From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

Contents 1 Early Life 2 Teenager 3 Mutation 4 Chaos

Early Life

Justin Nathaniel Imre was born in a small middle-class suburban community in Minnesota. His parents, Nathaniel and Justine Imre, like most of the community, were God-fearing people with old-fashioned beliefs. As such, certain groups were patently not welcome in the community. Atheists, agnostics, pagans, gays and lesbians, mutants and other metahumans, and anyone that didn't fit the bigoted view of life the community held were outcasts in the community and not treated well.

As far as Justin can tell, he's always had the nightmares. His parents took him to the church and he was declared possessed of the devil after an inadequate psychological evaluation. After an amateur exorcism by the church leaders, Justin's nightmares went away. At least as far as his parents and the rest of the community were concerned. Justin simply failed to report any further incidences so as to keep the bad church leaders away. Similar incidences with other children instilled certain anti-church ideas into a group of children that would later form small gangs to lash out with their anger.

Teenager

After a relatively normal childhood, Justin would help form one of these gangs. They didn't have names as such, referred to by their geographical locations. The Eastsiders lived in the east side of town. The Auburners lived in the southwest by the Auburn Power Plant and most of their families had at least one parent working there. The Downtownees lived downtown, the Northenders lived up north, and the Miners lived in the west where the mines were, despite the mines being inactive. Then come the Imreans, Justin's group. They lived in the southeast near the Imre Memorial Hospital, named after some ancestor of Justin's.

Calling these groups gangs might, by modern standard, seem rather laughable, as mostly they just hung out and made fun of other groups. They did, however, vandalize rival territories and occasionally got into minor fights. Brawling, since guns were never even thought to be added to the equation, though the occasional knife might. The parents never knew who was in a gang and who wasn't. Few of the children displayed tendencies that might indicate such activity at home.

After a more strict curfew law was passed, things were to the point that an escalation of activity was imminent. Justin, however, would instigate something else entirely. His nightmares had become worse lately, though he never told his parents. Then they began to bleed into daydreams. After a couple weeks, on an otherwise normal day, sitting in a boring class at school like anyone else, the extraordinary happened. Just was used to the sights and sounds in his head, filtered through his consciousness. But he was not prepared for the events that were to transpire.

Mutation

The nightmares not only crept into his waking thoughts that day, but so did smells and tastes and, most disturbing of all, the feelings. Twisted emotions Justin couldn't even name flowed through his mind while dark energy flowed through his body. A burst of both swept the room. Those near him were weakened and thrown from their seats. The entire room felt the pain, the nausea, and the dark sensations. And they all knew where it came from. Justin fell to the floor, screaming in agony as his body was twisted to fit the distorted thoughts.

With obsidian black skin, cobalt blue hair, glowing chartreuse eyes, and a new tail with a spaded end, Just was vied immediately by the teacher as an extreme demonic possession. Justin would have none of that, though. When an attempt was made to take him to the principal so he could be handed over to the church, Justin emitted dark energy from his skin in a sort of cloud of shadows holding his would-be abductor in place. He ran that day, not about to live in a town such as that any longer. Not now that he no longer fit into the narrow specifications of an upright citizen.

Chaos

Justin bounced from town to town, city to city, aimless in his wandering. Eventually, world events led him to the shining capital of Praetoria. At first he played the loyal minion of Cole, running about with authority of Powers Division, making a name for himself as a hero of the people. Then he joined the Resistance, striking out at the regime he had once worked for. Even with his time among the Underground, he still sends reports about Resistance activities to Powers Division. The Resistance seems wary, but even with his constant betrayals, so far he has proven to be a valuable asset. But eyes are watching him. And he knows it all too well.