[OOC] The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

[vietmyke]

Here he is, my chain smokin' doctor, ready for review.

Dr. Duncan Feng

Duncan Feng

Human(Martian) | Male | 32

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.

[Cath]

@vietmyke Thank you for writing up your character sheet! It all makes sense to me. You are accepted.

[Expendable]

Jack Ryan Mallory

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.

Wardrobe

His garment bag came on the plane with him, and held a nice tailored black suit (two pants), a dress shirt, three silk ties, a khaki safari jacket with cargo pants, two leather belts, and a nice pair of black dress shoes in their own protective shoe bags.

However, his checked-in bag did not come on the flight, so he had to scavenge from the local stores for toiletries and other clothing. He's got some novelty underwear, a lot of black socks, handkerchiefs, a couple of plain white t-shirts (which are easy to pick out from the colorful ones), three plain coveralls, a pair of jeans, navy jogging suit with two reflective stripes down the sides, workout shorts, sneakers, and a very garish Norwegian Hawaiian shirt.

His ceremonial sword and gun were shipped to the embassy in a diplomatic pouch, the company made arrangements for him to bring them aboard.

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.

gear

BioPlas Body Suit

In the event of pressure loss, the suit will deploy self-sealing hood and gloves to turn it into a light vacuum suit. Internal oxygen supply suitable for four hour operation, can be extended with external connection to oxygen canisters or hose. Interface allows it to be programmed with artwork or to merge with another BioPlas suit. Lives off of body heat / sweat of wearer, requires a battery for storage, usually build into the storage egg container.

IdentCard

Jason Tyrell

Comm

Ruggedized short-range personal communications device / pocket computer. She uses it to communicate with her boss/supervisor as well as for private calls. Usable for accessing the station maintenance ticketing system and as an external display interface for various systems (Yeah, they're cheap).

Penlight

Small pen-size device that acts as a flashlight.

Multisurface Pen

Pen that writes on wood, glass, metal from -150° to 400°, works in Zero G and vaccum. Blue felt tip.

Multi-tool

Standard commercial multi-tool with Iris Jones engraved on the insulated handles.

PlastiPatches

6x6 inch bandage, good for sealing moderate wounds or patching punchures in the hull or spacesuit.

Augmentations:

Health Monitor

This implant monitors the subject's vital signs - temperature, pulse, blood pressure, blood sugar, alcohol level, oxygen saturation, respiration, basic statistics, etc. Pressing on the left inner wrist brings up the eSkin display tattooed there. This is programmed to send wireless reports to a monitoring computer.

Recorder Implant

This implant hooks into the optic and auditory nerves, broadcasting a short range transmission to a computer network of everything they see and hear. All recordings have to be accessed via the computer.

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.

[Cath]

@Expendable Thank you for writing up your Human character! There are a couple of small mistakes in your gear hiders to fix, but apart from that everything checks out! You are accepted and may post

[Expendable]

@Expendable Thank you for writing up your Human character! There are a couple of small mistakes in your gear hiders to fix, but apart from that everything checks out! You are accepted and may post

@Catharyn

Fixed and I've edited my character post to include this sheet.

[Eviledd1984]

@Catharyn

I am interested in joining this roleplay. I just had a few questions, firstly would we be able to create our race to be a part of the crew? Secondly would an undead character more specifically a skeleton be able to join the crew?

[EliteCommander]

@Catharyn

I am interested in joining this roleplay. I just had a few questions, firstly would we be able to create our race to be a part of the crew? Secondly would an undead character more specifically a skeleton be able to join the crew?

@Eviledd1984

You can create a character who is a native of Kanth-Aremek. They wouldn't start out being associated with the Jotunheim's crew, naturally (The Jotunheim is only just about to cross over into their world).

We are early enough in the story that I am fine with people creating their own custom race. The major political powers on the continent are set in stone, but it is established that there are multiple smaller nations and other factions. Unfortunately, though, being an undead, or any thinking magical construct, is something that would be particularly difficult to integrate into the story. Kanth-Aremek, for most of its history, has been "normal". There was no magic or anything supernatural. Magic became known to the world a few centuries ago, and fully-conscious undead are not something that works easily with the magic as I have written it. At least, not in a way that isn't very exceptional. One could use Force magic to "animate" a construct, and Thought magic to give it a simple mind (emphasis on simple). To be able to create a fully thinking mind is a kind of power that I am not sure I would wish to be possible. And if it was, there would probably be exactly one person on KA who would be powerful enough to accomplish it.

[Eviledd1984]

@EliteCommander

A fair point, to save both of us any grief. I was thinking of going with my original idea. And go with a faction/race that are mostly assassins or are skilled in covert ops. I was thinking their whole culture would be based around jesters and or clowns. I'm unsure If they should be knowledgeable in magic, or are more tech focused. But they could be other professions to try and fit into being part of the crew. So my character specifically could be the bartender or maybe part of security.

[EliteCommander]

@EliteCommander

A fair point, to save both of us any grief. I was thinking of going with my original idea. And go with a faction/race that are mostly assassins or are skilled in covert ops. I was thinking their whole culture would be based around jesters and or clowns. I'm unsure If they should be knowledgeable in magic, or are more tech focused. But they could be other professions to try and fit into being part of the crew. So my character specifically could be the bartender or maybe part of security.

@Eviledd1984

To clarify, the Jotunheim and her crew are Humans from Earth. There is no magic in their universe, and they've only encountered one other alien species. All of the other playable races are natives of Kanth-Aremek. They are a late-medieval society which has discovered magic in the last few centuries. The Jotunheim is about to (unintentionally) cross over to their universe.

[Expendable]

@EliteCommander

A fair point, to save both of us any grief. I was thinking of going with my original idea. And go with a faction/race that are mostly assassins or are skilled in covert ops. I was thinking their whole culture would be based around jesters and or clowns. I'm unsure If they should be knowledgeable in magic, or are more tech focused. But they could be other professions to try and fit into being part of the crew. So my character specifically could be the bartender or maybe part of security.

@Eviledd1984

So basically ninjas. Why are they ninjas? Why aren't they soldiers? Why did they become ninjas? If the entire race is notorious for being assassins, wouldn't that put a target on any of them? Someone could decide simply to wipe out all members of that race.

A clan of jesters who are secretly assassins? Bad luck if some king turned against the jesters, wouldn't it?

[Cath]

@EliteCommander

A fair point, to save both of us any grief. I was thinking of going with my original idea. And go with a faction/race that are mostly assassins or are skilled in covert ops. I was thinking their whole culture would be based around jesters and or clowns. I'm unsure If they should be knowledgeable in magic, or are more tech focused. But they could be other professions to try and fit into being part of the crew. So my character specifically could be the bartender or maybe part of security.

@Eviledd1984

Hey! Thank you for your interest. As others have said, if you're interested on being on the Jotunheim before it crosses over to Kanth Amerek's dimension, you'll need to be Human and not magic-affiliated. You could be an assassin, but one who has found themselves stowing away on the Jotunheim to avoid being slaughtered on the concourse. I don't know how the jester theme could possibly play here without seeming strange, however.

If you were happy to have no current affiliation with Humans or the Jotunheim, you could create a sect of killer jesters of whatever species you desired. However, it'd need to work within the current geo-political framework we've got. The continent is generally in disarray, but most rulers would not want a cult of assassins anywhere near them, so they'd have to be remote. Unless...one of them made a deal to host your faction in return for not being killed.

Some food for thought. I'd highly recommend you workshop any ideas with @EliteCommander to increase your chances of being accepted!

[Eviledd1984]

@EliteCommander

Would it be okay if I shoot you a DM, so we can brainstorm perhaps some better character ideas. I don't think the whole jester assassin thing is going to work.

[EliteCommander]

@EliteCommander

Would it be okay if I shoot you a DM, so we can brainstorm perhaps some better character ideas. I don't think the whole jester assassin thing is going to work.

@Eviledd1984

That's quite alright. I can help you integrate whatever ideas you might have.

[Expendable]

Jester assassins could work, if done right. Jesters have access to the royal court, after all. Typically the role requires them to be both the wit and the punching bag of the court. But the only way it works is if there's just one or two killer jesters. Once it comes out that a jester, Giacomo, has openly assassinated someone of rank, all of the jesters become immediate suspect.

I'm sure a few kings would kill theirs on the spot, just to be safe (and they would be the lucky ones, as they wouldn't face the torturers). Should the jester Giacomo ever dare to show his face again, he's sure to be cut down.

Really, the issue with assassins is they have to hide, because there's no way they can face an army on equal terms. They're like the passive-aggressive of fighters, striking from the shadows, using poison, seeding bad intelligence, setting traps. Since they won't openly face a warrior, they're generally despised.

A race of assassins can't hide.

A race of warriors, on the other hand, doesn't need to. Because they fight openly, they can be respected - even by their enemies.

To be a lone assassin or even a clan of assassins, it's possible to hide among the others - as long as they don't do anything to expose themselves. Generally, it means working through intermediaries, poisons, disguises (not just for themselves, but for their weapons and the tools of their trade as well). So if someone drops off a letter for the unexposed Giacomo with a certain tavern owner, it's expected to reach the hand of the assassin within a day, if not the hour. A couple of meetings later, terms are discussed, partial payment made, and Giacomo is on the road with no one the wiser as to what he's about to do.

[meri]

Hello! Here is my character. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

Kaqir

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.

One note: I didn't give Kaqir a last name. I figured with the Tekeri's general lack of emphasis on lineage they wouldn't have them, but I can totally give her one if you'd like. I love a fun surname :)

[meri]

Also, I love the idea of jester assassins, @Eviledd1984! Every good contract killer needs a bit of flair. Definitely gives a creepy clown vibe.

[EliteCommander]

Hello! Here is my character. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

Kaqir

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.

One note: I didn't give Kaqir a last name. I figured with the Tekeri's general lack of emphasis on lineage they wouldn't have them, but I can totally give her one if you'd like. I love a fun surname :)

@meri

You are right about their lack of emphasis on lineage. Most Tekeri (or other citizens of the Ascendancy) simply have a given name. Outside their home, they may use their place of origin. Like with Kareet of Arcaeda.

I really like the image I have of the pierced beak, and the appearance in general. Ascendancy culture has a strong focus on individualism, so there is a lot of leeway in things like their fashion or personal beliefs. Her thoughts on shapeshifting are compatible with Ascendancy ideology, though many probably would not agree with her.

Everything I see in the CS checks out. A Life mage trained in war casting shall be an interesting one. Sounds quite vicious.

I should probably put up a bit more information about the Ascendancy's culture in the OOC, now that I think about it.

[meri]

Cool! More lore is always great :) I really appreciate all the thought you put into the world—it was super fun to make a character for, and it seems like it'll be a great foundation for the rp.

[PerfectThought]

@CatharynLooks really interesting! You're still acception, unless I've misunderstood? Before I get to writing I'm curious about possible non-human Jotunheim crew. I was thinking possibly very heavy cyborg/sentient robot?

[Eviledd1984]

@meri

Unfortunately that character didn't work out. But I do have now a wandering scholar that basically looks like The Thing. And its disguise looks like The Great Race Of Yith. I took alot of inspiration from H.P. Lovecraft.