VitoftheVoid

S.C.I.O.N - The Supernatural Concealment and Investigation Operations Network

"The Doc has signed off on this right? I don't like that there's no-one else here. I would't put it past you to be trying to take me out while no-one else is looking."

"Don't tempt me, dog. Now quit bitching and start a shift. I do not have all day." Dr Kovalenko lifted a slender finger off the intercom button and returned her attention to her notes.

The researcher was stood behind a thick barrier of re-enforced glass in order to observe and collate data. Whilst funding was not boundless in these times, and the installation of a locked-down test chamber within the HQ was quite a big outgoing; she had pointed out to others within the network that could could never afford to be too cautious when you were dealing with cryptid species. And, certainly, she felt better in this case that there was going to be several inches of near unbreakable material between her and that damned animal.

Operative Norrevinter, stood inside the white walls of the test chamber, colourful sensor wires trailing from underneath the set of scrubs she was wearing, was feeling a little less re-assured by her position. The tall, intimidating norwegian woman regarded the researcher at the viewing window with undisguised contempt and adjusted the shapeless garments awkwardly. They were, of course, a bit of a gesture in futility. The beast was only going to tear free of them within seconds, and possibly eat half of the fabric in the process. Oren wouldn't allow anything , other than herself and her shifting focus, in from outside of research out of concern it might influence the readings. However, it was embarrassing enough to have been assigned to a session of being the bitch doctor's lab rat, but she was not doing without some form of clothing.

"Are you recording?" Kora asked, pushing a strand of wavy, ginger hair out of her face to scrutinise what the biologist was doing. She trusted that soulless leech about as far as she could throw her, but orders were orders.
...though on reflection, she could probably throw her pretty far..

"Yes. Get on with it."
The vampress' cold grey eyes flickered from her annotations to a monitor set to one side that was gathering data. Pulse rate, brainwave patterns, temperature, electrical and magnetic impulses, that kind of thing. All the sorts of things you might want to know about a transforming werewolf.

Back in the chamber itself, the nordic woman reached below the neckline of the top and pulled out a simple pewter mjolnir, a few etchings in the scarred metal. Her large hand closed around the small metallic object, and gripped tightly, gripped until the edges started to dig into the skin on her palm. She then started to mutter something under her breath. Oren would have asked her to speak up for the recording...but who exactly spoke old norse? Well, aside from the backward Game of Thrones-esque lycanthropes that seemed to dwell around the scandinavian coastlines. There wasn't a lot of data to be gathered anyway. As far as her research had concluded, the actual words of a focus was not important, but the state of mind it brought about, in order to force a change, a werewolf needed to-

Her thought were cut off by screams. Screaming and the sickening organic crunching of snapping bones. She looked back to the viewing window to see Kora bent double, arms wrapped round her ribs as they shattered themselves. The noise was deafening, and was not going to let up until about the thirty second mark, when the vocal chords ripped in half. Oren muted the audio output on her end. She didn't need that distraction.

The observation room in the research section was soundproofed. The test chamber, less so. Oren would not be totally surprised if the screaming was not filtering out into the rest of the building.

The HQ was an older building. Once it had been a house to some wealth eccentric supposedly, then a boarding school, then an ageing relic out far away from anything of note. Then it had been purchased by their anonymous benefactor.. So far, it had proved a worthy enough location. The house was large and sprawling, enough main complex and outbuildings to house the staff members, and set far enough away from anything, amid thick woodland, so they didn't get many unwanted guests.

The age of the building though did mean that things such as sound did suffer from time to time, and the people eating breakfast in the cafeteria that morning might have been put off their food somewhat.

By that point, Kora had dropped to her hands and knees, limbs beginning to lengthen in sudden, spasmodic spurts of growth. Her facial bones had split and elongated, pulling together into some twisted snout that was cultivating a set of pointed white fangs. The pulse on the monitors was racing and body temperature had spiked. Fur had begun to spread over her skin as the scrubs began to rip with the rapid expanse of the chest and shoulders.

At the two minute mark the pulse would stutter and momentarily fail before returning faster, more rapid and forceful.

After about the five minute mark, Oren stopped the timer. Change was complete.

