Silver_hand
Member
HOPE
(Bryce)
The Gate-Touched Runaway / The Branded
(Bryce)
The Gate-Touched Runaway / The Branded
━━━━━━ Core Character Profile ━━━━━━
Name & Title:
Hope (Real Name: Bryce)
Title: The Gate-Touched Runaway / The Branded
Core Concept:
A tragic bruiser whose body fused with unstable Astral energy during a failed ritual. He now battles both the volatile power within him and the sister searching for the brother he no longer believes himself to be.
━━━━━━ Abilities ━━━━━━
PASSIVE: Rising Will
Hope builds power through aggressive combat.
Maximum Stacks: 10
Stack Generation:
Hitting a Ritebrand-marked enemy: +1 stack
Kill or Assist: +2 stacks
Taking heavy damage near enemies: +1 stack (10s cooldown)
Per Stack Bonuses:
+2% All Damage
+1.5% Movement Speed
+5% Ritebrand Damage-over-Time
Decay: After 10 seconds out of combat, stacks decay at a rate of 1 stack every 2 seconds.
ABILITY 1: Ritebrand
Type: Melee Attack / Mark
Cooldown: 16 seconds
Effects:
Direct Damage: 80 (+0.6 Spirit Power)
Mark Duration: 5 seconds
Damage Over Time: 10/sec (+0.1 Spirit Power/sec)
Stack Bonus: Each Ritebrand stack on the target increases DoT by 5%
On-Kill Effect: When a Ritebrand-marked enemy dies:
Heal 150 Health
Reduce Rift Step cooldown by 3 seconds
Gain +2 Rising Will stacks
ABILITY 2: Rift Step
Type: Dash / Mobility / Crowd Control
Cooldown: 23 seconds
Effects:
Dash Range: 6 meters
Collision Damage: 50 (+0.4 Spirit Power) + Reveal (1s)
Endpoint Damage: 75 (+0.5 Spirit Power) + Micro-Stun (0.4s)
Cooldown Interaction: Killing a Ritebrand-marked enemy reduces Rift Step's cooldown by 3 seconds.
ULTIMATE: Hope Breaker
Cooldown: 150 / 130 / 90 seconds
Channel Time: 0.7 seconds
Stacks: 1-4
Damage: 200 (+0.8 SP)
Effect: Knockback to edge
---
Stacks: 5-7
Damage: 250 (+1.2 SP)
Effect: Empowered Ritebrand (5s, +20% dmg)
---
Stacks: 8-9
Damage: 300 (+1.6 SP)
Effect: 1-second Stun & 4-second Silence
---
Stacks: 10
Damage: 350 (+2.0 SP)
Effect: Execute (<25% HP) + 4s Ritebrand Field (100 DPS)
━━━━━━ Gameplay & Design ━━━━━━
Key Deadlock Mechanics Reflected
Resource System:
Health-based sustain from abilities
Cooldown reduction as combat reward
Stack-based power scaling
Design Philosophy:
Cooldown Management: Primary resource to manage
Combat Flow: Abilities encourage continuous engagement
Risk / Reward: Aggression reduces cooldowns but failed engages are punished
Stack Scaling: Similar to other stack-based heroes
Execution Moments: High-stack Ultimate serves as a win condition
Combos & Playstyle
Early Game Pattern:
Apply Ritebrand
Use basic attacks to build stacks
Secure a kill to reduce Rift Step to 7s
Re-engage rapidly with refreshed mobility
Teamfight Cycle:
Code:
Rift Step In → Ritebrand → Basic Attacks →
(Build to 8-9 stacks) → Hope Breaker (Stun) →
Clean up with reset Rift StepsSustain Loop:
Mark enemies → Secure kills → Heal + Cooldown reduction → Stay in fight longer → Build more stacks
━━━━━━ Character Lore ━━━━━━
Origin
Bryce was the rebellious younger brother of bibliomancer Paige. Resenting his family's "safe" magic, he sought dangerous knowledge of the Astral Gates. During a Maelstrom surge, he attempted an experimental ritual with a stolen family manuscript. The energy backfired, fusing with his soul and branding him with glowing Ritebrands. His parents, horrified by his transformation, cast him out. He vanished into New Hell's underworld, adopting the street name Hope.
