Primer:The year is 2153, a little over five decades since the development of semi-practical faster than light travel. Humanity has come a long way since then, spreading out across the stars. Some would say they have expanded too quickly, and others too slowly. So far, they have made little contact with other races.
This... is not about their contact with other races.
This is about the launch of the
Antygias.
The
Antygias is an almost 500 meter-long 'first landing' colony ship, and departs on her maiden voyage today. A 'bridge crew' of twelve, a veritable army of maintenance robots, and a further five-hundred cryo-stasised civilian specialists set forth for the remote planet of Kaukai that orbits one of the rare single class G2V stars like our Sun. Kaukai is an almost-Earthlike planet that stumbled very slightly in her development cycle, leading to a human-breathable atmosphere with a planetary environment consisting of deserts, badlands, tundra, steppes, taiga and other various extremes, with the little easily-habitable land that exists being restricted to the equator on scattered islands too small for colony ships to easily land on. The
Antygias carries a full complement of prefab structures, vehicles of different kinds, food, water, medical supplies, everything a 'first landing' ship and her crew could ever want or need for colonizing a planet.
The
Antygias' job? Move in and 'adjust' the planet's conditions via terraforming until it is better suited to full-scale colonization. Initial recon/surveying showed no signs of prior habitation or sentient life, so as far as most people are concerned, Kaukai is ripe for the taking. Of course, not just anyone can move in and colonize - it takes a lot of supplies and equipment to start things off.
You are one of those civilian specialists. Maybe you're a miner just looking for a new life, an architect who specializes in colonization buildings, a geologist searching for new minerals, a surveyor looking for the next big site, a scout who wants to see it all, an ex-con looking for a place to lay low, an explorer seeking adventure, or who knows what else...
What will you find on Kaukai? Well, we'll have to wait and see, won't we?
~~
Okay, now, on to other stuff. The main human power is the Terran Confederation. There are a few splinter factions near the borders of Confederacy space that do their own thing and trade with the ConFed, which can't be bothered with trying to assimilate them as long as the splinters don't try to overthrow the ConFed. The Antygias is primarily a civilian venture but hails from Confederation space, so take that into account. Life in the 'Fed (or ConFed) is alright. The backwater planets can be pretty rough and lawless as is the old 'frontier' stereotype, but 'Fed patrols keep piracy to a minimum so trade is doing pretty well. Most colonies don't last long unless they trade, so most smaller ones are funded by mining conglomerates or agricultural companies. Larger planets that have exhausted most of their natural resources buy raw materials and produce luxury goods, hardware and so on.
The civilian specialists for the Antygias were hand-picked by her Captain, an ex-ConFed Officer who retired from the Fleet after two tours of duty out in the frontier taking care of bandits and pirates. Very few - if any - of the specialists have any major connections to the ConFed Navy, Army, Council, etc. so you won't find any ex-marines (or marines) here. Kaukai has been designated a 'low threat' planet, with most of the hazards stemming from the environment rather than aggressive wildlife, so the Antygias was not assigned a Marine Escort either.
~~
Profile;QuoteName:
Gender:
Age:
Height:
Weight:
Career: Where did you work before signing on with the Antygias? Remember the Captain checked for major connections to the ConFed, so no marines and such.
Appearance:
What do you look like? Short? Tall? Thin? Stocky? Athletic? Nerdy? Lean? Being fit and healthy is important when colonizing! What kind of clothes did you pack for the trip? Think practical, as Kaukai is pretty unforgiving in terms of conditions.
Weapons & Equipment:
Do you have any favoured pieces of equipment you might've brought along? The specialists had to pack light, but that doesn't mean they couldn't have brought a laptop or a treasured sidearm and a few other small things with them.
Skills & Abilities:
What skills has your career and life imparted upon you up until now? Are you unusually strong and have tough bones because you grew up on a high-gravity world? Or maybe you flunked out of a ConFed Marine Scout course, so you have basic training in wilderness navigation and exploration. The more practical your skills, the more likely you are to have been accepted for the trip.
Miscellaneous Information:
Any last words for the trip?
Why Did You Sign Up?:
Were you looking for a challenge? A new life? Running from something? This doesn't have to be what you put down on the signup sheet - just why you actually signed up.
Any questions that aren't related to what will happen in the future?
If there's a lot of people wanting in I'll probably split things into two groups. Otherwise I'm going to try to keep the group size at around five or six. Should be easy enough to write people in or out as the need arises.
If it's stuff that can be asked IC (like 'what vehicles does the Antygias have in the hangars') then save it for IC. If you're not sure, ask and I'll either tell you that you'll have to wait and ask IC, or give you an answer as is appropriate.
Robots and robotic prosthetics are possible (though they are quite clearly robotic, no flawless imitation of flesh/blood) and practical but genetic modification/splicing/etc. is fairly limited, and there are of course no aliens. Any extensive splicing/cyborging MUST be approved by me beforehand, as you are civilians, and the modifications would not be cheap and definitely not readily available outside of the ConFed Council. Most robots are industrial, and aren't designed with human-level intelligence (much less super-human intelligence) due to hardware limitations. Nanotech is also a no-go, at least on the frontier like this. If humans have any psionic/psychic potential, nobody's discovered it/found out how to switch it on/harness it/draw out that potential.
In short, you're better than the average joe off the street, but you are by no means superhuman in any sense of the word.
Legally-available personal firearms are compact laser emitters and conventional slugthrowers; any civilian can own a pistol without a permit, and frontier colonists often possess reliable rifles or shotguns, either for deterrance or hunting. Military firearms include higher-powered lasers, electrolasers (in-atmos only, stun or kill), magnetic accelerators (anti-armour/anti-materiel) and more high-tech slugthrowers.
IC will start once there's a decent group ready for thawing. Hop to it!
