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CHARACTER NAME: Austin “Novak” Copperfield
PERSONALITY:
Novak’s a dude, in all senses of the word. He’s part sarcastic, part nice guy, and all lizardman. The most dominating factor of his personality is his loyalties to his friends: once he finds someone that he wants to protect, he will, and sometimes even when they don’t want it. He can sometimes be a little on the abrasive and blockheaded side, but generally even when he does dumb shit, he does it for a laugh or some other good reason. He loves practical jokes, being lazy, and having a good time. His favorite things in the world are beer, girls, food and sleep.
On the downside, Novak has a short fuse when people fuck with the people he likes, and on top of that, he tends to forget that he’s big and strong, especially when he’s angry. Also, years of running with a gang have dulled Novak’s morals a little, so to him, killing is not as such a terrible thing to do as it might have been a while ago, and sometimes it’s the only solution. These days, even, he tends to solve his problems with (threats of) violence. His 7’2, 392 lbs build (complete with scales + prehensile tail) most certainly work to his advantage here, though, suffice to say, he is not very good at hide and go seek. Also, if Novak goes long enough without eating, he slips into a bloodrage, making his temper even worse and making it impossible for him to care about who the hell he’s fighting, as long as he gets some food in him. He’s a carnivore, through and through - complex carbs such as bread and sugar can make him very sick. One last thing to add is, as a lizardman, Novak’s a little on the cold-blooded side. Exceptionally cold days and exceptionally hot days make him very sluggish indeed.
He’s not the brightest bulb in the box, but he’s all right with that. In his old world, he was the brawns-half of the operation, and he likes it that way. Novak can even come off as wise, though most of the time he’s just being a smartass. Generally, Novak tends to be more of a follower than a leader, though if the responsibility is left to him and there’s no other way, he can be a capable leader indeed.
BACKGROUND:
Though the world was facing relative peace, science had gone on to discover things that were certain to change the world. Experiments were started fifty years ago finally came to completion, and human/animal hybrids - crudely called mutants - were being pumped out of all the high-tech labs in the world. Generally separated by five types - vampire-type, reptile-type, feline-type, avian-type, or insect-type, these creatures were often humanoid with their namesake traits, not just in their appearances but also in their personalities. Vampires and reptiles tended to be a little bit more hot-tempered, a little more vicious and a little more arrogant, where felines and avians tended to sit back and watch the world go before they made their decisions. Insects, the smallest group, were prone to fear, and spent most of their time hiding.
The mutants, not covered by any laws, were fair game to those who could seek them out. Butchers, as they were called, were scientists that would tranquilize mutants as they left the understreets and then perform horrific experiments on them. To combat these butchers and the generally abysmal conditions mutants lived in, mutants rights groups formed - the largest one sponsored by the ASPCA.
It was realized, though, that these mutants had no place to go. Humanity did not desire they take any proper place in the world - they were science experiments at best and devils at worst - and at first worked on removing them by force. The creatures, despite their shortfalls, often had the cruel and quick-wit of their human sides, and the small problem erupted - they were killing people, and legal loopholes did not allow them to be tried. Different countries tried different solutions: in Australia they were racially separated and integrated into society; England allowed vampires to assimilated but shoved the rest into slums; Japan made a place for them in the entertainment and hard labor industries. In America, a clever plan was devised to shuffle as many mutants as possible into ghettos, and this worked, mostly. Murders went down, but murders among mutants skyrocketed. The best part was, though, that was the plan. Eventually, all the mutants in the USA would kill each other off. And thus the problem quieted and disappeared from the news, and people carried on as usual.
Among all this, a boy named Austin Copperfield was born in a New York City suburb, and raised the way every father would want his child to grow up. Austin excelled at football, Tekken, and Madden, though his grades were mediocre at best. He was also somewhat of a closet nerd, collecting Marvel & DC Comics and playing a little bit of Dungeons & Dragons on the side. These things, however, were kept a secret from all of his jock friends
In high school, he was your typical jock. A running back of the football team, Austin was built for the game, and people said he might have been able to play professionally, though he was never that interested in the sport. At 6’8, Austin was ridiculously well built, despite the fact didn’t really get his kicks in violence - unless, of course, he was required to keep his reputation by beating up the very nerds he bought his 20-sided dice from. As insecure as a high school kid could be, Austin lived and died on his reputation, going as far as to drink himself into unconsciousness just to prove he could. Dragging himself through high school, partying, getting Cs and playing on the team, Austin graduated and sought a way out of his nothing town.
