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I am...Zatara. Tonight, you will witness mysteries, you will doubt your senses, perhaps your very sanity. Some among you may call it magic. But only Zatara will know the real...from the unreal.
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— Himself
John Zatara was a master illusionist, famously in the same league as Harry Houdini or Sargon the Sorcerer. Zatara vanished some time before 1950, only to resurface in the 1980s. Some might know that he has a daughter, Zatanna. He has faded into retirement in recent years.
Doctor Fate is the manifestation of Nabu the Wise, a powerful Lord of Order and one of the most mystically potent beings in the universe. Fate serves as a physical avatar for Nabu's power.
Personality
John Zatara is the ultimate showman, a man who held audiences spellbound across generations with his performances as an illusionist. He's also a man of mystery, one of the heroes who has defended the world since around World War II. The man behind the tux is bold, big-hearted, and an enthusiastic lover of life. Old enough now to have had many of his rougher edges smoothed out by time and experience, and coupled with his sensitive and empathic nature, this makes him an excellent teacher. At once a classic gentleman but also in touch with his own emotions, he manages to be old-fashioned while still forward-thinking enough to hold sensibilities suited to even a quite progressive thinker. Touched by Fate, he has become perhaps a bit more wizardly and eccentric thanks to Nabu's influence, but for the most part he has remained entirely true to himself. That same theatricality that makes him so effective on stage also makes him particularly good at playing up the role of the wise, timeless sage, but it also lets him lend a certain inimitable panache to all that he does.
Background
More than ten billion years ago, Nabu the Wise was born as one of the fundamental elemental forces of the universe, the Lords of Order. Long existing in the realm of Cilia, he descended to Earth during the time of ancient Egypt and became entwined in the world of the pharaohs. He was involved in many dealings during these ancient times, but eventually, as the Egyptian dynasty faded, Nabu too vanished from the world. Centuries later, an archaeologist and his son uncovered a temple in the Egyptian desert. There, they encountered the entombed spirit of Nabu, who awakened and claimed the young boy as his avatar.
In the early Twentieth Century, in the United States of America, Giovanni Zatara was mastering the art of stage illusionism, taught from the age of fifteen by his grandfather, Luigi Zatara, who was a legend of the previous century. A born sorcerer of the homo magi, Giovanni used his powers to help others while building his own reputation as one of the world's greatest illusionists. Zatara became one of the World War II era mystery men who formed the group called the Justice Society of America. Zatara joined the JSA on many adventures, even destroying one foe and causing a wash of temporal energies that would thrust various members of the team forward through time and into an uncertain future.
Returned to Earth during the the 1980s, John and his wife, Sindella, conceived a daughter, Zatanna. Sindella vanished afterward, apparently dying, and from that day forth Zatara doted on his daughter. He took her on tour with him and taught him all he knew, and by the year 2000 he was billing her as the main attraction at their shared shows. By 2010, he had almost completely retired from public life.
What few knew is that, around that time, Zatara took part in the fight against a great evil that attacked the Earth. In the course of the fighting, Doctor Fate was greatly injured, requiring him to pass his helmet on to Zatara. For some years, Nabu trained his new host to take up the role. Now, Zatara returns to the world as the mystery man called Doctor Fate.
SKILLS
ATHLETICS - Competent: Thanks largely to the magic of Fate keeping him in his physical prime, John Zatara's body is deceptively athletic and healthy. His reflexes, strength, and other natural traits, even without the Vestments of Fate, are those of a very healthy, reasonably athletic person, despite his appearance of advanced age.
DETECTIVE - Competent: Zatara is not a detective in the same sense as Batman or The Question, but he has a highly capacious mind, strong observation skills, and a number of magical talents and tricks to aid him. He is able to practice sufficient art of deduction to make it in the hero business, though truth be told he is best able to function as an investigator of occult matters as opposed to a mundane detective.
EDUCATION - Competent: While John is ignorant of some recent advances, he still has a classical education that covers most other subjects. When it comes to science, his understanding is fairly hit and miss -- when scientific principles align well with mystic ones, he does quite well. At other times, it evades him. Still, on subjects such as history and culture, Zatara is very well-educated.
ILLUSIONISM - Expert: For decades, Zatara has been able to routinely accomplish illusions that led even perceptive and well-educated people to be unable to discern between cosmic power and mere trickery. His skills include legerdemain, misdirection, escape artistry, and all the other tricks of the trade. A master performer, his ability to captivate audience with nothing but a few carefully prepared props, sleight of hand, and showmanship has granted him legendary status among stage magicians. It would not be at all outlandish for him to claim the title of "the world's greatest illusionist."
