Post by Victor von Doom on Jun 1, 2012 22:26:35 GMT -5
“My methods are a means to an end, no different than pruning weeds in order to let an orchid flourish. Those who stand in the way of my vision oppose me because they fear me, but more than that they fear what I represent.
"Change.
"Never once have they asked me: why? Do you want to know? Love. Measure my crimes against what mankind does to itself, and I am a saint. I have looked into the future, I have seen how one violent action after another spins the world toward a future where all that remains of Earth is a burned out cinder. Every time I have looked into the future, that is what I have seen. Every time but one. In one possible future mankind becomes united. Cures for all diseases are found. Global conflict ends. Hunger is abolished. Education is universal. And no one goes without. In that world, there are laws. To break even the slightest of these is to suffer immediate and terminal punishment.
"Ten thousand futures have I looked at. A hundred thousand. And in only one does mankind finally unite, and flourish...and survive. Only one.
"My future.”
--Extract trom His Royal Highness Victor von Doom's address to the United Nations General Assembly, March 3, 2011
DOCTOR DOOM
Name: Victor Von Doom
Alias(es): None
REGULAR
Age: Late 30s
Height: 6’ 2” (6' 7" when wearing his armor)
Physical Description: "I have been called a monster. A tyrant. A villain and even, in flights of hyperbole, a super-villain. I have had arrogant Westerners challenge me to my face, ask me how I can live with myself, ask me what I see when I look in the mirror.
"I see a man.
"I see a man with brown hair, with square features and a sharp nose. I see a man with brown eyes that have seen too much horror. I see a scar on my face that was left there by Russian soldiers when I was eight, when they tortured me to try to learn where my father was.
"I see a man who has given his blood to protect and to preserve his people.
"What do you see, I wonder, when you look in the mirror?"
--Forbes interview, June 2011
Face Claim: Viggo Mortenson
Personality: "I am not a kind man.
"Does that shock you? I find that it shocks many, when I say that.
"I am not a kind man. Kindness was beaten and burned out of me by Russian soldiers. But neither am I a cruel man. Cruelity is a refuge of the weak, and I am not weak.
"I am a man who does what must be done. I care for my people, because a monarch has a duty to care for his subjects. I protect my people, because a monarch must defend his nation. I act in the interests of Latveria.
"Do I smile at the sight of children playing? Do I thrill to the touch of a lover, or mourn the loss of a friend? Of course I do. I am a man, after all. But these things will not stay my hand from doing what must be done."
--Rolling Stones interview, April 2010
Affiliation: "Latveria has mutual defense treaties with other nations labeled 'rogue states' by the Western powers. North Korea. Iran. Iraq. Cuba. Libya. Syria. Belarus.
"Yes. My nation - my small nation that has struggled long against oppression - is part of what your President so amusingly labeled the 'Axis of Evil'. Think of that. My nation - which has not deposed democratically-elected leaders, or sent its armed forces to invade nations for the benefit of its corporations, or murdered its citizens for seeking the protections enshrined in the laws that governs them - is an agent of evil. And, for the sin of providing health care and education and he necessities of life to all my people, and the sin of not bowing before the altar of capitalism and not singing hymns of praise to the great corporate gods, am an ally of the devil.
"Then so be it. Far better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven."
--Forbes interview, June 2011
Identity: Publically known.
Powers or Special Abilities: "I have no post-human abilities. As I have said before: I am a man. Not a god. Not a chemically or genetically enhanced superman. Not a being from a far distant world.
"But I live in a world where such as these dwell. Where such as these are used as weapons of mass destruction, and are called heroes. And so I have devised armor, allowing me to stand against them if I must.
"The armor is powered by engines derived from the study of devices manufactured by Hydra, left in Latveria when our partisans drove the Nazis from our borders. It is composed of an alloy of titanium and vanadium, capable of turning aside even a .50 caliber round.
"The helmet contains thermal imagers and low light optics, image enhancers and parabolic amplifiers. It can seal itself, allowing me to survive on an internal oxygen supply for several hours. I can broadcast and receive on radio and television channels, and access wifi. Important suit systems are not accessible through the internet.
"Jets at waist and back and feet allow limited flight. An hour, perhaps two, at speeds not exceeding 300 kilometers per hour. Beyond that, they must be allowed to cool and then be serviced.
"The gauntlets can discharge bolts of electricity. This is, I fear, the only integral weapon in my armor. However, it does amplify my strength by a factor of 15, allowing me to use my own body as a weapon if needed.
"I tinker with my armor, and already have blueprints for several new systems I will test. Those that warrant continued use, and that are not crushingly expensive to manufacture, will be integrated into the suits worn by my Garda Regală - the brave and loyal and elite men and women dismissively referred to in the west as 'Doombots'."
