Mnemon
| Mnemon | ||||||||||
| Player: @teokanthalus | ||||||||||
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| "I'm not a demon, please stop asking." | ||||||||||
| Biographical Data | ||||||||||
| Real Name: | Wilbur Lightfoot | |||||||||
| Known Aliases: | Bill/Will (Civilian), The Blot (Hero) | |||||||||
| Gender: | Male | |||||||||
| Species: | Human | |||||||||
| Ethnicity: | American | |||||||||
| Place of Birth: | Missoula, Montana | |||||||||
| Base of Operations: | Millenium City | |||||||||
| Relatives: | Father (James Lightfoot), Aunt (Rebecca Dean) | |||||||||
| Characteristics | ||||||||||
| Age: | 26 (April 27, 1992) | |||||||||
| Height: | 6'5" | |||||||||
| Weight: | 228 lbs | |||||||||
| Eyes: | Dark, with white pupils. In his public identity, he wears sunglasses or contacts. | |||||||||
| Hair: | A dark, shaggy mop mohawk up top, with a high undershave. | |||||||||
| Complexion: | Confidential | |||||||||
| Physical Build: | Athletic; lean | |||||||||
| Physical Features: | His shadow sometimes contradicts his own movements, or acts out in moments when he chooses to hold his tongue. | |||||||||
| Status | ||||||||||
| Fame: |
Local | |||||||||
| Alignment: |
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| Identity: | Secret | |||||||||
| Years Active: | 2006-2010, 2014-Present | |||||||||
| Citizenship: | US | |||||||||
| Occupation: | (Formerly)Post-production editor at WCOC. | |||||||||
| Education: | Difficult to estimate by conventional standards; see Mnemokinesis. | |||||||||
| Marital Status: | N/A | |||||||||
| Known Powers and Abilities | ||||||||||
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| Equipment and Paraphernalia | ||||||||||
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| Physical Attributes | |||||||||
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Reflexes |
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| Non-Physical Attributes | |||||||||
| Energy |
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Psionics |
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| Telepathy |
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Willpower |
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| Sorcery |
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Tech. |
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Knowledge |
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Bravery |
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| MaekadaBoxSlim created by @Maekada | |||||||||
Contents
Background and Origin
Before The Weird
Montage
X
After The Weird
(The Blot & Midnight Oil)
(The Blot & Midnight Oil)
X
Fallout
X
Out of the Shadows
X
The Adventurers
X
Powers, Skills, and Attributes
Umbrakinesis
Mnemon can manipulate and generate shadows and darkness, to an unusual degree. Because it is a form of kinesis (psionic, and also, a stricter form of telekinesis), the bulk of these shadowy shapes get their mass as a form of telekinetic construct.
Applications:
- Darkness Mimicry: Mnemon can become a living shadow, capable of existing and maneuvering between being a two-dimensional shape on a surface, or a three-dimensional silhouette. Because Mnemon can exert control over shadow, and that's exactly what his physiology has become, it allows him to afford some unusual shapeshifting. Naturally, as a two or three dimensional shadow, he's rather difficult to harm; in the first instance, this is for obvious reasons as a 2-D shadow is little more than a projection (barring his weakness), and in the second instance, because he's essentially an amorphous blob limited largely by his imagination. When in 2D or 3D form, he gives off no typical lifesigns, seems to lack vital organs, and can be difficult to detect, able to fit himself easily into any other shadow. While two-dimensional, Mnemon cannot (himself) act physically against his environment.
- Darkness Constructs: Mnemon can form tangible objects and creatures out of darkness or shadows, or simply make existing shadows solid to create sudden obstacles. While Mnemon's own shadow form is incredibly malleable, inanimate constructs Mnemon makes generally have the tensile strength, sturdiness, and density of whatever's being mimicked (to a point). A rope made out of shadow would bend and support several people if tied off right, and a table and chairs could easily seat a few people for dinner in a pinch, or smash over someone's head. He can cause shadows to animate, acting at his behest (though these minions take a twisted bent and quickly become outright alien and nightmarish). While they cannot normally bite or tear, they still have a similar mass and consistency to tar. At nightfall, or in areas of total darkness (caves, unlit buildings w/no windows), these creatures gain a more rigid consistency, like flesh and bone, and their claws and teeth -can- cut.
