Zen (Kimberley Irons)
Spoiler Warning
The following details are about a player-created storyline, or is information currently unrevealed about a character.
Please do not use this information ICly unless given permission to do so.
Zen is a completely blind vigilante practiced in the martial arts. Her main base of operation is inside of Millenium City with the help of the Blue Family.
Contents
History
Past
Soon after her birth she was diagnosed with blindness in both eyes. This was later determined to be due to a strange mutation in both eyes that caused her optic nerves to never develop/exist. During one of the early visits to the doctor's officer a sympathetic nurse suggested to Zen's parents that the martial arts were a great way for the blind to hone their senses. With a little research and even less of a discussion about it, Zen's parents decided to give it a try when she came of age.
When Zen was eight she started a martial arts program especially developed for the blind, "Blind Zen" dealt with mostly easy to learn exercises to improve her senses. She easily mastered it and in the process feel in love with the arts. For her tenth birthday she was enrolled into a standard Shotokan Karate class. Her parents half feared she'd fall short, become discouraged and give up the arts including her already successful blind zen practice. And she almost did.
After a year of difficult adaptation she made it over the top of the hill of constant struggle. And amazingly two months after her twelfth birthday she stop using her cane and refused all aid while walking. While not in school she would be practicing her karate and it was not to no avail, she flew through the belt levels with ease. By the time she was sixteen she was enrolled into three more martial classes.
After high school her blindness became her bane once again. Many career paths she wanted to follow as a child were dead ends to her. She ended up going to college in the field of psychology, she did not care for it.
The Jump to Vigilante
Zen didn't linger very long in college and was never very good with school work. She dropped school after the first year, with the only claim that it would not do anything for her in the long run. For three months she essentially lived off her mildly successful older brother, Andrew and was purposely avoiding a confrontation with her parents.
It was your run of the mill clichéd mugging scene, Zen entered a dark alleyway as a shortcut back to her brother place after training and from behind a stranger moving quickly. He called out and a quick conversation took place. The thug demanded her belongings and Zen stupidly tried to fight off the armed robber. After a very quick scuffle a shot rang out and Zen fell bleeding to the ground and was promptly robbed.
As she lay on the ground the only thing she could think of was how she was sure she could dodge the bullet given another chance. Luckily the bullet passed through her body without hitting any major organs and quickly healed up. Zen convinced her already growing annoyed brother to build a device to practice the dodging shots. Andrew was hesitant at best to the thought build something that would fire a gun. He built it with the promise that it'd be only used with no one actually in front of it, but off to the side and behind bullet proof glass. He could review taped footage for her.
After two and a half years of practice Zen had already made some head way, she found from ten feet back she could easily dodge shots and at five feet only get grazed by one. After some long thought, Andrew agreed to give her a chance to dodge a rubber bullet. It was a repeat of the shots behind the glass, at ten feet she dodged and at five she was grazed.
Zen immediately quit her current part-time job she found to be demeaning and took off to Millenium City in some pipe dream of becoming a hero.
Recent
With only her brother barely behind and supporting her in what he thinks is an attempt to get her self killed Zen soon found her self in a city filled with crime, heroes and villains that out classed her. All potential super groups, teams and branches of law enforcement she approached to join seemed to turn her down. She once again felt the burn of the lack of eyesight and in this case not being a "true" super hero. Fortunately, Zen ran into and joined a gang going by the name of the Blue Family, the gang seemingly filled with misfitted heroes that banded together to stomp out crime in the city.
Relationships
Allies
Enemies
- Black Ace Gang
- Cobra Lord Gang
- Cult of the Red Banner
- Maniac Gang
- New Purple Gang
- The Gimmick
Family
Unlike a good deal of the Blue Family, Zen still has regular contact with her family. Though her parents are still unaware that she took up her current life style. Andrew, Zen's brother however knows about her heroics and takes care of her financial needs. He's even been know to help her occasionally on a mission to retrieve information that would be otherwise difficult for her to obtain.
Powers
All of Zen's powers come from her years in practicing the martial arts. However it would seem she has some mutation effecting her hearing and reflexes. It is quite a possibility it's from the same DNA mutation that caused her to never develop any optic nerves. Though, she has never had a doctor examine in full for the reason why she's blind, nor does she care to.
Power Limitations
Zen relies heavy on her sense of hearing to get around and fight but it can also cripple her. Very loud places or a place with many sound sources makes it exceedingly hard and difficult to focus. And in a situations where sound hits a certain pitch or loudness it can leave Zen completely "blind" if you will. The sound at this pitch will take her forced attention and leave her unable to focus on her other senses.