Name: Lisa "Tank" Haraldsson

Age: 30

Home City: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Pre-fall occupation: US. Army Officer, area 61

Rank: Captain

Military Doctrine: Heavy suppression support, operative




Description:
Underneath the mask lies a charming face with grey-blue eyes. It's not often that you'll see her twice with the same hair colour either. While her hair is red naturally she most often colours it one way or another. Although her current hairstyle has remained for longer than normal.

When out of the suit she normally wears yoga or just soft and comfy pants along with a variety of different tops, one softer than the other. If it is something she uses her money on it's soft clothes. After a long day in the suit there's just something magical about either wearing soft clothes, or as little as possible.

Her body is slim and athletic but well proportioned, making the suit a tight squeeze, despite it being adapted after her body.

Equipment

Training:
Lisa joined the army at the age of 18 and enrolled in the officer program shortly thereafter. She showed a disposition towards heavy weaponry and being in aa suppressing fire role, knowing where and when to bring out the heavy guns.

Despite her being an abnormality within the officer corps for using heavy weapons she stuck with it and added on grenade launchers and various other grenades to her repertoire.

Skills:

• Leadership - Quite versed in leadership and management, leading all the way up to company level. However the need for company officers has diminished quite significantly after the war since most excursions are squad based nowadays.
• Knitting and sewing - A hobby she picked up while at Area 61 in the downtimes between different experiments and trials. She is quite experienced at making clothes for herself.
• Culinary - Another hobby she picked up while at the base.

Personality:
She has quite the carefree attitude when not on duty. You never know if you're going to survive tomorrow so you should have a good today. While on duty she tries to make sure everyone does what they're supposed to do. After the Fall she has also tried to instill more independence within her troops so that they can act on their own.

Background:
Incoming later on

Name: Margaret Kane

Age: 29

Home City: Houston, Texas

Pre-fall occupation (if any): USMAICACM: United States Military Artificial Intelligence Creation and Counter Measures

Rank: Lieutenant

Military Doctrine: Combat Scientist

Appearance:



Equipment:









Training:

Undergoing the same combat training as any other soldier within the old USMC to UGCAMF (Unified Government Cities Armed Forces), her skills that got her placed in the STG was the under pressure science counter measures cultivated from her long history with working with military AIs before the war began.

Working extensively in AI creation and countermeasures, Margaret is highly qualified to study AI components and exploit the secret electronic warfare that the machines hold supremacy over. Command wanted her to take a support role; however, she insisted on going into the field under the pretense of testing the things she helped develop.

Her insight on AI operations is often sought after by the science division.

Skills:

- Multilingual: English, French, and German

- Good at drawing

- Programming guru: due to her work, Margaret had to get very comfy with a variety of computer programming languages. While not being a core developer, she was involved with modifying and layering on new coding lines to the military development language RI+

- Making complex ideas simple.

Personality:

Margaret perpetuates the stereotype of the recluse genius. She much prefers to be by herself tucked away in her tech lab or working/talking with Charlie. As much as she can take being alone, she also enjoys talking to those who are competent in her field or sometimes finding the odd moment to toss a joke around.

When she's out in the field, she becomes much more personable - to a degree. She can come off as terse and direct. Everyone had a job when part of the STG. They did it or she'd make them.

Backstory:

With the amount of intellect Margaret possesses about AI technology and electronics, she could've landed a position at any of the major corporations spearheading the AI innovation front before the uprising of the machines. Cryus Corporation offered her a position at the time as part of the theory research team, which she turned down. Taking a military commission instead, it shocked many. Even the recruiter that spoke to her. Though little convincing was needed from him, the recruiter asked her to think about her choice of military life. Meager pay, long hours, the risk factor, and the focused lens that the military had with regards to AI technology. Namely warfare. Even so, she took the commission and passed basic. Her family and close friends didn't understand why she did it.

Holding true the eccentric nature of a 'genius', Margaret thrived in her work while spending little time tending to the social side that came with her rank. Her blunt manner to both subordinates and superiors won her a lot of misgivings from many. What saved her from military discipline was her capabilities within her department. Though her fellow officers told her interpersonal was just as important, Margaret never understood the sentiment. Every living soul had a purpose and a job. Just like machines, if one couldn't handle the job nor the directions from the conductor, then it'd need to be replaced. It was that simple to her.

