It's the year 2016. Nobody has died for five years. But thousands, perhaps millions are being murdered every day.
Five years ago, all around the world, death came to a halt. Everyone on Earth stopped dying all at once. And yet pain, injury, disease, it all remained. Hospitals were slowly overrun with the wounded. Slowly the whole world turned to hell.
Torchwood, a former top secret organization once thought disbanded, reformed to try and solve the problem. Eventually they uncovered a sickening secret. The Government were creating Overflow camps, supposedly to house the injured and elderly. But the ugly truth was they were categorizing them into three different categories. Later a fourth category would be voted in.
Category 3s are healthy. These are the ones not required to reside in Overflow Camps.
Category 2s are the ones with nonfatal, yet significantly debilitating injuries. Category 1s are the ones that should be dead. It is mandatory that anyone with Category 1 injuries be sent to overflow camps. Yet the truth is Category 1s are being incinerated every day. Burned alive, to help with overpopulation and to prevent the spread of disease.
Anyone harboring a Category 1 illegally will be arrested, and persecuted. Category 0s are the Governments new death penalty. Criminals or anyone the Government deems necessary to kill are incinerated.
Torchwood came so very close to stopping the madness, exposing the truth behind the Miracle. But ultimately they failed. The team, and all of their family and accomplices were detained, questioned, and if found to be in cahoots with them, incinerated.
However, Jack Harkness managed to send out one last message. A message to someone currently unknown. But his message was simple. Form a new Torchwood. Stop the Miracle where he'd failed. And most importantly, stay hidden.
And so that person did. In secret, and complete and total anonymity, they began recruiting a new Torchwood, in the attempts to uncover the truth, and to ultimately put a stop to the Miracle, to stop the Overflow Camps, and to bring back death.
1: (And it's the Most Important): No Mary Sues or Gary Stu's! None. If I see your character displaying these tendencies, I will have the government swoop down on them and they will be captured and incinerated. Or I will just ask you to tone it down. Whichever I'm feeling at that moment.
2: Each person can have up to two characters. A third can be granted depending on activity, literacy and/or plot necessity.
3: Be realistic. If your character is injured, they will feel it. Painkillers are a rare luxury. If it's a severe injury, they will have to be sneakier so they can avoid getting taken to an Overflow Camp.
4: Death is possible! If your character is injured to the point of being a Category 1, there's a strong possibility that they'll be taken to a camp and burned alive, and thus they'll be out of the game. Unless they're saved by the team, which may or may not happen.
5: Please post in Third Person, Past Tense format. And please try to use proper grammar and spelling. Mistakes are natural, but please, make an effort.
6: While characters are certainly allowed, even encouraged, to know more than one language (it IS New York, after all), if you’re having them say phrases or words in a foreign language, please avoid using google translate or any other online translation tool to translate them to the intended language. Most of the time they end up messing the grammar or vocabulary, and make native speakers of the languages have headaches (and this being the Internet, you never know who’s watching).
Basically if you’re going to do this, do your research beforehand, or just write it out in English and add “he/she said in whateverlanguage”. If your character is the type to insert gratuitous foreign words into their speech, with no regard for accuracy, then by all means disregard this. But still, remember to use your common sense and that research is your friend.
7: Adding to the above, if you're going to join this I expect literacy, and no one-liners.
8: Have fun. And those are all the rules. If I need to add more, I will.
Q: If this is supposed to be Torchwood, why did everyone in Torchwood die?
A: This is a slightly fudged up alternate version of Torchwood Miracle Day, in which the team fails and the Miracle lives on for many years afterwards. I thought it would be fun to see what the world would be like if it kept going, and going. And so this RP was born.
Q: Do I have to know much about Torchwood to join the RP?
A: Nope! You don't really have to know anything about Torchwood. The characters in this RP are original. The only thing you have to know is that it's very sci-fi alien in origin, and so there will probably be alien gadgets, salvaged from the ruins of Torchwood Three's hub.
Q: What's the Point?
A: ... To have fun, and to RP in a world where if you're injured, it's likely you will be incinerated! I rather like the premise. This has the potential to be very fun and dramatic! Just imagine the characters sneaking into an overflow camp to rescue one of their friends/family members who are going to be burned alive. It will be fun!
Q: Where do we post our character Bios?
A: In the OOC thread! We will reply to your post telling you whether or not your character is accepted, and then your Bio will be added to this thread in the Bio list!
Q: Is Romance allowed?
A: Yes. Yes it is. Just be realistic about it, and keep it within the rules! Anything steamy should be taken off-site.
Q: Can my characters have Super Powers/Be a God/Be The Leader
A: No, probably not. The Leader of Torchwood Five is a faceless entity that no one knows about, except perhaps the Second in Command, and even they don't know much about the Leader.
Q: Can my character be a spy for the FBI/CIA/Government, or the actual Bad Guys?
A: Just for reference, the "Bad Guys" are three separate families working together. They are the ones who causes this. Not much is known about them. The FBI/CIA/Government are against Torchwood, so they also count as 'bad guys' sort of.
