Post by Odin on Jul 29, 2007 19:49:54 GMT -5
Name: Douglas Stevens
Alias: Odin
Ethnicity: Caucasian/Mutant
Date of Birth: May 25
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Height: 6’ 0”
Weight: 150 lbs
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Bistre
Face: Thin face, prominent cheek bones, and an occasionally flushed complexion.
Body Type: Slender side of average.
Dress Sense: Odin has spent the last several years living out of a suitcase. Although he has settled once again, his wardrobe has yet to become particularly varied, and consists mainly of collared shirts and slacks. He prefers subtle colors: black, gray, and green tones. He is particular about cleanliness, and about his clothing being in order. He also wears thick black glasses to compensate for his myopia.
Personality: Odin’s personality at its foundation is introverted; he is a person who enjoys a basic level of interaction, but going beyond it breaks him from his comfort zone. In an attempt to control his interactions, he has developed a taste for the no-stakes battle of wits. He can come off as smug to those who do not know him well, because he is bright and is well-aware of it. At heart, however, he is gentle, and in his own words, “essentially harmless,” and soon enough his curiosity becomes apparent. He speaks little about his life, revealing only what he wants to reveal, and guarding the rest protectively, although as subtly as possible; if a conversation turns in a direction he doesn’t like, he tries to subtly change the subject. He keeps his emotions to himself, particularly his negative ones. He is not prone to anger, depression, or jealousy. Irritation and frustration make themselves apparent once in a while, but after having spent years around an empath, he has learned a great deal of emotional control. Although he has a sense of humor, it is peculiar and his jokes do not always come across as such to others. However, he can take teasing at his own expense, provided that it does not come from a prejudicial standpoint or call his intelligence into question.
Through his powers, his past work, and his travels, he’s learned much about mutation, but he is by no criteria an expert. When he learns new information, he is at once both surprised and pleased. He is a man of many questions, and attempts to learn what he can through observation and conversation. Given a topic about which he is either knowledgeable or curious, he can engage another for hours at a time. Although his interest in conversation is deep-seated, his interest in deeper relationships is almost nil; he is sparse with touch, and often gives off a mild “please don’t touch,” vibe. He can be interpreted as prudish, due to his serious nature and desire to keep barriers, but for the most part, he does not care what others do with their personal lives; he simply wishes to be left out of them. He is a bit of a neat freak
Due to an experimental truth serum used on him by Project Wideawake, Odin has found himself unable to lie or evade an answer to a direct question. He is frustrated by this, but refuses to mention it to anyone, for fear of further exploitation.
He has also developed a fear of spiked boots. If attention is called to them, he will wince, and experience a “shadow pain” in his groin.
Powers:
• Mutant Sensing: ability to sense the presence of other mutants, or latent mutants, as well as their abilities and current strength and potential within a relatively small but yet undefined area. Once he has sensed a mutant, he stores this information within him and will recognize that mutant in the future.
• Mutant Tracking: ability to lock onto the X-factor of a mutant and locate that mutant over a far greater radius than his general sensing ability. This radius is increased if the mutant in question is one of his scions.
• Power Modification: ability to activate or deactivate X-factors through touch or concentration. This ability is under his conscious control, so those nearby need not worry about Leech-esque effects. This applies to latent mutations as well as those who are Cured and had their X-factors suppressed.
- This power works along a scale, and can be used to activate a mutant’s full potential, or to activate only a portion. The activation is permanent (to the same extent of any developed mutation barring other drug or power influence). Likewise, he can deactivate all of a mutation or only part of it, and the deactivation is likewise permanent unless otherwise affected. He can undo any "tampering" he does.
- Mutants whom he has “set free” he refers to as his scions.
• Dampening Field: produces a dampening field which protects him from abilities used directly on his person; such as telepathic and biological interference, mimicking, and touch-based powers. This ability has grown in strength since after his encounter with Wideawake, as a delayed traumatic reaction, and is now permanently in place. There is a clear negative side to this, as he can now no longer be healed by another mutant.