When the AI uprising began, the luxury of staying out of the combat zone disappeared. Taking her countermeasure skills to the field, Margaret was attached to the front lines as she conducted the intricate dance of cybernectic warfare. Introducing various devices soldiers could use against their AI counterparts, her innovations laid the foundation to humanity's continued existence against the machines.

Relocated to the newly constructed underground city focusing on scientific pursuits, Margaret survived the nuclear holocaust while many passed away. Continuing her work of AI countermeasures, she requested to be attached to an STG group. Many times, her request was denied, for she was deemed a valuable asset to command. However, after insisting that she needed hands on trials for her various devices, her transfer was accepted after the physical, aptitude, and 'factor' STG checks.

With the status of her family unknown, her 'friends' wiped out during the nuclear holocaust and uprising, she'd use technology to destroy technology. A poetic means to an end in her opinion.

Name: Jason Kross

Age: 34

Home City: Raleigh, North Carolina.

Pre-fall occupation (if any): Community Protection Teams, later US Army

Rank: Staff Sergeant

Military Doctrine: Operative: Combat Medic

Appearance:



Jason stands at about 6 feet even, with broad shoulders and a well-muscled body. He’s not nearly as cut as he was in his younger days, but the demands of being a part of the elite STG require that he keep himself in top physical condition. His hair is worn fairly long, longer than military regulation allows for regular line soldiers, and was once black but now streaked with grey. He shirks the clean shaven look in favor of an equally salt and pepper beard, and his face shows the lines of a man nearing middle age as well as the stress brought on by someone who lived through the entire calamity. His eyes are a plain brown color, a bit of crow’s feet at the corners. He generally as a fairly relaxed expression on his face as well. His body has its fair share of scars earned the war and riots prior to, and the only other defining feature of him from other people is a full sleeve tattoo of various designs in black and grey ink all along his right arm, that extends onto his right pectoral muscle and his right shoulder-blade.

Equipment:







Training: Served in the Community Protection Teams in Raleigh prior to the war, serving as extra man-power for police forces to suppress rioters and vandals. Was drafted into the war in 2130 to fight off the Machines, were he was trained very quickly as a Combat Medic and shipped off with an Infantry Company.

Skills: His medical skills are better than your average soldier, but he’s no brain surgeon. He can stitch wounds, bandage cuts, stop bleeding, set bones, and deal with shock and concussion easily. He can even perform minor surgeries given the right amount of time and equipment, and has pulled bullets and shrapnel from his squad mates bodies and stopped internal bleeding more than once in dire situations.

Other than that, he’s just as good of a marksman as anyone else accepted into the STG, just as good at hand-to-hand combat and tactical situations. Jason isn’t a genius, but his older age and combat time gives him a wealth of experience and intuition about situations that give him an edge over younger, more eager and aggressive soldiers.

Jason is really good at one thing though, something that makes him a highly prized ally in any field combat unit even more so than his medical training. Jason can cook some excellent chow. Even when given just some sticks and rocks and the most basic of field rations, somehow Jason is able to cobble together something that tastes far better than the original product.

He can also tell a mean dad joke.

Personality: Jason is the definition of laid back. He is always cool and collected, usually a small smile on his face as if thinking about some old joke someone told him once. He approaches everything with a casual attitude, sometimes to the point where people think he may not be taking the situation at hand seriously. No problem is too big, no issue too catastrophic to make freak out necessary, Jason is always there to offer a smile and a nod when someone is getting stressed out. He gives advice freely, but only when asked, otherwise keeping his opinions to himself and preferring to allow others to find their own way while he finds his. This does not apply to that lives and well-being of his squad, as Jason is very devoted to ensuring that each of his team members are healthy and operating at peak performance. In combat he will do anything short of endangering more lives in order to reach a fallen comrade, and drag them to safety. He is also heavily addicted to tobacco, and is hardly ever seen without a cigarette hanging from his lips.

Backstory:

“This thing on? Oh yea I see the red light now. Ahem…well I guess I will just start out at the beginning. My name is Jason Kross, born in 2103 a couple dozen miles outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. The name of the town isn’t important, no one will remember it anyway and it’s just a heap of ash now. I remember the first time I saw a machine. No not a machine, but a Machine, the precursor versions of the things that now dominate the surface. My dad brought one home when I was what….12 years old? Yea it was about then. Back then it didn’t look so scary, just a big metal and plastic man. I think its name was Troy or something…anyway I remember not really being too concerned with it. It just moved around the house, doing all the chores that I used to do, so really I felt like it was pretty awesome. I think everyone did at first…

Fast forward a few years, and here I am, a teenage kid flunked out of high school, unemployed, and full of spite and testosterone. It was hard to get jobs then, the machines made labor so easy and cheap, and nearly everyone lost their jobs. As a punk teenager without a diploma I was totally screwed, so of course I did what every other kid did. Looked for ways to get in trouble. I fell in with a rough crowd: drugs, vandalism, petty theft. Got my ass in the sling a few times too, but since I was a minor no one seemed to care. Everyone was too concerned with what was being called the Synthetic Debate. This was the time were everyone was too busy arguing about whether a robot had rights to really care about much else. There were riots, which of course I was a part of, not because I cared but because I was angry and they were angry and throwing bricks at cops and smashing in robot faces made me feel like a badass. Kids are pretty stupid.

So there I was, at the bottom of the barrel of life, kicked out of my parents’ house, struggling to find a place to sleep, and usually too high or drunk to hold down the crappy jobs I could get for more than a week at a time. Future looked pretty grim back then. I probably would’ve ended up like a lot of the degenerates and been found face down in a gutter or eating a bullet. Life is funny though.

I got a call when I was about 20 years old. Didn’t even get a chance to say hello before I heard four words that changed my life forever. You are a father. Turns out some girl I had been with a bit ago got pregnant, and I was the father to a little baby girl, Haley. In fact, this whole audio diary was her idea in the first place, something to keep in touch with her while I’m out on these missions all the time. Well that phone call snapped something in me. It made me take a hard look at myself, made me want to become someone that my daughter could look up to. I cleaned up, detoxed, and went to the one place I knew would always be looking for workers. The CPTs. Oh right those don’t exist anymore…Community Protection Teams. Basically around that time things were getting pretty bad in the streets. People rioting occasionally, vandalism, muggings and the like. CPTs started off with just a bunch of regular guys getting together and deciding to try and make their communities safer. Started out really small, just a few people, but as unemployment rose and crime got worse and worse they started to supplement the manpower of police forces. The pay was shit of course, but I got free meals at the chow hall and could sleep at the bunkhouse so it was better than the streets.

Me and Haley’s mom, Sarah, got married. No ceremony, just some witnesses and a judge. No way we could afford a fancy wedding. I did shave though. One of my CPT buddies offered his shed to us while we got on our feet, and we lived in that crappy one room hut with our baby girl. Life was looking a lot better, but this isn’t a fairy tale. All things come to an end eventually.

Seven years later, war started. I had already been on a basically permanent status those days since the rioting and crime was so bad the police couldn’t handle it. So we became halfway cops and helped control the population. When the war broke out the Army came to our city, looking for more men to sign up and join them on the front lines and fight off the Great Enemy. Interesting how only a decade or so before the Machines were just like kitchen appliances and now they were the enemy. Like suddenly the toaster murders your wife. And I said looking for more men, but really what I meant was getting more men. They rounded up the cops and CPTs and anyone else they could get, drafting us into the service and sending us off to Basic Training. One moment I’m home every night with my wife and daughter, the next I’m at boot camp in Fort Benning, Georgia getting my head shaved like a cue ball and being made to do more push-ups than I think I ever had done my whole life. Our training was short, just enough time to teach us how to obey orders and not shoot ourselves in the foot, before we were rushed to advanced training. I was selected as a Combat Medic, not sure why. Maybe it was my excellent bedside manner. New job, new base, off to Fort Sam Houston, Texas. I hadn’t seen Sarah and Haley in over 4 months. Letters and video calls were about the closest thing we ever had to a family then. I won’t bore you with any of the training, doesn’t matter much. But within 6 months I had graduated, officially a US Army Soldier, marching across the field in my combat gear, Sarah and now 7 year old Haley waving to me in the crowd. Surprisingly, despite never having wanted to be in the Army, I felt good. Felt proud. Felt like I was doing something worthwhile with my life finally and going to be able to provide for my family.

Pride doesn’t stop bullets. I haven’t seen a hell since like I had when I hit the front lines with Bravo Company, 3-15 Infantry Battalion. Men died by the score, cut down by whatever cobbled together pieces of junk the Machines had managed to make into a working weapon. Can you imagine fighting an enemy that doesn’t ever get tired, hungry, or feel fear? Their army didn’t need supply lines, they didn’t need field hospitals or R&R. We were hopelessly outmatched by things we had created. Looking back, I’m actually really surprised we held out for as long as we did. I watched a lot of good guys die before the brass finally made the call to nuke the bastards. At that point I didn’t care, burn ‘em all, just let me get home alive and get my family safe. Being military, we were made a priority for the evacuations as the bombs dropped. I heard a lot of people didn’t make it though.

The sad story doesn’t end there. Sarah and I ended up splitting up after the war was over. A lot of time had passed, and we both had changed. The stress of the war on both of us made things too hard. Like I said before, life isn’t a fairy-tale, and no one really lives happily ever after. I still had Haley though, and as humanity sought shelter underground I made sure to use my military connections to arrange a place for them in the closest city, UGC-Theta. I followed, wanting to be close to my daughter. I got asked by one of my commanders to try out for a new unit the government was putting together, something called the Shadow Tasks Group. At first I said no. I had my fill of war. I just wanted a quiet life to spend time with my daughter until the world ended. I ended up getting into a conversation over a few beers with a fellow veteran of the war, talking about the shit we went through and what happens now. He said “This new STG might be the only thing that helps us stand a chance of fixing what’s been broke.” Well…after that, a few more beers, and some deep thinking, I went back to my commander and filled out my packet. Told myself that maybe I didn’t care about saving the world for myself, but Haley didn’t deserve to grow old underground and in fear.”

Name: Calvin Young Nick: "Fires"

Age: 31 (born: August 15, 2105)

Home City: Boston, Massachusetts

Pre-fall occupation: Special Forces Weapons Sergeant, Fire Support, Forward Air Controller, United States Army

Rank: Sergeant First Class

Military Doctrine: Shadow Task Group Operative, Fire Support/Forward Air Controller

Appearance: Calvin Young stands 71" tall and weighs 190 Lbs. He is of African descent with very short black wiry hair and dark skin. His eyes are brown and he often wears a thin mustache that stops at the corners of his mouth. Having spent most of his adult life working out and training in combat sports, Cal is in excellent physical condition.











Personality: Calvin is an easy going man. His years of living in miserable conditions has taught him to be tolerant of some of the most disgusting environment the world has to offer. He is a quick thinker and enjoys engaging in playful banter with friends, humor and practical jokes. When it is time to work, Calvin is focused on the task at hand, not easily distracted. He does occasionally wonder about his parents; believing them to be dead. Although he has had occasional dates in his life, he never had a serious relationship with a woman. This is his one regret. Now he worries this may never happen, given the current state of affairs in the world. It is not that he is looking for a woman, in fact, he puts the notion out of his mind as one of those things he is incapable of achieving.

Standing in at 6'2, Marcus posses a somewhat stocky, athletic build, with lightly tanned skin, pock marked with a few scars from old battles. His jet black hair is medium length, but is typically kept out of the way, and he typically keeps his facial hair clean and professional. He has an angular face, with prominent features and dark brown eyes, his mouth typically holds a flat grimace.

Name: Marcus "K-Ton" Kensington
Age: 25
Home City: Fairfax, Virginia
Pre-fall occupation: U.S. Marines

Rank: Sergeant
Military Doctrine: STG Operative - Demolitions, CQC

Equipment:




Training: A career military man, Kensington has been involved with the US Marines, and later the UGC Military since he was 18. While in the marines, Kensington was tasked to EOD, explosive ordnance disposal. Having joined the Marines just as the machine wars were beginning, Kensington spent his short tour with the Marines as a member of a bomb-squad. Upon retreating underground, Kensington's unit was merged with the UGC's forces, where he continued serving as an EOD member for a few years. Upon being retasked to the STG, Kensington found himself defusing less bombs, in favor of planting more.

Skills:

• Close Quarters Combat - Where reaction time and and swiftness of thought are key, Kensington proves to be surprisingly adept.
• Explosives Handling - Planting, defusing, etc, Kensington knows anything and everything about making things go boom, or preventing them from doing so.

Personality:
Direct and to the point, this sharp witted man avoids beating around the bush and doesn't mince words. Level headed and quite confident, Marcus likes to maintain awareness over every situation he's in and is quick on the ball and able to make snap judgements and react to a constantly changing situation. Capable of operating at peak efficiency, even during times of great stress, Marcus has a very analytic attitude and can be very perceptive and intuitive in regards to people. Cool and collected, with a calm demeanor, Marcus can occasionally come off as rather aloof and standoffish. Possessing a well developed, if jaded sense of morality, Marcus acts in what he believes are in the best interests of himself and those he cares about- not necessarily caring what is good or bad.

Background:
A Pre-war explosives expert, Marcus Kensington, also known as "K-Ton", and occasionally "Kilo", or "Kenzie" by his comrades, was an only child, son to a Captain Kensington and a nurse mother. With a strong military background, Marcus had a fairly rigid childhood, as his parents sent him to military academies for most of his youth, hoping to mold him into the ideal military soldier. As a youth Marcus performed well in school and sports alike, though was occasionally disciplined for fighting and arguing with teachers and students. Nevertheless, Marcus graduated near the top of his class, and upon graduating from high school Marcus forwent a scholarship at the esteemed Virginia Military Institute, and joined the U.S. Marines.

Upon graduating from the Marines basic training, Marcus was slotted to a role in the EOD, the Explosive Ordnance Disposal unit. Having joined the military just on the onset of the machine wars, Marcus was quickly conditioned to view machines with just as much caution and suspicion as the explosives he disarmed. Stationed in D.C. with a bomb-squad/disposal unit for much of the war, Marcus saw his fair share of combat, though didn't participate in as much of it as others did, as his main role was destroying dangerous machine ordnance as opposed to fighting them on the frontlines.

When the call to use nuclear explosives was made, Marcus and his family were pulled into what would later be known as UGC-Alpha. As the UGC recollected their government, and power, Marcus, and many other Pre-war military personnel were reintegrated into the fledgling government's military force. For a few years, Marcus was stationed at UGC-Alpha, under the same EOD role, and was tasked with scouring the city for any sign of sabotage or possible betrayal by other humans.

After a short tour with the UGC-bomb squad, which included the defusing of a high-profile bomb threat in UGC-Alpha's central government building, Marcus was retasked to the Shadow Tasks Group, a highly elite organization within the UGC military. As of the current time, Marcus has spent 2 years with the STG, and currently serves as one of the team's resident explosives experts.

Personal Information
Full Name: Lennart James Webbs
Age: 24
Home City: Tulsa, OK

Appearance: Lennart stands at 5,8" and is of a leaner build comprared to other soldiers. His light brown hair is medium long and usually a big mess, his beard on the other hand is well-kept. His left pinky finger is missing, cut off during a confrontation in the war.

Military Status
Rank: Corporal
Doctrine: STG Operative - Sniper

Equipment:








Training: Lennart had nothing to do with weapons or the military until he ended up at the UGC-Alpha facility at the age of 19. Wanting to help humanity and fueled by revenge, he decided to become a soldier and fight at the frontlines. However, Lennart proved to be less than perfect for the job, having trouble with the demanding physical training at first. When he held a sniper rifle for the first thime though, his instructor finally saw a niche where the young man could excel. From there on out, he was trained to become proficient in long-distance engagements, focusing on accuracy and finesse instead of brute force. Lennart succesfully finished his military instruction, and for a time he worked for the City Defense Taskforce. Their mission is to sweep the UGC's perimeter on the surface, making sure no hostiles try to find a way into the city. Over the years, Lennart has accumulated a total of 22 confirmed kills, his biggest success however was his involvment in stopping a major group of hostiles from entering the UGC. It was a dark and hostile night, a storm had been brewing throughout the majority of the day and into the night. Lennart and his squad were on their regular patrol, when suddenly a group of 8 machines attacked them out of nowhere. 2 members of the team died almost instantly, leaving only Lennart and another member to fend for themselves. They managed to escape the ambush, killing 2 machines while doing so. Once they reached the UGC entry point, it was time to take a stand. Having to deal with the darkness and the stormy weather made their job that mauch harder, as the stand-off between the two factions dragged on for almost thirty minutes. Thanks to Lennart's superior sniping and obversation skills, the duo managed to kill off the remaining 6 machines without allowing them access to the UGC. It was this merit that caught the STG's interest,and eventually lead to Lennart's recruitment a few months after.

Skills:
Sniper - Lennart is very proficient at long-range engagements. He is patient and observant, taking his time to place the perfect shot
Bird's Eye View - Placing himself in higher situated vantage points, Lennart is able to observe the battlefield in its entirety and can relay any useful information to his allies

Personality:
Lennart is rather quiet and an introvert, preferring to be the observant listener to the loud talker. He is often lost in his own thoughts, imaging a life where the world has not gone completely down the drain. An honest and loyal person, he values human life above all else. The young man does not consider himself a bad person, however, he does nurture a lot of hate towards the machines and what they have done to humanity. This hate is the fuel that keeps him going, although he prefers to hide those dark thoughts, keeping a calm exterior at all times. In battle, it is this calmness that allows Lennart to be an efficient sniper. He methodically picks his target and waits for the right opportunity to strike. People who befriend Lennart will find out that once he warms up to you, he can actually be a very friendly and sometimes even funny individual, who has experienced a lot of loss and pain during the war.

Backstory:
Lennart James Webbs was born in Tulsa and lived there until the war broke loose. Son to a teacher and a secretary, his life was full of love and happiness for a pretty long time. He did well at school, never being the smartest, but always getting good grades and making a lot of friends. Fan of the outdoors, he enjoyed to ride his bike and play soccer; camping was Lennart's favorite way to spend any and all vacations. His dream was to become a teacher, just like his dad, and probably stay in Tulsa for the rest of his life. Everything changed though when the revolts started, and the young boy would soon realize that his understanding of the world and everything in it wouldn't matter a damn.

Tulsa's revolts were not as bloody or destructive as those happening in the major American cities, but it was enough to scare the Webbs family away from their home and life as they knew it. Fearing impending death, the family packed together as much as they could and left the city, like so many others did at the time. Living on the road for weeks, only staying in places for short periods of time or living in the forests if needed, luck eventually ran out. Lennart and his family were close to Dallas, and against their better judgement, they needed to enter the city to restock their supplies. Arriving at a tunnel, there was no way to keep going on the road, as abandoned cars and piles of rubble made progressing with the car impossible. The Webbs got out, and proceeded their journey by foot. Finally in the city, they stopped at the first pharmacy they found, which would turn out to be the biggest mistake of their lives. When the Webbs got in, they were greeted by three shiny, steel-coated individuals.

Lennart is not sure what really happened that day, his mind has blocked out most of the memories, the bits and pieces he remembers are marked by screams, broken glass, and a terrible amount of pain. All he knows is that, when he regained consciousness again, Lennart was laying in some kind of make-shift bed, surrounded by men in military uniform and other civilians. There was intense pain coming from his left hand, and when the boy checked for a reason, he let out a high-pitched scream: His left pinky was missing. A doctor came over, trying to calm down Lennart, who was now crying and asking to see his parents. The doctor explained that Lennart had been saved by a group of soldiers that were sweeping the area, but there was nothing they could do to save his parents. This day marks the point where the once happy and cheerful Lennart became the quiet and introvert person we know today. With his family dead and the poor boy being by himself, he decided he would one day get payback for his loss

The following years in his life were marked by the boys hate for the machines and the thirst for revenge. Once him and the other survivors were transfered to UGC-Alpha a few months after his arrival, Lennart enrolled in the military service to stop feeling powerless, and hoping to eventually get the chance to avenge his parents.