Will Rogers

Player Name: MaxSalsa
Personal LJ: maxsalsa
AIM Contact: ultimatesalsa
Character Name: Will Rogers
Source Canon: Eternity's Call
Community Tag: will rogers

Notes: Please refer to the canon notes for Eternity's Call.

Background: Will grew up in a world that was just learning how to cope with Second Impact, a good kid but with a loose screw or two. His father Kain, along with his three older siblings, tried to raise him with a good sense of right and wrong, but it was hard to keep everything together, especially when his mother Diana was killed in a home invasion in 5 AI. The children drew together for strength, and Kain dove into his work with the Eternity Foundation to cope. Will wondered why it felt like his father was running away, but there wasn't a whole lot he could do; he knew his father's work was important. So when the prototype Canvas System was finished in 8 AI, Will jumped at the chance to volunteer; this was the best way he could support his father, by helping him with the research he'd worked so hard on.

As he grew older, Will's eyes opened to the world. He saw the injustice. He saw the horror. And he saw the few good people that were trying to make something for themselves and live their lives. Those were the kinds of people Will liked, and as he got into his mid-teens and his siblings saw Eternity as a delusion of power, Will saw it as a way to finally help the people that were trying so hard to help themselves. But at the same time, he knew that the world had a way of messing with even the best plans. He'd seen it happen, in his travels as one of the Timeless. He didn't want that. And he made his decision: if he could, he'd travel the world to provide his aid wherever he could. Even if watching all the destruction and loss hardened his heart, he took this as his mission.

Iris' declaration in 16 AI was the last straw. If she was going to gather power to herself, he was going to need to counter that power and protect the people. Because the Timeless weren't a tool of destruction. First and foremost, they were a family. And he was going to bring his sister to justice, because somewhere along the line she'd forgotten that, and if it took a fight to bring her back to her senses, he'd do it. It was nothing more or less than his duty as her little brother. His search for allies to take on the strongest of the Timeless brings him to the ship of heroes, the White Chalice...

Personality: Will is a bit of an oddball. He's got a gruff personality, but inside he really cares. He's short with people, but if he offends someone he can't sleep until he makes things right. He complains often about the state the world's in... but if he can help someone in front of him that's making an effort, he'll do it without a second thought.

Most of the time, Will is a pretty aloof person. He doesn't go out of his way to make conversation, he's a man of few words when he does talk to people, and he's not someone who values diplomacy above violence. The boy spends his time training himself, as well as working on his Eternity System and his Aspect. It's a fairly lonely life, but he doesn't mind it too much. That said, if he comes across someone who's doing their best to put their life back together, whether it's from the effects of the Impact, bandits, disease, famine, or whatever other tragedy struck them, he makes a point of stopping to help them out. His self-assigned mission is to help those who help themselves, and he does it any way he can. Food, water, propping something up, supplies, whatever. Small gestures, but he's trying to rebuild humanity's faith in the goodness of mankind, one person at a time.

Combat is something that Will knows is essential to life after Second Impact, let alone to one of the Timeless that serve as the enforcers of Eternity. He doesn't get too heartbroken over shooting something that needs to be shot, nor over destroying structures. If there's someone living in or otherwise using a structure, on the other hand, he's a little more reluctant to tear it down. That said, if something's angered him or threatened something he's agreed to protect, nothing on Earth (or beyond) will stop his revenge once he finds you. Which isn't as hard as most people would like.

Around people he doesn't know, Will doesn't really stand out much; he's fairly quiet, and when he does say anything it's fairly coarse. He'll speak to you if you ask, though, and he'll help with any jobs you need, especially if you'd just like an extra hand. Amusingly (and usefully), he's very knowledgable on a variety of topics. As he gets to know you, though, Will can adapt in a variety of ways. He'll start to keep more of a lookout for you to make sure you don't get into trouble, keep an ear to the ground for information you need (or expressed an interest in), consider you a little more in conversation... in general, become a little more human. It's a feeling he's forgotten slowly during his time as a demigod walking Earth during what served as the apocalypse.

Capabilities and Resources: Will has an Eternity System, giving him access to superhuman abilities and making his mind effectively a computer. His ability to retain (and access) information is very good, and once he's heard about someone he can identify them as soon as he seems them. He's also skilled at programming, be it a computer, a mecha OS, or just about anything else. His supernatural abilties, on the other hand, are mostly basic elemental manipulation and anything he can use for search and rescue, or assistance: flight, magnetism, super strength, and a number of minor abilities. All of these cost some of the mana that makes his mecha work, though, so in a combat situation he'll use them sparingly.

Robot Name: Hope
Robot Description: Will's Aspect is formed from his desire to help those who try their best to help themselves, and to give them a hand in a time of need. It's built tough so it can survive any combat situation, and he's outfitted it with a variety of weapons and implements to keep it going no matter the issue.

