Hey, saw your character, just wanted to point out a few things I saw. As always no offense meant (I know the character I created was hardly great), but critic and ideas do make us better and stuff :D Again don't need to make any changes if you don't want, just a few thoughts.
Ace was designed to be cocky and sarcastic, with a tad bit of smartassness and a rather arrogant additude.
Why would someone design an android to be like this? Surely for a "perfect pilot" you'd want someone level headed, rather than someone based off my own cuntyness :D Having said that, you made a personality chip, which is a perfect explanation for such things. Perhaps the random mutations that create a personality were what caused the project to be a failure. Heck, the ones who were (Attempted to be?) destroyed could be the ones that developed more dangerous and psychopathic traits.
he didn't come with any extremities (something he loathes)
Actually quoting this because this little bit peaks my interest, and wanna see more. Is this someone who wants to be human (Wants to be a real boy?) or even believes he's human and hates everything about himself that defies that?
the crew of the Exeralune took him with them to replace their First Helmsman, who had recently died in a battle.
Unless I'm wrong, I think this is the first official voyage of the Exeralune, before they go off on adventures, meaning nobody could have died yet. Having said that, ragged bunch of misfits with exceptional abilities kinda explains why your character would have been picked :D
The clicking and chittering of mandibles filled the room, hundreds of young Anarti all excitedly talked to one another, even their silent method of mental communication not enough to keep a raucous from being made; Bodies moving around as only the unbridled energy of youth could. Gossip and wild speculation spread among them as their first meeting with a queen would be at hand. “What would she be like? Could she really read minds? Queens are 12 feet tall!“. Misheard facts and blatantly false rumors made their way around the young brood as the atmosphere reached a fever pitch. They may have only been two years olds, exoskeletons only just starting to truly harden and form, but this would be a day they would never forget.
Scree started to feel… weird. Not unwell, but rather…. strange. As if he’d been spun around repeatedly, the world around him not quite coming entirely into focus. Colours seemed different, dull things interesting and colourful things blending into the background. The chattering continued, but slower this time, as more and more of them started to feel the same effects, a small ripple of confusion making its way through the crowd.
“Quiet!”
The voice permeated every pore of his being, as all the Anarti instantly silenced. Suddenly how he felt no longer seemed to matter, the weird taste in his mouth no longer relevant. The clattering of falling objects once held in little hands rattled along the floor, a few of the less stable young ones following suit, each one slowly and groggily getting back up to their feet. What he wanted no longer mattered, Scree didn’t exist, there was only her.
“Look at me.”
Hundreds of Anarti simultaneously turned to face her. Larger than even adult males, she towered over the young ones. This was an event that all the Anarti, both big and small went through in their lives. a remembering of the gift of free will given by the hive. The best way to show and treasure a gift? Take it away. Most of those here would never experience this again, only those dishonoured enough to have the gift removed a second time would have this inflicted upon them.
“Now, you need to wake up because-”
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A screeching noise jolted Scree awake, unintelligible screaming causing the Anarti to frantically look around instantly on his feet. Pure confusion and terror filled him as he slowly remembered where he was. Strange metal building, trapped, and now the entire world seemed to be falling apart.
The shaking started, sending Scree sprawling as landing bays opened and pieces of the ship started to move around. He wasn’t afraid of the unknown, but this building seemingly collapsing was a very known and terrifying thing, and he wanted desperately out.
THUD THUD THUD, THUD THUD THUD.
The sound reverbed up the pipe into goodness knows where as Scree started thumping with all his might, no longer tapping, now full on pounding with both hands: Hoping to the love of the hive that someone would hear him. A noise. Not metallic or random blargling, but instead as if someone was moving around. He looked up, spotting a slightly different part of the ceiling and a makeshift ladder leading up to it. An exit? He climbed as fast as he could, his body not quite suitable for the narrow rungs, eventually making his way to the top.
This was definitely an opening, the place where the panel fit flush to the frame clearly evident from this distance. He held onto the ladder with one hand, while trying to push his other forcep into the crack, feeling a moment of relief as he felt it move, giving him a little more space to try and lever it open, silently calling out to anyone who might be able to hear.
“Anybody there? I got trapped in your…. Home? and-”
His cry for help broke off as he lost his grip on the ladder, hanging from the ceiling with his clawed hand still trapped in the panel, breaking off his communication into a more verbal chorus of screeching and clattering that could only be described as a violent shouting and swearing; desperately trying to either open the panel or free himself. The latter he managed to make happen, unfortunately causing the Anarti to no longer be held in place, subject to the laws of gravity as Scree hit the ground face first.