• Genetic Resistance: resistance to tampering with his X-factor or his abilities. He can neither be sped up or shut down by outside forces, such as the Cure, power boosting, and Apex. However, he has no resistance to non-mutant related drugs, as is evident in his reaction to the experimental Wideawake truth serum.
• “Scion” Resistance: imperiousness to the abilities of mutants on whose X-factor he has imprinted. This is unrelated to his general dampening abilities. For instance: electrical powers from a scion would not shock him, flames created or manipulated by a scion would not burn him etc. This is due to genetic similarity of his imprint and their X-factors; although he is partially convinced it is psychological reluctance, as evidenced by their general reluctance to do him harm.
Other Abilities: Odin possesses a photographic memory and sharp observation and deduction skills. From his course work, he has a fair knowledge of computers, mathematics, and various scientific disciplines, but is hardly an expert.
He lacks both physical training and physical prowess, but he is resilient, and bites if pushed too far, usually metaphorically as he deplores fighting when he's involved.
Current Occupation: Marketing Director of X-Factor Magazine.
Actor: Cillian Murphy
Background:
Odin was born Douglas Stevens, an only child, to his family in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The area was particularly diverse, one of the sections where as a Caucasian family; they were not in the vast minority. Bridgeport was one of the wealthier areas of the South Side of Chicago, an essentially meaningless designation, considering the poverty of the region at the time. Urban renewal had not yet begun when he was a child, to cope with the economic slump of the 1970s. Due to racial, religious, economic, and “mutant” tensions, the greater area was often a powder keg. Bridgeport itself was a place of political corruption mixed with street crime; the Democrats had yet to take control of the government, which led to more conservative overtones.
By an early age, two facts became clear to his parents: 1) He had the potential to go far in life to break away from their economic cycle, and 2) he would need a nudge or two in the right direction. As a child, the term “jack of all trades, master of none,” applied to him, as his boundless curiosity made focusing on any one discipline difficult. He loved to read, but equally enjoyed working with computers and building blocks. He would spend hours at the Museum of Science and Industry as a child, what was considered a safe enough pastime. Particularly as he was otherwise a “latchkey child.” Not from lack of caring on his parents’ parts, but their demanding work schedules made them often absent by necessity. His curiosity made him eager to learn, and his eidetic memory guaranteed his ability to excel in school.
He was a target for social outcasting for a number of reasons, including his bookish nature, his introverted personality, his religion (Unitarians were considered atheists and were few and far between in his neighborhood), and his physical inability to fight back. Physical bullying was rare, but it occurred, and only caused him to further wrap himself in solitary pursuits. The corruption in the police and the crime surrounding him strengthened, by necessity, his flight reflex to run or hide at the first sign of personal danger. Evasion became his strength; paying attention to details became his livelihood.
With few friends, his adolescence was particularly unpleasant. He had no extended family, and although he had a healthy enough relationship with his parents, all matters considered, it was a poor substitute. He didn’t fit in at his public school, but his family could ill-afford to send him to a private institution or to move. Puberty brought him a growth spurt, and the beginning of his mutant abilities, though he remained unaware of the latter. When asked, he will say that his mutation developed while at University. Yet he knew that twenty-six mutants went to his high school, and only one of them had a physical mutation.
He graduated high school at the age of sixteen, and attended the University of Chicago on scholarship. Despite the institution’s close proximity to his family, he had been awarded room and board and took advantage of it. At University, he was exposed to a group of peers with far greater drive than those from his neighborhood, and who cared far more about learning than most of his peers from high school. Despite the ability to interact on more equal footing, he remained unable to get close to other students. He spent most of his first semester split between classes and work study, growing close to none, unable to break from his introverted shell.
This changed with his job with the chemistry department, where he met the man who would become his mentor. A graduate student later turned professor at the University, Odin found himself taken under another’s wing and slowly coaxed to show his unique personality. His abilities fully developed during this time, such that he became aware of them, and led to the discovery that his mentor was also a mutant. The two of them discussed the history behind mutations, taking a social perspective as well as a scientific one, which albeit unintentionally provided a nudge in the direction of studying mutation. Together they experimented with their abilities. Odin was taken with his mentor’s “larger” personality, and absorbed more than a few of his idiosyncrasies over his years studying with the older man.
