The Parish: Character Creation
A/N: Characters accepted through pm. Form will be put in a review, all you have to do is copy/paste and fill it out and pm it. Story starts on Valentines day which is Saturday. Fat Tuesday (Mardi Gras) February 17th, 2026 in New Orleans, LA. Below is a sample. Remember it's at the start of the apocalypse. First few chapters will be character introductions and everything. Without further ado here is the first character.
Name: Jodie Ritzmaier
Nickname (If applicable): N/A
Age: 28
Birthday: March 16th
Gender: Male
Race: White
Nationality: American
Hometown: Seaford, VA
Occupation: EMT/Firefighter
Physical Appearance (Be descriptive): Standing at 5'8 and weighing 165lbs, Jodie has a relatively lean build but has a bit more muscle mass in his arms and shoulders than legs. He has a heart shaped face with greenish blue, emotional and soulful looking eyes and dark blonde, almost light brown hair which is parted to the right and is showing signs of receding. Jodie has the Led Zeppelin symbols tattooed vertically on his left inner forearm.
Personality (Be descriptive): Jodie is very kind and caring, wanting to help others is what made him apply and get into a fire academy back home in the first place so he could do so. While he wears his heart on his sleeve he is very emotionally mature and intelligent. He knows how to read a room and has sort of a chameleon personality. While against violence he is brave and will step-up if others fail to do so or it's needed. He has a great sense of humor and loves to tell jokes and make others laugh as it's how he got along with the people at the firehouse. He loves reading and writing and anything outdoors, as well as playing guitar and history.
Clothing: In warm weather he wears his red Hubig's Pies hat along a pair of gold colored vintage aviators as well as his New Orleans Saints #37 Steve Gleason jersey, blue shorts, socks and faded grey/green running shoes. In cold weather he wears jeans, Minnetonka moccasin hard sole two-button boots, a black beanie that has The Doors band logo in grey on it, his red Led Zeppelin hoodie, a green long-sleeved pullover sweatshirt that has a logo of a pine tree and read Tree TV: No people, just trees. His sleep attire consists of either whatever he's wearing or he'll change into pajama pants and a t-shirt. Also a silver cross necklace he got from his mother a few years ago.
Backstory: Jodie grew up in Yorktown, VA in a small little community called Seaford with his stepdad, mom, stepsister, and sister after his mom had a few boyfriends and failed marriages. He also spent time with his dad, stepmom, and 4 stepsiblings down in North Carolina where he spent his holidays. Aside from a somewhat disfunctional family and a somewhat broken home early on in his youth, his life wasn't all that bad. He was popular-ish, had a few close friends, and spent his weekends on the road racing motorcross and supercross with his dad, stepmom, and stepbrother. He played baseball as a kid and after graduating high school he got his first job at a car wash before leaving that and working in a warehouse. After failing to get signed to a semi-professional soccer team just a few cities over at the age of 20 and with MMA training not working out as he injured his toe at 19, he just focused on work and his friends. In that time he did a bit of traveling from New Orleans to the Florida Keys just to name a few. He fell in love with New Orleans when he visited back in the summer of 2021 and vowed he'd come back for Mardi Gras. In 2023 at the age of 26, with his job ending with the company he was at due to downsizing and feeling lost in life, he applied to a multitude of fire departments and a police department within nearby cities. After failing the physical agility test with a department, he took up a job as a helper with a construction company. In the spring of 2024 he retested again for a fire department and passed it, after passing the interviews and panel exams. He finally started the fire academy a few short months later. Now in 2026 at 28 going on 29, having put in time off for Mardi Gras, he along with a few friends drove down to New Orleans, arriving there late Saturday morning to the Hotel Provincial to party it up for a week.
Family (If applicable): N/A
Weapon(s) (Keep it realistic): A box cutter he forgot to take out of his bag before he left home.
Relationship Status: Single
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual
Open to a relationship: Yes
If so what do they want in a partner: Someone similar to him but more of a leader, and someone ideally who despite the current state of the world would want kids one day.
Personal Items: Phone, wallet, bag of clothes in his hotel room, hotel room key, watch.
Miscellaneous Info: Left handed but plays guitar right handed.