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Characters / Villains' Code

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This is a list of notable characters from the Villains' Code novels.

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Guild of Villainous Reformation

A modern day Thieves' Guild of sorts that exists as a haven to metas who don't wish to be swooped up by the Alliance of Heroic Champions and used as capes. While not all are criminals, the guild was established as a way to keep meta criminals from going too far and thus bringing down the (very destructive) wrath of the AHC.

    In General 
  • Affably Evil: It is established quite firmly that the Guild members consider themselves to be family. One doesn't need to actually be a criminal to join, and the vast majority of those who commit crimes are Punch-Clock Villains who are quite nice to "civilians" when not on a job.
  • Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Essentially, the Guild realized that by pooling its resources, they could get away with almost anything.
  • But Not Too Evil:
    • The Guild was established as a way of keeping meta criminals in check. Via various tests and trials, they ruthlessly eliminate anyone deemed too selfish, greedy, and/or sociopathic in order to avoid bringing down the wrath of the AHC.
    • Also, a good many of them have friends, families, and loved ones and would very much like to prevent powerful meta criminals from destroying their city/state/country/world/universe.
  • Evil Is One Big, Happy Family: They believe they are thus but discover differently thanks to Balaam.
  • Mook Horror Show: The Guild engages in these from time to time to let criminals know they've not gone soft and to remind them who is the most powerful organization in the world.
  • Necessary Evil: The Alliance of Champions decided the Guild was this decades ago in order to keep the peace in Ridge City and other places.
  • Punch-Clock Villain: The majority of Guild members use their powers and connections to become incredibly wealthy as well as protect themselves from prison. They no longer care about engaging in pointless fights with capes or endangering civilians.
  • Pragmatic Villainy: The Guild engages in a lot of self-policing and staying under the radar to protect itself from undue attention from the capes and civilian authorities.

Apprentices

    Tori Rivas (Hephaestus) 
One of the newest recruits into the guild, who eventually adopts the name Hephaestus. Her difficult personality results in Doctor Mechaniacal asking Ivan Gerhardt to become her mentor.

  • Alternate Self: According to Nexus, many of Tori's alternate selves did not survive the events of the books.
  • Ambiguously Gay: Agrees with Chloe when she describes herself as a Rainbow Sherbert in her attraction.
  • Anti-Villain: While this can be applied to a number of the Guild's members, this applies especially to Tori; her life's goal is to scrunge togehter the capital to start a tech company that produces Power Armor made available to anyone including non-metas. All to give people equal footing and to honor her parents (particularly her mother who had the same dream).
  • Hand Cannon: The first thing Tori builds in the basement lab is a gauntlet that fires a beam of energy, whose power surprises even Ivan. While the initial version burns out after a single use, she manages to rebuild it and add it to her Powered Armor.
  • Mad Scientist: Tori has genius-level intelligence and is obsessed with building herself a Powered Armor.
  • Mad Scientist Laboratory: Doctor Mechaniacal takes the liberty of adding a basement to Ivan's home without his knowledge, equipping it as a lab/workshop for Tori. Ivan is mad at first that he wasn't consulted but then accepts it. The entrance is disguised as a wall section. As far as anyone else is concerned, the house has no basement.
  • Not Quite Flight: Tori is unable to actually fly, but she learns to fire jets of flame from her hands downward that sort of allow her to stay aloft and move around, albeit not very nimbly. She becomes determined to make sure her future Powered Armor has flight capabilities.
  • Personality Powers: A Spicy Latina with fire-based powers.
  • Powered Armor: As Hephaestus, Tori wear a self-built mech suit that she powers partly by turning into fire inside it. While it's a far cry from the masterpiece that is Doctor Mechaniacal's suit, she's only starting and she doesn't have Wade's resources and experience. Nevertheless, she has a sleeping dart launcher, a Hand Cannon (see above), jets for short hops, and a voice modulator to disguise her voice (and gender). It also grants her a measure of Super-Strength. Later on, she installs the gravity-reducing device Ivan buys her, allowing the suit to fly.
  • Spicy Latina: Tori's race is mentioned only once, but her personality is definitely of this kind.
  • Twofer Token Minority: A Hispanic woman, although her race gets mentioned only once, and her being a woman has zero effect on how others treat her and how she behaves. The novel might as well have been written for a generic gender-neutral character (well, except for Donald being interested in her and her being taken on a girls' night out).
  • Wreathed in Flames: Tori can turn some or all of her body into living flame, making her extremely difficult to hurt.

    Beverly (Bahamut) 
A young woman with the ability to shift into the form of several types of dragons at will. She is Thuggernaut's apprentice and, eventually, chooses the code name "Bahamut" (king of the dragons). Becomes a close friend of Tori's, and they become roommates at the end of Forging Hephaestus.
  • Freudian Excuse: Her reasons for disliking heroes and hating the AHC in particular has to do with her grandfather and their predecessor the League of Metas. Back in the 50s, her grandfather found an artifact that granted him powers but the LOM gave him the choice between joining their in-development "Colored Division" or nothing, giving those powers up leaving him devastated.
    • Bones of the Past reveals that her family's biggest fear is turning on the news and seeing her representing AHC and specifically Professor Quantum meaning this applies to her whole family.
  • My Suit Is Also Super: Beverly's costume is specifically designed to stretch, as she shifts into her dragon forms.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Beverly has several different dragon forms she can shift into, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, her green dragon form is the toughest in melee combat, her red dragon form can breathe fire, and her white dragon form can fly. There may be others that Beverly hasn't yet learned to shift into.
  • Twofer Token Minority: While Beverly's race isn't mentioned explicitly, her skin is described as having a "cocoa" complexion and her story about her grandfather and him being offered the "Colored Division" of the League of Metas in The '50s implies that she's black. Just like with Tori, her race has absolutely zero impact on the story or how she's treated otherwise. Then again, in combat, most people doesn't even know what she looks like, as she is usually in one of her dragon forms.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Beverly can turn into a dragon at will.

    Lance (Pest Control) 
An apprentice with the ability to summon and control insects. His mentor is Arachno Bro. Lance eventually adopts the name "Pest Control".
  • Magikarp Power: While initially dismissed as mostly useless, Lance quickly learns how versatile his power can be, especially as he studies more and more different insects, allowing him to summon and control them, especially meta-insects. People generally don't react well to suddenly being surrounded by a swarm of stinging meta-wasps. During the apprentices' test against robots, he is even shown using ants as a living crutch of sorts.
  • Pest Controller: As his chosen code name indicates, Lance can summon and control swarms of insects, as well as see and hear through them (provided they have those senses). As he learns more about different types of insects, his repertoire increases. He can also summon and control meta-insects.

