Res Publica Pro Tempore [OOC/Open]

[Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States]

Res Publica Pro Tempore


IC

“Well, Tabby? Where is the vacuum cleaner?”

Laughing track

“I don’t know, John. Maybe Francis can tell us…”

“Good evening, this is Howard Ginsburg, CNN. We interrupt this broadcast for important breaking news. First Citizen Melinda Delcastillo has fallen ill on a flight from Washington DC to Atlanta while escorting her son, newly-appointed governor Laurence Delcastillo, on his trip to Atlanta where he was to take up his post. After arriving at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport the First Citizen was transported to the Atlanta Medical Center for immediate treatment. The White House press secretary has so far not responded to any questions besides reassuring that Delcastillo is in very capable hands, although she is, and I quote, ‘not out of the woods yet’. For more, we move to our Atlanta correspondent…”

It is the end of an era. From the end of the Constitutional Crisis in 2025 to this warm autumn day in 2067, Melinda Delcastillo was the lighting beacon that kept America together. Being elected as the President Pro Tempore of the Senate in 2023, as President of the United States in 2024, and being sworn in as Supreme Court Justice in early 2025, the power of Melinda Delcastillo held no practical bounds. With these three positions in hand, she had the power to return a semblance of normalcy to America after years of unrest. The Constitutional Crisis had left many dead and wounded, and even more disillusioned. When she assumed the Presidency, Delcastillo promised a swift return of peace and prosperity.

She delivered on the promise. Being but forty when she was elected, Delcastillo had the energy and the charisma to see her vision through. By Executive Order, she used funds from the US treasury to pay the pensions of drafted soldiers of all sides of the Crisis. She used funds to rebuild the interstates which had been broken up by fighting, and she pardoned most of the lower officers and some of the higher-ups who had fought in the Crisis. In 2026 she instituted the Special Federal Tribunal for War Crimes, under the direct supervision of the Attorney-General, to punish for treason and war crimes the leaders of the various rebellions. Those found guilty, a handful, were executed by firing squad, a punishment brought back federally by executive order. The Tribunal would remain, used to execute a number of traitors and revolutionaries over the coming years.

Under Delcastillo, America began to work again. US troops returned from abroad to help reconstruct the country. She used her powers as commander-in-chief to rid the US of the last roaming bands of bandits and revolutionaries. She used her powers over the Senate as President Pro Tempore to push through appointees that she favoured, and that favoured her. She made no new appointments to the Supreme Court, becoming the sole Justice in 2035. The House of Representatives became a shadow of her former self as no legislation could pass to the Senate without approval of the President Pro Tempore, and the President could rule by executive order. In 2036, Delcastillo was granted the honour of becoming the First Citizen, a title that transmitted the gratitude of the American people for her role.

Now, those days are over. Melinda Delcastillo is a frail, 83 year old woman. She is sound of mind, but her body is no longer what it used to be. Up until the moment she fell into a coma on her flight to Atlanta, she commanded absolute respect. Now, the First Citizen is broken. Her comatose body lies silently in an Atlanta hospital, a machine doing her breathing for her. Her heart grows weaker by the day, and as she slips further and further, more and more questions arise. Who should replace her? Should the positions she held together for forty years even still be linked? These are questions for you to answer. Maybe you are the Vice President, traditionally second in line when it comes to presidential succession. Maybe you are Speaker of the House, hoping to return the power of the old legislature. Maybe you are Laurence Delcastillo, son and spiritual heir to your waning mother. Or maybe you are the Attorney-General, responsible for the disappearance of countless dissidents over the last years, not desperately looking forward to the return of accountability.

“Quem ad finem sese effrenata iactabit audacia?”

Welcome, musician, to the symphony that is America. The piece has had many iterations and interpretations, but for the last forty years it has been strictly conducted by Melinda Delcastillo: President, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and President Pro Tempore of the Senate. After the period of violent civil strife known colloquially as the 2021 Constitutional Crisis, she restored order in the United States. This, through a policy of strategic mercy and swift punishment, the latter doled out by a specially constituted tribunal. Her terms in office were above all peaceful and effective, and her consequent re-elections have been unopposed. Everyone in America has gained something from her, and everyone has lost something. On the balance, her rule is far preferable to the chaos of the Crisis, and even of the deadlocks before that.

You, musician, are someone of importance. Someone Melinda Delcastillo has spoken to in the last week. Be it a cabinet member, a member of the legislature, someone from the pentagon, a family member. Someone who will be informed of the imminent demise of the First Citizen. After that, the future of America is up to you. Will the Republic be reborn? Will there be elections again? Will America return to the factionalism and bloodshed of the dreadful Constitutional Crisis? Will the status quo be maintained under her son? A lot will be decided in the coming days that will change the future of the United States forever.

Every action sets precedent, every acquiescence makes law.

Facts (will be expanded on as people make apps and the IC progresses):
- Melinda Delcastillo is President of the United States, Chief and sole Justice of the Supreme Court, and President Pro Tempore of the Senate.
- Melinda Delcastillo has a son, Laurence. He was appointed as governor of Georgia mere days ago.
- The Attorney General in some way controls the Tribunal for Peace and Reconciliation, which in the past has convicted people based on evidence that was not beyond a reasonable doubt.
- News media are legally free to report what they want, but there is pressure from the government to report positively on the First Citizen and her policies.
- The Constitutional Crisis was a civil war, but there was no north and south. No New Confederacy or Second Confederacy of anything like that. It was far more chaotic, numerous sides with factions that switched around regularly. There was no front line.
- The Constitution remains technically unchanged, but term limits have practically been abolished. Favourites of the First Citizen often run for office unopposed.
- The US armed forces have seen only limited use over the last forty years. Army expenditure has been cut drastically. The navy (including the marine corps) has been deployed to combat piracy on major trade routes and to end a handful of embassy hostage takings, and is now considered the largest arm of the armed forces.
- The last combat on US soil occurred over forty years ago. Subsequently, the veterans of the Crisis are around 60 years old at this date.

The app is bare-bones, but that is by design. While I want to know a bit of who’s who, most of this information will be played out in the IC through interactions and posts. I expect the writers here to give sufficient depth to their characters. Characters do not only move and speak, they also think, especially in a political drama like this. Really represent the views of your character, both their goals and their fears. It is currently the 15th of September, 2067.

Code: Select all

[box][b][u][size=150]Application[/size][/u][/b]
[b]Name:[/b]
[b]Position:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Appearance:[/b] (Description or Picture)

[b]First Impression:[/b] (What first impression does your character make?)
[b]Outward personality:[/b] (What will other people describe your character as?)
[b]Character history:[/b] (Can be very brief, but list the important events in someone's life)

[b]Describe the last time your character and Melinda Delcastillo spoke:[/b][/box]

What is the atmosphere of American politics?
National politics has been taken from the mind of the average citizen. They can still influence policy at their local and state level, but national politics are beyond the average Joe and Jane. While not much attention is paid to it, and it isn't often talked about, it is widely known that those who loudly critique the government are likely to lose their job. Sometimes, the most vocal critics are even tried for charges of treason. Most people mind their own business, not minding the raw power that emanates from Washington DC and the First Citizen.

What is the state of technological progress?
Mostly, it's just modern technology being better. Internet is faster, cars are cleaner, most energy is produced by renewable energy. Hydrogen-powered supersonic planes can fly across the Atlantic in two hours, and the American rail network has been expanded and made extremely cheap. Food is safer, people live longer, medicine as improved. However, nothing sci-fi exists.

How does government operate?
While the Constitution remains unchanged in text (with the exception of the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment), the process of governance has changed drastically in practice. Empower as president with the veto and the executive order, as Chief Justice with judicial review, and as president pro tempore with the power to set the senate agenda, Melinda Delcastillo really sets the stage. Through her veto she stops any legislation proposed by the House that she disagrees with. Instead, she rules via executive order, the legality of which is always upheld by the Supreme Court even when challenged, which does not happen much at all anymore. Appointees are always pushed through the Senate with minimal questioning. Governors, nowadays, are appointed by the Senate, which means they are appointed by Delcastillo.

Political parties were dissolved after the Crisis, and while technically it is not illegal to form them, no-one has founded an opposition party since.

