Preserving the Past [OOC] - Post-Apocalyptic Survival

[HeySeuss]

Firestone Library, Princeton University

TL;DR Summary:

• Post Apocalyptic setting, the year 2050. (No Zombies)
• Civilization worldwide was decimated by the super-flu pandemic of 2013, which killed off 95% of the human population.
• What remains is very Mad Max, lots of bandits, raiding and very little civilization. People have to make do generally without power and all that it entails, and even those who cobble together power have to find ways to reduce strain on their power systems for essential items.
• The characters are part of a community centered around the Calvert University (fictional) Library on Maryland's Eastern Shore, where there is farming and fishing enough to sustain people, while staying well away from population centers, like Baltimore or Washington DC (the Bay Bridge was blown with explosives in 2014.)
• The mission of the community is to preserve the past; information in the form of documents as well as data storage.
• Standards - We're aiming for a couple paragraphs or more if you want, but we generally want to keep the interaction high and the pace going. You don't need to feel pressured to write a novel so long as you can write a couple of good paragraph.
• Characters will be part of this community, which doesn't merely include librarians. It's also farmers, mechanics and so forth. Many years have passed since the pandemic.
• Character approval in most cases is me upchecking anything you put down that's reasonable with one huge exception -- ex-military characters will be carefully scrutinized and details will be paid close attention to. By contrast, most characters are familiar with guns and are part of a local militia.

Table of Contents

• IC Thread
• IRC Chat for the RP (Or #Library if you're logging on to Foonetic for the Guild Chat)
• Albert J. Colleran, 68 - A survivor of the pandemic, he is a Hopkins-trained biophysicist and biochemist.
• Giorgio "Gio" McMasters, 24 - A Calvert Kid raised on the water who continues the tradition of Chesapeake watermen, but in a more violent world.
• Landon Hill, 19 - A Calvert Kid that works the fields as his parents did and was indifferent as a student. He was not apprenticed to anyone, but he is good with his hand, though he feels his talents are being overlooked. He looks at Calvert and sees the system holding him back.
• Miles Reagan, 60 - A hunter and a scout, he is getting on in years. He also has a background in academic history, though he has a hard time staying behind the walls too long.
• Flower Child, 23 - The daughter of a warlord (whom she killed) that came to Calvert because she, quite frankly, wanted to learn to read. When John Minor passed, she took over his role in running the militia, at least unofficially.
• Henry "Doc" Carter, 70 - A machinist as well as a former slave/gladiator, he found his way to Calvert after a harrowing experience outside of the relative comforts of Calvert. Now he forms one of the cornerstones of Calvert's functioning in producing parts and equipment items that they cannot otherwise procure.
• Tegan Halsted, 24 - The daughter of a doctor, she is one of the rare, precious few in this world that understand the advanced techniques of medicine now. She questions Calvert's role; is it merely a repository that is charged to survive in this world or should it be a beacon to others?
• Fagin, 30 - the Warlord of the New York Area and other parts, he is a man of immense power in this world, and felt it was his destiny to fight the King, the warlord that held sway over much of Virginia and the South. Before he could do it, the King was destroyed utterly. He is arguably the most powerful man on the East Coast with vast numbers of warriors and slaves as his to command.
• Abigail, 26 - The Ice Queen is Fagin's sister and the ruler of the Warlord's noncombatant camp, but she is also hiding a seething conflict under the facade of the loyal sister and slave to her own sibling and husband.
• Characters will be listed here as they are approved.

In Character Info

The old world died in 2013. The super-flu killed most of humanity off and a number of survivors that might have rebuilt something workable died through misadventure, ignorance or accident -- the world is pretty unforgiving without power, antibiotics and the comforts we became accustomed to. To make matters worse, some decided to strike out against their fellow people, ambushing aid workers and attacking humanitarian assistance centers to loot and enslave. Indeed, civilization reverted to a more fundamental mode, as according to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs; survival became the only concern for many.

