Tragic Character Bios--let's hear them!

Do you have a hero who was motivated to fight because of a personal crisis? How about a villain who fell from grace through a cruel twist of fate? Let me hear your sad stories! If your character's sob story is so sad that you make me cry, you win! What do you win? I don't know...umm...*rummages around in the back* You win a chocolate chip cookie from the Salerno Dining Hall! Let's hear your sad stories!

Heck, that's a sad story in and of itself.

This could potentially end up being the longest thread in forum history. From what I have seen in game practically every hero in Paragon City is an orphan due to their parents having been killed. So there should be no shortage of tragic bios.

In a somewhat related note it has been commented on many times that with the exception of Penny and Penelope there really aren't any children in the game. It seems as if instead there should be an almost complete lack of adults since everyone's parents are always getting murdered. Or at least getting defeated after challenging their kids to a duel.

My character's tragic biography is that he was born in a loving family and is well-adjusted.

He is depised for being a freak since he is so normal.

His mom was a Vampire and his father was a lycan(werewolf). His kind wasnt accpeted in any race thus he was casted away. Searching for a new start he joined the army and fought in World War I. Thus he met Marcus Cole(StatesMan) and Stefan Richter(Lord Recluse). He helped them find the Fountain of Zeus. But already at an immortal state the fountains power had no effect on him. But changed his friends into super powered humans. As he watched his friends choose there fates of good and evil. He stayed with Stefan Richter(Lord Recluse). Fighting as his #1 warrior. Then as years passed blpup was sent on a mission. During the mission the Freedom Phalanx ambushed him. His long friend Marcus Cole(StatesMan) gave him a choice to join the path of justice or die a villian. Blpup choose the path of justice. Years later the Statesman sent him and Positron to locate and kill Ghost Widow. They found Ghost Widow in the hollows. Then a epic battle started both heroes found out that Ghost Widow was beyond there own powers.Telling Positron to retreat and get help blpup stayed to fight her alone. During the 1 on 1 combat they she grew fatigued. Since blpup was an immortal he never got fatigued. Blpup decided to let her go...his wife.....As she escaped Positron returned 5 mins later with Sister Psyche by his side. Both asking where did she go blpup told him that she vanished and got away. Returning back to Paragon. Sister Psyche read his mind and knew. Returning to his chambers Sister Psyche knocked on the door. Blpup knew what this was about and told her to come in. Sister Psyche told him what he did was wrong even if they were husband and wife and how if you let evil get away they will only cause the citizens of paragon harm. But he couldnt just throw away all his feelings for her. Sister Psyche left the room. Then Blpup thought he should sort this out. Blpup went to Lord Recluse's Lair at the door he met Black Scorpion and Scirocco. Blpup knew they wernt there for a warm welcome. As the 3 entered into combat Ghost Widow showed. She told them to stop but they wouldnt. Then He showed, Lord Recluse. He told Black Scorpion and Scirocco to stop the meanless fighting and approached Blpup. Then punched him in the gut so hard he flew back. Ghost Widow in shock and sad ran to his side but as going Lord Recluse grabed her and put a device on her head. Blpup regaining composer he saw the device and knew what it was.......A memory wiper. As Black Scorpion and Scirocco held him down he watched his love forget he ever existed all the memorys they had...gone. In a bersker rage blpup broke free charged at Lord Recluse with all his might. Triping Lord Recluse and kicking him. As Lord Recluse flew back Blpup grabed Ghost Widow and looked into her eyes as she looked into his.Then she stabed him.Blpup bleding out and as he felt the posion from the knife take into effect he fell down to the ground. As he was losing conscience he saw Positron,Sister Psyche and Statesman entering combat with them. Then everything went black......

Few days later he woke up at Paragon City. Sister Psyche was there next to him and said "its not your fault". Blpup now is sworn to get revenge on Lord Recluse and win back Ghost Widows heart.

