Silver Paladin
- A knight is sworn to valor. His heart knows only virtue. His blade defends the helpless. His might upholds the weak. His word speaks only truth. His wrath undoes the wicked.
- —The Old Code, Dragonheart (1996)
What do you get when you put bleeding edge technology into an ancient medieval suit of armor? You might end up with someone like Silver Paladin.
Personality
Pelletier is a study in contradictions. On the one hand, he's careful with his technological development and money management; he's methodical in how he approaches problems. On the other, he's a risk taker; he'll put it all on the line if he thinks the potential return is just as great. Double or nothing isn't an inaccurate way of describing his general outlook on life.
All that said, he remains uncomfortable with crowds; good business sense doesn't necessarily translate to exceptional social skills. Pelletier prefers the quiet of his penthouse and his private manufacturing facility than the social whirl of the influential and wealthy.
Powers
None. Pelletier's "powers" all derive from his equipment.
Abilities
If it wasn't enough that Pelletier is a talented inventor, he is also well versed in how to parlay that talent into money. He is the CEO of Action Enterprises, a tech firm that supplies a fair amount of tech to PRIMUS under contracts (primarily non-weaponized technology).
Weaknesses and Limitations
Without the Silver Paladin armor, Pelletier has no access to any of its powers.
It's been speculated that Pelletier has a minor gambling problem, given his tendency to take high-stakes risks; but since most of them have panned out, it's hard to say if that indicates a love of gambling or just very shrewd business tactics.
Equipment
The Silver Paladin armor is, at base, a suit of knight's armor that has been upgraded and modified to make use of high technology. The original metal plates have been laced with more modern metals (the exact composition of which is a company secret), the chain mail links painstakingly replaced with the same material. The undersheath of the armor amplifies the wearer's strength to superhuman levels. The plates have patches of nanomaterial programmed to "grow" advanced weapons as needed, such as a minigun on a shoulder patch, or a pair of floating drones which can "evolve" weapons or defenses at need. A low-level force field imbues the armor with a measure of invulnerability. The helmet contains a sophisticated sensor suite that medieval knights would have envied. The armor can activate an energy shield to help protect the wearer-used in lieu of a metal shield-and can pull from extradimensional storage a massive oversized sword with blunted edges-the blade is far too large and heavy to use without the enhanced strength of the armor. The boots of the armor contain jump jets that allow superior travel over short distances in an open space; this doesn't work so well with low ceilings.
There have been rumors that Pelletier also has other equipment available to him, but this has yet to be confirmed.
Character History
Robert Pelletier seemingly had it all. He was smart-as in, genius smart-and he was rich-as in, "Filthy". He was the CEO of Action Enterprises, a technology firm that specialized in personnel defenses and transport. He had even designed some of the more useful patents. It would be easy to rest on his laurels, and live off of the profits of his company.
Pelletier, however, was raised with a certain amount of social awareness. His parents had seen the devastation of Detroit when Dr. Destroyer demonstrated why he had the name; they had seen news reports that covered the horrific aftermath. And they saw the determination of good people to rebuild their home into something better than it was. "These," Pelletier's father said, "are real heroes. Not the kind you read about in your fantasy books."
Those books were the other major influence on Pelletier; books of high fantasy, of knights in shining armor. Growing up, as his mind expanded to handle more and more advanced concepts in his schooling, he would play such characters in computer games and tabletop games. When he graduated college, he immediately went into business for himself-and with a few friends, created Action Enterprises. Within a couple of years, it had secured contracts with UNTIL and PRIMUS for non-weaponized technology. That was one line Pelletier would not cross: he would not let the company be known as an arms dealership.
In spite of all of his success, Pelletier could not shake the desire to find a way to help society with his wealth and genius; he couldn't mass produce his more impressive inventions, such as a strength amplifying exoskeleton and nanites programmed for system repair. It seemed like he would have to use only more mundane methods of helping out, until one day he saw a news report concerning the hero, Defender-a man using power armor.
Defender was hardly the first hero to use power armor, but that report came at the right time for Pelletier; it pushed him to an epiphany. He could design power armor, as well-he could become an active hero. He didn't have to sit on the sidelines while good men fought; he could join them instead! Inspired by his childhood reading and his possession of an old suit of medieval armor purchased on a lark at auction, he began to retrofit that armor into something new: a shell of an old suit housing the most sophisticated technology he could produce.
The end result was a silvery suit of armor that inspired the name: Silver Paladin!
Affiliations
Silver Paladin was identified by Runelord as a "Paragon of Virtue". He has accepted probational membership with this group. Pelletier is the CEO of Action Enterprises, which may also make demands on his time.
Nemeses
Techknight
Real Name: Unknown
Powers/Abilities: Unknown
Henchmen: Unknown
Details: Unknown
Current Status: Unknown