Core Profile
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Height: 5'11"
Age: 29 ESY
Skin Hue/Racial Morph: Pale/Caucasian
Hair Color: Brown
Eye Color: Green
Class: Soldier
Known Equipment & Gear
L95 "Liberator" Assault Rifle
- GL230 25mm semi-automatic Grenade Launcher
A sturdy, reliable and lightweight assault rifle, the 7x40mm L95 is the weapon of choice for both Union forces, and others across the Milky Way, including the human Systems Alliance's military. Developed by Black Star to provide a flexible, reliable and easily mass-produced weapon for the Union's military forces, what the Liberator lacks in power and accuracy, it makes up for in dependability, magazine capacity, and sheer numbers.
Easily modified, the Liberator is composed of an upper and lower receiver assembly, which can be swapped out at will to adapt the weapon to any given mission. Common modifications include replacing the upper receiver with particle beam emitter and swapping the standard 100 round magazine for a particle cartridge/expanded battery pack for space combat, applying a shorter upper assembly to create a compact Personal Defense Weapon for pilots and vehicle crews, swapping magazine and barrel to allow for the firing of 18.5mm (12g) disintegrating shot-cups to create an automatic shotgun, and switching the lower receiver for one with an integrated 25mm semi-automatic smart grenade launcher.
L2311 "Stalwart" Pistol
A tough, powerful and reliable sidearm, the Stalwart pistol is the weapon of choice for Union Officers, machine-gunners, biotics and snipers who need a dependable backup weapon. Firing 10x35mm ferrous slugs from a 18-round magazine, the Stalwart may not have the most powerful shots, or the largest magazine, but it strikes a compromise between the extremes which has made it extremely popular. With an enlarged, single-finger trigger guard and its magazine stored in the grip, the Stalwart, while by no means a small pistol, is far more compact than the previous generation of weapons, while still maintaining the edge in both power and magazine capacity.
M240/Hc (Human, Command) Paladin Armor
Forged for the Union's top Commanders, c-Pattern Paladin suits are designed for maximum survability and situational awareness. Fitted with heavy armor, advanced communications and sensor suites, and powerful shields, the c-Pattern Paladin suit both protects a commander, and allows him complete knowledge and control of both the forces he commands, and the enemy he commands them against. Marshall's suit is modified with enhanced servos and adreno-stim packs to complement the already impressive strength and tenacity granted by his Alliance N7-issue Soldier implants.
Like all Paladin armor, it is fully capable of functioning as a space suit, or providing protection from other hostile environments. The standard-issue power pack uses a micro cold fusion cell to provide power to the suit's servo joints and Geth synth muscle tissue, and is fitted with jump jets which combine with the suit's element zero core to allow brief, but powerful jumps, or manuvering in null-g environs. The helmet paints a Heads Up Display over the wearer's retinas, and provides imagery in infrared, night-for-day and thermal vision modes. Both forearms are fitted with omni-tool emmiters, coded for lethal blades, lashes, and breaching saws.
Physical Profile
John Marshall is of average height for a human, with a sparse, lanky build. He has the physique of a runner, or a soldier, built for endurance rather than brute strength. Tough, tenacious and scrappy, Marshall bears the scars of a long carrier in the Alliance Marine Corps, including 3 years as an N7-designated commando. His face is square and unremarkable, with a strong jaw, short nose and scraggly goatee framing intelligent, piercing green eyes. He has a tattoo on his left bicep, in the form of a thresher maw coiled around his arm, the insignia of his former Alliance unit, as well as one across the back of his neck: a small, two-fingered hand half-buried in sand, clutching a crumpled white flag.
His M240Hc Paladin armor is largely unmarked, save for the double blue stripe of the Special Operations Directorate painted along his left arm. When out of armor, he wears Union SOD base duty fatique pants, and his old N7 hooded sweatshirt.
Psychological Profile
Marshall is a thoughtful, cynical man. Inherently mistrustful of sapient nature as a result of past experience, he questions his superiors constantly, and has little faith in the ability of leaders to make the correct choices. He believes in a world where the best alternative is the option that is the least bad, and dismisses utopia as an unattainable pipe dream. Still, despite his cynicism and bitterness, John Marshall is compassionate, and fierce in his dedication to doing the most good for the most people. While he doesn't buy the Union's message of a free, utopian society where all races can live in peace, he sees their wide-eyed idealism as the lesser of two evils. And first and foremost, he refuses to allow the Council or the Species Governments to continue hurting people.
