Character name: Rucks Series: Bastion (AU) Canon Point: Rucks will be coming from the Restoration AU: aka, an AU where they remember after preforming the Restoration. Summary: I'll be separatin' this into his history and personality. Can't get too specific, right? History: Rucks' history's up in smoke, to be honest. Can't get much of a read on a guy who says a lot but gives too little. He does, however, let slip a few facts - and I'll list them before I approach discussing his backstory.
- Rucks states plainly that he was part of a war, before; his weapons of choice are stated to be the hammer and carbine. - Rucks states that there are "two of US left" when The Mason vigil is completed; and remarks "The Triggers, my brothers." when the Triggers' vigil is completed. - Rucks invented the Bastion and the Rippling Walls himself - marking him as a Mancer in the storyline. His intimate knowledge of the Calamity helps that claim. - Rucks speaks some Ura. Not much, but Rucks is able to translate parts of the Hidebound Journal (or, more properly put, Venn's journal). - Rucks believes heavily in the Restoration function of the Bastion, to the point of blindly setting that as his goal; he admits he didn't plan to Evacuate during the Evacuation ending. - Rucks, as evidenced at every single point the gods come up, scorns almost all the gods but the Mother, Micia.
With this in mind, let's get into the thick of things. Everything from this point on is extrapolation and headcanon: It's not necessarily the truth, but it's how I'll be playing and treating Rucks.
Rucks' childhood was pretty normal - he grew up normal, lived a proper Caeldonian life. You know, the ropes. Got himself a house, got himself a life. Lived. Then, the Ura-Caeldonian war came around. That was when Rucks picked up several things: his hammer, his repeater under the Triggers, and an informed hatred and fear for the Ura. They were his enemies, and they were damn good at what they did: killin'. Rucks was just a young man, then - not even really past his 30s. So, what could he do? He tucked down into his place, prayed to every god that he could name (and he could name all of them), and took to shootin' 'til he was out of bullets.
He lost the battle, took a blow to his face, and a blow to the knee - one that hurt him down deep, to the bone. It came out of it fine, sure - but sometimes his knee acted up. He still fought - not a man to go to waste - but he sure had no love for the gods, after that. None of those gods helped him, but rather sided with the Ura. The one Rucks came to pray to and respect was none of the active ones, but rather Micia. Goddess of loss 'n longing, she helped him with the loss of his movement, his friends in the army - after all, he's shown the capacity to care for people he fights with in the events of the game - and, most of all, the fact that when he came home, he came home with a lack of friends. Most of 'em died in the war - casualties happened even when they'd won it, after all.
After that, well. He took up respect for Mother like a mantle when it came to the gods - wasn't like they'd done him any favors, and he came to realize that everyone who called on the ones who gave 'things' were just lookin' for handouts. Plus, sure, they'd settled peacefully with the Ura, but he wasn't the kind of guy to forgive and forget easily; Rucks had fought against them, and years of war didn't wash away, no matter how much Rucks pretended they could. He got a job with the Mancers - wasn't that hard, with his veteran experiences, plus the fact he was a damn good thinker, when he put his mind to it. He'd earned his entrance in, and quickly rose through the ranks - ended up around the top of the Mancers, and at the top of the relative food chain, to boot. He knows quite a bit about all the groups - maybe more than just an old storyteller should, as it stands.
Rucks was complicit in the creation of the Calamity - though he didn't learn about Venn's modifications until it was too late. He helped with the Rippling Walls, too, 'course. All in all, Rucks also most likely assisted in creating the Calamity Cannon - and most likely assisted in the creation of a variety of other things.
But that's not that important.
During the game, Rucks is the major narration; but, however, I'm assuming the mods of a game about the Bastion have played (because transcribing everything and explaining it would be a fresh hell). During the period of the Bastion, Rucks does the following: Meets the Kid at the Bastion; doesn't ask for his name. Zulf's brought back by the Kid - Rucks and Zulf chat, while Kid collects the cores. Zia's brought back, with Venn's journal - Zulf reads it and flips his lid, since, after all, the Calamity was racially targetting the Caels. Rucks is attacked (or pushed) by Zulf during this. Afterwards, Kid gets shards to fix the Bastion on Rucks' orders. Zulf contacts both Zia and the Kid, trying to keep them safe - in other words? Zulf sure didn't give a damn about Rucks.
