Species: Human (Venerian)


Augmentations: None.

Occupation: Ship Engineer

Skillset:

• Strengths
  
  
  • Mechanical engineering - Material engineering being her speciality, Vigdis is nonetheless capable of performing a wide variety of disciplines related to ME up to and including design of new items from scratch.
  • Electrical engineering - Low or high voltage, from robotics to reactors, Vigdis remains competent and versatile through a wide range of EE disciplines, though somewhat behind full-time electricians.
  • Cooking - Vigdis picked up the ability to turn practically any set of ingredients or leftovers into a half-decent meal at the university, a skill she credits with retaining her sanity during those five years.
• Weaknesses
  
  
  • Combat - Being a full-blown grease moneky, Vigdis only received basic training in both firearms and unarmed combat.
  • Coding - With her degree and training primary consisting of the "nuts and bolts" sort, she considers software to be dark arts.
  • Mobility Impairment - Despite corrective surgery, her ankle injury left her with a limp. While a nuisance in day-to-day, it slows her down noticebaly when running and she may require pain medication if strain is put on the injured ankle for too long.

Backstory: Vigdis was born to a pilot and a teacher in the Venerain capital, Mariner. Spurred by her father, she steered her education toward science and engineering. Initially she regretted her decision as she got hit with biology and chemistry, but all doubt was dispersed when she first used a welder. Soldiering through the all-encompassing high school, Vigdis now had a clearly defined direction when selecting her university, obtaining her master's degree in material engineering at the age of 23.

With unrest throughout Sol, Vigdis figured the military would be a good place to gain experience very quickly, entering with the rank of Specialist due to her degree. It was a good bet, as unrest throughout Sol meant a lot of damaged assets that needed to be recovered or repaired, a task Vigdis was assigned to. She spent the next four years cruising the inner Solar system between stricken ships aboard a Venerian salvage ship as part of the team getting them up and running if possible and breaking them down to be more easily towed to a scrapyard if not. Unfortunately, as is often with military and emergency services, the pay was not great, especially with the job leaving several permanent marks on her health, so by the time her EAS date came up, she already had a private sector job lined up, the Stavanger shipyard and spaceport offering a workteam supervisor position right out of the gate with some new project being commissioned.

Day by day, she and her fellow workers watched the new ship grow under their hands. Once it had been finished, Vigdis was one of the technicians tasked with maintaining the Jotunheim while it was docked at Stavanger, continuing to lead the team responsible for hull and structural frame. She happened to be on board when the fighting started, performing routine checks of one of the airlocks and had simply decided she'd be safer and more useful if she stayed aboard, especially as the launch clock ticked down toward zero and the ship's actual engineer was still nowhere to be found.

Equipment:

Name: Zeynap ‘Zey’ Kadıoğlu
Species: Human

Age: 36

Appearance:

Zey’s hair is cut short for ease of maintenance. If allowed to grow, it is wavy and dark brown with a few flecks of silver.

She stands at 5'7 and cultivates an athletic, toned build. She has an Evil Eye tattoo on her left wrist.

Augmentations:
Chemical ‘gland’ which can mix and secrete solutions into Zey’s body at will. These can include drugs for temporarily heightening concentration, improving reflexes, clearing the mind entirely and dozens of other niche applications. Zey can also experiment with the chemicals in stock to create other effects. Finally, the gland is able to also help clear the body of some toxins faster. For example alcohol. The gland has to be refilled from a port at the back of her neck after approximately 250 hours of use.

Magical affiliation: N/A

Occupation: Commander of the Jotunheim for Tamerlane Exploration

Key skills:

• Natural leader - being left largely to her own devices has instilled a strong sense of independence in Zey. When combined with her ambition and intelligence, she found that people tended to look to her for direction and she was more than happy to give it. Zey can be stubborn sometimes, but has learned to take on feedback and adjust her strategy accordingly, using the skills of her crew more.
• Fitness & kickboxing - Zey loves to exercise and keep fit. Its uses up her abundance of excess energy and provides a good distraction from her troubles. She chose kickboxing as a hobby to keep fit, but after nearly a decade of doing it, she's gotten rather good.
• Pilot - Zey has fast reaction times, intuition at the helm and doesn't let fear get in the way of success. These traits made her a brilliant test pilot, and transferred quite nicely over to being a ship's commander. She does tend to micromanage the Jotunheim's actual pilot more than the rest of the crew, but only because she's itching to get behind the wheel herself.

Backstory:
Zey is the only child of a Turkish diplomat and a translator/cultural adviser. She was raised in embassies and on the fringes of summits all over the Earth before joining the ESA cadet programme at 18. After passing with merit, she became a test pilot for experimental civilian & military prototypes. Starting with single occupant craft, Zey showed intelligence, initiative and a willingness to push the envelope which was just the right side of reckless. After a few years, her ambition secured her a co-pilot. Soon after that, she was handed the project of testing larger ships that required a crew of up to a dozen.

A decade into her career, a veteran test pilot Zeynap was headhunted by a Martian military industrial conglomerate. Her new job was to train pilots on the Red Planet how to fly a jet fighter system she had tested through from prototype to production years back. Still without a family and parents she had a testy relationship with, Zey moved to Mars and started making the big bucks. Really big bucks. Like outrageous amounts of currency.

She hated it. Being stuck in one training facility the whole time, on a planet that wasn't terraformed yet, unable to spread her wings personally. Her mental health began to deteriorate after a year or so. Zey drank, gambled and got high; anything to ease the boredom and depression. Eventually, she started getting into fights with colleagues and even students. Her firm had been willing to overlook certain misdemeanours on account of her skillset and experience, but they couldn't condone attacks on other staff.

Officially, Zey took a medical leave of absence. Unofficially, she would never instruct for them again.

Even though she longed to return to Earth, something stopped her initially. It may have been the shame of how far she'd sunk, and the dread of her highly-powered parents finding out. Or it may have been that Mars was a relatively lawless place, which suited her current frame of mind.

Eventually, Zey joined a unit of private military contractors who flew and guarded valuable shipments of raw materials between different manufacturing hubs around Solar System. The modern equivalent to Cash-In-Transit jobs of old. Well paid and usually dangerous. She flew overpowered freighters like they were fighter jets or battering rams, depending on what threatened them.

She still drank and got high, and kept assuring herself she'd pull herself together and get back to Earth soon. Whether or not she would have succeeded on her own is purely speculation now. Somehow, a representative from the Tamerlane Exploration company got in touch. Said they'd got her details from a friend at the Martian industrial conglomerate - they had an exciting job opportunity. Zey's skillset looked ideal, would she like to apply? It would mean taking command of her largest crew to date.

Zey headed back to Earth immediately, embellished what she'd achieved since going on medical leave in the interview, and got the job. The Jotunheim was already part way through construction when she arrived in Norway to get acclimated. Some of the crew had already been sourced - Zey was able to be present in some of the later interviews and tests. Because of the rapidly accelerated timeline, the crew was really only able to fly the prototype together a dozen times before the Board of Directors authorised a full maiden voyage.

