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From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe

[edit] On Villainy and Nightmare Chartreuse

Nightmare Chartreuse was created as an arch-villain for the hero Justice Shield of the United Sentinels of America. The character was initially proposed by Justice Shield’s player and was developed from notes on Justice Shield’s origin.

It is this player’s view that the best villains fit into the literary archetype of the tragic villain, one who has the potential to be a great hero but through misfortune, be it physical or mental, has found himself or herself at cross-purposes to what would have been a sterling example of the virtues and hallmarks of a truly great individual.

These are the villains that captivate us; although a murderous psychopath can evoke limited suspense, it is the tragic villain that makes us question the line between heroism and villainy and evokes not only our sense of dread at what they are capable of doing in the name of a “cause,” but also captures the hearts of those who observe them, watching how their lives have seemingly been destroyed around them, agonizingly pushing them past the envelope of a normal person or even a superlative individual into one whose qualities of strength of purpose, sense of self and responsibility are all focused on what is often defined as villainy but can be reinterpreted through the character’s eyes as a form of justice.

It is this player’s meager attempt in capturing the literary archetype of the tragic villain that inspired the history and personality of Nightmare Chartreuse; although it would appear that she should have been a hero, events in her life that were seemingly out of her own control led to terrible consequences to her own life that have cast her into the role of a villain in an almost insane yet plausible attempt at justice within her own mind.

[edit] Family History

[edit] Cassandra

Cassandra, sometimes called Cassandra Alexandra, was the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her beauty lured the god Apollo, and in exchange for her vow that she would marry him, Apollo granted Cassandra the gift of prophecy. However, when she refused to marry him, Apollo cursed Cassandra – although she would see and know the future, no one would believe her.

Even though Cassandra foresaw the destruction of Troy, no one listened to her prophesies, and after the war she was taken from the temple of Athena where she had fled by Ajax the Lesser and eventually ended up as a concubine to King Agamemnon of Mycenae by whom she bore twin boys – Teledamus and Pelops.

Cassandra along with her children were eventually murdered by Aegisthus, but not before Cassandra was able to hide a third child, Artemisia, away with another concubine. Thus, one child would live, it would be a girl, and she would inherit her mother’s gift.

However, Apollo’s curse would remain with the bloodline, altered, however, by Athena for Cassandra’s loyalty – all of Cassandra’s daughters and daughters’ daughters would bear the gift of prophecy and other powers of the mind that would grow in strength and ability, but should they ever learn a terrible secret that they did not successfully uncover, they would be afflicted with the insanity to which everyone ascribed to Cassandra herself.

[edit] Joan d’Arc

Around 1412, Jacques d’Arc and Isabelle Romée became the parents of a daughter, Joan, in the village of Domrémy in the duchy of Bar.

The family owned a small farm, and Jacques worked to supplement the family’s income as a village official, heading the local watch and collecting taxes.

Joan had a relatively normal childhood for a girl growing up in northeastern France during the period of the Hundred Years’ War, although her family was loyal to the French despite being surrounded by Burgundian lands.

Joan, however, had gifts, like her mother, and her mother’s mother, dating all the way back to their matron, Cassandra, as Isabelle was a descendent of Artemisia. Isabelle taught Joan from an early age that she would have visions of the future, although in Isabelle and Joan’s minds, these visions were gifts of God rather than the god Apollo, and it would always be her duty to respond to the visions she would have or God would curse her.

At age twelve, Joan had her first vision, interpreting the individuals she saw as Saint Michael, Saint Catherine and Saint Margaret. Joan would later state that the vision was a charge – that she should drive out the English from France and bring the Dauphin to Reims for his coronation.

Initially discounted by the military, Joan’s visions of the future proved to be correct in all matters, and it was due to her prediction of a military reversal at Orléans that she finally gained the recognition of the court.

Petitioning to join a relief effort headed for Orléans, Joan was allowed to travel and wear men’s clothing to protect her, but she had to rely upon donations for her armor, horse, sword, banner and entourage. Legend would record that Joan would wear white armor, and it was her statement that she preferred her standard to her sword.

