) | |
| No additional information available. | |
Contents |
Biography
Author’s Note: Character portrait courtesy of long-time friend, KVB.
Cherokee to Corps to Cop
Kane Blackmane was born in Cherokee, North Carolina to a full-blooded Cherokee father (Sid) and white mother (Nancine). This accounted for his remarkably bright hazel eyes adding noted contrast to his Cherokee heritage appearance. He was raised on a farm by loving, caring, Christian parents, who instilled in him high ideals and morals, and a want to do the right thing. This outlook on life led him into military service, serving for six years in the United States Marine Corps. As he was making ready to muster out, like most civilian employers, the Charleston, South Carolina Police Department had a representative at the USMC separations office. What the CPD offered sounded good to Kane, so with his active duty commitment served, he left the Marines and moved to Charleston.
Kane entered his law-enforcement career with positive attitudes and ideals, much like those that took him into military service. However, Charleston was rife with supernatural elements... vampires, mages, fae, were-creatures. While most of his fellow officers became cynical and jaded, Kane kept a positive outlook for the most part. Brushes with these elements were never clear-cut, but always left something ‘nagging’ at the back of Kane’s mind. This was largely due in part to his family’s spiritual connection to the Nature Spirits of Wehali (Eagle) and Yona (Bear). Kane for the most part had dismissed this notion as nothing more than ‘folklore haunting’ from the tales told to him by his grandfather, Longsight Blackmane, the local shaman in Kane’s birth city. Kane had no idea that his heritage would eventually come about to imbue him with supernatural powers… and it would not be an easy road.
It was also in Charleston, South Carolina that Kane would meet and court his wife, Deborah Blackmane (Marcella Ball).
Where You Least Expect It…
Being the clean-cut All-American-Injun-Boy, garnered Kane the attention of more than a few women. However, in a chance meeting with Deborah in a café in down in Charleston led to a question for a dinner date. There was immediate chemistry between the two, on both a physical and intellectual level. Kane wasn’t a Rhodes Scholar by any means, but he readily latched onto and understood the concepts and ideas Deborah – or ‘D’ as he came to call her - spoke of in the café that day. Kane was more than a little intrigued by the woman. There was… something… about her that just caught – and held – his attention. This was a notable occurence, as D usually focused on being unnoticed.
Kane had NO idea that the slender, blue-eyed tom-boyish-biker-chick-but-pretty Deborah was a mage/wizard specializing in manipulating entropic forces… nor that this same biker-chick would later become his wife. Nor did he have any idea that the spiritual beings attached to each of them (Charlotte the Spider for D, Yona the Bear for Kane) were subtly manipulating the two mortals towards each other.
D’s light blue summer dress with a subtle floral decoration she chose to wear to their date that night was stark contrast to her biking-leathers. Kane was floored. If he thought D was pretty in leather, she was nothing short of drop-dead gorgeous in his dress. Her make-up was minimal, subtle… she looked more like that fresh-faced, peaches-n-cream skinned kindergarten teacher. But, that didn’t prevent Kane from having to set his jaw so that it didn’t hit the ground. Dinner… dancing at the local blues house in Charleston was the order of that evening. Kane treated D like a delicate Lady (though, being a mage of notable skill and power, she was anything but, save in certain ways, as he would learn later)… he walked on the street side of the sidewalk, offered his arm to her in escort, opened her doors, pulled out her chairs… it was more than his manners driving him to do this… it felt… right, natural to do these things for her.
But alas, such a fantastic night came to a close all too soon. It was time to take D home… it wound up being his home, and the night wound up extending into well the next morning. Even then, it ended too soon for Kane… and he thought for D as well. She left, each promising to call the other. Kane decided then and there, that D might’ve walked out his door, but damned if she was gonna walk out his life.
D’s sorcerous work kept her busy. Kane wound up in trysts with two other women, talented in their own ways, but a pale comparison to what he felt with D. He had no idea that one of these one-nighters would soon haunt him.
