Aspen Matthews (Fathom)

Played By: Arianny Celeste

Quote: "You couldn't handle me even if I came with instructions." "I am not a person you can put on speakerphone.""

Position: Sea, Water & Storm Goddess. Queen of Poseidonis.

Affiliations:

Inspiration: Fathom Comics & Other

Rating: NC-17

Note: A Goddess, a Princess and a miracle, Aspen has achieved a lot in her years of life, including being known world wide as one of the best Marine Biologist and Oceanographers in the fields. She has wed Arthur Curry (Aquaman) and rules Poseidonis at his side. If she can't be found there, she may be in Manhattan. Maybe.

Identities

Public Identity: Aspen Matthews is known world wide as one of the best in her fields. Marine biology and oceanography. That she carries both of these in just her 20s shows her intelligence far more than she typically likes to broadcast. Of course, none of this is to say she doesn't occasionally act her age but it very rarely makes a splash when she does.

Secret Identity: While there's no secret identity to speak of, she does occasionally give the name 'Fathom' when asked if she's been caught 'heroing'. Aspen's biggest secret is, perhaps, her disqualification from the Olympics. Well… That and that she isn't even human. More like a Goddess who happens to be a Princess of two races and miracle. She's also the only one of her kind.

Background: An Overview

Aspen Matthews was adopted when she was very young after she was found, suffering from amnesia, by U.S. Navy Captain Matthew who was aboard the ship Paradise at the time. She came to the ship only because her powers ensured her survival as she and her brother fled their home after finding their parents murdered and seeing who did it.

Over the years, Aspen would grown and show an affinity for water. Her powers would continue to grow as well but her 'parents' was as supportive as one could hope. She led a fairly normal life, not being overly extraordinary (to her anyhow) in any way except in the water. Eventually, she would start to swim competitively and go on to the Olympics and win the gold only to be disqualified for 'blood doping', which she wasn't. The discovery that she had a naturally high red-cell count is what started her down her path of remembering who she was, what she was and where she came from. Once this happened, and she was discovered, the wars started.

The next several years would be spent as she tried to find her place with her people, both Blue and Black who had found her. Each wanted to use her as weapon. So did the humans. And she killed many of all of them. Eventually, she would break away from it all to live her own life. While she balances on a knife's edge of being 'good' or 'evil', she continues to move from one ocean to the next.

Background: The Details

Born to the simple name of Aspen, she is the daughter of Eilah, leader of the ‘mortal’ aquatic race known as The Blue and Rahger, the leader of the ‘Gods’ aquatic race known as The Black. Both are ancient races far far older than even Atlantis itself and live in the depths of the oceans, The Black living far deep than The Blue. She is also the only one of her kind as all other matings between these two races fail to produce a child.

Raised by her mother and The Blue, Aspen has a half brother named Finn. The first eleven years of her life were normal, or as normal as they could be for a child as powerful as she was, and she was happy. She had a good relationship with her parents and her brother, had the best tutors and great friends. Sadly, all good things must come to an end and for Aspen, that was no different.

She and her brother returned from a late night swim when she was around eleven to find their home… their city destroyed and their parents being murdered by a group of extremists and led by a man named Killian. The siblings fled but were caught and their ship blown up. Both were presumed dead but Aspen’s powers assured her survival and she wound up on a ship called Paradise where she was seen to by U.S. Navy Captain Matthew who was a guest on the ship at the time. When she came to, it became clear she had no real memory of her previous life and could only recall that her name was Aspen and that she loved the water. Matthews ended up adopting Aspen not long after.

With no memory of her past, Aspen’s active powers seemed to have locked down for for a long time, she led a normal life. She attended school and got good grades, was a cheerleader, dated, had friends. And, while yes, there are dreams of her past (memories unbeknownst to her), there weren’t any negative effects. She even got into competitive swimming and went on to the Olympics, beating the record by a full thirty seconds and winning the gold. Unfortunately, this prompted the committee to order a test to see if she was using drugs and while it can back negative, her naturally high red-cell count led them believe that was ‘blood doping’ (injecting herself with her own blood to increase red cll count) which disqualified her and banned her from participating in the Olympics any further. Disgraced, Aspen when on to study marine biology and oceanography just to have a career that kept her in the water

It was during her assignment to a DMD base that her life would change forever. At the Deep Marine Discovery base, they were studying a ship that had been found and while the didn’t yet know it, it as a Blue ship. What they did know was that it had an occupant who the found and caught. When she was taken to the lab, after seeing the ship, she as shocked to see Killian as the one caught. She didn’t know his name but was shocked to see that he was just like the people she had been seeing in her dreams! Through an accident of ignorance, a missile ended up hitting the DMD base and knocking out the generators as well as knocking rocks loose which fell onto the base. The base flooded and many died but Aspen was in the lab with Killian which was keeping the water out. Aspen tried to open the tank and free Killian, hoping he could save them, but couldn’t. Eventually, water began to fill the lab as well. As water filled the lab, Aspen quickly found herself submerged. Eventually she passed out. It was then that Killian broke free and, recognizing her, tries to kidnap her only to be thwarted by a stranger made of water. When the stranger touched Aspen, he unleashed her powers to their full potential though she wouldn’t realize it until later. While Killian and the Water-Stranger fought, more humans arrived and rescued Aspen, taking her to Oahu General where her unique physiology was discovered.