For the next year or so Joan would serve as an advisor and, at times, when excluded from planning, a warrior and great tactician for the French.

During a skirmish at Compiègne on May 23, 1430, Joan was captured. Having sounded the order for retreat, she took the honorable and bold stand of being the last to leave the battlefield, thus ensuring her capture by the English.

Being imprisoned and tried for the ecclesiastical crime of dressing as a male, Joan was unusually denied emprisonment in a nunnery and was instead guarded in an English prison by male guards, during which she was raped.

Unknown to her guards, however, Joan continued to receive visions, also knowing and hiding that she was pregnant, giving birth alone in her chamber and withstanding the pain of childbirth without uttering a sound.

It was during one of her many escape attempts that her true plan, safety for her daughter, was successful in that after she jumped from a seventy-foot window, cushioning the blow for her child with her own body, she was able to pass her child, Margaret, to a peasant woman to raise. It was this peasant woman who constructed a small cross, a sign that Margaret would be safe and would know of her mother, that Joan put in the front of her dress that she wore through her execution.

[edit] Sarah Good

Sarah Good had a troubled past – she was twice married and impoverished, begging door-to-door for food with her daughter, Dorothy, by the time she was accused of witchcraft at the beginning of the Salem Witch Trials in 1692.

Sarah was noted for unusual abilities which caused her to be part of the initially accused – it was said that if one denied her food, she would walk away muttering. Although she claimed in court she was reciting the Ten Commandments, it was the case that if she were turned away, the same night after she had “muttered,” something terrible would happen to the family that had refused her.

The Puritans were extremely superstitious, and Sarah, although not a witch, was a natural psychic with powers of astral projection, telepathy and precognition. Such powerful abilities could only be understood by the Puritan mindset as being supernatural in nature, and so the people of Salem believed Sarah to be a witch. Sarah, however, knew the truth behind her abilities as a descendant of Cassandra.

Sarah’s abilities had given her exceptional insight into the political nature of Salem, from the family and political conflicts to downright theft and rape, and even though she knew she should act to stop the problems, she was poor, her husband was in debtors’ prison, and she had a daughter to think about. And so Sarah withdrew herself from the happenings of the community. Knowing what was happening and failing to act to stop the madness, however, Sarah became afflicted with the curse of the family line, being viewed as beligerant and insane.

Denying all claims of witchcraft, Sarah was eventually convicted and sentenced to die. Found to be pregnant, Sarah’s execution was postponed. Even imprisoned, however, Sarah’s abilities were unhindered.

Looking into the future, Sarah astrally projected herself to a friend, Rebecca, who knew both of Sarah’s abilities and her actual nature as a kind and caring person. Rebecca agreed to help Sarah save her daughter and worked as one of the nurses who attended Sarah during the birth of her second daughter, Rachel, in the Ipswitch jail. Rebecca then took Rachel and replaced her with another baby girl who had been stillborn days earlier, although all records would show, just as Sarah and Rebecca had plotted, that the child had died.

Rebecca took the girl and raised her without ever telling her about her real mother so as to escape both the fear and the knowledge of the plots among the Puritans of Salem, knowledge of which would cause the child to suffer from the curse upon the family line.

When Sarah went to the gallows for hanging, she was not quiet as the others were; she pronounced that the minister that signed her order of execution would be “fed blood by God;” the minister died not long after, coughing up the blood just as Sarah had predicted.

[edit] Biography

[edit] Dreams of War

Janet Wilson was born and grew up in the Steel Canyon district of Paragon City, the daughter of Joseph and Elaine Wilson. Janet had two brothers – Andrew and Alexander – but she wasn’t like her brothers; Elaine could see the future and read minds, and she knew that her daughter had these abilities, as well, and she always taught Janet to stand up for what was right, no matter what or it would hurt her.

Elaine had received visions, just as her mother had, that told her of her family’s lineage and the blessing and the curse that lay upon the women of the family, and Elaine watched over and guided her daughter Janet in all that she did.

