For the next few weeks, we'll be featuring character write-ups from Southpeak and Atomic Motion's upcoming tactical shooter, Raven Squad. Starting off is the group's leader, Martin Blackwell. His Call Sign is Paladin, which goes against his bull-headed and arrogant nature. The full description is below, and check back next week for another look into the game's characters. 

NAME: Martin Blackwell
CALL SIGN: Paladin
EXPERTISE: Heavy Gunner
HOMETOWN: Creston, Iowa
AGE: 43
GENDER: Male
TRAITS: Gambler, reliable, bull-headed and arrogant.

ROLE: The main character of the single player campaign, Paladin is the one who usually commands both squads. However, he is known to heed the advice of Raider from time to time.

BACKGROUND: In a lot of ways Blackwell was born to be a gambler. During his early childhood, he studied a lot of games and by the time he was 21, had became somewhat of a star in Las Vegas. However, living the high life and rolling hard began to catch up with him. He began to lose - badly. He lost most of his fortune and in a final game of poker against a prominent godfather of the Las Vegas underground, he found himself in debt and running for his life. With his last remaining cash, he moved to England and joined the army; where he found his true calling.

Through basic training he worked his way up to squad leader and after a short tour managed to get into the SAS. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, he was a Master Sergeant in charge of an elite squad behind enemy lines. However his bull-headed nature led him to disobey a direct order, which put his squad in a dangerous situation. Blackwell ordered his men to evacuate civilians from the combat zone rather than destroy an enemy munitions dump. While saving the civilians, his squad got pinned down by Iraqi snipers and he lost one of his best men. With no sign of help in sight, pinned by snipers the squad had little hope. However, a nearby special operations team lead by Joshua Raider managed to pick off the snipers and save the squad.

Afterwards, both Blackwell and Raider were court-martialed for disobeying orders. They were stripped of their ranks and discharged from the army. Blackwell returned to the States and worked as a bodyguard in Los Angeles. He eventually met up with Raider again, and they became partners working in their own private security firm. After a few years the call of the battlefield was back on both men’s minds. Blackwell and Raider founded a mercenary group of two squads.

PERSONALITY: Blackwell is a tried and true gambler; he likes to take chances, and usually bets on everything he can. His gambling addiction, in addition to his somewhat arrogant style can be annoying to squad-mates sometimes but they cannot deny his leadership skills. Since the incident in Iraq he usually doesn’t care about anything other than the mission and won’t bother with civilians, or anyone else for that matter. In his mind, he’s afraid of losing another member of his squad. In reality, he is a reliable person who never lets his teammates down. He is tremendously stubborn and once he’s decided on something, it’s hard to make him change his mind.