--Popular Science interview, June 2010
Skills: "I am an architect, a physicist, and a mechanical and an electrical engineer. I am also a painter and a pianist."
--Rolling Stones interview, April 2010
Advantages: "I am, first and foremost, a genius. One of the ten most intelligent men on this planet.
"Ah. You seem disconcerted by my honesty. One thing you must always remember is that I am honest. I offer no false modesty to appease the fragile egos of my inferiors. I do not flatter.
"As I said, I am a genius. I would count Anthony Stark as one of my intellectual equals. And, although it galls me to admit it, Reed Richards.
"A second advantage I possess is that I rule a nation. A nation organized along rational lines, with all means of production optimized for maximum utility. I have, as a result, vast - but not unlimited - resources at my disposal. Latveria exports manufactured goods - commercial electronics, industrial machinery, and a limited quantity of weapons. Latveria also posses a seat in the United Nations and, as monarch of Latveria, I personally enjoy diplomatic immunity."
--Forbes interview, June 2011
Disadvantages: "Ah, self examination. You must know yourself as well as your enemy, in order to ensure success on the battlefield. And, so often, they are one and the same.
"Hubris. Hubris and arrogance. I recognize this failure in myself, and seek to master it daily. That I fail is my remembrance of mortality."
--Forbes interview, June 2011
Occupation: Monarch of Latveria
Citizenship: Latveria
Place of Birth: Haasenstadt, Latveria
Relatives: King Werner von Doom (father, deceased), Queen Cynthia von Doom (mother, deceased), Duke Vladamir von Doom (paternal uncle)
History: "My childhood was one of privation. The Warsaw Pact still crushed my homeland beneath its Russian heel when I was born. My parents, as befitted the rightful monarchs of Latveria, led the resistance to their tyranny. Both paid the ultimate price for defying the Soviet Union, but in death they were as inspirational as they were in life. By the end of the 1980s, as the Soviet Union collapsed under its decadence, the loyal partisans of Latveria drove our oppressors from our verdant hills.
"My father's brother, Duke Vladimir, saw to my upbringing after my parents were murdered. I mean no disrespect to the memory of my father the King and my mother the Queen, but it was he that groomed me to rule. I was but a child, no more than eight, when my parents were hanged with barbed wire outside the city that is now named Doomstadt in their honor. And it was he that arranged to have me educated in the West, once the Communists were driven out. 'Victor,' he would tell me, 'you must learn. Latveria is only as strong as its monarch, after all, and knowledge will be the might of the new millennium.'
"I pursued my primary education at Lundgrove School, and then at Eton College. I was, I will admit, educationally unprepared for my first year - living in partisan camps teaches you many things, but formal education is sporadic at best. But I was a von Doom, and I would not be defeated. I finished at the top of my class each year, despite my handicaps. And if I was disliked by my fellows, what of it? I was there to pursue intellectual mastery, not camaraderie.
"I pursued my undergraduate work at Harvard and my graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as I wished to see the might of the United States for myself. It was at MIT that I met Reed Richards.
"No. You understand incorrectly. It was Richards' work that caused the fault, not I. It is Richards' fault the explosion occurred, and that I was forced to spend nearly a year undergoing reconstructive surgery and physical therapy. It is Richards' fault that those people perished, and it is only my inability to defend myself against those base and vile accusations that allowed his lies to become the popular understanding of the events of that terrible night.
"But no matter. Allow the man his moment of stolen glory. He will be revealed for what he is soon enough, and the name of von Doom will be vindicated.
"My return to Latveria was a return to shambles. My uncle the Duke reigned as Regent in my absence, and he reigned over a nation shattered and crippled by decades of oppression. Western nations had 'loaned' us the funds to rebuild our infrastructure, at ruinous interest rates. We had been forced to accept the presence of Western corporations in our lands, robbing us of our natural resources and profiting while we starved.
"The only blame I offer my uncle is for believing the honeyed lies of the Western powers., and for believing that capitalism would be our salvation. He did his best for my people in my absence.
"I drove the corporations from our lands, returning control of our resources to our own hands. I defied the International Monetary Fund and its attempts to make slaves of free Latverians. And I broke the back of the mercenaries that were sent to compel us to 'honor our obligations' - as if men who have freed themselves owe anything to the hand that wielded the whip.
"For this - for freeing my people from the tyranny and economic enslavement of the Western powers, for defying the high priests of capitalism and daring to find a more rational way - I have been branded a tyrant. A dictator. A madman.
"But consider this. The people of Latveria have the highest rate of literacy in Europe. What currency we have, we have only for international trade. The orphan, the sick, and the elderly are cared for. And the residents of Doomstadt need not lock their doors at night.
"If I am a tyrant and a madman, then all the Earth would benefit from such madness and tyranny."
--Forbes interview, June 2011
PLAYER DATA
Name: First. It's a long story, basically involving how I'm known on another site.
