BMDR - Desi


Name: Desiderata Lange Gender: Female, bisexual Age/DOB: ~15, aged, RY2 Origin: Rookery, to Repurposed parents Family: mother Kyell, father Gene Lange, aunties in the form of ELLs and Jennifer; while she knows her father isn't really 'into' her mother, she certainly does get adoration from both sides of her family tree, and since her powers are largely similar to his, Gene participates quite eagerly in her training and upbringing Other: One of the few early-Rookery kids, she was spliced together in the EC, but gestated and born more traditionally from her mother, and subsequently treated with Icarus while being aged on-site in Rapture. She truly is a born-and-raised rider Height: 5'8" Weight: 95* Icarus dramatically reduces her weight, but has improved her strength considerably, she's nowhere near as reedy-slender or fragile as she looks Hair: richly brown-black, straight and heavy, and is longer than it looks because she keeps it tightly in a bun, goes to her mid-back when let down; has heavy eyebrows and lashes Eyes: light orange-tinted brown; they had been blue when she was born, however with Icarus treatment they went the same direction as her father's, to more reflect the Vortal power she has, she's among the very few brown-eyed ELLs - not that she's ... no, she definitely is an ELL. Appearance: tan skinned, bronzes nicely, with no scars, a few moles here and there; she is slender and leggy, with a long neck and a very pretty face; full lips, large eyes, and a reasonably loud shout for such a lithe girl; she tends to wear remnants of the orange-and-white Armacham/Aperture ELL series garb, though she's had a few pieces modified from discarded maintenance and army clothing. Yes, she usually walks around in that little cut-off shirt, and yes, she's often in that pose: "what! I'm not cold!" She wears a Xenian crystal or two (the ones on her boots are decorations, not proper crystal) in order to accent her Vortal power	Image Credits: Azalea's Dolls Tribal Princess
Icarus Processing: yes, when she was around 2 or a little older was taken to Rapture's newly renovated facility for the still-theoretical Plasmid-Icarus treatments. These strongly improved her physical traits, she's around 3x stronger than most people, and incredibly durable, able to heal from surface damage such as shrapnel, acid blisters or cuts and bruises within minutes, deeper injuries within hours. She is completely immune to actual damage from cold and heat alike, suffering no ill-effects even in dramatically sub-zero or openly burning areas, and can be trusted to pick up molten metal with her bare hands (though she then goes on to wonder why she did so, it's liquid...). Desi can still be injured by explosions, though more because of all the crap in the air flying around, and the pressure waves from them can knock her down. She isn't much faster overall than normal, but her reflexes are quite good. The processing clearly boosted her Vortal abilities. Also boosting them is the Xenian crystal she wears - though it boosts her Vortal endurance, rather than any other feature.
Genetic Abilities: since she is the child of an ELL, she does have a strong and deep telepathic bond with her mother and all the other ELLs nearby. She can sense any of her aunties at around 1 mile distance, and others with Vortal power at around 400 meters. She can become swept up in any empathic 'scene', if there are multiple strong Empaths on hand she is easily manipulated at close range. However, she can communicate quite well telepathically at around 200 meters, to any Vortal mind. Her Vortal presence is that of a warm candle, not a torch, but a pleasant heat source. Her father's strong Pyrokinetics are clearly at work, mixed liberally with resistances to the effects of hot and cold as described above. Her body temperature is always the same, 98f, regardless of where she is - the middle of a glacial cavern? 98. Next to a broken steam pipe? 98. Literally in lava? 98. Her clothing on the other hand... might get a little worse for wear, which is why she doesn't tend to bring 'nice fancy' outfits to any jaunt where she knows she'll be exposed to open flames or rushing water. Her control over actual fire is limited to nearby range, no farther from her extended hand than perhaps 10 meters. However within that range, she can manipulate heat and molecular agitation to a degree that is almost off the charts. She can microwave meat by holding it, melt holes in tungsten, or just mildly heat a chilled room, at will. She does not produce open flames, but can manipulate them if they already exist - make them burst, direct them into shapes, or extinguish them entirely. All of that though is still confined to her 10-meter radius. When she is not using a Xenian crystal, her limits of endurance are based on the volume and temperature of what she's working on. With it, she literally has no limitations, she can just keep burning things indefinitely. Otherwise she will be able to melt a Combine wall with a hole big enough for a small dragon to enter, and then rest for an hour or so before doing any further work. Generally speaking she can heat small items to the point of combustion just by looking at them, but requires a hands-on manipulation for larger pieces, or higher melting-points.
Skills or Profession: because she is very clearly a Pyrokinetic, she's had skill downloads from any and all of the existing ones in the Pantheon. But also she's got the extensive ELL mechanical and civil engineering sets, as well as a bit of navigation thrown in, since she tends to just choose a straight line to path through a place, but others might not be so eager to follow her through melted walls... She has also taken up chemistry and physics, she does need to remember what sorts of substances explode or require more fine tuning than others.
