Sovereign
| Sovereign | |||||||
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| Reputation |
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| Author | Lightning (capes) | ||||||
| Pronouns | He/Him | ||||||
| Civilian name | Alexander Black | ||||||
| Alignment | villain | ||||||
| Affiliation | The Court (Denver) | ||||||
| Age | 43 | ||||||
| Status | Active | ||||||
| Nationality | American | ||||||
| Approver | Nashoid | ||||||
| Trigger Type | Single Standard Trigger | ||||||
Publicly Available Information
A longtime player in the Denver area, Sovereign is one of the more well-known villains in the city. His power seems to be wide-range gravity manipulation, as he has been seen causing objects in the area to float or fall in directions other than down. He's most often been seen responding to PRT raids on The Court's smuggling operations.
Though it hasn't been confirmed, its widely believed that La Corte Regale, a high-end Italian restaurant in downtown Denver, is the property of Sovereign, as he has been seen entering the building through a back entrance on numerous occasions. Not to mention the name.
PRT / Government Information
Costume Appearance
A vintage suit and tie with accompanying vest, both made of expensive looking material and profession fitted. A delicate golden chain can be seen crossing the bottom of his vest into a pocket. Inside this pocket is a stopwatch, plated in the same gold as the chain. He wears black leather gloves, and on his left wrist is a vintage wristwatch appearing to be made of gold.
His mask is angular, with a ridge from nose to chin, making it seem almost bird-like to a small degree. The nostrils and a wedge shape around the mouth, angled to form an abstract grin, have a filigree grating to allow sound and air to pass through. The eyes are large, rounded-rectangular lenses that appear an opaque black. The entirety of the mask is plated in gold. On top of the mask, he wears a vintage tophat.
He is always seen using a polished, decorated staff, halfway between a walking stick and a cane. The staff is made of a rich, polished wood with a gold-rimmed band of dark metal placed just above the smooth grip. It is topped by a golden ornament sporting abstract designs.
Civilian Appearance
Alexander is a middle-aged man standing 6'1". He is well-built, somewhere between lean and muscular, with broad shoulders. His hair is black, fading slightly along the sides to a silver-grey. He has a well trimmed beard and mustache that has just hints of grey. His eyes are a dark blue, and his skin is a light olive. His appearance is particularly well kept, and can be considered stately.
Mentality
Sovereign is a very measured person, rarely allowing the words and actions of others to affect him to any significant degree. He is calculating, willing to sacrifice something small to ensure a larger victory down the line. In business, he is cautious as well, taking pains to keep his less than legal activities well hidden. Or at least well separated from his civilian persona.
In his civilian persona, he plays the part of millionaire socialite, attending both extravagant parties and tense business meetings with equal degrees of aplomb. He does, however, avoid allowing others into his personal life, to avoid anyone becoming aware of his other life.
In his cape persona, he plays the regal, condescending lord of crime in Denver. He demands respect from his unpowered minions, though is more forgiving towards any capes that may come to work under him. He tends to hold conversations while in fights as a way to throw off his opponents and facilitate the use of his power.
Sovereign holds to a code of honor in his cape activities. He does not deal drugs, but will facilitate the smuggling of them into the city for other groups to deal. He will not murder innocents purposefully, but those who betray him are no longer considered innocent. He will hold back against capes when he fights, especially those who he still considered children (basically anyone low-twenties and under). Any villain who he encounters will be offered a position within his organization, or failing that, his organization's services. If they refuse both offers completely and act antagonistically in actions or words towards him and his people, they will be marked as enemies of the organization. If a villain or hero is particularly disruptive to the city and its cape inhabitants, he will invite the city's villains and villain groups to a meeting at his restaurant to discuss how to deal with the issue going forward.
He values a noble demeanor within others, as well as those who show respect to him. He does consider others to be somewhat lesser than himself, particularly those who are unpowered. He is also rather vain, finding pleasure in displaying his wealth through his appearance and possessions. His driving goals are to amass wealth and to obtain complete control over the entirety of the city's criminal underground.