I think reading that was tragic enough for me. Wow

Here are my favorite of my various alt's with tragic backstories. Some of them I want to write into full short stories.. what follows are direct cut & pastes from their bio sheet in-game. Sorry about how many there are but I'm an alt-oholic.

Re-Stitched (gravity/energy dominator):

Jennifer Halloway was a research assistant in an ambitious wormhole program funded by the government shortly after the first Rikti Invasion. The plan had been to create a wormhole allowing humans to out-flank the Rikti homeworld; the pace had been rushed. Her fiance Mark Amberton was one of the lead scientists on the job when the Congressional Committee had demanded a demonstration. He had protested, saying they were not yet at a full testing phase. He was overruled. The accident at the demonstration cost him his life and Jennifer her face. As Mark was dragged into the wild wormhole, she had clung to him, refusing to let go even as her arms and face were crushed by the immense gravitational forces. The wormhole collapsed at the last moment, seeming to shrink down inside her own skull. Now she can summon the wormholes at will though their force tears her face constantly requiring permanent staples. She seeks vengeance against the scientists who doomed her love with their quest for glory. She will send them through the same wormhole that consumed Mark; only they will pass through much.. MUCH more slowly.

Assisted Afterlife (dual blades/willpower brute):

Emilio Sandiego was only 8 years old when his grandfather asked him to kill him. The old man was in the final, agonizing stages of a terminal illness. He was bedridden and reliant upon life support to keep him breathing. He had begged his son to pull the plug but Emilio's father had refused and argued with the doctors to try stronger pain medication. When his grandfather asked him to set him free, Emilio listened, hearing the beloved old man's desperation and desire to be released from the pain of life. Emilio agreed then watched in fascination as the doctors and nurses scurried like ants to reverse what he had done. But all in vain; death had been triumphant and his grandfather's expression was one of peace. From that moment on Emilio found his life's work; to free as many as he could from the pain of life... to assist them as he had his grandfather.

Surgeon’s Canvas (martial arts/regen stalker):

Had she once had a name? She assumed she had, though she could no longer remember it. That had been before the doctor. That had been before her... changes. She did not know if her skin had always been so albino pale and surely she had not always had so many teeth or such a long jaw. Her blood was yellow and that couldn't be right. Then there was the matter of her lower body; where her thick white skin only appeared in patches showing the dark red meat of the muscle beneath to be seen. As though she weren't quite... finished yet. She didn't look like the other humans she saw, though she was assured she had been born one. But the doctor told her she was beautiful; that she was his living work of art. And for that... she loved him.

Shackled Eternity (dark/dark stalker)

Natalia Maravena was born in the poor sections of Moscow in the early 1800's. Forced to watch her mother starve herself so the children could eat; Natalia grew terrified that such was her destiny as well. One day, while begging for coins on the street, hunger gnawing at her belly, Natalia was approached by an old gnarled woman. The woman introduced herself as Baba and lured the young girl back to her hut. The hut was a wondrous magical thing that danced and ran on huge bird-like legs. Baba Yaga asked Natalia what was her fondest wish to which the child immediately replied that she wanted to be rich, beautiful and never hungry. The Russian witch put the girl in contact with demons who sealed the pact with blood. The remainder of Natalia's mortal days were spent in luxury and debauchery as she, through a series of luck and well placed marriages grew phenomenally wealthy. However, when she died her soul became Hell's plaything; passed from demon to demon who tore apart her body and soul to reshape them according to whim. Now, with only dimmest memory of what living had once been like, she has been sent to the earth realm once more there to serve the living servants of her hellish Masters.

Psychaotic (psychic/psychic dominator):

Angela Manderlake was born gifted with powerful psychic abilities. In most cases this would have resulted in her family sending her to a special school to learn to control them, but they were devoutly religious and believed ardently that gifts from the Most Holy should not be touched by man. So she grew up knowing the worst of human thought. She watched her own family, heard their mouths denounce others as being unholy and impure, condemning them for their sin. She knew their thoughts and the hypocrisy of their ridicule of others. She felt little but disdain for most members of her family except for her mother, whom she loved beyond all else. But even her beloved mother was subject to this disease of contradiction. So, Angela decided to "fix" her. She forced her mother's thoughts onto the paths of righteousness turning her inadvertantly into a lobotomized zombie. That had been when Angela was eight years old. Things have not improved since that time.