It took two full days for her to wake up and when she did, there was a woman waiting for her and they began to talk about how she escaped and the way the ocean ‘talked’ to her. Eventually, Aspen was able to return home only to be questioned by her friend, Chance, who was with her on the base and saw her turn into water when her powers emerged. She had no real answers for him and her life turned quite hectic from the there.

The next few years would be one battle after the next for Aspen. Manipulated by Killian who found her and convinced her that he could teach her how to control her powers, all the while using her to attack the humans that ‘threatened their way of life’. She would meet Cannon Hawke, a friend of her mothers and someone who had secretly been watching since he found out she was alive as a child. She was torn. Between right and wrong, wanting to learn and being afraid, between the ocean and the surface. And that wouldn’t end any time soon.

When she discovered what Killian was doing, she turned on him, sacrificing herself to stop the machines called Blue Suns that he was using her to power. Except, she didn’t die as she expected. She was able to reform her body after the energy from one destroyed it, with water and energy. Killian escaped and not long after resurfaced and yet another battle with him ensued and this time he was killed. Her next adventure would be months later when she would come across a man named Baha and help him hunt a creatures of the seat that appeared in Sea World. As it turns out there were three and while she was forced to kill to of them, despite her wish not to, the third one was let go and Baha was left to hunt it on his own since she had no fear of him ever actually being able to capture the creature.

After all of this, Aspen needed a vacation and so she and her friend Tyler went to the mountains. ‘Vacation’ turned out to be anything but that however. Instead, she met Lara Croft and Sara Pezzini and another wild adventure began. The three got to know each other while rescuing a mutual friend and trying not to get themselves captured or worse. It turn out Vana, a Blue and leader of a small group called the Arctic Blue, had captured their friend and was planning on using him to try to bring back her son Taras who Cannon had killed during the last battle with Killian. In the battle with Vana, Aspen discovered her ability over ice and stabbed the woman who had been attempting to freeze her with an icicle. While Sara, Lara and Aspen all parted ways after getting their friend out and barely escaping alive, a bond was formed.

For a year or so, Aspen’s life was… somewhat normal… Until dreams of her father, her biological father, started. With Cannon’s help, she was able to locate him. Upon meeting Rahger, Aspen’s dual bloodline is revealed and it’s explained to her who and what she is, fully. She would stay with her father for some time, learning what they had to teach her and helping protect them. Unforunately, it would turn out, they would try to use her just as Killian had. And just like with Killian, she was forced to fight against her own people. The battle was a long one and not without injuries on both sides. In the end, however, Rahger, severely injured would be forced to yield an agree to leave the surface alone for now.

With the battle one, Aspen attempted to return to her old life and for a while, it seemed as if it might work. Such wasn’t to be the case, however, and so she took to the oceans.

Canon Differences & Notes

• Aspen's full name is Aspen Matthews-Curry as she recently wed Arthur Curry (Aquaman).
• She rules Poseidonis next to King Orin II (Aquaman).
• The Blue and the Black are among the very the first children of the God, Poseidon.

Powers

Energy Form
Because she’s a Black, Aspen can transform her body into that of pure energy. Like her water form, there is no need to breath in this form and water pressure doesn’t effect her. She's also neigh impossible to kill in this form. Her telepathy is at it’s strongest but if she’s caught, and unable to shift back, like all energy… it eventually dissipates. She heals quite rapidly from any injury in this form as well.

Water Form
As a Blue, Aspen has the ability to turn her body into water. Just as in her Energy Form, in this form, there’s no need for her to breath underwater, water pressure of even the deepest depths doesn’t effect her (nor does surfacing quickly), and she can move at incredible speeds. She’s also much harder to wound and much quicker to heal in this form. This form is highly susceptible to heat however.

Human Form
This is, perhaps, Aspen’s ‘weakest’ form. When human, she still has to breathe when underwater but has five times the lung capacity of even the best Olympic swimmer. She’s an expert swimmer but isn’t as fast in this form as she is in the other two though still fast enough to win the Olympics and then some. Her red-cell density is two times higher than a normal humans, there’s extra brain tissue which marks her as not -really- human and her bones are for more flexible, as if she were still growing despite the fact that she isn’t. However, while it might be her ‘weakest’, she isn’t weak. In fact, she’s in peak physical condition and easily stays that way.

