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[Silver Enigma]

Taylor Sharpe aka Steel Beatdown

Basic Observation
Taylor is an oddly skinny teenager with strangely pale skin. When working as a hero her naturally blonde hair is usually dyed a dark blue. She almost always wears it in a way that it covers her right eye for some reason.

Origin
A building collapsed on Taylor during the Rikti War of 2002. She was the only member of her immediate family to survive, but just barely. She was burned horribly and her limbs and much of her body in general was crushed beyond use. Her aunt Tina Sharpe a scientist working in robotics managed to succeed in a risky operation to save her life by reconstructing much of her skeleton and even replacing a few organs. Currently, Taylor acts as a beta tester for Tina’s new inventions which also allows for her to collect PPD bounties through her hero work as a part time job.

Observation of Augmentations
Taylor’s arms are completely artificial and attached at the shoulder. When ‘super jumping’ compartments open on her artificial lower legs (which start below the knee), and maneuvering thrusters seem to melt out of the skin on her shoulder blades. Her shield folds to onto the side of her left fighting arm.

Further Information
Upon asking Taylor you may be told more about the machinery inside her. Her entire skeleton is reinforced so that her body would not be damaged by the weight of her artificial arms. The weight from this reinforcement prevents her from flying or swimming due to the extra weight. She also has a replacement eye and most of her skin is also a prototype bulletproof substance. The skin’s pigments aren’t perfect, which is what makes her so pale. She has several sets of arms which have been rotated out or modified as needs arise by her aunt. Currently she has two sets; her ‘fighting arms’ which pack an extra punch by way of maneuvering thrusters built onto them to assist in ‘flight,’ and her ‘regular arms’ which are made of a dull grey material and are much better for activities requiring better coordination such as writing. When attending school or attempting to hide her augmentations she wears specialized 'gloves' of the bulletproof false skin over these arms.

Observation of ‘Flight’
Taylor’s ‘flight legs’ can allow for leaps rather than sustained flight due to the weight of her reinforced skeleton. When she ‘flies’ she has to compensate for the increased momentum by pulsing the thrusters before hitting the ground to avoid property damage.

[Sister Jeanne]

Fyrebird

ALL_GENERAL OBSERVATION

Lena Kornyeva Romanova is a slender, petite woman in her late 20s with brown hair slightly tinted to red and hazel eyes.  Her features remind some of an aristocratic bird of prey, with a triangular, sculpted face that seems to be all planes and angles.  While at work at PCU, or socially she tends to dress conservatively in muted colors.  In her 'heroic' guise, the hair color shifts to flame-red with orange and gold streaks, and the clothing shifts to a dress combination in fire-engine red.  Occasionally, or when conducting a major ritual, this includes a cape with flame patterns traced in gold thread.

Her English is polished with a very slight Russian accent, clearly not her native language.  In addition to her native Russian, she is also fluent in Lithuanian and Finnish, and literate in several dead languages.  She is also a heavy smoker, using her magic to alleviate the worst of the health consequences of her hobby.

Regardless of the circumstances, she invariably wears a heavy, ancient, gold and ruby ring on her right hand. 

ALL-COMBAT OBSERVATION

In a fight, Lena is a spectacular combatant.  She is a very powerful mage with her spells all appearing as some form of flame, both defensively (shields that burn away incoming attacks), and offensively (ranging from concussive blasts to stun an opponent or fiery chains to bind him right through generating a flame hot enough to melt a hole in rock).  She prefers to keep a distance, using her fire to hinder and delay people getting close enough to pound her fragile human body.  Frequently this involves some form of flight out of arm's reach.  In all cases, she invokes her spells in Old Rus.

She prefers to fight humanely, although if pressed severely or against unliving foes, she has more than enough magical power to cripple or kill opponents.  In extremis, she appears to catch fire, flaming wings sprout from her back, and her fires go up radically in power and intensity.  In this form, she is barely controlled and exhibits more than a few pyromaniac traits, though she won't knowingly harm allies or innocent bystanders.  Still a safe distance is recommended then, along with a fire extinguisher for the inevitable collateral damage.

