The Specimen

The Specimen is an alien superhero and member of NOVA.

## Biography

Uzul'Illani is descended from an alien research team that crash-landed in the Atlantic Ocean centuries ago. The aliens, having long been given up for lost by their people on Kepler 2, were able to easily adapt to the warm waters of Earth and immediately began to expand their tiny crew into a thriving colony. But they inadvertently drew the attention of the Lemurians, who ruthlessly crushed and enslaved the new arrivals.

The Lemurians renamed their captives "Locathah," a word in Old Lemurian that meant 'prize servants.' They ruthlessly exploited both the Locathah's strength and the remains of their advanced technology for centuries. Finally, during a period of particular civil strife in Lemurian society, the Locathah rebelled and succesfully fought their way to freedom. They escaped into the oceanic waters and resettled as far from Lemuria as possible.

With the resurgence of Lemurian power, the Locathah have made the difficult choice to try and join Earth society so that they might have allies against a renewed conflict with their former captors. To this end, a small number of promising Locathah youths have been dispatched to act as ambassadors to the surface. Uzul'Illani was the first, and his mission got off to a poor start when he was captured by the American government and handed off to UNTIL for examination. It took time to convince his interrogators that he was not part of an invasion force, but eventually his cooperative and amiable nature won their trust. He was released under careful observation and made his way to New York to start imbibing as much culture as possible.

It quickly became clear to Uzul that the best way to win the trust of the American people was to join the ranks of their beloved heroes. As UNTIL's scientists had simply referred to him as 'the Specimen,' he adopted it as a pseudonym and began looking for allies. He was snapped up by NOVA, who had just lost their chief bruiser, and he instantly clicked with the team. After a few notable blunders he found his stride and has lent his strength to their efforts ever since. In fact, he's become such a well-known and integral part of the team that few New Yorkers even give any thought to his alien origins, and that includes his closest friends.

## Personality

Easy-going and gregarious, the Specimen is far more personable than his best friend Powerful Bill. He has earned a reputation as a party animal and a bit of a slacker. Since his powers grow by spontaneous evolution rather than practice, he never bothers to train except when the team runs tactical drills. Otherwise he treats life like a constant vacation.

The Specimen doesn't particularly miss the sea. He thinks of it as a primitive place with little culture or entertainment to boast of and freely admits he prefers life on the land. He views returning to his people in the same way that a city boy might view a visit to distant relatives living in the empty countryside. At one time he took his role as an ambassador very seriously, but now he feels he has fulfilled his duties just so long as he doesn't actively harm his peoples' reputation.

Although he relates to humans in most regards, the Specimen has no concept of romance. In his species males and females don't have any particular attraction to one another and reproduce purely as an act of biological necessity, and their young are left to communal clutches with no attachment between parent and child. As a result, though the Specimen fully appreciates friendship, the concept of pairing off with a romantic partner seems incomprehensibly alien to him.

## Powers

The Specimen is a particularly powerful member of an already formidable species, and he has the physical strength and resilience to trade blows with the toughest villains. But his most impressive genetic trait is his ability to rapidly evolve his cells. He can adapt to the attacks of his foes, particularly energy attacks, which allow him to draw strength and speed from multiple exposures. Against melee fighters he can change the cells of his skin into powerful armor (his default state) or cause them to erupt in venomous spines to sting the fists of his attackers. He can also fire these spines in an area to catch elusive targets, and even spit pure venom on his foes. All of these abilities, along with some other esoteric aquatic powers, change in strength to suit the situation he finds himself in.

The Specimen can control sea life and even cause them to rapidly mutate to aid him. His favorite use of this ability is to stick tiny sea urchins on a surface and then make them grow to several feet in diameter. He can do this trick with any form of aquatic animal, though obviously this has little utility for most land-based encounters. He normally carries a few sea urchins, each as small as a penny, on his person to deploy in battle.

When in water, the Specimen can make use of rapid regeneration, echolocation, and nightvision. He can also smell blood at a distance of several miles. While on land, he still has access to these senses, but they are far less powerful in range and scope. He has a fantastic swim speed and can go a full day without breathing (which he submerge his head to do).

## Weaknesses

The Specimen's adaptations can be halted by poison or strong acids, which attack his nervous system and prevent his body from reacting appropriately to his commands. He also has relatively weak mental defenses and has been mind controlled on several occasions; these events have not only exposed his vulnerability to the world, they've also given him a terrible reputation as an "unreliable mutant" and he is mistrusted by law enforcement and other heroes.