(no subject)
Oct. 31st, 2012 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wolfmd» PLAYER INFORMATION
Player NAME: Bear
Current AGE: 29
Personal JOURNAL:naturalcyber
IM & SERVICE: AIM: naturalcyber
Player PLURK: Naturalcyber
Current CHARACTERS: Kanji Tatsumi, Gamzee Makara
» CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character NAME: Isaac Hunter
Character PULL-POINT: Right after discovering that a group of "them" (basically Were supremacists who want to infect all humans) is active in Sacramento
Character AGE: 24
Character ABILITIES: Of more mundane abilities, Isaac is a doctor. He is still in his residency but has successfully finished schooling (in a very tough six year integrated program) and taken all of the boards. So he's very intelligent, driven and has a lot of medical knowledge. His internships and his residency have put him in the ICU and trauma unit so he's directly experienced with triage and quick response to serious injuries and illness.
Of his not so mundane abilities, Isaac is a werewolf. He can transform at will, though it is does come with a price, and he must transform once a month. He can hold off the full-moon transformation temporarily but it becomes painful and mentally exhausting.
In human form, pound for pound he's stronger than a normal human, but not to a superstrength level. He could match Olympic level athletes with a little training, however, and has the stamina to run on Olympic pace in a marathon setting. He's not nearly as good at short distance running, however, because he has stamina but not as much raw speed. All of his senses, in general are better than a human's, though he does suffer a bit in areas.
He also has a much better immune system and healing. The virus that makes him a werewolf bolsters and supports his immune system. He's slightly more susceptible to bacterial than viral infections, but on the whole he doesn't get as sick and sickness doesn't last as long. Even very serious diseases aren't as much of a threat. The virus recognizes his DNA and its own, and is militant about destroying foreign DNA and RNA giving him better defenses against infection in ways a normal human immune system can't even begin to match. As far as healing, he'll heal from injuries much more quickly, as quick as half the time in optimal circumstances (ie adequate food and rest), and he's practically immune to cancer.
As a wolf, he's actually a dire wolf, and an unusually large one at that (about 4 feet at the shoulder). Compared to gray wolves, he's more compact, much stronger and has more stamina, but less fleet and agile. While a grey wolf could outrun him with ease and even get an early lead in a long distance situation, a deeper chest and more compact build would let Isaac win out and keep going long after. He has slightly longer legs than a natural dire wolf would, and could almost be mistaken for a freakishly large grey at a distance. As a dire wolf he has huge, powerful jaws and massive bone crushing teeth, and the advantage of weight to drag things down. He also keeps his human intelligence in wolf form, and keeps his wolf instincts in human form, so his personality doesn't change when his form does.
Being a werewolf has its drawbacks though. He needs immense amounts of food to keep going, and a very high protein diet. His metabolism (and body temperature) is very high, and his body is constantly trying to store up energy to fuel his changes, during which his body basically tears itself apart down to the cellular level and rebuilds in a matter of minutes (3-7ish). The energy consumption and amount of pain is immense, and leaves him very vulnerable. If he can't get enough to eat he'll start wasting away much more quickly than a normal human would. The more often he changes, the more he'd need to eat to keep up, and the longer each change would take. Frequent changes would also exhaust him, and he wouldn't be able to keep producing the enforcing hormones that make the changes bearable and give him the energy to keep going right after. Too many changes in too short a period would nearly kill him, and risk putting him in a coma (which would run an additional risk--he wouldn't be able to take in the calories his body would need to recover that way).
Isaac is also contagious at all times. It does take direct cell transfer (blood-to-blood being the most dangerous, followed by sex), but even so he has to be very careful. Saliva to blood has a chance of infection too (ie biting hard enough to bleed).
Character HISTORY: Isaac was born a member of the Yurok tribe and grew up in the Klamath river area with his family. As a werewolf this was a pack consisting of his parents, two aunts and their shared husband, an older brother, and some younger siblings (some of whom were technically cousins). Outside of his own pack there was the dire wolf clan, of which many were relatives in one way or another. There was also a grizzly clan in the tribe. Isaac grew up surrounded by family and very well loved. He never wanted for companionship or affection in the least and was never, ever alone. His primary teacher of Yurok language and culture was his great-grandfather who was nearing his 80s when Isaac was young. He was a good student in elementary school, with a great deal of curiosity about the natural world, and originally intended to become involved in forestry until his older brother fell and badly broke his leg. During the trip to the hospital Isaac was appalled and enthralled both by the hospital and the doctors' treatment of his brother. He was appalled and confused that the doctors (understandably, he later learned) reacted the way they did to natural things about being a Were, due to his rather sheltered and Were-centric upbringing, and enthralled at the facilities and opportunities. At that point in time he decided he would become a doctor and never strayed from that path.
