(Subject to changes/updates) General Information Appearance: [attachment=5] Drawing: (Coming soon to a sheet near you!) Theme: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY4y6gvc62o Brian Oliver Murdoch is a human male Earthling. He is mentally and biologically 17 years old, but is chronologically 59 if the years in cryostasis are a factor, as he was born on the Earth calendar date of June 18, 3225. His mother was Angela Murdoch, and his father was Matthew Murdoch, both of whom are now deceased. Brian was cryogenically frozen by his parents and launched from the planet on the year 3242, the day Earth was destroyed. As a result, it's entirely possible that all records of his existence were lost. He was discovered 42 years later by a group of Miniknog researchers on a frozen planet and taken back to Ociapex for recovery. After a series of events following his revival at the hands of the Miniknog, he was eventually allowed to work as a research intern under Dr. Ludwig Strauss Rellik, one of the researchers stationed at the Ministry. The Ministry of Knowledge is comprised almost solely of Apex with only a few rare exceptions, so Brian's addition to the stringent regime's numbers raised concern within their ranks. Because of this, he feels an obligation to prove himself worthy to be among them. After five months of close observation, Dr. Rellik deemed Brian worthy of joining him on his expedition to the Fringe, where the pair plans on assisting with the ARK III Project. Brian was planning on attending a university while on Earth with a major in Medical Biology, but never got the chance to attend. He's dreamt of being a pathologist since he was a child, wanting to learn more about diseases and how to destroy them. Dr. Rellik volunteered to take Brian on as an assistant because of both his background in epidemiology and his experience as a research supervisor. Despite Brian's inexperience in conducting basic and advanced research practices, the doctor sees potential within the boy. Physical Appearance Brian stands at 5' 3â€, and weighs 106 lbs. He's lithe and agile, but is sorely lacking in pure brute strength. He possesses long black hair that he tries to keep neatly combed. It covers both of his ears on the sides and goes down the length of his collar in the back. His bangs will fall over his eyes if he doesn't comb them upwards. Brian has a rather pale complexion, as he didn't venture outside as much as most people his age should have back on Earth. Brian's face is narrow with a fairly sharp chin, having an expression that remains solemn under normal circumstances. His eyes are an unremarkable brown color, and many years of eye strain have led to faint dark spots forming underneath them. When performing duties assigned to him by Dr. Rellik or another Miniknog official, Brian typically wears lab coats that were given to him upon joining the Ministry. When not actively working, or if he is ever sent into a civilized locale to run errands, he often wears the uniforms given to him by the doctor. His clothes mostly come in variations of black, white, or grey coloration, though he mostly prefers black. While Brian doesn't own a suit and tie, he's particularly fond of that type of formal attire. Brian was given a visor by Dr. Rellik's cohorts in order for him to see with his crippled eyesight, as the time in cryostasis had caused irreversible damage to his eyes. It has the capabilities of acting as a communication device and recording both audio and video feedback for up to five hours of footage at a time, though Brian is currently unaware of the second functionality. The visor also seems to change in color on its own during certain situations while he's wearing it, but the exact details are unclear at this time. Personality Likes Brian only sleeps around 4 to 6 hours a day, and has developed a strong fondness of coffee as a result. Though he may always be studying to further expand his pool of knowledge, he still has a profound appreciation for video games from his time back on Earth. His apprehensive nature may lead others to believe he's a stick in the mud, but he can't help but laugh at even the most nonsensical of jokes, even if it's just a small chuckle or snort. He also admires people who take the effort to chase lofty dreams, as the road to doing so is constantly paved with hardships. He has an eclectic taste in music, his favorite genres being New Age, Jazz, R&B, Symphonic Metal, and even Eurobeat. If he thinks no one else is around, he may sometimes sing out of remembrance for when he used to sing with his mother. Dislikes Due to many nightmares involving the ocean, Brian has developed an almost irrational hatred of mermaids. He doesn't like to be around flowers, as his allergies will cause him to sneeze after a while. He despises alcoholic beverages because of their bitter taste, what they can do to people's minds, and the rank smell it leaves on their breaths. He also gets very antsy if someone starts staring at him for too long, especially if he doesn't know or like them. One thing that will make him especially angry is if someone deliberately tries to touch him without his permission. Social habits Brian always carries a deep-seated paranoia about him following the loss of his family and home, which has made him quite skittish. Despite this, he does his best to maintain an air of calmness and confidence about him in the presence of others. He also has a peculiar habit of listening to elderly people when they tell him to do or not do something, provided that the request doesn't hamper his agenda. Aside from his general paranoid disposition, Brian is xenophobic towards (almost) all races other than Humans and Apex. He does a good job of hiding his feelings in front of them, but it may start spilling out if they begin giving him a hard time. He has an especially profound fear of Hylotl, possibly because they remind him of mermaids. Brian's sheltered upbringing has made it difficult for him to open up to those he isn't familiar with, though this is less out of shyness and more out of suspicion. Because of Brian's xenophobic nature, characters not