@Crimmy She's the frontrunner in the research of Etherion and the development of the robots that utilize it. In fact, it was her idea and design, to use giant robots to combat the monsters So she ended up becoming the one in charge, trusted with the task of building the weapons she had proposed.
There were some beef from the other scientists of course, but they soon fell silence after all her theories were proven and her designs realized. They accepted that she was really a super genius that stood above them, even with her youth.
As for administrative work, she preferred leaving most of it to her assistant. She found it mere distractions from her actual job, designing the mechs that would defeat the monsters.
Ayyo, thought you were dead! Welcome back! And now I feel like we're in an awkward situation wrt you and @Hammerman and leadership of the Science Fortress.
@Crimmy Maybe we could divide the science divisions into a mechanical side focusing on the Promethion and its improvements and one side focusing on researching Etherion and the creatures. Then there could be a shared leadership between the two.
@Crimmy Maybe we could divide the science divisions into a mechanical side focusing on the Promethion and its improvements and one side focusing on researching Etherion and the creatures. Then there could be a shared leadership between the two.
@Fourze That could work. Regina could specialize on the latter.
Honestly that's a pretty legit idea. So we'd have Ryouma as the robot guy, and Regina as someone who's more into Etherion research and the like? That might tie into her friendship with @Stern Algorithm's Michel, given his Etherion connections.
@Duoya's the only one doing a different character then?
AT 5’5” Hazel is neither tall enough nor short enough to stand out from the average, and she doesn’t make much effort to stand out at all. Her fashion sense errs on the side of formal, if she has to be out and about, but if left to her own devices she’s more than happy to lounge in comfortable clothes. The sole oddity is her fondness for turtleneck sweaters with the collar pulled up over her mouth.
Gender: Female Age: 21 Job: MAX FIRE First Independent Special Squadron Pilot, Security Consultant Personality: Quiet. Not in the sense of ‘doesn’t talk much’, but in the sense of ‘doesn’t talk at all’. Hazel’s commentary, if she gives it, comes almost entirely in the way of expressions, signs, or typed text. If the option is available. She manages to seem dry and sarcastic anyway. She isn’t particularly unfriendly, just generally disinterested in people. Unless she’s actually doing her job she’s most likely to find a quiet corner somewhere to sit with her laptop, if not retreating to her own quarters entirely. She’ll ‘talk’, if you can understand her and you have something interesting to say, but people just don’t seem to be her priority. Unlike most of MAX FIRE, who seems humanistic in the extreme, one kind of gets the impression that Hazel is just along for the robots.
Her job, however, is where passion and profession intersect. Hazel is absolutely, immeasurably fascinated with her mecha. Not just her mecha, but everyone’s mecha. It’s the one subject that will get her full attention without fail, and the only one that seems to really fire up the relatively lethargic pilot. It was what brought her to MAX FIRE’s attention, after all, when she tried to access files on the machines for her own curiosity. She will converse for hours on end with anyone in the know about them, or even about the fictional machines that inspired them, given the chance. Not everyone welcomes this, and she’ll depart without complaint if she gets the feeling people would prefer to be left alone, but such talks are one of her most humanizing traits.
Even when it comes to her teammates, she seems to prefer people in the abstract sense than the real. Skills: Significant knowledge of computer systems, as evidenced by her unlawful entry to MAX FIRE’s records. If you were to read her list of charges like a job application it’d showcase technical skill, a preternatural grasp of social engineering (for someone who doesn’t talk), a knack for operational planning, and the ability to improvise when the plan goes awry. Said improvisation included a semi-successful attempted hijacking of one of Prometheus’ components, a big piece of what landed her the gig.
Hazel isn’t much of a fighter by herself, most of her self defense amounting to pulling every dirty trick in the book and running like hell, but she’s definitely got a knack for operating her machine. What she lacks in formal understanding of tactics seems to be made up for by an understanding of every mecha trope in the book, and the willingness to test things out on the fly. Where others might not succeed, she gets by using an ever-broadening understanding of her machine’s limits and potential.
How well she works in a more cohesive team remains to be seen. Short Bio: Exactly where Hazel A. Stoll came from is a little unclear, mostly because the girl won’t say much. Records of her attendance at university corroborate her recent history, but only stretching back a few years or two; a fairly unremarkable academic record, but not one that matches up with the intelligence she displays. If anything the school seems mostly to have been a way of accessing better resources. No one that has pressed on the matter has managed to dig much deeper.