Slow pained clicks, admonishing himself for his stupidity as he clasped his throbbing face with both hands, feeling a warm spreading sensation. He looked down, seeing his forceps covered in hemolymph, giving another slow pained set of clicking. He got back to his feet, eventually looking up at the now open panel, and stopped.
Everything stopped mattering for a few moments. The pain of his probably broken face, the hemolymph dripping onto the floor from his mandibles, the shaking and blaring of sirens and other unintelligible noise. For looking down onto him, was two… things. All species before they meet others assume that intelligent life will be mostly like themselves. Scree had been expecting to find some kind of intelligent insect, maybe even Anarti who had broken off before the unification. Instead above him stood some kind of mammal? Like a livestock but bigger, and… he didn’t know what to make of the one that hung in the air, covered in beads yet unlike literally anything known to the Anarti, let alone Scree. He just stood their, mandibles gaping, not frozen due to a lack of questions, but with so many crowding for attention they almost created a backlog.
“Who are you? W-W-what are you? Did you build this? Are you both the same, or are there two types of you? How did you build this? What is this? Have you always been here? How many are there?”
The questions eventually broke forth, quick and fast, the silent telepathic communication allowing for a more complex vocabulary than any amount of clicking about achieve, not that there was any lack of that; his mandibles clicking and his antenna bounding around as if made of rubber, the sheer excitement and curiosity bounding forth from Scree.
“Can you understand me?..... I probably should have asked that first.”
It was really was a miserable day. The wind rustled the trees violently and the rain beat down onto the muddy jungle floor. No birds sang and no creatures slithered in the undergrowth, all the subjects of the animal kingdom deciding as one that this really wasn't the weather for whatever they normally did. Apart from one. The figure pushed itself against the trees and plants of the jungle, through the wind and rain, long thin legs trudging along the muddy slurry the floor had turned into, the brown exoskeleton soaked in water. It looked rather depressing, small against the fury of nature. Antenna dripping and being blown around by the storm, and if there was any way for the terrifying figure of a giant ant like creature to look sad, this was probably it. However nothing could be further from the truth.
His name, or at least the one short enough to use, was Scree, and he was many things. He was a member of the local indigenous population, - the Anarti. He was a Mapper, division 148. His job was to scout, map, explore the unknown, and then return this information to be added to the hundreds of other little pieces, piece by piece developing the gaps in the Anarti's knowledge of the world around them. Scree had a little blue and green leather satchel. It was a little ragged around the edges due the many years of environments like this he'd mapped and explored, but otherwise in as good a condition as may be expected. Every few meters he'd stop and reach into this, drawing the next part of the map before closing it back up. He was also very happy, like he always was, even in this dreary situation. Full of pride at the work he did, full of joy at being able to explore the unknown and bring that information back to the hive, and in general more than thankful to be given this opportunity to help.
His plans were to continue onwards for a few hours, then head back to camp. Eat, perhaps see what new information had come out of the more recent exciting experiments with, of all things, static. Unfortunately, or fortunately depending on your point of view, this was not to be for Scree came up to a clearing and just stopped. It very obvious wasn't a natural clearing. Broken trees lay all around, giant trunks shattered and tossed about as if toys for a Larvae. But mostly he saw the... thing. There were no real words in his vocabulary for it. Later he would learn the word spaceship, but this would be jumping ahead in our tale. For now he just stared at the giant metal structure, bigger than anything he'd seen before. This wasn't natural, and the thought of that, and what it possibly entailed... excited Scree with a childlike curiosity, no fear or hesitation as he made his way over to it.
The craftmanship was superb. Even from this small glimpse at one of the giant pillars it was resting on, Scree could see it was far beyond anything the Anarti could create, tens of hundreds of panels all fitting together perfectly, pieces so small and fine that it seemed to deify reality. Something had made this, something with a far greater knowledge then they had, something new that they had no idea existed on their planet. He wanted to know who, to know why, and so he began to climb.
It's worth noting here the luck required for this moment to happen. Normally there would be rules of guards and people making sure nobody was doing exactly what Scree was doing. However this was the crews first test landing, before they set out on their journey for real. Most of them were partying and those who probably should have been outside were attempting to avoid the wind and rain. Besides, according to their data the only intelligent life on this planet were a set of bronze age tribes, far far far away from here. Unfortunately like many none space traveling planets, this data was wrong and out of date by many a year. These events meant the giant insect was allowed to climb all the way to the top, and slip inside.