Blood and Honor (electric/storm corrupter):

Narute Nakatori was long since dead; ancient samurai wizard of the Nakatori family. It was he who had originated the storm magic that was their family's heritage and the reason for its ascendancy. Upon his death he joined the family ancestors as a hero, having brought great unbounded honor to the Nakatori name. And so Narute watched, answering his descendants' prayers when they sought his advice and spending his afterlife caretaking the family honor. Then came World War II and Japan's great defeat; though his country had not known victory, his family had performed with great honor in their battles. It was post war that caused their downfall. The Nakatori family turned to crime, becoming a Yakuza gang. Narute's heart broke and he turned his face from them after millenia of watching. But he could not ignore them forever; Hakami, daughter of the Yakuza leader, summoned and enslaved him with his own storm magic. Bound by blood at the cost of his honor.

Arctic Armageddon (cold/cold corrupter):

Danielle Williams' mutant powers first manifested themselves at birth; or during birth to be more accurate. As her mother's contractions hit they immediately numbed then frost began to gather upon the curved peak of her stomach. Her mother's death profoundly affected Dani's father, who never forgave his daughter for the death of his wife. She would never know which father he would be next; cruel and abusive, cold and distant or those rare occasions when he would shower her with affection. One time he went too far and Dani ended up in the hospital at the age of fifteen. Two days after her return home they found her father dead in their apartment. His eyes had been frozen solid and the words "Snow Blind" carved into his forehead.

Steelclaw--that's d*** good writing. Stirring, sad, a little creepy. Excellent, excellent work.

Could someone please post the screenie for the Singsangsong.jpg that had the biography there. This post won't be complete without deth kiks.

I don't have the actual bios on hand to copy/paste, but a lot of my characters have tragic origins.

My blaster Electrilux was injured and his mentor was killed when their lab was attacked by Clockwork. My tanker Frozen Son killed his mother during childbirth complications, which also caused his father to go crazy and become my brute Flaming Father.

@SpaceNut - My 50s, AE arcs and current projects at ParagonWiki

rian frostdrake. orphaned during a local skirmish in rural germany, was found near death in the ruins of his families home by a flight of ancient dragon philosophers who lived in a nearby forest. They nursed him as close to health as they could, but still he looked like he was not going to recover, also at this time one of their own hatch lings had been born malformed and seemed close to death. Seeing a convenience of the two events they used their ancient magics to bind the two together into a single entity, not fully dragon, nor human, but the combination of the two was just strong enough to survive where neither could individually.


Rian lived among them for several decades till the dragons reached a time when they ascended as a group to a higher plane of existence, leaving him to wander the world as a spiritual pilgrim, after stuying under many great spiritual leaders, he had landed in Tibet during the beginning of the Chinese occupation. Following a altercation where the monks at the temple he was studying at were killed, he succumbed to his human side and killed the entire group of soldiers responsible. After regaining his senses, the guilt overtook him and he swore to never use violence again.

His travels then landed him in paragon during the rikti invasion as a chaplain, during the invasion he realized he had to fight one more, and now Rian is who he is.

more later.

Take the Magic: The Gathering 'What Color Are You?' Quiz.

*points at his signature image*

Left to right.

Zikar had his friends and family killed during the Rikti war. He was an adult though, so it's not like he was "orphaned" or anything. He thought his sister was dead too, but she turned up in Paragon City working for the Vahz.

Anti-Wound doesn't really have any major tragedy in her life.

Final Barrage had his parents killed by the 5th Column during WWII. Again though, they were very old and he was no spring chicken

Birysk gained powers against his will due to a botched Circle of Thorns ritual.

