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Your genetics load the gun. Your lifestyle pulls the trigger. |
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— Himself |
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Dexios was created as a prototype designer baby with enhanced abilities on the research colony of Nea Argos before authorities shut down the program due to ethical concerns. Unaware of his parentage, he simply goes by his given name, doing his best to obscure his contentious heritage (and tumultuous youth) by ultimately becoming an intelligence officer for GEAS, and later, a science officer. But does anyone ever really escape a life of espionage? Or a haunting past?
Personality
In an official capacity, Dexios can seem cold and married to protocol; he does his best to play by the rules, is cool under fire, and does not rock the boat. Some might wonder how such a person could attain his rank, given the risks and ambition required of such a thing; the irony of that sentiment is profound. Dexios intentionally buries a furious ambition and strength of power underneath a heavy layer of ethics, duty, and genuine scientific curiosity. Perfection and potential are meaningless words to a man of his history; he is forced to work towards a greater purpose--the mission of exploration, maintaining a sense of wonder, and fostering a kind heart. In this way, he is a warm, playful, and caring individual, dedicated to knowledge and service. Knowing this man over the rigid officer always boils down to a matter of trust.
Background
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When Dexios first opened his eyes, he was in a maturation tank. That's the problem with having perfect recall--every memory is always available, even the early ones. Project "Dexios" had everything to do with the meaning of that name: Create a new human from the very molecules up who could recieve all of the troubles of mankind and transcend them, teach the future, endure its pain, and be the right hand of a new dawn for all of humanity. Dexios was a proof-of-concept designer baby with genetics tooled to perfection and near unlimited potential, and that's precisely why the project was shut down. Humans have a habit of allowing their ambition to be limited only by their talents, and when talents become unlimited, so too do the temptations of power. When the Science Directorate of Nea Argos discovered that the subject had been bred with the ambition necessary to change the future, terrified, they quickly stripped it of funding and saw to its demise.
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Unsure of what to do with the subject himself, the Science Directorate of Nea Argos kept Dexios under observation for much of his early childhood, all the while destroying the project's research and any remaining embryos. Heated discussion went on for years as to Dexios' ultimate fate. Ethics demanded that euthanasia was out of the question, but ethics had already been superceded by the very existence of the project. Already coming into his intelligence and physical prowess, Dexios quickly began to understand how dire his situation had become, and so chose to escape rather than be killed or locked away. To the scientists, their worse fear had been realized, and they contacted as many authorities as they could, including GEAS. Even young, Dexios had the intelligence to be devious.
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On the run, Dexios quickly had to learn to adapt, assuming names and personalities to fit the various environments of first Nea Argos, and later offworld, once he was able to find transporation. He become something of a shapeshifter, taking on increasingly more dangerous and risky jobs as he aged, acting as mercenary, criminal, tech, even sex worker--whatever was required of him to avoid capture and what he believed would eventually be his death. But this life on the edge was no real life; he felt the constant call and desire to do more, even though he didn't quite know what that meant. This search for purpose eventually lead him back to Nea Argos in search of answers. Was he created to lead? To be that thing the scientists feared?
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There, he sliced, hacked, bribed, and searched until he found what little information remained on Project Dexios, and its original, optimistic intent: To uplift and empower an entire species. The idea that he had been created for good, generous, and compassionate reasons had never occured to him through the barrage of years of on the run--all of that hard living and tough choices. The simple revelation that he had been inteded as a paragon changed everything. Something in him craved the power he was growing into, but still more of him wanted him to be what his "parents"--for lack of a better word--had intended. Now in his late teens, Dexios left Nea Argos a second time and turned himself into GEAS.
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His self-surrender came with stipulations, however. GEAS knew what he was, and required him to submit to the installation of a cybernetic limiter if Dexios didn't want to be extradited somewhere to be inacerated under maximim penalty. They discussed, negotiated, and eventually, Dexios agreed to their terms in exchange for shelter and access to the GEAS academy. The limiter itself was designed by some of GEAS' top scientists with Dexios' aid; he wanted something that couldn't be so easily undone by himself so everyone could be assured that he would no longer pose a flight risk. Even at such a young age, his intelligence continued to impress. Everyone was ultimately satisfied the limiter would work, and could be compartmentally shut down as needed to allow Dexios specific abilities as GEAS required.
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The next several years were spent in the academy, focusing on science and engineering. They were not easy years; GEAS did their best to hide Dexios' past, but his own earlier actions while he was on the run lead to rumors. While no one could say for sure that Dexios himself was the genetic runaway, that didn't really matter; he was ostracized anyways. Still, he graduated with the highest honors, but instead of being assigned to a science ship, was immediately taken in by GEAS intelligence who, perhaps rightly so, wanted the specter of Dexios' history to diminish more before giving him a commission, and more self-servingly, wanted him for their own uses. And he was put to task, retreading many of the same criminal paths he had taken in his use (though this time to the benfit of GEAS and whatever government they were partnering with). And he was good. Really good. He infiltrated several criminal organizations, cults of extreme philosophies, and political splinter groups, and likely would have done even more, if not for that one particular event that everyone remembers.
