Querl Dox (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
outthink_death) wrote2015-09-19 04:26 pm
outthink_death) wrote2015-09-19 04:26 pm
Midsyn App
CHARACTER INFORMATION
NAME: Querl Dox aka Brainiac 5
CANON: Legion of Super Heroes - Threeboot Continuity
CANON POINT: Issue 31, the Dominators are defeated and Earth has been saved yet again, while the Legion has Supergirl as their new leader.
CHARACTER AGE: Unknown, guessed to be around early 20s.
HISTORY: DC Wiki Link
PERSONALITY: The only superhero team in the 31st century, the Legion of Super Heroes is seen as a beacon of hope and change by the idealistic youth of the United Planets, and many of the team’s members are equally as idealistic and hopeful for the changes that they can bring about given the chance.
Brainiac 5 is not one of them. Despite his team’s feelings on the matter, Brainiac sees himself as a man with a task to complete, and one he intends to perform to the best of his ability and no matter what lengths he may have to go to in order to see the Legion’s goals achieved. As such, he’s rather ruthless when it comes to achieving these goals - or his own, often more complicated and questionable ones - having little problem with using any tool available to achieve what he believes to be necessary. He is not above twisting Legion leader Cosmic Boy’s words to suit his own ends, for example, choosing to interpret an order to keep communication open between Legionnaires at all times rather literally when it gave him the chance to show all members of the team what their leader might say about them behind closed doors in the hopes of inciting enough in-house squabbling to allow himself a chance to take over command. He’s also shown the lengths he’s willing to go to are perhaps only just shy of outright villainy if he believes his plans to be the best course of action, even going so far as to render a criminal comatose in order to use his mind for one of Brainiac 5’s experiments.
Part of this ruthless and often casual disregard of other’s morals or wellbeing is due to his upbringing. As a Coluan, Brainiac 5 grew up in a society of super geniuses who valued knowledge and intelligence above emotional connections, and as a genius among his people as well - perhaps the smartest mind in the known galaxy even - Brainiac has a dismissive view of most other people. He knows he is very, very smart and can routinely solve problems that have stumped others for years, but it means he’s often frustrated with trying to explain his reasoning to others who mightn’t be willing or even able to follow it. Someone from a different upbringing might realise this flaw and try to work harder to counteract it, find ways to understand others and explain themselves at their level. But Coluans are, by and large, a fairly arrogant species and Brainiac 5 even more so. Rather than admit his difficulty relating to others or empathising, he chooses instead to see it as a flaw on their part for not trying to understand him or, if they cannot, simply accepting blindly what he tells them and leaving him alone. He often expresses frustration that the Legion question his conclusions when they seem so obvious to him, particularly when the same team member might accept the same conclusion drawn from clairvoyance instead, however his own problems with relating to others result in him tending towards insults and arrogance instead of simply trying to explain himself or address these problems more productively. In his mind, he shouldn’t have to bend to accommodate others, they should be trying to work with him instead.
Another such instance which showed Brainiac 5’s difficulties in dealing with more emotional situations was his reaction to the death of his teammate, Dream Girl, who he’d started to develop feelings towards. Letting others in is something Brainiac struggles with normally, even his ‘friends’ in the Legion are marked more by how he doesn’t insult them as much as others, so his affections towards Dream Girl were shown more in his attempts to cheer her up on occasion (usually through the use of science or mathematics to try and show her a situation mightn’t be as hopeless as she’d thought - all while vehemently denying that it was an affectionate gesture in the slightest) and his tolerance of her presence. When she was later killed in an attack on their headquarters, Brainiac 5 suddenly found that he had no way of dealing with how he felt. Talking about his emotions simply isn’t something his species do; they prefer to approach matters as problems which need to be solved. This was how he approached Dream Girl’s death as well, treating death itself as something which he could quantify, control, and eventually ‘solve’, resulting in him working without rest for some time (the amount is unclear but considering how many issues pass it is likely several months) to come up with what he believed to be a way to do just that, all while keeping up with his normal duties as a Legionnaire. When the project seemed to fail at first, Brainiac 5 had something of a breakdown in response; he couldn’t deal with the idea that he might have lost the person he’d allowed himself to care for and attacked his teammates in his anger, coming rather close to killing one of them before he was stopped.
Dream Girl’s death also exposed one of Brainiac 5’s other weaknesses; while he’s the smartest mind in their galaxy, this also means that he’s not exactly certain what to do if he runs into a problem that he can’t find a solution to. His arrogance means that he won’t allow himself to turn for others for help beyond expecting them to follow his plans, so when he cannot come up with a plan on his own, he also can’t bring himself to ask others for assistance or advice. In his mind, he is the smartest person alive and should be able to solve the problem himself without aid, failing to take into account the fact that he is also limited by his own creativity and the knowledge he has.
