★ Route666 | app
Mar. 13th, 2025 09:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lonedangerPlayer Name: Calen
Are you over 18?: Yes
Contact: PM, discord @ uncalendula, plurk @![[plurk.com profile]](https://plurk.com/favicon.ico)
yeeheist
Other Characters: N/A
Character Name: Leonard (Len) Darin, Courier 6
Canon: Fallout: New Vegas
Canon Point: Mid-game, has not killed Benny Gecko yet, on trajectory to Independent Vegas ending
Age: 37
Backstory: Courier 6 Wiki
Personality: Len is a perennial cynic with the patience of an ambush predator and the charisma of a serial lounge lizard. Accustomed to the disappointing and often futile nature of the wasteland in which he grew up, he is relentlessly suspicious of people's motivations and intentions and subscribes to the belief that nothing is free, because in his lived experience everything is transactional (anyone who says differently is trying to sell you something). In spite of this abundant suspicion - or possibly as a coping mechanism thereof - he is extremely charismatic, fond of the push-and-pull of salesmanship, negotiations, persuasion and flirtation.
Outside of charming somebody, Len is honest and forthcoming and prefers not to beat around the bush. He presents outwardly as a man who is easygoing, confident, and sure of himself, notoriously difficult to rise to anger but possessing a mean streak a mile wide when pushed over the edge. He does not forgive easily, and he does not forget.
In both the short- and long-term, what drives Len to pick up and keep going is sheer, unadulterated spite. Survival is the priority, and living comes second to that. Death is the only certainty and as a gambling man, everything else between now and then is just something to roll the dice on. Attempting to put him down will do nothing more than exponentially increase his desire to live, if only to see the other person get their ass handed to them with interest. This isn't to say that he is powered by revenge, so much as he just refuses to die. Whatever form that takes is something he isn't especially precious about.
Len is perhaps ironically well-adjusted, on a surface level. He is adaptable in high-stress situations and experienced in making quick, split-second decisions, accustomed to life or death scenarios that demand flexibility in action. He also spends a significant amount of time waiting on faraway ridges for his crosshairs to line up with a target, having honed his patience to a fine point. His threshold for snapping is therefore incredibly high, and he has a chokehold on reactionary emotions. This lends itself well to bluffing in card games or misleading others in conversation. His breaking point is nebulous but the lead-up to it is usually large, compounded impasses at every turn - obstacles that prevent him from pivoting as often as he does - or the death of a close loved one. The response is customarily to shut himself off.
He doesn't play well with authority figures who haven't earned respect and push their power and weight around, nor is he particularly chill with things that could generally be considered terrible crimes (enslavement, rape/SA, corporal punishment, physical abuse, unwarranted murder, et cet) but he does make a living offing bad guys and bad monsters in the Mojave when not delivering the mail. His general M.O. is that he doesn't draw his gun unless absolutely necessary, but there are exceptions for people from groups that take captives, torture, or kill folk indiscriminately. Sometimes it's just easier to shoot them from a half-mile away. What he appreciates in both himself and others is tenacity, and a commitment to sticking to one's guns and upholding one's convictions. He's not a philosopher and wouldn't claim to possess the kind of academic nuance one might have, but he believes there's a lot of strength in determination and in fulfilling goals, in seeing things through to the end of the line.
Len's biggest regret regards his status as a recovering addict. His past poison of choice was a synthesized strain of Addictol-proof Jet, a type of methamphetamine that is widely-used in the wasteland, and the endorphin blockers he had to take to rid himself of the addiction effectively made him immune to them. While on that kick in his twenties he committed a number of acts that he's not proud of, up to and including hurting other people for a hit, and does not like the person that he used to be. Some of the coping habits he's taken up - smoking tobacco regularly and drinking - aren't things he's necessarily ashamed of, but they are symptoms of a bigger problem, which is that he'll always struggle with his impulsivity and need for an escape.
