Ravedigger
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| The Ravedigger | |
| Player: User:NeverBorn | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Controller |
| Security Level: | 16 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | John Kazuo |
| Known Aliases: | None known |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 19 |
| Height: | 6' |
| Weight: | 174 lbs. |
| Eye Color: | Brown |
| Hair Color: | Purple (dyed from black) |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Japanese-American |
| Occupation: | Music store clerk |
| Place of Birth: | Greensboro, NC |
| Base of Operations: | Kings Row, Paragon City |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | John Kazuo has a large extended family. Both parents still alive, five siblings. He’s the third born. |
| Known Powers | |
| Various illusion abilities | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Dancer, talented musician | |
| Equipment | |
| None, although he can create practical illusions of many items should the need arise. | |
| Shows as blank to a telepathic scan. Life signs check inconclusive. | |
The Ravedigger started as an inside joke among my friends after we encountered a small-town cemetery lit up with what appeared to be glowsticks (a “raveyard”). After laughing about the pun and its variations, I hit upon the hero concept of a half-dead raver imbued with illusory powers. After playing through the first several levels, I decided that I liked the character enough to keep him around.
Contents |
Affiliations
The Ravedigger is a junior member of StormForce. He fights in the public face of the team, StormForce Prime.
History
“This will make you fly.”
When the Paragon Dance Party shut down and moved to Pocket D, the warehouse was claimed and converted by a local street gang into a venue for monthly underground raves. John Kazuo became a regular at these events, using them as an escape from the pressures of school and his tightly-structured family life. John and his girlfriend Gina had a wild reputation, happily taking as many drugs and stimulants as they could handle to enhance the experience. At one such event, John was approached by a man named Simon who offered John a sample of a new drug. Against his better judgment, John accepted. The drug turned out to be “mez”, a volatile combination peddled by the Carnival of Shadows containing concentrated magical essence. John overdosed and collapsed on the dance floor.
Inner Battle
What happened next is fuzzy. John’s spirit became stuck in limbo, surrounded by a million dazzling lights. There, he met a dark and sinister version of himself who attacked and tormented John, seemingly determined to destroy John or drag him into an area of stifling darkness. For what seemed like days, John and his spirit-enemy waged physical and psychological battle, until John finally got the upper hand and won. Almost immediately, John awoke in a hospital bed. He’d been in a coma for days.
Amazingly, John discovered that he was no longer the same as before the mez incident. He had developed limited control over light and shadow. Fumbling with his new abilities, John managed to escape the hospital without being detected. Once on the street, John continued to practice and discovered he could use light and darkness to create magnificent illusions – which then magically gained substance!
Tragedy and the Birth of the Ravedigger
For days, John experimented with his newfound powers. He theorized that mez – like the notorious troll drug superadine – had taken root in his system and given him access to magical energies. Thrilled, John visited Gina and told her his story, convincing her to visit the club and take her own dose of mez. John imagined the two of them as a super-powered couple, perhaps the start of a new youth gang on the streets. But Gina didn’t develop magical powers that night or the next one. She simply got a high like any other user. John shrugged off the failed experiment, but Gina kept trying. John grew concerned and asked her to stop. She didn’t. Gina was hooked on mez, and began to take larger and larger doses. An accidental (?) overdose dropped Gina into a coma, but unlike John, she failed to wake up. She finally went brain dead a few days later, and life support was ended.
Gina’s death hit John hard. Driven by guilt, John took to the streets and tracked down the mez dealer named Simon. Using his powers, John arrested Simon and shut down the entire Kings Row mez operation. John didn’t consider this a heroic action, just a long overdue one. When the arresting officer asked John what “hero name” he was registered as, John was stunned. He was no hero. He was a junkie and a punk. But that night, John walked the streets of Kings Row and thought about his unique situation and the second chance he’d been given. The next day John arrived at City Hall and registered as the Ravedigger.
Questions About Origin
To this day, John is not quite sure exactly how he gained his abilities. His original theory – that mez grants special abilities in a method similar to superadine – has been debunked many times over. Despite a growing popularity in the club scene, mez has never had an effect on any user the same as it did on John. Some have theorized that anyone suffering a mez overdose could have an experience similar to John’s, namely a battle with his or her spiritual self. John may simply be the only person who has passed the test and survived. The others have lost, leading to a coma and eventual brain death.
