RAINBOW GIRL: BOOK 25- The Honeymoon is Over - 10/12/16 07:59 PM
CHAPTER ZERO-A: CHARACTER SILHOUETTES PROFILES OUTLINES: ANIMAL LAD
Ennis Jahnson was born in the Qaryah Colony on Earth, just north of the Arabian Sea, in what is now Pakistan. The Colony had been established by members of the Jesine Firmamentalist Assembly, a strict antireligous sect which held as its goal the genetic and moral perfection of the human race. Ennis was one of a number of metahumans born in his generation, but left the sect at the age of fourteen. The JFA has been long declining in numbers.
While rejecting the tenets of his family, Ennis established his own strict moral code, and wishing to make a positive mark on the world, enrolled in the Metropolis Educational System, intending to study Criminology. (Of course, it was necessary for him to complete what we now think of as High School, then College, then graduate work, but this was his declared intention from the beginning.)
In his early twenties, Ennis applied to the Legion of Super-Heroes during an open call for membership. This was at a time that the Legion’s charter had been usurped by Vorm of the Pirate Planetoid, going under the name of Dynamo Boy. Ennis was rejected in his application as ‘Animal Lad’, as Vorm had a psychic device which revealed Ennis’ strict adherence to his moral code. Vorm eventually recruited a few of the Legion of Super-Villains from a future time; they banished him to a distant future, from which he has evidently never returned.
After this incident, the Legion changed its constitution, made it more difficult to expel members, requiring, among other things, due process before a selection of the membership.
Ennis followed his original plan, becoming an officer with the Science Police. He served with distinction for some fifteen years. During a term on Venus, he met Reina Zenon, and they were married. During their fourteen years together, they had two children, about five years apart: the first a son, Ciardo, and a daughter, Cacia. Cacia would go on to apply to Legion 1.5 as ‘Heck Kitten’.
After some time on the force, Ennis was enrolled in a program at the Legion Academy to train metahuman officers. He was by this time in his mid-thirties. A much younger recruit, Timothy Santoza, known as ‘The Westerner’. Ennis had continued to grow and mature in the decade since his original Legion application. He was still technically enrolled in the Academy as ‘Animal Lad’. However, now nearly two meters tall, with a beard and muscular build, he was known colloquially among his companions as ‘Herculean Boy’. He became good friends with Laurel Kent, Jed Rikane, Grev Mallor (later co-ruler of Talok VIII), Bobb Kohan, Tayla Skott, Berta Haris, Tari Wahlmun, Grava of Extal, and, of course, Chuck and Lluornu Durgo-Taine, and has maintained contact with them all over the years.
After his term at the Academy ended, Ennis returned to policing. As the years passed, however, he became disappointed with the new, more militaristic direction the S.P. was taking, as well as the growing xenophobia on Earth. He was unaware that EarthGov had been infiltrated and manipulated by the Dominion. At around the time Kirt Niedrigh was inducted into the Legion, Ennis left Earth, joining the United Planets Game Preserve Council in their Central Endangered Species Control Division on Weber’s World.
Meanwhile, Ennis and Reina’s relationship began to deteriorate. Perhaps it was due to the travel requirements of his new job, perhaps it was the strangeness of Weber’s World, perhaps it was Reina’s natural restlessness. At any rate, when their Venusian Marriage Contract came up for renewal, Reina chose not to renew, and Reina, Ciardo, and Cacia returned to Venus. (Ennis and Reina had previously renewed seven years before.) When Ciardo and Cacia reached legal maturity, they moved back to Earth.
While in the process of divorcing, Ennis learned of a business opportunity. The United Planets was willing to generously subsidize individuals who would develop otherwise undesirable worlds into exo-colonies, manufacturing or production centers, or other going concerns. Ennis’ plan to convert a world name ‘Basura’ into a series of amusement parks was approved. Designing artificial forests based (mostly) on Earth-habitats, Ennis would use his powers to change ‘guests’ into various animals, and let them run loose in his ‘Parks’.
Of course, supervision and safety in the Parks were important concerns. At the time, telepaths and shape-shifters in the United Planets still suffered from xenophobic discrimination, but Ennis found those particular metahuman abilities precisely what he needed on ‘Jahnson’s World’, especially the telepaths.
Shortly before his marriage to Dori Aandraison, Ennis completed the move of his Forest Parks, buildings, and employees to a small, one-hundred-mile-wide artificial planetoid built by Reep Daggle’s Brande Industries, restoring Basura, now re-named Tesoro, to its pristine condition.
Ennis has the ability to transform most sapient beings into animal forms. He does not himself choose what form his targets assume; Ennis believes there is some semi-mystical influence from ‘The Red’ which determines this, depending on the subject’s physical appearance, personality, and personal history, as well as other unknown factors. The creature is usually from the subject’s homeworld. Once an individual has been transformed, future transformations using Ennis’ power almost invariably result in the same or similar creature appearing.
Ennis’ power does not affect mass, so his transformations result in giant mice or insects and tiny elephants and whales. His power also works in reverse: he is able to transform non-sapient beings into human or semi-human forms. These animals become self-aware and intelligent; the humans or other sapients he transforms also retain their intelligence in their animal forms.
Ennis is also a low-level telepath, able to sense and communicate with the hindbrain. For the most part, his psychic powers are limited to sensing the presence of others, particularly animals, and calming agitated individuals, particularly animals.
