Seated in the closer arm of the galaxy, the Coalition is one of the largest governments to emerge from Scatter; a planet of war and conflict.
Registered citizen of the Terran National Government
Description
(Avatar art by nc83-d2yyxsy, profile pic by jouste, both of DeviantArt. Will remove if requested.)
Theme song: Metallica - Broken Beaten Scarred (high quality "remix":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKGiH2yR7Mc)
Approximate power level:
Neo Vs. Smith from The Matrix (Tobias being Neo in this setup)
Physically, Tobias is 6 feet 1, but a combination of hard living and horrific injuries have forced him to cut back on his training, so he now weighs in at about 250 pounds (most of it comes from the mechanical leg--see below). He appears lean yet hardy, as a man who has gone through many trials and somehow survived them all. This isn't to say that he hasn't taken his fair share of punishment; indeed, his body has collected more than a few scars in his street fighting career, even going so far as to have replaced his badly damaged right leg with a cybernetic replacement on the Coalition's dime.
His blue eyes seem to almost look through the object of his attention, appraising and calculating various aspects of size, distance, velocity, lighting and position in order to know what he might be able to take advantage of should a fight break out. This critical eye also lends itself to him keeping his dark brown hair short and neatly trimmed, to reduce the chances someone might grab him by it.
Due to being hit by lightning, his ears are almost completely nonfunctional and replaced by what are essentially tiny microphones that feed directly into his brain, in many ways mirroring the incident that gave rise to his callsign of "Pegleg." He also has a rather ugly scar running down the left side of his back, a personal memento of the time he managed to fight off a hitman.
Personality
Tobias carries himself as a person that is rarely intimidated by an opponent's apparent strength or ability, unless the person in question has demonstrated such to a sufficient extent. This same mentality carries over to almost any challenge. While he acknowledges that some feats might be beyond his ability to accomplish, Tobias has a keen interest in seeing how much he is personally capable of, whether it's a drinking contest, a foot race, or vying for the attentions of an attractive woman. However, that youthful spirit is quickly being tempered by the fact that death seems to wait for him around every corner, leading him to perfect the air of a jaded and callous soldier that thinks nothing of what others think of him.
As much as he finds himself embodying the spirit of the Scatterran ubermensch that is reborn through joining their society and is only truly alive in the heat of combat, the official stance on this uncanny resemblance is that he is to be treated with the respect all decent people are due one another...which usually translates to him getting relentlessly bullied and unable to fight back against his bigger, stronger and faster Scatterran oppressors even though they're nominally on the same team. Some take a higher road and rationalize that it's only natural that these virtues manifest in one from their original home, but they're few and far between. Part of him wouldn't have it any other way, though. As much as he gets bent out of shape over seemingly trivial matters, sometimes to the point of doing horrible things that he regrets for years to come, his nigh unbreakable will sees to it that he manages to right himself and re-orient his gaze towards higher ideals. These ideals are rather mutable, however--he'd rather compromise his integrity and live to patch it up than die with "honor."
His fighting style revolves around pain. Pressure points, liver shots and knockdowns to set up powerful blows are all part of his eclectic repertoire. As far as formal martial arts training, he has received Shotokan tutelage from the mighty Akuma, though he also presents his artificial shin for Muay Thai style blocks.
Equipment
As a martial artist, Tobias has learned that weapons are not absolutely necessary, but they are a useful catalyst to certain maneuvers, depending on the weapon of choice. His favorite weapon is anything improvised, the logic behind this being that this way he doesn't have to carry a weapon and still be armed if he so desires. He tends to dress in "heavy" clothing regardless of the season, the better to conceal his light Scatteran body armor in case he's "on call."
Due to a grave injury that left most of his right leg unusable, the whole thing up to the hip has been removed and replaced with a cybernetic version that packs more speed and power than its counterpart on the other side of his body, letting him deliver devastating stomp attacks capable of bashing down doors and blocking incoming attacks with his shin, Muay Thai style. Learning to hide this imbalance despite the synthetic skin and nanite injections to simulate nerve endings is a daily chore for him, making him take more care with even "basic" activities such as getting dressed, walking, and delivering unarmed strikes. As a result, he has developed uncanny powers of concentration, able to focus on almost any task even when under pressure and in less than ideal circumstances. Recently, the nanites have begun to spread to other areas of his body as well, giving him what seems to be a remarkable ability to bounce back from injury and perform remarkably well despite his fondness for cancer sticks.
As part of his employment in the ranks of Coalition forces, he is also equipped with a standard-issue MR-18 rifle with 25-round magazines (with four extras on his person to either use himself or toss to a buddy), though a combination of pride and reluctance to escalate a battle means it usually remains in its holster. A couple of fragmentation grenades act to break up groups of opponents as well as cause damage to a wide area if necessary.
