Tribe

Player: @First Player

NAME: Jasper Altaha
KNOWN ALIASES: Tribe
AGE: 28
OCCUPATION: Bounty Hunter
BIRTHPLACE: Sioux Falls, SD
POWERS:

• ANIMAL MIMICRY - The ability to mimic the traits of western mammals

ABILITIES:

• Skilled hunter and tracker
• Animal Empathy

Long before anyone called him Tribe, he was Jasper Altaha, born beneath wide skies where the wind never stops talking and the past presses close to the present. His home sat on a modern reservation—cell towers and pickup trucks layered over ground older than memory. His grandmother taught him the old stories, not as myths, but as warnings and instructions. Stories about animals as teachers, not mascots. The bear teaches endurance. The wolf teaches loyalty. The mountain lion teaches restraint—strike only when necessary.

Jasper grew fast, strong, sharp-eyed. Too sharp. He could track a lost calf across rock. He could hear heartbeats in a crowded gym. When danger came, his body responded before his thoughts did—muscles tightening with a bear’s steadiness, senses flaring with a wolf’s awareness. Doctors had no name for it. His grandmother did. She simply told him to listen, and to wait.

It didn't happen all at once. It was a random blur of speed when he ran. Impossible strength when he lifted a crashed ATV off a friend. Nights filled with dreams of snow and shadow, claws digging into earth that felt like home. Everything changed the day a private security contractor moved in, under the banner of “infrastructure protection.” A pipeline expansion. Legal on paper, predatory in practice. Protests stayed peaceful. The response did not.

One night, private security stormed the reservation under floodlights and drones, treating elders like obstacles and treaties like trivia. In the chaos, Jasper's grandmother was knocked down. She didn't get back up.

Something ancient and unfinished detonated inside him. Jasper didn’t think. He chose.

The wolf found paths through confusion. The cat took weapons before hands. The bear stood between his people and the advancing line, immovable, roaring—not in rage, but warning. For the first time, Jasper understood the stories weren’t metaphors. They were survival manuals waiting for the right reader.

By morning, the community still stood. The security forces didn’t. Realizing they were out of their depth, the company retreated—for now. The people mourned. Jasper sought vengeance. His uncle cautioned against it was a classic proverb he'd recited to him too many times before: "There is a battle of two wolves inside us all. One is evil. It is anger, jealousy, greed, resentment, lies, and ego. The other is good. It is peace, love, hope, kindness. "Which wolf will you let win?"

🐺Animal Mimicry

Tribe’s primary mutation allows him to channel—not transform into—the physical and neurological traits of North America’s great mammals, overlaying their adaptations onto his human body. When he calls on the wolf, his senses widen into a near-tactical awareness: scent becomes layered information, sound gains direction and intent, and his reflexes synchronize with the movements of allies as if they were a single organism. Big cats grant him explosive speed, balance, and precision—muscles coiling and releasing with predatory efficiency, his movements silent and devastatingly accurate. The bear is raw endurance and mass; Tribe’s strength multiplies, pain dulls, and his body enters a state of controlled resilience that lets him absorb punishment and keep advancing. These traits can be blended, but never without consequence—each animal carries instincts that press against his humanity, demanding discipline or threatening to overwhelm him.

The power is not limitless, nor is it passive. Channeling requires focus and emotional balance; fear can call the wrong animal, anger can keep one active too long. Overuse leads to physiological backlash—exhaustion, sensory overload, or instinctual bleed-through that makes reintegration difficult. Tribe must constantly choose which animal best serves the moment, favoring adaptability over brute force. His greatest strength isn’t raw power, but judgment: knowing when to stand like a bear, when to strike like a cat, and when to move as part of a greater whole like a wolf pack.

🐾Animal Empathy

Beyond physical mimicry, Tribe possesses a profound biological and empathic rapport with animals, particularly mammals native to the continent. They do not obey him, nor does he command them—rather, they recognize him as something familiar, a presence that operates within the same unspoken rules of territory, respect, and balance. Animals instinctively sense his intentions, allowing him to move among them without triggering fear or aggression. Predators do not see him as prey, and prey do not see him as a threat unless he chooses to act like one. This affinity allows Tribe to navigate wilderness environments with uncanny ease, reading subtle behavioral cues that signal danger, migration, or disruption.

In moments of heightened focus, Tribe can project calm, warning, or urgency through body language and low-frequency vocalizations that animals instinctively understand. A wolf pack might shadow him at a distance, a bear might choose not to charge, a stampede might break away from a threatened village at the last second. This connection does not override an animal’s will—it amplifies mutual understanding. When ecosystems are damaged or manipulated, animals react strongly around him, their agitation acting as an early-warning system. In this way, Tribe doesn’t just fight for the natural world—he listens to it, and it answers.