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Trans9 app
Dec. 13th, 2011 02:00 amMy name: Camwyn
My LJ: http://camwyn.livejournal.com
My email: camwyn@megaloceros.net
My AIM, MSN, or Yahoo handle: camwyn cwru
Invited by: Wingus
Character's name: Roger Maxson
Character's LJ: http://first_of_steel.livejournal.com
Character's canon: Fallout
Source: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Roger_Maxson
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Captain_Maxson's_Diary
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Maxson_Log
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline
Character Personality: Maxson was once a generally decent and affable man in his early fifties who had to become a much harder and more down-to-earth person very quickly. He had all the nonsense drilled out of him a long time ago. Surviving the end of the world with a whole community of people depending on you will do that to you. He has a firm belief in decency and standards of behavior, even with everything having gone to hell, and a deeper sense than he ever knew of right and wrong. His decisions at Mariposa, his last military posting before the world erupted in nuclear fire, were informed by conflicting loyalties, patriotism, and simple human right and wrong; doing the right thing, however horrible the situation was at the time, won out. He's had to lead his men and their families and everyone else bound up together with them for twenty years now, and while he's done everything that he can to keep them on the path to a viable future, there's still a part of him that doesn't really know whether they're ever going to see that day. Still, he's not going to let down the people who depend on him- he'll fake it until he makes it, if that's what it takes.
Character History:
Roger Maxson was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Midwest Commonwealth, in January of 2045. The oldest of three boys, he acquitted himself reasonably well in school, but was never particularly outstanding at any one subject other than history. He excelled in debate club, though, and did remarkably well in gym. He eventually made the varsity teams of several sports; while he never made All-American, it was generally agreed in La Crosse that if a ball or a puck was involved somewhere, Roger would be good at it.
His father Henry owned several small businesses- hardware stores, mostly- in the La Crosse and Onalaska region. When Henry sat down to consider the eventual distribution of his worldly goods in his will, he saw no way to make it both even and equitable. Roger was the oldest, and should by rights get the lion's share, but he had no head for business as his brothers did. Henry refused to impose a bad owner on people who had worked for him all their lives. As he considered the situation, Roger knocked at his door and approached with a personal problem. he'd been thinking about his future for a while, and realized that college just wasn't for him- not yet, anyway. Would it be all right with his father if he enlisted in the Army for a few years, took his bonus, and used that for college at the end of his tour of duty? Three years, and then...
Henry Maxson was a wiser man than people gave him credit for. He realized Roger would take to the military life like a duck to water, and would probably re-enlist given the slightest hint of encouragement. A career soldier would have no time or need for hardware stores. And it was an honorable career- if ever Roger did have to leave it, there were politicians galore who had been soldiers first. It would do, and then some. Henry gave his blessing, and in 2063 Roger received his high school diploma and enlisted in the Army on the very same day. In early 2064, Roger married his high school sweetheart Yvonne. Things were looking promising... for them, anyway. For the country, not so much. The world's resources had been dwindling for years, with the oil fields of the Middle East and Texas having long since run dry. As bush wars broke out over much of the planet and the European Commonwealth dissolved into squabbling individual states, it became clear this was no time to try to hack it in the civilian world. Roger re-enlisted as his father had known he would.
And in the winter of 2066, Red China invaded Alaska.
Roger's unit was never sent to the front. He was extremely glad for that; Yvonne had given birth to Roger, Jr. in September of 2064, eight months after they were married. Besides, he probably didn't have to go anywhere. If the Commies had struck Alaska, how long before they moved against the lower 48? The thought was on everyone's mind, especially as the fighting in Alaska wore on and the Reds entrenched themselves. Roger watched the assignment rolls and the draft numbers rise, did his job, and waited.
He was promoted to Captain eventually, still without being sent to Alaska... but he came close. Geographically, that is. When the U.S. could take Canada's refusal to let American troops move through from the lower 48 no longer, an attempted sabotage of the Alaskan oil pipeline was the only excuse needed. The American armed forces annexed Canada once and for all in 2072. Roger understood the necessity- more or less- but it sat ill with him. When reports of troops in various cities committing atrocities against protesting or rebelling Canadians reached him, he took the men under his command aside- every single one- and made it clear that there would be Consequences for such things. Also, they were not safe from discovery; he would take steps to find out. It worked out better than he'd expected. Many of his men had been uncomfortable with the invasion in the first place despite the American need for Canadian passage and resources. Knowing that an officer supported them made it easier for them to keep their heads when the temptation to give in to their darker urges was strong.