Skills & Training
- Experienced in office and business related skills
- Masters in business and entrepreneurship
- Well trained in staff combat
- Excellent organizational and logistical skills
- Experienced speaker due to his years as CEO
Resources & Wealth
Alexander Black owns a penthouse in the nice part of the city, as well as a small home just outside of the city limits in the mountains. He has two cars, one a black SUV, the other a stylish luxury car in a dark burgundy. He has no living family, and tends to spend his time as a civilian brushing shoulders with the city's social elite. He owns a few business in the city, including a nightclub and an investment bank. Most of his work hours are spent as CEO of the bank, though he often checks in with the managers he appointed to run the club. Financially, he is very stable, and well within the wealthy segment of the city's population.
As Sovereign, he runs an organized crime ring involved in money laundering, "asset protection", smuggling, counterfeiting, and forgeries, amongst other, less sophisticated crimes. He is very willing to offer these services to other villainous capes for a price, particularly money laundering. This operation is run out of the backrooms of various small businesses that crime ring members own. He owns a high-end Italian restaurant as Sovereign through a proxy, and uses it as a neutral location for meetings in the city.
Vehicles:
- High-end dark burgundy luxury car
- High-end black SUV
Properties:
- Black and Jefferson Investment Bank
- Dynasty (nightclub)
- Art District Residencies (4 story apartment building)
- La Corte Regale (Italian restaurant)
Henchmen:
- A dozen high level career criminals
- Two dozen reliable goons
Equipment & Gear
- A reinforced, wooden staff. Adorned with a gold ornament at its head and decorative bands of gold across its length.
- Smartphone (burner)
- Golden wristwatch
- Golden pocketwatch
- low-profile kevlar vest
Parahuman Power
Sovereign is a shaker, able to designate a point in space within a few feet of him around which he can influence gravity in set ways. This point is the epicenter of the shaker effect. The location of the shaker effect cannot be moved once placed.
This influence begins in a radius of about 10 feet around the point, and expands by roughly 5 feet for every turn (6-12 seconds) that he is within the radius, up to a max of about 50 feet. Inside this radius, he can manifest a handful of effects.
The primary effect is a reduction of gravity, starting at half gravity and decreasing over time to zero gravity, taking roughly a full minute to reach that point.
Under the correct conditions, different effects can be used, including changing the direction of gravity to forwards, backwards, left, or right in relation to Sovereign's facing, and increasing the strength of gravity.
To change the effect, Sovereign must have heard a word relating to the specific effect at some point within the last hour (words below). Only the most recently heard word is valid, but if an effect begins and a different effect's keyword is spoken, the original effect remains until Sovereign leaves the area or chooses to use the new effect.
For the directional effects, it begins with half of gravity's force exerted in the new effect's direction, and changes over time to all of gravity being in the effect's direction.
When increasing gravity, or changing from a directional effect or low gravity effect to an increased gravity effect, the directional effects and the low gravity effects are immediately canceled out, and gravity returns to normal plus 50% increased strength.
The strength of gravity in any active, non-primary effect increases by around half of base gravity every minute, if Sovereign chooses to focus on the effect, though focusing past the base minute is mentally and physically taxing. 5x strength of gravity is about Sovereign's limit before he falls unconscious.
Sovereign may selectively be affected by the changes in gravity, but cannot designate anything, anyone, or any place within the radius other than himself as unaffected. Powers that break physics, ignore gravity, or otherwise change the effects of gravity on an item or person are unaffected by Sovereigns shaker power. Likewise, most fliers are unaffected by the low/zero gravity effect.
The effects are immediately reverted to normal if Sovereign leaves the radius at any point in time, he falls unconscious, or he chooses to end the effect. Maintaining an area of influence is a very minor strain on Sovereign. Not enough to make a difference in a fight, but sustaining such an area for a period of time over an hour is extremely taxing.
