Tiresias

*"When we put on our garb, our suits and masks, we place our actions upon a pedestal. We become the City upon a Hill that Great Britain set out to be, leading the world by example, rather than by force. Through compassion in favor of conquering. And we must live up to that expectation. We must become that beacon of hope, that City upon a Hill."*
—Tiresias
**Tiresias**, known to the public as **Johnathan "John" Jacobson**, is the former leader of the Rebels on Earth-3 before coming to Earth-1, where he would become an ally to the Rebels and form his own vigilante group called the Rebellion.

## Biography

### Early Life

Johnathan Jacobson was born on December 23rd, 1985 in Center City, Missouri. From an early age, his father was an upstanding and inspiring role-model who worked hard to keep his family afloat. Despite not being particularly affluent, John's father was able to make his childhood a happy one. The same could not be said about his mother. Starting as a teenager, he worked as a waiter in a restaurant in order to make end's meet. John admits that he was nervous in the beginning of his working life but eventually conquered his fears and had "the most remarkable experience." He was exceptionally bright in his schoolings, and participated in many extracurriculars, such as theater, the arts, and choir. Despite how many of these communities he found himself in, he made few if any friends. He attributed this to his demeanor, which was pompous, even back then.

John would end up getting a full-ride to college, but, would feel pressured into studying engineering and hard sciences as opposed to his true passion of the arts.

### Conflict with the Specters

At some point in his life, John became the hero "Tiresias" and began leading the superhero team, the Rebels. With his team, he faced the villain team, the Specters, led by Rath. Johnathan's half-brother, Ben, was abused by Rath and held captive as his twisted apprentice. After some battles against the Specters, Tiresias soundly beat his brother's tormentor to a pulp.

Later on, after the Specters' leader, Orcus disappeared, John's brother was liberated and went on a rampage in the city.

### Landing on Earth-1

Tiresias arrived on Earth-1 initially with the sole purpose of capturing Hank Keller, after he had seemingly vanished from the face of Earth-3. Upon finding himself on Earth-1, he was surprised to find the lack of a dystopic undercurrent to daily life. Within the first few hours of arriving, he found himself face to face with who he suspected to be his man. Disappointingly, it was not Hank Keller, but instead the one and only Clark Flat. Luckily, the two were able to talk out the confusion and come to a mutual understanding.

Tiresias then thought it would be a great idea to bring several dozen refugees from Earth-3 to Earth-1 in order to protect them from the wrath of the Specters. Long story short, it was not such a great idea.

Tiresias would temporarily join forces with the Rebels in order to hunt down and capture Hank Keller and bring him to justice. He would also begrudgingly ally with Earth-3's Reich, led by Earth-3's version of Hans Kelvmer.

Soon, however, John would realize that his enemy was not Mr. Keller, but instead Hans. Hans would forcefully take control of John's refugees, only to then terrorize them, putting them through harsh labor and depriving them of necessities like food or adequate shelter.

### Ms. Caverly

During his time hunting down Hank Keller, John would attend several social gatherings hosted by Leah Caverly. It was through these parties that he grew acquainted with her and build a strong friendship with Tia Calinao. On one night, after coming to terms with the fact that Hans had begun disregarding the wellbeing of his peoples, Tiresias invited Reverie to accompany him in investigating the Reich's camp. It was here that John began to fall hopelessly in love with Leah, after hearing about some of the hardships she had overcome in order to provide for her son, Elijah Kade.

From this point on, John would begin to court Ms. Caverly, almost bordering on stalking her at times. Upon the Rebels receiving a prank message from Sentinel at 3:00 am, John arrived outside Ms. Caverly's window (which was atop a skyscraper) with a care package to help her get back to sleep. John and Leah would officially begin dating on April 20th, 2020, and would get engaged promptly after, on June 9th of the same year, barely two months after.

### Ms. Calinao

In addition to his budding romance with Reverie, John also found contentment in his mentorship and eventual father-daughter relationship with vigilante Titanium. Tia Calinao would approach John on his first night in Earth-1, and would instantly hit it off. From there, John would help Tia design her own vigilante suit, built to best suit her abilities.

