Post by nicholas on Nov 5, 2011 14:49:58 GMT -5
Advance note - while this character was made by Spartan291 (Nicholas's player), he does not intend to play as said character, and as such the cbox name, nickname, and main account fields are being left blank for whichever player picks up the character as their own - I will edit them to match when said character is picked up by a player. Once accepted, please move this character to the site's Character Adoption center so someone can claim it.
As for anyone wanting to take her as a character, a word of warning - YOU MUST STAY ACTIVE. Preferably two to three posts a week, but at least one post a week will do as per the site standard. If you fail to meet the criteria without giving advance notice, I reserve the right to let someone else who might want the character and who will prove to be more active have a shot at playing her.
Cbox Name: RESERVED
Nicknames: RESERVED
Main Account: RESERVED
Who else do you play?: RESERVED
How did you find us?: RESERVED
Category: Original Character
Name: Zachary
Alias: Zachary A197, Sierra A197, Spartan A197, DEFENDER 2
Age: 31 (subjective age of 28)
Ranking: Anti Hero
Physical Appearance: Standing at 6' 11" outside of his armor, Zachary by far is one of the more scarred Spartans of Alpha Company, second only to Erica due to her much more aggressive tactics and liberal use of force. Very pale even for a Spartan, Zachary's black hair and hazel eyes made him stick out like a sore thumb among the rest of the Spartan candidates, the vast majority of which tended to have brown hair and eyes. If it weren't for the countless small scars covering his face as well as the rest of his body, he would very much be what most people would consider "attractive", to put it mildly.
In his armor, Zachary is a ghost in the night - equiped first with the Mark V's RECON field prototype, he received the finalized, improved production version of the armor with the debut of the Mark VI suits in late 2552. Like his first suit, Zachary's Mark VI armor is the RECON model, and as before it is a dull matte silver white with black underlay, with a silver blue visor similar to the color used in the early ODST helmets.
Personality: While not exactly quiet, Zachary would best be described as soft spoken, a sharp contrast to Erica but very much in keeping with his abilities. All in all rather stereotypical of the mold from which most of the Spartan IIIs of Alpha Company came from, he is much more by the book than most of the previous generation Spartan IIs, and this unfortunately has impacted his otherwise brilliant tactical genius - while he may see problems with a given order, command or operational plan that may not be apparent to his superiors, Zachary would keep quiet and do his job, usually reasoning that they might know things he does not and just dealing with the problems himself as they come up.
When fighting or sniping, though, all of his generally pleasant, by the book facade vanishes, replaced by a rather unnerving silence as he all but disappears from both his teammate's and enemies' notice alike. While many might mistake this for being the Zen like concentration typical of many snipers, those who actually get to know him will recognize it as rage should it be the Covenant on the other end of his scope - not a hot anger, but the kind that lies buried for years and easily controlled when it does surface.
Powers/Abilities:
Spartan III: While all Spartans received the training to match the best shock troops and commandos from any military, their true strength comes from the augmentation procedure performed on them towards the end of their training and at the onset of puberty. While the process was excruciatingly painful and a large percentage of the Spartan IIIs were either killed or crippled by it, the survivors were transformed into the ultimate soldiers, living weapons without peer among other humans. Their perception, reaction and movement speed was incredibly enhanced, and their bones were made virtually unbreakable thanks to the ceramic carbide bonded to their skeletal structure. Finally, their eyesight was enhanced to the point at where they could essentially see in the dark, and their muscle density, already twice the human norm due to their training, was further increased - even without MJOLNIR, the average augmented Spartan II was capable of lifting upwards of 1000 pounds. While Nicholas prefers mid to long range combat, he, like all Spartan IIs, is brutally effective at any range, and is incredibly skilled with any firearm or melee weapon as well as hand to hand combat.
Ghost: While nearly every Spartan was adept enough with stealth operations and procedures to make even veteran soldiers green with envy, Zachary was particularly gifted with being able to avoid detection. Able to move without a sound or sign of his presence even before undergoing the augmentation process, Zachary had achieved infamy amoung Alpha Company's drill instructors, and upon recovery from the process he managed to stand out for his skills even among the elite Headhunter teams. When combined with the perks and advantages afforded to him by his specialized MJOLNIR, it would take an act from a higher power for anyone to become aware of Zachary's presence unless he deliberately did something to make himself known.
