Clyde Irwin

For Clyde's Villainy & Virtue counterpart, see here

Clyde Irwin or Stalwart Sentinel is a retired superhero in Iniquity and Integrity, created and portrayed by CynicalJoker.

After a long and successful career, Clyde must face the consequences of his actions and for the first time in many years, live a life out of active crime fighting.

Becoming the Sentinel
Born in Heartania to a Canadian family, Clyde Irwin found himself quite appreciative of the life he had. He wasn't privileged, but he had access to respectable education and housing; clearly reaping the rewards of modern society. When his powers first developed as a child, he was eager to explore every part of the city he loved. It was then that he found the poorer districts, and felt what he would later realise as disgust at the inequality.

He decided he would become a politician, to help those he could. He would often teleport to the other districts of Heartania, to remind himself what he was working towards. He would occasionally see petty crimes take place, but not in an overwhelmingly large number. But one night, he was forced into action.

A passionate fourteen year-old, Clyde could not sit by and watch a mugging of a mother, father and their child against a criminal who revealed himself to be armed. Using his teleportation ability, he approached the criminal and began to struggle with him. The family had a chance to escape, but there was no way the young teen could beat the hardened criminal. However, he could buy the father enough time to contact the police, and even more for them to arrive. Once the mugger was properly restrained by the officers, they went to question the boy, only to find him disappeared into thin air.

Clyde spent the rest of his teen years training in secret, he switched his career alignments so often he hadn't the time to work on something to the standard he would have liked. Instead, he adopted a series of part-time jobs to sustain himself as he began a much more profound transformation. He gathered the necessary equipment, and became the Sentinel. He watched over the disadvantaged neighborhoods of Heartania, protecting them from crime's clutches. The people welcomed him, reforming his name to the Stalwart Sentinel.

Consequences
The Sentinel eventually became something of a household name. He was one of the first superheroes of fame, and had allied himself with the other crime fighters of his day. It was during the peak of his career that the Sentinel was faced with a difficult challenge.

An unnamed fire-wielding villain had emerged, holding an entire sub-district hostage in a harrowing ring of fire. The task of saving the civilians fell to the Stalwart Sentinel; a task he readily accepted. He fought the villain bravely, eventually coming to a standstill where the villain gave the Sentinel a choice: apprehend him or save the people. The Sentinel didn't think twice to save the people. The criminal would fall... eventually.

Despite letting the fire-wielder run free, the Sentinel continued his era of fame. As the new heroes emerged, and he became older, the limelight shifted slightly. It was then that the same villain re-emerged, clearly as aged as the Sentinel. They fought once more, this time much more intensely. The criminal was apprehended, and later tried; but at the cost of the Sentinel's physique. He sustained a back injury that would plague him for the rest of his days. As a result, he gave up the crime-fighting life and adopted a more administerial position for just about a decade.

When the P.A.L.A.D.I.N. contingency was found and adopted, Clyde simply could not agree to it. He openly opposed the bots and their AI network for a time, before realising that everyone had moved on from the Stalwart Sentinel and on to this new form of crime-fighting. He went into isolation, prepared to live the rest of his days in bitter fury.

Appearance
The imposing hero that once stood at 5'11 now does so with less intimidation at 5'9. He has a slight hunch, though one not so uncommon among the older communities of Heartania. However, with somewhat bushy grey eyebrows and a short, slightly unkempt grey beard, Clyde looks every inch the intimidating older-individual. His head is bald; his eyes a much paler blue than before. His wrinkled face tell the tale of an individual who used to be in peak condition, as a result of his heavy lifestyle.

Clyde has hung up his cape in favour of a variety of tweed jackets and dress shirts (which he originally despised the idea of, although he has quite come round to it now). He wears a black leather strapped watch with a gold face - a treasured gift from the chief of police on the day the Sentinel retired. To aid his walking, Clyde begrudgingly has adapted his old quarterstaff into a cane. Although, purely for self-defence, he made sure the cane can extend into the quarterstaff upon the touch of a button.

Personality
Clyde often finds himself disgruntled with practically anything he can. Most often than not, he is actually quite optimistic about affairs, but he reserves this feeling deep down for an anger he knows makes him feel strong again. He often forgets his age, believing himself to still be the Stalwart Sentinel deep down. Despite his displays of fiery anger, when Clyde is truly concerned his is efficient, and almost cold with dealing with it. Isolating himself for so long has severed his any sense of empathy he once had, if only temporarily.