Post by z inactive stephenstrange on Feb 25, 2017 5:07:52 GMT
[PTabbedContent][PTab=GENERAL] CHARACTER INFO: NAME: Stephen Vincent Strange ALIAS: Doctor Strange, Sorcerer Supreme AGE: 87 years old, appears like a man in his 40s since he stopped aging once he became an adept of the mystic arts. OCCUPATION: Sorcerer Supreme of the Earth Dimension MEMBER GROUP: Superhuman AFFILIATIONS: Defenders POWERS AND ABILITIES:
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- Mystic Bolts: Channeling the energies from the Mystic Arts, Strange can call forth concussive bolts of pure magic against his enemies.
- Astral Projection: Strange can temporarily leave his body and appear as an etheral, astral form of himself, which allows him to be anywhere he wishes with a matter of thought. This form, however, is intangible and while this can prove useful against enemies, he can also not conjure any magic when astral projecting, nor can he use it to fight against enemies. This is mostly a way for Strange to travel through long distances or reach places that his physical body would not have been able to. Also, while he's skilled enough that he can maintain this astral projection for long periods of time, the longer he does, the more vulnerable his actual body is, and keeping it for too long could risk a complete disconnection of mind and spirit, which would mean Stephen would be left in a catatonic state. The limit that Stephen will not cross is 24 hours.
- Banishing: Through usage of magic, Stephen can send creatures or objects to different planes of existence or different locations in the world. He can use this ability to 'banish' creatures that also do not belong to the Earth dimension back to their dimension and vice-versa. Though he can use this with any creatures, when it comes to banishing magical creatures or other wielders of magic such as himself, it only works if his magic is stronger than the magic of those he wishes to banish.
- Conjuring: Similar to the Banishing, Stephen can also conjure objects or people from different locations or planes. This feat is rather easily done with objects, with other living creatures it would depend on either their distance, or their level of magic. Summoning or conjuring extremely strong magical creatures might prove much more difficult than conjuring a book from his library, for example.
- Telepathy: Through the usage of mystic energies, Stephen can read and communicate through telepathy, allowing him to establish private connections with one person's mind or several at once, projecting his own thoughts and reading the thoughts of others. He does not possess the full telepathic spectrum of abilities, though with the Eye of Agamotto, his telepathic ability is enhanced to reach more people and longer distances.
- Telekinesis: His magic allows Strange to move things with his mind, with the help of the mystic energies that he can conjure. While he can use this telekinesis to lift himself in the air and fly, ever since acquiring the Cloak of Levitation, he prefers to rely on the Cloak's own mystic energies, thus sparing his own.
- Teleportation: This is done through conjured portals that Strange can open by using magic, and that can take him and those he chooses from one place to another.
- Pyrokinesis: The ability of conjuring fire through incantations.
- Dimensional Travel: Using magic, Stephen can travel to other dimensions such as the Dark Dimension, or even Asgard for example. It is also done by conjured portals that he opens in order to travel through them.
- Dimensional Awareness: Done through some sort of meditation, Stephen can actually attune himself to Earth's dimension in order to sense anomalies within it, such as different mystical energies that don't belong in a specific place, sense different energies from creatures that are not familiar to Earth, such as aliens or extra-dimensional creatures. This allows him to gain time in order to try and protect Earth from those threats as much as he can, though he cannot always predict everything - for one, he needs to actively search for them, and while he tends to periodically do so, he's not always attuned to those mystical energies that allow him this awareness, it has to be a conscious thought on his part, and he might miss a threat that did not show up when he was looking for them, for example. Also, the fact he can sense a threat does not necessarily give him enough time to prepare himself, though often this awareness has helped him protect Earth from impending threats that would have done great damage if he had not been ready for them.
These are simply a few of the things that Stephen uses magics more often for, though he can also use spells for several other things, such as magically altering the appearance of his clothing, cast illusions on objects, places or people, making them look and feel as if they were something/someone else, for example. He has used that often in order to cloak his own appearance and make him look like someone else - some sort of magical shapeshifting, for example. The limits are in his imagination and his sense of duty, and in fact, that had brought him, way back in his past, to conjure money in order to pay his debts - a selfish act that Strange has not repeated ever since he became Sorcerer Supreme. His sense of responsibility and his knowledge of consequences now place a great deal of limitations upon what he can actually do with his magic, and this is part of his responsibility as Sorcerer Supreme.
