Iolaus Saavedro
Iolaus Saavedro
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Played By Chance Crawford
Gender
Species
Male
Human
Codename None
Birthdate April 23, 1979
Age 30
Birthplace Lowell, MA USA
Alignment Neutral Good
Affiliation Unaffiliated
Short Powers None
Offsite Logs

The founder and head of the Mendel Clinic, the only mutant hospital in the world.

History:

Born April 23rd, 1979, Richard Saavedro was born the son of Mary and Alex Saavedro, both the first of a generation of Greek and Latino immigrants, respectively. He grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts, going to public school where he was an strong B student throughout elementary and middle school. In all truth, he could probably have done a lot better than he did, but the work was boring, and he would put himself in danger of bullying by being the top of his class. He helped out at the family business at night and on weekends, stocking shelves of the corner market and managing the cash register. His family was certainly not rich, but nor were they desolate.

His life changed entirely when he entered high school, however. Not only was he first introduced to fencing, which would enable him to go to college on a scholarship later in life, but he also came into his own sexuality. Midway through his freshman year of high school, he first came out to his fencing team, then his teachers and classmates, and then finally to his parents. Predictably, his parents did not take it well. They didn't throw him out of the house, but they did refuse to speak to him. Crushed, Richard threw himself into academics in the morning and fencing at night, rising to the top of his class. By the end of his freshman year, he had rose to the varsity fencing team, and become it's captain - the first freshman captain in the history of the school.

His senior year of high school, after being accepted on a full fencing scholarship to Tufts University, he changed his name to reflect his own sexuality, partially (if not mostly) as a 'fuck you' to his parents. He legally became Iolaus Saavedro, named after Hercules' lover from Ancient Greek mythology. In college, he studied a dual major of pre-med and an independent major of ethics. He continued fencing and studying hard, determined to show his parents that he could be the better than everyone even though he was gay. Even though he had disowned his parents in essence, not returning their calls as long as they refused to accept his sexuality, he still felt a deep drive to impress them and gain their acceptance. He failed in this regard, his rank in the fencing team and in his class being heavily overshadowed in their mind by his sexuality. He graduated after four years summae cum laude, his scholarship being continued to the Tufts Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences and the Tufts School of Medicine. There, he studied genetics and general medicine, sometimes literally working without sleep for days on end. The drive that forced him to work to the top of his team and class had redoubled in the face of his apparent failure to win back the love, respect, and honor in the eyes of his parents.

The double major pushed even him to his limits, and he recognized that he no longer had any time for anything but studying. He was already isolating himself outside of class and fencing to the point where he was literally an enigma to the entire school. Not even his team-mates knew much beyond the very basics of who he was - he certainly didn't have anyone who would consider him a friend. This fact barely held a fleeting position in the seat of his concern; he was obsessed with his class rank. As he could hardly cut anything else out of his life, he sadly took out a student loan and dropped fencing down to once or twice a week, automatically forfeiting his scholarship. Even though he was very talented, holding the position of the valedictorian began to take its toll on his sleep. In order to fit this demanding schedule, he started doing amphetamines to stay up and concentrate. Herein the isolation from people helped him
as no one really knew him or was around him for long periods, no one was able to recognize his dependence.

The summers offered no respite from work - as he had no accepting place to go home to, he stayed in Boston and worked independently with a professor from the Tufts School of Medicine, working for a specialization in infectious diseases. After six more years at Tufts, he graduated with a Ph.D and full honors from the Sackler School, and with full honors from the Tufts School of Medicine, with an MD.

His earlier dependence to amphetamines had escalated to a full-blown addiction. Recognizing this, and checked himself into a rehab unit associated with a clinic in Boston. After two months, he checked out, his addiction to amphetamines 'cured', and with a new 'addiction' to caffeine. Of course, this addition was legal and socially acceptable, and thus he was happy to indulge it. He was offered a job straight out of rehab at Metropolitan Hospital, working 12 hour shifts as a resident. Three years and one successful licensing exam later, the hospital paid off his many of his student loans from graduate school and took him on as a primary care physician. In turn for allowing him to work somewhat odd hours, he was required to spent a few rotations a month in the ER. These 'perks' were given to him in a small-scale bidding war over him by Metropolitan Hospital and Massachusetts General, who both wanted him to serve on their staff. With the death of his career as a student, so did his workaholic attitude decrease slightly.

During the time he served at Metropolitan Hospital, after a handful of interactions with metahumans in the ER, he became convinced that it was a segment of the population that was being under served by the medical community. The same stigma that he, himself, had felt from his parents, he felt was being applied to metahumans. To that aim, he set about slowly putting out feelers throughout the community - philanthropic organizations, pro-mutant rights organizations, wealthy physicians, anyone with cash to give - and writing letters to the boards of several hospitals.

It took him the better part of year to bring his idea for a metahuman speciality clinic to come to fruition. Getting funding from all over the world, building the intense security systems that would be required, finding staff willing to commit themselves to the cause who were not themselves metahumans, and getting the necessary permissions from the licensing authorities. But come to fruition it did.


IC Occurrences:

Things that happened to the character over the course of RP.

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