| Sage |
 |
| Name: | Tessa Niles |
| Gender: | Female |
| Place of Birth: | Beograd, Serbia |
| Age: | 27 |
| Aliases: | Sage (formerly) Diana Fox |
| Origin: | Mutant |
| Origin Earth: | 616 |
| Present Location: | North Salem, NY |
| Occupation: | Adventurer |
| Team: | X-Men (formerly) Excalibur, S.W.O.R.D. (AU) |
| Alignment: | Hero |
| Significant Other(s): | Open |
| Powers and Abilities: | Human Computer, Telepathy, Metahuman Detection, Genetic Enhancement and Jumpstarting |
| Portrayed by: | n/a |
Origins
Tessa is born in Serbia, where her parents worked at the American Embassy.
At age six months the U.S. evacuates the Embassy. Tessa and her parents return with the Staff to New York City, where they live in the suburbs.
Tessa turns 14, and begins to hear other people's thoughts. Things become loud and confusing as she realizes just how mean and hurtful people can be to each other. Tessa resolves not to feel anything ever again, but it is difficult.
Shortly afterward, Tessa realizes that she doesn't need to study anymore. Quite simply, she can't forget things. School becomes a lot easier, and her rising grades make her parents very happy.
Tessa reads more and more, almost literally devouring books to acquire knowledge. She withdraws from others, but good grades balance out her parents' worry.
She meets Charles Xavier completely by chance, walking to the grocery store by herself. Testing her powers, she tries to reach out into his mind and meets resistance. The two of them talk. Charles offers his help along with a business card for her parents.
Xavier
Tessa begins taking lessons from Xavier on the weekends to control her telepathy. This training continues through high school. Along the way, she learns of other powers as well.
Tessa applies to MIT with a double major, continuing her studies with Xavier on a regular basis. Eventually Charles tells her about Sebastian Shaw, a man he knows to be a mutant. Distrusting Shaw personally as well as the man's business practices, he asks Tessa to spy on him. She agrees.
Tessa applies for a job as Shaw's assistant. During the interview she tells him that she is a mutant and demonstrates by memorizing his Rolodex. Shaw hires her on the spot.
Hellfire
Working for Shaw, Tessa follows his instructions to the letter and without question. Even knowing that some of what he asks her to do falls somewhere in the triangle between 'illegal', 'immoral', and 'unethical', she continues to prove her loyalty. Not suspecting ulterior motives, Shaw is further impressed.
Shaw begins to invite Tessa along to the weekly meetings at a "gentleman's club". Although not a member, Tessa is permitted by right of being his assistant. The only caveat is that she must abide by the dress code and remain with Shaw at all times. Tessa never hears the name 'Hellfire Club'.
During one of the weekly poker games at the Hellfire Club, Tessa meets Elias Bogan. She is calculating odds and helping Shaw to win when Bogen contacts her telepathically. He offers her a better job with better benefits. Tessa refuses, helping Shaw to win anyway.
After the X-Men and Hellfire Club join forces against Nimrod, Tessa offers the X-Men temporary sanctuary with the club. Magneto and Storm join the Inner Circle, and eventually Shaw is ousted. Bogen kidnaps Tessa and mentally dominates her. He offers her back to Shaw for a steep ransom. Shaw refuses and cuts all ties with Tessa. The residue of Bogen's power seeping from her eyes burns into her cheeks. Storm rescues Tessa and she returns to the X-Men, joining them with the name of Sage.
Excalibur
Sage supports the X-Men mostly in a support capacity, acting as a living computer to provide analysis. She joins Storm's mutant policing group, X-Treme Sanctions Executive. Returning briefly to the Hellfire Club, she checks on Sunspot to ensure that he isn't corrupted by power like Sebastian. Bogen returns again and the X-Treme team hunts him down. With the help of other X-Men, Sage is able to defeat him once and for all.
Sage then travels to England to join Excalibur, assisting them on various missions. She takes the cover identity of Diana Fox to learn more about Albion, a new foe who is bent on conquering Britain. Rising swiftly within Albion's organization, the Diana Fox identity eventually overcame Sage's mind and she DID fully commit to Albion. Sage's real persona returned when her Excalibur teammates confronted Albion, defeating him.
During the post-mission celebration, the Excalibur team was suddenly by the Exiles, and both were attacked by Rouge-Mort and Merlin. Sage left Excalibur and joined the Exiles. Afterward the Diana Fox persona attempted to reassert control, and Sage remained in a support role rather than endangering the other Exiles.
Exiles
Sage eventually fights and defeats the Diana Fox personality. The Diana persona later sacrificed herself to preserve Sage when she was nearly killed by Merlin. She saves the multiverse by merging with the Exile team's computer base, the Crystal Palace, and is rendered comatose. When she awoke, Sage assumed leadership of S.W.O.R.D. in an alternate reality. Working with Dazzler, Wolverine, Gambit and other former teammates, the X-Tremes were able to defeat the Exterminators by locking them away into a reality that they couldn't escape. Afterward, Sage found herself back in her normal reality with the other X-Men.
