APPLICATION.
Player Info
Nickname: Codes
Age: 17+
Personal LJ: n/a
Method of Contact: AIM or message to character journal
Characters Played: n/a
Character Info
Name: Nathan 'Nate' Drake
Age: mid thirties
Canon: Uncharted series
Pull Point: Uncharted 2, post-chapter 15.
Background Info
History: Any of Drake's childhood and family history is unknown. His real name is not even known--'Nathan Drake' is an alias he created all his own. As far as it goes, his parents were never prevalent figures in his life; his mother had committed suicide and his father surrendered custody of him to the state when he was around five. From there, he was placed into Saint Francis Boys' home, raised by nuns. As he grew, he held a fascination with the history and a figure in particular, Sir Francis Drake. For whatever reasons he had, Nathan ran away from home and wound up in Colombia. As the story goes, he was quick to learn how to live on the streets, and by fourteen he was a skilled runner, able to scale and climb buildings and structures of any size around him.
It was there that he met and encountered a man who he would hold as a close friend and the actual father figure in his life, Victor Sullivan whom others refer to as merely 'Sully'. Events fell into place and because of their initial meeting and what followed after, Sully took Nathan under his wing. It would be for years that Nathan would grow to love to love Sullivan as the father he never had, and in return he was protected, looked after and cared as if he actually were Sully's son. Hand in hand with the events in Colombia and Sully, it would be there that Nathan obtained one of his more trademark items, a ring that once belonged to Sir Francis Drake himself (Nathan claimed he was a descendant of Francis Drake himself, thus his reasoning for keeping and 'reclaiming' such an object, despite the means of which he went to obtain it: thievery).
Taken in under Sully's wing, Nathan was taught skills that the other picked up as he was currently a freelance thief. With such a lifestyle, things were sketchy at times, and on certain occasion, the two were locked up in jail at points in their life. Nathan was jailed at age fifteen in Peru; Sully helped to bail him out. With such skills and his interests in history and exploration teamed with a lack of solid income, Nathan moved to become a treasure hunter. Growing up in this lifestyle, Nate picks up knowledge in things such as deep-sea salvaging, hand to hand combat, firearm use; he even dabbles in a few other languages, Latin being something he gained growing up in the boy's home--Spanish is something he picked up living in Colombia.
One of Nathan's more notable adventures occurs in Indonesia, and thus starts his streak with old 'acquaintances' coming back to make his life more difficult. He had been hired by a man named Pinkerton to recover an artifact. Along the way he teamed up with a girl named Rika who proved to be more than capable of defending herself but at the same time was a surprise as she the sister of pirate leader Eddy Raja, a man who few did not mess with, as he claimed. Nathan had a bad history with Eddy, but despite it he decided to swindle Pinkerton, teaming up with the Raja siblings; it proved successful, until Rika betrayed both of them, leaving with the artifact. Eddy warned him not to say anything as they watched her sail away on the boat, left on the dock.
Skip to near the present of Drake's life. The quest for El Dorado.
In search of the lost city of gold so that Sully may relieve the debts he is in, Nathan made use of the resources of Elena Fisher and the cable network which broadcasted her television show on archaeological findings. His motive for this was the funding that the network provided for his expedition to locate Sir Francis Drake's coffin. Inside he found no body, and a few clues. Shortly after the discovery and gaining what he had been looking for (clues and leads to the city), Nathan met back up with Sully and reluctantly agreed to leave Elena behind, feeling guilty for having lied to her after the help she proved to be.
Things happened; Nathan and Sullivan realized based on their findings that El Dorado was not the city they had envisioned--it was a large golden statue. The hunt fell into motion and through it the three of them --Nathan, Elena, and Sullivan-- became entangled with dangerous men, mercenaries and crime lords as they raced to track down the statue. In the end however, the statue was more dangerous than it was worth; inside of it was an airborne virus capable of mutating its victim into a dangerous creature, due to a 'curse'. Conflicted, Nathan knew it was better to be rid of the statue and after a heated battle, he was able to overcome what had turned into a hellish trip.
