![[sticky entry]](http://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/entry/sticky_entry.png){kind=small}
Ian Fowler
Original Character
| alias: Ian Fowler | age: 34 |
| species: Human | gender: Male |
| sexuality: Bisexual | voice: Sound Clip |
For pre-apocalypse texting and normal people everyday life style memes, Ian taught Engineering at Berkeley. See the abilities tab for your supernatural/powered/modern magic AU ability! His story is largely the same with the exception of some highly metaphorical glowy bullshit, starting around the age of 10 and kept entirely to himself. If you want some extra spicy, let's get post-apocalyptic with some nerdy super extra world building: comprehensive(ish) lore compendium
The shorter version: ( highly triggering subjects )
In the year 2018, humanity made first contact. Rather, they made contact with us in a manner far from peaceful. Their technology was beyond anything we'd ever seen, and their ruthlessness far surpassed anything we were prepared to handle. Humanity was subjugated in a matter of months; those who fought were slain. Those who complied were taken for processing. The remainder of humanity lives in rural areas on the outskirts of civilization. Collectively, we began to refer to them as the Judge - a conquering race that goes from life-bearing planet to life-bearing planet, weighing their crimes against their benefits and deciding whether or not they're worthy to keep the life they've been given. When a civilization fails that test (as Earth unsurprisingly did), the Judge takes up residence and begins to strip it of all of its precious materials. Metal, natural gas, mineral deposits, anything that can be harvested and used to enrich their war fleet is salvaged.
This process can take years, and requires a lot of manual labor. Because they consider themselves a righteous, benevolent race they don't slaughter indiscriminately. Humans who submit are given two options - manual labor in a work camp, or voluntary suicide via what's been colloquially coined a "suicide bus". Very few people know what that entails, as anyone who boards a bus isn't ever seen or heard from again. The Judge and its forces are drawn to areas rich in metal; they can detect anything larger than a sedan and systematically hunt it down. Unsurprisingly, larger cities are conquered first.
Those who survive in freedom do so in wooded areas, clustered in groups making do with what they can. Farming, looting, surviving, and if you're particularly brave, mounting a resistance to free people from the work camps they've been forcibly taken to.
Before all of this, Ian was a guest lecturer who taught at Berkeley, teaching freshman engineering in between larger projects while working for his doctorate. When all hell broke loose, he was holding a god damn frozen coffee from Starbucks. A year later and he became more used to holding a gun, and he hasn't had good coffee in longer than he can remember. Almost everyone he knew, everyone he cared about, about died in the culling - or they're presumed dead, because it's utterly impossible to get a list of the names of people surviving in the work camps. The sad thing is there's nobody in his life important enough to him that he'd risk breaking into one himself to find out.
He's taken up with a group of survivors outside of Crater Lake National Park, doing what he can to improve their day to day life without risking everything they've worked so hard to build. He can't say many of them are what he'd consider friends, but they've all bonded well enough to trust and respect each other. That's what matters.
The shorter version: ( highly triggering subjects )
In the year 2018, humanity made first contact. Rather, they made contact with us in a manner far from peaceful. Their technology was beyond anything we'd ever seen, and their ruthlessness far surpassed anything we were prepared to handle. Humanity was subjugated in a matter of months; those who fought were slain. Those who complied were taken for processing. The remainder of humanity lives in rural areas on the outskirts of civilization. Collectively, we began to refer to them as the Judge - a conquering race that goes from life-bearing planet to life-bearing planet, weighing their crimes against their benefits and deciding whether or not they're worthy to keep the life they've been given. When a civilization fails that test (as Earth unsurprisingly did), the Judge takes up residence and begins to strip it of all of its precious materials. Metal, natural gas, mineral deposits, anything that can be harvested and used to enrich their war fleet is salvaged.
This process can take years, and requires a lot of manual labor. Because they consider themselves a righteous, benevolent race they don't slaughter indiscriminately. Humans who submit are given two options - manual labor in a work camp, or voluntary suicide via what's been colloquially coined a "suicide bus". Very few people know what that entails, as anyone who boards a bus isn't ever seen or heard from again. The Judge and its forces are drawn to areas rich in metal; they can detect anything larger than a sedan and systematically hunt it down. Unsurprisingly, larger cities are conquered first.