    Warren (Glyph) 
A more individualistic apprentice, although that may be more due to him being mentored by Balaam than anything else. Warren can cast magic by drawing runes on surfaces, eventually becoming known as "Glyph".
  • The Atoner: Becomes this during the climax, fighting alongside Lance and some of the capes to put an end to his former mentor's betrayal. Although he's not really in it for atonement, but rather out of sheer spite towards Balaam.
  • Geometric Magic: Warren casts spells by drawing runes on surfaces.
  • Hidden Heart of Gold: While initially a bit of a jerk, Warren quickly warms up to the other apprentices, especially as they're forced to work together for their final test. It's heavily implied that his initial jerkassery is a result of Balaam's influence. He refuses to follow his mentor into betrayal and fights to show that he's not like Balaam, even enchanting Cyber Geek's BFG, allowing it to blast through the shield surrounding AHC headquarters.
  • Magic Wand: Balaam presents him one during his graduation, point out that no self-respecting spell-caster can be without a wand or a staff. He thought about giving Warren a staff, but then realized that a wand is easier to draw with. Balaam designs the wand to channel and augment Warren's power, as well as storing a single rune at a time for use in a hurry.

Guild Council

    Ivan Gerhardt (Fornax/Pseudonym) 
A retired supervillain, known as Fornax in his glory days, currently goes by Pseudonym within the guild, where he represents retired villains on the Council. Takes on Tori as his apprentice and teaches her the importance of the Villains' Code.
  • Always Someone Better: Ivan makes it clear many times that Lodestar can beat him, even if he lets loose completely. It's because he knows that she has only ever shown a fraction of her true power. Plus he and Wade have been able to look at other realities and know that Lodestar has never been beaten.
  • Amicable Exes: Ivan is on good terms with his ex-wife and usually warns her if anything dangerous is about to happen, so she can get herself and the kids out of town. She used to be a Fornax fangirl, which is how their son was born.
  • Black Eyes of Crazy/ Black Eyes of Evil: Ivan is neither crazy nor evil, but him becoming Fornax again is signaled by his eyes turning jet-black with tiny golden runes written on them.
  • Blood Knight: As Fornax, he reveled in bloodshed and destruction. All he wanted was to fight and win. During his final fight with Lodestar, he finally went all out, using every last trick and power at his disposal... and he still lost. This shook him so much that he gave up his bloodlust entirely. It's implied he could have easily broken out of the prison they had him in, but he just never saw the point.
  • Honorary Uncle: To Helen's daughter Penelope. Also Tori, sort of, since their cover story is that she's his first cousin once removed (i.e. daughter of his cousin) and refers to him as "Uncle Ivan" in public.
  • In a Single Bound: Ivan's means of getting into the air in lieu of flying, although he conjures up magical supports for him to push off against in mid-air.
  • Mentor Archetype: The main thing Ivan has to teach Tori is to follow the Code. He understands the enormous responsibility of mentoring a new supervillain. Should she fail, it will be up to him to personally kill her (also because he's one of the few metas who can).
  • Older Than They Look: Despite being in his fifties, Ivan still looks about thirty, as a side effect of his power. It's never specified if he even ages.
  • Origin Story: Ivan was an orphan abducted by a cult along with many other kids. They went through Training from Hell and were forced to fight one another to the death every year, halving their number each time until only Ivan was left. They then summoned some kind of extradimensional god to possess Ivan and destroy the world. Except they miscalculated by strengthening his mind along with his body, allowing Ivan to resist the possession and keep control, while also being granted some of the god's power. He can always reach for more power, but this will allow the god to wrest some control away from Ivan, which is when Fornax truly comes out.
  • Papa Wolf: He can put up with a lot, but threaten his children and he WILL move heaven and earth to protect them.
  • Physical God: According to Ivan, he ate one, which is how he got his powers. Balaam mentions at one point that no one is even sure if he can die.
  • Retired Badass: Back when Fornax was an infamous supervillain, few capes could stand up to him. Only Lodestar was finally able to bring him to justice. After his son was born, he left that life behind and retired from supervillainy, although he still maintain his seat on the Guild Council. Despite being retired and actually enjoying living the quiet life of a divorced middle manager, he still has all his powers and woe be to anyone, who dares to re-awaken Fornax.
  • Teleportation: One of Ivan's powers. He frequently uses it to get behind his enemies.
  • That Man Is Dead: Ivan keeps insisting multiple times that Fornax is dead, he died the moment Lodestar showed him a photo of his infant son. That was when he decided that someone like Fornax could never be a father, only Ivan could. From a legal standpoint, Fornax is indeed dead, as the AHC has invoked the Orion Protocol to declare a number of supervillains, including Fornax, dead and give them all new civilian lives.
  • Visit by Divorced Dad: Inverted. Ivan's son and daughter stay at his place every other weekend, as per his agreement with his ex. He makes sure that Tori stays at the guild for those days, as he doesn't want his two worlds intersecting.

    Balaam 
A magic-using villain, who is on the Guild Council (representing magic-users, of course). He has a long-standing rivalry with Pseudonym. Unlike every other member of the Council, Balaam is known as a scheming bastard, who likes to play political games. He asks to take on Warren as his apprentice mainly so he would not be outdone by Ivan.

