As I work through some character ideas, I was curious if you had a specific age range that you wanted us to shoot for? Would it be ok to go with a more mature character (maybe 50s or 60s)? He wouldn't be as physically adept as some of his younger counterparts, but I could still see him contributing to the group, perhaps as the negotiator or the chauffeur.
That would be perfectly fine! I didn't have any age in mind. In fact, if the characters were more varied and different from one another, that might add intrigue to the story.
Samuel Zheng, the Medic. Mostly complete but still subject to change, all comments and criticism incredibly welcome. And if anyone can think of a Vice for this guy you would be helping me massively.
S A M U E L Z H E N G 29 | MALE | 6'1" | O-
General Information
NAME: Samuel Shirong Zheng
PSEUDONYM: TBA
APPEARANCE: Samuel has inherited traits from both his Chinese father and his American mother. His height comes from his mother's side, standing a few inches over any of the men on his father's side. His face, however, is almost an exact replica of his father's when he was Samuel's age. He has warm, olive skin and dark brown almost black hair, cut short and neat. He allows his facial hair to grow but only in a controlled way, keeping to his jawline and something of a budding goatee. His features are sharp and small. In terms of build, Samuel is slender, having never really done much strenuous exercise or gym work to build muscle but also keeping himself fit and healthy through his diet. When not at work, he favours comfort over style, often mismatching a baggy hoodie with comfy shorts when the weather allows and switching to jeans when the climate is less forgiving. Many would agree that Sam has essentially no fashion sense, instead just wearing whatever he wants rather than concerning himself with brands or appearances.
OCCUPATION: Before being recruited by Gage, Samuel was a veterinary surgeon with the Manhattan Veterinary Group in New York City. Due to working in a city Samuel primarily worked with domestic pets, although has been faced with a few odd cases before. His experience with various animals has equipped him to deal with a number of situations both in surgery lasting over 12 hours and emergency action of the utmost importance. He is knowledgeable, precise and cool under pressure, but he has never actually performed surgery on a human before.
VIRTUE: Caring Samuel is a deeply caring and emotional person. He loves his family and forms strong attachments to people he likes, often too quickly. A desire to help others and make the world a better place for the people he cares about drives everything he does, and his work as a vet has given him the opportunity to help by saving cherished family pets. Now, he has a bigger opportunity. Samuel is affectionate and can often be overbearing thanks to his determination to be of assistance to others that can come across as needy or just plain annoying. He sees his caring nature as a gift rather than a curse; his compassion makes him understanding and pleasant, and although it can lead to him getting hurt or being manipulated, he believes the good he does outweighs any possible negatives.
VICE: TBA
PERSONAL GOALS: Samuel was perfectly happy in his previous occupation and would have one day liked to save enough money to move out of New York and set up a clinic of his own somewhere in the countryside with his family. He still holds onto that dream, but since he was wrapped up in Gage's scheming it seems like a foolish fantasy. He is hoping one day he will be able to return to his normal life with his family, but hopes that through his own involvement when he does return to normality he will do so in a better world free from much of the evil and injustice that plagues it. Pyramid Microsystems is just step one.
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY: Samuel does not see himself as any sort of hero, believing that it is his duty to help others. He is still confused and concerned by what he has found himself swept up in since his contact with Gage, unsure of his place in it all and if he should really be there, but is too far involved to back out now that he is partial to secret knowledge about the events that transpired in the Beacon. Attempting to make the best of his situation, Samuel is committed to doing right by the members of his team, lending support and help wherever possible. He is not motivated by anything more than his own curiosity surrounding the suspicious events and a desire to do good in a world where so much negativity and evil is rife.
โบChinese Takeaways โบHorror Movies โบMost Celebrities โบSmoking โบSocial Media โบSwimming
QUIRKS:
โบSuperstitious Samuel is highly superstitious, stemming from his father's highly traditional Chinese family. Although not religious, he does believe in the soul and in luck, good and bad, although he is more sceptical on concepts like karma and fate. As a result of his upbringing Samuel clings to a plethora of trinkets that he believes bring him good luck and protect him from evil and misfortune.
Background Information
โIf you're not making someone else's life better, you're wasting your time.โ
Samuel was born in Allentown, a city in eastern Pennsylvania roughly halfway between Philadelphia and New York. Samuelโs father, Bojing Zheng, was a Chinese immigrant, having travelled to the USA as a boy with his mother, father and older brother in 1961. Samuelโs father grew up moving from town to town, taking any work he could to help settle his family in this new land. Eventually he met Samuelโs mother while working as a cleaner at a veterinary clinic, an established veterinary surgeon named Olivia, soon to be Olivia Zheng. The pair married in 1989 and on January 14th, 1990, Samuel Zheng was born and would be the pairโs only child.
Samuelโs upbringing was a very traditional one. From a young age his parents pushed him to excel, encouraging him to go above and beyond in his studies and using classic ploys like no tv until youโve done your homework to keep young Samuel focussed on his studies. Having struggled his whole adult life to make ends meet and ultimately amounting to very little, Bojing wanted his only son to have a much more comfortable life than he did and to be a success. Inspired by his mother, whoโs job had allowed them to settle down into a comfortable house, Samuel decided he would pursue a career in medicine, eventually deciding he wanted to be a vet like his mother.
At 15, Samuel and his family moved to New York after his mother was offered a high-paying consultancy job at a veterinary clinic in Manhattan. Samuel adapted well to the change of school and town, having had very few close friends in Allentown. In New York he fared much better, but the sudden input of a healthy social life caused Samuelโs focus to shift away from his studies. Samuel was much happier spending his time with friends; he joined a local soccer team to play at weekends, frequented gigs with school friends and became a regular at his local cinema. Samuel had his first love at 17 but it ended within the year after she cheated on him. He recovered quickly though, thanks to the supportive group of friends around him.
From the moment he had decided to become a vet, Samuel had his sights focused on attending the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine. His motherโs connections and money were sufficient to get him an interview, but Samuelโs grades dipped, and he missed the threshold for admission, forcing him to look elsewhere. Instead he attended the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in New England, moving away from home for an initial four year degree plus an additional one year extension to further his surgical training and become a fully qualified veterinary surgeon.