How oppressive is the regime?
To use an NS term: social and economic freedom are abound, while political freedoms are practically restricted. Not officially, there is no law against speaking your mind, and the first amendment still exists. However, criticism of the president can lose you your job, it can get you increased scrutiny from government offices (with regards to funding, for example), and sometimes evidence is planted in order to roll up an organisation. In the worst instances, which means calling for protests, riots and strikes, dissent is seen as treason and will get you before the Tribunal for Peace and Reconciliation, which either means an unofficial plea deal with Delcastillo and banishment, or life imprisonment or execution. The latter is extraordinarily rare, but it happens every year or so.

Roster:

Cabinet level:
Connor Wright - Chief of Staff
Played by: The Archipelago Territory

James Ripley - Solicitor General
Played by: Nytavuthar

Richard Hamilton - FBI Director
Played by: Reverend Norv

Personal staff:
Kenneth Mandelbaum - Military Adviser
Played by: Cylarn

Nathan Anderson - Executive Protection Force Director
Played by: Rodez

House of Representatives
Joyce Wu - Speaker of the House
Played by: Vienna Eliot

Local governments
Georgia Hamilton - Mayor of Washington DC
Played by: Lunas Legion

Family
William Delcastillo - Son
Played by: Pasong Tirad

[Cylarn]

You have my heart, James. Expect there to be an app here, at some point.

Application
Name: Kenneth Mandelbaum.
Position: Chief Military Adviser on Anti-Piracy Operations, Department of Defense; formerly the Commander of the Joint Special Operations Command. Commissioned as a Lieutenant-General in the United States Marine Corps.
Age: Sixty-three.
Appearance: Ken.

First Impression: Stereotype. The first word that comes to mind, for most, upon meeting General Mandelbaum. From that first tight brace of a handshake, to the posture of his back and the manner of his speech, he is, by all accounts, a man married to the Marine Corps. He carries the professional attitudes and confined swagger of an experienced officer, trained to betray not but the faintest signs of emotion to all.
Outward personality:
Character history: [i]"You know, a Rook-Brother of mine from Norwich once told me that the best way to take inventory of yourself at a point in your life, is to sit down and explain your life, and what all you have done in those years. I am sixty-three now, in 2067. A hundred years ago, my grandfather was deploying to Vietnam for the first time, as a pilot flying B-52s over Hanoi. In this day and age, the Mandelbaum patriarch is a three-star Marine general, respected and supposedly beloved by his nation. My grandfather, Colonel Mandelbaum, would have been beyond pleased. A forty-year career in the Marine Corps, a career that has seen me at the helm of the First Marines and MARSOC and two major Anti-Piracy Task Force. I brought two sons into the world and lasted long enough to bury both of them. That's the kicker."

"As a young kid jumping from naval base to naval base, never would i have thought of the life I would go on to lead. I grew up in the shadow of the military; I wanted no part in the "legacy" my father preached to me on a bi-weekly basis. At twelve, I only wanted to log onto Snapchat and stare at my phone, instead of listening to my Navy man of a father dictate how my life was going to go. You can say I rebelled a lot growing up; I drank, I smoked pot, even knocked up a girl who ended up miscarrying. I was a wild child, doing everything I could to avoid the fate of every other male Mandelbaum."

"You can't avoid the fate that your parents pre-destine for you to embark on. I learned that tough, when my parents all but twisted my arm into trading up a fun time at civie college in a North Carolina Beach town, for the spartan comforts of central Vermont. Norwich University; 'Queen of the Hills,' as it's called. An old-as-hell shadow of a once-great military school, one that cultivated generations upon generations of Mandelbaum men, all the way back to the Civil War. Military life kicked me into gear, got me out of my teenage angst and into the mindset of an active thinker. Did a year in the National Guard, before accepting a Marine Corps ROTC scholarship. Dad was proud; I was less than thrilled about having to struggle my way through OCS every summer."

"In the end, my engineered path paid off. I left Norwich with a Bachelor's in International Studies and a Minor in Sociology. More importantly, I was at the beginning of my Marine career, assigned a PL slot over a rifle platoon of the 1st Marines. Crisis was two years in earnest, and So-Cal was facing a major security situation. Truces between the major gangs in LA County meant that law enforcement and the Guard and SDF could no longer count on gang rivalries to thin out the number of bullets downrange, which in turn enabled several neighborhoods in LA to fall into criminal hands. Got my first taste of combat in East LA, where the hottest pockets of resistance were located. For half a week - over ninety-six hours - we fought a fast-paced, bullet-around-the-corner firefight for those dilapidated homes, one house and one apartment and one car at a time. We were MASCAL by the end of those ninety-six hours. We had all sustained injuries; I took two bullets and lost twelve men. Was I proud? Not in the slightest, not even when I was decorated with the Navy Cross by President Delcastillo."

"After LA, and the clean-and-sweeps in the redwood forests of Northern Cali, I was selected to serve as a PL with the Raiders; Speci Ops, for the layman who might read this. Far too many Raiders had either defected or tagged with a bullet in the opening years of the Crisis, so my 'exploits' in LA had caught the eye of someone, a person who had the gumption to figure me for an SOF officer. Went through a modded A&S course before being thrown back out into active combat. I spent the last year of the war deployed on hunter-killer operations in the Rockies. I would stay with MARSOC for eight more years, rising my way up to Captain by the time everything was said and done. Got married to an old flame from Norwich around this time, and brought my boys into the world."

"With the end of the Crisis, the military got a pretty bad licking from the metaphorical axe. I had managed to retain my position in MARSOC, and the next three decades would bring me into the world of 'violent peace.' There was no GWoT or Vietnam for us to fight in - but that didn't mean that we could just prop our feet up and watch our uniforms burn over an open fire. Piracy, low-level terrorism, humanitarian emergencies, natural disasters, embassy attacks; those are our challenges today. Bug bites, that make you annoy and scratch at your own sore spots. My job was to plan and conduct VBSS operations in the Strait of Malacca, on positively-identified pirate vessels and coastal pirate strongholds in the region. Served under Admiral Joyce Wu, whom I respect in the highest possible regard. Boasted a high mission success rate, never lost a man or woman, and I even managed to balance out my daily life."

"That first star, the hardest one to get. As I stood there, facing an auditorium of well-wishers while my wife and father pinned my stars on my uniform, I was proud of how far I had come. Commanding the 4th MEB was nothing short of an honor; a major counter-terror command, with the responsibility of responding to anti-American terror at any location, at any time. Probably our most prolific action was during the response to the siege of the US Embassy in Harare, the most serious armed action by US forces since the end of the Crisis. The social upheavals that led to the Third Chimurenga put the Embassy under direct threat by rebel elements of the armed forces, resulting in a three-day siege that we broke within one hour of fighting by way of a combined air-ground assault. From there, we laid down a protective cordon and facilitated the evacuation of US citizens and foreign citizens over a twenty-four-hour period, and then buggered off back to Djibouti like we were rockstars."

"The '50s. That's where things took their turns. I made three stars by '56, and took office as the commander of the Joint Special Operations Command. Would've been a grand assignment - if JSOC wasn't relegated to the odd hunter-killer op, or security at the Olympics. I kept the lights on; ISA kept eyes on the ground in the places where Yankee doesn't tread, and AFOs were stacking what terrorists we had the green-light on. Fighting and killing men sours my stomach far less than fighting several other general offers and twice as many bureaucrats for funding, given that Delcastillo only puts out so much for our kind of ops. With all of that going on, I put my boys in the back-burner. They were commissioned; Brian was a Marine Lieutenant flying F-18s, and Mark was a cryptographer with Naval Intelligence. The calls and visits slowed down, I stopped going home and spent most of my time hovering between DC and Fort Bragg. It was the dead of night, as I drove down I-95 back to Bragg, when I received the news that Mark had committed suicide."

"Depression. That's what they said, and whatever they said is stuff that is not privy to even my personal accounts. All of the information, the pressure; it broke Mark. He was my boy, a sweet kid with too much empathy. Nothing like his father. Eleanor made that all too clear after the funeral. Losing Mark was too much for us; we claimed to blame ourselves, but in reality, we pointed out fingers at each other for what had happened. Really, what the fuck could she or I have done to stop Mark? Accordingly, we made for a quick divorce. Do I hate her? I don't think I hate her much anymore."

