Student: Catapult [Team Dragon]

Name: Paula Ann Stone
Codename: Catapult
Age: 17
Appearance: Blue eyes, purple hair, light brown skin
Notable Skills: excellent judge of character, tactical thinking, soccer, rock climbing, hiking & orienteering
Quirks:goal-oriented, enjoys socializing over card and board games, competitive but also big on sportsmanship, people-watcher, wants to be an astronaut

Paula is what most teachers consider an ideal student: focused, disciplined, and goal-oriented, but self-aware enough to include room for rest and social activities in her schedule. She's willing to take risks, but only after she thinks them through carefully. She intends to become an astronaut (one way or another) and tries to keep herself in peak mental and physical condition; working with Team Dragon is just another part of that. She also harbors a secret romantic streak; she would love to experience an irresistible, all-consuming love. 

As Catapult, Paula uses her power to tranfer momentum at close range to perform powerful leaps and equally powerful impacts, hurl objects (including her teammate Wrecker) and perform other tricks. Using her powers requires tactical thinking and precise timing, but Paula enjoys the challenge. She is well aware that she has no special resistance to injury, and even a single mistake could maim or kill her; but she would argue that the same is true (if less dramatically so) on the soccer field as well.

Villain: Shine

Name: Daniel William Morrison
Alias: Shine
Age: 28
Appearance: 6'3", blond hair, blue eyes; tall, athletic, and ruggedly handsome, with a fashionable haircut and expensive clothes
Job: President of V3 Investment Group

Daniel Morrison is an up-and-coming venture capitalist, and not at all shy about using his abilities to ensure his success. He is very much invested in his lifestyle and image: flashy cars, expensive clothes, exclusive clubs, and high-end hobbies (including his dating life); he has recently gotten into racing yachts. Some people want to be loved; he just wants to be worshiped.

Though he comes from a relatively affluent background, his power -- and his ruthless willingness to use it -- is what has allowed him access to the lifestyle he wants and the money to afford it. Daniel is an influencer; when his power is active he seems larger-than-life: charismatic, magnetic, dominating, and authoritative. Anyone under his influence finds it hard to disagree with him, refuse him, or ignore him. This is more subtle than actual mind control, and consequently harder to spot; the only tell is that when he's using his power, he glows -- an effect that he usually explains away as an imaginary by-product of his charismatic way with people.

In addition, when given time with a specific target he can focus his power to mesmerize them, influence their decisions directly, and even alter their memories. His power can also be used in reverse, making himself unobtrusive and hard to keep track of, but he essentially never uses it that way.

Faculty: Glimmer

Name: Grace Reshelle Campbell
Codename: Glimmer
Age: 38
Appearance: dark brown skin, black hair in tight braids, brown eyes, 5'2", tends to wear a lot of beads and colored patterns.
Job: dance instructor, gymnastics coach, teaches health and biology, RN and licensed physical therapist

As Glimmer, Ms. Campbell was always more adjacent to the original team than a part of it. She is able to project herself in a sort of astral form, but in order to do so she must put herself into a trance that leaves her body helpless. In astral form she appears as a transparent, ghostly image of herself and has a number of powers: invisibility, telepathy, telekinesis, cryokinesis, intangibility. Her astral form is almost completely immune to physical and energy attacks, but can still be engaged psychically. However, the vulnerability of her physical body and the fact that she can't remain in a trance for more than a few hours at a time have kept her in a more behind-the-scenes role. 

As a teacher, Ms. Campbell trains students in dance and gymnastics, and teaches the health, biology, and life sciences classes. She also acts as the school nurse, and is licensed to help students with longer-term physical therapy when needed. (This doesn't come up very often, since several of the students are capable of using their powers for one sort of healing or another, but it does come up.) 

Ms. Campbell is a very organized, focused woman but also very physically affectionate with her friends. She is currently dating a slightly younger defense attorney who has no idea that she is anything other than an ordinary faculty member at a very exclusive private school. Her daughter from a previous marriage is currently enrolled in the school; Grace was very disappointed when she turned down a chance to join Team Phoenix, but also very careful not to let her daughter know that.

Student: Wrecker [Team Dragon]

Name: Cedric Johnson
Codename: Wrecker
Age: 17
Appearance: Cedric has tightly-curled black hair, dark brown skin, and soft brown eyes. He has a swimmer's trim musculature, and a tendency to overdress for anything he's doing.
Notable Skills: Boxing, Driving, Socializing, Thinking Through Possible Consequences, Drawing, Crafting, Gamemastering.
Quirks: enjoys theater but isn't good at acting, loves animals, absolute fanatic for Thai food, bad at romance/dating (thinks he's unattractive), finds going for a drive relaxing.

Cedric is a devoted but not exceptional student; his academics are all passing, but not exceptional. Where he really excels is in drawing other students into games -- anything from cards to boardgames to tabletop roleplaying, the weirder the better. He has aspirations to be a writer, and is considerably better at it than he believes even if most of his writing involves characters from his games. Other students like him because he's low-maintenance and always willing to help out.

As Wrecker, he works with Team Dragon as both a tank (using his super-strength and near-invulnerability) and a blaster, using his ability to punch people with his super-strength at distances of up to fifty feet. He is deeply annoyed by the fact that his power isn't more subtle, and doesn't seem to lend itself to clever tricks. He's hoping to improve that, though.

