[OOC] No Turning Back - Into the Abyss

[Peaceless]

Alright peeps, just posted the second part of the collab between @Peaceless and I, revolving around the mysterious stowaway cyborg. Sorry for the length, but clearly we had a lot of shit to say ;)

Anyway, the final part should be up by end of week, which will conclude Chiruzu's interactions with Security...at least I hope...

:)

@Rawk

The part where the ship gets destroyed? Yeah I don't think it's that far down the line.

[Sep]

@Peaceless I will murder you both if you hurt my ship.

[Rawk]

Just so you know @boomlover there will be breathalyzers being conducted each time Anderson steps foot into the Nyx...

[boomlover]

@Rawk I'm counting on it.

[Peaceless]

@Peaceless I will murder you both if you hurt my ship.

@Sep

It would be too late, meatbag. GLORY TO THE DEVASTATOR GOD OF DEVASTATION

[Rawk]

FYI, a slight revision to the Part II collab between @Peaceless and I, adding perhaps a whopping ten more letters to an already long post.

[Fuzzybootz]

@Fuzzybootz Since you're rolling with the robotics expert, and I play the android. It might be a fun bit if your char was one of the scientists who created my character. Or maybe they aren't and perhaps they figure out he's not what everyone thinks he is.

@Heat

I need to get myself caught up with everything and give your character a look over but I am entertaining both ideas.

I was planning on her being the daughter of someone big in the robotics field. Perhaps her father created something that was pivotal in the creation of AI.

[Draken]

I'm liking these collabs. The ship is starting to feel more alive (and the Admiral overworked).

[Sep]

SO that's all my collabs done.

I'm going to crack out some solo posts but if anyones wanting to arrange something before we drop out of hyperspace on Friday let me know as I'm still good for that.

[Mao Mao]

Alright, I am finally back home! I am able to finally make a post.

[LegionPothIX]

Vital Statistics:

• Player Name: N/A - See Special Note (below)
• Character Name: Lt. Raquel Rorq
• Character Age: 47
• Character Gender: F
• Nationality: Martian Confederacy
• Race: French Anglo-Saxon
• Position:
  • Command PASS Coordinator (CPC)
  
  Also referred to as the Coordinator in Command (Engineering), or the Co-Chief Engineer [second only to Chief Engineer Calhound]

Reference Description:

Hider

A once lithe frame built up to withstand the rigors of military life. Rorq is a woman who has, until recently, aged with incredible grace. Her rigid disposition belies a stony interior, and her stern face has few lines from little emotional reinforcement (either positive, or negative). Her hard gait and oppressive gaze indicate the prescience of a life-long military officer, while her deep eyes reveal a tepid soul.

image

Background:
What history does your character have in this universe?
The colonization of Mars, and its status as a state, and various other sensitive subjects surrounded the upbringing of this native-born denizen. For many Mars was viewed as the a pioneering frontier despite being settled decades earlier. For the Rorq family this meant opportunity. Like many who worked the land that meant mining. For others, it meant military. For Raquel, it meant both.

Note: in SFC Calhound's opening post he made mention of her pending promotion review scheduled in three months time.

Historical Profile:

• Biography

  Like many humans of Lt. Rorq's mid-life years, she actually lived two distinct and separate lives. Lives of which one ended the day of the Citadel Station attack. As a product of the culture of "revolutionary settlers" it was Raquel's dream to help rebuild the planet, and expand its territorial control with the humane design and material processes that Earth's industrial revolution lacked.
  
  What separated her, even from a young age, was her commitment to everything that entailed. With a small crowd-sourced fund from her local community Raquel was able to return to Earth to attend university with the Nagasaki Conglomerate. With a dual major in both Geology, and Structural Engineering, she studied all the mechanical processes of humane design. Her time was well spent as the collective ten years of dual majorial studies resulted in her leaving the university with a Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate degree in both fields.
  
  While most may attribute her success to some level of super human intelligence, Raquel Rorq herself attributes it to intense passion for the subject material, and drive to succeed to enrich the lives of her very-extended Martian family. Upon returning home she marched ever diligently into the ceaseless fray of the corporate cut-throat world of industrial mining and manufacturing where she was a paragon of the martian success story.
  
  A woman with passion and drive, who enjoyed her work, and the challenge it presented. The total package that no superior could deny, and no underling could resist, soon even found suitors falling under her sway. Despite the term being in the martian blood the word "settle" was nowhere in her own vocabulary, and while quickly married Raquel and her husband put off having children and starting a "proper" family until at least a minimal amount of their aspirations had been realized.
  
  After attaining a high-ranking position in the corporate world, both the wedded Rorqs were frequently sent on prestigious, and exotic assignments. Hers was a geological viability survey of Io, one of Jupiter's most interesting moons, while his was to Upgrade Citadel Station's manufacturing plants.
• Profession: Navy Command-Engineer

  Citadel Station changed everyone. All for the worse. Delusion was perhaps the greatest motivator of change. The delusion that Earth still had a chance. There is an implicit question regarding humane design that one tries not to ask themselves. Tries not to think about, nor nary entertain for a moment.
  
  "I work so hard to build things that harm nothing. How much damage could I do if I really tried?"
  
  Like so many others Raquel Rorq enlisted in the navy at an office formerly known as the Martian Malita Forces of her home province. With her extensive university training she was able to enlist in the officers program, and quickly addapted to the new rules of life on the corporate military ladder.
  
  Having wholly committed there was nothing she wasn't willing to do. No assignment to hard, nor task too outside her comfort zone, as to not find some way to tackle. Throughout her enlistment she gained a rather ruthless image she had no qualms about feeding, and no intent to dispel. She was the job as much as anyone could be and she be the damned best at it.
  
  Throughout her years of service she cross-trained in every field at her disposal at every opportunity. From this she gained a level of command accumen unprecedented for one of her rank and rose time and again into leadership roles. Though her reputation and stigma often followed her she was at times able to use it to motivate her men, and at others, quell descent in the ranks further inflaming her apparent cruel disposition.
• Special Projects: ASPECT

  Lt. Rorq is the type of person who excels in the on-paper assessment, and then puts the on-paper assessment to shame with live performance. That initial paper version of oneself in conjunction with a particular strength lead to the creation of the Advanced Shift Prioritization, Exchange, and Transfer system used to match employee personality to proposed sift trade color-coordinated by professional and personal synergy. The software also does a great deal to automate the transfer process to ensure highly qualified people are, at all possible times, working to the best of their ability with like-minded individuals.
  
  This technology, while developed for her own mining company, has been updated and implemented ark-wide and is one of the chief reasons Rorq was asked to join the Vitae. Every department on the ship utilizes Rorq's system, but the unassuming nature of the implementation of trademark, copyright, and patents render the casual observer unaware of ℝ, and its connection to Rorq.

Psychological Profile:

• Strengths

  • Overclocked Engineer
  • Material Science / Advanced Geology
  • Command Training

  
  
  Overclocked Engineer:
  While some engineers may specialize in the miracle worker legend of yore, studying total mastery of principles of design has proven more in line to Lt. Rorq's personality and style. While working with a system that is designed to perform the task at hand Lt. Rorq can push that system or machine well past its recommended safety limits and tolerances without incurring mechanical failure. A process she is so adept at she can identify the limits before she even begins to exceed them.
  
  This high level of efficiency, and responsiveness to a very demanding operator, often leaves lesser engineers in awe at the raw force of will that these systems bend to in order to accommodate her.
  
  This strength is directly responsible for her Cruel & Calculating weakness.
  
  Material Science / Advanced Geology
  The innate understanding of structure and materials makes all the difference in the world when designing a tool, or improving a machine. Much like the performance of a task is subjective to the operator, the raw nature of being is subjective to the builder. While her doctorate education in mineralogy, and life experience as a geo-scientist itself is impressive, in the context of engineering it allows Lt. Rorq to understand the nature of materials and their impact on design.
  
  While building, modifying, upgrading, replacing, or repairing machines Lt. Rorq can do so with far less materials than even the best engineer on the ship. This is something of a combination of her understand of design, and of efficiency, as the application of the science is within the context of the task that equipment is designed to perform.
  
  While they work perfectly within their recommended usage, many such modified devices fail to meet safety standards for any... secondary adaptation the Vitae's Chief of Engineering or other reckless engineers may have in mind for them.
  
  For her a tool is defined by its purpose and is designed to fulfill it.
  
  It is this mentality that is responsible for her Aged & Reputation Weakness.
  
  Command Training / Extensive Cross-Training
  While not the jack-of-all-trades the name implies, Lt. Rorq has a basic understanding of many diverse leadership styles, and disciples outside her own. The main take-away from this is her ability to motivate systems of people to the same effect that she does machines.
  
  While working with personnel under her direct command, and extended command by chain-of-command proxy, she can both drive their efficiency to near super-human levels by means of various coordination methods, to balancing inspiration and fear.
  
  Operations and departments under the management of Lt. Rorq do not suffer any ill-effect from being undermanned, as her machines require less to function well. Also, the members of her staff can be pushed to exceed their own limits during their performance, much the same way machines under her care can.
  
  This experience and longstanding tradition is directly responsible for her Career Officer weakness.
• Weaknesses

  • Cruel & Calculating
  • Aged & Reputation
  • Career Officer

  
  
  Cruel & Calculating
  A more apt personal description might be "efficient" and "thoughtful" but no one who interpets Lt. Rorq's nature through observance of her actions would see them that way. Lt. Rorq is a widow and has been hurt in a way, and a place, that she still can't really understand. While once sweet and friendly, life has been a bitter pill that has done little to temper her critical nature.
  
  The most noticeable aspect of this shift has been to observe how manipulative the lieutenant can be when pursuant to her goals, regardless of what those goals might be. When people, or machines, fail to meet her expectations she tends to be rather cutting with her lack of restraint when telling them just how they failed.
  
  Aged & Reputation:
  Less than a hundred years ago the mid forties were considered a woman's sexual prime. The last hurrah for the hoo-ha before the baby-factory shut its doors for good. That isn't the kind of age that afflicts the this particular engineer. Its the existential age of having two lives. Two careers. Of outlasting one's family while still having another fifty plus years to go.
  
  Like that of her age, Lt. Rorq's reputation is an equally mounting collection of minor things, and wild stories about a wounded animal seeking retribution. Most of them are untrue, and even the ones that are true tend to be grossly exaggerated. Its difficult for outsiders to get an accurate sense of just who Lieutenant Raquel Rorq is since she makes no effort to clear up these misconceptions about her. Her reputation is a tool to be used, but more often than not, she's cut by its dual blade.
  
  Career Officer:
  When one lives for their job they have difficulty functioning outside of it, or turning it off when they go home. As much as it is a calling, passion, or driving force it is also an excuse. More than that it has become a crutch by which she busies her mind to escape reality, or excuse herself from social gatherings. By assigning an arbitrarily higher level of importance to her job, than her personal life, she can escape all manner of unpleasant experiences through an easily understandable "out".
  
  While, on the other hand, Lt. Rorq might be a basket case for reasons related to her personal life, and history, this weakness of hers helps keep that crazy in check with a more noticeable brand. As a member of her own manipulable system her Career Officer drawback indicates that she is usually manipulating herself with her own Command Training.

Psychographic Profile:

• Totems/Personal Effects

  Few things adorn Raquel Rorq's cabin, the most notable of which is the rock garden that spans the entire surface area of the floor. Zen does not even begin to describe the nature of it, as each rock was hand selected by the mineralogist, and imbibed within it some special significance. On the wall a weathered note scrawled in crayon the following poem reads:
  
  

  Rock.

  You are a rock.

  Gray.

  You are gray.

  Like a rock.

  Which you are.

  Rock.

  
  
  Aside from the 'garden' within, many of the features and effects found within Rorq's home are dualistic in nature. Some are artifacts from her pre-war civilized life such as a large and luxurious bed, while others seem only to exist to haunt her with ghosts of the past; as to never forget what drives her forward. Citadel Station memorabilia adorn a small shrine wherein her husbands dog-tags are laid to rest. A shrine which is featured prominently in the first section of her quarters. A locale that is unmissable in her daily preparations for work.
• Motivations

  Despite her brutally ridged military life, and discipline, there is something for which her passion still burns like an ember at the bottom of a burned out campfire. While outside the confines of her job as an engineer, Rorq takes pleasure in simply geeking out over geology and geological processes.
• Aspirations

  Building a better life is a simple goal that never leaves one. For a time, that may appear as hurting those who oppose that goal, but it always comes down to the building. The building is what makes Rorq an engineer. She looks heavenword to find a new perfect planet, to build a new perfect civilization, away from the horrors of what humanity was and was subjected to.
• Doubts

  Much of what Rorq was is no longer who she is now. A shift so massive she considers it tectonic, and as a result reasonably fears any potential similar aftershocks associated with such shifts. However, as a "high-powered" cooperate, and military life person, these fears are hardly ever evident; if even motivational at all. They are existential concerns she often finds herself too busied by being a Carrier Officer to address.

Special Note:
While extremely detailed here, Lt. Rorq is for the use of anyone who wants proxy control of an engineer, while giving the Engineering department a permanent face and voice. An alternative voice to SFC Calhound who's player (me) may or may not always be available to interact with (due to intense scheduling). While her history and profile is incredibly detailed for an NPC, the intent behind that is to build some solid consensus about what this character is and does so that everyone who chooses to use her can have some standard of expectation as to how she will behave, and interact with their character.

She is a largely professional person, and it is unlikely that any player's character may know her personal side. But, that isn't to say she doesn't have one, and that it doesn't motivate her actions. Though that is not to say she can't be written outside of that environment, if one follows the general personality outlined here, which is in turn why such personality notes were mentioned.

Her expansion in this form is intended to encourage players to give some consideration to how all the characters are intertwined in one singular complex story by giving them direct control of an NPC with player-character levels of development.

Trivia: For those not in the know, Raquel Rorq is named after a specific miner: the Rorqual and was initially conceptualized as its personification within this universe.

Code Word

[Sep]

@The Spectre@LegionPothIX Both back at the same time.

Welcome back.

---

Expect solo posts from both William and Loretta today.

[Fuzzybootz]

Control Alt Delete

[Sep]

College application done and half way through my post.

#excitement

I got nothing planned for tomorrow morning so I'll finish it out then.

[Sep]

I feel like I need to redeem myself as William, after a Loretta post if I have time before I move things on tomorrow I'm going to do another William post.

[Rawk]

Ok, the finale to the collab between @Peaceless and I has been posted...by me! Because I'm post whore!

Well, actually no, the poor bastards computer is on the fritz and he's been reduced to collabing on his tiny phone for now.

#firstworldproblems

[Xandrya]

Ha, sucka!

[Fuzzybootz]

Player Name: Fuzzybootz
Character Name: Mackenzie Leanne Newton
Character Age:26
Character Gender: Female
Appearance:

Profession:Robotics Engineer and Technician
Nationality: Martian
Strengths:

Robotics:It is a highly interdisciplinary field that often includes computer science, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, physics, human–computer interaction and interaction design. There is a fine balance between hard study and fiddling about in the field and Mackenzie dances the line on a daily basis. She spends a lot of her time fiddling in the lab and Planning in her Quarters. Her particular areas of study include A.I and Nanotechnology.

Computer Programming: There are hundreds of programming languages and even though Mackenzie does not know them all, she is able to adapt rather quickly and easily when the need arises.

Athletic: when not fiddling with machines Mackenzie enjoys staying active. She believes that a healthy body encourages a healthy mind. She can be seen every morning running or engaging in healthy competition with a friend.

Well-read/ cultured: Not only does she know several computer languages but she knows a few human ones as well. She speaks Japanese fluently, but German, French, and Italian only conversationally.

Weaknesses:

Introvert:Large groups of people make Mackenzie uncomfortable. She prefers either one on one friendship or small groups.

Pacifist:Even though she enjoys good competition she believes that Violence is wrong. She will participate in martial arts as a sport but never as a means to an end. She enjoys Aikido and Tai Chi.

Workaholic:Even when out doing other things Mackenzie is thinking about her work or the project she is currently working on. At times it is all she can talk about.

Personal Effects: Several books, which includes technical manuals and a very worn down copy of Fahrenheit 451, a picture of her father and herself, and lots of random computer and robot parts scattered about.

Bio:
Mackenzie Leanne Newton is the daughter of two highly influential and wealthy Martian family members. Her father, Carl Newton, was a well-respected and famous mechanical weapons engineer and her mother, Mercedes, was the heiress to a highly profitable mining company. They met, a year after Carl graduated college, at a fundraiser and spent the entire night together. They parted ways knowing that it would never have worked for them. However, three months later Mercedes reconnected crying that she was pregnant and her family would disown her if she didn’t marry the child’s father. Fearing the same scandal, Carl reluctantly agreed and they were married just a month before Mackenzie was born.