He landed a spot at Arizona State University in Tempe. Though he was undecided when he came in, Austin found his fascination had fallen squarely on rocks - he managed graduate (albeit in five years) with a degree in geological sciences and a job at a Museum back in New York City. In college, Austin was a beer pong master and slept with lots of girls, while occasionally going to classes stoned or hungover - but not most of the time. He was a member of the Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, too. He said goodbye to his friends and packed his bags and moved back to the city he’d grown up near, and soon acquired friends back at the city to party with on off-days.
One of those parties, three years later, had a band ending. Forgetting until much later that he had work tomorrow, Austin took the keys to his car and turned it on, forgetting that after playing four or five games of beer pong, taking multiple Goldschalger shots and drinking sips of all the girls’ fruity drinks, you do not drive your car. Severely inebriated, Austin’s poor control of his car ended up with it hitting another vehicle, killing one (a young woman in NYU) and breaking a couple of his bones.
Pleading guilty to manslaughter, he was fired from his job and placed in prison for a sold chunk of time.
It was in prison he met a man, Justin Rhesus, who would become his other half. Persuasive and calm - but not exactly friendly - Justin was an artist that spent most of his time carjacking and occasionally taking TVs off trucks. Justin confided to Austin that he was also guilty of several counts of murder, but those he had actually gotten away with. Two years into their strange friendship, Justin and Austin were a brains & brawn pair, and though they did not always agree, they tended to find compromises eventually. But after that, a guard and a doctor - a small woman in a white coat - dragged them out of their cell and forced them through a number of physically intensive tests. Austin’s football, working-out build served him well, and Justin, thinner but covered in lean muscle, managed to scrape through the tests as well. Expecting to be put back in their cells or released, they were very surprised to be lead into rooms and knocked out with anesthesia.
Austin was equally surprised to wake up with a screaming migraine, a tail, and a much more murderous mind than he originally expected. Still mostly-unconscious, he let his body directed itself and easily broke free of the straps meant to hold him, annihilating the guards that got in his way. His stomach raged with hunger, and - still in shock from what seemed to have happened - he gorged himself on the doctors, and though now full, became immediately sick to his stomach.
Obviously, there was panic involved here - Shit, he was a monster! And he just killed and ate people! It’s quite possible that suicide was an option right then and there, though the reasoning voice of Justin cut in, though this time it had a strange rasp and belonged to another lizardman - though Justin’s scales turned into flesh and back to scales, and he lacked the tail Austin had. It was Justin that convinced Austin that suicide was not, in fact, the answer, and that they could make the best of this and do something about it. Justin, it even seemed, might have even embraced the change for the better. Taking different names to complete their identities, Austin became Novak, and Justin became Seris. Emboldened by Seris’ confidence, Novak fell in line behind him, and, for all intents and purposes, became his bodyguard, best friend, and confidante. Along the way to the mutant slums (commonly known as the understreets), they met up with a third lizardman, a short, athletic one with a habit for hearing everything and spreading rumors. Seris, Novak, and Leyin (the third) would end up to be the most devastating team the understreets had ever seen.
At this point in time, the understreets was a bloody, chaotic mess, vaguely ruled by fear from a vampire named Sri. Sri saw the potential of Seris’ potential and the two companions he’d acquired, and taught Seris and Novak how to fight, keep an eye out, hear the important things, and most importantly - not get killed. What Sri did not expect, however, is Seris’ ambition and Novak’s loyalty to his friend to overthrow him as head of the understreets. This started a bloody gang war between the vampires and the lizardmen, with the felines working for both sides, the avians working for neither (they considered themselves above the understreets and tended to live on the tops of buildings), and the insects hiding underground.
During this intense conflict, a vampire named Ock came to light, claiming the rehabilitation of one of the most vicious of the butchers. A fluke accident on the butcher’s part lead to Sri’s death. In an effort to rid the world of this vicious woman, Seris and Novak were lead on a chase all across the world, getting tossed through a couple of bad experiments and meeting a colorful cast of character. Among these was Alloy, a vampire/lawyer who Seris defeated in London to take control of the mutant part of the streets there, called the warrens. Alloy’s honor was his life, and to be defeated meant his life was the victor’s. Taking Alloy back to the USA with them, they returned back to the USA, still chasing the butcher. Circumstances worked to and for their favor, though in the end, they managed to catch her and, with some complicated surgery on Novak saving his life, were finally convinced she was not a butcher anymore. Life returnes to normal.
If by normal, you mean “bodyguarding the leader of a gang, living in a slum, and killing and occasionally eating your enemies.”
SPECIAL ABILITIES:
Novak has no special abilities that are not backed up by his physical body. However, he has a prehensile tail and a pair of very capable and sharp claws and talons. He’s pretty strong, though not exactly superhuman - he can lift a small car with effort, but not much more that that. His scales function as natural body armor as well, and he’s capable of taking a couple of good shots with a gun before going down.