Name: Kaeciel (Kaeci) LeTrouche (Real name is mostly a series of screeches and clicks)
Age/Race/Gender: 44/yo (24 equivalent), Iilausian, Male pronouns.
Appearance: Kaeci stands at 5'10 with wavy but prehensile hair usually holding a near snow-white hue when out of use. A light chocolate brown skin tone in spite of their objectively Caucasian facial structure with details of snow-white brows by forced-pronounced brow-sections to appear more human. Kaeci is otherwise fairly lithe though androgynously so with slightly more pronounced hips than the average human male. Mimicry seems to have broken down at this point, since they don't seem to 'get' the difference between human males and females and come off quite abiguous. Amber irises. Pupils able to shrink and widen to mimic a human's. Black sclera (typically the white portion of the eye). Long black forked tongue. Typically clad in what appears as short-shorts with a leather bulge-less front and a decently obscuring back while fish-netting along the sides. This pairs with a form-fitting top of similar design with a leather-like front and a criss-cross of mesh and laces along the side and back before Macramé-ing around his neck in a glorified turtle-neck. The high cut exposes most of Kaeci's midriff and has long sleeves to where they wear fingerless gloves revealing pointed claw-like fingers devoid of common fingernails but simply being sharp ends.
Occupation: Privateer
Exctheis - A laser apparatus designed into the shell of a native snail-type creature to the Iilausian homeworld. The starved beast is 'fed' a controlled six (6) 'meals' of a scarab-esque bug with prismatic shells. Lenses were built into the beast's shell to magnify its excrement in the form of a concentrated burst of light. A millennia of innovation had refined the design from brutal single-use device to a symbiotic reliance; controlled evolution shaping the slug into a powerful armament of laser warfare with virtually no harm to the creature. The fuel is burnt and refracted in an instant and the next 'round' is drawn from the farthest 'port'. - Being a living creature, rounds loaded cannot be recovered. Therefore Kaeci keeps a terrarium of literally live munitions in his quarters as to cultivate rounds for this gun...and love takes time~
'Sandcastle' PDW - 16-cap .45 'black tip' tungsten rounds. More of a sidearm, though still used in tandem with Excthesis.
Armor: A Powered mesh emitting shield-tech responsively as the traditional attire Kaeci is clad with is designed to blend with his flesh. Bulky armor would only inhibit his kind's natural defense.
Items - A small attaché case filled with clips of degradable capsules filled with grub-like lifeforms. - A small hooked blade serving as a tool for sharpening fangs. - Sections if high thread count cloth for buffing off scuffs, wiping hands or polishing his eyes. Machine washable. Kept in attaché case.
Chameleon Chitin Mimicking texture and an assortment of pigments, Kaeci's expressive flesh is covered with manipulatable cilia. The fibers are capable of retracting to the point of leaving his flesh porcelain smooth or extending to cover himself in an inverse-mirror camouflage rendering him nearly invisible, especially while holding still. Predatory defenses evolved to be capable of wrestling down larger prey, and conventional melee will find difficulty in hampering Kaeci's taught and springy structure. Such cilia in fine and durable, able to find tiny cracks and disperse weight, allowing Kaeci to cling to walls and most ceilings, assuming they aren't sheer flat.
'Blind' Senses Total darkness is the preferred hunting conditions for the Iilausa, sporting six eyes. While their two dominant snake-like slit pupils focus detailed images with little light, a top set on the front edges of their temples are sensitive to thermal radiation. These ink-black splotches don't so much 'see' as 'feel' and are greatly aided by the bottom two located on his cheekbones. His bottom two eyes perceive blinks of auditory refractions in the world slightly greater than 180o. The combined bio-thermal sensors, auditory sensors and keen minima-light vision allow his species to be efficient and discerning in total darkness. - Chitin sheaths can close to section off these sensory organs when not in use...or to keep blood and other fluids from irritating them during feeding.
