Volcanaut
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| Volcanaut, the Towering Inferno. | |
| Volcanaut | |
| Player: @Charon. | |
| Origin: | Magic |
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| Archetype: | Brute |
| Threat Level: | 50 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Adam Jones |
| Known Aliases: | Jonesy, Sidewalk, A.J. |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | 39 |
| Height: | 6' 6" |
| Weight: | 300 lbs |
| Eye Color: | Red |
| Hair Color: | Dark Red |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | United States Citizen |
| Occupation: | Career Criminal |
| Place of Birth: | Kings Row, Paragon City |
| Base of Operations: | St. Martial |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Susan Jones (Mother, deceased,) Geoffrey Jones (Father, deceased,) Jeremy Jones (Uncle, deceased,) Ryan Jones (Brother, deceased,) Jacob Jones (Brother, deceased.) |
| Known Powers | |
| Able to create and manipulate fire, both in raw forms and by refining pure flame into melee weapons; completely resistant to fire and heat, allowing himself to armor himself in flames, keeping enemies at a vast distance; able to heal and even revive himself from near death with the healing flames of the Bands of Fire. | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Superior strength; agile for a man his size; ruthless and loyal. | |
| Equipment | |
| The Bands of Fire, ancient weapons of mass destruction. | |
| Volcanaut has no idea as to his true power or potential. | |
Volcanaut is the second Brute of player Charon, and was created simply because at the time of his conception, Fire/Fire was considered a weak and generally inferior pair of powersets for Brutes. He grew from a simple experiment to see if the player could create a Fire Brute who was a supervillain, and not some kind of demon, into a fully developed character.
Contents |
Affiliations
- Speedwarp - A friend and ally in the group known as the Rogues Gallery, Volcanaut and Speedwarp have worked together often and to great effect. Combining Speedwarp's incredible speeds and Volcanaut's vast strength, the pair have managed to pull off many crimes.
- Mindswipe - Leader of Rogues Gallery, Volcanaut joined the group simply because he had heard Mindswipe's reputation and of the facilities the group could provide him.
Supergroup: Rogues Gallery
Personality
Volcanaut was once a fairly happy-go-lucky kind of guy. He was born into a crime family, and grew up around wiseguys and jokers. His attitude darkened after his family was gunned down by the lackeys of a rival mob boss, and became hardened and reserved. He created a shell behind which to hide, and the happy, wisecracking personality he had developed as a young man disapeared almost completely. His mood only changed for the worse when he laid his hands on the Bands of Fire, as now not only was he driven by revenge and anguish, but the Bands began to control his personality and make him prone to acts of blind violence and extreme mood swings. He is now extremely prone to fits of rage and is extremely unpredictable.
Character History
Adam Jones was born into a crime family. He was not Irish, and he was not Italian, but somehow over the years his family had managed to build up connections within the Family and the various crime syndicates of Paragon City. They were not rich, and they were not poor. The Jones family got by on what jobs they could get from whichever don they happened to be working for at the time.
Adam did not know his family for long. When he was sixteen years old, his mother, father, two older brothers and uncle were all gunned down in their family home. Adam was not home, he was busy running errands for a rival of the crime boss who had killed his family in his absence. Distraught and angry, Adam plunged ever deeper into his life of crime, and soon found himself under the wing of one of the most dangerous mob bosses in all of Paragon City, and more specifically Kings Row: Frank 'Knuckles' LaRusso, a local enforcer for The Family who had slowly taken control of the turf he was told to protect; in Kings Row, LaRusso ruled the roost.
Adam grew up seeing LaRusso as a father figure, and even became a second father figure to LaRusso's own son, who was shielded from his father's double life; home schooled, kept off the streets and indoctrinated to think his father was an investment banker. LaRusso was a heartless man, but he did not want his son, who thought the world of him, to know quite how heartless he was. Jones was one of the few of LaRusso's lackeys who were allowed near him, showing LaRusso's true trust for him.
In the late 80s, LaRusso was pushing hard on his protection rackets. His income was dropping, and he was feeling the heat from above; Sebastian Frost was losing money with the sudden crackdown on the drug trade from the Regulators. LaRusso had a couple of troublesome members of the community who refused to pay for his protection, one of which was Salvatore DeMarco, a local antique dealer who was rumoured to deal in some magical artifacts. He refused to pay, and was not scared of losing his own life for his ideals. Of course, LaRusso had other ideas.
