Name: Anna Age: 35 Contact: annalizabeth#7549 on Discord, layonmacduff on Plurk Other Characters: None currently; formerly Simon Ashlock / Vandelin Elris / Assorted Others
Interests: Back when I was playing native characters, I always had this "okay, but what if Rifter Mohinder" idea in the back of my mind. I thought that a rifter who would be new to the setting as it is now would be kind of an ideal way to ease back into the game, because there will be a built-in IC reason for him not to know what's going on and need to learn the ropes.
His interests will be research-focused--he'll want to come up with scientific explanations for magic, etc, typical scientist rifter stuff, but he'll easily be directed towards more useful ways of applying his academic background because he's generally big on trying to be helpful. For my part, I'd like to send him on combat missions and embroil him against his will in whatever political stuff a rifter can find himself embroiled in, because it will be fun for me. I promise I will not allow him to be game-breakingly stupid about it.
CHARACTER
Name: Mohinder Suresh Canon/OC: Canon Canon Point: Shortly before episode 3x14, "A Clear and Present Danger" Journal:strongnarrativevoice Age: 33
Canon World
Essentially our world as it was in 2007, except that a small percentage of the population is genetically possessed of superpowers like flight, telekinesis, regeneration, time manipulation, etc. These are not common knowledge, and the suggestion that they might exist is treated in much the same way it would be treated in our world, but there are still individuals and secretive organizations who know better and study them.
History
» Born in Chennai, India, having been conceived for the purpose of providing healthy blood transfusions to his dying superpowered sister Shanti. He arrived two months too late for this, and his parents didn't even tell him about Shanti until he was 32.
» Followed in his father Chandra's footsteps as a geneticist, much to Chandra's chagrin, and they taught together at Chennai University until Chandra was fired for incorporating his theories about superpowers into the curriculum.
» Attempted, unsuccessfully, to convince his father not to move to America in search of superpowered individuals to study, because people with telekinesis and shit? What? Ridiculous. Chandra headed to New York, where he was promptly murdered by a serial killer with telekinesis and shit.
» Flew to America to take over his father's work and also the investigation into his death, aided by various spies from the shady superhero-tracking organization Primatech (known more often as just "The Company.")
» Stumbled across his father's murderer, Sylar, partly by accident, then duct-taped the guy to a chair, tortured a confession out of him, tried to shoot him, and got telekinetically stapled to a ceiling for his trouble while Sylar escaped.
» Used the antibodies still in his bloodstream to cure a little girl named Molly of the same virus that had killed Shanti, and then unofficially adopted her, since her parents had also been murdered by Sylar.
» Attempted, along with a former Primatech agent, to go undercover and take the Company down from the inside, but defected to them and shot his former partner after coming to believe that using Primatech's resources was the only way to keep the Shanti Virus from mutating and becoming a worldwide pandemic.
» After being held hostage by Sylar and forced to cure him of the virus as well, abruptly decided that maybe people would stop flinging him around and holding him at gunpoint and pinning him to ceilings all the time if he had superpowers too.
» Developed a superpower-granting serum, immediately tested it on himself while tuning out the cries of "what the fuck this is the worst idea ever" from everyone aware of the matter, gained super strength (good) while also growing scales and beginning to mutate into a goo-secreting bug creature (less good.)
» Resorted to unethical human experimentation, in the employ of another evil company called Pinehearst, in the hopes of halting the bug transformation and returning to normal.
» Eventually succeeded, retaining the super strength without the accompanying scales or goo or madness.
» Descended into a hopeless pit of terrible guilt and shame and self-flagellation for his mad science crimes, and swore to atone for them by any means necessary. Arrived in Thedas in the midst of one of his usual nightmares about the subject.
Personality
It's a wonder that Mohinder's father thought he could talk him out of becoming a scientist by saying that he wasn't cut out for it, for two reasons: firstly, that Mohinder is so obsessively dedicated to sating his scientific curiosity that it functions almost as an addiction, and secondly, that poking at Mohinder's overactive "fuck you, don't tell me what to do" reflex is the best way to ensure that he ignores the doubts he might otherwise have given in to of his own accord.
While he's not a particularly friendly or polite person--he'll try to be, at first, but rudeness and cynicism usually win the day--he longs to be a good person. He wants very much to be helpful to others, though his desire for recognition and respect (the kind he never got from his father, yes) is partly what underlies his altruism. He's desperate to think of himself as a person with a strong, true moral compass, and this desperation is ironically what leads him into circumstances that compromise his ethics--he's terrible at knowing who to trust or why, and his flailing tendency to course-correct if he thinks he's made the wrong choice about that gets him labeled, not undeservedly, as a treacherous backstabber.
