Jack Maroon

Real Name: Jack Maroon
Renegade Name: -
Title: -
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Race: Human..
Hair: Dark Blond
Eyes: Dark Blue
Height: 6’2
Weight: Around 200 lbs.


Personality:

Cocky, confident and immature in many ways, Jack is not your typical superhero. Of course, he isn't really a superhero, so that might explain part of it. Jack generally has a laid-back attitude to most things in life, taking only very few things seriously at all, and is prone to joking about pretty much everything.
Beneath this superficial veneer however, Jack is deeply nihilistic, especially at a moral level. This doesn't stem from carefully researched philosophical principles, but is formed by his rather unique situation in life, as described in the latter part of his history.
Jack doesn't really believe in good or evil in the conventional sense, and is more concerned with himself and his own entertainment than he is pondering ethical quandaries. One of the few things he has a strong sense of honesty and nobility in is battle. Jack possesses a typical blood-knight attitude towards battle, considering it sacred sport in which certain etiquette must be followed. As such, despite the ease with which he could stealthily dispatch people using his godly speed, Jack frowns upon such usage of his powers, preferring to face his opponents directly.
And even outside combat, Jack is not without normal human empathy, and can show a good amount of concern for innocent bystanders. Despite his strange personality, he can actually take a liking to people, and hold an unexpectedly strong loyalty towards friends. It's just a shame he doesn't have many of those. Read: none.

A  recent development in his personality is his self-doubt. He no longer sees much meaning in killing and fighting, and strongly wants to know whether there's any chance of a normal life for him, or at least one carrying a little more depth than his former lifestyle. In a sense, Jack is going through a sort of mid-life crisis. Only with superpowers. Yeah.

History:

From a young age, death had been a large part of Jack's age. He had been born with a rare genetic defect, a nigh-incurable slow-growing malignant tumor in his brain. He had to live with the knowledge he could die any moment any day. His parents never really tried to hide it; they told him that he was special, and that his life was more precious than others' because it was so uncertain. They always told him 'The candle that burns twice as bright, burns twice as short'. A strange, and rather cruel thing to say to a young child with a brain tumor, but his parents weren't very ordinary. Both of his parents were gamers and big fans of anime and manga. Normally people lose their fanaticism of such things over time, but his parents never did. This could be attributed in part to the fact that Jack's mother was the heiress of a fortune and was bequeathed this fortune in her early twenties, when she also met her future husband. They never really had to work, and were able to indulge in their common interests and hobbies.
As could be expected, Jack was raised with japanese weeaboo-culture and videogames, and in a sense indoctrinated into it. This, combined with his frail constitution and deadly brain tumor did not make him popular with other children. He had little friends at school, and performed only reasonably, never being the smartest but also not the dumbest. Eventually Jack began to grow other interests than those his parents had passed onto him, such as martial arts and certain genres of movies, but it was already too late for him to make any real connection to other children.

Though Jack had always been aware of his condition and its place in his life, but it was only in his early teens that he began to rebel at the idea. It started when there was a job-test in class, the outcome of which could give children an idea of what they would become later. The outcome of Jack's test didn't matter. It was the class discussion that came afterwards. "We know what the test says you should be, but what do you all want to be later?"
Jack knew what he wanted to be, and was rather vocal about it, answering the question in earnest. "I want to be an awesome hero-guy who fights bad guys with his sword-skills!"
Some kids laughed, or at least snorted or chuckled, but the class quickly became quiet. They all knew that Jack's tumor somehow made him into a bit more of a dreamer, a cloud cuckoo-lander than most, but this proved a little too much. Jack, even with his mind clouded by his fantasies, understood what the silence meant, and was painfully reminded of his super-mortality. Because apparently that was his power. The power to be able to die any given moment and not even see it coming. Jack began to truly feel fear at the prospect of death, and started questioning the value his life had.

How could his dreams ever come true? He wasn't very smart, or athletic, and he held only the underwhelming power of being incredibly mortal. Suicide wasn't an option. His life expectancy was already so short, and it would just be sad to shorten it even more. At some point, Jack realized he didn't even care about dying. It was his life that he hated. He felt powerless, unable to even live an enjoyable life before his impending death.
One day, when these thoughts were all that filled his mind, something fantastic occurred. As he was walking home from evening judo-practice, Jack caught sight of a shooting star. Knowing very well the silly belief that making a wish upon a falling star would have your dream come true, and how ridiculous that was, his fantasy quickly took over for him. The shooting star became a symbol for a hopeful future, a bright new day. With all his might, Jack made his wish. Not immortality, or fame, or a cure for his affliction; nothing that logical. Jack wished for his dream to come true. To become the badass hero he had always wanted to be.

