Macross: Dancers in the Starlight

[SilverwindBlade]

MACROSS:
Dancers In The Starlight

AD 2050 -
Thirty Eight Years after the End of Space War One
Ten Years after the 'Sharon Apple Incident'
Four Years after the Protodevlin War


The Macross 15 fleet was launched in 2016, after the end of the First Space War. Part of the first wave of colony ships, the ships' journey was an uneventful one, and in heading out from the Sol System, toward the edge of the Spiral Arm of the Milky Way, and the gulf between Spiral Arms, the ship and its' attendant fleet came across the Bernal Cluster, and later the Silvanna System. Settling on the fourth planet, Circe, which was clsoe to Earth in terms of climate, atmosphere and habitability, they built a thriving culture over the next thirty years, and have maintained strong ties with the UN government back home.

Circe is now somewhat of a quiet backwater of a world. While on the edge of a Galactic Spiral Arm makes it a fascinating place for observatories and scientific experiments, there's not much there for anyone else to bother with.
A little excitement and mystery is generated by the presence of a significant number of Protoculture ruins and artefacts, which lead to a lot of popular theories and urban legends - especially connected with the UN Spacy base on the planet as well, which maintains some level of secrecy.

The bases' main duties are it's test programs, mainly concerned with the development of new Variable Fighter equipment and sensor systems, rather than new models themselves. As well as this, there's also the defence of the planet itself to worry about, with its' thriving economy and population, and regular links to other worlds in UN Space.

The 121st are drawn from all over the UN Spacy, often reassigned either by volunteering, or by recommendation or their skill as pilots, and for their personalities. Test pilots are known for pushing their craft to the limit, while having an idea of where that limit is, and an understanding of what their machines can do, and why.
While they can, and do, buck authority, there is a certain respect and understanding of the 'brotherhood' of pilots, and the lifestyle that comes with it. While not necessarily the favoured of their commanders, they are still needed.

The 121st carry out work on a wide range of Variable Fighters, and sometimes even other mecha. Testing new modifications and programs for them, often with an eye to modernising reserve stocks, testing the risks and benefits of new systems before fleet-wide adaptation, and flight testing all manner of other gear and equipment, or even checking and testing new emergency or other procedures, across all manner of the Silvanna Systems' worlds.

While not strictly an active combat unit, the Variable Fighters they possess are a significant addition to the stationed Defence Unit of the UN Spacy on world, and the two squadrons often drill together, and are involved in each others' lines of work on a regular basis, leading to a not necessarily warm across the board, but at least respectful and competitively friendly relationship - for the most part, at least. Especially due to the somewhat colorful personalities of the 121st's pilots.

Circe, as mentioned, is a quiet and peaceful world, with little eventful happening on a regular basis. The capital, Landfall, is a large and populous city, centered in a bay. The main UN Spacy base, Marlon Field is along the bay, on the coast.
Landfall stretches back from the coastline and up into hills, much like the Old Earth city of San Francisco, and has a thriving culture of water sports, fishing, boating and sailing, as well as a vibrant night-life with lots of music, and lots of restaurants and bars. There are many shops along the bustling streets and city quarters, all of which follow various building styles depending on the people who settled there.
A large number of Zentraedi and Meltrandi also call Circe home, and have set up their own section of the city, simple called 'The Big City' by most, though an equally large number (pun not intended) or micronized Zentraedi and Meltrandi also live and work amongst humans.

Much of the planets' economy is also based around the scientific institutions in the mountains and other planets of the system, many of which are dedicated to the astronomical phenomenon of the galactic void nearby, as the system is at the edge of a spiral arm. Others are also interested in the artefacts of the Protoculture scattered across the planets' surface. The Landfall University was founded in part to study these objects and curiosities, and find out more about the enigmatic race, and what they have left behind.

This also leads to the various attempts on raids on the coming and going traffic from Circe and the system itself by groups of pirates and rogue Zentraedi, hoping to scavenge whatever they can, or take hostages in exchange for the bounty of the planet. While their attacks are infrequent, they are often enough that the UN Spacy squadron has been outfitted with the latest VF-11 variants in order to repel their assaults, as well as the constant presence of a ship in orbit.
Spurious rumours persist of intercepted transmissions and survey ships sighting unknown, unmarked vessels conforming to known UN designs in some parts of the system, that disappear when hailed. Disappearances are also linked to these ships, and whispers amongst the underbelly of society remark that the Anti-UN are on the prowl.

The Players will be taking the role of pilots and other personnel in the 121st squadron. There, they'll be carrying out their normal duties, but as hinted above, there'll also be the other problems to deal with, which will lead into a much bigger plot, involving a bigger issue that affects the whole of Circe - and maybe even the whole of the human race!

