Lakshmi Banahatti

[Augustine]

Lakshmi Banahatti

Generalities

Name: Lakshmi Banahatti
AKA: Salisbury, Senior Chief Petty Officer Banahatti, Senior Chief
Age: 37
Gender: Female
Race: Half-Devil
Faction: G.I.L.G.A.M.E.S.H
Squad: Project Salvage
Role: Handler
Battle Theme: link (optional)

Rank: D
Red Orbs: 0/1000 (800 spent on Cyclone Engine Prototype II, 200 spent on HPZGen Barrier)
Blue Orbs: 0/400 (400 gained from Cyclone Engine, 400 spent on Barrier Break and Cyclone Burst)

Character Description

Physical Appearance(s): Lakshmi is a woman of modest height, a perfect average of five feet and four inches, or just ten centimeters over one and a half meters. She weighs 169 pounds, and possesses a lean physique that makes her look fairly average in build despite the muscles hidden under her clothing. Her hair is a dark brown, with a particularly pronounced sheen. Her eyes are also brown although of a much lighter color, almost enough to verge towards gold. Her skin is a bit of a middle ground between hair and eyes, noticeably dark but not heavily so. Some would perhaps take her for mixed race with skin of this particular shade of moderately brown.

In terms of clothing, when on duty she is in a rather modified service uniform. Instead of the Khaki colors and single shirt of the Navy, it’s a dark grey jacket with a white undershirt and red tie. Closer to a traditional Army uniform. The pants are dark grey slacks to match, with sturdy combat boots and a thick, wide belt around the waist. She still has her Navy decorations on, although the medal she was awarded for her service in saving the crew of the USS Washington hasn’t been worn since she was officially discharged from the Navy with full honors.

Her hair is cut to around neck length, the bangs swept from both sides, parted just above her left eye, and she actually does wear earrings, specifically a pair of golden loops on her left ear. She dresses significantly more casually off work though. Tank tops, cargo shorts, T-shirts with absurd phrases on them and more. The less effort it takes to wear, the more likely she is to have multiples of it in her wardrobe at home.

Personality: How one would describe Lakshmi depends entirely on where they interact with her. That being on or off work. While ‘on the clock’ she is the definition of straight laced, by the book and as serious as a heart attack. People who have never met her off the job would swear that she literally has no sense of humor, and some joke that she’s actually a failed attempt to make an android with AI. She doesn’t tolerate any sloppiness and is a harsh critic. Standards were created for a reason and should be followed exactly.

‘Off the clock’ though she’s almost like a completely different person. She smiles more for one thing, and is significantly more relaxed about…everything. She goes out drinking often and tells a lot of jokes…particularly crass and crude jokes. In fact she can drink just about anyone under the table and will gleefully do so. She’s not averse to doing this with co-workers either so at least a few do know that she’s significantly livelier and way more fun to be around off work…a lot never find out though, and who can blame them really?

Backstory

Lakshmi’s tale is one that makes her name, the name of a goddess of wealth and good fortune darkly ironic. It started off fine. The daughter of two Indian immigrants to the United States, she had a comfortable life, and was approached by the Navy for recruitment due to her impressive scores in testing, marking her as a potential candidate as a nuclear engineer, a rather important position that had those marked with the intelligence hounded for it. Lakshmi though didn’t need much convincing. Her mother was a bit of a traditionalist, but acquiesced and her father had no issues whatsoever, he was proud even.

Basic training was a bit rough but she had no outstanding issues, and graduated and headed to ‘nuke school’ immediately after for two years of crash course education in nuclear physics, electrician work and engineering all of which she excelled at. Really her only actual issue was keeping up with the physical standards and that was solved by two friends at ‘nuke school’ with whom she formed a sort of ‘workout team’ to make sure all of them were up to the standard. From there, it was onto the USS George Washington, yes really that was it’s name.

Really everything was going well, but one day, there was a disaster. A critical failing in the nuclear reactor. The ship wasn’t likely to sink, it wasn’t like it was going to explode, but it could have damn well killed everyone on board, or given them cancer, or who knows what else. Officially Lakshmi is a hero, who put herself in extreme danger to try and keep the reactor stable as long as possible, working tirelessly to seal off the reactor, to try and fix it at no small cost to herself. Her actions bought time for most of the crew to evacuate to the lifeboats, until another ship came equipped to go in and properly shut down and fix the reactor and decontaminate the carrier. It put Lakshmi in the hospital, with a near lethal dose of radiation. Frankly it was a miracle she was alive at all, and were it not for her actions many more sailors could have died or been harmed for life than what the ultimate toll was.

