Miss France
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| French Heroism | |
| Miss France | |
| Player: French.Conection | |
| Origin: | Mutation |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Defender |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Genevieve Auclair |
| Known Aliases: | La Dame Française, Sentiment Céleste |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 24 years 8 months |
| Height: | 176 centimetres |
| Weight: | 120 Pounds/ 55 kgs |
| Eye Color: | Green |
| Hair Color: | Blonde |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | French |
| Occupation: | Heroine, Fashion Designer |
| Place of Birth: | Bordeaux, France |
| Base of Operations: | Paris, France |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | L'Bastille (Father), Femme Chance (mother): Both deceased |
| Known Powers | |
| Cosmic Radiation: Creation, Manipulation, and Control | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Skilled leadership abilities, above average stamina and constitution | |
| Equipment | |
| Orbital teleportation satellite, Kevlar armour-weave | |
| More data on request | |
The national hero of France, Genevieve Auclair has had the honour of being Miss France since she was just 15 years old. Always willing to do a press meeting if it means escaping a hoard of fan-boys, Genevieve is also a budding fashion designer and socialite. Despite this she never refuses her duty to protect innocence when the time calls for it.
"La France sera toujours faire son devoir, peu importe le coût!" - Miss France
Translated by C.M Landreax "France will do her duty, no matter the cost!" - Miss France
Contents |
Biography
The D'or Héros Ligue
Genevieve Auclair is the daughter of the late French hero and heroine, L'Bastille and Femme Chance. Born in 1986 amongst the chaos of the Berlin Wall, Genevieve was always surrounded by the European Union's "D'or Héros Ligue". The D'or Héros Ligue or The Golden Hero League was the prime defence against Villains trying to escape the (East) German Democratic Republic. Top ranking members of the League, L'Bastille and Femme Chance moved their family into the DHL headquarters in Paris, France, shortly after Gen's birth. Château de la Lumière was their home, it was a government funded but civilian operated facility with everything The League could require as well as an academy for super-powered children. The Castle of Light would prove to be the DHL's undoing, however, for now it was a bastion of hope for Europe's united fledgling 'Super' community.
Genevieve's first few years in the castle were rather normal, besides the frequent sightings of Europe's best, including but not limited to; La Touché {The Key: France}, Chef-d'œuvre {Masterpiece: France}, Adler und Bär {Eagle and Bear: Germany}, Vitzon {White Zone: Sweden}and Narcosto Coltello {Hidden Knife: Italy}. Between 1990 and 2000 the DHL had at all times between one hundred and two hundred registered 'meta-humans' and over five hundred support staff. They arrested detained and prosecuted thousands of villains.
Château de la Lumière or Castle of Light
| Class | Known Population vs. Prosecuted | Arrest Percentage and Division | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Rank: | World Class Threat | 5: | 5 | 100%: | Taskforce Euro |
| B Rank: | National or Regional Threat | 673: | 586 | 87%: | Response Team Virtue |
| C Rank: | Minor Meta-Human Crime | 3641: | 3007 | 82%: | European Union Meta-Human Police Department |
The DHL was so large that it was divided into three different sections. Taskforce Euro, Response Team Virtue and the European Union Meta-Human Police Department. Each section dealt with the appropriate threat levels (as seen in above table). L'Bastille and Femme Chance were both a part of Taskforce Euro. This presented a problem for the young Genevieve as her parents were often involved in lengthy pursuits of A-Rank Villains, and while they tried to be home as much as possible it was never for long. During the lengthy periods her parents were away it was the Academy of Light that looked after Genevieve. It was during her early years being looked after by one of the staff there that her powers manifested. Radiation Manipulation is the official term used; Gen can also create and control the radiation cause by her mutation. It was not uncommon for children of super-powered parents to have their powers manifest early, and when they did in Gen she was already enrolled into the Academy for training.
Life at school was not much different to life before school. Gen did board at the academy for her entire time there along with several other super powered humans. It was during this time at school that Gen met another boarder, Josey Manadou (Hero Name: Tricolor). They became like sisters and eventually saw their group expand to around fifteen promising young superheroes. Tricolor was three years Gen's senior; due to this and Josey's extraordinary power control, Gen idolized her, so much so in fact that many teachers and students speculated that once Gen had decided on a hero name, she would become Josey's sidekick. At age 15 in 2001, the events that took place in New York City, USA shook the world to its core, and the French government gave executive powers to Taskforce Euro to prevent any such attack happening on French soil. This was much criticized by the rest of the European Community who felt that Meta-Humans still needed to be responsible for their actions.
