Probationary Martyr
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Felicity's first cape | |
| The Probationary Martyr | |
| Player: @Greenpants | |
| Origin: | Natural/Mutation |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Empath (Defender) |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Felicity Primgaunt |
| Known Aliases: | The Probationary Martyr (Proby, affectionately) |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 22 |
| Height: | 5'3" |
| Weight: | 118 |
| Eye Color: | Blue |
| Hair Color: | Fire engine red (naturally) |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | None (college dropout) |
| Place of Birth: | Paragon City, RI, USA |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City, RI, USA |
| Marital Status: | Complicated, with Casval Regelis |
| Known Relatives: | Edgar Primgaunt (father), Sally Primgaunt (mother), Benjamin Primgaunt (brother, deceased) |
| Known Powers | |
| Healing & Curative Powers, Dark Energy, unusual reaction to the Vahzilok disease & transferring afflictions | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Flight, Teleportation, Knife-Throwing | |
| Equipment | |
| Gloves, belt and assorted gadgets (usually sensors) | |
| Anyone who can detect things mentally (telepaths, empaths, etc) should ask for details. | |
Felicity "The Probationary Martyr" Primgaunt started off as a gag character when @Greenpants and some of her roommates were watching Monty Python's The Life Of Brian. They mentioned the group that died for 'the cause' to be named 'probationary martyrs', and everyone's favorite CoHer found that to be far too amusing. Since then, she's become the most serious character I've played on City of Heroes so far.
Felicity has since become a combination of every sheepish character ever made. The extent of her powers are very "Jean Gray with naivete" in nature. Combine that with Prince Myshkin (The Idiot), Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde, and a little Haruhi Suzumiya, and you have Felicity.
Contents |
Biography
Real Name: Felicity Primgaunt
Known Aliases: The Probationary Martyr (Proby, affectionately)
Identity: Public
Occupation: Currently unemployed; PU drop out.
Citizenship: U.S. Citizen
Base of Operations: Kings Row, Paragon City, Rhode Island, with The Artful Dodgers.
Affiliations: The Artful Dodgers / Fond of Team-mate Casval Regelis, Paragon City Freedom Corps Academy
Likes: Reading, studying, the band Psapp, music, Casval, spending time with the Dodgers, helping wherever and however she can, Heroic Theory, medicine, hot tea, Dostoyevsky, arthouse theatres & film, Diet Coke, and being thanked.
Dislikes: Selfish people, ignorance, almonds, innuendo, being hit on, confrontation, the knowledge that she possesses a darker aspect, Marquis de Sade, people being upset with her, heavy metal.
Paragon City Freedom Corps Academy Info
PCFCA Student ID Number: 24601
PCFCA Enrollment Date: 5/30/98
PCFCA Graduation Date 7/20/07, with honors
PCFCA Diagnosis: Inexpliable genetic lineup at birth that enables remarkable regeneration of health in nearby allies.
PCFCA Classificaton: Hero-in-training (internship set up with Victor Vigilante)
PCFCA Course Schedule: Adv Heroic Theory, AP European Literature, Theology & The Hero, Int Teaming With Others, AP Calculus BC, Basic Biotechnology (in addition to Swim Team & Carpe Praetem, the Latin Club)
Freedom Corps Assignment: Research & Cure Vahzilok's Disesase.
Physical Attributes
Age: 19
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 118 lbs
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Fire engine red (naturally)
Personality
Felicity stands as the redefinition of 'bashful'. Her voice is ever soft and unassuming, her eyes usually wide, and her cheeks often slightly flushed. She stammers terribly upon first meeting, and it only gets slightly better the more you get to know her. Putting the interests of others before herself at all times, she panics at the thought of confrontation, and normally gets embarrassed by missing scattered innuendos. All in all, she's a good kid with a pure heart. Once she likes you, she'll invest her all into making sure you're okay.
Lately, there's been a chance to witness an interesting change in Felicity. She's no less quiet and courteously melancholy, but moves with a certain amount of intent. We'll not call it pride or confidence, because both of these are foreign to Felicity, but there's a definite purpose in each step she takes. This, combined with her nigh obsessive concern for the well-being of her companions, has lent greatly to her capabilities as a leader. *gasp* A leader, you say? Fel? Well, anythings possible.
Powers Overview
The common, accepted theory by her counselors at the Paragon City Freedom Corps Academy is that Felicity's psychological imbalances are setting off enough chemical reactions to positively and negatively affect the environment around her, depending on where the current psychological state resides. As Felicity is more often optimistic and light-hearted than not, most of her powers seem to be on the constructive side.. defined as 'Empathy', or healing and supporting others. In her darker moments, a sort of black energy will seep out of her hands, and is known to deteriorate whatever it comes into contact with. This has been defined as a 'Dark Blast', and is considered to be highly dangerous, unless trained and used in offense in battle.