What is clear is that she’s very good at finding out things she wants to know, and this trait brought her to MAX FIRE. Whispers about what Higini Somporn was working on reached her ears, enough to make her decide that she had to know. So over the better part of a year she researched MAX FIRE painstakingly, using what networked resources she could access to study her target. Transportation of raw materials, delivery dates, bureaucratic structure, floor plans filed with local government, any little tidbit she could find, coerce, dig up or steal. Everything she found seemed to keep pointing to the same thing, so she made a plan.
Through means not entirely known (Hazel isn’t talking) she breached the Science Fortress’ perimeter under the guise of a contractor, accessed the facility, bypassed the guards on site, the facility’s physical security, and actually gained access to the Prometheus compound.
Buuut skill only gets you so far, especially when you’re dealing with effective security. Caught redhanded Hazel tried to commit grand theft mecha to make good her escape, but was apprehended. Quite stunningly, depending on who you ask, given that it ended in the ISS’ captain dragging her from the cockpit.
Between how she accessed the compound and how she managed to get anywhere trying to steal a mech, MAX FIRE had some questions for her. A long hour ensued before her would-be interrogators figured out that she didn’t speak, not that she refused. Not that she was talkative once they got an interpreter that understood American Sign Language. It’s a little uncertain who pulled what strings, but rather than being tossed to the police for a decades-long-timeout Hazel was given a choice first. Work with MAX FIRE to help keep someone else from doing what she did, and be entered into the candidate pool for pilots or cool her heels in a cell.
Armaments: -x2 MAX FIRE Etherion Beam Cannons (3x batteries per cylinder, 1x full power shot per battery, 3x three-round burst per battery) -Obari Industries “Hellfire” HEDP Missiles x16 -Reinforced Nosecone and Wings
Weakness: Though capable of significant speeds, due to its intended purpose to augment Promethion’s own movement, pushing the Shrike to its limits is hazardous to both craft and pilot. If the batteries of its main cannons are exhausted, the Shrike cannot replenish them except through docking with Promethion’s maine Etherion engine. Despite its armor, as an aerial unit the Shrike cannot persist in operation in even a limited capacity if damage is incurred that cripples its flight capabilities.
The heroes who have been trusted with humanity's future.
MAX FIRE is the greatest assemblage of minds in the history of the world, with scientists, intellectuals and experts from all walks of life having been gathered by Higini Somporn for the great crusade against the monsters that savaged human civilisation. Its domain is vast, uniting both East and West in the unrelenting, maddening quest to create that which would protect and guard mankind from all foes. There is no place on Earth where the justice of MAX FIRE cannot be found.
Yet it is Vaucanson that embodies all of MAX FIRE'S ideals.
Japan's Great Scientific Fortress.
The gates from which the mighty Promethion sallies forth.
Built upon the hallowed ground where the first of the horrible monsters was felled, the Great Scientific Fortress of Vaucanson is no mere research institute, but a terrifyingly immense citadel of knowledge and power, home to powerful defenses that truly befit its name. It is here, the core of MAX FIRE'S operations in East Asia, that experiments with Etherion are performed, and it is here that the mightiest armaments are made to combat the beasts.
Its destruction would be crippling, yet the waves of monsters break upon contact, falling prey to its power.
Sprawling towers, directing their energies against invaders.
A barrier of light, unbreakable by even the mightiest of weapons.
Professional men, able to grasp victory from even utter failure.
Indeed, the Fortress lead by the brilliant Drs Kougami and Meredith simply dares humanity's foes to strike.
The skeletal carcass of the first monster has been rooted into its walls, chained to the stone and steel.
Job: MAX FIRE 1st Independent Special Squadron Commander, Personnel Coordinator
Personality: Corinne is a cocky, commanding young woman with an indefatigable will and awe-inspiring presence. She is an obsessed, driven humanist, one who is preoccupied with the idea of her own destiny and that of her species. Her passion for humanity and the opportunity they have to keep pushing new barriers and breaking new ground has driven her into a frenzied rivalry with the kaiju; her hatred for them is borne out of a bizarre sense of respect, seeing them as humanity's final obstacle in their struggle to take command of their own fates. Every individual skirmish with every kaiju is one she sees as a step closer to that apocalyptic final battle, and it's a conflict she has no desire to miss. Her hot-blooded nature simply does not allow it.
