Also changed the location for Italy near the modern day city of Mantua.
Wernher Member
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<Snipped quote by Wernher>
Okay, I am hesitant to allow an actual psychopath into the rp but since you set her up as one that could be normal or at least not act on her psychopathic tendencies. Well, depending on what you write that out, that is. But, I will allow it. But I will make it a rule that people cannot play a psychopath or a sociopath after this one.
And I would like to make one request, choose a city or town along the Po River since it will jsut help me track where your char is and where their civ starts growing.
Thats fair. I mostly wrote this element of her narrative as a 'She really tries to be a nice person and so should you, because in a contest of cruelty you're not going to win.' so I will not promise that she won't go off into the deep end, but I will promise that it will take some pushing/stuff to go wrong to make her lose control, it is something that could happen.
I understand if even that is too much and if it is feel free to ask me to change, but my aim is not to make a Alexander the Great meets Vlad the impaler, I assure you.
Astrid Palmkvist
Gender
Female
Age
33
Appearance
Astrid is impressively tall for a girl at 6ft3 with striking pale blue eyes and blonde hair, the rest of her features being less imposing with a thin frame with slight breasts and little in terms of hips. She is generally underweight though not in a bad shape as she used to ski and hike regularly.
Personality
The first thing about Astrid that is impossible to ignore is that she is a diagnosed psychopath, something she has known from a very young age and that she and her family spent many years working out. Her upbringing strictly reinforced in her the notion of not doing onto others what you would not want to be done onto you and to this day she works around doing the best she can to follow this creed. She can be very convincingly 'normal' but this is mostly all fake; her true nature is cold and calculating.
Nationality
Swedish
Education
Master's Degree in Chemistry
Former Occupation
Laboratory Director and co-owner of a small industrial paint business.
Skills
- Industrial Chemistry: Her bread and butter, most of it is way too advanced to be of any use so far back in history, but there are crumbs of knowledge that can certainly be useful.
- Astronomy: Her father used to take her hike up north to have a clear view of the stars, this caused her to have an 'astrophysics phase' but ultimately Astrid chose to instead go in a more lucrative field.
- Business: When she started her company with her husband Astrid was supposed to mainly focus on the product, but being a psychopath she found herself being a natural at doing commerce.
- Music: She was never interested in it, but her family insisted she learned an instrument, this left her quite proficient at the flute.
What you were doing last before falling asleep
Going to bed early while thinking about her last session with her psychiatrist.
Where your awakes up at
Italy near modern day Mantua.
Background
Astrid was born the only daughter of wealthy parents who treated her like a spoiled princess, as long as she excelled in everything she did. This constant attention thankfully meant that her psychopathic tendencies were discovered at an early age and her parents hired an army of child psychologists to make sure she would turn out normal, which she mostly did. She thus quickly learned to follow people's expectations of her, going through private school and university with success, there she met a socially awkward guy who also had high expectations from his family and the two mostly became a couple of convenience.
He studied in business and worked for his father for a while and she in chemistry and went to work in the private sector. When she discovered a process to make a copper based for ships that was 5% cheaper and 4% more effective than the current most popular mix, she and her husband were practically ordered by their respective parents to make a business out of it, one that knew immediate success thanks to the nepotistic connections both their families had.
While Astrid seemingly had the perfect balance in her life, her husband constantly had depressions, stating he felt unloved by his wife and so forth. Astrid encouraged him to go out and try to meet someone who could provide to him what she couldn't, but quite frankly she had judged him too pathetic and uninteresting to ever find someone else. This is why she was surprised when she saw him date someone else and flourish like he never did before, something she soon started to find extremely annoying. She tried to cope and rationalize this anger away but lets be honest, the night when she was transported back in time she was considering doing something drastic.
He studied in business and worked for his father for a while and she in chemistry and went to work in the private sector. When she discovered a process to make a copper based for ships that was 5% cheaper and 4% more effective than the current most popular mix, she and her husband were practically ordered by their respective parents to make a business out of it, one that knew immediate success thanks to the nepotistic connections both their families had.
While Astrid seemingly had the perfect balance in her life, her husband constantly had depressions, stating he felt unloved by his wife and so forth. Astrid encouraged him to go out and try to meet someone who could provide to him what she couldn't, but quite frankly she had judged him too pathetic and uninteresting to ever find someone else. This is why she was surprised when she saw him date someone else and flourish like he never did before, something she soon started to find extremely annoying. She tried to cope and rationalize this anger away but lets be honest, the night when she was transported back in time she was considering doing something drastic.
Goals/Plans
- Avoid dying in childbirth.
- Reach a point where no one has a power of life or death over her.
- Get as close to modern comfort as possible.
- Try not to fall to her base psychopathic instincts.
Why you picked your location
An interesting location without as much baggage as say Greece or Egypt.
Character Motivations
EITHER Try to make a world that works according to the values thought to her: Justice and the social contract, or if this barbaric place should prove too disgusting to change, amass as much material wealth and comfort for herself as possible.
Playing Yourself or Custom Char
Custom Character
Baron Wilhelm
The old man smiled with satisfaction a glee, maybe he'd still get a few more medals before he shuffled off this mortal coil!
"Such eagerness Lieutenant Dvalin! But do not worry, there will be glory enough for-"
Wilhelm was interrupted by a blip warning him of an energy discharge at a distance. Before he could react, the boarding shuttle was hit.
"All units, scatter and return fire!"
The baron placed his trust in the aim assistance of his mech and fired a green colored charged particle blast directly back at the source of the energy signature, not accurately enough to hit the enemy Core, but close enough to make it move instead of shooting. As his own Black Knight moved, it crashed into a large piece of debris a few seconds later. It almost looked like age had already gotten the better of him, but his idea soon became clear as the metal sheet was pushed and soon obstructed Onyx-9 from further incoming fire. He continued to push the debris so it started drifting toward the Venture.
"Damn it, my denture is rattling. Onyx-9, here's some cover! It won't block a plasma bolt, but it will hide your insertion a little. Godspeed!"
The Ironside pulled away from the debris, its shoulders caved in by the strength of the impact.
"Hippo 7, with me! We'll break through the center and keep the enemy distracted, Armatus and Phantom take the flanks and provide overwatch. For Prince Cassian! For the Empire! Forward!"