Tech-Girl suffered a horrific accident where she lost her limbs and most of her body was badly injured. She was saved by a doctor friend who built robots and stuff and put her in one of the robot's casing.

Death Knell. No real tragedy.

Cutting-Edge Tech. No tragedy.

Steelclaw: you are surely a gifted writer in both the comic and dramatic idioms. I surely hope you play heroes as well!

On the OP's topic:

I have any number of heroes in that variety, but they have generally responded like the original Bruce Wayne: they will try to prevent others from suffering as they have.

These are the first heroes I rolled on the 3 servers where I primarily play.

1SGT Rutledge:

Blood was running from Thomas Rutledge's nose and ears, and he was covered in rubble, but the wall had collapsed in the other direction, and he was alive. It had obviously been hours. There was no sound or movement.

It had been a hospital, but no one had been spared. 30 years in the line and a .45 were no use against so many. There were no heavy weapons, no way to call for air or artillery support... just him, and he was no longer a young man. They had all died. He steadied himself on the remnant of the wall... and something caught his eye. The flagpole was twisted grotesquely, and at the end of it, the burnt and tattered remnant of Old Glory still smouldered.

He had known such enemies before, enemies who did not spare women, children or the helpless, and whose highest goal was to destroy the country that he loved. And on that bier for all of the innocent people he had been unable to save, for the first time in over four decades, Thomas Rutledge wept.

It will not happen again.


A little different twist for my lab assistant robot, Clyde Mark V:

May 23, 2002 23:47 Hours
Status Report:
All systems functional; some at greatly diminished capacity. Repair subroutines initiated.

Residence massively damaged. All structures for approximately 40 blocks in all directions appear to be likewise decimated.

Dr. McDaniels is non-functional. All medical subroutines have failed to affect this status.

Dr. McDaniels' most recent instructions: "Clyde: Initiate defensive subroutines. Protect and defend the human citizens from hostile attack, using initiated Ethical Protocols. Oh... God help us!"

Attackers non-functional. Efforts to persuade them to desist hostile actions non-successful. Efforts to procure their peaceful surrender non-successful. Defensive subroutines initiated.

Further instructions from Dr. McDaniels do not appear to be forthcoming. I shall endeavor to carry out his current directives.



My main, Melancton, was the very first hero I rolled. His story is much refined now, but this is his original in-game bio, still the same today:

Melancton was in retirement; a champion in the Guild of Free Adventurers who had long ago laid his weapons aside. His oath to protect the weak and helpless had been honored, and his sworn foes, the Circle of Thorns, had been annihilated on his world.

One day, a vision of an Earthling being tortured by the Circle came to him. "Who will save her?" he was asked. "Here am I," Melancton responded, "Send me." Reality inverted and he was in Paragon, galaxies away from his home on the planet Eamon.

It took Melancton time to learn the extent of how he could now manipulate electricity and fire. But he has never hesistated to come again to the aid of the weak and helpless, and to destroy the Circle of Thorns and their allies--- "The Armies of Night."

"How do you know you are on the side of good?" a Paragon citizen asked him. "How can we know what is 'good'?"

"The Most High has spoken, even with His own blood," Melancton replied. "Surely we know."


Indeed, that exchange with a citizen has been my signature since that day.

I've taken to calling Guardian Server the home of the Dead Skyscrapers, and here's why- it seems that several of my characters there come from tragic backgrounds, being the manifested souls of skyscrapers who have fallen in one wretched way or another.

