App for In The Night

[legalcy]

PLAYER INFO

Player Name: Nara
Player Contact: mutanthairything
Character(s) In-Game: Duster

CHARACTER INFO

Character Name: Minimum Ambus (also the current "Ultra Magnus")
Age: Over 5 million years
Canon: Transformers (IDW 2005)

World Description: I'm so sorry for 13 years of comics but skimming the earlier half helps with understanding the general setting.

History: Ultra Magnus (this article contains the summary of his involvement in the story. The timeline for this version of the character goes up to and includes the first paragraph of "The Problem with Peace")
Minimus Ambus (background information on his character)

This Minimus is taken from the split timeline just after the launch of the Lost Light when the engine failure creates a quantum duplicate of the ship and crew. Here, Rodimus is killed just after the launch and Magnus instates himself as the new captain. The major differences between this and the main timeline are:

- Drift confesses to the crew of holding the extremely violent and sadistic Decepticon Overlord prisoner in the basement.
- Minimus' identity is revealed earlier to the crew.
- Brainstorm, the double agent, alerts the DJD of the Overlord's imprisonment, hoping they will get rid of Overlord (who they regard a traitor to the cause) and make him no one's problem ever again. They do arrive, only to go haywire because 1) Drift, who changed sides, is also a traitor in their eyes and 2) evil space drugs.
- They kill everyone on the ship except for Rewind, who eventually meets up with the characters from the main timeline.

Death: This version of Minimus was killed by a shot from Tarn's fusion canon.

What are your plans for this character in-game? Minimus is an organized and self-concious individual, so I want him to be a strict dad-like figure who will frown at everyone until things are in order. I want him to lead missions and to have a stake in figuring out the mystery of Beacon while adding some laws to the village. In addition, I'd like him to face his self-esteem issues and make some friends.

What aspects of this game and/or its setting are you most interested in having this character engage with? The plot-heavy aspect of the game is what interests me with this character. Minimus can be more of an organizer, getting people together and sharing information. He'll work on diplomatic relations with NPCs and have all his focus on the clear goal of stopping the World Eaters.

How does your character generally get along with other people?
Cybertronians all across the galaxy respect (and fear, if they are on the wrong side of the law) the legendary Ultra Magnus. For millennia, his reputation as a powerful mech who never strayed from enforcing wartime laws and hunting down criminals was well-earned. Magnus was known as The Eternal Lawman, who seemingly came back from near-death multiple times out of sheer will. Intimidated of his terrifying knowledge of rules and his might in battle, many see Magnus as a serious by-the-rules lawyer with an untouchable reputation. This is entirely true, but like onions, Magnus has layers.

Namely, the real Ultra Magnus died early in the war between Autobots and Decepticons and this guy arresting criminals is a small Cybertronian named Minimus Ambus piloting a giant suit of armor. Minimus is not the first mech to take on the mantle, but he has bonded so closely with the idea of this lawman from long ago that he identifies as Magnus. He uses this borrowed glory to add authority to himself, taking full advantage of his bureaucratic prowess to be the fun police and over-organize offices, paperwork, and safety standards. Unsurprisingly, he's not a popular guy and most people try to avoid him out of being reprimanded for some minor offence. He doesn't understand why he's such a target of ridicule.

He doesn't consider himself a leader even though he does not argue against orders or formal promotions, but he utilizes his other strengths to protect the crew because despite his visible frustrations, he cares about them. What he wants most is to be liked just as much he desires not to lose any respect. He threw himself at Overlord knowing how unkillable he was so that the others would have time to escape. He enforces rules because he believes it will foster a safe environment. He works on "softening his image" - though he needs some work with slang and grasping double meanings. That's not to say that he has no hobbies (apart from bureaucracy). He loves music, singing and dancing when he thinks he's alone but feeling ashamed if anyone sees him.

If he wasn't so afraid of opening up, he could have more friends that understand that he has his own way of showing he cares about them.

What is your character's mental state upon entering the game? As he became captain of the ship after Rodimus' death, he feels completely responsible for the massacre. He doesn't know that Brainstorm tipped them off or that anyone survives, so it's all confusing and terrible. Like always, he'll try to hide his turmoil from everyone.

Skills/Abilities:
As a metal lifeform, Minimus is far sturdier and more repairable than a human, making him more difficult to hurt and kill. Having fought in a 4 million year long war, he's a skilled soldier, focusing primarily on guns, but he does improvise with bludgeoning weapons when he can. Like all Cybertronians, Minimus Ambus has the ability to transform into his alt-mode, typically a vehicle for Transformers, but he's a special case. He he much taller than an organic being (With a slight exception of his true irreducible form) but he will shrink down for this setting.

