“I… I… I’ve got a destination now! I won’t run away from you anymore!”
Name: Rowan Mercury
Alias: COURIER (former alias: GANYMEDE)
Age: 18
Sex: Male
Hair Color: White
Eye Color: Red
Appearance:
- A slight, lithe young man about 5’10” with skin pale enough to be almost translucent. He wears a sleek, sturdy dark blue bodysuit with black stripes like electrical circuits and specialized silver shoes that allow him to use his Regalia while running jobs as a courier. For casual clothes, he wears smooth loose tan pants, a plain long-sleeved white shirt and a sleeveless light blue hoodie.
His last accessory is an expression of constant melancholy.
Backstory:
2072. The Mercury family is a reasonably successful one; they run an antique shop in Outer Alexandria. Husband and wife are happily wedded, if a bit strained in finances. Their pride is their newborn son, Rowan, a bright, lovely, and energetic child. The shop hits a boom, and the family flourishes. They’ve never been happier.
2081. The shop fails, and the family collapses. Rowan’s parents argue constantly, and many men in suits come to the shop. One night, Rowan cannot sleep. He rises to use the bathroom, and hears a muffled thump from his parents’ room. The moon shines, the light a path to the room at the end of the hall. The door is ajar; with shaking fingers, he pries it open. His mother is on the bed, yet she is too still to be asleep. Her white nightdress is embroidered with a violent rose. His father is on the floor, red seeping from his stomach, his chest, his head. A dark man looms over him, gun shining in the moonlight seeping past the door. He turns, black eyes narrowing as he meets the terrified gaze of the white-haired boy. The gun rises, and the bullet streaks through the air.
And the boy runs.
His eyes are burning, his heart is lead, his legs are on fire, igniting, burning away, tearing themselves apart to escape the bullet, the man, the reality. He runs. He runs through the window, glass ripping at his arms, his face, his legs as he crashes to the ground and runs. He tears clods of earth, of concrete, of steel from the ground as he runs, and the ground shifts to dust as the lights of the city fade behind him. Blood stains the earth as he runs himself ragged, as he runs himself raw, but he pays no heed. The moon shines overhead, and light sparkles in the distance. Rowan collapses.
2082: Rowan awoke in a hospital with a red-haired man by his side. His name was Julius King, and like Rowan, he was an Esper. Julius told him many things: that his parents had been killed by debt collectors, that he had awakened as an Esper and had ran to Greater Cairo in a single night, that Julius had found him lying in a pool of blood in the sand, and that he was willing to take Rowan in. Rowan wept, and Julius gently smiled. Alone in the world, Rowan left the hospital with Julius. And that was how Rowan joined the Empire of the Rose.
2083: Julius loved Rowan, and this brought him no joy.
No longer did Rowan learn of history, of technology, of the world at large. Now he learned of the streets: of drugs, of chattel, of murder, of depravity. Once, Rowan complained. Julius tore water from the plumbing of his chateau and lashed Rowan until his alabaster skin became sandstone.
Julius loved Rowan, but not as a father.
His nights were no longer alone. Rowan wept, and Julian twisted his tears into the finest ichor. Yet even this was not enough. The sommelier desired the finest nectar from his fruit, and found adequate soil for his bloom. For the first time, the boy ate of another.
Julius loved the young beautiful boy, stained with tragedy and fragility.
The years passed, and Rowan learned of the cruelty of the world. In an empire forged on illegal merchandising, he was just one more trophy to be bagged and displayed. Running was forbidden with electric collars, and the boy’s tears were his teacher for his new power.
Rowan became GANYMEDE, and the once bright young boy cracked and dulled.
2087: Rowan hunched in the corner of his room, arms clutching his knees to his chest as if he wanted to stab his own heart. He needed to get up, to move to the baths with the cloying, choking odor of roses so that he’d be clean for Julius. His hands shook, growing even whiter as they clutched his legs. Yes, that was what he needed to do; he needed to get, he needed to move and be ready so that he wouldn’t be hurt more than usual. Those booms were his footsteps coming down the hall–
Booms?
With a deafening rumble, the marble wall behind Rowan crumbled as it flew away from him before crunching together in midair and crashing to the ground. He fell backward, air leaving his lungs in a ragged cough as his back crashed against the terrace.
“Hmm. You don’t look like an evildoer. Who are you?”
As the dust cleared, Rowan blinked eyes flinching from the sudden sunlight and looked up. Sunlight framed a girl staring down at him with shining dark brown eyes.
“What… ? Who… ?”
The girl frowned, short black hair and red scarf waving in the wind.
“Did you crack your head or something? It’s not like I stuttered or anyth–”
She saw the collar around his neck, and her eyes narrowed. In a single motion, she reached down, tore the collar off of him and hurled it away.
“Go. You’re free now.”
Rowan rose slowly, rubbing his neck as he stared into the distance.
“Oi, WUYA! Target’s over here!”
The girl started at this, and smiled apologetically at him. “Sorry, I’ve got to go now.”
She leaped away, and Rowan stood silently, reaching for words he’d never had.
His heart throbbed, and his legs burned. Leather slippers tore as thick strands of white fiber shot from his ankles, soles and calves to wrap around his feet, forming a pair of sleek silvery-white boots.
The world blurred as he exploded off the ground, streaking into the desert. As a boom rippled behind him, Rowan coughed, and then choked out racking sobs, his eyes burning as years of emotion tore themselves free.