So when a scientist, a researcher for Protocol: G. I. L. G. A. M. E. S. H was looking for veterans disabled or crippled in action for an experiment to potentially fix them right up? She was an obvious and clear choice. Who better than a woman so willing to risk her life for her fellows? While in the hospital still gravely ill and wondering if she’d survive at all, she was approached with an offer. Shrouded in some level of secrecy but in essence a cutting edge experiment to not only save her life, but heal her body and make it better. A real super soldier project. As they told her, heroes like her were hard to come by, and were a surefire choice.

Of course, were it not for her, no one would have been hurt in the first place.

There is a reason that the Lakshmi of today is such a stickler for protocol, strict about the rules and regulations. It is because that incident on the Washington, was the direct result of her own relaxed attitudes. The night before the reactor meltdown, she had been on watch. Tired, young and stupid, she’d skimped out on several critical parts of her job and maintenance. Nothing ever went wrong in those areas anyways, it was going to be fine right? Really, the reason she worked so tirelessly and fought so hard to keep the casualties of that meltdown low was guilt, pure and simple. So this offer? Being called a hero worth trying to save?

Talk about salt in the wound.

Thanks to the damage no one knew it was her fuckup that caused it. That she could have caught the problem earlier and kept it from harming anyone. So she protested, and insisted on a few others who had been seriously harmed by the poisoning, to sign them up instead. They’d been talked to as well, they’d all insisted she deserved it more. Of course they wouldn’t force her but…

But if she didn’t take the deal she might be dead from cancer in a few years, or just dead. Guilt wanted her to scream no…but the rest of her was terrified of what would come next. If they could fix her? Well hey, maybe she could make amends or…something. It’s easy to make excuses to justify taking a hand offering salvation from horrible things, and so she took that hand.

The experiment she’d signed up for, was an attempt to artificially create half-devils, to take a human, make them into a half-devil and through the regenerative properties they’d then gain, heal whatever malady had afflicted them beforehand. To call the process torturous would be to put it gently. Injections, days spent floating in a tube of Gods knew what with an oxygen mask over her face. There were several dozen candidates lined up for the experiment, and she can only imagine the agony they endured was equal to hers, twisting and writhing in her tube of ooze as she felt something happening to her body at a fundamental level. As if she could literally feel her genetics being rewritten and burned with the genetics of a foreign body.

Lakshmi was the only success in this experiment, and the only survivor.

To this day she doesn’t really know why she was the only one who it ‘took’ to. Everyone else died, and given her own experience she can’t imagine it was very pretty. It worked on her though. She walked out, every scar from her childhood gone, her body in perfect working order, without a trace of the damage all that radiation had done to her. She’s barely aged a day since that experiment, and that was thirteen years ago.

Naturally, an experiment whose results were one singular success, and several dozen dead was a spectacular failure. Still, Lakshmi was a hero, who had proven how hard she’d work for the sake of others. The experiment itself was a total failure, the scientist responsible fired and the records classified and sealed never to be repeated, but Protocol G. I. L. G. A. M. E. S. H. had gained a new operative regardless.

Lakshmi adapted to being thrust into a world where literal actual Devils existed remarkably well. Then again it perhaps helped that her introduction was a literal impossible recovery and the gaining of superhuman regenerative powers that seemed like something out of a comic book. In her own words “Disbelief in Devils after I’ve literally become half of one would be beyond absurd.” What followed was a new crash course, magic, magitech, the myriad insane discoveries made in area 51 and the methods of combat needed to fight devils. Firearms were only so effective so melee was essential and Lakshmi threw herself into this work.

Everyone around her thought so highly of her. The sheer work ethic! It went beyond putting her nose to the grindstone! What an incredible woman she must be. Every little compliment made the guilt press deeper onto her, but what could she do? Was there even a point to coming clean about what happened? At this point, there was only one thing to do. Make sure nothing like that ever happened again, and that the work she did with the Protocol repaid her karmic debt a thousand times over.