LaRusso charged Adam with the job of sorting out this small problem. He was to hire one of Knuckles' regular and reliable hitmen, get a group of lackeys together, and they were going to show DeMarco their might, not through killing him, but by killing his daughter. All went as planned, they followed her home after she locked up her father's shop, and they dealt with her. There was only a minor hickup in that her boyfriend was present at the scene of the crime, but he was easily held down, beaten and thrown in the river by Jones' hired goons, and they thought nothing more of him.
Later that night, many of the men present at the murder were killed in a fire at the Cloud 9 bar in The Gish. The police treated this incident as suspicious, and a suspected arson, but an arrest was never made. Only four of the men who had been present at the murder now remained. One of which was the hired assassin, another Adam Jones. Two others who were present did not perish in the fire.
During the summer of 1991, which saw a record heat wave, a new vigilante appeared on the streets of Kings Row, calling himself 'Charon'. Alarmingly for LaRusso and Jones, his primary targets seemed to be both Knuckles' operations and the remaining four men who had survived or avoided the Cloud 9 fire. Charon hunted down David Leone (found hung in his apartment) and Thomas 'Thompson' Gazi (Thrown from a fifth floor window,) both present at the murder of Maria DeMarco, prompting Jones to temporarily leave the country.
Returning in 1992, Jones promptly fell back into the employ of LaRusso. At the time, Knuckles was having trouble with a small time vigilante named Volcano, who weilded a pair of magical Bands which we later identified as the Bands of Fire (See classified attachment to this report.) He was captured investigating LaRusso's illegal gambling clubs. Reports are sketchy from informants, but it is said that Volcano tried to defend himself but his weapons did not respond, leading to him being gunned down in a hail of bullets. His body was never found.
Informants tell us that Adam Jones was charged with the disposal of the body, which would explain how the Bands of Fire fell into his hands. Sometime after this, he left the employ of 'Knuckles' LaRusso, betraying him and leaving the apartment which LaRusso bought for him. What caused Jones to turn on his life long employer is uncertain.
Over the next few weeks, a new villain named 'Volcanaut' hit the streets. It took a while for Hero Corps agents to discern his identity, but after many undercover operations, we managed to find out that this man was already a wanted criminal; Adam Jones of the Knuckles crime family, only now with a fiery orange color to his skin. He had become a supervillain, using the Bands of Fire as his weapons of choice.
Throughout the nineties, Volcanaut made a small name for himself within Paragon City, but never truly realised the full potential of the weapons he wielded, and mostly spent his time either in the emply of Crimelords (even going back to work for Knuckles periodically) or pulling smalltime jobs such as bank robberies. He was prone to flying into blind rages, and didn't seem to quite be in control of his weapons.
In 2004, Volcanaut was arrested for murder after burning a hero alive. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, and was incarcerated until 2006, when he managed to make his escape from Ziggursky Correctional Facility during a prison riot. He quickly made his way to the Rogue Isles, where he has been operating since.
Volcanaut is a huge threat. He does not seem to realise the potential of the weapons he weilds, but as soon as he finds this information out, either willingly or by coincidence in talking with many of the Circle of Thorns and Mu contacts he is likely to meet on the Rogue Isles, he will become much more powerful. It is only a matter of time before Volcanaut unlocks the true destructive power of the Bands of Fire.
Powers
Fire Melee
Volcanaut uses the Bands of Fire in an offensive capacity in a few ways. Firstly, in fights that do not require much fire power, he is prone to simply igniting his fists and using them as he normally would, packing slightly more of a punch due to the fire damage and burns caused to his victims. However, he is perfectly able and willing to use the powers of the Bands of Fire more inventively, and often uses them to craft weapons from pure flames. He has been known to use swords of all sizes, spears and axes, all of which resemble the crude weapons known to have been weilded by the primitive Volcaros. It is unknown whether Volcanaut is aware that the weapons he crafts from the powers of the Bands resemble those weilded by their creators.
