Dr. Elias Maddox's Questionnaire

Elias lives in a studio apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he works as a biochemical researcher for a pharmaceutical company. Originally from San Francisco, Elias moved to the east coast after completion of his doctorate degree and subsequent dive into a career in biochemistry. With prestigious universities like MIT and Harvard in the area, and some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world having major offices and laboratories in the area, Cambridge has acted as a hub for the life sciences for years. For Elias, few other places have been as well equipped for his work and endeavors. While far from an unmanageable condition, Elias wrestles with parasomnia, which manifests primarily as night terrors and a difficulty waking from them. The condition has had lasting effects on his physical and mental health, and he blames much of his personal inhibitions on fears generated from his horrible nightmares. The drive to work on solutions for himself have steered much of his aspirations, and have crossed into more of an obsession than a career goal. Despite having a small but comfortable living space, most of his time is spent within his lab, where he feels most at home.

Dr. Maddox makes a reasonable salary as a biochemical researcher, and with most of his time spent within his lab, spends very little on entertainment or luxury. His education and career have equipped him with much of the tools he uses to pass the time at no cost. Outside of a steady supply of coffee and cigarettes, there are few day to day expenses that need to be covered. Business trips and conferences are all expense paid, or reimbursed, and while not estranged from family, Elias does not often make the time for cross country visits back to San Francisco. That being said, he does not have an abundance of cash, as the cost of living in and of itself remains rather high, and when the need does arrive to pay for something, he does not hesitate to open his wallet.

Elias' ambition is to put an end to nightmares, and thoughts within the subconscious mind that limit or outright prevent peoples' ability to strive towards their goals. In truth he seeks a scientific means to end fear and inhibition, but due to his own sleep disorder he views these things as the feelings as a result of nightmares. Tired of dealing with subconscious fear and self doubt, Elias already dedicates his life to his ambition through his life and career goals and achievements. He is willing to go as far as he needs to in order to achieve his goals as he sees his work as the potential cure to a personal affliction. A firm believer in ends justifying means, Elias is willing to risk lives including his own if it means people can access their full potential without restraint.

The most defining event in Elias' life was the acquisition of his current position as head researcher on a new pharmaceutical solution for his company. Having graduated with honors from University of California Berkeley, he quickly found work within his field of study. First taking a position within biochemical research at a small bio and life science company. Always a diligent student, Maddox is and has always been driven in the pursuit of treating curing sleep disorders and other neurological conditions, which he blames for his own timidness and a key inhibitor to people's abilities to make the most of themselves socially and financially. After years of working under uninspired scientists on equally dull projects, along with the pursuit of both his masters and Phd, he found himself in the position of a junior researcher within a pharmaceutical company, a natural progression considering the nature of his pursuits. Finally, after another set of equally disappointing years, he found himself relocating to Cambridge, where he accepted a new position as lead researcher for a sleep related pharmaceutical solution to parasomnia disorders, exactly what he's sought to work on after all of his years. Now a year into his work, his pride in achieving his preliminary goal is waning, as he cracks down harder than ever on an ever elusive solution to a series of under-worked problems.

Always a reclusive member of society, Elias does not have many people he keeps close in his life. His parents, divorced and were always unable to connect with him, his two younger siblings were born well into his teenage years, were always distant from his mind, and his few friends were fine with leaving or being left behind as he engaged in his academic pursuits. He maintains a strong bond with a girl named Clarissa, his coworker and current crush. They started positions at Amgen around the same time and has always been kind and supportive of Elias' research claims. He sees everything he lacks in her, and has fallen for her but is unable to express his feelings out of fear and the taboo of a workplace relationship.

While in no way close, another person who makes a regular impact on Elias' life is Thomas Park, his superior in upper management. Always demanding of presentations, and unimpressed with nearly any founding Mr. Park has been a constant nuisance to Elias and in some cases a direct obstacle to his work. Regardless of how he may feel about it, Elias tends to get his way by providing well written reports, regular developments, and the praise of colleagues and collaborators for his contributions.