Even the dingy interior where the landing gear stood when not in use blew his little mind. Pipes and wires crisscrossed and traversed around him, little dim lights flickering on and off in a giant hall made of more metal then he'd seen in one place. Scree pulled out his paper and started drawing what he saw almost by habit, taking in every detail in excitement. Which meant he wasn't quite ready to react when his entire world shook around him as the ship started to take off. He grabbed on for dear life to whatever he could hold, as unknown to him the entire structure began to move. However as the landing pillars retracted, he did see to his slight horror the gap by which he'd entered close up, leaving him in near darkness as his world continued to shake.
Trapped. As soon as he could Scree had explored his surroundings in greater detail, quickly realizing that he was encased entirely in all directions. The walls were impenetrable, his pushing against the metallic slab now blocking his original entrance doing very little, Scree unknowing that the void of space lay now beyond it. He'd tried to gain anything's attention, repeatedly banging in sets of three to try and let someone or something know he was trapped in here, but eventually he even tired of that, slowly falling asleep as the night continued onwards. Sleeping, until all hell broke loose.
Also, if anyone is in the area of the ship near landing gear etc etc, then you might keep hearing banging in sets of three. This may also be getting more frantic after the sirens and shaking.
I think I got the first post updated with everyone's character. You guys can post in the character tab if you want to find it easier. Forgot it's there.
I'll get some stuff done tomorrow such as the spacefighter description.
Accepted. Looks like you plan on us visiting him so he's not currently on the ship. That would limit his involvement in the first episode unless you want to say we already visited his planet on the way.
That could work. Could imagine one of the crew getting more and more annoyed about the constant tapping that's been coming from the landing gear ever since they left that random planet, before pulling it apart and having a giant ant tumble out :D
Also, how does translation work here? Gonna guess we're going with a sci-fi universal translator thing to explain all the different species?
Name: Scree Age: 19 (Middle aged, about 40 odd in human terms) Gender: Male. Race: Anarti.
To understand the Anarti, you have to know only two things, magic and pheromones. The Anarti learn from a very young age the ability to telepathically communicate with each other. The concept of magic is not one known yet the species, magiwaves undiscovered, and the knowledge behind the strange pattern that had evolved over time - allowing this feat to be so is a mystery. To them, it's as "magical" as the ability to convert undulations of waves in the air into sound.
The rare females of the species also discreet a unique pheromone, one that clouds the minds of near by males and places them into a mentally malleable state, simply following basically anything suggested by the female in question, as well as blocking any other females from doing the same.
These means in their 'natural' state, the Anarti are made up of many hives, each ran by one female the males befuddlingly following every wish and command of the voice in their head. These hive would fight, rise and fall in time, over and over. That was until the 'unification' 800 years ago. Ischarli was her name, an she introduced the idea of free will, an idea that was extraordinarily successful. The Anarti had never been stupid, building giant underground homes and minor technology, yet being allowed to think for the first time allowed her hive to expand and encompass every other in a matter of years, until only hers remained in the known world.
This however had a curious effect, one of the few species in which freedom of thought and action was considered a privilege, a gift. Each Anarti considers themselves a part of many "Hives within Hives", leading up to the entire species as a whole. To aid these with your gift of free will was well looked upon, to waste this was disdainful, and to hurt those around you had the shame of having this gift taken away. This also lead to a major curiosity and a growth of knowledge. The more you learned, the more you could help. Self preservation very often takes a back seat to uncovering the unknown, with very many a enthusiastic Anarti falling prey to many of the unknown dangers their planet held. This also expanded their civilization immensely, speeding forwards into the grip of an industrial revolution at the current date, and covering over half their planet.
The wars of hives long behind them, the Anarti do still retain a lot of their old traits. Immensely strong for their size, an attraction to bright lights, inability to swim, a comfort of tight spaces and a fondness for sugar still remains.
As curious as any of his species, there's a general enthusiasm surrounding almost everything Scree does. Happiest when being told how to, or actually helping in any way. His world is black and white, you are either part of the hive, or you are a threat to it. Those lucky enough to be his hive will find an extraordinarily self sacrificing and loyal companion. With no knowledge of the world outside the discovered section of Scantaria, the culture shock will be immense.
