Agent North Dakota | Andrew Engelsen (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
bothbarrels) wrote2015-12-16 04:51 pm
bothbarrels) wrote2015-12-16 04:51 pm
Entry tags:
Application for Drift Fleet
OUT OF CHARACTER:
Name/Handle: Marti
Contact:![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
martienne | martienne17 on skype or gchat
Reference: Anarin
Other characters: n/a
IN-CHARACTER:
Character name: Agent North Dakota
Character journal:bothbarrels
Series name: Red vs. Blue
Canon notes: North will be arriving with game memories from his time at Sanctums. His canon point when he was brought to that game was during the attack from the Meta, but because of a plot at Sanctums he has complete knowledge of the circumstances of his death.
Species: Human
History: Red vs. Blue takes place primarily in the Halo fictional universe—it started out as a fanfiction serial in itself; though it grew to have its own set canon, for the most part it follows the rules set in Halo canon. Set 500 years into the future, the story takes place during the time of an interstellar war between humankind and a Covenant of alien enemies. The aliens worship technology left behind by an ancient civilization known as the Forerunners. The ruling class in the Covenant sees humans as a threat, as unbeknownst to them, humans are the closest living descendants of this long-ago civilization. Unfortunately for humankind, Covenant technology is far advanced, able to obliterate planets full of human colonists, and the aliens prove to be ruthless in pursuing mankind’s obliteration. Humans are struggling to keep up.
To that end, a number of organizations arise, attempting to find a “magic bullet” to get an edge by creating the ultimate super-soldier. While the secretive ONI (the Halo equivalent to the CIA) had developed a top-secret and ethically-questionable program to create the genetically-enhanced Spartans, an scientist named Leonard Church secures government funding to start a group of operatives known as Freelancers. It is unknown where recruits came from, but the soldiers who entered the program were given durable body armor, advanced weaponry, and special enhancements such as super speed or energy shielding. In an unorthodox move, Church chooses to rank the soldiers to spur them to compete with one another. Consequently, there is much animosity between the operatives who desire to achieve top rankings. All of the Freelancers are adept at using the tech they’ve been assigned, and run a number of successful missions before the project begins its final phase: using the rankings, the soldiers are chosen to be assigned helper AIs to more efficiently run their equipment.
In order to continue to advance the training of the Freelancer force, Church also creates a sham civil war, pitting Reds against Blues in simulation bases to create more scenarios in which they can fight. Unfortunately, the AIs are not all the most stable pieces of software—Church created the AIs by torturing the Alpha, the only AI he had secured funding to support, made by copying his own mind. Though their assignees don’t realize the origins of the AIs at first, once the truth comes out, those who had had suspicions don’t hesitate to take action. Even as things should be gathering steam in the project, it breaks down, and a number of top operatives end up going rogue. North, along with his friend York, join top-ranked Agent Texas to try to rescue the original Alpha AI. Unfortunately, the plan fails, and the ship where the Project is headquartered crashes onto a nearby planet.
In the aftermath of this, the remaining Freelancers with AIs are left fending for themselves, on the run from one of their own, the former Agent Maine, who begins to call himself the Meta. The Meta is obsessed with gathering the AI fragments for himself. North himself is one of the Freelancer agents who is killed when the Meta comes after his AI, his fellow-agent and twin sister South failing to protect him at the last.
During the shootout with the Meta, North loses consciousness and awakens in a lab at Bifrons headquarters in the domed city of Proles (the setting of Sanctums). An instructional video explains that he's been brought there because he's immune to the pandemic, dysthrophy, that rages outside the Dome. Not seeing any reason to post to the public network, he's unaware that his friends agents Carolina and York are residents of the city until Carolina encounters him at the militia training ground. He soon moves in with York, who also lives with York's AI, Delta—apparently Bifrons has the technology to implant the AI fragments in human bodies of their own. York reveals that North's been here before, a fact that North has no memory of (in actuality, there was a previous North player at the game, but this added a fun and interesting element to the psychological horror factor of the game).
North doesn't feel at home in this place, and he's disturbed by the fact that Bifrons has implanted his spine with multiple ports along its length, but as time goes by it seems more and more likely that he's here to stay. Theta, his own AI, arrives in the body of a fifteen-year-old boy, as well as North's sister South. Through the events that follow North takes it upon himself to do what he can to protect Theta, his sister, and all his friends. Unfortunately this proves difficult. During New Year's celebrations, a virus infects the ports of all the residents of the Dome, causing them to be irrational and easily angered. South disappears, and North reacts badly because of the virus. He participates in a plot to invade Bifrons headquarters, which ends in a spectacular fashion when the mysterious lieutenant Wrath of the Proles Free Army is sent to stop them. She grapples with him, knocking him to the ground, and removes his helmet. She's defeated after knocking North unconscious, but North's visage sticks in her mind. And of course, she's made quite an impression on him herself.