Soon, John and Tia would soon realize that they so happened to be next-door neighbors, sharing apartments adjacent to one another. From that point onward, John would go from making Tia dinner, to packing her lunches, to making her three meals a day. The two bonded over their feeling of alienation from Earth-1, shown through their joy in finding shared phrases, such as "Redold the Red-Nosed Reindeer" instead of Rudolf, and calling crab cakes "nepa nuggets."

### City Upon A Hill

After freeing his peoples from Hans Kelvmer and continued but futile efforts to diffuse the Reich's influence on Earth-1, John would eventually come to deduce that the problem was internal as well as external. To attempt to address the constantly bickering and inefficiency of the Rebels, he would begin his own vigilante team, the Rebellion, which would have no form of hierarchy whatsoever. He aimed to have all decisions made in a democratic method, never having anyone give orders. This team was largely successful, helping deduce the Reich's ultimate goal on Earth-3, combat the needs of not only the Earth-3 refugees but the homeless of Neo Arcadia, and finding and raiding their base and combatting the Specters.

### The Specters Return

Despite John's best efforts to flee from the Specters' wrath, his past would once again catch up to him. The force of anarchy would raid Neo Arcadia, bringing the city to its knees and causing thousands of casualties. However, with the help of the Rebels, Tiresias would finally defeat the Specters once and for all. Many of the Specters, such as Levi Goffee, Saul Collins Otto Turgenev, and Anna Stone of Earth-3 were killed. Others, like Reverie-3, were arrested, and a few including Elijah-67 and Tia-3 escaped. Arguably the most cruel of these fates was the punishment of Rath, which John personally orchestrated. Rath's quest for power and physical might would be forever halted, with his muscles broken down and dissolved from the inside, left to lie immobile with only his thoughts for the rest of his days.

### Space Is The Place

Soon after dealing with the Specters' invasion of Earth-1, Tiresias would join Saul Collins' expedition into space. Through this journey he would learn the truth about his daughter Tia Calinao's past, her use of "space drugs," and Saul's questionable activities throughout the multiverse. Throughout their time on the Pathfinder, John would often get into various arguments with the likes of Ice Gear, Fire Spider, and, of course, Almanac.

### Fille

The death of Tia Calinao would shatter John's heart in two. He would skip meals, sleep, and other necessities, out of a sheer lack of motivation. The only times he felt the motivation to eat were his daily visits to his daughter's grave, to which he brought soup, knowing it was her favorite.

John's grief would culminate in his murder of someone who passed by Tia Calinao's funeral after they insulted him and Leah, and then proceeded to break down the body and make it seemingly vanish.

### Tainted Reflection

On Halloween, John would come up against his Earth-1 counterpart, Creon. Infuriated and disgusted by seeing a version of himself that he found despicable, John would rush in headfirst to try to confront the undead villain. While it at first seemed that Creon easily outclassed Tiresias, with the help of Remembrance's abilities, he was able to gain the upper hand and stab his counterpart through the chest.

### Dreadful Space Creatures

John assisted in combatting the Myronian invasion, using his sludge to great lengths to both combat waves of Nyxos and Lanterns and help rid the planet of their infestation. Along the way, he'd do his best to help Eden Gates, Lincoln Grace, and Leah Caverly remain safe and comfortable. In their final confrontation with the Myronian forces, John would be momentarily possessed by them before being broken free, while also bidding a sorrowful goodbye to his fellow Rebellion teammate, Windbreaker.

## Personality

*"We crave what we are deprived of."*
—Tiresias

Tiresias' personality is very similar to his Earth-1 counterparts in many ways. He tends to be just as eloquent as he is condescending. He tends to be good at reading people and puzzle-solving, which is how he was able to deduce the identities of the Rebels so quickly.

