Snakeroot

## Summary

Snakeroot is the latest hero of Overwatch, he was an omnic rights activist who joined The Æschere by betraying his organisation.

## Biography

Chester Flynt once a despondent man searching for purpose in a world healing from a tragedy, he believed he found meaning in his life through activism for Omnic equality. To Chester, the omnics weren't responsible for the crisis and were victims of prejudice because of their birth. Chester donated hundreds of pounds to the organisation, attended rallies, and even spoke on podcasts to spread his views. That all changed when he was caught in the crossfire during NULL Sector's assault on King's Row.

Barely surviving the attack, Chester reevaluated his actions and saw that he was only one who truly cared about making a difference. He was disgusted by the insincere support, the self-destructiveness of his own actions, and the inherent corruption and hypocrisy of activism. After learning that his group was going to protest in Middlesbrough against The Æschere, Chester saw an opportunity to truly make a difference in the world.

When the group arrived in Middlesbrough and set itself up in a barn, Chester sneaked away to speak to Nightshade, leader of The Æschere. Chester made a deal with Nightshade; betray the organisation for The Æschere, and Nightshade will reward him with all the gold he can carry and he can join their ranks. Believing that only he can help the omnics, Chester agreed and lead the The Æschere to the barn. Chester insisted that he will go inside alone so he can take the group outside, however, the soldiers of The Æschere locked him inside the barn and set it aflame out of disgust for his actions.

Inside the barn, Chester had to fight his way out when the group discovered his betrayal and he had kill The Æschere soldiers outside. After doing so, Chester was greeted Nightshade, who informs him that he survived the initiation ritual and survived the warning to not betray The Æschere, Chester was then welcomed into the gang as "Snakeroot". After shaving off the rest of his hair, Chester transferred the money to a philanthropist group known as Omnic Rights Association so they can use his money for the greater good. Chester repeatedly donated money to them but slowly stopped as he realised he was making the same mistake he did in the past, sacrificing his own wellbeing to save a world that can't be saved from itself.

After the death of Tekhartha Mondatta, Chester came up with a new plan, take over The Æschere and take it in a direction for world betterment. He set in motion a plan to become Nightshade's successor, he sowed the seeds of discord that would lead to The Æschere's civil war. Blinded by his ambition, Snakeroot began planning his next actions in the second omnic crisis.

## Personality

*"You shouldn't have stepped into our nest of vipers"*

Before turning into the ambitous, greedy, and ruthless sociopath, Chester Flynt was just an innocent, naive but ultimately well-meaning young man who just wanted to fight for a minority group who were victims of prejudice. The trauma of king's Row broke his naivity and innocence as the event left him disillusioned with the organisation and hating the group he sacrificed so much for. The series of tragedies and traumas broke his innocence completely and reset him as the money-hungry sociopath known as Snakeroot, who will do whatever it takes to get what he wants and achieve his dream of omnic and human equality.

At first, he was reluctant to do harm and was genuinely remorseful about what he did as he believed his actions in the barn were purely self-defense. Now, he shows no remorse for betraying his friends and ruining Nightshade's family for the sake of the greater good. Snakeroot believes that if he stops now, all of his actions will be invalidated and will all be for nothing. Snakeroot now sees his former friends and victims as weak, corrupt, and incompetant.

Chester believes that actions speak louder than words and believes the fight for omnic rights is too slow to respond to the escalating oppression and civil war. Snakeroot believes that as long as he survives at the end of the day, there is hope for a better future.

## Appearance

Snakeroot wears a green jacket with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, a black dress shirt with its sleeves rolled up, business casual trousers, black fingerless gloves, and smart dress shoes. He has an undercut hairstyle and balbo beard.

## Weapon

Chester uses a Heckler & Koch MP5K-PDW submachine gun, it holds 30 rounds and does 10 points of damage per shot.

## Abilities

* **Bounty**: Snakeroot highlights an enemy to rest of his team. When this target is killed, the killer is healed by 300 points. This takes 16 seconds to recharge.

## Ultimate

**Lock & Load**

Snakeroot throws a device into the ground which produces a machine gun turret that he uses to manually fire at his opponents. It does 50 points of damage per shot and lasts for 6 seconds.

## Trivia

* Nest of vipers is phrase that is used to describe a group of sinful people.
* Chester was originally named "Atlas" which originated from Bioshock but was switched to Cobra in order to keep in theme with the obvious snake motif to his character. "Viper" was also considered a name for the character but it seemed too narcissistic when considering his viper's nest voice line. It was changed again to "Snakeroot" to maintain the theme of poisonous flowers in the The Æschere.