This might take a bit to complete, but I'm interested in seeing a recap thread for the individual characters.  In introducing people to the game, or even just having people read it for all the quality writing, I've had more than a few say that they wanted to know more about the events and characters; not the story arc stuff, but the meaningful things in the lives of the characters.  Since that's all spread over the vignettes and story threads, it would be nice to have a place to collect it all. Not just the backstory, but all the bits and pieces.  Gale's terrible falling out with her family in Ties, Imp's many loves and losses, 'Kaze's stint with proteus, and Sol's brushes with her other (imaginary? real?) self.

I think a thread like this also makes sense as a way of balancing out the other two character focused threads: we have a powers/description thread, a reputation and connections thread, and this would be the most important, the story thread.

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Below is a general format for things.

Themes are the elements that provide cohesion and continuity to the character, the role they play in the story, and the elements that make them compelling.  Some characters may share themes such as Transhumanism, but the theme likely plays out a bit differently for each character and it is useful to examine those differences.

For the Backstory/Eruption portion, feel free to copy/paste your origin story if it isn't a novella, otherwise just summarize please.  If you don't copy/paste, please put a spoiler in that says the thread and post number where your initial backstory is located.

For 'The Story Continues' portion, please put the important interactions, events, and anecdotes that made your character who he/she is up to this point, or even just the cool shit you did.  spoilers with thread/post# are always nice but not mandatory.

Stuff at the bottom: filling out the rest of the details we haven't touched on elsewhere

Completing this process is worth 5xp.  No hurry on it, doing this is optional.

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Themes: What themes drive your character?  Remember, complete sentences are great, and parsimony is dandy (don't list more than 3, or if you do make the others brief)

Backstory/Eruption: What happened before the game started

The Story Continues: What happened since the game started (new players won't have as much here, but are encouraged to update as things happen)

Motivations: List 3 of the things that drive the character; include the why/intent, not just the motivation please.

Nature: nature
Connection/Chrysalis: Trait - dots
Archetype/Virtues: (chosen trait) - description of personal meaning of trait(s)
Notable Merits/Flaws:  Stuff that has been, or should be, especially important to the character

Themes:  The primary theme that drives him is the never ending quest for self-improvement, for a perfect balance between body and mind.  He knows that reaching that goal is ultimately impossible, it's the effort that creates its own reward.  However, pushing forward with that goal and leaving others behind would constitute a failure in his mind.

Backstory:  The Devargas are direct descendants of a Spanish noble family that was among the original settlers near Los Angeles in old California (back when the family name was de la Varga).  The rancho they own is the last remnant of what was once vast landholdings.  The family maintained a clear title to the land and, although the rancho itself had fallen into disuse and disrepair since sometime in the 50's or 60's, they were able to cover the property taxes with rents on sections of the land by farmers or ranchers.

Angelo was born in 1978 and grew up in a lower middle class, predominantly white neighborhood in L.A.  He studied martial arts from a very young age at his Tia Carmen's martial arts school, competing in tournaments all over Southern California.  Carmen is still a role model for him and has often served as a mentor, steering the skateboarding youngster away from the gangs that had invaded the quiet neighborhoods in the late 80's and early 90's.

When he was about fourteen, his father inherited the de la Varga family's ancestral Rancho and decided to try to resurrect it as a cattle ranch.  Working with their parents, the three children, Angelo, Lorenzo (2 yr. younger), and Miranda (4 yr. younger) had quickly learned to tend the big limosin cattle his father bought with the loan money he got from the bank.  After he paid the back taxes owed on the land his grandfather had left him, of course.  That wasn't the last loan, either.  Every couple of years some disaster would happen or a "not to be missed" chance would come up, and Angelo's father would be back down at the bank, negotiating another loan.

But it was working, the herd was increasing in size and the gourmet beef market had been relatively steady, and the land had been increasing in value, especially the old mansion.  His mother had taught herself the skills she needed and under her supervision the family, with the help of extended family members, was returning the mansion to as much of its former glory as they could manage.  They had been making the payments to the bank and, like most Americans, his father felt that a little more wouldn't hurt...until the economy crashed.  Angelo's father worked himself into a state of physical and nervous exhaustion with side-jobs to make the payments.  The children, when they were deemed old enough, were also put to work.  After his father's collapse, Angelo became the rock that was everyone's anchor.  The mantra was that this would only be a temporary thing, the economy would turn around soon and the market for their cattle and other things they raised on the rancho would be back.

After High School, Angelo went to college on ROTC and athletic scholarships, earning a Bachelor's of Science in Strategic Studies and Defense Analysis.  Upon graduation, he enlisted in the active duty Army as an officer.  As soon as he was able, he sent in his application and joined the Airborn Rangers.