Unconventional Psuedo-Humanoid Anatomy With adorned skins and an array of cartilage plates making up facial features, strong muscles bent their typical appearance into a form that better blended in not only with foliage but other fauna. While the Iilausa are terrible at replicating a specific human face, they find a disturbingly great amount of ease in mimicking the typical human facial structure. The typical Iilausa has four upper appendages which neatly fit together; the bottom two sport two 'fingers' while the top possess an opposable thumb and two other 'fingers'. Pressed together, especially with long sleeves and gloves, this easily passes as any common human arm...save for having rending claws and no fingerprints. - A psuedo-joint allows each limb to have a durable level of flexibility, serving the purpose of having essentially 4 arms.
Venom While Kaeci and his kind possess conventional teeth, the muscular makeup of his skull has a second fold as simple as lifting an eyebrow. Dropping the façade scrunches his jaw line into a muscular maw of aligned sheaths for the four hypodermic fangs (two upper and lower) designed to deliver a potent chemical with varying effects depending on the administration quantities. Low- A small concentration has a property which often elicits a mild euphoric sensation and epinephrine response. Prey is often weakened as to prevent this outcome, though modern times have made Iilausian 'oilers' profitable, since refined low doses milked fresh and refrigerated can invoke the same response. Coupled with watered down painkillers, the effect is far cheaper and more potent than common 'alleyway medpack equivalents'. However, most Iilausians are too proud to 'sell themselves' so cheaply, as charitable donations have often found their way into drug dens. Standard- Most darts, arrows, infused slugs (literally slugs) and a direct bite with malice often fall under this category. The dose typically though briefly induces vomiting and vertigo, leaving the target weakened to additional physical recourse. Most animals dog-sized or smaller quickly succumb to the venom's toxicity and die in a matter of minutes due to organ failure. Common humans will suffer from the quick-acting effects for a few minutes before slowly subsiding, though it may cause liver and kidney damage while being processed. Full- A full dose is nearly an entire day's worth of metabolism devoted to replenishing the glands. The doses work in quarters and only one quarter is regenerated over the course of the day. Ergo, once per 18 hours, an Iilausian will have built up a quantity capable of delivering such a dose. Often, the exposed subject will experience self-conceived apotheosis while the toxicity corrodes their veins and eventually causes widespread organ failure often breaching the blood-brain barrier. In their unconscious state, victims frequently experience confusion and torment from their unconscious mind bleeding into their subconscious. If internal hemorrhaging or organ failure doesn't kill the victim, they will otherwise fall to cardiac arrest. ... Similar to low doses, most Iilausians prefer to kill with honor rather than force their victims to suffer the horrors of their own melting brain's truths...and there is more than one target that need be fell'd to support the hive.
Immunity Iilausians are highly resistant to their own kind's poison to the point of a bite being treated more for the wound rather than the toxin which holds an effect slightly less than a low dose...at its highest dose.
Slinger Kaeci is adept with small weapons and duel-wielding. Typically one of the first in as a stealth shock troop on ship-side invasions, his aim is keen enough to harry and distract multiple targets to later be mopped up by more specialized units. Focusing fire could yield more effective results, though Kaeci is hardly an 'assault' unit. A few millennia capitalized on ambush and flanking tactics; no sense is fixing what isn't broken.
Semi-Assassin Predatory in nature as a calm and slow sentient trap, all it takes is a good distraction not to know how a light is flickering a bit weirdly while running past. A quick bite on single targets and enough motivation can assuredly drag a body into recesses unseen in spite of Kaeci's otherwise slight frame.
Powers Whispers - A form of mild telepathy, the psionics were intended to invade the minds of targets an Iilausian is aware of and cause an assortment of auditory and mild visual illusions. The intention is to keep the target on edge, though leading them away from the real threat while it poises to strike with surprise. In more recent years, the 'whispers' have been better refined into a short range one-way form of communication...though serves as proper communication with others that can actual reply.
