Personal Equipment: Manson tends to carry a regulation
combat blaster carbine, fitted with a Thermal, Laser and image
intensification sighting system that gives him a +2D bonus to his
blaster skill in all conditions. In addition, he usually wears a
Grummar Personal Sidearm. Finally, he
will use heavier weapons, usually Radon
Anti-craft submunitions, or a Matsure
Personal Repeating Blaster.
Other Equipment: Manson has spent most of efforts
toward acquiring his personal fortune, now totaling just over 1.2
million credits in liquid assets, and nearly twice as much in real
estate and assorted interests. Manson's funds are always held in
New Republic banks, and large percentage of his investments are in
NR War bonds. Manson has political aspirations of the highest
order, and is known to make large campaign contributions to various
senators and other elected New Republic officials. Manson's desire
to play the political game may have lead him to transfer several
capital ships into Grand Admiral Thrawn's navy, hoping for an
Imperial commission, should Thrawn succeed. These allegations
remain unproven, as Manson had nowhere near the sort of power
required to get control of those ships, but they have kept him out
of immediate entry into the field of public politics.
Capsule:
Race: Human
Sex: Male
Age: 36
Appearance:
Height: 6'3"
Weight: 285 lbs.
Eyes: Steel blue
Skin: Light
Hair: Military cut blonde
Appearance notes: Manson has heavy features with deep
set eyes. He has a number of hairline scars across his face as a
result of a fragmentation round at close range.
Clothing:
Manson always wears New Republic uniforms, usually grey combat
fatigues with his full array of medals.
Retainers, henchmen, and associates:
Manson is a political individual, with no real friends. He
sees people in terms of the power they posses and the influence
that he can exert on them, rather than individuals. As such, he is
a remarkably effective military commander, able to see his soldiers
as resources rather than people, and able to sacrifice a few with
no qualms. Those that served under him appreciate the fact that he
kept them alive where another commander would have been routed, but
they have little love for him, both because of his personality and
his attitude. Manson is the nominal commander of a New Republic
operative group that includes Aiera Ap
Lyffed, Regin D'Arc, Lyon Destrier and Lugruf CiKoba. As half
of the other members don't have any official position in the New
Republic, and as those that are officially in the New Republic are
both contemplating leaving it, Manson doesn't have the sort of
complete control that he desires. Still, they usual take his
orders under serious consideration, as they are always tactically
sound, and occasionally show flashes of brilliance. Manson has
numerous contacts in the New Republic command chain, and some very
influential congressmen owe him favors, even if they don't like him
much.
Common haunts and habitues:
Since his transfer to the Yaeger Sector, Manson has been
spending his free time either on Dumak or
Raljiis, trying to gain influence in the
governmental and military command chains of the sector.
History:
Manson was originally an officer cadet in the Imperial Navy.
After discovering that relatives in high places, and the ability to
follow orders without question were just about the only traits that
the Empire looked for in it's officers, and after seeing a protege,
Kohabel Sirret, get sent into a high combat area simply because
Sirret's superior feared his ability, Manson decided to jump ship
and join the rebellion. Though he saw the chances of the rebellion
as a whole as being limited at best, he saw his chances of personal
survival and advancement as being much better in the Rebel
organization. Also, he realized that if the Rebellion ever did
succeed in restoring the Republic, its members would probably wield
a disproportionate amount of power in the new Galactic order.
Once he made that decision, he devoted all his efforts to the
Rebel cause as best he was able. He realized that bringing some
resources in with him to the rebellion would be something that
would guarantee him a fairly high position in the alliance, so
instead of jumping from his Imperial training ship, he and a pair
of accomplices hijacked it, first pretending to be the commandant,
and dumping the cadets on a temperate world that was thought to be
uninhabited "for a survival test of undetermined duration".
Continuing with this ruse, the let the rest of the two hundred man
crew, and all of the professional fighter pilots, take a shore
leave on Morkoloth. They were all somewhat disconcerted when the
ship hypered out, leaving them on a world with a large number of
attractive beaches, and nothing of a higher tech level than a beach
umbrella.
His place in the rebellion insured, Manson went on to command
first a platoon, and later a division of Rebel troopers. During
this time, Manson saw a large amount of heavy combat, and began
investing all his pay into the then very high interest Alliance War
Bonds. After the battle of Yavin, he received several medals for
his actions, and top level commanders were made aware of his
tactical brilliance, and his remarkable success rate. He then got
a fairly significant promotion, and was assigned to a newly formed
special operation group, then headed by Regin D'Arc.
Throughout the years of the rebellion, Manson proved his value
to the group again and again, unofficially taking control of the
group fairly early on, and receiving official control of the group
after his promotion for his remarkable success at Alarn Bakur.
Manson still retains control of the fragmenting group, but he
himself is looking for a larger command, or an appointment as a
planetary governor.
Personality:
Manson is a politician at heart, who enjoys being close to and
holding power of virtualy any type. In pursuit of that goal he can
be quite relentless, pushing aside virtualy any obstacle in pursuit
of that goal. His deeper ideals are far more questionable, for
while he does support the New Republic, his ideological commitment
to the cause seems to be spawned of convinience rather than
conviction.
A quote:
"Limthrain, Markus, I want you both up that hill. Now, when
the enemy opens fire on those two, that will reveal their
position..."