Emily James Graveland
Emily Graveland. | ||||||||||
Player: @TheFishtoad | ||||||||||
[[Image:|300px|]] | ||||||||||
‘I’m your dry cleaner. Probably.’ | ||||||||||
Biographical Data | ||||||||||
Real Name: | Emily James Graveland. | |||||||||
Known Aliases: | Em, Emmie, Jamie. | |||||||||
Gender: | Female. | |||||||||
Species: | Human. | |||||||||
Ethnicity: | American. | |||||||||
Place of Birth: | Mercy Hospital, Millenium. | |||||||||
Base of Operations: | Millenium City. | |||||||||
Relatives: | Daughter of David Graveland (deceased), Arleen Morgan (deceased)Cousin of Guy Morgan, Tate Morgan; Niece of
Maurice Morgan, Jade Morgan; God-Parent of Chloe Tallaghan. | |||||||||
Characteristics | ||||||||||
Age: | 20 | |||||||||
Height: | 6’5 | |||||||||
Weight: | 63 kgs. | |||||||||
Eyes: | Light Green. | |||||||||
Hair: | Charcoal Black. | |||||||||
Complexion: | Pale. | |||||||||
Physical Build: | Athletic. | |||||||||
Physical Features: | Deathly Crow’s Feet. | |||||||||
Status | ||||||||||
Fame: |
Recluse | |||||||||
Alignment: |
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Identity: | Public Knowledge. | |||||||||
Years Active: | 0 | |||||||||
Citizenship: | American. | |||||||||
Occupation: | Dry Cleaner. | |||||||||
Education: | High School Diploma. | |||||||||
Marital Status: | Dating, In Committed Relationship. | |||||||||
Known Powers and Abilities | ||||||||||
Masterful Ratiocination (Sherlockian School of Thought), Gun Training (Pistols and (Scoped) Rifles), 9 Styles of Martial Arts (Brazilian Capoeira, Ju-Jitsu, Judo, Karate, Kung-Fu (Shandong Praying Mantis), Muay Thai, Ninjutsu, Thai Kickboxing, Zui Quan), 3 Styles of Gun-Fu (Chinese Gun-Kata, French Bullet Ballet, Japanese Zen Riflery). | ||||||||||
Equipment and Paraphernalia | ||||||||||
Two Luger Pistols, One Scoped Ruger Mini-14 Rifle. |
Physical Attributes | |||||||||
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Non-Physical Attributes | |||||||||
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Psionics |
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Telepathy |
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Sorcery |
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Tech. |
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MaekadaBoxSlim created by @Maekada |
This page is a work in progress. All additions and edits (such as comments and responses, or typos and errors) are gratefully received, but please run anything else by me before posting. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy reading this character as much as I enjoyed writing about them.
Contents
Introduction
"Saying that Emily is a unique character would definitely be an over-statement. Although she keeps to herself, and only admits to working at a dry-cleaners' store that prides itself on its express delivery service, there's one thing that's blatantly obvious: she looks just like a regular girl." -- Emily's in-game description.
Emily James Graveland (born February 1, 1994) is a member of the Neutral Services Union (NSU), working as the Assistant Manager for the union supported "Langley’s Dry Cleaners". She is also noted as one of the few survivors of “Redmond’s Disease” – a degenerative disease in which her body cannot maintain a magic aura to absorb and break down magical energies.
Emily has also been recognized by the Department of Registered Combat for being the creator of the ‘Lead Mantis’ technique, which incorporates a number of existing martial arts, structured around Chinese Gun Kata, French Bullet Ballet and Japanese Zen Riflery. She has been at the centre of minor controversies regarding NSU policies and concerns over moral standings with NSU clientele.
History
Past Life
"I don't like talking about that." -- Emily, on her childhood.
Born to the world’s first African American action cop superhero Arleen Morgan and American stage magician David Graveland, Emily grew up in Central Millenium. Because of her Redmond’s Disease, she lived an otherwise sheltered life. She attended James Harmon Elementary School at the age of 5. When she was 8, the school came under attack by villainess Stormrise, who took Emily captive to draw out Arleen. In the ensuing hold-out and negotiations, Stormrise was shot and killed by a rookie cop under her Arleen’s watch.
Emily started going to Westside Highschool at the age of 13. One year later, in what became a large topic of controversy, she was suspected of burning Drew Larsby to death with supposed mutant powers. A vigilante believed to be Drew’s father, Leland Larsby, held Emily hostage four days after the murder. A task force lead by Arleen stormed the warehouse she was being held in. However, Leland was not found. The real killer, Thomas Moores, confessed not long after and was arrested.
