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[Azazeal849]

PRISONER 849

"I've been fighting all my life. But now I think I've finally found something worth fighting for."



Featured in: Expendable: Gamma Moon

This is a bit of an odd one, being the first character I've posted here before they had actually been in a RP. However, it was RPA Rumble time again - and although once again I didn't have anything like the spare time to take part, I thought I would put together a profile anyway. For next year. Just in case.

I have been somewhat lazy here, as going one step further from the Unreal-inspired Shrk'Jaar, this one is literally the player character from that game (maybe the two will meet one day...). I named her Gina after the default character skin, although she is of course not to be confused with my other Gina. Gina 849 is one of the more stereotypical characters I've written, and although this is partially the constraints of the game she's from, I can only hope that she doesn't come off as just a discount Kally Sonder (an already highly effective deployment of the resourceful, haunted ex-ganger archetype by my writing-buddy Dakkagor). Still, we can only know if and when she is brought to life by some actual RP writing.

Since I may one year submit this character for the annual RPA Rumble, any comments that people can give (particularly regarding her "character abilities") will be gratefully received.

Thanks to Enigma (who previously helmed Scorpio, the series where I debuted the devilishly British agent Doverton-Hawke), I was actually able to utilise this concept as a normal RP character too. By fusing Suicide Squad with Alien, Enigma created a story about a bunch of convicts sent to investigate some alien ruins with trouble written all over them, and I found an excuse to wheel this character out sooner than intended. I have toned down the Unreal references considerably (although she retains the 849 number, and the name of one of the other default character skins), but the core of the character remains the same - if anything, it should help to crystallise her for any speculative upcoming Rumbles!

I also need to thank Karma for her feedback on the Rumble version of this character, and I have edited her accordingly.

Trivia: As far as influences go (both in character creation and how I plan to write her), she's one part Arya Stark, one part Ciro from the Gomorrah TV series, and one part my personal research into the sad realities of gang culture.

Spoiler: Rumble profile 

Name: Prisoner 849, first name Gina, surname unknown

Age: 35

Gender: Female

Race: Human. She is of Hispanic descent, although her accent is American

Appearance: Gina is a lean, imposing woman, with a hard, diamond-shaped face and a stone-cold glare that would stop most challengers in their tracks. She has dark brown eyes and a broad nose, set above a narrow mouth and chin. Her short brown hair is unkempt, and beginning to grow out. Her fawn-toned skin is darkened by dust and dirt, and shiny with old sweat. She sports distinctive gang tattoos on her face and upper arms, which take the form of jagged swirls.

Outfit: Gina escaped her crashed prison vessel with little more than a grubby convict's tank top and cargo trousers, both in faded grey. Since then however she has scavenged dead bodies and other sources to secure herself some improvised carrier-webbing as well as climbing gloves and thick-soled combat boots.

Personality: A hard life has built up many walls in Gina's mind - probably too many to fully break down again. She is taciturn and slow to trust, and has an ingrained hatred for most authority figures. She does however prize loyalty and community, even though - or perhaps because - she herself is so seldom accepted into one. Initially ambivalent towards the Nali slave race on Na Pali, their unsolicited kindness towards her has slowly gained them a degree of her empathy.

Background: Fast learning, naturally athletic and with a keen eye for practical problem solving, Gina would have had all the makings of a successful woman if she had been born anywhere but the chronically underfunded ghettoes of New Detroit. In an area where youth unemployment ran close to 50%, and a brutally discriminatory justice system funnelled many youngsters straight from school into prison, the most attractive option for many was to run with the narco-gangs that dominated the ghetto streets. At least they offered a wage, and some semblance of belonging. Gina committed her first theft at 14, and her first murder at 17, when almost without meaning to she fired a stub revolver into a street fight and claimed the life of a teenage boy from a rival gang. Over the years she gained prominence - too introverted to ever lead, but clever and cold enough to become one of the gang's premier fixers and hitmen. Her luck ran out when she was sent to assassinate a local politician, who had long been in the gang's pocket but was no longer toeing the desired line. Captured instead by the politician's bodyguards, it was of course Gina and not the gang boss who took the fall for the attempted murder.

Gina was sentenced to exile on the prison moon of Colditz, though her transport never arrived there. Instead, it found itself pulled out of hyperdrive by the unique properties of a tarydium-saturated planet named Na Pali, and subsequently crash landed. Though many of the crew and prisoners survived the crash, most were subsequently captured or killed by the deadly alien Skaarj who had recently conquered the planet and subjugated its native sapients, the Nali. Awakening mere hours after the main camp outside the ship had been overrun by alien forces, Gina used her hard-won talents to fight her way across the planet's surface in search of some means of escape. Even so, she would have likely been killed without the help of the native Nali, who despite their oppressed state treated fugitive humans with kindness. Some Nali believe that a wounded angel fallen from the stars will liberate them from Skaarj domination. Gina's first priority is simple survival, but she is beginning to sympathise with the natives and their plight, which has awakened a long-dormant sense of justice in her.

Equipment:

• ASMD - Gina first discovered this weapon in the armoury of another crashed starship, and it has been her weapon of choice ever since. Short for Atomic Shock Matter Disruptor (or, informally, And Suck My D***) this particle weapon has both beam and pulse fire modes. If the unstable energy core within the weapon was ever detonated at full charge, the resulting compressed energy release would bring down a reasonably sized building. Active ability: Both beam and pulse shots from the ASMD constitute a "standard" attack. If the shot connects, it will maim and / or knock back a human-sized target. Beam shots cause greater knockback, whereas pulse shots explode on contact with a damage radius of about 2 metres.
• Universal Translator - Picked up from a dead guard as she escaped her ship's cellblock, this unassuming little device has indirectly saved Gina's life numerous times by giving her valuable insight into her surroundings, letting her eavesdrop on hostile conversations, and letting her communicate with the alien Nali. Passive ability: Automatically decodes written or spoken text into English so that Gina can understand it, provided she has a moment spare to glance at the screen.
• Flares - Scavenged from various former crewmen, Gina currently has three of these simple chemical torches in her possession. They have found use as illumination, distraction and - once or twice - something to shove in an opponent's face to get them away from her. Active ability, instant effect, limited use (3): A flare can be struck in one action, after which it will produce light, smoke and localised heat until the start of Gina's next round.

Abilities:

• ASMD Burst - Field tests of the ASMD have shown an unexpected side-effect: prematurely detonating a pulse shot with a beam one initiates a chain reaction, far more powerful than an individual shot. Given the speed of the projectile, almost all incidences of this in standard combat are accidental. Gina, however, has gotten rather good at producing these trick shots on demand. She uses it sparingly, as multiple uses can quickly deplete the weapon's power core. Active ability, instant effect, 1 turn cooldown. If the shot connects, it has enough power to destroy a small vehicle, or equivalent. The blast radius of the explosion is approximately 5 metres.
• Fated - The Nali aliens that inhabit Na Pali claim that a messiah is destined to rid their world of the Skaarj "sky demons". Gina herself maintains that she is just extremely lucky. Active ability, instant effect, once per battle. Through some quirk of fate or the surrounding environment, Gina can evade the consequences of an opponent's action.

Attributes:

• Improvise - Gina's survival has often rested on turning the local environment to her advantage, and making use of any resource she can scavenge. She is adept at picking up and using any weapons that might be lying around, or crafting random items into offensive tools on the fly.
• Athletic - Gina is very fit by human standards, and is adept at running and climbing. A dangerous life has also honed her hair-trigger reactions, and while some good solid cover is always welcome, she has an instinctive knack for evading enemy fire. She doesn't dodge bullets - that would be silly - but she is uncannily good at predicting where a weapon is pointing and not being in the line of fire when it goes off. Anything that does hit her will affect her much as it would any other baseline human.
• Survivor - In her long trek across Na Pali, Gina has experienced climates ranging from icy glaciers to volcanic mining complexes. Extreme environments no longer particularly faze her psychologically (though she is still subject to physical effects such as heat, cold or thin atmosphere).
• Close Combat Weakness - While Gina could probably deck the average person in a street fight, experience has taught her that almost every other creature in the universe is far better at it than her. She therefore avoids up-close fights like the plague, and may panic if she gets caught up in one with an obviously superior opponent. The first action Gina takes after a hand-to-hand "response" action will be less strategic or effective than normal.
• Night Terrors - A brutal upbringing and an even more brutal marooning on Na Pali tend to leave scars on the mind. As far as Gina is concerned, the Rumble itself is a particularly violent dream. Things that remind her of especially harrowing events on Na Pali can make her temporarily freeze up. Certain triggers will force Gina to forfeit one of her actions for that turn. A list of these triggers will be PM'd to the judge prior to the match.

