The Spine was the second musical automaton to be created by the inventor Peter Walter I in his quest to win the heart of a fellow scientist, Delilah Moreau. Sadly, it wasn't to be, the young woman succumbing to illness before the musical trio was completed. The titanium bot could only watch as the man who he knew as his father descended into a frenzied depression, throwing his efforts into the creation of the third bot. But once the three were complete, he didn't stop there, continuing to build many varied robots, even as there were rumblings of trouble in Africa.
It was with a heavy heart that he outfitted his automaton boys with weaponry, sending them into battle to rescue the Rock Candy Mines from the copper elephants. It was a three day battle, radically changing the way The Spine saw the world, seeing firsthand the horrifying effects of war, especially when forced to deal with the men controlling the copper elephants... or what was left of them anyways.
The experience left both he and his brothers so traumatized that it was many years before they were seen again, remodeled once again for their original purpose of song and entertainment, and it seemed that things would improve. However once again, they were pulled into another war, though this time working with search and rescue crews during the first world war. It was a relief that they weren't expected to fight against humans, but even still, seeing the way the opposing armies tore into each other, their fragility in comparison to the automatons startled and frightened The Spine, making him more protective of his family, especially the human members.
Sadly enough it was a short lived peace despite The Spine's wishes, and once again the trio were pulled in to fight with the Allies, occasionally together, but usually in separate divisions, during which The Spine spent some time with the Navy, though this did nothing to help his dislike of closed spaces. One of the times they were brought together to help with a bombing raid, The Spine and his brothers disobeyed orders to instead rescue Allied forces nearby, as to them? It was more important to save the soldiers they'd been sent into battle with. Looking forward to peace when finally sent home, they instead discovered that their father had died three years before they'd been sent home, and the government hadn't seen fit to tell them.
The Spine and his brothers were just tools to them after all.
The robots have another five years of relative quiet, before the Beciles once again intrude into their lives, Thaddeus's descendants assault Rabbit, stealing his core. The family is treated to a taste of what happens when Blue Matter is mishandled when they attempt to retrieve the core. They get there as Ignatius and Norman switch it on, and the ensuing explosion rips through time and space, killing two men, mutating another and injuring the two remaining men. Even when the core is retrieved, and the copper bot is repaired he carries a deep guilt about this event. While he'd always tried to be the big brother, it was here that The Spine had to really step into the role to help console his distraught brother, help the younger understand where their missing family was.
It was at that point that his insistence on being the 'stoic' brother, the one they could always rely on truly was made, a desperate attempt to offer some semblance of comfort and stability in a world that seemed to whip by them and spin the family about with each new tragedy. The role was almost upset when The Spine was commissioned by the government to come in for some routine tests and comparisons. When he'd been powered down, without his knowledge or the family's consent, he was given a total overhaul into a new chassis that made him stronger, more streamlined and 'human' in an attempt to use him as a special ops spy, thus not risking the lives of their more important human agents. However despite their constant tinkering and training, The Spine couldn't quite pass well enough to satisfy their requirements and was sent home, right into a severe family squabble.
He and Rabbit fought bitterly over the new chassis, the copper bot insisting it was a betrayal of their dead creator, that The Spine was just trying to be something he wasn't. It was something that drove a wedge between the two for years, stubbornness on both sides fueling the disagreement further, and it might have continued on for years more if not for the death of yet another human member of their family. It put ice on the argument, and while the two might never have resolved the issue, both were quite willing to push it aside in favor of pulling the family back together again, as well as helping the young Peter Walter V settle into the family home.
Despite protests from the Walter family, the government once again pulls the automatons into war, this time to support ground troops in Vietnam. Sadly, the entire thing turns disastrous, in the midst of battle the three are taken down, and by the time any other support comes to the area, the bots were gone. The three bots were dragged to a facility deep in enemy territory, where as scientific curiosities they were studied, and brought online so that the Vietnamese could try to extract information from them, in tactics that wound up amounting to torture. Once the scientists had gotten what they needed, the bots were forced offline again, and wouldn't be found until eight years after they went missing, when retreating american troops came across the storage facility they were being kept at, and the government arranged for them to be sent home, where they were repaired and brought back online.
In light of such a horrible experience, The Spine asked the Walter Mechanic, Michael Reed Sr to put a lock on the programming he needed to use his weaponry, and he as well as his brothers took a vow of peace, determined never to participate in war again.
Luckily it seemed the government was content to leave the trio be, and they resumed their performing in relative peace. Over the years, the Steam Man Band was forgotten, and after a few false starts, and a misadvised attempt at being a boy band, The Spine and his brothers started to perform in a park near their home under the name 'Steam Powered Giraffe'. It was this that started to garner them attention again, and they started releasing albums, going on to do proper shows as their popularity was increasing.
It was only the year before that The Jon left them to go back to Kazooland to adventure, and check on Biscuit Town, where he was a mayor. The bot Hatchworth was upgraded to be able to take his place in the band, a change that The Spine is still uncertain about. He loves the youngest brother that now performs with him, and enjoys having someone about that appreciates his humor and intelligence, but he still deeply misses the brassy bot that always smiled and enjoyed hula-hooping, and when things are quiet, plans to organize a trip to Kazooland to see how he's doing.
And while he claims to not know anything about it, he remembers quite well the malfunction the three bots had just recently suffered on stage, the flashbacks to the terrifying Three Day War at the beginning of their lives, and is honestly worried, as he seems to be having more of those little flashbacks lately.