When the Rikti attacked, Elaine had foreseen the destruction that would be wrought on Earth and Paragon City. Fearing, however, for her daughter’s safety, Elaine convinced Joseph to take the family to upstate New York to avoid the destruction that would befall the city. It was not long after the Rikti attacked that Elaine was declared insane and was institutionalized where she died only a few months later.

[edit] Dreams of Peace

Returning to Steel Canyon after the Rikti assault was stopped, the Wilson family was never the same after the death of Elaine. Andrew and Alexander eventually moved to the west coast, and Joseph became an alcoholic.

Despite family problems, Janet knew she had a responsibility to her mother, her family and the world. Having finished high school, Janet enrolled at Paragon University studying Criminal Science in order that she might be able to help others.

Finishing at the top of her class, Janet enrolled in the police academy, becoming an officer in the Paragon Police Department, being noted for her quick thinking, insight, and ability to assess instantly any situation. Janet knew she was now in a perfect position to help – she had minor visions, but her powers were not so much geared toward precognition as telepathy, and she was a rising star in the department, a track record that would probably lead to her becoming the youngest female detective on the force.

Not to mention the fact that her beauty, charm and wonderful singing voice had won her numerous amateur singing competitions under the stage name of Janet Sage and twice had her featured in the Women of Paragon City yearly calendar, proceeds from both going to help in the rebuilding of Faultline. Janet Wilson had everything that the modern, successful woman could want.

[edit] Dreams of Death

On September 22, 2005, the Paragon Police Department received an anonymous telephone call stating that a bomb had been planted in the Wilmar Building in Steel Canyon. The Wilmar Building housed the administrative offices of Paragon Power & Light, the city’s primary utility company.

Among the first officers to respond were Officer Richard Lane and his partner, Officer Janet Wilson. Their assignment was to evacuate the building, secure a perimeter and await the bomb squad.

During the evacuation while checking the building’s basement, Lane and Wilson discovered the bomb attached to one of the building’s main support columns. Wilson radioed in the bomb’s location, and they were instructed to leave the building and await the arrival of the bomb disposal team.

As the two began to leave, the bomb started beeping. Curious, Lane went to examine the bomb.

Trying to urge her partner to leave immediately, catching a glimpse of the future, Wilson was unable to convince Lane to leave behind his curiosity for the safety of themselves and the other officers present. And then the bomb activated due to Lane’s examinations, and before either could react the bomb exploded.

The central support column of the building partially shielded Lane from the resulting explosion. Although crushed by piles of concrete and steel and severely burned by the flash fire of the explosion, Lane survived. The other five police officers still in the building, including Janet Wilson, were not so lucky.

Officers Guerra, Black, Gillespie and Brooks were killed as the floor literally fell out below them and were crushed by the falling debris from above.

Janet Wilson, her minor precognitive powers warning her of the imminent threat, threw herself behind a secondary support column, partially shielding herself from the blast.

Officers Lane and Wilson were rushed to the hospital where Lane was immediately operated on by Crey Industry specialists in breakthrough surgery for burns and crushed bones.

Officer Wilson’s injuries, however, were more severe – not only had she suffered burns and crushed bones, the flash fire and inhalation of the smoke and asbestos used in the building had almost completely destroyed her vocal cords and given her acute mesothelioma, and her once beautiful and cheerful face had been marred by a large piece of shrapnel from the explosion that had destroyed her right eye.

Janet Wilson lay in a coma in the hospital, her physical injuries beyond hope, and her mind, sadly, suffering from the psychic strain that no one could have known about – the feeling of her fellow officers’ deaths and the guilt her partner felt for not ordering the emergency evacuation and activating the bomb that had now ruined so many lives.

[edit] Dreams Become Nightmares

While Crey Industries worked with Lane, Janet lay unconscious in the hospital fighting a mental battle trying to retain her own mind.

In the news a group calling itself the Free-Earth Society had claimed responsibility for the bombing, citing Paragon City’s use of nuclear power in Terra Volta as their reason for the bombing.

As Janet’s mind and body slowly slipped away into oblivion, Ghost Widow sent agents to secretly transport Janet Wilson’s body to the Rogue Isles while replacing her with a brain-dead cloned body.

