[CHAR] Prophet's Rest: Far Flung Sci-Fi

Sample CS/NPC: 'The Admiral.'

Name: ‘The Admiral.’ It’s a sign of respect by the crew that they don’t refer to his actual name.

Gender: Male.

Age: 54.

Species: Homo Sapiens Sapiens. Human.

Appearance: The Admiral stands at a respectable five foot eleven tall, with a slim, wiry frame. This frame has a lot in common with his hair, which has a lot in common with steel wool. It’s coarse, tough and a steely colour, kept in check behind a peaked Admiral’s cap with five burnished gold stars running along the rim. He wears a very traditional Terran navy uniform, with a navy-coloured coat and trousers, a set of black leather shoes, shined to a mirror sheen, a trim white shirt and cravat, and finished with gilded cufflinks and buttons. He has a neatly kept black-and-grey beard, the last of his hair that still holds his original colour.
Rank or Role: Admiral of the Prophet’s Rest.

History: The Admiral doesn’t speak much of his life, but it’s hardly an unknown story. Growing up on the spaceport that circled Terra itself, he studied under some of the finest military theorists available to the Federation, taking command of a small expeditionary fleet at the age of twenty three. Leading an expedition to protect the URS Pliny as it investigated solar systems far and wide, he saw many curious and fantastical things on the fringes of known space, learning how to carefully martial his supplies and operate for extended periods without a defined command structure.

Finally returning to known sectors, he was almost immediately transferred to one of the premiere Federation fleets, and participated in the decade-long war to halt the so-called Actrthon Cleansers, fanatically xenophobic and dedicated to obliterating all other sapient life.

Rising through the ranks, his expertise and skills were considered invaluable for internment, and although it was stressed that this was a voluntary choice, The Admiral accepted without a second thought.

Taking it upon himself to educate himself about the ship he would be stationed on before he was needed to, he requested for his flagship’s AI persona core to be replaced by the Prophetess, and the two have a bond that goes beyond what many captains have with their own ships.

Psych Report: The Admiral is a stoic figure. Reserved and introspective, he executes every facet of his work with an unerring self-confidence. A man who doesn’t believe in half measures, he’s fond of good conversation and equally good food, and considers every crewman under his command to be a protégé that can do great things.

He has a great dislike for prolonged or fair fights- having seen how much unneeded casualties that they can cause when he fought in full-scale wars. He prefers to overwhelm his opponents with a crippling Alpha Strike to minimise potential friendly casualties, and then simply mop up the remaining resistance. He’s also not particularly fond of being ‘planetside.’ Born and raised in space, he finds steel and control consoles far more than he does open skies.

Extraordinary skills: Unusually, the Admiral is a rather physically average human being. True, he’s strong and healthy for a middle-aged man, and like most spaceborne individuals has had limited genetic therapy to mitigate the effects of ionising radiation on his cells, but otherwise is a very typical individual.

[Enigmatik]

Name: Limenal Prycten Ran’Ten

Gender: Male

Age: Yuteni can live to a venerable 240 years, but Limenal is not even halfway through his lifespan, being around eighty-six years old.

Species: The Yuteni were one of the first species that mankind encountered upon reaching the stars. Intelligent, organised and spacefaring, their first FTL engines were put into practise mere decades before those of humanities were. With both societies eagerly attempting to understand the other, it was under a year before translations were possible, and first contact with extra-terrestrials was made.

Yuteni are, on the whole, fairly different to humanity. To Yuteni, slavery is merely another punishment much like prison, and slaves are not unusual to be found within Yuteni controlled space. Yuteni are also rather spiritualistic in outlook, and most unlike humanity, have had a rather peaceful history. The Yuteni had never even considered splitting the atom would have military applications until after they met mankind. Most unusually of all however is the unique link that the Yuteni have to what they call the ‘third dimension.’

All Yuteni have three eyes- two in a relatively human placement, and one on their forehead. For most of the species, this third eye remains stubbornly shut for their life, a vestigial organ with no true purpose. A small minority, often considered a subspecies, known as the Prycten (a word that roughly translates into something along the lines of ‘those who have been gifted by the universe a great boon’ or alternatively ‘the gifted,’) will instead have their third eye open, opening them up to an entirely new point of view, and allowing them to utilise powers once considered magic.

Yuteni ships are tightly linked to this ‘third dimension.’ Each Yuteni ship requires a Conduit to function, a Prycten specifically trained for the role. This Conduit functions somewhat as a captain and navigator combined, their third eye steering them through the currents of a subspace that few other races appear to be able to find themselves in.

