Physique: Demetrios is in relatively good shape, despite his age making it so that his metabolism has slowed down somewhat and he’s nowhere near as strong as he was in his youth. He’s of a more mesomorphic body type, but has been losing muscle mass with age, and is now rather lean in appearance - though he’s still got a little bit of chiseled mass to his frame. While once being remarkably resilient, his constitution has weakened with age as well, though he can handle being injured more ‘gracefully’ than most individuals at his age, and is still relatively agile. Despite not being as strong as he used to be, he’s very fit thanks to a regular exercise routine and healthy eating habits, and when need be, he can move very quickly and with surprising flexibility. Should he encounter a fight, the best course of action for him would be to try and exhaust and therefore, outlast his opponent, though if cornered he can put up a relatively decent fight. His body type is that of an inverted triangle, with well-defined upper body and rather narrow hips, and his shoulders appear perhaps even broader than they actually are as he does not have the same stooped posture of many his age - he stands with a commanding but understated amount of poise on the average day. His legs and torso are both of similar length, making him appear near evenly proportioned, and his features, while weathered, are quite chiseled and firm. His strong cheekbones and jawline have the effect of making his face seem slightly ageless, though the heavy lines that sit upon his brow and by his lips betray the time he’s spent on the mortal coil. Depending on who you ask, he most definitely looks his age, but few would disagree with the fact he’s aged gracefully.
Height: 6’
Weight: 163 lbs.
Hair: His hair is a warm chestnut brown shade in his youth, though due to his age, it has become shot through by streaks of silvery-grey and white. He keeps it trimmed to a respectable length, the individual strands of hair reaching roughly an inch and a half in length, and it’s straight in texture, though thick and voluminous enough that it does not appear limp or stringy. He keeps it very clean and it’s generally orderly in appearance, though when he’s out in the field, it has a tendency to get rather mussed up by the elements. He keeps it so he has no visible part, too, and has done this for so long he does not have one. In terms of facial hair, Demetrios sports both a beard and a moustache of relatively short length. Both are kept well manicured, and are the same shade as his hair.
Eyes: Demetrios’ irises are a peculiar shade of hazel bordering on the greener side, and appear to be shot through with ‘veins’ of amber. They typically appear clear, alert, and express some variety of inquisitiveness or a relaxed state of mind, though he’s not all that easy to read by their expression when in situations that require tact or diplomacy.
Skin: His skin is a medium shade of olive with golden-bronze undertones, and has darkened slightly over the years due to the amount of time he’s spent out under the sun. He doesn’t freckle or sunburn easily.
Scars / Markings / Etc: Demetrios is a man who has lived a very full, fulfilling life, and did not accomplish such a thing by ‘playing it safe’ - so consequently, he’s got quite a collection of scars and other such reminders of days long past to show for it. The pointer and middle fingers of his right hand are slightly crooked, making for what is perhaps his most noticeable deformity, which serves as a reminder of the time he broke them during a particularly exciting yet scarring (literally) night out with some of his more adventurous friends. To this day, that hand is slightly weaker than his left because of this injury. In terms of scarring, he has a scar running across the side of his left thigh that starts at his hip and arcs down to end just a couple inches before his kneecap - also from his adolescence. It’s hypertrophic in nature, which is a large part of the reason it is still so visible after all these years, but does not cause him any pain. And, from a somewhat more recent incident involving a Man o’ War he didn’t see until too late, Demetrios also sports a slightly corded set of scars upon his right arm, the healed flesh standing out slightly and being visibly off-color despite it having been about five years since this incident. He once wore a small gauge in his left earlobe, and had a few other, simpler piercings that ran further up along his ear, but has not worn anything after hitting his late twenties, so now all that remains of this phase of his life are a few barely visible scars.
Clothing Description: Demetrios’ typical outfit of preference consists of clothing that one would typically expect of a laid-back college professor - he has a particular love of wearing hawaiian shirts, khaki dress pants, and sandals on the average day, and because of his main profession up until recently, there was not really much that anyone could do about his slightly obnoxious fashion choices (or lack thereof). And, due to his students’ encouragement, and even occasional contributions, the tackier and louder the shirt, the better in his book, and over the years he’s accumulated quite the abominable selection that resemble something fashion designers likely see in their nightmares. During outdoor excursions (at and around home, he’d dress differently for other climates), he typically dons a wide brimmed straw hat and a pair of aviator-style sunglasses in addition to his typical outfit.
However, because the UN doesn’t care about his… unique sense of style, or about allowing him to indulge in it save for ‘leisure time’ taken aboard the vessel, so he will most often be seen wearing a utilitarian jumpsuit indicating him as a member of the marine biology team, though it also specifically indicates his seniority and rank on the expedition.
- Laminated IRV Howard ID Badge
- Black woolen prayer rope given to him by his father, which is generally worn around his left wrist when not in use.
- Vintage Polaroid shots of himself and his wife from their college days
- Digital photo frame uploaded with several photos of his wife, children, and a few of his parents
- Plain gold wedding band (generally never removed).
- Laptop with personalized interface (built for him by a former student)
- Small succulent his wife gave him
Personality:The first impression the average individual seems to have of Demetrios after meeting him frequently tends to be that he is of an extroverted nature, though not obnoxious in his more forward nature due to his genuine sincerity when dealing with people and his enthusiasm for life - both his own and that of organisms of the oceans. He is the type of person to go out of his way to start conversations with people, particularly if he senses he has any common interests with them, and it's easy for anyone to see how passionately he feels about both learning and educating others. He can pick up on when people want to be left alone rather easily, too, and generally doesn't force them to interact with him (unless they're in one of his classes, since participation grades are a very real thing). Demetrios is very experienced with reading the moods of those around him, and can adapt his interactions with others accordingly, as he often was forced to while teaching or lecturing to get his point across as best as possible. He is also someone who is willing to look at things objectively and is not afraid of giving credit to someone whose ideas he might not completely agree with, but not to the point where his core beliefs would be affected. Demetrios is generally a very open-minded person, and while he won't try to live someone else’s lifestyle entirely, he doesn't mind somewhat altering his own, and will typically respect choices and beliefs that contrast with his. Only if it conflicts with his morals and sense of ethics will he reject a way of life or belief system, though it takes more still for him to openly condemn it. He can adapt to change fairly well, aside from ones of a notably tragic nature. Demetrios is anything but desensitized, and, considering his age, attempting to completely steel himself against the worst humanity - and nature - have to offer is likely impossible.
He is generally rather sound in his convictions, and Demetrios has never really suffered from any self esteem issues over the course of his life. He does not lie to himself either, however, and knows both his capabilities and his limits - and he doesn't mind others he trusts knowing about both. If something is beyond his skill set or experience to handle, he will try to hand it off to someone else who can better deal with it than he. Though, if he is the only one able to do anything about the situation at hand, he’ll do what he can - he is by no means a man of
inaction. He often considers the effects his actions might have on others before deciding on what to do to resolve an uncomfortable or potentially dangerous situation in addition to his capability to bring about a resolution, and is easily swayed by logical ideas posed by others, if such solutions are offered. Generally, he hasn't let his very small amount of fame get to his head at all, as the only opinions of his character that truly matter to him are that of his family, friends, and close colleagues. Aside from them, he could genuinely care less. In his view, life is too short to be concerned with what people may or may not be thinking about him. Despite this, though, he tries his best to treat everyone he interacts with kindly and with tolerance unless they were particularly nasty to him, and raised his children to respect others, so long as they’re worthy of it. He also acknowledges that everyone has bad days, however, and does not tend to hold grudges unless someone treats him or someone he cares about particularly egregiously. Demetrios is one of those seemingly rare people who are both “book smart" and “street smart", and his mix of common sense and analytical and critical thinking have been invaluable assets to him and his colleagues over the course of his career. His sense of humor is
absolute shit the standard quality of “dad tier jokes" at this time in his life, and he frequently makes insufferably corny jokes when he finds the place to. He can still appreciate some pretty edgy jokes, however, as he’s not so old and out of touch that it offends him.
Demetrios is neither particularly easy nor difficult to anger - it all depends on how one goes about trying to provoke him (or accidentally doing so). He’s become very adept at ignoring minor annoyances, and will very rarely remark upon them if caused by a person unless he sees someone else visibly bothered by it. In the very rare case he is actually perturbed by something or someone, he will discreetly attempt to deal with it, either by way of politely addressing the source (for someone) or removing himself from the area if possible. However, he can be drawn into arguments easily, and, depending on the person he engages in such a debate with, it can get heated somewhat quickly. If he realizes he’s getting frustrated or angry, though, he’ll remove himself from the conversation if things start getting out of hand, even if that lets his opponent think they “won”. But in cases where his personal integrity or that of his work are brought up, he’ll fight to defend them, using logos and ethos to try and debunk his opponents’ points while doing his best to keep emotions out of his side of the argument altogether - and he’s never been the type to resort to name-calling. In his mind, somebody insulting someone else only happens after they realize they’ve lost. Even if he gets particularly infuriated with someone, he will typically remove himself from the situation before he loses his composure. On the rare occasion he’s not able to, however, he’ll completely lose his filter and let people know exactly what he thinks of them - not in the swear-heavy way, but as in tearing apart their character and reasoning with absolutely no regard for the other person’s feelings. When he gets this angry, it takes him a while to simmer down, too, and if he’s pushed to this degree of vexation by a person alone (and not a combination of annoyance and stress) it may heavily damage his opinion of them, and vice versa. However, if offered a genuine apology, he can generally get over his frustration towards them - just not necessarily immediately after feuding with them. He never really holds grudges towards folks, but those he’s had particularly nasty verbal altercations with that aren’t close to him tend to be people he tries to avoid speaking with unless he has to.
Considering his complete lack of exposure to traumatic events, Demetrios doesn’t really know how to deal with tragedy as well as most people of his age. It’s quite likely he’ll get stuck in the stage of denial or grief, or possibly even anger if faced with the death of a loved one or particularly close colleague, and, if presented with something particularly egregious, it may very well take a toll on his outlook on life - and possibly even his sanity. As Demetrios is generally a very private person, who does not complain or rant to others about his own problems, so too does he refuse to burden others with his grief or fear. He’s not the kind of person to have particularly visible reactions to this kind of trauma, at least, not after the initial reality of whatever’s transpired has set in, and one can really only tell how badly something’s impacted him from the manner in which he speaks - or decides not to say anything at all. And, even if one approaches him about it, it’s unlikely that others would be able to help him overcome the negative feelings that come with experiencing tragedy, as it’s largely something one must get out of themselves. And, as perhaps the worst things ever to happen to him are largely located in the days of his adolescence, which he’s mostly repressed, it’s not particularly easy to tell how quickly he’ll be able to get back to his usual self after being faced with loss or a dangerously massive setback.
Demetrios is relatively easy to befriend, and, considering how very little of his life he’s ever felt the need to hide, is almost too open to making new friends for his own good. While he’s always kept a healthy aversion to sharing his discoveries with fellow biologists for fear they might publish his findings first, when it comes to sharing about his personal experience and many profession-related things, he’s more than willing to speak about them. He’s a relatively generous person, though the extent of his generosity does often depend on the situation and whether the person he would be giving something of his to could easily get whatever was needed on their own. He’s a very good listener, and is capable of giving some really solid advice, or directing a person to another source of help if he has little experience in an area. He can tell when
not to give advice, too, if the person seems like they just want to rant, but it’s obvious he likes this less, particularly if there are problems in their life he thinks they ought to address so they’ll live better. Demetrios is a relatively loyal friend, but knows enough of human nature to accept signs that someone he’s casual friends with might not be who he thought they were. However, with much closer friends of his, he becomes a lot more likely to overlook inconsistencies in their personality that might be telling - he’s trusted them for so long, and they’ve been good to him, so what reason would they have to change?
Strengths: Demetrios has an extensive knowledge of the physiologies and behaviors of marine life, and is well-acquainted with the impact they have on different species and their environment. And, coupling this with his experience with deep sea diving that he’s accumulated over the course of twenty-five years, he knows how to handle encounters with some varieties of possibly hostile or generally dangerous marine life without provoking or agitating them. And, due to the years he’s spent teaching at a university, he has developed a great amount of skill in explaining things he has a decent amount of knowledge of to others, making it easy to understand while never speaking in a patronizing or overly authoritative manner. Demetrios is pretty decent at technical writing, too, as over the course of his professional career he has published many a paper on previously lesser-known aquatic species and on how humanity has impacted various ecosystems, so it is likely he will be stuck revising the main account for the research trip upon its return. His generally approachable and gregarious nature tend to make him a pretty likable figure, too, and his natural tendency to keep his composure and act respectfully towards his “opponents" in debates of any sort (unless the person he’s speaking with has absolutely no facts off which to base their opinions) makes him difficult to harbor grudges towards. Furthermore, his ability to deal with stressful situations or positions of authority that demand a lot of time and energy from a person is somewhat remarkable - he generally stays ahead of deadlines and knows how to handle a variety of different crises while still keeping a clear mind. His ability to improvise when things don't go as planned have been invaluable in helping him keep the jobs he’s had over his lifetime, as well as making him quite suited for leadership.
Weaknesses: Demetrios is no longer as physically strong as he used to be, and, though he isn’t reminded of this too often, when he engages in intense physical exercise or is lifting something particularly heavy, he’s reminded of his age in a none-too-pleasant way. Furthermore, his age has made him less foolishly optimistic as he was in his youth, and as far as keeping morale high goes, while he’s not overly pessimistic, he is typically incapable of making the best of truly terrible situations, and is not the type of person who would mislead others even if it was to their own benefit. He’s a bit behind on the most modern technologies as well, as he was most active on the internet from the 2000s to around 2030, and a there have been quite a few advancements since then - and that’s putting it lightly. Also, he’s very unaccustomed to dealing with life or death situations, and while he handles stress quite well, he has barely the first clue about self defense, aside from taking a few personal firearm safety courses a few years back on the insistence of one of his daughters after a robbery in their neighborhood. The little knowledge he has wouldn’t do all that much to protect him from a particularly skilled killer, however - or possibly even hostile marine life. And, what’s more, there’s a very high chance that if any fellow human was to attack him, Demetrios wouldn’t be able to pull the trigger.
Likes:
- Considering he’s dedicated his life to it, it comes as a surprise to very few that Demetrios is fascinated by and adores marine life and the ocean. The complexity and diversity of the many, many creatures of the seas and the biomes it contains have been a major passion of his to study and uncover more about, making for a seemingly never-ending puzzle to find pieces for and figure out how they fit. He knows most about marine macroorganisms, and is generally most interested in them too, but has a wary appreciation of microorganisms, too - as those tend to be just as dangerous, if not more, than any larger creature he’s ever studied.
- Unsurprisingly, he also is certified to scuba dive, and is a very experienced diver. Having picked up this licence in his twenties, Demetrios has spent many a morning, afternoon, and even nights (though not necessarily legally) exploring the ocean, not only from off the coast of Greece but even offshore from Oceania’s many islands and even the Gulf of Mexico.
- Demetrios is a rather avid traveler, and enjoys taking trips both with his family and for research purposes. He particularly likes traveling to places that are coastal or islands, but can put up with the occasional visit to major cities or landlocked areas.
- People who have an innate passion for learning are ones that Demetrios generally gravitates towards, as he finds they’re the most interesting kinds of folks to talk to. He tends to learn just as much as he shares with them, regardless of whether they’re fellow colleagues or even his own students.
- Demetrios grew up on Doom, Half-Life and Wolfenstein as a kid, and has maintained his love of the series throughout the years. He introduced them to his kids, too, and he and his youngest daughter, Chloe ended up bonding over their shared love of first-person-shooter games. (And he’s passed on his frustration that Half-Life 3 will never happen to her as well.)
- The playlists one can find on his personal tech consist predominantly of alternative rock, folk, and heavy metal bands, featuring artists such as Black Sabbath, Radiohead, David Bowie, Johnny Cash, and many, many others. Despite his preferences, though, his taste in music is pretty flexible, and there are few artists or sub-genres he outright hates.
- Ouzo is Demetrios’ alcoholic drink of choice, though to his slight disappointment, he’s found himself hard-pressed to find anyone else who shares his preference for drinking it plain, rather than as part of some dressed-up cocktail. In his opinion, the simpler the drink, the better.
- Surrealist humor still gets a chuckle out of him, though he has mostly graduated (or perhaps declined) to making dad jokes himself. The kind of edgy surrealism he indulged in as a young adult requires more irony and self-deprecatory nature than he has the ability to generate now.
- Fresh fruit in general is a staple of Demetrios’ diet, but he has a special fondness for lychee and pomegranate.
Dislikes:
- Demetrios detests the cold. He’d much rather have to endure extreme heat than even moderately chilly weather or environments, as he’s not accustomed to that sort of climate whatsoever.
- Rude people tend to get on his nerves easily. It's one thing to disagree with someone about something, and for a person to get heated over that, but it's another to regularly talk down to and dismiss other people, in Demetrios’ point of view. He personally views all people as being of equal importance, so it bothers him when others treat them as less than such.
- He is not very fond of bugs, particularly hornets, yellow jackets, and mosquitoes. Especially mosquitoes, considering how easily they can assist the spread of disease in some areas of the world.
- People who deny the validity of scientific findings and instead prefer to indulge in fear-mongering and far fetched conspiracy theories piss Demetrios off somewhat, particularly when what they believe could bring harm to others, such as anti-vaxxers. He thinks they're letting foolish misinformation and superstition control them to a ridiculous degree, and is irked by “herd mentality” of that sort in general.
- He dislikes seeing ‘virtual gore’ where human beings are involved, and avoids watching movies or television that include extremely graphic visuals of such things whenever possible.
Fears:
- Ghosts - While Demetrios isn’t afraid of ‘ghosts’ in the traditional sense, scenes of tragedy or where extremely violent and horrific acts were committed have a terrible effect on his nerves. He used to be into urban exploration as an adolescent, but he stopped meeting up with the group he’d been with for those outings after a night gone horribly wrong exploring an abandoned country house - during which they’d stumbled across some rather gruesome remains and the chillingly incomplete story behind them. Since then, he’s been extremely wary of entering spaces with a similar unfriendly abandoned and ‘off’ feeling to them.
- Dismemberment - Unsurprisingly, more childhood trauma, particularly from the time he broke a few of his fingers. At the time, they’d been badly mangled enough that he was afraid he’d have to remove them, but as it turned out, that didn’t come to pass. However, losing any of his limbs is a huge fear of his as a result, as he learned just how easily it could happen.
- Loss - With so little death in his immediate family, Demetrios hopes he’ll have the blessing to pass on before his wife or children do, as well as before any of his closest friends and colleagues, as he’s not well versed in coping with grief. He knows he’ll likely outlive his parents, but still dreads dealing with their passing in the future.
Alright, here's the deal. I'm exhausted, you guys are probably sick to death of waiting on my CS, and the RP isn't getting any younger. Demetrios has been a work in progress for a ridiculous amount of time. So I'm just gonna give you all a tl;dr. I'll finish it respectably later, but for now, I think we can all agree it's best to get this over with and get on with the RP itself.Demetrios was born to a young but (relatively) religious couple in the late nineties. Even though he was their only child, he was never spoiled particularly badly, and his parents tended to be rather strict, although by no means unloving or excessive in their rules. It took until his adolescence for their many expectations of him to come off to him as bothersome and restricting, and his childhood was very pleasant, as he went to school, made a few decent friends, and began to discover his love of biology. Even as a small child he was fascinated with the way humans and animals worked, and later learned that even plants and the earth itself played a valuable part in the continued existence of many species on earth. He spent a lot of time outside, and though he lived in a relatively busy city, due to it being on the coast, he found ways to attract and watch some of the many creatures that lived within the ocean.
His fascination with the ocean continued to grow on him as he grew older, and he began to study marine biology on the side while keeping up with the rest of his schoolwork. As the internet was growing more and more accessible and useful, it provided a welcome resource to him, as well as connecting him to others with similar interests - though he was never much for social media, and still isn’t at present day. As a young boy, he was definitely on the nerdier side, preferring to do something related to his academic interests than anything remotely athletic, but once adolescence hit, he somewhat broke out of that mold, choosing to be in the company of people with what he perceived as ‘cool’ interests, one of which being urban exploration. Later, he learned that what he did with his old friends was likely very illegal, but he tries not to think much on what they got up to together, for many reasons. That chapter of his life is one he’s the least proud of.
He snapped out of his less studious mindset two years before finishing school, and managed to get himself a pretty decent scholarship to attend Queen’s University in Belfast, and over his four years there obtained a BSc in Marine Biology. Initially, Demetrios reeled from serious ‘culture shock’, as Belfast was a very different place than Xanthi, but found a niche for himself with people within his own field of study - and biology majors in general. He became very active in his college’s community, too, and attended a fair number of debates regarding sustainable energy and species conservation efforts. Demetrios was not one to get involved in more extreme protests and demonstrations, but still supported the friends he’d made when they chose to get involved, and was generally well liked by many of the other students within his field at university.
From there, after moving back to Greece, although to a different town than the one he was born (Corinth, specifically), he was hired by the government to gather data about the state of their oceans in order to put into place laws to ensure that the population of local, non-invasive fish could withstand the current degree of fishing many parts of the country based their economy on. It was at this time he re-encountered someone he’d met in college, an Environmental Sciences major named Blaine Curran. She had only planned on being there while the organization she was a part of ran their event, but one thing led to another and the two ended up getting engaged within a couple of months.
After having their first child, Demetrios resigned from his government job ,which often took him out for weeks at a time, and they moved yet again to Thessaloniki, where he became a professor at the University of Macedonia, heading their newly created biology department. He was a professor for some twenty-odd years, but by then, he felt he was somewhat detached from his roots, from being actively involved in the preservation of the oceans and his own personal exploration of it. He once more slipped into the world of environmental advocacy, and it was around this time he got into diving as a hobby.
His second foray into the politics and more intricate balance between world governments, corporations, and their treatment of natural resources garnered him much more attention than he’d received previously. With a respectable amount of experience under his belt and an almost uncanny ability to expose corporate concerns about a decreased use of both fossil fuels and natural petroleum as being entirely selfish and unethical ‘worries’ considering the now quite viable nature of other energy sources, and has had a decent part in helping to do away with antiquated and harmful practices by which humanity used to gain most of their energy.
It comes as little surprise, then that the UN would see him as someone who would care very much about whatever could be affecting the state of the seas within the vicinity of the Mariana Trench, and they were correct in that assumption - the moment his government offered him a position aboard the IRV Howard, he lept at the chance.
Gifted (+5):
Biology,
PersuasionAdept (+3):
Awareness,
Chemistry,
SEREAverage (+2):
First Aid,
Hand-to-Hand,
StealthNovice (+1):
Anthropology,
Computer Science,
History,
Marksmanship, handgunsLanguagesGreek - Fluent
English - Fluent
Arabic - Fluent speaker, slightly less fluent writing/reading
Spanish - Barely passable speaking, fifth grader level
Relationship Status: Happily Married
Family:
- Parents: Georgios and Maria Kalantzakis [Status: Alive]
- Wife: Katerina Kalantzakis [Status: Alive]
- Children: Iliana Demir (oldest, married) and Chloe (youngest) Kalantzakis [Status: Alive]
Opinions of Other Researchers/Crewmembers:Other: It's quite possible I'm not cut out to be a GM and I'm so frickin sorry for the wait 
