The Requiem of Saints
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
| |
| The Requiem of Saints | |
| Player: @Iceangel | |
| Origin: | Natural |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Stalker |
| Threat Level: | 50! |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Katherine Anne Ross |
| Known Aliases: | Katie, The Keeper, Faith-chan, Faith, "Jesus hugger", Hellkat, Requiem |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 30 years old |
| Height: | 5'8" |
| Weight: | 140 lbs. |
| Eye Color: | Blue |
| Hair Color: | Red |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | American with a criminal record |
| Occupation: | Current: Capo within the Giordano Family mafia. Former: Sergeant within the Paragon Police Department, Precinct 10, badge # 1087 |
| Place of Birth: | Boston, Massachusetts, USA |
| Base of Operations: | Cap Au Diable, Etolie Isles |
| Marital Status: | Single, dating Ryu Setzer (aka The Thorn Bandit) |
| Known Relatives: | Joshua Ryan Ross (father); Elizabeth Hanna Ross (née O'Halloran, mother) |
| Known Powers | |
| Dark Melee/Ninjitsu | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Confidential | |
| Equipment | |
| Ghost Slaying Axe, faux Nemesis Staff, looted teleportation device keyed to Il Ristorante Giordano, throwing knives, looted equipment, etc. | |
| While she no longer keeps them, she still possesses the firearms she used while she worked under the "Keeper" moniker. | |
The Requiem of Saints appeared in the Rogue Isles August of 2007 as an alternate version of the Keeper of Saints. This is what happens when a player who primarily beats things down as a Tanker attempts to play a MM, and fails. While the story behind the switch is somewhat tragic, it was my hope that said change would be for the better - of both my gameplay enjoyment, and the evolution of the character. This character is now retired.
Contents |
Early History
Kate was born on July 20, 1978, the only child of beat cop Joshua Ryan and his high school sweetheart, Elizabeth. Complications after the birth of their child kept Elizabeth from ever conceiving again, so the Rosses devoted themselves to their baby girl. Kate grew up surrounded by cousins, though, and never lacked for childhood friends.
Childhood
The girl took to sports early on, and was part of several teams during her elementary and high school years. Concord was not a large community, but she was generally well-liked. When she was 15, the family moved to Boston proper as Joshua moved up in his department. Aside from a broken wrist in her junior year from an ill-timed volleyball stunt, Kate had a rather docile school life. It was around this time period that she decided she wanted to be a police officer like her father; Joshua was enthusiastic about the idea, but Elizabeth remained guarded. Kate would need to finish school first, Elizabeth had said, before she could even seriously consider a career in law enforcement.
College
After graduation, Kate attended Boston University. After some flummoxing, she decided on majoring in Political Science. She finished her Bachelor's program in 2000, and that same summer she relocated to Paragon City to join the P.P.D. So much had been happening in Paragon, and Kate really wanted the chance to work alongside the heroes she heard so much about on the news.
Paragon City
With the help of three friends, Kate moved to Paragon City, Rhode Island, in the late summer of '00. They rented an apartment in Galaxy City, while Kate went through the application processes of joining the police department. Scoring well, Kate was accepted into the force and began her training.
The Paragon Police Department
Kate was assigned to Precinct 10, and started in a class of 30 fresh-faced recruits. Sadly, over the course of their training, 3 other cadets would lose their lives against the evils of the street gangs known as the Skulls and the Hellions.
Rikti Invasion
In May of 2002, hell broke loose in Paragon. The Rikti, a volatile alien force from some unknown world, descended upon the city in droves. How Kate and several of the other patrolmen in her group managed to survive, no one could figure out. But she lived to see the rise of the heroes, the fall of the Rikti, and the reclamation of the city. Spirit uplifted, she pursued justice with renewed vigor, and soon became a well-known, reliable presence in Precinct 10.
The Breaking Point
After the Rikti Invasion, as the news was calling in, the city began to fill with heroes. By the middle of 2004, licensed heroes were on the streets, clearing up the crime the normal police once managed. To combat the increase of "capes," the criminal element began using more drastic, and much deadlier, means of committing crimes. In a short span of time, even the police were not safe from felonies, and it was commonplace to see harried Paragon Police officers.
