From Handbook of the Union Universe

As always, this page is a work in progress!

"May the Light guide you on your path."
The Hearthbourne
Player: @Aurrius
Origin:	Magic
Archetype:	Scrapper
Level:	50
Primary Set:	Dual Blades
Secondary Set:	Willpower
Epic Set:	Body Mastery
Personal Data
Real Name:	Jay Shields
Identity:	Secret
Aliases:	H, Hearth, Hearthy
Species:	Human
Date of Birth:	2 December 1982
Age:	25
Height:	1,90m/6'4"
Weight:	78kg
Build:	Athletic
Eye Colour:	Blue
Hair Colour:	Blond
Skin Complexion:	Caucasian
Distinguishment:	Always tries to look his best
Medical Status:	Healthy
Financial Status:
Religion:	The Light
Sexuality:	Homosexual
Marital Status:	Single
Known Relatives:	James Shields (father, deceased), Mary Shields-Plato (mother, deceased), Fay Shields (younger sister, deceased)
Biographical Data
Nationality:	British
Ethnicity:	European
Legal Status:	Stateless
Place of Birth:	Cambridge, United Kingdom
Education:	Degree in Ethics and Anthropology
Occupation:	Paladin
Group Affiliations:	The Order of the Dragon, the Mighty Paragon Protectors
Base of Operations:	Lord Valorum's castle
Residency:	Lord Valorum's castle, just outside Croatoa, Paragon City
Known Powers
Mastery of the Holy Light.
Known Abilities
Skillful use of the dual-wielded blades.
Equipment
Two blades and an SVP.
Awards and Collections
None.
Licenses and Certificates
Hero license, driver's license.
IC Accessibility of Article
This information is not accessible IC.

Character concept / User contact info - no heading

Contents 1 Affiliations 2 Personality 3 Motivation 4 Powers 4.1 Dual Blades 4.2 Willpower 4.3 Body Mastery 4.3.1 Leaping 4.3.2 Fitness 4.3.3 Speed 5 Abilities 6 Vulnerabilities 7 Equipment 8 Character History 8.1 First Rikti Invasion 8.2 The aftermath 8.3 Journey to Paragon City 8.4 Meeting with Aurrius Valorum and introduction to the Holy Light 8.5 Training as a Paladin 9 Trivia

[edit] Affiliations

• The Order of the Dragon
• The Mighty Paragon Protectors

[edit] Personality

[edit] Motivation

[edit] Powers

[edit] Dual Blades

Nimble Slash, Power Slice, Ablating Strike, Typhoon's Edge, Blinding Feint, Vengful Slice, Sweeping Strike, One Thousand Cuts

[edit] Willpower

High Pain Tolerance, Mind Over Body, Fast Healing, Indomitable Will, Rise to the Challenge, Quick Recovery, Heightened Senses, Strength of Will

[edit] Body Mastery

Focused Accuracy, Conserve Power

[edit] Leaping

Combat Jumping, Super Jump

[edit] Fitness

Swift, Health, Stamina

[edit] Speed

Hasten

Attributes
	Statistic	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
	Fortitude
	Stamina
	Speed
	Melee
	Blasts
	Support
	Control

[edit] Abilities

[edit] Vulnerabilities

[edit] Equipment

• Two blades, both enchanted by Lord Aurrius Valorum and infused with the power of the Holy Light.
• Light-weight suit of armour, made of an impervium alloy and enchanted by Jay himself.

[edit] Character History

• December 1982 - Jay is born in Cambridge, England.
• December 1983 - Jay's first birthday celebration is also the last real family gathering.
• April 1992 - Regenerative and protective abilities (caused by the Holy Light within Jay), slowly start to develop.
• July 1997 - Jay actually discovers the powers dormant in him for over five years.
• December 1998 - On his sixteenth birthday, Jay tells the few family members and friends he's gay.
• November 2000 - Jay's best friend Ricky dies from a small nuclear reaction which somehow started within Ricky's own body.
• May 2002 - The First Rikti Invasion, all of Jay's family and friends die when his house is bombed. Jay survived because he was on an errand, and was out of the house.
• June 2002 - Jay comes to Paragon City, after having a strange feeling he should go there.
• June 2002 - The Paladin Aurrius Valorum seeks Jay out in Paragon City, and tells him he's the Hearthbourne and destined to become a great warrior of the Light.
• February 2003 - Jay begins his training as a Paladin.
• July 2007 - The Rikti invade Earth for the second time, and the Second Rikti Invasion begins. Jay fights valiantly alongside hundreds of other heroes to fight the Rikti off, and to avenge to his family and friends.
• November 2007 - Jay joined the Paragon Knights to aid him in his training.
• December 2007 - Jay joined the Mighty Paragon Protectors, to aid him in his training even more.
• December 2007 - Jay passes his final test in order to become a Paladin.
• January 2008 - Lord Aurrius Valorum bestows the title of Master Vindicator of the Order of the Dragon on Jay, making him a full-fledged Paladin.

