Eric Sonthana
Eric Sonthana is a character portrayed by Chris Engard in the campaign Countdown. At the start of the campaign, Eric is newly 25 years of age, stands at 5 feet and 6 inches. He has dark brown eyes, is bald, and sports a thin dark brown goatee. Eric is a musician, and plays the violin. His ability has been described as "Good, but not great." Writing Compositions is Eric's strength.
His heartwarming smile and his sympathetic nature is a trick that proves to be effective on many. It's not always that Eric doesn't care about the person or their well being, he just would rather not be bothered and weighed down by their personal issues, as he is critical of himself enough for the both of you (though he would never say it, how painfully shy he is). However, Eric is a patient man, and is not driven by impulse. He'll sit back and contemplate the implications of something before acting on it.
There are four things in his life that makes him truthfully happy. Music, his sister Tess, his Significant Other Sarah, and Fruit Flake Delights, which he eats religiously each morning.
You can find his blog at: http://romulusabandoned.wordpress.com
His email adress is "esonthana@yahoo.com"
Contents |
History
Family Life
Daniel and Joan Sonthana (Eric's father and mother) live in Forge as they have all their lives. Their marriage existed almost in name only. As Joan pointed out once in an argument, "this marriage only works because you don't feel good about yourself." They'd sleep in separate rooms often, and although there was never any physical violence, it made for a very unstable household. However, there were two arenas in which Daniel and Joan found common ground. The first, that divorce was wrong, and the second, that they needed to put pressure on their kids in order for them to succeed.
Eric is the middle of three children. He often felt he and his younger sister Tess were square pegs for a round hole in his family. Though Eric was never a particularly angsty teen, he could be described as passive aggressive. He'd make snarky comments, and would feel no remorse in inconveniencing his parents or older brother Jessie (2 years older).
His parents had the philosophy that in order to be successful you needed to have a productive role in society, such as being a doctor or lawyer. His brother became the latter, and often teased Eric for his taste in the arts. Jessie's own insecurities were taken out via his distaste towards Eric, and he became the unofficial favorite child of Daniel and Joan. Unofficially, Eric became the least favorite. Household rules would change at Eric's expense such as curfews, chores, and punishments. The dynamic of his brother only added to the instability of the home.
When Eric was four, his sister Tess was born. As he grew older and the household became more unstable, Eric took it upon himself to play a protective role for Tess. Throughout his youth, the most hurtful moments in Eric's life were the ones in which he felt he let his sister down, that he did not hold himself to a high enough standard for her. Tess is a genuinely nice person, and always got along well with the rest of her family, and tried her best to ignore the issues at hand. Now, where Eric feels anger and pity towards his family, Tess feels Sympathy. Tess, now a teacher in Forge, still keeps close with Eric, and the two will often pay each other visits. Despite their closeness, Eric never can fully relax when he's with her. He watches himself and still holds himself to that high standard.
However the struggles, there was one thing that the family was collectively good at. At family events, social gatherings, and other things of that nature, no one would have guessed that there was anything wrong. They seemed the perfect family, always polite, smiling, and successful.
Relationship/Pregnancy
At the start of the Campaign, Eric is dating 23 year old designer Sarah Perrington. The two met in 1997 at a local volleyball court. Eric does not play; he was forced along by his friend from school Evan Jonson. Eric attempted to play a round that ended in tragedy. After the fact, Eric was quoted as saying, "You're either good at music or you're good at sports. You can't do both."
The two were friends through Evan for some six months before they began their relationship. Through Eric, Sarah has revealed and developed her taste for the arts, which her former Jock self concealed. Eric has taught her some music and music theory which she applies to the piano, and uses the examples he creates for her in many of his own compositions.
Since the beginning of their relationship, Sarah's personality has changed dramatically. She has nearly thrown away her tastes for sports and has found herself entertained by all areas of art. She has tried becoming an artist, and has done dance and auditioned for acting parts in local theaters. This has created a distance and thus a resentment between Sarah and her friends and family, who she spends little time with anymore. Both Eric and Sarah are in denial of the change in Sarah's personality.
Eight months prior to the start of the campaign, Sarah took a pregnancy test and was found positive. The two did not have enough credits for a marriage license and by law Sarah must get an abortion. However, the two decided to attempt to hide the pregnancy. Only the two and Evan know of the child.
Career as a Musician
In school, Eric was always in the orchestra, as well as all of the other bands he could get into (Jazz Band, Concert band, etc.). Even in Jazz Band, where there was no written Violin part, he made his own. He was advanced on the instrument for his age. He always received solos, and where this would normally result in nonsensical school drama, Eric's friendly nature kept most people content with him.
Although he kept playing after school, he grew lazy and did not keep up on perfecting his technique. As a performer he fell down to average status, but he still excelled as a composer. He always composed. Although often, he did not write as an extension of his emotion, but he played off of the emotion of others. It was, and is, his way of relating to others.
It wasn't until the age of 20 when Eric finally moved out of his home. He always auditioned for bands and it wasn't until that age when he was accepted into the Infinico Philharmonic Orchestra. After several years, he became close with his conductor, who introduced him to several acquaintances in the Television business after Eric displayed his own compositions. If you ever wonder who writes the parts for all of the children shows and other things no one particularly cares about, Eric was one of them. It wasn't until he was 24 that he scored the documentary Shotgun and a Smile, which explored the life of new Bureau Chief of Police Ruaidhrí ó Faoláin.
Recently, Eric accepted the position of Composer for the Joy TV series Romulus Abandoned, despite his lack of faith in the initial scripts. Romulus Abandoned airs on Joy TV at 9 P.M. on Wednesdays.
