Wolfhound
| Wolfhound | ||||||||||
| Player: @IronGhost | ||||||||||
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| There is only the fight! | ||||||||||
| Biographical Data | ||||||||||
| Real Name: | Janet Ernestine Burke | |||||||||
| Known Aliases: | Operative Wolfhound, Cujo, Oh god not her, The Improbable Murder Maid | |||||||||
| Gender: | Female | |||||||||
| Species: | Human Infected by Lycanthropy | |||||||||
| Ethnicity: | American of Austrian and Irish Descent | |||||||||
| Place of Birth: | Inyokern, California, United States | |||||||||
| Base of Operations: | *This information has been classified TS/SCI by the authority of the US Department of Defense* | |||||||||
| Relatives: | Arthur Burke (Father), Claire Burke (Mother), Timothy Burke (Older Brother), Chad Burke (Older Brother), William Burke (Older Brother), Peter Burke (Younger Brother), Neil Burke (Younger Brother) | |||||||||
| Characteristics | ||||||||||
| Age: | 33 (Apparent Age 25 due to Lycanthropically Retarded Aging) | |||||||||
| Height: | 5'8" (Variable) | |||||||||
| Weight: | (Variable) | |||||||||
| Eyes: | Olive Green (Variable) | |||||||||
| Hair: | Black | |||||||||
| Complexion: | Just Slightly Tanned | |||||||||
| Physical Build: | Runner | |||||||||
| Physical Features: | Scar Upon her left palm | |||||||||
| Status | ||||||||||
| Fame: |
Unknown | |||||||||
| Alignment: |
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| Identity: | Secret | |||||||||
| Years Active: | 10 | |||||||||
| Citizenship: | American Citizen with No Criminal Record | |||||||||
| Occupation: | Soldier | |||||||||
| Education: | Nursing Degree, Graduate US Army Special Forces Training | |||||||||
| Marital Status: | Single | |||||||||
| Known Powers and Abilities | ||||||||||
| Lycanthropy, Human-Wolf shapeshifting, Heightened Senses, Heightened Strength, Heightened Durability, Heightened Athleticism, Regeneration, Claws and Fangs | ||||||||||
| Equipment and Paraphernalia | ||||||||||
| Matched High Powered Pistols (Suppressed), Machine Pistol, Various Grenades, Natural Weaponry and any additional equipment Required for the task at hand. | ||||||||||
| Physical Attributes | |||||||||
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Reflexes |
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| Combat |
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Regeneration |
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| Non-Physical Attributes | |||||||||
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Psionics |
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| Telepathy |
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Technology |
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Knowledge |
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Bravery |
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| MaekadaBox created by @Maekada | |||||||||
Contents
Origin
On April 4th, 1978 Janet Ernestine Burke was delivered in a Hospital near the small desert community of Inyokern, California. She opened her eyes, wrinkled her nose as she looked around the room and began to scream as loudly and angrily as she could.
She has not let up on anyone since.
When We Were Young
Initially a bright and Inquisitive girl, her parents were both retired soldiers who had returned to Arthur Burke's home state of California to take up farming as his parents had. Growing up in the high desert with only brothers and her mother to keep her company, Janet quickly proved to be something of a Tom Boy. A rumble girl who was more at home chasing gophers in the vast empty lands that cris-crossed her families property and shooting rifles with her five brothers than she was in Tea Parties and playing dress up. For many years, the only major female influence in her life was her mother who passed on the the skills she had learned as both a soldier in the Women's Auxiliary Corps and the wife of a Rancher. Regardless, most of her formative days were spent wrestling live stock, milking cows and living the kind of childhood that had long since pulled back from the borders of most of the developed United States. Though she made decent marks in school, her permanent record was often marred by a serious pattern of minor misbehavior, most notably getting caught smoking in the girl's room and very publicly fighting a classmate over the issue of a stolen boyfriend, putting on a rather spectacular display of the skills that a girl with five brothers picks up over the course of her childhood. Seeing a need for order and structure in the girl's life, her parents took her to the local military recruiter with a simple offer: Follow in our foot steps or you have thirty days to get out of the house after graduation.
