EliteCommander

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

“So much for stealth…” Kareet muttered once she and J’eon had crested the hill to see Shirik extinguishing flames very much out in the open. Regardless, the sight of this…machine pulled her attention away from anything else rather swiftly and completely. She had been speculating on what she had seen since the moment they left Ertiseda, but this…this defied anything she could have expected. Its size was unbelievable, its design entirely unrecognizable, and its source was even more mysterious. “This doesn’t look like anything from any place I am familiar with. Where could it have come from? Another continent, maybe, but…who could have built it? The kind of industry required, and the metalworking…it is in amazingly good condition for having fallen from the sky, I think. We…we need to be careful. Whoever created built this has considerable power, and we know nothing about them. We do not know if anyone aboard is dangerous, if they are still alive.”

Again, there was a pause from Kareet as she fell back into her own thoughts. She was, of course, greatly interested in the machine itself. Whatever it was, it represented a wealth of new discoveries. However, she was also just as interested in its creators. Looking at this thing now, she genuinely believed that no nation she knew of on Kanth-Aremek could possibly have created it. This was, at the very least, from someone beyond the continent. If there were still any alive on board, it would be perhaps of even more benefit to her to learn from them. Of course, as she had said to J’eon, she knew nothing about them. It could be dangerous to approach them, but she could not simply ignore this. The potential gain was too great. Given the severity of the crash, she could imagine that those on board would be in need of help. They could be in need of supplies, a guide, or of medical aid. Providing such aid could potentially ingratiate them with these outsiders, and make it more likely that she would be able to learn what she wanted from them.

“But…if there is anyone alive, they might be in desperate need of help. We should still try to do what we can, just…be careful.” Kareet added.

---

It took about twenty minutes for Kareet and J’eon to make their way down from their spot on the mountainside to the crash site. As she approached, Kareet already had her notebook in hand, furiously sketching everything in sight. At the very least, Shirik had made sure it was safe to approach. She did not stop for a moment, even after they rejoined Shirik. “We should look for some way inside. If there is anyone remaining, they could need our help.”

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

While Kareet might have disliked climbing, traveling with the others was illuminating on exactly how much easier it was for Tekeri. Their strength coupled with their lightweight bodies made navigating uneven or steep terrain comparatively effortless. Watching her companions, though, they just felt…heavy, with every step they took. On flat ground, Glen could easily move faster than any of the other species, either in a sprint or over time. Back when they were fighting Kolodon, one of the major advantages they held was with how well their armies could outmaneuver the S’tor. Up here in the mountains, though, Kareet had to avoid letting on to any irritation on how much they were slowing her down. They could still be useful. It had been a while since she had seen signs of the fires that the impact had certainly sparked, but that did not mean she would not need a heat mage.

“I am not so sure about that.” Kareet remarked. They had stopped momentarily in a clear space of relatively flat ground on a mountainside. Another rest. She stood atop a nearby boulder so she could observe the area from the highest point in the vicinity; granted, visibility was rather good regardless. This part of the mountain was not forested, so it had a clear view of the valley below them. There was no sign of the impact on this side of the mountain, but with how far they had traveled, they had to be getting close. By Kareet’s estimation, the impact site would likely be on the other side of either this mountain range, or the next beyond it. “Ertiseda is the closest settlement to here. I don’t think anyone else from that village would take the risk to come out here. Though, I’ll admit, a purely Tekeri group could easily outpace us. There could also be some small Tekeri tribes up in these mountains, but I doubt they would pose any threat to us.”

After a moment, Kareet tilted her head towards Shirik. “Still, I agree with your conclusion. If possible, we should observe from stealth when we find it. Best gather as much information as possible before making any decisions. Perhaps you should stay back and allow me to do so? You are…” She paused, giving a look up and down Shirik’s smoldering body. “…luminous.”

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

Kareet, for a moment, looked out over the horizon, though the mountains around them were limiting to her view. Now that the fireball had reached the ground, the darkness of night had settled back over the land. Although, even from where they were, a faint orange glow seemed to be visible from behind the mountain. Either the object itself was still ablaze, or it had sparked a forest fire. Either way, a heat mage would be useful to her. Fortunately, Shirik had already expressed their desire to investigate this event as well. For now, it seemed they would be sticking together.

“That was not a mere fireball, it was…artificial. A foreign weapon…or some other machine? But who would be able to create a thing of such size?” Kareet muttered, mostly to herself. “We must hurry. Who knows what those fires may be destroying? There is no point in wasting time here.” She remarked. Admittedly, if this object was truly in danger from the flames, it would be wishful thinking that they would be able to reach it in time to do anything about it. Depending on where it fell, it could be a day or two before they even reached it. Nevertheless, Kareet was intent on setting out immediately.