Spoiler: Profile for Expendable 

Prisoner number: 49-0849

Prisoner name: Sonia Martinez

Race: Human (mixed Caucasian / Hispanic ethnicity)

Sex: Female

Age: 38

Favorite Food: Anything, as long as it's home cooked. Her mother was rather militant about this, and it stuck

Augments: None

Description: Sonia is a lean, imposing woman, with a hard, diamond-shaped face and a stone-cold glare that would stop most challengers in their tracks. She has dark brown eyes and a broad nose, set above a narrow mouth and chin. Her short brown hair is unkempt, and beginning to grow out. Her skin is fawn-toned and she sports distinctive gang tattoos on her face and upper arms, which take the form of jagged swirls.

Conviction: Attempted murder, and a whole load of unproven ones

Sentence: Life Imprisonment

Speciality: Former gang hitman

Prisoner History: Fast learning, naturally athletic and with a keen eye for practical problem solving, Sonia would have had all the makings of a successful woman if she had been born anywhere but the chronically underfunded ghettoes of New Detroit. In an area where youth unemployment ran close to 50%, and a brutally discriminatory justice system funnelled many youngsters straight from school into prison, the most attractive option for many was to run with the narco-gangs that dominated the ghetto streets. At least they offered a wage, and some semblance of belonging.

Sonia committed her first theft at 14, and her first murder at 17, when almost without meaning to she fired a stub revolver into a street fight and claimed the life of a teenage boy from a rival gang. Over the years she gained prominence - too introverted to ever lead, but clever and cold enough to become one of the gang's premier fixers and hitmen.

Her luck ran out when she was sent to assassinate a local politician, who had long been in the gang's pocket but was no longer toeing the desired line. Captured instead by the politician's bodyguards, it was of course Sonia and not the gang boss who took the fall for the attempted murder.

Mental Status: Sane, although a hard life has built up many walls in her mind - probably too many to fully break down again. She is taciturn and slow to trust, and has an ingrained hatred for most authority figures. She does however prize loyalty and community, even though - or perhaps because - she herself is so seldom accepted into one.

Weapons: Experienced with semi-automatic pistols, pump action shotguns, light automatics and hand grenades. She'll take what she can get from the offered armoury.

Personal Gear: Prison Omni (which she rarely uses), a couple of old war novels, lighter and cigarettes, and clothes.

[Azazeal849]

SNEAK PREVIEW

For my reference and your amusement, here are the main NPC characters who will be appearing in my future RP Reckoning. It’s probably not too much of an exaggeration to call this the Infinity War of my group’s 40K saga, as almost every character we’ve written throughout the series will be appearing somewhere.

This will (probably) be the concluding chapter of the series, and will feature plot threads for ground forces, space fleets, and the cloak-and-dagger operatives working away in the background. It is entirely possible that I will need to run it as several threads in the Persistent World forum.

Reckoning recruitment will launch after PaintSerf and I have had a chance to finish some additional scenes for past RPs.

Spoiler: The Imperial Guard 

Spoiler: Warmaster Andrea Caiser 

"I fokked the Tyranids, I think I can handle one flesh-lump in a governor’s sash.”



Featured in: Reckoning (pending)

Age: 130 Ichabarr years, 93 Terran standard (juvenat assisted)
Rank: Crusade warmaster
Profile: Caiser is a short woman, but no-one has ever succeeded in making her look small. Her bombastic personality easily fills a room, and in her hands the silver walking cane that she carries almost takes on the aspect of a deadly weapon. She has a fervent, merciless belief in the Imperial cause, and has marshalled two successful inter-system campaigns in the Ixaniad sector.

Spoiler: Pontifex Byron Albinius 

"See warmaster! This is living history!"



Featured in: Reckoning (pending)

Age: 67 Aurelian years, 75 Terran standard
Rank: Ecclesiarchy representative
Profile: The reigning pontifex of Aurelias Prime, Albinius was the figurehead for imperial resistance when the shrine world came under heavy Chaos attack, although many would argue that the real action was undertaken by his deputy, lord cardinal Tarpeian. Albinius is considered outspoken but moderate in most Imperial circles, and he has leveraged support from his flock by such populist gestures as eschewing juvenat treatments despite his advanced age.

Spoiler: Lord Commissar Havelock Tyne 

"You wear a commissar's uniform, and I expect you not to dishonour it."



Featured in: Reckoning (pending)

Age: 74 Strygos years, 68 Terran standard
Rank: Lord commissar
Profile: Havelock Tyne is the steely eye of the Munitorum on the highest echelons of the crusade leadership. Although many have noted his preference to observe from the background rather than to outright dictate, this just makes the crusade generals nervous of what he is really thinking and noting down for future prosecutions. He is far more direct in handling his subordinate commissars, and has a reputation among many of them as an onerous taskmaster.

Spoiler: Commissar Joseph Schenke 

“If one of you listens to that maniac and shoots a civilian who isn't already pointing a gun at you, you'll be getting a bullet in the head from me.”


Featured in: It's Just A Short Run, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 29 Terran standard
Rank: Commissar
Profile: Despite his young age, Schenke carries himself with a natural confidence and authority, secured by an early baptism of fire where he rallied the passengers of an Imperial transport against an unexpected pirate attack. At his side since that event has been Janie Ephese, a hot-blooded young mutant who fought as hard as any puregene human. This frequently causes raised eyebrows from the Guardsmen he is assigned to, but Schenke keeps her around for her practical mindset and - privately - for her sarcastic banter that closely matches his own offbeat sense of humour. Schenke is also a former associate of Ella Seren, having acted as her handler before and during the pirate attack. He is shocked and saddened to learn that she has joined the Adrantian rebels, but a traitor is a traitor - even if they used to be friends.

Spoiler: The Imperial Navy 

Spoiler: Admiral Jamis Bravick 

"Deploy for broadside firepower. Equal speed turn, two points sunward, maintain cloud formation."



Featured in: Reckoning (pending)

Age: 82 Ichabarr years, 58 Terran standard
Rank: Crusade fleet commander
Profile: A veteran of nearly 40 years in the Navy, Bravick has risen to command through a critical eye, a firm hand and the right political backing. He is viewed as a cautious and by-the-book commander, perhaps overly so by more aggressively-minded void admirals. However, his conservative command style stems from a belief that the Navy is the only branch of the Imperial war machine that can doom the entire course of a war in a single day. He leads the crusade fleet from the Dictator-class battle carrier Damnatus.

Spoiler: Commodore Nazim Tehrani 

"Well, you know what it says on our christening plaque, gentlemen - qui tangit frangitur. Let 'em come."



Featured in: Reckoning (pending)

Age: 55 Ichabarr years, 39 Terran standard
Rank: Commander, 5th cruiser squadron
Profile: Serving in battlefleet Ixaniad's RRF before being promoted in the wake of the Coreltis crusade, Tehrani is diplomatic about the sometimes heated rivalry between Guard and Navy. In combat she is an aggressive and decisive commander, eager to exploit opportunities and take the fight to the enemy.

Spoiler: Captain Elspeth Von Scharn 

Thurlow: “So what’s the plan, Eppie?”
Von Scharn: “To win, naturally.”



Featured in: Hearts of Darkness, Penitence, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 57 Ichabarr years, 40 Terran standard
Rank: Captain, HDMS Impiger
Profile: Eppie von Scharn commands with a carefully affected air of indifference, no matter how dire the situation; an attitude perhaps best evoked by her signature 'victory lho'. Formerly the commander of the 5th cruiser squadron, she was demoted and replaced by commodore Tehrani following the debacle of the Coreltis crusade - a debacle which she lays squarely on the shoulders of the deceased inquisitor Drake. She does not make a secret of her continuing animosity towards the inquisition, although whatever views she holds of her own situation are kept carefully private.

Spoiler: Commander Banastre Thurlow 

"Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to represent the entire Imperial Navy at the buffet."



Featured in: Penitence, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 29 Axinite years, 35 Terran standard
Rank: Executive officer, HDMS Impiger
Profile: Born on the pleasure world of Axinite and with the somewhat carefree attitude and flamboyant mannerisms of such people, Thurlow is an easy man to underestimate. However, he has proved both talented and enthusiastic in a command role, and has turned the Impiger's marine complement in particular into a ruthless, well-drilled force.

Spoiler: Imperial Irregular Forces 

Spoiler: Inquisitor Alexis Yannick 

"So our options are for you to submit to a complete mind scan, or I barge my way in anyway and leave you a vegetable, or worse."