Odin spent four years at University, studying biochemistry and computer science; his memory gave him a talent for mathematics, and while studying, he took many additional science-based classes as possible, which gave him a lopsided transcript. Upon advice from his mentor, he began taking basic mythology and history courses to even it a bit, although it remained concentrated. From these classes he learned of Norse mythology and developed a fondness for it; later, he would choose one of the Gods as his namesake.
During those years, his mentor undertook a number of experiments, and Odin often had a hand in them, albeit a small one; they worked well together. His senior honors thesis won an in-house competition, and he was a finalist in the national circuit, which gained a bit of notoriety as far as his resume was concerned, and a cash prize he invested immediately. His powers had played a role in the research topic.
That same year, a discussion had arisen about how he had never left the Chicago-area, a field trip notwithstanding. His mentor suggested he take a year off before continuing his studies, to “broaden his horizons,” and as Odin had already begun suffering wanderlust, it seemed to him an ideal solution. Upon thinking it through, he decided that he didn’t wish to part with the sciences just yet, and thought he would try his hand at freelance research. He dubbed his self-started research business “Valhalla Enterprises,” a play on his namesake, and his mentor used contacts to set up his first few job assignments, until his reputation could stand on its own. The summer after his graduation, he was off, to California on his first assignment.
His parents had been unable to come to his graduation, and it had disappointed him at first, until he began to view it as part of the “growing” process. He had left Chicago behind, and perhaps it was fitting his parents had been absent from his greatest accomplishment. They did not speak afterward, for a week, then two, then a month. The estrangement happened in small increments, until four years had passed, and the distance was insurmountable. They did not contact him, not to invite him to holidays, and he never sought an invitation. Perhaps they simply expected that when he was ready, he would return home; Odin thinks the opposite true, that he has been written out of their lives. Perhaps it was the price paid in order to escape the confines of his neighborhood.
Odin found he enjoyed the freedom his work allowed him; he met new people, traveled across the country to parts previously only dreamed of, and was able to sample a variety of different scientific paths. It suited him. The year of travel turned into two, then three; his desire to return to Chicago was nil. He felt as though he had left the quiet, shy Douglas Stevens behind, and that he, as Odin, was better for it. He had become a mature individual, and that individual was a mutant. He might as well accept that and be proud.
Although he could leave behind his past, and stopped speaking of it, he could not shed his entire personality. He continued to struggle with forging personal connections, particularly when he began to dabble with his powers. Between assignments, he began to seek out other mutants, for conversation and a sense of solidarity, all an attempt to fill the hole left by his mentor’s absence. Over the years, he began to “set free” several mutants with latent mutations, which led to him building a second reputation in some less friendly areas; not everyone respected a man who could make other mutants. A stark contrast, as his scions, as he called the mutants set free with his powers, held no animosity towards him. In his own way, he began to withdraw emotionally, yet again; the world was complicated in its own right.
Living with a degree of oppression and seeing those far worse than he led Odin to develop a neutral perspective on mutant politics. Mutants, as his mentor had first discussed with him, had an obligation to help one another; it kept him free of in-fighting between mutant factions. As such, when the Brotherhood began recruiting, he stayed away. Afterward, when they attacked another mutant child, one with a degree of power Odin himself possessed, he began to question why mutants turned on one another. It was a question he would ask himself many times over the following years. He also became more secretive regarding his abilities. Yet his curiosity had never been curbed, and he would find himself time and again involved in anything regarding mutation, as long as no fights were on the horizon.
After three years of freelance work, and his near-death experience with Wideawake, Odin applied for a job at X-Factor Magazine, and became the marketing director. Although he had no publishing experience, he had a few contacts and his previous work had involved a certain degree of selling himself and his research. He settled down in an apartment in Manhattan, careful to find a better neighborhood so as not to fall into patterns from his childhood.
He currently resides with Stacy-X, a mutant ex-prostitute whom he rescued from the life. She works with him at X-Factor. With her empathic abilities and his inability to lie, they have developed what he considers to be a peculiar friendship.
