Character Sheet: Eros.
A sheet that I filled out with the details of a new character I came up with for no other apparent reason than sheer cumulative boredom. I'd like to give people something to oogle at while I'm being apalled by writer's block (i.e: Lazyness), and I'd also like to receive any sort of criticism you might want to provide.
Name: Eros.
Age: 25.
Gender: Male.
Race: Inconclusive. (Takes on the form of an anthropomorphic newt)
Occupation: Runaway Experiment.
Physical Description: A six foot four tall amphibious reptilian dressed in layers of differently colored scales. His reptilian snout, chest, stomach and underbelly are light orange, whereas his flanks, back, arms and legs as well as his tail are a darker shade of grey-brown; several black splotches can be found on his back in erratic patterns. Eros has dark eyes, his pupil blending right in whereas the iris encircles it with an ambarish-yellow color; and he has no hair. He is built like any standard human at his height and age, yet his strength covers a lot more ground than his simple, merely athletic physical form suggest. His tail sports two smooth-edged crests (Above and below it) that aren't as proportionately big as normal newts', suggesting that it's customized to not draw too much attention.
Back-story: Eros has no recollection of his past before the flash of a pair of fluorescent tubes awakened him in a sterilized room inside the facility of Biotech Inc. His true name is all but a mystery to him, Eros being the codename given to the project that gave 'birth' to him; his name was the least of his worries when he woke up for the (he assumed) first time, though. He was surrounded by machines that were gauging his vital signs as well as some that were evaluating his brain waves and other internal information, and no one except two "funnily" dressed figures apparently watching him from the other side of a transparent window.
Eros wasn't pleased to find himself being observed, not to mention caged, but the smallest of the struggles he would attempt sent pain down his very being, not to mention an odd sensation of deflation, as if tension was being taken away from him, which was in fact his own density being removed by his own technorganic system. Each time he would try this, some sort of strong shock would engulf his body, he would feel it and then it would knock him out cold before he could feel himself shrinking more.
Eros suffered through this inhuman treatment for several segmented hours, but that was just his guess. Weeks went by with days repeating this sort of cruel test. He could only assume they were observing him, but for what, he never knew; he was glad that at least whatever feeling of shrinking and deflating he would feel each time never meant he had actually become smaller, or so he thought. All he knew was that his best shot at getting answers and less pain would be to stay still and not make any struggle at all to keep himself awake for long enough to figure anything out.
It was during one of these attempts that one of the people outside decided to come in the sterilized room and begin to directly run tests and examinations on Eros. The newt would ask questions about his condition, his location and personal details, but no answers came his way, just more and more people joining and observing him from varying distances; he was always too tired to make any sense of what they were talking about after each new time he would awake from the sedatives, but it was clear none of them were interested in doing anything but watching and writing notes about him.
Eros was one day about to give up all hope of getting out of wherever he was being held, but during one of the usual 'check ups', he was visited by a single figure he hardly recognized. That time's 'sedative' still hadn't completely worn out, and he had been woken up by a smack in the face and the smell of junk food (A hotdog, actually) placed next to his snout. The figure went as fast as it had come, and there weren't signs of the other men and women in white suits and helmets that always came to watch him. The food was too tempting to let go, however. He only had to reach with his maw to take a bite, when he felt pain, but before another dose of electricity was administered, he felt the seasoned meat and bread slide down his throat. His vital signs stabilized as he seemingly drifted again, but his eyes went wide-open as he suddenly felt strength pour into every single cell of his body. He wasn't tired, he even felt restless all of a sudden, but also hungrier. He devoured the rest of the hotdog he had missed and after swallowing he finally watched his nearly-wasted-away body bulge with considerable muscle mass, shattering his bindings and allowing himself to finally be off that holding place inside the sterilized room.
Eros did not know who the person that had brought him food was, but thanks to them, he now not only was free, but felt strong enough to escape this cruel prison. He flexed to test his body though. He had always felt weak and underpowered, being confined to lie back on a cushioned lifted medical table, apparently there as a means of entertainment for others, but now he felt so wonderfully great, like he could jump over any wall or run ahead of a car at 150 miles per hour. He wasn't going to try either, but he was going to get out of the place!