John is incredibly calm and collected like always. He shows incredible capability to not lose his cool in high-stakes situations, such as dealing with Genysis' "Cube Mansion," making decisions regarding things that are close to him like the Earth-3 refugees. He has shown few exceptions to this collected exterior, but there are exceptions nonetheless.

Tiresias also shows himself to be very protective over others, even if not especially close with them. This can be seen through him trying to seek the best for Elijah Kade and challenging Almanac's parenting skills, as well as his comforting of Jess Connor when her and her younger sister Olivia were arguing.

One glaring difference, however, is that Tiresias is much more willing to show his compassionate side than Creon was. Within only a few weeks he was able to build substantial bonds with Reverie and Titanium, and become friends with the likes of Saul Collins, Anima Libera and Lightworker.

Before Tia Calinao's death, one of the most prominent piece of John's personality was his unending cheerfulness and optimism. However, in the time since, he has grown much more soft-spoken and dejected. John still attempts to force his optimism forward for the sake of those close to him, but is usually trapped in a state of melancholy.

He refers to people he dislikes as "things," such as Rapidity, Sentinel and Fire Spider. When he gets to this point he uses "it" as their pronoun.

## Physical Appearance

John is 6'4" and weighs 192 lbs. He has a very bulky, large build, and is littered with various scars across his body, aside from his face, which he goes out of his way to protect. John has blonde hair and darker blue eyes. John usually stands with very strict posture, always appearing poised and ready. His movements tend to be somewhat graceful and effortless, despite his large stature.

John always wears very fancy and professional clothing as a civilian. He always wears a three-piece-suit, with a white undershirt and a black tie gifted to him by Leah Caverly. In addition to this, John wears cufflinks, shaped like tiny books, gifted to him by Tia Calinao. The "books" can even be opened, each with three pages within. John has etched a name onto each page, those being "Leah," "Tia" and "Elijah." John is also never without his ring, which a dark silver littered with emeralds throughout the center.

John's costume resembles that of a navy's admiral uniform from the 18th century, with a strong blue color and various gold highlights. In addition to this he has a flowing red cape and a utility belt that stores his nanobots in small capsules. He has several other costumes with different color palettes that John will occasionally wear. John even joked about having at least 60 suits in a closet back on his home world of Earth 3, including a purple suit and a bright neon suit.

## Abilities

* **Peak Human Condition:** John has a large degree of athletic prowess due to his history with collegiate cross-country.
	+ **Peak Human Strength:** John is very strong, as he was able to pick Barry Parker up by the throat with one hand, despite him weighing 159 pounds. He can also carry the likes of Hank Keller, Star Boisen, and even his brother's primary counterpart. In combat, he is strong enough to trade blows with and even stagger Clark Flat, though the latter is still much stronger than him.
* **Expert Martial Artist:** John studied several forms of martial arts in his youth including Taekwondo, Aikido, Capoeira, Fencing, Kendo and Wudang Quan. He tends to lean most heavily into his Taekwondo training in combat, usually delivering kicks and using his hands minimally. He is able to contend with the likes of Flag and Almanac, notably putting up a fight against the latter even when deprived of his sludge.
	+ **Sword Expertise:** John is highly skilled in swordplay due to his heavy training in fencing, as he could intuitively wield Creon's rapier. He passed on his knowledge of fencing to Lincoln Grace, and he is also familiar with Japanese and Chinese swords.
* **Genius-Level Intellect:** Like his Earth-1 counterpart, John is incredibly intellectually gifted, albeit arguably less. He was able to, in a very short time, deduce the identity of Almanac as well as the fact that Nadjya Romankova and Jake Matthews were also members of the Rebels. He was also able to break out of Genysis' "Cube Mansion," when the cards were stacked against them, maintaining a level head while doing so.
	+ **Expert Engineer:** John is an expert mechanical engineer; he has a doctorate in engineering, having written his master's degree thesis on nanotubes, and he designed a highly advanced, sludge-like group of nanobots which he can command. He was able to pick up on the frequency of the Rebels comms and listen and communicate with them, despite never being given formal access to it. John is also familiar with kintsugi pottery.
	+ **Skilled Musician:** Tiresias both plays trumpet and sings. He is well versed in sight reading and music theory, and has been performing in choir and band since high school. He has a high baritone voice that can fluctuate in tone and pitch very quickly.
	+ **Culinary Expertise:** John worked at a bar for quite a time and learned how to cook and bake there. His cooking rivals that of Leah Caverly, and his favorite things to make are crème brûlée, orechovnik, and corn chowder.
	+ **Multilingualism:** John speaks English, French, and German. He learned French and German primarily to enjoy German and French art in their original language. He also speaks some Danish, as seen in his final interaction with Frederik, as well as Italian. Hank Keller has commended John's proficiency in German, stating that it is indistinguishable from the average native speaker.

