Marc Ettinger is a 26 year old Engineer (ADM Specialist), 2LT in a Special Forces unit attached to the US 2-156 Infantry of the 256th Brigade of the 5th Division. He was born and raised in Raleigh, North Carolina. Marc worked as an electrician before enlisting when war broke out.
Using UNE (Universal NPC Emulator) by Zach Best to roll up some of Marc’s backstory and character, we generate the following descriptors: “An obnoxious mercenary who distresses discretion, records dissonance, and guides disbelief.“
“Obnoxious mercenary” Marc is not pleasant company in battle, being uncompromisingly mercenary and arbitrary when it comes to the human side of things. Devastatingly arbitrary, Marc will simply point out the losses and gains from a purely one-sided and selfish perspective. The worst thing about Marc is that he is usually right – the Twilight War can ill afford compassion and humanity without a price to be paid. Marc is just the cold, obnoxious accountant constantly pointing out that they can’t afford to be nice to people most of the time.
“Distresses discretion” Marc loves to wind up those who favour a subtle or soft approach, preferring to advocate for a violent and explosive solution to most situations. It’s a friggin’ war after all, why are we treading on eggshells? Blow it the heck up so it stops being a problem, and let’s get outta here..
“Records dissonance” Marc keeps a diary of the unit’s encounters, and he delights in writing up very biased accounts of anyone who disagreed with him and how they ended up being wrong and he, Marc, ended up being right.
“Guides disbelief” Marc likes sowing dissent among his buddies and especially where any of them are favouring a solution that is not brutal and violent. Marc tries to guide everyone into doubting that they can ever afford to be humane, and he always tries to push for the violent and brutal solution in any situation.
This guy is shaping up to be the asshat of the group.
Next up I’m going to use SOLO by Paul Elliott to generate some background for Marc. Let’s see if his three Life Events will confirm some of the secrets and mystery of his past:
- Marc was forced to take part in an immoral mission or duty. His actions still haunt him. OK, I totally was not expecting this. What could have been so bad that it haunts a guy like Marc? Hmm, maybe this is the reason that he now acts the way he is, a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy where he acts up into the role that he was forced into, maybe waiting to be officially stopped and punished in order to satisfy his guilt. deep psychological stuff.
- Marc had to create a new identity for himself. But why? OK, I’m getting a vibe from this – the new identity is more of a new personality. Marc behaves like an asshole in some weird attempt to mask his guilt. Don’t ask me why. But one day it is all going to fall apart and come crashing down on him.
- Marc made a terrible mistake, and fears repeating that mistake. OK, it’s weird how it all falls into place from random die rolls. Marc made a terrible mistake in being a nice guy, with feelings etc. and when he was on the fateful mission of shame he had to find ways to close off that part of himself. He fears ever being a feeling, empathetic human ever again and so everything he does these days is to stop those feelings from flooding back in and overwhelming him with guilt. So bizarrely he acts up as a disruptive, callous mercenary so that he never has to face up to his underlying feelings. It’s all going to end badly for him isn’t it?
Well, that was unexpectedly complex yet fascinating. Here we have a guy whose random dice rolls appear to show him in the process of falling apart, yet desperately trying to hold things together by acting out an extreme version of denial.
OK, after rolling up Marc’s stats (below) and thinking about his background, I’ve made him an ADM specialist Engineer. The terrible thing that he cannot live with is something to do with a mission where he used atomic munitions against some type of soft target in what Marc feels was an awful war crime.
I think Marc probably went in with his B54 backpack nuke, and rather than set the timer shorter and blow himself up with it, he set the timer long so that he had enough time to get away outside of the blast zone and into deep cover. The only problem was, the site where he set the B54 was neither secure nor surveilled, and instead of the detonation taking out advancing Soviet forces it obliterated thousands of fleeing civilians, mainly women and children. When Marc became aware of this soon afterwards, it tipped him over the edge into his current (perhaps permanent) psychotic state of denial.
Before anybody contacts me to point out that Specialist Atomic Demolition Munitions units were officially disbanded by the mid-Eighties, I’m just going to handwave it through that a few select top secret SADM units were retained as last resort tactical options, and that Marc was unlucky enough to be assigned to one of them.
Stat development:
- Fitness 14
- Agility 4
- Constitution 16
- Stature 10
- Intelligence 14
- Education 9
- TOTAL: 67
- Strength 12
- HITS: Head 16 Chest 38 Others 26
- Weight 80kg (about 176lbs)
- Load 38kg
- Throw Range 24m
- Military Experience 7
- Time In Combat 44 months
- Coolness Under Fire 2
- RADS 40
- Age 26
- Rank 2LT SPECFOR Engineer (ADM Specialist)
- Army US
- Nationality American
- Native Language LNG(English)100
- Military Skill Points 280
- Education Skill Points 180
- Background Skill Points 300
Skills:
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