- Shadowplay: Mnemon can manipulate the presence of light in an area; as long as there are shadows, he can stretch them out. The affected area's usually no bigger than a room or two. He can turn a brightly lit room into a dimly lit one, a well-lit room into near darkness, and turn a poorly lit room absolutely pitch black in seconds, or create shadowed pathways to sneak along. He can cause already present shadows to contort into whatever shapes he has in mind, or even scatter them to rob someone else of the cover of darkness.
Mnemopathy
By touching a target, or being in contact with their shadow and able to see them (connected shadows using Shadowplay and Darkness Adaptation count), Mnemon can alter, view, or transfer and share memories, to start. While Mnemon is not a full-grade psychic, it allows Mnemon to be an absolute wildcard in certain situations because most importantly; it is something that can be internalized. It is a very specific sub-discipline of Telepathy.
Applications:
- Adoptive Muscle Memory: Mnemon only needs to be taught something once. Or read something once. Or watch a youtube video once. And once he's seen it, it's in there. He can even learn certain physical skills (martial arts, acrobatic maneuvers) just by watching someone else use them. As long as he trains these observed skills regularly, he'll be able to call on them in a pinch. His capability in any particular 'practiced but borrowed' skill will only ever be as good as the person he observed fighting, unless he surpasses it on his own. He can also 'autopilot' certain practiced skills (like a workout regimen) as a form of meditation. This ability obviously gives Mnemon a huge advantage in hand-to-hand combat.
- Mnemonic Blast: Mnemon can fire blasts of psychic energy; these attacks manifest in the form of gray, bland beams; they are only semisolid (density and push of water from a fire hydrant), and incapable of causing lasting physical harm on their own. They do, however, infuse targets with an overwhelming sense of a negative or impairing memory; usually lethargy, pain, or dread.
- Enhanced Memory (Panmnesia): Mnemon can remember and recall everything that he has ever experienced, encountered or learned in his lifetime. He needs only to read, hear, smell, taste, touch, or see something once and he will never forget it. While Mnemon has been tempted before to potentially put this to the test, he has legitimate concerns about what it might do to him if he retained too much information, and so he mostly turns towards absorbing information about blue-collar careers (electrician, plumber) and how-to videos for all sorts of things on Youtube (with a fondness for how-to's on costumes and cosplay stuff.) Mnemon also remembers any scent, taste, touch, and sound-based information he'd be in hearing range of or subject to while asleep.
- Knowledge Projection: Mnemon can share his own knowledge with others, whether it be a practiced skill, a muffin recipe, or a show he watched last night, as if they experienced it themselves. He can also borrow someone else's skill and share that with others as well. Skills Mnemon already knows and does regularly train in, can be shared for hours, though it does require occasional focus to maintain it, moreso if he's sharing with more than one person.
- Psychometry: A recently acquired talent in Mnemon's psychic toolkit is the power to read impressions off of objects. Objects that have not been handled with any particularly noteworthy memories or emotions associated with them simply provide nothing of worth, but even mere scraps of sentiment or extended use will provide glimpses of memories left behind.
- Thief of Days: Mnemon can use Knowledge Projection aggressively. This method is a bit of a bruteforce psychic attack, and people resilient to psychic powers will be less affected by it. This power largely depends on the target; how talented they are, and how ingrained the stolen skills and memories associated with it are. Making a shaolin warrior forget a life of training so he can't make a fist is much harder than making an average schmo forget where they left their keys, or that a thug with a pistol needs to reload his gun. This only usually ever lasts several seconds when done as a kneejerk response (especially if the criteria of the skill erasure is complicated), though if Mnemon is given enough time and consistent physical contact with a target, he could rob them of a talent for much longer.
- Memory Restoration: Mnemon can, over an extended period of time, give therapy to people suffering from certain kinds of memory loss. He can also help someone remember someone remember an event more accurately, though the person is still limited by what they experienced.
Emotion Manipulation
Mnemon's psychic talent has reach and utility, though his range of scope in Emotion Manipulation is currently incredibly narrow, and bleak. His affinity for darkness and his constantly repressed negativity only allows him to use this power to manipulate emotions considered to be 'negative' (fear, anger, hatred, distress, suffering, madness, etc).
- Empathic Sensitivity: Mnemon can study a person to gauge the strength and nature of their emotions (including insight into what caused their current mood), but can also instinctively pick up on strong, sudden empathic disturbances. Familiar mental templates (close friends, family, etc) trigger with greater sensitivity, as do the negative empathic similarities and ties between groups (like toxic workplace hierarchies and grudges). Naturally, he can only pick up on negative emotions.