Although leagues apart in some ways, in others Yuteni are very similar to humans. They breathe oxygen. The Yuteni homewolrd of Ulacoqn is closer to their system’s sun, whilst still remaining in the Goldilocks zone, and as such is drier than Earth, but shares a wide and diverse ecosystem, many of whom interact with the ‘third dimension’ much like the Yuteni. Ulacoqn’s atmosphere contains a majority oxygen/argon chemical blend, making it safe to breathe for humans (although many have remarked that they constantly feel the need to swallow.) One of the largest issues with Yuteni and Human interactions was virulent pathogens that could prove lethal for the other but were harmless for the former- a problem solved after a cross-species research project successfully created vaccinations that could be prepared for any individual that wished to interact with the other species.

Yuteni and Humans are not biologically compatible for offspring, although that doesn’t mean that thanks to their similar reproductive systems there haven’t been more personal Yuteni-Human relations.

Appearance: Limenal, like many Yuteni, is smaller than a human of the same maturity would be. Standing at 4’9” tall, he has a rich purplish-pink coloured skin, and dark cobalt-coloured hair. This hair is kept drawn up into two braid which run along the top of his head in two ridges, the style drawing hair away from his third eye.

All of his eyes are a slightly lighter shade of pink than his skin is, with his third eye being unusually fluorescent and bright. When open, it seems to draw attention in towards the iris, which is larger than those of either other. He wears the standard uniform for a Yuteni shipgoer, this being a skintight suit of a substance very similar to nylon, coloured appropriately for the rank of the person wearing it- in Limenal’s case, a pearl white.

Rank or Role: First Officer. Second-in-command of the URS Prophet’s Rest, only below the Admiral.

History: Limenal’s selection as First Officer of the URS Prophet’s Rest was not altogether unexpected. It was known that the Federation would inevitably elect a Yuteni to share a high-ranking position on the ship, since they had been one of the first Sapient races to actually wish to interact with humanity, and the first to join the Federation in its nascence. A Conduit was also a natural choice, as they had the technical and commanding know-how to work on a ship for a long period of time. Limenal’s choice was simply a matter of choosing one of the most outstanding Yuteni available, and requesting for him to be interred within the URS Prophet’s Rest.

Limenal’s rise to power started when he was born on Iralkin Prime- the first colony established on a world that was not Ulacoqn. Born with his third eye wide open, he was rapidly placed within a specialist boarding school designed to enhance and improve upon the powers he had been blessed with as a Prycten.

Spending his early adolescence doing nothing but practising and honing his psionic powers, he was placed as a Conduit for a mining ship in centre of Federation space, a role he was wholly unprepared for. Not in that he could not pilot the ship, but that his education had left little time for socialising, and he was a poor commander, a fact that was mitigated by the monotonous work that a construction ship takes part in.

It was in battle that he truly came into his own. A group of Cravyn pirates had concealed themselves in an asteroid before emerging and attacking the system that Limenal was working on. A true tactical mind was revealed as the young Prycten utilised a ship wholly undesigned for combat in a week-long battle with the pirates, constantly dropping into Yuteni subspace before popping out, the mining laser mounted on the ship carving gouges in his opponent’s vessels.

After this action, and with a crash course on leadership, he was assigned to be the Conduit of a cruiser within the Yuteni navy, a role which allowed him to stretch his combat wings further. As he participated in more battles, he received further and further recommendations for higher command. Eventually placed in a true commanding position in a Federation’s URS ship, he was one of the natural choices, choosing to join the URS Prophet’s Rest after declining the offer for the URS Angel’s Rest. Quite why he did this is totally unknown, and he never comments.

Psych Report:Pryctens in general tend to be fairly eccentric individuals. The gift affects different individuals in ways just as diverse as their powers, but Limenal has potentially received a very useful sort of eccentricity. People who have seen him at work often describe him as ‘maniacal ’ ‘driven’ or ‘fanatical,’ with the Yuteni finding it difficult to finish working at a problem until one is complete. A downside to this is that Limenal is extraordinarily single-minded. Multitasking is a tremendous effort for him- as it means that now he must spread his single-minded drive over multiple tasks, but surprisingly this bull-headedness can come in handy when commanding a ship.

Limenal also refuses to doubt himself. Once his mind has been made, that was the course he had plotted, and there would be no deviation unless outside factors shifted the situation. Thanks to the unreliable Yuteni relativistic ‘generators,’ which are often in flux, this served him well, as it allowed him as the Conduit to plot courses even when stress upon the ship became extreme.

Extraordinary skills: Limenal is a Prycten. This means that by opening his third eye, he may access the so-called ‘third dimension,’ tapping into the psionic potential of the Yuteni species. Pryctens may telepathically communicate complex thoughts with other Pryctens, whilst also sending and receiving more basic forms of communication, such as emotions, from other races with limited empathic ability. Many psionic powers that Limenal uses more commonly however are less savoury. Meddling with brains, including disrupting synaptic connections can cause people to have short-term memory problems, panic, fall unconscious and experience extraordinary sensory overload. Physical injury can also be caused by psionics, the most common form being to cause necrosis in otherwise healthy tissue. Pryctens can also, as humans call it, ‘astrally project,’ centring themselves outside of their body and seeing the world around them very differently to how they normally do so.

In fact, the true limit of Pryctens powers is unknown. It is theorised that as a Prycten gets older and his brain matures further, his powers simply grow and grow, and indeed this does seem to be the case, but there is no easy way to tell in many cases. These abilities make Pryctens useful and terrifying in equal measure.

[Wernher]

Name: Stelaz M'Za Biival Zel-Fan

Gender: Asexual

Age: 12 Solar Years

Species: Crayven

-Biology: Somewhat short in height at an average of 5 feet and in lifespan, being considered mature at 2 and living to an average of 35, these arthropoids have 4 arms of remarkable strength capable of lifting many times their weight and a body mostly covered by a chitinous exoskeleton offering protections against low velocity slashing or stabbing wounds along with low level radiations. This armor of sort is however useless against anything that isn't a simple melee attack and blunt trauma will likely cause internal bleeding that will be harder to cure as these plates also get in the way of advanced medical procedures. This protection doesn't extend to their abdomen protruding on their back, a very obvious weak spot of this otherwise very martial species. In the case of a 'Drone' as is Stelaz, this organ hosts only digestive tracks and energy reserves but it is kept in this state only when the Crayven is within range of the pheromones of an active brood mother (Or, as technology allows this, as long as he consumes medication faking this pheromone). Should a Crayven be outside of pheromone range for a longer period of time without any substitute, his body will undergo dramatic hormonal changes and once they are complete, will see its rear abdomen enlarge many times and he will become a she, laying dozens of eggs per day of sterile workers.

-Psychology: The stereotypical Crayven is seen as having adequate intelligence but of abysmal creativity, a single minded race that puts all of its thoughts and energy in the work in front of them, being able to handle extremely long and boring repetitive tasks with ease, considering them 'relaxing'. This stereotype is actually something they don't mind and is generally true since the Crayvens are genetically and culturally extremely homogeneous, brothers being birthed by the same brood mother being in essence identical clones. It is notable that they seem to have a weak form of hive mind as while they are individuals (or at least will call themselves such despite a generally very communal lifestyle), they all seem to somewhat be able to just 'know' when their fellow Crayvens need something of them and in a factory or in an army, will cooperate extremely well without having to speak. The science isn't very well developed yet and some suggest this is a pheromone communication of sort rather than psionics.

-History: Some long lived races will remember a time when the Crayvens were the scourge of the galaxy, united under a monolithic dictatorship, this race used its innate industriousness and ridiculous numbers to constantly make war against its neighbors to expand and colonize every planet, every asteroid that could be made in a habitat to provide for their astronomical numbers. War was a means to an end, either they'd win and get new land to settle, or the excess population would all die in suicidal mass assaults with armies literally bridging rivers with dead bodies. The Crayvens and humanity were, to say the least, quite hostile to one another. Eventually however the regime fell to unrest and the Crayvens turned their weapons against one another in civil war, dozens of sides emerging to try and impose their own generally violent and radical ideas on the others. Humanity and the rest of the federation decided to intervene and support the most moderate faction, suggesting the Crayvens should compete against the other races and against each other in industry, play the game of peace to see who prospered without the need for violence.

With this help, this side won and the war ended, the Crayvens surprisingly easily reforming themselves into an industrial powerhouse, flooding the galaxy with cheap goods the way only a race with 20h work shifts with no vacation, regulation or work safety could. The federation was hesitant to welcome them as this influx of goods was dangerous for their own industries, but they accepted with the idea that eventually the Crayven workers would go on to demand higher salaries and better work conditions, making them equals with the rest of the galaxy. (After all, they only lived 35 years, surely such a short lived race would be eager to enjoy life before death!) When the Prophet's crew was sent into cryo however, it had been two centuries and this had yet to manifest, everywhere Crayven migrated they drove the wages down, being willing to work ridiculous hours for terrible pay, this of course causing the rest of the federation to see them as second class citizens. They aren't very well liked.

Appearance: Like all the others, a 5ft1 biped with 4 arms and smooth chitinous face without noteworthy features. Good thing he's the only Crayven in here.

