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crapbearerRed Text: Canon that's not in the show, but pulled from other canon material (toyline, etc)
Green Text: Headcanon I can back with sufficient evidence and/or details that were up to interpretation.
Blue Text: Headcanon I made up to fill a gap with little or no backing evidence.
〈 PLAYER INFO 〉
NAME: Tsa
AGE: 27
JOURNAL:
thepreciousthingIM / EMAIL: tsaroleplay (at) gmail (dot) com
PLURK:
RETURNING: Yes, I am
dadroid, your personal robot dad companion!〈 CHARACTER INFO 〉
CHARACTER NAME: Max Masters
CHARACTER AGE: 12 (as of September 21, 1993)
CANON ORIGIN: Mighty Max
CHRONOLOGY: Near the end of the finale, right after the confrontation with Skullmaster at Stonehenge.
CLASS: Hero
HOUSING: Opt-in housing. Put him in the roomie roulette :D Either with someone his age, or assign him a foster parent or guardian, however you guys do it.
BACKGROUND:
Max's world is a veritable fantasy and sci-fi grab bag. Not only are all myths true, but there was a lot of cross-pollination among pantheons over the centuries. It's a world of monsters, gods, aliens, mad scientists, cults, immortals, eldritch horrors, and talking chickens (fowls, actually). Despite the alarming frequency of fantastic happenings in Max's world, there's no veil or masquerade set in place to keep the fantastic and the mundane from making contact; The only reason people generally live "normal" lives is because Max's adventures are spread far across the globe and there's rarely an incident in the same place twice. In fact, Max himself wasn't even aware of how incredible his world could really be until he was thrown into it headfirst - literally.
Okay but let's back up a little here, because the historical timeline in Max's world is just slightly to the left of our own and we need to establish a little context. Ten thousand years ago, as mankind was just on the cusp of breaking out of the Paleolithic Era, there was a far more advanced race called the Lemurians dominating the social, magical, and technological atmosphere of the world. They had a mathematical system so complex that they could literally calculate and predict the future with almost one hundred percent accuracy.
Which did a fat lot of good when Skullmaster came to wreck their shit.
We don't need all the gruesome details -- clearly, because the show never actually gives them to us. But in short, Skullmaster is this nine or ten foot giant skeleton sorcerer dude who straight-up sunk the aquatic kingdom of Atlantis just so he could blackmail its citizens into selling their souls to him to use as a power source. Kind of an asshole is what I'm getting at here. He came to Lemuria to end civilizations and chew bubble gum, and bubble gum hadn't been invented yet.
More important than his dream of being the Ultimate Dickwad, however, was his thirst to get his bony claws on a very powerful Lemurian artifact called the Cosmic Cap. While the show never reveals the full extent of what the Cap is capable of, it's clear that it's extremely powerful -- under the right circumstances, capable of manipulating space, time, and history itself.
The Cap managed to elude Skullmaster's clutches for five thousand years, due in no small part to the efforts of Virgil, the last remaining Lemurian. Through careful calculation, Virgil managed to track down the Chosen One who was destined to wear the Cap, a human warrior by the name of Maximus. Apparently Maximus was a pretty formidable enemy for Skullmaster, but was no match for him in the end. Maximus died in battle, sacrificing his own life by using the Cap to open a portal to the underworld and trap both Skullmaster and himself there. Maximus perished, but Skullmaster lived on, stewing at the molten kingdom of Skull Mountain for another five thousand years.
Present day, enter Max, the eleven-year-old successor to and reincarnation of Maximus.
The first eleven years of Max's life were fairly straightforward: He was the only child of a single working mom, at a job that often kept her late (and frequently took her out of town all together.) His mother's career as an anthropologist meant his home was often littered with souvenirs from her travels all over the world, from artifacts to charms to literature, and Max amassed a sizable knowledge of history, anthropology and geology through both osmosis and genuine curiosity.
Of course, we've gotta get the storyline moving somehow, and soon enough Max found himself in possession of the Cosmic Cap -- now taking the form of a baseball hat, as it takes a form appropriate for its wearer. Virgil met Max soon after, along with Norman, a bodyguard Virgil had recruited to help protect Max. Together, the three of them travel the world and fight evil wherever it rears its ugly head. They've gone up against monsters, aliens, gods, zombies, even rogue computer viruses -- and armed with only his charm, cunning, and and endless supply of one-liners, Max frequently comes out on top. Ultimately, however, it's all small-time evil compared to Max's ultimate destiny of taking down Skullmaster. And he is a whole different ball game, way out of Max's league.
