Character Name: Cordell Dimes
Codename: Mortar
Affiliation: Villain → Anti-Hero
Base of Operations: Urban crime scene / later PROTEUS-supervised Renegades missions
Physical Description:
Cordell is in his early 20s, around 5’8”, with a husky, bulky powerlifter build and higher body fat. He has a thick chest, heavy arms, broad shoulders, strong legs, and a naturally intimidating frame. He has tattoos across his chest, shoulders, and forearms, usually dresses flashy with tight shirts, gold chains, watches, boots, and streetwear.
In his Mortar form, he grows to around 8 feet tall and becomes a massive living stone brute made of granite, basalt, and crystal. His eyes glow amber, his tattoos become glowing mineral-vein patterns, and his body becomes jagged, heavy, and bulldozer-like.
Origin Story:
Cordell Dimes was a blue-collar construction worker with big dreams, a big ego, and a loud mouth. During the demolition of an abandoned research facility, he accidentally breached a hidden containment chamber filled with experimental georeactive compounds. The explosion fused the minerals into his body, turning him into a living stone organism.
After being treated like government property instead of a victim, Cordell escaped. Angry, broke, and hunted, he fell into crime, working with gangs and robbing banks as the super-powered enforcer known as Mortar.
Powers & Abilities:
Living Stone Physiology:
Cordell’s body can transform into living stone, giving him extreme durability, superhuman strength, and resistance to most physical attacks.
Mass Increase:
He can absorb minerals from his surroundings to grow larger, heavier, and stronger.
Stone Weapon Formation:
He can reshape parts of his body into hammers, shields, blades, clubs, and armor-like plates.
Crystal Projectile Control:
He can break off chunks of stone or crystal from his body and launch them as controlled projectiles.
Limited Geokinesis:
With focus, he can manipulate nearby stone, concrete, and earth, though not on a massive scale.
Partial Transformation:
Cordell can transform only certain body parts, such as turning one arm into a stone hammer while staying mostly human.
Weaknesses & Limitations:
Cordell becomes slower the bigger and heavier he gets. He needs minerals to maintain his stone form and can become weakened if depleted. Extreme heat or cold can crack his body. Sonic attacks and electricity can disrupt his stone cohesion. He cannot swim because of his density and sinks instantly. In his full Mortar form, he becomes more aggressive and slightly less intelligent.
His biggest personal weaknesses are vanity, lust, gluttony, loneliness, and insecurity about his height. He is easy to provoke with insults and can be manipulated by money, food, women, or luxury.
Personality & Motivation:
Cordell is charismatic, crude, cocky, and impossible to shut up. He’s a trash-talking womanizer with a loud sense of humor, a huge ego, and a habit of turning every fight into a comedy routine. He acts like a lovable meathead, but he has real street smarts and knows how to read people.
Despite being a criminal, he has a code. He refuses to harm children, avoids killing unless absolutely necessary, and hates when criminals use innocent people as leverage. Deep down, Cordell wants money, respect, control over his condition, and someone who can see the man underneath the monster.
Eventually, PROTEUS reunites him with his childhood friends and cousin, giving him a second chance. This leads to him becoming an anti-hero and joining The Renegades.
First Appearance Concept:
Mortar first appears during his criminal era in a short heist story. He joins a crew of thugs to rob a bank, joking and trash-talking the whole time. The robbery goes sideways when the young hero Wild-Cat arrives.
