Metaheroes App

[levelshift]

Player —

Player Name: Pan
Pronouns: She/her
Are you over 18? Yes
Contact: cryptophyta, pan#2663 on discord
Current Characters: N/A
Who Invited You?: Timmy

Character —

Character Name: Accelerator
Character Canon: A Certain Magical Index
Character Age: 15
Canon Point: End of the Light Novels OT Volume 13 (the Academy City Invasion arc) shortly after he sends Kihara Amata Team Rocketing off into the stratosphere and gets dragged away to work for Academy City.
Link to History: Chronology CW for child abuse, experimentation, murder, Accelerator chewing on human body parts occasionally.
Inventory:

Calculation assistance device: An electrode that uses electromagnetic telecommunication to convert and transmit Accelerator's brainwaves to the Misaka Network, and subsequently receive the calculations the Sisters perform for him. This makes up for the brain damage he suffered after being shot in the head, allowing him to understand language, and use his motor skills and esper ability. The device has a time limit of 48 hours in normal mode and 15 minutes in esper mode before the battery needs to be charged. A detailed explanation of the device can be found here. In Metaheroes the device will be hooked up to a supercomputer, rather than the Misaka Network.

Cane: A metal cane that he uses to walk while his choker is in normal mode. The top of it has a tonfa design. From his canon point it has no additional upgrades to it, it's just a normal walking cane.

Powers —

Skills:

Intellect: Being the top esper in Academy City automatically means he's the smartest esper, having received the best education Academy City (notable for being thirty years ahead of the rest of the world) can offer. He's excellent at doing extremely high level mathematical calculations, the kind of number crunching normally done by supercomputers, in order for his esper ability to function. in only a few seconds, is shown memorizing, comparing, and analyzing over three hundred and fifty thousand lines of code in the span of a couple of minutes pre-gunshot wound. Post-gunshot wound, he's able to observe and analyse twenty-five thousands kinds of energy found in another esper's ability, and comes up with a way to counter it all. He displays great strategic skills when he takes out a specialty black ops team using only firearms, his environment, and a whole lot of psychological manipulation. He speaks English and Russian.

Accelerator also is shown to be fairly skilled with engineering when, later in canon, he upgrades his cane. He adds a small motor, weight distribution centers and additional mini-legs at the end of it so it better holds his center of gravity and is more stabilized. He also modifies it so it's retractable, and adds equipment that allow it to block certain wavelengths to prevent his calculation assistance device from being jammed by outside sources.

Drug resistance: All individuals who go through Academy City's Curriculum to become an esper are slightly more resistant to normal medical drugs than normal humans (mentioned in Light Novel #4). This is a side effect of the various medical and psychological therapies done on them to unlock their Personal Realities.

Superpowers:

• Esper: Accelerator is a manmade esper: an individual who has undergone various kinds of scientific therapies (drugs, electroshock, etc.) at a young age that causes them to become disillusioned with reality, allowing them to distort and replace that reality with their own version via quantum mathematical calculations. It's an extremely anime take on quantum mechanics and the foundation of an esper's powers, their Personal Reality, boils down to "I reject your reality and replace it with my own." As an esper Accelerator permanently gives off a subtle energy field that's unique to him, referred to as an AIM (An Involuntary Movement) field, that's a byproduct of his Personal Reality.
  
  While Accelerator's power manifests as vector manipulation, the ability to control the vectors and vector space of anything he touches, the nature of it is that of his namesake, the particle accelerator: he has the power to break down and analyze phenomena to answer fundamental questions of the universe. He can also account for matter and phenomena that defy the laws of physics by calculating the vectors in relation to how normal physics doesn't work on said matter, and incorporating those into his personal reality. This only includes magic when its basic properties generally follow the laws of physics. It also lets him sense things that have vectors that aren't normally detected by a person's senses (such as radiation). There are two main aspects of his power, the active and the passive.
  