## Weaknesses

* **Astraphobia:** John is scared of the thunderstorms, specifically the loud sound it makes.
* **Aichmophobia:** John is scared of seeing other people hold knives, particularly women.
* **Personality:** John's personality can be off-putting for many people, making it hard for people to like him or for him to gain allies. John describes his high school experience as being "a peacock living in a chicken farm." John's high intelligence and at times pretentiousness makes it hard for him to form bonds with others, who think (sometimes rightly) that he looks down upon them. John's personality and dialect has severed potential friendships with Almanac.
* **Electricity:** A well-placed electric shock can disable the chip in the back of Tiresias' neck that links him to his sludge. This was used against him in his fight with Genysis. Almanac has also used a localized EMP to temporarily disable access to his sludge.
* **Limited Range:** Tiresias' sludge can only travel so far before it can no longer communicate with its host. As the distance grows, the less accuracy Tiresias has in controlling its movements.
* **Dilution:** Tiresias can use mix his sludge with other liquids, such as water, to increase the volume of his sludge. However, in doing this, John loses accuracy and precision of his sludge with the larger amount of his volume.
* **Focus:** Tiresias must be somewhat focused in order to use his sludge, although it's become almost second-nature to him, if disoriented, he may lose control.

## Techniques

### Solo

* **Out of Sight, Out of Mind:** John can hide his sludge within his body in order to prevent its discovery or to smuggle it into places unnoticed, as well as to surprise or intimidate. John hates doing this, but does it anyways.
* **Stabilization:** If in unstable footing or standing in a hazardous location, John can spread his sludge across the floor in order to prevent himself, and others, from falling.
* **Medicinal Purposes:** First and foremost, John's nanobots were designed for medical purposes. John can use them to stop bleeding and apply pressure to wounds, and even have them enter a body and help with various tasks. John's nanobots are incredibly precise if he's able to properly focus, to the point where they were able to replace the iron in Almanac's body when deprived, and enable his oxygen to flow throughout his body.
* **Minimalism:** If unarmed, John tends to fight by delivering few, but powerful and precise, strikes. His large body mass makes overwhelming swiftness difficult, and he compensates this by timing any physical blows and delivering them with intense power. He tends to avoid using his hands for attacks, keeping them up to defend from incoming blows to his face or upper body, while attacking predominantly with kicks.

### Duet

* **Lasso of Hades:** John can use his nanobots to coat Reverie's Lasso of Zeus, extending its range significantly, allowing for more control mid-air and covering it with spikes. This can also be used to stretch out into a large net to capture targets and prevent them from moving, being able to ensnare even space ships in its grasp during the Rebels' time on the Pathfinder.
* **Surprise!:** John is not only limited to using his sludge in his own body. He can store it in other allies' bodies, and then have it burst out and surprise an opponent if they attack the ally. John once performed this technique with Almanac, much to Almanac's dismay and irritation.

## Equipment

### Attire

* **Tiresias Costume:** Tiresias' costume has several gadgets and tools within itself. Tiresias has noted his attempts to make his uniform both aesthetically pleasing and practical, seeing benefits to both. Tiresias' cape is nonflammable and nonconductive, as well as being an incredibly strong fabric, and can be used to deflect some small projectiles and electrical blasts, which helps deal with his vulnerability to electricity. His dress shoes also house a small, retractable knife.