While still devoted to her job, Kate was slowly becoming angry at the presence of the heroes. What was once admiration was slowly turning into something bitter. The force was being laughed at, and was losing respect within the civilian population. Everyone was turning to the heroes to save the day.
The Crime
On night patrol within the section of the city called King's Row, Kate and her partner David Jeffries were accosted by a small troupe of Skulls, lead by a sneering youth by the name of Dino. Called a Bone Daddy by his peers, Dino took great pleasure in harassing the two cops, egging his men on with encouraging cheers and nasty jokes. The scene was too much for Kate, who pulled her firearm and shot at Dino. The slug took the young man in the gut, and as he bled to death in the street with his fellows running away, he spat out a curse on his killer. Police drones arrived on the scene, followed by several other officers, and Jeffries took it upon himself to arrest his partner.
The Trial
The trial (The State of Rhode Island vs. Katherine Ross) was, all-in-all, a farce. While skilled defense attorneys plied Kate's case, the prosecution wanted to defraud the police department as a whole. Lobbying to help replace the aging police force with superhumans from Crey, the prosecution painted Kate as a bigoted and arrogant woman. When, by accident, Kate seemed to envelop the court in a cloud of darkness during one heated cross-examination, the prosecution quickly changed routes. Bigoted, and an unregistered superhuman, Kate was found guilty of second-degree murder and unregistered super-powered vigilantism. She was sentenced to 25 years in Ziggursky, with a possibility for parole in 10.
"The Zigg"
Ziggurksy Penitentiary, colloquially referred to as "the Zigg", housed some of the worst superhuman criminals of Paragon City. To blame for some of those incarcerated inside the ziggurat-shaped prison, Kate faced a special kind of hell for being a former cop surrounded by felons. Additionally, word of her act spread amongst the prison population, and members of the Skulls went out of their way to harass her. She likely would not have survived if she had not met The Duke.
The Duke
Ramone de la Hoya (b. January 5, 1975 - d. August 9, 2007) was a small-time crook with big-time ambitions. A Paragon native from a large Hispanic family, he had pretensions of a Golden Gloves award to hang on the wall. He had always been a big boy, but by his teens, he turned to the drugs peddled in the worst sections of the Row to add to his potence. His drug use forced him to leave school, and to help his overtaxed mother, he joined the Warriors. He was busted by heroes in late 2003 for aggravated assault, burglary and resisting arrest, and took a 15-year sentence in the Zigg. While generally good-natured, he was a force to be reckoned with, and suffered few problems in prison. When Kate came in, Ramone recognized the threats surrounding her and quickly took the role of her protector. Together, the pair weathered many in-house fights and riots. They relied heavily on one another; she, for the brute force to keep herself safe, and he for a true confidant who never judged him. Kate was the person Ramone came out to, having hidden his homosexuality from even his close-knit family. Indebted to one another, when Arachnos agents stormed the prison, they quickly made arrangements to stow away on their hovercraft.
Ramone was murdered in August 2007 by persons unknown.
The Rogue Isles
Geographically, the Rogue Isles are a small chain of islands NW of Bermuda that run in a band 50 to 20 miles off the US coast. Officially known as the Etoile Islands, there are dozens of islands in the chain. The main cluster of the group, home to Spider City, is at the 50 mile marker, outside U.S. jurisdiction. From there the smaller islands string toward the US coast.
It wasn’t until the mid-1950’s that it became publicly known that Lord Recluse was calling the shots. At that point he was ready to make his move. He performed a military coup, declared the Rogue Isles under the dominion of Arachnos and began to shape his empire.
