Rackham
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| Rackham | |
| Player: Bedloe | |
| Origin: | Mutant |
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| Archetype: | Brute |
| Threat Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Rackham |
| Known Aliases: | Rack |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 22 |
| Height: | 6'1" |
| Weight: | 197 |
| Eye Color: | Blue (actually appear as blue flames) |
| Hair Color: | Brown |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Career Criminal |
| Place of Birth: | Kings Row, Paragon City, RI, USA |
| Base of Operations: | St. Martial, Rogue Isles |
| Marital Status: | Unmarried |
| Known Relatives: | None |
| Known Powers | |
| Darkness attacks, Fire aura | |
| Known Abilities | |
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| Equipment | |
| ' | |
| ' | |
Contents |
Affiliations
Friends and Allies
Germaine: Rackham has accompianed Germaine to a number of Cape functions and has been known to place himself at some risk to see her. The exact extent of their relationship is unclear.
Supergroup: Shadow of the Eternal Flame
Rackham is the founder and primary contact for Shadow of the Eternal Flame. The group is more a loose coalition of mercenaries pooling resources than a true force in the Isles.
Personality
Rackham's personality is largely colored by his past gang assosciations. While he would like to see himself as a suave, sophisticated James Bond type, he will occasionally default to his previous role of posturing gang leader. He usually ends up regretting acting like this, but that doesn't seem to keep him from doing it again.
Sometimes his darker mercenary viewpoint will surface and he can seem rather cruel and uncaring. He also is quick to judge events and people boring and his attempts at making things more interesting can often lead to outright crimminal behavior.
The exception to all this is when Rackham is around Germaine. He will do his best to shield her from any darker aspects of his personality as well as downplay any questionable activities he may have participated in.
Regardless of his current mood, Rackham always maintains a strong hatred for the Back Alley Brawler, whom he believes responsible for much of the events in his life.
Character History
Juvenile Delinquent
Rackham was born in the Kings Row neighborhood of Paragon City. Born to a poor mother who was more interested in her current boyfriend than Rackham, he largely raised himself. Rackham fell into a gang early on and when his mutant abilities manifested at puberty he quickly put them to use. He dominated the local gang, becoming leader of the gang shortly after his 17th birthday.
The gang was firmly second tier, well behind such large groups as the Hellions or Skulls. After holding off several rival gangs, the Skulls took notice of the gang in general and Rackham in paticular.
Rackham was not interested letting the Skulls absorb his gang and was able to defeat the rather suprised Skulls who came to make the propostion. The Skull leadership's reaction to this turn of events is unknown and unimportant. The Back Alley Brawler didn't leave either gang with enough time to dwell on Rackham's first real victory.
Go To Jail, Do Not Pass Go
The gang's celebration of their victory over the Skulls was short lived. That night Back Alley Brawler decided to make an example in hopes of once again curtailing gang activity in Paragon City. Busting in, Brawler quickly incapacitated the normal gang members leaving only himself and Rackham. The two fought, however Rackham was no match for the more skilled Brawler. The Back Alley Brawler landed a blow that sent Rackham flying. Unfortunately, he landed in a spilled puddle of alcohol from the gang's party. Rackham's fire aura quickly ignited the alcohol and the fire soon spread to the entire building. End result? Two warehouses destroyed and five dead: one police officer who was on hand to aid the Brawler in cleaning up the defeated gangers and four members of Rackham's gang.
Rackham himself was knocked unconcious in the fight. When he awoke he found himself in jail, accused of arson and murder and set to be tried as an adult.
Rackham was accused of deliberately setting the fires during the battle. Despite his protests, Rackham was quickly convicted by a jury. His gang afiliation as well as the appearence of his eyes was all the evidence the jury really needed.
Being sentenced to 45 years with no chance of parole was rather distressing for the 17 year old Rackham. His mutant abilities and the severity of the crime
had him place in the maximum security wing of the Ziggurat. Being 17 and tossed into a hardend prison population was a shock for Rackham. He felt betrayed and abandoned by the world. Spending most of his days in isolation, Rackham turned to losing himself in the books he received from the prison library. He soon discovered a love of learning and while in prison earned his G.E.D.
