[Spirit Class 6 | Hazard O] Valentine Ransom Carter

» Name: Valentine Ransom Carter
» Alias: Old King
» Age: Over 8000 years old, but has not physically aged past 25 or so.
» Gender: Male

» Association: Sent to Earth on behalf of the Martian Elders, his allegiance is first and foremost to them. However, they themselves have no interest in the political goings-on of their neighbors, and so Valentine hopes to align himself with the Vanguard.

» Appearance Written: Standing at a relatively modest 5’ 10”, the first word that one might use to describe Valentine is “otherworldly.” His gait, his demeanor, the pale shade of his skin and the flowing, ashen-white locks which seem to float around him, all of it gives the appearance of something decidedly not quite human. Perhaps nothing about this is more immediately striking than his eyes, however. To call his eyes something akin to “gold” would only be a euphemism, sugarcoating the absolute truth of the matter; that his eyes are flatly, plainly, undeniably yellow, and a shade that could not be called too particularly attractive, like a pale, overripe lemon. Despite their rather discomforting color, however, there is a certain charm to them, a childlike light deep within them that belies his otherwise definitely adult features.

With regard to his build, one could only ever call Valentine slender. He lacks any particularly defined musculature, though he is not quite so thin as to look sickly or unhealthy, due simply to any physical hardships almost always being handled by Drones or by simple application of his psychic abilities. He has the look of a man who is not particularly well-acquainted with hard physical labor, and who has never made much attempt to change that lack of acquaintance. Most peculiar, however, is that he also seems to lack any of the traditional marks of an inactive sort of man. His body seems to be not perfect by any means, but rather in a perfect sort of equilibrium between the two extremes. To summarize, one could call his musculature "completely average."

Should one get past the rather strange initial appearance, however, they would quickly find a man whose entire appearance seems to convey a definite cheer. It is nearly impossible to find Valentine without a smile, and even his usual stance seems to suggest a certain level of contentment with whatever the current situation may be. His eyes, in spite of their eerie color, always seem filled with a childlike light, an innocence and gentleness which seems out of place for someone who seems well into adulthood by now. He is decidedly alien, to be certain, and yet his presence is never discomforting or out of place, merely quite peculiar.

» Appearance Image:


» “Normal”: Valentine does his very best to seem like a perfectly normal person to everyone he meets. Rather unsurprisingly, this ends up causing him to be far stranger than if he simply acted totally naturally. He actively seeks out what might be considered “plain” Earth clothing, leading to his rather bizarre proclivity toward an almost entirely white wardrobe, and eats only the most “normal” of meals (i.e. almost entirely unadorned rice, unseasoned meats, etc.). Of course, in truth he has an entirely fine understanding of modern Earth culture, and among those he considers friends he acts much more genuinely, engaging in none of these exceptionally strange behaviors. He simply finds it rather entertaining to act as if he were an invader from afar in some ancient film.

» Alien: While Valentine is objectively an alien, having come to Earth from another planet, that is not what this refers to. This in particular refers to the fact that he, in almost all instances, gives off a general vibe of definitely not being from “around these parts,” so to speak. There is a decided lack of any normal cultural indicators, between his genuinely unplaceable accent and his entirely affected Earth behavior, that simply serve to make him seem genuinely, but vaguely, “foreign.” If one knows his true nature, it is rather immediately apparent why he might be this way, but to someone unfamiliar with his background, it would simply seem as though he was from a place they had not been.

» Gentle: Unless he considers it genuinely necessary, Valentine does not care for conflict. Of course, this is in part simply a matter of convenience, as it tends to be much easier to talk with someone than to kill them. Setting aside the practicality of the matter, however, he would still infinitely rather not rush to violence or extreme measures if he can help it. The Martians are a peaceful people, having already witnessed the permanent scarring of their home in the course of conflict, and Valentine does not wish to see the people he considers to be his neighbors go down the same path. The children of Earth are young, and cannot understand quite what they do.

