North! It’s North... he’s my second most boring white man from Freelancer, but he gets extra points over York for me by being overprotective in an interesting way and being a corpse in his first appearance. Let’s go useless king!!
But for real here’s some info about this spotty guy:
- Since North, as mentioned, is dead before the main RvB plotline even begins, I decided to make his “main” drawing of this piece his Pre-Freelancer design. So no scars, or anything, and fancy civilian clothes. Being the 14th host of his symbiont, he’s got at least 600 years of life experience, so just by virtue of being Kalan he’s very well respected. So he’s a fancy little dresser, including me giving him heels. Well, I was tired of drawing boots.
- I expand more on why this version of North joined PFL in my fic, but he really does become an oddity among the other Freelancers. As a joined Trill with a very old symbiont he’s super skilled, smart, and wise in a way. But critically he’s insecure about that, and probably holds back to try and “blend in” more. I like North better if he’s sort of a charming cool-guy who hides a ruthless and kind of condescending inner self.
- North has the least Borg tech of any of the Freelancers. I’m not sure if this draws on anything in canon, but I imagine that joined Trills are particularly sensitive to bodily modifications, with the symbiont being potentially at risk.
- All of the fragments except for Omega are still actual AI in this AU (see Doc for more info), but they’re necessarily a little different than RvB AIs. They’re simpler, small computer programs that help the Freelancers run their Borg mods, and they’re equipped with mini holo-emitters so they can easily communicate with others. They all look oddly similar to the Director... hmmmm, what a mystery.
Next week is Meta and that’s the last of the Freelancers!