When it comes to her relationships with individual members of her own species, Corinne can be a curious creature to pin down. Many of her relationships are kept on the surface, where her boisterousness can come across as overbearing or even aggressive. She is a party girl through and through, always one for something high octane and exciting, whether that be a particularly attractive human, car, or robot. She is a notorious flirt who openly espouses her passions regardless of sex; many of her advances can come across as mocking or insincere, however, and it is impossible to determine who she actually seeks to make a conquest of or who she is simply passing her time on. Though unlikely, she has struck up a genuinely affectionate friendship with Dr. Ryoma Kougami, constantly seeking to get him drunk, attempting to style his bishie hair, or teaching him the joys of the French cuisine of her maternal ancestry. She also tries to temper herself around the younger pilots; although these efforts are usually unsuccessful, she acts as their surrogate older sister and guardian day-to-day in the fortress, and has been known to smuggle them out into the city for clandestine shore leave or even step in on testing she finds particularly invasive.
Skills: A gifted drinker, artist, and combat athlete with a propensity for striking. A crack shot with most weaponry at a gun range in her free time, though given her country and the sheer size of her prey, this skill goes underutilized most of the time. Corinne enjoys reading fashion magazines in her spare time, as well as swimming, baseball, gambling and card games, or sex. Believe it or not, she also gets a kick out of doing the paperwork for MAX FIRE's paramilitary. She can keep it organized fairly efficiently.
Short Bio: The implacable commander began life as an ordinary, if extraordinarily ebullient, child on the Japanese mainland. Her mother had French ancestry somewhere back along the line, but otherwise Corinne was a Japanese child like any other, growing up in a miraculous era of prosperity for a country only two generations removed from the Empire's brutal defanging. Born into a life of relative privilege thanks to well-to-do parents, the young Corinne balanced decent studies (although underachieving for a student with such a dynamic and creative mind) with a zest for new adventure and thrills that eventually led to her purchasing a Celica XX (with onboard nav! The future was here!) and racing it through the streets of Yokohama for kicks through most of her teens and early twenties as a way to make some side income. Corinne was a talented racer who placed in 70% of the races she entered and had a sizable collection of pink slips ripe for the claiming at any time. Her real claim to fame was not her bulletproof record, but in the ornate lavender butterfly mask she would wear to conceal her youth and identity - that, and her love of taunting fellow racers (or the police who inevitably responded to reports of tuners racing in the streets or outskirts) into chases that she somehow always managed to slip out of. When trouble erupted, Corinne Shourichi had a way of toeing the line all the way until she'd had her fill of fun, and then unceremoniously extricating herself from a hairy situation.
She may have never been caught, if not for her parents. A fight with an ex-boyfriend had led to her coming home hours past curfew, still in her tuner regalia and mask - and trying to sneak her former flame's new girlfriend through her bedroom window.
Corinne spent the next three months languishing in jail before her release, and when she got out she was floated a deal - join the military in exchange for her charges (which were relatively minor given what races she could actually be connected with) being dropped from her record upon her discharge. The years of service began as a drag, something to teach Corinne discipline until she could while away the time living in the moment again. The beginning of the kaiju attacks changed that. One of the first strikes in Japan was on her hometown of Yokohama, and Corinne was one of the few survivors from the first wave of defenders to meet the monster at Yokohama's port. Notably, she was the woman responsible for the "Yokohama Miracle Mile," her valiant attempt to slay the kaiju on foot after her lightweight Type 70 was flipped. She did, however, lead it on a suicide run - hotwiring a vehicle and using flares to guide the creature into the aerial assault that would eventually drive it back into the ocean and slay it.
She would have been happy to fight the battles to come for the JSSDF, but her performance had clearly drawn attention from figures across the world. When Higini Somporn's global collective branched out from a team of crack scientists to add a paramilitary component, construction on the first module of what would become Promethion was already complete. Shourichi proved its most competent pilot in testing - so gifted, in fact, that she almost managed to make something mobile out of Iapheton, the failed chassis that served as precursor to MAX FIRE's mecha ambitions. The organization was impressed with Shourichi's own ambitions and determination, and she was assigned as Lifrasir's permanent pilot and Vaucanson's top military official.
Model: GAHS-CM-1 Central Module "Lífþrasir"
Specialty: Prototype Titan Control Module / Autonomous Melee Fighter
Features: -MAX FIRE v3 Etherion Engine -Dynamic stabilizer controls, allowing for a range of motion similar to a boxer's -Detachable Full Armor -Mifune-Tech Beam Magnum Targeting Reticule and Battery Speed-Loaders -No ejector seat
I lied about the new character, I'LL FORM THE LEGS!
Name: Victor Lewis
Gender: Male
Age: 22
Job: MAX FIRE Pilot
Personality: Victor is extremely egotistical and narcissistic, constantly exaggerating his feats and accomplishments and bragging, especially when women are involved. He does his best to keep situations light and jovial, even in dire situations that could mean life or death. Victor constantly seeks the approval of others, and that was the main reason he decided to become the pilot of the GAHS-CM-4. His cocky attitude isn't entirely for show - he is very skilled at piloting his mech, even when considering the fact that he has had very little time to get used to the controls. Victor has a carefree attitude, and adventurous spirit, and despite what he says, a caring heart. He would rather take a hit than let someone else take one, and will do his best to protect the people that acknowledge him.
