Tragic Character Bios--let's hear them!

Most of my tragic bios are on my villains, with the tragedy as the impetus that pushed them to the dark side. Here are the three I consider the most tragic:

Baron Steelfist (50 Bot/Dark Mastermind)

The only organic component remaining in this cyborg’s metal shell is the twisted psychotic brain wired up within its steel skull. The brain thinks it was once a man, kidnapped and experimented upon by a mad scientist who had a dangerous obsession with robotics. Sadly the cyborg’s memory is damaged so all it remembers clearly now is rage, confusion and the moment it slew the frightened man who had caused it so much pain. In the dead scientist’s lab were some battle robots which now answer to the cyborg’s commands. Recently it incorporated stolen Council technology into its body so that it can project negative energy. Now the cyborg roams, no purpose to its wretched life, yet seeking one. Woe betide those who obstruct its search for meaning in a world that doesn’t care what it still feels. It witnessed the start of the Zig breakout from outside of the prison; curious, it broke in to investigate. Now it wonders if Arachnos can grant the purpose it needs and desires with the last of its fading humanity.

Powerbreaker (50 EM/Elec Brute)

Formerly an engineer at a Crey lab, Jack Sutherland was repairing a particle accelerator when it malfunctioned and bombarded his body with subatomic particles. The forces between the atoms of his body were altered, granting him control over energy. Crey held his wife and daughter hostage to guarantee his loyalty then used him for their own ends. After a year of doing Countess Crey’s dirty work he was allowed to see his family briefly. He rashly tried to break them out of the base, but during the fighting his powers overloaded an experimental generator. The ensuing explosion killed his family, levelled the Crey facility and put him in a coma for weeks. Prosecuted for the deaths and property damage, Jack was incarcerated in Zigursky Prison and seethed with fury as each year passed. Now freed by Arachnos he still blames Countess Crey, seeking revenge on her by any means possible, even if that means working for Lord Recluse. As Powerbreaker he wears an armoured suit he designed to aid in focusing his powers.

Ghost Spider (50 En/En Stalker)

Ryan Kane ran away from the orphanage at 13. That night a cruel Hellion cut him up and burned him, but a primal urge to live drove Ryan to smash the thug’s head open on the street before succumbing to his agony. He should have died, but his torment had not gone unobserved. Captain Mako, returning from a mission, had watched it all from the shadows with psychotic glee, yet that spark of savagery suggested potential to him. Dragging the unconscious boy to his submarine off the Talos coast, Mako took him to Grandville. Ryan’s body was rebuilt with cybernetics stolen from Black Scorpion and he was trained in the killing arts personally by Mako. Excelling as a killer, he is now one of Arachnos’ top assassins. His bionic implants focus energy to cause or deflect damage and can also project holographic fields for stealth or disguise. After taking out key prison officers at Zigursky on the night of the Breakout, Ryan escaped with the “Destined Ones” and now poses as one to spy on Project Destiny for Mako.

My Archery/Energy Blaster is also Ryan Kane, but things went rather differently for him in the Defiant-verse than they did for his Union-verse counterpart: Manticore saved him during the Hellion attack, so this Ryan never killed his assailant, and he suffered far less injuries. Manticore paid for Ryan's cybernetic implants (eyes, mainly) and then later recruited him to Wyvern. So Defiant-Ryan still has the seed of the same tragic incident that changed Union-Ryan's life, but having had a different "saviour" made all the difference in the path he ended up walking.

I have a villain named DiamondFist. As a kid, he always wanted to be a scary ninja assassin who struck fear into the hearts of all. Other kids even beat him up for saying it. As it happened, his dad had ties to various ninja / underworld groups, and arranged for training for his son. The kid practiced and trained, going from one teacher or school to the next. He kept telling the kids who beat him up that one day, they'd fear the name of DiamondFist. Unfortunately, the reason he kept going from teacher to teacher was because he SUCKED as a ninja. He just couldnt get it. The teachers kept kicking him out. His father viewed him as a failure.

By chance, though, he was a mutant, and he developed his powers around the age of 20. He had the powers of Earth and Electricity (Dominator). He had always vowed that people would fear the great DiamondFist, so he still dresses like a Jet Li school boy ninja rip off, and he makes sure that people fear the name of DiamondFist.

