Username: Scriviner

Preferred Name: Whatever makes you happy. You can use Scriviner, Scri, my character's name, "Hey, you!," or anything else you like.

Favorite Comic / Comic-Based Film:   Guardians of the Galaxy.

What kind of superhero stories do you normally enjoy?:   Ones based on logically-extrapolated scenarios that may actually play out when our reality is abruptly subjected to the advent of superheroes. Put more bluntly: I like stories that involve agents, marketing deals, public relations incidents, superhero insurance, public sector use of meta-human abilities, that sort of thing.

What attracted you to this game?:   It’s always nice to play a free-form superhero game and not have to worry about trying to fit all of your vision into the Rules As Written. Also, a conflict-resolution system that is based on the best narrative rather than random factors is way appealing. That does, by design, result in the best possible story, which is the point of a good game IMO - not "winning" by crunching numbers effectively.

If you can and would like to, briefly describe your writing style here:   I’d say…entertaining. I tend to write like I like to read – a good story with entertaining elements of both humor and serious issue tales (not a surprise, with GotG listed above). I’m a voracious reader, and so I’m generally aware of what makes a narrative flow rather than stutter. Thus, I’m certainly not above dropping my own character into the deep end when it’s appropriate and amusing to do so.  My favourite heroes – super or otherwise – are generally the ones that get chewed up in the process of saving the day, but stick it out and win by means both stubborn and creative. Harry Dresden.  John McClain. Malcolm Reynolds. Those heroes almost in spite of themselves are my favorites....




Full Name:   David Henderson
Aliases & Nicknames:   The Mighty; Big Man, Last Action Hero, The Toronto Titan
Age:   42
Years Awakened:   2

Height:   6’6” (1.98m)
Weight:   476lbs (216kg)
Build:   Broad-shouldered, Olympic Athlete-level build.
Hair: Brown, short.
Eyes:   Grey-green.

GVD (Generalized Visual Description):   Henderson is a tall, conventionally attractive man with a build which has been described as "perfect." If there’s a physiological ideal in the amount of muscle development, proportions, and degree of body fat, he’s managed to attain it. And, bafflingly, he doesn’t have to do a thing to maintain it. His hair is neatly cut and worn in a fashionable, slightly spikey style. In addition, he wears an equally neatly-trimmed beard. While he in his early forties, he appears to be in his mid-thirties, an impression reinforced by his generally cheerful demeanor.

While active in the field, he dresses fairly simply. On his chest, he sports a short sleeve, light grey V-neck shirt  with darker grey sleeves, shoulders, and a broad band along the neckline together suggesting an "M." Similarly, he also wears dark grey cargo pants with what can only be called a "utility belt" and a pair of finger-less gloves with heavy metal disks on the backs of the hands. Surprisingly, he goes about barefoot, yet his feet never appear to be dirty. In fact, his outfit always seems to be in great shape, clean and perfectly fitted to him. What's more, his hair never seems out of place, even in the midst of battle. This is almost certainly a side effect of his Gift, though the mechanism by which his Gift maintains his health and appearance is, as of yet, unknown.

Political Alignment: None

Namidian Resources: N/A

Superhuman Abilities:   Henderson’s abilities are, on the scale of the Gifted, relatively simple. First and foremost, he possesses a greater mass than most, physically massing perhaps double what he should for his size. But, to a more significant degree, he metaphysically masses far greater than even his weight suggests he should. He has vastly increased strength, enabling him to lift upwards of fifty tons, punch holes in solid steel, leap hundreds of feet at a time, run in great bounds at close to fifty miles per hour, and exert himself for prolonged periods without risking exhaustion. He is also incredibly durable, able to ignore the rounds from pre-Gift era hand held firearms like so many thrown tennis balls. Miniguns, fifty-caliber rifles and other munitions intended for use against vehicles and hardened targets are required if human assailants hope to have a chance of causing notable injury to him. Even when injured, his body heals at an accelerated rate: his minor wounds begin closing in minutes, significant damage to bones, joints or organs gets repaired in hours, and lost tissues can be regrown in a matter of days. Extremes of heat and cold simply seem to affect him not at all, rendering him rather indifferent to environmental conditions. Finally, he possesses a great deal of personal inertia: he is very difficult to pick up and move, knock back, trip, throw, or otherwise lever about. And when he is moving, it is equally difficult to stop him before he wishes it. In a word… he is, as his name suggests, mighty.