Not everyone thought in terms of simply physical survival; Linda Dimtrios, the head librarian of Calvert University's library realized what was coming when heavily armed raiders started plundering emergency aid centers for supplies during the pandemic's worst days...and she took the opportunity to start abusing her position, particularly when she became the interim president, to gather the supplies and equipment necessary for Calvert University to become a survival community; she knew that the accountants wouldn't survive or care when the whole thing was over.

She gathered people, experts and their families, to the campus as it emptied out of students and others, and quietly fortified Calvert University, using the advice of one John Minor, a former Army Special Forces NCO, against the initial onslaught of desperation by a dying world, as well as the subsequent onslaughts of survivors that would plunder the community. Calvert was in the middle of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, with abundant farmland and seafood to be found, along with little in the way of a population. In 2014, she had the Bay Bridge blown up, severing the link between Baltimore and the Eastern Shore and securing Calvert University from onslaughts by the barbarian survivors of that place.

The plan, miraculously enough, worked, and while the standards of living changed drastically as Calvert became concerned with preserving themselves. Calvert was an old university, one of the oldest, with buildings like the library built in the 19th century. With the addition of stout walls, resembling a curtain in the medieval days, Calvert University became Calvert Castle, with a community of peasants that tilled the land and fished the seas and spun the wool that was a necessity of everyday survival. Calvert reverted, but not as badly as other places reverted, thanks to the efforts of Dimitrios, who passed away in 2018.

But they also had a library, databases, archives and people who could teach skills. In the years to come, rumors swirled throughout the country of a Great Library that survived the worst, that still functioned and held promise for the future. Some react with skepticism, others with hope...and some particularly the assorted warlords of ragged bands, who prefer to be referred to as "King" or "Lord" see a prize they must have...

Out of Character Info:

This is post-apocalyptic, and I think most of the rules have been covered; characters will be part of the survivors, young or older, possibly with some memory of the good old days, though these people are aging in a time when life expectancies have been cut brutally short. I decided to make the setting seventeen years after the pandemic so as to allow people a choice; to play one of the original experts, probably not in the best of shape even if they were 20something in 2012, or to play a young offspring of that first survival generation, imbued with the sense of mission in preserving the past, trained as apprentices in those crafts.

Of course, it's not just librarians and intellectuals; even such people have to eat, and everyone probably has to farm, hunt, fish, butcher, pickle, repair and build. The players would have these skills. They'd also be part of a militia that exists of all able-bodied people who could fight or otherwise support the fighting, a necessity in dark times to fend off bandits, raiders and worse.

It's still a crude existence; they have power, computers, books, light, heat and the such, but these things are fragile and carefully preserved, guarded jealously as the seeds to replant civilization with. In a way, the characters are medieval monks, preserving the written word even as the vikings pillage their churches for riches.

We are no longer accepting any character sheets at this time, but thanks for your interest!

[Gunther]

Name: Albert J. Colleran
Age: 68
Gender: Male
Hometown/Place of Origin: Edgewood, MD
Role: Doctor of Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry
Appearance: Doctor Colleran stands 5' 11" tall and weighs 185 Lbs. He has light brown colored skin and brown eyes. His black short curly hair is all white and gray hair, as well as his mustache and beard. Doctor Colleran has worn leathery skin. Before the pandemic, his life was one of oppulence, but since the flu hit, he has grown accustomed to the hard life of a survivor. He seems to have an ample supply of white laboratory coats and is more often than not seen wearing one. His clothing generally consists of either durable cotton trousers or blue jeans and buttoned down shirts colored white, light blue, pink, yellow or light green over a white T-shirt. He also wears hiking boots and carries a wooden walking stick, which he doesn't need for any physical impairment, but has taken to carrying the walking stick.


photo: James Pickens Jr. (Grey's Anatomy, Another World)

History

Albert J. Colleran was born on August 5, 1981 in Annapolis, Maryland. His father was a graduate of the US Naval Academy and rose to the rank of Vice Admiral, a one time Superintendant of the US Naval Academy at Annapolis.

Albert Colleran went by the name Al, Bertie or Albert by his parents and sister, Madeline when he was growing up. He attended Johns Hopkins University for both Undergraduate and Graduate studies where he pledged to Phi Delta Theta fraternity where he was known as AJ.

