Emerald-Man

Stephen Alexander Barnes (a.k.a. Emerald-Man)

Stephen Alexander Barnes is the current Emerald-Man, the bearer of the sacred emerald that holds the soul of Danu ni Muach. Though initially unwilling to take the mantle, a run in with the mob enlightened him to the perils of the world. From then, he swore to be the mystical Emerald-Man, a druid of great power.

"Then here, Stephen Barnes, is your oath: you are to protect your fellow man and Creation from the evils that seek to twist and harm it. You shall be the Emerald-Man now until the end of your days. This is what you have sworn." -Danu ni Muach

History

Early Life

Stephen Alexander Barnes was born to his father, Harold Barnes, and his mother Jacinta on May 14th of 1998 at the Keller General Hospital. He would be born with autism syndrome, leading to harder development and becoming a stutterer. Social interaction was not easy for him. Little did he know that his father, Harold Barnes, was secretly the apprentice of Danu ni Muach and therefore a druid.
Stephen lived much of his under the care of his mother, as his father often worked at his family jewelry store. She helped him develop past his social anxieties, and eventually asked him to make friends at school. Stephen was subjected to bullying. One day, a girl named Carolina White defended Stephen from the bullies and quickly became his friend. They remained friends throughout middle school, high school, and even college.
At Columbia State University, Stephen studied business and also studied under his father to learn the jewelry trade. He grew closer to Harold, and even recommended Carolina to help work under his father. The three developed a very close relationship as the proprietors of the shop. When Stephen graduated college, he became co-owner with his father, while Carolina became the official accountant.
Sometime around the year 2021, Harold revealed to his son about his identity as Emerald-Man, and sought to make him his apprentice, being next in line for the position. Stephen, however, was uneasy about it.

Becoming Emerald-Man

On January 22nd of 2022, Stephen arrived at his home, alone, to find his father bloodied upon the living room floor, dressed in his Emerald-Man robes. He was mortally wounded, and Stephen quickly called an ambulance. However, Harold succumbed to his wounds before they could arrive. Stephen hid his father's robes, and denounced the life of the Emerald-Man, believing it led to his father's death.
At the funeral, Stephen remained reclusive, but Carolina consoled him, and gave him his father's emerald. Stephen wanted to reject it. However, when he was alone, the vengeful phantom known as Fetch attacked him to try and steal the gem. Stephen fought for his life, eventually finding an opening and stabbing Fetch with his own dagger. This led the phantom to flee, while Stephen recollected himself as was formally introduced to Danu ni Muach. Danu asked if Stephen was ready to be "her knight", but Stephen rejected her offer, even despite being confronted by mobsters the following day. Carolina fended off the gangsters, but brought the anger of their boss, Mario Valentine.
Carolina would proceed to get abducted and threatened by Valentine and his men to pay up a trumped up debt. Carolina tried to ask Stephen to just pay the money, but Stephen, suddenly desperate, sought training from Danu on how to deal with the gangsters. She taught him some magic and the secrets of the druid's craft. Stephen tried to confront the mobsters as Emerald-Man, but failed and gained a bad concussion from a gunshot he blocked. Carolina proceeded to get abducted again. Stephen tried to call the police, but they failed to help.
Stephen then had his ears and eyes open in his greatest moment of plight. He heard the cries of "Creation" as it mourned against the evils being committed in the world. Though Stephen was tormented, he finally understood what his father was doing, and realized the fate of his friend Carolina was on his shoulders. He took up the Emerald-Man mantle again, confidently this time, and tracked Carolina's location through the tremors of the earth.

He confronted the gangster Mario Valentine and his gang, at first pulling a victory, but the gangster Bob Poppins knocked Stephen's head, reigniting his concussion so he would be took weak to fight. Yet in his anger, and seeing the distraught face of Carolina White, he suddenly summoned an earthquake to shake the building, which wounded Valentine and his men, and Emerald-Man escaped with his friend. Carolina was brought to safety, giving her rescuer a hug, and departed. In the alleyway, Stephen realized that his fate led to the moment, and that he would have to embrace the life of a druid. He swore his oath to Danu ni Muach, officially becoming her Emerald-Man.

