Major Hellsborough
From Unofficial Handbook of the Virtue Universe
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| Major Hellsborough | |
| Player: @Psythe | |
| Origin: | Technology |
|---|---|
| Archetype: | Mastermind |
| Threat Level: | 33 |
| Personal Data | |
| Real Name: | Unknown |
| Known Aliases: | The Major |
| Species: | Human |
| Age: | high 30s, low 40s |
| Height: | 5'10 |
| Weight: | 257 lbs (includes augmetic arm) |
| Eye Color: | gray |
| Hair Color: | red |
| Biographical Data | |
| Nationality: | Unknown, probably American |
| Occupation: | Mercenary |
| Place of Birth: | Unknown |
| Base of Operations: | Port Recluse |
| Marital Status: | Single |
| Known Relatives: | Unknown |
| Known Powers | |
| None | |
| Known Abilities | |
| Marksmanship, leadership, creation and use of venoms, hand to hand combat | |
| Equipment | |
| body armor, 12 Gauge, Colt .45, twin custom dart pistols, N2-nt Cannon | |
| No additional information available. | |
Contents |
History
Major Hellsborough's origins, and indeed, anything about his past, are completely unknown. If his men know anything more, they aren't telling.
The Major and his team were an elite black ops unit devoted to illegal or inhumane assignments for corrupt officials in the government. The Major has mentioned that he used to work for the CIA, but it's likely that even he doesn't know who he worked for. They stole alien technology, killed investigators or conspiracy theorists, and assassinated people (and heroes) who were unpopular politically or getting too close to corrupt business ventures. The Major and his men had encountered the Rikti, the Council, the Circle of Thorns, the Malta Group, and Crey Industries before they ever came to the Rogue Isles.
"You know how in all the bad spy movies and books, they say that if you start to uncover the conspiracy the government will send men after you? We were those men." -Sgt. Joseph Deegan
The Major's name and identity are completely unknown, even to his men, and it's believed not even he himself remembers who he really is. Hellsborough was his call-sign and that is all he has been known for for as long as anyone can remember.
Galaxy City
The "turning point" of the Hellsborough team's careers came on November 10, 2006. One of his superiors, who was probably in Crey Industries' pocket (or answering to someone who was) ordered them to infiltrate Galaxy City, capture Johan and Karol Danar, as well as retrieve any data on the PREP. However, the team wasn't told about thier daughter Nalia, leading to the belief that Crey was only really interested in testing Psykera. The Major and his team infiltrated the Danar residence and successfully captured Karol, but were ambushed by an angry Nalia, who beat one of the Major's men half to death with his own gun and threw another down a flight of stairs. The team was being annihilated until Edson, the heavy weapons trooper, arrived and laid down a barrage of rocket and chaingun fire at Nalia. The team regrouped, only to be attacked by Karol, who had escaped her guard and armed herself with a cryo weapon. They knocked her out, but Nalia saw this and in a wild rage tore the Major and his team apart. Hellsborough himself lost an arm and the team's medic MacDouglas's mind was badly damaged and was driven insane.
The Isles
The police arrived and arrested the Major and his team before Nalia Danar could fatally injure them, but it was almost too late. Someone intervened and on the way to the Zig, the team was intercepted and the worst of thier injuries were treated. The Major was fitted with an augmetic arm. The team was then thrown into prison. During one of Arachnos' prison breaks the Major and his men managed to escape, but were scattered all over the Isles in the chaos of the evacuation. The Major quested across Arachnos' domain, searching for the remains of his team, at last recovering all six other members. After they were reunited, the team swore vengeance on the person they knew only as Psykera, something that would almost lead to thier demise.
Between the Shadows and the Dark
Main Page: Between the Shadows and the Dark
Some time after they were reunited, the Major began recieving communications from a shadowed figure with a voice scrambler, whose face he never saw. The mysterious informant provided the Major and his team with the locations of several items, including a psychic damper, a set of anti-magic bracers, an EMP field, and a spirit-suppressing amulet(the last of which was false). The figure directed the team to use these items to capture and detain Silencer Micheal, Gothic Defender, and Assembled Girl, with the aim of getting to Psykera. The figure was the elf Nayla, who was using the team to capture the heroes for her so she could dispose of them. To tie up any loose ends, she sent the team into a Banished Pantheon ambush, which they escaped from and moved to confront her. Nayla defeated the team and nearly killed them, along with the heroes they had captured, but for the return and intervention of Nalia Danar.
This was the first of two times the Major's life was saved along with those of his men by Nalia, and found himself oweing his life to the woman he had sworn vengeance against. The team grudgingly gave up thier blood feud, and with further developments and contacts they maintain a shaky friendship with members of the Youth Corps.
Cadaver-Man
Since early in his time in the Isles, the Major had cooperated with and hired the villain Cadaver-Man. He valued the fiend's fighting skill, but as he watched Cadaver's slow decent into madness and sadism, he realized he couldn't stand by and watch it any longer. When the team killed the novice heroine Ether with Cadaver's aid and Cadaver made to "harvest" the young heroine's genetic matter, the Major stepped in and forbade it. The confrontation quickly grew hostile.
"You're right. The dead will always have a place. And that place is in Hell." -Major Hellsborough to Cadaver-Man, just before walking out
Soon after, the team hunted down Cadaver-Man in Warburg and attempted to kill him. The fiend slaughtered them, critially injuring most of the team. Nalia Danar came to the rescue again, engaging and holding off Cadaver-Man long enough for the Major and a few of his men to recover. She sustained horrible injuries in the process. The Major and his men set up a .50 machine gun, crippled Cadaver, popped his skull with a sniper rifle, and torched him. Silencer Micheal arrived soon after and saw to the injuries of everyone present.
