Name: Ethan Deckard
Nickname: N/A
Age: 30
Faceclaim: Zach McGowan

Ability: Personal Liquid Transmutation

Ethan is capable of transforming some or all of his body into a non-toxic metal resembling mercury which can be reshaped or solidified at will. This allows him to morph and mold his body in a variety of ways or simply collapse into a featureless mass of liquid. This shifting ability also allows him to create a wide variety of basic tools and martial weaponry that he has become excedingly proficient at wielding.  He is granted enhanced durability allowing him to be impervious to a considerable amount of injury. The molecular adhesion afforded by this form also gives him the ability to cling and move across solid surfaces and grants him enhanced speed when traversing. The transient nature of this form tends to give telepath-based abilities a little difficulty when trying to lock onto his consciousness.

When developing his abilities, he had dabbled in trying to 'mimic' the appearance of other people, but this lent itself to a lot of difficulties that he had overlooked or taken for granted (see weaknesses). While it may be a talent he might learn to develop, it's currently a pretty rough and cut 'skill' at the moment. On the flip side, he is capable of flawlessly changing his attire to suit his convenience, though he prefers to stick to traditional threads when he can help it.

Weaknesses:

Extreme Temperatures - When super-heated, he tends to have difficulty maintaining his metallic cohesiveness. When subjected to extreme cold, his mobility is hampered. While he never fully tried to test the limits, he is fairly confident that if they were strong enough, he could be respectively melted and frozen. This leads to...

Enhanced (yet limited) durability - While he is incredibly resilient, he is far from being the most impervious metallic substance on the periodic table. If the physical trauma is hard enough, it can knock him out. There have been a few rare instances when he had lost a part of himself in battle and while he can reconstitute himself, it's terribly uncomfortable.

Electricity -  Due to his quasi-conductive nature, electricity doesn't "hurt" him so much as negatively affect him based on the strength on the charge. Low currents will make him a touch dizzy while incredibly high voltage charges will give him crippling vertigo and the motor skills of someone blowing a .5 on a breathalyzer.

Magnetism - With a sufficient level of force vs his mass, he can get yanked around and/or manipulated as much as any other chunk of metal. If powerful enough, it will force him into an amorphic mass that he is incapable of controlling.

Uncanny Valley Effect - He can try to mimic the appearance of another person, but given the amount of focus, concentration and his lack of experience, the resulting amount of subtle, incongruous physical details will raise a lot of red flags for anyone familiar with the person he's copying.


Other Special Abilities:

His experience as a former biker and time with the Nomads of the Waste has afforded him knowledge to know how to repair and maintain his bike as well as other standard vehicles (especially when it comes to jerry-rigging scavenged parts). He also excels in the driving, handling and fighting from these vehicles as well.

In conjunction with his transmutative abilities, he has developed an esoteric style of stealth and melee combat since the conventional rules of form, figure and movement no longer apply to him the way they would a normal person and he can literally create martial weapons out of his body.

Ethan has excellent survival skills having spent the majority of his time in the wasteland since the Collapse.

Is your character a League member or a recruit? Neither
How many years with The League: 0
Occupation on the Campbell Compound: N/A

Theme song:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lzZ-tGKKzU

Physical Description: Ethan simply looks like the sort who could live and thrive in the wastelands and that assessment wouldn't entirely be untrue. He stands just shy of six feet and weighs roughly two hundred pounds, sporting a lean yet sinuously lithe physique that is concealed within layers of patchwork leather and kevlar. His complexion has been bronzed from the time spent in the sun. His thick mane of dark brown hair tends to be a touch greasy and sports various braids which only adds to his somewhat feral visage. Upon his hawkish face, he is usually seen with a dark beard. Everything from his stance to eyes tend to bear a natural intensity of one who has arguably spent more time in the world outside of a compound than within. Then again, it has been rumored that he cleans up quite nicely...

Distinguishing Features: His eyes tend to fluctuate from an unnatural grey to silver based upon his mood.