The words to change the effect must be audibly heard by Sovereign. The power actively refutes any attempt to "game" it. Attempting to tell a minion how his power works so that the minion can say whatever word is needed to activate a specific effect at a specific time will result in the word being ignored. Similarly, recordings and electronic communications do not count for keyword collection. The words must be spoken in person where Sovereign can hear.
Result (click "Generate" to refresh) Copy to clipboard
| Primary Keywords/ Effects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Up, upwards, upstairs, rise, ascend, and similar words: | Effect: | half gravity -> zero gravity | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Other Keywords/ Effects: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Down, drop, fall, downwards, downstairs, and similar words | Effect: | downwards gravity increased by half++ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Forward, advance, ahead, onward, north, and similar words | Effect: | gravity in the direction Sovereign is facing increased by half++ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back, backwards, retreat, behind, south, and similar words | Effect: | gravity in the opposite of the direction that Sovereign is facing increased by half++ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Left, west, and similar words | Effect: | gravity in the direction to the left of the direction sovereign is facing is increased by half++ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Right, east, and similar words | Effect: | gravity in the direction to the right of the direction sovereign is facing is increased by half++ | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Background & Trigger
"The shelter has sustained damage, if you are in section A, proceed to section D. If you are in section B, proceed west to section E," a tinny voice tinged with forced calm calls over the shelter intercom. Alexander was towards the back of relatively empty section B, having arrived earlier than most. Perks of owning the building just above an endbringer shelter. Unfortunately, the passage from B to E was towards the front and Leviathan's waves were causing enough damage above ground that cracks were starting to form in the concrete of the ceiling. This caused the roughly one hundred others in the section with him to rush towards the side door He followed at a hurried pace, but not panicking as the others were. The last thing he needed was to trip and fall, especially if the ceiling began collapsing. By the time he reached the doorway into the corridor, it was obvious something was wrong. The people in front of him were trying to push forward, while the ones in front of them were trying to push back into section B. A massive crashing noise sounded through the shelter, and before his eyes, the concrete corridor collapsed, taking most of the people evacuating along with it.
"Passage 3a has suffered catastrophic damage. If you are still in section B divert to passage 3b on the east side, and head for section F." The man over the intercom cut through the screams of pain and terror, and this time, Alexander was in the front of the pack heading towards the door on the opposite side of the shelter. Deciding that taking it at the same pace was probably a bad idea, both due to the widening cracks above him and the panicked crowd behind, he took off for the door at a sprint. A few moments later, he was in the corridor, heading towards section F. A deep rumble sends a thick cloud of dust down from the quickly failing concrete of the hall. Just up ahead, he could see the door to the reinforced section F, but before he could reach it, the voice returned.
"Section F has suffered catastrphic damage. Divert from section F and return to section B until further notice." As the voice spoke, Alexander saw the first signs of water seeping out between the door and its frame. Another rumble, this one louder and deeper. Faster than he could properly register, the corridor in front of him collapsed, with significant cracks travelling along the walls and ceiling from the rubble to where he stood. Finally starting to feel the same panic that the others around him began feeling long ago, he turned and ran, prompting the rest of the crowd to do the same. He carefully ignored the few people who didn't move fast enough and were trampled by the rest of the crowd. Now, the last dozen of them were back in section B, the room around them already starting to crumble. Seemingly coming to a decision as one mind, everyone, him included, rushed for the main entrance, right up until the front of the shelter caved in, taking everyone but Alexander with it.
Alone, trapped in a crumbling concrete tomb, he finally broke, cursing the voice on the intercom that had repeatedly spoken too late and led everyone to their deaths. He sat, back against the rear wall of the reinforced room, watching almost in slow motion as the concrete crashed down from front to back, soon to crush him like the others. Unbidden, the thought crossed his mind that if the shelter was failing, his investment bank just above was probably leveled.
(Optional) Misc Lore Snippets
Parahuman Intelligence Report
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