Legion X51

Mass Effect: Wanted

Urgh, sorry folks...

I was out walking the other day near a port called Harwich and... I slipped. I fell onto a pebble beach.

I've broken my right arm - and I'm right-handed when typing.

Apologies, but I may have to sit out for a while. And just when we were getting started...

The Prophecy

I... Wouldn't know, actually. I don't 'think'so.

The Prophecy

Name: Iridiel Taileflaith Caomhánach (Kavanagh)

Species & Ethnicity: Highlander Éireannach

Gender: Female

Age: 32

Physical Appearance:

Picture of Iridiel

Iridiel stands at about 5' 11" (180.3 cm). Uncommon amongst Highlanders, she has a fairly slim build unlike the stockier, heavier-built Highlanders - a common joke made at her expense is that she must have Forestfolk blood in her family. Her long auburn hair falls to around her mid-back - she often has two braids of hair hanging over her face: a common feature amongst Éireannach women of the Highlands. Her eyes are elliptical in shape as one may expect from a race that has not had to deal with dust or sand, and they are coloured a shade of greyish-green, which is again uncommon amongst Highlanders. Her skin is pale, almost white, as befits a member of the Highland ethnicity of the Éireannach, as they evolved in colder and cloudier areas of the world: the Contaetha are a wild, wet and windy region. Though Éireannach have a similar circulatory system to humans and some other races of Reniam, their main metalloprotein is instead copper-based: haemocyanin. This leads to a rather odd trait of theirs - Eireannach tend to have a blue-ish tone to their colouration, as their blood is blue when oxygenated, and this is most notable in their lips, which are visibly blue as opposed to the usual red for mammalian creatures.

Her preferred clothing is warm and comfortable, as needed for long treks over cold, snow-covered ground and the higher altitudes of the hills of the Highlands. She has a wolfskin cloak made from the skin of a grey wolf that she had killed whilst hunting with her father and brothers, whilst underneath she often sports a thick leather coat and green woollen shirt. She also wears thick brown leather and woollen leggings to protect her legs from the cold and biting winds, as well as thick leather boots, which are reddish-brown in colour. Even in warmer climes, Iridiel seldom ventures out without her wolfskin cloak and leather overcoat - the former protects her from the cold and the rain, whilst the latter has been able to stop a fang or a claw. Of course, this means that Iridiel is ill-suited for tropical or desert climates, but she has never had to deal with either due to her heritage. In times of conflict or strife, Iridiel also has a coat of bronze mail that protects her torso and her upper legs.

Magic:
Iridiel worships the Éireannach goddess Sulis, who is the goddess of nature and of healing. When she was a baby, Iridiel had a birthmark on the small of her back in the shape of a small Celtic cross - as a result of this, she is considered to be a Marked of Sulis - in effect, chosen by the goddess as one of her faithful servants on the mortal plane. As she has grown, the birthmark has grown also - it now covers almost her entire back and shoulders, and is dark brown in colour. Éireannach deities operate on a three-tier system: the normal clergy, the Marked of the deity, and the Druids of the deity. Druids are simply Marked clergy, and their range of powers is as varied as it is deadly or beneficial. The normal clergy do not benefit from many god-given powers; for example, clergy of Sulis usually have basic healing abilities.

Iridiel's powers:

• Iridiel is able to heal injuries of her comrades, almost up to mortal injuries. This is the primary power granted to Iridiel by Sulis.[/*]
• Iridiel is able to create lightning bolts from energies granted to her by the goddess, though she cannot overuse this power, for it drains Sulis' presence in the mortal realm and this takes time to recover.[/*]

Equipment:
Twin Pistol-grip Crossbows - A relatively new invention by the Éireannach, the pistol crossbow is a strange combination between what modern people would call a gun and a crossbow. The pistol crossbow is used by Éireannach hunters who want a higher rate-of-fire than normal crossbows or who prefer to shoot one-handed, for whatever reason. Iridiel uses twin crossbows due to her fighting style, which almost mirrors that of perhaps a gunslinger if guns had been invented.

Longsword - Iridiel's preferred weapon for close combat. The sword is 36 inches of hammered and quenched bronze, which Iridiel can wield if her foes close the distance. It is a fallback weapon, and not Iridiel's preferred method of fighting. Steel swords are expensive in the Contaetha, and as a result, Iridiel could simply not afford a steel sword, whereas the Éireannach are primarily bronzeworkers and thusly bronze weapons are cheap, reliable and well-made.

Dagger - a simple bronze blade that Iridiel uses to skin animals she hunts and cut meat for food. In a pinch, she can fight with it if her sword and handaxe are both broken.

