Full Name: Taigeo Paek-Jun
Gender: Male
Age: 19
Element: Earth
Birthplace: Fire Fountain City
Position: Fire Nation Artillerist and Combat Engineer; Soon to be inducted into an independent Police Battalion for Special Operations.
Training:
Earth Bending[Expert] Metal Bending [Intermediate] Spear [Beginner]Personality: (406/210)Taigeo is a man of two faces.
An ardent nationalist, Taigeo is driven both by his love of the Fire Nation, and his free willed personality, both of which consistently collide in a morass of emotions and confusion, none of which Taigeo can make sense of. Constantly torn between his desire to be a devout, ruthless enforcer of the Fire Nation’s Might and his naturally defiant, chaotic attitude, Taigeo usually forces himself to put on a persona that he doesn’t truly feel. He molds himself into a cold, disciplined fighting machine, when he would truly love nothing more than to go sledding in the North Pole, or battling in a Pro-Bending Tournament.
Indeed, his desire to explore, see the world and meet new people has been somewhat quashed by the Military, which has spent most of its time deploying him to small counter insurgency, counter terror or police actions in boring places, like cities. He would much rather fight enemy soldiers, conquer cities and crack down on criminal Triads.
Believing firmly in the ideals of the Fatherland, and yet, repulsed by the Iron discipline of the Army, Taigeo often feels driven to act recklessly, attempting to make up for his own self-perceived imperfections, as well as for the events of his past, with acts of foolish bravery and military honor. Being one of few earthbenders in the Fire Nation’s military, Taigeo has distinguished himself as a Combat Engineer and a Front Line Combatant, but truly feels as if he cannot fit into the military life. He has to force himself to be a soldier, forces himself into the discipline he needs.
Despite being a pretty smart guy, Taigeo is, unfortunately, prone to make stupid decisions, based on his impulsive and aggressive attitude, which pretty much calls for explosive displays of overwhelming firepower. Lacking tactical finesse in most cases, Taigeo has, of late, learned to make impeccably refined strategic use of his metal bending, but to a limited degree, and often rushes head straight into combat situations, living by the Maxim: Hit it before it can get back up.
Taigeo also has a problem trusting others with secrets. He can care about people, grow to love them, and care about them, but he cannot trust them. He is too paranoid to ever give up the entirety of his own character, and must always stay on the emotional defensive, unwilling to relinquish control of his spirit and mind.
Abilities: (232/210)Taigeo was a thief, factory worker and soldier. With agile fingers and a quick mind, Taigeo’s pickpocketing and haggling abilities are certainly keen, and he’s had much experience with blackmail and underworld connections. Indeed, many of Taigeo’s criminal connections can provide him with the information he needs, when he needs it---for a price, of course. With his ability to intimidate, willingness to bribe, and deceitful dealings, Taigeo can slip into the mindset of a rabble rouser, and make use of the locals to extort information like a thug.
Taigeo’s factory and construction experience made him a strong Earth bender, but also an adept problem solver and inventor/tinkerer. Having worked with complex metals, refineries and machines, Taigeo is no stranger to the operation of the Fire Nation’s many modern battle machines, and can both pilot, and build, given time, many models of tanks and smaller airships. Taigeo also has the ability to plan mass weapons production, for times when quotas had to be filled.
Taigeo’s experience as a soldier has instilled in him, a necessary knowledge of weapons, application of siege weaponry and various other war machines. Able to load and operate many types of heavy ordnance weapons and machines in combat, his combat experience also lends itself to wilderness survival, camouflage, various form of smoke and hawk based communications and his talents as an explosives expert are nothing to laugh at.
Appearance: (292/210)
Height: 5 feet, 11 inches
Weight: Medium to Heavy, based on a lifetime of Factory Labor and subsequent Military training.
Eyes: Bright Green, beautiful, eyes. Note that the left eye is somewhat lazy, and tends to sag when Taigeo is tired.
Hair: Short black hair.
Skin: Tanned, but not too dark skin; a result of factory smoke and constant exposure to both the sun, and to massive vats of magma, as well as the sparks of factory equipment.
Taigeo is a medium height boy/blossoming man with a darker complexion, almost resembling an Ethnic Water Tribal, because of his constant sun and flame exposure. With a set of bright, seemingly out of place, eyes and sharp features, Taigeo isn’t necessarily an ugly boy. His muscles, while nothing special, are still noticeably defined and strong, and his narrow face, while at one point chubby, is now powerful and solemn, masking an oppressed desire for simple joys and adventure. He has a lazy left eye, which sags and almost seems to have a personality of its own, given its inherent laziness.