of the Human/Apex race will have an especially tough time of getting him to spill the beans. He may panic if they attempt to touch him or get too close. He's most at-ease when speaking to the elderly or to other members of the Miniknog. Brian usually speaks in a quiet and silky voice, but hints of condescension and arrogance can be heard in it at times, even though he has a rather humble manner of speech. His words are often spoken with deliberation, as he tries to control what kind of information leaves his mouth. He knows how to control his temper well, and will bite his tongue when necessary. If he becomes distressed, his voice will become shaky and unstable, and his calm façade will diminish into cowardice. He won't say much at all when going somewhere with Dr. Rellik, often letting his superior do most of the talking. Brian is incredibly vindictive, and is constantly plotting ways to covertly retaliate against specific people he meets who he believes may wrong him at some point in time. He'll never act on these schemes unless the person in question has crossed him first, but he'll up the severity of his retaliation if the person continually causes him serious issues. Even if he doesn't have the ability to do anything against more powerful people, every wrong move against him will neither be forgiven nor forgotten. Brian has very sharp intellectual capabilities for a Human, though he is by no means a genius in the grand scheme of things. While his current lack of advanced expertise within his field makes it difficult for him to perform high-risk projects and experiments on his own, he learns concepts and ideas very quickly while observing and learning from others. Given time and training, Brian could possibly achieve wondrous (or terrible) feats with his knowledge. According to Dr. Rellik, one of the strongest contributors to this is his problem-solving skills. Combativeness Brian has had no official combat training at any point in his life on Earth, and has a difficult time trying to hold up firearms or swing around blades that most people are accustomed to using. He's more likely to use his way with words to discourage attackers, rather than get his hands dirty. However, he will do everything he can to prevent his attacker from having their way should they make a move, whether it be threatening them, calling for help, or fleeing. If Brian can't worm his way out of a combat situation, he'll pull out a lightweight and easy to use prototype weapon that utilizes magnetism to manipulate three orbs of a currently unidentified metal. While the orbs lack the capacity to inflict fatal wounds to the same degree as conventional weaponry, they possess a lot of stopping power on impact, as well as stalwart defensive capabilities. They have a unique ability of being able to stretch and form a barrier in front of him that renders almost any conventional blade, bullet, or explosive useless, so long as he maintains it in the direction of the dangerous entity. Excessive combat armaments like mech weaponry, ship cannons, and the like are strong enough to break through his barrier formation. Anyone able to get close enough to Brian can render the orbs useless if they can remove the bracelet he controls them with, though getting around the orbs can prove difficult while they're active. Because of how physically weak he is, one could easily subdue him by firmly grabbing and/or restraining him before he can prepare himself, even if they aren't much bigger than he is. Even one well-placed punch or kick to his head can clean his clock. Additionally, EMP weapons can hamper his ability to control the orbs. If his visor gets knocked off or broken, he will be unable to see or fight back. Overall, Brian's combat capabilities are low. What makes him theoretically dangerous isn't what he can do on the battlefield, but what he can do while away from it… An Unfamiliar Universe In 3225, Angela and Matthew Murdoch celebrated the birth of their beloved son, Brian Oliver Murdoch. Throughout his childhood, his parents both made efforts to tenderly raise him and spend time with him, despite how hard their jobs both worked them. This continued until he reached his school years, where he was always flustered without the presence of his parents. While most children his age would play outside when not at school, he would opt to stay home and spend time with his family. Whether it was singing and dancing with his mother, or sitting in his father's lap while listening to him read a story, there was nothing he treasured more than being with them. As Brian went on to grade-school, he became curious with what his parents did while he was at school. Both Angela and Matthew worked at a hospital in different departments, which also happened to be where they first met, and eventually fell in love with each other. They explained how despite how much they had to do, it was always worth it to see an ailing patient recover with a smile. Brian was enamored with the idea of being able to remove people from a state of pain and suffering, and thus the pursuit of his dream to become a doctor began. While Brian was attending middle school, his parents realized that he would hardly ever socialize with his classmates. One day, they were called in by the guidance counselor with regards to their son's behavior. As he went through his middle school years, he began exhibiting excessively vengeful tendencies towards classmates that harassed or physically harmed him. One of these cases resulted in a student being injured, a security camera revealing that he was the culprit when he set a pencil trap in the student's locker. When Brian was taken to multiple psychiatrists, but none of them could pinpoint any sort of issue with his behavior when questioning him and analyzing his history. However, one of them did suggest that his actions were a result of feelings of inadequacy and sadness. When asked about this, Brian refused to give an answer. Despite his excellent academic performance, he continued to show problematic behavior towards classmates he saw as enemies, even though he was perfectly normal-acting while at