[li]Artifacts - [/li]
Apart from manipulating the mystic arts, Stephen counts with a series of magical artifacts that help him not only with different abilities, but also enhance the ones he can already perform. While there are a series of artifacts that he could use, Stephen is known to prefer a few, such as:
- The Eye of Agamotto: The artifact always seen around Strange's neck, housed within an amulet that he carries close to his chest and that strengthens his mental abilities, bringing his psionic abilities to the levels of the strongest telepaths on Earth. It also acts as something of a 'lie detector' if Stephen's mind is connected to that purpose, dispelling illusions not created by him, or warning him of someone telling a lie - though it cannot force anyone to tell the truth. The eye also serves as a tracker of mystical / psionic creatures by tracking their psychic or mystic energies. It also acts as a weakener of darker creatures such as demons, dark extra-dimensional entities or practicioners of dark magic.
- The Cloak of Levitation: The cloak itself is an almost-sentient artifact that allows Stephen to fly at speeds up to 25 mph without having to use his own mystical energies to do so, and it also moves according to Stephen's thoughts. It is also almost indestructible and Strange has used it in the past as a last resort to help him escape attacks when he could not act upon them himself, using the cloak to lash against foes for example or acting as a protective barrier when his magic shields are unavailable. Though the cloak is connected to Stephen's mind and usually does what he says, it has a will of its own and is completely loyal to Stephen, often wrapping itself around his shoulders without the need for him to call it, or nudging him into the direction the cloak believes he has to go if Stephen has a mind to go elsewhere.
- The Orb of Agamotto: This artifact is what Stephen uses, together with his mystical energies, in order to monitor Earth and other dimensions, serving as a way of seeing through worlds where his mind's eye cannot reach. Stephen uses it to monitor Earth and surrounding dimensions, and to communicate with the mystic creatures that he often invokes through spells.
- The Wand of Watoomb: The Wand of Watoomb is a powerful artifact that can amplify mystic energies and conjure them to the same effects of powerful magic bolts, for example, but the main power of this Wand is much, much more important to the point that Stephen could, in theory reshape reality, and it's an artifact Stephen has chosen not to use. Instead, he keeps it very safely guarded and it's his last resort against some dire situation such as the end of the World. He does not use it, and has no plans of doing so in the near future.
[li]The Deities - [/li]
Stephen has access to several deities such as the Vishanti (Hoggoth, Oshtur and Agamotto), and others known as the Octessence: Balthakk, Cyttorak, Farallah, Ikonn, Krakkan, Raggadorr, Valtorr, and Watoomb. Some of them have provided him with the artifacts he uses, but mostly he conjures them in order to get their opinion on matters, or when he has to inform them of something he will do. Sometimes, Stephen conjures the deities in order to enhance his magic when it comes to more serious business, but often they are happy to let him do what he must, only asking him to heed their words when things get dire. The access to deities include some of the Olympian deities as well, for example, and deity-like creatures from other dimensions, such as the Faltines, the Seraphin and even Dormammu himself.
[li]Abilities:[/li] Apart from his magic, Stephen was a highly skilled neurosurgeon before the accident that took the full functionality of his hands, and thus still retains that knowledge to this day, having been considered, back in his days, one of the world's biggest experts in the area. Though most of his actions are done through magic, Stephen has trained in several different martial arts and is skilled in them, making him perfectly capable of standing against more physical threat types even if he doesn't have access to his magic.
Also, despite his known impulsiveness - a trait that has been somewhat lessened with the years of experience - Strange is a brilliant strategist and is capable of formulating plans in the heat of the battle, which allow him to apply his magic in more efficient ways.
[li]Weaknesses:[/li]
All those powers do not come without weaknesses, of course. Apart from specific weaknesses stated to the powers above, his magic is uneffective against science. Technology cannot be disrupted by magic and usually when it comes to that, Stephen has to focus on what is wielding said technology instead. For example: he could not disrupt Iron Man's armor with his magic, though he would, instead, act on the ones wielding the armor instead of trying to disrupt it.
Despite all his protection, if Stephen is incapable of accessing his magic for one reason or another, he is just a human, with all the weaknesses of a human. He can be killed by normal means if he is unprotected and he doesn't possess special healing.
