[Character] Prometheus

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[Character] Prometheus

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Prometheus

Real Name: Samuel Desmares
Other Aliases: Kid Gladiator (formerly), Hyperion (formerly)
Gender: Male
Birthplace: New Orleans, Louisiana; United States of America
Nationality: British-American (formerly also French)
Date of Birth: 31st May, 1946
Height: 6 ft. 5 in. (195 cm)
Weight: 230 lbs (104.3 kg)
Allegiance: Section 20, United Kingdom; Association, United States

Biography

Origins
Samuel Desmares was born on Tuesday, 31st of May, 1946, in the city of New Orleans, where his father had been an active superhero for some eleven years, since 1935. His father was the then-extremely-famous superhero known as Gladiator, with the secret identity of Alexander Desmares, who had become something of a symbol of the United States and all that it had begun to represent following the war. His mother was a French woman called Camille Toussaint, and she was a superhero in her own right, with powers of superhuman speed and agility, as well as more than enough in the way of durability to withstand moving at hypersonic speeds. It was therefore only natural that Samuel himself would begin to show signs of power, though they sought at first to shield him from his own superhuman abilities, fearing that they would spoil him or – indeed – accidentally get someone hurt.

Another thing that his parents feared was a societal reaction; someone born of a black man and a white woman, even given the public influence of their publicly affectionate alter-egos of Gladiator and Vitesse, their position in society was marginalised. Their public identities did, however, accelerate the growth of civil rights, with segregation being more or less gone by 1950. Samuel, fortunately, was only occasionally teased by others for his interracial background.

For the first seven years of his life, Samuel was relatively normal for a child his size. He displayed a lot in the way of greater than normal strength and something in the way of greater than normal speed, similarly to his father, only at a much lessened rate of growth. Soon, his parents began to fear the opposite; that he would not truly develop powers, but instead become just a little stronger than his peers, ever to live in the shadow of his parents accomplishments. Still, this didn’t mean much to a young boy who had discovered the joys of old adventure stories, which he spent most of his time absorbed with. Samuel did quite well at school, showing a fairly decent aptitude for mathematics and literature, often coming top of his class, though he didn’t often show much interest in the sciences. At the age of eight, however, a few things changed for him.

Becoming a Hero
Samuel was in the middle of town with a friend of the family when a drive-by shooting suddenly took place; several bullets struck Samuel, in the chest, head and neck. Not a single one of them managed to do so much as pierce his skin or bruise him. This confirmed to his extremely relieved parents that their son was, in fact, superhuman. Samuel’s powers only continued to grow from there, and they began to develop at an alarming rate, especially in the summer. By the age of twelve, Samuel Desmares had very clearly begun to develop the same powers as his father, but he was also faster, a little more like his mother. Also notable was that it had taken his father until he was thirty-three to be able to fly, and that Samuel was soaring above the clouds by the time of his fourteenth birthday.

Eventually, taking up the title of the Teen Gladiator, and fashioning a costume that was similar to his father’s, Samuel began to follow in his father’s footsteps, becoming something of a sidekick. For three years, he helped the helpless, averted accidents, rescued people from falling off of buildings, fought off occasional criminals, and lived as a superhero. After that three years, what changed was the name that he used, as the fast-growing mind and power of Samuel Desmares didn’t warrant staying within the shadow of the original Gladiator. His mother suggested the name Hyperion, after a Titan of Greek mythology; to a seventeen year old Sam, the name sounded impressive, and he adopted it.

His civilian identity had begun to grow as well, by this time beginning to show an interest in writing and poetry. Though he was a poor hand at the latter. He wasn’t, however, particularly interested in attending a college or pursuing an academic career; life, to him, had already offered the first pathway that he would take. He was a superhero, born with great power, and thus he would take up his great responsibility; he felt somewhat beholden to do so. But the rose-tinted view of life for him would very soon break. His father was being hounded by the government for not being active enough against the perceived threat of the Soviet Union in his costumed identity; and he was also hounded by several of the local supporters of HUAC in his civilian life for ‘mysterious behaviour’. Samuel himself toned down his activities as Hyperion, not wishing for his own ‘odd behaviour’ to be noticed and reflect badly on his now-inactive mother. She didn’t deserve to be unfairly peered at. By the time of his twentieth birthday, he had almost completely abandoned the life of a superhero, focusing instead on his civilian identity.

