Zoids: Chaotic Age Zero

Character Name: Alexander Luceren
Board Name: Phelan
Character Gender: Male
Character Age: 23
Zoids: Cannon Fort, Revenge Trap
AIM Screenname: Wolfenmech
Referred By: Fore Loren

Character Description:
Alexander is just around the average height for a man of his age, edging in around five foot and seven inches tall. He's broad shouldered, somewhat tanned from working semi-outdoors, and fairly athletic or fit looking in general. As far as details go Alex wears his blond-ish brown hair cut short, the better to fit under a plain black baseball cap he normally wears to keep the sun-glare from getting to his pale green eyes. He's usually dressed in the aforementioned black cap, well-worn dark jeans and scruffy looking brown leather boots -- steel toed of course -- a variety of t-shirts depending on the day and his mood. Overtop that, Alex will generally carry or wear a slightly tattered looking denim jacket, decorated with various patches from military units or patches that denote skills, specializations, and the like.

He doesn't go much for ornamentation but he'll sometimes wear a charm on a leather thong around his neck, a twisted and half-melted bit of metal that's generally left overtop his shirt. A nice wristwatch, the underside inscribed as a gift to him, is almost always on his left wrist. He carries around a short knife and, surprisingly, is fairly adroit with every possible use it might have. While Alex is familiar with firearms and can shoot passably well, he doesn't own a gun.

Character Personality:
Alex doesn't really seem like a complicated individual. He's a bit shy around strangers and isn't so big on large social get-togethers, preferrring to while away time with a few close friends or by himself, engrossed in a novel or tinkering with his zoids, but with anyone he knows well, Alex is incredibly open and friendly. He has a ready sense of humor even if it might be something of a low and gutteral brand; gallows humor isn't out of the question either. Alex doesn't have a real quick temper and is quick to forgive others for losing control but also extremely hard on himself when he does finally run out of patience. This trent extends far beyond just his temper, Alex is extemely, soem say unfairly, harsh with self-criticism but at the same time gives everyone the benefit of the doubt. A few close friends have a deeper understanding of this attitude but no one really talks about it. All around though, Alexander is an easy going young man who likes to keep busy; he's quick to get bored when not occupied and is always out for something to do, especially if it involves getting his hands dirty (so to speak).

Character History:
Unlike many young men and women on Zi, Alexander Luceren isn't missing both his parents. In fact he isn't even missing one of them. Both of Alex's parents and happy, healthy, hale, and whole if heading down the slope of that metaphorical hill -- both are getting close to being in their fifties (Alex was born late in their marriage). Despite their advancing age both of Alex's parents are still actively involved in running their buisness, that buisness being zoids customization. Alex helped out from an early age, always curious about the hulking, animalistic warmechs his parents were always busy with.

His interest in their work was welcomed with enthusiasm, especially as Alex was born as an only child, just like his mother was. In fact his only relative was an uncle, his father's brother. Alex has thus spent more than three quarters of his life around zoids in some fashion, learning how to repair joint actuators before he could ride a bicycle and being introduced to combat system programming before he was ten years old. And it wasn't as though Alex was being pushed by his family into joining the trade, no not at all. Alex devoured everything he could get his hands on about zoids, hungry for anything that had to do with them and constantly pestered both parents to teach him and explain things to him and include him while they were working.

One thing led naturally to another and Alex picked up on piloting zoids just from being around them so much; moving them in and out and around the shop area his family ran. The finer points of zoid piloting as well as the basics of zoid combat he picked up from his uncle, a reservist in the ZBC military. This was actually a source of contention between Alex's uncle and his father, the latter of whom didn't want Alex exposed to the military side of zoid combat. This was just the current chapter in a long running disagreement between the two men that dated back to when Alex's uncle enlisted in the ZBC military more than thirty years prior. It was also from his uncle that Alex learned the rudiments of unarmed self defense and knife fighting -- well, more than just the rudiments of the latter given his exceptional hand-eye coordination. By the time Alex was a teenager he was spending one out of every three months with his uncle who was more than glad to have the boy around. Their relationship was possible only for the intervention of Alex's mother, who kept his father from cutting all communication with his brother.

As he grew older, Alex helped more and more with the buisness, being, as his mom described, a born tinkerer and weapons tech. When he turned 16, though, Alex broke the news to his parents that he wasn't going to be joining in the family buisness but instead going out to become a zoid warrior. His uncle's stories and the experience of piloting -- and fighting in -- zoids had given Alex a desire to do more than work on zoids with his life. He wanted something more. Surprisingly, his parents took the news calmly, have suspected it was coming and were in full support of his decision. Even his uncle was enthused with the plan and contributed some of his savings as well as the old Guysack Alex has learned to pilot to his soon-to-be career. From his parents Alex was loaned seed money and a refurbished Zaber Fang.

For a while he did decently at zoid battles, coming close to breaking even with his fights but all that was shattered. He recieved the news his uncle's comission had been reactivated -- a letter from uncle -- just a few days prior to the call from his father, telling Alex that his uncle had been killed in action during what was supposed to be a non-combat mission. The details were sketchy at that time and in his next battle, distracted by grief he'd never really had a chance to cope with, Alex was hit with a devestating loss that outright totalled the Zaber Fang beyond his means to repair. Following that defeat, he returned home to his family so that they might help each other through the loss of some of the little family they had.

Alex gave up on zoid piloting for years afterwards, mothballing the Guysack and using the wrecked Zaber Fang for parts in his parent's buisness which was where he buried himself for those few years. What eventually drove Alex back into zoid battling as a need for money -- specifically his parent's need. Both were getting older, not as able to work as long or as hard as they could before and Alex had never repaid them the seed money they'd lent him during his first foray into zoids battling. Feeling more than a bit guilty about their financial straights he entered into small events, winning enough to keep the buisness afloat. It was after ten months of this that his mother and father finally broached the subject to Alex. Knowing he'd been happier in the zoid battles than he'd been around the shop they urged him to give the zoids battling circuit another try, as a professional and not an amateur.

Using some of the money he'd won Alex bought a third-hand Cannon Fort that he spent nearly two months fixing up before reentering the battle circuit at the start of a new season. He did decently, as before, though he had a few surprising bits of good luck. One of the first tournaments he entered, a regional tournament near his home town, Alex walked off with second place and the prize -- a Revenge Trap right off the factory floor. With that zoid in addition to his Cannon Fort, Alex has, over the last year or so, done fairly well for himself; finally feeling secure enough in his skill to register officially as a professional zoid warrior. And while the factions are courting pilots, the experience in losing his uncle has jaded the young man a bit towards the established military while, at the same time, giving him a keen desire to acquire a deeper understanding of the type of organization that got his uncle killed.