After graduating at the age of 23, Samuel returned to New York to live with his parents and began what would be a relatively successful career as a vet, initially taking up a role as a junior vet at the Symphony Veterinary Centre with his mother worked. After working there for a couple of years he saved enough money to rent an apartment across town and move out of his parentsโ house, and just a year later got a job working as a veterinary surgeon with the Manhattan Veterinary Group.
Although it didn't seem the case at the time, the events of June 6th 2019 would drastically change the course of Samuel's life. At around half 3 Samuel was passing by the Beacon, travelling to the clinic ready for the late shift on emergency call. He had seen someone, a man or a woman he couldn't be sure, entering the building through a side door, and remarked to himself that it was bizarre they did not simply use the front doors. All of 15 minutes later, as he was arriving for work, the news broke that the Beacon was surrounded by almost every police officer and the city and a hostage situation was transpiring.
He thought back to the person he had seen, but they didn't look suspicious. There was no way that one person could gave caused all this chaos themselves and the odds that he had seen one of the terrorists who was holding businessmen had to be minimal. He tried his best to force it from his mind but his fixation on the situation, on the tv screens and the coverage, made it difficult. He even had the coverage on the radio during surgery, for days after the building was stormed. His fascination found him spending all his time tracking the case, and it was in a bar after finishing his shift on a Friday that Samuel encountered a bizarre man named Gage.
Operative Information
T H E M E D I C
ROLE DESCRIPTION: Samuel is a trained medical professional and operates as such within Gage's team, using his knowledge and surgical skills for everything from friendly chats about why you have a headache to performing life-saving operations. Samuel has many traits that are reassuring for someone in his line of work; he is precise, methodical, logical, and thorough. However, there is one major issue with Samuel working as a medic in the group. He is a vet. Samuel has never worked in a medical setting with people before and it's safe to say that not everyone is so keen to fall under the knife when the guy holding it is used to saving puppies. It doesn't help that Samuel is far from reassuring due to his tendency to tell you in vivid detail just how bad your injury is. Nevertheless he is determined and diligent and won't stop doing what he is doing and trying to save others just because some don't think he can. Ultimately, he sees saving and helping people as his duty and it will take a lot more than a few people doubting him to stop him from doing it.
POSSESSIONS: โบVarious lucky effects, such as mystic knots, lucky coins and symbolic keyrings like Baxia the turtle dragon.
SKILLS:
โบComposure Samuel is calm and collected under pressure, used to performing life-or-death surgeries under high pressure circumstances. Over time he has become used to the feeling and is able to bury his feelings in the moment and operate without it making too noticeable a difference to his practice. This has translated to many areas of his life; Samuel hardly feels the heat anymore.
โบSteady Hands As a trained and experience surgeon Samuel is precise and steady, often working with extremely little to no margin for error of any kind. In this line of work even a millimetre too far to the left could mean the difference between saving a life and ending it, and as such Samuel has developed incredible precision in his actions.
FLAWS:
โบAttachment While not so bad a trait generally speaking, Samuel has a terrible habit of becoming personally attached to others far too easily. It makes things difficult as a failure, even if entirely unavoidable or against incredibly stacked odds, is often shouldered by Samuel as though he is personally responsible, and his deep emotional ties to those he could not save cause him a tremendous amount of pain.
โบBrutal Honesty Sam will never sugarcoat it, even when he really, really should. Despite having only the best intentions and determination to save, he creates panic and worry by putting things as bluntly as he possibly can, and is blissfully unaware of his tendency to do so.
โบStubbornness Sam is not so stubborn in regards to being told what to do, but hates to be told he cannot do something. Even when the situation is hopeless or it is too far gone for him to do anything anymore, Sam clings to the hope that he can turn things around and will stubbornly continue working. The stubbornness stems from his attachment and his utter unwillingness to let go of those he cares about.
โบYou're not even a real doctor! Although as a vet Sam is technically qualified to perform surgery on both animals and humans, he has never actually done so or even worked in a medical setting with people. Everything he knows about human biology and surgery comes from classroom practical settings and textbooks, and his inexperience will no doubt leave many feeling somewhat sceptical of his ability.
SECRET COUNT: 1
NOTES:
Name
Relationship
Diana Lotus
[Write out your character's opinion and relationship with the character in question.]
In the left corner, this man is the undisputed prince of pugilism, the Bronx Bulldog, the ring is his kingdom. 6 feet tall and weighing in at 180 pounds, 81.1 kilograms, from New York of the U.S of A, he's a newcomer who's ready to rumble......
JONAH REMINGTON
29 | Male | 6'0 | B-
General Information
NAME: Jonah Jack Remington
PSEUDONYM: Arnold Donald
APPEARANCE: Jonah is the living incarnation of a patchwork doll, a weathered mountain of a man who everyone avoids. Yet, in spite of his seemingly intimidating visage, there's a hint of melancholy that leaks through the cracks every now and then. His face tells of a long genetic heritage of violent encounters, a long square jaw and boulder-like skull topped with a mop of shaved sandy, blonde hair. His two eyes glint differently from one another, his real one a pool of green while his glass prosthetic remains an imperfect copy, a still mirror.
Jonah prefers to wear rugged and durable plain-cloth apparel, his wardrobe consisting of buttoned, collared shirts and canvas pants in faded colors. In recent times, he's taken to wearing a long sleeve shirt to hide his amputated right arm, although, it often leaves one empty sleeve dangling like a shriveled branch from his shoulder. Stripes of boxing tape are often wrapped around the palm of his right hand.
OCCUPATION: Jonah once was a professional boxer, touted to represent the USA in the Olympics, before washing out and retiring early after a controversial match. Now, Jonah works as a boxing trainer at Jerry's Boxing Consortium down by the Upper West Side.
VIRTUE: HONOR - In spite of his inability to be sensitive nor handle social situations with a great deal of care, Jonah is the very model of what it means to be an honorable man. Jonah will not be swayed by any means to negotiate doing morally ambiguous actions for the 'greater good' nor does he take part in lying to his close friends or family. Throughout crises or difficult situations, he will always maintain his moral compass, no matter the cost. He ultimately believes in doing the right thing no matter what and believes in treating his friends as well as his enemies fairly in return. Jonah can always be counted on to be the first man who acts as a check to those who would propose solutions that would be deemed....questionable.