  • Vector manipulation: The active portion of Accelerator's ability that allows him to manipulate the vector or vector space of anything he touches. He mainly uses his in an offensive fashion, such as altering the vectors of air currents to use himself to fly, altering the vectors of his own body for super speed and strength, and tactile telekinesis. At one point in the novel he borrows the kinetic energy of the Earth's rotation to throw a wall at a building, because he's extra like that. In less offensive tactics Accelerator uses his vector manipulation to completely block soundwaves out, and by 'reading' the vectors of an injured pregnant woman, he's able to discern basic medical information like her heart rate.
    
    Accelerator's ability awakens further during an incident involving magic and an artificial angel, causing him to add new calculations to his personal reality and create black vortex-like 'wings' made from AIM. These wings cause him to no longer requiring touch to control vectors, though he's only able to form them during extreme emotional distress and is currently unable to control them or himself during while they're formed.
  
  
  • Reflection: Accelerator unconsciously blacklists any vectors that can harm him, automatically reflecting them if they touch him. Vectors that he needs to survive, such as oxygen and gravity, are automatically whitelisted. He's able to adjust the vectors on his whitelist and blacklist, such as adding sound to his blacklist to nullify it. He is also able to shut his reflection off like a switch, but it requires a conscious effort on his part. It will also continue working at the bare minimum even while his calculation assistance device is in 'normal' mode (he can't reflect physical contact in normal mode, but he still reflects UV light).
  
  
• Magic sense: After being exposed to magic Accelerator's body physically reacts whenever he's in the immediate vicinity of it. It's very rudimentary and mostly useless since he doesn't know what it is or why it's happening, manifesting as pain in his hands and a pressure in his chest. This one will require opt-in from other players.

Limitations:

• Calculation assistance device: While the device allows Accelerator to once again use his ability, he notes that the calculation powers of the over 10 000 clones is less than half of what his own used to be. In addition to the above time limit, the device is also subject to signal interference, either from tunnels, being underground, or deliberate malfeasance. Though Accelerator's connection to the Misaka Network will be substituted for a supercomputer supplied by the Alliance in-game the same limitations will apply, and the one he starts off with will be even weaker unless he joins the Alliance or Society and gets it upgraded.


• Magic: Due to the medical procedures espers go through, their bodies become, to an extent, incompatible with magic. While they can still cast it there are physical side effects, typically involving sweating, generalized pain, ruptured blood vessels and organ damage. Accelerator can somewhat mitigate the worst of these effects to prevent himself from dying by using his vector manipulation, but using magic is still seriously debilitating for him and not something he could do on a regular basis. In canon he's tricked into casting a spell and it does serious damage.
  
  His reflection doesn't work particularly well when it comes to magic, either. More simplistic spells based on the laws of physics (like the above water summoning) may be redirected in an off-kilter way or dissipate, and complicated magic can cut straight through.


• Physical limits: Having spent nearly his entire life relying on his esper ability, Accelerator's physical state is dire. He isn't very strong or have much stamina on his own, and he has zero fighting skills. The novel describes his attempts as being weak and sloppy with no consideration towards technique (Touma remarks that he doesn't even know how to make a proper fist for a punch). Post-gunshot he now requires a cane for mobility purposes, and any sort of athletics require him using esper mode on his calculation assistance device. If the device runs out of power and he isn't in an extreme enough emotional state to manifest his wings he's screwed, as he loses a lot of his independent mobility and has problems making basic connections in his thought processes.


• Reflection: There are a few big weaknesses to Accelerator's Reflection that are worth noting beyond the time limit.
  
  The first is that it takes him time to do calculations on laws or vectors that aren't known to him. The best example of this being when Kakine took normally harmless vectors of sunlight and used his Dark Matter ability to turn them deadly; because he was introducing unknown laws into the equation the sunlight was not automatically reflected and hurt Accelerator as he needed additional time to account for the new math.
  
