Jacob Rowe

[JacobAllTradez]

Name: Jacob Euphrates Rowe
Gender: Male
Age: 17
Hobbies and Interests: Yoga, meditation, painting, YouTube

Appearance: Jacob is a tall, yet skinny man, standing at 6'3 and weighing 137 pounds. As such, he has a rather lanky frame not helped by his large wingspan. He is of Caucasian descent, though a darker shade than others. His facial features are quite muted, including small, brown, rounded eyes, a shallow chin, an elongated midface, and curly jet-black hair, usually cut in a bob shape that stops at the chin. His wardrobe is rather typical, wearing block-colored shirts and jeans. Jacob always wears his mood ring on his left middle finger as it helps express how he's feeling. On the day of the abduction, Jacob wore a white t-shirt with a gray hoodie, stonewashed blue jeans, and black sneakers.

Biography: Jacob was born in St. Paul, Minnesota to parents Terrence Rowe and River Kershaw. Terrence and River are known across St. Paul for their successful craft beer company, "The River Rowes". Neither came from much early in their lives, but Kershaw had a degree in business and management, one that came in handy upon the opening of their organization. While the two have yet to officially marry, both are very happy living with one another and their three children, Jacob, Kaara, and Valerie, living in the suburbs of St. Paul as blue-collar middle-class citizens.

Early on in life, Jacob had serious issues communicating his needs and wants, being diagnosed with autism at a very early age and being nonverbal until the age of 3. Even then, Jacob found it difficult to express himself in daily life. While never bullied or made to look inferior in Pre-K or elementary school, he was excluded by other kids, thanks in large part to his lack of social skills. On the eve of his fifth birthday, Terrence presented Jacob with a custom-commissioned mood ring. Unlike most mood rings, which change color based on body heat, Jacob's was designed with a wide range of colors which he could reveal one at a time by turning the band, allowing him to create a system to express his emotions and desires even without speaking (for example RAL 3026 or Red means angry, and RAL 5011 / Dark Blue means sad), and which he uses almost unconsciously to this day. This, along with his improved speech thanks to years of speech therapy, helped improve conditions for Jacob considerably and he was able to get past elementary school with relative ease. To this day, Jacob is grateful that his parents were able to help him through his early years, and will forever be devoted to them.

As Jacob approached middle school, he began to take up art, particularly painting, using the medium as a way to find peace with himself and create immersive worlds. Art would go on to become the defining subject of his public school career, also being the one school subject he consistently excelled at, being average to substandard in other subjects. He also had a sexual awakening of sorts, taking attraction to guys alongside girls. This would become the subject of a rather unfortunate incident as Jacob's first gay crush was able to decipher how he was feeling quickly and rejected him before Jacob could respond. Since then, Jacob has found it very hard to form personal relationships with others, too emotionally hurt to trust himself with them.

In high school, Jacob began experimenting with his mood ring, trying out other things such as religion, alcohol, and other remedies. This led to another unfortunate incident where Jacob and another kid were busy experimenting with marijuana. Despite Jacob's clear hesitance, the kid would pressure him to try it, assuring him that it was fun. That evening, Jacob and the kid would get into a bad driving accident with the kid bolting from the scene, framing Jacob in the process. Thankfully, a neighbor had observed the matter from a distance and helped clear Jacob’s name, helped by the fact that only a stop sign and some garbage cans were knocked over. Not long after, Jacob would discover yoga, quickly becoming a second afterschool activity that brought about peace, helping to process his emotions and navigate against stress, outside of being enjoyable. As he continued this venture, Jacob began exploring other methods of mediation and began reading books on psychology and feelings, slowly growing a talent for examining emotions. Seeing a need to help other people going through their own struggles, he created a YouTube channel where he narrates guided mediation sessions and discusses neurodivergent awareness, a channel that is still active one year after its creation. As of now, Jacob has not garnered much of a following, standing at only a few hundred subscribers, but he's happy doing what he loves and interacting with his fledgling community.

Jacob remains introverted, although not to the same degree as he was back in elementary school. He keeps in touch with a few close friends and tries to talk with them online, but he'd prefer to form his own social events for his friends to partake in rather than join others, as it can take some time for Jacob to warm up to someone. Jacob however is the closest with his family, his father, Terrence, in particular, as he has worked with children with ASD in the past. In their spare time, Terrence and Jacob work on crafting homemade cider for the business and partake in family meditation sessions. Jacob does maintain a strong relationship with River, though it can be strained at times due to her busy work schedule. Despite this, River does make time during the weekend for park visits, where Jacob and his family can get fresh air and roam about. Kaara serves as the black sheep of the Rowe siblings, being extroverted, loud, and a star student, serving on the middle school's brainiac team. While the two have their squabbles, Kaara does tone things down when around Jacob and does appreciate the mediation sessions. Valerie, having also been diagnosed with ASD, looks up to Jacob as a role model and often tries to follow his word, even if it doesn't always go to plan. Jacob finds her quite amusing and will always do his best to help her out, especially regarding meditation techniques. He has no concrete plans for after high school but has been in early talks with his parents regarding potential involvement with the cider business while studying for a degree in psychology, which he plans to start at a community college before transferring to a four-year school.

