Character: Lamont Cranston (the Shadow)
Age: Early thirties
Appearance: Around 6"0 feet tall, jet black hair, grey eyes that glow a
fierce emerald in the darkness when he's the Shadow, is slightly broad
shouldered and sleek muscled. Handsome and charming that he turn heads. As
Lamont Cranston he favors semi-formal to formal attire (like business
suits) and is always well-dressed. As the Shadow, he is clad in a buttoned
up black overcoat, a black cape over it, a black slouch hat that shades his
face, and a scarlet scarf that covers his mouth. As his 'dark side', the
one thing that announces his presence is a low chilling mocking laugh that
strikes fear into the hearts even of those who've never known it.
Attitude: As Lamont, he has a magnetic charisma, brought about by his open
ways with friends and associates. A friend in need can turn to him for
anything at all and he'll do all he can to help that person. He is in very
much in the habit of reading people's thoughts to know more about them. He
demands nothing but total obedience from his agents, and they
unquestioningly do his as he bids for the Shadow has saved their lives one
way or another. As the Shadow, he is cold and ruthless, showing little or
no mercy to his enemies. He takes pride in taunting and mocking them
(particularly with his laugh), and if they are particularly weak,
psychologically reduce them to blithering idiots. He is not totally against
the darkness in men's hearts, for he believes in "shadow in the service of
light".
Likes: Hikaru Shidou, meditation, Chinese food, meeting people, making
friends, and taking feeling-invincible villains down a notch
Dislikes: Anyone/thing who crosses him friends or agents, his misdeeds as
the Butcher of Lhasa (haunts him every day of his life),
Anything Else:
The Shadow's History (for those who came in late)
Back in the 1920's, there was a world travelling millionaire playboy named
Lamont Cranston. He was immensely wealthy, powerful, greedy, and just plain
evil. He had a large opium hacienda in Lhasa, Tibet, and even had a small
army under his command. To incite obedience into the people living on his
vast land (or even just to satiate his bloodlust), he would frequently ride
out with his men on terror campaigns and slaughter innocents, enjoying
every moment of it. In this part of the world, he became known as Ying-ko,
the Butcher of Lhasa.
One night at the height of his tyranny, he was kidnapped by a mysterious
band of monks, who spirited him away to a hidden temple. There, he was
convinced (or rather forced) by the temple's master monk to reform for the
sake of his own soul. He would awaken Cranston's innate psychic abilities
and to use his own dark side, his own black shadow to fight for good.
When his training was finished, Cranston went around the world, fighting
evil as the Shadow and gaining himself a network of agents, people whose
lives he had saved and who came from various walks of life. In seven years
time, he eventually returned to his hometown of New York City where most of
his adventures happened. Many a criminal ran down the streets with a
mocking laugh following him and piercing his heart. One of his greatest
adventures was when he stopped Shiwan Khan, last descendant of Genghis Khan
who possessed the same powers as the Shadow himself, from detonating New
York City with an atomic bomb. This was in the 1930's.
Decades passed, and the Shadow was able to prolong his life and his war
against evil by combining prototype cryogenic technology and techniques of
the mind. He is currently up and about in the 90's, though the world knows
him as Lamont Cranston Junior (since people knew quite little about the
famous but reclusive millionaire, no one could have known he actually had
no son, so he used it to his advantage), head of Cranston Industries. Over
the years, agents have come and gone, but he always keeps his networks fresh.
It is now the late 90's, and the Shadow is still very much alive and
fighting the darkness he himself is part of. To the world at large, his
true identity is Lamont Cranston II, son of the famous millionaire (who
everyone thinks died in the 70's) and founder of Cranston Industries. Very
few know of course that these two are one and the same person.
Weapons and special moves:
The Shadow packs a trusty pair of semiautomatic pistols, he has different
kinds of guns stashed in his Sanctum (shotguns, Uzis, etc.) but these two
are his favorite. He also wields the Ying-ko, the sentient dagger that
Shiwan Khan once owned. Over the years it evolved into a Chinese dau sword
making for an excellent close range weapon.
Lamont is an excellent master of disguise: if he sees a face or hears a
voice, its rest assured he can copy it. The Oriental-learned powers of
telepathy, telekinesis, hypnosis, and clouding men's minds are the Shadow's
magic abilities. On Cephiro, his powers will undergo a mysterious increase
in power and give him a few spells of Darkness (not unlike the kind of
magic Zagato and Debonair wielded). These are but three of those new
abilities:
Shadow Lightning- The Shadow launches a streak of black lightning very
similar to one of Debonair's spells
Psychic Shockwave- A crescent arc of mental energy lances out in a slicing
wave
Dark Shield- Defensive spell that surrounds himself and allies