Though Wilson did start his 'life' intended as a replacement body for Keenan Lane, whose lung cancer was preventing him from doing fairly normal things like sleeping, it was clear from the start that there was a mind inside that brain, and it was never really in question that he would become Lane's partner rather than replacement. Though Wilson was in fact a direct clone of Keenan's genetics, those genes were altered to provide some specific changes - no inherent cancers, a sleeker digestive tract, and the like. However it was not those simple changes that resulted in Wilson being who he is: it was the Icarus treatment which Lane approved to coat his young clone's bones and joints in the unsual biochemical fibers.

It was only known much later that Icarus enhances Vortal properties, but that fact allowed Wilson to tap into his prime's Vortal potential. Without it, he would merely have been a younger, very Human, and essentially non-Vortal counterpart. The Icarus treatment, as with most who had it, gave Wilson lighter weight but stronger bones, and stronger joint and connective tissues. That allowed him to begin 'working out' even while he was still in the cloning chamber. As much as he was working his own muscles, Armacham was putting the basics of skills into his forming brain - skills that had been requested such as language comprehension, literacy and math, political theory and geography. In addition to those, however, a good number of non-standard and certainly non-spec skills were also implanted, thanks to at least one reasonably randy young woman working with the project. Cooking, architecture, sexual play, and other such social skills which on the surface simply would have rounded out his personality.

Unfortunately, the interaction of the Icarus, his strength and speed, and the lack of specifics that would only become known later, all led to Wilson having both a stronger libido than normal, and no ability to truly control his physical strength. Originally this wasn't an issue - Wilson was approximately as amoral as Lane wanted him to be, in order to continue his work with politicians and business people. Wilson quickly realized that he wasn't as suited to the dinner-party casual intimidation style, so much as the breaking-people's-arms theory of it. So when one of Lane's contacts 'needed' someone removed in order to continue facilitating their rise among the political groups? Wilson happily jumped on board.

Because Wilson's strength got the better of him in those early days, and he grew more and more restless, unhappy, and distressed about how little he was living up to Kallah-vahh's expectations, he began to wonder whether there was something that could be done for him. Not to change him, but to give him...someone to play with. Wilson was only a few years out of the vat, and had never gone through 'adolescence' in the true sense. His sexual frustration had reached a plateau, and for a time was one of the things which the Mystery was truly worried about in his clone. Wilson simply couldn't have sex, because he left (as he's put it) 'a trail of dead hookers' along the way. Because of that, he began to wear his trademark black-leather gloves - not (as he would typically claim) because of any assassinations or attempts to keep his identity private. He, like Lane, has no fingerprints, there would be very little to tie him to anything directly in any number of crime scenes. But those women left indelible memories in blood on his hands. Paxton has occasionally called him Lady Macbeth because of this. In the long run, Wilson needed to either conquer his drives, or find a way to make a woman he could be with. He opted for the latter.

Though they all acknowledge it, and often times all collectively gripe about it, Wilson is still perfectly happy with how Melissa turned out... Even though she genuinely wasn't what he asked for. Physically, Melissa fits the bill: leggy, curvy, statuesque and blond. Mentally as well - she's an engaging personality with a strong mind and curious by nature. Vortally, which is something that Wilson never really plotted out, she is a stunning example of the genetic engineering that went on at Armacham-Aperture. But rather than be physically able to withstand his sheer brute strength and not get injured, she regenerates that damage. Had anyone sat down and really thought about it, someone able to resist damage, rather than recover from it, would have been far more suited to Wilson's spec sheet. Since she was made, others were also involved in the Origin project that did in fact fit the description. Of course, those same women scared the crap out of Wilson, because at least one of them was stronger than he is.