In middle and high school Isaac focused intently on his studies, to the point where he was teased for it at times, and was only marginally interested in sports. He took to wearing fake glasses at about this time, not only to conceal his eyes but because he felt they gave him a "nerdy" appearance and would stop the pestering to join different sports teams and decrease the teasing. While it didn't work quite as intended, (the teasing never got better) Isaac continued to wear the glasses and never reconsidered. The teasing didn't have as much of an effect due to the closeness of his family and tribe and his own natural optimism. His life, to his joy, revolved entirely around his studies and his family and he often took part in tribal gatherings and festivals and could be found helping out the tribal elders in his spare time. Because of his drive and the knowledge that he'd need to get scholarships to go to the best schools, Isaac planned out everything he could to basically put himself ahead when it came time to apply to scholerships. Though he was glad to help and enjoyed the various community service undertakings, there was always that little bit of ulterior motive behind it. If he was caught between doing something he wanted to and doing something he knew would help his future he'd try to do both because he was stubborn but would do the activity that helped his future first, just in case.
Around the time he was 15 Isaac began taking hunting trips with his brother and another boy from the Were-grizzly bear clan. These activities were encouraged by their clans as a way to practice for future life as full members of a pack. Though they all knew there would come a time when they left the safety of their parents' pack, it seemed far off and they approached things with a sense of fun, and perhaps not quite seriously enough. They spent as much time playing and engaging in friendly prank wars as hunting, and like kids, tended to do what they thought would be the most fun rather than what would help them prepare for the future. In fact, Isaac was probably the only reason they didn't spend the entire time on these trips just messing around. To his brother's consternation Isaac ended up leading the expeditions even though he was almost three years younger. Until he was accepted into college on scholarships these times were the longest Isaac had ever spent away from his pack, and even then he was with other Weres. Isaac's preparation paid off, and because of his excellent grades and commitment to the community, Isaac was able to earn several scholarships and was accepted at Davis College--which was far too far to visit home frequently but had an integrated program with the UC Davis Medical School. To prepare for his medical degree Isaac decided to major in Microbiology but in the first months suffered from severe homesickness. This was his first time apart from not only other Weres, but his own family, and he made some poor decisions because of it. One of which was to go to a place frequented by hunters and surrounded on all sides by farmland to transform. He didn't think through what reactions that signs of a wolf in the area would cause. Luckily, there was one good outcome, and one night during a transformation he stumbled across a Thai Were-sambar. Though she was a herbivore strain she was also alone and they both benefited by forming a very unorthodox temporary pack. On the other side, they were both discovered by a human, and Isaac's hunting attracted the attention of both an illegal hunting operation and some scientists. Isaac became embroiled in dealing with the human, who was his roommate's girlfriend, Anna, finding out his secret. Accidentally or not this was a violation of Were laws, and the penalty was often the unfortunate human being infected against their will. Isaac was very against this, and became caught up in trying to bring things to a peaceful solution. It would have worked, but in his efforts to make the Anna comfortable with keeping Weres a secret, he ignored things he shouldn't have. She wanted to tell her boyfriend, and he vouched for the boy, Mark, even when there were signs he wouldn't take the knowledge well. It ended with disaster, and a leaked youtube video "revealing" Weres to the public. The video was shut down and eventually dismissed as a hoax but Mark was dealt with by being infected. He eventually committed suicide rather than live as a werewolf, and this drove Isaac and Anna apart. Anna was unable to escape Were-culture and so became an advocate for infected persons, and avoided Isaac wherever she could. Isaac took it hard, blaming himself, and his only support was the Thai sambar, until she graduated and Isaac went on to study at the Davis School of medicine. Left without support and away from his family Isaac tried to avoid the problem by throwing himself even further into his studies. On one hand it worked and Isaac did well in the academic courses and went on to begin his residency at the UC Davis Medical Center Sacramento. On the other, without grounding and support Isaac developed some reckless behaviors, especially where potential infection was concerned.
