The character herself is not so bad, however, I would like to know how long she's been with the 7th MAS team.
Regarding your MAS, my only real gripe is that its made of legos.. Would you happen to have a more suitable picture? Also, keep in mind that the Hellcat's beam saber only has a 3 hour capacitor, since its only draining 3 power instead of 7. Other than that the mech looks fine. I'll await your further changes.
-also, give your rotary gun an ammo count, probably around 480-540 will do
Relevant changes made. I also editted her history and fleshed out her personality a little more.
I liked the Lego design before because of how sleek it looked, but I found an alternative.
Also, after reading through Alexis' CS, I can't help but imagine her voice as fem Shep.
While I agree the lego design was fairly sleek... It just takes something out of the character for me. I'll take a look over your character in little while.
@Hexaflexagon, most of my criticisms for you are technical. I find it highly unlikely that a well muscled man would weigh as little as 145. I'm not particularly muscular, but I'd like to consider myself thin and fit, I stand at 6'2" and weigh 170. I doubt a 3 inch difference in height would result in a 25 lbs difference in weight.
Your character sheet also changes between using "he" and "she" quite a lot, so that could be sorted out.
Huh, frankly, I'm surprised you gimped yourself by giving Trapp a bog standard Sentry- though I guess it isn't the MAS that makes the man. To be honest, I purposely designed the Sentry to be kind of bad.. Especially when compared to something like a Sentinel or Sparrow (hell, even the Sparrow wasn't designed very well). You sure you want a Sentry?
Also, I edited my CS mainly for the ship. Instead of the Battleship Sentinel of Cerol, Vietmyke and I have agreed on taking the Carrier Abraham Lincoln.
A full profile of it is available on my CS.
While I agree the lego design was fairly sleek... It just takes something out of the character for me. I'll take a look over your character in little while.
@Hexaflexagon, most of my criticisms for you are technical. I find it highly unlikely that a well muscled man would weigh as little as 145. I'm not particularly muscular, but I'd like to consider myself thin and fit, I stand at 6'2" and weigh 170. I doubt a 3 inch difference in height would result in a 25 lbs difference in weight.
Your character sheet also changes between using "he" and "she" quite a lot, so that could be sorted out.
Huh, frankly, I'm surprised you gimped yourself by giving Trapp a bog standard Sentry- though I guess it isn't the MAS that makes the man. To be honest, I purposely designed the Sentry to be kind of bad.. Especially when compared to something like a Sentinel or Sparrow (hell, even the Sparrow wasn't designed very well). You sure you want a Sentry?
Ah yah, I was unsure about his gender at the start so it changed a couple of times. Some of the shes must have been left in.
His height and weight, well I could pump up the weight if you want. Though being 5'11" and 145 lbs you can still pack on some solid muscle and look well defined. Look at Pat Curran, a MMA fighter who is in the Featherweight class for example.
And well I felt I did not want to make him too overpowered. XD Already being considered an "ace" and everything. In my interpenetration of an Ace is being able to use what you have to the best of its abilities. Even if that means being in a walking coffin. And my other reasoning is that since in his back story he spent most of his training in the sen MK1 simulator he would naturally gravitate towards the sentinel line of macheins anyway. But if you want I can write up a new mech.
Lol, I mean I can appreciate someone giving my default builds some love, you can keep a Sentry/Sentinel if you want. I mean, these aren't going to be permanent anyway, I'm going to be giving players the opportunity to design higher end machines with unique pieces of advanced technology as we progress.
Name: Trent, Thomas T.
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Callsign/Codename: Wizard
Kills: 72
Psychological Analysis:
Thomas T. Trent is the nicest sociopath you've ever met.
A tremendous fan of understatement, there is very little of the typical grandstanding mech-jockey about him. Something of a wallflower, he much prefers to listen than to talk and is usually content to let much louder men take the spotlight. In smaller groups he is a bit more lively, his self-deprecating sense of gallows humor coming to the fore in quiet quips and occasional snipes, but even then there is something slightly distant about him. Laid-back and easygoing, it's hard to picture him as the same man who logged more hours in the training simulators as a recruit than any individual pilot to have come along before or after him--largely because he isn't.