It became evident that not only was she capable of becoming a skilled combatant, thanks to her sheer focus on practicing and training, but those smarts of hers were still there. Before long she was doing a lot of research work. Some field work still came but it was clear that she was being valued for other things a bit more. She didn’t mind, work was work, and developing better tech, better anti-devil measures? Those could save way more lives. It was in the course of this that she befriended several members of the team responsible for the study and examination of a curious construct seized from a Devil operation named Nian Gao.

She listened to the woes of these friends, lamenting that Nian Gao could be so much more than a test subject, if they could simply get clearance to test her out as an operative in the field. The brass though were hesitant to simply loose not fully understood Devilish weaponry without some kind of assurance that she couldn’t go rogue and cause…’an incident.’ Lakshmi is a practical woman, and she had a practical solution.

Shortly afterwards Lakshmi stepped forward with a proposition. To allow the deployment of Nian Gao, with a handler who would pull the trigger and put the construct down if necessary. She offered herself as said handler. If Nian Gao showed any sign of going rogue, Lakshmi would put the bullet in Nian herself.

Lakshmi had a flawless record, and her extremely strict, by the books reputation had reached even the highest levels of Protocol GILGAMESH. It was the perfect solution and the brass were all too happy to take this deal. The team in charge of Nian though, weren’t quite so happy. One of those friends understood, another was furious. The idea of Nian being deployed with a gun perpetually held to her head was too much for them. When the plan was approved and given the official name Project Salvage, they left the project out of protest. That friendship was over, and the others? They’re still on rather shaky ground.

It was unfortunate, but it had to be done. As upset as it made Lakshmi she had a job to do, one she’d willingly signed up for. While she fervently, deeply hopes it won’t come to it. If it ever comes to pass that whatever twisted Devil built Nian Gao can force her to follow its orders? Lakshmi will drive bullet or blade into that fragile, crystalline brain, and put the Construct down.

Traits

Healing Factor
Though the experiment was a failure, Lakshmi came out a true half-devil, and with it came immense regenerative powers. Arm broken? It’ll be fine in minutes at most, a knife in the gut? It’ll heal, she’ll barely be handicapped for that long. She hasn’t had to see a doctor other than mandatory exams on base in years.

Inhuman Toughness
While Lakshmi still appears fully human, there’s one particular thing that isn’t quite right. It’s her skin. Her skin is tougher than a normal human’s, described by some of the military doctors who have looked at her as ‘similar to leather.’ It’s more difficult to puncture, tear, and cut, although not impossible. She’s not knifeproof, it’ll just take more force to pierce, it absorbs force decently too making it harder to bruise her. Combined with her healing factor, this leather-like skin makes her damn difficult to put down.

Equipment

Name: Gunblade Prototype I
Description: One of two projects that are the personal work of Lakshmi herself. The ‘Gunblade Prototype’ is the first functional model she’s deemed suitable for field testing. The original inspiration actually comes from the engine blade prototypes of the Templar, but as any true American, she’s replaced the engine with a gun. The actual blade design itself comes from the Greek Kopis, a curved blade of a particularly striking design, chosen because she believed the design made it best suited for her plans. As a result it’s a shorter blade than some use, the blade is only a few inches longer than two feet, and rather broad, a one-handed weapon by any definition, although the hilt is long enough to use two hands if needed.

On the ‘spine’ of the blade, opposite the edge is what almost looks like the barrel of a classical flintlock rifle, carefully shaped and fitted to the weapon. It only looks like a flintlock, a little bit of stylish embellishment. It’s actually a barrel fully specced for the firing of .308 rifle rounds, an ammunition recommended for use in dealing with even animals as large as polar bears. It is however, only a single round chamber. The Prototype II is going to be when she looks into expanding ammo capacity.
Upgrade Points: 0
Upgrades:

Name: Cyclone Engine Prototype II
Description: While some might think the Cyclone Engine has a more creative name than the ‘Gunblade’ it’s still…rather literal. The Cyclone Engine is an experimental magic device, specifically designed to harness elemental energies, more specifically to harness the Elemental Mastery of Wind. The device actually looks quite simple. A brass pocket watch, once owned by her grandfather, and repaired to working order by Lakshmi while she was in high school. It’s since been renovated, and still functions as a pocket watch. Those with the knowledge though would swiftly realize on examining that it is significantly more than just a watch. Beneath the clock face, ticking among the gears are specially selected gemstones, runes carved onto the faces of the gears, and even a complex magic circle is inscribed onto the cover of the watch, only visible upon opening it. There is also a secondary circle inscribed onto the ‘crystal’, that covers the clock face.

