Ben McCarthy

Background
Benjamin Mobius McCarthy, "Ben" for short, was born in 1988 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He's also a member of the Inspired (Staunen), enjoys running ships aground while nervous couples are taking "long walks on the beach," and has a good deal of "interests" that can't be listed here because Wikis don't have spoiler tags. They can be a surprise!

Well. . . That doesn't help much as far as backgrounds go, but it gives you a decent idea of the kind of thing he'd write. The whole story of Ben McCarthy is hard to lay out in it's entirety without this page becoming an eyesore, but I'll try to do him justice; Ben was raised almost exclusively by various forms of pop culture; TV, comic books, the odd radio program, and video games (usually incredibly realistic driving, gunfighting, and hand-to-hand combat simulators--the kind of thing the military would use for training). His parents weren't uncaring; they were just incredibly busy. His mother, an average looking woman named with an odd way of speaking, talked and played with him as much as she could, but her job kept her constantly busy. His father was much the same; what he described as "petty squabbles" and "building the future of mankind" seemed to take his time along with his patience. He made time where he could though, fostering Ben's love for classic Sci-fi and supplying him with such gems as Plan 9 from Outer Space and Forbidden Planet (the latter was both of their favorites). As a result he became incredibly self-sufficient, even learning to cook for himself when most kids were still struggling with the concept of TV dinners.

Ben was an incredibly curious child, constantly asking questions about anything he could find (to his parents' eternal chagrin--and silent joy). His parents were more than happy to answer as long as the questions weren't about their all-important jobs. Or where they lived. Or why Ben couldn't ever leave the house. Or why he was homeschooled. In fact, the older Ben got the more he understood how boxed in he was. He filled the empty hole left in his understanding with books and drawings; say what you wanted, but his parents had some incredibly interesting novels and reference books lying around. His drawings were mostly of inventions snatched from the more "science-y" comics and movies he enjoyed. His parents would pin them all up on the fridge with pride, especially if they were original concepts. Those practically merited a parade. Life went on like this for a while, his parents seeming to grow more and more stressed, until something finally got through the protective wall his parents had built up; him.

It all began simply enough; Ben awoke in the night, hearing something strange outside. He was around 23 at this point, so he wasn't scared - just curious. He wandered past his parents' room (empty, as usual) and trudged downstairs for a glass of water. Then, he saw it: the tiniest bit of otherworldly light shining through the front door. It was open, but only just. Without a second though he ran upstairs, threw on some clothes, and threw the thing open to find -- a strange metal tunnel, not unlike that of a bank vault. He ascended the stairs leading up to what he assumed was the surface, throwing open the disguised metal trapdoor that hid the door to his home. Someone must really want me hidden, he thought. Probably the last normal thought he'd ever have.

The sight that stood before him was almost impossible to adequately explain -- you have to see it to understand. Ben stood at the edge of a massive cave, with florescent lighting of all colors illuminating what could only be described as the the complete opposite of the Venture Compound. Men, women, cyborgs, and sentient animals filled the cave's many passageways and catwalks, flying scooters carrying strange glowing packages zipping across the sky. Magnetic bullet trains laden with raw materials and supplies zoomed across haphazardly placed railroads, trying to be everywhere at the same time. Gigantic artillery installments loomed over the military officials inspecting them. Small buildings that could only be laboratories shone out like tiny beacons of inspiration all across the cavern. It was like being inside a mountain. A mountain dedicated to science.

Ben's mind was suddenly flooded with new, impossible ideas. Is this'' what my parents have been doing all this time? How are those trains floating?''

 Theoretically, if I read up a little, could I build anything like this?

As these things usually go, however, Ben only got to gaze upon this glory of glories for 30 seconds at most. An incredible blinding light began to shine from one of the labs, and by the time Ben had shielded his eyes it had practically exploded. The light washed over the facility like a tsunami over a beach. Luckily he wasn't conscious for the screaming and chaos afterwards.

Around a day or so later Ben came to. He was in an alleyway outside of a relatively inconspicuous looking white office building, wearing average clothing and with a remastered VHS tape of Forbidden Planet duct taped to his hands. A small note found in his pocket read "THE WHITE BUILDING HAS HELP. DON'T LOOK FOR US TOO HARD. SOME QUESTIONS DON'T HAVE CLEAR ANSWERS."

While that white building, a branch of the Navigators, was the first day of the rest of Ben's life, it was the last interesting bit of his background. The Peers inside the white building were able to identify Ben as a Staunen (mostly because he wouldn't stop talking), told him a bit about being Inspired, and gave him a little instruction on Apokalypsi to get him started. He picked up Skafoi shortly after, really buying into the "explorer" aspect of the Navigators. Katastrofi was a natural third pick; nothing spices up a good wonder of Skafoi like some guns! He spent countless hours training the skills needed to make these axioms shine, sometimes almost obsessively. Strangely enough he didn't seem to despair much over havoc and how he was essentially a broken man with broken dreams; He, Ben McCarthy, was a SUPER SCIENTIST. He could (eventually) build flying cars! And laser guns! And WALKING EYES! Yes, they were fake and his theories were insane ramblings that would make any real scientist cry, but that didn't make them any less entertaining.

For around a year or so Ben lived in a shitty apartment working a dead-end job as a deliveryman for hire, not caring in the least about anything because freakin' science man! The only thing that really bothered him was the fate of his parents. The navigators weren't of any help, nor were the few other Peers he came to know. He searched and tinkered ferociously until word of the "event" in North Georgia reached his ears. Figuring that one unexplainable event might as well lead to another (oh Genii and your leaps of logic!) he grabbed everything he could, hopped in his wonderous van he had lovingly salvaged from a scrapped ambulance and set off for South Georgia. And if that sounds shortsighted, dangerous, and vaguely immature. ..

. . . that's because it is. But when you have SCIENCE!(!1!!) who needs something as little as a "plan?"

Personality
As a result of growing up in a closed metal box, Ben's social skills are... less than perfect. He isn't really any stranger than any other Staunen though, and in a way he's far more enjoyable to be around. He has a great love for theatrics, subtly (or not so subtly) referencing pop culture, and yelling at the TV whenever Venture Brothers is on ("HOW CAN THIS IDIOT NOT KNOW WHAT A WALKING EYE IS FOR? IT'S SO OBVIOUS!"). He also has the slightly guilty pleasure of randomly taking people's perception of reality and smashing it to pieces with a sledgehammer. These incidents are usually insane, hilarious, and sometimes surprisingly helpful, but never expected. They're also not transgressions and usually don't pose danger to anyone who isn't evil enough to deserve it, but that doesn't make it any less startling when a fugitive ducks into an abandoned building to hide and Ben just drives clean through the wall (he tends to put Katastrofi on his front bumper for just this reason). People usually guess that he either enjoys acting insane or that he just likes to mess with people, but the truth is more a mixture of both.

Ben's aesthetic is kind of a strange one, but it fits him just fine; he calls it As Seen On TV. His wonders don't all look like something a traveling salesman would try to sell to an all-American housewife (but how AWESOME would that be??), rather they all look like how they're portrayed in pop culture and fiction. All of his guns seemingly fire tracer rounds, and his cars are loud and flashy, and his ray guns would be right at home in the hands of little green (or grey, if they do aggravated damage) men. It's not all Micheal Bay though; while smartphones and the like look like something from Steve Jobs's fever dreams, wired phones will either be old fashioned telephone booths or 50's style rotating dial phones - because that's what the public thinks of when they hear the word. It's a bit like how a fully functional TARDIS will disguise itself when it enters a new time period; whatever it would look best as is the form it takes.

Finally, Ben is a very curious person, especially when he shouldn't be. As a result he tends to find himself right in the middle of whatever's going on at the moment, which is exactly how he likes it. He also enjoys a good mystery or question, but doesn't tolerate "cop out" answers. He tends to dislike politicians for this reason. He also keeps up his obsession with pop culture, even having some kind of "Master Plan" to find the location of his parents using only Skafoi 4, an at least partly willing crew, and a copy of Fallout: New Vegas (one of his favorite series, and by far his favorite game). While he doesn't have much of a clear plan beyond "uncover past and discover truth behind Georgia issue," all Ben really wants is an interesting and fulfilling life not unlike the Courier from New Vegas. Intrigue, the chance to have an impact on the world (even if things don't always turn out rosy), a nice group of friends to aid and occasionally mess with, and as much improbable, impossible, balls-thoroughly-to-the-wall awesome as possible.

Oh, and maybe a he'd like a girl who's as crazy as he is. You know, if there's time.

Appearance
Ben is actually surprisingly tall, standing at around 6.1 ft. His skin still has a strange pale quality to it (probably from being inside for 23 years), his brown hair and green eyes making up for it. He's usually dressed in some kind of lab coat or other "appropriate" arrive. If he's built some kind of wondrous balloon expect him to dress like a WW1 aviator, whereas a SWAT van might have him in anti-zombie hazmat gear. These costumes can be wondrous, and sometimes even weaponized.

Character Sheet
Sheet:Ben McCarthy