And guess what? It fucking came true. From that day, Jack Maroon felt stronger every day, faster too. His reflexes began to improve, and he began to excel at his martial arts classes so much that he began to practice several at a time, mastering them at an unnatural pace. And then he was finally ready to live his dreams until the uncertain day of his death, becoming a vigilante to fight against evil, for fun.

Of course, that day never came. Somewhere during his career of being a murderous thrill-seeking vigilante, Jack met Dr. 0, a brain in a jar genius villain with a capricious streak, who kindly removed his tumor for him. When his parents died shortly after, Jack inherited their fortune and the majority of the stocks in the family company. He now had all he ever wanted. He was rich, handsome, and one of the most powerful humans in the world, combat-wise. He was yet undefeated. His new situation however brought him a dreadful sense of clarity, and with it a crushing revelation. All these years he had been busy living a distorted childhood dream, one that mirrored his background in anime and violent videogames and glorified violence and battle. And he had been so preoccupied with living his dreams, with living his life to the fullest, thinking it could end any time, that he had never considered the absurdity of it all. His moral development was heavily stunted, his knowledge and skillset beyond killing and fighting was extremely limited, and never once had he enjoyed a meaningful relationship, or any form of friendship at all. He had become a living joke, a parody of an ultra-violent teenage self-avatar brought forth by overexposure to the otaku-lifestyle. He had become exactly who he wanted to be at age 14, no more, no less.

This revelation was devastating to Jack, and he soon retired from his vigilantism. Though he was still considered a murderer by the authorities, they had given up on trying to arrest or kill him after many failed attempts, especially since he no longer seemed a threat now. Jack retired to his Chicago estate and tried to pass the time with videogames, anime, debauched bacchanalia and rave-parties; whatever could distract him. He even tried to re-educate himself somewhat, using his newfound wealth to hire several tutors and learning programmes. But none of this filled the void within him, the realization that his entire existence was a joke. A pretty good joke, admittedly, but still a joke.
The only thing that truly fulfilled him, albeit temporarily, was the thrill of battle. But even that now seemed pointless to him. Temporary self-gratification at the price of others' lives wasn't really something he could see much value in. He took what few opportunities he got to fight and kill, whenever some organization or government initiative sent assassins to him, but besides that he remained inactive.

The years passed, retcons happened, and continuity remained an elusive bitch. But Jack was still there. His wealth squandered, his reputation lost to the ages, and with no one left to remember him, Jack had become little more than a has-been vagrant with nothing to live for. Wow that sucks. I wonder what will happen next.

Powers:       
• Super-strength and Endurance
  Jack has superhuman strength and durability. At his maximum strength he can lift about 100 tons. His superhuman durability and endurance allow him to resist damage that would be lethal to normal humans. Normal bullets and weapons still hurt him, but are far less effective than they would be against the average human and won't be very effective. As a part of his durability/endurance, Jack has amazing cardiovascular strength, giving him far greater stamina than even the most highly trained athletes.
  
  
• Super-Speed (3 advancements)
  Jack can move at blistering speeds, ranging up to Mach 6.  
  
  
• Superhuman Reaction Time
  Jack's reflexes are supernaturally fast, and his reaction time rests near perfect zero. This, in combination with his speed and ESP, makes him a terrifying opponent in melee combat, able to both dish out and react to blows with great speed.
  
  
• Extra-Sensory Perception
  Jack has a sixth sense with which he can perceive his surroundings without the restrictions of his normal senses. This effectively nullifies the usual speedster's weakness of having trouble to keep up with their surroundings and having superspeed tunnel vision. Combined with his reaction time, this power makes it so that at whatever speed he's moving, he'll have no trouble with perceiving the world around him.
  
  
• David's Boon
  Any weapon Jack uses becomes imbued with supernatural properties that allow them to inflict magical damage onto enemies. However, this only applies to
  weapons that are simple in nature (swords, staves, knives, axes, brass knuckles) and are neither technologically advanced or already magical in nature.  
  
