Downforce
Apr 4, 2012 10:59:09 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Apr 4, 2012 10:59:09 GMT -5
-Player Info-
Name/Alias: Rose / Darthneko
IM/Email: lenoirrose@gmail.com (for MSN and email contact)
-Character Info-
Name: Downforce / (Updraft)
Age: Equivalent of human early 30s.
Gender: mech/male
Species: Cybertronian
Faction: Decepticon / (Autobot)
Occupation/Specialization: Frontline scout / (Spec ops)
Appearance/Altmode: Downforce is a scout class, putting him in roughly the same frame class as Bumblebee (or, in Decepticon terms, as tall as Knock Out). His plating is sleek, made for speed, but heavier than one might expect on a scout, and his frame type includes a short set of back-mounted door 'wings'. He is a flashy sort of electric blue color but has nanite protocols that can suppress it to a cloudy gray for short periods. His optics are yellow. His hands are less 'human' than many, with two fingers and a thumb in a radial pincer configuration (think movie!Jazz). His alt mode is a Lotus Exige S roadster.
History: The mech known as Downforce began his existence as a different mech entirely, a mid-sized flight frame with the designation of Updraft. Sparked as part of a small civilian courier cohort that did delivery runs in and around Altihex, Updraft came online in the later days before the start of the war. He and his cohort sibs ran deliveries for the deep space research facilities and many business contractors, specializing in small, short range shipments that weren't worth the time of the larger shuttle classes.
By the time the uprising started in ernest, business was hard. Many of Altihex's research facilities had shut down and Updraft's cohort was having to make do with any work they could find. The occasional windfall job outside of their regular contact base became, at times, the difference between scraping by or not. The senior most of the cohort sibs began arranging such jobs more often, taking courier deliveries that were based on 'confidentiality' - secured pickups, clandestine deliveries with no questions asked, but the credits were more than worth it. Or were, up until it started becoming dangerous. It wasn't until the first stages of the new war actually broke out that the truth became evident - they had, mostly unknowingly, been running weapons and supplies for the newly dubbed Decepticons.
Updraft's cohort, pressed between the Senate's enforcers increasingly cracking down on one side and dubious of the Decepticon movement on the other, tried to get out of business. It went badly pear-shaped - their principal Decepticon contact judged them to be a grave security risk who knew entirely too much about local 'Con stockpiles and movements. Steps were taken to silence or control them, threats escalated into violence and in the end only half of the cohort - Updraft and two of the other younger sibs - managed to get out, fleeing Altihex entirely. In Iacon they threw in with the Autobots, partially for lack of anything else and, at least on Updraft's part, for revenge.
That became Updraft's driving focus - the Decepticons had used and broken his cohort and he wanted payback. Too small and light to be a frontline flyer, he turned to scouting and took up weapons while his sibs only wanted to continue their function as supply couriers safely behind Autobot lines. It drove a gradual distance between them, the other two not really understanding Updraft's obsession, Updraft disdainful of their passive acceptance. Increasingly angry and frustrated by his own inability to be more useful on the front lines, Updraft went from scouting to spec ops, gleefully taking the most dangerous missions command was willing to assign him.
An experimental deep-cover spec ops mission came up, spearheaded by the Senate in the days before the new Prime took control. It would be stupidly dangerous for the mech involved - long term, without backup, and deep in enemy territory - but command was willing to risk it for the sake of gathering intel on Megatronus' rather elusive plans. Updraft was, to the surprise of none of the psych officers, first in line to volunteer. The cover for the mission required a complete overhaul - massive layers of firewalls and protocols to bury the original psych, an implanted history and personality partition over top, a total frame rebuild - Updraft went onto official records as KIA, only the top command spec ops records noting the truth, and after orns of prep what came out of the labs was a battered grounder-frame by the name of Downforce who had just as much reason to hate the Autobots as Updraft had had to hate Decepticons.