  The second is the nature of the Reflection itself, which is essentially just applying a (-) to a vector that hits Accelerator's AIM field to reverse them. A completely mundane researcher who was Accelerator's mentor and developed his ability as a child was able to pull his punches back right before Reflection could account for that change, and because Reflection still read the movement as moving towards instead of away the reverse calculations still went through. This meant the punches would automatically be pulled towards Accelerator and land every time. Basically, as long as you've really REALLY good timing and understand Accelerator's calculation patterns, you can game the system and he can't do shit.


• PTSD: The trauma he's endured throughout his life have left him with several major triggers. The main one is anything to do with Last Order and the Sisters, the clones of Misaka Mikoto that took part in the Level Six Shift experiment. Threatening the living clones, or reminding Accelerator of all the murders he committed, are a great way to through off his psychological instability. The same goes for hurting people he cares about. When both of these occur in canon he experiences severe psychological and physical distress, manifesting in extreme, frenzied violence. Hitting his triggers can cause enough mental instability that he has a hard time doing the calculations he needs for his ability.

Personality —

At the beginning of the series, Accelerator's personality is vicious and rotten, modeled after his mentor and the researcher who unlocked his esper powers, Kihara Amata. He even mimics Kihara's manner of speaking, with heavy verbal tics in the form of constant profanity and tongue clicking. This is something he developed out of necessity, having spent most of his life either feared or hated, despite being a child. After being worn down by constant attacks and assassinations, and endless experiments by morally sketchy scientists he decided that if people wanted to think he's a scary monster, then fine, he'll be that monster. He acts like a crazed lunatic who gets off on violence, and has been at it for so long that part of him enjoys the release.

He isn't completely heartless, though. Despite taking part in an experiment that involves murdering 20 000 clones of Misaka Mikoto and being told that said clones are merely programmed dolls, Accelerator does make attempts (in his own socially awkward way) to reach out to them. He figures that if even one of them can tell him that she doesn't want to fight that will prove they are, in fact, human. However, due to their brainwashing this doesn't happen, and gradually over time Accelerator's attempts shift from conversations to him falling into more monstrous verbal abuse and taunts.

His behaviour changes after the realization that the clones are human. He's left with an existential crisis and during it, he is, for the first time in his life, given the chance to protect someone instead of destroy and murder. Despites being scum he tries to protect one of the clones, Last Order, even facing his own mortality and sacrificing his wellbeing for her. This sets him on the path of redemption, along with an intense amount of guilt and self-loathing. For a short period of time he makes attempts to be better and live normally, having attachments to other people for the first time in his life. In these less violent situations he comes across as indifferent and hostile, even when good will is extended to him. He'll often act rude or gruff in response because it scares him, and he doesn't feel he deserves it.

In Accelerator's mind, people are either heroes, villains, or innocents, epitomized by Touma, the clones, and himself. After being defeated by Touma to protect the clones, he idolizes the other boy, considering him to be the hero that he himself can never be. With the clones he puts them on a pedestal, and despite believing he has an endless debt to them he can never repay, he vows to protect them so they can walk in the light and have normal lives free of the kind of suffering he once inflicted on them. And after backsliding heavily back into violence and torture during Last Order's kidnapping he grows resigned about his own life, so disgusted with himself that he decides to continue being a villain, dirtying his hands to keep the people he cares about safe.

He shows signs of depression and suffers from PTSD due to his childhood and the clone experiment. He has few hobbies, mainly reading, drinking coffee and sleeping for long periods of time. This aspect of his mental state improves slightly when he acquires some found family, gradually opening up bit by bit and trusting them. He still has massive problems understanding and acknowledging bonding with and trusting other people, but he's making progress, and has come a long way since the Level Six Shift experiment.

Gameplay —

Areas of Interest / Brainstorming: I'm very interested in having Accelerator's very black and white views regarding heroism and villainy, particularly by building his reputation up as the monster that he thinks he is and then exploring it via his cr. It would also be interesting to continue exploring his capacity for violence and destruction by exploring villainy in this setting, as well as heroism and that you don't need to be some kind of big hero to do good.

