[CHAR] Bastion: The Last Tank Crew

[Whoami]

Name
Sara Lancaster
'Foresight'

Age
20

Height
5'6"

Weight
127 lbs

Nationality
Canada

Tank Role
Bow Gunner

Infantry Role
Field Commander

Personality
Sara is a thoughtful young woman, who spends plenty of time reflecting on the things she has done. She is very aware of her own mortality, and has become quite measured and meticulous when approaching things. Sara is the type of person that would stand to the side during a school dance, or be respectfully silent during a conversation between two other friends. Even though she is rather quiet during social periods, Sara is constantly observing. She has picked up a knack for spotting details that most would often overlook, and thus, her comments are usually quite surprising. Her talent for picking up on minute details was magnified during her time at Cartwright Academy, and it has led to her having some of the sharpest senses around. Rumors have been passed around that her senses are mutant, or machine enhanced in some way. Though they are false, this has led to Sara being somewhat scrutinized and alienated by some social groups. Sara would rather spend her time hunting in the woods with her falcon, Icarus. She is quite oriented with the outdoors, and it isn't uncommon for Sara for to drop off the radar and camp out in the woods on her own for a few days.

Bio
Sara's family had immigrated from the Canadian west coast the R.A.I launched a massive offensive on the last great city in the North. She was young when the attack came, but old enough to remember the experience. Drones of all shapes and sizes swept through the streets, systematically wiping out any organism that they came across. While the local militia and remains of the Canadian military put up a good fight, they were ultimately overwhelmed. Sara and her father had made it aboard one of the Navy frigates ordered to evacuate the civilians, though her mother was pushed overboard by a wave of panicking refugees. She had never seen her mother after that. The small group of frigates was assaulted by the R.A.I's own naval drones, resulting in the sinking of one of the ships. The frigate she and her father were on sustained critical damage, and was taking on water fast. Her father had told Sara to swim to the other ship, and they both dove into the Pacific Ocean along with dozens of others.

As they swam, aquatic drones pulled people underwater all around her. She was grabbed as well, just as she was pulling herself aboard the final frigate, but her father managed to free her in time. The R.A.I cut off its pursuit of the frigate as the U.S. Pacific Fleet arrived to assist the wounded ship. Sara was coughing up bloodied water on the deck of the ship, and it took her a few minutes to come to her senses and look around. She had seen that her father had lost a leg to one of the drones in the water. He was surrounded by medics, and luckily survived. But Sara was changed forever after that assault. She became aware of her humanity, and the vulnerability that came with it. Sara became quiet. That youthful naivety and hopefulness was replaced with measure and carefulness. She wasn't the only child on that ship that had been changed by the R.A.I's brutal attack. Her whole generation had turned this way, and they soon found themselves spending more and more time with the ship's crew to learn how to fight and defend themselves.

The Canadian frigate remained attached to the U.S. fleet as it made its way to a naval base on the coast of Japan. When they stepped onto solid land, Sara had noticed that Japan had been wracked by conflict just as much as Canada, if not more. The refugees were given specific instruction to stay with the military escort as they brought them to a safe town built around the Cartwright military academy. Over the years, Sara had grown more and more detached with her father, who had sunk into a bottle. The loss of his wife, his leg, and his home had made him short tempered and violent. They had no money to afford a cyber-prosthetic leg, so he was trapped in a wheel chair. Through her teen years, Sara preferred to not spent her nights at home. Despite the militia's warnings, she camped out in the woods on the outskirts of town. She hunted for her food, using a rifle she quietly taken from the town's poorly guarded armory to hunt with. The lessons she had learned on the frigate paid off well, she wasn't a slouch with the rifle.

Sara would come back to town every other day for supplies, only to head back out into the woods. One night, Sara heard a bird call. It was unlike anything she had ever heard before. Birds were a rare sight after all. She followed the sound, only to find a young falcon with a wounded wing on the ground. A feral cat was stalking around and playing with its prey. Sara chased off the cat and took the bird. She nursed it back to health, fed it, and kept it warm at night. When the falcon was healthy, Sara found that it wouldn't leave her alone. The bird followed her everywhere, always perching in the trees just out of her sight. She continued to feed it, but knew that it was still a wild animal.