Combat Role
Close-Range Bruiser / Stack-Builder. Excels in sustained, aggressive combat. His power snowballs through extended engagements, but he is vulnerable if denied stack-building or caught during his Ultimate's wind-up.
Character Motivations
Control: Prevent the gate-energy from consuming him or erupting uncontrollably.
Protection: Stay hidden from Paige, fearing both her rejection and the danger his power poses to her.
Understanding: Discover what he has become and if there is any path back.
Enemies
Primary: Warden - Whose mission to purge supernatural corruption marks Hope as a prime target. Their clashes are brutal and ideological.
Others: Hunted by the Baxter Society (anomaly), targeted by both Patron cults (resource/abomination), and studied by gate-researchers like Kelvin.
Appearance
A young man in his early 20s with a haunted, tired expression. Wears modified street clothes—a torn shirt and jacket that show glimpses of glowing blue Ritebrand scars pulsing across his skin and a gauntlet on his right arm.
His hair is streaked with unnatural colors, and his eyes occasionally flicker with star-like light. An unstable, visible energy distortion shimmers around him.
━━━━━━ Signature Phrases ━━━━━━
━━━━━━ Deep Lore: The Night It Happened ━━━━━━
The Transformation Event
Date: October 31st, 6 years before current Deadlock events
Location: The family's rare-book shop basement, Manhattan
The Ritual
Bryce (age 16) didn't just "dabble" in dangerous magic—he found his parents' hidden research on the 8th Astral Gate (the same one Kelvin was searching for). The manuscripts suggested a "living conduit" could stabilize the gate. In typical teenage "I'll show them" fashion, he tried the ritual during the Samhain Maelstrom surge—when the veil between worlds is thinnest.
The Catastrophic Failure
What went wrong? His sister Paige was supposed to be his anchor (mentioned in the ritual text), but she was at the library. Without her bibliomancy to ground him, the raw Astral energy had nowhere to go but into him.
━━━━━━ CRITICAL IRONY ━━━━━━
What He Became: The Gate Scar
He's not a gate. He's a "Gate Scar."
Think of reality like fabric. When the Maelstrom opened gates, it tore the fabric. Bryce's ritual was like trying to sew the tear shut while standing in the middle of it. The "thread" (Astral energy) stitched itself through his soul. Now he exists in two states simultaneously:
Physical: His human body in New Hell
Astral: A "ghost" of him permanently exists in the gate's liminal space
Ability Explanations
Ritebrands: Where his soul is literally "leaking" into our reality
Rift Step: Briefly merging his two existences to move
Rising Will: The Astral "pressure" building up in the scar
━━━━━━ The Aftermath: Family Secrets ━━━━━━
The Parents' Decision
They found him unconscious with third-degree burns in the shape of celestial runes. The family doctor (a discreet Baxter Society ally) said it was "spiritual radiation poisoning." They had two choices:
Tell Paige and risk her trying to "fix" him with dangerous magic
Make Bryce disappear and tell Paige he ran away
They chose option 2. Paid a Tunnel Rat contact to fake a bus ticket to Chicago. The "kicked out" story was to make Paige stop looking.
Paige's Perspective
Knows only the cover story. Her "obsession" isn't just sisterly love—her bibliomancy subconsciously senses his magical signature across the city. Every time she uses her powers, she feels an "echo" of her brother.