Fate didn't leave it easy to the newt morph, however. Eros was confronted by a security guard after he had made his exit through the unlocked room, in one of the halls leading outside. The guard tried to have Eros down on his knees, but Eros refused. The newt was shot, but somehow, that didn't kill him, and in fact only enraged the amphibious reptilian, who flew into a frenzy and brutally beat the guard up before he could ask why a bullet to his target's legs had not even remotely crippled him. Eros wasn't sure if he was feeling pain or what, but he was still mad at the guard at that time, and it was then that he tried to grab the unconscious man, focusing his rage on him as if he was calling for divine judgment to fall upon him for shooting him without warning, when something indeed happen, but it wasn't anything divine. Eros's claws were holding the security guard's furry arms tightly when it happened, he suddenly felt tingly all over, and saw the unconscious male slowly shrink away while he gained some bulk and then noticed that his scales were being replaced by the same kind of fur as the guard he had just defeated. Eros became unable to think straight at the moment as overpowering thoughts of narcissistic lust began clouding his reasoning as he watched himself turn from what he was into the husky he had been holding in his claws. The security guard had disappeared from sight and only his weapon and uniform were left on the floor, and it was when the process had finished that Eros realized what he had done. He immediately regretted it, and then thought that the shot might alert other guards that possibly were nearby. Without thinking anything else, the newt-gone-canine Eros dressed into the uniform and took the gun in his new paws, restlessly trying to have himself calmed down. The others who arrived questioned him about the echoing sound of a bullet being fired, but Eros gave them the distinct reply that he had failed to secure his weapon properly. He was unaware of how to handle a gun properly, but he knew about safes, maybe something about his past that he still couldn't remember.
Eros was scolded and mocked, but he didn't mind nor care. He wanted to go out, so after asking for directions, he was finally able to find the exit to the building he had been confined into. Eros found himself inhaling the sweet scent freedom provided faster than he had hoped it would take. He had his newfound ability to thank, despite his reluctance to ever use it again. He just wished he didn't have to keep borrowing this identity anymore, it wasn't only not his, but he wasn't particularly fond of the gun he had to carry around with him, somehow, it caused shivers to run down his spine each time he would look at it.
He walked into an alley at that time and was deep in thought, full of questions, and still wished he would be himself again. Fortunately, a surprise fell upon him when he suddenly felt the familiar tingle from before and he realized the fur that was his skin now became compressed by the dark grey-brownish scales that once again filled his limbs and his laterals, whereas the orange glow returned to his once-again reptilian face. He was speechless at the sudden change, but silently hoped it would be permanent, as he somehow knew this was his true identity even though he practically knew nothing about himself, other than he apparently could absorb people into him to become them, and to feel stronger as well. He wouldn't have taken the time to measure at the time, but esteemed that he had been at least two inches shorter before, and not as prominently well-toned. Regardless of this, he continued his tracks in the city he had immersed himself into unaware of eyes that were watching him.
Biotech was in an uproar during all of this. Their secret experiment, Type-000 "Eros" had somehow escaped, and it was now loose god-knew-where. Security was blamed for it, and search teams were deployed. The company did not contact any exterior agent, only their own manpower would be sent out to hunt Eros. They were looking for a dangerous individual, revealed to be a genetically engineered creature based on prototype technology involving miniature synthetic robots dubbed nanobots or also known as nanites. Subject "Eros" showed to have the resilience of any common newt, with their natural strength and agility multiplied two-fold. Eros's cells had all been manipulated by the nanites in order to make them polyploidy and genetically diverse as well as easily manipulated by the control chip installed in Eros's brain.