But to answer the actual question, maybe! If you wish for your character to have infiltrated Torchwood, I will decide based on your literacy, how well I think you would pull it off, and what your goal is for them to do.
Ideally, there would be some form of this kind of thing, as I think it's realistic. As secret as Torchwood tries to be, they get noticed on occasion. But seriously, we'll discuss this on a case by case basis.
Q: Where are Torchwood Headquarters, and what does it look like?
A: The headquarters are in New York City, in what looks like an unused warehouse in the New York Harbor. Inside... Well, it looks like an average warehouse still, BUT! After finding a code locked door, and putting the right code in, you find a more sophisticated underground headquarters, with high tech computers and gear, rooms to house and care for Category 1s, bedrooms for the members of Torchwood themselves (although they can have their own homes if they want to), as well as a basement for general storage/hiding.
Q: Where has the Doctor been?!
A: ... I don't know, let's ignore that little thing. Maybe the TARDIS is malfunctioning. The point is, he isn't in this RP and so it's up to Torchwood Five.
Q: Wait, why is the government killing people?! Don’t the wounds/diseases heal?
A: … Good question. And we have no idea how it works in canon. For the purposes of this RP, though, we’re saying that yes, they do heal, but slowly. Very slowly. Like, a minor injury takes about as long to heal as a minor surgery, slowly. And you know, some of the people being killed SHOULD be dead, and were unconscious with no signs of waking up, so we think that probably has a lot to do with it.
Q: So who’s running this RP? Curious minds want to know!
A: This RP is run by two people. Allow us to introduce ourselves.
Hi! I’m Marques! I’ll be the moderator that knows the least about Torchwood/Doctor Who! :D Pleased to meet you!
And I’m James, the one who actually came up with this idea, and enlisted my wonderful BFF Marques to help out. Together we’ll be running the best RP ever, or we’ll die trying. And remember, we’re watching yooou~
Q: You mentioned Alien Gadgets a few questions back? What kinds, and can my characters use them?
A: Yes, and yes! As for what kinds, if you have any ideas for relatively simple alien toys/gadgets that might be useful in the RPG, that you think it would be realistic if they were salvaged from the wreckage of Torchwood Three's Hub, then please PM me your ideas!
And if we want to get technical with this, and I'm all for pulling things out of my arse on occasion, we could say that some of the technology was salvaged from Torchwood One at Canary Wharf in London. Nobody knows who the Leader of Torchwood Five is, so if we wanted to we could say he/she had connections and also had some Alien Tech himself/herself. But all I ask is be reasonable. I don't want everyone carrying laser guns and the like.
But as far as what there is available currently:
Torchwood Computer Software on the laptops, which is used for researching and hacking databases. It's normally untrackable, so yeah.
Contact Lense Camera, with mouth reading technology. These are like normal contact lenses, but when inserted, whoever is using the computer they're wirelessly connected to can see through the persons eyes, and communicate via written messages which display in the persons vision. These are used sparingly, and mainly for infiltration. They aren't given out freely, as there is only one pair.
Amnesia Pill. Used to make someone forget things. Small supply, use sparingly!
Lockpicking Device. It's slightly damaged, and tends to take a few minutes to unlock heavily secured doors. As it was damaged in the Hub explosion, it malfunctions on occasion, or outright not work at all.
TV Signal Jamming Device "Gizmo", a simple device used by aiming it at security cameras, which causes them to act shut off.
Earpieces, used for communicating.
(More will be added! Mainly as they're suggested and accepted, or as ideas come to me. Ideas must be approved before they're used within the RPG.)
Name: Age: (As this is a secret organization, it's preferred that your character is 18 or older. If you want them to be younger, present a good reason for it, please.) Gender: Personality: (This doesn't have to be super detailed, but please give enough to give me an idea on what your character is like. Appearance: (Pictures are allowed, but please tell us their height and weight, as well as what kind of clothes they wear.) How long have they been a member of Torchwood: (A year? Two? Are they a new recruit? Keep in mind this team has only been around for Five years, so no longer than five years max!) Skills: (Torchwood mainly looks for people with a specific skill, who would be an asset to the team. Is your character medically skilled, do they have training in a specific area, like military training? Are they good with computers, or specialize in anything? Just a note: Be realistic! That means no 18 year old knowing every form of martial arts, that kind of thing. If you go overboard here, your character will be rejected.) Injuries: (If your character is injured in any way, please list what kind of injuries. They don't have to be injured, but if they've been with the team for a while now, it's likely they might have some.) History: (Be semi-detailed, or extremely detailed. But what has their life been like? Have they lived with family their entire life? Have they had anyone they know burned alive? That sort of thing. Just give me an idea of what your character is like!)
Anything Else: (If there's anything else you want to add about your character, or if you have questions, then let me know here.)
Play By: Furious and Rmarques Name: Amelia Larsen Age: 34 Gender: Female Personality: The first thing people would notice about Amelia is that she’s a very kind person. It’s clear that she cares about people very much. She listens to them, and understands that they are humans and make mistakes. She’s come to love each and every one of the team members she’s recruited, and views them as her family.
