overview

Dillon "Dio" Owen is the main protagonist of The Achaea Project, and currently serves as the Director of the Public Safety and Containment Division within the titular organisation.

An ALEPH-class contractor, Dillon has been one of the most decorated members of the Project since he was fourteen. Despite his competence and legendary reputation, or directly because of that, he finds himself increasingly lonely and isolated from others. His ilicit relationship with fellow colleague, Oscar "Odysseus" Dane, ended in disaster, his boss hardly takes him seriously, and everyone else treats him like a ticking time bomb about to blow.

After an unusual, human-like Abnormality is captured and contained by his division, Dillon grows dangerously attached. He names her "Lys" and convinces himself that she will love him--dooming them both.

appearance

Dillon is tall and broad-shouldered. His build is heavy; dense muscle with some bulk around the middle from age and stress. He's not as lean as he was in his twenties, but he's still strong and functional.

Dillon's skin is dark brown and adorned with tattoos. He has multiple scars from two decades of combat operations. He has four piercings in total; lobe piercings on each ear, and a double helix on his left.

His face is angular with a strong jaw and high cheekbones. He doesn't smile much. His most distinctive feature is his heterochromia; his left eye is pale grey (from Athena's influence), his right eye is dark brown. The contrast is noticeable and makes people uncomfortable.

He keeps his hair in medium-thick locs that reach past his shoulders. He has a full beard that he usually keeps neat.

design notes

• Four tattoos in total:
• Barn owl on his left bicep
• Ferns on his right forearm (inside and outside)
• Olive branch on his hip
• His son's birthdate in Roman numerals on his collarbone (left).
• Always wears his gold wedding band.
• Scars can sometimes be inconsistent; whoops.

personality

Quiet, controlled, and often unsettling, Dillon doesn't speak unless necessary. He's a brilliant tactician; his mind processes combat information faster than normal humans. He sees patterns, identifies weaknesses, and constructs strategies with multiple contingencies. This is natural talent enhanced by Athena to inhuman levels.

Twenty years of violence stripped away any idealism he might have had. He expects betrayal and plans for worst-case scenarios. He doesn't trust people. His emotional control is absolute—anger, fear, longing, grief all get suppressed beneath professional demeanor. This is partly personality, partly survival mechanism, partly Athena's influence teaching him that emotion is weakness. Beneath the control, he's profoundly lonely. His Contract makes genuine connection dangerous because his mind constantly analyzes everyone for vulnerabilities and exploitation vectors.

When Dillon does care about someone, it manifests as obsessive protectiveness. He cannot lose control of situations involving people he cares about. This is most dangerous in his relationship with Lys, where protection has become possession and care has become control. He tells himself he's studying her, proving WAW-class entities can be controlled psychologically. The truth is she's become his companion, his project, and his proof that something belongs to him absolutely.

Occasionally, usually only with Stephen, Dillon displays bone-dry, morbid humor. He'll make a deadpan joke while standing in blood, then return to professionalism immediately.

abilities

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backstory

Early Life: Baltimore, 1983-1997

Dillon grew up in East Baltimore, Maryland. His father, Theo Owen, was an Athena contractor working for the DPC who became increasingly paranoid and violent. When Dillon was four, his father went insane during a mission and killed and partially consumed an enemy operative's brain. Athena executed him for breach of contract.

He was raised by his mother Delilah and older sister Cami. His best friend was Stephen Williams from the neighborhood, whose father was also died in the same line of work. They were both smart, angry kids with limited options.

His father's death became a recurring joke among his later teammates—comments about keeping Dio away from corpses or asking if he inherited his father's appetites. Dillon never laughed but never told them to stop. He learned early that showing pain invited more of it.

Recruitment and the Epigoni Program: DC, 1997-2002

At fourteen, Achaea recruiters found Dillon through DPC records and offered him a place in the Epigoni Unit—an experimental program that trained children of former Contractors to form Contracts with the same Abnormalities their parents served. His mother refused. Dillon accepted anyway.

The program was effectively child soldier training with legal cover. Dillon excelled at tactical planning while Stephen joined shortly after. Seven kids started. Of the original seven, only three survived to adulthood.

During his time in Epigoni, Dillon formed a Contract with Athena. He was sixteen. The Contract granted him enhanced tactical perception and strategic capabilities but came with the price of creeping paranoia, severe migraines, and erosion of trust. His left eye turned grey. The psychological corruption started immediately but Dillon was disciplined enough to manage it, or at least appear to.

relationships

character one

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♡ — best friend

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character two

♥ ♥ ♥ ♡ ♡ — ally

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character three

♥ ♥ ♡ ♡ ♡ — rival

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trivia

• Dillon's mother Delilah has roots from the Mississippi Delta, whereas his father Theodore hails from Atlanta, Georgia.
• Both sides of his family moved north to the DMV area, during the Great Migration period.
• As a child, he wanted to be a lawyer.
• He smokes Marlboro cigarettes.
• He often blinks one eye at a time.
• He was raised a Baptist Christian, but now identifies as agnostic.
• He is bisexual.
• His vehicle is a modded 2014 Toyota Land Cruiser.