Stairdweller - Vossef ver Niklös, Captain
Senior Agent of The Order - Sicarus Sonne, Skyrte

Darling Cyanide - Naomi Tirin, Medic
Barkmeat2 - Craig Masters, Engineer/Weapons Operator
RoflsMazoy - ???, Confused Boy
TheWildHost - Vanius "The Bloody Handed"
Prince of Seraphs - Avelina "Angel" Callaghan

RIP
Rhymer - Nansemond Drake, Scholar
Tatsua Aiisan - Tael Astarte, Magic Specialist

awaiting official roster placement (mostly for me to keep track)
---

Name: Naomi Tirin
Age: Twenty-Six (26).
Gender: Female.
Role: Medic. (Works in the Medical Bay and also accompanies operatives on missions outside of the vessel).

Bio:
Naomi was born and raised in Isilum, though she never knew either of her parents. Abandoned at an orphanage before her memories that's all she knew. That and she was a halfling, a fact a handful of the children at her orphanage rarely let her forget. But she did make friends there, close friends that have remained. As she grew old enough to take responsibility she went to schooling, wanting to take care of people she went into medicine and the study of magic; a heavy focus on restorative energies though learned a lot from general magic principles. After graduation she spent time as a practicing doctor, refining her knowledge in the real world and traveling to varied regions to give aid where it was needed.

Though her urge for adventure and the search for something grand and meaningful pull at her heart. She soon joined the Navy as a Medic and support operative with the goal of one day becoming the head doctor on an air ship that would venture into the shatter zone. A Dream that would soon be realized, but how it will live up to her imagination is another story entirely. The Order noticing her potential and skill had pulled her from the Navy to join their ranks.

Personality:
Naomi is a very kind and free spirited woman, hard to anger and easy to forgive. She has a natural motherly tendency when dealing with people, though this should not be confused by an unwillingness to be hard and demanding. Despite all this Naomi knows when to set her foot down, especially while in her Medical Bay. It often comes as a surprise to the people that know her to be a rather tough lady when pushed to her limits while on the battle field.

Equipment:
-.45mm Pistol kept in a thigh holster on her right side.
-Array of varied herbs and medicines kept in her pack.
-Sterile cloths, wrappings and other bandaging supplies.
-Pack of cigarettes.

Skills:
-Large knowledge of medicine, anatomy and restorative magic.
-Standard unarmed and armed combat.
-Well conditioned for strenuous activities and physically demanding tasks.

Name: Vossef ver Niklös - Sef for short
Age: 62 (Or equivalent middle age for a Fäldkrest)
Gender: Male
Role: Captain

Bio: Born in the Pikelands like most of his kind, Sef travelled to Teieya as a youth to find work. He joined the air navy and spent most of his adult life in the sky. The navy taught him to be a swordsman and marksman, and through years of effort he rose so far as to captain an airship, the Shearwater. When the Shearwater was decommissioned, he retired rather than take a new berth and instead turned to the Order, which gave him greater freedom to explore and promised more excitement than the Navy.

In his personal life, Sef married as a young ensign and has been happily albeit distantly married ever since. His wife, Klotilda, lives comfortably in a Teieyan township, and they have four grown children, and two grandchildren.

Personality: Sef was an excitable brawler in his youth, but age and experience have somewhat mellowed him. He's still incredibly determined, self confident and firm in his opinions, but he has learned to pick his battles. People generally see him as intense and intimidating. He's good with words, and enjoys telling the many exciting tales he has gathered through his life.

Equipment:

• Navy Cutlass with a 24" blade, basket hilt and dragon-head pommel; it was presented to him with his commission
• A pair of long-barrelled six-shooters, heavily engraved and marked with the insignia of the order, with jet inlaid grips. They commemorate his commission as captain of Tychon
• Navigation equipment including an octant, compass and astrolabe

Skills:

• Navigation: Sef was a navigator before he became a captain, so he is skilled at navigating with an octant and chart, or by the stars if need be.
• Swordsmanship: Sef's a skilled swordsman. He has maintained his physical condition despite his age, though he will be the first to acknowledge that his reflexes aren't what they used to be and it takes him much longer to recover from injury or strain than it once did.
• Marksmanship: He's a much better swordsman than armsman, but he's still a pretty good shot. He tends to rely more on melee combat and is conscious of conserving ammunition.
• Airship Knowledge: He's spent his entire adult life working on airships; he has a lot of knowledge and experience in how they work and related studies, like understanding meteorology.