The problem is, unfortunately, that despite being the Chosen One ("Mighty One" is the official title), Max was in no way prepared for the task of putting Skullmaster out of everyone's misery. Let this image put the battle between them into perspective here. As time passed, Max slowly became no stranger to taking out enemies bigger than he was by outsmarting them -- unfortunately, unlike most of his enemies, Skullmaster is not only bigger but far more cunning, as well, and Max was outmatched almost every step of the way. Even Max's various victories against him were bittersweet at best, and almost always came at a terrible cost.
In short, people died. A lot of people died. Every ally Max made to help him get one step closer to taking down Skullmaster was killed in battle. Many of them were heroes in their own right that Max had read about and looked up to since he was small -- heroes like Beowulf and Hanuman.
Max didn't ask for any of this, and in fact on several occasions asked (and even begged) not to be a part of the hero business any more, but the choice was never his to make. Despite his reluctance, Max still took his responsibility seriously and understood that even though he doesn't want to do this, he has to.
Over time, Max grew to love Virgil and Norman like family, looking up to them in place of the father he never had.. Unfortunately, Max learned a little to late that there was more to the prophecy of Skullmaster's defeat than he realized -- Virgil was destined to perish when Skullmaster did, and Max was having none of that, fate of the world be damned. Max passed up the opportunity to take down Skullmaster in a clean shot and end his suffering forever, because in doing so he would have ended Virgil's life, too. He saved Virgil -- but at the cost of setting Skullmaster free from his fire and brimstone prison, allowing him to walk the Earth and spread his chaos and dickery in person.
Everything came to a head on Max's twelfth birthday, which fell on the Winter Solstice -- the day when the stars were in the right position for Skullmaster to do some grand old climactic dickery and put his plan for world domination into motion. He attacked everywhere at once, leaving Max with no place to run and no place to hide. When Norman was killed in battle, and Virgil was held hostage, Max had no choice but to face down Skullmaster at Stonehenge to try and end this once and for all.
Max literally had one job at that point: Keep the Cap out of Skullmaster's clutches. But Skullmaster promised not to harm Virgil if Max handed over the Cap, so Max did exactly the thing he was not supposed to do and Skullmaster killed Virgil anyway right in front of Max's eyes because I don't think I can reiterate enough just how much this guy gets off on suffering.
So yeah. At Stonehenge on the Winter Solstice with all the necessary MacGuffins in hand, Skullmaster was ready to tear open the fabric of space time and rewrite history to make himself a God. Max, having absolutely nothing left to lose, just straight up jumped the guy and hoped for the best.
THIS IS WHERE I'M PULLING HIM FROM because I'm an awful person.
PERSONALITY:
Before ever getting his hands on the Cap, Max was already very secure with himself. He was a very cocky, confident kid with a certain love for the sound of his own voice, but that confidence always came from a very genuine place. He knew who he was: He was Max. He loved history and literature. He played sports. He liked to joke, he liked to talk, he loved his mom and his friends and himself.
The point is, despite being the Mighty One, Max never let that title define him. Despite Virgil's efforts to push him onto a pedestal, as well as various hints throughout the series implying that Max may actually be a God, he never saw himself as anything more than a regular kid who was dealt a very weird (and sometimes awful) lot in life. Despite everything he's been through, he doesn't see himself as anything particularly special, and to this day still doesn't quite understand why destiny says he has to be the one to shoulder all of this.
Not to say Max has low self-esteem -- far from it! Though his confidence can sometimes come off as conceit or hubris, really he's just an incredibly positive person, even toward himself. He's always striving to find the silver lining in a situation and to bring out the best in the people around him. He loves to make people laugh and smile, and is always ready with a joke or a quip to do just that. Max thrives on positive attention, and is just as ready to dish it out as he is to receive it. Though he's not above a little playful snark, he's never outright malicious with it. He's incredibly empathetic and sensitive to the needs of the people around him.
