Enoch Rookwood's Story (Tobyverse)
The Rookwood family is an old and respected one in Atlantis. The earliest Rookwood to be involved with the island, Xavier, was a brilliant French-English businessman who donated a large portion of his fortune to seeing the island reach its greatest potential. Since then, his family has seen nothing but success while on Atlantis. They have been businessmen, Consuls, lawyers, doctors and diplomats. But never once an actor. Enoch Rookwood and his twin brother, Zachariah were born into a distaff branch of the family, to Solomon Rookwood, a moderately successful colonel in the Atlantean military and a hero of the resistance movement against Doctor Xyle. Growing up, the brothers' lives were not particularly eventful, with Enoch pursuing sports while his more studious brother devoted his time to reading and intellectual pursuits.
This would all change on Enoch's tenth birthday. That day, his school was taking a trip up north, and Enoch, in a quarrel with some fellow students, was pushed from the train, surviving only by a miracle of luck. Stranded in the wilderness, he began trekking towards civilization and on his way met an out-of-work boxer who showed him how to throw a punch, a pair of mischievous farm-girls and found an artifact dating back to the Nemesis days of Atlantis. This was his first adventure, and Enoch decided to never look back. Whenever some new opportunity for mischief or exploration appeared, Enoch was there to take it. As a boy and teenager he became involved in murder mysteries, smuggling rings, ancient curses and lost treasures. His father became a bit confused at his son's renewed interest in Baritsu, that most Atlantean of martial arts, and Rookwood spent many an afternoon at the dojo or the pool-halls, learning the moves from the thugs and hustlers. Eventually though, he was expected to settle down some and turn his vivid mind to other, more career-worthy pursuits. No one was more surprised than his father and mother when he decided to become a scholar of antiquities, a historian and an archaeologist. They had expected the military or simply dropping out, but Enoch applied himself, spending long and exhausting hours in study and working with his brother, who helped him apply his intellect to more than just getting out of trouble. His professors were impressed by his creativity and diligence, and eventually he received his first PhD. One day he was contacted by a production company, looking for a young, good-looking scholar to appear in their new history film, just another talking head as the host paced around some ruins. It took him twenty minutes to convince them to make him co-host of the documentary, and flew out to Northern Britain at once. It was there, discussing Hadrian's Wall, that it happened. A group of strange men, dressed as Celts and ready to shed blood, attacked. As Enoch sprang into action to defend the film crew, he noticed that these were not just men, but undead things, brought to life by a unlikely conjuncture of their filming and a unique constellation. Very few people could have made this jump in logic, considering the obscurity and sheer preposterous of it all, but Enoch knew what to do, luring the ravenous fiends into the kitchen tent, then collapsing it on them, blocking out their false-life giving connection to the stars.
This alone would have earned him plenty of accolades. The fact that one of the camera operators stood her ground and filmed it all made him a star. It wasn't long before the so-called “hero archaeologist” was being blitzed with TV deals and eventually he gave in. Traveling with his tight-knit crew, including Regina Vane, the camera-woman who originally filmed his exploits, he went to strange and unusual sites all around the globe. And for whatever strange and unlikely reason, something went terribly wrong each time. The visit to the Valley of Kings in Egypt ended up being side-tracked by a clash between arms dealers and a rogue from the University of Light. Their attempts to film in the mountains of Central America was spoiled by an attack from an ancient cult of masked warriors, from whom the modern-day luchadores are said to derive their traditions. In Java he was simply straight-up attacked by a super-villain. And each time, Enoch was able to use his wits, his fists and his luck to save the day. And each time it was filmed. Soon, the show didn't even try to use the pretense that they were visiting normal sites. Enoch and his team went into the heart of Empire City's Lost Row. They did a four-hour long special on Nexus City. They even traveled to Central Asia to cover the affects ULTRASP technology was having on the surrounding nations. And throughout it all, the fans lapped it up. Soon his show was picked up on networks outside of Atlantis, first in the US and then in Britain and France and soon more countries around the world. While they may have to break up some trips into several episodes, Enoch and his crew travel the world, fighting the good fight against weirdness everywhere. And catching it all on film. These days he's focusing specially on super-heroes, as he's found that not only do they make for killer ratings, weird stuff follows them around too! This has won him plenty of fans and some friends in the hero community, but some super-heroes don't like his prying.
On a related note, Zachariah Rookwood went on to become Atlantis's youngest representative to the UN, a brilliant diplomat who tirelessly works to further world peace as well as Atlantis's agendas. His brother's show has not made it easy, but at least people recognize him now.
Personality: Enoch is a brash, larger-than-life figure who loves his job, loves travel and loves adventure above all else. The way he sees it, he has the perfect career, a life of adventure while at the same time being known and respected around the world. He can be a bit overpowering at times, but he means well and tries to make his stories hit with as little damage to the personal lives of the innocents involved as possible. Since he's become as much journalist as scholar, he is always digging for the truth. Even if the world won't know it, he wants to. One of his most major flaws, however, is the ease with which he falls in and out of love. Rookwood's something of a ladies man, and more than once he's gotten in trouble by getting “too involved” with the story. He also prefers ladies who can kick his ass, which has lead to any number of issues. Currently he's trying to set up interviews with Ultragirl, Legendary and Maenad as part of a “Modern Amazons” series. He swears this is just for the show.
Powers: Enoch doesn't have any super-powers exactly, but he is a nexus of weird luck. He can't really go anywhere for any extended period of time without getting involved in something weird, be it gangsters, curses, monsters or supers. It makes for killer rating and a very fast-paced lifestyle. He's gone through a couple crews already as the people quit, unable to keep up. Only Regina Vane, his camera-woman is the same person as when he started, though the current batch is pretty good. He's a brilliant, if highly eccentric scholar of antiquities and possesses a keen mind that is especially good at making the bizarre, life-saving connections he needs to say, defuse a shaped curse. He is a pinnacle of athleticism and strength, and has spent years learning how to fight, flee and engage in just about any exreme sport or activity you care to mention.
