William “Bill” Ballantine

Aliases

The Giant

Affiliation

Northwind Highlanders, House Liao (originally), Bob Morane’s sidekick

Occupation

Technician (ASF, Battlemech), troublemaker

William Ballantine’s Biographical information

Date of birth

14 December 3019

Place of birth

Northwind

Physical description

Species

Human

Gender

Male

Height

7’1″

Eye color

Green

William Balantine’s Background

William “Bill” Ballantine was originally supposed to achieve great things. Coming from a familly of MechTechs associated with the Northwind Highlanders, his parents were on a trip to Sian as the storied mercenary unit defected to the Federated Suns, blocking them there. Bill still grew up and trained to be a AsTech, leaving the Capellan Confederation to join a mercenary unit. After a disastrous mission against Clan Wolf in the Free Rasalhague Republic, Bill ended up drowning his sorrows on Galatea, hoping for his fortunes to change.

Change came when Bill met with former KungsArme ace pilot turned journalist and adventurer Robert Morane, who offered him a job as an head tech for his Rapier ASF, taking him on a rollercoaster of adventures. Often enough, they help the GI Joes in their missions before going back to fight SMOG and the mysterious, nefarious Mister Ming. Bill is amiable and sociable, and people easily open up to him, making him a good man to gather information. Roadblock often gets into arm-wrestling matches with Bill when they meet, as both men are about the only ones “of their size” around at any one time.

Battlemech

• Bill Ballantine is not a great pilot, but he knows how to operate a custom Powerman redesigned by the GI Joes, nicknamed “Old Willy“
• Mech skills: Gunnery 4, Piloting 4
• Battlearmor skills: Skill 3
• Bill also owns an Elemental “Toad” Battlearmor which he can pilot easily due to his size.