The Rogue Isles today are a land of opportunity for those with the ambition and villainy to seize the chances that come by. Lord Recluse tolerates the ambitions of others – to a point. Anyone willing to follow his laws, pay his “taxes” and accept his justice without question is welcome to Spider City. So long as you don’t threaten his plans, you can make schemes of your own. What does he care if a shipment of artifacts for the Circle of Thorns is stolen from the docks? Nothing – so long as the thieves are not so brash as to use them against Arachnos. If you can rob a bank and escape his security forces, then is it a good test of your skill – but rob too many banks, create too much havoc and the Wolfspiders will hunt you down. He tolerates ambition, but not anarchy.
In this setting Arachnos trains and plots. Heroes make occasional forays to bring back their man and there are others who aren’t above hiring local talent for bounty hunter work. Freedom Corps members sometimes show up just to make trouble. And there are always plots and schemes between the various factions. ( City of Villains Official Website )
Kate and Ramone entered Mercy Island ignorant but not unprepared. Ramone knew a few people from Paragon who had turned their attentions to the more liberal Isles. They spent some time getting to know the lay of the land, while figuring out what they would do with themselves, now that they were free. Eventually they settled on freelance work, and Ramone began gathering the seeds of what would shortly become a small gang named "The Saints." Influenced by a movie supportive of fatal vigilantism, Ramone steered Kate towards the concept. He could gather the troops, but she would be the one who would lead them. She agreed, and decided on taking on the name of The Keeper of Saints; Ramone settled on the impressive-sounding "Il Duce."
The Mercenary
While the Isles were under the shadow of Arachnos' many legs, neither Kate nor Ramone felt their cause was something worth following. Once they were on their feet, the made contact with a man known as Matthew Burke. Through him, the pair began doing odd jobs, meeting new contacts and slowly ascending through the ranks of the Rogue Isles' unaligned.
Arachnos
The relationship Requiem has with Arachnos is cool at best. While she can appreciate Lord Recluse's goals and ambitions, enough cop in her survived to deter her from throwing her hat in with the spiders. She has worked with Arachnos agents in the past -- while creepy, they do pay well, and there's a mutual respect if nothing else. The Keeper will not go out of her way to hinder the spiders, but neither will she stick her neck out for them. She now suspects they were involved with the deaths of her Saints, and as such now treats card-carrying members -- and supporters -- of Arachnos with disdain and borderline hatred.
The Giordano Family
On a job against some of Marcone's endless supply of suited cannon fodder, Requiem heard of another cosa nostra set to become a big player within the Isles. Intrigued, Kate tracked down what information she could on the Giordano family and was satisfied to discover their aims very amenable. Her time within the Isles made her very aware that, while she had her own troupe of soldiers, her chances of survival would be greater if she were a part of a larger force.
Requiem met with the current Don of the Giordano cosa nostra and offered her allegiance to him. He accepted, and Kate joined the ranks of the familiga (More about them can be found over here .) She was recently promoted to the status of a Capo within the Family, a position she takes very seriously.
Modus Operandi
"The Saints"
As of August 9, 2007, 17 members of The Saints -- including Ramone -- are deceased. Murdered by persons unknown, their deaths struck the most profound blow on Kate. She changed her name to "the Requiem of Saints", and began to persue an alternate path.
Disenfranchised 'mundy' (aka normal human beings with no powers of their own) gangbangers were the core of Requiem's crew. Recruited by Il Duce, these bikers and hooligans were compensated for their efforts -- if they managed to make it out. The concept of the crew was taken from the American film "The Boondock Saints" (1999), a favorite of Ramone's. Collectively they were called "The Saints," an ironic name at best.
The Grunts
The Brothers
"Il Duce"
Ramone was a man with many contacts. His time spent in prison, coupled with his winning personality, had alloted him an expansive personal network of people in the know. This was one instance where quantity overruled quality -- Ramone would rather know a few dozen little fish, than any one big fish. Little fish don't often ask too much in return for favors, and the few arrogant ones that do, Kate took care of.
With Ramone's death, Kate's access to these 'little fish' has been cut off.