Between the technological genius of Rick Davies, the understanding of the hero of Susan Davies, and the basic biotechnological knowledge of Felicity, the three were able to construct a belt to regulate the chemical reactions in Felicity's body. She can now consciously control the use of 'empathy' and 'dark blast' to the best of her ability.
Empathy
Felicity is very much a "pure empath", as she likes to call herself. She's never really gone into great detail as to how or why she got her powers, but the potency of her curative abilities is beyond question. Many have seen it as almost an extended instinct... When startled overmuch, Felicity tends to stumble back with a squeak and emit a green aura that causes general calm and comfort in those around her. This was probably her initial introduction to Empathy, as it's commonly called.
As she matured, she was able to grow some control over it. She can now release the healing aura on command, as well as target it to one other person. Indeed, she seems quite fond of toying with the health of those around her: she can negate any damage they've taken, bring them back from unconsciousness, give them bursts of adrenaline to help them recover their strength and endurance in remarkably short spans of time, clear their mind of unnatural impositions and put in their place a new keen focus to help them dodge attacks and improve their own. It's rumored that she acquired her alias, though, from use of a notably less 'fun for all' power.
The Probationary Martyr has acquired some fame in local medical and heroic fields for her ability to remove any affliction (illness, pain, disease, papercuts, nausea, headaches, etc.) from a person and transfer it to herself. She seems to take well to most of them, however, and after some initial (profound) pain, she recovers quickly. Many believe it's because of this peculiar condition that she's been assigned to explore the disastrous disease brought on by Dr. Vahzilok. After many jokes in her youth about being a martyr to her cause for her willingness to take on this task ("What does Felicity want to be when she grew up?" "What?" "A Martyr!"), she was deemed the "Probationary Martyr". Whether or not she'll effectively pass as a martyr.. well, I guess we'll all see.
People have noticed however, that the absorption of the Vahzilok's Disease into Felicity has slowed her down considerably. Doctors are hoping this is an insignificant side effect, and will cause no substantial setbacks.
Dark Blast
It's relatively obvious, however, that people can't be sunny and cheery all the time. Felicity's had her share of darker moments: self-doubt, sentiments of being victimized, bitterness at her fate, etc. Since she started showing superhuman abilities, this began to manifest itself in a negative energy that would seep out of the palm of her hands. Many suspect that this is why she is never seen without a pair of gloves (something that makes her the laughing stock of the PCFCA swim team), as the energy has undoubtedly had a terrible effect on her skin.
In combat, Felicity's belt-facing usually stands out as bright green. The more emotionally invested and distressed she becomes, the more wisps of dark purple (almost black) will creep through the facing (very much like trails of oil being dragged through the surface of water). With the new capabilities of her belt, she can focus substantially more into the energy, and channel it into effective attacks. A broad, general dark blast is usually the first and most common of these assaults, as well as a flurry of blasts from each hand in a short, scattered motion (typically representative of her thoughts at the time). The most effective conscious use is something Felicity likes to refer to as a 'moonbeam' attack.. a very concentrated, long-range burst of energy she picked up from watching the Snipers from her window in Founders' Fall. Macabre, but effective.
Something Felicity has quietly referred to as a Black Star, most heroes have not seen her use. When approached about the topic, she seems to frequently tried to change the subject. Suffice it to say, the Black Star is presumed to be a devastating attack that affects a wide surface area when Felicity loses control of her dark energy and it explodes in nova form all around her.
More often than not, this side of the Probationary Martyr's powers don't come up in battle.
Perception & Powers
Felicity has a curious way of looking at the world. It's not that she understands everything. Boys, for example, confuse her to no end. But as far as the molecular structure in the world around her, things just make sense. If what composes a given area of mass is no more than an accumulation of molecules and atoms, there's no reason there couldn't be a similar (but different) arrangement in the same place. This is a common tactic Felicity has in changing her clothes: simply reassigning the molecular structure of her attire. When questioned as to how she can actually effect the assembly of molecules itself, Felicity responds that it's "quite simple, really". It seems she just understands the simplicity of one element taking the place of another.
