Name: Efere of the Many Moons

Age: 23

Gender: Female

Race: Animated Quartizite Statue

Genotype: Newly Sentient Being

Expedition Position: Bodyguard / Priestess of All Moons

Appearance: A tall figure cloaked in swathes of midnight fabric, Efere is an imposing figure who towers above most of the sad, wretched creatures of the wastelands. A mountain powered by her own willpower, Efere moves with the unflinching and unwavering flow of an avalanche, a fitting demeanor for one steeped in the mysteries of the All Moons. Beneath her mask and layers of clothe, Efere is a sentient creature cut from quartizite rock painted in hues of gray and faded white. Her crystal eyes dance with the green fire of the wild gardens of Ekueimikuye.







PERSONAL GOAL:

LIKES: Efere likes the products of geology and is infinitely appreciative of mountains, rocks, stones, and pebbles. Although the moon priestess harbors no particular disdain for cities, she prefers the untamed wilderness to the ordered cities that have begun to rise from ruins of the past. A happy traveler of the lands, Efere enjoys hearing stories from her organic companions when they require rest.

DISLIKES: The greatest disdain that Efere can muster is directed at those that destroy without thought. Having long since adopted a geological view of time, Efere believes in preserving what remains of the world and protecting the memories of the past.

QUIRKS: Perhaps as a result of her quartizite nature, Efere is especially fond of rocks, all rocks. While wandering across the desolate landscape she takes time to look for interesting rocks that she stores in a growing collection kept in a cloth carefully trucked into the sleeve of her robe.



An Ekumian warrior-priest who wears a Frowning Moon Mask and is adept at fighting. Tough, hearty, and good with all manner of axes.



ATTRIBUTES:

Master of Arms - A loyal subject of the Holy City, Efere is a peerless master with all manner of melee weapons, and for a supposed mystic is alarmingly talented at cutting her foes into tiny pieces. Why exactly a priestess has spent year studying the finer aspects of axe based butchery is a question that Efere answers with a disinterested shrug.

Rock Hard - As an animated statue carved out of quartizite by the True Kin scholar Lagaishin Umur, Efere has been blessed with an exceedingly thick skin of metamorphic rock that is harder than granite. Spared the weakness of poorly designed organs, a limited supply of blood, or a need to expend energy on things like breathing Efere is a far tougher than most organic creatures.

CYBERNETICS:

Nano-neuro Animator - Eferen has been gifted full sentience thanks to the application of a neuro animator which has knitted a nervous system into her inorganic body, buried a sharp brain in her quartizite head, and given life to her crystal eyes thanks to a stream of friendly nanites.

EQUIPMENT:


INVENTORY:

//YOUR SELF

Name: Victarius Ravencroft

Age: 24

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Genotype (Unavaliable for Robots): True Kin

Morphotype (Only Avaliable for Mutant): NA

Expedition Position: Researcher

Appearance:





//YOUR SOUL

PERSONAL GOAL: Victarius has many goals. He has been assigned the side task of collecting what technology he can from the outside world, as well as categorizing its flora and fauna. The Sky-Lattice itself has sent him forth to reach the Spindle, with further instructions awaiting as he draws closer. House Ravencroft have secretly assigned him to find the Sekhmet data disk.

LIKES: Chivalry, Order, Chocolate.

DISLIKES: Being called 'Vic', pragmatists, nihilists.

QUIRKS: As a boy Victarius created a mechanical pet feline, at first no larger than a kitten. As he grew larger so too would he modify the jet-black robot until it would reach its current size of being a fully fledged panther bot. It has been programmed both to act with the natural instincts and grace a living feline would as well having been programmed to have complete obedience to its creator. It has sensitive hearing as well as smell, as well as the usual razor-sharp claws and teeth that its biological brethren share. As would be expected, it has been programmed to act as an ambush predator.

//YOUR PAST

An ivory albatross soared high above the unending sea of clouds, a bright sun shining warmly down upon it. It was alone and free as it flew, and as Victarius watched it, he wondered how he would fare when soon he would be the same. The avian made brief eye contact with him, as if wishing him luck with his future endeavors. The door behind him opened and he looked back over his shoulder. It was Eve. Turning back to the wall sized glass window that he had been staring out of for the better part of half an hour, it was gone.

The female modeled service bot had been owned by the Ravencroft family for several generations and had not only raised Victarius but also his father and his father’s father before him. The automaton was cold pink steel in a matronly hourglass shape, with a screen replacing the head with pink alphabet characters similar to a digital clock. When she spoke, her words were both visible in pink text on the screen and audibly spoken in a jarring robotic voice.

“Your A.E.K. has been successfully packed within the shuttle along the rest of your belongings. It leaves in approximately 9 minutes and 37 seconds. Are you prepared to head to the jettison junction?”

He took a final look around the room. He had spent his entire life in rooms like this one, with network terminals and screens in them. Learning about the world that lay underneath the layer of clouds beneath them, hiding them from the world. It seemed surreal and completely ridiculous that he would soon be down there. He was already wearing his P.A.S. and had long since finished his own preparations. There was nothing left to do but to start his journey, even if he suddenly was feeling anxious and timid.

He wanted to hide behind Eve as he had done as a child when he had first witnessed terrible lightning and thunderstorms, so fierce high in the heavens as they were. But he was no longer a child, and they had made clear that no other could take up this task but him. They would not have the time, resources, or manpower to send anyone else if he should fail. Taking a deep breath within his enclosed visor, he followed Eve into the brightly lit chrome hallway and towards the junction. As they walked, the overhead lights flickered, dulled, and went out for a heartbeat or two before coming back on in a snap.

“They’re really counting on some young fuck up like me to handle this? There are a ton of way more qualified people, even among my peers! What the fuck were they thinking, entrusting the fate of the entire Arcology to a fuck up like me?! I mean –“

“You already know why you were chosen. Besides, your ancestors have faced much worse odds. I remember 300 years ago your great-grandfather was tasked with –“

“I don’t care about what happened 300 years ago and what some dead hero of the past did! Good for him, but I’m not like my ancestors! I’m not some super genius inventor like Vergil or a prodigy Mechbot Pilot like Vicious!”

“Through carefully selected breeding programs, you share approximately-"

“Shut up! Fuck, I’ll go. But I want you to know that your more than likely sending me off to my death. Dehydration if I’m lucky! But you aren’t programmed to care about that, are you? Just raise the kiddies on up and send ‘em off to slaughter. Ya know what? Whatever is waiting for me down there can’t be worse than it is up here!”

They had entered the junction as they walked and talked, and a large number of torpedo looking cylinders lay in individual docking bays, each shining brightly. There was a number of empty docking bays without their pods, and to Victarius the dispersal units looked more like coffins than any kind of form of transportation. Tears were welling up in his eyes now, and he slammed a suit covered fist on the large green OPEN button on the panel next to the sarcophagus that had been chosen and prepped for him.

The thin rectangular door slid open to reveal a seat in which his robotic companion was curled up and in a type of ‘rest’ mode. Awakened by the opening of the door, it’s yellow-colored electric eyes opened and it yawned and did the kind of stretch only felines do. Seeing this made Victarius feel a little better, and he climbed into the pod and sat down, placing the robotic panther on his lap. Eve stood outside the pod and said; “One last thing. I have a video message for you from your father.”

The screen that was her face went pitch black for a second before being replaced with a video of his father, sitting in the same chair as ever. The man was not old by their Arcology’s standards, only 101. Yet his health was of that of a 130-year-old. He had deep lines in his face and sagging greying flesh. He had all manner of tubes and IV’s coming in and out of his body, a oxygen mask strapped to his face. He took a deep and rigid breath before wheezing;

“My son… the time has come… We have calculated your trajectory… to land in Irisveld… where there are… other True Kin, like yourself… We have arranged… for you to meet… with the Putus Templars… You go now…with my trust… and my love…”

The screen faded to black, and Eve punched the red LAUNCH button. The door shut instantaneously and he felt the lurch of gravity as he was disconnected from the Sky-Lattice and was shot like a bullet towards the ground. He felt nausea taking hold and his emotions raged within him. He was almost grateful when darkness enveloped him, and he lost consciousness.

//YOUR PERSON

ATTRIBUTES:
Well Educated - In comparison to the vast majority of the world’s inhabitants, the people of various Archology’s tend towards extremes of knowing vast amounts and knowing even less than the average mutant. Though the people of the Sky-Lattice are highly stratified, Victarius has had the benefit of learning much about the history of Qud from various old world educational tools.

House Ravencroft – Being the sole child and heir to the main branch of the Ravencroft family of the Sky-Lattice, Victarius has access to materials and information that are out of the reach of even many of his fellow citizens. These additional resources don’t come without cost though, as his aging parents expect nothing less than perfection in all that he undertakes. Failure is not an option.

Heart of… Wires? – Because Victarius has spent so much time around automatons during his life, including having been raised by them, he seems to have an unusual aptitude for manipulating and/or befriending them. This can take the form of knowing proper verbal ques to get around typical software programming or in actual hardware tampering.

CYBERNETICS (Only For True Kin): -Interface Jack: Puppethead Edition: All inhabitants of the arcology receive an Interface Jack as a sign of transitioning from childhood to adulthood, usually given at 21. These allow for the inhabitants to interconnect with much of the old-world technology left behind by the Eaters, such as computers, vehicles, and rumor says even some weaponry. The puppethead edition places the interface jack at the base of where the skull connects to the spinal cord, and can be hidden by the growth of hair.

-Photosynthetic Cellular Receptors MK. I: An experimental cybernetic that was tailor-made for Victarius neural network. Implanted via syringe filled with nanobots, its purpose is to reduce the required fluid intake as well as required food and nutrients. This early model is unable to include sleep in its reductive capabilities. It is only capable of self-replication for 1 year before expiring.

-Organic Regenerative Stimulant MK IV: A cybernetic enhancement designed to expedite the recovery process. Initial versions of the cybernetic were known to cause rapid healing at the cost of causing cellular degradation and ultimately a reduction in the person's lifespan. More recent iterations (including this one) have managed to stopgap this problem by instead relying heavily on huge quantities of caloric intake.

Mutations (Only for Mutants): None

EQUIPMENT: -Personal Arcology Suit (P.A.S): These suits are some of the most highly sophisticated pieces of technology within the Sky-Lattice Arcology. Regularly used by the people of the Sky-Lattice, either by the brave few who leave its safety to scavenge the outer world for resources that cannot be created generated from within or by its inhabitants. The citizens of the Sky-Lattice live in a hyper-sterilized environment after a plague outbreak decimated the arcology centuries ago. They regularly live within these suits, more similar to a biohazard or wet suit than any form of proper armor.

The suites come with fully enclosed helmets with visors that can alternate between transparent and reflective orange. When the visor is 'activated' and reflective orange, it is equipped with a built-in nocturnal ocular overlay allowing for night operations or for work to be done in the depths of ruins and the earth. The suit comes with a Geiger counter as well as a flashlight built into the chest with a hand pump connected to it. PSA's also allow for the connection between a person's neural network and the suit, allowing it to monitor a person's vital signs and provide limited medical diagnosis in real-time, as well as providing useful information such as a compass and thermometer included in the visual overlay of the visor.

Finally, while the PAS may be ineffective against bullets, blades, or blunt trauma, it serves to protect a person from not only outside disease, viruses and infection but also acts as an effective fire and corrosive retardant, as well as acts as an effective shield against radiation.

-Excalibur Class Cyber-Sword: A longsword that has been designed for ranged combat as well as close. The blade itself has been forged from carbide though it has a thin groove traveling the length of the blade from its hilt to the tip. Utilizing a concentrated beam of Gaslight, the sword can fire rounds equivalent to a typical ballistic rifle. The weapon is semi-automatic and has a limited number of charges before going into a cooldown mode.

-Arcology Expedition Kit: Consisting of tubes of nutri-paste, water purification tablets, three salve injectors, basic fire-starting kit, rope, knife, a small telescope, and three red flares + flare gun. The kit itself has a GPS tracking device that can be monitored from the Sky-Lattice.