DSE: Chapter 1 | The Beginnings [OOC]

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

You could use him as ammo - shove him in the cannon and fire him at the enemy, and hope?

[Aldoun]

My first thought when I read that submission was that someone was either joking or hadn't bothered to properly read what was required. I do think my own submission here is of slightly better quality.

Name: Verain Thivirith
Age: Seems to be equivalent of late twenties, precise count undisclosed
Gender: Hermaphrodite
Species/Race: Deverai (both plural and singular)
Rank: Communications officer and combat backup

Appearance:
Verain gives an impression of being quite tall compared to a human, and indeed he's just over two meters tall, but much of that impression comes from his bearing and general thinness. Slender and usually clad in fresh, clean, and often military clothing he often comes across as being picky about his food and distaining anything dirty; it's actually merely standard body type for his species and recognition of good hygiene. Among his own species he's considered handsome, whether others do or not depends mostly on the individual.

Species/Race Data:
The evolution of the Deverai is unclear although evolution from some kind of "bird of prey" seems likely, much of it failed to leave more than a few small blips in the fossil record of their homeworld. What is clear is that they share two distinct features with only some of their planet's wildlife and a third which they seem to be fairly unique with in regards to their origin. Firstly their feathers which are shared by about 1/3rd of the "major" (those larger than terrestrial rats) land species and secondly their Unisex nature which only about one out of fifteen out of those species share, the third is a psionic potential. Often refereed to as bird-like by those familiar with that particular group of terran organisms, Deverai are, besides feathered as mentioned, equipped with a beak instead of a human-like mouth and lack mammary glands. Vestigial stages in arm bone development seem to indicate that they once were capable of self-sustained, muscle powered flight.
Compared to humans they also have longer a lifespan, middle age is about 160-170 terran years. They are on average taller than humans, albeit not by much, but are considerably lighter. Their strong but light bones, overall thinness, and leaner muscles contribute to this. So compared to humans they are slightly stronger, less capable of going in spite of sustained damage, and are considerably faster. A punch from a Deverai might not have as much mass behind it as one from a human the added speed can make up for it, and then there's the fact that Deverai have claws instead of nails and thus will claw and rake more than punch.
Most of their senses differ in with, depth, and/or detail from human ones. Their eyesight is clearly superior with the phrase "eyes of a hawk" often springing to mind as they've got detailed vision to rival this bird of prey but their colour sight is also above human, with a slight dip down into the lower frequencies approaching infra-red, and they can pretty much at will see in ultraviolet. Their range of hearing goes both above and below the human one but they're not quite as good at making out individual ones in a crowd. Their sense of taste is slightly below the human norm while their sense of smell is pretty much equal to it. Their sense of touch is better though.
Their psionic potential varies from individual to individual but a few techniques seems to be almost universal amongst them. Firstly they can instinctively sense the presence of others with psionic potential and also other thinking life forms. Thinking in this case means pretty much anything above vegetable. While normally short ranged they can learn to control it and most do, it's also a matter of learning to distinguish between different kinds of minds and what they might be engaged in at the moment. Secondly almost all learn to form psionic wings that enable flight and it is unclear whether or not this is an instinctive or cultural thing. Apart from these there's quite a wide range of other techniques which are either taught or learned if given the opportunity and time and far from all learn more than a handful of these.
In terms of technology the Deverai are quite highly advanced and use such things as anti-gravity, gravitational weaponry, nanotech and others are widespread. Their ships and combat vehicles are known for being fast and powerful without skimping to much on defence. And a nice bit of tech which allows many of their weapons and vehicles to be directed using psionics has lead them to be known as damn good pilots to.
Militarily they've proven in several wars that they're not to be trifled with and they manage to keep ready a larger number of high-quality, non-bot, troops than most by the simple principle of having others pay for them; they hire out. With this practice they also get up to date information on any potential rivals, keeps the troops in shape, and get to try out how their latest techs work in the field. Surprisingly they're usually unwilling to resort to force in order to drive home any of their objectives politically despite having such quality armed forces and have also made a name for themselves by being quite impartial; thus they're generally trusted as mediators in whatever conflicts might require outside intervention. In one of their more recent actual armed conflicts they assisted the Sareuns, a mostly mercantile species, and the Machina Union, a quite young collection of self-aware A.Is, against the aggressively expansionistic Talakari in the Oronegus system.
The Deverai are fairly numerous as they've been traversing space for a long time and have numerous star systems, planets, and large space stations housing their population in addition to those who've immigrated to areas held by others.

