User blog:Digdux/Character Notes: Accelerated Vector

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Name: Accelerated Vector

Kind: Unicorn

Residence: Canterlot Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns (formerly) Princess Cadance's Hospital for Foals and Fillies.

Nickname: Vector

Sex: Male

Inspiration: Force Filly, Raven, Captain Planet, Tempest

Powers:(proficient < skilled < expert < masterful < legendary)
 * Ability to see, calculate and manipulate nearby vectors.
 * Brilliant Intelligence

Weakness:
 * Broken horn
 * Limited balance
 * Dizzines

Resistance
 * Incredible durability to physical attack

Theme: The Wild Card

Origin
"Yeah? I would do it again, it's dumb but I would, and that's why I'm better than you. I'll destroy myself to do what I need to, will you?" Origin: Vector was a stallion on the rise. Good Looking, fiercely intelligent, extraordinarily gifted in magic, he was prospected to have a brilliant future as a magical icon of Princess Celestia's school... until the accident happened.

While out hiking in the Ghastly Gorge with another student on a research project, a landslide fell on his friend, suffocating his buddy beneath. Desperate, and panicking, Vector poured his magic into lifting the landslide, and then more, and more, and more, and more, as much as he could use, and then even more. The landslide moved, freeing his friend, but the ramifications were brutal, the overuse of magic from the young stallion utterly destroyed his horn, and caused the exhausted creature to fall into a coma.

Vector awoke some months later, now unable to continue at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, for several reasons. Firstly he couldn't use any magic, his horn was a jagged reflection of what it once was. Secondly, either the coma or overuse of power caused some neurological damage, leaving Vector unable to properly balance, which doesn't sound like much of an issue until he quickly learned that it meant he couldn't walk or sit. While angry and upset, he really didn't have any recourse. He couldn't leave, he couldn't even walk out an open door. However unlike and possibly because of Tempest Shadow, and Sunset Shimmer Princess Celestia made sure her now effectively former student was taken care of. Several researchers even modified a pair of headphones and a gyroscope in order to grant Vector some sense of balance, even if the battery only lasted for thirty minutes on a charge. He could step out of his bed for seemingly moments and do some basic things, such as going down to the market and buying groceries.

Still effectively bedridden, and almost perpetually upset, Vector poured his time into math and physics, because the two subjects were the only semblance of his old life he still had left to him. However, his senses slowly adjusted to his loss of horn. Instead of sensing and using magic with his horn, he began to see. Not magic, but energy, the numbers and directions of it. Whether this is a fugue brought on by to much math or not is still up for debate, but Vector starting being able to see the calculations behind his environment... and then change them with his thoughts. He couldn't do magic, and still wouldn't be able to pass even a magical exam for foals, but he had something.... something to take his time up while he lays in bed.

Personality
"I can't walk, I can't even see straight without help, and these stupid sparkles are the extent of my magic, but I can still put you through the other side of that wall before you blink, so GET OUT OF MY ROOM!"

Initially Vector had the temperament of most teenage stallions, a little arrogant, but also very astute, curious and eager to learn. Few of Princess Celestia's students gobbled up her lessons as quickly as the unicorn, as he had a certain intensity about him, but like Twilight Sparkle he was slow to make friends. Eventually at the urging of a few of his teachers he started to tutor some of the less gifted students in the unicorn school. One of these would grow into his best friend, the hardy and deliberate Granite Top.

Granite Top offered a new angle into Vector's life, a stallion who was more laid back than Vector, and helped keep the stallion from diving off into the unknown. The two enjoyed backpacking outside of Canterlot, often making it through Ponyville and to the Ghastly Gorge. It was here that Vector's critical accident happened, rocks fell crushing Granite Top, and Vector destroyed his horn freeing his friend.

While Granite Top remained with Vector, visiting him in the hospital, the two ponies were in different worlds now, and their friendship could not survive. Granite Top eventually graduated and left, leaving Canterlot and the now young adult Vector behind.

Vector's accident changed his temperament, tainting his eagerness with helplessness, as all of his learning and talent was now for naught, and all he now has is his talent with no magic to support it. Burying his own feelings behind a wall of anger, Vector mentally adjusted to his new setting, using his anger and intensity to push through each moment of each day and mentally survive to the next, thanks to the talented staff at Princess Cadance's Hospital for Foals and Fillies. Vector knows this and deep down feels horribly indebted to his former teacher for both the time she wasted on him, and the life she now allows him to live, even if he can seemingly do nothing to help other ponies. This severe contrast between what he can do, and what he should do in his own mind puts a severe strain on Vector's psyche, leading to frequent emotional breakdowns.