As the new millennium proved to be a shift in the original Meta-Human funded government projects to Vigilantism and self-funded National Hero Teams, the DHL found itself under increased pressure to defend their actions. The public outcry against taxpayers funding a supergroup became so loud that President Chirac was forced to cut funding completely. He would later go on to say (Translated by C.M Landreax) "Removing the government funding from a national superhero team was the worst decision I ever made. It made France weak to incoming attacks and would lead to the loss of so many lives". Without the Government Meta Fund, the DHL soon collapsed on itself; mass walkouts by the civilian staff that were now unable to be paid caused a backlog of paperwork not seen since the great depression. Combined with civilian ideology to hold heroes accountable for their actions the Meta-Humans of the DHL fractured and went their separate ways.
Taking the Title
Following the collapse of the DHL L'Bastille and Femme Chance went public as Thierry and Adele Auclair, releasing details of their mutations. Thierry had skin as hard as diamond and super strength, Adele had the ability to manipulate the probability factor of outcomes and flight. Following this coming out to the greater public, Thierry and Adele never again took up the mantles of their former lives; instead they became spokespeople for both human and Meta-Human rights. This lead to a continued positive attitude from the French community, and they would eventually even become honouree members of the United Nations (UN) for their work towards world peace.
While her parents fought for global rights, Gen was contacted by a private organisation called 'Vivi', now known to be a shadow branch of one of France's largest corporations Vivendi. Vivi planned to create a private hero team for protecting not only their interests but the interests of France, herself. Gen was to be the leader; her exemplary school grades and frequent time in the spotlight made her the ideal pin-up girl. Vivi gave her the option to choose a superhero name or they could choose one for her. With no national Hero or Heroine, Gen selected the name 'Miss France'. It was heartily agreed on by the leaders of her new sponsors.
Note: Vivi was at this time funded by the French Government under the 'Military Protection' section of the national budget. The Minister of the Interior was the authorizer of the transactions, who at the time was Nicolas Sarkozy.
Team Vivi
The Vivi Roster:
| Name | Power set | Expertise | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miss France: | Leader | Radiation Manipulation: | Mutation | Public Relations: | Teamwork |
| Tricolor: | 2nd in command | Energy Manipulation: | Mutation | Siege Breaking: | Assault |
| The Painter: | Tactician | Illusion Creation: | Mutation | Tactics: | Subterfuge | Captain Marseille: | Pilot | Weather Control: | Mutation | Transport: | Military Deployment |
| Élysées: | Psychic | Psychic and Soul Reading: | Mutation | Interrogation: | Linguistics |
| The Gaul: | Tank | Super Strength: | Mutation | Fighting: | Defence |
| Lily Petals: | Team Doctor | Plant Control: | Mutation | Science: | Team Health |
Following the successful recruitment of Miss France, Vivi went on to recruit several other Heroes, not surprisingly all from the original academy in the Castle of Light and from the same group at school. The Vivi Team consisted of the brightest and best young Heroes that France had to offer, all aged between 16 and 19. Although young the Vivi overseer's had every bit of faith in Miss France and her team to protect the nation from external and internal threat. Announcing the team to the French public on December 12th 2001, Miss France stepped out of her parents shadows and into her own limelight, surrounded by a young and attractive team. Gen was to lead this team in national defence. The public received them well; being young and good looking the French people saw them as more celebrities than actual heroes and they were invited to many public events.
Although Superstars in their nation, The Vivi Team, nicknamed Vivi for short, by no means shirked their duty as Heroes. Starting off small with minor criminals, Vivi worked closely with regional police to bring bank robberies and GTA to justice. This soon led to bigger and bigger events; eventually there was not a week going by that the team didn't pursue a B-Rank Villain. During this time serving the nation, each of the members' own personalities came to the forefront of the media at least once. However it was Tricolor's reckless and brash behaviour that always drew a headline; she blasted first then asked questions second.
January 17th 2002, Miss France and Tricolor were pulled into an utter fiasco in Northern Italy where a B-Rank Villain by the name of Re Rosso was holding the Italian Prime Minister hostage. Miss France was trying to talk Re Rosso out of the building he has hold himself up in; however Tricolor was becoming impatient and fired a large blast of energy into the room. Re Rosso was killed in the explosion and the Prime Minister suffered serious burns, head and neck injuries. Again it happened in Armenia on February 27th; Vivi was sieging a Chechan Terrorist hideout and had been doing so for the past 4 days. Although intelligence suggested that they were running out of supplies the team wanted to move in for the arrest. Miss France however argued caution as the terrorists had hostages. Tricolor refused to wait any longer and without approval from her team captain blew her way into the hideout and went Nova. She killed over 40 innocent hostages along with 20 or more terrorists.