» Direct: It would not quite be accurate to call Valentine pragmatic, as that implies a certain level of disregard for safety and well-being of others. He is, however, profoundly results-oriented, and will often speak out with whatever he believes to be the most immediately pressing thing to be said. It could be said that he lacks a certain sense of tact or propriety, but saying this about him would in fact be flatly untrue. He simply is not used to the everyday minutiae of Earth interaction, and so rarely takes them into consideration without consciously reminding himself to do so.

» Curious: Though he could hardly be quite referred to as “childlike” in nature, Valentine has a decidedly youthful interest in the world around him (this world in particular). The planet Earth is so magnificently different from the hollowed-out caverns and red dusty plains of Mars, the atmosphere so thick and the vegetation so alive. And these spiritual beings! Why, their very existence is enough to write text upon text about for the archives. Yes, it is not so much that Valentine is inherently curious about all things, but rather that he acts almost like a tourist at all times, intrigued by what most would consider even the most mundane activities.

» Friendly: The idea of interpersonal relationships being developed based upon repeated interaction, rather than a sharing of emotions and memories through water and through Collective empathy, is something profoundly intriguing to Valentine. It is something he simply never could have conceived of at home, and having witnessed it as the primary method of interaction on Earth, he sees it as something very valuable, to be learned and nurtured on its own. To that end, he cultivates that sort of growth with everyone he meets, not to an aggressive or inhuman extent, but rather simply acts with the hope of befriending anyone to whom he speaks. To him, the nature of such relationships are the most fascinating thing about the people of Earth, and it would be nothing short of a crime not to try and pursue them himself.


» Mars: His home and the place to which he is entirely loyal, Valentine considers himself a Martian more than anything else. He may be human, but to him that means very little.


» Two Planets: Before anything can be said of Valentine, we must first speak of the place he calls home. Contrary to popular belief, humans are not alone within the solar system, and never have been. While in the modern age its surface is barren and lifeless, and its atmosphere has all but disappeared, Mars was once a vibrant world not so different from the Earth of today. Home to a people whose name could never be pronounced in any Earth tongue, the planet was a cultural and scientific powerhouse for millennia, before the idea of farming was scarcely even comprehensible to what would eventually be humans. This race (referred to from here on simply as “Martians” for the sake of ease) developed technology which was, by Earth comparisons, not so much “more” or “less” advanced, but was instead created with the profoundly different Martian people in mind. The Martians, you see, are a psychic people in nature, not quite a genuine hivemind but possessing something of a passive empathy among all of their kind. As such, much of their technology was built with this in mind, focusing not on communication but on efficiency and the like. Perhaps it might have surpassed modern Earth technology by a great deal if given enough time, but alas, that was not to be.

The empathic nature of the Martian people led to a certain insularity among them, as well as a level of pacifism, and they failed to keep much of an eye upon their neighbors, the people of what is now known as Ceres. Having assumed that others might be as peaceful as themselves, they sought not to intervene in the lives of these fellow inhabitants of the solar system, and this assumption was a very grave mistake. Ceres invaded Mars in relatively short order, seeking resources, land, and all of the usual goals of an invasion. The war that followed was nothing short of quite literally planet-shaking, and in the end, Mars had been turned into a barren wasteland, and Ceres battered into countless new additions to the asteroid belt, to say nothing of its people being entirely annihilated. The Martians, forced to move entirely underground in order to survive, determined that they could no longer sit idly by and allow themselves to wait for another disaster to befall them. Lying in wait, they watched over each and every other planet within the solar system, and upon the planet Earth did they find something else developing. Young, primitive, and without any conception of reaching the red planet, it seemed that life had reached a new apex upon their other neighbor. Though they were no threat at present, the Martians had no desire to repeat their mistakes.