Name: Tyreese Nwakaeme Darnell

Species: Human

Age: 35

Appearance:

Callsign: Ezra
Name: [REDACTED]

Species: Human

Age: [REDACTED]

Appearance (in armour):


Appearance (without armour):

Name: Fret Chappel
Species: Human (Earthican)
Appearance:



Augmentations: Fret has poor eyesight due to an injury sustained while he was in the pan Eurindian army. As such he has a cybernetic third eye implanted in his forehead which helps him to see and has all of the functionality of a smartphone of that time.
Magical affiliation: None developed yet.
Occupation: Prospector
Key skills: 1. Common Knowledge of War 2. Wilderness Survival 3. Technology
Backstory:

Fret was born to a family of 5 and was recruited out of school into the long range desert group. He saw action in the Himalayas and was present in battles between the Eurindian Technocracy and the Lunar Monarchy. The Lunar Monarchy having issued letters of marque that allowed the harassment and confiscation of goods and personnel from the Eurindian space ports and fleet. This state of affairs could not be allowed to continue.

The state of affairs that led to the creation of Eurindia was a period of techno-barbarism where warfare between rival cyber-enhanced humans vying for ownership or access to ever more advanced cyber technology and weaponry led to a complete collapse of the state. Out of this an extremely small group of enhanced humans formed the Eurindian Technocracy. During this period of unrest the Lunar colony reached ascendancy and formed a monarchy based on vast trading wealth from within the system.

Equipment:

Romer pattern rifleers rifle:

A solid projectile weapon given to line infantrymen of the Technocracy.

Stedholder pattern sidearm.

A backup weapon using solid projectiles and improved propellant.

Survival Bag.
A bag containing everything necessary to survive in the wilderness for weeks. Things included are an astronaut tent with warmth-conserving foil. Ration lamp to heat food via light. Miniature thorium "lifetime" battery of the Technocracy. Condensation collectors and poles. Improved aluminum boots. Sat-phone with backup parts. Oxygen scrubber canisters. Climbing ropes and tackle. Medi-gel. Ration foam. Maxi-fibre TM insulate clothing and bedding. Writing e-paper booklet. Knee pads. Hydrogen and Oxygen "tic-tacs". Prospectors pick and hand held diagnosticator. Cheap i-bay plastic astrolabe.

Music.

Music

Name: Kareet of Arcaeda

Species: Tekeri

Appearance: Kareet appears fairly average, compared to most Tekeri. She has deep black, generally well-kept feathers and stands at about 6’11”. Like all Tekeri, she naturally stands with something of a hunched posture, which, along with her serrated beak, sharp talons, and four piercing red eyes, would give her a rather feral, monstrous appearance to a Human observer. At first impressions, all that might set her apart from an animal would be her unusually clean feathers and polished beak.

Magical Affiliation: Lightning Domain Proficiency

Occupation: Seeker of the Order of Sages

Key Skills: Engineering, Wilderness survival, Combat magic training

Backstory: Kareet’s early childhood was, in its entirety, unremarkable. ‘Kareet’ was not her original name, as the original was left behind with her former life. She was hatched to a peasant family in the lowest rungs of Arcaeda, but she was in her seventh year when her fate shifted. In Arcaeda, per the decree of the Archmagister, all children must receive at least one year of magical education, provided by the state. With the Archmagister’s vision of Arcaeda as a modern city with magic at its core, the education primarily serves to ensure that every citizen knows what to expect of magic in the city, and how to efficiently work around it. However, it also serves a secondary purpose. In most species, children are more easily able to awaken to magic than adults, so these classes have allowed the city to expand its number of magic-capable citizens.

While the majority of children each year are unable to use magic, a small percentage, like Kareet, experience their awakenings, which then necessitates that the child must be trained in the usage of magic. In the event that the child belongs to a family that is unable to facilitate that training, then the state invokes what is called the “Law of Correction” to claim guardianship over the child. For Kareet, it meant being removed from the care of her former family and adopted officially by the Order of Magisters. While the Law of Correction can be contested, few ever attempt it, either because they recognize their child would have far greater opportunities in life with magical training, or because they are afraid of being unable to do what would be required to successfully challenge it. Kareet does not know her birth parents’ reasons, nor has she ever cared.

Kareet was raised, by and large, by the Order of Magisters, which afforded her a proper education, including writing, logic, and mathematics, as well as training in forms of magic for which she had an affinity. For Kareet, that was the Lightning Domain. For youth trained by the Order of Magisters, their instruction encompassed the core skills of their chosen magic for most known applications, military and civilian. Kareet learned of how the Ascendancy had come to use her Domain, primarily magnetism, in construction and engineering, as well as receiving appropriate training in combat magic.

Magister’s training provided a strong base for Kareet’s knowledge of her Domain. To continue with the Order of Magisters would have brought her along the path of a battlemage to learn more of military tactics and improve her ability in “battlefield” magic. However, her interests brought her instead to transfer to the Order of Sages upon her graduation; not an uncommon choice, for the more academically inclined. Over half of the mages within the Order of Sages were, at one point, members of the Order of Magisters.

Within the Ascendancy, the purview of the Order of Sages is the accumulation and advancement of all knowledge, magical and non-magical. It is the combination of both which drives Kareet. While she certainly still seeks to improve her magical prowess, she finds herself intrigued by the concept of how magic and invention can be combined. For her trial of proving, she traveled beyond the Ascendancy, spending time in the settlements of several nations, from the capital of Mythadia itself, to remote settlements small enough not to appear on most maps. She made a particular effort to immerse herself in the practices of magic from other cultures. The Sages taught that all knowledge was worth collecting, regardless of origin.

Upon her return to Arcaeda, Kareet worked to make her contribution to the Sages’ collective knowledge. Simply returning with something unique that was not part of their records, even if it was minor, would have been sufficient for her trial, but she did not wish to settle for sufficient with the mark she would make. Over about a year, she worked on concepts and designs that incorporated the capabilities of magic into her knowledge of engineering. Eventually, it was a device she had witnessed in Mythadia that inspired her own creation. Force mages were commonly used in many parts of the world to aid in construction, but she had observed a kind of elevator for lifting huge stones that used pulleys operated by a series of metal gears. A lightning mage needed only to turn a single gear to operate the elevator, which could hoist stones heavy enough to normally require several force mages to move. After working through a few concepts, Kareet managed to apply that idea to a siege engine. The idea of using mages to operate more powerful siege engines was nothing new, but Kareet focused on achieving that power more efficiently. Her final prototype was a ballista that used a similar gear and pulley system that a single lightning mage could operate, which was just as powerful as similar weapons that usually required multiple force mages.

At present, Kareet has been granted the rank of Seeker within the Order of Sages, in light of her skills and interests. Seekers are generally the more independent and combat-capable of the order’s members who specialize in the search for knowledge, regardless of the dangers that may be required to obtain it.

Name: Evangeline Edwards
Species: Human
Appearance: Short, blonde, and soft typically describes Eva rather well. She keeps her long blonde hair tied up in some form of knot, and 'lithe' describes her rather well, soft pale skin that one would not typically think of when a job such as 'javelin pilot' comes to mind. In fact she seems to have little to no abnormal muscle build, being entirely physically average outside of her suit. Her eyes are a strange gold color, and she enjoys darker eyeshadow, and a full range of different nail polishes. Her closet is once again, something one would never typically see from a Javelin pilot, though hers has two very clear divisions. One end of her closet contains clothing she wears when piloting. Skin-tight, form fitting and easily worn while piloting the Javelins that conform perfectly to the pilot's body. The second is full of more flowy clothing, skirts, glorified schoolgirl outfits and anything one might seen a young, upbeat civilian girl wearing.

A few oddities other than her eye color include,
Just below her hair line, placed in the back of her neck, is a small metallic port, the neural interface required to use her Javelin.
A tattoo just below her Neural Interface that has been partially tattooed over, reading "Property of UNSC E.A.D Your Mother!"
Her extended canine teeth, appearing nearly fanglike. Something she finds incredibly amusing, as well as something she is incredibly fond of. "Money well spent!"