When Janet had telepathically connected with her fellow officers as they were dying, she had touched the Netherworld telepathically for but an instant. It was in that instant that Janet had felt death, but Ghost Widow had also sensed Janet’s mental anguish as well as her vast, undeveloped mental abilities across the void of death. Janet possessed all the qualities of an excellent soldier, Ghost Widow having read of her accomplishments in the news and performing arcane ceremonies to uncover the truth behind Janet’s untapped abilities. And perhaps Ghost Widow sensed a kindred soul.

Awakening in Ghost Widow’s compound in the Rogue Isles, Janet felt nothing but pain. Her head was heavy, a product of the cybernetic eye that Ghost Widow had had implanted, and scar tissue surrounded her new optic device. Her throat and lungs were sore – although cured of her mesothelioma and extensive work had been done to restore her vocal cords, her voice was now gravelly rather than melodious. With every breath she felt nothing but pain.

In all ways, the woman who was Janet Wilson had died weeks earlier in the blast that had almost completely destroyed her body.

[edit] Nightmares Become Reality

Over the next few months, Janet slowly began to recuperate and accept that her life as she knew it had been completely destroyed never to be recovered.

Physically, Janet spent the months learning how to see using her new optic implant, breathe through the pain that consumed her body, and learning how to speak again, not even recognizing her own voice any more.

She was also counseled by Ghost Widow. Although initially hesitant, Ghost Widow was remarkably honest and frank with Janet – she had been written off as dead by everyone that cared for her, her partner had been responsible for her fellow officers’ deaths and her own physical problems, her mental powers were undeniable, and it was only she, Ghost Widow, who had shown enough concern for Janet to help her.

And then came the final blow – a picture of a new hero in Paragon City calling himself Justice Shield; Janet recognized him immediately as Officer Richard Lane. Where her life had been destroyed, he basked in publicity, adoration of millions, and of course a body that not only seemed unscathed was now in fact superhuman.

And Lane… Justice Shield… never seemed to falter in the charade that he was a hero. But Janet knew the truth, and it was her curse, her destiny, her… duty… to make sure that everyone knew the truth, no matter the cost to herself. Janet Wilson was already dead anyway, her own movements, her voice, her now distorted vision and her face told her this every minute of every day.

[edit] The Nightmare Takes Form

Ghost Widow told Janet of her past, her legacy, and reminded Janet that it was her responsibility to bring truth to the world regarding Justice Shield – it was her duty to the truth, and the gods had cursed her that she must do so or go insane.

Beginning training as an Arachnos Widow, Janet began a rigorous program to not only regain strength and endurance and learn new combat techniques that would make use of her minor psychic abilities; she also began studying pharmacology and toxins, eventually redesigning her widow blades to carry payloads of toxins based upon a wormwood derivative. It was also during this time that she began refusing to answer to the name Janet Wilson, instead taking the name Artemis Sage after her ancestor Artemisia.

Completing her physical training, Ghost Widow privately instructed Artemis to take an appropriate name as an agent of Arachnos, but also to talk to an individual in Mercy Island named Adam Dreslock.

Taking the agent name of Nightmare Chartreuse, she contacted Adam Dreslock and found that he was part of a larger plot that somewhat side-stepped Lord Recluse’s plans regarding Project: DESTINY. The goal was to allow Nightmare Chartreuse to become part of Project: DESTINY rather than simply become another soldier in Arachnos’ army.

Following Dreslock’s instructions, Nightmare Chartreuse was able to penetrate Project: DESTINY and insert her name into the list of “Destined Ones,” eventually foiling attempts at removing her name from the list.

In the meantime, Ghost Widow continued to monitor Nightmare Chartreuse’s progress.

It is unknown why Ghost Widow has taken such an interest in Nightmare Chartreuse, especially considering the possible nature of Project: DESTINY, but Ghost Widow has also seen to Nightmare Chartreuse’s further training in her psychic abilities to the point of becoming a powerful telepath.