Which was a good thing, since Rucks didn't give a damn about him, either.
Rucks had the Kid moving in on the shards - and Zulf was doing the same. The Bastion soon came under seige and was nearly destroyed by the Ura - until the Kid returned and stopped them, although Zia had disappeared and was presumed kidnapped. They saved her - and that's really when Bastion's story "started": Rucks began telling the story to Zia after she'd been rescued by the Kid.
This trend continued up until Kid finally made it to the Tazal Terminals, where Rucks admitted everything to Zia - not to the Kid, but oh well. He admitted he was part of the creation of the Bastion, helped with the calamity, and admitted he didn't know what Restoration would do; they'd never really been able to test the power to go back in time, since, as it was, they couldn't exactly assume that they'd keep their memories or remember it perfectly.
In any case; this Rucks got his wish. Everythin' went back to normal - the kid picked to restore instead of run. He almost felt sorry for Zia, but knew that she'd probably be better off, anyway.
With that having happened, everything went back to normal, in a way. Rucks woke up in his bed, a while before the calamity: but, y'know what? Rucks viewed it all as a dream, nothin' more than a flight of fancy in a dream - until a familiar set of Ura showed up at his door, raring to get his help. (Rucks almost closed the door on Zulf - nothing personal, mind, it's just he somehow knew the guy was trouble.) He'd never had much faith in dreams, but people showin' up at his door that proved them? That was another story.
He felt bad that he hadn't gone and gotten the Kid, made sure he hadn't run off on his own - but, at the same time, Zia and Zulf had all believed it was a dream. The Kid probably would, too. He did, however, know that the Kid wasn't going to do any good in the time before the Calamity - he'd been a quiet scrapper, that Kid, not a particularly good speaker. This was his job - Zia's and Zulf's too, he supposed. (He didn't much like putting Zulf into his trusted circle, given how that'd turned out the last time. Wasn't likely to happen this time even if he didn't stop the Calamity, that was for sure.) Venn got in on it too, this time. Guess it was Zia's only option to get the guy on her side - not that it was that bad of an idea.
Anyway, he set Zulf and Zia to finding a plan for outing the secret of the Calamity - he set himself to stalling. Sabotage, he guessed the best way to put it was. He set the Ura to share information, got what information he could from Zulf if he needed any from them, and worked on a plan for sabotage.
Perhaps unknown to Zulf and Zia, Rucks also worked on a plan to escape, afterwards. His Mancers were a smart lot - if he didn't get the sabotage done and get gone, he was going to be arrested. He figured he'd bring the Ura along if he had a chance - but if the blame fell on him, Venn would just be recruited to make it again. It'd delay it. Would probably work.
Well, that fell through pretty fast. See, somehow, his Mancers caught on a bit faster than he'd expected. See, Rucks had anticipated his chances might go south - he was a spry, conniving man for being as old as he was, but he was sitting in the lion's den, so to speak.
So, when the Marshals came to bust down his door, he was already gone. He'd already caught wind of it - hadn't managed to get a warning off to Venn and Zia in time, and he didn't tend to track Zulf enough to get a warning to him at all.
When the Calamity came, Rucks was sitting in a little Ura-style den of his own design - with Venn having had a hand in the whole thing, Rucks had certainly learned a thing or two about how to stay safe from the Calamity. He'd settled in, knowing the Marshals probably wouldn't find him before it was too late, taken a seat, and started polishing the Army Carbine he'd carried along - he'd never let it go since he'd had it confirmed that his dream was real, after all.
The Calamity could come at any time. And this time, he wasn't going to get to be so close to the Bastion. Might as well be ready to fight.
(Also, to note: Rucks should be over his 70s; he'd most likely be considered pretty spry, for a 70-80 year old.)
Personality: Rucks, as a person, can be best described as an unreliable narratior, a subtle racist, and most of all, a man well versed in untruths and subtle lies.
Rucks has no tongue for arguing, no tongue for violence - at least, normally. Rucks, normally, could easily be described as a kind of confidant - a smart, purposed older man who rolls with the punches - and he does. He rolled with the Calamity, the destruction of the Bastion, Zulf's betrayal - all of that was something he rolled with. He's sure not friendly about them, but he didn't get angry or hopeless, either: Rucks moved on, and sought out new ways to solve the problems; it wasn't like Kid or Zia could.
