Steam Name: Blazer52637
Steam ID: STEAM_0:0:57475781
Steam Profile Link: http://steamcommunity.com/id/814z3r/
Rp Experience: 7+ Years
How did you stumble upon our server?: Recommendations by Postal & IronKnife
Character Name: Davíd Tapia
Character Sex: Male
Character Age: 34
Occupation (Current or Before):(Formerly) USMC Rifleman, Firearm salesman; (Currently) Survivor
Character Equipment: Entrenchment Tool, Colt M1911 with a couple of mags (Excluding the one inside the handgun), Colt M16A4 (with one magazine excluding the one in the rifle; Optional, will be removed if requested by admins)
Moral Alignment(See Chart below this post): Chaotic Good
Strengths: Physically strong, former Marine Corps training, stubbornly determined to complete whatever task he sets himself on, extremely manic, seems to be positive in even the most dire situations
Weaknesses: Bipolar disorder, missing left leg replaced by a fairly kept prosthetic, Wild Card, selective amnesia, can fall into a deep depression if medication isn't taken regularly
Character Backstory a.ka. how or why are you here (One paragraph minimum, be creative! More backstory does not always mean a better app! Put thought into how they'll interact with others too!):
In the summer of 1983, the man known as Davíd Tapia would be born to a loving half-Mexican couple in El Paso, Texas on May 29th. In his early childhood, Davíd had fond memories growing up on a little family-owned farm where he and his father, mother, and siblings raised and sold cattle, along with an array of other animals such as chickens and pigs. Davíd’s father loved doing it and as an added bonus, it put food on the table; Quite literally, I might add. Davíd however was never really fond of this life. He always felt he was meant for something greater, but he was never really sure what that something was. That is until he started his Senior year of high school. The year started just as any other. He passed through the first month of school no-problem. Reconnected with old friends, made new ones, got used to his daily routine of scrambling in and out between classes, remembered how horrible the homework load was. Same stuff every year, just with a little bit added on. Then it happened.
September 11th, 2001. A day that was burned into the memories of every man, woman, and child that lived through the event no matter who they were or where they were. On that day the freedoms of everyone were challenged by the terrorist group known as Al-Qaeda. Davíd, like many others around the country, suddenly felt a strong need to volunteer their lives and put themselves on the line in order to protect that freedom which they had been gifted. Not only that, but he also felt he had finally found his calling. Rather than graduating high school to become another one of his father’s ranch hands, Davíd immediately signed himself up to be a Rifleman for the United States Marine Corps. “Oh the fun i’ll have!” He thought as he made his way into boot camp. He couldn't wait to become one of the war heroes he saw on TV and in all the big action movies that he saw as a kid.
How wrong he was. The first few weeks of his life were hell. Day by day, minute by minute Davíd spent his time being broken down and ripped apart by his Drill Sergeant. On top of this his platoon wasn't very supportive either. They just saw Davíd as the weakest of the bunch and in all honesty, they were right. Davíd knew that if he was going to survive out here, something needed to change. With that in mind, he pushed himself farther than he or anyone else ever thought possible, excelling (or at least attempting to be better) at everything he was training to become, from shooting, to PT, Davíd was determined to rebuild himself into the model soldier he had dreamt of becoming. After several grueling weeks of training, Davíd made it. No longer was he your typical Mexican scrub from El Paso. Now he was a Marine, and a damn good one at that.
Within a few weeks, Davíd was deployed into Iraq along with the rest of his platoon. A desert wasteland full of literally the opposite of what the movies had told him life as a Marine was like. Sure, every now and then Davíd would go on patrols with his fireteam and, on occasion, receive enemy fire before dishing it back out in a little skirmish. Other than that, life was dull. That was until Operation Phantom Fury. November 7th, 2004. Davíd and his platoon took part in one of the biggest battles the Marines had ever fought in over thirty-five years. Several long, gritty, ruthless, and overall tiresome weeks of fighting gave Davíd exactly what he was looking for. A chance to spread his wings and finally get into some actual combat. The battle ended in an overwhelming victory for coalition forces and lots of heavy drinking from overzealous Marines. More importantly it ended up giving young Davíd a sense of heroism. He felt like he’d finally accomplished something in his life and with that in mind, he pushed himself further into his military career. Even after the Iraq war ended in 2011, Sergeant Davíd Tapia immediately redeployed into Afghanistan All the way up until a cool summer’s night in 2014.
Davíd and a few newbies from the base went out on a late-night patrol in their HMMWV. Everyone went about reminiscing about their lives and various memories they had back in the states. Around the time when Davíd and the guys were about to report back to base, a group of insurgents began firing upon their vehicle without remorse. The driver, a young man who had just been deployed into Iraq, slumped over on the wheel and put all his weight into driving into a building on their left. Davíd scrambled to help the poor boy, but he was already dead the moment the enemy’s bullet spray penetrated through his chest and throat. Immediately afterwards everyone sprung into action, returning fire at whatever threats they saw until a live grenade rolled underneath one of Davíd’s men. The Sergeant yelled for everyone to take cover, but it was too late. The grenade detonated, instantly killing the Marine and sending Davíd and the other man flying. Davíd scrambled to get to his feet, but every time he did he was enveloped in an indescribable pain. Suddenly screeching tires could be heard as nearby patrols closed in, shots and screaming filled the air, and then… Nothing. Davíd woke up several hours later in a hospital bed with a nurse changing the IV bag connected to his wrist. As soon as the man noticed his patient had woken up, he gave Davíd the unfortunate truth. The squad he went out on patrol with didn't make it, the only survivor of the attack was Davíd himself. Along with this, Davíd received multiple injuries including multiple fractured ribs, a broken right leg, broken right arm, and to top it all off the injuries to Davíd’s left leg were so severe that it needed to be amputated. Soon Davíd’s commanding officer informed him that arrangements had been made for the wounded Marine to make an unexpected return to the States. Despite his constant pleas against doing so, the former Sergeant found himself making his way back to El Paso in about two weeks time.
Davíd’s life after the Marines was a definite wild ride, and one that seemingly had no end in sight. Most of Davíd’s siblings had scattered around the world, either being inspired by their brother and joining the military or pursuing their dreams in whatever ways they thought possible. Either way Davíd returned home to the old, worn down ranch he grew up in. Unfortunately, Davíd’s mother and father had passed away a few years prior to his return and left his childhood home in a dismal state of disrepair. Still, Davíd had the deed to the property transferred over to him along with a few other things, such as his grandfather’s old WW2 entrenching tool and Colt M1911, due to Davíd not being able to receive his part of his inheritance because of being overseas. Having a few mementos like these brought the veteran a sense of nostalgia and a strange sense of peace. Eventually Davíd got an open carry license and landed a job at his local gun store, using his prior military knowledge to provide an array of services to the local townsfolk. Using the money he saved up from his job and from the checks the government still sent him from his military service, Davíd bought a Colt M16A4 a few months later just like the one he used to have during his time in the Marines. Sure every now and then he’d use it to get rid of some of the vermin infesting the ranch and sometimes he’d get a kick out of it, but soon Davíd found something eating away at him. Something he didn’t really understand. Sometimes he’d be having a really great day, birds singing, sun shining, a soda in one hand and his M1911 in the other. Other days he’d be laying on the edge of his bed, contemplating whether or not he should even get up to face reality. One thing was for certain, however. Something was wrong with him and he needed to figure out what. Luckily a quick trip to the doctor’s figured out what. Bipolar Disorder. It had been inherited from his mother who also had it and had been slowly developing in Davíd since birth. The only difference between hers and Davíd’s is that Davíd’s only recently began to manifest itself and finally came in full force when that frag grenade took out his left leg. On top of this, it seems a side effect of getting blown up was getting a case of selective amnesia. This was discovered after Davíd, a fluent speaker of Spanish, could barely communicate with one of his sisters after meeting up with them again for the first time since he joined the Marines. Of course, Davíd was given medication and treatment to at least try and get some of his memories back. Though despite this, Davíd would very often neglect to actually take his prescriptions and whenever he would remember, it was only to get rid of his depressing episodes when they prevented him from doing anything productive. And seeing as the future had much more to throw at the ex-Marine, he was going to need all his energy to survive the next couple of years.
In the Summer of 2017, reports started coming around of a strange outbreak occurring throughout most of southern Texas along with rioting at the border and an increase of military presence. Davíd of course took this as a joke, thinking more kids wanted to start up issues he thought didn't exist. That was until news flooded in of an incident in Dallas involving zombie-like creatures and similar incidents occurring throughout most of the United States. Soon enough, a few of the creatures described in the news reports showed up on Davíd’s doorstep. They attempted to actually tear the wooden door off its hinges to get a chance at killing him. Unfortunately for them, the attempted raid caused Davíd’s Marine instincts to kick in and he gunned down the intruders before they could lay one of their rotting fingers on him. After that incident, Davíd knew he wasn’t safe anymore and had to move quickly. He gathered as many supplies as he could and made a mad dash for his truck. After taking one last look at his childhood home, Davíd set off towards a FEMA camp set up in Dallas. Davíd’s best bet was to head there and join up with other survivors, maybe trade in his usefulness with a rifle for a few supplies and a place to sleep. However, when he arrived Davíd found the camp to be in ruins and swarmed with the undead who now called this once prosperous city home. As soon as he encountered the horde(and wasted a few magazines worth of rifle ammo), Davíd sped off into the night before running out of gas on the outskirts of Houston. Here Davíd decided to abandon his truck and take whatever weapons and supplies he could carry into the main city. Fortunately enough, Davíd found himself amongst several groups of survivors who had somehow survived the attack in Dallas. Unfortunately, he also found himself in the midst of even more undead than he could count. How would the ex-Marine survive this encounter? Only time will tell.
[Edit 7/28/17: Changed David's backstory quite a bit to coincide with a better, less stereotypical ex-marine-type character]
[Edit 7/29/17: Somehow hadn't realized I forgot to change the opening to the backstory to remove the old alter ego name
[NOTE: Davíd's backstory is fairly open to new developments as the RP's story develops]