The command mech charged in without hesitation, flying toward the enemy quickly and turning in awkward angles, using the debris to break line of sight and charge out again in another direction. It was some impressive flying, maybe not in terms of speed or maneuvers due to the limitations of the aging Black Knight, but it never the less flew in a pattern showing expert knowledge in how the average mech pilot handled its machine as not a single shot seemed to come close to hit it.
This was all the more impressive because in the mech's cockpit, the old man piloting it was basically doing it blind, the high G maneuvers making him black out almost every moment as he clenched down on his denture and performed everything from muscle memories and with blind trust in the fading lights that was all he could see from his dashboard.
Captain Mika Ganishka
In her chair, Mika sighed and shook her head negatively. "This is amateurish." She declared. The XO gave her a glare that said a lot about his opinion of 'Mika' and 'professionalism', but after being chewed out by her and rebuked by the prince himself he didn't dare to speak up. The captain rolled her eyes and decided to elaborate, if anything for the benefit of Cassian whom she felt would do well to learn a thing or two about commanding.
"Don't get me wrong. These four are leagues above most of what the sector can throw at us, but this is embarrassing. Why wasn't the van decided earlier? Why does the old man have to distribute battle roles? This whole thing feels like it was thrown together last minute." That's probably because it kinda was. "Once we arrive at port we need to do some training exercises so everyone knows their job and the fucking transport shuttle isn't caught off position like this again." She declared.
"Welp, sure glad I didn't send my guys in there." She instead commented at the misfortune of Onyx-9. "Good news is that this means we can rule out the fire ship hypothesis, if these schmucks fired at the transport instead of our Cores it means they still have their guys inside the Venture. And also, since everyone just rushed in and the Phantom hasn't detected mines, the field is probably clear. Tighten the course and get us closer to the action."
"Captain, Phantom has a lock on the enemy Cores for out ship's weapons."
Mika laughed at the idea. "What, she thinks we're made of money? I'm not wasting good missiles on 3 miserable Cores. Railguns. Railguns and lasers are cheap enough though, fire mid-sized batteries AROUND the enemy formation though, at this distance we won't hit shit anyways so try to coral them together and prevent them from maneuvering, the Lance will take care of them."
Next on the menu, the Percheron. This question made her run her finger on her lips as she looked at the battle display and how to better approach the situation. "...I don't like this. Damaging the core like that if you want to take the ship is amateurish, and amateurs don't have Cores." She honestly wanted to leave the ship to its faith, but again she eyed the Prince. "...Tell Hartwig and his damage control team to prepare to launch a shuttle, we'll pass between the Venture and the Percheron and launch him while we can cover his approach, but tell him to haul ass, it will be a very short window."
The finger on Mika's lip lowered itself on her chin as she considered the last element that bothered her. "Now... these Cores had to have a carrier, so where is the mothership..." Looking at the battle display, she let her mind wonder, trusting in her instincts, or rather in the Drift as she closed her eyes and looked out for... something. Finally she squinted them open.
"Sharlin. Phantom, whatever, this is the captain, can you hear me? Can you take your sensors off the battlefield for a moment? I'd like you to scan around grid... Epsilon-Orange. Sending telemetry." She lazily said while signaling one of the officers on deck to do so. "Rest of you also keep scanning for anything out of the ordinary. If you find another cargo ship I want it pinged on my screen, leave nothing to chance."
Version 2.0
Name: Hierophant Tyche Comstar
Age: 35(?)
Archetype: Voidtouched
Gender: Female
Appearance:
Image
The first obvious thing about Tyche is that she is tall, impressively so. Impressive is in fact the best word to describe her, literally by design. Her body has been significantly augmented with cybernetics and doesn't have any visible organic parts and all her skin except for her face is instead raw carbon fiber ultra dense synthetic muscles. To complete her superhuman aura, she also usually moves around using antigravs with arcane devices flying around her.
Occupation: Lancer, Voidtouched wizard.
Affiliations: Comstar Corporation
Skills and Abilities:
Built to Perfection - More than just a display of Comstar power, Tyche's body has been built to resist the reality sundering power of the drift so she may one day cross into a higher dimension. As a side effect, this also makes her resistant to most mundane forms of damage one might encounter in this reality
Drift Archeotech - The Com-Star corporation was and is still known for one thing above all: The Gate Network. While Tyche has passable knowledge on most forms of hypertechnologies of the ancients, her specialty is anything that interfaces with the Drift as per Comstar history.
Ripples in Water - Tyche stares into the Drift for most of her time, she compares it to being neck deep in water (as she can't quite submerge herself yet) as she looks for... something. This familiarity with the Drift allows her to get a sense of when people around her (in an astronomic scale) dips its tows into the drift, AKA when another voidtouched uses its powers.
Faults and Limitations:
Builder, not Destroyer - Tyche is far from a pacifist, but she is of the belief that Voidcraft is a tool and only a primate uses a hammer to simply smack stuff. She fights with elegance, doing such things as transmuting matter into spears of golden light to hurl at her enemies with the pure and simple power of telekinesis. Extremely impressive and something very few people can do, but incredibly less efficient than just breaking your enemy with brute force like any other voidtouched would do.
The Comstar Cult - Some argue that Comstar and Tyche in particular have been getting high off their own supply lately as she fully embraced the cult aspect of the corporation. Every press of a button, every activation and deactivation, every little details around her life is ritualized and requires rigid ceremonies. When critiqued about this Tyche will ramble on about the power of the mind over the drift and that you don't start a starship engine without performing safety checks and half a dozen other things and this being the same, but to everyone else but her and her cult this seems like a huge waste of time.
Goosebumps - This eerie feeling people get when someone stares at them? Or this sense of wrongness when in the presence of a killer? Some say it's superstition, but the truth is that the human mind influences the drift and the drift influences reality and usually in these scenarios either one or both person involved has a dormant affinity with the Drift. Tyche being who she is has such a presence in the Drift that even the most normal of person feels like she is in the uncanny valley, that she is alien somehow. This doesn't help her make friends to say the least.
