I am have tempted to craft one for a doctor and go for flavor of kinda memey.
Also, can I ask what does a Signals Officer even do?

@Lord Shaxx Does this mean you are taking the Marine Commander role?

snip

Not a character submission yet but I want to submit the planet of my character first in case it needs to be change/modify.
Please let me know if I have to change anything!

Planet:Kore Soteira [+]

Planet name: Kore Soteira (Commonly referred to as Soteira)

History: Formerly known as Gliese 514 b before the age of galactic expansion and within the distance of around 25 light years from the solar system, it is one of the more remote settlements in the federation. While the settlement of this planet is a recent thing, its availability as a home to humanity has been speculated and confirmed even as far back as the last century.

Planetary characteristics:

Mass: Minimum mass of at least 5.2 Earth masses.
Orbital Period: 140.4 days.
Orbital Distance: 0.422 AU from its star.
Orbit Shape: The orbit is highly elliptical (eccentric).
Host Star: The planet orbits an M-type star named Gliese 514.

Kore Soteira is known as the land of extreme hot and cold. It spends 3 quarters of the time in winter and the last quarter in extreme hot summer. This is due to its unique orbital that moves in and out of the dwarf star’s heat emitting range.

Life and custom in Soteira: The most important time of the year for people living here is, of course, the summer. It is when the ice melts into water and most crops can grow without relying on too much expensive technology. Their most important festivals include ‘The Last Snow Festival’ which celebrates the coming of summertime, ‘The Lost Month’ which is the time when Soteira orbits outside the heat zone, thus making it too cold for most people to work, it is also their planetary holiday month.

Industry and role in the federation: Despite being a remote planet, Soteira is considered the federation’s leader in AI technology and data systems solely because of one thing: the extreme coldness. It is one of the few habitable planets that can maintain the temperature suitable to operate the quantum computer without spending too many resources in keeping people alive. Its signature extreme seasons also attract some tourists who want to experience something novel, especially during the early summer when the ice melts.

Note: The name I choose 'Kore Soteira' is another name of Persephone, the queen of the underworld in Greek mythology. Not only that, 'Kore' means 'the Maiden' which I think really suits this planet since it is also one of the stars in the Virgo constellation.
(Yes, this is a real planet)

More about Gliese 514 b
Gliese 514 b in Nasa website

I am have tempted to craft one for a doctor and go for flavor of kinda memey.
Also, can I ask what does a Signals Officer even do?

Here's my stab at it.

Colony Profile: Pomona [+]

Pomona

"Pomona" was the Roman goddess of fruitful abundance and plenty. The name was chosen for the large amount of resources (minerals and ores) found on the planet.

Parent Star

Wolf 1061

Planetary Characteristics

Catalogue Name: Wolf 1061c

Distance from Sol: 14,1 ly

Mass: 3,41 Earth Masses

Orbital Period: 17,9 days

Mean Orbital distance: 0,089 AU

Day Length: N/A (tidally locked)

Orbit Shape: Circular, mildly eccentric

Gravitational Acceleration: 13,08 m/s²

Brief History

Pomona began its life as a mining settlement in 2162, its natural wealth a key part in rebuilding after World War 3. Despite net being particularly far from Sol by astronomical standards, Pomona has always kept to itself and the Federation was happy to let them as long as the exports kept coming in, the planet not being a particularly enticing place for people to move to from elsewhere.

Industry and Role in the Federation

Pomona remains an exporter of raw materials and industrial products such as metal castings and heavy machinery. Since the planet offers both extreme heat, extreme cold and sprawling underground tunnel systems, Pomona also hosts numerous training facilities for military and emergency personnel. Tourism is virtually nonexistent, the only notable destination being the preserved wreck of the ECS Ausdauer, the ship that settled Pomona before crashing on the cold side in 2171 due suffering a propellant feed failure during a maneuver that took it low enough for aerobraking to bring the ship down.

Population and Society

Pomona houses a population of roughly four billion, most employed in mining, refineries, heavy industry manufacturing and cargo hauling. Most of the population centers are subterranean to allow comfortable habitation despite the surface temperatures, with surface settlements dotted around the terminator line where air temperatures are more favorable, and launch and landing pads on the cold side to avoid the terminator line's turbulent weather caused by the meeting of hot and cold air from each side.

Due to mostly living underground, personal space is sacred to Pomonans. Thalassophobia and agoraphobia triggered by open spaces is not uncommon among the population, many of whom who never venture "topside." The language also reflects this, with most weather-related phrases (such as "hate to rain on your parade" or calling someone "sunshine") disappearing entirely while many mining or geology-based ones appeared.

Pomona has never been a popular place for people to move to or even visit, making most Pomonans a self-sufficient crowd, proud of being able to thrive on their "big-little shithole" and still provide crucial materials to the Federation.

Chief Helmsman [+]

Astrid Weiss

Gender

Female

Age

30 (Born 21/11/2160)

Appearance

Astrid is a pale-skinned woman with blue-gray eyes and sporting shoulder-length dark brown hair usually worn in a regulation-compliant bun when on duty and however she rolled out of her bunk when not. Being a heavyworlder, Astrid is shorter than an Earthborn human standing at 157 cm (5'2"), with a more muscular build to cope with Pomona's heavier gravitational pull that requires a modified strength training routine to maintain over long periods of time spent in a 1 g environment.