It is patently obvious comparing it to the current ‘Prototype 1’ Gunblade which Lakshmi has so far put more time into.
Upgrade Points: 2
Traits:
High Pressure Zone Generation (Aspect-like)
The primary function of the Cyclone engine is the manipulation of the wind using Elemental Mastery, and High Pressure Zone Generation, or HPZGen is the proof of this. In essence, by activating the Cyclone Engine the user can create a zone of extremely high air pressure in a very short area around the user. The range at present is only one meter and gets unstable the further out from the cyclone engine the point is. The size of the zone can also vary heavily. This has a visual effect of creating a spherical cyclone of air, a very clear area where the air is whipping into an intense, frenzied wind localized to a small space. There are multiple applications for this. Defensively an area of extremely high air pressure with its accompanying intense winds can be used to deflect projectiles and even misdirect melee attacks. The pressure can reach such a level that it actually feels like trying to push through a solid object, albeit a soft one.

Offensively the release of a high pressure zone creates a powerful, concussive shockwave, a heatless, smokeless explosion of pure air that has tremendous force behind it. Even better, the direction in which the high pressure is ‘released’ is controllable, meaning a high pressure zone could be created in the palm of one’s hand, and then directed to release all that force in one direction, in effect creating ‘spheres’ of concentrated air that explode directly into an enemy with impressive force. This can also be used to launch objects, although smaller ones are the most useful if the goal is to have actual, real force. Something like a marble or a ball bearing could be launched with force comparable to modern firearms.

As for the size of the HPZ’s, the minimal size is roughly that of a baseball in this present version, and maximum size is about two meters in diameter, although given the range restriction this would have to be centered on the Cyclone Engine.

Name: Engineer’s Master Kit
Description: A sturdy roll up tool case stuffed full of a variety of things an engineer or mechanic would need for a variety of problems. Screwdrivers, wrenches, hammers, even a small torch although it doesn’t have a lot of fuel. With the right knowledge one can handle a lot of mechanical problems in the field, or help repair someone with non-organic components, although doing this in battle would be the definition of a ‘sitting duck’ as there’s no way to do that kind of work quickly or discreetly. In a pinch some of the heavier items could be used as a weapon too.
Upgrade Points: 0
Upgrades:

Name: Beretta M9
Description: A completely ordinary sidearm from Lakshmi’s Navy days. Given she never actually left the military she was able to keep it. While firearms are of limited effectiveness and a heavier caliber than 9mm would probably be better, she keeps it on hand for one reason. Versatility. Out of the many munition types there is nothing so widely accessible or easy to use as a 9mm handgun. It’s not meant to be her mainstay anyways, but merely a backup.
Upgrade Points: 0
Upgrades:

Name: Ontario 497 Mark 3 Navy Fixed Blade Knife
Description: A completely ordinary, standard military combat knife. Just as with her Beretta it is purely a back up weapon. Knife and handgun aren’t ideal for fighting devils, but sometimes discretion or an emergency situation forces one’s hand, and it’s better to be prepared than not at all. Unlike the Beretta she had to get this one after joining the Protocol.
Upgrade Points: 0
Upgrades: 0

Combat Foci

Name: Cleave to the Point
Description: Lakshmi was not particularly inclined towards martial arts in her youth, but upon joining the Protocol she took to it with gusto. Primarily she took a leaf from MMA, that being that no one singular fighting style is inherently superior to another, and the best way to become a capable fighter was to learn multiple martial arts that complemented each other and covered for multiple scenarios. She applied this to weaponry instead of just unarmed combat. Probably not the first but weapon based martial arts have always been more niche than unarmed and so she still had to do a lot of groundwork and basics herself.

One handed or two handed, thrusts, parries, feints, cuts, unorthodox grips. She’s practiced with a huge variety of weapons and styles. Funnily enough there’s not actually a lot of difference in the basics of Japanese and European swordplay, well with European Longswords at least. Much of her attempts to mix the different arts found herself discovering that they often weren’t even that different, but the end result is still the same. Lakshmi is a combatant comfortable with a wide range of weapons, and wielding them effectively in a wide range of situations.
Rank: D
Aspects: 0

Techniques

Name: HPZGen Barrier
Description: A technique that probably wouldn’t be safe for anyone but a Half-Devil to use. The HPZGen Barrier is a simple trick, creating a sphere of High Pressure Air that completely surrounds the user. Visually they appear to be surrounded by an intense cyclone. Approaching them is difficult, and the sheer force of the winds, and the high pressure of the air within can make it extremely difficult to hit them at range or in melee. Of course it’s not fool proof, enough force can carry through, and some things, such as a bolt of lightning or beam of light probably don’t care which way the wind blows.

