Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2014 6:12:58 GMT
[PTabbedContent][PTab=GENERAL INFORMATION] CHARACTER INFO: NAME: Nathaniel Essex ALIAS: Mister Sinister, Dr. Nathan Milbury, Dr. Robert Windsor AGE: 174 OCCUPATION: Geneticist MEMBER GROUP: Villains, Inhumans POWERS AND ABILITIES: Superhuman: Strength, Durability, Longevity Shapeshifting Healing Factor Gene Sense Mental Shield: Essex has been unable thus far to control his new telepathic power, beyond walling off his mind entirely. It's a damned sturdy wall, though. Telekinesis: Powerful enough to lift 10 tons, range currently limited to line of sight. He can do fairly precision work (lifting latches, etc.) but not proficient to surgical levels. Concussive Blast: Essentially a concentrated telekinetic punch. Used at full power it can rival Cyclops' optic blast, but will exhaust him rapidly, so he keeps it to much lower levels unless hard-pressed. Force Fields: When concentrated around himself, strong enough to repel anything up to and including optic blasts. He can expand the protected area at a commensurate loss of shield strength. With time and practice, he'll be able to create 'force globes' separate from himself, but for now it's centered on him personally. Flight: Telekinetic flight, top speed 800mph. PLAYBY: Cliff Simon OOC INFO: PLAYER NAME: Sinister AGE: 47 GENDER: Female TIMEZONE: Pacific OTHER CHARACTERS: none here [/PTab][PTab=PERSONNEL ASSESSMENT] History Nathaniel Essex was born in 1840, in the Whitechapel district of London. Like most in that area at the time, his parents were poor immigrants, but they were hardworking, frugal Jews who valued education, and they sacrificed everything to make sure their only child got the best they could afford. Fortunately, they were blessed with a son who was extremely intelligent, self-disciplined, and determined to better himself, so their efforts weren't wasted on a dull slacker. From as early as he could remember, Nathaniel was able to know things about people, able to tell sometimes that something was fundamentally wrong. The science of genetics was still in its infancy and he lacked the knowledge to interpret exactly what he was sensing, but his curiosity and desire to understand drove him into medicine and biology. There, he excelled. Graduating from Oxford, he became a member of the Royal Society, where he was at first regarded as a brilliant and well-educated young man (if low-born and a bit brash). Impressing one of the older members, he became the man's protégé. Within the year, he was living at the man's townhouse, where he met and also impressed his daughter, Rebecca. Rebecca was beautiful and sweet but, even better, Nathaniel could sense that she was 'special.' Not to the degree that he was, but he judged that coupled with the x-factor he perceived within himself, their children would be superior. They fell in love and married, and soon she was pregnant with his son. But then when the child was born, things began to go bad. Adam Essex was a sickly child, afflicted with a number of birth defects and ailments. Nathaniel threw himself into his work, working night and day and exploring wilder and wilder theories in an effort to develop a way to cure him. With his son’s life at stake, he refused to be restrained by petty concerns such as morality. When his father-in-law passed away, leaving him the house, his basement lab gradually became a place of horror as Nathaniel secretly began experimenting on unwilling subjects. Still, it was to no avail, and Adam died shortly after his fourth birthday. Nathaniel was heartbroken and frustrated. How could his son have been so flawed? Then Rebecca told him she was pregnant again and, when he scanned the fetus in her womb, he found the same corrupted structure that he’d seen in his firstborn. Determined this time to fix it, he stole Adam’s body from the cemetery and took it to his basement lab. He resumed his tests on unwilling subjects, this time concentrating on the very few 'special' ones, studying as many different expressions of the x-gene as he could ‘acquire.’ Troubled by her husband’s growing distraction and secrecy as her due date approached, Rebecca decided to sneak into his lab when he wasn’t there, in hopes of discovering what he was up to down there. Instead, she found her dead son’s corpse lying between the vivisected body of a stranger and another stranger, still living but restrained to a lab table. Horrified, she freed the prisoner, who attacked her in a panic and fled. The shock of the discovery and the assault sent Rebecca into premature labor and a miscarriage. Nathaniel returned home too late to save either mother or child, the baby had been stillborn and his wife was near death. Frantic, he begged her to hold on, but she pushed him away, accusing him of being insane and evil. The last thing she called him was sinister, and something in him snapped. He was done with trying to be human, with achieving immortality through his children. He would rewrite his genetic code to become immortal himself, with powers like unto a god. And he would do it by any means necessary. Sinister he was called, and Sinister he would be. Narrowly escaping the police summoned by his erstwhile test subject, Sinister fled to the United States. There he found it much easier to operate without being noticed and his research accelerated -- with no ethical brakes on his methods, he rapidly outstripped his 'legitimate' colleagues. Eventually, he achieved what he'd long been striving for and developed a treatment combining a retrovirus and gamma radiation to splice another mutant’s x-gene into his own. His first (and so far only) trial of the process was conducted after he captured a shapeshifter named Jacob Gavin. It was a great success, albeit not an unqualified one. He acquired the younger mutant’s powers, but the process was extremely painful. It also very nearly killed him, and left him temporarily so weak that Gavin was able to escape. Deciding that he needed to maximize the power acquired through this method, Sinister turned to the principles of eugenics that were enjoying considerable popularity at the time. Since he was now effectively immortal, he began a decades- and generations-long program of locating and manipulating mutant bloodlines, a project which continues to this day. His medical and chemical (particularly pharmaceutical) skills, coupled with his complete lack of scruples, have ensured a constant supply of funding. Meanwhile, he also continued his experiments, always seeking to expand his knowledge and improve his equipment and techniques (though he's almost always well ahead of his colleagues in both areas). Over the years, he encountered other scientists and organizations working in his own or related fields, some legitimate and some not. Using his shapeshifting ability, he'd occasionally approach them as a colleague and sometimes even work with them, if whatever they were doing was of interest to him. Or if, such as with 'the Cure,' he felt the need to develop a counter-agent. Recently, the Battle of Manhattan added a new wrinkle. Intrigued by the possibilities of alien DNA, he wormed his way into SHIELD's science division as 'Dr. Robert Windsor.' Once there, though, he learned of the possibility of another, more powerful alien incursion that threatened to completely upset his plans. Irked at the notion of a world he'd come to consider his own personal Petri dish being kicked over, and frustrated by the pace of research he viewed as hobbled by lesser minds and picayune ethical considerations, he began angling for a spot on one of the higher level bio teams. Description Nathaniel Essex doesn’t look like the stereotypical scientist. His naturally-tan skin shows no sign of the pallor of a man who spends all of his time indoors in a lab, and his features are craggily handsome. There’s also nothing flabby about his body, which boasts a lean, hard swimmer’s musculature. His black hair is lightly sprinkled with silver, and he wears it cut very short, it and his goatee always neatly trimmed. His eyes are dark, becoming as hard and emotionless as chips of obsidian on the rare occasions he lets his true nature show. Essex has eradicated all outward signs of his lower-class origins. His speech is educated, with a cultured ‘public school’ accent, and his manner confident and urbane. In normal social situations, his etiquette is perfect, and he can converse knowledgeably in a wide variety of subjects. Personality Essex was always a borderline sociopath, but the deaths of his wife and children pushed him completely over the edge. Though he can still pass for human, he's now a pure predator, concerned entirely with his own survival and the advancement of his goals. Despite his carefully-constructed nice-guy facade, he's as incapable of compassion and altruism as your average cobra. He's not petty -- he won't jack somebody up just for the fun of it -- but woe betide anyone who gets between him and something he wants. That said, Essex is also extremely patient. He has time, and is perfectly capable of delaying his personal gratification while he plays a very long game. Sooner or later, though, he'll take it. Essex strives constantly to improve himself in every way possible. He works out, maintaining his body in top physical condition, and he reads voraciously to expand his mind