Nicholas Walls

Name: Nicholas Walls

Age: 35 Standard Years

Gender: Male

Faction: Galactic Hegemony

Occupation: Diplomat (which for the Galactic Hegemony generally also means Intelligence Agent)

Physical Description: At 6’, 170 lbs, Nicholas is tall and fit and falls perfectly within the ideal height/weight for a member of the Galactic Hegemony’s diplomatic core (which has strict appearance standards as outlined in SGR-21943/51G7D417).  He maintains his ideal body weight through exercise more than diet, though he does take the standard dosage of nutritional supplements as prescribed in SGR-21546/22C5D019.  As such, his physical reports rank in the 98th percentile, well above the threshold for offworld service.  His psychological scores come in a bit lower than that though that’s to be expected for someone who spends so much time among the various alliances and unions and factions beyond the Hegemony.

He has wavy hair that’s a dark blonde to light brown depending on the light (sunlight, true or artificial tends to bring out the blonde), and eyes which are bluish green, bluer when his hair is more blonde, greener when his hair is browner.

He dresses well, often in more ‘casual’ suits and clothes in order to better blend in with a more diverse population and isn’t afraid to ‘go native’ when the occasion requires.  He smiles easily (a trait not always associated with members of the Hegemony, though can become fairly stoic when working on more unpleasant tasks.

Personality: Nicholas is friendly and outgoing.  A cynic might think this purely a professional attribute, after all, he’s a diplomat representing the Galactic Hegemony’s interests in the Qalix Cluster.  A conspiracy theorist might suppose he was cultivated by a training program since birth.  A realist might assume he was given his position because of a natural aptitude.  In either case, he’d friendly, social and seems to take a genuine interest in the lives of those around him.  Of course, an interest is different from taking an active role.  In other words, he’s more attentive than anything else.  He seems to notice most things, even little things, little cues, even errant thoughts.  As such, he seems observant and intelligent, a trait which generally extends to his personal interests, which tend to turn outward to the arts rather than inward toward philosophy.  That’s not to say he doesn’t follow the prescribed meditation practices outlined in SGR-51904/49P8D919, nor that he doesn’t take an interest in philosophy, psychology and the like, though his interest in it is more for the social/conversational value than any personal development.

Special Skills/Training/Abilities: As a Hegemony diplomat, Nicholas is trained in psychological operations, trade policy and negotiations and a variety of related fields.  Further, he has standard military training, including hand to hand and melee weapon training (as part of his physical and mental discipline routine).

As a diplomat he’s had linguistic training and while not a polyglot, he does know a few of the more common languages used on non-Hegemony worlds and picks up new languages relatively easily.

Further, Nicholas is part of a breeding program and a Grade II Telepath (GCS-71T2).  As such he can develop mental links with others.  This requires practice and training, typically four to seven days of joint meditation and effort and subsequent upkeep.  Typically this is done in small squads of special forces troops and/or espionage units.  Beyond these mental links, he can also pick up fragmentary ‘loud’ thoughts, the sort that might escape someone’s mind in a moment of surprise or excitement.

Notable Gear/Equipment/Tech: As a diplomat, Nicholas doesn’t have need of any personal protection devices though he does have access to a cache of small arms if needed and has a Ceramasteel Sword used for meditation and exercise practice.  In addition, he has an encrypted device capable of transmitting and receiving communications from the Galactic Core.  He also has limited access to some of the station’s surveillance systems, something installed by a previous ‘diplomat’.

History/Background: Nicholas was born on one of the first planets within Hegemony space.  Part of an experimental breeding program that resulted in some of the Tyrants (though there were many such programs), Nicholas was one of the ‘under-successful’ products.  While not a danger, he and others like him (Class Two Psionics) were dolled out to various other training programs.  In Nicholas’ case, he was first assigned to a special forces infiltration team as a coordinator, part communications specialist and part team director (as opposed to the team leader, who set the strategy).   While successful in that role, team burnout was frequent due to the high levels of psychic contact and the program was ultimately abandoned from front-line duty and shifted to espionage and intelligence where high burnout rates were deemed more acceptable.

After spending several years in covert operations, Nicholas was shifted to diplomatic support as an attache working one on one with Hegemony diplomats during negotiations, mostly with non-Alliance or non-affiliated worlds.  It was there he distinguished himself with his insight into corruption and the disloyalty of several of the diplomats working in the outer rim.  It was that loyalty that got him the attention of the Hegemony’s Interior Ministry (i.e. Secret Police) who put him into his current position on Xyrus where he is both diplomatic support and spy.  Of course, most of his fellow citizens of the Hegemony are aware that he’s Secret Police, whether others know or not is another matter, though if they do, they likely shouldn’t care, then again, he’s watching them too.

Personal Goals/Agenda: Nicholas is an eternally disappointed optimist.  He keeps hoping for the best in people but keeps being shown the worst.  He’s hoping to be surprised by someone, somewhere. He usually only finds that sort of surprise at the lowest levels of a society, which is why he sometimes frequents lower classes of entertainment and has begun to suspect goodwill towards others can’t be sustained along with wealth or success and knows he's certainly given it up himself (considering some of the things he's done and is capable of doing).

Connections: TBD

Reason for Being On Xyrus Station: Nicholas is diplomatic support, which is a fancy way of saying he’s watching the diplomats in order to make sure they put the advancement of the Hegemony above their own success.  In addition, he’s to report on any other observations, as well as represent the ideals of the Hegemony to the rest of the galaxy.

A Fact About the Player: I was named after one of The Beatles because my sister was a fan and threw a temper tantrum about it until my parents gave in.  Unfortunately, my name isn’t Ringo.  That would have been kind of cool.