Obsidian

Shady Todd (Nickname)

Jade (Twin Sister)

James Rice (Foster Mother)

Shirley Rice (Foster Father)

The Outsiders

## **History**

### **Todd Rice: 1993 - 2011**

Todd Rice was born as a result of a coupling between Alan Scott and the sorceress once known as "The Thorn of Canton." Like his sister, Jenny, Todd was not raised by either parent, but instead used for some effort of ritual shortly after birth and then abandoned at a firehouse on the other side of Fawcett City from his sister. Though in good health, Todd was not adopted and was placed into foster care. James and Shirley Rice eventually were the ones who kept him for over a year, so the foster care program decided to give him their surname when Todd was four years old. This placement was not a happy one, and James and Shirley were able to have a child of their own shortly after Todd turned seven and suddenly Todd became their "second-string" kid.

Things only got worse. As if it was bad enough for Todd to compete with his little brother Jeremy, James lost his job and sunk into a drunken depression. After he struck Shirley one night in a drunken rage, Shirley packed her and Jeremy's things and left town, making no effort to take Todd with her. Todd did his best to avoid his drunken foster father and in order to have something to do at night, Todd fell in with some other marginalized kids in Fawcett City, and eventually the entire circle of friends formed a street gang.

After Todd's first arrest (For shoplifting), James shifted from a neglecting father to a physically abusive one. This is when Todd first began hearing voices and seeing figures in shadows. Todd thought he was going crazy, but what he did not know was that his father's abuse had triggered Todd's meta-gene and his subconscious mind was manipulating shadows while the voices he was hearing was that of Ian Karkull, an evil man who had been cast into a parallel plane of existence known as the Shadowlands and abandoned. Todd's powers gave him an innate connection to this dimension, but it would still be years before Todd would learn to control these powers and so his sanity began to wane. To make matters worse, this was around the time that Todd accepted he was gay.

All the stress surrounding him prompted Todd to drop out of school when he was seventeen. Of course, this angered Todd's deadbeat father, but the next time he laid a hand on Todd, Todd's powers reacted and planted James halfway through a wall. Startled by what he had done. Todd fled his house and bought a bus ticket for the first bus leaving Fawcett City. The bus took him to America's asbestos capital: Blüdhaven. For two years, Todd found work with the local crews, pulling off small-time robberies and delivering the occasional threat. Todd kept his powers concealed for the most part back then, as a) he didn't know how to use him; and b) he was afraid of using them would only attract rougher, tougher do-gooders to put an end to Todd's freedom.

Eventually, Todd *did* master his powers enough that he decided it was time to step up his game and go work for Blockbuster, the only problem was that Todd wasn't calling the shots anymore as Karkull's secret influence had grown nearly absolute and still unnoticed.