BMDR - Thomas Page


Name: Thomas Page Gender: Male, Asexual Age/DOB: ~25* / 1945(!!) stored Vortally, released around 2018 Origin: Rookery Earth, Rapture Facility (?); Character created by Vadrigos Family: Unknown, born in the facility to parents who went on to die from splicing and its complications; Melissa has, on the sly, produced a splice with him, Whitley Page Other: In some dimensions, Thomas experiments with Combine technology, others with Rapture's, and others with Aperture's. In most of them, he resides in Lane's mansion until 'rediscovered'; this one* was wandering around Rapture both before and after his preservation and has not been allowed out into the real world except to gather parts. Height: 5'7" Weight: 160* though this seems a bit on the chunky side, he's actually mostly machine, replacement parts are heavy, armor is heavy, all those extra bits... Hair: Prematurely white-silver, kept short but usually stylishly flopped into eyes... eye; also likely has wiring running through it for sensing things Eyes: Grey-blue, almost a white shade, but only the right eye is intact and even that's in question. Left eye has been replaced with a Combine-based sensory cluster, stolen off a Scanner. Appearance: Pasty white skin (though can return to a more normal 'fair' if he'd only stop messing with himself), average build but usually has extra bits and bobs attached so he seems to be much bigger and wider than he really is. Some of those bits come off, some do not. No one ever really knows when he's going to just drop a part or take an arm off, he thinks people's reaction to this is hysterical.	Image Credits: City of Heroes NPC version / tektek Character created by Vadrigos
Genetic Abilities: Thomas is incredibly adept at understanding how machinery, electronics, and gadgets work. He has always felt more close to machines than people, which might be due to his parents - who experimented with themselves before he was born, using the Plasmids available for testing in Rapture. That was very early on, so they were a bit... unstable. To call his abilities fully Vortal would probably be a mistake, however he is very skilled and able to 'graft' parts onto himself in ways that virtually no one else can. His body does not reject these implanted items, though it's unclear whether this is just a predisposition to not reject, or a power that fully accepts foreign objects - some of them are Earthly in nature, others from extremely distant worlds, so it's likely this is in fact a power. It may also be why the local Lane hid him away from the Combine entirely, for if they'd been able to really exploit his genetics, the processing of human subjects would have been altogether too quick and easy... Physical Abilities: because he has put ports for many kinds of equipment directly into himself, he can swap out pieces like weaponry, sensory clusters, power supplies, transportation, and the like, with ease. So his overall ability may be poor with one piece and fantastic with another, but he has access to damn near any Combine or Earthly device and is not afraid to try using it.
Icarus Processing: .... There isn't really enough of his original body left to do this to, Melissa took one look at him and decided that if anything would be done with him it's just taking samples of what's left, and maybe splicing him with someone, because he cannot possibly be 'treated' any longer. His genetics, she's noted, are really good for it. Not just 'acceptable', but incredibly good. In fact, between her ability to regrow the substance on her own bones, and his ability to graft... >_>
Skills or Profession: While he has no 'profession' as such, Thomas grew up in the Rapture facility under very little supervision. His original skills were 'street rat', thievery and sleight of hand, navigation around the facility, and watching to learn how to use any given piece of equipment. His innate knowledge of machinery gave him his first real job, a grease monkey aiding one of the upkeep groups. He certainly knows his way around Rapture, or any high-tech area, and would be of use in a Combine Citadel if he would keep to a plan and stick with the Rebels (which is absolutely in doubt, he is that distractible) because he can look over almost anything and know how to fix it, break it, or break it down into parts for later use. After his revival and instruction on how to use computers or other devices, he's been a whiz at programming, code, and security systems. His curiosity and willingness to accept replacement body parts is both well known and obvious, but no one really knows whether he has any particular goals with those things, or just wants to try them all on for size and get a kick out of them, or just what. While he can use many items such as the claws and armor shown above, it does take him some time to adjust to completely new items, such as that eye scanner, but he does so thoroughly, and once he does understand how something will work with his biology, he'll either keep it on himself like that eye, or set it aside for improvements until he does want it permanently on him. His eye and the overall ports for new items are basically the only 'permanent' pieces he has so far.
Personality: Curious, eager, wide-eyed, and brilliant are some of the terms people have used to describe him. Insane, hoarder, uncomfortably inhuman, weird, are others. He is all of that and more: Thomas may very well be 'GLaDOS in a human form', 40 years before she was created and entirely human in nature. In fact, keep them apart. Please. While Thomas has never expressed any desire to destroy humanity or even individual people in it (that aren't already trying to hurt him) he is quite casually destructive and dangerous. Mostly to himself, but he heals surprisingly quickly, and seems to have forgotten about pain entirely. He doesn't seem to notice how people stare at him, is apparently unable to understand how uncomfortable he makes them, and just does not care whether people are talking about him behind his back - or in front of his face, for that matter. If he has any shame or fear, he's either hidden it deeply, or excised it when he put ports into his brain.