~~
Crew Roster:Captain Irvine Mackenzie - Bridge Crew NPC
Lieutenant Sandra Ryder - Bridge Crew NPC
Chief Engineer Isaac Steele - Bridge Crew NPC
Jaks Karriten (http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php/topic,8291.msg351488.html#msg351488) - techmaster-glitch
Wolfe York (http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php/topic,8291.msg351525.html#msg351525) - ShadesFox
Marcus Adams (http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php/topic,8291.msg351550.html#msg351550) - SquirrelWizard
Arithor Calderson (http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php/topic,8291.msg351623.html#msg351623) - AmberCross
Rebecca Sonada (http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php/topic,8291.msg351659.html#msg351659) - Azlan
Marianne Doflik (http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php/topic,8291.msg351809.html#msg351809) - Inumo
Alix Gault (http://clockworkmansion.com/forum/index.php/topic,8291.msg351834.html#msg351834) - Malakin
Woo! I was actually imagining an RP like this once :O Count me in! (and dibs on robotics mechanic specialist! :3 )
And good to see you running a game again!
Hee... reminds me of starcraft.. mainly how UPL launched the ships for Koprulu sector
Sound nifteh. Once I have access to a machine that isn't a phone I'll write something up. We're going to need more outpost music.
Quote from: ShadesFox on May 07, 2011, 08:24:24 PM
Sound nifteh. Once I have access to a machine that isn't a phone I'll write something up. We're going to need more outpost music.
"Any mistake at this point will doom you and your colonists to certain death. Have a nice day."For those of you wondering - I know it seems... mundane for now. But I assure you, things are going to get a lot more interesting by the time the ship has landed. I just don't want to spoil things. :)
Quick question.
Is this a human only campaign? or a Human dominant campaign?
Unless you were thinking of playing a sentient/sapient robot, then yes, it's human-only. Like I said, there hasn't been very much genetic modification/splicing, and contact with alien races has been extremely limited.
On the topic of genetics;
"Remember, genes are NOT blueprints. This means you can't, for example, insert "the genes for an elephant's trunk" into a giraffe and get a giraffe with a trunk. There -are- no genes for trunks. What you CAN do with genes is chemistry, since DNA codes for chemicals. For instance, we can in theory splice the native plants' talent for nitrogen fixation into a terran plant."
Academician Prokhor Zakharov
"Nonlinear Genetics"
Name: Jaks Karriten
Gender: Male
Age: 32
Height: 6' 2''
Weight: 155
Career: Jaks began his carreer in robotics R&D in some smaller companies in one of the core worlds, during which time he recieved his cybernetic grafts, before hitching a ride on a ship bound for one of the less-developed planets. Terraforming and colonization had already begin, and some basic manufacturing infrastructure was in place, but large-scale industry hadn't yet arrived. There, Jaks worked as a builder of homemade robots and general robotics Mr Fixit, as well as reconfiguring bots for purposes they weren't originally intended. Any time a robot acted funny, Jaks arrived to set it straight. Once the planet began gearing up industry on a large scale, Jaks' abilities fell by the wayside, and he began looking for other options, and he then found himself signed onto the Antygias's specialist crew, bound for a completely unsettled planet. Jaks looks forward to seeing his robots at work there to help build a colony.
Appearance: Jaks is relatively thin and tall, though the few years spent on one of the less developed planets did cause him to build a little muscle and hide. His right arm, from the elbow down, is mechanical, and a bit bigger and bulkier than his real left arm. Most of his hair is gone, and some lines of metal curve around his skull, one going to his right eye, which is also cybernetic. His clothes are all practical, mainly an assortment of sleeve-less mechanic's vests and either shorts or non-baggy pants.
Weapons & Equipment: Jaks had little equipment to bring, what with the ship supplied with it's own mechanic's tools, but he does have a few little helpers--three robots that help him with maintenance and construction. Two are roughly the size of a small dog or backpack, and are semi-spiderlike quadrupedal with a blocky design and a number of tools built into them. Jaks affectionately calls them 'Phobos' and "Deimos'. The third bot is a hand-sized spindly contraption, also spiderlike, and helps by getting inside the structure of larger machines and small spaces where Jaks can't reach. This one is called 'Kappa'.
Skills & Abilities: When it comes to machines, especially autonomous ones, Jaks has an innate understanding that is second to none. He can construct a robot from spare parts and scrap in a day, and has a knack for reparing even the most cantankerous bots. As robotics covers many different mechanical systems, sometimes even autonomous vehicles, Traxen is also proficient in most areas of mechanical engineering. His cybenetic arm has several tools built and folded into the forearm for convenience in his work. His cybernetic eye doesn't have many special capabilities or sensory qualities beyond an ordinary eye, but it does have an extensive augmeted reality suite, overlaying all kinds of information on a HUD in Traxen's very view. His biggest draw, however, is a special cranial interface implant. This implant allows him to remotely control a robot at any time. However, he can't control any robot, he has to first reprogram it and install a special reciever chip. He also never directly 'possesses' them, but usually manipulates a few appendages rather than the whole bot to work in tandem with anything he's doing. He can try and control more than one bot at once, but that requires great concentration and can give him headaches if he keeps it up too long. As the implant itself has no built-in transmitter, he has to use his cybernetic arm to plug into any other available transmission source.
Miscellaneous Information: Jaks is friendly and personable most of the time, though he does have a tendancy to focus more on a job at hand when he's got one than other people. Back on the other partially-colonized planet, he got a joking reputation as a 'robophile', liking the company of machines more than people.
That may not be entirely inaccurate.
Quote from: VAE on May 07, 2011, 08:10:09 PM
Hee... reminds me of starcraft.. mainly how UPL launched the ships for Koprulu sector
Heh. 'cept they're innocent civilian volunteers, not convicts/mutants/undesirables. :B First landing ships do the prepwork and write 'home' with regular updates, usually every few weeks. If everything proceeds as planned or at least roughly on schedule then actual colony ships roll out to the prepped infrastructure. If not then they bug out and don't waste as much time and effort. If a ship doesn't write home within a certain time window since dispatch or last message, the mission is considered a failure: if the world was too hazardous to begin with, it's generally scrapped and marked as unsuitable for further attempts, especially if Marines were involved. If not, then the ConFed dispatch a small task force to check things out.
