Origin of the Character - City of Heroes 3

So the team was nearing the end of its 50-level run, and we all decided we didn't want the story to stop at 50. We toyed with teaming up other alts (Eve Moran, Suicidal Wombat, and Vagabond Magus were supposed to be a team), but we were all really enjoying the RP between E-VAC, Fyre Hex, Keen Stronghold, and Masonry. So we started talking about "re-rolling" them as new alts. I'm not going to delve into what the others did. I'll leave that for them.

So what to do with E? Well, his big schtick is the empathy and mind powers, so I started looking at controllers. Originally, it was a debate between Mind Control and Illusion Control. Empathy was the obvious choice for a secondary. I was leaning toward Illusion because it was a powerset I hadn't played with yet. On top of that, Mind repeated a lot of powers E already had. Boring. So I was going to be Ill/Emp.

But talking to Fyre and contemplating, I thought more and more that even with Illusion to keep me amused, I'd be going back over old ground with Empathy. Not only that, but I'd have to come up with an excuse for why he had the same powers but weaker all of a sudden. Just for fun, I started looking at the other controller secondaries. And that's when I noticed Radiation Emission. It gave me the heal to start with, but then there were all these other fun toys. And there's a lot of call for "rads", especially against AVs and GMs.

So I thought about it. And if you glance back over E's origin, you'll notice: he'd already been bombarded by radiation once in his life. What would happen if it happened again? Well, it'd interfere with his powers, forcing him to relearn them. And it might overload him, making it so he was actually pumping the stuff out. Nifty! So where's he going to get more radiation? Well, logically, it wouldn't be voluntary, so let's go back to the origin story again and make Styrm do it.

Now, in all honesty, looking back on it, I think this was my biggest mistake. We were having a blast with E, Fyre, and Mason. They were coming to grips with what had happened to them, relationships were established, trust had been made. We were putting together Team 2.0 to carry on the fun we were having.

And I broke E.

I sent him back to L.A. He was captured by his villainous former comrades, and subjected to torturous experiments. Not to boost his powers this time, but just to be cruel. To break E down and prepare him for what Styrm intended to do next. To force him to start over and set him up for a fall.

So E returned to Paragon City, rescued from days of torture, not by his brother and the woman he loved, but by Longbow. His empathic powers dulled by the pain, the damage to his mind, and the radiation, he had to learn to control them all over again, along with the mutagenic radiation now coursing through his body.

Mutagenic... ah, crap. Suddenly it made sense for Jen to be taken away from him, furthering the Styrm Agenda and adding to why he would've done what he did.

So after a long weekend, this is how E2 appeared in Paragon City. Broken. Hurting physically, emotionally, and mentally. Leaking radiation everywhere. Desperate for comfort. Wanting to know why the people he loved hadn't come for him, hadn't rescued him. Feeling guilty over having broken under the torture.

And the first thing he was confronted with was that his two dearest friends had died while he was gone.