@Dervish@Mortarion@DearTrickster I uh honestly don't even know what to say. (I'm notoriously bad at the whole accepting of compliments thing.) But thanks I'm honestly still kinda flabbergasted by the kind words. Though I'm glad you guys accept Anjor as the sad trash panda, sad space cat boy, space's #1 uncle but still somehow sad, dashing -and not at all sad- freedom fighter that he totally is!
And in regards to the Discord. Well, I'm going to have to perform the unenviable task of remembering the sign-in information for my account, but sure I'm game!
Ah shoot. I was trying so hard to be funny, but I would also like a discord link. I practically live there. Which say something about me. Something probably very sad. But we'll not talk about that. *cough*
So we came up with a gameplan for the first few posts that might sound convoluted, but I swear it'll make sense when you start writing. For simplicity, I'm going to break it down into numbered points;
1) First posts for most players will be taking place in a convention center on Luna the night before the Initiative departs to let people have the chance to get some practice writing their characters/ having a chance to say goodbye to the people they're leaving behind. Consider this a prologue intro post.
2) I will be opening up a Gdoc for one bigass group collab that is entirely optional where at said farewell party you can have a chance to interact with your fellow PCs. Side note; nobody knows they're going to be on the APEX team at this point.
3) While that's going on, us 3 GMs are going to work on the official intro post set in present day Andromeda, where our characters will be getting ready to meet the team, who will be set up in barracks on Eos at the start of the game. We will also be collabing with @Xanadu prior to meeting the team since Xanadu won't be able to partake in the party writing for obvious reasons and so the commanders can get a chance to meet and brief their liasion.
4) After that drops, you guys can do your character intros about whatever you want leading up to the team meet up on Eos where the game will start in earnest.
I aim to have the party intro done tonight, and hope you guys have fun with it!
Speaking of opening posts, to give you guys all an idea of where we're all going to be for the first round of writing, this is an excerpt from the IC opener. Sets the scene in the Milky Way on the eve of departure. So please feel free to start working on your own respective posts with this scene in mind. Shoot us any questions you may have here or in the discord channel. <3
Prologue: A Night to Remember
“What matters now, for you and me, is what we do when we arrive. Who we become, and how we carry ourselves in Andromeda. Thank you, and enjoy your last night under familiar stars.” Jien Garson concluded from the podium, her face spread across dozens of viewing screens across the convention center floor. Over 100,000 prospective colonists who had been approved for the Andromeda Initiative were gathered in one of the largest convention centers on Luna, Earth’s moon, where the Nexus and the 4 Arks that were set to depart sat proudly in orbit above the celestial body, a triumph of cooperation, tireless work, and an astonishing feat of engineering. It was the party of the century; no one wanted their last night in the Milky Way to be a boring one, and even normally reserved or bookish personalities who had no interests in crowds were in high spirits, mingling with strangers who shared one thing in common; they were about to take the most daring voyage in galactic history.
It was a hell of a moment in time, that much was certain.
A thunderous applause and some wild hooting from the more enthusiastic of the crowd rang out, both to show appreciation for Jien Garson and her speech, but more importantly to affirm that this was really happening; the very next day, each and every single person who had signed up for the Initiative would be set into one of 100,000 cryo pods to go to sleep for the next 600-so-odd years and wake up so far away from home they could never hope to return, it was a one way trip and it was impossible not to feel the weight of leaving all of your friends and family behind, as well as all the comfortable places and sensations that had come to define your life. In an age where someone could go from one corner of the galaxy to the next in a matter of weeks, no one had ever tried an extragalactic voyage to the neighbouring Andromeda Galaxy; pictures of it were displayed predominantly across screens, highlighting the Heleus Cluster to show where home would be come when everyone woke up in what would feel like two days from now. It was kind of daunting.
To be clear, you can write for both the party on Luna for the night before departure and the present day APEX stuff, think of it as a prologue of sorts where we can get an idea of each of our characters and they can wrap up loose ends before carrying on. It gives us all a better idea of what they're like!
Okay guys! We need to sound off on who is going to be participating in the group party collab. This collab is meant to be posted after introductory posts have been completed so please don't feel rushed, this is also entirely optional. I know DJ has already written a reply, Fallen had opted out.
GM's are going to act as engagement pulling respective players into this mingling group so there's no sweat on your part to try to cook up a reason why your character would suddenly be participating with a group of strangers. Please let us know.
Okay guys! We need to sound off on who is going to be participating in the group party collab. This collab is meant to be posted after introductory posts have been completed so please don't feel rushed, this is also entirely optional. I know DJ has already written a reply, Fallen had opted out.
GM's are going to act as engagement pulling respective players into this mingling group so there's no sweat on your part to try to cook up a reason why your character would suddenly be participating with a group of strangers. Please let us know.
I've spent a few days mulling over how I was going to work the Nexus Network posts, and I decided that arguably the best way to do it is to post said post in the OOC and then link it to the bottom of your character sheet in the Character tab for easy reference. That way it doesn't get mixed up with the OOC and it keeps the character tab nice and tidy!
For clarification, they are completely optional bits of writing that can be about anything related to your character. Write an in-character scene about their past or something they're doing on the side? Fair game! Humourous e-mail exchanges? Do it. Online activity logs? Be my guest.
Mostly, it's just a chance for you guys to write stuff that wouldn't come up in the game if you're ever feeling creative or just want to tell a joke/ have a one off scene that you think would help flesh out your characters. I have one written up; I'll get it up after a few more IC posts hit the dirt.