MARTIAL ARTS - Competent: A long life of adventuring has led John Zatara to pick up a few useful moves. He is a capable amateur fighter. Though most of the time he relies on his magic instead of physical combat, he is still capable of basic unarmed combat (or wielding various props, such as swords or stage canes) when the need arises.
OCCULT - Expert: While Fate does not have access to every possible spell or recipe known to man, he has nearly peerless knowledge in this realm, and there are few spells known to mankind that he cannot at least find in his library. Once he has the proper instructions and the required ingredients, there is essentially no potion he cannot brew or spell/ritual he cannot cast.
Apart from spells and rituals, he also has extensive knowledge and experience with other mystic phenomena, including otherworldly realms and creatures, spirits, mythical beings, and other such matters. Essentially any sort of mystic creature or phenomenon that has been exposed to any sort of observation or study is quite likely one that he has some working knowledge of.
Without the Helmet, Zatara is undoubtedly one of the foremost experts on the occult in the world, but with the Helmet on, that knowledge is compounded by Nabu's ancient wisdom and experience.
POWERS
AVATAR OF FATE - Plot Device: By wearing the Helmet of Fate, the bearer is transformed into Doctor Fate, gaining all of the knowledge and powers thereof. Various basic attributes are transformed as well, including enhanced strength and intellect, damage resistance, flight and levitation, etc. Perhaps it is most notable that as the Avatar of Nabu, Fate is unaging and effectively immortal unless somehow overwhelmed by a power great enough to separate the human host from Nabu's power. Even if the host is killed, Fate will live on once the Helmet claims a successor.
HOMO MAGI - Enhanced: As one of the homo magi, an ancient line of sorcerers, Zatara enjoys a natural affinity for magic, as well as a modestly more robust physique. Even without the mantle of Fate, Zatara would age somewhat more slowly, have a greater resistance to ailments, and be generally finely attuned to magic. Able to sense the ebbs and flow of magic, as well as beings and creatures of magical natures or strong mystic power, he can also perceive other homo magi and distinguish them from different magic users. As a result of his lineage and sorcerous talent, he is an ideal host for Nabu.
SORCERY - Supreme: Imbued by the power of Nabu with the gift of sorcery and mystic awareness, Fate can accomplish an extensive a variety of effects with his powers. Without the Helmet of Fate, John Zatara is still a capable sorcerer, but his power is reduced. The most high-end effects may not be possible in his human form, and even those that are may require much more complex rituals and take a great deal more time than they would for Fate.
Fate's sorcery includes such effects as shields or wards, physical transformation, healing, teleportation (up to interstellar distances), illusion, invisibility, Astral sense and travel, clairsentience, pre/postcognition, psychometry, magic sense and detection, time travel, energy blasts, eldritch bolts, dimensional travel and manipulation, matter and energy manipulation and transmutation, telekinesis, the ability to summon/bind/banish spirits or creatures, creation of artificial (potentially "animated" constructs), and essentially any other feat that may be accomplished by magic.
However, this will be restrained from everyday use except in ways that are appropriate to player consent, and nothing that would permanently alter anyone will be done without staff approval. Fate does not use his powers wantonly, so he normally restrains himself to using the minimum measure of power in any situation that will effectively accomplish a favorable end. This also means that he frequently works to support others in the field, rather than bringing greater measures of Nabu's power into play and risking upsetting the Balance in some way.
Fate's sorcery is governed heavily by player consent and plot necessity. While his powers are truly vast, the player will strive to use them in a way that facilitates good storytelling on the game instead of using them to dominate scenes or power-game against others. When not wearing the Helmet of Fate, Zatara's magic carries the stipulation that he must speak an incantation backwards. This means, for instance, that he must be free to speak in order to use magic when not wearing the helmet.
ADVANTAGES
AMULET OF ANUBIS The Amulet was originally created by the Egyptian god, Anubis, as a gift to a priest named Khalis. However, when the priest proved immoral, Nabu stripped him of his power and claimed the Amulet as one of the Vestments of Fate. Now its power flows from the Lords of Order, granting greatly expanded perception and a source of mystical energy for the bearer.
Like all vestments of Fate, the Amulet is effectively indestructible.
House of Souls: Contains an extradimensional realm controlled by Nabu. Past hosts may live here, and enemies may be imprisoned here.
Reality Sense: Reveals the underlying patterns of reality, granting the wearer the ability to sense cosmic energies and sense occurrences in alternate realities or other dimensions.
