EliteCommander

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

This being the last few days they have, it's pretty much a time for them to tie up any and all remaining loose ends they have. I am also going to have Meesei call her pack, and a few others from outside it, together for an announcement, but Ahnasha and Fendros can have their conversation first.

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Eri 'Moram - Aboard the Imperial Venator

---

Eri started to snarl, though directed at no one in particular. Much like Jerus, she too had received her warnings from the Immaculate Aegis. New hostile ships had arrived, and they were targeting the ship they were boarding. Even without that warning, the shaking they had all felt earlier made that obvious enough.

After just a moment of thought, Eri opened a channel back to the other team waiting in the hangar. "Board the phantoms and get them out of this ship. We are evacuating the ship. Cloak the phantoms and bring them around just outside this ship's bridge atop one of the two largest towers."

With her orders having been given, Eri stepped into the lift alongside Jerus, followed by the rest of her team. She grumbled under her breath for a moment as she looked down at him, paying particular attention to his armor. "Can that suit be sealed to a vacuum, Human?"

Eri intended to stay in this ship no longer than absolutely necessary.

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Falul 'Taham - The Immaculate Aegis

---

While the Immaculate Aegis' sensors had detected the strange energy readings that preceded it, the rest of its scans had revealed nothing before the group of small ships revealed themselves. Falul did respond appropriately to their arrival, using sensor scans to track and mark targets, as well as rotating the ship to bring the majority of their point-defense pulse lasers to bear on the targets. However, it did not take long for the threat to show itself to be much greater than Falul initially expected.

The Aegis' shields flared brightly upon the first beam weapon striking against them. Falul saw on the status readouts of his ship that even one shot had drained far more of their shields than any ship of that size should have been able to. Were that not enough of a concern on its own, the first of their fleet's ships to receive their opponent's focus was the massive organic vessel. Three of these, presumably, Imperial strikecraft combined the power of their primary weapons into a single, devastatingly powerful beam that ripped through the Zerg ship in a single, lethal attack. Regardless of any distrust that Falul felt towards the swarm of beings, to see it destroyed so quickly was cause for immense concern.

"Launch strikecraft, and concentrate weapon batteries on any hostile ships flying in clustered formations!" Falul shouted, his orders being acted upon immediately by his officers.

As seraph and banshee wings emerged from the ship's hangar, Falul had only a short time to analyze the information he had available to him. The Imperial craft had already proven they had the firepower to threaten large ships, so the priority was to prevent them from combining the effects of their weapons. The most obvious pattern that Falul could see in their movements, however, was the fact that they became stationary just before firing. They had done so when they combined their fire on the leviathan, and he could see them stationary before firing on the Daedalus. He did not know if they had any other weapons, nor the strength of their shields, but he did have this piece of information.

Being that the Aegis was now the largest ship present, it now had the focus of several of the hostile craft. In fact, the three that had destroyed the leviathan were now on course for the Aegis. Based on the range at which they had fired on the leviathan, he could make a rough guess about where they would need to stop to fire on his vessel.

"Target all available pulse lasers with line-of-sight onto...this region." Falul ordered, designating the area on his map. "Prioritize these three ships."

While Falul's prediction might not have been exactly accurate, the three Imperial ships still stopped close enough to the target area that the point-defense lasers only required minor adjustments to bring themselves on-target. As the small ships charged their weapons once more, every single pulse laser that had the ability to target the ships, with the exception of those directly in front of the Imperial ships' weapons, fired on the trio. Well over a hundred pulse lasers converged upon the ships within seconds of one another. As well, since the ships were now stationary, the lasers could target much more accurately. It would not have taken long for the Imperial ships to charge their weapons, but neither did it take long for such a heavy concentration of firepower to overwhelm them. They had powerful weapons and were more resilient than most strikecraft, but they had no support from other Imperial ships, and there were relatively few of them. There was nothing to pull the Aegis' weapons away from focusing on them. Two of the ships were destroyed before they could combine their weapons, and the third only fired a partial beam before being finished off.

Despite these Imperial ships' destruction of the leviathan, Falul wondered why they continued to remain in a fight that would certainly guarantee their deaths. Even if they could destroy another ship, they could not hope to survive on their own. They were not invincible.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

There is not going to be anything more to interrupt them before establishing their camp, so you can feel free to move to the evening if you like.