When Gladiator finally faced off against some of the Communist agents, he encountered the duo known as Hammer and Sickle. Both possessing rare amounts of superhuman strength, speed and a level of what might be termed superhuman cruelty, they literally tore Gladiator apart. Alexander was just days away from his fifty-ninth birthday, and Samuel himself was only barely twenty-one years old. For the first time in his life, Samuel was both scared and bereaved.

His father, the one who showed him the meaning of heroism, was gone. His father, an immortal and unstoppable champion, was never coming back. Samuel had often believed that his father was very completely invincible; but now there wasn’t even enough left to warrant a matchbox. But there was an overwhelming sense of duty and justice flooding into the now-published adventure writer; a world without Gladiator was a world without hope. He knew that he could never bring Gladiator back, but the world needed a hero. The world needed a guardian, someone to guide them through and show them a guiding light even if it meant making an ultimate sacrifice. With an avenging promise in his heart, his superhero identity of Prometheus was born, and ready to take his father’s place as the country’s premier hero. Or at least the best he could manage.

Almost a million people turned up to the state funeral for the man whose real name none but a few actually knew.

Early Career
Though heroic activities were nothing new to Samuel, with his having been an active hero for seven years as Hyperion, being a solo hero was a little different. As a fully-fledged hero in his own right, he didn’t have the safety net or sense of backup that his father had provided. Therefore as the protector of New Orleans, he stood alone; though he knew that he could call upon the help of the Association if he needed to. He was nervous about doing the job badly, but he managed it well for a long while, and rapidly earned the trust of those around him. He was Prometheus. To everyone, he rapidly became the Titan of Gold, with skin of steel, the strength of a thousand men and the ability to steal fire from the very gods themselves. He just often wished he felt quite the same way.

Like most superheroes, he very soon acquired his fair share of enemies, and many of them were the same old enemies of his father’s; with Blackstar chief among them. Foremost amongst the ones he counted as enemies, however, were Hammer and Sickle, nicknamed the Soviet Sociopaths by the local newspapers. They were what Samuel was afraid of; superpowered people who were truly willing to go to any ends for their own sick amusement. Next to them; the once-terrifying Blackstar, who had yet to cause a single death outside of an accident in 1949, seemed more like a joke. But much to his chagrin, he didn’t encounter them often enough for the opportunity to deal with them to present itself – so he waited.

Prometheus was soon offered membership in the Association, and accepted the position, widening his horizons as a hero to cover more than the city of New Orleans. At first, he was a marginal member in a group with everyone from the Archangel to Lady Liberty, not really standing out on a global stage or being defined as a member standing out on his own. When he was twenty-four, however, during the first invasion of the Jahn'Khin, he realised how integral he was in an incident where he managed to defeat the leader of the invaders single-handedly and tipped the balance just enough to force them into a retreat. A very short time after the invasion was over, within hours in fact, he found himself confronted by the ones who killed his father; the fight was therefore inevitable.

Though weary from his ordeal, his sudden rage and hatred gave him strength and the sunlight was able to rejuvenate him enough to fight. And what Hammer and Sickle encountered, for one second, was not a man or a hero. Nor a monster; it was, ever-so-briefly, the Avatar of a God; a vengeful, and forceful God who would exact His wrath upon those who had slighted him. First he broke Hammer in two with a kick to the spine, and then he incinerated Sickle with the fiery glare of his heat vision, for an instant becoming far more powerful than even his father had been at the height of power.

Hammer and Sickle were the first people that he had ever purposefully caused the deaths of, and the empty looks in their eyes would remain with him for decades afterwards. In his hands lay the power to deal death, and he swore, on that day, that it would not make him a monster. His career as a hero truly began there; with his first long gaze into the abyss. He was, being one of the few members to have purposefully killed anyone, almost expelled from the Association for his actions, but ultimately the decision was made that the vengeance was justifiable and that Hammer and Sickle were both somewhat dangerous.

