Hammerman

Wind Riders: Heroes of the Etheric Sea

@chukklehed
Do you have to already have a ship before taking the entrance test?

Wind Riders: Heroes of the Etheric Sea

@chukklehed
Do the Riders provide ships to their members?

Wind Riders: Heroes of the Etheric Sea

Name: Tanya Gorbechik
Race: Human
Appearance:

Age: 17

History:
Born as a daughter of a minor noble in a backward planet of the Golden Empire, she could have lived a comfortable life far away from any conflict and violence.

Alas, such a life was simply not for her.

She had always been fascinated by the Wind Riders ever since she was little. And she eventually decided that she would join them once she grew up, an oath she ended up keeping.

Even if it meant running away from her home, moving into a different planet entirely just to have the chance of taking their test. She became a stowaway on a cargo ship, using what credits she had under her name to rent the smallest and cheapest apartment in said planet for her new home.

Naturally, it was a far cry from her comfortable home. Not to mention the fact that she had to take a part time job as a mechanic, to support herself.

Not to mention the fact that she needed to have her own spaceship before she would even be allowed to take the entrance test.

And predictably, a spaceship wasn't cheap in the slightest, even the smallest and cheapest one. She couldn't just walk in to the nearest spaceport and buy one. Not with her own credits anyway.

Of course, she had no intention to beg to her parents for it. Especially since she knew very well they would never approve of it, and would just end up sending their servants to this planet to fetch her.

And so her option was only one. To somehow construct her own spaceship, using parts she could get at little to no cost.

Thankfully, she had quite the knowledge on repairing and salvaging abandoned spaceships. At first, it was just textbook knowledge, obtained by her reading all the spaceship-related books that she could get her hands on back when she was still the daughter of a noble. But then, thanks to the guidance and hospitality of the other mechanics of the shop she worked part-time on, that knowledge turned into a practical one. It didn't take long until she was just as good as any of them, and she was able to identify the parts she could use out of the electronics garbage dump located just right behind the shop.

Yes, she picked the shop exactly for that purpose, after she learned no one really cared if anyone would to steal anything from said garbage dump. It was all trash anyways, things the original owners no longer needed.

It was rough, but after six months of hard work, along with some help from the other mechanics who were symphatetic to her goal, she made it nonetheless. Her very own spaceship.

It was really small and tiny. And it could fly. And travel through space as well. No warp capabilities yet though. No one would be dump enough to just throw a really expensive warp device to a garbage dump, even a broken one. They would all be refurbished to be re-sold later.

But it was good enough for her to take the test. And so she did.

And miraculously, she made it in right at her first try.

It turned out that she had quite the talent in her blood for controlling tiny, single person spaceships. Perfect for how the Wind Riders rolled.

And now, after she graduated, she was ready to get into action immediately, as a new heroic member of the Wind Riders.

Only to find out that she had been assigned to a dull patrol mission out of nowhere.

Her disappointment was simply immeasurable.

At the very least, with her new job, she could purchase proper spaceship parts. Her ship was now much better than before, and it could actually warp, which was obviously required for her job (she asked for a front payment to her first job for that very reason, which, thankfully, her superior approved).

Personality:
She is a reserved and quiet person, preferring to keep to herself than mingling with others. She rarely ever smiled, only displaying that look of boredom that was constantly plastered on her face (it only got worse after she was assigned her patrol mission). She had an analytical mind, preferring to assess the situation before jumping into action. She was quite the stubborn person, never wanting to compromise her own personal goals.

Core Belief:
She looked up to the Wind Rider as heroes. She had a strong belief of punishing evildoers and promoting good. She believed in a universal tenet of morality that everyone, no matter where they were from, should follow.

Naturally, said morality came from what her parents taught her over the years.

Equipment:
Her preferred choice for weaponry was a simple laser handgun and a laser knife. As for her armor, she wore a miniature energy shield generator under her clothes, giving her protection while allowing ease of movement at the same time.

Ship:
Her ship was terribly small, as it was literally just a one cockpit vehicle. And it was terribly cramped, with the control stick located right between her legs. The panels, screens, and, buttons were located above her, easily reachable by her hands. Indeed, she drove the ship while somewhat in a lying down position.

All that was necessary to make the most compact one-man ship possible.

On the outside, the ship was painted dark red, and it was equipped with laser guns to the sides, missiles from below, and even a main laser cannon coming out from the pointed front. It was also equipped with the state-of-the-art stealth capability, and its maneuveribility was simply superior to any other ships out there.

Unfortunately, defense-wise, the shield generator was terribly weak. It would go offline in just one or two minor hits. Clearly, you were not supposed to get hit in the first place.

Magic:
She was capable of using some stealth magic, mainly invisibility and muffle sound. She could combine it with her ship's stealth capability, allowing her ship to not show up in any conventional radar while being actually invisible and absolutely silent in the real world.