Analytical
Simply put, Sage analyzes everything. Whether it's something simple like how many ice cubes to put into a glass of tea or plotting the most efficient course through rush-hour traffic, she breaks down everything into numbers and formulas. While this would make the normal person seem distracted, Sage manages just fine while calculating the world around her in background.
Emotionally Withdrawn
Most first impressions of Sage are that she is cold and calculating. Many would even attach the word 'bitch' to that description, but only those who don't know her well. Sage taught herself years ago to control her emotions to the point where she intellectualizes everything. It isn't as if she doesn't feel anything, she just never lets most people see that she does.
Outspoken
Sage voices her opinion about almost everything, mostly because she is confident that her analyses and deductions are always right. While her intentions are good, she doesn't understand that others can sometimes take offense at this.
Trust
Sage knows that she isn't very good at processing emotions, so she tends to keep some distance with others initially. Once she knows enough to trust someone, however, she is incredibly loyal.
Caring
Despite her cold exterior, deep down Sage has a good heart. She believes that there is still good in the world, and that it is worth fighting for. In that sense she is a true hero. On the other hand, Sage tends to try a bit too hard to solve problems for her friends; even when her help is no longer wanted.
Dubious Morality
Since she intellectualizes everything, Sage often appears to have a different concept of morality than most people. A player of long games, she takes an 'ends justifies the means' approach to achieve her goals, which seems questionable in the shorter term.
Temper
For all her emotional detachment and analytical nature, Sage does have quite a temper. Since her thoughts are usually so far ahead of most people's, she can be set off by seemingly anything. Fortunately her response is typically a wild rant with a lot of hand-waving and hair tossing. And once she's had her fit, she just calmly moves on to something else.
Motivation
Sage honestly and truly wants to do the Right Thing <tm>, no matter what the situation. While the exact details and angles will vary from event to event, Sage is an honest and true Hero with a capital 'H'.
Goals
Sage is currently back with the X-Men and supporting their efforts. She still has ties to the Hellfire Club, however, and considers it a personal matter to keep tabs on that organization. Tessa always had plenty of latitude in her dealings with the HFC, whether simply observing their activities or consciously manipulating them.
Human Computer
Tessa's mind works in much the same way that a computer works, only faster. She has instant recall and eidetic memory and can multi-task by allocating a partition of her brain to each task. For example, Sage can use her mind to replay a movie she had watched previously, play a game of internet chess, and focus on battling an opponent without any one task distracting her from another.
With her cybernetic shades on Tessa has the ability to interface and communicate with computers, computer mainframes, and any data processors at a speed that's equal to, if not greater than, that of the computer itself. She can also send e-mail and use the internet. Her glasses have a broadband connection to a super-computer at Xavier's school.
Telepathy
Sage's telepathic ability allows her communicate with others over several short miles. She can also read the minds of others as an IC ability. This is strictly a consent-based ability. The other player or RP staff alone will decide how much Sage can glean from their thoughts.
Telepathic Firewall
Tessa was trained from a young age by Professor Xavier. One of the first things he taught her was to block her mind from telepathic attack from outside sources. It's really a simple trick. Tessa keeps the block up is by simply keeping her brain 'busy' all the time, thereby making her thoughts so jumbled that they seem like white noise.
Metahuman Detection
Sage is able to 'see' a person's DNA, reading complex genetic code sequences for latent and manifested mutations. This allows her to sense mutants and, in some cases, to understand how their powers work on a biological level.
Genetic Enhancement
Because of her ability to see a person's genetic code Sage is SOMETIMES able to selectively evolve and enhance the existing genetic traits of mutants.
Genetic Jumpstart
Because of her ability to see a person's genetic code Sage is SOMETIMES able to catalyze the untapped genetic potential of latent mutants. Once begun, the procedure is irreversible and can often result in unpredictable side effects.
NOTE: These powers can be used by RP STAFF APPROVAL ONLY.
Computer
Sage has access to a supercomputer at Xavier's School. It is state of the art and would be typical of the specialized machines found at the Pentagon or most military think-tanks. The system is NOT portable by any means, but Sage can access it through the broadband connection in her glasses on a continuous basis.
Glasses
Sage developed and built a set of VR Glasses that allow her a constant connection to the internet. While Sage herself has no cybernetic implants at all, her design allows her to interface with the machine via a telepathic link. She can call up whatever information is stored in Xavier's mainframe supercomputer or on the Internet itself. While this gives her instant access to a plethora of information, there is no guarantee that all the information she garners is actually true. This is the INTERNET, after all.