Alongside this - as this is a Macross game - there'll also be personal problems, friendships, and more to forge and deal with as things progress.
There should also be a more than healthy dose of kickass mecha, exciting battles and more.

There's also the possibility of playing an Idol Singer type character, and also non-flying personnel, such as engineers, or HQ staff as well, as they are pretty instrumental character types to Macross as a whole.

- All normal rules of the Guild Apply
- Cursing/Swearing is allowed within reason; if someone would do it in that situation, then fire away. But don't swear to excess.
- Be polite, be respectful, be courteous and have a sense of humour. This is for fun, not for any other reason.
- Don't take anything too seriously, or too realistically. I'm trying to keep it at about Macross Plus levels of drama/humour/action, and the same with the attention to detail where realism is concerned.
- Similarly, there's no reason to be slavishly attentive to canon either. If we end up going off on our own direction, then I for one wouldn't see the harm in embracing it. On the other hand though...
- This is a Macross game, not Super Robot Wars, or any other crossover franchise, so please don't try and stick a bunch of other canon into the game. Your character changes to fit the setting. The setting does not change to fit your character.
- The GM - ME - is in control of the plot, and has final say. If you wish to introduce an element or idea, please PM me to ask, or ask in the OOC. If you want to have secrets for your character, PM me with them, but you do not necessarily need to PM the other players, unless they are involved.
- Players may not play villains or antagonists. This is because one side has to eventually win or lose, and that's not really fun for whoever ends up on the losing side. It's also hard for me to manage as GM too, and keep things surprising.
- No God-modding of characters or mecha. I will come down hard on this. You Have Been Warned.

If you're playing this, then I expect you're familiar with Macross, at least to some level. Even so, here are some useful resources and information:
The Macross Compendium, which is arranged like a Wiki, and has synopsis and articles on most of the series and characters.
The Macross Mecha Manual, which I will be using for all Mecha stats and info. It also has plenty of pictures.

A couple of important notes:
This game takes place before Macross Frontier, so none of the events of that series and movies will be referenced. The mecha are also not in production yet, and will not be refenced either!
I am going to forbid Canon characters from appearing, simply due to it allowing more freedom, and us being in our own little corner of space. The occasional name-drop or cameo may be made, but nothing more than that.
No new mecha will be allowed for use by players: Please stick to canon mecha. Remember, you are playing test pilots: you'll get to keep some of the upgrades you test! And most pilots in the shows used 'stock' machines, and kicked 50 different kinds of ass with them!

Character Sheet

Name:
Age:
Race: [Human or Zentraedi/Meltrandi]
Appearance: [Description or Picture, anime pics preferred]
Personality: [Description of characters' traits, hobbies, attitudes and general outlook. Mary Sues not tolerated, and will be asked for rewrites]
Personal History: [Why they enlisted, Family members, place of birth, etc. Some details about previous experience, again, No Mary Sues. Not everyone is a Max Genius or Hikaru Ichijyo. Feel free to invent new planets, etc. as homes. If you have details you wish to keep secret from other players, please PM them to the GM]
Character Theme: [As this is Macross, a piece of music or theme for the characters' decisive moments]
Mecha: [Link to Macross Mecha Manual page. No Frontier-specific Mecha (i.e VF-25, 24 or 29, VF-17S and variants) permitted, as they are too late in the timeline.
Mecha Customizations: [Fancy paintschemes and the like - there'll be chances to upgrade and modify later on]

SilverwindBlade - Theo Gainsborough: VF-5000B Star Mirage
dk123 - Jun Yoshida: VF-3000 Crusader
Warriorx1 - John 'Mobius' Blair - VF-22 Sturmvogel II

In Character is here!

[SideSTEEL WOLF]

Possible interest, but considering that the ONLY Macross series I've seen IS Frontier, I may have a few slip ups.

[SilverwindBlade]

I and others can always help you out.
It's also possible to watch all of Macross 7 and Macross Zero perfectly legally, if you get my drift, on the interwebz. Macross Plus is available on DVD all over the world, and the original Macross and it's Movie 'Do You Remember Love?' aren't hard to find either.
There's a pretty good story synopsis on Wikpedia, and a lot of useful notes on TV Tropes, and the links I've provided in the OP post too.