» Close Encounters of the Third Kind: In the year 6024 BC, in a small, unnamed settlement on the banks of what is now known as the Danube, a child was born. In itself, this was nothing remarkable, though this homestead itself was anything but ordinary. This small, primitive village was in fact one of the earliest permanent farming settlements in what would one day be known as the Starčevo culture. Among one of the first recorded cultures to formally develop farming and a more sedentary lifestyle, the Starčevo were a historic people. The infant who would one day be called Valentine was named Dušan by his parents, and for a few short months of his infancy, it seemed he would live a rather normal, productive life. But of course, as with so many things in the world, “normal” was not ultimately what his life would become.

In the dark of night, when the sky had become black and only the moon and the stars watched the land, the eye of the red planet fell upon the home of young Dušan. All four of the Martian Elders, each among the most powerful psychics the race could ever hope to create, focused their efforts upon this young man. There was no reason for it, and he was nothing special in himself. They had simply chosen an infant at random, to raise among themselves in order to truly understand their neighbors. The Elders directed their will, and the will of all the Martian people, onto this young man, and in but a moment he was whispered away to a place prepared for him, within the deepest recesses of Mars alongside the Elders themselves. He would be raised as one of their own, brought into the Collective and treated as any other child of Mars. The child may have been born upon Earth, but the Elders did not wish to mistreat an innocent young being who could not understand the gravity of this choice. He was given a name unpronounceable in any human tongue, and allowed to drink of water shared with all of the Martian Elders. While this of course did not put him at their level, for he was but an infant and a human, it did open his mind at a level impossible to truly convey only through words. He had forever been inducted into the Collective, and the Elders themselves shared a feeling of absolute protection and care for the boy. He would be safe in their hands.

» Stranger in a Strange Land: To say that Dušan’s formative years were abnormal would be just a bit of an understatement. Of course, to him they were all perfectly normal. He had been inducted into the Collective, after all, and his only understanding of any upbringing was the Martian one. He had always known he was not truly born upon Mars, both courtesy of the water shared by the Elders and simply from how different he looked compared to his peers. In spite of this, he sought only to achieve anything that could be done. He knew all too well that it was the Martian way to pursue any knowledge that could be achieved, any mastery even conceivably within his grasp, and so the young man devoted himself entirely to perfection of his psychic talents. They were the gift of his adoption, the defining mark of his new home, and if he had any dreams of doing his new family proud, it was through mastery of these abilities.

All but entirely forgoing direct interaction with his peers through empathy, Dušan stayed mostly alongside the Elders, learning the secrets of how he might most greatly achieve psychic perfection, use the gifts of his people to their greatest possible extent and truly show that he was every bit as Martian as the rest. Decades, centuries even were spent in all but silent focus, crafting uncountable psychic constructs, tapping into ever greater numbers of the Collective, and reaching greater heights by the day. The Elders were not impressed, per se, for this level of accomplishment was not something out of reach of any other Martian. It was simply exceptionally rare for most to even consider the pursuit of psychic manifestation so exclusively. To most it was simply an everyday phenomenon, used whenever deemed most appropriate, but Dušan seemed to take to it as though his very life depended on it. There was emotion within him that the Elders did not recognize, and for the first time in very many years they requested one below them to provide water, that they might directly comprehend. What they experienced was profoundly human emotion, things that had never been so intense within the people of Mars. They knew, of course, of the emotion called “pride,” and of the drive to succeed and prove one’s own self-worth. But never before had it been seen to such an extent, and the Elders were truly impressed. No longer would they merely watch Dušan’s progress, but now they would teach him directly. They wished to see just how far this drive might take the young man, and what they might expect of all his kin.

