Name: William Cooper
Codename: Sandstorm
Age: 27
Date of Birth: August 15th, 1986
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 178lbs.
Hair Color: Light Brown
Eye Color: Brown
Place of Origin: Henderson, Nevada
Nationality/Race:Caucasian American
Classification/Origin of Powers: Mutant
Status: Refugee/Resident
Occupation:On-Site Contractor (Former)
Personality Profile: Like the sand that he controls, William is rough, abrasive, and prone to getting under people’s skin. At his core, he’s a decent enough guy, but his habit of brashly voicing his opinions, no matter how ill-thought, and general boisterousness, can make him difficult to get along with at times. Despite his rough demeanor, and his propensity for making jokes at others’ expense, he’s quick to come to the defense of anyone he feels has earned his respect.
Physical Description: William is a tall, burly man with his light brown hair kept very tightly cropped, almost shaved. He almost always seems to have a tan, either as a result of his mutation, or from his years spent working in the sun on construction sites.
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Powerset: Terrakinesis – Sand
Ability One: Sand Control – William can control sand in a limited area around his body (approximately 150 ft.). His control of sand particles is very precise, allowing him to shape, direct, and manipulate it into most any form he chooses. Typically, he uses this ability to create striking objects, or ‘sandblast’ style torrents of sand particles.
Ability Two: Sand Form – William can change his body into one composed entirely of sand, granting him great flexibility and durability, and limited shapeshifting.
Ability Three: Sand Travel – In sand form, William can merge with sand, dirt, or loose earth to travel quickly from place to place.
Drawbacks & Weaknesses: William’s sand control ability is limited by his line of sight. He has to be able to see what he’s controlling in order to control it. He cannot control anything other than very small particles of sand, earth and dirt, and any damp earth requires much greater concentration and exertion for him to manipulate. Earth or sand that is too inundated with moisture cannot be manipulated at all. In his sand form, William is very resistant to conventional injury, but extremely vulnerable to both water and heat intense enough to cause vitrification. If dispersed in sand form, he will not be killed, however this causes him great pain and distress, and he requires time to recompose his body before being able to return to his normal form. When using his sand travel ability, William cannot travel a distance of more than 500 meters before tiring. His speed is greatly reduced if traveling through any damp earth, such as soil. Again, if sand or soil is too wet, he is unable to travel through it at all.
Projected Power Growth & Development: Eventually, William should be able to extend the range of his sand control ability, and be able to better deal with moisture when controlling sand particles. He may also be able to perform more complex manipulations of sand, such as hardening parts of his sand form to create armored plates.
Skills: William is a very capable handyman, good with tools, and fixing things. He is licensed to operate most heavy construction equipment, and is proficient in their use. He is bilingual, fluent in both English and Spanish.
Background: William grew up the youngest of three brothers in a lower-middle class neighborhood. His family life was strained, and when he was eight years old, his parents divorced. He and his brothers, Roger and Daniel, lived with his mother in Henderson after the divorce, having little to no contact with their father for years at a time.
The divorce never really settled with William, and as a child, he became prone to acting out and bullying his classmates, frequently being sent to the Principal’s office, and on a few occasions he was suspended under the threat of being expelled. After graduating high school, he simply left home, and started taking on whatever work he could find. His powers had manifested by this point, but he was careful to keep them secret, having already been taught that mutants were something to be hated and feared.
His natural brawn and sense of self-determination made him a good fit for the many construction sites where he worked. He considered the other workers ‘his kind of people’, and got along fairly well with most of them, spending his off hours drinking, playing cards, shooting pool, or hunting with his friends. It was a good life, if not very ambitious.
This came to an end recently, when an out of control bulldozer forced William to come to the aid of one of his co-workers. With extreme effort, he raised a hardened pillar of sand from the ground, knocking the bulldozer off its path and nearly toppling it. However, machine ended up plowing into an almost finished section of the housing development they were building, causing massive damage to the site, but thankfully no loss of life. Still, William knew that he’d revealed himself, and simply disappeared into the sand, rather than face what he assumed would be an angry mob.
After spending a few months wandering in and out of the Mojave Desert, he met another mutant, like him, that told him of a place in Salem, MA, that was meant to be safe for their kind. With what little belongings he had packed in a duffel bag on his back, William bought himself a plane ticket to try and find his place in the world.
Criminal Record:Two counts of drunk and disorderly conduct. One count of assault (charges dropped).
Quirks, Extras, Random Character Facts: William considers himself the foremost aficionado on action movies, and thinks Predator is the greatest movie ever made.