Elijah Garvey

Elijah Garvey is a player character played by Born-on-board.

“I an' I deh rastafarian navy, mon.” ~ Maelcum, Neuromancer

Preferred Plots:

1. Service To The Free States

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mxtfdH3-TQ4 - Israelites ~ Desmond Dekker & The Aces

Build and Skin Color: Elijah is muscular and lean, with notable definition in the arms and chest. Skin is a dark brown, almost black.

Eyes and Facial Features: His eyes are a dark brown. Garvey's jawline is wide, coming to a relatively narrow point at the chin; cheekbones are high on the face. Nose is broad and flat, as well as being crooked from having been re-set several times. His lips are full, but tend to be chapped and cracked. His teeth are bright white, with pink gums.

Ears: Normal shaped ears with evidence of numerous piercings. Left ear is damaged; lobe is missing, evidently removed by means of a bite.

Hair Color and Style: Elijah's black hair is worn in a dreadlocks style, often bound into a ponytail to keep appearances tidy and military, or tucked into a cap.

Distinguishing Features: Elijah features numerous scarring on his arms and legs. Lower back has a puckered gunshot scar with no exit wound.

Occasionally the bullet still inside the fatty tissue in his back with set off overly sensitive metal detectors.

Personality:Elijah is, at least on the surface, fairly carefree and relaxed in dealings with other people, excluding his superiors (most of the time). His friends and family describe him as hard to rile, indeed, he rarely angers or saddens for appreciable lengths of time. Prefers solitude to groups, tends to be a 'wall flower' at parties, or only stay on the outer edges of a group gathering.

Despite his friendliness, Elijah is willing to do less-than-admirable things if it's the only option he has, a legacy of providing for his family when he still lived in the slums. However, he takes no pride in these activities, and will refuse to speak of things that hurt him emotionally or mentally.

Loves to learn, retain, and use knowledge. Reading is a common activity, as well as asking those around him for lessons on anything that interests him at the time. Fair to say he values education fairly highly, again, a legacy of his former residence in the slums.

Naive of the current goings-on as a whole due to his virtual lack of education, so although he knows little of the galaxy's factions and workings as they stand, he also holds few prejudices as well.

• Likes: Reading, Sleeping in late, Home-cooked meals (eating of course, but can cook)
• Dislikes: Spending money flagrantly, Public speaking
• Goals: Move his family out of the slums.

Denice Garvey (Mother)

“Mama was always tellin' me, 'Jah, don' you be runnin' to no gangs now, y'hear meh?'. Problem was, der ain't no ting else for people to do where I from. So, I figured, mebbe she be alright wit' me joinin' the biggest an' mos' righteous gang dere is.”

Harold Garvey

“Papa weren't 'round much, he mos'ly worked mos' terrible jobs to feed us. I love 'im mos' dearly.”

Josiah Garvey

“Josiah da pride of da clan, he gon' do great tings. He startin' school soon, an' I mos' proud of him, mos' pround.”

Patricia Garvey

“Patty a good girl, mos' studious like her deah brother. Mama tellin' me she wants to be a marine like me, but I can't see 'er doin' it mon, y'know? ”

Elijah was born in a black clinic in the Marley street shantytown of Funky City to his parents, Denice and Harold, in utter poverty. Both parents were uneducated and had few marketable skills, so as soon as Elijah could, he began to earn money any way he could. First as a street youth, selling cheap bracelets and knockoff sunglasses to more affluent parts of the city, then as a ganger, where he acquired knowledge in numerous less-than-legal skills and careers. This is also the period he collected most of his injuries.

Thanks to his not inconsiderable efforts, his family felt comfortable enough to move to move stable housing and send his two siblings to school, but this couldn't last.

Eli was picked up by a rival gang in the Marley Street Shantytown and beaten severely, so badly he was bedridden and nursed back to health over the course of several months. His mother forbade him from going back to that line of work, and Eli, lacking an other skills, soon joined the Marine Corps, where his skills would always have a place. He completed his Boot Camp with numerous accolades from his instructors, citing his eagerness to learn and ability to adapt rapidly. He also proved to have an almost complete lack of prejudice in psychological evaluations; a surprise, given that his background was described several times as 'educationally deprived' in his personnel file. Surely a valuable skill in a Nepleslia concerned with improving relations with allies and forging new friends from old foes…

“It's 'bout all I'm good for, mon.”

This was something Eli had no trouble picking up the jist of, having already honed his body to a killing tool in the Marley Street slums. Proved adept in all types of physical training, but showed a slight bias for handguns during training, out-shooting nearly every other recruit in his boot camp division.

“Yes boss ma - sir, I mean.”

