Flogiston
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Contents
Background & Origin
Background
Patrick O’Malley was born 27 years ago in Hell’s Kitchen in New York. His father, Seamus, was a hard working fire fighter and his mother, Rebecca, had died in a car crash while on a trip to Detroit when he was seven. It was hard for Seamus to raise a child alone while working full time so Patrick often followed him to work and stayed at the station during emergencies. Eventually Patrick learned the ins and outs of the profession; how to put out a fire in the safest way, what weak structures there are and how to resuscitate people.
It showed early that Patrick was a really intelligent child. He shot through school like a rocket and at age 14 he started studying at the university. His father couldn't be more proud. He had always taught his son that with hard work comes with great rewards and wished that he one day would get a well paid job and not having to have a dangerous profession like he had.
Origin
At age 16, Patrick’s father perished in the flames while fighting fire in a burning warehouse. The following year he spent figuring out who was responsible for the fire and how he could avenge his father’s death. When he found out that the empty warehouse was part of an insurance fraud and that the local authorities had been bribed to let it burn to the ground he was furious and immediately started planning his retribution. The owner of the burned down warehouse was a man called Prof. Kletzmer, a notorious inventor and arms dealer.
Patrick, being a young genius, used his knowledge in science with the resources at the university he was studying at to whip up a large amount of a type of thermite. After some surveillance and research he found a new warehouse owned by Prof. Kletzmer and that was currently used as an arms cache. Aiming for a low-key operation, the warehouse hadn't been equipped with heavy security, so Patrick easily slipped in and managed to rig the whole warehouse with the violent thermite.
Watching from a safe distance, fear and horror filled him as he saw fire trucks stop outside and fire fighters preparing to enter the blazing death trap of an inferno. He revealed himself and ran up to them, screaming at them not to enter. When they realized whose son he was they stopped and listened to what he had to say. They didn’t like what they heard but silently they all agreed that it was one step closer to justice and instead of fighting the fire in the warehouse they secured the perimeter and made sure that the fire didn’t spread.
Having heard the whole story, the fire fighters chose not to report Patrick and left him out of the reports. In an attempt to atone for what he’d done Patrick joined the voluntary fire brigade and after his university studies he joined the brigade full time.
Being fascinated by fire and how it behaves he continued researching at the university with a focus on how to create, control and extinguish fire. He invented a material that was nearly impervious to fire and that he thought could be used in the brigade's uniforms. He also created a substance that would burn quickly but intensely and that could suffocate fires by consuming the oxygen in the air. He devised an extremely volatile substance that was highly concentrated to be able to carry it in smaller containers. With this it would be possible to put out a burning building without the need to use thousands of gallons of water and lengths of firehose and also being able to stop the cause of the fire from inside instead of fighting the flames externally.
At first he jokingly called this substance “phlogiston”, after Johann Joachim Becher’s theories to explain combustion and oxidation in 1667, but the more he used the name the more he liked it and to pay tribute to scientific endeavours he chose that name to his concoction.
Even though the brigade liked the upgraded uniforms, they didn’t approve of the idea to enter a burning house armed with just a flame thrower. Not only for safety reasons and for regulations but also for how the general public might react. Not disheartened by their rejection he continued his research and built a rig for himself. He constructed an intricate system of valves and nozzles that could adjust the output and mixture of the fuel to create all from wide fireballs to burn out the oxygen in the air, down to thin welding flames to cut through fallen bulkheads. Even though he wasn’t allowed to use his inventions for now, he kept them for a time when they might be needed.
When Detroit had been rebuilt and Millennium City stood like a paragon of beauty, Patrick moved there for a fresh start and for new challenges. Being a melting-pot of cultures and activities it was both exciting and thrilling. But despite (or due to) the high amount of superpowered beings and meta-humans the rate of criminal activities was quite high. For each day he felt more and more that something needed to be done and started using his contraptions to fight crime as well as continuing to fight fire with the brigade. As every hero needs a name and call sign he chose to call himself the same as he called his flammable compound; Flogiston!
During the following years he both met and clashed with several superbeings, which sparked his interest in superphysiology so he contacted the university in Millennium City to start studying genetics, extreme mutations and the effects of cosmic radiation and the like.
