Name: Liu Wei
Age:32 33
Birthday: 14/20-1983
Gender: Male
Category: Citizen/Villain
Appearance Description:
Liu Wei stands at 5'8", with a fair though rather thin build, carrying little muscle mass. He has a rather short face, with a strong jawline, square chin and high cheekbones. Dark eyes, black hair and an unmistakeably asian facial structure make his chinese heritage obvious.
Most notable though, is how he seems a bit... Unhinged to look at. There's just something very off-putting with the way he seems to lean towards you in his slouch forward and generally bad posture, or how his often seen grin never really meets his eyes. Maybe it's the hint of dark rings under his eyes or the way his usually professional, well-groomed hair seems a little bit rustled or out of place. Humans have developed a very strong sense of visual empathy over time, a notable affinity for recognising their own. Something about Wei just hits the uncanny valley, and it's concerning.
In a similar manner, his clothes are clearly intended to be those of a serious, dependable professional, but don't quite make it. He usually shows himself in a black two-piece suit, with a gray buttonup and tyrian tie. The jacket is usually open and the tie, while correctly done, hangs freely. This, combined with his slouch, usually results in a look more sleazy than stylish.
His voice is similarly eery. Bright, soft and a lot more youthful than one would expect from his age, but doesn't tend to shift too much in tone. A casual, kind of lazy and almost singy-songy speech pattern marks most that he says, save for a screeching, cackling scream when he gets excited, a sight most would be lucky not to see.
Personality Description:
Envy, spite and ambition, would be the three words that make the core of Liu Wei's being. He wants, more than anything else. He wants respect from those around him. He wants the wealth and luxury he never had growing up. He wants influence and status. He wants both the yearning gazes of the masses he was once part of and the sight of the common civilian shivering in fear when he approaches. He is a cynical, bitter little man with grandiose goals and very few scruples regarding his methods to get there.
A true misanthrope at heart, Liu Wei doesn't think higher of himself than anyone else. Rather, he has adopted the philosophy that all people are twisted, greedy and violent people at heart, little more than animals with a mask of civility. To him, the majority of the human population is filled with idiots and naive fools who refuse to see how screwed everything really is. As such, while he recognises himself as no better morally than any other person, he at least thinks of himself as much more intelligent than everyone else, as he sees and has accepted the real state of tthings. Thus he feels no shame in his selfish, malevolent behaviour. After all, by his logic, everyone else would be doing exactly what he was doing, were they smart enough to realise it.
Wei has a habit of growing envious of those that have more than him and greedy for more once he actually does claim what he wants. His sense of entitlement, meanwhile, is staggering. He feels that due to the hard work he puts into all his goals and ambitions, he deserves to get what he wants, no matter how he actually tries to obtain it. It is always him first, everything else second. He has trouble both relating to and feeling empathy for other human beings, seeing them more as potential steps to help him up the ladder to whatever prize he has decided he rightfully deserves.
When it comes down to it, Wei will never truly be satisfied. He takes, takes and takes, but there is always someone that has more than he does. He tries to put on a civil facade, he tries to play the part of your average guy, but it falters. The darkness within always leaks through the cracks. And there will always be someone that is superior to him. This infuriates him something fierce.
He's also, plain and simple, quite a misogynist. It's part of his entitlement, honestly. A multitude of rejections by people who he felt that he deserved god dammit made him develop a resentment for the female gender in general. It's nothing he's vocal about, but it will be clear to anyone that knows what to look for.
When pushed far enough, though, Wei cracks. All pretense and false mannerisms fall aside. He becomes a twisted thing, cackling and screaming wildly, moving erratically and letting all his contempt for everyone around him shine through. His true colors are those of a psychotic and unreasonable little man, extremely dangerous and impossible to reason with, but ultimately, quite pathetic. Wei has nothing but his own thoughts, and frankly, his head is not a pretty place.
Powers:
Summoning
Liu Wei is a ruthless criminal, most certainly, but that isn't always enough. Sometimes, you need a little supernatural assistance, which is where his studies in summoning come in. This is the default "magical circles, candles and arcane hymns" kind of summoning, though he is limited to the few books he has collected on the matter in what he can summon. As a rule of thumb, the more influential the creature he calls upon is, the more ellaborate the ritual. Furthermore, with the methods Wei has studied, he needs to know the creature's true name to call it. Among the more simple beings he can summon though, Wei has his favorites. These include:
Emlath: A flying bundle of flesh, about the size of a basketball. The only real feature on it is a large mouth, filled with needle-like teeth. Emlath makes for an excellent basic attacker, biting through human flesh and bone with little problem. Wei has also discovered that Emlath in fact seems to be some kind of species that benefits from the same true name. A total of three Emlaths may be summoned at once. However, no matter how many perish in Wei's service, there always seems to be more of them ready to be called up. The Emlaths are by and large mindless, serving their summoner blindly.
