Doc



Dr. Matthew Phillip "Matt" Ryan, M.D.

Director of Emergency Medicine, Cedars-Sinai Hospital

Board-Certified Plastic Surgeon, Specialized in Reconstructive Surgery

(Spring Court Elder)

Mantle (Spring) ••••• 

Background
Matt Ryan was a blue-collar boy from Queens, son of a schoolteacher and a factory worker, he never seemed to quite fit in. Things weren't made any easier when he realized at a young age that he might be gay. The conservative traditions on both sides of his family (a Jewish mother and a Roman Catholic father) meant he kept his head down and his mouth shut. That behavior was only reinforced when his mother died in a car accident, and his father turned to the bottle. With the bottle came the beatings, which were severe enough that Matt's older brother ran away and left him to deal with the fallout alone.

He and some friends heard about a new club opening in an old CBS radio and television station in Manhattan, so they made the short trip to the old Gallo Opera House and found a lifestyle that seemed surreal. Celebrities and pop icons from every arena were among the guest list, and a couple of "regulars" would never find their way beyond the velvet ropes. Matt wasn't quite as regular as his friends, though, and the club-owner took an interest in him. He told Matt to take off his shirt, which the young man reluctantly did. The gesture was enough to get him inside and even a job offer. Matt was now one of the shirtless bartenders of Studio 54.

Cultural icons, however, are short-lived, and after three short years, the club held its last hurrah. On February 4, 1980, Matt went back to the storeroom to get a bottle of liquor requested by Diana Ross (who was performing that night), but he never returned.

Taken because of his beauty, his Keeper nontheless seemed as angered by it as enamored of it. His face and body would be shredded into a hideous mockery of themselves regularly, and even more incensed by his deformity, the Fae would demand that he fix it. With time, he learned to repair the damage, even lacking proper skill and equipment. The Gentry called him his (her?) "Angel," and began poking the jagged pieces of metal that he used as makeshift scalpels into his skin to form wings.

After his escape, he felt a strange desire to use the talents he had acquired to help others reconcile their inner and outer beauty. With a new identity in place, he started college, eventually enrolling and graduating from medical school.



Description
This Wizened Chirurgeon, Razorhand, and Shadowsoul can be terrifying to behold. His peculiar blend of kiths is a dark mirror of what lies beneath in both body and mind. He and his profession provide further evidence of dichotomy, empathizing with those suffering through tragedy while providing hope and the vibrant promise of renewal.