Name: Randolf Price, aka "The Price"
Gender: Male, straight, he/him
Age/DOB: around 38 / September 30
Origin: Primal Earth, Paragon City, Rhode Island USA
Family: though not married or apparently even in a relationship right now, Randolf does have a daughter, Ebony, among the Color Guard at Carramba and the Rookery, and it was Ebony that indicated he should come to the Ball; he has had numerous heroines (and a fair few heroes) claim to be 'interested' in him, he would be quite the catch after all
Other: note well that Ebony was aged and created in a lab, but he does consider her his blood kin and is highly dad-protective of her, so if you want to date her you've got to pass his dark gaze...
Height: 6'
Weight: 160, sleek and muscular, not a burly man but used to physical labor
Hair: very dark brown, afro kinked and usually kept in braids and gathered in a tail, actually quite long but he doesn't like having it short
Eyes: Dark reddish brown, intense, under sharp brows; at times they glow with a strange black or deep red shade, mainly when using powers, but sometimes when he's very angry or trying to make a point he thinks isn't getting across, this literally is Void energy
Appearance: dark brown skin, with a few small scars from his prior work and a few larger ones that you won't see from his current profession of heroics. Considered extremely handsome and quite physically impressive in posture as well as form. Has high cheekbones and a wide nose, full but often frowning lips, and keeps well-trimmed facial hair as shown. Wears a variety of costumes (below) for different uses. He does have others, but many of them are 'Ebony wanted to play dressup with Daddy' so they aren't exactly fit for superheroic use! The glasses he wears are for protection, not for vision correction, though they also serve the added purpose of having a Heads-Up Display and communication network with his supergroup SACCADE.
Images made in City of Heroes
Abilities/Skills: Shown below are his 'superheroic' stats, however they are far from his only skills. Price started out as a technician and repairman, though this is only because his family couldn't afford a proper college degree in engineering. Turned out he wasn't going to need it soon enough. He apprenticed at a local repair shop and soon was working on not only brought-in items, but their computer system, phones, and installation for home use when customers work was done. Obviously this did lead to his newfound abilities in a tangental way. However, Price is also incredibly good at numbers, coding, and organizational skills. If he hadn't run off to become a superhero he would very likely have inherited the shop he was working at ... oh wait he did, technically it's the front for some of SACCADE's ops. He tackles the administrative aspect of the group until Ms Ham takes over, but he is still essentially in charge of day to day operations as well as overall placement of operatives in the field. Also he has the final say as to who gets into the supergroup, and does quite a bit of recruiting and head-hunting on his own while in the field. If Price pulls a young hero aside to have a chat, it's very likely that they'll be showing up on the doorstep because he's already done the vetting process. He does make for an intimidating boss-man, but as long as all the parts and players are working together properly, it doesn't matter whether it's a broken television or a super secret extraction operation - you'd never know anything was wrong once he's done with it.
Price's heroic powers stem from magic and blood, and as such he's listed in Paragon as a 'Magic' origin. That said he takes a highly technical angle on everything he does, not one to fall too easily into mysticism (though you wouldn't know it from the decorations in his home now...). He can summon shadow creatures and power from the Void, which cause terror and immobilize foes, or literally grip the enemy in chill ghostly hands. He has focused this energy through his mind for other forms of attack and defense, and is able to painfully rend the minds or spirits of his enemies, or even punt them into next week with telekinetic blows, bursts of energy from the Void. Magically he is adept because of his Mu bloodline, so the odd spell or ritual aren't a problem for him, but he doesn't rely on that kind of magic save for transportation purposes, as he learned how to fly 'because all the cool mages do it'.
History: Randolf Price never suspected that he was of the lineage of the Mu mages, but his magical prowess surfaced when he was on a job in Kings Row, servicing a satellite dish on the roof of a tall building. Nearby, a coven of Thorns had begun a ritual, and somehow impacted Price. On returning to the building's maintenance stairwell, he could hear a terrified child's voice. Or so he thought: it was a mind crying out for justice. A second child's frantic screams brought his attention to an apartment, where a man was busy beating his girlfriend senseless. Price nstinctually reached out to stop him, and the man's very soul was absorbed into Price's mind. The child he'd first heard: dead already. But the second was still alive. Price founded SACCADE to deal with such people.