Eruption:  (Vignettes, Asides and Hidden Moments #254)

The Story Continues:  El Dragón was assigned as the U.S. Army liaison to Team Tomorrow: Americas about a year after the incidents in Columbia.  The original team had fractured and new members were being brought in to bring them back up to strength.  While he and the new members were still undergoing training, he had a chance encounter that would prove significant in the coming months.  He had made his way into Las Vegas to sample the night life and stopped in at the Archon.  There he saw Phantasm being harassed by a very aggressive “Romeo” and moved in to rescue her (Off the Clock #589 and forward).  She was grateful but it's fair to say he was smitten.

Later that evening, he witnessed a confrontation between Impetus and an unstable looking elite called Crimson Dawn (Off the Clock #606).  Soon he found himself heavily involved in the maelstrom of Crimson Dawn's flaming meltdown.

The next significant event he was involved in was the ill-fated party at the Ritz-Carlton in New York (Group Vignettes #42 and forward).

Angelo faced his growing powerlessness with a strange sense of calm and equanimity.  Part of this came from a lingering disquiet about his nova abilities.  He had worked all his life to bring his mind and body into perfect synch, maintaining a healthy flow of qi.  Then he erupted and he gained incredible new abilities, all based on manipulation of this new form of energy, quantum.  Where did that fit?  How was he supposed to balance that?  So when he found he might lose his nova abilities, he could accept it more readily with the consolation that his life would once more begin to balance.  He also drew calm from an increasing reliance on his meditation, his skill and control of which grew stronger and more nuanced.  During this time period, he grew closer to Phantasm and tried to help her come to terms with her fear of powerlessness.

As this crisis reached its peak (or valley, depending on your view), he gathered with Phantasm and several other current and former members of T2M and proceeded to raid the Project Proteus facility in Bahrain, and then on Europa (Full Circle #268 and forward).  In the aftermath of this, the team fractured even further as everyone set out to find a way to either cope with, or deal with, the new threats that had come to light.  Angelo, still tied to the U.S. Army, had to return to duty, separating him from Phantasm.  This was one of the major factors in him deciding to leave the Army at the end of his current enlistment.  In the mean time, with his powers restored, he set about trying to find some way to balance the quantum reality with the one he had grown up trying to perfect (Vignettes, Asides and Hidden Moments #394 and #403).  In the process, he created a martial art which he named Qi Meng.

Motivations:  He sees himself as a leader.  Not because he's of any more value than others, but because he can.  If there's not a present opportunity to lead, he will try to set an example as a follower.

He wants to be constantly pushing the boundaries of his art.  Up until recently he felt he might be closing in on a limit, but he has since discovered a much broader horizon.

He has a strict devotion to duty.  Formerly, this was defined by his service in the military, on Team Tomorrow, and to his family.  Since resigning his commission, the role he sees himself in has been evolving.  Part of it is certainly to use his knowledge and abilities to protect others from threats they aren't able to resist.  He also is beginning to see a role as a teacher; helping others to expand their own potential.

Nature: Leader.
Connection:  1
Virtues:  (Hope) – Beyond the broader sense of Hope, it also represents the limitless potential of mankind.  (Justice) – In addition to the idea of fair treatment for everyone, Justice means that people face equal consequences for their wrong actions...regardless of the relative status of their victim(s)
Merits:  Natural Leader, Ambidexterity, Concentration.
Flaws:  Minority, Obsessed with activity (his Taiji rituals), Disfigured (ugly burn scars over the left side of his face and neck), Debt (on his family's ancestral ranch, not severe but significant).
This message was last edited by the player at 01:47, Sat 28 Sept 2013.

Themes:
Fear, Horror, and Alienation - The most integral element of Phantasm's story is that of Horror, both the personal horror of loss of control and alienation, as well as the fear she evokes in others.
Do the Ends Justify the Means? - Phantasm acts to prevent future calamities, but in the process damages relationships and takes actions many would consider "evil"...  Are her actions worth the cost, and are they even justified?
Transhumanism - Woven throughout Phantasm's story are constant reminders that she is more than human, and striving to become something greater still.

Backstory/Eruption:
Phantasm was born to a 'normal' working class home.  She was a middle child in a large family, after her younger siblings came along she was seldom noticed by her parents or siblings.  For a while she tried manipulating her parents to get attention, acting out, playing everyone against each other, but after a brief visit to a therapist and the realization that her parents were barely hanging on to their marriage, she gave up on her home life completely.

