Vigil

The true identity of Vigil is one of the most closely guarded secrets in the world of superheroes. Emerging about a decade ago waging a one-man war on organised crime and corruption, Vigil has joined the tradition of superpowerless costumed heroes begun by Lady Shade in the final days of World War Two. Of course, Vigil's secret is that he is not, in fact, one man, but two, combining the martial talents of former SAS Sergeant Malcolm Bryce with the technical genius of billionaire industrialist August King.

Description
Vigil as he is known to the public is a costumed Malcolm Bryce. Malcolm is a man of intermediate heigh, extremely broad in the shoulders and narrow through the hips. He has the physique of an Olympic athlete and his body is generously dotted with scars of nearly every variety. His eyes are a cool blue-grey and his hair, cropped short in military style, is a dark blonde. He resembles nothing so much as a tiger, moving with lethal grace and an effortless power in every economical movement.

As Vigil, Malcolm wears a highly advanced suit of armour designed by August King. Plates of carbon-nanotube reinforced polymers and dense kevlar weaves cover almost every inch of him and small servos in the joints of the armour distribute the weight so perfectly it feels like wearning nothing more than a well-made suit. The only affectation is the satin chrome "V" that extends from the shoulders of the suit to the middle of the chest.

August, on the other hand, is a somewhat mousy, though not unhandsome man of indeterminate age; he could be a very mature man in his late 20s, or a boyish mid-forties. With reddish-brown hair constantly in need of a comb and darting hazel eyes, August seems every inch the eccentric billionare. August's ever-present companion is, of course, his wheelchair, a state-of-the-art device he designed himself.

Biography
Born to well-to-do parents descended from minor nobility, August King's early life was a charmed one. His intellect revealed itself at a early age, and his parents did everything in their power to nurture the talents of their young genius, immerrsing him in everything from music to languages to advanced mathematics to sport, it would be the last that changed his life most significantly. A budding horseman, it was at an equestrian demonstration when he was twelve that he fell from his mount and severely damaged his first and second cervical vertebrae. Young August was quadriplegic.

Over the years, a series of operations would return to him the use of his arms, but August was forever changed. After the accident, his parents hired a series of private tutors to educate their son at home and, lacking the use of his body, he fully turned his attention to the use of his mind. By fifteen he had completed a full six A levels with near perfect marks. By eighteen he sported two bachelor's degrees in computer science and engineering. At the tender age of twenty, with a Masters and PhD under his belt, he founded Throne Electronics and within a year he was a billionaire. Throne Industrial followed shortly thereafter, then Throne Media, Throne Agricultural and Throne Airways. By twenty-five the Throne Group of Companies, or ThroneCorp, was a leader in almost every field of enterprise, and August King one of the richest men in the world.

Malcolm Bryce, on the other hand, was born on the other end of the social spectrum. Since Corporal Edward Bryce fought the French at Waterloo, almost every man in Malcolm's family had been a soldier, but not one an officer. His was a proud family, but poor. Despite growing up in East London, Malcolm's mother made sure he had none of the gutter in his speech, and from when he was old enough to hold up his hands, his father made sure he knew how to fight. It started with boxing and spread like wildfire, with young Malcolm turning his hand to every martial art he could. When Malcolm Bryce tells you he's had more bruises than square meals in his life, he's not kidding. It would have been easy for a kid with Malcolm's skills to become the most brutal kind of bully, but Malcolm lost every fight he was ever in, and there were more than a few, because he never threw a punch. At seventeen he enlisted with the Parachute Regiment of the British Army and at twenty-one he was serving with the SAS in Afghanistan, one of the youngest recruits in the Service's history.

Malcolm would not survive his first tour with the SAS, despite being one of the finest soldiers in the Service. The exact circumstances surrounding Malcolm's discharge were covered up by the Armed Forces, and Malcolm has never spoken of them. Whatever they may have been, Malcolm found himself, barely a quarter of the way through his life, robbed of the future he had always imagined for himself.