Profile
Appearance
Rock is a well built man standing at 6’11”. He is featured by a heavily plated, grey motorcycle helmet with a lime-green visor. It is also decorated with winged ear fins in various shades of grey, green, and gold, and a light-navy coloured head ornament. While it covers both his face and neck, he has never (cannot) taken off his helmet. Finally, a single handcuff locks itself on his left hand.
Rock’s wardrobe varies on occasion but he can most often be seen with a grey, fur-collared, kevlar jacket, stitched with lime-green, a black tank-top, blue-grey slate coloured jeans with a heavy leather belt, and armoured, lime-green lined, rider's boots. In addition, he carries a leather sachel, hip-pack, and leg-pack at all times.
Personality
Rock’s personality can be likened to an aged cat, docile; yet, evidence of a once playful side can be seen from time to time but mostly in front of close friends.
While he is aware of entities within his vicinity, most interactions with him end up fruitless unless he is physically touched. Rock understands English and can speak through his helmet but cannot hear nor see. He also chooses to reply in sign language as to not give off the idea that he can hear. Thus, he can only be communicated to via tactile signing (sign language for the blind and deaf), Raspberry Driver, or approaching him when he is within the vicinity of his motorcycle.
Weapons and Abilities
Rock is a skilled racer and while his skill transfers to other forms of motorsports, his speciality is in motorcycling. This skill stems from his childhood as a courier in Vacuo.
Model No. 1 Type - SR
Rock’s modified motorcycle with which he and Razz escaped Mistral with. It is usually meant for one rider, but can accompass two, and features an armoured chassis to protect against sabotaging, a common occurrence in the underground racing scene. It features matted armour plating lined with chrome plated parts and green accents. An ornament similar to his helmet sits at its front..
In addition, a customized sensor system is installed which collects complicated environmental data similar to those involved in the driverless automobile technology. The data can be accesses via a plug-in data cord that connects only with the vehicle’s registered rider, namely Rock.
Mustang-Custom
Rock’s prison in the form of a motorcycle helmet. The helmet was especially modified to block out all visual and auditory senses of its wearer via its noise canceling technology and armoured, opaque face-shield. The lower half of the face shield itself is capable of opening, allowing for the intake of food and water but has a set limit of 15 minutes with 3 allowed unlockings per day.
The primary feature of the helmet is its compatibility with the Model No.1 Type-SR allowing, through a wireless connection in a range of 1 meter, the processing of its data. Afterwards a high resolution retinal projector directly feeds the visual and spatial information onto Rock’s eyes granting him enhanced awareness of his surroundings. However, the visuals are limited to simulated constructs and positions so do not recreate instances such as facial details and the like,
Unfortunately, the helmet is synced to an synthetic collar wrapped around his neck which will contrict upon the removal of the helmet, effectively killing him.
Semblance: Initial
Initial is a Semblance that allows the user to pulse Aura in 2 second intervals in a 0.5 - 2 km radius depending on the medium. The pulses then feed back to the user and allows the advance sensing and detailing of objects and layouts, Grimm and people included, in essence, giving them an Initial.The varied distance is due to the properties of the Aura pulses being similar to sound which has different speeds in different mediums, i.e. sound travels faster in liquids than it does in gases and in solids faster than in liquids, and differing mediums will give results of varied accuracy. The common rule is that gases have the highest range but lower accuracy while solids have lowest range but high accuracy, liquids are on the middle ground.
Pulses only record static information based on the chosen medium, thus mobile enemies and terrain will return as static positions unless a second pulse verifies a change in position and if said element is not within range of the pulse or medium, e.g. pulses through the ground will not pick-up an airborne target, the pulse would also not pick up that information. In addition, all information retrieved by the Semblance must be remembered manually by the user.
Rock uses the Semblance in his everyday life and especially during races.
Backstory
Shamrock “Rock” Gavenia Raelyn was the oldest of his three siblings who resided in the gentrified slums of Mistral. His parents were hawkers who made their living off tricking tourists into buying glass shards disguise as high quality Dust crystals. Rock on the other hand worked as an underground courier for the black market situated there.
While not the most righteous family, they did what they needed to survive. However, they did legally purchase a secondhand motorcycle which enabled Rock's younger siblings to attend school and for Rock to work his courier job. In addition, riding every day honed Rock’s skills and the maintenance forced him to become familiar with engine repair.
When Rock was 16, he came home one day to his home ravaged and his family held hostage by a local mobster boss who took offense to his parents’ practices on “his turf”. With little in the ways of money, Rock sold himself to the man to save his family.
He would be owned by the man for 2 years as a fist-fighter in an underground ring before he convinced the man of his unparalleled speed in Motorsports and indirectly, winning the man his bets at illegal street racing events. It is here he met Raspberry “Razz” Driver, a woman assigned to be his handler during races. The two developed a close relationship as well as a stellar reputation in the racing community earning the nickname of “Razzberry Riders”.
The pair remained unbeatable until 4 years later when the mobster boss neglected to provide sufficient replacement parts for the pair’s vehicle which caused Rock to lose for the first time. This prompted immediate and heavy punishment. Rock was forced into a specially modified motorcycle helmet that blocked all vision and noise, effectively pacifying all distractions unrelated to racing, and a reactive collar which would choke Rock to death if his helmet was ever removed.
It took another 2 years until both Razz and Rock managed to escape to Vale after a bloody confrontation resulting in the mobster's death. Rock as a result, managed to unlock his Aura and Semblance.
After escaping to Vale, Rock and Razz re-entered the street racing scene there to scrape by until they were beaten by a red-scarfed rookie rider by the name of Chiyo Hāto. Presently, both Rock and Razz found solace in the hospitality of Chiyo and serve as close friends as well as the members of Chiyo's band.
Relationships
Raspberry "Razz" Driver
Rock's girlfriend and his handler during his racing days. Their relationship is complicated to say the least. The two have mutual feelings for one another which seem to cross the communication barrier as Razz is the only individual Rock can reliably recognize without her identifying herself.
Razz being a non-Aura user is unaware of Rock's Semblance and thus keeps her body away from him as she feels ashamed of it, going so far as to purposely keep Rock blind and deaf. Rock however, knows of Razz's condition, and he has no negative feelings towards it.
Chiyo Hāto
Their guardian and the only racer to beat him fair and square. Rock is equally as protective of her as he is with Razz and will not question anything that Chiyo requests of him.
Chiyo is the only one aware of Rock's Semblance as well as Razz's insecurities towards Rock. Yet, she chooses not to tell either one of them the truth as she feels it is not her right to do so.
Trivia
- A shamrock is a sprig of clover used as a symbol of Ireland. Thus Rock's colour is green
- Shamrock was developed as an exploration of Emmanuel Levinas' Face-to-Face philosophy
- The Face-to-Face philosophy instates that ethics be done via actions between oneself and the other in which the recognition of the other is done through the human face in a practical application
- Rock, an individual who lacks a face, is a thought experiment of this philosophy