Much to Prometheus' surprise, he was approached by the Russian superhuman known as Redstar, who claimed that she supported his quest for vengeance, and she apologised for the actions of her teammates. It put Prometheus' viewpoint into a different perspective, and it was one that shaped his view of future events to some degree. And also shaped his actions. What he saw in Redstar was most certainly a Communist and a Soviet, but what he didn’t see was the sociopathic and murderous urges of the monsters known as Hammer and Sickle. He saw a woman who believed in the good of the common worker, and that the unequal distribution of wealth was merely a flawed system that needed to be rectified and replaced as opposed to someone who viewed all Americans as evil. He saw a very reasonable woman, and almost fell in love. Almost. From that point on he developed something of a healthy respect for Redstar, and the Red Guard that she was a member of.

(All information current as of 1970)

Personality
Though Prometheus often appears to be gruff and taciturn, having actually been labelled a 'grumpy old man' by his granddaughter on at least one occasion, he is known to actually possess something of an innate kindness. While he will not suffer foolishness lightly, he tends to have a habit of putting the lives of others before his own, and seems to suffer a very bad case of what has been jokingly labelled 'chronic hero syndrome'. It is known that he used to be more cheerful prior to his wife's murder, but he has seen a lot of tragedy in his life, even with some of the greatest power in the world, and it frustrates him greatly when he can't use his powers or his abilities to just go and ''fix'' something.

Since the birth of his granddaughter, Prometheus does seem to smile more often, and he dotes on his family members as much as possible. For reasons of personal security and the safe-keeping of his identity, his usual personality as Samuel Desmares is different to his usual personality as Prometheus, with the former being how he really is. As Prometheus, he often adopts the demeanour of a superhero and presents a front of emotionless invincibility while presenting far more of his humanity whilst he is an ordinary person.

Powers and Abilities

Powers
Solar Energy Absorption: the main source of Prometheus' power is actually the ability to absorb solar energy and radiation. It is a completely irresistible process that activates the second he is struck by solar energy, which includes many forms of sunlight. He is also, if plunged into the heart of a fusion reactor, capable of absorbing the energy from that as well; it is this solar absorption that gives him access to the rest of his powers. He has been able to expel the solar energy in order to rapidly recharge a solar battery. This ability is mostly mystical in nature and origin, and is believed to originate from a gift given to his distant ancestor by the Egyptian solar deity, Ra. Though some versions give the deity as Apollo or Helios.

Superhuman Strength: While the exact magnitude of his lifting strength isn’t actually known, it is rumoured to be so high that he can lift well over six hundred million tonnes, for a normal load; typically, his strength can also outdo that, allowing him to list many times that amount in conditions where he is exerting himself. He can, of course, also achieve much more than this via the absorption of heavy amounts of solar energy, which doesn’t appear to have any clear limit to him. He also possesses the ability to expel large amounts of air, or at least impart enough force with a single exhalation to produce hurricane-force winds, which is considered to be a side-effect of his superhuman strength.

Invulnerability: He is durable enough to shrug off any sort of attack short of a multi-megaton energy blast. He has proven to be completely impervious to bullets, ballistic missiles, tank shells and even some megaton-level nuclear weaponry, but has shown some vulnerability to certain types of radiation. He has also been shown to be able to resist attacks with greater power than this, but he can be injured by weaponry that is on a high multi-megaton level, with a hundred megaton blast theoretically being able to wound him enough so as to render him unconscious. He is also immune to most, if not all, atmospheric effects, and is also immune to all toxins, diseases and poisons. He is also in possession of superhuman stamina, able to fight for a solid forty-eight hours before tiring, though this is mostly a result of his immense physical fitness as opposed to a direct power.

Solar Regeneration: While exposed to direct sunlight, he can rapidly heal from almost any wound he has sustained, making him extremely difficult to kill during the day.