Equipment:
MJOLNIR Mark VI Powered Assault Armor: Incredibly durable, the armor not only increases his already astounding physical strength by a factor of five, but it also boosts a Spartan's reaction time, already less than 20 milliseconds under controlled situations, to near uncharted speeds that may appear to almost border precognition to the uninformed eye. The armor itself is a marvel of engineering, and is composed of several overlapping layers. The armor plates, made of a unique, incredibly strong non reactive alloy that isn't magnetic, also have a refractive coating capable of dissapating light energy attacks and lessening the impact from heavier strikes. Underneath the plating is a lightly armored bodysuit, which is completely sealed, protecting the user from both toxic environments and vaccuum. Underneath this is a gel layer capable of reactively changing it's density, and protects the user from either environmental pressure, G forces, rapid temperature changes or ballistic weapons. Between this and the inner layer composed of moisture absorbing cloth is a network of reactive metal liquid crystal, which while responsible for the user's enhanced strength is also capable of transporting a ship class smart artifical intelligence - it is also this layer that is responsible for the user's reaction time when combined with the suit's neural interface. Finally, the Mark VI version of the armor is equipped with both a UNSC developed second generation shield system and an automated biofoam injection system, which allows the user to keep fighting even after taking wounds that would kill any other soldier, also in turn preserving their lives until proper medical treatment can be administered. It also features several external clips, magnetic holsters and pockets for carrying gear, leaving the Spartan's hands free at most times. The armor does have some disadvantages, though - first of all, it cannot be used by normal, unaugmented soldiers, as they both lack the reflexes and increased perception rate needed to harness the armor without killing themselves. Also, a fully armored Spartan III weighs roughly 1000 pounds when equipped with a MJOLNIR suit, not counting the other gear they may be carrying at the time. Unlike most of the other MJOLNIR variants (with the sole exception of the SCOUT armor, which was developed in tandem with the RECON project), Zachary's RECON variant armor was designed specifically for stealth, using advanced materials designed for the sole purpose of reducing sensor footprints while maintaining durability. The armor is, in effect, invisible to nearly every electronic means of detection, and does not show up on radar, infrared, or any other medium save for methods relying on the mass of the armor.
As an added bonus, Zachary's MJOLNIR is equiped with the same camouflage plating as the Mk. II SPI suits typically used by the rank and file Spartan IIIs, rendering Zachary all but invisible to the human (or other creature's) eye. Developed as a counter to the Covenant's active camouflage systems, the plating reactively changes to match the user's surroundings, achieving the same effect as the Covenant's light bending technology, albeit through different means. Unlike the Headhunter units' SPI suits, which could only generate a fraction of the MJOLNIR suit's power output, Zachary does not need to deactivate his suit's shields to use the camouflage.
M99 Stanchion Gauss Rifle: Utilizing the same technology as the UNSC's Gauss cannon, mass drivers and signature MAC guns, the M99 Special Applications Scoped Rifle is by far one of the most powerful weapons available to UNSC personel, rivalled only by the better known Spartan Laser. While it utilizes much smaller rounds than most of the other UNSC firearms (a 5.4 mm round to be exact), the sheer velocity of the round more than makes up for the smaller size - propelled to 15,000 meters per second, anything hit by the bullet seems to explode on the spot, turning infantry into an unrecognizable mist and armored targets into mobile IEDs, and even being grazed by the round has been known to be deadly as the shockwaves emenating from it tend to tear the targets apart. The M99's hyper-velocity round virtually eliminates the need to compensate for gravity, wind, or even target movement at ranges far in excess of visual range, practically guarunteeing a first-round hit at easily 8,000 meters. While most soldiers are incapable of firing it unless prone or otherwise secured should the force of the injure them, a fully armored Spartan is more than capable of firing it while standing, although it is still recommended that they do not. As with all Stanchion rifles, Zachary's is designed to be able to link up with a targeting computer or satellite telementary, and his helmet's optics have been modified to synch with the rifle. Equiped with a smart linked scope capable of anything between 5x to 45x, the rifle uses 12 round magazines.