- Emotional Vampirism: Bill can harvest nearby ambient negative emotion, or directly tap into stronger sources from people or creatures. This stolen emotion could be a sense of dread when searching a spooky location, or the rage of an unruly mob. While it doesn't completely siphon the negative emotion away in a large area, it can certainly shift the dynamic of a situation. Mnemon can more directly devour the intense negative feelings of living beings (or anything with strong emotions), completely deflating someone's anger in a fight to make them feel lethargic, or someone's horror during a traumatic event to calm them down. He has turned this power on himself more than once, intentionally inflicting harm to give his psychic prowess more wallop.
- Emotional Aura: Bill can subtly radiate or cause another person to radiate a particular negative vibe rather than absorb it into himself; this is usually easier if there's already a strong emotional presence to reverberate off of. While he can focus this into a more intense, closer-range field (aura of fear or confusion) to effect more immediate emotional responses, his normal application is often gradual, organically shifted to suit the personalities he's already studied.
Empathic Constructs
Empathic Constructs (The Hive Mind) - A combination of his Emotion Manipulation and Umbrakinesis, Bill can cause his shadow construct minions to take on shapes instinctively interpreted from the fears of others. More importantly, the main source of Bill's empathic prowess lies in the entities representing Bill's negative emotions; his various traumas have subconsciously taken on alien and shapes like nightmarish metaphors that emerge during periods of great stress, and each try to influence Bill's decisions whenever one is most prevalent; they are also the reason he is often so positive-seeming, as his empathic leeching not only empowers Bill, it sustains these beasts depending on the 'flavor' of the vibe, leaving him with little sensation normally involved in the experience (he's also very self-aware of the fact that some of his bravery and level-headedness in a crisis or battling insanity may be a side-effect of not being able to truly experience fear, mania, or panic). It is of worthy note that Bill himself casts no shadow, but he almost always seems to be casting one. They're never far, and they don't always show up one at a time. Sometimes, when Bill has been pushed to breaking points, his emotional surrogates pilot him. They're aware enough to know not to get him in too much trouble.
- Outrage: Not to be confused with Anger or Hatred, Outrage is Mnemon's most-manifested shade. Though it frequently behaves well in public beyond gruff and sometimes dark or bitter commentary, it has developed a sense of self beyond frothing at the mouth at the sight of injustice and spiteful neglect that normally has it egg Bill on to go out and fight crime; to the point where it even checks itself and others on going too far with violence in the pursuit of what's right. When fully manifested to fight alongside Bill, Outrage appears as a slouching creature with bestial legs, claws, a long prehensile tail, and a number of multiple limbs and protruding spines. Negative space in the shadow creates the illusion of saucer-wide eyes and a jagged mouth. Outrage does not have any particularly fancy tricks beyond a fluid form, superhuman might, and decent agility for a five hundred pound imaginary monster made of feelings.
- Agony: Held up by tendrils from nearby shadows, Agony appears as a humanoid shape wrapped in chains, with several of them that dangle like appendages. Though it being a silhouette makes some of the detail of the chain-link mummy hard to see, the rattling and muffled grunts help fill the void. Several spindly appendages hang from the back of the head, like long, bony fingers. Occasionally, they will curl over the face, and pry the shadows apart to form eyes and constantly gritting teeth for a mouth out of white space. It's of no surprise that the self-entombing free-dangling chains Agony uses to move around with often end in unpleasant instruments. The shape matters little. Even the slightest brush from Agony is horrible pain; Agony once piloted an unconscious Bill into a situation involving bullet ants to toughen him up and expand his arsenal.
Psychic Defenses
While Mnemon isn't your typical full-fledged psychic -or- broad-spectrum telekinetic, he still has a very strong mind. Mnemon's dedication to meditation techniques, control over his own memories, and a great deal of internal self-control and morally upright values he adheres to give him a great defense, on top of the hive-mind of negative emotion cushioning creatures living in his head. As a result, Mnemon is fairly resistant to most forms of mind control (psychic, magic, or otherwise) and emotion control, including things like: sleep/exhaustion inducement, dream manipulation, fear or rage inducement, having his own memories and knowledge manipulated by outside sources, having his mind read, and madness inducement. It also bolsters him in situations that would otherwise mentally rattle people.
