Name: Clay Brunner Gender: Male, Straight Age/DOB: ~34/1999 Origin: Repurposed Earth, Enrichment Center Family: Spliced, unknown relations to any existing Pantheon, possibly related to Corey, but more likely splices connect him to Takeshi Other: Jade and Autumn, daughters with Eden, probably other offspring both spliced and naturally conceived (with her and others); donated to the ELL project, making Ardell Height: 5'5" Weight: 130 (is a bit more pudgy than images), lighter than he really should be due to Icarus, not remarkably muscular in any way Hair: bright to pale blond, frizzy, flyaway, kept short and usually messy Eyes: light green, looks innocent until he starts gazing at rotting things Appearance: fair skinned with few scars, rarely has facial hair but if he does grow a beard it's basically invisibly blond. Prefers green and brown clothing as shown, and often has remnants of dirt clinging to him Genetic Abilities: Moderate sense and control over dirt and stone, growing quite strong over time; can accelerate decomposition and is extremely good with making soil out of any other form of dirt/rock. He can take loose sand or soil, and create extremely durable 'stone' of it within moments, though this can exhaust him if he has to do a lot of it. If there is any kind of organic matter in a chunk of rock, he can worm it out and either cause that stone to dissolve from lack of stability, or turn it ultra-hard. Has minor close range empathy, but lacks any other form of Vortal power. Icarus Processing: Yes, at age 3, this process increased his strength a bit, though he was never one to practice, and he uses this strength only when needing to move rocks or other heavy items; it did also improve his shaping and sensing abilities, and likely added the empathic power from latency |
Image Credits: Icon/City of Heroes / tektek |
Skills or Profession: Clay has always been responsible for keeping the Enrichment Center and Black Mesa able to grow food - along with Eden, they make sure that the dirt is properly fertile, and that whatever she plants gets a good hold into the ground. Armacham likely intended Clay to be an environmental engineer, a terraforming power would net them billions if they worked it right. He has had downloads which allow him to recognize any form of stone, rock, dirt, sand, even gems and other geological features, as well as a lot of inorganic chemistry. He enjoyed learning those things the old fashioned way, too, and is a bit of a bookworm... just don't read the titles of those books in his den, because they will gross you out. Since he has the ability to effectively decompose any organic materials in minutes, he has served as the 'waste management' of Black Mesa. While on one hand he knows this is a tremendously important role, he also doesn't particularly relish it, and has made as much of an effort early on, to make the subsequent need more palatable. He's quite smart, but rather focused on his work above ground. Particularly after the Rookery was established, and he got to get back to work on the place's exterior and interior floor plan, Clay enjoys seeing his handiwork. | |
Personality: Clay is a dependable, diligent, and focused man. He is pretty quiet, and not much for noisy celebrations or gatherings, he more enjoys watching sunsets from the top of the Mesa, with Eden and their kids. He is known to be a touch on the morbid side, and while he doesn't look it, he's quite the detective - coming at this from the same angle that Mars did. She likes putting holes in things, he likes finding out how they got there. They actually make a surprisingly good team, and he always laughs at her jokes, because he's one of the few that finds morgue humor hilarious. That said, he's not at all off-putting in that way unless you don't expect it. He can be cheery and does truly enjoy hanging out with other families, trading stories about kid barf and where they found that last snark nest. With Varve's arrival, Clay's personality got a bit more open and active, but not by much. |
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Events or History: Created from three or more donor parents, Clay was among the younger of the students in the Enrichment Center when the Events occurred. He didn't truly come into his own as a force to be known, until many years later when Isabella flew out of the Center, and he helped reshape the field above to protect them and funnel water into the facility. He essentially kept to himself for years, until he escorted Eden to Black Mesa - she was pregnant with Jade, and it was there that he became a father. He also met Mars Walsh in the facility, and became reasonably good friends with her. Essentially if anyone ever needed to have a rock shaped, a dirt plot made ready for planting, or bodies dissolved quickly... Clay was your man. Still is. He made forays down into the bottom of the Enrichment Center, and discovered the absolute hell of half-rotted bodies left behind from GLADOS' murderous nerve gas spree, but he among any of the teenagers there was able to see just exactly which of those corpses had been dead before the gas hit them... When the Rookery was started, and actually before then during some cleanup of Black Mesa, Clay truly was able to show his stuff. |
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Dragon Name: Varve (a layered clay) |
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