Augmentations: Neural Interface - Designed specifically for users to intimately interact with technology that either requires it, or lacks any other means of operation. This Neural Interface allows interaction with most technology due to a self proclaimed "Skeleton Key Program" That allows it to emulate normal processes that would occur during normal interaction with said technology. Evangaline required rather invasive brain surgery to acquire such an interface, and requires it in order to pilot her Javelin

As a side benefit, it also retains basic functionality even without interaction with other tech, allowing for construction of a basic map of the land the user has seen, receiving messages through authorized channels and sending of silent messages to other technology capable of accepting them.

Occupation: EVA and Robotics Specialist
Key skills:
Drone usage and upkeep
Though recent training, Eva has taken rather well to the maintenance and usage of exploratory drones, especially due to her experience in the usage of her Neural Interface. Easily able to perform alongside multiple drones, and give silent orders as well as receive communications from them at any time they are within range.

Military Experience
Years spent in combat situations, and even more time spent as a glorified child soldier experiment has given Eva quite the experience in stressful situations, and moments where her life is in danger. She wears her Javelin like a second skin, and has a surprising amount of fine motor control while wearing it. She also has intimate knowledge of firearms, military equipment and it's upkeep.

Personality: Excitable and joy filled, single minded determination, upsetting to hold a conversation with... just a few ways to put into words what Eva is like. It's a strange mix, the youthful excitement and hopefulness of a child just recently allowed to explore the world outside her home mixed with the obvious signs of PTSD comparable to a war veteran, and is even more pronounced the more one interacts with her. Evangaline doesn't use the names people tell her, and instead uses nicknames in most cases. As she often mentions herself when asked about the sometimes annoying or rude habit, she responds "Survive longer than a month around me and I might learn your name... no promise I'll remember it though, easier that way."

Backstory: Born on a Military Science orbital station, Eva never knew the surface of a planet until she was eventually released upon the universe, much to the dismay of many. Her parents, now both criminals for illegal human experimentation, child experimentation, use of and development of child soldiers, and many other frankly disturbing crimes... Eva was frankly headed for a quick and violent doom until she met Jacobs. Jacobs, an older man who was unfortunate enough to have known Eva's parents close enough to be named her godfather and proved to be the girl's saving grace. A former Javelin pilot himself, he tutored her further as to the more detailed moments of becoming a Javelin Pilot, and even she will tell anybody who asks that he's saved her life many times over.

Species: The Glen

Appearance: This male Glen puts you in mind of an unstoppable machine. He has narrow olive-green eyes. He has a muscular wide-chested build, and a network of old, dark flogging scars on his upper and middle back. His hide appears creamy yellow or gold, depending on the light. He has hollow cheeks and wide feet, with a long dark scar crossing his cheek below his right eye.

His wardrobe is practical, a dark brown leather cuirass peppered with small burns over his upper torso and bronze pips along the shoulders. A medallion of the Mythadia Blacksmith Guild is over his first stomach - an anvil with a six pointed star of a master craftsman over it, flanked by a hammer on the right and a sword on the left. His upper arms bear a studded leather rerebrace, while his lower arms wear a darkened leather vambrace peppered with small burns. Each leg wears leather greaves, with the front pair peppered once again with small burns. A wide leather belt bears two leather pouches in front, with leather gloves tucked behind them, his favorite hammer on his right, while on his left he carries a long kukri blade, with two smaller blades and a small iron hook for cleaning his hooves. Each hoof has an iron shoe on it.

While traveling, he wears a leather chamfron with small iron plates & bronze pips over his face, leather paulroons, and has a cart with harness that he can strap himself into.

Leaves on the left, right, and back sides of the cart can be pulled up and slot into ironwork straps underneath. It carries under canvas a traveling forge (in the back), an anvil, a box with his tools and a leather apron, a locked iron-bound chest (key is on a cord hanging on his neck), a box holding two blankets (one quilted with straps) wrapped in oilcloth and ropes, a tripod with a small cooking pot, barrels holding charcoal, iron blanks, water, and grain. Oarlocks on the right arm of the cart hold a long spear.

Augmentations: N/A

Magical affiliation: Heat domain - able to manipulate thermal energy.

Occupation: Blacksmith

Key skills: Blacksmith, Engineering, Wilderness survival.

Backstory: J'eon was born into the Dark Ash clan, a nomadic group that assisted settlements with planting, harvesting, and various services they lacked before heading back to Dark Ash Vale, their wintering grounds. F'eon, J'eon's father, was the backsmith for the clan and its unofficial leader. He spent much of the winter months mining for ores that he would then smelt into the old forge into the refined metal blanks he needed, or into various impliments he could sell. J'eon watched and learned beside his father, marveling at how he called up the flame.

They were raided by bandits, his father ran through by one of his own swords. What happened to J'avra, his mother, he didn't see. He was chained up with the other survivors and eventually sold to a miller in the west, who chained him to one of the poles to turn the millwheel along with the other slaves - simple brute labor. One can still see the shackle gauls on his wrists when he takes his vambraces off. When he got out of line, they'd flog him. In his sixteen summer, the miller's daughters began to pay him close attention with strangely hungry eyes and giggles. When the overseer reported their attentions to the miller, he had the young muscular buck unchained and hauled to the flogging post. It was during that flogging that the Fire came to him.

With the burning of the miller's place, J'eon along with the other Glen made their way back east, eventually finding themselves in Mythadia once more. It wasn't long after that he found himself the oldest apprentice in the blacksmith guild, but he was quickly initiated into the innermost secrets once they realized he could call forth the flame. It was here he learned the riddle of iron and steel.

Once he became a master, he took to the road in a cart he build to hold his traveling forge and his tools. Word of his craft spread beyond the borders of Mythadia, and he found himself traveling out of the kingdom, called forth to build weapons, craft armor and chains, even called to repair waterwheels and windmills. Slave mills, however, tended to go up in flames. Nor was he particularly soft on bandits or slavers.

Name: Jack Ryan Mallory, Commander (Ret) USSF
Species: Human (Age: 42)
Appearance:
This man makes you think of an inhuman statue. He has deep-set gray eyes. His fine, straight, midnight black hair is worn in the military Ivy League style (longer than a crew cut, hair in front can be swept to the side, with a tapered block in back. He is tall and has a masculine build. His skin is deeply-tanned. He has a large mouth. His wardrobe is a bit odd.



Currently wearing a navy blue BioPlas bodysuit under his olive drab flight suit, polished black boots, and a utility belt with a holstered 9mm pistol & magazine pouch holding two magazines on the right, while the left holds an insulated multi-tool in a sheath. His left breast pocket contains his personal comm, with two slots on the left sleeve for a multi-surface pen and a black penlight.

His right breast pocket contains a challenge coin from the Secretary of the Space Force, a comb and two PlastiPatches.

His front right pocket holds an electric Ziplo lighter, while his left has fingernail clippers with file.


Augmentations:



Magical affiliation: None

Occupation: Executive Officer

Key skills: Pilot, Navigator, Engineer.

Personality: Crisp and professional, he has a notorious poker face. He is very tidy, never a hair or a thread out of place. While he vapes, he prefers smoking a pipe, with either a whiskey or cherry tobacco. One would never suspect he had two bottles of 12-year-old single malt whiskey in his locker.

Backstory:
Attended the Space Academy in Colorado, in the top quarter of his class. Volunteered for the recoding implant.
First tour was aboard the USS Comet, a salvage ship that collected old satellites and lost items from low Earth orbit for orbital processing.

Briefly returned to the Academy as a guest lecturer to talk about his experences in orbital salvage operations, and he got married in a whirlwind romance to Jackie.

Second tour was aboard the USS Fox, supply runs to Mars and the Belt. Commendation for the Ceres Rescue operation. While serving out his rotation as the junior engineer, discovered a few of the recycling gang had put together a still for brewing moonshine. He kicked it apart, tore into them as being some of the few people on board who knew how to distill and yet managed to build their homemade rig wrong.

During his Earth tour, incident with the Flat Earth Church, but his recording of the encountered showed he had restrained himself and it was the Flat Earthers who had struck the first blow. Turned out one of them was a former boyfriend of his wife.

Shipped to the Aries Lunar Base for his lunar tour. Received commendations for his work, but there was another incident where a video surfaced of him escorting a wealthy and flirty female tourist. His wife, sick of the long separations already, filed for divorce.

Heartbreak tour with the Pournelle on a solar patrol of the system. Was not directly involved with the Jupiter mission, worked in an advisory capacity. Left the service after that, only to get hired by the company as X.O. for the Jotunheim.

Augmentations:

• Cybernetic Arm - Left: Duncan's left arm is replaced with a cybernetic prosthetic. The arm itself can exert force many times that of a regular human arm, but is currently calibrated to match the strength of Duncan's natural right arm. Extremely precise and with built in stabilizers to remove the natural sway of the human arm. The underside of the wrist can deploy a small, but high powered flashlight to illuminate areas directly in front of the hand. Excellent for surgical operations, and in a pinch, can help with shooting accuracy.
• Smart-Eye Lenses: Appearing as a set of contact lenses, the Smart-Eye Lenses provides a hands free interface to access a variety of devices and databases stored onboard the Jotunheim. Duncan also uses it to access his communication devices as well as keep an eye(lol) on biometric data of the crew.
• Field-Stim Applicator: A small device attached to Duncan's thigh for the automatic application of various stimulants and depressants. While primarily for emergency medical use, Duncan occasionally uses it to apply chemicals to keep himself awake during long hours, or to keep calm during high stress situations.

Occupation: Shipboard Doctor
Key skills:

• Medical Training: A practicing field surgeon, Duncan is well versed in first aid, and general field care. With what limited crew are onboard, Duncan serves as both a physician, conducting medical examinations and treatments related to specific environmental conditions (e.g. diving and sea operations, flight operations, or deep space operations) and surgeon, providing emergency care for injured and wounded crew.
• Fitness: Despite several of his less than healthy habits, Duncan often exercises when he can. Prolonged space travel can quickly atrophy muscles and cause health implications, so exercise is crucial for maintaining body mass and improving his overall energy.
• Combat Training: While very much out of practice, the fundamentals of basic infantry training have not left Duncan yet. Calm and cool under fire, Duncan has good grasp of basic tactics and accuracy with firearms that can be described as 'adequate'.

Backstory:
The youngest son of a prominent manufacturing conglomerate on Mars, Duncan lived his early life in the lap of luxury. As an heir to one of the largest industrial conglomerates in the Solar System, there was little in regards to material things that he could want that he could not have, and was afforded top notch education at most prestigious private schools and extensive private tutoring from the foremost educators in the Solar System. For all that life afforded to him however, Duncan spent most of his early life staring into the stars, yearning for a life of adventure amidst the inky black of space.

After graduating primary school and attending university, Duncan got his chance. In place of the business acumen his brothers obtained in school, Duncan instead studied medicine, and after graduating from medical school, he quietly signed off on a contract into the Martian Fleet. Duncan spent the next several years at a variety of postings, from planetside field hospitals to shipboard medical centers. Much of his experiences served to temper his expectations of space. The conclusion was that military life- and life in space wasn't quite as dashing and romantic as he had expected.

Despite his less than stellar experiences, even after opening his own practice back on Mars, Duncan found himself still staring back up into space, restless. When the Tammerlane Exploration company reached out to him with a potential job, in spite of his better judgement, Duncan accepted and quickly packed up his practice and set off for Earth. While life traveling around in the Solar System wasn't the glamour and adventure he had anticipated, he couldn't help shake the feeling of wanderlust that held him his entire life. Perhaps space beyond the Solar System would sate what he sought.

Name: Kaqir

Species: Tekeri

Appearance: Tall and expressive, Kaqir can often appear overwhelming to those she meets. Her feathers are a glossy black. Her eyes are similarly dark, raven as the rest of her, and the eyes on the right of her face have strabismus. This is difficult to notice at first, given her pupils blend into her iris, but the rolling effect produces quite an unnerving effect when properly observed. She finds it amusing. She has a parrot-like hooked beak that she has pierced the bottom of with all manner of bone, metal, wood, and stone. She can typically be found wearing simple black leather clothing, though she adorns her outfits with necklaces and bracelets of the same materials as her piercings. She does not wear shoes or gloves in order to leave her talons free for tasks that require sharp implements. Her feathers lay flat in their resting state, but when Kaqir is excited, angry, afraid, or otherwise emotional, they fluff into a mohawk/cockatoo-like crest atop her head.

Magical Affiliation: Life Domain

Occupation: Mercenary

Key Skills:

Hand-to-Hand Combat. With her vicious beak and tactile magic, Kaqir excels at close-range fighting. She often uses her Domain to tear opponents’ muscles and nerves, weakening them to prevent the chances of resistance when she follows up with a beak attack. This, combined with the self-healing potential of her magic, makes her an incredibly sustainable fighter. She’s basically useless at long range, though, as she has no idea how to wield bows or human weapons such as guns. She also tends to under-utilize the potential of her shapeshifting abilities. Tekeri culture has imparted a strong sense of pride in personal achievement and identity to her, so she balks at using her magic to make herself unrecognizable.

Intimidation. Though she is a generally cheerful and lighthearted person, Kaqir knows how to use her imposing appearance to daunt others into submission. A few threatening words and a well-timed glare can do a lot to prevent conflict. However, this can often work against her: if she’s not making an effort to be friendly, she can often come across as overly intense to a potential ally, or, at worst, threatening. There’s a reason the Tekeri are rumored by some to be demons.

Linguistics. Kaqir adores communication in all its forms. Thus, she talks. A lot. Perhaps too much. She’s great at learning languages, though!

Backstory:

Born in a busy mountain town, Kaqir was very close with her parents when she was a child. Due to the nature of Tekeri society, she trained rigorously from an early age. Her lifelong passion for community inspired her to study the Life Domain. Through practice with her mother (who is a Life mage), she was able to awaken herself to magic. Though she originally studied to become a doctor, her impulsive personality drove her to serve her community as a guard instead. She worked tirelessly to stand out amongst her peers. As a very social person, she is desperate for the approval of those around her—and it was no different back then. She often forced herself past her limits and suffered burnout. Perhaps the only way she made it through her training regimen was the support of her fellow recruits. She met her best friend in the career; his name is Sev’ee. They were close enough to think of each other as siblings.

Everything changed on the day of their graduation. As a test of their skill, the established guards sent the small group of recruits to fend off an incursion of wild beasts by themselves. Though those who had already achieved seniority were loath to waste a chance at glory, they thought it would be the perfect opportunity to weed out those who weren’t “perfect” for the duty. Unfortunately, the animals were far greater in number than they originally surveyed, and much of Kaqir’s squadron was killed or maimed. Sev’ee, who didn’t want to be a fighter in the first place—he showed no particular aptitude for anything deemed worthwhile by the community, so he was just sort of shoved into the guard program—would have died had Kaqir not used her magic to save him. He has no use of his legs to this day. Kaqir herself barely survived, sustaining heavy injuries to her right side that still partially inhibit her vision.

This experience was her breaking point. No amount of justification could convince her to stay in such a ruthless environment. She hated abandoning her family and Sev’ee, but knew she had to do it to truly find fulfillment in life. Now she travels Kanth-Aremek as a mercenary, struggling to reconcile her hatred of her homeland with the guilt she still feels for not being strong enough to save her friends.

Name:

Kolvar Stilmyst

Species:

Kriliteran: Kriliterans mostly live in the forest in the north of Kanth-Aremek. They are collectors of information and knowledge. Building large libraries, where they would store their sacred books. Treating books like sacred text, taking care of every book in the library. Hyper intelligent, despite their appearance. They are also known to build various contraptions, and are known to build rather varied technology. A family would be assigned to take care of a library of books, with sons and daughters taking over once the parents are unable to. Creating various artistic pieces like music, art, or poetry. They also have a photographic memory. So they memorize everything they see, and to write it down afterwards.

Their true form are short stocky looking creatures, with three eyes. And multiple arms and legs. Their skin is a soft looking pink Having smaller heads than their disguised form. Their two eyes are sunken in, while their third looks like a regular eyeball. Having small bulbous lumps on the side of their face, and below their eyes that act like ears and noses. These lumps have small holes that allow for air to go through.

Their appearance changes so that they do not scare the other races. Mostly appearing as tall creatures with sunken faces and pale skin. Large eyes that seem to be bulging out of their sockets. Having stocky builds, with multiple long arms and legs. A large head with no hair on the head.

Kriliteran is a peaceful race, trying to solve solutions without spilling any blood. However, there have been conflicts with other races and factions. Either wanting to steal their books or enslave the Kriliterans. A significant battle happened involving the S'tor Who wanted to enslave them to build new war machines.

This war ended in the enslavement of the Kriliteran for four hundred years. Soon leading up to the Kriliterans rebelling and going to war with the S’tor. But were outclassed by the S’tor, with the S’tor killing most of the Kriliterans. With only a small group of Kriliterans surviving. Escaping from the S’tor, while leaving their libraries and cities to be demolished.

Modern Kriliterans live in small settlements in the northern part of Kanth-Aremek. Mostly trading with other Kriliterans. Most of them will be fine with trading with other races, however, they are very weary of outsiders. They are no conflicts currently, but they have a strong hatred for the S’tor.

The Kriliterans worship a god named Niftari. Niftari is the keeper of knowledge both common and forbidden.

Appearance:

Kolvar’s appearance looks much like the other Kriliteran in their disguised form. Wearing a large black robe that hides most of his body.

Augmentations:

None

Magical affiliation:

Life Domain

Occupation:

Scribe/Inventor

Key skills:

Inventor/Booksmart:

Kolvar is a skilled inventor, having been taught how to create certain things. Constantly planning and building various inventions, to varying success. Being knowledgeable in various topics. And having encyclopedia like knowledge.

Swordsmanship:

If Kolvar is forced to fight he knows how to handle a sword. Learning from his master how to fight with a bladed weapon. Although he prefers a dagger or short sword, he is more skilled with a rapier.

Medical Knowledge:

Kolvar is knowledge in the anatomy of most races. As well as various diseases and illnesses.

Backstory:

Kolvar was born in the main city of Kriliteran’s homeland. This city is called Tu’rakum. Living with his parents and helping them with categorizing the books. Reading most of the books inside the library, while being taught life magically by his master Urth Kamith. As he grew up into adulthood, he took over caring for the library. And in his spare time would dabble in building various inventions. Wanted to explore outside of the Kanth-Aremek, experimenting with ways he could try to make communications.

Kolvar was sent to explore the Ascendancy and Mythadia border to find and bring back an ancient Kriliteran book. While heading towards the ruined library, he noticed a large burning star coming towards the planet. Being curious he decided to explore the crash site.

Name: Dr. Itxaro Ibarra

Species: Human

Age: 35

Appearance: Dr. Ibarra stands at 6'1 and weighs 175 pounds; tall for a woman, but not unusual in the 23rd century. Itxaro begrudgingly exercises, the motto "A corpo worked out today, did you?" still burned into her brain from primary school. As such, she is in decent enough shape, but by no means an amazing athlete; her recent penchant for cigarettes has made sure of that. Itxaro's left arm and shoulder are noticeably more toned than the other from lugging around the weighty prosthetic; which begins at a stump just after the elbow. Her hair, which had been going prematurely grey at 25, has since been dyed a muted white.

Dr. Ibarra packed relatively conservative clothing for her time aboard the Jotunheim, a departure from her typically vibrant and stylish wardrobe. She currently sits somewhere between academic and blue-collar worker, opting for clothes that are muted in color and fully cover her body. When on duty in the engineering bay, Itxaro wears the typical jumpsuit and ties her hair back to avoid getting caught in any machinery.

Augmentations: It can hardly be called an augmentation, but Itxaro's dominant hand and forearm have been replaced with a bionic metal prosthetic. Though significantly stronger than her organic limb, the replacement is heavier than modern, cutting-edge augments, and suffers from the occasional breakdown. These glitches can be easily resolved by Dr. Ibarra, which is part of why she keeps the older model. That, and being grafted with expensive prosthetics is something of a cultural faux-pas in the USASR.

Occupation: FTL Specialist

Key skills:

• Mechanical Savant: Dr. Ibarra is a titan in her field, one of the leading engineers in the entire USASR. Her knowledge of all things mechanical is vast and deep, and Itxaro is able to quickly pick up on abstract concepts she has never encountered, which is largely why she was chosen as the previous FTL specialist’s replacement. Itxaro specializes in theoretical FTL drives, and was pretty pissed when the Yenge blew up her spot with their vastly-superior tech. Dr. Ibarra thought she was damn close to a breakthrough. While she has spent much of her career as a researcher and designer, Itxaro is still comfortable wrenching on a ship's drive deep in a crawlspace or in an EVA suit. Still, she finds the entire field of engineering horribly boring.
• Medieval Enthusiast: While Dr. Ibarra is a genius when it comes to anything mechanical, her true passion is medieval European history, with a specific focus on how common peasants lived in their day-to-day life. In her spare time, Dr. Ibarra reads massive tomes on ancient blacksmithing techniques, cooking methods, architectural plans, and any other literature she is able to obtain from that distant time and place. Itxaro also joined a medieval European martial arts club in school, dueling with a variety of weapons, and even now occasionally competes in local amateur tournaments when her schedule allows. She placed 5th in the last one, and was pretty happy about it.
• Socialist Philosopher: Like all Cubans in the 23rd century, Dr. Ibarra is extremely knowledgeable concerning Marxian economics, eco-socialism, Ziotiomatian interplanetary class dynamics, Falcónist markets, and so on. This is a useful skill in space, right?

Personality: If you met Itxaro on the streets of Havana, you'd never guess her line of work. She is excitable, fun-loving, and gregarious. She loves to dance, joke, and flirt. Itxaro is quick to make a friend and, on occasion, quick to anger. Itxaro is kind to those she seems worthy of kindness, generous with her time and affection, and has a deep love and camaraderie for all working people, the proletariat, all over the world. At the same time, she holds almost nothing but contempt for the wealthy, the bourgeois, who she believes are leeches that are responsible for the state of the world today. Itxaro is passionate about many subjects and has an insatiable curiosity for history, music, ecology, botany, and economics. So-called "hard sciences" rank very low on this list of interests despite her innate talent in the field of physics.

If encountered outside of the USASR, however, you would walk away with an entirely different, and entirely false, perception of the engineer. Bitter experience has taught Itxaro to hide her true self, and present a facade to those outside the fold of the socialist world. Latin Americans have always faced ethnic stereotypes and flat-out racism, but this discrimination became even more rampant once most of South America was able to present a united front against their former colonial masters. Itxaro discovered as a teenager at an international science exhibition that a coquettish and mercurial Cuban girl is an easy target for spiteful foreigners. Rather than endure ridicule and harassment, she created a stoic, calm, and professional version of herself that she wears like a mask to protect herself and work with those outside the USASR. This defensive wall plays into the stereotype of the joyless, cold socialist, but Itxaro finds those insults easier to bear than ones directed at her personally.

Beneath the disguise, and under her cheerful personality, there is a fear in Itxaro. The intensity varies, but the anxiety is always with her; sometimes it is a runaway elephant, big and panicking, threatening to paralyze Itxaro. Other times it is small and gnawing, burrowing into her as she tries to sleep. Itxaro's bright mind is constantly running, and when idle, the fear strikes. It is a relatively recent development, an aftershock of her near-death experience. She has tried to intellectualize it, tried therapy, but it continues to eat away at her. She’s gotten good at hiding it.

However, deep in Itxaro, there is a hard streak, a rocky outcropping in her character as tough as stone. It is a cultural holdover from the early days of the USASR, when times were bad and people had to buckle down and do whatever rough business their country required of them. Itxaro is able to call upon this hard streak to push through whatever her she feels compelled to do for the socialist revolution. She used it to forsake her ambitions and become one of the leading FTL engineers. She used it to put her career first over her broken marriage. She used it to hold together her ragged stump of an arm for six days in zero g. Now, Itxaro is calling upon her hard streak once again to travel far from home aboard the Jotunheim.

Backstory: Dr. Itxaro Ibarra was born in Havana, Cuba, the heart of the 150-year old Union of South American Socialist Republics (USASR). The federal union was formed after the People's Republic of China capitulated to the United States in 2113 after a 30-year cold war between the two superpowers went hot. The proxy wars were largely fought in resource-rich Africa, with both countries redirecting most of their economies toward the conflicts; their allies made only a token contribution, instead opting to watch the superpowers burn themselves out. The war came to a conclusion after a brief but brutal direct confrontation between both countries in Alaska, followed by a decisive cyber-attack by the United States, which paralyzed the Chinese military and the country's infrastructure. China was balkanized into a variety of smaller puppet states controlled by corporations and European countries, while the US was forced to privatize most of its economy to private enterprise. The end of US hegemony gave way to the age of the megacorporation, which saw the hyper-exploitation of most of the global south. Cuba, one of the last countries without a megacorp presence, was able to back a series of revolutions over the next 30 years in South America to expunge the megacorporations, leading to the creation of the USASR.

Dr. Ibarra grew up in Cuba's countryside, the daughter of an agricultural worker and a philosophy professor, surrounded by siblings in their modest home. At a young age, it became apparent that Itxaro was a mechanical genius. Both of her parents gently encouraged her to advance her education in engineering, but it was Itxaro who made the decision to study engineering at the Universidad de la Habana. While her interests lay practically anything else, Itxaro knew she was given a gift, and to instead spend her life writing awful poetry or studying picked-over ruins somewhere in Europe would be a total waste. She had the chance to help her country, and she took it without regret or hesitation.

Itxaro quickly became Dr. Ibarra, flying through university at a pace rarely seen. Itxaro chose to specialize in faster-than-light travel, the Holy Grail of technology, but also developed a deep familiarity with multiple ship systems, since an FTL drive would work in tandem with many. Since the 22nd century, Cuba had been a leading innovator in space travel, more out of necessity than anything since the tiny island nation was isolated from the corporate world and had few natural resources available; the only way for them to access the raw materials they needed was to go up. The USASR had established a variety of colonies throughout the solar system, but their ships were beginning to lag behind, so the government began subsidizing further breakthroughs in space travel. Dr. Ibarra left the university with a PhD in theoretical engineering and FTL physics, joining the USASR's robust space program.

Because so many of their space-faring resources are off-planet, Itxaro was immediately shipped to a shipyard hidden in Saturn's rings, far from prying corpo eyes. She spent the next several years with a team of engineers, scientists, and pilots testing, testing, and failing. It seemed like there was a missing piece to the puzzle, but the collective wisdom of the human race couldn't find it. Dr. Ibarra advanced to the head of the team, and after what seemed like a lifetime in cold space, they were on the verge of a breakthrough. The moment of truth was cut short when breaching pods shattered the thin skin of their habitat, sending in squad after squad of corporate mercenaries who grabbed whatever crew they could and executed those they couldn't. Dr. Ibarra and a few others managed to reach an escape shuttle, but the mercenaries had rigged the shipyard to blow; just before they cleared the blast zone, Itxaro's former home exploded, disabling their shuttle with shrapnel and sending it hurtling into deep space.

Dr. Ibarra spent the next countless days clutching her crudely bandaged bloody stump of an arm, watching helplessly as her friends slowly succumbed to similar wounds. They didn't send out a distress signal until a week had passed, knowing the mercenaries would come to finish them off. By then the shuttle had traveled so far that it took the nearest USASR patrol ship another three days to recover them. Out of the nine survivors, just two had survived.

After recovering, Dr. Ibarra returned to Havanna just in time to learn that their efforts were wasted; a spacefaring species called the Yenge had beaten them to it, crashing into their solar system and promising to share their secret of faster-than-light travel in exchange for a safe harbor. Somewhat disillusioned, but not dissuaded, Dr. Ibarra returned to the Universidad de la Habana as a professor now, sharing her successes and failures with the next batch of scientists, as well as researching whatever scraps of Yenge technology the USASR's spy network could gather.

Just as Dr. Ibarra became content with her position, she was contacted by an agent of the USASR's space program; a corporation, Tamerlane, had fused Yenge and human tech to create the first drive capable of faster-than-light travel. The previous FTL specialist had vanished, either picked up by a competing corporation or disappeared of their own accord to sell the secrets, and Tamerlane was desperate to fill the FTL specialist slot before their deadline. So desperate that they were willing to accept a USASR citizen.

Name: Ath'kerai “Kerai” Sehtarith
Species: S'tor
Appearance: Ath’kerai is a female s’tor who stands about 7’2” in height. Her scales are silvery white with uneven patches of grey.
https://www.reddit.com/r/DnD/comments/q607mz/ocart_gray_silver_dragonborn_fighter/
Augmentations: none
Magical affiliation: none
Occupation: mercenary and crusader
Key skills:
Weapon specialization – glaive: While Ath’kerai has been trained in the use of most common martial weapons, such as long swords, maces, shields and long bows, she prefers a glaive to keep enemies at a distance and disarm them.
Basic survival skills: Kerai has learned the following skills after being on her pilgrimage for almost a year: camping, hunting, scouting, cooking, armor/weapon maintenance & basic medicine. She also has a very basic reading proficiency courtesy of the monastery.

Equipment: Ath’kerai wears basic armor – a steel breastplate, steel greaves and gauntlets, with leather padding in other vital areas for protection. She favors a degree of mobility over bulky heavy armors.
Her glaive: https://the-griffons-saddlebag.tumblr.com/post/619281544813723648/%F0%9D%97%A1%F0%9D%97%B2%F0%9D%98%84-%F0%9D%97%B6%F0%9D%98%81%F0%9D%97%B2%F0%9D%97%BA-red-queens-burden-weapon-glaive
Longbow and 30 arrows: nothing special, used mainly for hunting when necessary.

Besides the usual camping supplies such as a tent and bedroll, she also carries a medical kit, extra clothing, snacks (she’s gets hangry!) and a set of worn wooden tokens used in a game called Ut’sek’ii.

Personality: Kerai is usually quite stoic and patient (unless she is hangry). While she is zealous in her belief of temerarism and the Path of Ten, she prefers to show it through action rather than words. She leaves the sermons to her more charismatic peers. Because of her beliefs she will gladly throw herself into harm’s way to protect another.

Backstory: Clan Sehtarith, once a large and proud family with ties to the old Empire, had fallen into decay by the time Ath’kerai hatched. A dying clan led by a weak matron and divided between the old ways and the new, members of a warrior caste who had fallen to the level of dredges and laborers. Kerai’s sire believed that their once-proud race was being displaced by the emergence of magic and the spread of other, weaker races. They taught their offspring to fight, so that they might have a chance to reclaim their glory when the opportunity arose.

Kerai believed her sire’s teachings for a long time, though in that time she never found the vision behind her battle. It just felt like an endless war against everyone – tiring and hopeless. She was supposed to excel as a warrior, to perhaps become matron of the clan one day so that her brood would be strong and successful; but it wasn’t until she happened upon the temerarians that she found her purpose.

The temerarians* believed differently and fought for a unified purpose: members from all races dedicated to fighting evil rather than one another. It was a leader among them, an ancient s’tor simply called the Seeker, who convinced her of the righteousness of their beliefs: that all mortal souls are tempered in the fires of life. Those that prove themselves transcend the frailty of flesh to become divine, and those that fail are cast back into the crucible of souls and reforged to try again. To prove oneself worthy of becoming divine, a mortal must perform ten great feats across their collective lifetimes and have them recorded in the Book of Ten.

Something sparked in Kerai’s mind, and she became obsessive of this new religion. She openly rejected her xenophobic clan before following the Seeker to one of the temerarian monasteries and taking an oath to serve them as warrior and champion. Her belief was only strengthened several years later when she received word that her sire and several of her siblings were killed in a skirmish with a neighboring nation.

Now that her formal training is complete, Kerai has begun a long pilgrimage with a small group of other temerarians to find her own ten feats to accomplish. Surely, the spreading rumor of fire from the heavens is an omen that something feat-worthy is about to happen…

*temerarians are often colloquially (and mockingly) called ‘ten-men’ because of their belief in the sanctity of the number ten.

Inspired by this photo as a basic template. Clothing inspired by the second pic.
Czelsc stands shorter with smaller statue compared to other Tekeri. Very dark brown eyes. He wears clothing similar to this photo; close enough to allow him to work without things catching in his way but also enough to be able to carry some of his gear along with him. Over him he wears long, large dark brown over cover with a large enough hood to cover his Tekeri head. He doesn't keep his hood up but it is good to have available. He isn't afraid or chooses to hide himself. He'll prefer to be out in the open but found that keeping more conservative in appearance keeps the issues away for him.
He has some obvious necklace but the pendant is kept under his top. Since his beak is so long it is difficult to see close enough he had a special pair of glasses made to help.

Iris comes from an academic heavy family with her father being employed at New Cambridge on Titan, and her mother being head of the terraforming research groups that worked at making human settlements throughout the sole system. Iris did not chose to become a scientist, but her parents felt that work in any other field would be a poor decision. Iris was a star student quickly picking up the concepts of each course she took and graduating with a PhD and Masters in both conceptual and practical sciences.

After her schooling Iris was quickly noticed by scientific community and helped to achieve several milestones for the augmentations put into both people and animals. She also began experimental studies in DNA and RNA manipulation to and combination. While most of her research was theoretical she pushed more and more for trials and support despite the scientific community pushing back on the moral implications of such studies.

During her later career Iris stepped out of the spotlight and began doing things in secret, away from the prying eyes of those who would try to hinder her progress of human evolution. It is rumored that Iris was conducting unsanctioned studies, and performing illegal gene testing during this time. It was for this that she was selected to serve on the Jotunheim with some hefty stipulations on picking up botanical study responsibilities, and very strict rules to how she is to work and who she is taking orders from at all times.

Name: Arancini Barberio

Age; 27

Species: Human

Appearance: Arancini stands at 5’11 with a thin-shaped body, Looking quite sickly but is actually quite healthy. His hair is dark brown and styled in a crew cut, having dark blue eyes with his left eye having a larger pupil than the right eye. Some noticeable features of his appearance are having a mole on his lower left mouth, big ears, high cheekbones and a thin nose.

Wearing some black overalls, a black t-shirt with an old band logo on the front, and brown steel-toe boots.

Augmentations: Arancini has a mechanical eye that lets him perform calculations, as well as other functions like night vision, and x-ray vision among other functions. This eye can also be used to remotely connect with any machine or computer. He also has as mechanical prosthetic
hands. Which has wires embedded on top of his hands, which can mimic the external ports of a computer or machine so he can interface with it. The fingers of his hands can also separate into smaller fingers so he can type at very face speeds.

Magical affiliation: None

Occupation: Machinist/Linguist

Key skills:

1. Machinist: Arancini during the course of his life has become skilled in how machines work. Wither it is either building or dismantling machines. Being knowledgeable on how to fix machines as well.

2. Computing: As well as being knowledgeable in machinery, he is also skilled in how to program and use a computer.

3. Linguist: Arancini had a passion for languages, so as well as studying to be a machinist he also studied languages. Letting him learn a few languages like English, French, Spanish, and Swedish.

Personality: Arancini is a kind person not much of the backstabber type and will let you know if he has an issue with you up front. A great reader of books and literature he loves reading and quoting certain lines from his favorite books. A thoughtful and empathetic person that does not mind helping out a person or people in need. He is kind and friendly to all who want to listen to him. A person that loves to have deep thoughts and conversations about many subjects and is always looking for a person to stimulate his intellectual mind. Caring quite a lot about animals and plant life. Arancini is a daydreamer always spacing out imagining he was someplace else. Something that has gotten him into a lot of trouble with his C.O. He is very enthusiastic when it comes to machines and computers.

He has some form of PTSD and trauma from the accident that lead to him having survivor's guilt. And as a way of coping with this, he has become a workaholic and has been known to be quiet around other people. But having full-blown conversation while alone.

Backstory: Arancini was born in Genoa, Italy to Doppio Barberio who was an engineer and Sofia Ghirga who was a linguist. At a young age, Arancini was interested in how things work, taking things apart and putting them back together. But his interest became more focused on computers and machinery. After high school, he went to college and got his degree in mechanical engineering.

Afterwards joining the crew of the Darwin. On a particular encounter, the ship had sustained a lot of damage, and while trying to circumvent more damage, Arancini was heavily injured losing both his hands and his right eye. Continuing to work on the Darwin until the ship returned after its four-year journey. During this time Arancini became enamoured by A.I. Working on getting aboard the Jotunheim and being a part of its crew.

