Name: Azubuike (Ahz) Ihejirika
Codename: Warbright
Age: 23
Date of Birth: 01/28/2000
Height: 6’3
Weight: 219 lbs
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Brown
Place of Origin: Maiduguri, Borno State, Nigeria
Nationality/Race: Nigerian, Igbo
Classification/Origin of Powers: Mutant
Status: Trainee/Student
Occupation: Igbo royalty in exile. College Student
Personality Profile: Ahz has a low-key, fiery personality best described as a ‘slow burn’... A quieter, but potentially explosive, variable mood that tends to be long suffering for an unreasonably long amount of time, until it becomes utterly warlike. This is not unusual for some people with pyrokinetic powers. Ahz would rather make a friend, a passing acquaintance, or whatever, than a pile of ashes, but he doesn’t suffer fools or enemies for very long, once the forgiveness threshold is passed.
While technically a scion of a noble Igbo clan (in exile) and household, Ahz is more focused on his status as a mutant, his own personal growth as a person, and the rights of a generally free-thinker, an attitude most unwelcome at home… which is probably why he’s here.
Politically, he is very leftist/socialist with some liberal leanings. He is avidly pro-Mutant, and pro-Mutant rights. He is a quietly antagonistic atheist, perfectly willing to trounce any religion, spirituality, or even whole cultures to stupid to both hold their own water, or (more importantly) to leave him and others alone.
Ahz believes that being a Mutant is like being a member of any other repressed minority, but does not believe or support non-Mutant apologetics or rhetoric. Still, he finds the philosophizing of the issue to be utterly abhorrent, especially when compared to the meat-and-potatoes realities of the situation… In Nigeria, the question is normally academic, depending where one is, with Mutants being accepted publicly (or at least not singled-out), in the more technologically advanced, industrialized urban areas. But leave the cities and things change drastically, with both a Muslim and Pagan prohibition against the ‘witchbreed’, as if being a Mutant was a choice. He found his family’s quiet acceptance of his own publicly avowed Mutant status to be serviceable, but not good enough.
While occasionally snarky, or slow-and-or-melencholic, and usually good-humored and good-natured, once pushed to the point of unleashing, Ahz is generally unforgiving and relentless, until calmed down, or reduced to a moody simmer.
Physical Description: Like many pyrokinetics (ersatz or otherwise), Ahz can be very bad at maintaining such things as a full head of hair, or even his eyebrows, but he does try his best, and will shave off the rest (as seen below) if things get messy.
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General Power Information: Ahz possesses variable uses of Telekinesis, mimicking the bog-standard psychic/psionic suit of abilities (pyrokinesis, telepathic abilities, and psychokinesis) in that order of descending power. Luckily, however, his powers were seen as beneficial by his family, when they began to manifest at the age of 13. Thus, Ahz is fairly well-trained and self-practiced in his powers, compared to most Mutants his age, most of whom have had to hide their abilities.
-Thermokinesis: Ahz can telekinetically manipulate ambient gaseous molecules, exciting them to high temperatures (hot enough to melt iron and severely warp steel), and even reaching their flash-point with extended concentration (in other words, heated areas-of-effect, or more directly, heat-beams). He can otherwise calm heated gasses, liquids, and solid surfaces to ambient room temperature – but no further, at this time. With that in mind, he instinctively regulates his immediate temperature to prevent himself from being burned by heat or by fire, with some notable side-effects for doing so. The Area-of-effect version of his power is notable by the violent warping and rippling of the gas/air as the heat moves to the target, or, if by heat beams, by becoming so excited that the line of the beam becomes visibly vermillion-orange.
-Psychokinetic-Telepathy: Ahz is not a true telepath. He cannot, using the power of his whim and will to affect or read the minds of others. This is an academic distinction, because what he can do, is finely notice or manipulate cerebral chemistry to either ‘read’ minds, or to chemically alter/stimulate a few limited mental states. These are chemical calmness (a sort of stun-locked stasis), excitement (the rush: a state of elevated mental activity, with no control of the peoples’ emotional state), or simply sleep (temporarily knocking people out). These effective manipulations are not invisible. When targeting people, Ahz generates an approaching light-beam that requires direct line-of-sight. Once hit, the people in question are wreathed in brightly illuminated ‘heat-disturbance-like’ ripples – though, once hit, the mental-state can be maintained for an hour, at a distance of up 300 yards.
-Telekinesis: Ahz, at his most basic level of fine-to-gross telekinesis, can manipulate 500 lbs of weight at up to 500 Pounds-per-square-inch of pressure. This generates visible gaseous pressure-waves as a result, but is generally as fast-as-thought in effect, enabling him to create barriers, and deflect up to medium-caliber bullets, and explosions. He can cushion falls, and simultaneously float-fly at a rough 75mph (120 kph). He is otherwise limited to only affecting people and targets that he can visibly perceive, at this time.
