Thaddeus Cross

Player: DrEdBasc

Profession: Historian/Reality Bender Researcher

Demeanour: Thaddeus, recently recruited to the Foundation, is often suspicious of the institutionalized paranoia that permeates the organization. Despite that, he takes great care to maintain politeness when interacting with other personnel and expresses loyalty to the Foundation's mission of containing anomalies.

Nature: Thaddeus is deeply passionate about his work and fascinated by the concept of bending reality. While he may have some doubts about the Foundation's methods, he believes that its commitment to containing and studying anomalies ultimately benefits all of humanity, making him a fiercely loyal employee. He is also a very lonely person, having difficulty meaningfully connecting to other people, romantically or otherwise. To compensate for this, Thaddeus often buries himself in work or research. Often seeking to "live as the ancients did", he is an avid practitioner of Historical European Martial Arts, medieval culinary and historical roleplay groups.

Description: Thaddeus stands at approximately 5'8. He has short, straight brown hair and green eyes, while his skin color is pale white. Always seen wearing glasses, a grey shirt with the Foundation symbol on the shoulder and black pants. Thaddeus is a reasonably fit man, although thinner than average.

Stats

Health

*Physical Health: 10(+3)
*Mental Health: 10(+4)

Attributes

  • Physical Defence: 3
  • Mental Defence: 4
  • Strength: 2
  • Agility: 3
  • Perception: 5

Skills

  • Melee: 2
  • Ranged: 1
  • Stealth: 1
  • Academics: 5
  • Science: 2
  • Medical: 2
  • Engineering: 1
  • Social: 2

Specialities

  • Ancient Knife Fighter (3) Thaddeus's experiences with HEMA, his own studies and some help from the Foundation allowed him to develop a personal knife fighting style. +3 to Melee when using swords, shields, spears.
  • Anomalous Historian (4) Thaddeus is a trained historian, applying his analysis methods against possible instances of reality-bending. When applicable (i.e, alterations to the past), can use historical analysis to investigate and identify reality-bending.
  • Hidden History (3) While it may not be his main area of study, Thaddeus knows quite a bit about the occult and other kings of obscure, anomalous history. +3 to academics when investigating/studying the occult, specifically occult sciences, alchemy, and groups.

Gear

Onsite
  • Pen and paper
  • Foundation ID
  • Sanskrit pocket dictionary
  • Laptop containing several historical documents and books
  • Pocket watch
Offsite
  • Foundation issued 1911 pistol
  • Sanskrit pocket dictionary
  • Map of the applicable area
  • Knife concealed in clothing
  • Pocket watch

Personal Belongings

  • Wooden training sword
  • The Cheese and the Worms, book by Carlo Ginzburg
  • Flute (rarely used)
  • A photograph depicting a young Thaddeus and his parents on the city of Colonia del Sacramento, Uruguay
  • A journal, unused

Background History

Thaddeus was born in NYC as the single child of a second-generation Brazilian immigrant mother and an American father. The former worked as a historical consultant for movie producers and the latter was an archeologist, giving Thaddeus a strong foundation of knowledge since his childhood. His mother's heritage also helped him learn Portuguese, making him bilingual at a very young age.
After an uneventful adolescence, he entered a university to follow on his parents' footsteps, graduating and pursuing a career as a researcher at New York University. Although notable from an academic perspective, Thaddeus' work on metahistory, ancient occult societies and microhistory went unnoticed by the Foundation until he published a series of articles detailing possible means to fight reality-restructuring scenarios. The articles, which described how a hypothetical 'Organization' could defend humanity against these scenarios, represented a possible breach of Foundation information security, therefore Agent ██████ "Albatross" was sent to capture and interrogate Thaddeus in a local Foundation safehouse.

Interviewed: Dr. Thaddeus Cross

Interviewer: Agent "Albatross"

Foreword: This interview took place on Safehouse #7, New York City, shortly after Dr. Cross' capture. Dr. Cross' series of articles, informally titled "Fighting Reality", showed a significant match to the Foundation's own protocols regarding reality-bending scenarios, prompting undercover personnel in NYU to contact Foundation security. Thaddeus accompanied the Agent without resistance upon being informed his work was possibly plagiarized and he was sought for an internal investigation.

<Begin Log]>

Agent Albatross: Hello, Doctor.

Dr. Cross: Forgive my lack of politeness, but this place doesn't look like one of the university's facilities.

Agent Albatross: Don't worry, Doctor. It's simply of the more obscure ones. You can check the list later. In any case, I must elaborate on why we have brought you here. Our research has indicated you may have had unauthorized access to the information contained in a certain database, and you used this information to help write your recent articles.
Dr. Cross: The "Fighting Reality" series? No, this must be a mistake. Those articles were merely a thought experiment. Plus, all articles were properly sourced. You can check my computer: no suspicious activities there.
Agent Albatross: I see. Can you tell me more about what led you to write these articles, and the process itself?
Dr. Cross: Yes, sure. The concept of altering reality in fiction always fascinated me. If you search around, there are many guides to surviving zombie apocalypses and such, but I could not find anything regarding surviving and fighting against changes to reality itself. Perhaps an academic article was not the proper medium for this, but I did wish to be a pioneer in this area.
Agent Albatross: (The Agent's phone begins to ring.) Excuse me, Doctor. Please remain here. (He leaves the room.)
Dr. Cross Um, yes, of course.
Agent Albatross: (Returns after a few minutes outside.) Doctor. It appears there was indeed a mistake. We apologize for the accusation: we've found no evidence of plagiarism.
Dr. Cross: Oh, that's a relief.
Agent Albatross: My employers have decided you deserve the truth. The whole truth. We are not part of NYU, to begin with.
Dr. Cross: I knew it.
Agent Albatross: Of course, Doctor. Now, what if I told you reality-bending was not only possible, but real?
Dr. Cross: I'm not sure I would believe you. I mean, it goes against all our understanding of the Universe.
Agent Albatross: I assure you, Doctor, it is very real. And I represent an organization, the Foundation, dedicated to containing reality-benders and other anomalies.
Dr. Cross: (Pauses for a moment.) Well, you wouldn't have gone the trouble of bringing me here just to lie blatantly. I hope.
Agent Albatross: Indeed, Doctor. Not only that, the Foundation has taken notice of your research, and we believe you could be a valuable addition to our ranks.
Dr. Cross: Sounds like an offer.
Agent Albatross: It is.
Dr. Cross: That is a lot to process, and I would like far more details than you're letting on. Can I have some time to decide?
Agent Albatross We can give you three days, Doctor. After that, I will contact you again, and you will receive all the details you want, up to a certain, reasonable point. Is that acceptable?
Dr. Cross: Yes, sure. Thank you.
<End Log>

Closing Statement: Dr. Cross was heavily monitored during the three days to ensure no information was leaked. Agent Albatross contacted him through a meeting in the university, and the Doctor was recruited to the Foundation, being promptly sent to basic training. A cover story of a lucrative job offer as a researcher in Spain was set up to explain his absence.

Eventually, Thaddeus was assigned to Site-212 as the facility's Historian and Reality Bender Researcher. Publicly, he "works" for Veritas Incorporated, a Foundation front company used for the study of Ancient Roman ruins in Spain.

Misc. Details

  • Ambidextrous.
  • Unsuccessfully attempted to develop ventriloquism through training.
  • Can play a variety of instruments, with varying degrees of skill.
Languages

English
Portuguese
Greek
French
Spanish
Sanskrit (Rudimentary, often uses a dictionary)

Facts
  • Dislikes hotter climates.
  • Has an unpublished book on ancient healing methods.
Music/Artwork

And Then There Was Silence - Blind Guardian

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