VICE: TEMPER - Unfortunately, Jonah's sense of honor is often warped by his tendency towards anger. His foul temper often flares and rises like a inferno, appearing in the worse of times and mainly stems from his feelings of ineptitude and lack of self worth. Whenever an opposing party is in the wrong, Jonah forgoes the concept of mercy and moves straight to punishment without any second thought. Though he can control his temper in trivial and small matters, one can be expected for him to respond with anger if he becomes impatient or perceives something as morally wrong.
Attempting to rationalize or to reason with Jonah when he is angry may prove difficult and often results in friendly fire. Jonah's predilection towards responding with threats of physical violence which he usually follows up on makes it extremely difficult for him to maneuver through situations that require delicate diplomacy.
PERSONAL GOALS: Living in a state of ennui for the last few years in self-imposed shame and grief over his crippled body and loss of his boxing license, Jonah has joined Gage in a last-ditch attempt to get revenge on Pyramid Micro-Systems, his former sponsors, for not providing sponsorship fees for his medical bills. Though he never mentions it outwardly, Jonah has also joined Gage's group in order to accumulate enough money to buy himself a new prosthetic arm in which to make him 'whole' again, not realizing that being physically whole doesn't equate to being mentally whole.
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY: Jonah is an individualist once defined himself as a man who lives his life by tackling his problems head-on instead of avoiding them, by transforming yourself instead of waiting for the world to transform for you. He prides on being able to solve his problems by himself instead of relying on other people or a collective. Since his injury, his beliefs in being self-independent have deteriorated and spiraled into a form of destructive self-depreciation where he continues to push himself to his limits and blames himself for every conceivable mistake. However, he attempts to hide this behind his braggadocio.
FEARS - Defeat - Dark, Enclosed Spaces - Being Useless
LIKES - Classical Music - Combat - All You Can Eat Buffets - Exercise - Swimming in Pools - Friendly Sparring - Cheesy 80s Movies
- By mistake, Jonah forgets that his right arm is missing when he reaches out for a handshake or to grab something.
- Jonah is prone to hyperbolic trash-talking and posturing in tense situations in an attempt to increase his own confidence.
Background Information
โ I've fought many things, you see. I arm wrestled a tornado. Hospitalized a tree. Won a staring contest with the sun. Yet, time's the guy that always knocks me out.โ
A Manhattan native by birth, living a life full of early expectations wasn't the ideal one that Jonah imagined when his father took him to his first boxing gym at the age of 8. Jonah took to training like a fish to water and was told by his father from a young age that boxing wasn't just a sport, boxing would be his way of life. Training and coached relentlessly everyday, Jonah applied for amateur boxing tournaments and rose up through the ranks, astounding lay-men and watchers with his deadly accuracy and ballerina like footwork. Jonah eventually received a state-sanctioned boxing license and began fighting in professional matches, televised, live. Soon enough, a promoter contacted him with an interesting proposition. A sponsorship from the multi-national corporation, Pyramid Micro-Systems.
Pyramid Micro-Systems marketing department had recently made endeavours into promoting their products through the world of sports and was aiming to use Jonah as a pipeline into the world of boxing. Reviewing the potential benefits and risks of accepting Pyramid Micro-systems as a sponsor, Jonah accepted the deal right into one of his first major professional matches with Markus Jorgensen, current welterweight boxing champion with a stellar record of 20-1.
The match was controversial to say the least. Perhaps looking for old glory or unwilling to let go of his belt so easily, Markus Jorgensen had one last trick up his sleeves. Or rather his gloves. When Jonah stepped into the ring and began duking it out with the 10 year veteran, he immedietely noticed that there was something wrong. Markus's punches felt like kissing a highway car and drawed blood far more easier than they should have. By the time he realised something was wrong, Markus had Jonah over the ropes and was pounding him relentlessly. Before the cheating champ was restrained by the referee, Markus landed a combination of haymakers that tore out Jonah's left eye. The attempt to knock him out had gassed Markus and with the last vestiges of his strength, Jonah landed a haymaker that blew Markus onto his back before blacking out.
Waking up in a hospital, disoriented and confused, Jonah woke up to his father explaining the details to him. A safety commission had investigated Markus's conduct during the match and discovered the boxing gloves had been lined with lead. Furthermore, Pyramid Microsystems refused to give Jonah medical assistance and had rescinded and terminated the terms of their sponsorship, claiming that they didn't want to be further involved with him after the incident. Jonah was still adamant on not suffering an early retirement and promised to sue Pyramid Micro-Systems for not providing him the sponsorship deal that they had discussed. Disaster struck again as Jonah drove away from Pyramid Micro-System's office in a fit of rage-induced driving, only to end up in an car accident that had resulted in the permanent amputation of his arm. That had been the final straw for poor Jonah and he threw his hat into the ring, giving up on his dreams of being a professional boxer and signing up as a boxing trainer at a local gym.
Lost within the hours of teaching amateurs how to do a proper job and bereft of the spirit that had left him all those years ago, Jonah was desensitized to the news of the alleged terrorist attack at the Beacon on June 16th, 2019. While he didn't expect it to impact him at all, Jonah soon found out that several members of the gym had been affected, as several of their family members and friends had been all affected. Troubled by the sense of powerlessness and the fact that he couldn't just solve a problem by punching it, Jonah retired to a seedy night-club within New York.
Finding himself in a pub and ordering a lager, Jonah heard the sound of someone sitting behind him, wood scratching on the floor. Briefly considering whether or not the probability of a bar fight was going to become certain in the next few minutes, Jonah found his worries assuaged when the stranger paid for his tab in a generous offer. Struck by this act of benevolence, Jonah asked what his name was.
" Gage. And I've got an interesting offer to make you, Jonah Remington...."
Operative Information
[THE ENFORCER]
ROLE DESCRIPTION: When the mission requires a more direct approach and tasks demanding physical effort are required, Jonah's aptitude in pugilistic endeavors and athletic ability has placed him in the perfect role of the Enforcer. In situations that involve physical violence and intimidation, Jonah is the perfect man for the job to, for a better lack of word, beat the shit out of anyone that might oppose their mission objective. His ability to respond to close quarter situations and skill in unarmed combat allows him to dispatch any threat to the group. His specialization in boxing as well allows him to act as a perfect field operative for being able to operate in environments that are composed of multiple moving variables.
When working alongside members of the group that specialize in changing the variables of the environment, Jonah acts as a force multiplier, allowing the aims of the entire group to be achieved much faster.