Personality Description: Despite his primal countenance, he can be surprisingly well-spoken and civilized when he chooses to be. At his core, Ethan is as pragmatic as he is cynical. He is a loner who has gotten used to living on his own terms in a darker world that now emphasizes the survival of the fittest. A world that a part of him has grown to enjoy being a part of. While he once believed in the concept of brotherhood and solidarity, that status quo was up-ended and thrown out in the garbage long ago and as a result, he isn't naturally trusting of people in general so much as he trusts in their sense of self-preservation, whether it be for good or ill. This tends to give him a pretty shrewd attitude in his business dealings and a particular brand of dry humor in his personal associations.

History:

Ethan Deckard never really knew his parents. The Deckards were a lower-class family residing in one of the more financially stricken rural sprawls of Dallas. His mother passed away not long after his birth due to subsequent complications and his father (who took to drinking on a more regular basis since her death) was killed in a automobile accident a few years later. Ethan's uncle Jake took him and his older brother Alex under his wing and while he might not have been the best choice in guardians, Jake was a stern man who believed in familial honor and would not allow his sister's kids to fall into the clutches of the system.

Jacob Wagner was one of the leaders of the local chapter of The Woad Warriors, a prominant motorcycle club known for operating outside of the law. The name started out as an inside joke when they first formed, but stuck after brutally dismantling a gang of local rivals in a turf war. Despite their reputation, they did provide and look out for their community which, in turn, afforded them a measure of protection against law enforcement. This irritated the police to no end because they were still classified as a one percent club and acted accordingly. The Woads tended to remain local but had ties to chapters that had settled down up north in Chicago and eventually out west in Los Angeles. This opened up the door to a lot of financial opportunities and out of town business that allowed for some fun road trips.

Jake taught the boys about the principles of respect, the strength of brotherhood and the importance of self-reliance. When Alex was old enough to be officially inducted into the Woads, Ethan became his responsibility... At least until Ethan fully came into his own. During those young and formative years, he spent his time out on the streets running errands for his Uncle and his associates. Never asking, never telling, just getting the job done to earn his keep. He also spent a lot of time in the Woad's garage (which was also used as a legitimate business), picking up the skills necessary to maintain a motorcycle.

It wasn't long after Ethan was old enough to become a full member, that the virus hit the U.S. and began it's work with devastating efficiency. They had heard rumors about the crazy stuff that was going on out on the East and West coasts, but it was difficult to sift the facts from the fiction. It wasn't until they completely lost touch with their L.A. chapter that they began to take the stories a bit more seriously.  Within a couple of months, The Woads received word from Chicago of a dire situation that required extra manpower. The leaders kept what little details they were given on a need-to-know basis. Everyone had their theories, but things were looking grim and help was needed.

When they reached Chicago, the city was on the verge of total chaos. The local boys were trying to hold out and defend themselves from the first waves of mutants that had appeared. The virus had been ripping through the city and the Woads saw first hand the horrors that they had once dismissed as a exaggerated bullshit. Not only were they fighting monsters from without, but even their own began turning into mutants. Over the next few days, it quickly became apparent that the city was going to tear itself apart and the bikers began fighting their way back out. When Jake began showing early signs of mutation, he chose to sacrifice himself to ensure their escape.

Many more of their number either fell victim to the virus or the mutants on their way back to Dallas which had become just as bad as Chicago during their absence. Mutants were everywhere, people were paranoid, society itself was breaking down for the sake of survival. Over the next year, Alex took over Jake's role in what remained of the leadership with Ethan as his right-hand man and what remained of the Woads eventually became a roaming pack of warrior nomads and scavengers of what was eventually called "The Waste". They kept their heads down, looked out for themselves and their own. The only time they dealt with outsiders was to trade or to defend what little they had and things got even worse with the emergence of "The Gifted" and the reformed government.

The concept of the compounds sounded like a solid idea, but the fine print of living in one didn't agree with the Woads. By this time, they had more or less adapted to the savagery of the new world, the country had finally achieved a relative level of stability, compounds of various sizes had been established across the nation, some of which traded with them on a fairly regular basis. When members of their ranks began exhibiting abilities beyond that of normal human capability, the Woads grew more ambitious and daring in their endeavors, going so far as to scavenge the ruined cityscapes of old still rife with ferals. With high risks came high rewards.