━━━━━━ The Street Years: Four Phases ━━━━━━
Phase 1: The Sick Years (First 2 Years)
Lived in abandoned subway tunnels
The Ritebrands were actively painful, glowing hot enough to burn his clothes
Couldn't control Rift Steps—they'd trigger when he panicked
Ivy found him during this period, thinking he was a Mendoza victim
Phase 2: The Gauntlet (Year 3)
Started scavenging tech from McGinnis dumpsters
Built the first version of his Rift-Caster Gauntlet
The device doesn't "generate" power—it focuses the leakage
Each of the 6 chambers corresponds to one of his major Ritebrands
Phase 3: The Revelation (Year 4)
Discovered other "Scars" through gate-dreams
Met Kelvin during one of Kelvin's surface expeditions
Kelvin recognized his condition: "You're what happens when a gate closes through a person instead of around them"
Phase 4: The Hope Persona (Present)
Now has partial control
Takes mercenary work to fund his research
Avoids libraries (Paige's territory) and Baxter Society hotspots
His street name comes from Ivy: "You need hope, kid. So that's what we'll call you."
━━━━━━ Character Connections ━━━━━━
Direct Interactions
Vyper: They ran together briefly Year 2. She knows he's "Paige's weird brother."
Infernus: Serves him at the bar. Knows the family. Keeps his secret.
Warden: Has encountered him 3 times. Each time, Warden's anti-magic tech temporarily stabilized him, confusing them both.
Kelvin & Dynamo: Monthly meetings. Kelvin and Dynamo think that Bryce might be key to understanding the gates.
The Doorman: Has "offered" to trap him in a pocket dimension where the pain stops. Bryce refused.
Indirect Connections
Abrams: Bryce's stolen manuscript was a fragment of the Tome. Abrams is looking for all fragments.
Seven: Wants to "study" him as a "natural anarchist weapon."
Lady Geist: Senses his life-force is "stretched between worlds" and finds it fascinating.
━━━━━━ The Physical Toll ━━━━━━
The Good
Doesn't age normally (Astral energy slows cellular decay)
Can survive injuries that would kill others (damage transfers to his Astral form)
The Bad
Constant low-grade pain from the Ritebrands
Needs to "bleed off" energy regularly or risks spontaneous rifts
Certain materials (cold iron, lead) disrupt his connection and cause migraines
His shadow doesn't always match his movements
The Ugly
On bad days, parts of him become semi-transparent
Sometimes speaks in Enochian without realizing it
Reflected surfaces show slight variations of him
━━━━━━ Psychological Profile ━━━━━━
Survivor's Guilt: "I stole the research. I did the ritual. My family's pain is my fault."
Protective Paranoia: "If Paige finds out what I am, she'll try to fix me. She could get hurt or worse."
Identity Crisis: "Bryce died in that basement. Hope is just what walks around wearing his skin."
Secret Hope: "What if I'm not a mistake? What if this happened for a reason?"
━━━━━━ Timeline Integration ━━━━━━
Maelstrom Event: He transformed during the Second Great Surge
Mendoza War: Ivy protected him during the worst fighting in Spanish Harlem
Paradox Museum Heist: He was hired as "muscle" but recognized family artifacts and left
Present Day: His energy signatures are what the Baxter Society detects as "micro-rifts" around the city
━━━━━━ Internal Conflict ━━━━━━
What He Wants
To be "normal" again
To protect Paige from the truth
To stop hurting
What He Needs
To accept he can't go back
To trust Paige with the truth
To learn his purpose as a Scar
━━━━━━ THE ULTIMATE IRONY ━━━━━━
Paige searches for her "lost brother" using bibliomancy. Every spell she casts to find him actually makes his condition worse by resonating with his Astral half. The more she looks, the more pain she unintentionally causes him.
━━━━━━ The Philosophy of Hope ━━━━━━
"Who Is Hope's Hope For?"
Short Answer: He's named "Hope" because he's everyone's hope but his own.
Level 1: The Original Hope (For Paige)
What Ivy Meant When She Named Him:
The Irony:
Paige searches for "Bryce" with hope of finding her brother
Hope hides to protect that very hope from being destroyed
He becomes the living embodiment of the hope that torments him
The Psychological Twist:
Every time Paige says "I hope Bryce is okay," she's unknowingly naming him. His existence is literally her hope made flesh—and he's terrified of what happens when hope meets reality.