She bears a few scars on the left side of her face from what she charitably calls a "workplace accident." The damaged nerve endings cause a tic when she gets agitated or nervous. The same accident also cost Astrid her left arm, replaced with a cybernetic one at the shoulder, painted bright orange with a full sleeve artwork of various air and space craft Astrid has flown throughout her life.

She speaks quickly with a clear, level voice (Calling her "Bitching Betty" due to the similarity is ill advised).

Personality

Astrid is among the lucky few who were able to turn their hobby into a job without it feeling like a job, and it shows both in the good and bad. She's a perfectionist behind the stick or a similar equivalent, demanding only the best from both herself and her subordinates and sparing no effort to ensure they are trained to do exactly that, displaying unusual amounts of patience in doing so. But God help anyone who tries to tell her how to do her job without actual experience. Listening to lectures by First Assignment Instructor Pilots at the academy was a physically painful experience.

Off duty, she is a typical fighter pilot - laid-back, confident (Comparisons to Ikaros are likewise received unfavorably), with a distinctly Pomonan streak - a staunch patriot ready to spring to her homeworld's defense at the slightest insult from outside - only Pomonans get to seriously shittalk Pomona - and perhaps a bit too honest when decorum allows. She jumped at the chance to serve aboard a Pathfinder-class out of curiosity and the promise of deep space, but isn't exactly what one would call "diplomatic" - if aliens want to come along and help, good for everyone involved. But humanity is always first in her eyes.

Role

As the Arcadian's Chief Helmsman, her primary duties include:

- STL navigation and flight.

- FTL navigation.

- Overseeing and training members of her department, as well as cross-trainees from other departments.

- Coordinating with the Engineering Department regarding the state and maintenance of the ship.

- Astrid also doubles up as one of Arcadian's Ranger pilots.

Skills

- Atmospheric & Exoatmospheric flight and navigation: Whether you need to get from one side of the star system to the other as fast or as economically as you can, fly through a mountain valley to avoid detection or explain in detail why some maneuver is stupid and no pilot worth their license would try it, Astrid is a solid choice for the job. She also maintains an up-to-date Ranger-class combat flight certification.

- Survival training: Part and parcel for a military pilot, though she'd still need to rely on xenobiology/xenobotany experts to determine what is and isn't edible in an alien ecosystem and Marines for combat beyond basic self defense.

- Basic Technical Education: Though by no means an engineer, Astrid has a general understanding of sublight propulsion, navigation equipment and sensors of both the Pathfinder and Ranger-class craft.

- EVA Operations: As part of training for the possibility of having to eject in space or recovering those who had to do it, Astrid knows her way around space suits and how to safely work with them.

Personal Belongings/Equipment

- USF service pistol (coilgun variant).

- Spare arm (Painted to resemble a natural one to also be usable where her main prosthetic's aesthetic would conflict with regulations.)

Background

As the sole child of a World War 3 veteran pilot and a geologist, Astrid was exposed to aerospace flight since an early age, both in theory on account of her father and in practice when her family moved to the newly established colony of Pomona where her mother got a job as a prospector. She knew early on what she wanted to do in life, obtaining a General Aviation license at 15 and enrolling in a USF military academy on Mars straight out of high school. By any metric, she was an average student in the classroom, but sat firmly in the top three whenever she was in the flight seat. The number of times she’s been shouted up for running her mouth and other small transgressions was likewise impressive. Her scores were enough to keep that from being a significant problem, and in 2183, she graduated into active service as a fighter pilot, flying the callsign "Wildfire" due to tipping over the grill and setting herself on fire during a squadron cookout.

But peacetime was boring for the newly-minted Flight Lieutenant, so she took every extra course she could. Fighter Weapons School? Of course. Transorbital flight? Why not? Advanced weapons qualification? Hell yes! It was a combination of her practical flight skills, broad additional qualifications and her "Eh, life happens." attitude that opened the door to a more exotic assignment, becoming a test pilot in 2186.

Astrid's career took a sharp turn in late 2187, when during a test flight of a heavy fighter equipped with new type of engines, the number two engine decided to change careers and become a grenade instead. Astrid had made one critical mistake then: Instead of ejecting immediately, she tried to save the prototype, not realizing the extent of the damage reached beyond just the machine. She managed to coax the crippled craft onto final approach, but it was during the landing attempt that she discovered that some shrapnel from the failed engine had torn through the cockpit and her left arm - the one that controlled the throttles and thrust reversers - which she hadn't noticed before due to the shock and freezing cold numbing it. This late realization meant she'd come in too fast and instead of a competent emergency landing, she slammed the fighter into the runway with all the grace of a dropped brick to get it down in time.

Astrid woke up in a hospital without the injured arm and with bandages across her face, as a part of the safety harness snapped during the crash and her helmet struck the instrument panel, shattering the visor. Although she recovered, she was not medically cleared to return to flying fighters again. She instead thought it might be a good time to change direction and learn something new and made a transfer to capital ships, serving aboard a light cruiser on extended patrol duty before being picked for the Arcadian.

Miscellaneous

- Astrid knows people know of her tic and sometimes mimics it when off duty to get annoying people to leave her be.

- She despises water. She can swim and passes regular water survival training, but she'd honestly rather be on fire than submerged.

- Some would say coffee is a permanent part of her blood's chemical composition. She would agree.