Events or History: Thomas exists on numerous Earth dimensions, generally speaking any world with Rapture in it. He lives there as a child, grows up into the weird young teen he is, and then shortly before the end of the place, is put aside by Lane in that dimension, for 'safe...er' keeping. Generally he's forgotten about, until such time that Lane needs to clear out his storage units and face his people - or just leave Earth as he may do at times. Thomas in the Rookery was actually going to be enlisted by Lane, but things went a little differently than expected above the surface, and instead of being put into use at, say, Black Mesa, he was collecting dust for another 40 odd years. When local Lane released local Rhea, and began refitting Rapture, he then recalled there was another from that location tucked somewhere... Brought him out and set him up in the disused mansion, which was probably a mistake. Mostly because then Thomas started picking and poking at the 'things' he found there. Combine things. This is partly why the mansion has been completely rebuilt and scrubbed of its original version, as it would be far too dangerous to use as it had been. He now resides once more in his home of Rapture, along with some others.
Dragon Name: Karph Gender: Male Size/Shoulder/Length: Small, 6' shoulder bipedal / 11' l / 19' and 16' ws Colors: body black with contrasting blue-graphite under chin, belly; wingsails transparent grey; facial markings and crest bright yellow; horns and face mask dark grey; claws white, eyes faceted blue Features: Bipedal Hathian/Firan hybrid, two hind legs with three thick claws, two pairs of transparent leather wings, upper three fingered with two wrist, lower one tine and hands, all with claws; hide is soft and thick; face is long and pointed with nose beak, Hathian mask with split horns in long arc; neck has prominent tall crest; tail is unadorned and pointed Powers: Winged Flight, Karph can fly strongly and maneuver quite well even in difficult conditions or narrow areas, including most of Rapture's halls. He has hardly had the chance to really stretch and do long-distance flights, but he's pretty steady and can fly in smaller locations like atriums and such for a good amount of time before tiring. He cannot really carry Thomas, but he does usually have a satchel or saddlebag arrangement with Thomas's tools and gear should it be required. He walks with a leisurely gait, and sometimes drops to his lower wing-wrists as 'feet', slinking about, he's quite small that way, and can wriggle into places as long as there's room for his weirdly shaped horns to fit. Notably he cannot back up in narrow places for that reason: the horns will catch on things. Teleportation, Karph seems to have mastered on-site teleportation in a way that even Thomas admires and wishes he could build something to emulate. He's capable of teleporting with heavy weights surrounding him (a big machine, several humans, another dragon) up to 500 miles, though he will need recovery time for the longest distances and the heaviest weights. He can sense motion around off-world locations where dragons or people teleport, but is not really very adept with that and prefers remaining on one world. Verbal and Mental Communication, unlike most of his siblings, Karph is a talker verbally at least as much as he is mentally. His telepathic voice is clear and static-free, though his physical one is somewhat hissy and garbled at times. He has a very good vocabulary, but does tend to use the big words where they aren't needed. He uses them correctly, mind you, but they're mostly for show. (Magnusson appreciates this quite a bit!) Electronic Control and Manipulation, Karph is very good with computers, security systems, code, and the like, just like Thomas is, and they can compare notes. Where Thomas writes code, Karph can proof it, and make any needed changes even after it's been implemented. He can also change existing code written by anyone else, and has been known to play long-distance electronic chess with Martin over in the EC (perhaps even over in another dimension), using their unique method of 'changing code and leave a calling card'. He can appear invisible to virtually any electronic sense, including Thomas's eye, but also can adjust that sense so he can detect other 'invisible' things, like tracking the whereabouts of stray Scanners or Manhacks. Also, interrupt those items, commandeer them, and turn them to work with the Rebels permanently. Static production, though his voice might be static, his power to produce a sharp cloud of electric buildup is quite handy. With this, he can walk or fly through an area and futz out most equipment, at least briefly, or produce a field of mildly dangerous static that disables small items and disrupts Human or other living things for a short time. Long enough for them to drown in the puddle they're standing in, so he's careful not to do this to people that are supposed to be alive... Current manipulation, Karph is good enough with existing electricity that he can force it to go where he wants it to, though it does have to have an unimpeded path - he can route it out of broken lines and into himself, then back into the line, or into a new spot, though briefly. Also he can interrupt it enough to allow someone to pass with him along an electrified corridor that would kill anyone else. Weather sense, though it's not of much use down in Rapture, Karph can sense but not really control any electrically charged weather pattern in a 2 mile radius. This is much more handy near Combine held Cities, and he does seem to be able to also sense Portal Storms though that might not be because of this power, and instead might be because he's ingested a couple of those weird Plasmids that Thomas offers him ... Parentage: Amphithorinath and Toko Origin: Carramba High Other Info: Attracted to the "mad science" type, Karph enjoys wandering the halls of Rapture at least as much as his siblings like slinking about Carramba High with their friends. Down here in the ocean, he's a touch intimidated by 'what's outside', sometimes the considerably bigger Pyrrhan dragons come along and whoo boy let's make ol' Karph feel inadequate, okay? Overall though, he enjoys being of use to help fix up the place, and likes seeing the memories that Thomas shares of Rapture when it was still 'new'. He does want to fix up larger locations so that some of the flighted dragons like himself might actually be able to fly about?