Julia Carlyle

Julia Carlyle (who wears a second-generation Legion uniform)

A fictional character in the Legion of Lawndale Heroes universe, Julia Elaine Majel Carlyle is a graduate of the United States Academy of Extranormal Studies, the former Deputy Leader of The Alliance, and the very first member of the National Legion Chapter One (Lawndale, Maryland) who was not a Lawndale resident or Lawndale High School student before joining.

Biography

Born in New York City (specifically in Manhattan, on the Upper West Side), Julia is the daughter of Forbes Carlyle (although she was raised by Forbes and Paige Turner, her long-time domestic partner); she is also oldest of four children to Deforest Carlyle (her biological father). Julia also has, (through Deforest and his wife, Lauren Merritson) a younger sister in high school - Antigone Carlyle (or just 'Annie' by her friends), who is four years younger than Julia, and a younger twin brother and sister - Lexington Carlyle ('Lex') and Vidalia Carlyle ('Lia'), who are both eight years younger than Julia.

Julia is a member of the uber-wealthy Clan Carlyle, a family that can trace its recorded ancestry as a distinct, separate faction within the Twelve Clans back to least eight generations before the birth of Majel Carlyle (the first leader of the combined Twelve Clans) in the mad-10th Century, and her actions in the Great Unification War between the Twelve Clans and other forces against The Elite. All direct blood-line members of the Clan Carlyle have metahuman powers, but are not members of The Elite, nor are they interested in revealing those abilities to the world in general. (Unlike The Elite, Clan members born with powers are simply taught to not use them in public, or willingly use Elite methods to seal them away if they are unable/unwilling to control or keep from revealing them. In addition, all members of the Clan Carlyle who are direct genetic descendants of Majel Carlyle herself possess two distinct hereditary abilities; some form of healing or regenerative ability, and an impenetrable mental shield that prevents anyone from extracting information from their minds.) This is one of the mitigating factors that allowed the truce to be crafted, why The Elite has not tried to eliminate the Twelve Clans since the end of the war, and why the two organizations have been able to work together for various purposes of mutual interest over the centuries. The exact wealth of the Clan Carlyle is unknown, but they are easily one of the three wealthiest of the Twelve Clans and known as one of the wealthiest families on Earth; Julia's personal worth (due to her own trust fund and her family allowances) is in the three to six-billion dollar range.

The great-granddaughter of Miranda Carlyle, Julia is slender and incredibly attractive; she is 5'10 in height and weighs 125 pounds, with very long legs. She also possesses the hereditary Carlyle traits of dark scarlet hair (which she wears long) and jade-green eyes. With her large, jade eyes, figure and manner, Julia in fact is an exact doppelganger of Majel Carlyle herself. (This was a factor in the naming of Julia, as she was given her ancestor's name, as well as 'Elaine' - Paige's grandmother's name.) Forbes, having a background in art history and decades of research in the area, named Julia after Julia The Elder - the daughter of the first Roman emperor, Augustus. In addition, as the firstborn daughter of her generation since the birth of the last such female child (Miranda Carlyle), Julia is titled Heir to the High Chair of the Clan Carlyle (in effect, she has been born into the status of heir apparent/crown princess to the matriarchal leadership of the Clan Carlyle, which is the dominant royal line among the Twelve Clans), and will ascend to the rank of Clan Matriarch upon the death of Miranda Carlyle.

Julia discovered her powers at the age of six years. Because of her habit of constantly disappearing and never being where she was supposed to be (even before her powers developed) Julia picked up the nickname 'Milky' (as in 'you'll have to put her face on a milk carton to find her.') She came to the attention of Professor Richard Hiram Blumenberg in the summer before her eighth birthday, who spoke to the Carlyle family about Julia attending USAES; he left after being given a resounding 'no' to the question, but was shocked when Julia showed up at USAES less than a half-hour after he had returned. Julia was allowed to enroll at USAES (because the Professor realized that her powers would make an excellent addition to Project Alliance) and became the final member of Training Cadre 2996. (She is also the youngest member of the cadre, being almost four years younger than the others, and the only cadet in the entire history of USAES to be admitted before the age of eleven.) The Professor assigned her as Sherrie Klein's roommate; this was also a way to keep Klein (who was to be the final member of The Alliance, had Julia not arrived) close to the group, and to influence Julia in a positive way.

