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Life and Light: Shadow-Force Reborn (Updated May 8, 2019)
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<blockquote data-quote="The Shadow" data-source="post: 4925089" data-attributes="member: 16760"><p><strong>Jon's Backstory</strong></p><p></p><p>[The previous post was what I knew about Photon long before the current game started. Here's some stuff on his past, that I wrote up recently. (He'd always been a supporting character, so I never came up with a detailed backstory until recently.) I've snipped a few hook suggestions that the GM may or may not do anything with.]</p><p></p><p>Jon was born into an upper-middle class family in Oklahoma, the Clarks (Jack and Patricia). Things were pretty good for him in his early years; he read voraciously and began to show signs of a formidable intellect. But when he was seven years old, his parents experimented with cocaine and became hardcore addicts. Things rapidly spiralled down into a nightmare; his parents got more and more involved in illegality, losing most of their money.</p><p></p><p>The life of the family finally unravelled with both his parents were imprisoned for drug dealing and manufacture. Jon, along with his sister Cindy (three years younger) and brother Jason (five years younger), were placed in foster care. He was nine years old at the time.</p><p></p><p>Already traumatized by his parents' spectacular fall, Jon only withdrew into himself more as he bounced from one foster home to another. On a couple occasions where no foster family was available, he even spent short stints in a juvey facility, even though he'd done nothing wrong. (I regret to say that this actually happens to such kids.) The foster parents he stayed with varied from decent to uncaring to mildly abusive (mostly verbally), though most were better than his birth parents. He didn't see his siblings much.</p><p></p><p>Luckily, he finally found a stable home with the Winters, a kindly blue-collar couple (Tom and Alice) who adopted him when he was thirteen. Though he was too intelligent to have done less than adequately in school up to that point, he soon began to leave every school curriculum within reach in the dust. He skipped a grade, then another. Already alienated from his peers, this did nothing to endear him further.</p><p></p><p>The Winters family had one natural child, a daughter named Michelle who was a year younger than Jon. There were also a few other adopted foster kids - Dustin, a sullenly angry youth a couple years older; Karen, a quiet girl the same age; and Barry, a painfully hyperactive boy a couple years younger. (Barry and Karen were already there when Jon arrived; Dustin came shortly after.) Jon also saw Cindy and Jason once or twice a year.</p><p></p><p>The family was loving, though definitely not without frictions and even tragedy. Dustin resented Jon's academic success as he resented just about everything else; in his late teens he had several brushes with the law (assault charges) though he has since straightened out and is being groomed to take over Tom's general-contractor business.</p><p></p><p>Barry (who is black) was friendly to all when he could stop bouncing off the walls. His infectious friendliness has served him in good stead as a salesman; after Jon, he is the most financially successful of the family, and probably the happiest.</p><p></p><p>Michelle oscillated between phases of resenting her brothers and appreciating them. (One of the few things the three young men could agree upon was to protect her fiercely from all comers. Though Jon, for his part, wasn't much of a threat to bullies, he spoke up for her and used a needle wit on her behalf at times.) She and Karen were quite close, though, bosom companions. Michelle is now happily married and a housewife with kids.</p><p></p><p>Karen sank deeper and deeper into depression despite the Winters' best efforts and committed suicide at the age of sixteen. This tragic event drew the makeshift family together and welded them into one.</p><p></p><p>None of the Winters know about Jon's powers, and he has no intention of telling them. Dustin, in particular, might find this "unfairness" to be the last straw. (Though in fairness to him, he's grown a lot. Perhaps it wouldn't matter as much to him as Jon fears.)</p><p></p><p>As for Jon's biological siblings, Cindy and Jason, they have both turned to petty crime (drugs, mostly) and are both in prison - Cindy in Oklahoma and Jason in Colorado. Jon visits them when he can, though they have little to say to each other.</p><p></p><p>Jon did his undergraduate work in physics at CalTech on a full-ride scholarship, and got his doctorate from the University of Michigan. His dissertation on loop quantum gravity made a major splash in the literature, and got him lucrative job offers from a number of universities. He settled down as a full professor at the University of Washington in Seattle at the tender age of 22. (He is now 25 years old.)