[OOC] Diving into The Abyss - A Shattered World

[Tatsua Aiisen]

It's my nap day, so I'm not allowed to be productive till tomorrow.

[Skyrte]

Hi! I'm hoping this ship hasn't sailed yet, because I am loving this concept, so much so that I had to switch from a longtime lurker to actually registering just so I can join in.

I hope my character makes the cut, and I am very much looking forward to collaborating with you all.

Sir Nero Barsad

Name: Sir Nero Barsad
Age: 46
Gender/Race: Male/Human
Role: Xenobiologist/Pathologist

Bio: Born the youngest son of a middling farmer among many other thousands in Atrea, Barsad was saved from a certain future of anonymity, poverty, and worst of all, boredom, by an incurable curiosity matched only by the needle-like focus of his intellect. A polymathic autodidact, Barsad taught himself first to read, and then to read quickly. With his voracious appetite for the printed word and all the knowledge they represented, he obtained a working understanding of a variety of academic disciplines before turning his concentration onto medicine. A minor noble sponsored Barsad's enrollment into the King's College of Surgeons in Atrea's capital, where a few years' worth of accelerated education gained him a place among the Royal Family's cadre of personal physicians, a not unimpressive salary, and the title of baronet.

While a lifestyle that those of his born station could only dream of afforded him every luxury, Barsad despised indolence, fearing that the security of his position would encourage complacency and contentment and, ultimately, would dull the edges of his intellect. He briefly considered joining the Order of Progress, assured that a meteoric climb through the ranks would allow him access to troves of secret information and hidden data enough to keep even his mind busy for a lifetime. But he possessed no taste for their bureaucracy and believed that pure knowledge could be accessed only through an independent will and a pristine curiosity for the unknown, unfettered by the banal ambitions of superiors and managers. Thus he resigned from his post and used his considerable savings to fund an indefinite expedition around the world, a quest for understanding, for both internal and external discovery.

It was during the second decade of his pilgrimage, after spending much time with the various non-human races that inhabited this world with him, that his focus turned itself onto the fields of anatomy and genetics. He retrained himself as a pathologist, specializing in non-human anatomy, determined to find the origins of life hidden within their unfamiliar genetic structures, and quickly made a name for himself as one of the world's foremost independent authorities on xenobiology.

Now, intrigued by rumors of the odd creatures creeping out of the Shatterzone, Sir Nero made the decision to sign on with the crew of the Tychon, eyes aglow with all the possibilities to be unearthed in that ancient land.

All those artifacts.

All that knowledge.

And all that strange and alien life to cut open and peer into.

Personality: Sir Nero is mercurial at the best of times. He is hyperactive, irritable, and easily bored. He seldom gets along with others, not because of any cruelty or malice in his heart, but because he is convinced that he simply thinks too fast for most people to command his attention for more than a few moments. He believes humans are by-and-large incapable of providing him with any sort of interest, and identifies more, and interacts better with, non-human species. He nurtures a particular kinship for the Setra, those inscrutable insectoids whose natural intelligence and curiosity near rival his own.

He thinks himself a hunter of mysteries, a detective of the undetectable, an investigator of the unknown, a bearer of the light of knowledge and science in dark places, and, though he'd sooner draw a scalpel across your throat than admit it, an amateur poet.

Equipment: Portable field laboratory, basic medical gear, anatomy texts and journals, a few vials of fungal spores that, when prepared and ingested properly, tend to induce prolonged periods of, uh, spiritual commune. Oh, and scalpels. Lots and lots of scalpels.

Skills: Sir Nero's travels and natural aptitude for learning have bequeathed him with a host of skills and talents. Along with his expert knowledge in his chosen fields of study, he is able, given a modicum of interest and time, to teach himself the basics of near any discipline. Though focused primarily on biology, he enjoys a working journeyman's knowledge of fields ranging from mathematics to music to theology. And though his left-brain analytics and right-brain intuitiveness are far superior to his left hook and right cross, he has also trained himself a bit in the art of pugilism, and can acquit himself reasonably well in a fight. At least, much better than one would expect of a white-haired academic of late-middle years.