But underneath this kindness is also a woman who has dealt with a lot of loss in her life, and even more in the five short years she’s been second in command for Torchwood, and being second in command has taught her that tough decisions are necessary, especially for a job as dangerous as theirs.
As much as it kills her, she is capable of making those tough decisions, even if it means leaving someone behind. She doesn’t like it by any means, but she knows that Torchwood’s goal is more important in the long run, and she won’t let the team fail, even if it’s a life or death situation. She also knows that she isn’t truly any more important than her team, and as such she expects them to carry on even if she’s captured.
That doesn’t mean, though, that she would always leave a team member to die. If she thinks there’s a good possibility that they can be saved, then of course she would make sure they did everything possible to get them back, but the second the Torchwood team as a whole was put at risk, she would retreat. Overall, she knows when a situation is hopeless and when it isn’t.
Appearance:Here
Mainly dresses very professional looking, as she wants to set a good example for the team. Her hair is almost almost pulled up in an up-do. She's 5'6 and weighs 130 Pounds. How long have they been a member of Torchwood: Five Years Skills: Before joining Torchwood, Amelia was skilled in the art of forgery, mainly identification. These skills are enhanced greatly with the help of the Torchwood computer software, and as such she can make a variety of flawless identification cards, certificates, and documents.
Also like all (or at least most,) Torchwood members, Amelia has been trained in a variety of different firearms, so she’s capable of defending herself with a gun.
She’s also proficient with most technology, being able to fix most problems related to them, as well as tweaking them and making them work in better, and even completely different ways. Though her skilled are mostly limited to what she actually has available, and as money is rather tight for the team, she’s unable to really utilize her skills in this area to the fullest.
Injuries: History: Amelia’s early life, while tragic, wasn’t all that extraordinary. She lost her parents to a car crash when she was 11 years old, making her uncle and aunt her guardians for the rest of her life. She managed to move on though, and made the best she could off her life. She became an excellent student at school, who was able to get a few scholarships and grants that made going to MIT to get a degree in Engineering. Sadly, and this is a part of her past she’s not proud of, her grants covered only her schooling costs, not her living ones. As such, she and a few friends took to forging documents, or writing papers for other students for some extra cash. By what she calls nothing short of a miracle, they were never caught, and she was able to graduate with no further bumps in the road.
Her first encounter with Torchwood was one she literally ran into. An escaped alien, she running late to a job interview... It would have been fate, if she hadn’t forgotten about it all after the whole thing was settled.
However, one day she got a message. And like a trigger, that message awakened memoried within her. Not all she had lost, but enough. She knew what she had to do, once she looked into it. And she knew she’d need help.
--- Played By:Furious Name: Andrew “Andy” Stone Age: 27 Gender: Male Personality: Andrew is first and most noticeably very full of himself. At first he might come off as a bit of a jerk, because he boasts about every accomplishment as if he’s the greatest thing ever. Along with this, he’s also very brash and courageous to the point of stupidity. Being one of the newest members to Torchwood, these qualities are even more exaggerated as he feels the need to prove himself, which ends up doing the opposite and tends to make him the last one the team would be willing to send on a mission- in his mind, anyway. The real reason is that Amelia feels he’s too important to risk, and so he’s mainly used to gather information, and never sent on dangerous missions.
This tends to make him bored, and rather jealous of the team members who do get to go out on missions in the field, though he would never disobey Amelia outright. He might just look for small loopholes to relieve his boredom.
Andrew is also rather immature despite his age. Some might say he acts more like a teenager than someone close to the age of thirty, but he would disagree. Overall he just likes to have fun, which comes off as making him look like he doesn’t take his job seriously.
A big reason for the fact he’s never really had many friends is that his idea of fun is writing programs to mess with people, (Not viruses, for the most part. Just mainly obnoxious programs with flashing buttons, or randomly causing a computer to play a loud sound.) He doesn’t really make good conversation either, as he’s dedicated so much of his time to learning computers that he doesn’t really have much more than that to talk about, and combined with his boastful nature, this tends to push people away.
Despite all of that, Andrew really is a good person, and secretly he’s really just looking to fit in somewhere, as he’s been quite a loner his entire life. He doesn’t even really realize it’s his attitude that makes people avoid him, as he doesn’t actually realize he comes off as such a jerk, for them ost part. The reason he acts the way he does it to try and impress everyone, and he really does want to be an asset to the team, as it’s the first time he’s ever been part of something like it. His intentions in everything he does are almost always good; they just have the habit of backfiring 99% of the time.
Appearance:Here He’s of average height and weight, around 5’8 inches, and about 150 pounds. His style of clothing is really nothing special, as he doesn’t really put that much effort into shopping for clothes. He’s mainly seen wearing jeans and a t-shirt, and something slightly more dressier when he’s working with the CIA. Skills: Andy is the team’s go-to hacker. In the few months that Andy has been a member of Torchwood, he set to work memorizing and becoming skilled with the computer software. As such, he’s the one usually asked to do any of the hacking and tracking that they might need.
He is also a skilled computer programmer, capable of creating all kinds of programs. In this area, he’s a huge perfectionist, and as such he tends to spend quite a long time perfecting his work, so he’s not exactly time-efficient.