Optional: I don't have anything else to add.

Appearance: Sef is tall and broad shouldered, and keeps himself in fighting fit. His scaling is primarily cobalt blue, with dark olive green highlights. He has a scaly fringe around his jawline, like a beard, and a row of very small white horns on his browline, much like human eyebrows. He also has a crest of long, flexible spines that protrude from his head and neck - most of the time they lie flat like hair, but they can lift like a cockatoo. Like all of his race, he has membranous wings, resembling a bat's. His right wing has a noticeable scar across the membrane between the second and third metacarpals (fingers) and the long bones are knobby where they have healed from a bad fracture. His age is visible in the grey-white patina over his scales, which is most obvious in his face and wings. The backs of his wings almost look dusty, and his "beard" and crest have entirely turned steel grey.

Name: ???

Age: ??? Looks 10

Gender/Race: ??? Looks like a human male

Role: Confused Boy

Bio: He has amnesia and a cat, and that's just about all he knows. The world around him is unfamiliar to him, but he sometimes finds that he has retained some of his habits and instincts.

The cat seems to be very familiar with him, though he doesn't know why. The cat is rather affectionate, but is almost always asleep.

Personality: Confused.

Equipment: Cat

Skills: Has extreme strength for some reason.

Optional: Cat

Appearance:

Name: Nansemond Drake
Age: 25
Gender/Race: Human Male
Role: Independent Scholar
Bio:




Personality:

Equipment:

• 3 leather-bound notebooks, 1 large for sketching, 2 smaller for recording notes. All 3 have the initials N.F.D embossed in silver lettering on the front.
• Various pencils and pastel colors kept in a leather folio. Stylus and ink.
• 1 experimental photographing box, various accompanying parts
• Leather cloak, hiking boots and waterproof jacket
• Sword-Cane. 38" long. Steel blade concealed in a standard cane. The pommel is black iron about the size of a lemon.
• Small snub-gun with 2 shots.

Skills:
Scholar-Nansemond knows more about the Shatterzone than your average bumpkin. He is also aware of the inner workings of high society and academic bureaucracy. He studied the natural sciences at university.
Arcane Tendencies-Nansemond has studied magic (unsanctioned by the Guild) for the past 7 years but was limited to what few sources he could find on the streets-he is by no means capable of casting magic, but given the proper information could probably figure it out quickly.
Fencing-A skill his father insisted upon learning, Nansemond studied with the best teachers money could buy until his parents disappeared. After school he learned how to really fight on the streets and less-than-reputable establishments of the capital city.

Appearance:

I don't know if i post here or on OOC, so ill do both.
Name: Craig Masters

Age: 26

Gender/Race: M/Human

Role: Engineer/Stationary Weapons Operator

Bio: Craig is a Tech-Disciple from a Forge(or whatever the building are named) in the Commonwealth.Along with other countless Disciples he was tasked with the mundane but essential task of maintaining and restoring the old relics that were brought into the workshops under the direction of the local Adepts. He has spent years living as such, never straying far from the Forge at the same hearing of the journeys other disciples have undertaken to retrieve fantastic new tech. Even then, through duty or cowardice he never felt the need to leave for an expedition of his own, however on the eve of his initiation as a Forge Adept, a sense of wanderlust and curiosity overcame him, compelling him to seek out the relics he has studied and maintained for the majority of his life. Requesting a Journeyman post on a expeditionary ship, he vowed to return with a priceless piece of ancient technology for his Forge before settling back into his old post.

