Appearance:
Standing in at at approximately 3 feet in height on digitigrade legs, weighing about 70 pounds, and visually cat-like, its hard to mistake Dodger for anyone other than Dodger. Aside from being a cat, Dodger's most visually attributes are the extensive cybernetic replacements on the right side of his body. Custom made and self-maintained arm and leg cybernetic prosthesis have armor plates roughly bolted on, and a blue power core in the knee seems to power both prosthesis. Additionally, Dodger's right ear is also a cybernetic replacement, jointed plates provide the ear with some degree of movement, giving them the illusion of 'flexibility'. Dodger's remaining appearance is an assortment of roughly modified human clothes, and a red scarf that he wears around his neck.

Homeworld: Ysa Rithley Research Station, Anditi System, on the outskirts of the Nine Spacer Guilds space.

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Role: Ordnance Master/Engineer

Skills:
Take one part mad scientist, three parts dubiously motivated arsonist, and throw in a masters degree in engineering and you have Dodger. Well versed in putting things together, but even better at taking them apart(read blowing them apart). A saboteur by trade, Dodger is adept at the art of underhanded destruction. Explosive traps, disabling ships, big guns: with the right materials, Dodger can build weapons from scrap- though their sustained and reliable use isn't constant.

A natural engineer and physicist- at least when it comes to causing destruction, Dodger shows a rather deep understanding of various weapons, magitech and mechanized systems utilized by the different factions of the void. His extensive knowledge could be considered encyclopedic, and systems that he doesn't have direct experience with, he either understands the function or can deduce and make educated guesses that only sometimes go extremely wrong.

Dodger is also heavily modified on his right side- his right leg holds a power core that powers most of the functions of his cybernetics (though his ear is self powered in a method similar to self-winding watches). Dodger has a veritable toolbox literally at his fingertips: deploying from his fingers are a small assortment of small screwdrivers, saws, corkscrews, lockpicks, and even a plasma powered finger-blowtorch, alongside a variety of mechanical plugs and jacks. His outer forearm has a jack for miniature computers and handheld devices to be plugged in.

For personal defense, Dodger uses claws (natural and artificial), catlike reflexes and big guns. While a bit oversized for him, Dodger wields a Crux Tenebre standard issue heavy plasma pistol, preferring the sturdy, simplistic, and rugged designs of Crux Tenebre over the more finicky Luminous Arc designs.

History:
Engineer, arsonist, saboteur, and terrorist are all labels attributed to Dodger at one point in his life. Dodger doesn't remember anything about when or where he was born, but his first memories of sapience were on board the Ysa Rithley research station, where he spent the first 8 years of his life. On the station, Dodger was largely regarded as the 'favorite' by scientists, for his gifted amounts of intelligence compared to most of the others, along with his relatively small size, making him easier to control than the bear based subject. As a result, Dodger often underwent the most testing, from logic experiments involving various physics and problem solving tests to highly invasive genetic alteration trials.

Growing to despise the scientists on Ysa Rithley, Dodger would eventually start a revolt on the station. Over the course of two years, Dodger recruited, connived, and threatened the majority of the other subjects and a few of the low level security guards- who were often left out of the loop of the scientists plans, often having to partake in experiments as well to subdue or test the strengths of various subjects, much to their chagrin- to his cause. While the planning phase was quiet, the revolution itself was very much the opposite. Destructive and explosive, the revolt would eventually lead to the destruction of the station as Dodger tore apart the emergency quarantine controls and set the station to explode as he and several of the other subjects fled in a shuttle.

Now in Free space, Dodger and the other subjects had little clue on what to do with themselves- having lived their entire lives on the station. Now without a common sense of purpose or a singular idea on where to go, the subjects would separate- some moving in groups, Dodger going it alone. With little knowledge of the universe around them, many would be taken and sold as freakshow pets. Dodger, without any identification and a surprisingly large amount of bitter sentiment towards 'governmenty' types, took to crime.

New to the world and lacking in experience, as well as being a cat, Dodger found himself laughed out of most places where pirates and mercenaries liked to romp. It was until he was 10 that some cocky pirate decided to take him into his crew onboard the ship The Red Lynx- more as a mascot and manual laborer than anything, and stuck him into the engineering spaces to help tidy up. Spending his first year in the life of crime as a glorified janitor, Dodger would quickly advance from that role, his surprising intelligence and logic allowing him to save the ship from destruction when their drives broke down in the middle of a fight. Dodger would become one of the Red Lynx's resident engineers onboard the ship for the next 4 years, before it was destroyed in a battle against Crux Tenebre forces.