Mental Hypermetabolism (Enhanced Reflexes) - While Mnemon can't exactly move at high speeds, even at night, he can think at them. A combination of years of filing away every single thing he's ever experienced, or witnessed from the memories of others, allows him and the hive-mind to process and comprehend new or constantly-shifting information in real time. Muscle-memory reflexes are recollected and put to use at much quicker speeds, but this is better used as a defense. It also gives him the ability to obsessively monitor whatever hectic situation he's in (for example; keeping track of whom has what firearm in a shootout, and how many bullets each shooter has fired).
Somnipathy - Bill can enter people's dreamscapes while they sleep, fight off nightmares, and alter the dreamscape of the mind he's in. Though travel through others' dreams is theoretically possible, it's not something he's ever needed or wanted to attempt.
Darkness Adaptation - Mnemon can see perfectly in low-light, darkness, and an absence of light (or with his eyes closed). He can also shade his eyes from sudden harsh stimulus like spotlights, welding arcs, or flashbangs. Mnemon's senses also extend through shadows; as long as he's standing in a shadow, and it connects to other shadows, and so on, he can see, speak, and hear through them. By twisting shadows to suit the situation, Mnemon can eavesdrop on criminals from a somewhat safe distance by being in the right place at the right time, and is difficult to sneak up on. When fully concealed by shadows (including Shadowplay), Mnemon's reflexes, strength, land speed, leaping distance, perception, and durability are increased to peak human levels. In absolute darkness indoors, or at night, these traits rise to super-soldier equivalents. Mnemon has recently grown fangs during his nighttime physiological transition, and his bite can afflict a severe, disorienting, amnesia.
Weaknesses & Limitations
- Large, bright lights like searchlights, spotlights, and halogen floodlights can knock Mnemon out of his shadow-shifting form, and these exceptionally bright lights will cause his inanimate constructs to become sessile, and his animate ones will barely be able to hold a vague shape at all. Being knocked out of shadow-form by bright lights will leave him severely winded. Powers that emit great amounts of light can effectively destroy his shadow constructs, and cause him harm in his shadow-shape.
- Mnemon's unnamed shadow-constructs created on the fly, both animate and inanimate, cannot cause lasting harm during the day or under harsh light. While they can hit severely hard, they can only ever manage to stun or incapacitate targets. This is because Mnemon's shadowy constructs often lack necessary emotional components, unlike his empathic constructs. For astral shadow-substance to create an edge, or proper fangs and claws, negative emotions must be involved, or it must be night time. An abundance of negative emotion, however, can also lead to a lack of control. During the daytime, or under harsh light, however, Mnemon's empathic constructs are left even more weakened than his non-sentient/inanimate constructs, trapped in the form of a two-dimensional shadow.
- Psychic defenses and strong wills will obviously provide defense against his Mnemokinesis and Emotion Manipulation.
- When actively using some of Mnemon's powers, it causes him severe migraines. Adopting shadow-form too many times in a short period also causes a great deal of pain.
- In human form, Mnemon is as vulnerable to anything a normal human is subject to (save psychic attacks). While he's tough, he's still worried about bullets and getting stabbed. During the day, especially in direct sunlight, he does not have his enhanced physical attributes gifted by his Darkness Adaptation.
Skills
(Very) Diversified Tradesman - Thanks to his Adoptive Muscle Memory and Panmnesis, Mnemon's ability to retain massive amounts of information allow him to train efficiently, but also to absorb knowledge. While Mnemon has not completed certification in most of these courses, he's read enough manuals and textbooks to become a tour de force as a plumber, electrician, carpenter, machinist, locksmith, and light and heavy duty mechanic. He's watched enough Food Network to have a library's worth of recipes, and could probably do well at Jeopardy! thanks to a swath of trivia. He knows how to do taxes, and has recently turned towards whatever law textbooks he can get his hands on.
Somehow, A Film Editor - Mnemon did go to college (and balanced studies and crimefighting with little trouble thanks to his mild obsession with absorbing knowledge and his ability to retain and instantly recollect it), and while his degree is in Electrical Engineering, his quiet passion was in the filler courses he took; at first in film studies, but this traveled the road of special effects, costume design, and post-production.
Martial Artist - Mnemon is trained in Muay Thai, Hapkido, Fifty-Two Blocks, Pencak Silat, and Krav Maga. While he has training in other martial arts, those memories and skills come from his Mnemokinesis. However, because of his inherent Panmnesis and Adoptive Muscle Memory applications, he's a very quick study under mundane training, and can master most of the techniques of a martial art in a very short time compared to others.
