Tom Baxter
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| Tom Baxter | |
| Player: @raverbane | |
| Origin: | Mutant |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Mastermind |
| Threat Level: | Confidential |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Confidential |
| Known Aliases: | None |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | Confidential |
| Height: | 6'4" |
| Weight: | 185 lbs. |
| Eye Color: | Blue |
| Hair Color: | Dark |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | United States of America |
| Occupation: | Vigilante |
| Place of Birth: | King's Row |
| Base of Operations: | Paragon City |
| Marital Status: | Divorced |
| Known Relatives: | Gary & Sandra Baxter (Parents, deceased), Greta Baxter (Sister, deceased) |
| Known Powers | |
| Energy/matter manipulation and conversion | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Creates minions to do his bidding. Healing powers. Since the emergence of his powers he doesn't seem to age. The high concentrations of psychic energy seem to interfere with mental controls and communications. | |
| Equipment | |
| Picked up Sands of Mu from a Skulls artifact stash. Took a Nemesis staff off a trashed robot. Got a Teleporter Watch from a beaten Malta. Acquired a Ring of Holding from a Circle of Thorn mage. Now owns a League Flight Ring. Picked up a Celestial Cellphone from an Interation X agent. | |
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Contents |
History
Humble is a word that seemed to define Tom. He was born on March 12, 1972. Tom and his older sister, Greta, were the children of factory workers in Kings Row. Tom appeared to be an average child in every way. Greta, however, was not. She was quite bright and attractive, excelling in school and all sorts of extra-curricular activities. Being four years older than Tom, she was always protective of him. But, she couldn't be around him 24/7 and Kings Row was not the best of neighborhoods to grow up in.
When Tom was eleven he was walking home from the school bus one day when he was attacked by a feral dog. The dog had bit him several times, causing much pain and several deep wounds when his sister had heard the screams and came running. She arrived just in time to see Tom suddenly glow with a crimson halo. The dog yelped, withered and died. Tom passed out as she ran up to him. Although his clothes were bloody and shredded, there wasn’t a single wound on him. She got carried him home, cleaned him up and lay him to bed. When Tom awoke, he had no memory of the incident. Greta thought about what she saw and considered all the possibilities. She didn't reveal to anyone what had happened and went out of her way to keep Tom under her protective sisterly wing.
On New Year’s Eve 1986, Tom's and Greta's parents were killed by a drunk driver while on the way home from a party. Greta had just started at Paragon University on an academic scholarship for pre-law. She was prepared to leave school to take care of Tom, but he would have none of that. She was the bright one and he wasn't going to be the cause of holding her back. Against her wishes, he quit high school and went to work at the textile factory that their parents had worked at. Between his income and her scholarship, Greta was able to continue her education.
Life went on for the Baxter kids. Greta graduates law school and goes on to become a skilled attorney. In 1994 Tom meets Stephanie Blaylock. He was heading home after a late shift at the plant when he hears some commotion from an alley. Tom pears in and sees some of his less virtuous co-workers accosting a young lady. They call him over to join in their fun. Tom declines and tries to talk them out of what they were getting ready to do. They left Stephanie alone and proceeded to beat the daylights out of Tom. With their attention diverted, Stephanie runs away and calls the cops. This being "The Row" the cops never show up. Stephanie returns to the alley to find a beaten and bloody Tom. She helps Tom back to her place and patches him up. That night Tom dreamt dreams of rage. His co-workers all have mysterious accidents and are all dead by morning. Tom wakes to find himself not as badly hurt as he appeared when he went to sleep. Being an exotic dancer, wageslaves are the last sort of guy Stephanie would go out with. But, after reading about what happened to the men that attacked them, she sensed there was something special about Tom. They get married later that year. It was doomed to fail, of course.
Stephanie, being the kind of woman she was, found life as the wife of a factory worker not too her liking. Five years go by of Tom being average, humble Tom and not a lick of anything special seeming to appear. Tom comes home early from work one night to find Stephanie in their bed with a local radio personality. They were too busy to even notice him in the room. He quietly leaves, never to return. He moves into a tenement and files for divorce. Stephanie starts to make all sorts of crazy accusations and threats of revealing him to be some supernatural sociopathic criminal. Greta steps in to represent her brother. With her legal connections not only does Stephanie get nothing in the divorce, Greta "arranges" to have her committed for psychiatric evaluation. Soon after the divorce is finalized, Tom takes a job as a merchant marine and leaves Paragon City. He spends the next four years traveling the world working onboard whatever vessel needed more crew.
