#opendefenders

[marvellousheroesrpg-blog]

COLLEEN WING --- a.k.a. DAUGHTER OF THE DRAGON --- OPEN!

“There's only one way to kill a dragon.”

At a young age, Colleen’s mother was killed and Colleen went to live with her grandfather, Kenji Ozawa, in the northern province of Honshu in Japan. Kenji trained his granddaughter in traditional arts of the samurai; their family has roots in the history of the samurai of Japan and so it was important to Kenji to pass this knowledge onto Colleen. Colleen showed proficiency in these arts and she worked hard to make her grandfather proud of her and her skills. When Kenji died, Colleen moved back to New York City.

When she arrived back in New York City, Colleen had no family or friends to rely on for help. She was approached by a representative of an organization calling themselves The Hand and she accepted their help. She stayed at their compound and trained under Bakuto who became her sensei and guide and through his encouragement, Colleen became a loyal soldier of the Hand. With assistance from the Hand, Colleen set up Chikara Dojo where she passed on her knowledge of martial arts to others as well as recruiting new members to the Hand. It was through her dojo that she met Danny Rand. She was putting up flyers for her dojo when Danny asked if he could work for her; Colleen declined his offer and she thought she wouldn’t see him again.

However Rand continued to show up at her dojo and eventually, Colleen took sympathy on him. When Rand revealed that he was the Iron Fist and the sworn enemy of the Hand, Colleen was intrigued by him. She chose not to reveal her involvement with the Hand to Rand but she did choose to help him stop Madame Gao, an influential member of the Hand, using Rand’s family business to run drugs through. As they worked together, Colleen and Danny got closer and romantic feelings began to develop between them. When the truth about Colleen’s membership of the Hand came to light, Rand felt betrayed but Colleen continued to help him in his battle with the corruption being spread by the Hand. Disillusioned with what she thought the Hand stood for and what they were actually doing, Colleen rejected her former organization and aligned herself with Danny’s cause.

Rand, with help from Colleen, managed to stop Gao and the Hand’s business in New York City. Rand revealed he wanted to go back to K’un-Lun, the mysterious city where he trained to become the Iron Fist and asked Colleen to go with him. When they reached the gateway that was supposed to lead them to the city, they found it had been destroyed. Suspecting the Hand to be culprits, Colleen and Danny have returned to New York to investigate.

Abilities:

An extremely skilled martial artist who is able to teach and train others.

Multilingual, fluent in English and Japanese and with basic knowledge of Mandarin.

Master at using a sword in combat.

FC: Jessica Henwick

[marvellousheroesrpg-blog]

JESSICA JONES --- a.k.a. JEWEL --- OPEN!

“Have you ever been kicked in the nuts by a superhero?”

Jessica Jones was orphaned at a young age after her family were involved in a brutal car accident. The accident killed both of Jessica’s parents and her younger brother, Philip, and left Jessica in a coma. While Jessica was still hospitalised and recovering from the accident, she was adopted by Dorothy Walker. This adoption turned out to be a publicity stunt to gain more attention for Dorothy’s daughter’s TV show. When Jessica lived with Dorothy and her daughter, Trish, Jessica witnessed Dorothy abuse her daughter to make her obey her wishes and further her TV career. It was around the same time that Jessica discovered she possessed superhuman levels of strength. After finding Dorothy trying to force Trish to throw up in order to lose weight, Jessica lost her temper and using her strength, she threw Dorothy across the room. After that day, Trish and Jessica formed a close and unique bond that involved keeping Jessica’s powers a secret.