In the aftermath of the fight, North is recruited to the Proles Free Army as a lieutenant himself, secretly joining a plot to split the Army off of Bifrons at some point in the future. The Commander instructs North to visit Wrath in the hospital, and he's charmed in a way he's never experienced before—it's not quite love at first sight for him, but considering the circumstances, it's close enough. His days are busy now with training for the Army and visiting Wrath after hours, and he's barely able to spend time with York or Theta. It's during this time that a glitch in the programming of the Dome connects to the ports and causes people to be able to view alternate universes. York and North see a lifetime where they had been in love and share an afternoon of physical intimacy. North's world is rocked by this—he'd always thought he was straight, but this led him to the realization that he is bisexual. York is upset by what they have done because he's in a relationship, and snaps at North, leading them to argue.
The glitch in the Dome's programming now causes a night of prolonged sleep, and everyone under the Dome dream shares. Wrath is still in the hospital, but in this dream world she's able to join North in discovering something he'd been unwilling and unable to face while South had been there—she had neglected to do what she could to prevent his death at the hands of the Meta. Wrath watches the dream in which North dies, and they physically comfort one another. In turn, North helps Wrath explore what she can of the locked memories in her mind. When they awaken after the Dome's glitch is over, it's clear that they are in a relationship.
By now, nothing is the same for North. He'd always taken things slow in relationships, and is strongly monogamous, but he promises Wrath they can have an open relationship. He's dealing with a change in his identity which he can't discuss with his best friend, and he's unhappy that his neglect of Theta has caused Theta to see him in a different light. And the situation with his sister is the icing on the cake—as far as he knows, Bifrons has her under lock and key at their headquarters, but knowing she let him die, he's no longer so strongly invested in rescuing her.
And then, the clones arrive (Sanctums's fourth wall event, which led to an influx of characters). York's familiar with these Bifrons clones—they die and melt away on the third day, and South's one of the clones who arrives. She encounters Wrath, who recognizes her from the dream, and the two argue. North's unwilling to share anything with the clone about why he's behaving oddly, and she leaves upset and willing to commit suicide.
Eventually, things between Wrath and North break down. The culture of Proles is such that open relationships and polyamory are nothing unusual, but North is strongly monogamous, and this difference leads to their breakup. North's rather depressed after this occurs—he's never fallen for someone so quickly before and it's left him reeling. He's also been assigned to work with Maine, which is difficult for him. It was after Maine became the Meta that he attacked and killed North, but that doesn't make the sight of him any easier when North's PTSD kicks in. The two of them are assigned to guard a construction project, and the site is bombed. He falls into a port coma and awakens a week later feeling peaceful and at rest with everything that has happened. It's not what he would have wished for or hoped for, but until Bifrons sees some reason to take him out, it seems his life is here under the Dome now, for good or for ill. He knows with the way Bifrons is able to alter the mental states of the people in Proles that this might be a session or two of brainwashing talking, but at this point he no longer cares.
Personality: North is a trained mercenary soldier, willing and able to confront dangerous situations and improvise solutions. He’s a realist and knows the importance of following rules and regulations. He seems to put priority on following orders as close to the letter as he can, though he will deviate when circumstances call for him to deviate. He’ll still worry about the consequences, though. He couches his concerns with an easy humor, but he can’t help but ask around when he gets called in to answer for one such deviation to find out what his potential consequences could be.
He’s known for being supportive, and at one point the project’s counselor even refers to his ‘nurturing nature.’ Perhaps nothing in life has given him cause to learn how to calm and mentor others than his relationship with his twin sister, South. She is rash and impulsive, often mouthing off when something upsets or irritates her. While he seems unwilling to call her out on her outbursts in front of other people, he usually goes to find her in the aftermath to calm her and talk her through what’s upsetting her. This isn’t to say that he likes putting up with her behavior, however. When she can’t see his face he reacts with a restrained exasperation, shaking his head in the knowledge that soon he’s going to need to intervene in her anger once again.
By nature, he’s contemplative, and though he may gently tease his friends, he’s not as much of a joker as fellow agent York. His more introspective nature leads to an easy camaraderie between the two of them, and York’s seen going to North more than once to help him think something through. He’s even something of a mentor to the younger Washington, easing things over when York’s antagonizing of him goes a little bit too far. When sharing his opinion he often pauses before speaking, as though to make sure he has his thoughts straight before presenting them.
