John Veer
| John Veer | ||
|---|---|---|
| Nationality | American | |
| Organization | Bee-Sus, PHIA Phorce | |
| Species | Ancient human | |
| Height | 6'1" | |
- "I've taken the furthest leap for mankind anyone ever has. If only I could take a few steps back."
- ―John Veer
John Veer (sometimes known as John VR) is an ancient human, speculated to possibly be the last of his kind. He was a researcher for the ancient corporation known as Bee-Sus that used beeswax for rocket fuel in Earth's early spacefaring age. His role was on the virtual reality side, developing virtual reality simulations that included marketing, instructional and educational materials.
Due to an accident, John was displaced in time due to a combination of long term cryostasis and time dilation. With the help of some virtuoarchaologists, he found his way to the planet Yeddo, thirty thousand years into the future.
While exploring an unfamiliar world, he was very briefly kidnapped by human traffickers who intended to sell him to black market virtuoarchaeologists. Fortunately, he was rescued by the PHIA Phorce.
Appearance
John has blonde hair and blue eyes and is biologically thirty-five years old in the year 2023 AB. He is from an extinct ethnic group known as the Caucasians who are light-skinned humans once adapted to live in the northern regions of ancient Earth. He also has some lineage from the Indian subcontinent based on his surname. Unsurprisingly, he is often described as looking like a caveman due to the lack of the neotenous features that the rest of humanity had evolved. Of course, that is simply their perception as John would view hominid species like Neanderthals in the same way.
John usually wears a white spacesuit due to his body not being fully adjusted to the vastly different environment Yeddo is from planet Earth in his time. The subtle differences in oxygen concentration, air quality and the number of pathogens brought in by the vast number of non-human species has made it rather difficult to walk around without getting some sort of shortness of breath or at worst, a terrible illness. He has gotten used to wearing his suit all the time, and many people know him for it.
John's preferred civilian clothes include a white button down shirt with khakis. Due to his near-sightedness, he also wears large, black-rimmed glasses.
Personality
John is very patriotic and has what many call an old school sort of optimism. He enjoys grilling hamburgers and hotdogs and watching sports. And of course, he is passionate about his line of work as a virtual reality programmer. He has a deep fascination over the vrNet and all the other advances humanity has made since his time.
However, his situation of being transported over 30,000 years into the future has scarred him emotionally. Not only did he become separated from his country and his job, but also his family - his wife, son and daughter. He hopes to one day find wherever their remains might be so that he has a chance to properly mourn them. At the very least, he dreams of visiting Mt. Rushmore on Earth one more time as it is the one location he associates with his family and childhood.
Though John is considered somewhat of a celebrity, he prefers to keep to himself when possible and enjoy the smaller things. His way of processing his situation is to take solace in familiar elements. He designed his residence to resemble an American suburban home, something which looks wildly out of place from the exotic architecture of the cities of Yeddo.
History
John was born within the ancient Earth nation known as the United States of America, specifically in the state of South Dakota. One of his earliest childhood experiences was visiting Mount Rushmore. He had since taken his family many times to visit the location.
After obtaining a PHD, he went to work for Bee-Sus corporation as a virtual reality programmer to help advertise the then-newly developed form of rocket propulsion using beeswax.
At some point, tragedy struck during a routine operation. His ship was lost in space beyond hope of recovery. He was forced to enter longterm cryostasis while an onboard AI took care of him.
Thirty thousand years later, virtuoarchaeologists from the Federation of Stellar Systems discovered his ship located to be in orbit of the star Ran, also known as Epsilon Eridani. When he was awakened, John had found himself in an unfamiliar environment. His stasis pod had only lasted as long as it did due to the experience of rapid time dilation. Despite having made contact with other humans, these humans had evolved different facial features and ethnicities unlike anything he had ever seen - enough to the point where he initially mistook them for extraterrestrials.
Though John had completely missed its rise and fall, the Valerian Empire had apparently been aware of his existence but they had chosen not to wake him. John was passively studied by the Valerians while he was in cryostasis, and repairs were made to his ship over time on their behalf. Unbeknownst to him, he was considered a tourist attraction during that time.
Skills and Abilities
Although John is a non-combatant, he brings with him his experience as a virtual reality programmer. Though on the surface his knowledge could be considered obsolete, he has valuable insight that could prove the key to understanding ancient technologies. Thus, his unique perspective makes him an exceptional virtuoarchaeologist. Naturally, John also carries with him knowledge that predates not just the Blackout but the Valerian Empire.
His status as a living ancient relic has also gained him some influence in the academic community. Naturally, he is a frequent source of interviews from university professors and business entrepeneurs alike.
Relations
- Abraham Lincoln - John took solace in immediately finding someone he recognized from his time, within a margin of a few hundred years of course.
- Sophia Delphi - John admires her work in protecting the city of Port Oraulan as the PHIA Phorce. John, however, cannot shake off a sense of deja vu around her. Sophia uncannily resembles someone he knows from his own time period.
- Eris Duellona - John finds himself connected to her due to their shared origin of being people displaced from their own time period. The thought of starting a relationship with her has crossed his mind, but he still struggles to reconcile with having lost his own family.