At attention he's mechanical, following orders without question or complaint. In public he's boneless, relaxed and at ease even when he shouldn't be. It's only in private, when one on one or among a small group of very specific individuals that Trent shows his true colors. The truth is that most things don't bother him because they just don't matter. Ninety percent of Trent's life is going through the motions, keeping up appearances--he's very, very good at it, but he doesn't feel things the same way other people do. Maybe he never did. He eats because he has to, fraternizes because it's expected. It costs him nothing to be nice, so he is. He knows what the psyche evaluations he undergoes look for, so he gives it to them. He's the most psychotically stable man in the service, almost literally. It's only in private that his war stories become wistful, his dedication to the pursuit of the adrenaline high evident.
As time goes on, the probability of all events occurring approaches one. Trent, ever the perfectionist, just fucking loves seeing how many nines he can put behind that period, never knowing if the next moment will turn probable disaster into real destruction. Someday it will click over, but until then it's the only thing that gets him out of bed in the morning.
Military Record:
Thomas T. Trent was not born a brilliant pilot.
He was not born much of anything other than the scrawny fourth son of a hard-drinking jarhead and his highschool sweetheart who got married and started a family when he got back from his tour. Terrorized by his older brothers and consistently disappointing to his father who thought welterweight boxing to be a girl's sport, most people would assume this to be the cause of his somewhat stunted emotional development. Trent would argue otherwise, pointing out that the only thing he ever really cared about was perfection of whatever it was he did. It wasn't that he was brilliant so much as absurdly focused, willing and happy to dedicate hours on end until he'd mastered something completely and in its entirety. School frustrated him because of its surface level, segmented approach to learning, so he went through his lessons bored to tears and learned everything else online. His excellent memory meant high retention and, if it didn't make him many friends at school or among his family, he didn't much care. And then, on a particularly fateful career day, Maj. Arnold Anderson came in and discussed his time as a pilot with a truly awkward amount of nostalgia and completely hooked the young Trent, who wanted nothing more than to be less bored with his life.
He was obsessed with the idea of speed and reaction, the thought that a wrong twitch at Mach 1 could turn him into a smear inside wreckage. Then and there he knew he wanted to be a pilot, and he knew he wanted to be one for the military--they got the fastest toys, after all, and he wasn't about to shoot for less. As with anything Trent did, he approached it with nigh unstoppable focus--he learned what the flight academies were looking for and became it, to the letter. The transformation was impressive, impressive enough to earn him a place at the Mars academy and a shot at piloting a MAS.
Which was everything Trent could have asked for.
He might not have been a natural pilot but he loved what he did. Always in favor of high-maneuverability, high-speed models, he quickly proved his reflexes were up to the task by brute force--to this day, not a student at the academy has surpassed the hours he logged on the simulators. Isolated by simple cause and effect, he performed well in team exercises but missed out on much of the bonding and camaraderie that went hand in hand with struggling together. Further alienated by his exceedingly high test scores (that he studied like a demon didn't seem to matter), it wasn't until one of his professors pointed out the many factors that went into selecting pilots that he wizened up and began to insinuate himself into conversations. He was smart, after all, and relatively funny, and he found that the less he cared and the more relaxed he appeared about the whole thing the better a response he got from his peers. If he wasn't exactly Mr. Popular, he at least managed a working relationship with the important members of his team, and with his exceptional performance no one doubted that he earned his place at the top of his class.
It was, then, somewhat surprising when he wasn't assigned to a proper unit. When he requested an explanation, he was instead assigned to a research and development unit as a test pilot, a job where his excellent paper performance would come in handy as he put machine after machine through its paces. For a time this was exactly what he wanted--hurtling around in the fastest tin-cans the army could provide and seeing if he could break them--but after a year of it he found it growing stale. Like any junkie, it took more and more product to get him that same high and test runs through obstacle courses just didn't cut it. It didn't matter how fast he went, there just wasn't enough...
Well. He couldn't exactly come out and say that he didn't have fun if he didn't feel like he was about to die, so instead he bit his tongue until the right MAS came along. He found it in the Mosquito Mk. I, the highest performance light mech he'd yet seen--when he'd put it through its paces and found himself having to adapt to the machine's handling rather than the other way around, he requested a transfer field operations proper as soon as it was cleared for live testing.
Thus began his initiation into the 101st and his joining of the 7th MAS Team.