Here's the submission

Quartermaster [+]

Evie Lu

Gender: Female
Age: 27 Earth years

Appearance: A tiny young woman with a very short height of 4’ 9”. Usually spotted wearing the working clothes of the Arcandian working crew, carrying a big bag almost larger than herself, and always seem to be in a hurry. She usually wears a smile on her face, but what that smile means is often up to interpretation. It can be genuine but sometimes people can feel the malice seeping through the otherwise completely polite gesture.

Personality: At the first glance, Evie seems to be a person who is easy to be friends with. She always maintains a friendly attitude and rarely raises her voice. But this is just a mask she developed from dealing with all kinds of assholes she met in her line of work. In actuality, she is the type of person who holds grudges for a long time, and remembers everything people did to her no matter how small. When the opportunity arrives, she can be quite fierce in her vengeance. Evie is a believer in planning for the future and hates people who waste the resources in unnecessary endeavors. Contrary to popular belief, she is actually proud of her short height because it’s the mark of people’s endurance and adaptability to the harsh gravity of her motherland. At the core she is still a proud Soteirian no matter how far away she is from home.

Evie is also very superstitious, having experienced a tragedy once in her life. It is not uncommon to see her praying for the good result in harvest or praying for safety, especially when in the middle of combat or in a life or death situation.

Role:
Evie Lu is the quartermaster of the Arcandian, her duty involved:
- Managing the ship supplies including food, weapons, medical supplies, fuels, maintenance supplies, and other necessities
- Managing wastes producing on the ship
- Overseeing the food production process on the ship
- Overseeing the ship’s room maintenance and cleaning
- Check and prepare equipment, weapons, emergency and life saving supplies like the fire extinguisher, oxygen masks and tanks, etc. Making sure they are ready to use anytime.

Skills:
- Mathematic and inventory management, she also has a good understanding of logistics and is sensitive to things that disappear, get added on, or misplace, in an unusual manner.
- planning and scheduling, including prediction of the crew behavior in unusual times like space turbulence, blackout, in regards to the use of inventory. Also able to predict the time of inventory runout to some extend
- Basic firearms knowledge and how to take care of the equipment. She also got a basic training standard for the USF officer, but don’t expect her fighting skills to be any good.
- intermediate AI knowledge. Can use AI for more advance tasks and troubleshoot some minor issue, knowing the general logic and the limit of AI technology
- simple knowledge on how to take care of plants and animals
- Basic cooking skill
- Temperature adaptability. Can endure heat and cold better than most humans due to growing up in an extreme environment
- Unusual strength due to growing up in a planet with strong gravity
- knowledge on the religious prayer and ritual for good luck (?)

Personal Belongings/Equipment:
- Lucky charm given to her by her parents
- Picture of her with her first boss and mentor
- Personal laptop computer
- USF standard pistol
- Objects of mystical and spiritual origins

Background: Evie was born in Kore Soteira, the planet of data and eccentric seasons, far away from the solar system. Since her parents are among the first to set foot on this planet, she is considered the first bunch of the second generation, and the first native born one. She got an education from the USF base where her parents work and started her career as an assistant supplies management there. Last year she finally completed her training in space management and was reassigned to one of the transport ships on the Soteira route. Unfortunately for her, the captain of that ship makes some serious error that ends up destroying the ship, and hundreds of people in the process. Maybe because of her excellence in maintaining the ship’s lifesaving equipment that saved many lives during said tragedy, she got nominated for the USF latest and most ambitious space expiration program. Now she is the furthest away from the homeland she has grown to love.

Miscellaneous:
Someone in the crew has found many straw dolls in the room of their quartermaster while fetching some items for her. It is just an item for good luck right? RIGHT?

Planet: Kore Soteira [+]

Planet name: Kore Soteira (Commonly referred to as Soteira)

History: Formerly known as Gliese 514 b before the age of galactic expansion and within the distance of around 25 light years from the solar system, it is one of the more remote settlements in the federation. While the settlement of this planet is a recent thing, its availability as a home to humanity has been speculated and confirmed even as far back as the last century. The name of this planet came from the Queen of the underworld in Greek mythology, who famously got adducted and cause the change of seasons. 'Kore' also means 'Maiden' which is a nod to the planet's placement in the Virgo constellation

Planetary characteristics:

Mass: Minimum mass of at least 5.2 Earth masses.
Orbital Period: 140.4 days.
Orbital Distance: 0.422 AU from its star.
Orbit Shape: The orbit is highly elliptical (eccentric).
Host Star: The planet orbits an M-type star named Gliese 514.

Kore Soteira is known as the land of extreme hot and cold. It spends 3 quarters of the time in winter and the last quarter in extreme hot summer. This is due to its unique orbital that moves in and out of the dwarf star’s heat emitting range.

Life and custom in Soteira: The most important time of the year for people living here is, of course, the summer. It is when the ice melts into water and most crops can grow without relying on too much expensive technology. Their most important festivals include ‘The Last Snow Festival’ which celebrates the coming of summertime, ‘The Lost Month’ which is the time when Soteira orbits outside the heat zone, thus making it too cold for most people to work, it is also their planetary holiday month.

Industry and role in the federation: Despite being a remote planet, Soteira is considered the federation’s leader in AI technology and data systems solely because of one thing: the extreme coldness. It is one of the few habitable planets that can maintain the temperature suitable to operate the quantum computer without spending too many resources in keeping people alive. Its signature extreme seasons also attract some tourists who want to experience something novel, especially during the early summer when the ice melts.

