Deerington App / Information

[tinpotdicktator]

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: James Ironwood
Canon: RWBY
Canon Point: Volume 7 episode 7, Worst Case Scenario
In-Game Tattoo Placement: On the left pectoral muscle, almost by his sternum, or: roughly around where his heart would be, if a bit to the side in order to fit the antlers in there. For Reference.
Current Health/Status: Alive, probably had time to nod off off screen. No current injuries but many previous ones - about half of his body is cybernetic prosthetics (I’ll elaborate in the powers/abilities section), and his skin is scarred around where the prosthetics join up. His non-robot arm acts up sometimes, and given that the prosthetics include a chunk of his torso and spine, there's probably some other health complications that come up. But he's a muscular 6'6" tank of a man and healthy enough besides that.
Age: Somewhere in his mid-40s
Species: Human

Content Warnings:injury, loss of limb/dismemberment, authoritarianism/totalitarianism

History:

Wiki link!

CRAU History and Impact: n/a
Personality:
General James Ironwood is a man first introduced to the series by his decision to bring a military fleet to a school festival and it's all downhill from there.

I'll come back to that but a quick overview first: General Ironwood is a man in a position of far too much power in the Kingdom of Atlas. Despite the name, it's lead by a small Council where roughly half the seats are elected officials and the other half are the two seats that Ironwood occupies as both the head of the Military and the headmaster of Atlas Academy (a situation that is implied to be unusual or bad; he should not have both positions). He can and will push things through and throw his weight around, not just in Atlas but abroad.

The perfect picture of a man on a power trip - except from Ironwood's point of view, every choice he makes over the course of the series is him trying to do what's right. This is the core of his character: Ironwood knows that there is a enemy trying to destroy all Remnant (Salem and her followers) that only he and a select few know about and so much of what he does he justifies as being the right thing to do in the face of such a threat. Necessary sacrifices and hard decisions. He believes that he has to shoulder the burden of saving the entire world (and again, his kingdom is called Atlas because this series is not subtle). The problem is that most of the time the people bearing the brunt of those sacrifices are the people and those around him, and the hard decisions he makes are increasingly fueled not by reason but by paranoia and fear.

For example, the school festival thing. Between increasing crime and information of Salem's pawns being there in the lead up to the festival, it was clear something was wrong in Vale - but from Ironwood's perspective it seemed Ozpin was doing fuck all about it. Ironwood decided to help by bringing a fleet of airships and robot soldiers over to Vale to protect Beacon and intimidate Salem and her people. Or (as Ozpin, Qrow and Glynda have to painstakingly explain to Ironwood) from everyone else's perspective a foreign military was now occupying the country with very little provocation, making everyone exceedingly anxious when anxiety and fear attract the monstrous Creatures of Grimm. All of that on top of the fact that Salem would not be intimidated by his tin soldiers at all. Ironwood thought he was coming to their aid and insisted on such despite his allies telling him that he was making things worse.

They were right. A fleet doesn't help very much against a few well placed spies whose whole plan hinges on ramping up that anxiety and fear specifically to attract as many Grimm as possible. What's more, when the attack finally came, the enemy hacked into Ironwood's soldiers to turn them against the people of Vale. That move, that moment? That's the beginning of Ironwood's downward spiral. He thought that the best move to make was a show of military might with the robot soldiers and airships he was so proud of - but when that technology was used not to protect the people of Vale but to turn on them and Ironwood himself, when the power he had brought to the table was so quickly undermined, it fundamentally damaged the foundations Ironwood had been standing on. Not just that, but the whole thing was broadcasted and the world he was trying to protect thought Atlas had attacked Vale. Between that, the loss of Ozpin and Penny and all the other shit that goes down at the Fall of Beacon, Ironwood came out of it traumatized and desperate to regain control.

Everything he does later is all fueled by that desperation and fear. Pushing through trade embargoes, closing Atlas's borders; both paranoid overreactions that ended up useless. He thought that the enemy could be anywhere, only his close allies could be trusted, and he had to do what was necessary so he did a complete 180 from extending his hand beyond his borders and switched from protecting the world to protecting Atlas. But he didn't forget the world: he started a project to turn a floating arena into a satellite to reestablish global communications. The best idea he had, and he still managed to get on people's bad side with that one by keeping it secret - including the City of Mantle who needed the resources he was diverting to go towards the project. All of these choices were excessive moves that he could justify to himself but to everyone else were damaging and tyrannical.

He has a habit of being so focused on what needs to be done that he turns a blind eye to the suffering happening in the present, and so focused on the bigger picture that he cares less and less about the people he’s actually supposed to be saving. He doesn't acknowledge he really wants is control over as much as possible and fears the loss of control. There is a constant disconnect between what he thinks he is doing and who he is saving, and what he is actually doing and who he is hurting.