Iron Angel Aveda is one of the Aveda Towers of Eden, aka Woodvale. When the Devouring Earth invasion struck, she and her siblings fought to try and save their home, while guiding many of woodvale's human occupants to safety. These skyscraper incarnates frantically appealed to the city's human hero population for help, but this was not long after the first Rikti War, and there were considerably fewer heroes left to answer the call at that time.
Add to this a communications screw-up which got a group of fledgeling heroes deployed a crucial position on the front lines, which they could not hold. This loss gave the Devouring Earth a foothold, and one by one, defensive positions began to fall to the monsters. The Skyscraper clan fought bravely, but were soon overwhelmed, being among the last of Woodvale's defenders to fall. Luckily for them, a few other surviving heroes were able to carry them to safety in a general retreat. Sadly, Woodvale was lost that day and the Skyscraper people found themselves rootless beings dispossessed not only from their homes, but from their steel bodies as well- those having been all but destroyed by the Devouring Earth. Some time later, Iron Angel Aveda visited the ruins and collected a bit of structural steel, which she forged into a fearsome set of claws, replacing the sword she had lost.
Now it is her mission to wipe out the devouring earth and reclaim her family's home, at any cost.

My WTC tower tribute characters are also on this server- a pair of skyscraper souls returned from the afterlife to mete out justice to evildoers, saving other innocents from the sad fate that they suffered.

Big Blue's fury is based off of this incident:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gjib_I_ab84
She's the manifestation of that crane. She was proud of her job, and thrilled by the people who came out to watch her work, caught up in the joyful spirit of Civic pride. But then that last fateful lift happened..She was wracked with guilt over the lives lost that day, wishing that she had been able to do something to save those men. So she's taken up being a hero, hoping to repay her debt by saving other lives.

Seiglinde Ironwolff is another crane spirit- her construction company was one of the few not in the Family's pocket, and one night some mob hitmen came after her operator. Their boss didn't like him telling the other workers not to let themselves be intimidated by the Family.
Seiglinde felt horrible guilt over not being able to protect her operator, and went on a vengeance-fuelled killing spree, hunting down the Family men responsible for his murder.
She found them in a warehouse in Independance port..Not a single Family man survived her onslaught- the deeper into that warehouse she went, the wilder and more blood-crazed she became, until she finally found the hitmen. The others were lucky- they died quickly, the scene inside that warehouse left even veteran PPD detectives sickened. The hitmen suffered much more at her hand, her rage impelling her to prolong their agony as long as possible. After this, her own people turned on her, believing her to be in need of incarceration and treatment for her grief-broken mind.
Needless to say, when the breakout happened, Seiglinde welcomed the promise of freedom in the Rogue Isles..after all, that was where the REAL family bosses lived. Justice would indeed be a dish served cold...

Hm...Well...

Capt. Stormrider's parents were killed and both he and his sister were kidnapped during a pirate raid on his colony when he was about 10 years old. He never saw his sister again, and spent several months locked in a cargo hold waiting to be sold into slavery until he proved himself useful to the pirates, and was taken in as a member of the crew. Years later the captain had become a sort of surrogate father to him, and when the captain died in combat, command of the ship was passed to Stormrider.

Of course, this is OOC information that Stormrider has never revealed to anyone. I never really RP Stormrider as being vengeful or scarred by his parents' death, since he became the very thing that killed them. If anything he's more haunted by not knowing if his younger sister is even alive, since he never saw her again after the attack (Intentionally left open for a possible future character).

So yeah, Stormrider had a pretty rough childhood, but it's not something he cries over, or even tells anyone about.

Some really wonderful stuff here... I almost hesitate to post mine.

It's difficult to get as many nuances as one might like in the limited space we're allowed for our beloved alt's bios.

Bo'Tanika (energy/energy) was one of my firsts...

Onyx Spur (spines/dark) is another one I'm fond of.

I have a few that are comedic tragedy, but the comedic element wouldn't fit the tone set by the OP.

WAY too much in my mains genesis to post here. I start a story of it once for the NaNoDraMo competition, in the form of a diary, but never actually finished it.

Can summarise it though!

Ellie Smith was taking her cat Mogs, to the vet one day when there was an accident at a construction site. Several tons of girders fell from a crane and crushed her mini, one of them ramming straight through her torso, a fatal wound.

In her last few seconds of life, an alien energy being (a Kheldian), offered her a chance at life, and having no choice, she accepted. The alien bonded with her and repaired her injuries, saving her life, but something went wrong with the bonding process. Something about her immune system rejected the bonding, and weakened from the effort of healing her, it was forced to split itself and bond partly with her and partly with her cat. In this state, the bonding obviously was incomplete and unstable.

