Black Lion

Context

This character is an original creation. We often call these “homemades” or “homebrewed” – think home cooking or craft beer.

Many of these characters were created to take part in tabletop role-playing game sessions. Others were invented as a creative writing exercise, often as part of a community event.

This specific character was part of a RPG campaign run by writeups.org contributor Bil.

Background

Advertisement

Powers and Abilities

As one of the most powerful individuals in the world, he has superhuman speed, strength, reflexes, endurance, and durability. His top running speed is on the order of 150 mph, and his reflexes are fast enough to avoid a 9mm bullet after it has been fired, at a range of 15 feet or more.

He can lift 15 tons in a military press, and has been shown to be able to apply that strength in combat so efficiently that he can put his fist effortlessly through a reinforced titanium wall over a foot and a half thick.

He also has been shown to be able to withstand impacts on the order of several hundred tons PSI without severe injury, and could possibly survive a small-scale nuclear detonation.

When he is injured, he heals rapidly, and may, in fact, be immortal. He can also make a running leap of over two hundred yards.

Other assets

In addition, his senses of hearing, smell, and night vision have been augmented to superhuman levels. He can easily track a person by their scent, hear a whisper across a crowded room, or see on a moonless night like it was just before dusk.

Because of the hundreds of warrior spirits adding their power to his, his will is just as powerful as his physical form. Not even Psyche can read his thoughts without his permission, and no one known can control him.

He has a knowledge of the arts of War from hundreds of warriors, combined with his own prior training in the martial arts. When combined with his superhuman physical prowess and speed, he becomes a warrior to be reckoned with. There are very few who can go toe to toe with him, among them Varak, Earthshaker, and Prime Oversoul.

His own studies also give him a basic knowledge of the supernatural, compounded by the knowledge of those of his wardens who were Templars, Buddhist monks, and the like.

History

Jim Danner was an 18 year old student at the University of Memphis , when he was confronted in his dreams by the spirits of his warrior ancestors, dating back to ancient Summer. They told him he would be the Warrior of this age, and apparently stimulated his metagene, which augmented his strength, speed, stamina, and senses to mildly superhuman levels.

Adventuring on his own, and later with Quarterstaff as a partner, he was a popular vigilante hero for several months.

Soon, however, his identity was revealed to a drug lord named Donald Baer, who had two of his friends killed. His girlfriend, who would later become the heroine Amber, was mortally wounded. Enraged, he confronted the drug lord, and nearly killed him.

The combination of his anger, adrenaline, and the influence of his ancestors’ spirits kicked his still changing powers into overdrive. It was when he was in this state that he gave blood to save Amber’s life.

Limit break

With this increase in power, he revealed his identity to the world. He then helped to found the Alliance, together with Snowblind, Springer, Quarterstaff, Shadowgreen, and Champion.

After their first conflict with Vok’r Ath-Shenti and his Warriors of the Fold, he left the group, and traveled to New York. Champion followed, and the two teamed up with Powerhouse, Silverstorm, and Rebound to form Power Core, which he has led since its inception.

After a cross-temporal adventure, he confessed his love for the beautiful psionic, Psyche, who joined the group. After a lover’s quarrel, he wandered the country for several months, then returned, and asked her to marry him. Shortly after, Doomgiver arrived, and the climactic battle seemed to result in Psyche’s death.

Driven once more into a state of utter despondency, he threw himself at the cosmic entity with no concern for his own life. With the assistance of Powerhouse, Blacksmith of UNION, and the mysterious Nomad, he defeated the entity, preserving all life on Earth. That was when Nomad dropped the illusion he had placed around an unconscious, but otherwise unhurt, Psyche.

Since then, he has faced numerous menaces alongside Power Core, and has set a date with Psyche – a date unknown except to certain members of the Heroic Community, to prevent villains from crashing it, or the press from turning it into little more than a side-show.

Description

He wears black cargo pants, a dark grey shirt, black tabi, a black long coat, and dark grey leather bracers. He also usually wears dark sunglasses, even at night.

Personality

Under most circumstances, Black Lion is a personable young man, who is very aware of his powers and strength, preferring to use the minimum required force to subdue a foe. He is a consummate professional, and takes every action he can to limit the scope of any conflict.

He is a commanding leader, and can organize an otherwise unrelated group of individuals into an effective team. If he must confront the press, he becomes a little bit of a ham, and has earned the respect and fame usually reserved for the brightest of movie stars.

At home at the Power Core Headquarters, he is also a bit of a joker, prone to bad puns. He is also relatively reckless and impulsive, a trait that has gotten him into trouble on occasion.

When a conflict begins to go sour, or if a friend is badly hurt, however, he turns deadly serious, and becomes a juggernaut of destruction. Very few foes can withstand him when he enters this state, among them Earthshaker, Vok’r Ath-Shenti, and the cosmic Entity Doomgiver. He makes no sound except the occasional command to his teammates, and dedicates his entire attention to the primary threat.

When this threat is taken care of, he turns his attention to aiding whichever of his teammates are the most hard-pressed, and so on until the battle is over. He then grows melancholy, until snapped out of it by either Psyche, Champion, or Silverstorm.

By William Chamberlin.

Source of Character: Homegrown.