Neither he nor D knew that the next time they saw each other would be D coming to visit him in the hospital, where he was recovering from a gunshot wound taken in the line of duty. For whatever reason, D was planning on leaving Charleston. Maybe she felt it, maybe she didn’t, but when she told Kane this, a cold wave shot through him. He was not about to lose her.
D came to Kane’s house not long after his release from the hospital and before her departure. Kane practically begged D to take him with her. There was the issue of one of Kane’s previous paramours claiming that he was the father of a child. D was torn between her own wants to bring Kane with her, and the noble thing to do for him to stay and be a father to the alleged child. Certain tests could be done to ascertain if Kane was the father, and if so, D had the financial genius to set up a stipend account that would ensure the child never went without. As it turned out, there was no child… such was a ploy to hold Kane in Charleston.
It didn’t work.
Within two weeks, Kane and D left Charleston together, headed for the twin cities of St Paul and Minneapolis.
Awakening in Twin Cities
The Twin Cities were a fresh start for Kane and D. They married. They bought a house. Kane went to work as a cop, and as luck would have it – and much to D’s chagrin – got assigned to the worst part of town for uniformed patrol cops.
It was also here that Kane was more and more aware of D’s supernatural abilities. One aspect that made him feel bad, was that as he was what was termed a ‘Sleeper’ (non-mage), when D would work magic to bend Reality, Kane’s presence and belief in Reality could sometimes result in a backlash on his wife. He sought the advice of a priest in town, and the priest helped Kane to understand that he didn’t so much need to –believe- in what D could do, but –accept- that she could.
This was a turning point in Kane’s own awareness of the supernatural, and he began more and more to be haunted by dreams that involved Yona the Bear. Being so closely tied to a will-worker (D), Yona felt it was time he made his presence and influence on Kane felt. It wasn’t easy nor pretty. Yona was displeased at Kane having essentially turned his back on his heritage beliefs for more modern-day contrivances, and the Bear spirit expressed this in many dreams where he and Kane often fought… usually with Kane losing.
With Kane aware of D’s magical talents, and accepting that she could do such, Yona reasoned the time for Kane to ‘wake up’ and realize his own magical skills was at hand. After several grueling weeks, many dreams (?) involving fights with the Bear, Kane awoke… and began to see the world with a whole new vision.
A Brief Stay in Atlanta
D’s mystical order soon required her to relocate. And, like before, where D went, so did Kane. This time, as a Shamanistic will-worker, Kane didn’t seek employment as a cop. Instead, he became a free-lance private investigator. Thanks to D’s financial genius (and a bit of reality-bending), they lived well.
But the issues D was to address in Atlanta were quickly resolved, and again her Order needed her to head north again… this time, to the US Capital City.
Washington, DC
It was in the DC area that Kane and D made many ‘wizardry’ friends… and a few rivals. Kane’s power grew with great leaps and bound, sometimes faster than he was ready to handle. To some degree, this made Kane somewhat arrogant and over-protective. And on more than one occasion, D had to pull political strings to soothe feathers Kane often ruffled.
Despite all this, Kane never wavered in his devotion and love for D. After a failed conception, D finally conceived their current daughter, Jael.
In DC, D was as much Kane’s teacher as she was his wife. She encouraged him to push his limits, but always made him aware of potential consequences. Kane often pushed… and usually pushed too far. Reality, it seemed, had it in for Kane. If four mages would bend Reality, and Kane was one of the four, it was almost always a sure bet that the backlash would hit Kane and HARD.
DC would also be the place where Kane and D almost went their separate ways, had it not been for the intervention of a mutual friend (consequently, Kane’s business partner), Kat McKay. Kat got them talking, and made them see that what they had was worth preserving. It was good advice. They’re still together, stronger than ever.
Once the situation with the mages in DC had stabilized, Kane and D left DC for his home in Cherokee, North Carolina.
Paragon City
The Rikti Invasion of the Paragon Universe had far and deep reaching effects. With Kane and D now both being wizards of notable power, they were able to tap into other planes and worlds. Often, they found that these other planes had duplicates of themselves, meeting under various circumstances, but the common thread was that every manifestation of themselves in parallel worlds, they were paired together in some form or fashion.