POSSESSIONS: Roll of Boxing Tape and a box of Tic-Tacs.
SKILLS
//The Art of Effective Communication
- Or rather the fist. In spite of his embarrassing professional record, Jonah is quite capable as an boxer and is capable of properly taking down any opponent with a textbook uppercut, jab or hook. Years of training have created an encyclopediac library of muscle memories that form a fighter's intuition. Lastly, his knowledge of vital points and areas of weakness in a human body allows him to efficiently incapacitate any opponent in a short amount of time without wasting precious energy, even though it might be life threatening to a certain extent.
//Move like a Bee, Sting like a Butterfly
- That's not the correct quote but being able to move fast and hit hard worked for one of the famous boxers in the world. With footwork and agility drills ingrained into his body, Jonah's fast-paced reflexes allow him to react quickly to situations without a second thought and stay calm in the middle of heavy action.
FLAWS
//One Arm Tied Behind My Back
- There's not much you can do with one arm. In spite of Jonah's attempts to adapt to life, having two arms is undoubtedly better than being an amputee, making it much more harder for him to accomplish tasks that would be simple to a normal individual.
//Blind-Spot
- Most people manage seeing with one eye but Jonah finds it difficult to live with an imperfect field of peripheral vision, which can make life all the more difficult for him. While he's gotten used to it over time, it's something that smart individuals can take advantage of given the right circumstances.
//Rules of the Game
- Deriving from his background in professional boxing, Jonah is a firm believer in not committing to any actions that would be morally ambiguous or that would involve serious criminal activity. Though it's not the extent that he's a pacifist, Jonah will always be the first one to speak out when any member of the group proposes actions that would be normally sketchy.
//I'll Talk With My Fist
- Despite having taken several anger management courses, albeit online ones, Jonah's response to any opposition is to use violence. Of course, physical brutality isn't his first response to every situation but rather, it's his first instinct. Of course, instincts shouldn't be relied on when handling situations that require finesse or delicacy....
SECRET COUNT: ZERO
NOTES:
Not satisfied but I will try to make edits tomorrow or next week. Until then, I'll eagerly accept any criticism on this first draft.
@Blitzy I've dictated all the main notes I had to your first draft in PMs. I think everything is pretty solid, including the backstory you've added. In terms of selecting a vice, I suppose I'll try and elaborate on that a bit. The Vice is meant to be something of an idea which points out the deepest flaw in your character that will essentially let them walk the line between the dark and light sides of the coin. Diana has 'anarchy' listed as hers because I imagine she will have to be closely monitored lest the operation may start to take precedence over order and societal standards that other rely on. She'll essentially gravitate towards chaos unless stopped even if that prompts danger for the team or civilians. (But more on that as the story progresses).
For your Vices, I encourage you to pick a sort of flaw that is less of a physical thing and more of an ideological concern that is deeply rooted in their psyche. Your Vice, then, is in essence the evil portion of your personality. I can't think of any specific ideas for your character, though I encourage you to come up with a few ideas of your own and then just continue narrowing it down until you find the one that you'd like to play most.
VIRTUE: HONOR - In spite of his inability to be sensitive nor handle social situations with a great deal of care, Jonah is the very model of what it means to be an honorable man. Jonah will not be swayed by any means to negotiate doing morally ambiguous actions for the 'greater good' nor does he take part in lying to his close friends or family. Throughout crises or difficult situations, he will always maintain his moral compass, no matter the cost. He ultimately believes in doing the right thing no matter what and believes in treating his friends as well as his enemies fairly in return. Jonah can always be counted on to be the first man who acts as a check to those who would propose solutions that would be deemed....questionable.
It's always good to have a paladin in the group to stop them from going straight to the morally depraved, villainous route.
VICE: TEMPER
Of course, I'm already thinking of ways Diana is going to mess with his head.
I really like the character concept here. It's really unique with the nature of Jonah's physical disabilities, so I'll be interested to see how this sort of 'Enforcer' differs from the usual GI guy who punches people on spy mission. Overall, everything seems solid. I can't seem to point out any real flaws at the moment. Perhaps if you're looking to make some edits, you could mess around with skills and flaws. At the moment, it seems like most all of your skills and flaws are fighting related, and we aren't always going to be throwing hand as much as some of us may want to.
[E S R A B I R K A N] [27] | [FEMALE] | [5โ6โ] | [AB+]
General Information
NAME: Esra E. Birkan
PSEUDONYM: Tallulah Bernhardt
APPEARANCE: Esra is of Iranian descent with black, straight shoulder-length hair and dark eyes. She has the compact, muscular body of a ballerina and a dark olive skin tone with a smattering of freckles. Her left arm is covered with a sleeve of flower tattoos interconnected with leaves and lace. Esra has wide, wandering eyes and a sly, confident smirk, as if her observations are constantly keeping her amused. She dresses in an aggressive, artsy fashion, favoring bright, bold colors and outright weird design choices that make her pop out like a peacockโthe more ridiculous the outfit, the better. Esra moves with a kind of graceful flamboyancy and speaks in a slightly hoarse and very rushed voice, as if every thought must be forced out of her before she breathes.
OCCUPATION: Esra is a lover of theater and acting, and has several uncredited roles starring in friendsโ college film projects, community theater productions, and as an extra in a movie that was released directly to streaming. She dreams of working on Broadway one dayโHollywood is just soooo corruptโand has gotten a few callbacks off of off-Broadway productions but never landed a named role, let alone a paying one. She did manage to land a serving job at a high-end restaurant on Broadway, so technically her dream came true.
Esra is a woman who thrives on interacting with other people. She can draw the most retreating person out of their shell and charm the hell out of even the biggest sourpuss. She may never have made it to celebrity status, but she still carries that kind of energy that just pulls people in. Itโs not a put-on, either. Esra is just naturally charming, friendly, and so easy to talk to that she can feel like an old friend to a total stranger. She can make just about any environment into a welcoming one through her warmth, and feels like it is her duty to keep people entertained. If sheโs capable of feeling awkward, then she most certainly doesnโt show it.
VICE: Dishonest
That part about it not being a put-on? Yeah, that was probably bullshit. Lifeโs easier if people like you, and the quickest way to get someone to warm up to you is to feed them whatever nonsense they want to hear. In all honesty, Esra believes that lying is usually nicer than being honestโbetter to say that their stupid hat looks nice instead of pointing out that itโs clear theyโre hiding a bald spot. Besides, boil acting down to its most basest form and itโs really just pretending to be someone else. Therefore, lying so much that itโs practically compulsive is just practicing her passion. Really. Itโs totally harmless, and sheโs really fricking good at it.
