Mindblade
- Thus, what enables the wise sovereign and the good general to strike and conquer, and achieve things beyond the reach of ordinary men, is foreknowledge. Now this foreknowledge cannot be elicited from spirits; it cannot be obtained inductively from experience, nor by any deductive calculation. Knowledge of the enemy's dispositions can only be obtained from other men. Hence the use of spies...
- —Sun Tzu, The Art of War (Lionel Giles translation, 1910)
The character of Mindblade began in my head as a telekinetic whose powers were unwillingly forced upon him by a villain. However, after developing the character of Gunfighter, I decided to give the character a more willing and heroic origin-and finally chose to build the character as a wink and nod to another character I'd made a number of years ago, from a parallel Earth.
Contents
Personality
WIP
Powers
Mindblade's powers derive from experiments from PRIMUS which remapped her genetic structure. While it had some cosmetic effects that were unintentional (such as turning her hair brown from its previous shade of blonde), it gave her the ability to move objects with her mind alone. The mass of objects she can move this way is limited, but growing with practice.
Since the procedure, she has learned to focus that power into a "TK-Blade". At her choice, it can be a blunt instrument or a weapon of razor sharpness. Her power has yet to allow her to fly unassisted, but she can effectively duplicate this by lifting the ground beneath her to the air and directing it while standing atop it.
Abilities
Mindblade, unsurprisingly, is reasonably skilled at swordplay. She learned this skill during an assignment, and is finding that it is helpful in the use of her powers.
Weaknesses and Limitations
By keeping her focus on the close-range, Mindblade has few abilities to deal with opponents at range; she tends to make use of any loose objects (like cars) as weapons in such situations. Additionally, wavering concentration makes it difficult for her to focus her abilities.
Character History
Emily Johnson got involved with the US Intelligence community as something close to a family tradition. Her father and her grandfather had been CIA agent, and her great-grandfather was with the OSS. It seemed that her life was inevitably going to be entwined with the CIA herself. She learned the trade of spycraft growing up, and felt that she would be good enough to join the CIA as a field agent.
Johnson changed her direction before she graduated high-school, however. While foreign threats were certainly a danger to the country, she decided that a greater danger was closer to home-from supervillains. So instead of joining the CIA after graduating, she chose to join the organization that was better suited for that task: the Paranormal Research and Investigation Mission of the United States. PRIMUS was delighted to get a hold of someone who had her family background and contacts. She excelled in their training, and PRIMUS officials hoped that her talents in infiltration and information gathering would make her idea for undercover work. The only downside was that she had an allergy to the Cyberline process, and so could not become an empowered agent.
It was in her capacity as an infiltrator that she met and became friendly with another agent, Tom Riley. The two made an effective team; she went in and got the information, and Riley led a squad of PRIMUS agents to deal with the threats. The two saved one another's lives on a regular basis. It wasn't long until love blossomed.
Johnson's career took a sharp turn when both she and Riley were both selected as candidates for Special Projects Directive #31; agents who would operate outside the United States to protect US interests. The candidates were split into three groups; she was selected for an experimental genetic remapping process, instead of technological enhancement or cybernetic modification. The remapping proved a success for Johnson, although it did change her beyond simply giving her special powers-her blond hair had strangely turned brown over the coming days, growing from the roots on out. She felt she was lucky-one of the other candidates for the remapping had been driven insane.
Johnson looked forward to the new assignment-something allowing her to work openly instead of undercover. But that came to a screeching halt when word came down that SPD-31 had been rescinded. Fortunately, the agents were given a way to serve the ideals they'd sworn oaths to: leaving PRIMUS officially, and chosing instead to be free agents-using their equipment and powers as superheroes. Johnson accepted the challenge.
Unfortunately, this also meant that she and Riley would spend time apart regularly-as they would literally be all over the world. The two took steps immediately by getting married; though they're still apart far too regularly, they're determined that they won't grow apart, no matter how far they may be. Now, as Mindblade, Emily Riley is determined to demonstrate that she can do more good as a superhero than as a simple PRIMUS agent. So far, she's proving it right.
Affiliations
Mindblade has a number of contacts in the Intelligence community, particularly the CIA-mostly thanks to her family connections.
Nemeses
None At Present
Real Name: Unknown
Powers/Abilities: Unknown
Henchmen: Unknown
Details: Unknown
Current Status: Unknown
| Coreth's Characters
| ||
|---|---|---|
| Heroes | Asteroid • Gunfighter • Mindblade • Runelord • Shadewalker • Silver Paladin • Ultrawarrior | |
| Nemeses | Black Blade • Doctor Whatsisface • Fhtagath • Mind Ripper | |
| Supergroups | Paragons of Virtue | |