Shortly after learning the Torchwood software, he set to work making it more secure, proficient, and did he mention secure? Yep, it’s so secure he had to mention it twice.
Injuries: As of the present time, he has no injuries, as he’s mainly used for nothing more dangerous than hacking or gathering information via computer. How long have they been with Torchwood: Six Months History: Behind a Spoiler Tag due to its length.
SPOILERX
Andrew has had a fairly normal, if slightly more lonely than the average persons, life. He was born and raised in New York City. His parents were the busy type, so they rarely ever had time to spend quality time with him. His dad was a businessman who had to travel often. By the time he thought to try and invite his son along for one of the trips, it was clear that the two had nothing in common, so that idea was quickly dropped and Andrew was left alone.
Because of the fact he never really had his parents around to encourage him, to make himself feel better he would always have to convince himself that whatever he did was good himself. He saw how other kids parents would praise them, and so he took to praising himself to simulate it.
Eventually, this made his own ego swell and eventually he started believing he was really good at everything, which is the reason he comes off as so full of himself.
In school, he always seemed to border on being a complete loner. From a relatively young age of ten or so, he got heavily into computers, and tended to neglect current events. As such, he was never really that ‘current’. He never followed the latest trends (not that he would’ve under normal circumstances, probably,), nor went to see the latest movies. Eventually his hobby in computers turned into an almost obsession, as eventually he discovered the wonders of computer programming, which only made his loner status worse, as most people in school didn’t understand a word of what he talked about.
In the effort to try and make himself more popular, he began experimenting with writing different programs and sending them to people unwittingly. What he thought were practical jokes in his opinion, proved to be infuriating to the recipients. He didn’t stop trying for a while though, as in his head eventually they would see he was a genius. A funny, mischievous genius.
It never quite worked out though. Because one day, he got the idea to spread a program throughout the school’s computer. The ultimate prank that would finally show everyone he really was awesome. He spent weeks perfecting the code. It was fairly simple, but he wanted to make sure it was exactly right. The program would cause all of the computers in school to play an animated GIF of Andrew, as well as ‘Andrew is King!’ would be shouted through the speakers.
The day finally came when his program was finished, and he set to work making it happen. Unfortunately, despite how much of a perfectionist he’d been, it hadn’t been perfect enough. Rather than doing what he intended, all at once at the designated time, the school’s computers all crashed.
It wasn’t long before it was discovered that he was the one behind it, and not long afterwards he was expelled. His failure brought out a strong motivation in himself to improve, and rather than going do a different school, he asked his parents if he could be homeschooled.
They were iffy at first, but in the end they agreed.
His initial goal to attract positive attention to himself through his big prank even succeeded. After being expelled, a few of the students contacted him to thank him for causing the computers to go down. But by that time, it was too late. He was more interested in his computer than he was making friends, and though he became friends with them for a while, in the end he stopped hanging out with them in favor of studying.
Due to the fact he spent more time studying than the average teenager, he was ultimately able to get his GED a year earlier than he would’ve graduated. He’d actually hoped for this, as he had a plan to begin writing more serious, useful programs in the year before applying to University, to put in his applications in the hope it would better his chances at getting into a good school.
In the end, his efforts paid off. He was accepted into a good university, and received a scholarship to help with the costs. Unlike in High School, he didn’t spend his time at University trying to make friends. He focused his time on studying, and while he surrounded by people who he could actually talk to, his boastful and cocky attitude quickly put people off.
He was able to graduate as one of the top in his classes, as well as getting a degree in Computer Science, as well as a minor in Computer Engineering.
After graduating, he was suddenly struck with a dilemma. He’d spent so much time studying and trying to improve, that he hadn’t really given an actual career any thought. Because of his indecisiveness, he finally decided to move back in with his parents (To their slight reluctance) and become a freelance Programmer, writing programs for people who would buy them. This was mainly anti-virus programs, as there seemed to be a growing market for them.
It was a slow start, but eventually his little business picked up, and over the course of time that he spent doing this, he finally realized that he really enjoyed making programs to help people, and that he really excelled in computer security.
He eventually began looking for a job for the government, hoping to be able to one day protect their computers and the country as a whole, digitally. Eventually, he got a job and because of his skill, he rose through the ranks pretty quickly until he finally made it in a position with the CIA, protecting against hacking threads and reinforcing their security as a whole.
It was when he finally got his job and was able to focus on things other than studying, that he actually started caring about trying to make friends again, and by that point he was as socially awkward and full of himself as ever- a quality that was finally pointed out to him, and one he’s tried improving on, which varies in success every day.
Eventually, and through complete chance, he met Torchwood’s second in command, Amela, while she was working undercover. By this point, the Miracle had already been going on for years, and while Andrew didn’t exactly agree with some of the things that were being done, there was nothing he could do that wouldn’t jeopardize his career.