Featured in: The Silent Forge, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 88 Terran standard (juvenat assisted)
Rank: Inquisitor
Profile: Yannick is everything you might expect from an inquisitor - cunning, politically savvy, and relentless in the pursuit of heretics. He has made enemies in the mechanicus through numerous incidents of meddling in their affairs, and has recently begun to establish a similar reputation with the Telepathica through his relentless pursuit of the Ampoliros incident. The involvement of major Martin Crenshaw in the incident inevitably led him towards conflict with the major’s patron, inquisitor Alia Machairi.

Spoiler: Interrogator Elizabeth Borden 

"If you find something heretical, annihilate it."



Featured in: The Silent Forge, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 26 Terran standard
Rank: Interrogator
Profile: Borden is very adept at affecting a friendly and garrulous personality, but under it all she is as cold as her master, if not colder. Having undergone extensive (and expensive) reconstructive surgery after her close call with an arco-flagellant on Anatolia, she has been working tirelessly with inquisitor Yannick to bring down his enemies.

Spoiler: Inquisitor Eran DeShilo 

"It's a shame. That boy had a lot of potential."



Featured in: He's A Dead Man, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 30 Cantus years, 46 Terran standard
Rank: Inquisitor
Profile: An inquisitor originally based in the Markayn Marches of Calixis, DeShilo investigated the cult uprising on Solomon and, later, the well-publicised Pembroke Incident, although during the latter he was forced to withdraw by the superior authority of lord inquisitor Sidonis. After the incident concluded with Sidonis burning Makita Hive with over a billion souls still inside, DeShilo developed a deep suspicion of the inquisitor lord. After his duty securing the Makita quarantine site was discharged, DeShilo made it his personal mission to oppose any Imperial operative who sought to accumulate Sidonis' kind of overreaching power.

Spoiler: Inquisitor Feyd Lucullis 

"I trust the Tarot. I don't trust the psyker reading it."



Featured in: Penitence, Shades of Grey, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 59 Terran standard
Rank: Inquisitor
Profile: An inquisitor of some notoriety, Lucullis is known to be cold and enigmatic but also scrupulously fair. He was one of the three inquisitors called upon to judge the rogue agents who fought against a daemon and a C’tan shard at the Saros Station incident, right on the doorstep of Holy Terra. He has a gift for detecting lies, causing some to whisper that he is a hidden psyker. After thwarting a daemon manifestation on Vaxanide, a victory that came at great cost to his retinue, he received inquisitor Machairi’s report on the Nebula conspiracy and immediately set out to rendezvous with her.

Spoiler: Inquisitor Alia Machairi 

“Don’t let me down. I’ll be seeing you again.”


Featured in: The Prophet In Silver, Penitence, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 43 Terran standard
Rank: Inquisitor
Profile: Until recently, Alia was a rising star of the ordos, with a close-knit retinue, a talent for diplomacy, and contacts across the Calixis and Ixaniad sectors. This changed when her former mentor Sidonis was revealed as a daemonhost, and she inherited the poisoned chalice of the Saros Incident survivors who had previously served in his personnel. While spending significant political capital to keep various imperial institutions off her wards’ backs, Alia leveraged all of her assets to bring the heretic DeRei to ground, culminating in a battle aboard Cocordia orbital and the unmasking of the Adrantis conspiracy. Although their actions forced the Adrantean Patriots to act months before they were ready, they could not stop the rebellion from going ahead, and Alia herself had her neck broken by a daemon in thrall to the traitor Alicia Tarran. She is now confined to a hospital bed, protected by her few remaining allies.

Spoiler: Penitent Marcus Black 

”He isn’t dead until I see his frakking corpse!”


Featured in: He's A Dead Man, The Replicants, The Prophet In Silver, Drowning for the Cure, A Wash of Black, Kaleidoscope, Penitence, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 8 Solomon years, 32 Terran standard
Rank: Former inquisitorial agent (investigator)
Profile: Like the rest of the Saros survivors, Marc was assigned the penance of hunting down the heretic Arcolin DeRei by the Terran tribunal. Although ostensibly absolved by Machairi’s confessor Bellanor, he remains under judgement as far as the wider inquisition is concerned. That said, he requires little encouragement, having a long and bitter history with DeRei. After losing an eye fighting DeRei and the Nebula Corps on Concordia orbital, he has recovered and returned to active duty, though at a more lasting cost. Having burned bridges with almost all of his friends, including his sister Kelly, he has become a private, cold and ruthless individual.

Spoiler: Penitent Kelly Black 

“We can all sink really, really low. But we have to believe that we can bring each other back.”


Featured in: He's A Dead Man, The Replicants, The Prophet In Silver, Drowning for the Cure, A Wash of Black, Kaleidoscope, Penitence, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 7 Solomon years, 31 Terran standard
Rank: Former inquisitorial agent (verispex)
Profile: Kelly has been through hell in the last year, suffering judgement from the ordos and losing a number of friends to death and betrayal - even her brother Marc, whose blind wrath she can no longer tolerate. The greatest toll on her physically has been the brief possession by the DeRei daemon on Baraspine, for which she still bears a protective (and accusatory) pentagrammic ward. However, she still possesses her skills and her logical mind, and perhaps more importantly her empathy. She has used the latter to support the broken psyker Gavin Jenkins, as well as her friends Kally and Sapphira who are some of the few remaining survivors of recent events.

Spoiler: Sister Kiana 

“Amazing what the Navy will do to get the church’s blessing.”


Featured in: Penitence, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 43 Coseflame years, 55 Terran standard
Rank: Canoness
Profile: Sister Kiana is the dry-witted canoness of the Order of the Silent Vigil, a sororitas order based on the feudal planet of Coseflame. Founded based on Tarot readings of a grave future threat to the sector, it was quickly realised that maintaining a full order under arms without a concrete opponent to face was not strategically or economically viable. The Vigil therefore adapted and began to operate as a highly-efficient spy network throughout the Adrantis sub, watching and waiting for the prophesied threat. Kiana has assisted inquisitor Machairi on several occasions, and mobilised all of her combat-trained sisters for Machairi’s endgame on Concordia orbital. When the Adrantis revolution began, the Vigil’s convent was destroyed by a treacherous orbital strike, killing all of the order’s novices and incinerating their main communications hub. However, the Vigil’s agents and astropaths remain in the field, and a thousand battle sisters stand ready to exact revenge.

Spoiler: Magos Jasmin Ankari 

“I would prefer for it to be dealt with...internally.”


Featured in: Penitence, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 136 Perinetus years, 105 Terran standard
Rank: Weaponsmith
Profile: Jasmin Ankari is a highly influential magos on the Adrantis forge world of Perinetus, second only to the reclusive archmagos Lazarine Krupp. She is a fearsome and enigmatic figure, managing the output of the forge world's armament factories with uncompromising efficiency. As well as frequent liaisons with the Imperial Navy who berth in the shipyards above Perinetus, she has also insinuated herself with the shadowy Lords Dragon who police the mechanicus from within. She has a long-standing working relationship with secutor Vizkop, although that relationship is not always harmonious. After Perinetus erupted into civil war following the Adrantis revolution, she took command of the loyalist mechanicus forces.

Spoiler: Ocularis Raechel Kuscelian 

“Hostile crane neutralised. There goes a sentence I am unlikely to speak again.”


Featured In: To Cleanse The Stars, Sins of Ambition (retconned), The Silent Forge (part 1), The Silent Forge (part 2), Penitence, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 15 Vostian years, 30 Terran standard
Rank: Lords Dragon Ocularis
Profile: A pious, but personable (and occasionally even playful) tech priestess, Raechel worked in a manufactorum on Vost before getting roped into an inquisition investigation which ended with her being forced to kill her corrupted former overseer, magos Sollisto. Raechel went through a phase of unhealthy paranoia following these events, even going so far as to keep forbidden inquisition access codes. Following events on the cursed forgeworld of Anatolia, she was inducted into the Lords Dragon - the shadowy mechanicus secret police whom most in the Imperium believe to be just a myth. She focuses on MIU linking to physical assets, be that commandeering machinery or providing the muscle for an operation through a retinue of servitors. She and her partner Nikolai Oppen were dispatched to investigate the legality of the Adrantis Nebula programme - an objective that initially put them at odds with inquisitor Machairi's team, but they found common ground in the threat posed by Arcolin DeRei. When the Adrantis conspiracy was uncovered on Concordia orbital, Nikolai was killed protecting Raechel and several of Machairi’s agents from a data-daemon. Raechel remains with the surviving agents, determined to assist them in taking down the Nebula hereteks as the reclamation crusade mobilises.

Spoiler: The Adrantean Patriots 

Spoiler: Subsector governor Thomas Tierce 

“They have defined us as traitors and heretics. We must conquer or we must die.”