Drawbacks & Weaknesses:
-Collateral Damage - Flames: Ahz can, with effort, agitate the molecules in ambient gasses to their flash-point – the point wherein they burst into flames. But aside from an ability to roughly calm the agitated molecules afterwards, Ahz cannot actually CONTROL those flames, once unleashed. Consequently, he must be very careful of setting things ablaze, unwittingly, as well as such factors as oxygen consumption, and smoke-inhalation when he does.
-Electricity/Lightning Magnet: Ahz has an unfortunate side-effect wherein his telekinesis and thermokinesis (but fortunately not his psychokinetic-telepathy) are concerned. His agitation of ambient gasses tends to excite (indeed almost -annoy-) the electrons involved in molecular bonds… creating an easy channel for electricity to flow to him or his targets. He gets shocked or struck by lightning repeatedly. A LOT. It should be noticed that while he is able to prevent his own death and/or electricity burns from such, he has no protection from the other side-effects of severe electrical shock, and may spend a great deal of time unconscious, if a lot of ambient electrical charges, or a lightning storm is around.
-Familial Drama: Ahz is the last living son of his family line, and thus is supposed to live up to a certain degree of behavior, attend certain civil/military/religious services as a dutiful family member, as well as certain familial duties (aka: get married and have babies). He has no interest in any of these, of course, but is constantly being called and harassed by members of his family (his mother, father, and grandmother, specifically), as well as other more distant members of the official royal line, to do this or that. These favors may (will) be extra-legal, inconvenient, or blatantly wrong.
-Foreigner/Foreign POI: Ahz is (a distant) member of Igbo-Nigerian royalty (in exile). As such, the US State Department knows who he is, where he most likely is, and also has vested (if secretive) interest in whatever it is he might be doing. While they won’t likely interact with Cobalt or its property, they’ll definitely accost Ahz when he’s off campus, to have repeated words with him. And to -also- ask him probing questions or for favors, etc, just like his close and extended family.
-Obvious - Aerial/Gaseous Vibrations: Ahz has yet to master his powers to make them silent, specifically his Thermokinesis and Telekinetic Flight. When in use, these powers also tend to make an… unfortunate vibratory noise, usually centered on either the target of his powers, as well as on himself when the powers either center on him (such as flight). For example, consider: it’s all well and good to zip along at 75mph, however it is sort of embarrassing to do so with a loud rippling/ripping noise in one’s wake.
-Obvious - Bloody Obvious: Ahz suffers from the quintessential telepathic nose/ear-bleeding problem when he exerts his psychokinetic telepathy on more than three people at once. If he continues to do so for over-long, he suffers exhaustion and eventually drops unconscious from blood-loss.
-Obvious - Overheated: Ahz has a natural body temperature 10-15 degrees hotter than the average person, normally. When he exerts himself by using his powers (specifically, but not limited to, his thermokinesis), his temperature spikes another 20 degrees. This is relatively harmless to him, but it does mark him as obviously abnormal by thermometers, thermological scanners, and the like. It also makes it well-nigh impossible for him to shake heat-seeking anything, such as missiles, when in flight.
-Obvious - Visibly Obvious: Ahz has no ‘invisible’ powers. All of them are fairly visually obvious, when in use, with only a few vaguely difficult to detect, should he use them in situations of poor visibility or darkness. This is compounded by the fact that most of his powers require direct line-of-sight to be of any use.
-Psychological - Bipolar Disorder: Ahz suffers from Bipolar disorder. Bipolar disorder, previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of depression and periods of abnormally elevated mood that each last from days to weeks. Some days Ahz blows hot, and other days he’s moody and depressed. He takes medication for this to keep him on a mostly even keel. His Parents and family know about this disorder, and frequently give him a degree of grief over it.
Skills:
-Computer Science: Ahz is studying this as a Minor-to-Bachelor's level degree, but it’s slow going, due to his hectic life, and psychological disorder.
-Dambe: As a youth, before the needs of his duties drew him into the military, and his education, Ahz trained regularly in Dambe, and participated in many competitions… under an assumed name. Ahz is very proficient in Dambe, a ‘hard-style’ martial art of the Hausa people from Nigeria. Competitors in a typical match aim to subdue each other into total submission mostly within three rounds. It often results in serious bodily injury. Boxers are called by the Hausa word "daæmaænga". His actual grade in this martial art is hard to define, as he was not allowed to compete officially, and his family soon learned of what he was doing, and made him quit.