[edit] Powers

Nightmare Chartreuse was born with powerful telepathic abilities and minor precognitive and telekinetic abilities which have been developed over time as part of her widow training.

Nightmare Chartreuse is capable of dispatching foes through telepathic strain. She is also able to erase her image from others’ minds in order to achieve a form of telepathic invisibility.

In addition, Nightmare Chartreuse can also perform a quick telepathic trick that causes her to appear as a friend for a moment to her target.

She is also capable of using her minor precognitive and telekinetic abilities to both enhance her combat abilities and enable her to fly.

Finally, Ghost Widow has implied that she will further train Artemis in accessing the Netherworld to accomplish other feats.

[edit] Abilities

Before the initial damage to her vocal cords, Janet Wilson possessed a wonderful singing voice, having been recognized with multiple awards as an amateur performer.

Janet Wilson graduated at the top of her class with a major in Criminal Science. Combined with her experience in the Paragon Police Department, Janet has a remarkable understanding of the common criminal mindset. In her new identity as Artemis Sage a.k.a. Nightmare Chartreuse, this knowledge makes her incredibly dangerous as her insights provide her with knowledge of where most criminals make mistakes.

Artemis is also a highly trained physical combatant having received training initially with the Paragon Police Department and later as part of her widow training in Arachnos under Ghost Widow’s tutelage. Artemis’ current training is geared towards acrobatic combat in conjunction with her mental powers and use of the widow blades of her own design.

Finally, Artemis has become an expert at poisons, focusing on the use of poisons with hallucinogenic effect, specifically those of the Artemisia family which includes Wormwood.

[edit] Equipment

Janet’s right eye was destroyed in the explosion that almost took her life, and she has been fitted with an optic device. Although the optic device is in no way capable of passing as a regular eye, her optic device gives her the ability to see in the infrared and ultraviolet spectrum of light.

As Nightmare Chartreuse, Artemis makes use of modified widow blades of her own design that include a mechanism for dispensing poison of her own development, a poison derived from a version of wormwood.

[edit] Affiliations

Janet was a member of the Paragon Police Department. However, she has been declared legally dead.

Presently, Artemis is a member of Arachnos and is in the personal service of Ghost Widow as a Night Widow. She has also found limited camaraderie among the Adversaries of Justice, many members of whom have former connections and personal vendettas against members of the United Sentinels of America.

[edit] Friends, Family, and Acquaintances

Janet is a descendant of Cassandra of Troy, Joan of Arc and Sarah Good.

Janet’s mother, Elaine, is deceased, having died in an institution. Janet does not maintain contact with her father, Joseph Wilson, who lives in Steel Canyon and suffers from alcoholism. She also does not maintain contact with her brothers Andrew or Alexander who live somewhere on the west coast of the United States.

Artemis Sage a.k.a. Nightmare Chartreuse, she has no friends or people that she trusts aside from Ghost Widow whom she considers now to be her mentor and the only person who will speak honestly and frankly with her.

[edit] Personality

Janet Wilson was a kind yet driven woman; having experienced pain in her own family life, Janet had real concern for the safety and well-being of others. This led to her becoming a police officer and using her gifts to help other people.

As Nightmare Chartreuse, Artemis is still driven, but given her need – emotional and even mystical – to prove the truth regarding her own injury and the deaths of her fellow police officers, almost all traces of her former kindness to others have been sublimated by her need to prove the truth. She has become obsessed and even calculatingly cold in her now fanatical pursuit.

[edit] Weaknesses and Limitations

Artemis’ right eye was destroyed in the explosion that almost took her life. Although replaced with an optical device, the device does not completely replace normal vision – Artemis now views the world with one normal eye and one which conveys images more like a scope.

Artemis developed acute mesothelioma, although this has been arrested due to treatments that Arachnos has performed upon her. In all other ways, Artemis is still very much human and is susceptible to any and all forms of injury, harm and death like any other human being.

Artemis suffers from a curse upon her abilities – should she ever learn a terrible secret that she does not successfully uncover, she will be afflicted with terrible insanity which, in the case of her mother, may lead to her own death.