That's not the only disconnect going on with James Ironwood either. The thing about all this is that this is what happens when Ironwood is in a position of power - but it contrasts with how he interacts with people on an individual level. On a one-on-one personal level, Ironwood can awkward, controlling, somewhat distant and stiff, sure, but he's personable enough. Mostly. There is a heart somewhere in this tin man.

To the protagonists, team RWBY, he's downright kind. When he encounters Ruby before the fall of Beacon he compliments her on how she handled a certain situation (the details of which really aren't important) and was supportive. After the fall, he commissioned and sent Yang a new top of the line robotic prosthetic arm unprompted with a note that she fought bravely. When he encounters Weiss, back in Atlas with her father, despite just having an argument with the man he tells her she's always welcome at Atlas Academy and later on during an incident at her father's party (details mostly unimportant), he backs her up (though also making a dig against the party). And also Blake exists. Not all of this was necessarily what they needed or wanted, but he made an attempt, and despite their age he treats them with respect, even going so far as granting them Huntsman Licenses as recognition for their skills without (much) fanfare.

With those he treats as equals, such as Ozpin and company, he may be willing to disagree with them but does view them as friends and allies. Ozpin and Glynda describe him as having his heart in the right place even when he brought a fleet to Beacon. Ironwood is friendly to both of them despite undermining Ozpin's authority and Glynda accusing him of treating everything like a dick measuring contest. Qrow he seems to have a much more volatile relationship with, but still pleads with Qrow to understand he didn't order his soldiers to attack Beacon (a notable moment because it's the only time he truly backs down from a fight) and later on hugging the man after they're reunited in Atlas.

His relationship with Oscar, on the other hand, is a bit strange. Ozpin was his friend, and it's Ozpin he wants to talk to. While he's kind enough with Oscar, he always seems to be trying to coax Ozpin out of him, never quite seeing Oscar as his own person, only as some sort of miniature Ozpin-in-the-making, even going so far as asking the 14 year old for advice. But if, say, his trust in the person he thinks of Oscar was, for example, completely shattered, things would change very quickly.

With his direct subordinates he's commanding and direct but not cruel, and tends to inspire intense loyalty, like from Winter and the Ace Ops. With those closest subordinates he decides to place his trust in them, telling them the truths Ozpin had entrusted to him. He trusts them to do their jobs and they trust him with their lives. But that said, don't ignore his willingness to do extremely questionable things like setting Winter up to be the next Winter Maiden without actually giving her a choice in the matter. He simply expects her to shoulder it and grooms her for the task without ever asking if it's what she wants.

And then there's Penny, the perfect hero he commissioned Pietro to create: a robot with a soul - a fact that he seems proud of while seemingly forgetting to let her live with it, never quite getting that she's more than a machine. He tells her that she doesn't have time for friends and assigns her people to keep her on task.

This tendency to encourage people to stay on target and put aside their personal lives is seen again with the Ace Ops who do not consider each other as friends, keeping up professional boundaries - or trying to - and if a member is lost they're simply replaced; a dynamic that Ironwood no doubt had a hand in given he was the one who created the team. All his people seem to be taught to put the job before their feelings, traits that if they don't lead back to him directly then he definitely encouraged.

And these are the people he gets along with. He doesn't tend to get along with people who question his authority, like Jacques Schnee or Robyn Hill, even if they have very different reasons for doing so. He has frustrated the other Atlas Council Members and alienated the people of Mantle, and seemed particularly dismissive of the rich citizens of Atlas (even if they definitely get the better deal; he never outright or verbally detests the poor but they do get the very short end of the stick). He made an enemy of one of his top scientists, given that the dude faked his death and ran off to join up with Salem (though to be fair, Arthur Watts is also just like that). He seems much more comfortable with the Military and Huntsmen and Huntresses - people who either follow his lead or join him against the fight against the Grimm and Salem.

But even his good relationships are on extremely shaky grounds, as I alluded to with Oscar. Ironwood’s pullpoint is particular: at this point he still has people he considers his friends. At this point he's still trying to protect people. At this point he hasn't learned things that break him, causing him to go past the point of no return and really, truly live up to the accusations of being a Dictator. But the potential is there, under the surface, that willingness to sacrifice everything, the lives of his subordinates, the rest of the world, his friendships and allies, even his own limbs, all for what he thinks is right when he clearly can’t distinguish what that means anymore.

In other words, depending on how he develops in game or if I canon update him later, he can always get worse. But perhaps being in Deerington will pull him back from the edge, get him away from a position of power and limit the harm he can really do. James Ironwood can still fall so much deeper, but that might not be inevitable. Or perhaps the horror will make him spiral down further, just taking a different path this time. The potential is there either way.


Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping:
Just as a heads-up, a reminder of the loss of limb content warning for these sections in particular.

ROBOTIC PROSTHETICS
During a yet unseen incident, possibly more than one, Ironwood took excessive injuries to the point that his right arm, right leg and right side of his torso are gone and had to have them replaced by highly advanced prosthetics. Essentially he's a cyborg, with one half of his body fully cybernetic. (Visual reference.) This half is stronger and more resilient as you can probably imagine, being metal, though not unbreakable. Ironwood also has a small cybernetic neurotransmitter in his forehead above his eyebrow that allows him to help control it all, and for rp purposes I'm going to say that his neurotransmitter can be hacked if someone has enough tech know-how.

AURA
Every human on Remnant has an Aura, a manifestation of one's soul, even if they haven't learned how to use it. Ironwood definitely has, so a quick overview you've probably read a dozen times by now: this projection of the soul can be used as a sort of personal shield to block attacks and withstand impacts - Ironwood will still feel it but it's harder to get hurt. It also increases the body's natural rate of healing, protects against cold weather, and is used to power Semblances (see below). Take enough hits and it'll be depleted, recharging over time.

> For warping I'm going to say Ironwood's aura is weaker and more easily depleted, takes longer to recharge, and specifically for him: does not protect his cybernetic parts. He can still channel it through his prosthetics in order to try to compensate if anything happens to his neurotransmitter (though it's not as effective), but he won't be able to block damage.

SEMBLANCE: METTLE
Aura powers and allows every person the ability to develop a Semblance, basically a superpower. I'm going to admit up front that while Ironwood’s Semblance is considered canon, it was only briefly described in one creator interview and they only mention one scene as an example. Also it's kind of bullshit. So if future canon contradicts my description I'll probably handwave that as more Deerington power warping somehow. Thank you for understanding.

Mettle allows Ironwood to hyperfocus on a goal and essentially tune out everything else. This would be considered a personality trait not a superpower by any reasonable person except for one scene past his pullpoint in which he puts his remaining good arm through immense pain and injury in order to capture an enemy - so much that he ends up losing the arm. That's the level of pain he's able to put up with.

James has to turn Mettle “on”, deciding on a specific goal he’s trying to accomplish, at which point his mind and body focus entirely on achieving that. Emotional reactions and pain become background noise, while injuries don’t slow him down, put him into shock or bleed out. I’ll assume that also applies to distractions, such as loud sounds or flashing lights, as well as temperatures. To reiterate: it doesn’t stop these things, just gives him a supernatural ability to grin and bear it. Mettle once activated doesn’t require thinking about or concentration to use.

> For warping, when he accomplishes said goal or decides to turn mettle “off”, all emotions/pains/physical reactions, etc that he had been pushing past come crashing in on him all at once, and he feels them all, doubled. If there’s enough, it may even cause a sort of small, visible burst of energy that does nothing except shred his clothing for the sole reason of me finding that idea very funny.

WEAPON(S): DUE PROCESS
Due Process is a pair of revolvers that make up a matched set - but since they both provide different functions if you would like to specify that he can only bring in one of them, then I'll have him bring the white half.

The guns are both revolvers/pistols and are otherwise normal if fancy guns. Their special abilities come from their bullets, which use Dust to work.

The white gun can fire regular bullets (albeit apparently more powerful than a normal gun of this size) and exploding rounds.

The black gun fires Gravity Dust bullets, which create a propelling force capable of pushing the person firing the gun in the opposite direction that was fired, including into the air (for at least a few meters/a dozen feet). If fired at someone they're still functional as bullets with the addition of pushing the target in the direction fired.

Inventory: 1) Scroll, basically a fancy smartphone, probably redundant with Fluid but does have the ability to track Aura.
2) Due Process, see above
3) Clothes including 2 gun holsters


Writing Samples:
TDM Thread toplevel and subthreads

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Zoe
Player Age: 31
Player Contact: whomps

Other Characters In Game: n/a
In-Game Tag If Accepted: James Ironwood: Zoe
Permissions for Character: over here
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Yes! Both for RWBY stuff and Ironwood's Tin Man from Wizard of Oz allusion
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: I like weird monsters and the surreal, when things are uncanny and off, all that goth stuff. For more psychological aspects I like when people are pushed to their limits or forced to confront their inner demons in ways that are manifested as monsters and spooks and weird locations and that sort of thing.
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: Not likely to come up in game but: real world photographs or videos of blood/injury; fictional/artistic depictions are fine, thank you.
Additional Information: I hope y’all have a nice day!!