Fortunately, not all treasure had been lost. Due to Sully's efforts, they ended on that note with gold and artifacts stolen from a pirate gang they had also tangled with during that time. Shortly after that, Elena parts ways with Nathan and Sully.
More time goes by and the next adventure that Nathan goes on turns out to be even worse.
Approached by an old friend to pull off a heist, he blatantly refused after hearing that the steal was to be from a Turkish museum, one he had a particularly bad history with ("You and I both know two people were killed trying to steal something from the museum!"). It was only after said friend was joined by an even older acquaintance that Nathan began to listen and figure out the details of the task. The goal of the job was to obtain a lamp, and within the lamp had been a recount, things that hinted at the existence of Shambhala (Shangri-La), the mythical city and the Cintamani Stone, an object believed to be of great power, capable of granting wishes. It was described as a giant sapphire, something that called greatly upon Nathan's interests. He wanted in, and agreed to join.
Things however, in accordance to Nathan's bad luck, never went as planned.
In the process, Nathan is betrayed by Harry Flynn and then by Chloe later on--the first for greed and the second because of a clash in personality. The result of the former lands Drake in jail, where he is then rescued by Sully and surprisingly Chloe, who had no idea of Flynn's intentions. They decide to try and get him back for it, reach the treasure before he does, along the man he is working for, a Serbian war criminal known as Zoran Lazarevic. Chloe worked as a double agent, partnered still with Harry while her loyalties lay with Nathan and Sully.
After a particularly rough tussle in Borneo, Sully decided to take a vacation. To that Nate had no problems with because he believed he could handle things, considering that he still had Chloe on his side. Along the journey he crossed paths with Elena in Nepal(along with her cameraman, Jeff), found her trying to track down Zoran as NATO believed him dead, which was not the case.
She and Jeff became pulled into the mess when Nathan asked them to come along, much to the dismay of Chloe. Shortly after, Chloe was forced to 'betray' Nate again when they failed to escape soldiers after discovering the location of the Cintamani stone to be in the Himalayas; Jeff was killed by Lazarevic, already having been wounded not too long ago. Elena and Nate escaped before they could be treated the same but Chloe was still with the enemy. Not wanting to leave her behind if she was discovered to be a traitor by Lazarevic, Nate resolved to go after her despite urgings not to by Elena. This led to him fighting through waves of soldiers, jumping onto a train heading towards the stone, and yes, more fighting.
He found Chloe and much to his shock, she did not want to be rescued, claiming to be done with his heroics (she was upset with his decision to bring Elena and Jeff along with them on their journey which led to Jeff's death). Nate was caught off guard however, and found himself with a bullet wound in his abdomen, courtesy of Harry. Chloe fended him off in time for Nathan to escape through the train cars but soldiers pursued. In a last-ditch effort to get rid of them, Nate shot a pile of propane tanks; it was effective, but it also derailed his part of the train, sent the car hanging off a cliff along with others. Still heavily injured, he managed to fight his way through enemies and escape the cliffhanger train.
Every man has his limits however, and Nathan found his when he traveled through a snowstorm. Injured, tired, feeling defeated, Nathan collapsed in the snow, felt himself blacking out.
Personality: Infamous to some, an annoyance to others, somewhere inbetween is where Nathan can be defined; he is on the good side of some, the bad side of others, so on and so forth.
Upon first impression, Nathan is a friendly guy, the everyday kind of person you find down the street; his life just has a few more twists than the common man. He reacts just the same as others to things and takes situations at arm's length if there is a sense of uneasiness. He has a sense of humor that can be uncalled for at time; on one occasion, he used a skeleton to scare two of his comrades during a tense moment. At another time, he played Marco Polo much to the displeasure of the person he was with as during that moment, they were at risk of being attacked by the enemy.
Despite his past interactions with the supernatural ('zombies' --also known as the Descendants--, curses, etc.), he is the type to not believe gossip and 'kid stories'. He would rather see it himself before believing it. That type of mindset does not apply when a treasure is the goal, as it is treasure, and it means another adventure for him. Even with a warning, Nathan will almost always be willing to take the first step of the journey.
This does not mean that he is completely reckless, or an idiot; even Nathan Drake has a sense of self-preservation. If he can avoid having to fight, he will as he is capable of stealth, even with his side comments at times. Along with that, he is a resourceful person, able to make due with what he has at times more often than not.
Being the type of person to help others, he is not one to leave someone behind despite any disadvantages it may prove to him. This can be evidenced by when he refuses to leave Jeff --a man he has barely met-- behind just because he has been injured, even when they were being chased by unsavory characters. He has a respect for human life, refusing to kill when he can help it, yet he will not hesitate to defend himself or the others that he cares for. Stubborn to a fault with the tenacity to keep him going, it is this type of thinking that has him pursuing numerous things. He finds excitement in the adventure, believes that thrill to be worth more than anything a treasure can give, but it doesn't help to find fortune every now and then, as evident by how frequently he searches for treasure to help pay off debts and fund his expeditions.
To his friends, he is frustrating but someone to rely on despite the times he may come off as immature, a whiner, or even a loudmouth at times. He gets excited easily, frustrated as well. He can be considerate at times but his stubbornness conflicts with this; he may listen at first, but he puts his foot down when a suggestion clashes with a belief, decision, or moral he holds. To his enemies, he is the metaphorical 'thorn in my side' and in return, they are no less than that. He regards said foes with a dry attitude when he can, sarcastic and cynical even, when he is not simply serious of course, as this is the enemy, someone who would rather kill him and people like that are the kind that Drake would prefer not to spend time with. If it is possible to get his friends out of harm's way, he is willing to bargain his life for their own. He is severely loyal in this sense, devoted to those he cares for
Despite his 'chivalrous' attitude and the word 'hero' that comes hand in hand with the term, Nathan is an everyday man. He possesses a drive that is capable of burning out if he is not careful; should the journey prove to be more dangerous than expected, should he be pushed to all possible limits and actually fall because of it, Nathan would wish to give up for his sake and for the sake of others, more specifically those he had dragged into the conflict with his actions. In the first game More often than not, he is pushed only by the encouragement of those he trusts; he returns to the task at hand with a renewed vigor, despite his proven misfortune with things, something he has acknowledged himself ("Everything I touch turns to shit!").
That brings in Nathan's 'luck. It never is... the best it can be. Proven through his adventures in various locations (Indonesia, the Amazon, the south Pacific, Borneo, and Istanbul to name a few), what seems to be simple at first never really goes that way. Whether it is a simple break-in with an old friend turning into a betrayal that leads to him spending three months in a Turkish prison or a tangle with the leader of a pirate gang (who was once an old partner betrayed by Drake), Nathan's feelings can be best summed up with one of his more notable catchphrases: "Aww, crap!"
Nathan's relationships can be tricky; his history with people is not as defined as another's may be. Drake has been friends with both shady characters and good people. Sully is someone that Nathan places an extreme amount of faith in, a person whose opinion he respects and values as he is considered a father by Nate. In the first Uncharted, when he was believed to be dead, Nate wished to give up, only encouraged to go on when he found out that the other was alive. It does not mean that he is completely nice with Sully--he jokes around, having picked up bad habits of the 'dirty old man' at times, teasing him in a friendly manner. Nate loves Sully like he would his own dad - to him, Victor Sullivan really is his father.
Elena Fisher is a complicated matter for him; at first he wanted to con her but as they went to rescue Sully and find El Dorado, he grew close to her; when they meet again in Uncharted 2, it is hinted that Nathan has strong feelings for Elena, enough that he wants to keep her safe but relents to her stubborn attitude, knowing that they clash at times.
Eddy Raja even, proves the bad karma that seems to follow Nathan around as the two had worked together on a job but it went sour when both planned to betray one another, Nate beating him to the punch and much to the opposite of the other's catchphrase, 'messed with him'. Chloe is a different story, as is Harry. Though his history with both of them is not revealed at the moment, he was on good terms with them once upon a time, even romantically involved with Chloe though he walked out on her for his own reasons. The only difference is that those terms stayed with Chloe, and Harry betrayed him him. Most of this succeeds in proving that Drake has no 'people intuition'. He places his trust in others and sometimes --usually-- the results turn out to be for the worse.
Life goes on, Nathan rolls with the punches as best as he can because it is the best he can do. No matter when the chips are down, if he can fight, then Nathan will. He just needs a little push time and time again.
Skills: Nathan is fluent in Latin and Spanish, able to read, translate, write, and speak the language itself. He knows some other languages, but not as extensively as he knows other, such as Indonesian ("Buka Pintu?" from the first Uncharted). Because of the life he chose for himself, Nathan is an experienced free-runner, climbing buildings and obstacles others may be incapable of overcoming. On a technical, Nathan can be called a thief, all things considered, along with the fact that he helped an old friend break into a museum for an item.
Being a treasure hunter (fortune seeker), he needs to be capable of other things, and he has proven so with his knowledge in weaponry, geography, the past, and so on. His fascination with history has led to his in-depth understanding with artifacts old and more recent, legend and fact. In addition to this, Nathan is also a deep-sea salvage expert and action professional. He is more than capable of taking care of his matters, based on his explorations and the fact that on said journeys he rarely needs help, bringing along only one or two people.
For Nathan's use in armaments, please refer to CAPABILITIES for explicit items / techniques he has been proven capable of employing.
Samples:
First Person Sample / Network Post:
Whoa! Alright... This should be working, right? [There's a tapping sound as he looks for feedback from the device, however it works. His face is across the screen and its in confusion as he leans in, scrutinizing it with a wrinkled brow, lips pursed in a frown. A small 'hm' leaves his throat and he pulls back.] Testing! One, two... Nathan Drake here, can anyone hear me, or for that matter, help me? Come on, please?
[Its quiet for a moment. Then there is a groan at the lack of response on the other side.] Hello? [Some more tapping.] Oh, come on! You've gotta be kidding me--I already broke this piece of crap?!
[The feed cuts just as the screen gets a nice view of the wall; it appears that someone has just thrown it across the room.]
Third Person Sample / Action Post:
The gunfire has him pinned down against a barricade, and it refuses to stop. Breathing heavily, he changes the magazine of the pistol, hears the clips hit the ground and he counts, closes his eyes for a moment despite the rain of splinters that erupt around him as the bullets collide with wood, barely scratching but never exactly hitting the table he's propped himself again. One, two...
Its amazing that they haven't hit yet, he knows that but he isn't willing to say that aloud for worry that through Murphy's law or some other set of rules he doesn't know about, he will jinx himself and get him. Five... The gunfire stops for a moment, the sound of a clip being emptied is heard and Nathan knows this is the time to strike. Forcing the adrenaline to push him further, he turns and points his gun, barely poised above the makeshift wall he's propped up. Eyes take aim and his hands steady. He fires not one or two, but as many bullets as it takes to bring down the guy with the Gatling gun.
Silence, finally; a body hits the ground and the GAU-12 falls over with the soldier. There is a sigh of relief, Nathan feels his shoulders slump and his throat is ridiculously dry. He forces himself up, takes a look around.
Can't stop now, he tells himself. Need to keep going.
Game Specifics
THE VELVET KEY
Arcana: Hanged Man
Justification: Nathan is a dedicated guy, loyal to those he is close to, willing to put himself in harm's way for strangers even, as it has been shown through the games. He is capable of turning situations around and would rather get hurt himself than drag those he cares for into the fight. When he fails in a task or realizes he has bitten off more than he can chew, he wishes to pull out of the quest, whether the reason is that he is not interested or because he believes there is no positive outcome for him. His stubbornness may prove against this arcana choice in certain lights, but the idea of devotion and sacrifice because of his belief in others fits him well--that, and his bad luck may as well mark him as a 'hanged man'.
ASGARD
House; HEIMDALL
Power; Damage Drain
Note: Though Uncharted 3 does reveal quite a bit of information on Nathan's background, I did not go into depth over it in the history as his canon point is the second game--asides, that part of his life does not play into his current character. The numerous links located within this application are optional and only for further references.
character reference page: click
**spoilers for Uncharted 3 in link