So I started RPing again...
A WW2 based RP with starkandskinny - this is actually like the third time we've attempted to RP but the only one that seems to have gotten off the ground (so far). And SOOO I am being lame and posting my character profile for her to read. This is also partially due to the fact that she does a ton of really awesome WW2 art and I was inspired and wanted to join in - she also turned me onto the fantastic mini-series Band of Brothers and that helped with a lot of things (and honestly inspired a few things about Jack).
I would be posting this to my really out of use character journal but it's so old it doesn't have her current journal added as a friend XD and I'm sort of still too embarrassed to post it on deviantart because I'm still so so new to all this historical roleplaying and don't want to get people pissed off at me if I get things wrong.
Full name: Jack Sullivan
Sex: Male
Age: 26 (DOB: 8/6/1918)
Ethnicity: German/Irish
Nationality: American
Rank: Sergeant
Unit: Able Company, 1st Battalion, 506 PIR,101st Airborne
Physical description: Jack is in excellent physical shape - as is required of a U.S. Paratrooper - lean but muscular. He has black hair and brown eyes with a fair complexion (Based off of Humphrey Bogart in his early career - yes I am serious. Imagine it as a "as played by" situation.)
Has a tattoo on his left upper arm of his 101st Airborne insignia patch. Right shoulder is scarred from where he got shot and left leg has a large scar where he got hit by shrapnel - has various other small scars.
Personality: Jack can appear hard-edged and unpleasant and many times he attempts to not get close to any of the other soldiers - but seeing as this often fails once his initial outer shell is penetrated he is intensely loyal and even warm - eager to help and always willing to share whatever spoils he may have won.
In battle he is ferocious and uncompromising with a seeming disregard for his own life and though most of the time he acts as though things don't bother him (he would not allow the war to rob him of his sense of humor) they are, in fact weighing very heavily on him. He has a tendency to withdraw from others when his thoughts get to be too much.
He viciously believes in what he thinks is right and his reasons for fighting are very much tied up in his own sense of right and wrong.
History: Jack was born August 6, 1918 in Brunswick, NY to Patrick and Anna Sullivan (nee Steuben) who had married in the spring of the previous year - the Sullivans went on to have two other children - girls. Jack and his sisters were raised on a farm and carried out all duties that would be expected of them in such a place.
Patrick Sullivan gradually deteriorated into heavy alcholism - his personality generally taking a nosedive the further he plunged into the bottle. Still there were a few moments where he was able to be a caring father to his children. Jack would recall fondly later in his life of a time when his father took him to a nearby creek and taught him to fish. Most of the time, however, he would take it out on Anna - it was times like these that Jack and his sisters would go to stay with Mama and Papa Steuben - their grandparents.
The Steubens immigrated from Hamburg Germany when their daughter Anna was just six years old, they were gentle, kindly people who relished in having grandchildren and for years later Jack would fondly remember the times he spent with them. The holidays were especially wonderful - their home filled with the smell of homemade cooking and standing next to Grandma as she sung while steadily preparing food. She and Grandpa Steuben often spoke their mother tongue around the house - Jack picked it up quickly having been exposed to it from such a young age - a skill that would come in handy later in life. It was for his birthday one year that Jack was given a toy gun which set off dreams of having an adventure of his own one day.
Patrick Sullivan died when Jack was a sophomore in high school - leaving Anna a widow though she did not shed a single tear at his funeral and if she did feel sorrow for what had happened she never revealed it in front of Jack and his sisters - she continued to carry out her duties around the farm and did her best to give her children a good life even without their father.
Jack went on to graduate from high school (Though he'd had been in trouble many times through his years there) and moved to NYC- leaving his sisters and mother at the farm in Brunswick. He got a job working in a factory instead and was working there when he got word of Pearl Harbor being attacked and enlisted in the army a short time later - outraged at what had taken place. His mother had reservations about her son joining the military when he could have been exempt but respected her only son's decision and gave her support and blessings.
He volunteered for the 101st due to the fact that he'd be paid more and a friend of his from the factory was also volunteering to be a Paratrooper - and also because a small part of him was certain this path would lead him to the adventure he'd craved since he was a child, playing cops and robbers with his fake gun and reading pulp magazines. As it would happen his friend from the factory did not have what it took to be a paratrooper and was kicked out.
