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Recent Statuses

2 yrs ago
Need two more people for our Fantasy + Sci-fi roleplay - we have angry burning trees!
1 like
2 yrs ago
New interest check is live, check it outttt
2 yrs ago
If i could go back now, i wouldn't change a thing
1 like
2 yrs ago
You've got red on you
1 like
3 yrs ago
Its just me, you, a pile of Chinese food and a couple of f**k off spreadsheets.
3 likes

Bio

New roleplay: https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/189457-the-eye-of-the-needle-where-fantasy-and-sci-fi-collide/ooc

Hey, I'm Catharyn! I joined the Roleplayer Guild on 2nd Feb 2011, then rejoined on the 17th Jan 2014 after Guildfall.

I was active every day until late 2015, accruing (i think) around 7k posts across dozens of roleplays. Then, I started working and had to gradually slow down my RP schedule. In 2017, I officially went on hiatus when other commitments got fully in the way of roleplaying.

This continued until the COVID-19 pandemic hit, when I suddenly realised I had a lot more free time in lockdown! So in mid-2020, I returned to the Guild with a vengeance. I also managed to get The Cradle 1x1 off the ground - a story i've had percolating for almost a decade.

My posting schedule has slowed down a bit now that the world has opened up again. I still love science fiction, fantasy and espionage themes, and generally aim for around 300 words per post.

Most Recent Posts

Welcome to the Guild, @Ranvena! If you're looking for a roleplay that combines both original fantasy and sci-fi, a friend and i have just started one called Eye of the Needle. Link is here if you wanna check it out! roleplayerguild.com/topics/189457-the…
Welcome to the Guild, @MasterLink!
@deso welcome to the Guild!
Update: the Jotunheim has now landed on Kanth-Amerek! You can still make a Human character that is part of the crew or one of the people who boarded in the chaos.
Shuttle bay

Ezra tumbled to the floor and struggled mightily under the weight of another dog-like drone, but couldn’t get free.

“Aargh! Shit nearly crushed my head!” Darnell hollered as another spider robot clambered all over him. He wriggled around, kicking hopelessly against some cargo webbing which wrapped around his legs.

Everything flashed, like they were heading into a thunderstorm. The boom of the engines, unbearably loud through the rip in the hull, morphed into a steady juddering that mixed in with the whistle of the wind and crackle of multiple fires spreading through the shuttle bay.

“Mask, on. Depressurisation detected.” A rich male voice declared. Small hatches clicked open above the bay’s jump seats and masks with their own oxygen converters popped out. The first airlock door lay open.

Ezra shoved the dog out of his way, got up and his right hand went for his sidearm. The girl was tiny compared to the merc, but very quick, and steady on an uneven deckplate. Nevertheless, that was his weapon.

“Hey! Don’t you fucking dare. Get me out of here, tough guy!” Darnell shouted, reaching out a hand from the floor.

Ezra gritted his teeth, boring holes into the back of Eva’s skull through his mask as she cycled the airlock. Finally, he stalked over to his employer. The floor was moving again - the ship’s nose was beginning to pitch forwards.

Engineering

“We’re losing all power, Captain! Switching to auxiliary power!” Zhao had one finger pressed against her earbud. The lights flickered in the Engine Room.

“Vigdis, disconnect the shields then reboot the reactor! Varen, put out these fires! I’ll see if I can salvage output from somewhere to stop us crashing!” The lead engineer was rapidly checking through systems.

“Oh god, Kiran’s fucking dead!” Varen stood up from his seat and peered over the console at the dreadlocked engineer who had frisked Vigdis moments before. Kiran lay smoking on the deck next to the FTL drive, where they’d been trying to manually flip the breakers.

Bridge

Zey received a 3D topographic model of their current flight vector from Wodan and put it up on all consoles. Far below them were mountains. Ahead of them was a large body of water, and beyond that, more mountains. The Jotunheim was still moving at speed, but had noticeably dipped into a downward descent.

“I’ve got nothing. Engines 1 through 3 are dark - auxiliaries are choking. ” Bosko called, flicking overhead switches as bright red lights flashed all around him. Two bright running lights came on like white fingers probing the darkness in front of them.

“Allah kahretsin...ok, I’ve got you. All crew prepare for an emergency landing. Mallory, I need you to find us a safe place to put down.” Zey ordered, pulling up her co-pilot interface. She activated a burst of Deep Work from her chemical gland; it worked to control her adrenaline and allow laser focus on the job at hand.