However hard people might be on Mohinder for his poor judgment or shaky loyalties, nobody is ever going to be harder on him than he is on himself. He never had much in the way of self-worth to begin with, but the more he loses his way in his pursuit of noble scientific advancement, the more convinced he becomes that he's an irredeemable wreck of a person. "Weak, corruptible and selfish" is how he describes himself, and he's at the point where he'll assume pretty much anything bad that happens to him is some richly deserved punishment that he needs to accept as penance for his mistakes. He will get over this. Eventually.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
» Top-notch education and scientific credentials » Determination and courage » Resourcefulness in moments of crisis » Good at performing and convincingly lying, when necessary » Literal superhuman strength, with some accompanying enhancement to agility and endurance »» Strength-wise, he can probably lift about a thousand pounds; agility-wise, he's good at parkour and can pull off some gymnastic moves without training; endurance-wise, he can keep up a sprint for about twice as long as a fit normal person before tiring
Weaknesses
» Distinct lack of common sense » Poor judgment of character, making him susceptible to manipulation » Reckless disregard for his own safety » Crippling daddy issues which have done a number on his social skills » Melodramatic fits of self-loathing, sometimes at inopportune moments
Suggested Nerfs
His super strength is already kind of mediocre as it is, so I don't know if it needs nerfing.
Arrival Inventory
» Lab coat, crisp and white and Pinehearst-branded » Basic business-casual outfit, a button-down shirt and khakis » Silver thumb ring, intricately tooled » Very long, appropriately nightmarish syringe that could probably be used as a dagger in a pinch
'Human'ization
He's already human, just a human who could lift a cow over his head.
Fit
As mentioned above, I thought that playing a rifter would be the best way to refamiliarize myself with the game after a long absence, and I've always thought that Mohinder's modern scientific outlook would be a fun contrast with a high-fantasy setting like Thedas (though because there are other rifter scientists in the game, he'd be in good company and wouldn't feel alone.)
I also like, however, the fact that the things explained as "science" in his canon are not really appreciably different from magic except for the framing of them, which leads to some interesting parallels between the mage-templar conflict and the eventual fear and persecution of "evolved humans" in Heroes.
Mohinder Suresh | Heroes | Rifter
Name: Anna
Age: 35
Contact: annalizabeth#7549 on Discord, layonmacduff on Plurk
Other Characters: None currently; formerly Simon Ashlock / Vandelin Elris / Assorted Others
Interests: Back when I was playing native characters, I always had this "okay, but what if Rifter Mohinder" idea in the back of my mind. I thought that a rifter who would be new to the setting as it is now would be kind of an ideal way to ease back into the game, because there will be a built-in IC reason for him not to know what's going on and need to learn the ropes.
His interests will be research-focused--he'll want to come up with scientific explanations for magic, etc, typical scientist rifter stuff, but he'll easily be directed towards more useful ways of applying his academic background because he's generally big on trying to be helpful. For my part, I'd like to send him on combat missions and embroil him against his will in whatever political stuff a rifter can find himself embroiled in, because it will be fun for me. I promise I will not allow him to be game-breakingly stupid about it.
Name: Mohinder Suresh
Canon/OC: Canon
Canon Point: Shortly before episode 3x14, "A Clear and Present Danger"
Journal:
Age: 33
Canon World
Essentially our world as it was in 2007, except that a small percentage of the population is genetically possessed of superpowers like flight, telekinesis, regeneration, time manipulation, etc. These are not common knowledge, and the suggestion that they might exist is treated in much the same way it would be treated in our world, but there are still individuals and secretive organizations who know better and study them.
History
» Born in Chennai, India, having been conceived for the purpose of providing healthy blood transfusions to his dying superpowered sister Shanti. He arrived two months too late for this, and his parents didn't even tell him about Shanti until he was 32.
» Followed in his father Chandra's footsteps as a geneticist, much to Chandra's chagrin, and they taught together at Chennai University until Chandra was fired for incorporating his theories about superpowers into the curriculum.
» Attempted, unsuccessfully, to convince his father not to move to America in search of superpowered individuals to study, because people with telekinesis and shit? What? Ridiculous. Chandra headed to New York, where he was promptly murdered by a serial killer with telekinesis and shit.
» Flew to America to take over his father's work and also the investigation into his death, aided by various spies from the shady superhero-tracking organization Primatech (known more often as just "The Company.")
» Stumbled across his father's murderer, Sylar, partly by accident, then duct-taped the guy to a chair, tortured a confession out of him, tried to shoot him, and got telekinetically stapled to a ceiling for his trouble while Sylar escaped.
