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This one's been knocking around in my brain, so I thought I'd write her out in case I'd ever get the chance to use her.
Name: Miriam Boland
Age: 15
Codename: Conduit
Description: Miriam is a Caucasian female in her teens. She's 5'4", rather skinny, boyish build. Her face is long, with a stubborn, pointed chin, and light brown hair that's usually cut in a short style. Her eyes are blue. She usually wears jeans and T-shirts, although she favors garish, over-the-top costume jewelry and cowboy boots as accessories.
Powers:
Primary Ability: Miriam has the innate ability to pull electrical current into her body, through touch, convert it into power that she can store, and later project as solid energy objects. Objects created by Miriam can be moved and changed by herself at will, although in other respects they will react according to the laws of physics (balls can be picked up and thrown, you can dig with shovels, etc.) When using her projections to move or lift other objects, she cannot move or lift anything heavier than she could with her muscles. Her projections are translucent and slightly radiant in appearance...she cannot mimic colors or produce sounds, which makes the illusionary use of the projections extremely limited.
Secondary Effects: Due to the nature of Miriam's mutation, she is mostly immune to damage or stunning from electrical sources. Her body naturally converts electrical energy to storeable energy...as long as she can 'discharge' the stored energy through her projections, she can continue to accept nearly limitless amounts of electrical attacks. However, if she cannot project (for example, when unconscious), then she will begin to take damage when her body can no longer contain any more energy. Additionally, she can metabolize her stored energy to sustain her body's needs in place of food. If she's not eating anything, or using the energy for projections, she can go about two days without other sustenance without any ill effects, including hunger. Her power, however, cannot substitute for the body's need for water.
Drawbacks: There are two main drawbacks with Miriam's powers. First, her ability to draw and convert electrical energy is largely unconscious...any device using electricity which comes into contact with her will get drained to some extent. This doesn't matter much for things connected to a stable power grid, but self-contained devices like cell phones, battery-powered watches, CD or tape players, etc. will be drained dry within a matter of hours. She simply can't use them. Second, there are psychological and physiological changes associated with her 'charge'. If she has drained herself, her body temperature drops, as does her attention span, motivation, and affect, leaving her in a state much like depression, although it can be relieved by recharging. The greater her charge, however, the more 'revved' up her system becomes. At her upper limits of tolerance, her heart beat increases, her temperature rises, and she displays symptoms of a manic nature, including delusions of grandeur, unrealistic expectations, and recklessness. Again, this state of being will fade as she uses the charge as projections, or it fades naturally. Assuming no other sources of energy were found, Miriam can go from charged to her upper limit to completely drained in four days, without using any projections...her internally stored energy is gradually converted for other uses.
Current Proficiency: Miriam is not, at the moment, very proficient with her powers. In fact, one of the things she'd most likely to learn at the Xavier Institute is how to shut down her unconscious electrical drain so that it only works under conscious volition. In addition, she's trying to find the right charge balance to keep her mood and body on an even keel, and interested in making increasingly difficult projections. Right now, she's largely limited to smooth, simple shapes: she can create walls, balls, platforms, and clubs, and sustain them for a few minutes before losing concentration. The more objects she projects, the easier it is for her to lose concentration, and the shorter period of time that she can sustain them.
Personality: Miriam is a bright, outgoing sort of teen who comes off as confident and somewhat unconcerned about the world. She's friendly on first meetings, typically, although tends to have more friendly acquaintances than real friends. When not dealing with charge-related personality changes, she's easy-going and practical...her main attachment to mutant rights is the fact that she /is/ one, and thus it directly impacts her. She's not really interested in changing the world, at the moment, looking rather for more self-control and personal development. Although she enjoys her powers, and has support from her family, Miriam does worry that being seen in public with students with more visible mutations will mark her as a 'freak' and a 'mutie'. She'll likely be reluctant to associate too closely with mutants who can't 'pass' until she deals with that fear, one way or another. Other than that, she displays typical teenaged self-centeredness, but is rarely deliberately cruel or hurtful. She's a haphazard student, and technology-avoidant since her powers manifested...if allowed to do all of her work with pen and paper, she's a solid B student, but if required to use technology for projects and the light, her abilities drop unless she can get a partner to do most of the tech work. She enjoys art, especially painting...although that's a recent change. Before her abilities manifested, she was strongly drawn to photography. It's very important to her to appear to be successful and in control, and so she has a tendency to simply avoid doing things she may fail at, occassionally inventing excuses to get out of assignments, or miss scheduled classes.
History: Miriam is New England born and raised, in a small suburb of Boston. She's the only child of two schoolteachers, although her father is now retired. Her early years were largely unremarkable; Miriam's family is whole and relatively healthy, although her father has become more difficult to deal with since retiring. Until puberty, her life was about as normal as any child's ever gets.