Major Kashvi Sikander Sadek - USFMC [+]

Major Kashvi Sikander Sadek

Gender

Female

Age

30

Appearance

A tall woman with dark eyes and dark brown skin that betrays her South Asian ancestry. Her body is almost ruthlessly athletic, corded with wiry muscle born of a brutal athletic regime. She moves with the care of a vacuum commando, spare and efficient as only those who spend long hours in Zero-G can be. There is an instinctive air of command around her, a confidence which infuses her with dynamism and energy, as though she is a coiled spring just looking for an excuse to go off. Her lips look like they are used to smiling but suggest that that smile might be no good thing for anyone beholding it.

Personality

Business like and brusque to the point of belligerence, Kashvi is the product of nearly two decades in military service. It is fair to say she has a chip on her shoulder in a world in which she is shorter than many of her male colleagues. She tolerates no short comings in her subordinates and sometimes struggles to control her irritation when they are demonstrated by others. She dislikes civilians whom she views as undisciplined and unreliable and is only somewhat successful in disguising this. Ridged in some areas, Kashvi has none the less learned to be tactically flexible having worked extensively in anti-pirate and counter-terrorism operations where unorthodox approaches were often rewarded. Troops serving under Kashvi might describe her as either hard but fair, although knowing marines their language would be somewhat more colorful.

Role

Kashvi is the Commander of the Arcadian's Marine complement. Some of primary responsibilities include:
- Maintaining readiness among her troops
- Planning and executing dismounted operations
- Providing tactical advice and assessments
- Defending the ship against enemy boarders and potential mutineers

Skills

- Operator. You don't get a post like the Arcadian by collecting bottle caps...
- Combat Planning and Logistics. Kashvi cut her teeth on anti-piracy and counter insurency work. She has conducted many real, and many more simulated operations including zero-g operations and assault landings.
- Leadership. Marine offcier training selects for people whom others wish to follow and hones that trait ruthlessly. Kashvi is adept at getting people to follow her lead when things go off the rails.
- Vacuum Commando. Fighting in Zero-G is a realtively new discipline, boarding actions, fighting on asteroids require a particular set of skills that center around controling angular momentum and breathing to conserve oxygen.
- Flight Qualified. Like alot of Marines Kashvi knows the basics of piloting small craft. Like most non-specialists this does not stretch nearly as far as anyone flying with her would wish...

Personal Belongings/Equipment

-USF Mark IV Powered Assault Armor
-M34 EM Battle Rifle
-S23 Recoiless Carbine

Background

A native of Shivapoor, one of the megacities on Earth, Kashvi grew up in a world of poverty, crime, and gang violence. Like many children she ran with various gangs and committed a wide variety of petty crimes growing up. When her aging parents perished in one of the frequent slum fires Kashvi embraced a criminal life full time and soon found herself arrested after a gang fight. Her advocate convinced her that the judge might spare her a custodial sentence if she enlisted, a step which she was all too happy to take.

After the chaos of the streets, military life was a balm to Kashvi who quickly rose to noncommissioned rank. During this time she caught the attention of the first of a series of officers who supported and sponsored her career, lifting her first to Space Service and then to commissioned rank as the demand for experienced combat leaders grew. Her placement aboard the Arcadian is partly due to her demonstrated skill but also partly a political statement by her military superiors who view a street rat made good as a useful narrative for both recruitment and appropriations.

Miscellaneous

Technically Kashvi ranks as a Captain, however in keeping with ship board deployments she is brevited to Major for the duration. This is because there can only be one 'Captain' on a naval vessel.
Kashvi is a notoriously good card player although she contests she is simply lucky
Cooking is one of Kashvi's passions
Kashvi is a devout Hindu and maintains a small shrine in her billet

It looks good, bearing one problem. World War Three happened a hundred years before Astrid was born.

Throwing my hat in the ring as I have been interested.

Only now though have I thought to ask, what is the max range from Earth the USF has expanded?

If there's anywhere I've overreached, I can definitely adjust my proposal to accommodate it.

Astrophysicist [+]

Dr. Martin Aster Schrier, PhD

Gender

Male

Age

31

Appearance

At 6'3", Martin is definitely among the taller men you're likely to meet, with his lithe thinness increasing the perception of how tall he is. His short hair is a dark black. Then his eyes are a dark blue with his diamond-shaped face and pointed chin helping his eyes to be piercing. His skin is peach-toned, but heavily tanned from his youth spent out in the sun.

Personality

Martin is deeply curious, ambitious, stubborn and very independent with an anger streak he seeks to keep tampered down. He's fought through so many trials to see the stars and he's not going to lose this chance now. He also tends to be quiet, observing those around him to learn what's going on and try to find out about them but usually tending to be content to keep to himself and let others be unless duty necessitates he speak to them. If they somehow spark his curiosity or they manage to awake his ire for or against them, he will choose to get out of his shell and interact with them. Understandably though, he's often awkward once he does try to communicate, which then causes him to more often than not retreat back to his shell and keep to observing until he gets the courage to try again later.