Other - Speaks vith zee slightest ouf accent vhich I intend on inflictink upon readers. - Almost annoyingly polite and articulate, knowing little about human pronunciations of 'common' language and intending on at least coming off sincere as not to offend. Tends to be unapologetically literal, even when joking. - Predatory carnivores gonna be predatory carnivores. - Curious of humans as they were the first 'aliens' encountered by his species...and likely the first 'alien' hunted by his species.
@Hawlin Already said it in the PM, but might as well make it official, Welcome aboard!
To everyone else: IC-moving-ahead post coming tomorrow after work (this post is being written before bed on Wednesday) as well as that section in my last IC post about mission intel that I completely forgot about!
Yeh, as you said. Just wanted to be official about it. Looking back over it, there are a few typos and bits that could be prettied up a bit to have it make a bit more sense, but I'll fix that another time. For the most part, everything relevant is there. There wasn't a back story or personality section and that's just fine by me. xD
Age/Race/Gender: 24 / Hemiplantae (literally translates to Half-Plant) / Female
Appearance: 162cm tall and weighing 72kg. Her hair and skin are made up of soft leaves that cover her body. She actually has a mix of endo/exo skeletal structure with tough fibers woven together just under her skin as well as her "bones" being wound and formed the same way. Acting like an evergreen she does not yellow during a planet's fall or winter cycle. Most of the time she has a refreshing and slightly sweet smelling scent which can improve the mood, especially when stuck on a ship where greenery is usually sparse and mostly aesthetic.
Occupation: Medical Biologist
Weapons:
MT3 Plasma Pistol (See Armor) - A single small plasma pistol that accompanies the bio suit. While not packing a whole lot of punch it does like to burn through softer materials fairly quickly.
M-801 Charger - A medium laser rifle capable of single shot or burst fire. While it isn't a high powered weapon it is effective enough for firefights. This is the weapon she takes out on the field.
Armor:
Modified Class-12 Bio Armor: A tough but light armor originally designed for survival in hazardous environments and easy transition into pressurized and unpressurized areas. What it lacks in raw stopping power it makes up for in, speed, agility, and versatility. Due to Harriet's unique biological requirements the suit has been heavily modified and only partially resembles its original design. Providing her with artificial sunlight, CO2, and water she could effectively live inside the suit indefinitely so long as power and supplies last. The hermetic seal can be broken to allow gasses to move in and out of the suit while still providing adequate filtration in hostile atmospheric and chemical conditions. This can save on supplies and allow easier respiration.
Items: Medical kit
Skills: Being a medical biologist she has a broad knowledge of species and how they work. She is particularly good at genetic engineering, however now a days it doesn't play as much a part in her life.
Aside from that though she also has more traditional medical training that she more often gets to apply.
Powers:
Plant Physiology - She can survive for months on water and sunlight alone. However she can still eat as another measure to get energy or even absorb nutrients from her surroundings. Loss of body parts such as limbs are able to be regrown in a matter of a week. Not having a rigid skeletal structure Harriet is able to contort her body in extreme ways and even able to stretch and compress her body by several feet. On a more defensive/offensive note she can rapidly grow thorns or spines to fend off opponents. Adaptive Biology - Resilient to many environmental conditions, diseases, and toxins. Not that she is immune to everything, but her body does an excellent job of either filtering or countering harmful substances. She can also mimic properties of other flora when needed. Chemical Production - Going hand in hand with the Adaptive Biology, Her body has the ability to produce a wide array of chemical compounds. Most often this comes in the form of pheromones and poisonous spines when attacked. She has the potential to produce stronger toxins and compounds so long as she has an idea of what she's doing.
Other: While medical personnel might not initially sound like a dangerous sort the crimes can be more subtle. Illegal testing and practice can be very lucrative if you find the right buyer. It helps if you aren't afraid to break a few eggs in the process. Being just that way Harriet can operate on the fringe of medical science where the Hippocratic oath is left at the door.
Her species is undocumented. The data either not compiled or purposely hidden.