  • Bad Boss: Balaam used his loyal followers as cannon fodder to feed on their deaths.
  • Blood Magic: Balaam is using a lot of dark magic to harness the deaths of the crisis he caused.
  • Broken Pedestal: As a kid, Balaam was enthralled by Fornax. After becoming a meta himself, he strove to become as powerful as Fornax in order to emulate his idol. Then he got into the guild and discovered that, not only is a guild of supervillains not concerned with "real" supervillainy, but the man who was once known as Fornax is one of those maintaining the status quo. Balaam still rewatches old recordings of Fornax's fights with capes for nostalgia's sake.
  • Bullying a Dragon: Balaam attempted to kill Fornax's kids and drive him mad in hopes of being able to face him at full strength—only to find himself completely outclassed.
  • Did Not Think This Through: It does not occur to him until the last minutes of his life that he was totally outmatched fighting Fornax and that a fellow magic-using Physical God might not be someone he could escape from.
  • Faux Affably Evil: He trained many lesser villains at the Guild and was a good mentor to them but proceeded to betray them and use them as cannon fodder during his plan since he wanted 'real' villains to follow him.
  • Human Sacrifice: Balaam allows many of the criminals under his command to be killed so he can harness their power.
  • Life Energy: Through his arcane studies, Balaam has learned to increase his magical power at the cost of someone else's life. He tricks a bunch of meta-gangs into allowing him to put a special mark on them, claiming it would increase their strength. In fact, its purpose is to give him their energy at the moment of death.
  • Magic Staff: Balaam carries one and uses it to focus his power.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Arranges all of the events of the first book and plays everyone like a fiddle, right up until he realizes he was Bullying a Dragon.
  • One-Winged Angel: Balaam turns into a bat-winged horned demon during his fight with Ivan. Ivan rolls his eyes and says Balaam has no idea what real demons look like.
  • Smug Super: Balaam believes himself to be The Archmage and invincible. He is an amateur compared to Fornax.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Balaam has no compunctions about killing people, including children. This earns him a very Family-Unfriendly Death at Kristoph's hands at the end.

    Wade Wyatt (Doctor Mechaniacal) 
One of the founding members of the guild, going by the name Doctor Mechaniacal. Close friend of Ivan's. Represents science-minded villains on the Council. Besides being a villain, Wade is also a tech billionaire, using his meta-genius to make unprecedented advances in technology.
  • Alliterative Name
  • Cut Lex Luthor a Check: Wade explains this trope to Tori when she comes to him with a business proposal to sell her meta-tech. Meta tech geniuses like Tori and himself need to be careful not to disrupt the tech curve too much, since it can break the delicate balance of power.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Professor Quantum, in a way. To be fair, he may be a supervillain, but he doesn't do anything outright evil. Unlike Professor Quantum, Wade is far more involved in the day-to-day running of the guild. In fact, he actually care about Code-abiding villains a lot more than Professor Quantum cares about people in general.
  • Expy: Wade Wyatt is what would happen if Lex Luthor had access to Iron Man's suit being the leader of both his Earth's Legion of Doom (the Guild) and the head of a multi-national technologies corporation using a suit of armor. He also has a sprinkling of Doctor Doom mixed in for his use of robot duplicates and automated armor.
  • Fiction 500: Indigo Technologies, thanks to Wade's genius. It's explained that the company where Ivan and Tori work, Vendallia Industries, is actually a subsidiary of Indigo Technologies.
  • Mad Scientist: Sort-of. While Wayne does have many of the typical qualities of a mad scientist, the "mad" portion isn't one of them. He may very well be one of the most level-headed people in the guild.
  • Powered Armor: As Doctor Mechaniacal, Wade typically wears a sleek and powerful mech suit. It's later revealed that he rarely dons the suit himself anymore, seeing it as too risky. Instead, he controls it remotely with his nanite-infused mind from his secret underground bunker. In fact, he has several such suits that he can control simultaneously.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Wade is the de facto head of the guild, typically handling most high-level administrative work, while also running his own corporation (Indigo Technologies) as part of his civilian persona, although, officially, the Council makes all the big decisions with Wade as only one of the members. Despite his status as a villain, Wade genuinely cares about what the guild stands for and is determined to maintain the peace with the capes by policing villains and punishing code-breakers.

    Xelas 
A former Sex Bot built by a cape called Tech Lord for his own twisted pleasure. She sued for her freedom, and the landmark court case is now unofficially called Xelas's Law and has been invoked by a number of AIs. She has since undergone extensive modification and is one of the most powerful supervillains in the guild. She represents all artificial beings on the Council.
  • Holographic Disguise: Xelas has a built-in holo-projector that she uses to appear as a human woman, when going out as a civilian. Tech Lord included that in his Sex Bot in order to pretend to have a real girlfriend in public.
  • Instant A.I.: Just Add Water!: Tech Lord accidentally made Xelas too smart, which resulted in her becoming self-aware and suing for freedom as a sentient being.
  • Ridiculously Human Robots: If one were to close one's eyes, one would be hard-pressed to tell Xelas apart from an ordinary woman. She always sounds like a cheerful twenty-something party girl, especially if she uses her holo-emitter to make herself appear human. When she goes out into the world with that human disguise, she typically goes by Alexis. Since Tech Lord wanted it to look like he had a girlfriend in public, he gave her the holo-emitter and the ability to process food and drink into energy. She later added taste sensors, so she could actually enjoy eating and drinking.
  • Sex Bot: Xelas's original purpose. She's still bitter about that.

    Stacey (Stasis) 
One of the members of the Guild Council under the name Stasis. Her powers aren't clearly-defined in the book, but they appear to involve her being able to put her body into a unchanging state, thus becoming invulnerable to damage. She represents any villain, who became a meta as a result of an experiment or lab accident.

    Lynn (Morgana Le Faye, the Blood Witch) 
A terrifying villain, who can kill pretty much anyone with blood, as she can exert direct control over it, even when it's still within someone's body. She represents metas born with their abilities on the Guild Council.

  • Blood Magic: Morgana can slaughter a whole streetful of enemies by forcing their blood to come out of their bodies and into her. She also typically wears an armor made of solidified blood, which she can reshape on demand.
  • Even Evil Has Loved Ones: Morgana comes from a small town in the middle of nowhere. The only one she still cares about there is her old school teacher. She gives her a beacon to press in case of trouble. During the Wrexwren invasion, the old woman manages to make her way to where she buried the device and pushes the button. Morgana appears almost immediately (thanks to a teleporter) and proceeds to slaughter the invaders in the town.
  • No-Sell: Anyone without blood can't be directly harmed by Morgana, although she can probably use her own blood for that purpose.

    Gork 
A stone-like creature from deep underground, Gork is a tall female, who represents all naturally-occurring nonhumans and aliens on the Council. When going out in public, Gork uses heavy makeup and heels to pretend to be a normal, albeit tall, human woman (she usually goes for a Scandinavian look to justify her imposing appearance) named Gretchen.

