[hider=Theodore Howser][table][row][/row][row][cell][img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/21/9b/95/219b956a4e0f652eed65ba35285554db.jpg[/img]
[center][color=#2e2c2c]xxxxxxxxxxxx[/color][/center]
[b][code]B A S I C  I N F O[/code][/b][hr]
[b][code][Name][/code][/b] [code]Theodore Howser[/code]
[b][code][Callsign][/code][/b] [code]Teddy Bear[/code]
[b][code][Gender][/code][/b] [code]Male[/code]
[b][code][Age][/code][/b] [code]41[/code]
[b][code][Rank and Designation][/code][/b] [code]Master Chief Petty Officer[/code]
[b][code][Place of Birth][/code][/b] [code]New Halcyon[/code]
[b][code][Official Statement][/code][/b] [code]"Why'd I join up? 'Cause I've got a bunch of people back home countin' on me: I put food on the table n' keep them safe. 'S more than that, though. There's the kiddos I met out here, too. Teenagers puttin' themselves in the line of fire, seein' things nobody their age ever should. Breaks my heart. They need me. I wanna be the place they can hunker down when things get bad, y'know?"[/code]


[b][code]C O M B A T  A B I L I T Y[/code][/b][hr]
[b][code][Mech Model][/code][/b] [code] MBM-78 'Grizzly'[/code]
[b][code][Type][/code][/b] [code]Direct Fire Support[/code]
[b][code][Size][/code][/b] [code]60 ft tall, 225 tons[/code]
[b][code][Core][/code][/b] [code]Epsilon[/code]
[b][code][Description][/code][/b] 
[code]The Main Battle Mech-78 Grizzly began development by Union General Mechanics in 3006 to replace its last generation of mech, the MBM-60 series. They hoped their 70s series could replicate the reliability of the last generation while taking advantage of advances in weapons technology. The greatest of these advances was the 'SmartWorks' Autofactory System which- if successful- would allow a mechanized unit to forgo resupply entirely, instead relying fully on scavenging the battlefield for material to replace lost ammunition and even damaged mech parts. The latter function still eludes the 70 series, but the MBM-78 makes full use of the former with its ammo-guzzling Prometheus cannon. When firing on full bore, the Prometheus can empty its 30,000 round magazine in less than two minutes. This is not recommended as it will assuredly damage the cannon's barrels if not outright destroy them.

The Grizzly remains an unpopular model in the MHA for its expensive Smartworks technology and inflexible weapons selection. The Prometheus is a powerful tool for shredding soft targets from an advantageous position but lacks the penetrative power to effectively combat unshielded rooks and knights; though its Guardian shield and heavily armored hide allow it to take no small amount of punishment from those larger combatants. Given the weight of its weapons load and backpack, the Grizzly is also considered slow and unwieldy compared to other models on the market.

[/code]
[b][code][Armaments][/code][/b] 
[list]
[*][code]The X-66 Prometheus is an eight-barrel rotary cannon with a variable firing rate, with four distinction RPM settings that max out at 16,000 rounds per minute. It utilizes a magnetic accelerator in each barrel in conjunction with traditional propellant to launch its 30mm rounds at hypersonic speeds. [/code]
[*][code]The SmartWorks Autofactory System (SAS) is a backpack mounted on the Grizzly's rear. It utilizes bleeding edge matter replication technology to recycle discarded battlefield material and convert it into ammunition for the Prometheus, extending combat effectiveness near indefinitely. While originally designed to manufacture a wide variety of parts, the complicated fabrication process of the Magnetic Accelerator Assisted rounds made that goal unrealistic at best. [/code]
[*][code]There are two Augsburg Arsenal Auto Shotguns built into each of the Grizzly's forearms for close quarters combat. They are loaded with 'Krakenshot' flechettes, four inch long daggers shoved into a shell and fired into the soft bits of a target at close range. These completely annihilate lightly or unarmored Aberrants.[/code]
[*][code]Included with the SAS backpack is the scavenger drone, designed for retrieving high quality construction material for the autofactory. Guided by the SAS's patented 'PAL' A.I assistant it ranges the battlefield up to eight miles away, and comes equipped with several a full suite of tools for cutting into, prying open or even hacking fallen tech. It has a small personal defense turret mounted on its underside for fending off Aberrant pawns. [/code]
[*][code]Optionally, the Grizzly can carry a 'Guardian' tower shield in its offhand for assaulting fortified positions. The Guardian shield has its own Beta-class Aberrant core to power an energized barrier. [/code]
[/list]
[/cell][cell][indent]
[center][h3][b][code]Profile[/code][/b][/h3][/center]
[b][code][Surface-level Impression][/code][/b]
[code]The universe is a dark place and worth fighting for. Theo's life hasn't been an easy one. He lost his ancestral homeworld when he was born and has spent the last twenty years at war. Slipping into nihilism would be all too simple; natural, even, some might say. Theo couldn't disagree more. He's always tried to look hold out hope for a brighter future- to a future without the Aberrants or their genocidal hate. The road ahead is long, however, and in meantime he embraces the little victories of life: a battle survived, a night out with friends, a cool beer and a starry night. He mourns lost squadmates and embraces new ones as friends with equal fervor. Every month he has video calls scheduled with his family, his mentor and some of his old comrades who rotated off the front. [/code]