Downforce - ostensibly a low-caste service mech who had been barely scraping out a subsistence living beneath Senate restrictions until he was finally taken in during an Enforcer sweep despite lack of any illegal activities, imprisoned and abused and now blacklisted from a prison record and unemployable - came to the Decepticons seething over the 'intolerable' conditions under tyrannical Senate rule where citizens had no right of appeal or guarantee of safety. Too small to be a frontliner but with a talent for getting into and out of tight places, he became a scout. Unknown to anyone, including Downforce himself, his scouting missions sometimes included info drops, usually of minor things such as troop and weapon positioning or the location of 'Con officers. The intel he provided was factored into Autobot defenses but not usually directly acted upon, providing no direct trace of a mole.
The idea was to leave him under cover until he had collected more significant information, preferably direct from the 'Con spec ops ranks, and then to retrieve him by means of a handler and control code - the first stage of the code, broadcasted piggyback on short range anywhere in Downforce's vicinity, would trigger pre-programmed protocols which would send him towards the Autobots rather than away from them, enabling a believable 'capture'. The second stage of the code would re-trigger Updraft's original psych partition, allowing a period where the mech could make a full report to Autobot command, prior to re-assuming the Downforce persona and being released/escaping back to the Decepticon side if it was judged that he could still be of use gathering intel. (If not, then the mission was canceled and Updraft had been assured he would be returned to his original psych and frame).
This? Never actually happened. The war escalated, the first deep-cover handler was KIA, the codes passed on to top ranking spec ops on a need-to-know basis. Downforce himself never rose as high in the Decepticon intel ranks as it was hoped that he would, limiting his available data collection. When the subject came up it was judged too risky to retrieve him, putting multiple mechs in danger to retrieve dubious intel and one mech who, yes, was behind enemy lines, but wasn't in any immediate danger for being so. The entire project was shelved and back burnered until Cybertron went dark and the Exodus began, at which point it all became moot anyways. Autobot high command had long ago lost track of one failed deep-cover spy, his records remaining in spec ops files only, and Downforce - cheerfully Decepticon to his core - shipped out on a series of mid to large ships until finally being transferred to the Nemesis as a forward scout among the frontline troops.
Personality: Downforce is mostly, all things considered, very well adjusted. Over time the partitions of his psych have bled somewhat into each other. He has no memory of his life as Updraft, and if he's sometimes a little more lenient (even soft sparked) than most 'Cons, well, he's a scout, not a frontliner. Mostly jovial and cheerful, he's also an adrenaline junky - harder and faster are his mottos, and the more dangerous the better. He has a driving NEED to go as fast as a land based vehicle can, and to try airborne stunts that would be better left to flight frames, and his personality is just as fast and high, processor skipping from one track to the next in a never ending dash. Obedient to superior officers, a good comrade to his peers, known to be ridiculously flirty (with no intention of follow through) to his friends. Easy going for the most part, unless his capabilities are called into question (he has a bit of 'small dog' syndrome, being shorter and less heavily armed than most Decepticons). Tends to deflect by being something of a class clown.
Likes: Going fast, doing dangerous things, being airborne, hanging out with friends, Eradicons (he likes the flight models, tends to be chummy with them), action movies, music with driving bass lines, multi-tasking
Dislikes: Being forced to sit still for long periods. Autobots. Grounders who won't challenge speed limits. Haughty flyers. Being bored.
Strengths: Downforce has taken weaponized upgrades since joining the Decepticons, balancing armor plate against speed. Equipped with standard arm mounted energy blasters as well as solid state precision artillery and a forearm mounted energon blade on the left side. His armor is a little heavier than most scouts, but is balanced by tweaks - some authorized, some not - done to his engine output; he retains the speed and mobility most scouts are known for, which he mostly uses for fast attacks from a distance.
Weaknesses: Downforce isn't a particularly strong combatant, especially close up. His strength lies in hit and run attacks - forced into direct conflict he's at a disadvantage and knows it. Up close his weapons aren't as strong as others, his armor is only midgrade, and his speed and mobility don't mean as much in close quarters when he's not a very proficient hand-to-hand fighter.