Magic takes a toll on a human's body, and therefore, Stephen cannot be constantly wielding it without taking at least a small break. If he is to exert himself and his magic uninterruptedly for too long, without allowing his body to properly ground in order to dispell the mystic energies, he could risk deterioration. What Stephen actually does to prevent it is that he constantly performs grounding rituals in order to dispell the resiudes of mystical energy left within his body. If he were unable to do so, it is possible that his body would alter so much that he would no longer be or feel human, which could take a toll on both the very human nature of his body, but also his mind. And if energy upon energy residues were to pile on him, it could lead to his death. Which is why he takes his time every time he can to cleanse himself before starting again.
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PLAYBY: David Gandy
OOC INFO:
PLAYER NAME: Betsy
AGE: 30+
GENDER: Female
TIMEZONE: GMT-3
OTHER CHARACTERS: None for now.
CLAIMS:
FACE CLAIM:
[b]Gandy, David[/b] as [i]Stephen Strange[/i]
WHO PLAYS WHO:
[font size="4"][font face="Share Tech Mono"]AGENT BETSY[/font][/font][quote][url=http://mortal-ends.proboards.com/thread/4441/stephen-strange]>>[/url]@doctorstrange[/quote]
JOB CLAIM: Sorcerer Supreme and Dimensional Ambassador
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[/PTab][PTab=ASSESSMENT]
NATIVE UNIVERSE:
DESIGNATION: Earth-616 (Main comic universe)
If I were to say if I chose this life...
I would say this life chose me instead.
Ah Stephen... here you are, another challenge in your life. We know, it is not easy to be conscious in a world where consciousness has changed... we know you have seen it coming but I could not do anything to stop it, though these were powers way beyond your own, beyond anything you could truly do, powers big enough to change the concept of the world, create a new reality upon an old one. You believe that there was nothing I could to to prevent this and you are correct: There was not. You feel like a failure, once more, a failure upon your list of failures, one that you could not overcome.
You were never fond of failures, yet it seems failures permeate your entire life. Think of them as challenges instead, perhaps they will give you the confidence that you still tend to lose... how many years had it been, Stephen, since the first time? So many. Decades. A lifetime. Life comes and goes and you remain, and there's a purpose for it. We would not have chosen you if it had not been you, destined to become what you are. And yet, it was a failure that made you become what you became. Have you ever stopped to believe that your failures are not failures, but opportunities for growth?
No one is without flaws, Stephen. Not even you.
Let's recall your life, even as you sit here and meditate and call upon us to clear your mind. Let's go back to 1930, when you were born from Eugene and Beverly Strange, in Philadelphia, where your parents had been vacationing from their home farm in Nebraska, where later your sister Donna was born, and your brother Victor. But even before you were born, there was your destiny, defined for you. You were meant to become the new Sorcerer Supreme, and one particular apprentice did not want this to happen. He could not admit it that you would steal his spotlight, and then, using magic, he conjured demons that would plague your life from when you were nothing but a child until adulthood, until you were strong enough to get rid of them.
But you were still a child then, unaware of the world.
"Donna. I don't wish to..."
Face your memories. They are important so we know you retain them all. You should have. But we wish to be certain.
"Very well."
You were just a boy when you found your earthily gift: that of medicine. Donna needed you, and you aided her, and from that moment on as you tended to her injuries, you decided you would be a doctor. You were very gifted too, starting a career with a pre-med course in New York City, and yet...
"I was nineteen. She was younger than that and I was not fast enough to save her."
I see your clenched fists, Stephen. Your sister's death still plagues you. When will you realize it was not your fault?
"I don't consider it my fault, not anymore. But it still hurts to have lost her so young. It still hurts not to have been fast enough to rescue her from drowning. I lost her and there was nothing I could do, nothing that medicine could do. It was my first failure."
Your first opportunity for growth.
"Semantics will not change reality."
Neither will stubborness.
But you haven't given up, because you still went to Columbia, you earned your medical degree, you began residence at the Presbyterian, your career was shaping up to be brilliant. But sometimes to the unprepared mind, brilliance becomes arrogance. Do you recall when your mother died, and you began to see medicine as nothing but a way to earn money instead of what you had truly set to do? You could save many lives but not the lives of those you cared about. Your sister had died, your brother had died, your mother, you lost her right as you exited your residence, and so what good was medicine for, if not only to boast your own brilliance and make you wealthy?
I know, you have no answer for that. You had lost your way, but this was all in the plans. Your fate was traced, and your fate would change. You did not care about medicine anymore, you cared about how good you were at it. You were egotistical and selfish, using the beauty of life-saving only to make a name for yourself. And you did...
"Have you ever had to deal with pain? Of course not, you sit on the high horses of your deity power and you don't understand what it is like to be human."