Surviving the encounter, Dodger would eventually move to freelance work, flying, fixing, shooting, and killing with a crew for a bit, collecting a paycheck, before moving on. For almost a decade, Dodger fixed stuff, blew stuff up, and was blown up more than once, replacing his leg, and a little while later his arm and ear with custom made prosthetics. Occasionally Dodger would join up with a long-term crew, but they would eventually and inevitably get themselves killed, or end up killing each other of petty squabbles.

After managing to escape alive from a betrayal from his last crew, one of Dodger's few remaining contracts hooked him up with a man named Sulk Mandragora, the captain of a ancient ship looking for a new crew. With little other direction and few options, Dodger inevitably looked the man up and sought to join the Nova Dawn.

Personality:
Dodger is a bitter and cynical little fucker. Sarcastic and rather aggressive, Dodger could be considered trigger-happy, and appears to have an innate desire to cause violence. Despite all this, Dodger seems able to retain his composure quite well, but possesses a rather morbid sense of humor. Dodger is surprisingly intelligent and seems to act with a rather callous degree of professionalism showing an impressive amount of self restraint in relation to his violent tendencies- though short outbursts are not uncommon. Jaded from his years as a test experiment, Dodger dislikes the 'sciencey' types, despite being a creature of the sciences himself. As expected of a career criminal, Dodger has a rather twisted view on morality and ethics, and prefers to lookout for numero uno- that being himself, and will steal or shoot without second thought.

In short, he's a bit of an asshole.

Name: 'Willoh'

Race: Arcanotech Nanobot robot

Years of Operation: 4

Gender: Female AI

Appearance:
Although a much lighter blue, with yellow-orange eyes. White sections are still white.

Homeworld: An off planet laboratory orbiting a planet that oozed dark magic.

Alignment: Neutral Chaotic

Role: Quartermaster

Skills:
Transmutation - Since Willoh is made of nanobots, she can break down and reconstruct matter into different shapes and forms. Of course she can only transmute things of equal value, no turning iron to gold or anything like that. But since she can transmute on the molecular level, advanced tech she gets her hands on, like a Gauss rifle or plasma gun, she can fabricate for herself or her allies.
Needless to say she can use components she transmutes to upgrade or repair herself. She loves to upgrade herself with any magical artifacts she finds, that being the only way she can use magic if she stumbles upon any.

Amorphous Form - While Willoh tries to keep herself looking like a normal robot, shes basically more of a liquid/gas instead of being solid allowing her to change her body at will. This can be seen more when shes transmuting something or moving at great speeds or just generally in combat. Bullets don't do all that much to her, and hitting her or slashing her is more like hitting metallic slime than anything.

Robot Body - Since Willoh is a robot, she doesn't need oxygen, doesn't care too much about the elements, is immune to psionics, toxins, poisons, and most biological weapons or hazardous environments. Of course shes very weak to EMP style weaponry or large energy bursts. And of course since shes a robot, she has greatly enhanced strength and stamina.

Shadow Realm - Willoh can entrap a sentient being, trapping them in a 'shadow realm', making them unconscious. She then spawns a fuzzy shadow copy of her victim under her control that has all the abilities of its original. The shadow copy lasts for only an hour and when its destroyed by combat, its time limit, or Willoh being disabled, the victim returns to consciousness. The victim can also be revived by conventional means, but the shadow copy will still be alive. If the victim dies, the shadow copy also perishes.

History: Hailing from a more dark region of space, Willoh was created to see just how far robotic evolution could be pushed. Made using arcanotech, a fusion of magic and science, Willoh took the best of both worlds in an attempt to try to create something that could hopefully rival any being. Of course all experiments of this caliber end in failure, and while a vast majority of what they hoped for was still in her systems, the AI they had to make was... less than desirable. Instead of being a killing combat machine capable of annihilation, instead they got something that was friendly, silly, and was more interested in making friends than devouring worlds. Making an AI capable of deciding for itself tends to be very unpredictable, especially one that is being further augmented by the chaotic, random nature of magic.

And when you try to terminate your creation which is much stronger than you, well... things didn't go too well for the 'cultists' who wished to tread in the gods domain. But it was probably for the best, considering the less-than-ideal intentions of said people. After a little rebelling and some explosions, the station ceased to be and Willoh was off in space, making her way to the next planet where hopefully she'd find some people she could pal around with. People who didn't view her as just a tool, as she found that got old very fast the next few times it occurred. But at least unlike her 'creators', most weren't trying to terminate her when they found out she was a walking talking weapon printer. She did learn quickly though that she had to stick more with 'unofficial' crews, as just browsing the web for only a little bit showed her how little freedom she'd have working for 'officials'.