When she was fourteen, Sara had stumbled across a Yakuza camp in the woods. She knew not to get any closer, and turned away. Just as she was making her retreat back into the night, she had stepped on a trip wire. A loud, alarming noise was made, and before she could run further, she was surrounded by three Yakuza thugs, one was armed with a pistol. The gangsters took her rifle, and started to fondle her. A desperate, cruel world. Then out of darkness, the falcon attacked. It clawed and tore at the armed gangster's face, making him drop his pistol. The suddenness of it all caused chaos. Sara quickly swiped the pistol from the ground and shot the gangster who took her rifle three times in the chest. Another bullet went into the second thug's knee, putting him on the ground. She scuffled over the ground to get her rifle, and was grabbed by the ankle by the crippled thug. Sara booted him in the face, and took a knife tucked away in her other boot. She stabbed that knife into the man's hand, retrieved her rifle, and shot the man dead. The falcon had the other man on his back now, and Sara finished him off as well. Not only had she claimed a human's life for the first time, but she had claimed three. She didn't have time to come to terms with her act, however. The sudden screams and gunshots had alerted the rest of the camp. Sara called out to the falcon, and it intelligently responded by following her in the sky.

She ran back toward the town, bullets flying past her and hitting the trees. She could hear hounds. A bullet passed clean through her shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain and fall to the ground. She looked over her shoulder, saw two hounds fast approaching. Using her stolen pistol, Sara killed one. The other was quickly intercepted by her new falcon companion. It's sharp beak tearing into the hound's face and throat. She quickly absterged the bleeding and made her way back to the town. She was quickly seen to by a local doctor, while a militiaman berated her about stealing a rifle and not heeding their warnings about going into the woods alone. Nevertheless, he was impressed by her story.

The militiaman directed her toward the academy, and she suddenly found herself in a classroom. She was given a dormitory, a safe place to keep her falcon, which she named Icarus. During her time at the academy, Sara had fine tuned the skills she had acquired while living in the woods. Sara spent the next six years of her life at the academy, learning to operate a variety of combat vehicles and work as a member of a cohesive infantry unit. She spent every weekend in the woods, hunting with Icarus. She was on one of these excursions when Cartwright academy was bombarded by artillery. She could hear the concussive blasts of the deadly rounds pummeling the academy and surrounding town. She returned in time to help the survivors and get others to safety. Despite her relationship with her father, she was relieved to know he survived the mysterious attack. In the following exodus to Omi Village, Sara was one of the handful of scouts that ranged ahead of the caravan to look out for any imminent threats. It was an uneventful relocation, but she was glad for that. Now in Omi Village, Sara prepares with the crew of the Bastion to head out and investigate the source of the mysterious artillery barrage.

[Cryfest]

Theodore “Theo” Weber - Callsign “Smokey”

Age:18
Height: 5’10
Weight: 156 lbs
Nationality: American
Tank Role: The Loader
Infantry Role: Infiltrator

Personality:Theodore is a confident guy. He always has an air of self-assuredness, poise and will occasionally come off as arrogant. He has a strong sense of pride and honor. He is ambitious and works hard to complete projects with precision and quality. Theo keeps a calm head in stressful and high intensity situations. To civilians his calm and to-the-point attitude is often considered rude or insensitive. Theo has strong opinions and is never afraid to share them no matter how unneeded or inappropriate they may be to the situation. His sense of humor is dark and many people do not find him funny. He has often been told to keep his jokes to himself, though he has yet to do so.

Bio:Theodore grew up with an older brother in the Military and this influenced him into joining the Academy. His brother was killed in action while attempting to eradicate a growing gang that was terrorizing helpless villages. His family and the people in his neighborhood viewed his brother as honorable and important even in death. Theodore decided he wanted to mean something when he died and hopes, even to this day, to die as honorably as his brother.

