Devan Tide
AKA: Tide



Gender: Male
Age: 24
Date of Birth: c2576
Birthplace: "Merlon's Halt" Ice Mining Station, Deep Colony Planet Arkadia, Theta-019 System

Distinguishing Features:
An imposing character, Tide stands 6' 4" tall, heavily built, with short dark hair and a close cropped beard. A long scar runs from the corner of his left eye, down his cheek, adding to his menacing appearance. He is usually unshaven, wearing heavy black combat boots, only half laced up, with loose fitting combat pants and a grubby T-shirt.

Personality:
Tide is quick to laugh, and quick to anger. Not much scares him, and he will follow orders to the death as long as the person giving them has earned his respect. He won't suffer fools, and he won't hide his feelings from anyone. He will usually stand up for the "little guy", protecting the weak if he feels they deserve protection. However, he lives by his own complex code that even he doesn't fully understand, so predicting his response to a situation can be difficult.

Likes: Tide loves to gamble, especially with cards, but he'll bet on anything. He likes good drink, women, and a fair fight.

Dislikes: Tide hates bullying, especially from what he considers weak people in positions of authority.

Talents: Tide is exceptionally strong, and is a competent (though untrained) fist fighter. He can use guns when needed, though he tends to adopt the "hail of bullets" approach, rather than being a particularly good shot. He also has a rudimentary ability to pilot simple ships, and basic engineering skills. He has been able to find work as general crew aboard a number of freighters in the outer systems, where his ability to provide bodyguard "muscle" for trade captains is seen as an added bonus.

Family: Unknown

History:

There were probably worse places to grow up than Merlon's Halt, but Tide hadn't found any yet. Born amidst the rust, oil and steam of an ice mining station's boiler room, he'd had to fight for his very first breath, and things hadn't really improved since. He was just another unwanted mouth to feed; a useless infant crying for attention from a bitter crew that wanted nothing more than to get off the frozen ball of hell they were forced to call home.

How he survived his first years in that place, he had no idea. Someone had looked out for him, but he didn't know who, or why. His earliest memories were a jumbled mess - days spent hiding amongst the sweat and steam of a tangled forest of iron pipes and snaking cables, trying not to be noticed; trying not to get in the way; trying not to earn any new bruises.

Of course, not everyone on the station was cruel or vindictive, but enough were. However, even being noticed by the friendlier members of the crew was rarely a good thing. On a good day, he'd find himself scraping mould from the walls, or hauling mag-carts down to the loading docks. On a bad day, he'd be outside in an enviro-suit six sizes too big for him, chipping away at sheets of ice that would re-form as quickly as he could remove them from the station's panels.

As he grew, things did change for Tide. He grew fast - by the time he reached the age of fourteen, he was already taller than most of the men on the station, and a lifetime of manual labour had given him a wiry strength, which turned to solid muscle as he continued to grow. Where he'd spent his formative years as a punchbag for bitter and disgruntled miners, now he began to fight back, and he was good at it. He didn't fear being hurt - after all, what did he have to lose?

At age eighteen, he started training to pilot the heavy shuttles that were used to loft the vast water tanks into orbit, a skill which gave him the freedom to escape the confines of the station for a precious few hours at a time. It was while sitting in the cockpit of one of these shuttles, waiting for a break in a particularly violent ice storm, that Tide made the decision that would change the course of his life for good.

Gazing out of the cockpit window into a solid white wall of ice and hail, something clicked inside him. Without really knowing what he was doing, or what he was going to do next, he slammed the throttle levers open, and, as the ship began to slowly drag itself up from the scorched, blackened concrete launchpad, he released the docking clamps that held onto the heavy water tanks within the belly of the shuttle.

Sitting in the pilot's seat, gently humming to himself as the shuttle hurled itself away from the planet surface, the precious cargo crashing down onto the launch platform below, he felt an enormous sense of relief and freedom wash over him...

He'd left Merlon's Halt behind, and he had no intention of ever going back.

Theme Song: I Know it Hurts (Alter Bridge)