Alias: Odin
Ethnicity: Caucasian/Mutant
Date of Birth: May 25
Birthplace: Chicago, Illinois
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Height: 6’ 0”
Weight: 150 lbs
Eye Color: Blue
Hair Color: Bistre
Face: Thin face, prominent cheek bones, and an occasionally flushed complexion.
Body Type: Slender side of average.
Dress Sense: Odin has spent the last several years living out of a suitcase. Although he has settled once again, his wardrobe has yet to become particularly varied, and consists mainly of collared shirts and slacks. He prefers subtle colors: black, gray, and green tones. He is particular about cleanliness, and about his clothing being in order. He also wears thick black glasses to compensate for his myopia.
Personality: Odin’s personality at its foundation is introverted; he is a person who enjoys a basic level of interaction, but going beyond it breaks him from his comfort zone. In an attempt to control his interactions, he has developed a taste for the no-stakes battle of wits. He can come off as smug to those who do not know him well, because he is bright and is well-aware of it. At heart, however, he is gentle, and in his own words, “essentially harmless,” and soon enough his curiosity becomes apparent. He speaks little about his life, revealing only what he wants to reveal, and guarding the rest protectively, although as subtly as possible; if a conversation turns in a direction he doesn’t like, he tries to subtly change the subject. He keeps his emotions to himself, particularly his negative ones. He is not prone to anger, depression, or jealousy. Irritation and frustration make themselves apparent once in a while, but after having spent years around an empath, he has learned a great deal of emotional control. Although he has a sense of humor, it is peculiar and his jokes do not always come across as such to others. However, he can take teasing at his own expense, provided that it does not come from a prejudicial standpoint or call his intelligence into question.
Through his powers, his past work, and his travels, he’s learned much about mutation, but he is by no criteria an expert. When he learns new information, he is at once both surprised and pleased. He is a man of many questions, and attempts to learn what he can through observation and conversation. Given a topic about which he is either knowledgeable or curious, he can engage another for hours at a time. Although his interest in conversation is deep-seated, his interest in deeper relationships is almost nil; he is sparse with touch, and often gives off a mild “please don’t touch,” vibe. He can be interpreted as prudish, due to his serious nature and desire to keep barriers, but for the most part, he does not care what others do with their personal lives; he simply wishes to be left out of them. He is a bit of a neat freak
Due to an experimental truth serum used on him by Project Wideawake, Odin has found himself unable to lie or evade an answer to a direct question. He is frustrated by this, but refuses to mention it to anyone, for fear of further exploitation.
He has also developed a fear of spiked boots. If attention is called to them, he will wince, and experience a “shadow pain” in his groin.
Powers:
• Mutant Sensing: ability to sense the presence of other mutants, or latent mutants, as well as their abilities and current strength and potential within a relatively small but yet undefined area. Once he has sensed a mutant, he stores this information within him and will recognize that mutant in the future.
• Mutant Tracking: ability to lock onto the X-factor of a mutant and locate that mutant over a far greater radius than his general sensing ability. This radius is increased if the mutant in question is one of his scions.
• Power Modification: ability to activate or deactivate X-factors through touch or concentration. This ability is under his conscious control, so those nearby need not worry about Leech-esque effects. This applies to latent mutations as well as those who are Cured and had their X-factors suppressed.
- This power works along a scale, and can be used to activate a mutant’s full potential, or to activate only a portion. The activation is permanent (to the same extent of any developed mutation barring other drug or power influence). Likewise, he can deactivate all of a mutation or only part of it, and the deactivation is likewise permanent unless otherwise affected. He can undo any "tampering" he does.
- Mutants whom he has “set free” he refers to as his scions.
• Dampening Field: produces a dampening field which protects him from abilities used directly on his person; such as telepathic and biological interference, mimicking, and touch-based powers. This ability has grown in strength since after his encounter with Wideawake, as a delayed traumatic reaction, and is now permanently in place. There is a clear negative side to this, as he can now no longer be healed by another mutant.