“Mayday mayday mayday, this is TEC-52-J, we have lost power and are conducting an emergency landing.” Anselm broadcast, activating the Jotunheim’s distress beacon.



Darnell and Ezra exited the airlock into absolute pandemonium in the service corridor. People were screaming, pushing each other over to climb upstairs or strap themselves down. Some had fallen, and possessions were starting to slide across the floor towards the Bridge. Medical personnel were struggling with a person on a stretcher.

“Mr Darnell, we need to get strapped in.” Ezra urged. He knew a plane crash when he saw one.

Darnell wasn’t listening though. He turned left, and ran for the ship’s cockpit. The merc followed him.


“All passengers, put your mask on and assume the brace position. We are about to make an emergency landing.” Anselm urged. Straps emerged from the back of her seat and secured the comms officer’s neck and arms.

Zey’s eyes widened when she saw the foothills of a vast mountain range zoomed towards them. They were using the aux engines to soften their descent, but they didn’t have enough power to change course. Flames licked over the cockpit windows. Bosko’s bobblehead figurine fell from his console. The entire ship seemed to rattle like a trolley full of shopping. Zeynap started to pray.

“Brace! Brace!” Anselm yelled over the intercom.


“Captain! It's the shields!” Darnell gibbered, hammering on the Bridge door.

“Sir!” Ezra snapped, grabbing the burly suited man by the arms and wrestling him back up the steeply pitched deck. He pressed a door button and it opened, revealing a small toilet. Ezra bundled Darnell onto the floor of the tiny room and crouched over him. Darnell grabbed hold of the toilet bowl, screaming incoherently.

Gesith Silbermine


Silbermine watched as fragments tumbled away from the falling ball of flames. First came a large beetle shape, which plummeted towards Lake Núr. Dozens of other boxy shapes followed, spinning and fluttering in the night air towards the marshy ground.

The Glen noble covered his eyes with one hand. The bright ball of flame was upon them but none of the Gesith’s retinue flinched. Silbermine clenched every muscle, prepared to meet the gods face to face. The sound was unbearable…and then it passed overhead.

Silbermine looked up, and round, as the ball of flames screamed into the side of a hill to the south. It bounced, rolled and slid up the side, a firestorm spreading around it to engulf the woodlands on either side. A rolling peal of thunder erupted once more, and then all was quiet. Silbermine raised both gauntleted hands and uttered a braying roar - his knights joined in.

“We are the chosen!”
Gesith Silbermine’s journey through the marches to the east of Mythadia was only supposed to take a week in total. His retinue had packed light and sent scouts ahead to trace a path through the marshy plains that skirted the southern edge of Lake Núr. They’d planned to ride hard and reach the ruins of Falag-Núr in plenty of time to consult with the Mendicant Seers while the Moon was still new. His father had believed they could see the future, and with their insight he went on to win The Running against all the odds. Silbermine was anxious to repeat this feat before he became too old and lame.

But it seemed the gods were intent on testing his resolve ahead of the Glen’s twice-a-decade choosing of Mythadia’s leader. At least that's how Silbermine had interpreted it. First, the bridge over the river which formed Mythadia’s eastern border was destroyed by a flood stemming from torrential rain on the night they set off from Silbermine’s fortress. Heading south to cross at Ertiseda would have taken too long, so instead they waited a day and then forded it while the water was still quite high. One of the load bearers broke a leg and went under; they never saw the boy again.

The rain had turned their path into a quagmire. Glen were able to travel very quickly, even in armour, in good conditions. But with the ground boggy underfoot they were reduced to little more than a trot. This slow pace opened them up to being accosted by every fisherman and unfortunate on this godforsaken stretch of shore. Silbermine’s banner was not hard to spot, nor was the Gesith himself in his imperial red barding. They begged him to rid their land of the bandits which had swooped in since their Margrave had been killed without a successor.

Unable to just decline with The Running so close, Silbermine and his men spent three days crisscrossing the plain, raiding camps of vagabonds and scaring them off. None would fight against a score of armoured knights. The ones they captured all seemed to think the routes were becoming too dangerous for them to stay much longer anyway. Silbermine knew not what to make of that - he let them go but kept their plunder.

