Barbara Gordon

{{CharacterPage
 * image1=Babs01.jpg
 * image2=Babs02.jpg
 * caption=
 * fullname=Barbara Gordon
 * codename=Oracle
 * position=CEO of Clocktower Systems and Elite Information Broker
 * age=26
 * race=Human
 * role=Hero
 * type=DC FC
 * reg=Registered Codename


 * quote=

I know what being driven really means. And I know I want my life to matter.


 * overview=

Paralyzed in an altercation with the Joker, this former Batgirl, has ostensibly returned peacefully to civilian life. Of course, in reality, she's actually the elite information broker known Oracle. It's a secret identity she guards very, very closely. (So closely, in fact, I'd appreciate it if you'd clear any IC knowledge of it with me OOCly. Thanks.)


 * sheet=

Character Sheet

Abilities: Combat

Marksmanship: 5 Martial Arts: 5

Abilities: Power

Eidetic Memory Genius I.q.: 5

Abilities: Resources

Income: 6, Network: 9, Technology: 9, The Clocktower

Abilities: Skill

Computer Expert: 10, Investigation: 8, Languages, Stealth: 4

Advantages: Finances

Flaws: Enemies, Family, Obsessive, Parapelegia

Languages: Arabic, Cantonese, English, Esperanto, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Mandarin, and Russian

Abilities

Combat: Marksmanship (5)

Once she was confined to her wheelchair, Barbara didn't give up her ability to attack and defend herself. She continued her training, not only in martial arts, but also in marksmanship -- both with firearms and the boomerangs she'd used as Batgirl. Thus, even in her chair, she's one helluva shot.

Combat: Martial Arts (5)

Caveat: Had she the use of her legs, Barbara's martial arts ability might be better statted at 6 or 7. But it's a moot point. She hasn't the use of her legs, and doesn't expect to ever again.

Barbara -- particulalry before her injury -- is an expert martial artist. Indeed, part of her training has included instruction by a wheelchair-bound instructor, which has enabled her to continue her training despite her disability. That said, there's no denying that being a parapelegic has affected her ability to fight. Nevertheless, her training includes such disciplines as boxing, kung fu, judo, and eskrima -- much of which is still useful even in a wheelchair. What's more, in ensures that her body remains as strong as it can be, given the limits imposed by her injury.

Power: Eidetic Memory

Barbara simply doesn't forget anything she's learned. Not a damned thing. Anything she's seen, heard, or otherwised experienced remains crystalized in perfect detail in her mind. Consequently, she has amazing powers of recall and, thus, extrapolation. There's a reason she's called Oracle, after all. She can see patterns and likely outcomes simply by putting all the pieces together in her head.

Power: Genius I.q. (5)

Barbara was born with a naturally high intellect. She is one of the most intelligent people on the planet, which gives her a definite advantage in her elite field of operation. (Of course, it can also mean that she overthinks things. Sometimes, the simplest answer is the best... but it's not necessarily the first answer a complex mind grasps.)

Resources: Income (6)

Barbara isn't the millionaire Bruce Wayne is, but between her information brokering and the patents she has been able to register for some of her technological innovations, she has an income that is adequate to support her crime-fighting and research-and-development initiatives, as well as provide her decent care for her medical condition. She can't spend carelessly, however, and is careful about keeping her budget balanced -- especially since she is unwilling to sell information to organizations or individuals she deems as unethical or likely to use that information unjustly. (She's not against stealing information -- she does it all the time. She is, however, against using that information for evil or destructive purposes. She's still a crime-fighter and vigilante at heart.) Basically, she has enough money to do what she needs to do.

Resources: Network (9)

As an information broker, Oracle has her fingers in a lot of pies. She's gone to great lengths to cultivate contacts at all levels of society, all around the world. Though her true identity isn't known, it's not terribly hard for the good guys to find some way to contact her when they really need to. (That said, she screens her contacts carefully and doesn't give away much about herself. Indeed, she doesn't need to, since she keeps a healthy fund on hand to ensure she can buy the silence her work often requires.) Among her contacts are several high profile heroes and law enforcement officials, to whom she provides useful intelligence.

Resources: Technology (9)

Barbara has built herself one of the worlds most advanced and secure computer systems. It is powerful enough to allow her to take command of just about any satellite and networked system on the planet -- including hightly sensitive government agency technology -- all without tripping any alarms or leaving any trace. Further, providing she can get a link to them, somehow, she can also quickly hack just about any non-networked system, using remote uplink connection technology she can embed into USB drives or other suitably adapted plugin gadgets. It's superfast and reliably analyzes even large sets of data quicker than all but the most advanced systems available pre-market.