Those who survive in freedom do so in wooded areas, clustered in groups making do with what they can. Farming, looting, surviving, and if you're particularly brave, mounting a resistance to free people from the work camps they've been forcibly taken to.
Before all of this, Ian was a guest lecturer who taught at Berkeley, teaching freshman engineering in between larger projects while working for his doctorate. When all hell broke loose, he was holding a god damn frozen coffee from Starbucks. A year later and he became more used to holding a gun, and he hasn't had good coffee in longer than he can remember. Almost everyone he knew, everyone he cared about, about died in the culling - or they're presumed dead, because it's utterly impossible to get a list of the names of people surviving in the work camps. The sad thing is there's nobody in his life important enough to him that he'd risk breaking into one himself to find out.
He's taken up with a group of survivors outside of Crater Lake National Park, doing what he can to improve their day to day life without risking everything they've worked so hard to build. He can't say many of them are what he'd consider friends, but they've all bonded well enough to trust and respect each other. That's what matters.
| EXTROVERSION |
| INTROVERSION |
| SENSING |
| INTUITION |
| THINKING |
| FEELING |
| JUDGMENT |
| PERCEPTION |
| ASSERTIVE |
| TURBULENT |
Phlegmatic
ISTP
Phlegmatic individuals tend to be relaxed, peaceful, quiet, and easy-going. They are sympathetic and care about others, yet they try to hide their emotions. Phlegmatic individuals are also good at generalizing ideas or problems to the world and making compromises
ISTPs are observant artisans with an understanding of mechanics and an interest in troubleshooting. They approach their environments with a flexible logic, looking for practical solutions to the problems at hand. They are independent and adaptable, and typically interact with the world around them in a self-directed, spontaneous manner.
ISTPs are attentive to details and responsive to the demands of the world around them. Because of their astute sense of their environment, they are good at moving quickly and responding to emergencies. ISTPs are reserved, but not withdrawn: the ISTP enjoys taking action, and approaches the world with a keen appreciation for the physical and sensory experiences it has to offer.
ISTPs are observant artisans with an understanding of mechanics and an interest in troubleshooting. They approach their environments with a flexible logic, looking for practical solutions to the problems at hand. They are independent and adaptable, and typically interact with the world around them in a self-directed, spontaneous manner.
ISTPs are attentive to details and responsive to the demands of the world around them. Because of their astute sense of their environment, they are good at moving quickly and responding to emergencies. ISTPs are reserved, but not withdrawn: the ISTP enjoys taking action, and approaches the world with a keen appreciation for the physical and sensory experiences it has to offer.
Six Traits:
Calm, Even Tempered, Perceptive, Intelligent, Aloof, Detached
Motivations: Learning and teaching, developing the curiosity in others. Fixing things that are broken, both in machinery and in other people. A refusal to become intimately attached with someone, but a contradictory need to feel social and abate loneliness.
Handling Conflict: Calm, rational, a mediator. Nearly all situations will result in level-headed assessment and grounded resolution. When driven to passion or anger, all bets are off and Ian becomes rigid.
Motivations: Learning and teaching, developing the curiosity in others. Fixing things that are broken, both in machinery and in other people. A refusal to become intimately attached with someone, but a contradictory need to feel social and abate loneliness.
Handling Conflict: Calm, rational, a mediator. Nearly all situations will result in level-headed assessment and grounded resolution. When driven to passion or anger, all bets are off and Ian becomes rigid.
| height: 6'1" | hair: Brown |
| build: Stocky | eyes: Blue Grey |
| features: Shoulder-length hair, full beard, calloused hands | |
Description:
Originally a tall but slender youth, Ian began filling out in his college years as he spent more and more time working with his hands. Constantly lifting and working with heavy machinery or manual tools bulked up his shoulders, arms, and back.
First Impressions: An easy and casual posture, unobtrusive and easily overlooked. His hair, beard, and calm personality tend to put off a "stoner" vibe, but his confident speech and word choice quickly pivot that to more of a "hipster college professor that probably wears Birkenstocks" impression.
First Impressions: An easy and casual posture, unobtrusive and easily overlooked. His hair, beard, and calm personality tend to put off a "stoner" vibe, but his confident speech and word choice quickly pivot that to more of a "hipster college professor that probably wears Birkenstocks" impression.
" it takes grace
to remain kind
in cruel situations "
•See MISC. section for world building links
•Born September 1, 1986 in Weaverville, California.
•Single mother and an absent father without even a name to him, he believes his mother may have an idea or two of who it could be but not any real certainty.
•His mother worked 2 jobs to keep them financially afloat, meaning as soon as he was old enough Ian became a latchkey kid and spent the vast majority of his time alone.
•In his teen years he fell into a group of semi-hoodlum kids with whom he'd smoke pot or break into abandoned buildings with, but in the mining town that is Weaverville there isn't really a lot of trouble you can get into.
•Pushed by his mother to make a better life for himself than she could give him, he attended college and ultimately followed his tendency to take things apart & put them back together to decide on an engineering major.
•Did your rather stereotypical experimenting in his under-grad years, sleeping around and playing with recreational drugs off and on
•Found out his mother had cancer not long after he started post-grad, she was a pack a day smoker who didn't quit even after her diagnosis. She passed away 6 months later.
•He spent a few years after her passing withdrawn and channeling all of his feelings into school or work or projects.
•Private consulting / contracting after getting his masters, took on a few apprentices and found he really liked sharing his knowledge or guiding them to their fullest potential.
•Experimented with teaching off and on until his resume was good enough to get an adjunct position at Berkeley, where he devoted most of his focus rather than contracted work.
•All this boring shit aside, things get real in 2018 when humanity experiences First Contact via a technologically advanced species that touched down on all major humanity hubs across the globe.
•Humanity is subjugated entirely in a matter of months. The species have a name for themselves that translates into English as "The Judge", they're a scavenging race who - much like their title suggests - visit planets with intelligent life and determine whether or not they're deserving of the gift they've been given.
•Haha of course Earth sucks, do you even live here? Humanity is found unworthy of its resources, and the Judge sets up shop to strip it and harvest all of it that it can for their colonizing fleet.
•Humans are given the opportunity to join work camps in order to survive, doing manual labor for the race and living off bare-minimum scraps. The alternative is considered an act of aggression, and any human that refuses will be slaughtered.
In addition to the decimation of anyone who rebels, they also deem humans with "defects" to be a waste of resources; anyone with any kind of physical problem that can be detected is "mercy killed", which can range anywhere from wheelchairs to even glasses. Less obvious disabilities may slip through the screening process - contact lenses, asthma, anything that doesn't manifest plainly on the surface. If a disability is discovered later, the human is put down. This includes flu symptoms and the common cold.
•To further demonstrate their mercy, humans in the work camp can volunteer to die rather than toil - there are daily offerings of something colloquially termed a "suicide bus", where broken and hopeless people can board to be carted to their death. Although it's rumored to be a painless alternative, nobody knows how these people are killed and nobody has ever returned from a suicide bus.
•The Judge's primary interest is in metal. They have ships not terribly unlike magnets that can detect any metal larger than a sedan. All major cities are a threat, and while outlying small towns haven't yet been fully ripped out of the ground, venturing into one is a risk - it could be visited at any time and anyone unfortunate enough to be inside of a building at this time is crushed in the devastation like an enormous metal-only trash compactor.
•Ian was fortunate enough to make it out of the city without being rounded up or slaughtered - not because he's super great at being a bad-ass survivor, but through dumb luck and charity in the form of his TA Luke rolling up with his sisters and throwing out the apocalyptic version of "get in loser we're going shopping."
•They head north through the national forests, keeping off major highways and then eventually abandoning the car as too much of a risk after a close call.
•They wind up merging with a few additional survivors, and find their way up to Crater Lake National Park. The metal-free cabins, the remoteness of the location, and the access to fresh water make it a habitable and mostly-safe place to establish a tentative homestead.
•Ian is still not a super apocalypse bad ass, so he does not become the leader of this group. It's lead by a strong independent boss bitch named Nia, who uses him for both his level-headed council and for what he can bring to the table - namely, figuring out solutions to increase their quality of life that don't involve metal. His crowning achievement is a shower made entirely of PVC pipe.