Despite her signature wings and sonic powers, the majority of Julia's abilities are psionic in nature; as a result, Julia takes classes in the Mental Enhancement Program but is a member of the USAES Special Transportation Studies program and wears the platinum '‘Hermes riding a Pegasus’' symbols of the program.

In public, Julia is the autocratic 'Carlyle woman' expected by her great-grandmother (albeit with a rebellious, adventuring streak and a gift for snarkiness), but is also a strong team player. However, with her friends and family, Julia can be surprisingly gentle, agreeable and caring (particularly around David Allen Farrington, her mothers and her father). Because of her personality, intelligence, skills and abilities, Julia was chosen as Deputy Leader of The Alliance, and she has their complete trust, respect and affection.

In LLH 13.2, 'Angel Of The Morning', Julia joined the Legion as the first member not to be a resident of Lawndale upon becoming a Legionnaire. Her membership is part of a one-year trial exchange program between the Legion and USAES, which could lead to a permanent program of having USAES cadets (who are also eligible for membership) spending a one-year period as Legionnaires.

In the LLH 'Mini' 25 Things About Julia Carlyle, Julia graduated with the USAES Class of 2012, and received her Bachelor of Science in Administration of Justice (with a law-enforcement concentration). (In the re-vamped timeline after Judith and the Worldburner Saga, Julia - along with the rest of The Alliance, graduated with the USAES Class of 2018.) Because of her exemplary record and achievements, Julia was commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the New York National Guard - specifically, she was assigned to a special aviation reconnaissance and support element for the 1st Battalion, 69th Infantry Regiment that is also tasked with extraction of high-value targets from the New York area in cases of extraordinary circumstances. (This is common for all Federal Service National Service and some Metahuman Special Operations-tracked cadets, who are commissioned as officers in either the Reserve, National Guard or Auxiliary of their chosen military branch). Julia has also moved from probationary status with the FBI to full Special Agent duty status, but due to her age and extraordinary levels of public exposure, has been assigned to 'detached duty' with the Legion for the foreseeable future.

Powers

Winged Flight: Julia possesses a pair of fully-functional wings (with a wingspan of fifteen feet) that she can fold back against her back or 'shrink' back into tiny 'wing buds' just beneath her skin. Her wings possess superhuman strength of their own, and Julia can reach Kryptonian-level speeds in flight without causing damage to the environment (see Flight Adaptations). If her wings are damaged, her healing power also allows her to rapidly heal or regenerate them.

Flight Adaptations: Julia's body possesses special adaptations allowing for high-speed, long duration and even exo-atmospheric flight:

• her skin is more durable than expected; this actually provides her with the equivalent of light body armor, as she can resist puncture wounds and small-caliber bullets (up to the effect of a .45 round.

• her bones are hollow, she can withstand extreme temperatures and extract oxygen from even very thin atmospheric conditions.

• her body can actually sustain itself while in hostile environments such as space (underwater, in gas-filled areas, etc), with no need to eat, drink or breathe.

• her body does not store excess fat, and allows her to convert food more efficiently into energy than non-powered or even most metahumans.

(* Julia can carry up to twenty tons while in flight (while her wings are extended) or up to four tons while gliding.

• her eyesight is incredibly acute (superior to predatory birds), her eyes are adapted for flight, and her hearing is also enhanced to metahuman levels.

• Julia has a very limited connection to the 'Speed Force', allowing her to fly at ultra-high speeds without damage to the environment and perceive her environment in order to perform tasks at those speeds (such as dodge bullets, energy effects, other speedsters, etc.). It is active only when she is in flight. Even when not in flight, the nature of Julia's powers allow her to perceive and react to her surroundings far more quickly than even metahumans with speed-powers. Julia also possesses an innate connection to the Speed Force that allows her to use her full powers even when she is in universes that do not possess connections to the Speed Force. Even if she were to be totally disconnected from the Speed Force, Julia could still achieve flight speeds in excess of Mach 50 without any harm to herself.

Gliding: Julia possesses the ability to travel through the air on air currents alone without the use of her wings. In this manner, Julia can travel at speeds of up to the speed of sound (770 MPH). Strangely enough, Julia can also apply this ability to travel underwater at over 150 knots (just over 170 MPH).