Several weeks later, her abilities began to manifest themselves, and she was sent for testing. On finding out that she was inhabited by an alien, her father went ballistic, accusing her of being a "filthy alien bodysnatcher" and demanded it get out and return Ellie's body to them.

Ellie ran away from home, taking Mogs with her, and spent the next 3 years wandering the world. At one point, near death in the middle of the Ghobi Desert, she had a near death experience where the alien within her was able to communicate with her. It once again gave her the choice of accepting what she was, or breaking the bond (which, due to the damaged bonding, would kill both of them). She decided to accept her new existence and they moved on.

Eventually, after several adventures, and truly seeing for herself the horrors that man inflicts on man, she arrived in Paragon City, made friends, and started to make a new life for herself.

Then she met a Warshade scientist by the name of Voyd. He claimed that he could help Ellie, who was having several problems due to the unstable bond with her, the Kheldian, and her cat. She agreed, and he blended all three of them into a single entity, unable to ever seperate and survive, but whole and stable. She took on several traits associated with cats, ears, tail and teeth, as well as a rather long tongue, and also inherited the enhanced senses of a cat.

Unfortunately, Voyd wasn't all he appeared to be, and for his own purposes, he also implanted a Nictus shard in her core matrix. This began to manifest as unusually powerful bursts of power and aggression, as well as blackouts. Unfortunately, one of these blackouts occured when she was searching for a missing schoolbus of kids, reported taken by some Vahzilok into the sewers. All of the children were killed during this blackout, and Ellie was arrested and tried for their murder.

The trial was long and unpleasant, but the end result was that they were able to prove she'd been manipulated and wasn't responsible for her actions. She was given over as a ward to the leader of a senior supergroup. Thing's carried on as normal for quite some time, until the shard began to assert itself again. Now more mature, it was able to control Ellie for longer periods of time, until eventually, one of her closest friends was forced to ram a magical blade through her heart, killing her instantly. The remnants of the Nictus energy within fled her body and joined with a tiger in a passing circus in order to survive. Ellie was healed by the same people forced to kill her, but the Nictus, in a parting shot, had scrambled her neurons, leaving the recovered Ellie little more than a severely handicapped child.

In time, Kheldian science was able to rebuild her damaged mind and restore her to full health, but they decided that she was too vulnerable to control, so for both her safety, and the safety of those around her, a psychic shield was placed in her mind, removing her from the psychic band completely, a psi-blank. To telepaths, it appears as if she's just not there.

The experience with the Nictus shard, however, had a permanent affect on her powers, making then significantly stronger than average Kheldians, and also allowing her to access the abilities she normally only has when shape shifted. She also is able to alter her actual physical makup and biomorph her body completely, far beyond the basic "energy copy" shapeshifting abilities of the average Kheldian.

Now, after several years in Paragon, she's semi-retired from heroing and lives on a tropical island in the south pacific with her partner and close friends.

One day Minorin was dipping her cookies in milk when the bottom half broke away and drifted endlessly to the bottom of that milky sea never to be seen again. She swore to bring the forces at work to justice. Years and years of intense magical training led her to realize that's how the cookie crumbles.

Chiyo no Shi
Mastermind Zombies/Dark

Sakaki-san
Brute Electric/Invulnrability

Sexually assaulted and murdered, Chiyo at 12 years old stricks a deal with a demon to return to Earth and kill her killer only to find out that Chiyo's Best friend had already encountered her killer, who inteneded to make her his next victium. Chiyo can't be released from her zombie like undeath because she can kill her already dead killer. and her Friend, Sakaki's mind is shattered from murdering Chiyo's killer with her eltric powers. Sakaki walks around with a shattered mind. Chiyo takes out her frustration on the world!

Doom/Batman in 2012

The Resistance has boobs too, and better hair!