"Losing Mark took away a good bit of my drive, and the other qualities that had brought me fortune and respect. Had I not been swept over by grief, I'd have responded better to SOCOM-Gate. Here's the gist: a domestic AFO targeting a Crisis holdout was exposed to the public by a disgruntled ISA analyst, which in turn led to the dismemberment and reconstitution of JSOC. For one whole year, Cyclops Hamilton and his goons stalked my heels and robbed me of any shred of privacy I could find. For one whole year, I was forced into a form of state-mandated social isolation. The FBI even went as far as to intimidate any women that I was seen with. Dates get real awkward when the civil rights professor you're dining with notices the glaring FBI agents seated at the table behind you. After a while, Cyclops let up and I was hounded into a bullshit advisory role in the Pentagon, deprived of the commands that had made my career."

"Losing one son is hell. Losing another son...left me feeling strangely numb. Brian didn't kill himself; a shitty flight crew failed to fix an issue with flight control, and my last son met his fate by crashing into the Pacific. The funeral is in a few days. Thus far, I have buttoned up my emotions, tried not to openly mourn the loss of my boys. I would consider this time to be the most difficult in my entire career."

Describe the last time your character and Melinda Delcastillo spoke: Briefed Presidential Cabinet on status of Operation Rock Lobster, concerning operations by Seventh Fleet against pirate resurgencies in the Strait of Malacca; 13 SEPT 2067.

[Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States]

Welcome, Cy. Looking forward to what you have to offer!

[Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States]

Oh, and I might turn this into a novel using all your input as inspiration, so please input whatever you want!

[Rodez]

This looks awesome. I may go for a Midwestern Senator, but if the Navy is the largest and strongest branch it might follow that they are also the most loyal to the regime. If that’s the case I might make a Marine Colonel who has been in charge of the Delcastillo family’s protection for awhile. Something like a modern housecarl who’s master is now dying.

[Lunas Legion]

Have a few ideas, I'll get an app up once I've settled on who in particular I'll be doing.

[Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States]

Welcome, all! The best characters would be the highest-of-the-highest in terms of the power structure, so secretaries and such, but the slightly lower-down characters will be very interesting too. Just keep in mind that, if you have a character that takes orders, a character needs to give orders as well.

[The Archipelago Territory]

Tag.

Application
Name: Connor Wright
Position: Chief of Staff to the First Citizen
Age: 38
Appearance:

First Impression: Upon meeting Connor for the first time, most people would describe him as a normal person. He is very intelligent, but also might make a few jokes once they’ve talked to him for a while. Although a former governor, Connor does not like to talk about politics except when he is at work.
Outward personality: clever and easygoing, has a temper but only at work. Keeps his life as the Chief of Staff separate from his personal life
Character history:

Connor Wright was born in northern Florida in 2029. He joined the National Guard reserves (which helped pay for his college degree) in 2050 for two years and was only deployed once due to the effects of a hurricane. After that, he left and ran for the Florida Senate in 2052 as a favorite of Delcastillo and managed to win the election in his district. In 2056, he was re-elected as an independent without much local opposition since those opposed to Delcastillo could not even get enough signatures to get on the local ballot

He then ran for governor in 2058 and managed to get picked by Delcastillo and defeat the opposition (that part was easy) due to his libertarian views. He was socially liberal and economically conservative, and it managed to win him the election. He battled climate change and pollution but never by raising taxes or at the expense of businesses. He once proposed abolishing the NSA since whistleblowers have stated it had lied to the White House to get additional funding and was stretching its mass surveillance past even what the President had permitted. After that, a rogue NSA agent (conspiracy theories say on behalf of the NSA, although that is not confirmed) shot at the Governor’s mansion and nearly killed Wright.

In 2060 he stepped down as governor and became the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, and by 2063 his position became White House Chief of Staff. In 2065, however, the position was renamed to Chief of Staff to the First Citizen since he also fulfilled the duties of a Clerk to the Chief Justice and Chief of Staff to the President pro Tempore, jobs all held by the First Citizen herself.

Describe the last time your character and Melinda Delcastillo spoke: During cabinet meeting on September 13 and to say goodbye to the First Citizen and her son before she left to Washington DC

EDIT: changed the age to 38 so it’s more realistic

[Rodez]

Application
Name: Colonel Nathan Joseph Anderson
Position: Marine Corps Colonel, Director of the Executive Protection Force
Age: 66
Appearance: stern

First Impression: Upon meeting Anderson for the first time, some might think that this is what an officer is supposed to be like. Tall, somber and severe, Anderson often overawes strangers into silence without really meaning to, after which he makes a cordial, formal introduction: "I'm Colonel Anderson. Pleasure to meet you." Sometimes the newcomer will goose-step around the conversation, afraid of setting him off. Then, if Anderson warms to them, he may crack a dick joke, after which they will still not know what to say, but for an entirely different reason.

Outward personality: Anderson is a man's man, someone who likes to muck around with fellow officers and perhaps enjoy a drink every so often. He has something of a contradictory personality, being at turns stern, cold, taciturn, goofy, crass, and vulgar. Which side he presents depends entirely on the company, with the latter traits emerging only among family and close friends.

Character history:

Nathan Anderson is, more than anything else, a child of the Crisis of '21. Born in the small town of Cordell, Oklahoma, in 2000, Nathan's path was forged early by the national crisis created by 9/11. His father was a Navy Warrant Officer and was deployed to the Middle East for half of Nathan's childhood. For the boy, who did not want to follow his older brother and sister into a life of farming, the military was an early career inspiration and an obvious ticket off the family ranch, which while a happy home, was not especially stimulating.

At the age of eighteen, Nathan enrolled at the NROTC program at the University of Oklahoma and eventually departed for Quantico to complete Marine Officer Candidates School. After being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps, Nathan's unit was shipped off to Afghanistan in 2020, one of the very last American units to do so. Nathan did his tour and returned to the states as part of the permanent American withdrawal from the country. As the polarization of American politics began to build towards a violent outcome, Nathan became involved in what would later be dubbed "The Dawson Cabal," a collection of right-wing officers in the 2nd Marine Division, headed by Major General George P. Dawson. When the 2021 Crisis finally erupted, the 2nd Division was deployed to the greater Chicago area to put down a Marxist uprising and other cases of lawlessness. They accomplished this with merciless efficiency before turning against the federal government and establishing a military dictatorship across much of the upper Midwest.

Among the many dozens of rebellious factions during the Crisis-era United States, the 2nd Marines was perhaps the most effective. They defeated all comers, and deployed a brutal persecution against leftists in the region. Nathan was himself not without controversy, having played a murky and ill-defined role in the Peoria Massacres of 2023, in which over a hundred alleged leftist partisans were killed. He also met his wife during the war; a young woman named Grace McTavish, whose Des Moines, Iowa home had been commandeered by General Dawson for his headquarters.

Despite their early successes, the rebellion of the 2nd ultimately failed in 2025 due to attrition and internal division. Nathan, then a Major, surrendered with his battalion to federal troops in Wisconsin. Put before the Special Federal Tribunal for War Crimes, Nathan was tried on charges related to the Peoria Massacre, but was ultimately acquitted due to a lack of witnesses. Along with other acquitted rebel officers, he was reintegrated into the federal military under Melinda Delcastillo and turned into a loyal proponent of the new regime. He did one tour of duty during the American intervention in Honduras in 2030, and commanded the force of Marines responsible for rescuing American hostages during the 2033 Cairo Crisis. For this he caught Delcastillo's attention and was promoted to Colonel. He and the the First Citizen established an effective working relationship, with Anderson serving as the main go-between for Delcastillo and the Corps.

After the Secret Service was dissolved in 2039 for taking part in an attempted coup, Anderson was selected to take charge of the newly formed Executive Protection Force, which was really a regiment of Marines permanently repurposed for the protection of the First Citizen, her family, and her allies in government. He has served in this post every since, becoming a close family friend of the Delcastillos, a man who is temptingly close to the levers of power despite his lower rank. Now that Melinda is sick, he is unsure what to do with himself. Peaceful retirement back in Oklahoma beckons, but Laurence, whose life he has guarded for twenty-five years, may require more protection than ever, and there is no ally like the First Citizen's son if someone decides to come after him for Peoria.

