Name: Gregory McCoy
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Occupation: Shop Owner and Technician, Reserve ESF Officer
Appearance: Gregory is a man of fairly average height, with ill-maintained brown hair. He possesses a mildly athletic build, not so much as to be muscular, but enough to be noticeably fit. His face usually bears a cheerful and pleasant expression, and a grin is never far from his features. He is usually cleanshaven, though after a few days of concentrated work he may or may not have had time to shave. His hazel eyes glow with the same cheerful light as his expression, but an undercurrent of shrewd curiosity is eternally present.

On a day to day basis, Gregory is often clad in a slightly dirty set of casual clothes. After all, the wares he sells and installs aren’t usually exactly clean. When the need arises, he dons a basic suit for operation of mobile suits. Said suit is primarily gray in color with detailing in black, and bears the ESF insignia.
Personality: Most of the time, Gregory is an incredibly friendly individual. He does his best to be helpful to anyone who needs it, and tends to be quite reasonable. That said, he also has a very distinct “do it yourself” attitude; as the owner and sole consistent employee of his own shop, he handles almost every aspect of the business himself, from book keeping, to repairs, to sales and acquisitions. Due to the nature of his shop, he has all kinds of people come through, and as a result, tends to have a pretty good idea of the city’s state of affairs.

Despite his affable demeanor, however, he has zero tolerance for those who would inflict harm upon others. More than one robber has learned the hard way that “nice” does not mean “helpless”, as has anyone who has made the mistake of attempting similar activities within his notice.
Skills:
-Decent mobile suit pilot
-Good technician; possesses a wide range of repair skills, applicable to mobile suits and other technologies.
-Highly observant
Equipment:
-Tool kit
-Personal defense sidearm
Biography:
Gregory’s grandfather, Abraham Martin, was born eighty one years ago, after the war had already been raging for several decades. Born and raised in North America, he grew up primarily on military bases. His father was a ESF pilot, before the dissolution of the Federation, and his mother dealt with overseeing mobile suit maintenance. Due to the circumstances of his childhood, it wasn’t at all surprising when he joined the NAL military upon turning eighteen. Originally the pilot of a RGM-79 GM, he proved a highly skilled pilot during the South American campaign, maintaining a high rate of enemies confirmed terminated before his machine was finally shot down at the end of the campaign. However, his superiors had taken note and he was reassigned to a mobile suit team of pilots with similar skill. On this team, codenamed Phantom Strikers, he filled a long range support role, originally in a GM Sniper Custom, and later in the mass produced RGM-79SP GM Sniper II. By this time, however, he was assigned to the European Front, where he would remain for several decades. During this time, he had a daughter who fell in love with a pilot on the European Front.

His daughter, and Corvin McCoy, the German pilot, were Gregory’s parents. During Gregory’s infancy, however, his father’s unit was shot down in battle over Russia, leading his mother to go to his grandparents for help raising him. As a result, Gregory grew up a resident of New Anaheim’s middle class, living with his father in one of the few decent districts of the city. By the time the war ended, eleven years ago, Abraham Martin had retired from active service, though he kept the last unit he piloted; a GM Sniper III. Since Gregory’s mother was usually working, his grandparents more or less raised him. He took particularly well to his grandfather, who constantly regaled him with exciting stories from his own past. Additionally, he made sure that his grandson was well-educated, despite the dismal state of traditional schooling. It is due to this insistence that Gregory possesses the skills he uses to run his shop.

When Gregory grew a little older, just before the war ended, his grandfather took him into a mobile suit for the first time. The young pre-teen was instantly fascinated, and from that day on, his grandfather set about teaching him everything he knew, both about piloting and maintenance. Even after the war ended, he kept learning. Like his grandfather, Gregory had every intention of becoming a member of the local defense forces. To that end, when he was seventeen, his grandfather obtained another mobile suit; the CMS-B/67 Shaldoll. The Shaldoll was an attempt by the Commonwealth States to create an easily customizable and upgradable baseline unit, and as a result, was built off of the data from the original RGM-79 GM. Due to the shortage of available facilities, however, it was built using significant portions of the same internal design. As a result, the Shaldoll shares most of its parts with the GM series. The only original parts were its armor and armaments, the internal workings, bar a few innovations, were taken whole cloth from the RGM-79. A few years after it was put into service, however, the baseline Shaldoll was discontinued, as it was eventually realized that it was simply unnecessary, given the ubiquitous nature of the GM.

The Shaldoll was in horrific shape when it was first purchased, and the first year or two of ownership were spent rebuilding it from the ground up. It was then that Abraham taught his grandson his own philosophy; to always remember the old with the new. His own GM, he explained, incorporated some part of every machine he had ever piloted. With this philosophy known, the pair began their work, patching the Shaldoll with parts from scrapped GMs and other mobile suits from the family. As a result, by the end, it was difficult to say what parts were original and what had been replaced. The mobile suit was given a dark gray paint job, and then it was done; Gregory had his first mobile suit. Due to its basis in the GM line, its controls were nearly identical, and his grandfather was able to teach him easily, despite his advanced age. They even held a few mock battles, between the newly repaired Shaldoll and Martin’s old GM Sniper III.

