Ex — Roleplayer Guild

Here she is. I'll definitely go back and edit this as the RP progresses, or even just to add more information if I think of it. I kept the biography purposefully short, but if anyone wants to me add anything specific, or would like to establish the nature of the relationship between Jane and their character, please let me know.

Note: I have decided that rather than go my usual route of revealing very little about my character and keeping it a secret from the rest of you guys, I am going to explain basically everything I've decided about Jane here. I'll leave it up to individuals and Sixsmith to decide how much any one character knows about her in-universe, but I imagine most of you won't know much of anything aside from what she'd tell you. Information that should definitely be a secret from almost everyone is in the parenthetical sections (that is to say, if it's in parenthesis, your character probably would NOT know about it).

Name/Alias: "Jane Pepper" (almost certainly a made-up name for her current persona. I've left previous names and personas, including her "true" or original identity blank so that they can be useful plot devices later. If any are uncovered, I will add them.)

Gender: "Female" (Her species is not gendered in its natural form.)

Age: Probably very old, but it'd be impolite to ask. (Around 1,250 years old. Jane is relatively old for her species.)

Race: "Human" (Shapeshifter, actual species name uncertain. She - and most members of her species - dislike the terms "shapeshifter" and "changeling," but find their usage more tolerable than actually revealing information about their race to aliens. Jane's species has probably been around for a very long time, and there are probably many more of them then you or I might imagine. They have no "actual" form, but dissolve into a whirling blue matter-energy matrix when they rest. Each transformation uses up a certain amount of this energy, which they then reabsorb from the environment. They can mimic almost any species, animal or object almost intuitively, but more complex objects are more difficult, as are objects which are particularly dense or heavy. The size of the forms they can take is limited by the amount of energy they have stored up - the limits are not exact, but are based on the dimensions of the thing they want to appear as and the effort required to generate it. Jane can probably appear as something about 7-8 feet tall and weighing about 300 pounds, at maximum. The difficulty of the change is also affected by how similar the shifter's target form is to its current guise: That is, if Jane wishes to change her outfit or grow an extra finger, that's much easier than going from her usual appearance to something completely different. How shapeshifters are able to so perfectly imitate living beings (or generally complex objects with obscured inner bits) is a closely guarded secret, but probably involves an unpleasant mix of genetic experimentation, dissection, and science textbooks.

The longer Jane maintains a form, the more comfortable she is with it. Newer forms are harder to coordinate and balance, especially larger ones, which puts some limits on how useful Jane's shapeshifting can be in fights against skilled opponents (not that she'll have to be doing much of that, one hopes). Jane's physical form is sustained by the immaterial energy she's used to create it (which can be detected around/within her but is not visible to most species' naked eyes), so she doesn't necessarily need to eat or otherwise sustain herself, though her body is functionally human and can do that if need be. She is immune to most diseases and most forms of ionizing radiation, though there are different variations on both these things which might affect shapeshifters and not humans (in fact, shapeshifters like to hang around nuclear reactors because of all the tasty energy they give off). If Jane's physical body were injured, or killed she can simply revert to her default "resting" state and reassemble it. Therefore, the easiest way to kill a shapeshifter (for values of "easy" which are still equal to "very difficult") would be to force them to quickly take on a variety of shapes, until they exhausted themselves, without giving them time to recoup the energy losses.

The link between a shapeshifter's living guise and the state of its "true" energy-being form goes both ways. If Jane is feeling tired or exerting herself a lot in human form, she will need to rest and restore energy eventually. If something is sapping her energy or otherwise affecting her non-physical aspects, she may show signs of distress in her human form. Her mind is shared between both forms as a product of both her human brain and her non-physical "true" self: emotions, memories, thoughts, and general consciousness flows both ways. This connection is an especially useful adaptation because it makes Jane feel and act like a real flesh-and-blood... whatever she might be. Thus, for example, if Jane is sad, she'll cry physical tears, if she's amused, she'll laugh, if she's aroused... I think it's a little warm in here. Is it warm in here to you?