The young girl that couldn't get her parent's attention threw herself into school, joining track and field, and working hard on her studies in hopes of getting the hell out of her decaying northwestern suburb when she was old enough to go to college.  She dressed outlandishly, sliding into youth counterculture where she could find the intense relationships she couldn't get in her family.  She joined martial arts, paying for it with the money from a paper route, just to stay out of the house more.  When home was her only option, she locked herself in her room and immersed herself in worlds of dark fantasy, drowned in alternative rock music as she read comics and horror novels, or drew strange entities inhabiting stranger landscapes.  Staying busy kept the depression at bay, and drowned out the incessant sounds of her family; the siblings arguing, mom and dad screaming at each other, the dogs barking, and the constant tread of feet through the house.

She went so far into her own world that she barely noticed what went on around her.  Perhaps that was why it was so easy for the man to kidnap her.  Of course, he was also a nova, so it probably wouldn't have been very hard even if she'd seen him coming.  When she regained consciousness, she found herself in a basement, locked away from the world, a specimen to be studied and eventually consumed by an insane monster.

She didn't know how long she was there, but she felt her life slipping away bit by bit.  No food, no water, and constantly subject to the demented desires of her kidnapper, she eventually felt something inside her break, and rearrange itself.  Was it her perspective changing, showing her how petty her former concerns were?  Was it her mind, trying to dissociate from what was being done to her?  Was it the stress she was under causing her brain to stop working right?  Maybe it was the constant stream of fear induced adrenaline.  But whatever the case, her thinking, her outlook on the world, changed drastically in that dark basement, even as her body awakened to a new and strange power.  Everything seemed to fit together as that power flooded through her; she understood, finally, everything she had struggled for so long to comprehend.

On instinct, only partially aware, mutable limbs slipped their bonds and naked flesh changed color to blend into the bricks of the damp walls.  Instinct told her when he was near, and instinct guided her in attacking him.  She didn't move with the clumsy attacks of a child though, but instead with the distilled skill of all the fighters she had ever seen, and the perfected motion of a master athlete. It still wasn't enough, he was still too powerful.  He would always be too powerful.  Her fear turned in on itself, eating at her, consuming her, harming her more than he ever could.

And then she decided not to be afraid.  He couldn't control that.  Inside, that was hers.  Her emotions were hers.  She let her fear leave in a torrent, and the world around her changed.  A green haze surrounded her, and a moan of pain escaped from dozens of ephemeral mouths, the pain she had felt but would feel no longer.  He ran then, but the spirits took him, they were faster than him.  They held him down as they consumed him, and he became a slave to his own fear then... he was her slave, her prisoner.  Forever.

When she came up the stares, out of the basement, she wasn't the girl that went in.  And never would be again.

The Story Continues:
forthcoming...



Motivations:
1)Phantasm's prodigious mental and social abilities warn her of a dark future on the horizon; her primary goal in life is to avert this future, both to create something better, and to make her own mark on history.
2)Phantasm's secondary goal is to hunt down, terrorize, then kill other nova predators as a means of coming to terms with her past, testing her limits, stealing power, and making the world a tiny bit better.
3)Though every instinct and action pushes Phantasm to hide who she is, ultimately she wants to be accepted for "who she is."  Love, friendship, and the chance to shine on the world stage.
4)Entertainment, though lowest on the list of motivations, is still very important to her.  She doesn't sleep, and she thinks faster than all but a handful of other novas, making boredom a very real and pressing concern.  Work can't occupy her fully, so she makes a point of taking in as much stimulus as possible while doing other things.  She's always on the lookout for something new to entertain herself with.

Nature: Survivor (with a dash of Thrill-seeker and Visionary)

Path (Chrysalis) 1

Archetype: (Monster) - Before her eruption Phantasm sought to be something other than just another banal cog in the human machine, and after her eruption she spent her time trying to come to terms with her powers and how alien they made her.  Her chrysalis, her becoming, centered around embracing that alien nature, her deep seated fears, and her traumatic life experiences to become the personification of her own terror.  She is a Monster with a purpose though: quite appropriate to her background, she sees herself as a predator, a stalker of other monsters, bringing fear to those that thought themselves above such things.

Notable Merits/Flaws:
Iron Will 3, Phobia-Powerlessness 2, Flashbacks 3, Secret 3, Vengeful 2
Despite her exceptionally strong will, Phantasm has flashbacks to some of her more horrific experiences, her nearly perfect memory making them even worse.  That same memory makes it hard for her to forget slights, magnifying a fairly well-developed malicious streak.  She keeps her powers and her past hidden, as both would be a huge problem if revealed.  She has overcome the worst of her fears of losing her powers, but still is cautious; weakness risks becoming someone else's victim.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:07, Sat 28 Sept 2013.