He learned how to control these powers he'd gained, explored his bloodline much more thoroughly after being sent on missions from City Hall, did research on the Circle and Mu, finally coming to grips with his abilities and dedicating his team to preventing or at least mitigating the criminal activities in Paragon City.
***
"You'd think there would be more secrecy," Neon said, looking at the structure and its construction going on. "Is this where you want all of it?"
"All, not... really." Price smirked. "There is much more already built."
At that, Mortar, Morel Targa, perked up. "Do tell?"
"Who am I to build a super large secret base with full functionality with a warehouse and shop front in the middle of a bustling city, and tell?"
Morel chuckled. There was a reason an arms dealer like himself, and his 'girlfriend' Neon were the first to be contacted to join this new hidden group. Mortar would be tapped to put in security systems, and Neon their comms, monitoring the entire eastern seaboard, but more specifically Paragon City. Over time, they would be joined by others. Some would stay, a very few would be... let go for one reason or another. Those folks didn't remember being in the group at all, rather thinking they were working for a temp agency and while their adventures with SACCADE would still be there, SACCADE itself would be completely forgotten. That was likely due to Ms Ham's influence, their... den mother? Head librarian, keeper of knowledge. Their blind ninja librarian Yvonne Ham kept track of all of the fiddly bits, loose ends, and every file or tome that crossed the group's threshold.
They had magic, technology, mutation, and science, all mixed with natural abilities here and there, among their group. They had people from disparate dimensions, Earths that were definitely not this one - Primal Earth it was referred to, though that seemed to imply more than was proper since there had been plenty of Earths before the one that Paragon City sat in. They had space aliens and futuristic travelers, exotic cat-girls, and high school students with bachelors degrees. They even had comic book creators, at least in their down time... Who also ran the nightclub down there.
'Down there', being 'the simulated city' that had been put in below the warehouse district's streets. It mirrored those streets above, with buildings on either side of two roads. It was quite an architectural marvel that no one but SACCADE members or their very, very immedate groups, would ever see. Even the workers who put in many of the features such as electricity and power lines, plumbing and sewers, or other infrastructure to keep the place from collapsing... They didn't remember it either. They got paid handsomely, both by the City itself, and Price.
Saving the world was not cheap. Of course a couple of their earlier connections also helped out - Craig Daily and Salem West were among both the earliest to join and the richest members. How they got that way here on Primal Earth ... shhh. Another secret or two.
The place grew and thrived. Each of their members were afforded a place to decorate as they saw fit: hollows with house-sized building areas? Filled up with quaint suburbian picket fences or exotic offworld trees and statues, glass and steel, giant mechs and huge mainframes. They would gather in the meeting rooms that both Price and Neon created within their own 'home' spaces: Price for the higher-ups to make decisions, and in Neon and Mortar's area to hash out future activities with the public. The group hardly ever met wholly - but they had the room. They had the big main hall with portals, energy, research, and all the records that Ms Ham didn't have room for in her more formal library. It was to say the least, a bustling place. Price did have to hire on several dozen other people - to keep the place working smoothly. Janitors to technicians, bookkeepers and lunch ladies. His supergroup was a thriving community in and of itself, below the streets in the southwest corner of King's Row. Of course there were dangers above, the Lost and the Circle of Thorns, and all - but this was Price's home territory. It wasn't even ten blocks from where he first encountered his true calling.
***
He had been in charge of this group for at least five years, when some other interesting people came along. Extremely powerful ones, but those that enjoyed keeping the peace, making people safe, doing the bidding of a proper orderly world. The Vahh people were all already 'superheroes' on their own world, but it came about in such a different manner than here. Not magic so much as mutation and powers that went along with it, mostly. There was no denying Keenan's power was magical in a very broad sense, though. How did he even manage so many things on his plate? Here in Paragon, there in his Rookery as well as back on their 'original' earths? And then Twoarth... But it was the Rookery that got him interested in branching out there.