Similarly, Felicity can affect other people. She gradually began to learn how to fly by merely reassigning her own molecular structure to be, oh, about twelve inches higher. This was just a literal trade of mass, placing the oxygen and grab-bag of elements within the foot beneath her feet, and assigning her own body's atomic build to be twelve inches above that. From there, she was able to pass this on to others. In this fashion, Felicity has learned to allow herself and others the gift of flight, as well as completely teleporting (for lack of a better word) a person she's in close contact with from one destination to another. Again, trading their molecular structure with that of the air nearby. As it's not directly giving or taking from the current mixture of molecules, it hardly defies any laws of science. Just swapping electrons and trading a few molecules here and there. "Perfectly logical", she'll say.
The one aspect of this 'reassignment' that is beginning to concern those around her who can see her use it is her new curiosity in the atomic build of the 'human' brain. Felicity has found a way to alter her nerves and brain signals to endure substantially more damage, rendering her nearly invincible in a battle merely by putting mind over body. This isn't quite so frightening, as no one should begrudge a hero their own defense. However, Felicity's moved on to toy in the minds of others, altering synapses and chemical balance to induce a strange and sudden desire to fall asleep. She's known to have made a crowd of fifteen men fall asleep at the same time, out of a panic to travel through safety. For reasons like these capabilities, many around her are quite eager to keep her in the lighter aspects of her heroic person, instead of letting her succumb to the darkness and destruction inherent in her alternate power set.
"Natural" Origin
A current grievance of contemporary heroic therologists is the limitations of the Origin system. They feel like the system of classification created by Dr. James Spencer in 1992 stands as over-specific in some regards (science and technology, as well as science and mutation often overlap), and far too general in others. A large number of heroes who don't display magical, scientific, mutation-based, or technological capabilities are grouped into the origin category of "Natural." With the increasing number of telepaths, empaths, and power sets based on sheer psychological imbalance, many have put forth the concept of "Psychological" as another Origin.
Felicity is one such hero. Though well-read, she's hardly magic-based, and while she stands a keen scientist, her abilities don't stem from science or technology. It's true that her genetic structure has been mutated somewhat from past generations, but it's nothing substantial enough to fall into the general category of "Mutant". As the powers seem to stem naturally from her psyche, without influence from mutation, magic, or science, she was classified as a "Natural" hero. Felicity is a common sight at Paragon University's Heroic Theory department, often dragged along for "Bring Your Daughter To Work Day" or, really, whenever she's bored. In his book Origins: The Misnomers of Heroic Society, Dr. Eppler uses Felicity as an example of the "Psychological" origin, one of three new origins he proposes within the book:
The genetic structure of one Probationary Martyr is such that scientists cannot trace the alteration in her human genome. As no mutation has been found, she has not been classified as such. However, counselors at the young hero's academy have noticed the indomitable effect her mind has on her surroundings, through nothing but sheer force of will...As she displays no conditions key to any other classification, she has been lumped with many other heroes into the "Natural" category...The Probationary Martyr is [a key example] of a hero classified incorrectly due to the limitations of our [current origin system]...She is inside and out the epitome of a "Psychological" Hero. (Dr. William Eppler, Origins: The Misnomers of Heroic Society, pg 102-103)
Character History Overview
Felicity Primgaunt was born on May 22nd, 1989 to an elated Sally and Dr. Edgar Primgaunt. Sally was a clerical employee for Freedom Corps, and her husband was a heroic theorologist of some repute at the Paragon University. Two years later, they would give birth to a young boy named Benjamin. Felicity's childhood was quite delightful, although she lost her brother around the age of 9, something that has devastated her ever since. This was about the same time that her powers manifested, something that gave her parents a welcome distraction from the loss of Felicity's only brother.
On May 30th, 1998, Felicity enrolled (quite belatedly) into Paragon City's Freedom Corps Academy, an academy her mother had close ties to, and her father always highly recommended. It was a special academy intended to raise the best and brightest heroes in Paragon. She never quite fit in all that well, but her teachers were remarkably fond of her, and she soon rose to be among the best and the brightest in the class. In 2004, she began to develop a hearty fascination with Heroic Theory, and started to follow her father to work at the University in Founders' Falls (a few blocks from their home) to watch his lectures and meet his associates. Her mother continues working at the Freedom Corps to this day, and they seem to have gotten on quite well. Felicity found a satisfactory substitute for a social life in the books of Heroic Theory, health & medicine and Biotechnology.
Past Story Lines
In The Beginning
Overview
A basic intro to Felicity, her life at the PCFCA, and meeting the Dodgers. (lvl 1-15)
Plot
November 7th, 2006. Looks like Felicity is living the life. Straight A's at the PCFCA. A new internship with a quartet of heroes known as The Twisted Organ, a monochromatic clown..ish.. group. Her father's new book had just come out, and the holiday season was approaching. What more could a girl want? Maybe.. just maybe.. friends. Her unusually keen mind and awkward social graces had left Felicity as a girl going solo within the PCFCA hallways. The person that talked to her the most was Vivian Mandell, a spoiled brat of a hero whose father worked for Crey and got her the treatment and equipment to be a hero "because she wanted to be". And why was Miss Mandell talking to little old Felicity, the daughter of a secretary and secondary professor? Only to make her life a living hell. Needless to say, Felicity was not a happy girl.
