Gravatar

GRAVATAR
Player: @TassaKay (Homecoming/Everlasting Server)
Character Build
Origin:	Mutation
Archetype:	Controller
Security Level:	50
Biographical Data
Real Name:	Gabriel Vincente Catalano
Known Aliases:	Gravatar
Age:	28
Gender:	Male
Species:	Human (Mutant)
Ethnicity:	Caucasian (Sicilian/Scottish)
Birthdate:	12 May 1993
Birthplace:	Port Charles, New York
Relatives:	Martin Catalano (father, deceased), Irene Catalano (mother, deceased), Dex Rawlins (stepfather, deceased)
Characteristics
Height:	5'11"
Weight:	175 lbs.
Eyes:	Blue-Grey
Hair:	Black
Complexion:	Tanned
Physical Build:	Athletic
Physical Features:	Strong jaw, clean beard, styled hair, classically handsome features
Status
Alignment:	██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ Neutral Good
Reputation:	██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ ██ Exalted
Identity:	Public (Registered with FBSA)
Years Active:	10
Base of Operations:	Gravtopia (undisclosed location somewhere in the South Pacific)
Citizenship:	Citizen of United States of America with no known criminal record.
Education:	Bachelor of Arts in Journalism
Occupation:	Registered superhero, field operative for Portal Corporation; formerly reporter for Paragon Times, reporter for Millennium City Free Press
Marital Status:	Engaged (Aohdan Darragh/"Omnitone")
Known Powers and Abilities
Gravikinesis (Omega Level)
Equipment and Paraphernalia
Costume (unstable molecules), personal comlink

Attributes
	Strength	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Endurance	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
	Agility	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Speed	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
	Fighting	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Projectiles	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
	Durability	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Resistance	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
	Intelligence	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Psyche	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
	Intuition	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █		Charisma	█ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █ █
ReldinBox Template

INTRODUCTION

Gravatar is a superhero from the so-called "Champions Earth" with the mutant ability to control gravity. Having been sent to Primal Earth by a petty and vindictive supervillainess, he has adopted this new world as his own, and uses his incredible powers to protect it from that which would threaten it or its people. Though his life is full of trauma and loss, he has emerged stronger from every trial he has faced, and though his powers have continued to expand in breadth and scope, he has remained grounded and committed to the safety of his world and its people.

APPEARANCE

Gravatar is a Caucasian male of Sicilian and Scottish descent, of average height and weight, with an athletic and toned physique due to rigorous exercise and skin that is lightly tanned. His wavy black hair is kept impeccably styled, and his blue-grey eyes shine with intelligence and good humor. His facial features are considered classically handsome, with high cheekbones, a strong jawline, an aquiline nose, and a neatly-trimmed beard.

His costume, deep blue and white in color and consisting of unstable molecules, is a skintight bodysuit that encases him from neck to toes. His personal symbol, a stylized star, is displayed prominently on his chest, and he also wears a deep blue impervium cape clasped to one shoulder and a domino mask over his upper face (though this is more for style than to conceal his identity). Out of costume, he tends to favor clothing of a professional urban style.

POWERS & ABILITIES

As his codename implies, Gravatar is a gravikinetic, able to generate and manipulate graviton particles through sheer force of will. Initially classified as an Alpha Level mutant, Gravatar's exposure to the Well of the Furies and subsequent achievement of Incarnate status has since led GIFT to reclassify him as Omega Level, as his mutation now has no known upper limit. When using his abilities, the interaction between gravitons and photons cause his hands and eyes to glow and his powers to emit visible ripples through the air, though he can suppress this effect when he chooses. The gravity that he generates can be countered by certain energy types: magnetic and nuclear forces may counter some of the effects, and more exotic energies such as quantum and cosmic energies may counter his gravity as well.

