Oleander

Social Connections

Kieran - best, beloved friend. Kieran left the city to find his brother and a better life and Oli pines for the day he returns to take him along. they keep up via post in the meantime, when Kieran is stationary for long enough in his travels.

Culture - Hi-techs

Hi-techs are people hailing from the local dystopian cyberpunk cities, steeped in vanity and unapologetic self-serving immoral bullshit. They are eugenicists that encourage destructive cyber bodymodding and desperately cling to the idea that they are the last bastion of "proper" civilization left over from the apocalypse (and are better than everyone else because of it). Despite their uppity attitude, the hi-tech cities rely heavily on the remainder of humanity in the wastelands to support their lifestyles, and frankly nobody likes them much because of it.

Hi-techs are identifiable by their uniquely sleek, lifelike cybernetics and tendency to look just left of human - their high-level technology allows for many "invisible" modifications that appear biologically legitimate. They are usually stuffed to the brim with mods that serve no purpose outside of vanity - though sometimes not by choice, as modding your children to look the way you want is commonplace. Even then, nearly all of them are brilliantly attractive underneath their mods, even if their personalities are not.

World Context

The  world ended around 300 years ago, give or take, depending on where you'd like to calculate the end of the end to be. Civilization slowly crumbled under a brutal barrage of seemingly every possible apocalypse (natural disasters, polluted resources, world war,) over the course of fifty-some-odd years and now it's a lawless wasteland like the good ole days. No human culture is truly back on its feet, but the wasteland is coming back to life: nature is rebounding en force and many established settlements and factions are doing well for themselves. Plenty of people still roam as survivor crews living off the land, but overall, the memory of the apocalypse itself has passed and a new norm has settled in.

This isn't to say everything is perfect - remnants of war efforts and catastrophic pollution have still left their calling cards, among other things. Rogue robots wander and kill at their leisure and the sky is blanketed in thick, permanent cloud cover. Assholes run rampant in the form of bandits, militia, and dystopian cityfolk continuing the old ways - it's still called "the wasteland" for a reason. But the world and humanity are healing, slowly but surely.

The primary narrative of Ash & Dust happens out in the wasteland with a misfit band of "scrappers:" folks that scavenge technological scrap and will hunt robots, drones, and even cyborgs to break them down for parts. They're not self-sustaining and trade their catches with local settlements on the regular. Like any rogueish wasteland bands, they value their freedom and members often come and go as they please while finding their calling.

Stats
> 5' 8", 5' 9" on a good day

Miscellany
> he's just a normal dude with extra bits. hopefully that should answer most questions LOL
> has his back shoulders separated once he's legally in charge of his own body for quality of life
> deals with chronic pain from being, you know, two bodies fused perpendicular to their natural state. has more good days than bad days tho thankfully
> has panoramic vision and "normal" depth perception within it so long as he doesn't move abruptly
> has mediocre balance, just because he's top-heavy, and is otherwise perfectly physically capable

Abilities (?)
> prehensile tail mods

||  Favorite Art  ||  Primary Ref  ||

for reference: "far" is the side where his butt is, "close" is the side where his fly zips

Primary Notes
> far eyes are blue
> "lightning bolts" in his hair are shaved
> scars on his far shoulders; they were originally attached but he's had them separated
> freckles on his cheeks, shoulders, and wrists

> tank tops tie around his necks and have an open back with a zipper at the bottom
> wears CMYK converse-style shoes

Other Stuff
> on the tall side, and fairly slim
> legs are entirely cybernetic
> listen nobody looks like this irl just fudge his anatomy as needed

Unassuming, mostly minds his own business, but is surprisingly stalwart.