Zodiac (Alexander Rook)

[Zodiac]

ZODIAC

Real Name: Alexander (Alex) Rook
Alias: Zodiac
Birthday: October 31st
Age: 22, appears 19
Gender: Male
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Height: 5’ 10”
Blood Type: O Negative
Affiliation: Brotherhood
Ethnicity: Nordic/Japanese mix

Hometown: N/A
Nationality: United States

Power Category: Shapeshifting (Animorph/Therianthrope)
Mutant Level: Delta

Powers and Abilities:

• Power Zodiac’s mutant powers are centered in his ability to take the DNA of animals, store that genetic information in his body, and then use it to transform his body into that same animal. He can, at most, store the DNA of twelve animals in his body; that number coupled with the nature of his power made him decide on the alias “Zodiac” to replace his given name. An interesting side effect of his transformation ability is that since his body is constantly being altered, Zodiac has an accelerated healing rate. Though he’s no Wolverine, and he has to worry about wounds during a fight the same as anybody else, minor wounds heal completely in about 24 hours and major ones in under a weak. Even the loss of a body part will be healed in about a month, though it is extremely painful. Like other mutants with shapeshifting powers, Zodiac’s clothes change with him, so he doesn’t constantly destroy his clothes or change back naked.
  
  • Animal Transformations: Simply, he transforms his body into one of the twelve animals whose DNA he has stored in his body. His form not only changes to match the animal, but he also takes on the correct size and mass of the animal into which he is changing. Zodiac takes on all of the strengths and weaknesses of the animal he’s changed into, including speed, strength, and reflexes. And while he still retains his mind in his transformed state, he also gains many of the animals’ instincts, which allow him to make full use of his transformation. While his animal transformations don’t age at all, his human body still ages normally… though it doesn’t age while he is transformed, causing a discrepancy between his physical and actual ages. While in animal form, he is impossible to tell apart from a normal animal.
    
  • Hybrid/Partial Transformations: After years of using his transformation ability, Zodiac developed the ability to use his transformations in more nuanced ways. The core of this ability imitates the abilities of Therianthropes, creating a human/beast hybrid (much like a werewolf for a canine, as an example), though these hybrid transformations are still limited to the pool of twelve animals he can use with his main ability. The most nuanced instance of this ability is if he remains completely human but adopts one or two traits of one specific animal at a time: like the eyes of an eagle, or the hearing/sense of smell of a wolf.
    
    
  • Weaknesses: There are a few things that come along with his ability that make it troublesome from time to time. First and foremost is the need to acquire significant genetic material to gain a transformation (skin/flesh/blood/etc), which can be very difficult with a powerful predator or an animal that is very hard to catch. The other major issue with using his power stems from his twelve-animal limit. If Zodiac wishes to gain a new animal, he has to have it replace one of his old transformations, and he can’t do it immediately. He has to have a transformation for a while before he can replace it. Finally, if he doesn’t use a particular transformation for a period of about six months, he then loses it and would have to reacquire it.
    
    There is one other pair of weaknesses, that don’t so much interfere with him using his power as they do his ability to live a normal life in most societies. The first thing he has to contend with involves the animal instincts that influence his personality, having him crave freedom, often be confrontational/territorial, be restless, etc. The other major social issue arises when his emotions surge beyond his control to an intensity that diminishes his rational mind. When this happens, Zodiac will start to transform into one of his animals, and its instincts will take over his mind and actions. Different emotions will trigger different transformations, depending on which ones he currently has.
    

Appearance:

Zodiac is a weird mix because of his parents’ heritage. He inherited the bone structure, facial features, and proportions of his Nordic father, while inheriting the size, body type, skin tone, and some minor features from his Japanese mother. As such, he isn’t heavily muscled, but his rather slight body is finely toned, like many warriors of his maternal heritage. He has his father’s green eyes (unless transformed), and unnatural dark blue hair, the only indication of being a mutant while he’s in his human form. Zodiac doesn’t bother wearing a “super” uniform, not liking to feel bound to change his appearance when acting in an “official” capacity. His standard dress is a black jacket trimmed in white with an orange lining on the inside. Underneath his jacket he wears a simple white t-shirt. His pants are made of a worn black material that somewhat resembles denim, but much tougher. He wears a pair of broken-in black boots most of the time, but tends to switch them out for a pair of rollerblades when he needs to get around an urban area.

Personality:

As much as there is to Zodiac, he can be best summed up in one word: wild. More than anything, he hates being constrained by arbitrary rules and regulations, and chafes at even the smallest attempts to reign him in. Not surprisingly, he doesn’t do well with hierarchy and authority, and to say that he tends to rebel is an understatement, having punched out cops and others that have tried to control him. Still, Zodiac understands the benefits of working with a team to accomplish something he never could on his own, having spent some time hunting with a literal wolf pack. Because of that, though, any team Zodiac is a part of needs to understand that he adheres to a pack mentality. Strength and ability are requirements for anyone who wants to lead Zodiac, and he won’t stand for a weakling trying to command him. Perhaps surprisingly, though, is that Zodiac isn’t inherently vicious or heartless when he doesn’t need to be. Though he will if he has to, he will go out of his way to avoid harming innocents. Zodiac emphasizes with people whose freedom is being taken away to a frightening degree, willing to risk his life to keep people free. The only thing that matters to him more than his own freedom is finding and freeing his little sister, Catherine. Zodiac despises the Division and the politicians that passed the Mutant Registration Act more than anyone else.

