Manus Fortuna (Virtue)
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Overview
The name Manus Fotuna is Latin for Hand of Fate. Manus Fortuna appeared recently in the Rogue Isles, though no one is quite sure from where. He is known to have worked with members of Arachnos, including Marshal Brass. More recently, he has known to have fought against Arachnos, and on a few occasions even provided information or aid to Longbow. As a result, Longbow is keeping a close eye on him. Some believe it may be possible to turn him and use him as a Longbow asset, while others question his motives and are still a very long way from trusting him.
His recent apparent change of heart has not gone unnoticed by Arachnos. They have already sent at least two different retrieval teams to Paragon City in an attempt to bring him back to the Rogue Isles, both of which failed. All attempts by the Arachnos Seers to uncover his identity up to this point, have failed. The general consensus is that Manus Fortuna may not even know his own identity. There are some who think the failures are due to deliberate attempts to shield him.
Psychic Probing
Psychics who attempt to probe surface thoughts will pick those up with no difficulty at all. These days, these usually pertain to Manus Fortuna's search for someone he can trust to help get away from the Rogue Isles for good. By all appearances, his attempts to turn over a new leaf appear to be legitimate.
Probing into his recent past is, likewise, not difficult, revealing his dealings with Longbow, as discussed above.
Looking into his past will show what appears to be a typical case of amnesia, though the source of the amnesia will not be clear. If there was some sort of accident involving a head injury, it has been lost with the rest of his memory. Trying to push harder will cause the psychic to suddenly get the sensation that their own deep hidden secrets are being revealed to someone. This fear will grow more intense the harder the psychic tries to push, eventually becoming paranoid that their every memory is being transmitted to everyone with in a 2 mile radius.
Manus Fortuna's True Story
In truth, Manus Fortuna is quite aware of his own identity and history. The amnesia sensed by other psychics probing his mind is the result of a mental shield he put in place. Similarly, the sensation that the psychic's mind is being probed is a result of the same shield. The shield does not actually feed any real information back to Manus Fortuna, other than letting him know that his mind is being probed, and by whom.
Manus Fortuna was born Lucas Vance. He is an exceptional psychic who was recruited for training as an Arachnos Seer at a very early age. For a time, he served Arachnos faithfully, but he began to doubt the Masters he served. The job of an Arachnos is not exactly a union job. There's no contract--no out clause. Once you are trained as a Seer, you serve for life. After all, Lord Recluse can hardly have his Seers walking away after the time and effort is invested in them, not to mention the information they possess.
Lucas, therefore, began to establish a plan of escape. The plan involved establishing the identity of "Manus Fortuna", and through him, establishing contacts within Paragon City. Once this was done, the plan was to have Seer Vance die at the hands of Manus Fortuna. The plan has been upset by the appearance of the recent Arachnos retrieval teams. Manus Fortuna is troubled by the fact that he has been unable to see them coming before they strike. He is therefore desperate to accelerate his plan and cut his ties to Arachnos and the Rogue Isles.
