Edwin Melchiott

Edwin Melchiott,

this is gospel for the fallen ones

Edwin is tremendously introverted and tends to keep to himself wherever possible. Unsurprisingly, he finds it rather difficult to make friends, not helped by his rather surly personality, though the friends he does manage to make he does soften up towards (at least a little bit). He also acts respectful to those in a position of authority and/or power, at least to their face, if only because he knows he'll get his ass kicked if he acts otherwise.

While he'd never admit it, he suffers from an inferiority complex and is tremendously shy around people, something he attempts to cover up with his grumpy attitude. He's also rather nervous around most women, and has been known to start suffering panic attacks from the few occasions that he's been hugged (at least by anyone who's not his mother).

For all his faults, Edwin gets on better with cyborgs than with humans for the most part. This may be partially because he has a tendency to view their problems with the eye of a puzzle to solve - as condescending as it can be, it's better than his view towards (almost) everyone else. For the most part he'd rather just be left alone - especially by the Magi, whom he is rather unnerved by. He holds a distrust of magic in general, if only because despite his efforts he can't understand any kind of process or 'logic' behind it - and he'll (grudgingly) admit that what he doesn't understand bothers him - at least, that's his conscious reasoning. While he isn't overtly insulting towards magi, he'd be just as happy to cross the street - or the block - to get out of their way.

Edwin has a love for coffee, drinking more than one human probably should. He also plays video games at most opportunities he gets a chance, and it is one of the few things he can appreciate losing at, since it simply drives him to learn from his mistakes and get better; though he has sneaking suspicions that some of the cyborgs who have played video games with him are cheating by interfacing with the system somehow.

He has considered getting cybernetic implants in his hands in order to increase his hand-eye dexterity/co-ordination and make record typing speeds, but ultimately decided against it, believing there's something 'satisfying' about doing it the old-fashioned way.

Perhaps due to his ridiculous obsession with coffee, Edwin almost always looks tired, with bags under his eyes and messy jet-black hair. Even in the few times he can be bothered to try and tidy it up, it springs back to messiness within minutes. His skin is rather pale, due to him spending a lot of time indoors.

While his vision is typically decent enough for regular experience, he has some minor issues with reading small text, and he keeps a pair of spectacles inside his shirt for when he is focusing on coding and/or hacking software.

Physically, his body is rather thin and scrawny, but it's hidden underneath clothes which do a decent enough job of hiding his somewhat skinny frame. Despite being rather short - approximately 5'6" - he somehow looks almost 'lanky', perhaps due to having long legs. His posture is typically slightly hunched forward (making him typically look about 5'5") during casual activity, however this can change quickly, as he will typically straighten himself up during intense physical activity, or hunch further towards a computer when he's lost in the rhythm of coding. Even his typically nonchalant way of walking can change surprisingly quickly when he's trying to lose people in a crowd, pushing and weaving through in surprisingly fluid motion.

He can often be seen carrying a satchel - it contains food and drink (usually coffee or water), as well as a variety of tools for use with computer hardware.


Edwin is almost always seen wearing casual wear - whatever shirt he happened to find in his closet that day, jeans (either blue or black denim) and runners, and usually a zip-up hoodie of some description (usually monochromatic, but occasionally something bizarre. He doesn't seem to take too much pride in his fashion sense, as while his clothes don't look clownish they are typically behind the fashions of the norm and often look cheap.

Parents
Mother: Julia Devlin-Melchiott (currently operating as a Hunter in Felici)
Father: Duncan Melchiott (deceased)

Siblings
None (as far as he knows of)


Edwin was born in the city of Felici on October 23rd, 2568. Even at a young age, his parents remembered him as a 'crybaby' - one moment he'd be happily stumbling around the house by himself and shun contact, and the next moment he'd be wailing and bawling for someone to come and pick him up. His mother was often away working (Edwin would not learn for a long time that she was a Hunter) - however, his father Duncan was almost always at home, and regularly looked after the little Edwin the best way that he knew how, despite his condition. Originally his father had been a guard at one of the Magi relocation centres, but was forced to deal with a breakout by some of the more severely unruly groups. While he and the guards he had been with managed to successfully quell the breakout before it turned into something worse (at least for a time), Duncan was crippled by one of the Magi, and was left paraplegic, unable to move around without the assistance of a wheelchair. Despite Duncan's willingness to keep working, he was retired (with at least a reasonable pension for his service), and so dealt with his frustrations at being unable to do his duty the best way he could - raising his son. While Duncan recognised early on his child would never be a soldier, he still encouraged him, even teaching him how to use a pistol, for self-defence.