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

"You mean anyone else?" The Dunmer remarked. "Hmm, nearly every lycan soul from history is here. Hunters of Hircine, prideful and strong. There are always those that are short tempered, or perhaps looking to prove themselves. But, there is no one beyond Vykosa to concern you. For all of the pride that exists in this realm, she is among the strongest of alphas. None would challenge this new Champion before she has a chance...and none would dare to challenge you afterwards. Honestly, I do not know if it will even come to a challenge at all with Vykosa. Certainly, in any other circumstance it would. She has proven herself the superior to every champion before you, but this situation with Vile changes things. And, aside from that, you are not dead. You are not her...competition quite yet. That might make her more willing to ignore you."

After a moment, the Dunmer shrugged his shoulders. "But, I just make conjecture. If you want my name, you may call me Gurilden, but despite having been a champion, I am no one important here. I just thought I would give you the courtesy of a helpful greeting. Since I am keen on not having my soul stolen and tortured by Vile, I want this to go smoothly."

Meesei nodded. "Well, whether you think yourself strong or not, Gurilden, your words are wise. Vera, you should continue work on establishing the site of our forward camp. If you know any good locations in the area, Jerrick, that would be helpful. I do not wish to interrupt your reunion, but...we have our responsibilities."

The Tower Chapter 1: A New Dawn

The four walls of its cell. The door, its hardened translucent window, and the limited view it gave out into the part of the lab it could see from within. That was Taylor's entire world now, all it could experience aside from what was pumped into its cell. More accurately, the scientists referred to it as a "mobile containment unit", though it still never moved from this spot. Taylor had been moved between units a few times, each stronger and more specialized than the last, but it was always in this room. Its current cell had to have been constructed specifically for it. Taylor had damaged some of the past cells, but this one was strong, it was insulated, and it had specialized nozzles and other equipment to pump chemicals and energy into it, all without even opening the door. Most of what Taylor could see through the large, translucent door was computers and sensors to collect data on their experiments.

Right now, Taylor could see some of the scientists outside, calibrating equipment, making notes. Those in this particular group had never spoken to it, though the nametags on their lab coats meant that it knew all of their names by this point. There had been a time when Taylor had tried to talk to them, tried to reason with them, but it knew now that was a pointless endeavor. When it was time for their experiment to begin, the covering of a nozzle on the back wall of the cell opened, immediately spraying and igniting and incendiary fuel that immolated the whole of the chamber in an unavoidable flame. Far from harming Taylor, however, it could not help but to absorb the intense heat of the flame into its very being. By the time the last of the flame was gone, Taylor had grown considerably in size and mass, towering over the average Human. The dark tendrils of its essence danced excitedly upon the surface of its loosely-formed body, and its many eyes glowed in a brilliant white. For Taylor, it felt amazing to have that power surging through its essence, but it had been through this enough times to feel only dread at what was to come.

Taylor found it hard to be sure exactly how much time passed. After being immolated in fire, its cell was now chilled well-below freezing. There was no day or night, no way of judging for how long it was meant to suffer. It could have been hours, or days, though the latter likely would have killed it. All Taylor had was the constant hum of computers and sensors collecting their "readings" on what its body was suffering. It did not feel merely like being cold, but rather like its lifeforce was being slowly, but viciously torn out of every tendril. Taylor was now somewhat smaller and leaner than a Human, hardly moving, and most of its eyes were not even visible any longer. Taylor had been through this torture half a dozen times in the past few weeks, in all likelihood so the scientists could collect a better sample size on their observations. It wished it could sleep, if only to be given some reprieve from the pain.

It was hard for Taylor to even notice when the cell started to warm, as the pain lingered on across its body. It was only some movement outside that caught Taylor's attention. It crawled slowly towards the door, looking up at the woman that had come to check up on it. She was the one welcome sight that Taylor had in this hell in which it resided. Her name was Marian Allen. She was the only one who had given Taylor her first name, and the only one who really talked to it at all. She wore a similar lab coat to the scientists, but she was a nurse. At least, that was the best way Taylor could describe her. She monitored its health, and presumably the health of other subjects, based on what she had told it in the past. She was the only reason that Taylor was even aware of the existence of other subjects. She had freckled, pale skin, red hair, and was still slightly overweight, despite having been on a diet for the past two months. She represented the final shred of hope that Taylor had in this place.

Marian knelt down in front of the clear door and looked directly into Taylor's eyes, something that all of the others tended to avoid, consciously or not. "It's okay, it's over. The experiment is over now. It's going to be alright."

