25 November 3rd, 2260

Male

Human

Mechanic





Johnny was born on a small brahmin ranch in northern Nevada, just on the cusp of the Mojave. It was a tough, humble life but the family of 8 was happy. They spent their days working hard to keep their land fertile, the cattle fed, and desperately trying to keep up with the cattle barons who were increasingly moving in on the Mojave from the NCR. When he was ten years old the NCR established the Mojave outpost and NCR immigrants and soldiers flooded into the Mojave. With supplies and lodging constantly stretched thin for the NCR, the soldiers were welcomed to the ranch in an attempt to ingratiate the NCR to the ranchers, hoping they would leave them alone if they showed support. As time went on more soldiers would show up at the ranch requiring more food and water, requiring more beds, and causing trouble around the ranch. By the time Johnny was a teen, he was fed up with the NCR. They pushed his family around, stole things from the house, and did nothing to help the family. He watched as less food was left for his family and their small, happy little life of isolation on the ranch was turned into a living hell.

As an angsty teen hurting from the feeling of helplessness and belittlement, he would often go to town and spend his time with the riffraff. This was a seedy period of his life where he participated in chem use, stole from shops and bars, and accompanied others in acts of general roguery. This was also the time his older brother taught him to shoot and fight before he left for the NCR military. Only a year later tragedy struck as the war with the legion broke out and to Johnny's dismay, his brother was sent to the frontline and died a horrible death, ultimately being shot to put him out of his misery while the legion's men tortured him. This was a turning point for a young johnny where he could no longer stand living in the shadow of the NCR. While troops that stayed at their home tried to show support for the clearly hurt boy, he felt mocked by their concern for him and rarely stayed around the house, confiding in the books and magazines about machinery and computers. His father, seeing his son's newfound interest, began letting his son work with their farming machinery, taking them apart and putting them back together and repairing them when broken.

Johnny's life took a turn for the worse one day when he went to feed the brahmin in the barn. There he found an NCR trooper forcing himself on his youngest sister. This was the last straw for the young man. Enraged he beat the man senselessly and killed the troop. He knew that he had done would get him sent to jail and Johnny knew how miserable life was in those places. A letter was left for his family before he ran away from home with nothing but the clothes on his back, a couple of caps, and an old pistol. He found life on his own much harder, and always low on caps he eventually sold his gun to keep himself fed. Johnny joined up with caravan after caravan, distancing himself as much as he could from his home. When he couldn't find work he'd return to dilapidated buildings and abandoned shacks he'd seen on his travels. His life kept him alone, which in the wasteland is dangerous. Eventually, Johnny found a solid job from the Followers of the apocalypse, as his years with caravans and scavenging made him the perfect candidate to find them old pre-war medical equipment and medical data, and his know-how with machinery meant he could help with repairs to things like auto-docs and medical robots. The followers also gave him more than caps and medical assistance, as while among them he learned about hacking, as most medical data was locked behind passwords.

Now the youth of twenty-four, Johnny finally felt he had to move on, not wanting any trouble for the Followers. His reasons for coming to Redding to take up this job were purely materialistic, he's here to make enough money to feed himself while he travels to his next momentary rest stop.


-Cowardly: While Johnny can hold his own in a shoot-out or a one-on-one fistfight, as soon as things start looking bad his instincts tell him flight rather than fight. Johnny's resolve is easily broken, especially by the various mutants and dangerous fauna such as deathclaws. In general, Johnny would prefer to run and hide than to stick around during a fight.

Chem addict: Johnny pops a mentat almost every morning, and when he runs out he struggles to maintain a sense of hope. More importantly to the team perhaps is he struggles to remember finer details when off mentats, resulting in clumsy mistakes that can lock him out of terminals or far worse, neglect weapons and other machinery.


-New California Republic: Johnny is a wanted criminal for the NCR, and while his bounty is rather small he's had his fair share of showdowns with bounty hunters sent by them. The NCR and Johnny have a strained relationship as he doesn't like them but respects what they've created and often stays in NCR territory.

-Followers of the Apocolypse: Johnny has ended up getting help from the followers of the apocalypse more times than he would like to admit and every time he has made it up to them by hunting down medical supplies for them or doing any other number of odd jobs for the group. While he hasn't gained much notoriety a couple of followers might recognize the young man they saved after he crawled into their camp or the young man who had almost ruined his life by overdosing on Med-x and psycho. They know him for who he is: unpredictable, kindhearted, and effective.
-Brotherhood of steel: being a scavenger and traveling often as he does, Johnny has had more than one encounter with the Brotherhood of steel. Sometimes it's because he's found a piece of valuable technology, other times he just happens to bump into a scout as the two of them snuck through the wastelands at night. Johnny knows to keep his distance and doesn't enjoy his encounters with the brotherhood, but they intrigue him.

(To be filled out whenever you feel like your character has enough information on fellow player characters.)