</p><p></p><p>Jon does volunteer work in Seattle youth shelters and juvenile facilities. Though he's very awkward and shy, he's also sincere and has been through the same wringer they have; some kids warm up to him. Others have tried to scam him, but he's not easy to fool.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="The Shadow, post: 4925089, member: 16760"] [b]Jon's Backstory[/b] [The previous post was what I knew about Photon long before the current game started. Here's some stuff on his past, that I wrote up recently. (He'd always been a supporting character, so I never came up with a detailed backstory until recently.) I've snipped a few hook suggestions that the GM may or may not do anything with.] Jon was born into an upper-middle class family in Oklahoma, the Clarks (Jack and Patricia). Things were pretty good for him in his early years; he read voraciously and began to show signs of a formidable intellect. But when he was seven years old, his parents experimented with cocaine and became hardcore addicts. Things rapidly spiralled down into a nightmare; his parents got more and more involved in illegality, losing most of their money. The life of the family finally unravelled with both his parents were imprisoned for drug dealing and manufacture. Jon, along with his sister Cindy (three years younger) and brother Jason (five years younger), were placed in foster care. He was nine years old at the time. Already traumatized by his parents' spectacular fall, Jon only withdrew into himself more as he bounced from one foster home to another. On a couple occasions where no foster family was available, he even spent short stints in a juvey facility, even though he'd done nothing wrong. (I regret to say that this actually happens to such kids.) The foster parents he stayed with varied from decent to uncaring to mildly abusive (mostly verbally), though most were better than his birth parents. He didn't see his siblings much. Luckily, he finally found a stable home with the Winters, a kindly blue-collar couple (Tom and Alice) who adopted him when he was thirteen. Though he was too intelligent to have done less than adequately in school up to that point, he soon began to leave every school curriculum within reach in the dust. He skipped a grade, then another. Already alienated from his peers, this did nothing to endear him further. The Winters family had one natural child, a daughter named Michelle who was a year younger than Jon. There were also a few other adopted foster kids - Dustin, a sullenly angry youth a couple years older; Karen, a quiet girl the same age; and Barry, a painfully hyperactive boy a couple years younger. (Barry and Karen were already there when Jon arrived; Dustin came shortly after.) Jon also saw Cindy and Jason once or twice a year. The family was loving, though definitely not without frictions and even tragedy. Dustin resented Jon's academic success as he resented just about everything else; in his late teens he had several brushes with the law (assault charges) though he has since straightened out and is being groomed to take over Tom's general-contractor business. Barry (who is black) was friendly to all when he could stop bouncing off the walls. His infectious friendliness has served him in good stead as a salesman; after Jon, he is the most financially successful of the family, and probably the happiest. Michelle oscillated between phases of resenting her brothers and appreciating them. (One of the few things the three young men could agree upon was to protect her fiercely from all comers. Though Jon, for his part, wasn't much of a threat to bullies, he spoke up for her and used a needle wit on her behalf at times.) She and Karen were quite close, though, bosom companions. Michelle is now happily married and a housewife with kids. Karen sank deeper and deeper into depression despite the Winters' best efforts and committed suicide at the age of sixteen. This tragic event drew the makeshift family together and welded them into one. None of the Winters know about Jon's powers, and he has no intention of telling them. Dustin, in particular, might find this "unfairness" to be the last straw. (Though in fairness to him, he's grown a lot. Perhaps it wouldn't matter as much to him as Jon fears.) As for Jon's biological siblings, Cindy and Jason, they have both turned to petty crime (drugs, mostly) and are both in prison - Cindy in Oklahoma and Jason in Colorado. Jon visits them when he can, though they have little to say to each other. Jon did his undergraduate work in physics at CalTech on a full-ride scholarship, and got his doctorate from the University of Michigan. His dissertation on loop quantum gravity made a major splash in the literature, and got him lucrative job offers from a number of universities. He settled down as a full professor at the University of Washington in Seattle at the tender age of 22. (He is now 25 years old.) Jon does volunteer work in Seattle youth shelters and juvenile facilities. Though he's very awkward and shy, he's also sincere and has been through the same wringer they have; some kids warm up to him. Others have tried to scam him, but he's not easy to fool. [/QUOTE]
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