Edward Allman (RBU)

Edward Allman is the dictator of the Tanari Confederation.

Personality
Allman is extremely ambitious, believing himself to be superior to most others and destined for greatness. He is also a fervent nationalist, and he feels strongly that the Tanari Confederation should dominate the galaxy, to the point of being near-obsessed with the idea of conquest. These twin motives; nationalism and self-advancement are Allman's driving force.

He is determined to achieve power, but realised that extreme nationalism and power hunger don't endear you to others. He preferred to hide his real thoughts from others, coming across as an introvert. As a result, he finds actually being in power incredibly liberating, now that he no longer has to worry about other people's opinions of him.

Early life and military career
Edward Allman was born in 58 BR. His father served in the Tanari army and reached the rank of lieutenant colonel, while his mother was a minor political activist for the right-wing Tanari Unionist Party. This shaped his views, and led him to follow in his father's footsteps and go into the military.

Allman would not see real action until the Vrai Wars. When the Vrai invaded the Tanari Confederation, Edward was picked for a secret experimental gene therapy programme intended to create superpowered individuals. It succeeded beyond the wildest dreams of the scientists involved, granting Edward several special powers. With his new powers, Allman quickly shot to prominence, and was decorated numerous times for his bravery.

After the Vrai wars ended, Allman stayed in the army, participating in numerous interventions outside the Confederation's borders and becoming very cosy with certain radical conservative politicians, with whom he shared downright imperialist views. He rose to the position of Chief of Staff, and finally retired from the army in 7 AD.

Going into politics
At the same time, Tanari politics became unstable with the rise of the 'Redeemers', a far-right nationalist movement. Many within the Unionist Party saw the Redeemers as a threat to their party, and some hardliners began to entertain the idea of drafting Allman to run for President of the Tanari Confederation on the Unionist ticket to cannibalise the movement.

Allman agreed to run for the Unionist nomination, but met strong resistance from moderates, led by David Robert Jones, the Unionist floor leader in the Senate, who saw Allman as a dangerous extremist with dictatorial tendencies. While Allman became the frontrunner, he couldn't win the support of a majority of the delegates to the party convention which was supposed to choose the candidate, and Jones' moderates won out, barely clinching the nomination. In the end, the election was won by Joseph L. Olson, the Progressive incumbent president.

Allman was furious at being denied his chance, and secretly began to plot a coup d'etat with officers loyal to him. He also took the unusual step of recruiting "outside help", by summoning and subjugating the old wizard-king Veras and persuading the assassin Yenot to join him.

The coup was successful, and Allman finally officially became President after a rigged election in which he ran completely unopposed (all political parties having been banned). He had the President, the cabinet, and those members of parliament who hadn't made it out of the Confederation) imprisoned or executed, and began the process of preparing the empire for total war.

Powers

 * Darkness: Edward is capable of manipulating shadow energy, and fostering dark emotions like fear and anger in others.


 * Repulsion: Edward can repel people or objects away from himself. He can also use this power to jump great distances.


 * Regeneration: Edward can heal from most non-lethal injuries.


 * Mental Resistance: Edward is capable of resisting most telepathic intrusions, and can even block some mental attacks.

Trivia

 * While Allman was originally intended to be the Reborn Universe's version of Blackout, it was generally felt that he had developed in a way that did not fit the Blackout archetype very well. When the Reborn Universe was revived with BZPB: Resurgence, DRJ chose to officially retcon this by making RBU Blackout a separate character who had secretly manipulated Allman during the events of Reborn.