Featured in: Penitence, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 59 Baraspine years, 65 Terran standard
Rank: Governor of the Adrantis Nebula subsector
Profile: Although he rules from the subsector capital of Tephaine, Tierce grew up on its rival hive world Baraspine. Born to midhiver parents, he found himself press-ganged into the Imperial Navy, but was saved from a deck-slave’s life by his parents, who sold everything to buy him a midshipman’s commission. Tierce proved talented, eventually rising to command and winning several high profile naval battles. This earned him a high position when he retired from the Navy to enter politics, setting the stage for his eventual governorship. His leadership was marked by many drives towards greater efficiency and self-sufficiency among the Adrantean institutions. A compassionate man, he believed in the Adrantean people above all and became increasingly disillusioned with the demands of the wider imperium, a disillusionment which became complete with his attempted kidnapping by the rogue inquisitor Nalaran. Several years later, his plans for independence were forced forward by the meddling of another inquisitor, Alia Machairi.

Spoiler: Colonel Serjan Tarquinius 

“We just want peace. A chance to use our own resources to shape our own destiny.”


Featured in: Penitence, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 61 Tephaine years, 56 Terran standard
Rank: Commander of the Nebula Corps
Profile: The Nebula Corps are governor Tierce’s life guards and rapid reaction force, elite soldiers utilising bionics and armour crafted by tech-priests more interested in protecting the subsector than adhering rigidly to mechanicus procedures. Tarquinius is a hero of the Dominion Crisis and one of Adrantis' longest-serving officers. When the Adrantis military leadership was decapitated by the Chaos assault, Tarquinius and his stormtrooper company were doing boarding combat drills on then-commodore Tierce's ship. He and his soldiers formed the core of Tierce's insurgent force during the crisis. He and Tierce worked in close tandem throughout that time, and after Tierce's appointment as Lord Governor, he handpicked Tarquinius to command his bodyguard detail and eventually to command the Nebula Corps.

Spoiler: Magos Terminius Delzharian 

“Such primitive weaponry.”

Featured in: Reckoning (pending)

Age: 275 Perinetus years, 212 Terran standard
Rank: Tech priest magos
Profile: Formerly third in line to the archmagos’ throne on Perinetus, Delzharian now leads the mechanicus faction sympathetic to the Adrantean cause. He has always had an aesthetic mind, preferring to grace machine spirits with elegant bodies that sometimes seem at odds with the solid power of most mechanicus designs. He gained fame for his work on MIU technology (including a neurofeedback generator that he used to devastating effect on the first day of the Adrantis uprising), although his greatest work is no doubt the implants used by the vaunted Nebula Corps. Constructed in necessary secrecy with the help of shady characters such as the now-dead rogue trader Nibenay, he combined power armour interfaces, communal datafeed links and combat drug injectors to create what he hoped would be the ultimate soldier. Delzharian has extensive frontline experience as an enginseer, although nowadays he prefers to protect his vastly expanded Knowledge by being where the Titans aren’t. He is meticulously careful, and some say that he transferred his human brain into his combat servitor bodyguards several years ago, and now uses his own original body as a decoy.

Spoiler: Executor Arcolin DeRei 

“There’s always a choice.”


Featured in: He's A Dead Man, Drowning for the Cure, A Wash of Black, Kaleidoscope, Penitence, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 10 Solomon years, 41 Terran standard
Rank: Executor to the Subsector Governor
Profile: Once a loyal arbitrator, Arcolin’s mind snapped when he was forced to purge his own heretic family. The only survivor was his sister Ailil, who he would not see again until many years later, living under the name of Alicia Tarran. Falling in with a Tzeentchian cult, Arcolin committed many terrible deeds: being involved in two uprisings on Solomon, assisting in another on Marioch, and acting as a hired gun for the possessed rogue trader Emerald. He planned to throw the entire Adrantis subsector into civil war, only to pull back from the brink when the daemon Táin engineered a revelation, at the expense of his old foes Marcus and Kelly Black. Something of his old honour seemingly resurrected, Arcolin sought to salvage what he could and turn the now-inevitable Adrantis uprising into a force for positive change. While attempting to convince his former enemies of his motives, he was struck with a poisoned needle and left in a critical condition. He remains on life support on the Adrantian capital of Tephaine.

Spoiler: Alicia Tarran, the Hero of Siculi 

“This time I choose my family. Both of them.”


Featured in: Drowning for the Cure, A Wash of Black, Kaleidoscope, Penitence, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 34 Marioch, 35 Terran standard
Rank: Captain
Profile: Alicia grew up on Marioch and served in the newly-formed Adrantis Nebula Corps, rising to interplanetary prominence after she took command and extricated the Nebulas from a deadly ambush, rescuing the captured governor Tierce in the process. Unfortunately, fame drove a wedge between her and her former comrades, and she retired back to Marioch - only to be caught up in a heretic uprising. Making a dark pact to destroy her enemies, Alicia barely survived and was hauled in by the inquisition for monitoring. She served with them until the Saros Station incident, after which she disappeared and took up the disguise of a rogue trader, searching for a new cause she could truly believe in. After being reunited with her former colleagues, she discovered that the erstwhile cultist Arcolin DeRei was her brother, and the daemon she had allowed to possess her was a long-standing ally of the DeRei family. Caught between Arcolin and Tarquinius’ seemingly sincere desire for a better, freer Adrantis on one hand, and the unyielding hatred of her former colleagues on the other, she allowed the daemon to possess her a second time and defected to the Adrantean cause.

Spoiler: Astropath Ella Seren 

Alicia: “Did you see it in your cards?”
Ella: “No. I see you.”


Featured in: It's Just A Short Run, Gibbous, A Wash Of Black, Kaleidoscope, Penitence, Reckoning (pending)

Age: 23 Terran standard
Rank: Astropath
Profile: Ella was originally intended to be just another astropath, slowly wearing herself out in the messenger eyries of Aurelias Prime. Instead, she found herself caught up in a pirate raid en route to her posting, and together with the hospitaller sisters Rose and Jennifen she succeeded in sending the distress signal that brought the inquisition to their rescue. Impressed by her tenacity, inquisitor Suffolk immediately snapped her up for his retinue, but after his unfortunate death she found herself instead working with the agents of inquisitor lord Sidonis. As well as the typical astropath skills of signalling and scrying the future, she demonstrated unexpected skills such as offensive telepathy and the ability to control her former inquisitor’s force sword. She served with her friends through every trial until Concordia orbital, where, tortured by her recent Tarot readings, she made the fateful decision to join Alicia Tarran in defecting. Although she is unflinchingly hard-working, Ella’s greatest strength and her biggest flaw is how much she cares. She kept secrets for her friends that ultimately did more harm than good, and many of her former allies believe that it was caring too much for Alicia Tarran that led her to abandon them for the Adrantean cause.

[Azazeal849]

MATTY BEDINGER

"Hey...um, ambulance, I need an ambulance!"



Featured in: Grip Grop Drae

This character is a departure for me in a couple of ways. For one thing, I'm very rarely enthused by RPs where the main characters are a bunch of teenagers. Etmoc's Grip Grop Drae, however, promised to be every bit as bizarre and creepy as the title suggests - which was a bonus when I'd challenged myself to RP something completely different, and the first few character ideas that were pitched by the other players sold it. Secondly, this was the first character where I let chance decide their core personality, courtesy of Minkasha and her home-made NPC generator (which I have attached for reader interest at the bottom of this post). Struggling a little for character concepts beyond somebody quiet who likes taking photos, I used the first section of Mink's generator and duly rolled up "perceptive eye, self-aware of thoughts / feelings, finds it easy to lie". Surprisingly enough, the first person to pop into my mind was my youngest sister (not the same sister who inspired Kelly) who not only likes taking photos (and artsy things in general), but is indeed very perceptive and one of the most emotionally intelligent people I know. It became fairly easy to conceptualise the character after making that breakthrough. In the end, I decided to flip the character from female to male to explore something a little off-archetype.

As an ordinary kid thrown into an extraordinary situation, he shares some common ground with my resident ghost hunter (and part time quantum leaper) Gina. In fact, since the GGD story explicitly features people jumping between universes, I'm far from ruling out some sort of meeting between the two. But whereas Gina has had time to adjust to her calling (sort of...) and has the advantage of a natural well of determination, Matty is much more the type to flee or freeze when confronting an unknown danger for the first time. Since so few of us are born heroes, I hope that wanting to see him grow from this shaky start will be the reader's investment in the character.

Or maybe I'll take another leaf out of Minkasha's Guide to Merciless RPing, and simply have him implode. I haven't decided.