Hope is very much a super robot; it's got a little speed behind it when it really needs to move, but for the most part it's a big, bulky sort of unit, standing at 32 meters tall. Its primary color is a regal shade of blue, and Will's symbol appears as two joined hands on its face. The rest of the robot looks like something out of a pre-Impact super robot cartoon; it's all bulky metal pieces apparently held together with massive robot-grade screws. The arms and legs are horribly fat, important parts covered in high-end armor. All in all, it looks like something you would expect to take a rocket to the chest and not really care... and that happens to be the case. Hope's inherent energy shielding is very good; it takes a lot of abuse to get through to it, although enough fire will eventually force Will to take the shields down or risk burning himself out. With the shielding up, Will's found that he can totally ignore quite a few conventional weapons, and even a number of special things only available though the power of Eternity.

The weapons loadout is interesting, showing a mix of old-school and unreasonable Eternity abuse. There are plenty of old standbys: two beam sabers, a beam rifle, a machine gun, a large-caliber pistol, and a bazooka. All of these are easy to use and Will doesn't have to worry about energy consumption while he's got them out - the guns will even accept standard ammo for reloading. Less traditional is something interesting he cooked up: a beam chainsaw, which he calls Retribution. The weapon is nearly half the size of Hope itself, and consists of a large handle like a sword's, and then a base around which a number of quickly-moving sharp points of plasma navigate. Should the "chain" be damaged, it can be repaired with a thought (as can the whole weapon), making Retribution a dangerous prospect. The downside is that energy consumption is pretty significant to use it... but at the same time, it's a beam chainsaw. Retribution will work if someone other than Will has it, but it can't be repaired by anyone but him, and if Hope becomes dormant or is dispelled, the chainsaw returns to its back, where it rests when not in use. The various other weapons are in hangars on the legs, all handily foldable for ease of use.

Hope's Attribute is "life". It brings hope to the downcast and judges those who would snuff out others unjustly. Hope's sensor suite is somewhat more robust than the average Aspect; it can detect lifesigns at long range and of small sources without issue, and Will can tap into this Attribute to get a vague sense of the flow of events. With it, he can tell if something fishy's going on, if there's been a lot of death recently, very strong emotions, and so on, not unlike a very weak and general Newtype sense.

The major weakness to balance all this is low speed and agility. Hope can fly in both atmosphere and space in addition to spending time on the ground, but in all cases it's slow, though competent on attack. It can operate in water, but the Aspect will sink like a rock during combat when Will doesn't have time to maniupulate it to float toward the surface. The unit also won't really move fast, unless Will's pushing it to make it in front of an ally, in which case Hope's Attribute will kick in and help.

As an Aspect, Hope passes some of its damage as sympathetic injury to its pilot. If the head is destroyed, the unit is mostly blind; if the chest is severely damaged, the Eternity System ejects the pilot before they're killed from reflected wounds. If expensive skills and abilities, like energy shielding and the beam chainsaw, are overused, the unit's power supply becomes critical, and it will only be capable of slow movement and simple weapons (if that much) until its pilot is given time to recharge.
Terrain Stats:
Land: A
Air: B
Sea: C
Space: B

Upgrades: Somewhere down the line. I'll write it up later.

Job: One of the Timeless, the four "overseers" of Eternity.

Suggested Event List:

1) Hope, Lost
Character slots: Will Rogers, 4-6 more
Setting: A building somewhere in the Earth Sphere

Designed to be paired with another canon. A repeater station that carries an Eternity signal is under attack by some weird super robots, somewhere between three and six, when the Chalice comes across it. What's more, there's one robot similar to the others fighting them off trying to defend the station. The lone robot's holding its own, but against these odds even he's having trouble. If the Chalice chooses to assist (or something else they're more interested in fighting joins the fray), the lone defender, Will, will happily take the assistance to clear out the station, then help mop up whatever other troubles come along. He's been looking for the Chalice anyway, so he'll join up afterward.

2) Carried on a Song
Character slots: Will Rogers, 4-6 more
Setting: A friendly city somewhere in the Earth Sphere

Can be paired with another canon. A mingle log could set the stage for the mission. A nearby city has opened its gates to travelers and provides supplies to any who need them, regardless of affiliation, so the Chalice decides it might be a good time to stock up. The city itself is buzzing, and has one major claim to fame: the rising idol Aria Rogers, who happens to be the younger of Will's sisters. Will wants to investigate what's going on, since Aria wasn't really the sort to settle down in one place before, let alone as a songstress. Inspection of the city reveals that the citizens are totally devoted to their idol princess, perhaps oddly so. Upon confronting Aria, Will finds out she's controlling the people of the city; she's finally figured out large-scale control via her Eternity System, and she's basking in the attention. When Will tells her to stop, things get violent, and she orders everyone in the city to forcibly eject the Chalice and its personnel. Resistance is met with generic mobile suits (any canon), a few Aspects, and Aria herself in Envy, who will stop at nothing to keep control over her city. As much as Will tries to get through to her, it's a toss-up if she'll actually listen. If Chalice pilots are able to convince her that there's a better way, or give her enough attention to make her change her tune, she'll release the city's people from her control, promise Will not to use her powers this way again (much), and either stay behind or come aboard the Chalice. After this mission, Aria can be apped for play.

