Alpha


 * "I don't like being used. Being a plaything for someone else's amusement. I've been in that situation before and I didn't much enjoy it."


 * ---When asked why he wants to win

Alpha is a Tribute for District 1 reaped for the third Arena of the new Quell. His journal is dieinpajamas.

Before the Games
Alpha was once known as Karl William Kraft, a wannabe killer caught before he could go through with it and sentenced to five years in the Dollhouse, a facility that hired out 'Actives' such as Alpha, programming them with fully customized personas.

However, something of Kraft's personality came through despite the technology, through his obsession with a fellow Active and his eventual violent attack on another. While trying to figure out what went wrong with his programming an accident resulted in all of his past personalities being downloaded into his head at once. Somehow he was able to function after this, and went on a murderous rampage before escaping.

He then spent several months concocting an elaborate plan to get back in the Dollhouse so he could turn the object of his obsession, Echo, into a composite 'superior being' like himself. This backfired when she refused to buy into his dogma and went back to the Dollhouse.

After that he redirected his attention from Echo to the FBI Agent he used to get back into the Dollhouse, Paul Ballard. Echo was developing feelings for him, feelings that weren't programmed, and he was both enraged and fascinated. He tortured Ballard trying to find his secret, then, after rendering him brain dead, downloaded Ballard into his own head. This backfired as Paul fought back, begging Echo to kill him. She couldn't go through with it and Alpha managed to escape once again, staggering away and ending up in the Arena.

The Games
Alpha's popularity amongst the viewers tends to wax and wane. He's quite happy and willing to give them a good bloody show, but he has a tendency to hide out for days at a time, interspersing long periods of thought and planning with brief bursts of violence. This makes him less popular than he could be, a fact of which he's become aware and he's made a concentrated effort to be more entertaining.

As much as he enjoys the violence, he hates the Games on principal as a waste of his time and wants to win primarily so he can concentrate on his two goals: returning home and ridding himself of Ballard.

Most of the other Tributes are simply in his way, with a few exceptions. Howard Bassem is his first ally, a teenager Alpha took a mild interest in as Howard was thrown into his first Arena after it had started, rather than before like Alpha and most of the other Tributes. Once this became common, Alpha stuck with Howard mostly because he was easy to manipulate and his survival skills made him somewhat useful. As far as Alpha is concerned, this alliance will last only as long as Howard is useful and entertaining enough to keep him around.

Wyatt Earp and Helena G Wells are two other Tributes Alpha has taken an interest in due to who they, as from his point of view, 'believe' they are. At the moment he doesn't believe in time travel, and so suspects that the two are something like Actives he once was, a person with their original personality wiped and a new, constructed one put in its place. With Wyatt this interest is shown through Alpha's amused baiting of the man and the occasional test to see if Wyatt truly believes he is Wyatt Earp or is simply a talented actor. With Helena, Alpha ended up killing her after their first meeting, but he has made a mental note to keep an eye on her in the future.

The only other Tribute of note in Alpha's opinion is Dr. Grey Alistair, who not only killed Alpha once, but witnessed him glitching before he died, both of which Alpha can't let go unpunished.

The Capitol
In the Capitol Alpha is incredibly uncomfortable, feeling like it's the Dollhouse all over again with the constant surveillance and extravagance. It's put him off balance, along with surprise and indignity of dying (and worse losing). Upon his next return to the Arena he intends to start working towards his goals in earnest, which mostly consist of tracking down and hacking into as much tech as possible so as to make himself a new Chair, and finding the person who can send him back where he came from.