Frontier has plenty of references and acknowledgements to the other series etc. though, as it was the 25th Anniversary production

Also, what is that in your sig?! It's pretty badass looking

[SilverwindBlade]

Name: Theo Gainsborough

Age: 35

Race: Human

Appearance:

Personality:
A consummate Ace, Theo walks the walk, and talks the talk. He is not slow to say how good he is, but tempers his arrogance with the realisation that he is living on the edge as a test pilot, pushing every time he flies, and that sometimes, the world pushes back, and it can be terrifyingly dangerous. Well aware of his own mortality, he lives hard, works hard, and plays hard, and expects no less from the people beneath him, knowing that hard training and preparation will keep them alive.
He has seen combat before, and carries a burden of shame and regret for the losses he suffered during battle; something he hides. He often uses humour to relieve tension, and hide his true pain and sadness - noticably so. Has some survivors' guilt over the issue, which is tempered by his desire to strike back at the Anti-UN.
However, he does still harbour a lot of knowledge and curiosity about the universe, and is slowly coming into the realisation it might not be so bad to be alive, and is making new friends slowly but surely - once he stops being so spiky about it.

Personal History:
Born on Earth, and enlisted in the UN Spacy academy as a pilot, due to childhood obsession with planes of all kinds, including variable fighters. Father was a pilot, who retired after an injury sustained during a peacetime effort to rescue civilians (successful). Wishing to follow in his footsteps, Theo trained and studied hard, and was accepted into the pilot program.
Once in a Variable Fighter, he felt as though he'd come home, and thrilled to every moment of flight.
Prefers atmospheric flying to space combat, becase 'it feels more real'.
After passing training, was on first tour with Macross 12 Colony Fleet; was attacked by Anti-UN saboteurs. Many ships damaged or destroyed, massive proportion of civilians killed, incl. Theo's Fiance and many other comrades and friends.
Blames self, due to possibility that if he had remained on station instead of following orders, could potentially have intercepted anti-ship missiles; statistically more may have died if he'd remained in place, or he may have died and not played a part in repelling the invaders from totally destroying the fleet later - however, his grief remains.
Intent on finding pilots and other personnel of Anti-UN force that participated, and has done private and personal research into matter, occasionally abusing classified UN Spacy files to do so. Lead to reassignment to Circe.
Seen as very capable officer and excellent pilot, but hampered by personal issues.
Family still alive on Earth, in semi-regular contact with them via writing and video call.

Character Theme:

Mecha: VF-5000B Star Mirage

Mecha Customizations: Arctic Agressor style paint scheme

[Durandal]

I haven't seen much of the series other than Frontier and the original, so you'll have to enlighten me for the sake of making my profile "work", as it were.

Are there any extra "show within a show" moments in Macross, like any giant robot shows inside of the canon that are completely made up for the universe itself? Because if there are, I need to know them. If they aren't, gonna just make some shit up.

[dk123]

Only seen the first few episodes of the anime (my local library only had so many) but I loved the concept and would really like to take part of you'll accept me.

[dk123]

Name: Jun Yoshida
Age: 21
Race: Human
Appearance:

Personality: The new recruit, the rookie, whatever name choose to use, Jun is the new guy. He is enthusiastic, optimistic and eager to prove himself, this desire sometimes leads Jun to do stupid things that endanger him. Jun is also a loyal and committed to his comrades, no matter what the odds of success he will try his hardest to protect and defend them.
Personal History: Born in a remote settlement near the northern pole of Circe, Jun was raised by his mother who is an archeologist, and his father was a veteran pilot who fought in the Protodevlin war before joining the Macross 15 fleet and at last settleing on Circe. The settlement was constructed to research a large Proloculture ruin nearby. Growing up, Jun spent a lot of time investigating the ruins with his mother but he soon grew bored and wanted to do something more exciting, this along with exciting stories told to him by his father eventually led him to follow in his father's foot steps and join the UN space agency. After exceeding expectations in basic training Jun was quickly pushed through to join the 121st.
Character Theme:

Mecha: Stonewell/Bellcom VF-3000 Crusader
Mecha Customizations: Simple blue paint scheme as seen on data sheet.

[SilverwindBlade]

I haven't seen much of the series other than Frontier and the original, so you'll have to enlighten me for the sake of making my profile "work", as it were.

Are there any extra "show within a show" moments in Macross, like any giant robot shows inside of the canon that are completely made up for the universe itself? Because if there are, I need to know them. If they aren't, gonna just make some shit up.

I'll find some synopses of the various series etc. on the web and link them to the OOC for reference purposes.

As for the show-within-a-show concept; there's a particularly notorious one: The movie verison of the original Macross series, named 'Do You Remember Love?' is also a movie within the setting as well, dramatising the events of the war, and the SDF-1's journey back to Earth, and such (A bit like how Dambusters or Saving Private Ryan are dramatic interpretations of things that happened), and even in-universe it has been remade many times.
So while there's that, there's no reason there couldn't be other similar productions as well.

[dk123]

Was I accepted?

[SilverwindBlade]

Sorry, I did mean to say yes, your character is accepted! Derp xD