This blood on my teeth

APPLICATION

Player Name/Handle: Emmy
Plurk Handle: gravenrose
Player Status: Current Player
Other characters: Catra
Invited by:

Character Name: Mackenzie Haynes, deeded Feathers-Arrows-With-Her-Rage
Fandom: Tabletop OC; Werewolf: The Apocalypse
Character Journal: ragefeathers
OU, AU, CRAU, Canon OC, or OC? Original Character
Canon point: Just after her pack's death.
PB: Bex Taylor-Klaus

SETTING BACKGROUND
Mackenzie comes from a setting known collectively as the World of Darkness. It's kind of a crapsack. Things there are generally somehow even worse than in the real world. There are evil spirits and cosmic forces at work attempting to subert, control, and destroy the world. And that doesn't even get into the damn vampires. Mackenzie is a Garou, one of the werewolf protectors of Gaia created to be Her warriors. Except they fucked it up a whole lot and through their own rage, hubris, and short-sighted self-centered bullshit killed off a lot of the allies they now desperately need. They are fighting a losing war against the Wyrm, the force of entropy, and every year is a littler grimmer.

HISTORY

• Born in Everett, Oklahoma to her father Jefferson Haynes and her mother, Alexandra Kokinos.


• At age 3, her parents divorce. Kenzie begins moving between the two.


• When Kenzie is seven, her mother disappears from her life. She doesn't know why. Her father begins drinking heavily.


• Kenzie is now being shunted between her father and her maternal grandmother


• At age 13, her maternal grandmother dies after a long illness. She now lives entirely with her father.


• Age 14, Kenzie figures out she might, in fact, be gay. She hides this.


• At age 16, a woman Kenzie has never met before, calling herself Liv, appears in her life. She claims that she is Alexandra's sister and that Kenzie needed to leave with her. Mackenzie's father refuses, telling Liv to "get the fuck out of his house like her bitch of a sister" and that he wanted Kenzie to have nothing to do with her. Mackenzie saw this as a way to get away from her father, her shitty nowhere town, and his excessive drinking, tried to argue. For the first time in her life, her father struck her. After that, she remembers nothing except a blur of red until she woke up without clothes in the back of Liv's car somewhere on the freeway.


• Liv explained that Mackenzie was a werewolf, a Garou, and that she had a heritage to uphold. Her mother hadn't been one herself, but had instead been related to them--Liv, for instance. She was a warrior who fought for Gaia, the mother, and that they now fought for the survival of the world. The tribe of werewolves she had been born into was the Black Furies


• Kenzie undergoes training and education in Garou society. By the time she is 18, she is what is termed a 'cliath' - i.e., the first rank of Garou society and trusted not to fuck things up too badly. She also learns that due to the circumstances of her birth under the full moon, she is part of the warrior caste; known to Garou as an ahroun.


• She forms a pack with a group of other young werewolves and they fight and live together, bound together spiritually and emotionally.


• At age 20, she becomes a Fostern, the second rank of Garou society and essentially a full adult in their eyes.


• In 2018, while she and her pack are hunting a vampire in Oklahoma City, they are lead into a trap. The rest of her pack is killed or mortally wounded fighting their way out of it. Only Kenzie survives to tell the story and falls into a deep depression. She is 21 years old

CRAU: If playing a CRAU, simply keep writing bullet points after their canon history. Also add a short paragraph at the end summarizing the growth of the character over the course of the game (and/or psls) they were pulled from.

(Please keep this under 800 words).

PERSONALITY
Brave: Kenzie is brave to the point of recklessness. She willing throws herself into danger and perilous situations heedless of personal safety and can be relied upon to do her utmost in her battle against the forces of unchecked entropy. She's faced down the forces of evil in battle time and again and come out the other side.

Emphatic: Despite all of her anger and her pain, deep down she really wants to help other people. Especially other women. Her whole tribe of is dedicated to such work and she bears a part of it. If she can't feel anger on behalf of the abused, sorrow on behalf of the bereaved or happiness on behalf of the joyful, she feels that she is not doing enough. Despite her gruff, angry exterior she has a deep wellspring of empathy, kindness, and understanding that she tries to use with the people she meets on a daily basis. She doesn't always succeed, of course, but she does her best.

