Luis Sera

VITAL STATS[]

Name: Luis Sera
Age and DOB: 29 (at death), 9/16/1975
Gender and Species: Male Human
Origin/Nationality: Pueblo, Valencia, Spain, Earth (Spanish)
Affiliations:
Instructor/Researcher, Universidad de Complutense, Madrid, Spain (former)
Head Researcher, Los Illuminados, Pueblo, Spain (former)

Likes: Science, women, cigarettes, flirting, good parties and reading
Dislikes: Pragmatism, commitment, arrogance, tentacles

Role Aboard Stacy: Biologist/Researcher, Head of Science Department

Canon Source: Resident Evil 4
Played by: GG

APPEARANCE[]

Luis stands rather tall at just over 6'1", but he's rather skinny and lanky and the height is mostly in his legs. Very dark brown hair and gray/brown eyes display his Spanish heritage, as does his preferred manner of dress outside the laboratory-- he's a tad flamboyant and is fond of decorative leather, rings and other touches that scream EUROPEAN to other people from Earth. He has long hair that varies in appearance between "windswept" and "unkempt" depending on how long he's been at work when you see him.

In the lab, he generally wears plainer clothes and can also be caught wearing his glasses. It's also not uncommon to find him looking weary and exhausted after another 36-hour stretch of staring at a microscope.

Incidentally, he speaks with a heavy Spanish accent.

PERSONALITY[]

Yes, this man really is the head of the Science Department.

At first glance, most people dismiss Luis as a sleazy bum. He comes off as laid-back, sarcastic and careless; he's glib, outspoken and also happens to be a compulsive liar. A self-professed "good-for-nothing ladies' man," he is a huge fan of the fairer sex and has no qualms with hitting on any woman who meets his standards (adult, breathing, hot) no matter how corny, no matter the time, no matter her current relationship status, no matter how badly she could kick his ass if she felt like it. Luis defines shamelessness. He's extremely social and loves a good party, sometimes a little too much.

It's hard to believe and he doesn't seem the part at all, but Luis is, in fact, an incredibly brilliant scientist, a scholar of biology and a dabbler in engineering and pharmacology as well. He's devastatingly intelligent and won't admit it, but had things gone a little better in his former life, he could have been one of the most famous scientists in the world. Luis' attention span is notoriously solid and once he's engaged in a project, he can go for unhealthy periods of time without food and sleep, oftentimes simply forgetting to do such things. Science and knowledge excite him and there's nothing he loves more than cracking a good mystery, or finding a new hypothesis to test, or discovering a new application for the complicated equipment aboard Stacy. He spends most of his time on the ship between researching in the Contagion Labs, though he knows enough about the human body to help out in Medical if need be.

Luissupgirl — Luis is fond of decorative leather and the grunge look.

Outside the laboratory, if he's not engaged in his social life it seems like Luis is always wanting to get back to work. He stays quiet at command meetings, usually agreeing with whatever Leon says so he can get out of the paperwork and back into the science. In battle, Luis is something of a coward, however, prone to getting skittish when the chips are down, whether that means running away or desperately trying to lie his way out depending on the situation. He's a crack shot with a pistol, but it would take a serious crisis to bring that talent to the surface-- since by the time shots are being fired, the situation's way more dangerous than he likes it.

Getting to know him better reveals something of a dark side in the sleazy Spanish scientist, however. He is a reformed mad scientist and his new commitment to ethics is absolutely pervasive in his running of the Science Department. He blames himself for thousands of deaths caused by the parasite Las Plagas, and secretly believes he doesn't deserve the second shot at life he was given. His lazy, careless persona is actually a deliberate attempt to downplay his morality and intelligence to keep from attracting people who would try to use him-- something he's very eager to prevent from ever happening again. He hopes by acting the part of the fool, he'll be able to fly under the radar more easily. But no matter how he may attempt to claim otherwise, though, Luis is a pretty decent guy with a strong moral core that he'd give his life to uphold-- and in fact, he did so just recently. Luis will go out of his way or risk his life for a cause if it alleviates his guilt in even the slightest respect-- he will do anything to use his knowledge for good instead of evil.

Luis' best friend on the ship is Leon Kennedy. He often defers to Leon's judgment on ship matters, and by "often" I mean "usually."

HISTORY[]

Luis grew up in Pueblo, a tiny rural farming community in the Spanish countryside that looked more like the 1870s than the 1970s. His parents left the village when he was very small, leaving him to be raised exclusively by his beloved grandfather, Miguel Sera. From a young age it was apparent that Luis was gifted-- he excelled in his studies, read every book in the village and was likely more intelligent than his teacher when he was 12. At 17, he received a scholarship to the Universidad de Complutense in Madrid and with his grandfather's well-wishes, he left the dull village of Pueblo for what he hoped would be the last time.

He chose to study biology, though also dabbled in chemistry and engineering. He was particularly interested in microbiology and did a lot of work with pathogens and different species of parasites. Luis graduated with honors and accepted a research position at the university, in addition to lecturing several classes. At 28 he prepared to write his doctoral thesis on parasitology, emphasizing parasites that are known to take control of their hosts' bodies. Meanwhile, he enjoyed the Madrid nightlife and became quite the party animal-- he will usually brag that he got a lot of action from women at this time in his life. He kept in close touch with his grandfather, writing letters

back and forth to him and sending him money every month.

Soon after Luis' 29th birthday, his letters to his grandfather started coming back in the mail.