•Months pass and they wind up taking in a few more stragglers; everyone is expected to participate in the maintenance of the camp, and all able bodied people are made to go on supply run expeditions in a sort of rotation.
•Nia's son Jamill, a teenager, began pushing for his involvement in these supply runs. There's a back and forth among Nia, Ian, and a few other members of her unofficial counsel, with Ian ultimately making the final call that he's old enough to begin participating and he has to start eventually anyway. Might as well be on a small, routine run to a tiny town in a group of the most experienced of them.
•They get cornered by Judge soldiers doing a sweep before their ship rips out a store. They manage to get out before being crushed, but Judge soldiers end up snatching Nia's son and taking him away presumably to a work camp.
•Born September 1, 1986 in Weaverville, California.
•Single mother and an absent father without even a name to him, he believes his mother may have an idea or two of who it could be but not any real certainty.
•His mother worked 2 jobs to keep them financially afloat, meaning as soon as he was old enough Ian became a latchkey kid and spent the vast majority of his time alone.
•In his teen years he fell into a group of semi-hoodlum kids with whom he'd smoke pot or break into abandoned buildings with, but in the mining town that is Weaverville there isn't really a lot of trouble you can get into.
•Pushed by his mother to make a better life for himself than she could give him, he attended college and ultimately followed his tendency to take things apart & put them back together to decide on an engineering major.
•Did your rather stereotypical experimenting in his under-grad years, sleeping around and playing with recreational drugs off and on
•Found out his mother had cancer not long after he started post-grad, she was a pack a day smoker who didn't quit even after her diagnosis. She passed away 6 months later.
•He spent a few years after her passing withdrawn and channeling all of his feelings into school or work or projects.
•Private consulting / contracting after getting his masters, took on a few apprentices and found he really liked sharing his knowledge or guiding them to their fullest potential.
•Experimented with teaching off and on until his resume was good enough to get an adjunct position at Berkeley, where he devoted most of his focus rather than contracted work.
•All this boring shit aside, things get real in 2018 when humanity experiences First Contact via a technologically advanced species that touched down on all major humanity hubs across the globe.
•Humanity is subjugated entirely in a matter of months. The species have a name for themselves that translates into English as "The Judge", they're a scavenging race who - much like their title suggests - visit planets with intelligent life and determine whether or not they're deserving of the gift they've been given.
•Haha of course Earth sucks, do you even live here? Humanity is found unworthy of its resources, and the Judge sets up shop to strip it and harvest all of it that it can for their colonizing fleet.
•Humans are given the opportunity to join work camps in order to survive, doing manual labor for the race and living off bare-minimum scraps. The alternative is considered an act of aggression, and any human that refuses will be slaughtered.
In addition to the decimation of anyone who rebels, they also deem humans with "defects" to be a waste of resources; anyone with any kind of physical problem that can be detected is "mercy killed", which can range anywhere from wheelchairs to even glasses. Less obvious disabilities may slip through the screening process - contact lenses, asthma, anything that doesn't manifest plainly on the surface. If a disability is discovered later, the human is put down. This includes flu symptoms and the common cold.
•To further demonstrate their mercy, humans in the work camp can volunteer to die rather than toil - there are daily offerings of something colloquially termed a "suicide bus", where broken and hopeless people can board to be carted to their death. Although it's rumored to be a painless alternative, nobody knows how these people are killed and nobody has ever returned from a suicide bus.
•The Judge's primary interest is in metal. They have ships not terribly unlike magnets that can detect any metal larger than a sedan. All major cities are a threat, and while outlying small towns haven't yet been fully ripped out of the ground, venturing into one is a risk - it could be visited at any time and anyone unfortunate enough to be inside of a building at this time is crushed in the devastation like an enormous metal-only trash compactor.
•Ian was fortunate enough to make it out of the city without being rounded up or slaughtered - not because he's super great at being a bad-ass survivor, but through dumb luck and charity in the form of his TA Luke rolling up with his sisters and throwing out the apocalyptic version of "get in loser we're going shopping."
•They head north through the national forests, keeping off major highways and then eventually abandoning the car as too much of a risk after a close call.
•They wind up merging with a few additional survivors, and find their way up to Crater Lake National Park. The metal-free cabins, the remoteness of the location, and the access to fresh water make it a habitable and mostly-safe place to establish a tentative homestead.