Themes:

The main theme of Joe is "The Mind is the Plaything of the Body," a personal horror schtick. Joe's body is changing and his new form and new perceptual cues form the basis for a constant intrusion on Joe's mental status. Joe is exploring whether or not the fundamental element of him is an ephemeral notion created from a human biology or a sustained one, created by willpower or something less tangible.

Joe's power set, therefore, is part of the theme of Joe. As a nova Joe's powers are concerned with the building blocks of life and biodiversity, and how the unseen world dictates things to the world around us.

Backstory/Eruption:



The Story Continues:



Motivations:

• Adaptation: Joe socially isolated and not with the "powers are a lot of fun" of other Novas. Joe's all about "learning to deal with the new normal" no matter how abnormal it gets. Joe's central theme of nova alienation concerns him bending that alienation to his essential humanist nature. However, the more Joe adapts to his nature, the more irresponsible he becomes and the less secure he becomes.
  
• Responsibility: As a baseline Joe was an irresponsible person. As a nova he's frightening and dangerous. Joe wants to fix both situations, but neither are easy fits. Joe's power set is essentially and catastrophically destructive and transformative, it does not lend itself to gentle use.
  
• Security: Joe's less of a nova's nova and more of a normal person in a Nova's body... right now. He's insecure and vulnerable, because baselines are insecure and vulnerable. Joe seeks to gain security without foregoing his humanity or his responsibility. Joe self-isolates because he's protecting himself and protecting the world from himself. This is essentially in conflict with his motivation of Responsibility.

Nature: Caregiver
Connection/Chrysalis: NA
Archetype/Virtues: NA (would be a Portent)
Notable Merits/Flaws: Huge Size, Phobia: Dark, Bad Vibe

Themes:
Hubris
Imp believes that he is one of the only individuals that can head of the coming apocalypse, and he will do anything it takes to do so, mostly because:
Fatherhood
Imp has two children, that he knows of, one definitely a nova, one currently a baseline.  Both are currently external to his life (one doesn't know who her father is, one is in chrysalis).  He will save the world for both of them, and through them novas and baselines alike.
Fascism
Closely tied with A, and B, he believes that the greater must shepherd the lesser, for the lesser's own good of course.  His particular brand of fascism is world wide, not just national, but does include things like increased militarism, will to power, and devotion to a strong leader (himself).

