Your favorite origin stories, for those who bother to write them

One of my favorites that I've seen on someone else is on Rose Veldt, one of Jophiel's characters - Rose is a big game hunter who became legit by registering as a hero to help with Paragon City's giant monster problems.

My favorite of mine is my radioactive-themed Stone/Energy tank, Atomsmash. He used to be /SS, and named Fissure Strike, until a Terra Volta trial went so terribly awry that he accidentally respecced into a whole new secondary (and origin! Mutant became Science). Oh, and I have the name Fissure Strike too... because in Praetoria, there is no Terra Volta.

You?

My EM/WP brute was a "test your punching power" arcade game robot until a jerk hacker tried to get the quarters out of him, and mistakenly flipped the "hit back" button. The motion sensors then activated and he punched the hacker to death, and now roams the Isles punching the crap out of anything he can target.

He was captured by the Vanguard at one point when he wandered into RWZ before. after observing him and what he does, they simply turned him loose on the rikti, until he punched a rikti bomb, blew it up right next to a war wall, blowing a hole in the wall, and knocking out his sensors for days. He laid there until a squirrel ran by, activating him again and off he ran, again punching everything he comes into contact with. His battle cry is even "Test....your....strength..."

It's one of the only toons that I actually put forth any brainpower towards a backstory.

I love this thread already!! :-)

My favorite bio that I have written is a transcript of a tape recorded session of the character with his court-ordered therapist. I find it to be pretty original.

Let's see...

Agent Tavarisch (tech, grav/kin controller) is one of Vanguard's leading scientists. She doesn't have any powers of her own (or so she tells everyone), but she's fantastic at reverse-engineering other technology to help metas control/enhance/suppress their own abilities. Most of her abilities are ones she's adapted from the Rikti.

Agent Blake (science, dark/psi defender) on the other hand was born psychic, and with a reckless streak the length of Independence Port. When she jumped into a mob of a dozen Skulls surrounding another young woman, determined to save her, they shot Blake several times and threw her body into an alleyway. Imagine their surprise when Blake came back from the Netherworld, channeling its power as her own, and promptly wreaked havoc on them while saving their intended victim.

Michelle
aka
Samuraiko/Dark_Respite

I won't pretend to be on Samuraiko's level, but here's my go at it:

Destriana (magic fire/fire tanker) is a demon. But when a Hellion looking to try and get a leg up in the gang structure summoned her to try and make a pact, he botched part of the ritual, and Destriana was set loose on the mortal world. She decided to start by setting fire to the Hellions' hideout.

Now, the Paragon Fire Department is fairly used to Hellions setting buildings on fire, but when an abandoned office bursts into bright purple flame, they call for MAGI. One of their opreatives caught up with Destriana's rampage and quickly put her down, then offered her a simple choice. She could be banished back to the pit from which she came, or she could register with the FBSA and do what she was told. She signed up, and quickly found that helping people was far more to her liking than torturing the damned for eternity. Now, she is a shining, or at least flaming, beacon for the heroes of Paragon City.

For one I like, I'll reprint my post from this old thread about "If one of my heroes was on Omega team..." It's a letter written as if my DB/Fire brute Burning Blood was one of the supers (some were villains, not heroes) on Omega team who went to the Rikti homeworld and left behind a letter in that time capsule. It contains his origin story, so:

From the depths... it rises.

Devouring... the unwary.

With a great amount of fortitude, the strong pray to the powers that be...

"Rain destruction from on high!"



This is for my character 'From the Depths', a Praetorian that is working for Hamidon and seeking the destruction of all mankind.

Here are two of my more enjoyable ones.

Sister Lilith. Started out as a tanker fire/axe tanker but I rerolled her to Demons/Thermal MM for GR.

Sister Lilith is oft spoke of in Biblical lore. She is portrayed by some as Adam's first wife, and by some as Satan's Daughter. She has been called the first vampire. In truth, she is the daughter of Lucifer. When Lucifer was asked to guard prison, he asked to invite some angels. He knew that they would need to be changed to survive Hell. Of the Arch-Angels, he was the only one strong enough to survive unchanged. To prove his faith in those asked, he asked Lilith. She agreed. Hell is prison and punishment. Sadly those that must guard must be strong. Lucifer altered all their forms for survival. The weaker they were, the greater the change. Recently, Lilith saw the need to stem the tide entering Hell. With her father's permission, she came to Earth to strike fear in the hearts of evil. Perhaps when enough turn to Jehovah, they could speed the time when they will return back to their brethren with Heavenly song. Until then, evil must know what awaits them.

