Avatar of Sierra
  • Last Seen: 2 yrs ago
  • Joined: 7 yrs ago
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    1. Sierra 7 yrs ago

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2 yrs ago
Current For those wondering where I fucked off to ... the apple iphone 14 pre-order launch is this thursday and I work software dev for a cell carrier. Been a lil slammed.
2 likes
2 yrs ago
As someone who once unironically used grey-on-black text .... don't. Its impossible to read on OLED screens, which include most modern phones.
1 like
2 yrs ago
Sometimes I feel like this site is a Thai buffet. I'm sure there's delicious things here, but for the life of my I can't find anything that really speaks to me right now.
6 likes
2 yrs ago
When not prepping for my D&D table, I should spruce up some of my stuff here. Not all of my old content is the garbage I presumed it was. But some things I wrote we won't talk about ....
2 likes
2 yrs ago
Reflections on characters past: "Adi really was a spoiled brat. How did I ever think her motivations were compelling?"

Bio

Peace is a lie. There is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.

Most Recent Posts

Takeda Kirido / “Kira”
Female, 20


“You tell me what I want to know right now, or you won’t tell anyone anything ever again, wakarimasu ka?”

Affiliation: JPN-22 Ori
Covert Operations Group “Jian”

Appearance:

In her preteen years Kira was rather easy on the eyes. Was. Her scars have since ruined that quite handily. The fireball caught her on the right side. The entirety of her arm, much of her back, shoulder and midsection, and most of the right half of her face were badly burned. The scars have faded over he years, but they are still significantly lighter and less smooth than the rest of her skin. Concealing them across her face is basically impossible.

Though hardly old, the signs of aging manifest themselves in the way she carries herself. A hard set to the jaw; a firm, purposed stride; the way her eyes subtly sweep left and right so nothing can surprise her; all telltale signs of an innocence lost. There’s a smooth, round softness to her face and her physique in general. In another life she may have been sweet, but that is not this life. Her hairline is mostly intact though it sits slightly higher over her right ear. The gentle curve of her sideburns mostly hides this.

Access to a corporate expense account to cover personal living elevated the quality of her dress away from dirty leather jackets and ripped jeans. Now instead it’s a silvery-gray designer jacket, slim fit pants, and knee-high leather boots that conceal her batons.


Personality:

From her upbringing, she has a strong adherence to honor, duty, family, and respect. The patriarchy of the yakuza was built on that honor and respect, not just blind adherence to rank (a stark departure from the corporate culture she exists within presently). Pulled away from family, culture, home, she’s thrust into the harsh unfamiliar of Europa with the corporation as the only remotely familiar entity with her.

Transfer Evaluation:
Agent Takeda represents a unique problem to Ori. In her current position within JPN district 8, she is still in close contact with unlawful entities, both individual and group. It has been recommended by Jian Group operations that she be among the operators assigned to a Europa operations post. The psychology department chooses to urge against this decision for the following reason: access to familiar culture and command structure to that which she was subject to during prior operation with known organized crime syndicates provides a stabilizing effect on her.

Agent Takeda assigns very little worth to rigid, arbitrary power structures such as those present within Europan corporations. The operational paradigm shift would work counter to the stabilizing effect of familiarity she experiences operating within JPN-22’s controlled region. Furthermore, the concept of honor as is present within Takeda’s former criminal associates does not exist within Europan culture as she would recognize it. The nature of the commander-operative relationship of Ori’s Europan operations is not built upon the foundation of respect that Takeda has cultivated with her superiors in JPN District 8. Removing her from this environment creates a serious risk of destabilizing the agent, which risks adverse consequences.