But when Amelia contacted him and offered him a position in Torchwood, he finally found his opportunity to do something to stop the things that were happening. However, Amelia didn’t want him to quit his current job, as she felt his position would make him a great asset to the team, if he was willing to provide Torchwood information. In the end, he finally agreed to turn spy for Torchwood, and so he holds both a job in Torchwood as well as programmer for the CIA; a risky position, but one he feels is necessary. The fact that his job in the CIA is so important is one of the only things reining him in and stopping him from doing anything overly stupid, as he doesn’t want to blow his cover.
It’s in Torchwood that he finally feels like he fits in somewhere, even if he doesn’t entirely get along with everyone there. Being on the team finally makes him feel like he’s using his talents for something useful, not to mention worthy of his time, and while even after six months he’s still working out the kinks and possibly butting heads with others, he’s pretty happy.
---
Played By: Rmarques Name: Erik Asker Age: 25 Gender: Male Personality: At work, he’s fairly professional and to the point, being very polite and respectful. He’s not exactly above light teasing or a small joke or two, or even an anger outburst if something pushes his buttons, but overall, he’s fairly cold and distant. Outside, on the other hand, he’s far more sociable and friendly, enjoys a good laugh and is overall quite cheerful. He does still maintain his polite and respectful behaviour, though, brought on by both his upbringing and Islamic faith, the latter of which he holds as an important part of himself.
Going back to anger, he’s not exactly one to anger easily. Granted, he’s not someone that must be pushed really hard either, but certain buttons have to be pushed in order to get him to truly outwardly show his anger. Said buttons include assumptions about himself or his Islamic family members regarding their religion (assumptions that he’s a conservative annoy him the most, as he’s a secularist). Appearance:Here
He’s 6 feet tall (182 cm), weights 167 pounds (76 kg). At work (which includes Torchwood), he’s usually seen wearing a a dress shirt and khakis with dress shoes, sometimes with a long coat if it’s cold. Outside of work though, his wardrobe is more casual, and he can be often seen layering a t-shirt over a long-sleeved shirt, with jeans and sneakers. He may also wear cotton trousers and just long sleeve t-shirts, sometimes with a denim jacket. For winter, he changes to corduroy pants (which he sometimes also wears to work), and sweaters.
How long have they been a member of Torchwood: Two Years Skills: Lockpicking- Has a knack for getting past regular doors, as a result of teenage boredom, and parental preference for locking him in the bathroom for detention as a child. (currently not much of an asset, as he can only use one hand).
Photographic memory- While this is a bit of an exaggeration, as he’s not quite that precise, he can remember things in great detail and precision, making him invaluable for reckon missions where cameras can’t be used/aren’t enough.
Polyglot- He is fluent in English, Turkish, Swedish and Spanish, with some basic comprehension of French, German and Portuguese.
Injuries: Gunshot wounds on the right arm, fairly recent. Renders it hard to use, making him a leftie. History: Erik grew up in Brooklyn as the second child of four. Growing up, his life was pretty mundane, with no major encounter with things that’d make him run into Torchwood or the Doctor. He excelled at school and eventually went to the New York University to study International Law, eventually working up to earn an LLM. Once he was finished with his schooling, he began practicing law as an immigration lawyer.
His encounter with Torchwood took place after his father was taken to an Overflow Camp after being stabbed in a mugging. Unsatisfied with the government’s story, and the fact that he and his family weren’t allowed to see him, he began digging, trying to find out as much about the camps as he could. At first it was just things anyone could do, like googling, which of course, didn’t get him anything other than official stories and conspiracy theorists. So, he began trying out connections he had, friends, in varying levels of importance in other places that could possibly dig deeper than him, or know other people that could do it.
Eventually, he began getting some answers, answers he didn’t like. But before he could get the full picture, people he’d been in contact with began going missing. And that was when he realized that he was way over his head. And also when he was contacted by Torchwood. He was told that if he still wanted to know the truth, and stop what was happening, then there was a group of people that could help him. Provided he helped back, of course.
Needless to say, he took the offer.
Muslim - Biracial (Black/White) grandmother married turkish grandfather, giving birth to his father, who married swedish woman. Mother is a christian.
--- Played By: kaboot Name: Maya Club
Age: 26
Gender: Female
Personality: Maya has a child-like nature to her, full of wonder and whimsy and optimism. However, with this comes a certain level of immaturity. While she isn’t completely a baby, she tends to jump to conclusions and is very much the jealous sort. Her jealousy comes out not in aggression or paranoia, but moping and whining and general feelings of inadequacy. She’s also far too trusting, which tends to get her in trouble.
Maya is sweet, and hopes to find the best in almost everyone. She is interested in technology and weaponry, but also has an odd fascination with the morbid.
This fascination manifests itself in a way in-keeping with her child-like tendencies. She is very bright-eyed about death and views it as the next adventure. Because she was raised without much religion besides the use of phrases like “Oh my God”, she doesn’t think of the afterlife in terms of Heaven or hell, but in terms of ghostly spirits wandering the Earth, invisible to most and free to travel through different planes of reality. The idea of multiple realities and worlds also fascinates Maya.