Biography:
After the cataclysmic end of Ancient Earth, the Com-Star corporation became a legacy, its owners staying relevant by greedily hoarding technologies and selling them. Eventually it transcended that and became the stuff of legend, with no one knowing what Comstar used to mean, only understanding they were the people who could at will shut off all technology, open all the gates of a space station to send people in the void or turn off the god-machines keeping the air of terraformed planets breathable, then Comstar became the stuff of religion and even the heirs of Comstar started to believe their own lies.
It is uncertain if this doctrine originates in a megalomaniac founder or if it is merely a perversion of a corporation's obsession with hoarding wealth and power, but Comstar's creed is the discovery and hoarding of technology and power. Not 'temporal power' as they call the power of emperors and nobles which they call trivial and fake, but real power over reality itself, Comstar history teaching that Ancient humans were on the verge of mastering the drift to a degree where they could control all of reality and reshape it into a paradise of their choice and that the fall was caused by ludites who feared this inevitable destiny.
It is in this context that Tyche was born, one of countless genetically modified embryos based on the current President of Comstar implanted in mothers specifically chosen for their desirable traits and then trained from a young age for mastery over the drift and understanding of Void-tech. After a grueling selection, she was chosen to be a potential successor to the President. In a way, her situation is similar to the Prince's, only unlike him, she plays the game of power and aims to win at all cost as losing means having her psyche absorbed by whichever of her 'sibling' is deemed to be the superior one, which in theory is not dying but in practice is at least something pretty damn close to it.
Procyon is thus for her the potential for advancement. Comstar always had an eye on the sector since back in the Ancient era, it had been on the edge of the known universe and a place where many corporations had blacksites, places to try their most advanced technologies, the kind that if something went wrong could ruin their reputation or destroy entire planets. Her studies hint at treasures of potentially immense power and technological importance. Comstar was never free to openly investigate this location however, either out of fear of other corporate entities taking their interest as a hint of what's hidden and outmaneuvering them or simply because the emperor and his ephemeral temporal power would forbid it simply for the sake of preventing an already powerful entity gaining more power.
The Prince was the perfect cover, Comstar's involvement with him looking like a play on imperial politics rather than an interest in the backwater he had exiled himself in. Tyche however is not a diplomat and simply presented with Prince with a carrot and a stick, either Comstar would back him with its money and tech, or it would use them to hamper him. Keep your friends close but enemies closer as they say.
Name: Hierophant Tyche Comstar
Age: 35(?)
Archetype: Voidtouched
Gender: Female
Appearance:
Image
The first obvious thing about Tyche is that she is tall, impressively so. Impressive is in fact the best word to describe her, literally by design. Her body has been significantly augmented with cybernetics and doesn't have any visible organic parts and all her skin except for her face is instead raw carbon fiber ultra dense synthetic muscles. To complete her superhuman aura, she also usually moves around using antigravs with arcane devices flying around her.
Occupation: Lancer, Voidtouched wizard.
Affiliations: Comstar Corporation
Skills and Abilities:
Built to Perfection - More than just a display of Comstar power, Tyche's body has been built to resist the reality sundering power of the drift so she may one day cross into a higher dimension. As a side effect, this also makes her resistant to most mundane forms of damage one might encounter in this reality
Drift Archeotech - The Com-Star corporation was and is still known for one thing above all: The Gate Network. While Tyche has passable knowledge on most forms of hypertechnologies of the ancients, her specialty is anything that interfaces with the Drift as per Comstar history.
Ripples in Water - Tyche stares into the Drift for most of her time, she compares it to being neck deep in water (as she can't quite submerge herself yet) as she looks for... something. This familiarity with the Drift allows her to get a sense of when people around her (in an astronomic scale) dips its tows into the drift, AKA when another voidtouched uses its powers.
Faults and Limitations:
Builder, not Destroyer - Tyche is far from a pacifist, but she is of the belief that Voidcraft is a tool and only a primate uses a hammer to simply smack stuff. She fights with elegance, doing such things as transmuting matter into spears of golden light to hurl at her enemies with the pure and simple power of telekinesis. Extremely impressive and something very few people can do, but incredibly less efficient than just breaking your enemy with brute force like any other voidtouched would do.
The Comstar Cult - Some argue that Comstar and Tyche in particular have been getting high off their own supply lately as she fully embraced the cult aspect of the corporation. Every press of a button, every activation and deactivation, every little details around her life is ritualized and requires rigid ceremonies. When critiqued about this Tyche will ramble on about the power of the mind over the drift and that you don't start a starship engine without performing safety checks and half a dozen other things and this being the same, but to everyone else but her and her cult this seems like a huge waste of time.
Goosebumps - This eerie feeling people get when someone stares at them? Or this sense of wrongness when in the presence of a killer? Some say it's superstition, but the truth is that the human mind influences the drift and the drift influences reality and usually in these scenarios either one or both person involved has a dormant affinity with the Drift. Tyche being who she is has such a presence in the Drift that even the most normal of person feels like she is in the uncanny valley, that she is alien somehow. This doesn't help her make friends to say the least.
Biography:
After the cataclysmic end of Ancient Earth, the Com-Star corporation became a legacy, its owners staying relevant by greedily hoarding technologies and selling them. Eventually it transcended that and became the stuff of legend, with no one knowing what Comstar used to mean, only understanding they were the people who could at will shut off all technology, open all the gates of a space station to send people in the void or turn off the god-machines keeping the air of terraformed planets breathable, then Comstar became the stuff of religion and even the heirs of Comstar started to believe their own lies.
It is uncertain if this doctrine originates in a megalomaniac founder or if it is merely a perversion of a corporation's obsession with hoarding wealth and power, but Comstar's creed is the discovery and hoarding of technology and power. Not 'temporal power' as they call the power of emperors and nobles which they call trivial and fake, but real power over reality itself, Comstar history teaching that Ancient humans were on the verge of mastering the drift to a degree where they could control all of reality and reshape it into a paradise of their choice and that the fall was caused by ludites who feared this inevitable destiny.
