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#34 - Black Alice
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The face of the Eighth Age.

Alice is a magical leech: she can borrow the powers of other nearby magic users. Inexperienced and quick to anger, Alice is in desperate search of both her own role and a place to belong. After A-Day, Alice isolated her neighborhood in Dayton from the rest of the world in order to protect her father. But after Checkmate agreed to return Carl Zechlin to its prison for safekeeping, Alice (with some difficulty) agreed to join the resistance, where she developed fast friendships with Pepper Spray and Nightshade. Alice recently, after being spurned by a callous non-suitor, attempted to contact God himself in an effort to end the rampage of the Spectre, only to be scarred with a crucifix by the Saint of Killers. Recovering both mentally and physically, Alice has devoted herself to the efforts of Checkmate.

The story of magic in this campaign is often a generational one, and Alice represents the natural evolution of mankind throughout history - all of the product which came before, none of the wisdom that produced those gifts. Alice couldn't take her powers more for granted if she tried, and in that arrogance is her weakness - but also the weakness of youth. It's often been said that youth is wasted on the young, that those who would most value the exuberance and vitality of youth are those who have spent theirs already. Wisdom mourns the loss of that which cannot be had again, you might say. Alice, for her part, is getting smarter every day.

Alice lacks limits and restraints without her father - we've seen that in practice, as Alice is only ever tempered by her own faults and her own mistakes. A concussion is as good as any form of punishment Alice can receive, the school of hard knocks meting out more education than even Eve is able to do. In a way, Alice is a beast - she can be corralled, but taught? That's something far more difficult. Alice is so fiercely independent that any attempt at tutelage doesn't exactly land. Perhaps that is why Eve chooses to simply mete out harsh criticism at times instead of nurturing Alice - Alice has evolved much like her closest friends in Z'onn Z'orr. Brennus is bull-headed and it takes a lot to get him to change his convictions, and Pepper as well rarely seems willing to break out of her worldview unless it's on her own terms. So between those twin influences, Alice has herself become a bastion of brazen stagnancy. She exists like Rover does, unevolving and oddly complacent in her tenuous place in the universe. She's found a safe haven and a time and a place where, with her father left in a paradoxical position where he both provides Alice comfort by existing and yet leaves her trapped in the denial stage of grief, Alice has become a brick wall of sorts. And it might take drastic changes to get her to change.

Sadly, Alice's closest friend in Z'onn Z'orr really doesn't spend time with her any more, so she's really suffered from what could have been an easy Top-5 position. It's been months and months since Alice had participated in a meaty scene - although she did provide a chapter to Paul Lincoln's book. I think that was one of my favorite little pieces I put together in the entire campaign. Just fun, fun stuff.

With a third of the list to go, we're back to Honorable Mentions, kicking off with a character from the last list!