Additionally, she has access to all the crimelab equipment she used as Batgirl, as well as a remaining arsenal of various bat-gadets, a world-class library of popular and obscure material on just about any subject that might possibly be useful to her (most of which has been digitized), and holographic technology to make the USS Enterprise-D jealous.

Resources: The Clocktower

Barbara has procured an old condo building that she has converted into a combination living space and foresensics crime lab -- effectively the headquarters for all of her operations as Oracle. Although it appears dilapidated and rundown (hence giving her a good break on the price), it is possessed of advanced cyber and physical security systems and thus can adequately serve as her base of operations in much the same way the Bat Cave serves Batman. The living space is separated from the operations center a way that it is not at all obvious to anyone but the most perceptive of individuals there might be access to additional space. In case of irreparable physical breech, the building is wired with explosives that enable it to implode in on itself, destroying both its structure and any and all equipment and records contained within.

Skill: Computer Expert (10)

Barbara is second-to-none when it comes to using and hacking computer systems. She knows all the tricks and can circumvent even the most advanced computer security systems. Of course, it helps she's got that photographic memory to fall back on, of course. But skill is skill, no matter how you slice it.

Skill: Investigation (8)

Trained by the World's Greatest Detective himself, Barbara learned criminal investigation at the feet of a master. More than that, she's a trained librarian -- a researcher's best profession. There's not much she misses when she puts all her powers of attention and concentration to deciphering a challenge.

Skill: Languages

Fluency: Aside from English, she is most fluent in French, German, and Russian, with decreasing fluency in Esperanto, Greek, Italian, and Latin. Her least fluent languages are Arabic and the Asian dialects.

As a historian, scholar, and -- more importantly -- info broker, Barbara has often had to learn to translate text from other languages. Consequently, she can read and write in several languages fluently. Most of them, she can also speak, though she won't pass as a native.

Skill: Stealth (4)

Limits: Obviously, Barbara isn't about to go sneaking about the shadows in a wheelchair. That's just silly. But she still knows how to misdirect attention and can remain very, very still and thus beneath notice if she needs to. Most of the time, anyway. That wheelchair is a pretty big liabilty... though it can masquerade as a piece of furniture in the dark better than most anything else. Too, there's the baldfaced reality that people tend to ignore people with disabilities and completely dismiss them as threats, a fact that can come in very, very handy.

Once upon a time, Barbara Gordon was the cowled vigilante known as Batgirl. As such, she had quite a bit of training in stealth techniques and other such clandestine skills. Since her injury, of course, most of that training is hampered by her wheelchair, but that doesn't mean she doesn't retain the knowledge. Indeed, there are still many techniques she can use from the confines of her chair... especially if she keeps her wheels well-oiled and maintained.

Advantages

Advantage: Finances

Barbara has a series of smart investments, technological patents, and published works that provide her with passive streams of income in addition to what money she brings in as an info broker. This allows her to maintain the Clocktower and her netowork without struggling to make ends meet.

Flaws

Flaw: Enemies

As Batgirl, Barbara made more than her fair share of enemies. And God knows she holds a grudge against more than a few of them. (Particularly, perhaps, the Joker -- though she's not quite suicidal enough to want to face him head on again, anytime soon.) As Oracle, she's garnered a whole other class of enemies. Between the two sets of them, it's imperative she keeps both her previous and her current secret identity just that -- very, very secret. Otherwise, she's far too easy a target for elimination.

Flaw: Family

As the adopted daughter of Jim Gordon, Barbara has always been in a certain amount of danger from his enemies (never mind her own), who might go seeking a little bit of vengeance or leverage. Likewise, he can be put in a certain amount of danger from her own enemies in the same way. Whatever their personal differences, Barbara is not inclined to let her conflicts or crime-fighting activities impact him any more than is absolutely unavoidable. Sometimes, though, what's unavoidable is far more than she'd like.

Flaw: Obsessive

The thing about having a photographic memory and being in the business she's in is that Barbara often can't leave well enough alone. She hates unresolved mysteries and will keep knocking her head against a problem until she solves it. Many times, this is a good thing. But, frequently enough, it's a bad thing. She has been known to investigate things her friends and family (never mind her enemies) would rather she left alone, thus creating difficulties for her socially. Further, she often feels a responsibility to share what she's learned, if she feels it's too important to bury. This can lead to both interpersonal and ethical conflicts when the person concerned reacts badly to her discovery.