Confident:Angry: It is not an exaggeration to say that Kenzie is essentially angry all the time. All werewolves have a deep well of Rage within them that fuels their supernatural healing and their struggle. Controlling this anger is something that all of them struggle with. Kenzie just happens to struggle more than others. She has a hard time keeping her temper in check and tends to be argumentative, rude, and willing to throw down at the drop of a hat. Petty insults and especially those that insinuate she is a coward or afraid of something, arecthe most likely to set her off.

Reckless: Mackenzie is also reckless. While her bravery and physical courage mean that she is unworried about exposing herself to danger, it can also get her into bad situations. She is also likely to charge in without thinking or worrying about possible consequences. If there is a course of action that can be taken she'll take it rather than waiting to plan for contingencies or talk it over.

Overconfident: Mackenzie is supremely confident in herself and her ability to deal with problems, no matter what they might be. She tends to overestimate her ability to get things done or underestimate the danger she faces in order to meet her expectations that she can overcome any problem she faces. She doesn't think she can do things effortlessly, but she does tend to think that she can handle anything that comes at her.

Not good at relationships: The product of a broken and abusive home life and then being inducted into a war for the planet's survival when she was a teenager, Mackenzie is not good at relationships and boundaries. She doesn't set them or communicate them well or respect them when they're given to her. She has a tendency to try and direct people the way she thinks they should be and doesn't really have a good idea of how to healthily cope with relationship problems and things like jealousy. So she yells. Or sulks. Or ignores. She doesn't get physically violent (yet) but given her upbringing, culture, and anger, it might just be a matter of time.

Not dealing well: Kenzie is coming off of losing what was essentially her closest friends and family in an extremely violent manner. She is grappling with the mental, emotional, and physical traumas of fighting a losing war since she was sixteen years old. She is heavily internalizing her emotions about this shit and trying to put up a strong front to prove she doesn't need anyone and is likely to try and push away people who get too close to her in some misguided effort to be more self-sufficient and live up the Garou's shitty warrior ethos that's been drilled into her since she was inducted into their society. Deep down, there is fear and she doesn't want to face it or face the choices she had when she decided to join up, which were live in shame or die in battle. The Zenith Coporation gave her a third option that she didn't really have back home: run away. So she's going to drink, fuck, and generally try to drown all that pesky guilt and sorrow in hedonism until it leaves or she breaks down.


CANON POWERS
If they have superpowers in canon please list a full list of them here just so we have them somewhere, even if you're not using them in game.


Rage - The supernatural wellspring of primal anger that fuels the various powers of werewolves and other shapeshifters on Kenzie's world. It can be a double-edged sword, though, as if Kenzie is touched off at the wrong time she can enter a state of pure, Rage-induced bloodlust known as frenzy. This frenzy overrides her rational mind until her inner beast is satisfied that the trigger of the frenzy is no longer a threat and that anything that can hurt her nearby is dead or she is brought out of the frenzy by other means (incapacitation, magically calming her, sufficiently powerful tranquilizers, etc). Threats can also include friends and allies, as during the frenzy, she has no recognition of even her closest allies.

Rage allows Kenzie to heal wounds that might otherwise kill a normal person, move with supernatural speed, and helps her change forms. As a member of the werewolves' warrior caste, an ahroun, she is more susceptible to this Rage and tends to have a deeper wellspring of it within her.

The flip-side is that she's vulnerable to silver. Silver is quite dangerous for werewolves in general. While Kenzie could shrug off multiple wounds from normal bullets, a silver bullet is as deadly to her as any other bullet would be to a normal human if it's aimed well. These wounds can be healed, but take longer. She is also severely allergic--just touching silver in any form EXCEPT her birth form (human, in her case) is enough to burn her flesh.

Shape-shifting - There are five different forms that Kenzie is able to assume essentially at will, though it can take anywhere from 30 seconds to a minute to transform completely. When empowered by Rage, she is able to shift practically instantly. The most important of these forms are:

• Homid - The human form. Indistinguishable from a normal human in just about any way.