Jessica bounced from meaningless office job to meaningless office job, with Trish trying to encourage her to use her superpowers for good and to protect the innocent. Jessica often scoffed at Trish’s ideas but she did resolve to try and help people whenever she could; she just wasn’t going to do it while wearing a ridiculous costume! But everything changed when Jessica met a man by the name of Kilgrave. Kilgrave managed to catch Jessica under his spell using his powers of mind control and forced Jessica to do his bidding. Jessica managed to break free from Kilgrave after he ordered her to kill Reva Connors, who had managed to get damning information on Kilgrave. The horror of committing murder shocked Jessica out of Kilgrave’s control. When Kilgrave was supposedly killed in a bus crash, Jessica retreated back to Trish. Jessica eventually moved out into her own apartment and opened up Alias Investigations, a private detective agency. Jessica, suffering from PTSD caused by Kilgrave, turned to alcohol to cope.

But Kilgrave wasn’t dead and returned to try and regain control of Jessica again. Seeing him again caused Jessica a great amount of trauma but she knew she had to stop him from hurting any more people. Chasing down Kilgrave took a tremendous toll of Jessica and her mental health but as he started to harm innocent lives, Jessica’s resolve to stop him strengthened. In order to defeat him, she had to face up to some of the things she had done while under his control, including killing Reva Connors. This meant telling Reva’s husband, Luke Cage, what had happened and facing the consequences. It took a lot from Jessica, but with the help of her friends like Trish Walker and Claire Temple, Kilgrave was stopped.

Since Kilgrave’s defeat, Jessica has been trying to keep to herself and run her detective agency her way. However events beyond her control keep happening to prevent Jessica from being left alone. The latest is the Sokovia Accords and the follow-up public demands of registration of all super-powered beings. While Jessica keeps her powers on the down-low, it’s only a matter of time before her secret gets out and then she’ll never get to live her life in peace.

Abilities:

Superhuman strength and durability.

Private Investigator.

Master of hand-to-hand combat.

FC: Krysten Ritter

[marvellousheroesrpg-blog]

DANNY RAND --- a.k.a. the IRON FIST --- OPEN!

“I am the Iron Fist. I hold back the storm when nothing else can.”

Daniel Thomas Rand, also known as Danny, was born to Wendell and Heather Rand and was born into a rich family. Danny’s parents owned and ran Rand Enterprises along with their friend, Harold Meechum. Rand Enterprises was incredibly successful and it was assumed that Danny, along with Meechum’s children Ward and Joy, would take ownership of the company some day and continue the success story. However when Danny was 10, he and his parents were involved in a terrible plane crash. Both of Danny’s parents died and Danny was stranded in the snow covered mountains in China. Danny was rescued by some monks who took him to K’un-Lun, a secret and ancient city, where he became an apprentice of martial arts under the monks’ tutelage.

When Danny was nineteen, he had the opportunity to become the Iron Fist, protector of K’un-Lun and enemy of the Hand, an ancient clan whose main objective is to destroy the world. Danny had to complete harrowing trials in order to prove himself worthy of the title of Iron Fist, but he succeeded. He was gifted with new powers including the ability to channel chi into his fist, making it glow and nearly indestructible. He was also given the Mark of Shou-Lau on his chest, which looks like a tattoo of a dragon. Danny began his vigil over K’un-Lun but in his heart he still felt empty, as if being the Iron Fist and staying in K’un-Lun was not enough for him. After seeing a hawk fly overhead and out to the mountains that surrounded the city, Danny decided he needed to go back to New York City in search of the answers he needed.

When Danny returned to New York City, he struggled to reintegrate himself into his old life. Rand Enterprises, his father’s company, was now being run by Ward and Joy, and the board of Rand were not willing to accept that Danny was who he said he was. After all didn’t the real Danny Rand die in a plane crash with his parents? Danny persisted in proving his real identity (including a brief stay in a mental institution) and eventually was allowed to work at Rand. However his attention was quickly pulled away from the business when he discovered the Hand were using his company to smuggle drugs into the city. 