Special skills:
* 007 optics - Downforce is a good scout for the same reason Updraft was a good spy - he's extremely observant and constantly recording. Everything he sees or hears goes into files he eventually sifts through to see if any of it is of use. Most of it he just holds onto, a packrat of Decepticon inner rank trivia.
* Joe Schmoe - Downforce is, essentially, nobody, and has the relative safety of that anonymity. He's not high enough to be an officer, but he's just slightly too specialized to be cannon fodder. In the gray area inbetween, backed with a service record of unquestioning obedience and a willingness to take on dangerous jobs without complaint, he's carved out a niche of safety that depends mostly on not being noticed or in being dismissed as "oh, THAT guy" with rolling optics.
* Bird brained - with the bleedover of his partitions, Downforce thinks more like a flight frame than most grounders. He's never gone for any official piloting certification, but he's comfortable with heights and in the air and, by subconsciously soft-wiring parts of his processor, can take in and handle multiple environmental data streams the way an airborne flyer would need to. This ties back to point one, 007 optics.
Extra Info: Downforce will occasionally find himself with odd file packets - things misfiled or grouped oddly in his memory files. It's considered a minor glitch, which irritates him when he finds himself doing it. (In reality, it's the remnant of his intel drop protocols - left with nowhere familiar to make the data drops, it collects intel and then has nowhere to put it.)
One thing noted in his medical files is that Downforce has had his chassis deliberately modified with reinforced non-voluntary (medical access only) spark armor locks and the removal of the neural sensors surrounding his spark. It's presumed to be a defensive reaction to whatever abuse he suffered in prison prior to joining the 'Cons (again, in reality his current frame was designed that way with an eye to reducing the amount of damage that could be done in the event of his discovery and interrogation.) Downforce is very blasé about it and seems to enjoy the freedom to be an unrepentant flirt and tease without actually meaning a word of it.
Name/Alias: Rose / Darthneko
IM/Email: lenoirrose@gmail.com (for MSN and email contact)
-Character Info-
Name: Downforce / (Updraft)
Age: Equivalent of human early 30s.
Gender: mech/male
Species: Cybertronian
Faction: Decepticon / (Autobot)
Occupation/Specialization: Frontline scout / (Spec ops)
Appearance/Altmode: Downforce is a scout class, putting him in roughly the same frame class as Bumblebee (or, in Decepticon terms, as tall as Knock Out). His plating is sleek, made for speed, but heavier than one might expect on a scout, and his frame type includes a short set of back-mounted door 'wings'. He is a flashy sort of electric blue color but has nanite protocols that can suppress it to a cloudy gray for short periods. His optics are yellow. His hands are less 'human' than many, with two fingers and a thumb in a radial pincer configuration (think movie!Jazz). His alt mode is a Lotus Exige S roadster.
History: The mech known as Downforce began his existence as a different mech entirely, a mid-sized flight frame with the designation of Updraft. Sparked as part of a small civilian courier cohort that did delivery runs in and around Altihex, Updraft came online in the later days before the start of the war. He and his cohort sibs ran deliveries for the deep space research facilities and many business contractors, specializing in small, short range shipments that weren't worth the time of the larger shuttle classes.
By the time the uprising started in ernest, business was hard. Many of Altihex's research facilities had shut down and Updraft's cohort was having to make do with any work they could find. The occasional windfall job outside of their regular contact base became, at times, the difference between scraping by or not. The senior most of the cohort sibs began arranging such jobs more often, taking courier deliveries that were based on 'confidentiality' - secured pickups, clandestine deliveries with no questions asked, but the credits were more than worth it. Or were, up until it started becoming dangerous. It wasn't until the first stages of the new war actually broke out that the truth became evident - they had, mostly unknowingly, been running weapons and supplies for the newly dubbed Decepticons.