Crew List is starting to take shape. Don't be afraid to get in touch with me if you have any questions about character creation.
This has no supernatural elements, nor fantasy, and I was hooked from "This... is not about [that]." Damn you're good :/
Right, so definitely intrigued. My character will probably be a meteorologist. Someone who knows lots of crap about the environment and stuff in it. Knowledge will extend to marine sciences and also a limited amount into geology. Good with puzzles, strong intuition... I'll make a proper character sheet later when I feel I have the time. (Finals... argh!)
Name: Wolfe York
Gender: Male
Age: 32
Height: 192 cm
Weight: 99 kg
Career:
About a year or two fresh out of college Wolfe has spent a lot of time using is communications and signal knowledge to help fill out communications signals on remote planets. His previous task has been to fill out communications holes in planets that have already been established.
Appearance:
Wolfe is a tall man who is built out. Hardly the sort of thing you would expect from a math nerd. Especially not the supply of surplus military pants (with pockets that are always full of something), or the button down shirts that are never tucked in. His eyes are a suspicious and unnaturally green (an accident from vision correction). His hair is a completely unremarkable dark brown.
Weapons & Equipment:
Wolfe keeps his favorite data pad near by, with all of his little helper applications and notes for that new book that he will never actually get published and a small stash of porn in it. He also keep his handy compact slug thrower on a "in the pants" holster. Aside from that he has packed his usual handy gear (knife, flashlight, things like that).
Skills & Abilities:
In addition to being an expert at signal analysis, communications relays, and wave analysis, Wolfe discovered early on that he also had an affinity for "self defense". Often spending lunch with the armed escort rather then other engineers and academics Wolfe has proven to hold his own with a rifle. Indeed, he could have a spot with ConFed, either an engineering corps or signal processing. If only he didn't hate the regimented life style.
Miscellaneous Information:
He seems nice and reasonable enough. Just don't ask about the giant metal spike he keeps in his boots.
Why Did You Sign Up?:
Wolfe likes playing the thinking man's game. He doesn't like sitting at a desk. A bit of adventure, but not too much of a chance of having to kill someone. Doing what he loves and hoping to make some cash out of it while he is at it.
Name: Marcus Adams
Gender: Male
Age: 28
Height: 6" 0'
Weight: 145
Career: Was picked up out of college by Catalyst, a ConFed research group dealing with flora and fauna of fringe worlds. Catalyst's purpose was to analyze these creatures/plants to find uses for them, and to intervene should they present a problem to the operations of the colonies on the planets. Their jobs ranged from specimen gathering, ecological planning, and population control.
Appearance:
Marcus is a man of average height and has an athletic build about him. His brown hair is cut short, and tries to stay as clean shaven as possible. Clothing wise, Marcus dresses according to the environment he is in, and avoids extraneous loops, hooks, or open pockets on clothes to prevent snags. In an Urban environment he tends to wear teeshirts and either jeans or cargo pants. In anticipation of the varied climates of the destination planet, Marcus has packed several different sets of clothes. Due to his sensativity to light, Marcus wears special wrap around shades and has several spares to boot.
Weapons & Equipment:
Marcus has two guns.
Neutralizer Class Combat Pistol - The Neutralizer is a pistol that shoots larger slugs at lower velocities. The gun is designed so that the impact of the bullet is spread out over larger area with less of an emphasis on penetration. Against unarmored targets the gun can cause terrible damage, but against armored targets it does much less damage but it's impulse energy is almost garrunteed to knock the target down regardless of where it is hit. This is Marcus's favorite side arm owing to the fact that if his rifle isn't deterring an animal, then perhaps knocking it on its ass will do the trick.
Catalyst Type 3 Field Rifle - Specially designed for their expeditions in the field. The CT3 is a long range battle rifle class weapon that has two firing modes, single shot and a three shot burst. It uses standard rifle cartridges, has a collapsable stock, is weather and water resistant, and has an underslung dart launcher that can be used to fire tranquilizer darts. The CT3 is designed for rugged reliability and utility.
Basic data pad and sample analysis equipment.
Adaptive Camaoflage poncho - Basically a double layered full body length poncho that mask a person's heat, and can adapt its color to try and blend in with its surroundings. Doesn't grant anything remotely similar to invisibility, but does assist when you are trying blend in while not moving.
Standard Survival Kit.
Basic stuff a person in the wild might use, contains pocket knife, fire starter, water purification tablets, small first aid kit, compass, ect.
Skills & Abilities:
Marcus grew up hunting with his father and the connection to nature, plus a good deal of applied anatomy knowledge, led him into obtaining a BA in Biology, and a Masters in xenobiology. While he maintained quite a bit of adaptability prior to signing up with Catalyst, Marcus had to develop a myriad of skills that he never trained for to compensate for things going wrong thanks to nature throwing a wrench in Catalyst's plans. As such, Marcus knows how to survive in adverse conditions, and can make basic, though usually temporary, repairs to equipment he uses. He's adept at handling animals, and through the course of the years has managed to become quite adept at the usage of the first aid kit (these two skills may or may not be related).