Advanced Training - Several of Mnemon's relatives (specifically his father and aunt, and later his mother and an older cousin or two) took a vested interest in his potential career as a superhero. His father and aunt especially pulled a few strings and called in some favors to arrange for him to be educated in: proper procedures for arrest and evidence gathering, close-quarters-combat, negotiation and de-escalation, espionage and stealth training, firearms use, reconnaissance technology, first aid, wilderness survival, infiltrative skydiving / HALO, and how to commandeer (see: hotwire) and pilot several modes of transportation. This is apart from him being sent abroad to learn under a few strict martial arts masters.
Attributes and Personality Quirks
Awkward - Mnemon is often a bit awkward, especially around other superhumans. Especially if they know he can alter or see memories. While there may end up being good rapport, Mnemon silently frets over whether or not a person is just putting on a nice front and his power secretly unnerves them, or they genuinely do accept and trust him.
Self-Conscious - While Mnemon is used to ribs about his appearance (what sort of hero wears a white denim jacket and a ballcap), he's a bit more sensitive about his powers, which tend to get wildly misinterpreted by outside forces. Rudely. And like his awkwardness with his telepathy-lite tricks, his shadowplay tends to have him viewed skeptically as a hero at the best of times, and at the worst, some of the stuff he manifests is frightening to bystanders, even when meaning extremely well. Even some of his fellow Adventurers have made what they see as 'light-hearted remarks' in regards to his memory manipulation, and for the sake of group cohesion, he stays silent.
There's Something Else...- Bill was diagnosed with Aspergers as a child, though his psionically enhanced mind largely allows him to exist in moments of clarity. His lack of eye contact and fidgeting, his socially anxious stature and penchant for repetitive tasks, these are all a part of who he is. There are times, however, when things just break down. So far, he's kept it mostly under wraps, and others have simply perceived it as 'Good ol' Mnemon being weird', and he is aware, though perhaps just paranoid, of the stigma that could follow if the truth ever became apparent.
A Pretty Okay Guy - Mnemon's not super-fond of violence, and will always try to talk a situation out first. He's also reluctant to use his powers, save for self-defense, and keeping others safe. Using his powers for harm beyond a little throwdown with some goons just doesn't even register in his own head as something he's capable of doing, and is the main reason his shadow constructs rarely cause lasting harm.
The Headaches Haven't Gone Away - Extensive use of his powers can cause Bill severe migraines, especially if used during the day. The headaches also seem to be compounded with any severe emotional trauma or repression. It is of worthy note that Bill is often sometimes a little too level-headed, a little too calm and docile about things that would otherwise whip most people up into at least being irate. Maybe he's just well-balanced; but with heroes, even the best-intentioned and kind-hearted of them, it's never just a little something. And that shadow of his, it seems like it's casting a little longer these days, and sometimes... a little meaner.
Gear and Equipment
Gear
Weapons - Mnemon carries a pistol (H&K MK 23), but usually uses nonlethal ammo (rubberized or beanbag rounds), and packs a Ka-Bar BKR7-BRK combat knife in his boot. Otherwise, he may fashion shadows into replicas of melee weapons, as long as they have non-moving parts, and doesn't feel the need to pack extra implements of pain.
Armor - Mnemon has a concealed light kevlar-graphene blended layer in the torso portion of his bodysuit, with flexible trauma plates also located along the back of the vest over the spine and kidneys, and in inner-sewn pockets on the thighs of the legs. (He also wears athletic support, for you sneaky jerks with the low blows.) There is also light impact padding sewn between the layers of his mask (around the face/forehead, the back of the skull, and the back of the neck), and the elbows, knees, and shins of his bodysuit, providing effective protection from a bad hit or two from conventional-strength arms. His jacket also has seatbelt fabric sewn in between the layers; kevlar on a budget, but well-stitched and layered. His usual outfit color palette ranges from an off-white, to light grays, with dark grey and black accents. The logo on the chest of his bodysuit is a dark eclipse surrounded by a thin white halo of light that doesn't entirely encompass the eclipse, forming a sliver of a crescent.
Gadgets - Mnemon typically uses a personal, jailbroken cellphone with a top-notch camera in it; as well as a body camera, not unlike what police are outfitted with. Beyond that, he doesn't really rely on gadgets to do his work, though he has taken to tinkering, and concealed a flip-down visor under the brim of his ballcap, and has a HUD that works in line with the bodycam and his phone to relay basic information (temperature, time, cardinal direction, google maps, contacts) and coordinate with a couple of other programs (facial and voice analysis and recognition, gait fingerprint analysis).