The most tragic aspect is that every time he makes someone else pay for having laughed at him for wanting to be a ninja, every time he humiliates someone with the powers of the DiamondFist, he just reinforces his own hatred for his failure and ineptitude. Imprisoned within his own self-loathing, the name of DiamondFist is more of a doom to him than it is to his enemies.

Hows that?

Okay, a little tragic, a little humorous, here's Stagefrite's Story.

Anyone who is familiar with "Actor's Nightmare" might be amused (she's an ill/rad).

My Bio For She-Blade:



Cindy Bates was a supermodel on her way to stardom, until a seedy implant surgeon put her under and sold her to a criminal organization that was experimenting with nanotechnology in order to create super criminals. During the procedure Cindy's head cleared enough for her to break her restraints and kill the lab technicians. finding no one else around, Cindy went home Horrified to find that her looks had been scarred so badly by the monsters, "I'll show them." she said putting on her skimpiest bikini in the hopes that eyes would be focused on her body rather than her face.
She now prowls the streets of Paragon City, using the "Gifts" she has been given both by science and nature to fight crime and find the surgeon that sold her out. She is the Cheerleader of Justice. She is She-Blade!

Truly Tragic.

Okay, I've decided to restart my character whose story is in post #29 on this thread, but I can't think of a name for her (ironic, isn't it, since the character doesn't know her own name). Her costume would be rather ordinary-looking, maybe with hints of her former status as a scientist (another possibility is a standard-looking test-subject outfit, or a ragged company uniform). My idea on how she came up with her moniker is that it's from either a note/scrap of paper that was in her hand/pocket when she woke up in the Zig, or from something she heard right before she passed out during the experiment that gave her her powers.

Please help! The name is always the hardest part for me, and with such a detailed backstory, I really want to make this character (again). I have no recollection of the name I used for the original character, since I have chronic alt-itis and I made the original about a year ago.

Oh, I play on Infinity, so this is where this character would be.

Many of my characters have some tragic elements in their backstories, but I try not to emphasize it that much. Here's a few of them, though;

Spectreblade (BS/DA/Darkness Scrapper): The medieval armor he wears into battle contains the soul of a knight who had been bound to it by a jealous romantic rival, and has remained trapped within it ever since, unable to interact with the outside world except through a mental link with its wearer, and manifesting a dark aura to protect him. And said wearer didn't have it so good before he got the armor, either. His motivation to become a hero was seeing so many of his friends killed in the first Rikti invasion and being unable to help them.

Magatama III (Rad/Rad/Dark Defender): A third generation hero from Japan. He himself hasn't had much tragedy directly, but his family history is rife with it. The first Magatama got his Radiation powers from the Hiroshima bombing, and joined the Imperial Wind and seek revenge (see the last paragraph of that page for the relevant details), only to die a swift and dishonorable death before he could get the news that his wife was pregnant with their first child. The second Magatama, in addition to not having a father, inspired more fear than admiration during his career due to his being a living nuclear weapon. Magatama III now has the burden of trying to redeem the honor of his family from the dark shadows that haunt it.

Here's mine



1st. Son of Satan
A fall from grace

In the beginning-
I was never meant to be the heir to hells throne,tho it was claimed that I was.I was conceived as a weapon against heaven,but my true nature, and my Fathers plan for me wasn't discovered till a later age.
I Knew I had a truly unique power(angelic-hellfire) also I was learning how to jump to other worlds and dimensions,"A power father encouraged me to master".
Of course being the only being in hell with a freely used gate power I had no mentor,so everything was trial and error.
Eventualy despite fathers fury I abandoned his most proudest aspect of me.

My reasoning ?

I had found a most interesting place,A place where I wasn't treated Like Hells Next Champion.
I made new friends.They were of a species I had never known,the most beautiful creatures I had ever seen.
I learned new words Compassion,honor,Humility,and Time. This place was my Eden.
Unfortunately when I was returning to hell from that plane of existence I accidental brought a group of newly acquired friends back with me.
I tried and tried to send them back but I didn't even understand how I brought them with me. My friends presence is felt all through hell. It isn't long before they are all consumed by my supposed brethren,I realize I'm out of place,and I don't belong.
If time was being recorded then I would have turned 14 that day.
At the loss of my first true friends I vowed to leave hell for good only to find that I was limited in my travels, only dimensions that were adjacent to hell could be reached with my untrained power.
Traveling to the realm I found my friends in was a fluke one I was unable to recreate .So I find a pocket dimension,and I enchant it with magics so no creature with demon/devil blood other that I could access.and I take to my studies of magic.