Whether this played any part in the reassingment of his unit Roger would never know, but he and his team were pulled out of Canada and sent back to the States under the command of Colonel Robert Spindel on January 3rd, 2076 for a top secret assignment: monitoring and guarding a West Tek research facility in California in the interests of national security. Scuttlebutt had it they were working on countering the Chinese bio-weapons that would inevitably be unleashed across the States if the war went on much longer, but it was never confirmed. Some of the men complained of being demoted from battlefront warriors to security guards, but they obeyed, even when experiments and soldiers alike were relocated to Mariposa Military Base in January of 2077.
And then, in October of 2077, they stopped obeying. They had found out what was really going on at Mariposa. It had been the Pan-Virion Immunity Project once. It was being called FEV- Forced Evolutionary Virus- now. It mutated its victims, human and animal alike, into huge, hideous parodies of their former selves. Assuming, of course, that it didn't kill them first. And it was not being tested on volunteers, or even on death row inmates, but on unwilling, unasked military prisoners.
The men revolted. Spindel shot himself. Maxson took command of the men and the sitaution as best he could. Interrogation of the West Tek scientists revealed the unspeakable truth: that they were operating on orders from the War Department, with the intention of keeping it up until they got a viable means of harnessing the results. After everything he and the men had seen, it was too much. Maxson had the men secure the facility and radioed DC to declare their mutiny and secession from the United States on October 20, 2077.
There was no answer. October 21st and 22nd passed without incident.
On October 23rd, the world ended.
No one knew whether China or the US went first, but it didn't matter. At 9:47 AM Eastern Standard Time, the War went nuclear. Bombardment lasted two hours, and in the course of those two hours more energy was released than in every other armed conflict in human history combined, changing the planet forever. Maxson's men and their families rode it out, huddled in the base's underground facilities; eventually they sent one man in power armor to assess the surface. The radiation was just barely survivable, but there seemed to be no one left alive. Maxson ordered that they bury the facility's dead, then pack up; they were leaving that godforsaken place and heading to the government bunker at Lost Hills, the only place within travel range that had a prayer of being safe. They couldn't stay in the pit of horrors Mariposa had become.
As it happened, there were people still alive- the worst kind of opportunistic scum imaginable. The band of bedraggled soldiers and civilians were set upon by raiders with plenty of scavenged weapons and absolutely nothing to lose. Many, including Yvonne, died in the initial attack. It only strengthened Maxson's resolve. He had to protect what little they had left now if civilization was to survive...
He went among the soldiers and the civilians alike many times during the remainder of their journey. Sometimes he talked. Mostly he listened. When they were finally within sight of Lost Hills he called a halt, where he informed everyone present that they were absolutely, positively not going to repeat the crap of the past. No Mariposa horrors. No War Department secrets. Everyone, everyone, who was going to live in this place was going to be part of something new. And just in case they ever felt like forgetting the hell they'd been through and the savagery they'd faced, he was imposing new ranks and titles altogether, to make sure nobody ever forgot the codes and ideals they were going to have to live by- Scribes, to record and study. Knights, to engineer and build. Paladins, to fight and uphold. And, hell, Elders, to lead and to remember.
That was when they named themselves the Brotherhood of Steel, and they've been holding to that structure ever since- for twenty long years, with Roger at the helm as they continue to survive in the howling wastes.
Character Personality: Maxson is a generally decent and affable man in his early fifties who has had to become a much harder and more down-to-earth person very quickly. He had all the nonsense drilled out of him a long time ago. Surviving the end of the world with a whole community of people depending on you will do that to you. He has a firm belief in decency and standards of behavior, even with everything having gone to hell, and a deeper sense than he ever knew of right and wrong. His decisions at Mariposa were informed by conflicting loyalties, patriotism, and simple human right and wrong; doing the right thing, however horrible the situation was at the time, won out. He's had to lead his men and their families and everyone else bound up together with them for twenty years now, and while he's done everything that he can to keep them on the path to a viable future, there's still a part of him that doesn't really know whether they're ever going to see that day. Still, he's not going to let down the people who depend on him- he'll fake it until he makes it, if that's what it takes.