Janet took to Army life with the zeal of any born soldier. As far back as the revolutionary war, the Burkes could trace their martial lineage and most if not all members of the family had served as a matter of pride, patriotism and tradition and she found that she liked the fellowship and acceptance that she received as a soldier. Though her rough and tumble nature as well as her status as something of a hayseed often led to difficulties with other women in her hospital unit, she was able to put her differences aside and work effectively with them when on the job.
And Then It Got Weird
In 1999, she and her medical unit were placed with a Special Forces unit assigned to hunt Serbian war criminals in the opening days of the peacekeeping operations in Kosovo. For a time, the team was amazingly effective in the hands of their leader (And current PRIMUS Agent) David Kreitzer. Late in their campaign, they had begun to trail a rogue Serbian army unit that had gone into the business of murder-for-hire and human trafficking. Receiving information that lead to a house where this particular band of rogues kept it's kidnapping victims, they proceeded to the target house with Janet and a team of her fellow medics in tow to provide emergency medical treatment to any captives that they might find. During the examination, many of them seemed quite frightened, repeating the word "Vulkodlak" over and over again. The rescue team had no idea that the targets that they'd been tracking through the balkans were actually werewolves or an exceedingly cruel and aggressive stripe.
When the trap was sprung, the house was surrounded. The werewolves often appearing to attack the farm house long enough to tempt the green berets into firing and waiting until it was apparent that they were low on ammunition before moving into attack the dwelling. In the ensuing carnage, Janet fled with Kreitzer to the kitchen where in a fit of desperation, he grabbed a skillet from the stove and proceeded to beat one of the werewolves about the head with it until it no longer showed any signs of life as Janet pumped bullet after bullet into the lycanthrope whenever she determined that she had a clear line of sight to her target. In the ensuing battle, some of it's blood had splattered upon a frantically firing Janet and some of it had ended up in her mouth. Of the twenty-five soldiers that had entered, only four had survived.
Crawling From The Wreckage
Upon returning to their camp, they were immediately debriefed by an army psychologist who was convinced that they were "misremembering" the events of that night but unable to find any signs of prior instability. The deaths of the soldiers were quietly attributed to accidents and medical complications and those involved were told to hush up about the incident. Ten days later, the moon became full and Janet's first change was upon her. Haunted by dreams of running through the wilderness and increasing irritability, she began to change into a feral, half wolf form and rampaged through the camp before being knocked out by a shot fired by Kreitzer, bouncing off of her now much tougher skull and rendering her thoroughly unconscious. When she finally awoke, it was to David's face and driven out of control by feral rage, she chased him from the room. Working with her patiently, he spent two and a half years, rehabilitating her and teaching her how to be both a person and a soldier again as well as passing on his considerable raft of skills. She might have been there a bit longer had the September 11th attacks not happened. Her new superiors in Special Operations Command judged her fit for duty once more and put her considerable abilities to work, hunting down Al Qaeda targets hiding in Afghanistan, Iraq and other places. Janet herself was only too happy... if the wolf within her was content then she could continue her human life in relative peace and calm. Due to her unique skills and considerable abilities, she was able to perform at level above and beyond that of her male colleagues and her star rose rapidly in that strange praetorian guard, not long after achieving the upper enlisted ranks. Kreitzer stayed with her before departing for PRIMUS, passing his unique and hard-won skills from a lifetime in the special services to her between missions, ever the patient mentor.
Today, she operates in secret, using her blessed and cursed talents to eliminate those who would plot the destruction of others under the callsign Wolfhound.
Personality
To say that Wolfhound is rough around the edges is to be enormously charitable. It would be more accurate to say that she is Plain-spoken, volatile, aggressive and in possession of a particularly black sense of humor. It is difficult or even impossible to keep a steady stream of gallows humor from pouring from her mouth at any given time that silence isn't required as part of a mission.
