Full Name: Maxwell Landon
Alias: The Shape
Age: 37 (Born 2008)
Gender: Male
Ethnicity: Caucasian, of English descent.

Hair: Maxwell's hair is naturally "platinum blonde", or silver.

Eye color: Amber

Body: Slim but athletic.

Height: 5'11"

Weight: 156lbs

Hometown: Wilmington, North Carolina

Affiliation(s): The Union (Defunct), Landon Technical Enterprises (Defunct), others (?)

Personality:
Charming, polite, usually a bit courteous, and can hold a good conversation. People feel like this man is a good listener, who really brings them into the conversation, and they sometimes find they can’t help but feel compelled to open up. Likewise, they can’t help but feel compelled to listen to him, to linger on every word he has spoken.

That’s one side you might see.
Cold. At times it can be impossible to catch Maxwell showing emotion, but when he does, it's difficult to be sure if it's even real. He has neither real love nor hate for people on the whole, they're just tools or obstacles to achieving goals. On one hand, he has a cool collectedness, seemingly completely confident in what he does. On the other hand, he is completely detached from other “beings”, caring little to nothing for them on a personal level.

His morals are as ambiguous as his feelings. He's capable of great cruelty but doesn't seem to seek it out with any particular preference, nor does he seem interested in inflicting it on any particular kinds of people.

As for his feelings on parahumans and normal humans, his feelings are equally neutral. He shows little to no preference (or hatred) for either. He will help or hinder (or even kill) both as he sees fit.

To what end? Only he can really say.

Likes:
- Learning. Any new information or ideas that Maxwell can pick up, he likely will.
- Understanding people. He likes to know how they think, how they feel, what keeps them “ticking”.
- Coffee. Black, with a little sugar. Generally enjoys Americano’s, but Maxwell has varied tastes as well.
- Fine wines and liquors.
- A mixture of musical genres, from classical, to forms of industrial techno.
- The News. Maxwell tries to keep himself as informed as possible on current events, including business trends.
- Success. Winning. Earning something for his hard work.


Dislikes:
- Beer and other “cheap booze”. He hated seeing it growing up, at BBQ’s, or other events. He always felt those drinks represented “mediocrity”. “Lower class”, “Middle class”, “alcoholics”, or people “just having fun”.
- Useless people. People who cannot personally contribute to what he wants.
- Begging. It gets obnoxious when people won’t fight for themselves, either to survive, or to win.
- Repetitive, generic music (of many varieties). It gets bland, dull, boring rather quickly.
- Threats. Not only are they annoying, they’re annoyingly patronizing. And that’s something Maxwell does not accept.
- Losing. Failure. Hard work being lost. It’s one of the few things that will provoke Maxwell’s truly angry, violent side.
- Mediocrity. Weakness. Lack of Ambition.

Skills:
- Somewhat proficient firearms user, made a habit of it after the loss of Landon Tech.
- Moderate skills in programming and electronics. Has put less effort into it since his young adult years.
- Keen mind for business and understanding current events.
- Manipulative (in the right circumstances, knows how to get what he wants)

Costume Identities:
Maxwell has utilized several costumes over the course of his criminal life. That coupled with the fact that his name, motives, and any other defining traits or features are unknown to the rest of the world has made him a particularly “low key” villain in some circles. This hasn’t kept him from being something of an icon though, some of his identities have become rather well known (largely in criminal circles, such as The Union). Here is a list of the most significant outfits he has worn:
- The First Shape (Before Union Takeover)
- The Second Shape (After Union Takeover)
- The Third Shape (After Union Destruction)


Equipment:
- Two Beretta 87 Targets
- One Beretta 90-Two
- Two AMT Automag III (Mostly for show)
- Responsive Optics built into his masks (switches to Infrared Vision when he uses his powers)
- Several black, carbon steel daggers



Background:

Let's get one thing straight about Maxwell Landon. He was never normal, and not because of his powers. Maxwell was born to your normal, stable, average American family in Wilmington, North Carolina.

