[OOC] Extragalactic Exploration Expedition: Survey Team II

[erikaG]

Or XXX2 for short.

Here's the Int check which has some discussion as well as the initial premise of the RP: Space Western meets Psychological Drama

I am hoping to have the first IC post up this evening. Once we've "depleted" our (inter)actions for a specific system, I will introduce a "sensor report." This report will have limited scans of nearby systems from which the crew can then choose (like approximate number of planets, size/type of star, nebulae, etc. etc.). This report won't likely have considerable amounts of more pertinent information like the composition of the planets, signs of primitive life, and the like, but the crew should be able to make educated guesses about the system to promote finding more than just another rock floating through space (but be prepared, the overwhelming likelihood is that we will be finding a lot of rocks... floating through space). The first post will include one of these reports as well as a smidgen of background. I will save my own character posts for elsewhere, and make very clear when I am speaking for my character and when I am giving a sensor report.

Here's the Dramatis Personae as I understand them at this point (tell me if I get this wrong, and remember, we all have a bit of a jack-of-all-trades nature and can see to many tasks aboard the ship):
Sep: Pilot/Captain
Kessa: Communications/Cartographer
Ellri: Xenoplanet specialist
Foster: Cook
Jorj: Engineer/Programmer

Technical details: post length is not something we can always control. Having introspective upon introspective about the recycled apple you ate that morning can be quite droll, and thus posts may very well get shorter with time. I have no problem with that. If you're having a direct conversation with another character however, it might be smarter to do some sort of joint post rather than each person posting one sentence at a time. The galaxy we will be traveling to is the Large Magellanic Cloud.

Definitely feel welcome to join #threads on the irc to discuss the rp at any point, I'm in there quite a bit.

Final note, because I want this stressed before we continue: this rp is designed for character development. While it has "hard" sci-fi as an undercurrent, I designed this rp specifically to see how the interactions of a small group of characters, forever separated from their homes/families, would progress through a greatly uncharted territory. The effect the journey will have on their psyche, how they will cope with the others aboard the ship, these are the things that interest me. The mineral content of P4X776 does not. And even if we stumble across life, intelligent or not, I am still more interested in how such a discovery will effect the mood of the crew, than spending umpteen amounts of posts describing whatever wonderful forms of primordial bacteria we come across, or having futile conversations with silicon-based lifeforms that don't even respond verbally.

Here we go!

[Sep]

So what do you want in terms of a bio? I'm probably going to go with some Ex-Defense force chappy who was re-assigned and this is his first real command. Gives him experience but also will make him a bit sour to the mission.

[Foster]

Pretty sure I'm the cook. That or in charge of safeguarding the booze, from Kessa, our resident alcoholic.

[Nib]

Do you need a tech officer?

[erikaG]

I've got the tech officer position filled with a engineer/programmer-ish kind of person.

Foster: you do realize the majority of the food will come from recycled proteins. The amount of planets where we'll find actual ingest-able ingredients are likely to be slim.

[Foster]

Shall I worry about terraforming/hydroponics, then?

Anyone else read the short story, "the long rain"?

[Ellri]

we figured we'd put up the character sheet / concept here, simply so that its available.

Character sheet

It had started innocently. Seven years ago, Morven Buchanan had joined the Milky Way Exploration Core (MWEC). She had, like most others joining, been eighteen years of age, finished with general education but not yet joined a breeding program. Even back then, there had been hundreds of colonies, some of them even large enough to be self-sufficient. Others were entirely dependent upon regular supply runs, like mining colonies. Shortly after joining, Morven had been sent to explore the deep reaches of the galaxy. First to asteroid fields and to map star systems, then later to the planets themselves.

Few who joined the MWEC tended to end up settling in one place long. In centuries long past, they were the ones who always had to see the far side of that next ridge, the tops of mountains, what lay beyond the horizon. Of course, today that horizon had been replaced by distant stars, but the wanderlust was the same. Morven had always been intrigued by deep space. During her education, she had focused towards that, so it came as no surprise to her family that she did as she did.