The most basic application of Gravatar's mutation is his ability to manipulate gravitons to increase or decrease the weight of anything with discernible mass, causing the mass to get heavier or lighter respectively. With practice, Gravatar has learned how to change the direction at which such objects "fall", effectively exercising his own version of telekinesis. Decreasing the effect of gravity on objects also allows Gravatar to lift things far in excess of his own normal human strength. Gravatar can also alter the gravitational pull on himself, allowing him to do such things as fly at any speed or height at which he can still breathe, change the direction "down" lies for him in order to walk on walls or ceilings as if they were the floor or ground, and slow a fall to land as lightly and gently as a feather. Gravatar can sense gravitational waves and flux to detect the use of artificial gravity and gravity powers, perceive his surroundings via the minute gravitic attractions exerted by anything with discernable mass ("gravity vision", essentially), use gravity to bend light so he can see things at a distance, create areas of Earth-normal gravity to reduce the effects of high-gravity and low-gravity environments, and modulate gravity waves to carry communication signals across interplanetary distances with a solar system. Naturally, Gravatar is immune to the effects of gravity as he chooses.

Offensively, Gravatar is quite adept at utilizing his control of gravity in the field. He can project concentrated graviton particles that have a maximum concussive force equivalent to the explosion of 20,000 pounds of TNT, affecting single targets with powerful blasts of gravitic force, sending forth widening waves of gravitic force to affect everything in the waves' path, or releasing bursts of gravitic force radiating in all directions around him. Gravatar can also create gravity fields that increase, decrease or nullify the gravitational pull in an area. He can "whipsaw" a target with concentrated gravity to create an effect similar to the intense G-forces that can cause fighter pilots to black out, and manipulate gravity to interfere with the inner ear so that the target loses their balance and sense of direction. Recently, he has begun to use his ability to create micro-wormholes to pull in nearby targets and deposit them in a different location of his choosing, and to propel objects through from elsewhere for use as makeshift projectiles. (Note: Gravatar himself isn't entirely certain from where the propelled objects originate!)

Defensively, Gravatar applies his ability to manipulate gravitons in several creative ways. Most commonly, he creates nigh-impenetrable forcefields of gravitons, causing most attacks against him to be nullified: the weight of projectiles are increased so they simply drop out of the air, energy beams and similar attacks are bent around him or otherwise dispersed, and physical attacks are blunted or absorbed by the field. Through force of will, Gravatar can use his fields to either reflect physical and energy attacks back at the source or redirect them to a new target entirely. When operating with allies, he often extends the size of his fields to encompass them as well, rendering them as impervious to attack as himself, though this takes more concentration on his part. Gravatar can reflexively create a point of intense gravity at the heart of explosions, preventing the explosive force and material from achieving escape velocity by containing the blast in an area no larger than its source and negating the explosion. He can also use gravity to bend light rays around himself, rendering himself invisible to visual detection.

Upon becoming an Incarnate on Primal Earth, Gravatar has learned to manipulate gravity on a truly cosmic scale. He is one of a few known superhumans who has managed to enter and exit black holes and other stellar phenomena without adverse effect, and can operate in high gravity, low gravity or zero gravity environments without impediment. His gravitic forcefields also allow him to operate in deep space safely, protecting him from the cold, radiation and vacuum, and he can even use gravity to replenish his air supply by drawing oxygen and nitrogen molecules from nearby atmospheres. His flight speed in deep space is exponentially faster, and he is able to achieve superliminal speeds once free of local gravity wells. He can open up micro-wormholes between two distant points that allow for instantaneous travel between those points. Initially restricted to creating wormholes between two points within a single gravity well, he has since learned how to create them between two different gravity wells, allowing him to traverse interplanetary, interstellar and even interdimensional distances.

Incredibly, Gravatar has also recently bonded with a sentient singularity*, due to his unique ability to communicate with it via gravitic pulses, and the entity (which also manipulates gravity in a manner similar to Gravatar) is never far from his side in the field. When not in the field, the singularity normally exists dormant within Gravatar's gravitic energy matrix, and Gravatar also bears the ability to enter the singularity himself. The singularity acts as a pocket dimension where Gravatar exists at every point in his life simultaneously, and he has only just begun to explore his connection with it.