Flaw: Parapelegia

Barbara suffered a severe injury at the hands of the Joker, losing the use of her legs as a result. This has confined her to a wheelchair and limited her mobility. Most of the world isn't built to accommodate people with disabilities, which can be a real frustration. Her injury also prevents her from taking direct action against most of the criminals she wishes to stop. Consequently, she must rely on a cadre of contacts within the superhero and law enforcement communities to see justice done.


 * associations=

{{Association }}
 * Name=Character Name
 * Link=Name of Character Wiki
 * Image=NoPic.jpg
 * Text=Description of Character Association


 * history=

Barbara Gordon is the daughter of Roger and Thelma Gordon, who were killed in a drunk driving accident when she was 13. At that point, she moved from her native Ohio to join her uncle Jim Gordon and his wife in Gotham. She grew up, thus, in Batman's backyard, and was exposed very early to the danger inherent in that environment. Thus, she convinced her uncle to enroll her in martial arts and used the discipline she learned there to inform the rest of her life. She was an excellent student, with an unbelievable ability to remember anything she read -- whether it was on a chalkboard, on paper, or on a computer screen. More than that, she could put the pieces together quickly and concisely, allowing her to predict outcomes with remarkable accuracy. She excelled in research-based subjects, from science to history and beyond, and was a natural when dealing with technology -- all of which served her well when she donned her own cape and cowl to become Batgirl.

Her tenure as Batgirl was exciting, to be sure, and it put her in contact with her hero, Batman -- who became an erstwhile mentor and teacher. It didn't last forever, however. She entered semi-retirement to obtain a doctorate in library sciences, as well as an undergrad degree in history and a graduate degree in the physical sciences. Just as she was wrapping up her studies and considering her options going forward, she was shot by the Joker and left for dead. As luck would have it, however, she didn't die. Instead, she recovered -- though she lost the use of her legs in the process.

She sunk into a period of depression, at that point, until it occurred to her that she could still carry on her fight -- albeit in a different fashion that before. One night in a dream, she drempt of the Oracle of Delphi... who had her own face. Upon her awaking, Oracle was born.

Since then, she has dedicated her life and resources to acquiring and disseminating all the information she can -- to those that can use it best.

= Major Story Arcs =

The logs on this page are listed in chronological order (as opposed to posting order), and represent only the major storylines (i.e. tinyplots) Barbara has participated in. A full listing of the her logs may, of course, be found on the Logs tab.

The Kidnapping of Shelby Knox

 * May 10, 2013 — Afternoon: &ldquo;Wreck Center&rdquo; — Barbara, along with a handful of other heroic personalities in disguise, happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time to witness the brazen, broad-daylight kidnapping of one Shelby Knox from the Wayne Foundation Rec Center.
 * May 10, 2013 — Night: &ldquo;Snatch and Grab&rdquo; — Oracle directs The Question and Huntress to a small electronics developer out in Bludhaven, in an effort to isolate the advanced flashbang technology used by the thugs that grabbed Shelby Knox from the Wayne Foundation Rec Center earlier in the day.
 * May 12, 2013 — Afternoon: &ldquo;Researching, The Old-Fashioned Way&rdquo; — Barbara heads out to the university library to look up some information on Knox Enterprises, where she encounters the blue mutant known as Kurt Wagner, who happens to be researching the same company.
 * May 12, 2013 — Night: &ldquo;Eye in the Sky&rdquo; — Oracle recruits the mercenary known as Domino to help her locate Shelby Knox, by first bailing the mutant out of a bit of a jam.
 * May 13, 2013 — Afternoon: &ldquo;Information Channel (Part I)&rdquo; — Oracle recruits the Young Ally known as Channel to infiltrate a youth drop-in center in Brooklyn.
 * May 17, 2013 — Afternoon: &ldquo;Rec Center Upgrades&rdquo; — Barbara Gordon talks her way into the Wayne Foundation Rec Center to install a couple of upgrades (courtesy of Oracle), where she bumps into Jynn. (Note: This log was actually played on May 28, 2013.)
 * May 22, 2013 — Night: &ldquo;Oracles and Dreams&rdquo; — The Sandman contacts Oracle, who points him in the direction of the gang that kidnapped Shelby.
 * May 28, 2013 — Evening: &ldquo;First Dates&rdquo; — Barbara and Tony Stark share dinner at a bistro in Gotham. She shares her concerns about the DynamTech zero-point technology... and he offers to help her walk again. (Meanwhile, Barry Allen tries to impress Helena Bertinelli with amazing wait service.)
 * June 30, 2013 — Night: &ldquo;Sunday Night Fight Night&rdqup; — Oracle sends Huntress in to infiltrate the District Kings' fight club. What should be a simple infiltration op is anything but.

}}