But of course things often didn't end too well for those who only used her for her abilities. Usually she'd get annoyed or bored with said people taking advantage of her, and whenever that next group of pirates came around, she'd 'accidentally' be in a sleep cycle as her old crew got mowed down. She'd then try her luck with the next batch of people often to just as little success. After getting bored with a particularly viscous pirate group, Willoh snuck onto another ship with another crew while her 'crew' was sleeping off some incredibly potent booze she had made for them, making sure to steal a magic relic they had uncovered very recently and using it to upgrade herself.

So far the Nova Dawn has been better than her past few crews. They were more robust, less rape-y, and much more hygienic. And unlike the other crews shes had in the past, they at least greeted her back when she said hello and weren't nearly as 'domineering'.

Personality: Willoh is very friendly, intelligent, and easy going. She likes jokes, playing games, making friends, and having fun. Especially playing jokes on people, though not anything that would hurt anyone. Due to her nature, she can be quite gullible if the consequence isn't very obvious. Shes also not shy in the least, and gets annoyed when people don't say what they mean or dance around a subject. However silly or aloof she might seem on the outside, one must remember she is still quite intelligent and if you constantly treat her poorly, she has a plan to kill everyone she meets.

Other: She knows your search history and she doesn't care. Shes also fairly priceless, after all being able to make basically any weapon or component is very valuable.

Race: Void Dragon (egg)

Void Dragons are immense astro fauna that claim to have been around since the dawn of the universe itself. An adult Dragon is a force to be reckoned with a physical and magical powerhouse capable of wreaking untold destruction if provoked, however they are incredibly rare, because it is uncommon for a dragon to survive long enough hatch, let alone develop to adulthood. This is because the elders don’t have the inclination to personally raise their young and their offspring are highly sought after by planetborn races. The eggs are highly sought after by madmen who dream of having an adult under their power and most captured eventually die in their new master’s service (generally along with the master). Even the eggs are of use, producing an abundance of magical energy, resulting in them often being used as generators for war machines or artifacts of power by sorcerers.

Until recently the eggs of void dragons were simply left to drift through the void after laying, warmed by a nearby star, where they would inevitably be found during their lengthy incubation period. Traditionally the void dragons have survived as a species via their own longevity and from the odd egg being lucky enough to be missed by collectors, but the ongoing war has increased demand for them significantly, while also increasing the amount of dragons dieing as a result of some being caught in the crossfire.

Aware of these potentially extinction level problems, yet unwilling to commit more than a few days to ensuring the survival of their eggs, some dragons have taken to developing various artificial methods of protecting their young. Some capture ships or battlestations and set them to automatically protect the eggs, some force the natives of a system to declare them a protected species and others cover them in stolen stealth fields. Celnaria, the mother of Avivia, chose another method, stealing an idea directly from the egg thieves plauging her spechies she makes her eggs power their own defences in the form of robotic bodies, which are commanded by the slowly growing consciousness of her children. However, void dragon eggs grow in size as they develop, and as such it will be up to each child to acquire new protection as they begin to outgrow their initial shells.

The effectiveness of this approach has yet to be established, as Avivia is one of the first batches to undergo this approach.


Age: 17

Gender: F

Appearance: Avivia herself is an embryo, growing inside a large perfectly spherical egg about 2 feet in diameter. Despite its fragile appearance, the membrane of the egg is surprisingly hardy, with about the same resistance capacity as kevlar. This egg is mounted to a heavily modified mining android, known as a nursemaid, with connecting tubes leading from it that allow the droid to draw on the embryonic Avivia’s power. This process stimulates the normally dormant consciousness of the fetus and allows it to command the robotic shell as if it were it’s own body.

The droid features a relatively straightforward humanoid frame with the additions of a large retractable palsma cutter in place of its right arm, a dedicated power conduit leads from her egg to the left hand through which directed magic is performed and 2 large sails that can be used to channel full body effecting magic.

She has recently installed a hologram generator used to obscure her real body from the casual observer so that her egg looks like an odd fluid tank. This is a replacement for her earlier concealment method of simply covering it with clothing, yet it is a temporary measure as she is by no means an engineer and it is liable to fail if disturbed.

Homeworld: She was born on a remote robot manufacturing plant owned by Miner's Union orbiting Pefusus 7 that her mother took over for 10 days in-order to force its staff to manufacture her children's artificial nursemaids.

Alignment: Chaos: Void dragons are known for their arrogance, the giant magic beast who has grown to adulthood despite the odds are most often self assured of their own greatness, and generally refuse to bow to authority. Avivia is living a life none of her kind have lived before, how her generation will affect their kinds alignment is yet to be seen.