@chukklehed

Rise of the Shield Hero - Waves of Chaos

"A wise decision," Myrila commented with a smile. "It indeed would be wise for you to equip yourself first and gain some levels afterwards. With me, a level 10 around, we can take on stronger monsters right away, meaning you would gain experience much more quicker as well." Her smile turned into a proud one. She was clearly really confident in her own abilities.

"I am ready if you are," she answered his enquiry.

@vancexentan

Saltpeter Preparatory Academy: A Mythical School in a Modern Age

Putting up my tentative interest.

The Elemental King: All Hope Lost!

@The One
Dibs on water.

Etheric Winds (A spacefaring adventure)

Putting my tentative interest.

L'Mordryn Academy

---

The Saucer, aptly titled such as it resembled the classic alien vehicle, was painted with a mixture of white and gold. It wasn't as big as a full-blown mothership however, which was a fortunate fact since that meant it could be stored safely inside the club's garage away from prying eyes, as it only had the capacity of carrying at the most 100 people or so. The Club's members didn't amount to that much, so it was fine for everyone to come onboard.

The biggest room inside was definitely the control room, with a circular design of operators sitting in the front, forming a half circle around the room, with the center being the captain's seat. Corona, naturally, took said seat, and she had other members to man the stations in front of her. Esther on the hand was stationed inside the engine room, along with a couple other members. THe rest non-working passengers would have to stand behind Corona, and they had to make sure to not fall over when the ship accelerated and decelerated.

It was quite the barebone ship indeed. At the very least, it had a toilet, though it was just for one single person.

The Saucer had already been there as the property of the club for a long time. It was an artifact obtained from an alien world, brought to this world accidentally through some unknown means. The records weren't clear on the case, though it suggested that the ship had some form of trans-dimensional travel capabilities.

And after all those years, they still had yet to understand the technology contained within it completely.

It was certainly a really convenient travel vessel however, as it allowed them to travel into the city in mere hours, compared to days it would normally take.

They landed the Saucer on the outskirts of the city, their destination being there. If it were inside the city however, they would still have to park their vehicle there, as there was no way a Saucer of that size could land safely on a crowded city like that. The risk of hitting a building was too high.

Esther always complained about it however, saying that they could just land inside the city just fine. She was just too lazy to exercise her legs.

They camouflaged the vehicle, allowing it to blend perfectly into the background. This would deter attention to it, though not that they expected any random citizen to be able to steal it. The controls were really difficult and complex, and they would need at least five people to even make it take off.

"Alright everyone, we're going to the village hall straight away. They should have already gathered the farmers there. We then gave another explanation of the chip, just to reassure them, then we could get to injecting right away," Corona explained.

As they landed right beside the village, it didn't take them long at all to walk to their destination.

The elder greeted them with a nice hospitality, shaking Corona's hands perhaps a little too enthusiastically as he thanked her over and over for coming to his village. He then led her and the rest of the group to the village hall, a building where the villagers could gather to discuss things.

The place was already crowded when they arrived, and after some words from the Elder, it was time for Corona to take the stage.

Or, that would be the original plan, if not for Corona changing her mind at the last second.

The last time she was here, she was the one who did the speech. But some of the farmers and herders were still not receptive to her explanation. After doing some introspection, she believed her speech was too technical, filled with difficult words that her audience wouldn't be able to understand.

And so she decided to leave it to Esther this time, as she was far better regarding passionate speeches, especially when it involved technology.

Her judgment was soon proven correct, with Esther appealing far more to the emotional side of things compared to her more logical one. She told them how without the chips, the poor animals would one day get lost and sick, and it would be too late then to ask for help. With the chip installed, their safety would be guaranteed, and as their owners, the farmers and herders could relax as they wouldn't need to watch them physically to tell where they were and whether or not they needed any medical attention. Many diseases would not show any obvious symptoms until it was already too late after all.

When Esther finished her speech, she was greeted with a loud applause. From the faces of their audience, Corona could tell that most, if not all, of them had been convinced by her arguments.

"Don't listen to her!"

Suddenly, they were interrupted by a loud voice shouting into the hall.



A druid had entered, and she was clearly not happy with what had been transpiring.

"Putting chips into animals? How barbaric and inhumane can you be?" she shouted at Esther. "Animals aren't one of your machines! They're living beings as well!"

Corona groaned. THis is going to get ugly.

L'Mordryn Academy

---

Max sat in the back row, having come in slightly late due to his previous club. He was more or less knew what to expect today and wasn't surprised the Druids had again raised a stink about their intervention. Though, unlike his club leaders, he believed magic had its place and that working with magic could only improve technology. He had no interest in debating its viability with the two sisters. As Corona and Esther concluded their short speech, Max approached them, "Good morning." He dully greeted before asking, "Do you have a moment. I wanted to discuss the future of this tracking device. I may have some ideas on how to better utilize it. Beyond just tracking lost cattle."

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Corona asked, tilting her head slightly.

"Yeah, what do you mean, Max?" Esther chirped in, one hand on her waist. "Tell us clearly. We're always open to any suggestions from our members after all!" she said with a smile.