Rank or Role: Captain, Combat Engineer. Basically responsible of the more technical aspects of combat, such as knowing how to properly set up explosives to destroy a ship during boarding, set up mines or building a bridge.

History: There is no shortage of Crayvens that would be ideal candidates for an initiative asking for disciplined and efficient soldiers capable of performing in whatever crisis the Prophet was made to stop, but that's the thing: Crayvens are simply all the same for the most part. A Crayven holding back a dozen enemies with nothing but his rifle and sheer grit isn't a hero, he's simply a Crayven at the right place doing as any Crayven would do, nothing special. Still, the federation had to at least chose SOME Crayvens for this initiative, with the social climate and all the hate these insectoids got, anything else and people would scream discrimination.

Captain Stelaz was thus chosen exactly because of how un-Crayven he is. An officer of some experience, he is noted for having some things most Crayvens lack: Creativity and individuality. His mother was one of the matriarch of a large Crayven corporation and like his brothers, at his birth he was destined to work and die for this corporation, a frequent practice in the Crayven core worlds, and was thus selected when he was 2 year old as smart enough to go and study on Earth in a prestigious human institute of learning. Crayvens generally saw the schools of races that mature less quickly and have less tolerance for constant work than they do as ridiculously inefficient but the aim was to have someone in the company that understood how humans thought to then negotiate with human clients and other corporations more efficiently with knowledge of their inner working and culture. And so Stelaz went...

...And never returned. Truth was, he quickly got used to humans, their lifestyle and attitude in general, prefering them and their mellow, relaxed ways much more than the constant stress of Crayven life. When he had his diploma, he chose not to go back. This meant the money that supported him was gone though and for this he joined the army with a couple of his closer human friends who also needed employment. He stuck with them until he was sent in a civil war zone within human space and got a reputation as a miracle organizer, guiding a medical convoy through rivers, marshes and mountains in record time, a terrain that was called absolutely impossible to to go through by land. He'd do a couple more missions with success, preferring to be assigned to humanitarian tasks if possible before being offered a spot on the Prophet's Rest.

Psych Report: Stelaz is considered pretty mellow and easy going in comparison of his fellow Crayvens, people who get to know him often notice he is more Crayven than not. Simply, while his life doesn't revolve only around work the way it often do for his kin, he is generally obsessive in doing something, anything. For example, as far as hobbies go he's the kind to take up building model ships in bottle but will then in a few short months build hundreds of models before then moving on to origami and make a billion paper crane and so forth. He simply hates to wait and likewise in his work, he will obsess over every little details until the last second to make sure things are as perfect as they are and that he didn't miss anything. Still, that makes him a very good friend to have around for while he might not be too fond of relaxing with you on a beach, the idea of helping you move stuff or build a deck sounds like heaven to him. One important thing to mention however is that Stelaz is perfectly aware of his own mania and isn't one to push others to be overly active or call them lazy. He understands.

Extraordinary skills:

-Dexterious: All species have a favored hand, Crayvens even when they have 4 are no exceptions. Mastering 2 hands is somewhat common, 3 less so, but a creature with 4 arms and extraordinary strength mastering each one of them makes for a close quarter combat expert of the likes that are rarely seen and while his official job is as a combat engineer, he can knock the CQC instructors on their asses any time.

-The Eye: Its the job of a combat engineer to build and destroy, but this generally requires quite some planning to do perfectly. Stelaz especially loves to spend hours planning but fact is that he's someone who can with just a look evaluate the weakpoints of a building or simply the quickest and cheapest way to build something to just barely hold and do its job without crashing down. Its a gift.

-Psionic?: Its subtle, how when he is lost in thought psionically gifted individuals somehow have the subject he is focused on come up in their mind or how when they try to intrude in his mind he'll rise up his head and look around, knowing something is wrong but not being able to say what. There is potential in here.

[eemmtt]

-posted in wrong area-

[brokndremes]

Chief Amadeus, Jeffrey

Name: Chief Amadeus, Jeffrey

Gender: Male

Age: 43

Species: Human

Appearance: Despite his somewhat timid personality, Amadeus strikes a rather imposing figure. Thickly built and athletic while looming over most other spacefarers at barely two meters tall. He’s often mistaken as being younger, with his face always immaculately shaven, if only to hide the fact that any beard given a chance to group would be a stark white. Similarly, his blonde hair is the result of an almost religious application of dye, and is groomed just long enough to hide the multitude of faint scarring which runs along his scalp.