When the NAL began selling excess or disused materials in an attempt to fight off economic problems, Gregory was struck with inspiration; With his grandfather’s backing, he purchased one of the League’s old military bases, the same one Abraham has been stationed at in his youth. With a little work, it was restored and re-furnished to become a shop; more specifically, a maintenance shop. He bought old parts, old machines, fixed them up enough to sell, or otherwise sold them for parts. The old mobile suit bays served as storage, both for parts, and for both his Shaldoll and his grandfather’s GM. Remembering his old matches, he also registered as a reserve officer in the newly reformed ESF’s defense forces; given their initially dire lack of manpower, he tended to be called in fairly often. Whenever it happened, he tended to enlist either his grandfather, or his mother to run the shop in his absence. For several years, this relatively comfortable pattern continued.

Things changed, however, with the attack of the mysterious mobile suit. Despite his advanced age, and many protests from Gregory’s mother, Abraham sortied in his GM Sniper to help protect the city. Gregory had launched as well, taking part in the conflict against the vastly superior assailant. Surprisingly, both came out alive; Gregory by the skin of his teeth, and with more than a little damage to the Shaldoll, but they both had. However, Abraham’s age had finally taken its toll. Dulled reflexes, a slowly failing heart; if he fought again, he knew, he would either be shot down or his body wouldn’t be able to take it. So he visited his grandson in the shop, and told him what he wanted to do; handing over the access codes to the GM, he informed him he wanted Gregory to carry on his philosophy of remembering the old with the new.

In accordance with that wish, Gregory began work on the Shaldoll anew, under his grandfather’s watchful eye. It was taken apart completely, and rebuilt with parts from the GM Sniper III, bringing its manufacturing specs in line with the last generation of GMs. Sections of the Shaldoll were replaced entirely in favor of parts from the Sniper, and nearly a month later, it was done. Rebuilt, and freshly painted, was the newly made RGM-C350S Shaldoll Scout. A legacy of all the mobile suits to come before it.
Weaknesses:
-Minimal personal combat ability
-Minimal knowledge of group tactics

~Mech Profiles~

Model: RGM-C350S Shaldoll Scout
Specialization: Variable Response
Appearance:

Weapons:
-Beam Saber
-BOWA BR-M-82L-9 L-9 Type Beam Rifle (Taken from the GM Sniper)
-3-Tube Missile Launcher
-Multi-Purpose Launcher
The right shoulder mounted multi-purpose launcher that can be loaded with rounds that release a polymer to disrupt enemy sensors.
-Shield
Capabilities: The Scout is designed to locate, isolate, and deal with threats as needed. To that end, it is designed for increased mobility, reasonable survivability, and a varied weapons loadout. The Shaldoll’s original sensors, indeed most of the head unit, were replaced by the GM Sniper’s equipment to allow for more accurate targeting and long range capabilities. Its armor and thrusters were similarly augmented, resulting in a reasonably armored, but more importantly, nimble (by mobile suit standards) machine.

The Scout, as a variable response unit, is designed to scout out threats, and engage as necessary. Since it isn’t a specialized machine, the result is a mobile suit that excels in taking on any foe necessary with hit and run tactics, or otherwise rushing in to finish off an already weakened enemy. Due to the nature of its tactics and weapons, it is quite capable at moving about swiftly, but its most effective points are long and short range.
Weaknesses:
-Mid-range combat: The Scout possesses minimal mid-range armament. As such, while it is highly capable at long range or close combat, its ability to fight at a distance between them is fairly minimal.
-Low ammunition: The majority of the Scout’s weapons have limited ammunition. As such, when they run out, his capabilities are greatly impacted.

Name: Hunter S. Marlowe

Age: 22

Gender: Male

Occupation: Freelance Journalist/Private Investigator

Appearance: Hunter possesses a lean figure, standing rather tall and lanky in comparison to most people. His skin is a little tanned from years of living under the sun and he has long black hair that falls messily to his shoulders. His hazel eyes reflect a certain sense of intelligence and curiosity, and his clothes often appear to be rather messy.

In terms of clothing, Hunter’s most treasured article is his trusty black trilby, which adorns the top of his head constantly. The rest of his clothing tends to be simple pants, and a collared shirt with a vest. Despite the somewhat dressed up appearance, the clothes rarely are anything that could encumber his movements.

Personality: Hunter is a very determined person, when he sets his mind to something he will see it through to the end, regardless of how terrible a situation may appear. As a result he can often appear rather stubborn and unyielding. However as a reporter he knows when to back down and listen, but this doesn’t mean he always does.

Hunter also has a habit of talking excessively, particularly regarding whatever case he may be working on. This, like many of his habits, often seems to irritate others. Regardless Hunter’s inquisitive mind, won’t stop him from asking questions of anyone, particularly if he believes they can assist in his current case.

Skills: Hunter demonstrates a keen sense of street smarts, able to adapt to the whims of a situation and easily communicate with others. His piloting skills and reflexes are also topnotch and despite his lack of formal education he is a rather decent writer. It also should be noted that his life in the slums has made him literally quick on his feet. However ultimately his greatest skill is his inquisitive mind and ability to reach precise deductions of situations.