Energy Blasts: his ability to expel solar energy is most commonly seen in blasts or beams of sheer heat or light; his often-seen use of laser vision is a common example of this. He can also expel such light from his body by unleashing blasts of energy from his hands, but this is a rarer use due to its lack of comparative accuracy. He can also unleash the energy in what he calls a ‘supernova’ wherein he expels the solar energy of his powers in all directions and incinerates everything in a wide radius. This can sometimes cause him to suddenly lose his powers inadvertently if he overdoes it.

Flight and Super-Speed: The speed of his flight has yet to be truly measured on any scale. It is known that he is willing to move at hypersonic speeds in an atmosphere, and perhaps equal or exceed the speed of light whilst in space. The mechanism behind his flight appears to be mystical in nature. He can think and move at great speed, and has a running speed that at least equals his ability to fly. He can also choose to perceive the world in slow motion, being able to move and think at what he would consider a normal speed while everyone else in the world is slowed almost to a halt.

Superhuman Senses: He is able to hear at almost any frequency, and over very, very long distances. He can hear, for instance, an individual heart-beat in a neighbouring street. His vision is also similarly augmented, and he can view the entire visual spectrum, including enough in the way of x-rays so as to see through objects. He can also see far enough to pick out individual details on the surface of a fly’s wing from a mile away, and he can see microscopically enough to pick out individual atoms. He also possesses some level of cosmic-level connection and awareness, but this power is latent and appears to be a power that lacks usefulness.

Abilities
Though possessing a genius-level intellect and some rudimentary knowledge of most sciences, the most formal scientific education possessed by Prometheus consists of a high-school diploma, with his college attendance in his thirties having been to learn more in the way of literature and teaching. Despite this, his own natural ability to think very quickly, coupled with his naturally intuitive nature, allows him to adapt to some situations where scientific knowledge would have been useful. Though in this area, he also occasionally employs the philosophy of 'hitting things very hard'. He is also a capable grappler and boxer, trained by several experts so that he might be able to match the rare metahumans capable of similar feats to his own, but this is becoming increasingly rare as his actual level of power is steadily rising.

Due to his education and various studies, he is quite knowledgeable about history, current events, and literature. In addition, he is also a skilled writer, and his civilian identity of Samuel Desmares has published half a dozen sword and sorcery novels to varying levels of success. He also writes as a columnist for some local newspapers, denouncing the evils of superheroes and that they are utterly pointless, highlighting ‘that Prometheus character’ as a primary example. He enjoys the feeling of irony it brings him, and it serves to distract attention from his nature as a superhero. Currently, he also works as an English literature tutor at one of the Iveson Academies

Weaknesses:
Magic: Though he is invulnerable to almost everything else, Prometheus loses much of his imperviousness when attacked with magic, and it is far more effective on him than it ought to be. Sometimes, if he is truly hurt by an attack from a magical source, it can cause him to lose his powers until he can recharge them again. The reason for this is that his own powers are magical in themselves, and the interference of various magical energies can cause the magical energy that permeates his own body to backfire or turn itself in on him, making magical attacks far more effective. A sufficiently powerful magical attack will disrupt his power field entirely, and render him mostly powerless for the thirty seconds to a minute it takes for him to recharge.

Solar Energy: Another of his major weaknesses is the requirement for solar rejuvenation. If he goes without contact with direct sunlight or a similar form of energy for more than twenty-four hours, his powers slowly begin to dwindle away, though they have not vanished entirely since one incident in which he was actually thrown into the sun itself and was supercharged. These two weaknesses have been exploited by foes who have managed to imprison him before now; depower him using magic and imprison him in a location that lacks contact with direct solar energy. However, due to his age and amount of solar exposure over the years, at least once having been thrown into the sun, he retains at least part of his power when not recharged.

Mental Attacks: He is theoretically as vulnerable to mental assault as a normal human being, despite his high levels of intellect and willpower, but he is wilful enough to resist even some of the stronger mental assaults.
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'For the moment, mortal, they find the thought of killing me more desirable than that of killing you.'
'And what are their chances?'
'The answer to that is evident in how long they've been hesitating, wouldn't you think, mortal?'

-Anomander Rake and Ganoes Paran in Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
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