Pages

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

TSW Character Profiles: LoneStarBelle

If you can gain all the possible abilities in TSW on a single character, why would you ever need more than one? For roleplaying, silly! (By the way, the Faction Missions each tell a different side of the story.) Here's the third of my character profiles for my TSW toons:

Samantha "LoneStarBelle" Hawthorn
As military brat growing up near Waco, TX, Samantha Hawthorn loved comic books, especially the X-Men; though when playing with her friends, she insisted on being Wolverine as opposed to Jean Grey or Storm. Her parents made sure she had a healthy respect for firearms, regularly dragging the whole family on hunting trips and to the firing range, where Sam received training in various rifles, shotguns, and handguns.

Sam's interest in history was kindled when her family was stationed in Germany for several of her teenage years. The story of the rise and fall of the Templar Order fascinated her. This interest led to a career in academia, where she did her Ph.D. dissertation on the subject. By her late twenties, Dr. Hawthorn had become an assistant professor of History at Texas A&M University, specializing in Medieval European History. She was on track to receive tenure just as she was visited by the Bees, then the Illuminati.

Now that she is aware of their modern incarnation, Sam is more than a little disappointed that she was not contacted by the Templars before the Illuminati reached her; something Kirsten Geary has noted with a more than a bit of Schadenfreude. KG ironically refers to Sam as her Lone Star Belle, given her proficiency with firearms and fist/claw weapons—and her business-like demeanor.

The unfortunate living and the fortunate unliving only briefly find themselves staring down the business end of Sam's trusty weapons. With an intense gaze and an inquisitive mind, Dr. Hawthorn tackles the mysteries of the Secret World with gusto, but looks to subvert her new employer's aims whenever possible.

Sam the LoneStarBelle is my fashionista. She has always worn more varied outfits than Dortmunder or Poppyshock. Especially in the week since I discovered the Valet addon, thanks to guildmates, now Sam has several outfits that I change on a whim. Also—partly because of this fashion trend—I have decided to complete all of the inner circle abilities before trying to finish a preset deck on Sam. This will get me not only the coats awarded for each weapon, but also all the "Starter Deck" outfits. In my NaNoWriMo effort from November 2012, the character based on Sam had a poster of Hugh Jackman as Wolverine in her office—and was on the cusp of a promotion at the University.

2 comments:

  1. Rowan, you are so darn prolific and creative it is easy to get drawn into your stories. I don't know the first thing about this TSW game but was enjoying reading Sam's backstory.
    (also... whoop! ;) )

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you very much. :D I have really gotten into the story of TSW again after a short time away concentrating on GW2. It's pretty grimdark through the first three areas, as you're dealing with a zombie apocalypse (among other things) on a New England island. The second region, Egypt, is at least more sunny, more "Indiana Jones" than "The Fog." The advancement system is quite different; I've covered it a bit in other posts with the tags "TSW" and "Protip." Cheers

      Delete