Name: Chai Se-Jin
Alias: Crane
Age: 40
DOB: 7 January 1971
Height: 6’
Weight: 150 lbs. Slight frame and a bit underweight.
Hair: Black with a few grays.
Eyes: Black. Nearsighted.
Ethnicity: Korean
Owned by: retrobird
Powers: Paper manipulation. This includes controlling paper telekinetically, as well as manipulating its properties. He can make paper strong enough to form shields that may stop any object from knives to bullets; the whites of his supersuit is, in effect, layers of paper, which is what he will primarily use in combat. Especially when there are no other sources to tap into.
Paper constructs are his main weapon. They may range from swords for short-range combat to a bow-and-arrows or monsters for long-range. Immobilizing the enemy by wrapping and constricting paper around them is also a viable option. Flight, too, is possible, though wings are difficult to maintain and high altitudes are dangerous due to precipitation. The larger the flight construct, the better it fairs against the elements.
Weaknesses: Liquids and fire are the biggest threats. However, sharp objects thrown at strategic places in his constructs are also hazardous. To make up for these shortcomings, Chai is quite well-versed in hand-to-hand combat. He has no qualms about utilizing real blades, either, but he dislikes guns.
Personality: Basically, an introvert with a mean streak. He’s practical, disciplined, ambitious, reserved, pessimistic, and dry. On the surface he tends to be distanced, but there is a seething intensity under the thin veil of placidity. He has a certain harnessed aggression, which is apt to peek through in times of stress.
Chai is very hardworking, though he takes it to the extreme and is, in a word, a workaholic. He is a dogmatic perfectionist and can become so consumed with his work, be it superhero or civilian, he can forget to eat and sleep. This lends to a certain irritability he always seems to shoulder, and doesn’t do well for his miserable disposition.
Because he is aware of his flaws, he is very conservative with alcohol consumption, and he is in the process of quitting cigarettes. Chai carries around candies for whenever he gets the urge to smoke, despite not having a very big sweet tooth.
Civilian occupation: Comparative Literature Professor at Kane University. He teaches a class called “Strange Mutations”: Wonder, Faith, Skepticism, and Disbelief in Western Antiquity and the Renaissance. He can be rather sadistic, and is well-known among the students as a frightening slave-driver — but many recommend his class anyway, as he’s a very passionate teacher and is good at what he does.
He has high expectations, and although he doesn’t go easy on anybody, he does have a soft spot for his students. It’s one of the reasons he’s taken up the responsibility of watching over the Society. Because he’s been around the block a few times, he acts as a sort of consultant on matters such as secret identities and public/press relations, as well as actually training the heroes.
On another note, Chai is currently working on his fifth book. It’s nearing completion, so he’s particularly ill-tempered these days.
Background: Chai is a first generation american. His family is old money, with many of its members in the law sector or holding big-wig positions in major corporations. He often flew back and forth between South Korea and the US, so much so that he obtained dual citizenship.
He’d been a serious child, and soon became disillusioned by lack of affection in his household. He grew extremely bored with his highly scheduled lifestyle, and sort of resigned himself to “whatever will be, will be”. It was only a matter of time before he found an outlet in high school.
His cousin Ki-Hwan, who several years older and more like a brother, shared similar sentiments with Chai. But he wasn’t as passive as Chai, and quickly became the designated “bad apple” of the family. He associated with an unsavory lot, committed petty theft, and abused several substances. He invited Chai on one of his little ventures and that opened up a whole new set of doors for the very bored hero-to-be. He had nothing better to do, and it was at least a bearable way to waste his time.
Eventually, the family hired a private detective to see just what exactly the rascals were getting into; to put a stop to their delinquency. It was around this time that Ki-Hwan suddenly vanished. He was just gone, without any prior warning, having left not a single clue as to where he’d gone or what had happened to him. The detective, an older man on the cusp of retirement, asked Chai why he’d gotten into so much trouble, and Chai replied blandly that he’d just been along for the ride. This struck a chord in the detective, and prompted him to take Chai under his wing.
Chai didn’t seem particularly surprised that Ki-Hwan had disappeared — not at the time, at least. Later, it would start eating away at him, especially once the investigations stopped and Ki-Hwan was pronounced publicly dead after a year.
It was in the midst of the investigations that Chai’s powers began to emerge. They were probably triggered by the stress and anxiety, starting out as little flutters of paper and escalating from there (though it took years for them to develop fully). His new friend, the then-retired detective, helped him through the adjustment process. His strong morals and love of helping others had a slow but lasting effect on Chai, who was eventually inspired to do good by the old man.
Chai managed to enter college, and he put all of his efforts into treating the past few years as a dull dream to forget. He threw himself into his studies and worked his way up, eventually meeting a beautiful African-American woman named Cornelia during his mid-twenties. After a short courtship, in which Nel became pregnant, the two love-birds married. They had a daughter, Daphne, and for a while all seemed well. However, Chai would get so consumed with work — especially now that he was making a name for himself both as a superhero and an academic — that he neglected his family.
When Daphne was five, Nel divorced Chai. She got full custody of their daughter, and Chai grew bitter and resentful. After a time, he and Nel managed an odd sort of naggy friendship and life went on. Chai became rather successful, though he hasn’t been able to stay in a serious relationship for very long ever since divorcing Nel. Nel, meanwhile, remarried three years after the divorce, and is living happily with Daphne and her second husband.
Daphne is a firecracker just like her mother, and although Chai is a surly fellow to most, he is pretty much at his daughter’s beck and call. Even if he appears begrudging on the outside. He only sees her every other weekend, but he does his best to be a “good father”.
Likes: Literature, encyclopedias, teasing others, beating the shit out of people, caffeine, his housekeeper
Dislikes: Contacts/glasses, slackers, deadlines, people who talk too much, his ex-wife’s husband, anyone who calls him “Tea”
