You know the problem with muties? They hit hard, but not hard enough to break T-51 power armor. Gregory McDowell,
Date of Birth: 2249/04/11, 35 years old.
Sex: Male
Place of Birth: Boston, MA, United States of America
Path: Knight
Rank: Knight-Sergeant
Equipment: - T-51B power armor set. Gotta keep the squad alive, and the best way to do it is to stand in front of them with a suit of armor that weighs enough to crush a grown man. It is, of course, patriotically painted in the colors of the Brotherhood of Steel -- which is to say, metallic and boring, and only with a logo of the BoS on the chest piece. Underneath, 'Ad Victoriam' is scratched into the metal using a sharp implement.
- Super-sledge. When you're busy protecting and saving lives by being a hero standing in front of your partners, the best way to also do some damage is by swinging a rocket-powered sledgehammer in the general direction of the enemy. Gregory was given this weapon for two reasons - first and foremost, because he's not intelligent enough to use laser weaponry in a way that doesn't endanger those around him, and secondarily, he has the physical strength required to control a powerful weapon like this.
- Brotherhood-fatigues. Can't be repping the Brotherhood of Steel where-ever you go without this key piece of equipment. 'sides, they're comfortable as hell, man.
- Pocket lint. That means to say that a melee weapon professional such as Gregory doesn't need to carry anything other than his armor, his guns (muscles) and his sledgehammer. He'd make the scribe nerds carry his personal affects, if he chose to have any.
Notable Talents: - No-no word strength/Human Supermutant. Gregory is seriously strong. No, seriously. He will flat out break your hand from a handshake, he'll destroy anyone in an arm wrestling competition, even if they use power armor to assist them hydraulically, and he can punch a mean hole in the wall when he's angry. Some rude rumors say his mom must've been a super mutant, but we all know that's impossible.
- Psychically dull. Gregory lacks the (emotional) intelligence to really be affected by pansy things such as 'combat losses' and 'dead family members.' He's in the Brotherhood of Steel to SMASH, not to talk about his feelings and stuff like that. Gregory is less likely to be affected by psychological struggle, but can come off as 'rude' or 'uncaring' to those not initiated in his superior ways.
- Human Superiority. Ghouls and Supermutants are disgusting creatures that are in every way inferior to humans (even if they are immune to radiation, are physically stronger, and other superior traits that humans don't have) and need to be eradicated if the Brotherhood of Steel ever wants to rebuild a strong, safe America. While Gregory doesn't know about the latter part of that sentence, he certainly knows Rotskins and Muties are bad and the devil and deserve to be destroyed. Synths are probably worse, but he's not smart enough to know of their existence. What this means in practical term is that he will fight ten times as hard against inferior creatures that are not human. Screw you stinkskins.
Laughable Failings: - Intelligence: 1. Gregory was not academically gifted and has the intelligence to match it. Some people are dropped on their head as a kid or exposed to a little bit too much radiation. The truth is Gregory was probably dropped on his head onto a leaky radiation vat, numerous times. To say he is 'dumb' is generous, as this man consistently has baffled scribes and lancers alike with his complete and utter disregard of knowledge, wisdom, and practical know how. It seems that the only thing that fills this mans brain is knowledge on how to best connect a sledge hammer with a mutant face.
- Flat-earth Stubborn. While Gregory is not really a flat earther, he could very well be. It's just that he's too much of a PATRIOT to believe that the American government would have lied to their own population. They'd never do that. And besides, America is so great they landed on the moon, and more! He saw the spaceship himself, after all, when he went exploring in that old museum, therefore it must be true. No, what this means is that Gregory is unwilling to budge from his (biased) beliefs, ever, even if you provide evidence that without a doubt proves him wrong. You could take him to see the earth was round (for example) and he'd still maintain otherwise.
