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crafted_nightmareName: "The Wraith"
Age: Unknown, estimated to be in his nineties by now, does not look remotely like it.
Species: Human?
Gender: Male. He/him pronouns.
Background:
In the late 1940s the Wraith appeared in Apex City and quickly gained notoriety as one of its most prolific supervillains, whose crimes included robbery, kidnapping, extortion, murder, etc. Although he was imprisoned numerous times the Wraith always escaped to wreak havoc, up until he was finally killed in 1955.
During an altercation with the superhero, Skyman, the bank they were fighting in collapsed and the Wraith was crushed by the rubble. The Wraith's body was found shortly afterwards, buried on private government grounds, and the citizens of Apex City breathed a collective sigh of relief now that the Wraith's reign of terror was finally over for good.
Then, in 1960, the Wraith reappeared. Claiming that he'd actually faked his death, he resumed his usual crimes, albeit with less lethality.
But only a year into his reappearance, the Wraith was stricken by a sudden heart attack, and died. He was once again buried on private government grounds and the citizens of Apex City breathed a collective sigh of relief now that the Wraith's reign of terror was finally over for good.
Then, in 1971, the Wraith reappeared. Claiming that he'd been brought back to life by evil magic, the Wraith resumed his usual crimes and was active for ten more years until, during a battle with the superhero Marshal Flame, the Wraith died from smoke inhalation. He was yet again buried on private government grounds and the citizens of Apex City breathed a collective sigh of relief now that the Wraith's reign of terror was finally over for good.
Then, in 1984, the Wraith reappeared, claiming that he'd been brought back to life as a side effect of another supervillain's scheme- and you can probably guess where this is going. All told, the Wraith has died-and-come-back-to-life about six times, bringing us to the present day.
Here is the truth of the matter, kept secret from the public: The Wraith really DID die in 1955. Rather than bury him and leave it at that, the government created a clone of the Wraith to see if the clone would inherit the original Wraith's powers. The clone did indeed have the Wraith's powers, so he was trained to continue playing the role of supervillain. After all, nothing provides trust in heroes and the government quite like having villains to protect people from- and it's much better if that villain can secretly be controlled.
Each of the Wraith's subsequent deaths have been real as well, albeit with a clone dying every time and a new one having to be decanted whenever the government branch in charge of superheroics decides they want the Wraith to be "revived."
Our current Wraith has been active for a few years, regularly pulling off schemes for the heroes to thwart and generally doing his job as a creepy supervillain. He is thoroughly enmeshed in his role and while he's aware that he's a clone and not really "free" he doesn't have enough life experience to properly understand what this means.
Prior to his first official appearance all his memories are of being carefully educated and trained for his role at a secret facility. He has knowledge of, but no direct memories, of what previous Wraiths have done, although he does not think of himself as a separate individual from previous Wraiths.
Abilities:
Dreamwalking
The Wraith can enter people's dreams and manipulate whatever they're dreaming about; the dreamer's ability to resist depends mainly on how aware they are that they're dreaming and their own willpower.
Dream Theft
The Wraith can take objects and beings out of people's dreams and control them in the real world; he particularly favors taking nightmare monsters out and siccing them on heroes. The downside is that dream objects/beings will vanish whenever the dreamer wakes up.
His usual modus operandi involves kidnapping some hostages, making them fall asleep, and using figments of their Wraith-induced nightmares to aid him in his crimes until he's either able to get away or he's stopped.
Personality:
The Wraith is very dedicated to his role as a supervillain, which he takes to with an almost childlike level of enthusiasm. He strives to be frightening, to come up with exciting new schemes, and to be an absolute nuisance to heroes at every opportunity- without breaking the guidelines that he was taught, of course.
Outside of his role though, he's kind of lost. He has a broad idea of how everyday things work and how to take care of himself but there are gaps here and there and he only really knows what a "normal" life is as an abstract. On the rare occasion that he's in a casual situation he'll try to conduct himself as a villain, no matter how ridiculous it makes him look in context.
He's also easy to confuse and gets curious about the everyday things that most people take for granted- small talk, work or school, novels and TV shows, you name it. His curiosity is mostly academic though, as he sees "normal" things as not really relevant to him, even if they do interest him.
Suggest to him that he might not be REALLY evil at heart and he'll be confused at best, genuinely angry at worst. He believes his role as a villain as not only intrinsic to who he is, but also to how the world works- you're either a hero, a villain, or a potential victim, and the three types make up a natural system that cannot be disrupted.
Misc:
His supervillain outfit is a fairly generic black spandex affair with red boots and gloves, a yellow utility belt and gun holster (the gun shoots sleeping gas), a dark blue cape, and a black mask with a yellow jack o' lantern grin and a single red eye. Here is a sketch done in glorious MS Paint.
He has a small machine implanted in him that can trigger a cardiac arrest if it receives the appropriate signal; this is a fail-safe in case he ever goes rogue and becomes an actual threat to the government. He is not aware that he has this implant although he has a general idea that he can be disposed of if need be.