Handaxe - A bronze axe-head mounted to an oak shaft, designed for cutting firewood and flesh with equal efficiency. Iridiel mostly uses her handaxe for the former, though if necessary she will use it to fight off wild animals.

Other miscellaneous items, including a small amount of money (various currencies, mostly Rodorian, however), flint and tinder, a thin matted roll, flask of water and bowl. These are all simple but essential tools to get by from day to day as a nomad. Iridiel also has two small parcels of soap that she brought with her from her home town - to the Èireannach, the sopaia, or soap-maker, was a very important member of the community for the cleanliness of the settlement.

Notes:
- Iridiel has been exiled from her home in the Contaetha for killing an official who was supposed to take her in after she was discovered to be able to use magical powers. Magic in the Contaetha is strictly regulated and controlled, and all mages are either put to work in industry or are used in the military. Iridiel, wanting neither lifestyle, attacked and killed the wizard who was assigned to bring her to the academy in Ath Cliath, and was arrested and faced either execution or exile. The Meara of her home town, Loch Garman, preferred to exile rather than execute Iridiel, as although capital punishment occurs, the Éireannach prefer to exile as they believe it allows the person to become a better member of society once they return after having served their sentence, unless it is a lifetime exile with no pardon. Iridiel's exile is for 50 years.
- She is travelling with a male Albhain Forestfolk Èireannach companion, Domhnall.
- She has a tamed hunting wolf as an animal companion named Murchad, which she tamed a year or so ago.
- She can speak basic Rodorian, but she finds it hard to express herself in that language.
- Iridiel is on her way to Zerul City and I'm aiming for her to join Aemoten's group (if it still exists by the time she gets there)
- Backstory is something I would rather play out ICly, if that's OK.

Mass Effect: Wanted

I'll try to get a post up soon, though it'll mostly be filler until we get to the actual boarding action...

The Prophecy

Dark Jack said
Don't worry about working out a detailed explanation for Thessaleia, a brief sentence or two about what kind of kingdom it is would suffice quite fine for the time being; with lands that far west the influence it has on the eastern lands is almost nonexistent, and the probability of the characters ever going there would not be very high (it could happen, though... in case of which you may have to explain in more detail later on, when it becomes relevant). If the alternative is that the Éireannach would raid the Xuhrl-njok repeatedly, eventually leading to their destruction, then inserting Thessaleia between the two would probably be a good solution (then it would the Thessaleia being raided by Xuhrl-njok, too, instead of the Éireannach).

Will do. I'll get something on the Kingdom of Thessaleia soon, if that's cool with you folks.

Dark Jack said
That's fine; humans and Nightwalkers are only compatible with one another, too, and no other races, so it would make sense for the Éireannach to have a similar relationship with them. How do these crossbreeds turn out, though? As Shien just pointed out there is a backlash when crossing Nightwalker and human blood that cause them to lose their eyesight, but how does Éireannach blood mix with human? Nightwalker?

Nightwalker crossbreeds might have the same issues with eyesight as they do with humans. Furthermore, I think that Nightwalker crossbreeds and human crossbreeds would both have skin issues - eczema, perhaps an increase in skin cancers, dermatitis, issues such as those. Also, there might be issues with the differing musculature of Éireannach and humans/Nightwalkers, mostly around the upper body joints - might be more susceptible to loose joints which would cause no end of sprains, torn muscles and possibly worse.

Dark Jack said
I know that, which is why I changed my approach as I wrote my thoughts on that bit (I should have deleted and rewritten that entire paragraph rather than leaving in my confusing train of thought as I went from one thought to another). My concern wasn't that it was unrealistic for them to maintain their population while being constantly at war - well it was at first, until I realized I was presuming too much just based on their lifespan - but that the growth of their population would be even more unsurstainable than that of humans. I know that there are numerous factors that limit population growth, but the fact that the Éireannach could sustain their population with continuous replacements for numbers lost in constant war would suggest that there aren't many of such natural limitations for them, and with individuals living as long as they do... well, if they did not take losses from war, I imagine they would very quickly find themselves fighting among themselves, stricken with pandemic illnesses and/or suffering from widespread famine. I'm not saying that it's unrealistic or that I object to it, I merely noted the fact that as I saw it, the Éireannach would not be able to sustain themselves as a people if there were no one for them to fight.

I'll think on things like population counts and birth rates and the like and discuss them with Shienvien and others.