Role

Astrophysicist

Duties:

• Study Astrological Phenomenon as the Arcadian finds them
• Run Research & Write Reports Over Any New Astrological Finds
• Work with Signal Officer to Categorize Any Unexpected Space Readings
• Advise the Captain on any Potential Astrological Dangers
• Locate Planetary Bodies for the Astrogeologist to Examine, particularly if they're potentially habitable

Skills

• Knowledge of Astrophysics: The knowledge of the physics of stars, other celestial bodies, and the universe at large: the main reason he was given this post. Despite how he acts sometimes, he does truly know his subject matter and will shine when given the chance to do his job.
• Self-Defense Training: Despite not needing it for the position, Martin did take the time to learn many of the skills regardless just in case. This also includes gun-use.
• Agility: Despite his size, he's quite agile. He's quite capable of climbing up higher than most, squeeze through openings it doesn't seem like he should be able to squeeze through, and can fall from taller heights without injuring himself. Much of this is due to his Swanhilde fisher upbringing.
• Swimming: He grew up on a water world. It could be said that he learned to swim before he learned to walk and he's maintained that skill.

Personal Belongings/Equipment

• A worn compass with an astrolabe on the back of it. Swans are etched along the rim. He keeps it in his shirt pocket.
• A working spyglass clearly well-maintained
• A sextant
• A civilian-issue pistol with ammo
• An astro-recorder aka the astrocorder: a tricorder-esque device for gathering astral readings from out on a spacewalk or on planetary bodies (though with some distortion in the later case depending on the atmosphere). It can record temperatures, radiation readings, light and sound frequencies, atmosphere composition, and the like. A standard issue piece of equipment for an astrophysicist.

Background

Martin grew up among a fleet of fishers of the Swanhilde sea, learning the ways of the sea and helping out with the fishing as he could before he got old enough to fully join in pulling in the nets. He always loved the stars though, gazing up upon them at night and memorizing the constellations and their stories from what his father and the other grandfathers would tell. This love was only nurtured further whenever the fleet would stop by one of the observatories, where one of the permanent astronomers would take the time to teach him more about the science behind stars and what was known about the universe. The more he learned, the more he yearned to go up into the stars and see them for himself. And one lesson he'd quickly taken to heart from his mother was that if you want something, you gotta do what you can yourself. So he scrimped and saved anything he'd ever get, saving most to eventually get into a USF college off the planet though spending some to get textbooks to study late into the night when he wasn't needed for his other chores. His parents were the most sympathetic to his desire and so helped as they could as well, seeing how much their son was clearly set on this path. Others of the fleet though didn't see why he couldn't be content with the good, honest life they had and so friction started to form. The elders of the fleet saw that things were beginning to get out of hand after an incident caused several fishing nets to unravel. And so decided to head to port early to hopefully cause everyone to let off some steam (and to then figure out properly what to do with the boy). But leaving early ended up costing them.

For as they came near the observatory, a group of raiders spotted them as they prowled. And seeing that they were among the smaller fleets, they decided that they were good easy pickings, likely with plenty to loot if they were heading to port early in the season. And so in the dead of night, the raiders overtook the fleet and launched an attack. The sentries posted sounded the alarm, calling the fishers to arms, but the raiders were swift to start boarding and chaos began to reign. Within in it though, Martin's mother had Martin get in a rowboat and go as fast as he could to the observatory, telling him to get help from law enforcement. Martin himself had been young enough to actually believe her and so rowed as fast as he could, day and night, making good use of his compass and the astrolabe to keep his course. He reached there within record time, in a near dead faint, but able to get out his warning before finally passing out. By the time he came to, he was in the hospital with the astronomer he knew nearby along with the doctors and the local sheriff. It was there he learned that the law had been too late. By the time they'd arrived, all the boats had been burning with many dead or currently dying. There was little chance that anyone else made it out alive.

Martin took it hard for quite some time. The astronomer managed to gain custody of Martin and so sought all the ways he could to help the boy move on from his grief, trying to help him understand that there was nothing more Martin could have done. The only thing that started waking him out of the grief was seeing the stars again. Now that he didn't have his family ties, the desire to see the stars up close was what he had left. So with the astronomer's help, he tackled all the required coursework and materials, passing the tests to certify him as going through every grade of primary and secondary education. With that, he was able to apply for scholarships and get into university for a degree in Astrophysics, leaving his home planet for the first time in his life. From there, he kept up his pursuit, studying hard for top As, and becoming a teacher's assistant in order to help pay for classes along with other odd jobs near campus(with some additional help there from the astronomer). The only thing he allowed himself outside classes was self-defense training, never wanting to be defenseless again. The other students themselves he mostly just didn't interact with, though he quickly learned that teachers and fellow students respected him better when he ditched his native accent for a more urban academic one and so set about taking on the new accent as if he were born to it. And with the achievement of his bachelor's degree, he then pursued his master's and PhD, becoming a research assistant in order to help with keeping on track to pay tuition. He knew that a PhD was the most likely to be assigned as a ship astronomer and he was going to do anything possible in order to reach the stars. Finally, he graduated and entered his application to join the Pathfinder program. It was beyond his wildest dreams to find himself actually on the Arcadian and he certainly means to maintain the same hard work and determination he used to reach this goal in order to say on board and be able to stay up and explore the stars.