M7/S Submachine Gun: Typically issued to UNSC Special Forces when stealth is a key factor in mission success or the safety of involved personel, the smart linked scope, silencer and increased punch per round more than make up for the smaller 48 round magazine and slower firing rate compared to the standard issue M7 SMG with the usual 60 round magazine. Compact, much more controllable than its standard issue sibling and all but silent, the weapon is one of the deadliest automatic handguns in the UNSC arsenal, and tears through shields, armor and infantry with vicious ease despite the small size of the weapon's 5 mm caseless rounds.
Psychological Flaws: Trained from childhood to work in a group, Zachary tends to get nervous when working on his own in enemy territory - while it doesn't impact his combat performance much, it does make finer, more specialized objectives more difficult for him to achieve as he is aware of this weakness and as such diverts most of her attention to keeping an eye on his surroundings and armor's motion tracker, detracting from the attention he can pay to what he can focus on. Another problem is that while ruthless and brutally efficient in combat, Zachary is not used to working with individuals who aren't Spartans, and while he will trust them with technical or logistical work, for the most part he will tend to view them as weak links in combat until proven otherwise. While not a true limitation on his part, it does mean that Zachary will be wary to leave them on their own in dangerous situations, and as such will be possibly even more nervous and singularly focused on one thing at a time than he would be if working alone.
Physical Flaws: While he himself is in perfect physical condition despite his scars and beyond what most people would consider humanly possible in both speed and strength, Zachary is still only human when seperated from his armor - for all of his strength and skill, anything that would prove fatal to a normal human will kill him just as quickly. While his bones can't be broken, his flesh, tendons and organs can be, and there are very likely mutants and non humans out there easily capable of matching or surpassing his physical strength and speed.
While he is very well protected in his armor, the suit isn't perfect, and comes with yet another set of drawbacks. Zachary is much, much heavier when encased in his MJOLNIR, and as such cannot be supported by many physical objects, and his sheer size makes moving in cramped quarters difficult, if not impossible, a problem further exacerbated by his shields when they are active. The armor itself is also vulnerable to a number of different environmental threats, which while not capable of destroying or breaching the armor itself, are capable of disabling or reducing certain key components or systems (the motion tracker, for example, could be rendered useless if the sensors in the shoulders are exposed to salt water for too long, as the salt will encrust on the sensors and disable them until they are cleaned). Yet another problem is that while the ballistics and gel layer are extremely resiliant, they do not protect the user from all kinetic energy - while potentially survivable, a drop from a plane would likely result in relatively severe injuries, and drops from low orbit are still incredibly dangerous in the Mark VI armor without specialized equipment. Finally, the shields themselves, while very resiliant against kinetic weapons and attacks, are rather vulnerable to energy weapons, and quickly depleted by them, and cannot recharge as long as the suit is taking fire from any form of attack, and while the Mark VI suit's shields recharge much faster than the Mark V's, they are slightly weaker. Large moving masses, like fast moving cars or objects of similar mass and size, also pose a sizable threat to the armor. In addition to the energy attacks and environmental weaknesses, the suit's motion tracker, while usefull, is far from infallible.
While it detects most moving objects within a 25 meter radius of the user, it will not detect slow moving or stationary objects, and does not provide detailed information beyond the size and distance of the object (does not provide exact elevation relative to the user, for example). The other problem is that unless an object or being is carrying a FOF tag, the tracker cannot distinguish between friend, foe or random objects - in locations where there is constant motion such as rainforests, the entire display will be covered in red, and it is possible to jam the tracker through similar methods. Finally, the motion tracker does not work in vacuum. Yet another weakness to the armor is the HUD's VISR system, although it can be turned on and off. More or less a low visability mode for the HUD, the user can be blinded by bright light or flashes that occur within their line of sight while the system is active, although said weakness can be countered by turning the system off, and it is partially negated by the reactive polarizing viewplate of the MJOLNIR armor, unlike the ODST variant of the technology.
Yet another problem is that for stealth afforded by the RECON MJOLNIR variant to be at all effective, he must deactivate his FOF tag and maintain radio silence, or risk being located through either method. While this might not seem like that much of a drawback, it means that he is relying entirely on his squadmates not to shoot him by accident, and that his squadmates need to implicitely trust him for the sniper to be at all effective in the field. This more or less means that he cannot work effectively with non Spartan personel without giving up many of the advantages granted to him by his specialized suit and equipment.
