Martin Stein (May 2009)

A lesson in History or Do you believe in what you see?

Martins history is a twisted mess inside his mind, for being what he is he has no clear sense of time. Not even his memories have been exempted from the unpredictable powers he bears. Therefore he started keeping journal early on, which is one of the most precious objects he bears. If you dare open it you will find that Martin grew up in a family whose life was centered around the biggest sister one could ever have. A riverboat. He grew up loving streams and shallows, the small movements of springs, sunshine on the water. A strange thing to call home, but it was a quiet time of peace and did not last long. The pages of that time are mostly left empty.

His powers manifested during his military service, when an accident occurred that killed all of the other members of his training group. Since then the pages of his books have been added to many times, but certain tings are still engraved in his memory, as there was a cold war on mutants in his homeland, during which many mutants simply disappeared, never to be heard of again. A period of time that prompted Martin to adapt a cool and rational personality as well as a cameleonesque ability at hiding in plain sight, which even extends to his character itself. He also adopted the profession of gardening, first as a cover later as a way to make his living, because certain circumstances prevented him from continuing the footsteps of his parents.

Ten years after the accident and a short episode of peace later, he decided on emigrating to the US, where he literally started a new chapter in his book. He started by meeting a Cat and learning about the fractions of the city and continued researching down that path. He even met some representatives of the Mansion by accident and even was arrested on a murder charge with one of them. After spending a night in prison he now wants to find out about the background behind the arrest. (Did he commit it? See for yourself!)

Recently the Mansion has also found itself a new grounds keeper and gardener. Coincidence?


Powers:

This thing all things devours:
Birds, beasts, trees, flowers;
Gnaws iron, bites steel,
Grinds hard stones to meal;
Slays king, ruins town,
And beats high mountain down.

(Tolkien, The Hobbit)

Martin is a Timemancer of little power. But as time itself happens to be a rather dangerous subject, even the nimble powers he controls are of considerable effect. Not only can Martin change what some people could call his personal time, effectively changing the speed at which things around him happen and how he perceives them to happen, but his entire being can be called timeless. There is no past or future for him. He is. This is the resaon for his fragmented memory, as well as his apparently constant age, despite him being a lot older then what he looks. The certainly most dangerous aspect of his powers is the gift to freeze himself and something else -by chance- in time on touch. In his experience most minds do not last the eons that are seconds and it is the primary reason for him being quite uneasy about both his powers and physical contact.


Threads to see:

A complete archive of Martin's threads can be found of his character sheet page.