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The Sleeper (Wild Cards)
Encyclopedia
The Sleeper is a fictional character
from the Wild Cards
series of books.
In September 1946, ninth-grader Croyd Crenson, native of an unspecified borough of the New York City
metropolitan area, was one of the first victims of the alien virus dubbed "the Wild Card", which generates random mutations in humans, many times leading to an altered appearance and/or superhuman abilities. In Croyd's case, however, his mutation induces the virus to periodically re-infect his body (similar to malaria
), causing him to develop a different appearance and set of powers every time he sleeps. Fortunately, the primary constant among these changes is an altered sleep cycle: he can spend anywhere from days to weeks at a time with no need for sleep, followed by equally varying periods of extended sleep, analogous to a pupa
l stage, during which his body alters to a new configuration. Croyd's root mutation is generally considered an Ace, though the classification of his abilities changes from mutation to mutation. He shows no sign of the effects of advancing age, though in the later eras depicted in the novels, he would be approaching his sixties.
Croyd constantly fears that he will one day wake up as a permanent Joker, immune to the virus, or that it will simply kill him, as the virus does to the majority of those it infects (known as "drawing the Black Queen"). As he starts to feel tired, he usually turns to amphetamines to stay awake, becoming increasingly violent and paranoid. Depending on where he is in his sleep/wake cycle, he can be a friendly rogue, a coldly brutal mercenary, a twitchy junkie and thief, or a deadly, raving psychotic.
His unique sleep cycle and constantly altering appearance makes it all but impossible for Croyd to hold down a regular job, and he usually supports himself through criminal activity (though in later years he begins investing in the stock market
as a supplement to his income). This began after Croyd's initial transformation, when his father had died. Martial law still ruled New York City in the wake of the initial wave of Wild Card victims, and stealing was the only reliable way to acquire necessary supplies for himself and his family. Later, he continued to steal to support his family, as his father had suffered a fatal reaction to the virus and his mother had slowly gone insane from witnessing her husband's death, leaving Croyd the primary source of income for his brother and sister. This continued until his siblings became adults and his sister was married, during which Croyd, who had awakened before his latest change was complete, unintentionally disrupted the wedding ceremony when he fully transformed into a bat-like creature. Croyd seems to have completely broken ties with his family after the wedding incident.
Croyd has worked on and off over the years with a small-time career criminal named Bentley, whom he first met as a Joker with a dog-like appearance after waking up from his initial transformation; Bentley would later volunteer for the risky treatment developed for the Wild Card called the Trump virus
, and was one of the lucky few who was completely cured. Bentley has shared some of his tricks of the trade, and sometimes plans robberies for Croyd, based on whatever superhuman powers he wakes up with, in exchange for a cut of the proceeds. The pair have little concern for police investigation, as by the time the authorities begin to recognize Croyd's current form and abilities, he is usually "lying low" and changing into a new, unrecognizable form.
Using his ill-gotten gains, Croyd has established several living spaces of varying size and quality throughout New York City, so that he is never too far from at least one of them when he is unable to stay awake. At least one of these is located in Jokertown
, NYC's former Bowery
district that has become a local haven to those unfortunate enough to "draw the Joker"; Croyd made efforts early on to establish a base there and make friends within the Joker community, knowing that on the occasions that he assumes a Joker form, he will have to live among them.
Croyd has assumed any number of forms in the decades since his initial infection; Ace, Joker, and, once, an almost completely non-powered human form. His first form was that of a hair-covered joker with the ability to turn invisible. Various Ace powers he has manifested during his waking periods include the ability to melt metal, enhanced speed and reflexes, heat conduction, flight, and super strength. His Joker manifestations have been equally varied: pink, stunted, and batlike; a humanoid Gecko lizard; two different winged demon forms; something like a giant armadillo; a 7 feet (2.1 m), wingless bird with retractable claws; a wolf-faced freak with multi-jointed legs and acid for urine, and other even less attractive forms. Often Croyd awakened with a mixture of the Joker/Ace traits. During his stint as a fact finder for the Mafia
, the Sleeper was a handsome brown haired Ace with strong bioelectric abilities - - and faceted, mirror-like compound eyes.
