washitaway | application: tushanshu

Player Information:
Name: Froda
Age: Over 21
Contact:

frodabaggins
Game Cast: Arthur | Inception

aloadeddie
Commander Shepard | Mass Effect |

Character Information:
Name: Booker DeWitt
Canon: BioShock Infinite
Canon Point: Comstock House: After old!Elizabeth has brought Booker forward to 1984 to show him the destruction caused if he fails to save her - when she sends him back to 1912, instead of returning to Columbia, he will show up on the turtle.
Age: 38
Reference: Booker @ the BioShock wiki.

Setting:

In general, think "steampunky alternate history" with some time travel/alternate universe elements thrown into the mix. That's the short version of the BioShock Infinite universe(s). The game is ostensibly set in 1912 (most of it), so in general that's the level of technology available - electricity, definitely, cars, gramophones (or "voxophones" which allow voice recording), steam-powered stuff, typewriters, that sort of thing.

Most of the game's action takes place in the city of Columbia - a city suspended in air. Pretty amazing technology for the late-19th/early-20th century! Its existence is explained away by quantum mechanics, apparently having something to do with suspending atoms in midair without dropping them. Not, unfortunately for Booker, involving giant balloons at all. The city was a product of American exceptionalism in the Gilded Age, a project spearheaded by Comstock and funded by the American government to show off all of America's achievements. It's also, well. Kind of a superweapon, capable of imposing America's viewpoint by force, if Comstock wants to (and boy does he!). When Comstock had Columbia intervene in the Boxer Rebellion in 1901, the American government recalled the city, but Comstock was having none of it, and instead he "seceded" from the union, disappearing into the clouds. Oops.

Booker DeWitt arrives in the city in 1912, his objective? To find a girl, extract her from the city, and bring her to New York, in order to erase his debts to some very unsavory people.

This whole situation is further complicated by the existence of alternate universes and/or time travel. With certain kinds of technology, it is possible to open up what are called tears - to other times, places, or even worlds. The Luteces utilize technology to do this, but Elizabeth is shown in the game as somehow having this ability naturally - she can, with a simple thought, open up portals, step through them, bring other things and people through, and basically mess with timelines at will. Her power is hampered somewhat by the siphon, a big machine created by the Luteces to - well, siphon off some of her power! It seems to be an attempt to control her, much as keeping her locked in Monument Island was, with Songbird (a giant... mechanical... bird...) as her warden and only companion. Elizabeth is also (probably not coincidentally) the girl Booker has been tasked with finding.

Of course, hopping between timelines isn't without its consequences - headaches, dizziness, nosebleeds, blackouts, and memory loss - or perhaps more accurately memory rewrites are common side-effects of this interdimensional travel. The mind has a hard time coming to grips with the alterations in the space-time continuum, and often erases chunks of memory, or rebuilds new ones (based on fragments of the old) in an attempt to reconcile things.

Columbia is run by Zachary Comstock, a megalomaniacal religious zealot who styles himself a prophet and who seems to know a lot about Booker. He is determined to keep Elizabeth his prisoner, brainwash her and break her will so that he can use her power to essentially bring down the apocalypse on "the Sodom below" someday. Needless to say, he is constantly attempting to foil Booker and Elizabeth's escape attempt.

But there are some other factions at play in Columbia, particularly the Vox Populi, a group run by Daisy Fitzroy, a former maid to the Comstocks who was accused of murdering Lady Comstock and is now intent on overthrowing Zachary Comstock and possibly destroying all of Columbia in the process. You might think, being Comstock's sworn enemy, that Fitzroy might be a potential ally, but you'd be wrong! She's as much a zealot as the prophet himself, willing to sacrifice innocent lives for her cause, and happy to enlist Booker's "help" as long as it serves her interests. Of course, when Booker and Elizabeth cross into a timeline where Booker died for that cause, well. She turns against them quickly.

And then there are the Luteces - a mysterious pair of physicists who just keep showing up in the strangest places with advice and saying a lot of things that don't make much sense to Booker. But in a weird way, they do seem to be trying to help - probably because they're the ones who engineered this whole farce to begin with, and after over 100 attempts, they'd really like it if Booker finally succeeds in rescuing Elizabeth. They're also kind of dead? But only in some timelines. Don't ask.

Personality:

"What if you woke up one day and realized you didn't like what you chose?"

Booker is a man haunted and hounded by a past he cannot escape. Young, and headstrong, he joined the army seeking glory and a respectable place in life - in a desperate bid for acceptance (and to quell a rumor that he was part-"Indian") he committed atrocities at the Battle of Wounded Knee in 1890, and his life has pretty much all been downhill from there - gambling, alcoholism, violence, he's done it all, consumed with guilt over his actions, including both Wounded Knee and his time with the Pinkertons, where he acquired a ferocious reputation with his violence in busting up labor union activities. The one bright spot in his life was his unnamed wife, with whom he was happy for less than two years before she died in childbirth.

Needless to say, then, Booker is a man who is severely emotionally damaged, dealing with a metric boatload of guilt and self-loathing and maybe even a little bitterness at the hand life has dealt him.

"Do you think it’s possible to redeem the kind of things that we’ve done?"

"Redeem? I don’t see much use in that."

Guilt is probably Booker's biggest motivator, but significantly, he is not seeking redemption for himself - he sees himself as being beyond redemption. The evils he has committed, in his own mind, are beyond the pale. Nothing he can do will erase his crimes. At first, his only goal is simply to erase his debts, but over time that changes.