A little more cerebral than the physical training, Elijah initially had trouble with acquiring these skills, but picked it up none the less. Boot never quite hammered out responding to superiors as 'Yes Boss-man' instead of 'sir' - a habit of his gang service. Uniform errors are still alarmingly common - wearing his nametag on the wrong side of his tunic being the primary offender. Still, shows the ability to understand and carry out orders as well as good tactical initiative. Could be leadership material if his education improves.

“So, dis one… edible. And dis one… dis one kills yah by makin' yeh shit yehself to death. Wait, it de other way 'round?”

Being a city child, all of these skills came hard to Eli, narrowly failing survival skills evaluation several times by mixing up edible and non-edible plants. Although he passed, he secretly hopes he never has to rely on his abilities.

“Sir, when we gon' get to de part where ya train animals teh run encrypted messages t'rough de sewers? Er, we don' cover dat…?”

Surprisingly, his gang background translated well into this skillset. Gangs in Funky City often resort to 'innovative' methods of communication to foil police intervention. Eli proved to be adept with most communications sets, only really having trouble with other people reading his handwriting, which remains only a level above 'chicken scratch'.

“Yeh got a bobby pin , b'chance?”

No stranger to street biz, Eli is adept at most of the accomplished criminal's trade, from lock-breaking to pickpocketing to mugging, and others. Reluctant to advertise his expertise, though will use it on the sly for purposes he deems worthy (primarily pranks).

“Mos' righteous brew, dis is. An' I figured out how ta mek it wit'out antifreeze!”

Eli has an appreciable amount of hands-on chemistry knowledge, though most of it was directed towards manufacture of narcotics and homebrew alcohol for street sale. Wouldn't be hard with a little schooling to progress him to a level appropriate for assistant work in a respectable Nepleslian laboratory.

“Hush lil' baby don' say a word… mama gon' buy yeh a mockin'bird… and if dat mockin'bird don't…”

“…How long ye been standin' dere, mon?”

Taking care of his little brother and sister when his parents couldn't have made him surprisingly in touch with his inner housewife - a capable cook, maid, and babysitter all rolled into one. Knows a surprising amount of nursery rhymes, and loves to play with kids.

Refuses to demonstrate this knowledge in front of his fellow marines on pain of death, lest he be seen as girly and feminine. Absolutely top secret.

Elijah Garvey has the following items:

• 2 Pullover shirt, green, with rank patches on shoulder pads and name plate
• 4 T-Shirts, white
• 4 underwear, white
• 2 Khaki cargo pants
• 1 Beret, green, with flash patch
• 1 NSMC Field Cap, Type 33
• 1 pair gloves, leather, brown
• 1 pair boots, brown
• 6 pair boot Socks, white
• 1 Belt, dark brown
• 1 Nepleslian Dress Uniform (YE 33) (full outfit with white pistol belt, gloves, pants, and boots)

• 2 Tank tops, green, with fleet number on the right chest
• 2 Pairs of ankle length pajama pants, khaki
• 1 Pair of slip-on flexi-shoes, black
• 3 ragged muscle shirts, each advertising a different microbrew beer
• 2 pairs of stained, raggedy grey sweatpants
• 1 hand-knit green dread cap, knitted by his sister Patricia

• 2 Short-sleeved mocks with fleet number on the right chest, Green
• 2 Work-out shorts, black
• 4 pairs green ankle Socks
• 1 pair green low-top sneaker shoes
• 1 Pair of trunks, green, fleet number on right leg

• 1 M3 Assault Rifle
• 1 Utility Combat Knife M01A
• 1 Marine Combat Axe Model 01c
• 1 Pistol, Styrling Silver Special .45 Caliber, with 2 extra magazines

• 1 pair identification tags, metal, with name and hometown
• 1 Canteen, 1 quart
• 1 AwesomeCorp DataJockey
• 1 Wallet with the Marine Corps Insignia plated on it.
• Starting pay of: 6000 DA
• One dog-eared book: “Writing to Impress: A Primer On Writing Right”
• One new-condition book: “High School Maths and Sciences: 9th to 12th Grade”
• One extremely worn, stained book: “Erasing The Accent: Speak Marketable Trade Now!”
• One decrepit, overly-used, and dog eared book: “NAM Yearly Products Catalog”
• One tattered picture of his immediate family, wallet sized

*Character's family name taken from Marcus Garvey, the 'high prophet' of Rastafarianism. First name is taken from the biblical figure Elijah, who protected the worship of Yahweh over Baal. The implication of these names was intentional, just as Elijah worked miracles and protected his faith, and Marcus Garvey educated his followers, Elijah Garvey will protect and educate the Freespacers, enabling them to achieve peace. At least, that's the intention.

*Character's hometown, the Marley Street Shantytown, is named for Bob Marley, prominent reggae musician and receiver of the Jamaican Order of Merit.

*Character Art borrowed from MonkeyBot9000's DeviantArt page. Image used without permission.