Ah screw it, here's the first bit of the Nexus Network posting I was talking about. Enjoy!
Elysium, some years ago…
The opening act hit their last notes, a farewell electronic ring from some salarian-made keyboard like instrument accompanied by some sound mixing software, and with it, the stage lights came on and the black-clad crew swept in like birds flocking to seed, removing the stage equipment to make way for the next band, one that Tanya Carson didn’t know the name of. As it stood, she didn’t know any of the bands, nor did she care for what she heard so far; music was music, however, and it was one of the few avenues of escape she had. It wasn’t physical danger that haunted her, but rather ghosts and a mind that held onto haunting memories like a deranged gatekeeper. There were nights where the loneliness of being by herself became oppressive, no family or crew to speak of to keep her company, and so the ghosts came in and lingered like monuments to her failure. Usually drink would help steady her mind and nerves, but even that had its limits, and so she got out of the old prefabricated housing unit she was renting and headed out to find some form of escape. Tonight was music, the one companion she could count on.
She took a drink of the overpriced beer that was clutched in her hand in a cheap plastic cup. It was more of a comfort through ritual thing rather than any sort of enjoyment, but Tanya never deluded herself that she didn’t have a problem. She spent most of her adult life as a high-functioning alcoholic, turning to neigh relying on it to dull her normally razor-sharp mind and predisposition to recall traumatic history. There was some closure here and there, and memories did fade over the years, allowing her a few more restful sleeps and a generally more healthy state of mind. She’d periodically attended addiction seminars and consultations to help curb a toxic habit that had become a regular fixture of her life, but things didn’t always go as hoped. Her standing here, half paying attention to a band she’d probably forget a week from now with an overpriced beer was a symptom of that; it was hard to kick an ingrained coping mechanism.
At least it’s not hard. she thought, justifying the habit even though she knew it was a rubbish excuse. She stared down at the cup, the cool liquid causing condensation to form on the plastic around her fingers. The cup was wide and unwieldy, unlike a pistol grip. She remembered the confrontation, the shouting and pleading, the grim realization that there was no salvaging her past; the gun came up, feeling impossibly heavy as the sight post found center mass and…
A body shoved into her from behind, causing the cup to slip through her fingers and splatter on the floor across somebody’s pant legs; the recipient not even noticing, or caring, that his calves were splashed with some yeasty-scented brew. She turned her head around, feeling indignant but appreciating the irony of having had her decision made for her. “Thanks, asshole.”
A turian face stuck out, a two-fingered hand rubbing the back of his skull with seemingly genuine embarrassment. “Sorry, I’m sorry. I know you have to have a second job to afford the drinks here, I just bumped into you trying to get by.”
“So you’re saying I have the credits to spare, or that you’re clumsy?” Tanya pressed, not aggressively or aggravated so much as mildly annoyed. She couldn’t really be mad that the turian; he seemed genuinely surprised that he bothered her, and she knew all too well how crowds could be. Still, she was engaged. It was a distraction she could use.
“Truth be told, it’s your hair. It caught my eye, that guy heeled me in the jaw jumping around, and I got a bit closer than intended. I’m still not entirely used to humans, sometimes you guys surprise me.” The turian said, boldly sidling up to her behind the railing, one elbow resting against the steel roll.
Tanya blinked. It wasn’t exactly the answer she was expecting. “My… hair?”
“Yeah. It’s short, spikey, longer on the top. Kind of reminds me of a turian fringe, dare I say it suits you.” He grinned, looking down at the sad cup, now stomped flat from the concert going crowd the next level down. “Hey, name’s Sabinus.” Reaching into a sleeve pocket, he pulled out a credit chit. “Here’s 20 credits. Consider it my apology and a way to replace your crap drink with something that’s actually enjoyable.”
Tanya took it with an appreciative nod, shoving the credit chit into a breast pocket on her jacket. “What a gentleman. Thanks, Sabinus, shit happens but I appreciate you taking the time and money to over-apologize for something that comes with the territory of going to a concert.” She nodded towards the band. “A fan?”
The turian shook his head, his eyes still on her. “Friend of mine told me I should see what human culture has to offer if I’m going to be a permanent resident on a human colony world. I could take this or leave it at this point, but it hasn’t exactly been a prime social situation, present company excluded.”
“I guess that makes two of us. Tell you what; I’m going to get out of here. You can join me if you’d like and go get something that doesn’t taste like it was brewed in a bathtub. If not, thank you for being a proper gentleman and for bumping into me when I probably needed it most.” She said, stepping away from the railing and making her way through the crowd towards the illuminated exit sign at the back. With a series of self-affirming nods, Sabinus followed suit, catching up with Tanya in a few quick strides.
“So, what brings a turian like yourself to one of the crown jewels of the Systems Alliance?”
The pair had found their way out of the concert venue and down the street to a surprisingly charming rustic-style café that was one of the first establishments built on Elysium from local materials rather than the prefabricated pieces that made up most of the earliest structures. Using lumber, stone, and modern construction materials that were shipped in from the regular trading vessels that came and went from the port, the café was a surprisingly appealing mixture of rustic charm and technological innovation. Wooden beams supported a roof of transition-lens glass ceiling with a carbon fiber lattice for structural integrity, poly-resin decorative struts and railings, and wooden furniture to go along with the large stone fire pit that the entire establishment was built around. The doors, however, were the typical tech-heavy alloy doors that were pretty standard across human settlements, as were the LED lighting and modern appliances and vid screens that furnished the establishment. Snow was falling lazily out the window, dancing in memorizing fashion by the streetlamps, giving the café a rather peaceful and cozy sense of place in the city.