Takeda’s loyalties to Ori are best described as tenuous. Though over years she has cultivated positive working relationships with her immediate commanders and fellow operatives, there still exists great tensions between high-level Ori executives and the agent. Her pre-recruitment evaluation concluded that recruiting the agent via blackmail, though the most viable option at the time, would alienate the operative and yield long-lasting distrust and resentment. Takeda is kept in line by the threat of force against the crime syndicate she considers to be family. Deployment to Europa will severely limit her ability to verify the terms of her employment agreement with criminal associates, straining her trust to its breaking point. It is the formal conclusion of this evaluation that deployment of Agent Takeda to Europa represents a flight risk and potential loss of control of an operative. Though not assessed in this evaluation, the actions of Agent Takeda if no longer held accountable to Ori are considered an extreme hazard.


Bio:

Kira’s family was never wealthy, but they also weren’t that deep into poverty. They made ends meet well enough. She had halfway decent schooling and food always on the table. But this world is ruthless and unbiased. When it knocks you down, you either have the means to get back up or you don’t. When life reminded Kira who’s boss, she didn’t have those means.

There was a gas leak in her apartment complex. Her father was prepping ingredients in the kitchen with a frying pan of oil in the stove. The instant he lit the burner, the place exploded. Kira in the other room was caught by the edge of the fireball. First responders were able to pull her out, but not her mother before half the building collapsed. At the time she was only fourteen. To this day she refuses to talk about it to anyone, getting very confrontational if anyone pressed too deeply about her scars from that day.

Alone, orphaned, and destitute, she was out on the streets with no one to turn to. All the money and everything else she had to her name was eaten up by the medical expenses from the fire. She was left with nothing but the clothes on her back, and her own two hands to get by. But the underworlds of JPN are a dangerous place to use the five finger discount. Crime lords run those streets, and sure enough the day came when Kira got caught with her hand in the wrong pie by none other than the yakuza enforcer, Matsutoya Shuryuko.

Not content to smack around a child and then throw her back out onto the streets scared and alone, he took the girl in as his own. With no family to call her own, Kira latched onto the patriarchy of the Eleventh District Yakuza rather strongly. Matsu taught her everything he knew. The criminal syndicate took care of her as one of their own as long as she was a loyal soldier, and loyal she was until the bitter end.

It wasn’t entirely clear to her or to the organization what JPN-22 wanted with her. She was hardly the most capable of yakuza enforcers employed in District 11. Nonetheless, they wanted her specifically. She could always weasel out from under local law enforcement as a minor, but once she turned 18 and ended up in corporate crosshairs, there was no escaping it. In addition to sweeping her up, JPN-22 grabbed Matsu and two other yakuza and threatened to destroy the entire organization unless she did what they wanted. She wanted to hold out against them, but they knew well in advance that Matsu was her weakness, and she inevitably caved.

In her impressment, she was able to force a few limited concessions. The Eleventh District Yakuza was untouchable to JPN-22 so long as she was under their employ. Since then they have done a great number of things to keep her living well and keep her mind off of it, hence why they finance an above-average lifestyle. Her recent deployment to Europa as a Jian operator for Ori is partially a move to push her past out of her mind. Kira will not let it go so easily however. It is what made her who she is today and she insists on maintaining contact with Matsutoya. Should JPN-22 break their arrangement, there would no longer be anything to keep her in check.


DETERMINED - COLD - EFFICIENT - RUTHLESS


District: Europa District 4
Previously JPN District 11

Weapons:

MagTek NC2125 Gauss Driver - older model magnetic-ballistic hybrid handgun renowned for exceptional stopping power, given to her by Matsutoya (extreme sentimental value). Multispectrum flashlight mounted in front of the trigger guard that shines in IR and visible, and SolidLight series projected reflex reticle. Following recruitment to Jian group, she insists on chambering armor piercing composite rigid rounds.

Raiju M13-50K Cartridge-driven Taser Pistol - Ori-issued weapon for nonlethal operations. Kira finds the notion such a tool is required to be offensive. Instead she engages targets hand to hand when nonlethal takedowns are required.

Stinger-series Deployable Stun Batons (civilian model) - another item that predates the JPN pressgang campaign. “Batons” is potentially the wrong word, as when deployed they resemble a set of maces rather than traditional batons. Each one can deliver 50,000 volts on contact with the strike face. "What’s worse than getting hit in the face with a baton? Getting hit in the face with fifty thousand volts ... and a baton."