The Vivi Jet
Following this Vivi had so much negative press that they had to stop mission for two weeks to let the fallout blow over. After this brief hiatus in which Tricolor received secret missions from the French military, the team went back to work. This time in Saint Petersburg, Russia it was to be the team’s final mission with Vivi as their name and sponsor. On March 20th, several Russian Anarchists were holding a family for ransom in the family home, demanding ten million US dollars for the family. Vivi arrived on the scene and set up a perimeter, Miss France began talking to the anarchists while the rest of the team performed their assigned duties. Tricolor snuck around the back of the house and waited for the go signal if they needed her to attack. After eighteen hours of negotiation and two push backs of the deadline, the anarchists killed the family. Miss France was devastated; she had failed. Over the communications network Tricolor told Gen to fall back, and that she would deal with the situation. Miss complied and fell back to the Vivi Jet; thirty minutes later a news report came on 'Massacre in Saint Petersburg' was the headline. Tricolor and Gaul obliterated any trace of the anarchists, the house was torn apart and all that remained of the surrounding area was craters with mangled bodies in them.
The destruction in Saint Petersburg Vivi flew back to France and were immediately disbanded by the company, ordered to leave the Vivi hideout and never return. Saint Petersburg was a black smudge on all the team members' bright records. To this day March 20th is called in Saint Petersburg, 'Vivi Day'.
Invasion
Following the events of March 30th 2002, Miss France and Tricolor maintained a strained relationship. The team broke up each hero going his or her own way; Gen ended up putting down the cape for a week and instead took up fashion design. Using the money she had earned working for Vivi to launch her own line of Superhero suits and high end fashion for civilians. The other members found new paths in life and to this day continue living as either heroes like Captain Marseille or as notable civilians such as Lily Blanc who leads the research for global warming at CERN.
March 1st was a notable day for the whole world, as the UN was set to convene and discuss the possibility and feasibility of a world Supergroup. Miss France was invited to join the discussion as the representative of France, although not ever publicly declared Miss France by the government, it was her name given to the UN by President Chirac, thus officially marking her as the national hero for France. Alongside her stood hundreds of heroes from all around the world including:
| Name | Power set | Nation | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lord Britain: | William Sheffield Jnr | Super Strength: | Mutation | United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland | |
| Samurai Japan: | Ogata Nakamura | Expert Swordsmanship: | Natural | Japan | |
| Captain Australia: | Asher Mitchell | Energy Manipulation: | Mutation | The Commonwealth of Australia | Russian Roulette: | Yuri Ibrahimovich | Ice Control: | Mutation | Russian Federation |
| Olympus: | Niko Postacoglou | Invulnerability: | Supernatural Artifact | Hellenic Republic (Greece) | |
| Miss China: | Yangie Guo | Empathy: | Unknown | People's Republic of China | |
| Brigadier General Canada: | Mark Duprie | Weather Control: | Science | Canada | |
Although the UN would come to the conclusion that a world super team was neither necessary nor wanted, Genevieve made many friends. Also amongst her fellow national heroes Gen earned a reputation to be well spoken and level headed if somewhat arrogant. Following the conclusion of events at the UN headquarters in Switzerland, Miss France officially took her office as national French heroine. Receiving a private penthouse and logistics team to manage her busy schedule.
May 23rd, 2002 was to be the worst day in human history. Starting at 3am in the morning when hundreds of red lights appeared above Paris, and every other major city on Earth. The lights were flat circles which seemed to consume everything they touched, giant red disks lighting up the early morning sky as if it was a red dawn. The heroes of the world began to investigate, with major supergroups like the Freedom Phalanx, the Dawn Patrol, and Hero Corps sending teams into cities around the world. The Freedom Phalanx, with help from a former Portal Corp researcher, determined the lights were dimensional portals, leading to a dimension that could not be determined from our own.
At exactly 2pm Paragon City was hit, three hours later Europe's major cities were followed closely behind. The invaders streamed out of the portals, millions of armed aliens poured into cities around the world, their plasma weaponry ripping through all but the toughest armour plating. Their own power suits repelling all but the hardest armour piercing ammunition. Without warning or provocation the alien invaders struck, razing the greatest symbols on earth to dust in less than a half hour, quickly followed by major amenities, telecommunications and satellite information.
Somehow though the alien foe had not predicted the ability of the superheroes of Earth who fought, some with everything they had, to repel the invasion. In France, Genevieve led the charge, irradiating any alien she saw, but changed to avoid collateral damage of such huge amounts of cosmic radiation on the population. Every Hero in France fought with vigour and valour not seen since the World Wars but many were cut down against the massive numbers of invaders. The fighting continued through the night, as the invaders outnumbered the heroes by at least 100 to 1. By the dawn of the 24th, Europe was divided into human and alien controlled regions and both sides began to erect defences.
No invaders ever went back through the portals and no more ever came through. Twenty-four hours after the invasion began all of the portals closed in an instant. The United Nations Security Council via video conference formed Vanguard to help coordinate hero responses worldwide. These efforts were able to stop the alien advances, but were unable to reclaim any territory. Amongst it all Miss France led Europe's heroes on an unending campaign to hold what they hadn’t lost in the initial waves and begin to restore vital areas of Europe.
