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Helm, Golden Age at War Series
Tweaked “update” on an old character, Helm (Golden Age at War Series).
New pic for an old character. The text is imported from the old UGO forums, so it’s probably littered with spelling and grammatical errors. Sorry!
Old text: Manta is my bros’ and my universe’ only water-dweller type hero. Not that he doesn’t come on land when needed, but he prefers waterfronts and the open seas over working inland. And now his story…
The being known as “Manta” is an ancient and alien force on the planet Earth. He hailed from a different galaxy, where he was a normal member of his race. His memories of this portion of his life are a bit sketchy, so he is unsure exactly how or why, but he knows that he fought in a war against alien invaders. He also knows that his people lost, but how he survived is a mystery to even him. The first detailed memory he has is of a spacecraft he was evidently piloting was plummeting earthward. To this day he does not know why he survived the wreckage, as he would never have done so on his home world(as far as he can recall, at least). He crashed down off the shores of ancient Greece, where he dwelt for several years before the worshipers began appearing.
When Manta had crawled from the ship that brought him to earth, he had only two things in his possession. The first was the suit of clothes still on his back, and the second has a trident of unknown origins, which he held clutched to his chest. To this day, he still doesn’t know where the weapon came from or what it’s made of, as all attempts to discern its origins and properties have ended with utter failure. With the trident in hand, Manta found he was able to control 2 of the elements native to earth: air and water. This newfound power was only a fraction of that which he discovered he now possessed. He was impossibly strong and all but indestructable. He found that, while beings native to earth required the planet’s oxygen to survive, he himself was unbreathing. He did, however, require sustenance. Iron-rich foods were necessary to keep himself strong, but he only needed food once every few months. After such a period, he would consume enough food for a dozen ravenous teenagers. W/out direction or much of a moral compass, he slipped into debauchery and despotism. It didn’t take long before he made enemies w/his escapades and dalliances, and many of his enemies were men of power & position in the human world. Challenge was followed by challenge was followed by promises of retribution. Mobs of armed men attacked him and went to their deaths. After a while, the unorganized mobs became platoons of trained soldiers. Platoons became brigades and then whole armies. He didn’t outright kill them all, but he was far from merciful. It wasn’t until he saved the life of a young poet named Homer that he began to rethink his ways.
He happened upon the man as he was traveling across the hills. The man was injured and being stalked by a lion. Manta interceded on the man’s behalf, wrestling the lion to the ground and breaking its neck. The grateful poet asked him his name, to which he responded saying he had no name. The poet seemed incredulous at such a notion, but then asked if he might have the honor of naming his benefactor. Manta, amused at the young poet, agreed to let him try, but told him he would not take the name unless it truly reflected his personage. The poet nodded, suddenly solemn. He explained that he already knew WHO his benefactor was. His exploits were such that most everyone in the civilized world knew of him. Manta laughed haughtily at this statement and then offered the poet a challenge. He challenged the poet to come up with a name that suited his every facet. If the poet could do this, he would turn from his selfish ways. Homer accepted the challenge and told him that he would get word to Manta when he had devised such a name. The years passed w/no word from the poet, as Manta continued his reckless lifestyle of wenching, drinking, and fighting.
When Homer’s stories of the Iliad & the Odyssey were released, Manta was enraged. He knew the depictions of the character of Achilles and Odyseus were reflections on his own character. In his anger, Manta was forced to face the facts of his life up to that point, and he did not like what he saw. The past of which he barely remembered had him playing the part of a humble warrior fighting for his home and family, but now he found himself as the invader and ravager. It was with great shame and sorrow over what he’d become that Manta returned to the sea, where he had first found himself on earth.
In the following decades, the exploits, both good and bad, of Manta became tales and then myths and then legends. His actions gained mythic proportions and were attributed to the entire pantheon of olympian gods. While travelling on land, Manta was called by many names, but the one he was most known as was the character of Poseidon – wrathful deity of the tumultuous seas. It was he, in his anger, that sent tens of thousands of Persians to their deaths, when they attempted to invade his adopted homeland of Greece. His intervention on the behalf of the Greeks gave the mighty Spartans all the advantage they needed to fend off the superior force. For it was Manta himself that had taught the Spartans of war, many generations before.