Of things Trent was born for, it was live combat. Every movement had the potential to be his last, every high-speed turn had real unknown potential around the corner. No more test tracks, no more safety limiters, just him and his reflexes and a machine that could keep up, and he lived for it. The only thing left to study was his machine, and so he did--he got in with the mechanics and tinkers using his R&D cred and started tinkering like the Ace he wasn't. He'd learned his lesson back on Mars, however, and was quick to insinuate himself in the unit proper; it was easier as low man on the totem pole, and just by rolling with the punches 'the new kid' turned into 'Triple T'.
And, over time, Triple T turned into Mr. Wizard.
Tackling missions and live piloting with the same obsessive perfectionism he always had, he didn't race for kills or try to prove how macho he was like some of the other rookies he'd seen. He did his job and he did it well, and--funny thing!--that was enough. Out of blood, sweat and tears he built a reputation for being absolutely stone-cold reliable--if you wanted something to happen, you called in Trent. If you needed a distraction, or a target removed, or this particular hole punched just right, you called Trent. When you needed magic you called the Wizard, and he delivered.
He still does. One of the most senior Aces in the 101st and one of the only ones to have accomplished it running as many missions as he has in his 'fancy tin can' of a MAS, Trent's record speaks for itself. Known for accomplishing suicide missions, speed runs and precision work that no one else can, Wizardry has become synonymous with high-performance precision work under pressure.
Thomas T. Trent wouldn't have it any other way.
Equipment: A trench knife, a machine pistol with a clip of back-up ammunition, several requisite holodiscs of contraband-grade pornography (for trading among the men), cigarettes. Lots of cigarettes.
Chassis: Light
Engine: Experimental Triple Core Engine
Operating Time: 10 Hours.
Description: The Mosquito is a prototype MAS designed for long distance target neutralization. Pushing the machine to the limit, an experimental core provides the power necessary for the high-performance modifications that have been made to its design. By maximizing speed and payload and backing it up with withering point defense, it allows a properly skilled pilot to secure take advantage of emergent opportunities and escape before its token defense systems can be overwhelmed with even moderately concentrated fire.
Systems:
X5-II Arbalest Plasma Lance (Plasma Weapon, 7W, 9P):
The X5-II Arbalest is built to project overwhelming concentrated fire all at once over a tremendous field of engagement. By utilizing an ionized targeting system to create a path of least resistance, the Arbalest creates a briefly energized, highly focused particle beam capable of blowing clean through even heavily reinforced targets. Though it suffers in rate of fire and ease of use, it makes up for it by doing what it does best--putting a big hole in whatever it points out from outside of reach.
2 Dual Linked .50 Machine Guns (2W):
The Mosquito's point defense systems, a pair of dual linked .50 machine guns are located on both of the machine's shoulders. Linked to a central ammunition system across the top of the vehicle's back, these guns provide a brief but withering hail of anti-personnel fire. Carries 200 rounds a piece.
30mm Rashid Autocannon (2W):
Its only medium ranged armament, the Mosquito carries a built in 30mm Rashid Autocannon in its left arm. Not able to carry sufficient amounts of ammunition for a prolonged firefight with the weapon, it is instead a focused instrument for clearing a firing position of more obstinate resistance. Carries 200 rounds.
"Talwar" Pattern External Power-Cell Plasma Blade (1 Wt, 3P)
The Mosquito's only real defense against close ranged enemy MAS units, the Talwar pattern plasma blade projects unbalanced energy to create a beam that curves much the same as its real-life namesake does, allowing a skilled user to take advantage of the Mosquito's high speed and maneuverability to take better advantage of momentum and rely less on the piercing stop-cuts commonly employed by most sturdy units, which would lock the Mosquito in an untenable position if unsuccessful.
Experimental Reactor (Doubles Power):
The Mosquito is serving as a test housing for a new reactor that uses minute plasma bursts to maximize energy output from a traditional nuclear cell. While it has so far stood up to combat trials, there are concerns as to the limits of its capabilities, especially under the operational stresses the Mosquito's additional subsystems place it under. It is certainly being put through its paces.
Countermeasure System (Free):
A basic anti-missile countermeasure system that, combined with the Mosquito's Tesla drive, accounts for much of its resistance to missile fire.
