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Prepare to look into the darkness of your soul. Prepare to stare into the abyss!
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— Himself
One of the twin children of golden age Green Lantern Alan Scott and a disturbed young woman named Rose Canton, who married Alan Scott. Todd and his sister Jennifer were placed in separate orphanages; Todd was adopted by James and Shirley Rice. The marriage fell apart and Todd was left with his drunkard of a father. During his father's drunken stupors, Todd learned to be quiet... and also that he could become -- or control -- shadows. When he was finally free of his drunkard adoptive father, Todd became the vigilante Obsidian.
Personality
Let it be said first that, despite all his problems, Todd IS a good person. He cares enough about his fellow man that he would want to use his powers for the betterment of all. He's just impulsive, and doesn't really know where to focus them. And he often has a different idea of what "betterment of all" is -- like, say... killing someone who's causing problems for others.
"Troubled" is a good way to describe him. He's quiet and doesn't seem to really know how to socialize all that well, and that could lead people to believe he doesn't care. He isn't anti-social, he just doesn't "people" super well. He doesn't say a lot usually, though there are exceptions, and when he does talk, it tends to be in as few words as possible. He also isn't exactly the kind that will go out clubbing a whole lot. He can more or less function in society, but not super-well.
This may be because he also suffers from schizophrenia, either something inherited from his birth parents or as a product of his childhood. At times he may suffer from any of the following: he may have trouble expressing his emotions, he generally speaks little, doesn't usually feel any pressing need to make new friends or keep current friends around him, and sometimes has trouble getting the motivation to do things.
He also has a temper, and is also prone to violent outbursts when that temper flares. While his temper may be something he just has to deal with, the violent outbursts may be learned behavior, and as such could be a habit that can be broken. There is, however, a tremendous amount of rage inside him, and it boils close to the surface at all times.
But it would be incorrect to say that his childhood taught him nothing but bad habits. While he may have learned that dealing with anger always involves violence, he also knows what it feels like to be on the receiving end of that violence. So he's going to make certain not to put anyone on the other end of his violence that he doesn't feel deserves it. Criminals, people who would prey on the innocent -- those kinds of people.
He likely turned to vigilantism partly to help other people and partly because his rage needs a victim. Beating up people that are already reprehensible seems like a good way to get the aggression out. Mind you, he hasn't (and probably won't) consider the consequences of this sort of behavior, whether it's illegal, etc. And he's not likely to let himself think about the fact that those people have families, or that he's so much stronger than they are, particularly in his shadow form. This is a really bad combination.
Add to this that Todd's quite reckless and tends to not think about the consequences of ANY action before deciding on it. He really IS a good guy, and he tries hard to do the right thing, but he is impulsive by nature and tends to just "go with it" if a decision seems like a good idea at the time. Todd's recklessness and penchant for leaping into action first and asking questions later is likely going to get him in serious trouble, even if he's trying to help.
Beyond all that, though, he does have a sense of humor. It's just a rather... dark one, probably understandably so. He's quite snarky, and sometimes his teasing goes too far. He also has a tendency to play small pranks on people. Which is of course dangerous, because he's liable to prank someone who doesn't appreciate it. Thankfully most of his pranks are verbal in nature, such as, after being freed from a dark presence, saying "I'm fine, everything's normal, but I'm not gay anymore. --Just kidding!" Still, he may run across people who don't appreciate his form of humor...
Background
Obsidian is one of the twin sons of Alan Scott and Rose Canton. Rose had multiple personalities, and she had an evil alter ego -- the personality known as "Thorn". After she married Alan Scott she thought Thorn was gone for good, but when the other persona resurfaced, she allowed her husband to think she had died, and then took their twin children -- a boy and a girl -- and placed them in separate orphanages.
While the girl was adopted by a good, stable home, the boy was adopted by James and Shirley Rice, who had been trying to have a child for some time and had been unsuccessful. Shortly after they adopted Todd, they were able to have a child of their own, Jeremy. The burden of caring for two children was more than James could bear, and he turned to alcohol to cope. And when he drank, he became violent. Shirley, Todd, and Jeremy soon learned not to get in his way, and to be quiet when he was in a drunken stupor.
Soon his mother Shirley decided she'd had enough, and filed for divorce. Todd tried to dissuade her, not for his father's sake, but for Jeremy's sake, since he was only four years old. Jeremy needed a father, Todd said, even a horrible one. Shirley saw this as betrayal, as "taking James's side" -- expected, she said, of an adopted child. So when she left, she took Jeremy with her, leaving Todd to the mercy of his drunken adoptive father's abuse.
James continued to drink, and Todd continued to suffer James's drunken fits. During these times when Todd was supposed to be quiet to avoid angering his father, Todd realized he could turn into... basically his own shadow. Whenever he was supposed to be being quiet, Todd practiced with his powers. He could be quiet as a mouse. But none of it helped him escape.