Relationships
Friends/Allies
- Red Spider: His 'boss', as he calls her, his leader. Looked up to by Mnemon, he holds a great deal of respect towards Red for giving him a chance to be part of something bigger than a three block crime beat.
- Blue Fox: Blue is a buddy of sorts, even if they tend to be diametrically opposed when it comes to their respective outlooks on law enforcement.
- The Montana Mighty: An unofficial super-team consisting of the small group of well-respected state heroes dedicated to Montana's protection. They only really come together in dire times, when one of the bigger threats (like The Prospector) proves more than one or two of them can handle.They are:
- The Duster: A gunslinging hero from his heydays in Montana (And leader of the Montana Mighty), Mnemon (under the name Midnight Oil) was paired with The Duster as a sidekick. Duster is one of the main driving forces in reinforcing Mnemon's drive to do the right thing and be morally upstanding. Little is known of him by the public, and while he thrives on mystery, has been described as having Action Hero powers, or, The Rule of Cool, and is, naturally, an expert gunslinger. In truth, he is a person possessed by a magical artifact from The Even Wilder West.
- Maize: A half-Chippewa woman with the power to fly, as well as control and generate plants. While she puts on a very cheerful face for the local news cameras and social media, face to face, Maize will cut a bitch, and is as naive as she is gentle in a fight. She has secondary social media accounts under her real identity (Nat (Nahela) Sainte-Marie) acting as a way to voice her concerns over further cultural erasure and loss of native rights without compromising her polished and proper alter-ego's reputation. She is the older sister of:
- Tumbleweed: The gentler counterpart to Maize, Tumbleweed is a paunchy, jovial prankster, and regularly keeps in touch with Mnemon. This happy-go-lucky sometimes stoner has the power to generate strong winds, and can also travel by tucking up into a ball and hyper-rolling at blinding speeds. While in motion, Tumbleweed is both hard to hit, and even harder to hurt, capable of rebounding off surfaces repeatedly at high speeds without causing himself damage.
- Plateau: Another of the mighty who keeps in touch with Mnemon, especially as they know each other's identities. Plateau, aka Abraham Wright, owns a construction company, and served in the USMC with Mnemon's father. While The Duster is technically older due to being a strange artifact, Abe is the eldest member of the group, and also the gruffest and most serious. With the power to manipulate and become earth, he's also considered the most powerful. Abe often seems stressed, and Mnemon knows this is not because of his job or heroic activities, but because the man has four daughters to look after of his own accord, since the death of his wife. Two are teenagers. May he have mercy on the criminals he crosses that don't immediately surrender, because like hell is someone making him late for Cassie's soccer practice.
- Doctor Ulysses Hoss: A quadruple-doctorate super-genius stuck in the body of a horse during an unfortunate accident (the likes of which Hoss speaks of no detail, to anyone), he now has the brains of a high-end gadgeteer, and the powers of a horse. Unfortunately, he also has all the weaknesses of a horse, and even though he can speak (often usually with curmudgeonly disapproval), has no opposable thumbs. He'd often have Mnemon assist him with projects, as Mnemon only ever needed to read or be instructed on something once.
- Ranger Ron: Too-uncannily resembling an incredibly fit Teddy Roosevelt, this mighty-moustached super soldier was part of a non-replicatable process due to a unique health condition prior to the experiment that, trillion-to-one odds, slowed his aging, heightened his senses, gave him great wisdom, and made him physically robust. Boasting traits not unlike the folks on Silverline, Ronald has since scaled back from a career with the military as a survivalist trainer to help care for the national parks all around Montana. He has a very helpful habit of happening across people that are lost, or otherwise woefully underprepared for a trek in the woods or mountains.
Family of Note:
- James Lightfoot (Father): Bill's dad, somewhat strict in Bill's youth, though now more relaxed. He is currently employed with the ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms), but previously held a fair career within the FBI, in the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch (CCRSB). At one point, James harbored anti-superhuman sentiment, but his perspective flipped when the unthinkable happened, and his own son developed strange powers, and he later discovered that one of his best friends from the Corps (Abe/Plateau) is one as well. James will always be against the idea of his son being a hero, but ultimately resigned to the fact that this is how he's best helping the world. James pulled a great many favors to have Bill properly trained with great discretion in things that a normal teenager normally wouldn't dare partake in, to ensure he was prepared for what the criminal world's really like beyond the misleading allure found in campy comic books.