* See Biography section for more details.

His powers aside, Gravatar possesses the normal human strength, dexterity, endurance and durability of a man his age, height and build who engages in intensive regular exercise. He is moderately skilled in physical combat, specializing in boxing and basic martial arts, though he tends to rely first and foremost on his powers in combat situations. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism and nearly a decade of experience as a staff journalist for several different newspapers, specializing in covering the superhuman beat. Since leaving the journalism profession aside to work directly for the Portal Corporation, Gravatar has achieved a basic familiarity with the astrophysics used to study gravity and its effects, though he is strictly a layman in this regard. Besides his native American English, Gravatar also speaks a smattering of Italian, Spanish, French... and Gadroon.

PSYCHOLOGICAL PROFILE

In many ways, Gravatar has been psychologically defined by his powers. The potential for disaster when manipulating gravity, as evidenced by the horrific incident which occurred when his powers first manifested, is something that is always forefront in his mind. Given that his powers can potentially shift the gravitational balance of the planet or even the solar system, leading to changes in the Earth's rotation or the attraction of threats like meteor showers or asteroids, Gravatar's greatest fear is (unsurprisingly) losing control of his abilities. This has led to moments of excessive caution on his part, especially in situations where his powers have the potential to make matters worse.

In that same vein, Gravatar is driven by the guilt he carries: for the accidental death of his mother and stepfather, for the deaths of his original teammates at the hands of Gravitar, and for his actions while he was under the influence of the sentient singularity. Though he is not directly responsible for these events, he still carries the weight of them on his shoulders, and they have come to define how he approaches his work and the use of his powers. The guilt hasn't always been a negative for Gravatar, however, as it has fostered in him a deep sense of responsibility, and he works to impart that sense of responsbility on other young mutants who have struggled to control their powers.

Despite this, Gravatar is surprisingly down-to-earth, considering the scope of his abilities and the larger-than-life work that he does. He is loyal to a fault, taking his friendships and relationships very seriously, and tends to reserve judgment on all but the worst and most obviously villainous of people until he gets to know them. In fact, he has more than a few friends on the "red side" of the hero/villain divide, as he has a more evolved view on morality and ethics than many of his superheroic cohorts. Gravatar is less interested in the letter of the law than the spirit of it, and while this has made it somewhat difficult for him when it comes to his relationships with law enforcement and other superheroes at times, he remains committed to his own personal code of conduct, and will always give everyone a fair shake.

EQUIPMENT

Gravatar's uniform was constructed with unstable molecules, which render it immune to his own powers, and can be concealed or even transformed into one of several preprogrammed forms. He wears an earbud comlink unit issued to him by the FBSA, allowing him to communicate with other heroes in the field as well as access the police bands, as well as a Portal-issue tablet computer to assist him in his field work for the Portal Corporation. Any other equipment is requisitioned from the FBSA or Portal on a case-by-case basis.

BASE OF OPERATIONS

Gravatar's base of operations is known colloquially as "Gravtopia", an island paradise of his own creation. Pushing himself to his limits, Gravatar opened a massive wormhole between Primal Earth and the Shadow Shard, then moved several of the floating landmasses from that turbulent dimension to an area somewhere in the South Pacific. Once the islands had been cleared of any remaining Rularuu servants, Gravatar and his fiancé Omnitone combined their efforts to turn the largest of the barren rocks into a virtual paradise on Earth: Gravatar did the heavy lifting by putting the islands into place, and Omnitone (an accomplished architect in his own right) built upon them.

Once their home was completed on the main island, they turned their attentions to the smaller landmasses, creating several more additions to Gravtopia: Portal Island (with permanent wormholes established to several locations throughout Paragon City, the Rogue Isles, the Shadow Shard and even Praetoria), Memorial Island (a massive shrine/park dedicated to Gravatar's fallen teammates from his own Earth), Tiki Island (an island with a beach, a lagoon, and an eponymous tiki bar), and Vault Island (an island serving as a sort of Shadow Shard "nature preserve" and bearing several Rularuu artifacts taken by Gravatar).

