Tiergan Cassidy
"Don't feel bad, the game was rigged from the start."
Cape Alias: Godhand
Age: 26
Sex: Male
Alignment: Hero
Appearance: At first glance, Tiergan looks extremely average. A height of 5'9, moderately-tanned Caucasian skin, messy black hair and brown eyes all help to make him look like a fairly normal - if scruffy - young man. His hear spreads out from his head willy-nilly in whatever direction an inch or two before falling back flat against him, a slightly beakish Roman nose sticks unobtrusively from his face, and plain lips and a strong chin are always either dusted with scruff or the beginnings of a full beard thanks to a hatred of shaving. Tiergan's build is fairly muscular but flexible above all else.
Tiergan's style of street dress doesn't stand out all that much, but it certainly can't be called normal either. He most often wears dark-colored (preferably black) tank tops or sleeveless sweaters under one of several thick dark-colored sweaters up top. Down below he usually wears baggy cargo pants the same shade of gray as his coat and fitted black boots.
Godhand's costume isn't all that different from how Tiergan normally dresses, except for replacing his usual sweaters with a dark gray overcoat covering up a reinforced ballistic vest and filled with many extra inner pockets. He also dons a ruby red cabbie hat that he's very overprotective of and a very durable, non-conductive and heat-retardant pair of fingerless gloves. Tiergan doesn't exactly have a very standout face, but for anonymity's sake, he wears a thin black mask shaped like an open hand, with the palm covering his mouth and his eyes peeking out from gaps between the fingers.
Personality: Though in his earlier youth Tiergan was bookish, meek and friendly, his experiences have drastically grumpified him. Most days Tiergan is prickly, quick to be annoyed and verbally judgemental of the situations and people he encounters, but usually not directly hostile. Tiergan is a very practical and always willing to work with others if it's the best and most logical option, he's quite good at it too, however much he may gripe. He is never directly disrespectful to someone with direct authority over him unless he's thoroughly convinced they don't deserve any of that authority and is quick to defend those he believes are being treated unfairly despite his own harshness towards what constitutes as "fair". His sense of humor is quite dark, and most of the time when he smiles it's either because he finds something ironic, or because he's feeling proud of himself. He also grows very uncomfortable whenever he feels like someone is watching or staring at his hands.
Tiergan is extremely observant of his surroundings to the point of seeming slightly paranoid at times, always trying to plan for how to take down anyone around him were they to attack him then and there, or how to use them towards his goals and morals if he can. This is all in an attempt to make up for what he considers a weak and difficult to properly utilize power, and an unpredictable world. His willingness to manipulate others does not often bleed into what many would call sociopathic and is usually a simple matter of perceived practicality still governed by moral reasoning.
Despite his frequent unfriendliness, Tiergan is open to positive interaction if he feels he's being treated respectfully by someone worthy of his own respect. He also has a strange obsession with always "paying his dues". Tiergan waves off trivial matters, but always considers any truly significant assistance as a debt that he must absolutely repay if he is able to, unless he has already done something for the person he sees as equivalent to that debt. He also has a great fondness for many household chores, especially cooking, and is always either trying to keep his hands busy or hiding them.
Power: Deus Digitus "
The God Finger"
Tiergan's fingers are completely, absolutely indestructible, unharmable, never break amd just plain tough. They cannot be harmed in any way shape or form, and even absorb all - or at least most - of the kinetic energy from even the most powerful of impacts, making them very effective at blocking attacks even if they *should* be able to shatter the rest of his body all at once.
As an apparent side-effect to his power, after Tiergan's trigger event the chronic hand tremors he'd had his whole life seemed to grow significantly worse. His hands shake strongly whenever he isn't either completely relaxed, or concentrating very hard, rendering him inept at marksmanship and leading to many dropped and broken objects.
History and Trigger Event: Tiergan spent almost his entire early life being brought from one place to another on his father's travels as a baby, then left to take care of himself in various rundown apartments while he awaited said father's return as a young child, then once again dragged along on dear old papa's escapades when he was old enough to vaguely understand the goings-on. Tiergan's father was a small time villain with a strangely notorious reputation known as "The Hand of Fate" who made his infamy and fortune gambling. His father's power allowed him to manipulate the space and time of small objects in ways that he never ended up explaining to anybody, and of all things he used his power to nearly constantly cheat people out of their money.
The Hand of Fate was neither a sentimental man, nor a fatherly one, but he was most certainly an arrogant one. It was believed by every opponent who met the gambler - as well as his own son - that Tiergan was only brought along on his adventures as potential collateral if he were to actually start losing somehow. The boy had been plagued by chronic hand tremors for as long as he could remember and was, therefore, useless in nearly all games of chance aside from an impregnable poker face. As everybody knows, no man's good luck can last forever, even when he's making his own.
One day Tiergan's father conned the wrong men out of their money, and even if they couldn't prove it, they knew. Before long a meeting was set up and a game declared by the victims of his thievery: La Fenice. If the Hand of Fate could win a few rounds of a simple poker match against the group's best player he'd be forgiven his transgressions and even allowed to keep his previous winnings, if he lost, his life was forfeit. Sadly a problem the Hand of Fate could never have possibly foreseen decided to step in the way of fate itself.
Tiergan's Father truly was unstoppable in games of chance, and though La Fenice brought their best man to the table all their attempts were for naught...until they brought out the teary-eyed young boy he recognized as his only son. It was explained to the Hand of Fate that he'd won their contest fairly and was free to go. But a message had to be sent to make sure he wouldn't go right back to his old tricks, and they'd never promised his son would be free to go. Then and there George Cassidy was held down and forced to watch as the Fenician himself broke every single one of his son's fingers at every single joint, snapping some of them so far that his knuckles popped out of their sockets. It was clear that whatever his actions, the man really did harbor some love for his son, the anguish on his face and in his voice as he watched Tiergan tortured said all La Fenice needed to know.
One brief moment of relief was brought to the Hand of Fate at the exact moment Tiergan's right pinky was crushed, before all their very eyes the boy's fingers all snapped back into place in an instant, and even his pain disappeared. Tiergan's howls of suffering were suddenly cut off to be replaced with utter confusion as all assembled marveled at his hands, perfectly intact aside from obvious white scars on each joint and knuckle. The relief was short-lived, however. The boy had clearly been triggered by the torture, and they would need to make up for the undone damage with a new lesson. George could no longer take any more and made his very last deal: His life for his son's release. La Fenice were not eager to kill any capes if they could avoid it, but having a genuine offer was another matter.
Blackness overtook Tiergan before he knew what hit him, and he awoke outside an orphanage for children who'd been triggered. Tiergan never saw his father again, but he never forgot or forgave him. The orphanage had a good relationship with the Protectorate, and offered opportunities for wardship. The idea of being a hero repulsed the boy, but it was the only way he could think of to make up for his father's wasted, corrupt life in his own mind, and the only hope for him to repay La Fenice the debt he owed them. Tiergan refused all attempts to adopt him in favor of staying at the orphanage to train where he could be around other children with abilities like his own until he was old enough to enroll at a Ward boarding school. With wit, training, and pure persistence, Tiergan eventually made it through his stint as a Warde and become a full-fledged hero in the PRT's employ.
