Name: Igor

Gender: Male

Age/DOB: ~150, unknown

Origin: Repurposed Earth's Xen, arrived to Black Mesa during invasion

Family: All Vortigaunts are 'family' to him, is hopeful that one of the local females might find his skills and form of mutual satisfaction

Other: had worked with Eli and the scientists at Black Mesa while the Combine arrived, and was vital to keeping them at bay

Height: 5'2" normally, can 'stretch' to around 5'11"

Weight: ~170, heavy bones and strong muscularity, typical of a Vort's body type

Hair: none

Eyes: Typical of most Vorts, red overall, though his are quite darkly crimson, with a brighter red iris

Appearance: young as far as the Vorts on Earth go, his skin is not marred by wrinkles or weight, and he's maintained less scarring than many who were enslaved and used as bait for war by Nihilanth; his skin is a strong olive green-grey shade, darker around lips and chest, and his hooves are notably right about the same color rather than reddish or tan; though while he was in the Refugee City, he wore nothing, he now has picked up a lab coat and likes wearing it to distinguish himself

Genetic Abilities: as all Vorts can, he is able to communicate via Flux Shifting, telepathic commune with virtually all of his kin and most telepathic or empathic humans and dragons; he can produce electric energy from his hands, in bursts or sustained at a lower power for helping rather than attacking; he uses a Vortal healing power when needed, but it drains him considerably so he more or less tries to keep people from injuring themselves, rather than blow all that power on fixing them up

Icarus Processing: none, that would be anathema to Vortikind

Image Credits: Valve

Skills or Profession: Still quite young by Vortigaunt standards, Igor is still learning and truly enjoys doing so. He'd never known any life other than slavery under Nihilanth, so his duties there were menial cleaning and assisting the older or more experienced fighters gear up. When the last ditch invasion was in full swing, however, he was propelled into Earth's dimension - though he never had any formal combat training, and he quite frankly was terrified of it all. He's quite good at finding hiding places, appraising a setting for good cover, and actually building such cover when there are pieces laying around. What he prefers doing, however, is sorting through lab equipment, getting electronics in place, and actual construction duties. He's young - and strong - so he's reliably up with others on scaffolding doing lifting, powering up spare generators, and zapping headcrabs if they get in the way. As time goes on, and the kids at the Aperture facility get more settled, he's been working on plans for one of the massive Testing Shafts, shaft 5 in fact, to gear it up for both civilian and rider rooms, homes, and gathering places. He's execptionally proud of his plans, so he hopes they'll be approved for building.
Personality: Hopeful, happy, and eager to actually work with people - Vort or otherwise - on proper building and recovery processes. Had he been born on the Vort homeworld it's very likely he would have become a master architect, their hive-like structures bear a similar shape and depth to the Aperture shafts, and he's right at home there. Quite technically minded, he's a bit of a nerd, and enjoys quiet nights with a book more than romping around with Antlion hunters.

Events or History: Born on Xen, as a slave expected to keep everything running smoothly. He kept to himself for the most part, and tried to avoid any 'recruitment' drives by the Controllers, and worked on ways to tweak the teleportation systems among the floating islands. It was because of such tweaking that he instantly recognized the 'foreign' incursion when humans began coming to Xen using the Lambda teleporter, and he would have eagerly left with them had there not been a pervading warning coming from Nihilanth about doing so. He was hardly alone in that assessment, one or two of his cohorts had been used as examples by Nihilanth's Controllers to make sure that other Vorts remained compliant. His escape to Earth was dangerous, haphazard, and very shortly before Nihilanth itself was killed by Gordon Freeman. He got lucky: two of those nearby teleported over one of the bottomless pits in Black Mesa, while he managed to scramble to safety on a precarious catwalk. He found an office, and hid in it for quite some days, before realizing that his kin were outside the facility and calling to their own. He had also begun familiarizing himself with Earthly things - coffee mugs, mousepads, rolling chairs... He loves those. Since he was already in the place, it was obvious he should remain while others started the journey into Europe. Like all Vorts available, he participated in amplifying Alma Wade's terrifying Vortal attack on Ulathoi. Exhilirated, and now free from the pervading terror of the Combine for the very first time, he felt it appropriate to flex his creative muscles, and worked with locals to fix up safer places in the ruins around the Black Mesa area.

