Jacob Burnsley

Powers:

Immortality (s): after he accepted the Star Brand from the Star Child, Jacob was rendered immortal. He can be killed, but he won't die. If brought to zero health points and actually slain, his body will assume a regenerative form, a sort of fish-headed, pink humanoid looking thing with really loose, baggy skin (until he's all healed up). Even total body disintegration cannot stop this regeneration from occurring.

Resistance to Aging (s): while he's unkillable, per se, Jacob still ages, though at an extremely slow rate. Consider this a +5 resistance to aging attacks and such, though the point is somewhat moot. You see, Jacob was a rather old man before he acquired the Star Brand, having already lived longer than your standard human. So, the extent of his life span is somewhat debatable...

Equipment:

the Star Brand (w): for a time, Jacob possessed the Star Brand, a device that could be used to draw forth an effectively infinite amount of energy from some unknown source. Jacob never really tried to channel an infinite amount of power from the thing, however. You see, he typically manifested Star Brand effects at intensity 15; this was, of course, if he barely concentrated on said effect.

If he wanted to, Jacob could increase the effect of any power he knew how to produce with the Star Brand; he could boost it to any intensity, with a typical ceiling of 25 unless noted otherwise in the specific power description. Jacob typically didn't utilize his powers at this level unless it was absolutely necessary, however, as this amount of energy could cause unforeseen effects.

Furthermore, Jacob could utilize more than one Star Brand effect at a time. Operating two powers at once required an average difficulty intellect action, and each additional power used at once raised the difficulty of this action by one difficulty level. In other words, he could theoretically use all of his Star Brand powers at once, but this is difficult for him to concentrate on.

At any rate, Jacob has demonstrated these Star Brand abilities so far:

* Ability Boost (w): in addition to the already high level of strength offered to him by the Star Brand, Jacob can enhance his lifting ability to even greater heights if necessary. Wielding this power at intensity 10, he can then boost his strength to an unbelievably powerful score of 25 (in violation of the standard rules for this power, of course).

* Body Armor (s): when he concentrates on it, Jacob can spread the Star Brand's energies throughout his body, achieving +10 body armor. This makes him pretty much impervious to all but the most powerful of attacks, such as those launched by particularly potent paranormals, like President Voight and the Old Man, who have managed to cause Jacob considerable damage...

* Energy Blast (i): by extending its energies outside himself, Jacob can create startling displays of the unknown, paradoxical power of the Star Brand. While he can focus this into a directional blast of power, it typically manifests as a sort of explosion centered on his body, inflicting intensity 15 damage to everybody within striking range.

If he should increase the effect above intensity 15, however, Jacob must make a desperate difficulty energy blast action to focus it into a beam, as opposed to detonating everything within his immediate area. Furthermore, the blast effect of this energy burst (if unfocused) is increased to affect everybody within firing range if Jacob has raised its intensity over 15.

* Flight (a): unlike most of his other Star Brand abilities, Jacob wields this power at intensity 25. In effect, this allows him to pretty much cross the globe in mere minutes, though he typically limits this power to intensity 5 within a city. This comes in real handy, especially since Jacob tends to hang out in his little fishing hole on the moon a whole lot...

* Healing (s): Jacob has demonstrated remarkable healing powers while using the Star Brand. For instance, he can cure diseases, including cancer, and has the ability to repair a body no matter how battered, broken, ruptured, burnt, or otherwise damaged it may be, as long as at least one cell still lives within it. This power functions at intensity 15 levels in Jacob's hands.

* Illusion (w): when he tried to repair the Pitt itself, Jacob utilized the memories of Pittsburgh's million or so residents to recreate the city in full, or so he thought; it turned out that this massive reconstruction was simply an immensely intricate illusion, devoid of substance. He uses this power at intensity 15, but can occasionally push this farther (as evidenced above).