He could also use some found family! He needs some adult figures in his life who can guide his development (for better or worse), and teens his own age as he's never had friends before. Both would really help out his depression and PTSD.
Samples: TDM top level, TFLN

Comments

Canon Update

[levelshift]

Canon/Powers Updates —

Character Name: Accelerator
Canon: A Certain Magical Index
Old Canon Point / Power Set: End of the Light Novels OT Volume 13 (the Academy City Invasion arc) shortly after he sends Kihara Amata Team Rocketing off into the stratosphere and gets dragged away to work for Academy City.
New Canon Point / Power Set:

End of Light Novels OT Volume 19, after Accelerator's fight with Aiwass but before he goes back to Yomikawa's, grabs Last Order, and stows away aboard a train to Russia.

Significant events:

Work with GROUP
After saving Last Order from Kihara and Hound Dog, Accelerator is forcibly recruited by the underworld and higher-ups of Academy City and becomes a field based operative, working with one other esper, a magician, and a magician/esper hybrid doing shady jobs to make sure the city's status quo is maintained. This includes killing the head of a delinquent gang that had planned to damage the city via a gap in its security measure, gathering intel on terrorists and other organizations that want to destabilize the city, and fighting other underworld groups (namely SCHOOL, ITEM and MEMBER, leading to his fight with Kakine). At one point Accelerator is sent to the French city of Avignon as part of Academy City's clean-up operation following a powerful magic user causing tension between the city and the Roman Catholic Church to boil over.

Accelerator's time with GROUP gives him more insight into Academy City's underworld, its politics, and the shady things the board of directors are getting up to. He gains slightly more experience with magic thanks to two of GROUP's members, and learns that espers cannot cast magic without suffering physical harm due to an unknown kind of rejection. He also learns that the head of Academy City, Aleister Crowley, is secretly surveilling everything going on in the city via an airborne nanomachine network called UNDER_LINE. GROUP's investigation into the board of directors leads to the fight with Aiwass.

Fight with the 2nd ranked Level 2, Kakine Teitoku
Accelerator's fight with the second strongest esper after Kakine hunts him down in an attempt to kill him and replace him as the strongest esper, and thus the most important piece of the Board Chairman, Aleister Crowley's, ultimate plan. Accelerator interacts with another Level 5, and learns how to calculate for scientific-ish powers that follow laws that are unknown to him.

Kakine threatens two people important to Accelerator, Last Order and Yomikawa, and in the latter's case heavily injures her which causes Accelerator to have a breakdown due to being unable to protect her. Out of control, Accelerator begins destroying the area with his black wings, with AC's law enforcement firing on him (a reflection of an incident that happened to him as a small child). Last Order cements herself as the most important person to him by being able to calm him down and make him stop rampaging.

As far as Accelerator is aware, he's murdered Kakine via remote manipulation of vectors using his black wings.

Fight with the angelic being, Aiwass
GROUP also digs down into more shady shit Crowley is working on, the big one being DRAGON AKA the summoning on the mysterious angel/superbeing (and Crowley's mentor) called Aiwass. Accelerator learns directly from Aiwass that the angel incident with Last Order and Kihara was something of a trial run to forcibly summon it to that physical plane, and that bigger (more magical) things are going on in the world. Aiwass warns Accelerator that Last Order may die due to the strain, and to go to Russia to seek a solution. Accelerator tries to fight it using his black wings but gets curbstomped by Aiwass' higher level platinum wings.

Power set:
Skill-wise, he now has more experience in using handguns.

Not a super power, but Accelerator gains new knowledge and experience that allows him to make his current powerset more versatile. Aiwass' attack inputted information for the vectors for magic into Accelerator's brain, which provides the beginnings of a mathematical model from which he can start building calculations using imaginary numbers to eventually adapt his ability to magic. Something similar happens with his fight with Kakine, though that covers non-magical abilities that follow physical(ish) laws rather than magic.

Basically, he still needs to observe and experience magic and non-magical power that exists outside his universe in order to adapt to them, but the canon update gives him the foundational knowledge to begin that journey.
Source: Physical sync. Could be as a result of the ongoing Arcadia plot or recent Confluence, I'm flexible.