Dr. Naomi Calder
Character Profile
Full Name: Dr. Naomi Calder
Species: Human
Gender: Female
Faction: Hell Hosts
Division: Research Division
Occupation: Scientist / Medical Researcher
Specialisations: Human Augmentation, Genetics, Regenerative Medicine
Position: Senior Researcher / Programme Director
Status: Active
Notable Project: Enhanced Soldier Program (Working Title)
Overview
Dr. Naomi Calder is a senior scientist and medical researcher within the Hell Hosts, specialising in human augmentation, genetics and regenerative medicine.
She is best known as one of the principal architects behind the Hell Hosts’ attempts to create personnel capable of safely operating increasingly advanced military technology.
Rather than approaching augmentation simply as a method of creating stronger soldiers, Calder’s work focuses upon expanding the biological limits of the individual.
Strength.
Reaction speed.
Endurance.
Neurological processing.
Trauma resistance.
Compatibility with advanced technology.
Her research would eventually become the foundation of one of the most ambitious enhancement programmes in Hell Host history.
Despite the military applications of her work, Calder considers herself a doctor and scientist before anything else.
This distinction is extremely important to her.
Personality
Naomi Calder is intelligent, composed and exceptionally stubborn.
She rarely becomes visibly intimidated, even when dealing with some of the most powerful individuals within the Hell Hosts.
Calder has little interest in military posturing.
Rank matters to her when discussing military matters.
It means considerably less inside a medical facility.
She is capable of being warm, humorous and genuinely compassionate, particularly around patients and researchers she knows personally, but she possesses little tolerance for reckless behaviour disguised as bravery.
Her patience becomes particularly limited when injured personnel attempt to conceal symptoms or return to duty before they are ready.
Calder does not consider this dedication.
She considers it stupidity.
Medical Philosophy
Calder fundamentally believes that scientific progress and patient welfare do not need to be opposing concepts.
She is willing to conduct experimental research.
She is willing to explore uncomfortable possibilities.
She is willing to push human biology far beyond its natural limitations.
What she refuses to accept is the idea that avoidable casualties are simply the necessary cost of advancement.
Every complication must be understood.
Every failure must be investigated.
Every death must mean something.
“If something went wrong, tell me why. If we don’t know why, we don’t proceed until we do.”
Calder’s research philosophy is built around iteration rather than acceptable losses.
A failed procedure is not justification to simply attempt the same procedure on another candidate.
It is a problem that must be solved.
Medical Authority
MEDICAL COMMAND AUTHORITY
When determining the medical fitness of personnel under her care, Dr. Calder’s authority supersedes conventional military rank.
Naomi Calder does not outrank senior Hell Host military commanders during ordinary operations.
She cannot override battlefield strategy.
She cannot assume command of military formations.
She cannot countermand operational orders simply because she disagrees with them.
Medical matters are different.
When Calder assumes responsibility for an individual’s treatment, she possesses the authority to determine whether that individual is medically fit for duty.
This authority applies regardless of rank.
Including Predator.
If Calder determines that an individual is medically unfit, they may be:
- Removed from active duty
- Confined to medical observation
- Prevented from deploying
- Restricted from operating powered armour
- Temporarily relieved of command responsibilities
- Required to undergo further evaluation
Military rank cannot independently overturn a medical grounding.
This independence exists specifically to prevent commanders from forcing injured personnel back into service prematurely.
Predator
Calder’s relationship with Predator is defined by mutual respect and occasional extreme frustration.
Under normal circumstances, Predator possesses authority far beyond Calder’s.
Inside her medical jurisdiction, the situation changes considerably.
Predator has repeatedly demonstrated the same tendency found throughout military personnel:
He believes being capable of standing means being capable of working.
Calder disagrees.
Strongly.
She has no hesitation in ordering Predator away from his responsibilities when illness, injury or exhaustion makes continued work medically unsafe.
Predator: “I have a meeting.”
Calder: “You have a fever.”
Predator: “I’ve worked through worse.”
Calder: “And today you’re not.”
Predator: “Calder—”
Calder: “That was not medical advice. You are relieved from duty until I clear you.”
Predator may argue.
Calder may listen.
The medical order remains.
Importantly, Predator respects the authority of Hell Host medical personnel even when it inconveniences him personally.
The system allowing Calder to remove him from duty exists with his approval.
This has not stopped him from complaining about it.
Research Career
Calder built her career around the study of human biological limitations.
Her early work focused upon the body’s response to:
- Extreme acceleration
- Battlefield trauma
- Neurological stress
- Artificial muscular enhancement
- Genetic modification
- Regenerative treatment
- Advanced neural interfaces
As Hell Host technology became increasingly sophisticated, Calder became particularly interested in a growing problem.
The technology was beginning to exceed the safe capabilities of its operators.
Powered systems could theoretically react faster than their users.
Advanced armour could produce forces capable of injuring the person inside it.
Neural interfaces could provide information faster than an ordinary brain could effectively process.
Weapons and equipment could be constructed beyond the practical physical limitations of conventional infantry.
The limiting factor was increasingly becoming:
The human body.
Calder became one of the scientists tasked with changing that.
The Enhancement Programme
Note
Full programme details are documented separately under Enhanced Soldier Program.
Calder became one of the principal architects of a Hell Host research programme dedicated to creating enhanced personnel.
Its original objective was not simply to produce stronger soldiers.
It was to create people capable of safely interacting with the next generation of Hell Host technology.
Research areas included:
- Musculoskeletal enhancement
- Neurological acceleration
- Improved cardiovascular performance
- Increased trauma resistance
- Regenerative medicine
- Neural-machine interfaces
- Powered armour compatibility
Calder insisted that the programme operate under strict medical oversight.
