Prometheus

A character of ∞'s based on the concept of an interstellar who alters his body - primarily through the applications of nanotechnology - either as it is necessary or as he wishes. The character was first created as a participant in Eventua's 'Rise of the Vanguard' roleplay, as a Protector - a higher-stage form of human existence from Larry Niven's Known Space series.. Though the roleplay itself never picked up, ∞ maintained the character, though altered him to a more adaptable one. The name the character uses, 'Prometheus', is taken directly from the figure in ancient Greek mythology who stole fire from the Gods of Olympus and delivered it to humanity. By making nanotechnology finally compatible and applicable to human beings, Adrien Alterus saw himself as a similar figure.

Aliases/Titles
None, but his former human name was Adrien Alterus

Age
739 Earth years

Gender
Body, behaviour and voice approximating male, although normal Protectors lack gender. That said, Prometheus is not a normal protector.

Species
Enhanced Protector

History
Adrien was born into a family of only moderate wealth, yet his father's position within one of human space's largest and most pioneering human alteration companies meant that they had all extras they needed. They had no home of their own, or vehicle, or entertainment systems, they were all provided by the company, the rest was bought by the parents. From his father's work, Adrien's interest in the medical and biological aspects of science were profound, and he regularly attended his father's clinic (actually the size of a large hospital) to witness the various procedures that went on, from cosmetic surgery and organ and limb transplants to gender reassignment and total bodily form alteration.

With all this understanding of the bodies of other people, Adrien, against his father's wishes, would turn nanotechnology onto his own body, to, in various ways, make himself superior to most human beings. Stronger, faster, greater stamina, increased intelligence and reaction speeds, not for any particular purpose, just to be better. It is important to note that his improvements at this point are not with nanites assisting him, they made these improvements and then left his body. It doesn't take much to imagine a dangerous individual if Adrien had a full stock of nanites augmenting his already enhanced body. Specialised meditation, aided by a swarm of nanites tweaking his neural pathways and his intelligence allowed Adrien to, over time, develop low-level pscyokinetic abilities.

When his father passed away, Adrien sought to not only continue his work but also to pioneer the field once more. Unfortunately, he lacked the sheer intelligence required to revolutionise the field, even after all his augmentations, until he stumbled across information about beings known as Protectors: A third stage in the human life cycle beyond child and breeder (adult) humans. Researching it, he found the prospect of enhanced strength, speed and intelligence very tempting, but disliked the changes in appearance that would accompany it, since by now he had grown to seek aesthetic perfection in anything organic. Realising the tools he had at his disposal, he found the deformations would soon be altered into a more pleasing form.

For a steep price, he acquired a small bunch of plants known as Tree-of-Life, yam-like plants grown in gardens enriched with thorium that enabled the growth of a virus within the plant that triggered the metamorphosis. He gorged himself on the ten or so plants, and very soon after fell asleep and stayed in a coma of a few months while his body transformed into that of a protector. His cranium expanded, skin grew leathery, a beak-like cover grew over his mouth, and enlarged joints granting improved leverage for brutal attacks with the arms and legs. Soon after waking, he set nanites upon himself once more, probing at every corner to avoid fatal risks. When he emerged after a second coma of similar length, he achieved the form he is in now. He still possesses the strength, intelligence and longevity of a Protector, but lacks their reliance on Tree-of-Life, and the extreme territorialism and need to protect one's own species that all other Protectors possessed. The increase in his brain's capabilities now means his telekinetic powers extend to objects both larger and smaller than before, and greater operating range.

His progress in the process and the alterations he later made to combat its disadvantages has meant that the pathway to Protector-hood has been opened to any descendant of the Pak line, a powerful and ancient humanoid species. Soon after he left his father's business to people he could trust, he adopted the name 'Prometheus' from the ancient Greek being who gave fire to the mortals, having taken it from the Gods. He sees himself as a similar figure, offering a profound gift to regular people that was formerly reserved for much higher-tier beings.