Preferred Method of Contact: Private Message. If I get to know you, we can talk about Skype.
Other Character(s): Deadpool. Thor.
"Change.
"Never once have they asked me: why? Do you want to know? Love. Measure my crimes against what mankind does to itself, and I am a saint. I have looked into the future, I have seen how one violent action after another spins the world toward a future where all that remains of Earth is a burned out cinder. Every time I have looked into the future, that is what I have seen. Every time but one. In one possible future mankind becomes united. Cures for all diseases are found. Global conflict ends. Hunger is abolished. Education is universal. And no one goes without. In that world, there are laws. To break even the slightest of these is to suffer immediate and terminal punishment.
"Ten thousand futures have I looked at. A hundred thousand. And in only one does mankind finally unite, and flourish...and survive. Only one.
"My future.”
--Extract trom His Royal Highness Victor von Doom's address to the United Nations General Assembly, March 3, 2011
DOCTOR DOOM
Name: Victor Von Doom
Alias(es): None
REGULAR
Age: Late 30s
Height: 6’ 2” (6' 7" when wearing his armor)
Physical Description: "I have been called a monster. A tyrant. A villain and even, in flights of hyperbole, a super-villain. I have had arrogant Westerners challenge me to my face, ask me how I can live with myself, ask me what I see when I look in the mirror.
"I see a man.
"I see a man with brown hair, with square features and a sharp nose. I see a man with brown eyes that have seen too much horror. I see a scar on my face that was left there by Russian soldiers when I was eight, when they tortured me to try to learn where my father was.
"I see a man who has given his blood to protect and to preserve his people.
"What do you see, I wonder, when you look in the mirror?"
--Forbes interview, June 2011
Face Claim: Viggo Mortenson
Personality: "I am not a kind man.
"Does that shock you? I find that it shocks many, when I say that.
"I am not a kind man. Kindness was beaten and burned out of me by Russian soldiers. But neither am I a cruel man. Cruelity is a refuge of the weak, and I am not weak.
"I am a man who does what must be done. I care for my people, because a monarch has a duty to care for his subjects. I protect my people, because a monarch must defend his nation. I act in the interests of Latveria.
"Do I smile at the sight of children playing? Do I thrill to the touch of a lover, or mourn the loss of a friend? Of course I do. I am a man, after all. But these things will not stay my hand from doing what must be done."
--Rolling Stones interview, April 2010
Affiliation: "Latveria has mutual defense treaties with other nations labeled 'rogue states' by the Western powers. North Korea. Iran. Iraq. Cuba. Libya. Syria. Belarus.
"Yes. My nation - my small nation that has struggled long against oppression - is part of what your President so amusingly labeled the 'Axis of Evil'. Think of that. My nation - which has not deposed democratically-elected leaders, or sent its armed forces to invade nations for the benefit of its corporations, or murdered its citizens for seeking the protections enshrined in the laws that governs them - is an agent of evil. And, for the sin of providing health care and education and he necessities of life to all my people, and the sin of not bowing before the altar of capitalism and not singing hymns of praise to the great corporate gods, am an ally of the devil.
"Then so be it. Far better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven."
--Forbes interview, June 2011
Identity: Publically known.
Powers or Special Abilities: "I have no post-human abilities. As I have said before: I am a man. Not a god. Not a chemically or genetically enhanced superman. Not a being from a far distant world.
"But I live in a world where such as these dwell. Where such as these are used as weapons of mass destruction, and are called heroes. And so I have devised armor, allowing me to stand against them if I must.
"The armor is powered by engines derived from the study of devices manufactured by Hydra, left in Latveria when our partisans drove the Nazis from our borders. It is composed of an alloy of titanium and vanadium, capable of turning aside even a .50 caliber round.
"The helmet contains thermal imagers and low light optics, image enhancers and parabolic amplifiers. It can seal itself, allowing me to survive on an internal oxygen supply for several hours. I can broadcast and receive on radio and television channels, and access wifi. Important suit systems are not accessible through the internet.
"Jets at waist and back and feet allow limited flight. An hour, perhaps two, at speeds not exceeding 300 kilometers per hour. Beyond that, they must be allowed to cool and then be serviced.
"The gauntlets can discharge bolts of electricity. This is, I fear, the only integral weapon in my armor. However, it does amplify my strength by a factor of 15, allowing me to use my own body as a weapon if needed.
"I tinker with my armor, and already have blueprints for several new systems I will test. Those that warrant continued use, and that are not crushingly expensive to manufacture, will be integrated into the suits worn by my Garda Regală - the brave and loyal and elite men and women dismissively referred to in the west as 'Doombots'."
--Popular Science interview, June 2010
Skills: "I am an architect, a physicist, and a mechanical and an electrical engineer. I am also a painter and a pianist."