Telepathy
It’s her heritage as a Black that gives Aspen her telepathy. In Energy form, there’s almost nowhere on that planet that’s out of her range. In Water form, she’s restricted to an area the size of North America and Canada combined. In human form, she’d be restricted to an area the size of the continental U.S. Of course, it’s mentally taxing and while she can sustain it for a few days if need be, she’ll be exhausted and spend at least a full day recovering through sleep afterwards. The only exception to this is if it’s a mind she knows intimately or if she’s touching someone. Either make it far easier for her and doesn’t drain her nearly as fast. This isn’t an ability Aspen uses often except with other Blacks, someone she cares for or in rare situations. Unless, of course, it comes to communicating with the creatures of the sea. Then it’s used quite regularly.

Energy
As a Black, Aspen not only has the ability to turn into pure energy but also shoot concussive blasts or beams of said energy from her hands, harnessing it as weapon.

Water
Perhaps Aspen’s strongest ability, her control over water is all but unparalleled. Not only can she summon a tsunami without much of a though, control the ocean through storms or weave tiny tendrils of it as she sees fit, she can also form water into solid shapes or make it sturdy enough to be walked on. Because of her mixed bloodline and being the strongest of both races, there is very little she can’t do with water

Storms
The second weakest of Aspen’s powers is her ability to summon and control water based storms such as hurricanes, torrential downpours, mild summer showers, et cetera.

Ice
The weakest of Aspen’s powers and one that is still developing, her unique heritage gives her control over ice as well as water, allowing her to summon, move and shape it at will.

Healing
As a Blue and Black hybrid, Aspen is ‘blessed’ with an exceptional healing. There’s almost no one, even normally fatal ones, that she can’t heal from. Often, this is aided by submerging her in water, or her shifting into water, but it isn’t dependent upon it. At one point, her body was destroy but thanks to being in the ocean when it happened, she was able to remake it out of water and energy. She can also use water to help her heal even the most severe wounds on other so long as they are not fatal. She cannot heal the dead.

Liquids
Aspen has finite control over all things liquid, to the point that, should she wish to, she could even reverse the course of someone’s blood while it still runs through their veins. Or pull it from them.

Skills

Hand to Hand
This is something she was taught during her time with The Blue. She’s been taught many forms of unarmed combat and while she doesn’t use any one particular style, she has sort of adopted and adapted a little of it all to fit her and how she moves. She’s also taken classes in kickboxing on the surface. In all, she can fend off several attackers about her size, give or take, at once or someone around twice her size.

Surfing
Aspen’s love for the water has driven her to spend as much time in it as possible and surfing just happens to be one of the hobbies she’s picked up as way to do that. Her natural agility and sense of balance as well as lots of practice has made her competition level good at it.

Bladed Weapons
Bladed weapons… swords and daggers especially… are the favored weapons of The Black and it was during her time, in the depths of the ocean, that she was taught to use both by her father and those he trusted most. It took time, and continued practice on the surface, but Aspen has mastered both

Research
It may not seem like much of a skill to some, but Aspen is really good with research. With find information, note taking, documenting, cross reference and explanation in a way that’s easy to understand.

Resources

Wealth
Aspen’s degrees and work in the past as well as her tendency not to really spend much has afforded her the ability to save up enough money for her to live quite comfortably on. While not a millionaire by any means, she’s got a substantial savings tucked away as well as a separate account for day to day living. Especially since she spends most of it in the water.

Apartment
She isn’t there all that often but Aspen does own a rather nice loft apartment in Manhattan that she can ‘fall back to’ if need be. Mainly it’s used as an official address.

Pros

Contacts
Humans, Blue and Black alike… Aspen has quite a few contacts scattered across land and sea both that she can reach out to for their areas of expertise or if she just needs help in general.

Cons

Heat
As a being of water, fire doesn’t bother her much but heat itself is quite dangerous to her. Due to needing to stay hydrated and the fact that her ability to heal quickly depends on her ability to turn into or use water, any heat high enough to contract these could, potentially, be fatal for Aspen.

Morally Uncertain
Aspen constantly lives in that grey area between right and wrong, good and evil and whether the ends justify the means. More often than not, what she believes is the right thing to do… what she’s willing to do… what she’s able to do and not lose much if any step over, would go against the sensibilities of those with ‘good’ morals. This, more often than not, tends to make her something of a loner despite her friendly demeanor and that sense of loneliness can be used against her.

Enemies
Aspen is, almost always, being hunted down by any number of enemies. Be it ones she’s made on land or ones from the depths of the ocean. No where is really ‘safe’ for Aspen which is one of the reasons that she tends to try to stay on the move.

Night Terrors
Despite knowing the truth, or perhaps because of it, of what happened to her when she was a child, Aspen suffers from night terrors. Nightmares that can be paralyzing or almost impossible to wake up from and it wreaks havoc on her psyche each time she has one. It can take days for her to mentally be back to where is healthy again.

Personal

Arthur Curry/Orin II (Aquaman)
Soulmate, Husband and King: His now and always has been, in this life and all others, her heart and soul. There is no one she trust to share in every part of her life but him. He is her strength and her weakness. Her fear and her courage. He is everything she never knew she wanted or needed. There is no force, be it by air, on land or in the seas that is strong enough to keep her from his side.

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