• Genetic Resistance: resistance to tampering with his X-factor or his abilities. He can neither be sped up or shut down by outside forces, such as the Cure, power boosting, and Apex. However, he has no resistance to non-mutant related drugs, as is evident in his reaction to the experimental Wideawake truth serum.
• “Scion” Resistance: imperiousness to the abilities of mutants on whose X-factor he has imprinted. This is unrelated to his general dampening abilities. For instance: electrical powers from a scion would not shock him, flames created or manipulated by a scion would not burn him etc. This is due to genetic similarity of his imprint and their X-factors; although he is partially convinced it is psychological reluctance, as evidenced by their general reluctance to do him harm.
Other Abilities: Odin possesses a photographic memory and sharp observation and deduction skills. From his course work, he has a fair knowledge of computers, mathematics, and various scientific disciplines, but is hardly an expert.
He lacks both physical training and physical prowess, but he is resilient, and bites if pushed too far, usually metaphorically as he deplores fighting when he's involved.
Current Occupation: Marketing Director of X-Factor Magazine.
Actor: Cillian Murphy
Background:
Odin was born Douglas Stevens, an only child, to his family in the Bridgeport neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois. The area was particularly diverse, one of the sections where as a Caucasian family; they were not in the vast minority. Bridgeport was one of the wealthier areas of the South Side of Chicago, an essentially meaningless designation, considering the poverty of the region at the time. Urban renewal had not yet begun when he was a child, to cope with the economic slump of the 1970s. Due to racial, religious, economic, and “mutant” tensions, the greater area was often a powder keg. Bridgeport itself was a place of political corruption mixed with street crime; the Democrats had yet to take control of the government, which led to more conservative overtones.
By an early age, two facts became clear to his parents: 1) He had the potential to go far in life to break away from their economic cycle, and 2) he would need a nudge or two in the right direction. As a child, the term “jack of all trades, master of none,” applied to him, as his boundless curiosity made focusing on any one discipline difficult. He loved to read, but equally enjoyed working with computers and building blocks. He would spend hours at the Museum of Science and Industry as a child, what was considered a safe enough pastime. Particularly as he was otherwise a “latchkey child.” Not from lack of caring on his parents’ parts, but their demanding work schedules made them often absent by necessity. His curiosity made him eager to learn, and his eidetic memory guaranteed his ability to excel in school.
He was a target for social outcasting for a number of reasons, including his bookish nature, his introverted personality, his religion (Unitarians were considered atheists and were few and far between in his neighborhood), and his physical inability to fight back. Physical bullying was rare, but it occurred, and only caused him to further wrap himself in solitary pursuits. The corruption in the police and the crime surrounding him strengthened, by necessity, his flight reflex to run or hide at the first sign of personal danger. Evasion became his strength; paying attention to details became his livelihood.
With few friends, his adolescence was particularly unpleasant. He had no extended family, and although he had a healthy enough relationship with his parents, all matters considered, it was a poor substitute. He didn’t fit in at his public school, but his family could ill-afford to send him to a private institution or to move. Puberty brought him a growth spurt, and the beginning of his mutant abilities, though he remained unaware of the latter. When asked, he will say that his mutation developed while at University. Yet he knew that twenty-six mutants went to his high school, and only one of them had a physical mutation.
He graduated high school at the age of sixteen, and attended the University of Chicago on scholarship. Despite the institution’s close proximity to his family, he had been awarded room and board and took advantage of it. At University, he was exposed to a group of peers with far greater drive than those from his neighborhood, and who cared far more about learning than most of his peers from high school. Despite the ability to interact on more equal footing, he remained unable to get close to other students. He spent most of his first semester split between classes and work study, growing close to none, unable to break from his introverted shell.
This changed with his job with the chemistry department, where he met the man who would become his mentor. A graduate student later turned professor at the University, Odin found himself taken under another’s wing and slowly coaxed to show his unique personality. His abilities fully developed during this time, such that he became aware of them, and led to the discovery that his mentor was also a mutant. The two of them discussed the history behind mutations, taking a social perspective as well as a scientific one, which albeit unintentionally provided a nudge in the direction of studying mutation. Together they experimented with their abilities. Odin was taken with his mentor’s “larger” personality, and absorbed more than a few of his idiosyncrasies over his years studying with the older man.