In theory I banished myself from hell.

Mother seeks me out-
I had never met my mother and it was never said who she was.I understand why now.
Many centuries after my self em posed exile from hell,Mother finds out about fathers plans for me and vowed to correct her mistake.
She was duped by father right before his official fall from grace,and tricked into the magical mating that created me.
She could have no part of herself that would dare oppose Heaven, and vowed that it would stop now.
She finds me and enters my self made prison fully intent on destroying me,but instead of acting she observes me.
She noticed the magical barrier that keeps evil and even my father out of my haven.
She wept when she scanned my soul.She leaves only to return several times to observe me more.
She finely makes her self known,and informs me of fathers plans for me.
It is an Epiphany for me as it explains everything .why I don't fit in,why my views are different than my brethren,why I hate hell so much.
I'm half Angel and I take after my mother! Funny An Angel trapped in a devils body the irony.
Mother gives me a device that helps me mentor the unknown powers Ive inherited from her.this device will also guide my way to many new worlds and realms.
for the first time I am truly content.

Pocket dimension-the return-
Thorninus "Thorn-in-us" an Elder demon, discovered the entrance to my pocket dimension,unable to gain access he keeps A close watch on it.
He believes gaining access to it will augment his own personal power.
I return to dismantle this refuge as I have found a world that I call home,and A people I call family.
I will use the magics to barrier my new home from hell,with the barrier down Thorninus enters.
He attacks me by surprise ,caught off guard he bests me.
When I regain conscious I notice that mothers gate/device is gone,and I realize I have used it to travel and haven't truly learned how to use the power myself.
In my own prison I spend another 500 years honing that power.

Returning to my new home-
I am devastated Thorninus has completely destroyed my paradise,everything has been burnt and charred.
The peoples of this realm under my teachings fought bravely but were no match for his Magic, they chose death before domination.
I make a vow, Thorninus will pay gravely for this I swear.
I pick up a faint trail of magic (centuries old) left by mothers realm/gate device and follow it.
It leads me to yet another unknown realm,a realm called the Shadow Shard.
There I confront him and a battle is waged almost defeated Thorninus Gates himself away I try to follow but there is an unknown power that prevents me ,I can not pass.I capture a fragment of this magic to study, he will not get away, I will find him.

Paragon city-
The magic I find wasn't meant to keep me out,It was created to keep another being of great power in?
I finely make the proper incantations and pass through the portal.
I encounter many unique beings in this new realm,And I learn Thorninus has gotten a foothold in this world with his followers (The circle of Thorns).
I'm close And I will catch up to him. I have mastered mothers realm/gate power and there's nowhere he can hide.
And with Mothers light I will smite him with Fathers might.

My own entry is an example of the Muse striking whenever she damn well pleases, and forget you if you're not able to keep up. I'm not tooting my own horn, just stating a fact when I say that I wrote the following in one go, BANG, in less than 5 minutes. I couldn't do this again if you put a gun to my head.

Dapper Jack Scarlet (villain; specifically, a Stalker with Dark Armor):


"My existence is naught but a swirling dark madness. I know not how long I have suffered thus, for the passing of time is a disjointed trickster for me. I snatch random moments of conscious thought from the gibbering shadows that reel about me. My senseless memories are bolts of lightning that strike and are gone. My torment is unending, yet I endure. I endure. The only act which brings me even a moment of sweet clarity is the snuffing out of a human life, I know not why or how I came to know this.

Oh, sad candle that burns so briefly! Tell me, ere the light fades from your eyes! How did I come to this? When will I be free? Why must I suffer? Why? WHY?

Curse thee, then, and thy blood that shines so. I will have none of you and your ragged shell. I am Dapper Jack Scarlet, and I have walked the nightmare shadows of this world for ages untold. All fear my hand; none can avert it. I turn even now, your pitiful screams forgotten, and hurry to my next tryst, darkness folding about me once again..."


