The No Man

== == B ackground The only things that kept Ricardo Mendoza tethered to everyday life were his family, his part-time job teaching arts and crafts for an after-school program, and bi-monthly eating contests held by the local taco shop. Community opportunities withered away, his loved ones passed away one by one, his faith in the world and humanity diminished slowly and painfully -- all due to the Virus.

Strangely, however, Ricardo became exponentially more tolerant of what he ate. Not just because his hometown in southern New Mexico was raided by biker and vet gangs, either; he tried granite and pinewood, and gradually ate more of them as conditions worsened and prepared food was decimated.

Ricardo got fed up with all the raiding he and his neighbors had to endure, some time after the last of his family died. So, when a biker gang was away from their bikes one night, he



stole a red Indian by using one of his fingernails as an impromptu key, and fled New Mexico as quickly as he could. Ricardo sneaks back to his hometown now and then (with larger and more durable vehicles) to resupply its remaining residents.

He found and got a variety of temporary entry-level jobs with the Unified Society 's government -- mainly in security and waste disposal -- to sustain his food and supply deliveries.

Matter Absorption

 * Can take on the physical, chemical, biological, and powered (to a limit) attributes of anything he touches and ingests
 * Cannot replicate any material he has the attributes of in order to restore himself to normal size, in the case he's splashed, shattered, or cut beyond his control
 * Can eat, drink, and digest anything that can fit into his mouth without being poisoned and nutritionally deprived
 * Can manipulate the physical and powered aspects of whatever he touches and ingests

Banishment

 * Can absolutely prohibit beings and objects from entering into, appearing in, or being in specified areas for as long as he wishes
 * Can teleport targets up to 47 kilometers away from the respective specified areas when the ability takes full effect; can only do this if the ability does not take full effect
 * This power takes full effect only if:


 * He verbally specifies the target, the vicinity it is to be banished from, and the time allotment the ability is to be applied.  He can say "within these premeses" if he is within the specified area.
 * He writes down his banishing statement, verbatum, in a specified enchanted ledger within five hours after the statement is made.