Alright, I'm finally done. Holy shit did this take me forever. Also, with the existence of the Speed Force begs the question. Is this actually in DC? Or just an alternate, unrelated universe wherein the Speed Force also exists in more limited quantities? Additionally, how are we going to do villains and enemy NPCs?
Name: Ryan Gray
Vigilante Name: The Architect
Age: 16
Appearance:
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Height: 6'1"
Superpowers/Skills: Cumulative Superhuman Intelligence, Information Processing, and Resourcefulness
Ryan is a supergenius, but there's a bit more to it than that. He didn't start out as intelligent as he was when his powers manifested. Unlike others with Superhuman Intelligence, Ryan grows exponentially smarter every day, due to the specifics of his powers origin. After about two years with his power, he's already the sixth smartest person on the planet earth, and he's projected to reach the number one spot by the time he's 23. His brain thinks and functions at roughly 34 times the speed of that of the average being, allowing him to form equations and answers far faster than a normal person. Additionally, he doesn't specialize in any specific field of super-science, unlike many with higher intellects. He mainly uses robotic and cybernetic devices simply because it's easier for him to obtain the necessary resources for them than it is for biological creations.
As far as his combat abilities go, Ryan has a series of weapons tucked into his cybernetic arm, coming in the form of three distinct modes that the arm can be in at any one time, Slice, Blast, and Grapple respectively. The Slice mode is a Vibrational Blade that can be set between three distinct functions: Human, Inanimate, and Destruct, the last of which is covered below. The Human setting turns the blade's vibrational frequency into something that is incredibly painful, but non-lethal. As it directly applies vibrations directly to the target's nervous system, it circumvents some forms of superhuman durability. Though it is far less effective against opponents who have non-human nervous systems, and is no more effective than a large metal stick against those with totally alien biology. The inanimate setting is for use against constructs, robots, or inanimate objects, and causes the blade to vibrate at a frequency that allows it to cut through most anything, in a fashion akin to a lightsaber. With the Blast mode comes a Thermal Cannon that, despite it's name, does not actually alter the temperature of anything. Instead, it fires a line of specialized gas that when hit with an electrical current, either rapidly cools to absolute zero, or violently heats itself into white-hot plasma, depending on the setting. Because of the method by which it fires, the Thermal Cannon's freezing and heating effects come at a .0957 second delay from the projection of the gas, which in itself moves at around 300 feet per second. Like his sword, the Thermal Cannon also features a Destruct Mode, to be covered below. Lastly, comes the Grapple, mode. In Grapple, his arm extends at the wrist, with his hand at the end attached by a 120 foot steel cable. His individual fingers can also extend, granting an extra 60 feet of reach. The primary use for the Grapple mode is to swing around from point to point, though it is occasionally used to grab and reel in enemies, or bind defeated foes. Of course, with a foe bound up in his grapple, he can't swing anywhere.
He also carries a small arsenal of throwable weapons, consisting of knock-out darts and smoke grenades, though this can and often does change from mission to mission, depending on Ryan's funds and what is required.
Lastly comes Ryan's last resort, the Destruct Mode. When the weapon is in either Slice or Blast mode, Ryan can activate this mode via a verbal authentication code, which causes the arm to self-destruct in an enormous explosion. Roughly equaling the power of a modern thermonuclear bomb, this is by far Ryan's most destructive weapon. However, due to the requirement of verbal authentication, if Ryan were to activate it, he'd be mere inches away from the blast's epicenter, which would kill him instantly, no questions asked.
Weakness: Ryan's actual intelligence can be stripped from him via the same methods that counter or get rid of magic, however, unlike some spellcasters, anti-magic is only a temporary solution, as he will regain his intellect as soon as the immediate effect causing the magic-countering ends. Additionally, many of his devices are electronic in nature, and can be disabled by EMP attacks. He is also required to keep at least seven secrets, or he will lose his powers, along with any knowledge gained through them, permanently. Not only are these secrets crucial for maintaining his powers, they are also things that could be potentially dangerous, either for Ryan or for others if the wrong people discovered them. Additionally, while he's incredibly smart, he's still human. He's only so strong, so tough and so fast. While he can think and make decisions at incredible speeds, he's limited by his physical body's senses and movement abilities. He makes mistakes, and can only take so much punishment even when he's geared to the teeth with high-tech devices and armor, that is, if he's ever able to afford such things.
Ryan's biggest weakness is his wallet, as he's only been able to afford what gear he does have via a series of odd jobs and favors, and has had to all but forgo any and all non-ramen foods in order to be a hero. He does have a place of dwelling and laboratory in the sewers, which he's managed to maintain by siphoning off energy from the city's power grid, to run a patchwork yet effective generator, but he's basically homeless and starving.