Describe the last time your character and Melinda Delcastillo spoke: Having accompanied Melinda and Laurence on their flight to Atlanta, Nathan had a frank conversation with the First Citizen about his retirement. Then she fell ill . . .

Got completely carried away with the bio, oh well.

[Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States]

Application
Name: Colonel Nathan Joseph Anderson
Position: Marine Corps Colonel, Director of the Executive Protection Force
Age: 66
Appearance: stern

First Impression: Upon meeting Anderson for the first time, some might think that this is what an officer is supposed to be like. Tall, somber and severe, Anderson often overawes strangers into silence without really meaning to, after which he makes a cordial, formal introduction: "I'm Colonel Anderson. Pleasure to meet you." Sometimes the newcomer will goose-step around the conversation, afraid of setting him off. Then, if Anderson warms to them, he may crack a dick joke, after which they will still not know what to say, but for an entirely different reason.

Outward personality: Anderson is a man's man, someone who likes to muck around with fellow officers and perhaps enjoy a drink every so often. He has something of a contradictory personality, being at turns stern, cold, taciturn, goofy, crass, and vulgar. Which side he presents depends entirely on the company, with the latter traits emerging only among family and close friends.

Character history:

Nathan Anderson is, more than anything else, a child of the Crisis of '21. Born in the small town of Cordell, Oklahoma, in 2000, Nathan's path was forged early by the national crisis created by 9/11. His father was a Navy Warrant Officer and was deployed to the Middle East for half of Nathan's childhood. For the boy, who did not want to follow his older brother and sister into a life of farming, the military was an early career inspiration and an obvious ticket off the family ranch, which while a happy home, was not especially stimulating.

At the age of eighteen, Nathan enrolled at the NROTC program at the University of Oklahoma and eventually departed for Quantico to complete Marine Officer Candidates School. After being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps, Nathan's unit was shipped off to Afghanistan in 2020, one of the very last American units to do so. Nathan did his tour and returned to the states as part of the permanent American withdrawal from the country. As the polarization of American politics began to build towards a violent outcome, Nathan became involved in what would later be dubbed "The Dawson Cabal," a collection of right-wing officers in the 2nd Marine Division, headed by Major General George P. Dawson. When the 2021 Crisis finally erupted, the 2nd Division was deployed to the greater Chicago area to put down a Marxist uprising and other cases of lawlessness. They accomplished this with merciless efficiency before turning against the federal government and establishing a military dictatorship across much of the upper Midwest.

Among the many dozens of rebellious factions during the Crisis-era United States, the 2nd Marines was perhaps the most effective. They defeated all comers, and deployed a brutal persecution against leftists in the region. Nathan was himself not without controversy, having played a murky and ill-defined role in the Peoria Massacres of 2023, in which over a hundred alleged leftist partisans were killed. He also met his wife during the war; a young woman named Grace McTavish, whose Des Moines, Iowa home had been commandeered by General Dawson for his headquarters.

Despite their early successes, the rebellion of the 2nd ultimately failed in 2025 due to attrition and internal division. Nathan, then a Major, surrendered with his battalion to federal troops in Wisconsin. Put before the Special Federal Tribunal for War Crimes, Nathan was tried on charges related to the Peoria Massacre, but was ultimately acquitted due to a lack of witnesses. Along with other acquitted rebel officers, he was reintegrated into the federal military under Melinda Delcastillo and turned into a loyal proponent of the new regime. He did one tour of duty during the American intervention in Honduras in 2030, and commanded the force of Marines responsible for rescuing American hostages during the 2033 Cairo Crisis. For this he caught Delcastillo's attention and was promoted to Colonel. He and the the First Citizen established an effective working relationship, with Anderson serving as the main go-between for Delcastillo and the Corps.

After the Secret Service was dissolved in 2039 for taking part in an attempted coup, Anderson was selected to take charge of the newly formed Executive Protection Force, which was really a regiment of Marines permanently repurposed for the protection of the First Citizen, her family, and her allies in government. He has served in this post every since, becoming a close family friend of the Delcastillos, a man who is temptingly close to the levers of power despite his lower rank. Now that Melinda is sick, he is unsure what to do with himself. Peaceful retirement back in Oklahoma beckons, but Laurence, whose life he has guarded for twenty-five years, may require more protection than ever, and there is no ally like the First Citizen's son if someone decides to come after him for Peoria.

Describe the last time your character and Melinda Delcastillo spoke: Having accompanied Melinda and Laurence on their flight to Atlanta, Nathan had a frank conversation with the First Citizen about his retirement. Then she fell ill . . .

Got completely carried away with the bio, oh well.

Colonel Anderson is happily accepted! Just make sure Honduras was a minor event, because the US stopped major interventions under Delcastillo.

[Nytavuthar]

Application
Name: James Ripley. Jem to family and friends.
Position: Solicitor General of the United States
Age: 46
Appearance: (Description or Picture)

First Impression: Calculated: James is willing to play the game that is going to put him towards the top. If the game doesn't favor him he simply refuses to play. James looks for that actively seeks an opportunity to capitalize on your words. His family often says that his body might leave the court but his mind stays, much to their detriment. Sometimes James gets that feeling of nostalgia for the America that he read in his history textbooks, but he realizes that this is a new era and one that is here to stay as long as the First Citizen's legacy lives.
Outward personality: Attentive yet cold. James doesn't show much emotion but he will use what you say to his gain. James knows when he needs to be quiet and simply listen. When in court James is cold and calculated with a technical skill that many do not achieve. In his private life friends and family of James describe him as quiet yet loving, saying that he would do anything to protect those he loves.
Character history:

James was born the year the Crisis ripped apart the United States of America, but he wasn't directly affected by it. Born to United States Senator from Louisiana Richard Ripley, three months before the Crisis began, James and his mother were hastily shipped to the United Kingdom when the Crisis began. James would spend his childhood and much of his teenage years in London. He would be the star pupil in his classes throughout schooling, ultimately completing his schooling with high marks. When it was time for James to go to university in the year 2039 he made the fateful decision to go back to the United States and enroll at Harvard University. James would graduate summa cum laude from Harvard and go to the law school for two years before passing the Bar in 2044.

James' law career would begin in the wings of a US Attorney in the 1st District, specifically in Massachusetts. This US attorney just happened to be one of the few mentors of his father before the crisis. James would learn the skill of politicking in this job. James would serve under this US Attorney before they ultimately retired after their four years in office were done. By the time the US Attorney retired, James had heavily made his mark on them, earning a personal recommendation to Melinda Delcastillo herself. James was quickly appointed US Attorney to the Southern District of New York.

James' tenure in office as a US Attorney started in the year 2048. He excelled in everything he did, defending the laws that the first citizen put forth. When challenged James would have little problem prosecuting those that would do Melinda Delcastillo and the republic harm. James additionally excelled at making a show of his cases. Making his cases as dramatic as he could do in reason. This showmanship truly earned him the eye of First Citizen Delcastillo and it earned him an appointment to being the Solicitor General of the United States. Being Solicitor General earned him a spot at the right hand of the Attorney General presenting cases to the Tribune for Peace and Reconciliation, and also representing the United States in cases that come before the Supreme Court which to this point was just Melinda Delcastillo. This one on one time with Delcastillo would make James well acquainted with much of the inner circle that Delcastillo kept.

Now with the sudden illness of the First Citizen, James Ripley maintains the Status Quo that he has always known in the various courts and tribunals, defending the United States from those that would do her harm, justified or not.

Describe the last time your character and Melinda Delcastillo spoke:Melinda would congratulate James after winning another case in the Supreme Court. James had won all of his cases set before the First Citizen, and this case was no different. James would thank the First Citizen for her service to the Court in what had become an after case ritual between the two.

[Reverend Norv]

Given Hamilton's prominence, his estranged child may be a senator or governor or general in his/her own right, and anyone who wants is free to play as them. Fleshing out this relationship would be a great writing challenge, I think. And, obviously, I don't do short bios.

Application
Name: Richard Hamilton. Dick to his friends. "The Cyclops" to most everyone else, though never to his face.

Position: Director of the FBI. De facto head of domestic security and responsible for criminal investigations falling under the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for Peace and Reconciliation. Universally known, though not officially acknowledged, to run the network of surveillance, blackmail, pressure, and occasional covert violence that subverts and disrupts any direct opposition to the First Citizen's regime.