Upon receiving his PhD in Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry, Albert Colleran worked with noted Biophysicists at Johns Hopkins Research center. He had been employed by Johns Hopkins University under research grants for almost five years as a Biophysicist when the flu erupted on the scene in 2013. Researchers like himself worked feverishly to determine the cause of the pandemic at the cellular and molecular level, but were unsuccessfuly.

Before 2013 was over, survivors had destroyed much of his lab and he was forced to evacuate Baltimore. He heard about the collective of scientists and physicians at Calvert University in Eastern Maryland and made his way there. He transported as much laboratory equipment he could get his hands on including microscopes, various chemicals needed for research and other medical related items.

As a young man, Doctor Colleran learned to play tennis and the piano. He can play several classical scores on the piano, but prefers Jazz most of all. He enjoys listening to music and idolizes many of the older Jazz musicians including Louis Armstrong, Earl Hines, Charles Mingus, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum and Duke Ellington.

Physical fitness has always been important to Albert Colleran. His father insisted the boy exercise daily. Admiral Colleran would take his son to play basketball, tennis or other sports and when they got older, the two took runs together in the Baltimore and Washington DC areas.

After the pandemic, Albert learned how to use a shotgun, assault rifle, handgun, pistol, compound bow and knife. He prefers not to use these weapons and has a moral problem with taking another life. He has also learned about plant biology and farming from other residents at Calvert.

In 2010, only two years out of school, Doctor Colleran purchased a home in Edgewood, MD. It was a very nice 2800 square foot home along Bush River, which feeds into Chesapeake Bay. In 2011, Albert Colleran got engaged to Leslie Atherton, who worked in the oncology research labs at Johns Hopkins. She died in 2013 from the flu before they were married.

Psychological Profile
Albert had a very supportive upbringing and always seemed to have everything he needed. His home life was loving and nurturing. He is a well adjusted adult. He has a fairly decent sense of humor, but has found it lacking at times.

Politically, Albert has always been moderate with a slight leaning toward the left. Since, he sees his position in society as someone who helps others he believes it is the responsibility of those in charge, politically to provide for the common man. Every contributing member of a society should work hard to help the collective. The atmosphere at Calvert is comfortable to him. He views it as a community of competent individuals working together in a communal environment to better themselves individually and the community as a whole. He understands the need to destroy the Bay Bridge. Initially, he was against it, but after seeing some of the horrors brought on by other survivors, he now believes it was a necessity.

Abilities/Talents/Knowledge
- BS, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering;
- Master's, Biochemistry, Cellular and Molecular Biology;
- PhD, Biophysics and Biophysical Chemistry
- Excellent Tennis player
- Good Piano player
- History, specifically the history of medicine

[Ruby]

Name: Flower Child, Alice (she has never revealed her real name)
Age: 23
Gender: Female
Place of Origin: Unknown
Role: N/A

Appearance:



History:

Alice had a childhood most would envy after the world fell; steady and good food, safe shelter, and loved ones. Her father had been dubbed 'Doomsday Prepper' and crazy before the fall, and after he would be known only as 'King' to men, and 'Master' to women. 'King' had a vision and a plan, and once he established and centralized his power in a number of Wal-Marts, Sam's Clubs, and Distribution Centers throughout the region, he began what he dubbed 'The Great Caravan'--an armored and heavily armed caravan meant to acquire, sell, and reacquire; from food stuffs to knick-knacks to human beings.

Alice's mother was the King's favorite slave. Far from the only member of his harem, she would be the only to produce a child with King. The members of King's Court all had their theories about why King kept the girl and her mother. Some believed it no more the King wanted his pets, and none were especially inclined to deny the man his special rights.

When the girl was twelve, the King disposed of her mother, and announced his new wife; his daughter, the pretty girl with the flowers in her hair. None in the Court would deny the King, save for one. The few left to tell the tale all tell a different spin of the same yarn: someone objected to the marriage of father to daughter. Someone blew the brains out of over a hundred men, including the King and most of his 'Knights.' One survivor will say it was Death incarnate. Some will say it was a Warlord wanting to be the King.

