Faith

TABLE OF CONTENTS PERSONALITY • ABILITIES • WEAKNESSES • EQUIPMENT • BACKSTORY • AFFILIATIONS • FRIENDS • FOES • GALLERY • SOUNDTRACK • OOC NOTES • COMMENTS Personality PERSONALITY:     Erin possesses many qualities that one might expect of a knight. She is calm, patient, and loyal to a fault. She tends to see the best in the people around her, and feels that those who do wrong should be given a chance to redeem themselves. That's not to say she's a pushover entirely. While she is friendly to most everyone she meets, she is not so quick to extend full trust to just anybody. Once her trust is earned, however, you'll never find a more loyal person to have in your corner. She's not the type to nag, and despite the fact that she holds Christian beliefs, she's not judgmental and prefers not to proselytize. If anything, she believes she can do more good for her fellow man by demonstrating how to be a good person, and by showing what the power of faith can do for a believer. In other words, rather preach at people, she lets her good deeds do the talking. Some of that warm and fuzzy quality Erin has about her cools a bit in the presence of evil, supernatural entities. She was brought up in an order who's primary function in modern times is to defend mankind from DEMON, after all. In the presence of such evil, she is steadfast, stoic, and unfaltering. Abilities ABILITIES: Faith Erin's choice of hero moniker aptly describes the fuel for her powers. For Erin, faith isn't proselytizing to non-believers, paying lip service only to her God. For Erin, her faith means showing those around her the power of her God through her acts and deeds, without advertising to others who or what she is about (unless asked), and fully trusting that her God will pull through for her in the end. When she is full of faith and conviction, her attacks become more powerful and her healing abilities are more potent. When that faith wavers, so do her powers. Should something occur that truly causes her to question her faith in God, it could very well strip her of her powers. Divine Healing Erin has been granted the power to heal the sick and injured. She needs to be within 10 feet of her target, though she often prefers to be in much closer proximity when using this power. For minor injuries and afflictions, she does not require much focus. For major injuries, especially those that are critical or potentially fatal, she needs to have complete focus, with no interruptions. She is able to cast out her healing powers in a sphere around her, but the effect is not as powerful as when she focuses on one specific target, therefore making it not an ideal solution when there severe wounds to see to. Celestial Blasts Erin is able to gather up divine celestial power and use it offensively to fire off projectile blasts. She can do this either with hand gestures, or through channeling the power through Gratia, her sword. It can also be used as a source of illumination. The blast is a blinding bright. This power's effectiveness depends on what the target is. Against your average human or metahuman with a normal resistance to attacks, it's pretty effective. If the target is resistant to damage, not so much. However, if the target something evil and supernatural, it's devastating. Holy Purification Think of this power as an evil, supernatural entity repellent. Erin can cast this in a sphere around herself, at a radius of roughly 10 feet, and keep such creatures at bay. It is painful for evil creatures to come into contact with, deadly to the weaker variety (such as fledgling vampires or zombies), and usually is enough to keep them off of her for a short time. Multilingual Erin is pretty well traveled, having spent a significant amount of her young life living in foreign countries, and as a result she has learned other languages. She is fluent in Tagalog, Filipino, Pangasinan, English, and Indonesian. She is also proficient in Sinhalese and Tamil. Weaknesses WEAKNESSES: Only Human After All Erin is human, and just as susceptible to injury or illness as any other non super powered person. Fairly self explanatory. Unknown Depths After being caught up in the tragic events of the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, Erin has a very understandable fear of large bodies of water. She does alright if the water is clear enough to see the bottom, or if the water is fairy shallow. Being near large bodies of water can bring on symptoms of anxiety, and if the situation is stressful enough can bring on a full blown panic attack. She manages this fear by quite simply AVOIDING large bodies of water. Equipment EQUIPMENT: Gratia Gratia was presented to Erin when she was promoted from being an acolyte within the Modern Order of Templars, when she turned 18. The sword from pommel to tip is 40" long. The edges of the blade run parallel for most of the blade length before tapering off to a round point at the tip. The Latin phrase Non Nobis, Domine, Non Nobis, Sed Nomini Tuo Da Glorium is inscribed along the blade's length. The pommel of the sword features a Templar coin, the grip wrapped with red leather and wire over-wrap. The coin set into the pommel features on one side the image of the cross set against a shield, and the other side features an image of two knights riding on one horse. he scabbard is wooden, covered in top grain, heavy-duty white leather. More often than not, the sword is in its scabbard, which hangs from her belt via a loop of