He got exceptionally paranoid about infecting others, and earned his title as the resident "OCD clean-freak" in spades. Coupled with his need to eat so much and his shying off of forming deep relationships with humans, he was seen as more than a little strange and worrying by his fellow students and coworkers. This came to a head when a little girl came into the emergency room after having been bitten, intentionally, by another werewolf. Isaac recognized the signs that the human doctors could not have but endangered Were-secrecy by pushing the issue and revealing information to convince his coworkers he was right. On one hand, these actions may well have saved the girl's life, but they also potentially endangered Isaac and Were-society. He also exposed himself as being infected with the virus, and spoke a little too much on historical references to the illness. He was forced to work, uneasily, with Anna and another advocate, and the stress contributed to the slip-ups. In the end, coworkers were suspicious over the whole affair, and especially the way Weres tried to cover for Isaac's mistakes, and the Were-community in Sacramento was facing the most severe threat in centuries, namely a group of "them."
Refused to be named due to Were-justice (excommunication being considered a more severe punishment than even death), "they" were outcasts and Were-supremacists. Their goal was to end the self-imposed secrecy in the most violent way, by forcibly infecting as many humans as possible. Isaac comes to Exsilium just after discovering this, and faced with the likelihood of seeing many, many more infected humans come through his emergency room in a short time.
Character PERSONALITY: The first impression most people would get of Isaac is one of intelligence, focus, and friendliness. He is all of those things, but getting to know him reveals much more than that. Isaac is very people oriented. He tends to think of others before himself, and has a strong protective and caring instinct, and his life goal of being a doctor does factor into this. When he saw human doctors trying to treat Weres and having to be in the dark about basic facts due to secrecy he suddenly had a drive and a goal to be a doctor that Weres and humans could go to and be fully and completely treated for whatever ailed them. This has been most of his life, and admittedly, he wouldn't know how he would separate himself from that pursuit. Having achieved his goal he's just a little lost and aimless in some ways. Happy to do his work, but in his scant free time prone to negative feelings.
However part of that is because Isaac is not an exception to Weres being exceptionally social. Weres depend on their family groups for mental and emotional support and tearing them from that is considered so terrible that it's a punishment worse than death. Isaac does fight against that, and contacts his family over the phone and internet, but it occasionally brings him down, and having more free time ends with him dwelling on it and making things worse. He's very, very lonely and alone and that takes a constant mental and emotional toll on him. He has a habit of transferring his need to belong on patients or sometimes friends and coworkers and getting too attached, often with disastrous consequences.
In a good situation with that support he needs, this protective and caring facet would serve him well, and actually makes him a very good potential pack leader. Isaac is confident and self-assured as well, and usually has a decent idea of his own limits, so he's able to take control and direct, as well as make decisions for the good of the group.
He's not without faults in event that area though. Isaac is detail oriented, and sometimes he takes that too far and loses sight of or outright ignores the big picture in favor of taking care of more immediate needs. A perfect example of this was when Anna was struggling with keeping Weres secret from her boyfriend, and Isaac pushed and vouched for the boyfriend being told even though there was evidence that he would take the news badly. He put Anna's comfort over everything else in order to keep from losing her at the time and paid the price for it.
He is still suffering for that, and has picked up habits and biases because of the incident. He tries very hard not to get too close to humans, under the assumption that things would go just as badly, and because of his loneliness ends up fighting his own instincts to connect. This is a constant struggle for him, and humans who spend a lot of time with him tend to think he's a little distant. Isaac has also developed a very strong abhorrence of forced infection. He hates the practice of doing that to keep secrecy, and hates "them" for their forced infection tactics as well. He does agree with "them" in one area, though. Though it goes against his upbringing and is another struggle, Isaac is coming more and more to want secrecy ended.
And while he doesn't look with accidental infections (accidents do happen and he knows there's no way of making himself and other Weres perfectly safe) with the same hate, infecting someone accidentally is one of his biggest fears. To help stop that he's become just a little obsessed with preventative measures. He wears double gloves, sanitizes, and takes every possible precaution to keep himself from infecting someone. He won't even kiss a human, for fear of the small chance of infection that would be present if they had a cut lip or cheek or a sore. This has earned him the title of "OCD clean-freak" at the hospital, because he takes it so very, very seriously. Accidentally infecting someone is one of the things that could very well send him into an actual panic, even though he's usually more or less well in control, in spite of occasional stupid decisions in the heat of the moment.