Age: Unknown, estimated to be in his nineties by now, does not look remotely like it.
Species: Human?
Gender: Male. He/him pronouns.
Background:
In the late 1940s the Wraith appeared in Apex City and quickly gained notoriety as one of its most prolific supervillains, whose crimes included robbery, kidnapping, extortion, murder, etc. Although he was imprisoned numerous times the Wraith always escaped to wreak havoc, up until he was finally killed in 1955.
During an altercation with the superhero, Skyman, the bank they were fighting in collapsed and the Wraith was crushed by the rubble. The Wraith's body was found shortly afterwards, buried on private government grounds, and the citizens of Apex City breathed a collective sigh of relief now that the Wraith's reign of terror was finally over for good.
Then, in 1960, the Wraith reappeared. Claiming that he'd actually faked his death, he resumed his usual crimes, albeit with less lethality.
But only a year into his reappearance, the Wraith was stricken by a sudden heart attack, and died. He was once again buried on private government grounds and the citizens of Apex City breathed a collective sigh of relief now that the Wraith's reign of terror was finally over for good.
Then, in 1971, the Wraith reappeared. Claiming that he'd been brought back to life by evil magic, the Wraith resumed his usual crimes and was active for ten more years until, during a battle with the superhero Marshal Flame, the Wraith died from smoke inhalation. He was yet again buried on private government grounds and the citizens of Apex City breathed a collective sigh of relief now that the Wraith's reign of terror was finally over for good.
Then, in 1984, the Wraith reappeared, claiming that he'd been brought back to life as a side effect of another supervillain's scheme- and you can probably guess where this is going. All told, the Wraith has died-and-come-back-to-life about six times, bringing us to the present day.
Here is the truth of the matter, kept secret from the public: The Wraith really DID die in 1955. Rather than bury him and leave it at that, the government created a clone of the Wraith to see if the clone would inherit the original Wraith's powers. The clone did indeed have the Wraith's powers, so he was trained to continue playing the role of supervillain. After all, nothing provides trust in heroes and the government quite like having villains to protect people from- and it's much better if that villain can secretly be controlled.
Each of the Wraith's subsequent deaths have been real as well, albeit with a clone dying every time and a new one having to be decanted whenever the government branch in charge of superheroics decides they want the Wraith to be "revived."
Our current Wraith has been active for a few years, regularly pulling off schemes for the heroes to thwart and generally doing his job as a creepy supervillain. He is thoroughly enmeshed in his role and while he's aware that he's a clone and not really "free" he doesn't have enough life experience to properly understand what this means.
Prior to his first official appearance all his memories are of being carefully educated and trained for his role at a secret facility. He has knowledge of, but no direct memories, of what previous Wraiths have done, although he does not think of himself as a separate individual from previous Wraiths.
Abilities:
Dreamwalking
The Wraith can enter people's dreams and manipulate whatever they're dreaming about; the dreamer's ability to resist depends mainly on how aware they are that they're dreaming and their own willpower.
Dream Theft
The Wraith can take objects and beings out of people's dreams and control them in the real world; he particularly favors taking nightmare monsters out and siccing them on heroes. The downside is that dream objects/beings will vanish whenever the dreamer wakes up.
His usual modus operandi involves kidnapping some hostages, making them fall asleep, and using figments of their Wraith-induced nightmares to aid him in his crimes until he's either able to get away or he's stopped.
Personality:
The Wraith is very dedicated to his role as a supervillain, which he takes to with an almost childlike level of enthusiasm. He strives to be frightening, to come up with exciting new schemes, and to be an absolute nuisance to heroes at every opportunity- without breaking the guidelines that he was taught, of course.
Outside of his role though, he's kind of lost. He has a broad idea of how everyday things work and how to take care of himself but there are gaps here and there and he only really knows what a "normal" life is as an abstract. On the rare occasion that he's in a casual situation he'll try to conduct himself as a villain, no matter how ridiculous it makes him look in context.
He's also easy to confuse and gets curious about the everyday things that most people take for granted- small talk, work or school, novels and TV shows, you name it. His curiosity is mostly academic though, as he sees "normal" things as not really relevant to him, even if they do interest him.
Suggest to him that he might not be REALLY evil at heart and he'll be confused at best, genuinely angry at worst. He believes his role as a villain as not only intrinsic to who he is, but also to how the world works- you're either a hero, a villain, or a potential victim, and the three types make up a natural system that cannot be disrupted.
Misc:
His supervillain outfit is a fairly generic black spandex affair with red boots and gloves, a yellow utility belt and gun holster (the gun shoots sleeping gas), a dark blue cape, and a black mask with a yellow jack o' lantern grin and a single red eye. Here is a sketch done in glorious MS Paint.
He has a small machine implanted in him that can trigger a cardiac arrest if it receives the appropriate signal; this is a fail-safe in case he ever goes rogue and becomes an actual threat to the government. He is not aware that he has this implant although he has a general idea that he can be disposed of if need be.