Personality: Despite his new-founded motivation, Craig is still the nervous and wiry man that worked the maintenance floors. Introverted and quiet he has a hard time communicating with the rest of the crew. However, get him into a topic of anything tech related and he'd talk your ear off. Craig tends to over-think many situations, with unfamiliar and stressful tasks causing him to freeze up. That is not to say he is not competent, quite the contrary. He is a paragon with the tool box, getting otherwise devastated and dilapidated machines into working order, even with scarce resources, given enough time. Oddly enough he looks up to strong and unique individuals, becoming easily enthralled with their tales of grandeur no matter how outlandish.

Equipment:

-Tech Disciple Tool Kit
-Disciple Robes/Scrubs/Whatever they wear
-Briefcase of supplies(Toiletries, undergarments, cloths)
-Blank Journal w/ Ink and Quill
-Dagger(Mint condition)

Skills:

-Tech Lore: As a Disciple, these lessons were drilled into him.
-Repair: A maintenance disciple for much of his life, he is well versed in repairing many mechanical contraptions, from simple pulleys to complex engines. He is capable with many tools: welding torches, spanners, drills. He doesn't have much experience with electronics forges or weaponry, apart from simple patchworks and theoretical concepts.
-Weapons Array Operator(Kinda): Craig found the simple weapon batteries an extension of the maintenance process, "Use it or lose it." Back in the forge they'd fire off newly repaired artillery fixtures as a final test, and, to the older member's chagrin: for fun. He learned the basics of loading, zeroing, and firing, not on live or moving targets mind you.

Optional:

-Feels indebted to Vanius after being saved from falling a quick and sudden demise as he boarded the ship.

Appearance:


Pretend the skull and halberd don't exist.


For the face.

Name: Vanius "The Bloody Handed"

Age: 29

Gender/Race: Male Fäldkrest

Role: External Conflict Resolver

Bio: Vanius hails from a small, ever moving village that has no name.He often lead the hunting parties after his father died. When he was 27 he was attacked after straying away from the party, the massive beast leaving Vanius with a mangled hand and shredded wings (not that they were ever that big to begin with). Despite this, he managed to drive his spear into the beast's soft underbelly and draged the beast back to his hunting party.Upon returning to his village his mother forced him to go to Isilum and seek medical treatment. He is currently serving on an airship in order to pay the debt that accumulated to the order in saving his hand and giving him the ability to glide again (explained later). Vanius was shocked when the doctors wouldn't accept gratitude and 3 goats as payment.

Personality: Adventurous, Proud, Highly aggressive, yet oddly smooth where other men would be rough, and hella naive.

Equipment: -Lightweight leather armor
-Longsword
-small obsidean kukri

This is just his basic equipment I guess, he has other things for more specialized gear when it's needed but nothing too spectacular, just simple things and a set of metal armor.

Skills: Great sword fighter, natural leader (although he shys away from leading the more civilized when there are better candidates)

Optional: Spends time with Craig Masters when not on duty.

Appearance: A tall, muscular specimen with dark red scales with light orange spots in some places. His left hand is a heavily scarred. Unlike other Faldkrests he has an odd glider like device on his back due to the injuries sustained when he was younger, but this performs slightly worse, if not on par with most other Faldkrest wings, when gliding.

--posted in error--

I'll finish this up later, gotta get the IC up.

---

Name: Sicarus Sonne

Age: 29

Gender/Race: Male

Role: Senior Agent of The Order

Bio:

Personality:

Equipment:
-Bedford DRG55, a 9mm semiautomatic handgun with 15 rounds in the magazine.
-Armor of Sonne, a custom made armor set, which includes his robes from The Order.
-Order Toolbelt, a belt containing several tools and pieces of various equipment.
-Robotic Arm, an extremely rare backpack that allows the user to control a robotic extra arm. Issued to Sonne due to his assignment to the Tychon.
-The Mask of Sonne, a combination of an advanced respirator and eyepiece, allowing him to see in different spectrums.

Skills:
-Knowledge of the Ancients. Sonne is trained to identify ancient artifacts, and determine what they do.
-Knowledge in the Sciences, and some in Engineering
-A good shot, Sonne is on par with trained soldiers in terms of marksmanship with small arms, such as pistols and SMGs.
-Good hand-to-hand combat skills

Optional:
-Likes Oranges.
-Will usually bring an SMG from the armory when on away missions. He likes to be prepared.

