Silverback

   
   Real Name: N/a
   Renegade Name: Silverback
   Alignment: CN
   Age: 9
   Gender: Undetermined
   Race: Unknown
   Hair: Silver
   Eyes: N/a
   Height: 7ft. at the shoulder on all fours, 12ft. on two legs
   Weight: 3,500 lbs
   Blood type: Undetermined

   

   

   
The creature nicknamed Silverback is endlessly curious. They're somewhat like a housecat with a body as big as a mid-sized sedan. They play with their food and get into anything they don't immediately understand. This curiosity is driven by an inborn, primal thirst for knowledge. Where the beast comes from food is scarce, well-hidden and devilishly clever in its means of avoiding the larger creatures like Silverback. So they investigate everything, overturn every rock and route through every nook and cranny they come across as is required for their survival.

But Silverback is not an apex predator on their home world, far from it. Their species sits somewhere right in the middle, big enough to be a predator but small enough to be prey. For this reason the beast has an intense fight or flight response. In most cases they will stand their ground and fight tooth and nail for their survival. However they are far from stupid, learning quickly when they're outmatched and knowing when its best to run.

Throwing a wrench in to all of this is their unique relationship to the things they eat. Having been on Earth for a little while they've consumed enough humans to begin to understand them. They know that to humans they are frightening and otherworldly. Scattered bits of language, memory and emotion from a panoply of minds have created a patchwork personality in the beast. They crave companionship, a strange feeling in the usually solitary creature. But the bits of memory from before their victim's death's also tell them that they're about as far from cute and cuddly as it gets. They have language and understand the spoken word but do not themself have the physical capacity for human speech. All of this adds up to a confused and lonely beast driven ever harder to better understand humanity so that they might eventually find a place in their new home.

   
Silverback's story begins unremarkable, at least for a member of their species. They were born on a world that they have no name for, a fact that truly saddens them. Their first memories, like the first memory of every member of their species, were those of their donor parent, a scattered array of vital information to get the young Silverback up to speed for survival on their harsh homeworld. Infants of their race are born physically capable and so with the info dump from their donor parent they are fully ready to set out for life on their own and do so. From that moment their life was an endless struggle of survival, hunting small prey and avoiding the larger horrors that populated their jungle world. Were it not for a bizarre series of events that Silverback does not fully understand, this would still be their life. Fate had other ideas.

On a day Silverback now feels was a lifetime ago, they climbed one of the large rocky mountains of their home planet in search of a swift stealthy creatures it now believes humans might consider a reptile. They climbed nearly to the summit, nibbling at the various metallic outcroppings that dotted the mountainside. Before they could reach the top however they were assaulted by an intense sound that rattled their teeth and shook their bones. Silverback sought cover behind a nearby outcropping, hugging as tight to it as possible, but the blaring noise continued. They could barely think and quickly surrendered to unconsciousness.

They awoke, confused and afraid in what they could sense was a small symmetrical chamber. Lines of electricity buzzed behind the walls, floors and ceiling of the chamber and hummed in a solid sheet at the front. Silverback inhaled deeply, trying their best to determine the makeup of the strange chamber. It was metal, they were sure of that but not like any that they'd ever smelled and not of a kind that seemed edible. They whimpered, frightened by their predicament but were resolute in determining a way out.

For what seemed like days or weeks they clawed at the insides of their chamber, testing everything that they could think of to escape. Nothing worked. Then one day they sensed a change, the strange electrical barrier that they felt pulsing at the front of their cage disappeared. They barely even thought before bounding on all fours out the chamber and into the corridor beyond. More pulses of electrical current pulsed in strange grids all around them and scents like they had never sensed assaulted their nose. It was maddening but new and that brought encouragement to them. Their feet pounded against the hard metal and for a moment they felt free. Then came the vibrations of creatures vocalizing through the air up ahead of them. Survival instincts took over. They turned a corner and pounced on the first creature, jaws snapping around its skull and crushing it with little effort. Sensors in their mouth immediately began absorbing neurological impulses from the dying creature imparting fresh knowledge to their brain. A world of possibility opened up for Silverback but a single memory bubbled up to the surface, an engine room. They did not quite understand what that meant but they knew it was important and that it was a potential way out. It was only that that they became aware of a tingling sensation pulsing in their flank. With a mere swat of their forelimb they sent the creature producing the troublesome sensation flying and then sprinted off to this "engine room".

