Alan Hawkins's Questionnaire

Alan lives in a modest apartment room in Sacramento, California by himself. Having lived in the area for nearly a decade now (moving and settling with his family at 10 years old), Alan has developed a strong attachment to the city-- fond of its people, culture, and environment. Though his family still lives in the city as well, Alan chooses to live by himself in an apartment so that he can have some independence and privacy for his superheroing business. Despite living alone, he makes sure to keep the place decorated and colorful-- doing his best with the limited space to fit in as many wallpapers, shelves of figurines, etc. in the place to maintain a lively feeling.

Alan primarily gets his income through his day job, working retail at an independent comic book store. It's not the highest paying job in comparison to what he could be doing, most likely, but he doesn't particularly mind. What's more important is that it's something that helps him maintain his passion for stories and heroism-- as well as something that's flexible enough to leave him time for superheroing. Though most of his money goes toward sustaining himself (city life isn't exactly cheap, especially in California), Alan likes to spend any spare money he gets towards his hobbies-- supporting small time creators, decorating his room with accessories, etc.

Alan hopes to inspire a new golden age of heroes who uphold peace and justice by dedicating his life to the virtues of heroism.

The world is in desperate need of real heroes. Crime, conspiracy and corruption plague every corner of the world, festering and spreading on a daily basis. Those with the power to stop these injustices instead use their privileges toward their own self centered agendas. The modern superhero community is especially at fault in Alan's eyes, with almost all of them turning out to be shams, oppressors, or abusers in their own rights.

By stepping up and acting as a true hero, Alan believes he can show the world what it means to be a true hero, and by doing so, inspire others to follow in his footsteps. To this end, Alan is extremely stubborn in his pursuit of his goal-- willing to needlessly place himself in the center of hardship, danger, and even death if it means never betraying his ideals and always upholding his moral code of saving lives.

The concept of commonplace superheroes and supervillains had rapidly started to fade from public consciousness in the late 2000s-- though there were still those who clung desperately onto their fame and cultural image. To maintain their relevancy, heroes would often stage 'villain scares' where they would bravely step in and save the day from an apparently dangerous villains. But in an era where these events were increasingly glossed over, ignored, or reported fake, things had to escalate to make it on the news. 

During the tail end of the Age of Super Terrorism in 2010, Alan was just five years old, growing up in New York on the opposite side of the US. In an incident involving one of the last 'villain scares,' things escalated too far-- and he, his family, and many others were caught in the crossfire. Half of Alan's body ended up crushed from debris, with no help in sight. It was only when the hero 'Paragon' arrived to the scene, intervening, stopping the other heroes, and saving as many lives as he could, that Alan was eventually rescued.

Many other lives were lost in the incident, with the Paragon being blamed for all the collateral damage. This would be the last straw forcing the Paragon to retire and flee the city, as well as what prompted Alan's family to move away and across the country. Despite that harrowing day still haunting Alan's mind, resulting in the loss of his left leg and arm, he's since refused to give up on the idea of there being true heroes in the world-- people willing to put themselves in the center of conflict and danger if it means saving lives.

The Hawkins Family: Alan's family is an upper-middle class, Jewish family living in Sacramento, California. He has several siblings, some older and some younger, and has an overall strong bond with all of them and his parents. His father, Abraham Hawkins, is a correctional counselor who instilled the sense of justice, duty and forgiveness that Alan carries to this day. His mother, Aliza Hawkins, is a stay at home parent who similarly inspires Alan to take care of others and remain kind to everyone.

Marco Martinet: The original Paragon, and Alan's mentor in the superhero world. An old man with an even older spirit. Since retiring, he's become rather jaded and disillusioned with the idea of superheroes-- but nonetheless, his firm belief in what's good and wrong remains. He's old fashioned, grumpy, and likes to complain, but has a soft spot towards the youth. After coming across and connecting to the old, authentic Paragon super suit in a shady convention sale, Alan managed to meet him by working up the line of previous vendors until he eventually found the original. Since then, Marco has acted as a close confidant and teacher for Alan's superhero career.

Alan moved a lot as a child, as his family relocated from the east coast of the US all the way to the west. Despite growing up as an amputee, Alan had the luxury of living with a supportive family-- allowing him to maintain a sense of positivity, perseverance and overall joy in his life. His father (Abraham Hawkins), a correctional counselor, helped him develop his moral compass, encouraging him to see the best in people and think carefully on what's right and wrong. His mother (Aliza Hawkins) was a stay at home mom who helped support Alan through his disability, inspiring him to lend a helping hand to everyone he could. In his early school days, Alan was quick to make friends with everyone he met-- taking advantage of the time he had to get to know a large variety of people and their backgrounds. After his family settled in Sacramento, Alan continued to form close bonds with his peers and teachers, eventually finding what he felt to be a permanent home in the community.

