Bernard Roe

Bernard Roe is a character who first appeared in the RPG *Taking Back Asturia.*

## Biography

### Early Life

Born and raised in Alssyria to a wealthy family, he was a gifted student who quickly moved into the medical field. Not out of his own desire, rather pressure from his parents to maintain the five generation long tradition of the Roes being doctors.

### Military Career

Despite the family gravitating towards prestigious medical work, Bernard's hardy disposition soon got him put in medical teams on the front lines of many wars, battles, and high pressure police actions. Despite always preferring to heal rather than harm, these things forced him to learn to be adept at defending himself. Having spent 20+ years in rough situations, he eventually chose to move over to a job as a prison doctor. An abundance of security was a welcome relief from being in jungles surrounded by remnants of Los Lobos resistance fighters.

### Prison Doctor

*Main articles: Taking Back Asturia, The Sinister Seven*

His first job after leaving the army was as doctor at the Asturia Maximum Security Prison located in Fortuna space, a good distance away from his home system. This job quickly went south when the inmates escaped and spread a chaotic riot in the surrounding area. In the course of quelling this and getting everyone re-arrested, he was accidentally injected with an experimental super-soldier serum.

Just before his time at the prison was up, he was assaulted by the Sinister Seven and forced to work on the severely wounded burglar Justine Abrams. As the surgery neared completion, the rest of the gang fled. Fearing for Justine's life if she were sent back to prison, he passed her off as his daughter and brought her with him back to his home planet of Voh Terra, from which she soon vanished without a trace.

### Freelance Doctor

*Main articles: The Wreckers, The Fall of Wakiza*

After settling in back at home, Bernard was called as a first responder to a mining disaster between Voh Terra and Niiz K space. When Vanessa Cuarón (head of the investigation) showed up, she dragged him into assisting her, leading to them discovering a roving gang of thieves who had caused the disaster as a cover-up for a major heist they had pulled off.

Upon realizing Bernard was someone she could trust, Vanessa drafted him into a squad she was assembling to protect Wakiza, a small planetoid, from the oppression of their neighbors Niiz K. After getting shot in the back three times and coming close to death, a treaty was hastily made with Niiz K which allowed him to be taken to a hospital, just barely saving his life before it was too late.

### The Tempest

*Main articles: Tempest 1 - Do Not Follow, Tempest 2 - El Deguello*

In dire need of a break, he accepted an invitation to join what seemed to be a dull exploration mission into unknown space. The journey to the appropriately named "Tempest system" proved to be the most traumatic experience of his life, and upon his return his mind was fragmented. Everyone's assumption was PTSD (an existing condition for Bernard) but it later proved to be much worse.

### After the Tempest

*Main articles: Outside, The Eternal Labyrinth, It Happened One Week*

During his months-long absence from known space, a mysterious serial killer began to terrorize the galaxy, known colloquially as the "Cosmic Phantom." When the police hit a dead end, Vanessa called Bernard in to offer a pair of fresh eyes on the case, as he knew nothing about it and had no preconceived ideas. Eventually cracking the case and meeting the killer, his hatred sparked long suppressed memories and rage in Bernard, who became fanatical in his devotion to stopping the killer, no matter the cost.

After months of a well earned break, Bernard then learned the truth of his false memories. The original crew had been wounded, and with samples of their blood, inhabitants of the Tempest system cloned them and studied them. The real Bernard died in the Tempest, and the clone was sent back, implanted with false memories so he would believe he was the real one, and used to spy on the galaxy. When Vanessa discovered this, she got the spy tech removed from his head so that the clone Bernard could continue on living the life of the original one.

After adjusting to the reality that he was in fact a clone, Bernard's life carried on in much the same manner as before. Until, that is, he and Vanessa had to provide testimony in a court case that got a notorious gang boss convicted. Seeking vengeance, the gang began a galaxy-wide manhunt in their efforts to kill Bernard and Vanessa, who in their haste to flee, accidentally got themselves married.

## Family

At about the age of 29, Bernard married a nurse he had worked alongside many times in field hospitals in war zones. They soon had a daughter named Samantha, but seventeen years later, his wife and daughter were killed in a hit and run accident. He refuses to speak about it to most people, and despair over the accident has since caused him to feel extremely uncomfortable in the home they had shared together.

Many years later, while fleeing the notorious Rubicino gang, a split second decision led to him accidentally marrying Vanessa Cuarón. They go to great lengths to emphasize this was completely an accident and that any day now they're going to have a lawyer look into the situation to have it annulled, but most casual observers can't help but notice that they have consistently failed to put forth any effort towards doing so.

## Equipment

His main weapons consist of a medical crossbow loaded full of tranq darts, with an option to put in necessary medicines and even poison darts (for when the foes get a little *too* aggressive); and of course his trusty saber, which he's never used, but it was gifted to him by a noble Shanduchan officer for saving his life, so Bernard has diligently studied how to use it effectively. Just in case.

Rounding out his complement is as many med packs as he can keep, a pair of handcuffs, and a few tear gas grenades, which have come in handy on more occasions than he can count.

## Appearances

Bernard Roe appears as a major character in:

* Taking Back Asturia (RPG)
* The Sinister Seven (story)
* The Wreckers (story)
* The Fall of Wakiza (story)
* Do Not Follow (RPG)
* El Deguello (RPG)
* Outside (story)
* The Eternal Labyrinth (story)
* It Happened One Week (story)
* Memories of Kayan (story)