Having worked with the superhero community in Millenium City for a brief period of time, she has come to find herself somewhat lacking. Though she understands the clear difference between a superhero and a supersoldier, when measuring herself and her career in light of her exposure to the superhero community and the experiences that she's undergone in that time, she can't help but find herself just a bit lacking. They operate mostly in plain sight.
She doesn't.
They have a code against killing.
She doesn't.
This has precipitated a minor moral crisis on her part. She respects what they do but when her competitive nature pits her against some of the crimefighters in her own head, she comes up short. True to her nature if not her opinion of herself, she will never admit to this if pressed in public but the opinion is still there. That being said, a certain amount of world-weary cynicism has gained an intractable hold on her worldview. In her mind, life lasts only as long as you fight for it. Humanity arose from barbarism and savagery and it is only through extraordinary effort and vigilance that we don't slide back into that state. Problems of terrorism and tyrrany are best dealt with in a manner that is both lethal and swift before they have a chance to fester.
The Weapon...
Coming from a military background followed by life on a farm after her father retired, Janet is uncompromising, honest, loyal and shuns those who too often "gild the lily" in their everyday interactions with people. Though unfailingly honest in her dealings with her compatriots, she does not allow resentments to stew and fester. Instead, she prefers to air her grievances as they surface and is rarely, if ever, shy about this. In a professional capacity, she remains courteous if a bit too familiar with her contemporaries and is something of a Tomboy. She has a VERY hard time forming casual relationships with other women and can count the number of female friends that she has had in her life on one hand, mostly due to an almost total lack of female role models in her life. While not totally unfeminine, she enjoys more traditionally male pursuits and activities and has been compared to a "Really hot frat-boy" by other soldiers within the Special Operations Community. She drinks, she fights, she enjoys rough men who look good in a stetson or leather jacket, she tells dirty jokes and she appreciates "Dirty Harry" well more than she does "Desperate Housewives".
In her off-time, her dedication to the pursuit of martial valor is total and she spends more than three hours of every weekday training her body in it's human form in order to remain effective during the night of the new moon when she is mostly cut off from her lycanthropic abilities. Another chunk of her leisure time is spent keeping the considerable skills of a special operations soldier well-honed and fresh. Given the dangerous nature of her work she believes that every time she is put into the field, it means that another one of her friends is able to go home to their spouse after their tour of duty is up. As such, she pursues this with great zeal and is the first to volunteer for any operation.
...and the Wolf.
Am I still tough enough?
Feels like I'm wearing down (down down down down)
Is my viciousness losing ground? (ground ground ground ground)
Am I taking too much?
Did I cross the line? (line line)
I need my role in this
Very clearly defined
I need your discipline
I need your help
I need your discipline
You know once I start I cannot help myself
-Nine Inch Nails, Discipline
Despite her more disciplined and straight-forward approach to life, the wolf within does get it's say. Among Special Operations Command, her blood lust is legendary as is her dedication to the fight. Actively employed in hunting down "High Value Targets" where conventional means fail, she has a reputation for driving through obstacles ceaselessly until she has eliminated or captured her quarry and then puts off rest until she has planned her next operation. Pound-for-pound, she is the Taliban killingest werewolf on the planet and she is NOT shy about taking human life. The wolf drives her to hunt and hunt she does with a zeal rarely seen even in the shadowy world of the special forces.
When the moon waxes full, she has taken to frequent excursions into the areas of deep wilderness around her home where she runs, and hunts, until she is exhausted and fed on fresh kill. She is careful to do this away from human habitation. Though she has no qualms killing during a time of war, but would never forgive herself for the needless taking of human life.
Appearance
In her off time, Janet tends to dress comfortably, casually and more than a little bit boyishly. In a sweatshirt and Baggy cargo pants with her hair pulled into a pony tail, it's not unusual for her to be mistaken for a teenage boy. It is not that she is incapable of cleaning herself up so much as she very rarely has the desire to. She prefers to give the appearance of someone average, unobtrusive and unremarkable.