Student: Razzle [Team Phoenix]

Name: Debora "Debbie" Vasquez
Codename: Razzle
Age: 16
Appearance: Debbie has thick black hair, dark brown skin, and dark brown eyes; she is lithe and lean, and generally favors dark-colored clothes that match her coloration.
Notable Skills: speaks Spanish, German, and passable Chinese; History; Politics; knows how to drive; theater kid with an emphasis on singing, dance, and acting; good at making people smile and deescalating situations.
Quirks: reacts badly to jokes about her Mexican heritage, reads history books as a hobby, loves having an audience and plays to any she finds, would love to be rich and famous, is a bit of a glory-hound.

As a student, Debbie's twin hobbies of history and languages have already forced the faculty to step up their game. She's bad at math, and usually behind in the sciences. She adores having an audience, and loves to perform for her fellow students, but reacts badly when people respond negatively to her attention-seeking. 

As Razzle, however, she is a key part of Team Phoenix, providing both distractions by way of conjured lights and ranged attacks by way of lasers. She is well aware of her physical vulnerability, and wears armor designed to protect her from harm. She wants to be the public face of the team, but Jade has managed to keep her under control so far. Razzle is aware of this and feels like the rest of the team is holding her back, but for now she's willing to go with it because of the opportunities it provides. She plans to strike out on her own after graduation: find an agent, maybe get a reality TV show, go from there.

Student: Gaunt [Team Kraken]

Name: Omar al-Rikabi
Codename: Gaunt
Age: 17
Appearance: Omar has moderately curly black hair, brown skin with silvery undertones, and brown eyes with tawny flecks; he is tall and thin with broad shoulders and a narrow waist overlaid with a wiry musculature and barely any fat; his face is gaunt and he looks vaguely as if he is starving.
Notable Skills: Basketball, Track and Field, Soccer, moving silently, hand-to-hand combat with an emphasis on grappling and restraint, lockpicking, guns, escape artistry, and mechanical restraints
Quirks: Loves hot dogs and french fries, hates public speaking and also speaking in general, will absolutely lose his shit at any evidence of bullying, good with animals and younger children, periodically brooding and depressed.

Omar al-Rikabi was an American-born Muslim; his father was a doctor and his mother was a dentist. He was twelve when he discovered that not only could he whisper to people silently and hear their replies, some people glowed when he looked at them just right. His best friend's parents (who were, he learned, already wrestling with suspicions about their own child) called in law enforcement and CPS when they found out, and the ensuing drama was enough to draw the attention of an experimental CIA initiative called DAAT (Deviant Asset Ability Training) who leaned on his Iraqi-born parents until they finally gave in out of fear that the agency was going to kidnap their son outright and then ruin their lives anyway. Omar left behind his family, including parents, grandmother, and younger sister Zahra. 

DAAT taught him to use his abilities to track down and capture his fellow deviants, subjecting him to experimental treatments designed to increase his strength, stamina, and overall toughness, and also to keep him biddable and firmly under their control. After his escape exposed the existence of the program, Dragon Team managed to intercept him before his fellow "hounds" could track him down. 

As a student, Omar is haunted by the memories of his experiences and training. He fears that the hounds might find the school, or take his sister; he fears that the experiments he underwent may have altered him permanently, turning him into something inhuman and horrible. Despite this -- or perhaps in an effort to escape it -- he is a voracious reader and does well in his classes. Other students tend to perceive him as shy, but Omar wouldn't call himself that; it's just that he doesn't have a lot to say, so he keeps quiet. His decision to accept the invitation to join Team Kraken was based on a clear understanding that if he ever did have to take on the hounds or their masters in DAAT, he was going to need help.

Student: Charm [Team Dragon]

Name: Sophia Antonius
Codename: Charm
Age: 16
Appearance: Sophia has black hair and olive skin, tawny eyes, and an elegant, slender build; she is graceful and poised from years of dance and deportment training
Notable Skills: Negotiation, dance, knife fighting, poisons, politics, herpetology
Quirks: has trouble with modern technology, occasionally stumbles when speaking English, loves dancing, enjoys learning, scared of her parents

Team Dragon recently found themselves in the city of Imperia -- which claims to be the last remaining colony of Imperial Rome -- located on the edge of the Preserve -- a hidden area of Antarctica where the last remains of the dinosaurs still roam. Metahumans in Imperia are consider Demi (short for 'demigods') and their unexpected arrival caused conflicts with several local Demi as well as local political and religious authorities. Sophia first encountered them during their imprisonment, helped them break out, and departed with them. She claims that her actions were based on a combination of outrage at the injustice of their treatment and a desire to see the world where they were born. She is the newest member of Team Dragon, but has shown consistent good judgement and a keen understanding of political and social interactions; she evaluates and quickly adapts to new situations. 

As the daughter of the goddess of one of the local mystery cults, Sophia began learning sorcery as well as social graces almost as soon as she could walk. While she lacked her parents' innate powers, her own native ability was a sensitivity to certain kinds of energy, which she used to cultivate her own personal mystic energies and tap into stronger cosmic powers, allowing her to master a sorcerer's spellcasting abilities in the space of a few short years. She is also sensitive to extradimensional magics, but extremely wary of making contact with them. Her go-to spells include shields, armor, elemental blasts and blasts of force, and a handful defensive or utility measures such as teleportation, healing, and cleaning. While she can design and empower other sorts of magic, she generally does that in advance and stores the prepared spell in her amulet.

She remains terrified that her parents might come to reclaim her.