Hero/anti/Villain Name: Moses
Gender: Male
Secret Identity: Moses Minkabh
Appearance: Moses has a rather modest appearance about him as he has not a high opinion of himself, his "gifts" or those who might seek to use them for some purpose of their own. With long, black shaggy hair and an equally shaggy beard an onlooker would take Moses for a tramp or someone who just doesn't keep up with their hair. Evenly tanned skin gives way to a set of dark blue eyes that are filled with sadness. His nose is rather flat and high, his ears small and petite. He does not bare any scars anywhere on his body. Moses wears a set of very poor and dirty clothes. A white T-shirt is worn under a green canvas jacket and over this is a plain sand-colored trench coat. His pants are torn at the knees and frayed at the cuffs, a set of simple blue jeans. On his feet are a pair of sandalias, or as people would more know them as "Jesus Shoes." A pair of simple Spanish sandals, the leather straps that make up the shoe wrap around the tops of his feet and his ankles, going beneath his jeans and up his calves past his Achilles tendon. Around his neck Moses wears a leather strap necklace with a small black Ankh on the end of it. He carries with him a tall, gnarled staff made of a wood he is not familiar with that is approximately six feet tall, five inches taller than himself, and twists in on itself the last foot of the length. Over his left breast, above his heart, is tattooed the Ennead sigil, a symbol of his heritage and homeland of Egypt.
Costume: Moses wears no costume as he chooses not to glorify his abilities nor does he wish recognition for them. He simply wishes to be left alone.
Personality: Moses is a kind-hearted soul by nature, a lover of children and a very reserved figure when in a crowd. He keeps to himself mostly, always has, and is a very diligent watcher because of it. Little goes missed when he looks at something. A studious person, Moses has spent much of his time in life in one book or the other and as such does not have the best social skills. Never the less, he is very intelligent with his accumulated knowledge of science, religion, history and culture. A very understanding person, Moses is not one to be quick with anger - especially considering the consequences. Rather than solve one confrontation with another, Moses is quick to find a peaceful solution to almost any argument and backs away from them if he can't. He does not like to get into confrontation with others and so if he himself is the subject of a disagreement he will do his best to simply back away from the situation as quickly and quietly as he can. When he is angry, it doesn't last long. An finite amount of malice exists within him and when it is expended, he is quick to repent. Apologetic and reserved, Moses easily fits the traits of a wall flower. He has no vices other than his small bursts of anger when he's angry - does not drink, smoke, or sleep around. He is still a virgin, in fact.
Powers: Moses possesses the Biblical powers of divine judgement. He is able to do the following: Turn water into blood, summon gargantuan amounts of frogs from large bodies of water, create vicious lice and gnats from dust, summon swarms of flies of all sorts, inflect a sickness upon livestock that is always fatal, inflect a skin disease of festering boils upon man, summon a great storm of immense destruction that rains ice and fire, summon swarms of biting locusts to devour all, surround an area in a darkness so thick that it can be felt, inflict death upon the firstborn of both men and animals, cause bodies of water to rise and swell and flood, rain fire and brimstone down from the sky or turn the footing beneath him to brimstone and fire, create a fire that instead of burning turns its victims into pillars of salt, turn water into wine and split bread and fish into infinitesimal numbers although only for others, not himself.
The vast majority of these abilities Moses cannot control or has not found a way to control them yet. His very presence turns water into blood after a certain amount of time - he has estimated it to be roughly half an hour, and hour at the most. The others - the frogs, lice, flies, sickness, the storm, the locusts, darkness, death of the firstborn, flooding, fire and brimstone - he cannot control and in fact have only ever been able to have the ability to use them at all when his life or others were in great peril or when he was angry. The things he can control are turning water into wine - including water that has turned to blood because of his presence as well as the splitting of bread and fish. Because of his innate ability to turn water to blood and blood to wine, Moses has spent the last several years of his life living solely off of wine and what other drinks he could get besides water. He eats when he can, unable to split his own food for himself.