Miscellaneous

• Still knows many of his fleet's Swanhilde sea shanties by heart
• Is trying to figure out if a person with only a spyglass could ever realistically use astral navigation on a spaceship like one could on a ship at sea. To that end, he's trying to memorize all known stars and the constellations they're a part of throughout the USF then seeing if he could start recognizing those stars from every angle. It's most likely never going to work but he can at least try.
• While he still generally talks like an academic without a trace of a Swanhilde Fisher accent, in times of high excitement, he'll sometimes still slip into it and even sometimes let out swear words.
• While he could still sail a ship, he absolutely cannot drive a car or fly. He had no opportunity to learn to drive beforehand and he's been able to get around it. Still, things could get interesting if he somehow gets stuck behind a wheel. He would love to learn how to fly though if given the chance now that he's not in a mad scramble to get to this point.

Colony Profile: Swanhilde [+]

Swanhilde

Swanhilde is named for a famous swan maiden of Germanic folklore given that Kepler is a star within the Cygnus constellation.

Parent Star

Kepler-22

Planetary Characteristics

Catalogue Name: Kepler-22b

Distance from Sol: 644 ly

Mass: 9.1 Earths

Orbital Period: 289.9 days

Mean Orbital distance: 0.812 AU

Day Length: 21 hours

Orbit Shape: Circular, mildly eccentric

Planet Type: Terraformed Water World²

Brief History Kepler-22b has long been dreamed of by scientists and visionaries as a potential new world for humanity, one of the few planets that was within it's star's habitable zones and seemed perfect to have water. With the discovery of the Pluto ship crash and the engineering of the Argos FTL drive, seeing Kelper-22b in person finally become a possibility. Then when they finally arrived, they discovered that it was indeed a water world, but not much other than water, a very volcanic core, a few rocky mountains, and an air almost right for life as humans knew it, but not quite. After some examinations to make sure there was no life, the go-ahead was given for terraforming efforts to begin. With the terraforming, the atmosphere gained the right amount of oxygen to introduce sea life and fish that could be genetically tailored to the planet and a few volcanic soil-rich islands raised to the surface that could start to help supplement Earth's role as the main breadbasket of the USF. Once the scientists deemed things satisfactory, pioneers came pouring in, taking charge of their own lands and ships and after some hiccups managing to create the newly christened Swanhilde into the prosperous place it is today.

Industry and Role in the Federation

With some terraforming, Swanhilde has become a major fishing and farming planet, with the fish bred from Earth varieties and genetically altered to best suit the changes to Swanhilde and farming done on created islands enriched by the volcanic activity from under the ocean's surface with any other necessities done on ships or gotten through trade. It has also become a major scientific hub as genetic engineers and astrogeologists study to make sure the terraforming holds and to keep records of what's working for any future endeavors. Astrophysicist are also able to establish observatories within the higher rocky islands or sail through the oceans themselves to study the stars from a whole other view. Tourists also like to visit to scuba dive within the ocean depths, sail across the endless ocean, and stay at a few areas that have been made into tropical paradise resorts, much to the chagrin of many of the colonists.

Population and Society
Around 1 billion people make their permanent home on the planet. The vast majority are migrant fishers, often families working together within a fleet of ships, that follow different patterns to catch fish at the prime times to catch them then take their catches to port cities to sell, where they can then buy anything they can't catch or make themselves then take some time to enjoy the sights of land before taking off to fish all over again, their exact routes changing by the season. Overall, they keep to themselves, handle their own affairs, fend off raiders, and get to live a life of sailing under the sky and stars that they like. There can sometimes be quarrels between fleets over fishing spots, sometimes leading to fleet feuds that may turn violent if someone doesn't the level head to radio for a sheriff to settle and still might lead to grudges and ill-will, especially if different fleets were descended from different sides of WW3. But by and large, the fishers can generally settle disagreements themselves amicably and may even become friends over it, settling any lingering hostility with drink as the fleets lash themselves together for a party (a thing only otherwise done for religious observances, holidays, and other celebrations depending on the cultural background of those families).

The secondary majority are the farmers, who take charge of the islands and end up taking over most of the governance of the world (though it then also mostly applies to the islands themselves and not to the fishers when they're not on land). Given the limited nature of their situation, they of course seek to maximize as much land as possible for growing crops. Many farmers even live within house boats and other forms of floating houses or dig their houses under the ground in order to save more precious farm land. Needless to say then, they tend to not like anything not meant to help with farmland. Most industries then are regulated to rocky islands that are unfit for farming along with most scientific venues. Ports are kept strictly to the beaches and are built off into piers, also encompassing most of the cities of the planet. Only reluctantly do some farmers sacrifice land for anything else and they have to feel it's worthwhile, such as for a church or a nearby school for their kids or for a water purifier. Even then, they'll still seek to be as frugal, prudent, and economic as they can be while also seeking to keep good relations with their neighbors and with the established law.