Gravtopia bears formidable defenses: besides the permanent gravitational fields erected by Gravatar himself to keep intruders at bay, a magical ward was also put into place by Gravatar's friends, Tien and Daniel, who combined their abilities to protect Gravtopia from hostile magical effects as well. And as the landmasses originated from the Shadow Shard, Gravatar was able to call in a favor through his allies in the FBSA to influence the UN into recognizing Gravtopia as a sovereign nation of sorts, granting Gravatar sole legal authority over his floating island paradise.

BIOGRAPHY

Early Life

Gabriel Catalano was born in Port Charles, a small New York city on the shores of Lake Ontario between Rochester and Buffalo. His father, Martin, was a detective in the PCPD, and his mother, Irene, worked for a local PR firm. Growing up in an apartment in the Harborview Towers downtown, Gabriel's childhood was rather typical of most well-to-do urban families, and rather unremarkable as a whole. However, that all changed when Martin was killed in the line of duty, at the hands of one of the first metahumans ever employed by the local mobs as an enforcer. The Catalano family was shattered by this, but Irene and Gabriel soldiered on as best they could for the next few years. When Gabriel was 10, his mother informed him that they would be leaving Port Charles, and making a new life for themselves in the former city of Detroit: Millennium City.

To a young Gabriel and his mother, Millennium City was incredible. Built on the ruins of Detroit, which was obliterated by Doctor Destroyer in 1992, the city was a model for the future: spire-like skyscrapers connected by picturesque garden skybridges, solar panels and nearby windmill farms generating clean and renewable power, automated and computer-controlled highways that eliminated gridlock and traffic accidents, flashy 3-D holograms that replaced billboards, info kiosks on street corners that offered a continual stream of news and information, free high-speed wireless Internet access available in every business and home, and schools and libraries store the vast majority of their data electronically, to say nothing of the greatest feature of all (at least, to a ten-year-old boy), the presence of the Champions superhero team. Though his mother had her doubts, the lucrative offer she'd received from Harmon Industries to join their PR team would allow her to make a real life for herself and her son in this city of tomorrow, so the Catalanos settled into their new home in Westside.

The pair would soon to come to learn that Westside was not quite the safe haven they thought it would be. This area of Millennium City, while home to the new city jail, a burgeoning industrial and shipping hub and the city's Chinatown neighborhood, seemed to be embroiled in near-constant conflict between the five gangs that called it home: the New Purple Gang (a resurgence of an infamous Prohibition Era gang), the Cobra Lords (a biker gang involved in both the drug trade and an underground metahuman fighting circuit), the Maniacs (an anarchist gang that proudly displays sociopathic tendencies), the Black Aces (a gang with a playing card motif) and the Cult of the Red Banner (who control Millennium City's Chinatown). Fortunately for the Catalanos, not to mention the rest of Westside's residents, Millennium City was also home to the superhero team known as the Champions: Defender, Sapphire, Nighthawk, Ironclad and Witchcraft. Young Gabriel was absolutely enamored by the superheroes of his new home, as many of the city's children were, and he followed their exploits with keen interest.

At the age of 14, just after he'd became a freshman at Westside High School, Gabriel's mother remarried. Dexter Rawlins was a MARS (Metahuman Activities Response Squad) officer assigned to MCPD's Westside precinct, and though his unit worked closely with the Champions and other registered superheroes, Dex resented their presence and having to work with them, believing them to be the reason for the uptick in metahuman crime in Millennium City. Gabriel got along well enough with Dex, at least at first, as he was happy to see his mother moving forward with her life, but Dex's homophobic attitudes didn't sit well with him, as he was coming to terms with his own homosexuality. However, though the marriage seemed solid on the surface, Dex would often vent his frustrations with his job at home, becoming first verbally abusive... and then physically abusive. Over the course of the next two years, the marriage slowly deteriorated, and Gabriel spent more and more time with his friends away from home simply to avoid Dex's alcohol-fueled rages and homophobic rants.