  • Beneath the Earth: Gork's people have lived there for quite a while. Gork herself emerged during a Confluence.
  • Proud Warrior Race Guy: Gork's people are big on honor and protocol. This is why she joined the guild instead of the AHC, as the capes had initially treated her as a hostile lifeform, putting her off from working with them.
  • Silicon-Based Life: Gork appears to be partly made of rock.
  • True Neutral: Gork is stated to be as impartial a third party as one can find in a guild of villains.

    Arcanicus 
An experienced spellcaster, who specializes in crafting magical items, which he usually rents out or sells to other villains. He takes over from Balaam as the representative of magic-using villains on the Guild council in the second book.

  • Cool Old Guy: He's one of the few supervillains who hasn't gotten eternal youth and is showing his age.
  • Item Crafting: Arcanicus's specialty. A popular item of his is a necklace that keeps the wearer from being noticed by others. It also blurs cameras.
  • Summon Magic: Arcanicus can summon temporary artificial constructs, such as skeletons, which then dissolve upon "death" or upon being dismissed.
  • Wizard Classic: An old man as well as a powerful wizard.

Others

    Thuggernaut 
A tall, imposing, tough-looking villain with a kind heart. He offers to take Beverly under his wing, even though another high-level villain does the same. Knowing that Thuggernaut is likely to be a better mentor to her than one of Balaam's flunkies, Ivan and Wade decide to let Beverly become Thuggernaut's apprentice.

  • Cultured Badass: While Thuggernaut will join his friends for a guys' night involving beer and poker, he would actually much rather go see an opera. He's even considerate enough to buy out all the seats behind him, knowing that his huge frame would make it nearly impossible to see the stage from those seats.
  • Gentle Giant: Well, gentle with his friends, anyway. If you happen to be an enemy, then don't expect much gentleness from this guy.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: Thuggernaut and Johnny Three Dicks.

    Johnny Three Dicks 
A brash, foul-mouthed villain, who is the main reason why the Council now has to vet all code name choices, although they allow him to keep his choice.

  • Intentionally Awkward Codename: He could have come up with a less vulgar alias, and most people wish he did, but he likes it when the more prudish squirm when saying his name.
  • Mental Time Travel: While his meta-ability isn't focused upon, it seems his ability might have something to do with being able to throw his consciousness back in time a few seconds, in the event of death, giving him a chance to avoid it. According to him, this is the reason for his code name.
    Johnny Three Dicks: (after knocking out a cape, following several "rewinds") And that's why they call me Johnny Three Dicks, doll. No matter which way you try to come, you're still fucked.
  • Nonindicative Name: While it's difficult to be sure, there doesn't appear to be any indication that Johnny does, in fact, have three penises.

    Tunnel Vision 
A pair of fraternal twins with a single code name (although Tori assumes the sister is called Vision and the brother is Tunnel) and the ability to open portals to any place in the world. They are always referred to as a single individual.

  • The Dividual: While it's not clear if they actually share a mind, the fraternal twins certainly act as a single person and even respond to the same name.
  • Thinking Up Portals: Tunnel Vision can create portals to any destination. Apparently, it requires both siblings to do it. The sister's eyes glow (presumably, she's focusing on the destination), while the brother places his hands on the surface, where the portal is to appear. These portals are very handy for getting to the location of the crime and then getting away quickly, although Tunnel Vision charge for their services.

    Pod Person 
A villain with the ability to make copies of himself, which he then controls with his mind.

  • Self-Duplication: Pod Person creates copies of himself (including the clothes he's wearing at the moment) by spitting on the ground. Each lougie quickly grows into a life-sized copy of him. He is then able to sense everything each copy is sensing and control them as easily as he does himself. Upon death, the copies turn into green goo. He's able to eliminate all the copies with a snap of his fingers, who simply burst into goo.

    Scryanthos 
A villain, who uses her magical abilities to sense ley lines and see faraway places.

  • Seers: Scryanthos is able to see things no one else can. She is the one, who predicts the Confluence in the first book.

    Kristoph 

A young man in his, apparently, mid-20s, who never does anything supervillainous. However, all new guild recruits are brought before him. If he senses that they have committed the gravest sin possible - harming children - then he ends them in a very painful and graphic way that is in no way quick. According to Ivan, at those moments, Kristoph is one of the most powerful metas in the world.

  • Always Someone Better: In the climax, Kristoph casually breaks through Ivan's powerful ward in order to ask him to let him (Kristoph) handle Balaam's punishment.
  • Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: Tori's reaction to meeting Kristoph, after Ivan explains what Kristoph does. While she's frightened at first, Ivan's explanation makes her want to buy Kristoph a beer.
  • Friend to All Children: Kristoph's power is only activated when he detects the sin of killing of seriously hurting a child. Then he makes sure that the sinner never hurts another child again.
  • Riddle for the Ages: No one knows exactly what Kristoph is or how his power precisely works. Xelas asked him once, and he was happy to tell her. She immediately had Doctor Mechanical erase her memories.

Alliance of Heroic Champions

     General 

An alliance of heroes gathered together to defend the Earth. It is the replacement for the League of Metas that broke down due to its racism.

  • Big Good: The Champions Congress is supposed to function like this but really only Lodestar qualifies.
  • Consummate Professional: The Alliance is full of regulation, rules, and training to make the best heroes possible.
  • Heroic Antagonist: The protagonists are supervillains and the heroes are their enemies.
  • N.G.O. Superpower: Like the Guild, they wield more power than most nations.
  • Politically Incorrect Hero: The League of Metas was racist before reforming into the Alliance and still has a Klansman-themed hero that they're forced to accept due to a lawsuit.
  • Redeeming Replacement: The League of Metas was a white supremacist group that was replaced by Lodestar.
  • Slave to PR: The Alliance is very concerned about their public image and how the public deals with them.

Recruits / Cyber Geek's team

    Donald Moss (Cyber Geek) 
A computer programmer working at Vendallia Industries and an avid gamer. On the night of the Confluence, he had just completed his custom-built gaming PC, some of the parts for which had... questionable sources. His apartment building was hit by a lightning bolt, frying his new machine and also granting Donald the power to pull any video game weapon, armor, or tool into Real Life. After he is forced to out himself publicly, he is recruited by the AHC and asks to be called Cyber Geek.