Updraft's cohort, pressed between the Senate's enforcers increasingly cracking down on one side and dubious of the Decepticon movement on the other, tried to get out of business. It went badly pear-shaped - their principal Decepticon contact judged them to be a grave security risk who knew entirely too much about local 'Con stockpiles and movements. Steps were taken to silence or control them, threats escalated into violence and in the end only half of the cohort - Updraft and two of the other younger sibs - managed to get out, fleeing Altihex entirely. In Iacon they threw in with the Autobots, partially for lack of anything else and, at least on Updraft's part, for revenge.
That became Updraft's driving focus - the Decepticons had used and broken his cohort and he wanted payback. Too small and light to be a frontline flyer, he turned to scouting and took up weapons while his sibs only wanted to continue their function as supply couriers safely behind Autobot lines. It drove a gradual distance between them, the other two not really understanding Updraft's obsession, Updraft disdainful of their passive acceptance. Increasingly angry and frustrated by his own inability to be more useful on the front lines, Updraft went from scouting to spec ops, gleefully taking the most dangerous missions command was willing to assign him.
An experimental deep-cover spec ops mission came up, spearheaded by the Senate in the days before the new Prime took control. It would be stupidly dangerous for the mech involved - long term, without backup, and deep in enemy territory - but command was willing to risk it for the sake of gathering intel on Megatronus' rather elusive plans. Updraft was, to the surprise of none of the psych officers, first in line to volunteer. The cover for the mission required a complete overhaul - massive layers of firewalls and protocols to bury the original psych, an implanted history and personality partition over top, a total frame rebuild - Updraft went onto official records as KIA, only the top command spec ops records noting the truth, and after orns of prep what came out of the labs was a battered grounder-frame by the name of Downforce who had just as much reason to hate the Autobots as Updraft had had to hate Decepticons.
Downforce - ostensibly a low-caste service mech who had been barely scraping out a subsistence living beneath Senate restrictions until he was finally taken in during an Enforcer sweep despite lack of any illegal activities, imprisoned and abused and now blacklisted from a prison record and unemployable - came to the Decepticons seething over the 'intolerable' conditions under tyrannical Senate rule where citizens had no right of appeal or guarantee of safety. Too small to be a frontliner but with a talent for getting into and out of tight places, he became a scout. Unknown to anyone, including Downforce himself, his scouting missions sometimes included info drops, usually of minor things such as troop and weapon positioning or the location of 'Con officers. The intel he provided was factored into Autobot defenses but not usually directly acted upon, providing no direct trace of a mole.
The idea was to leave him under cover until he had collected more significant information, preferably direct from the 'Con spec ops ranks, and then to retrieve him by means of a handler and control code - the first stage of the code, broadcasted piggyback on short range anywhere in Downforce's vicinity, would trigger pre-programmed protocols which would send him towards the Autobots rather than away from them, enabling a believable 'capture'. The second stage of the code would re-trigger Updraft's original psych partition, allowing a period where the mech could make a full report to Autobot command, prior to re-assuming the Downforce persona and being released/escaping back to the Decepticon side if it was judged that he could still be of use gathering intel. (If not, then the mission was canceled and Updraft had been assured he would be returned to his original psych and frame).
This? Never actually happened. The war escalated, the first deep-cover handler was KIA, the codes passed on to top ranking spec ops on a need-to-know basis. Downforce himself never rose as high in the Decepticon intel ranks as it was hoped that he would, limiting his available data collection. When the subject came up it was judged too risky to retrieve him, putting multiple mechs in danger to retrieve dubious intel and one mech who, yes, was behind enemy lines, but wasn't in any immediate danger for being so. The entire project was shelved and back burnered until Cybertron went dark and the Exodus began, at which point it all became moot anyways. Autobot high command had long ago lost track of one failed deep-cover spy, his records remaining in spec ops files only, and Downforce - cheerfully Decepticon to his core - shipped out on a series of mid to large ships until finally being transferred to the Nemesis as a forward scout among the frontline troops.