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

<Snipped quote by Catharyn>

Thanks! I would just like to wait a bit so that my character comes in about a day or two after the crash, if that's alright?

@Ranvena

If that is how you want to do it, that is fine.

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

Hi all! Tossing my hat in for the ship’s crew, let me know if you have any questions. Thanks!

Dr. Ibarra

Name: Dr. Itxaro Ibarra

Species: Human

Age: 35

Appearance: Dr. Ibarra stands at 6'1 and weighs 165 pounds; tall for a woman, but not unusual in the 23rd century. Itxaro begrudgingly exercises, the motto "A corpo worked out today, did you?" still burned into her brain from primary school. As such, she is in good shape, but by no means an amazing athlete. Itxaro's left arm and shoulder are noticeably more toned than the other from lugging around the weighty prosthetic; which begins at a stump just after the elbow. Her hair, which had been going prematurely grey at 25, has since been dyed a muted white. Dr. Ibarra's wardrobe is decidedly less college professor, more college student, a mixture of loose casual clothes and form-fitting athletic wear. However, when on duty in the engineering bay, she wears the typical jumpsuit and ties her hair back to avoid getting caught in any machinery.

Augmentations: It can hardly be called an augmentation, but Itxaro's dominant hand and forearm have been replaced with a bionic metal prosthetic. Though significantly stronger than her organic limb, the replacement is heavier than modern, cutting-edge augments, and suffers from the occasional breakdown. These glitches can be easily resolved by Dr. Ibarra, which is part of why she keeps the older model. That, and being grafted with expensive prosthetics is something of a cultural faux-pas in the USASR.

Occupation: FTL Specialist

Key skills:

• Mechanical Savant: Dr. Ibarra is a titan in her field, one of the leading engineers in the entire USASR. Her knowledge of all things mechanical is vast and deep, and Itxaro is able to quickly pick up on abstract concepts she has never encountered, which is largely why she was chosen as the previous FTL specialist’s replacement. Itxaro specializes in theoretical FTL drives, and was pretty pissed when the Yenge blew up her spot with their vastly-superior tech. Dr. Ibarra thought she was damn close to a breakthrough. While she has spent much of her career as a researcher and designer, Itxaro is still comfortable wrenching on a ship's drive deep in a crawlspace or in an EVA suit. Still, she finds the entire field of engineering horribly boring.
• Medieval Enthusiast: While Dr. Ibarra is a genius when it comes to anything mechanical, her true passion is medieval European history, with a specific focus on how common peasants lived in their day-to-day life. In her spare time, Dr. Ibarra reads massive tomes on ancient blacksmithing techniques, cooking methods, architectural plans, and any other literature she is able to obtain from that distant time and place. Itxaro also joined a medieval European martial arts club in school, dueling with a variety of weapons, and even now occasionally competes in local amateur tournaments when her schedule allows. She placed 5th in the last one, and was pretty happy about it.
• Socialist Philosopher: Like all Cubans in the 23rd century, Dr. Ibarra is extremely knowledgeable concerning Marxian economics, eco-socialism, Ziotiomatian interplanetary class dynamics, Falcónist markets, and so on. This is a useful skill in space, right?

Personality:

Backstory: Dr. Itxaro Ibarra was born in Havana, Cuba, the heart of the 150-year old Union of South American Socialist Republics (USASR). The federal union was formed after the People's Republic of China capitulated to the United States in 2113 after a 30-year cold war between the two superpowers went hot. The proxy wars were largely fought in resource-rich Africa, with both countries redirecting most of their economies toward the conflicts; their allies made only a token contribution, instead opting to watch the superpowers burn themselves out. The war came to a conclusion after a brief but brutal direct confrontation between both countries in Alaska, followed by a decisive cyber-attack by the United States, which paralyzed the Chinese military and the country's infrastructure. China was balkanized into a variety of smaller puppet states controlled by corporations and European countries, while the US was forced to privatize most of its economy to private enterprise. The end of US hegemony gave way to the age of the megacorporation, which saw the hyper-exploitation of most of the global south. Cuba, one of the last countries without a megacorp presence, was able to back a series of revolutions over the next 30 years in South America to expunge the megacorporations, leading to the creation of the USASR.

Dr. Ibarra grew up in Cuba's countryside, the daughter of an agricultural worker and a philosophy professor, surrounded by siblings in their modest home. At a young age, it became apparent that Itxaro was a mechanical genius. Both of her mothers gently encouraged her to advance her education in engineering, but it was Itxaro who made the decision to study engineering at the Universidad de la Habana. While her interests lay practically anything else, Itxaro knew she was given a gift, and to instead spend her life writing awful poetry or studying picked-over ruins somewhere in Europe would be a total waste. She had the chance to help her country, and she took it without regret or hesitation.