</b>Backstory/Eruption</b>:
Jason was born and raised in Seattle, Washington.  He was a profoundly geeky boy, had a high pitched voice, bad acne, and the physique of a famine victim. Still, he was smart and inquisitive, he got good grades, excellent in fact, and got enough scholarships to attend MIT, no small feat for the son of a washing machine repair man.  While studying for his undergrad degree in inertia based aircraft propulsion the engine malfunctioned.  Jason, trapped inside, was launched skyward at something well over 30gs of acceleration.  Just before he turned into red jam a terrible explosive pop behind his forehead filled his mind with... well, he has never been able to adequately describe the sensation.  He suddenly understood the energy crushing him, was able to manipulate it.  At the top of his arc he saw the curvature of the earth.
That night he dreamed strange, terrifying, uplifting dreams.  He walked across the sun, held the moon in the palm of his hand and could see the movements of atoms.  When he awoke his body told him that something was horribly wrong.  Everything ached, screamed with pain.  Jason groaned as he opened his eyes.  The white fluorescent lights above him may as well have been magnesium flares, the light burned into the backs of his eyes and sent fresh new waves of pain into his head.  How that was possible, he had no idea, but he was in even more pain.  He moaned, and tried to move his hands up to his head.  He couldn't.  He could move his shoulder, but couldn't bend his elbows.  He also couldn't turn his head and his body felt like it was being crushed.  He opened his eyes a fraction and looked around.  A hospital.  Hunh.  Where were the drugs that should be pumping through his veins right now.
"Nurse!"  he croaked.  His voice broke in the middle of the word.  that hadn't happened since puberty.  well, not even at puberty really, his voice had always been a raspy squeak.
He tried again. "Nurse!" he called, loudly enough to make his head feel like it was imploding.  even through this fresh new hell of sound he was surprised and worried.  His voice sounded deeper.  what the hell???  And what had been that cracking sound when he drew breath to call out.
the nurse came over.  "I'm here Mr. Tybolt. What's wrong?"
"Please God give me some drugs." he whispered softly.  Her breath hissed in, surprise or anger he wasn't sure, he never was around women.  Probably both.
"Your cast is all cracked.  How did this happen?  Who did this?"  He heard her push the emergency call button beside his bed.  How had he heard that?
"Please stay still, sir.  You've broken nearly every bone in your body and suffered massive damage internally, please don't move or speak.  You shouldn't even be awake.  Why aren't the drugs working?"  He heard her fiddling with the I.V. drip beside his bed.  A gentle feeling of euphoria came over him, and the pain eased slightly, but other than that, nothing.
the sound of running feet announced three people, one of whom was female, who was overweight and smelled vaguely of weed, cheese doodles, and juicy fruit.
They were talking rapidly in medicalese, sounded worried, and seemed to think that he was going to die.
"Umm, other than being in incredible pain, I don't feel that bad.  I'm probably not dying.  Oh, and these drugs aren't working worth a shit."  his voice was deeper--deep, manly, and almost oozed sex appeal.  It was like he was a white Barry White.  He laughed.  that hurt.  Fuck did that hurt.
"Seriously, I can move my arms and legs, sorta, and nothing seems to be moving around inside that shouldn't."  he experimentally flexed an arm and felt the plaster give.
Eventually they cut the cast off him--he was a massive bruise.  Not only that but he was a good foot taller, his hair had changed from tightly curled puke orange to a lustrous sandy blond, and his once weak muddy brown eyes were now a striking grey. He heard them whispering, but he knew before they did.  Nova.  he was a fucking nova.  Homo sapiens nova.  Fucking awesome.
It took a few days for the bruising to fade, during that time he ate more food than he had eaten in the last month.  Anything even remotely digestible was fair game.  He tasted more too, flavours were subtler, richer, more striking.  He was putting on weight at a terrifying speed.  50lbs in 3 days.  How the hell had that happened when he had only eaten 45 lbs of food?  He quit school after writing a dissertation the night after he woke up.  His brain was overclocked, his metabolism was overclocked, he looked like a human blueberry.  time to go home.
He arrived in Seattle and walked right up to his old man without the old boy even recognizing him.  No reason for him to, his son, Jason, looked nothing like he did before.  His bruising was starting to fade, along with much of the pain and his face was as different as the rest of him.  For starters he had a chin.  And a jaw line, a manly tough looking jawline.  His nose, once stubby and bulbous, had straightened and evened out.  He was fucking hot.  Even his teeth, long since dyed a permanent shade of gray from years of binging on coke and pizza and weed while playing dnd in his parent's basement, were dead even and dazzlingly white.
Two weeks after his accident his appetite subsided to roughly double human norms.  Roughly.  He was 6'2, 210lbs, and ripped.  Well, not ripped, chiseled.  Carved out of granite, muscles big, symmetrical, perfectly formed.  8 pack abs.  It was the first time in his life he ever wanted to wear something that wasn't big and baggy.
He went shopping with what little money he had saved.  he walked into the mall and people were looking at him.  girls were looking at him.  Not with the dismissing boredom he was used to.  Staring at him.  Grabbing their friends and turning them around so they could look too.  Jason blushed crimson.  this was fucking weird.  And awesome.  Fucking awesome.
He went into a small boutique shop and approached the girl behind the counter.  "Hi, can you help me find some clothes?" he said.  She stared at him.  Didn't say anything for a long minute, then shook herself.  "Umm, yeah, clothes.  We have those."  She helped him find clothes that fit and that looked good together, things he had never worried about before.  She really liked checking the waist of his new jeans to see if they fit snugly.  Really liked it.  He was in Heaven.  He left the store with two new outfits, and the first girl's phone number that he wouldn't have to give his credit card number to use.  Amber.  Amber Jones.
He had sex for the first time that week.  Well, not the first time, but he didn't want to think about the other time.  Couldn't think about it without a ball of shame and guilt welling up inside of him.  he'd never do that again.  Ever.
His old man was a plumber, hardworking, honest, salt of the Earth.  He had no idea how to talk to his son anymore.  Not that he had talked to Jason much before.
His old lady was sweet, quiet, and slightly absent.  she was shocked by her son's appearance, but then quickly got over it saying that he could get a nice girl now and get married.
Married.  Hah.  A nice girl.  hah.  He was going out to clubs and picking up different nice girls every night.  Sometimes there was competition to see who could take him home.  Not that it was difficult to convince Jason to go back to their place.  Far from difficult.
During the day he figured out how to slow things down and speed them up using just his mind.  He still had headaches, but they were getting easier to manage.
He saw advertisements for Project Utopia on the news.  He decide to join, but not right away.  he became a fashion model, made big bucks, way more than he could have before.  He moved out of home.  got his own place.  Life was good.

