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Kallsu — Kai Steel Quick Reference
Published: 2016-07-25 23:04:04 +0000 UTC; Views: 1838; Favourites: 69; Downloads: 0
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Description
I decided to make an updated, simple character reference sheet for Kai. I chose to do a side-by-side in and out of uniform, and I also just colored it in flats without highlights or shading. I also ended up leaving out a couple of things under her abilities synopsis, mostly because I didn't want to crowd the text, but this is the gist of it.Kai Steel has been a mainstay character of mine since 2004, so as I work on my art style she changes a little more with each new iteration. What has remained the same, however, is her ever-growing life and history, much of which can be referenced here:
Kai Steel Storyline Index.
Kai Steel resides in
Kai Steel (Kaitlyn Ayla O'Hern) is an Original Character created by me, Kallsu
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Comments: 22
Very nice to see you up and about! I look forward to reading more about her and I am beyond excited to see a member come back into the fold. My only question at this point is somewhat like atomskmaster6 as for the capabilities of her metal based powers.
1. Does she absorb the metal to her body or does she simply copy the atomic structure and molecular bonding?
2. What is stance on her abilities of alloys that have some metallic composition? Would she be able to have an effect on the alloy or the metallic components only?
3. Would her weaknesses be also of that of most metals? (i.e. Magnetism, Polarity, Electricity....)
4. Would iterations of alien metals prove to be a problem or not?
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Thank you! I am just as glad to see AF is still alive and well.
To try and answer your questions:
1. She absorbs the material(s) which will henceforth cease to exist, as they have been completely absorbed. There is a limit to that, however. Her body will only absorb somewhere in the neighborhood of what would be 900 pounds of metal. So, were she standing in a steel vault, 900-ish pounds worth of material would be (essentially) vaporized in a spherical shape radiating out from her body.
2. If an alloy is metallic in its base atomic structure, her abilities do not differentiate between them and pure metals. Typically, when pertaining to metal alloys, they will consist solely of metals so it is not an issue. In the odd circumstance where a metal is atomically bound to another non-metallic substance to form a compound, her ability may have little to no effect. For instance, Titanium Dioxide is used to make paints and materials as white as possible because Titanium Dioxide is the whitest substance in "nature." That is just a titanium atom bonded with two oxygen atoms, however, it made a new substance and her ability may be completely useless in that regard.
3. Her body does still carry some of the characteristics of the metals she absorbed as her ability bonds the metal with her organic atoms to create an alloy. If she absorbs ferrous metals, she will be affected by strong magnetic fields. If the metal is conductive, her body will operate as a conductor, however, due to the skin effect of metals (Faraday's Law of Induction) the electricity would pass over the exterior of her body and not necessarily inflict any harm. Some chemical reactions will not occur based on the metals. For instance, she will not rust (iron), she will not spontaneously explode into flames violently (lithium), and she won't burn up in water from excess sodium metals.
4. Alien metals are a broader subject. Some may work, some may not, and some may have an odd side effect. The only instance of this was during the original Concussion event in Angel Falls by where he had an idea to introduce a strange alien metal into a scenario. When it was absorbed, it changed Kai's ability slightly affecting her entire body as opposed to just her epidermal layers. It also had the side effect of making it difficult to change back to her normal form for quite some time. All in all, alien metals provide a way of introducing any number of circumstances without limit except the imagination of whoever may have an idea.
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1. I gotcha, my next question was the conversation of mass of her absorbing the weight of metal into her body. My question is what does she do with the metal afterwards? Especially with THAT much metal.
2. So as long as it isn't manipulated or altered to bond with a nonmetallic alloy it is fair game?
3. I assume there is a timer to how long the characteristics stay in her system? Otherwise that might open up a new can of worms in terms of durability and invulnerability.
4. Interesting.
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1. I do observe the Law of Conservation of Mass. While it has not yet come up in AF (and you are the first person to ask me that I recall), I did have two different scenarios for what happens.
-In the first, Kai releases her ability and transforms back to her normal mass. The metal is exuded from her body in much the same way as it was absorbed, only at a slower pace. Absorbing it appears to be instantaneous. Releasing it, a cloud of vaporized metal particles rise off of her body as she shrinks in size over the course of a couple of seconds. The vaporized metal is made up of particles so fine that the slightest breeze would scatter them, however, in a still area there would be fine metal powder the consistency of baby powder on the floor around Kai's feet.
-With the second scenario, Kai releases the metal more violently. The metal is vaporized (literally this time) in a violent reaction very similar to an arc flash. The built up energy in her body from the process of transforming is used to vaporize the foreign metals and the material is converted into a burst of energy. The radius is only a few feet, but the amount of energy involved would result in temperatures along the lines of 20,000°F.
2. If it is still atomically a metal, then her ability will work, so general speaking, yes.
3. As long as she is bonded to a particular metal, she carries some of its characteristics. Once she reverts to normal, the metals are gone, along with any characteristics they had. The only exception so far has been the alien metal which permanently bonded with her cells on a molecular level and made her normal body more dense along with the other effects I mentioned earlier.
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1. Really neat, but she might want to be careful with some metals that can be poisonous when she releases them.
2. What I was hinting at was that I have two characters who utilize an alloy that is fields above the durability of the strongest known alloy currently known. While The Reaper's skeleton is laced with the strongest version (to help make mental connections just think the Angel Falls version of Adamantium) Freedom Knight's armor is comprised of a cost friendly and easier to make version that still is very hard to break even by the high tier super strength users. The makeup is that the metallic parts were forcibly altered to bond to both a mineral and a non-metal to create the tri-alloy.