Mentor: Nedral-than, demon-god of forbidden knowledge.
Additionally, many heroes and villains alike have been keeping an eye on him for some time, due to the potentially world-shaking nature of his powers. He's been given multiple offers by various groups to use his powers on their behalf, but he's turned them all down, wanting to go his own way and use his powers as he sees fit.
Personality: Ryan is a talkative, lighthearted guy, always slinging jokes and bad puns, regardless of the situation. His main flaw is that he doesn't really ever seem to shut up, regardless of how bleak the situation gets for him or others. That, and his tongue, which would make a sailor blush. He's been trying to cut down on the cursing since becoming a hero, but it isn't going well. He's got that sort of rock-star confidence about him that makes it seem like he always knows what he's doing. Most people compare him to Dante, from the Devil May Cry games. The good ones, not the shitty reboot.
Bio: Ryan lived the first 14 years of his life as a nerdy, but altogether rather boring individual, without much in the way of noteworthy achievements. At least, that's what he tells people.
In reality, Ryan lived with an absent father and an insane, drug-addicted mother for most of his life. His mother was horribly abusive, and dangerously, violently high more often than not. Early in his life, she burned the upper left half of his face with a hot pan, ruining his left eye dealing serious damage to his face. His mother used him as a vent for her various drug-related frustrations, and barely allowed him to so much as go to school. At what would be his 14th birthday, his mother sent him out to obtain a fresh set of needles, Ryan was kidnapped by a couple of cultists, who mistook his frying-pan burn scar for the chosen symbol of some sort of dark god. The cult, known as the Bringers of the Blissful Dark, had impressive mystical resources and skills, though were not particularly intelligent, relying more on brute mystical power over tactical, intelligent spellcasting.
Trapped cold, naked, and blind in the dark, Ryan was prepared to be sacrificed to Eredaun Mole'an, the demonic lord of ignorant bliss. Unfortunately for the cultists, Ryan was not the chosen sacrifice, and Eredaun Mole'an was not summoned. Instead, Ryan was connected to a rival god, Nedral-than, god of knowledge and the forbidden. Unlike many, he survived the connection, and wound up becoming the god's vessel on this plane. This granted Ryan incredible knowledge about all sorts of things, technology, biology, physics, mathematics, even magic, nothing escapes his grasp. Although, when it comes to magic, his experience being stuck in a dark, freezing cold cell for multiple days at the hands of purposefully ignorant cultists has resulted in Ryan not being particularly comfortable with the stuff. While he may eventually come to move on and recover from this, it won't be any time soon. Until then, he's chosen to stick to the mortal sciences for his crimefighting career. After being chosen by the otherworldly being, he used his new abilities to engineer his escape. However, in doing battle with the lead cultist, a woman calling herself Sister Silent, Ryan wound up with one of his arms being reduced to a mere skeleton of it's former self: literally. His right arm was almost completely destroyed, left with only blackened bones held together by the nature of Sister Silent's spell. The battle between the two was a bloody battle between Ryan's smart, tactical but weaker casting, and Sister Silent's devastatingly straightforward, yet ignorantly used and poorly applied spells he did come out on top, permanently scarred, and refusing to ever again use magic.
Since then, he's replaced his ruined arm and eye with cybernetic counterparts and became a quite successful hero, having taken down the vast majority of Eredaun Mole'an's cult, and made a large dent in the Irish Mafia. Unfortunately, Sister Silence managed to escape, and is likely to have begun re-creating the Bringers of the Blissful Dark. He's got a small crew of his own villains, though few are superhuman, as Ryan tries to avoid fights he isn't sure he can win. He does however, have a few superpowered foes, only three of these are anything notable: the above-mentioned Sister Silent, a mafia boss calling himself Gunsmoke, and a brutish monster calling itself Slaughterhouse.
The source of Ryan's powers, Nedral-than itself, is rather neutral as to it's mission. Unlike most demons that seek to devour the world and/or plunge it into eternal darkness, Nedral-than hungers for one thing: knowledge. This makes Nedral-than, while dramatic and rather self-righteous, comparatively chill. As such, Ryan's only requirements to keep his powers are as follows: to tell the demon lord one new thing about the way he or another perceives modern world each week, (If he does not deliver, then his intelligence loses it's exponentially increasing property until he delivers on new information.) and he is required to keep at least seven secrets, lest he lose any and all of his abilities. As Nedral-than's vessel in the mortal plane, Ryan is beholden to him to a certain extent, being required to follow any direct orders given to him by Nedral-than, but is ultimately rather autonomous.
Personality:
