[OOC] Diving into The Abyss - A Shattered World

[Stairdweller]

@TheWildHost I'm having trouble visualizing this glider of which you speak. Do you mean as in rigid airfoil wings? Wouldn't that get in the way when he walks around?

[TheWildHost]

@Stairdweller Kind of like Aang's glider but on his back. I might edit or remove it, I'm still trying to fully flesh-out the character and I thought it might be a good way to show his struggle with wanting to live a simple nomadic life while also struggling with being where he is. So he'd be solving External conflicts while trying to solve an internal one. It'd also help with getting around during any possible ship to ship like combat, but like I said, I might change/scrap it.

[Skyrte]

Announcement.

I have a date with the lady friend in 6 hours.
I should have slept earlier, my decision to stay up was unwise.

As such, I'm going to do all this official placing in the roster stuff tomorrow, as well as a bunch of lore. Stairs, keep the place from burning down yeah?

Barkmeat, I like your tech guy. If you're familiar with the Adeptus Mechanicus, you can obviously tell where I drew a lot of inspiration from.

[Stairdweller]

*looks up guiltily from playing with matches*

So I looked up Aang's glider. I like it.

[Lady Seraphina]

Hey this looks real interesting but I don't have time to read through it all right now but I had a thought for a character.

I also haven't had time to read through all the world related stuff at the beginning so tell me if this is some sort violation of the rules of the world.

I'm not sure how advanced the tech found in the shatterzone is so bear with me.

My character is a girl who was involved with a secret group running an experiment called Project Valkyrie. The group salvaged a stockpile of tech from the shatterzone, using a girl as a test subject they were attempting to create a specialized soldier with the capabilities of flight. As a result of this procedure my character has robotic wings wired directly into her spinal column to allow for neural control. She's also had to eyes replaced to allow them to function properly at high speed and see clearer than she could before. She a bit of a mechanic and capable of doing maintenance on her own wings, the main portion of which is detachable leaving a metal plating in her back along with the links that connect to her nerve center.

If you like I can add some nerfs to this cause it is pretty cool. I could make it so the wings function on some sort of fuel that limit how long she could be in the air or some such if you feel it is necessary. That is assuming of course that you are okay with this idea.

[Skyrte]

Hey this looks real interesting but I don't have time to read through it all right now but I had a thought for a character.

I also haven't had time to read through all the world related stuff at the beginning so tell me if this is some sort violation of the rules of the world.

I'm not sure how advanced the tech found in the shatterzone is so bear with me.

My character is a girl who was involved with a secret group running an experiment called Project Valkyrie. The group salvaged a stockpile of tech from the shatterzone, using a girl as a test subject they were attempting to create a specialized soldier with the capabilities of flight. As a result of this procedure my character has robotic wings wired directly into her spinal column to allow for neural control. She's also had to eyes replaced to allow them to function properly at high speed and see clearer than she could before. She a bit of a mechanic and capable of doing maintenance on her own wings, the main portion of which is detachable leaving a metal plating in her back along with the links that connect to her nerve center.

If you like I can add some nerfs to this cause it is pretty cool. I could make it so the wings function on some sort of fuel that limit how long she could be in the air or some such if you feel it is necessary. That is assuming of course that you are okay with this idea.

@Prince of Seraphs

Shatterzone tech is pretty much modern day stuff to practically majicks.
So, yeah, your stuff lines up. The only thing is that anyone whose been in The Order for any length of time would be able to recognize the technology on her back and then would want to bring her in to study. Essentially making her a member of The Order. Sorta like the CIA Handler sort of thing, your lady would get an Order Handler. Could be one of our characters here, if you want.

[barkmeat2]

@Prince of Seraphs Advanced cybernetic implants you say? "You are now taken into custody of the Order. Please come qui- oh...okay that's fine fly away. I'll be here."
*Later that week*
"Okay, how bout now? No? Well, the Order might get mad... Fine 1 more week, for your so called 'tests'"

[Skyrte]

Oh yeah.