It is in this context that Tyche was born, one of countless genetically modified embryos based on the current President of Comstar implanted in mothers specifically chosen for their desirable traits and then trained from a young age for mastery over the drift and understanding of Void-tech. After a grueling selection, she was chosen to be a potential successor to the President. In a way, her situation is similar to the Prince's, only unlike him, she plays the game of power and aims to win at all cost as losing means having her psyche absorbed by whichever of her 'sibling' is deemed to be the superior one, which in theory is not dying but in practice is at least something pretty damn close to it.
Procyon is thus for her the potential for advancement. Comstar always had an eye on the sector since back in the Ancient era, it had been on the edge of the known universe and a place where many corporations had blacksites, places to try their most advanced technologies, the kind that if something went wrong could ruin their reputation or destroy entire planets. Her studies hint at treasures of potentially immense power and technological importance. Comstar was never free to openly investigate this location however, either out of fear of other corporate entities taking their interest as a hint of what's hidden and outmaneuvering them or simply because the emperor and his ephemeral temporal power would forbid it simply for the sake of preventing an already powerful entity gaining more power.
The Prince was the perfect cover, Comstar's involvement with him looking like a play on imperial politics rather than an interest in the backwater he had exiled himself in. Tyche however is not a diplomat and simply presented with Prince with a carrot and a stick, either Comstar would back him with its money and tech, or it would use them to hamper him. Keep your friends close but enemies closer as they say.
Yeah, battletech is a fun little universe! I was thinking of naming her something like Lockheed or Raytheon for an irl reference but decided it was a little bit too on the nose.
Captain Mika Ganishka
Mika sat in her smaller captain's chair a level lower from the Prince's, her lack of professionalism compared to the other people on the bridge being rather noticeable. Her uniform was ruffled and had the upper buttons undone, she had also sank in her chair while fishing some kind of nuts from one pocket and casually cracking them open to eat their content as a light snack before putting the broken shells on the pocket on the other side.
She looked as bored as the prince but also had an annoyed air to her as well as she listened to Prince Cassian, Lucia and other officers of the bridge talk. This was... not optimal. She had yet to get used to Imperial command protocols and even if she did, although Cassian sat in an admiral's chair, he was both more and less than that. If anything it felt like having a political commissar watching over her shoulder and Mika wasn't sure where her authority ended and where Cassian's began. After Lucia was done briefing the Prince however, Mika also decided to swivel her chair around and pitch in.
"Yeh, I'd say there's a 70, 80% chance it's a trap. The jamming's good, but if we had caught them with their pants down scanners would have detected... engine plumes and other stuff while they moved in to secure the prize. Pirates don't just retreat and regroup for a second strike. Well, maybe against a whole convoy, but not a a single grain ship. Plus who steals bulk foodstuff? You don't starve out a cow you intend to milk. 90% chance something's up."
She swiveled back around to look at the bridge as she cracked another nut. "Maintain cruise speed, once we enter main armament range slow down and turn 20 degrees starboard, lower elevation by 15 and plan an approach that leads is port of the Venture, lets leave time for the Lancers to enter the debris field and confirm there are no anti-ship mines waiting for us before cruising in. Maintain us at main battery range."
As she spoke, Mika kept her eye on one person with a seat close to the Prince's aide. Lieutenant Gale Crow, the ship's executive officer and the creme of the crop of his graduation at the naval academy. Without missing a beat, the XO turned around to look at her with a frown. "Captain, if we keep this distance we will not be able to effectively screen the lance!"
Mika rolled her eyes and seemed to sink lower on her seat before answering. "Lancers are big boys and they'll manage. We're not getting closer until we get confirmation that this ship hasn't been filled to the brim with explosives waiting to detonate as soon as we get too close. If I wanted to destroy the Indomitus that'd be the cheapest trick I'd try."
This answer did not seem to satisfy the XO who instead looked up to Cassian. "Your majesty, imperial doctrine dictates that-"
Mika immediately straightened herself and threw the nut she had in her hands at the XO's face as she looked at him furiously. "SHOVE IT UP YOUR FUCKING ASS! I'm the Captain and doctrine says follow the chain of command! If the boss has an objection he can very well make it himself!" Having said that, she turned her head a little to glance at Cassian to make sure 'the boss' didn't have any objection before facing back toward the bridge.
"Good. Relay my orders and get me Barbokis on the horn." The XO did as asked, relaying the navigation orders but then hesitated toward the end. Indeed the entire bridge began looking at each other in confusion. Mika rubbed her forehead as she understood the problem. "Please open communications with captain Aiden Barbokis of the auxiliary vessel Blackbeard." She said with a sigh, already tired of her life in the imperial navy. With her orders clearly relayed, the communication screen showing a large black man with an impressive beard smoking a cigar appeared shortly. Rather than the military discipline of the Indomitus, behind him through a haze of smoke a bunch of guys could be seen lounging around, drinking or taking a nap with their feet up on their console. They had imperial uniforms now of course, but they certainly didn't wear them according to regulations.
"Whatsup Boss?"
Mika munched on another nut before answering. "Tell the others to look alive, we have a stranded cargo and the big boss wants to look good for the sheep. I want you to stay back while we stroll in and give a show."
The man took a long draft of his cigar. "Rapid reinforcement?"
Mika shook her head negatively. "Pursuit. This brick should be able to handle some action, if we can help it I'd like our first encounter to say 'don't fuck with us' loud and clear."
Barbokis smiled and nodded. "No survivors. Aye aye boss."
Communications ended and silence fell on the bridge, only broken by the indistinct chatter of the bridge crew as some people eyed her and the prince. Mika was acutely aware of these looks but she ignored them. She knew this was her chance to prove that she wasn't just a country yokel from the edge of human space and actually deserved to sit in this chair. Her stance straightened as she moved her complete attention to what was happening around her.
Baron Wilhelm
The Baron was looking down at sheets of papers. His war memoirs, the little project he worked on when he had free time. As the old man held his pen in silence, his eyes closed and he slowly began to lean forward until suddenly, the alert began to blare out. "ALARM!" He yelled out as he immediately stood up fully alert and at attention, his chair being thrown on the ground behind him. Without a second to spare he rushed to put on his flight suit.
When his aide Corporal Zachary Lemane entered his room to help the old man prepare, he was practically pushed out of the way by the Baron who walked brisky toward the elevator with his cane in hand, forcing the corporal to run to catch him back before the doors closed.
