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City of Heroes
Original character based on the CoH world
Last update 5/24/05
by Lorenzo Wang
The Timewelder
Upon the defeat of the Nemesis, the Midnight Squad salvaged much of his headquarters hoping to turn his robot army from instruments of war into a peacekeeping brigade. From the wreckage of the battle, they managed to find an unharmed welding bot in the manufacturing lot. Taking a liking to its neutral programming, they stored many arcane volumes onto its hard-drive and taught their new servant to assist the council.
One of the most powerful wizards of their order, the brooding Pale Horse, took it for his own and gleefully used the golem to educate and record his son Prodigy. As the tomes filled its drive, which was never meant for data capacity, the bot began processing and filtering out information. With the help of its welding hands, it sparked the fires of magical reactions with efficiency, becoming a skilled magician in its own right. It hobbled slowly down its slow path to enlightenment, eventually catching a glimmer of understanding of human acceptance, its own powers, and even self-consciousness.
One cold winter night, Prodigy grew bold with his care-taker. Jealous of the curiosity the bot drew from other superheroes, Prodigy impetuously cast a bolt of thunder at it. Instantly, the bot cycled in and out of life trying to contain the damage but protect its drives. Falling on back-up programming, it struck out at the boy in self-defense. As much as the bot tried, wielding his newfound consciousness, he could not control his actions.
When Pale Horse returned to find his boy murdered, his rage shook Paragon City. The Midnight Squad begged him not to destroy the precious bot and the work they had put into it, promising to reprogram it, but his grief channeled into his anger in inconsolable currents. He lashed out at all around him, reckless and dangerous. In the ensuing confusion, the welder bot escaped using its magic to bypass security, and disappeared into the storm.
For reasons unknown, the welder bot returned just a few years later, willingly submitting itself to loyalty reprogramming. Certain aspects of its memory were erased, and it was forbidden to discuss the death of Pale Horse, who had perished to his own heartbreak and fury not long after the escape. Where it had been those dark years, no technician could discover, but with renewed energy, it set forth to understand the humanity it once served. It would raise its magic welding fire for those who taught it. In time, perhaps it could rid it itself of this strange, irresistible emotion called “guilt.”
In time, it would incorporate into its memory an achievement known as atonement.
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