The Paragon Universe was no different, save that Time flowed at a different rate than from Earth Prime. “Paragon Kane and D” were slightly older, and had a daughter, Jael, who was only a few years younger than “Prime Kane and D”. Paragon Kane and D died valiantly bringing down a Rikti juggernaut ship, being ripped asunder by the resulting explosion that also created a vacuum across several planes of existence. This vacuum yanked Kane, D, and a couple of their mage friends from their own universe into the Paragon-verse.
The Laws of Physics and Magic in the Paragon-verse allowed D and Kane to use their magic skills and powers without worry about Reality fighting them or retaliating. Their power grew exponentially again, taking on slightly differing forms. Kane’s powers (described below) were no longer things he had to summon and beseech Spirits for… their abilities became –part- of him.
D and Kane with a few others, most notably, Knightwatchman, founded the Ascendants, a mystically based super-group in Paragon City. For a short time, Paragon-Jael was part of this organization, viewing D and Kane as… semi-sorta-kinda older siblings (less than a dozen years separated their ages), despite the fact that they were exact genetic duplicates of her birth parents.
Jael’s fate was not to remain in Paragon City, but to answer a higher calling from the Celestine Spirit, Wehali (Eagle).
The Price of Eagle’s Covenant
While they were in DC, D and Kane entered into an agreement with the Celestine Spirit, Wehali (Eagle). The basis for this covenant was an exchange of sorts. That being Eagle would release Kane’s grandfather, Longsight Blackmane, to finally die, in exchange for D and Kane raising their daughter, Jael, to take Longsight’s place as Shaman when she came of age.
D’s counter was that their child would also recognize and acknowledge a higher divine power (The Almighty) as well as Wehali. Eagle was less than pleased with this, and because of D’s addition to the covenant, seemed to bear D subsumed enmity over the years.
Paragon-Jael made her choice to remove herself to the Spiritual Plane, and work under the direction and for the furtherance of Eagle’s agenda. Apparently, Eagle expected this of all the various incarnations of D and Kane across the multi-verses, but D held fast to her convictions about their birth-daughter. Though Eagle was tied to Kane’s bloodline, Kane was not about to forsake his wife. He stood with her. This began a long series of less-than pleasant encounters with Wehali, mostly aimed at D.
To appease the Celestine, Kane agreed to work for Wehali for a short time, in exchange that Eagle left D alone. Eagle accepted… but sly Celestine that Eagle is, this ‘short time’ turned into a few years. Due to the difference in time flow in the Celestine’s realm, Kane was unaware that –years- not months had passed when Eagle let Kane return to D.
The Celestine apparently knew what it was doing, and perhaps was trying to punish D for her defiance in some way and try to get her separated from Kane. For when Kane was allowed to return home, D had all but given up hope, and was about to put into motion a divorce on Kane for abandonment. From early childhood, D had struggled with abandonment issues, but that is her story to tell.
It was a painful, arduous reconciliation, but D and Kane remained together.
Home Again
Once again, Wehali stepped into D and Kane’s life, and required Kane to come with the Celestine. This time, it wasn’t to serve Wehali’s agenda directly, but to learn the things Eagle wanted taught to Jael when the girl came of age. Suspicious from the last time, Kane reluctantly agreed, and honored the covenant struck with the Celestine. Again, what seemed like months to Kane was in fact years in the Paragon-verse.
Returning, Kane found that things had changed. The Ascendants’ base had been bargained away with to the Fae Folk. D had started another super-group. Jael was in early grade boarding school. Kane himself had developed abilities greater than those possessed when he left.
This return and reconciliation was less painful than the first, largely due to Kane’s greater maturity than when he returned the first time. D readily accepted Kane once again, citing she wanted him home with her. Kane agreed, and set about mending his relationship with D and their daughter.