Trivia: Finding "ordinary"-looking character photos on an internet full of models was surprisingly difficult, though eventually I settled for the one you see above. It's actually off an Aspergers awareness website, though I didn't consciously design Matt as being on the spectrum (he does have one fairly stereotypical aspie trait, which is having a lot of deep thoughts and empathy that he has trouble articulating, though I see that as more a product of his shyness and immaturity).

Spoiler: Matty's full profile 

Name: Matthew Bedinger (Matt or Matty to most people)
Age: 16
High School Grade: Junior / 11th grade

Appearance: Matthew is an unremarkable boy to look at - brown eyes; brown hair that tends to curl as it grows out (and which he has long given up on trying to make look cool); pale skin that tans well in summer. He was hit pretty hard with acne when he was 12, and though it has since cleared up, he still has faint scars on his forehead that he hides with his fringe.

He is 5'8 but still has some growing to do (or so he hopes, at least). He grazes rather than eats big meals, and so is fairly skinny. Incidentally, he's also hilariously bad at sports.

Clothes-wise you're more likely to see him in simple jeans and hoodie rather than anything that's had actual thought put into it. This is in contrast to his personal hygiene, about which he'll often be paranoid enough to take two showers in a day, with a liberal spraying of Lynx in between.

Personality: Matthew is an introverted, observant and emotionally-aware boy. He feels more comfortable in small groups of people he trusts, rather than big parties, though even then he'll mostly listen, perhaps interjecting with the occasional joke. One-on-one he can be a lot more engaged, and has had deep conversations with all the other members of the group at some point or other.

He laughs easily, though sometimes it's just nerves, and doesn't deal well with conflict - making excuses to avoid it where he can even if it's not the best option. He would also much rather lie than hurt somebody's feelings.

Bio: Matthew is the eldest of three siblings, with two years separating him from his middle sister Jessie and three from his youngest Danielle. Jessie is a sensitive girl who is recently enjoying the social benefits of winning the puberty lottery, whereas Danielle is easily the most grounded and practical of the three and is probably going to be a policewoman or a paramedic some day. Matthew readily takes advantage of the fact that they fight with each other rather than him ("Dani stole my top again!") and mostly leaves them to their own devices unless they specifically come to him. That said, he sometime feels guilty for not taking on the "protective big brother" role more.

Whether it's growing up with two sisters or just not having many stereotypically male interests, Matthew has always felt more comfortable around girls than boys. He was good friends with Violet all through elementary and middle school (she would generally take the lead with whatever they were going to do, and he would follow along) and has done his best to be there for her since the accident - though nowadays, they generally don't talk about it. Aside from his close friends he mostly sits on the periphery at school - generally neither bullied nor invited to people's house parties.

Matthew has a good eye for pictures, and ever since he got a camera phone he has a habit of stopping to take photos of everything. He has thought a few times about asking for a professional camera for his next birthday, but feels too bad for the amount of money it would cost. He has an extensive library of landscapes and slice-of-life photos backed up on his laptop, and quite a few more of his close friends that often find their way onto their Facebook and Instagram pages.

High School Activities/Groups: Thinks about joining the photographic society every semester, never quite gets round to it.

Favorite Time of Day: "Evening, I guess. I'm a bit of a night owl. I don't do mornings." *Laughs*

Favorite Hobbies/Things to Do: "Uh...I like reading, listening to music...taking photos, editing photos..." *Laughs* "Okay, maybe playing about with 'em on my phone doesn't count as editing."

Favorite Places to Go/Be in the City: *Shrugs* "The other guys make the plans and I'll usually tag along for whatever. They get annoyed at me always stopping to take photos." *Laughs*

Sunrise or Sunset: "Yeah, I've got loads of pics of sunsets. I'd love a sunrise one but good luck getting me outta bed..."

Joke/comment on the character posted above you: "Violet? I've never won an argument with her in my life." *Laughs* "I dunno, you feel like it might help to talk to her about some things...but sometimes you just gotta let her work through it herself, y'know?"

The Other: Evie. Short for whatever kind of name fits the Others' setting.

Spoiler: Minkasha's patented NPC generator 

Personality Traits:
1.
Hopeless romantic
2.
Jock/Athletic/Kinetic thinker
3.
Critical Intellect (quick to learn, sharp mind)
4.
Brooder
5.
Shy
6.
Family Person
7.
Pleasure Seeker (1. Sexual 2. Alcoholic 3. Domination (in battle or in general etc) 4. In fun 5. Submission)
8.
Extrovert (needy of people)
9.
Artistic
10.
Ditzy
11.
Silent Type
12.
Nurturing
13.
Vindictive
14.
Introvert
15.
Iron Will
16.
Commitment Oriented
17.
Fabulous
18.
Hygienic
19.
Green Thumb
20.
Animal Lover
21.
Addiction Prone/ Escapist
22.
Non-Committal
23.
Compulsive Liar
24.
Arrogant
25.
Manipulator
26.
Religious
27.
Rebellious/Counter culture
28.
Nerd
29.
Comedic
30.
Bookworm
31.
Encouraging
32.
Helper
33.
Sharp eye sight/perceptive
34.
Self-confident/self-loving
35.
Slob
36.
Rambler
37.
Special Snowflake/ self-righteous /egocentric
38.
Sadist
39.
By the book
40.
Morally Ambiguous
41.
Humble/Able to take criticism
42.
Well-spoken/Smooth voice
43.
Self-aware of thoughts and feelings
44.
Charismatic presence
45.
Lucky
46.
Low self-esteem
47.
Violent/Brutal
48.
Child at heart
49.
Hates children/loud noises/wild behavior
50.
Party Animal/loud
51.
Nimble bodily movement/Graceful (bodily motion and control)
52.
Selfless
53.
Desires to learn
54.
Willingness to educate others
55.
Brave
56.
Stubborn
57.
Stuck up
58.
Attention seeking
59.
Selfish/possessive
60.
Abusive/Confrontational
61.
Socially retarded
62.
Masochist (Emotionally and/or physically)
63.
Follows personal sense of morality
64.
Empathy to the disempowered
65.
Patient
66.
Pervert/deviant (Roll 2 fetishes)
67.
Can’t keep a secret/bad liar
68.
Vain
69.
Prone to obsession
70.
Seeks to understand other’s perspectives
71.
Loyal
72.
Lack of emotional expression
73.
Paranoid
74.
Skeptic
75.
Klutzy
76.
Shrouded in Mystery/Secretive
77.
Heart on Sleeve
78.
Physically appears young for age/Ages exceptionally well
79.
Relishes in even sportsmanship/Dislikes or hates underhandedness
80.
Good hearted
81.
Sensitive to auras or emotions of others
82.
Adrenaline Junkie
83.
Controlling
84.
Planner
85.
Disorganized
86.
Clingy to people (and/or things)
87.
Sentimental seeker/stuck in the past
88.
Hoarder
89.
Chivalrous/Bitch to specific gender (1. Male 2.Female 3. Traps 4. Everyone)
90.
Kleptomaniac
91.
Sailor Mouth
92.
Patriotic
93.
Playful
94.
Behaves younger than actual age
95.
Behaves older than actual age
96.
Respectful
97.
Likes to please others
98.
Mean spirit/likes to tease others
99.
Shameless
100.
Unlucky
101.
Well gifted liar
102.
Impulsive [Violently/Whimsically & Spontaneous] (Character rolls d6 in stressful or distracting situations, DC 4 to not act out)
103.
Coward (In frightful situations roll a d6 with a DC of 4 or higher. If failed, character is instinctually compelled to run or hide from frightful situation)
104.
Cunning/Ruthless
105.
Intimidating
106.
Touchy Feely
107.
Forgetful (Retain information roll a d100 with a variable DC. (Roll a 1d5 in character creation to determine DC. 1 = DC 30, 2 = DC 35, 3 = DC 40, 4 = DC 45, 5 = 50
108.
Warped or Twisted sense of reality
109.
Hyperactive/Energetic
110.
Easy to please
111.
Daydreamer
112.
Emotionally evasive (1. Sexuality 2. Anger 3. Sadness 4. Moments of empathy to/from others 5. Vulnerability/Defeat in a situation 6. Responsibility 7. Group interaction)
113.
Mild Mannered
114.
Inquisitive/Curious
115.
Gossip
116.
Blunt/Straightforward
117.
Neurotic
118.
Materialistic
119.
Stutterer
120.
Narcissistic

Disabilities:
1.
No
2.
No
3.
No
4.
No
5.
No
6.
No
7.
Mental
8.
No
9.
No
10.
No
11.
No
12.
No
13.
No
14.
No
15.
No
16.
No
17.
No
18.
Physical
19.
No
20.
No