He has a strong sense of morality, but he also places his trust in the leadership. Therefore, he’s more reluctant to conclude that they aren’t “the good guys” than York, even when York shares his suspicions. Though he had been forming a friendship with Tex, it’s likely that his trust in York, along with the evidence Tex has in her possession, is what persuades him to go along with the plan to break in and rescue the Alpha AI. In the end, in the choice between right and wrong, he casts his lot in with them rather than continue to help the leadership carry out unethical research.
The contrast between his personality and his sister’s comes to a head as things in the project start to break down. He chooses to act as the inside man, knowing that he won’t be able to convince South to go in on the plan. He relies on his persuasive skills and their history of standing together to convince her to leave with him once the break-in has already taken place. Unfortunately his trust in his ability to influence his sister ends up being his downfall; Tex warns him that his sister is an opportunist, and though he admits to Tex that South has acted inappropriately in her quest for an AI of her own, it seems he was taken by surprise by the fact that in the end, he couldn’t trust her to do everything she could to keep him from falling to the Meta.
Of special note is North’s relationship to his AI, Theta. AIs can choose how to project themselves and how they sound, and Theta is childlike in both voice and his hologram body's proportions. Theta is timid and fearful when he is first introduced. North was chosen specifically to host Theta because of Theta’s anxiousness; the Counselor cites his 'nurturing nature' as a reason he was given the special charge. Unlike other agents, North is reluctant to shut his AI down to spare himself the difficulty when Theta’s worries and fears become overwhelming. Instead, North stays up late into the night to walk the halls and comfort the AI, comparing it to the way his father would take South for car rides to lull her to sleep. He shows himself successful at the task from the start, coaxing the AI to bring his avatar out from hiding and to speak more directly to his fellow agents. Over time Theta begins to seek North’s approval, creating animations such as of fireworks or himself riding a skateboard, simply to hear North compliment him on them. North teaches Theta that they can trust one another; once Theta learns he can rely on North, he seeks North’s reassurances whenever a new situation presents itself.
Abilities: North has been recruited into an elite force of mercenary soldiers. As such he is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, self-defense tactics, shooting, and survival. His specialty is the sniper rifle; he’s nearly as accurate shooting without a scope as he is with it. In the confrontation with his sister, he’s seen dual-wielding sniper rifles, one in each hand.
Augment Skillset: Communications
Sample: North and Tex mercenary AU from my musebox
Name/Handle: Marti
Contact:
Reference: Anarin
Other characters: n/a
IN-CHARACTER:
Character name: Agent North Dakota
Character journal:
bothbarrelsSeries name: Red vs. Blue
Canon notes: North will be arriving with game memories from his time at Sanctums. His canon point when he was brought to that game was during the attack from the Meta, but because of a plot at Sanctums he has complete knowledge of the circumstances of his death.
Species: Human
History: Red vs. Blue takes place primarily in the Halo fictional universe—it started out as a fanfiction serial in itself; though it grew to have its own set canon, for the most part it follows the rules set in Halo canon. Set 500 years into the future, the story takes place during the time of an interstellar war between humankind and a Covenant of alien enemies. The aliens worship technology left behind by an ancient civilization known as the Forerunners. The ruling class in the Covenant sees humans as a threat, as unbeknownst to them, humans are the closest living descendants of this long-ago civilization. Unfortunately for humankind, Covenant technology is far advanced, able to obliterate planets full of human colonists, and the aliens prove to be ruthless in pursuing mankind’s obliteration. Humans are struggling to keep up.
To that end, a number of organizations arise, attempting to find a “magic bullet” to get an edge by creating the ultimate super-soldier. While the secretive ONI (the Halo equivalent to the CIA) had developed a top-secret and ethically-questionable program to create the genetically-enhanced Spartans, an scientist named Leonard Church secures government funding to start a group of operatives known as Freelancers. It is unknown where recruits came from, but the soldiers who entered the program were given durable body armor, advanced weaponry, and special enhancements such as super speed or energy shielding. In an unorthodox move, Church chooses to rank the soldiers to spur them to compete with one another. Consequently, there is much animosity between the operatives who desire to achieve top rankings. All of the Freelancers are adept at using the tech they’ve been assigned, and run a number of successful missions before the project begins its final phase: using the rankings, the soldiers are chosen to be assigned helper AIs to more efficiently run their equipment.