Tier 1
Kasdeya
Ronwe
Ukobach

Tier 2

Mastema
Ornias

Tier 3
Jezebeth


Gaea's Hammer. SHe started out as a Earth/Mace tanker and I rerolled her to a Mace/Earth brute for GR.

Unbeknownst to her, Black Arachnia picked up a passenger on her way through the Devouring Earth world. The Portal Corp failed to catch the stow away and Roseheart fell off in Black Arachnia's base. To her surprise, she found plant life to nurture her in the bases sterile environment. Her goal was to learn more about this world that constantly failed to fall under Hamidon's rule. What she learned surprised her. Hamidon was not what she thought here. Hamidon was a monster bent on the destruction of man. In truth, there were many humans who wanted to clean their world. While the base was empty, she watched and learned about the new world she lived in, all the while listening to the gentle sussurus of her mother and the harsh strident whisper of this worlds Hamidon. When she grew in enough knowledge and strength to move about, she accessed the computers and learned more about this worlds religions. The words Gaea struck a musical chord that was answered by her mother. She vowed to teach this world and help.

I wrote this one up for Badstorm. She was looking for a character named Daydream and wanted a bio. This was what I came up with for her.

I am Daydream. For years I wondered the imaginations of Her. I worked wonders in worlds of wonder. Like all daydreams I might have faded with time but for that awful day.
The alert had sounded. Nemesis was fighting a hero in the streets of Paragon. They were to get to shelter. She did not. She wanted to be a heroine. She watched near a window as the fight raged by, imagining me fighting out there.
The hero was struck true and flew into the class room. The other students screamed. Nemesis pointed his staff and fired. All the children were protected by a force field, all but Her. She was to close to the edge and was struck. As she fell, I Awoke. Stepping over her, blades crossed, I was not about to let Nemesis by. He struck me down easily.
I awoke in the hospital. When asked who I was, I said Daydream.
She is in a coma. Now I fight to waken her. Now I fight to bring Nemesis to justice. I am Daydream, and I am your nightmare.

Seems we are writing down our own characters origin stories, oh well I can jump on that one.

Lady Arete (See signature for complete bio)
By her heritage she is a strong sorceress, who after her father and mother seperated got raised by her mother (witch). Becoming stronger then her mother she struck out on her own, marrying into british nobility and later becoming a small time villain (stealing, bribing, enchanting for more magical lore and power).
She came to Paragon City, fell in with some local mages (Circle of Thorns), kept a low profile (away from Midnighter League) and learned what the Circle really wanted with her.
After a quick battle in Perez Park and a flight to evade mages and heroes, she managed to get away and find a skyscraper in what would be known as Steel Canyon. There she cried and the hero whom she did not evade found her. The hero was a hero and she managed to come to terms with what had happened.
She gave her self over to the authorities, got her sentence and was sent to the Zig. There she was forgotten, even through what would happen: The first Rikti war.


Cyrene (emp/sonic), is a gifted beautiful mutant singer who when not engaging in heroics sings in various clubs with the moniker "The Siren". Sadly for her she has a relationship problem, meaning if anyone falls in love with her and she in that person... there will be trouble. Trouble as in a curse beginning to warp that persons feelings and character and change a sensitive caring person into a very selfish, obsessed person. Fortunatly/sadly it has only ran its full course once.
Platonic relationships? Family feeling? Yes please! No touchy!

I love both these characters, specially Cyrene as she was created through playing in the game, as back-story came as it suited.

would post it, but it's kinda graphic in the gore description

and would fit a vigilante brute more than a heroic tanker

Dead Deidre, a Broad Sword/Dark Armor Scrapper

Here's one of my villains:

Unseighle (Sonic/Dark Corr, lvl 24, Triumph)

Unseighle is a Knight of the Court of the Queen of Air & Darkness. The Court had its hold unde Gimry Ridge - until the Circle of Thorns arrived.

Unseighle has been sent to the Rogue Isles to gather information about these interlopers in order to bring about their eventual crushing defeat by her Queen.

(To be added soon - And now she begins her journey back to Gimry Ridge through the streets of Paragon City, to begin the obliteration of the vermenous Circle of Thorns. To be added after she becomes a Vigilante)

I tend to be minimalist with bios.

These are my favorite of my efforts:

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.

Sphere Factor (force field/energy defender)

Jimmy Edwards was a life-long hero fanatic. He obsessed over every little thing having to do with super heroes, from their powers to success rate versus bad guys and whatever he could find out about their personal lives as well. The more outrageous the costume, the more flamboyant their style, the more he loved them. He amused all his friends with his antics as he spouted cliched hero quips in a voice that sounded straight out of a 40's super hero serial reel. As in most things, Jimmy was a late bloomer. When his mutant powers finally manifested themselves at the age of 17, Jimmy was completely ecstatic. He was not put out in the least bit that his force field powers were mostly defensive in nature. He would finally be able to work with the heroes he had always read about. That is, if they could tolerate his fan-boy nature.