Car
Sage's vehicle is a Hummer H2 Geiger. It's a standard model, except the on-board computer that allows for GPS and AutoNav (Autonomous Navigation). Sage can speak to her Hummer through her glasses and the vehicle can navigate to any location that she instructs through the GPS.
Attractive
Tessa would be considered by most to be a physically attractive woman. This is subjective, of course, and she does have a pair of scars on her face as well.
Eidetic Memory
Sage has perfect recall and can remember anything that she sees or reads.
Willpower
Sage is extremely strong-willed, and once she sets her mind to something it is very difficult to change her course. She can also withstand torture for an extended time.
Fast Reflexes
Tessa has complete, conscious control over her body so there is almost no delay between thought and action.
Contacts
Tessa was a member in good standing of a few hero groups, such as the X-Men, Excalibur, and the Exiles. She considers most, if not all, of them to be friends she can call upon in need.
Athlete
Sage has complete, conscious control over her body which makes her an extremely good athlete. If she can visualize a maneuver, she can do it.
Chess
Whenever she is awake, Sage is likely to be playing electronic Chess. It's part of what she does to keep up her Telepathic Firewall.
Computers
Because of the way Sage's brain works she sometimes prefers the company of computers to humans. At least she finds them to be a safe haven. She has spent hours learning hardware, software and applications.
Detective
In order to prepare herself for spying on Shaw, Sage needed to learn how to gather information. She not only read instructional materials, but she became quite the expert on fictional detective stories.
Engineering
Sage studied Electrical Engineering at MIT. She continues to develop her skills through the use of her Cyber Glasses.
Languages
Sage has an affinity for languages because of her love for a souped up version of Babelfish, an electronic translation device that she has installed on her super computer. It is voice activated and will translate over 127 languages in real time to Sage. She can mentally text her response and it will translate back in the foreign language. Without her glasses or a connection to the computer she knows only English.
Literature
Sage has been reading the great works of literature in background for quite some time, now. It contributes to her telepathic firewall and also helps her to try and better understand the rest of humanity. She can quote passages and authors with ease, but she usually doesn't understand the aesthetic beauty of these works.
Mathematics
Tessa made a separate study of Math at MIT, in addition to the rigorous math requirements of Electrical Engineering.
Philosophy
Sage minored in Philosophy at the University, once again trying to answer the questions that every introspective human asks themselves. She continues searching for answers, but finds that her philosophical studies bring only further confusion. Few philosophers are logical and even her favorite, Aristotle leaves something to be desired. While she can spout the names of philosophers and portions of their great works, she has little true understanding.
Sciences
Because of her ability to read genetic code Sage has studied biology, and chemistry in order to better understand what it is that she's seeing. Like anything else, she hopes of further hone her skills and powers.
Subterfuge
This was NOT a skill that came naturally to Sage, but she developed it over time during her stint with Shaw Industries. Every day she lived with the fear that she would be discovered, so she read crime and fiction novels to glean what information she could from them. Everything else was 'on the job' learning.
Vehicles
Sage loves to drive almost anything. Whether it's a car, a motorcycle, or even a truck, she simply likes to go fast. It's something of a hobby for her.
Weaponry
Sage can control weapons well, primarily because she sees them as an extension of herself. With guns she mentally calculates the physics of the shot in an instant, which translates into much greater accuracy. The same goes for knives or melee weapons.
Martial Arts
Sage is skilled in the martial arts and is a formidable hand-to-hand combatant for a couple of reasons. The first is having complete conscious control over her own body. The second is her eidetic memory, which includes forms and styles.
No Emotions
Sage has subdued her emotions to the point where she seems to have none. While that isn't actually true, the impression remains.
Scars
Sage has scars on her face that run down from her eyes and over her cheeks from her encounter with her enemy Elias Bogan. They are so perfect as to be mistaken for facial tattoos.
Shady Past
It's not exactly public knowledge that Sage was working for Sebastian Shaw and Shaw Industries at the behest of Charles Xavier, as his agent. It's quite likely that most people believe that Tessa was actually in league with the man.
Socially Awkward
Tessa has a terrible time with her emotions, which she only allows to surface rarely. And she certainly does not understand most 'humans', as she tends to call people. She is almost never the 'life of the party'.
Stubborn
Sage analyzes every situation from multiple angles until she arrives at the best, calculated solution. Once the settles on this, it takes an awful lot to convince her that there's a better way.
Technophile
Sage is very receptive to most technology and readily embraces it. She sees technology as a positive impact on society as well as a means to potentially improve everything from basic living to social issues. In reality, however, it only provides more separation between her and 'normal' people, making her even more difficult to understand.
Hellfire Club
Shaw knows that Tessa was a spy for the X-Men. While she is no longer affiliated with the Hellfire Club, suspicions have been raised and her future motives would be questioned.
IC Events
Logs tagged as including Sage are added automatically below.