History:

Rook’s father, James, was a member of the US Marine Corps, trained as a sniper and survivalist; he led a team of snipers through wild and hostile environments to get into advantages positions before a major operation. He ran several successful tours through a number of major conflicts before he was severely wounded saving the life of one of his men. He healed, but was unable to return to field operations, and as a result was requested to be reinstated as an instructor in survival and in sniping rather than take a desk job or a civilian career. Eventually, his duties took him to train allied Japanese and American troops stationed at an American Naval Base in Japan. While there, he met and fell in love with a local doctor named Kaoru, a geneticist working on researching the then-new mutant phenomenon.

They eventually married; and Kaoru moved back with him to the United States when he was transferred back to teach in the States. At first Kaoru continued to work on her research with an affiliated company in the US, but eventually quit in disgust after learning how they wanted to use her research. Since much of her work involved working with animals, she started working at veterinary hospitals near the bases her husband was assigned to work. To keep herself engaged, she also worked with wild animals and farms outside the city. They had the usual stresses and problems most married couples had, but they had a happy life. Things only got better when they had their first child, a boy they named Alexander. Alex’s first few years were spent as a happy child, and when he was four his little sister, Catherine, was born.

Things were normal at first, until Alex turned seven, and his natural black hair started to grown in a dark blue. His mother, using her expertise in genetics, decided to test both of her children for the X-gene, and to her dismay found that both of them were mutants… a fact that would manifest in Catherine’s hair turning the same dark blue as her brother’s a few years later. At first, both of their parents were tense and dismayed, worrying their children all while keeping them in the dark. It didn’t take long, though, before the two rallied and decided to support and love their children no matter the inevitable hardships. Their mother instilled in them a love of reading and self-learning, while their father would often take them both camping, teaching them how to survive off the land and how to fight like a Marine.

Things went great until Alex was 16, when a gang of local teens that harbored severe racist tendencies decided to make Alexander and Catherine targets because of their mixed blood and strange hair color. The siblings had to go through the usual physical and emotional tortures, forcing them to harden their hearts just to keep from breaking. Things finally reached a tipping point when the gang grabbed Alex, beat him bloody, and then forced him to watch as they killed the Rook family dog. In tears, his grief and rage boiled over, and he triggered his mutant ability for the first time, changing into a wolf he had helped his mother save. By the time he came back to himself, he was human again and all the gang members had been viciously murdered.

Alex ran back to his home, telling his father everything. Within an hour, he had gathered up their entire family and run with them into the wilderness. Within a few days, however, a specialized tracking mutant working for the FBI had managed to lead a task force to them in the middle of nowhere. They hit them in the middle of the night, capturing Catherine and killing Kaoru when she tried to protect her daughter. James reacted immediately, fleeing with Alexander and taking a better defensible position, already planning on how to take the upper hand and free his daughter. All too soon, they were almost on them when James pushed Alex to run, forcing him to flee like the child he still was. As he ran, desperate to hear what was happening to his father, he unconsciously transformed into the wolf again. Alexander Rook’s heart broke as he heard his father fight to the bitter end, taking twelve commandos and the mutant tracker with him. Without the tracker, and with Alex in wolf form, they quickly lost him and had to give up the search.

As he began experimenting with his power, training it and taking it to its limits, Alexander Rook soon threw away his old name and adopted the mantle of “Zodiac.” He lived much of the next six years in the wild thanks to his father’s training, spending most of it in animal form, relishing in the freedom and untamed lifestyle he now got to experience. Occasionally, Zodiac would wander into a town to steal human foods, clothes, books, and garner whatever news he could about the goings-on of the human world. Throughout all his time in the wild, Zodiac’s one obsession was finding and freeing his sister, but never having a lead to go on. When he eventually found out about the Mutant Registration Act, his blood began to boil at the memory of what they did to his family and the thought of his fellow mutants being subjugated.

Having heard of the Brotherhood, and knowing he could never hope to achieve his goal of freedom on his own, decided that they were the ones that would most be in-line with his views. He set of in the direction of New York, planning to meet up with and join a new pack… a pack of mutants called the Brotherhood.

Inventory:

• High-Tech, multifunction cell phone
  
• Rollerblades
  
• Pair of long hunter’s knives
  
• Backpack with survival gear (first aid kit, wire, rope, iodine, etc.)
  

Face Claim:

[SIZE=1]Air Gear || [color=navy] Wanajima, Agito/Akito/Lind [/color]has the role of Rook, Alexander (Zodiac)[/SIZE]

[ARCANE]

Approved, Delta Mutant.