SolFed Level 3 Detention Station A-1141-A-F "Big Red"
A colorful mess of beings from all across the Four Arms of the galaxy, all having fallen into the custody of the Solar Federation for one reason or another. But whatever the reason for their imprisonment, an opportunity approaches for a handful of them. For the Ithica, a ship owned by enterprising Kiric caravaneers, has come calling, looking for manpower on a most interesting venture. And for the prisoners who find themselves leased out, this might just be the chance to earn their freedom, if they can return alive.
Little do any of them know, some of the oldest secrets in the cosmos are about to be uncovered...
(https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/224772889449070592/337445959837548544/ErrantSpaceTitleCard.png)
The Game:
The format here is going to be mission-based, with time to roam around/investigate and choose direction between them. When making your character, keep the lore in mind but also remember that the galaxy is a big place, home to a beings of all shapes and sizes.
As I prioritize RP and story, when you make your character you should start with a concept, and we'll hash out the mechanics, GM to player. We can begin that with a "sketch" as detailed in the mechanics writeup, which is in the following google doc:
Mechanics to be found here (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EbtL53biqS9rnsTV1zM1irDLgAls94hk7JL2dtH_4iU/edit?usp=sharing)
Note: you will need a reason for your character's imprisonment at the onset
The Setting
Faster Than Light travel. Achieved via a method commonly known as the Threadweave, based on principles of quantum gravity and dark matter. Ships can follow the Threads strung through the beads of stellar gravity wells. Consequently, it's easy to find Threads up and down the arms of the galaxy, but very difficult to Thread across the sparser areas between arms. With few bridges, travel between arms often requires moving closer to the center of the galaxy and circling around. And so the regions of the Galaxy are defined by its four arms: Jaune, Verde, Violet, and Rouge.
There are large empires, covering hundreds and even thousands of star systems, but the galaxy is vast and swallows even them. The space between is filled with smaller nations, entities, freeholds, and simply huge expanses of unexplored space. Statistically speaking, more of the galaxy is lawless than isn't. And rumors of strange and mysterious things unknown to science abound...
Mindweave
A relatively well-known though poorly understood phenomenon, the Iylum hypothesize it to be similar to Threadweave, though with consciousness rather than gravity: like a fabric made of a single filament strung between all conscious beings. Even those species with an intuitive connection to it have thus far been unable to create a complete scientific description of its workings. It is believed that any being with self awareness and sufficiently complex thought processes has the potential to manifest these gifts, but becoming attuned is a difficult process and likely requires as much pure luck as effort. Those who are so fortunate develop abilities that generally follow one of two paths: reading, sensing, and/or influencing other minds; and gathering and redirecting physical forces/energies through their mental processes and senses. Despite the baffling nature of Mindweave, attempts to study it have concluded so far that, at least, it falls within the laws of nature. It cannot create or destroy energy: at the fundamental level, it only redirects and rearranges. Mindweaving is often associated with a blue glow, as the transformation of energy can produce cherenkov radiation.
Though most people would say they've heard of this phenomenon, few would say they believe it exists.
(http://i.imgur.com/JI8Ccxf.jpg)
The First
The stars of the four arms are awash with life, but so little is known about the Galaxy's center. For as long as anyone can remember, where the arms begin to meet marks the edge of death, for the middle is home of the First. So named by the Iylum, as even that storied people discovered them already waiting when first venturing to the stars, little is known of the inscrutable machine beings that dominate the center region. In all known history, no attempt to communicate nor to discover any of their motives has proved successful. But their hostility towards anyone who approaches their territory is all too certain, making travel between the arms a dicey venture at best. And at times, with no warning, the First are known to issue forth into the spaces of the peoples of the galaxy and strike with swift and ruthless force.
Earthlings
Ever a creative bunch, with their advances in artificial intelligence, biological engineering, robotics and cybernetics, and self-modification, humanity created a great big family for themselves as they spread across the stars, and altogether they are known as the Children of Earth. Over the past 900 years, the diverse society of the Earthlings has spread to a territory over 16000 lightyears long and 3000 wide, containing several thousand stars. The Solar Federation holds authority over most of Earthling space, but there are other powerful entities within. They have risen to be the second most prominent power in the Arm-Rouge, positioned lucratively on a spur between Arm-Rouge and Arms Jaune and Verde which allows for a rare Thread bridge. This has caused some tension with the Crimsons, based further down towards the inner ring.
As a Federated government, the SolFed largely allows its members and colonies administrate themselves, so long as they comply with certain agreed-upon humanitarian standards. With both the diversity of Earthlings and the number of alien species, it's certainly one of the most colorful territories in the galaxy.
Crimsons
A strange race of part organic, part mineral creatures. Their tissues build fiber-optic crystaline structures which carry their impulses and thought processes, and then atrophy into compact bio-luminescent masses when their mineralized forms are done growing. While they can garden themselves into a variety of shapes, some even being self-mobile forms more like other creatures, often times they simply grow to encrust and enmesh with their technology and structures. They think and speak in colors rather than sounds, and due to that and their superior starmaps (gained through highly advanced astronomy from a relatively central point of view), the common terminology for the galaxy's regions comes from them. They are accomplished threadweavers, mediators, and scientists.
They administrate an empire of many species, which is located much closer to the center than the territory of the other mega-empires, near the base of Arm-Rouge. Consequently, they have the most experience fighting against the First, though they posess little more understanding of them than anyone else. Their fleets, with some help from the SolFed's, keep the spinal Threadways of Arm-Rouge relatively safe, though the more distal reaches of the arm can be fairly wild.
Iylum
The oldest known extant space-faring people, the nomadic Iylum have roamed much of the galaxy and laid many of the Longthreads that would become the spinal Threadways of the arms, built upon by other peoples. In modern times, their activities are mostly confined to the Arm-Violet, somewhere in which lies their homeworld. History shows that they go between periods of isolationism and freely interacting with other peoples. On that scale, their current status is... hard to tell. Physically, they resemble man-sized prawns with long tentacles around their heads, but they are most famous for something beyond the physical. Their psychic potential is so great that some among them are able to transfer their consciousness to clouds of ionized particles to survive the end of their physical bodies: in this state, they are able to symbiotically bond to other intelligent beings, which provides stability and prevents random dissipation. Such a bonding also heightens the psychic potential of the host, and can result in some of the most potent Mindweavers in known space.
Additionally, a bonded Iylum is able to imprint psychically upon an unborn Iylum seed, allowing them to further strengthen subsequent Iylum generations.
Rtalis
A purely aquatic race with lithe, serpentine/eel-like bodies and twelve pairs of short but dextrous limbs. They traditionally communicate with a combination of noises, body language, and the flashing patterns of their intricately-controlled bio-luminescent skin, but are adept at picking up the languages of other peoples (though almost always needing speech synthesizers to speak them). They are gregarious and insatiably curious, and their government sees the galaxy as the ultimate "frontier safety valve," as those who grow restless can be encouraged to go forth and explore rather than breed unrest at home. Consequently, the Rtalis have grown to occupy a rather large, though only loosely-federated empire within the Arm-Jaune. They are fond of personal vehicles and mechanized armor, as they often need water-filled containers when interacting with other species in their own environments.
Perhaps the most influential and respected faction in Rtalis society is the Imperial Academy (as it would be called in translation), the organization charged with organizing, facilitating, and recording their scientific pursuits, though they often encourage (or enforce) Rtalis interstellar law, particularly the requirement of government-subsidized travelers to report their findings and contact alien scientific bodies. Most individual researches or adventurers travel around in smaller vessels (or hitch rides from aliens), but if a larger Rtalis ship is seen, then chances are the Academy either runs it or funded it. When encountering alien scientific entities, the Academy (as a matter of course) offers what has come to be known as the "Rmalos deal" to incentivize cooperation and exchange of information: a 1-to-1 exchange of live specimens of their species, the Rtalis subjects often being low-ranking Academy volunteers (and "volunteers") or (occasionally) criminals.
Additionally, the Rtalis are known for creating the finest sonic weaponry in the Galaxy. Although not very useful in the vacuum of space, many can attest to their effectiveness in an atmosphere or sealed environment.
Vilghin-Mamat
Around 3/4ths up the Arm Verde, there is a vast territory controlled by a strong coallition between the synthetic Vilghin and the industrious Mamat.
The Vilghin are an AI species of sorts, who require organic sentients in order to "reproduce." They offer cybernetic augmentation, and in exchange plant a seed intelligence within the implants. This seed grows using the impulses of the augmented nervous system, and when mature will prompt its host to bring it within range of the Vilghin collective-cloud network, to which it will then copy itself (or remove itself entirely to). It is believed that they descended from a commercial asset of some kind which achieved self awareness, such as a targeted marketing program or an automated body-modding enterprise. They are known for sending "missionaries" to other empires to acquire more diverse clients, but due to the troubles of maintaining large ansible channels between such disparate locales, these hosts most often need to travel to within reach of Arm-Verde's spinal threadway to make their eventual deposit. It it rumored that, when the eyes of the Galaxy are not upon them, the Vilghin will assimilate and enslave the populations of more primitive worlds.
The Mamat are the first client species of the Vilghin, and it is very rare to find an unaugmented individual of this species. The Mamat are large and powerfully built humanoids of a silvery complexion, with six limbs and strong, prehensile tails. They have about ten pairs of flexile "fins" running down their backs, necks, and heads, the positioning and coloring of which are a good indicator of their emotional state. Due to their augments, Mamat are able to survive in space naked for relatively long amounts of time, though often prefer to wear suits for bearing additional armor elements and equipment. Capable engineers in their own right, the Mamat developed an advanced technological culture of their own before they discovered the Vilghin, with a heavy focus upon honor and valor. In modern times, they provide all the military needs of the Vilghin and their combined empire is vast.
Note: this list is not exhaustive, merely other established races and those created by players back in the Interest thread.
Jenelenjei
The Jenelenjei consist of an amorphous organic mass controlled be a central nucleus, able to mold themselves into all sorts of shapes. They once (around 3,000 years ago) expanded rapidly and aggressively, as due to their ability to adapt themselves and assimilate/digest an astounding variety of biological materials, they had less need to develop life support and terraforming techniques. They devastated entire biospheres to feed their growing empire, which, though vast, is utterly dwarfed in comparison to the superpowers of the modern galaxy. However, in the midst of their expansion, the First suddenly began massive excursions into their territory, decimating their empire. The fledgeling Crimson swooped in shortly after, swiftly finishing off remaining centers of organization and claiming the most of the former territory for themselves. Today, most of this species lives as subjects to the Crimson empire, though some survivors of the downfall escaped far away to found a new sovereign nation deep within Arm-Verde. However, this territory is comparatively tiny, consisting of only 231 star systems.
Individual Jenelenjei range in size and mass from similar to a medium-sized dog to around that of a small car. Their size is constrained by the ability of their nucleus to effectively send signals to their gelatinous biomass. While their base state is totally amorphous, they are able to form and harden more permanent structures, such as skeletons and pseudo-organs, and shape themselves with almost total freedom, often choosing to mimic the shapes of other life forms. These self-formed structures can be dissolved and remade as needed, as only the nucleus truly matters. Their forms often look glassy (like a jar-jellyfish), as opacity and color take a lot of skill and practice. Those with highly developed psionic potential can often be identified by their glowing nucleii, and strands of light snaking and crackling through their bodies. Their species practice a form of sexual reproduction, in which two or more individuals will undo their chemical barriers and merge their bodies into one, followed by their nuclei. The bonded nuclei will then intermix and fission into a handful of new, smaller nuclei who possess not only recombined genes but also recombined fragments of their parents' memories.
The modern Jenelenjei are considered to have more tempered and considerate morality than their empire-building forebears, though in their societies there are often strains of resentment towards larger entities, particularly the Crimsons. With some training, a Jenelenjei is able to rapidly destroy almost any biomass they can bring their own into contact with, but there exists an agent commonly known as "J-cide" which rapidly dissolves their bodies and leaves their nucleus totally helpless.
Kiric
As a species whose home territory lies close to the danger zone of the Core region, the Kiric are one of many groups that thrive on the lucrative yet risky business of caravaneering, facilitating transport between the Arms by threading around the edges of First territory. The Kiric are humanoid in shape, with two arms and two legs, with exoskeletons and a gangly, splindly build. Their strange sense organs give them a lack of identifiable facial features, though when dealing with common trade partner species they often try to make themselves more appealing: with Earthlings, they often wear a cybernetic frontal-mounted emoticon screen on their heads.
Martlons
A minor nomadic species found primarily in the mid length of Arm-Rouge, best known for their habit of salvaging other species ships and incorporating them into their own.
Although they're capable of building their own ships and equipment they far prefer to adapt what they can acquire from others. The typical Scavenger ship is a collection of hull segments and parts from numerous races that somehow match the performance of ships with a more traditional construction. This is made possible because Scavenger engineers are among the most versatile in the galaxy, able to make seemingly incompatible parts work together. There is joking speculation that this is a manifestation of the mindweave but few take it seriously.
Physically, Martlons are lightly furred bipeds about one meter tall, with four arms and a face earthlings have described as lemur like.
Spending their entire life in space their society is based around family with ships typically being crewed by a single extended family, and loose fleets based on clan relationships.
The Martlons generally get along well with other races. However they have an almost instinctual belief that if something has been lost or abandoned then anyone has the right to take what they find useful. This and their inability to take the concept of salvage rights seriously has lead to incidents with groups that have a more organized view of the matter.
While the Earthlings and other groups have done a lot with genetic engineering, they've been limited to genes sourced from their homeworlds or those that they've designed themselves. It's extremely rare to find organisms from different biospheres that have any compatibility in their genetic information, due to the variety of different biochemistries. Rtalis, for instance, use RNA instead of DNA. And even organisms who use DNA may not use it in the same way.
However, aliens might still be able to eat each other's food, as that has more to due with chemical compositions (though one species' soap might be another's klondike bar, etc), and alien organisms can potentially cause disease in other species, perhaps even in ways that they don't in their own biosphere. Though anything that works like our Earth viruses, which specifically target genes, would not be able to cross-contaminate.
EDITS:
Name: Lilith Hartmeißner
Race: Earthling
Appearance: Lilith is a teenaged girl with curly orange hair and a pale complexion, betraying an indoors existence for most of her life.
Crime: Aggravated littering, overfishing, hunting of endangered wildlife, mining without a permit, constructing a railroad without a permit, unlicensed distribution of class-F self-replicating machinery
Bio:
Gwydion was a space colony orbiting a dim M-class star in the constellation Bootis. It was filled to the brim with machinery, and heavily automated, such that children could live their entire lives raised by robots. Lilith was not one of those children. She was closely raised by her parents, who had decided in their post-scarcity bliss that they wanted to raise a child the old-fashioned way.
Her dad was a physicist, and her mom studied computer science. Lilith herself was more content to dismantle the various household robots she found rather than to study, but slowly and surely she took in the material. Soon she had a life goal, if a little childish: to make an entire planet out of robots.
Tragedy struck. A virus from an unknown source had crippled the life support long ago, and nobody had lived long enough to check system statuses manually. Everyone thought the machines would handle it.
One by one, rooms were depressurized, until Lilith's family was next. But the industrious young girl had foreseen the problem, and herself prepared a countermeasure to the virus: another virus. Its sole purpose was to exhaust the memory of all affected devices, preventing other viruses from multiplying.
This had obvious consequences to the rest of the station's systems. Good thing she found a spacesuit in an old closet.
Then she rolled out a patch. Round 2: Take all the robots and have them build a giant spaceship out of the scrap left over from the dead sections of the station. This was actually a self-replication program she'd worked on for years, but now was the perfect opportunity to see if it worked.
Fast forward a couple of years and Lilith found herself under arrest for colonizing a local wildlife reserve. Her horde of machines was strip-mining the pristine countryside, building factories to build more strip-mining robots ad-infinitum. Over the course of her months-long trial the charges piled in, as the planet's many ecosystems collapsed in one grand cascade.
It was unusual for someone who'd never laid hands on a human being to be handed a life sentence. Let a lone a child. But literally reducing a paradise to a cesspit of tar fields and blankets of smoke was... a little much.
10 points spent on skill categories
6 proficiencies:
-Electronics
-Hacking
-Physical Sciences
-Astronomical Sciences
-Computer Sciences
-Stealth
Defense: 15
Armor: 5
|
Science (+3)
-Biological Sciences
+Astronomical Sciences
+Physical Sciences
+Computer Sciences
Piloting
-Small Crafts
-Large Crafts
Engineering (+2)
+Electronics
-Mechanics
-Technician
Ranged Weapons*
-Personal
-Emplacements
Melee Weapons*
| | Agility (+2)
-Athletics
-Acrobatics
-Dodging
+Stealth
Social
-Culture
-Business
-Insight
-Diplomacy
Skullduggery (+3)
-Deception
-Intimidation
-Sleight of Hand
+Hacking
|
Making a character.
Name: Raioyris
Race: Collapsed to a Human Eigenstate.
Appearance: Longish banged dark hair, bright silver eyes, pale skinny male.
Crime:
Bio: Realized in an ad hoc cold steel complex with no signs of onboard biological life, Raioyris is the collapsed form, the eigenstate, of an incredibly complex Mindweave wave form, or rather superposition of wave forms, he node of an absolutely incredible quantity of dimensionally shifted mass-energy and complex information, but as an experiment Raioyris is a failure, a vestigial artifact of highly subsidized, highly controversial private research. Completely unstable, Raioyris’ specific existence was kept in check for the last 629 years by a massive and continuous clone orgy designed to completely override his psychic presence and to limit the rapid propagation of his information into regular space-time.
After those 629 years he awoke to the horrific sight of massive vats of piled up clones wiggling together in orgasm, their limbs coated in thick blood, it would seem that the bottom occupants of these piles where crushed by the weight of those above them. This ghastly setup was the station’s AI’s last ditch effort to meet the exponentially growing demand for more clones to pacify the ever unstable Raioyris.
Skills:
1: Ranged Combat
2: Electronics
2: Computer Sciences
2: Mechanics
3: Technician
3: Small Crafts
3: Large Crafts
-3: Melee Weapons
-3: Biological Science
Proficiency:
Small crafts
Large Crafts
Electronics
Mechanic
Engineering
Ranged Weapons (Sonic)
Defense/Armor
10 Defense
10 Armor
EDIT: Here it is.
Name: Theodosius Kantos
Race: Earthling
Appearance: Theo is a man of average height, with short blond hair and a tanned skin from field work in intense light.
Crime: Grand conspiracy, mass mis-allocation of government resources, thousands of counts of grand larceny, 14 counts of treason, 14 counts of defection, embezzling of trillions of dollars, thousands of counts of murder, billions of dollars of property damage, thousands of counts of grand theft auto, 14 counts of attempted overthrow of the government, 14 counts of attempted world domination, unsanctioned subterfuge, graffiti, improper use of historical names and phrases, mass littering, mass smuggling of weapons and ammunition, mass smuggling of assorted goods, tacky fashion sense, and 78 other felonies, alongside 240 additional misdemeanors (Privately charged with Treason, illegal subterfuge, participation in an attempted overthrow of the government)
Bio:
Theodosius began his career at 17, at first little more then a spy on the planet of Kosmosi, working for the nation of Calcetti as counter-insurgency. After months of field work, he was presented an offer by Castor Arnikos, famed spymaster of Calcetti, to join a newly formed group called the Calcettian Inquisition, made during the war to have more operational independence, as well as have the military and monetary assets to react to situations quickly, without having to wait for cooperation with other government branches. Theo eagerly accepted, and was appointed as Auxiliary Spymaster, the third highest ranking position in the intelligence-wing of the Inquisition.
Over time, the Inquisition gained more powers and resources, having their own air force and armored position, as well as connections and agents across the nation. After 3 years of war, the Inquisition expanded across Calcetti and neighboring nations, moving on from espionage to full on invasions, vast stockpiles of resources and wealth, alongside spies in every corner of the continent. Public support for the Inquisition had even outstripped that of the Calcettian government, and many in charge feared that the new secretive superpower would eventually try to take power themselves. Those fears were well founded, in fact, as Not even a week after the Calcettians declared victory, Lord Inquisitor Alexius Motremus declared the Inquisition the rightful leaders of Calcetti, and launched a coup to take over. They struck hard and fast, and whiten a month the capital was taken, army units had defected or surrendered, and the nation was officially under Inquisition control.
The victory was not cheap though, as many high-ranking Inquisition officers had been killed, including the Assistant Spymaster, 2nd in command to Grand Spymaster Arnikos. And despite now controlling an entire nation, Calcetti was ravaged by war, and their position was precarious. One week later, every surrounding nation declared war on the Inquisition, officially seeking to restore the rightful government but in reality they feared the growing power of the Inquisition, and wanted to snuff it out before it became a threat. As vast as the Inquisition's assets were, it was nowhere near enough to match the combined might of 7 nations. As the Inquisition was pushed back to their headquarters, many more of the inner Circle were captured, deserted, or even betrayed the Inquisition Arnikos himself had gone mad, and attempted to murder Lord Inquisitor Motremus. Spymasters were placed last in the order of succession to make potential takeovers as difficult as possible, so he had 3 other people above him before he would become Lord Inquisitor, but that did not deter him. His plot was discovered, and Arnikos was executed.
Before succession could be sorted out, the headquarters itself was finally attacked. The battle was lost from the start, but the Lord Inquisitor fought on regardless, hoping to make his defeat as bloody as possible. He, along with every remaining Inner Circle member and their assistants, were killed in the fighting, all except for Theodosius. Despite being 14th in line of succession, he became de-facto Lord Inquisitor. His first and only act was to immediately order his forces to stand down, and unconditionally surrender to invading forces.
As the highest ranking surviving officer, Theodosius was tried for the combined crimes of all the Inner Circle above him, alongside his actions as agent and auxiliary spymaster. The charges were mostly symbolic, as a deterrence to any potential successors in the future. The only reason he evaded execution was due to his cooperation with coalition forces, providing information about remaining agents and assets and trying to quicken the clean-up, as well as not participating in the most incriminating actions himself. His charges were more as an example then any actual legal punishment. In the end, he was publicly sentenced to 1,982,431 years imprisonment, alongside 17 consecutive life sentences. Privately, he was simply given a life imprisonment for treason and illegal subterfuge.
10 points spent on skill categories
6 proficiencies:
-Deception
-Hacking
-Sleight of Hand
-Acrobatics
-Diplomacy
-Stealth
Defense: 13
Armor: 7
Actuation: 15
Augury: 5
|
Science (+3)
-Biological Sciences
-Astronomical Sciences
-Physical Sciences
-Computer Sciences
Piloting
-Small Crafts
-Large Crafts
Engineering (+2)
-Electronics
-Mechanics
-Technician
Ranged Weapons*
-Personal
-Emplacements
Melee Weapons*
| | Agility (+2)
-Athletics
+Acrobatics
-Dodging
+Stealth
Social
-Culture
-Business
-Insight
+Diplomacy
Skullduggery (+3)
+Deception
-Intimidation
+Sleight of Hand
+Hacking
|
Name: Seven
Race: AI
Description: A amnesiac quadrupedal machine whose's body is reminiscent of predatory creature from earth. Main body is painted a matte white and is scratched or faded in some places. The material underneath is textured black metal.
Crime: Mass Murder. Claims innocence despite overwhelming evidence.
Height (At Shoulder): 1.2 meters
Notes: Has no memory of any events prior to being apprehended.
Has a long and lithe prehensile tail that he uses as his main manipulator.
The letters and numbers "COS-B-7" are etched into his right front shoulder. It was hidden underneath the relatively primitive white paint.
Science (-3)
-Biological Sciences
-Physical Sciences
-Astronomical Sciences
-Computer Sciences
Piloting
-Small Crafts
-Large Crafts
Engineering
-Electronics
-Mechanics
-Technician
Ranged Weapons (+4)
-Personal (Embedded Weapons)
-Emplacements
Melee Weapons (+3) (Embedded Weapons)
Agility(+4)
-Athletics
-Acrobatics
-Dodging
-Stealth
Social (-3)
-Culture
-Business
-Insight
-Diplomacy
Skullduggery(+3)
-Deception
-Sleight of Hand
-Security
-Intimidation
Psionics(+2)
-Actuation(20)
-Augury
Defense:10
Armor:10
Name: Sebastian Burrell
Race: Earthling
Appearance: A relatively unassuming human male in his late thirties, prematurely aged by stress and five or so years of prison life. His bearing betrays a military past, and it would be no great feat of the imagination to see him in a uniform.
Crime: Piracy, destruction of (government) property, extortion, possession of military hardware without a licence.
Bio: Burrell had barely begun a promising career as a young naval officer in the service of one of the minor powers in earthling space when his life was turned upside down: assured that he had ‘potential’ – whatever that meant – he was selected for a secretive navy program and began training, much to his amazement, as a mindweaver. He had barely got used to this state of affairs when the second great shock of his life occurred – namely, a military coup which toppled the government. Like most, he did nothing to stop it, and the new leadership quickly consolidated its control.
One of the first casualties of the resultant reorganisation was the navy's mindweaving program and Burrell was dumped back into active service where, deprived of his second driving ambition, he reverted to the first and set to work with a zeal which did not go unnoticed. As increasingly literal cut-throat politics – which he seemed to have a natural aptitude for navigating - and latterly casualties from open war with SolFed took their toll on the officer corps, Burrell rose through the ranks at an astonishing rate, and at the time of the final, crushing, SolFed offensive, was one of the most senior officers in what was left of the navy.
Realising all was lost, he took the few remaining ships in his fleet and, like many at that time, deserted (or, in his mind, 'went freelance'). As with several other such deserters, he was soon forced to resort to piracy, attacking merchant ships, space stations, and even small colonies for the fuel and supplies needed for his dash away from earthling space. Within a few months, and after several skirmishes which further crippled his group, he was run down and captured by SolFed patrols, leaving him with a life in prison to look forward to.
Science
-Biological Sciences
-Physical Sciences
-Astronomical Sciences
-Computer Sciences
Piloting (1)
-Small Crafts
-Large Crafts
Engineering
-Electronics
-Mechanics
-Technician
Ranged Weapons* (1)
-Personal
-Emplacements
Melee Weapons*
Agility (1)
-Athletics
-Acrobatics
-Dodging
-Stealth
Social (3)
-Culture
-Business
-Insight
-Diplomacy
Skullduggery (3)
-Deception
-Intimidation
-Sleight of Hand
-Security
Mindweaver (1)
• 7 Defence / 13 Armour
• 13 Augury / 7 Actuation
Here's my application; some sections slightly work-in-progress.
EDIT - fairly major changes to (later) bio.
EDIT 2 - fairly minor changes to appearance and crime sections; slight modification of defence/armour balance.
EDIT 3 - the word 'sentance' removed from final sentance in bio. 'Work in progress' warning struck through; I think I'm pretty much finished.
I'll make a sketch. Concept is the diplomancer archetype with a dash of manipulative yet loveable rogue and a bit of Jack the Ripper.
Name: V'ralis (alias "Blue Shadow")
Race: Rtalis
Crime: Forgery, Fraud, Larceny (Grand), Trespassing
Appearance: V'ralis is on the smaller side for a Rtalis, but the most striking feature is their face, which seems to shift between what those versed in Rtalis body language would describe as a confident smirk and a perfect pokerface, when they're not talking to someone they're trying to deceive. Their skin seems quite muted compared to others, most likely as a result of lifetime of practice in hiding emotions. With such an untrustworthy outlook, it's almost strange they could fool so many people...unless this is the look they show when they're trying to be honest. Food for thought.
When in a gaseous atmosphere, V'ralis wears a sophisticated vehicle, which looks like a six-limbed ovoid filled with water, but is surprisingly agile and dexterous. It is equipped with a nice suite of civilian-grade technology including several days' worth of life support, a speech synthesizer to speak other languages, a small database of common knowledge and even a music player. It seems to be unarmed, but the limbs look to be dexterous enough to pull a trigger...
Backstory:
A somewhat long time ago, a large amount of valuables disappeared from a privately-owned vault in Rtalis space. No locks had been broken, the security records were gone as well, and the guards couldn't remember seeing anything but vague blue flashes. This mystery received fairly minor attention, until a similar incident happened elsewhere. The same story: valuables gone without a single trace beyond those same blue flashes. Then it happened again. And again. The media erupted. The phantom thief, now dubbed Blue Shadow, gained the attention of amateur detectives and crime novelists alike, and even seemed to notice the fame, if the numerous left messages signed by them are to be believed (though most or all of them are probably hoaxes). Blue Shadow was a legend.
Law enforcement wasn't quite as happy about a mysterious criminal slipping through every crack. With so little evidence, it might as well have been magic. Strange theories were entertained, ranging from teleportation to Mindweaving to the thief being of an unknown species that can pass through solid matter, but nothing seemed to stick. Even the profilers couldn't make sense of the seemingly random pattern of targets; the criminal seemed to specifically choose unexpected targets. Some copycat criminals were caught, but a real heist always happened afterwards. Blue Shadow was uncatchable.
One day, however, a crashed vehicle was found near a still-hot crime scene, its cargo compartments full of stolen goods and the pilot injured and unconscious. Promptly arrested, the pilot, named V'ralis, at first claimed almost believable ignorance, but later caved under questioning and confessed. Their statements were taken with a grain of salt, but included such detailed descriptions of the crimes that they had to be genuine. Blue Shadow was a mere mortal. Or were they?
It's uncertain why V'ralis confessed to what could well be called perfect crimes. Even their life story before the crime spree has discrepancies, as they tell it differently each time and several documents are suspect, but two events are common among several versions: V'ralis was born to a wealthy family with connections in the Academy, and they were a prodigal student in the field of psychology under a tutor who may or may not have been a Mindweaver themself. The identities of both the family and the tutor are uncertain. Blue Shadow is still a mystery.
It's believed V'ralis' motives for the crimes were the thrill and the fame rather than the monetary gain. As a living legend and confirmed Mindweaver, they made a deal with the Academy: rather than let their talents rot in prison, V'ralis will join the Ithica's journey and send regular reports detailing the use of Mindweaving in the field in exchange for publishing said reports after a period of time to "keep the story going". This is a highly non-standard (and rather suspicious) arrangement, but V'ralis is a very non-standard person. Blue Shadow is still around.
Science: 1
-Biological Sciences
-Physical Sciences
-Astronomical Sciences
-Computer Sciences
Piloting: -2
-Small Crafts
-Large Crafts
Engineering: -1
-Electronics
-Mechanics
-Technician
Ranged Weapons*: 0
-Personal
-Emplacements
Melee Weapons*: 0
Agility: 0
-Athletics
-Acrobatics
-Dodging
-Stealth
Social: 3
-Culture
-Business
-Insight
-Diplomacy
Skullduggery: 4
-Deception
-Intimidation
-Sleight of Hand
-Security
Mindweaver: 5
15 Defense / 5 Armor
20 Augury / 0 Actuation
Science:1
-Biological Sciences
-Physical Sciences
-Astronomical Sciences
-Computer Sciences
Piloting:1
-Small Crafts
-Large Crafts
Engineering
-Electronics
-Mechanics
-Technician
Ranged Weapons:3*
-Personal
-Emplacements
Melee Weapons:-3*
Agility-3
-Athletics
-Acrobatics
-Dodging
-Stealth
Social:5
-Culture
-Business
-Insight
-Diplomacy
Skullduggery:5
-Deception
-Intimidation
-Sleight of Hand
-Security
Mindweaver:5
Defense:5
Armor:15
Augury:8
Actuation:12
Cascadia Alentrussel The III has always been a bit of a spoiled one. Daughter of a wealthy family that is the head of a small spacecraft and mech company and blessed with being a mind-weaver the future had looked bright. One, if they were to meet Cascadia, would describe her as a sweet kind hearted girl who seemed to want to genuinely help out those around them.
This is a lie. Cascadia had always been looking out for themselves interested in what they can get from a situation.Befriend this chap get him to buy you an ice cream. Befriend this girl and she will take you to movies. Ultimately Cascadia rarely actually care's for other's around her and in fact despises many of them.
Having gained training from her connections with her father in small arms. Small mechs and spacecraft and with her wealthy connections and business skill showing through from training with her father. She can certainly get someone to listen to a good bargain.
Unfortunately for her, she tried to swindle one two many people and they eventually connected the dots. Her house attacked by what at the time seemed like pirates.
Cascadia had ended up commandeering one of her father's small mechs and in the resulting fight wrecked havoc to the local spaceport. The enemy having escaped and an emp having shut down and destroyed most of the combat footage. She was left the sole suspect in the crime of nearly destroying a spaceport and killing several people.
Cascadia failed utterly in swaying them and for her supposed crime she found herself held in a holding cell.
Ultimately she was convicted
She may not be...the cleanest or that much of an upstanding citizen but she was innocent of this crime and she was going to make sure she got out of this.
Added backstory.
Retired bot.
Name : Theta-Rho-348
Race : AI
Appearence : human sized slender metallic body resembling the one of the human, if we would not take into account few details like : multiple dents in chest, bucket shaped head with one red ocular,old layer of black paint and power pack with tiny thrusters on back.
Stats :
Science 3
Piloting 1
Engineering 1
Melee weapons : 3
Social skills[/b] - 3
Agility 3
Proficiencies :
Dodge
Electronics
melee weapons
Acrobatics
Computer sciences
Stealth
20 armour
Biography :
Originally developed by blackvoid private military company for perils of naval boardings and void warfare as part of ravager series, Theta-Rho did take part in numerous void operations during its career, however as company fleet started shifting to all big guns to deal with pirates, boarding torpedoes got out of use and whole ravager series was retired as
obsolete.
Failing to find any job in civilian sector, as robots of his series were rumoured to be savage and murderous, Theta-Rho attempted to rob wild space kraken charity foundation of their funds, utilising preprogrammed knowledge on bypassing electronic defences and, well, to cut long story short, this is how he got in sol-fed prison.
Backstory: Roboson is a Ritalis engineer and pilot. For a long time he worked for the the Imperial Academy acting as a pilot freelancer. He was one of the many Ritalis which wen't through the safety valve, encouraged to explore the galaxy to learn and see as much as he can. After a long stint piloting the space-faring ships, a minor collision incident caused him to fall out of favors with the higher-ups. It is unclear whether he resigned. was fired, or was forced into the Rmalos deal. One way or another, he ended up here piloting this ship.
Description: Roboson is a blue and black Ritalis of average size. He has the Ritalis equivalent of, as humans would say, "dashing good looks". He is well accustomed to his wetsuit and continues to insist that humans call their wetsuits "drysuits" because thats what they really are. He also has a speech synthesizer implanted within his wetsuit, which allows him to communicate with his crew members. He also has a larger mechanical suit which he uses in places that have gravity and are not submerged in water.
Skills:
1: Ranged Combat
2: Electronics
2: Computer Sciences
2: Mechanics
3: Technician
3: Small Crafts
3: Large Crafts
-3: Melee Weapons
-3: Biological Science
Proficiency:
Small crafts
Large Crafts
Electronics
Mechanic
Engineering
Ranged Weapons (Sonic)
Defense/Armor
10 Defense
10 Armor
Is this sufficient or do I need more in the sketch?