History
Tobias is indifferent about his history, except the part that spurred him to become a martial artist. When pressed, he will admit that though it sounds trite and overused, his parents were indeed killed by robbers when he was a child. Taken in by a friend of the family who happened to teach at a dojo, Tobias quickly became adept at martial arts. Eventually, he was shown that there came a point where kata mastery failed to impress, and that there was more to combat than simply beating the snot out of your opponent. To this end, he has begun learning certain tactics and maneuvers that are derided by purists as "dirty" while others take a more positive view, praising their utility and how they reflected on the resourcefulness of the warrior that managed to use them well. He has found that the Muay Thai style, featuring a wide variety of close-quarters strikes and judicious grapples to set up particularly egregious blows, meshes well with the situations he finds himself in as well as his own personal inclinations.
Some time ago, a young, spunky warrior by the name of Lamina Manira danced circles around the aging man, foiling his every effort to cause her harm and ultimately dealt the grievous injury to his leg that has dictated a large part of his recent activity. Since then, he has found gainful employment as an operative for Coalition forces stationed in Wing City on Terra, and while he's still getting used to the strictures of his new job, some extra money in his pocket is never a bad thing. Shortly after employment, he found himself earning his first decoration, the Crown of Valor, for displaying uncommon bravery while off duty in saving a marine from an assassination attempt and sustaining significant injury during the resulting battle. Over the course of his distinguished (for a non-Scatterran) career, Terra has found itself free of Aschen occupation, and he's even taken a wife, Crystal.
So begins...
Tobias Malari gazes across the ring towards his latest opponent. Who he was and what he was capable of was immaterial. What truly mattered was who was able to impose his will on the other through force. To this end, he begins to flex his muscles, having developed significantly from training with the weighted prayer beads, all with the goal of making sure all of them are nice and loose, ready for action. Once he is satisfied, he stances up, right side facing his foe, right arm held to deflect blows to the waist and legs, and left hand clenched and ready to block high attacks to the face and upper body. He bobs up and down on the balls of his bare feet a few times before even acknowledging the presence of a rival. "Come. Let me see what you are made of."
Tobias Malari snaps his right hand outwards to grab at Micheal's wrist. This initial move is designed with a twofold purpose: If he avoids the grasping hand, it allows him to take the offensive, and if the grab succeeds, he would pull the arm up to confuse his foe while simultaneously stomping down on Micheal's left foot with his right heel.
“
(( Left wrist, sorry. ))
”
Tobias Malari continues the forward momentum of his initial attack to step forward with his left foot, dodging the stomp, while allowing his left hand to block the rising uppercut attack intended as a quick knockout. His opponent's attack thus negated, Tobias counters with a right roundhouse punch at Micheal's left temporal-mandibular joint.
Tobias Malari is temporarily blind with pain as the powerful leg sweep, combined with the proper angle (how DID this guy know it?!), results in an injured knee. With such an injury comes a compromised stance, and therefore more openings for attack that a smart opponent would be able to exploit. Knowing better than to fight on with such an injury, Tobias collapses to the mat.
“
(( The fight you offered me back when you were Law is still up, though.))
”
“
(( Proof: Fight 601. <_< ))
”
Tobias Malari limps into the bar with a sprained knee, the result of his latest fight. If it wasn't evident from the bandages on said knee, one could plainly see the shame of a loss on his face mixed with agony.
“
(( Just so you know, the cold storage is eerily absent of a certain walking snowman at the moment. ))
”
Tobias Malari limps over to the bar. While he is skilled in the art of combat, and can defend himself if his life depends on it, he REALLY doesn't want to at the moment due to a bruised knee in his last match. The condition of the knees determined how well one could hold a stance, as well as how well one could deliver kicks. Without healthy knees, one's performance dropped drastically, which is why he forfeited instead of continue to take a beating from that guy...what was his name again, Micheal?
Tobias Malari glances around, managing to catch Lucille in a blood-stained dress. "Oi, lady, who beat the shit out of you? I'd take care of them for you if I weren't...owwww..." He clutches his left knee as he gets up.
“
No...I earned this injury through my own foolishness. I'd rather suffer through natural healing than the wrath of my master.
”
“
I've got some money left over, so I guess I could splurge on a real meat and potatoes kind of meal.
”
Tobias Malari sees the glint of the knife's blade as it spins through the air and steps out of the way, but it's apparent that he's a little slower than he used to be due to the injury.
“
What the hell, man? Haven't you ever been told not to hit a man when he's down?
”
Tobias Malari looks around for the fool that threw the knife. Whoever it was was going to get a fight, and it appeared that Silvar had a thing for throwing knives at random targets, injured left knee be DAMNED.
Tobias Malari walks over to Silvar with a bit less of a limp, now that the adrenaline is pumping again. "You think it's funny to throw knives all over the place while the bouncer's taking a vacation, hmm?"
Tobias Malari decides to try to take this asshole out before the reaction processes. He can't use Ashura Senkuu just yet to suddenly appear right behind the bastard and avoid the knives completely, but what he could do was...oh good, the do-it-all robot girl was going to take him. This was going to be both amusing and informative.
Tobias Malari snorts in disgust. Real warriors didn't need to summon weapons to protect themselves. Whoever was up there designed humans the way they were for a damn good reason: They already had everything that they needed to protect themselves, and while weapons were a good catalyst to unlock one's hidden potential, the true test of a warrior was how well he fought without his favorite blade at the ready.