Emily was 15 when the Qularr invaded Millenium City. Not much is known about what happened to her during this time, other than her mother dying and her father escaping to a safe zone. It is believed that Emily had been cut off from her father at some point during the escape. Some survivors of the incident claim they had seen a figure vaguely resembling her alongside other people.
Present Life
"I'm your dry cleaner. Probably." -- Emily, on who she is.
In 2010, Emily applied and began working for the NSU as a dry-cleaner, where she quickly made a name for herself in both the heroic and villainous cultures in the city for her lack of bias and quick deliveries. She was also involved in the “Service Anywhere” proposal, allowing NSU workers to enter and exit restricted areas prohibited by the government. The proposal passed in 2012.
On August 9, 2013, Emily had registered her fists as lethal weapons.
On November 15, 2013, she had registered her “Lead Mantis” technique to the Department of Registered Combat.
On February 19, 2014, David Graveland had been murdered.
Skills and Attributes
Skills
"When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, must be the truth, however improbable." -- Paraphrased summarisation of Sherlockian Theory.
Gun-Fu: Emily has a firm understanding and varying mastery of Chinese Gun-Kata, French Bullet Ballet (or Ballet du Duelliste), and Japanese Zen Riflery (or Woojitsu), enough to swap techniques almost instantly in the heat of combat.
She has also created a more complex technique, involving three seperate stances and moves from nine acknowledged martial arts techniques. The technique, officially known as "Lead Mantis", is still a fairly new addition, and while much more complex than the techniques it is based on, offers practitioners the chance to learn all three stances and master either one or all three of them.
Gun Training: Emily has licenses for, and can operate, small-arms guns and scoped rifles.
Martial Arts: Emily has spent fifteen years of her life learning different styles of martial arts. These include: Brazilian Capoeira; Ju-Jitsu; Judo; Karate; Northern Chinese "Shandong" Praying Mantis Kung Fu; Muay Thai; Ninjutsu; Thai Kickboxing; and Zui Quan.
She was requested to register her fists as lethal weapons. This was to ensure she could be legally identified and held liable for whatever action she takes against others.
Masterful Ratiocination: Emily is able to quickly deduce and identify facts and identities by stringing together ideas and logic to form circumstantial facts. This is done by examining small pieces of evidence and applying contextual logic to the string of identifications. With enough evidence, she has been able to guess hero's and villain's alter egos, and at one stage, a supernatural devil in disguise.
Parkour: Emily can easily navigate the city through freestyle parkour. Although free-running is legal in most places in the city, she reserves it for whenever she is running deliveries, as many customers, regardless of legal standing, tend to forget she is coming with their costumes.
Sleight of Hand: David Graveland began to teach Emily about the basics of sleight of hand when she was young. She uses the art of illusionary deception for other practical uses, such as keeping her inventory in her coat (flicking things out of her sleeves), and to confuse anyone looking to steal something from her.
Attributes
"I'm not the Emily you think you know." -- Emily, "clashing" with an unknown assassin.
Acrobatic: Emily's body is fairly flexible, making her the perfect candidate for a majority of physical activities.
Ambidextrous: Emily is capable of using both hands equally.
Durable: While not going out of her way to do so, Emily's martial arts training have allowed her to become strong enough to withstand a lot of pain. Anything scaling outside of "acceptable" for a human being, however, is not ideal.
Perceptive: Emily is unusually good with picking up on small details in almost anything.
Morality
"I don't like you. I don't trust you. You could be on either side, and until you prove to me you're not going to screw me over, that's how things are going to stay." -- Anonymous, on Emily's neutrality.
Gear
Guns
"Snipers aren't the glorified assassins you see in films. They are not some pissed off spy with family issues. They are masters of reconnaissance; ones who can make or break an entire army with a few well-placed shots." -- CPT. Maurice Morgan, on teaching Emily about Sniping.
Two Custom-Made Luger Pistols: The "Pulp" pistols are based off Luger design, but were made for a Martial Artist in mind: The two pistols are reinforced, boasting upgrades such as metal plates on the bottom of the grips, allowing it to sustain damage should it be brought down on someone in force; however, to compensate for the reinforcement, the guns are somewhat heavier than the original design.
Emily's pistols originally belonged to Arleen, until her death in the Qularr invasion. It is unknown how Emily found them again, as at least one of the pair was on Arleen's person on the day of the crisis. Never-the-less, they play an integral part to Emily's Lead Mantis technique.
One Scoped Ruger Mini-14 Rifle: There is nothing unusual about Emily's rifle, and she is hardly ever seen with it. In the event of a city-wide crisis, such as encountering rampaging zombies or misfit toys, she has been known to use it much more frequently in self-defense.
