Character Highlight: Vermin
You can find visuals by following the link under "Present Lore"
Being who I am, I enjoy creating OCs for the many preexisting fictional universes that are released to the world.
Mid 2023 there was an idea.
With Call of Duty on the rise back to relevance due to the anticipated release of Modern Warfare III, I felt inspired to make and OC. There, Ophelia was born.
Ophelia was...rough. Her design is something I adore, but her character was something I look back on and despise. It was a manifestation of things I craved at the time. She was shame. For months I developed her in my mind, using the many rp prompts of the c.ai community to further flesh out her character. From then, my memory became somewhat dark.
In early 2024, I finally decided I'd join the many other cosplayers on TikTok to show "Vermin" to the world. Though, looking at Ophelia, I knew that truthfully she could not go out to the public. Not with the way I wanted to look, to act. From there, Harley was born.
Harley was this silly, tiny ankle biter—raised from her childhood to become a soldier her father could boast about. She started off with a fascination for fire, and an unfinished incident of cannibalism. Though these things did not define her at all. Instead, it was my own self-infantilizing habits knowing I was entering a community of people raging from 2-20 years my seniors. For a while it was fun despite the toxicities of the community.
I got the idea some months in to build her lore through a field journal—inspired my Soap's own. It took place following the events of COD MWIII (2023). Soap had died, and Graves was on trial for his crimes against TF141. Harley was a soldier of Shadow Company who was involved in the incident, but hardly condoned much of what went down. She fled, not wanting to betray her own people in Las Almas.
The journal consisted of her adventure with two other OCs (made by my friends), and the remaining members of TF141. Later down the line she met another character (another friend's OC) who spooked her heavily. He had this spirit about him that constantly reminded her of her harsh instance of cannibalism. Not long after this, the project was dropped due to other factors of my life taking over.
She went back to a silly character on TikTok, running around and causing chaos...without so much fire. I went on hiatus, and moved onto bigger things in my personal life.
Most of this information can be found through milanote.
In November of 2024, I met an individual whom I clicked with well. I stated I wanted to redevelop Harley for R6, and they helped me significantly in doing that. From then on, we realized the unique dynamic that could form between our OCs and organized a roleplay. From here, she became one of my favorite OCs over the years.
"After the death of her mother in early childhood, Harley Alvarez was left to be raised by her father. A man unskilled at raising child, did what he knew. From then on, Harley had the upbringing of a soldier with little room for a true parental bond.
She was enrolled in military academies, and urgen to enlist upon her graduation. She did so, being labeled a prodigy by many. By the time she was 19, she had already climbed significantly within the army. This made it easy for her father to pull enough strings to have her on his own teams. That way, it was much easier to monitor her success.
One of the first operations under her father, Harley found herself at the forefront of catastrophe. She'd caught a tripwire, and Ricky (her father) rushed forward to ensure her safety. Through this he risked his life. There was a heavy period in which Harley learned to heal from this loss, but it did not come with a full recovery.
Just a year later, while in the process of rescuing a hostage, Harley found herself trapped. Her and the wounded hostage were chased into an abandoned home moments before a blizzard. That blizzard trapped the two; the hostage soon succumbing to her wounds. Either only a moments hesitation, Harley concluded she'd live longer if she ate the hostage first, before the limited MREs that wouldn't rot in the same way. Weeks passed, she was found...and was quickly admitted into a mental institution.
After a few years in, she is released and approached by Dr.Harry Pandey to join Rainbow's ranks."