Leros: A roughly humanoid collection of smoke and mist, something similar to yellow eyes occasionally flashing within the haze. Leros can reshape itself, drift around and slip through any cracks, though it completely lacks any ability to harm others. It makes for an excellent spy and will happily snoop in on anyone the summoner asks them to in exchange for its favorite currency: human eyeballs.
Mevtis: Mevtis is a shapeshifter, usually appearing as an androgynous figure with pitch-black skin when summoned. It has the capability to become just about anyone it wishes and is skilled in hypnotism, persuasion and seduction. Wei usually calls upon it to become an 'assistant' or 'secretary' when meeting with more difficult contacts. Mevtis is clever and often has its own agenda behind serving its summoner. Wei has yet to grasp if he himself is being used by it.
Kogaion: A seven feet tall, bipedal bird-dragon-creature. Its entire face takes the form of a large, malformed beak and it instead sees by a large eyeball on its chest. Its scales are a grimy moss-green and its beak and claws are pitch black. Its legs are bent forward and end with a pair of large, hooked claws, not unlike a raptor claw, on each foot. Instead of arms, it possesses large, leathery wings. Kogaion is a powerful brawling monster, extremely strong and resilient, with the ability to shoot wicked blue flames from its beak. It is Wei's "torpedo", being summoned to kill more troublesome opposition. Kogaion is a violent beast and will only heed instructions that involve violence, preferably murder. If it is summoned for any other purpose, it will instead attack its summoner before returning to whence it came.
All of these creatures can be summoned through a summoning ritual taking roughly one hour and can remain in the material plane for up to twenty-four, after which they fade away to whatever realm they came from, unless their summoner goes through with a simple rite to renew their time. For this reason, most creatures are loyal to their summoner, though they are under no compulsion to obey his commands. Wei may only have up to three creatures summoned at once.
It should be noted that Liu Wei can summon many other beings, but these are those he usually defaults back to. Other summons will only be used during pre-arranged plots.
Grip of Prometheus
Liu Wei prefers to not handle the dirty ends of his business himself, he has thugs and summons for that. If it really comes down to it though and he has to brawl it out with another powered individual, he has two options available to him. One; his revolver. He prefers this alternative, much easier. Two; the Grip of Prometheus. This power was something he was born with, but first discovered in his mid-teens. Just like how the titan of myth stole the gods' divine fire, Wei can by prolonged skin-to-skin contact steal others' powers.
This is a fairly slow process, not to mention obvious when it happens. Wei grabs his intended target and dark blue veins form over both of them, the veins in question always travelling from Wei's hands and across the target's body. From there on, the target slowly weaker as they feel a burning pain and something being pulled out of them. Completely stealing someone's power takes Wei roughly twenty seconds. After this time, Wei has a perfect replica of the victim's primary powerset (though he still has to learn how to use it) and the victim has lost any superhuman capabilities they had. This stolen ability effectively "replaces" the Grip of Prometheus, making it impossible for Wei to hold more than one absorbed power at once.
This theft lasts for about one hour. During this time, Liu Wei's version of the stolen power slowly grows weaker as the victim slowly regains their abilities. The power stolen this way can be anything from natural racial abilities to the ability to cast spells to mutations. The only thing the Grip of Prometheus cannot steal is power gained from another supernatural creature and a natural feature of the target's current physical form. For example, if a target's powers are derived from being cursed by a magic user or possession, Wei cannot snag those, and he cannot take an angel's wings or a werewolf's claws. He could however temporarily snag someone's ability to shapeshift, rendering them stuck in the form they had assumed at the time until the Grip's effect wears off.
Biography:
Wei was born to a Chinese pair on Manta Carlos and knew poverty from a young age. It wasn't miserable levels of poverty, they still ate well enough and pulled through from day to day, but that was also all they did. Scraping by on the bare necessities. Everywhere Wei looked, he only saw those that had things he did not. Gifted with power, born into a wealthy family, or just socially talented or attractive. It angered him greatly. This wasn't exactly helped by him enrolling in the Starlight Academy once he was of age. He quickly became known as a rowdy and jealous child, prone to violent outbursts and well-known for starting fights. Stern discipline didn't work, soft coaching didn't work. He seemed as made to be a problem child.
