Owen Fortune - A History

Phase One: Human

Owen Fortune was born on Friday 13th June 1986 in the village of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch in the north of Wales. Before he was a year old, his parents moved to Swanley, London, where Owen grew up.
Clive and Angela Fortune never thought their boy would amount to anything: he was lethargic, inattentive and he never applied himself to anything, school least of all. But young Owen had an unusual excuse for his lack of success in life: he was cursed with Bad Luck. In actual fact, Owen Fortune was both perceptive and intelligent, but his Luck contrived to thwart him at every turn. The friends he chose as a child were those whose parents' jobs meant they moved away a few months later, and as a teenager they were the sort that didn't have friends of their own, they had useful acquaintances. Owen never played sports well, that is to say he did; but whenever he played he would inevitably suffer some injury that would land him in Casualty. As Owen approached the end of his school days, he had to take exams, but academic achievement would never be his when he constantly revised the wrong subject or took down the wrong times and turned up to the wrong exam entirely.
Owen never went to college or university: he left school in 2003 at seventeen with few qualifications and eventually tried to work as a freelance photojournalist, a job that he thought was suited to one of his few talents: investigating, or "spying and prying" as his mother called it. After a few years at this, in which he had some moderate successes through sheer perseverance and bloody-minded Willpower (something his tough childhood had given him a lot of), the spark of ambition began to burn in Owen and, as the year 2008 began, he turned his hand to photographing Novas. More difficult and dangerous that might be, but that was where the money was. This decision, to take a risk, was to change Owen Fortune's life forever. The first Nova 'event' he attended, and began photographing, was a group of Novas saving people from a burning, collapsing building. Part of the building collapsed onto the square of ground where Owen was unwisely standing, despite warnings from the firemen, so he could get better shots of the Novas.

When the dust cleared, Owen was still standing, exactly where he had been. His camera had been snatched from his hands and completely destroyed. He, on the other hand, was entirely unharmed.
Owen Fortune had just Erupted.
"That was lucky," he said.

Phase Two: Nova

With his Eruption, Owen's life was turned around. He went from being confounded by ill luck to being one of the luckiest men in the world - for that was how his Nova powers immediately manifested. It did not take long for Owen to realise how and why this reversal of fortunes had taken place, and not much longer for him to take advantage of it. Aside from his Luck, the first difference to manifest in Owen was a dramatic increase in his intelligence, which enabled him to work out how best to make use of the Good Luck that now followed him wherever he went and in whatever he did. So the first thing he did was to get rich.
In theory, there are rules to stop Novas from using their powers to just become fantastically wealthy very quickly with no effort by, for example, gambling. But in practice, for someone with 'Mega-intelligence' getting round these restrictions is child's play. By his twenty-second birthday, Owen had more money than he knew what to do with.
Due to the nature of his powers, Owen went undetected as a Nova in the world at large for almost a year, but it was inevitable that he would be 'outed', and indeed he was. But just in time to escape the notice of those who might look upon his wealth as 'ill-gotten', Owen moved his money to Switzerland and himself to the USA, still passing under the radar of those groups of Novas that might not accept a refusal to join them.
After this, Owen became restless. His everyday routine was boring him out of his mind. Things that before would have pushed him to his limit, physically or mentally, he could now accomplish with ease, even if it was just by lucking it.
He took up extreme sports. He laughed at them.
And so Owen Fortune, like so many Novas before him, began looking for others of his kind to join up with, to become part of a group that could give him a purpose in life, and that could offer him a challenge!

The Nature of Fortune

Owen's Nova powers manifest in the following ways: First and foremost, he is Lucky, and this Luck takes a variety of forms - when attempting to accomplish a task Owen should find very difficult he can often 'luck it', when in physical danger he can often avoid being hurt through lucky circumstances, when in a fight Owen's opponents are unlucky, and so on. Secondly, Owen's intelligence dramatically increased soon after his Eruption. Thirdly, Owen's body became tougher and more durable. Finally, Owen gained heightened senses, and a sixth sense; a powerful intuition that at times borders on precognition - but only when danger threatens him.

Because many of his powers seem devoted to keeping him alive. Owen has, since his Eruption, been taken to increasingly excessive measures to excite and entertain him. The extreme sports were just the start. Owen has become a Thrillseeker, prepared to go to any lengths to get an adrenaline rush, to make him use every ounce of his heightened senses, intellect and physique to escape or survive the situation. In a way, by seeking out dangerous situations he is testing the very limits of his personal powers, and subconsciously he knows that his Luck is there if all else fails. Owen does not like relying on his Luck, but knows it has saved his life before.

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