August 8, 2003 was the day everything changed. Greta is assaulted and killed in a home invasion. When word gets to Tom, he makes his way back as quickly as he can. Before too long several gang members are arrested in relation to the case. Tommy "Longtom" Langston being one of them. The case starts to get national attention because of Tommy's girlfriend Cindy Crandall. The daughter of oil magnate Collin Crandall. Cindy throws the financial weight of her trust fund behind the defense of Tommy and his fellow gang members. The defense lawyers, through dubious methods, get crucial evidence suppressed and thrown out. This causes acquittals in the case against the gang members. There are several news crews outside the courthouse, eager to get footage of Cindy and Tommy as they leave the building. Tom wanders out in shock, not really aware of what is going on around him. An old forgotten, suppressed feeling welling up in his mind. He turns to see Tommy, Cindy and the other gang members walking out in front of the cameras, gloating in their victory. The cameras then catch the crimson glow come from Tom's eyes. Then a figure appears in a crimson flash behind Tommy and Cindy. Tom whispers a single word "Justice". The figure pulls out a pistol and proceeds to gun down Tommy, Cindy and all the gang members on live television. Tom's trial doesn’t take long. He doesn't even request a lawyer. He is found guilty and sentenced to life at Ziggursky prison in Brickstown.
Due to unknown nature of his powers, they decide to put Tom in solitary confinement. This suits him just fine, as he had no desire to wind the years away with the scum that populated that place. Several years pass for Tom. They are as uneventful as prison life can be. Then October 31, 2005 arrived. When Arachnos stages the big prison break Tom decided to escape as well. He couldn't go back to his old life. So, he catches a ride to the Rogue Isles. Instead of heading to the staging area on Fort Darwin, Tom splits off in the chaos and disappears into the squalor of Mercy Isle.
He spends the next couple of years being something of a vigilante in the Rogue Isles and learning how to control his powers.
Current Activities
Tom has always considered himself, and identified with, common folk. Although he now knows he is anything but average or common that still doesn't prevent him from wanting to cling to those roots. His sister always helped and protected him. And in her memory he now does what he can for the regular people.
He is under no delusions about the nature of life in the Isles. In the chaos that is ever present in the wake of the various criminal enterprises competing for a big slice of the Arachnos pie. The regular folks tend to get run over. Often literally. So, Tom does what he can to try and make life a little easier by eliminating as much scum as he can off the streets.
There isn't much he can do about the plans and machinations that the psychos think up to take over the world, invade other countries, ect ect. But, he can use his powers to smack down anyone that wants to mess with common folks.
He has started to change his area of operations as the need arises. When the Second Rikti Invasion occured, Tom started to concentrate his activities in the RWZ. Then he started doing his one personal forward operations against Emperor Cole in Praetoria and the First Ward. Resently, he had actually returned to Paragon City (albeit as low profile as possible) to help in anyway he can with the situations in Galaxy City and Astoria.
Recent Acquisitions
While eating at Harvey's Crabshack in Sharkhead he recently had a run-in with Baron Someday, an up and coming magic based thug. Seems that one of Tom's favorite hangouts happened to be built on a minor ley line nexus that the Baron wanted to tap and to do that the Crabshack had to go. Baron Someday had the ill luck to pick the day Tom was having lunch there.
After Tom's 'boyz' beat down the Baron, he tried to bribe Tom into letting him go. Baron Someday showed him the extra-dimensional sanctum he had created and several trinkets he had picked up along the way. Tom took the stuff and killed the Baron anyways. Knowing full well that Someday would use his powers to enslave more people as soon as he was out of Tom's sight.
Also picked up some other bits and pieces. Got some Sands of Mu from a Skulls artifact stash. Took a Nemesis staff off a trashed robot. Got a Teleporter Watch from a beaten Malta. Acquired a Ring of Holding from a Circle of Thorn mage. Now owns a League Flight Ring. Picked up a Celestial Cellphone from an Interation X agent.
Powers
Tom's powers are based in matter/energy conversion. He has a vast resevoir of constantly renewing psychic/life energy. He converts this into various other forms of energy, matter and even life. Tom is capable of healing and creating life in all forms and variaties. This energy flux does tend to interfere with outside mental contact and controls.
Acquaintances
(WIP)