Even though he never could forgive Prof. Kletzmer for causing the death of his father, he didn't blame him for it and didn't seek vengeance. It was after all an accident that no one could foresee.
Kletzmer, on the other hand, never stopped pursuing the one responsible for burning down his arms cache, causing a loss of several million dollars. He never found out exactly who did it, but all his searches lead him to the New York fire brigade and eventually to Millennium City and Flogiston.
Attitude & Motivation
Patrick has inherited his father’s strong sense of duty and service. Like a pattern of all the virtues of the working man of the 50’s, he sees it as every citizen’s responsibility to do his best for society. By being polite and having a solid strength of character you will show your fellow beings that you are a person to rely on.
Powers
Flogiston’s fire based powers are derived from devices that project the volatile substance that he calls ‘flogiston’ and that he stores in canisters around his waist. By directing the flogiston through tubing to his gloves he can produce massive flames that he can aim with high accuracy.
With similar tubing to the boots he can get thrust to help kicking down doors for rescue actions. By increasing the thrust to get intense bursts it can fling him great distances and also break the fall when landing.
When the flogiston is mixed with other flammable materials the intensity and size can be adjusted to the requirements for the situation.
As the flogiston is inspired by and based on the thermite reaction it is self-oxidizing which means it can burn under water or even in complete vacuum. His uniform is surfaced with a layer that completely reflects fire and the heat it creates, making him nearly immune to its effects.
To be able to keep up with the high physical activities that a life of crime fighting demands his physical prowess is that of a top athlete, thanks to regular, hard training and a steady diet. He’s well trained in boxing, wrestling, track-and-field and gymnastics.
His intellect is of genius level and he has a Ph.D. in chemistry, physics, biochemistry and genetics. He is also a qualified fire fighter and paramedic.
Appearance
Tall and physically fit and walks with a proud stride. Reddish blonde hair, sparkling blue eyes and always a warm smile on his tanned face.
His suit is made of thick leather coated with a fire resistant substance that makes him nearly impervious to heat and flames. On his back he wears an oxygen tank that supplies his sealed helmet with fresh air and around his waist he carries cannisters with the volatile compound he calls flogiston.
Nemesis (IC)
"Nemesis, you say? To be honest, I don’t really like the concept of the so called “nemesis”. It feels a bit strange and illogical for one person to dedicate his whole life to destroy yours and to focus all his efforts just to get you. Although… When putting it like that, I guess there is one that would classify as my nemesis; Professor Kletzmer!"
"It started over ten years ago when he caused a fire to an empty warehouse in which my father, who was a fire fighter, perished in the flames. I wanted vengeance and burned down another warehouse in which Kletzmer at that time used to store a large amount of weapons. Over time I accepted my father’s fate, as he was fully aware of the dangers of the profession and if it wasn’t in this warehouse he could just as well have died the next fire. I don’t hold any grudge anymore, but at that time it felt really good to blame someone."
"Kletzmer, on the other hand, must’ve been really aggravated by my action. I think he took it personal. He surely lost weapons worth millions and possibly also acquired a bad reputation as an arms dealer when failing to deliver. He looked for me for some time and when I moved to Millennium City he soon caught up with me. I don’t think he knows exactly who I am, but I guess he has strong suspicions."
"He is a real wiz when it comes to building weapons. And of all sizes too. He can make everything from pen sized rocket launchers to enormous death rays. A few times I stopped him before it got really hairy but it feels like I’m one step behind him every time. I have put him in jail for now, but he is really shrewd so it’s just a matter of time before he makes his escape again."
"Then there’s another one, although I wouldn’t call her a nemesis. It’s more like an assignment.
There was a big riot and breakout in the jail and a number of internees got away. One of them was a mutant that goes by the rather unimaginative name of “Infernia”. It’s quite fitting though, as wherever she goes fire and destruction follows. I don’t know if she has poor control over her powers or if she just loves to see things burn. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a combination of both."
"As she literally breathes fire she’s pretty much immune to it so it’s not much I can do to harm or stop her if she sets her mind to it. But with my background I can at least make sure that the havoc she brings doesn’t get as widespread. And since she seems to only go on instincts and doing things on a whim it wouldn’t be too hard to track her down and corner her. I just hope that she doesn’t hurt anyone seriously before that happens."
