Build (Height, Weight, Physique, etc.): 180cm tall (5'11"), 76 Kilograms (167 .lbs), Nimble Body Color: Light Eye Color: Blue Hair Color: Blonde (Natural), Red (Gene Therapy). Gender: Female Any Uncommon or Specific Features?:
A pair of stud-earrings bearing tiny blue sapphires in right ear.
Wears hair out of regulation and barely short enough to properly wear issued equipment, braided ponytail.
What is your character’s personality?: Gwendolyn is quiet, hospitable. humble and carries an ascetic discipline and warm vibrant love for humanity and Earth's people. Despite Gwen's humility and shying away from what many would consider the spotlight, she's not apathetic and slow when confronted with decision-making or irresolution. Gwen's quite intelligent, enough that she can speak passable Sangheili though struggles to mimic their pattern of speech, this is the result after studying the language since encountering the Covenant and between her work with the Department of Colonial Security. Gwen's sense of humor is quite broad, growing up in an environment with little technology compared to what 26th Century Humanity knows, Gwen is accustomed to entertaining herself with painting, drawing, reading and writing, Gwen's humility is often confused with an absence of confidence which couldn't be further from the truth, though chopping firewood and manipulating throughout the years hasn't dulled her meek charm. Gwendolyn's youth was spent in a rugged landscape and imparted the woman forever with an appreciation for scenic beauty and adventure.
Gwendolyn's flaws lay in a short temper, despite an ironic aversion to physical violence and sometimes finds herself in situations that she believes she can manage alone despite the truth being to the contrary. Gwendolyn is particularly prone to being triggered through the witness of physical abuse in the domestic setting or in public between family members. Gwendolyn doesn't like excessive bureaucracy which in several situations she privately believes makes performing simple actions difficult, and finds enjoyment in her employment with the Department of Colonial Security and by extension the Navy. The Office of Naval Intelligence grants the Independent Icelandic girl the latitude she needs to perform at her best. Watching, waiting, learning. And striking only when ordered or necessary. One of Gwen's most astonishing features is her Eidetic memory and combined with her drawing and writing talent, is instrumental in providing ONI with eye-witness intel and adept at assuming different identities when deployed. Gwendolyn's a good observer, in social settings she only often speaks when spoken to or provoked into a response.
What is your character's history?:
Gwen was born on Earth in 2527 to a married couple in remote scandinavia, in the nation known as "Iceland." and as a result, was raised in a cold and rugged environment and in thanks partly to the isolated position of their family home from the closest "Modern" hub, just roughly over an hour drive if you could find your way onto the highway and travel at ninety kilometers an hour. Gwen is accustomed to living in conditions some of her peers from the city teased as "21st Century". Gwen attended private schooling in Iceland, as the first of two children. Her father worked as an accredited tradesperson, a successful and sought after metallurgist and armourer. He worked in the private sector and found rather lucrative work, Gwen's Welsh-Icelandic Mother on the other hand, Arna. Was a nurturing homebody more than anything, graduate degree educated, and spent considerable time with Gwendolyn in the girl's youth until her younger Brother; Hafthor is born two years after Gwendolyn.
Gwendolyn took a keen interest in ice-skating and made it a much beloved pastime on her part, the cold and snow found a special place in the girl's heart that would propel itself through her childhood up and into Adulthood, Gwen started formal schooling when she was roughly five years of age and came to resent the long travel times between home and this education institution which was located closer to the principal city of Gwendolyn's residence. So Gwen and her Mother would play 'I spy' along the way to take their minds off of the tedious drive. Gwen's vivid eidetic memory leads the young woman to take an interest in drawing some of the things she'd see, the peaks of tall imposing hills of Iceland's landscape.
Attending School, Gwendolyn is first exposed to the English language. The official language of the UEG and as part of the curriculum, has to maintain a progressively strong proficiency each year. Gwen struggles with this, though English and her Icelandic language are loosely related in the Germanic group. It couldn't feel or sound more Foreign to the child, given that Icelandic is an insular language and unlike so many others spoken by Humans, it had responded less to foreign linguistic influences. It was an intense struggle on the part of Gwen to grapple with English, one that would continue into adolescence for the girl, Apart from drawing, Gwen begins practicing a musical instrument, the violin. And quickly falls in love with the sound it could make when tuned and played properly. Perhaps the greatest aid in Gwen's attempts to learn the English language is her exposure to the scripts of Shakespearean plays. Which helped to motivate the girl to learn William Shakespeare's native language so as to better enjoy his texts.