Almost certainly inspired by the legend of Jack the Ripper, but this is probably not the same person. I think. 'Cause that would be too, what, egotistical of me? So, okay, not Springheel Jack, then.

On the other hand...

Well, I don't really think of any of my bios as "tragic", but I guess they're pretty dramatic. If anything, Bloodwolf has got the typical "driven to seek justice by seeing someone he loves murdered" thing going, but it's his wife, not his parents. And there is a bit of a twist...

Bloodwolf - MA/SR Scrapper

Steve McDonald was framed for the murder of his wife by a corrupt Sheriff. Steve spent three years in jail, only to escape when he was believed killed in a prison riot. He used skills he had learned while in prison to track down the real murderer, only to find that it was none other than the sheriff who had accused him. Confronting the man in his home, there was a struggle, and Steve was formed to kill him. Horrified by what he had done, Steve tried the wipe the blood from his hands, and it formed the face of a wolf. Inspired by the image, he decided to seek out corruption, and leave his mark behind as a warning to those who would abuse their power.

Unlike Batman or your typical victim turned avenger, Bloodwolf's wife was killed by a policeman, not a street thug. Thus, his fight is not against crime in general, but against corruption. He is almost paranoid in his belief that power corrupts, and that the most powerful, that is, superheroes, are the most corruptable. He keeps files on all the major superheroes in Paragon City, as well as the supervillains, and knows their weaknesses and what tools he can use against them. In a way, his life is very tragic, as he has given up his former identity as Steve, even referring to him as dead. He has no secret identity, he is only Bloodwolf now.

Sandy - Electric/Fire Blaster

A childhood illness left Sandy Jensen parylized from the waist down, and unable to walk. Her father was an expert in nanotechnology, however, and put his knowledge to work to try and find a cure. The only company he could get to fund his research, however, was Crey. (of course ) Crey secretly altered the programming on the nanobots, and once implanted in Sandy, they went out of control, trying to rebuild her body as a combat cyborg. Her father tried to stop the process, but Crey agents attacked him, causing Sandy (already in terrible pain) to break free of her restraints and kill them. Her father then managed to shut down the nanobots, but not before half of her body had already been destroyed.

Sandy is a very reluctant heroine, and afraid of losing control again and killing people like she did the Crey agents. However, her machine half is programmed to seek out combat, and if Sandy tries to deny it its purpose, it tries to take control of her. She registered as a hero so she would have an outlet for the machine's urges, but fighting makes her feel like a machine, and like she's losing her humanity. Quite the opposite of Bloodwolf, she refuses to use a hero name. Her true name is one of the few human things she has left, and she clings to it as it helps keep her sense of identity.

The really tragic version of this story is the Praetorian version of Sandy, who was unable to save her father before he was killed. Crey lost control of her, but the transformation concluded, and now she's an out of control war machine, blindly killing everything that crosses her path. There's little left of the original Sandy inside her, but what there is is probably trapped in her own personal Hell.

Blue Diamond - SS/Inv Brute

The original Blue Diamond's story isn't tragic, but this is an alternate version of him. My main characters, Jade Dragon, Blue Diamond and Genie Gold, got their powers from magical Egyptian artifacts, that a Mob hit man was after. They got three of the powers, he got one, (taking the name Silver Bolt) and now they're rivals. In the alternate universe, however, I wanted to make Blue Diamond as a Brute, so I changed the story so that the hit man killed Jade Dragon and Genie Gold before they could find the artifacts, and claimed them himself. And Genie Gold wasn't just a partner but a love interest for BD as well, so we've got the "girlfriend killed by villain" motivation going too.

Blue Diamond still managed to get one of the objects, but was forced to go underground because he is outnumbered by the villains three to one. As a result, he becomes a petty thief in the Rogue Isles, just to survive. The original Blue Diamond's backstory was that his father was a policeman killed by criminals, and so the further he sinks into the Rogue Isles underworld, the more he hates himself for betraying his father's ideals of law and order. At the same time, he is filled with rage and the desire for revenge against Silver Bolt. This drives his strength as a Brute, the more he fights, the more he becomes filled with self-loathing, until he goes into a berzerk fury in which he doesn't care who he hurts.