Itxaro quickly became Dr. Ibarra, flying through university at a pace rarely seen. Itxaro chose to specialize in faster-than-light travel, the Holy Grail of technology, but also developed a deep familiarity with multiple ship systems, since an FTL drive would work in tandem with many. Since the 22nd century, Cuba had been a leading innovator in space travel, more out of necessity than anything since the tiny island nation was isolated from the corporate world and had few natural resources available; the only way for them to access the raw materials they needed was to go up. The USASR had established a variety of colonies throughout the solar system, but their ships were beginning to lag behind, so the government began subsidizing further breakthroughs in space travel. Dr. Ibarra left the university with a PhD in theoretical engineering and FTL physics, joining the USASR's robust space program.

Because so many of their space-faring resources are off-planet, Itxaro was immediately shipped to a shipyard hidden in Saturn's rings, far from prying corpo eyes. She spent the next several years with a team of engineers, scientists, and pilots testing, testing, and failing. It seemed like there was a missing piece to the puzzle, but the collective wisdom of the human race couldn't find it. Dr. Ibarra advanced to the head of the team, and after what seemed like a lifetime in cold space, they were on the verge of a breakthrough. The moment of truth was cut short when breaching pods shattered the thin skin of their habitat, sending in squad after squad of corporate mercenaries who grabbed whatever crew they could and executed those they couldn't. Dr. Ibarra and a few others managed to reach an escape shuttle, but the mercenaries had rigged the shipyard to blow; just before they cleared the blast zone, Itxaro's former home exploded, disabling their shuttle with shrapnel and sending it hurtling into deep space.

Dr. Ibarra spent the next countless days clutching her crudely bandaged bloody stump of an arm, watching helplessly as her friends slowly succumbed to similar wounds. They didn't send out a distress signal until a week had passed, knowing the mercenaries would come to finish them off. By then the shuttle had traveled so far that it took the nearest USASR patrol ship another three days to recover them. Out of the nine survivors, just two had survived.

After recovering, Dr. Ibarra returned to Havanna just in time to learn that their efforts were wasted; a spacefaring species called the Yenge had beaten them to it, crashing into their solar system and promising to share their secret of faster-than-light travel in exchange for a safe harbor. Somewhat disillusioned, but not dissuaded, Dr. Ibarra returned to the Universidad de la Habana as a professor now, sharing her successes and failures with the next batch of scientists, as well as researching whatever scraps of Yenge technology the USASR's spy network could gather.

Just as Dr. Ibarra became content with her position, she was contacted by an agent of the USASR's space program; a corporation, Tamerlane, had fused Yenge and human tech to create the first drive capable of faster-than-light travel. The previous FTL specialist had vanished, either picked up by a competing corporation or disappeared of their own accord to sell the secrets, and Tamerlane was desperate to fill the FTL specialist slot before their deadline. So desperate that they were willing to accept a USASR citizen.

@Regime Goon

I could see how things could be interesting for this character, landing in a place like Kanth-Aremek. I wonder how her background with Medieval history might shape her expectations of the natives?

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

Kareet could have possibly believed this was some form of magic, until it started drawing closer. It started to slow noticeably as it drew nearer to the mountains, and the flames dimmed, at least slightly. It was still bright, but a Tekeri’s eyes could just make out…something within. Something more than flame, and it did not look to be stone either. Though, she had few guesses on what this could be, aside from a new mystery.

The fireball disappeared behind the mountains to the northeast. While it had been in the sky, the night had lit up almost like day, though darkness fell once again as soon as it went out of sight. Among the townsfolk, shock had seemingly kept a blanket of silence over the town around them for a few, brief moments. Once it seemed to become clear that the fireball was not going to bring an imminent death, though, that silence broke quickly. Everything from awe and amazement, to fear, to relief, could be heard in the chattering of the villagers around them. Kareet heard them talk of everything from magic to divine omens, but she did not concern herself with the speculations of the peasants, nor was she going to make baseless claims of her own. There would be only one way to find the truth here.

Kareet gave a quick look over to Shirik. She felt sure that had been no product of Heat magic. It was something solid, even if it had been covered in flames. Prior to this moment, she would have felt that there would have been little that could pry her away from her investigation into the strange Iriad…but it seemed she had just found it. Whatever this was, it was most certainly a mystery more interesting than anything Shirik could offer. She did not even want to waste time talking or speculating; depending on exactly where and across what terrain it had come down, it could take a day or two in order to make the hike out to it. She hoped it would not be that far. “The coin was sufficient, yes? If there is nothing more that anyone needs of me, I will be going. Whatever that thing was, I must reach it.”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

“How? Did you really think a mage like me would be so…limited, even in death?” Meesei responded, lightly smiling. Though, her expression took on a bit more of a serious appearance after a moment. “Or perhaps you are wondering how I have continued to exist at all, given what I…learned before from the Psijics. What I did that night, on the eve of the battle, did strengthen my soul, as I had hoped.” She explained, though it might have been a strange statement to Fendros. Despite all of the work they had done to try to solve Meesei’s problem, they had not settled on any approach that they believed would work. At least, that was what she and Sabine had told the rest of the pack.

Pausing a moment, Meesei found a clear spot in the soft grass nearby to take a seat. “I suppose it might be true to say that I am not Meesei. But I am not…not her, either. Being there in the Hunting grounds, with my unique soul, gave me a unique option. In simple terms, I was able to merge my own soul with that of my beast spirit. Not just to connect them, like with the average lycan, but to make both of them one. Honestly, I am surprised that it agreed; I could not force it upon it. Once it was done both of them became me. I have the memories of both lives.”

Call of the Hunt [EliteCommander and Muttonhawk]

Fendros had not spent much time conscious in this part of the forest last time he was here. After his first transformation, he had awoken elsewhere, surrounded by Meesei’s pack. Though, he did not have to walk long before he started to approach something new. Or…perhaps not new exactly.

He would catch the scent before he would see it. He was in what seemed to be unremarkable part of the forest when a werewolf dropped down in front of him, as if out of the trees. It was tall, powerful…familiar. Unmistakably, it was Meesei. As she took a few steps forward, her form transitioned back into her natural Argonian shape. It was not the usual twisting and contorting of the body that they were accustomed to, but rather as if she just faded into a new shape. Had he blinked, he could have missed it.

At first, she was almost hard to recognize. She appeared has young as the day they had first met. While Fendros’ Elven body had hardly changed at all since then, seeing her now called attention to how much she had changed in comparison. Her scales were more colorful and vibrant, while overall she seemed noticeably smaller. Over years and years of leading a war effort, she had conditioned her body as well as her magic. By the time she was standing face-to-face with him, though, she appeared back as her normal self. “Well…is there any specific etiquette I should observe when greeting you, Godhunter?”

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

Kareet observed silently as Kaqir worked. She had seen, and received, such healing many, many times before, so there was no tension for her. The only worry might have been if Kaqir was not a competent Life mage, but everything Kareet could see was perfectly acceptable. Healing simple injuries was far from the most complex thing a Life mage could do, after all.

Once Kaqir was done, Kareet gave a quick look over the Glen. No visible injuries, at least, and no more signs of pain. It was sufficient. She reached around to her backpack and produced a small pouch, from which she grabbed a few silver coins. It was far more than the coppers most peasants might be able to scrounge together, and consistent with what a healer would expect to be paid in the capital. “Thank you for your assistance.” Kareet said politely as she dropped the coins into the healer’s hand. “I…”

Kareet’s voice trailed off quickly. There was…something that caught her eyes in the sky to the north: a flash. At its source, there was something glowing, very distant. Tekeri had particularly sharp eyesight, but even to her the details were difficult to discern. It was like a hole in the sky through which daylight was shining. Through it, she could see a hint of fire, of distorted shapes she could not discern, and of…something that seemed to be moving. All she could really see of it was a red glow, like a fireball.

A few seconds later, something like the loudest thunder Kareet had ever heard echoed across the landscape. All at once, it was like the whole town froze. Anyone who had not noticed before now had their eyes to the sky. Even Glen villagers who had been roused from their sleep started to file outside as well to see what was happening.

The Eye of the Needle (where Fantasy and Sci-fi collide)

Kareet did not take much time for formalities. Clearly, she was in a hurry. She was already starting to turn around when she gestured for Kaqir to follow. “I will explain on the way. We shouldn’t delay.” It would only be a short walk across town, but fortunately, there also was not much to explain. “Are you familiar enough with the Glen form to heal them? We encountered a Glen along the road being attacked by a creature. We dispatched of the creature, but he was injured. Blunt impact, mostly.”

Even just a short explanation revealed a bit more about Kareet. The uneducated might just assume that a Life mage could heal anyone, but she knew at least enough about magic to know that a Life mage could only heal a being if they had studied their form long enough to develop an understanding of it. Of course, the majority of Life mages would spend plenty of time studying the bodies of Kanth-Aremek’s major races early on in their training, unless they had learned in a remote place.

There was not much time for conversation before they reached J’eon and Shirik. The Glen was still laying in his cart. On the outside, most of his injuries were not visible, though it would not take that long of an examination for Kaqir to feel just what kind of injuries he had. Physical trauma was, in general, relatively easy for a trained Life mage to deal with, other than brain damage. They could not heal others as quickly as they could heal themselves, but even still, it usually would not take more than a few minutes for them to heal even severe injuries, as good as new.

"Here he is. I do not think his life is in danger, but I imagine the pain is not pleasant." Kareet explained.