
Chronos
(Walker Gabriel)
Context
Walker Gabriel is DC’s *other* Chronos, with limited commonality with the Atom (Ray Palmer) enemy. He first appeared in 1998, and the vast majority of his material took place in his own 11-issue comic book.
He’s a time-travelling character, so things can get rather confusing.
Background
- Alter ego: Walker Gabriel.
- Marital Status: Single.
- Known Relatives: Tsui Fei Hong (father).
- Group Affiliation: None.
- Base Of Operations: Chronopolis.
- Height: 5’11” Weight: 170 lbs.
- Eyes: Grey Hair: Black
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Powers and Abilities
Walker Gabriel possesses a number of time-related powers. Some are natural, some are device driven. He himself can travel through time and read the temporal signatures of objects. The suit he designed allows him to freeze time in his immediate vicinity, although it tends to break easily.
Through erasing himself from the main timeline (or has he simply traveled to another timeline were he doesn’t exist ?) he has erased his own temporal signature. As a consequence, he is impossible to track through time.
Depending on how far along in his career Walker is, he will have different powers at different levels. He is depicted here relatively early in his career, as he is seen at the end of the Chronos series.
At the very beginning he did not have any powers of his own and only possessed his time suit. Then he could move through time, but only to the time of objects he had used Postcognition on. Seven years later, he has the ability to travel to pre-historic times and back without difficulty.
Other assets
Even without powers or enhanced devices, Walker is very intelligent. He holds a Master’s Degree in Theoretical Physics from MIT . He designed his timesuit himself (with help from the first Chronos’s notes). He is highly determined and very clever, and not to be underestimated.
It is possible that Walker is able to move not only through his own timeline at will, but through Hypertime , perhaps unintentionally. His visit to a 22nd century ruled by lion people on ATVs would tend to support that.
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History
Ready ? Hold on tight. Here goes.
Walker Gabriel started out as a thief. He used his time stop suit he developed from notes he bought from David Clinton, the first Chronos. Then he was hired by Konstantin Vyronis to steal a tachyon generator from STAR Labs.
The theft was interrupted by a Linear Man, whom Vyronis killed. Walker was thrown through time to Smallville in 1873. There he of course met the Kents. He also met Alexandra, a member of a time travelling band of Romanis. She helped him escape to 1461 Italy.
Tere Walker met up again with Vyronis. He was building his “Timesmasher” which he intended to use to make himself master of all time. Walker saw an alternate future where Vyronis used the device, and decided it was very bad indeed. In the process of stopping him, Walker broke the tachyon generator. As a result, he was bathed in a temporal explosion giving him time travel powers.
Chronophysically yours
From there Walker visited the early 22nd century where he stopped a serial killer. Then it was a very Kirby-esque time where anthropoid lions rules the earth on ATVs. He also had time to attend the funeral of his former mentor David Clinton. Clinton had left to Walker all his research and experiments, as well as a nice collection of stolen art and riches.
Along the way he and the Contessa made their way to Chronopolis, a city that exists outside of any time stream. Here they met a mysterious being known as Gravesend. Gravesend jump-started and enhanced Walker’s powers after a burn-out. Walker now had the ability to change timelines (although I’m not sure he didn’t have that before).
As a result, Gabriel went about preventing the death of his mother. The only way he could do this was to erase himself from the timeline completely. In the process he learned that he had been born on Chronopolis, which was built by his father. Walker took his infant self from there, and the resulting paradox wiped out all traces of his existence.
The adventures of Gabriel Walker across the 4th dimension
Gravesend turned out to be a bad guy working for some evil aliens (big surprise). But he did help Walker find his father. Walker defeated the maniacal Lucas Goodfellow from taking over Chronopolis, and was re-introduced to Alex.
And then his series abruptly ended.
At some point in the future Walker does a lot of neat things. Like meet Vandal Savage in the distant past, travel through time with Rip Hunter, and go to Dinosaur Island during WWII (I would have loved to see that).
He also torments John Fox, the Flash of the 853rd century. Furthermore, Walker is destined to become the enemy of the new Hourman, but those stories have yet to be told.
Confused yet ? I am, and I wrote all that. And with Hypertime further confusing things, no wonder the writer chose to end the series !
Description
Walker Gabriel is a not unattractive man in his mid 20s. He is not terribly muscular but is quick on his feet. He wears his dark hair longish and somewhat unkempt. He has darkish skin and a pronounced chin.
His timesuit is a black tight fitting body suit with intricate green patterns on it.
Personality
Walker is a rogue. He tends to act on what he feels is right and not out of any sense of greater good or obligation. He is cocky and sarcastic, mainly when he is frightened and wishes to hide his fear. Sometimes he may play the hero, sometimes he may be the villain, but the most important thing to remember is that he does what suits HIM and no one else.
Game Stats — DC Heroes RPG
Tell me more about the game stats
Chronos II
Dex: 03 | Str: 02 | Bod: 03 | Motivation: Responsibility of Power/Mercenary |
Int: 08 | Wil: 05 | Min: 05 | Occupation: Temporal Thief/Superhero |
Inf: 04 | Aur: 03 | Spi: 04 | Resources {or Wealth}: 005 |
Init: 015 | HP: 050 |
Powers:
Dimension Travel: 05, Mind Blank: 09, Postcognition: 33, Time Travel: 28
Bonuses and Limitations:
- Time Travel allows Walker to travel within his own timeline, to meet past and future versions of himself, and to change the timeline.
- Using Time Travel requires one phase of concentration. If Walker is injured, he must make a check using his Body as AV and the number of points of damage he has taken as the OV. Positive RAPs mean he is able to use his Time travel power. Failure means he cannot concentrate enough to time travel.
- The maximum weight Walker can take with him when he time travels is equal to his STR, not his APs of Time Travel.
- Dimension Travel can only be used to reach Chronopolis.
- Mind Blank only prevents Walker from being detected by time-tracking devices or abilities.
Skills:
Gadgetry: 10, Scientist: 09, Thief: 05
Advantages:
Connoisseur, Extensive Headquarters (Chronopolis), Scholar (Temporal Physics, History).
Connections:
Alexandra Damaskinos, Contessa Fiorella de Ravenna (High), Rip Hunter, Baron Winter (Low).
Drawbacks:
SIA (Personal Gain), Loss Vulnerability (All Powers): Anomalous Temporal Discharges.
Equipment:
TIME SUIT [BODY 05, Mental Freeze: 10 (Optional Area Effect), Suspension: 07 (Usable on Others, Optional Area Effect, Only usable on Mentally Frozen targets), R#:7. Targets are frozen in time, unable to move, think, or act in any way. A successful Mental Freeze attack puts the target into Suspension. The user can release the target before the full APs of time have passed.].
Pets:
At one point he had/has/will have a very normal cat named Houdini.
Design notes
Anyway, I’m not too happy with the way I simulate the time stop suit below and am open to options. I don’t want to use Time Control since it doesn’t really work for what he’s doing (freezing people, not situations, and not always everyone in a scene). And since the power description is not available to everyone I prefer not to use it in any of my characters.
Source of Character: Chronos 1-11, Legends of the DCU 80 Page Special.