Appearance:
http://i.imgur.com/eK281SI.jpg

Name: Avelina (Angel) Callaghan

Age: 23

Gender/Race: Female/Halfling

Role: Mechanical Engineer/Scout

Bio:
Avelina was left on the doorstep of an orphanage when she was too young to remember. It wasn't exactly an uncommon fate for halflings, while the Jilkrid might have a reputation as thieves and con men and where therefore treated with distrust the halflings were graced with far less civility by there peers. Most regarded halflings as some sort of strange thing, an abomination, a mistake and not many had any reservations about treating the halflings with that same cruelty. Often enough even the parents of halflings didn't want something like that in there lives. Because of this most any orphanage had six or seven halflings who lived bullied and beaten by the others while the social service workers who ran the houses pretended not to see any of it.

This kind of upbringing taught Avelina two very important lessons, the first was that she had to be smarter than everyone around her and the second that she had to be faster. Avelina's Jilkrid heritage lent her a bit of an edge with her second lesson. She was quick and she knew how to hide. Often enough these pursuits ended with Avelina leading them to one of the house's other halflings while she hid in an unsuspecting place.

It was not a good way to live and the moment Aveline turned seventeen and the house turned her loose she was gone. In many ways this was an improvement. The streets of Teieya were not nearly so harsh as the house had been. Avelina's heritage didn't show in her face. Thankfully this meant that much of the time she was able was able to conceal the fact that she was not purebred human.

Avelina learned a lot living by herself, doing what she had to in order to survive. Mostly she learned about people. What people expected, for instance, a girl with hunched shoulders and a gaze that never meets your eyes walks into a store dressed in a ragged jacket the clerk never takes his eyes off her because he expects her to pocket something. On the other hand a girl walks into a store with her head help high, smiles at the clerk and asks were to find a few products the last thing the clerk will think is that she's a thief.

About two years after this Avelina's life changed forever. It was just another day, she couldn't exactly steal everything she needed and any street urchin knew that if you wanted to survive you had to swimming. This was street slang for digging through what was known as the Shatter Bay. Shatter Bay was a little inlet right at the edge of Teieya controlled waters not far from where they met the shatterzone. In days gone past it wasn't uncommon to find shatter tech that had drifted out of the shatterzone and stuck up in the waters of the inlet. Nowadays shatter tech was a rare sight in the bay, though not unheard of. After the supplies of tech had dried up by thousands of people searching the bay hoping to become rich it became the municipal dump site. All kinds of trash got tossed into the bay and some of it even still worked. The smart street kids knew what was valuable, what they could carry and who they could sell to.

Avelina was swimming for something that could turn her a profit when she was attacked by three of the dragon men, the Fäldkrests. Being creatures of the Pikelands Avelina was unable to put up much of a fight. They knocked her unconscious and when she awoke her surroundings were unrecognizable. She was in some sort of underground lab filled with shatter tech. Things that you or I would identify as computers and bio monitors only registered to Avelina in pure fear.

Avelina tried to move but she was shackled none to gently to a wide metal operating table. Avelina wrenched at the shackles until her wrists began to bleed but they showed no sign of weakening. Then a door opened. A man in a lab coat who appeared human walked through it with two Fäldkrest standing as his guard. "My dear please stop, you will damage yourself." He seemed sincere and sort of scatterbrained to Avelina, harmless was the word that came to mind when she looked at him. The Fäldkrest standing on either side however looked far from docile.

It soon became clear however that the Fäldkrest were not the brains behind whoever had kidnapped Avelina, they merely served as muscle. The man in the lab coat, she later found out his name was Dr. Kaiser, knew very little about who was holding them. They seemed to be shatter tech experts and from what the Doctor had been able to learn they had an unhealthy obsession with repurposing shatter tech for there own designs. He refereed the the lab they were as Project Valkyrie. When Avelina asked why Doctor Kaiser told her about a religious belief held long before the Great Shatter about the Valkyrie, it was said that when a great warrior died the Valkyrie would descend on glorious silver wings to deliver the warriors soul into the afterlife.

