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Francis McCormack
Origin: Magic Archetype:
Controller
Power Sets/Powers:
·Illusions
-Deceive
·Storm
Summoning
-O2 Boost
Levels: Unknown
Current Whereabouts: Unknown
Group Affiliation: Unknown
Benefits/Rewards
·Unknown
History
"Francis McCormack grew up in
a happy, Irish Catholic family outside of Boston,
Massachusetts. His parents lavished all their children with love and attention. And though
they were not rich, no child lacked for any necessity. In short, Francis believed that he had the perfect childhood. His father,
however, had one very strict rule - 'education comes first.' Most of Francis' siblings spent just enough time on their schoolwork
to stave off their father's attention, but Francis thrived in his studies. Each day, he spent hours in the library, combing
through tomes of history, language and science. Despite his Christian upbringing, Francis was most intrigued by the ancient
legends and fairy tales of various pagan people.
"Eventually, the bookish Francis ended up pursuing an academic career
as an Egyptologist. His studies were not focused on the esoteric past of Egypt,
where our knowledge is more myth than history, but rather in the Greek and Roman periods. In particular, he was fascinated
by the arcane writings dubbed the Hermetica after its supposed author Hermes Trismegistus. These strange tracts and recipes
formed the core of what would become the Western magical tradition in the medieval and renaissance periods. Francis viewed
them as simply quasi philosophical treatises, and nothing more.
"Several colleagues joined Francis in a re-creation
of a Hermetic ritual. It was done out of curiosity and a little bit of drunkenness - and no one thought anything would come
of it. For the participants, it ended up being nothing more than fifteen minutes of chanting in a circle. Francis, however,
experienced something quite different. Afterwards, he described being in a dream, but having complete control of his actions.
For what seemed like hours, he floated down a huge river; the banks were covered in sand and ruins. Eventually, he came to
a temple where a cloaked old man whispered strange words into his ear.
"Mostly, his friends just thought Francis was
pulling their collective legs. But later, in private, Francis pronounced those very nonsensical words aloud. And suddenly
he was suffused with power beyond imagination. He had become a magician out of the legends he had studied as a boy. But it
was not a time for wizards or sorcerers - the world needed heroes. Francis donned a costume and called himself 'Caduceus,'
after the staff carried by the Greek god Hermes…"
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