Namor McKenzie

## Personality

The Atlantean Imperial Family's battlecry of "Imperius Rex!" suits Namor perfectly. Roughly translating to "Superiority Will Prevail," it's Namor's personal lifestyle. He's a competitor. He's strong, and he knows it. He's always been strong, and it's defined him. Through constantly needing to prove himself to his grandfather that he's truly worthy of inheriting throne, Namor has been forged in grueling competitions against the mightiest of Atlantean athletes.

Still, Namor is not entirely insensitive; he's self-centered, certainly, but he's royalty; why would he not be? He doesn't demand you pay atention to him; he makes certain that your attention is centered on him because he will deserve it. Namor is not petulant; petulance is for children, and Namor, in his mind, hasn't been a child since he was ten.

However, Namor has his own share of baggage. Namor believes quite thoroughly the propoganda regarding his father, and believes that his mother was a victim of a heinous crime, of which he is the product. Despite his mother's love, he believes she's reminded of what befell her every time she sees him, despite the fact that she's insisted this is not the case. This led him to distance her from himself, and the only other family he has is his grandfather, who is a cold and distant man. A great deal of his personality has to do with the fact that Namor feels like he should avoid the person who loves him the most, and seeks the approval of someone who will probably never truly love or respect him.

## Powers

Namor is a fully aquatic creature; he can breathe water indefinitely and can survive incredibly amounts of pressure. A side-effect of this is that he is incredibly strong despite his compact frame. Namor's muscle fibers are ultra-dense, and he is capable of lifting a fully loaded semi truck with room to spare. Namor can also swim incredibly quickly, and with the aid of small wings that have grown from his ankles, he can achieve comparable flight speeds, not quite fast enough to break the sound barrier. He's adapted well enough to the depths that he no longer feels cold; his body retains and generates sufficient heat to keep him warm at the highest heights and at the deepest depths. A side effect of his ultra-dense muscles is that he's also incredibly tough; while not invulnerable, Namor can shrug off just about anything shy of an assault rifle bullet.

However, Namor is susceptible to attacks based on non-physical means, such as fire or electricity. Heat is especially bad for him; drying him out is a surefire way to cripple him, though water reinvigorates him quickly. While it neither heals his wounds nor nourishes him beyond what it would anyone else, immersion in water is a great way for Namor to overcome fatigue, though it's not substitute for sleep.

## Talents

Namor is a gifted athlete, though his powers make that effortless. Namor is also a learned politician and strategist, which is important since, well, he plans on becoming Emperor of Atlantis someday.

## Interests

Namor is interested in a variety of things, from literature and languages to politics and social issues. He's interested in bringing Atlantis into the world theater as a power, and of course he's also interested in cementing his political career as Emperor of Atlantis.

## History

Born into the underwater nation of Atlantis, Namor was raised believing that his mother, Fen, was raped by the American sailor Leonard McKenzie, who found Fen while she was spying on the American sailors. In reality, the two had watched each other from a distance, and Leonard and Fen had fallen in love and engaged in a brief tryst, of which Namor turned out to be the product. When Fen didn't return from spying on the Icebreaker *Oracle* (of which Leonard McKenzie was captain), the Atlanteans attacked the ship, boarding it and injuring a few of the crew before Fen surrendered herself in exchange for the ship's freedom. To this day, Leonard doesn't know that he has a son, though Fen gave their child the man's surname.

As the first ever halfblooded Atlantean, the majority of Atlanteans weren't sure what to make of the new prince, or even if they were to recognize him as such. As of yet unwed, Fen was now considered unmarriagable under Atlantis's archaic standards, and Emperor Thakorr had no brothers or sisters, and Fen was his only child; a woman could not inherit the throne.

Fen made it her personal goal to personally spearhead her child's political career before he could even walk. At every opportunity she made sure to refer to him as a 'true Atlantean of noble blood,' and that 'the mere suggestion that a surfacer could taint the blood of Atlantean royalty was preposterous' By the time he could walk, Namor could swim (like any other Atlantean), and he was an unusually strong child. In his schooling, he was outperforming, both physically and (mostly) academically everyone his age, despite some of his teachers actively trying to rig things against him. This caused a wider range of support begin to grow, and pressure began to grow on Emperor Thakorr to officially recognize him as the heir to the Atlantean throne.

The pressure continued to grow as Namor entered his teenage years, as he distinguished himself in Atlantean sports. However, it was becoming clear that the boy was not normal. He didn't feel the cold of Atlantis's depths as much as some of his full-blooded cousins, and he was stronger, faster... he was not normal. This was quickly hushed up to everyone outside of the Atlantean Imperial Family and their closest advisers, and extensive research and even tentative inquiries into foreign nations began. Namor's abilities, during this time, were studied closely, though under conditions suitable for an Atlantean prince.

When an Atlantean spy on the surface happened across Professor Xavier in a biology conference in New York, the two engaged in conversation, and Professor Xavier was able to determine that the young prince was a mutant. The diplomat contacted Emperor Thakorr and the Emperor made a series of key decisions very quickly.

For his birthday, Namor was crowned Prince of Atlantis, poised to succeed him upon Emperor Thakorr's death. At the same time, it was announced that Prince Namor would be studying abroad for the remainder of his higher education, specifically in America. The purpose of this, primarily, was actually to conceal Namor's mutant nature from the Atlantean people, although Emperor Thakorr did indeed hope that Namor would help to strengthen ties to America and other foreign powers during this time, or at the very least, not damage them.