Marshall is a pragmatist, to a point. He believes in doing what is necessary, so long as it doesn't compromise his values. A principled man, John Marshall has few moral absolutes, but sticks to them absolutely. He believes that once you abandon your principles, even in the name of the greater good, you have nothing. This uncompromising attitude did not make him popular in Alliance Special Forces, where one is often forced to make questionable decisions, but makes him a perfect choice for Operation Overlord's command, where the great power he has been entrusted with requires supreme responsibility and moral conscious.
Historical Profile
Born into a family who made their living as independent traders, Marshall grew up shuttled from space station to space station on tramp freighters and cargo liners. Seeking a life with more stability and discipline, he enlisted in the Alliance Military at age 18, and tested into the Alliance Marine Corps. Rising quickly through the ranks by virtue of his intelligence and skill at arms, by age 23 he was inducted into the N7 program, where he served for three years.
It was while serving as an N7 that he would arrive at a turning point in his life. By 2329, Unionism had begun to spread through the Outer Colonies, and protests where a daily occurrence. One such protest occurred on the arid colony world of Sochek's Landing, on the 23rd of July, 2329. After a human farmer, driven to distraction by debt and harassment by Council authorities, entered a Colonial Revenue Service building and killed 6 tax collectors with a shotgun before shooting himself, his neighbors started a riot, storming and effectively occupying the town square. In the process, they surrounded the Alliance's colonial authority compound, trapping the planetary governor and his family inside.
Marshall and his team were ordered to extract the Governor, and dropped in under the cover of darkness. However, due to a freak dust storm, his team was separated during the drop, and by the time they had re-grouped, day had broken. Marshall contacted his superiors and requested permission to delay the mission until after night had fallen. This request was denied, and they were ordered to proceed as soon as possible. Satellite imagery suggested that the alley behind the compound was clear, and so the decision was made to proceed through that way, breach the wall, and extract the VIPs by shuttle. But when they arrived at the alley, they discovered that their intel was wrong: a group of protesters had made camp there during the night, and upon catching sight of the N7s, summoned a mob of their comrades to block access.
Blocked from the front and sides, but unwilling to turn back, Marshall ordered the crowd to stand down. The dust storms had kicked up again, and the chanting crowd was shrouded in haze. Marshall thought he could make out weapons, but he couldn't be sure with the dust clouding his vision. Again, he ordered them to back off. A figure began to make its way through the dust. A quarian girl. There was something in her hand. Marshall ordered her to stop, but she pressed on. Fearing for his life, and the lives of his team, John Marshall raised his rifle and opened fire.
The N7s made short work of the crowd, cutting down the protesters like grain before the scythe. When the dust and smoke cleared, a horrible scene emerged. The protesters had been unarmed. They had not run. Man, woman and child had stood and faced death without a flinch. Their corpses lay strewn across the sand, soaked red, blue and green with blood. And in a tiny, pathetic heap, halfway between the crowd and Marshall, was a little quarian girl. She couldn't have been more than 12. In her right hand, clutched tightly, was a small white flag.
Something snapped in Commander John Marshall, N7 Marine, that day, as he stood in the bloody sand, rifle hanging limp in his hand. He did not speak another word, beyond ordering his men to return to the LZ. When they arrived back at their base, Marshall checked a pistol out of the armory, walked into the mission commander's office, and pistol-whipped the man within an inch of his life. He surrendered himself without a fight when the MPs arrived, and pled guilty to assaulting a superior officer before a court martial. On the basis of his long and exemplary service record, and having been judged to be temporarily insane due to post-traumatic stress, he was given a dishonorable discharge and sentenced to 6 years in military prison instead being executed.
After two years, he was released on probation for good behavior, and moved to the Citadel, where he spent the next year in a drunken stupor. It was there that Black Star recruiters found him, living in a derelict apartment in the wards. Taking a personal interest, Xander O'Tarin helped the former N7 clean up, and come to terms with his trauma. A long standing critic of Black Star's actions during the Terminus War, Marshall refused O'Tarin's offer of a position with Black Star Security. But after witnessing the horrors of Black Tuesday and its aftermath, Marshall changed his mind. He couldn't stand idly by anymore while more and more innocents fell victim to a cowardly, reactionary government. He accepted Xander's offer, and command of the USV Freedom's Blade.
Misc. Notes