Freedom and Vengence
Rackham spent 5 years in the Zig before being broken out by Arachnos as part of their Project Destiny plan. Freed by Arachnos Rackham took a mercenary bend, selling his services to whomever could meet his steep fees. Eventually Rackham founded a small group of similar individuals, known as The Shadow of the Eternal Flame. Not really caring to be involved in the various power struggles found throughout the Isles left Rackham something of an outsider. He has spent the last year drifting through the Rogue Isles working for an ever-growing web of contacts and employers.
Rackham has twice come into direct conflict with the Back Alley Brawler since his escape from the Ziggurat. Both times Rackham has managed to come out the victor. However, Back Alley Brawler's use of the emergency teleport system has prevented him from carrying out his revenge as fully as he would like. This has left Rackham more frustrated than ever. Just mentioning the Brawler is enough to set Rackham off on a tirade.
Recently Rackham had a falling out with Lord Recluse and Black Scorpion. While the cause of this is subject none of them seem willing to discuss it is known that it involves Rackham's part in the Project Destiny plan. While not official censored by Arachnos, Rackham has taken to keeping a low profile. He has only taken a few jobs recently, mostly in an effort to keep his name in cirrculation as a possible employee for various mercenary contacts.
Recent rumors place Rackham in Paragon City in the company of the heroine Germaine. The truth of these rumors has not been verified to date.
Powers
Dark Melee
Rackham's powers allow him to form a frigid vaccum around his forearms as he attacks. He uses the trauma this field causes to enhances his blows. While in excellent physical shape, Rackham is not any stronger than a normal human and without this ability he would be at a severe disadvantage in combat.
Originally believed to be a manipulation of physical space, Rackham has revealed that the power is actually far more than that. Through means unknown, Rackham is able to open small portals to an alien dimension of cold and darkness. His control is limited and for that reason he generally restricts the size to merely slightly larger than his fist. Rackham has been able to open portals much larger than this though, including ones large enough to pull a Behmoth through. Exactly what lies on the other side of these portals is not clear, however the larger portals all errupt with something large, tentacled, and very angry trying to pull its way into our dimension. Frustrated, the creature tends to attack whatever or whomever comes within reach.
Fire Aura
The most visually apparent of Rackham's powers and the one that has cause him the most trouble in life. Rackham is able to incase himself in flames, leaving him protected from most damage. This fire aura tend to incinerate most projectiles before they can reach his body, protecting him from many ranged attacks. The heat from the flames is enough to cause even invunerable opponents to subconciously pull back on their blows, lessing the damage Rackham takes in hand to hand combat. Despite this, Rackham has developed the ability to control the intesity of the flames. While it does require him to concentrate with varying degrees of difficulty, Rackham has cause the flames to fall to a temperature not much greater than the body temperature of a normal human in the past. Rackham also has an enhanced healing ability, causing him to recover from most serious injuries at a rapid pace. This power sometimes leads him to be rather reckless, trusting in his healing ability to absorb more damage than it is actually capable.
Super Leaping
Rackham has shown the ability to leap vast distances by using his fire aura to create minature "rockets" to propel him forward. The concentration required to fine tune this power seems to be what is keeping him from achieving true flight. However, he has shown excellent manuverablitly, including the ability to change directions in mid-air.
Minor abilities
Rackham posseses the power to temperarily "supercharge" his powers allowing him to increase both his healing and the speed with which he attacks. Doing so tends to leave him feeling drained and he often saves it for when he knows a he will face a paticularily tough battle. Rackham also has a Nulifier Mace similar to the ones used by Arachnos soldiers. While he rarely uses it, especially since his falling out with Black Scorpion, it remains a part of his arsenal.
To contact this character's creator
- In-game: @Bedloe
- CoH official forums: Oldeb