Um, well, I have an Ice/MM blaster who used to be a lab assistant at Crey, until her mentor quit, so they decided she was untrustworthy and expendable and started experimenting on her. She eventually escaped, but as a result of the experiments her body is falling apart, so she is trapped in the cryogenic suit her mentor built for her to keep her from degenerating further.

My Illusion/Empath controller, although not a tragic story in and of herself, is born of tragedy. She is a manifestation of the hopes and dreams of the victims of evil. She takes the nightmares born of trauma away from the innocent and gives them back to the people who caused them.

Most of my heroes' backstories are more along the lines of "bad guys ticked me off, I am going to fight them," than "bad guys traumatized me, I am going to make sure they don't do it to anyone else." My villains tend to simply be bad, amoral or selfish people, or more criminal than truly villainous, rather than being turned evil by some tragic past.

This is the history of Xi Xiong Ji, the Death Rooster. There are links to other players in his background, which you can find on his VirtueVerse page.

The man who would become Xi Xiong Ji (穸 雄 雞) was originally a handsome and gentle man. He was both a poet and an accomplished singer. The beauty of his voice would move the Lady Kuan Yin to tears. And it is said that his love songs to his wife, Tian Shang Lung, would spark a twinge of jealousy in the Lady Kuan Yin's heart.

Xi Xiong Ji did not join his wife and the other Fallen Guardsmen during The Great Betrayal. Though his heart was torn in two between the love for his wife and his duty towards the Zodiac Guardsmen. However, this did not spare him from being cast from the Celestial Palace.

Upon arriving in the mortal realm, Xi Xiong Ji saw Tian Shang Lung set upon by vengeful Loyal Guardsmen. Instinctively, he moved to defend his wife.

On that day, Xi Xiong Ji died.

In an act of desperation, Tian Shang Lung would approach the Banished Pantheon through her contacts amongst the Tsoo. Xi Xiong Ji would be resurrected by the Banished Pantheon, but at a terrible price. He could never speak of the resurrection rituals he had witnessed. But, he felt compelled to do so, if only to relieve his soul of the horrors he had seen.

The only recourse was to bolt a mystical iron plate across his mouth. Nevermore would he be able to sing, though his songs would now be songs of pain and loss. The time he spent amongst the dead and the brutal resurrection ritual took a toll on his appearance, as well. Now, he is gaunt and wasted, a mere shell of the man he once was.

He now haunts the Rogue Isles, at the side of his wife. His voice forever silent, but his eyes burning with rage. Whether or not he hopes to restore his former self when the Fallen Guardsmen finally overthrow the Jade Emperor or if he acts solely out of the cold and dark hatred in his soul, is known only to him. In the end, these details do not matter. All that matters is Xi Xiong Ji stalks the Rogue Isles and woe to those who would cross his path.

The resurrection ritual performed by the Banished Pantheon did more than return Xi Xiong Ji to a mockery of life. It had changed his soul, as well. Where there was once grace and tenderness, now there is bitterness and sorrow. Even the slightest perceived infraction would cause Xi Xiong Ji to turn his servants into undead slaves. Two of the very first servants to be punished, "Served Cold Tea" and "Missed a Spot" continue to serve his dark will today.

Xi Xiong Ji has the power to raise undead servants to act on his bidding. He can further augment the zombies with his own dark powers. The zombie servants are unrelenting in their attacks and respond only to the commands of their dark master.

His former powers of Golden Light have been perverted into the ability to wield necromantic energies. His attacks have rendered foes into gibbering lunatics, reeling from the terrible images implanted in their minds. And for all the nightmares they have glimpsed, it is nothing compared to the unspeakable horrors locked within Xi Xiong Ji.

These are the only ones I have that have a tragic bent to them, and I did flesh it out in a slightly altered way in my AE arc #3369: Matchstick Women. I'm also trying to figure out how to tie in my other Burnt Matchsticks on different servers (I've got the name saved on all but Freedom right now) into the same event in a different way.





this one's pretty tragic too:

These aren't mine, and they are tragic on more than one level.