Arguably Croyd's most dangerous form was his incarnation as a super strong albino. During this period the Sleeper's Ace "power" manufactured a contagious, mutated form of the Wild Card virus that could re-infect and re-mutate those already transformed. Dubbed "Typhoid Croyd" (a reference to the historical Typhoid Mary), he was subdued and quarantined before this new infection became widespread and created a panic similar to the original wave of infections in 1946. It is notable that at least one person he re-infected, the Joker Snotman
, had his quality of life improved, as Snotman was re-mutated into an ace. Amongst others infected during his Typhoid Croyd phase include high priced lawyer Loophole Latham
, the ace Water Lily, militant Joker activist Gimili, call girl/assassin Roulette
, washed up rock hero Buddy Holly
(who did not die young in the Wild Cards universe, as he did in real life) and the android Modular Man's creator Maxim Travnicek - who loses his ability to repair Modular Man as he mutates into a joker.
In the late 1990s Croyd would team up with the ace vigilante Shad after the two had been imprisoned on Governors Island at the behest of the "Card Sharks" conspiracy. Seeking revenge, the two mean organized a prison breakout and then killed most of the remaining Card Sharks. Croyd was last seen traveling with Shad to Afghanistan where one of the lead Card Sharks had been doing humanitarian work.
Fictional character
A character is the representation of a person in a narrative work of art . Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr , the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of...
from the Wild Cards
Wild Cards
Wild Cards is a science fiction and superhero anthology series set in a shared universe. The series was created by a group of New Mexico science fiction authors, but it is mostly pulled together and edited by best-selling author George R. R. Martin with assistance by Melinda Snodgrass, also a...
series of books.
In September 1946, ninth-grader Croyd Crenson, native of an unspecified borough of the New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
metropolitan area, was one of the first victims of the alien virus dubbed "the Wild Card", which generates random mutations in humans, many times leading to an altered appearance and/or superhuman abilities. In Croyd's case, however, his mutation induces the virus to periodically re-infect his body (similar to malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
), causing him to develop a different appearance and set of powers every time he sleeps. Fortunately, the primary constant among these changes is an altered sleep cycle: he can spend anywhere from days to weeks at a time with no need for sleep, followed by equally varying periods of extended sleep, analogous to a pupa
Pupa
A pupa is the life stage of some insects undergoing transformation. The pupal stage is found only in holometabolous insects, those that undergo a complete metamorphosis, going through four life stages; embryo, larva, pupa and imago...
l stage, during which his body alters to a new configuration. Croyd's root mutation is generally considered an Ace, though the classification of his abilities changes from mutation to mutation. He shows no sign of the effects of advancing age, though in the later eras depicted in the novels, he would be approaching his sixties.
Croyd constantly fears that he will one day wake up as a permanent Joker, immune to the virus, or that it will simply kill him, as the virus does to the majority of those it infects (known as "drawing the Black Queen"). As he starts to feel tired, he usually turns to amphetamines to stay awake, becoming increasingly violent and paranoid. Depending on where he is in his sleep/wake cycle, he can be a friendly rogue, a coldly brutal mercenary, a twitchy junkie and thief, or a deadly, raving psychotic.
His unique sleep cycle and constantly altering appearance makes it all but impossible for Croyd to hold down a regular job, and he usually supports himself through criminal activity (though in later years he begins investing in the stock market
Stock market
A stock market or equity market is a public entity for the trading of company stock and derivatives at an agreed price; these are securities listed on a stock exchange as well as those only traded privately.The size of the world stock market was estimated at about $36.6 trillion...
as a supplement to his income). This began after Croyd's initial transformation, when his father had died. Martial law still ruled New York City in the wake of the initial wave of Wild Card victims, and stealing was the only reliable way to acquire necessary supplies for himself and his family. Later, he continued to steal to support his family, as his father had suffered a fatal reaction to the virus and his mother had slowly gone insane from witnessing her husband's death, leaving Croyd the primary source of income for his brother and sister. This continued until his siblings became adults and his sister was married, during which Croyd, who had awakened before his latest change was complete, unintentionally disrupted the wedding ceremony when he fully transformed into a bat-like creature. Croyd seems to have completely broken ties with his family after the wedding incident.
Croyd has worked on and off over the years with a small-time career criminal named Bentley, whom he first met as a Joker with a dog-like appearance after waking up from his initial transformation; Bentley would later volunteer for the risky treatment developed for the Wild Card called the Trump virus
Trump virus
The Trump Virus is a fictional virus from the Wild Cards anthology series.It is developed as a counter-agent for the mutagenic Wild Card virus by Dr. Tachyon, who helped develop the original Wild Card virus. The Trump has limited success as a cure; originally it only worked in approximately...