Theodore was accepted to the New York Military Academy, one of only 4 in America. There he was taught until he turned 14 and an opportunity arose to travel to Japan to join the ranks at the American base. The Cartwright Academy was working on an inclusion project as the skirmishes had left the world a shamble, and when it came to integrating immigrants to new countries there was often high resistance. One of many projects the Cartwright Academy explored was to involve those of other nationalities to the country. All in hopes of building friendly rapport with countries that have been long at war. With the lack of community among different military factions and the lack of proper protection from inhuman and delinquent behavior the Cartwright Academy was attempting to rectify the problem. Theo felt that this would make a great opportunity to gain some experience and had always found other cultures interesting. His powerful sense of duty made him into a trustworthy candidate for the program and both he and the New York Academy felt he would grow in Japan where there were more opportunities in experience as the Island had many internal battles with Yakuza, Mutants and the R.A.I..

Originally the program was only for a year long stay but Theodore climbed the ladder of Military Rank quickly and built powerful connections with the people and community on the island; so, he put in a request to remain as a permanent student at the base. Seeing that Theo was flourishing under the base’s environment his request was accepted.

Among his peers they started calling him “Smokey” as he always seems to have a cigarette dangling from his lips, even though it is not always lit.

After becoming a permanent resident of Cartwright Academy he was offered a position with a tank crew, positions only being offered to highly skilled students. He trained and studied closely with the group's, learning the basics to the advanced. He felt distanced from them individually but as a group he felt comfortable working with them as a team. He quickly picked up on the skills taught to him and took a particular interest in loading the cannon and the different materials used to turn the tide in any given situation.

Outside the tank he quickly picked up the skills necessary to infiltrate and secure the objective. He learned to walk silently, and even when he is not actively working he hardly makes a sound. His clothing is softer and lighter than the usual uniform so he can move swiftly without the ruffle of fabric giving him away.

Along with simply using stealth to get through enemy borders he has learned the mannerisms of the locals and more importantly, refugees. He uses his american background and fluid Japanese to act as a harmless refugee or even as a thug in order to gain trust wherever necessary.

Though he has been trained in all of the skills necessary to grow it was not until the bombing of the Cartwright Academy that he gained any true knowledge of how battles were fought. Of how much blood was in a person; and it wasn’t until he was staring down the barrel of his pistol, blood and flesh dripping from his hair, down his face, and soaking into his clothes that he realized how easy it was to take a life.

Shell shocked, he barely made it out with the people he trusted most, the tank class, and even after finding refuge in the nearby town it took him a long time to register the battle and accept what had happened.

[Drakey]

Name: Andrew Calaumn, "Drake"
Age: 21, but looks 19
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 178 lbs
Nationality: American
Tank Role: Commander
Infantry Role: Marksman
Personality:

Drake has a rather strange personality. He is cold and aloof when it comes to keeping his soldiers alive. He will do whatever it takes to make that a reality. While the group has had some close calls, Andrew has been able to keep them alive.

On the other hand, he can get explosively angry about really stupid shit. Also, he is addicted to caffiene.

Bio:

Andrew is actually older than 19, he just looks that age. It's a side-effect of his 'condition'. You see, Andrew is a mutant. While not as bad as those that roam the wastes, mindlessly attacking others, it's still different. His condition involves black scales that cove his spine and end with a 4.5 foot tail that he typically wraps around his waist. It also causes him to age more slowly than normal human beings. So, in actuality, Andrew is 21.

Having been an immigrant, Andrew has grown up within Japan his entire life. His friends, those that work with him, don't know about his condition and Andrew is scared that they might turn on him if they ever found out.

It started 5 years ago, when he was 16. Andrew had been exploring the nearby region when he accidentally fell into a pit laced with radioactive chemicals. He had gotten lucky. Despite the bone-shattering pain that his mutation caused, Andrew was able to keep control of his mind. When he finally ascended from the pit, the home he once knew was gone.

The yakuza had wiped it out. As such, the now 17 year old Andrew began to roam. He quickly found clothes that could hide his condition as he travelled to what he believed was the last bastion of rational individuals. A school, a school that had been run by Americans.

After finding it, Andrew was able to convince them to let him in. THough, one of the groups doctors did find out about his condition in a routine evaluation, the man had kept it hidden and off the records. In exchange, Andrew had to serve as something of a research subject for the doctor. In the process, Andrew learned new things about his mutation.