» The Wizard of Mars: As it would turn out, Dušan’s very un-Martian drive to improve and to overcome challenge was every bit as impressive as the Elders had expected. While most Martians were all too willing to seek out anything they might hope to master, the wide range of what was available to them meant that oftentimes they would abandon those paths which were beyond their scope. Dušan, however, had no such instincts. If he found that something was too difficult for him, then that only meant he was not trying hard enough. Not only for the sake of fulfilling his responsibilities as the Elders’ chosen pupil, but simply for his own sense of accomplishment, the young man achieved a single-minded pursuit of psychic manifestation that was nearly-unprecedented among the Martians, and which had such a level of power behind it that some even wondered if he would one day join the ranks of the Elders himself. His development of the ability known as Heuristics was, however, where near everyone had to concede that he was, without question, second only to the Elders among the ranks of living Martians. Having been developed with that one-track mind, and through a very human devotion to proving himself and the value of his work, Dušan’s power was not so much totally unpredictable or unseen, but rather was a very unusual pursuit of one singular thing. Rather than becoming versatile, Dusan had developed a singular ability in a nearly manic pursuit, and realized in turn that his one singular power was every bit as varied as the many manifestations of other Martians.

He certainly could not create psychic illusions or create entire items, change the weather or his strength, but Dušan’s Heuristics were entirely applicable when assisting the Collective, if not invaluable. By sharing water and using Collective empathy, Dušan was able to serve Mars in countless ways, constructing and dismantling all manner of things simply through Heuristics. It was a channeling of the Martian people into one thing, and therefore he felt it only right to use that very ability to help them in kind. Before long he had become something akin to the right hand of the Elders, perfectly capable of wide-spanning power without invoking the extreme will of the Elders themselves. It was this very contribution to the people, and his clear devotion to his home of Mars, that led the Elders to deem him a complete success. They had wished for an Earthling to learn from, and indeed they had received that in much more a form than ever expected. It was quite good for them, then, as the day would eventually come that they perhaps needed to keep a greater eye on Earth.

» Out of the Silent Planet: Ever since Dušan’s adoption, the Elders had only kept the most minor of watches over the Earth. It had been only a few short millennia since they had last visited to retrieve him, how much could possibly have changed? As it turned out, the answer to that question was “a very great deal.” It seemed as though things had gone all too wrong on that planet, with invaders from some dimension or another. This was certainly reason for pause among the Elders, and under normal circumstances they might have watched from afar and waited to determine the weight of this potential threat. However, a far more pressing concern was currently facing them, and that was what appeared to be a new set of invaders, Earthlings who seemed to be coming to Mars in order to escape the war. This would not do, for Mars would never again be victim of scarring by outsiders. The people of Mars readied for the arrival of these colonists, and waited for their arrival. Then, all at once, they struck swiftly and without any mercy. Every colonist was killed with a surgical precision, their bodies destroyed within the waste disposal plants of the planet’s deepest caverns. The landing site itself was completely salvaged by the Martians, and not one single piece was left behind. They were all too willing to simply let this expedition be considered a failure by whatever few Earthlings might have been left. Inhospitable and cold, with no chance for life. This was the message Mars wished to send about itself.

Of course, this issue was far from totally handled. If the events on Earth had led to their people escaping to the stars, then this raised two concerns. The first was more obvious, that those escapees would undoubtedly come to Mars and cause further troubles when they needed to be dealt with. No invaders would be allowed upon their home, but in turn a second problem needed to be faced. What of those very aggressors who had harmed the Earthlings in the first place? Who knew what they might do if they decided to pursue Mars next? And where had they come from in the first place? What were they? Research was not only a prudent idea, but became the singular aim of the Martian people, and Dušan was no different. All of the Elders focused solely on watching the planet Earth for decades, and every Martian spent any free moment they had watching and learning, trying to decipher the dangers of these potential enemies. What they learned confused them and frightened them, and taught them that their isolation had indeed been far too severe in hindsight. Simply watching would not be enough. Action was required.

» The Man Who Fell to Earth: Dušan, of course, was chosen as their emissary to Earth. He was their kind, after all, and he would hardly raise too many eyes visually. That said, though, the Elders had already realized that this “spiritual” energy was something which might pose a bit of a problem for him on his mission. Much of their research had taught them how this alien energy functioned, sufficiently enough that they were able to, through all of their combined might, open Valentine to its influence and prevent him from being ill-prepared for his work. There was some significant conflict as to how he might return to the Blue Planet, however, and the Elders were unsure of the best approach. Did they send him psychically, in the same way they first adopted him? Or did they send him with a vehicle, giving him a more genuine approach?