"Excellent," Max replied, looking more motivated. "My first thought was looking into human trials. Although this is typically looked down upon knowing a person vitals and being able to track them has many applications for safety services such as police and fire and rescue. However," Max grinned a bit, "What I think would be even better is if we could modify the device to read magical energies. Knowing how much magic a person, or creature, has a lot of strategic advantage. If we were to speed up the delivery mechanism, or even make it ranged. Then it wouldn't have to be voluntary either."

Corona’s smile disappeared, turning into a frown.

“Funny you should say that, since I’ve been suggesting that from the very beginning!” Esther replied. Unlike her friend, it seemed she was still as cheerful as ever. “Human chips would really be useful, I agree. I even suggested to Corona to replace our electronic cards with implanted chips instead. It’s far more secure that way, no?”

Future Tech members were given said cards that were needed to access the building. Higher clearance cards would be needed to access the lab and storage, as there had been cases of thievery, usually from those outside the club, stealing all sorts of gadgets and doodads from their labs. Thankfully, none of the stolen goods had been of the dangerous kind. Usually, those troublemakers just stole them for their pranks.

“I’ve told you, Esther, it’s not ready yet for human usage,” Corona finally interjected. “And Max,” She turned to face towards him with crossed arms. “We would never inject them to people without their permission. That is not how we function.” She gave him a grave look, pretty much saying that he would be screwed if he tried that little idea of his without her permission.

“I agree with the rest of your suggestion however,” she continued, her posture now turning into her usual, relaxed form. “It indeed could be useful. But like I said, it’s not ready yet for human usage. Not enough tests. We have to make sure it wouldn’t trigger any allergies on the human body first. Speak to Miriam. She’s in charge of the testing.”

Miriam was of course, another member of the Future Tech club. Naturally, Corona and Esther couldn’t handle all the experiments and research the Club did, so they had to relegate their duties to other members of the Club.

Max should have expected the split response given the Sisters tended to have radically different viewpoints. He was glad Esther agreed with his assessment, but he did politely listen to Corona's objections before responding, "I will talk with Miriam about testing the modifications. Though Corona, I ask that you not misconstrue my meaning. I concede the point that rejection of the implants could be a problem for human subjects. However, I feel that testing on Otherworld creatures would be safe, even with the current version. They aren't like us after all, so I doubt it would bring great harm to them. I want to be able to understand these creatures better Corona. And, part of that understanding is realizing they won't always just let me." Max looks at Corona for a response before adding, "Now on a different note. How are we getting to town today? I hope it is not the long version or I may need to skip out as I have an important date today at noon."

“Well…” Corona answered. “I’m fine with using it against beasts and animals. As for how to deliver them from a distance, I suppose it could be done with a launcher of sorts. Something like a dart gun. Or even mini-drones, though the creation of them still requires a level of expertise we still haven’t reached yet.”

“Imagine mosquito drones fighting actual mosquitoes, keeping you safe from them even in the middle of the thickest, most damp tropical jungle. It would be a wonderful invention for everyone, as long as we can mass-produce it of course,” Esther chimed in with excitement.

“That, of course, is still further away even more,” Corona commented.

“As for your other question…” she continued with a smile. “We’ll be taking the flying saucer. So get ready. Brush up on the manual if you forget your duties as one of the bridge crew.”

"Ah yes, the Saucer," Max said his voice deflating with each word. It was a little known fact, but Max hated heights. He could deal with flying alright, but when it came to the site of the ground fast approaching he would lose all his nerve to anxiety. He took a moment to compose himself as he thought." I don't imagine you will have much use for me. Seeing as I am on weapons." Max replied, sounding a little hopeful. "There really wouldn't be much point in me equipping that VR headset if I have nothing to shoot at." the headset Max referred to was a half helmet that Max could wear that gave him direct control of any weapon he wanted. It also came with a set of controllers he could aim like real guns allowing him to employ his real-life training. Sure they had targeting computers capable of locking on, but they were slow had no sense of the situation or their surroundings. Max could do more than just aim well.

“Hmm, true,” Corona resigned, pursing her lips. “We’re not doing a large scale beast extermination task after all.” Occasionally they would be requested to take care of beasts and monsters that disturbed and threatened the people of the countryside, where they lived near the forests, swamps, and mountains where such creatures existed in large numbers. Unlike the druids who would prefer to negotiate and commune with such creatures, they would just come and kill them instead, ending the problem permanently. And with some of the club members being Bestia members, they had a good knowledge on how those beasts would hunt, where their territories would be, how they breed, etc, etc.

“Alright, if that’s all, then we shall depart at once,” Corona declared. “Esther, the engine for the Saucer is all tuned up already, right?” Esther was the head of the mechanical engineering department of the club, so the task fell to her lap.

“Of course!” Esther puffed her chest. “I already did the checks early in the morning, just as you told me too!”

“Good. Then there should be no problem,” Corona replied with a smile.

Re:Unison

@ERode
Posted.