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Name: Masamune
Livejournal Username: dammitmasa
E-mail: gamehiker@gmail.com
AIM/MSN: Masamune3x (AIM)
Current Characters at Luceti:
markofthewise - Sokka
bamfing - Kurt Wagner
avaricious - Ling Yao
arturius - Arthur Pendragon


Character

Name: Guide (known as 'Todd' to the Atlantis Expedition)
Fandom: Stargate: Atlantis
Gender: Male
Age: At least 10,000 years old.
Time Period: Post-Season 5
Wing Color: Pale gray-ish white
History: Stargate Wikia


Personality:

Note: Due to the fact Atlantis is a cancelled series, I will be lifting information from the Stargate Atlantis: Legacy novels for aspects of Guide's history and personality (including his 'Wraith name' of Guide). The novels themselves are of dubious canon status to the series, but are based on the original plans for the cancelled Season Six.

Guide is unique among the Wraith for simply being reasonable. By and large, Wraith can be cruel and brutal. They take pleasure in feeding off humans and show no signs of compassion or sympathy for their victims. To them, human are nothing more than a food source. Guide is different. It is unknown where this character trait came from, but he spent some time as a prisoner of the Genii. It was there he met John Shepherd of the Atlantis Expedition and the two of them escaped, not as friends, but as temporary allies. Yet despite that temporary alliance, he saw Atlantis as a useful ally when faced with a mutual goal, usually against a shared enemy. Although the humans were always wary of him, he would usually place himself at their mercy, within their own city, surrounded by armed guards.

Among humans he has actually built a rapport among them, to the extent he was usually trusted to interact around civilians, although usually only if there was someone to watch out for him. Although treated with suspicion at all time, Guide usually presented an amicable personality, kindly and considerate. He wasn't above a few jokes or sarcasm as well. One notable display of his 'wraith humor' being that he offered to shake hands on a bargain (which no human would want to do, since Wraith feed through the palms of their hands.) When insulted or when treated as being suspicious, he often will feign being hurt in an exaggerated and almost affectionate manner. Although he has no problem with feeding on humans, he also has no problem interacting with them as equals.

Not only that, but he demonstrates a great sense of honor that is not common among the Wraith or at least, is not something that is demonstrated to humans. When he makes a bargain, he will absolutely keep to it. However, he does have a penchant of forgetting to include 'small details' that might cause his allies to back out of a plan. These tiny complications greatly annoys his Earth allies, but he does them out of necessity, knowing that human morality is different from wraith morality and that certain measures must be taken for their mutual gain. However, he expects this trust to be absolutely returned to him. He does not take treachery lightly and when he is crossed, his comeuppance can be severe. Perceived treachery on the part of the humans was enough for him to break the tenuous alliance between his forces and those of Earth's.

The wraith as a species function as a collective and for the common good of their hive. As a result, in battle, Wraith are rarely shown to surrender peacefully. A favored tactic in battle is kamikaze, when conventional methods don't work. Although Guide is not quite so reckless, this sense of being part of a collective is reflected in his ambitions. Although he actively seeks power and control, his primary concern is the welfare of his own race. He is visibly upset when Teyla, disguised as a Queen, orders two Hives into battle with one another. Not merely because his own life is in jeopardy, but because she's using the opportunity to have the wraith kill one another. Likewise, he often acts in the best interest of his kind and their future, being willing to try a gene therapy that eliminates the Wraith's need to feed. Although he ponders at what purpose the Wraith would have if they did not feed, he also recognizes that his kind would benefit if they did not have to fight one another for access to 'feeding grounds'.

Despite his edges and the fact that his actions would make him evil by human standards, Guide stands out as being proof that his species is not inherently evil. He demonstrates an appreciation of the beauty of nature and the starry sky after his imprisonment. He genuinely cares for the lives of those uder his care. He will also honor his bargains, even at his own expense. After escaping imprisonment with John, he used the 'Gift of Life' to restore the life he had previously taken from him. It was an unnecessary gesture, as Guide did not need John to escape, but it reinforced his very strong sense of loyalty.