The first supervillains

Ms. Matter

A day later, Stephen regrouped with Carolina to see if she was well. He proceeded to give her the day off and manned the shop himself. However, he was disturbed when Creation cried out and warned him of the destruction caused by Ms. Matter. He donned his Emerald-Man robes and went to investigate Nexus Technologies. Going inside alone, he was nearly killed by Ms. Matter by being crushed to death, but he used broken glass from an overhead light to distract her and escape her grasp.
Emerald-Man then met with Dr. Seth Dwarn, who came up with a plan to stop Ms. Matter. They utilized a freezing ray and would need to prepare the vacuum chamber in the building. Emerald-Man escorted Dwarn to safety as the mad villain tried to kill them. Emerald-Man stalled Ms. Matter while Dwarn prepared the vaccuum machine. Though Emerald-Man nearly died from asphyxiation, he managed to shatter Ms. Matter with liquid nitrogen, where she was then sucked up by the vaccuum machine.
When Stephen returned home, he was caught by Carolina, who tried to enchant him to unravel why he was gone. Stephen managed to resist her charms and lied to her, ensuring his identity remained a secret.

Dr. Plague

by Collin Lamping

A few weeks later Stephen would find himself enticed to go to the Spring Gala with Carolina White, as a way to promote the business. While he was there, the gala was attacked by the villain Dr. Plague. As Emerald-Man he tried to stop Dr. Plague and his minions, but was infected by Plague's Bubonic X, which began to slowly kill him. Dr. Plague escaped before the police could arrive.
Emerald-Man escaped the gala and began to track down where the villain fled. He would track Dr. Plague down to the docks near the Columbia river. He arrived at the base and was intercepted by Detective Jackson McGee and the Portland Police Department. They decided to work together. However, entering into the base, it was already cleared, and Dr. Plague left nothing but a TV exposing his plans. Emerald-Man noticed through the video that the Dr. Plague he fought didn't look like the one in the video, and theorized that there was a body double. He proposed Detective McGee pose as him and gave him a copy of his costume, and then went to track down Dr. Plague.
Fortunately, Emerald-Man's theory was correct, and he intercepted Dr. Plague as soon as he was going up the aerial tram to get to Keller Medical Center. At first, Emerald-Man was quickly overpowered by the terrorist due to his weakened body, and Dr. Plague managed to push him out of the shattered window. However, using his magic, Emerald-Man caught himself and returned to Dr. Plague, and promptly captured him and turned him over to police custody. He would drink a cure for his disease, and distributed it to the victims. He then would visit Carolina in the hospital.

Fetch attacks again

In the month of June, Emerald-Man found himself facing off against Fetch, who kidnapped Carolina White as a hostage. He gave over the emerald in exchange for Carolina's life, but the Fetch backtracked on the deal. Emerald-Man tracked down Fetch and attempted to get the emerald containing Danu back. Fetch would use the stolen Druidic Magicus to turn him into a rat. However this worked to Emerald-Man's advantage, as he chewed the ropes to get Carolina free, and then promptly used the book to return back to his normal self. He would punch Fetch into the furnace he was using, and the man caught on fire, as well as the condemned house. Emerald-Man escaped the building with Carolina and the book.
On the way back home, however, Carolina unmasked Emerald-Man, revealing his true identity as Stephen Barnes. The two reconciled the deception, and Carolina even admitted she liked him better as Emerald-Man. What Emerald-Man did not realize was that he left Carolina with the book on his journey back home. Danu tried to question him on this fact, but Emerald-Man became strangely defensive and told Danu off.
Weeks later, during the 4th of July, the celebration at the park was interrupted by a fomorian who began to terrorize the people. Emerald-Man defeated the creature by encasing it in a temporary crystalline prison. He then supported Carolina's preformance, and the two began to gain feelings for each other.

