Speckter
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| Speckter | |
| Player: @Spade0014 | |
| Origin: | Magic |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Controller |
| Security Level: | Confidential |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Justin Michaels |
| Known Aliases: | None |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 59 |
| Height: | 6'0" |
| Weight: | 171 |
| Eye Color: | Green |
| Hair Color: | Greying/Auburn |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Occupation: | Confidential |
| Place of Birth: | Denver, Colorado |
| Base of Operations: | Galaxy City, Paragon |
| Marital Status: | Divorced |
| Known Relatives: | Heather Michaels(Ex-wife), Russel Michaels(Son), Grace Michaels(Daughter) |
| Known Powers | |
| Illusion and Healing | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Minor knowledge of the occult, amounting to a few pithy spells and the power of flight | |
| Equipment | |
| Confidential | |
| No additional information available. | |
Contents |
Past & Current Affiliations
Past
Team Xi - During the Rikti War, Speckter was nearly a member of the now well-known Team Omega. He was washed out of the group at the last minute, however, and was replaced with a much younger, more fit, and more powerful magician. Speckter was instead placed in Team Xi, a group composed of mainly lesser-healers and aging heroes. Team Xi was seen as a joke by some, being called Team Useless at times. Despite this, Speckter and many others of his team rose above the embarrassing label. They went on to perform expertly and with distinction during the War wherever they were able, and saved countless lives that were deemed expendable by the more well-known and more powerful empaths that felt they were needed on the front lines instead of in the background helping civilians and the less experienced heroes. After the War ended, Speckter went quietly into retirement, moving back to his home state of Colorado.
Current
Speckter is loosely affiliated with The Fringe.
Personality
A generally calm and quiet man, Speckter has a subtle sense of humor and tends to choose reflection over useless conversation. He is remarkably easy to get along with, and is not usually confrontational in the least.
Powers
Primary Abilities
Speckter is able to get into the minds of his foes and make them imagine things that aren't really there. He is also able to make them feel pain when physically there should be none, or turn friend against friend.
Secondary Abilities
Speckter is an empath. As such, he is able to heal other heroes during battle. While not as powerful as most Defender-class empaths, Speckter is still a competent healer in his own right.
Tertiary Abilities
Speckter is a low-level empath, with not only the healing ability mentioned above, but also the ability to pick up on the emotions of others around him if they are within a few feet. He is also able, on occasion, to see snippets of the possible future in the form of dreams and nightmares.
Weaknesses and Limitations
To be perfectly blunt, Speckter's age is a major weakness for him. Even seeing himself in a mirror, with his greying hair and gradually-stooping stance, proves to be a bit of a confidence-shaker for the man. In his experience, villains also tend to feel less endangered when faced with an aging hero. Because of these things, Speckter designed his costume to conceal his age as much as possible, with loose clothing to hide his 50-something body, and a hood to cover his hair while out on patrol.
Equipment
A small book of minor spells and incantations that he rarely uses.
Character History
In 1991, Justin Michaels was on board National Air flight 351 on his way to pick up his young daughter from the home of his ex-wife in Alaska, with the intention to bring her back to Colorado for his summer-long visitation. The plane crashed while over British Columbia, Canada before he ever got there. No survivors were found in the resulting wreckage. Justin's body was not found among the dead, and it was assumed that his body had been thrown far clear of the crash site.
The reality of this was very different. While Justin had indeed been on that plane, he was able to escape as it plummeted to the ground after a massive engine failure. Using his magically-induced ability to fly and his natural healing ability, he was able to survive, barely, and get himself to relative safety. His very close brush with death, and the fact that he was able to feel the pain of impending death from those around him on that doomed plane, convinced Justin that he had had enough of hiding his gifts. Once he had fully recovered from his wounds, he made his way to Paragon City to register as a Hero. He was already 43 at the time and as such not exactly in his prime, but through rigorous training, both mental and physical, Justin beat himself into fighting form and donned the cape and cowl as the Controller-class Hero known as Speckter.
As the hero Speckter, Justin rose to Security Level 35, and also fought in the Rikti War as part of Team Xi. After the War he was honored for heroism along with countless other heroes that had survived the war, and soon after he retired back to Colorado.
In mid June 2007, Justin had a horrible waking nightmare consisting of past images of the Rikti War, accompanied by strange new visions of Rikti who had the ability to understand and utilize magic. Shaken by the experience, and after weeks of deliberation, Justin ultimately decided that his nightmare was his subconscious telling him that his work in Paragon was not done. Justin packed a few of his possessions, as well as his old costume, and took the next available flight back to The City of Heroes.
Starting from scratch, Speckter is once again registered as Controller-class and is slowly working himself back in to the life of a hero.
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