[OOC] application
Name: Ellis Beckett
Age: 21
Gender: M
Birthday: December 21

Preferred PB: Sondre Lerche


Occupation: Originally a nuclear physics major, now leads the zombie gangs under the city. Also eats people in his spare time.


Appearance: Few people know what Ellis Beckett really looks like, and sometimes Ellis finds himself starting to forget as well. An avid student of the art of disguise, Ellis changes faces more often than he changes his shirt; in fact, he can no longer remember the last time he talked to someone as himself, rather than as one of his many aliases. He has a rather extensive wardrobe, considering his ambulatory lifestyle, and knows more about makeup than most women and actors.

Stripped of his many layers, Ellis looks younger than he really is. Not too tall, rather thin, he can sometimes be described as slender, though most people prefer the term 'gaunt' or 'skeletal'. He's always hungry, but no matter how much he eats, he can't seem to put on any weight, either fat or muscle. This was a source of endless woe in his college days, but now gives him the advantage of surprise over anyone who carelessly underestimates his strength.


Personality: Ellis is always hungry. In college, he was hungry for knowledge: he took a million electives, hung on to his teachers' every word, devoured entire libraries...

Now he's just hungry.

Ellis is the very definition of loner. He was the kind of child who locked himself up in his own room but always wound up plastered to the window, starving for a taste of what was out there. As such, Ellis has grown into an incredibly self-reliant young man. He doesn't work well with others, and hates asking for help.

He is a capable leader, at least intellectually speaking. Though he likes to think things through before he acts, he also believes strongly in his own intuition, making for an interesting blend of cautious and daring. He has an instinct for manipulation and is good at seeing the larger picture of what needs to be accomplished. His greatest weakness is his inability to trust anyone. As with most leaders, Ellis has found it difficult to operate without a few lieutenants to help him out. Instead, he has created a plethora of alternate identities for himself, some as simple as an internet screenname, many so complex as to have their own appearances, personalities, and mannerisms. "Markers," a soft-spoken man with a penchant for colorful scarves, is his favorite persona, and acts as his second-in-command. "Dee," a thug with a genius for violence but not for, shall we say, subtlety, acts as something of an enforcer.

Ellis Beckett, leader of the "Others," is mainly just a name now, whispered and alluded to but never seen, shrouded in mystery.


History: After showing signs of infection, Ellis was written off by Umbrella Corporation as a goner, all his files discarded. However, Ellis refused to lay down and die. Determined to find a cure, Ellis created his first alternate personality, a diligent, eager-to-please kid named "Marcel" who, through no little effort, managed to secure an internship at Umbrella Corp. His primary goals were to put a stop to the testing of the neo t virus, and to get a hold of the fabled antivirus that not even UCorp scientists seemed to have access to.

Marcel did not find the cure; his infiltration discovered instead that there were others like him, people who weren't completely overtaken by the virus but weren't as luckily immune as his friend Henry. As Markers, Ellis slowly began to gather these up and move them underground, away from those who hated and feared them.

They called themselves the "Others," because they weren't human but they still had enough self-awareness to mourn the fact. Ellis organized them as well as he was able, gave them missions—sometimes for foraging, sometimes for infiltration, sometimes for no reason at all except to keep people occupied. When the cravings for human flesh arose, Ellis encouraged his followers to eat the Lucky Survivors, because they tasted the best, after all, and why should they be lucky all the time?


Abilities/Weapons: Never exactly athletic, Ellis constantly surprises himself with the extraordinary strength and speed he's gotten from the virus. He has good reflexes and a fondness for sharp things, and thanks to his transformation, he's found it easy, even enjoyable, to acquire his meals.


Alliance: Ellis is one of the "Others" - those who have been infected, yet somehow manage to hold off the full disease for the time being. Theirs is a precarious balance, because they may at any moment fall completely to the virus.

This was definitely not voluntary on Ellis's part.

It all started with peer pressure, as most college disasters do, except this wound up a little worse than TP-ing the dean's car. Ellis's college roommate was Henry Ghersinich, a journalism major, interesting guy, who one day came up with the fantastic idea of signing up for paid experimentation at Umbrella Corporation. It wasn't too complicated, just some questions, a physical exam, a few injections - seemed like a bit of easy cash, which they both needed.

Then his ear fell off.

"Crap, crap, crap, Snitch, something is not right," Ellis raved, holding the phone with one hand and his ear with the other. "It didn't hurt, I'm not even bleeding, am I bleeding?"

"I can't see you. We're on the phone."

"Of course we're on the phone! If we standing next to each other, I would punch your face in!" He attempted to jam the ear back onto his head, with unsurprisingly little success. "This is not fair! How come your body parts aren't falling off? I'm never listening to any of your stupid ideas again!"

And so ended their friendship, along with Ellis's college life.


Physical/Mental Defect: For Ellis, the effects of the T-virus have manifested in his blood. Ellis's mutated blood cells afford him extremely poor circulation and little to no body heat. His normal body temperature now rests at a steady 32°C, what medical professionals would term stage three hypothermia - aka near death. Although he does warm up some right after he's eaten, the stolen heat usually doesn't last much longer than it takes the food to metabolize. As such, Ellis is pretty much at constant risk of contracting frostbite, especially if he misses a meal. Finding some value in the functioning of his various body parts, Ellis takes care to keep his extremities warm and his stomach fed. While his ear has miraculously grown back, he really doesn't want to see if he'll be so lucky a second time.