In short, anything but what she really is.
In combat, she gives the appearance of the consumate professional. Her weapons are always thoroughly clean, her hair unfailingly in a neat braid, her uniform similarly so and all of her gear is tight, tidy and in proper order. Despite her rather bawdy demeanor, she projects an image of command and competence at all times.
As the wolf within is coaxed to the surface, her eyes shift from green to a brilliant, iridescent sky blue and her body sprouts a short, thick, wiry coating of gray fur with a lightning shaped shock of black extending down the left side of her face. As she assumes a more wolflike countenance, her face lengthens into a long muzzle as she takes on the countenance of a giant, bipedal wolf.
Skills: Pay Evil Unto Evil
War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate craft awaiting its ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other. -Cormac McCarthy
- Linguist: She is fluent in Arabic, Pashto and Dari: A sort of "hillbilly Farsi" as spoken in certain regions of Afghanistan.
- Interrogator: Has an unparalleled ability to "convince" captured enemies to give up valuable information. The less said about this the better.
- Tracker: With the unparalleled senses of a wolf, Janet can track and locate the scent of a target under conditions that even a master hunter would find trying.
- Wetworker: "Wetwork" is a term the military uses to describe combat in extremely tight close quarters... so called because "you will probably get wet". Her natural durability, training, wolfen killer instinct, healing factor and fangs and claws all combine to make her exceptionally dangerous in close quarters.
- Lone Wolf: As a special operations soldier, she has received extensive survival training and is familiar with most military firearms and explosives being used today. Janet is capable of operating for a long time without contact with command or resupply.
- Paramedic: Wolfhound was a medic prior to her transformation and has kept her EMT-Basic certification up to date since. She is capable of all manner of life-saving operations in a combat environment.
- Apron of Baking +5: Despite her somewhat unconventional upbringing, she showed a great talent in home economics class during high school and would help her mother out around the kitchen quite often. She will put her Pecan Pie up against yours any day of the week.
Powers: Lycanthropy
Wolfhound's powers stem from a form of lycanthropy particular to the Balkan Mountains in an area of Serbia Near Kosovo. Known to Vatican Demonologists as the "Vulkodlak Strain", it is rarely seen outside of that particular area. The group of werewolves that propagate this strain are thought to be wildly xenophobic and do not propagate with, nor spread the curse outside of a select group of isolated mountain communities within that region of the Balkans. Vulkodlak werewolves themselves follow a pack/feudal/militaint social structure that values strength, ruthlessness and dominance as the wolf within is rather close to the surface. The local pack is ruled from a central location by the oldest and strongest werewolf or sometimes by a strong, younger challenger. The pack uses terrorist and intimidation tactics in order to keep the handful of human families that they draw their members from in power in the local governments and to keep neighboring groups of werewolves out. Werewolves that do know of this particular group tend not to hold them in the highest regard when they take into account that all of their activities center around aggressively patrolling their territory and keeping ironclad dominion over their own captive populations. On the nights of the full moon, the villagers in their territories lock themselves into their homes, hanging crosses and older luck charms thought to ward off evil above their door until the forest quiets and the unearthly howls that ring through the night finally quiet.
Vulkodlak Werewolves typically appear as large, gray timber wolves with black streaks of fur sometimes organizing itself into a vaguely recognizable pattern. They vary between Human, Near human, Half-wolf and Wolf forms except upon the nights of the new moon when they are locked into human form and the full when they may assume any shape but human. They are typified by great physical strength, a stubborn healing factor, Bulky and large wolf forms and a dogged tenacity and endurance over long runs. It should be interesting to note that this particular strain of the werewolf curse effectively functions as a blood-borne pathogen and cannot be transmitted through bites or scratches. Of the Occult scholars familiar with their line, it is assumed that centuries of isolation have left the wolfen side of the Vulkodlak impressively pure bred and due to their great size and ferocity, it is thought among scholars to represent a strain of Lycanthropy that is "Close to the source".