Mental Disabilities:
Category of Disability Roll:
1.
Anxiety Disorder
2.
Mood Disorder
3.
Schizophrenia/Psychotic Disorder
4.
Dementia
5.
Eating Disorders

Mood Disorders:
Major depressive disorder, Melacnholic Depression, Psychotic Major Depression, Seasonal Affective Disorder, Recurrent brief depression, Minor Depressive Disorder, Dysthymic Disorder, Cyclothymic Disorder (For each: Roll 1. No, 2. Suspected, 3. Suspected, 4. Suspected, 5. Yes, 6. Yes)

Schizophrenic/Psychotic Disorder:
1.
Schizophrenia
2.
Schizoid Personality Disorder
3.
Schizoaffective Disorder
Dementia:
1.
Alzheimer
2.
Vascular
3.
Dementia Lewy Body
4.
Mixed Dementia
5.
Parkinson's Disease
6.
Frontotemporal Disease
7.
Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
8.
Normal pressure hydrocephalus
9.
Huntington's Disease
10.
Wernicke-Korsakoff Syndrome
Anxiety:
1.
General Anxiety Disorder
2.
Panic Disorder
3.
Social Anxiety Disorder

Eating Disorder:
1.
Anorexia
2.
Bulimia
3.
Binge Eating Disorder

Physical Disabilities:
1.
Musculo Skeletal Disability
2.
Neuro Musculo Disability
Musculo Skeletal Disability:
1.
Loss or deformity to the limbs
2.
Osteogensis Imperfecta,
3.
Muscular Dystrophy
Neuro Musculo Disability:
1.
Cerebral Palsy Spina Bifida
2.
Poliomyelitis
3.
Stroke
4.
Head Injury
5.
Spinal Cord Injury [roll a D2 for what type, 1 Paraplegia, 2 Tetraplegia]

Intelligence:
1.
+14
2.
+15
3.
+16
4.
+17
5.
+18
6.
+19

Innate Talents/Interest:
1.
Arts (1.Music .2 Writing 3. Dancing. 4. Sculpting. 5.Painting/Drawing 6. Makeup 7. Photography 9. Latte Art 8. Very gifted (pick three of your choice))
2.
Sports (Jocks get this)
3.
Martial practices
4.
Occult
5.
History (1. Earth history 2. Species history 3. Alien history 4. Historical figures 5. Historical wars 6. Player’s choice)
6.
Cooking
7.
Sex
8.
Religion
9.
Science
10.
Animals
11.
Healing Arts
12.
Technology
13.
Nature
14.
Fantasy/Sci-fi
15.
Entertainment
16.
Multi-faceted (Pick three of choice)

Relationship with
1.
Irreplaceable
2.
Best friend
3.
Close
4.
Neutral
5.
Finds irritating
6.
Dislikes
7.
Hates
8.
Completely avoids

Gender identity:
1.
Comfortably cisgender
2.
(Same as 1)
3.
(Same as 1)
4.
(Same as 1)
5.
(Same as 1)
6.
(Same as 1)
7.
(Same as 1)
8.
Demi gender
9.
Gender neutral
10.
Bi-gendered
11.
Trans gender (evens for needs surgery odds for not)
12.
Player’s choice

Sexual Identity:
1.
Strictly Heterosexual
2.
(Same as 1 but can go for transgender people)
3.
(Same as 1, Androphilia and Gynephilia)
4.
Heteroflexible (Minus 20 on attractions rolls with the same sex. Negative results mean neutral/no interest, not repulsion, and an 80 jumps to a re roll (roll a d 1d6 for soulmate roll, 6=soulmate 1-5 = Great interest)
5.
Homosexual
6.
Homoflexible (Minus 20 on attractions rolls with the opposite sex. Negative results mean neutral/no interest, not repulsion, and an 80 jumps to a re roll (roll a d 6 for soulmate roll, 6=soulmate 1-5 =Great interest)
7.
Bi-sexual
8.
Pan sexual
9.
Asexual (Re-roll d8 to determine what gendered partner that would choose)
10.
Questioning (re-roll d8 to figure out what sexuality)
11.
Demi sexual (re-roll d8 to figure out what type)
12.
Sapiosexual (re-roll d8 to figure out what type)
13.
Has fetish (Roll 2 fetishes) (re-roll to see what type of sexuality)
14.
Has an aversion to sex (Reroll for sexual orientation)
15.
Player’s choice

Attraction:
1-25 = Repulsion/Not their type (Future people with similar type get negatives to their rolls)
26-45= Neutral or disinterested to person
46-65= Neutral to slight interest or appreciation of person
66-80= Some like/interest or appreciation of person
81-95 = Attraction to person or instant ‘click’ to them
96-97 = Heavy attraction or powerful ‘click’ with person
98-99= Belief to be their soulmate
100= Soulmate


Fetishes
1.
Water sports
2.
Group sex
3.
Cross-dressing
4.
Foot worship
5.
Spanking
6.
Exhibitionism
7.
Voyeurism
8.
Latex/Leather
9.
Sexual role-play
10.
S&M
11.
Food play
12.
Tentacles
13.
Massaging
14.
Clothed sex/slow tease strip
15.
Innocence
16.
Swearing
17.
Prolonged eye contact
18.
Sex in the taboo places
19.
Natural body hair (pubic area no shave)
20.
Bondage
21.
Navel fetish
22.
Pictofillia
23.
Loves a phat ass
24.
Loves breasts
25.
Love tattoos or piercings
26.
Loves trannies
27.
Pregnancy
28.
Technology

Religion:
1.
Greek Gods
2.
Christianity
3.
Nature
4.
Slavic gods (like Thor or Odin)
5.
Satan
6.
Imagined up god
7.
Some random Minority God(s)
8.
Player’s choice


Height:
1.
Very tall (6’2’’+)
2.
Tall (5’’11-6’1’’)
3.
Above average height (5’8’’-5’10’’)
4.
Same as 3
5.
Same as 6
6.
Average height (5’5’’-5’7’’)
7.
Shorter (5’3’’-5’4’’)
8.
Player’s choice

Ethnic Background.
1.
Caucasian (1. British 2. Norwegian 3. Russian 4. French)
2.
Black (1. Northern African 2. Southern African 3. Northern white African 4. Southern white African 5. Northern mixed race African 6. Southern mix race African)
3.
Asian (1. Pilipino/Dark Skinned 2. Chinese 3. Japanese 4.Korean)
4.
Indian
5.
Native American
6.
Hispanic
7.
Mixed
8.
Player’s choice

Body Type:
1.
Very muscular
2.
Athletic
3.
Lightly lean
4.
Average
5.
Curvaceous (Weight distributed well)
6.
Overweight (Weight unevenly disquieted)
7.
Fat
8.
Obese


Hair Color:
1.
Black
2.
Brown
3.
Blonde
4.
Auburn
5.
Chestnut
6.
Red
7.
Gray/White (Optional 1d6 reroll to see what the fading color is/was)
8.
Other (If possible, for example, purple in a fay setting. Otherwise reroll)

Hair Texture:
1.
Very thin and straight
2.
Straight
3.
Wavy
4.
Wavy and thick
5.
Straight and thick
6.
Curly
7.
Coils
8.
Balding (If applicable)

Hair Length:
1.
None/Bald
2.
Buzz cut/Crew cut
3.
To ears
4.
To jaw
5.
To shoulders
6.
To shoulder blades
7.
To mid back
8.
To low back
9.
Lower (Player’s choice)


Eye color:
1.
Brown
2.
Brown
3.
Brown
4.
Brown
5.
Blue
6.
Blue
7.
Green
8.
Green
9.
Blue/Green
10.
Hazel
11.
Gray
12.
Heterochromia (Reroll for each eye)
13.
Crystal clear (reroll 1d8)
14.
Alien/Fey colors (1. Purple 2.Orange 3.Red 4. White 5. Multi colored eyes 6.Lime Green)


Attractive level:
1.
Ugly
2.
Unattractive (two or three features off)
3.
Unattractive
4.
Unkept
5.
Unkept
6.
Unkept
7.
Average
8.
Average
9.
Average
10.
Average
11.
Attractive (one or two good-looking features)
12.
Attractive
13.
Attractive
14.
Beautiful (Two or three good-look features)
15.
Beautiful
16.
Gorgeous




Power scale roll:
1.
1
2.
1
3.
1
4.
1
5.
1
6.
2
7.
2
8.
2
9.
2
10.
3
11.
3
12.
3
13.
3
14.
4
15.
4
16.
4
17.
4
18.
5
19.
5
20.
5
21.
6
22.
6
23.
6
24.
7
25.
7
26.
7
27.
8
28.
8
29.
9
30.
10+

For 10+:
1.
10
2.
10
3.
10
4.
11
5.
11
6.
12

[Crazywolf]

Hey dude, I just wanna say I really love your archive thing you have going here. It's actually the thing that inspired me to start my own.