Danny risked and lost his position at Rand Enterprises for not adhering to the board’s wishes but Danny believed he was doing the right thing in going after the Hand; it was his mission as the Iron Fist to eradicate the Hand. During his mission, Danny was put through turmoil that made him question everything he knew and the loyalties he had with people he had considered his friends. Danny fought through his doubts and defeated the faction of the Hand that was using his company, but found out that while he had been distracted by the events in New York City, the Hand had found a way to get to K’un-Lun and the portal to the ancient city had disappeared. Danny must now regroup and find a way to destroy the Hand once and for all.

Abilities:

Iron Fist Punch - he summons and channels chi into his fist, making it inhumanly powerful and resistant to damage.

Master martial artist and expert in meditation and chi energies.

Peak human physical conditioning and master acrobat.

FC: Finn Jones

[marvellousheroesrpg-blog]

LUKE CAGE --- a.k.a. POWER MAN --- OPEN!

"Sweet Christmas!”

Originally named Carl Lucas, he was born in Georgia to James and Etta Lucas. Carl was their second son, but their first child to be born naturally; Carl’s older half-brother Willis was being raised by James and Etta, since Etta believed she could not have children of her own. Carl and Willis grew up to be best friends. It was Willis who taught Carl how to box when they were teenagers. They also stole a car together to go for a joyride. They were caught and arrested. James Lucas used his influence to ensure Carl was given a lighter sentence and made Carl join the marines. James did not do the same for Willis who was jailed. When Carl finished his tour, he went on to become a police officer in the Savannah Police Department.

Carl was framed for a crime he did not commit and was sentenced to serve his time at Seagate Prison. It was there that he met his future wife, Reva Connors, a councillor who was trying to rehabilitate the inmates. Despite tension between them during the early stages of knowing each other, Carl and Reva began to trust each other. Carl trusted her enough to tell her about the fighting ring set up by the prison guards who forced inmates to fight for their entertainment. Those involved in the fighting ring discovered Carl’s plans to expose them and they attacked him, injuring him enough to put him into the infirmary for treatment. His doctor was sure he was going to die from his injuries and so put Carl through an experimental treatment. This treatment not only healed Carl, but gifted him with near-impenetrable skin. One of the guards involved in the fighting ring tried to finish Carl off once and for all but during the scuffle, the guard was killed and Carl escaped the prison.

Carl met Reva at a motel and Carl assumed a new identity: Luke Cage. The two of them married after moving to Harlem, but their marriage was short-lived. Reva was killed in what was supposed to look like an accident. Luke dedicated much of his time to finding out everything he could about his wife’s death. Luke opened a bar in New York City called Luke’s and he tried to keep a low profile. But trouble came looking for him in the form of Jessica Jones. Through Jessica, Luke found out that Reva’s death was not an accident; not only that but Jessica was the one who killed her. Luke tried to stay away but Jessica’s mind-controlling ex persuaded him to destroy his bar in an effort to hurt Jessica. Later on Kilgrave got to Luke again and he nearly killed Jessica. Jessica managed to stop him by shooting him. When Luke recovered from his trauma, he moved back to Harlem in an effort to get away from the drama and troubles.

Yet again, trouble followed Luke, this time in the form of Shades, a former inmate of Seagate and a gangster called Cottonmouth. Cottonmouth’s plans for domination of Harlem threatened the lives of the people Luke cared about. Luke had to do something to stop the gangsters corrupting his home and began terrorising the gang members. His half-brother, who now called himself Diamondback, also showed up seeking revenge on Luke from all those years ago. Luke is now the defender of Harlem. Any kind of nonsense going on with the Avengers is nothing to do with him; now that Cottonmouth and Diamondback have been stopped, Luke just wants some peace and quiet, even if that means going back to jail to serve the rest of his time for a crime he didn’t commit.

[Admin note: Luke will have been freed from jail when a player picks up the character for the group]

Abilities:

Invulnerability - his skin is impenetrable and as such as withstand gunshots and cannot be cut with any conventional blade.

Superhuman strength and stamina.

Skilled combatant and athlete.

FC: Mike Colter

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