3. I gotcha and that is interesting.
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That's one of the pitfalls to Kai's abilities; some people aren't safe near her if she transforms. Anything from pacemakers to implants, cybernetics to prosthesis, cell phones to automobiles; if it's too close and it's made of metal, odds are it may be completely destroyed. A lot of this, however, would come down to mutual agreements on direction for issues between characters. It would be pretty anticlimactic if, say, The Reaper and Kai got into a fight and without knowing what he was in for, Reaper attacked her and she transformed to save herself. The fight is over before it started and she may very well have killed Reaper unintentionally.
That's just a random scenario that is unlikely to ever occur, but it is just to illustrate the issue. The whole way her ability works forces me (and/or a co-writer) to have to come up with creative workarounds for certain scenarios that may arise, which I like. Her ability also makes for any number of problems that can come about and plague Kai and/or other characters as her ability can be just as detrimental as it can be beneficial.
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Well he survived the procedure of it getting put in as well as having a super soldier serum pumped into his nervous system and his muscular system so I am sure he could survive it getting pulled out. It actually makes me speculate that the nonmetallic properties might actually prevent her from absorbing it but I will do some research as to why should the situation arise. In terms of his double head scythe, KBAR combat knives, and his ammunition well she should have no problem if she can see it coming. I don't know if it works on a 24/7 basis or she turns it on and off.
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I plan on doing a story in the (near) future where this very same situation arises. Kai tends to be in her metallic form before going into a dangerous situation as it makes sense to do so. She is prepared, safer, and will not cause any unnecessary collateral damage changing in the heat of a fight. That alone would pretty much negate any weaknesses an opponent (or ally) may suddenly develop solely due to her ability. So even though someone like the Reaper may have bones coated in a possibly vulnerable material to Kai's ability, odds are that particular situation would not arise. Bullets and blades are not something she would typically have to worry enough about to risk killing someone over, in most circumstances.
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Gotcha, regardless Kai is a really interesting heroine and hopefully we can collaborate in the future!
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Very Excellent Work
Never knew she transformed...Interesting!
Question: Can she be able to absorb the special alloy of my General's armor if he was close? His armor alloy is designed to be extremely resistant to spiritual and magical attacks.
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Thank you!
She does transform, though most any mention of that was in story format here and there. Five years ago, however, she was stuck in her metal form and unable to easily revert back to "normal" so her metal-skinned version became more of a norm.
To answer your question, as best as I can, would be an ambiguous maybe. Her ability is a metahuman one, not based in magic, nor is it a divine power. It is an entirely science (fiction) based ability. I suppose it could really start getting down to semantics, but she radiates a form of energy that causes metals to break down and then draws them to her body to form a semi-permanent bond (the explanation of which could start getting into indepth and detailed explanations of electron arrangements in the atoms of different types of metals and the attraction of these particular atoms to the energy Kai's body generates). So it really comes down to atomic structures and covalent bonding. Some unearthly materials may be more resistant to being broken down even though she would have been capable of successfully bonding with them. Others may break down easily but may be more resistant to forming an adequate bond with her organic tissues. Yes, I put too much thought into some things...
I guess the easiest answer would be: It would simply be a matter of plot development and necessity in a storyline as to whether or not Kai could successfully break down and absorb Alvaro's armor.
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Hmmm...I see. Well know that I think of it...unless the story says she can...she may not be able to absorb his armor. Since you left DA for a while, stories have been written where Bardak constantly upgrades his armor to include different tech... depending on the story. Some of the tech included cloaking, increased weapons, better communication, even energy shielding.
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It's also one of those plot elements that one would introduce to create a moment of suspense. If stuck in a situation where Kai may need to transform but she's with Alvaro, do they both feel it would be worth the risk to essentially destroy his armor? What if it were a situation that would leave Alvaro completely vulnerable and facing certain death should it happen, but also one in which Kai herself will almost certainly be killed if she doesn't? What happens then?
I had a situation in mind involving something along those lines a while back and though it made for an interesting issue, but it got set aside with a hundred other things. Mostly, it's just food for thought!
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Hmmm...That would be an interesting situation. More than likely, Bardak would allow her to absorb parts of his armor if it meant helping her. Though he would be practical and let her absorb non-critical gaps or parts of his armor he can do without and change his fighting strategy to compensate to his weaken armor.
Care to explore the idea further by notes?
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If such a situation did come about, Kai can't control what metals or how much of them she absorbs. It's (as of right now) simply a reflex action, so if faced with making the decision to risk destroying Bardak's armor, it would be an all-or-nothing circumstance. In effect, Bardak would be rendered armorless (and without and weapons or items made of compatible metals) in order for Kai to transform. The only way he might be able to sacrifice certain segments of his armor/gear would be to leave them behind and get more than 20 feet away from Kai, but I had less ideal circumstances in mind that would render that option improbable or impossible.
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Hmmm...I see. Although that is a more drastic situation than I thought, Bardak does have a few surprises of his own, even for situations like this.
What exactly was the situation you had in mind for Kai and Bardak? (note me)
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I forgot how tall she was, good stuff here!
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If I remember right, she ended up being the tallest character on the Guardians Roster a few years ago, although it looks like all of the pre-2012 submissions are gone, but she's not short, that's for sure.
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Ah yeah, no mention in the bio of how she's been functionally stuck in metal form of late?
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Nor of the residual energy created as a result of the transformation process, but it's more of a quick reference and less detailed than what I might usually write up.
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