Lucas TaylorCode-Name: NikonEthnicity: Lithuanian-AmericanPosition: Ins. Staff (Photography Class), X-ManSex: MaleAge: 29Appearance: Hair: Black (shoulder-length) Eyes: Silver (variable) Skin: Fair Weight: 150lbs. (compact, muscular build) Height: 5'7" Other: Long, vertical scar on his forehead. His cybernetic eyes stand out unless he changes the LCD matrix. Date Of Birth: January 3rd.Place Of Birth: Austin, TXEducation: College Degree in Photography and Physics of Light StudiesMother: Name: Maria Taruska (Changed to Maria Taylor after immigrating to the US) Age: 67 Race: human
Father:
Name: Alexis Taruska (Changed to Alex Taylor after immigrating to the US)
Age: 69
Race: mutant
Other Relatives: none
Powers: Hard-Light creation. Lucas absorbs ambient light and can create manifestions of hard light, similar to the Danger Room. This can be a straight line shooting from his hands, or animated images from his imagination. The illusions are not photo-realistic like the Danger Room, though they feel just as real when they touch you.
They originally looked like brightly colored neon stick figures running around, but now they look like 3-D images, though they're still brightly-colored. The manifestations can act on their own, but he can also exert his willpower over them to control them. The images can be as small as a few inches to about 15 feet in diameter. Their mass and distance they can travel from him is equal to their size; the smaller they are, the less mass they have and the further they can travel; up to 200 feet away from him.
The larger the projection, the more mass it gains and the closer it has to remain to his body or become weaker. 50 feet away is the limit for large constructs. Beyond that, they start to lose their mass and finally dissipate. Unless he shoots light in a straight line and then they pool forward momentum into force for about 200 yards.
Most of his manifestations, get weaker the further they get away from him. They're strong like steel just a few feet away from him and dissipate into nothing at about 200 feet.They also just blink out when his concentration wavers, or he decides not need them anymore.
Enhanced Eyesight: His cybernetic eyes not only have a high resolution with 200x zoom, but he can also shift visual modes between infrared, starlight, nightvision and ultra-violet spectrums. The eyes are silver in color, but they have a built-in LCD matrix so that he can change the color. Also, he can download video or individual still shots to a computer and print them out or use them to broadcast via his powers. The eyes are bio-mechanical, specially designed to operate in the field and are hard-wired into his nervous system so they're protected against water-damage, electric feedback or outside EMP.
Eidetic Memory: Lucas remembers everything that he sees or hears. Whether it's reading a book, listening to music or a conversation, watching television or something that has happened to him, he remembers it all. His mind files everything away categorically and he can later recall it if needed.
Power Limitations: If Lucas is kept away from light sources for more than a day, he has no reserves to use for his constructs. If he is scared or angry when he manifests something, his emotions can override their willpower and they mirror his feelings. His manifestations will sometimes override his control if he's in
danger and they're protecting him. If he loses consciousness, they will dissipate altogether. He needs gravity to keep up an animated figure's mass, or he has trouble keeping them moving how he wants them to move. In a zero-G environment, figures would just float around. Again, shooting light in a straight line would still work in any environment. Because his memories don't fade, when he recalls it, the feelings associated with them are as strong as the day he first experienced it. It can wreck him emotionally to recall a fact related to a stinging insult or a bad memory dealing with his past.
Hobbies and Interests: Photography, reading, chess, computers, video games, science, mechanical engineering, physics, the list goes on. He has an eidetic (photographic) memory, so pretty much anything he picks up can be of interest to him.
Background: Lucas' parents immigrated to the U.S. in hopes of a better life. For awhile, they thought they were unable to have children, but Lucas was born in their twilight years. They considered him their miracle child and they were very overprotective of him. Perhaps because of their advanced age when he was conceived, but he was born with some health problems, including poor eyesight and chronic asthma. Nonetheless, Lucas grew up in a happy and loving home. They noticed that he was quite a studious boy, always reading and just assumed that he was following in their scientific footsteps.
Growing up a nerd in Texas wasn't easy. While most of his classmates were playing sports or meeting at the mall, Lucas was either cooped up in his room reading or performing one of his experiments. One day, after he left the library, three bullies jumped him and started to beat him up. Anger swelled in the young boy's mind. As he glanced up at a storefront window across the street, he noticed a beer sign in the window. He looked back at the boys and a large, red glowing neon bull appeared and started to charge them. It kicked and snorted, knocking the boys aside and ramming one of them with its head and sending him flying through the air. Someone then kicked Lucas in the head, knocking him out.
Lucas awoke to find himself bleeding, almost blind without his glasses and with a noose around his neck. Because of the concussion and the pain, he couldn't even form a coherent thought, let alone manifest anything. Luckily, the police arrived just in time to prevent the mob lynching and he was quickly taken home. His parents then sat him down and had the mutant talk with him. He grew up not knowing that his own father was a mutant. He'd used his powers of genesis along with his engineering background to make some of the greatest technological advances of their time. And now, his son was a mutant, too. Fearing for his safety, and their own, they sent Lucas to live with mutant teachers in Greenwich Village, New York and then they quickly relocated to Rhode Island.
When Lucas was 17, he learned that his eyesight was progressively growing worse because he was afflicted with Degenerative myopia and was going blind. Alex used his abilities to create a new pair of cybernetic eyes for Lucas that could see better than the highest-definition camera. Lucas went to NYU after graduation. His surrogate family was encouraging of Lucas and his abilities, and he even attracted the attention of the X-Men. He worked with them when needed, but spent most of his time working as a photographer in the Village. But after 10 years, he's decided that he needed a change of scenery and contacted Aisha about working for Grey's full-time. He has really blossomed in the years since he first came to New York. He's put on some muscle, gotten healthier, grown out his hair and become less geeky.
Personality: Lucas is outgoing and friendly, but is sometimes viewed as meek because he can be quiet. He's not anti-social, but will usually observe quietly from the corner. He doesn't mind talking to girls, but it sometimes takes him awhile to make a move.
Special Notes: (Model/Play) Jason Marsden.