Except thatโs also a bunch of crap. Esra doesnโt just tell harmless white lies, and sometimes one lie leads into another. She has to pretend to her parents that sheโs engaged to her ex-boyfriend who dumped her six months ago and pretend to her work that her parents are dead because she already used all of her grandparents and step-grandparents โdeathsโ as an excuse to miss a shift. Itโs a good thing that Esra can easily make someone her friend, because sheโs absolutely gone through a number of them by spreading rumors about them and lying straight to their face. Big or small, almost every one of her lies are told to either make people pity her or make people respect her, but either way it is all about her.
PERSONAL GOALS: Besides the never-ending, unachievable pursuit of happiness? Esra simply wants to have some kind of validation. Originally she figured that the joy a crowd would experience from viewing her in a theater performance would achieve that goal, but things havenโt worked out for her. She knows sheโs a nobody and is powerless to force some major change of the status quoโnor does she consider herself radical enough to want some kind of extreme revolution. Still, she seeks to be a part of something that gives her a sense of self-worth. Sheโs tried activism, charities, and volunteering, but her efforts still leave her feeling hollow, mostly because sheโs only doing that shit to have someone tell her that she is such a good person.
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY: Esra believes that the world is a cruel and uncaring place, and itโs the responsibility of everyone to make it a little less hateful. She enjoys being friendly and goes out of her way to make things hospitable for others. She can find purpose in anything as long as it also benefits someone else (and assuming they recognize her herculean efforts and shower her with adoration). Small, little good deeds add a bit of positivity into the world, and while it may suck, perhaps it will eventually balance out the negativity. She believes most people are ultimately morally good, but the problem with that idea is the word most. A single asshole can ruin everything, but as long as the asshole isnโt her (or canโt be proven to be her) that means she is doing the right thing.
QUIRKS: โบEsra is almost physically unable to stay still. She managed to screw up being a tree in an elementary school play. โบShe tends to have a particularly aggravating habit of humming or quietly singing show tunes and Disney hits to fill silence.
Background Information
โWell if they wanted me to root for the protagonist then why give the bad guy such an absolute banger?โ
Esra spent the first twenty-some years of her life growing up near Cincinnati, Ohio, and had a fairly typical early childhood. She served her time at school, avoided being killed by her older sister, watched Dad move out and Momโs new friend Steve move in, and attended dance class. She had friends and summer jobs and really, really big life changing moments that were only big and life changing because she was in high school and are actually quite banal. The only thing about her early life that really shaped who she is as a person now is her love of theater and how she acted in just about any school play she could. Well, that and how she managed to get her stupid Mom to break up with Steve after lying about him intentionally walking in on her in the shower. Boy, was that a fun fight to listen in on. It had almost been too easy.
After graduation, Esra attended the University of Cincinnati for Performing Arts, splitting her time between acting lessons and dance classes. Actually, well, perhaps it was more like splitting her time between getting stoned, getting drunk, getting laid, and getting up at noonโwell after most of her classes. Yet despite this productive lifestyle, she still somehow managed to fail out of school. However, none of that mattered to Esra. Acting wasnโt something you learned how to do in a book, it was something that had to be experienced, lived, breathed, and whatever other bullshit she could come up with to stop her Mom from freaking out about the considerable student loan that had been wasted. Like, she had to live in the scene, not listen to some English teacher explain to her the intricati...the intrica...the dumb shit about Shakespeare. Besides, Shakespeare didnโt go to college! At least as far as Esra knew he didnโt go to college; she never attended that class about him.
Anyway the point being was that she had to move to New York, because that was where the acting scene lived. She hoped in a van with her boyfriend and headed to New York City, which looked a lot like New Jersey because it was New Jersey since NYC was too expensive. Esra took to joining improv groups and trying out for plays while he took to mostly playing Xbox and smoking weed. Neither of them were making money, so she took up a part-time waitressing gig and he, well, got really good at first person shooters until they got evicted. They broke up, she moved in with a couple of girls she knew from an improv group, and it was finally time to make it big in NYC.
Then that didnโt happen. Esra doesnโt know how things fell apart. Callbacks were never made, or when she got offered a role it was so far beneath her talents and the pay was below even that. It was absolutely boggling. This wasnโt how things went in the movie. At some point the girl was supposed to make her big break and have all of her dreams come true, or at least meet a really rich guy who could pay for her shit and she could pretend to like. She wasnโt supposed to be waiting tables and playing make-believe with a bunch of losers. What gives? Esra felt defeated, but she never let others know that. Prospects were coming along, she had talked to a couple of producers, and things were in the works, or so she said.
And they stayed in the works. As creeping doubt began to fill her head, Esra started branching out from the stageโclearly, it was all a bunch of people playing favorites when it came to casting. She had no shot unless she got down on her knees and well anyway she started to look for different outlets. The best part of acting was the applause, after all, so if she couldnโt get lauded there sheโd get lauded elsewhere. Esra began volunteering, doing this and that to put some good karma out there for herself in hopes of getting some cosmic reward. She mostly got scared by the weird people in the soup kitchen. Meanwhile, she did manage to get a better serving job at a nicer restaurant. Things werenโt ideal but she was doing okay money-wise. Eventually, everything just sort of settled into a routine. She acted and danced in community shows, worked most evenings, did the occasional volunteer work, and drank just about every night. Her New York dream was now just her New York life and it was a bit of a grind but ultimately she could pretend that it was okay.
And then June 6th happened, and Esra screwed up. She found herself huddled in the corner of a coffee shop with a good view of the TV when the news broke. Still sore from her latest breakup and desperate for some attention, she pulled out her phone like she was on autopilot and tweeted: โTrapped in #TheBeacon. Safe, but scared. I love you all.โ She thought nothing of it, turned back to the TV, and caught the subtitles just in time to read the part about how no information had come from anyone inside of the Beacon since it had gone into lockdown. She felt a knot twist in her stomach as she turned her attention to her phone; the number of retweets and messages were staggering. Several of them were from news outlets. Feeling sick, she quickly deleted the message, skipped work, and spent the rest of the day with her phone off.