- Carla Gutierres-Lightfoot (Mother): As stern as James is, it can be said that Carla is even sterner; though often lives out-of-state working in Maryland, for the NSA. Carla was a bit of a helicopter mom for a great deal of Bill's life, and it's only in his more recent hard times, recovering from severe injuries, that he reconnected with her. She quietly embraces her son's career path, if only to irritate James a little now and then.
- Rebecca Lightfoot-Dean (Aunt): Mother of Bill's cousin Claire, Auntie Bec is the softer side of whatever training Mnemon went through, and also, the most open emotionally, a sort of surrogate mother. Rebecca works with the Department of Homeland Security in the USCBP (Customs and Border Patrol); yet another member of Bill's family serving the federal government on a law-enforcement level.
Enemies
Montage, an evil super-scientist who uses unusual wavelengths in media (film and music, typically) to stress-test audiences in an attempt to unlock unusual talent. This is usually accomplished through his broadcasting devices by subjecting large groups of people to sound or visual-based psychotropic, surreal, and often terrifying stressors that can actually cause people with latent or dormant metahuman potential to erupt. Montage also possesses a form of powerful gaze, capable of hypnotism, or, worse; inducing sanity-shredding visions of raw madness. While his costume and early career pitched him as a campy moustache-twirler interested in petty crime, a pair of bullying heroes gave him a sound beating after humiliating him repeatedly, and when he came back, he still had the outfit, but his talents had taken a very menacing turn, and Montage no longer pulls punches. Some of his latest exploits have turned people permanently mad, or whipped entire crowds up into trampling frenzies or bloodthirsty mobs. Montage is not only responsible for Mnemon, but the transformation and indoctrination of his two best childhood friends, Wyatt Daniels, and Jessica Wynne, into Grip and Catacomb, his two henchfolk. Montage is considered a threat that warrants superhuman response, as the collateral damage and lethality of his methods can be severe.
Catacomb, one of the three young people whose latent abilities were awakened by the Roxy Theatre Incident that also empowered Mnemon. She is absolutely loyal to Montage. Catacomb can sense that which a person fears most, and then cause it to manifest, giving the psychic illusion quasi-reality. She can also phase through nonliving material, becoming temporarily incorporeal for short bursts. It has long since been assumed that Catacomb is Jessica Wynne, who went missing the day things got weird at The Roxy. While her master has a great hatred for Mnemon, some of their encounters have been (somewhat pointlessly) flirtatious on her part, and every time she's bested him, she's spared him, suggesting that Montage may not have absolute control over her; however, she does seem to enjoy their engagements, suggesting a latent kind of psychopathy.
Grip, one of the three young people whose latent abilities were awakened by the Roxy Theatre Incident that also empowered Mnemon. Like Catacomb, he's loyal to Montage. Grip's transformation gave him brick-style powers; he is incredibly tough and strong. The name Grip comes from his tactile telekinesis, wherein he can pick up just about anything to use as a weapon, without it breaking under its own weight. The incident, however, also heavily diminished his mental capabilities. Grip's identity has been confirmed as Wyatt Daniels, as Grip doesn't wear a mask of any sort. It is of note that while Montage hates Mnemon, any engagements with Grip have been somewhat amiable, suggesting that Mnemon's childhood friend is still in there somewhere, as he often seems to follow Montage's orders conveniently to the letter where it concerns fights with Mnemon. This kindness, however, he does not extend to others Montage orders attacked.
Aviax, a superhuman from Baltimore with the power to communicate with and control birds, and possessing birdlike physiology (hollow bones, excellent vision) and a flair for broody prose in the form of Edgar Allen Poe. While he's about as low-key as some villains get, Aviax has a special hatred for Mnemon because every time they fought, Mnemon not only beat him, but absolutely verbally roasted him, often causing him to become angry and lose focus. This has been problematic for Aviax, as most birds (except ravens and crows) actually despise his manipulation of them, and will either flee or attack him if his control breaks. Aviax has been laying low, and followed Mnemon to Millenium City, and, covertly, has gotten a job with the Detroit City Zoo, patiently cultivating an army.