- Dependent. Much like his bunkerborn counterparts, Gregory is completely and totally dependent on a) propaganda and b) superiors to keep him moving. He has no capacity for critical self thinking, and instead relies on orders to fulfill his duties. He's more than capable of choosing to swing his sledgehammer at a ghoul mid-combat even if he's not ordered to, but anything that requires much more autonomy than that is going to be a real task to him. While some might call this discipline, it is entirely detriment to the functioning of the Brotherhood of Steel as a large organism, as it severely hampers the ability to make quick decisions using discretion. It is unlikely for this reason that Gregory will ever fulfill a leadership role that doesn't involve mindlessly charging into the enemy lines to kill them as hard as you can.
Personality: Gregory's personality is simple - he hates ghouls, mutants, and he'd hate synths if he knew what they were or that they existed. He loves the Brotherhood -- all of them -- and considers them his long lost family. In particular, he loves his superiors, because they are wise and tell him what to do, and so far every time he has done something, it turned out well, so clearly the superiors must be in charge for a reason. All of them also look like the amazing posters that the scribes print and draw that show off how cool, strong and wise the Brotherhood of Steel is. So, they're more like superheroes to him.
He wants to be like them one day, and get to tell everyone else how to smash Supermutants and ghouls over the head with weapons.
On a more personal level, Gregory is decently social, although you can't expect him to carry a conversation about anything that doesn't involve a hundred and one ways to creatively kill ghouls or mutants. Discussing the finer workings of literature, art or culture is something he is not interested in (and will actively mock you for, doing his best to mimic what you sound like, while not at all managing to do so correctly), and telling him he has to 'go easy on the gears when he's using power armor' will just cause him to laugh and say 'you fixed it for me anyway, so I can go break them again.'
He's an idiot. Not much more can be said, and not much more
need be said. But if there is anyone you want close by when the supermutants attack, it's Gregory -- he'll stand in front of you and protect you with careless disregard for his own life and safety.
Short Background: Growing up in Boston exposed Gregory at an early age to various people of different creeds, religions (he saw an Atom preacher once, swears it on his life) and ethnicities. He also came in contact with those filthy mutants and ghouls from time to time. Mutants mostly whenever they decided to go raid their settlement, and the ghouls whenever those filthy rotskins from up North came by with their swimmingpool wine. He never liked em, the lot of em, and was very judgemental of them and anyone that associated with them. Even as a kid he knew these people were no good.
He was proven right when a ghoul was caught stealing, and this cemented his belief that they were all bad. It didn't matter that a ghoul later saved a settlement caravan from being raided by tipping them off about raiders. He was just in cahoots with them, and trying to betray them, or something to that effect. Screw ghouls.
It had become apparent early on that Gregory was, for all intents and purposes, intellectually challenged, and so he was promised a life of practicality. He'd be a caravan hand at that settlement with the big spire (lord knows Gregory couldn't remember it's name) and carry produce from the shelves to the brahmin and back. Maybe he'd fight a few raiders with his strength, but that was about all that was expected of him.
Needless to say things turned out a little bit differently. He was 16 when he joined his first caravan, but if one had to guess from his stature, he was already mid-twenties, since he was hulking and massive. The caravan was headed South, traveling to the Pitt to deliver some custom parts or something to that effect. Gregory was not privy to the details of these types of trade deals and even if he was he would not have remembered.
Along the way they were ambushed by super mutants, who killed the brahmin first and everyone else second. Gregory would have died there if it weren't for a Brotherhood of Steel scouting party that had come to scout the Boston airport for... reasons. They dealt with the Supermutants, routing them by virtue of their miniguns and laser rifles, and secured the position before heading out.
They took Gregory with them, promoting him temporarily to a conscript to secure him a rank in the Brotherhood so that the Elder could decide what to do with him.
He never got to meet the Elder (of course) but was simply put to use as a young initiate, moving through the ranks slowly but surely using his strength as great leverage. He mastered the usage of power armor slowly, his intellect or lack thereof getting in the way, but finally did it and was promoted to knight at the ripe age of 26. Some four years later, he'd find himself promoted again to Knight-Sergeant, giving him a nice little upgrade from T45 power armor to T51 power armor, and access to a supersledge. Now that, that was something that Gregory could get used to.
And then, here he was. Meathead Gregory, at your service. Ad Victoriam, brothers!
