Public Profile for 'Salamander'
From Novapedia, your nova encyclopedia

Name: Juri McClendon.
Occupation: Founder/Owner of "Burnin' Nation" Clothing, Nova Activist and Founder of the NQA (No Quantum Accident) Initiative.
Legal Status: American citizen with no criminal record.
Location: Manhattan, NY, US
Identity: Public
Nova Name: Salamander
Place of Birth: Iwakuni, Honshu Island, Japan
Age: 24
Eruption: Self-Erupted.

Height: 1.55 meters
Weight: 45.8 kilograms
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Black
Distinguishing Marks: none known

Approximate Power Level: Salamander has demonstrated several abilities on a par with field operatives of Team Tomorrow. Estimates place her in the middle 30% of known novas.
Known Quantum Powers: Ability to completely transform her body into fire. Can create and manipulate flame from raw quantum. Limited flight capabilities. IQ believed to be above human norms. (citation needed)

Abilities/Special Skills: Bachelor of Science in Psychology: University of Alabama Huntsville, 2001. Communication Masters: University of Washington Seattle, 2002.

Weapons Used: None. No known incident of Salamander ever engaging in any combat or act of violence.

Appearance and Personality: Salamander is of American-Japanese descent, the daughter of a former U.S Marine and a Japanese native. Most nova fan-sites (citation needed) list her among the most attractive female novas who are believed have no quantum-enhanced appearance or allure.

Publicly, she is known to be friendly to fans and occasionally venomous to detractors. She has a very large following in Japan, where Burnin' Nation clothing sells very well. She is also popular among novaphiles in the United States and Europe in the 12-35 year old demographic, though this has been waning in recent years.

The Church of Michael Arcangel and other anti-nova groups have frequently denounced and attempted to discredit her.
(citation needed)

No Quantum Accident Initiative
(See Main Article:NQA Initiative)

The No Quantum Accident Initiative is transhuman movement founded by self-erupted nova activist Juri 'Salamander' McClendon in 2007. The purpose of this organization is to encourage study into the science of eruption, specifically the trigger mechanism, so latent novas are able to not only realize their potential but also do so under deliberate circumstances. Hence, novas would no longer be, in McClendon's words, "quantum accidents."

"Now that the Triton Foundation and Georgia Institute of Technology have given us conclusive scientific proof that the potential to become homo sapiens novus lies not within mystical radiation falling from the sky but instead within our own genetic material, it is imperative that we devote time and materials towards understanding the mechanism by which eruption occurs. Not only studying how it happens, but also informing those with the genetic potential to erupt that they possess it. The method used by G.I.T. researchers needs to made available to the public, and the NQA Initiative will work tirelessly to make this happen. This should be offered at every Rashoud Facility in the world, if Project Utopia and the AEON Society is truly interested in the well-being of homo sapiens novus. The NQA Initiative itself will offer to perform the testing, if Triton and the G.I.T. would share the procedure with us.It is the right, I might dare even say, the destiny, of all individuals to have the opportunity to seize and nature the gifts that nature has blessed us with. Failing to offer latency testing so that the thousands of unerupted novas that exist in the world, latent and possibly ignorant of the potential that resides within them, can become aware of that potential is unforgivable. Unforgivable. I can think of no greater crime against nature than to be blessed with such an awesome gift resting inside you, and having it purposefully withheld."

-excerpt from the NQA Initiative founding speech made by Juri "Salamander" McClendon. NYC, NY, November 29th, 2007.

Burnin' Nation Clothing
(See Main Article:Burnin' Nation)

Burnin' Nation is a clothing line developed by Juri McClendon. It produced its first merchandise in September of 2003. It refers to her fan following, collectively known as the Burnin' Nation, as it refers to McClendon's quantum control of fire. The expression Quantum Accident first gained notoriety through merchandise produced by Burnin' Nation, specifically the words Quantum Accident crossed out by a No Symbol.

It first originated as a series of t-shirts and patches, but has developed into a full line of apparel aimed at young adults and adolescents.

This nova biography is a stub. You can help Novapedia by expanding it.


Image by Soma
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I'd Rather be a Quantum Accident
By William Miller, originally published in ROLLING STONE, Dec 2007.

Ever since Randall Portman lit up the streets of New York in a literal blaze of glory, nearly every soul on the planet has wished to follow in his footsteps and erupt into a nova. But how does one actually accomplish this feat? Although evidence is emerging that one must be genetically predisposed to become a nova, this is a very recent discovery and ignorance of this fact did not stop (and I hazard, will not stop) many people from making the effort to force an eruption.

Even today, eruption is a poorly understood process and esteemed researchers Mazarin and Rashoud, discoverers of the M-R Node, cannot fully explain why some people will erupt and others will not. You're far more likely to die in an automobile accident than you are to develop elastic skin, even if you possess the right genetic make-up. Which is another way of saying that being genetically capable of erupting doesn't mean you will erupt, even if the conditions would have enabled someone else to do so.

