P L A Y E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Your Name: Avali
OOC Journal:![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
avali
Under 18? If yes, what is your age?: nope
Email + IM: altanachan@gmail.com | CLU2flynn
Characters Played at Ataraxion: NA
C H A R A C T E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Name: Howard Walter Stark
Canon: MCU
Original or Alternate Universe: original
Canon Point: At the end of Captain America, while unintentionally fishing upthe Tesseract trouble
Number: RNG
Setting:
The world as we know it, set in the 1940s with the added bonus of a few new geniuses, one boyscout with superhuman abilities and an evil Nazi who's lacking some skin. No really, it's totally normal aside from those things. Mostly.
Here is a wiki link with a really hideous layout.
History:
Howard's earliest days aren't entirely clear in the movie universe, but in comics he was born into wealth under the forceful press of his father, and it's fairly safe to assume (Given how well established Stark Industries is by the time Captain America takes place ) that either identical or similar resources were at the young Howard's disposal. And while fame and fortune are often the byproducts of being the heir of a massive corporation, his inventions-- creations well ahead of their time-- truly brought the Stark name into the limelight. Enough so, in fact, to secure a spot on stage at the 1942 Modern Marvels of Tomorrow showcasing his latest work at the time: one modified, newly manufactured flying car.
Or so it would seem. The car failed spectacularly seconds after lifting off the ground, crashing to a hardly inspiring halt. It's not that Howard failed in his design (Not outright, at least.) in truth his attention at the time wasn't entirely fixed on propelling Stark Industries further ahead with wheelless automobiles, but on a private project commissioned by the government itself. War on the horizon meant defense was a key concern, and the allied powers felt a need to dedicate their top minds to creating a weapon capable of cutting short the Nazi threat. Stark fit the bill, signed on with the team after a botched assassination attempt on his life in Los Angeles, and helped found the Strategic Scientific Reserve.
And with a name like the 'Strategic Scientific Reserve', it's fairly obvious there was a lot of science involved. Science like engineering a superhuman soldier. Which, as you might have also guessed, they did. Peggy Carter and Chester Phillip's training, Howard's machinery and Doctor Erskine's medical genius made it possible for a scrawny young man named Steve Rogers to take up the challenge of becoming the world's first successful supersoldier. The thrill of success was short lived, however, as a member of HYDRA ( which to oversimplify is the Nazi military's own personal science/weaponry division.) assassinated Dr. Erskine and fled with the last remaining phial of the serum they'd used to transform Rogers. While the agent was caught before successfully fleeing, the phial shattered and its contents were lost completely. Without Erskine replication was almost entirely impossible and Rogers was shelved like a failed project. Carter, Phillip and Stark returned to the warfront, struggling to stay in the game against HYDRA's nightmarishly advanced weapons. It went about as well as you'd expect.
Eventually Rogers-- working as a costumed, glorified sales gimmick known as 'Captain America'-- managed to win himself a stage gig on the front lines. Learning of the heavy losses the men had just endured, he and Agent Carter hatched a plan to slip through the enemy's defenses and drop Rogers off on a rescue mission to return the soldiers HYDRA had captured. One very much unauthorized, unapproved mission. Meaning they'd need a pilot capable of managing the nearly suicidal flight in, and one willing to keep their mouth shut once they'd made it back. Despite being a civilian, Carter couldn't think of anyone better to manage it than Howard Stark himself. And really, neither could Howard.
It went off without a hitch-- at least it had up until the point where Rogers disappeared and failed to return with the men he'd intended to retrieve. He turned up days later (fashionably late like any true action hero) and from that point on the idea of actually utilizing Steve Rogers as the supersoldier he was intended to be was finally beginning to stick in the minds of the military. Stark set him up with the proper technology to keep him in the fight, backed him up with strategic advice, scientific research and all the other bits in between.
The battle against HYDRA and their advanced tech carried on for months, reaching its peak as a bomber loaded with destructive energy set out to decimate major cities across the map. Rogers pulled through at the last minute, stopping the attack and manually taking control of the aircraft to prevent its jammed controls from wiping out millions of innocent lives, choosing to crash the plane in the arctic wastes and contain the damage. Rogers is presumed dead, wreckage scattered in scraps in the ocean and across the ice, but Howard Stark searches for him regardless, failing to find Steve but unearthing the source of HYDRA's tech instead.
In public, Howard Stark is everything you'd expect from a celebrity: enigmatic, charming, suave and slick, with all the witty comebacks and razor sharp quips required to keep conversation on point. The sort of personality meant for dinner parties and television or radio, for solid pitches and the sort of winning sales that only a con artist could make. It's a sharp contrast to the sort of basement-dwelling, unsociable stereotypes we tend to see portrayed in media, and with good reason as well. Because unlike most inventors, Howard Stark (and eventually his son) had an entire business under his feet. Had contacts to make and a modern world to make decidedly more modern, and you don't get there on hardware alone: things don't sell without catchy advertisements, deals don't get made with millions on the line and a bumbling businessman shuffling through the meeting. Howard was-- and had to be-- quite literally everything.