By 2019, he had murdered his parents and two siblings. Stabbed them each several dozen time. He ran to a neighbor’s house and called the police, sobbing and desperately trying to describe the “mad killer” who had committed this terrible crime. Dark clothes, like a trench coat or cloak, and a blank, featureless face, or mask perhaps. The police arrived shortly after the call, but the killer was nowhere to be found. Except for in the mind of Maxwell Landon.

In 2027, after 8 years living with his Grandfather in Boston, and a year at MIT’s Sloan School of Management, Maxwell “assaulted” the frail old man. His grandfather was a weak old man, who struggled to get down the stairs without a walker. One day, when he was trying to do just that, Maxwell used his “shadow powers” and blinded the old man, just for a few split seconds, long enough to miss a step and tumble down the stairs. His grandfather died a week later in hospital, leaving behind his estate to Maxwell.

But that wasn’t all Maxwell walked away with. The old man had imparted knowledge on him for years. Knowledge about psychology (which his grandfather had worked in for most of his life), economics, politics, and even a bit of the sciences.

Once 2028 had arrived, Maxwell had left MIT and was investing the small fortune (only several hundred thousand dollars) of his grandfather into the stock market. He was brilliant at it. He managed to turn his hundreds of thousands into a million before New Years.

2029 rolled around, and he was still making money, with more of his work starting to take him to New York itself. He wasn’t in New York on September 11th however, pure and stupid luck that saved him. The moment was one of consideration for him, a point where he realized how truly weak he was in comparison to some of the things on our world… But also, what kinds of opportunities must exist.

By 2032, his money was still good, but he was getting bored, and yearned for something more. He started a business, Landon Technical Enterprises, quickly swooping into the software and hardware markets. Several programs his company developed focused mainly on businesses, helping them with information storage, communications, and essentially "better organizing" their companies. It had been going well so far, and Maxwell had plans to branch off into robotics and cybernetics.

By 2038, the once hugely successful Landon tech went bankrupt. With the rise of new technologies and standards, a larger competitor came into the market, one backed by billions instead of Maxwell's millions. Landon Tech began to lose customers to them, and with millions of dollars in costs and debts, there was no feasible way to recover.

Maxwell was driven to a point of rage he had never experienced before. This amount of loss was not something he had experienced. He had some money left, but most of it was tied up in stocks or smaller business ventures he'd dabbled in, nothing serious. Rather than losing those as well, he found himself selling off more of his personal belongings, until he was a scummy apartment away from living on the streets.

In 2039, Maxwell was starting to hear strange rumors from the illicit circles he found himself getting entangled with. A criminal organization known as “The Union”, one of the biggest crime syndicates in the world, with operations in America and South America, and growing into Asia and Europe as well. That rage Maxwell had felt for a year was gone, and a new feeling was in his chest now; ambition.

In 2041, after 2 years of experimenting with his “master powers”, and some subterfuge and manipulation, Maxwell carries out an assault on the New York headquarters of The Union, using an army of addicts, psychos, and other people he found easy to manipulate. He quickly eased into the position of “leader” of The Union, cutting brilliant deals with other gangs the old leadership struggled with. Maxwell ran The Union for several years after, remaking it into one of the most efficient businesses (never mind criminal organizations) in the world.

Feb. 7th, 2045. Maxwell loses control of The Union. The FBI and several gangs simultaneously attacked their headquarters. A massive gunfight ensued, killing nearly all his lieutenants who had helped manage and run The Union with him for years. Maxwell managed to flee to upper New York state, bringing a few loyal followers with him, and as much money and business assets as he could cobble together. It was then that the decision was made to leave for Atlas City, North Carolina, back to his home state, and to begin again.

Feb. 14th, 2045. Maxwell takes a private jet to Atlas City, making preparations to move onto an old beach property near the outskirts of the city that he has purchased. The site has an old home on it from around the mid-1800's, as well as various buildings and facilities (from about the last 10 to 15 years) that had been used for oil extraction and research. He plans on heavily renovating the property.

Mar. 11th, 2045. Maxwell has managed to renovate several of the buildings he now owns, and has begun growing a small following among the city's most underprivileged. He has begun producing small amounts of "product" that have slowly made their way into various parts of North America, though he has his eyes set on going larger. It is also possible that at some point recently he came to acquire an abandoned "club", something that had likely been abandoned since the early 2000's. He has more than a few ideas for how he can make it useful to himself.