Currently part of the crew assigned to North Aperture, to start converting it to a dragon-worthy location.

Dragon

Name: Strut
Gender: Male
Size/Shoulder/Length: Sport-Small, 5' s / 21' l / 22' ws
Colors: Underside from chin to belly a frosty white tinted with green, also under wingsails, frosty white at nose, feet, and tail tip; upper body from head to tail, along back, limbs, and wing arms / backs of wings is strong grassy green; stripes of bright white under eyes, at bicep and thigh, and around mid tail 2x; bright white spots on neck, back, shoulder, hips and upper tail; horns and claws frosty green-white, tongue white, eyes also white
Features: four legs, two wings, long flexible tail; hide skin that is quite thick, it's possible that this was an aquatic breed at some point; a bit dog-like, a bit cat-like, with 4 retractable-clawed paws, with pads allowing him to be quite silent, long and slender body, and very long sinuous tail that has some amount of prehensile ability; Wings are solidly leather, and quite short with one visible finger - they are not flight-enabled wings, suitable only for gliding short distances. Canine like face, with no external ears, and a long, curved but discrete mouth bearing a long probably prehensile tongue. Short backswept horns on head, no other features.
Powers: Gliding and Propulsion, with strong but short wings like these, Strut does much more walking than flying. But he is quite good at leaping up or down a few floors and can maneuver on longer glides out in the open. His feet are much stronger than they look, and that tail is very strong indeed. He can run on even very slick surfaces, uneven ground, ice, grease, you name it - he never loses footing. He has been known to run quickly enough and bound from wall to wall, even upside down, but he cannot actually cling to walls or ceilings unless there are grates or places to put his tail and claws. If the ceiling grates are strong enough, he will certainly walk around upside down!
Water and Liquid Adaptation, Strut is, by his breed, a semi-aquatic dragon, but he tends not to show this off unless it's absolutely necessary. He can swim but not as quickly as he'd like, unless he can push off from a surface. And then: he's a torpedo with wings that can send him anywhere. He can't breathe under water, but he appears to be able to hold his breath for very extended periods - hours on end. While he doesn't like doing so, claiming it gets itchy, he can immerse himself in virtually any liquid - such as that found in many places around the Aperture facility. Acid, toxic waste, that brown and yellow goop, he doesn't like it, but he will do so if needed.
Communication, like others of his breed, Strut is telepathic and strongly empathic, can detect strong Vortal presences around him regardless of breed. If some of his kind have voices like whales or steam whistles, his is like a dolphin's, bright and chipper, shrill, and loud in proximity. His calls can be heard the entire distance from the bottom to the top of Shaft 5... So be aware if he starts gearing up to speak... put some earplugs in. He can understand Vortigese and English, and speaks to his kin in whatever language it is they have. Other dragons, he prefers to listen in Vortally.
Stock-Stillness, while most folks think that Strut was named because he likes to strut around like he owns a place, and enjoys being on display, it's actually because he has the ability to essentially freeze himself into place. For more than an hour, he can pose or remain still, and not experience any ill effects like a human would from holding up a piece of wood or rebar while it's being worked on. That said, he must remain entirely still, for whatever reason, he can't be holding up a pole under a scaffold and also reaching for that coffee mug with his tail. This has proven to be an incredibly useful ability, for both construction as well as artistic purposes - he can pose for artists, also for dragon anatomy classes!
Parentage: Unknown but pretty clearly sibling to another from their group, Accent, the bond friend of DJ Ruckus over in the Mojave.
Origin: adopted from velenieadopts, bases from omenaadopts, both at Deviantart
Other Info: If his voice wasn't so incredibly loud and shrill, he'd like to sing and hum while he works. It's possible that as he's a young dragon he might develop his voice into a sonic attack, which kind of disappoints him because he'd much rather be singing, and not screaming. Notably up in the Shafts, though... they've found propulsion gel. And repulsion gel. There is no end to the antics he'll be able to get into once they figure out how to get him a gel gun he can fire with his tongue.