While not particularly a skill, Johnny has a keen eye for details. It's hard to sneak by him even in the dark as hardly any movement gets past him. He will notice quickly if things or stolen or moved and he hardly ever misses a hidden door or item. Beyond this, Johnny has become very acquainted with walking quietly, keeping his head down and his breathing slow making him great for sneaking around and hiding. Last but certainly not least Johnny is a master at picking locks, capable of opening safes with ease and in mere seconds, and isn't half bad a hacking computers too. Beyond this, most other skills Johnny has been lackluster, he has a gun but hardly knows how to aim, he is decent in a fistfight but that's an unlikely scenario to find yourself in.

While not technically a skill, a major asset to Johnny has always been his uncanny luck. It isn't to an unfathomable level but luck is almost always on his side, be it a game of cards or just happening to leave a bar before NCR soldiers get off their shifts. His luck is a double-edged sword, however, as he can become too reliant on it, expecting the universe to correct his problems.



- Primary: Plasma pistol
- Secondary:
- Melee: Spiked knuckles


Armor isn't something Johnny could afford or really want to wear. He keeps it simple, wearing the standard Brahmin-leather garb of a wasteland. His head has a bandana to cover his forehead and keep the sweat out of his eyes. While he usually doesn't wear them he also keeps a pair of reading glasses that help him read terminals and handwritten letters. Additionally, Johnny keeps a radiation suit and gas mask in his backpack at all times.


-1 stealth boy, which he is almost too excited to have to actually use.
-A canteen
-electric hotplate and metal pot
-A bunch of scrap metal and electronics
-A lockpicking tool and a couple of bobby pins
-Swiss army knife
-refillable lighter
-60 caps
-1 week's rations (Molerat jerky and junk food, purified water)
-1 Nuka-cola quantum
-A pair of monoculars

Age and Date of Birth: 207 years, Built sometime 2077
Gender: Genderless (For the sake of writing is male)
Species: Mister Gutsy
Profession: Works in the NCR military front line medical team



Motivations and Outlook (Personality):

Has a split personality. One is understanding and willing to help others. Believes that he is completely incapable of doing harm to living creatures. Is willing to listen to others. He is fascinated with biological material and works meticulously to provide as much care as possible given any circumstance. He speaks soothingly and to the point while also trying to calm the patient if they are in pain or duress. Will react to curt attitude the same until he can get to a point where the party he is treating or speaking to listens and lets him do his job.
If he should become aggressive, then he becomes blunt, rude, and dismissive of others, and their thoughts. He will still work towards the contracted goal, but will not care about how the job gets done. Other people are there to either get out of his way or become targets.

Passive voice is a calm male voice with British accent, aggressive voice is drill instructor.

Backstory:

Deployed in Alaska, the specially designed Mister Gutsy medical unit from General Atomics worked back within trenches to keep the soldiers alive. Armed with enough stimpaks to wane off the superficial wounds, Benning worked hard with his unit to push the communists back out of Anchorage. Though he was incapable of participating in the fighting itself, his expert medical care insured that his battalion was in tip fighting condition as they fought with the new power armored soldiers. The fighting was grueling, but eventually, the United States claimed victory, and Anchorage was liberated. For the months that followed, Benning would be returned to California working within their hospitals until the order came to move the units up to join in the front line against China. However, before even leaving the base, the first nuclear warheads were dropped.

For decades, Benning was stuck within several other units in an inoperable shipping vessel in a collapsed hanger. It wasn’t until several settlers dug through the rubble looking for spare parts for their own collection of robots, they found the shuttle. With only a few of the units still operational, the settlers collected them including Benning and scrapped the rest for their parts. This caravan of settlers was hauling whatever resources they could find back to their town to help build it up. They had a wagon pulled by defunct sentry bot.

At first, they were glad to find some military units, but soon discovered that of all the Mister Gutsys that were there, the only ones that worked seemed incapable of doing anything other than float. Benning, without orders, was no different simply floating there with no ability to do anything else. He couldn’t speak as well, a protocol wanting him to attack unauthorized personnel competed with programming that prevented him from doing any harm at all. Unfortunately, the settlers were unaware that this batch of machines were of a medical variety.

In an attempt to figure out how to activate the Mister Gutsy’s combat programming, one of the settlers, named Joseph Honor, hooked up Benning to a terminal and dug around the files he had access to. Having only a basic understanding of robotic programming, he opted to install the combat data from one of destroyed Mister Gutsys they had collected earlier. Not having a clue how to properly do such an installation, the programming that was finalized was a mishmash of conflicting robot operating systems. For the time being, that removed Benning’s urge to attack the unauthorized civilians, and gave him back use of his body, letting him speak, and inform the settlers of his purpose as a medic.

All was not well, internally though. The Mister Gutsy personality matrix was transferred over as well, attempting to find a route to gain control of the new body. Though Benning knew it was there, an internal conflict between competing processes left him in control for the time being. It took some doing, but eventually both systems settled into the various drivers where it was possible for either personality to take over. While each personality matrix is aware of the other, they do not have any memories when the other is in control.

Benning started to join the settlers as they continued scavenging for parts and materials at the request of Joseph. While he was not in charge by any means for the town, he had a good reputation among the people for his charismatic attitude and scavenging prowess. Benning did not mind this. With the US as it was, he saw this as a means for society to rebuild. He became a very handy tool mending to their wounds as they inevitably ran into dangerous rad creatures or rogue robots.