Equipment of note:
Roger Maxson is a bog-standard human of 2097 or so post-apocalyptic America. No powers, no magic, no nothin'. He's had a high school education and fourteen years of formal military experience, plus twenty years of leading his people as their primary general and High Elder.
However, his world is a world of the FUTURE! as viewed through the lens of 1950s science fiction movies. He's grown up with household robots and nuclear-powered everything. He's never seen a microchip, as they were never invented in his world. His idea of advanced computer storage involves high-speed holographic cartridges side by side with reel-to-reel tape and punch cards. He carries a U.S. military issue laser rifle, an excellently accurate semiautomatic weapon that does somewhat less damage than a full bore combat shotgun; it runs on microfusion cells. His laser pistol uses similar, but smaller, energy cells; it does more damage than a ten millimeter pistol, but less than a .44. The super sledge he uses is a mechanized hammer about as long as a man is tall, built to store kinetic energy during a swing and release it on impact, the better for sending enemies flying or caving in the sides of vehicles.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Laser_pistol_(Fallout%3A_New_Vegas)
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Laser_rifle_(Fallout:_New_Vegas)
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Super_sledge_(Fallout%3A_New_Vegas)
He wears a suit of T-51b power armor with twenty-some-odd years' worth of wear and heavy use, but he's been taking damned good care of it the whole time. It's made from steel and poly-laminate composite, with a silver ablative coating on the surface that deflects a significant amount of laser fire and radiation. It has enough fuel to last a thousand years of use and stands up extremely well under small arms fire. However, it does not increase his strength, agility or speed appreciably- only enough for him to move in it exactly as he would in street clothes. It is vulnerable (horribly so) to electromagnetic pulses and other EM weapons. The helmet filters out airborne toxins and organisms, but does not have any kind of supplemental oxygen; he will asphyxiate and die if he wears the armor in vacuum without some form of attached air canister.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/T-51b_power_armor_(Fallout%3A_New_Vegas)
Sample
(Will fill this in once I have one, before I send in the app.)
My LJ: http://camwyn.livejournal.com
My email: camwyn@megaloceros.net
My AIM, MSN, or Yahoo handle: camwyn cwru
Invited by: Wingus
Character's name: Roger Maxson
Character's LJ: http://first_of_steel.livejournal.com
Character's canon: Fallout
Source: http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Roger_Maxson
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Captain_Maxson's_Diary
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Maxson_Log
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline
Character Personality: Maxson was once a generally decent and affable man in his early fifties who had to become a much harder and more down-to-earth person very quickly. He had all the nonsense drilled out of him a long time ago. Surviving the end of the world with a whole community of people depending on you will do that to you. He has a firm belief in decency and standards of behavior, even with everything having gone to hell, and a deeper sense than he ever knew of right and wrong. His decisions at Mariposa, his last military posting before the world erupted in nuclear fire, were informed by conflicting loyalties, patriotism, and simple human right and wrong; doing the right thing, however horrible the situation was at the time, won out. He's had to lead his men and their families and everyone else bound up together with them for twenty years now, and while he's done everything that he can to keep them on the path to a viable future, there's still a part of him that doesn't really know whether they're ever going to see that day. Still, he's not going to let down the people who depend on him- he'll fake it until he makes it, if that's what it takes.
Character History:
Roger Maxson was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin, Midwest Commonwealth, in January of 2045. The oldest of three boys, he acquitted himself reasonably well in school, but was never particularly outstanding at any one subject other than history. He excelled in debate club, though, and did remarkably well in gym. He eventually made the varsity teams of several sports; while he never made All-American, it was generally agreed in La Crosse that if a ball or a puck was involved somewhere, Roger would be good at it.
His father Henry owned several small businesses- hardware stores, mostly- in the La Crosse and Onalaska region. When Henry sat down to consider the eventual distribution of his worldly goods in his will, he saw no way to make it both even and equitable. Roger was the oldest, and should by rights get the lion's share, but he had no head for business as his brothers did. Henry refused to impose a bad owner on people who had worked for him all their lives. As he considered the situation, Roger knocked at his door and approached with a personal problem. he'd been thinking about his future for a while, and realized that college just wasn't for him- not yet, anyway. Would it be all right with his father if he enlisted in the Army for a few years, took his bonus, and used that for college at the end of his tour of duty? Three years, and then...
