User:Sardonic Paladin
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
@Sardonic Paladin is the global handle of a player of the City of Heroes/City of Villains/Going Rogue series of massively multiplayer online roleplaying games. He usually goes by the nickname SarPal. and is almost exclusively found on the Virtue server. He lives in the Chicago suburbs, but after living in Texas for almost ten years he finds himself longing to return there to his friends, especially if that means moving to Austin. SarPal does not consider himself a gamer: he usually has only time to focus on one game at a time, and this is his first MMORPG. He joined the CoH community in September 2005 after moving to be able to stay in touch with one of his dearest friends in Texas, but didn't understand the game at first and let his subscription lapse after a few months. A few years later, he rediscovered the game through The Cape Radio and has since become a fervent supporter of both the game and the station. After several months serving the Cape as a member of its Street Team, SarPal now has a show of his own on the Cape as DJ Nexus.
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Active Characters
Main Characters
DJ Nexus (science kinetic melee/regeneration scrapper): The child of hippies, a Ph.D. at age 19, the inventor of formulas and mechanical enhancements to greatly increase one's strength, and a former Crey employee, he moonlights as a hero to further his scientific experiments, most recently bonding Incarnate shards and threads into the suit itself to alter its molecular makeup, giving it powers bonded to him and him alone, while pursuing a career as a DJ for the Cape Radio to indulge his love of all forms of music. You can hear his show Tuesdays from 4-7 pm ET.
Psychotical (natural martial arts/willpower scrapper): A conscientious and compassionate defender of environmental concerns and justice, a family tragedy had him exploring the darkest places in his soul for revenge for a time. Having returned from the shadows, he celebrated his renewed commitment to justice with pursuit of Incarnate power. Now he no longer relies on so many external things for survival in a hero's world; the Well of the Furies has imbued him with powers naturally.
Other Level 50 Characters
American Stalwart (mutant invulnerability/super strength tanker): A sickly Eagle Scout, the Rh'Xakan (see below) altered him physically to allow him to become the uber-patriotic hero he always wanted to be.
Bittersweet Beauty {natural dual pistols/devices blaster): A well-known model made infamous by a wardrobe malfunction caught on a cellphone and plastered all over the Internet, she also is a government-trained covert ops agent trained in all manner of lethal and non-lethal weapons and devices on assignment to assist the meta community. Her role as an agent means that she defines the term "hero" rather loosely.
Doc Carcinogen (technology empathy/radiation blast defender): This doctor hails from an alternate Earth, where the Civil War rages into the first parts of the 20th Century and where clockwork technology has improved military science - and medicine - to the point that small-scale nuclear warfare is not only possible, but common.
Golden Gryfon (magic shield defense/battle axe tanker): Genetically modified by an arcane ritual during medieval times, pulled to the 21st century by a time-travel accident, this former Knight Templar seeks to learn what happened to him while making a difference for righteousness in his new lands. Recent modifications to his body altered him still, made him more of a gryfon, and now he speaks through sign language translated by a rather belligerent repurposed robot. The result is oftentimes frustrating for the former Sir Godfrey but amusing to the modern onlooker.
Nikolai Molotov (mutant electrical melee/fiery aura brute): Though his family immigrated from Russia to the Rogue Isles when he was two years old, his English is perfect, with barely an accent. He became attracted to the easy life of crime that the Isles had to offer and found himself to be an invaluable soldier-for-hire to whatever organization was paying the highest price at the time. With no such things as morals or loyalties to get in the way, he's made quite a name and reputation for himself - as well as quite the nest egg for the day he decides to walk away from it all.
Sardonic Paladin (mutant fire blast/electricity manipulation blaster): An overgrown Boy Scout who registered with the FBSA solely to have access to Architect Entertainment, the greatest simulation game known to mankind. Having reached level 50 he's "beaten the game" and thus retired from hero work, without ever making a contact in the community. He's bored with his life, however, and questioning his decision.
William Firestone (mutant willpower/stone melee tanker): A rock solid hero, he's just recently discovered his sophomore year college roommate is also known as Psychotical. Having prevented his friend from pursuing an eye for an eye, he now considers the need for another quasi-governmental agency in a city full of them.
Other Characters
Beansidhe Taibhse (magic sonic attacks/sonic resonance corruptor): Pronounced BAN-shee THYVE-sheh, this Irish tourist was gunned down in cold blood while visiting Paragon City. Unable to return to Ireland, her ghost haunts Paragon City, her ancestry having committed her spirit to being a harbinger for the dead, which she often brings to pass herself through the power of her incredible voice.
Cathartic Violence (magic energy melee/willpower brute): The magical personification of all the rage and hatred evident in the Rogue Isles, this construct is on a journey to discover what it is, and more importantly, what its goal in life really is. Can the walking picture of violence have a higher purpose?
Claustrophobic (mutant titan weapons/fiery aura brute): As a child, this hero spend three agonizingly traumatic days stuck underground in a drainage pipe. He's never gotten over the experience, especially now that he's eight feet tall, weighing over five hundred pounds. He's fine with fighting crime in buildings, warehouses, anywhere outdoors, but the minute that he's forced to go underground - into a cave, the sewers, a Council or Rikti base, anywhere such as that - he turns into a panic-stricken mess, unable to do anything but stand right by the door, hyperventilating into a paper sack. It's sad, and fortunately the heroes that he's teamed with have been willing to help keep his secret safe, but at some point in the future, he's going to have to come to grips with his fear and face it head on if he's ever going to become a real Hero of the City.
