[CHAR] Steampunk: Dragons and Battleships

[Bell]

Name: Sahara Drake

Age: 37

Background: Sahara's grandfather fought in the war that lead up to the Atomic Awakening. Many people place some amount of blame on the soldiers who fought in the war, so it wasn't an easy life for him. Even so, Sahara would always listen to his stories. Stories of glory, of honor, and of death, loss, and suffering. What she took interest in most however, was his stories of the ships that sailed on oceans of water. The old world was now only a story. Expeditions to the surface rarely came back, and it was difficult to gather much information anyways going down there. Nobody knew how much the world had changed, if it even had at all. The skies, were all humanity knew now.

But her Grandfather had been a Captain in the United States Navy, and his stories drove her to work hard to have her own ship one day. It was a simple dream, but she never knew just how far she would take it. Working her way up from nothing, she was a nobody on board a freighter that came under attack from a Wyvern.

Nobody knows what truly happened that day but Sahara, but the stories claim that she took down the Wyvern by herself, with nothing more than a harpoon gun, and a knife. No matter the reality of the story, it cemented her place as a legend among sailors, and it wasn't long after that she had her own ship, and a call for crewmembers was sent out. No doubt, many people would answer the call at a chance to serve under the legendary Sahara Drake.

She was truly a modern Captain Drake.

Personality: Sahara is a rather serious person when it comes to matters aboard her ship. She won't take even a joke of insubordination lightly, and won't be challenged by her crew. Even questioning the story of her battle with a Wyvern is likely to get some sort of punishment. Most sailors understand that it doesn't matter if the story is true or not. They know that people need something, and someone to believe in if they are ever going to stand a chance against the monsters of the surface. If they are going to hunt monsters, they need to believe it's possible. Sahara is willing to be the symbol of proof that it can be done.

When not aboard her ship however, Sahara becomes much more open, willing to drink her nights away, laugh and party with her crew. As long as they're ready to do their jobs when the ship leaves port, she doesn't care what they do. At least, not right now she doesn't.

Crew Position: Captain

Aspirations: Simply put, she dreams of Captaining a vessel capable of taking on the biggest and baddest of the world's monsters. She has only heard stories of the Warships of the Old World, but it gives her ideas for what could be the ships of the future.

Appearance:

[Gunther]

Étienne Richard

Name: Étienne Baptiste Richard (Nick: Eti, Ten, Tienne or Steve)

Age: 35

Background: Étienne was born on Montreal. His parents moved from Avranches prior to the Atomic Awakening. Both were single when they moved and met years later on the northern floating city. As a boy, Étienne, also known as Eti lived on the streets of Montreal. His parents busied themselves with their jobs, relying on their son’s better judgement; even at a young age. Apparently, his immature judgement was not as developed as they hoped. He found himself on the wrong side of the law, but usually only misdemeanors. By the time he was 18, he had turned himself around and began work as a longshoreman.

He spent a few years working the docks of Montreal until he picked up a job as a Boatswain’s mate aboard a Freighter. Aboard most ships, the Boatswain is in charge of a group of sailors, referred to as a Boatswain’s mate who take care of all the other duties, not specifically assigned to the helm, engineering or with a warship, the gunners. The Boatswain’s mates help load and unload cargo, mop the floors, run errands and a sundry other task, jumping in and helping the gunners or enginemen when necessary.

Étienne eventually rose to the position of Boatswain aboard the frigate, “Walpole”. He enjoyed his time until the ship was stricken by a firebreather from the surface. Most of the crew plummeted to their death. The chief engineer, Derrick Hanlon and the ship’s Boatswain, Étienne Richard survived aboard a floating life raft. The two were picked up by a frigate and taken to Baltimore. While in Baltimore, he tried to use his experience to secure a position aboard ship. He met with a new captain, Sahara Drake, hiring on as a Boatswain’s mate, training as a gunner.

Personality: Étienne is calm, cool and collected. He is slow to anger with a high degree of patience. He prefers his ship to be taken care of, clean and orderly with everything in its proper place. It is generally a pet peeve of his to become annoyed by a disheveled appearance. During an engagement, he understands things being disorderly. He is the first to put things back where they belong. Étienne enjoys games of chance exhibiting a natural poker face when necessary. He does have a tell when bluffing.

Crew Position: Boatswain’s Mate, training as a gunner. Of course, there are usually more Boatswain’s mates aboard ships than any other position. They do most of the work. They help carry ammunition to the gun decks when necessary.

Aspirations: For now, Étienne is happy serving as a crewmember aboard ship. He would enjoy rising through the ranks. He would like to return to his previous position as Boatswain and eventually a lieutenant either on the gun deck or on the bridge; maybe even making first officer one day.

Appearance:

[Salenea]

Jillian Bosson

Name: Jillian Bosson

Age: 25

Background: Jillian was born and raised in Baltimore together with her little brother and sister. Her parents both worked full time, her mother as a teacher and her father as a smith. Her grandparent often told her about the surface and what had happend during the Atomic Awakening but both her parents and herself have never seen the surface and certainly never seen the war or the beasts other then a few scarce pictures at that time.

As child, when she wasn't in school, she mostly wandered the streets. Often she nimbly climbed the buildings and jumped from roof to roof, even trying to get on top of the wall. Always trying to get higher and higher. She made it a game to not be caught by authorities. When Jillian turned 16 she fell through the roof of a house belonging to an elderly woman. The woman decided not to turn her over and after severly lecturing Jill she started to teach her how to fix things by telling her to fix all kinds of things around her house as 'punishment'.

When Jillian turned 18 her father learned her his trade, smithing. It was hard to get coal but her father was an excellent smith so he was allowed some coal for important projects. When there was some coal left Jill could smith with scrap metal if there wasn't any she fixed things around the house. Jillian often went to the docks to barter for additional coal and looked at the floating ships with a longing gaze.

At her 21st birthday her parents gave her a toolbelt and a toolbox for smithing and tinkering as they called it. Exalted Jillian took them and went to search for a job as her brother was now learning the trade.
From her 21st till her 25th she did all kinds of jobs on the shipyards, airdocks and on board a ship between cities. Jill worked hard and saved hard because the more she worked there the more she longed to get off the city and fly in the skies. When she witnessed how one of those ships got taken down by one of those beast Jillian decided it was time to fight back and that she could help Humanity with her skill set. She found a ship to enlist in and found herself one step closer to fulfilling her dream.

Personality: Jillian is adventerous and ambitious. She knows what she wants and she goes for it, no detours. Jill can be headstrong if she thinks she is right and she can make rash decisions, not always having safety first in mind. She might take some shortcuts in not work related duties but she is very precise when it comes to repairing and creating. She likes to be around be people and is always in for a game although she is a sore loser.

Crew Position: Engineer

Aspirations: Jill dreams big. She loves fixing things and tinkering but what she really wants is to fly the skies. She aspires to be a pilot one day and who knows maybe even become a captain and have a ship of her own.

Appearance: Jillian has straight chestnut brown hair that reaches halfway her back. She braids it when working and when she is free she has her hair hanging loose held in control with a small braided leather headband. Her eyes are sea green. Jillian is about 5ft3 and is slender. She has a fair, warm skin tone. Jill wears tight fitted dark black trousers and a grey tunic with a sleeveless black blazer. She wears her brown leather toolbelt pretty much constantly. Jillian carries a small dagger in a sheath and a pocket pistol in one of the compartiments of her tool belt.

[Nate1008]

...

[Vertigo]

Jaroslav Moravec

Name:

Jaroslav "Jaro" Moravec, or as he's known among the racer crowd, "Blazer"

Age:

18

Crew Position:

Helmsman

Aspirations:

Truth be told, Jaroslav's ambitions aren't particularly noble or worthy of reverence. All he wants is his next fix of adrenaline. The small-time races back home just aren't doing it for him anymore. He needs to go harder, faster, and with something far more gigantic on his ass. Bonus points if it breathes fire.

Personality:

Jaroslav isn't a difficult guy to read - he's an open book with a detailed synopsis. What you see is what you get; a reckless youth that doesn't remember yesterday and doesn't worry for tomorrow. He's generally laid back and takes things in a stride, to an extent that some may find irresponsible. If he does have a problem with someone or something though, worry not; you'll hear about it. Though he usually doesn't have bad intentions, he doesn't really watch what he says or to whom, and it has gotten him in trouble more than once.

It's not like he has trouble with authority on a principle or something though, and he is fully capable of following orders and doing as he's bid - even if he might complain about it on the way. Similarly, while Jaro does hate boredom and menial tasks, he doesn't purposefully seek to cause havoc, and never intentionally drags others into his mess. Sometimes it just... happens, and he only notices it when everything around him is figuratively ablaze. He will always try to fix what he's broken, though, and is not a bad kid at heart. At the core of most of his problems is inexperience, and no doubt leaving behind the city is going to do wonders in teaching him a thing or two about life - and death.