One day he decided to head to a daycare that he knew about.  There was somebody he had to see.  He walked up to one of the ladies working there and gave her his best smile, quelling the butterflies in his stomach.  "Hi, I'm Tabitha Campbell's uncle, can I see her?" She is so going to think I'm a pedo he thought to himself.  I'm her uncle, fucking lame.  Oddly enough she did bring him to the little girl playing on the swing set.
"Hi Tabitha, what are you doing?"
"I'm flying."
"Flying, hunh, that's cool."
"yeah, it is.  Can you fly?"
"Not yet, but I will real soon, I promise."
"Really, you can do that?  Are you a nova? Do you work for Team Tomorrow?"
"Yes, I am.  My name is Impetus.  And I will never let anybody hurt you.  I promise."
the next day Impetus went to the Mazrim Rashoud office in Los Angeles to sign up.


The Story Continues:
Imp's first appearance at the training camp:
Jason, or Impetus, as he was trying to think of himself, deplaned and walked with his security detatchment into the complex.  He made some small talk, cracked some jokes, and flirted briefly with the female soldier on point.  Instinctively he began talking about the importance of the Project, and the good it would do for people around the world.  He could see she was warming to him, and flashed her a grin and a wink when they got to his room.  "I guess this is where I'm staying?" He said, noticing a faint blush in her face.  The soldiers turned and walked down the hall, she shot him a glance as they turned the corner.  She'd be back.

He tossed his suitcase onto the top shelf of the closet, slowed its momentum too early and let it drop to the floor with a thud. He sighed and lifted it into place.  "Control and practice, control and practice" he thought to himself.  Imp then left his room and followed the signs on the walls to the lounge.  He noticed a couple other men were there before him, nodded in a friendly greeting, then went over to the concession.  The women working there, all a bit too old and cafeteria-lady looking for his tastes, complied with his request for 3 double cheesburgers, half a pound of fries and three chocolate milkshakes without even batting an eye. "There you go dearie, don't spill any of that on yourself now, you hear?" Said the senior matron with a twinkle in her eye.  Imp grinned, "Yes ma'am!" and threw her a salute.  They laughed as he walked towards the other guys, balancing his overloaded tray.
"Afternoon gents, My name's Jason..er Impetus. Pleased to meet you."

When Imp decided that he should be able to fly:
He gave Solitaire a smile, somewhat frantic, and then fell away from her.  "Don't think, just fly"... He thought.  "Hard to turn off the brain when it's all I've had going for me so far."  Still...
He closed his eyes, ignored the scream of the wind and the flapping noise his lips were making, turned inward to that pulsing dynamo of power that was his node.  He could feel it almost boiling with energy.  He looked outwards, not with his eyes but his mind, felt the quantum signature of Solitaire glowing like the sun beside him.  "She's smokin hot." he thought idly, then turned his attention back to not Wiley Coyoteing.
He also felt the presence of others nearby, probably Prodigal and Zero.
He also felt that same energy in the very air around him, atoms and molecules each with a furnace in their tiny hearts.  If he could just tap that..
He shot skyward, the momentum of his fall instantly reversed, but it was just the energy from falling, not from the air around him. He then shot 90 degrees left, still not what he wanted.  He channeled the energy of his fall into thrust, feeling himself accelerating.  This was better, but still not perfect.  He stopped himself dead in the air, held himself aloft by channeling the movement of the air into physical force, he hung motionless, bleeding the energy imparted to him from Sol until he was sure that anything from here on in would be him. Then he started to fly, not gracefully, at first, but under his own power.  He got the hang of it with the breathtaking rapidity that he was getting used to: the voices in his head sounding suspiciously like Amelia Earhart and Howard Hughes.  Soon he was hurtling over the desert at a couple hundred Kph.  He saw Solitaire, gave her a huge grin and a thumbs up, then watched her rocket away.  He felt the quantum in her wake and pushed himself faster and faster.  He felt something go pop in his head and he suddenly doubled his speed.  Sol was faster than he, twice as fast, but still, not bad for a rookie.  She buzzed him a couple times, once when she got too close he took her momentum and added it to himself, pushing through the sound barrier like a human missile.
He then experimented with running like a maniac across the desert, zipping through gullies and around rocks like the Tasmanian Devil after he'd snorted an 8 ball of coke.
After a gigantic dinner he hit the strip, won a stack of cash, and got as much culture as he could before heading back to the base for classes Monday morning.  He came down for breakfast singing happily in Quenya, and better looking than ever. It was good to be alive.

