Characters

Tommy Hawk

Tommy Hawk is an Apache Indian--smokes, drinks a bit too much, see himself as a loser, intelligent, mechanic, 27 years old, wears grease-stained jeans and a surplus army jacket, has loved and lost hard, past (in childhood, at about age 13) mystical experience with great grandfather and growing up made him gain, and then painfully lose, all of his mystical "faith," views actions of tribal elders with deep skepticism, works in reservation motor-pool garage (he gets room and board)—no real ambition at the moment.

Traits: very intelligent, "hidden" mystical powers, athletic, mechanical/electrical skill, tenacious

Disadvantages: fights against his innate powers, low self confidence, "hard" attitude, cynical

Why does a player want to be Tommy Hawk?

- The player can identify Tommy, since he begins the game as an "everyman" complete with flaws and all (think Bruce Willis in Die Hard - the reluctant hero)
- The player "grows" Tommy into a hero
- Tommy looks and acts cool, but he is not a caricature
- Tommy becomes very powerful with his weapons and his mystical powers

- Tommy begins the story down-on-his luck. He's a-social and has zero motivation. He has virtually no self confidence and he's deeply cynical towards tribal mysteries. Tommy will gain in confidence, and having the clear goals of survival and saving the Earth will most definitely motivate him. But the most important change in Tommy will be his meeting with his great grandfather--his connection to his Indian heritage will reawaken, and he will begin to evolve as a mystical being with real power.
- Tommy must stop his cynical beliefs in relation to his mystical potential. Only once he has stopped disbelieving will his powers grow.
- Tommy is used to working with his hands, and his situation on the Trocaran mother ship forces him to be more physical then ever before, to run, hunt, escape, use weapons, fix machinery, etc.
- Tommy will tend to shoot first and ask questions later. His primary drive is survival. He will be very, very physical.

Tommy’s Backstory

Tommy was not raised with any of the traditional tribal knowledge, since his father was an ocean welder by trade, and worked away from the reservation for months at a time. Tommy’s mother, Antilla, lived marginally, a semi-functioning alcoholic, trying to raise her daughter and son as best she could with only a part-time husband. Tommy’s sister, Evannie, was killed in an automobile accident when Tommy was 6 (she was 8). After the accident, Antilla and Tommy moved away from the reservation, north to a town in southern Colorado. That series of traumas helped to splinter his family life even further.

Once, when Tommy was 13 years old, his parents took him to a reservation in Arizona to see his great grandfather, who was dying. Decades before, Tommy’s great grandfather had been a mystic, deep into the art of peyoteism, and clashing weekly against the Christian missionaries sent to rid the reservations of this "pagan and ungodly ritual". Tommy had never met his great grandfather before, but there was a strange familiarity in the old man’s gaze, almost as if he had met him many lifetimes ago. His great grandfather could not speak, but he placed his hand on Tommy’s shoulder and it felt as if an energy was entering into him. At that moment, his great grandfather died.

Tommy tried to explain his sensations to his mother and father, but they didn’t seem very interested. He tried accessing Apache background and tribal knowledge through the local libraries, but all the information seemed sterile and not applicable. In school, he pressed his teachers for answers, but he was mocked and ridiculed by the students for his seeming mysticism. Once, after school, three boys trapped him behind a service entrance and prepared to kick the crap out of him. Tommy had always been fit and agile, and prepared to fight back, but at that moment, a familiar force seemed to well up in him and whisper to him, telling him not to fight, to keep his hands low and to turn his eyes away.

He obeyed the inner voice, and was cruelly beaten, ending up with two broken ribs, a broken forearm and a ruptured spleen. He had to spend three days in the hospital. He never told anyone about the voice, and he struggled deeply with the situation that he had placed himself within. Without even forming the words, even to himself, he pushed down any of his mystic curiosity and feelings and vowed never again to outwardly acknowledge his Apache heritage.

Tommy’s life in the years after high school is a blur of non-descript jobs and directionless shifting, including: several stints at two local community colleges, studying computers at one, law enforcement at another; jobs as a cook, a sign painter and a hot-tar roofer. He "fell into" some bad company, and began doing some car heisting and repo work—he was a natural at figuring out hot to get past car alarms and behind the wheel.

He "worked" for over a year at this, and met Rachel quite by accident one night while attempting to repossess her car. They fell in love, deeply and truly, and over the next few months, Rachel tried to get Tommy to move to more "mainstream" work, fixing up cars—she saw his mechanical talent. He listened to her, but never took any action.

Then his mother became ill and needed full time care—they had no money, so Tommy’s only choice was to return to the reservation in north-eastern Arizona, where their tribal membership allowed his mother to be cared for at the reservation’s hospital. To Tommy’s utter surprise, Rachel, not an American Indian, happily accompanied him to the reservation. Tommy took some classes at the reservation’s Outreach center, and took a job at the reservation’s motorpool, fixing school buses and other service vehicles. For a few months, Tommy’s life seemed complete…

But Tommy’s years of drifting and being unfocused left him ill-equipped to deal with the day-to-day give and take of a relationship. His relationship with Rachel slowly eroded, like the spreading of emotional cancer, until it died one evening when she walked out, right in front of him, without so much as a single word—she simply drove away and out of his life.

That was 8 months ago—Tommy has moved into a shack behind the garage, has been "folding" into himself, avoiding most contact with people (except that in the past month, he has allowed himself to talk briefly, and actually laugh a little, with a young Indian teacher named Mary Thunder). He spends increasing amounts of his time in a "converted" WWII ammo bunker (they used to have them all over the place, especially on reservations, just in case of invasion) under his shack—like his own personal cave, dark and moody. While the bunker is small, Tommy has connected it to the oil change pit in the motorpool garage. On his days off, he goes out on the reservation for overnight camping, taking with him an old bolt-action rifle and Colt revolver (found in the old, and mostly empty, ammo cave).

Mary Thunder

Mary is an Apache who grew up on the small reservation in eastern Arizona. She attended ASU and majored in education and received her K-12 certification. Currently, she teaches 4-7th grade at the reservation school. She is dark, attractive and very intelligent. She is a very level-headed and rational person who tends to offer advice, even when it’s not needed. While she is truly very wise, her wisdom is very limited due to her limited life experience. She avoids new situations because she feels like she is losing her control.

She has just recently spent time with the brooding Tommy Hawk. She likes him very much and she secretly hopes that it blossoms into much more. Tommy possesses those traits which she does not have, and it’s very appealing to her.

The Great-grandfather

Tommy’s great grandfather serves an almost "Obi-wan" role in Dark Harvest.

Tommy’s great grandfather had been a mystic, deep into the art of peyoteism, and clashing weekly against the Christian missionaries sent to rid the reservations of this "pagan and ungodly ritual" (during the Depression years).

When Tommy was 13 years old, his parents took him to a reservation in New Mexico to see his great grandfather, who was dying. Tommy had never met his great grandfather before, but there was a strange familiarity in the old man’s gaze, almost as if he had met him many lifetimes ago. His great grandfather could not speak, but he placed his hand on Tommy’s shoulder and it felt as if an energy was entering into him. At that moment, his great grandfather died.

Tommy meets the old man in the guise of a spirit walker on the Trocaran space ship. He is old, wise, steeped in mystical knowledge, and he understands that his destiny is inescapably tired to Tommy’s—he must guide him, encourage him and teach him how to open up to his own mystical energies. Only then can Tommy succeed in his quest.

As it turns out, Tommy’s great grandfather has been abducted by the minions of the Keepers when he was much younger. He was transported aboard the mothership, and he knew, deep down, that he was there for a purpose even beyond the Keepers’ own intentions. He had been abducted with his entire 1934 Ford pickup packed with supplies. He set out dispersing the supplies wherever he could, because he knew that someone would need them in the future. Eventually, he was returned to Earth, and he waited to connect with the "chosen spirit" (who is Tommy Hawk).

Cast of other main characters

The Staleene Keeper (God-like main race that runs the games)

The master of all Keepers-essentially, she is God-mother and caretaker of our genetic stock, the single being who can damn or save all of Earth-our human concept of God actually derived from notions and ideas "planted" by the Staleene Keeper tens of thousands of years ago.

It should be noted that the other species of the Trocara look down upon the Keepers, and the Staleene Keeper does nothing to change this perception--she is content in their ignorance--the other species do not fully understand the Keeper's (or her own) power.

It should also be noted that the Staleene Keeper is deeply jealous of life that can procreate on its own--watching the genetic breeding and mutations of the Trocaran species is a sort of "living vicariously" for the Keepers.

Hataa-skeen (leader of the humanoids)

Hataa-skeen is the leader of the "skeen" tribe of vampyric humanoids. These vamps are humanoid alternates—they were created several hundred years ago (very recently in the relative time of the Trocara) for use in arena combat. Several hundred were created, but they failed in their combat assignment, so engineering was stopped on their bloodline. The few hundred that remained were summarily discarded in the humanoid area of the Trocaran mothersip.

The vamps have evolved into a tribe-like entity ruled by Hataa-skeen. Since the vamp tribe cannot reproduce, life is very precious to them, and the death of a clans-women is very painful. The overt agenda of Hataa-skeen is very similar to that of Batty in Blade Runner—find someone who can make them reproduce or who will create more.

The Humanoid Hegemon

The Humanoid Hegemon can be most easily described as a variation of Baron Harkonen in the Dune movie by David Lynch. He is a disgusting, fat and slightly insane ruler. He suffers from well-deserved paranoia. He has the most perverse of habits, combining incest with feasting.

He reluctantly supports Tommy’s quest to succeed against the Keepers (though he’s skeptical that it will work), because keeping Earth would thwart the Hive Queen and keep a seed world with humanoid stock (there are getting to be less and less of them all the time).

The Hive Queen (Leader of the Insectoids)

The Hive Queen is the ruler of the insectoid Trocaran species. While the insectoids, due to the great variations in their genetic stock, are not ruled by any "hive mind," they are ruled by the cunning Hive Queen. She controls the myriad of insectoids through her powerful pheneromes, and she only allows limited other insectoids to posses "independent" intelligence. While there are other "drone" queens who produce the various larvae, she alone produces intelligent larvae and can create additional drone queens.

She is very eager to take hold of her prize: Earth, but she is even more pre-possessed with riding the Trocara of the humanoid species altogether (she thinks them vile and worthless).

Tyranoss (Leader of the Saurians)

Tyranoss is the unquestioned ruler of the saurians—in fact, he considers himself the de facto ruler of the whole of the Trocara. His species is steeped in tradition, and he does not stray from this in the slightest.

While he hesitates to take sides, in this struggle, he sides with the Hive Queen, since it is the way of the games and the way that it has always been. Tyranoss is a strong proponent of the status quo.

The One Who Makes

The One Who Makes is the enigmatic being who started the Keepers on their way. This being is the motive force behind all life in the Universe, and it has set out numerous "Keeper-like" expeditions to many galaxies. It is a being who thinks in terms of absolute utility and who makes plans in billions of year increments. It could be God.

The Familiar (Tommy's Hawk)

The familiar alternates between the earthly form of a Hawk and a Crow. It is, in reality, Tommy’s great grandfather’s anchor to Tommy’s plane of existence. While the familiar is its own being, it is also a being who can channel the old man. Tommy can, once he learns the art, posses the familiar and see through its eyes.