However, people who knew her had seen the tweet. The next day at work she was bombarded with questions about what happened at the Beacon, ones she answered with cagey lies about how she still hasnโt even begun to process it and really doesnโt want to think about that. People from her life that she thought had completely burnt their bridge with her reached out to make sure that she was okay. Even her mom called her upโthe first time they had talked in years. She enjoyed her little fifteen minutes of absolutely unearned and totally fabricated fame, spinning more and more lies constructed out of whatever information she could get from the media. Even a couple of strangers recognized her. It was totally cool. She was like a mini-celebrity, on they showered her with pity instead of love. Still, better than being alone.
Maybe thatโs why she didnโt pretend to not speak English when an older guy with a cane came and sat down beside her at some bar one night and began talking about the Beacon. At first, she thought he had come over there to tell her how incredibly brave and amazingly strong she was like the rest of the schmucks. That wasnโt the case, and Esra was about to up and leave before he bought her a topshelf cocktail. She stayed for that drink, and then another, although by the second she was already hooked in to what he was saying. Liquor bribes werenโt necessary, but they were appreciated and helped her swallow up his conspiracy theories. She was thoroughly drunk by the time he tried to convince Esra to join his cause to take down some shadowy corp.
โWait,โ she said, waving her hands in front of her face as if to clear away the drunken haze as the man began to leave. She stared at her befuddled reflection in the bar mirror and then cocked an eyebrow over at the man. โWhatโs your name?โ
โGage.โ
Then he was gone, and Esra was left with a bunch of questions and woke up the next morning with a sugary hangover from hell. Her life continued, but she even though she was drunk off of her ass she still remembered bits and pieces of her conversation with Gage. She could spot a bullshitterโit was easy to see her own kindโand he didnโt seem like one. Still, she was about to write the whole thing off when an unmarked letter arrived for her, or rather, it arrived for Tallulah Bernhardt and that lady was getting paid bank. However, it wasnโt just the money that convinced Esra that maybe she should check out Gageโs little project. The best thing that had happened to her recently was pretending to be in a hostage situation, and even Esra was willing to admit that was sad and pathetic. Maybe this would fill that void growing inside of her. And even if they cocked it up, at least sheโd be famous.
Operative Information
[T H E C H A M E L E O N]
ROLE DESCRIPTION: Esraโs observant and extroverted nature allows her to get a deeper understanding of how certain people behavior, and when coupled with her years of amateur acting experience it allows for her to become the Chameleon. She excels at playing roles that allow her to get into advantageous positions to assist the group. Not only does she have a variety of โdisguisesโ purchased courtesy of the thrift shop and the chops to rift up a new persona, she also connects so deeply with that fake individual that, much like a method actor, she just about becomes them. Therefore, Esra can serve the group in a number of ways, like scouting ahead to give them a sitrep or infiltrating an off-limits area.
However, pretending to be someone she isnโt is sometimes a risky move, and having her cover blown can be absolutely devastating to a plan. Fortunately, Esraโs completely duplicitous nature can actually be a bit of a boon during these times. Her commitment to a failed character, glibness, and argumentative attitude might just be enough to coerce a person into leaving her alone, or at the very least buy the others some valuable time to pull off something grand.
POSSESSIONS: โบMakeup Kit, Extensive Wardrobe, and Wigs.
SKILLS: โบCharacter Actor Although she never made it, Esra is actually a really talented actor. She can play a wide-range of parts, easily changing subtle things about herself like her posture, her gait, or her facial expressions to better fulfill that role. Likewise, she can adapt a number of accents that all sound fairly genuine. Years spent memorizing a bunch of lines in a hurry has helped improve her short-term memory, making it easy for her to craft some truths into the total lies sheโs going to be giving the people around her when she is in character.
โบCommunity Theater Esraโs stage talents doesnโt just end at being able to walk different and talk differently. Thanks to her no-budget community theater background, sheโs also pretty handy with wardrobe, makeup, and styling. While perhaps some of the group could use a bit of a makeover, itโs really more useful with helping to craft a disguise to keep everyone incognito.
โบDance Number Esra has been doing ballet and other forms of dance for nearly as long as she has been pursuing acting. While it would be delightful if everything could be settled in a dance off between her and the head of Pyramid Microsystems, the chances of that happening are only middling. Still, ballet has given her an incredible balance, extreme flexibility, and a surprising amount of strength for someone her size.
FLAWS: โบFatigued A lot of energy gets spent on other people or just being exuberant for the sake of exuberance. Then there is her job, her acting passion, her volunteer work, the fact that she hardly gets a full night of sleep, and now the part where she joined a super secret group hell bent on destroying some kind of Neo-Illuminati. Face it, Esra is flipping tired, and sheโs on the fasttrack to burning out.
โบJealous Esra can pretend to be happy for the success of others. She can also put her hand in a blender, but you donโt see her making any fist protein shakes. Even if she can muster a lie to congratulate someone for getting what they most certainly did not earn her face can completely betray her feelings.
โบNeedy Esra doesnโt have to always be the center of attention, but she does need to get a spotlight shined her way on a rather frequent basis. God forbid the squad get a couple of walkies; sheโll be buzzing in every minute.
โบSuspicious For some reason, Esra believes that most people are usually lying. Sincerity is strange to her, and the more adamant someone is about a thing the less likely she is to believe them.
SECRET COUNT:
NOTES: Esraโs tweet got some mild media coverage before it was deleted, but her story was pretty much lost under the current of ones about the actual victims of June 6th following the raid.
@Atrophy Everything looks alright. The character concept should fit rather well into the team. You can move your sheet to the character tab when ready. I'll PM you about a secret in the next coming days. I've got a few ideas for what Esra's might be.
@FiroIV@DJAtomika Good to hear from both of you! I look forward to seeing what you create.
@Lauder Applications will be open for a while longer as everyone finishes up their sheets and gets their secrets before we begin. You're welcome to join in!
I also have some news I must let you all know of, as a family emergency has arisen and I'll be absent from the 24th to the 31st. I may have very limited contact with RPGuild, but I'll otherwise be unable to confer with you guys. As such, I think that may be a good deadline to get sheets in completely. I'll get any revisions and comments I can to you guys before that date, and we'll begin promptly on the following days after I return. I hope this doesn't discourage some of you, as I still intend to proceed with Coins as planned. I'm very sorry for the inconvenience!