Upgraded "Oracle" Targeting Suite (Internal) (3P):
In order to maximize the damage caused by the Arbalest's particle beam, which does not have the same energy dispersal pattern of many other plasma weapons in it class, the Mosquito utilizes an internal targeting suite with its own dedicated processor for project target flight paths and maximizing damage to opposing systems.
Tesla Drive (7P):
In order to facilitate the high-speed opportunistic strikes the Mosquito favors, a Tesla drive was incorporated into its small frame allowing it almost unparalleled maneuverability and speed. Though the stress on the pilot can be extreme at times, the results are often well worth it.
"Targe" Pattern Class 1 Shield Generator (3W, 3P)
The lightest military-grade shield generator that could be found to fit the Mosquito's basic resistance needs. Unable to stand up under much resistance, it's as much to prevent accidental damage from debris and small fire as it is to provide any assistance against MAS units.
Lol, I mean I can appreciate someone giving my default builds some love, you can keep a Sentry/Sentinel if you want. I mean, these aren't going to be permanent anyway, I'm going to be giving players the opportunity to design higher end machines with unique pieces of advanced technology as we progress.
Yeah, so what the heck. We will give him the grunt mech, what's the worst that could happen?
The answer is everything. Everything terrible will happen.
Standing at a tall 6"1', Gerard possesses a clean shaven, youthful look. His messy blonde hair is usually tied back into a short ponytail, especially when on duty. His eyes are a warm, lupine golden colour similar to his hair and a thin face. His body is thin and lithe, seemingly possessing little muscle. He is noticably scar free. It was said that his codename previous to his current one was Babyface.
Name:
Delacroix, Gerard
Age:
26
Gender:
Male
Callsign/Codename:
Guillotine
Kills:
39 confirmed, 12 uncomfirmed
Psychological Analysis:
Gerard is softspoken and quiet but approachable. While he seems the type to quietly weather away his time with a good book and a cup of coffee...that is exactly the type of person he is. A living paragon of the age old phrase "If you wish for peace, you must prepare for war", Gerard does not snuff out life because he likes to, he simply does it because he must. To prevent the burden of war falling onto others, he shoulders it, and it is a heavy burden indeed. This, however, still does not seem to affect his mental state (keyword: Seem) and he remains thoughtful and kind, even in such a brutal environment, although only time will tell if he eventually cracks or not. Always the first to offer the hand of friendship, Gerard is popular enough amongst the masses to be used as a posterboy in his home region. Known as a bit of a liability in the top brass due to his tendency for wounding rather than killing, but he is compliant enough to take a kill shot when ordered to. The years of war have desensitized him to the point where before he would complain before taking a life, he now does so instantly at one's behest.
Military Record:
There is a certain duality between Gerard's personality and his fighting style. Contrasting the quiet, kindly pilot with the axe-bitten marauder that is unleashed upon the battlefield, one could see how they would try to differentiate them. Beginning his military career at the ripe age of 18 in the Noveau France system, Gerard was drafted into the UEE military mostly against his will. Not a violent person by nature, a forced draft in the wake of a surprise Coalition invasion meant that each family would have to have a member enlisted in the military. To save his parents and sisters from a harsh military life, Gerard wrote his name down on the ledger and for better or for worse, his career as a grunt started. Known as an uncharacteristically cheerful soldier, morale was high wherever he was stationed.
During a particularly harsh meat grinder of an attrition battle, the UEE forces ran out of ammunition for the ballistic rifles they had been given. While many started to scramble around in the dirt, scrounging for spare magazines or resorted to low quality laser weaponry, Gerard was different. Removing the standard issue hatchet from his pack, he took a deep breath. If this battle was lost, the town five kilometers away would most probably be ransacked. The civilians would be murdered, their homes left to burn. While blood still flowed in his veins, he could not let that happen. As a lull occurred in the skirmish, Gerard leapt the wall he had been taking cover behind and, with a mighty warcry, charged the ranks of the Coalition. Both stunned and inspired by his act of valour, others soon joined in, drawing bayonets, blades, shovels and whatever else came to hand. The Coalition were uprepared for such a fight and remained stunned even as Delacroix leapt into their formation, swinging left and right. By the end of that day, eight Coalition soldiers lay dead at his feet, their flak jackets useless against the hardened alloy point of his axe. Those that were fully armoured were found with large wounds on their necks between the helmet and shoulder guards, nearly decapitating them. It was then that Gerard gained the nickname "Guillotine" after the archaic execution device.