"Status report!" The old man blared as he finished adjusting his collar. "Uhm, I-I don't know, the alert was just given, w-we don't have anything yet." The young corporal said with hesitation, wincing as he expected to be chewed out for his lack of information. Willy merely nodded without saying anything further however, he had asked Zack to report what he knew and he had done so, what more could he ask?
The doors opened on the hangars and people could be seen scrambling left and right. As he walked on the gantry, the Baron smacked the railing with his cane to signal his presence as he walked toward his mech. "What's taking everyone so long, did you all think your instructors drilled you every morning just for fun? I'll get on the radio and tell our Prince that his soldier needed five more minutes to get out of bed and get their thumbs out of their asses! Come on, move, move!"
He finally arrived at his Black Knight and stepped into the open cockpit as he had done thousands of times before. This time however for just a moment he felt himself lose his footing and stopped himself in the middle of his movement. Having seen what had just happened, his aide stepped into the cockpit as well and extended a hand to help him in. Wilhelm slapped his hand aside as he more carefully finished his movement and settled into his seat. "Our Prince does not pay you to stand around like a scarecrow Corporal Lemane, carefully look around as we prepare for the sortie, I'll quiz you once I'm back!" She said with some anger not at the corporal, but at his own failing body as he closed the hatch.
---------
The Baron managed to make it first to the assembly point for the Lancers and opened communication with the other members and the Prince. "Ironside ready! Your majesty, I request to take the vanguard as we approach the Venture!"
Wilhelm's eagerness was obvious but was this the best idea? The vanguard was the first mech in and thus the most likely to be ambushed, it honestly would make sense for someone with better reflexes and a better mech to take point, but the Baron still stared at the prince with hope and determination.
Alright, here's one that's more out there, but I think we lacked wizards in this group.
Name: Hierophant Tyche Comstar
Age: 35(?)
Archetype: Voidtouched
Gender: Female
Appearance:
Image
The first obvious thing about Tyche is that she is tall, impressively so. Impressive is in fact the best word to describe her, literally by design. Her body has been significantly augmented with cybernetics and doesn't have any visible organic parts and all her skin except for her face is instead raw carbon fiber ultra dense synthetic muscles. To complete her superhuman aura, she also usually moves around using antigravs with arcane devices flying around her.
Occupation: Lancer, Voidtouched wizard.
Affiliations: Comstar Corporation
Skills and Abilities:
Master of the Drift - Through generations of selective breeding, genetic engineering and arcane technologies of ancient earth, Tyche has been molded into one of the most potent Voidtouched in the Empire with terrifying and overwhelming powers over reality.
Archeotech Expert - What used to be the Com-Star corporation once had its hands in all advanced engineering projects of Ancient Humanity, as such many ancient wonders hidden across the galaxy incorporate elements that Tyche understands perfectly and that are have backdoors that a millennium later she can use.
Faults and Limitations:
Pampered - Tyche has been prepared for 'greater things' her entire life, so much that the little things have always been taken care off for her. She has an army of servants around her to do everything from dressing her to applying tooth paste on her brush. In any situation where she cannot rely on others to take care of her these voidtouched powers do little to help her.
Overwhelming Psyche - Tyche oozes power and affects reality around her even if she doesn't mean to. Even if she has a perfect poker face, her emotions and intent can be felt around her, especially by anyone with a light connection with the void. She also needs to sleep in a special chamber else everyone in a certain radius might begin to share her dreams and nightmares.
Biography:
After the cataclysmic end of Ancient Earth, the Com-Star corporation became a legacy, its owners staying relevant by greedily hoarding technologies and selling them. Eventually it transcended that and became the stuff of legend, with no one knowing what Comstar used to mean, only understanding they were the people who could at will shut off all technology, open all the gates of a space station to send people in the void or turn off the god-machines keeping the air of terraformed planets breathable, then Comstar became the stuff of religion and even the heirs of Comstar started to believe their own lies.
It is uncertain if this doctrine originates in a megalomaniac founder or if it is merely a perversion of a corporation's obsession with hoarding wealth and power, but Comstar's creed is the discovery and hoarding of technology and power. Not 'temporal power' as they call the power of emperors and nobles which they call trivial and fake, but real power over reality itself, Comstar history teaching that Ancient humans were on the verge of mastering the drift to a degree where they could control all of reality and reshape it into a paradise of their choice and that the fall was caused by ludites who feared this inevitable destiny.
It is in this context that Tyche was born, one of countless genetically modified embryos based on the current President of Comstar implanted in mothers specifically chosen for their desirable traits and then trained from a young age for mastery over the drift and understanding of Void-tech. After a grueling selection, she was chosen to be a potential successor to the President. In a way, her situation is similar to the Prince's, only unlike him, she plays the game of power and aims to win at all cost as losing means having her psyche absorbed by whichever of her 'sibling' is deemed to be the superior one, which in theory is not dying but in practice is at least something pretty damn close to it.
Procyon is thus for her the potential for advancement. Comstar always had an eye on the sector since back in the Ancient era, it had been on the edge of the known universe and a place where many corporations had blacksites, places to try their most advanced technologies, the kind that if something went wrong could ruin their reputation or destroy entire planets. Her studies hint at treasures of potentially immense power and technological importance. Comstar was never free to openly investigate this location however, either out of fear of other corporate entities taking their interest as a hint of what's hidden and outmaneuvering them or simply because the emperor and his ephemeral temporal power would forbid it simply for the sake of preventing an already powerful entity gaining more power.
The Prince was the perfect cover, Comstar's involvement with him looking like a play on imperial politics rather than an interest in the backwater he had exiled himself in. Tyche however is not a diplomat and simply presented with Prince with a carrot and a stick, either Comstar would back him with its money and tech, or it would use them to hamper him. Keep your friends close but enemies closer as they say.
Mech:
Designation/Callsign: Prophet 1
General Description:
This mech is notable in how humanoid it is compared to many others, made for graceful and fluid movement. It's slender frame looks rather fragile and even acting one can even see its limbs bulge and strain as it relies in synthetic muscles rather than hydraulics and the likes. The mecha is otherwise red and white, the colors of Comstar and is usually accompanied with utility drones to emit shields and block attacks.