As the ages passed, the Greeks grew complacent and then the Romans came. The Romans reminded Manta too much of his own past, so he left Greece and dwelt in the ocean depths for many hundreds of years. He made forays onto land in different places of the world. Everywhere he went he found fighting and debauchery. When he did so, he would live amongst the people and try to show them the meaning of honour, as it had been made apparent for him. When he felt he had shown the people enough, he would leave once more. He continued in this manner all throughout the ages and into the modern day. It was 1993 when Manta came back to the world of men. Since his last visit, the world has become a place filled with superhumans and aliens. Still having questions of his own origins, he has assumed this newest persona of “Manta” and now works alongside his fellow super beings. It is his hope that he wil gain answers to his questions from these new superhumans and aliens. Until then, he continues to fight the good fight on land and sea. Finding that the vast majority of even these super beings require oxygen of some sort, he has charged himself with the duty of attempting to maintain order and enforce justice on and under the waves.Manta has enhanced metabolic capabilities which render him nearly inexhaustable for the entire period between his “meals”. Through his trident, he has vast control over the elements of water and air. With this power, he able to manipulate weather patterns, create tsunamis and even conjur up electricity. His maximum electrical output has never been fully mapped, but he was managed to summon enough electricity to supply the entire west coast w/power for an extended period of time, while they suffered region-wide power failure. NOTE: this is one of the few times when Manta has ever been exhausted so much that he required sustenance immediately following. If the trident is not in his reach, his ability to manipulate the two elements is reduced by 80%. Manta’s body is super dense, which affords him superhuman strength in the +100 ton range. While not invulenerable, Manta’s superhuman metabolism extends to his regenerative ability, while his density makes him extremely difficult to damage (for all but those near, in, or above his strength level). Manta has enhanced reflexes and inhuman speed, but not to the degree of super speed. Moving over land, Manta has been clocked at moving nearly 40 mph. In water, Manta can swim at speeds of roughly 150 knots, roughly 170-175 mph. While not a power, Manta has learned forms of communication with most forms of intelligent sea life (killer whales, dolphins, seals, anything that can be taught tricks, etc) and he can give simple commands to or read the moods/rough intentions of most forms of sea life. Manta’s enormous amount of experience in combat has raised his hand-to-hand and melee fighting ability to exceptionally high levels.
Hmmm, I’m still not certain how I feel about this one, but it is technically complete. Tell me what y’all think, will you?
The character’s hero alias is “Prey”, but his real name is Sgt Gerard Morrow. He comes from a possible future of my “prime” universe. He is a normal guy wearing a full-body “interface” suit which allows him to wear/communicate/command a highly-mobile and adaptive, hunter mech. The mech is nearly self-aware and “chose” it’s current “user” after being foiled by him several times, when it attempted to kill him. The interface suit is essentially a thick, but very elastic, synthetic mesh. The suit responds to impulses/twitches/blood flow of the wearer to “read” intended movements and then it transmits those intentions to the exoskeleton at a speed many times over FTL. As such, Prey enjoys not only greatly increased strength, but also greatly enhanced reaction and movement speed. When the “user” fails to notice something that would otherwise cause him to react, the exoskeleton’s own 360-degree monitoring systems supplement and help Prey to avoid dangers.
The exoskeleton, called the “bone-reaper” by its creator, was never fully programmed for use in the field. It was designed to act as a stand-alone agent set loose in an area to weed out and exterminate targets. Alternatively, the skeleton could either bury itself or otherwise hide and remain in standby mode, until specific orders for targets were received. The unit was activated when the storehouse where it had been abandoned was broken into by a couple of individuals. One of those individuals was the man who now wears the skeleton. With it’s unfinished programming, the bone-reaper automatically targeted Sgt Morrow (a detective) and began stalking him. The adaptive nature of the bone reaper’s ingenious design made use of a combination of nano-constructs working in series to reform the “solid” resources of the skeletal structure on the fly. This allowed the unit to repair, re-join, and restructure itself at the drop of a hat. A complete nano-construct version of the bone reaper ended up being completed and sent into the field for “practical trials,” which was why the original was moth-balled. When the bone reaper and Sgt Morrow joined up and became “Prey” (the only intelligible word the bone reaper could communicate audibly), they found that between the two of them, they were more than capable of dealing with the eventual end-products of what was originally the bone reaper project.
@Anarch: It’s good to be “back,” as you say. I never really left, as I still browsed the blog and posted sometimes, but I definitely have been away from the app for a looooong time. The amount of additional content since I last mucked about with the heromachine3 is positively staggering. Anyways!
Thanks for the feedback, all.
Since it was requested, I’m going to put up the original pics of the Raven for comparison.