heavy leather. She is in her apprentice sword training, and thus the occasions that she uses it for anything other than a focus for her divine powers are rare. Clementia Clementia is a weapon that was designed by Kid Ballistic, which she carries in a holster strapped to her right thigh. Modeled after a cross between an airsoft gun and watergun, this pistol sized weapon is meant to be used in close quarters to deliver a pressurized burst of holy water. The grip is fashioned from well-polished, sturdy wood, with the rest of the weapon made from a gold-colored metal. Small tubes weave out and across the top of the pistol, before connecting again near the muzzle. Where a pistol's hammer would normally be, Clementia has an opening the size of a silver dollar for inserting pressurized canisters of holy water. The words Eia ergo, advocáta nostra are etched into one side of the customized pistol, and the words illos tuos misericórdes óculos on the other. Backstory BACKSTORY: History of the Modern Order     "On this terrible day, in my final hour, I shall let truth triumph and declare, before heaven and all the saints, that I have committed the greatest of all crimes. But my crime is this: that I confessed to malicious charges made against an order that is innocent so that I could escape further torture. I shall not confirm a first lie with a second. I renounce life willingly. I have no use for days of sorrow earned only by lies."     Those were the defiant final words of Jacques de Molay, thought to be the last Master of the Knights Templar. For the past seven years, upwards of 5000 knights of the order had been arrested, all as part of a plan for King Philip the Fair to seize the Templars vast wealth. What the king, and the people of Paris did not know, was that many knights had gone into hiding once the persecution began. A handful of these survivors watched as Jacques de Molay and Geoffrey de Charney, old men who had long served the order, were burned at the stake. With their deaths, a secret only known to those within the order died. The secret? That certain members of the order had somehow been gifted with the ability to call upon the power of the divine. Those with the gift went into seclusion, taking with them what treasures had escaped from King Philip's grasp.     The next 700 years were spent trying to quietly rebuild the order. Much of those early decades were spent simply trying to restructure the order, to better hide the identities of the few members that remained, and to try to bring in fresh blood as quietly as possible. Safe-houses were established, a network of residences across Europe where members could carry out their work in secret. It wasn't until 1783 that the order found a new purpose, a new mission for its members: to protect the innocent from the dark workings of the Circle of the Scarlet Moon. This shift in focus caused a split within the order, as some felt that their duty should only be to protect those of the Christian Faith. It is unclear what has happened to those that left, or if they continue to operate. Those that chose to stay became part of what is known to just a few in the supernatural community as the Modern Order of the Knights Templar. From Orphan to Acolyte     Erin's parents died when she was barely a year old, and none of her extended family wanted to take on the burden of an additional mouth to feed. As a result, her early years were spent in a state run orphanage in Manila. She could have faced a long hard life, probably winding up on the street, were it not for the intervention of Monsignor Mendoza. To everyone else in the neighborhood, he was just a man of the church who was famed to be able to say a prayer over someone and their ailments would disappear. In reality, he was a member of the Modern Order. He was paying a visit to Erin's orphanage, and felt that the child was different. He always trusted his intuition, and it had never led him astray before. The Monsignor made a few calls, and soon the child was taken out of the orphanage and into the care of the Order. Monsignor Mendoza became her legal guardian, caretaker, and mentor.     Erin found herself whisked away to Banda Aceh, Indonesia not long after, when the Monsignor was posted there. The child soaked up everything her mentor taught to her, and not just the lessons in how to use the power of the divine. When she wasn't in regular school, or in a training session, she was working alongside the Monsignor doing acts of charity, helping her fellow man. The two were present in 2004 when Banda Aceh was struck by the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Erin was separated from the Monsignor in all of the chaos, and barely managed to survive. It was days before the two were reunited. Aside from being scared out of her wits, Erin managed to only escape with minor injuries. The Monsignor, however, suffered quite a few injuries, and to this day carries a limp as a result.     The next six years were spent helping with the recovery efforts throughout the devastated regions in Indonesia, then after that another four years were spent in Sri Lanka, until finally the Monsignor recieved a posting in the US, in Vibora Bay. The next two years were spent in intense study and training, preparing for her 18th birthday, when she would be promoted from acolyte to a full fledged member. She was presented with a sword, which she named Gratia.     