As Marian was just about to stand, Taylor lifted one of its limbs suddenly up and pressed it against the window, its tendrils forming the shape of an open hand. "Please..." Taylor began. It did not have a mouth with which to speak, but its energy could simply form the sounds directly. Its voice had an otherworldly, echoing quality to it. Marian did the same, pressing her own hand right up to Taylor's.

"...let me...die." Taylor continued, sounding just as weak as it looked.

Marian swallowed as she closed her eyes and lowered her head. Taylor did not doubt that she would grant its request, were it in her power. Her tears told it that much. But, those tears were all Marian could give for now, as she had no choice but to stand and go to the control console, pressing the button that gave the entire metal interior of the cell a powerful electric charge. Taylor absorbed the energy, revitalizing its body and mind up to its former strength.

All so the cycle could repeat again.

---

For a time, Taylor was alone. Aside from the times that Marian could actually be alone with it and talk freely, these were the "best" times for it. If that word could even apply to its life. Within its cage, the closest thing that Taylor could generally experience to joy was simply the lack of pain. The experience of consuming electricity or other kinds of energy did have an inherent pleasure to it, true, but even that had been corrupted by the expectation of suffering to follow. They rarely fed it any more than its basic requirements of energy unless they had something in mind to "test". Right now, Taylor felt positively empowered by its energy, which gave it all the more dread for the scientists' next visit.

However, for the first time in what felt like months, Taylor experienced something new. Something unexpected. It did not have the best angle from inside its cell, but it could see the screen on one of the scientists' open laptops change. Odd and distorted as it was, Taylor could see that it was a face. Then, a short phrase played through the speakers: You are not alone.

Taylor could not be sure what happened. It had been such a short, simple, and strange occurrence. There could be no guarantee that it had anything to do with Taylor, yet in the absence of anything else, its mind could not help but to wander.

The Tower Chapter 1: A New Dawn

Taylor

Name: Taylor
Age: ?
Appearance:

Approximate appearance

Approximation of Taylor's voice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ox1BjxUi1Gk

Para Category: Omega, Category 3 (currently)
Powers/Abilities: Taylor's body is no longer even somewhat recognizably Human. Rather, it is now a somewhat solid, though mostly energy-based being. Physically, it is resilient. It does not have flesh and organs and cannot be killed just by targeting a weak point. However, Its body can be damaged through most mundane means. Shooting, cutting, crushing, and other physical means of attack can damage its physical form, but it will regenerate quickly from its store of energy. Killing it requires draining or forcing it to use up all of its energy. As it loses energy, it weakens until it eventually dies.

Taylor's physical size and strength depends on how much energy it has available. At high energy, it can be quite strong, while it weakens the closer it comes to being drained. The physical parts of its body are partially amorphous and are able to expand, contract, and move with the flow of its energy. Although, its most natural, stable state does form its tendrils into the form of a body with arms, legs, and a head. It survives by consuming energy. In Taylor's captivity, and likely the city beyond, its most common source of sustenance is electricity, though it can absorb other types of energy like intense heat or radiation, which makes Taylor strong against energy-based attacks. If it consumes a great deal of some form of energy, then it can become supercharged and may be able to violently expend some of the excess energy in energy-based attacks. Although, it cannot stay supercharged forever, and will eventually shed off that energy even if it does not use it.

Weaknesses:

• Perceived Threat - Though somewhat amorphous by nature, Taylor cannot take any other forms. As such, its frightening, inhuman appearance makes it entirely unable to operate normally within Human society. Even if behaving benevolently, others may approach it as if it is a much greater danger than it actually is.
• Energy Draining - As a mostly energy-based lifeform, Taylor is particularly weak to any attack that can directly drain the form of energy empowering it (for instance, it would be weak to the cold if empowered by heat).
• Depression - Since the explosion, Taylor has been betrayed by Lorne and subjected to horrible and painful experimentation. It has given up hope of a cure, and has even separated itself to some extent from its former Human identity. It feels lost and confused about its future, and even survival itself does not feel like a strong motivation.
• Stun from Physical Trauma - Taylor no longer has a physical brain. Rather, its neural patterns are imprinted across the whole of its essence. While the imprint itself cannot be permanently damaged by attack, dealing enough damage to its body at once can interrupt Taylor's conscious thoughts briefly until it regenerates and restores itself, causing it to act purely on instinct and impulse for the duration.
• Energy Dependence - Taylor's relative strength depends entirely upon the amount of energy it is able to consume. When at low energy, its ability to move, fight, and even think are dulled.
• Hunger - Taylor has something of a voracious hunger, and must periodically consume substantial amounts of energy in order to sustain itself. As such, even should it escape its captivity, it cannot easily hide itself away from people for an extended time.

