Skylancer
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| "I'd have given everything I had just to walk again. Now I can fly. It's... still a little hard to believe sometimes."
--Skylancer | |
| Skylancer | |
| Player: Wildwind | |
| Origin: | Science |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Blaster |
| Security Level: | Confidential |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Celeste Alexander |
| Known Aliases: | None |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 19 |
| Height: | 5'2" |
| Weight: | 95 lbs. |
| Eye Color: | blue |
| Hair Color: | blonde |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | USA |
| Occupation: | Hero/College Student |
| Place of Birth: | Paragon City, RI, USA |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City, RI, USA |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | None Noteworthy |
| Known Powers | |
| Absorbs energy for sustenance from her environment, including light, heat, and other sources. Excess energy can be released in focused blasts, projected as forcefields, or radiated as light. This energy can also be used as propulsion for flight at up to and exceeding 1.5 Mach | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Confidential | |
| Equipment | |
| self-repairing costume, modified HeroComm II communications/navigational rig, holographic HUD. | |
| Skylancer's powers are a side effect of an experimental procedure undertaken in an effort to save her from the ravages of a crippling disease she contracted as a child. | |
Skylancer is without a doubt my favorite of my character concepts. She has an inherent cheerfulness and idealism that appeals deeply to me personally, and she reflects my ideals of what is right and good better than any of my other characters. Even so, she's not perfect or without human flaws, and her very idealism can lead her to be taken advantage of...
Contents |
History
Childhood and Youth
Celeste Alexander was born on July 14, 1989 in Paragon City. Her father was in upper management for a large telecommunications company, providing the family with a comfortable income, and her mother was a schoolteacher. She lived out her early childhood in a two-story house on the outskirts of the city, enjoying the kind of idyllic life that lots of families imagine but few actually have. She was a happy child, intensely curious and filled with wonder at the world around her.
At ten years of age, however, her perfect world was shattered. She was stricken with a devastating illness, one that very nearly killed her and left her permanently crippled. Unable to draw enough energy from the food she ate to sustain her body's growth, she was perpetually sickly and weak. From her tenth year onward, she was bound to bed or chair, unable to walk more than a few steps or stand for more than a few moments. Doctors tried a number of different methods and medications to restore her body to normal function, but ultimately they could no more than to keep her alive... and even that could not be sustained indefinitely.
On a strictly regimented diet to provide her with enough nutrients to sustain her life without exceeding the limits of her wrecked metabolism, she gave up most "real food" for carefully constructed nutritional supplements. As any sugar intake was highly counterproductive, most of these supplments were nearly tasteless. Her life was similarly without flavor. Her mother quit her job in order to look after her, and she spent most of her days buried in books or staring out her window at the outside world she could rarely experience.
At sixteen years of age, her condition had deteriorated to the point that her doctors proclaimed her a lost cause. Her growth had stopped entirely, leaving her short and slight, and if some sort of supplemental energy source could not be found to fuel her body, her condition would soon become degenerative. She would die within two years, she was told, and should try to experience life as much as she could in that time. Though saddened, she determined to make the most of the time, finding what joys she could in her limited life.
The Great Experiment
Determined, her parents searched for any research which might provide an answer to her condition. After nearly a year of seeking, a group of scientists studying metahuman biology suggested that they might have a solution. Even so, they warned, they could not guarantee success. Worse, the experimental process they proposed would certainly be painful... and might indeed prove fatal itself.
Deciding that she had nothing to lose, Celeste determined to risk the short life remaining to her on a chance at having something better. The experiment, derived from the study of several heroes' ability to absorb and process energy, sought to rebuild her body at the cellular structure, imbuing her with the ability to absorb energy directly from her environment.
After a torturous five-hour ordeal in which her body was exposed first to a custom-designed mutagen, and then flooded with energies, the scientists believed they had failed. The lead doctor shut down the power feed to the apparatus, believing he was condemning 17-year-old Celeste to an early grave. To his surprise, the system refused to shut down. Something in the apparatus was drawing the power to itself, and the system couldn't shut down the flow.
when the apparatus exploded from the overload, they thought they had lost her for sure. To their surprise, after the fire had been suppressed and the smoke had cleared, they found her standing in the midst of the wreckage, glowing brilliant white and cocooned in a forcefield she had apparently projected unconsciously in response to the calamity.
Further research found that the experiment had in fact succeeded beyond all intentions and expectations. Not only had Celeste survived, and gained the ability to absorb life-sustaining energy from her environment, but her ability to absorb energy vastly exceeded that which was needed to sustain her life. With practice, she was able to learn to project this energy, not only as forcefields like the one which had protected her in the explosion, but also as energy blasts, or as radiant light. By altering the energy state of her body, she also gained the ability to fly at remarkable speeds.
Giving Back
Realizing that her second chance at life had come because some of Paragon City's heroes had allowed themselves to be studied for the benefit of mankind, Celeste determined to give back to society the life which had been given to her. Registering for her hero license, she adopted the moniker "Skylancer" and set out to make a difference in the world around her. The fact that she could live not just a normal life, but an extraordinary one, was simply a bonus; flight became a joy to her, and even combat she found to be a joyous contrast to the motionless existence she had known for so many years. Skylancer truly loves her life as a hero, and would not trade it for anything in the world.
In an effort to regain the social life she had lost in her homebound years, Skylancer has enrolled in Paragon City University as an English major. She sometimes thinks of following her mother's footsteps and becoming a teacher someday.
Personality
Powers
The experiment which gave Skylancer her powers has transformed her body into an energy battery of remarkable capacity. She is constantly absorbing energy in multiple spectra from her environment, processing that energy and changing it into a form which can sustain her. The excess energy, which she usually has in abundance, can be projected in a number of forms.
Energy Blast/Energy Manipulation
Skylancer is capable of focusing the energy she has absorbed into coherent blasts of varying range and intensity. Additionally, in a desperate situation she can release ALL of her stored energy at once in a spectacular concussive detonation. This last-resort strike will leave her badly drained until she can recollect some of the expended energy. Her blasts can emanate in any direction and from any part of (or all of) her body, but she usually fires them from her hands to provide a frame of reference for aiming.
Force Mastery
The first power Skylancer ever manifested, she is capable of projecting a forcefield around herself. In its simplest form, this bubble of energy is nearly impervious in both directions, protecting her from almost any danger but leaving her unable to effect the world around her. With practice, she has refined this into other forms which provide her with effective combat defense without compromising her ability to attack. Finally, it is her forcefield power which renders her sturdy enough to achieve transsonic and even supersonic speeds.
Flight
By altering the energy state of her body, Skylancer is capable of moving freely in space in all three dimensions. It is believed that this mechanism of light is not specific to atmosphere, and that she could fly in vacuum if mechanisms for her survival in vacuum were provided (Though Skylancer's modified metabolism reduces her need for air, it does not eliminate it. She cannot survive extended exposure to vacuum without assistance)
Fitness
With practice, Skylancer has attained considerable control over her ability to absorb and process energy. This has rendered her more efficient in all pursuits, enabling her to move more quickly and increasing her endurance.