Finally, the armor's camouflage plating itself can be disabled or otherwise compromised in a number of different ways. While the Mk. II plating is much more resiliant and reactive than the Mk. I and able to deal with shifting surfaces and backgrounds unlike the first version, bright flashes from weapons like flashbang grenades can still overload the camouflage, causing the entire suit to turn a blinding white color for several seconds while the armor struggles to compensate. Another shortcoming is that while the plating itself is just as durable as that of any other MJOLNIR suit's, enough damage to any one spot of the armor (plasma round impacts, dents, scrapes, burns or other significant trauma) can cause the camouflage to behave erratically or improperly, and if the damage is severe enough, cause the entire armor plate to fail and fade back into view.
Other Flaws: None that I can think of off the top of my head.... I think I got them all above.
Brief History: Born on Harvest on January 14th, 2519, he lived a normal childhood until Harvest was discovered and destroyed by the Covenant in 2525 – while his family was killed by the Covenant en route to the spaceport, Zachary managed to escape, arriving on New Jerusalem several months later along with several other survivors. He was later adopted 2 years later, only to again have his life shattered by the Covenant when New Jerusalem was destroyed by the Covenant in 2529, his adoptive parents this time making it onto a different shuttle than him only to be shot down before breaking orbit. After another year in an orphanage on Reach he was located by ONI and given the chance to join the SPARTAN III program, which he immediately accepted - to say that he harbored a rather personal hatred for the Covenant would have been a severe understatement, and from that point on he devoted all of his being to doing what he could to eradicate the monsters. Qualifying almost immediately as sharpshooter for the M392 DMR, S2AM Sniper Rifle and entire M6 sidearm series, Zachary quickly showed an almost supernatural proficiency for stealth, and was singlehandedly able to catch the veteran drill instructors, many of whom had trained up the first generation Spartan IIs offguard. In light of his talents Zachary was transferred out of Alpha Company with the intention of finishing his training in the HEADHUNTER program alongside SPARTAN A114, a kindred spirit as far as their hatred for the Covenant went, albeit far less subtle in her approach to most things. After new protocols were enacted, however he and A114 were transferred out of the SPARTAN III program entirely along with several other recruits that matched the S-II genetic template, the beginning of an effort on Spartan 052's part to save as many Spartans as he could from the suicide missions that the UNSC brass had in mind for the Spartan IIIs. He and A114 were both given MJOLNIR Mark IV armor in 2535 upon graduation, and after performing several missions were both transferred into DEFENDER Team, which was formed along with SPARTANs A291, with A291 commanding the unit from 2535 to 2545, with A291 again assuming command in 2551 and during the Battle of Reach in 2552, with Heidi B206 taking command of the unit upon arrival at Earth on October 20th, 2552 when A291 was declared Missing In Action a month later.
As the war drew to a close Zachary would remain part of DEFENDER Team, with the squad seeing deployment to multiple theatres during the Covenant occupation of Earth – namely the Battle of Columbus and several skirmishes in Australia and northern Africa, and after the war officially ended on March 3rd of 2553, DEFENDER Team was among the few Spartans who could still be accounted for. Without an actual war to fight anymore and with the Jiralhanae otherwise occupied with their internal wars and conflict with the Sangheili, DEFENDER Team was more or less diverted to peace keeping and security roles, typically sent in ahead of colony ships to clear out worlds that had been previously held by Covenant forces, more often than not encountering little more than rogue Jiralhanae or Kig Yar groups gone pirate. It was en route back to Earth again from one such mission that their ship, a Mako class corvette, suffered a malfunction with their Shaw-Fujikawa drive, a result of improper maintenance. While the ship remained intact and suffered no more than a few system overloads, the ship itself was dropped out of slip space travel, although the ship’s crew and compliment of Spartans and Marines would have yet to realize exactly where – or when - they were.
Reason for being on AM: I'm more or less going to go with Slip Space accident - it worked for Nicole in Dead Or Alive 4, and forced her back into the 21st century. Technically not Halo canon anymore given all of their retcons (and the rather ambigous Spartan II count), but it was considered such at one point, and theoretically possible given the time and space bending properties of the slip space drive - they've been likened to man made singularities without gravity fields when malfunctioning in Ghosts of Onyx. Given the way the things work, it's entirely possible that a malfunctioning one could transport someone into an alternate reality.
