Martin Brandtford (PL 4 NPC, Tier 1) - Arichamus

[Ari]

Player Name: Arichamus

Character Name: Martin Brandtford

Power Level: 4 (60/60PP)

Trade-Offs: None.

Unspent PP: 0

Progress To Bronze Status: 0/30

In Brief: Young optimistic scientist specializing in the field of the physics of time and space, eager to do good in other worlds.

Alternate Identity: None.

Identity: Public.

Birthplace: Little Rock, Arkansas

Occupation: Part-time teacher's assistant, Freedom City University student.

Affiliations: Superheroes, A.S.T.R.O. Labs, Freedom University, physicists.

Family: Brian Brandtford(father), Beryl Brandtford(mother), Sarah Brandtford(elder sister), Mark Brandtford(elder brother), Benjamin Brandtford(younger brother)

Age: 21

Apparent Age: N/A

Gender: Male

Ethnicity: Caucasian

Height: 6'2"

Weight: 158 Lbs.

Eyes: Brownish-red

Hair: Brown

Description: Immensely thin(accented by his height), Martin wears long, loose clothing with a vaguely formal theme, foregoing the casual wear most of his friends prefer. He wears large and thick blue glasses marked on the arms with a Pi symbol. His hair is generally unkempt and slightly longer than is considered optimal. His nose is long and sharp, and straight as a spade-head, while his lips are narrow, and often hidden by a broad grin born of earnest cheer that pushes forward his otherwise-unnoticeable chin. On occasions when he feels a need to cut a more dramatic figure he wears a voluminous lab coat he painstakingly stitched together from several smaller ones.

Power Descriptions: Martin has no powers in the strict sense, though he has an 'opened' consciousness that is as much a change of perspective as it is the result of being touched by another dimension.

History:

Martin Brandtford is the third of four children, with all the attendant profits and demerits of being a middle child. He had the example of his two elders to keep a watch on, while he also dealt with the slow change of his parent's affections for his younger brother, something that is rarely handled well in youth.

He had a great deal to occupy him, thankfully, and his feelings towards his younger sibling never developed past a slight dislike that is rapidly being obliterated by the flickering years.

On the farm he spent most of his life on in Arkansas, his parents never allowed any leisure time for more than an hour or so at most. In their view, if you weren't doing something to improve yourself or the world around you, you might as well be dead. Thus, Martin was encouraged to develop his growing scientifically-inclined mind from a much younger age than the norm, permitting him to familiarize himself with concepts like the space-time continuum and Brownian Motion.

The farm, having been long occupied by people of similar hearts and minds as Martin's relations, meaning manifold strange gadgets, machines and pieces of art and architecture littered the homestead and its property. One of these devices was a half-finished portal machine.

Completing what needed doing took until Martin was 10, but he was quite familiar with the inner workings of machinery by that age, and he knew how to make the odd gyroscope-like wheel spin properly. What he did not expect was for the rip in the dimensional barrier, and the sight of a gigantic needle holding on its tip a seemingly-endless wheel of worlds. He had no way of knowing that he had beheld the moment when the Alphians had completed their work on their first universes uncountable eons ago, or that the cosmic power leashed to such engines as the inhabitants of the First Universe used had permanently affected his very soul.

The machine broke down almost immediately and the rip quickly closed, so it was only a glimpse, but it changed Martin forever.

He became happier, a spring came into his step, he appreciated people more, to him the sky was bluer and the sun shone brighter and the dark of the night was less terrible, and all fear left him. Aside from his new-found joy, Martin's intellect was expanded by the experience, and the things that had seemed intractably difficult became, while not easy, at least explicable to him. He quickly finished his basic education, and set off at the age of 17 for Freedom College, where his breezy and open personality made him something of a novelty.

Finishing his work there without much issue or incident, it was at Freedom University that Martin happened upon a singularly interesting prospect. He was doing swimmingly in physics, and was brought to A.S.T.R.O. Labs for testing to see if he had a super-human intellect. Their tests revealed him to be completely normal, but while being given a short tour of the place he was brought to the lab where a device for traversing dimensions was being planned. To the bafflement of the scientists working on the plans, Martin made several corrections and improvements to their design, despite it being absolutely impossible for him to have had any instruction in the theory of extra-dimensional travel. A hurried re-test showed him again, to be a normal human in construction and brain capabilities.