This trend continued throughout middle school and onwards to high school. As part of a fight with another teenager, Wei discovered his own power, but that didn't help too much. He had grown bitter and spiteful, seeing all the various students living better lives around him, convinced he deserved a better lot in life than he was getting.
His big break, as it turned out, came about by the end of high school. A man came to speak to the students, a businessman, to be precise. A millionaire. A winner. While Wei had seen such figures before and only felt spite towards them, something about this man's speech pressed the right buttons with him. Big words about following one's own dreams and achieving success. Wei suddenly knew exactly what he wanted to be.
He enrolled into a business course as his college years came by and did all he could, putting his all into his studies. Sure, his aloof demeanour and bitter attitude earned him few friends quite a bit of enemies and it wasn't a rarity for him to walk home with bruises or a broken nose, but he didn't care. If anything, all that achieved was making him grow even more cold and distant from his fellow students. He was going to become someone. His grades soared.
He graduated with shining results, using his new merits to land himself a job in one of the local corporations. He was already now an entitled, cynical and misanthropic man, but he was driven by an unstoppable ambition to at least make it big for himself. He cared little for what methods he used to climb the corporate ladder once he got in. Actual hard work was part of it of course, but much more happened behind closed doors. Blackmail, bribes, threats and connections to what organized crime Manta Carlos had. Liu Wei committed many heinous crimes in his path to success, but managed to both out of pure luck and devilish skill alike pin most of his awful acts on business rivals and those in the way of his ascension. Among them there was a rival who ended up committing suicide due to Wei's actions. As he looked around among his late co-worker's notes and belongings, Wei found a collection of old books and scrolls. Summoning equipment, which quickly became a new part of his arsenal.
For the last five years proper, Liu Wei has been carving a bloody path upwards for himself. He's playing with the big boys in the corporate world now and he knows it, but then again, in the realpolitik of the boardrooms and corporate rivalries, who doesn't take a few big risks. He's rising fast and he fully intends to dispose of anyone getting in the way of what he feels he rightfully deserves.
Age:
Birthday: 14/20-1983
Gender: Male
Category: Citizen/Villain
Appearance Description:
Liu Wei stands at 5'8", with a fair though rather thin build, carrying little muscle mass. He has a rather short face, with a strong jawline, square chin and high cheekbones. Dark eyes, black hair and an unmistakeably asian facial structure make his chinese heritage obvious.
Most notable though, is how he seems a bit... Unhinged to look at. There's just something very off-putting with the way he seems to lean towards you in his slouch forward and generally bad posture, or how his often seen grin never really meets his eyes. Maybe it's the hint of dark rings under his eyes or the way his usually professional, well-groomed hair seems a little bit rustled or out of place. Humans have developed a very strong sense of visual empathy over time, a notable affinity for recognising their own. Something about Wei just hits the uncanny valley, and it's concerning.
In a similar manner, his clothes are clearly intended to be those of a serious, dependable professional, but don't quite make it. He usually shows himself in a black two-piece suit, with a gray buttonup and tyrian tie. The jacket is usually open and the tie, while correctly done, hangs freely. This, combined with his slouch, usually results in a look more sleazy than stylish.
His voice is similarly eery. Bright, soft and a lot more youthful than one would expect from his age, but doesn't tend to shift too much in tone. A casual, kind of lazy and almost singy-songy speech pattern marks most that he says, save for a screeching, cackling scream when he gets excited, a sight most would be lucky not to see.
Personality Description:
Envy, spite and ambition, would be the three words that make the core of Liu Wei's being. He wants, more than anything else. He wants respect from those around him. He wants the wealth and luxury he never had growing up. He wants influence and status. He wants both the yearning gazes of the masses he was once part of and the sight of the common civilian shivering in fear when he approaches. He is a cynical, bitter little man with grandiose goals and very few scruples regarding his methods to get there.
A true misanthrope at heart, Liu Wei doesn't think higher of himself than anyone else. Rather, he has adopted the philosophy that all people are twisted, greedy and violent people at heart, little more than animals with a mask of civility. To him, the majority of the human population is filled with idiots and naive fools who refuse to see how screwed everything really is. As such, while he recognises himself as no better morally than any other person, he at least thinks of himself as much more intelligent than everyone else, as he sees and has accepted the real state of tthings. Thus he feels no shame in his selfish, malevolent behaviour. After all, by his logic, everyone else would be doing exactly what he was doing, were they smart enough to realise it.