Victors cockiness is actually an act, which he uses in order to hide his insecurities. He is terrified of being a pilot and only became one so people would respect him. Victor has an intense fear of failure and will go to nearly any length besides harming others in order to win. Additionally, he suffers Monophobia, which he developed through years of isolation and abuse. When alone, he will be extremely meek, and lack the usual hotheadedness of his 'Social Personality'. Finally, he vehemently disapproves of drugs and will refuse to even drink or smoke.
Skills: Victor is extremely proficient at handling traumatic situations, almost to a disturbing degree. Along with this, he is above average physically and can withstand physical stresses better than most.
Short Bio: Born to a poor Cuban family in Chicago, Victor lived a very depressing childhood. His mother, a woman who was struggling with a meth addiction, died when he was only 6 years old, and ever since then, his father rapidly grew more and more abusive. Being hit for no reason whatsoever and going days without food was a common occurrence during his developing years, but Victor never spoke out against the abuse. He, like many other victims of abuse, was simply too afraid of voicing his suffering and decided to suffer the abuse instead. Despite the malnutrition, Victor rapidly grew to be quite physically fit, and at the age of 15, the physical abuse stopped. Instead, emotional and mental abuse took its place. Victor was forced to stay in his small room for days at a time, and without any form of entertainment during this period of isolation, Victor quickly developed his fear of being alone. To help him through the times of loneliness, Victor decided to exercise and train his body, only increasing the fitness of his body. By the time he was 17, he was extremely popular at his high school and local gym, had decent grades, and even had a somewhat stable job. All of that only added to the shock the people in his community felt when, on a warm June night, he and his father were caught in a gruesome car accident, leaving Victor orphaned.
The accident itself was thought to be caused by Victor's father, the driver, being heavily intoxicated, and Victor luckily escaped with light wounds. In actuality, Victor's father, driving his son home after he had gotten in a brawl at the school, told him that the second they got home, Victor would be spending the next three days in his room. Victor, wallowing in a chemical cocktail or testosterone and adrenaline, began to assault his father, slapping and punching from the rear seat. This distracted his father enough to cause the pair to slam directly into a lamppost. The father, having chosen to not wear a seat belt, died after being thrown through the windshield, and hitting the metal pole face first. Victor survived with only light bruising and a sprained knee. Until he graduated school a year later, Victor had to see a psychologist on a bi-weekly basis and suffered extreme emotional stress having taken a human life. Eventually, he graduated and, no longer being cared for by the state, found a cheap apartment and continued to work at his dead-end job. Victor's personality appeared to have returned, but Victor still struggled with the scars left by his father's abuse and death. The next 4 years were a blur, composed of hooking up with random women and dreading the nights he was forced to work the graveyard shift alone. Finally, on a night of introspection in front of a cash register, Victor realized that his life would remain like this if he didn't do something about it - that was when he decided to leave the state, in search of greener pastures.
The next 3 months were spent driving around the US, surviving off of odd jobs that he found along the way. Finally, Victor stumbled upon it - a government agency known as MAX FIRE. It was here that, upon seeing the various benefits, Victor applied for a position as a janitor. While the ridicule of being a janitor at 22 was somewhat disheartening, the truly horrible occurred only a month into his employment there - the first attack. A creature of gargantuan size attacked a city, killing many innocent people. It was eventually taken out after being chased several blocks, but the damage was irreversible. Fear consumed Victor, but even more so, anger. The strong were trying to bully the weak, and that was an act that was truly despicable. This was when Victor decided to make a difference and help people for once. Sneaking into the pilot candidate pool, Victor was successfully able to prove his skill at piloting, and when it was discovered he snuck in, he was offered two choices: Become the pilot of the fourth component, or face life imprisonment for sneaking into government facilities. Victor chose the former, becoming the pilot of 'Sharur'.
Model: GAHS-CM-4 Lower Module "Sharur"
Specialty: Surprise Assault / Underground Support
Features:
Arguably one of the most durable mechs. Strong hull capable of withstanding both damage and pressure.
Exhaust vents, double as a smoke screen in enclosed spaces.
Armaments:
Dozens of missiles designed to drill through the earth and pierce enemy hulls.
Large, destructive drill.
Weaknesses:
Joints are obviously weak, can be easily cut.
Slow walking speed, Drilling speed isn't much better.
