Name: Trent Blackwood
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Primary Weapon:
On Patrol: IWI TAR-21, civilian model. Black with a flashlight, Mepro 21 reflex sight, EOTECH 3x flip magnifier, and flashlight. 1x30 round magazine, full.
Hunting: Moisin-Nagant 91/30. 5 round internal magazine, full.
Secondary Weapon (If any): CZ-75B 9mm pistol. 12 round magazine, full.
Essential Equipment: Hunting knife (1), 1x 9mm magazines, full. 1x 20 round box of loose 7.62x54r rounds (2), 2x .223 magazines, full (3).
Non-Essential Equipment: A pair of military-issue binoculars (1), a water-proof note pad case with a pencil, small sharpener, a pen, a couple erasers, the note pad itself, and a small penlight (2).
What does this character contribute to the Group?: Scout, patrol, and hunting.
Group Section: Military
Appearance:
Trent stands at 5'11" with a slender build, grey eyes, and he is very seldom cleanly shaven.
Personality Concept: For a man who professes his contentment at being a part of a group, Trent is a man who spends a lot of time away from the relative safety of his comrades or what passes for civilization in the post-Breach era. While generally easy-going and somewhat aloof by nature, Trent feels the need to prove his worth to whomever he's grouped with in fear of being overlooked or not being offered a fair cut of what meager supplies can be scrounged up. While he largely hates being off on his own and the uncertainty of ever returning, he's grown up knowing that unless everyone pulls their weight, there might not be a tomorrow for anybody. On the other hand, when tensions flare up, he's more than happy to spend his time in the company of solitude to avoid the worst of it. Trent is not a man who is comfortable with fighting and arguing, although he's never hesitated to pull the trigger on another human in the few times it became a necessity. Given how scarce resources are, he tries to make every bullet count, and he seldom misses if he gets the drop.
Although the post-apocalypse world is all he's known, the remnants of the world that was left behind is a source of conflicted emotions for #Trent, who both dreams of seeing the world how it was, and has a sense of melancholy towards all that was lost. One of the most devastating things to happen in his life was the loss of his magazine collection when he had fled Last Eden with his group as they were a window into this mysterious world, and he cherishes the opportunity to listen to the few middle-aged and elderly people who remembered what the world was like pre-Breach as they tell the stories of how things used to be. Even on the road, part of his motivations for volunteering to scout ahead of the convoy is to see if anything remains in the ruins. One of his hobbies is as a sketch artist, making writing materials incredibly valuable to him, and he has a knack for being able to look at a landmark and conceptualize it as it used to be. He is somewhat superstitious about ghosts and the dead, and he believes those killed during the cataclysm still wander the streets, and may aid or cause malice to those who trespass on their dead lands.
As a combatant, Trent keeps a level head and has conditioned himself to ignore the feeling that he might die, positively reinforcing the idea that he'll survive if he does what has to be done. Because of this, he's less cowed by suppressing fire, and if a creature is giving chase, he's able to think on the fly of how to get out of harm's way. While he's hardly a leader, he is an excellent team player and has the utmost faith in his group to watch each other's backs and listen to commands. While he used to be emotionally shaken after a fight, death's become such a familiar part of life that all that remains after most encounters is shaky hands and an emotional numbness. Despite his ability to kill without question, he still resents the loss of life, viewing every human somewhat as a pillar that's keeping the roof from caving in. He believes that civilization will never truly recover if people don't get their act together and focus on mutual threats instead of killing each other, although he's not holding his breath.
Off duty, Trent is sociable and likes to be around people, or at least within eyeshot. He does sketches for people as gifts and he often volunteers to help with food preparation, especially if he was the one to bring in game for the night. One of his favorite activities is the camp fire gatherings and the stories that usually come with it.
Backstory: Hailing from a family of hunters, Trent has raised by his father Joe and uncle Tom to be able to track and hunt game as means to barter with the rest of the community of Last Eden and to give the family something extra when the community rations were scarce. Trent never knew his mother well, as she was taken by an illness before his 5th birthday, although he knew the effect it had on his father, who always seemed to be sombre on most days, and Trent was always eager to please his father, knowing that they only really had each other and uncle Tom, even though all three of the Blackwood family had a good relationship with their community.
Trent was only six when he took his first deer, although he had helped snare and clean rabbits and skunks for a year prior, a memory he'd always hold dearly due to it being the first time he could recall his family being proud of his accomplishments. After the animal was cleaned and dismembered for food preparation and bartering, Trent was given his larger portion (as was custom for those who harvested the animal), and bartered the bones and several strips of the meat for a variety of things, including boxes of ammunition and a few tattered travel and outdoors magazines with various merchants. After several years of this, Trent eventually bought his first rifle, one of the exceedingly common Moisin-Nagants that even around a century after being manufactured were easily obtained due to their huge numbers pre-Breach years.
When the government began to start controlling more aspects of life in Last Eden, one of the first things to change was the government forcing the Blackwoods to turn in their harvests to the government in return for a modest fee, not enough to make ends meet on its own any longer. Being left with little other choice, the now 17-year old Trent joined Last Eden's military forces and was assigned as a scout due to his experience and reputation as a hunter. For the next several years, Trent served dutifully, although the increasing restrictions and controls placed on the populace of the government started causing widespread discontentment, and it wasn't look before Trent eventually agreed to join one of the caravans that was going to make an escape. While he regrets leaving his father and uncle behind, he did manage to take the time to talk to them and say goodbye before leaving Last Eden hopefully forever. Trent's future is one of his own making, and he'd rather die than return to what was quickly becoming a slave's existence.
Fear: Being left behind, as well as being eaten alive.
Anything else?:
-Trent is not much of a smoker or a drinker, although he wouldn't refuse either if offered.
-The TAR-21 was obtained on one of his scouting missions in an embattled town between various groups. He had looted it, along with several other valuable supplies, from a group of bandits who were preoccupied with the Radiated Ones.
-While not a fear, Trent is slightly paranoid of eating or drinking irradiated food or water.
-Trent never learned how to drive.
-Trent is fairly literate and is capable of navigating using a map and compass.
-His sidearm is primarily a last-ditch survival weapon, he will use his rifle almost exclusively.
-Depending if he's hunting or fulfilling military duties, he will take either his Moisin-Nagant or TAR-21 with him and leave the other behind in the vehicle.
