Ceta de Cloyes

Waterworld

z a s h

Zash groggily climbed out of his hammock, well aware despite the dark sheets over the windows that the sun was high in the sky. The sheer heat of the day was what had finally dragged him from sleep, and he grudgingly exchanged his pants for shorts and forwent his boots, instead slipping on a pair of soft wooden sandals. He pulled down the fabric from the windows and aggressively yanked the glass upwards, releasing a refreshing breeze into the main cabin. Relieved for a moment, he went back to getting ready for the day.

Normally he wouldn't sleep so late into the day, but the night before one of his previous customers had come knocking on his door, recruiting him for repairs to a platform that was sinking rapidly. It had been many hours before he finally trudged home and managed to get in a morning nap, but at least one of the city's outer neighborhoods wouldn't be dragged under the sea in the middle of the night now.

With a sigh he went to check on lunch, stepping out of the cabin and into the sun with a tired yawn and an exaggerated stretch. The moment he popped open the lid of the pan he was instantly alert, assaulted by the mouthwatering smell of roasting yimgai, a type of sea-chicken kept in Sigarmyth that had been part of his payment for the last night's work. He'd had it roasting while he slept and was now eager for a taste.

Idly he wondered, as he pulled off a few strips of meat to serve himself, how he was going to keep it fresh. He definitely wasn't going to be able to eat it all himself in one go, and he'd filled up his pantry already. A passing glance over his shoulder showed him the solution.

"Arvo Iris!" He called, for once on good enough terms with his neighbors to not feel awkward about getting their attention. "I've got yimgai if ya want some?" He offered politely, gesturing over his shoulder from where he sat on the edge of his little steam ship.

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share him face !

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I, for one, welcome our new leather daddy.

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Usually I have no problem bashing out a CS in a day or two but for this RP it took me like a week. Maybe it's because the world is so in-depth and different and it took me a while to figure out how to make everything fit? What's everyone else's most difficult part of character creation so far, I wanna compare notes!

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Okay okay, thanks for the answers!

I’m not suggesting you add more settlements or anything, just that maybe in the future it could be an interesting find for our chars that no one saw coming. I mean who would live on the bottom of the ocean right?

SOMA is spooky shizz and deffo worth a look at. Rapture is the underwater city from Bioshock.

Lowkey I want murlocs lmao.

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I’ve started watching Gargantia on Netflix, and it’s a bit cringey at times but most anime is let’s be honest. Kinda enjoying it though, I like the setting.

I was also thinking about some other bits and bobs that might be fun to relate to this RP; anyone ever play the game SOMA? It’s a sci-fi horror game that takes place at the bottom of the sea, stuff happens but it’s starts with a base in a trench doing science or whatever, which was something I’d immediately started thinking of adapting for the RP. Underwater settles could face so very many problems but if there’s not one rapture reference what’s the point??? Oh and Subnautica. If we can mars base we can ocean base, also the ocean is literally right there and if rich peeps had enough advance warning to build a Dominus they very well could have done the same thing underwater as above- or even underground; make your doomsday bunker airtight and self sustaining, maybe some access to pull fresh air from a much more elevated point... you get the idea.

Also AI, are those a thing yet? Could they be a thing like say on the Syans or from Mars? What about new species of critter? I know my ambiguous venomous white serpent went down without comment, and while I vaguely based it on actual sea snakes I didn’t research it at all, and there are sea monster esque images on the Pinterest board, anything else like that around?

I wanted to ask about NPCs too, like who plays them and what does adoptable even mean really? Like is that somebody taking them on as a main character or as a minor secondary character?

And since I was chatting about Netflix I have a recommendation for everyone because Kipo is an amazing little show that just came out and it’s so good!

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thinkin' an' awaitin' L:

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I think we should start in the docks right off the bat, around where everyone's ships are tied off. Anyone who doesn't have a ship can be there looking to trade with the ships for fish or scavenged stuff or whatever it is people want. We can kinda be already aware of each other in that vague way that skittish neighbors are? Like oh, that's Iris, her boat is tied to the same jetty as mine, I've seen her sewing or weaving or something.

Then, depending on what direction we want to go, we can overhear rumors from npc passersby; someone found new ruins to scavenge, a rich trader ship sank, the Musaeum had been spotted, etc. etc.