When others heard the story and tried to confirm it for themselves, they saw the baby-faced Gerard doing...extremely non violent things. Skinny, kindly and not even remotely psychopathic, he seemed to be the epitome of a pacifist and yet everyone in his unit insisted that he was axe-bitten, a berserker hiding under a thin veil of sanity. They might not have been wrong, but they definitely weren't right. As time passed he came to greatly suit the title of "Guillotine". Their cut supply lines meant dwindling ammunition, which in turn meant that the Noveau French had to rely more on wits, muscle and ambushes than the usual overwhelming firepower. Each time these horrid melees commenced, one could see Gerard calmly sinking the head of his axe into another Coalition soldier and the stories of his valour and prowess grew. Only, he never considered it any of that and in fact, actually despised it. By resorting to the use of such a primitive weapon, Gerard felt that they were devolving, becoming nothing more than beasts bent on destroying one another. And yet he knew that as soon as he put this axe down, the Coalition would slaughter hundreds if not thousands of people, soldiers and civilians alike. He would shoulder this burden for others so that they may have a better future.
As time wore on, reinforcements and fresh supplies finally arrived from the nearby English colonies, the Brits late as always to help their French neighbours due to a millenia old feud which no-one understood. Along with them came a representative of the 101st MAS division. Having heard of his exploits he wished to recruit Gerard into their fold. At first, he was understandably hesitant. Being in command of a machine which could easily kill hundreds of people seemed unthinkable for someone like him, but then he started to think further. By donning an MAS he could tackle bigger problems. If he was to shoulder such a burden as he had resolved to do, it would be better to have a pair of broad, mechanical shoulders. With some hesitation he accepted the offer.
Fast forward to his placement in the 7th MAS team, it has been two years since he began learning how to pilot such a machine, and he has grown exceptionally proficient at it. His former masteries have followed him into his new placement, with him taking the position of the melee assault of the group. His comrades have adjusted well to the two sides of Gerard and appreciate the fact that he is not in fact a blood knight like most other melee fighters, but in fact someone who fights not for glory, but to protect his comrades and humanity at large. However, it has been noted as a problem that Gerard tends to avoid destroying the cockpit of enemy MAS, instead destroying vital points such as sensors and servoes and leaving the pilot alive. While this is considered something of a liability, the Frenchman's skill at close quarter's combat is too much of an asset to let go of.
Equipment:
Gerard always has a restored revolver mag-locked to his hip (Coalition pattern) and a large hunting/survival knife remains hanging in his cockpit. It has saved his life more than once. As well as this several flasks of wine from various regions are stored in the baggage compartment.
Appearance:
Designation:
MAC-102 Marauder (Custom)
Role:
Heavy Melee Assault
Chassis:
Medium
Engine:
Quadcore Engine: 20PWR
Operating Time:
10 Hours
Description:
The MAC series, or Melee Assault Class is one of the standard MAS’ used for front line engagement and as shock infantry. In particular, the Marauder class or 102 is known for its brutality in close quarters combat, as well as its effectiveness in siege operations. With powerful servoes and motors, the Maurauder class boasts the most torque and swing power out of all MACs save the Thunderer.
Systems:MACA-102 “Ravager”: 3WT 5PWR-A heavy hand and a half axe with a large imposing head on one side and a cruel hooked spike on the other. While light enough to be wielded in one hand, especially by a Marauder, the Ravager shows its true destructive power when swung with both arms. With a cutting plasma blade causing a monomolecular alloy axe head to be even sharper and deadlier, this axe can usually cleave right through both shield and MAS with little difficulty. Attached to a chain in a similar fashion to the grapple, the ravager can be thrown and retrieved with little difficulty. Why you would do such a thing is beyond me.
MSA-0155 Scattergun: 5WT 2PWR- An advanced MAS shotgun which fires inferno shells, the scattergun is a belt-fed, close range semiautomatic assault weapon made for storming fortifications and often equipped by melee models as a weapon to use while closing the distance. The inferno shells themselves use superheated iridium pellets to sear through MAS armour at point blank range, but quickly lose effectiveness as the range increases. With a single belt lasting a hundred shots, which would be enough to sustain the shotgun for 25 seconds of sustained fire, the scattergun is an ideal weapon for those who prefer to get up close.