As well as this physical prowess, he has also had his senses enhanced to a high degree. His eyesight and hearing is perhaps ten times as acute as that of a typical human, his night vision is excellent, and he can see into the infrared spectrum.  His auditory range also extends into the ultrasonic and his sense of smell is acute enough to allow him to identify individuals by their particular odor. His already good memory has also been sharpened by his Gift to the point where it seems to be truly photographic, giving him phenomenal recall of anything he has seen or heard.

Perhaps most peculiarly, as was aforementioned, he maintains his ideal physique with no effort whatsoever. Anything that would have him mussed, disarrayed, dirtied or bloodied simply doesn’t last. His clothing can become damaged through conflict, but he still stays neat and clean with incredibly minimal effort on his part.  Those who remember one of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s lesser known movies have tagged him as "The Last Action Hero" as a result.

Common Uses: Henderson likes to mix up his tactics, depending on the scenario he finds himself in. He likes to hit hard and at speed when the situation calls for it (he can and has tackled a tank onto its side using his metaphysical mass). He also, however, is extremely good at standing his ground and making it difficult to move him from it. Not the sort of man to risk indiscriminately killing someone by bringing tons of force to bear on the few square inches of space his fists hit if he’s not sure they can handle it, he often utilizes his long limbs to grapple his usually smaller opponents. Once grappled, he uses his wrestling skill to simply incapacitate or to slowly and carefully crush opponents into submission.  However, should the situation ever require it, or in dealing with drones or other "disposable" targets, he does whatever is necessary to end a fight swiftly and decisively. To quote a 2035 interview with Henderson, “fights shouldn’t be fair, and if you’re not fighting to win, you’re fighting to lose.”

His enhanced senses allow him to keep track of more details at a greater distance than most. Moreover, darkness or obscuring smoke isn’t a hindrance as long as his targets aren’t at the environmental temperature. Thus, he often serves as a sentry during combat. He will also use whatever might come to hand as a hurled weapon should the situation require it – manhole covers are a particular favorite. And when there's nothing available for him to throw, he'll wield the detachable titanium-steel throwing disks attached to his gloves.

Specialized Equipment: For the most part, Henderson doesn’t use much in the way of combat gear. The titanium steel disks that detach from the backs of his gloves with a twist can be thrown with a fair degree of accuracy or be used for a backhanded blow when a harder surface than even his bare fists is required. The gloves themselves are fingerless and made from a heavy titanium mesh, ensuring that they are durable enough to hold up during combat.

More strikingly, the pouches of his tactical belt contain a variety of useful oddities. The items he is known to store within it include dark-tinted goggles to shield his eyes in the event of high-speed travel or excessively bright lights, a multi-tool, basic first aid kit, writing materials, a compact butane torch, a flash drive, a phone, earbuds, and all sorts of things. The sheer variety of items contained within it serves as a testament to his thoughtful nature and general preparedness.

Specialized Training and Skills: Wrestling, public speaking, extensive "general knowledge" acquired with the help of his photographic memory. It is important to note that the general knowledge does not seem very specialized; rather, it allows him to understand "the basics" of almost every occupation.

Hypothesized Goal: Henderson seems to be seeking celebrity status. His actions since coming to public awareness have generally been "heroic" in nature, often overtly so. Pattern analysis suggests that he takes pains to have his actions viewed favorably and deliberately puts himself in the public eye. He has made no effort to conceal his appearance or identity. More obviously, he has spoken to the press on numerous occasions. And during these interviews, he has demonstrated a fair degree of personal charm (perhaps indicating that he rehearses talking to those who could enable him to gain the social status he strides for)

Personality Profile: Henderson has shown himself to be fairly intelligent, quick-witted, and generally good-humored.  Whether by nature or by calculation he can be fairly reliably depended upon to act as a protector who constantly acts to protect life and property. He seems to be in possession of an ironclad confidence bordering on arrogance, but he has been seen to unleash an impressive rage when his confidence is threatened by a powerful opponent. He is irrepressibly humorous with a tendency towards condescension and clearly enjoys the company of women.

Background: Henderson’s life is, in some ways, a testament to wasted potential. Even as a boy he had a large build, reaching six feet in height at only thirteen years of age. At various points he played hockey, football, and baseball, but he played without any real drive and did not push himself to achieve. Possessing the physical stature and coordination to be an athlete, he nevertheless eventually gave up on sports to pursue his other interests.

Intellectually, he was quick-witted, possessing an excellent memory and finding maths and sciences to pose no real difficulty. Rather than pursuing knowledge, however, he coasted through school and settled for easy, middle-range grades rather than striving for excellence.

Creatively, he was a decent writer and a good actor, attending university in pursuit of the theatrical arts. He didn’t even finish his degree, however, dropping out of school short of completion and failing to continue to pursue an acting career.

