King Brain/The Man Who Would Be King

From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

King Brain is a re-invented character from another server given a more silver-age image. Thematically he is all about greed, and exploring the difference between intelligence and knowledge.

The Man Who Would Be King

King Brain was once a normal man, albeit an avaricious one. His company rose to fame when he launched a successful online "game" called Otherlife, and a series of Social Networking sites built around the game. Players were encouraged to experience a social online world through highly customisable avatars, and even businesses began to hold meetings within the Otherlife. Operating out of the Rogue Isles, some criminal elements began to use the online world as a way to co-ordinate their activities.

Over a period of years the man who would become King Brain scrutinised the conversations, finacial transactions, relationships and all the secrets that passed through the Otherlife world. He was able to gain access to secret Longbow and Malta networks, acquiring and building highly advanced technologies. Eventually he came across the work of Dr. Creed in exposed cranial enhancement, and was able to cross reference it with SERAPH and DATA projects which helped him unlock its true potential. Undergoing the experimental brain upgrade transformed him into a powerhouse of intellectual capacity, ravenous for more secrets and technology to fuel his greed.

Now the self-styled "King Brain" (who imagines himself as monarch of Otherlife) is carrying out a campaign of dastardly plans, with the unsuspecting populace unaware of his link to Otherlife. His chief aim is to sow terror and fear among the population of America to encourage everyone to stay home and socialise only via Otherlife, a move which makes him richer and more powerful with each player!

In a sinister turn of events he has struck a deal with his former rival Dr. Aeon, and begun to link Otherlife to the Architect Entertainment System...

King Brain has a photographic memory and the ability to absorb vast amounts of information at once. He can routinely listen to three or four different conversations or lectures while reading multiple books at once, and retain all of it. Unfortunately, while this makes him a fantastic warehouse of information he is not possessed of any great "spark" for inventing things. He is, however, able to piece together the work of others and progress what they may have started, working by cross-referencing the information from a number of sources. He can perform exceptionally difficult calculations in his head, easily equivelenet to some of the most advanced computers on Earth.

Due to his enormous mental capacity and calculating power he's awesome by analysis and a capable Chessmaster type of villain. He tries to force his opponenets into situations and traps with a series of carefully planned and calculated gambits, because he is much less dangerous when taken by surprise. However, with sufficient time to plan, he can overcome much more powerful enemies.

King Brain possesses limited psionic abilities. He is unable to read minds or shield people from psychic intrusions, but what he lacks in skill he can make up for in the psychic equivalent of "brute strength". His massive mind can project deadly psi-beams, and unleash waves of painful psyco-kinetic energy. He is also a powerful telekinetic, able to propel himself, surround himself with shields and create a variety of effects using his mental might alone.

Although his mental shields are rather poor, leaving him open to attack, actually reading his mind is sometimes a traumatic experience for psychics. It is truly colossal, and most psychics who have tried describe a feeling of vertigo, or of being lost. He has many conscious thought processes operating at once in a way that normal humans would find almost unimaginable.

King Brain is a megalomaniac. He views himself as a ruler, and the most intelligent man on earth, although these are far from the truth. His enormous brain is a vast repository of information, but he lacks true genius and is instead only able to imitate and piece together the ideas of others. He is dimly aware of this, and it drives his insatiable greed for secrets. He will push any boundary in order to learn new secrets and information, confident that this will make him a true super-genius.

Although greedy for knowledge, King Brain is not a truly wicked villain, and does not kill unless absolutely necessary. He has grand and utopian ideals, and will even work with heroes against a foe that threatens humanity. His greed leads to a sense of practicality in running his "kingdom", and he will act in the interests of his bottom line and the continued success of Otherlife.

Otherlife is an online social sim game where players can create their own "avatar" with which to interact with other players. The game includes a fully functioning economy, and real estate, enabling people to run a whole life online. Several people have made OtherLife their full time job.

Monster Maker

King Brain has been responsible for empowering a fair few costumed criminals in his time, as well as giving himself his powers.

• Project "Redd Serum" is King Brain's pet project. With this mutagen he hopes to build an army of strong but unintelligent henchmen who are able to harness electrical force. Currently he has a single compatible subject, who can be transformed into a raging brute for a few hours at a time. King Brain has dubbed the villain "Redd Charge" and regularly employs his brawn to carry out schemes.

While in this state Redd Charge gains immense joy from mayhem and destruction, and can be easily influenced by King Brain's mental commands. Unfortunately the subject is not a willing henchman, and so King Brain has convinced him that the serum is to treat a rare condition that Redd suffers from. In fact King Brain plans to perfect the "Charge" mutagen so that it can be used on many compatible subjects, and create a private army of beast-men. In the meantime he poses as a benevolent scientist, helping Redd through his odd 'blackouts' and feelings of tiredness with ever refined doses of the serum.

• When Eddie LeBeaux finally pulled off a worthwhile heist, he and his cronies knew exactly what they wanted to spend the money on: Power. King Brain used a sample of genetic material from the villain Mr. Mud to transmutate Eddie into Pay-Dirt. Now Pay-Dirt works as a regular enforcer to several criminal masterminds, and King Brain often retains his services as hired muscle.

• It's only human to try and hold onto power, so when the villain Braincell was lobotomised by the power of the radioactive vigilante Mr. D and the Bone Squad, he was desperate to do anything to get his powers back. King Brain experimented on him, and although he was unable to restore him to the powerful mind-controlling Dominator[1] he had once been, he nonetheless clawed back a portion of his psychic power, enabling him to stun or kill with a touch, and to alter people's minds.

• When a freak accident robbed her of her beauty, it was King Brain who saved the life of Clock Face. Unfortunately her psychological recovery wasn't as successful, and she has proven too mentally unstable for him to work with her regularly. Nonetheless she retains a vague notion of him as a kindly benefactor, and he has been able to manipulate her ...with caution.

Temporal Booster

One of his most prized designs, King Brain stole the idea for the Temporal Booster from Malta and completed it with help of data pilfered from Arachnos and Aeon Labs. The booster allows him to speed up an ally, making them faster by compressing time around them. This also allows them to recover faster, meaning an ally can often continue to fight non-stop as though they had time between battles to recover their strength. The device is psionically tuned and encrypted to King Brain to prevent theft and use by others, and ensure his allies stay loyal.