[b][code][Personal History][/code][/b]
[code]Theodore Howser was born on a refugee barge fleeing New Halcyon as it was consumed by Abberants. Life on barge 117-Beta was harsh: food supplies were thin and medicine supplies even thinner. People died in the hundreds every day. those who worked earned more rations than those that didn't, so Theo spent his childhood repairing oxygen scrubbers and cleaning out waste recyclers. Unlike some ships, the refugee barge wasn't a permanent settlement. It was part of a larger fleet that flew ahead of Aberrant incursions, rescued as many people as they could, and then fled for safer waters. 117-Beta spent seventeen years in transit before Theo's boots touched soil for the first time in his life on a planet called Kabral III.

Poverty loomed over the Howser family even here. 

Levi Howser, Theo's father, was paralyzed during the invasion. The cybernetics necessary to repair his spine cost far more than they can afford. Even with minimum medical attention, his bills are astronomical. He's trying to make a career out of dictating novels with a speech-to-text program, but it isn't going well. 

Asmara Howser worked for a non-profit education advocacy group before her planet was destroyed. She works fifty hours a week as a public educator and another fifteen as a private tutor. Its enough to scrape by even if it leaves her children to fend for themselves most days. 

Theo decided he needed to ease the burden on his mom, so he decided to pitch in. His application to military service was accepted near instantly- the machine always needed more bodies- and he was shipped off world to Camp Triton for training two weeks later.

It was the hardest thing he'd ever done in his life. The regiment's doctor nearly failed him out after he vomited all over himself and passed out during a run. The human body could only take so much punishment and he was already malnourished when he showed up; Theo wasn't ready. Be it luck or providence, it just so happened that the chief medical practitioner at Camp Triton was a Halcyonite too. Major Russom Samir prescribed an expensive physo-gene therapy program that built Theo back better than he'd ever been, and two months later Samir cleared Theo for service.

Theo earned the callsign 'Teddy Bear' at Camp Triton both because of his affinity for the MBM-78 Grizzly and for his soft nature; he was 'too soft for war,' his bunkmates would mock. When they took bets on which of them would run or die first, the majority settled on gentle, soft Theodore.

He was determined to prove them wrong.

Thanks to recommendations of Major Samir and Lt. Colonel Strutzheim, the base commander, Theodore was accepted into the pilot program. No one would've called the boy a prodigy: he made more mistakes than most every single time he climbed into the cockpit. But none could deny his passion. There was a fire in his heart that drove him harder than anyone would've thought possible.

The flame followed him through his next two decades of service: he fought on the moons of Pele, liberated Calypso IV, dug in around Rao City for the Hundred Day Siege, rescued the battleship Benevolence from an Aberrant boarding action, and so much more.