Since Wilson gave Armacham 'in kind' trade for Melissa's creation, that meant that his prime's insistence that his samples be destroyed was sort of moot - there were no words spoken about this little transgression, but Lane made it eminently clear that he was not pleased to note this. It meant that he had to keep track of even more issues, though eventually his involvement was more or less a happy one. The creation of Wilson's two sons, Geoffrey and Paxton Fettel, of course, led to the downfall of Ulathoi and the formation of a powerful new Human race. At the time, however, Wilson was distracted by the 'toys' that Armacham tossed to him, oblivious to their desire to keep all of the results within the Origin program. Wilson did mainly get over his overactive hormone issues, and was more eager to see what would come from the boys, than to have Melissa accelerated into adulthood for him. Though he'd been on-site to watch Pax and Geoff strut their stuff (proudly, he would add), he didn't formally meet Melissa until she'd already been emotionally bonded with Paxton. Since Melissa was genetically predisposed to Wilson, she was also reasonably strongly attracted to his sons - and his prime.

When Paxton's daughter Dar'lih was born, it was after several years of active instruction from both Wilson and the Mystery. The girl's birth cemented Wilson's relationship with his family, but it also very nearly tore him apart. Somewhat literally, since that birth was being hampered by the very facet of Melissa's construction that made her 'useful' to him; Melissa demanded Wilson help her, and in order to do that, he had to use his speed, strength, and intimate knowledge of body parts. Pulling open her abdomen and yanking out - as carefully as he could - her still-contracting uterus did finish the labor and allow Dar'lih to take her first breaths safely... Melissa was healed almost completely within the hour. Wilson had issues to deal with for a very long time after that moment - ones which he impressed on his prime as well as Paxton, which neither of them could truly help him avoid or overcome. All they could do was let him pour his anguish and guilt out at them, and hope it would dull over time.

There is a serious dichotomy to Wilson and Lane that they both have understood since long before that moment, but only after many, many years did they ever specifically address it. Wilson is remarkably physical. He is Human through and through - though with Lane's imprinted relevant memories and personality template Vortally established in his young brain, they have always shared many of their experiences. Wilson could do the things that Lane could not - the Mystery might, even would have, but for that nagging Convocation issue of 'not interfering of his own volition. Wilson, while paranoid about the same things and jumpy whenever it came up, was never actually under the same restrictions. Wilson could 'pursuade' people by any means necessary: violence, sweet talk, bribery, blackmail. Those things Lane could only peripherally manage as long as it looked like he'd never done anything directly. In that regard, Lane had always been a bit jealous of Wilson.

Of course, Wilson's jealousy issues ran far and wide for many years aside from that. When he was still somewhat 'new', though had been practicing his work in the field for more than a year, the Mystery brought him to Xen where the Vortigaunts were introduced to him. They didn't care for this one bit. And they let the Mystery know this, in the form of snubbing his clone and refusing to name him, thereafter calling Wilson the unnamed. Since names are quite important to both Vortikind as well as the Mystery, he took that as a sign of their impudence and justified annoyance with him, and little more. Wilson took that and ran with it for a time, claiming "I'm so amazing, they can't even find words". But much later, the day that Dar'lih was to be named, Wilson was brought before the circle of Vortigaunts once more, and this time, not only given a name (Raa'nach-vahh, the way of the Mystery's deal) but an apology of sorts from Noah who claimed that they had failed in their sacred duty, and knew there was a good name around here somewhere for the man. Wilson, both proud of his new name and pissed off that it was given to him after such a snub, had many words with the Mystery after that evening. Because he is Human, Wilson is still apt to bring some of those old wounds up, because they've never truly healed.

His jealousy also has always extended to his sons - Geoff for his control over his own tremendous strength and speed (equitable to Wilson's in most ways), and Paxton because he was the Mystery's heir. Paxton mastered teleportation, dimensional travel, and construction of Vortal locations in mere days as opposed to Wilson's years of effort. Sometimes, those efforts never really went anywhere; Wilson was, as Melissa so very bluntly put it, Vortally stunted. All of his prime's potential was there, but dormant enough that even with the amount of training he'd had, he would never be as good at any of those Vortal skills as Paxton, and certainly not Kallah-vahh. But in the times when Paxton's daughter was growing up, and Wilson got the chance to put his emotions and self-loathing aside, he began - finally - to develop his own image apart from that which the Mystery imprinted on him.

