The Harbinger of Ferocity

Post a random fact about yourself.

My adornments are symbolic and were not a matter chosen lightly, more earned than anything else and very few as a whole. Generally on the matter, less is more, and actually standing to gain more only comes from quality and not quantity. Of course it is a cliche of the matter, usually tattoos in particular, but to have one to have one or for the sake of doing something merely appealing or trending is a terrible reason to do so. While of course I am not about to stop anyone from doing so, I find the concept quite personal and laden with all too many stories of regret I hear or have even seen.

Pay heed, young ones, as they say more about who or what someone is or associates themselves with than just what is worn and rest assured if it can be seen, eyes will be on it. After all, it is a remarkably expedient way to gather information about an individual even at a glance and some of us do keep tabs on them.

Post a random fact about yourself.

I am not familiar to EverQuest, @Gunther. Monstrous or beast races are a nice intermediary however, although the majority of my issue was with actual beasts and not so much beast-men. This is the usual reason I drift toward shapechanging archetypes, so that I can enjoy the medium more, but most are very limited. Worse yet, the majority of media has no real element to it of this and try as I might, I can seem to find none. It is an irrational request of course, but it is something I always strive to fulfill in my consumption of content; perhaps even the overarching one at that. On a related note, I do always find a special novelty in the late 1990s and early 2000s era of gaming and content at large, even if I was never involved in any of them, be it Magic: The Gathering or RuneScape and the like.

Post a random fact about yourself.

I am always some parts shocked and frustrated by the fact that most fantasy works have all too few members in the way of felines. It is such a rare, difficult effort to find something that permits it or even encourages it. I reason it really is too much to ask to ask for magically inclined beasts to be more than a peripheral element. Yet, each and every time I try and try again, hoping to partake in one where they might be the lead or at least direct company with the main cast of characters. They are always, if anything, reduced down to mere "kitty cats" or familiars, at best animal companions, but so very, very rarely magical or fearsome things in their own right alone. It is one of my most beloved niche genres and with almost no representation.

Writing and Debate Experiment - The Criteria for Survival

@mdk

Unfortunately there is no knowing about any other tribes or examples of people and it appeared to be accepted the idea was that only the people with the writer are the ones who will survive; imagine a Noah's Ark sort of allusion. That said, Dr. Scott was one of the choices I personally sought after, but reasoned against him and his family because I could find no credible way to acquire him without raising an alarm if I wished to be particularly devious, or just in reality, able to convince him to leave his family alone. I personally assumed he would put a blade into my back the moment he could if we somehow separated him from them.

I admittedly do like Billy, despite the fact he is a gamble and a liability, perhaps more so than Michael. He at least is far more likely to survive and be useful to labor and exertion, but that is only a perhaps and only then in the long run. Given we have no idea about his condition other than him being permanently handicapped, it is safe to assume he might also fail to be a candidate for reproduction and species cultivation. That and he comes with the rest of his family, who are all varying degrees of liability; I would rather a Mr. Clark, Mr. White altercation that ends in two losses rather than two, maybe three.

Printed guns, melded metal - An experimental GM-less Cyberpunk RP

Yes, some of it is absolutely ridiculous, no less in price, but it makes for good motivation at the very least, @SleepingSilence.

Writing and Debate Experiment - The Criteria for Survival

That would work just fine, @Odin, a solid example for later as we go on. The main point is to afford the best and at times the worst of people in one gist as an example. The sort of, "Sum yourself up in no more than a lengthy sentence." However, I would like to see what others have to say, namely about the controversy of the Scott family, the Perez family, and the issue of Mr. Clark.

Writing and Debate Experiment - The Criteria for Survival

You have the idea and the direction we are headed, @Odin. It was to start conglomerating all of the added options, participants included. Granted one of course agrees they might be kicked off the island into the wild unknown by playing, but at the same time it offers an interesting game of sorts, so feel free to pose a reasonable, honest outline if you wish to do so. It should be presented in the same or similar format as the other characters, though it also falls upon one's own honor. Hopefully, and I do note hopefully, everyone who plays in that portion of it are honest and at the same time that this does not turn into an endeavor to purposefully exclude someone. This is a mere writing exercise and debate after all.

Though amusingly the idea crossed my mind that all this would do is create two, possibly even three or more, opposing tribes. It certainly does open up a lot of pathways, but I digress. If you wish to participate in that, feel free to follow a similar template. As for it being potentially arrogant, perhaps that is a flaw which might irk others and make them less likely to incorporate such a person over others.

Writing and Debate Experiment - The Criteria for Survival

@Odin, @SleepingSilence, @tex

Thank you all for opting in and participating, as a result I am all the willing to inform you of what I added to the exercise if one could not already tell; attempting to compare one's self to the scenario. That said, the only alterations I made were some of the names and the format. I appreciate you three posing your arguments on ranking them! Deviating for a moment however, to any potential readers of this topic to come, feel free to join in as we move on to some of the finer details of the prompt and its rationale as we can always incorporate and address your approach later.