Coming into Adolescent peers and into Secondary School, Gwen forms a comfortable group of close and supportive friends, among her elective subjects is biology and chemistry, two fields of science the young woman becomes keenly interested in, the threat of the Covenant seemed like a distant threat in 2542, aged fifteen. Not before long Gwen would need to decide whether or not she'd attend a University or not. It's rather ironic that despite receiving tease for her somewhat 'backwards' way of living among 26th Century Humanity, Gwen received one of the highest tertiary education admittance scores among her graduating class of students. Gwen begins to start publishing some of her drawings on a holonet site dedicated to the sharing of artwork, Gwen's porfolio consisting largely of old school pencil-made drawings which received praise from the holonet site's community and made her somewhat stand-out amongst others for her 'traditional' choice when composing the pieces. To draw things from memory and capture it in breath-taking detail to share with others.
Gwen at the age of 17 begins her first year of University-education in the big city, living in an apartment with one of her oldest and closest childhood friends, whom invariably Gwen's younger Brother had a teenage crush on and became a point with which Gwen used to tease him over dinner back home on the weekend where Gwen made every effort to spend time with her much beloved family, tender Mother, hard working tradesmen Father, and obnoxious little Brother. At this point Gwen spoke fluent English and made a habit of using it in social settings due to her relocation to the city where she steadily picked up a Nordic accent for her previously untainted English the more she became 'settled' into it with fluency and surrounded with other English-speaking Icelanders. Gwen's undergraduate degree is Biomedical Science, something she'd longed to study at the tertiary level since her first exposures to biology in High School, Evolutionary and Xenobiology were the two chief fields of interest to the young woman and hoped to pursue employment after graduating with the Unified Earth Government.
A UEG sponsored Laboratory in Sydney, Australia offers the young graduate a job as an assistant to a Professor who had come across a paper written by Gwen regarding the evolution of prehistoric Humans. Gwen is hesitant to accept the laboratory's job offer initially due to the sheer geographic distance from home. Regardless of how short the travel time might be, it was across the globe. After some careful consideration and talking things over with her Father in particular, Gwen resolves to accept the Job offer and move to Australia.....How much she'd come to regret that initially with the sheer disparity of climate between the two areas of Earth. The heat is something Gwen will never become accustomed to, though there was a silver lining to it all, the sheer wealth of beautiful beaches to be found, a whole new array of fashion was something Gwen was eager to dive into. Swimming in warm water that wouldn't induce hypothermia was a welcome change, not that heated pools didn't exist but there was a certain charm to swimming in the ocean and laying on a pristine beach wearing nothing but swimwear, sand was a novelty the effect of which never wore away for Gwen.
The Office of Naval Intelligence takes note of the Laboratory and their work, members of the team are conscripted to work for the Shadowy organization ostensibly to contribute towards the war effort and are shifted towards Xenobiology, among them, Gwen is included. This hijacking of her lab frustrated the young woman, especially given that she was only an assistant and being awarded a meager salary, and after being exposed to ONI and noting the longevity they received when performing their duties to the UEG, Gwen decides that she'd like to seek official employment with the UNSC Navy. It was one of the first very major decisions Gwen makes in her life without extensive parental consultation. Recruitment passes relatively easily for Gwendolyn, she's physically and psychologically healthy, a little more mature compared to some other local recruits her age, perhaps partially in credit to her upbringing.
It's 2549 when Gwen finds herself at OCS Luna, and takes to UNSC discipline, training rather quickly. Not unfamiliar with physically rigorous exercise and a demand for attention to detail, Gwen finds the grestest asset to be that is held in the minds of her peers, and over breakfast often discusses a wide-range of topics with some of her classmates at their insistence, several of them hailed from the Outer Colonies and talk of the Covenant intrigued her, having worked with Covenant specimens with ONI, she was eager to hear about social information regarding the aliens that was more accessible to the Colonies than it was on heavily monitored and censored Earth. The knowledge that Unggoy, the grunts had a tendency to learn more than one Human language Gwen found so strange she doubted it. She was more interested in the Sangheili, largely because they appeared to be central to the Covenant and when examining samples of their tissue and RNA, Gwen thought she discovered some signs of forced evolution or tampering to make the creatures more resilient to the ionizing effects of Radiation.