The project had been started when a certain scientist discovered a way to manipulate transposons in order to find favorable mutations in a single genome and to later control Recombinator DNA (or rDNA) to allow different and normally incompatible strands to be joined together for entirely new types of genetic sequences; these sequences needed to be introduced in cells that were propense to becoming polyploidy via the interference of the nanites: The nanites had the ability to directly interface with the cells of an organism in order to edit or replace genetic material as needed; in order to create a genetically diverse cell, the process would have said cell being bombarded by nanites that would stimulate the transposons and would work rDNA to alter the composition of the cell to immediately replicate more material inside its nucleus and therefore create 'vacant' room for extra information the nanites might bring in the future . Most of the earlier test subjects had been unable to survive the introduction of nanites in their bloodstream, but it all changed when they found a favorable organism capable of constantly regenerating itself even while their vital organs were under great biostress or damage. Subject Eros withstood the treatment and also quickly harmonized with the nanites, which in turn reworked his cells at the genetic levels, allowing for his bio-structure to be entirely based on redundant, easily replicable cells that would work at optimum levels. It was founded on the premise that the biological immortality was possible for mortal beings, but the true intent of Biotech's executives was to sell these findings off to the highest bidder in the black market, which is why nearly every non-critical part of the organization had been informed of this project, while seemingly only said executives were aware of the true goal.
Eros was then deemed as top priority, and the teams were told for him to be brought in either dead or alive. Being a prototype, Eros withheld key information inside of his nanites that could compromise Biotech in more ways than one, not to mention most of him had cost a lot of money and would be wasted, if he was caught by any other organization. Eros also supposed a civil threat, thanks to the detailed powers and abilities he possesses, a threat that Biotech would have to respond to if the truth about the project would be leaked. Black ops were briefed and dispatched immediately.
Meanwhile, Eros was drifting in the city, silently wishing for company, but also wanting no one to come close to him in case he would hurt them. He wasn't hungry now at least. During this harmless stroll it so happened that he bumped into a stranger, and Eros tried to defensively put some distance between him and said person, but it didn't look as though the bumper had taken great interest in that clash. In fact, they even seemed so carefree that they hadn't noticed they had dropped their celphone on the ground. Eros lifted it and tried to find the person to return it, but unfortunately he lost sight of them. The phone rang, and Eros was hesitant to answer, but something somehow compelled him to.
The newt morph answered the call with a simple hello, thinking of himself rude for not saying who he was, yet he couldn't use his name given that he didn't know anything about himself, not even that. The person on the other side of the line talked however, and wasn't bothered in the slightest that Eros hadn't introduced himself. In fact, and with the smug tone of the caller's voice, Eros could tell that this person knew more about him than himself. It was a strange talk to Eros. The person asked questions, and Eros only was able to reply yes or no without elaborating much given that the questions kept coming at him. The person kept asking about his memories, his recent activities and what he had done to a person back at the building. Eros was bewildered that they knew so much, and eventually became both agitated and irritable, demanding names and information. The person kept him in the dark, though. The distorted voice only told him he was a runaway failure, dubbing him defective. The person did reveal Eros's name to be Technorganic Type-000 "Eros" and told him to call himself the codename, because that's all he was now. His past life was over, there wasn't anything left of his previous life but his current appearance, and that he would need a place to hide to disappear from the sight of the Biotech authorities. Eros was unable to reason why someone would go this far for him, but even if this smug person was detestable, they were still trying to assist him or so it seemed, and he seriously didn't want to go back to that god-forsaken prison room.
This 'contact' told Eros to keep the celphone, that it had actually been a gift for him. He would be allowed money and a place to stay in with the only condition that he wouldn't allow himself to be found out by Biotech or any other authority. Eros had no other choice but to comply. He wasn't free at all. He was still bound by something, something he felt was part of him, yet he obviously had never asked for it and did not want a part in any of what was happening. Eros was no a runaway, for the better or for the worse.
He would later find out during several confrontations that his abilities weren't limited to 'eating' people. He was actually able to copy others by just touching them, and that his earlier pain had been caused by not being fed correctly. He was gradually educated by his contact about his insides and his abilities, also taught that he could harness this power to help others, but that would compromise his identity to the world, so Eros was advised to keep a low profile whenever possible. During some escapades, Eros would realize his potential power to grow, change and become; he was a being that was constantly evolving into something greater, yet he had been unaware all that time. He kept his promise to his contact, however. Months went by, and Eros kept evolving, stronger, more powerful, yet he was always able to avoid detection or just unnecessary attention. He realized he was destined to repeat this cycle unless he was found, and he had to make a choice. If he eliminated those that were trying to keep him down, he would finally be free, but if he chose to do that, he would be betraying his only 'friend'.
