Carmen Novak
From Elan Vital Wiki
| Carmen Novak | |
|---|---|
| Mysterious! | |
| Height | 5'9" |
| Weight | 172 lbs |
| Hair Color | Dyed orange-yellow |
| Eye Color | Dark brown |
| Born | 13th of Ostara, 669 AT |
| Died | Still alive. |
| Mother | Gwen Novak(deceased) |
| Father | Abrahim Novak |
| Siblings | none |
| Significant Other | None confirmed |
| Children | none |
| Home | Somewhere in the Arcology |
| Occupation | Titania Militiawoman |
| Title | Master Sergeant |
A quintessential wild child, Carmen Novak was born in 669 AT to relatively poor Stockliners Gwen and Abrahim Novak. Her mother was a fisherwoman, her father a lumberjack. The three lived in a small house out in the middle of absolutely nowhere, and from the moment she could walk Carmen roamed the farmlands within the walls. Only known beast attacks could get her to stay home, in which case she entertained herself with elaborate imaginative games, primarily cops and robbers.
When Carmen turned five, her parents relocated to the city itself for the sake of her education, her mother becoming a fisherwoman on the dangerous Carinac Sea while her father became a gameskeeper for Stocklin's parks. The girl was at first very unhappy with this change in location, but soon became an urban roamer much as she had been a rural one; and with the city came friends, the girl making many without much effort.
She did only mediocre in school, despite testing for quite good intelligence; ADHD was dismissed, and eventually it was concluded that she was simply extremely hard to motivate, almost primal. All she wanted to do was run, roam and explore.
The first interruption in her relatively happy life came when, at the age of nine in 678, she lost her mother. A Carinac dragon sunk their ship with all hands, no bodies recovered. This left the girl undeniably heartbroken, and for two straight months she said absolutely nothing to anyone. Her first words to break the silence were a reassurance to her father; "Don't worry, Daddy. I'll join the Militia and protect you." After that declaration, she seemingly returned to normal, leaving her stunned father to conclude it was a passing child's fancy.
Yet Carmen's marks began to move upward from that point. Notably, none of them could even hope to compare to her physical education scores; the girl was tough, strong and fast for her age, easily outpacing the vast majority of her peers. This didn't change even when she hit puberty, filling out into a generous frame quite early.
It didn't take her long to discover the opposite sex... or the same sex... or sex in general. Despite being rather free with her affections, however, Carmen took careful precautions and managed to graduate in 687 with considerable aptitudes for logical deductive thinking, creative problem-solving skills- and remarkably high physical aptitudes.
Hardly before she was out of the door, the Militia came knocking. Carmen immediately enlisted at the age of eighteen, two days after graduation.
Her new position curtailed some of her roaming and hedonism by sheer necessity; however, she learned to separate work and play, and kept up the latter whenever the former allowed. Of her original core of childhood friends, many went into the Militia with her, including one young man named Gabriel Bairoux who was a common partner of hers in every way.
Most of her friends stayed in the general Militia, but Carmen and Gabriel both enlisted in the Pathfinders in 690, and were assigned together. Their occasional liaison became something much deeper, and the wild girl turned wild woman showed some sign of settling down.
Before they could start picking out china, however, beast attacks began to slowly increase. Carmen received a promotion quite quickly for demonstrating a cool head in danger; the things she would do were sometimes absolutely ridiculous, sometimes bordering on insane and/or illegal, but they succeeded in the field. She ended up Gabriel's boss as a Petty Officer, but the two shrugged it off and continued their relationship all the same.
When 693 hit, the violence took a heavy toll on the Lovers, who were supposed to be the primary defenders of the Wall. Several of Carmen's superiors died, and she ended up receiving a battle commendation to Corporal during the fighting. Her 30-man squad was fairly effective in its work if unorthodox, catching some notice up above. Gabriel became one of her Petty Officers and served quite competently, until disaster struck.
Near the end of 693, their squad was attacked and ambushed by a far superior enemy force. Carmen ordered a retreat with only a few men staying to guard it including herself; it was a likely suicidal plan, but it would have bought time for the vast majority to retreat. Gabriel disobeyed her, keeping his squad on the scene, and the small ragtag group held out long enough to be rescued by a larger force.
Carmen survived, but only barely. One of her legs had to be amputated, and her body was riddled with scars. It took months of physical therapy and recuperation before she could even walk again, and 693 (and with it, the battles) ended first. Gabriel was not so lucky; when the rescuers arrived, he was already dead.
Once recovered enough for a return to duty, Carmen took up her position as Corporal again without comment or complaint. She took up her lifestyle again as well with a vengeance, but with one difference; she refused to get involved with anyone under her command. In 695, seeing the battles had ended for some time, she asked for a transfer to the general Militia. This was granted, and by 700 she was a Sergeant.
Slowly her hedonistic behaviors began to trickle off, as her job became a more demanding source of paperwork. The active, hands-on commander found herself growing more and more distant from the day-to-day work of policing, but there was a comfort; she was quite good at the organization required for the higher ranks. In 704, she was raised to the rank of Master Sergeant.
There she remains today at the age of 40, living alone in a small house in the Arcology and commanding a company of 270 men. Her lifestyle has continued to moderate over the years, to the point where she tends to spend most of her time at work and very little out carousing in the old fashion. She typically stays behind her desk as well, rather than getting involved directly with raids; as a Master Sergeant, she is involved in a good deal of bureaucracy.