Sample RP: RESERVED - an audition for the character would be appreciated, just to make sure that you are playing her well.
Theme Songs:
As for anyone wanting to take her as a character, a word of warning - YOU MUST STAY ACTIVE. Preferably two to three posts a week, but at least one post a week will do as per the site standard. If you fail to meet the criteria without giving advance notice, I reserve the right to let someone else who might want the character and who will prove to be more active have a shot at playing her.
Cbox Name: RESERVED
Nicknames: RESERVED
Main Account: RESERVED
Who else do you play?: RESERVED
How did you find us?: RESERVED
Category: Original Character
Name: Zachary
Alias: Zachary A197, Sierra A197, Spartan A197, DEFENDER 2
Age: 31 (subjective age of 28)
Ranking: Anti Hero
Physical Appearance: Standing at 6' 11" outside of his armor, Zachary by far is one of the more scarred Spartans of Alpha Company, second only to Erica due to her much more aggressive tactics and liberal use of force. Very pale even for a Spartan, Zachary's black hair and hazel eyes made him stick out like a sore thumb among the rest of the Spartan candidates, the vast majority of which tended to have brown hair and eyes. If it weren't for the countless small scars covering his face as well as the rest of his body, he would very much be what most people would consider "attractive", to put it mildly.
In his armor, Zachary is a ghost in the night - equiped first with the Mark V's RECON field prototype, he received the finalized, improved production version of the armor with the debut of the Mark VI suits in late 2552. Like his first suit, Zachary's Mark VI armor is the RECON model, and as before it is a dull matte silver white with black underlay, with a silver blue visor similar to the color used in the early ODST helmets.
Personality: While not exactly quiet, Zachary would best be described as soft spoken, a sharp contrast to Erica but very much in keeping with his abilities. All in all rather stereotypical of the mold from which most of the Spartan IIIs of Alpha Company came from, he is much more by the book than most of the previous generation Spartan IIs, and this unfortunately has impacted his otherwise brilliant tactical genius - while he may see problems with a given order, command or operational plan that may not be apparent to his superiors, Zachary would keep quiet and do his job, usually reasoning that they might know things he does not and just dealing with the problems himself as they come up.
When fighting or sniping, though, all of his generally pleasant, by the book facade vanishes, replaced by a rather unnerving silence as he all but disappears from both his teammate's and enemies' notice alike. While many might mistake this for being the Zen like concentration typical of many snipers, those who actually get to know him will recognize it as rage should it be the Covenant on the other end of his scope - not a hot anger, but the kind that lies buried for years and easily controlled when it does surface.
Powers/Abilities:
Spartan III: While all Spartans received the training to match the best shock troops and commandos from any military, their true strength comes from the augmentation procedure performed on them towards the end of their training and at the onset of puberty. While the process was excruciatingly painful and a large percentage of the Spartan IIIs were either killed or crippled by it, the survivors were transformed into the ultimate soldiers, living weapons without peer among other humans. Their perception, reaction and movement speed was incredibly enhanced, and their bones were made virtually unbreakable thanks to the ceramic carbide bonded to their skeletal structure. Finally, their eyesight was enhanced to the point at where they could essentially see in the dark, and their muscle density, already twice the human norm due to their training, was further increased - even without MJOLNIR, the average augmented Spartan II was capable of lifting upwards of 1000 pounds. While Nicholas prefers mid to long range combat, he, like all Spartan IIs, is brutally effective at any range, and is incredibly skilled with any firearm or melee weapon as well as hand to hand combat.
Ghost: While nearly every Spartan was adept enough with stealth operations and procedures to make even veteran soldiers green with envy, Zachary was particularly gifted with being able to avoid detection. Able to move without a sound or sign of his presence even before undergoing the augmentation process, Zachary had achieved infamy amoung Alpha Company's drill instructors, and upon recovery from the process he managed to stand out for his skills even among the elite Headhunter teams. When combined with the perks and advantages afforded to him by his specialized MJOLNIR, it would take an act from a higher power for anyone to become aware of Zachary's presence unless he deliberately did something to make himself known.
Equipment:
MJOLNIR Mark VI Powered Assault Armor: Incredibly durable, the armor not only increases his already astounding physical strength by a factor of five, but it also boosts a Spartan's reaction time, already less than 20 milliseconds under controlled situations, to near uncharted speeds that may appear to almost border precognition to the uninformed eye. The armor itself is a marvel of engineering, and is composed of several overlapping layers. The armor plates, made of a unique, incredibly strong non reactive alloy that isn't magnetic, also have a refractive coating capable of dissapating light energy attacks and lessening the impact from heavier strikes. Underneath the plating is a lightly armored bodysuit, which is completely sealed, protecting the user from both toxic environments and vaccuum. Underneath this is a gel layer capable of reactively changing it's density, and protects the user from either environmental pressure, G forces, rapid temperature changes or ballistic weapons. Between this and the inner layer composed of moisture absorbing cloth is a network of reactive metal liquid crystal, which while responsible for the user's enhanced strength is also capable of transporting a ship class smart artifical intelligence - it is also this layer that is responsible for the user's reaction time when combined with the suit's neural interface. Finally, the Mark VI version of the armor is equipped with both a UNSC developed second generation shield system and an automated biofoam injection system, which allows the user to keep fighting even after taking wounds that would kill any other soldier, also in turn preserving their lives until proper medical treatment can be administered. It also features several external clips, magnetic holsters and pockets for carrying gear, leaving the Spartan's hands free at most times. The armor does have some disadvantages, though - first of all, it cannot be used by normal, unaugmented soldiers, as they both lack the reflexes and increased perception rate needed to harness the armor without killing themselves. Also, a fully armored Spartan III weighs roughly 1000 pounds when equipped with a MJOLNIR suit, not counting the other gear they may be carrying at the time. Unlike most of the other MJOLNIR variants (with the sole exception of the SCOUT armor, which was developed in tandem with the RECON project), Zachary's RECON variant armor was designed specifically for stealth, using advanced materials designed for the sole purpose of reducing sensor footprints while maintaining durability. The armor is, in effect, invisible to nearly every electronic means of detection, and does not show up on radar, infrared, or any other medium save for methods relying on the mass of the armor.
As an added bonus, Zachary's MJOLNIR is equiped with the same camouflage plating as the Mk. II SPI suits typically used by the rank and file Spartan IIIs, rendering Zachary all but invisible to the human (or other creature's) eye. Developed as a counter to the Covenant's active camouflage systems, the plating reactively changes to match the user's surroundings, achieving the same effect as the Covenant's light bending technology, albeit through different means. Unlike the Headhunter units' SPI suits, which could only generate a fraction of the MJOLNIR suit's power output, Zachary does not need to deactivate his suit's shields to use the camouflage.
M99 Stanchion Gauss Rifle: Utilizing the same technology as the UNSC's Gauss cannon, mass drivers and signature MAC guns, the M99 Special Applications Scoped Rifle is by far one of the most powerful weapons available to UNSC personel, rivalled only by the better known Spartan Laser. While it utilizes much smaller rounds than most of the other UNSC firearms (a 5.4 mm round to be exact), the sheer velocity of the round more than makes up for the smaller size - propelled to 15,000 meters per second, anything hit by the bullet seems to explode on the spot, turning infantry into an unrecognizable mist and armored targets into mobile IEDs, and even being grazed by the round has been known to be deadly as the shockwaves emenating from it tend to tear the targets apart. The M99's hyper-velocity round virtually eliminates the need to compensate for gravity, wind, or even target movement at ranges far in excess of visual range, practically guarunteeing a first-round hit at easily 8,000 meters. While most soldiers are incapable of firing it unless prone or otherwise secured should the force of the injure them, a fully armored Spartan is more than capable of firing it while standing, although it is still recommended that they do not. As with all Stanchion rifles, Zachary's is designed to be able to link up with a targeting computer or satellite telementary, and his helmet's optics have been modified to synch with the rifle. Equiped with a smart linked scope capable of anything between 5x to 45x, the rifle uses 12 round magazines.
M7/S Submachine Gun: Typically issued to UNSC Special Forces when stealth is a key factor in mission success or the safety of involved personel, the smart linked scope, silencer and increased punch per round more than make up for the smaller 48 round magazine and slower firing rate compared to the standard issue M7 SMG with the usual 60 round magazine. Compact, much more controllable than its standard issue sibling and all but silent, the weapon is one of the deadliest automatic handguns in the UNSC arsenal, and tears through shields, armor and infantry with vicious ease despite the small size of the weapon's 5 mm caseless rounds.