Sabinus sat board straight in his seat, both hands wrapped around a hot ceramic mug that featured an oil-painting like depiction of some of the local wildlife. He was assured that the coffee that was currently steaming in his fingers was dextro-friendly, and that turian specialists were brought in to create a menu that catered to the turian palate. He’d heard that one before and felt his innards try to forcefully escape his body. Since then, he’d never been fully convinced humanity wasn’t trying to murder him via cuisine until he knew for a fact another turian ate there first. As such, tonight was a gamble, one he would either come away from smiling or screaming bloody murder in the bathroom stall. As such, he had not dared take a sip yet.
Am I really trying that hard to impress this woman? he thought to himself, glancing up from the steaming brown drink that had a common sweet cane sticking out of it that was probably imported from one of the turian colonies that was often used as a sweetener. Tanya was leaning on the table, her cheek resting on a fist. She was still wearing her black pea coat, a blue-grey scarf wrapped lazily about her neck. He allowed himself a self-amused twitch of the mandibles before he replied. “Short story? Work. Long story? Heh. I won’t bore you with the details, but I will say if even a few years ago you told me I’d be living on a human planet with human friends on a date with a human, I probably would have said some nasty things I wouldn’t be able to take back.”
A smirk crossed Tanya’s lips. “Oh, a date, is that what this is?”
“And hopefully a good one.” Sabinus replied with a grin, finally taking a sip of the coffee. It tasted strange, but not unpleasant. Now the clock was ticking to see how his biology liked it.
“Sounds like you had a bit of a chip on your shoulder. Weren’t a fan of the new invasive species on the galaxy?” She replied, her expression retaining the same bemused look upon it. That caused Sabinus to blink; he was not expecting her to be so blunt about it.
His mandibles twitched as a reflex, Tanya’s smirk grew into a grin. “Oh, I know that look. Get stuck on a shitty ship with a few turians and you start to figure out quick how expressive your face-flaps are. So, go on.”
“Truth be told after the Relay 314 Incident, I was just about to enter my civil service and I honestly believed humans to be the next krogan or rachni. The Hierarchy’s sworn role in galactic civilization is as peacekeepers and the military strength for enforcing that peace, so you can imagine how alarming it was when a bunch of unknown aliens start using an unauthorized relay and begin pouring into the galaxy and then subsequently defeat a turian fleet.” Sabinus glanced out the window at a couple walking with their young child down the street. “I was afraid of you.” He admitted.
Tanya listened, drinking from her tea while listening politely. “I was a part of the Systems Alliance when I was old enough to enlist. My dad was at Shanxi as a part of the fleet sent to fight in the First Contact War, he didn’t make it.” She said, twirling the teabag around slowly, a concentrated frown on her face. “He was a good man, kind, full of life. We knew that there were other aliens out there when we discovered the Prothean ruins on Mars and the Charon relay, and he was so excited to meet them. I think he would have been so excited to see how things turned out, he died exploring the stars and that curiosity was what got him killed in the end.”
“I’m… I’m sorry.” Sabinus managed, realizing how he must have sounded.
She shook her head. “No reason to. I never blamed the turians; it’s what you sign up for when you serve. I know you turians have a culture built around that. I just wish he got to come home and one day see the Citadel, and meet everyone the galaxy had to offer.” Tanya looked up, smiling. “I wasn’t the brightest, I signed up because I felt I had to carry on the family legacy and we Carsons had always stood by our nation in times of war. I knew the galaxy was a dangerous, stupid place, but the beautiful parts of it were worth fighting for. What changed your mind about humans?” She asked.
Sabinus crossed his fingers, his posture unwaveringly straight. “Turian society is very rigid, inflexible. We don’t tolerate discontent well, and we rely on tactics that I’ve discovered human dictatorships were fond of using. Insurgencies come and go, and our response is always to put it down with swift, efficient, and ruthless force. My mother by all accounts was good at that, I thought there had to be a better way. When I was a soldier, I was criticized and kept from climbing the meritocracy because I felt that my men were more valuable than quickly taking an objective with,” he made quotation fingers. “‘Acceptable losses’. I ended up getting into a counter-terrorist outfit, which was somewhere I felt content with. I took a few hits extracting a couple human hostages that left me with a collapsed lung and desk-bound for years.” The turian shrugged. “Those same hostages invited me to Elysium at a time where I was really unhappy with my lot in life, and knowing I had to make a change, I accepted their invitation and here I am, discovering that the galaxy’s a bigger place and that I was wrong about your people.”
The waiter came by with a couple of plates, setting down in front of them. One was trimmed by a blue ring, the staff’s way of telling if a plate was dextro-friendly. It was set down in front of the turian, who looked quizzically at the meal. “This is a meat pie?” he asked.
Tanya crooked a head at him. “Have you never seen a pastry shell before?”
“Not up close.” Sabinus admitted, prodding at it with a fork like it might still be alive.
“Well, if it kills you, I’ll pay the funeral expenses.” The human grinned, breaking it open with a knife. “Pretty late-life revelation that we’re not completely awful.”