ALL-SOCIAL INTERACTION

Lena is well read and rather good company, arguing the questions of the day with a fiery, passionate intensity.  Her main passions are history, archaeology, magic, and surprisingly poetry.  Despite her beliefs otherwise, her attempts at poetry are the literary equivalent of roadkill.  She also has a taste for classical music, especially the works of Stravinsky, Mussorsky, and Handel.

Visiting her in her office or apartment, one is struck by the number of books that threaten to take it over, along with odd curios.  In both cases, there is always an antique samovar brewing her tea, normally with one or more Salamanders (small fire elementals that appear as flaming lizards) sporting in the flames.

Some of her notable friends, who she is rarely seen without include Haley Harris, Aria McCormick, Victoria Victrix, Abigail Frost, Kaede Himura, Zhar-Ptica and the Murdock Family.

REQUIRES CCCP MEMBERSHIP OR FRIENDSHIP

Lena is a card-carrying member of the CCCP, and is reasonably well regarded by them.  While not the first option for magical backup, because of her teaching and research responsibilities at PCU, she more than pulls her own weight in the field.

REQUIRES CONTACTS AT PARAGON CITY UNIVERSITY

Lena teaches Anthropology and history at PCU, as part of an exchange program.  Her doctorate is from Moscow State University.  She is widely seen as a good teacher to have, very helpful, although a rather strict grader.  She is also not afraid to get her hands dirty in the restoration laboratory after a dig.

REQUIRES MIDNIGHTER CLUB ACCESS

Lena is a member in good standing with the Midnight Squad, sponsored by Abigail Frost.  She has in turn sponsored Haley Harris (the heroine Dancing Flames).  Frequently she can be found either browsing the research library or digging through the storerooms helping classify artifacts.  According to Midnighter records added by her, her ring was found in a Rus burial site.

PSIONIC OBSERVATION

Lena is a normal human, with no defenses against scanning than a slightly above normal will.  She does know several magical charms to hide and screen her thoughts, though, but does not always use them, save in combat.  However, when her wings manifest, her thoughts radically shift to a more basic, elemental format.  Things then are either friends to be protected or enemies to burn.  She is also uncontrollable then, and attempts to bind her tend to have gruesome consequences for the fool who attempts to command a creature born of a firestorm.

MAGICAL OBSERVATION

As noted, Lena is a powerful mage, with her magical path aspected radically toward fire.  Overlaid with her aura, specifically focused on her ring is the 'shadow' of a much greater spirit.  When it manifests itself, it can be more plainly perceived as a Firebird, or in the Western traditions, Phoenix.  while a benevolent spirit, such are also highly dangerous and do not take control or coercion well.

Scanning her ring will reveal that it is a very powerful magical construct.  Specifically, the gold is literally writhing with barely-controlled energies, and the 'ruby' is in fact a living drop of the Firebird's blood.  It is also bonded to her, and serves her as a focus device for her own substantial magical talents.  However, even without it she can invoke the Firebird, or perform other magical feats, though at a much greater cost to her reserves.

Lena also is known to be a skilled scryer and diviner, using flame to focus her spell (big surprise!).  Both her office and apartment in King's Row are heavily warded magically, not least among accidental fires.  She has also helped with the wards on Haley's house.

[Mandragora]

Amah-Nevet

General Observation - All

Amah is reasonably human appearing, though her lavender-purple hair and eyes that are nearly totally black tend to make that less likely.  Best estimates would place her age at somewhere in the early 20's, though without a serious knowledge of her people, that's a very general guess.  She's decidedly more angular than a normal human being, though there are some curves to go with those angles.  She generally wears two sets of clothes, both in a similar lavender to her hair; the first is rather revealing while the other covers her from neck to toes.

Her mode of speech is a bit odd, both in terms of grammar and in terms of general construction.  It is almost as if she learned English from a textbook of some sort, rather than through interaction with people.

Combat Observation - All

Amah is a careful combatant, staying (usually) well out of range of her opponents.  She projects dark purple bolts of psychic energy, and appears quite skilled at picking off her opponents.  She is, however, far more fragile in hand-to-hand combat, though she does have a few attacks at close range, including an axe that seems to appear from nowhere.