It took very little time. The creature Silverback consumed seemed to have perfect working knowledge of the vessel they found themselves on. Unfortunately it had far less knowledge of what Silverback may need to do inside the engine room. That however was little concern to them. They began tearing at the large machinery inside with a feral tenacity. Guttural roars rang out against the clang of dying machinery and sparks of wild electricity. Strange sirens began to blare around Silverback, something it took to be a good sign along with the screaming of more of the creatures they had eaten. Then just like before their was a great all consuming sound, drowning out every thought in their head and again they succumbed to unconsciousness.

This time when they awoke it was to immediate danger. Fire superheated their metallic fur, toxic smells assaulted their nose and they could feel an immense weight on their back. A quick flick of their tongue revealed the presence of blood. They had been injured in whatever catastrophe had struck this metallic hell but for now they needed to concern themself only with escape. With a great heave they lifted themself beneath the weight of the massive object on their back. Now slightly higher above the ground they could smell something else, fresh air. They bounded towards the smell straight above them. Through the vibrations in the air they could feel a lip in the outer casing of the metal shell and within it their claws found purchase. Now outside the inferno within they leapt again, this time away from the burning wreck. They fell far longer than they anticipated and splashed down into a cold liquid. Their powerful limbs quickly propelled them to the surface and they took their first clean breath of outside air. It was immediately apparent to them then that they were not home but somewhere far from it.

From that first whiff of Earth air Silverback has been endlessly intrigued by their new world. Every taste and smell and sensation is brand new, sometimes to an overwhelming amount. But their favorite thing about this new world are the meals, specifically the human meals. The cornucopia of knowledge and sensation that floods their mind on consuming human brain matter is intoxicating and Siverback has begun to adapt their identity around the strange human creatures it consumes. Even the name, Silverback, is something it adopted from the musings of one of its human victims. Yet with every human meal they grow more and more conflicted and overcome with an feeling that they've begun to understand as empathy.
 
   
   1. Reaction
   2. Strength
   3. Endurance
   4. Agility
   

   
Ironhide: Silverback is covered in a thick and densely packed coat of fur. Each hair is composed of a yet to be analyzed, biologically synthesized metal some properties in common with steel, giving Silverback their namesake metallic sheen. Beneath that dense outer layer is a softer finer coat of actual fur, insulating them against temperature extremes. Finally, their hide beneath that is thick and leathery like that of a rhinoceros. The combination of these three layers protect Silverback from a wide array of possible dangers. The course, tightly matted outer metal hairs disperse the forces from direct physical attacks, the inner coat is soft and giving, slowing down that dispersed force and the thick hide is dense and tough enough that Silverback barely feels most physical attacks directed against it. Nearly no blunt force trauma can penetrate the triplicate defense, allowing Silverback to survive the likes of being hit and run over by a full steam locomotive without suffering more than minor bruising. Slashing weapons fare even worse against them, glancing off of or becoming entangled in the corase durable fur. Other forms of energy prove similarly ineffective. Their metallic outer coat is a good conductor of both heat and electricity but functions similar to a heat shield or a faraday cage, directing otherwise lethal levels of both away from Silverback's vital organs. Because of this they can be struck by lightening or subjected to temperatures hot enough to melt rock and shrug them off without a second thought. By most earth standards they are nearly indestructible.

