User Profile

Player's Name: Hewitt
AIM/email/other contact info: AIM: devilawakened; Y!IM: dmc.fanatic; MSN: sictransitgloria_xx@hotmail; facebook: risingdragon.
Personal LJ: risingdragon

Character: Cpl. Damon Baird.
Series: Gears of War.
Version: Post Gears 2 and Jacinto's Remnant. I also take the novels and comics into account.
Age: In his late twenties or early thirties.
Gender: Male.


Appearance:
As a COG soldier with a fair amount of experience, Baird is fairly muscle-bound, though he's quick on his feet -- his armor, gunmetal and blue with a black skull-and-gear insignia on the chestplate, reflects this with its streamlined design. The most notable customization to his uniform are the goggles on his forehead, which he wears when fixing vehicles or flying them. He has a fairly pale complexion, blond hair that is as messy and spiky as it can be for what essentially amounts to a military high-and-tight, and is clean-shaven but for a matching blond soul patch.

Baird is quite handsome, though his features are usually creased by a scowl or smirk; his blue eyes are glaring more often than not. His weapon of choice is the Lancer, a powerful assault rifle that boasts a chainsaw bayonet -- and he's not putting it down until you pry it from his cold, dead fingers or provide him with something mechanical to fix.


Personality:
People tend to take an instant dislike to Baird, as he's abrasive at the best of times -- the only reason he remains of low rank despite his years in the COG military is that as soon as he receives a promotion, he's immediately busted back down again for his verbal jackassery. He's a skeptic and a cynic who has a problem with authority until his commander wins his dedication, but once loyal, he's dog-loyal.

Despite his tendency to rub everyone the wrong way, Baird's ego is actually well-deserved. He's a brilliant tactician and engineer, showing himself capable of building a bomb out of spare parts in a few short minutes and repairing a tank while said tank was moving and under heavy enemy fire -- his skills allow people to come to a sort of livable hatred with him.

Baird is actually not a total jackass, though all of his interactions seem to be laced with the feeling that he's waiting for the other shoe to drop. One of his comrades states that he has 'no idea how to deal with anything beyond the back and forth of low-grade abuse,' which is accurate -- he only seems at ease when he's bitching about something, even if it requires throwing an earthquake of a temper tantrum over something trivial.

Don't be fooled by his attempt to be surly and unimpressed toward basically everything, either: sometimes he does care, but just has no idea how to show it. Usually it manifests in him simply refraining from making a sarcastic comment, but he's gone so far as to ensure that a highly depressed fellow squadmate had the proper safety equipment on (though the man does go on to note that he must look like absolute shit if Baird was actually looking out for him).

The one person who doesn't tend to receive the business end of his temper is Augustus Cole, who also happens to be his voice of reason. Cole seems to be the only one who can even marginally calm him down, and is the only person for whom Baird will let a difference in opinion slide.


Fears:
- Baird is a bit of a germophobe. This, combined with his pissy attitude, is a lethal combination that ensures you will know exactly when he starts being unhappy about conditions.
- One would think he was a skeptic, but the idea of paranormal things going on gives him the creeps. It can't be explained by science, which means he wants nothing to do with it.


Weaknesses:
- Baird is a Grade A jackass. His mouth gets him into trouble more often than not, to the point where he's been promoted many times for his skills and tactical insights and then nearly immediately demoted for being an outspoken bastard.
- Baird can become fixated on important tasks pretty easily, especially when it comes to fixing things. It's as if his brain sees "puzzle" and disregards anything that might read "danger."


Strengths/Abilities:
According to Cole, "Baird can fix anything, man! He just needs the right parts." It's true; he's Delta's resident IT guy, able to build bombs and repair APCs at a moment's notice. He even successfully put a truck back together without having first seen it intact: Sergeant Mataki grudgingly credits him with having a rare gift for engineering.

Baird is a tactician, able to read the movements of the enemy -- even when the enemy consists of inhuman monsters such as the Locust. He prides himself on being the resident Locust expert, and has even taught himself to read their language.

However, he is first and foremost a soldier, and carries around the following as standard kit:
1. The Lancer, a mid-range, low-recoil assault rifle with a chainsaw bayonet (yes, a chainsaw bayonet).
2. The Gnasher, a short-barreled shotgun that is devastating at close range.
3. The Snub Pistol, a 50-caliber sidearm with an integrated scope.
4. Several bolo fragmentation grenades.