However, it was during one of those fights between Dex and Irene that Gabriel's life changed forever.

Coming home after soccer practice, Gabriel could already hear the sound of shouting coming from inside the house. Rushing inside, he found Dex in the kitchen with his mother, having already struck her and threatening to do so again. Gabriel rushed inside, screaming for Dex to stop and threatening to call the cops, but the officer just laughed in response, responding that he was untouchable as far as the cops were concerned, being a decorated member of an elite police task force. He then dared the "fairy" to do something about it if he thought he could, raising his hand to hit Irene again... and in that moment, Gabriel's mutation manifested, and the teenager lashed out with a primal scream... and an uncontrollable burst of gravitic energy. When Gabriel came to his senses again, he was left standing in the rubble of what was once his home, surrounded by units from the MCPD, PRIMUS and the FBI.

Taken into custody by PRIMUS, Gabriel was later informed by them that both Dex and his mother had perished when their home collapsed in on itself. The grief-stricken Gabriel now fell under the government's jurisdiction, and PRIMUS kept him in custody while they worked out what to do with him. Eventually, a solution was found: Gabriel, who would not be charged with a crime due to the accidental nature of the manifestation of his powers, would be remanded to Ravenswood Academy in order to receive proper training in the use of his gravimetric abilities as well as completing his education. Though his first year at the Academy was difficult for him, as he was still grappling with what he'd done and with having superpowers in general, Gabriel eventually began to heal from the trauma of his mother's death. By the time his senior year began, he was starting to make friends and embrace his gravity-controlling abilities, becoming one of the Academy's most promising students.

After graduating in 2009, Gabriel decided to register himself as a superhero in Millennium City, taking the codename of Gravatar as his own.

Rookie Career

A New Earth

The Big Leagues

Current Status

AFFILIATES

Gravatar's most important affiliation, of course, is his fiancé Aohdan Darragh, also known as the superhero Omnitone. When the Irish mutant arrived in Paragon City fresh from County Antrim, Gravatar took him under his wing, serving as his official mentor via GIFT. It was during that time that the pair fell in love, and once Aohdan finished his mentorship and became a fully-fledged registered superhero in Paragon City, he proposed to Gravatar, and the two are now enjoying both a happy engagement and a solid partnership in the field.

His closest friends and allies are the Praetorians Tien Tamari-Mizu and Daniel Davisson, former Resistance fighters who, like Gravatar himself, transitioned to Primal Earth from their native Earth. Tien served as a mentor for Gravatar when he arrived from Champions Earth, teaching him how to better utilize his control of gravity to support his teammates in combat situations. The pair of them remain close with Gravatar, and are often his first call when he requires assistance in the field. He even maintains a permanent wormhole from Gravtopia to the mountaintop chateau where the pair of them live.

Gravatar maintains close ties with several of his former teammates within the Global Defense Force: Citizen Thirteen, Crowning Glory, Starspark, Elycion, Areus, Farside, Nitroburst, Ultrastar and the alien entities Hugs and X. He often assists them with field work, though he himself chose to resign from the GDF in order to focus on his work with the Portal Corporation, and counts them among his closest allies on Primal Earth.

Gravatar bears an unusual but close friendship with Mu'Sekhmet, one of the Mu Guardians from the Rogue Isles, as well as her concubine Odium (Dominic Balthazar Ashera). This has raised some eyebrows amongst his colleagues in Paragon City, but Gravatar pays these concerns no mind. Through the pair, he has further developed close friendships with Shannon Harper, granddaughter of Bastet, the powerful fae shapeshifter known only as Wildside, the spirit-touched dimensional traveler Walker (who originates on Champions Earth as well), and the chimeric aquatic humanoids Deep Six and his sister Naiad.