Rhymer is accepted, playing a Scholar guy.
Barkmeat is accepted playing as an Order Engineer.
After some discussion, Rofls is accepted playing a confused boy with amnesia. He will be important for possible future plot lines.
WildHost has been accepted playing a Faldkrest dude.

Map and lore to come right now.

[Lady Seraphina]

Name: Avelina (Angel) Callaghan

Age: 23

Gender/Race: Female/Halfling

Role: Engineer/Scout

Bio:
Avelina was left on the doorstep of an orphanage when she was too young to remember. It wasn't exactly an uncommon fate for halflings, while the Jilkrid might have a reputation as thieves and con men and where therefore treated with distrust the halflings were graced with far less civility by there peers. Most regarded halflings as some sort of strange thing, an abomination, a mistake and not many had any reservations about treating the halflings with that same cruelty. Often enough even the parents of halflings didn't want something like that in there lives. Because of this most any orphanage had six or seven halflings who lived bullied and beaten by the others while the social service workers who ran the houses pretended not to see any of it.

This kind of upbringing taught Avelina two very important lessons, the first was that she had to be smarter than everyone around her and the second that she had to be faster. Avelina's Jilkrid heritage lent her a bit of an edge with her second lesson. She was quick and she knew how to hide. Often enough these pursuits ended with Avelina leading them to one of the house's other halflings while she hid in an unsuspecting place.

It was not a good way to live and the moment Aveline turned seventeen and the house turned her loose she was gone. In many ways this was an improvement. The streets of Teieya were not nearly so harsh as the house had been. Avelina's heritage didn't show in her face. Thankfully this meant that much of the time she was able was able to conceal the fact that she was not purebred human.

Avelina learned a lot living by herself, doing what she had to in order to survive. Mostly she learned about people. What people expected, for instance, a girl with hunched shoulders and a gaze that never meets your eyes walks into a store dressed in a ragged jacket the clerk never takes his eyes off her because he expects her to pocket something. On the other hand a girl walks into a store with her head help high, smiles at the clerk and asks were to find a few products the last thing the clerk will think is that she's a thief.

About two years after this Avelina's life changed forever. It was just another day, she couldn't exactly steal everything she needed and any street urchin knew that if you wanted to survive you had to swimming. This was street slang for digging through what was known as the Shatter Bay. Shatter Bay was a little inlet right at the edge of Teieya controlled waters not far from where they met the shatterzone. In days gone past it wasn't uncommon to find shatter tech that had drifted out of the shatterzone and stuck up in the waters of the inlet. Nowadays shatter tech was a rare sight in the bay, though not unheard of. After the supplies of tech had dried up by thousands of people searching the bay hoping to become rich it became the municipal dump site. All kinds of trash got tossed into the bay and some of it even still worked. The smart street kids knew what was valuable, what they could carry and who they could sell to.

Avelina was swimming for something that could turn her a profit when she was attacked by three of the dragon men, the Fäldkrests. Being creatures of the Pikelands Avelina was unable to put up much of a fight. They knocked her unconscious and when she awoke her surroundings were unrecognizable. She was in some sort of underground lab filled with shatter tech. Things that you or I would identify as computers and bio monitors only registered to Avelina in pure fear.

She tried to move but she was shackled none to gently to a wide metal operating table. Avelina wrenched at the shackles until her wrists began to bleed but they showed no sign of weakening. Then a door opened. A man in a lab coat who appeared human walked through it with two Fäldkrest standing as his guard. "My dear please stop, you will damage yourself." He seemed sincere and sort of scatterbrained to Avelina, harmless was the word that came to mind when she looked at him. The Fäldkrest standing on either side however looked far from docile.