[edit] First Rikti Invasion

[Taken from Jay Shields’ diary] Cambridge, United Kingdom – Today they finally came. The aliens of whom, or rather, which we did not know the name yet. We simply referred to them as “invaders”. At first, we didn’t notice anything. Until their motherships came. It was like a War of the Worlds scenario. Ships – both large ones, like the motherships, and smaller assault ships – filled the sky above us. Bombs fell everywhere, destroying dozens of buildings killing hundreds of people. Chain reactions ripped through the neighbourhoods, instantly decimating entire streets. I thought I would be safe, hauled up inside my house. My entire family was there. All of my friends were there. We spent a few hours in there, terrified, cold, hungry, tired, ruined remains of what were once happy people. Someone brought in a wounded man. He needed antibiotics badly, or he wouldn’t last the night. Someone had to go and try and find some medication somewhere outside, in the ruins of our neighbourhood. I decided to go and attempt to get some, even though it was very likely I wouldn’t survive my journey. I left the relative safety of our home, and ran off. After having run for a couple of minutes, I heard a massive explosion ripping through the air, and the ground shook beneath my feet. I got thrown in the air, and landed painfully on a sheet of asphalt. I was disorientated, and I tried to get up. After a few attempts I managed to get on my two feet, and I turned around in terror. A huge, black cloud of smoke was rising up from the street I lived in. I didn’t want to think of what had probably happened, and I ran back without a single thought in my head. When I got back, all I could see was a massive crater where my house used to be. It was gone, all of it. Everything. Everyone. My parents. My sister. My entire family. All of my friends. The wounded man. They were all dead. But I survived. I wondered why. I sat down and cried. After a couple of hours of continuous crying I realised I survived for a reason. I had my abilities for a reason.

[edit] The aftermath

[Taken from Jay Shields' diary] Cambridge, United Kingdom - About a day – I’m not sure anymore, it was too chaotic to know anything for sure – after the bombardment, a man came to me. Apparently I had sat there all day long, too frightened and shocked to move or do anything. The man tapped me on my shoulder and asked me if I was alright. I didn’t respond. The rescue worker – I later found out his name was Steve – positioned me on my back, and called the rest of his team. They quickly examined me, and helped me climb into their truck. It was loaded with people, some were injured, others were not. Some women were crying, and there was even a man who looked like a bodybuilder… he was crying quietly. The truck started to move, I felt, and hours went by. I did not think. I didn’t do anything at all, while in the truck. After many hours, we stopped. The doors were opened by Steve and the other rescue workers, and we got out. The injured people were rushed to a makeshift hospital. We were all too shocked to even care about them. I got assigned to a tent, and got a bed. I fell fast asleep instantly.

[edit] Journey to Paragon City

[Taken from Jay Shields' diary] Bristol, United Kingdom - I was later told I had slept for several days in a row. I got up, confused, but my sleepiness had disappeared. Someone told me there was one more ferry, bound for Paragon City in the United States. All the other ferries taking refugees to America had already left, overloaded with passengers. I boarded the ferry, sought out an empty cabin, and locked the door. Finally, some privacy. I sat down on the floor to reflect on what had happened. I ended up meditating for the entire journey. When we finally arrived in Paragon City, I found myself confused, yet again. I didn’t know where I was. I had never been outside the UK, and I had nowhere to go. I got off the ferry, following the crowd that got off with me. I had no idea where to go. My home had been decimated, and I was all by myself, in a city which I had never even heard of before. I followed the crowd. Suddenly, I noticed a flash to my right. I looked up and saw a man in shining armour. I didn’t know why, but I felt an urge to go to him.