Personality: Downforce is mostly, all things considered, very well adjusted. Over time the partitions of his psych have bled somewhat into each other. He has no memory of his life as Updraft, and if he's sometimes a little more lenient (even soft sparked) than most 'Cons, well, he's a scout, not a frontliner. Mostly jovial and cheerful, he's also an adrenaline junky - harder and faster are his mottos, and the more dangerous the better. He has a driving NEED to go as fast as a land based vehicle can, and to try airborne stunts that would be better left to flight frames, and his personality is just as fast and high, processor skipping from one track to the next in a never ending dash. Obedient to superior officers, a good comrade to his peers, known to be ridiculously flirty (with no intention of follow through) to his friends. Easy going for the most part, unless his capabilities are called into question (he has a bit of 'small dog' syndrome, being shorter and less heavily armed than most Decepticons). Tends to deflect by being something of a class clown.
Likes: Going fast, doing dangerous things, being airborne, hanging out with friends, Eradicons (he likes the flight models, tends to be chummy with them), action movies, music with driving bass lines, multi-tasking
Dislikes: Being forced to sit still for long periods. Autobots. Grounders who won't challenge speed limits. Haughty flyers. Being bored.
Strengths: Downforce has taken weaponized upgrades since joining the Decepticons, balancing armor plate against speed. Equipped with standard arm mounted energy blasters as well as solid state precision artillery and a forearm mounted energon blade on the left side. His armor is a little heavier than most scouts, but is balanced by tweaks - some authorized, some not - done to his engine output; he retains the speed and mobility most scouts are known for, which he mostly uses for fast attacks from a distance.
Weaknesses: Downforce isn't a particularly strong combatant, especially close up. His strength lies in hit and run attacks - forced into direct conflict he's at a disadvantage and knows it. Up close his weapons aren't as strong as others, his armor is only midgrade, and his speed and mobility don't mean as much in close quarters when he's not a very proficient hand-to-hand fighter.
Special skills:
* 007 optics - Downforce is a good scout for the same reason Updraft was a good spy - he's extremely observant and constantly recording. Everything he sees or hears goes into files he eventually sifts through to see if any of it is of use. Most of it he just holds onto, a packrat of Decepticon inner rank trivia.
* Joe Schmoe - Downforce is, essentially, nobody, and has the relative safety of that anonymity. He's not high enough to be an officer, but he's just slightly too specialized to be cannon fodder. In the gray area inbetween, backed with a service record of unquestioning obedience and a willingness to take on dangerous jobs without complaint, he's carved out a niche of safety that depends mostly on not being noticed or in being dismissed as "oh, THAT guy" with rolling optics.
* Bird brained - with the bleedover of his partitions, Downforce thinks more like a flight frame than most grounders. He's never gone for any official piloting certification, but he's comfortable with heights and in the air and, by subconsciously soft-wiring parts of his processor, can take in and handle multiple environmental data streams the way an airborne flyer would need to. This ties back to point one, 007 optics.
Extra Info: Downforce will occasionally find himself with odd file packets - things misfiled or grouped oddly in his memory files. It's considered a minor glitch, which irritates him when he finds himself doing it. (In reality, it's the remnant of his intel drop protocols - left with nowhere familiar to make the data drops, it collects intel and then has nowhere to put it.)
One thing noted in his medical files is that Downforce has had his chassis deliberately modified with reinforced non-voluntary (medical access only) spark armor locks and the removal of the neural sensors surrounding his spark. It's presumed to be a defensive reaction to whatever abuse he suffered in prison prior to joining the 'Cons (again, in reality his current frame was designed that way with an eye to reducing the amount of damage that could be done in the event of his discovery and interrogation.) Downforce is very blasé about it and seems to enjoy the freedom to be an unrepentant flirt and tease without actually meaning a word of it.
image by Shibara