But there are cracks between the mask and the man; moments of disconnect from the stereotype, drawing out the reality underneath in unpredictable scenario. His bitter frown just after the collapse of his flying car on stage, his willingness to fly into enemy territory at the drop of a hat, the fact that after Steve Rogers went missing, he refused to give up the search - even his apparent admiration of Steve all draws a clear line between who he feels he ought to be for the sake of his goals and who he'd rather be as a person.
It's a conflict. A struggle he does, eventually, lose entirely, but that's further on down the road and hardly as much of an issue for the younger Howard. And though it's not from the movies (but in SHIELD v2 i4) one of the best ways to describe the root of H's issues is in a scene where he is taken far into the future to find himself in the middle of a sci-fi-esque cityscape. In awe, completely speechless and devoid of any possible witty remarks, he covets the sort of future he'd hoped to make. It's not the same Howard, not by a long shot, but it is Howard. He's devoted to his work, to advancing tech in a society that he knows could be so much better. One simple goal that is fixed permanently to the forefront of his mind, that breeds nothing but volatile frustration when things don't play out the way they should. He expects nothing but the best - from himself, from his kid, eventually, from the whole damn world, and that's a very dangerous way of living.
Also he's just bad around kids in general. I mean, really, really bad. Have you ever seen a giant adult-child around a real child? It's not pretty. Lots of misplaced responsibility and assumed adulthood all around. In fact, he's awful with real relationships in general. It's the usual problem that tends to come from creative sorts, from introverts whether they force charisma or not: his mind is elsewhere, and taking the time to care for any relationship-- or person-- in a lasting, real way comes second to the thoughts rolling about in his head.
But he's not heartless, either. In risking his neck flying Steve over enemy lines the only thing he asks for, jokingly, is a little fondue. It's not the sort of action taken by someone wholly fixated on themselves or what they'll get in return. And in contributing to the SSR project he supports the defense of innocent lives, creates technology to protect rather than destroy or focusing primarily on inventions for pure profit. It doesn't make him a good person, particularly not during his more selfish bouts ( especially not later on down the road ) but there is this arcing decline that starts in his younger years that slides him into miserable old bastard territory. Small flaws inevitably growing out like a cancer. Small flaws that started off as agitated tics on stage, as a willingness to wear a mask nearly every second of the day or brush off laboratory explosions like a minor occupational hazard with no regards to safety.
Young Howard is old Howard before he realizes his end goals are far, far out of reach.
Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations: He's a human. He is a super smart human. That's it. No powers just smartness. Weakness is booze.
Inventory: Leather bomber jacket, sweater, trousers, shoes, shirt + suspenders. A small multi-tool and a pocket screwdriver. Money clip with a good chunk of now useless cash.
Appearance:
Age: Appx low to mid twenties.
AU Clarification: NA
S A M P L E S
Log Sample:
It's less than he'd hoped for.
Then again, given the way things keep panning out, he shouldn't be so surprised. Sure, small battles they've won: Rogers, Hydra, that yet-to-be-identified energy source they've brushed shoulders with time and time again. Little victories stashed away with the expectation of something more that just--
Well, it never turns up.
And there's no daylight in space. No internal clock that works enough to make sense of it all, drifting around day in and day out. Slumped over the side of his bed, collar undone, a complete unshaven mess, he can't work up the will to fall asleep, can't find the motivation to drag himself up. Boxed in on all sides by the kind of tech he'd waited years to get his hands on, and he can't do a god damn thing with it.
"I need a drink."
Comms Sample:
Jesus H this bird is huge. [He's made more than a few rounds in the last few days. In fact, Howard has been nonstop about exploration since he arrived; it's not that he can't figure out the layout-- can't find his room or figure out how the communicator works enough to ask for help-- but that he's spent years seeing this sort of technology in his sleep. Hell, he's constructed entire exhibits about space travel and robots and--
Right. Broadcasting. Might be a good idea to keep on task long enough to not look like he's off his nut.
Which prompts a quick combing of fingers through mussed-up, unkempt hair. Courtesy of two days without sleep.] I'm not asking for a road map, here, but to anyone that's in the know: I'd sure as hell like to get my hands on any records you fellas have lying around.
--Howard Walter Stark, by the way. [Just so they know he's qualified.] Inventor, innovator, scientist, genius. Responsible for revolutionizing the modern technological age. You get the picture.