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Let’s drum up some plot yeah? I know this has the slice of life tag but can’t hurt to look at the bigger picture a bit. It looks like so far we’ve got two chars looking for the Musaeum, which may or may not turn up. Said characters also have their own personal antagonists to contend with, and their own connections in different communities. They have their own boats to call home, their own supplies, their own professions to make a living with. Someone else has been checked in, whatever that means, but I haven’t seen what they’ve got down.

So it looks to me we’re likely to go one of two ways; we’ve got the skill and supply to become mobile right away, which having our group fly somewhat solo could be interesting, or we could end up playing school on the Musaeum lmao, again that could be cool too even if it’s just because I want to see a taste of what Iris’ waterworld utopia looks like. Oh or we could get sucked into Sigarmyth itself, though neither of the two current characters strike me as being in a sedentary mood right now. Honestly I’m game for whatever at this point, I laid out my character so that options are abundant, maximum flexibility.

Striking out on our own, I don’t think we’ll have enough characters to say we have our own drifting town, but a little fleet of allied go-getters sounds nice. We could chase down some treasure, scavenge a drowned city, find new lands- I really like the idea of finding some kind of floating island. I learned somewhere that wildlife from mainland South America was sometimes washed up on the Galapagos carried by chunks of floating land that broke off from earthquakes or floods or something, which is admittedly shaky as far as proof of concepts go, but floating islands man. Accidentally discovering a wild new island, floating or otherwise, all for ourselves is very appealing to me :)

On the other hand getting into the heart of the water world’s scholastic community also sounds good, more chill for sure but still good. I think I’d enjoy a relaxed setting focused on learning about the world from a new perspective, healing from the turbulent lives the characters are coming from, and bonding together where we have time to focus on the interactions themselves instead of tackling a hostile environment.

I’m not as interested as much in getting pulled into Sigarmyth’s sphere, but I can’t quite put my finger on why. I think it’s because it feels like a distraction rather than either an escapist detour or pressing our goals. The city feels like a pit stop, not progress or subversion yknow? My mind can definitely be changed on that though, I see there’s been a lot of thought put into this location especially and if there’s great enough incentive for the characters I’m all for diving in.

About the personal vendettas though, I know in Iris’ backstory it’s mentioned that she might want to hunt down the Leviathan, and Zash has history with the White Wind, but while Iris could go all avenging angel I don’t think either of them are the type to just decide to go on a manhunt - unless something stressful and traumatizing crops up that reopens old grievances anyway.

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Name: Zashahim Gemelgaid

Age: 24

Race: Syborn

Occupation: Engineer

Personality: Zash is a generous and sincere soul, with a somewhat unapproachable mien. He means well, but is shyly awkward and envious of others, especially of the ease with which they interact, frequently marring his outward expressions with frustration and discontent. He has a dry wit and can be described as mild mannered, as well as descreet and careful, never causing offense or attracting much attention. Earnestly supportive and observant, Zash is a good friend to have with his easygoing lifestyle and enthusiastic positivity.

Religion: Kitalohiya, or just Kital, is a loosely structured belief system centered on the core concepts of self-invention and an evolving world. The religion is a blend of spiritual and technical, faith and fact. Priests are called savants, beneath them are students, taught one-on-one in the style of a master and an apprentice, though sometimes a savant will have more than one student. Students become adepts before savants, defined as knowledgeable but untested.

Skills:
- Fluent in Komunaj, Tralian, and Esperanto.
- Swimming, free diving.
- Waterworld life skills.
- Proficient ability in carpentry, pottery, and metallurgy.
- Proficient understanding of mathematics, biology, and engineering.

Weapons: Zash has a collection of sharp and pointy bits from his various attempts at weaponsmithing, and aside from a sturdy harpoon most are short swords with asymmetric blades, but his weapon of choice is a crossbow made for him by his former teacher.

Items:
- Adept's Toolbox,
+ Miscellaneous Tools.
+ Electric blowtorch.
+ Grappling hook.
+ Wires, nails, screws.
+ Batteries.
- Portable solar charger.
- Loose linen clothing, leather boots, woolen coat.
- Dive kit,
+ Diving mask, scuba fins, air bladder.
- Multicolored plastic hammock.
- Orange bonsai tree.
- Seven peables on an anklet.

