Selfless Shield
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Typical Heroing Armor | |
| Selfless Shield | |
| Player: @Frozen Falcon | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Tanker |
| Security Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Stefanie [Recently Legally Changed] Evans |
| Known Aliases: | None |
| Species: | Human / Further Information Requested |
| Age: | 26 |
| Height: | ~5'8" |
| Weight: | ~130lbs |
| Eye Color: | Right: Blue [blind] / Left: Brown |
| Hair Color: | Auburn / Blue or White [With Certain Uniforms] |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Confidential |
| Occupation: | Heroine |
| Place of Birth: | Confidential |
| Base of Operations: | Confidential |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | None On Record |
| Known Powers | |
| Ice Armor / Ice Melee / Flight / Inherant Fitness / Arctic Mastery | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Mild Empathic/Magic Sensing | |
| Equipment | |
| Typically seen wearing Metallic-Based Armors / Further Details Uknown/Unspecified | |
| No additional information available. | |
Contents |
Basic Information
Real Name: Stefanie [Recently Legally Changed] Evans
Known Aliases: Faith, Selfless Shield, Shield, Scourge, Frozen Scourge
Occupation: Heroine
Place of Birth: Unknown/Unspecified
Base of Operations: Paragon City
Known Relatives: None
Affiliations: None
Physical Attributes
Height: ~5'8"
Weight: ~130lbs
Eyes: Right: Blue [blind] / Left: Brown
Hair: Auburn / Blue or White [With Certain Uniforms]
Personality
Stefanie Evans can be described as a "righteous" and yet "humble" personality while working - she will put her safety on the line for almost complete strangers if it means innocent people will live. Internally she struggles with this, however. Yes, it is its own reward to know you have saved a life... but at what cost to yourself? You cannot continue to save ... well, ANYTHING... if you are dead. Though recently, she has been known to take greater and greater risk, in the hopes that she /will/ be killed. She swings between valiant and borderline suicidal rather frequently as of late.
A strong personality while 'working', while at ease, Stefanie used to have a more relaxed side - now, few ever get to see it, unless she is mildly inebriated. Though almost always cased in cold metal and colder ice, Stefanie is sometimes approachable, and has recently been struggling to shrug off her defensively acquired anti-social tendencies. She's finding it difficult to socialize, but continually makes the effort, for whatever reason, though she appears to take little pleasure in doing so. When approached, most will find her attitude flat and nigh emotionless, or even mildly annoyed just to have been brought out of her reverie.
It is noted that she is extremely distrustful of any creature of magical origin, even contemptuous of them, believing they are "guilty until proven innocent". Demons, Angels, Demi-Gods, Ghosts, Fae and their like... Recently having become rather quiet, she prefers to keep these particular opinions to herself, unless annoyed into expressing them.
Powers
Selfless Shield acquired her powers through what can only be described as Magical (perhaps even spiritual) means, and they have manifested in many forms. The most obvious are her powers over Ice - mainly used for defensive purposes, but just as skillfully wielded as offensive weapons. Due to her association with the mysterious Incubbus, Shield has also mastered the ability of flight - originally tied to her emotional state, she can now move freely about the City without so much as a thought to how. She also has trained vigorously since the acquisition of her powers and as such is extremely physically fit. Her body type does not show prominent muscle as easily as a man's might, but her ability to recover rapidly from any blows that make it through her defenses, as well as the extreme conditions required to take her breath away are excellent indicators of her good health.
Primary Powers - Ice Armor
Selfless Shield's Primary Powers have manifested as Ice Armor, which she has developed to incredible durability. As a result, she is highly resistant to most anything that comes her way.
Secondary Powers - Ice Melee
Selfless Shield's Secondary Powers have manifested as Ice Melee, which she has developed as a formidable offense. A list of her Known abilities are as follows:
Pool Powers
Aside from the manifestations of Cold, Selfless Shield has developed and trained in several other pool powers to help make her a more complete and competant Heroine.
Flight
Selfless Shield has learned several basic powers related to Flight that have improved her physical prowess as well as her mobility.
Epic Pool Power - Artic Mastery
Through perfect control of her temperature and intense Magickal focus, Selfless Shield is now able to project her powers of Cold to ranged nemeses, through Arctic Mastery.
Character History
As far as history goes, the once-known-as Faith Evans' is strange and saturated with the unusual, as are most Heroes/Heroines. As a young child, young enough to escape conscious memory though occasionally she dreams of it, she was kidnapped by the Circle of Thorns. The cult scryed into her future on the word of a then powerful Arch-Mage, and found their own downfall within her. They were prepared to sacrifice her the following evening at midnight, but a rogue mage of a lesser class returned her to her family and spirited them away... at the cost of revealing his double agency and sacrificing his own life. The Evans never learned the name of that double agent, but were not inclined to do much probing. They were, after all, on the run. Eventually they found sanctuary in Paragon City, and settled under the watchful eyes of Heroes and Heroines where Faith grew and matured, unawares of the results of that scrying, and soon forgetting it altogether.
After more than a decade of searching, the Circle of Thorns managed to find Faith Evans through their contacts scattered about Paragon. Through decree of one of its highest ranking members, a greater summoning was performed that was without precedent - Incubbus was brought into the world to see to Faith's demise. Bored from centuries of wandering the nameless Darkness without a soul to torture, he made a pact with the Circle - he would kill Faith for them, cowards that they were, in exchange for a working that would allow him to walk this world forever. And, of course, that he could do with Faith as he pleased before her death. Eager to see their future secured, the Circle agreed.
Wasting little time, Incubbus came that night to Faith as she slept, lifting her struggling form from her bed with his powerful right arm, as if she were nothing but a rag doll. He was the most terrifying thing Faith had ever witnessed - pitch black from head to foot, torn black wings mantling his prey, tail twitching lightly, a nonchalant smile as he lifted his left hand high... He brought his clawed left hand down across her face to stifle her scream, leaving a scar across the right side of her face, permanently blinding her right eye. But as the blood trickled down her face, all her fear left her, for Incubbus had awakened something long dormant within.
Without the knowledge of how, she forced a magical rapport between the two of them, a spirit/soul-type bond opened wide that began to draw his energy through it and into herself. Its first manifestation was in a thick sheet of slippery ice armor that coated every portion of her body, followed shortly by a wash of weakness to the demon, who released her. The second was a jagged coating of tough ice around her fist that shortly connected with the side of the demon's head, the pain of the blow turning his wings and tail to ashes as he staggered to his knees. Shortly thereafter, with only a thought, a sword of glassy, razor-sharp ice formed to her hand, which she used to cut a gash across his chest. Incubbus cried out, bleeding away what seemed to be yet more power as she siphoned it from him, his musculature fading slowly with each drop released, until he was nothing but a scrawny, black-skinned imp creature, human in size, but in nothing else.
And now Faith stood over her would-be killer, breathing hard and in an almost trance-like state, one fist of ice, the other white-knuckled on her sword. Incubbus was weak and helpless beneath her, and he knew it. He was furious, but could focus on nothing more than staying "alive". Faith did not know how to banish this... this thing back to where it had spawned. But her body knew another way - she solidified the magical rapport that she had used to drain him and fuel herself, placing upon it two conditions: firstly, the two would be bound together by her will. He would remain in this world yes, but unable to harm any innocent creature, including herself, controlled utterly by her will. If he wanted something to suffer, it would have to be the person or thing of her choosing. And secondly, he could not free himself from her unless he made a willing change of heart and intention - until he chose for himself a path of good intentions, to protect and serve a power other than himself, becoming humbled and selfless enough to see beyond his own desires and to the needs of the weak and innocent. They were not for torturing and eating, but protecting.
Faith had never heard of a demon capable of making such a change. But it was better that he not walk the world uninhibited. And if she had to be bound forever to the thing that sought to kill her, well... it was better than leaving it to terrorize innocent lives with reckless abandon.
Thus she had not only to deal with her newfound powers and internal struggle with herself, but with a snarling, fighting Demon along the way. Yet she managed with commendable sanity to not only grow her own powers but to, in a sense, "tame" the wild Incubbus. His nature fought him every step of the way, crying out to him that submission was not an option, that he must fight this woman, must kill her, kill her... But in a small corner of his mind he found himself growing weary of that voice. Since he could not kill her, he instead turned his energies to the cults and gangs they were fighting. He was startled when the first of their rescued victims took his hand and thanked him without fear. Gradually he grew to enjoy the emotional rewards of their work together... and Faith's company as well - for the less he fought her, the more breathing room she gave him through the bond they shared, first giving him back his physical prowess... Then gradually, more of his powers of the mind. Through their connection he even learned to extend his regenerative abilities to her and to others, becoming a powerful healer and ally.
After several years their relationship relinquished its tenseness and became second nature, and she began to see him in a new light, as, she was sure, he was beginning to see himself. Her constant vigil over their shared bond lessened as she felt more at ease in his presence, until three years after their initial bonding, during the early hours of the evening, the bond thinned... thinned... and broke altogether.
This was his chance. Incubbus snapped awake immediately, the voice in his mind that had almost been replaced by Faith's gentle one was resurging with vengeance. Kill her, kill her. He went to her bedside, silent as a shadow in an ironic mimicry of their first encounter. But, as he gazed upon her restfully sleeping form, he paused in a moment of hesitation. Her hair had fallen away from her face and revealed the ugly scarring upon its right side. And there was a smile on her lips while she slept. Incubbus' spirit broke entirely, for he not only respected the woman who lay before him, but found his heart was hers as well. He fell softly into a trance, captured by a beauty that the scarring could not mar. And in this trance he drew the darkness from inside himself and in a process he himself would never understand, used his own essences to create another creature, but one entirely in Faith's image. Incubbus named him Michael, after an Angel of legend, an irony since he was entirely of dark essence and flesh. And Michael was surely of both of them - he became a hero for a time, and roamed Paragon City with the appearance of an eight year old boy.
Shortly after revealing the creation of their 'son', Incubbus vanished from Faith's life. She was desolate, and found some small solace in helping tutor her 'son', mentoring him through the discovery of his abilities, and trying to offer him as normal a childhood as she could. She even managed to help him overcome many incredible obstacles and dangers when he discovered that, in truth and fact, he was entirely demonic as well. And yet always she felt... incomplete... For she came to know that against better judgment, she had given her heart to him as well. And a foolish, foolish thing that was.
Stories/Recent Events
Roller Coaster Rides
Incubbus returned for a brief period, before disappearing again, apparently for the final time. When he left, he took a piece of Faith's very soul with him, leaving with her a piece of his own, dark spirit instead. It resides just below her heart, and she can still sometimes be seen touching, pressing, or rubbing it as if it pains her...
Months would go by, then a year, with no word from Incubbus. And all in one day, Faith would learn that her 'son' and Incubbus were both torn from her. Michael had been assisting in the banishment of a Demon back to the Infernal Plane, only to learn during the casting that it was his own 'father' he was damning. Stricken, he leapt into the portal as well before it closed, damned to roam with his 'father' for eternity.
Faith was devestated, having lost her only 'family' in one fell swoop. She sunk into a deep depression, that dark energy in her soul manifesting in a drastic way by transforming her into the physically female version of Incubbus.
Now just over a year later, Faith, now Stefanie, returns to the life she knew before, though without her companions or 'family'. She legally changed her name to Stefanie, feeling the ironic burden on her birth name to be too great to bear.
Retintegration has felt much like she thought soldiers coming home from war must feel like... After committing several murders in her demonic form during a brief stint in the Isles while drowning in her grief and rage, returning to "Heroing" feels like a hollow consolation for her loss, but it's the only skill she can exert to make a living.
Hollowness seems to describe almost every aspect of her existance, now. She moves with a hollow heart, but follows through the motions in the vain hopes of regaining a purpose lost through hardship she should never have suffered...
Occassionally, just once in a scattered while, feels her natural, righteous heart beating... And it's almost as terrifying as the first day her powers became real.