[Azazeal849]

Thanks, Crazywolf! I'll take a look at yours when it appears.

[Crazywolf]

Actually I posted it up already, I just haven't added to it for a while except for this afternoon when I did a few edits. I think right now it's been pushed down onto the 2nd page.

[Azazeal849]

THE REIA-HAL

Today I'm going to focus on some of the characters I've written whose stories unfortunately never got off the ground, although I'm more than willing to pick them up again if the right RP presents itself. Given their sparser history it makes sense to group a few of them together, and today's theme is going to be: Eldar.

Featured In: The Mar Sara Incident, The Phantom of the Fire, The Lesser Evil, Blocking Out The Sun, Treasures In The Void.

Yes, we're back once again in the realm of 40K. Eldar were my first and lasting favourite race from the universe - largely because, until my understanding of the human Imperium evolved somewhat, they seemed like the only guys who did some occasional unambiguous good. Indeed, the characters from my homebrew craftworld of Reia-Hal were the first guys I actually attempted writing short stories about, and a lot of those characters are still kicking about in some form or another, such as the rangers Fenix and Laara who appeared in Higurashi's Blocking Out The Sun, or the warlock Kiotyr who made a sneaky cameo in the epilogue of The Lesser Evil. Hell, one of my farseers even MST'd the spoof story Primarchs, and at one point managed to immigrate into the official plot.

I've set aside my Eldar for quite a while - partially because few RP opportunities have presented themselves, and partially because most of them are soldiers based on tabletop models, and therefore don't actually have that much depth. However, I was presented with one decent opportunity for character study in Atrum Daemon's Treasures In The Void, an offbeat romp about a gang of misfits on an intergalactic treasure hunt (and of course getting caught up in the plans of much more dangerous players than themselves!). And that's where Rhienn and Teriel came in.

I initially chose to write a character around the Eldar "warrior mask", since the concept of splitting your personality to create a merciless killer without giving yourself PTSD seemed like such a goldmine for character study. I also set myself a couple of challenges based on things I felt I hadn't done well in the past. My Eldar was shaping up to be quite a sensitive, emotionally vulnerable character, and I think that too often in the past I have defaulted such characters to being female. Hence Rhienn ended up as male despite belonging to a warrior aspect that draws its inspiration from a female spirit (specifically, the banshee). If anything though this was an advantage, because making his cold, fearless warrior mask female (and switching Rhienn's pronouns mid-post) helped to underscore the divide with his "baseline" personality. My planned character arc for Rhienn would have had him literally at war with himself, with his normal personality becoming increasingly friendly with his human allies, but the very warrior mask he used to protect them (and himself) viewing them as targets whom he would kill in a heartbeat if ordered to.

My second self-imposed challenge was to write a main character who was genuinely bad. Hence, I also volunteered to take over the main force of Eldar whom Atrum planned to oppose (or at least threateningly obstruct) the PCs at several points. For this I created Teriel, who is much closer to what you might call stereotypically Eldar - that is to say, arrogant, self-righteous and rather racist. While I was hardly looking to make her likeable with her self-justifying inner monologues and snobbish refusal to listen to opposing viewpoints, I did hope that a clear motive and a certain humanising insecurity would come across along with it: she fears failing in her responsibilities - and not just for her own reputation but for the lives of her fellow Eldar. This wasn't actually all that hard to write, since I somewhat agreed with her stance that an ancient weapon was probably safer in Reia-Hal's hands than with some gallivanting humans or the sinister robot Necrons (although I did find it refreshing that Atrum was penning a story where for once the Eldar don't always know best). No doubt Teriel would have had a luckless story arc remaining perpetually one step behind the PCs, although who knows what might have happened if at the end she had ordered Rhienn's war mask to kill the humans and secure the artefact...

Sadly, none of this came to pass, as Treasures went dead just a few pages in. Hopefully something else will crop up in future that will allow me to bring these characters back into the writing spotlight.

For completeness I have also attached the profile for Blotting Out The Sun, in which Reia-Hal craftworld stepped up for a more traditional "military campaign" RP. I will freely admit that I focused more on strategic plans (including a trick on the other players that had the potential to be somewhat amusing) than on character, and as such the protagonists I worked with were little more than archetypes. I don't have much of an excuse for this, since three of them (Fenix, Laara and Surei) have a relatively detailed backstory from Mar Sara and Phantom. I did hope to flesh some of them out on the fly, but again it was not to be as the RP collapsed pretty soon after starting. Maybe next time.

Trivia: Reia-Hal craftworld is actually now semi-canon, having featured in the write up of the Medusa V worldwide event. Booyah!

Spoiler: Rhienn's profile 

"I have many names, cresis-tau'ead. But Rhienn will suffice."

Name: Rhiavan Sersenn (common name: "Rhienn", pronounced REE-un)
Age: 325, Terran standard conversion
Race: Eldar, Reia-Hal craftworld
Gender: Male (war mask is female)

Occupation: Warrior, Suin Mure aspect. Rhienn has previously walked the paths of the historian, the biologist and the crystallographer.

Appearance: While many of the Eldar crown worlds had their suns or orbits altered to achieve climates suiting their inhabitants' tastes, Rhienn's long-lost homeworld was not among them. Some of the Reia-Hal still bear the genetic markers of hotter climates and Rhienn is one such individual, with tawny-brown skin and glossy black hair which he wears braided. He sports the narrow features typical of the Eldar, and his eyes are dark grey. When not wearing his Banshee armour, he carries his red spirit stone on a pendant around his neck. He stands at 6'2, average for a male Eldar, and has the wiry musculature of a gymnast. His LamEldannar is spoken in the lilting dialect of Reia-Hal, with the slightly sibilant accent of the craftworld's second dorsal level.

Personality: Back on Reia-Hal, some know Rhienn as Rhiavan-sistau'kourn, or Rhiavan Wisdom Seeker. He is relentlessly curious about the world around him, and sufficiently intricate systems of both natural and man-made origin give him great pleasure to examine and understand. He has a tolerant and sometimes idealistic view of others, and is usually open and frank in conversation. He has a great fear of losing people that he cares about, which ultimately led him to the Banshee aspect of the warrior path, where he hopes to learn to accept fear and fate by embodying them. His war mask, which goes by the name Rhienna-ishpeth-caihe (Rhienna Bringer of the Cold), has all of Rhienn's analytical mind but none of his warmth, and would kill without a moment's warning if she judged it to be for the good of Reia-Hal.

Equipment/Gear:

• Blades Magenta shrine armour, which includes most of the systems normally associated with Howling Banshee aspect armour such as optical enhancers, threat detector sensors, reactive environmental systems, water reclaimers, heat dampeners, biofoam dispensers and of course the trademark sonic amplifier mask. When the suit's outer camouflage layer is inactive, the armour is white over a dark blue mesh-suit.
• Shuriken pistol (2 1/2 cores remaining)
• Power sabre - true to his shrine's name, the weapon glows faintly purple when its disruptor field is active.

Bio: Odstrava's team found Rhienn wounded at the site of a Necron ambush, the sole survivor of a small Reia-Hal scouting force.

Spoiler: Teriel's profile 

"Again and again you refuse to listen. Is it hard to understand why some of my kind call for your species' extermination?"

Name: Telshae Variel (common name: "Teriel")
Age: 286, Terran standard conversion
Race: Eldar, Reia-Hal craftworld
Gender: Female

Occupation: Junior seer

Appearance: Teriel has what might be called "classical" Eldar features: milk-pale skin, blue eyes and honey blonde hair that she wears long. She stands at a willowy 6', and carries herself with haughty authority. She wears a mesh bodysuit that doubles as armour and environment suit, and over that a dark robe and a white hooded cloak. Like Rhienn she speaks the Reia-Hal dialect of LamEldannar, though hers is the clipped, slightly cold accent of the prow-ward spires. Like many female Reia-Hal, she wears her pale blue spirit stone implanted into her forehead, in echo of the dreamweave urna worn by the goddess Lileath.

Personality: Teriel is a fiery, self assured and above all driven Eldar. Back on Reia-Hal she is known as Telshae-Dath-Kiam, or "Telshae Between Fires"; it is not entirely a compliment, because it alludes not just to her passionate nature but also to the fine line she walks. She takes her duty to the craftworld very seriously, with all other concerns being secondary, and is apt to react with anger when questioned or insulted. She is no fighter however, and indeed remains intimidated by the violence of the Warrior Path.