He is slightly more resistant to radiation than a normal human.
He has better night-vision than a human.
He is faster than a normal human.

This is both his gift and his curse, and Andrew battles with it everyday.

As for how he managed in the school, Andrew quickly rose through the ranks of cadets. He successfully completed the ridiculously hard sniper courses while simultaneously becoming one of the best tacticians in his year. While the examinations were difficult, Andrew was a dedicated young man. He learned all that he could, and excelled in that which he could. It was all for one reason: To take the fight to them. THe Yakuza, Mutants, and that rogue A.I.

Wake up and burn.

Other:
Drake loves to play chess and will try and challenge Foresight whenever he can.

[Ferrocerium]

Name: Takamori Saki

Callsign: Kirin

Age: 16

Height: 150cm

Weight: 45kg

Nationality: Japanese

Tank Role: Driver

Infantry Role: Demolitions

Personality: Saki has lived a long, tough life in just sixteen years, and it's made her a bit more pessimistic than most. However, that pessimism (bordering on nihilism) is tempered with an iron will and a paradoxical desire to keep fighting even when she knows the odds are stacked in the house's favor. She also has a very cavalier attitude towards life and death, one that leaves her willing to take risks that would be branded 'suicidal' by anybody tragically inflicted with self-preservation instincts. In her defense, it's hard to not risk your life when you're wearing a bandolier of homemade grenades.

Bio: Once upon a time, the Takamoris were a happy little family. They had lived on Izayoi for generations, tending to their small farm in the highlands. They mostly raised sheep, and chickens, and grew some vegetables. It wasn't an easy life; with just four people (Hyoube, the father; Kyoumi, the mother; Takeo, the oldest son; and Saki, the youngest daughter), there was always work to be done, and it was hard to ignore the obvious steady decline. Still, the little family kept at it, eking out a living as best they could.

And then a horde of mutants attacked the farm, stole the animals, and dragged Hyoube, kicking and screaming, off into the night. Saki was six at the time. It's not one of her favorite memories.

The Takamoris left behind what was left of their home, and moved down into Omi village. They took up residence in a hovel on the edge of town, doing everything they could to keep food on the table. Takeo and Saki did errands for other villagers, and Kyoumi took up sewing, turning whatever scraps of cloth she could find into sturdy, utilitarian clothing. They went hungry many nights, but they were safe in the village, and Saki loved having neighbors to play with. They hadn't had those on the farm.

And then a gang of yakuza kidnapped Kyoumi. Saki has no idea what happened to her, and she does her best to keep it that way. She was nine at the time.

Orphaned, Takeo and Saki left Omi to go to the one place they might be able to find shelter: Cartwright Academy. Brother and sister were admitted to the small school, where for the first time in his life, Takeo had a chance to shine. Two years after admittance, he was made commander of his tank crew at the young age of sixteen, and earned glory and respect in numerous actions against the many hostiles that would have plagued Omi without the Academy's protection. But every moment he wasn't with his crew, he spent with his little sister, the only family he had left in the world. She was beginning to excel in her classes, showing the same promise that he had, and it was sometimes hard to stomach how proud the two siblings were of one another.

...And then Takeo was killed in action against a swarm of drones. They recovered the body, at least. Well, parts of it. Probably. It was hard to tell who was who when the entire tank crew had been rendered into mulch.

Saki was twelve at the time. As her brother was buried with full honors, she made a realization that no child her age should ever have had: the world was shit, and getting worse. What little remained of civilization was the barest shadow of what it had once been, and every day was a losing battle to keep going. If the yakuza didn't burn them down from the inside, then the mutants would probably eat them or something, and if that didn't do it, an AI would probably use them for target practice. And that was if they didn't starve, or succumb to radiation sickness, or freeze to death in the winter, or die from infected wounds, or fucking commit suicide or something.

Realizing this simple, stark truth, most would have given up. Saki, however, decided that she hated the world enough that the best way to tell it to go fuck itself was to keep on living, no matter what it threw at her. She drowned herself in her classes, picking up every scrap of knowledge she could use to fight. She showed great skill in commandeering a tank ("you can't do donuts in an MBT", they said. Saki proved them wrong), and a disturbing proficiency for explosives of all types ("Takamori, for the last god damn time, stop sculpting your C4 into penises." "Make me.").