Background: Moses started out life in Egypt and spent the vast majority of it in peace. He went to school, church, studied the bible, the Quran, history, science, geography and various other subjects. Top in his class, both at school and at church, Moses worked hard to one day become a priest so that he might provide for his family. He was a very cultural, very fun loving and very out going boy, always curious and always looking for his next adventure. One night, when he was around the age of seventeen, a voice whispered to him in his sleep. "I have chosen you, Moses. You are worthy." At first he ignored this, but when it began to happen every night in his sleep he began to worry. Ten days after the initial message, Moses received another: "I give you my divine power, and I order you to go forth and spread my word. I give you power over all men so that all may know my name:" Here, several names were spoken at once - so much so that Moses could not make them out at first. Awakening from his slumber then, Moses rushed to his parents and told them of his dreams. Unsure of what they meant, they sent Moses back to bed. The following day, while Moses took a bath, he shut his eyes and began to drift, only to be greeted by the voice again. "I shall show you proof of your power and you will know that what I say is true, and that my name is - " Opening his eyes suddenly, Moses found that his bathwater had turned red and thick. Crying out for help, his parents rushed into the bathroom to find the tub filled with blood. At first concerned for their child, they checked him over to make sure he was unhurt in any way. When it was discovered that he was not, they themselves became afraid and did not know what to do. No matter how they tried to rationalize it, they could not find an explanation as to what was happening to Moses and Moses became very afraid.
For two weeks after, every time Moses came in contact with water it would turn to blood. He kept away from it as best as he could, but it seemed to follow him without end. Every night he had the same dream with the same voice, repeating in his head, "I give you my divine power, and I order you to go forth and spread my word. I give you power over all men so that all may know my name:" and still Moses could not decipher the many names spoken at once. On the following Sunday, while Moses was studying in his room, the voice spoke to him for the first time in his waking life. It told him, "Tonight you shall be visited by the agents of the Devil, and they shall harm you in ways that cannot be stopped. Be brave, for I have given you the power to bend any servant of the snake to their knees. I give you this power in the name of:" Alarmed at having heard the voice for the first time clearly, Moses was deeply disturbed by what the message meant. As he tried to get to sleep that night, tossing and turning, he heard shouting and the breaking of glass. Afraid that this was what the voice had warned him about, Moses jumped out of his bed and ran to his parents' room to find his father holding his mother and blood all over the floor. A man stood over them wearing all black - a burglar perhaps. He looked at Moses and his face both angered and terrified the young man. Screaming, the floor around Moses erupted in a circle of fire and sulfur and spread quickly throughout the house. The bandit was struck first and his corpse writhed in pain and burning agony. Unable to stop the flames, Moses tried to get to his father to help him escape, but his every step breathed brimstone. Unable to help his father, Moses fled from his home leaving all that was his life behind him. As he watched his home burn in the fire he had created, the voice spoke in his head once more and for the last time: "Go forth and spread my message, so that all men may know my name. I am:" and for the first time Moses understood the many names that were spoken to him - Yahweh, Jehovah, the Holy Host, God. There were many more names, but these were the ones that Moses most recognized. Terrified, he fled.
The next day, Moses saw the news on how he and his family had died the night before in the fire. Three bodies had been found and it was assumed the third was his as the flames had damaged the body beyond recognition. Alone, homeless and now officially dead, Moses fled Egypt and tried to run away from his powers, but everywhere he went he was followed by blood and plagues. Anytime he was disturbed it seemed a new plague would come from him - frogs, live, sickness, darkness, death and salt all seemed to spawn from his fear and his anger. He tried to decipher what he all meant, these biblical powers which he had been "gifted" but could find no meaning in all of the blood and plagues. He began to believe he was cursed and prayed to all the gods he could think of to lift it from him, but they all went unanswered. Not even Yahweh, God, Jehovah would answer his prayers for answer. He was left only with the previous messages. Cursing everything, including himself, Moses traveled the world in search of a place he could live in peace or die alone and be rid of these abominable powers, but every time he tried to starve himself to death or commit suicide, someone or something always got in the way of his doing so. The first time he had gone for weeks without food and had been given a free meal at an all you could eat buffet. The second time a couple of cliff divers had convinced him not to jump from the cliff face he had climbed. The third time a little girl gave him her sandwich which kept him going for a while. After so many attempts, Moses surmised that it must be divine intervention of some sort keeping him alive, and so he stopped trying to die and instead focused on figuring out why it had all happened. He picked up clothes along the way and at some point found a walking stick that would serve him well. he traveled all over Eruope, most of Africa, some parts in Asia and briefly visited America, though he is always on the move. To this day, he is still trying to solve the meaning in the words of the LORD who supposedly gave him these "gifts", unsuccessfully as of yet.
In retrospect, I really like this character. I'm probably going to use it at some point elsewhere, when I can find a good place for him.