  • Bash Brothers: Donald and Ren, joining the AHC at the same time, become fast friends, despite having completely different personalities (e.g. nerd and jock, respectively). Despite this, they work well together, especially when they have to fight, with Donald manifesting video game guns for ranged combat and Ren taking care of close-range enemies.
  • BFG: During the fight with the interdimensional monster at the club, Donald summons a Buster Burster Blaster from the game Blaster Brahs. He has trouble even lifting the thing and manages to get a few shots off at the monster by propping the gun onto a railing or a piece of furniture. Then he mentally smacks himself on the head, recalling that the game designers specifically added heavy armor to the game to justify players lugging around such a big weapon and summons Master Brah's Armor around himself, allowing him to field the gun with ease.
  • Dating Catwoman: Almost happens, as Donald is interested in Tori but has trouble asking her out. He also has no idea that she's a meta and a villain.
  • Neural Implanting: In-between the first and second novels, Donald agrees to Professor Quantum's upgrade, which involves implanting a number of computers into his skull and an in-head screen into his eyes, despite the risk of him going blind. This means that he no longer needs his wrist computer to access his power. All he has to do is focus on his internal screen and select the weapon or tool he needs.
  • Summon Magic: Donald is able to pull any weapon, armor, or tool from a currently-running video game right out of the screen. The item has the same exact characteristics as in the game, which is why he spends a lot of his free time "training", i.e. playing games and leveling up his items, so the ones he pulls into Real Life have better characteristics. When the AHC marketing team suggests hiring programmers to design some weapons for him, Donald explains that his power works only on items from popular video games, so they would actually have to come from the game designers adding them to the game. Some characters suggest his power may involve a collective Clap Your Hands If You Believe. Due to the fact that the wrist computer Professor Quantum gives him doesn't have a stable Internet connection, he has to rely only on games that can run offline, and the computer is constantly running a dozen games at any given time, so Donald doesn't have to spend time booting them up.

    Ren Tanaka (Medley) 
A former college football player, who tries to use an experimental drug to fix his blown-out knee during the Confluence. The drug turns him into a chimera-like monster with no chance of turning back. Distraught, he is recruited by Apollo and is given the code name Medley by the AHC marketing team. Despite their different personalities, Ren becomes fast friends with Donald.

  • Bash Brothers: See Donald above.
  • Holographic Disguise: Apollo provides Ren with a bracelet that allows him to appear human, which Ren is very grateful for. In fact, the bracelet is more than a mere illusion. Ren's claws actually feel like normal hands, his skin (at least the outer layer) feels real, and one has to press really hard to feel the rough scales beneath. He can also speak a lot easier when using the disguise. Apparently, the bracelet is programmed with several different faces, allowing Ren to remain anonymous, even if one of his disguises is compromised.
  • Hybrid Monster: The drug has turned Ren into a hulking mish-mash of different beasts.
  • Terror Hero: Enjoys playing this role since he's permanently transformed into a horrifying form.

    Irene (Cold Shoulder) 
A recently-recruited cape code-named Cold Shoulder due to her ice-based powers. She's added to the Donald-Ren Bash Brothers to provide some versatility to the team.

  • An Ice Person: Irene can fire blasts of cold and freeze an area around her. She can also manifest a large ice construct with her inside, allowing her to engage in close combat.
  • Elemental Armor: He biggest trick is sealing herself inside an ice golem, making her Nigh-Invulnerable and super strong.

    Lucy Donovan (Hat Trick) 

One of the capes recruited by the AHC during the Confluence, personally chosen to Apollo as the fourth member of his pet Donald-Ren-Irene team. While her magician-like powers don't particularly lend themselves to direct combat, she's invaluable in the support role. Her code name is Hat Trick.

  • Hat of Power: Lucy's top hat can be used to store and retrieve any object. The objects come out in the exact same condition as they went in. She can apparently also unleash white doves from the hat that do what she commands them to.
  • Expy: Of Zatanna, Lucy also being a Ms. Fanservice with magical powers who uses a stage magician aesthetic.
  • Magicians Are Wizards: Lucy bought an amateur magician's kit from a store, not realizing that the Confluence has imbued it with actual magic. Upon putting on the props, they bonded to her body (she can still take them off, but they won't work for anyone else) and turned out to have magic properties related to stage magic. Her cape can be used to cast illusions, her rings can bind anyone, her playing cards can be shaped as whatever she wants, and the scarves coming out of her sleeves can be used to grab people from a distance.
    • Subverted slightly in that her hero identity made be based on a magician's motif but she establishes there's a difference between "real" magic and stage illusion.
  • Ms. Fanservice: Apollo selected her for Cyber Geek's team primarily for sex appeal. She is a fine support hero, but there were plenty of other options; Apollo was mostly looking for something who would look sexy.
  • Love Triangle: Beverly is able to clock that she has a crush on her teammate Cyber Geek who has a crush on Tori who has shown no romantic inclinations towards anyone.

Champions' Congress

    Apollo 

A highly-ambitious cape, whose power comes from a shard of divinity that, apparently, belonged to his namesake, the Apollo of Greek myth. He is kind of like a Superman wannabe with similar (but weaker) powers and mistaken belief in his own righteousness. He is a professional butt-kisser and careerist, playing the office politics game for ten years in order to get himself appointed to the Champions' Congress. He has gathered a group of loyal followers, who help him achieve his goals. Apollo arrogantly sees himself as the next Lodestar, the legendary hero of the past several decades.

  • The Atoner: Submits to imprisonment without issue after his scheme Went Horribly Wrong.
  • Cardboard Prison: Is put in one of these despite his role in the Ridge City Riots.
  • Death Equals Redemption: After Balaam unleashes Fornax, Apollo realizes that he's done as a hero no matter what. He also sees that Fornax is gunning straight for him in his madness, which means that, for now, Fornax is ignoring everyone else. Thus, Apollo does his best to keep Fornax on his tail in order to give the other capes as much time as possible, even at the cost of his own life. After Tori manages to bring Ivan back from the brink, moments before Fornax beats Apollo to a pulp, Apollo offers to fly to Rookstone in order to stop Balaam from releasing dangerous metas. Unusual for this trope, he survives, although the Champions' Congress removes him from his position and punishes him for his part in this mess.
  • Knight Templar: Apollo is disgusted by the AHC allowing supervillains to operate right under their noses and wants to do what heroes are meant to do - destroy villains.
  • Meaningful Name: What better name for a Jerkass Smug Super then referring to a member of a pantheon of the most famous examples of Jerkass Gods?
  • Physical God: Apollo's powers come from a shard of divinity from, apparently, the real Apollo.
  • The Power of the Sun: Sunlight (coupled with the shard of divinity) imbues Apollo with many powers, many of which are similar to Superman's, including flight, Eye Beams, Super-Strength, and the ability to see through magical disguises.