But the faults he has and the effects of his current living situation on his psyche aren't Isaac's only facet. As seen in his youth, Isaac is friendly and outgoing by default, prone to cheer and optimism. When there isn't something vitally important to do, he enjoys playing, telling jokes and even engaging in prank wars. For Isaac, having fun with family is just as important as planning for the future. He enjoys jokes and group activities the most.
Isaac also has wolfish instincts at all times. He can get very territorial, and when pressed his reactions to things can be very canine. He'll bare his teeth when threatened, and uses meeting someone's gaze as a challenge. Isaac is better at being a subordinate than most leader-quality Weres do due to his easygoing nature, but he does function best in an environment with an established chain of command. It doesn't mean he won't challenge it when he thinks he's right, but he's more comfortable in such an environment.
He's also a predator, and on some level evaluates the world like one. He has a strong chase instinct, and though he can control actually chasing small, quick moving things, he can't help giving them at least some of his attention.
» EXSILIUM INFORMATION
Chosen WEAPON: He will refuse outright to pick a weapon at all. Therefore, the Initiative has the option of choosing to make his wolf form the weapon (since they probably know about it) and as things evolve the change will become faster, and he'll be able to store more energy up so he can change more often without nearly killing himself, which is what frequent changes would do under normal circumstances.
Chosen SKILLSET: He's a doctor and would prefer not to fight. He'd make an excellent field medic (or even a spy or tracker because of his senses) though.
Character INVENTORY: He'll be coming in from the hospital, so he'll have his stethoscope, some alcohol wipes and tape and bandages, and several clean pairs of surgical gloves. Also some energy bars and his cell-phone.
» SAMPLES
First PERSON:
[The video opens with a young man in scrubs. His long hair is braided and just messy enough to fall over the tops of his ears and he is wearing glasses. His smile is warm, but small and doesn't show any teeth. There's a bit of strain in his tone when he speaks, however.]
Good evening, everyone. I'm Doctor Isaac Hunter and, well... I probably radiate "new transport" right now, so please forgive the staring. I'll get over the tourist stage soon, I'm sure. And I'll spare you all my thoughts on this Initiative, and instead offer to help where I can. It looks like I've arrived in the middle of--
[And here he looks a little unsure for a moment, glancing over his shoulder at something offscreen.] ...something so we have no time to waste. What I need to know is what we've got set up. Who are our medical staff? Doctors? Nurses? EMTs? What have we got for facilities and where? And who's in charge of triage?
[A beat and a slightly self-deprecating smile.] And pointing out where we can find food would be great too. I'm starving.
Third PERSON:
Isaac was a moment away from what felt like a minor breakdown. Maybe not quite that bad, but he was definitely feeling overwhelmed. He didn't know what was going on or where he was, and everything smelled wrong. There was nothing familiar. No sounds or scents or sights. Even his cell wasn't picking up any signal. He'd thought he'd gotten used to being alone, but this, this was so much worse than anything he'd felt before. Alone and no contact with anyone at all.
He felt cornered and he knew his hackles were raised. The fur on his back was prickled up under his shirt in a way that would have been a good distraction if he hadn't been feeling so upset. He knew, of course, that there was a reason being made outcast was the worst punishment for a Were but he'd never expected to go through it, even with the worst of his mistakes.
Isaac almost bared his teeth at someone coming towards him and only caught himself at the last moment. A quick turn of a corner brought him out of range and Isaac leaned against the wall, trying to control his breathing. There were no worries of being lost; he could follow his own scent back to the room he'd arrived in. He could follow her scent to wherever she'd disappeared off to. The problem was, his questions and protests about being brought here had done no good so far. It had been like running full out into a brick wall. He needed--
He needed his family. He needed to concentrate. He needed--
If this was really Earth. If this was really the future, there would be Weres here, wouldn't there? And he was still a doctor. He could still do what he loved, and maybe, maybe...
Isaac just wanted to go home. There had to be a way. He just had to find it.
» ADDITIONAL NOTES
Isaac is contagious but infections will only be carried out with player (and mod, if necessary) permission, if the Initiative doesn't find some cure for the virus outright.
Player NAME: Bear
Current AGE: 29
Personal JOURNAL:
naturalcyberIM & SERVICE: AIM: naturalcyber
Player PLURK: Naturalcyber
Current CHARACTERS: Kanji Tatsumi, Gamzee Makara
» CHARACTER INFORMATION
Character NAME: Isaac Hunter
Character PULL-POINT: Right after discovering that a group of "them" (basically Were supremacists who want to infect all humans) is active in Sacramento
Character AGE: 24
Character ABILITIES: Of more mundane abilities, Isaac is a doctor. He is still in his residency but has successfully finished schooling (in a very tough six year integrated program) and taken all of the boards. So he's very intelligent, driven and has a lot of medical knowledge. His internships and his residency have put him in the ICU and trauma unit so he's directly experienced with triage and quick response to serious injuries and illness.
