OOC: Some notes
For when I start actually playing the guy. I don't know yet when that will be. :( LIES It will be a week or two after gameplay officially starts.
John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education, 1693: "I think I may say that of all the men we meet with, nine parts of ten are what they are, good or evil, useful or not, by their education."
9 is the number of the tabula rasa, the blank slate upon which experience writes.
1 is the number of the deep mysteries.
10 is the number of the man.
A 51-year old, very bald man was a middle manager of a box company in California. He has strong arms, a bit of a pot belly, and deep laugh lines around his eyes. C'mon, he's Terry O'Quinn, and Terry O'Quinn is in everything so therefore you know what he looks and sounds like. It would entertain me DEEPLY to have Locke be on the plane connecting from Sydney, but alas, my schedule isn't quite freed up enough to start play yet, so he'll be entering the game later. Hopefully by interesting and plot-generating means.
John is charismatic, competent, independent, dedicated (oh you have no idea how much), and has a commanding and intimidating presence when he wants to. He likes to wait until people realize that they need leadership before he steps (wheels) up to the plate. It's not that John's desperate to be a leader, you see; he just enjoys being needed. He's not exactly a social butterfly, but is very approachable, maintaining an even-keeled demeanor even in the most chaotic of circumstances. Your resourceful and enigmatic "wise old man" figure. He likes to help people, though his methods are not particularly traditional. He'll talk to you if you talk to him, but though he's friendly and tells the truth, it becomes eerily apparent after repeated exposure that he's not telling the whole truth.
Honestly, he can be a little scary sometimes. Not angry-scary or crazy-scary, but sane-scary. Knowing he's watching you and seeing something you're not even though he looks the same and acts as kindly as always-scary. Locke has some issues with obsession, failure, family and acceptance, and deception. His inscrutable demeanor and tendency to adopt and jealously protect pet projects can be annoying. And he really, really does not take kindly to being called incapable.
He has some useful skills. As mentioned, he's a proficient hunter and tracker, and a decent line fisherman. He also knows a bit about engineering, simple explosives, navigation and orientation, carpentry, strategy, negotiation, the manufacture of some psychotropics, wilderness survival skills (including first aid), organization and leadership, and the use of knives and firearms. He has a keen mind for puzzles and enjoys games of strategy. Though he can't truly be classed as an expert in any of these things except hunting and tracking, he is highly creative and resourceful. If you need a medieval trebuchet, a birch bark ankle splint, a cattail dog whistle, an on-the-fly baby bottle, or to blow up a submarine with minimal C4, he's your man.
Locke's self-educated in some respects - he knows more than the average bear about spiritualism, philosophy, and history - but has no formal education beyond high school. And even with those academic subjects he's more well-versed in, his knowledge base tends towards remembering cool tidbits than a thorough conceptual understanding. He's not so hot with computers and electronics, science and mathematics, languages, or medicine beyond wilderness first aid. Strength and endurance are on his side; speed and agility are not.
Locke keeps his cards very close to his chest, but if you could read them you'd see that he has a serious tendency towards obsessions. The most obvious of them is that he's deeply interested in defining a great destiny for himself, and pursuing it, and will be quite keen on any person or side that seems to offer the opportunity for said destiny. Locke really wants to be a good man, but he's also presently bound by some selfishness, including wanting to be a Great man. Something of a war for his soul is ongoing, and I am going to do my damndest to maintain his moral ambiguity for as long as is reasonable. This doesn't mean I am asking you not to have your character try to influence his trajectory; please do! He has the potential to be a man who does impressive good, and also the potential to be a man who does impressive awful. If I do this right, over play time, he will do both. Hopefully the course of the game will determine where he winds up on the moral spectrum, even if the answer is "right back in the middle of it."
John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education, 1693: "I think I may say that of all the men we meet with, nine parts of ten are what they are, good or evil, useful or not, by their education."
9 is the number of the tabula rasa, the blank slate upon which experience writes.
1 is the number of the deep mysteries.
10 is the number of the man.
A 51-year old, very bald man was a middle manager of a box company in California. He has strong arms, a bit of a pot belly, and deep laugh lines around his eyes. C'mon, he's Terry O'Quinn, and Terry O'Quinn is in everything so therefore you know what he looks and sounds like. It would entertain me DEEPLY to have Locke be on the plane connecting from Sydney, but alas, my schedule isn't quite freed up enough to start play yet, so he'll be entering the game later. Hopefully by interesting and plot-generating means.
John is charismatic, competent, independent, dedicated (oh you have no idea how much), and has a commanding and intimidating presence when he wants to. He likes to wait until people realize that they need leadership before he steps (wheels) up to the plate. It's not that John's desperate to be a leader, you see; he just enjoys being needed. He's not exactly a social butterfly, but is very approachable, maintaining an even-keeled demeanor even in the most chaotic of circumstances. Your resourceful and enigmatic "wise old man" figure. He likes to help people, though his methods are not particularly traditional. He'll talk to you if you talk to him, but though he's friendly and tells the truth, it becomes eerily apparent after repeated exposure that he's not telling the whole truth.
Honestly, he can be a little scary sometimes. Not angry-scary or crazy-scary, but sane-scary. Knowing he's watching you and seeing something you're not even though he looks the same and acts as kindly as always-scary. Locke has some issues with obsession, failure, family and acceptance, and deception. His inscrutable demeanor and tendency to adopt and jealously protect pet projects can be annoying. And he really, really does not take kindly to being called incapable.
He has some useful skills. As mentioned, he's a proficient hunter and tracker, and a decent line fisherman. He also knows a bit about engineering, simple explosives, navigation and orientation, carpentry, strategy, negotiation, the manufacture of some psychotropics, wilderness survival skills (including first aid), organization and leadership, and the use of knives and firearms. He has a keen mind for puzzles and enjoys games of strategy. Though he can't truly be classed as an expert in any of these things except hunting and tracking, he is highly creative and resourceful. If you need a medieval trebuchet, a birch bark ankle splint, a cattail dog whistle, an on-the-fly baby bottle, or to blow up a submarine with minimal C4, he's your man.
Locke's self-educated in some respects - he knows more than the average bear about spiritualism, philosophy, and history - but has no formal education beyond high school. And even with those academic subjects he's more well-versed in, his knowledge base tends towards remembering cool tidbits than a thorough conceptual understanding. He's not so hot with computers and electronics, science and mathematics, languages, or medicine beyond wilderness first aid. Strength and endurance are on his side; speed and agility are not.
Locke keeps his cards very close to his chest, but if you could read them you'd see that he has a serious tendency towards obsessions. The most obvious of them is that he's deeply interested in defining a great destiny for himself, and pursuing it, and will be quite keen on any person or side that seems to offer the opportunity for said destiny. Locke really wants to be a good man, but he's also presently bound by some selfishness, including wanting to be a Great man. Something of a war for his soul is ongoing, and I am going to do my damndest to maintain his moral ambiguity for as long as is reasonable. This doesn't mean I am asking you not to have your character try to influence his trajectory; please do! He has the potential to be a man who does impressive good, and also the potential to be a man who does impressive awful. If I do this right, over play time, he will do both. Hopefully the course of the game will determine where he winds up on the moral spectrum, even if the answer is "right back in the middle of it."