The change and trauma involved in becoming a monster is something with which Len is intimately familiar, given his history with substance abuse. There's a comfortable-uncomfortable dissociative quality to it, in transforming into something he simultaneously dislikes but is required to acknowledge as a part of him. Having lacked a home, he treats his body like one - something compromised by the violent change in shape and abilities. Retaining his strong sense of self and impression of his own identity despite the transformation isn't something that he'll necessarily struggle to do, and he'll most likely forcefully adapt to out of - you guessed it! - the aforementioned spite.
Closing statements: Anything else you wish to add or sum up?
Powers/Abilities: Len is a regular human man and therefore doesn't have any magical/supernatural powers. General skills include:
★ Survival - Having grown up in an intolerant wasteland, he has rough and ready first aid skills but excels in stereotypical survival skills such as scavenging, establishing safe perimeters and shelters, trapping, hunting, skinning and butchering, and navigating/orienteering (by land). He has bog-standard utilitarian crafting skills, but pretty decent skills in weapons modification.
★ Constitution - Len has an unusual tolerance for gamma radiation due to the state of his world and its prevalent effects of nuclear fallout. He is also in possession of a pretty stellar and athletic stamina, as his work demands constant physical activity and long-distance running. He has a metal plate in his skull, under a scar at his right temple, from a rough surgical procedure that saved his life after being shot in the head.
★ Combat - Fighting drug-addled raiders, mutated monsters and giant irradiated insects is all par for the course in the Mojave Wasteland. Len is brutally effective in hand-to-hand combat and fights very dirty, and is equally vicious with a knife or a pistol in hand. He prefers long-distance sniping with a rifle, however, picking people off discreetly to save later headaches.
Inventory:
★ Sniper rifle, heavily modified. The scope and suppressor are features that Len hand-crafted, the latter allowing for stealth kills and the former expanding the range to nearly 2.5 miles. The word "Surefire" is engraved into the steel of the barrel.
★ "Lucky" revolver.
★ Pip-Boy 3000, a """"small""" personal computer worn on Len's left wrist. It keeps tabs on his health condition, has a map feature for mapping out areas and allows him to take notes. It also has an embedded Geiger counter, built-in AM broadcasting radio (that probably won't pick up much out here), and flashlight.
★ The clothes on his back, one (1) crumpled pack of cigarettes, a handful of Nuka-Cola bottle caps, a Bowie knife, and a few dozen .357 and .308 rounds. He also has thin, stamped silver cuffs of Navajo design that he wears on his right wrist.
Game Plans: As brutal as it is, Len is comfortable in his own world. He knows how to navigate it, how to adapt to horrendous conditions, and how to function in this specific frame of reference. An apocalyptic place is a cakewalk for him, but an apocalyptic place with different stakes and power players is an entirely different ballgame. Put this man into a situation!!! It would stretch his strengths and force him to develop new strategies, in addition to forcing him to work with more people collaboratively. He's accustomed to working alone or bringing a companion somewhere on occasion, but rarely is he required to be abundantly social. As dubious as he might be about finding a way out of this place via "Nirvana," his curiosity will get the better of him.
Monster Choice: (in no particular order)
★ Taurus / Satyr - "Too stubborn to die" is a big mood. The hedonism (alcoholic, here) and affinity for the outdoors are also very relatable, in addition to the fact that Len enjoys singing and playing the guitar. He's an entertainer at heart, charismatic and possessing a history of conning people. Being a creature of extremes is on brand for Len, vacillating between being Just A Chill Guy and The Man Who Is Actively Hunting You For Sport.
★ Undead / Draugr - Len himself is a revenant, having been dragged from a shallow grave and revived by an ambitious doctor. "They represent survival at all costs" is especially indicative of his hunger for revenge. The thematic similarity to skin-walkers, which are malevolent entities tied to his indigenous heritage, is an especially nice touch.
★ Zoanthrope / Werecoyote - The most stereotypical for him, but also very applicable. He's a relentless pursuit hunter who develops a small "pack" of companions in his world, people he grows to rely on and trust. He's extremely hard to kill and when he's hunting, he's a difficult man to stop. Plus I like the idea of completely transforming into a whole separate creature to echo his sentiments about being another person when he was in the throes of addiction.