The Prophecy

Dark Jack said
@Legion: All right, then... so they're basically humans with longer lifespans, one ethnicity of which has a skin color that is rather unusual to humans, but otherwise they are very much like humans? How does their population maintain itself between their long lifespans - which would usually implicate a long reproductive cycle - and their aforementioned warlike culture? Though I suppose with lifespans that long and a reproductive cycle short enough to replenish their numbers lost due to war, continuous war would almost be for them to avoid their population increasing uncontrollably to the point of their growth being entirely unsustainable. (A small divergent thought of mine is that if they do require constant war like this and has been participating in such warfare, then they must either still have at least one other nation between themselves and the Xhurl-njok or only recently have expanded as far; if someone persistently showed aggression against the Xhurl-njok the way the Éireannach are described to, chances are that they would not last long before the Xhurl-njok decided to remove the annoyance they would represent.)I also wonder just how genetically compatible these Éireannach would be with other races. They are described as being very humanlike, but with lifespans that are almost as long as those of penin... Interbreeding between races would be difficult to accomplish.

Alright, let's get rambling.

Regarding the points about the Xhurl-njok and the Eireannach potentially coming into border conflicts, I can re-instate the Kingdom of Thessaleia (human kingdom, not much work to do and most of it I've done for another RP already, so no worries there?) as a buffer state between the Xhurl-njok and the Eireannach so as to prevent both sides from coming to blows. I had the Eireannach and Thessaleians almost at constant state of war - similar in a way to the late Roman Empire and its struggles with barbarians.

Regarding the lifespan and warlike culture - the Eireannach have a maturity rate that is similar to humans, in that they reach adulthood and full maturity at about 18 or so. They 'do' have a long lifespan, I know, but it's quite rare for Eireannach to reach their maximum lifespan - things like injuries, diseases, accidents, all of those have impacts on lifespan, as does your social class, what with being able to afford food and the like in towns. I'd say that the average commoner would be good to reach 250 or in that area, whilst the rich and the 'royalty' are more able to reach 300-320.

As for interbreeding, though the Eireannach are similar in appearance to humans, I think humanity would be the only race with whom they could successfully breed, with maaaaybe Nightwalkers being a very rare and 'barren' partnership. Most other races are a no-go.

The Prophecy

Updated with list of differences - I've changed the Eireannach to non-humans again. Apologies.

The Prophecy

EDIT: Doing more thinking, I'm actually going for a near-human race after all, apologies. I'll get a list of 'differences' between them and humans shortly, after brainstorming.

Right, preliminary list of differences, as worked with Shienvien and a couple others:

- Eireannach have a lifespan of 320-ish. (As worked out by a simply 4d100 roll, suggested by one Alfhedil)

- There are two 'ethnicities' of Eireannach, the Forestfolk and the Highlanders.

- Forestfolk are smaller and leaner than Highlanders, and usually possess mottled-colour skin to blend in with the foliage and undergrowth. Forestfolk are possessive of superior agility and upper body strength to climb trees, hunt in the forests and scale obstacles - for example, a cliff face. Forestfolk are naturally gifted for reconnaissance or archery work, as their agility and upper body strength aids them in avoiding detection and shooting bows.

- Highlanders are stockier, thicker-set and broader, with less agility and more raw muscle power. They have tanned skin to cope with the harsh sun of the mountainous regions of the Contaetha.

That's as much as I've got so far, but I'm still brainstorming.

The Prophecy

Hello there. I'm from the same group as Shienvien and ASTA. I'd also like to enquire about the possibility of playing a character.

This character would be of a new race, by your leave.

The Éireannach are an ethnicity of humans who live in the far western lands, even further than the fearsome Xhurl-njok. The Éireannach are often considered to be analogous to barbarians by most civilised races, living as they do on the move much of the time and with very few settlements, preferring to instead live off of the lands surrounding their few permanent settlements. The tales of fierce warriors painted in red and white patterns (similar in style to the Britons on Earth, for an example) mostly originate from the regions surrounding Laighean, the main region of the Éireannach homelands. Raiding surrounding countryside for food and often plunder, the Éireannach most often are seen fighting in unorganised morasses of warriors, descending upon the hapless townsfolk of the small villages and towns outside of Laighean. The Éireannach's main claim to fame is the fall of the Kingdom of Thessaleia, which used to be the last bastion between the civilised world and the Éireannach. After a two-month long siege of the city of Larissa, the Éireannach stormed and sacked the city and murdered thousands upon thousands of the inhabitants.