Taigeo’s hair, cut short, shows signs of being regularly trimmed and cared for, a trait that he took from his surrogate father (explained later,) Paek-Jun, and he usually, while not in combat, wears a relatively nice suit, despite his humble origins. He does, however, always insist on wearing a beret; he had always worn a beret since he was just a humble pickpocket, and insists on wearing one as a point of uniqueness and self honor, usually embroidered with the Fire Nation Emblem on the top. Even in combat, he wears it under his helmet, so that he will never lose it.
When in combat, Taigeo wears a modified suit of armor to reflect the nature of his fighting style, removing some of the legging and arms to allow himself more physical maneuverability. This allows him to conduct spins and twirls much more easily, though he does have slightly less armored protection. While it was once an issue that angered his superiors, his discipline in all other aspects of life, as well as the nature of his role have left them shrugging. It doesn’t hurt them, and technically does not violate protocol.
Weaponry & Other Gear:
Item Name Modified Standard Issue Fire Nation Combat Armor
Materials: Steel, Presumably.
Description: Taigeo dons the uniform of the Elite Fire Nation’s Sophisticated and Disciplined Army. With its crimson and black color scheme, this set of armor almost seems to radiate power and authority. A member of its finest Heavy Weapons Corps, Taigo has made adjustments in the leggings and arm greaves to give him an additional bodily dexterity for repairs in the heat of battle. This gives him the appearance of a Domestic Levy, but albeit, one with a darker, more professional colour scheme.
Item Name Standard Issue Lance
Materials: Steel, Wood, Silk and Bronze
Description: While Taigeo doesn’t ever really make use of it, he keeps a standard issue lance by his side at all times, just in case. It’s nothing special; it’s just another spear.
History:(691/520)
Taigeo was born in a lower class family of Earthbending Immigrants to the Fire Nation. Spending the majority of his childhood teased by the fellow kids for his Earth bending, Taigeo grew up, determined to prove that it was he, Taigeo, who was the most devoted, most fanatic and most loyal of the Fire Nation’s citizens. Indeed, Taigeo had a pull towards the army from a very young age, and developed a keen interest in tanks, explosions and hardware, reflecting his chaotic early family life; his father, a fool drunk, ran off with a woman, and his mother had died trying to give birth to a sister.
Born in the Fire-Nation Manufacturing Hub of Fire Fountain City, Taigeo just one of several hundred pick-pockets, nothing special, really. A master pickpocket, connaisseur and jack of all trades, the infant-to-adolescent Tiago was your average street urchin, constantly beaten by the Wardens for his unruly behavior and manipulation of decent city folk. Precocious and lacking morals, quickly grew up to become a notorious child pickpocket, masking his crime life with a daytime construction job. He shamelessly conned richer folk out of their hard earned cash with his Earth bending abilities and cunning mind.
Taigeo had an early relationship with certain undesirables who taught Taigeo how to steal and lie, and it was, in fact, one of these men who gave him his beret, and imparted very wise knowledge; how to successfully replace a museum alarm.
One day, Taigeo was out in the streets, doing his daily runs, when he saw a number of tanks roll through the streets in a mass Military Demonstration. So impressed by the massive war machines he saw, Taigeo told his gang that he was leaving them, and immediately applied to join the army. Given he was only thirteen, the military, without hesitation, rejected him, but, because of his Earth bending capacity, offered him a job working with military production firm that produced police tanks and airships. Eager to work with the big machines that had so impressed him, Taigeo readily agreed to job, but collapsed on the first day, unprepared for the strenuous labor such work entailed.
Though Taigeo was ready to quit by the first day, a friendly soldier, a certain Captain Paek-Jun from the recruiting office, ran into him on the streets after hours were over, and offered him a drink. Accepting, the soldier spoke gently and softly to the thirteen year old Paek-Jun, inadvertently becoming the child’s first fatherly figure, and role model. After a month, the two began a friendly letter writing relationship with messenger hawks which came to a cruel and abrupt end two years later when it was discovered that Paek-Jun’s regiment had been ambushed and massacred in combat. Distraught, Taigeo quit his job at the factory, and stopped working for a while.
Determined to fill the shoes of the man he had adored so dearly, Taigeo adopted Paek-Jun’s name, cut his hair short in the manner Paek-Jun had worn it, and met the deceased man’s family, revealing their unique relationship. The Paek-Jun family, the heads of a relatively wealthy Ice Cream company, invited Taigeo to live with them for a while, and even hired a tutor to capitalize on his burgeoning Earth and Metal Bending talents. However, the memory of his surrogate father fresh in his mind, and disconcerted by the life of luxury,Taigeo soon found himself compelled to leave, promising to come back and visit, “sometime later, maybe.” Taking his leave of this new family that had tried desperately to make him feel welcome, Taigeo couldn’t help but feel both liberated...but guilty.