Avelina was in that lab for the next three years. The man in the lab coat, she'd come to know him as Dr. Ipcress, was also a prisoner. He'd been the foremost pioneer of the Mages Guild in a shatter tech field that he called 'robotic engineering'. Like Avelina he'd been kidnapped by the Fäldkrest. According to the Doctor the Fäldkrest were attempting to find a shatter tech solution to make themselves more like the dragons of old. They were attempting to find a means of independent flight.

Over the next year Dr Ipcress experimented on Avelina installing shatter tech devices into her back. The Fäldkrest had been smart, they'd chosen Avelina because she was a halfling. Halflings had a greater resistance to pain and resilient bodies that allowed for faster than normal recoveries, after all the Fäldkrest wouldn't be testing this on one of there own people.

Fourteen months after Avelina was first kidnapped Dr. Ipcress finally had a breakthrough. The wings themselves were finished long before Avelina every set foot into the Fäldkrest's lab but what they needed to make them work was an neural interface to allow someone to control the wings directly. Over the course of that year Dr. Ipcress had been installing various diodes and structural grafts to Avelina's bones and spinal column in order that she might be able to operate the wings with her mind.

The next two years were spend modifying that at first clumsy propulsion system. Increasing efficiency, and capability. Once Dr. Ipcress was certain that operation of the wings would not cause any undo harm to Avelina the Fäldkrest started to train her. As much as they wanted to gain a means of flight like there ancestors Avelina represented a sizable investment of time, energy and funds. While they now had a blueprint for the working prototype they had no apparent use for the prototype itself, lucky for them there was always someone in need of a skilled mercenary.

They had an arena set up in the center of the facility that while deep underground was designed to looked like a forest environment. It had a simulated sky and the ground was decorated with trees and rocks. It was here Avelina learned to fly and later to shoot. The arena was rimmed with an electrified net that prevented Avelina from leaving and was only lowered at the end of training sessions after she had discarded her weapon.

She once made the mistake of mentioning that the high wind speed hurt her eyes. It was not long after that that the Fäldkrest had Dr. Ipcress replace Avelina's eyes with synthetic models that could withstand the wind speeds and could see more clearly than hers original eyes could ever have hoped to. While a part of this experiment Avelina was taught to shoot, to fight unarmed and with a six foot retractable metal pole her guards called a quarter staff. While imprisoned Dr. Ipcress taught her a create deal about conventional mechanics. Mostly so that she'd be able to do maintenance on her own wings if it was ever necessary but sometimes it was a way for the two of them to forget about there situation and just become engulfed in the problem at hand.

Three years after her initial capture Avelina was for the first time in her life graced with good fortune. Someone attacked Project Valkyrie. Avelina never found out who it was but while she was in the arena training the generators that powered the electron net went down leaving a window for her to escape. She had to shoot her way out with no time to look for Dr. Ipcress who by this point she regarded as a friend. Avelina used the Valkyrie Wings for the first time in the wide open world. She had to fly for two days straight to escape the Pikelands. When she returned to civilization Avelina collapsed on the streets of Port Visus. When she woke she'd been taken in by the Order who were considerably kinder than those of Project Valkyrie. That was three years ago. Since then the Order has taught her how to use the Valkyrie Wings on her terms. Curious to explore the zone that had made Avelina what she was, the Valkyrie was eager to sign on to the airship when a position became available.

Personality:
Avelina's upbringing taught her something very important. The squeaky wheel didn't get oil, it got beat into silence. If you went around life wearing your pain and hardship on your sleeve you became a target, so Avelina puts on a bright, pleasant face and keeps the darker stuff underneath. Despite this there are cracks in Avelina's armor. Her wings being the biggest she doesn't like to talk about them or where they came from though she'd not above using them to show off. Avelina has a great lust for knowledge and an insatiable curiosity that goes hand in hand with it. Dr. Ipcress taught her some stuff but she is eager to learn more and more and more until there is nothing left to know. She is especially curious about the before times, what the world was before the Great Shatter. Though not many records remain from that time Avelina knows the really informative stuff will be found in the Shatter Zone. When threatened Avelina uses violence as a last resort preferring sarcasm, and wit to defend herself.