Alan's never been in romantic love with someone, or even in a relationship with someone. It's not for a lack of being able to, or a lack of potential options. In fact, he's always been a rather popular kid in school-- able to form close bonds with pretty much everyone he's met. However, Alan's always chosen to respectfully decline any dates he's been invited to throughout his life. Instead, he prefers to stay as platonic friends with the people he knows before exploring any potential romantic interest. After all, heroism is a demanding way of life, and Alan feels that he'd rather dedicate his time toward saving the world than chasing dates or relationships.

Though Alan is confident in his abilities as a superhero, that's not to say he lacks any anxieties while serving as one. In fact, his compassion toward other people means that he's always hyper aware of the possibility of innocent people getting accidentally hurt, which stands as one of his biggest fears as a superhero. He's especially fearful of this due to his own background being hurt in the collateral damage of a careless hero-fight, and as such, strives to make sure he always prioritizes protecting the people around him as a superhero. Moreover, Alan's also extremely conscious of the status of his own ethics and moral character. With how much these jobs demand, and all the complexity that comes with being a superhero, he fears that he may end up losing sight of his moral compass and betraying his code during his journey. Plenty of moral dilemmas and impossible choices can arise during these jobs, and the chance that there will be no right answer is something Alan dreads. However, outside of staying true to his word and remaining as aware of his morality as possible, the only thing he can do in the mean time is to get powerful enough to circumvent said situations should they arise.

Alan is the current owner and user of the Paragon super-suit, a set of supernatural armor that he has bonded with that allows him to manifest the strength of his spirit and character into reality as a superhero. The initial circumstances where he came across the armor were rather mundane, funnily enough-- discovering them at a shady vendor's stand during a superhero convention. After purchasing the suit and realizing its authenticity, however, Alan put on the helmet and was accepted by the suit to be the next iteration of the Paragon. As such, it naturally ranks among Alan's most prized possessions, but that's not to say he doesn't value anything with sentimental attachment to it either. One of his other most prized possessions is a humble, wooden good-luck bracelet given to him by his parents, which he always wears in his civilian identity. The bracelet serves as a constant reminder of his upbringing, his relationships, and his dedication towards helping people.

Alan is facing a handful of problems at the moment, most surrounding his identity and reputation as the Paragon. While he's done well so far in doing good and saving lives as the superhero, the Paragon name still remains as a notorious, law-breaking super terrorist in most of the public eye. It proves to be a continual challenge for him whenever he's in the public, usually requiring that he placate or assure whoever he's speaking to that he's actually a good guy. Moreover, his reputation also seems to be drawing the inevitable attention of the authorities, as well as potential former nemeses from the Paragon's past. One of which includes the Cowl, another former superhero with a long history with the previous Paragon. In order to handle this issue, Alan has been making moves toward proving that as the Paragon, his primary goal is to simply help the public out and be a role model for others. However, the road to improving his reputation remains a long and difficult one.

Alan typically wakes up early, around 7 or 8 in the morning. He usually starts each day off with a brief routine of personal physical therapy-- maintaining his overall health and making sure his mobility remains as good as possible given his status as a amputee. Afterwards, he takes care of the typical morning necessities, such as washing himself, eating food, getting dressed, etc. Though he usually makes his own breakfast for most days, Alan also enjoys getting his first meal of the day outside to support and interact with Sacramento's local businesses. In between all of this, Alan likes to do a bit of light reading. Though he usually enjoys consuming comics, graphic novels, etc., he also makes sure he reads a wide variety of things to keep himself informed about the world. He usually leaves his apartment around 10 am, where he goes about the rest of his typical day.

On top of formal wear with the sleeves and pants tailored so they naturally cover his amputated limbs, Alan likes to decorate and customize the coverings of his prosthetics to fit the occasion and outfit. He actually spends a considerable amount of time experimenting with different colors, designs, and even materials on his limbs for the purposes of maintaining aesthetics. For a formal event specifically, he'd probably use a design that's sleeker and less tacky, something like a black surface with spiral gold lines or something similar.

As The Paragon, there's not much to do for actually changing the appearance of his super-suit-- but if he's showing up somewhere in his super-suit, most likely, he's got some preparations to make. As a social hero, he'd want to see if he could procure a list of the guests attending as well as the organizers-- understand who's behind the event, what's it for, what they want, etc. He'd also similarly look into the details of the area and where it's held for some time-- but otherwise, without needing to dress or take care of his appearance, it doesn't take long.

Alan's next birthday will be his 20th, as well as his first since signing up for the Contract. He has relatively straightforward idea for what he wants to do-- hang out with friends and family and have a good time together. As for the actual plans, he'd normally hope to go big for the occasion and travel for a convention or some vacation destination-- however, since becoming the Paragon, he's been primarily prioritizing his home city of Sacramento as his main responsibility. As such, he'll most likely instead opt for something more basic, such as a get-together or movie binge with his peers.