Only one story said it was the girl with the flowers in her hair, tie dye shirts, and flower dresses. The remaining Knights of the King's Roundtable would hunt down every survivor, and hear every tale. Upon closer inspection of each survivor, truth and lies were separated with blood and force: the daughter, the Gypsy's girl, this Flower Child was behind it. And the Black Knight would lead the hunt, with over thirty armed men and enough fuel to cover a lot of ground with a lot speed.

Stories of the Flower Child would fuel the Black Knight's hunt for revenge. Stories of slave camps turned to rivers of slaver blood at night and slaves freed; stories of bandits charred alive, stories of strangers helped and the starving fed. Each bloodied slave camp, each charred bandit all held the same note left for the Black Knight; wild flowers.

The showdown would come in a small ghost town. The Black Knight would arrive just after first light, the same schedule the Knights had kept for almost every attack. Those that remained after the initial volley of sniper fire would find the nearest building to hide in. None of them knew each building was rigged to blow. Alice never intended to leave a building standing. She never intended to leave a man alive. Her hate too strong, her instinct for survival too intense.

When sun set, all the Flower Child left in the town were corpses and wild flowers.

Here the legend ends, and the story known to Calvert as fact begins. With a group of raiders intent on finding the rumored Castle, their search had ripped through the eastern seaboard. After months of searching in vain, the bandits came into possession of a tug boat with enough fuel to look along the coast. When the small group of bandits that went on the tug returned to camp, they found only death. From the shadows came a rain of arrows, and those that remained sang pretty songs when riddled with arrows.

They sang a song of where to find a tug, and what was found along the coast. When the Flower Child showed up at Calvert, she showed up via the sea, on a tug. When the defenders of Calvert Castle trained their weapons on the girl in combat boots and a flower dress, she smiled and began to disarm herself. She introduced herself only as 'Flower Child', and explained that she had dealt with the group of bandits that had been after the Castle. When asked what she wanted, before even being allowed to step off the tug, the girl responded with a laugh.

"I want to learn to read."

In the time since her arrival, Flower Child and John Minor became unlikely and fast friends. John Minor proved Flower Girl was no psychopath, and since the girl has been slowly growing into the community. She is a rare sight at the Library, spending over twelve hours a day patroling or standing guard. When she is around Calvert it's almost always in her bed at the place that was once Minor's, curled up under covers and reading a book. To date, Flower Girl has read books from a wide variety of subjects. In contrast, she has read only one fiction book: Pride and Prejudice.

Since John Minor's death the Flower Child has taken on the role of militia head, whether interim or unofficial, or even if the young woman would take the job on a full time basis, all remain unknown to most in Calvert. This has prompted more interactions and communication with those at Calvert than ever before, showing more and more of the young woman than the day before and the day before it.

The transformation has been noticeable enough to prompt some to joke they might actually learn the Flower Child's name one day.

Personality:

Alice is a survivor. Nothing means more to her than the bottom line, than the pragmatic view of life and what it takes to make it another day. Over her time at Calvert that has begun to slowly change. Said by Minor to possess a 'read and react' personality, Flower Child is never one to initiate. Instead she waits, favoring thinking over speaking. Despite this no one has to tell a former pleasure slave the importance of a warm personality and good attitude. While typically quiet and reserved, an encounter with the Flower Child is rarely unpleasant.

Flower Child loves mystery, and wraps it around her like a cloak. The members of Calvert are more likely to know stories of the Flower Child gotten from the wild than anything about the actual Flower Child sitting right next to them. She's perfected the art of the vague response; the art of letting people talk all day about themselves and their former lives, and little or less about her own.

She'll never refuse an invitation, if one can find her to deliver it, even if she can be less than stimulating dinner conversation.

Skills/Major Flaws:

Scavanger - Alone and wandering the modern wastes, Alice has learned the lessons of survival in such a dangerous place. There is no more valuable survival tool than that of the scavange. Whether braving dark time forgotten office parks or the open country, the girl follows her instincts and it typically pays off. Alice knows the surrounding areas as well or better than any, the result of a life lived to stay a step ahead.