Age: 66

Appearance: Director Hamilton is about six feet tall; always a trimly built man, he has begun losing weight and looks slightly bonier than he once was. He has an intense, serious face, all Scots-Irish angles like old photographs of John Brown: sharp cheekbones, stubborn chin, an axe-blade of a nose. He is clean-shaven, with thick grey hair worn in a short businessman's cut - the side-part as clearly defined as a razor's edge. Famously, a black eyepatch covers his left socket, and scar tissue mars the brow above and the cheekbone below. The other eye is grey, deep-set, unreadable - but a little too bright. He favors sober three-piece suits, cut a little looser now to conceal the withering of his frame. After several assassination attempts, he carries a handgun in a shoulder holster.

First Impression:

It is difficult, on a first impression, to separate Dick Hamilton from the legend that has gathered around him over the last several decades. This is, supposedly, the man who knows where all the bodies are buried; who has a tap on the phone or a mole in the office of every member of Congress and general and governor; who has files recording every extramarital affair or illegal campaign contribution or preference in internet pornography; at whose word drugs can suddenly be found in any home or vehicle in America, ensuring years in prison; by whose orders troublemakers can vanish into FBI field offices on national-security charges, to emerge chastened and traumatized or, sometimes, not at all. The Cyclops has only one eye, but it sees everywhere, from survivalist camps in Idaho to the highest levels of the Pentagon - and even into the office of his supposed boss, the Attorney General.

A meeting with Hamilton does little to dispel this impression. He is peremptory; he takes his authority for granted, regardless of de jure chains of command, in conversation with anyone but the First Citizen herself. He always seems to know something that you don't, to be playing a few moves ahead of you; his intelligence is obvious, and so is his capacity for overpowering, dehumanizing, institutionalized violence. But there is something more to Hamilton, something that anyone senses on first meeting him: an intense moral seriousness, an earnestness that his great power allows him to wear safely on his sleeve. There is cynicism to the Cyclops, and even brutality, but there is no trace of nihilism. One can sense, upon first meeting him, that Dick Hamilton is a deep thinker; and like all deep thinkers, he is necessarily and finally his own man.

Outward personality: Those who know Hamilton a little better - mostly coworkers in the national defense and national security sector - would venture a few further observations. He is intensely private; the man who knows everyone's secrets guards his own with a ferocious jealousy. He is deeply meritocratic, rewarding competence and punishing arrogance, impatient with big egos and appreciative of team players. He is entirely devoid of racial, religious, or gender prejudice, and possesses a fierce loyalty to his agents and to the Bureau in general. He is tightly self-controlled, with a habit of using dry humor to veil his true feelings. He is known, however, to be both quick to anger and slow to act on it; his nasty vindictive streak comes out only after careful consideration of how it might most painfully be exercised. He does not brook defiance and is a dangerous man to offend; he has the ruthless bloody-mindedness of many survivors of the Crisis. But Hamilton is also exceedingly intelligent, a voracious reader, and he has a penchant for playful didacticism when he feels at ease. He has far more money than his salary would seem to permit, and he is a connoisseur of whiskey, music, and antiques. In a town of half-truths and alliances of convenience, it is known that he always keeps his word. He does not show all of who he is, but he never pretends to be anything that he is not.

Character history:

"Hi, kiddo. I don't know when you'll read this. I don't know if you'll read this. But there's a chance you will, and I want you to know why I am the way I am. It excuses nothing. I know that. But maybe it'll help you understand. That's the only gift I can give you anymore.

"I come from West Virginia. Huntington. You know this; I still have the accent, however faintly. My father was a labor lawyer for the UMW. I've never told you about him. We were middle-class, but no more than that, and I grew up surrounded by miners. I learned to see talent and competence wherever they appeared. I learned the value of loyalty and solidarity. I learned to be a team player. I wanted to fight the power, fix the system, change the world.

"I know. But life takes you to strange places. I hope that's what you'll understand some day.

"I went to college on scholarship. UVW. I was a field organizer with the UMW for the Clinton campaign; I've had those records expunged. I graduated, went to law school at Virginia, was there for the Charlottesville Riot. You have no idea what it was like right before the crisis. I was walking to class, and a gang of Nazis in motorcycle gear was chasing three of my classmates down the street. In America, kiddo. In America.

"I wanted to do something about it. Fight the power, fix the system, change the world. I figured I had to do it from within, though; I had seen the alternative. I interned two summers with the Justice Department; I went to OCS and joined the Army Reserve. I met your mother in those years. She was a law student too. A brilliant lawyer. Braver than me; more uncompromising. I put too much of my conscience into her. I couldn't get it back after I lost her.

"I got a job with the Justice Department after graduating. I was a prosecutor. I went after environmental and civil rights violations. Katie worked for the Labor Department. We lived in an apartment in Richmond. You were born. I wasn't sure I wanted kids; I was too afraid. I could feel the world ending around me, and I didn't want to inflict it on you. But Katie was braver than me, and I let her convince me to have hope.

"When the Crisis really started I was called up; I was a first lieutenant in the Reserves, remember. I spent eight months around Cleveland, pushing the 2nd Marines back out of the city. We were citizen-soldiers against professionals, and we won, but they killed three of us for every one of them that we took. But I believed in the cause. The Republic. I read Lincoln to my men: "Fondly do we hope -- fervently do we pray -- that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.'"

"A chance to start over, that was what we were fighting for. What we were buying with our blood. We were young, you see.

"A grenade blast took my eye, mangled my knee. They gave me medals and sent me home. Katie looked after me because the hospital was too full for inpatient recovery. Then one day she didn't come home. She was going through a checkpoint, and the New World Liberation Front set off a pipe bomb. Wrong place, wrong time. And I was in our apartment bleeding through the bandages around my head, and you wouldn't stop crying, and I was twenty-four years old and my world had ended and I had nothing left to live for. Not even you. That was my sin against you; that was why you've always hated me. When I decided to go on, when I put my gun back in the safe, it wasn't for you. It was to end the killing, to end it by any means necessary, to quiet the noise that had driven the country mad. But it wasn't for you.

"I transferred to the FBI. That was where you wanted to be, during the Crisis, if you wanted to go after the head of the snake. The Army fought for territory; the Bureau went after funding, arms shipments, the top leadership. Everything they said we did, we did. Infiltration, blackmail, torture, firebombing, targeted killings. There was no oversight, not in '24 and '25. Melinda knew, and made sure we had a free hand. We broke the rebs from the inside out. I was good at it. When it was over, I was twenty-eight, and coordinating FBI counterterrorism for most of the Midwest. I still believed in what I was doing, but I didn't believe in fixing anything anymore. I just needed it to stop. You don't know what it was like; the fear and horror all around. Unlivable; unendurable. I needed it all to stop, and so I did what I had to do to help make that happen.

"And Melinda - you didn't know her when she was young. She was imperfect. We all knew that. But she walked into a room, and history walked in with her. That's the only way to put it. She willed the war to end, and it did. And when you were with her, you could believe that things would get better, because human events reordered themselves at the wave of her hand. It wasn't a once-in-a-generation thing. It was a once-in-a-millennium thing. She valued what I did for her, what I was capable of. But she also understood why I did it. And that was why she picked me.

"I didn't become director overnight, of course. I was on the prosecution team for the Tribunal on Peace and Reconciliation. This was when you were at that boarding school in Maine. I didn't work the high-profile cases. I worked the ones we kept quiet: the true believers we needed to go away permanently, or the ones we needed to leverage so hard they'd never test our leash again. Then I was deputy director for counterterrorism. By that time, I was meeting weekly with Melinda. We agreed that the peace was fragile; that any unrest could escalate out of control. So I put in place preventative measures: informants, wiretaps, surveillance. Any political figure, community leader, military officer who could pose a problem - I made sure I had something that would keep them in line. Everyone has secrets. After the Crisis, nobody's hands were clean.

"I got the director's job in '35. You went off to college a few years later, and stopped speaking to me. I had stopped speaking to you a while earlier - I know. At any rate, when the Secret Service made their move in '39, I'd known about it for months. We made an example of them at trial. That was when they started calling me the Cyclops. I found the legend useful, and let it grow. And the next quarter-century you know from the newspapers. I coordinated the purge of the Army general corps when they protested the drawdown. I broke the Tennessee Patriot Volunteers in '44 and the Seattle Weather Movement in '51. Yes, we planted the drugs; I didn't work too hard to keep it a secret, either. Everyone knew what their real crime was anyway, those racists and anarchists.