Presently Vector's anger has cooled somewhat, although it tends to flare up at seemingly inconsequential things, unicorns unable to preform tasks he was easily able to do, his limited mobility, ponies unwilling to help others, ponies showing off, and dozens of other minor things. Deep down Vector is incredibly jealous of the average unicorn, but would never, ever admit it, and has repeatedly denied such things. His intelligence is still dangerously sharp, and his intensity is still present in every little action he does, leaving him with a nasty bearing. This bearing is Vector's way of venting, letting his anger flow out until he's too exhausted to work himself up into a frenzy again, as he has no other outlet to direct his frustration, and wouldn't dare lashing out at the ponies who care for him, him feeling too indebted to them, thought it would be painful to actually admit it.

Princess Celestia
Like many of Celestia's students Vector is incredibly fond of his teacher, the pony able to show him so much about magic, and the world, and plants, and so many incredible and wonderful things. Having stayed at the school through a boarding program while his parents were preforming their diplomatic duties in Griffonstone, Vector is quite aware of the day to day going arounds of the school, it being his defacto home. While not very sure of what the Princess thinks of him, particularly after his accident where he threw away everything she taught him (as he can't use magic at all now) to save his friend, Vector is a little unnerved by the possibility of running into his former teacher again, since he's more or less an unofficial dropout at this point. The pony is all too much aware of how much time his teacher invests into each and every one of her valued students, both inside and outside the classroom. This is only compounded by her being Princess, which means that all of the medical care he receives can be traced back to a decision She made, and the two Princesses do take care of ponies unable to do so, leaving Vector seemingly indebted in a bottomless pit compared to where he stands with his former Mentor. The graciousness and cheeriness of the hospital staff only makes things worse as Vector mentally tallies his effective expenses and costs. The end result is quite overwhelming to him, and the prospect of him ever being able to level with the hospital staff much less Celestia is seemingly a despairing pit of impossibility that fuels Vector's personal helplessness and frustration. There's so many intricacies to her status, not having a formal relationship as Celestia's student anymore leaves the unicorn lost with regard to how he should refer to her, much less speak to her, and the fact that he let her down by failing to complete his studies gnaws at him constantly.

Nurse Warmheart
Vector's Nurse in Canterlot before being turned over to Maretropolis General and Freeheart, was Nurse Warmheart. While their relationship was quite rocky, Her quiet insistence and iron determination that Vector follow his treatment plan arguably saved the stallions life, giving him a grounding point when the stallion was so completely overwhelmed by the loss of his horn to the point of non-functionality. Wake up, walk to the bath, get a bath, study mathematics, take a walk, talk with staff, eat lunch, take a nap, take a walk, eat dinner, study, go to sleep. This routine kept Vector alive and he is quietly grateful for it as much as it physically hurt the first year even with the Nurse helping him every literal step of the way. The two of them have become very familiar acquaintances, even if Vector's dependence and Nurse Warmheart's professionalism keeps them from being friends. Nurse Warmheart served as Vector's only grounding point and point of safety in his new life, and so Vector is quite unnerved leaving it. She is quite aware of Vector's talent, and the conditions regarding it, and so made a personal and professional decision to quietly keep it off his medical record, though she suspects the Princess might be aware of it, being the pony most familiar with Vector outside herself, and trusts Nurse Freeheart and Vector to handle the matter when they inevitably come to hit. She was the one who helped tend Clear See after all and so knows a little about unusual patients.

Nurse Freeheart
Unhappy about being separated from Nurse Warmheart and his familiar setting, Vector doesn't take too fondly to his new nurse or any of the other staff at Maretropolis General. However he knows he's indebted to them for taking the transfer and so is just as protective of them as he is of the ponies at Princess's Cadance's Hospital for Foals and Fillies. Vector is quietly worried about being pushed away from Canterlot even if it is supposedly for vacation or his own protection, he isn't quite sure, but the unfamiliar city is concerning to face alone, and the prospect of slowing regrowing his personal relationship with a new nurse is daunting to say the least, since his contact with Nurse Warmheart was snatched away so suddenly. Vector is a little spiteful and upset, but that's likely to be kept in check as the quiet fact that he's entirely dependent on his nurse pushes any hopes of independence back into Vector's most fanciful dreams.

Unicorn Magic
Vector once was an incredibly talented unicorn and so knows a fair bit about unicorn magic, however he is also extremely cynical of such power, mocking those who are too talented and undeserving with taking the easy street, while mocking those who are too weak by saying they don't deserve such talent. He does however have an impressive knowledge of most other things, ranging from politics, to history, to literature and culture. His now foalish dream of being a magical vizier and wizard required far more than knowledge of magic and Vector devoured any learning he could, as fast as he could, though now delving through pages of tomes about magic does bring a certain amount of emotional pain to his studies, as actual practice is now far beyond his reach.