Personality: Very typical teenager in most regards, but when she gets down to business, she is unstoppable. She's never let little things like walls, headcrabs, or gunfights get in her way. When you can exude an aura that will melt incoming bullets, why not? Well because other people might get absolutely fried in that aura... She's often sent in first, and only when she's fully 'cooled' anyone follows. She likes being a pathfinder, and has been known to tag behind Geoff, the original Pathfinder of the Pantheon, to get tips and techniques.
Events or History: born very early in RY2, and aged into a tween in RY4, she was among the first to head up to the Borealis for a long-term stay. Not only because she can warm an area just by standing in it, but because they really did need all that ice melted. When she brought her stuff with, everyone asked, hey don't you think you'll need a coat? No. No she does not need a coat. Resides at the Borealis, and keeps Combine at bay with her dragon able to head deeper into their territory and give them serious setbacks. She's mastered the art of dangling from Brittlebite's paws, hands out, as they fly low and slow over Combine generators and fortress walls - and those walls just melt away, with the subsequent exploding generators shortly following...
Dragon Name: Brittlebite Gender: Female Size/Shoulder/Length: Large (wings+) 13' s / 70' l / 140' and 64' ws (!!!) Colors: chin to mid-tail under dusty cool grey graded from pale to medium, darkest at chest/belly; from feet to wing tips grade from medium blue-grey to rich denim-blue; armor on limbs and wings, and backs of wingsails denim blue; neck frill, tail webbing, and ventral wingsails highly reflective blue, with sky and indigo range, and snow-mottled markings; dorsal fin from head to upper tail brightly sky blue with white snow mottling; face marks sky blue, all limbs and neck/body/tail have brilliant white skeletal-markings; spikes and web spines bright white; antennae vibrant blue; horns and claws medium blue; eyes green Features: Mysticwing as shown, multi-paired wings, huge thumb claws capable of ripping metal or deep ice Powers: Winged Flight, with four massive wings the likes of which are unmatched in the Rookery (shh don't tell Hellfire) she is easily able to outpace and endure extreme distance flights better than nearly all. She can gain speed and altitude with her main wings, and then simply glide with them outstretched, while the smaller ones do any maneuvering needed, including into battle. That said, she does require a large amount of takeoff space, be it vertical or a running spot, and thankfully out in the great white north ... there's plenty of all of that space. She can power dive with precision, and suffers no ill effects from going sub-orbital at times, though she doesn't really want to test her human friend's durability there. Swimming, because MysticWings are quite capable of life below or above water, she spends a decent amount of time below the Borealis itself, patrolling silently under the ice, or catching large prey to share with the dragons who find hunting in the tundra less successful. She glides through extreme chill waters with the same ease as clouds above, and is a bit more maneuverable underwater because she can use her tail and limbs to balance more readily. She does not take her human below the water, even though she could easily survive the temperatures. She can breathe under water, and tolerate the deep chill and pressure herself just fine. Communication, Brittlebite has a strong Vortal connection to her human companion, and enjoys chatting with her in technical terms about which facility to blow up next. She doesn't have other mental powers, so she does speak Draconic, Aquatic, and English equally well. She understands some words and phrases in Vort, but relies more on English to communicate with humans and Vorts alike. Senses, with her antennae, she can sense low-frequency vibrations, and has claimed she's sensitive to both the pounding of Antlion fencing, and Strider feet - and has trouble distinguishing them at distance, so please turn that fence off every once in a while, thanks. Her night vision is tremendously good, as she is able to see underwater as well in near-complete darkness. She can seemingly sense heat signatures, through a mixture of her ice-based abilities as well as antennae, at close range or within about an hour depending on the surrounding temperatures. Brittlebite's ice breath is on par with strong IceWings, though shorter range and a broader, fan-shaped cone than a precise beam. She can use this in a sort of blanket that super-freezes the air and moisture and will freeze things as it touches them. This breath is not affected by wind, thankfully, so she can be traveling quite fast over a Combine installation, and still maintain a long line of this super cold air. The effects of it last for more than 10 minutes, so when she comes through on that second pass... it's because Desi is going to blow all that frozen stuff into billions of particles now! Usually the 'first pass' is to make sure that any gun emplacements, Scanners and Manhacks, or other equipment is damaged beyond repair, and then the true demolitions work starts with Desi's opposite heat-based attack. They make an incredibly good team. She lacks other forms of draconic abilities common to her breed, however: her teeth do not produce venom, and she cannot make silk from her vestigial forelimb glands. Any offspring she has might still carry those things, however. Parentage: Unknown MysticWings, though it looks like Superconductor might be related, they are actually not, and might produce some truly phenominal offspring, themselves Origin: Adopted from and fantribe by LunarSolstice981 and x-Tamara-x on Deviantart, WoF by Tui Sutherland Other Info: She's bigger and badder-ass than most dragons of the rookery, and particularly of her homeworld. But that said, she's not really 'mean' or unfriendly in any way. She's glad that they have the focus of an enemy that is obvious, and is happy to not be part of the conflicts back on her homeworld. She was young when she arrived to the Rookery, but has heard all of the elders talking about it.