Appearance: Though he gives no thought to class or social graces, Barsad has a weakness for finely tailored clothing, and is rarely seen without some variation of an immaculate white suit and hat. He keeps himself in remarkable physical shape for his advanced age, and his long travels have given him deeply tanned skin and sun-bleached white hair.

@BartlebyWhale

Post your sheet in the character tab, we could use a Xenobiologist.

It's my nap day, so I'm not allowed to be productive till tomorrow.

@Tatsua Aiisen

As long as you get it in before we take off.

[BartlebyWhale]

<Snipped quote by BartlebyWhale>

Post your sheet in the character tab, we could use a Xenobiologist.

@Skyrte

Excellent!

Will start working on my first IC immediately. Thanks for having me aboard.

[barkmeat2]

Holy moly, ya'll are amazing writers. I'm reading through the IC and can't help but fell woefully inferior. By these standards I need to step up my game. Beautiful imagery and rhetorics, makes me wish I paid attention to my English classes.

[Stairdweller]

Huzzah.

[BartlebyWhale]

Oh this is off to a great start, it seems.

I'd like also to say that even though I'm a new member playing a decidedly antisocial character, please don't think that means I don't want him to interact with anyone. Though I have a vague arc planned out for him, my main goal for Barsad is to have him grow and ultimately change as a human, whether for better or worse, so I'd relish a lot of interaction with other players. Feel free to approach Barsad if you see him milling around the ship, or to knock on his door if you've killed some unspeakable horror from the Shatterzone and wish to see what its insides look like! For science, of course.

Looking forward to seeing where this goes!

[barkmeat2]

Hydrogen or Helium airship?
Just asking.

Yeah...just asking...

[Lady Seraphina]

Holy moly, ya'll are amazing writers. I'm reading through the IC and can't help but fell woefully inferior. By these standards I need to step up my game. Beautiful imagery and rhetorics, makes me wish I paid attention to my English classes.

barkmeat2

Does that include me...?

[barkmeat2]

@Prince of Seraphs
Naturally.

[BartlebyWhale]

Hydrogen or Helium airship?
Just asking.

Yeah...just asking...

@barkmeat2

I'd assume helium, as it's not flammable like hydrogen. Given that it's a battleship and prone to combat, filling it with hydrogen seems like an unnecessary risk, unless helium is not a readily available resource in this world.

[barkmeat2]

"Guns worth their weight in gold"

For flavor

[TheWildHost]

<Snipped quote by barkmeat2>

I'd assume helium, as it's not flammable like hydrogen. Given that it's a battleship and prone to combat, filling it with hydrogen seems like an unnecessary risk, unless helium is not a readily available resource in this world.

@BartlebyWhale

hmmm then I might need to rewrite my cigar soliloquy

[Stairdweller]

So I just noticed that I ignored @BartlebyWhale's character. (I think your post went up while I was still writing mine.) That wasn't actually intentional, so I just edited to fix it.

[BartlebyWhale]

So I just noticed that I ignored @BartlebyWhale's character. (I think your post went up while I was still writing mine.) That wasn't actually intentional, so I just edited to fix it.

@Stairdweller

No worries! I missed Avelina's entrance myself. At least I hope so, because I'd hate to think my character is so jaded that he wouldn't react to a woman with cybernetic wings.

[Stairdweller]

I actually did assume your character was that jaded.

[BartlebyWhale]

Ha ha, nah.

I'd rewrite it now to include her, but that's too detailed a change for me to attempt now, having had a wee bit of an after-dinner drink. Instead, I'll assume their arrivals happened concurrently, with Avelina touching down just before I reach Sonne.

EDIT:

I edited my introductory post to account for Capt. ver Niklos and Angel's arrival, as well as to correct a stupidly glaring oversight on my part where I assumed the two ships were tethered in the air rather than on the ground. And while I was there my inner editor forced me to make a few more cosmetic changes. Like when I changed the old woman's bushel of fresh vegetables to a basket of salt fish because I thought it would be funnier. Sorry. I'm tired and weird like that.

[Skyrte]

[Stairdweller]

I like moths.

[barkmeat2]

I like moths.

@Stairdweller

That's a fairy bro

Also, who still hasn't posted to IC?

[Lady Seraphina]

That guy who does the stuff.