Equipment:
- Valkyrie Wings - tech recovered from the shatter zone. The Valkyrie Wings are grafted to Avelina's spinal column as well as her vertebra and a good section of her skeletal structure. They allow her to fly through the air. Made of a light weight but durable alloy they will deflect bullets up to a point. There heat tolerance is not high but they are also capable of shielding from flames for limited periods of time. When fully extended their wingspan is twelve feet though they fold up very neatly on Avelina's back. Much of her upper back torso is covered in a metal plating that is designed to take disperse the force that flying exerts on Avelina over her entire upper body. The wings themselves are able to be disconnected from Avelina's body for maintenance, this of course leaves behind all of the neural implants that allow Avelina to use the wings as well as the metal plating on her back. As part of the Valkyrie Project Avelina also has prosthetic eyes that are far improved from normal ones but do not look normal. Instead of whites they are silver, and the center glows will a green LED light that does a decent job of mimicking the shape of an iris.
- Quarter Staff - A six foot metal pole that is retractable. Capable of shrinking down to six inches. When not in use Avelina has it slotted into her belt.
- 45 caliber Pistol - Kept in a holster on her left thigh, Avelina being left handed.
- 22 caliber Pistal - A very small gun Avelina keeps in her combat boots just in case.
- Flight Jacket - Avelina has a flight jacket, made of sturdy brown leather with warm sheep skin on the inside. The back of the jacket has two slits sown into it to allow for her wings to escape. This jacket is specially made to accommodate her wings as apposed to her shirts, most of with she cuts two slits into with a sharp knife. The shirts tend not to last long.
- Switch Blade - A eight inch knife that Avelina can open quickly with one hand. She keeps it in the boot that does not have a pistol in it.

Skills:
- Flight
- Marksmanship
- Quarterstaff Combat
- Unarmed Combat
- Mechanics
- Wit

Optional: Only Avelina's handler knows her actual name, to everyone else she introduces herself as 'Angel'.

Appearance:
Avelina stand at 5'9" and weights 127 pounds. Traditionally she wears a pants made of a type of material called denim whose formula the Order recovered from the Shatter Zone, in conjunction with shirt that she's slashed the back of to allow for her wings and her flight jacket. She's got pale skin like most halflings as well as wild red hair, and freckles. She has a pair of aviator glasses that she uses to cover up the strangeness of her synthetic eyes. She is build light and nimble but don't let that fool you, she is strong and fast and the installation of the Valkyrie Wings has given her an incredibly pain tolerance.

---

Being honest here I sort of ran out of steam near the end, I might go back and edit it later but for the moment this gives the general idea.

[RoflsMazoy]

I don't think she's 1270 pounds

That's 576 kg

[Lady Seraphina]

Typo, that was supposed to be 127 pounds. The zero slipped in there somehow, my bad. Fixed it now.

[Skyrte]

@Prince of Seraphs Quick thing about your two pistols, since its bothering me.
22mm doesn't exist, and 45mm is an anti-tank shell.
I think you mean .22 and .45 Caliber. No big deal, it was just bothering me. Here's a chart below to help you out with smaller caliber bullets and shells.

http://guns411.com/wp-content/uploads/Complete-Rifle-Ammunition-Guide-Comparisom.jpg

[RoflsMazoy]

Typo, that was supposed to be 127 pounds. The zero slipped in there somehow, my bad. Fixed it now.

@Prince of Seraphs

There are a couple more things wrong with your character, and unfortunately, I wrote down a lot about it...

This is really long

First of all, in the origianl post, it is stated that guns are supposed to be extremely expensive, in the lore it says 'New technology is worth its three times its weight in gold.' Judging from what I read of your backstory, I doubt she would be able to get her hands on twwo, as even having one as a normal character is sort of a stretch. From what I've seen, she would technically be an orphan, and people like her wouldn't have access to firearms very readily.

