Profile

Name: Engineer

Class: Engineer

Australium Content: Low

Mann & Machine - Engineer

Backstory

Area man carries an old legacy of near-miraculous technological innovation on his shoulders, locks himself into a metal shell in order to make his work more efficient, incredibly passionate about what he does but also scared of doing it Wrong. More at 8

Notes

Okay. So, Engineer. Engie. This is a guy with tech in his blood, and moroever it's a guy with tech in his blood in a world where there's robots and automata and all that jazz running around (even if it's more confined to the upper classes). His job - his life's purpose - is to know everything about it, do everything that needs to be done, and do it perfectly. And that's a lot of pressure! I think it's pressure that he mostly adapted to, though. Much like a frog in a pot, he doesn't really consciously note the weight of the task he's been given, or the extra weight he puts on his own shoulders sometimes.
I think an important part of him is the idea that he's very acutely aware of his own physical limitations, and this is something that's been exacerbated to a certain extent by the fact that he's smaller and perhaps not as strong as some of the other mercenaries. Furthermore, he's the sort to always be chafing against natural physical limitations - the sort of effort that goes into eleven PhDs presses up against basic human needs like "sleep" and "food" and "taking breaks" and the like, and that's something Engineer finds very frustrating. If only he could push past all those things, if only he could make himself perfect - and he could, he's sure he could, he knows he could. He knows it. He's also, as a legacy mercenary, a man who has borne witness to every type of bullshit that comes with the territory. He's well aware of the impending Australium crash and acutely aware of what it means for the world. He's seen what happens when his technology fails. He's seen what can go wrong. He knows that being theoretically immortal doesn't make him practically immortal, that a theoretical solution doesn't always work for a practical problem, and it gnaws at him. He lacks, to a certain (though not complete) extent the sort of wildness and self-assurance that would push him to go that final step further.
(Maybe, somewhere in the back of his mind, there's a certain part of him that wants to cling to what human flesh is left. Or maybe there isn't.)
So at the heart of it all is this conflict, I think. This pressure both from his circumstance and his own ego that ends up conflicting with the fact that he is very much a practical and intelligent man and he knows, logically, that there are going to be flaws and accidents. He holds himself and is himself held to a very high standard and when something jeopardizes that - or even just changes how much leeway he has - he feels it very intensely. And, conversely, he does have a cognitive sense of when he needs to reign things in, but that goes against his instincts and desires. Practicality is the name of the game, and the last things you want to do are either pretend your theoretical issues are practical, or fail to do the practical thing out of some theoretical urge. Don't overshoot, don't undershoot.
And, of course, the pressure is a lot worse when the role you were born into looks like it might collapse in at any moment. Ditch it, or try to hold it together; you don't have the data handy to make a logical decision, so you'll have to go with your heart. Terrifying!

Mechanical Description

Engineer habitually wears some form of metal endoskeleton. Initially, this was simply well-fitted to the body, but further developments have led to a semi-permanent form that is fused to the skin and requires medical assistance to remove safely.

Engineer's metal plating contains very small amounts of Australium to aid in wound healing. Like all the mercenaries, his respawn chip is embedded in the interventricular septum.