* Life Support (s): Jacob can utilize this power at intensity 15, essentially making it unnecessary for him to eat, drink, sleep, or breathe. So far, however, he has only had to rely on the air part of this power in the past, so he doesn't likely know that he no longer needs those other things that are vital to life. Jacob still eats, drinks and sleeps out of habit...

* Micro-Environment (i): one of Jacob's favorite powers is his ability to create zones of perfectly normal, earth-like space in difficult environs. He's used this power to repair areas around the Pitt, and to make a fishing hole on the moon. This power allows him to make a sphere of ordinary space with a radius equal to this power's intensity (which, in Jacob's case, is 15) cubed, in feet.

This is the easy stuff, however. You see, if he tries real hard, Jacob can produce exceptionally large areas of earth-normal environment, doing so with the Star Brand's full potential. Effectively functioning at intensity 30, this lets him transform everything within visual range into a pleasant, earth-like environ. These are particularly difficult for him to create, however.

* Portability: the Star Brand itself is easily portable, and Jacob can move it about on his person as he sees fit. If he wants to get rid of it, it is similarly easy to just move it onto the body of another person, should they want the thing. However, it is vital to note that the Star Brand cannot exist on an inanimate object; placing it upon such a thing is a very, very bad idea.

This is because, without a true sentience to control it, the power will rage out of control, disintegrating the object (and a very large portion of the surroundings). For instance, placing the Star Brand into a bent ten pound weight destroyed said weight and all matter within a twenty five mile radius, accidentally creating the Pitt. Needless to say, this also ruined Ken Connell's day...

Similarly, placing the Star Brand into a non-sentient animal isn't a good idea, either. This won't cause the calamity described above, but it will kill the animal over time, as the Star Brand's energies, unchecked, will consume it within days. Of course, this was discovered by the Old Man during his many attempts to rid himself of this thing...

* Power Amplification / Manipulation / Nullification (i): a curious power that Jacob can utilize is the ability to alter the function of other paranormals' super-human powers. He can hijack control of somebody's powers, making them work at his whim, raising their functioning intensity, or even totally negating them, doing so with intensity 15 skill - for as long as he concentrates on doing so.

* Space Flight (a): Jacob can move about in the far depths of space as he sees fit, doing so at intensity 25. However, this isn't necessarily a good thing, as he is bound by the Unguided limitation, and could easily get lost if not paying careful attention to where he is. With interstellar space being so darn big, it could take Jacob a while to get back once he's gotten lost...

Hindrances:

(none)

Skills:

Boxing (s): a talent that Jacob gained in the military, this skill allows him to defend himself unarmed if necessary. In technical terms, this grants Jacob the ability to execute two unarmed melee attacks in a given exchange, the last of which will occur as a contingent action.

Marksmanship (a): thanks to his military training, Jacob also has (or at least had) the ability to use any standard gun with competence. Though he doesn't really need this talent, he can nonetheless use it to wield any firearm at one difficulty level lower than is normally required.

Military (w): Jacob was associated with the U.S. military, and as such, he has this skill as a general matter of course. In other words, this skill allows him to issue and understand military commands easily, and also gives him an understanding of various military protocols.

Calling:

Responsibility of Power: when the Star Child gave Jacob the Star Brand, he told the older man to use it wisely in earth's defense. Jacob has strived to do just that, wielding his powers in selfless ways to help out his fellow earthlings to the best of his ability - no matter the personal cost!

Costume:

While wandering about performing various good deeds, Jacob doesn't bother with a super-heroic costume whatsoever. He merely wears blue jeans, a long-sleeved red shirt, blue suspenders, and a pair of brown leather boots into action.

Personality:

Jacob Burnsley is a kind older man, one who seems wise beyond his many years. Honest and dependable, he doesn't like to do others harm if he can at all avoid it. His short possession of the Star Brand has only magnified these traits, not dulled them, and that says a lot about him.