On that note, Rucks is kind of insensitive - telling an Ura girl derisive information about the Ura, derisively mocking the gods in front of that same Ura girl, and not regretting causing the Calamity, but regretting letting Zulf find out about the Calamity's cause. Rucks can be facetious and insensitive to bring about what he wants - and what he really wants is for everything to 'return to normal'. Rucks wants to give Caeldonia and everyone who was killed life again, to fix it.
Why? Rucks is a people person. Sure, he doesn't like the Ura much, but after his participation in the Ura-Caeldonian war, well... He really shows scorn and distrust for both Ura and the Calamity, even if he's the sort of person to set out the outliers instead of grouping them all together. He viewed people from the Cael side of town as a more civilized sort (see: Zia), as well as Zulf ("raised to be a real gentleman"), but in general? He very obviously scorns the Ura and their practices, and tints it with a bit of fear, too: He doesn't trust them. He knows what they can do.
Back on the first thread, he's a people person. He states that he loves music, liked to kick back in taverns and just listen. He's a man for music and stories: he most likely knows and tells quite a few of Caeldonia's older tales, given his age and likes. He's certainly not unaware of Caeldonian culture - one could even speculate he's. Kind of looked it all over.
The one outlying trait he has is that he shows scorn for the gods - he regards them as something that people lean on when they want free handouts. He believes that people should be driven to do what they can with their own hands - no god needs to get in on that, 'cept for Micia - the god who gives and takes, the god who isn't a god of handouts at all - a god to help those who suffer in spirit by reassuring them their loved ones will be safe.
Also, to note, Rucks is a caring person - even if he's kind of an ass. He cares about what people think of him, cares if people will get sick, and rationalizes hiding things from people as "for their own good". That's just how he is. Even if he's on bad terms with Zulf, he wouldn't just leave him to die if he could help it. Probably. (He doesn't tell the Kid to not kill Zulf, so hey, what do I know? He won't let Zulf die from personal inaction, though: he just might... forget to remind someone, here and there. Whoops.)
Part 1: History/Personality
Series: Bastion (AU)
Canon Point: Rucks will be coming from the Restoration AU: aka, an AU where they remember after preforming the Restoration.
Summary:
I'll be separatin' this into his history and personality. Can't get too specific, right?
History:
Rucks' history's up in smoke, to be honest. Can't get much of a read on a guy who says a lot but gives too little. He does, however, let slip a few facts - and I'll list them before I approach discussing his backstory.
- Rucks states plainly that he was part of a war, before; his weapons of choice are stated to be the hammer and carbine.
- Rucks states that there are "two of US left" when The Mason vigil is completed; and remarks "The Triggers, my brothers." when the Triggers' vigil is completed.
- Rucks invented the Bastion and the Rippling Walls himself - marking him as a Mancer in the storyline. His intimate knowledge of the Calamity helps that claim.
- Rucks speaks some Ura. Not much, but Rucks is able to translate parts of the Hidebound Journal (or, more properly put, Venn's journal).
- Rucks believes heavily in the Restoration function of the Bastion, to the point of blindly setting that as his goal; he admits he didn't plan to Evacuate during the Evacuation ending.
- Rucks, as evidenced at every single point the gods come up, scorns almost all the gods but the Mother, Micia.
With this in mind, let's get into the thick of things. Everything from this point on is extrapolation and headcanon: It's not necessarily the truth, but it's how I'll be playing and treating Rucks.
Rucks' childhood was pretty normal - he grew up normal, lived a proper Caeldonian life. You know, the ropes. Got himself a house, got himself a life. Lived. Then, the Ura-Caeldonian war came around. That was when Rucks picked up several things: his hammer, his repeater under the Triggers, and an informed hatred and fear for the Ura. They were his enemies, and they were damn good at what they did: killin'. Rucks was just a young man, then - not even really past his 30s. So, what could he do? He tucked down into his place, prayed to every god that he could name (and he could name all of them), and took to shootin' 'til he was out of bullets.