When traveling through what used to be northern Virginia, they encountered a large horde of mutants near the outskirts of the former nation's capital. Even with the aid of those with their powers, the battle was a little more troublesome than they had anticipated. It was here that Ethan's ability began to manifest. He had ran out of ammo and was set upon by more mutants than he could handle. When the fear of impending death took hold and his adrenaline was at its peak, his hands and arms became metallic blades that cleaved through mutant flesh as if it were butter and continued to carve his way to his brother who had sustained a few injuries of his own and retreat with the rest. After some effort, he was able to return to normal, but it was still a rather unnerving experience even for him.

As roughed up as they were, they headed north to a small settlement far enough away from the ruins and well enough defended to be considered safe. They were able to barter for shelter and goods so they could recuperate from the ordeal. While they didn't speak of "The Gifted" among them, loose tongues waxed tales of their exploits among the ruins and these stories spread through the settlement. There were some who questioned the validity of their story that two dozen men could survive exploring one of the most heavily mutant-infested regions of the country, but the goods they brought with them proved their claim. Unfortunately, there were a select few who doubted that two dozen ungifted men were capable of surviving such an excursion and those few sent reports along confidential lines of communication to a compound the Woads weren't entirely aware of. After a few days, word was sent back along with reinforcements under the guise of a traveling caravan.

Two nights later, the Woads were ambushed by a clandestine group of soldiers they were unwholey prepared to deal with. Some were quickly and quietly incapacitated and captured without incident, but the alarm was raised when they interrupted the pyrokinetic during his nightcap. He used a couple bottles of home-brewed moonshine to defend himself and ended up napalming half the pub they attacked him in. Once the Woads were alerted, they immediately took up arms. Despite their strength and hardiness, this was a fight they were going to inevitably lose. Any displaying powers were immediately focused and subdued for containment. Any that weren't were killed outright, including the locals and they soon found themselves being decisively routed.

The handful that were left after the initial onslaught tried to flee, but the town gates had been barricaded from the outside and the walls were too tall to climb. They dug in within a barn along the outer edge of the wall and fought until all they had left were some packs of dynamite that wouldn't be enough to stop the host. The Deckard brothers were two of the four remaining and they decided that they would go out with a bang. So when the building was finally stormed, they triggered the explosives along with all the fertilizer that had been stored, which not only completely destroyed the building they were in, but also a portion of the wall it was near.

As fate would have it, not everyone perished in the blast. At the last second, Ethan braced himself for the inevitable and something reacted. When the explosion was triggered, he felt the concussive blast lift him off his feet and send him flying through the air. The world was a dark, distorted blur and even though he felt himself collide and crash through a variety of objects, he felt no pain from any of it. He eventually hit the ground and rolled a good distance down the hill until finally crashing into a shallow creek. It wasn't until after he took in his surroundings that he finally got over the shock of what had happened and noticed that his entire body was covered in smooth, steel.

Ethan didn't remember how far he ran before his body returned to normal nor did he care. When dawn finally came, he was deep in the wilderness, naked and alone. Starting from scratch, he found and restored his own bike, pushed west and spent the next decade traveling the countryside, running with emerging Nomad tribes, learning how to use his powers and scavenging the wastes. He tended to avoid government-sanctioned compounds, choosing to deal with other nomads, scavengers, homesteaders, smaller camps and settlements.

It wasn't until recently that Ethan had found the remains of a camp he had regularly traded with. The site that had been at least four dozen strong was reduced to rubble. The scene bore the fingerprints of all too familiar sweep-and-clean tactics that he had seen over the years. The evidence implied that the entire affair was quick, clean and contained, with no bodies nor any trace of escaped survivors. The tracks left behind were fresh enough to follow and hunter's curiosity eventually prevailed in his decision to follow them. Over the course of the next few days, he carefully pursued the trail until it eventually led him to a seemingly abandoned warehouse complex...