The former is ultimately what they decided upon, however, as it would provide no manner for anyone to make their way back to Mars if this plan failed. Though none wished to send their own kind to Earth without any reliable way home, Dušan himself understood that it was never worth the risk of someone gaining access to that very home. Therefore, he was given a final few decades to spend entirely in research of the planet, learning its languages and customs, its political situation, where he might first go, and of course, a name. Upon Mars he had never been given a name to which he might speak in Earth tongues, and so a new one was in order as he made his final plans for departure. He had read plenty of books related to Earth’s perception of Mars, and so in an act of what could only be described as purely personal amusement, he decided on a name salvaged from those works: Valentine Ransom Carter. He decided to make his initial arrival on the small island of Guam, for its extreme isolation and seeming uninhabited status in recent times made it perfectly suited for an extraterrestrial arrival. As for his first order of business? This Vanguard seemed like a good sort, and it looked as though they’d just gone through a recent change of leadership.


» Books: As a lover of knowledge in all its forms, Valentine is almost never seen without a book on his person, ranging in topic from advanced sciences to simple introductions to obscure hobbies. Such information could certainly be gained by simply scanning the internet at higher speeds, but Valentine’s love for Earth knowledge has directed him to this much simpler form of learning. The sensation of holding a book within his hands is entirely foreign to him, and he is rather fond of it.


» Spiritual Foreigner: Being that Valentine has spent the past eight millennia on the planet of Mars, a place with genuinely zero supernatural energy, his body simply has no concept of it, and so he is not only naturally unable to manipulate or interact with these energies, but his body is in fact something akin to a total void when it comes to supernatural matters. Without any manipulation courtesy of other outside sources, Valentine’s entire being exists outside the bounds of supernatural interaction. Any supernatural energies which would enter into him in his basic, natural state not only fail to interact with him, but outright avoid his presence, unable to properly come into contact with him, akin to two magnets of the same polarity.

However, seeing as his mission upon Earth requires interaction with beings of a supernatural nature, the Martian Elders have modified his body ever so slightly, using knowledge of supernatural energy scoured from Earth’s internet. Though still completely unable to manipulate the Earth’s supernatural energies, and still completely disconnected from its spiritual cycle, Valentine is now able to physically interact with beings of a supernatural nature, as a sign of good faith on the behalf of Mars. Of course, it should be emphasized that this is physical interaction, and not anything more. While things such as blades, fists, and the like are all more than capable of harming the man, effects of a more directly and profoundly supernatural nature, such as kido, cero, etc. still wash off of him as though nothing had touched him. This is not his natural habitat, and even basic physical interaction was nothing short of a tremendous psychic feat on the behalf of the Elders.

» Collective Beacon: By tapping into the Martian Collective, Valentine is able to outsource mental processes onto others who are connected to it, which in turn allows him to perform mental feats which might otherwise simply take too long for any single mind to process. While more minor things such as arithmetic or problem-solving could conceivably be outsourced in this way, such a practice is severely frowned upon as being generally petty by the Elders, and they will have no qualms about cutting one off from the Collective should they abuse this ability. The most common application of the Collective is in the form of what Valentine has translated into Earth terms as “psychic manifestation.” This ability works entirely uniquely for each member of the Collective, but its fundamental premise is always the same: By outsourcing the belief of something as true onto the rest of the Collective, the combined mental strength of an entire race, both living and dead, is directed into the absolute conviction of said truth, and that sheer amount of mental power is in itself enough to change reality. Each individual’s psychic manifestation takes a different form, as no individual is ever the same. Generally speaking these abilities will be something that the individual would naturally gravitate towards, as they are, after all, shaped by the user’s mind.