Adrenaline is, without a shadow of a doubt, Jaro's greatest vice. It's what drives him to seek excitement where he should not - but it's also what gives him the drive to overcome whatever obstacle he encounters on the way. It gets him in trouble, and it bails him out. It's what awaits him at the top, and what threatens to pull him under. He's a junkie, through-and-through.

Background:

Jaroslav was born in the lower-middle class area of Baltimore, and for as long as he can remember, it's just been him and his mother trying to make ends meet. There is this guy that sort of looks like him in an old portrait at the back wall of the house, holding his mom's hand - but considering the bastard left before he was even old enough to speak, Jaro just knows the guy as "that dude with shitty mustache." Hopefully, wherever he is today, he's got a better sense of style. Yikes.

Speaking of things Jaroslav doesn't know, most of his family history falls into that category. His mother has been reluctant to talk about anything that happened prior to his birth, but he's managed to gather some bits and pieces over the years. Apparently his family lived in some place called "Europe", and his grandfather served in the war that fucked the world over. Oh, and his mom had a dog, but the thing would be dead by now even if Earth hadn't been taken over by abominations.

Growing up, Jaro was always a troublesome kid - though not on purpose. He loved his mother even before he was old enough to realize just how hard she worked to put food on their table, and would've never wanted to cause her worry on purpose. He didn't set out to cause trouble. He just... set out at the wrong time, to the wrong places, with the wrong people. Trouble didn't just find him, it attached itself to him by the hip and made him race through life three-legged. It certainly didn't help that he practically lived and breathed adrenaline, with no amount of punishment able set him straight.

But worry over his increasingly old and weary mother eventually did, somewhat. By the time Jaro reached his teenage years, he started to try and redirect some of his energy to small jobs here and there in an attempt to financially support his mother. It... didn't always work out. He was still an easily bored teen, too easily distracted and too quick to rile up. Needless to say, many of his jobs ended prematurely, with his pockets being none the fuller.

That was until he ended up helping some of the older kids fix up their gear for a sport that had been making the rounds as of late; air-racing. Just like the name entailed, it involved racing over the city walls with small, usually home-made airboats. The vessels were only big enough for one, and needed dedicated repair often - which was where Jaroslav came in.

But he could only watch from the sidelines so long.

The first time he rose above the walls atop a wobbly boat, he fell in love. He was supposed to be just a substitute pilot, there to get a participation trophy for the real deal. He came in fourth. When he joined his next race after months of practice gliding around the city, he came in second; and from there, his climb to the top but continued. He was already a famous racer, hailed as the hotheaded "Blazer" with dozens of wins under his belt, when that incident cemented his name onto everyone's lips for months to come.

It was the Summer Ignite, the biggest race out there. Air-racing wasn't an official sport sanctioned by the city, and those participating in it were often fined if caught - but considering the size of the Summer Ignite and its popularity among the youth, too much effort would've needed to be poured into stopping it. It happened on the walls in the less populous, poorer area of the city, anyway; away from the general populace's eyes.

Midway through the race, all eyes were watching.

With no warning, the race was interrupted by two manticores emerging from the clouds below, their fearsome forms two dark dots against the blue of the sky. They caught the racers by surprise, and had Jaro not turned around and sped down to distract them away from some of the slower contestants, more than one family would've likely ended the evening in mourning.

So, at only seventeen, Jaroslav not only crossed the finish line first, he did so a hero, with two manticores hot on his trail.

The city watch managed to take care of the beasts before Jaro's heroic story ended in a tragedy.

Jaroslav's celebration was intense, but decidedly short-lived. By the time the next race rolled around and he rose to greet the skies once more, everything felt uncharacteristically... dull. All his senses, all the sensations around him. The breeze against his face, the wind's howl in his ears, the vertigo of leaning over the boat's edge to gaze at the murky clouds below. None of it made him tingle.

He won the race, probably. He wasn't really paying attention.

It made no matter whether he was walking the streets or sliding atop the wall now; the city felt like a prison regardless.

But while Jaro was busy having an existential crisis, the news of his heroic deed kept on traveling. Eventually, it reached influential ears, ones that happened to be in need of a helmsmen for a certain vessel. And so, a few months later, with no education to justify such a decision, he was offered the position of a helmsman on the launch of a new frigate; The Drake. Fancy name for a simple vessel, but hey-- Jaroslav wasn't shallow.

Other:

He speaks fluent Slovakian, not that he knows it's what the language is called. It's his mother tongue, and the one used at home the most.