Real Name: Sergeant Jacob Burnsley, retired
Occupation: retired member of the U.S. Quartermaster Corps
Legal Status: American citizen with no known criminal record
Marital Status: widower
Alias(es), if any: none
Group Affiliation: none

Height: 5' 5"
Hair: gray
Eyes: blue
Weight: 160 lbs.
Other Distinguishing Characteristics: Jacob appears as a short, overweight old man, with a large bushy moustache and round-rimmed glasses.

Story:

Little is known about the background of Jacob Burnsley, save for the fact that he was a Sergeant in the United States Quartermaster Corps. Also, his entire family, save for his grandson, Billy, was wiped out in the cluster blunder that created the Pitt. Though he survived the destruction of Pittsburgh, however, Billy was dying of cancer, and was about to pass on.

Before this could happen, the strange being known as the Star Child altered reality itself, changing things so that death itself no longer occurred. Right afterward, this being was going to leave the earth to explore his origins, but he wanted to leave his home world protected. As such, he decided to give the power of the Star Brand, his birthright, to a wizened, older man.

The responsible old man he found sufficient for this purpose was Jacob Burnsley. Thinking him an angel when he first appeared, Jacob asked what the Star Child wanted. After he explained his purpose, the Star Child took Jacob out into space and gave him the most dangerous weapon in the universe, and implored to use it responsibly in the defense of the earth.

Flying back to earth gleefully, thinking himself still in a dream, Jacob thought about what he could do with this power, the ability to do virtually anything. His first action, of course, was to cure his grandson of cancer; luckily, he did this right before the Star Child restored the process of death to the earth. Once he did this, Jacob confided with his grandson about his powers, and just what to do with them.

In order to think this out, Jacob built himself a comfy fishing hole in the most difficult place he thought possible - on the dark side of the moon! Of course, he also did this in order to test out a theory about his power and how he could use it. After several days, Jacob tested out his environmental alteration powers in several areas near the Pitt, rebuilding increasingly large hemispheres of normal suburbia.

This project cumulated with his attempt to rebuild the city of Pittsburgh itself, thus repairing the damage Ken Connell perpetrated against the earth. However, for all his might, Jacob couldn't pull this maneuver off, and he only managed to create the illusion of the city reborn. Defeated, Jacob simply left the place, despondent about his inability to fix things here.

Later, while exploring the soot-covered city of New York, Jacob encountered several paranormals under the mental sway of the President of the United States, one Philip Nolan Voight. Unsure whether or not he should confront the leader of the free world, Jacob spent some time thinking about this and, once he decided he couldn't ignore the possibility, he went to the White House.

Shortly after arriving there, Nolan started pushing Jacob around with his so-called overpower, his ability to use the paranormal abilities of anybody on earth, but Jacob easily countered the man with his own power, the original power, the Star Brand! Turning his own abilities against him, Jacob burned Voight's paranormal overpower out, though it cost him his life. Well, sort of.

He found himself revived soon after, and returned to his fishing hole to think things over and spend time with Billy. Soon enough, however, the Star Child returned to the earth, hoping to save the universe itself. To this end, he needed to collect everybody that had ever used the Star Brand, and when he had all of them save one, the Star Child sent Jacob to retrieve the last.

Of course, this man, the so-called Old Man, was rather reluctant to play ball, so Jacob had to beat the snot out of him first. During this fight, however, Jacob and the Old Man inadvertently knocked an innocent pilot out of the air with their magnificent energy exchanges, and before he could return to the Star Child's location, he had to patch this fellow back up, first.

Once they were all together, the Star Child reclaimed Jacob's Star Brand, as well as the Star Brand powers of every other body that had ever wielded the device, in order to patch up a strange temporal paradox that had formed as a result of the Star Brand's very creation. Once this was done, the Star Child returned Jacob, Billy, and one other man, Roger Price, back to earth.

Though he still presumably possesses the relative immortality granted to all bearers of the Star Brand, it is assumed that Jacob has simply returned to the retired life, no longer having strange adventures. This has yet to be seen, however...

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