Minimus is a Point One-Percenter, someone whose Spark grants them one superpower. He is a Loadbearer, granting him super strength in the sense of being able to lift and carry heavy weights with ease, so while his punches are only as forceful as the armor he wears, he could deadlift a tank if he tried (or just be really good at suplexing people). This ability is why he was chosen to be a wearer of the Magnus Armor (and how he was able to hide his true form in a layer of outer armor). Usually, he wears both the Outer Armor (still resembles Minimus) and the Magnus Armor at the same time. For a comparison to his upper (comfortable) limit, here is Irreducible Minimus next to Rodimus and here he is in a souped-up version of the Magnus Armor.

As he technically has three forms (including as Magnus), he has three alt-modes. Ultra Magnus transforms into a large carrier truck that can hold a few vehicles. The Outer Armor transforms into a minesweeper, which looks like a small care. His Irreducible self turns into a turbofox, an animal native to Cybertron. As those with beast alt-modes were looked down upon before the war, he tries to hide this form as often as possible.

If there's one thing Minimus Ambus is good at, it's bureaucracy and lawkeeping. He's memorized the Autobot Code and the Tyrest Accords of wartime codes. He love reading the fine print and technicalities of laws because laws are of no use unless you apply them to every person and every situation. This extends to life outside of lawyering and arresting war criminals: his office and desk are impeccably tidy and he can tell when small details on the ship or in a document are off and not to standard.


Flaws/Weaknesses:
When in distress, he doubles down on being a control freak to the point of being unable to function if he doesn't know everything he can prepare for, rearranging the furniture in Rodimus' office and searching for all fire exits before he can properly have this thing called "fun" in a bar. He always has to follow the rules/laws, even if it benefits the party obviously in the moral wrong. If he makes one compromise, he believes he could start the path down a slippery slope and end up in a dark place. It frustrates everyone else when he gets on their asses to address something minor like incorrect grammar or putting their feet on a table.This does give people a reliable way of distracting him: have him focus on a minor detail to deflect his attention from what they really want to do. It could lead to a breakdown if you push him too far.

His black-and-white view of the world helped him during the war, but in a peaceful society, he struggles seeing everyone as individuals instead of part of a broad group.

Despite his reputation as Ultra Magnus, Minimus doesn't see himself as anyone impressive. Wearing the Magnus Armor and working under Tyrest was a way for him to get out of the shadow of his older brother that he felt he was always being compared to. While Dominus became a Renaissance Man-like historical figure, Minimus was a normal soldier who would never be as good as him. "Why do you think I spent most of my life looking like someone else?" he asks Rewind when the latter comments on their similar appearance. He borrowed someone else's legacy and hid under another layer of armor to make a name for himself, and in the process he was erasing his own. When he wears the armor, Ultra Magnus is special and powerful; he is a somebody. He's everything Minimus always wanted to be. Getting out of the Magnus Armor makes Minimus vulnerable, emotionally and physically. When his identity was initially discovered, he worried that the crew would stop taking him seriously. In the main timeline, he continues being self-conscious when out of the Magnus Armor long after being revealed, and it takes encouragement from friends to walk around as himself.

Like all Cybertronians, Minimus relies on consuming Energon to live. This is a rare resource in his universe, and without it, he will gradually die. He could stave off hunger by munching on metals, but that's not going to be enough.

To kill him, either bleed him entirely, crush his brain module, or destroy his Spark (Essentially his soul). All this could be done through infections or with proper weaponry. As a robot, he is also susceptible to coding or electronically-based attacks.

Personality:
He sees his role as Ultra Magnus to be an important position - in a lawless universe, he has to be a constant. He must be a figurehead for all that is decent and take responsibility in enforcing that. Despite his cold and unfeeling exterior and his dedication to following the letter of the law, he genuinely wants to help people and do good, and that is why rules are important in preventing another civil war. With laws and standards, he has a tool on his side to protect the exploited. It makes him a trustworthy person, since he'll also represent people he hates as professionally as possible, because that's what they deserve and that's what his jobs is.

His obsession with analyzing the wording of the Autobot Code is his way of guiding himself through the complexities of life with "a comprehensive system of morality: a framework for living that addresses all aspects of the Cybertronian condition." He enjoys this analysis and discussion of dense texts, much like he enjoys statistics, fonts, proper grammar, and minutae that others would find boring. As his life revolves around following a set of instructions to keep him on the right path, he struggles with being a sociable person, not helped by his knowing that he's considered to be a boring guy. At the very least, in his opinion, he can help people with his knowledge.

Items: A copy of the Autobot Code and his outer armor. With this on, he will be 9 feet tall, but in histrue form underneath he will be just over 5 feet tall.

SAMPLES

Log Sample: Link
Network Sample: Link and Link