“Not completely.” He agreed, taking a tepid bite. He blinked, surprised, going back for another. “One might say I kind of like your people now. The Lamonds really went out of their way to show their kindness and gratitude to me just doing my job; it was such a strange thing to me. Now when I run security, I have people tip me because nothing happened. The crime rates in this town are ridiculously low; I’m practically stealing credits.”
Wiping his lips with a napkin, he set down his fork for a moment, leaning in for the first time towards her. “Your turn. What’s a pretty woman doing alone, looking forlorn and not at all paying attention to music at a concert? Why invite me to join you?”
Tanya ran her hand through her hair, the short bristly raven-coloured brush at the top of her head, the strands springing back to place thanks to the product. She was quiet for a few moments, turning her gaze out the window much like Sabinus had done earlier. “You ever have a place that’s too painful to think about, return to?” He shook his head when he caught her glance. “That’s home. I’m from Terra Nova and nothing’s left there except for bad memories and…”
Her eyes shut, trying to will the moment away. Her eyes had watered up somewhat, something she tried to disguise with a run of her sleeve. “Well, another time perhaps. I thought I found another home, another family of sorts, a bunch of dysfunctional but loveable arseholes, but that didn’t pan out and after the… incident at Terra Nova, I eventually left them, too.” She turned back, her arms crossed along her stomach. She didn’t meet his gaze for a moment. “I ended up here, one of the few places I can think of that I could just disappear and try to find some peace with myself, where nothing in my past could follow me home. I’d… I’d hoped that maybe the new surroundings, new people… the fucking snow would help me forget. It works, most of the time. You just happened to bump into me on one of the nights where it didn’t.
"You were so awkward and apologetic for what’s literally the smallest inconvenience you can expect in a place like that, I don’t know. I think you brought a bit of light back to a pretty shitty day.” Her head sunk back into the seat, a chuckle rumbling through her core. “Fuck, I’m sorry. I’m sure you weren’t expecting me to just dump that heavy shit on you. I noticed you didn’t bugger off part way through. You must really be a gentleman. Just, thanks. It’s been too long since I just talked to somebody like this. I never realized I needed it.”
Sabinus listened with rapt interest, studying Tanya, realizing that she didn’t really try to hide the pain and anguish she’d been carrying with her. It was probably how she coped, but there was definitely a strength to her. “I’d say it’s been a good date so far.” He smiled, leaning an elbow on the table, mirroring what Tanya had done earlier. “We turians are all about serving the greater good, maybe I just found myself where I was needed most. You’re a good woman, Tanya. You act rough around the edges, but I’d seen through that immediately. If you aren’t opposed, I’d like to continue being that somebody like this, someone to help you forget, or just be a friend when you need one.”
The smirk came back. “Still think this is a date, huh? First you spill my drink, than you decide that a casual chat is a date. You are mighty presumptuous.”
Sabinus shrugged. “What can I say? Maybe it’s the season, maybe I’m just as alone in paradise as you are.”
“Maybe. Just maybe.” Tanya repeated, meeting Sabinus’ eyes. “But yeah, I can do friends without benefits. And, here.” She pulled out the credit chit from earlier, along with a laminated card that had contact numbers, a street address, and the words Carson’s Customs written across the top, setting it down in front of him. “Shop’s open until 1800. I’ll show you around.” Finishing off her tea in a single gulp, and setting the plate to the side, she rose from her seat, and Sabinus did the same. “For someone who professed that he once feared humans a few minutes ago, you sure do like to stare.”
“I must have found my courage.” He said, sheepishly, learning something about himself he never quite put into clarity until then.
“Must be it. Thank you, Sabinus. I’ll be seeing you around.” She said, touching his arm before placing her hand into her coat pocket and heading for the door, which zipped open as she approached.
He watched her go, a smile on his face. “Must be it.” He agreed.
If RPG allowed me to "love" posts with a little heart emoji, I would punch that button in a heartbeat. Everyone's posts have been fantastic! I'm looking forward to see where this goes, and hope I get the privilege of writing with you all in the future.
I did finish the revisions on my sheet should that time come, and I'll keep it posted here for future reference.
"Hiya! You can call me Rey. Wanna go on an adventure?"
Race: Human Sex: F Age: 24 Profile: Explorer DOB: 2161 CE Homeworld: Earth
"Take a picture, it lasts longer."
Appearance:
Reyna is athletic and it shows in her body, as expected from someone fit to join APEX squad. Her arms and legs are toned well, and she’s got abs outlined on her torso. Even so, Reyna is a woman who doesn’t reject her femininity and occasionally indulges in pampering herself when time allows her to. She isn’t very tall, standing at the modest height of 5’6”, leaving her looking up at most of the other soldiers or security personal both on and off the Nexus and she weighs in at around 140 lbs, 28F, which is rather heavy for her size, but most of it is muscle that she has earned while on the job. She has a sturdy frame, and has just a few curves around her waist and back. Underestimating her because of that isn’t wise, since she packs a lot of strength in her figure. She practically exudes confidence and pride in her posture.
Button nose, thin eyebrows, smooth skin, freckles - her soft facial features are occasionally tarnished by a scowl, which is not her standard go-to disposition unlike her typical enthusiastic and full of life demeanor. When you do get to see her when she is excited, you witness the emboldening her green eyes and the stretching of her lips to form a toothy grin that shows well taken care of teeth. Her naturally bright and short, curly red hair is managed with an undercut and is well groomed. There is little oil that naturally accumulates in it, so it remains rather manageable and light like a cloud. She has scars over her knuckles from the various fights she has gotten herself in, on her fingertips from climbing on a variety of surfaces, but doesn’t really have too many of particular note aside from a long line outside of her right eye from a blow she received while on a job.