Int he middle of the test chamber crouched a hulking monstrosity covered in thick, reddish fur. It stood on two large, paw-like feet, legs bent like the hind quarters of an animal, but its hunched torso carrying some hint of a human-like spinal structure. Its arms were long, wiry, ending in twisted hand-paws with great yellowing claws. The face was all that of some kind of monstrous canid, perfectly formed set of carnivore teeth on display at it watched her, snarling, planting its feet to move.

"You're going to try to kill me again aren't you?" Oren asked, wearily as she ticked something off on her list. The vampress took a small, but deliberate step away from the glass moments before the full weight of the werewolf flung itself against the barrier, snarling, clawing, leaving streaks of foamy drool against the formerly clear surface.

She was going to have to clean that.

"I can't tell, Norrevinter, if you just have no self control, or whether you know exactly what you're doing and just do this to piss me off....because you can't think it scares me." Dr Kovalenko remarked contemptuously as she went to check the readings.

No, it didn't scare her. Well, not any more. The fact that the first time had gotten a flinch out of her was not really worth mentioning as far as she was concerned. Though funnily enough since then the Kora-wolf had tried it every time, and the Kora-person had denied remembering doing it at all with the expression of a child caught with their hands in a cookie jar.

Oren sighed as she tried to collate the data and ignore the rattling of the observation window as the beast inside tore at it. She was going to be so irritated if that got scratched.

What was that quote?

Never work with children or animals.

S.C.I.O.N - The Supernatural Concealment and Investigation Operations Network

@Irisity I'll be getting an opening post up today with any luck!

@Juicy Look forward to seeing what you come up with!

@urukhai Yep, could still certainly take more people. It'd be nice to have a Fallen.

@shadowhope@Magister Yes on Crystal, Derrick and Montana!

@Spinosaurus Whilst I dig the idea of making a character out of Spring-Heeled Jack, I'd question whether a law-enforcement organisation like SCION would hire someone who is openly murderous and sociopathic. They don't tend to 'catch' prospective agents, it's more of a recruitment like a mortal-world job, with some individuals who ended up being taken in by SCION in a purely altruistic way, who ended up displaying promise and taking up a post with them, and again those people will have proved themselves relatively trustworthy.

S.C.I.O.N - The Supernatural Concealment and Investigation Operations Network

@ScoundrelQueen That's a yes on Mr Whitmore!

@Spinosaurus It's fine to have a background that's shrouded in mystery from an IC perspective, but from an OOC point of view, something that's a big departure from the norm would need a clear reason, not in the least because SCION would be rather unwilling to accept an agent that they felt was withholding information from them, if that makes sense.

S.C.I.O.N - The Supernatural Concealment and Investigation Operations Network

Full Name: Doctor Oren Dariya Kovalenko
Nicknames/Aliases: Dr K, The Robot, The Bitch
Age: 89 (Was bitten around age 21, and has remained there..to some distaste on her part at being the age of an old woman and still getting ID'd in shops.)
Gender: Female
Species: Vampire
SCION Team/Rank: Head of Wyrm's Moon, Cryptobiological Research at SCION HQ.

Description:

Oren stands at about 5'7, an angular-looking woman with blue-black hair, grey eyes and the pallid skin one might attribute to a vampire, if the sharpened canines were not already an indication. Oren tends to be seen in her white lab coat, replacing it with a dark blue duster when she ventures outside...which, admittedly, is not all that often. She often wears black fingerless gloves when outside of lab work, and prefers sturdy boots to anything prettier. Oren is usually seen wearing black eyeliner, and a look of general humourless disdain.

Personality:

A lot of people who know Oren have compared her to a robot. Except she is a robot programmed to hate you. The researcher is antisocial, unempathetic, and has very little sense of humour. She holds everyone, including herself, to unreachable standards and is quick to express her contempt for people due to their inability to meet them. She either has no sense of tact, or has chosen never to express it, as she has no issues with insulting others.

Oren is a workaholic, to the point that people have grown to question whether she ever actually sleeps. Any hour people call into the research block Dr Kovalenko seems to be there, drinking coffee or looking discontented or dissecting something, sometimes all three at once. She is extremely dedicated to her work, and her work is very good. Oren seems to be in possession of an amazing degree of intelligence, and puts it to good use.

