CHROMATIC

Created by M'liss Garber 

Real Name: Cynthia "Cynthi" Greene

Aliases: None

Identity: Secret

Occupation: Copy editor

Citizenship: U.S.

Place of Birth: Clifton, New Jersey

Known Relatives: Parents, one sister, one brother; assorted other people who either are kin (by blood or marriage) or might as well be, they've known the family so long

Group Affiliation: F.L.A.S.H.

Education: B.A. in English

Catch Phrase: Seeing is deceiving.

Height: 5'6"

Weight: 160 lbs.

Eyes: Grey

Hair: Brown with (artificial) blonde highlights

History:

Cynthi was born just in time to watch the broadcast of the first moon landing, which she jokingly blames for her lifelong geekitude. The first few decades of her life were pretty ordinary. She lived in Clifton through high school and then in nearby cities for the next decade while she finished her degree. No New York publisher would open its doors for her, but finally she found one in Orlando that would, so she moved south.

Once there, she found herself a new RPG group to play in. As time went on, she grew close to one of the other players: Martin Stuart, who everyone called Jink. Jink was some kind of consultant for a tech firm; Cynthi didn't really know all the details, but then half the group--including herself--didn't talk much about their jobs, so she didn't think anything of it. Cynthi and Jink started going to movies and local conventions even without the rest of the group, though neither of them was quite ready to call it "dating".

On one of their convention trips, while Jink was busy gaming, Cynthi decided to check out a demo of new VR technology. She and about fifty other people went into the booth, settled into dentist-type chairs, put on the helmets, and waited.

Later that afternoon, about fifty corpses were hauled out of the booth. By that time, the people running the demo were long gone, and their credentials turned out to be fake; no one yet knows who was behind it.

Cynthi woke alone that evening after hours, curled up on the convention hall floor, having apparently rolled off her chair and out of the booth. She found a security guard; she was questioned by the police and told them what she remembered about the demo, which wasn't much beyond light and pain; and she was examined by doctors, who could find no sign of the neural damage that had caused fatal seizures in the other attendees. Baffled, they sent her home.

Jink wasn't satisfied. He insisted on doing his own examination in the lab, which turned out to be in the offices of the tech giant Stuart Enterprises--and he was the company's heart, soul, and especially mind. He tested Cynthi with equipment no ordinary doctor would have, and discovered all sorts of abnormal synaptic connections in the part of the brain that controlled the olfactory sense.

Which explained everything, because Cynthi had never in her life been able to smell. The neural rewrite that had killed everyone else had, in Cynthi, found a blank slate to write on.

But even Jink couldn't figure out what effect the new pathways might have. Reluctantly, at her insistence, he agreed to wait and see. They found out much sooner than expected: as Jink was driving Cynthi home, he could hear the song that was playing in her mind. Back to the lab they went. They quickly established that Cynthi could now make sound and light illusions, and with Jink's focused testing, they figured out her other powers as well. At first she wanted to stay hidden, and she still hasn't revealed her identity or told the doctors what Jink discovered, but eventually circumstances drove her into heroing. What those circumstances were she's keeping to herself, for now.

Cynthi is still very new to the hero scene. She's taken the name Chromatic, for the colors of her light and for the chromatic scale in music.

Powers / Equipment:

Chromatic controls light and sound. Her main power is illusions, making people (and devices) see and hear things that aren't there. She can create a brilliant flash and/or thunderous boom, which she can direct precisely at one or more targets, and which is likely to stun any ordinary person. She is also learning to "pack" photons together to make simple physical constructs, including a bowl that she can sit in to fly; but aside from the bowl, which she's practiced a lot, this aspect of her power is still sloppy and imprecise, and she tries to avoid using it.

Weaknesses:

Chromatic was born with no sense of smell. It saved her life when her neurons were rewritten, but it can be a real handicap in some situations. ("Is there a gas leak in the building?"  "Um . . .") She lacks a leader's confidence, and a sharp villain can use that lack against her. Physically she's just an ordinary, nearsighted, out-of-shape human. Ever since she gained her powers she's been prone to migraines, which range from mild pressure to near-incoherence coupled with an intolerable sensitivity to light.

Creator (Real Life) Info:

Cynthi's life is based on mine but is not an exact match. For instance, I really am a copy editor in Mouse Land, really do get migraines, and really don't have a sense of smell. On the other hand, in real life those last two facts aren't related (as far as I know), and I met and married my husband while still living in Jersey. Graeme (who I did meet in a game) is the creator of Jink but, while plenty intelligent, is no scary-smart whiz-bang inventor. Basically, what's true of Chromatic or Jink may or may not be true of M'liss or Graeme.

Character Rights:

The creator of this character retains all rights to the character's name, image, likeness, costume design, and background story.