  
• Epic Martial Proficiency
  As a part of his reality-altering power package deal (read the bio, poopyface), Jack has an instinctive knowledge and experience of all known martial arts. He's not a perfect master in all of them, but definitely more than just an expert.
  

Weaknesses and Flaws:       
• Bushido Boy
  Jack will never use stealth or guile to attack enemies, and will never use his speed to kill or otherwise incapacitate unaware enemies. As a part of his stupid anime-esque honor code, he will always announce his presence before initiating combat. He will never attack someone who's surrendered, never stab someone in the back, and always face his opponents directly. Needless to say, this can serve as quite the impediment to his efficiency as a hero, if you could call him that in the first place.
  
  
• Strategic Tunnel Vision
  Jack doesn't plan ahead. Saying he plans at all would be a stretch even. It's not that he's entirely incapable of planning, it's just that he's never really done it and isn't really planning on ever trying. Luring Jack into an ambush, setting traps and preparing to take him down really doesn't take a genius. Fighting him head-on in an honest battle though, that's still not recommended.
  
  
• Weakness to Energy Emission and non-kinetic damage
  Jack's durability only applies to kinetic damage. But while he might be protected from bullets, fists, and other mundane weapons, anything else still packs the same punch. Fire, electricity, chemicals, etc., if it isn't your typical physical she-bang, it'll hurt Jack just like it hurts any other human.
  
  
• Stamina-Speed Mismatch
  While his Stamina and general Cardiovascular health is far beyond that of the average human, it's not quite enough to perfectly match his speed. Prolonged usage of his super speed WILL tire him out. He can't go running at max speed for hours on end; hell, at max speed he might only last a few minutes. Using his speed in quick, short bursts, and only covering short distances doesn't tire him out much, but any prolonged activity will get him heaving, puffing and wheezing like an amateur boxer on fight night.
  
  
• Weakness to Magic, Illusions and Telepathy
  While Jack is already weak to anything non-physical, he's also particularly vulnerable to powers that are magical or psychic in nature. A telepath could break through his mental defenses with relative ease, and an illusionist could cast his illusions with little resistance. Controlling his mind would prove a little more difficult, unless one only manipulates him subtly. Making him do anything he's ethically or philosophically opposed to would be prodigiously difficult, but finding a workaround would not be impossible.
  
  
  (Two advancements spent to limit weaknesses to 5 instead of 7)
  

Power Grid:

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Power Grids aren't really a thing anymore, but consider this just a fun extra. I'm sentimental like that.

Character Description:

Jack is a 6’2 tall Caucasian male with an extremely athletic build. His face has an oval build, with a strong, broad jaw and square jawline. He has dirty blonde hair which he usually wears at medium length, which he either gels back or keeps messy. Sometimes he just doesn’t give a shit and just puts a hat on it. Any hat. Problem solved.
His Dark Blue eyes are more often covered by vintage sunglasses from the 80’s.  Jack either sports a clean shave or a rough beard, but never lets his facial hair grow more than the latter.
When dressing casual, Jack usually just grabs some clothes from his wardrobe and puts them on. His only concern with fashion then is making sure the colors at least match somewhat.

Costume Description:
His default ‘costume’ consists out of combat boots, trousers, fingerless leather gloves (gaaay) and a white polo-shirt. Over this however, Jack usually wears at least one  more eccentric and flashy clothing article. Could be a fur coat, a rocker jacket, leather vest, swallowtail coat; he’ll wear whatever he thinks is most appropriate, or inappropriate for the situation at hand. It's not really a costume as much as it is what he feels comfy fighting in, so he could just as well wear something completely different if the mood strikes.

Spoiler:

Equipment (besides the costume):

Testament

Spoiler:

As its name implies, this katana is a testament to Jack's infinite badassery, and is as beautiful as it is absolutely flawless. Forged in the fires of  Mount Bishounen by the hermit blacksmiths of Sugoi, this blade was crafted from pure Katanium alloy folded a thousand times and is so incredibly sharp that just looking at it can cut you up. Seriously, this sword is so fucking pimp that it can slice through diamond like friggin' butter and doesn't ever break
A worthy weapon befitting only the greatest of swordsmen; which obviously includes Jack Maroon.

Spoiler:

Roleplay Sample: I refuse.[/font]

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