History:
Damon Baird is a member of the Coalition of Ordered Governments (COG) military, which is engaged in what a neverending war against the Locust beasts of the planet Sera. Baird is a scholar as much as he is a soldier: he can read some measure of the Locust language and has a basic understanding of their religion and culture, which is much more than can be said of many of the other Gears: all they care to know about the Locust is that if it bleeds, they can kill it. He also has an extensive technical background, as evidenced by his ability to repair any machine he comes across -- even if it's one he's never encountered.

As a child, Baird came from a fairly affluent family, though he rarely speaks of them now. When he does, he doesn't use the word "feel." It only ever comes off as a history lesson: they did one thing, they did another, he did something else. The only happy memory he seems to have is of fixing and creating things. It's stated that his father forced him to enlist by holding his inheritance over his head -- he wanted to go to engineering school -- but when the Locust attacked, the idea of living a 'normal' life became a thing of the past.

He is introduced as a member of Alpha Squad, which is tasked with taking a sonic device down into the Locust tunnels in order to properly map them and bomb the ever-loving crap out of them. Though the original mission fails, Baird manages to salvage it by hacking into a piece of enemy equipment -- this affords them a much more extensive map of the Hollow, and they are able to guide a massive bomb into the Locust tunnels.

A year later, however, it becomes obvious that the Locust had only been stalled, not stopped. Entire cities are vanishing without a trace, leaving nothing but smoking holes where society once thrived. Baird is deployed alongside the rest of Delta to enter the main Locust stronghold in hopes of gaining information. However, Delta is split up along the way by a high-ranking Locust. Baird is captured in the process, and is held prisoner until Delta manages to free him; he tells them that the Locust are now taking prisoners instead of just killing them, and indicates a torture barge ahead of them.

They find Tai, one of the veteran Gears they had deployed with, and free him. The squad leader hands him a shotgun so they can move on, but the torture took its toll; Tai kills himself in front of them, and they realize that Locust tactics have changed. Their only chance at survival is to destroy the subterranean Locust breeding grounds completely.

Delta attempts to gain extraction from the Hollow in order to relay this information to central command, but they come face to face with exactly what is sinking the cities: a massive, Locust-controlled worm. Yes, a giant worm. Look, don't even ask. I won't know what to tell you. Before their chopper can lift off, the worm swallows them, and their only recourse is to make their way through its body and, with Baird's navigation, tear its numerous hearts out with their chainsaw bayonets.

I cannot believe I just wrote that without cracking up. Anyway.

Delta escapes from the worm and, instead of being able to return to base, are immediately sent on a mission to explore an abandoned research facility, New Hope. They learn the location of the central Locust stronghold, Nexus, and immediately make their way up a mountain in order to gain re-entry to the Hollow. Upon their arrival, they locate a group of humans taking refuge from Locust attacks. Baird and Cole escort them to the surface, and Baird returns to the Hollow just in time to airlift a massive warhead to Marcus and Dom's location.

While warhead is lost, Delta still manages to crush the Locust threat, but at a great cost: they sacrifice humanity's last stronghold, Jacinto, to flood the Hollow with seawater.


Sample RP post:
Well, this was just fucking perfect.

Baird peered up at the imposing-looking house. He didn't particularly want to go inside, but orders were orders, as much as he hated to adhere to them sometimes -- and at least the place wasn't New Hope Facility creepy. The blond touched a finger to his TAC/COM, hefting his Lancer in his free hand, marginally reassured by its weight.

"All right, Marcus, I'm heading in." He waited a moment. "Marcus? Cole? Son of a bitch... Control, this is Delta Two. My squad's out of radio contact, please advise."

No answer.

Military equipment. Always reliable, eventually, he reassured himself. Just a bad signal. I'll be back online in no time.

There was still the matter of the house, of course. The mission came first, right?

"Relax, Damon," Baird mumbled to himself as he shoved the door open, letting it fall shut heavily behind him. "You've got plenty of firepower and a pretty bad attitude... what could go wrong?"

What a stupid thing to say out loud, he mused, smirking ruefully to himself.

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