Eros eventually decided he'd try to live a normal life and try to continue keeping his low profile about his real identity, and slowly began to approach people. With a higher degree of control of his powers, he knew he wouldn't absorb anyone if he didn't wish to, so he began to surely become more confident in interacting with others after he got a volunteer job in a hospital. This, unfortunately, was his biggest mistake.
Lady luck had decided that Eros be stricken by misfortune one day, when one of his new friends was caught in the crossfire of a gang. This female had been a paramedic he had heard from who had been assigned to a violent district of the city, and that day, even whilst she had been trying to assist the wounded, a single bullet that hadn't even been aimed at her ended her life. Eros was there to catch sight of that, and in just a fraction of a minute, everything was gone: The gangs, their weapons. Only blood remained, and the newt morph's body standing atop it all with his friend's lifeless body in his arms. This caused the unwanted attention to come to him faster than he would've wanted, as Biotech finally found their runaway show up from wherever he had been hiding all this time.
Two teams were sent to subdue Type-000 "Eros", but nobody turned a report in except for a sheet with the numbers and names of the deceased whose corpses were later found.
Eros eventually returned to his secret hideout, and his contact called him, speaking of promises and responsibility. Eros crushed the celphone, sat down, and cried. He didn't know the gravity of what he had just done yet, he didn't even know why he had tried to go live out like a normal person in the first place, he wasn't going to be normal anytime soon. Who was he trying to fool?
He wasn't anything normal... yet... he was so much more than everything else. A new interest sparked in his mind, and he was ready to take the world up by a storm.
Outfits:
Casual: Eros is his own outfit. But if he can choose clothes, he prefers loose stuff, mainly jeans or jogging pants but he wouldn't wear shoes or sneakers because of his claws. To dress his torso, he'd go for a loose white shirt and either a black hoodie or a dark jacket with a hood to cover his face.
Battle: Anything he wants. If not, he'll just battle naked or with whatever clothes he already has.
Weapon of Choice: His body. It becomes anything he's already learned to modify.
Abilities: His nanites allow his bodily functions to work not only at top notch but also beyond standard parameters and then some. In this way, he's physically stronger and faster than the common newt. It is hard for him to catch any illness or disease thanks to the nanites working inside of him to ensure efficiency as well as organic effectiveness. The main drawback of this all is that his nanites, despite self-sustaining him, are by no means eternal. They may replicate and grow in number, but for that they need 'fuel' which is basically everything they can touch. In the case Eros becomes unable to 'refuel', the nanites will begin eating at redundant, non-vital components such as Powers or new abilities he's gained in order to survive. If there are no Powers or excess biomass to consume, Eros's body will significantly weaken and he'll begin to shrink in size, unable to summon any of his supernatural abilities or powers. Thankfully, he only needs to 'eat' once a day in order to keep his nanites from eating at each other or himself.
Powers:
Technorganic Type-000 "Eros": Eros's technorganic insides are fit with several reworked polyploidy cells with several and different genetic phenotypes, most of them that work as redundant bio-components ready to be assigned to new functions or repurposed. With the control chip installed in Eros's brain, his will alone is all the nanites inside of his body need to stimulate or energize his cells to change or accelerate their standard or mitotic processes in order to modify or empower Eros's bio-structure. This grants several standard powers he may use.
Assimilation: Eros's fingers need only to touch the surface of any being's skin in order for his absorber nanites to copy the appearance of anyone else at the genetic level. The process involves the nanites briefly taking sample tissue from the target's skin and reproducing the genetic information to add to one of his cells which will then become an Assimilation node. If Eros wills it, the nanites will attack the node in order to hyper-stimulate it to accelerate the process in which it grows and replicates to unnatural speeds, overwhelming his current bio-structure with the newly acquired one. This overwrites Eros's current form and causes him to transform into a carbon copy of anybody he wishes to be. Assimilation nodes are unable to combine as he does not possess the knowledge or power to do it yet, and there only ever are two nodes active at a time, a dormant and an active one. The active node is the cell whose base is being used for his current bio-structure, while the dormant one is the node he'll use to switch forms. He cannot rid himself of the node that contains the genetic phenotype of his original form, but a newly assimilated person will overwrite the Assimilation node that was acquired prior.
