Post by basil on Apr 8, 2010 15:03:52 GMT -7
THE HANDLER
NAME: Basil Francis Glidewell.
NICKNAME: None.
CLASSIFICATION: Human.
GENDER: Male.
AGE & BIRTHDAY: 40, born January 30 1970.
APPEARANCE: Basil often appears to be "tall and skinny" to those who meet him as he is thin in a rake and about 1 m 87 in height. He also has somewhat fine facial features and long, tapering fingers who all reinforce his skinny appearance. He has green eyes, who seem to sparkle with energy and almost malicious good humour and his face is almost always cleanly shaved save for a neatly trimmed moustache which gives him a somewhat gentlemanly air.
His hair, dark brown in colour with streaks of grey, is always cut short and is never untidy except when he's out on one of his so-called "field trips", and his skin always has a light tan because of said trips and because of his sunny place of residence.
He has no tattoos or piercings, which he considers frivolous. He always has a phlegmatic, detached air about him and has a polished British accent.
ATTIRE: When working at the Institut de Recherche Archéologiques de France he usually wears a grey suit and tie with elegant leather shoes, supplemented by a dark grey trenchcoat in winter. He also wears a trilby sometimes, but more often than not forgets it on his hat stand as he leaves for work. When not at work, he wears simple grey trousers and a cotton long-sleeved or short-sleeved shirt, white or black.
But his appearance changes entirely when he's on a "field trip". As his destinations are usually tropical, he tends to wear camouflage green trousers and a shirt with a bush hat and combat boots. He also has his trusty leather backpack that he has always refused to exchange for a more modern design.
PLAY BY: John Cleese.
THE CREATION
NAME: None.
POWER LIST: None.
DETAILED POWER: Nothing.
THE POTENTIAL
ALIGNMENT/OCCUPATION: Unaffiliated.
WEAPONS: S&W Model 29 or Sig Sauer P228.
PERSONALITY: Phlegmatic and calm, Basil never seems to be taken aback by any task at hand, as long as it involves research or exploration. When it comes to bills or dealing with the head of the IRAF about debts or the high risks he put his team mates in during his last expedition he tends to wave the problem away or sleep on it.
Although he appears to be calm and in control most of the time, he can get very angry when pushed too far, and can do some strange, almost insane things who luckily do not involve violence. He can also be quite sarcastic and a bit of a bully towards the people who work for him. He is quick of mind and a keen observer, and can be as dodgy and crafty as a pack rat. Although he does not want to admit it, he is afraid of heights and will always try to avoid going to high up places...even though that is nigh impossible since he will always end up having to climb a cliff or something else, in which case he will just clench his jaw and rely on his grit.
SKILLS: Basil can speak English and French fluently, good Spanish and some Russian as well as some dead languages such as Latin, Ancient Greek and Sanskhrit. Basil made several scuba diving trips in the Caribbean, Atlantic and Mediterranean and has good knowledge and skill with scuba. He Also has many survival skills he has was able to hone during his trips to South America, Asia and Africa and good knowledge of ancient history and mythology, especially that of lost civilizations. He is also a pretty good cook despite him often saying the contrary.
STRENGTHS: Basil, despite being of skinny appearance, possesses unexpected physical strength aquired from his many arduous trips through difficult terrain. He is also very fast and has great endurance and stoicism, making him capable of wading his way through swampy, mosquito infested areas with a fever to boot without giving up or even complaining. He is also very clever and a fast thinker, which can get him out of many sticky situations.
WEAKNESSES: Basil is only human, and won't last long in close quarters against most foes, relying instead on ruse and firearms to vanquish enemies. He is also far too curious for his own good, which will almost always put him in dangerous situations. In every day life he is addicted to energy drinks, which help him get through the day without collapsing from boredom and fatigue. When deprived of his energising beverages, he is quick to anger, distracted and tired.
Basil is also a bit of a boozer, and is quick to hit the bar wherever he goes for a "quick drink" which will more often than not make him drink himself into a tipsy state. His drinking habit can blur his judgment (thinking with a hangover is not easy) and make him take brash decisions.
THE STORY
HISTORY: Born in France in 1970 in Dordogne to two British parents, Basil spent his first year in that region before his parents moved again to Provence, in a small village called Beaumont de Pertuis. At the time, Beaumont de Pertuis did not have a school, and Basil had to go to a neighbouring town for his education. At an early age he was fascinated by history, and throughout his school years it was his strongest subject.
When he was 16 and in his first year of Lycée, at Aix-en-Provence, an elegant town close to the Mediterranean Sea, he became interested in Atlantis after reading an extract of Plato's Dialogues, the first official written account of the mythical lost city. Intrigued, he delved deeper and deeper into the subject, and became acquainted with stories such as Hyperborea, Mu, Lemuria, Paititi and other lost continents and cities. The subject quickly became an obsession, as he was sure such places could exist somewhere on Earth.
He got his Baccalauréat and went on to study Archeology at the Université de Provence in Aix. He excelled at the subject, but was often berated for his interest in "pseudoscientific and pseudoarcheological ideas and theories". After several years of study, he got his diploma and went on to work for the Institut de Recherches Archéologiques de France, where his extensive knowledge and intellect got him a comfortable position as one of the main researchers there.
The IRAF finally granted him the financial backing he needed for an expedition in the Amazon. The trip's initial objective was to research a small, abandoned Incan village in Eastern Peru, but Basil had other plans in mind. When the plane landed in Cuzco, he and his team initially headed for the village, but halfway there, Basil abruptly decided to head for another, unexplored area in search of some apparent ancient ruins he had seen on a 1988 satellite map of the area. The expedition ended in disaster as everyone got a virulent type of local fever and Basil dislocated his knee.
Upon returning to France, he was accused of wasting IRAF money and endangering the lives of the whole team, but these accusations abated when Basil showed them the notes he had taken and artefacts he had discovered on site.
These artefacts caused considerable discord in the IRAF due to their strange nature. Basil claimed they were traces of an ancient, advanced civilization that pre-dated the Incans, but his claims were stamped out and the objects locked away in a vault never to see the light of day again.
Despite this defeat, Basil was still determined to prove the existence of such places as Atlantis and Mu, and made demands for more funding for other trips around the world, which he unexpectedly obtained. He went to South-East Asia, Central Africa and South America in search of the lost civilizations he defended so ardently, and found many strange things. Of course, these trips were all made with team mates hand picked by Basil and who were willing to go to unexplored or dangerous areas in search of some lost city or other. He also pretended he only visited the areas he was supposed to visit, and kept any artefacts he discovered to himself.
In 1999, during an expedition in the Amazonian rainforest, his crew got caught in a violent storm and they got lost. As they tried to get their bearings, Basil and a local guide wandered off into the jungle to explore the area they were in. As they made their way through the thick undergrowth, they came upon a huge statue and a wall, almost entirely hidden by plants. Basil knew he and his crew had to get back as their provisions were running out and they were supposed to get back to Manau (Brazil) in about three days, so he took several pictures of the mysterious wall and statue before rejoining the group and leaving for Manau.
The pictures caused an uproar: no civlization had ever been recorded in that part of the Amazon! For once, Basil was actually hailed as a great explorer and discoverer, and was granted more funds for more expeditions into that specific area. Basil was convinced he had found Paititi, the supposed last refuge of the Incans after the Spanish conquered their empire.
Several years later, Basil was once again ready to leave France for the jungles of the Amazon and go in search of what he believed was the first step to unraveling the enigma of the world's lost civilizations....