I'm definately planning on "redeeming" him by having him join Longbow and go back to the hero side when Going Rogue comes out, but even on the hero side Blue Diamond has a notoriously short temper. He sees things as very simple, good guys are good guys and bad guys are bad guys, and after having lived in the grey area, it's had a permanent effect on him.

Actually, Silver Bolt's story is kind of tragic, too. He was born into a Mob family, but when he was a child, his parents were killed by corrupt cops, after they tried to testify against the Mob. He was taken in by the Mob boss, but he always wanted to find a way to turn the tables on him. When he learned of the power of the Egyptian artifacts, he decided to take them so he could set himself up as a god, above the law, and above criminals. He does not believe in good or evil, he thinks they're both the same, and he does not believe in the law, so he wants to make himself the law.

Loopy Loup Garou - EM/WP Brute (soon to be Claws/WP Brute)

This one isn't really tragic, but I thought of it when I mentioned Going Rogue above, and so I might as well post it. It's kind of tragic, in that it's a basically good person trying to make it in the Rogue Isles, like Blue Diamond, but since he's a bit of a brute and a rogue anyway, he's really not uncomfortable or unhappy being a villain. He won't kill, but he doesn't have any problem making someone BELIEVE he will.

As you might guess from the name, Loopy is a werewolf. He was employed by Ultimate Wrestling Entertainment, a wrestling franchise that makes money from matches between super powered wrestlers. It's completely based on the WWE, and includes all the smack talk and drama between the matches, so Loopy was a very popular Heel. The UWE was almost shut down over a scandal involving drugs, which the non-super powered wrestlers were apparently taking to give themselves powers. Many of the wrestlers were arrested, including Loopy, but he always insisted his powers were real.

When he was sentenced, Loopy claimed the whole thing was a set up by the managers, who had framed the wrestlers so they wouldn't have to take responsibility for setting the whole thing up in the first place. He vowed to escape from the Zig, which he did, and come back and get his revenge on the managers. He's joined Arachnos to try to prove his innocence, but hasn't yet made a move against the UWE. Who knows, it might have just been more smack talk.

Arno Stone never wanted to be a hero, but all that changed the day his wife was killed in the the brutal crossfire between The Freakshow and Crey's Paragon Protectors (Arno would later learn the event had been staged by Crey as apublicity stunt). Grief stricken, Arno used his creative genius and the resources of his company; Advanced Cybernetics And Dynamics Industrial (ACADI) to fashion a powered exoskeleton and take to the streets of Paragon City in an effort prevent what happened to his wife. After finding out the truth, Arno instead went for revenge and ulitmately ended up defeating the countess and having her imprisioned. Ultmiately Arno realized no measure of revenge could bring back his dear wife so instead Arno works to make Paragon City and the world a better, safer place.

Lucas Ritter was an orphan on the mean streets of King's Row by the age of 13, his father an abusive supradine addict who was murdered in a bad dine deal andf his mother died shortly after crawling inside a bottle. Lucas might have ended up like either of his parents had in not been for the intervention of the Night Fox who took the young Ritter under his tutelage. As Night Fox's sidekick, Lucas learned there was more to life than beng a young tough working for the very same people who had murdered his father. After Night Fox retired, Lucas assumed the persona of Nachtgiest and now watches over Kings Row in an effort to put an end to the very same elements which destroyed his parents.

Thats tow off the top of my head.

My name is Dr. Simon Scarsdale. My daughter's name was Grace. She had the most beautiful smile. She was born with a degenerative brain disorder. It was killing her. I worked night and day searching for a cure. Wreckless science and desperation caused a terrible accident, destroying my research and my lab in a fiery apocalypse. The tragedy left me with augmented mental abilities, but I could do nothing to save my Gracie. When she passed I descended into depression and lost everything. Somewhere in the darkness I heard my little girl telling me to fight. So I did. I emerged from the shadows and now I fight for Justice as "Simon Psionic"!

Character bios need to be longer. I mean, it's less a biography than a summary of a glance of one. For instance-

Bobby Kent (Fire/Fire Blaster, Dominator after GR)

When he was 8 years old, Bobby Kent began to manifest the ability to channel fire. He never knew of this ability, because the part of the brain that controlled the fire orignated in a tumor that happened to lie next to his memory. Every time he used his ability to channel the fire, the tumor would begin to burn. His memory of the event would be erased, and he would begin to experience mental trauma which caused his personality to shift when he used his fire. This only became apparent when he used a large amount of energy.

