Orion Sharkfin
Water Blast
Advanced Targeting Hud (Scanner Provided)
Enhanced sense of smell
From the Character Pilot: Orion Sharkfin, or Cassie, is pretty much an experiment of a character that I just ended up loving way too much and a test on what I could achieve attempting to create as close to a shark-anthro character as possible given the limitations of the game's character creator. The whole concept around this character is not too different from my other characters that are shark-themed--it is an attempt to adapt my shark anthro characters in this game, giving them basic backstories that involved some accident that caused a genetic and physical mutation, and from there they gained their various different powers.
Borrowing a concept from a beloved Virtue player-character, Orion has her own elevator pitch--described as the presentation of an idea in a summarized fashion that could be shared in the amount of time it takes to ride an elevator. For Orion: imagine if a younger Aquaman hung out with Rick Sanchez and performed the same experiment that made Barry Allen become the Flash.
Background
BackgroundCassie Brennar was a quick-witted, bright student of Paragon University that earned her degree in Marine Biology with honors. She joined a global conservation effort protecting sharks in their natural habitat along with a few friends after college and once she got back home to Paragon City she began a short but largely lucrative career in internet streaming. As part of a side-hobby, she worked as an apprentice to a man many would consider to be considered a mad scientist who specialized in gene splicing. Despite knowing better, Cassie had taken one night to learn the intricacies of his experiments. Forgetting that she was also carrying a collection of shark skin samples for one of her research projects, when one of the experiments went haywire it caused a catastrophic explosion with her trapped inside. She wasn't found in the rescue efforts so it was largely assumed that she had perished in the accident.
A few months later, she reappeared in Paragon City completely changed, helping a group of heroes overcome a terrifying sea monster in Independence Port. It seemed that her whole appearance had physically mutated, and she had gained the power to harness and manipulate water as well as control over marine life. She had officially taken under her online moniker as her name.
The story of what actually happened that night of the accident is, naturally, far more complicated.
Cassie had always felt as though she were a stranger in her own body. She was born male, named Patrick, and when she gathered up the courage and became old enough to truly express how she felt, to her shock her parents supported her every step of the way. She underwent her transition at the age of 17 with their support, and became Cassie. This was just in time for her to leave home for college, and she had a great time learning things about the world and being around extraordinary beings. After she graduated she dedicated her life to marine biology and the conservation of sharks, but met an eccentric young man named Diego Kraz--who was studying meta biology at Paragon University. When Cassie had heard Diego was pursuing experimentation on gene splicing, she approached him with a request to join and help him as an unpaid intern.
She had an ulterior motive, however--she wanted to utilize Diego's research and findings to try and see if she could splice herself into something different. She wanted to become a meta-human, herself.
After spending enough time learning the intricacies of Diego's experiments, Cassie was finally alone one night for her to attempt to splice genes by herself, but a component failure with one of the machines caused the whole lab to explode with her still in it. With the skin samples she was already experimenting on, Cassie was caught in the blast and thrown into the bay next to the lab. Her body followed the flow of water and she eventually drifted out to sea.
During this time her body was undergoing extreme metabolic and genetic changes. By the time she woke up, she was alone and drifting in the middle of the ocean. She figured she had woken up in a nightmare scenario until she discovered her uncanny ability to swim and breathe underwater for long periods. Not much is known about her time out by herself, but she had received some form of training from some individual that took her in when she traveled to the depths to explore. This allowed her to master her ability to harness water as an element. The rest of her story was as described--she came back to Paragon after several months out at sea and took on her online persona as her superheroic identity.
Appearance
AppearanceWhile Cassie Brennar was formerly Caucasian, the accident seemed to have mutated her physical appearance by fusing her with the DNA within the shark samples she was carrying to an even greater degree than, say, Static Shark--a superhero who was a colleague and who also, coincidentally, was involved in an accident in which their body was mutated to a lesser degree to take on the partial appearance of a shark. Her skin was changed to be more gray and feel almost sandpaper-like to the touch. The biggest, noticeable change of her appearance was the presence of an elongated snout where her nose and mouth used to be, and curling her lips open reveals sharp, razor-like teeth. Beneath her cheeks she possesses a set of gills, which enable her to breathe underwater for extraordinarily long periods of time. Otherwise, her body is humanoid--without there being any otherwise anthropomorphized characteristics, such as there being a lack of animalistic legs or claws.
Personality
PersonalitySome might assume that she would behave like a Coralax due to her appearance, but despite undergoing the physical changes as a result of her mutation Cassie is an otherwise upbeat, carefree, and easygoing person who's oddly sociable and outgoing. While her morality might be questionable when it comes to problem-solving, she does what she does out of compassion for other people. She does, however, tend to get carried away when dealing with people of ill repute--often being brash and upfront.
Powers
PowersOrion has the ability to manipulate and form jets of water out of the natural molecules in the air, amplified if there is a physical water source nearby. Mostly, though, her powers serve for being more on the defense than being offensive. After all, water can slow bullets; and Water has been a natural source for healing and comfort for centuries. Her control and mastery over it allows her to protect and defend her friends, and being able to manipulate it naturally she is able to form her own currents to "swim" through to gain the ability to fly.
Moreover, during her time being missing she had learned how to also command aquatic life to perform tasks to aid her in combat. A telepathic link to sea creatures helps her both on land and at sea. She is able to call forth swarms of spectral sharks to attack her foes, and call up tidal pools that have various dangerous schools of fish within them that could often go into a feeding frenzy.