Level 2: The Unspoken Hope (For Himself)
What He Secretly Hopes For:
"I hope I don't hurt anyone today." (Daily mantra)
"I hope there's a way to fix this." (The impossible dream)
"I hope she never finds me." (The protective lie)
"I hope I'm wrong about everything." (The deepest wish)
The Contradiction:
His name is Hope but his primary emotion is fear:
[
Fear of his power
Fear for Paige's safety
Fear of being discovered
Fear that he's already too far gone
Level 3: The Projected Hope (For the Streets)
What New Hell Sees in Him:
For Ivy's Community: "The glowing man who helped when the Mendoza came"
→ Hope = Protection when systems fail
For the Tunnel Rats: "The guy who can open paths no one else can"
→ Hope = Opportunity, escape routes
For Lost Causes: "If that glowing guy survived whatever happened to him, maybe I can survive this"
→ Hope = Proof that survival is possible
The Unintended Legacy:
Without trying, he becomes a symbol in New Hell's underworld. Graffiti appears:
"H☐PE W☐S HERE" (with the missing 'O' looking like a rift)
"FOLLOW THE GLOWING MAN"
"EVEN BROKEN THINGS CAN SHINE"
Level 4: The Cosmic Hope (For the Gate System)
Kelvin's Theory:
What This Means:
If Kelvin is right, then Hope is:
The universe's hope that the tear can be mended
Reality's desperate attempt to heal itself
A living wish that damage can be contained
The Weight of This:
His name isn't just personal anymore—it's cosmic. He carries the hope of reality itself trying to survive its own wounds.
Level 5: The Mirrored Hope (For His Parents)
Their Secret:
Paige's parents know more than they told her. Their "silence" isn't ignorance—it's a calculated hope:
They hope:
That Bryce is dead (because death is kinder than what he became)
That Paige will give up searching (to keep her safe)
That their family's magical legacy ends with them
The Brutal Truth:
They named their children:
Paige = A page (something to be written on, to carry stories)
Bryce = Speckled (marked, different, noticeable)
They feared Bryce would be "marked" by magic. They hoped he'd escape it. In trying to prevent it, they caused it.
━━━━━━ The Paradox of His Name ━━━━━━
Hope Is For:
✓ Paige: That her brother still exists somewhere
✓ Ivy: That he'll learn to live with his power
✓ The Streets: That miracles can happen in New Hell
✓ Reality: That wounds can heal
✓ Himself: (Secretly) That he's wrong about being a monster
Hope Is Against:
✗ Warden: Who sees him as a breach, not a bridge
✗ The Patrons: Who see him as a tool or a stain
✗ His Own Belief: That he's beyond saving
✗ Time: Which keeps moving while he stays trapped
━━━━━━ Potential Future Storylines ━━━━━━
The Other Scars: There are 7 others worldwide. What if they're meant to connect?
The Gate's Will: The energy might be guiding him toward something.
Paige's Discovery: What happens when she finally pieces it together?
The Parents' Return: What if they come back seeking forgiveness or worse—to "contain" him?
━━━━━━ Voice Line Deep Cuts ━━━━━━
(Imagine these delivered with pain and fatigue)
On low health: "The thread's unraveling..."
Seeing Paige: "Close enough to hurt, too far to help."
Using Ultimate: "I AM THE SEAM BETWEEN WORLDS!"
Death: "Finally... quiet..."
Respawn: "The door never stays closed."
━━━━━━ The Final Truth ━━━━━━
Hope doesn't hope for anyone specific anymore.
He's become the space where hope happens—a living crossroads where:
Paige's hope for her brother
Ivy's hope for her surrogate son
Kelvin's hope for understanding
The streets' hope for miracles
Reality's hope for healing
...all intersect in one scarred, glowing young man who doesn't remember how to hope for himself.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
His name is Hope because he's what happens when the world needs hope but the person carrying it has run out.
And maybe—just maybe—that's the most heroic thing of all: being hope for others when you have none left for yourself.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
So who is Hope's hope for?
Everyone but him. And that's why it's tragic. And that's why it's beautiful.
Note: This is fan speculation based on existing lore fragments. Not official Deadlock content.