When they finally got to the ruins of Falag-Núr, nearly a week behind schedule, Silbermine was incensed to learn that the ancient fortress was empty! They must have upped and left in a hurry, his scouts reported when they regrouped. They’d even left some of their meagre belongings behind. After cursing their name and waiting for half a day, Silbermine had reluctantly cut his losses and led his retinue back towards civilisation. With the ground drying, they had made much better time. But it seemed the gods were not done with them yet. On the second night of their return journey, the sky opened and a thunderous clap rolled forth. The march lit up as if it were day, before turning to a half-light.

Silbermine emerged from his tent into the circular camp ringed with fires. His knights were already off the floor and on their feet, weapons in hand. They were looking up, so the Gesith looked up as well. A fireball flew towards them from across Lake Núr. Silbermine rose up onto his hind quarters in excitement, fore legs waggling in the air before landing back down again.

“It is a sign from the gods! Stand your ground - we are being tested!” The Gesith boomed. His face was craggy and scarred, but right now his eyes were young with vigour.
Welcome back!
Welcome!
The bridge

Wodan picked one hell of a time to come online. A proximity alarm pinged twice around the bridge as the Jotunheim’s radar picked up six locked-on missiles. Everyone leapt into action.

“Evasive action, NOW!” Zey shouted, diving towards her seat. Bosko immediately went to full speed ahead on the main engines and yanked the control yoke. The Jotunheim’s beetle-like shape exploded forward and pulled up towards the dawn sky, but it was too late. The missiles were moving at 1,200 metres per second, and there was no way the hulking spacecraft could avoid them all. The first missile went straight towards the bulbous shuttle bay on the side.

The shuttle bay

Ezra threw the spasming spider droid onto the shuttle bay floor, gritting his teeth from the pain. He quickly looked down and dipped his fingers into a rip in the undercoat covering his right arm. His fingers came back red with blood - the robot had cut him.

He looked back up at Eva as she came over to grab the spider. He crouched down and picked his assault rifle quickly back up, then stalked towards her.

“No more games. Open this door or I’ll-”

The deck shifted dramatically under their feet and the engines shook the deck under their feet. Everything seemed to move at once - an unsecured box smashed into the soldier’s legs and he stumbled into Eva. Darnell shouted, staggered and fell back hard into a row of jump seats. The airlock door opened, and the sound and sight of screaming civilians could be heard in the service corridor, then they closed again.

Then a massive explosion ripped through the bay. The ramp fell slightly open, and a section of the hull in the corner buckled and burst. Flames gushed in, whipped up by the wind. A maelstrom of shrapnel made a sound like tinkling glass as it impacted surfaces. One of the large straps securing the shuttle snapped as a siren blared.



The second missile fizzed past the ship and exploded in front of the bridge as Bosko violently levelled out of its upwards ascent and turned it to the right. A long, thin pleasure craft veered out of the way to avoid crashing into the Jo, and moved straight into the path of the third and fourth missile.

The last two projectiles soared straight into the engine shielding, and the whole aft crackled with bright blue energy. The kinetic barrier forced the missiles to explode early - a savage shockwave buffeted the hull and shook the insides.

Engineering

Zhao strapped in, her face illuminated by glowing in the light of various displays crowded around her.

“Power spike! Someone talk to me!”

“It's the FTL drive ma’am, it's jumping all on its own!” Varen shot back. Vigdis would see dangerous fluctuations in her console’s readings.

“Kill it, now!” Zhao commanded.

“It's not responding!”

The noise was unbearable. The shields were screeching, and now the FTL’s whine had rapidly risen to a crescendo.

“Engineering to Bridge, emergency jump imminent” Zhao yelled into her comms piece.



The sky was dark, and full of stars over Kanth-Amerek. The only sounds one could hear in the wilderness was the rustle of foliage and call of animals. These calls turned into frantic screeching as a thunderous boom rolled over the land and echoed off the far hills of the Ascendency. The sky flashed, like with lightning, and a dull mauve scar seared into the atmosphere. A bright ball of flame emerged, and hurtled towards the ground.

The Bridge

Zey had only just made it to her seat and strapped in before the panicked call from engineering. Her eyes had involuntarily closed against the bright flash, and now gouts of flame erupted from the shield cabling below the Bridge cockpit windows. The sound of missiles had totally gone, and the engines were eerily quiet, more of a sooradic judder than a continuous sound.

“Where are we? Somebody give me a sitrep right now. Wodan? Welcome aboard - reboot our sensory array.” Zey ordered, staring at the curved bank of screens that folded out of the wall to surround the Captain’s chair. All of her external data sources were making zero sense.
@PerfectThought you are now accepted! Welcome
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