When she first heard of the construction of the gateways, she did not know what to make of it. Large sections of the Milky Way remained unexplored, so why explore other galaxies? Still, a small part of her found the idea of a different galaxy intriguing. But it would be years yet before even a single gateway was finished. The things were massive, the ships launched through them only a little smaller. Compared to the regular explorer vessels, they were behemoths. But then, from what she’d heard, those ships were one-way trips, so they had to be far more self-sufficient.

Morven thought the idea of such huge vessels strange. Fascinating, but strange. She was pretty much satisfied with her life currently. Her job took her all over the Milky Way, letting her explore all sorts of planets. Some were barren rocks where she only performed quick mineral analysis, others were lush with vegetation or molten volcanic spheres or frozen balls of ice. Few had the diversity of the Origin. She did not know when it happened, but seeing as she had been on countless different planets with more than thirty unique ecosystem types, it could have been many places. She did not even notice it when it first appeared, let alone give it any thought.

No matter how many precautions exoplanetists like her took, cross-planet contamination was never completely unavoidable. The precautions needed on one world were not the same as on other worlds. Early on in the history of the MWEC, many worlds had been left barren because of contamination. A seemingly innocent and harmless organism carried from one world to another by accident, only to overwhelm the ecosystem of its new home. She only noticed it when it had spread to cover about a third of her right upper arm. A faint, weblike purplish rash. She thought nothing of it, taking a nanite restorer just to be safe. But after a month, the rash hadn't disappeared. In fact, it had only grown. Output data from the nanites claimed that there was nothing to fix. Morven thought that to be a bit strange, but decided that since she did not feel odd and the nanites claimed nothing wrong, then it probably was nothing. She chose not to give it further thought. Besides, she usually wore a sleeved uniform day and night, so she rarely saw it.

About three months in, the rash had subtly spread. A thin webbing of purple veins along the inside of the arm. Nanite injections denied anything wrong and she still did not feel any different, so she continued more or less ignoring it. Company policy always stated that anything infectious or otherwise compromising was to be reported, but since none of the others on her explorer showed the rashes and she wasn't weakened, she had figured it did not qualify for either of those. Besides, reporting such would mean being taken off the duty roster.

Nine months in, the webbing, still faint, had spread over her upper torso and left arm. The skin on the inside of her right upper arm had begun to darken faintly, becoming slicker. Scans still indicated that nothing was wrong with her. She kept it concealed from everyone, not knowing what to make of it, but fearing that others would take it wrongly if unveiled. It had been centuries since anyone in her homeland had considered different to be a good thing.

Two years in, the change was even more noticeable. Her arms were covered in minuscule, slick purple scales and it was slowly spreading over her torso. For some reason, it kept away from her extremities and most of her head, but the webbing was faintly present along her neck and much of her lower torso and thighs. But even now, the scanners and nanites still found nothing different about her, and she did not feel any different deep down. If any different, she might have felt a little stronger, that analyzing things was a little easier. Not much, but enough to be noticeable to her.

Four years in, the changes covered most of her torso and upper halves of her arms and legs. A webbing of purple veins spread out from the edges of the slick purple scales, but not far, and it had not progressed noticeably for nearly a year. The only change that she had noticed as visible to anyone else so long as she was dressed, was how her irises had turned from pale blue to pale lavender, and she had stopped needing sight correction implants. Not that they had ever needed to correct her sight much. Inside, she felt perfectly ok, but scans she had done using a custom-built scanner showed some oddness to her internal organs, as if they too had changed. Similarly, the bones of her torso had grown odd. She maintained the same outwards shape, but her skeleton was from what she could see quite different. Overlapping vertebrae, a web of cartilage between her thirty ribs and things like that. But whenever she tried to run nanite scans, they all showed that she was perfectly normal. It was perplexing to say the least.

She was just as flexible now as before, but her computer simulations all indicated that her chest was practically armor-plated inside. Morven knew without a doubt that she was different, yet all the advanced technology she could access claimed otherwise. Only her own, jury-rigged scanner showed anything even remotely out of the ordinary, for humans that is. The abnormal growth within her body showed up on the scanner as very natural-looking. The only difference was that it did not match human biological patterns. So long as the nanites claimed nothing was wrong, she saw no reason to have it checked up further at a medical center. The nanites would have found anything life-threatening, so since they did not find any, she figured it was nothing to worry about.

For some reason, perhaps due to a subconscious impulse or somesuch, she had decided that she did not want anyone to realize her changes. She knew deep down that she was no longer truly human, but she also knew that several governmental programs would find her very interesting to study. Too interesting for her comfort. Other than her enhanced skeleton and her scaly, purple skin, she had not yet noted any differences that were worth mentioning it. She did find complex calculations to be considerably easier take in her head and she knew she was a bit stronger than before, but neither of those were major things. Computers still beat her on the topic of calculations and robotics could still lift far more than she could.

When she was dressed, as she usually was, nothing of her changes showed. Nothing that could not be found in normal humans. Though taller than many, she was not abnormally tall, and her weight was fairly normal. She was considerably leaner than most her weight, but she knew well that much of the extra weight came in the form of bone rather than flesh or fat. Seven years after she had first noted the changes, she thought she was more or less finished with them. At least nothing had changed overtly recently. Her hands, feet and head remained human, but essentially every other part of her body had been covered in purple scales. Her bones had strengthened, in some ways partially overlapping in the joints, and her rib cage was a flexible, but solid cage of bone and cartilage. She was somewhat scrawny, but not so thin as to look unhealthy. She had by this time adopted a wardrobe solely of clothes that ensured none of her changes were visible.

Shortly before she chose to join one of the Extragalactic Explorer Crews, her family had started pressuring her to join a breeding program. Apparently her parents wanted grandchildren. Morven had no interest in children at the time, so she looked for ways to avoid just that. Besides, joining a breeding program would mean that someone else would see her changes, and that she could not allow. Also, some part of her biology informed her that it was not time to reproduce. It soon became apparent that joining an EEC was the only viable solution to get out of participating in the mandatory breeding programs. Thus, that is what she chose to do.

Name: Morven Buchanan
Age: 25
Gender: Female
Height: 168 cm
Weight: 63 kg
Eye color: Pale lavender
Hair color: Brown
Skin color: hands, feet & head is pale northern European, rest is slick purple and scaled.
Blood Type: E, nanite minimal. Her blood is distinctly inhuman, but scanners not calibrated to detect such (which is pretty much all scanners) will detect it as AB+ (universal recipient)
Bodily modifications: She has no technological upgrades/implants of note, but her biological changes can to a large degree be defined as modifications. Most known vulnerable points in the human body are better protected, either by bone, cartilage or scales, or a mix of these. Her internal organs function better than those organs do for humans. Not much better, but a little.

Clothes: Morven dresses in clothes that conceal her skin, but mold her body well, permitting freedom of movement. Sometimes uniforms, other times jumpsuits or similar. With her changes, she doesn't like displaying her bare arms or legs.
Occupation: Exoplanet explorer/surveyor.

Thoughts:
Thinking that she has exerted some subconscious control on whatever caused the mutation to prevent changes to visible limbs and parts of body. In time, that resistance may be worn down and the changes to her body could perhaps complete. The exact nature of her changes is a bit vague.

[erikaG]

Sure, Foster, that would work.

Just a heads up, I'll be oot 'n aboot buying a car over the next couple of days. I should be back sometime on Thursday if all goes well. See you all then.

[Kessa]

Hey! I'd like to dual-purpose my job as "communications and cartographer." So I'm also refining our mapping technology with concise programming and occasional patches. Also, unsure if others are on board with this, but any communications from family (usually gleaned from a spectroscopy report sent once every few months since light travels faster than sound and decrypted by my character's shipboard programs) can be asked for from me. If you want a particular report we can discuss in the chat or PM or joint post and my character can "deliver" anyone's family/friend messages. "Hey! Don't shoot the messenger." ;D

Foster: HA! I swear he only skims from the top (or sucks at the dregs). But also, I second you being our biologist/herbologist/resident gardener.

Good luck car-fetching, Jorj!

I'll see about putting together a character sheet later on this week.

[Kessa]

Character sheet:
Name: Jason Itztli (Obsidian/knife)
Age: 28
Gender: Male
Height: 172.72 cm [5'8"]
Weight: 73.94 kg [163 lbs]
Eye: Sea foam green - likely not his birth color.  They stand out against his skin tone with devastating effect.
Hair: A messy, brown that's in obvious need of a cut.  It's not longer than the tops of his ears and covers his rather long forehead, keeping his proportionally attractive.
Complexion: He is a very pale, naturally golden tan that hints at western European mixed with South American.  He has strong features and smooth, unblemished skin.  When he's out in the sun for more than a few hours, his skin tone will darken to a (mild) coffee tone with lots of golden cream.
Blood Type: A neg, nanite heavy.
Bodily modifications: All normal and standard for military service as well as additional from his well-to-do family.
Occupation: Communication Officer; Cartographer; Secondary Programmer
 
History: Brief military stint, though he left after a short term with great recommendations and medals though if his subordinates were questioned he was considered a bit of a dic and an awful leader.  He took a lot of short cuts and wasn't exactly accused of insubordination at times... but he wasn't with a pristine record for listening in the heat of the moment. 
 
He hated the rigid authority which always felt choking - like his  vibrant personality was stuffed into some two dimensional grey boxed thing.  Instead he moved on to a known liberally-minded company that paid him to earn his masters in programming and communications - two things he was surprisingly good at even if his communication skills were, at best, one-sided.  Disseminating information - he was great with this.  Listening?  Not so much unless it served him. 
 
When he joined this crew, it was in the role of a communications officer - though the term "officer" was merely reflecting of his previously retired station as an officer in the military.  He's a civilian through and through and adamantly sticks to this rather than let himself get pushed back into the role.  He wears his cloak of civilian status with great pride, but isn't hesitant to brag about his service to humanity either. 
 
It's rumored that he joined the crew as a result of favoritism, but Jason believes he got in on his own merit.  Through the course of missions, we'll see if it's true or not.
 
Personality: Narcissistic.  He comes off as shallow, but he prefers this than to being seen as anything remotely unattractive.  He enjoys one-upping people with their stories, even going so far as to "gently embellish" a story in his favor.  I'll add in detail later the elements of his narcissism, which is extensive, but not so much that it should hinder the story. 
 
I'll add more details to this as I write as him.  I kind of consider him a bit of a class clown.  He loves attention, good or bad.

[erikaG]

So, for my opening post: I'm still working out a more effective delivery method for the nearby star system report, and just how much information I should include. A lot of research on my part will go into that, but you folks may need to keep in mind that you will have to do a bit a wiki skimming yourselves in order to choose potentially interesting places to go. For instance, that T-class might be pretty dull (yes, that is a scientific star brightness pun).

Sep: in regards to your post: there are only two things of which you should be wary. The first is in regards to the A.I. "A.L.I.C.E." (which, I would love to know, if you actually have an acronym for, and if so, solid!) that you invented. Having some sort of direct interface like an A.I. with the ship's computer is absolutely logical, and I would expect nothing less, but it probably wouldn't have too much "intelligence." It would probably be much more like the V.I. in Mass Effect. The second was something I mentioned previously in relation to the pilot/captain character. There likely aren't any direct piloting controls that are usable by your character built into the initial design of the ship whatsoever. The calculations for real piloting in space would happen too quickly for the human (or most biological) minds to process and the shipwrights would know this. This isn't to say that your character couldn't have jury-rigged the system to give himself more direct control, but the likelihood of us crashing into something while you are in control will increase significantly.

Otherwise it looks good. I would have told you all this in chat, but I needed to put it down before I forgot... because I do that.

[Sep]

Jorj said
So, for my opening post: I'm still working out a more effective delivery method for the nearby star system report, and just how much information I should include. A lot of research on my part will go into that, but you folks may need to keep in mind that you will have to do a bit a wiki skimming yourselves in order to choose potentially interesting places to go. For instance, that T-class might be pretty dull (yes, that is a scientific star brightness pun).Sep: in regards to your post: there are only two things of which you should be wary. The first is in regards to the A.I. "A.L.I.C.E." (which, I would love to know, if you actually have an acronym for, and if so, solid!) that you invented. Having some sort of direct interface like an A.I. with the ship's computer is absolutely logical, and I would expect nothing less, but it probably wouldn't have too much "intelligence." It would probably be much more like the V.I. in Mass Effect. The second was something I mentioned previously in relation to the pilot/captain character. There likely aren't any direct piloting controls that are usable by your character built into the initial design of the ship whatsoever. The calculations for real piloting in space would happen too quickly for the human (or most biological) minds to process and the shipwrights would know this. This isn't to say that your character couldn't have jury-rigged the system to give himself more direct control, but the likelihood of us crashing into something while you are in control will increase significantly.Otherwise it looks good. I would have told you all this in chat, but I needed to put it down before I forgot... because I do that.

