Arnold Richard Matthews was an average man in almost all respects. Average brown hair, average build, amicable personality. He was a little tall at 6'1. He played D&D with his friends, and at 38, perhaps that made him something other than average but not to any noteworthy extreme. He had married in his early 20's and soon divorced. It was crushing to him but being a decent human being he reflected and realized he was the problem, but not in any nefarious way, he was asexual and didn't realize that was even an option as he was growing up. so the slightly tall, asexual, D&D player made what he could of his life and worked to be happy and decent, and support other decent people where he could.
One fateful day mid December that all changed. A package arrived at his doorstep promising near omnipotence in a 20 foot radius assuming a computer or at least some electricity every day or two for the limited capabilities with the emitter alone. That was several years ago.
Arnold now goes by Jace Adam Matthews, having always resented his name and more severely, initials, one of his earlier foray's into redefining himself. He's now 6'4 with a muscular build which needs no effort to maintain, and became a 21 year old fulfilling his long-standing desire to be a jock. Gone are the genetic issues which held him back from his longstanding goals of being a masculine man. Jace quit his job eventually but it may surprise you to know it took him over a month to do so, even after he established himself as a multi-billionaire, half his friends we his office coworkers.
After he multiplied his life savings by 50k he reviewed his tax documents that tax season and realized he could now do more. No longer was he in the position to worry about his own retirement, but he was in the position to actually be able to do something to better society, to be the change he wanted to see!
Being a middle aged man mentally in the body of a healthy and handsome young man, he could easily tell when people were dismissive of him due to his age. He took a few college classes he was interested in, coordinated a team of lawyers and specialists and set his sights on doing good around him.
He generated charitable fund after charitable fund, ensuring each had a charter and a base value that when invested, would keep the charity alive for decades if not centuries. The charter limited the ability to deplete the funds and demanded all employees of the fund be paid the same and to never never pay more than 10% more than the median salary for the area they are serving.
He created funds that coordinated with schools/teachers to organize and subsidize field trips, school supplies, and free breakfasts/lunches for all students and to cover tuition for the parents. For the older high school students up to age 25, if they earned an income, there was a fund that matched their earnings in the form of Roth IRA contributions up to what the IRS allowed and the students and parents needed to attend a free class on how this retirement structure works in order to be eligible. College scholarships were easier to find than candy. Medical Debt assistance grants became accessible, food pantries were fully stocked, homeless shelters were harvested for workers in the charities and those who couldn't get back on their feet by working at the charity got the help they needed.
Jace was impassioned about making the charities work and but was very quickly reminded that he was an introvert and constantly being bombarded as the CEO and founder of all these charities is not his cup of tea. He hired others to manage the giving, the marketing, the fundraising, the tracking of effectiveness, the evaluation of investments, management of payroll, and so on.
Jace retreated to his house desiring some intense R&R... He was so burnt out that he didn't even want to hire help, instead opting to use the Chronivac to recreate his house to be a beacon of future technology. Bio indicator evaluating, brain reading, AI powered smart-house barely begins to paint the picture of how capable and accommodating the house as a whole ultimately became.
To the outside world Jace's quaint home looked just like any other ranch style house on the street, because instead of building up, he built down and out covering his entire property. His tiny downstairs linen closet became the elevator to his Batcave-like secret lair. The lair was soon turned into a rainforest oasis along with a whole system that could emulate outside lighting and weather, with an underground pool and natural hotspring fed hot tub, fruit bearing trees that grew fruit that was essentially cocktails in a variety of flavors, along with a complete ecosystem of creatures that each had their own wild and unique properties.
Many things were bioluminescent. A particular delight were what he called the body toads. they looked like poison dart toads but were harmless if more than a little strange. The different colors and patterns on the toads represented a different effect to his body, one would make him a decade older, another a decade younger, one would stop his body hair from growing (great for weeks when self care was too much), another would make his hair grow a months worth per hour... changing his voice, messing with his testes size and heft, doubling or halving his appetite, hair color, eye color, bulk... the effects were temporary but fun to play with while enjoying the fruit cocktail. He had packed so many functions into the frogs. Imagine his surprise when new patterns emerged as the frogs began mating.
He invented new enzymes and green technology slipping further and further into his own little world. Month's went by and he eventually emerged again wondering what he'd missed... all the structures and charity funds he created were working as expected and growing in reach and ability to do good. Despite his intense spending on the charities and doing nothing, he still earned several million dollars over the last few months...
It was in that moment he realized his omnipotence. He would actively have to try to fail to lose any iota of control he wielded. He had power beyond comprehension, both in the mundane sense and through the Chronivac. The rest of the world and its machinations are entirely malleable under one or both of his forms of power. One way or another he is beyond consequences. Paying off people, rewriting history... No, not just consequences, he is beyond morality. Everything is his to have and use as he sees fit.
Comprehending the magnitude of his reality took him several more days. During that time Jace tried to not be so distant from humanity, "It is no wonder I am overwhelmed with a god complex, I've been locked away for months in a place I have nearly perfect control over!" he reasoned.
During the day he ventured out on walks around his neighborhood. He is now 24, fit as ever despite his diet of pure alcohol and sugar, and looking to make friends. When he altered reality to change his age and identity, although he kept his old memories, he gave up his former friends... then he quit and his philanthropic conquests kept him comfortably distracted... but seeing normal people made him aware of how desperate he was for human contact.
Jace encounters people along his walks and soon realizes how structured their lives are. His sense of time has long sense been destroyed. He finds kids going too and from school, people walking their dogs, working in their garages, or relaxing on their lawns, sometimes he sees the village police officer, there's also the postal worker, food delivery people, and amazon worker...
Jace decides to try to engage with...