Spark of Inspiration
Spark of Inspiration is a Robotics/Electrical Affinity/Mu Mastery Mastermind. He is currently a hero.
History
Ricky Zografos was born to Christopher and Cleopatra Zografos. Christopher was a Greek Orthodox priest and Cleopatra was a tailor. Ricky has little memory of his parents, as they disappeared when he was five years old. He was raised by his grandmother Ella Zografos, a librarian and immigrant from Greece. They resided on the Far North Side of Chicago.
Ricky showed an interest in art from a young age. He was known to spend entire days wandering around museums and multiple weeks on art projects of his own. His interests shifted over the years from drawing, to painting, to sculpting. He drew much of his inspiration from ancient Greek art, particularly Cycladic art. His passion for art eventually led him to seek out a career as a professional artist. He went to art school to study sculpture and moved to Paragon City to begin his career. Unfortunately, he was unable to achieve commercial success and struggled through poverty and obscurity.
The incident that put Ricky on his current trajectory in life happened when he was ready to give up on art entirely. He was looking over a nearly finished sculpture and considering his options for the future when he suddenly felt strangely full of energy. Then a violent burst of magic erupted from his body, knocking him out. He regained consciousness long enough to be greeted by a strange, noisy, faceless thing and panic before passing out.
A few days later, Ricky woke up in the hospital and came to the consequences of the incident. The magical burst had destroyed his hands and left eye; his ability to absorb ambient magic was strong enough that he would need instruction to ensure that he wouldn't injure himself again. The strange thing that greeted him was a semi-intelligent golem that he had created himself; the golem wandered around looking for people to help him until the spell animating it wore off. The incident was significant enough that MAGI would have to watch him for months afterward.
While they had Ricky under observation, MAGI compensated him so he could be given prosthetic hands and seek a welding certification and magic training. Ricky eventually found work in a welding shop and set up a decent living for himself. Through the course of his training, Ricky ended up in contact with heroes and ended up inspired to become one himself, determining that it would be a more effective outlet for his creative energies.
Abilities and Equipment
Spark of Inspiration is naturally able to capture ambient magic in his body unconsciously. It's believed that this ability manifested either before he was born or in his early childhood, as it is unlikely that the incident where he first used magic would have been possible without a very large buildup. In order to prevent another incident where he loses control, he constantly vents out small amounts of magic, making him look like he has wings.
His preferred types of magic are animation and electricity manipulation.
He uses his animation magic on his small army of metal golems that he built himself. Each golem contains a complex network of sigils that allow it to act semi-independently and cast its own spells with magic supplied to it.
Personality
Spark of Inspiration is first and foremost a creative person in multiple senses of the word. He is no longer a professional artist, but he still likes to draw and sculpt in his spare time. His creative tenancies are also reflected in the magic he uses, which is generally more focused on building and helping rather than destroying.
Despite being the son of a priest, he is not religious. However, he does retain some tenancies from his Greek Orthodox upbringing. Among other things, he's fond of incense and has a habit of reciting "kyrie eleison."