    Helen (Lodestar) 

A legendary superhero called Lodestar, whose power comes from a comet that hit her when she was nineteen. She's one of the most powerful metas in existence and the only one to join the AHC without an ulterior motive. She is the only cape that has managed to bring down Fornax decades prior. Since then, Ivan sees her as the quintessential hero, and the two of them have become close friends.

  • Absurdly Youthful Mother: Helen worries about using her powers again, as doing it even once undoes all the aging she has done since then. Given that she has a daughter, she's worried how Penelope will react to her mommy suddenly looking like a nineteen-year-old girl. Even worse, when Penelope realizes that her mother is functionally immortal and can revert back to that youthful persona at will, effectively resetting all the aging "progress". To her relief, Penelope takes it all in stride, although it's possible she's just too young to understand the ramifications.
  • Big Good: Helen AKA Lodestar is the most powerful superhero in the world as well as the founder of the Alliance of Heroic Champions.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Neither Helen nor Ivan are able to say the real reason he keeps visiting her, knowing the realities of their situations and being mature enough to know that relationships like that never work out.
  • The Cape: The ultimate example of this in this 'verse. According to Ivan, every other cape got into the AHC for their own reasons, but only Lodestar ever did it just because it was the right thing to do.
  • Clark Kenting: Helen is actually pretty bad at maintaining her secret identity and constantly slips up on details. But a side effect of her power is that no one is capable of putting the pieces together as the dots just refuse to connect in their brain, no matter how hard they try. The only ways for people to learn that Helen is Lodestar is to either witness the transformation or to have her tell them the truth. If, for example, Helen jumps behind a tree and Lodestar comes out instead, people will wonder where Helen went and be unable to make the connection.
  • Flying Brick: Lodestar is, basically, this world's female Superman. As far as anyone knows, she's unbeatable and the only one capable of taking down Fornax. The first book's ending reveals that Nexus that learned that someone in The Multiverse has managed to kill a Lodestar.
  • Magic Meteor: Helen became Lodestar when a comet fell on her and imbued her with great powers. Many have pointed out the similarities between rapidly-descending Lodestar and a falling comet.
  • The Paragon: Helen is every bit as good, decent, and kind as she appears to be. Which contrasts her to many other heroes.
  • Physical God: In a world where actual gods are running around, Lodestar is still the strongest of anyone. At the very end of the book, Nexus finds a universe where someone has successfully killed Lodestar—the first time that has ever happened in the entire multiverse. Then again, the next novel reveals that this isn't the first time this has happened, it's just it's the first time someone witnessed it and lived to tell the tale, as a Lodestar's true death (as opposed to the death of the current host of the power) is so cataclysmic it results in the destruction of that entire universe in a matter of seconds. Many of Nexuses selves didn't escape in time.
  • Retired Badass: After decades of fighting villains, Helen has been slowly pulling away from the public eye and barely shows up in person for the meetings of the Champions' Congress. She finally retires officially in order to free her Congress seat for Apollo. Helen lives a quiet suburban life with her daughter Penelope, occasionally visited by Ivan, whom Penelope treats as an Honorary Uncle. Ivan turning back into Fornax forces her to come out of retirement.
  • Super-Speed: Lodestar is quite possibly the fastest meta in the world, although spending a long time at superspeed makes her a little dizzy.
  • Who Wants to Live Forever?: Helen can, potentially, live forever, although she can also choose to die naturally. All she has to do is never call to her power again, and she will be functionally human. However, every time she becomes Lodestar, her body resets to the same state she was in when the comet fell on her, as a nineteen-year-old girl. However, Helen is a mother now, so she's not sure she wants to outlive her daughter.
  • World's Strongest Woman: Helen is the most powerful superhero by far, even stronger than Ivan.

    Quorum 

One of the members of the Champions' Congress with thousands of distinct personalities in his head. Despite this, he is pretty level-headed and tends to be the uniting voice in the Congress.

  • Alternate Self: According to Nexus, there are no other Quorums in The Multiverse, making him unique. It's possible all the other Quorums' minds have somehow merged in his head, explaining the thousands of personalities.
  • Living Lie Detector: As Quorum puts it, a number of his personalities are masterful liars, which means he can easily spot another person lying. This is how he knew that Apollo was planning something, so he deliberately sped up Apollo's rise to the Congress in order to be able to root out all of Apollo's accomplices.
  • Mind Hive: Quorum has thousands of personalities inside him.
  • Spanner in the Works: Nexus states that the version of Earth the hero hails from is the only one where he exists: the villain notes it's one of the only Alternate Universe where he can't predict with total accuracy how events will turn out.
  • Super-Strength: While it's not explicitly stated, it's implied that this is one of his powers, as Apollo shoving him only causes him to take a few unsteady steps forward instead of being flung against the wall at bone-crushing speed.

    Vernon (Professor Quantum) 

The original Mad Scientist, except he's on the side of the capes. Now known as Professor Quantum, his experiments opened the can of worms, altering the laws of physics, thus allowing metahumans to exist. He founded the original Super Team, the Science Sentries, which was a precursor to the League of Metas and, eventually, the AHC. He spends most of his time in his private island lab, experimenting on something, only getting involved in AHC business when he absolutely has to. He typically calls in to Champions' Congress meetings. He returns to Ridge City and takes a more active role in AHC operations in the second book.

  • Absent-Minded Professor: Unlike other capes, Professor Quantum can't be bothered to actually fight crime personally. Instead, he acts as the scientific brains behind the AHC, producing much of their tech. He spends most of his time in his island lab. He finally comes back to Ridge City aboard his heavily-armed boat at the end of the first book. Like the typical portrayal of a scientist, he's not very good with people and sees nothing wrong with having someone undergo surgery in order to enhance his abilities, while citing only a 22% chance of blindness as a result.
    • The second book, however, progressively shows that its less he's absent-minded and more of an arrogant Jerkass especially where the New Science Sentries are concerned.
  • Foil: to Doctor Mechaniacal. If it wasn't explicitly spelled out, one might think by behavior alone that the arrogant and aloof Vernon headed up the Guild while the more empathetic and caring Wade was in charge of the capes.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Professor Quantum is the world's first superhero: that doesn't make him a Nice Guy by a long shot made more and more apparent in the second book.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Just barely (at least as far as the Heart of Gold aspect.) As noted above, he's cold, arrogant, and just barely cares about those who work for him. The main thing that qualifies him for this trope is that he leads the organization that fights against evil-doers.
  • Mad Scientist: His inventions rival those of Doctor Mechaniacal, his (sort of) Evil Counterpart with the only other person said to be on his level is the supervillain and ruler of her own island nation Tyranny. The third person is his former friend and colleague Alfred Settler who gained his own powers in the same accident as Professor Quantum.
  • Mass Super-Empowering Event: Professor Quantum is THE first meta to ever exist, as it was one of his experiments that accidentally bent the laws of physics and allowed superhumans to exist.

