Lurking Krog
"Quit complaining. It ain't like things couldn't be worse, is it?"
Name: Guster Galuna
Alias(s): Guster. Just Guster. No need to use the surname.
Age: 21
Height: 183cm
Weight: "62kg"
Hair Color: Feature lacked
Eye Color: Clear, slight shade of pink
Race: Dust fiend
Job Role: Soldier - Q-Guard - Second in command of his current unit
Physical Appearance:
When it comes purely to appearance, Guster looks like a human to the unassuming. In fact, thanks to how he has covered every inch of his real self in clothing and taken the shape of a regular humanoid it is quite the challenge to tell him apart from one, if not impossible.
Within his clothing Guster is a swirling mass of dust that generates the weight his body seems to have through clever manipulation of the matter housed within the fabrics. As a result of this, anyone who catches the creature off-guard may find them feeling lighter than expected. Guster's "eyes" are two mostly clear gemstones floating in his head area behind his goggles.
Attire:
Guster prefers long coats, usually red ones with wide brimmed hats of matching colour. A blue feather is a plus, but the Guildfall has made his stock of said item limited resulting in them seeing less use. He rarely cares about the type of his trousers, as long as they come with enough pockets and are of sturdy material, anything goes. His boots and gloves are both black leather, and with the gloves being stitched into the inside of his coat sleeves and the pants likewise attached into his boots, there is no chance of anyone catching a glimpse of the whirling mass of dust he is. Guster covers his face with a thick scarf and an oversized pair of goggles, as to give himself some facial features to draw attention to. While a change in apparel usually demand Guster to exchange all the pieces at once in a discrete location, he takes all the possible opportunities. He'd rather not reveal himself by slowly chipping the clothing apart from the inside.
Personality:
It cannot be said that Guster would be a shining example of moral integrity within the guard. It would be closer to the truth to call him part of the problem, and there is no "victim-of-circumstances" cards to be played. While he rarely goes as far as to voluntarily abuse what he has been given, if a situation can be solved faster by calling the shots through his rank rather than talking it through or if assuming the ownership of certain items belonging to other individuals would make his units chances of survival greater, you can count on Guster demanding it. He also possesses a near zero-tolerance towards whiners. While he keeps his hopes up on an easier post to be gained one day, he does not expect it. Each and every time someone whines about being sent to one of the Mahzforsaken posts of Casual-Free, Guster dies a little inside and pretty much loses all respect towards the soldier. They certainly won't see Guster coming to the rescue if things were to go bad.
While technically genderless, Guster has chosen to prefer being referred to with male pronouns to not attract unneeded attention.
Weapons & Equipment:
The magimusket - Guster's signature weapon. This old looking contraption of wood and metal is loaded by Gusters shaky magical skills, allowing him to focus the raw energy into concentrated bolts. These shots possess target tracking and their travel time is near instant, but even then they cannot take into account all obstacles, and the more they need to steer, the less of an impact the shot will make. Often it is preferable to try and shoot through an obstacle rather than try to guide the shots past. The gun can when fully loaded discharge the energy in one big shot, but that is hardly the optimal choice most of them time and the function to divide the energy into any wanted amount sees much use.
Sword - Guster has recently picked up this slightly curved blade and has no real skill in using it. It possesses a certain intimidation factor though, so combined with his rank Guster has pressed through some conflicts with non-soldiers through sheer intimidation.
Taurus Judge - A five shot revolver loaded with .410 bore shot shells for close-quarters self-defence when magimusket is not an option.
Ability:
Air reading: Dust fiends are not known for their eyesight. In fact, they are quite blind (and deaf) in the literal sense. However, they are capable of reading vibrations in the air, granting them vision and hearing for as long as there is air around them. Usually this skill can extend to miles at a time, but given the unnatural circumstances and the fact Guster is hiding within his clothing, he is pretty much blind beyond 250m radius, and deaf to sound from beyond 400m (unless the sound is obnoxiously loud, such as an explosion).
Longevity: A dust fiend is not the easiest kill you'll ever come across. Never dying of age, the creature that is immune to poisons as well has a well known weak spot in its gemstone "eyes". It requires both to function, one to eventually form another from the excess dust within two weeks (this happens on autopilot, with the personality remaining unconscious), and when none are left, the dust fiend dies. They are not extremely durable, a solid hit from a hammer easily shatters one, but they can be highly elusive while the creature still moves. Explosions and sonic frequency weapons are some tools that fight against this trait quite well.
Body mass control: Given his nature as a creature composed of whirling dust, Guster is capable of achieving some acrobatic feats impossible to an ordinary human.
Shaky magics: Guster is, by most accounts, a terrible wizard. Calling him a mage would be stretching it, as he can barely change his voice (which to be fair sees LOADS of use) or produce a small flame a few millimetres away from his fingers. He has the arcane energy, but he cannot concentrate it properly. This is where his magimusket comes in.
Brief History:
Why had he taken this path again? That was quite the question, Guster thought to himself as he filled in the logbook of the day at the guard post of his unit. He was a young one, that was for sure. Maybe it had been his stupidly curious self a few years back that led him to dress up as a human and see whether or not they would notice a difference. These were dangerous things to be thinking of though, just in case there would be a mind reader nearby. What were the chances though? Next to none, he was willing to guess. Speaking of none, that was the amount of people that had noticed anything fishy about him after he gave the explanation of being disfigured and simply wanting to spare them the sight. The free section... it had never really been for him, it had not. He missed his old home, but that area was closed off for the limited few now. Desperate times called for desperate measures and all that jazz. The hadn't yet granted a clearance to High-Casual for him, but he had heard rumours they would be giving those out to the deserving soon. Rumours were rumours, but maybe, just maybe. It never hurt to keep your dreams alive.
His thoughts wandered to his weapon. The magimusket had been a genius idea, giving him the actual edge at fighting he really needed. Many times he had gazed into the arena section, thinking that one day he might join them. Had chosen not to, and looking at how things are now... he was better off here. And that was a lot coming from someone who was sitting at the post-Guildfall border of Casual-Free. It had taken him weeks to fashion the weapon out of the discarded and hopelessly broken musket he... acquired from an antique shop. Luckily nobody was able to trace it back to him, and now... nobody would find out. And if they did, who would care enough? The gun had saved infinitely more lives in it's current shape, that was for certain.
As his pen danced at the bottom of the page to sign the page under the name Sgt. Galuna, he let out a small sigh. How much would the higher-ups require to accept him just using his first name with these? It was not like it made a real difference... he had already got his entire unit agree to calling him sergeant Guster. He hadn't even chosen his name, oh no. He had received it from the first people he met, the family more or less forced it onto him as he told he had none to begin with. He liked Guster. Like the gust of the wind that blew within him. But Galuna? Ugh. Some days he was unsure why he did not change it. Maybe he was too sentimental? Although to be honest, as matters were now, nobody would have time to look after things like that anyway. As Guster slammed the logbook shut and hopped off the crate he had been sitting on, he declared within his head: The moment has passed. Back to work.
Relationships:
Guster holds an unknown (to him) bond towards the Galuna family. While encountering any is highly unlikely, he would likely seek to aid them like they did to him back in the day.
In addition to this, Guster respects S.W.O.R.D. and I.D.R.I.S. but finds it hard to believe anyone would willingly participate in something like that. Each time he sees the group return smaller than it left as, if he has the opportunity, strengthens his belief of it being a necessary job for the voluntarily crazy.
And then there is his feeling of sheer terror towards F.E.A.R.. To him, having his identity as a Dust fiend be revealed would spell the endgame. Having to flee from the society most likely, but where would he even go?
"What is it that makes us human again? Is it the shape our cells have formed or something else? I believe the answer lies within what many affectionately refer to as a 'soul' and believe me, that is something that exists. After all, I would not be human if not for that now would I?"
Name: Dr. Daxter Sness
Alias(s): No official aliases, but is ofter called mean names by colleagues. Geekatron and Junkbot are fine examples of such tomfoolery.
Age: Lived to the age of 61 before entering Thoughtsteal system. In his new form, Daxter has lived 27 years, resulting in 88 in all.
Height: The Thoughsteal system which houses his biological remains is 75cm tall. His outer frames are of varying sizes.
Weight: The Thoughsteal system weighs 70kg
Hair Color: The hair on his Social frame is mostly blonde, although in some light it may seem white.
Eye Color: The eyes of his social frame are a mix of green and yellow.
Race: Human. Well, as much as a brain in a tank that is capable of moving around a robotic body around can be called one that is. Most prefer the term cyborg, or some derogatory alternative.
Job Role: Researcher, forcibly recruited to S.T.R. from F.I.E.L.D. after the destruction of his warlike frame in attempts to combat the sentient ooze.
Physical Appearance:
The Thoughsteal tank is a heavy alloy cylinder with only a couple windows inside. This is something Daxter is only seen as within his maintenance vault, so there is no need to go further into detail.
The social frame is what Daxter is seen in outside of his laboratory. Modelled after what he looked like in his early-twenties, at least from the waist up that is. The upper body is covered in a layer of fake skin and muscle to make him more approachable and the system even keeps the outer layer warm to keep the illusion of a human being. It even mimics human speech instead of using some thought-to-speech synthesizer. The facade is quickly broken by looking at the lower body though, as the frame is equipped with backwards bending shake reducing bipedal tranporting system that somewhat mimics the operation of human legs. No risks to be taken when it comes to transporting your delicate nerves, correct?
The lab frame is commonly used during his working hours, unless surgery is required (the quadropedal suit's legs tend to get in the way). The frame consists of four legs, a twisting anchor point and the upper body unit with moving arms with pure white and mostly smooth surface, open at joints.
The warlike frame that was destryed resembled a tank more than anything else. Now it looks like a tank with a huge hole through it barely past the midpoint.
Attire:
Commonly the social frame dons a dress shirt with a black vest and a lab coat, all of them in pristine condition. Rare is the moment when Daxter lets his dress code slip.
Personality:
Well, Daxter's personality... let's just say that he is not your average Joe. He might even show signs of what mundane people might call insanity, but that surely cannot be right. They simply do not understand his way of thinking. Not all would sacrifice their body to try and finish what they started, to fulfill the vow given to their dearest on their deathbed, to reach beyond mortality and tread where even our creators dared not. To him, all that matters is that one day, he'll be able to finish projects Leviathan and Harpy after the success of project Fenrir.
It won't be easy to earn his trust. Especially not after how people have been treating him since "being canned", as they put it. Currently he trust only Virus, his personal AI assistant and overseer of his lab and Lev, another of the lab personell. And you might have guessed it: She is also a work of his hands.
Weapons & Equipment:
Thoughsteal system - The backbone of Daxter's continued existence. The system preserves his life and when inserted within his frames allows him to control the robotic bodies. It also proves to be a pretty good tool versus the N-008 virus: The only way it could get inside the tank is for it to contaminate the nutrition packets that are exchanged weekly and kept within a constantly sterilized vault while awaiting use.
Social frame - The extension to Thoughtsteal that allows more natural social interaction and refined motoric movements.
Laboratory frame - This extension allows for safe and somewhat precise laboratory and computer work. Equipped with several dataports and encrypted database with Daxter's complete research data, some temporary sample storage tubes and not to forget self defence, it has a ranged taser on each shoulder with 270 degree firing radius, blocking off firing towards the middle of the frame for obvious reasons.
Warlike frame - It had flamethrowers, armoured treads, sample collection system and several vacuum and liquid based containment units. Now it is little better than scrap metal. Conclusion: Do not attempt to kill sentient ooze with fire.
Ability:
Knowledge (Biology, Nanotechnology, Mechanics and Artificial Intelligence): Daxter has no supernatural abilities beyond what his frames grant him. However, to even reach this point, Daxter had to become a genius in his own right in all of these categories.
Brief History:
The following data was provided to the lead of S.T.R. upon request of Dr. Daxter Sness, packet parsed together by Virus.
Ages 0-25 - Very little significance. Studies, marriage, the usual.
Age 26 - A defining point in Daxter Sness' life. A catastophic failure happened while his wife was giving birth. Both his wife and daughter perished. Sness wowed to bring them back, taken too soon. He proceeded to take DNA construction samples. Cue the start of projects Leviathan* and Harpy.
Ages 27-61 - Projects Leviathan and Harpy saw little success during this period, but the existence of yours truly began during this period, just as project Fenrir took place from 60 onwards.
Rebirth - Project Fenrir succeeded and Thoughtsteal system initialized. Mechanization of most functions granted Dr. Daxter Sness the much needed resources to continue his other projects.
Post-Rebirth - Project Leviathan has been brought forward, Lev lives. Project Harpy has seen no such success, as such a shortcut as was used in making Lev an underwater creature would not do. Lev has recently obtained an enricher collar which allows her to walk around on dry land, although it renders her mute for the duration of wearing it.
Post-Guildfall - For a short while, Sness was a part of F.I.E.L.D. but this came to an abrupt end as Warlike frame suffered high damage in an attempt to combat the ooze. Forced switch to S.T.R. was in order.
_End of provided data_
Relationships:
By heart, Daxter still belongs to F.I.E.L.D. and assists their operations in whatever way they can.
Virus - The AI created as an assistant and an overseer. Daxter is the boss, but treats Virus like an equal. It never mocks him unlike many others.
Lev - The result of project Leviathan, and the somewhat modified reconstruction of her daughter's DNA. Even with his mechanization, Daxter holds a srong emotional tie to this currently 16 year old girl-something that combines cybernetic attributes and biological engineering.