James Tanner
Information detailed here is for OOC uses only.
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| Full name | James Todd Tanner |
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| Date of Birth | May 21, 2486 |
| Parents | Todd Tanner and Lacy Tanner |
| Siblings | Anthony, Andrew, Michael, Richard, and Ashlyn Tanner |
| Assignment | Dead |
| Specialization | First Aid |
| Gender | Male |
| Eyes and Hair | Blue eyes and brown hair |
| Height and Weight | 6'3", 197 lbs |
| Status | NPC/KIA |
| Education Information | |
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| Military Service | |
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| Employment History | |
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James Tanner is a retired Browncoat living on his family's ranch on Hera
History
Timeline
- 2486 - James Tanner born in Seven Peaks, Hera
- 2488 - Anthony Tanner born in Seven Peaks, Hera
- 2491 - Andrew Tanner born in Seven Peaks, Hera
- 2496 - Michael Tanner born in Seven Peaks, Hera
- 2499 - Richard Tanner born in Seven Peaks, Hera
- 2501 - Ashlyn Tanner born in Seven Peaks, Hera
- 2506 - James marries Angeline Forrester
- 2506 - Angeline Tanner is shot and killed accidentally during the war
- 2506 - James Tanner joins the Browncoats
- 2509 - James and his squadmates have a run in with Charles Ryans. James loses his right leg.
- 2510 - Ginger Tanner is born on Hera to Anthony and Mary Tanner
- 2511 - James Tanner returns from the war
- 2520 - (October) Ashlyn Tanner leaves home and is hired aboard the Chaos Theory
- 2521 - (July) James discovers there's a bounty on his head and travels to Ariel after the crew of the Chaos Theory survives a reaver attack.
- 2521 - (September) Ashlyn is kidnapped by hitmen to get to James
- 2521 - (December) James is killed in an explosion on board the Chaos Theory
Appearance
James stands just over six feet with dark blue eyes and short brown hair. In his mid-thirties, wrinkles are beginning to make an appearance on his features. He walks with a limp, though it's only pronounced near the end of the day or when he's trying to move quickly, and often carries a wooden cane.
James generally wears rugged clothes suitable for working in, t-shits, jeans, work boots, and the like. And while his leather jacket is brown, it's not the quintessential browncoat, but rather a worn bomber jacket more suitable for keeping back the cold than taking a bullet.
NPC History
Born in the town of Seven Peaks on Hera to a family of horse ranchers, James was the oldest of six children. He lead a relatively quiet life, content to follow in his father's footsteps as the ranch had been handed down from eldest child to eldest child for several generations.
James had little opinion on the war when it broke out, being as the politics and problems outside a small, self-contained town rarely have much bearing on it until it's too late. Life for him was good, and being a generally laid back kind of person, he decided not to involve himself in such matters. Especially since when the war broke out, he found himself not only newly married to his high school sweetheart, Angeline, but expecting their first child. James' life might have continued on in the same easy manner it had existed in up to that point had the war not suddenly spilled into the town of Seven Peaks.
James, Angeline, and James' youngest sibling, Ashlyn, five years old at the time, had been out in the commercial district of the town, where unbeknownst to them, Alliance troops had been sent to deal with a small group of Browncoats reportedly in the area. Stepping out onto the street, Angeline surprised a young Alliance recruit just out of boot camp named Braydon Keets, who shot and killed her after mistaking her for a Browncoat.
Keets and his squadmates covered up the killing, claiming that Angeline had, indeed, been one of the Browncoats that they had been sent to deal with to prevent the repercussions of killing a civilian. Whether their report was miraculously worded, overlooked, or purposely accepted as fact by the chain of command, the statements of both James and Ashlyn were thrown out, and James himself was labeled as a Browncoat after verbally attacking the Alliance's actions using public media.
James found himself with a plethora of reasons to join the Independents after that point. Sympathizing with the need to keep a government from stepping on the people it's charged with protecting, seeking closure for the loss of his new family, and already suffering the stigma of being a Browncoat, he joined the Independent Army shortly after Angeline's funeral.
James only had a history of Ranching and veterinary care, but anyone with the slightest idea about medicine was welcomed to try their hand at being a medic. The was was bloody and brutal, and no one was really in the place to deny a trained hand even if their patients weren't normally of the human variety. Despite his efforts, Mikhail Radcliffe was one of the soldiers that he was not able to save. At some point during his tour of duty, however, James lost his right leg and was sent back to the back lines to offer medical support but no longer engage in combat. It likely saved his life, as the majority of his squad was killed shortly thereafter in the Battle of Serenity Valley.
James returned home after the Independents' near total defeat, to return to his life before the war. Or what was left of it. While James remains the laid back, responsible, and generally caring kind of person he was before the war, he has never remarried, and due to his physical handycap, will likely never be the owner of the ranch in more than name. He's not unhappy with his lot, at least. With the freedom he has due to not being able to handle most of the ranch's daily tasks, James has the time to devote himself to his family, and even on occasion travels out to see the one member who no longer lives within a five minute walk, Ashlyn.
In July of 2521, James' youngest brother, Richard, shot and killed a man that he suspected was a horse thief, but a note found on the man's body reveled him to be a bounty hunter looking to kill James. No reason was given on the note, and there were no hints as to who set it or what it was about that anyone could find. At the same time, halfway across the `verse, Ashlyn and the crew of the Chaos Theory were assaulted by reavers on Lilac. Not wanting to put his family in danger, James traveled out to Ariel to help his sister and her friends in any way he could. But while there, a ship docked near the Theory was sabotaged by pirates. Being a witness to the subsequent explosion, James' name made the news, assuredly alerting the bounty hunters to his new whereabouts. But when he tried to leave the Theory, he was headed off by Ashlyn and Matty, who both insisted that he stay at least until some resolution could be found. Link
Using the ID of the would-be hitman, Ashlyn was able to find some clue as to what the bounty was about. During the war, while involved in heavy fighting on Santo, James and his squad were tasked with destroying the landing pad of a known smuggler thought to be supplying Alliance troops, a noble named Charles Ryans. James' squad was unsuccessful in destroying the pad, but uncovered that Ryans was not only smuggling guns and drugs, but slaves. James didn't think much of it at the time, but Ryans did. Running for a governorship on Santo, Ryans played up a campaign based on wholesome family values that would be blown to pieces if the `verse ever found out about his slave-running. Link Before anything could really be done with the information, however, fate caught up with James when his sister was kidnapped off the street and held ransom in trade for his life. Link Link With the help of Matty, Morris, Matt Riggs, and Steven Metzger, James found his sister drugged in an abandoned warehouse in the Spacer's District. The three hitmen waiting for James were taken unawares by the sudden attack, two of them killed in the fight, and one managing to escape after being rendered unconscious and left in a dark alley. Matt took a bullet in the arm, which James later removed back in the ship's medbay, but the crew of the Chaos Theory escaped the fight otherwise unharmed. Link James would not stick around any longer, however. With the mystery behind the hit solved, and his presence endangering the crew, James decided to take his leave, but not before managing to complicate things just a little. Link
James spent some time hiding out on Jiangyin, but after a few months was asked by Ashlyn to spend some time on the Theory with the crew. While on board, however, the lure of the money that killing both Matty and James would net was too much for the ship's hired gun, Morris. An explosive set to disable the ship by knocking out the controls accidentally took James' life. His story ends there. But for the rest of the crew, it was really just beginning.
External Links
Link ~ James first appeared in this short clip from Ashlyn's backstory
Link ~ Ashlyn's IC logs with James
Link Delilah's IC logs with James