2090: He fled to Port Said, and made his living as a smuggler, and then as a courier. The competition he outperformed and the skeptical he convinced, and with the knowledge he obtained from his time in the Empire, he established an office in a refurbished warehouse in the metropolitan district. GANYMEDE became COURIER, the young man who runs for his own purposes in search of the girl who freed him years ago, but still fears the day the Empire may come for him…
Personality:
- Quiet and introspective by nature, Rowan has no friends – only connections. Still deeply scarred from the travails of his past, Rowan trusts no one. He lives from mission to mission, running between the three cities and doing his best to keep his head down. About his packages, Rowan asks no questions; about his customers, he makes no inquiries. Save one.
Have you seen WUYA?
- Rowan keeps a clear divide between his matters as an Esper and any jobs he happens to get from a human customer. He cares little about the opinions of others, taking any amount of disgust or jeers leveled at him with dull indifference.
- He hates to be touched, and startles easily when unfamiliar people invade his personal space. On the occasion that someone is attracted to him, he actively ignores their advances.
Faction:
- Empire of the Rose (Former) Unaffiliated
Free Perks:
Augmentation: Netlink HoloPhone
- A chip stored and controlled in the dominant hand, that acts as a media player, cellular communicator, personal digital assistant, camera, transaction manager, ID, and so on, all through a holographic interface. Naturally, they’re still called phones. Most factions have their own private channel that allows for encrypted communication within the faction.
Main Perks:
Connections: Courier
- Upon his arrival in Port Said, Rowan rapidly established himself as a superb courier, capable of even running packages between cities in under 24 hours. As a result, he is acquainted with several underground information and goods brokers satisfied with his services, and thus willing to offer him concessions.
Equipment: All-Purpose Medical Machine
- Without access to Julius’s own surgical technology, Rowan was faced to save and steal until he earned enough money to gain his own autonomous apparatus. It is capable of healing most lacerations, contusions, fractures, breaks, burns and other injuries, as well as removing 500 points of Blight at a time. However, it stresses Rowan’s body to the point that he can only use it once every 48 hours.
As an aside, Rowan has installed an APMM in each of his three safe houses.
Equipment: Firefighter’s Canteen
- Firefighter’s Canteen: An outdated lightweight water storage tank strapped to the small of the back. Tubes with valves lead from the tank along the undersides of the arms to small adjustable nozzles below the wrist, allowing for water to be discharged as a fine mist, a wide spray, or a focused jet. The tank contains three gallons of compressed water.
- Current Level: 13/15
Stats: 250/250
STR: 10 (E)
CON: 20 (D)
AGI: 100 (S)
DEX: 10 (E)
PER: 40 (C)
INT: 20 (D)
WIL: 50 (C)
Health (HP): 2(10) + 5(20) = 20 + 100 = 120
Stamina (AP): 20 + 100 = 120
Stamina Regen: 10 + 20 = 30
Blight (BP): 0/1000
Blight Resistance: 50 x .8 = 40%
Initiative: 100 + 40 (+10) = 150
Blight Effects:
Light: Arms and legs feel constant pinpricks, like the sensation of blood flowing back into a long-stationary limb.
Moderate: Water rests listlessly on arms, and does not evaporate or dissipate unless wiped away; Legs are constantly burdened with a dull ache, and twitch constantly unless Rowan exerts conscious effort to hold them still.
Heavy: Arms are mottled and bruised, skin is speckled with pustules; Legs are capable of higher speeds, boosting AGI by 10 but consistently damaging themselves.
Severe: Arms are constantly coated in a patina of fluid, blood flows irregularly, causing bulging of veins and arteries; Legs are permanently damaged, muscle tissue is weakened from constant tearing, skin is scarred and marked from constant rips, and ligaments and tendons are frayed, reducing AGI by 20.
Regalia: Wings of Hermes (Left Leg, Right Leg)
Running shoes molded from the Acceleration Strains in Rowan’s legs. Not only do they enhance his speed, but their soles morph in order to best accommodate the terrain he is on. No matter the region, no matter the surface, Rowan will always run with the speed of a god.
Crests:
Core: Acceleration
Head: Lv. 2 Concentration
Torso:
Arms:
- Right: Lv. 4 Torrent
- Left: Lv. 4 Torrent
Legs:
- Right: Lv. 8 Acceleration
- Left: Lv. 8 Acceleration
Strains:
- Acceleration
- Concentration
- Torrent
Techniques:
- Active: Aquarius Blitz (Left Arm [Torrent] or Right Arm [Torrent]; Requires an adequate water supply)
o Water is rapidly swirled into a lethal blade capable of slicing through reinforced concrete and solid steel and extended from the fingertips.
o Damage scales based on the speed at which Rowan is moving
o AP Cost: 20
o Blight Cost: 75
- Active: Fly Flicker (Left Leg [Acceleration] and Right Leg [Acceleration])
o Rowan slips past a target with a rapid step and turn, flickering out of their sight with the appearance of teleportation. Primarily an evasive maneuver, but good for positioning and combos well with Aquarius Blitz.
o AP Cost: 15
o Blight Cost: 50
- Passive: Falcon Eyes (Head [Concentration])
o Vision is naturally improved, boosting PER by 10. Even at high speeds, visual perception remains unimpaired.
- Active: Aqua Barrage (Left Arm [Torrent] or Right Arm [Torrent]; Requires an adequate water supply)
o Water is fired at high speed as a barrage of bullets. As the water loses contact with the arms upon firing, the shots cannot home, and only maintain their shape through sheer inertia, making this attack unsuitable for long distances.
o AP Cost: 10
o Blight Cost: 50
- Active: Trident Burst (Left Arm [Torrent] or Right Arm [Torrent]; Requires an adequate water supply)
o Rowan fires brief bursts of water from his hands to increase speed or make sudden turns. Useful in situations that require midair maneuvering or additional speed when terrain is lacking, but rapidly drains water if applied for long periods of time.
o [15 BP/20 AP
o +10 AGI for a moment]