She has a couple of accessories which is composed mostly of piercings. She has two piercings on her left outer brow, one tongue piercing, and piercings that nobody has any right to knowing about - all of these are removed while on duty as an additional safety measure. On her right shoulder blade is a simple tattoo of a compass, which she got without her mother’s knowledge when she was in her teens. It’s somewhat special for her. It has part to do with her love of adventure and part to do with, despite its simplicity, loving the design. There's another tattoo in black ink that goes around her neck that almost looks like choker thanks to its thin, honeycomb-like design. There is one small little tattoo on her wrist of an inch-by-inch square that was done with a special kind of ink that interacts with the electromagnetic spectrum (or the different wavelengths of light). Depending on the rays it is exposed to, it will change color or have a faint glow of different hues in particular wavelengths.
"Let's make history!"
Background: Reyna's father was an N7 soldier, Riley Baker, and her mother, Cheyenne Baker, was a photonic engineer - a techy that worked with light, lasers, and was apart of a team that developed cloaking technologies. It was totally coincidental how the two managed to meet one another, and an even greater wonder how two clashing personalities ever got along, but they did. Both lost a lot in the First Contact War, which Riley had fought in against the Turian fleet, and he could never truly bring himself to trust the aliens of the Citadel. Cheyenne on the other hand, always tried her best to view hatred and prejudice as holding a burning hot piece of coal in one's hand, and decided instead to cut her losses and attempt to move forward and work with the aliens towards a better and brighter future. One of these joint projects was included her team, being one of many, working with the Turian Heirarchy to develop new ship technologies, such as the SR series. While ships are notoriously difficult to hide, her experience had at least contributed to the data that shows cloaking technology to be unreliable. Cheyenne's optimism helped to warm and thaw Riley's jaded heart as much as his grounded realism kept her head out of the clouds.
As a result, she was piled on with expectations since an early age. Though some of her father's rigidness and discipline left a mark on Reyna, he was never around for very long as his duties kept him busy and away from home, which left most of the responsibility of raising a child with her equally overworked mother. Much of Cheyenne's technical know-how and ingenuity managed to rub off on Reyna, but that might have done more harm than good since the problem child was then able to get into even cleverer trouble and mischief whether it was sabotaging equipment (reprogramming the A/C to give hot air when you asked for cold and cold air when you asked for hot) or using it for ulterior motives (invisible laser-based tripwires triggering obnoxious air horns).
Usually, threats of her father returning home would instill the fear of God into her, so it might be safe to say her relationship with him wasn't the healthiest. She saw his lack of presence as an invitation for blatantly disrespecting his authority, or at least she did whenever it was behind his back. An active fear of her father and his punishment would influence how she views and approaches men later in life, but one possible reason for her father's emotional distance could be a sense of failure on his part. He had hoped a child might follow in his footsteps, but much to his dismay, the child never seemed to show any real respect for him or his authority and he knew much of that had to do with his lack of presence. He was met with an impasse, since he also couldn't just let the girl be as rowdy as she wanted to be.
It wasn't all bad though. Her mother only ever pulled that threat card whenever Reyna was truly out of control. Aside from that, the pair got together swimmingly! All throughout her childhood and adolescence, she'd often join her mother on business trips to the Citadel, and every time she did, Reyna would be utterly fascinated by the wide array of species and cultures on board the station. The funny elcor, the weird hanar, the cool turians, the scary krogan, the mysterious quarians, the captivating asari - and the station! It was so huge and exciting, she thought she would never be able to explore every single inch of the place. Her dad was never around long enough to leave any imprint of his prejudice on her, and with the First Contact War before her time, she never seemed to feel the repercussions of the conflict.
She was an explorer at heart, and nothing fascinated her more than the fantasy of searching for and exploring new lands, and that was shown in her fascination with exploring the Citadel. Every time her mother took her, and whenever her business there was concluded, Reyna would beg and beg to hold her mom's hand while they toured around the Citadel. Not just through the Presidium either - the girl wanted to find every nook and cranny that could be found! Her mother obliged most of the time, until her daughter's unbridled curiosity would lead them toward an unsafe district or area of restricted access. Well, one time Reyna got tired of the safety rails and went against her mother's wishes and her own better judgement. In her early adolescence, she nearly risked her life when she sneaked away and prowled inside a docking bay during a ship's take off. Her expedition took a major left turn when the lack of proper maintenance and thorough inspection of the engine's filters exposed her to a sudden burst of eezo dust that made her fall over, terribly ill.
Quickly spotted by dock officials, she was rushed to Huerta Memorial Hospital where she was promptly taken care of. The team managed to restore her vitals to normal levels and they kept her in their care for a while to be sure the exposure to element zero wasn't going to leave any lasting effects on her. A frantic mother came rushing to her side the moment she heard the news, paired with the rare sighting of her father. His apparent concern somehow both warmed and annoyed her at the same. Then came the shit: Citadel Security Services got on her and her parents' asses for entering/allowing kids to enter restricted areas of the Citadel. Of course, Reyna was never allowed, and eventually C-Sec came to understand that after also coming to understand Reyna's stubborn attitude and... "free spirit". They were ordered to keep her on lock-down while on the Citadel or to keep her on Earth. Her parents agreed, though they didn't seem to care very much about the penalty. Her mother was just relieved that she had her daughter alive and healthy. Her father? Well, he seemed pleasantly surprised by the news of the latest test results. Thanks to the exposure to element zero, Reyna had become a registered biotic at age 14.