True Sight: See through solid objects, illusions, or concealment to the "true" nature of matter.
Aura Perception: Perceive the physical/mental condition of others within his perceptions, including general power levels, mystic karma or spiritual condition, health, and the "true form" of the individual.
Power Source: The Amulet provides Fate with a nearly inexhaustible well of mystic energy to fuel his powers.
CLOAK OF DESTINY The Cloak of Destiny is one of the Vestments of Fate, appearing on the wearer of the Helm of Nabu. Any of these gifts can be enhanced with the correct ritual in advance, limited only by Fate's powers of sorcery. Notably, the Cloak also renders Fate immune to ill effects based on environment, so he can exist as readily in space or underwater as in the depths of Hell or Limbo without difficulty or harm. Further, the cloak can sustain the wearer even without normal means of sustenance. Like all vestments of Fate, the Cloak is effectively indestructible.
It grants the wearer Enhanced level Strength Invulnerability, and Flight.
HELMET OF FATE The Helmet of Nabu, sometimes called The Helmet of Fate, has been referred to as "the most powerful magical artifact the world has ever known." It may only be worn by those it judges worthy, and all others are rejected (perhaps ignored, perhaps incinerated--it's best not to play with the Helmet). The accepted wearer of the Helmet becomes the avatar of Nabu the Wise of the Lords of Order, taking the form of Doctor Fate and gaining tremendously expanded powers of sorcery and magical knowledge.
HEROIC PAST As Fate benefits from Nabu's wisdom, his knowledge of the past is quite extensive. Beyond this, Zatara's own career as a hero has spanned decades, and he has accrued a vast measure of experience and quite a respectable number of contacts and allies over that time. In particular, Doctor Fate maintains ties to members of the old Justice Society of America, whom he worked with back during World War II as part of the All-Star Squadron.
RESOURCES Money is essentially a trivial consideration for Fate, but he does have fairly extensive personal wealth. In addition, he has an extensive array of various magical tomes, artifacts, and other useful objects that he keeps in the Tower of Fate. The only notable gap in Fate's resources is that he has no specific access to any sophisticated technology.
TOWER OF FATE Doctor Fate's extradimensional sanctuary can be reached from many places, essentially appearing wherever he commands it. Within, it is a virtually impregnable magical fortress that houses a vast array of mystic artifacts and can fully support any needs of those who dwell there. It is a major focus of Fate's power, and he often retreats there to regenerate if he has been drained for any reason. Its most notable limitation is an utter lack of any sophisticated technology, though Fate has been known to receive telephone calls there when he needs to.
WEAKNESSES
BALANCE OF POWER The problem with wielding phenomenal, cosmic power is the lack of wiggle room. In Fate's case, this does not mean "itty bitty living space" so much as the sheer responsibility of the power he carries. His task is to maintain the mystic balance, and his power itself can shift that balance. As a result, Fate must always strive to use the smallest necessary measure of his greater powers, taking pains to avoid upsetting the balance by wielding too much at once. In practical terms, this is a role-play excuse to scale Fate's power to appropriate levels to face whatever threat the scene/plot demands. It also explains inconsistencies or fluctuations in power level, which have been quite common in his canonical depictions, and generally enables him to fit the game's needs without becoming too dominating a force.
INHUMAN PERSPECTIVE Having what amounts to a deity dictating many of one's actions, to say nothing of possessing countless ancient memories and having lived for most of a century as a hybrid man/god-being, does a great deal to disassociate one from normal life. Zatara, the man who wears the mantle of Doctor Fate, once had a mortal life in combination with his duties as Nabu's avatar. He had a career, he had goals and personal pleasures. He has since retired from the stage and given up his former life in order to serve as Fate's host. As a result, it has become often difficult for him to relate to personal, human matters. With his eye constantly on cosmic events and grand doings, Fate is estranged from many of the business of everyday life. In order to retain his humanity, Zatara strives whenever possible to act without donning the mantle of Fate.
MINION OF ORDER It has been famously said that with great power comes great responsibility. This is truer for Fate than most, for with his power comes the direct influence of Nabu the Wise, a Lord of Order and one of the most mystically potent beings in the universe. Zatara, the current Avatar of Nabu who serves as Doctor Fate, is never truly able to make a decision or take any action on his own. Instead, he exists as a middle-man between Nabu and the living world. Zatara has a say in things, but he can be overruled by Nabu at any time. When Nabu feels particularly strongly about something, Zatara may lose control of his body entirely. As a result of this, Fate has become increasingly aligned with a cosmic plan and has far, far less agency in actually making decisions about his own life.