The Voodoo Curse
While classified in the Arachnos database as a "natural," Requiem possesses powers that defy that name. A practitioner of a bastardized form of voodoo, Dino laid a virulent curse upon the woman, condemning her to absorb the corruption around her until it ate away at her soul. However, Requiem learned to channel the corruption, resulting in the manifestations of darkness she displays. She has even gone so far as to twist the corruption to heal, although its greatest strength lies in hindering and harming her enemies. Those absolutely free of corruption are immune to this particular ability, however she has yet to encounter a true pure being.
Once having only used the darkness defensively, concerted effort and practice has allowed her to manifest the power more offensively. Paired with the training Ryu's putting her through, she's discovered a myriad of uses for the "angst powers", as Ryu likes to call it.
Additional Observed Abilities
While undernourished and medicated, Kate is still a very active young woman who keeps up on exercise and fitness. This temerity of body allows her to withstand the rigors of incessant KOs, and the stress of the frequent hard landings she takes. She is still only human, and working on improving her physical well-being.
The ability to leap far distances? She has no idea where that comes from. The dead Bone Daddy never exhibited this sort of ability, and she can perform the feat without any of the stolen technology she's collected on various raids. As it is a benefit more than a detriment, Kate doesn't bother trying to analyze how she can -- she simply does.
Personality
The first impression Kate gives is that of a polite, courteous young woman. She speaks with something of a monotone, although she is not devoid of a sense of humor (she likes to make off-color jokes, and has a very dry wit). She is stoic and congenial, respectful and typically one of the first to offer a hand if someone asks. She is accepting to the point of almost being blasé; very little seems to offend her. She has a great deal of pride, though, and is not-quite-secretly a bigot. She treats non-humans coolly, and is often less likely to go out of her way for such individuals.
Part of her temperance was natural, but for the most part it was a side-effect of her various prescriptions. Her time in the Zigg, paired with the psychological trauma of being, essentially, a corruption battery, has battered her psyche around. Ramone, in an attempt to help his friend, had Kate see a doctor within one of Arachnos' many HMOs (What? 'City of Villains', what did you expect?). She had been prescribed three different medications: an antipsychotic ( amisulpride ), an antidepressant ( paroxetine ), and a hypertension treatment ( irbesartan ) -- a condition she inherited from her father. Since the death of her friends, Kate has ceased taking the antipsychotic, resulting in an reemergence of the temper that had spurred her to killing Dino.
Even when pushed, she is seldom rude -- except to heroes. Kate considers heroes no better than the criminals they arrest; in her mind, the criminals became superpowered to combat the heroes' incursions. She hates "capes", and will not hesitate when it comes to putting them down. Longbow, Wyvern, and their ilk bear her animosity, as they are "wanna-be capes", and she shows them no mercy. Requiem believes most heroes would not understand her predicament, which is one of the primary reasons she is so accepting of other criminals, regardless how terrible they are. Those criminals capable of sympathy will understand how Kate feels. In her mind, no "hero" could ever really know what it was like for Kate. Nowadays, her antipathy has grown to a ceaseless rage. Longbow and Wyvern are foremost on her list of suspects for the murder of Ramone and the others, and since their deaths Kate hasn't been sparing a single member of either organization she runs across. The Paragon Police have yet to have an casualties, and she would like to keep it that way.
Although she likes Chase Styles. Why? Well, have you ever met him? What's not to like!
Though she is loathe to lie to the point of being pathologically honest, Requiem will often present a facade to strangers and acquaintances. While she's made amends with her former partner, Kate still keeps most people at arm's length with a misleading construction. She prefers people to perceive her as less capable than she actually is, just in case they are the kind of person who delves into betrayal. She no longer holds her tongue around heroes, when she encounters them, and makes her scorn quite audible. She has very little left to lose, and therefore doesn't bother censoring herself too much anymore.
Known Weaknesses
Since the death of the Saints, Kate has adjusted the doses of her mood-altering medications. The restraint she shows now is more strength of will that chemically-enforced, and as such has the potential to snap at any time.
Kate is also pig-headily stubborn. She will pick fights, especially with the legions of Paragon City's finest, and will very often go down fighting instead of running for safety. The Duke had a similar mentality, and had often hit pavement before Kate did.