It was not long after that when the operations began. Dr. Kaiser had been the foremost expert at the Mages Guild on what he called 'cybernetics'. The Doctor called the people who ran this lab Zwangsarbeit, Avelina later found out it meant 'forced labor'. It seemed the Zwangsarbeit had discovered a piece of shatter tech they'd dubbed the Valkyrie Wings. They were more or less completely intact metal wings that the Zwangsarbeit theorized in ancient times had been grafted to an individuals back allowing them to fly. They had kidnapped Avelina as a test subject for the wings. Or so said Dr. Kaiser before her started to cut into her.

Avelina couldn't find it in her heart to hate Dr. Kaiser no matter how many times she was under his knife, no matter how many times he wired a new device into her back. It seemed that no matter how much pain each of these alterations caused when she woke that act of installing them hurt him much more than they could ever hurt her.

It took two years as well as much pain and suffering for Avelina before Dr. Kaiser managed to create a working neutral interface that would link the wings control system directly into Avelina's mind, as if the Valkyrie Wings were just another limb. The Fäldkrest that served at the Zwangsarbeit guards took Avelina too a completely enclosed but wide open space before they connected the wings the Avelina's back. Then they placed a silver manacle around her wrist which was not actually attached to anything.

A voice echoed through the space seemingly from no where. "Please utilize the Valkyrie Wings to take off from the ground. Fly a circle around the test chamber and return to the ground." Avelina just starred trying to determine where the voice was coming from. Suddenly a painful jolt shot from the bracelet up her arm. "If you fail to comply with a request an electric shock will be administered, the longer you resist the more powerful the shock. If it necessary the shock is capable of delivering a fatal dose of electricity." There was a pause where Avelina despite being scared of the bracelet didn't know what she was supposed to do. The voice echoed again. "I would suggest unfurling your wings and giving yourself a running start before take off."

Scared of what would happen if she did not Avelina tried to open her wings and was surprised to find they responded just as easily as her arms or legs might. Truly they were an extension of herself. She backed up against a wall and ran for the center. When she reached it Avelina jumped into the air her wings out and tilted allow them to catch air. Her feet left the ground, she was flying. Second later pain corsed through her body at the place her were wings met her back. It was such an unbearable sensation that Avelina's mind went blank, she curled herself into a ball the wings wrapping around her form before Avelina crashed into the ground blacking out. Though she did not hear it the voice spoke again. "I suppose we'll have to work on that."

The next year was spent with Dr. Kaiser optimizing the wings, reducing the force they exerted directly on the connection between the wings and Avelina's body, distributing the pressure so as not the cause her pain whenever she took off and eliminate the possibility that the wings would tear themselves away from her body. It was tested repeatedly and at some point became the best that they could do. The pain Avelina felt when she flew was sharp but bearable and after repeated tests in which the upgrades and modifications had reached there peak Avelina found that the pain though always present didn't bother her as much as they had when the Project started. One of these modifications was to ensure that high speed winds that Avelina would likely be encountering would not damage her eyes. So they replaced those with synthetic copies that would not be damaged by the wind and could see in darkness as well as poor visibility.

Nearly a year later Avelina escaped. She's still not sure what happened exactly. The complex shook as if from a great earthquake and the lights went out and the door shifted open slightly. With a great deal of work Avelina was able to slide herself through the narrow gap in the door. There were luminous signs at different doors that read EXIT. Avelina followed them encountering no resistance whatsoever. It disturbed her greatly compared to the number of safety protocols the Zwangsarbeit had insisted upon thus far but this was completely forgotten when Avelina found the exit.

The door emptied out of the side of a mountain and from the view Avelina could see great chunks of the rocks that had been obliterated and airships destroyed and dead on the floor of a ravine. There had been some sort of great battle here. Without giving it another thought Avelina took to the skies. She'd learned to fly very well and the pain in her shoulders didn't bother her quite so much as it once did. Based on the position of the sun Avelina guess that civilization was due west if as she thought the Zwangsarbeit had taken her into the Shatter Zone.