It especially grinds the farmers' gears then that any of the precious land would be squandered for tourist traps. Sure, some of the more enterprising farmers enjoy having direct customers to sell to and make connections with within the broader USF. But most farmers can only see good land being used for busy-bodies to tramp around like they own the place and stick their noses where they don't belong, with the worst ones even making it so the tourists think they're actually 'living the life' that the farmers actually live daily. They could live with it though, if it weren't for the fact that many of the resorts also contain casinos and other sordid 'entertainments' that the vast majority of the farmers (and a good number of the fishers) find abhorrent, damaging to Swanhilde's community and reputation over all, and bringing in suckers who then are stuck on the planet with no one way home and so make it everyone else's problem or criminals who pretend to be normal tourists while using the resorts as places for their various machinations with many choosing to 'disappear' into the planet's population, which then creates more ruckus further down the line as unrepentant former criminals don't tend to be the most model of citizens later on. Farmers do keep themselves armed and generally know how to defend themselves from those types and from raiders, but they'd still prefer to not have such troubles in the first place if they can avoid it. However, any motion to get the resorts banned have so far been stalled and denied. Among the resort owners themselves, there's some smaller owners (along with just simple inn and/or tavern owners) scattered throughout who just want people to be able to enjoy a visit to Swanhilde and see themselves as innkeepers to travelers, fishers, and farmers alike. Many of those might even share many of the moral scruples of the farmers and are generally not that unwelcome though still sometimes seen with wariness. The larger resort owners though are just in it for the money, not caring what ripple effects their business can have as long as they profit.

Scientists make the smallest legal minority, with few staying around permanently. They generally keep to themselves as well and their studies, purchasing food and other local-made goods from passing fishers and nearby farmers while sending on their reports and findings back home. Some of them choose to retire to the planet, becoming the main caretakers of the scientific institutions there and seeking to maintain positive relationships with the locals. Their places tend to be the most high-tech since, as opposed to the farmers and fishers, their installations are the most protected from getting wet and most of their scientific equipment needs to be made specifically elsewhere anyway. Also, they're government run facilities and so are forced to maintain government standards.

Then there are the raiders, smugglers, pirates, and other types of lowlife who decide to make parts of the planet their hideouts. Given that Swanhilde is so remote and is such a vast open ocean world, USF law enforcement can't monitor the entire surface at all times. And so, fleets of raiders have built up for various reasons to migrate like the fishers (and are often formers fishers) but then target the fisher fleets and the farmers to steal their produce along with anything else they can get their hands on, often killing their unlucky victims with rumors spreading that the most vile raiders kidnap some of their victims to sell into slavery or forcibly conscript into their crew. Then if they're successful, what they don't eat, they take to a friendly resort where they then sell their ill-gotten gains and squander it on the resort itself before continuing the cycle all again. Pirates and smugglers are said to have modified their spaceships to be able to dive beneath the ocean in order to throw off pursuit, then are able to make their way into coves where they then make their way to friendly resorts in order to celebrate with their plunder, rendezvous with their contacts, plan their next attack, or simply to lay low until the heat is down. Farmers and Fishers alike have gotten better at defending themselves against raiders (even if maintaining guns around salt water can be difficult), but there are always someone small and weak enough to be a new target and only so much the local law enforcement can do at the moment.

Here is what I have come up with:

Xenobiologist [+]

Caestilia "Cilia" Fox

Gender: Female

Age: 32

Appearance: Cilia is often in a professional scientific attire, with eyeglasses nestled on her nose. She has her reddish hair done up in a bun to keep her hair from getting in her face as she works.

Personality: Cilia has a naturally inquisitive nature that sometimes borders on a case of "curiosity killed the cat". She is generally laid back and doesn't seek to be confrontational, though she isn't afraid, insofar as her field of study goes, to tell the truth if she believes the other person needs to know. As such, she is hardly a fighter by any stretch of the imagination, but will stand for the truth if she believes it is a worthy cause.

Role: Xenobiologist.

Skills: Cilia is a student of genetics, with knowledge of animal and marine biology. She sees it as a math of sorts and is able to calculate or compute things fairly quickly in her head.

Personal Belongings/Equipment: Cilia has a lab that she has set up on the ship. It permits her to study genetics, blood samples, and perform special procedures such as radiology. While on the field, she has a small pack she carries on her back which functions as sort of a mini-laboratory.

Cilia also has a pet squirrel named Arthur, who is often seen on her shoulder. This is especially true when she's working in her lab. She only takes Arthur with her into the field if she knows it's safe, or the terrain is inhabitable for him.

Background: As a child, she often got in trouble with her parents for capturing and inspecting animals in her backyard to try to understand them better. (Though she never harmed them, and on a few occasions even nursed wounded ones back to health.) In her teenage years, the harder questions of science began to fascinate her, as she found them to be similar to puzzles and mystery books that she could dive into and unravel. This especially became true when she discovered debates over the creation of life, and the possibility of life on other planets. With the rise of the United Systems Federation, she was able to become more involved thanks to the nation's funding of scientific projects. When the Arcadian began to be formed, she sought to sign up, and obtained the position. She was eager to explore potentially non-conventional life that might shed more light on our own genetics.

Miscellaneous: None. (May be filled in at a later date.)

Here's my sheet :3 Woulda had it out sooner but I got a lil busy.

I also took it upon myself to include Linguistics as a secondary role for Nicolae - if anybody wishes to have this as their primary role, it can easily be removed and used, I wouldn't mind at all ^^

Nicolae [+]

Nicolae Haspe

∷ Male ∷
∷ 66 ∷
∷ Liaison Officer / Linguistics ∷

Appearance

Nicolae is, put quite simply, unmistakable. Standing at a striking 6'5"(198cm) tall and sporting a broad, strapping physique, he's more often than not immediately registered by everyone in his direct vicinity. He is an older gentleman in his mid-60s who appears rather well put-together. His collarbone-length, cream-colored hair is almost always held up in a fluffy ponytail. His face is framed by an attentively managed beard, and features a pair of discerning, wizened eyes.