Jack was assigned to A Company and trained at Camp Toccoa, Georgia where he met Joe Grossmann, Caleb Leszek and Buck Jacobs along with the other men of Able Company. He formed a strong bond with Grossmann and was crushed when Joe disappeared on D-Day.
Jack himself was blown off course after he jumped into Normandy (as he would soon find out - just about everyone in his company was too) and ambushed by German soldiers - through sheer luck he managed to overcome them and make his way to the drop zone with another company where he met back up with fellow sergeant Caleb Leszek and the two worked together with private first class Buck "JoJo" Jacobs to round up the rest of Able Company.
Though initially teasing (and honestly being a real dick) Leszek and Jacobs about their age Jack would soon come to respect them and treat them as equals.
(What happens DURING the war is the subject of the RP- and that's in its beginning stages - I don't know yet what all it holds for Jack)
Post war he returned to America with a woman he met in Germany named Hilde and went into work as a private detective. In 1947 he and Hilde welcomed their first child. After his mother died he took ownership of the family farm in Brunswick where he and Hilde would spend many future family holidays(they moved in there after Jack retired). Jack eventually quit drinking and would spend many of his days with his children trying to be the father he never had. He rarely spoke about the war save for on the occasions old friends would come to visit and did his best to just keep it out of his mind.
Anything else: Jack speaks excellent German having been exposed to it from a young age due to his mother and grandparents - but often downplays this skill and most of the time does not even mention that his grandparents were German partly due to fear of what the other members of his company would think.
Jack is prone to swearing loudly when something goes wrong - his usage of the word "Goddammit" is well known throughout the company in particular.
Jack enjoys his smokes and booze quite a bit - and realizes he's walking a shaky line after seeing how his father's drinking completely spiralled out of control but continues to do so (of course until he finally quits with the help of his wife post-war).
He has no real hatred for the German people as a whole despite having to fight them - he accepts it as part of his duty
HAVE SOME SONGS I THINK GO WELL. EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE NOT PERIOD ACCURATE. LIKE. AT ALL. (they're more about the emotions he's experiencing/some aspects of his personality and themes that may fit a war story in general)
I would be posting this to my really out of use character journal but it's so old it doesn't have her current journal added as a friend XD and I'm sort of still too embarrassed to post it on deviantart because I'm still so so new to all this historical roleplaying and don't want to get people pissed off at me if I get things wrong.
Full name: Jack Sullivan
Sex: Male
Age: 26 (DOB: 8/6/1918)
Ethnicity: German/Irish
Nationality: American
Rank: Sergeant
Unit: Able Company, 1st Battalion, 506 PIR,101st Airborne
Physical description: Jack is in excellent physical shape - as is required of a U.S. Paratrooper - lean but muscular. He has black hair and brown eyes with a fair complexion (Based off of Humphrey Bogart in his early career - yes I am serious. Imagine it as a "as played by" situation.)
Has a tattoo on his left upper arm of his 101st Airborne insignia patch. Right shoulder is scarred from where he got shot and left leg has a large scar where he got hit by shrapnel - has various other small scars.
Personality: Jack can appear hard-edged and unpleasant and many times he attempts to not get close to any of the other soldiers - but seeing as this often fails once his initial outer shell is penetrated he is intensely loyal and even warm - eager to help and always willing to share whatever spoils he may have won.
In battle he is ferocious and uncompromising with a seeming disregard for his own life and though most of the time he acts as though things don't bother him (he would not allow the war to rob him of his sense of humor) they are, in fact weighing very heavily on him. He has a tendency to withdraw from others when his thoughts get to be too much.
He viciously believes in what he thinks is right and his reasons for fighting are very much tied up in his own sense of right and wrong.
History: Jack was born August 6, 1918 in Brunswick, NY to Patrick and Anna Sullivan (nee Steuben) who had married in the spring of the previous year - the Sullivans went on to have two other children - girls. Jack and his sisters were raised on a farm and carried out all duties that would be expected of them in such a place.