Skills: Taylor was once a person and retains the knowledge and education it received growing up in the city. However, apart from basic knowledge, all of its former Human skills have been rendered pointless by the transformation. [Relevant skills PMed to Sep]
History: [Human background PMed to Sep]
Taylor was once Human. It still has those memories, still clings to them no matter how much it wishes to get rid of them. However, in its eyes, that version of Taylor died with the explosion at the Tower. After the explosion, it was transformed into its current, horrible form. Frightened and confused as it was after the incident, it gave itself over willingly to Lorne corporation in the hopes for a cure. However, that decision is one that has made its new life into one of suffering.

Taylor had, at first, consented to the experiments, not that it likely would have mattered. They did not begin terribly, and Taylor did learn more about itself and its abilities through the process. However, after they learned more about how its body functioned, how to sustain and support it, they started to see what would happen if they tried to break it. They have starved it, shot it, stabbed it, shredded it, and even detonated it. Granted, most of their experiments are not so violent, and they are yet to find any sort of drug that even affects its body in the slightest, but Taylor has spent hours upon hours screaming out in pain to deaf ears.

The pain and betrayal Taylor has suffered at the hands of Lorne corporation have almost changed Taylor as much as the tower's explosion. It sees itself as almost as much of a monster as it appears to be, and has started to abandon the notion of ever being Human again. Even just trying to hold onto a Human identity feels like a painful reminder of what it will never have again. At this point, Taylor even refers to itself as an "it", and is only barely willing to hold on to its name. It no longer holds on to hope for a cure, and if given the chance, would be willing to escape from its prison.
Angry cop outside a doughnut shop...yeah, this doesn't fit naturally anywhere in that background.

Sample Post

The four walls of its cell. The door, its hardened translucent window, and the limited view it gave out into the part of the lab it could see from within. That was Taylor's entire world now, all it could experience aside from what was pumped into its cell. More accurately, the scientists referred to it as a "mobile containment unit", though it still never moved from this spot. Taylor had been moved between units a few times, each stronger and more specialized than the last, but it was always in this room. Its current cell had to have been constructed specifically for it. Taylor had damaged some of the past cells, but this one was strong, it was insulated, and it had specialized nozzles and other equipment to pump chemicals and energy into it, all without even opening the door. Most of what Taylor could see through the large, translucent door was computers and sensors to collect data on their experiments.

Right now, Taylor could see some of the scientists outside, calibrating equipment, making notes. Those in this particular group had never spoken to it, though the nametags on their lab coats meant that it knew all of their names by this point. There had been a time when Taylor had tried to talk to them, tried to reason with them, but it knew now that was a pointless endeavor. When it was time for their experiment to begin, the covering of a nozzle on the back wall of the cell opened, immediately spraying and igniting and incendiary fuel that immolated the whole of the chamber in an unavoidable flame. Far from harming Taylor, however, it could not help but to absorb the intense heat of the flame into its very being. By the time the last of the flame was gone, Taylor had grown considerably in size and mass, towering over the average Human. The dark tendrils of its essence danced excitedly upon the surface of its loosely-formed body, and its many eyes glowed in a brilliant white. For Taylor, it felt amazing to have that power surging through its essence, but it had been through this enough times to feel only dread at what was to come.

---

Taylor found it hard to be sure exactly how much time passed. After being immolated in fire, its cell was now chilled well-below freezing. There was no day or night, no way of judging for how long it was meant to suffer. It could have been hours, or days, though the latter likely would have killed it. All Taylor had was the constant hum of computers and sensors collecting their "readings" on what its body was suffering. It did not feel merely like being cold, but rather like its lifeforce was being slowly, but viciously torn out of every tendril. Taylor was now somewhat smaller and leaner than a Human, hardly moving, and most of its eyes were not even visible any longer. Taylor had been through this torture half a dozen times in the past few weeks, in all likelihood so the scientists could collect a better sample size on their observations. It wished it could sleep, if only to be given some reprieve from the pain.

It was hard for Taylor to even notice when the cell started to warm, as the pain lingered on across its body. It was only some movement outside that caught Taylor's attention. It crawled slowly towards the door, looking up at the woman that had come to check up on it. She was the one welcome sight that Taylor had in this hell in which it resided. Her name was Marian Allen. She was the only one who had given Taylor her first name, and the only one who really talked to it at all. She wore a similar lab coat to the scientists, but she was a nurse. At least, that was the best way Taylor could describe her. She monitored its health, and presumably the health of other subjects, based on what she had told it in the past. She was the only reason that Taylor was even aware of the existence of other subjects. She had freckled, pale skin, red hair, and was still slightly overweight, despite having been on a diet for the past two months. She represented the final shred of hope that Taylor had in this place.

Marian knelt down in front of the clear door and looked directly into Taylor's eyes, something that all of the others tended to avoid, consciously or not. "It's okay, it's over. The experiment is over now. It's going to be alright."

As Marian was just about to stand, Taylor lifted one of its limbs suddenly up and pressed it against the window, its tendrils forming the shape of an open hand. "Please..." Taylor began. It did not have a mouth with which to speak, but its energy could simply form the sounds directly. Its voice had an otherworldly, echoing quality to it. Marian did the same, pressing her own hand right up to Taylor's.

"...let me...die." Taylor continued, sounding just as weak as it looked.

Marian swallowed as she closed her eyes and lowered her head. Taylor did not doubt that she would grant its request, were it in her power. Her tears told it that much. But, those tears were all Marian could give for now, as she had no choice but to stand and go to the control console, pressing the button that gave the entire metal interior of the cell a powerful electric charge. Taylor absorbed the energy, revitalizing its body and mind up to its former strength.

All so the cycle could repeat again.

Star Wars - Galaxies at War[MULTIVERSE SPACESHIP RP]

Eri 'Moram - Aboard the Imperial Venator

---

Eri followed through with the opening that the Human gave them, revealing herself just after he ripped away the barricade. She raised her hardlight shield and, this time with her plasma rifle, lifted up her arm to fire over the top of the shield. Her HUD provided a targeting reticle to assist with aiming, though she was still firing more for suppression than accuracy.

However, the greatest form of both damage and suppression came from the Unggoy. The explosive output of the fuel rod gun's shots were like rockets, but all five shots in the magazine could be fired in rapid succession. Two were bound for opposite sides of the breach, while the other three focused on mounted weapon emplacements and other Imperials that were still firing on them from other parts of the barricade.

The Imperials could not have expected the kind of weapons they were encountering. Each of the fuel rod blasts hit one after another, blasting wide areas with superheated radioisotopes and explosive force, melting and blasting apart soldiers and fortifications alike. Regardless of how many of the remaining defenders were able to avoid the blasts, it certainly managed to diminish the amount of accurate return fire from the Imperials as they advanced. Given that the Unggoy did not have time to reload, he instead moved the fuel rod gun to his back and started throwing plasma grenades. "Grenade out, grenade out, grenade out!" He shouted with each throw, becoming that much more enthusiastic every time. Wisely, he aimed the grenades for deeper into the sides of the Imperials' position, rather than throwing grenades directly into the breach his commander was currently running at.

While the Unggoy did fall behind in the advance, the rest of the Sangheili in Eri's troupe took advantage of the disruption he had provided and sprinted up to the barricades while the defenders were mostly disoriented. Some took cover on their side of the enemy's barricades, while others followed Jerus and Eri through the breach.

Eri holstered her near-overheated plasma rifle as she was passing through the breach, but just as she had put the weapon away, she had to swat away the blaster of an Imperial clone nearby, immediately to the right of the breach. While he did get off a shot, the blast went up towards the ceiling. Rather than draw a weapon, Eri simply grabbed a hold of the Imperial's helmet and, with just one hand, smashed his head up against the barricade with almost certainly lethal force. Aside from demonstrating the strength in a Sangheili's arm, Eri had, perhaps curiously to Jerus, reacted to the presence of the Imperial just before she could have seen or heard him, which was why she was able to push away his weapon to begin with.

The Tower Chapter 1: A New Dawn

One trend I have noticed so far with characters is that those with more tame abilities seem to be those that can much more easily blend with society. Some of the more potent abilities, like the Ratman or Taylor's, come on characters that do not have that option. I'm not sure if that was intentional, but I feel it makes sense. If you like that pattern, you might continue it as well. It's just an idea, though. I don't think it's a rule anywhere.

The Tower Chapter 1: A New Dawn

What were the general ideas you had?