Dia de los Muertos (magic dark melee/dark armor scrapper): Appearing for all the world like a mariachi singer of the undead, this skull-faced hero uses the power of the Netherworld to his advantage to invoke his wrath upon those who have wronged others in this life. While a hero, he is not afraid of - and in fact, relishes in - the use of deadly force against the more evil of his enemies.
Javamancer (magic energy blast/kinetics corruptor): A former member of the Circle of Thorns, he discovered that rather than soul possession, greater magical powers and greater good could be achieved through the use of the magical tome called the Javanomicon. Using whole beans exclusively supplied by the Cape Radio's DJ Valor, he weaves magical power of energy and wakefulness, if nothing else!
Raverend Confessor (natural mind control/empathy controller): The priest assigned to the Reformed Order of St. Pauli Girl, in addition to the higher message of the nunnery, he is also the promoter of their PAY-PER-VIEW NUN FIGHTS (with thanks and apologies to Paul and Storm, please don't sue us).
Yeoman Beefeater (technology staff fighting/willpower brute): Brought to Primal Earth through a temporal paradox from an alternate Earth where he maintained a detachment of clockwork Beefeaters to guard the Tower of London for His Majesty George VIII, this halberd wielding warrior will do what he can to guard his new country and countrymen from all threats.
The Rh'Xakan Character Concept
The Rh'Xakan (pronounced "rih-zah-CON") are a parasitical alien species that have come to Primal Earth in unknown quantities. They feed off the life force of their host for a brief period of time before moving on to a new host. Rather than depleting their host of life, however, the waste products of the Rh'Xakan build up in the host's body and alter it in indeterminate ways, leaving the host forever altered and with powers beyond that of its race's normal capability. In the case of humans, the result is that the host becomes what Primal Earth society calls a "post-human," possessing abilities rivaling those of the planet's heroes, vigilantes, rogues, and villains. As the host's body alters, the Rh'Xakan becomes less and less able to feed off of it, until finally the alien can no longer gain any sustenance and is forced to move off in search of a new host. Occasionally the bond between an Rh'Xakan and a human will prove to be fatal for the human, and the parasite must move immediately to a new host or risk dying itself.
For humans, the alteration is often in the form of a systemic mutation that grants powers. However, that is not always the case. Sometimes, the Rh'Xakan may find a host with a latent magical gift that the bond awakens. Other times the bond may grant a focus toward training in certain areas or may enhance existing intelligence and study that appears to grant powers and abilities. Whatever the reason, the host almost invariably finds himself or herself possessed with the urge to do great things with these newfound gifts, and will find themselves drawn to either hero work or a life of crime that will be quite a success. Most often, these gifts have been honed by the Rh'Xakan's psychic guidance, and the host will find that even though the parasite compels it to take a name that identifies the host as being attached to the individual Rh'Xakan, by the time the alien leaves and the host is free to take their own name and identity, they will already have grown quite powerful and gained quite a reputation.
As a game mechanic, the Rh'Xakan Concept is one that allows SarPal to use a holding name to test character builds before he develops full character concepts for the build. If he likes the build, he can then develop the roleplaying concept, background, identity, etc. for the character, purchase a rename token for it, rename the character to the permanent concept, then reroll the holding name as the next build on the wish list. If the build just doesn't seem very playable or enjoyable, he can just delete it and move on to the next build. In doing this, it provides for a single character name with a rich, varied, and unique background; it provides for a fairly unique origin story; and it provides for the ability for multiple characters that would otherwise have absolutely no roleplaying connection to have one.
Variable Cognomen (???): The identity that the only known Rh'Xakan uses when registering its host as a post-human. The Rh'Xakan's actual name is unknown and most likely very difficult to pronounce. Variable Cognomen is just a fancier way of saying "changeable name," indicating the parasite knows that its role in the host's life is temporary, while the powers it grants are not. Some days, this character might be a heavily armored male science kinetic melee/regeneration scrapper that has a future life of his own, others it might be a scantily clad female magic demon summoning/pain domination mastermind that doesn't.
Playstyle
SarPal tends to prefer being a participant in other players' roleplaying rather than being the catalyst that drives the story. He prefers painting pictures rather than driving dialogue, and so when he tends to do direct roleplaying, he usually does so in the form of storytelling on the Cape Radio forums. (Do be aware, however, that this doesn't mean he does this even infrequently. Generally he has to be pretty married to a story before letting it see the light of day, and a lot of ideas that he has never come to fruition, either by lack of time or abject laziness.) He tends to prefer to casually roleplay, as he enjoys the social aspects of the game and frequently comments out of character or in OOC channels. He will, however, participate with the occasional roleplay when he feels that he has something truly valid to bring to the table.
In other words: SarPal is a roleplay NOOB, and tends to be rather shy about doing it, for fear of screwing it up. He's getting better, but bear with him while he deals with his fears about messing up other people's leisure time.
Contact
You can contact SarPal at his global through in-game e-mail or via private message on the Cape Radio forums, where he goes by DJ Nexus.