-Krav Maga: Ahz learned Krav Maga while auditing basic training for the Nigerian Air Force. It is an Israeli martial art. Developed for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), it is derived from a combination of techniques used in aikido, judo, karate, boxing, and wrestling. It is known for its focus on real-world situations and its extreme efficiency. Like most martial arts, Krav Maga encourages students to avoid physical confrontation. If this is impossible or unsafe, it promotes finishing a fight as quickly and aggressively as possible. Attacks are aimed at the most vulnerable parts of the body, and training is not limited to techniques that avoid severe injury; some even permanently injure or cause death to the opponent. Ahz was directly encouraged to continue his training in this, by his family, and also as a necessary self-defense tactic, as he is targeted by multiple sources. Ahz continues to practice, even after having left the military, and now has a toe-hold as a beginner in the expert level of the combat-form.
-Molecular Science: Ahz is currently on his way to a Master’s degree level of training on this subject, at Cobalt Hill, and has (with some difficulty) already attained his US Bachelor’s level equivalency.
-Multi-Lingual: Due to Nigeria’s mult-ethnic nature, Ahz is fluent in multiple languages, including English (American, British Received Pronunciation), French, Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, and Naijá (Nigerian pidgin). He knows enough Arabic to either trade with or insult people very, VERY well.
-NAF/NAF Trained: Ahz was… strongly nudged into the Nigerian Air-Force by his older brother, in an effort to ‘toughen’ him up. There he served with some difficulties, thanks to his psychological issues, but also with distinction, though he never rose above the rank of NCO - Aircraftman (he completed Basic, in other words). He did, however, see plenty of combat, unfortunately, thanks to the constant predations of Boko Haram.
Background:
The Ihejirika family is an outlier of Igbo royalty. Long ago, the current line of the Eze (pronounced [ézè]) or “King”, banished this family line out of Igboland, what is now South-Eastern Nigeria, for sins best left imagined rather than discussed. Regardless, they made their home in the North-Eastern state of Borno, in the city of Maiduguri. There they thrived as administrative offices, and traders, benefiting from the wealth and largesse of the family as a whole, but otherwise lacking in political power. Being Igbo, and thus an unheard of an ethnic-minority in Borno State, his family was resented accordingly, by the locals.
Ahz initially had no special place in the family. As the seventh son, he was never expected to do more than ‘look good’, and ‘not make a fuss’. Still, he was trained accordingly for the reigns of rulership, on the off chance that he would be called upon to rule, should some of his older brothers fail to survive to adulthood.
Unfortunately, most of them did not.
Being an ethnic-minority in North Eastern Nigeria, left Ahz’s family open to the predation by Boko Haram, an Islamist militant organization based in northeastern Nigeria, which is also active in Chad, Niger, northern Cameroon, and Mali. While his family tried to otherwise keep a low-profile (where their royal lineage was concerned), and were otherwise not usually on the menu of Boko Haram’s usual targets, someone leaked the pertinent info on individual members, and one by one, five of Ahz’s six brothers died to terrorist action. This pushed him into family prominence, and also into greater stress and danger.
Ahz’s powers manifested in 2010, when terrorists attempted to assassinate him and his twin brother (eldest by seconds, but that still counts!), when they were playing near a downtown marketplace in Maiduguri. They were 13 at the time. His identical twin brother proved that he was first in everything even still, dying in a hail of gunfire, prior vanishing in the fiery blast of a car-bomb (Boko Haram was taking no prisoners, today).
Ahz’s powers manifested as a Boko Haram gunman turned an AK-47 upon him. On instinct, operating at speed, in heated rage and fear, he unleashed telekinetic-heat upon his assailant, and incinerated the man. This happened so quickly that Ahz was able to repeat the effect five more times, stalking his foes through the ruins of the burning marketplace, before the terrorists were able to recognize that their plans had taken a drastic turn for the worse. By the time the police and UN Defense forces had been mustered and arrived, Boko Haram was on the run, though in the confusion of the fray there were few witnesses to say what had happened. It was officially written off as a severely critical equipment failure on the part of the terrorists.
But Ahaz and his family knew better.
Support from his family was technically present, mostly, but otherwise mixed. Nigeria did not have an anti-mutant policy, and the number of publicly known Mutants was rare. Moreover, the various ethnic cultures of Nigeria had mythic room for the ‘idea’ of super-powered beings, with the only caveat being the question of if the person with power was benign or not.
Consequently, when Ahz told his family of what he had done, he received mostly nothing but acceptance from his immediate family, and relations –his Powers became an open secret, amongst them. His parents accepted that he was a mutant, in a mostly positive but distant manner. To them it was a tertiary matter, and more of simply a ‘quirk’ of his personality. They were otherwise utterly neutral on the matter. By comparison, Ahz’s older brother was more concerned and worried, and although at least outwardly supportive. His older brother was clearly focused on whether this Mutant status would hurt the family, as a whole.