Appearance: Maya is a short young woman, just reaching five feet, and weighs a slightly above-average one-hundred-seven pounds. She was a more or less average build, looking slightly stocky, especially due to her preference for baggy sweatshirts and sweatpants in cool colors. However, when she gets the chance, Maya loves to dress up in a wide range of clothing, usually from other cultures she doesn’t necessarily know anything about. Maya has shoulder-length, wavy hair in a rich, chocolaty-brown. Her eyes are blue, and she has a somewhat up-turned nose and generally rounded face. How long have they been a member of Torchwood: A new recruit of about a month.
Skills: Maya is a great shot! See her history for the reason for this. She’s got great aim and can work a fair amount of weaponry.
Injuries: None… Yet.
History: Maya’s life was a simple one. She was born to two very young parents she doesn’t at all remember and quickly put up for adoption, and ended up staying with her third foster family -- A man named Cameron who lived with his brother Paul, Paul’s wife, Denise, and their daughter, Eloise. The family lived on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Eloise was five years older than Maya, who was adopted at age two, and acted as a protector and, in some ways, mentor, to the younger girl.
Maya knew she was adopted all her life, and as a small child didn’t ask much about it. When she reached her preteen years, she grew curious about her birth parents, but they proved impossible for her to track down on her own, and she didn’t want to go to orphanage she was from for help, because that would mean getting her father involved, and she feared he would think she was unhappy.
By the time Maya was eighteen, and old enough to get answers on her own, she didn’t care about her birth parents, quite feeling at place with her adoptive family. Her and her father, Cameron, were especially close. He coddled and babied her fairly often, but she really never minded. Once she was old enough, he began taking her to the local shooting range with her.
Cameron was fascinated by weapons, not for their ability to hurt but their sheer complexity and how simply amazing they often were, and Maya picked up this trait as well. Cameron was more than happy to supply her with many items and teach her how to use them.
When Maya was eighteen, she went to New York for college, majoring in English and aiming to become a teacher. She was a substitute during the time between graduation and being recruited for Torchwood.
Personality: Isadora is quite a lively member of Torchwood. She's very funny and outgoing, and has a soft spot for anyone in need or who has been treated wrongly. On the other hand, she keeps details of her personal life and history a secret due to traumatic events, and doesn't like letting people in.
At first this can make people shy away from her, calling her guarded. Which is true, considering she does have trust issues and doesn't like to let people see her vulnerable. However most find that if they just keep off of the subject of her past, Isadora is a pretty cool chick. She's very intelligent and always sticks up for the under dog, but she has a habit of holding grudges. She's very loyal to anyone she does trust, which includes her team, and she loves to make people laugh, especially because in their world now a days there's not a lot of laughing.
Because of her past, however, Isadora does know how to manipulate someone. She can read a person like a book, but she hates it being done to her. She can get someone to do what she pleases simply by mental manipulation, but she usually only does it if it is of great importance or is for a mission. Because of her social abilities and her skill of manipulation, she is almost always out on missions, especially if they involve infiltration and others. She's not one to boast about it, but will not let someone underestimate her. She can be a bad ass when need be, and isn't afraid to let people see that side of her.
Appearance: View
Isadora has a young face, which makes people tend to think they can walk over her. However she doesn't always take it as a bad thing, as she knows she can use it to her advantage. Her hair is naturally two toned because of chromosomes that got mixed when she was still in her mother's womb. She is a small five foot five and 123 pounds.
The young Isadora is often in jeans and a tee, band, or sometimes a tad dressy shirt. Though sometimes at work she will dress in slacks, but she tends to keep a laid back sense of style. In the winter she loves to adorn herself with scarves and knit hats. While in the summer she will wear a 'hippie band' around her head or a flower in her hair.
How long have they been a member of Torchwood: Two and a half years
Skills: Isadora is very talented in the art of manipulation. After her past she learned to not let people fool her, and the only way to do that was to be able to fool them. She is capable of playing any part she is given or needs to, much like an actress. She can also, by manipulating of course, get people to do as she wishes or tricking them into believing something completely untrue. This makes her a vital member in missions, especially those involving others.
Luckily for her, Isadora is extremely skilled in hand to hand combat, including with weapons. She has been known to take down men twice her size, a lot of which is due to her small stature and lithe figure. She is very knowledgeable about weapons and their pasts.
The last of Isadora's skills is her abilities with defense tactics and escape maneuvers. Her gut instinct is almost always right, and so she knows when it is time to get out of a tricky situation. Ever since an event in her past she has plotted escape routes in her mind, and every place she goes she makes sure there is one way she can get out. Her knowledge of war maneuvers makes her the go to girl for defensive tactics.
Injuries: On a past mission Isadora was sliced down her stomach, the wound barely missing her appendix. It is a long, jagged cut which goes from about two and a half inches above her belly button to the top of her hip bone. Often it causes her pain, but she disguises it well.
History: Though Isadora isn't one to talk of her past, she, of course, does have one. Isadora's mother died while giving birth to the only child of the family, Isadora. Her father did not take it well. Isadora was passed from family member to family member in Germany since she was born. When she turned fifteen, she was finally sent to live with her father in America, who had become an important member of the government.