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.

Psychaotic (mind/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.

Arctic Armageddon (cold/cold corruptor)

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.

Though my tastes in bios lean towards the irreverent, these are some of my less amusing ones. I've lost some of the names to other people on some servers , but these characters existed at one time:

Cohen's Cat Claws/Regen Stalker
Cohen, Stanely H. (1922- ). American biochemist who determined that DNA molecules could be cut, seperated and joined, thus paving the way for genetic engineering. Sadly enough, the only thing science has been able to do with this knowledge is create Cat girls to fill the harems of rich men with barnyard preferences and Anime fans with tastes for Furry. Created in a lab two years ago, Cohen's Cat was sold to a young man with good credit references. After weeks of being used and abused like property, sleeping on a pile of dirty clothes in some unwashed, rude, antisocial twenty-something anime fan's parent's basement Cohen's Cat escaped the clutches of its master with a certain deadly finality. Done with dead end relationships, Cohen's Cat supports herself by contract killing. Scientists and Anime fans for free.

The Astral Assassin Claws/Energy Stalker
People have looked to the heavens for answers since time eternal, and over the ages the ones who have recieved answers have been called many things: Prophets, Messiahs, Heretics, and Lunatics. I take none of those titles for myself, know only that the stars have spoken to me, and they said, "Kill".

Once, I merely studied the stars. Astronomer Janice Sanderson longed to unravel the mysteries of the Stars Above when late one night during a meteor shower I heard the most beautiful sounds, the longer I listened to the harmonious music, the clearer its message became.

Certain people are born with ties to the heavens, ties that give them power, and put great destinies before them. When these beings go too long squandering the power of the stars, someone must return the energies to their rightful place, else the music of the heavens will cease to be...and I do not know if I could remain sane if the only beautiful thing in the world was taken from it.

Scatterstar Umbral Blast/Umbral Aura Warshade
When I was meandering my way through my bachelors I volunteered for some psych tests, those crazy professors will do anything for their PhD you know, and it was usually entertaining. After it all, the prof gave us a profile that told me everything I already knew about myself except that I was must have filled in a blank wrong because he claimed I was forgiving and nuturing of all things, and my pals had quite a few laughs about that one at the bar.

And when I said those profs will do anything for a PhD I guess that means selling psychological profiles to interest groups, because two weeks later I get a phone call and heard the words Kheldian, Nictus, and Symbiot more times in twenty minutes than I ever had in my life. Well its turns out I *am* forgiving and nurturing, because even after hearing about these reformed Nictus, I agreed to meet one. Well Iabaer isn't one for talking but he sure does want prove himself as a good guy soemthing fierce, so here we are.

There's Hyperstrike (SS/Inv tank), my main. He was an ordinary officer visiting a relative at Terra Volta when (yet another) superbrawl broke out in the reactor room. Instead of running the hell away, he got invovled, beaten, irradiated, and was nearly at death's door when one of the heroes strapped an early, non-implant version of the mediporters to him. Unfortunately those needed to be calibrated quite accurately to the wearer's physiology and he got ripped up even worse in the process. After several years of VERY painful rehab, he's out on the street, busting crime again.

Or The Mighty Pi (MA/WP scrapper). He's a former student who basically screwed off for an entire year and then tried a super-intensive cramming session for a week before finals. It drove him over the edge and he went loony. Now he runs around avenging a mathematical concept.

Or Inion Imolain Gealai (Warshade). She's the offspring of the Nictus master from the ITF. Due to all the time-travel shenanigans, she was accused of killing her own father after he possessed Romulus. Subsequently she was imprisoned and tortured for several centuries before escaping, gradually becoming convinced her people were wrong for their attempt to enslave humanity. Finally, after gaining access to the Midnighter's Club, she wound up looping back around and was part of a team of heroes that eliminated Nictus Romulus and set her life in motion.

Americium Bombshell (Kin/Rad defender). A byproduct of a US Super Soldier program in her universe.

Tectonica (Stone/Fire tank). She was a preliminary try at what eventually happened to Terra.

Eclipse Phase (Peacebringer). An ornery Iwo Jima-era Marine bonded to a Kheldian? Oh yeah. Get off my lawn! *KNOCKBACK!*

I could go on, but I gotta bail.

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oh screw it here it is