Killer Reputation - Even before the additional training by Calvert's former Militia commander and Army Ranger, the name Flower Girl was as much a curse on the names of bandits and slavers in the area as any plague and a saint to the many she assisted or saved in her years alone. Seeing Alice kill has been described as disturbing by the more humane; cold and with the natural effort typical of a girl brushing her hair behind her ear. There is no doubting a talented and natural born killer.

Mental Dependecy - Living with the still healing scars of her former life and her time in the wild, the stone cold killer chooses to escape in a myriad of chemical agents. While she is mentally dependent on the temporary euphoria of marijauna, it's rare to actually find her partaking. Alice completely withdraws from the community and becomes tense when forced to go without.

Acquaintances:

Albert - Alice likes the man, she simply doesn't trust what he would do if forced face to face with the dark realities of the wastelands. She likes to hear him talk, and can always be bothered to assit him should he need it.

Landon - She's been in the same room as Landon only rarely. Flower Child smiles and greets him kindly during those rare passing moments, even speaking a greeting. Landon remains the only person she will greet in such a way in front of others. Alice worries Landon fancies himself a gunfighter.

Gio - The first member of the community she met, the dying tug slowly approaching Calvert in his waters. Flower Child is known to bath and smoke at water's edge, even camp at times. Despite this common close proximity, she has yet to speak to Gio since that first day.

Miles - The Flower Child loves history; as such, the Flower Child loves Miles. Alice worries Miles forays will lead to tragedy, and will often ask to join him if she has a bad feeling on any given day Miles leaves the grounds. When Miles wants to go beyond a normal distance, Alice has acted as a source of reliable information, proving just how far she tends to get away from the community on her patrols.

[Meeky]

Character Sheet Stuff

Name: Landon Hill
Age: 19
Gender: Male
Hometown/Place of Origin: Calvert Castle, Maryland
Role: Farmer, Militiaman, and Fifth Columnist

Appearance

Spoiler

Landon is a short man, standing at only 5'1", and has a fairly average build. He has a farmer's tan (for obvious reasons) and shaves with a knife, which shows. He's cleanly, though, and keeps his hands clean at all times. He's known to have bad eyesight at longer distances.

History

Landon is the son of two people who were working on Calvert's fields before he was. By merit of their career, he was destined for the same.

As a child, Landon was a bit of a troublemaker. He didn't do anything cruel or malicious, but he always had a head for mischief. If another child (and occasionally, an adult) upset him, they'd find a bucket of paint being overturned on their head, or an unfortunate (but mostly harmless) accident would occur involving their feet and marbles, or... various other things. He was shameless - no, proud of his role in these pranks. His elders never approved, and from these youthful days on, he was branded as a troublesome boy with no interest in academics, which wasn't too far from the truth.

Landon really did have zero interest in academics. It wasn't because he was stupid, but because he learned much easier with his hands, not from words. As he grew older, he began to take an interest in mechanical objects. An old, broken lawnmower was far more interesting to him than any book; broken wires were a puzzle to be solved; a rusty nail gun, an experiment. He did not see these old things so much as relics as he saw them as challenges. He wanted to make things work, and he wanted to make his own.

However, Landon was a farmer and uneducated in the eyes of the heads of Calvert. He belonged in the fields, and he really would do well not to tamper with such artifacts of the past, lest he damaged them beyond repair. Anything he presented to his superiors was promptly taken for safekeeping, along with the other treasures of the old world.

So, Landon stopped taking things to his superiors. He bitterly keeps everything he tinkers with hidden in his house's old cellar, though most of what he finds he can't actually use (as they usually require electricity or gasoline). He dreams of a time when he can put his work to good use, and even more, of a time when he'll get the respect he believes he deserves.

Psychological Profile

Landon does not enjoy his lot in life. He does a fair job of hiding this fact by just acting tired, but he is really very bitter with his situation. He doesn't mind working in the fields so much, but he does mind the fact that he gets less credit for this than one of the old geezers in the library gets for reading aloud from a book. Landon feels as if his talents are wasted, and he doesn't like it one bit.