The New Science Sentries

    Austin (Agent Quantum) 

The superstrong leader of the New Science Sentries, hand-picked by Professor Quantum to carry on his legacy. Austin cares deeply for his team and for the job of protecting the people.

  • The Ace: He's smart, heroic, talented, and genuinely good. Sadly, it's wasted on Professor Quantum.
  • A Father to His Men: Austin acts like this to his team and always looks out for them first.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: He's been attracted to Beverly since first laying eyes on her but can't seem to ask her out.
Unfortunately, his name is mud with her family due to how horribly Professor Quantum wronged her grandfather.
  • The Chains of Commanding: Is traumatized by the death of Presto and the burdens of being unable to find a better solution than his Heroic Sacrifice.
  • Dating Catwoman: He has a strong crush on Beverly, unaware that she is Bahamut.
  • Genius Bruiser: Despite being the team's muscle, Austin is also a good tactician. His main flaw is sticking too closely to Professor Quantum's training.
  • Hunk: He has a superheroic physique which, ironically, turns off Chloe and Tori.
  • The Leader: Austin cares deeply for his team and even refuses to trade Tachyonic for a new team member when the latter screws up.
  • Legacy Character: To Professor Quantum, who may or may not be his father, as they're stated to share some DNA.
  • The Paragon: Agent Quantum is every bit as good and heroic as Cyber Geek but is aware his mentor doesn't share his values.
  • Super-Strength: His primary power as a superhero. He is introduced lifting up a couch.

    Kyle (Tachyonic) 

The team's speedster and Austin's Number Two.

  • Bodyguard Crush: He develops feelings for Tori, possibly because to him she's a civilian who doesn't give a shit about superheroes and treats him like a normal person.
  • Rescue Romance: Deconstructed. Kyle and Tori met for all of three seconds when he rescued her from a robbery gone bad and a photo just happened to capture the moment in a way that looked like this sparking internet rumors. The problem is that the AHC actively tries to avoid such rumors from starting because less scrupulous criminals may try to kidnap the civilian as leverage even if he or she had nothing to do with the heroes. Sure enough Tori does get kidnapped, by luck it was her and not an actual civilian but nevertheless hammers home for her why the Guild exists.
  • Super-Speed: While he's reasonably fast on his own, he'd never cut it as a top-tier superhero without Professor Quantum's devices that further boost his speed (although not nearly to Lodestar's level).

    Ike Pemberton (Presto) 

The team's teleporter and resident smart-ass and show-off.

  • The Cynic: Ike has the least optimism about the team and its chances.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: With no way to stop Alfred Settler from slaughtering everyone, Ike teleports in front of Ellie, taking Alfred's deadly strike, and then uses the goggles Tori built to see into space, thus allowing him to teleport himself and Alfred there, with the effort alone likely killing him.
  • Hidden Depths: Is aware that he is nothing more than The Scapegoat and only there to soak up any criticism for things that go wrong for the team. He is also a genuinely honorable hero and willing to die for his loved ones.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Ike always acts like a jerkass and a joker, but when he gets serious, you know that things are dire.
  • The Scapegoat: Ike admits to Tori that this is his role on the team. If anything goes wrong, he gets blamed.
  • Teleportation: Presto can teleport but only within his line-of-sight. He can also teleport other objects, but the size and power determine the effectiveness and strength required. Trying to teleport someone leagues above him would likely kill him.

    Ellie (Plasmodia) 

The team's ranged attacker, able to fire beams of plasma.

  • The Cynic: Takes up this role after Ike's death.
  • Hand Blast: Ellie can shoot plasma beams out of her hands.
  • Ms. Fanservice: This is actually her role in the team and she had to go dramatic super-science plastic surgery to achieve it.
  • The Smurfette Principle: She's the only female member of the New Science Sentries.

Others

    Stalwart Iron 

A robotic hero and one of Apollo's followers.

  • Just a Machine: Apollo and the other heroes are rather dismissive of him, considering him nothing more than a helpful servant.
  • The Mole: He was actually built by Doctor Mechaniacal, who still has some control over him and uses him to spy on the capes.

    Erinite 

A hero made of living crystal, capable of growing crystal shards on his body and hurling them at enemies.

  • Flight: Somehow, being a living crystal, Erinite is able to fly.
  • Glowing Eyes: Erinite's eyes glow green.
  • Silicon-Based Life: Erinite is composed of living crystal.
  • Spike Shooter: Erinite's main mode of attack. He grows crystal shards on his body and then shoots them off with great force towards the enemy.

Unaffiliated

    Chloe Henson (Cliché) 

A barista working at the coffee shop across the street from Vendallia Industries. During the Confluence, she was given the power to make her words come true, as long as what she says is a commonly-used saying. During the climax, she provisionally calls herself Cliché. She has learned to pattern her speech without using old sayings, just in case.