Big Iron, a corrupted spirit taking the humanoid shape of locomotive wreckage and parts. Summoned ages ago as a curse upon the men who built the railroads on the backs of Chinese slave labor, Big Iron has since been tainted by the influence of the railway industry, and is often consumed with greed. While largely mindless, there is a spark in there that allows for some communication. However, Big Iron will always be tempted to turn to his main focus: greed and gluttony, in that he's endlessly hungry, and must continue to choke down combustible fuel, while seeking out the descendants of wealthy rail tycoons. While the creature never truly stays destroyed, or dormant if out of fuel, it thankfully seems confined to the state of Montana, even by rail.
The Prospector, a crazed old coot of grand stereotype: overalls, a pot for a hat, a wild beard, crosseyed, and with more toes than teeth. This disheveled maniac was a conspiracy theorist and local nutjob before finding a hunk of 'ancient space gold' (an alien artifact) that gave him his twisted genius. Cooter Pyle's old-school, a villain with ridiculous flair, impossibly huge death-traps that are easy to escape from, zany schemes, and a lot of dynamite. While he's tied people to train tracks and been seen running off from bank robberies to 'fund his next big dig' carrying a sack with a dollar sign on it over his shoulder, he's never actually killed anyone. This doesn't mean that state authorities will show him leniency, but when often given the chance, it's much easier to let Prospector flee, as he tends to cause far less collateral damage when allowed to. Though many of his ill-planned ideas are simply long-winded practical jokes, he has been known to get very serious, like the time he built a musical device to mind control an entire town into constructing a mineshaft. His mercurial nature and being given enough time to build something are, if nothing else, antics he finds amusing to him.
Jezebelle, Mnemon's cousin. By day, Claire Lightfoot is the director of Tourism and Commerce for Missoula County, and also a liason for the Montana Mighty and any other corresponding heroes doing work in the area. While Claire has no powers, she is fiercely intelligent, resourceful, and ultimately, bored. The persona was cultivated out of a need to give the local heroes the occasional scheme to thwart, as she's cottoned onto the idea of heroes and villains being a great source of outside interest to the state's already long-flourishing tourism industry. As Jezebelle, she targets the corporate elite that hold business stakes in the state, a cat-burglar of sorts who dresses as a dame belle from the frontier days. While her getup and gear seems old-timey, her many gadgets and weapons are very modern in construction, and she always carries a plethora of tools for the job. While she's never used lethal force, she's never needed to. Mnemon knows Claire's true identity, and her particular brand of crime has long nagged at his conscience on what to do about her.
Grizz Lee, a mountain-man who also found a fragment of the same alien material that twisted the Prospector. Leon Pickett's neanderthal physical structure covers a cunning, not so much an intelligence. Dressed in animal skins and often smelling somewhat ripe of a fresh kill, this bushy bearded wildman often attacks encroaching industrial developments. While he has a neutral pact of sorts with Ranger Ron, and a soft spot for both Jezebelle (who has employed him as muscle in the past for some of her heists) and Maize (who takes advantage of any distraction she can get from him to throw a turnip at his teeth), he has no issue terrorizing anyone else in order to drive them off. Unfortunately, this also includes the protesters that gather at some of these places. Grizz by himself has unnatural strength, stamina, and a sense of smell; a love for building traditional hunting traps and implements and a superhuman talent with nets and bolas, and can climb, manveuver through treelimbs or swim as fast as he can run. But perhaps worst of all, is his ability to create a bond with a single animal. This gives him the various physical benefits of the animal, along with claws and fangs where applicable - but the animal, at his behest is the greater terror, transforming into a dire beast of its kin, and enlarging several times in size. Small woodland creatures and insects suddenly becoming forty foot kaiju is problematic enough to warrant a military response; though there is always the 'simple' solution of rendering Grizz unconscious to disrupt the effect (though more often than not, Grizz uses the animal as a distraction for escape and wanton destruction). The Montana Mighty have been called in on more than one occasion to deal with him finding something bigger than a squirrel, crow, or beetle and setting it loose on a highly populated lumber site.
General Perception
- For now, he's just another face in the crowd. Millenium City has plenty of street-sweepers out there as is. He habitually avoids too much media attention, but that doesn't stop him from doing a little public volunteer work now and then around Westside, in costume, of course.
- Update: September 2019: Mnemon was photographed almost out of frame, speaking with USAF security force specialists at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base in Macomb County, while other USAF SFS servicemen were depicted arresting domestic terrorists who attempted an attack on the base, and subsequent plane heist. Word has had time to get around that the Westside cape known as Mnemon seems to have a respectable rapport with local law enforcement for his by-the-books assistance in fighting crime in the state.
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