John Smith

John Smith is a trained assassin and spy with magical affinity. He was orphaned after the death of his mother and was forced to live on the street until he was kidnapped by a retired soldier and taught as his successor. He eventually broke away and faked his death to live with his childhood friend Alaura Lintley, still practicing espionage as a way to make money and make up for the things he was forced to do during his training.

Appearance
John is described as being tall and lanky with a pale complexion. His hair is an incredibly light blond color, enough to appear white or silver depending on the light. His face is stern with small features and hazel eyes. He is also noted to have a decent muscle tone as a result of his physical training.

His clothing generally consists of black pants and shoes worn with a red, untucked dress shirt too big for him. Over this is his black overcoat reaching to approximately knee length. The side pockets contain knife holsters sewn into them, the sleeves containing compartments to hold a single knife each. His socks are mentioned to be monogrammed with his initials.

He has been shown to have a closet full of other dress shirts of varying colors, as well as more casual clothes such as t-shirts and sneakers. It is also noted that he has clothing to match several disguises, having employed a gray business suit during the story for infiltrating Inheritance, Inc.

Personality
John is detached from most personal relationships and has almost no friends. In fact, his only friend is Alaura. He is both afraid of of being abandoned by those he could form bonds with and of being used by them as he has been in the past. He trusts Alaura singularly because of their past together as children and for her refusal to take his life when given the chance. He claims that she saved his life and is willing to work for her in any capacity she needs to try and repay her.

He has no moral problem with killing, seeing little value in a most people's lives, his included. However, he tries to avoid it if he can help it, as he feels as though he has enough blood on his hands and tries to limit any further destructive influence. Most of the tasks he performs for Alaura involve theft or infiltration with the goal of providing a direct access to hack a computer system, so this can usually be upheld easily enough. He is not above taking a life if he must, though, and is even willing to take assassination work independently if the compensation is good enough, as with Benjamin Langley. He tries to detach himself from emotion during a job. His main focus is getting in and out as fast as possible and tries to avoid confrontation if it can be helped.

John is an avid reader of all kinds of books. His favorite is stated to be Mary Shelly's Frankenstein, of which he owns an original copy. In addition, he enjoys movies and television, especially Game of Thrones and Legend of Korra. He also keeps a close interest in the Pokemon game series, his favorite monster being Gengar, having bred a shiny Perish Song moveset for its Mega Evolution. He is very interested in the idea of alien life, incorrectly attributing his powers to them choosing him for some higher purpose.

History
John was born in Utah under the name "Nathaniel River" to a seemingly normal family. His father was distant and concerned with his job while his mother was loving and tended the home. He was a happy but slightly shy boy, only having a few friends to speak of, his closest being Alaura Lentley the neighbor girl. His life changed dramatically, however, once his mother was hit by a car and died one afternoon. His father, deciding he couldn't take care of a child on his own, made the harsh choice to send him to live at an orphanage.

In reality, it was this traumatic even that finally triggered his magical abilities to awaken, allowing him to create portals in space at will. His father, not wanting to deal with a "freak" child, wanted him gone as soon as possible and abandoned him. The orphanage was not much better, as he was bullied for his quiet nature and strange customs. Eventually, he ran away from their and went to live on his own. Being a child, however, he was forced to be on the streets and homeless.

For the next few years, he was forced to steal and scrounge just to stay alive. His life changed again when he chose the wrong person to attempt to steal from one afternoon. This man, Peter Kurdin, was an ex-soldier and black ops operative for the United States military and Blackwater Security. Having retired from fighting years ago, he decided he needed a successor. With a head full of violence and Batman comic books, he kidnapped John and forced him into training to become his apprentice.

Through Kurdin, John became an expert assassin and spy, though he resented every moment of it. He was disciplined harshly and taught to fear his master while obeying his every command. As he grew older, he was sent on missions by Kurdin to hone his skills, usually related to theft. Sometimes, however, they would receive large sums of money to commit murder on someone's behalf. Taking a life initially traumatized John, but he soon became used to it.

