Blake O'Crowley

*For Blake's Villainy & Virtue counterpart, see here*

**Blake Joseph O'Crowley** or **Paladin** was a character in *Iniquity and Integrity,* created and portrayed by Adam.

 Blake died protecting Heartania from a nuclear meltdown caused by Fat Man, teleporting the power plant and himself into deep space.

## Biography

### Before *The Paladin*

#### Family Life

Son of power couple; retired hardware developer; Michael O'Crowley and retired software developer; Joseph Harroway of cyber-tycoon Chriertech, Blake was never much of a stranger to wealth. For the first seventeen years of his life he had a very privileged existence, he would often go on extravagant holidays and trips out on the family yacht and had anything a young boy could every want, and through this he grew close-minded, inconsiderate of others of less fortune and ultimately blind to the outside world as he had no desire to go out into it.

But shortly after his eighteenth birthday, Blake would experience something that would change his outlook on the world forever...

#### A New Outlook

His butler; Sebastian was stabbed and killed while defending the home from thieves. This tragedy opened Blake's eyes and his perception was brutally changed. He saw the world for the corruption and pain in it and sought to make a change in his over-engorged life for a much simpler one. His parents were, of course, horrified to hear that their son wished to live in *poverty* (a drastic hyperbole) and forbade him and so a compromise was made.

Blake left his home in Oxfordshire and renounced his place at Oxford University before the beginning of his first term. Taking a small fortune (nothing compared to that of his parents) as per the compromise, Blake moved to the booming American metropolis of Heartania where he would seek to keep a low profile and perform charity work for the needy, setting himself up in a humble apartment. Though these goals of charity work were dashed as Blake found his true calling.

#### Becoming *The Paladin*

As the streets of Heartania erupted into chaos, Blake happened upon an idea: he sought to be like the super humans he saw combating (and causing) the chaos of Heartania and his childhood hero; Argent Mind. Visiting his parents in Oxfordshire, Blake stole the long-since-discontinued plans for an industrial power suit and - back in Heartania - spent months re-purposing the suit and militarizing it; slimming down to match his slender build and incorporating remote activation.

Then, months after chaos began the Paladin-1 suit was complete. Donning the alias; The Paladin from back in his hacking days, Blake O'Crowley sought to take to the streets to combat crime.

### Life in Heartania

#### Heartania Nuclear Disaster

As Fat Man broke into the Heartania Nuclear Power Plant to acquire uranium to empower himself - slaughtering the workers - a nuclear meltdown was initiated. In response, Blake transformed his near-perfected warp drive into a warp *bomb*, capable of teleporting full sections of land to wherever he designates. Blake sought to warp the entirety of the plant into deep space to prevent the destruction of Heartania, as an unstable last resort.

Blake confronted Fat Man but was unable to stop him in his powered form and thus was forced to resort to using the unstable warp bomb, saving Heartania by teleporting the plant into space, but sucking himself in in the process.

## Appearance

Standing at six feet, Blake was of an athletic yet slender build. He had short, somewhat curly, dark blonde hair.

### Casual Wear

Blake could be found dressing in buttoned-down shirts of the white, black and grey variety tucked into a pair of black trousers, also with black shoes.

### Personality

Nowadays, Blake is a friendly, outgoing and ultimately humbled character. Though in his head he is always processing something, be that today's lecture notes or how to escape the current situation. While intelligent, observant and pragmatic, Blake isn't the best at reading people. Despite his friendly disposition, Blake isn't good with people and despite his good looks he isn't too awfully popular, mainly due to his own desire to be such and keep a low profile. As he is an excellent thinker, Blake is therefore curses with over-thinking most things and will often dwell on things too much.

## The Paladin-1 Powersuit

Based on discontinued plans of an industrial guidance exoskeleton, the Paladin-1 Powersuit was developed by Blake O'Crowley to allow him to fight crime and corruption, wherever it may hide. A tightly fitting, super powerful armour would mold and grow around Blake as he combined his *Paladin Braces*, transforming him into The Paladin.

Segmented over what resembles (but definitely is not) simple white spandex are the most powerful parts of the Paladin-1 - matte white and green-accented. These segments are sharp; ideal for slashing and slicing with forearms and calves. Blades are also known to extend from the elbows, knees and fingertips of the suit.

### Strengths

The Paladin-1 enhances strength, agility, mobility and durability - providing built-in life support. The suit can protect the user under great pressure as well as from temperatures up to 80 degrees Celsius.

### The Valor Engine

The Paladin-1 runs off of a clean power source developed by Blake himself; the Valor Engine. The Valor Engine generates energy from sheer willpower and fighting spirit. As the suit does not run on electricity, the Paladin-1 is immune to EMP attacks.

### Weaknesses

There is one large flaw to the Paladin-1 suit, it offers little protection from non-elemental magics such as light, darkness and telepathy as Blake has had little to no contact with such forces in order to record the necessary data to program in a tolerance.  In the unlikely event of power failure, the suit immediately de-powers, retracts, shocks the user and requires immediate repair.

## Paraphernalia

### Equipment

* Paladin Braces: A necessary tool for The Paladin, combination of the two braces would transform Blake into his costumed form. They too run on Valor and are mostly white, flat and plastic looking. Adorned on each of them is a small golden profile of a war hammer; The Paladin's insignia from back in Blake's hacking days.
* Quarterstaff: A keen fighter, Blake was trained in the art of staff combat. At all times, Blake carried a collapsible quarterstaff; collapsing to no smaller than half a bicycle's handlebars. This staff could also separate into two smaller escrima sticks and came equipped with a expandable glider for air mobility.
* Grappling Hook: Using Valor as a power source, The Paladin could use the Paladin-1's sheer strength to propel himself through the air with a grappling hook, greatly used with his quarterstaff's glider.
* Heads-Up Display: In conjunction with his preexisting engineering skills, The Paladin's HUD could be used to deconstruct most appliances and machines mentally (as long as they aren't *too* complex), it can also scan for heat signatures, provide night-vision and lock onto footprints or said-heat signatures.
* Shock-Absorbing Boots: The Paladin-1 comes equipped with shock absorbing boots, meaning that little damage is sustained on impact with the ground and minimal damage is dealt to the environment, along with little noise created.

### Transport

* Golf Balls: Two small metal balls - no bigger than golf balls - possess the ability to transform into a Valor-fueled, lightweight motorcycle for increased convenience. This sports two would form; a more stylised form for The Paladin and a more normal looking form for Blake O'Crowley the civilian.

## Trivia

* Blake's abilities may or may not have been inspired by The Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
* Interesting, Blake's name contains many hidden meaning:
	+ Blake can be translated from Old English to mean both "dark" and "pale" as well as "strong" or "bold".
	+ O'Crowley is the anglicised equivalent of "O Cruadhlaoich" which means "descendant of hardy hero" as well as "forest of crows".