Switchback

Name: Switchback


Alias: Switch, Switcher


Age: Unknown. Created before the war, mentally equivalent to 30 or so.


Gender: Male


Alignment: Decepticon


Class: Miner

PERSONALITY

Among his peers, pretty darn laid-back. Switchback, when alone, is a quiet fellow, but he is quick to dispense advice or to make wry comments when in friendly company. He is smart enough to keep his head low when his superiors are in a bad mood, and fairly good at reading people. Switchback is a keen judge of character, and he uses these observations to keep away from superiors who might not have his best interests at heart.


He is friendly to those he doesn't deem a threat, and easy to get along with. He is patient and tolerant, especially with younglings or "new" drones. He has no particular grudge against humans, but is quite leery of Autobots.
Switchback looks out for his fellow miners, and sometimes acts as a sort of confidant or dispenser of advice. He will always act in his fellow miners' best interests when he can, and typically puts their well-being above his own.

He often feels sullen frustration at the mistreatment of his vehicon/eradicon bodyguards, and of the miners themselves, as well, but he knows better than to make these borderline seditious thoughts known. The ideals that Switchback followed Megatron for--the freedom of the downtrodden, the destruction of the corrupt authority structures of pre-war Cybertron--have vanished, and all of his old oppressors have been replaced with new ones. He thinks back on his involvement in the war with bitterness, and has no real attachment to the Decepticon cause or to Lord Megatron. He distrusts and dislikes Autobots too much for him to consider ever becoming a turncoat, though--not that his loyalty programming would allow it, anyway.

Should he ever come across the chance to be free of Decepticon control, he would seize it, and take as many of his comrades with him as he could.









Weaponry: He possesses a standard-issue blaster that can be shifted out of each arm. His firepower is significantly weaker than that of a vehicon or eradicon, and is typically used as a last desperate line of defense.



Strengths: Personality-wise, Switchback is intelligent and highly perceptive. He knows when to keep his mouth shut, and is skilled at the job he was created to do. He has an indomitable spirit, and this, combined with his deep feelings of loyalty for his fellow miners, can often inspire him to acts of bravery--not that he often realizes he's doing it. He's also typically companionable, and he finds it relatively easy to make friends. He's genuine and considerate when he's able to be, and most mechs feel like they can trust him in a relatively short period of time. 

Physically, he's nimble, being so small, and is much better with his hands than the typical drone, since they are designed for finer motor control that the fierce talons his guards wield.



Weaknesses: Personality-wise, when confronted directly, Switchback tends to be meek and submissive, as long as it's only his life on the line (he finds a backbone when someone threatens his friends). He's bitter about the way his ideals have failed him, and not likely to feel compelled to invest himself in great causes. He cares most about the well-being of his comrades, and isn't interested in being a leader or a hero.

Physically, his official description is a servant-class mech for a reason. Switchback is tiny, and not strong. He can be overpowered by virutally anyone, and the loyalty programming in his processor makes it impossible for him to stand up to his superiors without a great deal of difficulty and discomfort. No matter how brave he might be, he still can only accomplish what he's physically capable of, and compared to the warriors around him, that isn't much.






Switchback is a mech who knows where he stands. He started life as one of many mass-produced, nameless drones that filled out the workforce of pre-war Cybertron. He was manufactured in Kaon, and spent the early years of his life in the hell that was the Kaon labor pits. Conditions were brutal: accidents were frequent, and mechs who were killed or too badly injured to continue working were scrapped and melted down for recycling. From these same pits a gladiator calling himself Megatronus rose to power.

Megatronus spoke of change and revolution. He had started his life as a miner, and had grown powerful, and used his power to spread his ideas. Switchback was one of the many who believed in Megatronus, who rallied behind him. They wanted change. They demanded change. When the High Council ignored Megatronus in favor of a clerk from Iacon named Orion Pax, Switchback was one of the many mechs who were angry about this decision. What would a pampered clerk from the exalted spires of Iacon know about true hardship?

Unwilling to negotiate for freedom, he joined the Decepticons in fighting for it. He didn't enter combat directly--he was never a fighter, and doesn't think he ever will be--he offered support with his labor and his obedience. The skirmishes escalated to war, which raged on and on. As time passed, eventually Switchback began to realize that something like the old caste system had reawoken within the Decepticon ranks. He then realized he was on the very bottom of that system. 
He'd gone too far to step away from the fight; he'd been altered to serve, and he couldn't hope to stand in the face of these new oppressors for the freedom he'd always wanted, but never truly had.

These days, he has accepted the fact that Megatron has lost his ideals and become the very problem he once sought to dismantle. There is simply nothing Switchback can do about that. The best he can manage is to look out for his fellow miners as well as the drones that protect them.

The future is as uncertain as ever, and all he can do is hope that he and his brethren will live to see it.

Extra:

-He has a surprisingly high tolerance for high-grad energon, despite his smaller size, and enjoys it on the rare occasions he gets to indulge.

-Switchback suffers from some minor limitations to his free will. He's obliged to obey a superior if they give him a direct order, but he can fight the loyalty coding if he has to. The strictures put in place aren't nearly as strong as combat-class loyalty programs are. 

-He isn't phobic of heights, but he was made to dig, so they often make him uncomfortable. He's happiest when his feet are firmly on the ground.





Player Name: Spinback


Chatango Name: Spinback



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