After they returned home, she was grounded for months. Nothing but catching up on her studies and exercising when she needed to, but on top of that? Zip. Her father Riley had additional plans. While at first screamingly furious, he came to learn to be happy for his little girl. Not just for her health and safety, but also for her newfound potential as a biotic. He seemed to invest more time into her than he did in her earlier childhood and managed to scrounge up the money for L3 implants and the services of biofeedback therapists, but not before exposing her to a handful of vids featuring the asari huntresses and their awesome biotic powers. He wanted Reyna to get amped up and ready for it instead of just forcing her to get machinery shoved into her brain - and it absolutely worked.
At first. As she got older and began approaching adulthood, just beginning to get a grasp on the simplest of biotic mnemonics, she had a lot of time to slow down and start thinking and listening more. Over the years, the more she thought and the more arguments between her parents she pretended to be deaf to, the more her relationship with her father seemed to deteriorate again. Her mother felt that her father was pushing Reyna too hard to hone her biotics, that it was beginning to seem like he was doing it because he wanted it - not because he was trying to support what Reyna wanted. Hearing that hit a chord in their daughter, and suddenly she wasn't so sure how to feel about this "gift." She understood that her dad wanted this for her so that she'd be "better off in the end", but she began questioning her own decisions.
Still, not every fiber of her being hated him. Some part of her looked up to him and what he did, because after all, Riley was an N7 badass. Despite that, she was just sad that he wasn't a better father because of it. She didn't want to follow directly in his footsteps and potentially be the same kind of jaded person as him, but some part of her did want to make him proud even if she didn't want to admit it. That's one of several reasons why, in 2177 when she was 16, her heart sank when she the news reached her from Akuze, regarding the pioneers and fifty marines killed by a thresher maw. It was one reason why she wanted to enlist with C-Sec 2 years later, but they only took council-represented species and individuals who have proven their merit, so she was forced to settle with enlisting with an Alliance peacekeeping force. Her dad might have showed her which end of the gun fired the bullet, but he never had the time to show her tactics the way the Alliance did, he never taught her the importance of teamwork like the Alliance did, nor did he have a specialist that taught her how to use her biotics more efficiently. She became the subject of some belittlement among the force when she stood quite a bit shorter than the rest of her new comrades, but she was determined to not let it deter her. She received training as a recruit for about a year until she was released into the field at 19.
It worked out for her in any case, even as young as she was. She was always an athletic one, and the regimen from the program did help to cool her head down a little as well as show her a thing or two about firearms and explosives. Her days as a troublesome kid actually came in handy! She knew cities, geography, ships, and station layouts almost intuitively. Whether it was figuring out where all the nooks and crannies were, giving chase, or giving insight into what a suspect might be thinking, she had something to contribute. The tech knowledge that her mother taught her came in handy time and time again when it came to knowing how to work the consoles and terminals, and her casual nature made her rather approachable to civilians. She excelled most of all in close quarters combat scenarios, both in the general sense and in hand-to-hand, having demonstrated the martial skill and strength to thrive in those situations. Some of her compatriots called her "the smallest krogan ever", though whether it was supposed to be an endearing tease or mean-spirited taunt was sometimes hard to discern.
It wasn't all what it was cut out to be, though. The charm and excitement of it had begun to wear off after a couple years' time, as no amount of light-speed chases or high-profile murder mysteries could keep her from becoming increasingly agitated with the amount of bureaucratic red tape that threatened to trip her feet every step of the way. What's more, it could only contain her attention for so long before it started drifting off towards the stars again. Even as blood-pumping as the job could sometimes be, there was an ever-present and growing thirst of wanderlust that was waiting to be sated. When her initial contract with the Alliance ended after three years, she resigned on impulse and went looking for something that might take her to far away places. Her skill set limited her options, so she decided to sign on with something similar. She found the private security agency, Elanus Risk Control Services.
In doing so, she requested to be assigned to a contract with a research department where she could be out in the field and was ultimately assigned to an exoarchaeology team that was based out of the Citadel. It was a win-win, given how many jarheads would rather be in the center of the action or somewhere within a certain radius of a club or bar, and C-Sec personnel never left the station to be escorts. The exoarchaeology team specializing in studying Prothean relics (and possibly digging them up if they were lucky) was much more exciting to her - and the expedition team has been requesting precautionary security after the Akuze incident. The team, consisting of two asari and a salarian, probably never expected their security to be a 22-year old human as excitable and enthusiastic for exploration and discovery as they were.
The team became more than willing to pay the regular fees as they and Reyna had become virtually inseparable. The two asari, T'lee and Vesalia, were like two intelligent older sisters that found just as much enjoyment in teasing the human girl as they did in showing her what they knew about their craft. T'lee was the younger of the two and connected with Reyna almost immediately, as they both had the same time of giddiness in uncovering the unknown while Vesalia was more dignified and debonair. The salarian, Jarros, was virtually encyclopedic and was like the tired and annoyed dad-figure trying to shepherd everyone along in a way. Despite each individual's passion, there was never any massive, ground-breaking discoveries beyond the odd artifact or knick-knack. An expedition on Therum that had ultimately turned up nothing of note did however end in a confrontation that resulted in Reyna standing off against a rogue scavenger. The shootout forced her to utilize everything at her disposal: first, she popped a small biotic barrier and layed down suppressive fire as soon as the ambush began in order to give her team the time to find cover. Once they were safe and sound, she frisbee-tossed a trip mine in the scavenger's direction to create a massive plume of dust and smoke, then closed the distance with a tactical cloak and disarmed them by destroying their weapon with her omni-blade. Holding them at gunpoint, she showed mercy by allowed them one chance to run away.
