Characteristic

Cost

END

Cost

3

Cost

3

Cost

3

3

3

3

0

3

3

2

3

3

3

5

15

15

10

10

15

20

15

15

10

5

15

Dr Wilhelm Jay first met the Devil over a pint in a pub in Hammersmith, London; although, to his credit, he thought he was speaking with a corrupt Polish bureaucrat.  Dr Jay had just graduated from King's College in the field of genetics and was fielding offers of employment in conventional and unconventional arenas.  The British Government was willing to put him on the payroll, but Dr Jay was no patriot.  He found more lucrative offers came from overseas, particularly from Russia, Eastern Europe, Northern Africa and Spain.  He was one of the first of a new generation of European scientists to seek out the source of the emerging ubergene.

Janus Jablonski had contacted Jay on behalf of an unofficial government project based in Poland and Germany.  Jay knew that he was dealing with 'black ops', and the illicit connotations drove him to meet with the Pole.  The Children Of The Future Project.  On paper it looked ridiculous: an attempt to harness the science to activate the metagene in a commercially viable sense.  Jay could see how the corporations would be bewitched by the potential profits, and he was similarly bewitched by the whispered promises of unlimited research prospects.  Jablonski promised Jay free rein in his field, as long as the results of his research were offered to the consortium first.

Dr Jay worked under the auspices of the Project for fifteen years, working some of year in North-Western England and Wales, and the rest of the year in Warsaw.  He cultivated a family in England, marrying an author and having two children, but he spent most of his life in laboratories and on the academic circuit.  Most of his contemporaries considered him a tool of the corporations who fed him paychecks, but there were some who realised his work was, indeed, breaking new ground in uberhuman research.  Dr Jay was not content to work solely within the realms of science.  He turned, as well, to the Dark Arts.  'Janus Jablonski' introduced him to the occult world.

In 2000, Dr Jay made a terrifying discovery.  He had been working near Marseilles on grafting an active ubergene with mystical energy he had drawn from a pocket dimension he dubbed: "Promethea".  The test subject had been a captive vigilante, Alice Darroussin, who had plagued the backers of Project for years, but Dr Jay never gave any consideration to test subjects, considering them nothing but genetic putty.  The rupture caused by linking Promethea with Darroussin destroyed the underground facility and entombed Jay under eighty metres of rock.  Instead of being crushed to death, Dr Jay was temporarily protected by a ghostly shield, the surface of which flickered into a series of visions even as it faltered under the immense weight of the world.

The first image was of a laughing Janus Jablonski.  As Dr Jay watched, Jablonski's outward appearance began to wither away, leaving behind the unmistakable and primal image of the Devil.  The image began to fall away in flames, but behind the first vision was a second.  The Devil was replaced by a serene king: one he recognised as Charlemagne who ruled Christendom until the early 9th Century.  Appearing beside their King were the Twelve Peers, knights of the highest order.  Most of Dr Jay's work had been dedicated to the discovery of a nexus point where magic could flood into the world and transform whoever was present at the ritual into a God.

The nexus point was never established, but as the Peers faded, Dr Jay was rewarded with a fleeting glance at his own Holy Grail even as the shield shattered and the rock claimed his damned soul.

He had been so close, within his grasp for years, but he had been unable to see it, for the nexus was not a place.

It was a person.

His son.

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 big 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 he began to experience vivid dreams of knights and knightly adventures.  There were theories, of course, not least because his father was a uberhuman specialist.  His father, however, was distracted.  After a fleeting rekindled interest, Dr Jay turned his attention back to mainland Europe and promptly died in a laboratory accident.  Casper's mother had died when he was six years old, and Erin had long since taken over the role of primary caregiver for their family, although she spent most of her time working with the European Union.  Casper was left to his own devices: a sixteen year old with the ability to fly faster than jets in his spare time.  He never wanted to be a hero, so he kept his talents secret and used them sparingly.  He never wanted to be different and to most people around him he appeared to be a regular British teenager.

That was until his final year of high school, when Casper was violently thrust onto the world's stage for the first time.  During a school trip to London his geography teacher, Miss Stapleton, was murdered by the serial killer known as Motte and Casper stumbled onto the scene moments after his teacher's body was mutilated.  His reaction was immediate and devastating.  He charged the killer and grappled him through the fourth storey window, shattering the windows and most of the wall with the force of their bodies.  The fall didn't hurt either of them, or even slow them down, and Casper found himself pursuing Motte across the rooftops.  The Police were called and soon joined the chase.  The media were close behind.

When Casper realised Motte had been leading him into a trap, it was too late.  He landed on a rooftop which was rotten and crashed into an abandoned warehouse near the river.  Motte was on top of him in an instant, his fingers elongated and razor-sharp, and still covered with Miss Stapleton's blood.  Casper knew he was going to die, but in another twist of Fate, help arrived in the form of Knightwatch.  Motte fled and Britain's heroes returned Casper to his hotel, but not before the media caught him on tape and started to concoct sensational stories of a new Teen Superhero.  Casper and his school refused to speak to the media, but before the end of the year Casper had been politely asked to leave both his school and his home town.  It was nothing personal, they assured him, but his very presence was detrimental to the rest of the students and it wouldn't be fair on them, especially with exams coming soon.

Erin took her little brother to London where he slipped back into anonymity and secretly joined Knightwatch.

Union Jack is able to fly at supersonic speeds, and his body has adapted to the pressures and requirements of such uberhuman feats.  He is one of the fastest young ubers in Europe and expects to remain that way through intensive training.  His reactions speeds are also at uberhuman levels and he is able to create buffeting whirlwinds by flying quickly around opponents.

As his name might suggest, Casper's uniform consists of a prominent Union Jack covering his entire chest.  His arms and legs are completely covered in a black armoured Kevlar.  His blonde hair is rumoured to be insured for half a million pounds and is always well groomed, even considering his superhuman speeds.  In costume he wears special goggles which compensate for his nearsightedness as well as providing him with telescopic sight.

Out of costume Casper dresses in the latest trends and looks like a runway model.  He alternates between wearing contact lenses and thin-rimmed spectacles or prescription shades.