Back to the topic at hand however, I need note that unfortunately the prompt specifies absolutely nothing beyond what I provided so this leaves us all in a bit more limbo than there really should be. I believe the creator's intent was to just say in a circumstance where the apocalypse is made generic and could be any number of things; all we know for certain is, is that only seven people can go with the responding writer and are the sole people who will, possibly, restart the human race. There are no "right" answers in this prompt, as in there is no scoring solution, so at least there is that to facilitate a logical debate rather than some abstract, likely unrealistic rules.

Believe it or not, @Odin's was the closest to my own when I engaged in the activity and the discussion. Though some underlying themes appeared throughout; virtually everyone who was a participant decided on Father Mark, Dr. Rita, and Mr. Clark, with all others being in some combination. The largest points of controversy were always surrounding the Scotts, especially Billy Scott, and to a lesser extent Ms. Perez and Michael Perez. For the Scotts, the largest issue was that Billy would, at best, only ever be a laborer and that his mother is very likely to die, while with Michael Perez he was considered a liability, but something they would need, rather want, to even bring along in the hopes of facilitating the continuation of humanity.

The last most notable controversy was always about Mr. Clark and his racial biases, with some arguing if he was just a "sympathizer" who cares? The idea that he lacks the actual courage to be racist would suggest he would back down if confronted on it, while others suggested his latent passive racism would make him too much a liability; I fell into the former category. The man is outnumbered, the world has ended, and he is surrounded by no one who would reasonably feed into his beliefs, if the contrary rather, especially with Father Frank and Dr. Rita about.

Printed guns, melded metal - An experimental GM-less Cyberpunk RP

Went with the atypical "solo" approach as I noted before, working for a third party that is trying to find Lt. Davison. Not all of this, for those of you with the inspirational material that is, is entirely verbatim to its source. A few major overarching themes are, such as solos modifying themselves extensively, although this character has not specialized too much, or that work comes and goes, often dipping into illegal dealings and dabbling.

---

Mark Theron

Solo, Intellitron Corporation "Hunter"

Name: Mark Theron
Appearance: For all intents and purposes Theron is outwardly as human as one might come, at least at a cursory glance of physique and build, although as much is suspect in the age of internalized cybernetics and cosmetic alteration. However, rather than being trimmed in chrome and lined with hardware, Theron is a rehash, a chimera, a "splicer", an exotic, all thanks to the handiwork of microscopic machines and a bit of genetic tinkering and biological trickery to biosculpt. As it goes, it isn't that his athleticism or ability is innate to him, rather it was put there like any other mod, just much more even and throughout. Part of that makes him deceptively human, but there are some clues on the surface he isn't untouched; Theron is too anatomically improved without hardware bolted on to be legitimate. People are not just normally faster, stronger, or more resilient without a good throw of the dice from their parents and probably more than a little training added in. Theron on the other hand is what happens when you decide to throw some of the wilder things into the mix.

The end result is that Theron is lean, as tall as any other man, perhaps a bit taller, and has an abnormally defined build throughout that is uncannily limber, and pocked with too few scars for his own good despite his occupation. Though of course he has a few distinct novelties built in, the kind people do notice; night eyes of the amber variety, retractile rippers, skin grafts and the like, all the thing one does when they want to make an identity for themselves while having too much credit and faith in an employer offering upgrades. Fortunately, he's a bit older now, a bit wiser. Unfortunately, Theron is not all that much better off, but at least he's kept his penchant for having his near-black crew cut and avoiding balding while not being too pale. There's some perks to being an exotic after all, even if not all of you is human throughout anymore.

Unlike the stereotyped ronin or enforcer, Theron opts to avoid the duster and camouflage. Granted he isn't far off of course, preferring black, polished combat boots, grey battle pants, fingerless weighted gloves, smoked polarized adjusting sunglasses, and headed off by a false leather armored jacket. Woven with fiber-optic cable and integrated lighting, it makes for a nice addition anywhere where the air is hazy and simultaneously all too dark and garnished with garish vibrant pinks, yellows, blues, or violet. Of course one could always turn off the lighting, which is at least half of the appeal for when you need to look somewhat professional.