Enhanced Physical Attributes: Because of her lineage, Julia possesses enhanced physical capabilities:

• Julia possesses superhuman strength; without her wings, she can lift and carry up to five tons (or 2000 pounds with no effort).
• Julia possesses near-inhuman levels of superhuman agility, which allows her to both fly and fight in incredibly tight areas at very high speeds (or detect and avoid energy-beam fire).
• Julia can fight as well as a person with superior fighting ability and formal combat training.
• Julia possesses superhuman endurance at the pinnacle that humanoid and metahuman beings can possess.

Enhanced Physical Attractiveness: Julia possesses the passive ability of enhanced physical attractiveness (on the Byrne/Claremont passive power scale for this ability of 1 to 6, she registers at a 2). While this ability is at a lower level than that of her siblings Vidalia and Lexington (both ranked at 5) or others such as Rossalyn Palmer (a 5), Kaliq (a 3) or Samara Murat (a 4), Lydia Fisherman and Alison Cockrum (both at 4), Jala Javarti (a 5) or Stacy Rowe (a 4), this still enhances her own natural features and makes her an noticeable beauty in any gathering. One notable point of Julia's ability is that at her level, she does not possess the physical traits of tiny metallic flecks in her irises - a tell-tale sign of this ability at high levels (flecks are only seen in level 4 and above).

Power Dampening Resistance: In circumstances when Julia is subject to power-dampening drugs, environments or technology (regardless of origin), she still retains her mental shield and healing factor (only to the effect that she does not get sick even when exposed to an illness, and her body fluids retain their base healing effects). Even if her other powers are being actively suppressed, Julia still retains agility, strength and endurance equal to an Olympic-level athlete. In addition, Julia's mental shields cannot be shut down or bypassed except by her consent regardless of circumstances, or the type/origin of the methods, powers, substances or devices used to gain access. (Due to this ability, Carlyles have been jokingly referred to as 'the human versions of R-2 astromech units (due to their similar ability to resist divulging data to anyone not cleared to receive it).

Environmental Awareness: When using her flight powers, Julia possesses an innate awareness of her environment. Her awareness extends out to roughly one Astronomical Unit (roughly 93 million miles/the distance between Earth and the Sun). This awareness makes Julia a superior navigator, and she can determine how far her awareness can extend from her person (usually this distance is only between ten to fifty miles, unless circumstances call for greater coverage). She can use this power only while in flight.

Talons: Julia can extend her fingernails out into six-inch, razor-sharp talons. This is an ability she rarely uses.

Healing Factor: Julia possesses the ability to self-regenerate and heal herself from even lethal injuries/exposure to environments and substances. Julia can even reconstitute her body if even a molecule of her form still exists. (Even if her body is completely destroyed, Julia can reconstitute her form if a sample of her DNA can be found, and automatically re-establish her spirit inside her body.) Julia's power provides her with complete immunity to exotic conditions such as vampirism, zombification and the Crossed and Rage 'viruses'. Unlike many other metahumans with healing factors, Julia is not adversely affected if her powers are nullified; she still possesses the same resistance to germs and disease as any normal human in excellent physical condition.

Healing Ability: Julia can actively trigger production of her regeneration/healing ability into her bodily fluids (specifically in her saliva, sweat and blood) so that it can heal others through physical contact or use of those fluids. Any exposure to these fluids grants a person the effects of Julia's ability for a short period of time (between one to fifteen minutes, depending on Julia's focus on generating the ability into her fluids). A kiss from Julia can heal even mortal injury or terminal diseases and a transfusion of her blood can resurrect a person who has been dead or has suffered massive physical trauma (including the loss of a significant amount of their physical form). While Julia's healing ability cannot cure genetic abnormalities or certain diseases that arise from them (such as mental or personality disorders/deterioration), it can allow a person to survive indefinitely (as well as regenerate their bodies to human-normal proportions/appearance) with regular infusions.

Advanced Telelocation: Julia has the ability to lock onto a person's mind (after handling a personal item of the target) and track them down. Julia's ability allows her to track a target anywhere within a 50-mile radius. (If she has no personal object to focus her powers on, she is limited to a six-mile radius.) If the target is shielded from mental powers in some fashion, Julia can only track them to the location where the protection was engaged. Julia is vulnerable to mental attack when using this power.