Trying to impress the captain of the Jotunheim by showing off his mechanical skills. Even convincing the captain of the Darwin to give him a high recommendation. Finally being able to be a part of the crew, and most importantly being able to interact with WODAN. Arancini was, to say the least very excited, and would spend all of his free time interacting with WODAN.

Name
Subira Anenih

Species
Tekeri

Appearance
Subira’s plumage is a paler black than many Tekeri, approaching an almost chestnut complexion all over in bright light. She is of average build and height, somewhat toned from her history of dancing and extensive martial arts practice. Jet black pupils disappear into the darker feathers on her face, which comes to a point in her typical yet short beak. Amongst Tekeri, she would be perceived as plain if not a bit stern of countenance.
Capriciously dressed, her wardrobe and manner of accessorizing ranges from the unnoticeable to the perplexing. The details are always tended to, in one way or another.

Magical affiliation
Force Domain

Occupation
Stoneworker and Surveyor

Key skills
-Unarmed combat: a desire for greater autonomy and security navigating the new and bustling lands of Mythadia’s capital region combined with a history of dancing, led her to train extensively in martial arts
-Construction surveying: a surprise obsession with cartography in general narrowed down over time to the art of land and construction surveying
-Masonry (engraving): an eye for detail and a pre-existing interest in construction brought her, at length, to the quarries supplying Mythadia’s grand construction projects as an engraver and tailor of construction stone

Personality
Subira is eager and transitory. She develops fascinations on a whim but lives them with deep seriousness. She is ludic, finding the game in everything, yet reserved. She is generous and flowing but maintains picky, hard-headed tendencies, especially with others. Towards herself, she can be unforgiving—only her forgetfulness and detached demeanor soften this. She is overly compassionate (at least in her head) and can get lost in daydreams. She gets lost quickly and easily in her work, at times neglecting other aspects of her life. She doesn’t hesitate to ask things of others but fears others’ dependence on herself. If pressed, she would reveal that she is dismissive of grand narratives and has trouble believing in much of anything.

Backstory
Tending towards elsewhere, Subira never saw herself in what others related to her as “homesickness.” How could she, when her upbringing left her no real home to be sick for, anyway? Long, quiet days, mulling over the aimless complexities of all the plants that, despite the changing scenery, remained a reassuring consistency in her many homes. Tracing the veins kept her company.

Her parents had always wholly subscribed to Ascendancy ideology, caught up in all sorts of complexes about endlessly getting ahead, proving and reproving themselves, climbing ladders and so on. A branch of the contemporary experience whose significance escaped Subira entirely. Perhaps well-learned, at least on paper, the vapidity of her various trainings as a petty gentry child did little to quench her erratic nature, little to box up her fluidity and ludic aspect.

Is the devil in the details, or is it in our relationship with those details? Subira was constantly browsing through textures, floating in and out as the moment took her. It wasn’t for her precision that her day-to-day life materialized as anything resembling order, at least not in the sense of properness. As many objects pleased her for many reasons, she often found herself at the center of immediately illegible object-galaxies of her own making.

Frantic, flirty obsessions with newcomers in her life played off of her reserved tendencies to construct someone bubbly yet inconsistent, unreliable. Having had little lifelong friendship, she bloomed in anonymity.

Barely fulfilling the Ascendancy’s secondary training requirements, her general disillusionment coupled with a desire for that elsewhere fueled Subira’s flee towards anything but that which she already knew. She was able to pick up odd jobs for a few years, relishing in the bits that nourished her picky interests and merely bearing the (far more frequent) onerous periods.

In a few of these time-killers she took especial pleasure. A tavern off a busy trade route near the village of Pescit in Mythadia found her and a group of traveling traditional dancers crossing paths by chance one cold autumn night. Subira’s parents, demanding as they were, hadn’t forgotten to have her train in certain traditional arts, and although it had been many years since she had danced with any sort of regularity (and under an entirely different tradition), she caught herself mesmerized by the flowing motions, rhythmic skin. Discovering they were looking for new dancers only pleased her more, and she traveled with them for some time, never tiring of the careful balance between order and chaos in the dancing body.

Subira etched a slow, meandering path through Mythadia towards its illustrious capital, encountering more varied and seedier milieux the closer she got. The kaleidoscope markets of the larger cities got the better of her, mysterious and exciting wares presenting themselves to her as though in a gallery. In these bustling spaces, an inevitable mugging and other close encounters pushed her towards a martial artist recommended by a fellow dancer. Simultaneously, a particular obsession was overtaking her in the form of old cartography, in no small part sustained by a vendor she encountered often in the markets. This Glen vendor traded in these antiquities while primarily an active researcher in the history of cartography; Subira’s overt fascination for the matter brought him to introduce her to his work, and she offered her time and energy without hesitation.

It was in this way that detail-oriented yet marginal Subira found a first material craft that checked a lot of boxes for her. Having left the dancers, she focused for a while on martial arts and cartography, specifically the history of surveying. Deep in her work in the cozy basements of the vintage cartographers’ guild of Evenis, a busy town outside the capital, she encountered a nearly incomprehensible map, the likes of which she had never seen. Disturbingly well-preserved, the document mixed pictorial and geometric descriptions of a site that, through much study, Subira was able to determine must be outside the city in a meadow. Her curiosity piqued by the specificity and apparent banality of such a map, she took it upon herself to venture out to the spot, naïvely unequipped. Cloudless dawn illuminated a snowy clearing; Subira, frigid and sharp, noticed the dark, floating cloak and the twin dripping blades orbiting it too late.

Shot with terror, she stood frozen to the spot, eyes wide as the desolate apparition floated breathlessly. She understood quickly that if she moved backwards, it moved twice as close. Choosing the freedom of the clearing over the mess of the woods for once, she stepped into the being’s arena, nerves fraught. Limbless and empty, the cloak and blades suddenly moved on her, stimulating Subira’s self-defense combat reflexes, the inherent deep control. Too many close calls. The otherworldly blades, even just grazing her nimble body, nipping at her dancing feathers, sent obliterating pain coursing through her every vein.

Subira was bloody and near defeat when the merciless enemy became locked in place; the ripples on the cloak died out and the fabric hung lifeless. Fighting just to stay conscious, she remarked through the haze of pain that the blades, too, floated in the air mere inches from her chest, unmoving. Deep within her, an essential reorganization and series of reconnections was taking place as she discovered an ability to, with great concentration, remove the blades even further, to maintain an even greater lock on the silent cloak.
At once, the pitch fabric crumpled lamely upon the soft snow below, and the sleek blades exploded outward like overturning click beetles, landing dozens of feet away at the foot of the trees. Sleep claimed Subira.

She awoke in a glacial state hours later; collecting the perplexing cloak and blades, rejoined the warmth of the city. She knew not how to recount any of what had happened at the clearing to anyone she knew, choosing to keep the battle a secret, but was ecstatic to announce her sudden revelation that she had stepped into magehood to those around her.

Her work studying surveying and attention to detail led, at length, to an interest in the finer arts of construction. With some scattered references and recommendations, in her 27th year, she found herself tailoring stone in quarry ateliers on the outskirts of the capital. Detailing and engraving the local limestone, often with the help of the force magic she was slowly learning to handle, she maintained a curious position in the quarry’s hierarchy, being trained and traveled but with little to show for it, an immigrant in a strange land but still better off than the quarriers below.