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Planet X. Dexios had been assigned to infiltrate Empire Galactic to look into rumors of dire tidings and ill portents, and what he discovered was an absolute trauma. For a man who can remember everything, that is the one piece of his memory he can not access. Something happened on Planet X, and all Dexios can remember are the horrors that followed. He could neither report back quickly enough nor stop what was to occur, and that powerlessness was a reminder of his willing limitations. If he could not be trusted to use his full abilities to help prevent something that terrible, or at least mitigate the aftershocks, what was really the point? He was not so disheartened that he wanted to leave GEAS completely, but after that, it was absoltuely time to move on to something else. GEAS intelligence was not pleased.
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That was over a decade ago. Once the ripples of that event had settled, Dexios called in enough favors to transfer to what had been his original intent all along--the Science Directorate, and eventually after quite a bit of convincing, recieved his starship officer commission, and worked his way up to Commander. He never did entirely leave the intelligence community, however, taking the occasional assignment for the good of the Alliance, but for all intents and purposes, he had moved on. Now he has a new assignment, and looking very young for a Commander thanks to his slow aging, an entirely new set of difficulties to navigate.
SKILLS
ATHLETICS - Novice: Due to his physiology, Dex simply doesn't have to put in the same kind of effort others do into remaining fit. Basic training is enough to keep his body in its peak physical condition. On the down side, because of this, he's not quite the gymnastic acrobat he could be; perhaps in time.
COMBAT - Competent: For the breadth of his intelligence career, Dex focused on close-quarters brawling and short-distance 'Cowboy' gun-fighting; he is very good at both of these, but less good at advanced fighting styles, battlefield tactics, or acting cohesively in a military unit; combat for him has always been a last resort.
COMMAND - Competent: As a commander, Dex has all of the skills necessary to oversee starship command, including standing in for the Captain, if necessary. Given he has no desire to rock the boat with his genetic heritage, however, he has intentionally limited his ability in this regard so as not to seem over-ambitious.
COMMUNICATIONS - Competent: With his natural charisma, eidetic memory, and quick ability to pick up languages, Dex is a natural communicator; this served him well as an intelligence officer, and continues to do so on a starship. What he lacks is official experience in the role and familiarity with its protocols and tech.
ESPIONAGE - Expert: A master of faces, Dex has a talent for assuming roles (thanks to his own history of trying to find a place in society), stealth, reconnaisance, infiltration, and even seduction--thanks to years of practice. While he doesn't do this anymore, those skills are still sharp.
PILOTING - Competent: Dex is an accomplished pilot both at manual handling and astrogation, but does not yet have the experience or piloting hours to be considered an 'ace'.
SCIENCE - Expert: A scientific prodigy, if anyone else were doing the Science Dex was doing, they'd be an accomplished head of the GEAS science directorate, or an award-winning lecturer somewhere. Instead, he finds solace in exploring the universe in ways those kinds of scientists can not, peeling back its mysteries one layer at a time.
TECHNOLOGY - Expert: A talented technician and mechanical engineer, Dex has a way of making technology 'sing,' and he can understand and hack essentially any piece of software or equipment given enough time. That said, while he certainly has the skills to be a Chief Engineer, what he lacks is that drive for perfection and efficiency necessary for the role; it's hard to be concerned with those sorts of things when one is being intentionally 'dumbed-down' by cybernetic hardware.
POWERS
DESIGNER GENETICS - Supreme: Designed as part of a program to create a human that can transcend human boundaries and limitations, all of Dex's abilities at their highest/unlimited level can push the upper boundaries of the Enhanced range, even reaching into the lower Supreme range, but have largely been reduced down to Enhanced level as part of Dex's agreements with GEAS. That said, Dex's ability to resist disease, toxins, and poisons remains unhindered, as is his biological efficiency (requiring less food/water), and his ability to resist extreme environments (such as the vacuum of space) for significantly longer than normal humans.
ENHANCED PHYSIOLOGY - Enhanced: All of Dex's physiological abilities have been 'perfected' as much as his cybernetic limiter allows. While limited, he still has well above the strength, dexterity, and toughness of a normal human--easily on the level with those who are cybernetically enhanced. Additionally, his capacity to heal is still impressive, to the point of regenerating lost limbs; the limiter largely just slows this process so his regenerative abilities take a meaningful period of convalesence, but they are no less powerful.
ENHANCED SENSES - Enhanced: The limitations on his senses are something of a mixed blessing, as Dex can't say he misses being blinded or deafened all the time by wandering into bright or noisy areas. While he eventually did learn to deal with those problems, his limiter mitigated the need--he still has well beyond the sensory capacity of normal humans, and can essentially see in the dark, but his ability to see into other spectra, phases, and so on is obscured while his cybernetics are active.
HYPERINTELLIGENT - Enhanced: Dex is crazy smart. His ability to suss out patterns, hack technology, and compute complex equations remain unhindered by his limiter, and he can pick up most tasks with ease and talent. He's not entirely certain what unlimited intelligence would feel like, as he hasn't yet hit the limiter's wall of what is allowed, though he has been assured his capacity for learning is... well, supreme.
