Great guide, stuttermonkey.
I tend to write my backstories in a "third person short story" perspective, because none of the other ways, in my opinion, will show as much about your Hero/Villain. But there is something unique about all of my characters. My villains are never evil for the sake of being evil, and on the rare occasions that I actually play CoH, my heroes are not good for the sake of being good.
See, my villains are almost always tormented by their powers, and otherwise easy to sympathize with. More often than not, they are not villains by choice. This creates more "3-D" characters, much more interesting than megalomaniacs or super-altruists.
Here's a few ideas, to get some minds going.
Psymortis (Mind Control/Psionic Assault Dominator):
Battlecry: I am pain incarnate!
Bio: As the mind evolves, the body must decay.
Cyrus Caine knows this better than anyone.
From a young age, Cyrus was able to bend people to his will, simply with his thoughts. He even had the ability to affect the physical world with his mental energy. Eventually, his body was thrown into entropy. He began to rot. He was betrayed by the people he once loved, left to live a life on the streets. At the age of 16, he claimed his first victim by severing their mental energy with his own. He noticed that the unbearable pain he felt was cured, even if only for a few minutes. This was worth the risk to him. His mental abilities grew stronger, but whenever they did, he learned, his body entered a greater state of decay. After saving enough money from his victims, he was able to save enough money to hide his identity, and he donned the name Psymortis. Eventually, he was subdued and arrested by the PCPD, and he entered 3 consecutive life sentences in the Zig for over 40 murders. He was broken out soon after by Arachnos, and he began his search for a cure for his condition. He would stop this, no matter the cost.
Chains of Torment (Dark Melee/Fire Aura Brute):
Battlecry: ... ((Note - He's a mute))
Bio: Alex Abel was once a paleontologist, working for a private company based in the rogue isles. He had read of an ancient temple buried deep beneath a small island in the archipelago, which contained an artifact that held a key to infinite power. So Alex began his search, and after about six months of digging, he finally uncovered the temple. In the center of it layed a black chain on a rune-covered pedestal. Cautiosly, he approached it, but as soon as he put his hands on it, it wrapped itself around his body. It instantly granted him immense strength and the ability to form matter from hell itself, but seconds later it engulfed him in hell's flames. It tormented him with images of the damned, and so he ripped out his eyes, but still the images plagued his mind. The screams of the damned filtered through his own mouth, and so he bolted it shut, but still the voices plagued his ears. Now blind, mute, and beyond insane, he walks through the rogue isles seeking to cause pain; he cares not to who.
They would be a little better if it weren't for the character limit. Often I don't even make bios for my characters until around level 30. Not because I can't think of anything, I just can't think of anything that would fit within the character limit and tell everything that I need to tell.
I hope this helped everyone a little bit more.
One more tip: Try and let your values and thoughts be shown (even if it's just a little bit) within your character's backstory. It might help you like your character a little more, and it will make for a more interesting story.