She had to fly for two days straight to escape the Shatter Zone, her only regret that she was unable to find Dr. Kaiser. Avelina never considered for a moment that her escape might have been too easy. When she returned to civilization Avelina collapsed on the streets of Port Visus. When she woke she'd been taken in by the Order who were considerably kinder than those of Project Valkyrie. That was three years ago. Since then the Order has taught her how to use the Valkyrie Wings on her terms as well as teaching her combat, both unarmed and with a weapon they called a quarter staff, as well as marksmanship. Curious to explore the zone that had made Avelina what she was, the Valkyrie was eager to sign on to the airship when a position became available.

Personality:
Avelina's upbringing taught her something very important. The squeaky wheel never gets oiled, it gets beat into silence. If you went around life wearing your pain and hardship on your sleeve you became a target, so Avelina puts on a bright, pleasant face and keeps the darker stuff underneath. Despite this there are cracks in Avelina's armor. Her wings being the biggest she doesn't like to talk about them or where they came from though she'd not above using them to show off. Avelina has a great lust for knowledge and an insatiable curiosity that goes hand in hand with it. Dr. Ipcress taught her some stuff but she is eager to learn more and more and more until there is nothing left to know. She is especially curious about the before times, what the world was before the Great Shatter. Though not many records remain from that time Avelina knows the really informative stuff will be found in the Shatter Zone. When threatened Avelina uses violence as a last resort preferring sarcasm, and wit to defend herself.

Equipment:
- Valkyrie Wings - tech recovered from the Shatter Zone. The Valkyrie Wings are grafted to Avelina's spinal column as well as her vertebra and a good section of her skeletal structure. They allow her to fly through the air. Made of a light weight but durable alloy they will deflect bullets up to a point. There heat tolerance is not high but they are also capable of shielding from flames for limited periods of time. When fully extended their wingspan is twelve feet though they fold up very neatly on Avelina's back. Much of her upper back torso is covered in a metal plating that is designed to disperse the force that flying exerts on Avelina over her entire upper body. Despite the efforts made in designing the Valkyrie Wings they still exert quite a bit of pressure where the metal integrates into the flesh. When there folded this isn't too much of a problem but actually using them hurts Avelina quite severely. The modifications made make sure that the wings aren't capable of doing any damage to Avelina herself but that is small comfort when it feels as thought the wings are trying to tear themselves from her, she takes muscles relaxants and pain killers regularly to deal with this. The wings themselves are able to be disconnected from Avelina's body for maintenance, this of course leaves behind all of the neural implants that allow Avelina to use the wings as well as the metal plating on her back. As part of the Valkyrie Project Avelina also has prosthetic eyes that are far improved from normal ones but do not look normal. Instead of whites they are silver, and the center glows will a green LED light that does a decent job of mimicking the shape of an iris.
- Quarter Staff - A six foot metal pole that is retractable. Capable of shrinking down to six inches. When not in use Avelina has it slotted into her belt.
- 45 caliber Pistol - Kept in a holster on her left thigh, Avelina being left handed.
- 22 caliber Pistol - A very small gun Avelina keeps in her combat boots just in case.
- Flight Jacket - Avelina has a flight jacket, made of sturdy brown leather with warm sheep skin on the inside. The back of the jacket has two slits sown into it to allow for her wings to escape. This jacket is specially made to accommodate her wings as apposed to her shirts, most of with she cuts two slits into with a sharp knife. The shirts tend not to last long.
- Switch Blade - A eight inch knife that Avelina can open quickly with one hand. She keeps it in the boot that does not have a pistol in it.

Skills:
- Flight
- Marksmanship
- Quarterstaff Combat
- Unarmed Combat
- Mechanics
- Wit (She is rather lacking in social grace but more than capable of wounding someone with her words)

Optional: Only Avelina's handler knows her actual name, to everyone else she introduces herself as 'Angel'.

Appearance:
Avelina stand at 5'9" and weights 127 pounds. Traditionally she wears soft pants made of brown leather not dissimilar from her flight jacket. They keep her warm at high altitudes. The shirts she wears Avelina shows little regard for slashing the backs to allow for her wings and her flight jacket. She's got pale skin like most halflings as well as wild red hair, and freckles. She has a pair of aviator glasses that she uses to cover up the strangeness of her synthetic eyes. She is build light and nimble but don't let that fool you, she is strong and fast and the installation of the Valkyrie Wings has given her an incredibly pain tolerance.