Having associated love and care with the military, Taigeo found himself at a recruiting station just a few months after and was put through grueling training, where he was considered, mediocre at best. Still, his faithful service to the Fire Nation has not gone unnoticed and his metal bending abilities seek to be put to good use, especially in maintaining Fire Nation Siege Weaponry. Having taken part in multiple police actions, raids and simple law enforcement stints over the past two years, building growing respect amongst his peers and colleagues.
**OPTIONAL**Sample RP:*Optional only for members who have done a sample RP with an expert-tier character before* (420 words minimum, must be from character's point of view--3rd person and 1st person acceptable)
Character Box:
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Taigeo
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I will write stuff here, I guess.
| Mood: Fabulous
Condition: Dead in a Gutter | Link: |
[649/420]
Taigeo hurled himself behind the cover of the thin, wooden palisade as explosions rocked his former position, sending majestic plumes of dust hurtling skywards where he had just been standing. Panting heavily, the young soldier took a moment to simply lie down, feeling the beads of perspiration roll down his face behind the airless, restrictive combat mask of the Fire Nation’s Frontline soldiers, who now huddled for dear life. He clutched at his short sword, feeling his chest pump, up and down, crying out for desperately needed air. Indeed, this foe was organized, powerful and trained. This wasn’t the average rabble that he usually had to deal with. This was a true and disciplined enemy. Raising himself with his right arm, Taigeo blinked three times with his lazy eye, and pushed himself into a combat-ready crouching position.
“I can’t do this,” a younger Taigeo wailed, throwing a bar of steel dejectedly on the dirt path. “This is too hard.”
“No Taigeo. You simply need focus. Here. Count to three inside your head, and go!”
Younger Taigeo closed his eyes, allowed his muscles to relax, and nodded, blinking his lazy eye thrice, sending a large rock formation thrusting into the sky.
“Good Taigeo, Good.You’re learning quickly”The explosions ceased, for a moment, and Taigeo used this momentary respite to peer over the top of the hastily constructed defenses. What he saw--nearly three dozen men approaching him--was not at all pleasing. Taking a deep breath, he saw that they had donned fire resistant combat suits, and bore crooked broadswords. The thought of one of those sword penetrating his body sent shivers down Taigeo’s spine, and forced him to spend a moment shuddering in fear. After taking a few shallow, short breaths, however, Taigeo tensed his muscles, reached for his sword, and waited for the shelling to resume as the Company commander nodded tersely his direction.
“First rule of combat!” The drill sergeant paced back and forth, in front of Taigeo’s face. “Always listen to your commander! Do not question orders! Just do! Am I understood?”
“Sir Yes Sir!” As the shells recommenced their falling near and upon his position, Taigeo pounced from his concealed position, unfurling his fury upon the advancing soldiers. It might have helped to think about this...Taigeo realized, but he shrugged internally, and promptly sent massive boulders the way of the enemy, sending massive, stones grinding down the soft topsoil as enemy combatants went flying like bowling pins, cast high into the sky and falling elsewhere. A few retaliatory bending and projectiles came his way, but the young Taigeo was able to throw up a wall of earth, before shattering it, and sending it as a wave of a thousand earthen bullets, breaking upon the armor of the advancing foe, as they began to topple over in pain.
“The last lesson I shall teach you,” the drill sergeant declared, “is the fundamental rule of war.” His eyes flashed with devilish delight.
“Show no mercy.”Taigeo unleashed his full fury, allowing a snakelike vise of metal to wrap itself around one of the insurgents, slowly closing in on the man’s frail ribcage as the battle continued to whirl about. Taigeo, infuriated and unable to control himself, slowly felt the vice close on the man’s writhing body. He did not heed the desperate pleas for help, nor decent human morals, and it certainly looked as if Taigeo would do good on his cruel fantasies, and break this man’s ribs. He was defending the fatherland, fighting the foe, destroying the faceless monsters and saving his people! He was-
“Taigeo. Why do you do this?”
“It was an accident. I swear”
“Apologize, Taigeo.”
“But Captain Paek-Jun, I-”
“Violence is sometimes necessary,” the Captain nodded, “but needless violence is just a bastardization. Give him his money back.”Taigeo fell backwards, releasing his grip just as the first ribs began to crack.