Mackenzie grew up privileged even among the Martian elite. She went to all the very best schools and even had tutors.Even during the Three Days War, which happened when she was 6, she was sheltered from the horrors.She had everything a young girl could want and desire. However, her family life wasn’t as happy as it might seem. It was very clear that Mackenzie’s parents were in a loveless Marriage. Her father worked all the time and her mother spent her time spending money and throwing lavish parties. Mackenzie was also her mother’s favorite person to harass. Mackenzie could never do anything right in her mother’s eyes. It wouldn’t be until Mackenzie was 16 that she discovered the reason for her mother’s treatment. Her father had never been a faithful husband and over the years he had many Mistresses. These times, however, he was always careful never to sire any more children. Mercedes had always been aware of his unfaithfulness and she let it continue if only to save herself from embarrassment. This was why she took her frustrations out on Mackenzie.

Despite her father’s misgivings Mackenzie loved her father, and she knew that he loved her. He would often bring her gifts when he was away on long trips and he would spend many hours with her when he wasn’t working. He would even take her along with him to work and allow her to help him on his projects when she needed to escape her mother’s wrath. Her father recognized the latent talent in his daughter and helped to foster her work ethic and hone her skills. He taught her most of what she knows in engineering long before she ever went to college.

College was a mixed blessing for Mackenzie. On one hand, she had entered college a year earlier than most and was a spectacular student. She was always at the top of her class. However, her long hours spent studying didn’t leave her much time to socialize. In fact, she didn’t have many friends at all. The friends she did have either had the same field of study, and didn’t get out much themselves, or she had known them from outside college. One such friend was Amara Locke. She was the daughter of a military Admiral that Mackenzie’s father worked with occasionally. They grew up in the same circles and they found that they enjoyed friendly competition against each other. Even after they had both been accepted into separate Universities they had kept in contact with one another. They often would call each other to let off some steam when they had a big exam or to boast about a good grade.

Mackenzie studied hard and worked even harder. By the time she was just 22 she had successfully completed her doctorate in Robotics Engineering. She then spent her 2 years on active duty for the Martian Military. It was a hard two years and one she never could get used to. She was never truly good at following orders and always fell behind when it came to training. Luckily she spent a majority of her time working and repairing the various machines and robots the military used.

Then tragedy hit when Mackenzie was 24. Her father, during an argument with her mother, had suffered a heart attack. Unfortunately, he did not make it. Mackenzie was left heartbroken. She could not bear to be around her mother, as Mackenzie blamed her mother for her father's death. In an act of grief and defiance Mackenzie left Mars to live on Earth.

Unsure of what to do with herself, Mackenzie delved deeper into her projects and studies. She even began work on her second degree in computer science. When she was young she never really knew what father had been was working on, but it never really mattered to her. It wasn’t until the Project had gone public that she had learned of her father’s involvement. Apparently He was the lead Engineer on all the weapon designs and systems for all the Arks. He also had a hand in designing the weapons aboard the new Reaper-Class Cruiser.She and Amara had spoken about it in length as her father was also involved.

Then Mackenzie was approached by someone from the project itself. He claimed that she was a perfect candidate for the program and that her skills would be needed to save humanity. Mackenzie was hesitant at first, but after taking to Amara, she realized the best way to stay close to her father was to be around the things he had helped to create. She applied and was accepted almost immediately even though she had no idea what she would be getting herself into.

Initially, she was drafted to be aboard the Citadel, but just 3 days prior to the Devastator vessels appearing she was transferred to the Vitae.

Code Word: SpongeBob lives in one of these...

[Draken]

Imma post about Karen going about her new lab and getting to know most of her small staff today. (Now I just need to figure out any of the staff's details.) They'll be available for anyone to use, if you happen to go to the lab/Xeno-containment, or even just want a filler person on the ship.

EDIT: I wrote a bunch. It's not near done. The emotions have left me, I'll do my best to have it up early tomorrow. (Warning, I'm in PST.)

[Sep]

@Fuzzybootz

Couple of things 1) Where was she during the Three Day War?
2) I need to re-read the OP to make sure it's still clear the Citadel was a space station that belonged to the Armani that was destroyed during the Three Day War.
3) This one isn't as clear and you wouldn't have known. Martians are required to perform at least two years military service after education, be it undergrad or post-grad. It wouldn't really change the character though, as with her talent the military probably paid for her second degree and sent her off to study.
4) You hint at it but why was her Father involved in the Genesis Project?