Ivan Norst

Ivan Norst is a character in The Vivacious Deadlock.

Description:
Ivan is a severely intelligent young man who believes firmly in being underestimated. He seems to have an unending store of nervous energy and is constantly fidgeting with his hands or adjusting his glasses. Quick to smile and laugh, it would surprise most to learn that he is actually a competent strategist despite the fact that he is very slow to act. He is motivated almost exclusively by a sense of self-preservation that was developed over the last year due to a particularly nasty run-in with an organization that exists outside the bounds of the American government. He masks his motivations with a demeanor of childlike innocence.

At twenty years of age, Ivan has the appearance of a boy who has grown far too much in a short period of time. He stands at about 5’11, his limbs long and awkward hanging from his skinny form. With dull brown hair and grey eyes set heavily-lidded into an almost ashy olive complexion, at first glance his physical appearance is not particularly striking. But with kind eyes, a charming smile, and strong oratorical skills, he knows how to get what he wants.

Biography:
At the age of eleven, Ivan was involved in a terrible car accident that killed his sister and left him with severe bodily injuries. However, due to the fact that minimal wreckage other than the Norst’s totaled car was recovered, the details regarding the true nature of the crash remain elusive. A good majority of Ivan's childhood was defined by hospital stays and overbearing parental guardianship that forced him to mature more quickly than most. The time he missed attending school was quickly made up for by a combination of his inherent knack for mathematics and a private tutor.

Ivan had been enrolled at Stanford University’s School of Engineering for a year and a half before CARET approached him. CARET, an acronym for the “Commercial Applications Research for Extra-Terrestrial Technology”, expressed interest in his ability as an engineer and offered an internship which he was ‘encouraged’ not to refuse. Deep beneath the parking lot of an unleased office building in Palo Alto, California was where Ivan first became acquainted with the research of CARET and the idea of extra-terrestrial beings. He became privy to the ‘Autians’, a people who supposedly called the planet 61 Virginis b their home and with whose technology CARET was primarily working.

It was not long, however, before less emphasis was placed on Ivan’s skills as an engineer and more on his apparent aptitude for understanding and using Autian tech. He began to be subjected to a variety of medical examinations, at first disguised as mandatory physicals. But it soon became evident that the tests were far more extensive than what was strictly protocol when the scalpels made their appearance.

Ivan planned his escape from CARET for two months before he had the opportunity to run. After discovering his absence and the disappearance of certain artifacts valuable to their research, CARET sent out a squad of agents to scour the country for him when he was not found in the surrounding California area. To the public sector, Ivan Norst was deemed legally dead.

It was during his cross-country flee that Ivan was recruited to join the Vivacious Deadlock.

Weapons and Abililities:
The accident in which Ivan was involved nine years previously left him sporting an extra pair of chromosomes and a slew of genetic irregularities to which he was entirely ignorant. The effect laid dormant in his system until he was exposed to a high amount of geomantic energy during his freshman year of college which caused him to exhibit minor yet unusual sensory capabilities that were similar to the species of extra-terrestrial beings studied by CARET. Although a great deal of them remain untapped, Ivan is able to successfully wield a few of his ‘foreign’ talents, if only to a limited degree.

Because they only possess two types of retinal cone cells, the Autians’ vision is similar to that of humans who are red-green colorblind. Oblong pupils allow for powerful peripheral vision but limit optical efficiency to relatively bright light. Depth perception is restricted beyond a few hundred feet. Because of this the Autians evolved to ‘hear’ and ‘see’ through reading vibrations in the surrounding landscape with sensitive nerves located in the hands and feet, creating a mental map that can be utilized even in utter darkness. (Ivan is often barefoot because of this.) They are particularly attuned to the flow of geomantic energy and can, to a very narrow extent, manipulate magnetic fields.

A species whose focus lies primarily on mental proficiency, the Autians are generally slight of build and physically weak but quick to move and silent as anything. Their brain capacity is much greater and more compartmentalized than their human kin which allows for a mathematical prowess rivaled only by modern human computers. Precision comes naturally to the Autians and allows them to determine distances and angles almost exactly with limited mental exertion, but only within a few hundred feet if they are relying on eyesight alone.

These attributes contributed to the development of their technological ‘language’, to which Ivan was exposed during his time spent in CARET’s facilities. The code is a complex series of symbols that, when accurately composed on receptive material and coupled with an appropriately charged field, can be used to manipulate the physical properties of said material.

Ivan is aware that he possesses these abilities and although his mental faculty is more akin to that of a human than to an Autian, he has an extensive knowledge of the Autian ‘language’. Always equipped with a particularly expensive carbon fiber pen that he stole from CARET, he is eager to hone his skills.

Theme Song:
Out at the Pictures - Hot Chip