Fire Aura
The Bands of Fire allow Volcanaut to survive, and even be comfortable admist flame and vast heat. As such, he is able to ignite his body, incasing himself in flames as a means of protection. Any blows are absorbed by the flames, adding to his power and anger, if the enemy is willing to come close enough to the towering inferno to attack him in the first place. Volcanaut uses this power in both an offensive and defensive capacity; he has been known to ignite large areas around himself to burn those in melee range, but most of the time will keep the flames close to his body, to defend himself.
Fire Blast & Fire Control
Volcanaut has been known to exhibit some ranged control over fire, throwing fire balls at enemies and occasionally incasing heroes in fiery circles or cages. However, the Bands of Fire are known to adapt their fire powers to the personality of the wearer, and it is quite obvious that Volcanaut is a very up close and personal kind of criminal. He prefers to fight hand to hand, and as such these elements of the powers possessed by the Bands, and as an extension Volcanaut, are not seen very often.
Invincibility
It would seem that Volcanaut is nearly incapable of dying. He can take damage, and even be beaten, but will never die. The Bands of Fire emit healing flames to fix his wounds in times of trouble, and if Volcanaut is truly beaten to near death, the Bands will ressurect him in a towering inferno of flames. The idea has been thrown around in Paragon City and the Rogue Isles alike that Volcanaut may be, at least until the bands are removed from his wrists, immortal.
Super Strength
The Bands of Fire grant Volcanaut super strength. He is able to punch through walls, lift and throw cars and even trade punches with the likes of Citadel and Luminary. While his super strength is not on par with the likes of Statesman, Volcanaut is a formidable force in hand to hand combat even without the fire powers of the Bands of Fire.
Leaping
The super strength given to Volcanaut by the Bands of Fire also allow him to leap great distances, approximately a city block. He uses this both as a means of travel and as a way of tracking those enemies who run away from him, he is loathe to let anybody escape.
Abilities
Superior Strength
Even without the help of the Bands of Fire, Adam Jones was always well built, and could pack quite a punch. In his younger days he was involved in underground boxing circuits, and had quite a reputation as an enforcer and street fighter. Even today many are scared of him not because of his new-found status as a powerful supervillain, but simply because they heard about that time he kicked a guy to death over a poker game.
Agility
For a big guy, Volcanaut is fast and quite agile. He can move at quite a pace, and is not clumsy on his feet despite his size. However, when he becomes enraged he becomes slower and clumsy, losing his footing simply due to the fact that he is trying to push as much power into his hits as possible.
Equipment
Volcanaut carries one main piece of equipment: The Bands of Fire. However, he also carries several small devices in his utility belt.
The Bands of Fire
Thousands of years ago (the actual time frame has never been discerned,) there existed a race of people known as the Volcaros. Their village was situated in the shadow of a Volcano, which they named as their deity. This race had links with both the Orenbegans and the Mu, and periodically found themselves at war with them, weilding fire magics in battle.
Eventually, the shaman of this civilisation, named Volca'ru, became infatuated with the powers of their Volcano god. He brought together all of the magically inclined members of the city, and they worked to channel all of their magical abilities into a pair of clay bands. At the end of their ritual, all of the mystics were drained of their magics, but were left with magical weapons capable of destroying whole civilisations.
Volca'ru was a destructive and back stabbing sort. He killed all the mystics and took the bands for his own. He left the village and hiked for miles to face the Mu in battle, and when he found them, he slaughtered hundreds.
Returning to his village, Volca'ru declared his victory over the Mu. The people rejoiced... But not for long. A few days after the first use of the Bands of Fire, the Volcano which their people had worshipped for thousands of years erupted, bathing their city in fire and death... No one survived. The only surviving relics of this eruption were the Bands of Fire, perfectly preserved in Volca'ru's own home.
Thousands of years later, Ernest Hanks, an archaeologist and explorer was conducting a dig in Africa when he found the remains of the Volcaros village. Hardly anything was salvageable, but he did lay his hands on the Bands of Fire. Called back to America to teach at the University of Founders Falls, he went back to the US, taking the Bands with him.