Within the first few months of living there, Isadora had tricked her father into letting her know fully what the government was doing. Isadora's father tried to persuade her to see things as he did, to understand why he was doing what he was. Isadora had done some research of her own, tricking people into telling her things, and had found out the truth. Her father didn't succeed in winning her over, and his anger boiled.
Isadora had been physically and emotionally abused from then on, but she let it make her stronger instead of tearing her down. Her hatred of her father then began, but it reached new extremes the night before her sixteenth birthday. Drunk and angry, Isadora's father stumbled into her bedroom. That night he raped her and beat her to the point where she couldn't move, leaving her vulnerable and with no way out. This was the major cause for her constant plannings of escape routes and defensive tactics.
From then on Isadora vowed to bring down her father and his government, no matter what. She ran away six months after she turned sixteen, living with a friend until she finished schooling. Her father didn't want to be accused or suspected, so he did not bring it up or try to find her.
When Isadora was eighteen she graduated as valedictorian, and soon after began attending Columbia. She excelled in her classes, double majoring in psychology and sociology. She had also studied extensively on criminology. Her double majors landed her a spot in the FBI Behavioral Unit, tracking down serial killers. It was hard work but Isadora had a plan for all of it.
As Isadora finally became head of the only Behavioral Unit team, she was one step closer to tracking down her father. At this time she was twenty one years old, the youngest leader of the FBI B.U. team. He had severed all ties from her, and Isadora was set on bringing down him and his government.
For the next two years Isadora did extensive work on researching the government and her father. She used her ability to manipulate others and read their emotions and behaviors to create ties with others. She acted as if she supported the government, and this brought her many ties to important members of the government.
On one escapade of Isadora's, where she was actually infiltrating the government, Isadora met Amelia. Both were pretending to be loyal believers in the government, and thought that the other was an important government member. Isadora's gut feeling told her to tell Amelia who she really was, and so she did. She revealed her identity and her father's identity. Through this risk Amelia asked her to join Torchwood. Isadora took the offer and left her FBI team, hoping that through Torchwood she would be able to finally bring down her father and his government.
Anything Else: Isadora is originally from Germany. Her father had been an important member of the German government, and he went to America as an ambassador. They soon recruited him to stay and help with foreign ties as well as the rest of the government work.
The low, sleek and black sedan made two high pitched noises as Amelia pressed the lock button on the little remote attached to her keyring, which she tucked away into the pocket of the brown, faux-leather jacket she was wearing.
She turned from her car to face the warehouse they called home. On the outside, it looked rather foreboding, with its rusty and dilapidated appearance, ensuring that even the most unintelligent of homeless or drug addict wouldn't try and use it.
As she started to head toward the building, she noticed for the first time the other car in the parking lot, which struck her as odd considering she was usually the first one to arrive, and the last one to leave.
Except the night before, she recalled, as she remembered Andy had insisted on staying even after she'd left, saying he had a program to finish.
With a soft, lighthearted roll of her eyes she made her way toward the building. She stopped in front of the door, and reached over to the rusty, old looking keypad by the door. To anyone else, it looked like it wouldn't work in a million years, and it appeared to not work even if you pressed a button. But that was just a nifty disguise, as it still functioned and with the right combination...
The door opened as soon as she finished entering the combination, and she stepped into the warehouse, and the door closed behind her.
The room was dim, the only light coming from the center of the room, where computes were set up, all of which were currently on. One person sat at the middle desk, and the soft clicking of the keyboard could be heard as he typed furiously, barely breaking stride.
"Please don't tell me you've been here all night," Amelia said, sighing softly. "Did you get any sleep?"
The clicking paused. "Been here all night, yeah," he replied, his tone slightly annoyed, and she could tell from his voice he was tired. "And no." The typing started back up.
"You wanna at least tell me what you're working on that involves using everyone's computer?" she asked, as she went over and flipped a switch on the wall. Her mouth fell open as the lights came on, and she folded her arms. "Andrew, how many times do I have to tell you to clean up after yourself?" she asked, as she bent down to pick up a pizza box that was on the floor. She looked towards his desk, and saw that it had several soda cans. "Oh, for the love of..."
Andrew shrugged, not even turning around. "I got hungry, and I needed the caffeine," he said. "And no, I don't really feel like trying to explain it right now, so let me just focus."
"Well I'm not cleaning up after you. Not today. I appreciate that you're working on some kind of program, which I'm assuming is for Torchwood, but I'm not cleaning up after you anymore."
With that said, she dropped the pizza box right where she found it. "And good luck explaining to everyone else why they have soda cans all over their desks." Without another word, she stepped over the pizza box and walked irritably toward her office, a medium-sized area in the far corner separated from the rest of the main room by a half-wall. She sat down at her desk and began going through the paperwork she hadn't had the opportunity to do the night before, as she waited for everyone else to arrive so the day could officially begin.
It wasn't unusual for Erik to find two cars when arriving at Torchwood's headquarter's. While he was usually one of the first to arrive, he was rarely the second (the first being usually Amelia), so the sight of two cars already there didn't surprised him in the least. As he walked through the parking lot, he brought his hands up to his lips, blowing warm air into them and cursing his lack of gloves. He quickened his pace so as to reach the warmth of the building sooner.
