Zurgaan

The man known only as Zurgaan was a Mongolian alt artificially imbued with superhuman abilities in experimental procedures by Theodore Lind's shadow lab of Argent Scientific and used as a guardian to the area known as Ükhliin Zam in the Khentii Province of Mongolia, where Theo maintained a converted Claymore mine as a research lab.

### History

Zurgaan was a thief during his younger days and made a living selling his stolen items, which ranged from anything as small as watches or items of food, to technology and cars, he often used axes, said to be from his father and his own failed early profession as an axeman before his life of crime.

At some point Zurgaan got involved with a crime syndicate for a short time where he was branded, but managed to escape their control when the gang were arrested.

He met fellow guardian Nölöö, a young poacher whose family had been arrested, and together they began stealing and selling reindeer, selling their meat illegally and delving further into crime.

When Zurgaan and Nölöö tried to steal Theo's car as he began inspecting the construction of his base, Theo's men captured the young men, but instead of handing them over to the authorities he promised them power if they used their skills to defend the labs.

They agreed and over the course of several months both were subject to various forms of chemical alterations, multiple time nearly dying, but eventually Zurgaan, Nölöö and a young girl Theo had taken in named only "Gunigtai" began experiencing superhuman attributes. Together the three proved effective in keeping local Dukha away from the entrance and would often use their powers to harass a local tavern on a nearby mountainside used by the reindeer herders for free drinks.

He encountered Volt in the tavern while he was on a rescue mission for Clay to rescue Ellie from Theo's facility under Mount Burkhan Khaldun, expecting him to come looking for Clay's daughter whilst sheltering from a snowstorm. When Volt asked about the valley known as Ükhliin Zam Zurgaan asked him to stay away, when Volt said he would find the place anyway, the three attacked him and they fought on the mountainside during a blizzard.

He was killed when Volt unleashed a massive crescent arc of energy from his sword. While Zurgaan's axes formed a shield in front of him that bent away most of the kinetic force but excess electricity was channelled either side of his axes into his arms, causing them to burn away and enter his heart. Eventually he stopped breathing.

### Personality

Zurgaan was a proud and stubborn man, he had a strong will and by nature was greedy, always wanting more and would happily pursue criminal paths to get his dreamed-of fortune and power. Zurgaan's alt powers made him even more proud and his confidence made him one of the most stable alts known.

### Appearance

Zurgaan dressed in whatever kept him warm and comfortable, but often he wore a large, brown leather trenchcoat, the insides of which had pockets for his 6 axes. He had short, usually stringy hair with a high crows peak, he had stubble and a small moustache at the sides of his mouth and beard on his chin. His face has several small cuts on one side of his jaw and he had slashes across his arms and the sides of his body. Zurgaan had a small tattoo on the right side of his neck which said "Dog" in Uyghur; This may have been a brand by a crime syndicate to identify him, although where, when and his history with any crime gangs was unknown.

### Powers and Abilities

**Powers**

Zurgaan was an alt, artificially altered through a series of chemical enhancements of multiple serums created by combining individualised neonic protein strands, NHX, with the alien DNA sequences from Elliot, taken orally, injected directly into his brain stem and through gaseous inhalation for several months. The results nearly killed him several times, but as he pulled through he developed superhuman abilities.

**Exotic Black Matter Imbuement:** Zurgaan developed the ability to imbue objects, notably his hatchets, with a form of what Theo called "extradimensional exotic black matter", by touch, causing said objects to turn jet black whilst surrounded by a dark purple glow; the imbued objects exhibited increased density as if further matter had been added to the molecular structure of the objects whilst maintaining their original size and shape, making them extremely heavy and at their apex and almost indestructible. In the case of his hatchets they displayed enhanced sharpness and cutting power, able to slice through stone and metal with minimal resistance. After two or three minutes this "matter charge" would fade from the object, requiring Zurgaan to again recharge the objects.

* ***Imbued Object Manipulation:*** Despite these objects becoming extremely dense and supremely heavy, the imbued matter generated by Zurgaan's touch seemed to display a type of quantum entanglement with his own mind, allowing him to both lift and strike as if their increased weight was not applicable to him, but also enabled him to mentally influence their direction at will; in the case of his hatchets these spun like buzz saws which provided increased cutting power and aided him in propelling the weapons through the air better. Once the matter charged faded, the objects would no longer be under his control until he touches and recharges them again.
* **Flight:** He has a few time demonstrated that he could charge his clothing and shoes to carry him through the air so long as he keeps up the charge.

**Abilities**

* ***Martial Artist:*** He knew some hand-to-hand marital arts styles, particularly wushu.
* **Subterfuge Master:** He was skilled at deflecting attention and misdirection.
* ***Master Thief:*** He learned to steal and sell goods on the black market or to private byers or other criminal organisations.
* **Axemaster:** Zurgaan was a master of his hatchets, using an old Nordic style of axe-fighting and throwing known as Glima and combining it with other forms of Asian melee weapon styles, particularly hook sword-styles of wushu. Even without his powers Zurgaan was a highly skilled opponent.
* **Multilingual:** He could speak various Mongolian dialects, English, Turkish and Chinese.

### Weapons and Equipment

* **Hatchets:** Zurgaan used six, well-balanced woodcutting hatchets about 35 cm long with a 3.1/4in cutting edge, though not designed for combat, his skill in wielding the small axes in martial arts styles, combined with his powers made them as deadly as any weapons.
* **Multi-holster Coat:** A warm trenchcoat altered by Zurgaan and Nölöö to feature holsters on the inside to hold his hatchets. The coat itself was treated to withstand extreme temperatures.

### Limitations and Weaknesses

Like many alts his powers were inherently unstable, even through the use of Elliot's alien DNA as a stabilisation agent, while he was perhaps one of the most stable alts ever created, his hands still began to exhibit rashes and soreness with overuse of his power, and took a toll on his mind, getting headaches and feeling drained the more he used his power, though this would not affect him or his skills often, putting up with the pain.

Six hatchets of around 35cm long seem to be just under the limit of his imbuement at the same time, and could probably empower one or two more, but found six a perfect balance of concentration-to-focus.

Zurgaan was overconfident, in most cases he was mostly only concerned about getting rich, above that simply feeling more powerful, but did actually show some compassion when Guni toppled over with overuse of her power, and actually may have started to care for her.