Weaknesses
Psychological Flaws: Trained from childhood to work in a group, Zachary tends to get nervous when working on his own in enemy territory - while it doesn't impact his combat performance much, it does make finer, more specialized objectives more difficult for him to achieve as he is aware of this weakness and as such diverts most of her attention to keeping an eye on his surroundings and armor's motion tracker, detracting from the attention he can pay to what he can focus on. Another problem is that while ruthless and brutally efficient in combat, Zachary is not used to working with individuals who aren't Spartans, and while he will trust them with technical or logistical work, for the most part he will tend to view them as weak links in combat until proven otherwise. While not a true limitation on his part, it does mean that Zachary will be wary to leave them on their own in dangerous situations, and as such will be possibly even more nervous and singularly focused on one thing at a time than he would be if working alone.
Physical Flaws: While he himself is in perfect physical condition despite his scars and beyond what most people would consider humanly possible in both speed and strength, Zachary is still only human when seperated from his armor - for all of his strength and skill, anything that would prove fatal to a normal human will kill him just as quickly. While his bones can't be broken, his flesh, tendons and organs can be, and there are very likely mutants and non humans out there easily capable of matching or surpassing his physical strength and speed.
While he is very well protected in his armor, the suit isn't perfect, and comes with yet another set of drawbacks. Zachary is much, much heavier when encased in his MJOLNIR, and as such cannot be supported by many physical objects, and his sheer size makes moving in cramped quarters difficult, if not impossible, a problem further exacerbated by his shields when they are active. The armor itself is also vulnerable to a number of different environmental threats, which while not capable of destroying or breaching the armor itself, are capable of disabling or reducing certain key components or systems (the motion tracker, for example, could be rendered useless if the sensors in the shoulders are exposed to salt water for too long, as the salt will encrust on the sensors and disable them until they are cleaned). Yet another problem is that while the ballistics and gel layer are extremely resiliant, they do not protect the user from all kinetic energy - while potentially survivable, a drop from a plane would likely result in relatively severe injuries, and drops from low orbit are still incredibly dangerous in the Mark VI armor without specialized equipment. Finally, the shields themselves, while very resiliant against kinetic weapons and attacks, are rather vulnerable to energy weapons, and quickly depleted by them, and cannot recharge as long as the suit is taking fire from any form of attack, and while the Mark VI suit's shields recharge much faster than the Mark V's, they are slightly weaker. Large moving masses, like fast moving cars or objects of similar mass and size, also pose a sizable threat to the armor. In addition to the energy attacks and environmental weaknesses, the suit's motion tracker, while usefull, is far from infallible.
While it detects most moving objects within a 25 meter radius of the user, it will not detect slow moving or stationary objects, and does not provide detailed information beyond the size and distance of the object (does not provide exact elevation relative to the user, for example). The other problem is that unless an object or being is carrying a FOF tag, the tracker cannot distinguish between friend, foe or random objects - in locations where there is constant motion such as rainforests, the entire display will be covered in red, and it is possible to jam the tracker through similar methods. Finally, the motion tracker does not work in vacuum. Yet another weakness to the armor is the HUD's VISR system, although it can be turned on and off. More or less a low visability mode for the HUD, the user can be blinded by bright light or flashes that occur within their line of sight while the system is active, although said weakness can be countered by turning the system off, and it is partially negated by the reactive polarizing viewplate of the MJOLNIR armor, unlike the ODST variant of the technology.
Yet another problem is that for stealth afforded by the RECON MJOLNIR variant to be at all effective, he must deactivate his FOF tag and maintain radio silence, or risk being located through either method. While this might not seem like that much of a drawback, it means that he is relying entirely on his squadmates not to shoot him by accident, and that his squadmates need to implicitely trust him for the sniper to be at all effective in the field. This more or less means that he cannot work effectively with non Spartan personel without giving up many of the advantages granted to him by his specialized suit and equipment.