» Used the antibodies still in his bloodstream to cure a little girl named Molly of the same virus that had killed Shanti, and then unofficially adopted her, since her parents had also been murdered by Sylar.
» Attempted, along with a former Primatech agent, to go undercover and take the Company down from the inside, but defected to them and shot his former partner after coming to believe that using Primatech's resources was the only way to keep the Shanti Virus from mutating and becoming a worldwide pandemic.
» After being held hostage by Sylar and forced to cure him of the virus as well, abruptly decided that maybe people would stop flinging him around and holding him at gunpoint and pinning him to ceilings all the time if he had superpowers too.
» Developed a superpower-granting serum, immediately tested it on himself while tuning out the cries of "what the fuck this is the worst idea ever" from everyone aware of the matter, gained super strength (good) while also growing scales and beginning to mutate into a goo-secreting bug creature (less good.)
» Resorted to unethical human experimentation, in the employ of another evil company called Pinehearst, in the hopes of halting the bug transformation and returning to normal.
» Eventually succeeded, retaining the super strength without the accompanying scales or goo or madness.
» Descended into a hopeless pit of terrible guilt and shame and self-flagellation for his mad science crimes, and swore to atone for them by any means necessary. Arrived in Thedas in the midst of one of his usual nightmares about the subject.
Personality
It's a wonder that Mohinder's father thought he could talk him out of becoming a scientist by saying that he wasn't cut out for it, for two reasons: firstly, that Mohinder is so obsessively dedicated to sating his scientific curiosity that it functions almost as an addiction, and secondly, that poking at Mohinder's overactive "fuck you, don't tell me what to do" reflex is the best way to ensure that he ignores the doubts he might otherwise have given in to of his own accord.
While he's not a particularly friendly or polite person--he'll try to be, at first, but rudeness and cynicism usually win the day--he longs to be a good person. He wants very much to be helpful to others, though his desire for recognition and respect (the kind he never got from his father, yes) is partly what underlies his altruism. He's desperate to think of himself as a person with a strong, true moral compass, and this desperation is ironically what leads him into circumstances that compromise his ethics--he's terrible at knowing who to trust or why, and his flailing tendency to course-correct if he thinks he's made the wrong choice about that gets him labeled, not undeservedly, as a treacherous backstabber.
However hard people might be on Mohinder for his poor judgment or shaky loyalties, nobody is ever going to be harder on him than he is on himself. He never had much in the way of self-worth to begin with, but the more he loses his way in his pursuit of noble scientific advancement, the more convinced he becomes that he's an irredeemable wreck of a person. "Weak, corruptible and selfish" is how he describes himself, and he's at the point where he'll assume pretty much anything bad that happens to him is some richly deserved punishment that he needs to accept as penance for his mistakes. He will get over this. Eventually.
Strengths & Weaknesses
Strengths
» Top-notch education and scientific credentials
» Determination and courage
» Resourcefulness in moments of crisis
» Good at performing and convincingly lying, when necessary
» Literal superhuman strength, with some accompanying enhancement to agility and endurance
»» Strength-wise, he can probably lift about a thousand pounds; agility-wise, he's good at parkour and can pull off some gymnastic moves without training; endurance-wise, he can keep up a sprint for about twice as long as a fit normal person before tiring
Weaknesses
» Distinct lack of common sense
» Poor judgment of character, making him susceptible to manipulation
» Reckless disregard for his own safety
» Crippling daddy issues which have done a number on his social skills
» Melodramatic fits of self-loathing, sometimes at inopportune moments
Suggested Nerfs
His super strength is already kind of mediocre as it is, so I don't know if it needs nerfing.
Arrival Inventory
» Lab coat, crisp and white and Pinehearst-branded
» Basic business-casual outfit, a button-down shirt and khakis
» Silver thumb ring, intricately tooled
» Very long, appropriately nightmarish syringe that could probably be used as a dagger in a pinch
'Human'ization
He's already human, just a human who could lift a cow over his head.
Fit
As mentioned above, I thought that playing a rifter would be the best way to refamiliarize myself with the game after a long absence, and I've always thought that Mohinder's modern scientific outlook would be a fun contrast with a high-fantasy setting like Thedas (though because there are other rifter scientists in the game, he'd be in good company and wouldn't feel alone.)
I also like, however, the fact that the things explained as "science" in his canon are not really appreciably different from magic except for the framing of them, which leads to some interesting parallels between the mage-templar conflict and the eventual fear and persecution of "evolved humans" in Heroes.
Sample One
Sample Two