Editing CharlesBishop (section)

==Background==
In the years before the Rifts came, Charles Bishop had been a damn good journalist.  A reporter for one of the major international news networks, he had broken a number of important stories in his illustrious career.  An experienced investigator, he had a knack for uncovering secrets and misconduct governments and corporations would rather keep buried.  He was in the middle of doing so again when the world ended.<br>
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On December 22, 2098 Charles Bishop was in Florida.  Specifically at KLS Aerospace Laboratories.  Charles was looking into a lead that the not yet revealed technological breakthrough that the KLS Corporation had been hyping for the last three weeks is based on secrets stolen from a classified government facility in Texas.  He had infiltrated the KLS complex and managed to find his way to where the company’s gateway generators were while an experiment was already in progress. <br>
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Charles barely had the time to be astounded by the sight of gateways in space when all hell broke out.  The Coming of The Rifts had generated an immense Ley Line Storm that engulfed everything in the vicinity.  The already weakened local dimensional fabric was torn apart by the storm’s power, causing the gateways to become linked together and transform into what will eventually be known as the Time Holes.  The feedback from that process overloaded the gateway generators, detonating them. <br>
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Suffused by the exotic particles utilized by the generators, while being bathed in the massive amounts of magic from the Ley Line Storm and strange, interdimensional energies emanating from the energized gateways, Charles experienced an amazing metamorphosis.  If reality had worked the way it normally should, such a massive explosion would have killed him.  Instead, it had altered him in ways that would only become apparent to Charles later.<br>
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When Charles awakened he had no idea how long he had been unconscious.  All he know was that the world around him had changed considerably.  Already flora and fauna from the newly born Time Holes had begun colonizing the new land they found themselves in.  It was while trying to escape from one of the newly arrived predators that Charles discovered he now had the power to create portals like the now destroyed generators once did. <br>
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At first Charles found he could only create portals that enabled one to travel short distances, at most the length of a football field.  Attempts to travel back to a police station or even just his hotel room all failed.  Then Charles reasoned that he might have a better chance of success if he focused on a destination he felt a close, personal connection with and managed to open a gateway back to his home. <br>
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Making his way from his house to his network’s headquarters, Charles soon learned just how immense and widespread the destruction that he had first experienced in Florida was.  The city was in ruins, the streets were deserted and every so often he could hear the roar of an unseen beast in the distance.  Then the creature that had been roaring showed itself and Charles was forced to defend himself. <br>
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Charles had possessed the presence of mind to grab an old saber from his fencing days to defend himself in case he ran into looters or other human threats during his travels.  Unfortunately for him, the threat he was facing was far from human.  As he looked at the demonic visage facing him, he couldn’t help but wish that his saber was a little bit sharper. Or better yet, blessed.  Or that he had brought something that could shoot instead.  <br>
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Charles did not know what actually had happened at the time but only managed to figure it in hindsight much later, when there was more magical lore available to him for research purposes.  Based on the material he had read, Charles theorized that he had still possessed a sizeable surplus of magical energy during the incident that enabled him to somehow enact a spontaneous and instinctive enchantment, imbuing the saber with the properties he had wished for.  All that he know then is that when he swung it in fear he managed to cleave its head from its body with one swipe. <br>
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When he got to network headquarters, Charles found that most of his fellow employees were either dead or had fled, but a few were still there, now working with NEMA to get as complete a picture of what was going on around the world as possible.  At least until the general in charge made the decision to evacuate the city and move all their forces to the Midwest.  Realizing that he could probably do more good with them than anywhere else, Charles volunteered to join NEMA’s ranks as a Volunteer Militia Fighter. <br>
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During his stint with NEMA, Charles spent what little time he had when not performing his duties to the organization trying to figure out what had happened to him and just what he was capable of.  He learned that while he could link any two locations at short range, he could only create gates to destinations farther away if he had created some sort the connection to the location while there first.  His first success at opening a gate to his place must have been because he had subconsciously done so due to it being his home.  He also leaned he could have only so many connections simultaneously and if he wished to create another while at the limit, he would have to sever a connection he already had. <br>
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Besides the ability to create portals, he discovered had developed several psychic abilities after the explosion at KLS Laboratories, including the ability to read minds, influence emotions and cloud people’s ability to perceive him.  Not only that but he was insanely durable, much more resistant to injuries than a human should be. While he didn’t hesitate to use his powers to help NEMA fight monsters and protect innocent civilians, he did so in a way that didn’t reveal them to the organization. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust the organization.  It was simply because as a reporter his first instinct was not to share a story with the public until he was sure of all the facts himself. <br>
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Then one day the choice of whether or not to reveal what he know about what he had become was taken away from Charles when he was “killed” in the line of duty.  He had sacrificed himself to let other members of the patrol escape and had been “mortally” injured before he could use a portal to get away himself.  It was only hours later when he awoke back in his home that he realized what had happened.  On the verge of death, he had instinctively used his power to go somewhere to recover. <br>
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With his squadmates having witnessed his “heroic death,” Charles couldn’t very well go back to NEMA.  He’d likely be considered some sort of alien imposter or an undead abomination.  Even odds that he’d be shot on sight before he even had a chance to explain, just to be safe.  And Charles couldn’t exactly blame them for such a precaution, considering that they’ve been burned that way before.  Like it or not, Charles was on his own.  <br>
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Thus began Charles’ journey through the centuries, doing what he could to help people while trying to learn about what caused the world as he knew it to end. He travelled all over the Earth, learning what he could about the new world it had become and its new denizens while gathering resources to be more effective in his pursuit.  One thng hadn’t been changed by the end of the world and that was the fact that you needed money to get things done. <br>
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Nowadays, he does miscellaneous jobs as a mercenary, bounty hunter and private detective under the name Charlie Pope to pay the bills while he pursues his true passion, making sure there’s an accurate record of the significant events of the world.  He’s on occasion released articles or books about specific topics, but always under various pen names so it doesn’t look like the same author has been writing for centuries.  After all this time, he’s still a journalist at heart, and history is just journalism with time and perspective.  He has managed to keep his true nature and powers quiet all the way to the current era.  It would be easier to do what he wishes without the attention such knowledge being widespread would bring. <br>