Name: C-four/Charlie Age:
4 Years Sex:
Male Species:Stitchpunk Height:
9" Weight:
4lb Materials:
Iron/Canvas/Leather
Distinguishing
Marks:
·A fatigue cap made from scraps of his original fabric. It's
sewn to his head, with the patch displaying his old number on the top.
·A gray-furred ponytail made from a squirrel's tail,
attached to the back of the hat.
·He's rigged himself a pair of flip-up shades from a piece of
tinted glass.
·He usually carries a ten-inch metal pole around which has a
sturdy hook screwed into the top, as well as a machete made from a filed-down
razorblade which he keeps tucked into the wrappings around his right leg.
Appearance: Charlie has faded
olive-drab canvas on his legs and most of his body. The fabric of his torso
is double-layered and modelled after the upper and
tongue of a combat boot, complete with bootlace hook closures which are built
into the 'suspenders' attached to his military-style belt. Black semi-elastic
loops keep the fittings shut, and the belt features grommets which he
sometimes hangs things from. His arms, head, upper chest and upper back are
faded khaki canvas. He has thick black-rimmed optics with simple slanted
irises and usually looks like he's squinting...if not half asleep. His legs
are wrapped thickly from mid-shin to 'instep'; the leg fabric blouses
slightly above the wrappings. His arms have a similar style, wrapped from
just above the wrist to the palm. Charlie seems somewhat flat-footed, walks a
little bowlegged and is definitely not the best at stealth. His fingers are
blunt and a little longer than normal. When standing at ease he has a
tendency to hook his thumbs in his 'belt', simply because he lacks pockets
(pockets happen to be a secret dream of his).
Quirks:
·He usually looks
about half an inch shorter than he really is as he has a habit of slouching
most of the time - it's also resulted in his 'growing' a little bit of a
paunch over the years.
·His sideburns and scruffy chin are due to a nervous habit of
picking at his own threads.
·Charlie also has a habit of chewing on things; carries a supply
of splinters for this purpose.
·Charlie is functionally illiterate - while he knows various
codes, regular writing makes no sense to him. He does have a hobby of
translating numbers into alphabet letters and vice-versa, however.
·Like most everyone else, he does collect things here and there
- mostly war memorabilia or scenic postcards.
·General consensus is that Charlie's sense of humor is, at best,
strange. Too much of his vocabulary stems from formative years spent among
the military crowd. ·He doesn't use his number, but instead will give his name as
C-four to most everyone who asks for it. The few people who know him as Charlie
are those he feels he can trust. ·Charlie views the world
through heavily-desaturated goggles, thanks to his
battle damage in the War no real colors, so to speak, but he can usually
match the various shades of gray he sees with his memories of what those
colors should be.
300 Position: Command Soul Age: approx. 40 Gender: Male
300
is a tactician, and one of the two CSA units recruited before the project was
infiltrated by the Rebellion. A natural leader, even as a construct he
manages to exude the same sort of alpha-maleness he did in life. The others
tend to follow him without question, and he is of all of them the most loyal
to the Republic. For the most part he keeps himself to himself, mostly out of
a need to conceal the classified information hes been entrusted
with, but he has an uncanny ability to show up at just the right moment. On
rare occasions hell socialize with his troops during
leisure time.
301 Position: Mechanic Soul Age: approx. 17 Gender: Male
301
doesnt talk much and has a noticeably
subservient disposition. He really is, as 304 usually dubs him, just
a kid the last of the
recruits before the project was shut down, hed joined the
military to avoid being deported from the Republic. He doesnt
remember this, of course, but suffers from a nagging feeling that if he
screws up somehow itll have dire consequences, and as a
result is very eager to please. His first language was French
and the fact that he speaks it now is a mystery his fellows prefer not to
investigate. Overall hes considered the pet of the camp, even by
some of the human soldiers, and doesnt seem to
understand that they in particular are actually treating him like they would
one of their own pets. Hes determined to
learn everything 302 knows and will follow his partner around every chance he
gets, for better or for worse.
