Seo Salem
SENTINEL
“Yes, we should not forget that the five senses are one. And all of them extensions of the skin.”
— Frederick Leboyer
BASIC INFORMATION
Birth Name : Seo Gang Tae
Alias : SALEM
Date of Birth : October 13, 1995
Age : 26
Ethnicity : Korean
Height : 5’10” (178 cm)
Weight : 136 lbs (62 kg)
Eye Color : Brown
Hair Color : Black
Status : Sentinel, Dangerous
Abilities : Trajectory Manipulation, Extent Unknown
CURRENT INFORMATION
After fleeing from the military compound thanks to the help of a small resistance group only growing in number, Salem slipped away to the outskirts of Busan determined to join and help the resistance. The government owned facility he and countless other sentinels and guides had been in was located in Seoul and had several smaller branches in other wealthy provinces. Busan wasn’t the furthest option, but Salem was apart of rescue missions so he stayed near one of the resistance’s closest camps to make missions easier.The moment he was free, the sentinel bleached and dyed his hair to what was now a slowly fading blue gray color. The experience was a terrible time and nearly sent him into a zone, but the determination of making it more difficult for the government to find him had Salem easing himself down into a calmer headspace, doing his best to not focus on the burn and overwhelming stench of the bleach. He had to do it, it was necessary. He also changed his name, no longer Seo Gang-Tae the prisoned sentinel destined for a life controlled by the military, but instead Seo Salem, a member of the resistance who does everything in his might to help those still trapped.
Sentinel/Guide Explanation
“Sentinel AUs featuring the concept of "Sentinel and Guide" are a popular trope that originated in The Sentinel fandom. The trope often posits that for each Sentinel there is one perfect Guide and the two will imprint on each other.In The Sentinel canon, the Sentinel (Jim Ellison) has super-heightened senses, which can be useful tools for his job as a cop. Anthropology student Blair Sandburg helps him deal with the effects of those senses during the series. Ellison's super-heightened senses very often lead to his "zoning out" or becoming overfocused on one of the senses and in fanon (almost) the only thing that will help them return from a zone-out is assistance from a/their Guide.In Sentinel AU fic, the terms Sentinel and Guide aren't just descriptions, they're an almost mystical calling, with the Sentinel and the Guide destined to find each other and be together. This may or may not include a soulbond, and the spirit animals present in The Sentinel canon may or may not be completely ignored. In some stories Sentinels and Guides are a societal institution managed by military or non-military bureaucracies, in others they are instead self-organized in pack structures.”
For a more simple understanding I recommend reading over this google doc, the creator did a lovely job in explaining the trope and what exactly sentinels and guides are.
BACKSTORY
Salem can vividly remember the day his senses sharpened all at once. He was young, his exact age unknown. But suddenly he could see everything so much better. He could smell the scent of his mother, who had stepped outside to grab something, from all the way inside. His clothes felt scratchy, the seams seeming to prod and poke at him while the material rubbed roughly against his skin. And he could hear so much, could count his mother’s heartbeats and perfectly hear the TV his father had unintentionally left running in their bedroom, the volume on one of the lowest possible settings. When he settled down for dinner that night he remembers the food seeming to be too spicy for his young self despite the lack of many seasonings.The sentinel gene had already been suspected to be present in him just from observations of him as a child, of his mannerisms, but it was only confirmed on that particular day much to the disdain of his family. His next doctors visit had the news documented, and a tracking chip was then implanted in his arm.Age eighteen was when he was taken from his family and made to join the military. No matter how hard he resisted, it wasn’t enough. At the time he had no real control over his powers— didn’t even know what they were. He tried to fight back, but in the end he was sent off to one of the many compounds with a group of other newly eighteen year old sentinels.Guides were taken when they were still children, so if there had to be a bright side to that moment it was knowing that at least he’d gotten somewhat of a life. As soon as a guide was confirmed of their status they were taken from their families within minutes and grew up in the compounds learning how to master their abilities. After all if you have control over a guide, you have at least some control over a sentinel depending on how strong their bond is / if the two are compatible.Age twenty one was when Salem himself had gotten rescued. He’d heard rumors floating around that a few people had escaped… whispers of a resistance group being the root of it. He heard the upper level officials speaking about it once, his extra keen senses picking up on every word without struggle. It gave him hope that even if he was stuck in the facility doing tasks for the government, there was at least the possibility of freedom. A sliver of hope.The Sentinel had been getting ready to go to sleep when two guards he didn’t know entered his cell, one remaining outside… only upon close inspection they weren’t guards. One was a guide and the other a human. He could only assume the third male waiting outside was a sentinel since he couldn’t sense the presence of another guide. Quickly the two in his room had told him to come with them, so Salem complied. There wasn’t really anywhere worse for him to go, so he was going to take his chances.He’d been led to a transportation van, seemingly one of the military’s but the Sentinel knew better than that— it smelled completely different from any of the compound’s vehicles, and the tires weren’t the same. Once inside he was formally introduced to the trio: Kitae and Sungmin were the bonded Sentinel / Guide pair, the human Seojun. They had to remove the tracking chip from his arm before they left, the scar still noticeable to this day, running along the back of his upper arm.The getaway had luckily been clean, the guards only noticing Salem’s disappearance by the time the group had already crossed over onto public roads. Despite the distance, the Sentinel could still hear the moment the alarms went off, a grin having overtaken his face as he slumped down in his seat, keeping a piece of cloth pressed tightly against his bleeding arm. He’d passed out at some point during the ride, the scent of his own blood becoming too overbearing and potent, but by the time he woke again he was free.Nowadays you can find Salem working at the library— the place easy on his senses and helpful for whenever he or any of his team needed to research something. On occasion he picked up a few shifts at a local cafe, the scent of coffee easy on his nose. Even on days the little shop was busy, the chatter was still kept to a human minimum.
Rules
— Interactions strictly IC lest stated otherwise.
— 18+ (21 ooc) / MDNI romantically or sexually.
— Adv. Literate / Literate / Mirrored Lit.
— Be patient with replies, I have a life outside of RP and don’t always feel like typing out a response.