Jackson Blake

Character Overview
Jackson Blake is the true identity of the masked vigilante, 'The Arbiter', who hunts down and kills those who he deems criminals within the city of Gracewood Wilde. After an encounter with criminals which would result in the death of his best friend, Jackson unknowingly gained supernatural abilities which would soon manifest themselves and give him the ability known as 'Soulsteal', which is the power to drain the life-force from other living beings simply by touching them and willing it to be. Upon understanding the power he had received, Jackson vowed to seek revenge on the vile criminal underground which corrupted his city. Since 2015 Jackson has resided in a small, secluded wooden cabin on the banks of Lake Kirikage where he was able to set up a base of operations from which he could carry out his mission(s). After encounters with the mythical white wolf, Arashi, Jackson would begin to investigate the source of his abilities and after extensive research, pinpoint the source to an ancient Japanese Shrine located in the city. It is at this shrine that he would meet Taylor Chase, a young woman (and another superhuman) who had been working to restore the Shrine, and the two would work together to discover its many secrets, and eventually the source of their abilities. He was also the antihero mentor to Akira Kuruguri (later taking the guise of 'Echo') before the two would become enemies during the Battle of the Gate. Jackson would later renounce the Arbiter and suppress his destructive abilities in order to cooperate and assist Chris Melrandas in the ways of justice.

Growing up in Gracewood Wilde
Gregory Matthew Samson was born in the outskirts of Gracewood Wilde, Montana on the 4th of December 1982. He was raised by parents Robert and Melissa Samson, and his very active grandfather, Richard Samson. As a young boy, Gregory was not given much attention from his hardworking-middle class parents, so found himself spending most of his time with his grandfather. Richard Samson came from a long line of hereditary metalsmiths, and although his son did chose not to continue the family legacy, he was determined to put his grandson's creative and ingenuitive mind down that road. As Samson grew, his forging abilities (closely improved and perfected by his grandfather) grew with him, and he became an exemplary metalsmith. Robert Samson saw the forging business as a waste of his son's time, but despite this Samson continued to work with his grandfather in his shop on weekends (or whenever he could spare the time after school). During his time in high school, Greg also became good friends with Charlie Miyata. Charlie was a neglected child, although not in the same way as Greg. Charlie's mother had left him with his father, who had become a violent drunk (and worsening) since his wife's departure. Charlie would often find himself thrown out of the house, and Greg's family would take him in whenever Greg could convince them. Eventually the two became like brothers, (although getting along a lot better than brothers normally do) going everywhere and doing everything together. Unfortunately, Richard Samson died in 1997, leaving quite a dent in Gregory's life. Gregory, who had been training under his grandfather for over 3 years asked his father if he would loan him the money to continue running his grandfather's shop, but his father refused. Having no insurances of his skill to provide to a bank for a loan, Gregory could not keep the shop from being taken by the bank, and eventually sold. Greg's future career had now begun to fall apart, for he would soon be graduating high school and have no guaranteed job to support him. Talking to his parents about the issue, his father suggested working with him as a bagger in his grocery store. Greg declined his father's offer, and continued looking for a job. Before long Melissa and Robert began to experience issues with their relationship, which would soon become a divorce. With life at home for both Charlie and Greg becoming rather nightmarish, and wanting to do something helpful and useful with their lives, Gregory (with some convincing from Charlie, who was enthusiastic to join) would sign up to join the United States Army. The two passed all physical examinations, and were excited to begin their time serving the county. Little did they know of the horrific war which would soon ensue...

The Iraq War
Over the course of 4 years, Greg and Charlie completed their multiple training requirements and became efficiently trained soldiers. Being assigned to the same garrison, the two men stayed together as much as they could through their journey. Everything changed on the 9th of September, 2001, when the twin towers were destroyed by the terrorist group Al-Qaeda. The country was on high alert, terrified and threatened by the possibility of future terrorist attacks. Relations between Iraq and the U.N. had been tense for many years, but this attack was the tipping point for the United States... and through a variety of complex means and diplomatic issues, would result in a death sentence for thousands of U.S. soldiers. The conflict was long and brutal, yet Charlie and Greg had each other's back's through thick and thin. Greg displayed excellence in multiple fields, including demonstrating quick thinking strategy during a siege of Baghdad's International Airport. Private Samson would slowly become Sergeant Samson, and Charlie was not far behind (a corporal). After 8 years of various stages of war, The U.S. pulled out all of their soldier's from Iraq in 2011, and the two men decided it was most definitely time to head home.

Pain Yields Power
With their parents all separated and, frankly, undesirable, Greg and Charlie decided they would room together in a rented apartment. Gracewood Wilde was not the same town it was when they were in school, for criminal activity had increased detrimentally. Although the military would support them for some time, Greg and Charlie both required jobs, and the sooner they got them the better. Greg ended up working at an old industrial factory which canned products... Perhaps not the most interesting of jobs, but it kept money coming in. Charlie would begin working as an employee at a warehouse in the industrial district. One night in late 2015, upon returning to his apartment, Greg found that two criminals had come to rob them and had murdered Charlie. Greg was able to fend off the attackers and kill them both, but was nearly shot and stabbed multiple times. Greg, losing his best friend, fell into a state or drunken depression. Greg would not go to work, and would not leave his apartment except to buy more alcohol and further fuel his fall from grace. during a walk back home from a spirits store, Greg saw that a young woman was being assaulted by a man he called the 'grizzled hobo', someone he often passed when cutting through alleys to return home. Greg tried to intervene but was too intoxicated to be of any use, and was easily pushed to the ground by the assailant. Angered by what had just been done to him, Greg pulled himself up and lunged at the assailant, who began to scream. It was then that the woman began screaming as well, and quickly ran away. Confused Greg looked back down at the suddenly very still body of the assailant, only to realize that what remained in his arms was a crumbling skeleton which quickly turned to ash. Through further practice on other, smaller living beings such as insects, Jackson realized that he had been given the power to take life with minimal effort. Eventually, Greg, grieving, infuriated, and seeking revenge, would decide to put his abilities to use cleaning up the streets of the kinds of people who had murdered his best friend. This would prove a far more difficult task than he imagined.