Another theory hinges on the mystery ingredients the Carnival of Shadows places in the drug. If different batches contain different ingredients, than perhaps it was a special combination that led to John’s experience.
All that is really known for certain is that John’s powers register as magically channeled (Azuria confirmed this during John’s first day on the job), that there is no trace of the mez drug left in his system, and all efforts to recreate his abilities have failed.
Powers
All of The Ravedigger’s powers involve the creation of substantial illusions. Using fine control over light and dark, John can create images from thin air that are similar to holograms. The difference is that John’s can become real for a short while. For example, John can conjure a wand out of thin air and throw dark blasts from it. In every way that matters, the wand IS real. Anyone could heft its weight or wield it. But the effort of maintaining the wand takes its toll on John and he has to dispel the illusion. The full limit of these powers is not yet known, but theoretically John could create and temporarily maintain anything his imagination could perceive.
Illusion/Light Control
John’s primary focus. With concentration, John can use light and shadow to create incredible illusions. He has been known to blind his enemies with flashing lights or even inflict enough illusionary wounds to incapacitate them. In his off time, John experiments with more complex illusions. He’s even had some mild success in creating duplicates of himself to fight at his side. So far, he’s only been able to maintain the illusion for a few seconds, but he’s been encouraged by the progress.
Storm Illusions
Growing up, John had a fascination with storms and weather phenomenon. Perhaps for this reason, he enjoys using his illusion powers to create and give substance to a number of weather effects. Although his gusts of wind aren’t real, they temporarily gain substance and knock villains off their feet. He can create a raging snow storm, but the illusion fades in moments, leaving no snow left on the ground.
These illusions require more effort to maintain, and tire John out faster than his traditional light illusions. Part of this is due to their unique requirements. For example, John cannot use his control over light and dark to create an invisible wind. Instead, he creates the illusion of leaves and dirt blowing quickly, as if caught in a gale. Combined with an impressive sound, the overall effect is a wind illusion. Once that is in place, the wind illusion becomes “real.” Obviously, this fine attention to detail is much more taxing, and he tends to use these illusions mainly as a second line of defense or as an added touch of showmanship.
Other Illusions
Occasionally, John will create other substantial illusions as part of his ongoing experimentation. He will throw a single punch, but create 12 arms all throwing identical swings. Sometimes, he manifests a jet pack that actually allows him to soar above the city. These illusions are very taxing, more so than any other in his arsenal, and can only be used sporadically.
“Gale Hopping”
Although he hasn’t yet mastered this ability, John has discovered that he can temporarily create small gusts of wind to carry him short distances. He cannot maintain the illusion long enough to actually fly or glide, but rather he appears to leap great distances. He has some more experimenting to do before he’s willing to risk jumping across rooftops in Steel Canyon, but he has high hopes.
Abilities and Hobbies
For unknown reasons (perhaps as a side-effect of the coma?), John is in a state he refers to as “half-death.” Although nothing about John appears out of the ordinary, he is remarkably resistant to psychic readings and does not register on most life scans. Recently, John was ported to the hospital during a battle with the Lost. Once there, he was legally declared dead because the machines could not detect a heartbeat. A human doctor quickly realized the error, and John was allowed to continue on his way.
John continues to hit up the dance scene, but now almost exclusively at Pocket D. Still wracked with guilt over Gina’s fate, he refuses to take drugs of any kind, including alcohol.
Personality
The Ravedigger is a bit of a brooder, primarily from his insecurity about his new life. He still attends raves and parties, but is just there for the music. When teaming with other heroes, he keeps to himself and just tries to quietly do his job. If coaxed out of his shell, Ravedigger can be very light-hearted and kind.
Heroic Career
Joining StormForce
Looking for a "young, hip" hero for the public face of StormForce, representatives of the Arinad Corporation contacted The Ravedigger about joining his first superteam. The idea intrigued Ravedigger, who had been fighting alone on the streets of King's Row. He liked the idea of belonging to a family of heroes and learning to master his powers. He joined up with the team and quickly drew a fair amount of fame by helping The Cerulean Legion stop a three-tiered attack on the Faultline Dam. Since then, Ravedigger has fended off numerous requests for interviews and photo shoots from teen magazines and television programs.