I assume even in the order, guns are only given to their higher ranking members. Even your character being given one to use is also a little bit of a stretch. It is difficult to maintain a steady stance for shooting while in the air, and any kind of scientists with the capability of making mechanical wings would now at least the way wings work. They would give a creation with wings some kind of longer range melee weapon, as those typically require lesser finesse and can keep enemies at a distance.

It's unlikely in the first place that she would've been taught use weapons before mastering her flight. I also doubt that the doctor would attempt to train your character as a competent mercenary, as it would take some time to train her, and even more money for equipment and potential failsafes in order to keep you in line. The losses would be too high to cover in this kind of society with anything short of a full year of high-profile contract assassination.

Also, this is set in a sort of post world war 2 era, but there was advanced technology at one point. All of that advanced technology however, is lost in the Shatterzone. The alterations to her body would most probably be somewhat crude as the money needed to obtain enough technology to do something like adding mind controlled functioning wings onto a person in this setting would probably bankrupt a kindgom.

If you would like to keep your character, I do have one suggestion.

Possibly the most technologically advanced faction would be the cultists mentioned in the original post. They are known to steal technology and disappear into the shatterzone meaning their level of technology is currently unknown, and could potentially be anything. The current most plausible way for your character to have those wings would be at the hands of the cult.

Forgive me

[Stairdweller]

@RoflsMazoy

I'm not quite sure how to respond to this situation. Rofls, you appear to be reviewing characters now?

@Prince of Seraphs

Considering the magnitude of armament on Tychon, two guns might not be a stretch for a character with an order handler. For her role, I'm thinking you probably only need one. It's a huge ship with a large crew, so multitasking probably isn't a big priority.

[RoflsMazoy]

@RoflsMazoy

I'm not quite sure how to respond to this situation. Rofls, you appear to be reviewing characters now?

@Stairdweller

Eh, sorry

I was kinda getting carried away a little bit...

[Skyrte]

@RoflsMazoy

I'm not quite sure how to respond to this situation. Rofls, you appear to be reviewing characters now?

@Prince of Seraphs

Considering the magnitude of armament on Tychon, two guns might not be a stretch for a character with an order handler. For her role, I'm thinking you probably only need one. It's a huge ship with a large crew, so multitasking probably isn't a big priority.

@Stairdweller

To be honest neither do I.
He does bring some good points though. As for the gun thing, even if she didn't start out with some guns, she would probably get decked out with some guns pretty soon if she really wanted some. So yeah, I'm not too picky about people having guns.
Just know that if a bulletproof giant firebreathing lizard is descending upon us, and we all get screwed over because not enough of us have snippy snappy point and stabby, I can imagine at least one person being upset.

[Lady Seraphina]

@Prince of Seraphs Quick thing about your two pistols, since its bothering me.
22mm doesn't exist, and 45mm is an anti-tank shell.
I think you mean .22 and .45 Caliber. No big deal, it was just bothering me. Here's a chart below to help you out with smaller caliber bullets and shells.

http://guns411.com/wp-content/uploads/Complete-Rifle-Ammunition-Guide-Comparisom.jpg

Skyrte

My apologies, I actually don't know all that much about guns past what I see in TV. What I was going for was a normal pistol, and a very small concealable one.

There are a couple more things wrong with your character, and unfortunately, I wrote down a lot about it...

RoflsMazoy

You know what the chain of command is? It's the chain Skyrte beats you with until you understand whose in rutting command here.

First of all, in the original post, it is stated that guns are supposed to be extremely expensive, in the lore it says 'New technology is worth its three times its weight in gold.' Judging from what I read of your back story, I doubt she would be able to get her hands on two, as even having one as a normal character is sort of a stretch. From what I've seen, she would technically be an orphan, and people like her wouldn't have access to firearms very readily.