and his knowledge. He’s also dedicated his life and all of his formidable scientific expertise to acquiring powers and boosting himself to Omega level. A genius at the top of his field, Essex has a truly ginormous ego. He's good and he knows it, and he has very little tolerance for stupidity or incompetence. He doesn't suffer fools at all, never mind gladly, and has been known to hand out truly legendary verbal beatdowns. Contrary to the opinion of his test subjects and their next of kin, Essex is not a sadist. While he'll inflict pain without hesitation, he derives no personal pleasure from it. He has utter contempt for 'scientists' who do, viewing them as dabblers treating science as a sex toy. Mutant Powers Gene Sense: Essex can sense and analyze the genetic structure of any living thing. At a glance, he can identify a being's species (including sub-species such as homo sapiens mutandis). Given more time and the opportunity to concentrate, he can spot genetic conditions such as ALS, identify a mutant's powers and power level, recognize latent mutants, etc. Shapeshifting: With the powers he 'acquired' from Jake Gavin, Essex is able to shapeshift at a cellular level, though he cannot alter his overall mass. In addition to being able to change his outward appearance, he can increase his strength and durability by increasing the density of his muscles and bones. He can manifest biological features like claws, gills, etc., but such non-human alterations require considerable concentration, energy, and effort (plus they literally make his skin crawl), so they're a course of last resort. His shapeshifting ability also makes him extremely hard to kill, as he can close wounds, knit broken bones, reattach severed limbs, purge toxins and drugs from his system, etc. Able to transform old cells into young ones, he's effectively immune to aging. Other Abilities Genius intellect: Though not quite on a level with such big brains as Reed Richards or Bruce Banner, Essex is a genius in his own right. His main focus is in life sciences, but he's quite capable of understanding arcane and difficult concepts in a wide variety of disciplines. Charm Like many sociopaths, Essex can be quite charming. He has a pleasant voice, perfect manners, and a self-assurance that most people find very attractive. Weak-willed souls are drawn to him like iron filings to a magnet. Genetics With over a century and a half to perfect his craft (and a willingness to perform experiments no ethical scientist would even contemplate), Essex may well be the world's top geneticist. He's also an expert in related fields, particularly mutation, but also virology, biology, and radiation. MD Essex is, literally, a brain surgeon. He's also competent as a general practitioner, but his bedside manner is non-existent (seriously, he makes House look downright cuddly). Weaknesses Arrogance Essex is extremely smart and capable ... and he knows it. While not a mutant supremacist in the mold of Magneto, he views baseline humans (and plenty of mutants) as lesser beings. Even in the case of men such as Tony Stark, where he acknowledges their advanced intellect, he still considers them physically and/or emotionally his inferiors. He has the bad habit of underestimating his his opponents, which has gotten him into trouble in the past, and doubtless will again in the future. Luxury Essex grew up poor. He didn't like it. He's determined never to be poor again, and has a near obsession for squirreling away 'just in case' money. Since he's also acquired a taste for the finer things in life, he needs a considerable income. While he commands a high legitimate salary, he makes up the difference in various illegal activities, such as creating designer bio-drugs, dealing with mutant power problems, illicit organ transplants, etc. Wanted In addition to his revenue-oriented criminal endeavors, Essex has a penchant for ruthless experimentation that would make all but the most hardened Nazi blanch. Since he doesn't waste his precious time with rats and monkeys, and doesn't believe in leaving witnesses, he's left a trail of mutilated and mutated bodies in his wake. 'Mister Sinister' is wanted by law enforcement agencies on every continent, and should SHIELD deduce his current identity, it would go very badly for him. Metabolism Altering ones cells takes a great deal of energy. Essex has a baseline metabolism like a furnace and normally requires a large quantity of food simply to survive. When he uses his shifting powers, even if he doesn't need to replace lost mass, that amount rises to truly absurd levels. [/PTab][PTab=IMAGE]  [/PTab][/PTabbedContent={width:485px;border:0px;margin-left:-2px;}] |