Vector Manipulation
Vector's personal talent, manifested in his cutie mark of a circle with two arrows extended from it, is his ability to manipulate vectors, things that have both magnitude and direction. A more philosophical unicorn might hypothesize that the sudden destruction of his horn and change of his life's direction caused his talent to mix with the remnants of his unicorn magic, or perhaps the loss of his horn and resulting neurological damage brought his talent to the forefront of his awareness. Perhaps it's just the neurological damage rewiring his brain to manipulate his environment in such a manner, his brain's compensation allowing him to preform such complex calculations. Any which way it is hypothesized, Vector has the ability to manipulate both magnitudes and directions of things that possess such properties, ranging from moving electrons, to flinging train engines, to turning beams of light as if through a prism. There is a limit on this range, and it isn't large, but through experimentation Vector has concluded that if it's within reach of his hooves, he can probably accelerate it in one direction or another. He also has an awareness of what's within that field and there's some kind of passive active nature to it, one he can't really put his hoof on, at least if that pillow fight was any measurement, or the time he jumped out the third floor window. The range may be something that can grow with practice but Vector is wary of diving too deep into this exploration least he cause too much neurological damage and have to get surgery to stop the bleeding... again. Cerebral Hemorrhaging isn't fun on a good day, and adding the cost of the anesthesiologist to his list of societal debt hurts more than anything else.

Vector's ability to manipulate the directional component of a vector does have some limitations. It is discrete, and so he cannot manipulate it with much finesse, leaving it seemingly inferior to unicorn magic with regards to telekinesis is concerned. Up and Down are easy enough but curving something as it leaves his range is nearly impossible. Different kinds of spin do give Vector some interesting directions to play with regarding solid objects and particles, but for other things there isn't really an equivalent.

Equipment
Vector has a few tools he uses to get around and function in day to day life. These aren't exactly magical, but to the unicorn, they're the most important of his personal possessions and he handles them just as carefully as any of his old textbooks.

Wheelchair
Vector's assisted form of transportation is a simple wheelchair with attached saddlebags and an emergency waterproof battery under-slung. The battery is fairly large, allowing Vector to recharge his electrical gyroscope a twice before it itself needs recharging. It also has a detachable set of saddlebags for medical equipment or Vector's plethora of textbooks, or even a picnic basket for special outings. It has a mount for an umbrella. Vector himself doesn't have the strength required to wheel himself for any length of time, but it is easy for even a slender pony to push the unicorn around.

Crutch
When not moving in his wheelchair, Vector's preferred mode of transportation is a hard plastic crutch that extends from a gauntlet covering his right forward fetlock and hoof. Using this crutch as a guide Vector can limp along with the help of his gyroscope, giving him some form of independence. While trotting with the crutch is a fairy dream, the unicorn is proud of his ability to have some form of personal movement without putting stress on himself, as without the crutch and his gyroscope, his only safe option is to drag himself, which isn't pretty or hurl himself using his talent, which is dangerous for a multitude of reasons. The crutch can retract back up into the gauntlet for storage or when Vector really wants to punch something, and isn't dumb enough to use his own hoof.

Gyroscope
Vector's Electronic Gyroscope is the most important piece of his personal possessions. Without it, he has no sense of balance, and can't sit upright without significant support, much less walk. It consists of a black band that clicks around Vector's neck, ensuring it won't be knocked loose if the stallion takes a bad fall as well as a pair of earbuds connected to a small black box. The earbuds serve as stabilizers to assist Vector's brain with balancing and moment. This device Vector is almost certain is from Princess Celestia, as there is no way his parents could afford such a prototype on their own, and he hypothesizes that it takes the strain off his movement and balance to help counteract the severity of his injury.

The Gyroscope's battery has power for an hour, and Vector has two batteries. It also helps mitigate the neurological damage from Vector's vector manipulation, but using his talent to any degree drains the batteries rapidly. He also has a charging cable for it, as well as a small solar panel, but it was more a dream of being able to go camping with his disability that he's still holding onto, more than any real belief in the panel working efficiently enough to matter. The battery port is awkward to reach so Vector either has to unbuckle the band and change it lying down, or have somepony else do it. It may be a scheme by Princess Celestia to keep him from entirely running off on his own, but he's not going to argue with his tiny piece of freedom.

The Gyroscope beeps distinctly when activated and deactivated and Vector commonly deactivates it when he's using a little bit of vector manipulation so as to not drain the battery, being more personally by duration of his manipulation than magnitude.