Of course, Max's tendency to reach for the best in people isn't without his drawbacks. It's not difficult to get on his good side, and he trusts too easily, leaving him open to manipulation and potentially toxic relationships. Though he may joke and quip about being bored or miserable, Max actually has incredible patience with the people he cares about and can endure a lot for their sake. Of course, Max's patience has its limits. When he's angry or upset and snaps he can act out like you'd expect a child to do; He'll yell, he'll whine, he'll throw insults and argue and be generally disagreeable. But Max's anger burns quickly, and he'll be ready to make amends with his friends soon enough.
Max is passionate and enthusiastic about anyone or anything that catches his attention, and his attention has a very wide range. He's a very hands-on learner, able to get the hang of just about anything if given time to properly tinker with it. He's incredibly smart and clever, able to think on his feet and improvise solutions to problems as they arise.
Despite Max's very vocal dislike of his destiny, he still takes his responsibility seriously. Though he doesn't understand why it has to be him, he knows it has to be him all the same and will march into danger for the fate of the world. He's absolutely terrified every time he does it, and is always grateful to have Norman and Virgil backing him up. Max has incredible love and respect for them, and they for him in turn. He's not too proud to admit when he feels like he's in over his head, and will often turn to them (or other adults he trusts) for advice. Even though he may not follow their directions to the letter, he will still seriously consider their advice and take it to heart before taking action.
Even after several traumatic experiences as the Mighty One, Max still managed to retain much of his positivity, and in fact turned to it as a coping mechanism. Instead of becoming bitter and cynical after his experiences he only became that much more determined to find the things that are good and positive in every situation and doing everything in his power to protect them, even against the odds. Max doesn't consider himself a hero first and foremost, but he knows he's a hero all the same, and will live the part as long as the world needs him.
At the point I'm pulling him from, however, Max had lost so much in such a short amount of time, the process of being Imported so suddenly will leave him a bit dazed. Suddenly stepping into a world where everyone is a hero, Max will try to cope with his recent losses with a healthy dose of denial and trying to use this opportunity to be normal again.
POWER:
Max is generally the kind of hero who relies more on his own cunning to win a fight, rather than the use of his own powers. He has them, but they're vaguely-defined in canon, which is great for fanfic! ...Less great for apping to a game.
The powers I'm giving Max are mostly buffs for the people around him -- personally, I see him doing his thing and using his brains to get things done, as well as learning to fight and finding a weapon/fighting style that works for him and training over time. With sufficient character development to go along with it. Anyway, as for the umbrella powers...
Cosmic Cap - The Cap has been shown to have pretty powerful spacetime manipulation properties, but for the time being in-game, it will only open Portals. Max's Portals are all one-way and in fixed locations, so as he discovers them in-game he needs to keep track of them and map them out, then start to use them like a subway system. I'll open up a permissions post for Max to have portals open up in inconvenient places, such as other people's homes or businesses.
Other people besides Max can open portals using the Cap, but it rightfully belongs to him and will find its way back to him whether he wants it or not.
I'm adding a limitation, as well -- the longer the Cap is away from Max, the weaker it will get. He has to "charge" it by wearing it, because his second power is
Magical Singularity - [ Not a canon power ] Max is generating and radiating magical energy. Any magical item or magic user within a reasonable distance of Max can get a boost in power. This is passive and Max can't control it, so enemies can get the boost, too. The closer Max is, the stronger the boost. A similar effect can be achieved by taking something from Max's body -- a lock of hair, spit, blood, etc., but it will lose its potency over time. People with energy-draining powers can just straight up draw the magic right out of him.
〈 CHARACTER SAMPLES 〉
COMMUNITY POST (VOICE) SAMPLE:
[ Max seems a little unsure when his face pops up onscreen, but after a second he smiles regardless, flashing the camera a thumbs up. ]
So hey, look, it's pretty clear that whatever history this place went through is not the History that led to the Earth I know and love. So I gotta ask: Are there any really world-changing historical events where you guys come from? Stuff like World War Two, or Ancient Egypt, or Woodstock? I wanna see how they all stack up against each other. With all these different timelines I just gotta know where they all diverge from one another, you know?
LOGS POST (PROSE) SAMPLE:
TDM Toplevel post!
FINAL NOTES: nnnone c:
