Phalanx
| Phalanx | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Author | /u/Magos_Nashoid |
| Civilian name | Jasper Newchapel |
| Alignment | Hero |
| Affiliation | Protectorate Captain (Devilfish) |
| PRT Classification | Tinker, Master, |
| Born | Devilfish, Minnesota |
| Status | Active |
Phalanx is Captain of the Devilfish Protectorate, having formerly been a core member of the Minneapolis Protectorate prior to his promotion and transfer. Phalanx is one of the Premier Artificial Intelligence Tinkers, and has served the Protectorate Faithfully for the past 6 years, and even longer if you count his time as a PRT trooper.
He has been upfront and clear to all who would fight him, that excessive force against his Android Daughter Pleiades will be responded with both the unrelenting force of a Protectorate Captain responding to violence against a Ward, as well as a very angry father with readily accessible Death rays.
He and the majority (but not all) of his gear is Greco-Roman themed, something he has mentioned is in honor of his heritage. Being both ethnically Greek, and a Hellenic Pagan.
Character Sheet
Appearance
Civilian: Jasper Newchapel is a lithe but incredibly fit individual. Phalanx's skin is olive, having been the children of Greek Immigrants. He has light hazel eyes, and black hair. Standing at roughly 5'9 in height.
Costume: Generally speaking Jasper wears a suit of Power-armor. Typically the exterior plating is made of a polished golden-bronze material, with a red plume on the helmet.
Mundane Equipment and Resources
Wealth Level: 7
Primarily lives at the Protectorate HQ, but has a well furnished/stocked Family Home ,conveniently down the street from his own parent's house.
Has a slightly-higher than average Tinker budget, to account for expensive-but essential components in his Robots CPUs.
Has an extremely hardened set of Databanks for backing-up the digital half of his androids consciousness, backs them up every night before heading home from work.
- PRT-issue Radio
- PRT-issue Medical Kit
- Zipties
- Set of Handcuffs
- Multi-tool
- Police Truncheon
Skills and Specializations
- Understanding of Government bureaucracy
- Understanding of criminal and conspiratorial behavior aka basic level criminology.
- High speed pursuit vehicle training
- Basic first aid
- Understanding of basic human intelligence gathering.
- Basic Forensic Knowledge
- Understanding of laws and legal procedures
- Navigating his way around quickly with maps, charts and tables, orienteering, instruments, or dead reckoning.
- Searching a room, vehicle, or person for weapons and contraband.
- PRT Self Defense training in unarmed combat
- PRT Self Defense training with PRT weapons
- Skilled Use of Antiquated weaponry, and associated tactics.
- Basic PRT/Police Squad Tactics
- Customized Squad Tactics (Devised by Phalanx for himself and his AI)
- Can play the Piano.
- Is a pretty good Dungeon Master.
Mentality
Jasper is a relatively jovial person, greatly respecting his co-workers, Protectorate, Ward, Trooper, and Clerk alike. They do their best to remain professional whenever possible, but have trouble not looking at the team like a big family. Feeling somewhat parental over the Wards at time, though they keep this to themselves usually.
Jasper has changed since their trigger, having mellowed out oddly enough, compared to the more serious person they had been when working as a PRT trooper pre-trigger.
Heroism is not just a job for Phalanx, they are genuinely called to be the best they can be, and while heroism is a major part of their life, they consistently endeavor to not let it consume them, or to let it be the sole focal point in their life.
Jasper is a follower of Hellenism, though they aren't usually forward about it. They are also Transgender and Pansexual, the later two being clear if you pay attention to context clues, thought they are a private person about Religion, Gender, and Orientation.
Power
Trigger Type: Single Natural Trigger.
Phalanx is a tinker, specifically a variant of a 'Theme Team Tinker' (Controller X Free) Capable of building Artifical Intelligence.
Consisting of Virtual Intelligence (100% digital), Robots (100% hardware), and Androids (A mix of both), each type of which can have countless variations, and are more broad categories than strict ones.
He touches on Free tinkering, but not with as much depth as others. He can build lasers, hard-light, anti-gravity, Meta-Materials, Power sources, and other science-fiction staples...
But these tend to be more limited/weaker than you'd see in a specialized tinker, or a Free Tinker with a stronger drawback, and tend to manifest as components or equipment for outfitting his Minions.
He his however heads and tails above most others in the field of Software and AI, even compared to other tinkers.
His more complicated AI are rather Alien in Mindset, though he excels at coding filters that allow these Mindsets to function akin to a human, animal, or to specific specifications.
For the sake of balancing, I have devised a method of categorizing his creations, and an associated point system, based around the Complexity of his creations, and the associated Maintenance.
He has a total of 12 Points to spend, on AI, Code, and Equipment, and I will be marking all his tech submissions Accordingly.
| Type | Points |
|---|---|
| Complex | 2 |
| Moderate | 1 |
| Simple | 1/2 |
| Stable | 0 |
Backstory
Like many children, Jasper wanted to be a Hero when they were a kid. Things didn’t work out that way though. But a successful career in the PRT was rewarding in its own way. Jasper would even argue that putting your life on the line to help others meant more when you weren’t a bullet-proof Modern-day Demi-god.
This wasn’t just a job for Jasper, it was a life-calling. But on Earth Kaff, all good things must end in tears. During one fateful operation Jasper and his squad was disabled by a potent emotion-manipulator. To this day Jasper is uncertain why it affected him so much more than his squad-mates (not that they didn’t have a rough time too).
The others took sometime to recover from the long-term negative effects, perhaps a month of downtime on average. Power-induced PTSD was no joke after all, but it seemed that the effects wore off with time with minimal lasting effects.
Not so for Jasper though, perhaps Jasper was simply more inclined towards Agoraphobia, but the PTSD had left Jasper a grade-A agoraphobe and Insomniac. They were able to tough through things at first, so they returned to active duty (barely passing psych checks) but their performance quickly dropped. His comradery with his co-workers fizzled out, and their combat effectiveness was hampered. The PRT discharged Jasper, putting them on reserve, so that Psychiatric help could be given.
Months passed, with minimal progress, Jasper isolated themselves from civilian friends, and family, video calls with their Therapist continued, and Jasper found some solace in the form of digital media, but things remained stagnant, and alone. Efforts to improve were continually met with setbacks, this continued for months.
TRIGGER
The PRT Therapist was alarmed when Jasper ceased communications, concerned that Jasper had taken their own life, they called the police, and the paramedics.
Jasper was not dead, but had simply dismantled every electronic device he owned in a fugue-state, having constructed most of a Bipedal Robot. Jasper remained unresponsive to the Police and Paramedics in his home, and the PRT were dispatched when it was clear this was a parahuman matter.
Their Trigger had left them different, they still had agoraphobia, but something had fundamentally changed, that allowed a gradual recovery. Legally they were now a member of the Protectorate, and while it took over a year and a half of concerted self-improvement to recover to the point that they were allowed on active duty. Jasper flourished as a protectorate hero.