RoflsMazoy

Firstly, three times it's weight in gold is only a rough conversion. The actual selling price of shatter tech would depend entirely on what it could do. For instance if I brought back a VCR from the shatterzone the only people that would buy it would be shatter relic collectors because without the proper cables and a TV the thing is worthless.

Secondly, Avelina works for the Order, yes she grew up an Orphan and at that time a gun is the last thing she could get her hands on but she is now in the employ of the people who possess 90% of shatter tech in the world. It isn't really a stretch that they would have a pretty sweet armoury or that they would outfit the people going into the Shatterzone, a place most people don't come back alive from, with advanced weaponry.

I assume even in the order, guns are only given to their higher ranking members. Even your character being given one to use is also a little bit of a stretch. It is difficult to maintain a steady stance for shooting while in the air, and any kind of scientists with the capability of making mechanical wings would know at least the way wings work. They would give a creation with wings some kind of longer range melee weapon, as those typically require lesser finesse and can keep enemies at a distance.

RoflsMazoy

Please I would love to know, when did I say she was going to be shoot stuff in the air? The quarter staff she has if for air defense but it stand to reason that she won't always be fighting in the air making it perfectly plausible that she would have a gun in case they... get boarded by airship pirates, attacked by this strange cult or many many other scenarios in which she could have to shoot a lot of people.

It's unlikely in the first place that she would've been taught use weapons before mastering her flight. I also doubt that the doctor would attempt to train your character as a competent mercenary, as it would take some time to train her, and even more money for equipment and potential fail safes in order to keep you in line. The losses would be too high to cover in this kind of society with anything short of a full year of high-profile contract assassination.

RoflsMazoy

If you are oh so knowledgeable on this front please tell me, after you create a a cyborg girl with the ability to fly, you've made sure the tech works properly exactly what are you going to do with her? Send her to work for the post office? No of course not, you've just created a very powerful weapon and with the right tech it wouldn't difficult to control her, so yeah work as a mercenary is completely ideal and tell me again why a year, or five or ten years of contract assassinations is so unbelievable? We live in a world in disarray where there are more than likely a very lot of people that would pay a lot of money to have someone killed. After all career assassins exist in our world why shouldn't they in this one?

Also, this is set in a sort of post world war 2 era, but there was advanced technology at one point. All of that advanced technology however, is lost in the Shatterzone. The alterations to her body would most probably be somewhat crude as the money needed to obtain enough technology to do something like adding mind controlled functioning wings onto a person in this setting would probably bankrupt a kingdom.

RoflsMazoy

I didn't put this in my character sheet because I couldn't find a way to integrate it without it be something like 'oh and by the way' but the alterations to her body are crude. The Wings themselves were found mostly intact and were intact enough to create a blueprint to build more. The difficult part was wiring them into someone and having them function like wings. The way they wired the wings into Avelina is very crude, it works but the wings hurt. There's a metal plate on her back designed to take most of the pressure off the connection between bone, flesh and metal but nothing's perfect. Every time she uses the wings it hurts like hell. But a person can become desensitized to anything if they live with it long enough.

Possibly the most technologically advanced faction would be the cultists mentioned in the original post. They are known to steal technology and disappear into the shatterzone meaning their level of technology is currently unknown, and could potentially be anything. The current most plausible way for your character to have those wings would be at the hands of the cult.

RoflsMazoy

That might not be a bad idea, however unless the GM wants me to just make shit up as I write I might need some more information. I'm also cool with making shit up, I do that pretty well.

[Rhymer]

My character Nansemond seems a bit...underpowered. I don't know if he's a good fit for the direction this seems to be going? Also I must of misread, I thought this was post WW 1 era tech. Was that changed to WW2?

[TheWildHost]

My character Nansemond seems a bit...underpowered. I don't know if he's a good fit for the direction this seems to be going?

@Rhymer

Nah, Nansemond, Craig, and Vanius just seem like normal guys to me. We're here to play a role and that doesn't have to be combat (well for vanius it is, but that's not the point).

And I'm pretty sure it's still post WW1