Because of this mind-body connection, shapeshifters can and do feel pain, though they are more adept at ignoring it and can, naturally, heal themselves pretty well. Severe pain is a distraction which makes shifting forms difficult, however. Similarly, most shapeshifters use physical guises which are not fertile, so they are in no danger of accidentally reproducing (or accidentally aborting an unborn child when they change forms). Children of shapeshifters and other species may carry unusual genetic markers identifying them as such, but will be entirely members of the species which produced them (they will not be shapeshifters or have any partial shapeshifting abilities). Culturally, it's very important to shapeshifters to "fully inhabit" whatever form they take; they try to limit the degree to which they numb pain, curttail experiences or feelings, and so on, so that they will better understand and better blend in with the other beings around them.

As with the name, Jane's species' culture, behavior and history are secrets they guard fervently - while Jane doesn't necessarily make her species a secrethttp://txt.last-outpost.net/p/JanePepper, she tends to strongly prefer changing shape in private, if she's going to alter something relatively large or significant. Her species worships deities that they call the Unconstants, beings who can take any form of any size at any time simply by willing it. Jane practices this religion as well, to some extent. At some point in the past, her species had its own worlds and government. Most of that was destroyed by another species out of a combination of jealousy, fear, and hate. They don't talk about it. Right now, her species is in a state of diaspora, spread out amongst the stars and living mostly incognito amongst other lifeforms. A lot of them, for some reason, choose to be birds.

Jane's species does procreate, but how they do this is not information for public consumption. Jane has no children and no living relatives she knows of.
I'll add more information on the species' culture/history/etc as I think it up.)

Appearance:

Casual Jane [+]

Employee portrait [+]

Jane's age is hard to determine from her looks. She seems young, but sometimes there are lines in her face that make her look much older. She has large, blue-gray eyes that go wide when she's emotional. Her clothes are modern and stylish, if casual, and they seem to have pretty unlimited variety (perks of being a shapeshifter). She adamantly refuses to wear any kind of uniform. She cleans up extremely well, and she can pull off most degrees of attractive (from adorable to sultry, and most grades in between), but doesn't do it often. (I'll add more pictures if I find them and they're relevant to her in the RP.)

Her movements are very animated, and she gestures a lot when she speaks. Her voice is equally lively and expressive; though she has a very neutral accent, she occasionally uses phrases or words that aren't quite modern. She sings pretty well in a high, soft soprano. She's strong for her build and body, but not inhumanly so; she is, however, much more flexible than most humans would be. This is because, as mentioned above, she's had a long time to fine-tune and develop her current guise.

(Jane has lived in this form for several dozen years, under various names and in various professions. She's pretty attached to it and can be pretty vain because she's so proud of it.)

Position: FTL Pilot/Navigator/Science thing-doer (Originally hired because she was the only applicant old enough and smart enough to understand with the ship's ancient, somewhat crabby computer systems. Generally disapproves of new hires, people who were previously new hires, discussion of making new hires, new hires taking jobs away from her that were previously hers, or being assigned jobs that were previously those of the new hires. Famously irritated by questions about why she's so eager to do the job of five people, but only the ones she selects for herself.

All that said, though, she's extremely good at what she does. She has yet to stick the ship inside a solid object even partially, despite threatening to do so on several occasions. Jane seems to have a nearly encyclopedic knowledge of the galaxy - star systems, steller/interstellar phenomena, and all-night diners with palatable organic-compound substitutes. She's also been on the crew somewhat longer than most of the others.)

Personality: It would be reasonable to think that shapeshifters are very good actors, and that in fact any behavior we observe in them is specific to whatever role they're playing, and indeed, whatever disguise they've assumed at a given moment. This is a very reasonable assumption that is true most of the time, but Jane will have none of it. When she created her current body, Jane decided that the rest of her life was too much time to continue to be an actor. She may be a shapeshifter, but in terms of personality, what you see is generally what you get.