Are you creating excuses for your own mistakes, Strange?
"No, I'm giving you justification, not trying to atone for past sins. I believe I have done this plenty by doing what I've been doing in this past few decades of dedication to the Arts. But when you lose hope on everything, the only thing that gives you hope is whatever hope you can touch. Money, fame, prestige, they were tangible. What good was it to sacrifice one's life to save others when you could not save those that actually mattered?"
You learned, however.
"I did. I had to. But you are talking about my past, you are making me relive those memories, and thus, here I am, explaining my side of it. If there's any explanation to be given, I was a very horrible creature, I know."
I didn't call you that. You did. Which means you fully understand the errors of your ways. You did not go to visit your father in his death bed. Your argument with your brother caused his own death. Your girlfriend, Madeleine, was pushed away because you grew colder and colder as they days went by.
"I lost everyone I cared about. Here I was, a prestiged neurosurgeon, a 'miracle worker'. Who could not prevent those he cared about from dying and leaving him alone."
Have you ever stopped to think that maybe this was the only path that would push you to what you truly needed to become?
"I would have rather not have lost everyone. Why could it just have happened without pain?"
Because often pain is what drives humans to be more than what they are, Stephen.
And that was what you became. Though losing all you cared about did not seem enough. No, because with each loss, you became colder and more bitter, and yet you failed to follow your true path. Redemption did not come with the loss of your loved ones, but it would come when your own world crumbled around you.
1963. Do you remember this car? Do you remember this cliff?
"How could I forget? The day my life ended."
And another one begun.
"Do you know what it is like for someone who was known as one of the world's best neurosurgeons to know he had survived but couldn't use the tools he needed to perform his duties anymore? Somewhat akin to an Opera singer being rescued from drowning but told that they were now unable to speak. I was done that day. In many ways, I died that day."
It was the only way you would know what your true fate was. Remember how you used all the money you had in order to get your hands fully workable again? You could still move them, but of course it was not enough. You had to use all the money you had and that you didn't have in order to satisfy your petty need to be brilliant again. You went through the ends and you ruined yourself trying to fix what could not be fixed... and yet, that was the very first time you heard of the mystic arts. Your debts grew, and you had no way out. And then you heard that some mystic sorcerer had the means to cure you.
You got all the money you had and you travelled to meet the Ancient One. Who refused to heal you.
"I was furious."
It wasn't your destiny.
"It doesn't change the fact that I was furious. All my money that I didn't have and he told me 'no, can't do. Oh but I will teach you magic instead'."
You believed it wasn't real.
"Do you blame me? Wait, of course you won't see it as I did, you're a deity, not a human. I would have left there and then, and I felt like it had been a waste of money. And then I couldn't leave. Were you playing me all along?"
We didn't interfere with your life, we never did. Fate only followed its course. You saw Mordo attacking the one that had offered to help you, you wanted to warn the old Sorcerer, but he stopped you. And you witnessed magic for the first time, you saw it with your own eyes, you decided that maybe it was worth it. Because deep down, with all your so-called failures, you still had the desire to help. It had just been buried behind the bitterness and the pain.
It was still pride though, that pushed you to take the first offer. But I suppose the Ancient One knew that this was the only way you would work back then. It's still part of what pushes you now, isn't it, though you have grown better.
"I wanted to stop him. I honestly did. Just that I wanted to get back at him for what he did to me. Be better than him, in a way. But I truly wanted to stop him."
And then if you could make a name for yourself while doing so...
"Old habits were hard to break."
I know. We know. But this is why we let life teach you. Easier than just hearing Ancient Gods telling you what to do. And apparently the Ancient One knew of your talent. It was latent within you, of course, so much that you were the favorite pupil whent there were others that were back then more promising than you. You never knew that, imagine if you had. Your pride and ego would grow so exponentially that there would be no way you would have become who you are today. You studied for seven years, you made friends during this time, and little did you know that it wasn't only magic you were learning. You were relearning yourself, how to be yourself, how to behave, how you once had been when you were nothing but a child, the dreams you had of saving people, saving the world, making a difference, all of those dreams that were buried the moment you believed yourself a failure, the moment that you could not cope with loss. After that, the Ancient One deemed you ready, and you returned. You settled back in New York City, in the Sanctum Santorum, you befriended you good old friend Wong who would often serve as the conscience that you still often allowed yourself to lose.