Boat/Home:

Art by Arash Razavi

Description:
- 173 cm, 5'8 ft.
- 73 kg, 161 lbs.
- Black hair, naturally curly but usually slicked back.
- Athletic build, light brown skin tone.
- Bar code tattoo on the right side of his neck.
- Loose clothes in light colors.
- Various wire bracelets, cord necklaces.

Background: Zash's mother, Rama, was born in Tamzin. She grew up there with seven siblings and no parents, but she was intelligent and clever. When her family lost everything in a fire, she made a plan to leave it all behind and forge a new life for herself. Her first stop was Bogorta chasing rumors of the Domini, and there she found a Scholar of the Musaeum who was hoping to meet up with the Syans. She told him of her wish and he took her on as a student, and together they found passage to Kilimazia where the Syans was meant to dock next. It was a few years before the Dominus ship came, but by then she had refined her plan to be foolproof.

Zash spent his first year of life aboard the Syans, but his mother wasn't fit to join them and soon they sent the two back into the world. They took his fingerprints and recorded his information in case they heard from him again, and upon his mother's request they granted him an identification card. Later she would arrange to have the ID's bar code tattooed on the right side of his neck, a mark of pride that her child was special. It was all part of his mother's plan; to acquire a child that would be healthy and smart, and then use that promised potential to secure a place on a less restricted Dominus. Rama, Zash, and Dean, their Scholar friend, left to seek out the next step in their voyage; the Jackal.

Let off at Sigarmyth, they settled in to wait for the ship's arrival. Dean took over a local school, tutoring both Zash and his mother on the side, while Rama became a sort of handywoman, fixing and repairing everything from furniture to air tanks to jewelry. The Jackal came when Zash was four, he and Rama said their farewells and bartered their way aboard. In exchange for a place on the Dominus ship itself she would trade the honey preserves she'd been saving, and her Syborn son would become an apprentice to someone of rank and status. It was not as smooth a deal as she had thought it would be, the Dominus ships were exclusive for a reason, but she made it work. For a while.

Zash found himself apprenticed to Rado Bladić, a savant of Kitalohiya, a technologists' religion. For fifteen years they made their living on the Jackal. Rama's plan had worked, for the most part; her son was a talented and integral member of a Dominus' community, and the more he improved and the more they invested in him, the more irreplaceable they both became. Until Chulyin of Unala arrived and brought with them news from Tamzin; Rama was the last of her siblings, her nephew Taanir was newly orphaned only months ago, with a much younger sister to take care of. Rama was not exactly living it up in the lap of luxury, but her home was safe, secure, stable, all the things she'd dreamed of and dared to hope for when growing up, but there was one thing she overlooked; she was a mother now. She always knew she'd grow attached to her son, even when she was just coming up with her grand plan, but she never expected how much it would affect her.

To her own surprise and dismay, Rama gave it all up to return to the dinky shithole of her birth to comfort and care for a family that didn't know her. Zash agreed to join her, having finished his apprenticeship and halfway to savant himself, but promised Rado he'd return. They boarded Chulyin of Unala's boat, a small steam bus, and cast off for home. Unfortunately for them, Unala was a codename that stood for West Wind, a clan of pirate mercenaries. Chulyin waited until they were well out of sight of the Jackal before making their move; mother and son woke to find themselves in chains, because you see, Chulyin had not lied to them, Taanir and his sister Jada really were newly orphaned kin of theirs, but Taanir was about to become the Governor. West Wind had dealings with his competition, and while they'd not known Zash and Rama even existed, Chulyin wasn't about to let the opportunity pass.

Their captivity lasted only three days before Zash unscrewed the bindings and cut the pirate down from behind. They nearly returned to the Jackal then and there, but decided to forge on and warn their lost family of the West Wind's alliance with their competition. A whirlwind adventure then ensued, complete with drama, politics, revelations, a fair bit of murder, and even a dash of romance. Rama reunited with Dean, the Scholar she'd left behind in Bogorta, as well as met and all but adopted her sister's children. Taanir became the Governor with a landslide victory after his opponent was revealed to have consorted with pirates, and Jada was saved from the fate of slavery. Zash kept Chulyin's steam bus, and spent the next few years helping secure his family and practicing his skills.

In time though, Zash followed in his mother's footsteps and made a grand plan of his own; the Musaeum was rumored to be headed for Sigarmyth, and when it got there he would be waiting.