He lost the battle, took a blow to his face, and a blow to the knee - one that hurt him down deep, to the bone. It came out of it fine, sure - but sometimes his knee acted up. He still fought - not a man to go to waste - but he sure had no love for the gods, after that. None of those gods helped him, but rather sided with the Ura. The one Rucks came to pray to and respect was none of the active ones, but rather Micia. Goddess of loss 'n longing, she helped him with the loss of his movement, his friends in the army - after all, he's shown the capacity to care for people he fights with in the events of the game - and, most of all, the fact that when he came home, he came home with a lack of friends. Most of 'em died in the war - casualties happened even when they'd won it, after all.
After that, well. He took up respect for Mother like a mantle when it came to the gods - wasn't like they'd done him any favors, and he came to realize that everyone who called on the ones who gave 'things' were just lookin' for handouts. Plus, sure, they'd settled peacefully with the Ura, but he wasn't the kind of guy to forgive and forget easily; Rucks had fought against them, and years of war didn't wash away, no matter how much Rucks pretended they could. He got a job with the Mancers - wasn't that hard, with his veteran experiences, plus the fact he was a damn good thinker, when he put his mind to it. He'd earned his entrance in, and quickly rose through the ranks - ended up around the top of the Mancers, and at the top of the relative food chain, to boot. He knows quite a bit about all the groups - maybe more than just an old storyteller should, as it stands.
Rucks was complicit in the creation of the Calamity - though he didn't learn about Venn's modifications until it was too late. He helped with the Rippling Walls, too, 'course. All in all, Rucks also most likely assisted in creating the Calamity Cannon - and most likely assisted in the creation of a variety of other things.
But that's not that important.
During the game, Rucks is the major narration; but, however, I'm assuming the mods of a game about the Bastion have played (because transcribing everything and explaining it would be a fresh hell). During the period of the Bastion, Rucks does the following: Meets the Kid at the Bastion; doesn't ask for his name. Zulf's brought back by the Kid - Rucks and Zulf chat, while Kid collects the cores. Zia's brought back, with Venn's journal - Zulf reads it and flips his lid, since, after all, the Calamity was racially targetting the Caels. Rucks is attacked (or pushed) by Zulf during this. Afterwards, Kid gets shards to fix the Bastion on Rucks' orders. Zulf contacts both Zia and the Kid, trying to keep them safe - in other words? Zulf sure didn't give a damn about Rucks.
Which was a good thing, since Rucks didn't give a damn about him, either.
Rucks had the Kid moving in on the shards - and Zulf was doing the same. The Bastion soon came under seige and was nearly destroyed by the Ura - until the Kid returned and stopped them, although Zia had disappeared and was presumed kidnapped. They saved her - and that's really when Bastion's story "started": Rucks began telling the story to Zia after she'd been rescued by the Kid.
This trend continued up until Kid finally made it to the Tazal Terminals, where Rucks admitted everything to Zia - not to the Kid, but oh well. He admitted he was part of the creation of the Bastion, helped with the calamity, and admitted he didn't know what Restoration would do; they'd never really been able to test the power to go back in time, since, as it was, they couldn't exactly assume that they'd keep their memories or remember it perfectly.
In any case; this Rucks got his wish. Everythin' went back to normal - the kid picked to restore instead of run. He almost felt sorry for Zia, but knew that she'd probably be better off, anyway.
With that having happened, everything went back to normal, in a way. Rucks woke up in his bed, a while before the calamity: but, y'know what? Rucks viewed it all as a dream, nothin' more than a flight of fancy in a dream - until a familiar set of Ura showed up at his door, raring to get his help. (Rucks almost closed the door on Zulf - nothing personal, mind, it's just he somehow knew the guy was trouble.) He'd never had much faith in dreams, but people showin' up at his door that proved them? That was another story.
He felt bad that he hadn't gone and gotten the Kid, made sure he hadn't run off on his own - but, at the same time, Zia and Zulf had all believed it was a dream. The Kid probably would, too. He did, however, know that the Kid wasn't going to do any good in the time before the Calamity - he'd been a quiet scrapper, that Kid, not a particularly good speaker. This was his job - Zia's and Zulf's too, he supposed. (He didn't much like putting Zulf into his trusted circle, given how that'd turned out the last time. Wasn't likely to happen this time even if he didn't stop the Calamity, that was for sure.) Venn got in on it too, this time. Guess it was Zia's only option to get the guy on her side - not that it was that bad of an idea.
Anyway, he set Zulf and Zia to finding a plan for outing the secret of the Calamity - he set himself to stalling. Sabotage, he guessed the best way to put it was. He set the Ura to share information, got what information he could from Zulf if he needed any from them, and worked on a plan for sabotage.
Perhaps unknown to Zulf and Zia, Rucks also worked on a plan to escape, afterwards. His Mancers were a smart lot - if he didn't get the sabotage done and get gone, he was going to be arrested. He figured he'd bring the Ura along if he had a chance - but if the blame fell on him, Venn would just be recruited to make it again. It'd delay it. Would probably work.
Well, that fell through pretty fast. See, somehow, his Mancers caught on a bit faster than he'd expected. See, Rucks had anticipated his chances might go south - he was a spry, conniving man for being as old as he was, but he was sitting in the lion's den, so to speak.
So, when the Marshals came to bust down his door, he was already gone. He'd already caught wind of it - hadn't managed to get a warning off to Venn and Zia in time, and he didn't tend to track Zulf enough to get a warning to him at all.
When the Calamity came, Rucks was sitting in a little Ura-style den of his own design - with Venn having had a hand in the whole thing, Rucks had certainly learned a thing or two about how to stay safe from the Calamity. He'd settled in, knowing the Marshals probably wouldn't find him before it was too late, taken a seat, and started polishing the Army Carbine he'd carried along - he'd never let it go since he'd had it confirmed that his dream was real, after all.
The Calamity could come at any time. And this time, he wasn't going to get to be so close to the Bastion. Might as well be ready to fight.
(Also, to note: Rucks should be over his 70s; he'd most likely be considered pretty spry, for a 70-80 year old.)
Personality:
Rucks, as a person, can be best described as an unreliable narratior, a subtle racist, and most of all, a man well versed in untruths and subtle lies.
Rucks has no tongue for arguing, no tongue for violence - at least, normally. Rucks, normally, could easily be described as a kind of confidant - a smart, purposed older man who rolls with the punches - and he does. He rolled with the Calamity, the destruction of the Bastion, Zulf's betrayal - all of that was something he rolled with. He's sure not friendly about them, but he didn't get angry or hopeless, either: Rucks moved on, and sought out new ways to solve the problems; it wasn't like Kid or Zia could.
On that note, Rucks is kind of insensitive - telling an Ura girl derisive information about the Ura, derisively mocking the gods in front of that same Ura girl, and not regretting causing the Calamity, but regretting letting Zulf find out about the Calamity's cause. Rucks can be facetious and insensitive to bring about what he wants - and what he really wants is for everything to 'return to normal'. Rucks wants to give Caeldonia and everyone who was killed life again, to fix it.
Why? Rucks is a people person. Sure, he doesn't like the Ura much, but after his participation in the Ura-Caeldonian war, well... He really shows scorn and distrust for both Ura and the Calamity, even if he's the sort of person to set out the outliers instead of grouping them all together. He viewed people from the Cael side of town as a more civilized sort (see: Zia), as well as Zulf ("raised to be a real gentleman"), but in general? He very obviously scorns the Ura and their practices, and tints it with a bit of fear, too: He doesn't trust them. He knows what they can do.
Back on the first thread, he's a people person. He states that he loves music, liked to kick back in taverns and just listen. He's a man for music and stories: he most likely knows and tells quite a few of Caeldonia's older tales, given his age and likes. He's certainly not unaware of Caeldonian culture - one could even speculate he's. Kind of looked it all over.
The one outlying trait he has is that he shows scorn for the gods - he regards them as something that people lean on when they want free handouts. He believes that people should be driven to do what they can with their own hands - no god needs to get in on that, 'cept for Micia - the god who gives and takes, the god who isn't a god of handouts at all - a god to help those who suffer in spirit by reassuring them their loved ones will be safe.
Also, to note, Rucks is a caring person - even if he's kind of an ass. He cares about what people think of him, cares if people will get sick, and rationalizes hiding things from people as "for their own good". That's just how he is. Even if he's on bad terms with Zulf, he wouldn't just leave him to die if he could help it. Probably. (He doesn't tell the Kid to not kill Zulf, so hey, what do I know? He won't let Zulf die from personal inaction, though: he just might... forget to remind someone, here and there. Whoops.)