In order to continue to advance the training of the Freelancer force, Church also creates a sham civil war, pitting Reds against Blues in simulation bases to create more scenarios in which they can fight. Unfortunately, the AIs are not all the most stable pieces of software—Church created the AIs by torturing the Alpha, the only AI he had secured funding to support, made by copying his own mind. Though their assignees don’t realize the origins of the AIs at first, once the truth comes out, those who had had suspicions don’t hesitate to take action. Even as things should be gathering steam in the project, it breaks down, and a number of top operatives end up going rogue. North, along with his friend York, join top-ranked Agent Texas to try to rescue the original Alpha AI. Unfortunately, the plan fails, and the ship where the Project is headquartered crashes onto a nearby planet.
In the aftermath of this, the remaining Freelancers with AIs are left fending for themselves, on the run from one of their own, the former Agent Maine, who begins to call himself the Meta. The Meta is obsessed with gathering the AI fragments for himself. North himself is one of the Freelancer agents who is killed when the Meta comes after his AI, his fellow-agent and twin sister South failing to protect him at the last.
During the shootout with the Meta, North loses consciousness and awakens in a lab at Bifrons headquarters in the domed city of Proles (the setting of Sanctums). An instructional video explains that he's been brought there because he's immune to the pandemic, dysthrophy, that rages outside the Dome. Not seeing any reason to post to the public network, he's unaware that his friends agents Carolina and York are residents of the city until Carolina encounters him at the militia training ground. He soon moves in with York, who also lives with York's AI, Delta—apparently Bifrons has the technology to implant the AI fragments in human bodies of their own. York reveals that North's been here before, a fact that North has no memory of (in actuality, there was a previous North player at the game, but this added a fun and interesting element to the psychological horror factor of the game).
North doesn't feel at home in this place, and he's disturbed by the fact that Bifrons has implanted his spine with multiple ports along its length, but as time goes by it seems more and more likely that he's here to stay. Theta, his own AI, arrives in the body of a fifteen-year-old boy, as well as North's sister South. Through the events that follow North takes it upon himself to do what he can to protect Theta, his sister, and all his friends. Unfortunately this proves difficult. During New Year's celebrations, a virus infects the ports of all the residents of the Dome, causing them to be irrational and easily angered. South disappears, and North reacts badly because of the virus. He participates in a plot to invade Bifrons headquarters, which ends in a spectacular fashion when the mysterious lieutenant Wrath of the Proles Free Army is sent to stop them. She grapples with him, knocking him to the ground, and removes his helmet. She's defeated after knocking North unconscious, but North's visage sticks in her mind. And of course, she's made quite an impression on him herself.
In the aftermath of the fight, North is recruited to the Proles Free Army as a lieutenant himself, secretly joining a plot to split the Army off of Bifrons at some point in the future. The Commander instructs North to visit Wrath in the hospital, and he's charmed in a way he's never experienced before—it's not quite love at first sight for him, but considering the circumstances, it's close enough. His days are busy now with training for the Army and visiting Wrath after hours, and he's barely able to spend time with York or Theta. It's during this time that a glitch in the programming of the Dome connects to the ports and causes people to be able to view alternate universes. York and North see a lifetime where they had been in love and share an afternoon of physical intimacy. North's world is rocked by this—he'd always thought he was straight, but this led him to the realization that he is bisexual. York is upset by what they have done because he's in a relationship, and snaps at North, leading them to argue.
The glitch in the Dome's programming now causes a night of prolonged sleep, and everyone under the Dome dream shares. Wrath is still in the hospital, but in this dream world she's able to join North in discovering something he'd been unwilling and unable to face while South had been there—she had neglected to do what she could to prevent his death at the hands of the Meta. Wrath watches the dream in which North dies, and they physically comfort one another. In turn, North helps Wrath explore what she can of the locked memories in her mind. When they awaken after the Dome's glitch is over, it's clear that they are in a relationship.
By now, nothing is the same for North. He'd always taken things slow in relationships, and is strongly monogamous, but he promises Wrath they can have an open relationship. He's dealing with a change in his identity which he can't discuss with his best friend, and he's unhappy that his neglect of Theta has caused Theta to see him in a different light. And the situation with his sister is the icing on the cake—as far as he knows, Bifrons has her under lock and key at their headquarters, but knowing she let him die, he's no longer so strongly invested in rescuing her.
And then, the clones arrive (Sanctums's fourth wall event, which led to an influx of characters). York's familiar with these Bifrons clones—they die and melt away on the third day, and South's one of the clones who arrives. She encounters Wrath, who recognizes her from the dream, and the two argue. North's unwilling to share anything with the clone about why he's behaving oddly, and she leaves upset and willing to commit suicide.