Eventually Todd too had enough, and ran away from his abusive father. He struck out on his own, and decided to use his powers for the greater good. He became the vigilante "Obsidian"!
SKILLS
COMBAT - Novice: Todd hasn't learned a great deal of combat yet. At this moment, he relies mostly on the greater strength and toughness of his shadow form to get the job done while minimizing the damage. However, he knows some basics, and can handle about three opponents in his human form without too terribly much danger to his person.
HAND-EYE COORDINATION - Competent: Todd's hand-eye coordination is such that he can juggle dangerous things with minimal risk to his own personal safety. Mind you, he has no reason to do this, but if he needed to for whatever reason, he could.
MATHEMATICS - Novice: Todd has a head for numbers, and a talent for maths. He is a poorly-educated high school student, though, so he'd better get some tutoring in this before tries to do anything with it.
SPATIAL AWARENESS - Competent: Todd is usually very aware of where all his limbs and extremeties are in physical space, thanks in no small part to his ability to change into a shadow. This means he is able to dodge attacks much better than the average person. Though he still has to be able to move fast enough, and sometimes that isn't possible.
POWERS
DARK STRENGTH - Basic: Todd's shadow powers are stronger where there's a great deal of evil or darker atmosphere -- around necromancers, non-sanctified graveyards, places where lots of death or bad things have happened, etc.). he naturally seeks these places out, not realizing what it is that draws him there.
DARK TELEPATHY - Enhanced: Obsidian does have a form of telepathy, but his takes a much darker slant. Instead of merely hearing surface thoughts, as other telepaths do, Todd can only hear the darker thoughts people have. Additionally, he can "reach out" to those darker thoughts, and attempt to release a person's inner demons, bringing those darker thoughts forward. This usually forces an affected person to battle with their darker thoughts. Weaker-willed individuals may end up at the mercy of their inner demons; stronger-willed individuals may merely find themselves plagued by thoughts of their darker, baser urges. However, he cannot make someone evil -- he cannot force his own darker thoughts onto another. People who are immune to this: those who are devoid of darkness in their hearts (as they have none for him to manipulate), people who people who are totally evil (as they're already at the mercy of their inner demons), or have no sense of morals (as they have no basis for what are "darker" thoughts as opposed to "lighter" thoughts).
POSSESSION - Enhanced: While in his shadow form, Obsidian can "bond" with a person's shadow. In doing this, he can temporarily possess a person. Doing this forces the person's mind into an REM state, and the nearness of the shadowlands stuff to the person's mind puts them in a state of constant nightmares. Todd can only keep possession of a person for 5 minutes at most, and stronger people may be able to force him out faster, or resist his intrusion entirely. If his shadow is forced out of another's shadow prematurely, he becomes disoriented. (This power is subject to OOC consent rules, will never be used without OOC consent.)
SHADOW CONSTRUCTS - Basic: Obsidian has an ability much like a Green Lantern's ability to make energy constructs. But Todd's constructs are made out of the substance of the Shadowlands. He can make simple constructs; however, these constructs can still be quite complicated in design. For instance, he can make melee weapons of fairly intricate design, but he cannot make a car or a clock.
SHADOW FORM - Enhanced: Todd he can turn his body into a shadow (either 2D or 3D). In this form he is stronger and faster than in his human form, can take quite a bit more damage, regenerate damage as long as he's in at least partial darkness (and isn't taking more damage), fly and/or phase through physical objects (not including physical attacks, however), and can change his proportions anywhere between as small as a foot tall, to as large as thirty feet tall. his clothing and anything on his person that is considered "his" makes the change with him, and is absorbed into his shadow form, though he can produce the object later.
SHADOW PORTALS - Enhanced: Todd can travel long distances by opening two portals through the Shadowlands, between two points. He can't do this over and over in quick succession, but as long as he concentrates on it, he can keep the portal open. And as long as the portal is open, he can pull objects or other people through it.
ADVANTAGES
WEAKNESSES
DISTRUSTFUL Todd spends his life haunted by other people's darker thoughts. Because of that, he finds it difficult to trust other people, because he can't ALSO see the good, only the bad.
MENTAL ILLNESS Todd's life hasn't exactly been one great big cuddly fairy story. He was abused by his adoptive father and abandoned by his adoptive mother, to say nothing of harboring feelings of abandonment towards his mother and father. Besides that, he's inherited his mother's schizophrenia, AND he is constantly tormented by the dark, hidden thoughts of the people around him. Thusly, he's prone to bouts of depression, tends to be impulsive and violent when pushed, and finds it difficult to fit into society.
VULNERABLE TO LIGHT Obsidian's shadow form is weak to light, and most of his powers can be weakened or shut off by light. Strong light will disperse his shadow constructs, a bright light shone onto a person will free them from his possession or telepathic intrusions, and he can be weakened and forced back into his human form if surrounded by bright lights. Duly, lasers are incredibly effective against both his constructs and his shadow form, bypassing his toughness and causing damage to either one normally.