While part of Catalyst, he was one of many members tagged to undergo a prototype genetic treatment. The purpose of the treament was to enhance "situational awareness" to give people an edge while in the wilderness. The expereiment ended mixed results. On the far extremes very few members actually obtained the desired traits without the drawbacks, but at the same time very few became psychotic from the sensory overload. Marcus fell in the middle, he developed enhance sense of smell, vision, and hearing. His vision is much better than average, and he is much quicker to recognize movement and changes, than a normal person. He can differentiate between more subtle odors now, and can even sense and recognize the pheremones associated with the more base emotions (guilt, lust, rage, fear, ect) allowing him to better read people and animals. Marcus's hearing is better as well allowing him to not only hear a wider range of noises (a few that other humans cant) but he can roughly judge distance based on the sound. These abilities don't come without a cost though. His senses makes him more susceptable to overstimulation; strong odors, lights, and noises that would be a irritant to regular people can make him ill. Marcus can handle most noises and odors in his line of work fairly well (firing a gun doesn't hurt him unless the thing is right next to his ear). And, he can function in bright light (that which is typically found in ships and buildings) fine, but after a while the stress on his eyes causes him headaches, hence why he wears shades. In shaded areas he can get away with not wearing his shades.
Miscellaneous Information:
While Marcus works around technology and robots, he tends to favor stuff that is more durable than comfortable. As such he tends to avoid using Robots, citing that, "all it takes is one thing to go wrong with them, and they become about as useful as an overgrown paperweight." He is an idealist at heart, but a pragmatist in action. He wishes that everything would work out, but would rather be prepared in case it doesn't. Marcus has made it his life's ambition to eat a little of every edible animal they come across. Though he often reserves that honor for things he, or someone else, hunts down rather than specimens gathered with darts (its not sporting)
Why Did You Sign Up?:
Marcus has a streak of explorer in him. The prospect of finding a new species of animal is an opportunity that he doesn't want to miss. Also, with his work on xenospecies, he believes that there might be some extraterrestrial life out there worth meeting, and that too is something he wouldn't want to miss.
So far so good. Couple more popsicles and we can get started.
...uhh, one of you guys knows how to drive wheeled all-terrain vehicles, right?
Right? :U
I cant vouch for the other folk, but Marcus can operate any equipment that would be pertinent to his job with Catalyst. So yeah, he can work ATVs, and other transport trucks if need be. Depending on the overall tech of the era he may even be able to operate a small flying transport, but again it depends on if those types of transports are commonplace, and don't require countless hours of preflight training to operate (so in a nutshell, likely not).
Depends.... how likely are people to know how to do that? My guy probably has experience with remote vehicles, probes and whatnot, but I'm not sure how much that'd extend to all terrain vehicles. Essentially I guess I'm asking what the homeworld is like in terms of city vs. country, population centers, etc. Or would we be at liberty to fudge that stuff?
Speaking of my guy....
Name: Arithor Calderson (Ah-ree-torr Kal-dehr-son)
Generally Called: Arthur, Ari, Art, etc.
Gender: Male
Age: 27
Height: 5'9''
Weight: 160 lbs
Career: Ari does not have terribly much work experience though did several internships and did very well in school where he participated in a fairly driven program that led to him being eligible for consideration on the colonization.
Appearance:
From Icelandic stock, Ari had a very fair complexion with pale, icy blue eyes and pale (almost white) blond hair. He is on the thin side, though lean, and tends to wear somewhat baggy clothing. He wears glasses and keeps his hair around shoulder length where it often falls in front of his face. Overall, he has an almost faded look about him, as if he's not quite as real as other people.
Weapons & Equipment:
Ari keeps several items with him at most times, usually in some pocket or other, that don't have much of a practical purpose but have some personal significance to him. Some he's just had since forever, some were gifts from people he is fond of, and others hold memories. Of a more practical nature, he also has a laptop which he uses to pass free time and crunch data as necessary from various probes, measuring devices, etc that don't necessarily belong to him but he frequently uses as part of his job anyway. He has several master programs on it that take raw data and convert it into more intuitively meaningful plots, images, and graphs.
Growing up in a wealthy family, he was never really exposed to some of the harsher things in life and so he doesn't really keep much in the way of weapons. Aside from some random knick-knacks of varying utility (binoculars, compass, yoyo, deck of cards, etc) he also has a stash of books that he has read far too many times by now. He has far more stories stored on his computer, but these are relics of his childhood that he wasn't quite ready to give up.
Skills & Abilities:
Ari is very observent and over the course of his life has picked up a lot of miscellaneous knowledge and skills that often seem archaic or useless (driving a stick-shift or how to rig a coin flip), but can often be helpful in odd situations. Despite his impaired vision, this constant observation means Ari often notices and puts together more than most. Aside from this of course, he was put through several activities as a child such as martial arts, boy scouts, and violin practice. He is also quick of mind, having very good reflexes and being a fast problem solver. (Think Ozymandius from Watchmen if you know him, though obviously not quite that extremely awesome. Also less self confident and flamboyant looking.)
Miscellaneous Information:
When growing up, the household Ari lived in was often very quiet and any noise made tended to carry a ways. As such, Ari was always very self-conscious about any noise he made and this resulted in him being a fairly quiet person who doesn't like making much noise. He doesn't mind too much when other people make noise (up to a certain threshhold anyway), he just doesn't like making it himself. This is also why he doesn't actually play the violin very often as he cannot properly do so at a reduced volume. This isn't to say he's anti-social or anything, he can actually be very amiacable... he just doesn't like being loud about it. The exception is when he is completely comfortable with those around him or if he's certain there's no one in hearing range at all.
Why Did You Sign Up?:
Ari came from a fairly well off family that did a lot of traveling when he was young. He found he loved to visit new places and also for places with so much fewer people in them. It's not that he dislikes people so much as things get crowded sometimes and he likes to be alone. So because of this, going off to colonize some back-world wherever seems a wonderful idea to him. There were several other reasons; getting away from his family, doing something with his life, and the like, but it really boils down to the fact that he really wasn't too happy at home and believes this journey will help with that.
While I'm sure Arcalane was just joking, yes, Jaks can handle heavy vehicles, too. xD
Quote from: AmberCross on May 10, 2011, 05:41:59 AM
Depends.... how likely are people to know how to do that? My guy probably has experience with remote vehicles, probes and whatnot, but I'm not sure how much that'd extend to all terrain vehicles. Essentially I guess I'm asking what the homeworld is like in terms of city vs. country, population centers, etc. Or would we be at liberty to fudge that stuff?