### Weaponry and Gadgets

* **Sludge:** John's sludge is his primary tool in combat. Despite originally being designed for medical purposes, he is able to use it to great effect in fights. The sludge can be mixed with water in order to increase the sludge's volume and solidify. It can be used to pin people, grab and transport objects, and even crawl inside people through their bloodstream and destroy them from the inside out. If enough of John's sludge gets into a person's body, it can easily be used to kill them, as seen through John's encounter with the Changelings. The sludge can also be used to aid Tiresias when he finds himself immobile, either during missions or when recovering from brutal battles.
* **Creon's Blade:** In a duel with his Earth-1 counterpart, Tiresias was able to defeat the reanimated Creon and took his weapon as a trophy of his victory. This elegant and razor-sharp rapier has quickly become a staple of John's arsenal, making him a much more dangerous threat in close-ranged combat. In Operation: War Against Reign, this sword was shattered, but reconstructed with John's sludge, which allows it to bend and move like a snake to stab opponents. Additionally, after being enhanced with Anna's light, the sludge on Creon's sword has been tinted a permanent gold coloring, making it resemble kintsugi pottery.

## Relationship

* Rath - Step-Father
* Joni Jacobson (Earth-3) - Mother †
* Matthew Jacobson - Father

Allies* Rebels (Earth-3)
* The Rebellion
	+ Tiara Calinao - Teammate, Close Friend and Daughter Figure
	+ Leah Caverly - Teammate and Fiancée
	+ Saul Collins - Teammate and Best Friend
	+ Jess Connor -Teammate and Friend
	+ Anna Stone - Teammate and Friend
* Angelica Boisen - Highly Respected Ally
* Lincoln Grace - Close Friend
* Elijah Kade - Friend
	+ Rath - Archnemesis
	+ Orcus (Earth-3) †
	+ Leah Caverly (Earth-3)
	+ Saul Collins (Earth-3) †
	+ Levi Goffee (Earth-3) †
	+ Arsenic
	+ Hank Keller - Former Enemy, Not On Talking Terms But Not Trying To Kill Each Other Either
* Sentinel
* Hans Kelvmer (Earth-3)
* Almanac - Adversary

## Trivia

* Johnathan does not drink alcohol.
* Johnathan's favorite painters are Claude Monet and Francisco Goya.
* Johnathan was in musical theater growing up. He got his codename from the role he played in his school's production of *Antigone*.
* Johnathan's favorite book is *Siddhartha* by Herman Hesse, and has shown considerable likings to the works of Margaret Atwood, especially her poems.
* Johnathan's favorite colors are purple and silver.
* Johnathan's favorite weather is the rain, although he used to be prefer snow.
* Johnathan shows himself to be a relatively skilled painter, with his style resembling that of the romantic period.
* Because of the way history differs in Earth-3, John is often unfamiliar with certain technologies, such as smart phones or the Internet. This also shows in phrasings, such as him saying "Rome wasn't destroyed in a day," while the common Earth-1 phrase is "Rome wasn't *built* in a day." This also causes many of his historical allusions to be ineffective due to their inaccuracy in Earth-1. Another example is him referring to Genghis Khan as "great."
* John tends to lose his calm demeanor when talking about or dealing with potential child abuse or domestic violence. These topics or situations cause him to grow frantic and incredibly nervous.
* John's favorite swear word is "hell." He refrains from swearing often, however, so this is unlikely to be noticed by many.
* John's Missouri dialect can sometimes slip through, despite his intense efforts to suppress it, such as when he once said "y'all."
* John has been hit by a car before. Despite this, he shows comfort when behind the wheel.
* John's favorite possession is his cufflinks gifted to him by Tia Calinao.
* The pouches on John's belt that house his sludge have a build-in sterilizing mechanism, so that the nanobots can remain clean for medical procedures.

## Music

John's favorite record is Duke Ellington and John Coltrane's self-titled album. John's favorite pieces include: