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▶ PLAYER
HANDLE: Megan
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corbieclook
OVER 18? y
CHARACTERS IN-GAME: Sam Wilson
▶ CHARACTER
NAME: Howard Stark
CANON: Marvel Cinematic Universe
CANON POINT: after the end of Agent Carter
AGE: 30
BACKGROUND: https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Howard_Stark
PERSONALITY:
Howard Stark is described as America's mustachioed Casanova - a millionaire playboy. On the surface, that's true; he throws money around frivolously, flirts and/or sleeps with almost every woman he meets. (Women are his greatest weakness - when his inventions are ultimately stolen, it turns out that he was manipulated by a female Russian assassin he slept with. He has trouble remembering individual women - including aforementioned assassin - but can remember precisely which outfit he was wearing on any given night.) He's charismatic, sarcastic, charming - when accused of being a traitor, he testifies flippantly in front of Congress, then flees the country to keep from being arrested. He's incredibly vain and obsessed with his own appearance. It's hard to believe he takes anything seriously, let alone that he founded Stark Industries at the age of 23 and became a millionaire shortly thereafter, or that he's created inventions capable of wreaking such havoc that they have to be hidden away lest people misuse them. (Most of them were originally intended to be beneficial, but couldn't be refined to work the way he'd originally envisioned; others, Howard explains, had to be built - he can't help what he thinks of.)
Howard grew up poor on the Lower East Side, the son of a fruit seller and a woman who sewed shirtwaists at a factory. Despite his genius, his scientific and business acumen, he had no way to get money. As he explains it, there are ceilings in America - ceilings of classism and wealth, and the only way to break through them is to lie. After so much time lying, it becomes instinct, whether major lies or little white ones, even when he should know better. He did whatever he had to in order to succeed - he schemed, manipulated people, even dealt with the Mafia. Underneath the amiable exterior lies a deeply cunning and crafty mind, a man whose morality is best described as flexible, depending on the situation. Though he's genuinely interested in scientific advancement, that doesn't prevent him from using an opportunity to make a profit while he's at it. He also feels absolutely no guilt for seducing and sleeping with married women, even when their husbands are men he knows well. He tries to bargain his way out of a sticky situation with a famous starlet's phone number, and bribes his way back into the United States with the help of the criminal underworld.
As flexible as his morality is, that doesn't mean that he's incapable of feeling guilt for his actions. He might be a weapons dealer, but there are some things that are too inhumane and too dangerous to be used as weapons, to be trusted to hands other than Howard's own. When these find their way into other hands, Howard holds himself personally responsible for the deaths caused, and a Russian scientist uses this guilt to manipulate him into believing he's atoning for what he believes is his greatest shame - the loss of Captain America, who he believes is the only good thing he's brought into the world among so much destruction. Even though Howard wasn't directly responsible for Steve's death, he still considers it his duty to rescue him, if at all possible, and he conducts several missions into the Arctic to look for him (and the Tesseract as well).
Though Howard holds himself aloof from most people, when he trusts people, his trust in them is absolute - for those people, he is a good man and a good friend, a stalwart ally. When Edwin Jarvis is accused of treason, Howard uses his connections to get the charge reduced to a dishonorable discharge and brings him and his wife to America, employing Jarvis as his butler. After the war, his inventions are stolen, and Peggy Carter is one of the only people who believes he's innocent. He recruits Peggy to redeem his name, but they fight and Howard flees the country; he returns to New York to atone for his sins by offering himself up as bait (just after Peggy and Jarvis are arrested by the SSR). He tells Peggy that he's had to go through his life not caring what people think of him, but he does care what she thinks. Whenever Peggy needs him, he aids her in every way possible - not just in proving his innocence, but in an unrelated investigation in California later on. (Ultimately, the two of them refine the SSR into SHIELD and run it for decades; Jarvis, too, remains by Howard's side as his butler and valet.)
If he's not busy running his business, Howard can typically be found in his workshop (or the hangar, or the garage, or anywhere else he's working on a project) or - yes, it's true - leading the scandalous lifestyle most people expect of him. He needs constant stimulation; his mind is never really "off". If he isn't doing something science-related, then he's probably pursuing a life of hedonism and other sorts of, well, stimulation. Though he enjoys science of all kinds, his specialty is engineering, and he likes cars, planes, and any sort of machine he can find or invent (or sometimes both).
Some people might believe that Howard's strongest motivation is money, and it certainly seems to be that way much of the time. But what he really craves is success and solving problems, working them out and then moving on to the next one. Peggy accuses him of only wanting both Steve's blood and Zero Matter for money, and that's not entirely true; yes, he wants the profit that could come from studying both materials, but he craves knowledge and scientific advancement - the feeling of success and fame and progress, of doing something that nobody else has done before.
That isn't to say that he isn't financially motivated. He likes money; anyone who's ever grown up poor craves financial security, and Howard has quickly become accustomed to the finer things in life. So, yes, a certain amount of money is necessary to keep him in the lifestyle he prefers.
As far as family goes, we know relatively little about his parents. It seems likely that Howard no longer associates with them; he mentions at one point that his dad never spared the belt with him, and his childhood in general was rough. At this point in time, he doesn't seem inclined to pursue starting a family of his own, possibly out of fear of what kind of parent he might prove, or because women, as a rule, are interested in his money and status more than they are in him as an actual person. He has very few friends in general, for the aforementioned reason, and the only close friends we see him with are Jarvis and Peggy.
POWERS/ABILITIES:
Genius intellect: While not superhuman, Howard is at the pinnacle of human intelligence; in his own time, he's matched only by the likes of Whitney Frost and Jason Wilkes, and in the future, surpassed by the likes of his own son, Bruce Banner, and Princess Shuri. (Hank Pym is a matter of opinion.) Howard is a polymath; he speaks several languages fluently, is adept in numerous fields of science, builds an international corporation from the ground up, aids in the creation of the Super-Soldier Serum (and partially recreates it on his own nearly fifty years later), and spends several decades running SHIELD with Peggy Carter. He can recreate multidimensional engineering plans simply by looking at photos of equations and diagrams, and build said equipment to rip open a hole in the fabric of space and time.
INVENTORY: n/a
MOONBLESSING: Sanguis
HANDLE: Megan
CONTACT:
OVER 18? y
CHARACTERS IN-GAME: Sam Wilson
▶ CHARACTER
NAME: Howard Stark
CANON: Marvel Cinematic Universe
CANON POINT: after the end of Agent Carter
AGE: 30
BACKGROUND: https://marvelcinematicuniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Howard_Stark
PERSONALITY:
Howard Stark is described as America's mustachioed Casanova - a millionaire playboy. On the surface, that's true; he throws money around frivolously, flirts and/or sleeps with almost every woman he meets. (Women are his greatest weakness - when his inventions are ultimately stolen, it turns out that he was manipulated by a female Russian assassin he slept with. He has trouble remembering individual women - including aforementioned assassin - but can remember precisely which outfit he was wearing on any given night.) He's charismatic, sarcastic, charming - when accused of being a traitor, he testifies flippantly in front of Congress, then flees the country to keep from being arrested. He's incredibly vain and obsessed with his own appearance. It's hard to believe he takes anything seriously, let alone that he founded Stark Industries at the age of 23 and became a millionaire shortly thereafter, or that he's created inventions capable of wreaking such havoc that they have to be hidden away lest people misuse them. (Most of them were originally intended to be beneficial, but couldn't be refined to work the way he'd originally envisioned; others, Howard explains, had to be built - he can't help what he thinks of.)
Howard grew up poor on the Lower East Side, the son of a fruit seller and a woman who sewed shirtwaists at a factory. Despite his genius, his scientific and business acumen, he had no way to get money. As he explains it, there are ceilings in America - ceilings of classism and wealth, and the only way to break through them is to lie. After so much time lying, it becomes instinct, whether major lies or little white ones, even when he should know better. He did whatever he had to in order to succeed - he schemed, manipulated people, even dealt with the Mafia. Underneath the amiable exterior lies a deeply cunning and crafty mind, a man whose morality is best described as flexible, depending on the situation. Though he's genuinely interested in scientific advancement, that doesn't prevent him from using an opportunity to make a profit while he's at it. He also feels absolutely no guilt for seducing and sleeping with married women, even when their husbands are men he knows well. He tries to bargain his way out of a sticky situation with a famous starlet's phone number, and bribes his way back into the United States with the help of the criminal underworld.
As flexible as his morality is, that doesn't mean that he's incapable of feeling guilt for his actions. He might be a weapons dealer, but there are some things that are too inhumane and too dangerous to be used as weapons, to be trusted to hands other than Howard's own. When these find their way into other hands, Howard holds himself personally responsible for the deaths caused, and a Russian scientist uses this guilt to manipulate him into believing he's atoning for what he believes is his greatest shame - the loss of Captain America, who he believes is the only good thing he's brought into the world among so much destruction. Even though Howard wasn't directly responsible for Steve's death, he still considers it his duty to rescue him, if at all possible, and he conducts several missions into the Arctic to look for him (and the Tesseract as well).
Though Howard holds himself aloof from most people, when he trusts people, his trust in them is absolute - for those people, he is a good man and a good friend, a stalwart ally. When Edwin Jarvis is accused of treason, Howard uses his connections to get the charge reduced to a dishonorable discharge and brings him and his wife to America, employing Jarvis as his butler. After the war, his inventions are stolen, and Peggy Carter is one of the only people who believes he's innocent. He recruits Peggy to redeem his name, but they fight and Howard flees the country; he returns to New York to atone for his sins by offering himself up as bait (just after Peggy and Jarvis are arrested by the SSR). He tells Peggy that he's had to go through his life not caring what people think of him, but he does care what she thinks. Whenever Peggy needs him, he aids her in every way possible - not just in proving his innocence, but in an unrelated investigation in California later on. (Ultimately, the two of them refine the SSR into SHIELD and run it for decades; Jarvis, too, remains by Howard's side as his butler and valet.)
If he's not busy running his business, Howard can typically be found in his workshop (or the hangar, or the garage, or anywhere else he's working on a project) or - yes, it's true - leading the scandalous lifestyle most people expect of him. He needs constant stimulation; his mind is never really "off". If he isn't doing something science-related, then he's probably pursuing a life of hedonism and other sorts of, well, stimulation. Though he enjoys science of all kinds, his specialty is engineering, and he likes cars, planes, and any sort of machine he can find or invent (or sometimes both).
Some people might believe that Howard's strongest motivation is money, and it certainly seems to be that way much of the time. But what he really craves is success and solving problems, working them out and then moving on to the next one. Peggy accuses him of only wanting both Steve's blood and Zero Matter for money, and that's not entirely true; yes, he wants the profit that could come from studying both materials, but he craves knowledge and scientific advancement - the feeling of success and fame and progress, of doing something that nobody else has done before.
That isn't to say that he isn't financially motivated. He likes money; anyone who's ever grown up poor craves financial security, and Howard has quickly become accustomed to the finer things in life. So, yes, a certain amount of money is necessary to keep him in the lifestyle he prefers.
As far as family goes, we know relatively little about his parents. It seems likely that Howard no longer associates with them; he mentions at one point that his dad never spared the belt with him, and his childhood in general was rough. At this point in time, he doesn't seem inclined to pursue starting a family of his own, possibly out of fear of what kind of parent he might prove, or because women, as a rule, are interested in his money and status more than they are in him as an actual person. He has very few friends in general, for the aforementioned reason, and the only close friends we see him with are Jarvis and Peggy.
POWERS/ABILITIES:
Genius intellect: While not superhuman, Howard is at the pinnacle of human intelligence; in his own time, he's matched only by the likes of Whitney Frost and Jason Wilkes, and in the future, surpassed by the likes of his own son, Bruce Banner, and Princess Shuri. (Hank Pym is a matter of opinion.) Howard is a polymath; he speaks several languages fluently, is adept in numerous fields of science, builds an international corporation from the ground up, aids in the creation of the Super-Soldier Serum (and partially recreates it on his own nearly fifty years later), and spends several decades running SHIELD with Peggy Carter. He can recreate multidimensional engineering plans simply by looking at photos of equations and diagrams, and build said equipment to rip open a hole in the fabric of space and time.
INVENTORY: n/a
MOONBLESSING: Sanguis