home. When Brian finally went into high school, it seemed that he managed to grow out of his troublesome mindset, much to his family's relief. Eventually, he asked his parents if he could shadow them in order to learn more about how exactly they performed their jobs. After convincing their bosses, they agreed to let him see them work once every week. While he couldn't actually participate in any of what they did, he was allowed to watch their practices, doing so with great fascination. As Brian graduated from high school, his parents were proud of how determined he was to follow in their footsteps, even when some believed that he wasn't capable of doing so. As a graduation present, his parents were able to convince their superiors to allow him a job position within their medical institute as an entry-level pathological research assistant. After gathering their savings, they also enrolled him in a well-renowned medical university. Brian was thrilled at the prospect of finally being able to put his knowledge to good use. He worked in his newfound position throughout that summer, all the while excited for the day he would be able to gain a higher education to develop his abilities even further. … However, that day would never come to pass. On Earth's final day in 3242, Matthew had gotten a message from one of his cohorts telling him about the incoming threat, and that chances of complete global destruction were guaranteed. Brian's parents discussed the situation away from him. No matter how hard they tried, they couldn't obtain a space-worthy vehicle in the time they had remaining, and arrived at the conclusion that there was no way that they would all be able to escape the planet in time. Among their belongings, the family had a prototype cryogenic chamber and an incomplete one-man escape pod that Matthew had been working on for an elderly neighbor. The cryogenic chamber was capable of keeping an entity suspended within it even without a power source, so long as the person inside was initially frozen inside while it was powered up. The escape pod didn't have precise travel capabilities yet. There was only enough life support in the pod for one person, and even then cramming it full of supplies wouldn't keep a person alive for more than a few weeks in space. It was then that they decided to fit the cryogenic chamber into the pod after it was detached from its power source. Matthew and Angela both knew that Brian would never have agreed to leave them behind to save his own skin. It was with great pain that Matthew grabbed a cloth and an anesthetic liquid to pacify his son without him having to know what was about to happen to the world. The parents both hugged their unconscious child before they turned on the cryo-chamber. Matthew carried his son very slowly toward the chamber, knowing that this would be the very last time he could hold his boy in his arms. After Brian was frozen completely, his parents transferred the cryo-chamber into the escape pod and activated it. While the pod was powering up, the two began making holographic recordings giving their final goodbyes and wishes that he would be able to one day make his dreams come true upon his reawakening. Within Earth's final moments, Angela hastily entered a random coordinate to send Brian off to, and slipped both the recording and a letter into the pod's interior storage device before closing the pod. The two watched as the light of their lives grew dimmer and dimmer as it flew off into the distance. Brian's body floated through space for 20 years before it arrived at its destination on a frozen planet with very little sapient life on it. It wasn't until another 22 years later that he was discovered by a group of researchers from the Ministry of Knowledge. Upon studying his condition, they discovered that the formation of ice crystals both on the outside and inside of his body had caused millions of tiny lacerations on his skin and internal organs. Thawing him out without special equipment would have resulted in him dying of internal bleeding in mere minutes. After searching the pod for any dangerous items, they beamed the pod to the Apex home planet of Ociapex. Within the walls of one of the Ministry's many research facilities, Brian's body was simultaneously thawed and healed in an effort to test some newly developed state-of-the-art medical technology. Alone and confused, it took a lot of effort for the scientists to calm him down upon his revival. However, they soon realized the reason why he was panicking... Brian was almost completely blind. During several weeks of not being able to see anything but a kaleidoscope of blurred colors, Miniknog military officials detained and fervently questioned Brian as to what he was doing before he was frozen and what he planned on doing from that point forward. After learning of his future aspirations and having no possible reasons to oppose their regime, they decided that having Brian as a part of their numbers would be mutually beneficial in the long run, despite his lack of experience. The scientists within the ophthalmological department are still trying to figure out why he can't see, but were able to provide him with a light-bending visor that allowed him to see clearly. Once Brian was given clothing suited for research, they assigned him to the researcher whose field of study most closely coincided with his interests, being Dr. Ludwig Rellik. For five months, Ludwig taught Brian and observed him perform basic research procedures with deliberate precision. After deeming him as having the potential to achieve great things for the Miniknog's purposes, he decided that he would take the boy with him on his expedition to the ARK III fleet. Thus marks the beginning of Brian and Dr. Rellik's journey into the Fringe. While Brian still upholds his own hopes for his future, he also holds a strong belief that the Miniknog have the passion, the manpower, and the technology to make his ideal universe a possibility, as well. Both their influence and the influence of others he meets within the Fringe can shape what he'll become, whether it be for better... or for worse.
