Characteristic

Cost

END

Cost

12

2

Cost

Cost

5

3

3

3

0

2

1

1

1

3

2

15

8

1

3

15

5

15

20

10

15

10

10

20

1

1

1

1

1

5

5

15

Darkness. Complete. Absolute. But not silence. There was the unremitting sound of dripping liquid somewhere behind him, echoing in the chthonic darkness.

Dr. Saul Numen knew he had a problem.

If he was honest with himself, the distinguished geneticist would have to admit that he had several problems, at the heart of which was his recent descent into Van Golu, a large lake in eastern Turkey.

The plane had pitched into the dark waters at 3:02 a.m., ploughing downward until it crashed into the unrelenting rock below. He had not been at the controls—that had been his wife’s forte—but he did know that they were far from the coast and at that time of night, there would be no immediate rescue. No one would have seen their descent.

Dr. Numen, his wife Chloe, and their three children should have been killed—if not by the impact, then by the dark embrace of the Golu. Instead, they soon emerged from the wreckage with astonishing powers and were embraced by the world’s media as the New Men.

_____________________________________________________________________

Balthasar Numen appeared on the cover of Time Magazine in 1993 when he was three years old. He used to read the article as a child to help himself fall asleep: the image of his father’s hand on his shoulder; the beauty of his mother, eyes bright behind horn-rimmed spectacles; the blasé expression on his sister’s face; and the gap-toothed grin of his younger brother. The photograph was impressed upon his soul.

The Numens, or New Men, continued their itinerant lifestyle after becoming uberhumans, travelling from continent to continent. Balthasar never forgot the terror of being entombed in the Van Golu, but his life was a series of adventures and he soon found the wonders of his new world far outshone any darkness that lingered in his past.

Balthasar exhibited uberhuman strength soon after emerging from the Golu, and over the following years, developed superhuman agility and the uncanny ability to always land on his feet. His family moved among inhospitable landscapes, whether the deepest rainforests of the Amazon Basin or the cut-throat world of Ivy League colleges of North America; but Balthasar always plunged into these new worlds with enthusiasm and an insatiable curiosity.

In 1999, the New Men were defeated. His parents had drawn the attention of Maximum Force after being given custodianship of an ancient Mali artefact known as the Ear of Lebe, which was reputed to grant knowledge of the future. Brainwave managed to ensnare the New Men and induce a state of amnesia before scattering them to the four corners of the globe. The ten-year-old Balthasar was unceremoniously dumped on the slopes of the Monts Mitumba in the Democratic Republic of Congo, wearing nothing but a loincloth and a blank mind. Within a week he had been adopted by a family of mountain gorillas and had started “talking” in their language. This new aspect of his ubergene opened a link between Balthasar and the wilder world of animals: a link he affectionately dubbed the “Red.” Without any memories of his previous life, Balthasar embraced his new “jungle life” and became an important part of the gorilla clan, fighting off challenges from errant silverbacks, trouncing poachers, and developing a very close relationship with his new family.

Chloe Numen overcame Brainwave’s influence after six months in a Swiss asylum and embarked upon a quest to reunite the dispersed New Men and enact vengeance upon Maximum Force. Within weeks, the New Men were reunited, their memories restored and their need for a rematch with Maximum Force ignited. Dr. Numen led his family against Maximum Force in Mexico City and managed to reclaim the Mali relic and overwhelm the villains.

Even though they succeeded in defeating Maximum Force, the family was rocked by their experiences. His mother made the decision to send Balthasar and his brother to boarding school in Edinburgh, Scotland, so that they would not be put in danger again. It was a difficult decision and led to a short time of icy silence between husband and wife, parents and children.

Balthasar didn’t make the change to regular schooling very well and was soon expelled. A second school fared little better, and Balthasar began a journey through private schools across three continents. Throughout his changing environments, Balthasar maintained a positive, effervescent attitude and began to stylise himself after contemporary superheroes. In his spare time, including class time, Balthasar ventured into society to avenge the injustices of the world. During his “exile” from the New Men, and while studying in Hong Kong, Balthasar became a student of Go, a Golden Age Chinese kung fu master. Under Go’s tutelage, Balthasar was able to further develop his uberhuman agility and focus his body towards the martial arts. During this time, he started calling himself Kung Fu Kid, but it was a short-lived phase.

On occasion, he was swept back into the world of the New Men, but only for short periods at a time—and mostly to rescue family members from the clutches of various villains. Balthasar often found himself the target of villains, especially the Fatal Four, but he enjoyed sparring with them and mostly survived unharmed. His schools, however, often found the experiences financially draining and basically bad for business. Balthasar was moved from one school to the next like a ticking time bomb.

When the call went out for a new breed of superheroes, sponsored by the world’s premier entertainment company, Balthasar felt it was time to end his parents’ experiment in regular education. He sent them a letter, packed his belongings, and headed to Florida.

One chapter had closed and the next adventure had begun.

Balthasar exhibits uberhuman levels of strength, agility and durability. He can lift in excess of 25 tons and regularly performs Olympic-level gymnastic and acrobatic abilities. His body is capable of resisting most conventional weapons and is highly resistant to extremes in temperature. In addition to his physical abilities, Balthasar is able to communicate with (and in some cases, control) animals, and is also able to tap into the bestial, unrestrained subconscious of humans. He has an innate sense of how animals think and react, and is able to use this ability to predict an animal’s movements, especially in combat situations.

He has grown up in the superhuman community, being a founding member of the New Men, and has developed a range of skills to survive in such a dangerous world, including some experience in resisting mental domination.

Balthasar often appears bare-chested since signing up for the Hero City team, and exhibits a chiselled physique which is a result of his uberhuman metabolism. His skin is olive, his eyes sparkling, and his hair now hangs to his shoulders (although he often ties it back into a short ponytail when not on public display). He wears a “loincloth” which is actually a custom-made outfit that provides the look of a sparse piece of cloth, but provides protection from any unexpected accidents or updrafts with formfitting briefs. Balthasar doesn’t feel extremes in temperature and is comfortable wearing next to nothing, although his nonna Stella has expressed some concerns over her grandson’s growing status as a teenage sex symbol.

Balthasar wears spring-loaded titanium swinglines in wristguards which were designed by his father and enable him to move about in “jungle style.”