"I'm not proud of any of it. It was ugly, dirty work, and I was the only one whom Melinda trusted to do it. I believed that it was necessary. Maybe I wanted it to be necessary. I still can't quite bring myself to believe that it wasn't. I thought the alternative was the Crisis, and I was never going back to that, never, no matter whom I had to frame or blackmail or torture or disappear. And if I was right, if the Crisis was the alternative, then it was all justified. I do believe that. But if I was wrong...

"I'm dying, kiddo. Slowly. Huntington's Disease; I have maybe a year left, maybe five. Nobody knows about it. Nobody can know, not now. But it'll be bad, before I go. And now I find my thoughts keep wandering back to West Virginia, and union halls, and the miners who ruffled my hair when I was a kid, and the way we felt together. The wholeness of it; the intactness. Melinda's going too, now, and what will we leave behind? Files of blackmail material, and unmarked graves. And peace. But at what cost?

"I don't know if I'll have to make an account of that to my Creator. I don't know if I believe that. Even if I do, I'm not sure how much it scares me. But oh, my child: I've waited forty years to see your mother again, and I've wanted nothing else. Not for one moment. And now I will, and when I cross that river, I'm so afraid she'll hate what I've become. God help me, I'm so afraid that I'll see her again, and she'll hate me.

"I'm so sorry, kiddo. I don't know what else I could have done. I can't see where I went wrong. But somehow, somewhere, I think I did. And I want you to know that I'm going to use the time I have left to try to make it right. I don't know how yet, but I will. And then I'll go home to Katie, and I'll sleep in her arms one last time forever."

Describe the last time your character and Melinda Delcastillo spoke: Shortly before the First Citizen's departure for Atlanta, regarding Hamilton's diagnosis with Huntington's Disease. She is the only person, other than Hamilton and his doctor, who knows of this diagnosis.

[The Archipelago Territory]

Tag.
WIP:

Application
Name: Connor Wright
Position: Chief of Staff to the First Citizen
Age: 35
Appearance: (Image)

First Impression: Upon meeting Connor for the first time, most people would describe him as a normal person. He is very intelligent, but also might make a few jokes once they’ve talked to him for a while. Although a former governor, Connor does not like to talk about politics except when he is at work.
Outward personality: clever and easygoing, has a temper but only at work. Keeps his life as the Chief of Staff separate from his personal life
Character history:

Connor Wright was born in northern Florida in 2032. He joined the National Guard reserves (which helped pay for his college degree) in 2050 for two years and was only deployed once due to the effects of a hurricane. After that, he left and ran for the Florida Senate in 2052 for the Republican Party and managed to win the election in his district. In 2055, before his first term ended, he became the minority whip of the Florida Senate (as a Republican), and had finished college at the same time. He nearly lost the primaries though, as State Republicans didn’t want someone inexperienced to fill the position, although he was reelected. When the Republicans took the Senate in 2056, though, he was not chosen to be the Majority Whip and was not chosen for any party leadership in the Senate.

He then ran for governor in 2058 as a Republican and managed to flip the state to a red state due to his libertarian views. He was socially liberal and economically conservative, and it managed to win him the election. He battled climate change and pollution but never by raising taxes or at the expense of businesses. He once proposed abolishing the NSA since whistleblowers have stated it had lied to the White House to get additional funding and was stretching its mass surveillance past even what the President had permitted. After that, a rogue NSA agent (conspiracy theories say on behalf of the NSA, although that is not confirmed) shot at the Governor’s mansion and nearly killed Wright.

In 2060 he stepped down as governor and became the White House Deputy Chief of Staff, and by 2063 his position became White House Chief of Staff. In 2065, however, the position was renamed to Chief of Staff to the First Citizen since he also fulfilled the duties of a Clerk to the Chief Justice and Chief of Staff to the President pro Tempore, jobs all held by the First Citizen herself.

Describe the last time your character and Melinda Delcastillo spoke: During cabinet meeting on September 13 and to say goodbye to the First Citizen and her son before she left to Washington DC

Finished!

[Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States]

Solicitor General Ripley and director Hamilton are both accepted.

Archipelago, while your app looks good, there are a few issues. First, he is a bit young, but that’s something we can work around and won’t be too much of an issue. Secondly, and more importantly: though I failed to mention it in the Op (I will add it now), political parties are practically non-existent. They have not been banned, but both major parties collapsed during the crisis and were never refounded. There are parties in local politics, but no nationally coordinated parties, and none would dare harken back to either Democrat or Republican parties.

All senators are independent, running based on their personal title, and people hardly run based on national issues or laws they want to change. Either you are a favourite of Delcastillo, which means no-one runs against you, or you win based on a platform of ‘getting our state issues on the Resolute Desk’. Politicians don’t run on changing laws. That’s not on you, by the way, because this was not in the OP, but to keep with the theme I would like you to alter those aspects, and if you have questions about how certain parts should be changed feel free to ask.

All accepted people will be added to the roster as soon as I am behind my laptop.

Edit: your app is amazing work, Norv. Thank you so much for it. It’s already a work of art, let it not go unsaid.

[The Archipelago Territory]

-snip-

Got it, I’ll change it soon

[The Archipelago Territory]

Fixed, I think.

[Vienna Eliot]

Application
Name: Joyce Wu. Lambasted by White House staffers as "the Anointed One."
Position: Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
Age: 60
Appearance: You'll know her when you see her, if you see her. In a way she looks like a "Leader of the Opposition" — an epithet, to be sure, and a title she hastily rejects — with a look of perpetual disappointment and newly-short hair (word is she got it cut because it's going gray). She's shorter than she used to be, so keep your eyes low, but not too low. She's attractive, and no, she's not married, but she really doesn't have time for something like that. She dresses like it's 2017, which fits her, but for all the emphasis on femininity it's hard to take her seriously when everyone else is wearing a suit. I mean, she's not that old. But something in her eyes tells you she's seen a lot. Trust me, you'll know her when you see her.

From "New Speaker, New House" in the Wall Street Journal:
First Impression: "Wu is not an imposing figure (she's too short for that), but she doesn't seem incapable either. She would be easy to miss, or mistake for an intern, at a large gathering, but in the context of her office's physical space, she fits right in: she's a thorough traditionalist. Against the mahogany furniture and maroon walls, one feels like they've stepped into a room still stuck in an America from 50 years ago. Her image is one steeped in the cartographies of power—but in a way, it's out of place, off putting even, as if no one has told her the Crisis she grew up with is over."
Outward personality: "My colleagues told me that, in many respects, she is too friendly to deserve what the press says about her. Some say she couldn't be convicted by the Tribunal because she was a Congresswoman. But something tells me the Attorney General simply can't bring themself to prosecute someone so kind. Much to the contrary of what other media have said about her — especially the cable news — she does not strike panic in the soul, nor does she exude an evil energy. There is a reason she has been elected to Congress five times over the past ten years. She is a politician: she has never met a soul she didn't like."
Character history: "She grew up as things started to turn sour in America, but instead of taking up arms in the Crisis that defined her early life, she instead wrote to the newly sworn in Melinda Delcastillo for a nomination to the Naval Academy. And to Annapolis she went, and after that to sea. For 28 years she served in the Navy, attaining three stars as an Admiral, before retiring to her ancestral homeland of Orlando, near the southernmost point of Florida.

Not long after, she ran for Congress with the blessing of the First Citizen, defeating token opposition. Her first two years were merely 'Congressional networking' in her own words. But during her second term, she started to dissent, first on foreign policy (Congresswoman to Secretary of State: "Dictators" Are Not "America's Friends."), and in later terms on the whole gamut of policy. Eventually, her criticism became not just of the policies of the White House, but its highest officials (Op Ed: I'll Say It: The Tribunal Must Be Reformed.)