[edit] Meeting with Aurrius Valorum and introduction to the Holy Light

[Taken from Jay Shields' diary] Paragon City, United States – I got out of the crowd, and slowly walked towards the man, wondering why I actually did what I was doing. As I approached him, the man told me his name: Aurrius Valorum. It sounded strange to me. A bit medieval if you like. He told me to follow him. So I did. We walked for a while, until we came to a grassy field. A horse appeared from behind a tree and walked towards the man. He got up, and told me to do the same. I had never sat on a horse before. It was an awkward experience for me. We rode along the green railroad line for quite a while. At one point, we actually left the ‘safe’ parts of Paragon City. We went outside the war walls. The man in front of me told me we were going towards his castle, just outside Croatoa. “What is Croatoa?” I asked him. He told me it was an area right outside Paragon City, connected only by the green line. I found out it was inhabited by magical creatures, and that there was a small community of humans, Salamanca. We came out of the forest, and a huge castle rose before my eyes. It was massive. The gate opened automatically as we came closer, and we rode inside. I got off the horse, and Aurrius Valorum took it to the stable. I heard more horses were inside. He came back, and said I should follow him. We entered the castle itself, and there he finally told me what was going on. Apparently he was Aurrius Valorum (as he had already said), and he was the Holy Crusader of the Order of the Dragon, an order of paladins in the fourteenth century. He was fighting a powerful necromancer and was warped to Paragon City, 2000. Two years before the Rikti invasion. The paladins were protectors of the Holy Light, a religion, or rather philosophy, I had never heard of. I asked him what the Holy Light was, and he told me everything I know today. The Light is a philosophy, training its followers to seek perfection within themselves. It is an active practice of virtue, and not a passive worship like most ‘real’ religions. Those who follow it closely gain spiritual awareness and guidance, allowing them to lead others. It’s everywhere, it’s omnipotent, yet it cannot be seen. You can feel it. It’s a holy force connecting every living being on this planet, though it doesn’t manifest itself in most beings. The paladins of the Order of the Dragon are the people in whom it has manifested and they practice it. That’s what I was told. I was the chosen one to become the Hearthbourne. Valorum told me that the Light was the reason I received my powers. I used it as protection. We talked for hours, until it was evening. I was lead to my quarters, and I fell asleep pretty soon.

[edit] Training as a Paladin

[Taken from Jay Shields' diary] Paragon City, United States – I woke up the next day with a feeling of happiness. Despite all the misery of the past few days, I felt happy. I am the Hearthbourne, is what I thought. I got up, and got dressed. I went down and had some breakfast. Then, I went looking for Aurrius Valorum. I couldn’t find him anywhere. I figured I might as well continue looking for him throughout the castle grounds, if only to explore the place. Still, I couldn’t find him anywhere. After walking around for hours, I heard some strange sounds come from the armoury. The sound of steel clashing with steel. I peeked around the corner, and what I saw surprised me. Aurrius Valorum was fighting three massive robot-like things. The robots all wielded huge swords, and so did Valorum. When he spotted me – I’m sure he had already sensed my presence long before – he quickly parried a few of the robots’ attacks and disarmed all of them within seconds. I was stunned. “that is but a fraction of what you will learn, in time,” he said to me, “come, follow me.” And so I followed him. We arrived at a chest, marked with runes. “In this chest are two blades. Runeblades. They are yours to be wielded. Go, take them, feel their power. Deathmourne and Trueflame are yours. I opened the chest and two beautiful blades were there. I took them, and Aurrius Valorum strapped my dual scabbard to my back. I felt amazing. Valorum looked at me, and started telling me about my training: “You, Jay, shall become my apprentice. I will train you as a paladin, a protector of the Light. Thus, you shall refer to me as Master Valorum. I will train you in the art of the Holy Light. How to use it for your own protection, and how to use it protect others. Also, your talent with the dual blades should be incredible. This training will take almost six years. You will finish in January of the year 2008. Then you’ll be a full-fledged paladin, a knight of the Holy Light. But, enough said, we have some important things to do first. Come close to me and stand still. Let me concentrate for a moment, and I will teleport us to Jack Taylor’s office in ShepherdTech.” And so we teleported to ShepherdTech. A tall man in a suit came to me. “Ah, it’s good to finally meet you, Jay. I am Jack Taylor, or Vibroslash to some, and I’m the head of security here at ShepherdTech. Please set inside this machine. It’ll make a 3d-scan of your body, so we can make you a fitting suit of armour.” I stepped inside, and a minute later, Jack told me to come out again. We thanked Jack Taylor, and teleported back. There, Master Valorum left me alone to get a bond with my blades. To feel how to use them. I trained until it was late at night. My real training as a paladin would start in two days. I was already getting excited.

[edit] Trivia

• Tends to get distracted when confronted with handsome men of any kind.
• Has an insatiable love for anything that has to do with the band Muse.
• Same goes for Nightwish, but to a lesser extent.
• Is overprotective when it comes to the Light and his Master Valorum.
• Is still looking for a boyfriend.