The team was thankful of course, and honestly a little surprised that Reyna was kinda good at her job. T'lee and Vesalia was intrigued most of all that Reyna was a biotic all this time and never said anything about it. "It wasn't important," Reyna said. Despite her disappointment of an answer, the two asari were actually rather competent biotics themselves (just... not combat trained), and offered to help her refine her abilities. If for whatever reason Reyna was with them while off-duty, they'd teach her all the tips and tricks they knew about biotics whenever Reyna wasn't working with biofeedback therapists. This lasted until this accelerated learning got her reasonably caught up with other biotics around her age. She never realized how shabby she really was at it until T'lee and Vesalia started showing her the ropes. Aside from that? Countless more adventures. They learned from that last encounter to practice proper precautions, and let Reyna scout around the area first before establishing a dig.
Reyna has deep-seated regrets over not being present for the Battle of the Citadel when the geth attacked in 2183 a year later, as she and her team were in the Attican Beta cluster at the time, studying the Prothean aqueducts on Feros in addition to providing relief efforts following the Thorian incident that had occurred there. Most of the geth that were in the system moved to attack the Citadel. Her team talked her down into trying to return, because after all, they weren't a combat team! They weren't prepared to enter a full-scale battle, and what was one more security officer to the Citadel than just another dead body? She conceded and remained with her partners. The Citadel and the Alliance went on to win that battle even without her, but ever since, Reyna felt dirty for not having been there when they needed every person they could get their hands on.
Her guilt became even worse when she learned that her mother was on the station when they attacked. Her father was on one of the Alliance ships. She never heard from either of them again after that battle. The following year wasn't the same after that; nothing was, really, and she learned to distrust AI with every fiber of her being. She still found her escape in exploring and discovering, as it was her way of running away. She still had family in T'lee, Vesalia, and Jarros, and yet... she felt gross in saying that. Disgusted. Almost like she was betraying her real family's memory by rubbing salt into a wound. When she heard of the Andromeda Initiative and what it stood for, it sounded like a dream and a second chance both wrapped up in a neat little package. She still said her goodbyes to her team though, she didn't want to look back on the Milky Way with any more regrets. She didn't want to betray them too.
There was a system as to how the Initiative prioritized the order in which the cryo-pods opened. Aside from key administrative personnel and Pathfinder teams, generalists typically came first once the Nexus was stabilized, followed by specialists. As young as Reyna was, what did she have to offer? Well, she was pretty much a textbook case of generalist, but most importantly she has always viewed herself as an explorer first and foremost. What the Initiative needed were scouts and pioneers to help find the way, and even with as much admiration Reyna had for the chosen Pathfinders, God be damned if she was gonna let them hog all of the glory in that. She inherited the years of research on photonic engineering and cloaking tech that her mother left behind to bring with her, she was as tech savvy as her mother could make her, had six years of security experience under her belt, and she was a registered biotic. She had her dad to thank for that. In the end, despite not following in his footsteps, it seemed like she grew to be a little jaded anyways. It's funny how things work out sometimes.
So finally, she got onto the Nexus for a long six hundred plus year one-way trip. She hatched only fairly recently, only a month before the Hyperion arrived amidst concern that none of the Pathfinders will make it to Andromeda, in preparation for attempting new colonies. But now that the human Pathfinder is here, there is rumor going around that she was nominated as a candidate for APEX. Apparently it's quite an honor, especially considering that would make her one of their youngest operatives - unless you count the salarians.
"I took the path less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."
Personality: Reyna has come to Andromeda bearing a lot of loss and guilt on her shoulders, slightly jaded, but it seems like she tries her damnedest to push on like her mother did before her -- and it can be seen in her eyes, that pain in her chest that attempts to bury and hide as puts up a smile and a brave face. She buries it with unrelenting cheer reminiscent of her youth, allowing herself to be excitable and playful, and she can be much like an angaran in how she feels her emotions freely and strongly. However, this also means she was born with a quick temper that takes some time and attrition to coax down and is rarely the type to say sorry first. This temperament was disciplined a fair bit after she signed up with the Alliance, so she has a little more restraint. She otherwise expresses herself freely and unabashedly, as if allowing the feelings of the moment to be untethered to any inhibitions lets her forget the feelings she's buried in the past. She’s also quite prideful of herself, and she takes challenges and contests very seriously to the extent that she might be an obnoxious winner or bummed out loser, as either result can have a grand impact on her esteem. Her lack of presence during the Battle of the Citadel is a prime example in this regard, as she has a tendency to carry all of her failures with her.