It was on one of these missions that John finally made the decision to run away. Kurdin had sent him to eliminate a hacker that had found his name and identity, information that could easily be used to implicate him and the American government in a number of war crimes. It was John's job to kill this person, as Kurdin had become too old to do the work himself. However, upon arriving, he realized the target was Alaura. Unable to bring himself to harm the one person who had cared for him throughout his life, he was prepared to let her kill him in retribution. Instead, she offered him the chance to get his life back together.

Faking his death with her help, they began living together in an apartment in New York, taking the name of "John Smith" formally for the first time. He began working with her, assisting in her hacking by giving her direct routes to influence computer systems and infiltrate secure facilities. They have worked together for many years, such as in a recent encounter with a poacher and businessman whose life savings they stole. He has also used his powers to effortlessly steal a bag of precious gems from the supposedly secure vault of a rich criminal.

Inheritance, Inc.
After receiving an anonymous contract for several million dollars, John set out on a solo expedition to assassinate the CEO of Inheritance, Inc., Benjamin Langley. Due to the building's high security, he had difficulty infiltrating it initially. With the elevator system rigged to prevent anyone from finding Langley on the top floor, he was forced to fight a number of security personnel, including Keith and Randy. Managing to evade or disable those pursuing him, he finally arrived on the fiftieth floor to confront Langley.

Langley, though, had been expecting him, activating charges on the top of the compartment to detach it from the cables and send it plummeting to the garage level. Using the maintenance hatch at the top of the car, John escape and was able to climb his way into the office. While there, Langley attempted to persuade him to spare his life, offering money and threatening him with the end of the world if his employer (revealed as Ingolf Arud) was not stopped. John was unmoved, though, and evaded a shotgun blast before forcing Langley to asphyxiate on a piece of hard candy. Stealing the files from the CEO's computer for later, he returned home through a portal.

Powers and Abilities
Hand to Hand Combat: John is an expert in several forms of martial arts, such as Krav Maga and Karate.

Espionage: Trained by a former spy, John is adept at evading followers, investigating targets, spying, etc.

Ninjutsu: While not classically trained, Kurdin had learned several things about the art while with the Blackwater group, teaching them to John during his training.

Knife Fighting: John is experienced with knife combat. Utilizing eskrima techniques, he can use both short and long knives to his advantage in combat. He most often fights with his throwing knives.

Throwing: John is adept at throwing projectile weaponry. He is most comfortable using knives, but has skill with most any form of weapon.

Sharpshooting: Though he rarely wields guns, John has been taught how to aim and shoot a pistol just as well as throwing a knife. He also has some experience with automatic weaponry and long-range sniper rifles, but is not skilled enough with them to be considered proficient.

Magic: John's main ability is creating portals through space to any destination on Earth. This power is due to an innate affinity for Space Magic that he attributes to alien influence. By extending his arm, he can create a hole to transport himself or others to different places. There are six levels of power to the ability. He is currently at level 2.


 * Level 1: These abilities have a 6 post cool down time, and can only open to about the height and width of a small car (portals only open in perfect circles). They can also only stay open for a maximum of 3 posts. The things sent through the portals must come out somewhere on Earth and can only go through if physically put into them. People can go through, as well, giving a quick escape from a dangerous situation (only one person can step through at a time). He must also know the general location of where he wishes to send something before opening the portal, meaning moving locations (planes, cars, trains, etc.) can be harder to do than a fixed location, unless he has a video feed to supplement the ability. If used too often in a short period of time (6 within 2 posts of each other after recharging), John will become exhausted and need to rest before doing anything else (10 posts worth of sitting there and catching his breath).