For six months, battles continued around the globe. The Rikti as they had become known had been preparing for the war in secret long before the invasion and had established hidden bases and weapons caches beneath the ground. The Rikti used teleportation portals to strike at unexpected times and locations, keeping the Earth's defenders on the defensive. The Rikti also learned the impact the heroes were having on the war and on one day launched simultaneous attacks on numerous supergroup headquarters, destroying those belonging to the Iron Eagle, the Foreign Legion, and the Old Firm. The toll of these battles were heavy for both sides as the Rikti lost over 10,000 soldiers while basically decimating Europe's major supergroups.
The rest of the Rikti War is known and summarized by the events of Alpha and Omega teams with Statesman, Hero 1 and Vanguard's emergence as the biggest players on the global field.
The Vanguard Directive
With the end of the first Rikti War (late 2002), came a restart to life on earth. As Vanguard maintained the defence of the War Walls, which divided up neighbourhoods, Supergroups began to re-establish themselves in their home countries. Cost of the war was estimated to be in hundreds of billions, with nearly every major city partially destroyed. This enormous cost was somewhat alleviated by the most generous charity act known to man, on behalf of the "Global Community" the Forbes 500 donated a classified sum of money to Vanguard. This donation has still not been completely expended, and at great cost to some of the wealthiest men and women of America they almost single handily ensure that no tax was required to upkeep Vanguard exorbitant costs. This allowed the governments of the world, free to focus on rebuilding what was lost.
Vanguard's purple and white banner flew high over ever city on earth, a constant reminder of what had happened. Its CEO Lady Grey appeared frequently on television, as part of talk shows and news bulletins. It was her 'steel gaze' that Times magazine said kept the Rikti held to the few regions they still controlled. Genevieve took a new step in her career at this point, after ensuring Europe's relative safety, the French Government (Who had been the leading force behind the creation of Vanguard) gave her the new mission of reporting directly to Lady Grey. This unexpected but not unwanted turn in her life, sent Gen to the USA where she would spend the next years of her life.
Vanguard held itself to an impeccable standard, its mission statement and directive (See the following) were followed to the letter and no compromise was to be taken with the alien threat.
[ The following is an excerpt from the 'Vanguard Directive', a hundred thousand word document on the operations and management of the security force]
"...
[section 3 paragraph 23]
Vanguard as a dedicated security organisation, will uphold the United Nations promise of peace and security for all of Earths nations. With the management of any and all threats to the stability of the planet, both socio-economic and military. The Vanguard community will endeavour to provide Earth (and its colonies) with a defensive perimeter against all threats, be they extraterrestrial or Earthen.
[section 6 paragraph 3]
Under the leadership of a CEO, Vanguard will be upheld to the standards of business practice (see section 1 paragraph 56) and responsible for the just and moral treatment of prisoners of war. The organisation as a whole is also responsible for the minimization of collateral damage of civilian populations and infrastructure.
[section 9 paragraph 4]
Regarding settlement; Vanguard will under no circumstance capitulate to a hostile force (see appendix 3) should the CEO declare "White Shoe" (classified appendix 5) all operatives are required to seal the zone and detonate the "White Belt" (classified appendix 5).
[end of excerpt]
From 2003 onwards Genevieve spent her time shuttling between the USA and France. Leading a Vanguard force against the Rikti invaders during her time in the US and performing her duties as a national hero in France, time pasted quickly for the young heroine. Her Vanguard force earned the nickname ‘Resistance’ for their guerrilla style warfare techniques, which closely resembled the French resistance of WW2. Gen led her team with courage and dignity, although not the most efficient, most memorable or most effective team; ‘Resistance’ earned a reputation for always having an exhilarating and often extraordinary way out of a situation. They were the poster children for Vanguard’s new recruits; a team of once again young and attractive hero’s and soldiers. Gen stood before the paparazzi, did the recruitment ads and most importantly did public service announcements for Vanguard.
Resistance however was still a military team, and were like every other team in Vanguard thrown against the invaders. Gen fought in numerous battles but ‘The Battle of Charity Street’ is her and her teams most well known fight. The fight lasted two days and consisted of four heroes and eleven soldiers fighting off a legion of Rikti, who numbered 232 dead when the battle ended. This battle earned Gen the ‘Legion of Honour, Commander’ medal and her team all received ‘Legion of Honour, Knight’ medals. This historic battle saw the inclusion of not only the French national heroine, but also Japan’s and Australia’s national heroes (Samurai Japan and Captain Australia. Both received the respective medals from their nations: Order of the Golden Kite and the Victoria Cross). Fighting on the Rikti side, none other than the Lord of War himself and hundreds of Rikti.