However, domestically, the Éireannach operate surprisingly orderly. Though they are not a truly 'unified' nation, the Éireannach have different 'areas' or as they call them, contaetha. Contae Laighean is the main area of habitation, in and around the city of Cathair Dhoire, which has a population of 11,000 people. The other counties of Gaillimhe, Garman and Chorcaí are all organised around their respective 'capital cities', which are Láirge, Ros Comáin and Leifear, with populations of 2630, 1895 and 1446 in that order. The Contaetha are loosely organised as a confederation which elects the King or Queen of the Éireannach, though they operate as separate 'kingdoms' for all other purposes. The most powerful Contae is, of course, Laighean, which controls the few trade lanes that the Éireannach operate into 'civilised' lands beyond the frontier, as well as being the most populous. Each Contae is ruled by a Bíocúnta, or count, and the King/Queen is chosen from the counts of the Contaetha. Surprisingly, literacy is common amongst townsfolk, but that is more to do with the deep sense of community within most Éireannach towns, being as they are small in size, and the town or village elders will teach the children of the settlement how to read and write in the Éireannach language, and basic numeracy. The more intelligent of the children will progress to learn leadership and survival skills in preparation for succeeding the village elders in their position and for leading the Éireannach armies to war, whilst the less intelligent will learn a particular occupation, be it trading, farming, blacksmithing or mining.

Unlike other ethnicities of humans, sexual diversity in the Éireannach is arguably less noticeable - women and men are almost equally capable, which has given rise to a feeling of resentment the Éireannach have for more 'civilised' nations that view women (or men) as property, or second-class citizens. In Éireannach history, the struggle to survive has led to an interdependence between the sexes, and the lack of diversity between the two sexes has inhibited the rise of either a patriarchal system or a matriarchal system, as both genders worked together to form a stable community and to defend the contaetha from external invaders. As such, female warriors in Éireannach armies are a common sight - there are no 'limits' to which role a person may take in an army.

Sound OK?

Mass Effect: Wanted

Henrik waited and listened to Carson's little speech. Inspiring? Somewhat. At least most people here wanted some good old-fashioned revenge against SI, even if some were green as grass and almost as easy to break. Henrik took particular note of C-Pat's rivalry with SI in the region's security issues - not that C-Pat was doing a good job around here to begin with, but that rivalry could be easily exploited to weaken both of them - setting up C-Pat against SI would be mutually destructive between the two organisations, and would allow people like Kovlov to go about their business unchecked in and around Cartagena. Henrik took out a piece of paper and noted the rivalry down. Could prove useful.

His attention was drawn when Tanya mentioned the heist of a starship belonging to SI itself. That was a kick in the teeth for SI - to have its own shipping turned against them was something that Ilya hadn't even tried to do - not that he would, the man was far too concerned with shedding blood for subterfuge like that - and it would certainly give them an advantage, particularly when it came to hitting various locations that would be important to SI. Furthermore, it provided a stable base of operations from which he could communicate with the various contacts he had and get work and intelligence from them. He already knew about this 'Titan Bank' on Illium, but he wasn't sure if that was relevant: Kovlov and The Widowmaker had yet to contact him if there were SI assets contained within. He looked about at the men and women who would form his future crew as Tanya explained the plan. Turian hacker. Human muscle man, like himself. Two batarians. Two quarians (two? he rarely saw 'one', let alone 2 of them), one of whom looked greener than the grasslands of Earth. Human pilot. Balanced crew, if Henrik said so himself. They were more than enough to take over one ship, and if necessary fight off 'discount C-Sec' as Carson had called them. Henrik nodded in approval after Tanya asked for support. Several others spoke up and explained they were in. Most of their speech could be boiled down to 'I hate SI and they need to die', which was fair enough. Henrik hated Siame and they 'did' need to die. But that wasn't the only reason he was here.

"My contacts are threatened and deeply concerned by SI expansion. They wish for Siame to be removed. That's why I'm here. I'm here to do a job and support my comrades who want the same thing. Some people are probably concerned that I'm on someone's payroll... That someone, if you don't know, is a man named Kovlov. And believe me, he won't rest until SI is driven into the ground so deep they won't be able to get out." Henrik drew his thumb across his throat. "Kovlov calls it debt collection. The debt they owe is in blood." Scratching his beard, Henrik thought for a moment. The plan involved a lot of risk, and a lot of people involved in a large gunfight. Henrik was unsure whether the team would be better served by him in said gunfight or if someone else needed escorting to where they were needed to be. No doubt most people would want him to be on the ground, pumping bullets non-stop into warm, fleshy SI agents' bodies. But there were several technicians on the team, people who needed support to get to where they were needed, like the turian, or the quarian hacker. The salarian had already spoken up to support the turian, but that was one salarian. Henrik reckoned they would need at least one heavy hitter as well. Glancing first at the heavy-set human soldier (Mark Russo, was it? Kovlov had mentioned someone with that name, but Henrik couldn't put names to faces to save his life) and then at the turian, Henrik spoke up again.

"I will accompany Sleuth if needed. If not, I will take part in the hangar assault." Short, simple and to the point. If the turian didn't need his help, then Henrik would simply assist in the taking of the ship. It was only logical - if the turian felt he had enough backup, then Henrik would place himself where he felt he would be the most useful; in the hangar, taking bullets and killing hostiles. It was what he was good at, after all...