The year is 2577, 500 years after a Nuclear War that ended the Age of the Nation-State. Now, the world is split between Independents; settlements and towns living a hardscrabble life in the wastelands, and the Ruling Corporations, eight large organizations that have siezed large portions of the planet and its people for themselves. The majority of the Ruling Corporations' personnel are tyrannical and arbitrary, twisted by long isolation from the masses whose work supports their way of life. The average person in Corporate territory lives in fear, bowed down by heavy burdens in a soulless environment, before a quick and painful death.

Complicating the picture are the Neural Combatants (NCs), giant humanoid machines left behind by the nations of the world before everything burned in nuclear fire. Using technology that binds together brain and machine, all NCs have Cores that cannot be duplicated by even the most advanced Corporation; these Cores, when attached to a body, allow the pilot to conduct feats of strength and speed that border on the supernatural. In essence, Neural Combatants use technology that make Mecha work; the impractical made practical. The more NC Cores a Corporation has, the better they are in the constant warfare that covers the planet today.

But NCs are also what allow Independents to maintain their remaining autonomy, and Mercenaries to operate without excessive restrictions from the MegaCorps. One such outfit of Mercenaries is the Electrum Company, a motely group of veteran pilots from various Independents, mid-level defectors from the MegaCorps, and new recruits that show exceptional potential as pilots. Leased the island of Socotra by the rulers of the Middle East, Al-Amir Group of Companies (descended from the Agha Khan Development Network), the Electrum Company is tasked with doing various jobs for whoever can pay; whether they be Independent or MegaCorp.

In essence, you guys are Mecha Pilots-for-hire and members of the Electrum Company who do missions for various savory and unsavory parties, and may or may not stumble into a conspiracy that can shake up the whole world.

Consult the Lore Thread linked above if you want more info!

Rules

1.) No godmoding, metagaming, or mary sues.
2.) Be civil.
3.) No Anti-LGBT stuff.
4.) Post length is five sentences minimum, but longer posts are encouraged, of course. GMs are also bound by this rule.
5.) If your character is a spy trying to bring down the Electrum Company, please give the other PCs a chance to discover you, and be helpful to them when you can; we only have one group of PCs and one main base, and being obstructive to them IC will reduce their fun OOC.
6.) Consult the Lore Thread (linked under the picture) if you want to know more about how NCs, Independents, and Corporations work!

Here are the rules on characters and NC's: (last rules, I swear.)

You can have up to two characters, an NC pilot and a close friend/lover/anything else.

[b]Name:[/b]

[b]Appearance:[/b]

[b]Age:[/b]

[b]Personality:[/b]

[b]Backstory:[/b]

[b]Tactical Preferences and Skills:[/b]

[b]Notes:[/b]

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[b]NC Character Sheet:[/b]

[b]Code-name:[/b]

[b]Appearance:[/b]

[b]Body Type: (Bipedal, Hover, Tank-Tread, .etc)[/b]

[b]Type of NC: (General-Purpose, Interception, Assault, .etc)[/b]

[b]Equipment & Armaments[/b]:

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Character Types needed:

Field-Captain (Jack of all Trades - 1 GM Slot):

Long-ranged Specialist (Sniper/Light Artillery - 1 Slots):

Utility (Healer/Hacker - 1 Slots):

Support (Antii-Aircraft/Machine Guns 2 Slots):

Assault (Melee/Assault Rifles/Flamethrowers 2 Slots):

Heavy (Heavy Artillery and Armor 1 Slot):

@Conscripts@Duoya@DeadDrop@Gentlemanvaultboy@Avanhelsing@Thecrash20@Thecrash20@Bartimaeus@Shin:

For redundancy's sake, this is the OOC.

Yay! That was quick! I'll try to have my CS up today or tomorrow. Thinking of some sort of light to mid-weight assault, amphibious and guerilla warfare sort of affair. If that sounds alright to you.

Including the GM, we’ve got an almost guarenteed 5 participants. These people include: LetterBee(GM), Conscripts, Myself, GentlmanVaultBoy, Arisen.

Hooray!

Other tentative interests have been shown, and including those we have more players than required. Looking for 8 total, but if you’ve already stated your interest, wiggle room might be in order if we can find something acceptable.

I'm here, and I'll be honored to play as your antagonist. If the number of players showing up is not that many, I will play along with you guys too.

@DeadDrop, forgot to ping you, but here is the OOC Thread.

Saw your Interest Check, seems interesting enough, and I've always had a soft spot for big stompy robots.

intro post says NCs are all humanoid, but the sheet implies there are non-humanoid NCs? need more info on that. Also, what's a standard fight look like with these things? Are we talking Chromehounds, Armored Core, Mechwarrior?

P.S. what's the scale as well? is there david-vs-goliath size variation?

Saw your Interest Check, seems interesting enough, and I've always had a soft spot for big stompy robots.

intro post says NCs are all humanoid, but the sheet implies there are non-humanoid NCs? need more info on that. Also, what's a standard fight look like with these things? Are we talking Chromehounds, Armored Core, Mechwarrior?

P.S. what's the scale as well? is there david-vs-goliath size variation?

Majority of Mechs are humanoid, but if your brain is flexible enough, you can pilot a non-humanoid NC. Also, it's closer to Anime, sadly.

Scale is variable; most Mechs are 8 feet tall, but larger models exist.

<Snipped quote by ArmorPlated>

Majority of Mechs are humanoid, but if your brain is flexible enough, you can pilot a non-humanoid NC. Also, it's closer to Anime, sadly.

Scale is variable; most Mechs are 8 feet tall, but larger models exist.

8 feet? that's basically power-armor with highheels.

<Snipped quote by Letter Bee>

8 feet? that's basically power-armor with highheels.

Oh, I meant eight meters, not feet.

<Snipped quote by ArmorPlated>

Oh, I meant eight meters, not feet.

ahh, alright. I can work with that. I think I've got a character concept I can use, though I'd like to bounce some ideas off you before I post anything concrete.

<Snipped quote by Letter Bee>

ahh, alright. I can work with that. I think I've got a character concept I can use, though I'd like to bounce some ideas off you before I post anything concrete.

Please do; I'd welcome it!

Saw your Interest Check, seems interesting enough, and I've always had a soft spot for big stompy robots.

intro post says NCs are all humanoid, but the sheet implies there are non-humanoid NCs? need more info on that. Also, what's a standard fight look like with these things? Are we talking Chromehounds, Armored Core, Mechwarrior?

P.S. what's the scale as well? is there david-vs-goliath size variation?

The source material from the setting is heavily inspired by Armored Core, so that’s not a stretch to use. Perhaps this write-up that the author wrote will be valuable:

NC’s are commonly made out of six parts; The propulsion unit, more simply known as the legs, which contain the primary non-flight method of movement and commonly fuel tanks, and in some cases lighter weapons. The arms carry the heaviest non-specialist armaments in most cases, alongside targeting equipment. The head of an NC contains the obvious, such as (simple) radar and the most powerful sensory equipment, alongside mapping software. The chest holds the neural net itself, covering the cockpit, and the primary micro-fusion generator.

The fusion generator itself directly powers the thruster array situated around the chest of your standard NC, yet other vernier setups are common, such as ‘wing’ arrays. Legs also hold additional thrusters or even additional power setups often enough as well, if it’s deemed necessary by the NC’s pilot or architect. Additionally, more powerful radars or sensory equipment mounted externally from the main body parts are also fairly abundant. In total, NC’s can carry up to eight weapon systems or optional equipment packages, although ‘filling out every slot’ is amusingly expensive and needless to most NC pilots. The most common points to mount are each hand, the shoulders, two miniature weapons in the head, two on the hips, and two on the back.

Beyond that, I’m uncertain what adjustments have been made by Letter, so it’ll be wiser to discuss such things with him personally.

@Letter Bee I'll send you a PM. don't want to clog the OOC with back-and-forth.

@Inkarnate

I read the lore thread, and definitely got that ArmoredCore flavor (Also, AC? NC? too perfect.)

Though the setting seems like it took the most from AC:4 continuity, and I prefer the AC:3 line.

I read the lore thread, and definitely got that ArmoredCore flavor (Also, AC? NC? too perfect.)

Though the setting seems like it took the most from AC:4 continuity, and I prefer the AC:3 line.

You would have to ask LHG100 about that, lol.

I've always been a big fan of Armored Core (I played the original demo for the first game way back on the original Playstation), so I guess that is what attracted to me to NC Quest. I suppose the similar premise of corporations and the like ala Mechwarrior/BattleTech also appealed to me, too.

@Shin, @ArmorPlated, your CSes?

@Letter Bee

I usually take my time on CSes. If I move too fast, I might leave gaps or miss some lore.

@ArmorPlated, That's actually a laudable attitude. That said, it's useful to keep the OOC active, so can you post here every once in a while?

Name: Andrew Avalon - Field Captain

Appearance:


Age: 26, but looks 20.

Personality: Andrew is a man dedicated to a goal that is hidden from other people, including his team. A kind person who generally wants to seem optimistic due to a need to keep up a positive apperance, Andrew wishes to be loyal to his team while expecting them to be loyal to him. Though he wants to be fair, Andrew admits that despite his age, he has many inadequacies and flaws, including vanity in his good looks. Surprisingly, despite his usage of advanced science to maintain said looks and longlivety, Andrew opposes transhumanism beyond a certain point; he will not accept the alteration of fundamental human drives using scientific means.

Backstory: Andrew Avalon was born in Australia, in an Independent settlement that used to pay tribute to Red-Star before Haven emerged from its hidden Burrow and threw out the tribute collectors and their collaborators and brought relative peace to the surface. The next years were spent in education, as the Democratic Union Party of Haven organized mass literacy programs among towns and villages. Andrew found that life was happier there than it was in his early childhood, and committed himself to Haven as soon as he was old enough to be tested as an NC Pilot.

Finding himself with a fair Sync Ratio of 85%, Andrew Avalon was soon recruited into Haven's NC forces, piloting a Mech as part of the Havenite People's Protection Units in various actions against Red-Star's raiding forces. And after a string of successes and even counter-raids against the Asian MegaCorp, Andrew was 'scouted out' by a company of Mercenaries who were looking for new talent among the Independents of the world. Theodore Narra, General Commander of Haven, allowed said Mercenaries, the Electrum Company, to hire him as one of their members; the commander's rationale was that he wanted a liason in the 'mercenary scene', someone who would increase relations between Haven and various 'Merc Guilds'.

And with that, Andrew now had the perfect way to increase his experience...

Tactical Preferences and Skills: Andrew is a jack of all trades, but has mastered only few. Swords, guns, bare fists, Andrew has dabbled in many styles of fighting but is most comfortable with ranged weapons. When fighting with NCs, Andrew prefers to help his team as much as possible, shooting from mid-range, boosting Utility and Support Mech's systems, and occassionally going into melee range should circumstances be dire or he be provoked into an assault. As for non-combat skills, Andrew is a cook, a singer, and knows how to maintain his own guns and his NC.

Notes: Andrew is Bisexual.

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NC Character Sheet:

Code-name: Angel of Kobane.

Appearance:


Body Type: Bipedal/Hover

Type of NC: General-Purpose

Equipment & Armaments: Gauss Blaster that shoots both regular bullets and explosive gel, a meta-material blade that can encase itself in an energy field, and a dagger and chest-mounted set of machine guns for close combat. But the trump card of Kobane are two things: A 'Quantum Signal Booster' that increases the speed and encryption of Inter-NC communication, and a 'Wireless Energy Transmitter' that allows it to provide extra power from its fusion reactor to other NCs on its team. Said fusion reactor is also extra-efficient compared to other NCs...

Name: Pumpkin Slicer

Appearance:

Age:Early 30s

Personality: A paranoid and eccentric man, Slice believes that there is an underlying pattern to all things and if he can just find and correctly interpret the sighs and portents he can stay on the "golden" path through life. Unfortunately for him he sees signs and portents everywhere and has a list of false predictions a mile long, but that's just because he's still practicing, he'll get better, honest. He's also extremely superstitious, believes strongly in things like luck and magic, dosen't trust NCs, and is terrified of his own in particular because he thinks it's plotting to devour his soul. The only reason he keeps piloting it is because "it's an evil machine, and if I stop piloting it it will just find someone more pliable to sate its bloodlust with."

Backstory: No one really cared about prisoner #62487 or where he came from before he was selected for the Denver-Vegas games. Shoved into a mask, into a shoddy mech, and let loose to be hunted like an animal in the wilderness for the entertainment of the masses, his story was supposed to end in a sad and pathetic death. No one though he would do the unprecedented and actually manage to steal one of the Hunter NC's. No one thought he would have the knack for piloting in took to not only evade but actively hunt the hunting team that he was supposed to die pathetically to, nor the Corporate NCs that were sent in after he killed them all. No one thought he would be able to break through the containment around the game area. No one thought he'd be able to get out of Denver-Vegas territory. Somehow, though, history slipped off the rails and this nameless nobody managed to slip the noose that was tightening around his neck.

In the end George Allen couldn't even be that mad. It was incredible television. Still, the fugitive the public was now adoringly calling "Pumpkin Slicer" after his mask and weapon had made a fool of his company. That was something that couldn't stand. He had to be hunted down and killed, no matter where he went. Slice was forced to keep fighting, signing on to different Corp and merc squads just to get some protection from Denver-Vegas. The latest and most long lasting of these relationships is the Electrum Company.

Tactical Preferences and Skills: Slice doesn't prefer fighting at knife fight range, but he recognizes that's what he excels at and it's what his NC wants. He prefers stealth, ending fights with a surprise attack that the enemy never saw coming and breaking away if he can to hit them from another angle if the first strike fails. As for personal skills he calls himself a "fortune teller and medium" and claims to be able to perform "black magic." In practice this means he's familiar with all kinds of folklore, occultism, and ghost stories. More practical are his skills as a NC mechanic, with a intimate knowledge of their inner workings that could only come from a professional education on the subject and an uncanny ability to fine tune them in order to get maximum efficiency.

Notes:

- Only takes off his mask when alone and there's no chance at seeing his own reflection. This is to keep his NC from finding out what he looks like.

- On the personal Shit List of Denver-Vegas
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NC Character Sheet:

Code-name: Black Magic

Appearance:

Body Type: Bipedal

Type of NC: Assault

Equipment & Armaments: The most notable piece of equipment Black Magic possesses is a powerful electron jammar that renders in effectively invisible to radar. It's primary weapon is its Crescent Moon Blade, a super heated blade whose sharp edge and weight enabled it to remove an enemy NCs limbs with a single strike. It's fallback weapons are a pair of "Stake Guns" it carries of its hips, sub-machine gun like weapons that fire super heated stakes. Thought the mech possesses great speed and agility, it is practically naked when it comes to NC armor meaning its only option when faced with a heavy weapon is to dodge and pray.

The NC is also equipped with the most advanced recording hardware in the world. The recording suit in the head allows it to perfectly capture video and audio in a 360 degree area around the mech that is saved to a server inside as a VR movie that can be copied and played in any Denver-Vegas brand VR Entertainment system.