They had kids in need of instruction, on Twoarth, and magic flowed properly there. They had kids from the Rookery's weird computer aided 'Enrichment Center' thing that attended that school, Carramba, and pretty soon Price and a couple others were scooting between dimensions like it was nothing. Portal Corp didn't help this, they didn't even know about it. They had their own worries in Paragon. Carramba was a place where worry could take a back seat. Time flowed weirdly between worlds, too, and he recognized several people that had become friends or group members as kids from other dimensions at that school. He had to keep silent about that. Who knew what might happen if, say, Eedra the representitive from Kthari in a galaxy 'far far away', met her teenage self from 'a slightly different galaxy far far no farther away than that'?
Price found that he truly enjoyed both of these worlds, and people who knew him better - those few that he let in close - felt that it was because he could let loose in one world, and be a dad-mentor type in the other. Speaking of that... He'd arrived to Carramba's 'scene' during a strange time for the Rookery too. They had those students, girls and then later a bunch of guys, that were cloned off of people. He was a bit put off at first by the idea, because of course Crey had long been attempting to steal DNA from heroes for their 'Revenant' program. But this was all voluntary, and... he volunteered.
What was even better, these days, was that because of who their 'original' DNA came from, and how he was also found in numerous places around the Rookery... when it was requested, a few of the 'donor parents' of those last few groups of Color Guard kids, and some that were actually parents to a second generation group, they got to live to raise their new clone-kids or real-born-children in the security and safety of one of Keenan's 'side dimensions'. Some chose to visit this place known as the Healing Den. Others chose to blip back and forth through time. But they got to raise their children as a family in that way.
Price was never so proud of his daughter Ebony than when she first spoke - full sentences, and not much baby-talk between, and just as early as some children start putting ba-ba and goo-goo together. It was a fascinating break from things at Paragon, he felt it too dangerous to head back there with a young child, toddling around even the underground of SACCADE's areas might be a little iffy. But in a carefully built 'construct', they studied magic, science, he took her to Carramba and let her watch classes there too. She grew up and attended those classes later.
And then she - and many of the other Color Guard in short order - was paired up with a dragon. He'd not really considered this, the Rookery was filled with them, heck even Carramba had its own dragonry program now. When had that happened?!
Not overnight. But it sure felt like hardly a moment had passed, when Ebony and some others from the Guard would be performing the first opening act at an event's Stage. And she wanted her daddy there to watch. He hooked up with Wilson Carver, who adapted one of Price's outfits to suit the theme of black and white. What better for a master of the shadows, than an oil and obsidian shaded outfit?
He looked his best, but his daughter looked even better, performing with the Color Guard, who slipped her into the 'Colorless' guard as they swapped out their brightest members to the greyscale of the theme for this big New Year's Eve party. This Checkerboard Ball. Price had attended parties and gatherings all the time, more at Carramba than Paragon and certainly more formal events than 'parties'. But this one was special, because this was where he met Yağ.
The clock was growing later, closer to the Midnight bell. There had been dozens of dragons over the course of the evening, and he recognized the signs that an 'hour' on that clock would be considerably different if you were on the other side of the bathroom door... Thankfully he wasn't in the restroom when this sleek and smoky dragoness appeared nearby. She did appear: just out of nothing, stepped from the shadow. She looked so proud of herself, and with good reason. The rest of her clutch were still in the draconic side of the venue!
"I knew I would find you over here," she spoke with the voice of a child, but like Ebony before her her words had weight. "I wish that I could see your other home, it's on your mind a lot. But I think I can reach that one," she pointed her beaked face toward the nearest large window that framed the Stage below. They were on a balcony above the ballroom floor, with a great view of the three framing portions on the right. One of them...
"That's the Shadow Shard," Price muttered, "how in..." then he shook his head, laughing to himself. Of course it would be Vahh, one or more of him, their magical energies were all over this place, and that location, and one of his own alternate personalities (maybe a cloned body from the Rookery, maybe not given that it was a little more ... spooky than his normal) even had a spot in SACCADE. So they all knew about the Shard, and the other associated locales.
"Well if you can reach the Shard," Price finally said, "you can certainly reach my home... though you'd be less able to fly around freely in the group's base."
"I don't know about that!" Yağ giggled, and her big smoky wings sort of vanished, that lighter grey 'tail' plume of smoke pulled in, she became more solid, "I can get into many places without flying..."