Odin spent four years at University, studying biochemistry and computer science; his memory gave him a talent for mathematics, and while studying, he took many additional science-based classes as possible, which gave him a lopsided transcript. Upon advice from his mentor, he began taking basic mythology and history courses to even it a bit, although it remained concentrated. From these classes he learned of Norse mythology and developed a fondness for it; later, he would choose one of the Gods as his namesake.
During those years, his mentor undertook a number of experiments, and Odin often had a hand in them, albeit a small one; they worked well together. His senior honors thesis won an in-house competition, and he was a finalist in the national circuit, which gained a bit of notoriety as far as his resume was concerned, and a cash prize he invested immediately. His powers had played a role in the research topic.
That same year, a discussion had arisen about how he had never left the Chicago-area, a field trip notwithstanding. His mentor suggested he take a year off before continuing his studies, to “broaden his horizons,” and as Odin had already begun suffering wanderlust, it seemed to him an ideal solution. Upon thinking it through, he decided that he didn’t wish to part with the sciences just yet, and thought he would try his hand at freelance research. He dubbed his self-started research business “Valhalla Enterprises,” a play on his namesake, and his mentor used contacts to set up his first few job assignments, until his reputation could stand on its own. The summer after his graduation, he was off, to California on his first assignment.
His parents had been unable to come to his graduation, and it had disappointed him at first, until he began to view it as part of the “growing” process. He had left Chicago behind, and perhaps it was fitting his parents had been absent from his greatest accomplishment. They did not speak afterward, for a week, then two, then a month. The estrangement happened in small increments, until four years had passed, and the distance was insurmountable. They did not contact him, not to invite him to holidays, and he never sought an invitation. Perhaps they simply expected that when he was ready, he would return home; Odin thinks the opposite true, that he has been written out of their lives. Perhaps it was the price paid in order to escape the confines of his neighborhood.
Odin found he enjoyed the freedom his work allowed him; he met new people, traveled across the country to parts previously only dreamed of, and was able to sample a variety of different scientific paths. It suited him. The year of travel turned into two, then three; his desire to return to Chicago was nil. He felt as though he had left the quiet, shy Douglas Stevens behind, and that he, as Odin, was better for it. He had become a mature individual, and that individual was a mutant. He might as well accept that and be proud.
Although he could leave behind his past, and stopped speaking of it, he could not shed his entire personality. He continued to struggle with forging personal connections, particularly when he began to dabble with his powers. Between assignments, he began to seek out other mutants, for conversation and a sense of solidarity, all an attempt to fill the hole left by his mentor’s absence. Over the years, he began to “set free” several mutants with latent mutations, which led to him building a second reputation in some less friendly areas; not everyone respected a man who could make other mutants. A stark contrast, as his scions, as he called the mutants set free with his powers, held no animosity towards him. In his own way, he began to withdraw emotionally, yet again; the world was complicated in its own right.
Living with a degree of oppression and seeing those far worse than he led Odin to develop a neutral perspective on mutant politics. Mutants, as his mentor had first discussed with him, had an obligation to help one another; it kept him free of in-fighting between mutant factions. As such, when the Brotherhood began recruiting, he stayed away. Afterward, when they attacked another mutant child, one with a degree of power Odin himself possessed, he began to question why mutants turned on one another. It was a question he would ask himself many times over the following years. He also became more secretive regarding his abilities. Yet his curiosity had never been curbed, and he would find himself time and again involved in anything regarding mutation, as long as no fights were on the horizon.
After three years of freelance work, and his near-death experience with Wideawake, Odin applied for a job at X-Factor Magazine, and became the marketing director. Although he had no publishing experience, he had a few contacts and his previous work had involved a certain degree of selling himself and his research. He settled down in an apartment in Manhattan, careful to find a better neighborhood so as not to fall into patterns from his childhood.
He currently resides with Stacy-X, a mutant ex-prostitute whom he rescued from the life. She works with him at X-Factor. With her empathic abilities and his inability to lie, they have developed what he considers to be a peculiar friendship.
