Douglas Ramsey

Pyradis

Salem Center, NY

## Background

### **1986 - 2002: Douglas Ramsey**

Douglas "Doug" Ramsey was born to Philip & Sheila Ramsey. His father was a successful lawyer in Salem Center who had helped Professor Xavier sort out the legal aspects of setting up the Xavier Institute of Higher Learning years before, though he was unaware that Xavier was a mutant, nor that any of his students were either.

Doug grew up in Salem Center & eventually became friends with Kitty Pryde, who he met after she moved to Westchester County to join Professor Xavier's school. The two shared an interest in computers & video games which brought them closer together. They would regularly go out together to the arcade or to the movies on weekends.

For reasons unknown, Professor Xavier believed Doug was a mutant despite the fact that his powers had not manifested nor had Cerebro detected him. However, he made no action to recruit him for the school. Emma Frost, the White Queen of the Hellfire Club & Headmistress of Massachusetts Academy, made the same discovery. She attempted to recruit him, even offering him a scholarship to the school in hope of inducting him into her adolescent Hellions.

When it was time for Doug to have his final interview at the Academy, Kitty decided to accompany him. She believed Frost to be in a coma, which is the only reasons she agreed as she did not trust her due to past experiences. When they arrived, Frost captured Kitty but she was saved by the New Mutants, with the help of Doug. The event sealed his decision on not attending the Academy.

While Douglas became a friend withe the superheroes, they kept their mutant powers & costumed personas from him. In time, Xavier revealed his suspicions to the students so they invited Doug to join them at the school. When he began communicating with Xi'an in her native language despite having no tutoring in the subject, Xavier realized the boy was a hyper-linguist. Now that he was positive of his early diagnosis, Doug convinced his parents to let him enroll at the school. It didn't take much as his father was very trusting of Xavier.

### **2002 - 2004: Cypher**

As a member of the New Mutants, Doug often felt useless in battle even though his powers often came more in handy than others.

Doug's first mission with the New Mutants was when he tracked their former teammate Karma to Madripoor then Cairo. Karma was believed to have died in an explosion over a year prior. When the team arrived in Cairo, they found Karma possessed by the Shadow King. Using her powers, he possessed the rest of the team except for Magik. Illyana was able to get Karma free, which freed their other friends. Karma was able to defeat the Shadow King on the Astral Plane then rejoined the team.

Despite his feelings of being an inferior, Doug had the caught the eyes of Tarot & Roulette, two members of the Hellfire Club's Hellions. During a peaceful event thrown by the Institute & Academy, he was approached by Tarot but his dismissive attitude caused her to run off crying. He was then approached by Roulette, who asked if he was geek or a player. Wanting to impress her, he answered player then won a game of poker using his powers to read facial expression. After winning a nice amount, he went off with Roulette & got drunk. They were eventually found in bed by their respective teams, though neither were happy about their predicament. When Dani reprimanded him for acting like a Hellion & ripped Roulette a new on, Warpath intervened, leading to even more raised tension between the two groups. Despite this night, Doug continued secretly seeing Roulette until her & the other Hellions' untimely deaths at the hands of Trevor Fitzroy.

Doug also participated in the saving attempt of international rock star Lila Cheney, who also happened to be the girlfriend of Doug's teammate, Cannonball. Though they received help from another help, it was Doug that was able to translate what the alien was saying which allowed them to decipher the instructions to a damaged stargate before an overload. Unfortunately, the mission was in vain as Lila seemingly sacrificed herself to save the team.

When the team heard of an animal creature that was being mistreated after capture, the New Mutants abducted Bird Brain, a human-animal hybrid. When Bird-Brain decided to return home, the New Mutants followed but were captured by Bird-Brain's creator Ani-Mator & his Ani-Mates. During the battle, Doug wanted to help his friends but felt that his powers could not help & that he would get in the way. When the Ani-Mator aimed a gun at Wolfsbane, Doug couldn't stand still & jumped in front of her, getting shot twice by the Ani-Mator. When Wolfsbane scolded him for diving into battle like that, Doug spoked his last words, "Don't be mad Rahne, I'll never do it again." Magik, in anger, threw Ani-Mator into limbo, where he was eaten alive by demons. Doug's death & noble sacrifice, saving the Ani-Mates & Rahne Sinclair, was hard for the team to accept. They took his body back to Earth & said goodbye to their friend at his funeral.

## Powers & Abilities

* **Mutant Physiology:** Cypher is a hyper-linguist & has a superhuman facility for translating any languages, spoken or written, human or alien in origin. His superhuman skill also extends to his great facility in deciphering codes & computer languages as well as understanding hidden intentions & body language. His skills are such that he was once able to make great headway in translating the written language of an extraterrestrial race in a matter of minutes. His mutant talent is an intuitive one which works on a subconscious level, whereas others will have to work out a translation consciously, step by step. Rather than working the problem out step by step, he instead subconsciously solves the problem.
* **Computer Operation**
* **Hand to Hand Combat:** His language power somewhat extends to combat, making him able to interpret his opponents moves as language.
* **Physicality:** Cypher possess the normal human strength of a young man of his age, height, and build who engaged in regular physical exercise.

### Weaknesses

* **Internet Addiction:** After trying to use his powers to decode the Internet, Cypher became addicted to being online. He let himself go & almost starved himself because he couldn't stay away from the numerous devices he was using to surf the web.

### Ratings

* **Intelligence:** 5 - Learned / Exceptional
* **Strength:** 3 - Average / Basic
* **Speed:** 3 - Average / Basic
* **Occult:** 1 - Nonexistent
* **Weapons:** 3 - Average / Basic
* **Energy Projection:** 3 - Average / Basic
* **Strategy:** 4 - High / Trained
* **Fighting Ability:** 4 - High / Trained

## Trivia

* He & Kitty were mutually attracted to each other, but neither acted on their feelings. He also had a crush on Psylocke.
* His funeral was attended by his family, other students & the members of the X-Men & New Mutants.
* Cypher has a power ranking of 56, classifying him as Power Level 2 / Low Threat.

## Notes

* The original character of Douglas Ramsey belongs to the Marvel Universe.