You aren't all necessarily from the same planet (as already evidenced) but VTOL 'hovercars' similar to those in ME2 would be for the exceptionally wealthy and more for amusement than practicality. I was more focusing on off-road experience, since obviously, Kaukai doesn't have any infrastructure whatsoever.
Everyone else would make do with cars of varying amounts of fanciness. Colony ship vehicles run on hydrogen fuel cells, carrying spare tanks in the same way you'd see gas cans on the back of jeeps or other vehicles.
If you've played Red Faction Guerrilla, then think along those lines in terms of the vehicle designs, at least as far as the four-wheeled vehicles are concerned.
And yes, I was mostly joking. :B
hmm... makes me consider making a hydropony (and agriculture and other such) expert... Hmm , or would someone to deal with security better?
the possibilities..
Ex Cop, maybe. Just remember that applicants have been screened for any significant ties to the ConFed Fleet/Marines/Army/etc. and the Captain won't have been hiring independent mercenaries of questionable reputation or otherwise. If they wanted to come along they'd have to accept that their likelihood of getting paid is entirely reliant on them actually doing their job and protecting people, and that they'd have to have useful skills besides knowing how to use guns.
Either way, make your mind up quick 'cause it looks like Alpha Team is almost full and ready to defrost.
I was thinking of joining in as a pilot, if the ship carries any sort of light VTOL craft for transportation of equipment and teams.
(makes sense to me to take something like that along)
He is a freelance pilot, often hired by teams of scientists for a few weeks or months to fly their equipment and personnel from site to site, some times out into the wilderness where they might meet 'Fun' wildlife, so I guess he would be good with a rifle or shotgun to protect the craft and the team while out on excursions.
I could turn him into a glorified trucker if that's required though :P
Say with large offroad vehicle driving experience instead of flying skillz...
It's not impossible, I wouldn't want to make anyone's character worthless if they were overly attached to a particular skillset.
A submission for this endeavor.
Name: Rebecca Sonada
Gender: Female
Age: 28
Height: 162 cm
Weight: 50 kg
Career:
Early graduate fresh out of university and just completed her year of residency. General medical doctor with specialties in Medical Microbiology and Pathology. She is also a specialist in Environmental Microbiology, one of the theoretically important factors in terraforming operations. Her most recent experience was as a resident physician at an orbital space facility.
Appearance:
Becky hails from a rich family prominent in technology and computers. She is not a very tall female of mixed heritage (some equivalent of Asian and English), many might consider her attractive. She has violet eyes (a pigmentation alteration during her teenage years), red hair (dyed, her natural hair is a very dark brown) and a pale complexion. She tends to dress professionally and leans more towards reserved and practical. She prefers pants to skirts, though she does sprinkle a few among her wardrobe. She wears glasses for distance, but does not need them for reading or close details.
Weapons & Equipment:
Becky keeps a microcomputer unit with her at all times (except while sleeping or in the shower) that can mount on a belt clip or is in her pocket that can connect directly with her wristcomm unit. She also has a classical and conventional medical/surgical kit with titanium and tungsten instruments, sample kits with various growth mediums, and just about all the essentials that are not perishable or restricted.
Skills & Abilities:
She is well versed in the violin, piano and classical guitar. Physically fit for her body size, she was a high school gymnast, college fencing student and has a practiced hand (and foot) in martial arts mostly due to her extensive leisure time growing up and her parents' wealth. For the record, she has no skill with firearms.
Miscellaneous Information:
Though very intelligent, innuendo, double entendre, and subtle sarcasm/comedy will completely be missed by her. This is a very well-known fact and it tends to not bother her. She could be categorized as a technophile, as she heavily relies on such tools in her day-to-day, but this belies an untested resourcefulness waiting to be tapped in the frontiers.
Why Did You Sign Up?:
Space, the final frontier. She would preface this question with two questions: Why not and why haven't you? This is the litmus test of the bleeding edge of human knowledge and capabilities. Above and beyond.
Now off to post something in LitS.
That's five! Don't worry, we'll still be open for a while yet. Given the situation I can easily write people in and out as the need arises, just don't overload me or I'll find ways to make things horrible for you. :mwaha
IC will be up in a little bit once I've doublechecked my plans and the draft.
Quote from: Arcalane on May 11, 2011, 03:35:11 PM
just don't overload me or I'll find ways to make things horrible for you. :mwaha
We haven't even done anything yet and things are already horrible!
Quote from: ShadesFox on May 11, 2011, 09:30:03 PM
Quote from: Arcalane on May 11, 2011, 03:35:11 PM
just don't overload me or I'll find ways to make things horrible for you. :mwaha
We haven't even done anything yet and things are already horrible!
Shades, I think maybe Tech too, have been here long enough to have seen some of Arc's other works. I expected this kind of thing, it fits his MO and why I signed up for it :)
What can I say? I love the concept of enforced method acting (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/EnforcedMethodActing). :)
Well this is the first time I've seen Arcalane GM and it does live up to expectations. On a side note... the whole catastrophic atmosphere entry with damaged cyropods makes me think of Transformers: Beast Wars. So now I keep catching myself thinking of the main team as the maximals and the mysterious enemies as the predicons.
From what I understand we "volunteers" have basically just been fished out from the back of the fridge. Now, if I were any sensible person and holding an impromptu meeting after defrosting someone, I would probably expect us to have not much more than the clothes on our backs at the moment. In this case, Marcus suggesting that they pick up some other equipment (IE guns, scanning equipment, sunblock... ect...) wouldn't be out of place?
Name: Marianne Doflik
Gender: F
Age: 44
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 165 lbs
Career: Marianne began her career studying the compositions of various rocks and soils to mark out metal-rich regions for mining companies. Eventually, after there was no more room for new mining operations, her bosses fired her. Not one to give up, she went back to school for agriculture, using her surveying abilities to find fertile soil that would aid specific crops in growth. From this, she discovered a high interest in ecology, and learned about the other half of the macroorganism spectrum; animals. When she finished her degree, she became a field consultant for park rangers and hunting region managers. She became skilled at hunting, as the encroachment of Man often caused animals to become violent. After a little while, though, her bosses found her "overqualified" and fired her for the next college-grad that was bright-eyed and looking for work.
Appearance: Marianne is of average height, but very muscular and athletic. She has firey red hair that reaches to her shoulder blades, always tied back into a ponytail that's been folded in half, in sharp contrast with her tanned skin. Her soft brown eyes and slim mouth often hold a smile for those she meets. Calluses have built up on her hands, knees, and elbows.
Weapons & Equipment: Marianne brought with her Old Faithful, a long-barreled hunting pistol, and her folding sampler, Steve. In addition, a few pairs of sturdy canvas cargo pants, two each of hot, mild, and cold weather tops, a camouflage suit, and a weather-proof jacket were packed in.
Skills & Abilities: With her experience in hunting, Marianne is both persistent and sneaky. In addition, she is able to get a general impression of an area's soil content by looking at the plants and animals living there, as well as figure out likely boundaries of specific plant or animal presences. With a sampler, she is even more effective, as she can interpret even the most confusing readings and put it into a plan for miners and farmers.
Miscellaneous Information: Marianne has a younger sister entering the ConFed military right now. While Marianne has nothing against the ConFed, her and her sister don't really get along.
Why Did You Sign Up?: Well, to put it simply, she got fired. Again. Tired of going back to school, she decided instead to go out into the frontier to help out the land-illiterate.
Oh dang, forgot all about this :I
Going to finish up my character sheet and PM it to ya Arc for approval.
I have a feeling the character is a bit off for the setting, been a while since I have done any RPing...
EDIT:
Name: Alix Gault
Gender: Male
Age: 29
Height: 6'6"
Weight: 185
Career:
Freelance pilot, usually hired by small scientific teams to fly them and their equipment from site to site or out into the wilderness.
Appearance:
Being born of spacer stock he is rather tall and lanky with a light bone structure, though he is not lacking in musculature or looks too thin.
He has brown eyes and pitch black hair and has very light skin.
If the climate is suitable, he will often be seen wearing a loose shirt with cargo pants and allways wears walking boots.
Hates the cold, will over compensate with clothing in such environments.
Weapons & Equipment:
A civilian rifle used for protection of himself and his craft out in the wild, nothing fancy: 15 rnd clips semi auto 7.62x51 caseless, simple illuminated reflex sight.
Flight PDA, think I-Pad but in the future, not really required with modern VTOL, but it also doubles as his own personal computer.
A light flight headset, used to provide all the information he needs at just a thought via a HUD, with inbuilt headphones and mic.
Swiss army knife type deal and small handtorch he keeps on him at all times.
Backpack which he uses to carry his various trinkets and usually a large bottle of water.
A few nicknack's for luck that he adorns the cockpit with before each flight including vital wobbly head dog.
Skills & Abilities:
Experienced pilot able to fly a variety of craft, able to cope with landing in bad terrain as well as flying in extreme weather, also has experience with flying in variety of atmospheres and gravities.
Has good knowledge of how the various craft operates and some idea of how to fix various problems with the right tools.
Has a knack for fixing simple things both mechanical and electronic, not on the level of a professional but given some time he can usually work it out.
Has experience surviving in a variety of environments.
Skilled in using his rifle, but has little weapons training or experience outside of that.
Miscellaneous Information:
Generally a friendly person but tends not to go out of his way to introduce himself to new people unless he is directly working with them.
He is used to working in teams and both leading and following the lead of others.
He is a workaholic and if he is not doing anything productive he will tend to wander and try to 'help' others, often sticking his nose and opinions in where they are not wanted, not so much helping for the sake of helping but just to keep himself occupied.
Why Did You Sign Up?:
Loves experiencing new places and environments, been a while since his last job off the planet he was living on. He got tired of the routine he had gotten into and jumped at the first opportunity to get out of there.
Sorry for the few days of being silent, been violently sick and bedridden. Shall be catching up now :bunny.
Roster updated. New IC post coming soon, looks like we'll need another 4x4. :B
Question! Who is Marianne talking to? Names are helpful <_<
Quote from: ShadesFox on May 15, 2011, 11:56:41 PM
Question! Who is Marianne talking to? Names are helpful <_<
That big guy over there... obviously.
Wolfe, Shades. I'm trying to not use meta-info since, as far as I can tell (and we can always say she had too much a hangover to notice it), nobody's introduced themselves yet.
Quote from: Inumo on May 16, 2011, 12:57:37 AM
Wolfe, Shades. I'm trying to not use meta-info since, as far as I can tell (and we can always say she had too much a hangover to notice it), nobody's introduced themselves yet.
It seems to have always been okay, for scene and flow, to use the character names in a narrative sense. Meta-gaming would be more if Marianne approached Wolfe and said "hey Wolfe, what's up?" without the introduction.
Though it would be good to ask Arc, and so I shall, did the groups end up meeting one another before being cryogenicly stored? Unless we are on a big reality show, I would hope so. I imagine the volunteers had to be decon'd and then placed in isolation, probably solitary, for at least 72-hours to identify any possible diseases before some type of clean environment mission acclimation, training and preparation before being frosted. Just a guess though.
I was under the impression that there are a lot of us on this ship. Sure we may have met several others, especially in related fields of job-work, but the list of who made it through cyrostasis is probably random enough that we haven't actually met each other except by coincidence.
Yeah, the ones who made it out of cryo were rather random, so I would imagine that theres a reasonable chance that you might recognise the other 'survivors' by sight but not necessarily by name.