--Rolling Stones interview, April 2010
Advantages: "I am, first and foremost, a genius. One of the ten most intelligent men on this planet.
"Ah. You seem disconcerted by my honesty. One thing you must always remember is that I am honest. I offer no false modesty to appease the fragile egos of my inferiors. I do not flatter.
"As I said, I am a genius. I would count Anthony Stark as one of my intellectual equals. And, although it galls me to admit it, Reed Richards.
"A second advantage I possess is that I rule a nation. A nation organized along rational lines, with all means of production optimized for maximum utility. I have, as a result, vast - but not unlimited - resources at my disposal. Latveria exports manufactured goods - commercial electronics, industrial machinery, and a limited quantity of weapons. Latveria also posses a seat in the United Nations and, as monarch of Latveria, I personally enjoy diplomatic immunity."
--Forbes interview, June 2011
Disadvantages: "Ah, self examination. You must know yourself as well as your enemy, in order to ensure success on the battlefield. And, so often, they are one and the same.
"Hubris. Hubris and arrogance. I recognize this failure in myself, and seek to master it daily. That I fail is my remembrance of mortality."
--Forbes interview, June 2011
Occupation: Monarch of Latveria
Citizenship: Latveria
Place of Birth: Haasenstadt, Latveria
Relatives: King Werner von Doom (father, deceased), Queen Cynthia von Doom (mother, deceased), Duke Vladamir von Doom (paternal uncle)
History: "My childhood was one of privation. The Warsaw Pact still crushed my homeland beneath its Russian heel when I was born. My parents, as befitted the rightful monarchs of Latveria, led the resistance to their tyranny. Both paid the ultimate price for defying the Soviet Union, but in death they were as inspirational as they were in life. By the end of the 1980s, as the Soviet Union collapsed under its decadence, the loyal partisans of Latveria drove our oppressors from our verdant hills.
"My father's brother, Duke Vladimir, saw to my upbringing after my parents were murdered. I mean no disrespect to the memory of my father the King and my mother the Queen, but it was he that groomed me to rule. I was but a child, no more than eight, when my parents were hanged with barbed wire outside the city that is now named Doomstadt in their honor. And it was he that arranged to have me educated in the West, once the Communists were driven out. 'Victor,' he would tell me, 'you must learn. Latveria is only as strong as its monarch, after all, and knowledge will be the might of the new millennium.'
"I pursued my primary education at Lundgrove School, and then at Eton College. I was, I will admit, educationally unprepared for my first year - living in partisan camps teaches you many things, but formal education is sporadic at best. But I was a von Doom, and I would not be defeated. I finished at the top of my class each year, despite my handicaps. And if I was disliked by my fellows, what of it? I was there to pursue intellectual mastery, not camaraderie.
"I pursued my undergraduate work at Harvard and my graduate studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as I wished to see the might of the United States for myself. It was at MIT that I met Reed Richards.
"No. You understand incorrectly. It was Richards' work that caused the fault, not I. It is Richards' fault the explosion occurred, and that I was forced to spend nearly a year undergoing reconstructive surgery and physical therapy. It is Richards' fault that those people perished, and it is only my inability to defend myself against those base and vile accusations that allowed his lies to become the popular understanding of the events of that terrible night.
"But no matter. Allow the man his moment of stolen glory. He will be revealed for what he is soon enough, and the name of von Doom will be vindicated.
"My return to Latveria was a return to shambles. My uncle the Duke reigned as Regent in my absence, and he reigned over a nation shattered and crippled by decades of oppression. Western nations had 'loaned' us the funds to rebuild our infrastructure, at ruinous interest rates. We had been forced to accept the presence of Western corporations in our lands, robbing us of our natural resources and profiting while we starved.
"The only blame I offer my uncle is for believing the honeyed lies of the Western powers., and for believing that capitalism would be our salvation. He did his best for my people in my absence.
"I drove the corporations from our lands, returning control of our resources to our own hands. I defied the International Monetary Fund and its attempts to make slaves of free Latverians. And I broke the back of the mercenaries that were sent to compel us to 'honor our obligations' - as if men who have freed themselves owe anything to the hand that wielded the whip.
"For this - for freeing my people from the tyranny and economic enslavement of the Western powers, for defying the high priests of capitalism and daring to find a more rational way - I have been branded a tyrant. A dictator. A madman.
"But consider this. The people of Latveria have the highest rate of literacy in Europe. What currency we have, we have only for international trade. The orphan, the sick, and the elderly are cared for. And the residents of Doomstadt need not lock their doors at night.
"If I am a tyrant and a madman, then all the Earth would benefit from such madness and tyranny."
--Forbes interview, June 2011
PLAYER DATA
Name: First. It's a long story, basically involving how I'm known on another site.
Preferred Method of Contact: Private Message. If I get to know you, we can talk about Skype.
Other Character(s): Deadpool. Thor.