While teaming one day with a gorgeous young woman known as the Precocious Paradox, the group was assaulted, and hard, by Dr. Vahzilok's creations. They held them off for a long time, but the Preocious Paradox fell in battle. Once all was finished, Felicity stumbled upon her, half-conscious herself, and was able to bring her back from the brink of death. In gratitude, the Precocious Paradox gave Felicity a seemingly meaningless gift.. a small plastic card. A VIP pass to Pocket D. It took Fel a few days to muster up the courage to go... I mean, it was a club, for crying out loud. Eventually, she did, and the experience changed her life. She found herself drawn into conversation after conversation. She was being 'hit on', something she barely understood (which delighted most of the verbal assailants). And she met Alison.
Alison Kaufmann (See-Thru) was a villain in the Rogue Isles, something Felicity never really liked hearing. She'd had a hard knock life, ended up killing a few to many people to be considered a 'vigilante hero', and thus turned to villainy. But something about Felicity just grabbed the 30 something hero. Her innocence and wit, her beauty and subtle honesty, Alison was drawn to the Probationary Martyr, and soon became quite protective of her. In these days, Felicity would make a few other friends. Another of them was a man named Asalasel... a fallen angel who had lost his mortal wife. And Felicity, of course, looked and acted just like her.
One day in Pocket D, Felicity was approached by a disarmingly social young woman known as Glassworks, who was accompanied by a brooding figure she'd meet as Woe's Child, and a dashing young hero known as Casval Regelis. Glassworks (Lynn) was delighted with Felicity, and insisted she join their super group... a collection of young heroes coming to terms with their powers known as The Artful Dodgers. Felicity felt quite capable with her powers, but the appeal of learning the finesse of social interaction had her fascinated. So she joined, and would from there meet a fantastic entourage of people... Juvie, the founder of the group; his resilient, no-nonsense girlfriend (eventually) Princess Powerfull; a young girl named Rebecca who went by The Gymnast; a rogue Clockwork known as Techworks; a young, oddly purple man named Khaotix... a ragtag collection of heroes that Felicity fell instantly in love with. And from there, everything was roses. Her security clearance level started going through the roof, something she could never accomplish that successfully without the help of her friends. Felicity was finally on the right path.
Dark Felicity
Overview
A story that explores the delicate balance between Good & Evil. Particularly, in the mind of Felicity. When her goodie-two-shoes goes a bit too extreme, said delicate balance proceeds to snap, and all hell breaks loose. (lvl 15-30)
Plot
(Coming Soon)
Heroic Origins
Overview
Felicity's father, a professor of Heroic Theory at Paragon University, travels to Greece and beyond to try and discern the origin of the new influx of superpowers. But what will it mean for heroes today? And is it a secret best kept a secret? (lvl 30-45)
Plot
(Coming Soon)
The Vahzilok Plague
Overview
Felicity's main story arc. The Vahzilok Plague is becoming more and more of a threat! Can Felicity stop it? What is it in her DNA that enables her to absorb this disease, and will she be safe if she tries to purge it? Can Crimson Muse, Casval and Amelia stop her? Will they even want to? And what is that damn Kheldian floating around behind her at school all the time?(lvl 45-50)
Plot
(Coming Soon)
After the Dodgers
Overview
Felicity drops off the radar as her parents ban her from seeing the Artful Dodgers and send her to college out of town. She gets straight A's but finds a void in her day to day life, and even the company of Salvaeo Facula can't keep her cheered up. After the first year, Felicity packs up and runs away from her life, both college and parents. She spends a night in the Artful Dodgers base, learning that Casval has lost his memory. Heartbroken, she leaves the Dodgers, hellbent on making it on her own without being another problem on the Dodgers' plate. The question now stands, however: Where is Felicity?? (lvl 50+)
Plot
(Coming Soon)
Enemies and Allies
For more details on this topic, see Enemies and Allies
Felicity owes her all to The Artful Dodgers, and namely Casval and Crimson Muse, who have helped her through a great deal. Regardless of her warm and giving nature, there are still plenty who wish her ill.. the shady Madame Margeurite, the sinister Dr. Vahzilok, and the spoiled rotten Vivian Mandell. Not to mention a strange Kheldian who's been following Felicity relentlessly. Friend or foe? We shall see.