Armor:

MaxBallistic SlimTek series lightweight carbon-ceramic composite - A thin armor meant for concealment under everyday clothing built with multilayer graphene-ceramic composite plates and a carbon-polymer ballistic weave. The composite plates can effectively stop most ballistic or laser impacts up to (but not including) a high-power rifle (ineffective versus full power cartridges or larger). Magnetic-ballistic or plasma projectile weapons are more effective against the thin material, and sufficiently strong handguns can pierce through.


Cybernetics:
Her implants were by medical necessity following her injuries, however upgraded versions have been for reasons relating to her work as a covert operative.

MicroWire Neuranetics S3 (synthetic synapse system) - Synthetic nerve synapses take over for biological nerves in high-intensity situations. The artificial system provides improved impulse response, external input resistance, and additional sensory input. This grants moderately improved reflexes, close proximity sense (subtle sense that something has come within just a few meters of her), and mild resistance to stun weapons (enough to turn the tables on a street thug but not a trained ops team).

PowerProsthesis Baremetal finger augments (right pinky & ring finger) - Two of her fingers were too badly damaged to be reconstructed in the fire. These are bare-metal mechanical digits now. The ring finger has been modified during her tenure with Jian group to include a small removable data drive. Confers no other meaningful benefits.

RemoteLink Class VII Neuroaccelerator - A particularly powerful form of neurointerface only available to military personnel and made available to Kira only after her recruitment to Jian group. It provides the processing power for the reflex improvements attributed to the neuranetics system, and enables direct neural control over certain hardware devices; limited by communication protocol and requires an exterior signal booster.

TactiCom Digital Overlay synthetic lenses - Hardware replacements for degenerative corneal and lens damage additionally provide a HUD within the field of vision. The devices can filter light to prevent retinal overexposure (partial resistance to flash-blindness), and can provide vision in new spectra: primarily IR, though can operate in low UV as well.


Account Balance: N/A

Other:

Drones - Kira’s neuroaccelerator provides for the capability to control drones in varying forms provided the data protocols are accessible. In her case, the relevant data protocol is JPN-22-specific, so any drone assets must be company-issued. Though the technical capability to control large and dangerous military vehicles exists, JPN-22 would never trust her with that kind of equipment. She typically only has access to small recon drones.

Mack - A heavyset british male who’s been running operatives since before Kira was one, Mack is Kira’s primary handler in Europa. His job is essentially dispatcher and mission support, bringing her in, up to speed, and helping out as needed. Mack always talks about how they’re "shaping the future" and “the future is now,” but Kira’s scathing pessimism is too heavily ingrained for it to ever sink in.
First of all, I'd like to affirm--before anyone has even had the chance to post it--that the standpoint that a roleplay isn't really a roleplay if it has mechanics is idiotic. Anyone who has ever said anything to that effect is too stupid a moron to warrant taking anything that they ever said, ever, even half seriously. There is nothing more innately roleplay-ey about freeform roleplays versus structured roleplays. It's as hair-brained an idea as accusing limericks and haikus of not being true poems.


The validity of game mechanics as part of a roleplay experience is a subjective construct which an individual can choose to accept or reject. THere is nothing innately wrong with considering roleplays with game mechanics outside the scope of what said individual considers a valid roleplay. The standpoint that said individual considering such roleplays unfit is wrong is idiotic. Anyone who has ever claimed anything to that effect is too stupid a moron to warrant taking anything that they ever said, ever, even half seriously.
(This is what your comments read like. There is a line between wit and derision and this reads much closer to derision.)

To answer your question @GraySkye, it partially depends on your target audience. Different groups of people enjoy different quantities of game mechanics. I am more of a purist but there's plenty of people who are happy going full D&D dice-and-stats-for-everything style. In that regard its a case of "if you build it, they will come." The other major consideration, people already touched on. Playability. Overcomplicating things is a great way to narrow down your audience to zero.

