Statesman

Statesman was the main hero of the online game City of Heroes. Statesman lives in Paragon City a fictitious city in Rhode Island. Statesman is over onehundred years old and has been fighting crime for the better half of his life and in modern times has come to lead Paragon City's main superhero orginization, the Freedom Phalanx.

Becoming Statesman
Marcus Cole was orphaned at a fairly young age, shortly after his mother died his father became alcoholic and abusive and drank himself to death but Marcus was taken in by a man called Rudolf Richter. Marcus grew-up with Rudolf's son, Stefan and daughter, Monica and became good friends with both of themand even enisted in the army with Stefan during World War I. During their tour of Europe though Marcus and Stefan heard tales of the legendary Well of the Furies. The Well was said to be the repository for the powers of the gods of old when they left the world so very long ago and Marcus's fascination with the myth lead Stefan to do much research on the Well which to evidence that seemed to point to it being more than a myth. Marcus and Stefan would go on to become mercenaries gathering resources and information for an expedition to find the Well of the Furies. They would eventually find the Well but not before Stefan was exposed to mustard gas, luckily the Well cured Marcus when he drank from it and the two gained super powers. When they drank of the Well both Marcus and Stefan became Incarnates, (Beings with super powers of divine origin, effectively high-end demi-gods), The powers of Zeus were reconstituted into Marcus and the powers of Tartarus were reconstituted into Stefanannd each gained half of a divine constitution: For Marcus he gained the physical half of divinity, gaining the strength endurance and speed of a god; While Marcus gained the intellect, insight and charisma of a god, both also became agless and near-immortal. The powers had a side-effect however both men became inclined towards though not completely slaves too the behaviors of their powers' previous incarnations, for Marcus this meant he became inclined to become more inquisitive and self-righteous like Zeus, for Stefan this meant he was more inclined toward havoc like Tartarus. Before they left they coverd their tracks to make sure no one else found the Well of the Furies but as they left noticed a box, it was Pandora's Box. Upon opening it they soon found the hope locked within it freed, the box contained the built up potential of humanity over the past thousand years and released a new level of potenial into the world, this event would be what triggered the various forms of serendipity that would lead to a new age of superpowers the likes of which had not been seen since ancient Greece.

When they returned to the US Stefan proposed they put their powers to optimal use and become even greater mercenaries now that they had their powers. Marcus helped Stefan for a while however soon he saw that his friend was becoming more and impossible for Marcus to ignore the people they were incidentally harming in their quest for wealth and prosperity. By the1930s Marcus abandon his friend and took up the name "Statesman" as a costumed hero dedicated to protecting Paragon City against crime.Stefan was outraged that Marcus had not only abandon him after all they had been through but was actively fighting him and with the powers he had helped track down for Marcus. Stefan ceased his activities in Paragon City and moved on to other pastures but he would never forget Marcus's ingratitude or egomania.

Protecting Paragon
By World War II many heroes had been born of the released potential of Pandora's Box and Statesman lead most of them in the fight for freedom against the Axis. While they were away though the capital was attacked by a madman calling himself "Lord Nemesis". Nemesis was a mad inventor who had an army of mechanized minions and deadly plague launched across the entire US simultaneously. Statesman, Monica Richter (under her superheroine name "Maiden Justice"), and his close friend Sister Psyche' lead the charge back to the US to make battle with the madman. By the time they arrived though Nemesis was already holding Congress hostage until such time that he was declared Emperor of the United States. Sister Psyche; used her psychic powers to read Nemesis's mind and find the antidote then broadcast the formula to the main areas hit by the plague, with Nemesis's main leverage gone an eipic battle ensued on the steps of the Capital Building. Statesman and his allies had won, though with many casualties and brought in Nemesis, however as they found soon after the battle the "Nemesis" they had been fighting was a fake, and empty power-suit standing in for Nemesis who had long since fled the scene. Stateman was hailed as a hero and soon after the event he and Maiden Justice were married but Stateman' outlook on what he had unleashed to the world changed. Statesman considered that along with giving the world a new age of superheroes he has also given it a new age of supervillains and from that point on would spend his time patrolling his home and campaigning against super-villainy.

In the 1950s Paragon was attacked by a group calling itself, Arachanos. Arachnos was a shadowy Italian assassins' association that had been sponsored by a super-villain calling himself Recluse, a spider themed mad genius, who had bought this way into the organization and was quickly able to persuade them to form an assault on Paragon City. During the raid Statesman finally came face to face with Recluse after fighting back most of the Arachnos soldiers.In the battle Recluse revealed himself to be Stefan Richter. Stefan had come to bring a new age to the world with his intellect and was using Arachnos as a means of influence in his campaign.