Days later, the bands attached themselves to his wrists. Discovering their powers, he did what any man at the time would have done; he became a costumed mystery man. For a decade Dr. Volcaros roamed the streets, defending Paragon from the likes of gangsters, nazis and vampires, until a fateful night in 1933, when he burned alive on Valor Bridge. No one knows how this happened, although it was confirmed that the fire that killed him came from his own weapons, which were found on his corpse, unattached, waiting for the next wearer.
The Bands of Fire were then moved to a museum, before they were stolen and ended up on the black market. Eventually, they ended up in an antique store run by Salvatore DeMarco, a well known Italian-American antiques dealer who was also known to dabble in the occult. They remained in his shop, gathering dust for many years. Tourists came through his doors daily, but never did a true sorcerer walk across his threshold in order to find the Bands of Fire. In the mid-1980s, Tommy Yates, a sixteen year old kid who had fallen in with a bad crowd was dared to steal something from Old Man DeMarco. He walked into the shop and nervously began looking through the shelves. Just then, a pair of enforcers from the local crimeboss started to press Salvatore for protection money. Tommy took his chance and smuggled the Bands out of the store.
When he discovered the power of the Bands, he was originally very uninterested in becoming a superhero. It was only when he realised that he couldn't remove the bands from his hands that it must be his destiny to use them for good, and that in some way he ought to make up for stealing them in the first place. For several years he defended the streets of Paragon as The Volcano, until 1992, when he was investigating the business of Frank 'Knuckles' LaRusso in Kings Row. From eye witness reports, it is said that Volcano tried to defend himself, but his magical wrist bands did not respond, causing him to be gunned down in a hail of bullets. Volcano's body was never found, although it is likely it was dumped somewhere in Independence Port; the most common theory is that it was devoured by the monster Lusca.
Adam Jones, alias 'Volcanaut' was the man who originally disposed of this body... Which is where he got his hands on the Bands of Fire.
The Bands of Fire are extremely dangerous. Jones has no idea as to their full potential at this current time, and seems to have no idea that they truly have the destructive power of a Volcano. It is likely that through his contacts in the Circle and Mu who litter the Rogue Isles, he will eventually learn the origins and potentials of his weapons.
Truly, the weapons are capable of many things. They adapt themselves to the personality of the wearer, and so each person to wear the Bands of Fire will use them differently. Dr. Volcaros, for example, used the flames defensively; he would encage enemies in flaming circles, and create walls of fire to protect his comrades. Volcano used them more offensively, but at range; he would throw blasts and balls of flame at his enemies. Volcanaut, having been brought up as a well-built bruiser, uses the Bands in melee range, creating weapons forged of fire, and igniting his own body to defend himself from attackers.
None of the wearers have been aware of The Bands true power. They can call forth towering infernos, summon giant flaming monsters and cause spontaneous volcanic eruptions from the earth, but as yet, none of the wearers have looked past their immediate uses.
Comm Device
Volcanaut uses this communication device to converse with members of the loose villainous coalition known as Rogues Gallery. It is useful in being able to call for back-up, and allows him to report information he feels that other Rogues would find beneficial.
Volcanaut also uses this device to communicate with contacts in both Arachnos and the wider Rogue Isles.
Teleportation Device
This device, originally stolen from the Sky Raiders by a Rogues Gallery member, has been adapted to allow Volcanaut to teleport remotely to other locations in the Rogue Isles, most commonly the Rogues Gallery secure base, an Arachnos hospital building or the Pocket D interdimensional nightclub.
Vulnerabilities
Without the Bands of Fire, Volcanaut is just another schmuck from Kings Row. He is able to handle himself in a fist fight, but against any kind of superpowered threat he would go down extremely fast. At the moment, the Bands of Fire appear to be completely sealed to his wrists, but if anyone were to find a way to get them to detach themselves, or to forcibly remove them, Volcanaut would go back to being normal, and would be extremely vunerable to harm. Volcanaut is also extremely susceptable to ice, and those with Ice or Cold manipulation powers.
Adversaries
- Charon - Charon has been tracking Adam Jones for years, as one of the only surviving thugs to have been present at the death of his fiancee. He wants Jones dead, and will stop at nothing to see this as a reality. Recently he took an excursion to the Rogue Isles to try and track him down.
To Contact This Character's Creator
- In-game: @Charon.
- CoHGuru Forums: Charon
- Official Forums: Mr_Mud