Valentine, in particular, has been specifically modified to be a “beacon” of sorts for the Collective on Earth. What this means is that, while not on the same level as the Martian Elders themselves, Valentine is able to access the entirety of the Martian Collective, as it would be impossible for proper access to any future members to be made without this. Being that the Collective cannot be used for active thought, only passive and computational, this does not inherently make Valentine any smarter than the average person. What it does do, however, is give his psychic manifestation an incredible power and versatility head and shoulders beyond what most Martians have ever imagined of, simply due to his position in the hierarchy.

An entirely unintentional side effect of this aspect of Valentine’s being is that, should someone attempt to read his mind, or damage his soul, they would instead find billions upon billions of Martians, living and dead, all existing alongside him. Though he certainly does have individual thought and being, it is not in the sense that most Earthlings would conceive of it, and like all Martians, his existence is forever, irrevocably connected to the Collective. Nothing short of the intervention of the Martian Elders could sever his connection, and never once have they done such a thing.

» Water Communication: A standard practice among the Martian people, Valentine is able to use what would best be described as a form of empathy, using water as a medium. Water, being the most valuable aspect of life to the people of Mars, is able to be used as a sort of temporary physical medium for the conveyance of thought, similarly in nature to the Martian Collective itself. Upon drinking from any source of water, Valentine is able to place a specific thought within it. This may be something as plain as a message, or as vivid and detailed as a specific memory. Once this is done, this message will lie in wait within this source of water until such time as the intended recipient drinks from the same source of water. This source of water may be as specific as a glass of water, or as vast as the Earth’s collective oceans. The only thing that matters is that it is a single, continuous mass of water. Should a body of water be completely destroyed in some manner (evaporation, consumption by one besides the intended recipient, etc.), the message is destroyed alongside it.

Drone Control: The Martian Collective is not purely comprised of what would be called sapient creatures, but rather comprises a sort of caste system. At the highest levels are of course the Elders, and the remainder of these are the more common Martians and, of course, Valentine. But at the bottom of this system lie the Drones, mindless (or nearly so) workers who are used in situations where physical labor is needed for long periods of time, and the presence of a proper psychic would simply be overkill. While there are currently zero proper drone-caste Martians on the planet Earth, Valentine is quite capable of dominating the mind of any lesser creature and forcefully assimilating them into the Collective. On account of animals on Earth being fairly ill-suited for manual labor, however, and Valentine having nothing in particular he currently needs built or handled, this ability is not one that sees much use.

Flux Point: A Flux Point is, perhaps, one of the most peculiar of Valentine’s psychic phenomena. It would be inaccurate to even call this a “power,” so to speak, for it in itself has zero usage against another. It is the baseline for his own psychic manifestations, but for all Martian Collective psychic abilities, and without understanding it, one cannot ever hope to achieve anything further. The Flux Point is a singular point in space, in the most literal mathematical sense. It takes up quite literally no volume, and has no true presence in the world beyond in the most abstract sense, and thus has no way to influence anything. However, within the infinitely small confines of this singular point, Valentine is well and truly omnipotent. From this is born the central axiom of the Martian psychic understanding and philosophy: “Thou Art God.” The purpose of a Flux Point is not so much to be used in any particular manner, but is merely a method of training the mind to understand the malleability of a reality and prepare them for the elasticity one must have to engage in actual psychic manifestation. It is perhaps best compared to a Shinigami’s Inner World, something Valentine is able to manifest for the sake of honing his mental abilities to their best by giving him something far more conceptually vast to work with.


