Julio Richter
This page is about the Phase 2 incarnation of the character. For other uses, see Julio Richter (disambiguation).
| Julio Richter | |
|---|---|
 Portrayed by Michael Cimino | |
| Codename: | Rictor |
| Affiliations: | Generation X |
| Birthdate: | June 17, 2004 |
| Journal: | Good vibes only |
| Player: | Ben |
I felt the rain seeping through her dirt…the shifts in tectonic plates…the life force in her, from every ant to every growing seed.
A young curandero in training, who is about to get the shock of a lifetime.
Contents
Details
Character Journal: xp-rictor
Real Name: Julio Esteban Richter Canul
Codename: Rictor
Aliases: N/A
First Appearance: June 23, 2023
Date of Birth: June 17, 2004
Place of Birth: Yucatán, Mexico
Citizenship: Mexican
Relatives: Luis Alejandro Richter Garabello (father), Paloma Célia Canul Reyes (mother), Omar Gonzalo Canul Pérez (maternal grandfather), Gloria Diana Reyes Pech (maternal grandmother), lots of aunts, uncles, and cousins
Education: High school diploma. Completed 1 year of study at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City.
Relationship Status: Single
Occupation: Unemployed
Team Affiliation: Generation X
Biography
Childhood
Julio Esteban Richter Canul was born to an average middle-class family in the Mexican state of Yucatán. His father’s side is Mexican and German (hence the first surname), while his mother’s has some Mayan ancestry (hence the second surname). His mother’s family is rural and her parents are brujos and curanderos, shamanistic practitioners of traditional medicine. Célia had left her family’s home for university in the big city of Mérida. There she met fellow student Luis Richter, whom she soon married. She visited her parents late during her pregnancy, and unexpectedly went into labor a couple weeks before she was due. Her mother, a renowned local midwife, delivered the child, thus beginning a devoted relationship between grandson and grandparents.
Though Rictor grew up in Mérida, he often visited his maternal grandparents, who taught him the basics of their craft despite his parents’ protestations that curanderismo and brujería are backwards nonsense. He did not seem to display any magical aptitude himself until a family vacation to Mazunte, Oaxaca in 2018. He started to feel sick a couple days after arriving and had dreadful dreams of a vague impending doom. On day 5 of their vacation, a magnitude 7 earthquake hit the Sierra Madre del Sur mountains in the southwest of Oaxaca. Rictor felt it even though he was hundreds of miles away. Oddly, he recovered as soon the earthquake ended, barring another mild but quickly resolved bout of illness 3 days later when the small aftershock hit.
Upon his return home, Mérida began to experience frequent low-magnitude earthquakes, unusual because that region of Mexico does not lie on a fault line. In time, Rictor noticed these events happened around him, and they occurred when he was frustrated or upset. Many people might then conclude they are a mutant, but Rictor decided something else: he was magic.
He confided in his grandparents, who viewed this as an auspicious event. Perhaps their brujería had skipped a generation with his mother but found its way to him. To keep in contact with him and guide him from far away, they finally got a computer with Internet access. They Facetimed every day, praying and meditating together, and learning about Rictor’s burgeoning connection with the planet. It was terrifying and thrilling at the same time. These abilities were a blessing, a gift from the gods and the saints. But a gift must be used wisely and in concert with the planet. Blasphemy, Rictor’s grandparents warned, would turn the gift into a curse. Rictor took these lessons to heart. He prayed every night, thanking the powers that be for bestowing this gift to him.
Upon completing high school in 2022, he enrolled at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in Mexico City to study anthropology. Far from home and his grandparents, but as far as his parents were concerned, an unmissable educational opportunity.
Coming to America
In the spring and summer of 2023, Rictor joined his grandparents in protesting the construction of a train line through eastern Mexico. When civil disobedience failed, he urged his grandparents to try another tactic, namely magical terrorism. Empowered by twelve brujos using an ancient Mayan ritual, Rictor triggered earthquakes to destroy the construction zone. But, interrupted by security forces, he lost control and threatened geologic devastation. Thankfully, the timely arrival of X-Force (summoned by a vision of Marie-Ange Colbert) saved the brujos. It was left to Amanda Sefton to inform Rictor that his powers are mutant and not magic, and he accepted her offer to come to New York to learn how to control these powers.
He acclimated quickly, befriending some of the other new young residents like Match and Shatterstar.
Physical Characteristics
Build: Average height, lean, and muscular in a way that suggests near-daily gym excursions and a lot of plant-based protein in his diet. He is a twunk; too ripped to be a twink, but still smooth and baby-faced.
Eyes: The puppy-doggiest brown eyes you’ve ever seen.
Hair: Brown, which he wears long and only combs for fancy affairs.
Other Features: None.
Rictor dresses like any typical 19 year-old in jeans, t-shirts, and hoodies. Natural materials only, no synthetics. He prefers earthy colors like greens and browns, though he has been known to sport colorful floral prints when it’s a hair-combing event.
His most unusual fashion choice is that he often goes outside barefoot. Touching grass isn’t just an online euphemism. Direct contact with the Earth quite literally grounds him, linking him to the source of his powers. As a result, his feet are filthy.
Powers
Rictor has the mutant gift to manipulate the Earth and its energy. He is connected with the Earth on an intense, intimate, and primordial level. This primarily manifests as the ability to manipulate seismic energy, drawing power from Earth’s shifting tectonic plates to generate powerful vibrations. This energy can be projected outwards to shake or crumble objects, or create earthquakes and shockwaves. He lacks fine control, so this should be his top priority to ensure that regular use of his gift does not break the world.
This power seems to be related to plate tectonics: it is child’s play to be a force of destruction at fault lines, and grows more difficult the farther away he is from one. It is unknown how he would fare on another celestial body without geologic activity, or even on an alternate Earth. He could presumably still use his powers, but it would take time for him to acclimate with the new setting and establish a relationship with it.
His gift also provides him with a sort of geomantic clairvoyance. When in direct contact with the ground (bare hands or feet), he can sense minute vibrations up to several yards away. This essentially allows him to see the ground all around him and determine how many people are nearby and how quickly they are moving. With practice and familiarity, he could learn to identify people by their gaits and estimate how much weight they carry or how they are moving. He can only use this ability on grass, dirt, wood, sand, and stone, so it does not extend inside buildings or vehicles. His range is substantially restricted on artificial surfaces, like pavement and concrete, because while they are natural materials, they have been manipulated such that his connection with them is weaker.
While his gift primarily connects Rictor to the inorganic, he has some affinity for plant life, too. Using soil as essentially a middleman, he can assess the health of a plant, diagnose problems like malnutrition or infection, and determine optimal growing conditions. (For example, he could see that a more nitrogen-rich soil is needed, or that the soil is too wet or dry.) As such, he is a talented gardener.
It should be noted that although he is somewhat versed in brujería, Rictor’s abilities are entirely mutant and not magic. He cannot access mystical energy and cast spells, and he did not learn enough from his grandparents to do even the simplest feats they claimed to accomplish. His connection to the Earth makes him a useful conduit for Earth-related magics, though, and could assist actual magic-users in some rituals. He can also sense if magic is affecting the Earth, for example, a curse that withers a wheatfield, but that is more a result of his mutant connection with the planet.
Equipment
N/A
Trivia
Rictor speaks 3 languages to varying degrees of proficiency: Spanish, Yucatec Maya, and English.
External Links
Plots
2023
Meta
Player: Ben
E-mail: 
Player Icon Base: Michael Cimino
Meta Trivia
June 17 was chosen as Rictor’s birthday because the character’s first appearance in comics was X-Factor volume 1 issue 17, which was published in June 1987.