Your Name: Avali
OOC Journal:
avaliUnder 18? If yes, what is your age?: nope
Email + IM: altanachan@gmail.com | CLU2flynn
Characters Played at Ataraxion: NA
C H A R A C T E R I N F O R M A T I O N
Name: Howard Walter Stark
Canon: MCU
Original or Alternate Universe: original
Canon Point: At the end of Captain America, while unintentionally fishing up
Number: RNG
Setting:
The world as we know it, set in the 1940s with the added bonus of a few new geniuses, one boyscout with superhuman abilities and an evil Nazi who's lacking some skin. No really, it's totally normal aside from those things. Mostly.
Here is a wiki link with a really hideous layout.
History:
Howard's earliest days aren't entirely clear in the movie universe, but in comics he was born into wealth under the forceful press of his father, and it's fairly safe to assume (Given how well established Stark Industries is by the time Captain America takes place ) that either identical or similar resources were at the young Howard's disposal. And while fame and fortune are often the byproducts of being the heir of a massive corporation, his inventions-- creations well ahead of their time-- truly brought the Stark name into the limelight. Enough so, in fact, to secure a spot on stage at the 1942 Modern Marvels of Tomorrow showcasing his latest work at the time: one modified, newly manufactured flying car.
Or so it would seem. The car failed spectacularly seconds after lifting off the ground, crashing to a hardly inspiring halt. It's not that Howard failed in his design (Not outright, at least.) in truth his attention at the time wasn't entirely fixed on propelling Stark Industries further ahead with wheelless automobiles, but on a private project commissioned by the government itself. War on the horizon meant defense was a key concern, and the allied powers felt a need to dedicate their top minds to creating a weapon capable of cutting short the Nazi threat. Stark fit the bill, signed on with the team after a botched assassination attempt on his life in Los Angeles, and helped found the Strategic Scientific Reserve.
And with a name like the 'Strategic Scientific Reserve', it's fairly obvious there was a lot of science involved. Science like engineering a superhuman soldier. Which, as you might have also guessed, they did. Peggy Carter and Chester Phillip's training, Howard's machinery and Doctor Erskine's medical genius made it possible for a scrawny young man named Steve Rogers to take up the challenge of becoming the world's first successful supersoldier. The thrill of success was short lived, however, as a member of HYDRA ( which to oversimplify is the Nazi military's own personal science/weaponry division.) assassinated Dr. Erskine and fled with the last remaining phial of the serum they'd used to transform Rogers. While the agent was caught before successfully fleeing, the phial shattered and its contents were lost completely. Without Erskine replication was almost entirely impossible and Rogers was shelved like a failed project. Carter, Phillip and Stark returned to the warfront, struggling to stay in the game against HYDRA's nightmarishly advanced weapons. It went about as well as you'd expect.
Eventually Rogers-- working as a costumed, glorified sales gimmick known as 'Captain America'-- managed to win himself a stage gig on the front lines. Learning of the heavy losses the men had just endured, he and Agent Carter hatched a plan to slip through the enemy's defenses and drop Rogers off on a rescue mission to return the soldiers HYDRA had captured. One very much unauthorized, unapproved mission. Meaning they'd need a pilot capable of managing the nearly suicidal flight in, and one willing to keep their mouth shut once they'd made it back. Despite being a civilian, Carter couldn't think of anyone better to manage it than Howard Stark himself. And really, neither could Howard.
It went off without a hitch-- at least it had up until the point where Rogers disappeared and failed to return with the men he'd intended to retrieve. He turned up days later (fashionably late like any true action hero) and from that point on the idea of actually utilizing Steve Rogers as the supersoldier he was intended to be was finally beginning to stick in the minds of the military. Stark set him up with the proper technology to keep him in the fight, backed him up with strategic advice, scientific research and all the other bits in between.
The battle against HYDRA and their advanced tech carried on for months, reaching its peak as a bomber loaded with destructive energy set out to decimate major cities across the map. Rogers pulled through at the last minute, stopping the attack and manually taking control of the aircraft to prevent its jammed controls from wiping out millions of innocent lives, choosing to crash the plane in the arctic wastes and contain the damage. Rogers is presumed dead, wreckage scattered in scraps in the ocean and across the ice, but Howard Stark searches for him regardless, failing to find Steve but unearthing the source of HYDRA's tech instead.
In public, Howard Stark is everything you'd expect from a celebrity: enigmatic, charming, suave and slick, with all the witty comebacks and razor sharp quips required to keep conversation on point. The sort of personality meant for dinner parties and television or radio, for solid pitches and the sort of winning sales that only a con artist could make. It's a sharp contrast to the sort of basement-dwelling, unsociable stereotypes we tend to see portrayed in media, and with good reason as well. Because unlike most inventors, Howard Stark (and eventually his son) had an entire business under his feet. Had contacts to make and a modern world to make decidedly more modern, and you don't get there on hardware alone: things don't sell without catchy advertisements, deals don't get made with millions on the line and a bumbling businessman shuffling through the meeting. Howard was-- and had to be-- quite literally everything.