Accidentally created werewolves not from an approved population are routinely hunted and destroyed, Janet Burke being the only exception when she was saved by a fluke of circumstance.
Athleticism
Lycanthropy typically provides it's host with great boosts to their physical capabilities. It is rather common for a newly minted werewolf to find their speed, toughness, strength and cardiovascular endurance elevated to peak human levels and above. Typically this manifests itself through increased bone and muscle density, tone and definition and as such, even heavy set werewolves look at least a little gaunt and wiry despite their frames.
Wolfhound is capable of launching into a flat run at nearly thirty five miles per hour over distances of at least ten miles, vaulting over small structures and lifting vehicles as weighty as a passenger car over her head. With her tough bones and joints, she has been known to survive landings that would shatter a normal persons legs and rifle bullets have been known to bounce off of her skull on a glancing hit. She has found that her wolfen powers allow act to multiply her natural human talents and has taken to training her human form unceasingly to increase her supernal talents exponentially. If she has a plateau, she's yet to actually hit it.
Claws And Fangs
Razor sharp and diamond hard, her natural weaponry is one of her greatest assets in battle. With her claws and fangs, she has been known to shear through armor plating from the surplus Russian body armor that litters the third-world.
Healing Factor
Wolfhound is classified as a "Combat Regenerator", and has little problem recovering from the most grievous battlefield injuries. From shrapnel wounds to the loss of limbs, she is capable of healing it all and it is not unheard of for her to play dead in order to lure her targets into close range. This ability of hers necessitates a heightened metabolism and it's not unknown for her to tear through large amounts of meat after a particularly brutal fight.
Heightened Senses
Janet has the proportional senses of hearing and smell that a wolf does, including the ability to actually smell in three dimensions and hear ranges of sound above and beyond the normal human scale. She is capable of tracking by scent and discerning poisons and other toxins in the environment around her.
This is something of a gift and a curse as her increased acuity makes her vulnerable to sensory disruption by loud noises or pungent smells. She has partially overcome this through training and working with firearms and explosives but is still quite vulnerable if surprised.
Shapeshifting
Mentioned above, it is possible for her to take and maintain the form of a woman, the form of a wolf and two in between. A human sized "Wolf-Woman" form and a large hybrid of the two with a very lupine head and legs atop a large frame. Thanks to a wolfen muzzle, she finds speech uncomfortable and has a great deal of difficulty moving about on two legs, though she considers it a point of pride. She does not often take this form, preferring to use it as something that her opponents will not expect in the event that she finds herself in a precarious situation.
Her Wolf form is that of a large grey wolf with streaks of black fur, lean appearance, considerable mane and lightning bolt shaped patch of black fur upon her face. During the full moon, she finds it impossible to keep her human form and during the new moon she is locked into it. The moon itself exercises profound influence upon her moods, moving her from docile and sluggish on the new moon to highly aggressive and restless as the moon waxes full.
Equipment
In addition to her natural powers, Wolfhound carries a number of army-supplied tools into action with her. Not content to rely upon her natural powers, she carries the tools of a soldier to ensure that she can function on the battlefield on the nights when her powers are at their weakest. Implements of the killing trade that she has employed in the past include but are certainly not limited to:
- Machine Pistol: Her signature Weapon, Janet carries a highly modified Steyr TMP into battle with her to signal her preference for getting in close with her enemies. She has dubbed this one "Sabre."
- Suppressed Pistols: Wolfhound carries a matched pair of SOCOM pistols as part of her standard load. Thought by many to be heavy and cumbersome and just plain "too much gun", her strength and agility allow her to wield them with the ease of a derringer. She has taken to calling them "Foil" and "Rapier" after the swords typically used in fencing.
- Anti-Tank Weaponry: Sometimes, a rampaging super-villain can only be placated with a round designed to gut an armored troop transport. When someone questions her on this, she'll simply shrug and tell the other party to not tell her how to do her job.
