Unconquered Son
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Once, it told him, it answered to many names: Ba'al, Ra, Shamash, Helios, Apollo and Baldr. The last pagan Romans called it Sol Invcitus, the Unconquered Sun.
Once, it told him, it stood as protector and nurturer of life, patron of soldiers and saints, a burning eye in the heavens standing vigilant watch over humanity's daylight hours.
But if you tell Dr. Vic Samson something, there's a good chance he won't believe you. A hungrily inquiring mind is the lasting consequence of being brought up by academics, and he's adept at finding doubts and points of criticism about just about anything.
He doesn't believe in gods. He's studied too many of the religions of too many fallen civilisations to place any stock in the power of divinity to save you from catastrophe.
All he knows is that when he touched a long-forgotten memento from one of his father's digs, he heard something -- an old, wise, powerful voice, claiming to be that same fiery force that spoke to so many ancients before him -- speak to him.
"Your people have forgotten the fire that nourished you and held back the long dark before the dawn of the world. But the torches flicker and falter in the wind. The blackness threatens to encroach once again.
The spark must be reignited. The fire must burn once more. They must again know the might of the unconquered sun. They must believe. They must have hope.
And you, Victor Samson, will give it to them."
Contents
Background and Origin
The Medallion
It begins with a carved disc of unidentified stone with some crude symbolism of unclear meaning on the face and eight etched lines radiating outwards from the centre like sunbeams, small enough to fit into your palm. It has no direct provenance in the archaeological record, but many similar items have been discovered all over the world across time and space. Today, it would be easily mistaken for a charm picked up in a new age store or ordered from an online artisan.
In 1987, it came out of the earth in a dig in Armana, Egypt, but its placement in the sand was too recent for it to have been there since ancient times. Instead, analysis suggested it seemed to have been deposited at that most significant site in the Cult of Aten at some point in the twentieth century, but a botched attempt to carbon-date it seemed to suggest that it was much, much, much older, more ancient even than the site that was being excavated -- perhaps as old as humanity itself.
It is not known what it said to Colin Samson when he laid his hand upon it, but it was enough that he immediately locked it away and tried to forget about it. It was amongst the personal affects that were left to his son after his death in the summer of 2015, and would have gone unnoticed had its voice not been heard when his hand brushed over it.
Victor has come to theorise from his father's notes surrounding the stone's placement in the soil that it was buried there in recent decades, and intentionally, perhaps to be found again, perhaps to be 'returned' to a site associated with a particular solar deity's cult. Moreover, he firmly believes that he is not the first bearer of the medallion -- that there has been any number of Unconquered Sons before him throughout history and legend, imbued with similar might by the strange force that speaks through it -- and highly doubts that he will be the last.
The Man
Powers, Skills, and Attributes
The Medallion's Blessings
With a cry of Sol Invictus!, Victor is capable of assuming the form of the Unconquered Son. Encased from head to toe in interlocking plates fitted to his skin, he appears at first to be a taller, more muscular version of Dr. Samson, but the changes are not merely aesthetic. His eyes glow a fierce white and his very presence seems to warm and illuminate his surroundings, even in relative darkness. Moreover, a series of abilities are bestowed upon him:
Superhuman Strength When transformed, Victor's body fills with the same mighty force that drives the movement of the spheres around our sun. The Unconquered Son is currently capable of lifting several tons of weight with relative ease, and is understandably very cautious about how he applies this strength in combat with baseline human targets.
Invulnerability It is unclear how much of this owes to the Unconquered Son's abilities and how much can be attributed to the armour that encases him when he assumes his empowered form, but Vic has thus far proven capable of withstanding impacts and crushing pressures that would crush the bones and liquefy the organs of a powerless individual. He is further able to shrug off extremes of temperature and various forms of directed energy attack.
Heat Manipulation In addition to radiating mild amounts of warmth and light involuntarily all around him, Victor seems able to utilise the heat of the sun in concentrated bursts, but this ability remains unrefined and limited. With focus, however, the Unconquered Son can land burning blows that can reduce armour to molten slag beneath his touch and melt projectiles before their impact on his body, further enhancing both his offensive and defensive repertoire.
Empathic Projection An entirely involuntary ability, the Unconquered Son seems to have an inspirational effect on morale that supersedes even the expected reaction to fighting against or alongside a solar-powered superhuman warrior. Heroes working with the Unconquered Son in battle have reported feeling emboldened and heartened by his mere presence, whereas his defeated enemies have sometimes claimed to have felt a kind of terror before him that bordered on religious awe. Victims rescued by him from disaster zones have attested to the mildly soothing effect he had on their panic and fear. For his part, Victor is deeply uncomfortable with the nature of this power.
Solar Bond In what some jokesters have termed photosynthesis, the Unconquered Son is physically empowered and invigorated by contact with the sun. He is at his strongest when the sun is at its highest in the sky, and shows no exhaustion or sign of needing food or rest from actions undertaken under daylight. Even as his strength wanes somewhat through the night, he appears to be capable of storing this energy in reserve to sustain him throughout nighttime activities as well. In effect, in his empowered form, Victor requires neither sleep nor sustenance.
Flight The Unconquered Son is capable of defying gravity through unknown means and taking to the skies at high velocity.
One thing Vic has noticed is that these powers appear to be growing in tandem as his heroic career progresses and his name becomes more well-known. As he first begun experimenting with these abilities in relative privacy, they were relatively feeble, but have noticeably improved throughout his first few adventures (although, as it stands, he is currently no match for many of Millenium City's mighty superhumans). He theorises that the potentially divine force that empowers him draws some kind of power or even sustenance from the faith and confidence of mortal humans in it or its champion, which it in turn imparts upon its champion at incremental or exponential rates.
This presents a rational explanation to his mind as to why the Voice has instructed him to inspire hope and belief in the denizens of Millenium City -- even 'gods' need sustenance, and having an earthly avatar provides humanity with an icon or symbol through which their faith can feed it. His empathic projection, he believes, represents this force's attempts to further feed off mortals in the vicinity of its champion. If this theory holds out, the upper limit of the Unconquered Son's strength as his heroic reputation expands remains to be seen. If it is indeed fuelled by belief, then Vic is also dimly aware that his eternal cynicism and scepticism regarding the Voice's claims to divinity might well be holding its powers back.
Skills
Attributes
Gear and Equipment
The Medallion's Gifts
Relationships
Friends/Allies
Enemies
General Perception
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