History

Soldier Boy

Richard was born on June 18, 1986, to Alan and Naomi Steele, in Lakewood. Bright, athletic and popular, he was the pride and joy of his parents, who had every expectation of not having more children, Naomi having been told Richard must be her only child.

The doctors proved fallible with the birth of Richard’s sister, Amanda, when Richard was 10 years old. Richard took well to the responsibilities of being a big brother, looking out for his sister, who grew into quite the tomboy under his influence. As far as Amanda was concerned, Richard hung the moon.

In high school, Richard cemented his status as a well-rounded campus ace. He was a linebacker for the Lakewood Lancers football team, and could have played professionally, had he so desired. Instead, Richard’s ambitions lay elsewhere.

Seized by a sense of patriotic duty, Richard enlisted in the U.S. Army the moment he was eligible. It was 2004, and the U.S. efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan were in full swing. Richard was hailed for his patriotism, and departed town as a local hero.

Battle Scars

Richard saw combat in Iraq, getting the worst of an IED blast in 2006. He survived the explosion but was left badly scarred along the right side of his face, losing the use of his right eye and with severe damage to his voice.¹ He returned to Lakewood changed, devastating his family.

Silent Sentinel

Richard was more sanguine about his disability than the people around him, adapting a stoic manner and focusing on what he could change. His disfigurement hadn’t left him overtly incapacitated, though he had to work hard to return to full health.

Sheriff Clark Hudson took a chance on him and appointed him a deputy, a position Richard proved more than qualified for, particularly given Lakewood was, at the time, in the middle of a record low-crime streak.

That came to an end in October 2015, when the town was plagued by a series of murders, primarily targeting high school students. The killings began with GW High freshmen Stacy Winters and Brock Carmichael, who were killed outside Stacy’s home on the evening of October 18th. Searching for Stacy’s parents, who were meant to have been on a date night, Richard discovered Robert and Gina Winters dead in their car from unknown causes, and reported the grim news to Clark and Medical Examiner Maggie Duval.²

Appearance

Richard is tall and solidly built, coming in at about 6 feet. He has brown hair, shaved close to his scalp, and his remaining natural eye, his left, is brown. The right side of his face is heavily scarred, a legacy of the IED blast he took in Iraq. The blast also took his right eye, which he has replaced with a blue glass eye.³

Wardrobe

Richard’s deputy uniform consists of bland khaki drab, consistent with his colleagues in the Sheriff’s Department.⁴

Personality

Richard is stoic and duty-driven. By necessity, he’s a man of few words since his injury scarred his vocal cords, making excessive speech a painful task. He isn’t without a sense of humor, though, and has a caustic sensibility. He’s fiercely protective of his loved ones, particularly his little sister, Amanda.

Health and Vitals

Disfigured by an IED blast in Iraq in 2006. The injury left the right side of his face badly scarred, cost him his right eye, and heavily damaged his vocal cords, making speaking difficult. Wears a glass eye as a prosthetic.⁵

Origins and Development

Richard’s proper debut came in the May 2016 Season 2 AU, though a version of him nearly appeared in the 2015 Season 1. “Richard Steele” was the first character created by TellatrixForever. He was a double paraplegic in his mid-20s and was to be an assistant to Howard Jensen at the church, as well as a friend of Audrey’s. Tellatrix also created a little sister for Richard, Amanda, and ultimately combined the Steele siblings into one: Amanda Steele.

During the forum’s run, Amanda made sporadic references to her brother, but never with much information, though it could be assumed he was still Howard’s “assistant”.

Ironically, while Tellatrix didn’t bring Amanda back for the Season 2 AU (her role being largely supplanted by his new OC, Jamie Teague), he retained Richard, though the character no longer resembled his 2015 application. The Season 2 AU’s Richard was a sheriff’s deputy and military veteran who had been left badly scarred overseas, impairing his vision and his voice.

Richard appeared in only one scene late in the Season 2 AU’s brief run, but returned for the October 2016 Season 3 AU. Three years later, he was adapted into the SRU, which introduced him well before his original debut, in the fourth chapter of The Story so Far’s first volume in Spring 2019. Shortly afterward, Richard became an active character in the forum, appearing in Big Trouble in Little Lakewood in Summer 2019.

Other Interpretations

The following is the application for the first “Richard Steele”, submitted by TellatrixForever to the 2015 Season 1 AU on September 3, 2015. This version of the character never appeared in the forum and isn’t considered “canon” to either the SRU or the Season 1 AU.

Text is presented as it was originally displayed on Fanfiction.net, with no redactions:

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Name: Richard Steele

Age: 25

Personality: Richard is more intelligent than he lets on. Stoic and quiet, he’s a loner with a heart of gold. After the recent murders, he’s become paranoid that there will be more killings. But he also knows how to keep a secret.

Appearance: I don’t really have a face claim in mind, so I’m gonna wing it. He’s about 5’10” and scrawny by nature. He’s a red-head, and has icy blue eyes. He normally wears a mechanic’s shirt with cargo pants and work boots. A knife is always on his belt, which he carries for self-defense.

Likes: Working on vehicles, a good book or movie, music of all sorts.

Dislikes: The recent murders, bullies, not having his legs.

Favorite Movie: A Nightmare On Elm Street

Bio: Richard is a Lakewood native, and has never been outside the state. He lost both his legs from the knees down after a motorcycle accident, but did get prosthetics, which he has become very adept at walking with. The eldest brother of two, he’s works at the local auto-repair shop.

Other: He’s Pastor Jenson’s part-time assistant, and is friends with Audrey.

How far do you see them lasting: I could see him actually lasting til the end, but it would depend on a lot of things, really. And if he did go down, he would go down fighting.

Trivia

The original Richard, created in 2015 but never used in the forum, had no faceclaim. For the 2016 Season 2 AU, Richard’s creator TellatrixForever “cast” Garrett Hedlund, possibly with his role in the 2014 World War II drama Unbroken in mind. With the onset of the 2025 Story so Far rewrite, Richard was “recast” with Cosmo Jarvis.

Gallery

1. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 8 ↩︎
2. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 8 ↩︎
3. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 8 ↩︎
4. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 8 ↩︎
5. The Story so Far, Vol. I: Chapter 1, Scene 8 ↩︎