Normally, once an acolyte becomes a full fledged member of the Order, they would be trained in swordfighting, which would be done under the guidance of their mentor. Due to the Monsignor's physical condition, it was decided that Erin would be trained by another member of the Order. She was moved to Millennium City, where she met her new teacher, a brusque, opinionated woman named Jane Claymore. Currently, Erin is still under Claymore's tutelage, and enrolled in her senior year at Grace Memorial High School. She's taken to using the things she has learned in training, and applied it to hero work, registered under the name Faith. Affiliations AFFILIATIONS:     The Progeny: Faith joined the Progeny during the summer of 2016. Her first initial contact with members of the group occurred during The Urban Jungle event, which saw her having to help guard elderly super heroes from being captured by a man known as Bloodshot. She was brought into the group proper not long after. Initially the question of her religious beliefs were a bit of an awkward point, but for the most part everyone (Erin included) have been able to work past all that. There are times that her sheltered upbringing causes some confusion on her part, as she's not as savvy with American pop culture as the rest of her peer group. She's catching on though, and for the first time, she seems to be allowing herself to get close enough to others to from lasting friendships. Friends FRIENDS:     HexBane: Jill was one of the first people to jump to her defense over the matter of her beliefs and the source of Erin's abilities. She's been close to the pale skinned witch ever since. She's Erin's best friend, the first one she's ever really had. Their dynamic is a good one, with Jill being tempered by Erin's more diplomatic tendencies and Erin being reminded that there comes a time where you have to care for yourself first before others.     Kid Ballistic ♫ ♫: Erin cares a great deal about Sidney Mason, which is a bit ironic considering how antagonistic he was toward her initially. Since those first awkward and frustrating interactions, she's come to learn more about his past and upbringing. In some ways, the two are very alike. They both had sheltered upbringings, both trained since a young age for their future occupations. The difference comes in that her upbringing had the presence of a nurturing father figure, where Sid's father who could never in a million years be described as nurturing. For whatever reason, these two almost polar opposites have found themselves wanting to be more than friends. And neither one of them have a clue as to what to do about it.     Luctus: Erin wasn't sure what to make of Lyman in the beginning. Now that she's had more of an opportunity to get to know him, she finds in him a person with incredible strength to hold up such a heavy burden. Her job now seems to try and get him to smile a bit more often to make that burden somewhat lighter. At first Penthos, the spirit of mourning who has taken up residence in Lyman's mind, did not seem to like her much. He now seems to be more tolerant of Lyman's friendship with Erin. Foes FOES: Arbiter Name: Unknown Abilities: Dark sorcery, Sword fighting Occupation: Unknown Status: At Large     No data available. Gallery GALLERY: Reference sheet for Faith Art by Joe M Davis Art by jmnpart Art by jmnpart Miscellaneous SOUNDTRACK: Take Me To Church (Vitamin String Quartet cover) Transcendence (Orchestral) Knights of Cydonia (Vitamin String Quartet cover) Take Flight (Orchestral) The Game of Love (Vitamin String Quartet cover) What Are Words (Peter and Evynne Hollens cover feat. The Piano Guys You Matter To Me (Peter and Evynne Hollens cover OOC NOTES: • While Faith isn't well known among the hero community, she has garnered a reputation in West Side for being a hero that genuinely wants to help people beyond just crime fighting. Her distinctive costume and her ability to heal makes her easily recognized. If you or your contacts on the street live in West Side, it's possible she may have helped somone you know! • Faith's casting choice is Anna Maria Perez de Tagle. • Monsignor Mendoza's casting choice is Giancarlo Giannini. • Jane Claymore's casting choice is Lucy Lawless. Comments COMMENTS: Have you worked with Faith before? Leave a comment! "Bear in mind, most of what I know of Faith is based on observation and very little one on one interaction. From what I have seen, she tends to put others needs before her own. While this is certainly admirable, I would caution that sometimes, a little self preservation is needed." - Cait Sith "Erin's... calming. If that makes sense. She and I have some things in common, and she doesn't seem bothered by my powers, so it's easy to talk to her. Uh... Let me put it this way: Penthos seems to li-... dislike her less than just about everyone else I know." - Luctus "I'm not keen on religion, but I would put my faith in Faith." - Black Ice “There’s a lot about Erin that’s hard to believe. But she’s real. Her kindness, her patience, her beauty... Even her powers: all real. I didn’t buy any of it at first. Now me and her… I haven’t been this excited to be around someone since...Killshot, probably. Guess that’s a different kind of excitement, but you get it.” - Kid Ballistic Leader: Faith Members: Communick • Concrete Gospel • Dragonfly • Egress • Feuerdrache • Kid Ballistic Lash • Plumb • Starlet • Strong Suit • Terrific Tiger Associates: Ace • Black Ice • Cait Sith • Deviate • Fletcher • Miss Pussycakes • Monster Mash