Betrayal, and a new friend

In mid-July, Carolina White managed to lure Stephen Barnes to the city of Newport, Oregon, by confessing her love to him. She would manipulate him into breaking his oath as Emerald-Man, stripping him of his power. She used this opportunity to reveal herself as a powerful fey enchantress, a Merrow. Stephen felt betrayed and denounced Carolina for her actions. She would try to separate him from Danu and eventually disposed of him by throwing him into the bay with a wave. He would use the time to retake the emerald, and would be rescued by a selkie. During this, Carolina stole the Eye of Albion for a devious scheme.
Rekindling his connection to creation and restoring his vows, Stephen returned as Emerald-Man. He would meet with the selkies of Yaquina Bay and their queen, Makushla. There she would ask him to reclaim the eye of Albion and defeat the Merrow. Emerald-Man became conflicted, not desiring to hurt Carolina. He soon realized he merely needed to remove her cap. He would confront her, seeking to turn her from the path of evil. The two battled, with Emerald-Man almost seemingly dying from a naval blast. With Emerald-Man distracting Carolina, Makushla would recover the Eye of Albion. Eventually he pursued Carolina to the top of a lighthouse. The two battled again, Emerald-Man going on the defensive and getting quite wounded from the Merrow.
As he was wounded, he managed to take the cap off of the Merrow, restoring her to Carolina White. He tried to speak reason to Carolina, who became ashamed of her actions. Ultimately Carolina would retake her cap, and decide to live as a merrow. Thus Emerald-Man lost a friend, and went into a deep depression. Going to a diner back in Portland, he would end up meeting Kristina Roberts, a waitress.

When Kristina lost her job, Stephen offered her a new one. She would reject him, at first. The following night, Emerald-Man investigated Carolina's old apartment to reclaim the Druidic Magicus, but learned that Fetch had beaten him to it. The next day, Kristina Roberts would return to him with an interview. Stephen hired her on the spot, much to her surprise. Later, as Stephen went to the bank to try and erase Carolina's access to his accounts, Fetch snatched the emerald from Stephen.
Stephen would chase him to an abandoned warehouse, eventually donning his costume. The two fought, but Emerald-Man would be intercepted by the Sapphire-Swan, who mistook Fetch for a police officer. After being kicked in the face by Sapphire-Swan, Emerald-Man nearly lost Fetch, but the two heroes chased Fetch to a steel mill. Emerald-Man would reclaim the Emerald once again, though Sapphire-Swan would be injured. The two talked on top of the Steel Mill's roof afterward, engaging some flirting, until Sapphire-Swan would depart, leaving Emerald-Man lovestruck.

Physical Description

Special abilities

Stephen is a druid, magicians who use power over the created world as "stewards" and work with it to do their bidding. He can manipulate the natural world through sheer willpower and faith, though this must come through asserting his authority over it. Stephen has shown capabilities of the following:

• Geological Manipulation. As Emerald-Man, he is capable of transforming rock and crystals into different objects, such as body armor, swords, and nails. At a wider scale, Emerald-Man can conjure earth quakes (an act he must be very careful in doing) and create growths of crystals within the ground.

• Seismic Tracking. Emerald-Man can hear seismic and sound waves through his connection with the ground, being able to track creatures and objects.

• Wind Manipulation. Emerald-Man has a small amount of control over wind currents.

Apparel & Accessories

As Emerald-Man, Stephen wears old druidic robes to disguise himself. This comes with a green and purple tunic, a full face mask, and a cloak, as well as gauntlets and boots.

Current Status

Alive

Date of Birth

May 14th, 1998

Year of Birth

1998 AD 24 Years old

Current Residence

Portland, Oregon

Sex

Male

Height

5'10''

Weight

160 lbs

First Appearance

The Mystical Emerald-Man #1