Election night last year proved a nailbiter as she narrowly defeated a challenger all but endorsed by the First Citizen (though Wu was sure to go through the motions of thanking Delcastillo in her victory speech). And despite the media's — and often public's — opposition to her, her fundraising prowess and networks in the House did not fail her, and she sent shockwaves through Washington when she defeated the White House favorite for Speaker of the House (with the help of an unprecedented election by secret ballot) in January. The past year has been tumultuous, to say the least, with charming Delcastillo surrogates hitting her hard (Op Ed: Speaker Wu Is Holding America Hostage.) and her own colleagues in the House growing rebellious (House Passes Appropriations Bill Over Speaker's Objections.)."

Describe the last time your character and Melinda Delcastillo spoke: Monday, September 12, at the Speaker's weekly consultation with the First Citizen.

[Pasong Tirad]

This has my attention. Would President Delcastillo have any other children? Or even a sibling, cousin, or some other relation? An older one, perhaps, that was maybe passed over on being groomed into a presumptive heir due to one reason or another?

Right now I'm thinking an older son/daughter who was passed over in grooming perhaps because of poor educational aptitude, or a lack of the right charisma needed to become First Citizen; or a cousin or younger sibling who stuck by Delcastillo's side throughout the whole Constitutional Crisis and was then sidelined due to political concerns or other - perhaps the relation was an honest-to-God idealist, who really did want to bring about a great revolution at the aftermath of the Crisis, or had a record that was a bit too grimy to be so associated with Delcastillo (perhaps a murder or two or even a massacre under their belt).

Now they would be trying to get what they view as their rightful piece of the pie before Laurence or some other general tries to take it.

[Castelia]

Very interesting. I've never been in a political drama RP before, so I wanna know if someone who has the bare minimum of experience can join?

Also, shooting for the moon here, but in the case I can participate, is roleplaying as the governor of a state acceptable?

[Cylarn]

Got Mandelbaum's bio done, if anyone wants to make connections. In terms of pre-existing relations, I noted that he served under Wu, and was investigated by Hamilton and the FBI.

[Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States]

Alright, let's do the rounds.

Cy, your character is accepted! The tag still says WiP, so feel free to alter a few things here and there, but as it stands lieutenant-general Mandelbaum is accepted.

Fixed, I think.

Which one did you fix? Because there are still references to the Republican party in there.

Vienna Eliot, she looks good, the kind of character I had in mind for the Speaker of the House: rebellious and all. However, I'm going to have to ask you to tone down the criticism she had of Delcastillo. Criticism is fine, although direct criticism is what gets people IRS raids, and large fines although you could have sworen you filled in your tax returns correctly. Criticism is fine, as long as you attribute it to a cabinet secretary or a specific agency, not to Delcastillo herself. This has more to do with the tone I want to have at the beginning.

This has my attention. Would President Delcastillo have any other children? Or even a sibling, cousin, or some other relation? An older one, perhaps, that was maybe passed over on being groomed into a presumptive heir due to one reason or another?

Right now I'm thinking an older son/daughter who was passed over in grooming perhaps because of poor educational aptitude, or a lack of the right charisma needed to become First Citizen; or a cousin or younger sibling who stuck by Delcastillo's side throughout the whole Constitutional Crisis and was then sidelined due to political concerns or other - perhaps the relation was an honest-to-God idealist, who really did want to bring about a great revolution at the aftermath of the Crisis, or had a record that was a bit too grimy to be so associated with Delcastillo (perhaps a murder or two or even a massacre under their belt).

Now they would be trying to get what they view as their rightful piece of the pie before Laurence or some other general tries to take it.

Whether she has other family members and who or what they are is entirely dependent on what you want to app as. Every possibility you mentioned is possible. Some sibling rivalry would be good to have.

Very interesting. I've never been in a political drama RP before, so I wanna know if someone who has the bare minimum of experience can join?

Also, shooting for the moon here, but in the case I can participate, is roleplaying as the governor of a state acceptable?

Of course you can join, one political RP has to be your first. There are some very talented people already here, and I am sure they can help you along if you are uncertain about your writing or anything else. Don't you worry, glad to have you on board! I'll help you along with your app if you need any coaching.

A governor of a state is certainly acceptable. Do keep in mind that a governor is not really part of the cabinet or the federal government, so you might have a challenge ahead of you to get into the thick of things, but there certainly are ways. Don't be afraid to take a high-end position, if you want it.

[Great Confederacy of Commonwealth States]

I also added two boxes in the FAQ about the state of politics and about how the repression of the regime operates practically.

[Pasong Tirad]

This has my attention. Would President Delcastillo have any other children? Or even a sibling, cousin, or some other relation? An older one, perhaps, that was maybe passed over on being groomed into a presumptive heir due to one reason or another?

Right now I'm thinking an older son/daughter who was passed over in grooming perhaps because of poor educational aptitude, or a lack of the right charisma needed to become First Citizen; or a cousin or younger sibling who stuck by Delcastillo's side throughout the whole Constitutional Crisis and was then sidelined due to political concerns or other - perhaps the relation was an honest-to-God idealist, who really did want to bring about a great revolution at the aftermath of the Crisis, or had a record that was a bit too grimy to be so associated with Delcastillo (perhaps a murder or two or even a massacre under their belt).

Now they would be trying to get what they view as their rightful piece of the pie before Laurence or some other general tries to take it.

Whether she has other family members and who or what they are is entirely dependent on what you want to app as. Every possibility you mentioned is possible. Some sibling rivalry would be good to have.

Excellent! I'll work on an app immediately. May I ask when the point of divergence is? Would it be fair to say that everything up until 2019-2020 stays as it is?

[Duhon]

Not joining this RP; I'm tagging because the premise is both interesting (if that's the right word for it... maybe "morbidly fascinating"?) and painful to think about at the same time.

[Duhon]

Given Hamilton's prominence, his estranged child may be a senator or governor or general in his/her own right, and anyone who wants is free to play as them. Fleshing out this relationship would be a great writing challenge, I think. And, obviously, I don't do short bios.

Application
Name: Richard Hamilton. Dick to his friends. "The Cyclops" to most everyone else, though never to his face.

Position: Director of the FBI. De facto head of domestic security and responsible for criminal investigations falling under the jurisdiction of the Tribunal for Peace and Reconciliation. Universally known, though not officially acknowledged, to run the network of surveillance, blackmail, pressure, and occasional covert violence that subverts and disrupts any direct opposition to the First Citizen's regime.

Age: 66

Appearance: Director Hamilton is about six feet tall; always a trimly built man, he has begun losing weight and looks slightly bonier than he once was. He has an intense, serious face, all Scots-Irish angles like old photographs of John Brown: sharp cheekbones, stubborn chin, an axe-blade of a nose. He is clean-shaven, with thick grey hair worn in a short businessman's cut - the side-part as clearly defined as a razor's edge. Famously, a black eyepatch covers his left socket, and scar tissue mars the brow above and the cheekbone below. The other eye is grey, deep-set, unreadable - but a little too bright. He favors sober three-piece suits, cut a little looser now to conceal the withering of his frame. After several assassination attempts, he carries a handgun in a shoulder holster.

First Impression:

It is difficult, on a first impression, to separate Dick Hamilton from the legend that has gathered around him over the last several decades. This is, supposedly, the man who knows where all the bodies are buried; who has a tap on the phone or a mole in the office of every member of Congress and general and governor; who has files recording every extramarital affair or illegal campaign contribution or preference in internet pornography; at whose word drugs can suddenly be found in any home or vehicle in America, ensuring years in prison; by whose orders troublemakers can vanish into FBI field offices on national-security charges, to emerge chastened and traumatized or, sometimes, not at all. The Cyclops has only one eye, but it sees everywhere, from survivalist camps in Idaho to the highest levels of the Pentagon - and even into the office of his supposed boss, the Attorney General.

A meeting with Hamilton does little to dispel this impression. He is peremptory; he takes his authority for granted, regardless of de jure chains of command, in conversation with anyone but the First Citizen herself. He always seems to know something that you don't, to be playing a few moves ahead of you; his intelligence is obvious, and so is his capacity for overpowering, dehumanizing, institutionalized violence. But there is something more to Hamilton, something that anyone senses on first meeting him: an intense moral seriousness, an earnestness that his great power allows him to wear safely on his sleeve. There is cynicism to the Cyclops, and even brutality, but there is no trace of nihilism. One can sense, upon first meeting him, that Dick Hamilton is a deep thinker; and like all deep thinkers, he is necessarily and finally his own man.