Wei has a habit of growing envious of those that have more than him and greedy for more once he actually does claim what he wants. His sense of entitlement, meanwhile, is staggering. He feels that due to the hard work he puts into all his goals and ambitions, he deserves to get what he wants, no matter how he actually tries to obtain it. It is always him first, everything else second. He has trouble both relating to and feeling empathy for other human beings, seeing them more as potential steps to help him up the ladder to whatever prize he has decided he rightfully deserves.
When it comes down to it, Wei will never truly be satisfied. He takes, takes and takes, but there is always someone that has more than he does. He tries to put on a civil facade, he tries to play the part of your average guy, but it falters. The darkness within always leaks through the cracks. And there will always be someone that is superior to him. This infuriates him something fierce.
He's also, plain and simple, quite a misogynist. It's part of his entitlement, honestly. A multitude of rejections by people who he felt that he deserved god dammit made him develop a resentment for the female gender in general. It's nothing he's vocal about, but it will be clear to anyone that knows what to look for.
When pushed far enough, though, Wei cracks. All pretense and false mannerisms fall aside. He becomes a twisted thing, cackling and screaming wildly, moving erratically and letting all his contempt for everyone around him shine through. His true colors are those of a psychotic and unreasonable little man, extremely dangerous and impossible to reason with, but ultimately, quite pathetic. Wei has nothing but his own thoughts, and frankly, his head is not a pretty place.
Powers:
Summoning
Liu Wei is a ruthless criminal, most certainly, but that isn't always enough. Sometimes, you need a little supernatural assistance, which is where his studies in summoning come in. This is the default "magical circles, candles and arcane hymns" kind of summoning, though he is limited to the few books he has collected on the matter in what he can summon. As a rule of thumb, the more influential the creature he calls upon is, the more ellaborate the ritual. Furthermore, with the methods Wei has studied, he needs to know the creature's true name to call it. Among the more simple beings he can summon though, Wei has his favorites. These include:
Emlath: A flying bundle of flesh, about the size of a basketball. The only real feature on it is a large mouth, filled with needle-like teeth. Emlath makes for an excellent basic attacker, biting through human flesh and bone with little problem. Wei has also discovered that Emlath in fact seems to be some kind of species that benefits from the same true name. A total of three Emlaths may be summoned at once. However, no matter how many perish in Wei's service, there always seems to be more of them ready to be called up. The Emlaths are by and large mindless, serving their summoner blindly.
Leros: A roughly humanoid collection of smoke and mist, something similar to yellow eyes occasionally flashing within the haze. Leros can reshape itself, drift around and slip through any cracks, though it completely lacks any ability to harm others. It makes for an excellent spy and will happily snoop in on anyone the summoner asks them to in exchange for its favorite currency: human eyeballs.
Mevtis: Mevtis is a shapeshifter, usually appearing as an androgynous figure with pitch-black skin when summoned. It has the capability to become just about anyone it wishes and is skilled in hypnotism, persuasion and seduction. Wei usually calls upon it to become an 'assistant' or 'secretary' when meeting with more difficult contacts. Mevtis is clever and often has its own agenda behind serving its summoner. Wei has yet to grasp if he himself is being used by it.
Kogaion: A seven feet tall, bipedal bird-dragon-creature. Its entire face takes the form of a large, malformed beak and it instead sees by a large eyeball on its chest. Its scales are a grimy moss-green and its beak and claws are pitch black. Its legs are bent forward and end with a pair of large, hooked claws, not unlike a raptor claw, on each foot. Instead of arms, it possesses large, leathery wings. Kogaion is a powerful brawling monster, extremely strong and resilient, with the ability to shoot wicked blue flames from its beak. It is Wei's "torpedo", being summoned to kill more troublesome opposition. Kogaion is a violent beast and will only heed instructions that involve violence, preferably murder. If it is summoned for any other purpose, it will instead attack its summoner before returning to whence it came.
All of these creatures can be summoned through a summoning ritual taking roughly one hour and can remain in the material plane for up to twenty-four, after which they fade away to whatever realm they came from, unless their summoner goes through with a simple rite to renew their time. For this reason, most creatures are loyal to their summoner, though they are under no compulsion to obey his commands. Wei may only have up to three creatures summoned at once.
