Silver-Rook
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| The Unfathomable | |
| Rook | |
| |
| The board is set. The pieces have been placed. The Rook has arrived. | |
| 50 Magic Scrapper 50 Magic Tanker | |
| Claws / Regeneration Dual Blades / Willpower | |
| Player: @Sephorus | |
| Activity Level: Constant | |
| Basic Information | |
| Real Name: | Tara Elaine Underwood |
|---|---|
| Aliases: | Rook Golden Rook Silver Rook |
| Titles: | None |
| Rank: | Defiant Fist |
| Physical Identifiers | |
| Species: | Human |
| Sub-Type: | Caucasian |
| Gender: | Female |
| Apparent Age: | 22 |
| Height: | Classified |
| Weight: | Classified |
| Build: | Medium |
| Complexion: | Light |
| Eye Color: | Gold |
| Hair Color: | Blonde |
| Distinguishing Features | |
| Relates all events around her to a chess metaphor. | |
| Biographical Data | |
| Birthdate: | 12th April, 1985 |
| Birthplace: | Salamanca, Rhode Island |
| Nationality: | American |
| Residence: | Salamanca, Rhode Island |
| Occupation: | Professional Hero |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Legal Status: | Registered Hero |
| Relatives & Associates | |
| The Black King(Father; Deceased) The White Queen(Mother; Deceased) | |
| Known Powers | |
| No inherent powers | |
| Skills & Abilities | |
| Exceptional close combat fighter. Excellent tactical mind. Fights with the skill of a trained swordswoman. | |
| Equipment | |
| (As Silver Rook) Kingsmail: Allows the wearer to recuperate faster and while increasing their tolerance for pain. Queensblade A set of blades which causes the experience of physical pain to those struck without leaving a lasting impact. (As Golden Rook) Ebony Lord and Ivory Lady A pair of swords powered by the spirits of Rook's parents. The blades can be summoned to Rook at a thought. | |
Silver-Rook is the first Scrapper created by @Sephorus that had an RP backstory, despite her beginnings as a non-RP character; she was initially made out of a desire to try the primary and secondary powersets. However, she has since become his highest-level character on the Virtue roster, and is one of the more-recognizable personalities contained within the Shield of Paragon.
It should be noted before continuing that, due to the nature of Silver-Rook's backstory, almost every scrap of backround information is either considered classified, missing data, or extremely well hidden; everything is merely listed here for the sake of documentation, continuity, and plain old record-keeping.
Contents |
Affiliations
Silver-Rook currently works as a Defiant Fist within The Reciprocators. City records indicate that she holds no prior memberships to any other organization, although whether that is accurate or if there is lack of appropriate paperwork has yet to be determined.
Personality
Silver-Rook often comes across as extremely creepy, standoffish, emotionless, or just plain weird. She speaks very rarely, often letting those around her do the bulk of the talking; when she does have something to say, it comes across in semi-cryptic phrases with heavy overtones of chess. Her reservations, however, quickly fade in the heat of battle, where she is very quick to leap into the fray to bring, as she is often heard uttering, a swift checkmate.
Powers
Claws (The Queensblade)
Silver-Rook possesses a pair of claws known collectively as The Queensblade. When wearing them, her speed and agility seem to increase to superhuman levels. The blades themselves, however, are tempered with a nigh-unbreakable seal - any wound inflicted by the Queensblade is one that cannot kill. Anyone injured by them seems to experience the physical symptoms of pain; however, the wound itself closes instantaneously and leaves no permanent damage.
Regeneration (The Kingsmail)
Silver-Rook also possesses a belt known as The Kingsmail. When wearing it, her tolerance for pain, as well as her recuperative abilities, skyrocket beyond mortal comprehension. Constant use of this belt has caused some of the magics to remain 'stuck' to Silver-Rook; however, the majority of its functioning requires it to be worn.
Additional Powers
Superspeed
Stemming from The Queensblade, Silver-Rook has the slight ability to 'fold' time around herself, which she uses as a method of transportation. While useful, it is extremely taxing during combat situations. To that end, Rook has also learned how to create a smaller and less taxing version of this spell, which allows her to strike far faster than usual without worrying about maintaning any form of magic.
Fitness
A collaboration of The Queensblade and The Kingsmail, Rook is able to jump higher, run faster, and recover her breath in the blink of an eye- if she was ever out of it to begin with, which is a rare sight indeed.
Presence
Recently, Rook has begun tapping into the spirit rift that seems to follow her around, in hopes to use its energies as yet another tool in the fight against crime. Her only usage thus far has been to convince others that she is a primary threat; however, her aim is to control this ethereal energy in order to lash out with the one weapon that most criminals would wield - fear.