Her opponents, at worst, appear to suffer nosebleeds, once they are awake in the Zig.  Uniformly, however, they are unable to describe the nature of Amah's attacks.

Social Interaction - All

Amah is quite formal, and very open and honest about her situation.  She is from a World where psychic powers are the norm, and belongs to a group she refers to as the Sistren.  However, she apparently is bound by a fairly restrictive code of ethics - she does not use her powers unless asked, or her life is in danger.  She has also mentioned that her world was invaded by Machine Intelligences, and generally demonstrates a distaste for machine entities unless they prove themselves to be benevolent (or at the very least, unlikely to attack her).

She is fairly curious, and reasonably intelligent.  As she stays in Paragon, she seems to be expanding her knowledge of any number of things - sciences, soft and hard, history, psychology and many others -  and is at least curious about various aspects of life on Earth.  She still seems to have difficulty with the various cultures of Earth, or at least is not adjusting to them as quickly as she might be able to.

She has referred to the Rikti mental network as "primitive" several times.

Magical Observation

Amah apparently comes from a dimension that is saturated with magic; every cell in her body bears the traces of constant lifetime exposure to magic, even though she demonstrates absolutely no facility with manipulating that energy.  Her psychic powers may very well result from exposure to high levels of mana, but in the absence of mana, she still appears to have her powers.

Psionic Observation

At first glance, Amah has shields that would rival some bank vaults for strength.  On further examination, that's just the outer layer.  She is obviously quite powerful and practiced, but shows an amazing amount of restraint when dealing with other psychics.  She is definitely not as powerful as Penelope Yin, though there is something very unnerving when the two of them stand near each other.  Otherwise, she seems oddly able to slip under the radar of most of the psychic groups in Paragon, at least until they encounter her.

Very, very faintly, there is another presence that seems to hover around Amah.  It is certainly not fully present in the conscious world, but seems to extend (for lack of a better metaphor for directions) upward....

[Sister Jeanne]

/em It's Alive, Doctor, it's Aliiiveee!

Xian Tsu

General Observation-All

Xian Tsu appears to be a young woman of Chinese ethnicity, approximately four and a half feet tall.  She has rather interesting eyes, with the color changing with her mood from sea-green through blue to dark gray.  Socially she is quiet, polite and generally soft-spoken, with her English having the barest trace of Chinese.  Naturally, she is also fluent in all the languages of the Middle Kingdom, as well as Vietnamese, Korean, and Japanese (though she refuses to speak Japanese).  When upset or angered, bluish-white lightning crackles from her eyes and across her fists.  That manifestation is generally a good sign to stand well clear of her.

Combat Observation-All

Xian is a skilled sorceress, using her charms to trap foes in cages of electricity, paralyze them, and when pressed, she can summon lightning to cause rather showy (and major) damage.  Not a front-line fighter, she prefers to hang back, healing and strengthening her allies, then act.   However, if pressed, she is capable of rendering a foe helpless with frightening ease by draining their powers and chi.

In extremis, or if severely angered, she is perfectly capable of apparently effortlessly going straight into 'Wrath of an Angry God' levels of magical damage.  Known manifestations have included a tsunami, freighter-eating whirlpool and a Force 5 Tornado, along with the 'Lightning bolts that would make Zeus or Thor nod approvingly' from a clear blue sky.

Social Interactions-All

One thing that can be noted is while her interactions are generally polite and courteous, there is a distinct air of icy hostility when she has to interact with any Japanese individuals.  Likewise, in any dealings with Labaredas or Mandragora, Xian is extremely polite and courteous, almost to the point of stylized kabuki theater.

Access to CCCP Records

Xian is noted as being 'on loan' from the People's Liberation Army General political Department.  She is a trained mage with a degree from the University of Nanjing, and is currently assigned to the Self-Defense Force.  Notes are made that she and Comrade Althea Nagy have had some disputes over kitchen protocols.  She also favors the meditation garden which Captain Sun Kai and Seraphic Flame use.