Oren and Kora have a rather...antagonistic relationship with one another. Oren thinks that Kora is an uncivilised, uneducated moron. Kora thinks that Oren is a soulless reptile. Neither is totally wrong in their assertions.

Skills:

Oren is incredibly intelligent, possesses an eidetic memory and can recall near anything in enormous detail. She can also calculate complex sums in her head, and is able to speak a number of languages. Oren is also a very fast runner, and well-trained in using firearms. She nearly always has a gun on hand and can draw more quickly than most people can formulate a hostile thought

Weaknesses:

Oren hates physical contact and tends to panic when she is grabbed, she also has a long history of issues with blood, and as a result avoids contact with fresh blood if she can. Oren's speed comes at the sacrifice of durability, and compared to more resilient creatures like werewolves, she is easily harmed.

Brief History:

SCION is an organisation that is not averse to offering a hand to those who are determined to reform, regardless of perhaps...shady instances in their background.

Oren is probably one of the shadier ones, a young hungarian woman turned in 1945, at the close of the second world war, Oren became a member of The Exsanguis, one of the most influential, and ruthless vampiric clans of Europe. With SCION's first incarnation officially going dark at some point in the 1950's, The Exsanguis was allowed to expand undetected, and while their presence maintained some form of order within Europe, it was order at the cost of deaths. The Exsanguis infiltrated positions of authority, police, local government, coroners, hospitals, and would callously eliminate any mortal who was considered a threat to their secrecy.

Oren has now, for the most part, left all of this behind her. She works for the good guys. That doesn't necessarily mean she's become a pleasant individual.

S.C.I.O.N - The Supernatural Concealment and Investigation Operations Network

@Spinosaurus Well that would depend, the creature would, presumably, have had to come from somewhere. Something being the last of its kind would make sense, but aside from primordial things like demons that aren't welcome in the organisation, things must have been created at one point.

S.C.I.O.N - The Supernatural Concealment and Investigation Operations Network

@Juicy In the sense of one of the species who was bitten by the other? That in itself happening is probably not unheard of, but the two conditions don't really play very nicely with one another due to the serious opposition in their ideal body environment. Vampires have low body temperature, slow pulse, longer digestive tract, werewolves high body temperature, rapid pulse, short digestive tract. I suspect that a crossover wouldn't live too long, or one 'condition' would overcome the other. Of course if you can come up with a reason a character might've ended up a stable cross, I'd be happy to give it a look.

@Spinosaurus I'm happy to accept different species, so long as they fit the 'could conceivably blend into normal society if they tried' rule. That said, for the sake of this canon's simplicity, 'lycan' and 'werewolf' are just different terms for the same creatures.

S.C.I.O.N - The Supernatural Concealment and Investigation Operations Network

@Spinosaurus Not too late at all, go ahead! And yes, things like that do probably also exist in very small numbers.

S.C.I.O.N - The Supernatural Concealment and Investigation Operations Network

@Zahir@EchoicChamber A yes on Phoebe and Aries. Welcome aboard!

S.C.I.O.N - The Supernatural Concealment and Investigation Operations Network

Full Name: Kora Mari Norrevinter
Nicknames/Aliases: The Berserker, The Viking, Red Sonja, That Ginger Lunatic
Age: 26
Gender: Female
Species: Werewolf
SCION Team/Rank: Wolf Moon, Field Agent with her eye on a leadership role.

Description:

Kora is, shall we say,a rather distinct individual. Over six and a half feet tall, with wild, wavy red hair and pale skin, she comes across as pretty intimidating at first glance. And for many she only becomes more intimidating from there.

Kora speaks with a distinct accent, closest to Norwegian, and is able to speak in English, Norwegian, and a strange dialect that is, in fact, Old Norse. She tends to shout when annoyed, or excited, or trying to emphasise, so she'd rather hard to ignore.

Clothing-wise, most of the time Kora has little interest in dressing up, only tending to don anything very feminine when pressed. Most of the time she exists in a T-shirt and cargo pants. However she is rarely seen without her mjolnir, a little pewter charm in the shape of Thor's Hammer. She wears it nearly all the time, and tends to toy with it when nervous.