Role and Doctrine: The Prophet has no on board armament and its sensors could only be qualified as decent, it is instead pretty much a focus and amplifier of the pilot's void powers. In practice, this mech can probably be described as an artillery platform: it needs protection but has the potential to be devastating.
Notable Armaments or Systems:
Fluid Dexterity - The Prophet does not have a cabin like traditional mechs, it's pilot is instead submerged in an oxygenated fluid and plugged directly into the machine, giving it the impression of 'being' the machine, allowing for unparalleled fine control over the machine and allowing the user to for example translate its own knowledge of martial arts into movements for the mech.
Drift Modulators - The mech and the dozen or so drones that surround it are equipped with an array of devices meant to modulate, amplify and focus drift manipulation, making a pilot able to squish another mech with its mind with about the same energy it would take it to do a regular sized portion for example.
Known Limitations or Vulnerabilities:
Machine Spirit - Activating the Prophet involves a ceremony that seems more religious than technological, and it is something that must imperatively be done because it has a certain degree of auto-pilot with what can be described as a spirited personality. This is theorized to be the psychic imprint of previous pilots 'sticking' to its complex control matrix, but whatever the case it is fickle and demands chants and incense to function properly.
Psychic Link - The pilot-machine merging is incredible archeotechnology from the peak of mankind, but it comes with some drawback that prevented it from ever becoming the norm. Mainly, the mind cannot differentiate from trauma to the machine and itself, as such a shock will make the pilot (and thus the machine) reel back in pain.
Name: Hierophant Tyche Comstar
Age: 35(?)
Archetype: Voidtouched
Gender: Female
Appearance:
Image
The first obvious thing about Tyche is that she is tall, impressively so. Impressive is in fact the best word to describe her, literally by design. Her body has been significantly augmented with cybernetics and doesn't have any visible organic parts and all her skin except for her face is instead raw carbon fiber ultra dense synthetic muscles. To complete her superhuman aura, she also usually moves around using antigravs with arcane devices flying around her.
Occupation: Lancer, Voidtouched wizard.
Affiliations: Comstar Corporation
Skills and Abilities:
Master of the Drift - Through generations of selective breeding, genetic engineering and arcane technologies of ancient earth, Tyche has been molded into one of the most potent Voidtouched in the Empire with terrifying and overwhelming powers over reality.
Archeotech Expert - What used to be the Com-Star corporation once had its hands in all advanced engineering projects of Ancient Humanity, as such many ancient wonders hidden across the galaxy incorporate elements that Tyche understands perfectly and that are have backdoors that a millennium later she can use.
Faults and Limitations:
Pampered - Tyche has been prepared for 'greater things' her entire life, so much that the little things have always been taken care off for her. She has an army of servants around her to do everything from dressing her to applying tooth paste on her brush. In any situation where she cannot rely on others to take care of her these voidtouched powers do little to help her.
Overwhelming Psyche - Tyche oozes power and affects reality around her even if she doesn't mean to. Even if she has a perfect poker face, her emotions and intent can be felt around her, especially by anyone with a light connection with the void. She also needs to sleep in a special chamber else everyone in a certain radius might begin to share her dreams and nightmares.
Biography:
After the cataclysmic end of Ancient Earth, the Com-Star corporation became a legacy, its owners staying relevant by greedily hoarding technologies and selling them. Eventually it transcended that and became the stuff of legend, with no one knowing what Comstar used to mean, only understanding they were the people who could at will shut off all technology, open all the gates of a space station to send people in the void or turn off the god-machines keeping the air of terraformed planets breathable, then Comstar became the stuff of religion and even the heirs of Comstar started to believe their own lies.
It is uncertain if this doctrine originates in a megalomaniac founder or if it is merely a perversion of a corporation's obsession with hoarding wealth and power, but Comstar's creed is the discovery and hoarding of technology and power. Not 'temporal power' as they call the power of emperors and nobles which they call trivial and fake, but real power over reality itself, Comstar history teaching that Ancient humans were on the verge of mastering the drift to a degree where they could control all of reality and reshape it into a paradise of their choice and that the fall was caused by ludites who feared this inevitable destiny.
It is in this context that Tyche was born, one of countless genetically modified embryos based on the current President of Comstar implanted in mothers specifically chosen for their desirable traits and then trained from a young age for mastery over the drift and understanding of Void-tech. After a grueling selection, she was chosen to be a potential successor to the President. In a way, her situation is similar to the Prince's, only unlike him, she plays the game of power and aims to win at all cost as losing means having her psyche absorbed by whichever of her 'sibling' is deemed to be the superior one, which in theory is not dying but in practice is at least something pretty damn close to it.
Procyon is thus for her the potential for advancement. Comstar always had an eye on the sector since back in the Ancient era, it had been on the edge of the known universe and a place where many corporations had blacksites, places to try their most advanced technologies, the kind that if something went wrong could ruin their reputation or destroy entire planets. Her studies hint at treasures of potentially immense power and technological importance. Comstar was never free to openly investigate this location however, either out of fear of other corporate entities taking their interest as a hint of what's hidden and outmaneuvering them or simply because the emperor and his ephemeral temporal power would forbid it simply for the sake of preventing an already powerful entity gaining more power.
The Prince was the perfect cover, Comstar's involvement with him looking like a play on imperial politics rather than an interest in the backwater he had exiled himself in. Tyche however is not a diplomat and simply presented with Prince with a carrot and a stick, either Comstar would back him with its money and tech, or it would use them to hamper him. Keep your friends close but enemies closer as they say.
Mech:
Designation/Callsign: Prophet 1
General Description:
This mech is notable in how humanoid it is compared to many others, made for graceful and fluid movement. It's slender frame looks rather fragile and even acting one can even see its limbs bulge and strain as it relies in synthetic muscles rather than hydraulics and the likes. The mecha is otherwise red and white, the colors of Comstar and is usually accompanied with utility drones to emit shields and block attacks.
Role and Doctrine: The Prophet has no on board armament and its sensors could only be qualified as decent, it is instead pretty much a focus and amplifier of the pilot's void powers. In practice, this mech can probably be described as an artillery platform: it needs protection but has the potential to be devastating.