Appearance:
orig12.deviantart.net/aea7/f/2008/045/.. Standing on two legs, has a set of sharp forceps allowing fine motor control. Like all of his species, has a raised epicuticle pattern on his thorax which allows telepathic communication. Stands just over 5ft.
Abilities: Telepathic ability to communicate with others (Not read minds). An eye for small details, measurements and information storage. Equipment: A large blue and green speckled leather satchel. Containing paper, pens, rations.
Biography:
Scree, or "Astarnia perscinia Scree 5891" as his full name went, could remember it as if it was just yesterday, the feeling of apprehension filling the cavern, a panicked nervousness shown in the frantic twitching of antennae, as he along with the hundreds of others that made his up brood stared down at the lengthy booklets in front of each them, ink pots and quills clenched in their forceps, each one knowing exactly what it meant. This was the beginnings of rest of their lives, the beginnings of each Anarti's repayment for the gift of free will.
Starting. The sound of scribbling fill the air, the tome in front of him containing ream after ream of questions on practically everything. Engineering, mathematics, philosophy, biology. Entire sections were quickly discarded. Scree was not a master of medicine, the sight of an open exoskeleton one he'd rather never see. Chemistry followed that shortly, only the simplest of elements he could remember, before zooming ahead through the sections hoping to find something he was good at.
Because that was the entire point of this exercise. To work out where you were good and were you were bad, to allow each individual to show their talents, and by doing so be assigned to place they could be the most help. While no matter what his assignment he would simply be happy to help, in reality he would rather be exploring and enticing the curiosities of this world, helping the hive through the accumulation of knowledge rather than the large amount of "busy work" simply maintaining the hive required. Not that he felt that confident with how many subjects he had skipped, swathes of paper left unwritten on.
Scree calmed down a little once he came to engineering, mathematics, physics. These were areas he was more confident in, an eye for complication and detail always being his forte. He continued onwards, slowing down and feeling almost confident as he mapped the tunnels he'd lived in for most of his life, accurately drawing the lines and dimensions as well as he could recall from memory. For the first time in an hour he felt just relaxed enough to slowly look up, at the hundreds of Anarti who surrounded him. They were his brood, hatched from the same clutch and growing up as larvae together, learning and understanding the world for the last 6 years. This would probably be the last time he'd see most of them, although this thought wasn't greeted by sorrow. In reality they would all be connected by the Hive, their actions affecting each other no matter where they would end up.
Time passed, eventually the mass scribbling stopped, most choosing to sit in apprehensive silence, as eventually groups of his brood started to be lead away to the rest of their lives. The first were those who had "failed", the largest group by far. In reality their tests had only just begun, more labor intensive filtering would be done on this group, to work out the roles of those not suited for intellectual work. That was not where Scree's talents lay though, being a rather small specimen.
Then the satchels for those who had passed, various colors and patterns denoting where they had been assigned, each being given by whoever would be mentoring them in their chosen path. Scribes, Doctors, practitioners and researchers of varying fields were all let away one by one. They wouldn't be starting just yet, the education they had had wasn't specific enough for their eventual needs, many a years training would still be required. Scree looked over at those wearing the red and brown stripes of the engineers, a small pang of envy filling him for a moment. He'd seem the advances in steam, the work being done in transportation using compressed air, the machines and wonders that were being developed as they harnessed this power. If he wasn't chosen he was confident it was probably the right choice, but still...
Eventually, it was his turn, the leather satchel and its speckled green and blue pattern causing him to just stare, unable to believe what was happening. No, Scree's main talent came in the assimilation and recall of details, his test containing detailed. He could accurately describe and mark his surroundings at just a glance. And so he stood there, hardly daring to speak lest there be some kind of mistake as he took the leather item and silently followed his new teacher. A pride filled inside of him to such a degree that he almost felt as if his Thorax would burst open. He would be exploring the unknown, marking down and returning the undiscovered mountains and valleys of their only partially understood planet, a job he hadn't dreamed of being selected for. Scree would be part of the Mappers, the explorers.
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Even today this pride still remains, every moment a trembling excitement as he meticulously explored, marked down, and documented the undiscovered world around them. And during a scouting expedition into the jungles of the north, that is when Scree came across a strange immense metal structure towering above him, unknowing of the worlds in the sky that would soon be having a very direct impact on his life; and visa versa.
Got an idea for a character, has no idea about all this space stuff (Think 1800's level of knowledge and civilization). Either ends up accidentally stowing away on either this ship, or on one the crew end up visiting.
Obviously slightly out of the ordinary, so if you don't wanna work it in that's cool.