The Crew of the Lazarus

For a freedom fighter, Captain Abraham is ancient, having lived through plenty of runs into the Matrix to reach a golden age of 46, give or take a few years. He puts on a gruff front and is quick to discipline whenever anyone steps out of line, but that's just to make sure everything stays in order and keeps everyone alive. To forgive the phrase, he keeps the Lazarus running like a well-oiled machine. He's outlived five crewmates, lost to either Agents or Sentinel attacks, so his stern and stringent attitude is just his way of ensuring anyone that comes under his wing can survive more than their first skirmish. He's a wonderful man underneath it all, though, always friendly and smiling whenever he can afford to be, and there are plenty of people that view him like a grandfather.

Abraham is an Awakened, and was unplugged from the Matrix when he was 15. He stands around 5'8" and is of average build for an ex-coppertop, with very pale skin. His thick hair is charcoal grey, with wide streaks of silver at his temples. Add in his steel-grey eyes and his strictly grey wardrobe, in the Matrix or out of it, and it's no surprise that plenty of people call him by his last name: Sterling.

Just one year shy of half a century in age, and proud to admit it, Ruth is the oldest member of the Lazarus's crew. She is a very nurturing, motherly type, having raised two children of her own to adulthood, and anyone who comes aboard the Lazarus in need of comfort will get no shortage of it from this loving woman. Sometimes she'll even mother those who have no need of it, simply out of her affection for them--Captain Abraham is among this number. Ruth has a splendid sense of humor and loves to tease and joke around, but while she'll quickly point out other's troubles in her maternal concerns, she has a tendency not to admit her own weaknesses. Though she has a history of heart trouble, it has never affected her ability to act as the Lazarus's operator.

Ruth is a natural-born Zionite, second generation, of mixed heritage but primarily African. She's solidly built, being the kind of woman who would be downright plump if her diet provided the calories for it. She's a tad over five and a half feet tall, with dark brown eyes and obsidian black hair that falls halfway down her back in a thick braid.

Kerberos is, without a doubt, the oddest member of the Lazarus's crew. He is one of those souls that did not take his Awakening well at all and was reduced to a mentally childlike state through post-traumatic stress. Despite having a small pack of people who have come to love him and replace the family he "lost" in the Matrix, he has not recovered well either, despite the time that has since passed since he woke. The real world has thrown tragedy after tragedy at him, and thus what is left of his old self has had no reason to return from the still-whole corners of his mind. He is now somewhere between being an idiot-savant and being afflicted with a dissociative identity--when he is in front of an operator's screen or has some other reason to "wake up" and return to the semblance of the confident young man he used to be, he is truly Kerberos, but the rest of the time he is merely Kerbie, meek and mild, a boy in a young man's body.

If there ever was a knight in the ranks of Zionites, it would be Saul: he is strong, honorable, and downright chivalrous. He is also friendly and optimistic; though not exactly loud and cheerful, he tends to smile more than frown, and tends to see the best in situations and people. For the most part, his crew finds him a pleasant soul--especially for someone supposed to be stitching up cuts, dealing with colds, and treating post-Awakened shock.

Saul is another born Zionite, with no plugs and no ability or, in his case, desire to enter the Matrix--but he is far from your typical Zionite in appearance. Blonde and blue-eyed, with a sandy beard, he is hardly exceptional, but he is tall, and both built powerfully and finely muscled, rivaling, it is said, even the bulk of the infamous Morpheus.

Paradigm is commonly said to be 26 going on 12. Though he is an incredible thinker and theorist, he is a sprightly young man that happily goes about acting younger than he really is. It's how he stays happy with the world--finding every little bit of cheer in it that he can, and making his own when there's none to be found. He's a charismatic man, generally a good judge of character, and a social butterfly. He has trouble taking things seriously at times, but when he does, he can do a complete one-eighty and turn somber and brooding--especially when he's made a mistake that's cost something dear. His decision to unplug Kerberos--the decision that cost the younger man his mind--will haunt him the rest of his life.

Hack brings to mind the image of a bad-tempered teenager, being defiant, sarcastic, and an absolute spitfire. When she teams up with Glitch, they're "Glitch and the Bitch." Though she tends to grate on many people the wrong way, she really isn't truly mean or malicious. She's always a team player, and though she may grump and grumble loudly when she isn't happy with a situation, she will do what needs to be done right when it needs to be done, and for that she's kept her place among the friendlier members of the Lazarus's crew. She's quite a bit overconfident, though, and this is bound to get her in trouble one day.

As well built as your standard Awakened or Zionite gets (of which she is the former), Hack has the height and bulk to back up her attitude. Unplugged as Tracy Ross when she was 12, Hack is 31 now, with pale tan skin, black hair shaved to a crew-cut, and hazel eyes set in a stubborn face.

Glitch, now, is a man to watch out for. He's a scrawny twig of a man and seems to try and make up for it by having quite the in-your-face attitude. He curses freely, has little tolerance for other people's weaknesses, and gets downright aggressive with anyone who he thinks isn't pulling his or her weight. He doesn't fit in on the Lazarus at all, but he's Hack's best friend, and that's kept him around for now (and what Hack sees in him, no one can tell). He is an excellent mechanic and turret-gunner, however, so at the least he earns his keep aboard Abraham's craft.

Glitch is Hispanic in descent, despite having been born into the Matrix with the rather mundane name of Gary Travis, with light skin, dark hair and eyes, and a significant lack of height. He's 28 years old and has been unplugged for 15 of them.