Kane decided that enough was enough. Calling Eagle to the top of a high skyscraper in Steel Canyon, Kane confronted Eagle, and essentially told the Celestine to back off… he and D would no longer be the Spirit’s pawn, nor would their daughter. It was a laughably one-sided fight. Eagle being an ancient Celestial Spirit was far more than a match for Kane several dozen times over. It seemed Eagle might have killed Kane outright, had Paragon-Jael not intervened, and talked Eagle down from his intended course.
Paragon-Jael could not stay, having to return to Eagle’s realm. She sent Kane home via a spirit portal.
Now with Eagle’s direct influence removed from Kane and D’s life, Kane now focuses on helping D build the new super-group.
Equipment
Kane wears an enchanted, light Kevlar-lined, close-fitting t-shirt, leather jacket and pants. The additional armor further enhances his own spiritually-imbued superhuman resiliency and resistance. His mystical wrist-bands and boots are re-enforced at striking points to enhance the effect of melee impacts and blocks in combat. Further, the mystical armbands help focus spiritual energies into tangible, concussive force to augment his strikes.
Additionally, Kane carries a PDA with adjusting communications frequencies, and a built in GPS locator for those who are secured-frequency-linked with him.
Powers
By virtue of being a Shaman, Kane’s strength, speed, resilience, recovery, healing and endurance are greatly augmented to super-human levels by the various Nature Spirits to which he is closely tied. He is able to invoke special ‘powers’ from various spirits under special circumstances, such as moving near-silently as Cougar, or enhancing his vision to see in the dark like Owl.
The two Spirits most prevalent in Kane’s ‘spiritual skeleton’ are Wehali (Eagle) and Yona (Bear). From these two ancient Nature spirits, Kane draws the majority of his ability to fly, his strength, resilience and endurance. His speed is a side-effect of being distantly connected to Lightning.
In addition to this, Kane’s primarily a brawler. He augments his blows by channeling pure ephemeral energy into focused points along parts of his body he strikes an opponent with. This not only produces a physical concussive force, but for living beings, it also batters them on a spiritual level.
Another notable side effect of being so closely connected to Nature Spirits, is his ability to heal himself at a rapid rate. To do this, Kane taps a small portion of energy from the various spirits to whom he is connected, using their collected energies to re-set his physical pattern by re-setting his spiritual pattern.
Further side-effects of being tied to Nature/Animal spirits is the possession of notably enhanced (heightened animal-level, not superhuman) tactile senses. These can be further augmented to super-human levels if Kane focuses on a particular Animal Spirit to enhance one or more senses. He also gives off a -powerful- primal/nature/animalistic/spiritual/cycle-of-life resonance to those who are sensitive to such things. Even non-sensitves are affected by this, usually attributing this sensation to Kane's notable 'command presence'.
Kane’s use of Mind Magic is rather limited. While he does possess some degree of telepathic/empathic abilities, these are usually limited to those he has close emotional connection with (such as his wife Deborah, or his daughter, Jael) or those who become close friends.
Even more limited than his Mind Magic is that of teleportation. Essentially, as all points of reality are touched in some way by Spiritual Ephemera – which Kane taps to augment his abilities – he’s able to move himself along the Ephemeral currents to other locations, and create a portal through which he can bring others to him in the same fashion.
Recent Developments
Lately however, Kane has been able – under times of extreme duress – been able to unleash similar concussive ephemeral waves. This power, whether latent or under development, has yet to fully manifest.
Medical
Kane bears two sets of physical scars not readily visible unless his shirt is removed.
One set of scars spans his chest diagonally, a parallel set of four lines made by Yona the Bear's claws during Kane's 'awakening' time. These are fairly faded with Kane's remarkable healing ability. However, as they were made by a Spiritual Being, it's unlikely the scars will totally fade.
The other, more recently acquired, is a single, large diagonal scar across his shoulder blades. This scar, only recently healed is more pronounced and notable than the scars across his chest. This scar he received in combat against Wehali the Eagle - from one of the sword-sized talons - when he made his stand against the Celestine Spirit.
Contacts / Known Associates
As a founding member of the Ascendants, Kane is known to be associated with another founding member, Knightwatchman.
