Josephine Marrow





Early Life
''At night, the woods would be littered in lightning bugs, illuminating the dark thicket as if stars hovered directly over the waters. The bayou was then filled with spicy food, music, gambling, drinking, and tall tales the fishermen would conjure, nibbling on their catch as they gathered around a community-wide bar-b-q. Steamboats would pass by, filled with parties and black-jack tables, making the most of another sweet, tranquil night on the floating casinos.''


 * (Faces of Atrocity)

Josephine grew up in the swamplands along the Eypherian coast near a major river delta that nestled between a cluster of coastal islands called The Loushata. It is place known for its riverboat casinos, spicy food, smooth jazz, and nightlife like no other over the marshy inlet. It also the place where Josephine learned to survive, adapting to the marshy waters filled with cottonmouth snakes, alligators, crawfish, and sharks.

Majority of the people in Loushata have immigrated to Eypheria by sea. With Loushata being a prospective port, much of the populous spoke a watered down Tyran, often occompanying their native accent. Josephine can speak both his mother-land language a well as Tyran, but his accent is very prominant when he does speak Tyran.

Incarceration
Although much of the original police reports have been misplaced, a jury convicted Josephine Marrow of second degree manslaughter after unintentionally killing a man in what Josephine claimed was in self-defense, especially since the man was belligerent. However, he was sentenced to fifteen years, according to Euphyrian law, but because of his defense, Judge and Ephyria Magistrate, Joceline Montgomery Baird, gave him a second chance by scheduling his probational hearing in two years, instead of five.

Unfortunately for Josephine, he was incarcerated in Ephyria Maximum Security Penitentiary, where some of the most violent criminals are housed, next to Jacinto Maximum Security Prison. It is there where Josephine was shoved into a corner by a gang and gang raped within his first month of incarceration. Josephine retaliated to avoid further abuse and death by killing one of the perpetrators and seriously maiming four others. As a result, Josephine’s probation hearing was denied and instead, his sentence was extended from fifteen years to thirty.

After Emergence Day
Shortly after E-Day, the guards and prison staff at Ephyria Maximum Security Penitentiary abandoned the facility, leaving its prisoners locked away inside to fend for themselves. The next few months for the prisoners at the Penitentiary was literally survival of the fittest as rival gangs fought one another and even killed some of their own to claim dominance over control of the prison. However, Wretches managed to get into the facility, in which in turn, killed over a third of the inmates while the others barricaded themselves into the “catacombs,” or the ward, which was the basement level of the complex.

Eventually the facility was uncovered by COG forces, trying to find survivors, but the situation for most of the inmates was very grim. Many had died from either dehydration or sickness because the tap water was compromised by the sewage that had built up in the complex. Further into the complex where the solitary confinement ward was located, the Gears managed to extract the remaining survivors, including Josephine Marrow, whom was found wild and naked in his cell, covered in blood. It was discovered that he had killed and ate another inmate whom he shared the same cell with to stay alive, before his cellmate could kill and eat him. It was after this grisly discovery that would forever set a precedence with Josephine for the rest of his life.

Joining the Gears
''“He’s a survivor. He’s been shanking and killing to survive. He’s been sitting in his own piss and shit for several weeks, surviving…and he’s gonna fight, and you know why? Because he’s a survivor…regardless what comes his way, he’s not going to just stand there and bend over to take it up the ass just because some dickwad, magistrate labels him a cultural defect. He’ll fight for his freedom, even in the face of death or rejection…and that in itself gentlemen, is balls.”''


 * (Colonel Hoffman’s brief speech, promoting Private Josephine Marrow to Corporal)

As the war was becoming more bleak for the survival of the human race, Colonel Hoffman summoned all able-bodied men, including the incarcerated, to take up arms and fight against the Locust Horde. As required, Josephine was eventually enlisted, and despite concern about his “cannibalistic” tendencies, Hoffman insisted that he was “just the right sort for a war such as this.” Although Josephine’s commanding officer was skeptical, especially since Josephine didn’t fit the mold of a typical Gear; in contrast he was long and lanky, compared to that of a solid frame, Josephine managed to surprise his brothers’ in arms with speed, accuracy, and determination. Eventually, Josephine was promoted to Corporal and was refitted as a Commando, and placed into several special units.

After several campaigns, Josephine was eventually refitted to Theta Six, under the commanding officer, Sergeant Towslend.

Faces of Atrocity
Josephine (later nicknamed “Josie” by his squadmates) became Theta Six’s scout, often scoping ahead of his squad to search for fallen craft and Locust threat. Theta Six’s primary objective was to dismantle and eradicate any COG vehicles, until they received orders from command to extract survivors from an Imulsion Research facility nearby.

Although the overall attitude about the mission was dismal at best, Josephine continued to be diligent in his work, often reminiscing of home, ignoring the quirks of his other squad mates.

After stumbling across a marauding Feral, ransacking a fallen King Raven and holding one of his squad mates at gunpoint, Josephine managed to gently subdue her so his commanding officer could make an attempt to question her. Despite the Feral’s broken Tyran, Sergeant Towslend was able to communicate effectively, getting some idea of what had happened to the Imulsion Research facility nearby.

Theta Six resumed entering the Research facility, despite their captive Feral, Vera, insisting that it was “haunted.” Going and entering the second and third floor, they discover the place to be abandoned, littered with dead and decaying mammals on the floors. Bemused at the sight, Josephine and two of his squad mates, Demitri and “Father Gaiman,”along with Vera and her dog, Lowse, are ordered to find drinkable water while the others continued to search the complex.

Songs of Sirens
Josephine was one of two members of his squad whom survived the Battle in Glacier Valley, but the loss of his long-running commanding officer, Sergeant Towslend, was hard to ingest, with the Sergeant being one a few people whom ever treated Josephine like a man, rather than an animal.

Personality Traits
''The man moved like an animal, scanning the world around them with his golden eyes like a lion in the brush, watching and waiting. Among the group that made up Theta Six, Josephine was the one she had reason to fear, especially since it was him who snuck up behind her and put her in a sleepers’ hold until she blacked out. She never forgot it, and ever since, she kept a wary eye on him. She never had known any Gear, or Stranded whom could move as quietly and subtly as he did.''


 * (Vera's observation of Josephine; Faces of Atrocity)

Sadistically witty while often teetering between borderline sane and what appears to be an emotionless state, Josephine finds satisfaction in his homicidal tendencies within the crossfire between the Gears and the Locust horde. Although this suggests to some that he was irreconcilably crazy, others found it to be pure genius, despite his heavy, native back-bayou accent.

Over time, many Gears became more comfortable around him, realizing his contributions as a Gear and not as a “social defect.” In response, Josephine manages to recover some of his humanity; however, he is enduringly scarred from his memories of his incarceration, more so than he is of the Human/Locust War. Suffering from nightmares and overall anxiety being around large groups of people, Josephine will either prefer solitude, or be in close proximity to his squad and no one else. The only other person that appears to even remotely understand Josephine’s trauma from his days in the “slam” is Marcus Fenix, a former incarcerated felon himself.

Notable Quotes
"C’mon boyos…not gonna let a wet hound scare us now are we?”


 * After coming across a stray dog in the sewer line (Faces of Atrocity)

..."why not call em cuisine, or bon appetite?”


 * Helping Demitri find a name for their new found dog.

“Oi, I think she likes you, mon amie…”


 * Teasing Demitri about their captive Feral.