Imp's first private conversation with Caroline:
Imp walked into the glittering marble lobby of the Grand Hyatt in Cairo, he had just finished working in Central Africa and was looking forward to a little pampering and some much needed re-creation time.  He checked in, using some of the money that he had from royalties of his last fashion gig, then sauntered into the Revolving restaurant to meet Caroline Fong.
She was, as he'd expected, already there, sitting by the window, enjoying the view of the Nile and the downtown core of the city, glimmering red and rust in the sunset and dust.
"Caroline, a pleasure," Imp took her hand and kissed it before taking a seat across from her.  She smiled back, it didn't have the same kind of intensity that she had had the last time they met in Vegas, but it was perhaps more than friendly.  "Impetus, how have you been?  Doing a lot of work helping out the victims of the wars, yes?  Cleaning up the messes made by people who think they can feed our still human obsessions for fame and money and feed our egos so that we do what they want, not what we should?"
Imp smiled, this was exactly why he had come to her, she was smart, insightful, opinionated and more than a little gorgeous.  "Of course, but I still maintain that we can best define ourselves by how we treat those who have so much less than we do, it's not a bad thing to enjoy helping others, yes?  AS to governments buying us to fight their wars for territory," Imp's face tightened, "They should be dropped in the middle of the carnage they have wrought and left to the tender mercies of their victims."
They bantered back and forth for a while, enjoying each other's company and the view, and of course the food.  After a while, feeling relaxed for the first time in a long time, Imp finally broached what was troubling him the most. "Caroline, I'm curious, I have had some success changing my body and mind, becoming stronger, faster, better, but it's not enough, I am still a slave to my base passions, things that I know demean me, things that I must control, but wish to master.  Is it possible to change our very brain chemistry? To make our urges things that we have chosen, not that we have had thrust upon us?"
She smiled warmly, "You see, Imp, that's why I enjoy you so much, you ask the same questions that I do, seek to remake yourself not by the whim of the power that flows through us, but by bending it to your will and allowing it to shape you as you will it to."
They talked until dawn, then retired to Imp's room for both more discussion as well as other, physical, intimacies.  Two days later, when it was time for Impetus to go back to work he felt both more at peace with who he was and in far more control than he had since before he could remember.
The first time Imp meets Raoul:
"Hi Raoul, my name's Impetus, or Imp if you prefer." Imp proffers a hand, then takes a long pull on the drink.  Holy mother of god it was strong.  Imp didn't have the amazing endurance of some of his compatriots so he knew he was going to start feeling it soon enough.  "Y'know, i really, really get a kick out the attention that we get showered with, the celebrity status, the hero worship, but the people downstairs.  they paid how much money to have the opportunity to rub themselves on someone they didn't even talk to.  I thought i could never have enough free tail, and god knows it's easy enough to get, but they're so fucking animalistic about it that it makes me feel...sullied."  He takes another long pull.

The (first) death of Harley:
Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck Fuck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Imp blasted through the tin roof of the long low building buried under the sand and desperately tried to gain altitude Harley, limp weight on his shoulder didn't complain as the jagged edges of the hole cut wounds in his back and legs. "Impetus to all teams, fall back, fall back..." His words were drowned out by the wind roaring past him and the sudden aweful pregnant thump from a mile below him.  The bunker that he and Harley had been investigating had indeed held a weapons lab, but not a small one like Harley's informant had said.  It had been massive, with huge tanks of poison and what looked like a massive nuclear bomb.  One of the novas Harley took down had managed to press a button on his uniform and the chemicals had started mixing, which had distraced Imp long enough for the nova he had been fighing to fire off a weird transluscent black bolt at his head which would have killed him if Harley hadn't jumped in front of him and took the blast in the chest.  Imp fired off a bolt at the nova then grabbed Harley and flew as fast as he could back up and out before the bomb exploded sending a gigantic cloud of radioactive dust and poison vapours that had somehow survived the explosion into the atmosphere.  Imp went straight up, just on the leading edge of the cloud, the light burning his vision, the blast of energy just seconds behind him.  he hit the top of the atmosphere, felt Harley rapidly hardening in the supercooled super thin air, then plummeted back to Earth towards Bunia and the Utpoia docs, his eyes blurred with tears, "C'mon Harley, make it, make it, make it."  As fast as he flew he know Harley would be gone before he arrived.

more to come....
Motivations:
Save the World: If it's a nova/baseline war or the machinations of alien mind rape angels, if it threatens his world, he's its enemy.
Transcendence: Imp still has the soul of a philosopher, somewhere in there, and of the romantic, and he wants to transcend his current state both to realize what he ultimately can be, and to reunite with Caroline.