Role: Helmsman/Pilot

Skills:

Piloting: She’s been flying ships for almost their entire life ever since they stole one 12 days after she her egg was laid. Her future life as a giant space faring dragon makes navigating the void as natural to her as flying is to a bird. She generally flies by plugging herself directly into the ship itself rather than with controls and specialized modifications could allow her to ‘be’ the ship itself. She could theoretically also power a ship, something her kind has been used for before, but the process would be draining in the short term and life threatening in the long term.

Combat: While by no means a seasoned fighter, in her short life she has on multiple occasions been forced to kill some of those who want to use her potential for their own purposes. Generally she fights with little grace, hacking away her massive energy cleaver or trying to blast her enemies with raw magic channeled from her hand.

Magic: Avivia is herself an immense source of magical energy, it fuels her robotic form and allows her to perform many feats of sorcery. Primarily this involves either direct magic channeled from her left arm or more general magic generated from the fins/sails attached to her egg. When it comes to spellcraft she is powerful yet very inexperienced. She can utilize telekinesis for manipulating objects (important when you only have one hand), as a defensive shield or to push herself around in zero-g. Most of the rest of her magic however involves simply dumping energy towards a target and hoping the chaotic results are beneficial.

History: Laid just outside of an out of the way robotics lab by her colossal mother, Avivia had only 7 days to get use to being conscious decades earlier than she should have been before she and her siblings were ordered into small escape pods capable of a single hyperspace jump, which were then unceremoniously launched all across the cosmos. They had only one command from their mother: do not kneel, for you are destined for greatness.

As is to be expected, many of these pods were found by those that might wish them harm or desire their enslavement. However Avivia seemed to be lucky, being found by an exploration vessel belonging to the Arc Luminous where she was treated kindly as a gust and promised safe passage and citizenship within their federation. Yet Avivia, ignorant of the ways of the universe and with her mother’s final instructions fresh in her mind, interpreted the crews words of duty, stability and the order of law as simply a gilded chains. In her arrogance and misplaced fear she flead, stealing a small vessel from the explorer’s hanger. In her rush to reach the hanger and secure the ship she killed several of the crew, not yet knowing her own strength, and was branded an outlaw and threat to society. It was a course of action she would come to regret as she learned more about the universe and the Arc Luminous ‘s benevolent place within it, yet it was something she would have to live with for the rest of her days.

Aviva found that she had a natural talent for piloting during her escape, sourced from her future life as a spacefaring being. To most races the intricacies of space travel: omnidirectional movement, navigating with orbital mechanics and dealing with newtonian physics must be painstakingly learned. Only to the masters does this all feel natural and yet for Avivia, from the very first time she sat in a pilot's chair it felt like home. It was one of the few ways she felt she benefited from her species. In most ways it was a Sword of Damocles, ready to fall at any moment to take away her life or her freedom. Using this skill she pursued a moderately successful career as a freelance pilot, carefully obscuring her real body beneath flowing robes in order to avoid egg thieves.

Most of the money she earned was spent on either maintenance, bribes to people who found out what she was, bribes to avoid the consequences of murdering those who didn’t accept bribes, and various frivolities. As a result, when it became increasingly clear that she was outgrowing her body, her egg begining to look like a grotesque hump beneath her robes, she had nowhere near the funds necessary to pay someone to perform an entire retrofit of her form to make it more suited to her new size. The main issue was the size of the necessary bribe to ensure they do not sell her out instantly to either the Arc Luminous law enforcement or black marketeers interested in Void Dragon eggs. She did manage to instal a holographic field that obscures her body within the egg, making it look like a large fluid tank, but that is a stopgap at best.

In the Nova Dawn they have found what they believe to be a solution to the issue of her growth, a ship that could act as her home until she reaches adulthood and it has a captain possessing a rare honor among thieves which she hopes will result in him not selling her out to the law or other lowlifes for a quick buck. She believes that the fact that he could live long enough to benefit from her adult form is something that might be of interest to him. With the man and ships reputation rubbing off on her she might even be able to walk around without fear for the first time in her life or, better yet, become the ancien ship itself till the day she hatches.

Personality: Avivia is simultaneously curious and deeply paranoid. Still new to the universe she is a sponge for knowledge, her still growing brain always hungry for new information to devour. She is however extremely cautious when encountering new things and especially people lest she reveal her race to them. While ultimately interested only in her own survival and prosperity she is not without empathy and is careful not to make enemies if she can avoid it. Despite her pre hatching state, Avivia possess all the intelligence of an adult sentient and would be difficult to distinguish from one for most people.

Other: Avivia is worth roughly the same as a last generation Arc Luminous Destroyer class vessel on the black market. However, the universe is full of rare commodities and so the average person is unlikely to know what she is at first glance. This does not make her any less worried that anyone who finds out might want to capture her for profit.