Vehicle Choice: Pre-War style racing motorcycle, with the Fast quality.
Sample: TDM Top-Level + Threads
Are you over 18?: Yes
Contact: PM, discord @ uncalendula, plurk @
Other Characters: N/A
Character Name: Leonard (Len) Darin, Courier 6
Canon: Fallout: New Vegas
Canon Point: Mid-game, has not killed Benny Gecko yet, on trajectory to Independent Vegas ending
Age: 37
Backstory: Courier 6 Wiki
Personality: Len is a perennial cynic with the patience of an ambush predator and the charisma of a serial lounge lizard. Accustomed to the disappointing and often futile nature of the wasteland in which he grew up, he is relentlessly suspicious of people's motivations and intentions and subscribes to the belief that nothing is free, because in his lived experience everything is transactional (anyone who says differently is trying to sell you something). In spite of this abundant suspicion - or possibly as a coping mechanism thereof - he is extremely charismatic, fond of the push-and-pull of salesmanship, negotiations, persuasion and flirtation.
Outside of charming somebody, Len is honest and forthcoming and prefers not to beat around the bush. He presents outwardly as a man who is easygoing, confident, and sure of himself, notoriously difficult to rise to anger but possessing a mean streak a mile wide when pushed over the edge. He does not forgive easily, and he does not forget.
In both the short- and long-term, what drives Len to pick up and keep going is sheer, unadulterated spite. Survival is the priority, and living comes second to that. Death is the only certainty and as a gambling man, everything else between now and then is just something to roll the dice on. Attempting to put him down will do nothing more than exponentially increase his desire to live, if only to see the other person get their ass handed to them with interest. This isn't to say that he is powered by revenge, so much as he just refuses to die. Whatever form that takes is something he isn't especially precious about.
Len is perhaps ironically well-adjusted, on a surface level. He is adaptable in high-stress situations and experienced in making quick, split-second decisions, accustomed to life or death scenarios that demand flexibility in action. He also spends a significant amount of time waiting on faraway ridges for his crosshairs to line up with a target, having honed his patience to a fine point. His threshold for snapping is therefore incredibly high, and he has a chokehold on reactionary emotions. This lends itself well to bluffing in card games or misleading others in conversation. His breaking point is nebulous but the lead-up to it is usually large, compounded impasses at every turn - obstacles that prevent him from pivoting as often as he does - or the death of a close loved one. The response is customarily to shut himself off.
He doesn't play well with authority figures who haven't earned respect and push their power and weight around, nor is he particularly chill with things that could generally be considered terrible crimes (enslavement, rape/SA, corporal punishment, physical abuse, unwarranted murder, et cet) but he does make a living offing bad guys and bad monsters in the Mojave when not delivering the mail. His general M.O. is that he doesn't draw his gun unless absolutely necessary, but there are exceptions for people from groups that take captives, torture, or kill folk indiscriminately. Sometimes it's just easier to shoot them from a half-mile away. What he appreciates in both himself and others is tenacity, and a commitment to sticking to one's guns and upholding one's convictions. He's not a philosopher and wouldn't claim to possess the kind of academic nuance one might have, but he believes there's a lot of strength in determination and in fulfilling goals, in seeing things through to the end of the line.
Len's biggest regret regards his status as a recovering addict. His past poison of choice was a synthesized strain of Addictol-proof Jet, a type of methamphetamine that is widely-used in the wasteland, and the endorphin blockers he had to take to rid himself of the addiction effectively made him immune to them. While on that kick in his twenties he committed a number of acts that he's not proud of, up to and including hurting other people for a hit, and does not like the person that he used to be. Some of the coping habits he's taken up - smoking tobacco regularly and drinking - aren't things he's necessarily ashamed of, but they are symptoms of a bigger problem, which is that he'll always struggle with his impulsivity and need for an escape.
The change and trauma involved in becoming a monster is something with which Len is intimately familiar, given his history with substance abuse. There's a comfortable-uncomfortable dissociative quality to it, in transforming into something he simultaneously dislikes but is required to acknowledge as a part of him. Having lacked a home, he treats his body like one - something compromised by the violent change in shape and abilities. Retaining his strong sense of self and impression of his own identity despite the transformation isn't something that he'll necessarily struggle to do, and he'll most likely forcefully adapt to out of - you guessed it! - the aforementioned spite.
