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Dec. 25th, 2012 02:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
3nanashiTrowa's not his birth name. He has no idea what his birth name is, actually -- nor his birthdate, nor his parents, nor anything of the sort. Captain Singh and his troop of mercenaries found a young boy -- quiet, observant, nameless, and looking perhaps four years old -- and took him in.* They assumed, correctly, that he was a war orphan. Earth had a lot of revolts flaring up here and there, both on behalf of its space colonies and because of international conflicts; that meant a lot of war orphans and other civilian casualties around. It also meant there was plenty of work for mercenaries. Captain Singh and his soldiers fought on behalf of the colonies, although to hear the captain talk that was mostly because the money was better that way.
They were well-meaning, but maybe not the best group to be raising a kid. For starters, they never did give him a name. No-name grew up a soldier, piloting mobile suits -- that's giant, mostly humanoid war robots -- in battle as soon as he was big enough to reach the controls. (Probably around six or seven.) He proved to be very, very good at it. He grew up silent, calculating, and more lonely than he considers it useful to acknowledge aloud.
He'll say that he's been a soldier all his life, and it's true. No-name grew up used to carnage and tactics, used to vector calculations and engine repairs and friends dying from mistakes or bad luck. When he was around 12, most of the rest of those comrades died, as part of an Alliance crackdown against the rebels they were fighting for. The circumstances are complicated, and Trowa's not likely to talk about them even with close friends; suffice it to say that afterwards, No-name and his captain were the only survivors of that troop. Within a few years, the rebellion was reduced to a lot of corpses and a lot of refugees, and some bitter memories. By the time No-name was 13 or 14, Captain Singh was dead too, and No-name's last friend was -- let's go with 'complicated circumstances' again. It's always awkward when somebody turns out to be a spy for the other side.
With nowhere else to go, he headed for outer space, and the colonies orbiting Earth; Earth had never been much of a home, after all. No-name made his way to the L3 colony cluster, where he eventually hired on as a mechanic for L3's part of a very secret organization. They were building a Gundam, for purposes of... well, that part's complicated too. Some people wanted to strike back at Earth's united government (or at least certain factions therein) and free the colonies from Earth's heavy economic controls and repressive laws; others wanted to skip right past half-measures, destroy a big chunk of Earth, and take over. If you asked No-name what he thought of their mission, you'd have gotten a silent stare. He's chatty now, compared to those days. (A Gundam, by the way, is a very very large and powerful version of a mobile suit. They're named for the incredibly resilient alloy their armor is made from, gundanium, which can only be worked usefully in zero-grav. This is why it's a highly controlled substance, and why an outer space conspiracy for guerilla warfare would do well to build one.)
Trowa Barton, only son of the wealthy family spearheading the let's-take-over-everything faction, was originally slated to pilot the Gundam. When he got himself killed by the head engineers, a nameless young mechanic stepped forward, offering to take over Trowa Barton's name and mission. The engineers accepted. In AC 195, fifteen-year-old "Trowa Barton" headed to Earth in the Gundam Heavyarms, one of five young pilots with orders to destroy military targets, undermine the OZ faction of government, and under no circumstances allow his Gundam to be taken intact by the enemy. As the pilot, he was expendable too; he didn't mind.
Two wars and a hell of a lot of complications later, the following things had changed:
* Earth's government had undergone several coups, ending with a fragile world peace that seems to be holding so far. The colonies are united and autonomous from Earth, no longer bound by strict social controls and economic requirements;
* Trowa had infiltrated enemy sides twice, gone through one exceptionally unpleasant and prolonged bout of injury-induced amnesia (he got better), and developed a new dislike for AI systems;
* he'd joined the circus for cover, and (somewhat to his own bemusement) got a home and an adopted sister** out of the deal;
* and he'd discovered the possibility of having actual friends -- only a few, but that's all you need if they're the right kind -- and decided that Trowa Barton wasn't a bad name to keep for his own.
Nowadays, he's twenty by his own best guess (if not by his official ID), and it's been four years of world peace. He's very much in favor of that lasting; we'll see if it actually does. He's living with his sister at the circus, doing shows with highwire and acrobatics and lions. (Trowa and lions get along. He finds huge predators congenial.) He takes some correspondence courses; works for the Preventers global police force now and then, when he chooses to. He's figuring out how to be a civilian, and how to have a home, and how to be himself as well as a nameless efficient soldier.