The Major had never been evil, but could never be called good, either. The attack on Cadaver-Man was his first self-fueled attempt to fight something truly evil. He will never admit to being a hero of any kind, but acts of this sort are not uncommon anymore.
Personality
The Major is a stern, no-nonsense man who is and always will be a soldier at heart. He ignores all jokes or sarcasm until the job is well in hand (though even he isn't above a Sergeant Johnson quip every once in a while. Hoo-rah!). He is a fine tactician and a good leader, skillfully directing his men's fire and actions. It takes a Herculean effort to gain his trust, but once you have it he's incredibly loyal. He values his men's lives over everything else, and heaven forbid you get in his way if one of them is injured.
The Squad
Jerrison Alvin
Nickname: Alvin
Rank: Private
Specialty: None
Weapon: M16
Quirk: Loves newspaper comics
It was a choice of nicknames: Alvin, or Jerry. Pvt. Alvin didn't like Jerry. Alvin is the youngest and least jaded of the Major's squad, though this is saying alot. He has a strange fascination with newspaper comics, and whenever the squad takes a break, you can find him pulling out a newspaper and informing them of the latest Beetle Bailey or Wizard of Id. Alvin is staunchly loyal to the Major, almost to a fault. He's the only member of the squad who has no real crippling character flaw.
Alvin is loosely based on Brin Milo from Dan Abnett's Gaunt's Ghosts[[1]] Warhammer 40,000 novels.
Ezekiel Greves
Nickname: Zeke
Rank: Private
Specialty: Point man
Weapon: M16
Quirk: Arrogant and sarcastic
Pvt. Greves hates his first name and demands to be called Zeke, though the Major will still call him Greves on occasion. Zeke, while just as compentant a soldier as the rest, is a bit overconfident and enjoys his job a little too much sometimes. He is often the most vocal of the team in combat, tossing out one-liners and comments almost as fast as his gun can fire bullets.
Greves' name is a reference to Ezekiel Graves, a poison vendor in World of Warcraft.
Edward MacDouglas
Nickname: MacDouglas
Rank: Private
Specialty: Medic
Weapon: Thompson SMG
Quirk: Insane
Little is known of Irish soldier Private MacDouglas before the battle in Galaxy City. During the battle, however, it was him that knocked out Karol Danar with a gun-stock to the back of the head, and her enraged daughter lashed out, badly damaging MacDouglas's mind. Many of his cognitive functions are crippled or defunct, causing him to make bizzare jumps of logic or burst out in strange phrases which often degenerate into gibberish. He will occupy his time with disturbing hobbies, as well, from gazing at a jar of jam to covering his gun with leaves (so that no one can see him). The only part of MacDouglas's mind and memory that escaped Nalia's wrath was his combat reflexes and skill, as well as his knowledge of battle triage. He can function in combat and act as a perfectly capable combat medic, and indeed seems to remember something of who he is while fighting.
Even in madness MacDouglas maintains his proud Irish heritage, and will advertise it. Also, for some reason, he refuses to wield any weapon other than the Thompson submachine gun, instead of any other more modern gun.
Jacob Deegan
Nickname: Sarge
Rank: Sergeant
Specialty: Technology
Weapon: SCAR Rifle
Quirk: sarcastic
Sergeant Deegan is one of those people you love having with you and really don't want to have against you. In addition to being brilliant, he's a crack shot and knows how to use the armory of specialty grenades and devices he carries. Deegan has a dry wit that gets drier as the fight gets harder, and enjoys speaking sarcastically in a very serious voice. Deegan loves technology and science fiction, and can often be heard referencing Halo or Warhammer 40k in conversation or combat. He has great respect for the Genesis Army and wishes to someday build his own robots.
The fight in Galaxy City left Deegan with a paralyzing fear of psychics, and during Between the Shadows and the Dark he was unduely hostile to Silencer Micheal, threatening his life several times, despite his lack of orders to kill him. Even now that he maintains a shaky truce with Micheal and Nalia, he is afraid of psychics and even a hint that his mind may be being read will send him into paranoia.
As of late, he has become very close to Alria Moonsorrow, the demon hunter who frequently works with the Major and his team.
Deegan's name is an homage to the webcomic Dominic Deegan.[[2]]
Valence Menchez
Nickname: Menchez
Rank: Specialist
Specialty: Marksmanship
Weapon: Krieg 550
Quirk: Quiet, rather antisocial
To best sum up Menchez. read this: [[3]]
Except that Menchez would grab the grenade and shove it down the terrorist's throat before turning back and putting a bullet between the eyes of his target. Menchez is one of the finest snipers the world has ever seen. He rarely speaks, and when he does it's full of nothing but extremely relevant facts. No one is sure what Menchez has seen to make him like this, and no one has ever asked. As long as he continues laying down the covering fire, no one really cares.
He is based on the Tanith Scouts in Gaunt's Ghosts.
William Edson
Nickname: LT
Rank: Lieutenant
Specialty: Leadership and Heavy Weapons
Weapon: heavy multifunction "Frankengun" assault rifle
Quirk: Incredible resilience
The first thing you notice about Lt. Edson is that he's big. Like, really big. The second thing you notice is the almost equally massive gun cradled in his arms. Will Edson has a Rambo-esque, badass mentality, and he's entitled to it. The man is unequaled in his skill at combat, and he's nearly impossible to kill. Edson is distrusting of psychics and of magic and superpowers in general, but not as much as Deegan. He has both the roughest exterior and the warmest heart of the team, rising to the defense of anyone who needs it. Edson is fiercely protective of the three Privates.