Personality:

Kora is defined mostly be being quite...intense. In pretty much all ways. If she is angry she is screaming and shouting and breaking things. If she's happy she's also screaming and shouting and breaking things. Most extremes of emotion seem to manifest in destruction of some form, and when she isn't doing any of these she's often listening to far-too-loud heavy metal music or drinking other staffers under the table. She can...grate on people a little.

Kora has a serious trouble controlling her temper, and struggles not to fly into a rage at trivial matters.

Kora has been raised to see herself as destined for greatness. The child of 100 generations of selective werewolf breeding, she feels that she is special, that she is just waiting to show the world something amazing. Whether this is justified or not, remains to be seen.

Stemming from this, Kora is a little bit elitist in regard to werewolf bloodlines. She tends to see herself around the top spot, other old bloodlines below that, other born-wolves below that, and turned wolves at the very bottom. She doesn't mistreat them, but she will sometimes condescend to them and neglect to understand why they might be irritated by this. Additionally she tends to mistrust vampires, her bloodline having had a long running ancestral grudge with them, dating back to the roman era.

Whilst she has many faults, Kora is, if nothing else, extraordinarily brave and unflinchingly loyal. She will take a bullet for anyone in SCION, several bullets most likely, and will still probably have enough fight in her to stove in the face of whoever it was holding the gun in the first place.

Skills:

Kora is the inheritor of the bloodline's much prized and cultivated power, the Berserker Rage. She is able to vastly increase her physical ability and become impervious to pain for temporary periods, making even her human form dangerous and her werewolf form like a furry tank. When this is invoked her body temperature spikes so high steam begins to rise from her nose and mouth, and contact with her skin will begin to burn and blister a person's skin. This combination results in unrivalled destruction, but is severely debilitating in the long run.

Weaknesses:

The Norrevinter bloodline have been selectively breeding for the strongest and most dangerous werewolves for centuries. Unfortunately this sometimes involved marrying within the family. As a result a large number of health problems have been bred into those who inherit the berserker gene. Whilst most werewolves can live longer than the average human, the lifespan for her line is usually only around 30 years. Kora's blood vessels will often rupture in response to stress and power usage, and it's not unusual for her to vomit or cough up blood. Invoking berserkrgang only speeds this along, and puts additional pressure on her system, however the pain nullification effects of the ability often prevent her from realising this in battle.

Brief History:

The Norrevinter bloodline are one of the oldest unbroken lines of werewolves in the supernatural world, able to trace their ancestry back to a pack of germanic tribal werewolves captured by a roman general and transported to Britannia during their occupation for use as gladiators. Supposedly their captor, and keeper for many years, and general and lannister named Caius, was a disguised vampire, and, from this long-remembered act of cruelty, the family developed a long-lasing hostility to the 'parasites'.

During the dark ages, the family worked among humans as soldiers and raiders, becoming chiefs and heroes and sparking the historical accounts of the 'ulfhednar', the 'men in wolf skin', better known as the viking berserkers. They were revered among the norse culture as 'The Wolves of Odin' and remained in high regard until the pagan religion fell into decline, as more of Scandinavia converted to christianity, a faith with no place for their kind.

In the modern era, the Norrevinter still retain quite a bit of political sway in supernatural society. This is despite their rather drastic decline over the years. Plagued by ill-health, very few still exist, but they remain the main link to the more...savage nordic wolves.

The Norrevinter reached an agreement with SCION back in its early days, to offer up their heirs for service with the organisation. This allowed their sons and daughters to prove themselves on the field of battle without having to disguise their true natures...and without them having to start wars with other packs or species...something they weren't above doing in the past.

As such, when SCION was revitalised, the organisation found themselves saddled with the newest addition to the family, a gangly, shouty and entitled teenager by the name of Kora. Over the next ten years said awkward teenager because a pretty impressive asset to the organisation. Kora was loud, uncouth and a stubborn as an ox, but she was also fearless and principled and an incredibly good fighter. She stands on the verge of being made a squad commander, something she's pretty keen on, but other things are also occupying her mind.

S.C.I.O.N - The Supernatural Concealment and Investigation Operations Network

@Rhabdophobia And that's a yes on Ashley!

@WildChocobo Yep, siren sounds like it should fit fine. Might well have a gorgon around in due course so will be good to have a few greek mythology beasties about.

Aaaand Cyrus is up, so that's the first of my characters done.