Nicolae likes to, in exaggeration, make a joke of how he's "more machine than man". Most would probably disagree, on the basis that he is quite a lot of man, but it is undeniable that his prostheses are just as conspicuous as the rest of him. His most obvious prosthetic sits in replacement of his throat - an apparatus which renders him capable of speaking and, in part, breathing. While the unassuming design is easy enough to overlook visually, none could ever audibly mistake Nicolae for another. His voice could aptly be described as a cavernous, raspy bass - one hard to miss, even in a whisper. He furthermore possesses a prosthetic arm that begins just below his left elbow, and a similar prosthetic that replaces his left leg, starting just below the knee.

It is certainly true that if one were to not know him very well, Nicolae could certainly seem an imposing figure, if judged through appearance alone.

Personality

Nicolae's character stands as a stark contrast to his imposing appearance. He possesses a matey, stalwart disposition who most swear he could leverage to get on the good side of a crocodile. While his resting face might seem like he'd judge you for breathing the wrong way, he is actually a receptive man who can't help but embrace those around him. Sometimes psychically. Such a hospitable nature serves him well in his capacity as a negotiator and cooperator aboard the Arcadian, lending him an edge in his duties. And dutiful, he is. One might not expect it from a man as seemingly care-free as Nicolae, but an extensive and long career in the military has ingrained in him an unshakeable sense of obligation towards any task he is assigned - personally or otherwise. Faltering is simply not an option when someone is depending on him.

Role

Nicolae serves as Liaison Officer aboard the Arcadian. Such a role sees him organizing cooperation and mediation between other departments. He and his subordinates serve as a foundation through which other divisions solicit or address eachother, in large part. He ensures information flows and relationships remain in working order, as to allow the other branches to focus on their various undertakings to the best of their ability.

Additionally, Nicolae operates in a more civilian capacity as the ship's Linguistics specialist. Such a role primarily anchors itself in the need to translate between entities that might not speak the same language. As a polyglot and a capable teacher, Nicolae is well-suited to such a position. He speaks English, Romanian, Korean, Mandarin, and Russian fluently. He also speaks a handful of other languages well enough to mostly understand them, but not well enough to speak them in conversation unbutchered.

Skills

Nicolae is a simple man, with simple capabilities.

Aside from a vast body of military and life experience, he has admittedly little in the way of outstanding skills. He made a fine soldier in his younger years - and likely still could, if he were put to the test - but he holds more value in his potential as a leader and social lighthouse, of sorts. His sense of insight and emotional instinct accord him the ability to function as a rock for those who need one. His fatherly nature melts boundaries in a way that makes it feel like he was always there. Aside from his social skills, he is an incredibly fit and athletic man. He outshines even those who are much, much younger than him, at least when it comes to raw power. His stamina does suffer a bit, naturally, due to his age.

Personal Belongings/Equipment

Nicolae doesn't have much in the way of important personal belongings, aside from a few trinkets left behind by his wife, both their wedding rings, an array of tools he uses to manage his prosthetics, and a collection of medals from his military career.

Background

Having lived a life as long is Nicolae has, one might expect him to have some glorious backstory to tell. And perhaps he does have a few good tales.. but in brief, his life is a relatively mundane one. As someone who has spent little time outside of Earth's atmosphere, Nicolae has never experienced any of the exciting episodes of the new frontier and whatnot. In fact, he was a young man who settled down pretty early in life. He was in his mid twenties when he stumbled upon his soulmate, the now-late Min-Ji Haspe. He led a military life, mostly living on-base with Min-Ji. He was a bright young man with noble aspirations - to serve his country in making his region a better place for their people - and Min-Ji supported him in that goal. He was a man who took any opportunity to better himself and the position of his nation. This led, in his following forty years of service, to him receiving merit after merit for his military efforts and his continued excellence.

But the ride was not an entirely smooth one. While his first dozen or so years of service were his most progressive, they were also his happiest. And that was due to Min-Ji. As strong and capable as Nicolae was, she was his rock. She made it all worthwhile. But all good things come to an end. An attack on the base in which they lived was all it took to shatter an otherwise perfect life. In one abrupt stroke, his world was engulfed in an incendiary strike that, cruelly, claimed only one life - Min-Ji's. He scarred and wounded himself beyond repair in his desperate attempt to save her, but it was in vain.

It was some time before he was whole again. Both physically and emotionally. He was fitted with top-of-the-line prosthetics that allowed him to return to life as he knew it - or, at least, as close as he could get. Now in his late thirties, the following few years of rehabilitation left him ample time to reflect on how his life would be after Min-Ji. He had more than half a mind to give up. But he knew that Min-Ji would want better of him. And only through that thought did he find the will to pick himself up and limp on.

And limp he did, at first. Eventually though, he found it in himself to live on again as he felt Min-Ji would've wanted him to. In due course, he returned in full capacity to his military career. He was well received, especially as he eventually picked up where he left off. In most recent years, he has cooled down in his direct military involvement and has pseudo-retired - too bent on being helpful to really pass along the torch. As he has grown older and more reflective, though, he has found himself feeling that something is...missing. He obviously cant fill every void within him - but perhaps in a new environment he can find a truly fulfilling purpose.

He did have to pull a few strings though, to have himself added to the crew, with as little experience as he's had in space.

Miscellaneous

Do NOT leave sweets lying around him..