Other friends and associates of note include the space-manipulating government agent Nexus, the luchador wrestler and former sheriff Lone Lobo, the alchemist and Northern Star reserve member Brett Holt, lupine superhero and LGBT icon Haute Dawg, the half-Nath cosmic superhero Wavelength, and Colonel Jane Grey and Major Alice Draper of Vanguard's Special Ops unit, though Gravatar is acquainted with many other members of the superpowered community in both Paragon City and the Rogue Isles due to his prolific social life and constant presence on the superpowered club circuit.

Professionally, Gravatar is most affiliated with the Portal Corporation. He recently accepted a full-time position with Portal as a field operative, and can most often be found assisting them at Firebase Zulu in the Shadow Shard, due to his unique ability to operate in that dimension's gravity without detriment. Gravatar often works with both Shadowshell and Grey Gryphon, also superpowered Portal Corps operatives, and he is close work friends with the two. Through his affiliation with GIFT, he has begun mentoring Massifist, another gravikinetic mutant like himself, but one who has taken a pacifistic approach to hero work. He has been a member of the Northern Stars and the Global Defense Force, as previously mentioned, and also maintains contacts with some of his former co-workers at the Paragon Times.

On Champions Earth, Gravatar was a member of the Forces of Nature (Undertow, Earthmover, Windshear, Sunscorch and the team leader Plasmus) in good standing, until their untimely demise at the hands of the supervillainess Gravitar. He was closely affiliated with the Champions Earth versions of Citizen Thirteen, Starspark and Elycion, working with them via PRIMUS on several high-profile cases. He also left behind fiancé Mason Edelhard, the lycanthropic vigilante Moonsetter, and best friend Lucas Washington, the chain-wielding martial artist and ex-con Chaingang.

Beyond these ties, Gravatar is in good standing within the superhero community of Paragon City, and his reputation has even begun to extend throughout the multiverse as his work with the Portal Corporation has taken him to other worlds and other dimensions.

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QUOTES

"Cape dude. Wears white and blue tights. Floats a lot. Has a great ass." - Mu'Sekhmet

"When I met Gravatar, he was new to this dimension and had no friends or any idea what he was doing. And look at him now! He has a beard." - Firemage Daniel

"Gravatar? Great student. Amazing friend. But still not as cool as me." - Cryomancer Tien

"We've had our ups and down, but he manipulates gravity, so that's to be expected." - Nexus

"Gabe? One hell of a hero and a damn fine man. Paragon's lucky to have him." - Lone Lobo

"After he left my supergroup over... creative differences, we've managed to stay in touch. He is still a dear friend, even though we do not work together that much anymore." - Brett Holt

"He likes beef, not veal." - Farside

"Honestly, I'm proud to call him my friend. He doesn't care too much about what others say about him and is just carefree." - Areus

"Great guy and wonderful friend, always there for you when you need him and has your back no matter what. Just don't piss him off. Piss off a guy with control over gravity and you could find yourself in orbit from a simple flick of the wrist." - Elycion

"Gravatar's wild. I mean, who else do ya know that can go inside a black hole and survive? Always enjoy gettin' to work with him, although he likes to try makin' me as uncomfortable as possible sometimes..." - Citizen Thirteen

"Gravatar is powerful, but then again, so is the sun, and I gotta admit, the sun is a lot more commonplace. The point is, power isn't everything except for the things that aren't matter, which are energy. But Gravatar is what matters, and he's made of matter. Questionable about what the sun is made of, though. Anyway, what's the wordcount--" [MESSAGE LENGTH EXCEEDED] - Hugs

"In a difficult time, he was the only spark of joy I had in my day for a while. I truly love him like a brother. He is definitely a refreshing cup of tea on a rainy morning." - Midnight Lark

"He is one bad bitch. I'll **** you up if you hurt him. Like seriously, I'll punch you in the throat, and then I'll punch you in the ****." - Starspark

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