Henry Maxson was a wiser man than people gave him credit for. He realized Roger would take to the military life like a duck to water, and would probably re-enlist given the slightest hint of encouragement. A career soldier would have no time or need for hardware stores. And it was an honorable career- if ever Roger did have to leave it, there were politicians galore who had been soldiers first. It would do, and then some. Henry gave his blessing, and in 2063 Roger received his high school diploma and enlisted in the Army on the very same day. In early 2064, Roger married his high school sweetheart Yvonne. Things were looking promising... for them, anyway. For the country, not so much. The world's resources had been dwindling for years, with the oil fields of the Middle East and Texas having long since run dry. As bush wars broke out over much of the planet and the European Commonwealth dissolved into squabbling individual states, it became clear this was no time to try to hack it in the civilian world. Roger re-enlisted as his father had known he would.
And in the winter of 2066, Red China invaded Alaska.
Roger's unit was never sent to the front. He was extremely glad for that; Yvonne had given birth to Roger, Jr. in September of 2064, eight months after they were married. Besides, he probably didn't have to go anywhere. If the Commies had struck Alaska, how long before they moved against the lower 48? The thought was on everyone's mind, especially as the fighting in Alaska wore on and the Reds entrenched themselves. Roger watched the assignment rolls and the draft numbers rise, did his job, and waited.
He was promoted to Captain eventually, still without being sent to Alaska... but he came close. Geographically, that is. When the U.S. could take Canada's refusal to let American troops move through from the lower 48 no longer, an attempted sabotage of the Alaskan oil pipeline was the only excuse needed. The American armed forces annexed Canada once and for all in 2072. Roger understood the necessity- more or less- but it sat ill with him. When reports of troops in various cities committing atrocities against protesting or rebelling Canadians reached him, he took the men under his command aside- every single one- and made it clear that there would be Consequences for such things. Also, they were not safe from discovery; he would take steps to find out. It worked out better than he'd expected. Many of his men had been uncomfortable with the invasion in the first place despite the American need for Canadian passage and resources. Knowing that an officer supported them made it easier for them to keep their heads when the temptation to give in to their darker urges was strong.
Whether this played any part in the reassingment of his unit Roger would never know, but he and his team were pulled out of Canada and sent back to the States under the command of Colonel Robert Spindel on January 3rd, 2076 for a top secret assignment: monitoring and guarding a West Tek research facility in California in the interests of national security. Scuttlebutt had it they were working on countering the Chinese bio-weapons that would inevitably be unleashed across the States if the war went on much longer, but it was never confirmed. Some of the men complained of being demoted from battlefront warriors to security guards, but they obeyed, even when experiments and soldiers alike were relocated to Mariposa Military Base in January of 2077.
And then, in October of 2077, they stopped obeying. They had found out what was really going on at Mariposa. It had been the Pan-Virion Immunity Project once. It was being called FEV- Forced Evolutionary Virus- now. It mutated its victims, human and animal alike, into huge, hideous parodies of their former selves. Assuming, of course, that it didn't kill them first. And it was not being tested on volunteers, or even on death row inmates, but on unwilling, unasked military prisoners.
The men revolted. Spindel shot himself. Maxson took command of the men and the sitaution as best he could. Interrogation of the West Tek scientists revealed the unspeakable truth: that they were operating on orders from the War Department, with the intention of keeping it up until they got a viable means of harnessing the results. After everything he and the men had seen, it was too much. Maxson had the men secure the facility and radioed DC to declare their mutiny and secession from the United States on October 20, 2077.
There was no answer. October 21st and 22nd passed without incident.
On October 23rd, the world ended.
No one knew whether China or the US went first, but it didn't matter. At 9:47 AM Eastern Standard Time, the War went nuclear. Bombardment lasted two hours, and in the course of those two hours more energy was released than in every other armed conflict in human history combined, changing the planet forever. Maxson's men and their families rode it out, huddled in the base's underground facilities; eventually they sent one man in power armor to assess the surface. The radiation was just barely survivable, but there seemed to be no one left alive. Maxson ordered that they bury the facility's dead, then pack up; they were leaving that godforsaken place and heading to the government bunker at Lost Hills, the only place within travel range that had a prayer of being safe. They couldn't stay in the pit of horrors Mariposa had become.