Becoming the Arbiter
Greg, realizing that the actions he wished to carry out would be deemed illegal and unethical, decided that it was time for Greg Samson to go dark. Permanently. Using technology he accessed during his time in the military, Greg would proceed to falsify his identity and steal a recently deceased body from a morgue. He then covered the body in samples of his DNA, and removed a large amount of teeth from the body's mouth. It was then that Greg placed the body in his car, covered the inside with some of his favorite whiskey (leaving the bottle inside, much to his dismay) and placed the body's foot on the gas pedal. Greg Samson was no more, and Jackson Blake took his place. Jackson, after his many years in service to the army, was not only tired of firing guns, but also disgraced by them. The amount of men he crudely gunned down during the War was not something he wanted to be reminded of... and criminals deserve a far more painful death. Charlie was murdered by a bladed weapon, a pocket knife, and so what better weapon to carry out his revenge than the next best thing: A sword. Jackson had forged some swords for himself in his younger years, and figured it was time he perfected his design. Jackson forged a thin, katana-like blade with broadsword elements built into the hilt for a more sturdy grip. He also created an armor chest plate and terrifying silver skeleton mask to inspire fear in his enemies. Jackson also needed a new place of residence, and settled in a small wooden cabin which he restored from what was essentially a ruin, on the banks of Lake Kirigage. Here he would set up his base of operations, from which he would monitor criminal activity through a computer which had been used by an old friend of his from the FBI which he used to monitor police chatter and security cameras around the city. It was through these efforts that the Arbiter was born (for chronological reading see The Arbiter).

The White Wolf
Not long after developing his powers (and using them), Jackson began to notice a White Wolf would appear in random situations, times, and places, simply to watch him. Naturally, Jackson found this intriguing, so he (at one point) tried to approach the Wolf, only for it to leap into the darkness from whence it came. Upon further research Jackson found that sightings of this White Wolf were quite common, and dated back to some of the earliest records of the city's history. It would not be long before Jackson realized that the White Wolf had only begun appearing to him after he had received his abilities. Jackson, after having his abilities for over a year, decided that perhaps it was time he figured out their origin. Delving deep into the history of the town, he found a slew of bizarre occurrences and supernatural incidents had taken place within Gracewood, the number of these incidents increasing greatly since 2011 and only becoming more common each day. One story told of a truck transporting fuel in 2009 being lifted into the air and then smashed down onto the highway whist on fire, another spoke of a young woman who became a famous psychic in the town due to her ability to literally tell what others are thinking as they think it. Jackson found a piece of art related to the White Wolf which depicted him near a shrine that Jackson knew was in the city, so he travelled there, but at the time found no further connections to his powers. He soon became preoccupied with Arbiter related work, and abandoned the search.

Officer Samson
His work as the Arbiter led Jackson into a case which concerned the abduction of Mayor Thomas Kruger's niece, Ella Davies. After reading that she was kidnapped near the Shrine where the White Wolf was depicted, his curiosity was re-ignited (after a fair few solid months of forgetting the topic). Jackson decided that the Mayor's niece could be connected to the source of the supernatural happenings in Gracewood Wilde, and made it his goal to find Ella's kidnapped and learn whatever he could. Searching the cities arrest records for 'Shrine' brought only record of arrest, that being of Marcel Wilson, who had been arrested for the attempted selling of narcotics. In Jackson's mind, it was not a coincidence that Marcel, a criminal, would be conveniently at the Shrine a few days before the Mayor's niece was kidnapped. he believed the two crimes were related. Realizing that in order to get the information he required he would have to have access to Marcel, Jackson (as the Arbiter) stole a police uniform from the Gracewood Wilde Police Department and created a fake identification registered under his old name 'Gregory Samson', just to create confusion if anyone caught wind of his activities. Jackson understood that there was more ways than one to get the information he needed, and that perhaps interviewing the friend of Ella's who was at the Shrine with her on the night of the kidnapping (Sarah Walker) would yield important information. Under the guise of Officer Samson, Jackson went to Sarah's school and interviewed her, asking about the incident, and coming to the understanding that she had been knocked unconscious before she could see Ella's abductor. Later that night, Jackson went to the Police Department and told Marcel that he was being released. Upon escorting Marcel outside however, Jackson forcefully interrogated him about the Wolf and the kidnapping (both of which Marcel knew nothing about). It was then that Detective Chris Melrandas and Tye Briggs arrived at the scene, threatening to shoot Jackson if he did not release Marcel. Jackson, coming to the conclusion that Marcel truly knew nothing used him as a human shield/guarantee before throwing him at the two police and escaping through as alley. When he arrived back at his home, Jackson burned the stolen uniform and ID, and chose to further investigate the Shrine on his own time.