Ultrawarrior (CO)
- Oscar Goldman: Gentlemen, we can rebuild him. We have the technology. We have the capability to make the world's first bionic man. Steve Austin will be that man. Better than he was before. Better...stronger...faster.
- —Opening credits, The Six Million Dollar Man (1974)
- This article refers to the Champions Online character. For the Marvel Superheroes RPG version, see Ultrawarrior (MSH).
Ultrawarrior is a take on the man-machine concept. Not quite a cyborg, not quite a man in powered armor, but a man reliant on technology to simply survive; and one who has chosen that life is more than merely survival. Given the way his appearance in the game turned out, looking like something out of anime, I decided to give his background a more global feel.
Personality
Sato is a professional; that is to say, he doesn't consider heroism to be something to joke about, nor does he engage in banter. He believes that the best way to deal with villainy isn't to trade barbs with it-it's to take it out with a proper amount of judiciously applied violence.
He still has a streak of bitterness for his circumstances. Outside of the Ultrawarrior chassis, he is effectively paraplegic, and requires a specialized harness to even breathe. The only way he can be what he views as "normal" again is to be encased in the chassis. The additional bite for him comes with the understanding that, before his accident, he was one of the people who never gave physically challenged people a second thought. That helps drive him to assist people he might have ignored in the past; if it took the accident to make him a better person, then maybe-just maybe-some good may have come out of it all.
Powers
None. All of Sato's abilities are either derived from practice or from his gear.
Abilities
Sato is a skilled enough of a mechanic to repair damage done to his combat chassis. He has an adequate grasp on squad-level tactics, although this has been hampered by the sudden change in his physical abilities. His close combat skills were excellent before the earthquake, and he is working to hone them again in his new situation; he can wield weapons with either hand with no loss of skill, and may use both hands at once.
Weaknesses and Limitations
Sato requires substantial equipment to continue to survive. His injuries during the earthquake of 2011 crippled him to the point where he cannot breathe unassisted by high technology, or even walk.
Equipment
Sato, by necessity, wears the Ultrawarrior Combat Chassis, a form-fitting armor outfit that serves as an environmental suit as well as protection from attack. This enables him to walk, as he cannot under ordinary circumstances-and allows him to breathe normally. The armor also has access to a small arsenal of hand-to-hand combat weapons, including energy blades, katanas, and his current favorite-Qularr axes. Most of these weapons have been blunted so as to not slay accidentally. The weaponry is stored in a secret cavern hideout where he keeps track of global affairs, and is called to his hands by use of specialized "call/return" technology.
Character History
Ryū Sato started life on United States soil, thanks to his mother going into labor far earlier than predicted; his father had taken her on a business trip to the United States, representing his tech firm Kousai, and before they knew it, Ryū was born. This event would be important to Sato as he grew up, as he would have effectively dual citizenship with Japan and the United States...at least, until he had to choose between them.
In that time, he learned about the culture of the United States, and compared it with his own. Eventually, he told his parents that he had decided to set aside his Japanese citizenship for that of the United States; he reasoned that it would be good for the family to have a foothold in (arguably) the most powerful nation in the world. While his parents were somewhat disappointed by the choice, they were happy to let him make his own decisions. His father likely hoped that he would one day run the American branch of Kousai.
Plans and hopes faded as Sato chose to become a soldier of fortune. He had grown up of the stories of the great Japanese warriors, on the code of Bushido and the Samurai, read manga comics and watched videos of Ultraman. He earned a living fighting for causes all over the world for what he thought was right. This revelation was a greater disappointment to his family, but they could not deny that he was fighting for causes that were worth fighting for. And for a time, things seemed stable.
But upon a visit with his sister, who had been teaching at a school in the city of Okuma, a powerful earthquake destroyed that life. Desperate to get the children out of the school, Sato and his sister stayed in the building, trying to evacuate the children before it collapsed. Many children were saved due to their actions.
The Satos were not. When Sato awoke in a hospital, he discovered that he was paralyzed from the waist down, and he could not breathe without aid. Worse, his sister had died in the collapse. For hours, he debated if she had been the fortunate one.
His family came to his aid. Kousai had begun work on technologies that his father believed might help Sato. The firm had begun dabbling in Self-Defense Force contracts; one of the contracts had fallen through, but the work had remained: a combat chassis for their soldiers that could call up their weapons from a remote location and return them at need. The chassis could be adapted for Sato's needs: a life support suit that could move his legs for him.
It took time before Sato could reach his goal of mobility again in the chassis. In that time, he had many talks with his father, and the two came to decide that the Sato family name would not be dishonored if he were to use the abilities of the suit in a nobler purpose. No longer a mere soldier of fortune, he would become a hero of two nations, facing the ever-growing dangers of superhuman villainy. He would fight such villainy in Japan, in the United States, and the world over as Ultrawarrior!
Affiliations
Sato is, by necessity, aligned with the Japanese tech firm Kousai.
Nemeses
None At Present
Real Name: Unknown
Powers/Abilities: Unknown
Henchmen: Unknown
Details: Unknown
Current Status: Unknown