User:Fire Marshall Bill
Introduction
Fire Marshall Bill is one of many icons in the game of Urban Dead. The character was created a month after the game went live, and despite having taken a couple of multiple month breaks from the game has remained a significant part of the game as well as the gaming community. Always seemingly controversial, FMB is most known for his early wars of words with The Many, D.A.R.I.S. and his staunch defense of Gibsonton. It is these verbal confrontations that first found him removed from the Resensitized Forums. Having helped to form the small group The DeAnimators, based in Gibsonton, he split away and created the Malton Civil Defense Unit, or MCDU. In it's original form, the MCDU was meant to be a group which all character classes could join as civil defense is really about citizens volunteering to serve and help their fellow citizens. Urban Dead play slowed down, and so FMB took a six month sabbatical from the game and left the MCDU in the capable hands of Thalarion (Torvus). Thalarion moved the MCDU under the umbrella of the Department of Emergency Management, or DEM. When FMB returned to the MCDU, he once again took leadership of a now larger MCDU and began to make sweeping changes and build a strong esprit de corps. Over the course of that year, the MCDU thrived and began to take on a more paramilitary approach to the game of UD. It would also see many clashes between the DEM brass and FMB on how things should be ran, what policies should or shouldn't be enacted, and various other personality conflicts. The most infamous of these is a policy FMB set into motion disallowing MCDU members from using their alts to kill each other's MCDU characters. They were free to do whatever they wanted with their alts, but as long as they were members of the MCDU, it was forbidden to attack other MCDU characters with their alts as it was deemed a waste of AP and supplies having to revive those characters. This policy set off a firestorm of controversy on the Brainstock forums, where the MCDU was residing.
For awhile, PK'ers made the MCDU their primary target (most notably from the famous PK'er group known as RedRum). However, the MCDU weathered the storm and life continued as usual. After awhile, FMB stepped down as commander of the MCDU and handed the reigns over to Jaquelyn Cervantes. Sometime later, FMB returned to group leadership by creating the hyper-realism endorsing, bare bones outfit known as the Common Heroes. The groups's concept was a good one, and seemingly obvious, but the group lacked the direction and focus that groups in UD need to keep going. Playing simply as individuals coming together for a vague cause of survival got boring quickly, and so the group flamed out. It has since been recently resurrected in the form of The Office of Civil Defense. In mid-2007 FMB returned to Brainstock and spoke to the DEM about relinquishing the MCDU brand and group back to him as he was the rightful owner of the intellectual property, and he wanted to return it to the prominence he felt it once held and had slipped from. This attempt failed and the MCDU was altered slightly in image and set to remain in the DEM and on Brainstock indefinitely. After realizing how "Americanized" the original MCDU was in approach, symbology and ranks FMB created The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) with the intention of making a more international, improved version of the MCDU so to speak. This group never really got off the ground and was scrapped shortly after it's inception. Fire Marshall Bill has also created other group concepts such as the MCDU2: Rogue Squadron, FORTIS, and most recently The Blackhearts. Of these, only The Blackhearts are currently active. The Myrmidons, a ruthless player killing group and the 1st Special Forces Group were groups began and successfully ran by Fire Marshall Bill's other alternate characters, ainfean and Gallery, respectively.
Love him or hate him, Fire Marshall Bill has always been viewed as a passionate player character in the unique Urban Dead universe. He has been seen as revered, brave, hated, controversial, thoughtful, creative, inspiring, stubborn, irritable, trenchy, truthful, giving and just about any other positive or negative adjective you can think of. Whether you see him as hero or villain, leader or tyrant, the fact remains in a sea of characters Fire Marshall Bill has mattered, and that is the main goal he set out to achieve.
Backstory
How exactly an American Southern Gentleman from Tennessee came to be in Malton City, United Kingdom at the time of a zombie outbreak is uncertain. What is commonly assumed is that Fire Marshall Bill was visiting an old friend of his serving in the suburb of Gibsonton, thus leading to him originating from there at the time of the outbreak. FMB is actually William O'Hare, a tall and lean Tennessee country firefighter from just outside of Lynchburg, Tennessee in the United States of America. He is approximately 41 years old, and is both a volunteer fire fighter and small business owner. He achieved the rank of Fire Marshall when on active full time service with his original station house in Lynchburg, however he had since retired from his active career and took up volunteer fire fighting before coming to Malton City. FMB's side business venture was in custom made fire axes, perfect for station houses, awards or retirement gifts for the fire fighters of the world. Generally, he would hand craft two per month, each possessing a high level of craftsmanship and garnering a nice price on the open market. One such axe Bill carries with him at all times. Upon it's blade the word "Janine" can clearly be seen impressed into the metal blade with other embellishments. Whom Janine is is not clear, however FMB is never seen without this axe on his person.
Andrew T. Sloan (March 26, 1976 - July 18, 2016)