Of his not so mundane abilities, Isaac is a werewolf. He can transform at will, though it is does come with a price, and he must transform once a month. He can hold off the full-moon transformation temporarily but it becomes painful and mentally exhausting.
In human form, pound for pound he's stronger than a normal human, but not to a superstrength level. He could match Olympic level athletes with a little training, however, and has the stamina to run on Olympic pace in a marathon setting. He's not nearly as good at short distance running, however, because he has stamina but not as much raw speed. All of his senses, in general are better than a human's, though he does suffer a bit in areas.
- Hearing: as acute as a wolf, and with a range up to 80kz. He has an easier time picking up very quiet sounds in wolf-form though. He's much more sensitive to loud noises and tends to avoid them because he gets ear and headaches from over-exposure.
- scent: very, very acute. Not as much as a bloodhound, but far outstripping most domestic dogs. Duller in human form, but not by too much.
- vision: his day vision is more acute in picking up motion, and he has much better peripheral vision than a human. He's not as good at picking up fine details over distance, but not poor enough to be considered nearsighted. His night-vision is very acute, as good as a wolf or coyote and possibly slightly better. Where he suffers compared to humans is color-vision. His eyes don't have as many green cones (actual wolves have none) as humans, so he has difficulty with green, orange, yellow and red. He doesn't see them as vibrantly, and will confuse them. It's not to the extent that he'd be considered fully colorblind, but it does affect him.
- electromagnetic sense: Mostly this, combined with his other senses, helps him predict things like coming earthquakes and storms, but he can also use it as an internal compass.
He also has a much better immune system and healing. The virus that makes him a werewolf bolsters and supports his immune system. He's slightly more susceptible to bacterial than viral infections, but on the whole he doesn't get as sick and sickness doesn't last as long. Even very serious diseases aren't as much of a threat. The virus recognizes his DNA and its own, and is militant about destroying foreign DNA and RNA giving him better defenses against infection in ways a normal human immune system can't even begin to match. As far as healing, he'll heal from injuries much more quickly, as quick as half the time in optimal circumstances (ie adequate food and rest), and he's practically immune to cancer.
As a wolf, he's actually a dire wolf, and an unusually large one at that (about 4 feet at the shoulder). Compared to gray wolves, he's more compact, much stronger and has more stamina, but less fleet and agile. While a grey wolf could outrun him with ease and even get an early lead in a long distance situation, a deeper chest and more compact build would let Isaac win out and keep going long after. He has slightly longer legs than a natural dire wolf would, and could almost be mistaken for a freakishly large grey at a distance. As a dire wolf he has huge, powerful jaws and massive bone crushing teeth, and the advantage of weight to drag things down. He also keeps his human intelligence in wolf form, and keeps his wolf instincts in human form, so his personality doesn't change when his form does.
Being a werewolf has its drawbacks though. He needs immense amounts of food to keep going, and a very high protein diet. His metabolism (and body temperature) is very high, and his body is constantly trying to store up energy to fuel his changes, during which his body basically tears itself apart down to the cellular level and rebuilds in a matter of minutes (3-7ish). The energy consumption and amount of pain is immense, and leaves him very vulnerable. If he can't get enough to eat he'll start wasting away much more quickly than a normal human would. The more often he changes, the more he'd need to eat to keep up, and the longer each change would take. Frequent changes would also exhaust him, and he wouldn't be able to keep producing the enforcing hormones that make the changes bearable and give him the energy to keep going right after. Too many changes in too short a period would nearly kill him, and risk putting him in a coma (which would run an additional risk--he wouldn't be able to take in the calories his body would need to recover that way).
Isaac is also contagious at all times. It does take direct cell transfer (blood-to-blood being the most dangerous, followed by sex), but even so he has to be very careful. Saliva to blood has a chance of infection too (ie biting hard enough to bleed).