302 Position: Mechanic Soul Age: approx. 50 Gender: Male
Chosen
for his extensive mechanical know-how, 302 has become a sort of father figure
to 301. He tends to balance out his partner in 301s
more excitable moments and usually acts as a voice of reason for the whole
company. Whatever repairs 303 cant handle (or wont,
for any number of reasons, none of which are ever relevant) are taken to 302.
He takes 301s hero-worship in stride and has a habit
of indulging the boy as well as sticking up for him. If hes
not actively needed, he can usually be found nodding off in some
out-of-the-way locationand 301 always knows where to find him.
303 Position: Medical Soul Age: approx. 30 Gender: Male
303
seems to always be annoyed about something, and if
there isnt something readily available to be
annoyed about he has a knack for finding one. Like 300, 303 is a natural
leader though he lacks his commanders experience and
has a habit of being too loud and overbearing. For reasons unknown hes
laid claim to his partner, 306though whatever
feelings he may have for her are one-sided. He also seems to have dedicated
himself to being a thorn in 304s side, probably
in an attempt to get under the apparently-unflappable radio operators
skin. He speaks in a nasal, New England accent.and doesnt
always think before opening his mouth. Though quick-tempered and more bark
than bite he is tenacious and will apply himself diligently and
whole-heartedly to whatever job hes givenuntil
hes off-duty,
at which point hes in it only for himself. A draftee like
304, 303 originally worked as a bus driverhow he got to be a
medic is anyones guess, though he is good with his hands
a fact hes more than
willing to advertise (often lecherously).
305 Position: Signal Corps Soul Age: approx. 35 Gender: Male
304s
partner. They man the radios in shifts 305 works the
daylight hours. 305 is generally easygoing and has a
sharp sense of humor, being especially fond of teasing others. For the most
part he sticks to picking on 303, something he seems to enjoy doing far too
much, out of a feeling of loyalty and the mistaken impression that 304 cant
(or wont) stick up for himself. He has a
rumbling laugh and a deep voice with a southern accent even more pronounced
than 304s, which he tends to exaggerate when hes
in a particularly good mood. Like 304, 305 is entirely professional when
broadcasting a lifelong military man, he knows and is
comfortable with the rank and file and his place in it (unlike his partner,
who simply takes the path of least resistance). 305 was the second of the
pre-Rebellion CSA recruits, and while he knows of the Rebellions
influence, he honestly doesnt seem to care
much.
306 Position: Medical Soul Age: approx. 25 Gender: Female
Diffident,
calm and good-natured despite the circumstances, 306 possesses the necessary
bedside manner her partner 303 completely lacks. As such she is
unquestionably the darling of the company, though without the sexual tension
that would crop up were they all human, and certainly not to the degree that
301 is. She always seems to end up being the receiver for the others
woes and concerns and takes it all in sympathetic stride, letting them talk
all they want. For reasons she herself doesnt understand, 306
is drawn to 300, and while she acknowledges her partner and his blustering claim
to her she doesnt return his affections in the slightest
(which oddly enough doesnt seem to bother
303 much). Of all the CSAs with the exception of their commander, 306 is
without a doubt the best suited to her positionand the one least
changed by the passing of her past life.
Of course, she doesnt remember leaving her ailing little girl
with her grandfather, both of whom honestly believe her to have passed on to
a well-earned place in Heaven.
Begun
within the State's military when intel of machine
attacks first circulated, the CSA project was originally intended to replace
fallen soldiers with more durable automata. Candidates were interviewed and
chosen from among the wounded lingering in field hospitals. The State
considered it a form of recycling, and treated their recruits as such - once
the Rebellion had infiltrated the project, the mindset changed.
The discovery that the soldiers' memories were lost during the soul transfer
put a stop to the project shortly before it lost funding, and only seven
golems were completed. Unable to be redeployed with their original units,
they were instead sent out together with a different company. During the
final days of the War, their unit was ambushed, and all but one destroyed.