Advantages: Jacob is a naturally empathetic person who sees the best in others and wants to help them realize their potential. His calm, sturdy personality makes Jacob a good person to talk to when trouble emerges. Jacob is also very good at reading others' emotions, having read up on psychology. This makes it easier for Jacob to understand their concerns or wants and makes him able to plan accordingly.
Disadvantages: While Jacob can read others' emotions with precision, it's stupidly easy to telegraph Jacob's feelings when they spring forward, especially with his mood ring. Jacob's introverted nature makes it hard to decipher whether someone is being honest with him or not. As such, he keeps most of his personal matters private, so as to not bring others into his world. As a result, Jacob is easily taken advantage of by people who want to manipulate others for their own gain.

Original Profile: https://sotfmini.com/wiki/index.php/Jacob_Rowe
Permission:

[MurderWeasel]

Hey, Jacob (handler)! Jacob (character) is looking pretty good, just a handful of questions left.

Is Jacob's hair straight, curly, or wavy?

What color are Jacob's eyes?

Could I also get just a bit more facial description for him? What shape are his eyes? His nose?

What type of shirt did Jacob have on abduction day (t-shirt? long-sleeved?) and what color were his sneakers?

What's Jacob's family's economic status (middle class, or something else)?

Most traditional mood rings respond to body heat rather than actual mood. Was Jacob's like that, or did his parents find/create something more dedicated so he could telegraph his mood?

How long has Jacob's YouTube channel been going?

I'm not quite sure how Jacob's mood ring would help him understand/read other people's moods.

Can I maybe get an example of Jacob being manipulated by others in his bio?

A few more questions:

Can I get one specific detail of Jacob's relationship with each of his parents and siblings, just to help them stand out as individuals?

While Jacob may not have long-term plans, is he going to attend college in the fall? Or is he taking a gap year (or just planning to skip college altogether)?

How does Jacob feel about his diagnosis now? Is he open about it?

Can I hear just a bit more about how Jacob interacts with others? Is he shy around them, or does he simply prefer not to socialize much? Or do his trust issues affect him even in more cursory situations? Does he have any more loose/casual friends, even if not close ones?

Post when you've got that tweaked, and we'll give Jacob another look. Thanks!

[JacobAllTradez]

Alright! I think I was able to answer most of the questions asked, even caught a typo during the matter. I think I might need another review to really shape things out, but it should be in better shape.

[MurderWeasel]

Hey again! Sorry for the delay—holiday stuff caught up with me a bit. Jacob's looking a lot better, just a bit more to go!

We've still got a bit of tweaking to do with the mood ring topic. Basically, the tricky thing here is balancing what you're looking for (a ring that accurately expresses Jacob's emotions) with the setting's realism needs (no ring actually exists that reads and broadcasts your emotions). An additional wrinkle comes in the form of the terrorists' stance on electronics (specifically, they confiscate all of them), when I'm assuming you want Jacob's ring to play a role in-game.

I think the cleanest way around this is probably to have them commission Jacob a custom mechanical ring that he can control, likely something where he can turn the band to reveal different colors. It makes a lot of sense as a thing for them to get him if he's someone who sometimes struggles with vocalization, and while he'd be intentionally setting the ring to match his mood, I think if it's a long-term habit that he constantly follows it still hits most of the points you're looking for (plus offers some other potentially interesting options to you, like if, say, he ever uses this to lie).

If you're cool with this, I'd probably frame it something like "On the eve of his fifth birthday, Terrence presented Jacob with a custom-commissioned mood ring. Unlike most mood rings, which change color based on body heat, Jacob's was designed with a wide range of colors which he could reveal one at a time by turning the band, allowing him to create a system to express his emotions and desires even without speaking (for example RAL 3026 or Red means angry, and RAL 5011 / Dark Blue means sad)."

Can we get a couple more details about Jacob's accident? What exactly happened? Did they maybe knock over a stop sign or something? How did Jacob get off? Maybe a neighbor saw what actually happened? Maybe Jacob didn't even know how to drive?

Also, I'd maybe suggest either changing the accident to being related to Jacob's marijuana adventures or else talking a little more about the fallout with his family—as a family that runs a brewery, having a kid involved in an underage DUI would actually be a really big deal potentially.

It sounds like Jacob has maybe already applied for/been accepted to school, but I'd like to get it made a bit more explicit—maybe something like "He has no concrete plans for after high school but has been in early talks with his parents regarding potential involvement with the cider business while studying for a degree in psychology, which he plans to start at a local community college before transferring to a four-year school."

We've got one extra line skipped between the end of the bio and the Advantages section—can we make sure there's just a single line skipped there?

Post when you've got that tweaked, and we'll give Jacob another look. Thanks!

[JacobAllTradez]

Apologies for the delay, Jacob's profile has been edited further!

[MurderWeasel]

Getting there, just a bit more detail I'm looking for still from the stuff I mentioned last time!

Can I hear specifically about how Jacob's ring actually works? That is to say, how is his mood being read and then conveyed through the ring? I just want to be really clear on this one since its such a core aspect of how Jacob expresses himself.

How did Jacob get the charges dismissed regarding his car accident?

Feel free to drop me a line on Discord if you're having trouble with the ring thing; I know it's the most involved piece of this. Post when that's handled, and we'll take another look. Thanks!

[JacobAllTradez]

Alright! That should be the final round of edits.

[MurderWeasel]

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