Notable Armaments or Systems:
Fluid Dexterity - The Prophet does not have a cabin like traditional mechs, it's pilot is instead submerged in an oxygenated fluid and plugged directly into the machine, giving it the impression of 'being' the machine, allowing for unparalleled fine control over the machine and allowing the user to for example translate its own knowledge of martial arts into movements for the mech.
Drift Modulators - The mech and the dozen or so drones that surround it are equipped with an array of devices meant to modulate, amplify and focus drift manipulation, making a pilot able to squish another mech with its mind with about the same energy it would take it to do a regular sized portion for example.
Known Limitations or Vulnerabilities:
Machine Spirit - Activating the Prophet involves a ceremony that seems more religious than technological, and it is something that must imperatively be done because it has a certain degree of auto-pilot with what can be described as a spirited personality. This is theorized to be the psychic imprint of previous pilots 'sticking' to its complex control matrix, but whatever the case it is fickle and demands chants and incense to function properly.
Psychic Link - The pilot-machine merging is incredible archeotechnology from the peak of mankind, but it comes with some drawback that prevented it from ever becoming the norm. Mainly, the mind cannot differentiate from trauma to the machine and itself, as such a shock will make the pilot (and thus the machine) reel back in pain.
Ach! Got a third character idea I want to make now lol
Name: Major Baron Wilhelm von Zollern-Krauthammer II of New Brabant
Age: 103
Archetype: Soldier/Commander
Gender: Male
Appearance:
Image
Willy is old, really old. Most of the time his age makes him look respectable as he wears his pristine uniform with a veritable shelf of medals, with some of the highest honors of the empire repeating multiple times, giving more weight to the piecing gaze of his one good eye. Some times however he carries the weight of time on his shoulder. For example he usually goes around with a cane and easily goes out of breath from even a short walk and can sometimes fall asleep in briefings.
Occupation: Lancer
Affiliations: Imperial Order of Heroes (Commander), Imperial Military Academy (Dean)
Skills and Abilities:
Illustrious Veteran - Old Willy would have made it to Imperial Field Marshall if he hadn't refused dozens of promotions to remain in the field, he has been part of every war the empire fought for the last century and is the definition of leading by example and never ordering his soldiers to do anything he himself wouldn't do. This 'first in, last out' attitude has earned him the loyalty and admiration of the entire Imperial army and no one would dare to flee the field while this old man still fights.
Century of Favors - Willy never left the battlefield, but most of those who served with him at some point went on to greater things. There is thus several generations of veterans in every walk of life of imperial society that owe this man their lives and whom he can call on for favors.
Faults and Limitations:
Past his Prime - Wilhelm is old, very old. Although he says the years haven't affected him in the slightest, it's an obvious lie. He isn't as quick as he once was and sometimes his mind plays tricks on him. He's been hiding it well, but its showing more and more.
Death Wish - This will be Wilhelm's last campaign and he knows it. That he managed to convince the Prince to take him on is already miracle enough and it won't happen again. This is why, gods help him, he intends to go out like a soldier and not in his own urine in a retirement home.
Biography:
Wilhelm is the model imperial soldier, he came from nothing in the slums of old Earth and fought for his empire and his emperor(s) with tooth and nail for almost a century. He went everywhere and did everything, fighting in civil wars and anti-pirate actions every time with distinction and honor. Just like him however, this story is getting old.
Even in the time of Cassian's grand-father, Wilhelm was old news. At the time he had been the youngest person to make it from enlisted to Major and had a career so decorated it put his name in the history books. When he continued his career and refused promotion after promotion it was seen as exceptional gallantry... for a while. When Cassian's father took the throne however, the narrative had changed. People were starting to get tired of this old man who refused to quit the limelight and who frankly placed unreasonable expectations on the other imperial officers. At first they tried to nudge him into retirement more subtly by giving him the title of Baron and an entire planet for him and his heirs to inherit, then more directly by promoting him to Dean of the Imperial Military Academy, a honorary role that didn't actually require anything out of him.
Wilhelm hung around the imperial palace, watching political events and desperately trying to convince people to give him another assignment only for people to smile at him and politely tell him that he was 'too important to risk' and that he should enjoy a well deserved retirement in the empire he helped building. They were polite but the message was clear: Fuck off, you old decrepit fossil. Finally however he saw his chance with Prince Cassian, going to him to offer his expertise and something that might be of more use than an old soldier: All the favors he had accumulated through the years that would be at the Prince's disposition.
Truth is, Wilhelm doesn't care if he was chosen out of pragmatism, genuine respect or just pity, he needs this. His wife has been dead for years, he has survived most of his children and the rest he doesn't really have a relation with after spending his life on the front line. War is all that he has and he wishes to have one last great adventure so he can die a worthy death like hundreds of friends and fellow soldiers did beside him through all these years.
Mech:
Designation/Callsign: (Old) Ironside
General Description:
Image
People usually expect the oldest soldier of the empire to show up with an hyper customized antiquity, but are surprise to see him with a run-of-the-mill mass produced BL-6-KNT 'Black Knight' command mech. But the truth is, this is a mech that was heavily customized at his specification; who do you think was the 'average field commander' the mech was designed around?
Role and Doctrine:
As the empire and its military budget grew, so did the ambition to make models after models of small batch hyper specialized mechs for every possible occasion that rely on an army of technicians and logisticians to keep it running. Wilhelm in contrast helped design a work horse, a mech that was modular enough to have an answer to most situations it would encounter and simple enough to always be operable. It is thus said that while the KNT series of mech is never a pilot's top choice, it will be by far the favorite of any technician in a motor pool that will be able to fix it quickly and easily with plentiful parts.
Notable Armaments or Systems:
Roundtable Comm. suite - As a command mech, special emphasis was placed on this mech's information sharing module, allowing it to merge the data links of not just other members of the Lance, but of ground, air and space operatives to give the pilot a bigger picture of what's happening.
Uppercut Missile - A big, dumb, stupid rocket with a needlessly huge payload. Because you might jam this mech's aiming, you may be faster and you may have whatever other trick up your sleeve, but I don't need to hit you if I just delete an entire city block.