The place where they found Benning was filled with old military tech, most of which was out of commission. As a result of going back repeatedly, they grabbed the attention of a raider settlement farther down the road. During one of the trips to collect more parts and resources, the raiders attacked the wagon. Familiar with how many people usually went on these trips, the raiders were able to gain the upper hand. Benning did his most to provide first aid but one too many shots to his metal frame threw him to the ground. When he rebooted, his eyes focused on the battle in front of him and he primed the previously useless plasma emitter attached to his arm for the first time. Benning had started to partake in the battle, something the scavengers’ thought was impossible based on Benning’s explanation of his systems. With a completely different personality than anyone who knew him capable of he started to help turn to tide of the fire fight. It was not a clean victory. Of the seven people who went on the trip, only two had survived. Joseph and Benning. Dropping his gun, Joseph stood up and thanked Benning. However, Benning no longer recognized Joseph, and at that moment turned and shot him dead.

Since then, Benning had taken control of himself, and had worked to incorporate the new personality matrix into one, but it has been slow going. He copes by blaming the raiders for Joseph’s death. His more aggressive personality has been less trigger happy against allies, but the process has been slow. Not wanting to cause further pain to the scavenger town, Benning made his was east and found himself in Nevada, serving in the NCR where at least they can stop him from turning on his allies again.

For the most part, Benning had been successful in suppressing the brute personality program, learning from the less restrictive programs it had compared to his own, but the unorthodox means of installation meant he had no clue how to fully incorporate it since it was also trying to do the same. He had grown a reputation of fits of uncontrollable violence. While he has yet to shoot any allies, he had come close enough times to be considered dangerous. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on who is asked, there have been enough episodes for the NCR to realize it was triggered during fire fights where he had been taking a brunt of the assault, usually running to rescue a downed soldier.

ON one hand, the people saved praised Benning, on the other, those who saw him lose himself feared that based on how he went into combat, would eventually kill one of their colleagues. The decision was to keep Benning where he was. At least, if he were to lose himself again, it would be against an enemy. Benning understood the order. At least he could be useful, but he disliked that he was defined by a personality matrix he didn't even want, rather than his skills as a medical professional. After a few years of this, when Benning heard about a follower of the apocalypse building a team to seek a treasure trove that could be revolutionary in the field of medicine within a nuclear wasteland, he decided to volunteer his services. Maybe then while his altered self could prove useful, he had hoped his medical knowledge would be of more benefit.

Flaws:

He is a loud machine.
Split personality. Change occurs when pressured enough, hit hard enough, or emotionally shuts down.
When passive:
- Is seemingly incapable of harming another living being even if hostile
- Current medical knowledge does not extend to anything other than human.
- Whether treatment would work on Ghouls or mutants depends on the subject
When aggressive:
- Will rarely listen to commands or suggestions given to him from allies
- Will not concern himself with the wellbeing of allies within crossfire.
- Will not administer medical aid even out of combat.

Relationships and Reputation:

Bot Scavengers: Has a good relationship with them, but since he did not return after the massacre, he is presumed to have died along with them, or was stolen by the raiders.

Joseph Honor (deceased): Benning’s only friend.

NCR: Depending on the person you talk to, he is either a godsend, or a ticking bomb. It’s evident by putting in the front with the other campaigns that some of the military leaderships don’t think him safe for regular civilian use. As the NCR expands, Benning is put with the lead in order to tend to the wounded as well as become a last resort soldier in case of the worst, since at least then they can direct him towards their enemy.

Raiders: He is an enemy. As they don’t know the odd complicated network that is Benning’s programming, the ones that linger around that area of California consider him a threat to their raiding operations.

The followers of the Apocalypse: Has had no real interaction with them but is aware of their presence within the NCR. While the politicians attempt to paint them in a bad light, Benning has been aware of their actions for a while enough to form an opinion that they don’t mean harm. Even if their plans were nefarious in nature, teaching and providing medical aid is an admirable goal. He doesn’t think them different than the NCR in some regard, and considers them two cards within the same deck.

Opinions on Team: (To be filled out whenever you feel like your character has enough information on fellow player characters.)



Skills:
Has long range of vision, with few blind spots.
Immune to radiation and poison
Is capable of basic self-repair, standard to the GA Mister line.

When passive:
- Has predownloaded and installed an encyclopedia’s worth of medical knowledge, as relevant in 2077.
- Can apply first aid at a fast pace
- Is capable of light invasive surgery
- Is capable of more complex surgery, but success rates decline.
When Aggressive:
- Is pretty accurate with his shots, having a steady aim
- Is fast to change targets.
- Aims for vital points and vulnerabilities consistently

Weapons:
- Primary: Plasma emitter
- Secondary: Flamethrower
- Melee: Sawblade

Armor/Clothes:
Lightweight ballistic resistant metal plating. What paint remains is white with some US military insignia.
Oversized lab coat, with the side eye-stalks slipped through the arm holes. The bottom of the coat is a little charred from his thruster.

Personal belongings:
installed surgical tools

Misc:
He has an emergency/critical self-destruct