Blindsight: Silverback's species is naturally blind. The blinding light from their planet's neverending days and the impenetrably thick tangle of their jungles made sight all but useless. Instead they've evolved an array of senses, tuned to sniff out all manner of predator and prey alike. Simplest and most recognizable among these sense is scent. The receptors in their nose are highly sensitive, and they can pick up and pinpoint the scents of specific creatures days and miles out. So strong is their sense of smell that they can pick up heightened hormone levels in a creature allowing them to "smell" certain emotions and they can pick up on subtle markers in a creature that indicate disease. The next special sense they possess is the ability to pick up on electrical signals in their environment. Similar to a shark they possess lateral lines that run from their cheek down their spine, allowing them to pick up on even faint bio-electrical signatures from 100 yards away. Stronger electrical currents like from electronic devices can be sensed from much farther away. Finally, the roots at the base of their metal hairs are particularly sensitive, allowing them to pick up on subtle vibrations in their environment, getting a constant sense of their immediate surroundings. With this they can detect changes in air pressure as well as tremors in any surface they are in contact with. On their home planet this was used to navigate the dense jungles, get an early warning on approaching predators and detect prey burrowing deep beneath the surface. Combined these senses give Silverback an acute awareness of the world around them.

Feral Might: There's no need to be flowery with this one, Silverback possesses considerable strength even among Earth's metahumans. They can pull open a sealed bank vault with their bare hands, toss around locomotive engines like toys.

Tooth and Nail: As simple as its sounds. Silverback's teeth and claws are made of the same metallic substance as their outer coat. In combination with their strength they can tear through tank armor like a hot knife through butter and snap whole tree trunks like toothpicks in their jaws.

Empathic Maw: One of the more unique abilities to their species, Silverback and their kind can absorb the thoughts and memories of brains they consume. This is never the entirety of the information stored in the brain but its enough to pick up patterns of thought and snippets of memory, sometimes even specific skills or knowledge. Consume enough of a species and a member of Silverback's species can begin to think like their prey, getting a clear picture of where they hide, how they act and think and socialize. In Silverback's case, they've consumed enough humans to form human emotions, understand human language and even long for human interaction.

   

Sound Sensitivity: Because of the metallic hairs on their body, Silverback is highly sensitive to all forms of vibration, including sound. This gives them an incredible sense of hearing akin to a constant echolocation effect but also makes them vulnerable to sonic attacks. Things like an explosion going off near them can easily rattle Silverback and sustained intense sound like that from a rock concert can easily overwhelm their senses and cause them to lose consciousness. Worse yet, since their hearing is based through their hair they have no way of avoiding sonic attacks other than getting far away or finding solid cover.

Blind: Despite their array of senses, Silverback is still blind. Because of this they cannot detect light or color and cannot read even though they can understand human language.

Electrical Overload: If an electrical current is directed into Silverback's fur, it completely overload's their electrical and vibrational senses, rendering both blind until the current is discharged.

Specific Diet: Due to their extreme size and the unique makeup of their fur, Silverback must eat a significant amount of food. Not only do they need to consume vast quantities of meat, they must also supplement their diet with various metals and minerals to keep their outer coat healthy. If they are deprived of these metallic supplements for more than a week, the outer coat will begin to grow in thin and brittle, not only making them physically vulnerable but also dampening their vibrational sense.

Empathy: Every consumed human mind brings more self-awareness to Silverback. Once a ruthless killing machine, they have begun to form a semblance of a personality and an emotional connection to their prey. This has created a great turmoil inside them. On one hand they want to better understand humans so that they can finally gain the human companionship that they so crave but the only way to do that is to consume more human minds. And with each mind devoured they become more sympathetic to their prey, realizing that what they are doing is deeply wrong. Silverback has yet to reconcile this deep internal conflict.

Disease: Earth is very far and very different from Silverback's home. Being on an alien world has its dangers, particularly in the form of its bacteria. Silverback has no inborn immunity to any earth diseases and is particularly vulnerable to all manner of illness and infection.