Character HISTORY: Isaac was born a member of the Yurok tribe and grew up in the Klamath river area with his family. As a werewolf this was a pack consisting of his parents, two aunts and their shared husband, an older brother, and some younger siblings (some of whom were technically cousins). Outside of his own pack there was the dire wolf clan, of which many were relatives in one way or another. There was also a grizzly clan in the tribe. Isaac grew up surrounded by family and very well loved. He never wanted for companionship or affection in the least and was never, ever alone. His primary teacher of Yurok language and culture was his great-grandfather who was nearing his 80s when Isaac was young. He was a good student in elementary school, with a great deal of curiosity about the natural world, and originally intended to become involved in forestry until his older brother fell and badly broke his leg. During the trip to the hospital Isaac was appalled and enthralled both by the hospital and the doctors' treatment of his brother. He was appalled and confused that the doctors (understandably, he later learned) reacted the way they did to natural things about being a Were, due to his rather sheltered and Were-centric upbringing, and enthralled at the facilities and opportunities. At that point in time he decided he would become a doctor and never strayed from that path.
In middle and high school Isaac focused intently on his studies, to the point where he was teased for it at times, and was only marginally interested in sports. He took to wearing fake glasses at about this time, not only to conceal his eyes but because he felt they gave him a "nerdy" appearance and would stop the pestering to join different sports teams and decrease the teasing. While it didn't work quite as intended, (the teasing never got better) Isaac continued to wear the glasses and never reconsidered. The teasing didn't have as much of an effect due to the closeness of his family and tribe and his own natural optimism. His life, to his joy, revolved entirely around his studies and his family and he often took part in tribal gatherings and festivals and could be found helping out the tribal elders in his spare time. Because of his drive and the knowledge that he'd need to get scholarships to go to the best schools, Isaac planned out everything he could to basically put himself ahead when it came time to apply to scholerships. Though he was glad to help and enjoyed the various community service undertakings, there was always that little bit of ulterior motive behind it. If he was caught between doing something he wanted to and doing something he knew would help his future he'd try to do both because he was stubborn but would do the activity that helped his future first, just in case.
Around the time he was 15 Isaac began taking hunting trips with his brother and another boy from the Were-grizzly bear clan. These activities were encouraged by their clans as a way to practice for future life as full members of a pack. Though they all knew there would come a time when they left the safety of their parents' pack, it seemed far off and they approached things with a sense of fun, and perhaps not quite seriously enough. They spent as much time playing and engaging in friendly prank wars as hunting, and like kids, tended to do what they thought would be the most fun rather than what would help them prepare for the future. In fact, Isaac was probably the only reason they didn't spend the entire time on these trips just messing around. To his brother's consternation Isaac ended up leading the expeditions even though he was almost three years younger. Until he was accepted into college on scholarships these times were the longest Isaac had ever spent away from his pack, and even then he was with other Weres. Isaac's preparation paid off, and because of his excellent grades and commitment to the community, Isaac was able to earn several scholarships and was accepted at Davis College--which was far too far to visit home frequently but had an integrated program with the UC Davis Medical School. To prepare for his medical degree Isaac decided to major in Microbiology but in the first months suffered from severe homesickness. This was his first time apart from not only other Weres, but his own family, and he made some poor decisions because of it. One of which was to go to a place frequented by hunters and surrounded on all sides by farmland to transform. He didn't think through what reactions that signs of a wolf in the area would cause. Luckily, there was one good outcome, and one night during a transformation he stumbled across a Thai Were-sambar. Though she was a herbivore strain she was also alone and they both benefited by forming a very unorthodox temporary pack. On the other side, they were both discovered by a human, and Isaac's hunting attracted the attention of both an illegal hunting operation and some scientists. Isaac became embroiled in dealing with the human, who was his roommate's girlfriend, Anna, finding out his secret. Accidentally or not this was a violation of Were laws, and the penalty was often the unfortunate human being infected against their will. Isaac was very against this, and became caught up in trying to bring things to a peaceful solution. It would have worked, but in his efforts to make the Anna comfortable with keeping Weres a secret, he ignored things he shouldn't have. She wanted to tell her boyfriend, and he vouched for the boy, Mark, even when there were signs he wouldn't take the knowledge well. It ended with disaster, and a leaked youtube video "revealing" Weres to the public. The video was shut down and eventually dismissed as a hoax but Mark was dealt with by being infected. He eventually committed suicide rather than live as a werewolf, and this drove Isaac and Anna apart. Anna was unable to escape Were-culture and so became an advocate for infected persons, and avoided Isaac wherever she could. Isaac took it hard, blaming himself, and his only support was the Thai sambar, until she graduated and Isaac went on to study at the Davis School of medicine. Left without support and away from his family Isaac tried to avoid the problem by throwing himself even further into his studies. On one hand it worked and Isaac did well in the academic courses and went on to begin his residency at the UC Davis Medical Center Sacramento. On the other, without grounding and support Isaac developed some reckless behaviors, especially where potential infection was concerned.