Patrick Sullivan gradually deteriorated into heavy alcholism - his personality generally taking a nosedive the further he plunged into the bottle. Still there were a few moments where he was able to be a caring father to his children. Jack would recall fondly later in his life of a time when his father took him to a nearby creek and taught him to fish. Most of the time, however, he would take it out on Anna - it was times like these that Jack and his sisters would go to stay with Mama and Papa Steuben - their grandparents.
The Steubens immigrated from Hamburg Germany when their daughter Anna was just six years old, they were gentle, kindly people who relished in having grandchildren and for years later Jack would fondly remember the times he spent with them. The holidays were especially wonderful - their home filled with the smell of homemade cooking and standing next to Grandma as she sung while steadily preparing food. She and Grandpa Steuben often spoke their mother tongue around the house - Jack picked it up quickly having been exposed to it from such a young age - a skill that would come in handy later in life. It was for his birthday one year that Jack was given a toy gun which set off dreams of having an adventure of his own one day.
Patrick Sullivan died when Jack was a sophomore in high school - leaving Anna a widow though she did not shed a single tear at his funeral and if she did feel sorrow for what had happened she never revealed it in front of Jack and his sisters - she continued to carry out her duties around the farm and did her best to give her children a good life even without their father.
Jack went on to graduate from high school (Though he'd had been in trouble many times through his years there) and moved to NYC- leaving his sisters and mother at the farm in Brunswick. He got a job working in a factory instead and was working there when he got word of Pearl Harbor being attacked and enlisted in the army a short time later - outraged at what had taken place. His mother had reservations about her son joining the military when he could have been exempt but respected her only son's decision and gave her support and blessings.
He volunteered for the 101st due to the fact that he'd be paid more and a friend of his from the factory was also volunteering to be a Paratrooper - and also because a small part of him was certain this path would lead him to the adventure he'd craved since he was a child, playing cops and robbers with his fake gun and reading pulp magazines. As it would happen his friend from the factory did not have what it took to be a paratrooper and was kicked out.
Jack was assigned to A Company and trained at Camp Toccoa, Georgia where he met Joe Grossmann, Caleb Leszek and Buck Jacobs along with the other men of Able Company. He formed a strong bond with Grossmann and was crushed when Joe disappeared on D-Day.
Jack himself was blown off course after he jumped into Normandy (as he would soon find out - just about everyone in his company was too) and ambushed by German soldiers - through sheer luck he managed to overcome them and make his way to the drop zone with another company where he met back up with fellow sergeant Caleb Leszek and the two worked together with private first class Buck "JoJo" Jacobs to round up the rest of Able Company.
Though initially teasing (and honestly being a real dick) Leszek and Jacobs about their age Jack would soon come to respect them and treat them as equals.
(What happens DURING the war is the subject of the RP- and that's in its beginning stages - I don't know yet what all it holds for Jack)
Post war he returned to America with a woman he met in Germany named Hilde and went into work as a private detective. In 1947 he and Hilde welcomed their first child. After his mother died he took ownership of the family farm in Brunswick where he and Hilde would spend many future family holidays(they moved in there after Jack retired). Jack eventually quit drinking and would spend many of his days with his children trying to be the father he never had. He rarely spoke about the war save for on the occasions old friends would come to visit and did his best to just keep it out of his mind.
Anything else: Jack speaks excellent German having been exposed to it from a young age due to his mother and grandparents - but often downplays this skill and most of the time does not even mention that his grandparents were German partly due to fear of what the other members of his company would think.
Jack is prone to swearing loudly when something goes wrong - his usage of the word "Goddammit" is well known throughout the company in particular.
Jack enjoys his smokes and booze quite a bit - and realizes he's walking a shaky line after seeing how his father's drinking completely spiralled out of control but continues to do so (of course until he finally quits with the help of his wife post-war).
He has no real hatred for the German people as a whole despite having to fight them - he accepts it as part of his duty
HAVE SOME SONGS I THINK GO WELL. EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE NOT PERIOD ACCURATE. LIKE. AT ALL. (they're more about the emotions he's experiencing/some aspects of his personality and themes that may fit a war story in general)
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