Neither of his children has displayed any metahuman abilities.
Ennis Jahnson was born in the Qaryah Colony on Earth, just north of the Arabian Sea, in what is now Pakistan. The Colony had been established by members of the Jesine Firmamentalist Assembly, a strict antireligous sect which held as its goal the genetic and moral perfection of the human race. Ennis was one of a number of metahumans born in his generation, but left the sect at the age of fourteen. The JFA has been long declining in numbers.
While rejecting the tenets of his family, Ennis established his own strict moral code, and wishing to make a positive mark on the world, enrolled in the Metropolis Educational System, intending to study Criminology. (Of course, it was necessary for him to complete what we now think of as High School, then College, then graduate work, but this was his declared intention from the beginning.)
In his early twenties, Ennis applied to the Legion of Super-Heroes during an open call for membership. This was at a time that the Legion’s charter had been usurped by Vorm of the Pirate Planetoid, going under the name of Dynamo Boy. Ennis was rejected in his application as ‘Animal Lad’, as Vorm had a psychic device which revealed Ennis’ strict adherence to his moral code. Vorm eventually recruited a few of the Legion of Super-Villains from a future time; they banished him to a distant future, from which he has evidently never returned.
After this incident, the Legion changed its constitution, made it more difficult to expel members, requiring, among other things, due process before a selection of the membership.
Ennis followed his original plan, becoming an officer with the Science Police. He served with distinction for some fifteen years. During a term on Venus, he met Reina Zenon, and they were married. During their fourteen years together, they had two children, about five years apart: the first a son, Ciardo, and a daughter, Cacia. Cacia would go on to apply to Legion 1.5 as ‘Heck Kitten’.
After some time on the force, Ennis was enrolled in a program at the Legion Academy to train metahuman officers. He was by this time in his mid-thirties. A much younger recruit, Timothy Santoza, known as ‘The Westerner’. Ennis had continued to grow and mature in the decade since his original Legion application. He was still technically enrolled in the Academy as ‘Animal Lad’. However, now nearly two meters tall, with a beard and muscular build, he was known colloquially among his companions as ‘Herculean Boy’. He became good friends with Laurel Kent, Jed Rikane, Grev Mallor (later co-ruler of Talok VIII), Bobb Kohan, Tayla Skott, Berta Haris, Tari Wahlmun, Grava of Extal, and, of course, Chuck and Lluornu Durgo-Taine, and has maintained contact with them all over the years.
After his term at the Academy ended, Ennis returned to policing. As the years passed, however, he became disappointed with the new, more militaristic direction the S.P. was taking, as well as the growing xenophobia on Earth. He was unaware that EarthGov had been infiltrated and manipulated by the Dominion. At around the time Kirt Niedrigh was inducted into the Legion, Ennis left Earth, joining the United Planets Game Preserve Council in their Central Endangered Species Control Division on Weber’s World.
Meanwhile, Ennis and Reina’s relationship began to deteriorate. Perhaps it was due to the travel requirements of his new job, perhaps it was the strangeness of Weber’s World, perhaps it was Reina’s natural restlessness. At any rate, when their Venusian Marriage Contract came up for renewal, Reina chose not to renew, and Reina, Ciardo, and Cacia returned to Venus. (Ennis and Reina had previously renewed seven years before.) When Ciardo and Cacia reached legal maturity, they moved back to Earth.
While in the process of divorcing, Ennis learned of a business opportunity. The United Planets was willing to generously subsidize individuals who would develop otherwise undesirable worlds into exo-colonies, manufacturing or production centers, or other going concerns. Ennis’ plan to convert a world name ‘Basura’ into a series of amusement parks was approved. Designing artificial forests based (mostly) on Earth-habitats, Ennis would use his powers to change ‘guests’ into various animals, and let them run loose in his ‘Parks’.
Of course, supervision and safety in the Parks were important concerns. At the time, telepaths and shape-shifters in the United Planets still suffered from xenophobic discrimination, but Ennis found those particular metahuman abilities precisely what he needed on ‘Jahnson’s World’, especially the telepaths.
Shortly before his marriage to Dori Aandraison, Ennis completed the move of his Forest Parks, buildings, and employees to a small, one-hundred-mile-wide artificial planetoid built by Reep Daggle’s Brande Industries, restoring Basura, now re-named Tesoro, to its pristine condition.
Ennis has the ability to transform most sapient beings into animal forms. He does not himself choose what form his targets assume; Ennis believes there is some semi-mystical influence from ‘The Red’ which determines this, depending on the subject’s physical appearance, personality, and personal history, as well as other unknown factors. The creature is usually from the subject’s homeworld. Once an individual has been transformed, future transformations using Ennis’ power almost invariably result in the same or similar creature appearing.
Ennis’ power does not affect mass, so his transformations result in giant mice or insects and tiny elephants and whales. His power also works in reverse: he is able to transform non-sapient beings into human or semi-human forms. These animals become self-aware and intelligent; the humans or other sapients he transforms also retain their intelligence in their animal forms.
Ennis is also a low-level telepath, able to sense and communicate with the hindbrain. For the most part, his psychic powers are limited to sensing the presence of others, particularly animals, and calming agitated individuals, particularly animals.
Neither of his children has displayed any metahuman abilities.