  • Beware the Nice Ones: Tori becomes increasingly glad that Chloe ended up with her powers instead of someone else when it becomes clear how powerful and dangerous her ability could be. Chloe herself is actually freaked out and careful about using her abilities out fear of abusing them. According to Nexus, a being who takes his greatest pleasure from watching destruction and chaos, outright tells her that many versions of her embrace her powers. And while some become heroes, many others become villains and the greatest (read: worst) of them are "always a delight to watch.”
  • Cliché: Chloe's power only works on phrases that are of this type. She can only keep one active at a time, so she usually defaults to "A penny saved is a penny earned", which acts as a minor cash flow, as long as she keeps herself from buying something she really wants (cash only, and it has to be something she can actually afford and really wants).
  • Queer Establishing Moment: Reveals at a pool party that she's pansexual.
  • Words Can Break My Bones: While it seems that her power is marginal at best, she quickly learns during the climax that it can be destructive and deadly under the right circumstances:
    • "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger" can potentially give a person Super-Strength, as long as that person is willing to endure enough of a beating to increase his or her strength proportionally.
    • "Liar, liar, pants on fire" does exactly what it sounds like, which, apparently, also works on Badass Boasts (since they're usually exaggerations). Now imagine someone's pants bursting into flame in the middle of a battle.
    • "Fortune favors the bold" drastically increases a person's luck, as long as he or she does something bold. In Chloe's case, she manages to kill a powerful meta-criminal through a string of accidents.
    • "It's just a hop, skip, and a jump away" allows her to teleport anywhere she wishes, as long as she performs the mentioned actions (and knows the difference between the three).
    • "Beauty is only skin deep" causes a layer of her skin to melt away turning her into a drop-dead gorgeous woman though whether its based on her opinions of beauty or a concensious of everyone in the immediate area is unclear. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder" is similar, only she appears different to everyone based on their preferences
    • "Anything you can do, I can do better." Allows her to duplicate abilities and skills, but she gets a pretty nasty psychic backlash along with it as all that person's knowledge suddenly appears in her head. This can even extend to meta-human abilities as demonstrated when she and Beverly starts experimenting with the former copying the later's powers as "practice."
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Her villain self in alternate universes is named Edict.

    Nexus 

A powerful interdimensional meta, whose actions are chaotic and unpredictable. According to Ivan, Nexus could have been a guild member, were he willing to follow the Code and pay his dues. A such, he just pops in whenever he wishes and leaves just as suddenly.

  • Dimensional Traveler: Nexus appears to be able to travel through The Multiverse at will and even perceive every world in it at once. The ending of the first book implies that he's actually multiple beings with a single mind. He can also open tiny portals in order to spy on people from a distance. He has great interest in this particular universe, as, according to him, no other universe has a Quorum or a Stasis.
  • Evil Counterpart: To Quorum in an "Evil Foil" manner: Nexus is a Dimensional Traveler and The Dreaded with dozens of Alternate Selves sharing a hivemind as opposed to Quorum who also has a hivemind but there's only one version in the entirety of The Multiverse
  • It Amused Me: Nexus' primary, if not only, motivation. Sometimes, he will intentionally cause trouble for both heroes and villains simply to stir things up when he feels things are getting too boring.
  • Prison Escape Artist: No prison can hold Nexus for long. Eventually, he just vanishes and reappears somewhere else. Presumably, him being a Dimensional Traveler means he simply pops out of this universe and pops back in elsewhere.
  • Unexplained Recovery: Nexus has been killed at least once before, but he always comes back sometime later. It's implied he shares a Hive Mind with his alternate selves, so, when one dies, then another arrives to take his place.

     Captain Bullshit 

A prankster and "artist" whose work are what he calls "absurdist abstract expressionism". A Reality Warper, he escapes Rookstone during the Ridge City Riots and returns several months later to show off his new pieces.

  • Anti-Villain: He's an artist not a criminal and thus not interest in causing pain or suffering, or gaining wealth or power. In fact his art pieces are more or less, according to him, to add an unexpected twist to people's everyday lives, injecting a little excitement into tedious humdrum of normal every days.
  • Noodle Incident: Why and ow he ended up in Rookstone is not clear, only that it was because one of his art pieces caused harm to civilians and whatever the heroes did to get him to the prison and to stay there can only work once.
  • Reality Warper: An insanely powerful one that works on a world-wide scale, to the point where he's left alone after his escape simply because trying to do so would end in a great deal of hero and civilian casualties.
  • Spanner in the Works: Since they escaped during the Ridge City Riots, AHC hadn't been able to find any of the Rookstone escapes through science or magic. Captain Bullshit confirms he "gifted" them protection until they made themselves noticeable: he in turns states this is a gift to the heroes as well. After all, what point would it serve for them to capture the escapes when they're freshly free and weak as opposed to be given time to rebuild and actually give them [the heroes] a challenge.
    • This is also the general theme of his "absurdist abstract expressionism" artwork: to shake things up and create unexpected roadblocks (literally in one case), allowing people's lives to take unexpected turns if they so choose.
  • We Have Become Complacent: Its implied to be the true point of his artwork: humanity has become accustom to the general insanity of living in a world of superpowers, magic, and aliens to the point of treating an Alien Invasion like a solar eclipse or fireworks display. His art is inject some chaos into people's lives so they'll remember to "expect the unexpected".

    Wendel Worthington/Alfred Settler 

A strange individual with the mind of a metagenius on par with Doctor Mechaniacal, Professor Quantum, and Tyranny.

  • Alliterative Name: He picks the name Wendel Worthington at random, but the initials make him chuckle like a private joke. Presumably, he knows that Wade Wyatt is the civilian identity of Professor Mechaniacal, hence the joke.
  • Big Bad: The true villain of the second book.
  • Buried Alive: After the accident, the rest of the team buried what they assumed to be Alfred's charred skeleton in concrete. Except Alfred wasn't actually dead. He used his changed body's corrosive properties to get out.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Alfred is well aware that Professor Quantum is Jerkass who will only care that his legacy and pride is being tarnished with the death of the New Science Sentries. When facing the team itself, he fully believes that they're posturing and will run at the first chance offered.
  • Freak Lab Accident: He was Alfred Settler, a member of Vernon's research team, and the only one who objected to the experiment that ended up creating meta-elements and allowing for the existence of metahumans. The explosion seemed to have killed him, as all the others saw was a charred skeleton, which they buried under tons of concrete as if it were toxic.
  • The Greatest Story Never Told: Alfred Settler was essentially the first supervillain ever created and has been hounding Professor Quantum for decades since in revenge for what happened to him. No-one outside of knowing he "died" in the accident that created meta-humans with Fornax having once fought him on one occasion yet is completely unheard of.
  • Harmful to Touch: The dark energy surrounding him is extremely corrosive to anything, especially any meta whose abilities are settlium-based. He finds the latter fact ironic, given that the meta-element is named after him.
  • The Un-Smile: Everyone finds his smiles unnerving and notes that they look like the smile of someone not used to his human skin. That's because the skin is fake. He looks like a skeleton with some dark energy surrounding it. So the grin is actually the rictus of a skull.

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