She's stopped taking her antipsychotic, but continues her daily doses with the antidepressant and the hypertension medication. Recently switching to a different kind of antidepressant, Kate has shown erratic mood swings, made the worse with alcohol. She's gotten on the wagon, and is now taking extra care in watching her behavior.
Her bigotry towards non-humans has sometimes gotten her into trouble on jobs versus Rikti. She is short-sighted when it comes to them, and while she hates the invading alien force almost as much as she loathes heroes, they often surprise her. She is, for example, often caught surprised to discover that the aliens "are as smart as [humans] are." Non-humans are creatures unworthy of her respect, and must work twice as hard for Kate to spare them a congenial thought. She likes only one non-human: Shock Jaw, a Capo of the Giordano Family.
Her relationship with Ryu is one of the few things that keeps Kate from losing it entirely. The Saints were her family, and while some remain there's a mutual distance between them -- Kate doesn't want the remainder of them to become targets, and frankly they don't either. Ryu, for all his caustic attitude and behavior, has remained static and unchanged, and she clings to that. She will never likely admit it to anyone, but she's become reliant on him for more than his skills as a Stalker. He is her rock, and without him she will flounder. Kate hasn't been alone since she began her police training years ago, and has functioned as half of a force for so long she does poorly alone. Enemies of the Requiem of Saints could definitely use Ryu against her, but as much as she worries, she knows it's more a reflex than reality. He is the motherfucking Thorn Bandit, you know.
Recently her faith in Ryu was tested; inebriated, he slept with another woman. He confessed to her, and while she generally forgave his behavior, it was terrible timing. Kate was in the process of swapping her antidepressants, and that combined with her usual tact of drinking to dull her emotions, combined for some rather uncharacteristic reactions. The couple smoothed over their problems, and outwardly, Kate seems to accept the flawed habits of her boyfriend. However, should Kate ever see the woman, it's highly unlikely that confrontation would be handled so calmly.
Equipment
Requiem used to utilize a matched pair of chromed Beretta 92FS Inox semi-automatic pistols, her preferred firearm. In the event she lacked her usual armament, she would suffice with paired Desert Eagles, although the greater inaccuracy of the larger pistols had put her at a disadvantage. Since her change of name, she has abandoned the firearms in favor of her increased darkness powers. Her secondary weapon are mass-produced yet effective throwing knives, which are used more as a deterrent than any real source of damage.
Vengeance
Her search for the culprits in the deaths of her men had several paths. Her investigation crossed into Paragon City a few times, forcing her to contact her former partner, David Jeffries, to help analyze some evidence. Through his work, and the items even Ryu has been able to unearth, Kate has learned that Longbow was responsible. Not the organization itself, but some agent high enough in it decided to go against standard operating procedures. Kate is closing in on this individual, shifting through infomation garnered through erratic Longbow base raids.
Known Associates
(in no particular order & incomplete)
- The Thorn Bandit
- Chill Yeti
- Don Giordano
- Cadaver-Man
- Shock Jaw
- various members of The Giordano Family
- Chase Styles
- Hetohke'e
Errata
- Kate is myopic -- near-sighted. She usually wears glasses, but has on occasion worn contact lenses.
- She has several tattoos, the most obvious being the detailed forearms she got after coming to the Rogue Isles with Ramone. She'd have full sleeves if CoX would stop being so gender biased. Her other tattoo is a small tribal Celtic cross set low on her left hip.
- A delicate diamond necklace is often seen around her neck, and a ring on her right ring finger consisting of an emerald encircled with rubies. She also carries a rosary, of small Irish marble stones and silver.
- Her speech is impeccable, but every so often her Bostonian accent slips out. It's most often noticed when she swears, or delivers a particularly cutting remark.
- Four-part storyline where Kate brings down the massive vengeance: Requiem of Saints/Mid-August, Requiem of Saints/Progression, Requiem of Saints/Revelations.
- ART! [Kate by Takumy from deviantArt].
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