• Crinos - The war form. This is a massive form meant for fighting. A nine-to-ten foot tall half-wolf, half-man with huge teeth and razor sharp claws. The closest to the Hollywood idea of a werewolf. This form elicits an instinctive response from humans thanks to the ancestral memory of the time werewolves culled human populations (known to the Garou as the Impergium) to keep them in check. This fear, called the Delirium, normally this means that humans become catatonic, flee in terror, or attack in desperation. It also means that their memories of the event are fragmented at best. The easiest way to mitigate this is the simple explanation that no one in the game is from Kenzie's world and therefore they all lack the instinctual lizardbrain terror of werewolves that the humans back home do.


• Lupus - The wolf form. This form is a wolf and is basically indistinguishable from any normal wolf.

Gifts - Gifts are what Garou call various supernatural powers, almost like spells, which are granted to them by spirits on their home world. These abilities offer additional methods for the Garou to solve their problems and additional powers. Kenzie knows several of these which she is able to use essentially at will. These are:

• Razor Claws - When in a form that has claws, she can sharpen them on a rock or other hard surface in order to make them temporarily sharper and more deadly


• Resist Pain - This one is fairly passive, but useful. It allows Kenzie to withstand extreme pain and to ignore wounds that might otherwise cripple her in order to continue the fight, at least temporarily.


• Curse of Aeoulus - Mackenzie is able to call up a thick, impenetrable fog. While Mackenzie is able to see normally, all others are surrounded by the fog and unable to see more than a few feet in front of them. This gift is, for obvious reasons, easier to use in humid and cool, wet conditions and harder to summon up in a place that is hot and dry, like a desert.

Gnosis - As creatures that are half flesh and half spirit, the Garou are able to make use of spiritual energy inherent in themselves and drawn from the world and spirits around them, much like the concept of mana or chi. This Gnosis is used to activate gifts, bribe spirits, and also to enter the Umbra, a spiritual realm that mirrors the Earth. In Zhautas, Kenzie will have to be careful with her gnosis as she is only able to regain it by meditating, and she is not a calm person. Additionally, she will be unable to enter the Umbra as she is no longer on Earth where she is able to pass through to the other side with relative ease.

Supernatural toughness - Werewolves in general are just really hard to hurt. Stuff that might kill or cripple a human can be shrugged off and they can heal grievous wounds given enough time and rest and can even save severed limbs, provided they're quick enough to reattach them. This applies to other areas of their metabolism as well. Knocking out a werewolf with normal tranquilizers might be difficult or impossible, so reach for the Xtra Strength. This healing is slower in a werewolf's breed form, which is her human body in Mackenzie's case. Thankfully (or not) it means that getting drunk, smoking some weed, getting a tattoo or getting surgery is all doable without her wound instantly mending or her monstrous metabolism instantly burning off all the alcohol. On the other hand, she's still robust enough in her human form that diseases that aren't supernatural (or super-science) in nature don't really have time to take root before her very angry immune system chews them up. Essentially, she is easier to harm in her birth form, but if she's still able to shift forms and get back up after your first strike, her enemy is in trouble.

A Note - These powers are all connected with the Earth's moon and the spirit of that moon, known to the Garou under various names such as Luna, Artemis, Seline, etc. While I don't want her to be completely powerless, being under alien moons may make things complicated for Kenzie (i.e. force her to change forms, make her really irritable and moody, or otherwise effect her mood, or whatever else we can think of to throw her way).

POWER SELECTION
Canon powers

For canon powers: For the purposes of the game, Mackenzie will be keeping:

• Rage


• Shapeshifting


• Healing ability/Supernatural toughness

Otherwise, she will lack powers. During missions, she will be able to act with her gift Resist Pain as always on, but otherwise cannot access her gifts.

ABILITIES

• Bowyer: Though by no means a master, she has experience with making bows and arrows and has enough skill to make new ammunition. She had to learn and master the bow as part of her training. Naturally, that included learning to make and repair her own if needed and how to make ammunition for it.


• Archery: Kenzie is an accomplished archer. She's not an Olympic champion, but she can put an arrow in a man-sized target at 100 meters without much difficulity


• Wilderness survival: Kenzie is used to living rough and living off the grid. She can track prey, gather edible plants, build fires and shelter, and generally knows how to keep herself alive with minimal support from modern society.


SETTING/SUITABILITY

➤ How do you expect your character to respond to the setting? Even if they plan to rebel in the long term, will they be able to at least obey enough to not get shocked to death?

Kenzie is not going to be happy, but she's not stupid enough to get herself killed for no reason. She can knuckle down and deal, though it will likely grow increasingly difficult for her to contain her anger and frustration the longer it goes on.

➤ What do you hope to do with your character long-term?

Get into fights with big gribblies. Also if she could maybe open up to people and learn how to process grief and trauma in a healthier way than drinking constantly, that would be really good.

➤ Does your character currently have skills that would allow them to adapt, survive, and do the heroic things being asked of them?

Yes

➤ If they're not used to cooperating with others, what makes you think they'll be able to adapt to cooperating with the group?

Kenzie is used to working in a team or pack and understands that a team is only as strong as its weakest link, so she is well equipped to be a team player.

➤ Will your character have long-term plans to rebel against Jorgmund? If so, how? Will they betray the other PCs and cooperate with Jorgmund? If so, how do you plan to handle the negative CR that might arise?

She plans to rebel eventually, probably by going walking chainsaw and murdering her way through Jorgmund's corporate offices until she dies because Kenzie is really bad at longterm planning that involves her own survival.

SAMPLES

Network Sample

I. After they get the welcome spiel and see the slideshow, your character is put in front of a camera for an interview and attached to a polygraph. The polygraph may not be accurate, and can potentially give false positives and false negatives, so players can play with that all they want. If the Jorgmund staff interpret a response as a lie, they'll demand a different answer, causing characters to potentially need to respond honestly, craft a "creative" truth, or tell very good lie. The questions are completely absurd, especially after such a hostile welcome to the rig.

They'll be made to answer any (3) of the following questions of your choosing:

- Are you more of a hunter or a gatherer?

[ This question gets a broad, toothy grin. All teeth that are completely normal and if you think they look sharp, that's all on you. ]

Oh, I am definitely a hunter. Maybe you're all just too fucking spiritually numb by your corporate bullshit, but you couldn't tell? Am I losing my touch or something? Sweet fucking Mother.

- You’re a new addition to the crayon box, what color would you be and why?

So, if I was a new color in the crayon box, it'd be red. Blood red. 'Cause I shed blood, you know? Rip and tear and all that fucking bullshit. I'm a warrior--I fight and I kill and I leave nothing alive behind me. That's it, that's the color. End of story.

[ A scoffing laugh. ]

It's not that fucking deep, assholes.

- What was a time when you had to work as part of a team?

So, this one time me and the rest of the pack? We were hunting out this fucking leech den. Fuck leeches, okay? They're Wyrmy creeps who prey on people and think that because they're fucking dead and loving it they get to rule normal people like fucking cattle.

[ Not that Garou are much better, but then Kenzie was never one for self-reflection. She leans forward a little in her seat, her grin wide and satisfied as she plays this memory back in her head. Seeing a young woman be so damn eager about this might be a little disturbing to some. ]

So we decided we would jump them while they were having some private get together at this club. So, what we do is I go in the front door with Tia and we are making all the noise in the world. Howling and growling and smashing everything up--then they all run for the back door. Except that's where the other three are waiting. Ha. You should have heard them squeal when they realized they were trapped. Hilarious shit, man.

Prose Sample

Here

ADDITIONAL INFO
N/A

FINAL QUESTIONS
The players won't know what the mods are doing with these questions until sometime later.

➤ Will your character suspect some kind of guiding intelligence has brought them to the game? Or will they think it was random or done by Jorgmund?

Kenzie will blame Jorgmund entirely. This isn't a place Gaia would send her and the Wyrm would have just killed or corrupted her if it could.

➤ If they think it was something other than Jorgmund, like God or some other force of fate, what character traits do they think of that intelligence as having? Is it cruel or kind? Capriciously punishing them or doing it for good reason?

N/A