whist
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- whist 10 yrs ago
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Bio
My name is Collin, and I'm a student finishing up a degree in Computer Science from a California University. I'm lucky enough to have most of my roleplay happen in meatspace - I've played Earthdawn, Shadowrun, many flavors of D&D including Pathfinder, Ars Magica, Vampire, Star Wars (D20 and Edge of Empire), Numenera, and one bizarre session of a homebrew Fallout RPG. I really enjoy both reading and writing (as Djikstra said, "mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer"). As far as cyberspace RP'ing goes, I've participated in a moderate amount of play-by-post RP at various sites. I like new spins on fantasy/sci-fi (especially weird combinations which is what drew me to Numenera). Anyway, enough talk about myself. I hope to RP with you soon.
Most Recent Posts
Interested.
Thank you for the welcome - I've already seen some interesting concepts and I'm excited to get started in earnest soon!
In
Nebular Delirium (Mature, intellectual, Char-Driven Sci Fi)
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10 yrs ago
Forum: Advanced Interest Checks
Well, I had some time, so decided to get this hammered out.
John almost slipped to his knees. The ground underneath his feet shuddered violently from the force of a nearby VTOL personnel carrier firing its main engines. A blue funnel of flame erupted from the massive thrusters down into the ground, crystallizing the soil below. John felt the sound deep in his gut as the ship slowly lifted off and aimed its nose for the blue sky above. He sighed in relief as the pressure on his chest lifted.
"Damn, never get used to that," said the heavily armored trooper next to him. "You OK there Doc? You look a little rattled."
"I'm fine, thanks," he said, straightening up. "We need to get to work, where's our first triage zone?" John reached into a shoulder pouch and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "Hell, this one looks bad," he said as he scanned the battlefield surrounding him. Flaming heaps of twisted wreckage scarred the landscape, and bodies in various states of injury littered the space between them.
The soldier pulled a data pad out from a backpack at his feet. "Orders say we start in the northeast and work our way down from there. Prioritize officers and technicians, elminate any enemy forces found. Standard ops."
John lifted the cigarette to his lips and flicked his lighter's sparker. "Let's get a move on then. Every second is more lost blood,' he said, exhaling a stream of smoke.
A quick hike to the northeast revealed the extent of the damage. Of the few survivors, many would be missing limbs - or worse. John knelt down next to an unconscious officer with a four foot long shard of metal through his leg and blood pooling on the ground around him. He clicked a vial of local anesthetic into his injector a set it against the man's leg. About to depress the plunger, he felt a weak hand on his shoulder. "Who... who are you?"
"I'm a doctor. Relax, this will be over soon." John pressed down and with a quick hiss the drug entered the man's thigh muscle.
"Please... what happened? Where is... everyone else?" The man was now struggling to stand up - the anesthetic acted quickly.
"I need you to stay still. Calm down, or you'll lose blood more quickly." John reached down for a fresh lancet. The sun flashed off the blade as John brought it to the man's leg and began a series of small, precise cuts around the shaft of metal. "All I can tell is you what I know. Rumor is Command recieved some bad intelligence and underestimated the amount of indigenous on this planet. Command didn't know they'd have so much firepower either."
"How many dead?"
"No official numbers yet. I think we may be leaving more behind than we're taking back."
Tears began to well in the man's eyes. John would have liked to have thought it was from the spear of steel through his leg, but he knew better. He had seen enough broken men on the field to know one when he saw it. He realized then just how young the man really was.
"H-how, how could this happen? This isn't right. This isn't what I thought it would be." The man reached up to rub at his forehead, leaving a black streak of grime behind.
"What did you expect when you graduated that academy? Parades and medals? Now, hold on to something, this is going to hurt." John grasped the metal shard and began drawing it upwards and out of the officer's leg. The man screamed raggedly, tears now flowing openly onto his dirty cheeks.
"There, done." John tossed the bloody spear down and began packing gauze into the now open wound. He wrapped a clean bandage around the man's leg, then poured water into a plastic cup from his bag. "Drink this. You need to rehydrate. You should be able to make it until they evac you to a proper medical center. Stay here, don't try to walk. Don't touch the wound, and try to stay calm."
"Wait, you can't just leave me here. Please... I need to see my family." The man's eyes were wide with fear and he was gasping for breath; he began to shift forward again.
John placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "I need to attend to others. You'll be safe here." John passed the man a small pill. "If the pain returns, take this." Looking up, he saw his trooper escort motion to come over. He stood up and walked over.
The soldier waved with his data pad. "Time's up. HQ says there's another group of indigenous inbound, and we don't want to be here when they arrive."
John frowned. "And what about all these injured?"
The soldier was quiet for a moment behind his helmet. "Evac is on its way. That's not your concern." He motioned towards a hill around 400 feet away where a much smaller VTOL was now landing, still hot from atmospheric re-entry. "There's our ticket out, come on, let's go."
John glanced back towards the man he had treated. "Fuck this," he said under his breath, then turned and walked towards the ship.
15 Years Later
The steady pulse of a heart rate monitor provided a fitting backdrop for the tension in the operating room as surgeon Johnathan Raleigh completed his 64th heart transplant. "All right, let's close her up." The nurses and technicians around him spun into action as he stepped back and released a breath that felt like it had been held for hours. Even after five years as a field medic, then fifteen as a trauma surgeon on Atmos Prime, he still got an adrenaline rush from the pressure of another person's life in his hands.
He stepped into the adjoining prep room and peeled off his bloody gloves, tossing them into a hazmat receptacle built into the wall. Turning on the faucet, the feeling of warm water over his tired hands was exquisite. He couldn't avoid a glance in the mirror above the sink as he scrubbed. At 45 years old, he had more than just a dash of gray in his otherwise dark brown, almost black, hair. In his opinion, he had never been particularly handsome, with somewhat angular and rigid features. He did, however, prize the deep sea green eyes he had inherited from his mother. They were a reminder of her, and a source of motivation to aspire to the same high ideals she set for herself when she was alive.
He finished up changing into his standard jeans and black button-down and stepped out of the prep room into one of the many hallways of the medical center. He looked at his watch. 22:46. His shift had ended sixteen minutes ago, and he was on-call for the upcoming weekend. Maybe he would have a chance to relax a bit after all.
"Congratulations on another successful surgery, Doctor Raleigh. Or should I refer to you by your full title? What's it these days, again? Senior Trauma Surgeon? Well, they got the senior part right at least."
John turned to see a man about his age with a shock of blonde hair and a mischevious smile that he knew all too well. His broke into a smile of his own. "Hello Will. Good to see you looking so clean, I would have thought you'd be covered in puke from the neonatal unit."
Will grimaced. "My god, if I have to spend another day pulling those little bastards out I swear I'm going to resign and go into law like my father always told me to."
John laughed, "I'm sure you'll make it through - we all have to pay our dues every once in a while."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you off as well? Want to hit up that new bar in downtown tonight? I hear one of the lab techs got a second job there and really knows her way around a pipette, if you catch my drift." Will smirked and began walking towards the exit, gesturing for John to follow.
John walked after him. "Really? A pipette? That's pretty awful, even for you. Anyway, even if I wanted to, I couldn't. I'm on call for the weekend, so no joy."
Will frowned. "On call? Again? You work too much man, time to take a freaking break."
John laughed again. "That's just how it is."
They stepped out into the brisk night air, the lights of the city shining like jewels. John stopped and turned to Will.
"Well, hope you have fun tonight. Remember, I'm not bailing you out if you end up in the drunk tank."
"C'mon John, that's what friends are for. Well, whatever. Enjoy a weekend spent sitting in your apartment. If you decide you want to get some fresh air, give me a call." Will turned to leave, waving lazily as he headed out into the parking lot towards his low-altitude shuttle.
John hailed a taxi shuttle and let his mind wander as they flew through the massive superstructure that was the city. Out among the stars and planets. Out beyond Atmos Prime. What was there? He had gotten to see such a small amount of it during his stint as a field medic, and everything he saw was the worst of what the galaxy had to offer. He knew there must be more, some greater meaning, and he wondered if he could find it out there among all those sparkling jewels.
He punched in the code to his apartment door and immediately flopped down on the couch. Reaching for a roll of paper towel, he tore one off and quickly brought it to his mouth as he coughed deeply. Pulling it away, he saw the usual flecks of blood. "Damn." He tossed it into a waste basket and lit a cigarette, staring up towards the ceiling. It was time for a change.
John almost slipped to his knees. The ground underneath his feet shuddered violently from the force of a nearby VTOL personnel carrier firing its main engines. A blue funnel of flame erupted from the massive thrusters down into the ground, crystallizing the soil below. John felt the sound deep in his gut as the ship slowly lifted off and aimed its nose for the blue sky above. He sighed in relief as the pressure on his chest lifted.
"Damn, never get used to that," said the heavily armored trooper next to him. "You OK there Doc? You look a little rattled."
"I'm fine, thanks," he said, straightening up. "We need to get to work, where's our first triage zone?" John reached into a shoulder pouch and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. "Hell, this one looks bad," he said as he scanned the battlefield surrounding him. Flaming heaps of twisted wreckage scarred the landscape, and bodies in various states of injury littered the space between them.
The soldier pulled a data pad out from a backpack at his feet. "Orders say we start in the northeast and work our way down from there. Prioritize officers and technicians, elminate any enemy forces found. Standard ops."
John lifted the cigarette to his lips and flicked his lighter's sparker. "Let's get a move on then. Every second is more lost blood,' he said, exhaling a stream of smoke.
A quick hike to the northeast revealed the extent of the damage. Of the few survivors, many would be missing limbs - or worse. John knelt down next to an unconscious officer with a four foot long shard of metal through his leg and blood pooling on the ground around him. He clicked a vial of local anesthetic into his injector a set it against the man's leg. About to depress the plunger, he felt a weak hand on his shoulder. "Who... who are you?"
"I'm a doctor. Relax, this will be over soon." John pressed down and with a quick hiss the drug entered the man's thigh muscle.
"Please... what happened? Where is... everyone else?" The man was now struggling to stand up - the anesthetic acted quickly.
"I need you to stay still. Calm down, or you'll lose blood more quickly." John reached down for a fresh lancet. The sun flashed off the blade as John brought it to the man's leg and began a series of small, precise cuts around the shaft of metal. "All I can tell is you what I know. Rumor is Command recieved some bad intelligence and underestimated the amount of indigenous on this planet. Command didn't know they'd have so much firepower either."
"How many dead?"
"No official numbers yet. I think we may be leaving more behind than we're taking back."
Tears began to well in the man's eyes. John would have liked to have thought it was from the spear of steel through his leg, but he knew better. He had seen enough broken men on the field to know one when he saw it. He realized then just how young the man really was.
"H-how, how could this happen? This isn't right. This isn't what I thought it would be." The man reached up to rub at his forehead, leaving a black streak of grime behind.
"What did you expect when you graduated that academy? Parades and medals? Now, hold on to something, this is going to hurt." John grasped the metal shard and began drawing it upwards and out of the officer's leg. The man screamed raggedly, tears now flowing openly onto his dirty cheeks.
"There, done." John tossed the bloody spear down and began packing gauze into the now open wound. He wrapped a clean bandage around the man's leg, then poured water into a plastic cup from his bag. "Drink this. You need to rehydrate. You should be able to make it until they evac you to a proper medical center. Stay here, don't try to walk. Don't touch the wound, and try to stay calm."
"Wait, you can't just leave me here. Please... I need to see my family." The man's eyes were wide with fear and he was gasping for breath; he began to shift forward again.
John placed a firm hand on his shoulder. "I need to attend to others. You'll be safe here." John passed the man a small pill. "If the pain returns, take this." Looking up, he saw his trooper escort motion to come over. He stood up and walked over.
The soldier waved with his data pad. "Time's up. HQ says there's another group of indigenous inbound, and we don't want to be here when they arrive."
John frowned. "And what about all these injured?"
The soldier was quiet for a moment behind his helmet. "Evac is on its way. That's not your concern." He motioned towards a hill around 400 feet away where a much smaller VTOL was now landing, still hot from atmospheric re-entry. "There's our ticket out, come on, let's go."
John glanced back towards the man he had treated. "Fuck this," he said under his breath, then turned and walked towards the ship.
15 Years Later
The steady pulse of a heart rate monitor provided a fitting backdrop for the tension in the operating room as surgeon Johnathan Raleigh completed his 64th heart transplant. "All right, let's close her up." The nurses and technicians around him spun into action as he stepped back and released a breath that felt like it had been held for hours. Even after five years as a field medic, then fifteen as a trauma surgeon on Atmos Prime, he still got an adrenaline rush from the pressure of another person's life in his hands.
He stepped into the adjoining prep room and peeled off his bloody gloves, tossing them into a hazmat receptacle built into the wall. Turning on the faucet, the feeling of warm water over his tired hands was exquisite. He couldn't avoid a glance in the mirror above the sink as he scrubbed. At 45 years old, he had more than just a dash of gray in his otherwise dark brown, almost black, hair. In his opinion, he had never been particularly handsome, with somewhat angular and rigid features. He did, however, prize the deep sea green eyes he had inherited from his mother. They were a reminder of her, and a source of motivation to aspire to the same high ideals she set for herself when she was alive.
He finished up changing into his standard jeans and black button-down and stepped out of the prep room into one of the many hallways of the medical center. He looked at his watch. 22:46. His shift had ended sixteen minutes ago, and he was on-call for the upcoming weekend. Maybe he would have a chance to relax a bit after all.
"Congratulations on another successful surgery, Doctor Raleigh. Or should I refer to you by your full title? What's it these days, again? Senior Trauma Surgeon? Well, they got the senior part right at least."
John turned to see a man about his age with a shock of blonde hair and a mischevious smile that he knew all too well. His broke into a smile of his own. "Hello Will. Good to see you looking so clean, I would have thought you'd be covered in puke from the neonatal unit."
Will grimaced. "My god, if I have to spend another day pulling those little bastards out I swear I'm going to resign and go into law like my father always told me to."
John laughed, "I'm sure you'll make it through - we all have to pay our dues every once in a while."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, you off as well? Want to hit up that new bar in downtown tonight? I hear one of the lab techs got a second job there and really knows her way around a pipette, if you catch my drift." Will smirked and began walking towards the exit, gesturing for John to follow.
John walked after him. "Really? A pipette? That's pretty awful, even for you. Anyway, even if I wanted to, I couldn't. I'm on call for the weekend, so no joy."
Will frowned. "On call? Again? You work too much man, time to take a freaking break."
John laughed again. "That's just how it is."
They stepped out into the brisk night air, the lights of the city shining like jewels. John stopped and turned to Will.
"Well, hope you have fun tonight. Remember, I'm not bailing you out if you end up in the drunk tank."
"C'mon John, that's what friends are for. Well, whatever. Enjoy a weekend spent sitting in your apartment. If you decide you want to get some fresh air, give me a call." Will turned to leave, waving lazily as he headed out into the parking lot towards his low-altitude shuttle.
John hailed a taxi shuttle and let his mind wander as they flew through the massive superstructure that was the city. Out among the stars and planets. Out beyond Atmos Prime. What was there? He had gotten to see such a small amount of it during his stint as a field medic, and everything he saw was the worst of what the galaxy had to offer. He knew there must be more, some greater meaning, and he wondered if he could find it out there among all those sparkling jewels.
He punched in the code to his apartment door and immediately flopped down on the couch. Reaching for a roll of paper towel, he tore one off and quickly brought it to his mouth as he coughed deeply. Pulling it away, he saw the usual flecks of blood. "Damn." He tossed it into a waste basket and lit a cigarette, staring up towards the ceiling. It was time for a change.
In
Nebular Delirium (Mature, intellectual, Char-Driven Sci Fi)
→
10 yrs ago
Forum: Advanced Interest Checks
musicway said
Very interested. Although I'm a bit unsure of what position I can take considering no one has shown specific interest in only one crew position.. or two, if they're having more than one character. Though from what I can see no one has specified that, either. Can we reserve spots? That way those of us coming in now can more easily see what's left over to choose from.
I'll go ahead and specify interest in the Doctor role, don't want to step on anyone else's toes though.
In
Nebular Delirium (Mature, intellectual, Char-Driven Sci Fi)
→
10 yrs ago
Forum: Advanced Interest Checks
Very interested, specifically in the Doctor or Tech Specialist roles.
As for FTL travel, I do have a few ideas. You mentioned in your OP that you would like to keep the technology as realistic and 'gritty' as possible. This leads me to think of modern day theories of FTL travel that may have been advanced into actual technology by the time period of the campaign.
The most likely of these is the Alcubierre drive.
It could be said that the exotic matter required for the Alcubierre drive to function has been discovered but is available in extremely limited quantities (which it would seem Nexus would have the means to procure).
As for FTL travel, I do have a few ideas. You mentioned in your OP that you would like to keep the technology as realistic and 'gritty' as possible. This leads me to think of modern day theories of FTL travel that may have been advanced into actual technology by the time period of the campaign.
The most likely of these is the Alcubierre drive.
Wikipedia said
The Alcubierre drive or Alcubierre metric (referring to metric tensor) is a speculative idea based on a solution of Einstein's field equations in general relativity as proposed by theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre, by which a spacecraft could achieve faster-than-light travel if a configurable energy-density field lower than that of vacuum (i.e. negative mass) could be created. Rather than exceeding the speed of light within its local frame of reference, a spacecraft would traverse distances by contracting space in front of it and expanding space behind it, resulting in effective faster-than-light travel.
Objects cannot accelerate to the speed of light within normal spacetime; instead, the Alcubierre drive shifts space around an object so that the object would arrive at its destination faster than light would in normal space.[1] Although the metric proposed by Alcubierre is mathematically valid in that it is consistent with the Einstein field equations, it may not be physically meaningful or indicate that such a drive could be constructed. The proposed mechanism of the Alcubierre drive implies a negative energy density and therefore requires exotic matter, so if exotic matter with the correct properties does not exist then it could not be constructed. However, at the close of his original paper[2] Alcubierre argued (following an argument developed by physicists analyzing traversable wormholes[3][4]) that the Casimir vacuum between parallel plates could fulfill the negative-energy requirement for the Alcubierre drive. Another possible issue is that although the Alcubierre metric is consistent with general relativity, general relativity does not incorporate quantum mechanics, and some physicists have presented arguments to suggest that a theory of quantum gravity which merged the two theories would eliminate those solutions in general relativity which allow for backwards time travel (see the chronology protection conjecture), of which the Alcubierre drive is one.
It could be said that the exotic matter required for the Alcubierre drive to function has been discovered but is available in extremely limited quantities (which it would seem Nexus would have the means to procure).
Color me interested.
Hey there, my name is whist and I'm a network engineer/amateur software developer. Far more interestingly, I am also an avid RP-er both in reality and on the web. Some of the games I've played or had the unique misfortu- *cough*, I mean pleasure to DM are Shadowrun, Earthdawn, Vampire, D&D 3.5 & 4 (and one Tomb of Horrors game for a group who really thought they were hot shit), Ars Magica, the Star Wars d20, and Edge of the Empire. I also enjoy the occasional MTG game though I am hopelessly awful at it. I have dabbled in forum RP, but would like to get into it more significantly now that I have less time to meet with my IRL group. Thanks for reading, and I'm sure it will be a pleasure to get to know some of you soon.
EDIT: Here's a little writing sample for shits and giggles: http://pastie.org/9414045
EDIT: Here's a little writing sample for shits and giggles: http://pastie.org/9414045
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