On top of his mental trauma, his father was an alcoholic, and heavily abusive of him. His mother would never be there to try and stop him, because she had left Bobby's father after the first time he had hit her in an alcoholic rage. Bobby, however, never knew when he had been hit, because he would always activate his powers in self-defense when his father came after him.

This led to a circle of events that was seemingly never-ending. His father would drink, and become mad at him. He would convince himself to beat some sense into his son, and then Bobby would try to defend himself. Because of the tumor in his brain, whenver Bobby used his powers he would forget the entire encounter. Later, the old man would drink, get furious at how his boy had hurt him, and decide to beat him.

Through the beatings however, Bobby would always love his dad. His father's burns would ignite deep feelings of empathy in Bobby, and he would forget his own injuries in a second and spend hours tending to his father. His father would think that the boy was mocking him, and would become fiercely angry. When he was angry, he would drink.

Bobby never realized how he became hurt, and so he began to think pain was a part of life. He thought that everybody woke up with bruises and broken bones. One day, however, a school teacher noticed how Bobby seemed extremely sore. She gave him an aspirin. The relief he felt at having been liberated from the pain made him easily addicted to drugs of all kinds. He began popping pain pills daily, larger and larger amounts.

When he turned 16, he had his first taste of Superdine. The drug made its way to his brain, and released all his inhibitions. The fire inside him was unleashed, burning all around him and causing his alter-ego to be let loose. This second personality was strong enough to survive the pain, but that did not make him unaffected by it. He became unable to handle blame, highly aggresive, and even deranged. When he came to his home, his father noticed the green tint of his skin, obvious on even a first-time Superdine user. When he demanded to know why Bobby had injected "a mother%*#ing drug into his mother&*#ing body", Bobby's alter ego became enraged. For the first time in his life, he was the one who started the fight. His father was so surprised, he was unable to get out of the way of the first blast of fire.

But Bobby did not stop at one blast. He continued to send towering walls of fire and scorching blazes into his father. When he finally stopped, the body was almost unrecognizable. With the rage and the drug subsiding, he staggered away into the street, losing consciousness two miles away from his house.

He woke up in a hospital. Nearly a week had passed, and he could barely move. The nurse watching him immediately called to a doctor, who rushed over to tend to him. The doctor told him he was lucky to be alive. After, a murderer had killed his father, and he probably only escaped because of his run from the house.

Bobby swore that day to find out who had killed his beloved father, and bring them to justice. The same type of justice that had stolen his father away from him, the mad, cruel, and unreversable justice of death.

This thread has inspired me to finally write a full short story about one of my character's origin.

I mentioned it in my earlier post within this thread... for those who would like to give the expanded version a read.. you can find it here:

http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showt...=1#post2110140

While many of my characters have had unfortunate and/or unpleasant events in their pasts, the only one that I think qualifies as actually tragic is my necromancy/poison mastermind.

Joanna Wright was a well respected medical researcher, once. Driven was the adjective most often used to describe her, and what was driving her was her husband's death outside the range of the emergency medical teleport grid. Her goal was a quantum leap forward in medical technology, to bring people back, not from the brink of death, but from the already dead. She knew this was possible because several super powered beings could do this, but she wanted to make it available to all. Unfortunately, those heroes blessed with these abilities were far too busy for her to examine, so she was forced to turn her attention to the villains incarcerated in the Zig. The Vahzilok showed the most promise at first, being constructed in a scientific manner, but those shuffling cadavers and might as well have been robots for all the personality they retained so her attention wandered in more mystical directions. Both the Circle of Thorns and the Tsoo proved disappointing, summoning mere spirits, and not even specific individuals at that. It was during her experiments with the Banished Pantheon that disaster struck. The jury was not the least bit sympathetic after 3 heroes were sent to the hospital fighting what she inadvertently summoned and she was sentenced to 10 years for reckless endangerment. One night in her cell, She dreamed of Ghost Widow explaining what Joanna had gotten wrong in her formula, and the next day Arachnos attacked the Zig . . .

Wow, Steelclaw, that bio is intense. I almost cried at the end of the first part. It was really good! You and Dark_Respite should write a story together sometime.