There is only 500 or so people on the ship, once you start splitting that down into various subcategories and jobs then the number of people related to your field would be rather small, so I guess you would know them by sight if not also by name. Officers would also be known by name I'm sure.
But for everyone else; I imagine there would have been a few meetings of as many people as possible for them to socially mingle and maybe for the few of the worse trouble makers to be weeded out asap before it is too late. There is a chance that you would have gotten to know a few people outside your speciality, but once you take into account the random selection from the cryo malfunctions and then the even smaller selection for this mission, the chances any of us would know the other is remote.
Derp, this whole post is a side comment to what I actually wanted to say :
If your going to be ambiguous about things, please include a (very) short and appropriately marked OOC explanation so the other players know how to react.
Quote from: Azlan on May 16, 2011, 02:38:47 AM
Though it would be good to ask Arc, and so I shall, did the groups end up meeting one another before being cryogenicly stored? Unless we are on a big reality show, I would hope so. I imagine the volunteers had to be decon'd and then placed in isolation, probably solitary, for at least 72-hours to identify any possible diseases before some type of clean environment mission acclimation, training and preparation before being frosted. Just a guess though.
It's quite likely, I'd imagine they were processed in groups at seperate locations though, or seperate areas of the same facilities. Whether or not people were in the same groups is another matter entirely. Use discretion... the most you probably know is name & prior profession.
Further character submissions will be reviewed and accepted, but nobody new is being deployed to the active team(s) until they get back. If you are not currently on the roster, no IC posting!
Does the van have a standardized cybernetic-neuro interface?
Almost all ConFed stuff has a neural interface port - or several, for that matter. This allows combat vehicles to keep functioning at near full capacity even with injured or missing crew, and gives civilian drivers a better idea of the status of their vehicle.
Hey Azlan, did Rebecca make her remark in an under the breath sort of manner or was it something that might have possibly been overheard by the others? If so, Ari would like to point out that the Saharan desert was supposedly once a tropical rain-forest and that it's not that unheard of for climate zones to change after a long time. It's not that much of a stretch that this area USED to be humid before something happened to change the climate so that moisture didn't find its way to the region much anymore. A great example for any people from earth would be Mars which is also rich in iron (hence the red color) but similar to our current situation, very dry. My character may not know much about dirt, but that sort of offhand knowledge I think would be acceptable. These two are earth-centric examples though, and with everyone spread out over the galax(y/ies) they may be weird examples to use.
Sooo tempted to climb one of those rocks just to see what you would do Arc :P
But since none of us are properly prepared, this sounds too risky to gamble on...
Indeed Arcalane, would you say these things would require gear to climb? Or just skill? Cause if you just need to be competent then probably at least half the people present could make it up, though getting the sensor there would be harder.
Quote from: AmberCross on May 26, 2011, 07:36:34 AM
Hey Azlan, did Rebecca make her remark in an under the breath sort of manner or was it something that might have possibly been overheard by the others? If so, Ari would like to point out that the Saharan desert was supposedly once a tropical rain-forest and that it's not that unheard of for climate zones to change after a long time. It's not that much of a stretch that this area USED to be humid before something happened to change the climate so that moisture didn't find its way to the region much anymore. A great example for any people from earth would be Mars which is also rich in iron (hence the red color) but similar to our current situation, very dry. My character may not know much about dirt, but that sort of offhand knowledge I think would be acceptable. These two are earth-centric examples though, and with everyone spread out over the galax(y/ies) they may be weird examples to use.
As she said, she is no expert. Environmental microbiology does add a few soil, geology and ecology classes to the mix though. Anything between "quotes" is spoken, if I
italicize that is generally internal.
If you want to try climbing one of these (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoodoo_%28geology%29), be my guest.
Pretty sure you won't manage it though. :B
Actually if I recall correctly those aren't too hard to climb... it just takes a while. Regardless, Ari will not be volunteering for this. He loves climbing and it was a hobby of his as a kid, but he gets self conscious around other people and he's just not in the mood for it right now. Plus the whole point would be to get a sensor post up there. That would bring climb from easy but long to not easy and longer. Unless someone has a really long rope that can be tied to a belt. Anyway, unless someone can come up with a really good reason otherwise, Ari thinks it is better to just not mention he can climb that thing.
I thought this was going to be quick :P
Me too. I sure hope no one was expecting Wolfe to try and scale one if those things.
"I'll post when I wake up"... was three days ago. :B
Filler post! Socialize whilst I figure out what you're going to do next. Also open for any more recruits/dropouts since you're back at camp.
That was lucky, I dont seem to have missed anything important.
Had some issues with the ol internet connection for the last few days, hope it will be ok now.
Er, what ever became of my soil testing?
So you want the dirt on the soil analysis, eh? :U
There's nothing out of the ordinary there. Acidic, red tone is indeed because of iron oxides. Apart from the geological oddities everything is normal. No weird chemicals, no strange trace elements, etc.
Hup, forgot to update status. Anyway, if nobody has anything else left they want to do, I'll do a 'moving back to base' post at some point in the next couple of days. Consider yourselves warned.
Ed: Also, the metal plate Ari found is very light. It's only a few millimeters thick and, again, about full handspan across. Lifting it would be trivial, unless you have frayed strings for muscles. :B
I was just going to see if anyone else asks Wolfe what he was doing. Other wise he will just try and map the jamming.
Someone should, but it won't be Rebecca. She's too busy worrying about water and bad life decisions.
Um... Again, what did my dirt tests come back with? One in the river's shallows by the main area, one further upstream (also in the shallows), and one in the middle of the river by the main area.
It's soil. Everything is normal, given the state of the planet. Nothing particularly weird here.
I get the impression my job is highly unnecessary for this adventure. >.> I think from hereon in just assume I'm doing at least one dirt test, more than if there's reason to/time to, and only note if something exceptional shows up. Sound good?