Clothing
"How do you DO that?" -- Serenity Summers, on Emily producing items from her longcoat.
Black Leather Custom-Tailored Trenchcoat: The coat Emily wears once belonged to Arleen, tailored with the necessities of an action-cop in mind: it is light and accessible; it has two holsters on the inside for each pistol; and it has an intricate storage system (to replace any need for utility belts) that can be sorted through with the wearer's shoulder blades.
Gunmetal Grey Reinforced Leather Gloves: Emily's gloves are reinforced to help protect her when she is handling magical items. They are thick enough to protect her skin from the effects the item would otherwise have on them. However, keeping any item close enough to her would still cause in organic injury (see Redmond's Disease under Weaknesses).
Weaknesses
"All warfare is based on deception." - Sun Tzu, The Art of War.
Redmond's Disease: Redmond's Disease is a spiritual degenerative disorder in which the user's body cannot project an aura to absorb and break down magical energies. Direct contact with any type of magic often results in the victim's body beginning to break down until the source of magic is removed. The victim will experience neurological and organic breakdowns, such as strong migraines, loss of co-ordination, intense muscle and joint pain stiffness, tissue degradation. If the symptoms persist, the victim may die as a result.
If the victim is in close vicinity of, but not directly in contact with, magic, the effects otherwise induced will be weaker and work slower. The closer the person is with the source, the stronger the symptoms become.
Relationships
Lover
"Emily, stop that! Sorry, she does that a lot. She analyzes everyone." -- Serenity Summers, on Emily deducing someone.
Serenity Summers: Serenity is Emily's current girlfriend and ranking officer of the S.T.A.N.D supergroup. She is often determined and enthusiastic, quick to act on her sense of good will and moral judgment; this often plays against Emily's reserved and thoughtful approach. Nevertheless, the two share an unshakable bond, built well beyond the initial mutual respect and trust they had for each other. Serenity is one of the only people Emily will make exceptions for, disregarding her own neutrality and morals to defend her from heroes and villains alike.
Their initial friendship got off to a shakey start. At first, Serenity was driven by a literal inner-demon, gaining psionic powers from it but losing control over herself. She would often attack and mock other people, including Emily because of her beliefs and goals. Despite this, Serenity was one of the closest people Emily had to a friend, and thus she kept close to her. Emily eventually convinced Serenity to consider removing the demon from her mind, even going so far as to allow herself to be used in its removal.
Emily continued to keep an eye on Serenity, helping her reconnect with people and start her life again. The two got closer until eventually Serenity asked Emily out. A month later, Serenity moved in with Emily.
Two years later, Serenity began to show signs of psionic degradation. Emily immediately took her to former heroic turned villainous scientist Dr. Hamlet Greene. Dr. Greene has been working on a cure ever since.
Family
Morgans
Arleen Morgan:
Molly Morgan:
CPT. Maurice Morgan:
Tate Morgan:
Guy Morgan:
Gravelands
David Graveland:
Friends
Heroes
Cynthia "Jonni Reb" Alicia Rose:
Estara Galiea Novetal:
Melanie "Warforged" Nightstone:
Villains
Dr. Hamlet Greene:
Civilians
Benjamin Song:
Chris Tallaghan:
Henry "Bo" Ksang:
Foes
Extras
Roleplay Hooks
Trivia
Deductions
Dregs@KaiserWiggly:
Emily: "Your interactions with us, just now, reserved but not without a hint of contained excitement, suggests that at some point in your life you had an issue with the wrong kinds of people, and now you have a difficulty of trusting people. You contain yourself because there is someone here who is holding you down? A mage, maybe? Someone who has access to magic. Your self-degradation is not limited to trying to hold yourself back, implying you were not always a dog. Now, judging by your coat, and your strong accent, I would assume this occurence happened sometime around the 1800's, which would explain your coat and your cravat, and the fact you may not have been a dog for all your life. You were... a Scottish scholar of the arcane arts, but were punished at some point, and this is what you became."
Dregs (Mouthing): "What the f***?"
Dregs: "Jist... jist who are yoo, lass...?!"
Emily: "I'm your dry cleaner. Probably."
Dregs: "Whit? N-naw, I... C'mon noo, yer no jist a dry cleaner, dry cleaners aren't aw' gothic lookin' Sherlock Holmes, I... How. I mean, jist. Ye'... whit ye' said, that cud be right. Maybe."
Comments
"She'd make a good hero if she wanted to be one, but... I can respect and understand why she doesn't. With that said, it doesn't stop her from being a personal hero to her friends and loved ones. ...I don't think she grasps how important she is." - Robin Fenix, the Metal Raven