» Overview: While some would call it a rather basic ability, Valentine prefers to think of his method of psychic manifestation as merely a framework, upon which he might build quite extensively. Emancipation functions rather similarly, at least on the most basic level, to the common idea of psychokinesis, in that it can be used to manipulate other objects at a distance purely through the application of thought. However, unlike the popular conception of such abilities, in which the mind’s power simply wills the object into motion, there is much more to this power. Rather than simply controlling an object, Valentine’s Emancipation operates by applying an “imaginary force” of sorts to an object, which is simply the temporary creation of force by psychic manifestation. Put simply, kinetic energy is generated seemingly from nowhere, though it is in fact only being temporarily imagined into existence by the Collective. Valentine is unsure of the absolute exact limits of this force, but he has little trouble with feats such as tearing holes in even the strongest of metals, lifting several hundred tons, or simply applying a small, quick burst of pure kinetic energy powerful enough to pierce small mountains through the applications of this imaginary force. There surely is a limit to it, and he could tell you quite immediately, for instance, that the requisite force required to lift something as colossal as the Great Pyramid, or protect him against something as deadly as a nuclear warhead at point blank range, is beyond him. While he could most certainly train himself further through practice and meditation on Flux Points, it would be safe to compare his current maximum application as roughly the amount required to entirely protect him upon re-entry to the Earth’s atmosphere.

Emancipation is not simply a method of attack or violence, but is by and large how Valentine engages in even the most mundane of activities. It is able to touch or interact with anything which might normally be touched, including supernatural beings due to the “imaginary” aspect of this ability. It should also be noted, however, that it is “imaginary” only in the sense that it has quite literally been imagined, but as this imagining is entirely by Valentine and the Collective, it cannot be avoided simply through disbelief as other similar effects might be. It is best treated, at least on the surface, as simply an entirely physical force, akin to raw kinetic energy or even some sort of hypothetically invisible and invincible hand. Whatever is easiest to imagine will do, and Valentine admits that attempting to grasp this idea without access to the Collective, and without the years of experience he has spent developing it within countless Flux Points, is an exercise in futility.

Upon his arrival on Earth, Valentine noted a rather surprising tendency to name one’s abilities based on thematics, rather than simply naming them according to what they actually did. While it took some time of parsing the Earth’s databases before he could find something he considered particularly fitting. Ultimately, he settled on Machiavelli’s The Prince as a fitting source of inspiration, as his practicality and efficiency in approach to handling people appealed to Valentine quite well. Unfortunately, being that this was still well before Valentine had quite managed to totally process Earth culture, he unknowingly took most of his naming conventions from the artist Prince instead. While he is now quite aware of this mistake, he has kept the thematic in spite of having never once listened to said artist, both for his own amusement and as a reminder that he is not infallible. The name Valentine has assigned these abilities is the initial name, while rough translations of their more accurate Martian names are provided in parentheses, such as the assigned name of Heuristics being Emancipation.

It should be made quite clear that this classification of Valentine’s psychic power into individual abilities is not their genuine state, and that it has been entirely individually (and, admittedly, quite arbitrarily) assigned by Valentine himself in a simple act of amusement and attempt to connect with the people of his birthplace. While these “abilities” do provide many examples of what Valentine is capable of doing, it should not be assumed that this is the only manner in which he might use them. Emancipation’s greatest strength is not that it exists, but rather that Valentine can apply it as he sees fit. His creativity is his greatest strength, and without clever usage of this force, it is entirely likely he would stand no chance against even a reasonably strong foe.

The primary weakness of Emancipation is that it is restricted by the same two fundamental flaws all Martian psychic manifestations face. The first of these is that, as this force genuinely does not exist, a foe who finds themselves able to overpower the imaginary force it generates will quickly find they are entirely unencumbered by it. There are no half-measures with regard to Emancipation; either one has the strength to overpower it, or they do not. Seeing as there is in fact no matter or genuine being to Emancipation, it cannot be “whittled down” or “pushed through slowly with great effort.” If one lacks the strength to breach it, then creative measures are the only approach, but if one can apply the strength to breach it, then there is no other resistance than that requirement. The second of these flaws is that a Martian cannot manifest psychic phenomena in any area of which they are not currently, actively aware. Simply knowing is not enough; a genuine sensory understanding of the object or place must exist if anything is to be done.