@OppositionAh, sorry to hear about the emergency. You're good, boss. Hope things go as smooth as possible. I really dig this concept, so a bit of a delay isn't gonna shove me away.
@Opposition Apologies, but I'm going to have to withdraw my interest. Despite my best efforts, inspiration has eluded me for my character. I do, however, wish you the best of luck; this is a concept that I enjoy, even if I cannot participate. I might follow along for a bit, but it'll most likely just be lurking.
@CollectorOfMyst No worries Myst! I intend on opening up applications further on in the story, so you'll definitely have a place if you want to hop in at a later date.
Also, I'm back early which means I'm around once again if anyone needs any help. Applications are still open if any newcomers are interested as well!
[P H I L I P W A R D E N] [34] | [MALE] | [5' 10"] | [A+]
General Information
NAME: Philip "Phil" Warden
PSEUDONYM: Aidan Johnson
APPEARANCE: Phil stands five feet ten inches tall, with a short head of black hair, scruffy but close shaved, with a bit of a scruffy beard to match. His build is rather muscled but gone soft, with a bit of a gut to match, along with rather hairy arms and legs. He typically dresses in plaid, collared shirts and work jeans, with steel-tipped work shoes if he's to be on a construction site. If he's not at work, his clothes are a lot more casual; polo shirts but with plain, muted pastel colours, slacks or jeans and regular ol' shoes. The glasses he wears are also rather plain; black, full-frame or half-frame spectacles that have lenses which are safety-rated for construction sites. He is rather normal looking, almost average in stature and build combined, and he keeps himself looking average and normal just so he doesn't attract undue attention.
OCCUPATION: Phil once was a construction project manager, focused on all aspects of interior construction work, from the measurements, planning, electric and plumbing, to safety, working with some big clients for equally big and sometimes small venues across New York City. The company he worked for wasn't big enough to warrant massive projects like brand new malls or flagship stores for famous brands, but he personally did work for several retail outlets, high-rise apartments and office spaces. Phil also had some connections through the city, not as many as you'd think, but regular clients who came back to the company for multiple different projects, small in scale in different locations around the city.
Phil is protective of the people that work under him. Being in an industry where even the slightest mistake or misstep could cost lives, Phil's knowledge, both technical and from experience, of workplace safety and many, many other examples of workplace accidents that killed workers in other companies have made Philip a rather protective soul. Safety in construction terms not only means the safety of those who would use the building in the future, but also of the workers and site supervisors working on the building in question. These groups of people often include his friends, close and trusted colleagues and industrious, hardworking individuals. People that he cares about not just as a manager but as a person.
VICE: Malice
Philip's work involves a lot of talking to people. And sometimes people can be right assholes. When people are assholes to him on the street, fine, he can just brush it off and say that they're having a bad day. But when it comes to clients or the colleagues of clients being assholes to him, it really does drive him up the wall. Sometimes, that pressure and stress does come to a head and he does wish that he could do them great harm so that they would not bother him any more. This inner malice translates to tiny outbursts that he attempts to keep under control with deep breathing and small little meditations to clear his mind and calm his anger.
PERSONAL GOALS: Phil, being the thoughtful person that he is, was initially very confused as to what happened on June 6th. But, through some cursory digging, came up with the name: Pyramid Microsystems. And that was the beginning of a mystery and his involvement with the equally mysterious Gage. His current personal goal is to find out who or what are Pyramid Microsystems and learn the secret of the June 6th incident that almost ruined his career and the company he worked for. If the only way is to work with Gage, then that's the road that Phil will walk until the end, when he has the answers he needs to clear his name and the name of the company that he worked hard for.
PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY: Phil's life story is all about numbers, measurements and minute details. But that's what makes him shine the most: putting together the myriad pieces of a jigsaw puzzle and forming a building that people can live in and work in. Something that makes people smile when they walk through the doors of their new apartment, or an office space that isn't stuffy and crowded and boring. That's what brings him joy through his work and working with like-minded people accentuates the sense of satisfaction and accomplishment that comes from closing a business deal and finishing the last bits of a big project that everyone on the team can be proud of.
FEARS:
Failure
Death
Killing someone/seeing someone get killed
LIKES:
Beer
Steak (Medium rare)
Classic rock music
Maintaining his '77 Chevrolet Camaro
Dumb '80s or '80s-style action movies
Barbecues
DISLIKES:
Pretentious people
Mint and chocolate chip ice cream
People who are jerks just to be jerks
Bureaucrats who obstruct his work for personal gain or glory
QUIRKS:
Phil adjusts his spectacles by gripping the right lens frame with index and thumb and pushing it up on his nose. Always. Never in any other manner. And he does this when he's nervous or stressed out.
Adding to this, when he is nervous or under stress, he tends to talk to himself, muttering under his breath to collect his thoughts and go through them in sequential order to make sure he's doing something right.
Background Information
โI build things. I solve practical problems. Just...don't give me a gun. Alright?"
Phil was born in Queens and grew up under a father who had spent many years as a site supervisor and project manager in the construction business, thus paving the way for his son's education and future in the same line. From young, Philip saw the wonder in the high-rise world, towering skyscrapers and sparkling glass and steel structures that loomed over his head. Growing up in New York City meant seeing the giant towers of civilisation that was Manhattan and his father always told him that some of the big buildings had his handiwork inside them, offices and shopping malls, theaters and salad bars. That inspired young Phil to, well, play with Lego when he was growing up, attempting to imitate the same buildings that his dad had made.
He spent several years studying different aspects of construction engineering and interning at big firms, learning the ropes the same way his dad did before him. The early years of his life were spent gathering work experience, mostly being the assistant to an actual project coordinator and learning the workflow of this particular field. But after he graduated from university, he was conflicted. There were so many things he could do, companies he could apply for. His father, giving him one last piece of advice before he passed away due to old age, was to follow his heart. So that's what he did, applying to a rather moderate sized interior construction company for the position of an assistant supervisor. A position that he secured easily with his prior training and internship experience.
Phil stayed in the same company for a few years, learning the tricks of the trade. He went from being a mere assistant to a small time supervisor in his own right, working under his senior colleagues to help manage smaller projects and lightening the workload for them. Proving himself capable with numbers and having a good eye for detail and picking out mistakes in a sea of legal words and large numbers, soon he was promoted to supervisor and put in charge of bigger and bigger projects, handling calls from clients and making sure the workers on the ground weren't making any big mistakes.
