Auroch

<infobox> <title source="name"><default>Auroch</default></title>

<image source="Image"></image> <image source="image"></image> <group><header>Basic Information</header> <label>Civilian Name</label> <label>Aliases</label> <label>Gender</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Death</label> <label>Age</label><default>Unknown</default> <label>Post-timeskip</label> <label>Ward start</label> <label>Relations</label> <label>Family</label></group> <group><header>Professional Status</header> <label>Occupation</label> <label>Classification</label> <label>Unique Features</label> <label>Alignment</label>

<label>Status</label><format>

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<label>Location</label> <label>Teams</label> <label>Previous Team(s)</label> <label>Base of Operations</label></group> <group><header>First Appearance</header> <label>Worm Debut</label> <label>Ward Debut</label></group> </infobox>

Charley Cothran, known to the public as Auroch, is a member of the Anchorage Wards.

Personality

Charley is friendly, assertive, and was reasonably confident before her psychotic break. She responds well to authority and interacts well with people in positions above or below her, cape or civilian. She consistently under performs in her day to day in school but does well on final examinations and major assignments.<ref name="PRT Quest"/>

Claims to be a music nerd with a liking of loud music, the type that makes bone's rattle.<ref name="PRT67e1">“I’m a high school student,” Auroch says. “I go out with friends after school. I’m a big music nerd. I-”

“Nerd?”

“I like music a lot. Too much, maybe. Whenever I have the free time, I try to go to concerts. Big events, lots of people dancing, music so loud you can feel it in your bones.” - Department Sixty Four, PRT Quest thread i p67</ref>

Relationships

Parents

She had a good relationship with her father before he died, he taught her to believe in the ideals of the Protectorate.<ref name="PRT Quest"/><ref name="PRT67e2">“Who is the fat man?”

“My dad.”

“Oh. Sorry, for my calling-”

“It’s fine. He was fat.”

“Why am I looking at this?”

“Keep going. You might have to go a bit. Photo… sixty or so.”

“Oh. He is a hero?”

“He was. He’s dead.”

“Oh.”

[...]

“If they were going to force you to join? I’d never stay. I’d never let them mess up my memory of my dad, okay? I couldn’t do that. I believe in what I’m doing.”

“Yes. And you believe I should be joining the American heroes?”

“No. I think you should do what works best for you, and maybe that means you don’t. Maybe it means you do, because that helps you avoid jail or time in the hospital, it gives you a job and a lot of help at a time you need that help.”

[...]

“Can I ask? His name?”

“Ben. He was Ben. As a superhero, he went by Chubster.”

“Chubster?”

“It means fat. A funny sort of fat. He was that sort of guy. To poke fun at himself. And he chose the name because he was frustrated all the good names were already taken.” - Department Sixty Four, PRT Quest thread i p67</ref>

Director Knox

Her former director in the Los Angeles protectorate department. Knox went out of her way to make sure Charley had a full mental recovery before transferring her to Anchorage.<ref name="PRT92">◈ AUROCH; Addendum

Director Knox, Note:
Auroch appears withdrawn, and alternates recklessly between shunning her duties entirely and throwing herself into them. She is clearly attempting to find a means of coping, but more troubling is her rejection of outside aid. Her confidence is failing her, and her ability to lead has been clearly compromised, as she is accepting advice and counsel from teammates who are not qualified to give it. I’ve had a discussion with her, and I’ve mandated psychological counseling.

Director Knox, Note:
Auroch’s grades are slipping, necessitating that I send staff to the school, and oversight is starting to take note. Psych sessions are not helping as much as I hoped. We had an incident with a patrol, where Auroch second guessed her initial orders and agreed to move forward with an aggressive play as Flambé was arguing for. To say this is an error in judgement is putting it lightly; Flambé’s reckless tendencies and peculiar mental state are so well known that even the nine year old on our team would ignore his advice. Nobody was hurt, but I’ve suspended Auroch from her position as leader of the second LA Wards’ team.

Director Knox, Note:
Removing Auroch from her leadership position was a mistake. Her confidence was already shaken, and she’s not doing well without this pillar and position in her life. I worry about the effects, but I’ve relieved her from the team entirely, until she’s completed more psych sessions and taken a vacation. I’m hoping she takes the time to tend to her civilian life and family.

Director Knox, Note:
My hopes for Auroch’s condition were raised considerably with my periodic visits with her over these past few months, only to be dashed. She had an outburst with no apparent cause, shouting, directing physical violence at inanimate objects, used her power in public (thankfully unobserved, as far as we can tell), and was almost entirely dissociation from reality when we approached her. I fear this is a long-delayed reaction to the death of her father and several of her friends.

Our in-house psychologist expressed interest in studying her mental state, something about an agent interjection, parahuman inability to remain on standby, all garbage. His attitude about Auroch herself was cold and uncaring, all things considered. To say I’m displeased would be stating it lightly; he’s been fired and I intend to ensure he doesn’t find further employment anywhere near the PRT.

Director Knox, Final Note:
Auroch and psychologists have a consensus that she’s ready to work, now, but has requested transfer. We hope she’ll find a good position elsewhere, her leadership talents and exemplary ork deserve all the best. - Department Sixty Four, [https://forums.spacebattles.com/posts/13817621 PRT Quest thread i p92}</ref>

Appearance

Charley stands 5’11” with a above average build of 165 pounds, wears her brown hair short.<ref name="PRT Quest"/>

As Auroch she wears a white costume and armor with a stylized bull's helmet.<ref name="PRT8"> - Department Sixty Four, PRT Quest thread i p8</ref>

Her costume has gone through several re-branding and redesign attempts but nothing has been satisfactory yet.

Abilities and Powers

Good grasp of tactics and leadership.

Charley is capable of generating a inertia manipulating field around her that has a controlled series of effects. One permutation dampens inertia, protecting and slowing things in the area, another accelerates them to prompt faster, less controlled movement. She can affect herself independently of this general effect, with some benefits of a dampening effect to protect her alongside the benefits of an acceleration to give her speed. She can be selective in it's application.<ref name="PRT QuestDoc">PRT Quest document 15-16</ref>.

Aura effect manipulates inertia in radius around herself, with positive bias for herself.<ref name="list">Wildbow's Parahuman List</ref> She was able to slow down Tanya who was rated as a Brute.

Auroch's field disrupts energy and machinery, which tends to fail or work intermittently within her field.<ref name="PRT Quest"/> It's use visibly distorts light around it.<ref name="PRT79">PRT Quest thread i p79</ref> Charley is a second generation cape with her powers being derived from her fathers.

History

Background

Formerly a resident of Los Angeles with her father, until he died defending Brockton Bay. He then moved in with her mother and mother's boyfriend.

After a seemingly unprovoked nervous breakdown Charley was transferred to Anchorage. There is speculation it is related to her Agent.<ref name="Wildbow PRT">Wildbow PRT Quest Archive</ref>

Trivia

• The Auroch is a bovine mega-fauna from which all modern cattle descend.

References

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