 * Level 2: Through much training, the silver assassin has managed to improve his mastery over portals. Instead of the original 6, it now only takes 5 posts to use a portal. His stamina for using the ability is also increased, being able to go for longer without becoming exhausted (8 in a row). At the expense of needing to rest and being unable to do anything but walk, as well as having a 7 post cool down on portals, he can now make two fully functional portals from both his hands. If he attempts to exert himself or make more portals before the time is up, he will be subject to the 10 posts of exhaustion. Requires a training post and 3 Souls.


 * Level 3: With extreme emotional unrest, he can evolve to the next stage of his portals. Portals are now limited to a 4 post recharge, as well as no longer becoming exhausted after making two portals, but is still subject to a 7 post recharge. He is no longer unable to move while performing a portal; as long as it has been created successfully, he can move around at will and keep it open. However, moving decreases his concentration, meaning a portal created under these conditions will often dissipate after 2 posts. Costs six Souls.


 * Level 4: At this level, it only takes 3 posts to recharge from a single portal, 5 for double. In addition, he can now create walls of portals surrounding his body, though this can only be done once a day and leaves him exhausted for 10 posts. At this point, the damage portals do to his body becomes apparent. The strain they put on his cells is slowly killing him, continued use eventually destroying his cells and shortening his life. Costs 9 Souls and two training posts with Level 3, one of which being a double portal.


 * Level 5: Portals need only recharge for 2 posts, double portals now lower to 5 posts of recharge, and portal walls can be used twice a day and leave him less exhausted than before (five posts of rest). The size of his portals can now be increased up to the size of a plane, though this will increase the recharge time by 1 post. Consecutive portal use in short periods of time begins to show visible cellular destruction, starting in his palms and moving up his body. This will heal with enough rest, though the damage is done. Costs 12 Souls and three training posts at Level 4, including one portal wall.


 * Level 6: Dubbed “God Mode”, it can only be acquired through years of training and mastery of body and mind through meditation. Any amount of portals can be used with 1 post of recharge. He no longer needs to extend his arm to use a portal, but often does so as a means of concentration. He can also create a small black hole to suck in matter around him, but it will only last for 1 post. Use of the black hole will show immediate cellular destruction, destroying the skin and tissue on his hands and arms with little chance for fully recovering (his articulation will be affected permanently and his arms will heal to the point of resembling a brown recluse spider bite grown infected). Use of the black hole multiple times may completely destroy his arms, as well as reduce him to a feeble and deathly state. The event horizon extends to approximately twenty-five feet from his hand. Costs 25 Souls.

Cooking: Having taken it upon himself to make sure Alaura eats properly, he has become somewhat experienced with cooking food. His favorite dish to make is meatloaf.

Drawing: For spy purposes, John adapted a childhood hobby of drawing into the useful skill of sketching faces. His drawings are quite lifelike and realistic.

Video Games: John is an avid handheld console player and possesses the skills and intelligence necessary to expertly breed and battle Pokemon.

Equipment
Knives: John's main weapons are a set of twenty-four throwing knives. He stores twenty two of them in his coat pockets and two in his sleeves for easy access.

Garrote: John keeps a steel garrote wire in his pocket in the event he needs to silence someone quietly and from behind without leaving a trace.

Watch: John's wristwatch, in addition to being a very nice piece of equipment, contains a Curare-tipped dart within it. It is fired with pressurized air.

Smartphone: His phone of choice is a Samsung Galaxy S4. It has been modified by Alaura to keep performance with whatever newer models come out in the future, as well as a literal "HACK" button for breaking into computer systems on her behalf. It also comes with a USB cable for creating a physical connection to hard drives.

Trivia

 * John's approved character sheet can be found here.
 * A prototype for John (named Ridl) was used previously on another forum RPG the player once frequented.
 * The player states his wish that John be played by voice actor Todd Haberkorn in a hypothetical animated adaption of Dusk Crusade's story.
 * John's name is based on the generic American male name as a way to represent his abilities as a spy in blending in with a crowd, as well as his status as seemingly any normal person after faking his death.