3) Protector's Roar
Character slots: Will Rogers, [Aria Rogers], 4-6 more
Setting: Around the White Chalice

Can be paired with another canon. A log sets the stage for the mission. Reports are coming in of entire towns and small cities being devastated by a large, dark, well-armed robot. The description coming in seems familiar to Will; a photo someone's taken proves it's Zane Rogers, Will's brother. The reports claim the figure is cutting a path to search for Iris Rogers to bring her to justice. Will, however, can't stand by and let Zane destroy the world to get to Iris, so he'll fly out to try and stop him. After a brief clash, Zane realizes the Chalice is nearby, and declares his intent to destroy it so Iris can't seduce them to the side of evil. Will argues over how misguided that assumption is, and Zane ignores him, bringing out a few Espers he's recruited to cover his charge in Wrath, aboard beefy Aspects. The Chalice deploys units to protect itself, and the battle is joined. Zane is a tough customer and has at least one anti-ship weapon of some kind modeled off another mobile suit's weaponry, along with a wide variety of more general weaponry to wreak havoc on things more his own size. If he's swarmed in mecha combat, Zane will blow a hole in the Chalice, dispel Wrath, and try to continue on foot into the Chalice, wielding the same weaponry he had while aboard his Aspect. Eventually the Chalice forces manage to subdue him and Will urges his brother to see sense. Zane grumbles for a while, but agrees that it seems like Will's found a group of people that could stand up to Iris at her worst. He moves to leave to keep looking for Iris, but he agrees he'll stop razing towns in his mad search. After this mission, Zane can be apped for play.

4) The Infinite Canvas (finale)
Character slots: Will Rogers, [Aria Rogers], [Zane Rogers], 4-6 more
Setting: The Eternity Foundation's headquarters, somewhere on Earth

Could be paired with another canon, but might be better played alone. A log sets the stage for the mission. A combat log is possible. An communication is broadcast through Eternity to the Chalice. The video is from Iris, who has captured the Eternity Foundation's headquarters by force, and taken her father Kain hostage. She will kill him and snuff out any Esper that doesn't swear loyalty to her in a few days' time (whatever's reasonable for mission planning), which is by now well over than ten thousand people. Will and his siblings won't stand for this; if they're not aboard, Aria and Zane contact him and agree to be there by the deadline. As they arrive, the Chalice is assaulted what seems like all the remaining Aspect-capable Espers and a whole slew of varying mobile suits (any canon), and there's no way to get any further; it's too dangerous. A team of Chalice pilots breaks through and sorties to liberate the Foundation facility. Iris' strongest allies are here to stop the party, and are giving no concern to collateral damage; she's got Aspects defending the outside, and should anyone come on foot, she's Espers in the halls to give them a nice surprise (fighting with high-grade mecha weaponry sized for SS characters, and the occasional Skill). It's a hard fight to the research lab in the deepest part of the facility from either route, but eventually everyone breaks through. In the cavernous research lab, Iris waits, Kain still held hostage. After a speech about saving the broken world as its master - for who else could rule but a god walking the Earth? - she summons Pride and blinks right behind Will for a brutal hit that seems to take him out of combat before it even begins. After several seconds, Hope begins to move again, and Will makes a speech about Iris' ideals being the wrong way to help people before the unit lets out a roar and joins the battle. It's a hard fight, but eventually the Chalice's forces are able to overcome her assualt and push her to the edge of defeat. She threatens to kill Kain one more time, but in a burst of speed, Will puts himself in front of his father to protect him. Iris screams about Will ruining everything and not understanding, and runs at him one last time to get to their father... and Will slices Pride cleanly in half. Iris, dropped onto the ground, sobs over her failure; Will drops down out of Hope and tries to console her, releasing Kain to help talk some sense into her.

4.1) Eternity (log)
NPC: Iris Rogers, Kain Rogers
Timing: Immediately after The Infinite Canvas

Kain thanks the Chalice for their assistance, and announces he's going to keep Iris at the Foundation's facility to try and help her work through her problems; he says he spent too long away from his family for his work, and that the world nearly paid the price, a mistake he won't make again. Kain and Iris do invite Will (and his siblings) to stay with them; Will smiles and refuses, saying there are still people to save in this world.

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