Name: pel Age: too old Contact: wehwalt @ plurk Other Characters: Mhavos (main) & Jone (side). Interests: I want to play a Rifter, for starters. Bringing Amos from a very serious, hard science space opera setting to knockoff DND land sound brilliant. Likewise, due to the way magic, dreams, and weird fuckups work in this place, it might be harder for Amos to hide from what he thinks is true about himself, pushing character development. Amos is very much a product of his environment, and I want to see what happens when he's moved somewhere else.
CHARACTER
Name: Amos Burton Canon/OC: The Expanse (TV) Canon Point: Post s4. Journal:innerharbor Age: Probably early / mid 30s.
Canon World
While the actual date is never given in canon, original drafts titled the series 2350, so it's safe to say it's been a while. Humanity is alone in the universe*, but they have expanded far in the solar system.
Earth is a place of harsh class divide thanks to overpopulation and job scarcity; either you're one of the lucky few to have a job, a life, prospects, and a future, or you're on 'basic', with just enough to survive and nothing else. Or, if you're really unlucky, you slipped through the cracks of society at birth, and are 'undocumented', an unknown whose only real choice is to survive through crime.
Due to this rampant inequality, humanity has expanded, first to Mars, where a militant government rules over citizens constantly living in a cold war with Earth that drives their entire economy. Mars strives to make itself just as livable as Earth, so it will no longer rely on outside forces for resources. Everyone on Mars has a job... or else.
And then there's the rest: Belters. Those living in the asteroid belt or beyond it, third class citizens of their own Solar System, the poor who work to send water and oxygen mined from asteroids to the highest bidder. Having developed their own pidgin language over the last hundred years, Belters have a unique cultural identity only further underlined by how the overwhelming majority of them grew up in microgravity, and look very unlike the humans of Earth or Mars.
Things are at a standstill, between resources, cold wars, and exploitation, until an anomaly enters the system.
*Humans are not alone in the universe.
An artifact of a long-dead alien civilization is found, and used to wage war, to kill, to start a plague, and to stop it. Throughout all of this, a hero emerges: James Holden, the face of justice, someone reviled and beloved by Earth, Mars, and the Belt, for his actions that never favor any faction and instead just try to preserve as many lives as possible.
Amos is his mechanic.
The final evolution of this alien technology is found: ring gates, allowing humanity to reach beyond the solar system, beyond the furthest their technology could have sent them just days before. The ring gates are a point of contention, as people scramble for the millions of habitable worlds, unclaimed and lush with strange alien life, but one thing is for sure: nothing will ever be the same.
History (NOTE: Amos has a backstory from the book series that is only heavily hinted at; showrunners have said it is canon for the show-- relevant considering the showrunners are also the authors of the books. Quickie summary of that, and then a link to the show summaries. LMK if this isn't okay or needs changed, etc.)
Earth is, as previously discussed, a shithole. People are frequently born all under the radar of the government, easily exploited by crime bosses and slumlords. One of these undocumented was a young boy named Timmy, the child of a child prostitute. Sold into sexual slavery before he could remember, eventually the crime boss who essentially owned him decided he was better off serving as a bouncer. When one of the frequent gang wars began to wipe out entire sections of Baltimore, Timmy was hired muscle, and then a bodyguard for his childhood friend Erich, a talented hacker.
Working for the gang owned by the powerful Baltimore crime lord Amos Burton, Timmy was ordered to kill Erich to cut some loose ends. Having never lived a life of independence, Timmy was ready to do it. At the last minute, he was talked out of it by his surrogate-mother Lydia (Timmy's own mother having died long ago). Knowing he had to listen to Lydia above all else, he could no longer kill Erich. But, born from a world of violence and seeing no other options, Timmy instead killed Amos Burton. While running from retribution, Timmy discovered that, in thanks for sparing his life, Erich had hacked an identity for Timmy using Amos Burton's citizen profile. It gave Timmy the chance to escape to the stars.
Timmy was gone. Amos Burton entered a shuttle, and became one of the few undocumented Earthers start a new life in space.
The single most important thing to understand about Amos is that he does have emotions. He just doesn't think he does.
In one episode, Amos is described as having "[...] cauterized all that [emotion] in order to survive," and the speaker is partially right. Somewhere on the slums of Baltimore, before Amos can even really remember, he was unable to deal with the horror and the loss and the pain he experienced daily. In a response to that, Amos sealed up his emotions, and threw them away.
The problem is, that's not actually possible. If it were, Amos' life would be much simpler. But the fact that he still values the lives of children and friends means somewhere, deep inside, Amos does feel emotion. He just can't recognize or identify it. Because of this, emotional decision-making is beyond him, and this combines with his very violent upbringing to make him prepositioned toward quick and violent preventative action.
Kill Erich. Kill Miller. Kill Fred Johnson. Kill Roma. Kill Ashford. Those are all things he wants to do, and all things he is stopped from doing by an outside influence, because while it may solve problems in the short run, it would be morally wrong, or occasionally the wrong move, because Amos is more concerned with protection in the short run than preservation in the long run.
From repetition, Amos has realized that his first instincts, while efficient at killing the immediate problem, are not always the right instincts-- they don't take into account morals, much less how to preserve the most life, how to set standards, how to move forward.
He knows he's not a good person, and that's fine, but he doesn't want to hurt good people, or eliminate chances of preserving life. Children, the disenfranchised (mistreating prostitutes is a trigger), his friends, all deserve protection. Amos just doesn't know how to do it on his own. He'll violently hunt down the perpetrator of violence, but... what comes after that?
This is why he needs an external moral compass, a person he elects to follow and protect without question. In the show, he uses Naomi Nagata, and later James Holden, as his moral compasses, deferring to their wisdom in fraught situations where his first call isn't the best move.
He's not a dog. He has opinions, and will air them. Amos is incredibly good at sizing up a potential fire fight, judging a person, seeing the tactics of a conflict, largely because he has no ego to get in the way of his perception. But sometimes you need an ego, a feeling, a moral code, to be able to make the 'right' call, when the 'smartest' call just leaves everyone dead.
But Amos is growing. He's not aware of it, because his beliefs about himself tell him he can't, but he is. Sometimes, when he's alone in a crisis, he asks himself, what would Holden do?
Strengths & Weaknesses
MENTAL
+ A lack of ego or larger emotional context means he's excellent at strategizing, fantastic at reading others, at figuring out unspoken wants and desires. No introspection means his extrospection muscles are incredible. Also, he's technically a genius level mechanic when it comes to intersolar travel.
- All of Amos' specializations are really relevant to the context he's within. He can strategize because he knows the score; he can read people because he understands their wants; he can do mechanic shit in the technofuture. In another world with different technology, different politics, different everything, he's going to be at a bit of a disadvantage.
PHYSICAL
+ He's a fucking tank. Incredible pain tolerance as well, he can keep going for as long as he's physically able.
- No magic, no protection against magic, is used to fighting with guns. Too many muscles to fit into small spaces.
EMOTIONAL
+ Can generally keep it copacetic even when the world is going straight to hell.
- If something triggers an emotional throughline (the exploitation of children and / or prostitutes, his Important People being killed or almost killed) he will not understand what he is feeling and will probably act out violently in order to try and make it go away. Prone to flipping out without someone to pull his moral reins. Also, not always great in social situations, because of that whole emotion thing. Generally comes off as a bit distant, or unhinged, saying brutal things in a cheerful, laid back way.
Amos cannot identify his emotions, but he does have them. Magic in this world is ruled by emotions, with spirits and demons taking on the form of extreme emotions.
Amos also has very fucking little cultural sensitivity, which should be interesting because humans non-mages are at a privileged place in this society, unlike what Amos is accustomed to as a poor Earther.
SAMPLES
In-universe & out (translations for in-universe conlang in hover text).
amos burton | rifter.
Name: pel
Age: too old
Contact: wehwalt @ plurk
Other Characters: Mhavos (main) & Jone (side).
Interests: I want to play a Rifter, for starters. Bringing Amos from a very serious, hard science space opera setting to knockoff DND land sound brilliant. Likewise, due to the way magic, dreams, and weird fuckups work in this place, it might be harder for Amos to hide from what he thinks is true about himself, pushing character development. Amos is very much a product of his environment, and I want to see what happens when he's moved somewhere else.
Name: Amos Burton
Canon/OC: The Expanse (TV)
Canon Point: Post s4.
Journal:
Age: Probably early / mid 30s.
Canon World
While the actual date is never given in canon, original drafts titled the series 2350, so it's safe to say it's been a while. Humanity is alone in the universe*, but they have expanded far in the solar system.
Earth is a place of harsh class divide thanks to overpopulation and job scarcity; either you're one of the lucky few to have a job, a life, prospects, and a future, or you're on 'basic', with just enough to survive and nothing else. Or, if you're really unlucky, you slipped through the cracks of society at birth, and are 'undocumented', an unknown whose only real choice is to survive through crime.
Due to this rampant inequality, humanity has expanded, first to Mars, where a militant government rules over citizens constantly living in a cold war with Earth that drives their entire economy. Mars strives to make itself just as livable as Earth, so it will no longer rely on outside forces for resources. Everyone on Mars has a job... or else.
And then there's the rest: Belters. Those living in the asteroid belt or beyond it, third class citizens of their own Solar System, the poor who work to send water and oxygen mined from asteroids to the highest bidder. Having developed their own pidgin language over the last hundred years, Belters have a unique cultural identity only further underlined by how the overwhelming majority of them grew up in microgravity, and look very unlike the humans of Earth or Mars.
Things are at a standstill, between resources, cold wars, and exploitation, until an anomaly enters the system.
*Humans are not alone in the universe.
An artifact of a long-dead alien civilization is found, and used to wage war, to kill, to start a plague, and to stop it. Throughout all of this, a hero emerges: James Holden, the face of justice, someone reviled and beloved by Earth, Mars, and the Belt, for his actions that never favor any faction and instead just try to preserve as many lives as possible.
Amos is his mechanic.
The final evolution of this alien technology is found: ring gates, allowing humanity to reach beyond the solar system, beyond the furthest their technology could have sent them just days before. The ring gates are a point of contention, as people scramble for the millions of habitable worlds, unclaimed and lush with strange alien life, but one thing is for sure: nothing will ever be the same.
History (NOTE: Amos has a backstory from the book series that is only heavily hinted at; showrunners have said it is canon for the show-- relevant considering the showrunners are also the authors of the books. Quickie summary of that, and then a link to the show summaries. LMK if this isn't okay or needs changed, etc.)
Earth is, as previously discussed, a shithole. People are frequently born all under the radar of the government, easily exploited by crime bosses and slumlords. One of these undocumented was a young boy named Timmy, the child of a child prostitute. Sold into sexual slavery before he could remember, eventually the crime boss who essentially owned him decided he was better off serving as a bouncer. When one of the frequent gang wars began to wipe out entire sections of Baltimore, Timmy was hired muscle, and then a bodyguard for his childhood friend Erich, a talented hacker.
Working for the gang owned by the powerful Baltimore crime lord Amos Burton, Timmy was ordered to kill Erich to cut some loose ends. Having never lived a life of independence, Timmy was ready to do it. At the last minute, he was talked out of it by his surrogate-mother Lydia (Timmy's own mother having died long ago). Knowing he had to listen to Lydia above all else, he could no longer kill Erich. But, born from a world of violence and seeing no other options, Timmy instead killed Amos Burton. While running from retribution, Timmy discovered that, in thanks for sparing his life, Erich had hacked an identity for Timmy using Amos Burton's citizen profile. It gave Timmy the chance to escape to the stars.
Timmy was gone. Amos Burton entered a shuttle, and became one of the few undocumented Earthers start a new life in space.
The rest is history.
Personality
The single most important thing to understand about Amos is that he does have emotions. He just doesn't think he does.
In one episode, Amos is described as having "[...] cauterized all that [emotion] in order to survive," and the speaker is partially right. Somewhere on the slums of Baltimore, before Amos can even really remember, he was unable to deal with the horror and the loss and the pain he experienced daily. In a response to that, Amos sealed up his emotions, and threw them away.
The problem is, that's not actually possible. If it were, Amos' life would be much simpler. But the fact that he still values the lives of children and friends means somewhere, deep inside, Amos does feel emotion. He just can't recognize or identify it. Because of this, emotional decision-making is beyond him, and this combines with his very violent upbringing to make him prepositioned toward quick and violent preventative action.
Kill Erich. Kill Miller. Kill Fred Johnson. Kill Roma. Kill Ashford. Those are all things he wants to do, and all things he is stopped from doing by an outside influence, because while it may solve problems in the short run, it would be morally wrong, or occasionally the wrong move, because Amos is more concerned with protection in the short run than preservation in the long run.
From repetition, Amos has realized that his first instincts, while efficient at killing the immediate problem, are not always the right instincts-- they don't take into account morals, much less how to preserve the most life, how to set standards, how to move forward.
He knows he's not a good person, and that's fine, but he doesn't want to hurt good people, or eliminate chances of preserving life. Children, the disenfranchised (mistreating prostitutes is a trigger), his friends, all deserve protection. Amos just doesn't know how to do it on his own. He'll violently hunt down the perpetrator of violence, but... what comes after that?
This is why he needs an external moral compass, a person he elects to follow and protect without question. In the show, he uses Naomi Nagata, and later James Holden, as his moral compasses, deferring to their wisdom in fraught situations where his first call isn't the best move.
He's not a dog. He has opinions, and will air them. Amos is incredibly good at sizing up a potential fire fight, judging a person, seeing the tactics of a conflict, largely because he has no ego to get in the way of his perception. But sometimes you need an ego, a feeling, a moral code, to be able to make the 'right' call, when the 'smartest' call just leaves everyone dead.
But Amos is growing. He's not aware of it, because his beliefs about himself tell him he can't, but he is. Sometimes, when he's alone in a crisis, he asks himself, what would Holden do?
Strengths & Weaknesses
MENTAL
+ A lack of ego or larger emotional context means he's excellent at strategizing, fantastic at reading others, at figuring out unspoken wants and desires. No introspection means his extrospection muscles are incredible. Also, he's technically a genius level mechanic when it comes to intersolar travel.
- All of Amos' specializations are really relevant to the context he's within. He can strategize because he knows the score; he can read people because he understands their wants; he can do mechanic shit in the technofuture. In another world with different technology, different politics, different everything, he's going to be at a bit of a disadvantage.
PHYSICAL
+ He's a fucking tank. Incredible pain tolerance as well, he can keep going for as long as he's physically able.
- No magic, no protection against magic, is used to fighting with guns. Too many muscles to fit into small spaces.
EMOTIONAL
+ Can generally keep it copacetic even when the world is going straight to hell.
- If something triggers an emotional throughline (the exploitation of children and / or prostitutes, his Important People being killed or almost killed) he will not understand what he is feeling and will probably act out violently in order to try and make it go away. Prone to flipping out without someone to pull his moral reins. Also, not always great in social situations, because of that whole emotion thing. Generally comes off as a bit distant, or unhinged, saying brutal things in a cheerful, laid back way.
Suggested Nerfs
None; he's just a baseline human.
Arrival Inventory
- His Oni pin.
- Engineer's outfit.
Neither have any value beyond the sentimental.
Humanization
None, baseline human.
Fit
Amos cannot identify his emotions, but he does have them. Magic in this world is ruled by emotions, with spirits and demons taking on the form of extreme emotions.
Amos also has very fucking little cultural sensitivity, which should be interesting because humans non-mages are at a privileged place in this society, unlike what Amos is accustomed to as a poor Earther.
In-universe & out (translations for in-universe conlang in hover text).