In 2550, Gwen graduates from OCS Luna to the applause of her younger Brother and greyed parents. Little is Gwen aware, she'd inspired her little Brother to more or less eventually follow in the same career path. The Office of Naval Intelligence Section III initially scoops up Gwen and puts her to work on a Science time researching into the Biology of Covenant Species for the purpose of engaging in future biological and chemical warfare that would target the Alien species exclusively and not Humans, to use an alien-lethal weapon indiscriminately within Human populations. Well, that wasn't the stated goal, but with the work they had the team performing on Alien immunology and biology, that's the sound conclusion Gwen arrives at and while the use of Biological weapons disturbed the moral fibres in body. Gwen could justify her work in the knowledge the Covenant were not Human and had murdered millions, perhaps even billions of Human beings. There is no mercy or courtesy to be extended to them in even her big heart when so many had suffered and died.
Just a year later, Gwen's research is beginning to yield results and is promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade for her efforts in this regard, still working in the familiar environment of Sydney, Australia. Their laboratory located within the Secure Bravo-Six facility deep underground where Gwen spent most of her time, and with the looming threat of the Covenant getting closer to Earth. They were running out of time to produce something that would be manufactured on a massive scale, but there just wasn't anything she could come up with that would affect every single Covenant Species and leave Humans unharmed, her research crew would often feel sympathy for their dedicated lead, seeing the sleepless Nights Gwen subjected herself to and the occasional frustrated shrill and thumb of table. At some times Gwen just wished she could give up and lay on the beaches of Australia all day.
The Year of 2552 arrives, and Gwen is left wondering as to the future of Humanity, and continues her work. And finally creates a biological weapon while not able to manufacture en masse, will manage to kill Sangheili exclusively, Gwen created this Biological weapon and names it "Targeted Evolution Virus" or the "TEV Virus", it works by targeting the radiation-resilient Mutation present in most Sangheili, the same she's suspected was an induced mutation into their genome after analysis. This breakthrough excites several in the Office of Naval Intelligence chain of command, and attracts Gwen a further promotion to a "Full Lieutenant." Gwen was left feeling conflicted by AEO, she'd created a weapon that could potentially cause greater death on a mass scale, she thought of the story of Vishnu, of Hindi mythology and how he revealed many arms to a Hindi prince to impress him and declared. "And now I have become Death, the destroyer of worlds." And Gwen sympathized with that statement, believing to know how it feels to become death and the responsibility that weighs on her soul.
In December, and Gwen emerged from Bravo-6 to look upon the wanton destruction that had been brought to Sydney, it validated all of her research. What had been done to sydney and for what? Because of religious fanaticism. It was simply unacceptable, even with the descent of "Peace" Gwen is certain that they'd never hear the end of the Covenant. In recognition for her service to the Office of Naval Intelligence and continued loyalty despite the obvious strain it placed on her morality, Gwen was flagged as a strong Candidate for the Spartan-IV program, come January 2553, Gwen is successfully recruited into the Spartan-IV Program by Jun-A226.
Prior to Gwen's augmentation procedure, she aided the Bioscience team in tweaking her procedure to allow for optimal recovery time, much to their pleasant surprise. Being accustomed to working with Jarheads who knew next to nothing about Double-Helix DNA structure and the genetic material contained therein. However, following augmentation and subsequent training. Gwen is separated from the rest of her Spartans and prepared for work elsewhere on directive from the Upper Command of ONI, She's placed back under ONI's attentive eyes officially and into the Department of Colonial Security, an arm of ONI controlled exclusively by Margaret Parangosky. Gwen works ostensibly as an Agent for DCS while taking her orders from CICONI, reporting to her directly. Gwen goes from Independent Colony to Colony, performing Human intelligence gathering operations with the occasional black op. Often using previously hidden bunkers on these planets to store her 'Actual' equipment, including her Icy Blue suit of SPI Mk. II armor while living a double-life and striking out at dangerous insurrectionist figures and organizations. Given the dealings that insurrectionists in post-war environment have with Covenant organizations, Gwen has been making an effort to learn Sangheili and maintains currently a limited ability to speak their language in social interactions.
What is your character's affiliation?: Department of Colonial Security (Ostensibly), Office of Naval Intelligence (Covertly).