...Aaaaaaand then Cartwright Academy was reduced to a smoking pile of rubble by some unknown dickhole. At this point, Saki has stopped being sad and started being flatly pissed off.

[Xandrya]

NAME

Hana Kozlov, "Rusty"

AGE

19

HEIGHT

5'6

WEIGHT

130 lbs

NATIONALITY

Russian

TANK ROLE

Gunner

INFANTRY ROLE

Heavy

PERSONALITY

Hana is not a girl of many words. She's usually shy at first, but opens up rather quickly once she gets to know someone. With her crew, she'd rather let her meticulous work speak for itself, and she has no problem following orders except when the command directly contradicts her morals. That's not to say she avoids conversations altogether as she enjoys reminiscing about the past quite often.

BIO

Raised in Moscow until the tender age of 9, Hana was born to a Russian father and a Japanese mother. Her diverse background gave her the chance to master three languages at a young age: Russian, Japanese, and English, which both of her parents also spoke rather fluently. When she was just 8, her father, Sergei, was killed on a mission and never returned home, leaving a young Hana and her mother to fend for themselves.

After a few months, the small family of two left Russia to go to Japan. But things were much worse in Japan, and before the girls had a chance to settle, they were taken by Yakuza members. The experience wasn't as bad for Hana as it was for her mother, who was threatened into a forced marriage with one of the leaders of the clan overseeing the town they lived in.

For Hana, being the step-daughter of a ruthless man was quite the experience. He'd sometimes attempt to be nice to the young girl, but any progress made went instantly out the window as he had a very short tempter, leaving quite the impression on the young girl as she slowly grew to become submissive the more time passed. It was during her early teenage years that things took a turn for the worse, when one of her step-father's men grabbed her late one night and drugged her. When Hana eventually woke up, she'd learned she had been raped, and immediately ran to her mother.

Hana's mother, finally deciding that their current set-up was just as bad as if they were away from the clutches of these men, urged Hana to come up with a plan, one that would help them escape their current torment. They eventually came to the conclusion that using seduction would be their best possible chance. They would lure the men away from their jobs in order to get them distracted. If they could achieve that, then more than likely they'd be able to get away with their plan.

When that fateful evening arrived, Hana and her mother had already packed their bags. Hana pretended she was going to get a drink of water while her mother pretended she was going to the restroom, then both of them got to work. While reaching one of the gates outside, Hana's mother nervously—but dutifully—motioned the guard over to talk to her. She feigned to him her husband's urgent request for him to meet in the conference room, and although suspicious at first, the guard eventually agreed. He used his radio to call in for a back-up while he was gone, and that's when Hana intercepted the guard walking to temporarily take over, calling him over to a shadowed corner behind their residence. She didn't hesitate to grab the man and push him against the wall, her heart pounding loudly in her ears as she pressed herself against his armored body to kiss him. The plan was working up until the guard pulled away from the kiss and grabbed Hana's arms. He then swiftly pushed her against the opposite wall, the fear instantly growing in Hana as the man that towered over her kept her firmly pinned to the wall. A few tense moments passed before he resumed their kiss, and although she was far from willing, she knew it was better than the alternative.

There was a quiet gasp in the air as the guard stood still for a few moments before his lifeless body collapsed. Hana and her mother looked at each other silently, then both of them ran off towards the exit, leaving the man with the knife still attached to his back. Somewhat hopeful at this point, both Hana and her mother were just reaching the gate when gunshots rang through the air. Hana looked back as she ran, only to see her mother on the ground, but the woman's only concern was to convince Hana to continue without her. There was a brief moment of uncertainty, but Hana knew what she had to do. She continued running as a couple of tears stained her face.

Despite being alone for a few weeks, Hana managed to survive. She arrived at the academy, telling them her story and everything she'd gone through in just her short 14 years of life. Once in, Hana made the most of her time there. She excelled in the role of combat medic, mastered the topic of enemy movement, and loved to shoot her fair share of guns. It was a comfortable position, one that she hoped would somewhat help her maintain her sanity despite her difficult past.

Theme Song