Name: Sir Nero Barsad
Age: 52
Gender/Race: Male/Human
Role: Xenobiologist/Pathologist

Bio: Born the youngest son of a middling farmer among many other thousands in Atrea, Barsad was saved from a certain future of anonymity, poverty, and worst of all, boredom, by an incurable curiosity matched only by the needle-like focus of his intellect. A polymathic autodidact, Barsad taught himself first to read, and then to read quickly. With his voracious appetite for the printed word and all the knowledge they represented, he obtained a working understanding of a variety of academic disciplines before turning his concentration onto medicine. A minor noble sponsored Barsad's enrollment into the King's College of Surgeons in Atrea's capital, where a few years' worth of accelerated education gained him a place among the Royal Family's cadre of personal physicians, a not unimpressive salary, and the title of baronet.

While a lifestyle that those of his born station could only dream of afforded him every luxury, Barsad despised indolence, fearing that the security of his position would encourage complacency and contentment and, ultimately, would dull the edges of his intellect. He briefly considered joining the Order of Progress, assured that a meteoric climb through the ranks would allow him access to troves of secret information and hidden data enough to keep even his mind busy for a lifetime. But he possessed no taste for their bureaucracy and believed that pure knowledge could be accessed only through an independent will and a pristine curiosity for the unknown, unfettered by the banal ambitions of superiors and managers. Thus he resigned from his post and used his considerable savings to fund an indefinite expedition around the world, a quest for understanding, for both internal and external discovery.

It was during the second decade of his pilgrimage, after spending much time with the various non-human races that inhabited this world with him, that his focus turned itself onto the fields of anatomy and genetics. He retrained himself as a pathologist, specializing in non-human anatomy, determined to find the origins of life hidden within their unfamiliar genetic structures, and quickly made a name for himself as one of the world's foremost independent authorities on xenobiology.

Now, intrigued by rumors of the odd creatures creeping out of the Shatterzone, Sir Nero made the decision to sign on with the crew of the Tychon, eyes aglow with all the possibilities to be unearthed in that ancient land.

All those artifacts.

All that knowledge.

And all that strange and alien life to cut open and peer into.

Personality: Sir Nero is mercurial at the best of times. He is hyperactive, irritable, and easily bored. He seldom gets along with others, not because of any cruelty or malice in his heart, but because he is convinced that he simply thinks too fast for most people to command his attention for more than a few moments. He believes humans are by-and-large incapable of providing him with any sort of interest, and identifies more, and interacts better with, non-human species. He nurtures a particular kinship for the Setra, those inscrutable insectoids whose natural intelligence and curiosity near rival his own.

He thinks himself a hunter of mysteries, a detective of the undetectable, an investigator of the unknown, a bearer of the light of knowledge and science in dark places, and, though he'd sooner draw a scalpel across your throat than admit it, an amateur poet.

Equipment: Portable field laboratory, basic medical gear, anatomy texts and journals, a few vials of fungal spores that, when prepared and ingested properly, tend to induce prolonged periods of, uh, spiritual commune. Oh, and scalpels. Lots and lots of scalpels.

Skills: Sir Nero's travels and natural aptitude for learning have bequeathed him with a host of skills and talents. Along with his expert knowledge in his chosen fields of study, he is able, given a modicum of interest and time, to teach himself the basics of near any discipline. Though focused primarily on biology, he enjoys a working journeyman's knowledge of fields ranging from mathematics to music to theology. And though his left-brain analytics and right-brain intuitiveness are far superior to his left hook and right cross, he has also trained himself a bit in the art of pugilism, and can acquit himself reasonably well in a fight. At least, much better than one would expect of a white-haired academic of late-middle years.

Appearance: Though he gives no thought to class or social graces, Barsad has a weakness for finely tailored clothing, and is rarely seen without some variation of an immaculate white suit and hat. He keeps himself in remarkable physical shape for his advanced age, and his long travels have given him deeply tanned skin and sun-bleached white hair.