Joseph Craw, Heir to a Legacy

[Joseph Craw]

Player Information

Nickname (or name): Kularian
Age: 21

Character Information

Name: Professor Joseph Craw
Species: Terran
Sex: Male
Age: 29

Physical Description: Joseph is almost the perfect quintessential scientist. His dark blond hair hangs limply around his face, devoid of any sort of attempt to make it look more than what it is supposed to be. The bangs, ragged as they are, generally come to just below his eye level, which tends to annoy him, as they consistently get in his vision. The raggedness often comes from when he gets too fed up with them and takes a pair of scissors to them himself.

The eyes that are covered up are a cold, steely grey, much like his great great grandfather. with a pair of thin-rimmed glasses that sit atop his nose. The eye surgery doesn't interest him, as despite the fact that it is perfect, he has an extremely powerful phobia of anything near his eyes, such that it triggers even while he's unconscious, which leaves glasses his only method of gaining the full sight that others take for granted.

His nose and thin-lipped mouth complete the hawk-like face, though his genes didn't carry through from his ancestor, and his appearance is actually rather homely. His mother had wanted a natural birth, with no gene modifications, so his features are quite subpar for the everyday world. But even with that aside, the confidence and work ethic that is very present in him draws others to him, as it almost manifests itself as a physical aura, so powerful is it.

His frame is very thin, gaunt even. He eats only when necessary, and is not above simply putting an IV into his body when he knows he's on the verge of a breakthrough, so he won't have to break for food and ruin the thought process. The bones are clearly defined in his hands, chest and face, and the lack of sunlight in his life has given him a nigh unnatural pallor to his skin.

The most common expression found on his face is one of annoyance, as he finds the simplicity that others have to be mostly irritating. This shows on his face, as there are frown lines that are already beginning to surface, even at his young age. From the late nights, deep circles are present under his eyes, and are even beginning to creep up to the tops, giving his eyes a very sunken-in impression.

His clothing, when not in the lab, consists of fairly generic outfits, with a general lack of style. He takes no pride in what he looks like, as he believes the outside of a person is simply a vessel, a container, for the strength of mind and will within. Many shun him for such a train of thought, or perhaps his disturbing appearance, but his care for their words is fairly evident upon his anger-furrowed brow.

Personality: The first thing that people notice about Joseph is the way he carries himself, the air of confidence that surrounds both his very movement and hangs from every word. The arrogance is nauseating to those who have just met him, and it takes some time for it to become something normal. But by then you've either decided that you, in most circumstances, hate the man, or there are the rare few who understand that's how he is and accept it, though that number is very few indeed.

Beyond that, one finds Joseph to be a bitter, fairly sarcastic man. Having lived all of his life in his ancestor's shadow hasn't done good things for his psyche, and he will often give more to a project than he should, which often ends up with him getting ill, which only adds to the fairly angry atmosphere that surrounds him. Still, he strives to do his best on any task that is given to him, despite the physical detriments it has upon his body.

He's been told that he takes life too seriously, and though he tries to deny the fact, he knows that it's true. It is rare to see him smile, and even more so to see him do so out of happiness or joy. A coworker remarked that him getting a female might make him be a tad less bitter, but another countered with the fact that even whores are loathe to go to his home, and he often has to pay double to even get them to show up, due to his dark attitude.

Background: It's difficult to live in the shadow of your ancestor, having everyone compare you to him as you age, as you make it through life. No one knows this more keenly than Joseph, having been the direct descendant of the infamous Dr. Jacob Craw. At nearly every stage of his life, from even his early childhood to even now as he works tirelessly, scarcely a day goes by without there being some reference made in comparison to the inventor of the Psionic Emission Therapy.

From the youngest years of his life, Joseph has always had to hear about how great Jacob was, and even when he was barely old enough to attend school, the young boy knew that he wanted to surpass the legendary scientist. He wanted to be the one that everyone was compared to, to become the new bar to exceed. This decision was made very early on in Joseph's life, but it was one that would shape it for the next twenty-three years of his life, and not once did he back down from it.

At the early stages of school, it was already apparent that there was something different about Joseph. Concepts and equations that took other students a day, or more, to master, he would do within minutes, often handing in assignments before the teacher was done speaking. He had an affinity for anything involving numbers or the sciences, though his creative skills were also something to be admired, and he excelled at all areas.

Graduating three years early from school, the brilliant young mind attended a college for sciences, though his specialization didn't lay in neurology, like Jacob's. He often received an earful about this from all manner of persons who had somehow met either the scientist, or had met someone else who had met him. “Don't you want to live up to the family name?” “What about your grandfather's research?” “Giving up already?”

But none of those were the reasons. It was simply because Joseph had another passion, one that he much preferred to neurology, despite the fact that he understood the workings of the brain quite well from his studies. And that other love was mechanical engineering, with a specialty in spaceship design and robotics. In fact, he'd been a part of a research team, working to develop a working robotic shell that could be used in spacial conflicts, but just as they were nearing a breakthrough, the project was shut down, which has caused a great deal of Joseph's turmoil.

Currently he works with another group that is doing research for A.I. controlled robots that can do work with only needing minimal supervision. The idea is for the robotic creatures to have many interchangable parts, which would allow them to be able to react to different situations, depending on the equipment they had at their disposal. Having seen the Asfaren in action, the Terrans had decided they could do it better, and put Joseph at the head of the team.

However, the man still has the designs for the Mechanized Assault Devices at his home, and works on perfecting them. But the crushing of his dream has led to the current Joseph, who is a dark, bitter man with a minor dependence on alcohol, one of the few things about the Terran culture that hasn't changed in a long, long time. But despite the years that have passed, and the new breakthroughs...the plans have not been completed. Could the development of these be right around the corner? Will this put him ahead of his ancestor? Only time will tell.

[Shoresome]

Approved.