Appearance

Physical Description

Richie is a big kid, and his athletic pursuits and super heroic adventures keep him in great shape. He has become a bit insecure since coming to the future and seeing Knightfall, who looks like a pile of muscles carved out of granite.

Body Features

He has the frame of a natural born fighter; big head, square jaw, broad shoulders, long and densely muscled arms, and big hands. Richie has been working up the nerve to ask Styx to give him a tattoo, because he read that Knightfall has a lot of them and they look cool.

Facial Features

Richie has a large face, with a lantern shaped jaw, and a wide smile full of big, white teeth. His eyes are dark and attentive, and his gaze is earnest and unwavering.

Physical quirks

Richie has a hard time sitting still and will often pace around a room in circles instead of sitting down. Even when sitting he will fidget constantly; stretching, yawning, and cracking his knuckles.

Apparel & Accessories

Inspired by his fashion forward teammates, Richie is trying to find more of a look for himself. He likes over-sized hoodies, graphic t-shirts and distressed skinny jeans. Richie's foster dads support his efforts, and encourage him by buying him lots of hats and sneakers. He does have some old school tastes, and thinks watches and necklaces are super cool.

Specialized Equipment

Kid Courageous designed a special battle suit for him, that functions as his costume and is visible through his armor. The suit is constructed from a complex weave of titanium and ultra dense plastic fibers, offering the same protection as military grade armor while being lightweight and flexible. Richie's suit is dark blue, with stylized pink lines that mirror the look of his cosmic armor.

Special abilities

Paladin can summon a suit of armor made of cosmic energy, 7 feet tall and 3 feet wide. The armor glows and crackles with raw power, it gives Paladin super strength and near invulnerability. The armor is mostly purple and pink, with dark blue bands around the joints. The colors of the armor are transparent and Paladin can be seen through it.

Mentality

Personal history

Richie had a great childhood, he was a bright kid with a big imagination. His lived with his parents, Sean and Christina, in their house in Forest Park, a suburb north of Terminal City . Sean and Christina owned a stable for horses called the Hernandez Ranch.
 
On the night of the infamous meteor shower of '87, something fell to the earth not far from the Hernandez home. His father told him not to go, but Richie snuck out and went to investigate. He found a crashed spaceship, and an alien woman trapped inside the flaming wreckage. Richie rushed in and managed to get her to safety before the ship exploded.
 
Her name was Alledane , she had shimmering translucent skin and glowed bright pink and purple. She explained to Richie that she was a soldier, fighting a war against a tyrannical empire known as the Covenant. Alledane was mortally wounded and used the last of her strength to give her power to Richie before dying in his arms. He buried Alledane in his parent's backyard.
 
His powers manifested soon after, when Richie summoned his armor to protect himself from a wild horse that tried to trample him. Richie began to train himself and developed the super hero alias, Paladin. As Paladin he took down a gang of thieves who were preying on the businesses of Forest Park.
 
It wasn't long before he was noticed by the heroes of Terminal City, and he got invited to join a team of sidekicks and younger heroes, @The Teen Squad. While trying to help the Silver Sentinel defend his home base from a Covenant attack, Paladin was caught in a temporal explosion and thrown 30 years into the future. In this future, both of Richie's parents are dead. Sean died during the Exodus, and Christina was killed during the superhero rebellion. Temporal displacement is rare but not unheard of, and Covenant's tests to find the Metaforce gene did not pick up his cosmic power, so Richie was placed into foster care.
 
He lives with his foster fathers, Bill and Ted Colburn , in their downtown condo and is a freshman at South Terminal City High School . Richie also works part time as a stable hand on Brokenhollow Island .
 
Richie was shocked to discover his older self had become a terrifying villain named Knightfall, who had achieved a mastery over his cosmic armor beyond Richie's wildest dreams. Knightfall was well known for his brutal and often lethal tactics when it came to battling the Covenant and their human supporters. Knightfall fought against many heroes of Terminal City, and his attack on Captain Courageous led to the heroes capture and subsequent execution.

Education

Richie is a freshman at South Terminal City High School and he is having a hard time fitting in. He has joined the wrestling team and hopes to make some friends while developing his combat skills.

Employment

Richie is a part time stable hand and trainer at Brokenhollow Stables on Brokenhollow Island. His favorite horse is a majestic, white destrier named bucephalus.

Accomplishments & Achievements

Paladin considers the work he has done with The Teen Squad to be his greatest accomplishment. He is especially proud of their victory over The Court of Fowls, a team of avian inspired super crooks. Other notable adventures include teaming up with Fireheart to battle a two headed giant, and helping Kid Courageous take down her arch nemesis, The Peregrine Drake.
He has high hopes for the Cognitive Dissidents, if only he can get them to embrace their heroic natures.

Mental Trauma

Richie has an unhealthy obsession with Knightfall and has a hard time thinking of him as another person. Richie blames himself for everything Knightfall has done, he is simultaneously racked with guilt and terrified that he could fall so far. He wants to believe that there is still goodness in Knightfall, that he can be saved. Richie can't handle the alternative, that his future self is irredeemable, and his own fall is inevitable.
Richie can only find peace in his persona as Paladin, it's the only way the world feels right. However, it's not lost on Richie that being Paladin is a violent occupation, and that perhaps fighting is the only thing that makes sense to him.

Intellectual Characteristics

Most people, including his current teammates, mistake Richie's kindness and honesty for stupidity, but he is actually quite clever. As Paladin, his tactical abilities often position him as a leader during combat, as he is confidant enough to make snap decisions and competent enough to make the right calls.

Morality & Philosophy

Richie's biological parents, Sean and Christina, raised him to be a compassionate and thoughtful person. Richie believes that there is good in everyone, and that by being a paragon others will follow his example. He was brought up believing that lying and stealing were always wrong, but the so called heroes of this dark future are constantly crossing those lines. While unwilling to compromise himself, Richie has learned to make exceptions for his friends, and others he's met whose intentions are ultimately good. Human life is sacred to Richie, and he would not associate with a murderer, in fact, he would most likely try to bring that person to justice.

person.sexuality

Richie is heterosexual by default, but the blurred gender lines and spectrum of sexual identities of the future are fascinating to him.

Known Languages

English, Spanish

Personality

Quotes & Catchphrases

He has been known to cry out, "Paladin Punch!", as he is throwing a full strength punch. No one has ever encouraged this behavior.

Social