Blizzard Canisters - The one 'eccentricity' Wilhelm allowed himself, he loaded most of his smoke launchers with Blizzard Canisters, basically grenades that shower an area with fragments. It won't destroy a mech, but it can severely damage sensors and cameras. It will also turn infantry into pink mist.
Known Limitations or Vulnerabilities:
Mass Produced - The Black Knight is a good mech, compared to other generic mechs. It however lacks the punch, armor, speed and special systems to compete with some of the more exotic mechs out there.
Known Quantity - The Black Knight is one of the longest running Mass Production unit of the last century, chances are if a war had mechs participating in it, it had Black Knights fighting in it. This means that this mech, its strength and limitations, are well known by just about everyone. The pilot might surprise an enemy, but the mech and it's stats certainly won't.
Age: 103
Archetype: Soldier/Commander
Gender: Male
Appearance:
Image
Willy is old, really old. Most of the time his age makes him look respectable as he wears his pristine uniform with a veritable shelf of medals, with some of the highest honors of the empire repeating multiple times, giving more weight to the piecing gaze of his one good eye. Some times however he carries the weight of time on his shoulder. For example he usually goes around with a cane and easily goes out of breath from even a short walk and can sometimes fall asleep in briefings.
Occupation: Lancer
Affiliations: Imperial Order of Heroes (Commander), Imperial Military Academy (Dean)
Skills and Abilities:
Illustrious Veteran - Old Willy would have made it to Imperial Field Marshall if he hadn't refused dozens of promotions to remain in the field, he has been part of every war the empire fought for the last century and is the definition of leading by example and never ordering his soldiers to do anything he himself wouldn't do. This 'first in, last out' attitude has earned him the loyalty and admiration of the entire Imperial army and no one would dare to flee the field while this old man still fights.
Century of Favors - Willy never left the battlefield, but most of those who served with him at some point went on to greater things. There is thus several generations of veterans in every walk of life of imperial society that owe this man their lives and whom he can call on for favors.
Faults and Limitations:
Past his Prime - Wilhelm is old, very old. Although he says the years haven't affected him in the slightest, it's an obvious lie. He isn't as quick as he once was and sometimes his mind plays tricks on him. He's been hiding it well, but its showing more and more.
Death Wish - This will be Wilhelm's last campaign and he knows it. That he managed to convince the Prince to take him on is already miracle enough and it won't happen again. This is why, gods help him, he intends to go out like a soldier and not in his own urine in a retirement home.
Biography:
Wilhelm is the model imperial soldier, he came from nothing in the slums of old Earth and fought for his empire and his emperor(s) with tooth and nail for almost a century. He went everywhere and did everything, fighting in civil wars and anti-pirate actions every time with distinction and honor. Just like him however, this story is getting old.
Even in the time of Cassian's grand-father, Wilhelm was old news. At the time he had been the youngest person to make it from enlisted to Major and had a career so decorated it put his name in the history books. When he continued his career and refused promotion after promotion it was seen as exceptional gallantry... for a while. When Cassian's father took the throne however, the narrative had changed. People were starting to get tired of this old man who refused to quit the limelight and who frankly placed unreasonable expectations on the other imperial officers. At first they tried to nudge him into retirement more subtly by giving him the title of Baron and an entire planet for him and his heirs to inherit, then more directly by promoting him to Dean of the Imperial Military Academy, a honorary role that didn't actually require anything out of him.
Wilhelm hung around the imperial palace, watching political events and desperately trying to convince people to give him another assignment only for people to smile at him and politely tell him that he was 'too important to risk' and that he should enjoy a well deserved retirement in the empire he helped building. They were polite but the message was clear: Fuck off, you old decrepit fossil. Finally however he saw his chance with Prince Cassian, going to him to offer his expertise and something that might be of more use than an old soldier: All the favors he had accumulated through the years that would be at the Prince's disposition.
Truth is, Wilhelm doesn't care if he was chosen out of pragmatism, genuine respect or just pity, he needs this. His wife has been dead for years, he has survived most of his children and the rest he doesn't really have a relation with after spending his life on the front line. War is all that he has and he wishes to have one last great adventure so he can die a worthy death like hundreds of friends and fellow soldiers did beside him through all these years.
Mech:
Designation/Callsign: (Old) Ironside
General Description:
Image
People usually expect the oldest soldier of the empire to show up with an hyper customized antiquity, but are surprise to see him with a run-of-the-mill mass produced BL-6-KNT 'Black Knight' command mech. But the truth is, this is a mech that was heavily customized at his specification; who do you think was the 'average field commander' the mech was designed around?
Role and Doctrine:
As the empire and its military budget grew, so did the ambition to make models after models of small batch hyper specialized mechs for every possible occasion that rely on an army of technicians and logisticians to keep it running. Wilhelm in contrast helped design a work horse, a mech that was modular enough to have an answer to most situations it would encounter and simple enough to always be operable. It is thus said that while the KNT series of mech is never a pilot's top choice, it will be by far the favorite of any technician in a motor pool that will be able to fix it quickly and easily with plentiful parts.
Notable Armaments or Systems:
Roundtable Comm. suite - As a command mech, special emphasis was placed on this mech's information sharing module, allowing it to merge the data links of not just other members of the Lance, but of ground, air and space operatives to give the pilot a bigger picture of what's happening.
Uppercut Missile - A big, dumb, stupid rocket with a needlessly huge payload. Because you might jam this mech's aiming, you may be faster and you may have whatever other trick up your sleeve, but I don't need to hit you if I just delete an entire city block.
Blizzard Canisters - The one 'eccentricity' Wilhelm allowed himself, he loaded most of his smoke launchers with Blizzard Canisters, basically grenades that shower an area with fragments. It won't destroy a mech, but it can severely damage sensors and cameras. It will also turn infantry into pink mist.
Known Limitations or Vulnerabilities:
Mass Produced - The Black Knight is a good mech, compared to other generic mechs. It however lacks the punch, armor, speed and special systems to compete with some of the more exotic mechs out there.
Known Quantity - The Black Knight is one of the longest running Mass Production unit of the last century, chances are if a war had mechs participating in it, it had Black Knights fighting in it. This means that this mech, its strength and limitations, are well known by just about everyone. The pilot might surprise an enemy, but the mech and it's stats certainly won't.
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