Turns out that's the kind of thing that gets easier with practice.
*Most of this information comes from the Gundam Wing series, the Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz movie, and the Gundam Wing: Episode Zero prequel manga. Some of the details are Millicanon.
**They are, in fact, genetically related. They don't know this, and neither does anybody else. If your character would be able to suss it out, feel free to talk to me about the details.
They were well-meaning, but maybe not the best group to be raising a kid. For starters, they never did give him a name. No-name grew up a soldier, piloting mobile suits -- that's giant, mostly humanoid war robots -- in battle as soon as he was big enough to reach the controls. (Probably around six or seven.) He proved to be very, very good at it. He grew up silent, calculating, and more lonely than he considers it useful to acknowledge aloud.
He'll say that he's been a soldier all his life, and it's true. No-name grew up used to carnage and tactics, used to vector calculations and engine repairs and friends dying from mistakes or bad luck. When he was around 12, most of the rest of those comrades died, as part of an Alliance crackdown against the rebels they were fighting for. The circumstances are complicated, and Trowa's not likely to talk about them even with close friends; suffice it to say that afterwards, No-name and his captain were the only survivors of that troop. Within a few years, the rebellion was reduced to a lot of corpses and a lot of refugees, and some bitter memories. By the time No-name was 13 or 14, Captain Singh was dead too, and No-name's last friend was -- let's go with 'complicated circumstances' again. It's always awkward when somebody turns out to be a spy for the other side.
With nowhere else to go, he headed for outer space, and the colonies orbiting Earth; Earth had never been much of a home, after all. No-name made his way to the L3 colony cluster, where he eventually hired on as a mechanic for L3's part of a very secret organization. They were building a Gundam, for purposes of... well, that part's complicated too. Some people wanted to strike back at Earth's united government (or at least certain factions therein) and free the colonies from Earth's heavy economic controls and repressive laws; others wanted to skip right past half-measures, destroy a big chunk of Earth, and take over. If you asked No-name what he thought of their mission, you'd have gotten a silent stare. He's chatty now, compared to those days. (A Gundam, by the way, is a very very large and powerful version of a mobile suit. They're named for the incredibly resilient alloy their armor is made from, gundanium, which can only be worked usefully in zero-grav. This is why it's a highly controlled substance, and why an outer space conspiracy for guerilla warfare would do well to build one.)
Trowa Barton, only son of the wealthy family spearheading the let's-take-over-everything faction, was originally slated to pilot the Gundam. When he got himself killed by the head engineers, a nameless young mechanic stepped forward, offering to take over Trowa Barton's name and mission. The engineers accepted. In AC 195, fifteen-year-old "Trowa Barton" headed to Earth in the Gundam Heavyarms, one of five young pilots with orders to destroy military targets, undermine the OZ faction of government, and under no circumstances allow his Gundam to be taken intact by the enemy. As the pilot, he was expendable too; he didn't mind.
Two wars and a hell of a lot of complications later, the following things had changed:
* Earth's government had undergone several coups, ending with a fragile world peace that seems to be holding so far. The colonies are united and autonomous from Earth, no longer bound by strict social controls and economic requirements;
* Trowa had infiltrated enemy sides twice, gone through one exceptionally unpleasant and prolonged bout of injury-induced amnesia (he got better), and developed a new dislike for AI systems;
* he'd joined the circus for cover, and (somewhat to his own bemusement) got a home and an adopted sister** out of the deal;
* and he'd discovered the possibility of having actual friends -- only a few, but that's all you need if they're the right kind -- and decided that Trowa Barton wasn't a bad name to keep for his own.
Nowadays, he's twenty by his own best guess (if not by his official ID), and it's been four years of world peace. He's very much in favor of that lasting; we'll see if it actually does. He's living with his sister at the circus, doing shows with highwire and acrobatics and lions. (Trowa and lions get along. He finds huge predators congenial.) He takes some correspondence courses; works for the Preventers global police force now and then, when he chooses to. He's figuring out how to be a civilian, and how to have a home, and how to be himself as well as a nameless efficient soldier.
Turns out that's the kind of thing that gets easier with practice.
*Most of this information comes from the Gundam Wing series, the Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz movie, and the Gundam Wing: Episode Zero prequel manga. Some of the details are Millicanon.
**They are, in fact, genetically related. They don't know this, and neither does anybody else. If your character would be able to suss it out, feel free to talk to me about the details.