Deeply confused by this, A.S.T.R.O. Labs gave Martin a scholarship to complete his training in conventional theoretical physics, while setting up a plan for his instruction at HIT, and giving him a job working in their extra-dimensional studies division int he interim. With his help the Dimensional Channeler was completed several years ahead of schedule, with the caveat that only he could properly operate it without risk to life and limb. His studies in school and in his own time revealed to him an apparent connection to the changes in the space-time continuum, which a subsequent observation of the time-warping time-suit Downtime was always stealing confirming an at least tenuous connection. A more thorough sweep of potential time-bending throughout the city in early 2011 revealed the speedster Jubatus to Martin, who thought that the fastest cat alive would be invaluable for dependable testing of his hypothesis. An attempt to contact the genetically-altered speedster led to a brief and eventful trip through the Schattenwelt and the dimension housing the ancient Hittite deities, and the consent from Jubatus to test how his powers worked. With Jubatus's help, Martin hopes to discover the possible interplay between the space and time of different dimensions, and bring the blessings of science to worlds that need it.

Personality & Motivation: Martin is the sort of person who, if given powers on par with the Scarab or the Centurion, would be in such little danger of using them ill as to be no threat whatsoever to world peace(such as it is). He is as just, fair and kind as can manage to be to whomever he is dealing with, believing deeply in the ultimate goodness within everyone. Ever-ready with a kind word and an encouraging gesture for anyone he meets, Martin is filled with a boundless optimism in the positive effects of proper application of the scientific method.

Powers & Tactics: Martin is completely unsuited for battle, and will usually attempt to get between opposing parties in order to keep a fight from breaking out with persuasion. If up against someone who can demolish him(i.e., most supervillains, random thugs and large dogs), he'll either try and escape the fight, or if he can't escape, he'll put up the best fight he can before his defeat.

---

Complications:

Pacifist: Simple as that, Martin can't bear to hurt anyone in any way if he can avoid it.

Abilities: 2 + 4 + 2 + 14 + 8 + 10 = 36PP

Strength: 12 (+1)

Dexterity: 14 (+2)

Constitution: 12 (+1)

Intelligence: 24 (+7)

Wisdom: 16 (+3)

Charisma: 16 (+3)

Combat: 0 + 0 = 0PP

Initiative: +2

Attack: +0

Grapple: +0

Defense: +0 (+0 Base, +0 Dodge Focus), +0 Flat-Footed

Knockback: -0

Saving Throws: 0 + 0 + 0 = 0PP

Toughness: +1 (+1 Con, +0 [Other])

Fortitude: +1 (+1 Con, +0)

Reflex: +6 (+2 Dex, +0)

Will: +4 (+4 Wis, +0)

Skills: 76R = 20PP

Concentration 9 (+12)

Craft(Electronic) 9 (+16) Skill Mastery

Craft(Mechanical) 9 (+16)Skill Mastery

Disable Device 9 (+16)

Diplomacy +9 (+12)

Handle Animal 9 (+12)

Knowledge(Current Events) 4 (+11)

Knowledge(Physical Sciences) 9 (+16) Skill Mastery

Knowledge(Popular Culture) 4 (+11)

Knowledge(Technology) 9 (+16) Skill Mastery

Feats: 4PP

Eidetic Memory

Fearless

Inventor

Skill Mastery: ( Craft(Electronic), Craft(Mechanical), Knowledge(Physical Sciences), Knowledge(Technology)

DC Block:

   ATTACK      RANGE     SAVE                                   EFFECT

   Unarmed     Touch      DC15 Toughness (Staged)     Damage (Physical)

Abilities (36) + Combat (0) + Saving Throws (0) + Skills (20) + Feats (4) + Powers (0) - Drawbacks (0) = 60/60 Power Points

[Avenger Assembled]

You can't have skill mastery on Concentration.

At PL 4, he can't have more than 9 skills ranks in any skill.

His Handle Animal modifier is off.

[Ari]

Requested edits completed.

[Avenger Assembled]

APPROVED

[Dr Archeville]

So his brief contact with another dimension made him a fearless, happy-go-lucky genius?

What was this other dimension? Has he tried opening portals to it again? Has anyone in his family done so?

[Ari]

It wasn't so much what the dimension did as his perception of it.

The place he briefly was exposed to is almost entirely removed from the known dimensions, a sort of backstage to the universes which gave him a better perspective on his existence. What he saw would have appeared completely different if, say, he was a hardened nihilist. In that case it would have seemed like looking at a nail about to pop a bubble full of worlds.

He has tried, but without much success, though that hasn't dulled his efforts any. His family is quite unaware of where the portal machine would lead as it was never completed to their knowledge.

[Dr Archeville]

So... he saw the Terminus? That could be described as the "Backstage of the Multiverse," in that it touches on everything, and is what's left of Edanth, the First Universe, home of the universe-creating Alphians).

Ah, idea: the portal showed him Edanth of the past, before Omega corrupted it.

[Ari]

...That is much better an idea. Thank you, let's go with that: Martin opened a portal through time and space, beholding (in simplified form) the creation of the universes made by the Alphians. The cosmic energy from the Alphian's labor and the awe-inspiring sight led to his change of heart and mind.

[Ari]

Edited fluff slightly to explain what it was the Martin beheld.

[Dr Archeville]

:approved: