UFO character profiles

[Warlord]

That only accounts for the first night. If I remember correctly, you had her sleeping there for about three days.

[The Veteran]

I thought it was two...

Well I'll tell you what. You can copy over the apocalypse fic to the new forums then we can read it and find out! Did you say you could do that at some point? I'd like to have at least one fic to do stuff with...

[Tammy]

Take a look, dear. You do!

[The Veteran]

Indeed I do! Now all we're waiting for is the Apoc fic which I'm sure Warlord will do soon enough.

I'll post soon...

[The Veteran]

Name: Tim J Munt

 

Callsign: Trigger

 

Backround:

Trigger spent his entire civilian life in Britain. Born in the East, educated locally and trained in the south, he finally left for military service at the age of eighteen. He spent his first two years working his way up the ranks in the royal airforce, primarily serving as a pilot but later taking a course in engineering. Aged 21, Trigger was assigned to an Australian facility to assist in heavy weapon testing. A little over a year later and just turned 22, the base was reopened as a base for investigation into extraterrestrial activity and Trigger was reassigned in the base as a pilot.

 

Personal information:

Very good dogfighting experience and a large number of hours in the air makes trigger a very competent pilot and a good choice for testing the new fighter designs. The Hurricane model VTOL interceptor aircraft is still a very alien technology to Trigger so his control of this particular craft is still only average but his accuracy with any aircraft mounted cannon or missile weapon remains extremely accurate with the Hurricane model.

 

Physical Stats:

Strength: adequate

Speed: average

Stamina: extremely persistent

Intelligence: very high

Bravery: unknown

Controller: The Veteran

 

Name: Richard (Rick) Osmond Chez

 

Callsign: Ping (Rick O Chez)

 

Backround:

Richard lived out his childhood just south of Scotland and so on occasion sports a slight accent. At eighteen Rick moved to the south of england to attend university where he met Trigger. Rick found the course too strenuous however and quickly relocated again joining the Army to 'fill in time' as he called it. Rick took well to a life in the army and he rose through the ranks quickly. Following a courtmarshal in 1996, Rick was transferred to a reserve unit in Australia. (Clearly he'd done something pretty awful! ) Here he remained for several years continuing his training and waiting for the smallest bit of action. In '97 Trigger was also relocated to the Pine Gap facility and as Rick and he had met once before they became good freinds very quickly. A year later the base became the home of X-Inv and both men remained as full time staff.

 

Personal information:

Built more like a point than a soldier, Rick conceals a large amount of hidden strength but not so much to be a hero. He has been waiting for a chance to go to battle ever since his (failed) basic training and now that his chance has finally arrived he is more excited than ever. His intelligence allows Rick to harbour extreme bravery even when greatly outnumbered. Saying this though, Rick is by no means unintelligent, he was just 'born to be a soldier'

 

Physical Stats:

Strength: above average

Speed: excellent

Stamina: very good

Intelligence: average

Bravery: very good

Controller: The Veteran

 

Everyone is free to write about these two but they aren't to die!

[Snikers]

Okay, Snikers is out. It seems plenty of people have already figured out his dark little secret from my first

post and I wanted it to be a subtle thing. He's going into the Apocalypse fanfic, whenever it begins; perhaps

I'll be having something different for that too. Say, sectoids made hybrids, did Aquatoids too?

 

 

Character's Name: Christel Keller

Character's Callsign: None officially, but she's been known as "Mouse" on occassion

Character's Background: Canadian. She signed up for the army when she was seventeen;

she was quite intelligent and had finished school by that time. Even with parental permission the military

was hard pressed to allow her, as her parents were, to be blunt, cousins and Keller was many unusual things, not the least of which an albino. With such a sensitivity to blinding light and sunburns, they finally allowed her in when her skills turned out to be even above average for those joining up. Shortly after this there was an incident on the firing range - they had been ordered to cease fire and remove the ear protection, there was an announcement, but some idiot horsing around fired a shot after Keller had removed her ear protection and was deafened in her left ear. Not wanting to have to resign, she said nothing about it, and as of yet her commanding officers either never noticed, or didn't say anything about it. Despite this she continued to show quite some skill. After two years showing above-average ability it was 1999 and she was volunteered for what her commanding officers called a "new division" - XCOM.

Character's Personal Information: Christel Keller's parents are the Canadian version of shotgun-toting rednecks. She herself is of above average intelligence, but she tends to talk like a dumbass at times. As a result of her parents'...relation, she may consider herself lucky she doesn't have anything TOO wrong with her. As of yet she is an albino, meaning devoid of pigment, with white hair and skin and pinkish eyes. The military eventually issued her custom made black goggles. She also has six fingers on her left hand, and a scar on her face from when she got in a fight in elementary school.

Strength: Keller looks thin, but this is an illusion. Her arms are

mostly muscle and she can lift as much as almost anyone, but she doesn't look it.

Speed: Fast enough. Not really a speed demon, but as good as necessary

to dodge aliens.

Accuracy: She has this odd ability to left off several rounds on autofire

and still be accurate. Also, she showed substantial competence in the shooting range;

she is beyond else a crack shot, as long as she's using a rifle. Pistol or heavy weapons, however, she doesn't have

much skill with.

Character's Mental Condition: Perfectly sane. There is no deep-seated trauma,

agression, or severe depression in this character.

Psionic potential: Very good. Has almost a sort of "sixth sense", say her friends who could never sneak up on her.

Bravery: Unlike my previous character, she will value her life, but panicking

will be rare. She is a competent soldier.

Intelligence: Not rocket scientist, but Keller has ingenuity and creativity.

She also has a tendency towards artistry. Early in life she was also smart enough to

have figured out that if you talk like a redneck respect for you will be lacking, and she

talks unlike her parents, except for outbursts where she would speak without thinking.

Character's Controller (will you write for them?): I'm hoping to do most of the writing, but other

people's contributions will be very welcome - I have no idea how to develop this character on my

own.

 

In case anyone cares, Christel Keller was the name of the XCOM Commander on my computer.

[The Veteran]

Nice one Snikers. The Hybrid was way too strange to have in a fanfic but this is a great character. Works pretty much perfectly and should have some very interesting subplots attached to her in the future.

The only other thing about the post which looked wrong was the fact that fighting aliens was blatantly mentioned straight away. That shouldn't happen reall. Great post otherwise, you look to be a brilliant writer and the fic should be nice if you stick around.

(And the Apocalypse one too hopefully)

[Snikers]

Okay, just throwing in a couple of lambs for the slaughter. Both are based on real agents

I've had. Feel free to slaughter them for plot advancement or whatever. Just think we

could use some expendable troopers...

 

Name: Igor Zhandovich

Callsign: (I dunno. If you want you can give 'im some.)

Character's background: Member of the russian army for seven years next month. *shrug*

Whatever.

Character's Personal Information: The standard red-haired soldiers you get in the game.

I'm not going to expand on the background for fear people would be uncomfortable in

killing the character off.

Strength: Stronger than normal, but nothing special. May be the one to carry an auto-cannon.

Speed: Below Average

Accuracy: Quite a nice shot, but again, nothing special.

Character's Mental Condition: Simple, rugged man. Liable not to freak out or anything.

Psionic Potential: Not too bright. Would have psionic defense but no offensive potential.

Intelligence: Barely smart enough. Big, dumb soldier guy.

Bravery: Mindlessly brave. While others are "not dumb, but made to be soldiers", he's

"not made to be a soldier, but too dumb to determine danger".

Controller: This is public property. His fate is entirely in your very competent hands.

 

Name: Bernard Dujardin

Callsign: (You can make one up for yourselves. I don't seem to be much for callsigns...)

Background: Member of the Green Berets for four (or is that four for?) years.

Personal Info: Basic black guy you often get in XCOM games. He really din't get all that

great for me...but he stuck around long enough to stick in my mind.

Strength: Average

Speed: Good

Accuracy:Good

Mentality: Twitchy and slightly erratic.

Psi: Has some potential, but is also a big juicy target - is one of those soldiers you move

out in a terror mission with sectoids and get taken over on the second turn, and annhilating

half your force in a single turn...

Intelligence: Good

Bravery: Mediocre

Controller: Anyone's. You're all great authors, I can't wait to see where this goes...

 

 

There you go, a couple of blank slates, free to develop - and destroy.

[The Veteran]

My suggestions would be Sandy and Gardener. They sort of bounce off the guys surnames perfectly.

Another thing that I'd suggest is that even with the tiny amount of background that these guys do have it would be a waste to kill them immediately. These two should last a few missions, become chummy with the other soldiers and then suffer 'tragic' deaths rather than just dying with nametags.

It'll make the fic more believable.

But like Snikers said they're public property so it's just an opinion.

[Ego Terrorist]

Character's Name: John Pickering

Character's Callsign: Pickers

Character's Position: Intelliegence Officer

 

Character's Background:

"Me? Well I was recruited from SO19 into MI6 -thats the British external Intelliegence Agency, and was trained in the various arts of Intel Gathering, and Paramilitary Operations, I got through it and I've been a Spook ever since, I've operated all over the world, from the USA to Russia and from Antartica to Iraq, I have more identies than you can shake a stick at. I've gone from mission to mission, some sucessful, some a failure. I've done a few mission which have resulted in the deaths of people...but nobody 'll miss them."

 

"With the end of the cold war I was almost made redundant, but I avoided the chop and was kept on. 1997 I was assigned to Extraterrestrial Threat Anaylsis (ExTrA)- A organisation that was setup by the British Goverment to find out if the Aliens were a threat. We had pretty much no success...in getting any credible evidence - namely the funding wasn't enough. And towards the end of 1998 ExTrA was shutdown...but we were al transfered to X-INV, where we soon decided that the Alien's were a threat, and were hostile. And I was then Transfered to X-Com as an Intel Officer, well enough about me, what about you?"

 

Character's Personal Information: 6'2" Well built, black hair with grey's showing through now, his face is pitted and scarred from combat but yet his eyes still hold some warmth, to his often emotionless face.

 

Character's Physical Statistics:

Strength: Good

Speed: Average

Agility: Average

Character's Mental Condition: Currently Stable, however Medical Report states that he's seen a lot in his time and it might not take much for him to snap.

Psionic potential: The Years of Paramilitary and Goverment Operations have resulting in him having a Potentially Excellent Psi Defence, however his Psi Attack Capabilities will most likely be Extremely low.

Bravery: Excellent

Intelliegence: He's a technically profient man, who know's his limits of his knowledge and will ask for advice and oppinons. However he accels at thinking on his feet, and has a good eye of anaylsis of reports and such.

 

Character's Skills:

Hand to hand: A competant hand to hand fighter, though only knows standard self defence techniques and prefers to avoid it when possible.

Pistol (ie Beretta, Glock Uzi etc): Excellent. His skills have been honed to almost perfection.

Small arms (ie Mp5, SA80, FN FAL etc): Good.

Heavy Weaponary: Below Average, not a specialist, but he can use them, but prefers not too due to the type of missions he's been on over the years.

 

Character's Controller: Ego Terrorist - However you can use him.

[JellyfishGreen]

Another thing that I'd suggest is that even with the tiny amount of background that these guys do have it would be a waste to kill them immediately. These two should last a few missions, become chummy with the other soldiers and then suffer 'tragic' deaths rather than just dying with nametags.

It'll make the fic more believable.

I'd agree - anyone posted here is worth killing a few missions on (if flagged as such by the author). Red-shirted rookies can be written in as needed per episode. (Hack writers? Us? Naahh)

 

...leading the other characters to believe that your life expectancy is directly related to the length of your backstory. "My parents, my parents were named...I don't know. Aww crap."

 

 

Anyhow, allow me to introduce

 

Name: Jenny Graham

Position: Personnel Administrator

Appearance: Cameron Diaz. But with more hair. Strawberry blonde bob cut, say. Professionally dressed, favorite suit this year is fawn in colour.

 

Profile:

As the administrator for personnel transfers, salaries, and training requirements, she's on a first name basis with everyone including the janitor and the commander. Cheery disposition and a genuine drive to cut the red tape and get things done. Everyone owes her favors, so a squaddie trying to get approval for Form X3711-G (Heavy Weapons Issue: Blaster Launcher; Purpose: Weapons Test; Test Area: Flat Top Hill) will find the impossible becomes possible - as she knows exactly who to ask, and how - but you'll owe her a favor.

 

Has a high security clearance and can visit all areas. If anyone knows the line between office gossip and security breaches, it's her, sensitized by past experience.

 

A people person - derives pleasure from knowing people and knowing she is part of their lives. In turn, few people know the overall mood of the base like she does.

 

She's never worked in a base with such a high casualty rate as we expect XCOM to be. She may take it badly and be in desperate need of emotional support.

 

Combat statistics: Unlikely, but she did take fire extinguisher and first aid training courses

Controller: JG, others welcome

[Snikers]

Characer's Name: Jennings (that's all the name we'll ever know)

 

Character's Callsign: Red Shirt

 

Character's Background: Bisexual nerd black money-grubbing guy with a slightly devilish but overall

likeable attitude. There will be a couple of throwaway lines saying he was good in the army but there will

be little to no details on this.

 

Character's Personal Information: At the base? Leacherous, uses a lot of 'black guy slang' that no one actually uses, is very open about his sexuality, always out for a buck. In combat? Absolutely terrified of anything and everything. Can barely keep control

of himself under any combat positions, but can usually "barely" function well enough, and will continue to

barely function even when things start to go reeeaal sour, despite all evidence that he should now be a

puddle of not and tears.

 

Strength: Fairly strong, but nothing special

 

Speed: Fairly speedy, but nothing special

 

Mental Condition: See Character's Personal Information.

 

Accuracy: Fairly accurate, but nothing special

 

Psionic potential: Will probably not be taken over. Has some offensive potential, but nothing special.

 

Intelligence: Fairly...yeah. You get the idea.

 

Character's Controller: Snikers (no one else kill this person, please)

[Carlos the Jackal]

:hmmm: No fair, Snikers, dont hog all the cannon fodder!

[DocFrance]

OK.... so why did this guy get picked to be in X-COM? I know we need cannon fodder, but even cannon fodder can't be a "barely functioning puddle of snot and tears." Just need to keep it real

[Tammy]

What, you've never had those in a real game? What about those idiots who panic the first time somebody fires at them?

[The Veteran]

I've had that in Apocalypse but not in UFO. The way to write in characters like this guy bloke is to have them be seemingly quite hard around the base but then as soon as they see an alien they go beserk (as they actually do on occasion! )

[DocFrance]

Exactly, which is why I don't think you can just say "Oh, this guy is a whimpering coward who panics in any form of combat situation and is very likely to get him and/or his team killed. Let's hire him."

[Snikers]

Er, sorry, by the character I didn't mean that he'd come apart at first notice...more that

he'd always look like he's on the break of brinkdown, but never actually crossing the line.

[Tammy]

Actually, snikers, I think that's basically what you said in the profile. At least that was the way I took it the first time I read it.

[The Veteran]

I presumed the same as Doc but I think the character should be ok if he's introduced properly. Whoever writes about the unloading of Doc's galaxy transport can say that he's on there.

[Warlord]

Character's Name: Stan Genega

 

Character's Callsign: Knight

 

Character's Background: <<<CLASSIFIED>>>

 

Character's Personal Information: General Genega was at the top of a very short list of candidates for command of X-Com. He is an extremely capable field soldier, and an even better commander. His grasp of tactics and strategy is uncanny, and he has almost a sixth sense about what an enemy will do next. He cares about his soldiers and makes it a point of personal pride to know every soldier and their background. He will never ask a soldier to perform a task he is not both willing to, and capable of, doing.

 

Strength: Above Average

 

Speed: Above Average

 

Agility: Average

 

Stamina: High

 

Character's Mental Condition: <<<CLASSIFIED>>>

 

Psionic potential: <<<CLASSIFIED>>>

 

Bravery: Extremely High

 

Character's Controller: Warlord, but others may write for him as necessary.

[Tammy]

This doesn't sound like a "large but unimposing figure." (See TJ's fanfic post.)

[The Veteran]

By large I only meant large. Nothing massively Warlord sized! Anyway whoever writes the next bit could quite easily say that 'his large frame seemed to hold less strength than it suggested' or something similar.

[JellyfishGreen]

N.B. I'm writing the Commander's Big Briefing Speech at the moment. After the Galaxy unloads, 15-minute tour, and the hour sorting out quarters, the PA announces a general meeting in the Presentation Room (Theatre) on Sublevel 3. Time will be 3:00pm local time, OK? Anyone got a date? I think it's mid-December, early Summer?

 

Anyone who wants to write the Commander's interaction with DocFrance can sneak it in before then - I picture an explanation along the lines of, because it was a rush order to transport, they didn't fully consider the security aspects until it was too late and the plane was landing, so they have to induct the Doc by edict. Commander meets him in person once he learns the Doc's rep, to help things go smoothly, wants him on the team.

[JellyfishGreen]

N.B. I'm writing the Commander's Big Briefing Speech at the moment.

Like, it's ready, dudes.

 

I'll post it tomorrow to give everyone a chance to tie up dangling intros and head for the briefing room. (Sneak previews available. I'm quite proud.)

 

Also some plasma fodder:

 

ShuWei Chen, of Hong Kong Police Tactical Unit, Special Duties Unit

Short, not slim, short hair dyed red, serious about her work to catch criminals, sensitive to male discriminiation, likely to die in first deployment of X-COM when it all goes pear-shaped.