Outward personality: Those who know Hamilton a little better - mostly coworkers in the national defense and national security sector - would venture a few further observations. He is intensely private; the man who knows everyone's secrets guards his own with a ferocious jealousy. He is deeply meritocratic, rewarding competence and punishing arrogance, impatient with big egos and appreciative of team players. He is entirely devoid of racial, religious, or gender prejudice, and possesses a fierce loyalty to his agents and to the Bureau in general. He is tightly self-controlled, with a habit of using dry humor to veil his true feelings. He is known, however, to be both quick to anger and slow to act on it; his nasty vindictive streak comes out only after careful consideration of how it might most painfully be exercised. He does not brook defiance and is a dangerous man to offend; he has the ruthless bloody-mindedness of many survivors of the Crisis. But Hamilton is also exceedingly intelligent, a voracious reader, and he has a penchant for playful didacticism when he feels at ease. He has far more money than his salary would seem to permit, and he is a connoisseur of whiskey, music, and antiques. In a town of half-truths and alliances of convenience, it is known that he always keeps his word. He does not show all of who he is, but he never pretends to be anything that he is not.

Character history:

"Hi, kiddo. I don't know when you'll read this. I don't know if you'll read this. But there's a chance you will, and I want you to know why I am the way I am. It excuses nothing. I know that. But maybe it'll help you understand. That's the only gift I can give you anymore.

"I come from West Virginia. Huntington. You know this; I still have the accent, however faintly. My father was a labor lawyer for the UMW. I've never told you about him. We were middle-class, but no more than that, and I grew up surrounded by miners. I learned to see talent and competence wherever they appeared. I learned the value of loyalty and solidarity. I learned to be a team player. I wanted to fight the power, fix the system, change the world.

"I know. But life takes you to strange places. I hope that's what you'll understand some day.

"I went to college on scholarship. UVW. I was a field organizer with the UMW for the Clinton campaign; I've had those records expunged. I graduated, went to law school at Virginia, was there for the Charlottesville Riot. You have no idea what it was like right before the crisis. I was walking to class, and a gang of Nazis in motorcycle gear was chasing three of my classmates down the street. In America, kiddo. In America.

"I wanted to do something about it. Fight the power, fix the system, change the world. I figured I had to do it from within, though; I had seen the alternative. I interned two summers with the Justice Department; I went to OCS and joined the Army Reserve. I met your mother in those years. She was a law student too. A brilliant lawyer. Braver than me; more uncompromising. I put too much of my conscience into her. I couldn't get it back after I lost her.

"I got a job with the Justice Department after graduating. I was a prosecutor. I went after environmental and civil rights violations. Katie worked for the Labor Department. We lived in an apartment in Richmond. You were born. I wasn't sure I wanted kids; I was too afraid. I could feel the world ending around me, and I didn't want to inflict it on you. But Katie was braver than me, and I let her convince me to have hope.

"When the Crisis really started I was called up; I was a first lieutenant in the Reserves, remember. I spent eight months around Cleveland, pushing the 2nd Marines back out of the city. We were citizen-soldiers against professionals, and we won, but they killed three of us for every one of them that we took. But I believed in the cause. The Republic. I read Lincoln to my men: "Fondly do we hope -- fervently do we pray -- that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said 'the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether.'"

"A chance to start over, that was what we were fighting for. What we were buying with our blood. We were young, you see.

"A grenade blast took my eye, mangled my knee. They gave me medals and sent me home. Katie looked after me because the hospital was too full for inpatient recovery. Then one day she didn't come home. She was going through a checkpoint, and the New World Liberation Front set off a pipe bomb. Wrong place, wrong time. And I was in our apartment bleeding through the bandages around my head, and you wouldn't stop crying, and I was twenty-four years old and my world had ended and I had nothing left to live for. Not even you. That was my sin against you; that was why you've always hated me. When I decided to go on, when I put my gun back in the safe, it wasn't for you. It was to end the killing, to end it by any means necessary, to quiet the noise that had driven the country mad. But it wasn't for you.

"I transferred to the FBI. That was where you wanted to be, during the Crisis, if you wanted to go after the head of the snake. The Army fought for territory; the Bureau went after funding, arms shipments, the top leadership. Everything they said we did, we did. Infiltration, blackmail, torture, firebombing, targeted killings. There was no oversight, not in '24 and '25. Melinda knew, and made sure we had a free hand. We broke the rebs from the inside out. I was good at it. When it was over, I was twenty-eight, and coordinating FBI counterterrorism for most of the Midwest. I still believed in what I was doing, but I didn't believe in fixing anything anymore. I just needed it to stop. You don't know what it was like; the fear and horror all around. Unlivable; unendurable. I needed it all to stop, and so I did what I had to do to help make that happen.

"And Melinda - you didn't know her when she was young. She was imperfect. We all knew that. But she walked into a room, and history walked in with her. That's the only way to put it. She willed the war to end, and it did. And when you were with her, you could believe that things would get better, because human events reordered themselves at the wave of her hand. It wasn't a once-in-a-generation thing. It was a once-in-a-millennium thing. She valued what I did for her, what I was capable of. But she also understood why I did it. And that was why she picked me.

"I didn't become director overnight, of course. I was on the prosecution team for the Tribunal on Peace and Reconciliation. This was when you were at that boarding school in Maine. I didn't work the high-profile cases. I worked the ones we kept quiet: the true believers we needed to go away permanently, or the ones we needed to leverage so hard they'd never test our leash again. Then I was deputy director for counterterrorism. By that time, I was meeting weekly with Melinda. We agreed that the peace was fragile; that any unrest could escalate out of control. So I put in place preventative measures: informants, wiretaps, surveillance. Any political figure, community leader, military officer who could pose a problem - I made sure I had something that would keep them in line. Everyone has secrets. After the Crisis, nobody's hands were clean.

"I got the director's job in '35. You went off to college a few years later, and stopped speaking to me. I had stopped speaking to you a while earlier - I know. At any rate, when the Secret Service made their move in '39, I'd known about it for months. We made an example of them at trial. That was when they started calling me the Cyclops. I found the legend useful, and let it grow. And the next quarter-century you know from the newspapers. I coordinated the purge of the Army general corps when they protested the drawdown. I broke the Tennessee Patriot Volunteers in '44 and the Seattle Weather Movement in '51. Yes, we planted the drugs; I didn't work too hard to keep it a secret, either. Everyone knew what their real crime was anyway, those racists and anarchists.

"I'm not proud of any of it. It was ugly, dirty work, and I was the only one whom Melinda trusted to do it. I believed that it was necessary. Maybe I wanted it to be necessary. I still can't quite bring myself to believe that it wasn't. I thought the alternative was the Crisis, and I was never going back to that, never, no matter whom I had to frame or blackmail or torture or disappear. And if I was right, if the Crisis was the alternative, then it was all justified. I do believe that. But if I was wrong...

"I'm dying, kiddo. Slowly. Huntington's Disease; I have maybe a year left, maybe five. Nobody knows about it. Nobody can know, not now. But it'll be bad, before I go. And now I find my thoughts keep wandering back to West Virginia, and union halls, and the miners who ruffled my hair when I was a kid, and the way we felt together. The wholeness of it; the intactness. Melinda's going too, now, and what will we leave behind? Files of blackmail material, and unmarked graves. And peace. But at what cost?

"I don't know if I'll have to make an account of that to my Creator. I don't know if I believe that. Even if I do, I'm not sure how much it scares me. But oh, my child: I've waited forty years to see your mother again, and I've wanted nothing else. Not for one moment. And now I will, and when I cross that river, I'm so afraid she'll hate what I've become. God help me, I'm so afraid that I'll see her again, and she'll hate me.

"I'm so sorry, kiddo. I don't know what else I could have done. I can't see where I went wrong. But somehow, somewhere, I think I did. And I want you to know that I'm going to use the time I have left to try to make it right. I don't know how yet, but I will. And then I'll go home to Katie, and I'll sleep in her arms one last time forever."

Describe the last time your character and Melinda Delcastillo spoke: Shortly before the First Citizen's departure for Atlanta, regarding Hamilton's diagnosis with Huntington's Disease. She is the only person, other than Hamilton and his doctor, who knows of this diagnosis.

This is the best (and most painful) character app I have ever seen. You did not pull any punches on this one.