Astral Form: Julia can project her astral form out to 150 miles away. While in astral form, she can use her mental-based powers as normal, her regeneration ability works on her astral form (while solid in other dimensions), and her speech-throwing and clairaudience acts as telepathy.

Mental Shields: Like all members of the Clan Carlyle, Julia possesses the hereditary power of an innate psionic shield that protects her from all mystical, psionic, neural and emotion-based probes and attacks, regardless of the form or level of power involved. This shield is always in place, but lowered when Julia uses her telelocation power or wants to allow any form of psi-contact. The shield also acts as a 'filter' to allow mental contact, but not control of her mind. Julia's mental shields cannot be shut down by any outside source or effect without her willing consent (see 'Power Dampening Resistance').

Sonic Generation: Julia has the ability to project sonic energies so powerful that they can liquefy or disintegrate matter (by destroying molecular bindings) or disrupt energy fields. She can affect everything within a quarter-mile area, or attack a single target within her line of sight. Julia's control of her powers allows her attack a single target without harm to anything else in the immediate area. Julia can also use her sonic powers as a form of radar/sonar. While she rarely needs to do so (because of her wings), Julia can use her sonic powers in order to fly at up to the speed of sound. Julia's sonic powers can be used underwater or in a vacuum; losing her ability to speak does not affect her power. Julia's powers can be blocked by powers that dampen mental abilities, and she cannot be adversely affected by any sonic-or voice-related control, ability or device (including her own).

Speech-throwing: Julia can use her vocal powers like ventriloquism to any place or person that she can actually view in real-time (through television, binoculars, etc.). Her range for this power is line-of-sight (or up to 2500 miles away, if she has a way to view her target in real-time). When using her power, Julia develops clairaudience at the listed ranges, which allows her to talk to the targets of her power.

Pyrokinesis: Julia possesses pyrokinetic powers that she uses to generate flames around objects without harming them. She has absolute control of the flame sheath, and also has a limited resistance to all heat and flames. She primarily uses this power to sheath swords with flame (in order to fool individuals into believing that she is an angel), to start small fires, or to shoot small streams of flame or fireballs (which she only does rarely). In the LLH 'Mini Clarity, Julia demonstrated that her pyrokinetic ability has increased dramatically, as she can now actually create solid objects out of pure flame (such as swords), and control the temperature/intensity of those flames to allow them to carbonize solid materials with a touch, or warm without causing harm.

Equipment

As a member of The Alliance, Julia has a 'team jacket' which is lined with Salazarium. The jacket allows her to fly without using her own powers, acts as a form of body armor, (also giving some protection against mystical powers and effects), and has a micro-reciever allowing her to stay in touch with the other members of her team. Because of the flight capabilities of her jacket, Julia has the ability to fly for effectively unlimited periods of time (well, until dinnertime). Before she graduated, Julia had a duplicate of her team jacket made (as all members of The Alliance did, for their successors) and still has possession of her original.

Julia also (as with all Alliance members) carries a weapon for melee combat; she prefers Tonfa,and carries a pair in sheathes on her trouser legs. For psychological purposes, Julia has a sword that can tap into her body's energies and generate a sheath of flame around the blade; she also possesses several outfits that, when carrying the sword and having her wings fully extended (she also allows her hair to fall free over her shoulders), makes her appear in the same fashion of the 'Angels' referenced in the Bible.

Since joining the Legion, Julia has been issued a PFT-M1 PFT Weapon for personal use, and also has a Legion flight ring. In LLH 13:8, Julia was seen wearing her Legion uniform, which possesses active camouflage elements that allow her to 'blend' in with the aerial environment, making her difficult to see in flight. Before she graduated from USAES, Julia was presented with a standard-issue 'bolt bag' that possesses various items useful for short-term, off-the-grid operations. (All USAES Elite Academy graduates are issued such equipment based upon their professional service track; Julia was issued the standard bag for Federal Service cadets.)

Skills

• Julia has a Bachelor's Degree in Administration of Justice/Criminology (with a minor in Business Administration). She is considering going forward with further studies in order to receive a Master's degree in the former, or an MBA.

• Julia has flawless linguistic skills in Latin, German (High/Low German & Bavarian dialects) and Gaelic (both Scottish Gaelic & Irish), and can converse easily as if she were a native of Germany, Scotland or Ireland/Northern Ireland. (It was recently revealed that she has near-native Japanese-speaking skills, and can also read & write in all three written forms of the Japanese language.)