He did finally have to acknowledge - they all did - that it was really no one's fault that Wilson hadn't been up to par. Had they known in the late 80s that in order to truly and fully exploit the Vortal genetic abilities available to him, he would have to have been born. The Icarus treatment helped him go much farther than he should have, but they knew later that through their mothers, those genetics were activated and allowed to fully progress. Through growing up, Geoff and Paxton learned how to control those powers and abilities - time which Wilson hadn't had. In the many years since Ulathoi's downfall and the rebuilding of their world, Wilson has taken himself more seriously and dedicated at least a part of his time to doing things he knows he's good at. Throwing rubble around, impressing locals, and scaring off enemies.

At times Wilson admits that he is 'a shallow bastard' because he likes to blame Harlan Wade for many of the problems that came up during their experiences before Ulathoi's demise. It's actually quite true: Wade was not only on hand for Wilson's creation, but allowed the spec sheet changes to him, but to Melissa and many others as well. He also was largely to blame for Alma's own disturbed personality - a violent, hot-tempered man. Wilson will often ascribe Wade's interference as a bad thing, but in the long run, it was because of those changes, those errors, and that temper, that Ulathoi was defeated at all. Without the angry young girl Alma throwing her Vortal power around, without the connection to a birth-mother, without straying from the spec sheets... Kallah-vahh would not have had an heir, a weapon, or a shield. Still, 'blame Wade' is a common phrase when Wilson's feeling pissy about something.

Intellectually, Wilson is clearly his prime's peer - though because he seems to flaunt his physical side much more often, it's frequently overlooked by those who aren't going to get too close to him. Because of his added skills, Wilson revels in some odd things: he's an incredibly good cook, though he prefers to make practical dishes rather than lavish ones. He's got an eye for detail and style in both fashion and architecture, and since their world basically ended without warning, he is one of the few people there who actually has tailoring and architecture skills. They're available for downloading through Hoyle's place, but for a while Wilson got to show his fabulous side and help people make homes and clothe themselves in style. Wilson also enjoys reading, exploring and art, though he'd rather be interacting with the scenery than just looking at it. He is skilled with the use of Armacham's 'jump bot suits', though he can hardly find them intact any longer (most of them were destroyed when Ulathoi arrived, in the futile 7 Hour War).

An assortment of Wilson's other quirks include that he has a family of raccoons living in any given home (both real world and Vortally constructed). He is clearly a fashion hound (witness all the costume shots above) who likes looking sharp but dresses to impress no matter the occasion; he will openly ask people where they got boots or gloves. Though he still can 'call on them' he never much learned to use those crows and ravens to his advantage that his prime likes so much. Wilson talks to himself quietly quite often, mostly muttering curses and 'blaming Wade'. When he and Paxton are together, they are usually in some way at odds, though not always serious about it. Wilson won't hesitate to threaten to smack Paxton upside the head: which would kill him. But equally, he expects Pax to respond with a burning headcrab being telekinetically thrown toward him...

In Paragon, Wilson has thrived. Not only because it seems his abilities and powers are actually useful, but because he can let loose in so many ways that their home world won't allow. There are women here he can 'bonk to his heart's content' (his words, his actually-said-to-Lane words) and nary a drop of blood is spilled... What's more, people like him there. There are far weirder, scarier and more intimidating people just standing around under the Atlas statue, and for whatever reason, that makes him feel comfortable. This may be Lane's influence, after all, he was not just content but needed to be out of the spotlight much of his life - Wilson can interact and feel like he's part of the crowd at the same time. Since the Convocation's creation in Paragon, Wilson has opened a night club called The Vent - a large, dark and often-dangerous place. (They've fixed the security issues, really they have!) He also is often found cooking in the restaurant nearby, and will eagerly foist any and all tasty bits at his visitors. Obviously he's settled in somewhat well in this world. He heartily approves of his Prime's relationship with Mary, and contributes to her well-being by occasionally delivering home-cooked meals.

***

After nearly a year hemming and hawing, and realizing that no, he's not going to get anywhere with other women, Wilson has finally started to dedicate his private activities toward one Aurora Chase. Their similar fighting styles and more specifically her boldness and confidence around him, have made him realize that yes he really does want a girlfriend and yes he really can enjoy himself properly here in Paragon.

With Mary's difficult capture and subsequent rescue, he is considerably more protective of those he values.