Concerned, Luis left his thesis behind (with 14 pages to go before it was ready for submission) and headed back to Pueblo to find out what had happened. He arrived to find the sudden prominence of a formerly-extinct religious cult called Los Illuminados. Many of the villagers, including Luis' grandfather, had vanished, and many of the others were suffering from a parasitic illness called Las Plagas. Within a few days of infection, Las Plagas transformed its victims from ordinary humans into hive-minded drones known as "Ganados" ("the cattle"), savages with cannibalistic tendencies. The leader of the Los Illuminados cult, Osmund Saddler, informed Luis of the Las Plagas outbreak and sadly told him of his grandfather's death at the parasite's influence. Saddler offered Luis a position as a researcher on the cult's incredibly suspicious multi-million-dollar island laboratory just off the coast near Pueblo. Saddened by his grandfather's death and determined to find a cure for Las Plagas, Luis agreed.

Luis spent months researching Las Plagas and developing a variety of different treatments for the parasites, none of which ever seemed to reach the infected. Fascinated and blinded by his progress, he continued his work even in the face of overwhelming evidence that Saddler was up to no good. One day, it finally dawned on him-- Saddler was orchestrating the Las Plagas outbreak in order to forcibly indoctrinate villagers into Los Illuminados, and Luis has been unwittingly helping him through his research. All of his treatments were being used to strengthen the parasites rather than weaken them, and the inhuman abominations filling up the laboratory were indirectly made by his own hands.

Horrified, Luis confronted Saddler with his findings and was rewarded for his sudden change of heart with a needle in his neck and a Plaga egg injected into his body. Once the egg hatched, he, too would become one of the mindless Ganados, completely at the mercy of Saddler's whims.

As luck would have it, leaving the Los Illuminados' lead researcher to wait out his fate was Saddler's biggest mistake.

Luis held the parasite at bay with his anti-Plaga drugs and scrambled to finish the Plaga Removal Laser he'd been working on, finishing the prototype just in time to test it out on himself. Luckily, it worked like a charm and Las Plagas was eliminated from Luis' body. With the clock ticking before Saddler discovered what he'd done, he dropped an email to one of his college friends begging for help-- the email was intercepted by Ada Wong, a spy in the employ of series villain Albert Wesker. Having heard of the brilliant Luis Sera through her contacts with The Agency, Ada convinced Wesker of his importance. Wesker struck a bargain with Luis-- in exchange for a master sample of Las Plagas, Wesker would extract the wayward researcher from within the cult and see him safely into custody.

Luis snatched Saddler's master sample of Las Plagas and escaped from the laboratory complex, the entirety of the cult soon hot on his trail. He stashed the sample in a hidden location nearby Pueblo to ensure that his rescuers would do their best to keep him alive, and though he managed to evade capture for several days thanks to his knowledge of the countryside around the village, he was eventually caught by the cult members, bound and gagged and locked in a wardrobe in an abandoned house for safekeeping.

American special agent Leon Kennedy discovered Luis and freed him from his bonds, though the reprieve was temporary as the cult members burst in and captured both men again in short order. The two make acquaintances in captivity, and Luis learned of Leon's mission to rescue the president's daughter, Ashley Graham, who had also been kidnapped by Los Illuminados in a half-baked world domination scheme.

Luisbondage — And a beautiful friendship was born.

When Leon killed their would-be executioner, Luis made a break for it and hid in another abandoned cabin to await the arrival of his promised rescuers. Leon and Ashley stumbled on the very cabin hours later, and this time Luis stuck around to help Leon chase off a huge mob of Ganados, proving himself a capable backup under fire (lots and lots and lots of fire.) Then Luis took off again but instead of running like a wuss, this time he took a side trip to pick up the sample and a bottle of his anti-Plaga drugs, since he could tell both Leon and Ashley had been injected with the parasite and his overwhelming guilt wouldn't let him abandon the two Americans to their gruesome fates (even if Leon seems absolutely incapable of pronouncing Luis's name properly.)

Unfortunately, when Luis caught up with Leon at Castle Salazar to give him the drugs, Saddler caught up with Luis and impaled him through the back with one of his pointy tentacle appendages. Saddler stole back the Plaga sample, but Luis managed to hand Leon the drugs and confess his involvement with the cult before bleeding to death on the castle floor.

Luis' research notes and his finished P.R.L. eventually saved Leon and Ashley's lives, and in return Leon brought Los Illuminados to an explosive end, killing Saddler in the process.

Luis would get a second chance at life when he woke up, fresh from one of Stacy's pods in the pod caverns.

FUN FACTS[]

Luis is not technically a doctor, though he is commonly referred to as "Dr. Sera." He was a few pages short of finishing his doctoral thesis before he got wrapped up in the Las Plagas outbreak in Pueblo. His argument is that he still knows as much as he would have if he had finished the paper and sent it in, so he's basically a doctor anyway.
He smokes. A lot. Whenever he gets the chance to.
His favorite meal is homestyle paella valenciana, just like abuelo used to make. He likes to drink martinis.
At university, he had a tank of snails in his office that he treated like his children.
His favorite color is green, despite the fact he wears very little of it.
He is a notorious commitmentphobe and is almost completely uninterested in settling down in a steady relationship-- he admits that he is likely "the worst significant other the world would ever know."
His type: female. Though he does have particular taste for dark-haired women, and for women who can talk nerdy to him.
Tentacles make him nervous, which is probably understandable given his violent death at the end of one.
Luis' name is pronounced "loo-EEZ," not "Lewis." At no point during Resident Evil 4 does Leon actually say it correctly.
He has about seven minutes of screentime in cutscenes before his death, including one scene in which he fights alongside Leon. Over 70% of his dialogue is in his research notes, which can be found scattered around the game after he dies.
His voice actor, Rino Romano, is also the voice actor for several animated depictions of Spider-man and Batman.

LOCKER CONTENTS[]

His handgun, a Red9 pistol and a few clips of ammunition for it
His glasses
The rings he usually wears on his fingers, including one that was an heirloom from his grandfather
In Storage: The Plaga Removal Laser he invented