Characteristic
Cost
END
Cost
4
Cost
17
| Maneuver | Phase | OCV | DCV | Notes |
| Block | 1/2 | +2 | +2 | Block, Abort |
| Cross | 1/2 | +0 | +2 | 15½d6 Strike |
| Duck and Weave | 1/2 | -- | +5 | Dodge, Affects All Attacks, Abort |
| Hook | 1/2 | -2 | +1 | 17½d6 Strike |
Cost
6
2
2
1
3
3
0
3
2
2
2
12
3
20
5
5
10
15
20
15
10
15
20
15
There had been a time when Casper Jay had been oblivious to the intricate sins of his father, a time when he thought Charlemagne was a half-decent bottle of bubbly, a time when he considered himself too insignificant to help change the world. It was also during that time that his sister began to foster an interest in the United Nations and a world where superhumans were as common as 'Yes Prime Minister' re-runs on the BBC.
But then he had started to change: his body hardened and became beautiful. There were theories, of course. He was a conduit for the souls of the vanquished Peers of Charlemagne, bound to him through magic that dated back to the abduction and desecration of Ogier the Dane at the hands of an English sorceress, Morgana. His father had been a geneticist with 'dark tendencies', a burning need to fuse magic and science. In the end, the origin of his new-found powers wasn't important to Casper. His life, as it had been, was gone. He was bullet-proof. He could lift cars. His face possessed an unearthly beauty, gifts from Astolpho, that drove him into hiding.
Casper never wanted to be a hero, but his sister had other plans for him. Erin Jay wasn't satisfied with Casper's decision to fade into the background of life. She dragged him into the world of superheroes, christened him 'Paladin' and used him as an anchor in her quest to rebuild Europe's super-hero team, the Dawnstars. He soon found himself being ambushed by cyborg assassins in London, assailed by demonic beasts in Barcelona, and hailed as a superhero sex symbol across Western Europe. After three months with the Dawnstars, Casper Jay had had enough.
He quit.
He returned to London and tried to pick up his life, but he had missed too much of his university course and his apartment had been illegally leased to a second occupant. Casper dropped out of sight, found a place in Hammersmith, and picked up a guitar. Things began to move slower and disasters were once again relegated to the arena of television news. Casper formed a band, called it 'Nine' after a particularly long night at 'The Hammer and Anvil', and made a living on the pub circuit.
But one night Fate came and knocked on his door for a second time.
It wasn't enough that the ancient spirits of twelve knights had sought him out to take up permanent residence, Casper now found himself the repository for a powerful disembodied telepath known as Alice. The band was in the middle of a set and the patrons had been dividing their time between dowing pints and genuinely listening to the sounds of melancholy rock. Casper was pouring his heart into the microphone, lips brushing against the metal, while his fingers lightly plucked at the guitar. Behind him, Ramsey Porter followed his lead on the bass, and Jude Orville-Leonek tapped away at the drums.
________________________________________________________________________________
Alice Darroussin had watched her own body crumble into dust. She still felt the searing heat, but she moved with instinct, fleeing from the danger and hoping for sanctuary. As she fled, tumbling through the astral plane, she began to hear music and was drawn inexorably towards its siren-like call. She floated through the walls of the pub, unnoticed by the genial patrons. Ahead of her was a young man crooning into a microphone. He held the stand in one hand and balanced a guitar with the other. The only music now was the man's voice, and it pulled her towards him. She searched for his eyes, hidden behind a dark fringe.
Behind her she felt the growing heat, almost as if her death was pursuing her through the streets of London.
He
looked up at her, hair parting to reveal deep blue eyes.
Alice drew a breath.
Oxygen flooded her body and she felt the edges of panic subside. She felt her body, the clothes clinging to her skin, the doc martens on her feet. She felt her hand around the thin metal stand, the puckered microphone cool against her lips.
She drew another breath.
There was no more music. The audience acknowledged the end of the song with muffled applause, and Alice felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around a looked at a dark-skinned man with a nose-ring.
"You still with us, Cas?" he asked.
Alice nodded and stepped off the stage, feeling her body absorb the impact and spring back with strength and confidence. She walked towards the toilets, pushed against the door and moved directly to the basin. She ran the taps and ran her wet hands back through her dark black hair. Her reflection smiled back at her from the mirror.
"Jesus Christ," a woman swore, as she walked into the rest room. "What the fuck are you doing in here, you pervert?"
Another woman appeared from one of the stalls and
clutched at her handbag, wavering from fear to excitement at the prospect of finding an attractive young man in the ladies room. Alice shrugged and walked out of the room.
__________________________________________________________________________________
It took Casper two weeks to dislodge Alice Darroussin from dominating his body. He woke up one morning in Paris with an eyebrow piercing, three maxed-out credit cards and a throbbing headache. Alice was still inside his mind, but she had collapsed into a pitiful ball in a dark corner of his psyche. She was stuck. With her
original body destroyed, she now found herself bound to Casper Jay. His metahuman ability to contain the essence of disembodied spirits had reacted with her own telepathic powers to effectively rewrite their psyches.
Casper had lost most of his connection with the Peers of Charlemagne, and Alice was unable to exist outside of Casper's mind. Her body had been destroyed.
Casper finally returned to London after reconciling himself to his new situation, and began to appear as Paladin again in an effort to track down Alice's enemies and allow her some sense of justice, and (he hoped) closure. His search crossed paths with a
Knightwatch investigation and after teaming up to defeat the criminals Motte and Bailey, Casper was invited to join the government team.
Casper realised that, as much as he really wanted to avoid the superhuman life, it seemed that superhuman life would not avoid him.
Having a woman inside his head has changed things. He has become a little uncomfortable with himself, although Casper realises that it is a small price to pay in exchange for the life of Alice. He reasons that without his mind, she would surely perish. Still, he finds it difficult to cope with Alice's adventurous jaunts in his body while he is 'away'. He can't remember the number of times he has woken up in a strange bed...
Quote About Him: "I want his babies..." - Daria Brown, Dawnstars Staff
In the beginning of his career, Paladin possessed the combined abilities of the twelve Peers of Charlemagne which included superhuman strength, agility, reaction time, durability and physical beauty. When Alice merged with his psyche, it disrupted his connection to the spirits of the paladins, and his physical attributes are now only regarded as peak human. He complements his physical prowess with a mastery of boxing and is a formidable martial artist.
Paladin wears a light-weight
Union Jack costume over a reinforced black armoured jumpsuit. He also wears silver-lined black gloves and a
black domino mask. He has medium-length black hair which is usually
spiked, and piercing blue eyes. When Alice is dominating their psyche, his eyes change to green, and his voice sometimes takes on the hint of a French accent.
With Alice's influence, Casper has undergone an image change. He has cut his hair, which he used to leave long to obscure his looks, and has cultivated an eyebrow ring and several Celtic tattoos on his upper arm and back. His body remains in superb physical condition through his metagene and a regular training regime, including boxing. Casper has used boxing as a stress-release since adolescence, and was once tipped to turn professional. As with most things, however, Casper preferred to shun the limelight and changed gyms and coaches.
Out of uniform, Casper prefers dark clothes, and is considered to be something of a Goth. He wears an assortment of silver jewellery, but is beholden to one particular image.
When Casper was in full possession of the spirits of the Peers of Charlemagne, his body was flawless and his beauty reflected that of Astolpho, the most beautiful man in the world. Since Alice 'moved in', his connection with the Peers has subsided and his beauty has been restored to human levels, although he still resembles a supermodel.