Once the keypad locked door opened, Erik entered the room. "Good mor-" he began, only to stop himself in surprise as he noticed the condition the room was in. Soda cans were littered all over the desks, a pizza box was sprawled on the floor, part of its contents peeking from under the lead.
"... What happened here?" he asked, his eyes shifting from the mess to Amelia and Andrew (which is to say that they stopped darting all over the room and the soda cans). Slowly, he began making his way to his desk, which hadn't been spared from the soda can dumping at all.
Maya had entered shortly after Erik, and she was just as surprised to see the mess. Surprised, but not upset. After a moment of letting her eyes slowly rake across the soda can-decorated desks, she smiled softly. "Very colorful. I like it."
She headed over to her desk, where she paused before sitting to switch a couple of red soda cans with green and purple ones that better went with her teal sweatshirt and sweatpants. "Do they make teal soda cans?" she wondered aloud before sitting down and beginning to stack the cans.
As childish as she seemed, the moment she sat, Maya's brain went to work trying to figure out how all of these cans could be incorporated into a weapon, or even -- though she was no inventor herself -- put together to make something new. That would be exciting, indeed...
As she thought, she had stacked enough cans up that there was room for her to set her own favorite revolver down. Most of her weapons she kept there overnight, but she liked to keep the revolver on her person... Just in case.
Isadora had, as almost always, woken up late. She utterly hated tearing herself from the warm abyss of her bed in the morning, especially when it was as cold as today was. As soon as her feet hit the dark hardwood floor of her room, chills lacing through her body considering she had only slept in a loose tee and her underwear, she wanted to dive back into her fluffy white comforter which had silhouetted black thin tree branches with leaves crawling up from the bottom and stopping midway.
Grumbling both in annoyance at the sudden chills she was experiencing and the fact that her vivid blue green eyes had landed on her alarm clock, which she had slept through, she stumbled to the bathroom. Her shower was quick, ten minutes maximum. As she hopped out, wrapped in a fluffy pale blue towel, she prepared for the day.
Ten more minutes later and, whispering a 'wa la' to herself, Isadora was ready. Her curls of half blond and half brunette hair, natural due to the mixing of her chromosomes when she was a mere fetus, framed her sun kissed face. A dark blue mixture of teal and midnight blue eye shadow swept over her eye lids and accented her sea colored eyes. A shade of gloss just a tad darker than her natural lip color completed her makeup. For her outfit she was clad in tight black skinny jeans, black sudette knee high, slouchy boots that accented her long legs, and a rust and beige pullover with 3/4 sleeves. Though it was slightly chilly outside, enough to make one's fingers cold, she knew she would be fine. She had a jacket at the warehouse anyhow.
After grabbing a Pop Tart and an energy drink, the twenty five year old was out of the door and into her black, stunning Camaro. It was mysterious and awing, and the smooth vibrations she felt as she steered it through town and to her destination made her lips curve up in a simple, producing a dimple on the left side of her mouth. The journey was not a long one, but Isadora always made sure to vary her route daily to make sure no one quite figured out where she was going if they had observed her previously.
In no time Isadora was at the warehouse, which looked quite ominous from the outside. If one were to judge a book by its cover, they would declare it was an abandoned, worn down building that hadn't seen a broom or power washer in a long time. Isadora's eyes lit up as she took in her work place, making sure to lock her car as she strode towards the looming building.
"Honey I'm home," Isadora called in her brilliantly light soprano voice, her lips pulling up into a smile and revealing her pearly whites. However her jaw dropped as she looked around at the inside of the warehouse and then at her colleagues. "Whoa. I was gonna apologize for being late but it doesn’t seem like much of a problem now. Throw a party without us Andy," she teased, trying to lighten the mood. She could hear the hushed rustling of papers and peered over to where Amelia's office was. Judging by the fact that the pizza box was still strewn on the floor and cans littered nearly every available surface, Isadora figured Amelia was not too pleased this morning. She knew the slightly older woman often had to clean up after Andy, but it looked like she had just had enough. Well, Isadora would be sure to make no comment on that.
Isadora pushed out her black swivel chair, plopping down into it as she took a bite of her strawberry Pop Tart and surveyed the inside of their building. High tech computers were in the center of the rooms, and many other gadgets filled the warehouse. The inside of the building was the complete polar opposite of the outside; trickery and deception at its finest.
Setting her Pop Tart in her lap, Isadora leaned forward and grabbed a red can, closing her right eye and peering into it with her left. Her eyebrow rose and she jiggled the can, hearing a barely audible sloshing noise as the last few bits of the drink moved around. She frowned slightly and pushed it to the side of her desk before spinning just slightly in her chair and looking at the others.
With her eyebrow raised, Isadora glanced at Erik and Maya, exchanging swift glances. She was inquisitive as to what Andy was working on, but didn't want to disturb him from her work. She would get annoyed when people bothered her when she was deep in thought, and it looked like Andy was absolutely absorbed in his work.