Ok folks, got a post just went up that I forgot to do tags for, let me know if any of the mission briefing section is unclear at all. Any confusion whatsoever let me know! Here's a picture of the pirate ship we're attacking for visualization, just the big one, not the small ones:https://pre00.deviantart.net/ffa0/th/pre/f/2008/159/5/5/space_battle_trials_1_by_ere4s3r.jpg
The 3 squad breakdown is as follows (including Maelstrom NPCs) Stealth Squad: @Xandrya@Silver Carrot with NPC Kira Main Attack Force: Grayson and SAL @Dark Light@Dealdric@BKburke@Azereiah@Simple Unicycle (unless you'd rather stay with the ship and help pilot, get back to me and let me know) plus NPCs: Marcus, Vulcaan, Ian, Lataniva, Joe Staying on the Ship to Pilot/Man Guns: @Banana@Tickout@baranica plus NPCs Juli Jen, and Seth. I suppose part of Ren would still be active to help with the guns too, unless you want to fully commit to being part of the ground team, up to you Azereiah.
@t2wave@Hawlin The stuff above doesn't really apply to you guys, since you're still over on the station with Carver and Stryker. Just wanted to tag you guys so you'd get notified of this last bit:
I'm gonna be away tomorrow. Got an appointment in the city to go to, so that's gonna take up my whole day. So to that end, I'd like to get a second post together a little later tonight before I go to bed, one that puts us right at the start of the mission, so if any of you guys are able to throw up a reply within an hour or 2, it'd be greatly appreciated!
I... started college and oh lord I have been tanked with workloads for this program. I am so sorry for the inactivity, and Im trying to see if in some way I can continue to stay on here and balance my workload as it comes. If I do have to drop out because of it, I'll let you guys know ;__;
@Tickout No worries man! I'm sure a few of us have been in the same position, I certainly was a few years ago! Just let me know what's going on when you decide, we can have a chat in PM about it then.
On that note, hey everyone I made it back from the city without incident. I'm absolutely drained though, been on the move for the better part of 16 hours, so I'm gonna head to bed shortly, next post in the AM!
I'll wait for @Banana to open fire with the dorsal guns before I get my post up. He'll find himself with smoother controls than before thanks to Ren's acting as the shipboard AI.
So yeah, as mentioned in the little ooc note to everyone in the latest post, I've come up with a few ways of changing the plans slightly to get us to the end of this mission a bit faster, maybe it's just me that feels this, but I think I over-planned things for this one. I wanted to imbue it with a sense of epicness, like this is the end of 'chapter 1' of our little adventure, but in the process of that, I think I over-complicated it all with all these phases and whatnot. Again, maybe it's just me being a tough critic on my own writing, but either way I want to get some opinions before I lock this new plan in.
Option 1 is just keep trucking away at the mission as we are. We'll slowly but surely make our way through the remaining 3 phases.
Option 2 is speed-run it. We'll clear the remaining bit of phase 2, along with all of phase 3 and 4 as quick as we can, like perhaps a maximum of 3 posts each per phase, and then we'll do the entirety of phase 5 as it's planned.
Option 3 is, once we clear out phase 2 in this next round of posting and head back to the ship for a moment, bring all the various groups back together and whatnot, I'll do a super long post that covers the events of phases 3 and 4, sets up phase 5 and kicks it all off so there's no real delay and we can get right down to business chopping away at Sol's remaining forces.
So, I'm finalizing a few things in the phase 5 plan, NPC deaths and whatnot, and I had an idea, since the end of this mission is meant to be like a 'season finale'/end of chapter 1 kind of deal, I wanted to get you guys involved, hence the pm I sent to everyone a few days ago. So I wanted to ask this question of each of you, you can reply here or in the pm: Sol's got a bunch of lieutenants and various other higher-ups in his army we need to take out, do you want your character to be involved in a 1 on 1 fight with one of these guys, or would you rather just get the chance to tear through an army of grunts? Any alternate options or ideas, fling them my way!
One last thing, a bit of bad news because sadly, Dark Light has decided to drop out. Arex is gonna be relegated to NPC status until I figure out what to do with him.