You'd think this would be a fairly large deterrent for most people, and perhaps in light of this discovery the number of people who seriously injure or kill themselves attempting to erupt will drop. Before all this came to light, most people held the common hope that anyone could erupt. With that hope, many people tried.

And many died.

We may never know who the first self-erupted nova was. One of the earliest confirmed self-eruptions was in April of 2001, when there was around a mere two-thousand documented novas in the world, and she is the most notorious of those first impossibly lucky lunatics who somehow erupted instead of dying. The numbers bear a little more study. Two-thousand novas. Two-thousand in a population of just over six billion, or approximately a one nova for every three million baselines.

What kind of arrogance imbues someone who believes they can join such elite company? What kind of determination must one possess to put yourself in a sufficiently dangerous situation that erupting would even be possible, especially with how poorly understood eruption was back then compared to how it is now? Myself, I simply can't imagine endangering my well-being for such a low-percentage gamble, as much as I'd love to be a nova.

I'm referring, of course, to Juri McClendon, the self-erupted nova better known by the handle of Salamander. Soon after her eruption, McClendon coined the term "Quantum Accident" to refer to novas that erupt in more traditional, random-event circumstances. McClendon was seventeen on April 20th, 2001 when she gathered her friends atop Monte Sano in Huntsville, Alabama. Six eyewitnesses observed her dousing herself in gasoline, igniting it, and throwing herself off an incline. Halfway down the mountain as she fell, the pain of her immolation was enough to force the eruption and her transformation into a being made entirely of fire. She survived the fall to the bottom, likely by developing the rudimentary elements of her flight ability.

While recovering in the hospital, she declared to the representatives of Project Utopia that she was "no quantum accident." Declaring that she had earned her quantum as opposed to being "given it undeservedly for conveniently being in the wrong place at the right time," she simultaneously earned the ire of novas and the admiration of nova-wannabes throughout the United States.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by McClendon's gumption; approximately 1900 American teenagers killed themselves in the year 2000, a number which ironically resembles the population of known novas in the same year. Apparently, it takes someone willing to accept the risk of their own demise to force their own eruption. I can't even fathom the willpower McClendon's stunt required, especially at the age she pulled it off at.

Unfortunately, most who try to erupt aren't as lucky. I have to wonder how many self-inflicted injuries and deaths in 2001 were caused by teens and young adults following McClendon's lead, as well as in the years past. Obviously, the number of "quantum accidents" significantly outnumber the self-erupted and the gap is not narrowing. Despite that, McClendon's popularity hasn't waned much; it appears every desperate teenager needs a role model.

McClendon continues to champion the idea of the self-erupted nova to this day, and with the discovery of the genetic potential for eruption, has become more vocal than ever. Since it's now apparently true that not everyone can erupt, and it's a specific few, she believes allowing those with the potential to erupt to know they possess it will cause the ambitious to succeed more often than before. Especially since the knowledge that you can't erupt should deter the merely hopeful.

I can't escape the feeling that widespread "Latency Testing" will increase the number of deaths. The science of eruption itself hasn't shed enough light on the process to raise the chances of success, even if the genetic potential is possessed. I think McClendon's NQA Initiative would be better served in devoting funding to eruption research rather than latency testing.

But who I to say? I'm the guy who is too chicken to ride a motorcycle, much less douse myself in gasoline and jump off a mountain. Maybe I'd be a bit more willing if I knew that I had a Caestus Pax in me waiting to emerge. All things being equal, though, I think I'd rather do it the old-fashioned way.

Juri "Salamander" McClendon

STR:●● DEX:●●●●● (Coordinated) STA:●●●●● (Energetic)
CHA:●●●● (Suave) MAN:●●● APP:●●●●●(Alluring)
PER:●●●●● (Intuitive) INT:●●●●● (Discerning)WIT:●●●●● (Shrewd)

M/DEX:● M/STA:● M/INT:●

Enhancements: Physical Prodigy, Health, Eidetic Memory

ATHLETICS ●● INTIMIDATION ●●● DRIVE ●●
STYLE ●●●● FIREARMS ● SUBTERFUGE ●●
STEALTH ● ENDURANCE ●●● RESISTANCE ●●●
COMMAND ●● ETIQUETTE ●● PERFORM ●●●●
ARTS ●●● BIZ ●●● RAPPORT ●●●
AWARENESS ●●● ACADEMICS ●● BUREAUCRACY ●
COMPUTER ●● LINGUISTICS ● MEDICINE ●●
SCIENCE ●●● SURVIVAL ●

BACKGROUNDS:
Node ●●
Resources ●●●●
Attunement ●●●
Allies ●
Influence ●●●

WILLPOWER ●●●●●●●
TAINT ●●
QUANTUM ●●●●●

POWERS:

Elemental Mastery: Fire ●● (Storm, Shield)
Transmit: Fire ●● (Incontiguous)
Bodymorph:Fire ●●●●● (Density Decrease)
Flight: ●
ESP: ● (Long Range/Can only focused where there is fire)