•Ian is still not a super apocalypse bad ass, so he does not become the leader of this group. It's lead by a strong independent boss bitch named Nia, who uses him for both his level-headed council and for what he can bring to the table - namely, figuring out solutions to increase their quality of life that don't involve metal. His crowning achievement is a shower made entirely of PVC pipe.
•Months pass and they wind up taking in a few more stragglers; everyone is expected to participate in the maintenance of the camp, and all able bodied people are made to go on supply run expeditions in a sort of rotation.
•Nia's son Jamill, a teenager, began pushing for his involvement in these supply runs. There's a back and forth among Nia, Ian, and a few other members of her unofficial counsel, with Ian ultimately making the final call that he's old enough to begin participating and he has to start eventually anyway. Might as well be on a small, routine run to a tiny town in a group of the most experienced of them.
•They get cornered by Judge soldiers doing a sweep before their ship rips out a store. They manage to get out before being crushed, but Judge soldiers end up snatching Nia's son and taking him away presumably to a work camp.
Matter Creation
or
Inorganic Matter Manipulation
or
Inorganic Matter Manipulation
Meadowlark:
Inorganic Manipulation, Ian can take existing matter and change it into another shape or form, up to 5x5 square feet at a time. He can also duplicate simple objects smaller than a breadbox.
Bakerstreet: Matter Creation. Essentially he can create something from nothing if he can visualize it in his mind - picture a nail slowly forming itself together as if drawing from the air around it.
The limitations on this are vast - he has to know something in order to create it. For instance, he can't create a book he hasn't read or the pages will just be blank. He can't create diamonds because he doesn't just hang out with diamonds. Limited to no complex organic material - no food, plants, living creatures. He can make water at room temperature, coffee at the temperature his body is familiar with drinking it, and one single unfortunate brand of Tequila (thanks college).
He can also make a few varieties of lube, for both a mechanical and biological use. Oh yes.
The larger and more complex an item is, the more difficult it is for him to make. He uses this gift often in engineering work, creating models or piece parts. If pressed he can also create entire machines if he intimately knows their inner workings, but frankly it's less exhausting just to make things by hand. It takes time for the atoms to knit themselves together, even more if he has to concentrate on separating parts from one another rather than melding them together. It's tedious, time consuming, absolutely exhausting work. If it's anything more complicated than a toaster it's going to take like a full fucking day. He could just build it faster.
Bakerstreet: Matter Creation. Essentially he can create something from nothing if he can visualize it in his mind - picture a nail slowly forming itself together as if drawing from the air around it.
The limitations on this are vast - he has to know something in order to create it. For instance, he can't create a book he hasn't read or the pages will just be blank. He can't create diamonds because he doesn't just hang out with diamonds. Limited to no complex organic material - no food, plants, living creatures. He can make water at room temperature, coffee at the temperature his body is familiar with drinking it, and one single unfortunate brand of Tequila (thanks college).
He can also make a few varieties of lube, for both a mechanical and biological use. Oh yes.
The larger and more complex an item is, the more difficult it is for him to make. He uses this gift often in engineering work, creating models or piece parts. If pressed he can also create entire machines if he intimately knows their inner workings, but frankly it's less exhausting just to make things by hand. It takes time for the atoms to knit themselves together, even more if he has to concentrate on separating parts from one another rather than melding them together. It's tedious, time consuming, absolutely exhausting work. If it's anything more complicated than a toaster it's going to take like a full fucking day. He could just build it faster.
Olivia Fowler
Mother Deceased. Died of lung cancer during Ian's first year of grad school.
Dusty Alperstein
Friend Childhood & high school best friend. Fell out after senior year when Dusty moved to a college out of state for his girlfriend.
Luke Saenz
Charge Initially Ian's TA, they fell into a less professional more companionable dynamic usually involving between-class trips to smoke a bowl and get Starbucks. He happened to be there when the world went to shit, and saved Ian's life. They traveled together throughout the entire apocalypse, the trust is solid here.
Takoda Akecheta
Guard & Munitions Responsible for the more militaristic side of the camp's organization, he's almost polar opposite in terms of decision-making. Worst person ever, 0/10, what an a-hole.