Finally, it is worth noting that while Brainiac 5 is exceptionally arrogant and smug and has difficulty empathising with others, he’s not completely incapable of forming friendships or coming to respect others, even if grudgingly. While he often gave Cosmic Boy a good deal of trouble in the Legion, he freely admits it is because he has a measure of respect for all that the other man has done and describes the relationship between them as ‘complementary rivals’ - he believes he would make a better leader but can see Cosmic Boy’s worth as well, and sets aside the conflict between them easily when it proves detrimental to the Legion’s goals. He also forms a friendship with Invisible Kid, a human boy who is also a gifted scientist and talented enough that he’s also one of the few people Brainiac 5 ever compliments in the series. His friendship or respect isn’t easily gained, largely due to his own shortcomings when it comes to others, but it is possible and he does seem to value those he gets along with in his own way, and their presence does in turn start to help him to open up more to others too over time.
Which is of course why he’s going to have so much fun losing all of it and then having to deal with the Maeve.
ABILITIES: Brainiac 5 is a super genius of the highest scale in his canon. He has a 12th level intellect and to put this in perspective, he states at one point that Earth, as a whole collectively, has a 9th level intellect. He primarily focuses on invention and hard sciences with his intellect, and is the sole inventor of a great number of devices that the Legion use daily, including the flight rings standard for all Legionnaires and his own personal shield devices. He has also come up with ways to counteract all of his teammates’ abilities through technology as well, and considering they include some rather powerful superheroes, that implies that given time and resources, Brainiac 5 could be significantly powerful as well.
However without his technology, Brainiac 5 is simply very, very smart and very, very aware of it. He can perform calculations in his mind faster than any computer that exists in the 31st century and is capable of running analyses on several different things at once as well as hold conversations if he choose - it’s just that with his low opinion of just about everyone, he doesn’t often choose to. In addition to his thorough grounding in sciences, Brainiac 5 also possesses a sharp memory, allowing him to keep track of things he finds relevant and piece them together towards his goals later. Of course, if he doesn’t find them relevant...
SINS & VIRTUES: Pride - Brainiac 5 is 90% pure ego of course this is first choice ok.
Wrath - Anger tends to underlay a lot of what Brainy does as well; he’s generally snappish most of the time but occasionally shows outright rage during instances that strike particular nerves, such as Cosmic Boy breaking into his lab or Element Lad telling him that Dream Girl was dead and gone when Brainiac 5 didn’t want to hear it.
Greed - His thirst for knowledge and power falls under this; Brainy spends a good chunk of the series trying to overthrow Cosmic Boy as Legion leader, and does some rather nasty things in pursuing that goal as well.
NAME: Querl Dox aka Brainiac 5
CANON: Legion of Super Heroes - Threeboot Continuity
CANON POINT: Issue 31, the Dominators are defeated and Earth has been saved yet again, while the Legion has Supergirl as their new leader.
CHARACTER AGE: Unknown, guessed to be around early 20s.
HISTORY: DC Wiki Link
PERSONALITY: The only superhero team in the 31st century, the Legion of Super Heroes is seen as a beacon of hope and change by the idealistic youth of the United Planets, and many of the team’s members are equally as idealistic and hopeful for the changes that they can bring about given the chance.
Brainiac 5 is not one of them. Despite his team’s feelings on the matter, Brainiac sees himself as a man with a task to complete, and one he intends to perform to the best of his ability and no matter what lengths he may have to go to in order to see the Legion’s goals achieved. As such, he’s rather ruthless when it comes to achieving these goals - or his own, often more complicated and questionable ones - having little problem with using any tool available to achieve what he believes to be necessary. He is not above twisting Legion leader Cosmic Boy’s words to suit his own ends, for example, choosing to interpret an order to keep communication open between Legionnaires at all times rather literally when it gave him the chance to show all members of the team what their leader might say about them behind closed doors in the hopes of inciting enough in-house squabbling to allow himself a chance to take over command. He’s also shown the lengths he’s willing to go to are perhaps only just shy of outright villainy if he believes his plans to be the best course of action, even going so far as to render a criminal comatose in order to use his mind for one of Brainiac 5’s experiments.
Part of this ruthless and often casual disregard of other’s morals or wellbeing is due to his upbringing. As a Coluan, Brainiac 5 grew up in a society of super geniuses who valued knowledge and intelligence above emotional connections, and as a genius among his people as well - perhaps the smartest mind in the known galaxy even - Brainiac has a dismissive view of most other people. He knows he is very, very smart and can routinely solve problems that have stumped others for years, but it means he’s often frustrated with trying to explain his reasoning to others who mightn’t be willing or even able to follow it. Someone from a different upbringing might realise this flaw and try to work harder to counteract it, find ways to understand others and explain themselves at their level. But Coluans are, by and large, a fairly arrogant species and Brainiac 5 even more so. Rather than admit his difficulty relating to others or empathising, he chooses instead to see it as a flaw on their part for not trying to understand him or, if they cannot, simply accepting blindly what he tells them and leaving him alone. He often expresses frustration that the Legion question his conclusions when they seem so obvious to him, particularly when the same team member might accept the same conclusion drawn from clairvoyance instead, however his own problems with relating to others result in him tending towards insults and arrogance instead of simply trying to explain himself or address these problems more productively. In his mind, he shouldn’t have to bend to accommodate others, they should be trying to work with him instead.
Another such instance which showed Brainiac 5’s difficulties in dealing with more emotional situations was his reaction to the death of his teammate, Dream Girl, who he’d started to develop feelings towards. Letting others in is something Brainiac struggles with normally, even his ‘friends’ in the Legion are marked more by how he doesn’t insult them as much as others, so his affections towards Dream Girl were shown more in his attempts to cheer her up on occasion (usually through the use of science or mathematics to try and show her a situation mightn’t be as hopeless as she’d thought - all while vehemently denying that it was an affectionate gesture in the slightest) and his tolerance of her presence. When she was later killed in an attack on their headquarters, Brainiac 5 suddenly found that he had no way of dealing with how he felt. Talking about his emotions simply isn’t something his species do; they prefer to approach matters as problems which need to be solved. This was how he approached Dream Girl’s death as well, treating death itself as something which he could quantify, control, and eventually ‘solve’, resulting in him working without rest for some time (the amount is unclear but considering how many issues pass it is likely several months) to come up with what he believed to be a way to do just that, all while keeping up with his normal duties as a Legionnaire. When the project seemed to fail at first, Brainiac 5 had something of a breakdown in response; he couldn’t deal with the idea that he might have lost the person he’d allowed himself to care for and attacked his teammates in his anger, coming rather close to killing one of them before he was stopped.
Dream Girl’s death also exposed one of Brainiac 5’s other weaknesses; while he’s the smartest mind in their galaxy, this also means that he’s not exactly certain what to do if he runs into a problem that he can’t find a solution to. His arrogance means that he won’t allow himself to turn for others for help beyond expecting them to follow his plans, so when he cannot come up with a plan on his own, he also can’t bring himself to ask others for assistance or advice. In his mind, he is the smartest person alive and should be able to solve the problem himself without aid, failing to take into account the fact that he is also limited by his own creativity and the knowledge he has.
Finally, it is worth noting that while Brainiac 5 is exceptionally arrogant and smug and has difficulty empathising with others, he’s not completely incapable of forming friendships or coming to respect others, even if grudgingly. While he often gave Cosmic Boy a good deal of trouble in the Legion, he freely admits it is because he has a measure of respect for all that the other man has done and describes the relationship between them as ‘complementary rivals’ - he believes he would make a better leader but can see Cosmic Boy’s worth as well, and sets aside the conflict between them easily when it proves detrimental to the Legion’s goals. He also forms a friendship with Invisible Kid, a human boy who is also a gifted scientist and talented enough that he’s also one of the few people Brainiac 5 ever compliments in the series. His friendship or respect isn’t easily gained, largely due to his own shortcomings when it comes to others, but it is possible and he does seem to value those he gets along with in his own way, and their presence does in turn start to help him to open up more to others too over time.
Which is of course why he’s going to have so much fun losing all of it and then having to deal with the Maeve.
ABILITIES: Brainiac 5 is a super genius of the highest scale in his canon. He has a 12th level intellect and to put this in perspective, he states at one point that Earth, as a whole collectively, has a 9th level intellect. He primarily focuses on invention and hard sciences with his intellect, and is the sole inventor of a great number of devices that the Legion use daily, including the flight rings standard for all Legionnaires and his own personal shield devices. He has also come up with ways to counteract all of his teammates’ abilities through technology as well, and considering they include some rather powerful superheroes, that implies that given time and resources, Brainiac 5 could be significantly powerful as well.
However without his technology, Brainiac 5 is simply very, very smart and very, very aware of it. He can perform calculations in his mind faster than any computer that exists in the 31st century and is capable of running analyses on several different things at once as well as hold conversations if he choose - it’s just that with his low opinion of just about everyone, he doesn’t often choose to. In addition to his thorough grounding in sciences, Brainiac 5 also possesses a sharp memory, allowing him to keep track of things he finds relevant and piece them together towards his goals later. Of course, if he doesn’t find them relevant...
SINS & VIRTUES: Pride - Brainiac 5 is 90% pure ego of course this is first choice ok.
Wrath - Anger tends to underlay a lot of what Brainy does as well; he’s generally snappish most of the time but occasionally shows outright rage during instances that strike particular nerves, such as Cosmic Boy breaking into his lab or Element Lad telling him that Dream Girl was dead and gone when Brainiac 5 didn’t want to hear it.
Greed - His thirst for knowledge and power falls under this; Brainy spends a good chunk of the series trying to overthrow Cosmic Boy as Legion leader, and does some rather nasty things in pursuing that goal as well.