It was a difficult family situation - though they were relatively well-off, Edwin's mother would often not be at home for days at a time, and even when she was, Edwin and her were always somewhat distant from each other, even as they grew older. Nevertheless, somehow, despite the dysfunction, the three managed to make a good living relying on each other.

Even at a young age, Edwin would display characteristics that would define his future. He was very shy and rarely played with other children at the schools he was at, rarely talking to many people. Some of his teachers even recommended mental tests to ensure that the young boy 'functioned well in society'. However, when Edwin focused on something it was undeniable that he was dedicated - the teachers would often find him taking apart pens and putting them back together in rapid time. And when he was introduced to computers, he seemed to be on one almost every moment he could get away with it. While he would regularly play video games, he seemed to have abilities with a computer that were past what most of his fellow schoolmates had. His first hacking experience was in school where he managed to make dialog boxes with strange messages appear on his schoolmates' computers (and even the teachers' computers a few times). While he was punished when he was caught, a fire had been lit in the boy's heart. If he wasn't using a computer, he was often in the library, reading about all things technology.

Despite his personality growing only more introverted, and his general avoidance of people, it seemed a given that he would find his way into university. While his final years of study before university were put against the dangerous backdrop of the magi riots, he managed to secure a path into one of the local tech universities, with dreams of being one of the best, perhaps even hired by the Government.

In the midst of university however, tragedy struck - shortly after the Magi genocide ceased, Duncan tested positive for a terminal illness. Despite the best efforts of both Edwin and his mother whom spared no expense in getting her husband treated, Duncan passed away, leaving both Edwin and Julie shattered. Both took it badly and sought their own ways of escape; Julie threw herself more and more into her work as a Hunter, partially because she believed the Magi were somehow to blame for her husband's death, reasoning that if he hadn't been crippled he might have made it.

Edwin on the other hand, having lost the one person whom he felt truly understood him, simply retreated further into himself in grief, eventually dropping out of university altogether. Unlike his mother, he didn't blame the Magi (at least, not consciously), but found himself simply angry and with no real person to be angry at. Frustrated, his already moody personality became more surly still. The incident left him and his mother even more estranged from each other, and to this day the two currently have little contact.

Without his mother's money to help support him, Edwin was eventually forced to take a position as IT support and general tech-fixer in order to make the money to both find a place to live in - a tiny apartment in Felici and get enough goods to survive. In desperation, he managed to make some connections with the black market for money, offering services of odd repairs to cyborgs - while these repairs were never official or substantial, they were basic enough to prevent further damage or decay. However, even this money was never quite enough, and worse - it ended up connecting him with people who wanted to make sure his services stayed in Felici.

Despite the advancements the city offers, Edwin finds Felici full of too many bad memories. He dreams of saving up enough money to escape Felici and live somewhere else - preferably Dagos City - in a desperate attempt to 'start again' and perhaps make some sense out of his currently floundering life. But at present, he is 'trapped' in Felici, the most advanced cage in the world, and needing a miracle to break out...

- FIREARM I (STARTER)
Can accomplish fundamental and basic feats with firearm weapons. Is able to use a pistol to reasonable degree thanks to basic training, though is far less effective at longer ranges. Understands the very basics of other firearms but has little to no prior experience actually using any of them.




Hacking I (Starter): Basic level hacking. You can disable one cybernetic upgrade for an hour, as well as adjust one sense of the cyborg (make them colorblind, make their sense of touch feel off, lower their hearing, scramble taste or smell reception, etc. You cannot cut off a sense entirely.) Range: 15 feet

Hacking II: Advanced level hacking. Disable three cybernetic upgrades for six hours. Adjust three senses. Gain limited control of a cybernetic limb (not total control, but make them fight to use it). Range: 25 feet.



- n/a

[b]Watashi ga Motenai no wa do Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!, Tomoki Kuroki[/b] as [i]Edwin Melchiott[/i]