Cyberware:

• Bioware
  • Biosculpting
    • GENX Biomedical Apex Sculpt¹ (Genetic external cosmetic physique and condition improvement, includes pronounced features. Animal donor basis.)
    • GENX Biomedical "Chimera" Template (Viral Modification) (Genetic internal template, allows cross-species grafting, alters base genetic code.)
  • Audio
    • Graff-Stein Research Laboratory "Clairaudience" (Amplified hearing, supersonic, subsonic ranges.)
  • Grafts
    • Re-Human Stage I (Muscle Graft) (Enhanced muscular strength, endurance. Growth hormone, animal donor basis.)
    • Re-Human Stage I (Muscle and Bone Lace) (Viral Modification) (Enhanced muscular and bone strength, endurance, amplification. Organic variant, growth hormone, animal donor basis.)
    • Re-Human Stage I (Nervous Augmentation) (Viral Modification) (Enhanced passive reflexes, reaction. Compare to Kerenzikov Reflex Booster neuralware. Organic variant.)
    • Unlisted Retractile Claws¹ (Compare to generic ripper cyberweapons, animal donor basis. Organic variant.)
  • Immunity
    • Unlisted Metabolism Accelerator¹ (Viral Modification) (Improved healing rate, disease resistance, energy output, metabolic reserve. Shortened life expectancy, increased consumption demands, atypical circulatory and respiratory behavior, animal donor basis. Compare to Enhanced Antibodies.)
  • Olfactory
    • GENX Biomedical "Hunter" Boost (Enhanced perception, tracking by scent. Compare to Olfactory Boost. Organic variant.)
  • Optical
    • GENX Biomedical "Eyeshine" Night-Eyes (See in dim light, near-total darkness. Retinal retroreflector. Amber, predator variant, animal donor basis. Compare to Low Lite^TM cyberoptic.)

_{1 = Grey bioware, cross-species hack, unauthorized tampering with patent(s).}

Weapons:

• Brandish Fingerless Weighted Gloves (Kevlar reinforced, knuckle weighted and polymer capped, fingerless model. Finished in black pseudo-leather.)
• Cobalt M31 Heavy Pistol (Gas-operated, semiautomatic, twelve round, magazine fed, 11mm handgun. Designed to fire tungsten penetrator caseless ammunition. Highly effective against armor and cover, less effective on soft targets due to lacking hollow point ammunition and its over-penetration. Features integrated reflex sight and tritium optic, hand and trigger guard, black polymer finish.)

Armour:

• Cylife "Urban Jungle" False Jacket (Protective light Kevlar jacket, finished in black pseudo-leather, capable of stopping most handgun and submachine gun rounds. Passes for regular leather jacket, but features integrated Synthskin and Biomonitor, both of which are controlled on the sleeves.)

Background: Mark Theron did not so much chip in as he "spliced in", trading far more plentiful, available cyberware for the sort of thing that turns a man inside out and messes with all of the little details deep down inside them. Of course this was easy, everything is when you can pay for it, no matter how deviant the purchase is, and rest assured getting biosculpted at the genetic level into a chimera, a muddied mess of human and animal, is pretty deviant even if it is not obvious as with other exotics. The reward of course for the deviancy was being ahead of the averaged jacked up, glinting booster, yet Theron was far from finished.

What came next was a venture into the criminal underground, first as a hand for hire, rather another added gun for the fight in the Combat Zones of Night City. While this afforded Theron a few more tweaks and augments through the grey market, things that "just so happened" to end up for sale outside their clinics, it wasn't enough. What Theron was looking for cost handily, but at least now he had a base to work from and a reputation. GENX Biomedical, the same ones who provided a number of his earlier augments, were offering work and incentives in place of euros, and it helped to already be on file for their side of the Net. For an aspiring solo, this was an opportunity too good to ignore.

Though like everything good, it never lasted forever. No matter how competitive one remains, everyone is replaceable, and Mark Theron was no exception. GENX Biomedical reorganized not long after and swept away anyone their corporation considered non-essential. While norm for Night City, it set the man back further than desired. Months were spent doing what he had done before in the shallow end of the pool until the Intellitron Corporation decided it needed something more subtle, more atypical, more unexpected and low-key. The type of contracted agent who didn't look like he had seen one too many ripperdocs or stuck too many 'dorphs into what few non-wired veins they still had. What they needed were hunter-killers in one, contracted out to those who could go just about anywhere and complete either role, and Mark Theron was one.

In short order, ending that stint of wandering the street and its Combat Zones again with nothing but animal cunning and some experience, the Intellitron Corporation had another Hunter, and only fitting it was a man who was at least some notable percent leopard. As expected the first few marks went smoothly enough, some hunting and observation, others with a dash of finishing the work. What came next however, was another sealed document, nothing digital, about a Night City Police Department lieutenant by the name of Davison, working for Murkywater Security. And while it was clear there was only two reasonable contractors for the Intellitron Corporation to be directed by in this matter, something else was at play...

Corporations working through proxies don't offer incentives in place of pay.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

Wonderful news for us, @Hekazu, and now is the time for us to escape, hopefully with the slaves being aware enough to flee on their own accord and provide a distraction. As it is, the camp should be in chaos and none of our group is too particularly slow or far behind. Regardless, no time to waste.