Eventually, things between Wrath and North break down. The culture of Proles is such that open relationships and polyamory are nothing unusual, but North is strongly monogamous, and this difference leads to their breakup. North's rather depressed after this occurs—he's never fallen for someone so quickly before and it's left him reeling. He's also been assigned to work with Maine, which is difficult for him. It was after Maine became the Meta that he attacked and killed North, but that doesn't make the sight of him any easier when North's PTSD kicks in. The two of them are assigned to guard a construction project, and the site is bombed. He falls into a port coma and awakens a week later feeling peaceful and at rest with everything that has happened. It's not what he would have wished for or hoped for, but until Bifrons sees some reason to take him out, it seems his life is here under the Dome now, for good or for ill. He knows with the way Bifrons is able to alter the mental states of the people in Proles that this might be a session or two of brainwashing talking, but at this point he no longer cares.
Personality: North is a trained mercenary soldier, willing and able to confront dangerous situations and improvise solutions. He’s a realist and knows the importance of following rules and regulations. He seems to put priority on following orders as close to the letter as he can, though he will deviate when circumstances call for him to deviate. He’ll still worry about the consequences, though. He couches his concerns with an easy humor, but he can’t help but ask around when he gets called in to answer for one such deviation to find out what his potential consequences could be.
He’s known for being supportive, and at one point the project’s counselor even refers to his ‘nurturing nature.’ Perhaps nothing in life has given him cause to learn how to calm and mentor others than his relationship with his twin sister, South. She is rash and impulsive, often mouthing off when something upsets or irritates her. While he seems unwilling to call her out on her outbursts in front of other people, he usually goes to find her in the aftermath to calm her and talk her through what’s upsetting her. This isn’t to say that he likes putting up with her behavior, however. When she can’t see his face he reacts with a restrained exasperation, shaking his head in the knowledge that soon he’s going to need to intervene in her anger once again.
By nature, he’s contemplative, and though he may gently tease his friends, he’s not as much of a joker as fellow agent York. His more introspective nature leads to an easy camaraderie between the two of them, and York’s seen going to North more than once to help him think something through. He’s even something of a mentor to the younger Washington, easing things over when York’s antagonizing of him goes a little bit too far. When sharing his opinion he often pauses before speaking, as though to make sure he has his thoughts straight before presenting them.
He has a strong sense of morality, but he also places his trust in the leadership. Therefore, he’s more reluctant to conclude that they aren’t “the good guys” than York, even when York shares his suspicions. Though he had been forming a friendship with Tex, it’s likely that his trust in York, along with the evidence Tex has in her possession, is what persuades him to go along with the plan to break in and rescue the Alpha AI. In the end, in the choice between right and wrong, he casts his lot in with them rather than continue to help the leadership carry out unethical research.
The contrast between his personality and his sister’s comes to a head as things in the project start to break down. He chooses to act as the inside man, knowing that he won’t be able to convince South to go in on the plan. He relies on his persuasive skills and their history of standing together to convince her to leave with him once the break-in has already taken place. Unfortunately his trust in his ability to influence his sister ends up being his downfall; Tex warns him that his sister is an opportunist, and though he admits to Tex that South has acted inappropriately in her quest for an AI of her own, it seems he was taken by surprise by the fact that in the end, he couldn’t trust her to do everything she could to keep him from falling to the Meta.
Of special note is North’s relationship to his AI, Theta. AIs can choose how to project themselves and how they sound, and Theta is childlike in both voice and his hologram body's proportions. Theta is timid and fearful when he is first introduced. North was chosen specifically to host Theta because of Theta’s anxiousness; the Counselor cites his 'nurturing nature' as a reason he was given the special charge. Unlike other agents, North is reluctant to shut his AI down to spare himself the difficulty when Theta’s worries and fears become overwhelming. Instead, North stays up late into the night to walk the halls and comfort the AI, comparing it to the way his father would take South for car rides to lull her to sleep. He shows himself successful at the task from the start, coaxing the AI to bring his avatar out from hiding and to speak more directly to his fellow agents. Over time Theta begins to seek North’s approval, creating animations such as of fireworks or himself riding a skateboard, simply to hear North compliment him on them. North teaches Theta that they can trust one another; once Theta learns he can rely on North, he seeks North’s reassurances whenever a new situation presents itself.
Abilities: North has been recruited into an elite force of mercenary soldiers. As such he is skilled in hand-to-hand combat, self-defense tactics, shooting, and survival. His specialty is the sniper rifle; he’s nearly as accurate shooting without a scope as he is with it. In the confrontation with his sister, he’s seen dual-wielding sniper rifles, one in each hand.
Augment Skillset: Communications
Sample: North and Tex mercenary AU from my musebox