One of his more notable tours of duty saw him aid in the defense of Thrax in 376. Teddy was grievously wounded when he attempted to engage a Bishop still protected by its barrier. Without a Constellation present, his unit had no hope of stopping it from massacring the tribe of Cain. Still, Theo refused to retreat, and had his men carry out delaying tactics: mine the ground to slow its advance, fainting charges to drag its attention backward; split the retreating tribes people into small groups so it had no easy target. Despite their efforts, Teddy fell. The creature cracked his mech open like an egg, split his head nigh in twain and left him for dead. It was a miracle Teddy survived, though he still has the scar to show for it.

He never let the tragedies of his life define him. He never let himself dull to the little pleasures of life, like a hot cup of terrible coffee or a night dancing with a pretty woman. Even at forty-one years old he lives every day with the same passion of his youth, for he knows full well it could be his last. A universe cursed with the Aberrants was a harsh one- but life was about more than its darkest hours.[/code]

[center][h3][b][code]Home World[/code][/b][/h3][/center]
[b][code][Planet Description][/code][/b]
[code]New Halcyon was a garden world on the frontier of human-controlled space. Its terrain is as varied as Earth's, though the planet itself was slightly smaller and orbited by twin moons rather than one. It was settled hundreds of years ago by Neo-Reformist Liberation Theology pilgrims fleeing the coreworlds from persecution. Over the centuries it developed an average economy stifled by sanctions and isolationism. Most of its settlements were clustered around the original landing site, though some adventurous sorts crossed the ocean to settle other continents and islands. Its population hovered around eighty million when the planet was conquered by Aberrants. [/code]

[b][code][Culture][/code][/b] 
[code]The first settlers of New Halcyon considered it a paradise gifted to them by God. They christened their landing spot as the Rock of Mercy, and built upon it a massive cathedral. The first settlers were all canonized as saints, and hundreds of statues were erected in the halls of the cathedral to remember their sacrifices. Reformist influence promoted government and economy policy based on their religious teachings, including: the elimination of poverty, equitable distribution of resources and a reform-first criminal justice system. Anti-coreworld sentiment was common enough that the Halcyon government faced regular censor by federal authorities.[/code]

[center][h3][b][code]Notable Contacts[/code][/b][/h3][/center]
[hider=Russom Samir][center][img]https://i.pinimg.com/originals/0a/bb/a8/0abba8e8d3f1d04f21f98bd27a84b5f5.png[/img][/center]

[b][code][Name][/code][/b]
[code]Commander Russom Samir[/code]

[b][code][Relation to Subject][/code][/b]
[code]Mentor[/code]

[b][code][Analysis][/code][/b]
[code]Russom Samir is a military doctor and Commander (0-5) in the Navy of the Mobilized Human Alliance. Originally educated as a doctor, he signed up for officer's school after spending fifteen years in civilian medicine for one reason: he'd lost his son to an Aberrant attack. He's hopped between dozens of postings over the decades, including a few on the front, but it was during his time as the chief medical officer at Camp Triton that he met Teddy Howser.

Russom is a native of the planet New Halcyon, a world lost to Aberrant invasion over forty years ago. It was his shared ancestral homeworld that drew him to Theodore Howser. When they met Theo was a young firebrand with a failing body- broken by the death of their world. The kid wanted nothing more than to join the fight against the things that took a home from him that he'd never seen. That warmed Samir's cold heart enough to stick his neck out for the kid. He ensured Howser received the best medical care available so he could complete his training at Camp Triton.

Many of Russom's peers consider him a sardonic man that is difficult to work with, with utterly terrible bedside manner. Still, he cares deeply for his charges, and tries to maintain relationships with those few people willing to put up with his bitterness. He has a service record longer than his arm and has earned many a favor from higher ups by saving their lives. 

Teddy is one of those friends- the two trade messages frequently and make plans to share a drink or two whenever their paths cross. Theo owes Samir everything for saving his career when he was only a teenager, and he does whatever he can to pay Samir back for his...unique brand of kindness.

A critical lack of experienced medical personnel on the front saw him transferred again. Russom's too old to fight on the line, but he can mend wounds and command a small army of orderlies on the deck of a destroyer or in the back of a tent if he has to. God knows he has the steel for it.[/code][/hider]
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