Cornelius Kavanaugh
Cornelius Kavanaugh (a.k.a. Cort, Grandpa Cort)
Mental characteristics
Personal history
Though he was too young to serve in WWII, he lost his older brother in the European theater. He was of age for the Korean War, where he served alongside and forged a bond with fellow soldier Frederick Weiss. He witnessed Weiss's claiming for the Leadership Challenge, although at the time he had no idea what it was (and he would not learn even the species of the alien which took his comrade until decades later). He fired on the individual, thinking he was an enemy soldier, but to no avail. The creature took his friend and vanished in a flash of light. When asked to explain his actions to superiors, he simply told them the truth. A report was filed with Project Blue Book, and Cornelius was asked to keep quiet except when talking to official investigators.
When he returned home, Cort's experiences overseas (including the loss of a leg in an incident unrelated to the alien abduction of Weiss) led him to protest the Vietnam War and adopt a generally pacifistic ideology. His inability to communicate with extreme stress led to his divorce (and, he personally suspects, the deep resentment his daughter Martha Kavanaugh feels toward him), and he never remarried. In time he joined up with a few other local veterans to form the Esterholt Veterans Support Group, with the aim of providing emotional and material support to the area's veterans where they might not know how or otherwise have access to such.
Several years after the founding of the support group, his granddaughter Kayla had run off with an extraterrestrial of the same type which had taken his comrade all those years ago. Dissatisfied with the police investigation into what was ostensibly a missing persons case, and more dissatisfied with Martha's oscillating attitude on the matter, he turned to Ohio Saucer Watch, founded in part by his other granddaughter Erin Kavanaugh. He gave OSW members the idea to seek out similar cases by telling his own story, which gave Andrew Levi the idea to search police databases around the world for cold cases which matched in key details, if they could be found.
Mental Trauma
PTSD
Social
Contacts & Relations
Family Ties
Martha Kavanaugh
Patrick Kavanaugh
Erin Kavanaugh
Ta'zhen
Alyssa Kavanaugh
Ryan Kavanaugh
Elle Kavanaugh
Jake Kavanaugh
Religious Views
Cort considers himself a "lapsed" Irish Catholic, but he has been quite diligent about passing on the fairy folklore from the old country to his grandchildren. Ta'zhen and Erin Kavanaugh are his best students.
Relationships
History
Cort often babysat his granddaughter when she was younger, working to be a positive influence in Ta'zhen's life and generally being cool. He introduced her to Aliens, and would tell her stories about the sixties, from hippies and drugs to the Vietnam War itself. He believed it would do no one any good to shy away from the gory details, instead delivering them in as much of an age appropriate manner as he could manage. He blamed Ta'zhen's mother Alexis when Ta'zhen disappeared, and was soon after declared dead. Dumbstruck to see her again, he almost immediately welcomes her back.
Nicknames & Petnames
"Kiddo"/"Gramps"
Species
Year of Birth
2426
73 Years old
Spouses
Siblings
Reginald Kavanaugh
(Brother)
Children
Gender
male
Hair
white, short
Skin Tone/Pigmentation
Pale white
Height
5'0"
Weight
120 lbs
Aw I like the sound of him. It's sad that his experiences in the Korean War affected him so badly.
He's a tough old codger, but war's one of those things that has a way of changing people. You aren't the same person you were when you signed up for boot camp, so I've been told.