Lately, having taken a greater interest in his physical health, Elias has grown rather close to his neighbor, and middle aged woman named Hana who has become his running partner. A talkative woman and recent retiree, Hana loves to chat with Elias and does not seem to mind his limited responses.

Elias was always a troubled and fearful child. He developed sleep terrors early on which his parents never attributed to a condition but instead to him being a coward. His father always encouraged him to be more outgoing, attempted to involve him in sports and community, but he never took interest. Elias remained an insular child throughout all of his early development, leaving him to be the target of much bullying over the years that would strengthen his belief that he was abnormal. It wasn't until his undergraduate education that he began to find himself among like-minded people, and would blend in more despite not ever truly fitting in. His parents divorced midway through high school. His father, a business consultant was always busy with work and had all but given up on bonding with his eldest son, while his mother worked as a teacher before quitting to focus on raising his younger siblings full time. While he never blamed himself for their divorce, Elias recognizes that his choices definitely attributed to weakening their marriage, and he fully believes his siblings were brought about as an attempt to remedy a failing relationship with each other and their first born. In adulthood, Elias maintains little contact with his family, occasionally visiting his mother and teenage siblings during the holidays.

Elias has had a few crushes that he was either too afraid or unable to engage with for one reason or another throughout his life. In his youth he had inadvertently found himself in a relationship with another awkward teen when he had obliviously accepted her advances and admission of feelings. They grew to be friends, but Elias never found himself romantically capable or interested, and their relationship didn't last long. Having carried those memories with him as he grew older, Elias was always reluctant to pursue the people he found himself attracted to. It wouldn't be until he began pursuing his masters degree that he would find what he considered to be his first real love, a fellow parasomniac and scientist named Eva. They met when she volunteered to be part of a sleep study that Elias had been working on, and he was immediately smitten. In the first burst of confidence he could ever recall acting on, he asked her out on a date and was surprised that she accepted. They bonded over their sleep related disorders and similar academic pursuits, but always clashed ideologically. Where Eva felt her sleep paralysis was just an unfortunate circumstance she had to deal with, Elias always blamed his night terrors for much of his personal failings, something that would grate on their relationship. They dated for roughly 6 months before she left him claiming to need to focus on her studies. Elias recognized that their difference in beliefs as well as his inexperience in relationships and emotional unavailability were what really drove them apart, and has yet to move past Eva.

Elias' worst fears are his nightmares becoming reality. He has always been plagued with nightmares due to his condition, and is no stranger to waking in a panic or in tears. While his nightmares as a child were filled with imaginary monsters, his nightmares throughout his teenage years and adulthood have been filled with visions of failure at the few things he has gravitated towards and excelled at in life. A self fulfilling prophecy in many cases, his nightmares have slowed or in some cases stopped his willingness to engage in various activities or even just think positively about the world around him. In a large way his fear dominates his life, and has ruled his actions and should he give in to his subconscious fears any further than he has, he knows it will lead him to utter inescapable ruin. The few portents of failure he has been able to shrug off have been academic failings, and professional pursuits. Unsure of whether it is a natural affinity or a burning desire to rid himself of his nightmares, and by extension his many fears, he has been unshaken when it comes to his drive for knowledge and a pharmaceutical solution to parasomia disorders.

Elias' most prized possession is his jacket. The green military parka is an iconic piece of his appearance, but has also been a rather questionable fashion statement considering the California heat he was accustomed to in his youth and early adulthood. While not as regularly utilized until his move to the east coast, the jacket was given as a gift from his estranged father before Elias was to depart on an overseas trip. It serves as one of the few signs of approval and consideration that his father has shown him since his childhood. Oversized at the time, Elias has grown into the jacket perfectly and it serves as a reminder of home and that even though he may not be able to really connect with his father, or the rest of his family for that matter, that they still care and wish him well. Despite the now regular use and damages incurred on contracts, Elias still keeps it from irredeemable harm.