Personality:
While Verain can hardly be described as a freak for efficiency and cleanliness he at least tries to have some of both, it doesn't do if you can't find something without having to move three heaps and look in half-a-dozen places to find what you're looking for. He does tend to freak out in cramped situations due to claustrophobia, a common trait amongst his species. Normally fairly laid back he tends to try do whatever work he gets well and quick so as to be able to take it easy afterwards, he refers to it as being efficiently lazy. He enjoys being social and making friends, although some might be a bit put off by his far from perfect use of gender pronouns in everyday conversation; a result of his own species unisex nature.

History:
Verain is not all that open with the majority of his life's story. One thing that's very clear is that he's served in the military for a number of years both as a squad leader and as a liaison officer during several different campaigns when they were assisting other species' troops. He's revealed that he's had a bit of diplomat training in addition to his military training and judging by the stories he sometimes tells he's served in a at least two different elite units. When asked why he's joined up he usually states that he wanted a change in his life and that he figures he's got a better shot at surviving to retirement age on this ship. That said there's more than one part of his life that he's hesitant to speak about.
At least some of the skills he's garnered during his life are known by one or more members of the crew. A flair for languages and high and well rounded combat skills are among the top ones. His psionics are hard to judge the strength off but don't seem to be anything of the higher echelons.

Personal Possessions:
A selection of his personal effects includes a gravitationally powered railgun from his time as a soldier along with a small case of medals and a sword built to enhance psionic channelling. He's also got a not-particularly large, fairly low-power plasma pistol which according to him has saved his life more than once. He also keeps a pendant made out of a peculiar alloy with a clear sky-blue stone set in it; it's a family heirloom according to him.

[Arcalane]

Looking good. Seems my players are fleshing out the universe more than I am - not that I mind, it saves me some work when making up other races, so you're all doing -me- a favour (considering I'm trying to make a fairly large system to run around in ) and helping shape the game. Or the universe.

After all, it's a big place out there.

[Joshua]

I edited my bio post. I modeled this Joshua after my original version of him back on the Mars Academy board, but I had forgotten to include his enhanced healing in the bio.

[bill]

Name: Joachim "Jeg" Miles
Age: 37 years, 7 months.
Gender: Male
Species/Race: Human
Position: Head Engineer

Appearance:

Height: 4'11.75''
Weight: 92lbs
Short and thin, as can be obviously determined. A rather heavy eater, oddly enough. Hair and eye color both brown. Walks with a slouch, which makes him seem even shorter than he already is. However, thanks to his small build, he doesn't look unnatural at all. Runs a mile in 5:50 and change. Generally wears a lightweight tan jacket, jeans, and a black baseball cap. Black leather low-top shoes.

Species/Race Data:*to be edited later*


Personality:
Talkative would be one way to desctibe it. Energetic would be another. Talks quickly, and quickly changes subjects while doing a monologue. Though he may not be an expert in every field, he acts like one. Tends to interrupt others. Past that, he's rather fun to offend, since in response, he tends to eschew a verbal comeback, and go straight to a physical one. Given his small build, this can have amusing results. He's also good at well-placed flattery, to manipulate people. He claims to have gotten to five government facilities by conning security guards. This claim has been disputed by others.

History:
Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering. Served as head engineer for several different facilities, most under the jurisdiction of Standard PolyChem Energy. Placed in charge of a PolyChem mining ship, but recently (Two months) fired as a scapegoat for a power loss that resulted in the deaths of fourteen employees. Was rather generously given a multi-million dollar severance package by Standard PolyChem. His impressive resume up to that point got him his current job.

Personal Possessions:
One black 40'' canesword. Despite having no problems with his legs, he carrys his cane everywhere. He thinks it looks cool. His friends say it looks stupid. They like the hidden sword in it, though.

One black 31'' retractable baton. Given to him standard issue by Standard PolyChem during a national uprising near a mining site. He took a few standard classes on how to use it, and generally was quite good.

One black LED flashlight. Useful for dark places. Rather heavy.

One silver(!) wind-proof cigarette lighter.

One black pair of aviator sunglasses, good for welding.

One black Streeter & Sons g76 pistol, uses standard 9mm clips. Above average at a target range, but Miles has never used this for any practical use.

Three Streeter & Sons standard 9mm clips.

[Aldoun]

Looking good. Seems my players are fleshing out the universe more than I am - not that I mind, it saves me some work when making up other races, so you're all doing -me- a favour (considering I'm trying to make a fairly large system to run around in ) and helping shape the game. Or the universe.

After all, it's a big place out there.

I'll gladly flesh it out a bit more, such as providing a bit of info on the Sareun, Machina Union, and Talakari mentioned in the Deverai recent history. The Voad/Vhen, another race, also made an appearence in that conflict but I figure I'll have to do a bit explaining on them to as make it clear why they aren't really listed on either side in that conflict.

[Castle Pokemetroid]

Pull the other one, it's got bells on.

Or in other words;

GET THE HELL OUT OF MY THREAD. There is no way - come hell or high water - I'd let that past.

Damn. I wanted my charater to be some sort of robot thing. Can it even be a robot?

[ITOS]

I have three questions.

First about NPCs. My char is a platoon leader, can she command a squad or is there not enough room on the ship for that?

Secondly... Does rank really matter if we have a small crew?

Will we have a map of the ship?

Also, I changed some in my personal possessions.

[Arcalane]

Pull the other one, it's got bells on.

Or in other words;

GET THE HELL OUT OF MY THREAD. There is no way - come hell or high water - I'd let that past.

Damn. I wanted my charater to be some sort of robot thing. Can it even be a robot?

Yes, but not if you fail to describe even so much as it's general shape. "Unknown" does not pass mustard, understand?

I said 2-4 paragraphs, not 1 fscking word that tells me NOTHING.

I mean, you needn't describe every inch of it, but for eff's sake, at LEAST describe it more than just a sentence and half a dozen words. Surely it has a history? When was it built, and by what corporation? What make is it, and what's it's serial number? Does it have any integrated weapon systems (ie, lasers built into it's forearms) or does it rely on handheld weaponry?

Most robots, sentient or not, are likely to run on internal microfusion reactors. There are obviously other power sources that could be used. Don't say batteries or solar power or I'll see how far I can stick a solar panel up your arse. They may look humanoid, or like their creators, or be a bizarre shape (just take in mind it has to follow general rules of movement if it doesn't hover) and have abilities based on the manipulation of magnetic fields and electricity.

Could be as small as a mouse, or as big as a house. Although being as big as a house probably isn't advisable, given that the DSEV 1 isn't all too big in and of itself.

~~

ITOS: Accounting for a standard crew of players (captain, chief engineer, comms officer, security chief, translator and... any other oddities) then there's still extra space on the DSEV 1 for a few... other passengers.

2: Don't expect it to hold too much weight. How the others react to it is up to them.

3: Eventually.

~~

TBH, I hadn't expected the unusual military types, and I don't see them being totally necessary. GovCorp freelance hiring can be a little... desperate at times, though. I'd rather some of the military undertones were... well, toned down a bit, and especially relationships to large groups outside of the GCorp hiring you.

~~

And a little bit about your (first) mission;

The highly esteemed Athure Corporation is the G-Corp (Gov-Corp, a term used to signify a Corporation that has Governing Control of a system, sector or quadrant) of a local sector and specialises in the mining business. Athure are fierce rivals with the Metmun Corporation and are being quickly outranked by Metmun's superior operations. You have been hired to search for mineral deposits in the Amta system, a binary several lightyears away from Athure's HQ. So far, Amta is untouched soil and very little data has been recorded about the system, so your mission is twofold;

1. Explore the system to determine if there are any viable asteroid belts or clouds - ones of sufficient size to sustain continued mining operations. Relay this data back to Athure Monitoring Station BZ-5X9 - only a short distance from the outermost planet in the Amta system.

2. Gather data about each planet via a series of simple scans taken from orbit. Keep a backup of this data and dispatch it via a Messenger Probe (one is being loaded into your cargo now) back to the Athure HQ - it already has the co-ordinates programmed in. It can be launched much like a standard shuttle.

3. Await further orders from BZ-5X9.

Athure Corp would like to remind you that Amta may or may not be inhabited - so do not let your guard down.

It's a fairly dull job, but Athure are desperate and are paying a lot of money for it.

~~

Terminology;

GCorp, Gov-Corp - Any Corporation with Governing Control (ie, majority of colonies/outposts/bases) in control of one or more sectors.
MCorp, MegaCorp - Once a Corporation takes control of a Quadrant, it is officially known as a MegaCorp, or Mega Corporation.
System - Any Solar System. Usually contains at least one star - rare examples have up to 5.
Sector - A small cluster or grouping of nearby systems. Sector borders fluctuate regularly, so watch your step.
Quadrant - A large section of solar systems within a Galaxy. Can contain anywhere from 20 to 100 systems dependant on the size of the galaxy and the owning MegaCorp, who effectively dictates the Quadrant Borders.
Galaxy - This... should be fairly self-explanatory.

~~~ (Wiggly lines're fun)

DSEV1:

Red-Eye Class Exploration Freighter
-
The Red-Eye Exploration Freighter is not a particularly pretty ship, nor a particularly durable ship. Poor armaments and poor shielding mean it's not much of a good choice in combat. The Red-Eye is named for it's high-tech sensors array (exceeding that of many similar Explorers) and designed for long-range exploration and cargo transport. It has a sizeable cargo bay for survey equipment, and can maintain and launch up to two Shuttle-sized vessels. It has no support mechanisms for Fighters, however.

Despite it's civilian role, the Red-Eye is remarkably well armed, and a difficult ship to ambush, making it a good choice for those transporting small amounts of valuable goods over long distances.

Cost: 10,000cr
Sensor Strength: 20.
Shielding: Ablative, 100 Points.
Armour: Titanium (Standard), 200 Points.
Structure: Standard, 150 Points.

Current Cargo: (excluding vital supplies and any ammunition)
None

Weaponry:
Port Turret: 30mm Hypervelocity Cannon (500 (30 Kinetic) rounds)
Starboard Turret: 30mm Hypervelocity Cannon (500 (30 Kinetic) rounds)
Aft Turret: 20mm Hypervelocity Cannon (500 (20 Kinetic) rounds)
Forward Mounts: 2x Phased Beam Laser (20x2 Phased Laser)

Shuttle Bay:
Bay 1: Standard Shuttle
Bay 2: Messenger Probe

Subsystems:
Sensor Array
Engines
Assorted Turrets

[Azlan]

I guess I'll try for a Defense Officer (ship weapons) or Sensor Operator.  Assign where ever needed if character is acceptable.


Name: Locklear Kodayn
Age: Undisclosed
Gender: Male
Species/Race: Valallai
Rank: To be determined

Appearance:

Height: 1.74m
Weight: 50kg

Superficially appears to be a type of bipedal, furred mammal resembling a cross between a raccoon and a canid.  His fur is short and gray in coloration with black mask-like markings.  The tail is long and lemur-like, bushy and striped with black.  The ears are fox-like and are capable of 180 degree directional swiveling like that of canids.  Both the hands/feet and ears are black.  They possess small claws on their fingers and toes with vestigial structures for retractability.  He has blue eyes and dark ashen gray skin under all the fur.  He is of average height when compared to humans.

Locklear, when not on duty, normally wears noticeably colorful outfits bordering on excessive and presumptuous, ranging in colors from pinks and purples to deep ebon.  When on the job, he normally wears his uniforms and duty outfits, but they tend to be meticulous and very proper.  He is so very fond of military uniforms, that many have speculated that he joined the Explorer Corp and subsequently the corporate para-military strictly to be able to wear "k'ersha" (best translation is "keen") uniforms and insignia/badges.         

Species/Race Data:
Locklear's species was a particular oddity back when they were discovered by the then Worlds Alliance.  The species lived, and still lives, in highly advanced, but ancient, cities.  The technology, now fairly contemporary, was extraordinarily advanced when they were first encountered by the Alliance.  The Valallain people did not appear to have built the cities, ships or weapons they employed, but they knew full well how to maintain, operate and replicate that which existed.  The Valallai do not know who built their technology or how they came about, as far as they have been concerned they always have been this way.  As such they have not been a tremendously competitive species, but as the galactic mean begins to catch up and in some ways supersede their advantages, they seem to find hidden talents for innovation and invention not previously needed.  The Valallai employ gravity based technologies, from gravity drives in starships to Graviton weaponry.  Molecular composites and advanced crystalline alloys make up much of their hull, armor and framing. 

The biological aspect of the race is a mystery to xenobiologists.  Their genetics and bioform are closely similar to mammals found on many human worlds and could conceivably find compatibility among canids.  However, much of their physiology is unusual.  They have ears built for directional hearing suited to predators that should have disappeared as they became bipedal tool-users.  The Valallai are no longer arboreal, but have retained their fully prehensile tail, another structure that conceivably should have disappeared with evolution.  Their eyes are also adapted to the thick, primordial forests that stretch across their continents, having cellular structures designed to react to and refract the ultraviolet spectrum of light.  These structures are incapable of perceiving normal visible light and close when a photon strikes their receptive surface.  The internal processes within the eyes themselves are optimized with single units handling the functions of rods and cones found in human eyes.  Their muscles are striated and the tissue fibers interweave in a complex pattern that significantly increases surface area and efficiency of energy distribution.  As such, the average Valallain is at least twice as strong as a human, though their lithe and wiry frame belies any physical might.  They tend to be fairly agile creatures due to their arboreal origins, though they need to be bare-pawed to take full advantage of their ability in regards to agility.  Despite their physical strength, they are not particularly hardy of constitution.  The brain of a Valallai is smaller then a human's, but it possesses more convolutions giving it equal and somewhat greater surface area.  The race has an excellent sense of smell, but it is not specifically acute.  Their sense of taste is somewhat muted and as such their foods tend to be excessively spiced and flavorful in comparison to many other races, but it is not of tremendous importance to them.  Additionally, the most sensitive areas are the hand/foot pads, nose and oddly the tongue.  Though the Valallain do not tend to lick things to study them anymore, the first Valallain emissary spent a prodigious amount of time analyzing his first human contact in this matter, much to the discomfort of the human.  The particular Valallain ambassador is thought to be a particularly unusual example of the race, somewhat eccentric.

It is important to note that the lifespan of a Valallain is not known by any except the race themselves and they do not seem forthcoming with such.  No known Valallain has passed on since the discovery of the race and their species does not show its age in any way that the other races can determine.

Valallain not gifted as below, possess a moderate degree of psionic-based machine empathy.

All in all, xenobiologists have concluded that the Valallain are an "uplifted" species.  Genetically manipulated and engineered for alien ascetic reasons to maintain their ancient ancestor's very animalistic physical traits despite conventional evolution.  Who could have possibly done this is not known, as no other evidence of other intelligent life is found on their home world. 

A few oddities exist in their genetic pool.  Occasionally a pup is born with an underdeveloped or primitive brain, i.e. lacking in convolutions.  When such a child is born, what occurs depends on the brain structure present.  The ones that are born with a primitive cranial structure more indicative to primates, and speculated by xenobiologists to be a "true" formation of this race's actual non-uplifted ancestors, they are released into conservatories and live much like primitives (or primates in the case of Earth).  Those that are born with a smooth brain, an odd genetic deformity, are surgically altered by an unknown process that restructures the brain into normal convolutions.  Any who are altered in this fashion always develop psychic abilities.  Generally 1% of births are one of these two genetic mutations, which are split evenly between the two.  The second genetic oddity is that those born with black skin possess strange photophoric cells that collect the light photons absorbed by the skin.  The stored light energy can be emitted in varying intensity from a simple flashlight upwards to a strong laser.       

Locklear's racial ability: Photophoric Light Expulsion.  Locklear is a half-breed between a "Lightbringer" and a common Valallai, he had a 50/50 chance between Light Expulsion and Psionic Machine Empathy and the dice rolled for Light.

Personality:
Locklear is friendly and pleasant under most circumstances.  He tends to be energetic and busy much of the time that he needs to work.  When off duty or on vacation he is extraordinarily lax, lazy and easy-going, giving the appearance of a "night and day" personality.  He finds that kind words and a pleasant smile work the best, though that might be due to the multitude of sharp teeth in his mouth.  He is neat, clean and interested in making good impressions, and as such he tries hard to be diplomatic.  His efforts are usually far too strong, coupled with a strong emotional streak; he is far more likely to succumb to emotionally charged situations then others.  He cries far too much and is overly emotional, though he is not prone to violence.  He has been taught mental exercises to mediate his moods or emotional sensitivity, so he can control things fairly well.

Due to a serious injury, he has something of a psychosomatic fear of slug-thrower weaponry.

History:
Locklear joined his planet's exploration division (government and only para-military) and bounced between different positions.  His shortest career was as a security marine for an exploration ship.  A civil uprising on a first contact world, which had nothing to do with his people's contact, lead to the sequestering of his ambassadorial team by the government faction while he was cut off from his ship, people and captured by the rebel faction.  During the confusion he was seriously wounded.  The lack of experience in alien biology in the rebel doctors jeopardized his life and lead to a long and grueling process before even bullet fragments could be extracted.  Differences in physiology and chemical makeup rendered anesthetics useless and it fell upon the shoulders of veterinary professionals to nurse him back to health.  When he was finally returned to his people, it took two years of recovery before his health returned.  Despite his experience as security and this incident in particular, he has never killed a person.  He has injured a few in his time and subdued more then his fair share of toughs, being excellent in hand-to-hand combat, as his "clan" enjoys such sport.

His other endeavors were far less interesting as he spend most of his remaining years of service in support roles for the corporation.  He finished his tour of duty again with the Space Exploration Force as a Space Pilot, having graduated up from Shuttle Technician.  His final service rank was that of a command grade Master Chief Flight Officer (this is a semi-military government organization).

Leaving service with his home system and the corporation he joined the galactic private sector as a shuttle pilot, ship defense officer (equivalent of a weapons officer for non-military organizations), sensor technician and even engineering technician.  He finally settled in with Athure Corporation after a rigorous interview process and is now aboard the exploration freighter sent to survey the Amta system.     

Personal Possessions:
Ceremonial Kodayn House Sword (dura alloy with mono-cutwire edge)
A holopicture of him (not looking too healthy) and a pair of medical types (a separate species, felinoid bipeds) all looking as happy as possible
Personal Computer (notebook style)
All-in-one personal device (communicator, music player, browsing tool, data storage device, personal secretary, etc.)
Ceacian maple candy supply (320 pieces)
Ceacian cane cola supply (24 units)
Small supply of Valallian treats
Collection of strongly colored and fashionable attire
Space Corp duty uniform with rank and insignia
Space Corp dress uniform complete with insignia, badges, medals and rank
Sonic screwdriver
Basic electronics tool kit
Basic mechanics tool kit
Conventional poly-ceramic blade (dagger)
Light security armor (from his security career, molecular polycarbonate)
Ion pistol (sidearm – Explorer Corp)
Phased Beam laser pistol (Athure Corporation, purchased)


Edit: noticed an error and corrected, they are not known to be physically enduring, having a weaker constitution due to the rather clean and easy society they have lived in.

[ITOS]

TBH, I hadn't expected the unusual military types, and I don't see them being totally necessary. GovCorp freelance hiring can be a little... desperate at times, though. I'd rather some of the military undertones were... well, toned down a bit, and especially relationships to large groups outside of the GCorp hiring you.

I changed her history some to make her come from a security company instead.

[Joshua]

After glancing over some of the other profiles I was just curious how much leway we have with personal belongings?

[bill]

Sheridan better not take away mah Zippo. 

[Arcalane]

After glancing over some of the other profiles I was just curious how much leway we have with personal belongings?

I'm not too[/i] bothered as long as people aren't toting around anything bigger than a standard assault rifle when it comes to weaponry. Otherwise, there isn't much you can't have, excluding entire ships, fighters and so on. At least, not yet.

[Azlan]

I want a laser sword >.>

What positions still need to be filled?

[Aldoun]

While I'm not 100% on what needs filling I can make a decent guess, and based on what's been submitted already I can eliminate a few of those.

Captain: Vacant (I figure this one's pretty self-explanatory)
First Mate: Vacant (Might be needed, might be left open anyway)
Primary Engineer: Joachim Miles
Head of Security: Joshua Prowell has bid for this as has Locklear Kodayn
Communications Officer: Verain Thivirith
Navigation Officer: Rickardo
Mess Officer: Vacant (with a double figure crew and varied species this seems like a needed occupation)
Mineralogy Expert: Vacant (something like this is probably needed given our mission specs)
And various others might require filling, this was just of the top of my head at what might be needed.

[bill]

I'd say that the mess officer can be safely filled by a NPC. Unless someone wants to RP HOT REHEATING ACTION.

[Eibborn]

Name: Miki Ree
Age: 26
Gender: Male
Species/Race: Nikitak
(A little bit of info can be found towards the bottom of this page: http://inhuman-comic.com/dex.php)
Rank: Ship's Hand. Basically, Miki does things that others do not. He's not equipped for command, but he can be a part-time cook, nurse, or under-engineer. He's willing to be trained by another person, if one of you want to have another subservient engineer to boss around or something.

Appearance:
Pure white, as are most Nikitaks, Miki stands almost a foot taller than most humans when on four legs, and reaches nine feet when on two. He wears no clothing, having no need to conceal anything due to the thick fur covering his entire body. When he does decide to wear clothing, it's generally only a hat, vest, or some other small item. He has a ready smile and a firm gaze. His eyes are a grey-blue, with other dim colours speckled near the pupil. He will occasionally dye his fur out of boredom.
Oh, yes, incidentally, Nikitaks have six appendages- two used for walking, two used primarily for gripping, and a middle one used interchangeably.

Species/Race Data:
Nikitaks have a heavy fur coat that conceals their entire body, including their sex organs. It is a result of evolving on a frigid planet, where warmth was often hard to come by. They are fairly unremarkable, as a species. No awesome powers or anything extraordinary here, let's move on. It's difficult for others to tell his strength, what with his shaggy coat. It should be obvious, however, that Miki's not the ideal target for a wrestling match- extra limbs are always handy. And he is, actually, fairly strong for his species.
Nikitaks have three long, sharp retractable claws that were evolved for climbing the massive trees of their home world. They also have powerful jaws and sharp teeth, but it would be considered uncivilized for one to use them in the modern day.

Personality:
A cheery and upbeat individual, Miki would be glad to be useful. Having been born to a traditional but off-world family, Miki knows little of his race's home planet. He has a slightly annoying desire to please everyone at all times, and allows himself to get roped into doing others work for them. It has happened that he has taken too much on and had something of a breakdown, but generally people know how hard he tries and don't take too much advantage of his willingness. Miki is one of those people who tries to be liked by everybody, and believes that all problems could be solved if people would just sit down and talk it over some nice tea. "No, really, it's no trouble. Oi'll go fetch some, Oi won't be a moment."

History:
This is Miki's first job, and (although he doesn't know it) it's a favour to his parents from the company. He has never managed to pick any one thing that he is particularly interested in, though he's volunteered at many different jobs and has a small amount of skill in most of them. He cooks, knows basic first aid (for Nikitaks- who knows how much help this'll be for other races?), and many other things. He's been to shooting ranges, but never shot in an uncontrolled environment.
His parents are fairly wealthy individuals, and he's always been a little embarrassed because of it.
His accent is not as strong or consistent as other Nikitaks because he was born off-world. However, he is proud of it, and even tries to exaggerate it at times.

Personal Possessions:
Miki has:
several articles of clothing
Dyes in various bright colours- red, blue, violet, ect.
a picture of his family
a small computer that acts as a MP3 player, journal, and performs a variety of other functions
a first aid kit
a ukulele
targeting goggles- these essentially have crosshairs that help aim on the left lense (they move with the pupil), and can be set to be either clear or opaque from the front. They are treated to block space-blindness, and he is never without them while in space.
a potted plant
and not much else.
EDIT'd again!
Right, so the original creater of the species, Icarus of www.inhuman-comic.com has released an All about Nikitaks page! Go read, for more info on the species: http://inhuman-comic.com/aboutnikitaks.php

[Boog]

Anyone else notice Az's character's named after the main character of the Cathouse stories, from Houses of the Kzinti? Just noticing...

[Aldoun]

Since haven't read said stories I certainly didn't notice it.

And since I did earlier volunteer to provide a bit of info on the species mentioned in my own Species Data here's info on the first one.

Talakari

Biological data
The evolutionary history of the Talakari is very, very murky waters to wade for non-Talakari. Since the Talakari aren't particularly cooperative next to nothing is known about their ancestry and as such speculation based on autopsies is nearly everything others have to go on. It's possible that the Voad know more but they haven't been persuaded to part with any information of that kind as yet. Humans commonly compare them to rats, and for several good reasons.
Firstly they are on average around 1.5 meters tall and weigh around 50-60 kilograms. A face most comparable to a rodent's with whiskers, fur, and quite mouse-like ears to name a few features also help to reinforce this, and the hairless tail certainly does something for it as well. Their short furred bodies complete the image rather nicely when it comes to the exterior view of something evolved from just rats. Their hands are comparable to human ones, albeit a bit better at fine detail manipulation due to size. Mammary glands are present and judging purely by the fact that females have six it's quite evident that births come litter-wise. With life-spans averaging 50 years despite quite highly developed medicines it's quite clear that they're quick to recuperate from most losses.
Talakari eyesight is not quite as sharp as humanity's but has shifted lower down on the colour spectrum closer to infra-red, although they can't see that particular spectrum unaided. Hearing is keen and well above human with both higher and lower frequencies being audible to them. Their sense of taste is slightly above humans' and their noses are way keener, their sense of touch is a bit finer as well. Compared to humans they're faster but weaker and more fragile, both things that make combat a good deal harder. Then again they're almost always numerically superior so it doesn't do too much to them.

Culture, Tech and History

Talakari culture is not so well understood but several important points are clear from the different sources used. Firstly they're highly expansionistic, militarist theocrats. With their religion centred on hero worship of the great leader who once saved their species from extinction in a war with a then technologically superior foe who has since been elevated to godhood by a cult who proceeded to take control of the government. One of the major points of this cults beliefs is that their species' destiny is to rule all they care to claim, which naturally puts them at odds with just about the entire galactic community that has any dealings with them.
Compared to the Deverai which they recently fought against the Talakari are a bit technologically inferior with the most glaring deficiency being a lack of gravity control. To create hovercraft they instead employ powerful electromagnetic fields.
What is known of their history is a bloody affair with at least one case of genocide and numerous unprovoked acts of aggression. Four hundred years ago many species breathed as sign of relief when this violent species fell into a religious civil war on a point of dogma which wiped out about 99% of them. Since then they contented themselves with reclaiming and repopulating their quadrant of around 80 systems and only recently did they resume their expansionistic ways with an attack against the binary starsystem of Orengenus. Here they faced off against the Sareuns, the Machina Union, the Deverai, and the Vhen mercenaries brought in by the Sareuns. In the end they were beaten back but they will most likely return at some point to wreak revenge and claim the system in the name of the hero god Yzikis.

[Azlan]

Anyone else notice Az's character's named after the main character of the Cathouse stories, from Houses of the Kzinti? Just noticing...

The name Locklear is actually from one of Prince Arutha's squires from the last Rift War book "A Darkness at Sethnanon" by Raymond E. Feist, circa 1986.  The name Kodayn comes from a japanese novel, the name escapes me at this time.

Though I just now looked up and have seen that he is indeed correct, darn that Niven, but Feist's book is older.

[Arcalane]

I want a laser sword >.>

Sorry, we're all out of laser swords.

But you can have a glowstick! Perfect for raves.

[bill]

Caneswords are much cooler anyways. 

[Arcalane]

Looking good. Seems my players are fleshing out the universe more than I am - not that I mind, it saves me some work when making up other races, so you're all doing -me- a favour (considering I'm trying to make a fairly large system to run around in ) and helping shape the game. Or the universe.

After all, it's a big place out there.

I'll gladly flesh it out a bit more, such as providing a bit of info on the Sareun, Machina Union, and Talakari mentioned in the Deverai recent history. The Voad/Vhen, another race, also made an appearence in that conflict but I figure I'll have to do a bit explaining on them to as make it clear why they aren't really listed on either side in that conflict.

By all means, shoot me some stuff in PM, or over MSN/AIM some time.

I'm currently busy fleshing out Corp data for the big leaders, and trying not to step all over what may or may not be established history for the other races. It's like walking in a minefield, because I have no idea what has and hasn't been developed in some cases.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

I'd say that the mess officer can be safely filled by a NPC. Unless someone wants to RP HOT REHEATING ACTION.

Ooooo! Sounds tempting! :-)

[ITOS]

I'd say that the mess officer can be safely filled by a NPC. Unless someone wants to RP HOT REHEATING ACTION.

Ooooo! Sounds tempting! :-)

We do need boxes to keep the food in if you are intrested.

[Azlan]

We do need boxes to keep the food in if you are intrested.

Can we go light on the bananas please?

[Arcalane]

We do need boxes to keep the food in if you are intrested.

Can we go light on the bananas please?

Does it count if they're giant inflatable bananas filled with Helium? Coz then they'd be pretty light!

[Boog]

Well then, since I can, a bit more backstory on the Rouligi.

Rouligi have, as mentioned, characteristics of both machines and organic life forms, resulting in an interesting view of the universe. Their brain's are divided into two lobes, like a human's, but the left half is almost entirely hardware while the right is almost completely wetware. To a Rouligus, most pure organics are viewed much like someone with ADD, creative and pleasant enough but no attention span or ability to focus on what's important, while purely mechanical entities are viewed as being autistic, good at mathematics and such but not all there. Naturaly, finding that the rest of the universes sentient species fall into one of these two categories came as a bit of a shock. Many Rouligi are terrified of travelling amongst other species, since from their view the universe is populated by invalids and crazy people. Ten generations after first contact you'll find that every Rouligus has a set of biped parts in their home, if not in constant use; after some study of the literature of other species, it was assumed by the rouligi that a sentient species that wasn't humaniod like just about all the others they'd had contact with would dredge up imagies of monsters from ancient mythology or science fiction. Prior to first contact, they were much more insect-like than how humanoid they are now. Their languages are pretty much made up of everything the Grandfather/Engineers could come up with, from communication of thoughts over WiFi to morse code from blinking their eyes.
The reason the change in appearance from one generation to another is so great is because of the Rouligis unique method of reproduction; the Grandfather/Engineers. A Grandfather/Engineer is a Rouligi either born with or upgraded to have greater brain capacity than the average Rouligus; enough more for them to actually require special parts to support all the extra weight in hardware and wetware. Every community of Rouligi has one as a local shrink, doctor, and at times ruler, and one of their duties is to hear suggestions. These suggestions are for the blueprints of the next generation of Rouligi, and how the current models could be improved. Anyone can make suggestions (including non-Rouligi), as it's up to the Grandfather/Engineer how they're used. The Grandfather/Engineer will then send the blueprints to a Rouligus in the area who wants a child and has the proper parts and facilities to make and support one. This "evolution by suggestions" is responsable for both the speed Rouligi can adapt to a new environment and a vast generation gap between Rouligi only a few years apart in age. On average, Rouligi feel safer in mildly disorganized groups; order enough for people to know what to do, disorder enough to be able to deal with it if what they have to do changes.

History- Rouligi stopped having wars amongst themselves after first contact; they would have been ashamed to with the universe watching, and had little reason to with so much more space. Any factions who didn't like each other could just avoid one another. However, their history is filled with conflicts led by Grandfather/Engineers and fought by both soldiers and hackers. Rouligi were being altered by Grandfather/Engineers based on what was needed by communities of them since early in their evolution, but within the last 257.8 years modifying oneself has gotten more and more common, rather than just getting by with what you were built with. They avoid most interspecies conflicts, partly out of a sort of xenophobia (see above) and a belief that other species can be capable of anything.

[ITOS]

*gets bumped*

Oww...

So, is anything happening here?