The Orign of The Night Raven. (plus a sight plug)

As soon as my domain is moved to a front-page enabled server (3-4 days from now), my full profile, along with my team profile (for the Night Watchmen) will be available at http://www.thenightwatchmen.com. Untill then, the origin of "The Ning Raven."

-----
In 1985, the Regulators, lead by The Back-Alley Brawler, at last discovered the source of "Supes", a drug that had been plaguing paragon city for over a year. The following excerpt is taken from the files of the Freedom Phalanx:

...Thanks to the mystical masters of the Midnight Squad, The Back Alley Brawler was finally able to track the drug back to its source, a secret laboratory beneath a skyscraper in downtown Paragon City. The Brawler burst in upon them, his famous fists flying about him like a whirlwind. When the dust cleared, he had a moment to catch his breath and figure out just what it was he'd captured.

The facility turned out to be much more than a mere drug lab. It was a modern, high-tech, research facility. Not only were they manufacturing and distributing the drug, but they were also monitoring its effects on addicts. As this was a little out of his area of expertise, the Brawler placed a call to the Freedom Phalanx for some technical support. The scientists took the facility apart, freed the captive addicts and made some truly startling discoveries. The mysterious scientists, who resisted all attempts at interrogation, were not concerned so much with addicting America's youth as they were interested in seeing what effect their mind and body altering concoctions had upon the subjects.

The nefarious researchers had learned that, in less than 1% of those addicted to Supes, the human brain undergoes a radical alteration. The result is the creation of a new kind of sense - the ability to see, and even travel to other dimensions. This amazing psychic feat had long been theorized, as had the existence of alternate realities. The researchers had proven the theories true. Although the process drove the addicts quite mad, it also showed them whole other worlds; worlds similar, but yet different than our own. The Freedom Phalanx was unsure what to do with this research. The findings promised extraordinary new discoveries for the scientific world, but the data had been accrued in the foulest, most amoral manner imaginable.

This, of course, is a well-known part of Super-Hero history. What is NOT commonly known, however, is the "ultimate experiment" they discovered. In an isolated room, the Brawler discovered a young man strapped to a table by inch-thick, solid steel braces. Releasing the young man, the Brawler was knocked off his feet as the boy jumped off the table screaming "you're not real! You're not real! You can't fool me! YOU'RE NOT REAL!" The boy ran out of the room, dodging the Regulators, and disappearing in the night.

The Regulators combed over the files uncovered in the raid, and discovered the secret of the young man. Apparently, he was to be the "Ultimate experiment" for the Supes drug. The scientists were experimenting with an incredibly strong, highly-refined version of the drug, in hopes of opening portals to the other worlds; portals capable of not only SEEING the other side, but GOING there. They had tested the new drug on a number of subjects, all of whom briefly went mad, followed by death via massive aneurism.

Apparently, this young man was different. This young man had highly-elevated brain activity, and, perhaps more importantly, more will-power than any of the others they had kidnapped. With him, the drug took. The results were incredible. Tests subjects were fed very little, yet the boy seemed to grow stronger every day. More amazingly, the drug seemed to be permanent with him. After the first dose, he continued to be able to project the "seeing" portals (though still no luck with a physical transfer), even without continued dosage. His power level never went down, either.

This is what the Brawler and Statesman know. What follows, is the rest of the story.

After escaping the lab in which he was experimented on, The Night Raven found himself wondering the streets. Lost and alone, the experiments had left him with no memories of his past. The only clues he has are the nightmares that plague his attempts to sleep (which is why he rarely does, luckily he rarely NEEDS to). In his nightmares, he sees confusing images. Sometimes, he's in the mountains of Tibet, sometimes feudal Japan, sometimes a bizarre future. Sometime heaven. Sometimes hell. Sometimes he's at war. Sometimes, he has a family. The problem with his nightmares is that he can't tell what are memories and what are the hallucinations that plagued all the poor souls involved in the Supes testing.

What he DOES know is that the experiments left him with greatly enhanced strength (he's no Statesman, but he could easily trump an Olympic-class weight lifter) and amazing reflexes. What's more, he seems to grow stronger and faster as the days go by.

Now, he uses the abilities to battle evil. He doesn't really know why. He doesn't remember being taught right from wrong, but something inside him says it's what he was meant to do.

He is a man with no memories. A warrior with no past. They took everything from him. But they will soon discover that this man with nothing to live for, has become a hero, with everything to fight for.

The site is official up.

A good start, but I must ask, exactly why did he choose "Night Raven" as an alias? Is there a particular reason, or did he just sort of make it up one day?

You jump from the escape of the experiment, to Night Raven being a superhero. What happened during the time between these two events that brought him to donning an alias and costume, and joining the war against forces of evil?

Edit:

Also, you say he has augmented strength and speed...how did the effects come about from Supes? If the experiment was to enhance the ability to see through to other dimensions to the point of being able to pass to those dimensions, how did his body become stronger and faster?

[ QUOTE ]
A good start, but I must ask, exactly why did he choose "Night Raven" as an alias? Is there a particular reason, or did he just sort of make it up one day?

[/ QUOTE ]

[/i]He didn't. That was given to him. My in-game profile reads like this:

The Night Raven is not real. He does not exist. He is a myth. An urban legend; thought up by parents to keep their children from getting into trouble, and spread by the authorities to instill fear in the hearts of criminals.

They say he is a living shadow. A Wraith. A force that hunts his prey in the night like a rabid wolf on the trail of a rabbit. A creature with a mission of justice, and a voice of silence.

He is not real.

So what is it you're looking at?[/i]

Originally, I wanted to call him "Wraith". He was CALLED Wraith on the Beta servers. If you were around for the end of the beta, you know what happened with names. If not, let's just say there were problems and I had to do some tweaking.

Anyway, I haven't really decided if the name itself should be tied to some old Urban legend of Paragon City that he just kind of adopted as his identity, or if he took on the name for reasons he doesn't full understand (a reminant of a possible memory).

You jump from the escape of the experiment, to Night Raven being a superhero. What happened during the time between these two events that brought him to donning an alias and costume, and joining the war against forces of evil?

You're right. I should fill this in. And I will. Just have to do some thining about that one.

Edit:

[/i]Also, you say he has augmented strength and speed...how did the effects come about from Supes? If the experiment was to enhance the ability to see through to other dimensions to the point of being able to pass to those dimensions, how did his body become stronger and faster? [i]

The portals were a side-effect of the drug. Superadine, or "Supes" as they called it, was a derivitive of the Super-Soldier drugs made in WWII. I didn't put this in the origin because it's all available in the game's back-story. That section from the Freedom Phalanx files is taken directly from the City History . I thought it would be a cool way to tie my character in to established continuity.

As I said, normally the effects of the drug were temporary. The stuff they tried on Night Raven was an experimental, super-potent version, and, for whatever reason it didn't kill him, the powers stuck.