Nature: Visionary
Chrysalis 1, Marvel, 2nd stage.
Notable Merits/Flaws:
Secret: 1pt, child
Antagonistic Backgrounds:
Fan Club: 5pts
Suitors: 5 pts

Themes: Youth and Naiveté.  Daphne is young and has only been a nova for a few months. She was a mostly sheltered suburbanite who has found herself thrust into a world she was taught to be scared of.

Backstory: Daphne was born in a small Korean coastal fishing village.  Her father was an African American soldier who left her mother once he figured out she was pregnant.  To attempt to save her family some of the disgrace she had brought upon them, her mother left her at a small Christian orphanage. There she was adopted by John and Elisa Ward and brought back to Strawberry CA. There she was brought up in a fairly rigid Christian lifestyle and went to a strict religious school in a very WASP community.  Her parents always seemed to love her, but they were always distant.  She had many friends who she was close to, but she always got the feeling she was different.  The sudden appearance of Novas changed her community just like it changed many others. Many in her highly religious community thought that Novas were demonic or in some way evil. Her family and community tried to minimize Nova influence, but this was a mostly futile effort.

A few years after the first Novas erupted, Daphne’s parents had a child of their own.  Following this, her already distant relationship with her parents became almost impossible to keep going.  She quickly discovered that despite the appearance of having friends, she was not truly one of them.  All this left Daphne wondering where she fit in and why God had seen fit to test her like this. It was all too much for her and she began to withdraw from her life.  For the most part, she still pretended everything was ok, but she was never the same.

Soon after her 16th birthday she decided in order to try and connect with some of her friends more she would join them at a frat party in San Francisco.  Despite some initial awkwardness of being around college students, Daphne managed to fit in or so she thought.  One of the many frat boys who showed interest in Daphne invited her up to his room, being unsure of how to say now to an older boy, she agreed.  Despite his attempts to the contrary, Daphne managed to run away once she found out the frat boy wasn’t interested in going slow. She left her friends, and her ride, at the party and found herself somewhat lost.

She managed to find her way to a train station and buy a ticket for the last train north towards home. While waiting for the train to arrive, a man attacked Daphne for her purse and in the process of taking it knocked her onto the tracks in the path of the oncoming train. She had mere seconds before the train hit her. She has no memories of what happened, but has seen the videos of the train slamming into her.  She is knocked across the train station as the train itself is derailed and destroys much of the station and killing her would be mugger. Despite it being a late and relatively empty train, many people died.  Daphne certainly would have, if not for her eruption which left her completely unharmed and lying almost 50 feet away from the wreckage, in a corner of the station.

After this she would make her way home via taxi, but once there her status as a Nova would be discovered despite all her attempts to hide it from her friends and family.  Her parents attempt to send her to Mercy House (a Christian conversion therapy center, 'specializing' in novas) to cure her of her evil nova ways, but Daphne ran away before they could do this.  She spends the next several months on the streets trying to understand what has happened and cope with it.  She handles all this poorly, as she attempts suicide numerous times before finally giving up and accepting that she can’t be hurt and can’t go back to being a normal teenager.

For more details see [Char. Dev.] Vignettes, Asides, and Hidden Moments, page 15, msg 353.

The story continues: Daphne, having found it impossible to kill herself, finds herself in Las Vegas. There she meets Serenade, a Nova Pop Star, who befriends the Daphne and gives her some form of direction. Listening to some of the advice that Serenade was giving her, Daphne met with a nova specialist who trained new novas in how to control their powers.  Following this lunch the restaurant refused Serenade’s credit card that he had given Daphne to pay for it. This lead to a chance encounter with Gale and Comstock who gave her advice and a job offer for the future.

Following a rescue of Serenade, herself and several others from a riot that was following one of Serenade’s concerts, Daphne finally found out more about the job offer that Comstock had brought up during their first meeting.  She was asked to join Vigilance and gladly did so. Hoping it would give her life meaning and a direction.

(More to come.)

Motivations: Self Improvement; Daphne knows she is naïve and not very smart. She is looking for ways to rectify some of this. To this end she actively watches and listens to the more experienced novas around her.

Exploration (external and internal); Daphne grew up in a mostly isolated suburbanite community. She wants to see what the world is really like and find her place in it.

Responsibility; Daphne has been gifted with powers, but is still very young and new. She wants to do something good with what she has been given and not squander it.

Nature: Follower
Connection/Chrysalis: N/A
Archetype/Virtues: N/A
Notable Merits/Flaws: Adolescent and Minority (Black/Asian heritage)