The same meticulousness Amadeus puts into his grooming can be found in his uniform as well. When on duty, his naval uniform is always crisp and clean, although a keen eye can notice vestiges of Amadeus’ past as a technician himself. A multitool is always somewhere on his person, as well as a skinsuit and emergency mask in case of a hull breach. In uniform, the Chief seeks to hold himself to the bearing of his station – strict military bearing regardless of what chaos may be unfolding nearby. This slackens considerably when he is off duty, downgrading to a T-shirt, jeans and a bit of a slouch.

Appearance at a Glance

Height: 2m / 6ft 5in
Weight: ~ 109kg / 240lb
Hair: Blonde, close cropped and smooth. Cleanshaven.
Eyes: Blue
Skin: Caucasian

Rank / Role: Chief Warrant Officer, Engineering. Acting as a liason between the more technically minded workers and the bridge, Chief Amadeus works to keep things running, regardless of what hardships combat or command may impart on the Prophet’s Rest.

History: Born on a far flung colony and stuck under a dome, Jeffrey quickly enlisted in the Navy as a means of escaping, more so than any sense of patriotism or duty. Finding an affinity for technical systems, he found himself serving on the URS Expanse – a dilapidated patrol ship which brought young Amadeus even further into the middle of nowhere, a prospect which the young technician hadn’t considered possible. Yet there is no better training ground for jury-rigging than isolation in a half function bucket of bolts, and Jeffrey soon found himself working to squeeze as much life out of the Expanse’s systems as possible. His efforts, however, went unnoticed by the jaded crew, happy to skate by with less work as an enthusiastic young midshipman took on the burden of keeping the ship operational.

This lasted as long as the ship itself did. Whether by some stroke of misfortune (or, perhaps fortune) reports of a band of smugglers operating nearby turned out to be far understated, and the patrol ship found itself facing a well-armed frigate. As heavy slugs tore through ships hull, Amadeus found himself franticly directing his fellow technicians in order to keep weapons, shields and engines somewhat functional. As the battle waned and both ships limped away from each other, he found himself struggling to keep even essential systems, life support and an SOS alive. Surviving, and saving the crew of the URS Expanse shot Amadeus’ career forward faster than a slug from a railgun. Awards and promotions came after the ships return, and with that more prestigious positions on more modern ships. Amadeus chased the cutting edge of technology, and as he continued to prove adept with advanced technology and coolheaded in battle, the young officer was granted his wish.

Jeffrey Amadeus, no longer quite so young, was one of the first to receive a series of neural implants designed to give the user a better, more intuitive understanding of the ship under their care. The procedure, still in its infancy, left a series of scars across his scalp – a blemish which later recipients would not suffer. Yet hardly a price to pay for the ability to feel one’s ship almost as an extension of one’s body. Over the next decades, Amadeus continued to hone his skills, eventually discovering Prophets Rest, and became enthralled with the idea of waking up centuries, even thousands of years later to discover what new advances the worlds had made. The prospect of being entombed for nearly a million years later wasn’t something he even considered.

Psych Report: Amadeus tends towards caution and to a degree, paranoia. He prefers the systems under his command to be maintained and improved to the highest standards, and will suffer no slack from either himself or his subordinates. Although generally soft-spoken and passive, the chief has no trouble taking a hard stance against any who would undermine the integrity of the ship, and it’s systems without a solid reason. Amadeus maintains almost two separate personalities, one of strict professionalism worn when on duty, as well as a more laid back and enthusiastic tinkerer who is revealed when not wearing the mantle of command. He has a strong desire to understand how unfamiliar systems work, and how they can be integrated with those already in place. Amadeus believes that nothing is ever perfect, and no matter how well executed, things can always be done better. Although such introspection can be detrimental at times, it also drives him to be bettering himself, both physically and mentally.

Extraordinary Skills:

Neurological Interface Device (NID) – A series of interfaces embedded in his skull, this technological suit allows Amadeus immediate and intimate access to the systems under his control, their status, and the ability to control them to a degree. The NID provides a constant overview of the ships status, and allows for a deeper, more personal inspection in the event that something goes wrong however the human mind can only hold so much information at a time, and in a ship as large as the Prophet's Rest, it's hard to keep an eye on everything. While the NID can’t replace an engineer turning a valve, or flipping a switch, it does make the management and issuing of orders considerably more efficient.

Jury-Rigger – There’s rarely a piece of tech that is capable of performing one, and only one action. Through a mixture of practical experience and intuition, Amadeus has become quite skilled at finding ways to make things work, even when it seems like they really shouldn’t.

Technological Expertise – Amadeus has a knack for understanding how things work, and in particular how to make them work when they aren’t functioning anymore. Although hardly at the level of a specialist technician, he can easily grasp a basic understanding of what makes things tick, an essential skill when directing a mob of specialists.