Abilities
The Arcane Blood
Being from a long line of mages, Rook has a natural affinity to the ebb and flow of magical energies. However, as she has never had a day of formal training in her entire life, the applications of such a power are extremely limited in scope - the most she has been able to do in the past is light a match with the snap of her fingers. As such, it bears little to no relevance in the field.
The Spirit Link
Despite being the cause of her insanity, the spirit link that Rook formed several years ago gives her an always-open conduit to the world of the dead. As such, she is able, with great concentration, to filter out enough voices to hold brief conversations with the departed. In the past, she has primarily done this with her mother and father, although the possibility of calling upon other individuals remains.
Weaknesses and Limitations
Rook's one glaring weakness is part of her mental state. As she believes herself to truly be a rook in a game of chess, she will follow any order given to her by any of the Tiers within The Reciprocators. She does not have to agree with the order, but she will follow it regardless. This was most prevalent during August, 2007, where fellow Reciprocator Alexus Apollo jokingly ordered Rook to attend a beach party; despite asking numerous questions on how such an action would further the game, Rook attended as 'ordered'.
Equipment
Silver-Rook bears two artifacts that have been passed down through the Underwood family for generations - a set of claws known as The Queensblade, and a jeweled belt known as The Kingsmail.
The Queensblade, formerly possessed by Rook's mother, The White Queen, grant whomever wields them incredible speed, grace, and agility. In addition, the claws are tempered with runic inscriptions which run the length of each blade; these runes seem to increase the strength and sharpness of the weapons, as well as prevent the weapon from ever chipping, cracking, breaking, or otherwise suffering any form of damage that would render them less able in combat. However, these runes also prevent any wound inflicted by The Queensblade to ever kill another being; the pain associated with the wound will remain, but the actual wound will not.
The Kingsmail, formerly possessed by Rook's father, The Black King, grants the bearer the ability to recover from any wound, sickness, or ailment with incredible speeds. Simply donning the belt prevents the wearer from ever requiring sleep, and passively increases the rate at which the body heals. In addition, those well versed in manipulating its magical energies are able to channel its powers to increase pain tolerance, heal wounds as fast as they are received, and supposedly even bring back the recently deceased.
Character History
Silver-Rook, otherwise known as Tara Elaine Underwood, comes from a long line of arcane superheroes with roots dating as far back as the Renaissance Era. Her bloodline is supposedly watched by some overarching force, who foretold that the Underwood lineage would, with each generation, bear two champions in the fight against evil, with the previous generation passing on their talents before their retirement. This lineage continued with Tara's parents, who are only known as The Black King and The White Queen in Paragonian records. However, before Tara's prophesied other half would emerge and her destiny be revealed to her, both Mr. and Mrs. Underwood were brutally murdered at the hands of the Tsoo sometime following Tara's 17th birthday.
For the next few years, Tara was placed into foster care, although she often returned to her home in Salamanca; eventually, as her former place of residence was still considered property of the Underwood family, she returned to the village in order to pick up the pieces of her lost parentage. It was then that she discovered the history behind herself and her ancestors, and recovered the equipment her parents had left behind - the artifacts known as The Queensblade and The Kingsmail. Afterwards, she withdrew from society for some time.
Records on Miss Underwood during this period are incredibly sketchy at best; what has been gleaned is that she attempted to utilize her family's arcane affinity to open a rift into the spirit world in an effort to finally give her goodbyes to her deceased mother and father. However, as a self-trained mage, and an apprentice at best, she never managed to fully close this rift between worlds, and as such, she began acting as a conduit between this world and the next. Further speculation is that she began hearing the deceased constantly, which eventually led to a deep-rooted dementia. Magical studies have provided heavy evidence towards this theory; however, as Miss Underwood effectively disappeared from civilian life shortly after the death of her parents, nothing conclusive has been found.
Sometime in early October of 2006, Miss Underwood resurfaced as the heroine known as Silver-Rook. Upon registering at City Hall, it was noted that all of her public records be destroyed, sealed away deep within the vaults of the MAGI office, or turned over to the Underwood family for safekeeping. In addition, she became overly protective and secretive about many aspects of her previous life, as though the woman known as Tara Underwood no longer existed. As such, most information on her history has become incredibly difficult to uncover for most individuals - the only people she has given any sort of personal information to are Black Starbeam and Static Bolter of The Reciprocators, and that was more out of necessity for joining the group than anything else.
Since her return and subsequent career in heroics, Silver-Rook has achieved several notable merits. She single-handedly brought the Tsoo cell that was responsible for the death of her parents to justice, and heavily counteracted both Freakshow activity in Bloody Bay and Arachnos movements in Warburg. There are also claims that she returned to Salamanca for a brief time to study from The Cabal, although these are mere rumors at best. As of late, Rook has conducted patrols almost exclusively within the Rikti War Zone, although nothing notable has yet to come of working under the watch of Vanguard.