However, a twelve-hundred-year lifespan and who knows how many disguises has left Jane more than a little uncertain about what her core personality actually is. She knows she's clever, very clever, in fact, and she knows she doesn't suffer fools or nonsense lightly. She knows she's stubborn - or at least very used to getting her way. In her relationships with others, though, she can be hard to follow: Engaging, even charming in one moment, then quiet and distant in the next. Her life has been long and often difficult, and she doesn't place trust easily, or often. She has a tendency to lash out, usually over boundaries or disagreements that the target of her anger didn't even know existed, and she certainly has something of a temper. She can be gentle, even loving (her attitude towards the ship itself is something like love; she thinks of it like a favorite pet), but has a hard time working up the trust required for such an arrangement. Once you get used to her general cantankerousness, she's generally amusing to be around (if a little too abrasive sometimes). She enjoys the kind of flippant, "we're-all-in-this-together-but-I-really-can't-stand-any-of-you-slobs" camaraderie a ship's crew tends to have, and she's happy to banter with her shipmates. The only employees she doesn't like are new hires - she views them all with suspicion, at least until they've proven they'll be sticking around.

Jane's very observant (she's had a lot of practice). She doesn't miss much in the behavior of others, and she picks up on speech patterns, physical and verbal tics, and other small personal affects effortlessly. Even without altering her body or voice, she's an excellent mimic. Her taste entertainment is always for the daring, the bizarre, and the story untold. Her general invulnerability to the kinds of death most other beings fear (disease, injury, coronary arteries) gives her an appearance of being fearless and adventurous. Famously, she'll eat almost anything (preferably a lot of it) and she's nearly incapable of resisting a challenge or dare. Make no mistake, though, she's as attached to her own skin as anyone, for values of "skin" that equate to "matter-energy consciousness array." Her bravery extends only as far as acts she feels confident won't do her any harm.

Deep down, Jane isn't sure she'll ever really get humanity (or any other species), because their lives are so much shorter and their perspectives so much more limited. Jane doesn't necessarily want to be human (or anything else), she just wants to understand, but she can't shake the feeling that she's too fundamentally different. She worries that for all her centuries' experience, the gulf separating her and them is too wide. She's loved, and hated, she's won and lost, and none of it has helped her feel less like she was something other, uncomfortable with who she is and who she isn't. She doesn't have a plan for her life right now. She knows she's old, and she knows she's probably only got a couple centuries left, if that, but even she herself isn't sure why she's choosing to spend her remaining time working for a ragtag delivery company on a barely-functional husk of a battleship. Certainly, she wants something better, but what form that will take she doesn't know.

Biography: Jane rarely talks about her past "lives" - who she was before her current guise. She seems very interested in keeping that area of her life firmly behind her. Most likely, she was born (or generated, or whatever her species does) on one of her species' colony worlds (before most of them were destroyed). Her activities before becoming Jane Pepper are difficult to ascertain - only she knows, and she isn't telling. (Like I mentioned before, Jane's past could be a useful plot device for the RP, so I don't want to put too much here that would preclude us doing something more useful with it later.)

Jane joined the crew around the time the company was founded, at the request of Doc Eckhart, who she'd met some time prior during the course of some of his research (at least, this is what they both say; Jane may very well have known one of his previous clone iterations). She's been navigator since then, and is one of the longest-standing crew members. In her time with the ship (as she's quick to remind everyone) she's done her job quite well. Except for the times she didn't.

Miscellaneous: Jane speaks a bunch of languages, covering a variety of species, and can alter her voice to produce sounds humans can't make. Because of this, she sometimes serves as a de facto translator for the crew. She makes a point of knowing a variety of curse words and insults in any language she speaks. She's a very competent martial artist, but would happily take a weapon over an unarmed fight any day. She's familiar with a vast amount of human and alien technology, and is generally very well-read and well-educated.

Jane rests in the "blank room," because it's the only room big enough and empty enough for her to dissolve her human form and spread out a little. She has her own quarters as well, near the navigation facilities, which she uses to relax off-duty when she isn't resting. (Contrary to popular belief, shapeshifter "resting" is not "sleeping," which Jane is entirely capable of doing in her human form if she so desires, dreams and all.) She's known among the crew for having a surprisingly massive appetite, and for being willing to eat nearly anything. Food is probably her favorite of human physical pleasures. (OK, maybe second favorite, but that first one hasn't been an option for quite a while.)

Jane doesn't mind answering questions about her shapeshifting abilities, but she's heard a lot of them before and it's nothing you can't look up on a kiosk anyway. She won't talk to anybody, even close friends, about her past or her species' culture or rituals. Those stories aren't hers to tell.

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Catchphrase: "What? That's dumb. You're dumb. Go away."

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