, and was one of the lucky few who was completely cured. Bentley has shared some of his tricks of the trade, and sometimes plans robberies for Croyd, based on whatever superhuman powers he wakes up with, in exchange for a cut of the proceeds. The pair have little concern for police investigation, as by the time the authorities begin to recognize Croyd's current form and abilities, he is usually "lying low" and changing into a new, unrecognizable form.
Using his ill-gotten gains, Croyd has established several living spaces of varying size and quality throughout New York City, so that he is never too far from at least one of them when he is unable to stay awake. At least one of these is located in Jokertown
Jokertown
Jokertown is a fictional neighborhood in the Wild Cards anthology series.In the Wild Cards universe, it is an area of Manhattan. After the Wild Card virus was released over New York in 1946, many Jokers, those deformed by the virus, began to filter into this largely abandoned area, which was nearly...
, NYC's former Bowery
Bowery, Manhattan
Bowery , commonly called "the Bowery," is a street and a small neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City borough of Manhattan...
district that has become a local haven to those unfortunate enough to "draw the Joker"; Croyd made efforts early on to establish a base there and make friends within the Joker community, knowing that on the occasions that he assumes a Joker form, he will have to live among them.
Croyd has assumed any number of forms in the decades since his initial infection; Ace, Joker, and, once, an almost completely non-powered human form. His first form was that of a hair-covered joker with the ability to turn invisible. Various Ace powers he has manifested during his waking periods include the ability to melt metal, enhanced speed and reflexes, heat conduction, flight, and super strength. His Joker manifestations have been equally varied: pink, stunted, and batlike; a humanoid Gecko lizard; two different winged demon forms; something like a giant armadillo; a 7 feet (2.1 m), wingless bird with retractable claws; a wolf-faced freak with multi-jointed legs and acid for urine, and other even less attractive forms. Often Croyd awakened with a mixture of the Joker/Ace traits. During his stint as a fact finder for the Mafia
Mafia
The Mafia is a criminal syndicate that emerged in the mid-nineteenth century in Sicily, Italy. It is a loose association of criminal groups that share a common organizational structure and code of conduct, and whose common enterprise is protection racketeering...
, the Sleeper was a handsome brown haired Ace with strong bioelectric abilities - - and faceted, mirror-like compound eyes.
Arguably Croyd's most dangerous form was his incarnation as a super strong albino. During this period the Sleeper's Ace "power" manufactured a contagious, mutated form of the Wild Card virus that could re-infect and re-mutate those already transformed. Dubbed "Typhoid Croyd" (a reference to the historical Typhoid Mary), he was subdued and quarantined before this new infection became widespread and created a panic similar to the original wave of infections in 1946. It is notable that at least one person he re-infected, the Joker Snotman
Snotman
Snotman is a character from the Wild Cards book series. He was originally a Joker derelict who oozed a snot-like mucus from every pore of his body. However in Wild Cards volume V: Down and Dirty, he had an encounter with Croyd Crenson, better known as The Sleeper, during a time when Crenson's...
, had his quality of life improved, as Snotman was re-mutated into an ace. Amongst others infected during his Typhoid Croyd phase include high priced lawyer Loophole Latham
Loophole (Wild Cards)
Loophole is a character from the Wild Cards series of books, first appearing in volume III, "Jokers Wild." Senior partner in one of New York's most successful law firms, St. John Latham represented a family of companies with their headquarters in the Bahamas and subsidiaries including CariBank and...
, the ace Water Lily, militant Joker activist Gimili, call girl/assassin Roulette
Roulette (Wild Cards)
Roulette is a fictional character from the Wild Cards "mosaic novel" Wild Cards III: Jokers Wild. She was created by Melinda M. Snodgrass....
, washed up rock hero Buddy Holly
Buddy Holly
Charles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
(who did not die young in the Wild Cards universe, as he did in real life) and the android Modular Man's creator Maxim Travnicek - who loses his ability to repair Modular Man as he mutates into a joker.
In the late 1990s Croyd would team up with the ace vigilante Shad after the two had been imprisoned on Governors Island at the behest of the "Card Sharks" conspiracy. Seeking revenge, the two mean organized a prison breakout and then killed most of the remaining Card Sharks. Croyd was last seen traveling with Shad to Afghanistan where one of the lead Card Sharks had been doing humanitarian work.