As it happened, there were people still alive- the worst kind of opportunistic scum imaginable. The band of bedraggled soldiers and civilians were set upon by raiders with plenty of scavenged weapons and absolutely nothing to lose. Many, including Yvonne, died in the initial attack. It only strengthened Maxson's resolve. He had to protect what little they had left now if civilization was to survive...
He went among the soldiers and the civilians alike many times during the remainder of their journey. Sometimes he talked. Mostly he listened. When they were finally within sight of Lost Hills he called a halt, where he informed everyone present that they were absolutely, positively not going to repeat the crap of the past. No Mariposa horrors. No War Department secrets. Everyone, everyone, who was going to live in this place was going to be part of something new. And just in case they ever felt like forgetting the hell they'd been through and the savagery they'd faced, he was imposing new ranks and titles altogether, to make sure nobody ever forgot the codes and ideals they were going to have to live by- Scribes, to record and study. Knights, to engineer and build. Paladins, to fight and uphold. And, hell, Elders, to lead and to remember.
That was when they named themselves the Brotherhood of Steel, and they've been holding to that structure ever since- for twenty long years, with Roger at the helm as they continue to survive in the howling wastes.
Character Personality: Maxson is a generally decent and affable man in his early fifties who has had to become a much harder and more down-to-earth person very quickly. He had all the nonsense drilled out of him a long time ago. Surviving the end of the world with a whole community of people depending on you will do that to you. He has a firm belief in decency and standards of behavior, even with everything having gone to hell, and a deeper sense than he ever knew of right and wrong. His decisions at Mariposa were informed by conflicting loyalties, patriotism, and simple human right and wrong; doing the right thing, however horrible the situation was at the time, won out. He's had to lead his men and their families and everyone else bound up together with them for twenty years now, and while he's done everything that he can to keep them on the path to a viable future, there's still a part of him that doesn't really know whether they're ever going to see that day. Still, he's not going to let down the people who depend on him- he'll fake it until he makes it, if that's what it takes.
Equipment of note:
Roger Maxson is a bog-standard human of 2097 or so post-apocalyptic America. No powers, no magic, no nothin'. He's had a high school education and fourteen years of formal military experience, plus twenty years of leading his people as their primary general and High Elder.
However, his world is a world of the FUTURE! as viewed through the lens of 1950s science fiction movies. He's grown up with household robots and nuclear-powered everything. He's never seen a microchip, as they were never invented in his world. His idea of advanced computer storage involves high-speed holographic cartridges side by side with reel-to-reel tape and punch cards. He carries a U.S. military issue laser rifle, an excellently accurate semiautomatic weapon that does somewhat less damage than a full bore combat shotgun; it runs on microfusion cells. His laser pistol uses similar, but smaller, energy cells; it does more damage than a ten millimeter pistol, but less than a .44. The super sledge he uses is a mechanized hammer about as long as a man is tall, built to store kinetic energy during a swing and release it on impact, the better for sending enemies flying or caving in the sides of vehicles.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Laser_pistol_(Fallout%3A_New_Vegas)
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Laser_rifle_(Fallout:_New_Vegas)
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Super_sledge_(Fallout%3A_New_Vegas)
He wears a suit of T-51b power armor with twenty-some-odd years' worth of wear and heavy use, but he's been taking damned good care of it the whole time. It's made from steel and poly-laminate composite, with a silver ablative coating on the surface that deflects a significant amount of laser fire and radiation. It has enough fuel to last a thousand years of use and stands up extremely well under small arms fire. However, it does not increase his strength, agility or speed appreciably- only enough for him to move in it exactly as he would in street clothes. It is vulnerable (horribly so) to electromagnetic pulses and other EM weapons. The helmet filters out airborne toxins and organisms, but does not have any kind of supplemental oxygen; he will asphyxiate and die if he wears the armor in vacuum without some form of attached air canister.
http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/T-51b_power_armor_(Fallout%3A_New_Vegas)
Sample
(Will fill this in once I have one, before I send in the app.)