Light Alloy Plating: 3WT- Light iridium armour plates bolted over the majority of the Marauder’s surface, the most noticeable feature is a raised pauldron of metal on the left shoulder.
STA-05 Grapple System. 3WT 2PW-An enhanced grappling system that uses a powerful electromagnet to grapple onto surfaces, be they metal or not, accompanied by a motor capable of pulling other MASs off their feet or making the MAS ascend a surface. Gerard uses this grapple to snare an opponent and reel them in where a melee brawl begins.
Stabilisation system. 1WT 1PW- A system usually heavily utilised by artillery MAS, this system essentially locks an MAS's legs to the ground by firing stakes into the earth and forming an artificial root system.
Class 2 Shield Generator: 5WT 5PWR- A shield generator literally shaped like a shield and mounted on the front of the Marauder, it projects an energy shield which can stand up to some sustained fire. In combination with the armour plating, it makes the Marauder hard to scratch.
20/20 WT 15/20PW
@Harbringer, the character itself is mostly fine, the only real gripe I have is the callsign being the near the same as someone else's, but it is in another language, so its not that big of a deal.
In regards to the machine, I do like how you've introduced your own systems and balanced them reasonably well, though I will have a few edits to make with it:
- I understand your reasoning for increasing the weight/power of the rifle, because if its power, but it can remain 5 WT 2 PWR like normal weapons.
- Inertial dampeners can be removed and assumed to be already built into the weapon/MAS.
- I probably will not allow the shield breaker rounds- also MAS's, while fairly dexterous, probably would not have the manual dexterity needed to load individual shells into a weapon
- You can drop the weight of the grappling system down to 3 from 4, and the power usage to 2 from 3. We can consider it a 'built in launcher' for mechanics purposes
- I probably will not allow the STX-05 to have a pentacore engine, though you can give it a reactor upgrade, granting 5 extra power at the cost of 3 weight (Which I have just shaved off from the previous weapon edits), totaling 20 power
Actually. I might rework delacroix into a melee fighter. Allen already said he wanted a sniper way before me and Reaps has the scout role already. Besides, we need someone to hold the front.
@Howler I know you're still working on your character, but I do have a few notes to make about it.
To be frank, Trent sounds like a sociopath. He gets way too much special treatment for an apparently not-very-well-liked guy.There is no reason why a star rookie with an 'average' performance rate would be assigned a special machine. If his heart wasn't in it, and that much was clear, he'd more likely be pulled out and assigned to a new unit rather than given his own special machine. I'm overall not a huge fan of the apathetic-mechanical-loner vibe I'm getting from him.
In regards to your machine, I failed to mention this, but I prefer that most machines are able to run without the necessity of an external power core. Also, nimble/aerodynamic, and external power cores don't mix. External power cores look like:
Plasma weapons are also 7 weight and 9 power now, because of their power.
Also, keep in mind than an Ultra Light MAS is essentially an exoskeleton, and are primarily designed for infantry support instead of MAS combat.
Mounting a gatling gun on the unit's head would mean attaching a minigun to your helmet. It'd be more likely to have a LMG or HMG attached to a shoulder rather than a minigun.
Experimental generators are also uncommon on Ultra Light's but I assume this is a prototype unit, and I never made any explicit rule against it.
Also, given the large amount of interest I've gathered already, I will be closing this RP to further interest in 12 hours.
Anyone who has expressed interest but has yet to provide me with a character will have 48 hours to complete their sheets.
<Snipped quote by Reaper>
Hm! I didn't picture her voice that way, but now that you mention it, I'm sharing those feelings. xD
Ah yes, because her whole profile just reads "COMMANDER SHEPARD" in bright glowing Neon lights.
Also, @vietmyke, I haven't gotten word on my edits.
Actually. I might rework delacroix into a melee fighter. Allen already said he wanted a sniper way before me and Reaps has the scout role already. Besides, we need someone to hold the front.
Well, I was working on more of a fast, assassin type MAS, but didn't quite know how to put it in a proper military jargon term. Assault/Scout was the best I could do. That was after I took off Enhanced Radar so my MAS wouldn't have a whopping 2 hours of combat time.
Well, melee Delacroix up. Still chill. But now chill with an axe. Also he has no ranged capabilities... Sniper Delacroix is still saved though so any time we need an NPC I can bust him out with a different name.