The AI yeah she isn't the smartest thing in the world which is why he complained about it. Also I do not know what it means I have seen it before somewhere however that is where I got it.

The piloting it isn't exactly complex piloting. I can speed her up, slow her down and have minor control over pitch and yaw. Though he understands he won't be doing anything complex with it though as a seasoned pilot it just feels right. So under this assumption he likely has had it jury rigged specially for him. Don't worry he won't be trying to take control of the ship in an asteroid belt that would be a bit too crazy.

ALICE = Artificial Linguistic Internet Computer Entity

Online AI you can talk to. I can rename her if you want unless someone can think of a cool acronym. Sorry about that :P

[Foster]

Dang sausage-fest...

Going to have to be a bit creative if this crew plans on a 'next generation' spinoff.

[erikaG]

There definitely won't be a lot of hanky panky.

Cool, Sep, that all works fine for me.

[Kessa]

Foster, read the dang op. XP. We're it man. And we're not expected to start a colony!

[Sep]

We have one semi-alien chick. Maybe she'll lay eggs and give us one each.

[Foster]

Jorj said
There definitely won't be a lot of hanky panky.

Challenge accepted.

Kessa said
Foster, read the dang op. XP. We're it man. And we're not expected to start a colony!

Challenge accepted.

So, recycle an old character, or start fresh?
-Also, boy or girl?
(I know y'alls got your favorite Foster's-character in mind)

Fack it, you're getting Skokie for your consulting-needs.

Edit:
I just realized this is in the advanced section.

[erikaG]

Right. I'll be posting tomorrow with my character to keep things moving along.

[Ellri]

we got started on a Collab with Kessa. That appears to have broken the ice on our post block.

[erikaG]

A brief cs for me:

Name: Astrid Avila

Gender: Female

Appearance: Blonde bombshell. Tall, leggy, busty. Despite her high-level of attractiveness, she keeps most of her body covered with various form-fitting underlayers, skirts that never seem to stay below her knees, and an array of sweaters, turtlenecks, and blouses with a large degree of variance in necklines. If asked, she would say that she covers up to force people to use their imagination. But in her mind, she does so in order to decrease the amount and durations of the glances she receives. Her face, and at times her neck, show off her flawless, creamy skin. Her only oddity is two different colored eyes. One is original, a brilliant blue. The other is a prosthetic with an iris that changes color to suit it's function. This prosthetic combines nano- and bio-technologies. Astrid has complete control over its function. Though not-so-normal, many think that the small detail gives her an exotic element.

Personality: Around organics, she is exceptionally seductive, though most would get the idea that she is making no attempt at all to come off that way, as it seems entirely natural. They would probably also call her a tease. She actually has a serious distaste for many sentient beings, at least of the variety that find human females attractive. This is mostly as a direct result of her beauty and the lack of real interaction that she is offered as a result. She is often quiet, using her physique and a seemingly endless array of unique glances to speak for her, though this is mostly a result of a general lack of retention that her words carry with others. Aboard the ship, she generally tends to remain secluded, working on her wares. When duties require her elsewhere

Role: Tech specialist, Engineer but mostly a programmer specializing in nano-technology and robotics

Flaws: Difficulty creating lasting relationships with organics. Incredibly distrustful. When alone, obsessive with her work. When confronted with an organic that is not swayed by her charms, she finds conversation with them next to impossible, as her reactions are so programmed into how she functions with others that she finds it difficult to switch them off when around others, regardless of who they are. Her flirtatious nature can get her into trouble when she does draw attention, and she doesn't have the physical strength to ward anyone away.

Background: ...will explore through posts in the rp...

I'll probably edit and update this as I go. Sort of just figuring out the character as I work on it.