More importantly though, the HPZGen Barrier puts intense strain on the user. A normal human probably couldn’t utilize this technique safely, and without Lakshmi’s toughened skin it would probably hurt her significantly. As it is, using it too often or for too long puts a lot of literal pressure on her eyes and ears, although nothing her half-blood powers can’t heal fairly quickly. The technique also has a potential drawback of needing to wind down slowly, although…there is a risky alternative. ((See Barrier Break))
Focus: Cyclone Engine Prototype II
Aspects: High Pressure Zone Generation

Name: HPZ Barrier Break
Description: A technique designed as a follow up to the HPZGen Barrier, the ‘Barrier Break’ does as it implies, and releases the large HPZ protecting the user immediately and suddenly. This creates a tremendous shockwave, a huge tremendous wind that can feel like an invisible wall has literally slammed into one and lifted them up off the floor. Its range is limited, the force draining rapidly but those right next to the barrier are likely going to briefly experience the joys of flight.

However, the HPZ Barrier Break is a dangerous trick. A normal human would almost certainly die using it, and if they didn’t, they’d likely be completely deaf afterwards. As it is, Lakshmi has to close her eyes, and if possible cover her ears when using the Barrier Break. Even with that, she’ll be temporarily deaf after performing this trick, although her half-devil blood heals it fairly quickly.
Focus: Cyclone Engine Prototype II
Aspects: High Pressure Zone Generation

Name: Cyclone Burst
Description: A technique that involves creating a roughly bowling ball sized HPZ around a hand, typically the one holding the Cyclone Engine. From there the technique is simple, swing one’s fist and the miniaturized hurricane towards an enemy and then release to send them flying. It also typically puts an enemy into quite a disorienting spin as well.
Focus: Cyclone Engine Prototype II
Aspects: High Pressure Zone Generation

[pepsi]

Your Squadmate has been Hired. As a reply to this thread, please append the following Orb Gains and Spending template:

SPOILER: Click to show


[div align="center"][b]Orbs Gained[/b][/div]
([a href="https://devilmaycryrp.proboards.com/thread/199/lakshmi-banahatti"]link[/a]) Squadmate Hiring [Gained 1000 :RO:]

[div align="center"][b]Orbs Spending[/b][/div]
(Trait Rank D) Healing Factor [Spent 0 :RO:, Spent 0 :BO:] [Gained 0 :BO:]

(Trait Rank D) Inhuman Toughness [Spent 0 :RO:, Spent 0 :BO:] [Gained 0 :BO:]

(Crafted Arm 2 UP) Cyclone Engine Prototype II [Spent 800 :RO:, Spent 0 :BO:] [Gained 400 :BO:]

(Crafted Arm 0 UP) Gunblade Prototype I [Spent 0 :RO:, Spent 0 :BO:] [Gained 0 :BO:]

(Crafted Arm 0 UP) Engineer’s Master Kit [Spent 0 :RO:, Spent 0 :BO:] [Gained 0 :BO:]

(Crafted Arm 0 UP) Beretta M9 [Spent 0 :RO:, Spent 0 :BO:] [Gained 0 :BO:]

(Crafted Arm 0 UP) Ontario 497 Mark 3 Navy Fixed Blade Knife [Spent 0 :RO:, Spent 0 :BO:] [Gained 0 :BO:]

(Combat Focus Rank D) Name of upgrade [Spent 0 :RO:, Spent 0 :BO:] [Gained 0 :BO:]

(Technique 1 Aspects 0 Foci) HPZGen Barrier [Spent 200 :RO:, Spent 0 :BO:] [Gained 0 :BO:]

(Technique 1 Aspects 0 Foci) HPZ Barrier Break [Spent 0 :RO:, Spent 200 :BO:] [Gained 0 :BO:]

(Technique 1 Aspects 0 Foci) Cyclone Burst [Spent 0 :RO:, Spent 200 :BO:] [Gained 0 :BO:]



It has already been filled in with your starting 1000 and your starting expenses.