Eventually the little dragon would grow big enough to ride, which he would only do carefully - he could fly beside her anyway. He only wished that it was safe for her to fly the skies around Paragon, but Carramba would certainly do.
Gender: Female (prefers males)
*Size: 7'2" s/ 50' l / 64'6" ws
Build: muscular, lean
Physical Features: Pernese/Smoke, four legs and two wings, claws on feet only, long neck and tail, beak-like face, faceted eyes, smoke based webbing and crest/tail that may vanish entirely; Bonding is not required but they do enjoy having one, Sponsorships are unlikely, multibonding doesn't generally occur, and non-human bonds are possible
Colors: Body Solid Oil black with silver and light grey markings on legs, tail, wing fingers, and face; wingsails oil black, crest Smoke pale grey; claws light, eyes faceted yellow
Stats: Strength 4, Speed 5, Endurance 2, Agility 6, Health 2, Intelligence 3
Abilities: Winged Flight (5) With the other powers at her disposal, Yağ is an extremely clever flier, and strong enough to hold several riders or gear while still maintaining a good flight. She's quite capable of doing tricks and speed dives, escapes, and chases, though does keep in mind any form of injuries or breakage that might be incurred and checks with Price first before going off with a passenger
Teleports - Nexus (6) able to move with supreme ease between worlds and dimensions through the Void, that shadowy realm seems like a second home to her... though not necessarily to anyone she picks up and moves through it. She can visit Dantinath in her odd static-like home, The Outside, as well as Levi's Void. Locally (5) on site teleportation allows her to effectively vanish before an enemy and appear behind them, and she participates in fighting 'large' creatures using this tactic since it hardly wears her out as long as the teleports are short (within 100 meters); anything longer distance on-location is apt to wear her out within a couple pops, so she generally either just flies or moves through the Nexus to do it instead
Communication - Verbal Speech (6) this dragon is surprisingly adept with complex words, ideas, and keeps accents in mind when she meets new people - always asks their name pronunciation and the like, and has never been known to slip up and say the wrong thing or mutilate a name. In fact she does a little more talking than Price, and he lets her take the lead when things are relaxed, though she will definitely always be conferring with him Telepathically (4) to make sure that she doesn't accidentally invite an enemy to dinner. She can communicate with him at virtually any distance on-world, and has no issue listening in to his non-Earth travels, though instigating communication that way is more difficult (so... just... move to him)
Particle Command (6) and Vapor Control (3) if there was a need for complete cleanliness, removing the dust from a room or the air, Yağ is your girl. She can maintain a barrier in even high winds, if there are things on it smaller than a 6-sided-die being flung around, collecting the grit and particles to assemble in a shield or wall shape, or push it away in a burst, shape it into shrouds or even weapons. These particle based items work to slice, bash, and otherwise affect as normal but only for a few hits at most as they will dissolve easily since they're not really cohesive items. Vapor control adds a motion and uplift or downdraft. Her control over vapors is more localized and close range, but she can use it while in motion and keeps track somehow with the temperature and motion
*Density Control (5) Yağ is able to 'soak' her smoky wings and tail to grow in size, or solidify her wings at the cost of a bit of her body's size and weight; she uses this at will while flying - she can fly with those shadowy-smoke wings even without doing this, but she's able to fluctuate density in ways to facilitate quick turns, her tail into a heavy rudder, or suddenly removing drag by removing the smoke entirely for a very fast dive; she can only do this for herself and her body, but does also cleverly put particles in play too and adds that weight or shape in conjunction seamlessly. When her wings are solid she's around 4'6" at the shoulder, and when they're fully gone she stands nearly 9'6" at the shoulder
Shadow Manipulation (3) being able to move through the Void sometimes she comes out with a bit of darkness enshrouding her. This moves with her, keeping her in the darkness until she lets it go, though she does need to have moved through the Void to pick up that 'living' shadow first. She can't shape it the same way as Price can, but if she brings some to him it obeys his control as well
Assisted Firebreath (1) she only knows she's capable of this because occasionally she'll burp with the dust in the air, and it'll catch fire with just the right amount of ambient heat, aside from that there's nothing about this power that she's practiced
Parents: Dantinath + Dymati
Bond: Randolf Price, Voluntary Companionship
Meeting Notes: (above)