He got exceptionally paranoid about infecting others, and earned his title as the resident "OCD clean-freak" in spades. Coupled with his need to eat so much and his shying off of forming deep relationships with humans, he was seen as more than a little strange and worrying by his fellow students and coworkers. This came to a head when a little girl came into the emergency room after having been bitten, intentionally, by another werewolf. Isaac recognized the signs that the human doctors could not have but endangered Were-secrecy by pushing the issue and revealing information to convince his coworkers he was right. On one hand, these actions may well have saved the girl's life, but they also potentially endangered Isaac and Were-society. He also exposed himself as being infected with the virus, and spoke a little too much on historical references to the illness. He was forced to work, uneasily, with Anna and another advocate, and the stress contributed to the slip-ups. In the end, coworkers were suspicious over the whole affair, and especially the way Weres tried to cover for Isaac's mistakes, and the Were-community in Sacramento was facing the most severe threat in centuries, namely a group of "them."
Refused to be named due to Were-justice (excommunication being considered a more severe punishment than even death), "they" were outcasts and Were-supremacists. Their goal was to end the self-imposed secrecy in the most violent way, by forcibly infecting as many humans as possible. Isaac comes to Exsilium just after discovering this, and faced with the likelihood of seeing many, many more infected humans come through his emergency room in a short time.
Character PERSONALITY: The first impression most people would get of Isaac is one of intelligence, focus, and friendliness. He is all of those things, but getting to know him reveals much more than that. Isaac is very people oriented. He tends to think of others before himself, and has a strong protective and caring instinct, and his life goal of being a doctor does factor into this. When he saw human doctors trying to treat Weres and having to be in the dark about basic facts due to secrecy he suddenly had a drive and a goal to be a doctor that Weres and humans could go to and be fully and completely treated for whatever ailed them. This has been most of his life, and admittedly, he wouldn't know how he would separate himself from that pursuit. Having achieved his goal he's just a little lost and aimless in some ways. Happy to do his work, but in his scant free time prone to negative feelings.
However part of that is because Isaac is not an exception to Weres being exceptionally social. Weres depend on their family groups for mental and emotional support and tearing them from that is considered so terrible that it's a punishment worse than death. Isaac does fight against that, and contacts his family over the phone and internet, but it occasionally brings him down, and having more free time ends with him dwelling on it and making things worse. He's very, very lonely and alone and that takes a constant mental and emotional toll on him. He has a habit of transferring his need to belong on patients or sometimes friends and coworkers and getting too attached, often with disastrous consequences.
In a good situation with that support he needs, this protective and caring facet would serve him well, and actually makes him a very good potential pack leader. Isaac is confident and self-assured as well, and usually has a decent idea of his own limits, so he's able to take control and direct, as well as make decisions for the good of the group.
He's not without faults in event that area though. Isaac is detail oriented, and sometimes he takes that too far and loses sight of or outright ignores the big picture in favor of taking care of more immediate needs. A perfect example of this was when Anna was struggling with keeping Weres secret from her boyfriend, and Isaac pushed and vouched for the boyfriend being told even though there was evidence that he would take the news badly. He put Anna's comfort over everything else in order to keep from losing her at the time and paid the price for it.
He is still suffering for that, and has picked up habits and biases because of the incident. He tries very hard not to get too close to humans, under the assumption that things would go just as badly, and because of his loneliness ends up fighting his own instincts to connect. This is a constant struggle for him, and humans who spend a lot of time with him tend to think he's a little distant. Isaac has also developed a very strong abhorrence of forced infection. He hates the practice of doing that to keep secrecy, and hates "them" for their forced infection tactics as well. He does agree with "them" in one area, though. Though it goes against his upbringing and is another struggle, Isaac is coming more and more to want secrecy ended.
And while he doesn't look with accidental infections (accidents do happen and he knows there's no way of making himself and other Weres perfectly safe) with the same hate, infecting someone accidentally is one of his biggest fears. To help stop that he's become just a little obsessed with preventative measures. He wears double gloves, sanitizes, and takes every possible precaution to keep himself from infecting someone. He won't even kiss a human, for fear of the small chance of infection that would be present if they had a cut lip or cheek or a sore. This has earned him the title of "OCD clean-freak" at the hospital, because he takes it so very, very seriously. Accidentally infecting someone is one of the things that could very well send him into an actual panic, even though he's usually more or less well in control, in spite of occasional stupid decisions in the heat of the moment.