Magical Observation

Under normal observation, she appears to be merely an extremely powerful human mage.  Although well-shielded, a skilled, determined and persistent probe will reveal a second, larger draconic aura surrounding her.  This is considerably easier to spot when and if she is upset and lets more of her powers escape.  When she manifests her full power, scanning her is like staring into the heart of a nuclear explosion.

Telepathic Observation

Any probing will hit a brick wall past her surface thoughts (which allows mindspeech).  Determined probing tends to be frowned upon, and in at least one case, an attempt to break her mental defenses resulted in the disintegration of the Fortunata Mistress via a bolt of lightning from a clear sky, leaving behind a small circle of fused glass where she stood.

Empathic Observation

See Telepathy, it's like trying to read a brick wall.

[Sister Jeanne]

Alex Dumas

General Observation-All

Alex Dumas is a 6'2 human male, weighting approximately 250 pounds of muscle, apparently in his late 20s.  He has a very intense set of blue-green eyes and rather dirty blond hair in a neatly trimmed beard and mustache, and haircut.  Generally he dresses in either biker leathers, in a tuxedo or very rarely in a battered but still functional suit of Bane Spider armor.  Regardless of the outfit, he is almost always armed with several firearms and knives as well as a teleport tap to summon a rather battered Bane Spider mace.

Seeing him shirtless will reveal an impressive collection of scars, as well as a tattoo of a hourglass filled with skulls on the left bicep.  Also, he wears a 'dogtag' on a steel chain that is dark red, almost black in fact and set with a diamond.

Combat Observation-All

In a fight, Alex reacts with some degree of military training.  However, his chief focus is protecting either Jeanne Delacroix, Haunting Aria, or Labaredas (if present), and he will not hesitate to step in front of them to take a potentially fatal shot.  He is an expert with the laser mace, his preferred weapon for hand to hand, and is a crack shot with the cut down SMG and pistols he normally carries.  Not a leader, Alex is a superb team player,

Social Interactions-All

Alex is generally in the background if Jeannette, Haunting Aria, or Labaredas are present, acting as a quiet bodyguard.  Conversations with him reveal a rather dry wit, although he is very businesslike when 'on duty' as a bodyguard.  Pocket D bartender records show that he enjoys German beers, especially Bocks and Weihenstephaner Weissbier.  His phrasing suggests that his native language may be German, although his English is superb and accentless.

Attempts to get involved with him romantically tend to be politely stonewalled with the response that "He is already taken.  Very VERY taken."  Alex refuses to answer questions about his past.

Good Contacts in Arachnos as well as observation without a shirt

The tattoo on Alex's arm corresponds to a Bane Spider squad disbanded due to casualties eight years ago.  No record of an Alex Dumas exists in Arachnos records, and any crosschecking with DNA or physical description results in a blank.  Likewise, IFF for the Bane armor suit is a negative, and in fact the suit's IF module is removed, although the cloaking field and other features work.

Magical Observation

Alex is a mundane, however he shows sign of a powerful and intimate binding ritual to another person as a willing thrall.  This ritual increases his strength, life energies and ability to withstand damage, at the cost of being unable to disobey the caster.  The dog tag he wears radiates extremely powerful magic, in fact with sufficient research, it is revealed as the scale of a Greater Dragon.  Such an item is a indication of extreme trust and respect for the individual as an alliance of equals in some Draconic circles.

Telepathic Observation

Any attempts to probe or control hit a very well designed set of psionic shields, along with a very formidable will.  It is clear that Alex has good psionic ability, along with superb training.  Breaking the shields reveals an organized and disciplined mind, however, no memories before 2006 exist in it.  Alex is also skilled in psionic combat, although will not initiate a fight.  The shielding is similar but different to the Bane Spider 'Hive Mind', and Alex is not part of the Bane Spider collective.

Empathic Observation

Alex is extremely reserved, although it can be picked up that he has considerably more than professional feelings toward Aria, Jeannette and especially Labaredas.  He is also able to briefly project his thoughts and emotions to others, although he rarely does.