Then, around the age of 18, her powers started to manifest gradually, the unconscious aspects first...her watches began to die, her walkman went through batteries so fast that she was often accused of sneaking them into bed to listen to when she was supposed to be asleep. The monthly power bill in the house started to creep up, especially when Miriam spent a lot of time on the family computer. She was banned, for some time, from the computer and from using her walkman, etc, until she could be more responsible, and went into a weeks long mope as her internal charges were depleted. No one really noticed, since on first glance, it appeared to be just regular teenaged moodiness.
Then, as she instinctively sought out power sources, her mood swung upwards, into manic episodes where she would cheerfully lie, start twelve different projects and never finish them, leaving them scattered around the house, and so forth. For nearly a year, the cycle continued, with her mood rising or crashing according to her ability to get at electrical sources. Eventually, of course, she was sent to the school psychologist, and diagnosed with manic-depressive disorder. By this time, Miriam had begun to suspect that something else was going on, but afraid of her parents' reaction and unsure how to try and explain, she meekly went along with the diagnosis.
The medications mediated the cycles for about four months, until the conscious part of her abilities activated. At that point, she couldn't hide the fact that she was a mutant from her parents...not after a routine argument over phone time ended up in her impetuously draining much of the house's current through the phone, and putting up a wall outside her bedroom so that her parents couldn't make her hang up. Then came the Family Discussion. Unlike Miriam's fears, her parents were...moderately freaked, but showed no signs of dumping her off at the nearest FoH headquarters, kicking her out of the house, or having her committed. She actually got to talk to them about the way her mood changed, and the little she'd figured out about her own abilities.
It wasn't long after that when her parents tracked down a school that was rumored to accept a certain kind of 'gifted' student, run by Professor Charles Xavier. The family met with Xavier, spoke with him about her abilities, and she was accepted for admissions. And better yet, Xavier was able to explain the interactions of her abilities with her mood to both Miriam and her family, and now she knows how to (at least theoretically) keep herself on an even keel. She's determined to gain control over her abilities, not upset her parents, and do well in her new school.
Name: Miriam Boland
Age: 15
Codename: Conduit
Description: Miriam is a Caucasian female in her teens. She's 5'4", rather skinny, boyish build. Her face is long, with a stubborn, pointed chin, and light brown hair that's usually cut in a short style. Her eyes are blue. She usually wears jeans and T-shirts, although she favors garish, over-the-top costume jewelry and cowboy boots as accessories.
Powers:
Primary Ability: Miriam has the innate ability to pull electrical current into her body, through touch, convert it into power that she can store, and later project as solid energy objects. Objects created by Miriam can be moved and changed by herself at will, although in other respects they will react according to the laws of physics (balls can be picked up and thrown, you can dig with shovels, etc.) When using her projections to move or lift other objects, she cannot move or lift anything heavier than she could with her muscles. Her projections are translucent and slightly radiant in appearance...she cannot mimic colors or produce sounds, which makes the illusionary use of the projections extremely limited.
Secondary Effects: Due to the nature of Miriam's mutation, she is mostly immune to damage or stunning from electrical sources. Her body naturally converts electrical energy to storeable energy...as long as she can 'discharge' the stored energy through her projections, she can continue to accept nearly limitless amounts of electrical attacks. However, if she cannot project (for example, when unconscious), then she will begin to take damage when her body can no longer contain any more energy. Additionally, she can metabolize her stored energy to sustain her body's needs in place of food. If she's not eating anything, or using the energy for projections, she can go about two days without other sustenance without any ill effects, including hunger. Her power, however, cannot substitute for the body's need for water.
Drawbacks: There are two main drawbacks with Miriam's powers. First, her ability to draw and convert electrical energy is largely unconscious...any device using electricity which comes into contact with her will get drained to some extent. This doesn't matter much for things connected to a stable power grid, but self-contained devices like cell phones, battery-powered watches, CD or tape players, etc. will be drained dry within a matter of hours. She simply can't use them. Second, there are psychological and physiological changes associated with her 'charge'. If she has drained herself, her body temperature drops, as does her attention span, motivation, and affect, leaving her in a state much like depression, although it can be relieved by recharging. The greater her charge, however, the more 'revved' up her system becomes. At her upper limits of tolerance, her heart beat increases, her temperature rises, and she displays symptoms of a manic nature, including delusions of grandeur, unrealistic expectations, and recklessness. Again, this state of being will fade as she uses the charge as projections, or it fades naturally. Assuming no other sources of energy were found, Miriam can go from charged to her upper limit to completely drained in four days, without using any projections...her internally stored energy is gradually converted for other uses.
Current Proficiency: Miriam is not, at the moment, very proficient with her powers. In fact, one of the things she'd most likely to learn at the Xavier Institute is how to shut down her unconscious electrical drain so that it only works under conscious volition. In addition, she's trying to find the right charge balance to keep her mood and body on an even keel, and interested in making increasingly difficult projections. Right now, she's largely limited to smooth, simple shapes: she can create walls, balls, platforms, and clubs, and sustain them for a few minutes before losing concentration. The more objects she projects, the easier it is for her to lose concentration, and the shorter period of time that she can sustain them.