Ahz was encouraged to safely practice his abilities, and given space to do so at the family compound, there was also a heavy-handed question that went mostly unanswered: after all, if he could have done all that… Why hadn’t he prevented the death of his twin? Ahz became despondent at that, being riddled with guilt. He dutifully practiced his abilities, and followed the suggestions of his remaining elder siblings, as was the familial norm, particularly the terse and strict requests of the eldest son, his twenty-three year old brother, Ekwueme.
Ahz’s guilt was used as a handle to somewhat control his behavior, and thus he was pushed into alternative educational paths, to see where he might fit into the family plan. He was educated privately, and, as one by one his other brothers were killed off by accident or by successful assassination attempts, he was pushed to succeed in different fields.
For example, as soon as he was of legal age, Ahz was provided with a semi-clandestine background and identity, and volun-told to join the Nigerian Military, as it was seen that this might both round out his education, might also ‘toughen him up,’ as his eldest brother desired, also give the family a picturesque and viable link to the national military.
Ahz joined the Nigerian Air Force, as it had the most Mutant-accepting policy, and served with several other NAF Mutants under the name of ‘Jabari Babatunde’, to the best of his abilities, for as long as he was able, despite his growing and noticeable Bipolar Disorder. He managed to stay in the NAF for several years, and actually saw quite a bit of violence and anti-terrorist operations during that time.
He toed-the-line, and managed to keep from being dishonorably discharged, or court-martialed, through his own efforts, abilities, and training, though his many MANY disciplinary actions kept him from ever rising above the rank of NAF-Aircraftman, despite his years of service. Thus when his second eldest brother died under suspicious circumstances, and he was called home to mourn and to receive new marching-orders from Ekwueme, he was of remarkably low rank, despite being severely well-trained.
Fearing that another assassination attempt might end the royal line, Ekwueme ordered Azubuike to finish up his college education in America, feeling that despite the anti-mutant sentiment in the USA, it would still be a safer alternative than having Ahz be educated abroad anywhere reputable in Africa, or abroad in Europe.
Ahz privately raged against these orders privately, with his older brother, pushing the bounds of familial propriety almost beyond the limits of acceptable behavior, but eventually capitulated, when he was eventually convinced that it was for both his own good, and the good of the family that he do so. And so, with his educational credits and military history carefully documented, he legally immigrated to the US on a Student Visa. There he was accepted and enrolled at Cobalt Hill.
Criminal Record: Ahz does not have a criminal record, per se, but he does have a researchable history that alludes to the five men he turned into human-torches when he was thirteen, and his thirty-two confirmed and sanctioned kills achieved during military actions in Borno State, Nigeria. It is because of this (and this alone, his family’s history and power remains mostly clandestine), that he is wanted by two very notable terrorist groups.
-Wanted - Boko Haram: This militant group of West African Islamic terrorists is still around and viable, despite otherwise being on the run and suffering from rampant infighting. Information of his clandestine time in the NAF was leaked to them, secretly, and now they would leap at any opportunity to kill Ahz if possible. It’s personal, and this makes it very difficult for Ahz to safely return home or form relationships there, simply because Boko Haram still maintains kidnapping and ransoming activities in Nigeria, to this day.
-Wanted - ISIL: Ahz is also on the hit-list of the Islamic State (IS, also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant; ISIL), though this is less of a personal issue for ISIL. He and his family are simply targets of high importance, though his Mutant abilities and professional history does put him higher on the list of Persons of Interest. Their reach is long.
Quirks, Extras, Random Character Facts:
-British Broadcasting Corp (BBC) Addict: Ahz is a heavy consumer of Black Adder, Dr. Who (the new ones starting with Eckelston), Monty Python, and ‘Whose Line Is It Anyway?’. He hasn’t seen them all, and he can’t quote any of this worth beans, most of the time. Which doesn’t mean he won’t snag an excuse to binge watch any of them.
-Clandestine Nigerian Prince in Exile (Spare): Ahz is aware that his very existence can be compared to an ‘old’ scheme and meme, thank you very much. He’s heard it before, and it wasn’t funny the first time.
-Goth-Metal/Heavy Metal/Industrial/Techno Addict: Ahz has an eclectic, but metal-heavy preference for music. His parents and eldest brother hope this is just a phase… but they hope in vain!
-Less Than Adequate Artist: Ahz is a dilettante, a dabbler in the artistic field, and he’s not very good or studied at it. This doesn’t stop him from trying, however, be it painting, pottery, sketching, or stone sculpting. Maybe someday he’ll find his voice, and become good at it.
-Vocal Atheist: Most of Ahz’s family runs the gamut between Christian and Catholic (which was problematic enough in North-Eastern Nigeria, where the predominant religion is Islam), and then Ahz had to go and become a Catholic/Christian Apostate, the very moment he reached the age of adulthood… and vocally so, in public, private, and online. Consequently, this may probably be yet another reason he was shunted to America…