He is intelligent, to be true. He learns quickly, and he can apply what he learns just as quickly. However, he doesn't work well with words. He's at his best when he's watching someone show him what they want to explain by example, or better yet, by trying to do it himself. He doesn't want to hear about things that were; he lives in the present, and he wants to focus on the present and the future, not dwell on the past.

If there was an opportunity to change his life, Landon would take it. He knows he belongs in a station of greater power. He's worked the land; he knows the ins and outs of it; he's fired a few shots at outsiders like any good militiaman. Hell, he probably knows more about the outside world than the people with their noses crammed in their old books. The world has changed - These "United States" are nothing like the world is today, and studying about places across the ocean with names like "Russia" and "France" have nothing to do with pirates who want to take Calvert for themselves. Why can't everyone at Calvert Castle accept that and start changing, too?

Landon does care for the people of Calvert Castle, in the end, but he thinks most of them are stuck-up and lost in ancient history. He wouldn't want to see them get hurt, but at the same time, he simply can't cope with things staying the way they are.

Abilities/Talents/Knowledge

Due to his upbringing, Landon's only real education is in farming. He remembers a bit about world history and the like when he was forced to put his nose in a book, but he doesn't remember it all too well. He has been trained to work on the fields, to shoot a gun, and that's really about it.

Landon's eyesight isn't perfect. Anything at a very long distance starts to get blurry. He can still see these blurs, and can even shoot at them, but making out who the blur is or what it is can be a problem.

Of course, Landon's real talent lies in engineering. He can put scraps of metal back together to form an actual, operating object, and he can do it pretty quickly, too. He loves tinkering, though he's never had a real opportunity to put any of it to good use (except a very old sewing machine that he's gotten to work, and which has actually made him a decent sewer). He is a master of using improvised tools, and always keeps a roll of duct tape at hand.

When he's not working or tinkering, Landon likes to practice math and play board games. Since most of his day is taken up by work, however, he doesn't find much chance to do either.

As a member of the militia, Landon has some skill with a gun, but he's actually much better at hand-to-hand fighting, despite his size. He's particularly good with blunt objects.

Acquaintances/Relationships

Generally speaking, most people just accept that Landon is there, and that's it. Some people, particularly the elders, dislike him for things he's done in the past (such as tampering with relics of the past) and for his indifference toward academic learning.

Landon has always respected Dr. Colleran for being, well, a doctor, but his respect doesn't go beyond that. He's had little interaction with the old man, and he feels he's in the same crowd as the bookish geezers. He's also jealous of Giorgio McMasters; he has the sort of job Landon feels he would enjoy, especially since the water is a great place to spend alone, and that jealousy makes Landon bitter toward his older peer.

Miles Reagan, however, has Landon's utmost respect. While Landon can be stand-offish by nature, he finds the old hunter to be a good, sensible man that's worked afield and knows about the outside world. He may not go out of his way to strike a conversation with Miles, but if they happen to be talking, Landon is friendly and polite to the man.

If there is one person who induces mixed feelings in Landon, it is Flower Child. Plainly put, she confuses him. He respects her, no doubt, and if he had the time, he thinks he'd like to know her; but at the same time, he's wary of her. He's seen her shoot once, and he's seen how calmly she killed, and while he respects her all the more for that, it frightens him.

[HeySeuss]

Upon some consideration, I am widening the gap in years from the fall of civilization and current (2013-2030) to 2013-2050.

This means that survivors of the fall are even older and the first generation of kids born in the current era are also older. I'm doing this to a) make the survivors older and less physically capable and more dependent on youth and to b) create more of a disconnect from the Old World among the kids.

[HeySeuss]

I set up an IRC channel for discussion, because usually these RP's proceed better with that kind of consensus;
http://wbe001.mibbit.com/?settings=c...nel=%23Library

Or #Library on irc.foonetic.net if you're using an IRC client. The link gives you mibbit.

[Gunther]

Dr. Albert Colleran is a 68 year old Biophysicist

[HeySeuss]

Note: I could use another crew member on the Pisces. Just sayin'.

Character Sheet Stuff

Name: Giorgio "Gio" McMasters
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Hometown/Place of Origin: Calvert Castle, the Former State of Maryland

Appearance

5'9", ~160lbs and trim, Gio spends much of his time on a boat on the water and therefore is tan and trim. Hauling nets and doing work as a fisherman, as well as the other physical elements of his job and a liking for swimming have given him considerable upper body strength and a general overall good fitness. His hair is naturally dark and he wears it long, his eyebrows are on the thick side and he can't seem to shave fast enough to keep off the stubble. His jaw is fairly wide, and he has a high forehead. He has Irish baby blues, but Italian olive skin. He inherited a pouting sort of mouth from his mother and his nose is a bit wider than proportionality would dictate, but it doesn't detract; he's still got a lot going for him.

Typically, he is down to shorts on the boat, but he throws on a shirt when he's around Calvert Castle. (Because the climate is warmer than it used to be, the days are hotter, particularly in the summer.) No tattoos and no piercings; he in fact has a bit of an aversion to both after seeing some former slaves with the ones that were put on them by their masters. (Note: in the post-pandemic world, such things are probably viewed as marks of abuse in many circles.)

History

Gio McMasters was born in Calvert to parents who met there; before the fall of the old world, Terry McMasters, a graduate of the US Coast Guard Academy who got his degree in Marine engineering but cut his teeth on small boats and SCUBA during his service. His mother, Anna Marie Salucci was a Cornell-educated PhD in Marine Biology, a New Jersey native that was staff at the Shoals Marine Labratory in Appledore Island, Maine.

McMasters was tapped for the Calvert Project because he was there and he knew what he was doing with boats, whereas Salucci was brought in specially from Appledore Island as part of the Calvert Castle selection project; nature took its course as they worked together through and after the fall, and Gio was born sometime in 2026.

Gio was raised as many of the other kids were; he learned the basics of firearms and maintenance and other jobs needed for self sufficiency, but he was mostly apprenticed to his parents on their boat; it was Calvert's boat, but it was also the family home in a lot of ways. He learned the ins and out of small boat handling, SCUBA, boat maintenance and repair and how to fix things on the water in general, as well as his parents more academic inclinations, a dual apprenticeship in marine biology and marine engineering. Like the other kids, however, he spent time learning militia skills from former SFC John Minor (former Calvert militia leader, now deceased), a former member of the US Army's 5th Special Forces Group; shooting, patrolling, scouting, hunting and other skillsets that every Calvert Kid has; the ability to form up and fight as minutemen when raiders loom.

During that time, the boat, the Pisces, was used as a moving patrol to observe the movements of the world around Calvert, as well as to occasionally, when allowed, to rescue people that seemed to struggle -- it was in Terry McMasters' makeup that he couldn't just stand by when there was someone that needed saving. But the usual activities were fishing and crab traps, testing the bay to monitor the health of its wildlife and the maintenance of wind turbines in the Bay; all important jobs that meant food and power for Calvert Castle. While mostly used for observation, the Pisces still mounted weaponry, in the off chance that raiders might use boats -- most raiders, however, weren't nearly the boat handler that Terry McMasters was.

When his father died and his mother retired from the rigors of the boats and serves an academic and teaching role, he took over the Pisces, as was typical of Calvert, where apprenticeship was the new norm.

Psychological Profile

Gio is a bit of a loner; he is not comfortable in the crowd and is apt to keep his mouth shut among them. While he is well regarded for his skills, he is also seen as a bit of a solitary lone wolf, though it isn't that he is uncooperative. He has seen some of what the outside world looks like from the deck of the Pisces, and he has no desire to go any closer; the world is a shithole outside of Calvert. On the job, he is sharp and focused, though if the sun is shining and he sees the time for it, he'll go diving or windsurfing. What Calvert Castle doesn't know won't hurt them. He's used to doing his thing, though he also is willing to follow orders; when someone from Calvert needs a boat ride, he's the man to call. Often enough, his job includes ferrying forage parties to the Western shore or down the coast when something needs to be gotten from somewhere else -- the shit is tense, but he generally stays with the boat.

Romantically, he's had a few liaisons, but he's leery of getting tied down with some girl pregnant and being stuck on land, so he keeps it short and sweet; birth control isn't what it could be, after all, so he doesn't always want to risk it. The tendencies have been noted -- he's a free spirit and likes the control of his own destiny, as much of it as he can get in this shitty old world. Offshore, he's confident and happy. Onshore, he usually can't wait to get offshore again, though he is loyal to Calvert and believes in the mission -- after all, his mother is a part of that mission and she lives there.

He's engaged would-be pirates a few times, but his father and John Minor taught him well and he managed to come off on top of those skirmishes; but it's caused him some concern that they're seeing more of it with increasingly depraved bastards -- the last guys were coastal slavers, with people in fucking cages, and that didn't sit well with him.

Out on the water, he does have an old CD player that yet works, and he will happily play the music when he's on his own -- for whatever reason, he has a hardon for the Rolling Stones that he didn't get from either of his parents (country and pop lovers, respectively) proclaiming that they have a song for every possible situation you can encounter and a good answer for it.

Abilities/Talents/Knowledge

Gio has the basic militia skills everyone in Calvert generally has, but he knows far more about crew-served weaponry because he has used certain types aboard the Pisces. He knows how to pilot, navigate and repair small boats, including the engines and other components. He is good with the nuts and bolts part of science, the methods of collecting information and how to handle samples and so forth, though he is not so much a theory guy the way his mother is big on the theory and knowledge, though he's got a reasonably good grounding in that as well -- enough to be useful to his mother as she is mostly off the water these days due to age.

He's also a good fisherman and crabber; he is primarily responsible for hauling in the crab traps and other seafood, as his duties allow, to help supplement Calvert's food sources. Maryland cuisine has survived a bit into this dark era, and that means crabcakes are still very much on the menu; he is good with a knife and seems to know how to get the meat out of the crab fast (that's something they used to hire Guatemalans for, kids).

He enjoys SCUBA; if he has an addiction, it's recreational swimming, diving and windsurfing, things one can do on one's own to clear the mind. He usually sleeps on the boat, a habit of childhood, even when it's tied to land, but he is easily lured off for the promise of some sort of entertainment.

Acquaintances/Relationships

Albert - Occasionally, the doc wants a sample from the water for some reason and Gio obliges, because it's part of his job description. Anna Marie, by contrast, is much closer to Albert because they are professional colleagues.

Miles - The two occupy similar roles, though Gio is on the boat and does a variety of tasks related to things nautical and rarely sees the old man. He was taken out hunting a few times, and they seem to have a similar understanding of just how terrible the world is outside of Calvert, because they both often are the first line of defense, on opposite ends, of the Castle.

Landon - They don't really know each other, not really. Gio spent most of his time apprenticed to his parents and Landon spent much of his time in the field. Gio is polite, but it sometimes seems like he's in a rush to get back to the boat, and who can blame him? If confronted with Landon's resentment, he wouldn't be sure how to defend himself.

Flower Child - Gio isn't sure what to make of the woman; his boat was the first to come upon hers, but he held fire -- he's a reluctant warrior to begin with and he was relieved to find that he wasn't dealing with pirates. Instead, he agreed to lead her in and take her to Calvert, but something about her tweaks his antenna; he's not entirely sure why he tends to watch her out the corner of his eye when she's around, except that she's different and not of Calvert. He hears the rumors and the stories, and he knows a grain of truth is there -- she has a darkness. His reactions to that darkness are suspended somewhere between curiosity and fear. Now she's technically in charge of the militia.

Doc - Doc is a guy that Gio has a lot to do with in that he is a mechanic and the Doc is a machinist. Learning Doc's skills to a degree and understanding what the man can do is important for the maintenance of the Pisces; the old man has helped keep the boat in running condition for decades, and that is important. It's been a long-established precedent that if Doc calls, Gio will make sure he gets whatever he needs without having to step out into the wider world.

Tegan - WIP

Abigail - No relation.

Fagin - No relation.

[Meeky]

Just noting: You have to change the character sheet info for new applicants to match the new year (2050). It should be anyone younger than 37, if I'm doing my math correct, that hasn't met with the Superflu.

[HeySeuss]

Fixed. Sorry.