Personality: Miriam is a bright, outgoing sort of teen who comes off as confident and somewhat unconcerned about the world. She's friendly on first meetings, typically, although tends to have more friendly acquaintances than real friends. When not dealing with charge-related personality changes, she's easy-going and practical...her main attachment to mutant rights is the fact that she /is/ one, and thus it directly impacts her. She's not really interested in changing the world, at the moment, looking rather for more self-control and personal development. Although she enjoys her powers, and has support from her family, Miriam does worry that being seen in public with students with more visible mutations will mark her as a 'freak' and a 'mutie'. She'll likely be reluctant to associate too closely with mutants who can't 'pass' until she deals with that fear, one way or another. Other than that, she displays typical teenaged self-centeredness, but is rarely deliberately cruel or hurtful. She's a haphazard student, and technology-avoidant since her powers manifested...if allowed to do all of her work with pen and paper, she's a solid B student, but if required to use technology for projects and the light, her abilities drop unless she can get a partner to do most of the tech work. She enjoys art, especially painting...although that's a recent change. Before her abilities manifested, she was strongly drawn to photography. It's very important to her to appear to be successful and in control, and so she has a tendency to simply avoid doing things she may fail at, occassionally inventing excuses to get out of assignments, or miss scheduled classes.
History: Miriam is New England born and raised, in a small suburb of Boston. She's the only child of two schoolteachers, although her father is now retired. Her early years were largely unremarkable; Miriam's family is whole and relatively healthy, although her father has become more difficult to deal with since retiring. Until puberty, her life was about as normal as any child's ever gets.
Then, around the age of 18, her powers started to manifest gradually, the unconscious aspects first...her watches began to die, her walkman went through batteries so fast that she was often accused of sneaking them into bed to listen to when she was supposed to be asleep. The monthly power bill in the house started to creep up, especially when Miriam spent a lot of time on the family computer. She was banned, for some time, from the computer and from using her walkman, etc, until she could be more responsible, and went into a weeks long mope as her internal charges were depleted. No one really noticed, since on first glance, it appeared to be just regular teenaged moodiness.
Then, as she instinctively sought out power sources, her mood swung upwards, into manic episodes where she would cheerfully lie, start twelve different projects and never finish them, leaving them scattered around the house, and so forth. For nearly a year, the cycle continued, with her mood rising or crashing according to her ability to get at electrical sources. Eventually, of course, she was sent to the school psychologist, and diagnosed with manic-depressive disorder. By this time, Miriam had begun to suspect that something else was going on, but afraid of her parents' reaction and unsure how to try and explain, she meekly went along with the diagnosis.
The medications mediated the cycles for about four months, until the conscious part of her abilities activated. At that point, she couldn't hide the fact that she was a mutant from her parents...not after a routine argument over phone time ended up in her impetuously draining much of the house's current through the phone, and putting up a wall outside her bedroom so that her parents couldn't make her hang up. Then came the Family Discussion. Unlike Miriam's fears, her parents were...moderately freaked, but showed no signs of dumping her off at the nearest FoH headquarters, kicking her out of the house, or having her committed. She actually got to talk to them about the way her mood changed, and the little she'd figured out about her own abilities.
It wasn't long after that when her parents tracked down a school that was rumored to accept a certain kind of 'gifted' student, run by Professor Charles Xavier. The family met with Xavier, spoke with him about her abilities, and she was accepted for admissions. And better yet, Xavier was able to explain the interactions of her abilities with her mood to both Miriam and her family, and now she knows how to (at least theoretically) keep herself on an even keel. She's determined to gain control over her abilities, not upset her parents, and do well in her new school.
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From:
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From:
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I like the X-Angst, but the X-Men themselves have so much of it that, y'know, who really needs to add more? Besides, the universe is hostile enough for a Marvel mutant...they /should/ have someone who likes them.
From:
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1) The human nervous system runs on electricity, kinda. Would Miriam's power have any effect on nerve impulses?
2) It seems that Miriam can drain power through non-conductive material (i.e. a cellphone's casing). That could become problematic with a nasty GM, who could say that any vehicle she gets into for a long drive loses battery power and dies. Being unable to use digital cameras or any kind of modern comm gear... that's a pretty huge limitation if it is taken too far. I'm guessing that you're envisioning the trickle drain as being slow enough that it won't interfere too much in game terms?
Also, I noticed one inconsistency in her age, where you mention she's 15 up top and then in the history section say that her powers manifested at 18.
From:
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2) Pretty much! /Typically/ a car has enough power to resist her drain for anything but a really long trip...12 or 14 hours, say. A plane has more power, and could resist for longer. But she's still not keen on long car trips, and is wary about flying, period. A car coasting to a stop isn't usually a terribly big deal...planes are a different matter. And yeah, it interferes with her fairly heavily. Although the character would be working on getting the drain under conscious control...a couple of years down the line, she'd be able to moderate the natural pull to where she could use some self-powered devices, etc.
Ahhh! Typo, I fear. :D