Much of her tough competitive side stems from growing up in densely populated Earth cities where being tough meant respect, and the fact that her father was never around meant there was never a heavy hand around that kept her from plowing over her hard-working mother. When appealed to her interests however, she reacts in what many would consider exaggerated excitement. For example, she is an explorer at heart (as emphasized numerous times already). She loves discovery and, surprisingly enough for a city girl, enjoys nature! Especially any remote locations untouched by civilization. There also exists a fascination for bugs, fossils, artifacts, ancient relics and architecture, and bones. When these interests are appealed to, she shows a complete change in character: her eyes light up, a toothy grin from ear to ear, and her stern voice is replaced with what turns out to really be a talkative, excitable girl who embodies the senses of wonder and wanderlust. This child-like giddiness usually catches off guard anyone who is not wholly familiar with her and has only met with her abrasive side. Not just that, she has a curious fondness for poetry - not to say she practices, but she appreciates the art.
There are unique distinctions in her interactions with others which are dependent upon the other’s gender. Even as someone who identifies as bisexual, she approaches men with more caution, and is usually dismissive of their advances after being spurned and harassed one too many times. Even if acknowledging that a man might be attractive, she is still quick to judge or doubt their intentions. Even outside of romance, she holds her ground whenever she's in conversation with men as she fully expects to defend herself and what she knows to be true. She doesn't judge those who are or would engage in inter-species relationships, though she wouldn't think she'd do so herself - with exceptions. She still finds herself with a predilection for asari despite the fact.
She came to Andromeda dreaming of a new life of exploration and discovery, to find and experience things no one else has before and to find a second chance at a life without regrets. Her experiences in the Milky Way has definitely made her less impulsive and more prone to careful thought in approaching a dire situation. She has every intention of giving the Initiative everything she has for the betterment of all of the colonists. If Reyna has learned anything, it's that there is one question she should ask herself before deciding anything: "Will I regret this?"
She's mostly a scout out in the field and can lay trip mines in key choke points or routes to either cripple supply lines or simply alerting everyone within a couple miles' radius of an enemy's location, but sometimes your back is against the wall. When it comes down to the nitty gritty in combat, she channels all of the pent up frustration, angst, and anger that has been welling up over the past two years (well, 635 years). Her style is reckless, which can be seen in how she uses her biotics to charge right into the fray and trust in her biotic barrier and her armor's shields to keep her alive and well long enough to quickly dispatch the hostile with her omni-blade or souped up pistol - assuming her biotics didn't knock them out right away. If she's in there for too long, she relies on her mother's cloaking technology to get her out of the fray quickly and recharge, before hitting them hard and fast again. Her biotics allow her to blink around the battlefield quickly and over a fair distance, meaning she is able to cover a lot of ground in a short amount of time. These kinds of guerrilla hit-and-run ambush tactics is great for either quick assassinations or battles of attrition, and her close-quarters-combat expertise allows her to thrive where the intensity would normally be suffocating to others.
Despite her shortcomings, Reyna is an exuberant and faithful companion once you can look past her attitude. She exudes great positive energy when she’s in a good mood and is very confident and flirty in social interactions, even if just to a playful or platonic extent. Once she considers you family, there’s virtually nothing that she’ll let stand in her way to protect you - not after the last two families she had to leave behind. While her skill set may allow her to thrive best while acting as a lone wolf, she actually prefers the sense of community that working in a team provides - just as expected from someone who puts so much value into family.
Reason for being awoken from Cryo: Fear of the possibility of no Pathfinder making it across dark space, Reyna was awoken in a second wave of explorers and pioneers to help the Milky Way colonists find a viable home somewhere in Andromeda. Now that the human Pathfinder is here, she's fighting for her right to be out in the field so that she can stick her nose right in the face of discovery.
"Just a friendly reminder: I have a gun."
Equipment:
Reyna dons the Initiative Spearpoint armor with a built in jump jet and washed-out red paint job with a black secondary color. The armor is as equally useful for exploration as it is for combat, but with one major difference: she replaced the chest piece with Hyperguardian armor, allowing immense protection to her vitals in addition to amplifying her physical strength. The only weapon she carries with her is a Talon model pistol that was modded to give it a little extra kick. It's small and easy to draw, but in actuality, it feels like you're firing a shotgun. This little hand cannon has enough power to punch a hole straight through someone's shields. Too bad it has a small clip.
She is also highly reliant on her omni-tool for scanning new and undiscovered specimens, and the omni-blade that comes with it.
Reyna incorporated the same concept of the tattoo on her wrist into a piece of her armor in a more sophisticated fashion. A piece of it was treated with a special polymer that reacts with the electromagnetic spectrum and changes in color and luminosity depending on the wavelengths it is exposed to, with small squares side by side for each wavelength. This has proven to be useful when the interference of such wavelengths may interfere with her omni-tool's scanner.
Powers:
Adrenaline Rush
Trip Mine
Backlash
Charge
Sabotage
Tactical Cloak
Font Colour: LightCoral
"Light coral, pfft! What? Come on, it's fucking red."
@Spoopy Scary awesome we’ll put ya over to the reserves you’re currently at the top of that list so thanks for making these edits and your continued interest. :)
Okay guys! We need to sound off on who is going to be participating in the group party collab. This collab is meant to be posted after introductory posts have been completed so please don't feel rushed, this is also entirely optional. I know DJ has already written a reply, Fallen had opted out.
GM's are going to act as engagement pulling respective players into this mingling group so there's no sweat on your part to try to cook up a reason why your character would suddenly be participating with a group of strangers. Please let us know.
The link to the collab gdoc is pinned in discord.
Considering Clyff's random involvement in RPs and his non-reaction on Eos--- I figure that he won't know anyone. So I'll be skipping out on the collab. As much as it hurts me to.
1x Laugh