What do you see as your character's future?: Gwen will probably be performing Human intelligence operations on Human Colonies, ostensibly as a run-off-the-mill Department of Colonial Security Agent. Gwen maintains strong connections to more clandestine outfits within ONI, particularly Section III as an extension of her being a Spartan beneath ONI Jurisdiction. While being an Infiltrator, she's also a Spartan and might be required to participate in discreet black ops. Gwen might eventually shift roles and move around within ONI as time comes and goes where the organization demands.
Explain the background and role of your applied race/class?: The Spartan-IV Supersoldier is an augmented Human, in comparison to earlier generation supersoldiers such as the Spartan-IIs and Spartan-IIIs they are augmented to a reduced extent as a result of their fully physically matured nature as adult volunteers. You could Compare the S-IIs and IIIs to gods, and Spartan-IVs as "Demigods" as it has been put by Gunnery Sergeant Buck. As a result of their no longer physically growing bodies and the lack of strict genetic requirements each Spartan-IVs augmentation process needs to be tailored to them individually, due to Gwen's background in Bioscience, she had a hand in these preparations. Virtually all organs in Gwen's body have been modified or replaced, Her neural implant has been significantly upgraded to interface with an AI and allow medical personnel to monitor her health remotely. Gwen's blood has been altered and will clot faster and is immune to most toxins. Gwen's heart has been implanted with a Synthetic weave to significantly enhance its abilities to pump blood. Corneal implants have been inserted to improve eyesight and natural night vision. The nervous system has been super-myelinated , pancreas replaced, intestinal bacteria is modified to absorb more nutrients out of food. Gwen's lungs are now lined with a polymer that increases oxygen intake and permits her to breathe airborne toxins and foreign gas mixtures. Finally, Gwen's musculature has been chemically augmented that increases density and increases the amount of strain that can be placed on them, to withstand the strain placed on Skeleton, Gwen's skeleton has been chemically infused with a substance which gives them toughness comparable to steel, for all practical intents they're unbreakable. All joints are reinforced or replaced and bones lengthened, increasing the subject's height by several centimetres. Gwen's Pre-augmentation height was 5'3" (162cm). Spartan-IVs GEN2 MJOLNIR is supposed to make up for their decreased physiological capabilities when compared to their earlier II and III generation counterparts.
What would you consider to be your character’s shortcomings?:
Kind-hearted humanist - In Gwen's line of work, this can be seen as a shortcoming. She's not without wonton concern for the consequences of her actions and even the development of the TEV pathogen, despite the fact it's expensive to mass produce, weighs heavily on Gwen's conscience. Gwen's principled in this way, even if the Covenant have been suffering with much suffering, she's not comfortable using Nuclear Weapons and using Biological Warfare to indiscriminately kill combatants and noncombatants, regardless of their species, Human or otherwise is objectionable.
Basic Weapon Proficiency - While a Spartan and precise, trained with most UNSC small arms, Gwen isn't exactly a top marksman or god of unarmed fighting amongst her Spartan peers, infact. Quite the opposite, she's an average warrior at best and passable as worst. Gwen's finest weapon and useful tool is the sheer encyclopaedic breadth of her intellect and the versatility that accompanies it, as opposed to the skill to use any weapon you throw at her feet with unrivalled proficiency. That said, she's acutely aware of Human biology and its weaknesses and sensitivities and that enough coupled with her augmentations do give her unarmed fighting skills some credit.
Cynophobia - Gwen has an extreme fear of dogs that stems from the childhood experience of being bit on the hand, and is liable to make an attempt at fleeing from them if attacked by a canine in close quarters. That makes Gwen's Cynophobia worse is that it's the one common feature all of her alias personas share and struggles desperately to conceal it, only the smallest toy breeds who are largely harmless can be deemed an acceptable risk in the back of Gwen's mind. Gwen's fear of dogs also extends to cats slightly.
What would you consider to be your character’s strengths?:
Brainiac - Without a doubt, Gwen possesses a keen, sharp intellect. Her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science makes her rather indispensable for any party or team that has her. A learned scholar in the fields of human biology, musculoskeletal anatomy, neuroscience, disease and healthcare.
Charming Infiltrator - Gwen's eidetic memory makes her a perfect candidate for Human intelligence work, she can recall information with staggering levels of detail. She's quite adept at charming people with her usual humble and meek decorum, given the encyclopaedic breadth of knowledge Gwen holds onto, it's easy for the woman to assume new identities and cover occupations while deployed on operation.
How many "NPCs" would your character lead and how?: None, usually. However there might be situations in the future where Gwen is required to take charge of a large body of UNSC personnel.