You began to work as a consultant, you battled creatures, you defended yourself and others from demons and extra-dimensional creatures... your name was becoming known again, in a better light, perhaps. Your selfishness had been left aside, but it often came back because of habit. And then, you joined the heroes for the first time. You made friends. The Illuminati - though the name...
"Don't."
Very well. It was a council, I give you that. One that allowed you connections that would prove handy later on in your life. But this was still not your destiny.
"Shuma-Gorath."
The first time you realized that sometimes you had to do questionable things for the sake of protecting the world. You didn't want to slay him.
"No, I didn't. But..."
But you had to. Shuma-Gorath could not regain control of his mind. It would give the creature full passage to Earth. And it would...
"...destroy it."
So you did what you had to do.
"I did what I had to do. Do you think it was easy?"
No, I don't believe it was.
"The Ancient One asked me to do it. He would rather die than seeing Earth in Shuma-Gorath's hand. And I didn't know that if I killed him, then I would become him. In a way. Sorcerer Supreme. I wasn't..."
Ready?
"You know what I tried to do next. You know what plagued me. The..."
Losses.
"I learned the hard way that there are some things that must not be changed. Balance, the world, energies, magic, everything converges, everything is a side of a bigger thing. Messing with one will disrupt the other. I brought my brother back, but under what circumstances? He had to die again, and then I understood. Some things cannot be changed."
That was part of your ordeal. Learning what you could and what you could not change. It gave you the knowledge and the discernment you need. It taught you to be a teamplayer, you even led one, you made the Defenders, you became who you are today. It was only because you've learned, and you listened, and you did not allow your former arrogance to take away from your duty. You are who you are today, Stephen, because you've learned.
Otherwise all the efforts would have been in vain.
"At least my questionable acts after that were for the greater good. For the protection of the Earth."
Are you proud of yourself now, Stephen?
"Sometimes. Sometimes not. I'm human. It tends to fluctuate."
How long has it been, though? How long since you first learned your arts and how long have you been Sorcerer Supreme, without anyone to challenge you? How long have you been working to defend this realm, how long have you been trailing on the path of good, how long have you been holding that very same amulet, the eye I have given you, the eye that sees all, the eye that cannot be wielded by those who do not have...
"A pure heart and a clean soul. I know."
And still you doubt yourself?
"The moment I stop doubting myself is the moment I'll start believing myself a God. And then we would all be in serious trouble."
And yet you question this new world. You question whether you could have done something to prevent it.
"Every single day."
You know there was nothing you could do. The powers that brought this to happen are beyond your own. Perhaps even beyond ours, with all the knowledge we possess. There's nothing you can do to change it, this is the world as you know it. This is the world you now live in. This is the world you'll have to relearn.
"Do you know what it feels like to be the only one who understands it? Well, perhaps not the only one, as I have yet to investigate how this change affected others, but... seeing those I used to know and being unsure whether they will recognize me, or whether they'll just look at me as a lunatic stranger with delusions of grandeur. Seeing those I used to call friends and being unsure whether they know me as I was, or me as I am supposed to be. Am I detached from this reality? Is it now my own? What can I do to change this, to make this better... can I change it?"
No, you cannot.
"Then I'll learn how to live within this world without belonging to it. I suppose I will have to begin belonging to it. Yet the memories..."
The memories are your own, Stephen. They make you who you are. Perhaps there is a reason why your magic has spared you from the same fate of others that didn't have a choice. Perhaps you are to be the connection between this new realm and the one that once was. Perhaps you are the only guideline this world will have.
Your fate is just beginning.
"It seems that my fate will be forever just beginning. But yes. I will do what I have to do. But first... did you say all you had to say? Did you make me relive the pain of the past for no reason? I have an array of expletives ready on the tip of my tongue if you confirm that this was the case, and trust me, I'm not afraid of using them."
Stephen.
"You just showed me the biggest pains of my life and made me relive through my own personal hell, allow me at least a little attempt of lightening the mood, will you?"
Yes... yes... but you now know that you should not forget who you are. What you've become and what importance you still have for this world. Now, more than ever. Your sarcasm is still intact. Your sometimes abrasive nature still exists. They are part of who you are. You cannot be anything else, but remember, you are not a failure. You are the Sorcerer Supreme, you are the holder of mystic secrets, you are the protector of the mystical energies of Earth. And this Earth needs you more than ever. Do not forget it.
"I won't. You have my word."
I know.
And the eye will not let you betray yourself.
And without a second word, the image was gone.
Yet Stephen's duty was again just beginning.
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