• She is an expert fighter in Tae Kwon Do and savate, and has incorporated both into an incredibly effective fighting style for use while airborne.

• Julia can type over ninety-five words per minute, can write and read in shorthand, and is familiar with many computer programs used in office work-environments. Julia is also familiar with a wide variety of liquors and mixed drinks, and can easily stand in at the bar in any club. (This was part of Professor Blumenberg's Alliance training strategy of having all members proficient in a secondary set of skills, allowing them to infiltrate various organizations, survive in unusual circumstances or simply 'hide in plain sight' if the need arises; he saw Julia as being able to disguise herself as an office worker with the looks and abilities to ascend to higher duties in any organization.)

• Julia has also developed a number of skills that are not entirely looked upon kindly by the USAES faculty (although they do have a limited group of courses that touch upon these areas; due to that and the fact that those skills are useful, Julia was allowed to continue). She is able to escape from almost any form of restraining device, and is an excellent lockpicker/safecracker. She also has impressive skills in circumventing security systems and entering secure areas. (Julia always keeps a set of lockpicks in her clothing at all times, as well as several micro-thermite charges and a miniature 'electronic lockpicking pad', for the purpose of defeating any door lock. She also keeps a pair of condoms in her uniform, as she has found various uses for them in the shadowy side of her training. Now that she is a Legionnaire, she keeps these in her basic field uniforms.)

• Julia spent the first five months of her internship year at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia, After graduating, she spent the remaining time as an apprentice to the Thieves' Guild (which has survived to the present day) after being granted special dispensation from the Secretary of Extranormal Affairs to do so. During her year with the Guild, Julia trained as a 'cat burglar', and participated in thefts which netted over $10,000,000.00 USD; Julia was allowed to participate due to the fact that her training would be used to curtail future crimes of this nature.

• Although she has not attempted to expand upon the skill as several of her fellow cadets have, Julia possesses incredible shooting skills. She recorded a perfect marksmanship score at Quantico, is as good with hand weapons as Fabian Nogura (although she has not trained in the Gun Kata as he has). While Julia has a preference for shotguns (notably rapid-fire automatic models), she has also gained some skill in fencing (to augment the use of her pyrokinetic skills when she generates swords of flame).

Trivia

• Julia loves to eat (she is a born and bred 'foodie'), and because of her powers she doesn't gain weight. She loves to compete in eating contests just to annoy people.

• Julia's favorite food is beef (she loves barbecue ribs and beef brisket equally), and is not above flying all over the country (world!) to get the best. She will also eagerly fly almost anywhere to pick up special take-out orders for her friends.

• Julia's birthday is August 1st. She was a 'preemie' (premature birth), having been born seven weeks before her due date (which was late September). Despite being slightly underweight, Julia was a normal, healthy baby, and was only kept in the hospital for several weeks until she had gained weight.

• Julia has exceptionally large feet (for a woman) and wears size eleven shoes. This is something that people have learned not to tease her about, on pain of having those feet used upon them for painful purposes. Because of her speed and agility, she is noted for rapidly slapping people with her feet.

• She has been nicknamed 'Duchess' by her fellow Alliance members because of her autocratic nature; she does not, however, act that way towards David Allen Farrington, which the others in The Alliance find humorous. However she is known to her society friends as 'Milky' (see 'Biography' above). David Allen (who she is in a very serious relationship with) has referred to her as 'his show pony' since they were children (and she refers to him as 'her bookworm'); no one else is allowed to address either with those names.

• Julia's best friends are Zoey Robertson and Sherrie Klein. It is because of them that she has some understanding of escrima (Filipino stick-fighting), fashion (due to Zoey), agricultural-oriented business dealings and the general history of the Chevrolet Corvette (due to Sherrie).

• Even though she has never really wanted to develop the talent (although she took classes just to please Professor Blumenberg), Julia has a beautiful singing voice and a talent for performing.

• Julia's favorite animated character is Starscream from 'The Transformers'. Because of her status in The Alliance and her own family ties, the U.S. Secret Service has adopted 'Starscream' as her official code-name.

• It has been noticed that Julia has a slight resemblance to a younger version of the actress Blake Lively, but with red hair and green eyes. This has actually been a source of good humor on occasion when Julia has attended social events where Miss Lively is also present.