Everyone's job is highly unnecessary for this adventure. That was the whole point! :U
I'm just not sure exactly what more you need to know that you can't already extrapolate from the planetary situation of 'hot, dry, and unsuitable for plantlife'.
For reference: Scout car seats two (driver, gunner), think along the lines of the EDF Scout (http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100101005406/redfaction/images/5/54/SamBrown-15-RF-Scout.jpg). APC seats six passengers (three to each side, facing each other) in a rear compartment, and a driver + a gunner up front. The rear and middle seats from each side can be removed and replaced with a stretcher/gurney, but it's not going to be a comfortable ride. :B
Ed: For further reference, the crates in the dropship/shuttle contain food, water, firearms, medicine... plenty of supplies. More than enough to make it there and back, and probably camp out for a good couple of weeks too. If it's something you could reasonably expect an expedition of ~half a dozen people to be supplied with for an excursion into potentially hostile terrain, it's there.
Soooo, internet down again, sorry for breaking the flow (I guess?).
Anyway, back now.
If you will excuse the canned message.
Sorry about my inactivity lately, I've been working through some things, about which I've posted in the villa. I hope to get back to RPing soon.
Hrm. I kinda wish you would slow down a bit, Arcalane, we've hardly had any inter-character roleplaying at all. :/
Point taken about current situation, though when it becomes feasible, just sitting back and letting the characters chat would be appreciated by me, at least. Dunno about anyone else, though.
Well you have a little time now, although I admit I should've left a little on the flight over. :B
All ahead full and damn the dialog!
Quote from: ShadesFox on July 21, 2011, 10:19:02 PM
All ahead full and damn the dialog!
Second tree to the right and on till morning, I suppose.
I concur with my esteemed compatriots. While I usually find that setting up interactions is a good way to give depth to an RP, I'm still kind of in waiting mode to find out what's going on in the background of this set-up. Plus I find that I get a better sense of characters by seeing how they react to events better than what they say in conversation. Which incidentally I think is something I need to work on cause I'm having trouble making my characters stay consistant. I often find I make them act how I want them to act so that I can accomplish something rather than have them accomplish something based off how I want them to act if that makes sense. While on the subject, does anyone have advice for how to to keep my character's personality steady? Currently I manage to even out after the RP has been running a while but the point I reach is often far from what I started at.
Darn, guess I'm the only one for that. Oh well.
Side note, to Arcalane, I know I didn't put anything about Jaks knowing how to handle firearms in my initial profile, but I hope the scenario I've given is okay for it (really just didn't want to see that stuff go unused. xD ) If it's not okay, however, just tell me, and I'll remove that entire bit of my post and just have him grab a pistol with a 'how hard could it be?' attitude. If it helps, though, I do have an IRL friend into guns, and he taught me a few of the basic rules (i.e., the gun is ALWAYS loaded, even when it's not; NEVER point at anything you don't intend to shoot, check bullet magazine before using, things like that. Admittedly, I've never actually -shot- a gun, but eh. :animesweat ), so I'm hoping that this isn't far-fetched.
In my experience, knowing the rules of safety means you're allowed to HOLD a gun. However there is NO substitute for actual practice and while you might be able to fire the darned thing, your aim is more than likely to be terrible. Furthermore, every gun is different. Some are more different, but even those that are similar will require some readjustment. Knowing how to shoot a rifle is not really akin to knowing how to shoot a shotgun even if both involve aiming down the barrel and pulling the trigger (and almost always breathing out). Your character should be able to figure out those difficulties quickly enough if he's shot something similar in the past, especially if his cyber implants come with data banks on tips and stuff.
It feels weird to realize that I actually know what I'm talking about on this subject, but then I suppose that's what happens when you were a boy scout as a kid and earned merit badges out the wazoo...
Heh. I have no delusions about actually being able to use a gun myself IRL just from those basic rules, believe you me. And yeah, Jaks is mostly familiar with rifles from the IC-mentioned hunting, but for the hostage incident, the officer had him use an automatic weapon, the first and only time he's used one. I do realize that doesn't necessarily make Jaks truly effective with it, especially if he actually has to shoot another human (I'm aware that it is really difficult for most people who aren't trained to actually deliberately take the life of another person, which I will also account for with Jaks. In the hostage situation, the officer just had him and the others around providing flushing-out cover fire) but it's still better than nothing.
Speaking as someone to finished going through 200 round in his pistol (quick day) and detailing his rifle before a class on assault rifles... there isn't much to guns. This pistol has 3 levers, slide catch, trigger, take down lever, and the AR-15 also has one for adjusting the stock and fire selector, but not take down lever. Using a gun isn't hard, point in direction and pull trigger. It is the whole rest of the gun fight that is the hard part.
Heh, yeah but if you don't know about the lever, the safety catch, etc... you are screwed when you try shooting it the first time in combat and it doesn't work.
Hey Arc, I don't know if you took it into account or not, but Marcus has heightened senses due to his participation in the Catalyst's sensory enhancement project. While his senses aren't so keen to the point of absudrity (such as hearing whispered conversations during a wind storm) they are strong enough that they can some times cause him problems. Thats the whole reason behind why he wears sunglasses in the first place. Being in bright light for too long causes him headaches without them.
Unless you intend on being more specific about what you might pick up, there's not much I can tell you. There might be hints of grease or general 'human' smells, but nothing that really stands out.
Those senses would have to be classified as a super power to work through a hazard suit. Just saying.
Quote from: Arcalane
He gestures into the prep area, "There's lockers with light hazard suits in there. If you wind up in an unexplored underground system, you'll want 'em, trust me. I'll see if I can patch y' into the MarsCon team's net too, hazard suits haven't changed much in the last half-century."
I was under the impression that the surface outside the cave was still safe, ergo Marcus wouldn't be wearing his helmet while doing this.
Do the helmet lights have a red setting?