-------
304 served with the CSA as one of two radio
operators, primarily during the night hours. Having a great interest in the
happenings in other places, he had a tendency to roam the airwaves, both
military and civilian bands, and made a number of casual contacts. He still
remembers many of their call signs, broadcast areas...and the last time they
signed off.
In the aftermath of the incident that claimed the lives of his comrades, he
lost whatever shreds of State loyalty he'd had. Damaged and missing half his
canvas 'skin', he collected and respectfully interred as much as he could
find of the others, salvaging cloth and supplies from the remains of the
humans among them before leaving.
The hat he wears is constructed from the remnants of his original skin, it and the patch (notably minus its State insignia)
both intended to honor the lost.
-------
Charles W. Evans was
the eldest of five children, and the only one of his family to complete high
school. Leaving the family farm afterward, he moved into the city and found
employment in the growing small-electronics industry. He built himself a
shortwave radio set to keep in touch with his relatives - specifically his
father Lew and the two youngest siblings. Mother Evans never approved much of
modern technology. With resources growing short, he was drafted toward the
middle of the War, assigned to the Signal Corps due to his familiarity with
radio equipment. Caught in an explosion and trapped under his radio set, he
suffered a spinal injury resulting in progressive paralysis.
Evans was remembered as being one of the more lucid recruits when the CSA
representative interviewed him, and though the accident had done nothing to
help endear the government to him, it didn't affect his temper or will to
live in the slightest. Perhaps fortunately, that iron will kept him breathing
just long enough for the soul transfer.
Charlie is not the most refined guy in the world. In fact, he's pretty much a
terminal bachelor. He currently lives in the glove compartment of an
abandoned military vehicle out on what he considers the farthest edge of
civilization, to the north-northwest of the city.Currently, hes involved in clearing out
the engine compartment to set that up as a more secure living space and
trying to find a viable car battery to go with the crank-generator he found a
while back. From this home base, he runs an informal trade route which he
times according to the phases of the moon. In his own way he considers
himself a truly neutral party; because of this and a desire for the freedom
to make his own decisions, Charlie doesn't declare allegiance to or
affiliation with any particular group and won't usually venture inside marked
territory. In addition to his 'business', he's been known to escort travellers from one place to another on the way, since he
has a fairly comprehensive knowledge of the territory around the city from
his own ramblings.
He has an
aptitude for sorting out and picking up on codes and patterns, and is in fact
fluent in Morse, Aldis, basic semaphore, and the
phonetic alphabet. Charlie also has an affinity for and small store of
knowledge of shortwave radios. Strangely enough, while he makes use of these
skills on a regular basis, he seems to know nothing about them at any other
given time. He's also determined to deal evenly with the people he comes
across and trades with, in an unconscious drive to keep some sort of balance
in his own life. It's common for him to trade whatever goods he has or
services he can provide on behalf of someone else, in return for things he or
they may not be able to do, such as sewing.
Although
he generally comes across as too mild-mannered to bother with (if not
entirely all there), Charlie is a passive observer and catches a lot more
than people think he does. Honest and plainspoken, he doesn't usually waste
much time on the finer points of conversation. He's also quite capable of
speed...if not grace. Perfectly capable of fighting to defend himself or
others he's contracted himself out to, he actually prefers to haggle with
antagonists if he can, bargaining for a more peaceable outcome to whatever
situation he finds himself stuck in, and is partial to giving most anyone a
second chance.
Notes: Voice: Roy Orbison Text Color: #343F19 Title: The Trader Purpose: to
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Trivia:
The 'W' in his old name stands for 'Winthrop' - most of his family were on
the short and stocky side. Charlie, topping out at six-foot-four and being
lanky, was named after his uncle Thorp, who was also tall.
One of his field nurses reminded him of Uncle Thorp's wife, Kathleen.
304's number (specifically Charlie-four) is of personal significance.