- Scimitar: An old Scimitar of Damascus steel that she had reforged and covered in a modern protective coating. She originally recovered it from a Taliban commander who used it to behead those he considered criminals and considers it her prize trophy. The blade is exceptionally durable and sharp and is capable of cutting through armor, bone and even the barrel of a rifle.
- Explosives: Wolfhound has been known to utilize an old Russian rocket launcher, plastic explosives, fragmentation grenades, Stun grenades, blasting caps and shaped charges among others. When questioned about her proclivities, she will simply shrug and say that she "Rolls with a lot of boom."
- Medical Supplies: Sergeant Burke is a former medic and still considers herself such. If she comes upon a wounded comrade of noncombatant, she will always attempt to treat their wounds. She carries bandages, disinfectant, clotting agent, splints, wadding, pressure dressings and IV's with herself at all times when operational and more than once they've come in handy.
- Mk 35 Taggart Stealth Suit: Janet has been issued a variety of these combat garments based upon the special issue uniforms that the Navy uses for some of their deep cover special operations units. They provide protection from small arms, fragmentation and incendiaries as well as muffling the sounds of the wearer's movements.
- Monk's Hood: Wolfhound carries distilled essence of the herb Monk's hood. A non-toxic Variant of Wolf's Bane that can temporarily suppress her lycanthropy. She uses this to keep her human mind dominant on the full moon and the nights surrounding it. She keeps these around one arm in a set of one-use, Air-powered Hypodermic injectors.
Weaknesses
- Silver: Wolfhound shares the traditional weakness that most werewolves do: Silver. It interrupts her healing factor when it is used to wound her and promotes an aggressive allergic reaction if it is introduced into her system.
- Wolfsbane and Monk's Hood: Two closely related herbs with adverse negative impacts upon her physiology. Wolfsbane is highly toxic to her while Monk's Hood suppresses her abilities.
- Trauma: Extraordinary amounts of damage can overpower her healing factor and it is unknown if she can regenerate lost limbs.
Opinions
Have something to say about Wolfhound? Say it here!
"'The Wolfhound'? You asked for it... well, no, I won't. Look. She can be... a little out there. ...Maybe a lot out there. I'm... pretty sure her heart's in the right place, though. Watch her go out of her way to prove me wrong now... No. She's wild, but she's trying. I'm glad I met her." - Wolfgirl
"Wolfhound? Man, that wolf is crazy in ALL the right ways. Okay. Most of the right ways. She's... well, she's a bit of a firecracker... and by that, I mean she's a bit of a tactical nuke dropped right on your nuts. Short tempered, violent, and WAY too good at comin' up with the most *Bleep*'d up ways to wreck your *Bleep*. You need somethin' done so hard that a smolderin' crater is all that's left of it? You call her in, pull up a chair, and just watch the mayhem. She isn't here to be some cuddly little Care Bear who wants everyone to be friends. She's here to make sure every son-of-a-bitch who thinks they can do what they want to who they want burns.
And I'll be damned if I can't respect that kind of passion." - Lycan
"When the going gets tough, you bring a bazooka. Or lots of high explosives. I disagree with some of Janet's methods, but I've seen her in action and I know how effective she can be. I'm just glad she's on our side." - Razira
Soundtrack
- The Brian Jonestown Massacre - Straight Up and Down http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=45HPaTF0u7U
- The Eels - Fresh Blood http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymviPTrEHps
- Nine Inch Nails - Survivalism http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSsRt_1l740&ob=av2e
- The Heavy - Short Change Hero http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6eSksEp27U
Trivia
Did you know that Wolfhound...
- ...maintains an "Internet Bakery" where she sells cupcakes, brownies, cookies and various other baked goods in order to supplement her income.
- ...is a fervent, lifelong republican.
- ...swears, like, A LOT!
- ...Usually spends every new moon in a Karaoke bar crooning away to the strains of Patsy Kline.