» Controversy (Apergy): The primary “offensive ability” in Valentine’s repertoire, Controversy is simply his Emancipation applied in as small an area as possible, maximizing the actual pressure of these psychic blows and giving the force behind them exponentially more penetrating power and individual force. While many seem quite content to fire off immensely catastrophic waves and other such massive attacks, to do anything of the sort would be entirely antithetical to the measured, simple, and effective approach which defines Valentine’s entire psychic capability. As such, it would be less accurate to imagine a psychic “blast,” per se, and it would be much smarter to imagine Valentine creating small, densely packed psychic “bullets” out of Controversy. As these are entirely imagined psychic phenomena, they are able to be created anywhere currently within Valentine’s sight, or anywhere which he is actively and consciously aware of, such as through a psychic link with another. While the nature of Controversy is such that it is entirely invisible, this force nevertheless does exist (even if only temporarily, and according to the belief of the Martian people). As the vast majority of foes he might face on Earth are likely well beyond injury by something as weak as a subsonic bullet, this means that each of these psychic shots will break the sound barrier as soon as they are created, giving some warning to his enemies. Of course, his response to this is simply to form them as close as he can to his enemies, but as the foe’s movements will consistently change what he is able to see, he must create it roughly beyond a meter of their body or risk the manifestation failing entirely.

» Uptown (Freedom): A rather basic usage of Emancipation to say the least, this is, in effect, nothing more than Valentine using his abilities directly upon his body, controlling himself entirely with imaginary force. While he of course uses his everyday bodily functions to walk, speak, and generally operate, this application has a wide range of uses. First and foremost, by simply applying upward force on himself, Valentine is capable of achieving flight through very little effort, seeing as he weighs relatively little and gravity is hardly has a vicegrip upon him. The second application of this, however, is that so long as Valentine is conscious and alive, he is able to assume direct control of any aspect of his body. Even if he were paralyzed, or his heart were to stop beating entirely, Valentine would be able to simply manipulate his body directly through Uptown and continue to function. Of course, being conscious and alive does not equate to being comfortable, and by no means is Valentine suicidal enough to turn off his sense of pain purely for the sake of continued fighting. He could do it, certainly, but he sees no reason to do so apart from staving off pain severe enough to knock him unconscious.

» When Doves Cry (Atmosphere): When Doves Cry is, to move directly to the point, a constant wall of Emancipation less than a hair’s breadth away from Valentine’s body. This field pushes outward with a significant amount of imaginary force, and the truth is that When Doves Cry takes up roughly half of all the imaginary force he is able to manipulate. All of this effectively functions as a layer of armor to protect him from blows several orders of magnitude stronger than he would normally be able to withstand, having an entirely unenhanced physical body. This shield not only protects Valentine from more obvious threats, but serves a secondary function of his own personal atmosphere, protecting him from any inhaled threats and even the void of space. Should he so desire, he is able to expand the field of When Doves Cry into a sphere 10 meters in diameter from his body. When doing this, it is important that he already be flying, otherwise these 10 meters of force will press into the ground as well, effectively creating a 10 meter deep crater and leaving him flying anyway.

As was previously mentioned, Valentine maintains this field through a constant application of a great deal of his Emancipation. With that in mind, it is theoretically possible for him to reduce this defensive measure and grant himself further force with which to operate, and in fact this is something he is entirely willing to do depending on the foe. If he believes that half of all his force is more or less than necessary against a particular opponent, he will gladly make the requisite adjustments. After all, he is not here to win fights, but to survive them first and foremost. At the end of the day, he is an emissary and a diplomat, hardly a warrior.



Skill Sheet

General Skills

• Durability: Adept
  
• General Speed: Adept
  
• Strength: Adept
  
• Martial Skill: Beginner
  

Will Skills

• Willpower: Adept
  
• Mental Deduction: Elite
  
• Focus: Advanced