Powers:
Casting Shadows -
[Shaker – 7 / Breaker – 6 / Stranger – 6]
Maxwell has the ability to create a “shadowy aura” that can block out all sources of light in a given area. This includes blocking light from electric sources (light bulbs) or semi-natural sources (windows, doors, etc.). Mostly effective indoors, but can be used in the outdoors as well, though it's range is only about 100-200 feet. In broad daylight, this power can block out some sunlight, but only enough to make the effected area appear dimmer (the distance being covered will determine the amount of light blocked). Given that this power blocks sources of light, this makes non-infrared night vision unusable in nearly all circumstances.
This power is made possible by light blocking “particles” that are created in Landon’s body, and controlled by his mind. As it stands, the only way to counter this power would be other powers that could use other particles to interfere, infrared vision, or being outside of the effected area (though anything within the effected area still would remain unseen).

Mind Manipulation -
[Master – 7 / Shaker – 7 / Breaker – 6 / Stranger – 6]
With this ability, Maxwell is able to “control” or manipulate the minds of people around him. His body once again produces “particles” that in this case can emit a form of energy. This energy specifically targets parts of the brain that will produce certain physical, emotional, and psychological responses that Maxwell wishes to target. These responses can be used to make targets of “open to suggestion” or make them more susceptible to manipulation. This power relies upon Maxwell getting to the right “weak spots” in the target’s brain, which means he must have some level of understanding about the individuals, and their mental states. Furthermore, this power can be resisted, especially if the suggestions he makes are too strongly opposed to the target's mental or moral makeup, or if they have some sort of innate resistance to this power.

Ex. Maxwell would have a difficult time manipulating a hero into committing murder. But Maxwell would have an easier time manipulating someone with certain mental health issues into committing murder.


Origin of Powers:
It would have been a normal day for any other kid. Something any child could experience. But Maxwell was always different. He was distant from his mother, his father, and his siblings. They always just seemed so… Pathetic to him. His father, a meager, middle-income office worker. His mother, a stay-at-home mom. His siblings, just regular kids.

Maxwell was at school, playing with a toy he’d gotten for his birthday, an action figure. It was 2018, Maxwell was only 10. One year before the murder of his parents and siblings. While Maxwell was at school, two bullies approached him, one who was 12, the other 13. They pushed Maxwell around for a bit, trying to scare him up a bit. The 13-year-old was taking the lead in the bullying, and the 12-year-old followed. It ended in one of them grabbing the toy and breaking all its arms and legs off, as well as the head. They tossed it at Maxwell, walking away laughing.

Maxwell had never felt this kind of loss before. Not sadness, a feeling of loss for something he loved. But loss in the sense that he had been robbed, stolen from. He felt a kind of rage that some people may never even feel in their lives.

The bullies made their way back home through a nearby forest, a usual route for the two boys. Maxwell knew this. As they walked through a part that was hidden from any roads or houses nearby, Maxwell emerged from some bushes behind them, and smashed a tree branch into the head of the 13-year-old boy. The impact sent the young teen straight to the ground and left him convulsing in seizures. Maxwell quickly turned to the 12-year-old, making another quick swing at his head.

The impact was less severe, but the boy hit the ground nonetheless. Maxwell continued a series of beatings on the boy, turning him into a bloody and bruised mess. The boy begged Maxwell to stop, and eventually he did, but not without leaving a grave warning.

The attack on the two boys was blamed on a random stranger stalking the woods, who never ended up being caught. The 13-year-old couldn’t remember the events at all, given the severity of his head injury, and to this day he still suffers periodic seizures. The 12-year-old could perfectly remember what happened, he never forgot it, and to this day still suffers from intense anxiety attacks.

One thing that the younger boy still remembers is how dark it appeared to get around Maxwell, how the light seemed to completely disappear, and how, in that moment, he was absolutely overcome with an inescapable fear of death. It was the only thing he could think of. It was the only thing Maxwell let him think of.