Equipment/Gear:

• Seer runes
• Mesh bodysuit incorporating environmental systems, signature dampeners and a runic shimmershield generator.
• Teriel is unarmed and does not use her psychic powers offensively. However, the twin Dire Avenger exarches Karhaedron and Eilonwé who serve as her bodyguards more than compensate for this fact.

Bio: After the unexpected ambush of her scout force on Mu Theta 2, Teriel is even more desperate to find the mysterious artefact first, something that puts her at odds with Odstrava Thermidor and his men.

Spoiler: The Ventiliar Strike Force 

Force: Craftworld Reia-Hal strike force

Commander: Autarch Suriyana Allemrei

Age: 233 passes (Reia-Hal calender), 420 (Terran standard)

Appearance: At 6', autarch Allemrei is slightly short for an Eldar but still tall by human standards. She is lean to the point of being austere, and the softening effect of her wide cheekbones and small mouth is countered by hard brown eyes. Her black hair is layered in a simple bob, cut short around her tapered ears.

Rank: Strike force commander

Advisers: Daian Nimué (seer), Saloryen (wraithlord)

Colours: Reia-Hal heraldry is dark blue (the ritual colour of the Brotherhood of Endobai) although in combat this is usually hidden behind active camouflage. Common devices include the Star Hawk, after which their craftworld is named, and the craftworld rune, which comprises Isha's chalice (the Biel-Tann rune, minus the heart) joined to the top of the soulstone rune.

Type: The contingent on Ventiliar X is mostly scout, harassment and rapid reaction units, and so will suffer in pitched battle scenarios. The task force on Ventiliar XII is considerably tougher, comprising mostly mechanised units and aircraft.

Resources: Imperial forces on Ventiliar X have confirmed sightings of rangers, guardians and various classes of jetbike, working across the planet in small, seemingly-independent groups that cannot number more than a few thousand men in total. The Eldar side of the neutral zone on Ventiliar XII is patrolled by war walkers and overflown by Nightwing and Nightshade-pattern aircraft, with significant aspect warrior forces in support behind the front lines. No evidence of wraithknights or titan-class assets have been sighted. The Eldar also do not appear to have fleet support in-system at this time, although hidden theatre shields and ground-to-orbit weapons on Ventiliar XII are theorised. Assuming the Eldar are following their normal tactic of hiding the bulk of their forces in the webway, their total strength is estimated at 40-50,000 plus armour and air support. Imperial command notes that even the most conservative estimate seems too low to defend more than a couple of warzones, never mind the whole planet - either the Eldar do not intend to hold Ventiliar XII, or they have an ace up their sleeve.

More info on Reia-Hal is here.

[Azazeal849]

DR SAYORI WARRICK

"Aren't you embarrassed by how limited we are? No way do I want to die a baseline human."



Featured In: Galactic Empires II

So it was a toss-up whether I did this one next or Doc from Sojourn, and Sayori is who I happen to have inspiration to write about right now.

With my writing on RPA going through an extended slow patch, thanks to most of my regular buddies feeling the crunch at uni or work (or in one case, expecting a baby!), Dakkagor has been one of the more consistently active writers. I have previously used two iterations of my character Vespa for his Wreckage series, and narrowly missed out on joining his and J'Von's first Galactic Empires project due to not having any cool Skaarj character ideas to go with my cool Skaarj starship designs. The Skaarj eventually went on to become the Sectine in LBM's story Civilisation, but I ended up sitting out Galactic Empires. However, I continued to follow the posts in that first anarchic space opera with interest, and by the time it finished I had decided that I didn't want to miss out on the sequel. However, I quickly ran into a couple of roadblocks.

First off, the sequel was to be more character-driven, focusing on the crew of a single ship rather than the sprawling fleet actions of the original. This was a bad thing, since I still didn't have any interesting character concepts in mind for the Skaarj that hadn't already been played out in Civilisation. I was also wary of trying to shoehorn a whole new race into the universe and give them character without pulling the story off on tangents - particularly when the series already had a bunch of big, scary lizard-men in the form of J'Von's dragonoids. Dakkagor mentioned a couple of times that he'd like to see Vespa back, but as well as timeline issues (Vespa's Harmony hive-mind would have to have popped up in the ten years between GE1 and GE2), I couldn't get around the fact that Vespa would be spending most of the story in another galaxy, presumably out of range and contact with her collective. What would be the point of creating a hive-mind character, only for them to spend most of the story severed from it? I couldn't figure out a way to make it interesting, at least not without some previous establishment of the Harmony in the story that would give the severance context and emotional weight.

Rather than rewrite Vespa for a third time with her hive-mind connection scrapped, I decided to go back to the drawing board and create a new character - albeit one that kept Vespa’s robot-piloting gimmick and her general sense of wonder, which seemed appropriate for someone volunteering to explore a whole new galaxy. I used a few methods for designing Sayori - my usual Myers-Briggs check for her core personality, a couple of random quirks and habits from people I know, and (something I’ve not tried before) a character questionnaire. It was a bit tougher than simply retooling Vespa, but she’s a bit more solid in my head now as a result - I’ll have to see if this translates into any decent writing!

Trivia: She is named for cybernetics professor Kevin Warwick, who I was lucky enough to see at a guest lecture at SSS. As far as I know, she is not related to Sayori Ishizuka, or to Sayori from Doki Doki Literature Club.

Spoiler: Sayori's full profile 

Name: Sayori Warrick

Species: Terran (born Western Free State, PPC, Earth)

Age: 36

Appearance: Sayori is 5'6 and spare-framed, with pale skin and thin black hair cut in a simple, low-maintenance bob. He round faces centres on thin lips, a broad nose and dark, animated eyes, and tends to scrunch up when she's concentrating

Department: Research

Role: Remote operations (EVA / hazardous environment)

Personal equipment: Muscle Memory Interface (patented); five modified ES-7 androids, including two with Iron Man (her terminology) thruster rigs for EVA; portable computer (somewhat battered); gadgets and gizmos

Character strengths: Practical minded, original thinker, an eye for small changes

Character weaknesses: Averse to long-term planning and rigid routines, impatient, occasionally risk-prone

Hopes to find: Isn't being one of the first people to explore a whole 'nother galaxy enough?

Hopes to achieve: Additional exposure and future funding for her MMI system (she hopes to develop it into a tech for human-human interface)

Bio: Born on Earth, Sayori is the only child of two researchers living in the Western Free State, one of the splinter countries of the old USA which went on to form part of the Pan Pacific Coalition. Her concerns growing up were decidedly middle class, although she was never particularly lazy, and she very much earned her offworld scholarship to study at the prestigious Musk university on neighbouring Mars.

Sayori proved to be a good student, and a natural fit for robotics engineering - she never minded discussing Big Ideas, but they had to have a practical application, and she also never minded shutting herself away in a lab to figure out exactly how that practical end could be achieved. For Sayori, hunger and fatigue are distractions to be gotten rid of as quickly as possible, and numerous people have commented that she eats terribly (indeed, the only reason she isn’t fat is that she has a relatively small appetite). Her usual comeback is to state that she’ll just replace her organs in ten years.

She wrote her thesis on the future of cerebral implants, a relatively undeveloped field of Terran cybernetics; while replacement limbs and organs are commonplace in the Terran Federation, cultural and ethical concerns mean there has been comparatively little research into upgrading the human mind - Sayori has never seen any reason why this should be so.

Graduating with first class honours, she went to work for several small companies before joining the cybernetics giant Phayder Corporation, which has profited greatly in the last decade from new tech flow from the Sentinax (although this trade deal has not been without controversy, given the past genocide of the Sentinos species, and violent wars that the long-lived Kel’Cyre and Charibidians are slower to forget than the Federation is).

At Phayder, Sayori headed up the team that developed the Muscle Memory Interface, a breakthrough in remote integration that allowed a single operator to “sleeve” two (and theoretically more) robotic androids at the same time. This had massive cost-saving potential for the drone-heavy emergency services and other automated, high-risk industries. However, the technology has yet to receive major backing from investors, and by organising a pilot-scale operation on the highly publicised Elcano mission, Phayder hopes to bring some spotlight to the technology. Sayori volunteered to showcase her pet project and threw all of her energy into making the venture a success - maybe then Phayder will greenlight one of the other concepts she is very keen on developing.

Sayori is a sociable woman, although to some she may come across as demanding or insensitive. She has no immediate family, having never been particularly interested in children. She did have a long-term partner until five years ago, and the fact that they were married for only a year before getting divorced is something that she still hates to talk about.

[Azazeal849]

The full NPC list for Reckoning has been revealed!

[PaintSerf]

Good. This is good.

However, I cannot help but wonder where the Night Lords and their vassals are.

*cough* HINT! *cough* HINT! *cough* *cough*