The company that Phil worked for was the same one that was contracted to measure, plan and build several office floors within the Beacon building, by sheer happenstance. Phil took the job not knowing of the ramifications of his decision in the future. After all, it was just another job for him. Something for the company and he to tackle together and more reputation built on his name. At the time, he didn't know anything about Pyramid or the spiderweb of trouble he was going to get himself into in the future, but the decision haunted him days after the incident.
The job was simple: the company was contracted by a financial aggregation and to measure out, design and build several floors worth of offices, including all the necessary amenities. He was personally on site at the Beacon building, doing measurements of each office space, bathroom, break room and other rooms, a process that took several weeks of careful, room by room measuring. The work after that was slightly simpler: mapping out a virtual 3D model of what the clients wanted the interiors to look like while keeping to the internal measurements already taken of the site. Then came planning out materials, costs involved, sourcing said materials and so on. The whole project took several months to complete but the effort was well worth it; shiny new office spaces, restrooms and break rooms and a satisfied client.
The following year, the June 6th incident occurred. Philip was shocked: the very same building he'd done interior work on was the subject of a massive investigation and supposed cover-up by Homeland Security. Something very, very wrong had happened that day and, even though they weren't to blame, the building's safety network and other facilities were put under a microscope. Intense investigations that involved their company, among others, that slowly petered out over the course of two weeks. Philip was questioned, of course. As the lead project manager, he was the one responsible for several of the office floors that were involved in the supposed hostage situation. He answered the questions of the police thoroughly and carefully, leaving out nothing to make sure he could clear his name. Which did happen, but by then the damage was done.
After the incident, the reputation of his company and his name were tarnished. Phil's work started to slip; minor mistakes in cost calculations that could set the company back substantial sums of money. Overlooking emails because of the stress of having been investigated. Less work came in because of the incident and it all felt like he was to blame. His boss, having noticed his formerly efficient, hardworking project supervisor suddenly going down the drain in terms of work quality, pulled him aside one day and had a heart to heart with him. Yes, they still needed Phil because his mind was like no other and he had a valuable, important set of skills that would devalue the company if he left. But he needed a break. Everybody could see how much the whole shebang had affected him and he didn't want Phil to overwork himself. So he gave him a month off to rest, destress and recover from the ordeal. It was a break he readily welcomed, despite objecting on the inside to the enforced leave. But he knew his own limits: Phil didn't want to endanger himself or the people he worked with, so he calmly and quietly took his vacation time.
Not long after, Phil was at a local steakhouse, indulging in a decent steak and fries, when a strange man sat in his booth. Gage was his name, he said, and that he had a job offer for him. It involved the Beacon building, which immediately turned Phil away and he almost up and left, had Gage not followed up with information. He had an inkling of what really went on behind the scenes and he knew Phil was the sort that couldn't leave a mystery to rest without following the breadcrumbs to its source. Gage had the resources to help Phil clear his name, but the only caveat was that he had to be ready to follow orders at the drop of a hat. Uncertain and wary of the stranger's intentions, but interested in what he was offering, Phil tentatively accepted. Gage merely nodded and left the steakhouse, leaving Philip to finish his meal, which he then followed up with a beer or two to chase away that weird feeling that he'd just walked into a whole world of trouble.
It therefore came, with some surprise, to pass that Phil received a large envelope in the mail several days after meeting Gage. It contained instructions on what to do next, a small key to a safe deposit box at a rather large bank in town, and a thousand dollars in cold, hard cash. The money was the most surprising, as Phil already had a source of stable income to begin with, but the cogs of fate were already turning and Philip was caught in the thick of it.
Time would only tell just how far down the rabbit hole he would go.
Operative Information
[T H E E N G I N E E R]
ROLE DESCRIPTION: Taking all of his nearly ten years of construction and project management experience into account, Philip's role as the Engineer means he's more suited into planning and scoping out places. Using connections and personal knowledge of how buildings are constructed, Philip's expertise is in analysing blueprints of structures to determine the placement of electrical grids, plumbing systems and other parts of a building's construction to identify safety breaches, or to put it another way, possible exploits for a group of individuals on the wrong side of the law to use. He might not have any actual experience in, say, wiring an electrical grid or putting together pipes, but he knows where to put a building together. And how to take it down, if necessary.
POSSESSIONS: A foot ruler, a pencil case with a set of pencils, pens, protractors and erasers, a pocket calculator and a sturdy black wristwatch.
SKILLS:
Measurements and Details - The trained eye that Philip possesses for his work is keen and observant, able to pick out trends and mistakes in paperwork, and safety hazards or defects in a building's internal infrastructure. This is a skill he's honed for years and is very good at, almost to a point where he can guesstimate a room's internal measurements and then corroborate them with a tape measure. Not to the inch, but close enough to the actual measurements.
Building Infrastructure - Having been in this line for nearly a decade, Phil knows how to put the inside of a building together. What walls must be made of what materials, how much load can certain floors or walls take, where weak points are, placement of electrical grids, plumbing lines and other details about a building's interior work. Working with a blueprint of the structure only serves to enhance his ability to match places on the blueprint to actual locations on site, and he's worked in many projects around the city that he's built up a general idea of which big companies want their buildings done in which ways.
Human Calculator - Not to Guinness Book of World Records standards, but being in this line means that Phil has had to cultivate a head for numbers done accurately. He certainly won't break any records for speed in mental calculations, but Phil's mental number crunching spped and accuracy is excellent for his age, assisted only by his pocket calculator for huge numbers.
FLAWS:
Alcoholic - After the June 6th incident, Phil sank into an emotional pit. Troubled by his involvement, he turned to beer to drown his turmoil in. Nowadays he's not seen without a can of Budlight in his hand or a mug of beer at a bar.
Depressed - With the alcohol came emotional problems. To say that Phil is a sprightly sort would be a bold-faced lie. He isn't very happy with his current predicament and as a result, he can be quite moody or a buzz kill if he's in the wrong state of mind.
Unfit - Gone are the days where Phil attempted to keep himself fit by going to the gym. He still has some strength left behind in him, but the times he's managed to shift furniture by himself and lug heavy books and cartons around are all gone now.
SECRET COUNT: ZERO NOTES:
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