[CANON] The Spine Walter || Steam Powered Giraffe || Non-reserved || 2 of 3
Official Backstory
Official Timeline
Official Bio
The Spine was the second musical automaton to be created by the inventor Peter Walter I in his quest to win the heart of a fellow scientist, Delilah Moreau. Sadly, it wasn't to be, the young woman succumbing to illness before the musical trio was completed. The titanium bot could only watch as the man who he knew as his father descended into a frenzied depression, throwing his efforts into the creation of the third bot. But once the three were complete, he didn't stop there, continuing to build many varied robots, even as there were rumblings of trouble in Africa.
It was with a heavy heart that he outfitted his automaton boys with weaponry, sending them into battle to rescue the Rock Candy Mines from the copper elephants. It was a three day battle, radically changing the way The Spine saw the world, seeing firsthand the horrifying effects of war, especially when forced to deal with the men controlling the copper elephants... or what was left of them anyways.
The experience left both he and his brothers so traumatized that it was many years before they were seen again, remodeled once again for their original purpose of song and entertainment, and it seemed that things would improve. However once again, they were pulled into another war, though this time working with search and rescue crews during the first world war. It was a relief that they weren't expected to fight against humans, but even still, seeing the way the opposing armies tore into each other, their fragility in comparison to the automatons startled and frightened The Spine, making him more protective of his family, especially the human members.
Sadly enough it was a short lived peace despite The Spine's wishes, and once again the trio were pulled in to fight with the Allies, occasionally together, but usually in separate divisions, during which The Spine spent some time with the Navy, though this did nothing to help his dislike of closed spaces. One of the times they were brought together to help with a bombing raid, The Spine and his brothers disobeyed orders to instead rescue Allied forces nearby, as to them? It was more important to save the soldiers they'd been sent into battle with. Looking forward to peace when finally sent home, they instead discovered that their father had died three years before they'd been sent home, and the government hadn't seen fit to tell them.
The Spine and his brothers were just tools to them after all.
The robots have another five years of relative quiet, before the Beciles once again intrude into their lives, Thaddeus's descendants assault Rabbit, stealing his core. The family is treated to a taste of what happens when Blue Matter is mishandled when they attempt to retrieve the core. They get there as Ignatius and Norman switch it on, and the ensuing explosion rips through time and space, killing two men, mutating another and injuring the two remaining men. Even when the core is retrieved, and the copper bot is repaired he carries a deep guilt about this event. While he'd always tried to be the big brother, it was here that The Spine had to really step into the role to help console his distraught brother, help the younger understand where their missing family was.
It was at that point that his insistence on being the 'stoic' brother, the one they could always rely on truly was made, a desperate attempt to offer some semblance of comfort and stability in a world that seemed to whip by them and spin the family about with each new tragedy. The role was almost upset when The Spine was commissioned by the government to come in for some routine tests and comparisons. When he'd been powered down, without his knowledge or the family's consent, he was given a total overhaul into a new chassis that made him stronger, more streamlined and 'human' in an attempt to use him as a special ops spy, thus not risking the lives of their more important human agents. However despite their constant tinkering and training, The Spine couldn't quite pass well enough to satisfy their requirements and was sent home, right into a severe family squabble.
He and Rabbit fought bitterly over the new chassis, the copper bot insisting it was a betrayal of their dead creator, that The Spine was just trying to be something he wasn't. It was something that drove a wedge between the two for years, stubbornness on both sides fueling the disagreement further, and it might have continued on for years more if not for the death of yet another human member of their family. It put ice on the argument, and while the two might never have resolved the issue, both were quite willing to push it aside in favor of pulling the family back together again, as well as helping the young Peter Walter V settle into the family home.
Despite protests from the Walter family, the government once again pulls the automatons into war, this time to support ground troops in Vietnam. Sadly, the entire thing turns disastrous, in the midst of battle the three are taken down, and by the time any other support comes to the area, the bots were gone. The three bots were dragged to a facility deep in enemy territory, where as scientific curiosities they were studied, and brought online so that the Vietnamese could try to extract information from them, in tactics that wound up amounting to torture. Once the scientists had gotten what they needed, the bots were forced offline again, and wouldn't be found until eight years after they went missing, when retreating american troops came across the storage facility they were being kept at, and the government arranged for them to be sent home, where they were repaired and brought back online.
In light of such a horrible experience, The Spine asked the Walter Mechanic, Michael Reed Sr to put a lock on the programming he needed to use his weaponry, and he as well as his brothers took a vow of peace, determined never to participate in war again.
Luckily it seemed the government was content to leave the trio be, and they resumed their performing in relative peace. Over the years, the Steam Man Band was forgotten, and after a few false starts, and a misadvised attempt at being a boy band, The Spine and his brothers started to perform in a park near their home under the name 'Steam Powered Giraffe'. It was this that started to garner them attention again, and they started releasing albums, going on to do proper shows as their popularity was increasing.
It was only the year before that The Jon left them to go back to Kazooland to adventure, and check on Biscuit Town, where he was a mayor. The bot Hatchworth was upgraded to be able to take his place in the band, a change that The Spine is still uncertain about. He loves the youngest brother that now performs with him, and enjoys having someone about that appreciates his humor and intelligence, but he still deeply misses the brassy bot that always smiled and enjoyed hula-hooping, and when things are quiet, plans to organize a trip to Kazooland to see how he's doing.
And while he claims to not know anything about it, he remembers quite well the malfunction the three bots had just recently suffered on stage, the flashbacks to the terrifying Three Day War at the beginning of their lives, and is honestly worried, as he seems to be having more of those little flashbacks lately.