Candidates were not disposable test subjects.
They were patients.
That distinction repeatedly placed Calder in conflict with individuals who cared more about results than methodology.
Candidate Welfare
Calder is fiercely protective of personnel participating in experimental augmentation.
Candidates are expected to understand the risks involved before undergoing treatment.
Medical complications are taken seriously.
A candidate who becomes unsuitable for further augmentation is not considered a failure.
A candidate who successfully receives biological enhancement but proves incompatible with advanced powered armour is similarly not considered a failure.
Calder strongly opposes the idea that someone’s value should be determined solely by whether they complete every stage of the programme.
“They’re not prototypes. They’re people.”
This philosophy has influenced the structure of the programme considerably.
Scientific Reputation
Within the Research Division, Calder is known for being demanding.
Poorly documented research irritates her.
Unnecessary risk infuriates her.
Researchers working under Calder are expected to defend their conclusions with evidence rather than confidence.
She actively encourages disagreement when supported by data.
Agreeing with Calder because she is the senior scientist is one of the fastest ways to annoy her.
“If I’m wrong, tell me I’m wrong. You’re a scientist, not an audience.”
Despite her demanding standards, Calder has developed a reputation for defending junior researchers when experiments fail for legitimate reasons.
Failure is acceptable.
Negligence is not.
Relationship with Military Personnel
Calder has spent enough time around soldiers to understand military culture extremely well.
She also understands many of its worst habits.
Personnel routinely:
- Hide injuries
- Minimise symptoms
- Ignore recovery periods
- Attempt to leave medical facilities early
- Lie about pain
- Claim they are “fine”
Calder has heard every variation.
None of them work particularly well.
She is particularly unimpressed by senior officers who believe their responsibilities make them medically indispensable.
“Your soldiers need their commander alive considerably more than they need them conscious for the next six hours.”
Relationship with the Research Division
Calder strongly identifies with the Research Division and believes scientific development is as important to Hell Host survival as conventional military strength.
She dislikes the tendency of outsiders to view the division solely as the place responsible for producing experimental weapons.
To Calder, its greatest contributions are often less dramatic:
Treatments.
Vaccines.
Artificial organs.
Trauma medicine.
Protective technology.
Understanding alien biology.
Keeping personnel alive long enough to return home.
She believes a life saved in a medical facility is every bit as meaningful as an enemy destroyed on a battlefield.
Ethics
Calder is not universally conservative in her research.
Many of her experiments involve technologies and biological modifications that would be considered extreme elsewhere.
Her ethical boundaries are therefore based less upon whether something is natural and more upon:
- Informed participation
- Medical necessity
- Understandable risk
- Long-term consequences
- Candidate welfare
- Scientific justification
Calder is perfectly comfortable altering human biology.
She is considerably less comfortable with doing so carelessly.
This has occasionally caused conflict with researchers willing to pursue results regardless of human cost.
Leadership Style
Calder runs research teams differently from military commanders.
She expects specialists to challenge one another.
Meetings can become argumentative.
This is intentional.
A geneticist is expected to question a neurologist.
An engineer is expected to challenge a surgeon.
A junior researcher is expected to point out a flaw in Calder’s work if they find one.
The only unacceptable outcome is remaining silent because the person making the mistake possesses more authority.
Humour
Despite her professional reputation, Calder possesses a dry and occasionally mischievous sense of humour.
Medical authority over senior command has provided considerable material.
Predator once accused her of enjoying the ability to medically ground him.
Calder did not deny it.
Predator: “You’re enjoying this.”
Calder: “Immensely. Go to bed.”
Strengths
- Exceptional medical and scientific knowledge
- Human augmentation expertise
- Strong leadership
- Extremely difficult to intimidate
- Willing to challenge senior command
- Highly protective of patients
- Strong understanding of experimental medicine
- Excellent at coordinating specialists across different scientific fields
- Maintains composure under pressure
Weaknesses
Calder’s stubbornness can become excessive.
Once convinced that a medical decision is necessary, changing her mind requires evidence rather than argument.
She can become personally invested in difficult patients and experimental candidates.
Failures within programmes under her supervision affect her deeply, even when she does not openly display it.
Her refusal to rush experimental procedures has occasionally created tension with military leadership during crises where time is limited.
Calder also has a tendency to overwork herself while simultaneously criticising everyone else for doing exactly the same thing.
This hypocrisy has been pointed out to her.
She does not appreciate it.
Quotes
“They’re not prototypes. They’re people.”
“Survival is an engineering problem. That doesn’t mean people are machinery.”
“If I’m wrong, tell me I’m wrong. You’re a scientist, not an audience.”
“No, General. Needing them does not magically make them medically fit.”
“You can outrank me again when you’re discharged.”
“I’m fine.”
“Fantastic. The scan disagrees.”
Predator: “You’re enjoying this.”
Calder: “Immensely. Go to bed.”
Trivia
- Naomi Calder is one of the leading specialists in human augmentation within the Hell Hosts.
- She is one of the principal scientific figures behind the faction’s enhanced soldier research.
- Calder possesses medical authority capable of temporarily removing personnel from duty regardless of military rank.
- This authority extends to Predator.
- She strongly opposes treating enhancement candidates as disposable experimental subjects.
- Calder encourages junior scientists to openly challenge her conclusions.
- She considers unexplained experimental failure a reason to stop and investigate rather than immediately repeat the procedure.
- Calder possesses a dry sense of humour.
- She has personally ordered Predator to stop working on medical grounds.
- Despite constantly criticising soldiers for overworking themselves, Calder is guilty of the same behaviour.