PSIONICS - Enhanced: Before he was limited, Dex was on his way to becoming an extremely powerful telepath. This was perhaps the hardest thing for him to allow to be limited, and he negotiated hard for GEAS to not shut off his senses entirely. He is allowed full access to his empathic abilities and, after proving his trustworthiness, was granted back his telepathy. His psychokinetic abilities continue to be walled off, and only under close monitoring or very specific missions has he been allowed to explore them more.
ADVANTAGES
ALTERNATE IDENTITIES Thanks to his intelligence work, Dex has existed under several false identities over the years, many of which continue to be theoretically maintained by GEAS intelligence in the event Dex needs to assume them again.
COMMANDER Dexios holds the rank of Commander in GEAS, with all the benefits and responsibilities that entails. Gossip about his heritage aside, he worked hard to earn that rank (perhaps more than most, given the amount of trust required of the role).
CONNECTIONS Dex worked with GEAS intelligence for over a decade; as such, he has an abundance of contacts both in the intelligence corps and under his various assumed identities. Many of these people also owe him favors.
EIDETIC MEMORY Simply put, everything Dex sees he automatically commits to memory.
ETHICS A strong sense of morality and ethics is what keeps Dex far away from the fears of him becoming some kind of warlord. He is compassionate and kind, and will adamantly refuse to cross certain lines. For example, he has many times flatly refused to become an assassin for anyone, and avoids killing whenever possible, despite his potential to be very, very good at it.
POLYGLOT So far, there's no language Dex has not been able to decode, be it linguistic or technological. He's as adept at breaking codes as he is at deciphering a language.
UNLIMITED POTENTIAL By most medical, psychological, and intellectual evaluations, Dex has an unknown capacity to grow and advance, stymied only by personal choice, his sense of ethics, and GEAS' cybernetic limiter.
WEAKNESSES
ALONE With no known family, support group, or safety net outside of GEAS, Dex is fundamentally alone in the universe. The scientists who created him were either stripped of their standing and imprisoned or drafted into top-secret or criminal enterprise; he has no idea where they are and who is still alive, which also leaves a giant hole in any understanding of his own creation.
AMBITION The fear that Dex would become some kind of galactic warlord has never been realized, but ambition was written into the man's genetic code, and has since been balanced only by adversity, a strong sense of moral ethics, and the watchful eye of GEAS. There is always the potential that the man could snap, de-limit himself, and try to install himself as King of the Universe, though for now, he insists he's much more interested in unravelling the mysteries of the universe over ruling it.
ESPIONAGE Dex spent much of his career as an intelligence officer for GEAS. Part of this was so the Alliance could make the most use of his abilities, and it also allowed Dex to assume different identities and live out at least partial lives as someone other than himself. It also relaxed his social and cybernetic limitations, as his limiter was often partially deactivated for particular missions. After a particularly traumatizing event, however, Dex quit the intelligence corps, but espionage has a way of following you forever, be it an assumed identity coming back to haunt him or GEAS pulling him out of retirement.
EUGENICS While genetic modification itself isn't necessarily frowned upon, Dex was genetically created from the ground-up as a proof-of-concept 'perfect human.' This comes with an assortment of problems. As a one-and-done prototype, there's a great deal of people who would love to either pressgang him into working for them (criminal elements, mostly), sell him, or simply dissect him to see how he ticks. GEAS affords him some protection from outright pursuit, but given the right opportunity, there will always be those willing to capture him for one reason or another.
LIMITER Dex has never experienced the full extent of his genetic potential because one of the stipulations of his joining GEAS was to be outfitted with a cybernetic limiter to guarantee his abilities would never match any power-hungry ambition. While he has never displayed any desire to take over the universe, nonetheless GEAS maintains the limiter, with the command codes for the 'off'-switch held under tightest security by the Admirality. The limiter itself is an extremely well-shielded piece of cybernetic equipment (to avoid a simple EMP discharge from disabling it, though extreme might charges might still disable it temporarily) attached to Dex's brain stem, which regulates supresing nanites throughout his body. It is a very complicated, well-secured piece of technology that--while it can not be used to control him directly--could theoretically be used by bad actors to cause a lot of problems (but is not so easily hacked; Dex himself made sure of that).
PARIAH All of his life, Dex has been persecuted because of his genetic engineering. Once people learn of his history, they very often deny him work, a place to live, or otherwise ostracize him because of the presumption of ambition, a hunger for power, or simple prejudice because he was 'given everything' and 'cheated.' For example, while GEAS takes advantage of his hyper-intelligence and scientific innovation privately, public Science Journals-at-large (etc.) generally disdain him, and he's often ignored at scientific conventions.
PROTOCOL More than most, Dex is bound by protocol. Infractions on his part are heavily scrutinized by boards of inquiry, as any misstep could suggest that he's set himself down a path of ambitious self-interest. When acting on behalf of GEAS intelligence, he is given greater discretionary powers, but as an officer on a starship, this is less of the case.
