Graverobber
"What's good and evil mean in this world anyway? You're always gonna be the villain in someone else's story."
Cynical and usually grumpy, but not rude or mean-spirited. A Centurion ARV who hates his job, but has no plans of quitting. Shows little patience with others when they inconvenience him, although he usually expresses this through a silent treatment. If the offender is a subordinate however, he openly voices his displeasure; not in a very fierce way, though, since he lacks the energy to get angry.
Mental characteristics
Personal history
TL;DR: Centurion is sick of fighting, becomes mechanic, gets an unrequited crush on his boss - who dies, develops way to resurrect her, she almost kills him, he joins an evil dictator and creates a zombie army.
Click to read the whole thing
Used to be a regular Centurion tank by the name Zelax, but after years of fighting, he was tired of it. Originally, he became a TRV to help others, but the fact that he now saw all the more suffering, illness, and death only made him bitter and cynical. His mindset scared off potential clients; in order to sustain himself further, he had to join a workshop.
While working for them, he somewhat managed to hide his pessimistic nature, though he still definitely wasn't the patients' favourite. He was very skilled however, so the others tolerated it. After staying with them for a while, he fell in love with the workshop's lead TRV. Her name was Iona; she was a brilliant scientist and mechanic who hadn't given up her weapons to be able to protect her colleagues. He didn't have the nerve to confess his feelings to her.
She fell ill a short time later - she started displaying symptoms of Mindrot. The other members of the workshop, including Zelax, worked frantically to find a cure for her.
They corresponded with other workshops and did their own research, but a recovery seemed unlikely.
Zelax in particular got quite obsessed with the research. He started digging deeper, and experimented with AI Cores in secret - his occupation in the workshop gave him enough specimens to study. His research progressed too slowly, however - all of his test subjects died. Meanwhile, Iona's condition deteriorated too quickly. Before he could find a cure, she died from her illness.
They buried her on a nearby hill.
Despite everyone else agreeing that they had done all they could for her, Zelax couldn't accept it. He felt like he had been so close to finding the cure that he would have needed only a little bit more time. He decided to continue his research, to find a way of preventing more deaths from this illness at least.
And truly, it only took a month before he made a significant breakthrough - one of his subjects survived the procedure. Or rather, the tank died - but before Zelax could dispose of it, it suddenly came back to life. Shocked and disturbed, but also excited beyond words, Zelax decided to tell the others about this discovery.
They didn't share his excitement at all. As he told them how he had achieved his success, they were appalled. They decided that the "undead" tank was an abomination and had to be destroyed, and banned Zelax from their workshop.
Zelax was devastated and couldn't understand how they could be so opposed to the cure for a terrible illness.
As he had just set up a new workshop for himself, he suddenly realized that he had discovered something invaluable. Even if his ex-colleagues didn't understand how much of a miracle his procedure was, he realized that he had stumbled upon an incredible opportunity.
He secretly returned to the old workshop during a dark night, and went to the hill that he had visited so many times in mourning. He dug up Iona's wreck and took it with him.
Returning to his own workshop, he repaired the parts that had suffered from being buried, and then performed the procedure on her. It was a success - or so he thought.
He didn't have time to celebrate her engine coming back to life. She was alive, yes ... but she was unable to talk, didn't react to anything. At least at first. Suddenly, their radios started making deafening noises, and Iona started moving. She tore free from the medical instruments and crashed into the nearest wall, but then turned her turret around and aimed her cannon at the terrified Zelax.
Before he could react, she shot him. Even though it wounded him severely, he managed to flee.
He had idea what had gone wrong so terribly - maybe her Mindrot had been causing this. But instead of seeing this as a sign that maybe he should stop messing with things he didn't fully understand, he was now determined to find out if his theory was true.
He needed more test subjects.
Travelling rather aimlessly, he began to look for wrecks. Subjecting them to his procedure, he discovered that it mattered how long they had been dead already. Recently deceased tanks responded to the treatment much better than those who had been dead for a longer time. Only the ones who were treated in the span of eight to twelve days retained their higher core functions, however. Most of the tanks who were treated after this time period only were capable of rudimentary communication and following simple commands. They became less responsive the more time had passed before their treatment. A lot of them displayed volatile behaviours, independently from their time of death.
It was then when Armageddon found him during his travels. Armageddon was going to kill him, but Zelax tried to save his hide by claiming that he can revive dead tanks. Even though he admitted that his method was still in early development back then, Armageddon saw great potential in it and made Zelax join him.
Among the troops and other TRVs, Zelax earned a rather ambivalent reputation. Some of them were more seriously appalled, others simply joking morbidly when they started calling him "Graverobber". The name stuck.
As the Legion started conquering the North, Graverobber was given the task of overseeing the construction of Armageddon's new headquarters. The tight timeframe and rather sloppy assistants caused it to have some construction errors, which he is still trying to fix. As a result, the base is not yet finished, although it is in use already.
Gender Identity
Male
Employment
Works as the main TRV of the Legion, which means doing repairs for Armageddon's main team as well as working on their base. Occasionally, he leaves the headquarters to travel to other bases and teach new TRVs or take care of important cases personally.
Morality & Philosophy
He is aware that he works for the bad guys and that his actions make him one of them, but has resigned himself to this. He is stuck with Armageddon, who gives him the means to continue his research. Dreaming of a world where death and illness are foreign terms and no more fighting and killing is necessary, he keeps going. To be able to reach his goal, he is willing to commit his atrocities.
Social
Contacts & Relations
Gained Armageddon's favour, though he isn't really happy about it. Graverobber doesn't see his boss as a friend, but needs him to achieve his goal. Nosferatu on the other hand he simply dislikes. Part of the reason for this is that Graverobber feels guilty about a certain circumstance, another part is that Nosferatu disliked him first and he simply reciprocates it.
Fell in love with Hel once and they were in a relationship for a while, but it didn't work out.
Mannerisms
Can be seen sighing and "facepalming" a lot. Generally, his default expression is a weary frown. He works a lot and sleeps little - his workshop is also his quarters, and he can be found there most of the time.
Alignment
Tired Evil
Species
Ethnicity
Children
Current Residence
Armageddon's Camp
Aligned Organization
Comments