It should be noted that Liu Wei can summon many other beings, but these are those he usually defaults back to. Other summons will only be used during pre-arranged plots.
Grip of Prometheus
Liu Wei prefers to not handle the dirty ends of his business himself, he has thugs and summons for that. If it really comes down to it though and he has to brawl it out with another powered individual, he has two options available to him. One; his revolver. He prefers this alternative, much easier. Two; the Grip of Prometheus. This power was something he was born with, but first discovered in his mid-teens. Just like how the titan of myth stole the gods' divine fire, Wei can by prolonged skin-to-skin contact steal others' powers.
This is a fairly slow process, not to mention obvious when it happens. Wei grabs his intended target and dark blue veins form over both of them, the veins in question always travelling from Wei's hands and across the target's body. From there on, the target slowly weaker as they feel a burning pain and something being pulled out of them. Completely stealing someone's power takes Wei roughly twenty seconds. After this time, Wei has a perfect replica of the victim's primary powerset (though he still has to learn how to use it) and the victim has lost any superhuman capabilities they had. This stolen ability effectively "replaces" the Grip of Prometheus, making it impossible for Wei to hold more than one absorbed power at once.
This theft lasts for about one hour. During this time, Liu Wei's version of the stolen power slowly grows weaker as the victim slowly regains their abilities. The power stolen this way can be anything from natural racial abilities to the ability to cast spells to mutations. The only thing the Grip of Prometheus cannot steal is power gained from another supernatural creature and a natural feature of the target's current physical form. For example, if a target's powers are derived from being cursed by a magic user or possession, Wei cannot snag those, and he cannot take an angel's wings or a werewolf's claws. He could however temporarily snag someone's ability to shapeshift, rendering them stuck in the form they had assumed at the time until the Grip's effect wears off.
Biography:
Wei was born to a Chinese pair on Manta Carlos and knew poverty from a young age. It wasn't miserable levels of poverty, they still ate well enough and pulled through from day to day, but that was also all they did. Scraping by on the bare necessities. Everywhere Wei looked, he only saw those that had things he did not. Gifted with power, born into a wealthy family, or just socially talented or attractive. It angered him greatly. This wasn't exactly helped by him enrolling in the Starlight Academy once he was of age. He quickly became known as a rowdy and jealous child, prone to violent outbursts and well-known for starting fights. Stern discipline didn't work, soft coaching didn't work. He seemed as made to be a problem child.
This trend continued throughout middle school and onwards to high school. As part of a fight with another teenager, Wei discovered his own power, but that didn't help too much. He had grown bitter and spiteful, seeing all the various students living better lives around him, convinced he deserved a better lot in life than he was getting.
His big break, as it turned out, came about by the end of high school. A man came to speak to the students, a businessman, to be precise. A millionaire. A winner. While Wei had seen such figures before and only felt spite towards them, something about this man's speech pressed the right buttons with him. Big words about following one's own dreams and achieving success. Wei suddenly knew exactly what he wanted to be.
He enrolled into a business course as his college years came by and did all he could, putting his all into his studies. Sure, his aloof demeanour and bitter attitude earned him few friends quite a bit of enemies and it wasn't a rarity for him to walk home with bruises or a broken nose, but he didn't care. If anything, all that achieved was making him grow even more cold and distant from his fellow students. He was going to become someone. His grades soared.
He graduated with shining results, using his new merits to land himself a job in one of the local corporations. He was already now an entitled, cynical and misanthropic man, but he was driven by an unstoppable ambition to at least make it big for himself. He cared little for what methods he used to climb the corporate ladder once he got in. Actual hard work was part of it of course, but much more happened behind closed doors. Blackmail, bribes, threats and connections to what organized crime Manta Carlos had. Liu Wei committed many heinous crimes in his path to success, but managed to both out of pure luck and devilish skill alike pin most of his awful acts on business rivals and those in the way of his ascension. Among them there was a rival who ended up committing suicide due to Wei's actions. As he looked around among his late co-worker's notes and belongings, Wei found a collection of old books and scrolls. Summoning equipment, which quickly became a new part of his arsenal.
For the last five years proper, Liu Wei has been carving a bloody path upwards for himself. He's playing with the big boys in the corporate world now and he knows it, but then again, in the realpolitik of the boardrooms and corporate rivalries, who doesn't take a few big risks. He's rising fast and he fully intends to dispose of anyone getting in the way of what he feels he rightfully deserves.