My counsel would be that, if in the course of writing a normal post for the roleplay in question, you have to refer back to more than one additional reference page (or a singular reference page more than 4 or so times) .... or if you have to spend more than 10-15 minutes tops working on math for stats, you may want to evaluate the possibility of cutting back. Those are some tests I suggest to check how burdensome the systems are. Burden will very quickly turn to burnout and that will ultimately kill a project.
Dawn’s light was soon to break from the east. Levi cursed the sun before it showed itself to the world, and kept riding. He had rode through the night from the northern fringes of Durot back to Rothenburg. His plan called for him to be sleeping soundly with two fresh ogre heads right now, but instead he was just a mile outside of Rothenburg and riding hard still. The sound of horseshoes decreed his arrival before he could even be seen as the morning light still had yet to break. He had caught word of the guild having a contract for an ogre problem in the northern stretch of the Durot range: a task he thought he could easily solve by himself even before checking in with the guild’s captain. He couldn’t have been more wrong.

In all his years of hunting, he had only ever seen four ogres in a raiding group once. Three was uncommon still. This night he had seen six, and more could be heard in the distance. The wreckage was more broken and scattered. The roaming band of beasts was farther north than he’d ever seen. Levi had spent plenty of time in the area dealing with the mongrels but this was beyond his ability. Even with his propensity to rush to action and confidence in his skill ... he realized six ogres at once was insane even for him. Something was wrong; this was far worse than anything encountered before.



The city of Rothenburg had begun to wake up as the sun rose above the walls. The horse that served as Levi’s mount was growing as tired as he was. There had been nowhere near enough rest between riding out to Durot and back. His weariness showed as he slowly came up to the converted inn. It wasn’t much of a headquarters from the outside, but inside it has most everything it needed to where it counted.

Levi stumbled to the ground in his exhaustion. He hadn’t even taken the time to relieve himself of parts of his armor. His shoulders ached from riding for hours in it. Under the circumstances, the frustration was mounting. His tired feet carried him indoors to get some much needed rest. He grimaced as he walked past the bounty board seeing the contract he had just abandoned. In anger he beat a fist against the defenseless piece of parchment.

He didn’t even know why he was angry. He had been forced to abort a contract. The situation in Durot was far worse than anyone could have expected. He was running on twenty hours of no rest. His mental capacity was strained at the least. He took a breath, and then stumbled his way towards the captain’s office. He gave two swift raps on the doorframe, and then addressed the captain through the open door. His face said most of what needed to: that the situation where he had come from was severely problematic. “Captain, Levi,” he identified himself speaking breathily through his weariness, “Durot ... it’s bad.”

It was not until after he had briefly reported the situation he noticed the large wolf in the company of the man currently speaking with the captain. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, his left hand slowly sliding down to meet the grip of a blade as he leaned against the doorframe.

(Continuity note: this post pushes slightly past the next future post by Drakey.)
It's also really important to know what state you're in


For the purposes of interaction with others, it may be worth picking one of the midwestern states and making that decision at the GM level ... lest people be spread across two time zones.
I wanna go ahead and bump this for a little more exposure. I've been working slowly on the setting, the storyline I would run, and thinking on details like how tightly (or loosely) I want to hold the party together. Its definitely not about to be up for recruiting tomorrow, but it is something I have a growing motivation to do.
Unfortunately I am choosing to withdraw for several reasons, most of them personal in nature. I wish the best of luck going forward.
I have another priority in the immediate short term, but beyond that I'll consider working through a CS.
Good to see a couple faces. Its motivating. One thing I do care to point out is that yes, I am expecting CS for both the character and the soul they carry. That is something the player will write if you, hypothetical reader, were wondering. I generally project this to be advanced level because of juggling two mental profiles at once being basically mandated. I tend to have somewhat high quality standards for RPs but I am fairly lax on length standards as I don't believe in strict post minimums.
Normally not an NRP guy ... but this might have some appeal to my preferences. I think there's some opportunity here.
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