Bio: The Paladin

The Paladin

"What makes a hero is not the power or the skill. It is the Capacity to do what's right."

Civilian Identity: Christopher Euston Jameson

Age and Birthdate: 20, May 16th 1990

Nationality: White Britsh, valid US citizen

Physical Appearance:

Chris stands at a tall 6' 2", and built in a slim, yet athletic manner. He has brown eyes and black hair, which is shoulder length and accompanies a goatee of similar colour.

When not in costume, Chris wears fairly casual, inconspicuous clothing, and is usually carrying around an acoustic guitar or book to read.

as shown in the picture below, when in costume, Chris wears a strapped plate chest armour over a scale mail shirt, with plate mail gauntlets. This is all added to with white trousers, brown, cuffed, leather boots, white split cape and peaked hood, a simple utility belt and a white, full domino eyemask.

Personality:

Chris' personality is fairly reserved and shy. He finds it difficult to actively approach someone, and isn't much of a conversationalist as it is, but if one were to approach him, he'll be a friendly sort and talk to someone as best he can. If he finds himself attracted to someone, he'll often act quite timid, akin to an awkward teen, but he'd also be scared about it all, wondering whether or not he'd hurt the person he's attracted to.

When someone becomes more in touch with the young man, he will be far more relaxed and open about everything, even being sarcastic and bitter about things, but not in an over active capacity. Just enough to be a little humourous.

When Automaton takes over, all evidence of emotion is gone, and not price cannot be paid to complete a task. Automaton finds all emotion illogical, and will continue to function purely on logic.

Powers and Skills:

Chris is an accomplished martial artist, mastering Shotokon, Aikido, Tai-Chi and Kempo within the short time he has been alive.

Chris' link to Sha'lek, and now a Demon Slayer of her knights, permits him the use of divine fire, allowing him to manipulate flames, but his attacks will bear the Divine keyword. This fire also permits self healing. He is also capable of using this power to create 'bucklers' of energy, which he uses to deflect attacks back at the target (Amazonium Deflection) and rejuvenate himself with a bolt of lightning (Word of Power)

This link also provides Chris with the power of self-propelled flight.

Chris is very knowledgable in the ways of magic, specifically Divine and Demonology.

Weaknesses:

Chris' claustrophobia can be exploited to a certain degree

If Chris were to be cut off from his god somehow, he'd only be as capable as a standard martial artist

Automaton doesn't truly understand the concept of emotions, refusing to recognise their benefits, and can be caught out at how unpredictable they are.

History:

Urgrund, the realm of the Old Gods, was something of a tradgedy.

it was hard to imagine what happened all that time ago, but the cataclysm that tore the realm in two destroyed all that was within that realm, resulting in the birth of Apokolips and New Genesis.

All but one.

When Urgrund was destroyed, Martex, a warrior queen and viscious fighter, through sheer luck of the draw, was not destroyed, but was flung from the dimension. Drained and unconscious, she would drift for Eons in the space between worlds

Eventually, she was plucked from the space between spaces and found herself in a world. The small, lush planet of Sha'lek recieved the goddess, and greeted her as a ruler, even while she was still unconcious. When she awoke, she remembered nothing of her life, and the supersticions and beliefs of the people filled her mind. She took the planet's name as her own, and as her powers returned, brought it to a new dimension. Soon, it became her own domain, and for mortals that still knew her, treated her as the goddess of Light and Music. To this day, she is still unaware how powerful she can be, or what she was all that time ago.

One thing that saddened her, though, was her inability to have a child, and with the individuals of her realm being so conservative, and intimidated of her status, it wasn't going to happen any time soon.

at least, until, she met one of her followers.

Christopher Jameson was born in Oxford, England on August 16th 1989. The son of a doctor and a teacher, Chris was raised in an average home with his brother, Simon. Simon was three years older than Chris, and was taken to a private school at the age of six, so Chris never truly knew his brother.

When he was six himself, Chris was taken to a monestary, instead of a conventional boarding school like his brother (a fact that still remains a mystery, and possible plot point, to this day). The monestary, found on an unknown island iin the Pacific Ocean, would go on to teach Chris to be the ultimate on being a warrior of the arcane. They fed spells into his mind, pushed his body to the limit and tested his psychological prowess, hoping to make him fearless.

unfortunatley, the variety of tests resulted in Chris having claustrophobia by the time he was ten, a fear he was never truly able to cope with.

All in all, Chris never felt so helpless during his time at the monestary. All the other students handled it rather well, and since he hardly had any social contact with them, he would constantly find his time more and more painful. Never before had he wanted to just flee, to attempt to go home to the warm embrace of his mother.

However, his time at the monestary was made all the easier, as when he was seven, something almost miraculous happened.

While studying in his room, Chris was approached by an awfully calm and comforting voice in his mind.

The voice belonged to Sha'lek, now a benevolent goddess of Light and Music. Chris' lonliness had truly touched her heart, and she wished to comfort the poor boy.

Their bond became almost like family, and Sha'lek would provide Chris with guidence and confidence during his training, and even taught him how to be a paladin of her own order.

When the Monestary found out about this, they did not like it.

At the age of twelve, Chris was forced into a ritual that would forever seperate the goddess and the young boy. Sha'lek intervened, and the failed ritual split Chris' soul in two. The first half was no different to the original, and would remain the dominant soul for a time. The other was devoid of emotion, and only responded to logic. Overtime, Chris would learn to detest his other half, calling him Automaton, or Otto for short

Reluctantly, the monestary accepted that the bond was too difficult for them to break, and thus, they allowed Chris to stay at the monestary and train until he was eighteen, where they gave him means to become a legal US citizen, and sent him to the US to carry out the task of a standard hero.

for the past two and a bit years, Chris had been a superhero known as the Paladin, travelling the US, eventually settling in Metropolis. To this day, he remains unaffiliated with any super group, becoming an informal contact and ally to the Justice League at most.

during this time, it was established that due to his lack of fear or compassion, and general ability to concentrate, Paladin was at his best when Automaton was in control, a fact that Chris didn't like at all.

So, what happened in the original timeline, with the heroes and villains at war, and no exobytes?
Paladin would fight alongside the heroes, though he struggled to keep up with the big hitters like Black Adam and Bizarro, so he let Automaton take over, but couldn't get his body back when Otto took everything too far. After taking six lives, both hero and villain, Paladin was killed in battle by Deathstroke.

So, what happens to him in the alternate timeline, with the Exobytes?
Paladin would be mistaken for a new metahuman and brought onto one of Brainiac's ships. While unconcious, Sha'lek informed him the sudden increase of magic worried her, and she speculated that Trigon's rise to power would come all the sooner. She then granted him new armour, and the power of the Demon Slayer, the highest rank of warrior in her ranks, and roused him from his sleep. Escaping the pod, Paladin freed other captured metahumans from they captivity and made his escape!

Have the Exobytes affected him in any way?
that's a plot point for another day, isn't it?