Although his loyalties will always be to himself and his own kind, he has developed a certain level of respect and even attachment to the humans he's met. It's possible this is merely a side effect of his long imprisonment (both with the Genii and later Atlantis), but he recognizes them for their abilities. He even has what might also be considered a friendship with John, though it is largely antagonistic from John's side. He recognizes them for his usefulness and has been careful not to reveal their location to other Wraith. In the post-season novels, it's revealed that even if his own life was in danger, he wouldn't kill John to save his own. This fact is something that has him concerned

In the novels, one important aspect to Guide's personality is that he has remained attached to his original Queen, to whom he was a close consort to. In Wraith society, this is generally the highest position a male can achieve. She was largely responsible for fostering his affinity for the sciences, even though it was not originally his role to do so. Though she is dead, he has never held true allegiance to any queen since then, even though Wraith in general seek to be ruled by one. As a result, he follows his own ambitions and allies with queens as it suits his needs. His large alliance currently exists under the pretense of having a queen that was actually an impostor set up by Guide's own machinations. He is very much a man who is in charge. Even when a prisoner, he has a way of 'owning' a room.


Strengths:

Physical: Guide possesses all the natural strengths inherent to the Wraith, which compared to baseline humans, are rather significant. Wraith are a regenerating species and as long as they are well fed, can survive indefinitely. Provided the proper opportunity to heal, even lost limbs could potentially be regrown. Beyond that, it makes them effectively immortal. This also makes them incredibly durable creatures, being able to fall great distances, survive direct gun fire, or swim at ocean depths that would crush humans by being able to quickly repair any damage done in the process. Wraith also possess an incredible amount of strength and can easily lift and fling a full sized man with little effort. Beyond that, Wraith eyes glow in the dark and give them thermal vision.

As for Guide himself, he is portrayed as being more of a scientist than a warrior. That said, he is still a very powerful fighter and is able to equal Ronon Dex, a human who happens to be exceptionally skilled at killing Wraith. Like most Wraith, he uses stun weapons, designed to overload the sensory and motor systems of the body, paralyzing their foe. Although it is a surprisingly nonlethal weapon for the Wraith, they are designed for the practical reason of allowing the Wraith to be able to feed off their victims. They cannot feed off the dead.

The key to a Wraith's strength is an organ located in their right palm, which they use to feed off humanoids. Applied to the chest, they drain the 'life' out of their victims, leaving them as old and dried up husks. A partial feeding causes the victim to appear to be aged and with the right care, they may even survive the experience. This life force is what Wraith thrive on and if they are properly fed, they can tap into their full strength. It's been suggested that the stronger the victim they feed from, the stronger the Wraith will be. Interestingly enough, this process can be reversed. The 'Gift of Life' can be used to vasty accelerate the body's own natural regenerative abilities, can have the effect of returning a human's 'youth' to them, and can even revive the recently deceased.

Mental: With over ten thousand years of experiences to lean on, Guide is an exceptionally intelligent member of his species. Indeed, most wraith that aren't just soldier grunts are usually comparable to the most brilliant minds that Earth can produce. Guide is exceptional even among his own kind, in manners of science and strategy. Although the Wraith never reached the technological prowess of the Ancients, their deficiency was in power generation, never in ingenuity. Guide demonstrated an exceptional knowledge of Replicator technology, far beyond what Earth was capable of. He and his other Wraith were able to commandeer an Earth ship and quickly adapted to learning how to use it, whereas Earthlings took weeks trying to pilot a captured Wraith ship.

Beyond that, Wraith are also powerful telepaths. Their primary means of communication is via telepathic networks that can be projected across the galaxy, indicating just how truly powerful their telepathy really is. As a male, Guide's telepathy is not as strong as a queen's would be. Also it seems to be somewhat incompatible with the human mind, as they are not able to actually read the minds of humans. But they are capable of reading the surface emotions of humans and can project terrifying ghostly images when culling a human population, a method generally reserved for 'herding' humans together. However if linked with another telepathic being, a Wraith is able to use that connection to prove their mental strength and can use it to take control of the other person's body (however, this mental battle also means the reverse is true).

Emotional: But beyond that, Guide is a leader. The Wraith do not have names the same way that humans do, but they do have roles. His role among the wraith is that of a 'guide', hence the name used here. Although leadership usually falls to the Queens, Todd follows his agenda and is out to improve the lot of his followers and his species as a whole. Whereas other Wraith might scoff at the idea of finding a way to eliminate the need to feed humans, Guide took the research therapy, even experimenting on himself so that the Wraith would not need to subsist on the diminishing human populations to sustain themselves. He does not let feelings of superiority over humans keep him from collaborating with other humans, using them often as allies. He takes no sadistic pleasure when he feeds, but does so merely as a natural necessity to continue to survive. He is exceptionally honorable, as Wraith go, and he will honor his bargains so long as his allies remain equally as loyal.

Weaknesses:

Physical: The Wraith don't have many weaknesses, but they share common ones with humans. Anything that can kill a human can kill a wraith, it just takes more of it to do that. Machine gun fire will eventually down a Wraith. Although they might still get up afterward. Where the Wraith's real weakness lies is their dependency on humans to feed. If a Wraith goes without feeding, their advanced abilities diminish to the point that they are reduced to being like humans in strength, if not weaker than that. Resisting the need to feed is nearly impossible and Guide compares the hunger to being on fire. A truly painful and torturous existence that can only be sated by feeding.

Mental: Guide really has no mental weaknesses, though his plans don't always succeed. He may also be a little too trusting. He is betrayed multiple times by his own subordinates, causing him numerous setbacks. He also foolishly tested a gene therapy on himself to remove the need to feed and then applied it to his subordinates, without waiting to see what long terms side effects might be. His entire Hive was lost as a result of it and he only barely survived at all.

Emotional: Although Guide is usually reserved and amicable (as much as a Wraith can be), he takes betrayal very poorly. He demonstrates this when he believes that the humans have reactivated a device that causes Wraith ships to be torn apart when entering hyperspace. Furious at the perceived betrayal, he immediately takes control of the human ship so he can use it to destroy the device. When the ship's weapons are sabotaged, he sets the ship on a collision course to destroy the device, leaving the humans on board to die. When his own subordinate double crosses him and steals a ZPM from him (a ZPM is a super powerful battery containing incredible power), he agrees to help the humans find more ZPMs merely so that he can get revenge on the Wraith that betrayed him.


Samples

First Person: Q&A please

Third Person: Yet again he paced as he stared at the sky, the sun burning bright above. He could feel the hunger. It burned and gnawed at him. It had not been enough that the humans of Earth had starved him, but now he was trapped in this village. How long, he wondered, would it take for them to rise up and strike him down once he took his first meal from them? Not long, he suspected. These humans were not like those of his own galaxy. They were strong, resilient, and a strength of will uncommon for the usual 'livestock' of the Pegasus Galaxy.

His hand mouth ached, yearning for life. He closed his fist around it, his clawed fingernails nearly being drawn in. Not that it would do him much good. He would wait. Oh, it would weaken him tremendously to do so, but he would have to wait until night fell. The cover of night might give him the opportunity to take a victim by surprise. Feed on them before they ever caught sight of him. If he was careful, then they would revive and the humans would never know who preyed upon them. If he was to be trapped in this village as long as the guide claimed, he would need that advantage. Being hunted as a monster would only end in his own demise. He held no illusions of being able to take on an entire village. No wraith was that powerful. Not even a queen.

So he waited, allowing his mind to wander, carefully and searching. He did not expect to find any Wraith, but he was surprised to find he could touch upon the minds of others in this enclosure. Telepathic humans? He had heard that the Lanteans had developed such abilities. He would need to guard his mind. If that human woman, Teyla, could pose as a queen with her own telepathic abilities, there was no telling what else he might face here.

But he felt as if he was on fire. Hissing through his teeth, he cursed the sun and sky. He could not abide this hunger much longer. Tonight, someone would die.