It went on an on like this throughout his early life. All of his advantages were left to just atrophy as he worked a series of jobs, mostly retail or labor-based, that allowed him to get by but weren’t any sort of challenge. He didn’t stretch himself, preferring routine and a casual existence with a few good friends and a lack of stress. So it was in just that sort of life he found himself, living in western Canada and working a decent paying but low-responsibility warehouse job, when he had his Dream.

He awoke from it dazed, uncertain at what had just happened, and stumbled through his morning preparations in a fog. He felt unsettlingly disconnected. With his head still not working properly, he stepped off a curb without checking the street first and the blare of a horn cut through the fog in his mind. Turning to see a garbage truck bearing down on him at speed, he didn’t have enough time to get out of the way. While the truck itself tried to swerve, the morning’s light rain left the road too slick to maneuver quickly.

He could do nothing but brace himself and close his eyes as the rumbling truck hit him at perhaps sixty kilometers per hour.

The noise was incredible, and what felt like cold fire burned through him as pressure enfolded him. However, as everything settled again, he found himself unhurt. Pressing outward with his arms in a screech of tortured metal, he found himself perhaps fifteen feet further down the road, inside the cab of the garbage truck that was now crumpled and enfolding him. His clothes were a mess, but he was otherwise fine.

Tearing off the driver’s door, he extracted the injured driver. Then, the young man simply marveled at what had happened to his body. It was fairly clear to the clever man that he had just had an Awakening and his life was never going to be the same again. Our psychological profiles suggest that, in this moment, he was filled with a resolve that he was not going to waste this incredible second chance at life his awakening afforded him. He was going to take every advantage of what he could do and make sure that everybody knew just what that was.

It was at this point that he demonstrated that even while declining to pursue intellectual activities, he wasn’t even remotely stupid.  He consulted with a lawyer to find out the extent of what he could legally do as an unlicensed civilian and hired a PR firm to provide a positive spin on his actions whenever possible.  The attitude of the general population toward the Gifted was usually a mix of caution, fear, envy, and discrimination. But, Henderson noted, those feelings clashed with the strong tradition of superhero mythology that had existed in the popular consciousness for decades. As such, he'd have to tap into that mythology in order to claim his status as a major player in Western popular culture.

And so, he adopted a suitably heroic name, a practical but thematic outfit, and pulled up stakes to move to his country’s greatest metropolis, Toronto. Canada being generally a more liberal country than many might have enabled him to get further with his plan than he might have elsewhere. Regardless, to ensure his success and positive public image, he took pains to stay within the bounds of what he could do without stepping over a line. He wasn’t in law enforcement, nor was he a detective, so he didn’t make a point of going looking for "crime" to fight.  Instead, he concentrated on being a crisis responder. He hauled people out of a car that had gone out of control and crashed into a river. He pulled people out of a burning building. He stabilized a malfunctioning crane as it started to topple. Generally, he did everything he could to cultivate a "Good Samaritan" image.

That's not to say that he ignored a crime in progress if he happened to encounter it, for he did stop many crimes. Plus, he had a few dust-ups with other Gifted who were less inclined to be civic-minded. To name one notable example, he vigorously disassembled the animated "trash golems" sent by the ecoterrorist Green Storm to tear down the city and let Mother Earth rise again. To name another, he defended himself against an ambitious adolescent calling himself Rave who was trying to make a name for himself by killing independent heroes. In any event, his goal was always to subdue and detain, never kill. And after every victory, the proper authorities were summoned to deal with the situation professionally.

His PR people spun every public encounter to as positive a take as possible, and it began to bear fruit. He became widely known as one of the Gifted who didn’t seem to be abusing his power to get what he wanted. In fact, he was nigh-universally hailed as a hero throughout Toronto! To the people of his city, he was not a super soldier or covert agent. Rather, he was just a good man who threw himself into bad situations and tried to keep people from getting hurt. And he really did want to keep people from harm where he could – but that's not all he wanted. He could become famous in the process of saving people, famous enough so that everyone in the civilized world would know his name. He could be a celebrity.


Awareness: Y

Threat Level: 3.  (While a formidable individual opponent, Henderson is ultimately just one man. He lacks the capacity for widespread, long-lasting, or insidious damage. Sufficient human military means could subdue him by brute force and he has shown no specific resistance to inhaled drugs or toxins beyond the poisoner needing to account for mass and recuperative capabilities with dosages. Recommended tactical options for dealing with him are, therefore, the deployment of aerosol incapacitating agents.)