Tribal

Jorge Allende Hurtado

Jorge Hurtado grew up on the streets of Emerald City, moving around considerably in his youth as his parents slid from one excuse for a job to another. Later when he had to make his own way—a difficult proposition for a high-school dropout—he never had a permanent address for long and spent more than a few nights “couch-surfing” from one friend’s house to another. During this time, he fell in with a street gang and began dealing drugs until he was busted and put into juvie lockup. While doing his time, Jorge grew enamored with the idea of being a rapper. Unfortunately, desire doesn’t substitute for talent, and he later found himself wandering from one label to another desperately trying to find anyone that would sign him. He was on the verge of giving up altogether and knocking over a convenience store when he was caught in the Silver Storm.
Suddenly in possession of superhuman abilities, Hurtado put them to use in a rash of street crimes targeting the people and businesses in his neighborhood he felt had disrespected him in the past. He probably would have continued working as a petty thief if he hadn’t encountered Faster Pussycat as she was slumming in a bar he frequented. Hurtado became the object of one of her many brief infatuations. She gave him his new name, suggested he get his now-trademark tattoos, and gave him pointers on how to target higher profile marks. After a few short weeks, she grew bored and left—though she still calls him in when she’s in need of his particular talents for a job. As Tribal, Jorge is determined to leave his mark on the world as he never could before, slowly working his way up from thug to super-powered thug who gets respect.

Physical Description

Special abilities

Tribal is in synch with the animal world on a fundamental level. He can not only communicate with animals, but also has a heightened awareness of his surroundings, animalistic strength and stamina, and the power to copy the abilities of any animal: Fast as a cheetah, strong as an elephant, quick as a monkey. When he mimics an animal’s powers, a ghostly image of the animal briefly surrounds him, which is an obvious sign to his opponents as to what powers he has at any given moment.
It remains a mystery why this particular power manifested in Hurtado as he is very much a child of the city, so much so that he was originally limiting himself to only the animals that lived in the urban environments with which he was familiar. This repertoire expanded when he met Faster Pussycat and she bought him numerous videos and books on animals, which he’s absorbed with unaccustomed ease.

Mental characteristics

Intellectual Characteristics

Tribal is brash and flashy, making up for his lack of experience with bravado. He enjoys his powers and has quite an ego about them. He carries the same attitude and ostentatious behavior as Tribal as he did in his abortive music career. Tribal has the dangerous tendency to confuse machismo with actual ability.

Social

Contacts & Relations

Tribal has only been in the supercriminal business a short while, and as such has only amassed a small number of allies, mostly other anti-social types empowered by the Silver Storm, such as Mindfire and Anvil. He considers Faster Pussycat an ally, but she only reciprocates when it’s convenient for her—which he interprets as her need for his manly assistance—and she views as exploiting expendable muscle.
Tribal has yet to make enough of a name for himself (or prove himself enough of a threat) to have many enemies. His crimes thus far have earned him the attention of the ECPD, and AEGIS is amassing a file on him (as they do every supercriminal).