Absorption: Eros's nanites sustain him, so he doesn't need to eat, drink or sleep. In fact, consuming anything will cause nanites inside of his body to replicate, which doesn't result in any harmful or beneficial effect per se. He's able to fully absorb any individual or inanimate object by willing his nanites to overtake more sample tissue or material that he's supposed to, wholly consuming his victim/target and adding their biomass to his own. Absorption basically adds more energy to his nanites, which can be used in the situation where Eros's regeneration does not suffice to keep him in shape when he absolutely needs a boost. He personally does not like to absorb people unless it's absolutely needed for his own survival. Absorption will also add to Eros's strength and power, not to mention size, but the excess biomass is consumed gradually instead of it becoming a permanent addition to his bio-structure.
Modification: Eros is able to command his nanites to program or reprogram his cells at strategic spots in his body to give himself boosts in his muscles, to transform his arms, legs or tail into deadly weapons or to simply harden his scales to near invulnerability. Unfortunately, doing this consumes a fraction of his energy at a time, which he needs to refill via 'refueling' his nanites (Eating, drinking, sleeping, etc) or by consuming excess biomass resulting from Absorption. This process may also be used to change his size via eliminating or empowering (and replicating) cells, thus allowing all of his organic as well as his musculoskeletal systems to be modified to the scale of varying heights, allowing him to survive even whilst being as tiny as a flea or as big as your imagination. The empowered cells create, repair and regenerate tissue blindingly fast thanks to the interference of the nanites, so as long as Eros has enough energy, he'll be able to modify.
Newt Physiology: Eros's original cellular makeup makes it so his cells are able to de-differentiate, reassign and differentiate again already without the assistance of the nanites. This serves as the intended purpose for beings such as him as well, to be able to quickly replace lost limbs or even damaged vital organs. Being a newt, he's able to breathe both in and outside water, and he is characteristically adept at swimming as well. Being cold blooded, he'll naturally become more active in heat concentrated areas, and thanks to his nanites his resistances to heat-based attacks such as flamethrowers are increased.
Affinity: Water.
Weakness: Discharges of uncontrolled electricity may have significant hazardous effects on the currently functioning nanites in Eros's body. A particularly strong electrical attack may knock him out instantly, shutting down all his nanites except the ones melded with his vital organs at once. Eros's is by no means invincible, and will succumb to enough damage that his body needs time to regenerate, giving the knowledgeable foe time to exploit his bio-structure's reliance on nanites to draw out his potential and therefore immobilize or starve them. Additionally, being cold blooded makes him prone to becoming significantly weaker in a cold atmosphere to the point of involuntarily hibernating, not to mention cold-based attacks such as freezing rounds of a special weapon can rapidly incapacitate him physically.
Personality: Eros is unable to remember who he is. But he's kind by nature, and is always trying to help anyone who needs it. He tries not to misuse his powers or superhuman abilities, but he can lose control of himself when he sees firearms nearby for some reason unknown to him. He's merciless when faced with an enemy that's pointing a weapon at him, but quickly regrets killing afterwards as he is not inherently evil, just under a great inner-conflict caused by his apparent amnesia. Out of transgressions and trouble with his escapee profile, Eros is pretty laid back and observant as well as a great listener which makes him easy to get along with. He's unfortunately aware of his own situation and how it could implicate others negatively, which hardened him after the death of his first romantic interest ever after 'awakening', so he's hesitant about making new friends because of that. He never stays in one place too long now, but he doesn't want to leave the city, as it's the only place that somehow resonates with his lost memories which he's trying to recover. He believes that he's going to find the truth about his origins, which makes him motivated and headstrong about perseverance to prevail.
Miscellaneous Notes: In regards to his genitalia, Eros is quite endowed, sporting a ten inch long member that is hidden inside a typical reptilian pouch along with his testicle sac. His size hardly matters as he can use his abilities with a smaller amount of energy expenditure to expand himself at any size he currently wishes for. Eros actually feels aroused and oddly attracted to modifying his body in order to be larger, or at least taller than others. He enjoys puffing his lithe form into a raw-powered buff newt from time to time just to admire his own power, but he rarely shows off to others unless he'll trust them enough with his dark secret.
Hope people like him. The big question now becomes, though, what would you do in Eros's shoes at the end of his backstory? What kind of powers would you use to make it happen? I'd like to hear some comments!