But the faults he has and the effects of his current living situation on his psyche aren't Isaac's only facet. As seen in his youth, Isaac is friendly and outgoing by default, prone to cheer and optimism. When there isn't something vitally important to do, he enjoys playing, telling jokes and even engaging in prank wars. For Isaac, having fun with family is just as important as planning for the future. He enjoys jokes and group activities the most.
Isaac also has wolfish instincts at all times. He can get very territorial, and when pressed his reactions to things can be very canine. He'll bare his teeth when threatened, and uses meeting someone's gaze as a challenge. Isaac is better at being a subordinate than most leader-quality Weres do due to his easygoing nature, but he does function best in an environment with an established chain of command. It doesn't mean he won't challenge it when he thinks he's right, but he's more comfortable in such an environment.
He's also a predator, and on some level evaluates the world like one. He has a strong chase instinct, and though he can control actually chasing small, quick moving things, he can't help giving them at least some of his attention.
» EXSILIUM INFORMATION
Chosen WEAPON: He will refuse outright to pick a weapon at all. Therefore, the Initiative has the option of choosing to make his wolf form the weapon (since they probably know about it) and as things evolve the change will become faster, and he'll be able to store more energy up so he can change more often without nearly killing himself, which is what frequent changes would do under normal circumstances.
Chosen SKILLSET: He's a doctor and would prefer not to fight. He'd make an excellent field medic (or even a spy or tracker because of his senses) though.
Character INVENTORY: He'll be coming in from the hospital, so he'll have his stethoscope, some alcohol wipes and tape and bandages, and several clean pairs of surgical gloves. Also some energy bars and his cell-phone.
» SAMPLES
First PERSON:
[The video opens with a young man in scrubs. His long hair is braided and just messy enough to fall over the tops of his ears and he is wearing glasses. His smile is warm, but small and doesn't show any teeth. There's a bit of strain in his tone when he speaks, however.]
Good evening, everyone. I'm Doctor Isaac Hunter and, well... I probably radiate "new transport" right now, so please forgive the staring. I'll get over the tourist stage soon, I'm sure. And I'll spare you all my thoughts on this Initiative, and instead offer to help where I can. It looks like I've arrived in the middle of--
[And here he looks a little unsure for a moment, glancing over his shoulder at something offscreen.] ...something so we have no time to waste. What I need to know is what we've got set up. Who are our medical staff? Doctors? Nurses? EMTs? What have we got for facilities and where? And who's in charge of triage?
[A beat and a slightly self-deprecating smile.] And pointing out where we can find food would be great too. I'm starving.
Third PERSON:
Isaac was a moment away from what felt like a minor breakdown. Maybe not quite that bad, but he was definitely feeling overwhelmed. He didn't know what was going on or where he was, and everything smelled wrong. There was nothing familiar. No sounds or scents or sights. Even his cell wasn't picking up any signal. He'd thought he'd gotten used to being alone, but this, this was so much worse than anything he'd felt before. Alone and no contact with anyone at all.
He felt cornered and he knew his hackles were raised. The fur on his back was prickled up under his shirt in a way that would have been a good distraction if he hadn't been feeling so upset. He knew, of course, that there was a reason being made outcast was the worst punishment for a Were but he'd never expected to go through it, even with the worst of his mistakes.
Isaac almost bared his teeth at someone coming towards him and only caught himself at the last moment. A quick turn of a corner brought him out of range and Isaac leaned against the wall, trying to control his breathing. There were no worries of being lost; he could follow his own scent back to the room he'd arrived in. He could follow her scent to wherever she'd disappeared off to. The problem was, his questions and protests about being brought here had done no good so far. It had been like running full out into a brick wall. He needed--
He needed his family. He needed to concentrate. He needed--
If this was really Earth. If this was really the future, there would be Weres here, wouldn't there? And he was still a doctor. He could still do what he loved, and maybe, maybe...
Isaac just wanted to go home. There had to be a way. He just had to find it.
» ADDITIONAL NOTES
Isaac is contagious but infections will only be carried out with player (and mod, if necessary) permission, if the Initiative doesn't find some cure for the virus outright.