Elizabeth is the catalyst for this - she very quickly worms her way into Booker's heart in a way he hasn't experienced in a very, very long time. He becomes fiercely protective of the girl, and eventually rejects the idea of completing his original objective, which was simply to deliver her to a man in New York - instead, he wants to save her, rescue her from the prison in Columbia, maybe even give her a better life. He cares about Elizabeth, in a way he hasn't cared about anyone in a very long time - he loves her.

Booker DeWitt is not a hero - he would never claim to be one, in fact quite the opposite. Nonetheless, he's discovered something in his life which has made him want to be a better person. (One could argue that his goal eventually becomes "save the world", after future!Elizabeth pulls him into the 1984 timeline and he sees the destruction of New York, but really, he cares far less about the world, or the greater good, than he does about Elizabeth herself.) He's caused a lot of harm and destruction in his life - to the people around him, and to himself. He sees Elizabeth as someone he's capable of helping, and that is very important to him.

On the turtle, Booker will adapt relatively easily - he's learned to take outlandish new information in stride, for the most part. Really, after quantum mechanics and tears in the space-time continuum, being in a place between dreaming, death and reality will be a walk in the park. He will be rather understandably perturbed if Elizabeth is not there, and he'll attempt to get back to her, pull her in, or otherwise seek her out. If Elizabeth ever shows up on the turtle, Booker will likely lose any interest in going back to his world.

Appearance:

Booker is 6'1", brown hair (maybe going a bit gray at the temples), green eyes, perpetually unshaven, he's pretty much your standard broad-shouldered tough guy. He's got a rather notable brand or scar on the back of his right hand, the initials "AD" - which he carved there himself twenty years ago. here is his in-game model, sporting his signature look (and the outfit he'll be wearing when he arrives on the turtle). As he is almost never seen in-game, I will be using Timothy Olyphant as a PB - reference here

Abilities:

Mostly, Booker is a shoot-'em-up type - he's good with just about any kind of gun you can imagine, from a basic pistol all the way up to shotguns, sniper rifles, even RPGs. He's also perfectly capable with his fists, in a pinch.

He's also got an electro-magnetic shield, courtesy of the Luteces. It protects him from bullets.

Also, in addition to his prowess in a fight, since arriving in Columbia, Booker has consumed several tonics called "vigors" which grant him a number of rather specialized powers. These include:

Possession: He can temporarily hijack enemy turrets, mounted guns and other mechanized weapons to become allies.
Devil's Kiss: The standard "burn 'em up" power.
Shock Jockey: Electricity.
Murder of Crows: He can summon - well, a murder of crows, that flap around damaging and distracting enemies.
Bucking Bronco: Temporarily levitates enemies, making them helpless and easy targets.
Return to Sender: Allows him to put up a temporary shield that completely deflects bullets, and can send them back at the enemy who fired them.
Undertow: Knocks enemies back or lashes them in with a watery tendril.
Charge: Allows Booker to charge into an enemy, delivering a stunning knockback.

However, the use of these vigors will be rather limited in Keeliai, unless or until Booker can find a steady supply of salts, the stuff that powers them.

Finally, if he likes you enough, you might be able to get him to play the guitar.

Inventory:

Booker will arrive wearing the clothes on his back, his shoulder holster with a pistol and a shotgun. Also, concealed in various pockets will be ~500 silver eagles (Columbian currency), a phial of salts (the stuff that powers the vigors) and a bag of chips.

He'll also have a skyhook, a magnetized, mechanized spinning hook thing that he can wear over his hand. In Columbia, it allows him to travel the skyrails. It also doubles as a melee weapon that is very effective at ripping people's faces off. Reference.

Suite:

Earth seems most fitting for Booker - he's down-to-earth, not prone to flights of fancy, and, well. Kinda grouchy. A one-floor suite would be most to his taste - he's used to living in a tiny apartment.

In-Character Samples:
Third Person:

She calls him a liar, and a thug. It's nothing he hasn't heard before - hell, he's called himself far worse things, a thousand times. And it's all true. He's a liar, a murderer, and a thug. A big man that rich men hire to do their dirty work, because he's pulled the trigger so many times, his hands so crusted with blood, what difference does a little more make?

That's the job - get the girl, bring her to New York. A man will be waiting. Or at least, the voice he hears vaguely in his shadowy memories is male. Either way, tell her whatever she wants to hear, but get her to New York.

But somehow, as they fight and run and open tears and fight some more and his hands get bloodier and bloodier - he just keeps thinking of her words, remembering the look on her face. So hurt, so disappointed. So betrayed. And Booker is surprised by the hurt it causes him to think on it. He doesn't want to be the cause of her betrayal, not after all she's been through.

It's a moment to take his breath away when he realizes that he'd rather see the girl happy and safe, than his debts erased. He owes her a debt, certainly, but that's only part of why he changes the coordinates in the airship to Paris, instead of New York. He'll never repay most of his debts. But he can repay this one. He can do this one thing right.

Network:

[It takes him a while to figure out the console - a mechanical box of some sort, on the table in his little apartment? What newfangled technology is this now? Seems rather silly to Booker, being able to see people's faces through it. It's not any better than a telephone, and much less mobile.

It takes him a moment to realize the video feed is actually on and he can stop poking and banging at it - he frowns into the camera somewhat suspiciously, then.]

This seems like a nice enough place. I'm not looking for any trouble, but I need to find someone. A girl. Brown hair, blue eyes, a little on the small side. She answers to Elizabeth. It's important I find her.

If anyone can point me in the right direction, I'll be much obliged. If she's here.

[A brief look - of desperation, vulnerability, fear, even - crosses his face, and then he shakes it off.]

If you see her, tell her Booker's looking for her. [Then he flips off the feed abruptly.]