Closing statements: Anything else you wish to add or sum up?
Powers/Abilities: Len is a regular human man and therefore doesn't have any magical/supernatural powers. General skills include:
★ Survival - Having grown up in an intolerant wasteland, he has rough and ready first aid skills but excels in stereotypical survival skills such as scavenging, establishing safe perimeters and shelters, trapping, hunting, skinning and butchering, and navigating/orienteering (by land). He has bog-standard utilitarian crafting skills, but pretty decent skills in weapons modification.
★ Constitution - Len has an unusual tolerance for gamma radiation due to the state of his world and its prevalent effects of nuclear fallout. He is also in possession of a pretty stellar and athletic stamina, as his work demands constant physical activity and long-distance running. He has a metal plate in his skull, under a scar at his right temple, from a rough surgical procedure that saved his life after being shot in the head.
★ Combat - Fighting drug-addled raiders, mutated monsters and giant irradiated insects is all par for the course in the Mojave Wasteland. Len is brutally effective in hand-to-hand combat and fights very dirty, and is equally vicious with a knife or a pistol in hand. He prefers long-distance sniping with a rifle, however, picking people off discreetly to save later headaches.
Inventory:
★ Sniper rifle, heavily modified. The scope and suppressor are features that Len hand-crafted, the latter allowing for stealth kills and the former expanding the range to nearly 2.5 miles. The word "Surefire" is engraved into the steel of the barrel.
★ "Lucky" revolver.
★ Pip-Boy 3000, a """"small""" personal computer worn on Len's left wrist. It keeps tabs on his health condition, has a map feature for mapping out areas and allows him to take notes. It also has an embedded Geiger counter, built-in AM broadcasting radio (that probably won't pick up much out here), and flashlight.
★ The clothes on his back, one (1) crumpled pack of cigarettes, a handful of Nuka-Cola bottle caps, a Bowie knife, and a few dozen .357 and .308 rounds. He also has thin, stamped silver cuffs of Navajo design that he wears on his right wrist.
Game Plans: As brutal as it is, Len is comfortable in his own world. He knows how to navigate it, how to adapt to horrendous conditions, and how to function in this specific frame of reference. An apocalyptic place is a cakewalk for him, but an apocalyptic place with different stakes and power players is an entirely different ballgame. Put this man into a situation!!! It would stretch his strengths and force him to develop new strategies, in addition to forcing him to work with more people collaboratively. He's accustomed to working alone or bringing a companion somewhere on occasion, but rarely is he required to be abundantly social. As dubious as he might be about finding a way out of this place via "Nirvana," his curiosity will get the better of him.
Monster Choice: (in no particular order)
★ Taurus / Satyr - "Too stubborn to die" is a big mood. The hedonism (alcoholic, here) and affinity for the outdoors are also very relatable, in addition to the fact that Len enjoys singing and playing the guitar. He's an entertainer at heart, charismatic and possessing a history of conning people. Being a creature of extremes is on brand for Len, vacillating between being Just A Chill Guy and The Man Who Is Actively Hunting You For Sport.
★ Undead / Draugr - Len himself is a revenant, having been dragged from a shallow grave and revived by an ambitious doctor. "They represent survival at all costs" is especially indicative of his hunger for revenge. The thematic similarity to skin-walkers, which are malevolent entities tied to his indigenous heritage, is an especially nice touch.
★ Zoanthrope / Werecoyote - The most stereotypical for him, but also very applicable. He's a relentless pursuit hunter who develops a small "pack" of companions in his world, people he grows to rely on and trust. He's extremely hard to kill and when he's hunting, he's a difficult man to stop. Plus I like the idea of completely transforming into a whole separate creature to echo his sentiments about being another person when he was in the throes of addiction.
Vehicle Choice: Pre-War style racing motorcycle, with the Fast quality.
Sample: TDM Top-Level + Threads