Equipment: Hunter really only possesses three items of note, his trusty notepad, his ancient camera and his ever present trilby.

Biography: Hunter’s early childhood wasn’t all that unique. He grew up in the slums under the tutelage of his loving parents. Like most kids in growing in the slums, he had dreams of traveling to the inner city, and repairing the neighborhood he lived in. Not dreams all that grand to be sure, but they were still his dreams, and he was proud about them. This early dreams, and the support of his parents, kept him happy and optimistic despite the poor conditions of his family.

Hunter’s father on the other hand, was not nearly as normal. He was a newspaper editor in the slums, working day in and day out to expose the crimes going on in the slums. Obviously this wasn’t exactly a safe occupation, as it would often make enemies out of rather dangerous people. Despite this, Hunter’s father pushed on, trying to realize his own dreams of exposing the crimes of the corrupt and protecting the weak and innocent.

Meanwhile Hunter’s mother would bring in the bulk of the family’s income working as a mechanic. Many of Hunter’s neighbours would oft stop by for repairs, and as such Hunter was quickly exposed to seeing his mother’s work. Not to mention a pile of spare parts soon built up in warehouse across the street from their house.

Growing up, Hunter gained much experience in the fields of his parents, often accompanying and seeing their work first hand. With his father he learned what it takes to truly investigate and remained composed. Not to mention his writing was improved as well. Hunter has many memories of accompanying his father at one stake out or another.

With his mother, Hunter learned the basics of modification and repair, even if it wasn’t in a rather formal sense. In fact, when Hunter was only nine a Flag crashed into their warehouse, its pilot nowhere to be seen. Seeing it has a fun hobby, and a good opportunity to teach Hunter some more, his mother assisted Hunter in repairing and modifying it. To this day, Hunter has continued to work on his Flag.

What started as a simple hobby and bonding time for mother and son, soon extending beyond just repairing the Flag. As Hunter grew older, he also grew more daring, constantly sneaking away and practicing in his Flag. There were a few close calls when he was mistaken as an enemy unity, but thanks to the speed of his mech, Hunter was always able to escape. His frequent piloting gave him great competency in piloting his mech, at least for evasive purposes.

However Hunter’s fairly carefree childhood soon took its first major blow. Just 2 years after he had first begun working on his mech with his mother, the slums became a major hotspot for a devastating battle in the final year of the war. Many different factions were drawn into the conflict, the collateral count quickly escalating as a result.

Unfortunately for Hunter, his mother was one of the many casualties. With the dust had settled, and the factions had withdrawn from the pointless conflict, the body count of the slums had racked up. The destruction to the properties rendered the already desolate slums to nothing more than a scattering of ruins. The war had taken a massive toll on his home.

The death of his mother caused Hunter’s father to become even more engrossed in his work. Day in and day out, Hunter would see his father either hunched over his typewriter or he would out and about actively investigating. Just like that, Hunter’s home became rather lonely, and so the young boy started investing even more time into his Flag.

With his father out and about, and his mother gone, Hunter soon found the time to even scavenge a few weapons for his Flag. However anything that wasn’t melee based turned out to be difficult for him to utilize. The exception was a sniper rifle he had found, to which he had a fixed a camera for long range photography.

However as the years went by, and Hunter invested more time in his Flag, his father dug himself into even deeper holes as his investigations continued. Hunter’s father soon started digging up even more dirty secrets of the city, and as such started being targeted for the knowledge he possessed.

When Hunter was in his late teens, his father almost meant an untimely end we had dug too deep. Targeted by some of the organized crime in the slums, he was silenced as a way to prevent him from reporting and spreading some of his findings. Hunter himself luckily managed to avoid being entangled in the whole ordeal and escaped unharmed.

However the death of both his parents inspired Hunter to do something more, something greater than just busy himself in his flag. Experiencing first hand much of the cruelty and corruption of the world he lived in, Hunter resolved to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a freelance reporter and investigator himself. Hoping to reveal that corruption to the world.

To this end Hunter converted his run down warehouse of home into a just as rundown detective agency. Over the years Hunter has taken on many requests from his neighbors in the slums, from finding lost kittens to saving lost children to negotiating a trade deal, if someone offered him a job Hunter undertook. Afterwards he’d write up the details of the case, and even published in newspaper form some of the stories.

Of course business isn’t all that great, and newspapers are rarely read these days, but Hunter somehow finds ways to manage. In his constant free time, Hunter has often undergone his own investigations, as he hopes to uncover more of the world’s secrets.

The recent attack has only served to increase Hunter’s interest, and he hopes to uncover more information on the mysterious mobile suit.

Weaknesses: Hunter possesses no experience in any actual combat, both in his mech and out. As such if he is ever unable to escape from a fight, it could be rather easy to take him down. He tends to prefer working alone, and thus aside from asking questions or gathering information, he’s bad at asking for help from others. Also while he possesses a rather sharp and intelligent mind, his lack of a formal education has left him not all that book smart. Things such as history, and advanced mathematics mean nothing to him. Finally he has a habit of getting caught up in the big picture, and not always noticing the current obstacles.