But there are cracks between the mask and the man; moments of disconnect from the stereotype, drawing out the reality underneath in unpredictable scenario. His bitter frown just after the collapse of his flying car on stage, his willingness to fly into enemy territory at the drop of a hat, the fact that after Steve Rogers went missing, he refused to give up the search - even his apparent admiration of Steve all draws a clear line between who he feels he ought to be for the sake of his goals and who he'd rather be as a person.
It's a conflict. A struggle he does, eventually, lose entirely, but that's further on down the road and hardly as much of an issue for the younger Howard. And though it's not from the movies (but in SHIELD v2 i4) one of the best ways to describe the root of H's issues is in a scene where he is taken far into the future to find himself in the middle of a sci-fi-esque cityscape. In awe, completely speechless and devoid of any possible witty remarks, he covets the sort of future he'd hoped to make. It's not the same Howard, not by a long shot, but it is Howard. He's devoted to his work, to advancing tech in a society that he knows could be so much better. One simple goal that is fixed permanently to the forefront of his mind, that breeds nothing but volatile frustration when things don't play out the way they should. He expects nothing but the best - from himself, from his kid, eventually, from the whole damn world, and that's a very dangerous way of living.
Also he's just bad around kids in general. I mean, really, really bad. Have you ever seen a giant adult-child around a real child? It's not pretty. Lots of misplaced responsibility and assumed adulthood all around. In fact, he's awful with real relationships in general. It's the usual problem that tends to come from creative sorts, from introverts whether they force charisma or not: his mind is elsewhere, and taking the time to care for any relationship-- or person-- in a lasting, real way comes second to the thoughts rolling about in his head.
But he's not heartless, either. In risking his neck flying Steve over enemy lines the only thing he asks for, jokingly, is a little fondue. It's not the sort of action taken by someone wholly fixated on themselves or what they'll get in return. And in contributing to the SSR project he supports the defense of innocent lives, creates technology to protect rather than destroy or focusing primarily on inventions for pure profit. It doesn't make him a good person, particularly not during his more selfish bouts ( especially not later on down the road ) but there is this arcing decline that starts in his younger years that slides him into miserable old bastard territory. Small flaws inevitably growing out like a cancer. Small flaws that started off as agitated tics on stage, as a willingness to wear a mask nearly every second of the day or brush off laboratory explosions like a minor occupational hazard with no regards to safety.
Young Howard is old Howard before he realizes his end goals are far, far out of reach.
Abilities, Weaknesses and Power Limitations: He's a human. He is a super smart human. That's it. No powers just smartness. Weakness is booze.
Inventory: Leather bomber jacket, sweater, trousers, shoes, shirt + suspenders. A small multi-tool and a pocket screwdriver. Money clip with a good chunk of now useless cash.
Appearance:
Age: Appx low to mid twenties.
AU Clarification: NA
S A M P L E S
Log Sample:
It's less than he'd hoped for.
Then again, given the way things keep panning out, he shouldn't be so surprised. Sure, small battles they've won: Rogers, Hydra, that yet-to-be-identified energy source they've brushed shoulders with time and time again. Little victories stashed away with the expectation of something more that just--
Well, it never turns up.
And there's no daylight in space. No internal clock that works enough to make sense of it all, drifting around day in and day out. Slumped over the side of his bed, collar undone, a complete unshaven mess, he can't work up the will to fall asleep, can't find the motivation to drag himself up. Boxed in on all sides by the kind of tech he'd waited years to get his hands on, and he can't do a god damn thing with it.
"I need a drink."
Comms Sample:
Jesus H this bird is huge. [He's made more than a few rounds in the last few days. In fact, Howard has been nonstop about exploration since he arrived; it's not that he can't figure out the layout-- can't find his room or figure out how the communicator works enough to ask for help-- but that he's spent years seeing this sort of technology in his sleep. Hell, he's constructed entire exhibits about space travel and robots and--
Right. Broadcasting. Might be a good idea to keep on task long enough to not look like he's off his nut.
Which prompts a quick combing of fingers through mussed-up, unkempt hair. Courtesy of two days without sleep.] I'm not asking for a road map, here, but to anyone that's in the know: I'd sure as hell like to get my hands on any records you fellas have lying around.
--Howard Walter Stark, by the way. [Just so they know he's qualified.] Inventor, innovator, scientist, genius. Responsible for revolutionizing the modern technological age. You get the picture.