Personality
From his Protector metamorphosis, Adrien still retains a need to protect, although not so insatiable as before. He has channelled this need to protect and instead become a freelance warrior, travelling the worlds and where he feels he is needed to help people in extreme or dire situations. In some regions of the universe he is seen as a super hero, with his insane strength and flying abilities. If confronted in a fight, while unable to pick his foe apart with his atom-scale telekinetic abilities, he will use those powers to quickly and fully understand any organic foe he might face.

Appearance
Prometheus stands at seven feet tall, and it wouldn't be quite right to describe him in exactly human terms, given his form. His legs are reverse-jointed, which gives him much greater kicking and jumping strength. Over anywhere but his joints he has thickened armour of skin, hair-and-nail-stuff and bone around his upper and lower arms and legs. He has enlarged hands and knuckles, for strong gripping and punching, not to mention claws on the fingertips. He has a series of small plates that move with his muscles and skin all over his shoulders, back, chest, sides and abdomen, similar to the plating in bullet-proof vests in terms of shape, which allows for maximum protection and minimum loss of movement. Over all these segmented plates is a thick layer of skin, so they aren't really visible. On the backs of his forearms, shoulders, shins, and back he has a series of protruding and overlapping plates. Given their shape and density, they are excellent weapons for gouging and cutting. He has a backwards-sweeping crown of the stuff on his head. Speaking of his head, Prometheus still retains strong traces of his nose and teeth, the former and his chin protruding forwards to act as protection for his mouth and teeth. Something to note about his entire appearance is that it doesn't in any way look unnatural, he seems perfectly suited to the body he inhabits. The larger portions of his natural armour are a dark browny-grey, the less protected portions being lighter in colour, and those blades/scales being darker than the armour itself.

Enhanced strength, speed, intelligence, etc
As detailed previously, Prometheus has spent a lot of time altering his body to what he sees as perfection. He is strong enough, unassisted, to lift a whole tonne single-handedly. His highest jump was seen at some thirty metres, running at a peak of forty kilometres an hour with long, loping strides. He can analyse and understand unfamiliar concepts and environments with frightening speed, and act with according quickness. It is more or less impossible to quantify the intelligence of a protector with a test devised for humans originally meant to test for lack or intelligence, rather than the presence of it, but recent estimates put Prometheus' IQ at somewhere around two and a half thousand.

Telekinesis
Not technically telekinesis, but Prometheus alters object by changing the effect of their strong and weak electromagnetic forces on the atomic scale, as well as electromagnetism on the macroscopic scale. The adjustments of these energies allows Prometheus to also create bolts of lightning, intense magnetic fields, and electromagnetic pulses.

Equipment
Prometheus can change or even generate the weapons he carries with him as he needs them, but more often than not carries the following:

Flashlight Laser
An EM projector device. Various settings can be altered to shine 'light' in any part of the EM spectrum, as well as the 'brightness' of the beam and the fineness of it.

Variable Wire
Something like a light-saber, one could say, though in some ways more effective. A handle one foot long has a small red glowing bead at its tip. The bead can extend and carries behind it an atom-thin wire trapped in stasis. Because of this, the wire is totally impervious to damage, and the weapon at any and all given points has a cutting edge an atom thick. The glowing bead is to let the wielder know where the blade is pointing and how far out.

Multi-tool visor
A layer of General Products Hull material, insanely strong, completely transparent and very light, placed behind a thin layer of scrith, a pale grey metal of similar weight yet greater strength. The two layers produce a one-way mirror effect. Embedded in the scrith layer are thousands upon thousands of miniature displays, relaying information from various camera types and sensors arrayed around the frame of the glasses. Instead of two separate 'lenses', the thing is a single wrap-around visor.

Moonbelt
A type of technology that decreases the effect of gravity on the wearer, allowing Prometheus to jump higher and lift heaver loads with greater ease, for example.