Finally, the armor's camouflage plating itself can be disabled or otherwise compromised in a number of different ways. While the Mk. II plating is much more resiliant and reactive than the Mk. I and able to deal with shifting surfaces and backgrounds unlike the first version, bright flashes from weapons like flashbang grenades can still overload the camouflage, causing the entire suit to turn a blinding white color for several seconds while the armor struggles to compensate. Another shortcoming is that while the plating itself is just as durable as that of any other MJOLNIR suit's, enough damage to any one spot of the armor (plasma round impacts, dents, scrapes, burns or other significant trauma) can cause the camouflage to behave erratically or improperly, and if the damage is severe enough, cause the entire armor plate to fail and fade back into view.
Other Flaws: None that I can think of off the top of my head.... I think I got them all above.
Brief History: Born on Harvest on January 14th, 2519, he lived a normal childhood until Harvest was discovered and destroyed by the Covenant in 2525 – while his family was killed by the Covenant en route to the spaceport, Zachary managed to escape, arriving on New Jerusalem several months later along with several other survivors. He was later adopted 2 years later, only to again have his life shattered by the Covenant when New Jerusalem was destroyed by the Covenant in 2529, his adoptive parents this time making it onto a different shuttle than him only to be shot down before breaking orbit. After another year in an orphanage on Reach he was located by ONI and given the chance to join the SPARTAN III program, which he immediately accepted - to say that he harbored a rather personal hatred for the Covenant would have been a severe understatement, and from that point on he devoted all of his being to doing what he could to eradicate the monsters. Qualifying almost immediately as sharpshooter for the M392 DMR, S2AM Sniper Rifle and entire M6 sidearm series, Zachary quickly showed an almost supernatural proficiency for stealth, and was singlehandedly able to catch the veteran drill instructors, many of whom had trained up the first generation Spartan IIs offguard. In light of his talents Zachary was transferred out of Alpha Company with the intention of finishing his training in the HEADHUNTER program alongside SPARTAN A114, a kindred spirit as far as their hatred for the Covenant went, albeit far less subtle in her approach to most things. After new protocols were enacted, however he and A114 were transferred out of the SPARTAN III program entirely along with several other recruits that matched the S-II genetic template, the beginning of an effort on Spartan 052's part to save as many Spartans as he could from the suicide missions that the UNSC brass had in mind for the Spartan IIIs. He and A114 were both given MJOLNIR Mark IV armor in 2535 upon graduation, and after performing several missions were both transferred into DEFENDER Team, which was formed along with SPARTANs A291, with A291 commanding the unit from 2535 to 2545, with A291 again assuming command in 2551 and during the Battle of Reach in 2552, with Heidi B206 taking command of the unit upon arrival at Earth on October 20th, 2552 when A291 was declared Missing In Action a month later.
As the war drew to a close Zachary would remain part of DEFENDER Team, with the squad seeing deployment to multiple theatres during the Covenant occupation of Earth – namely the Battle of Columbus and several skirmishes in Australia and northern Africa, and after the war officially ended on March 3rd of 2553, DEFENDER Team was among the few Spartans who could still be accounted for. Without an actual war to fight anymore and with the Jiralhanae otherwise occupied with their internal wars and conflict with the Sangheili, DEFENDER Team was more or less diverted to peace keeping and security roles, typically sent in ahead of colony ships to clear out worlds that had been previously held by Covenant forces, more often than not encountering little more than rogue Jiralhanae or Kig Yar groups gone pirate. It was en route back to Earth again from one such mission that their ship, a Mako class corvette, suffered a malfunction with their Shaw-Fujikawa drive, a result of improper maintenance. While the ship remained intact and suffered no more than a few system overloads, the ship itself was dropped out of slip space travel, although the ship’s crew and compliment of Spartans and Marines would have yet to realize exactly where – or when - they were.
Reason for being on AM: I'm more or less going to go with Slip Space accident - it worked for Nicole in Dead Or Alive 4, and forced her back into the 21st century. Technically not Halo canon anymore given all of their retcons (and the rather ambigous Spartan II count), but it was considered such at one point, and theoretically possible given the time and space bending properties of the slip space drive - they've been likened to man made singularities without gravity fields when malfunctioning in Ghosts of Onyx. Given the way the things work, it's entirely possible that a malfunctioning one could transport someone into an alternate reality.
Sample RP: RESERVED - an audition for the character would be appreciated, just to make sure that you are playing her well.
Theme Songs:
