Full character no, bio more or less. High medical and engineering, most likely.
I believe the captain's race is essentially humanoid Tyrannosaurus Rex's in appearance, but I'm not sure.
Simply put, the captain is on an Enterprise-style mission to the stars- explore everything, gather samples of everything, conduct research of everything, seduce everything, and so on and so forth. It's a bold, prestigious occupation, and one he's more than willing to undertake in the name of being able to experiment on and improve everything in the process.
As for his race in general:
Overview and Biology
[INSERT_NAME_HERE]'s race is known as the [INSERT_OFFICIAL_NAME_HERE], more commonly known as "Dragons" due to their reptilian traits and hoarding nature (and a few other things, such as their connections with knighthood and some of the frankly horrifying things they're capable of pulling off with certain megaprojects).
Physically, Dragons are generally considered imposing relative to humans; they're around six or seven feet tall on average and frequently fairly muscular, plus their jaws look decidedly dangerous. This is partially a matter of genetics, and partially a matter of lifestyle, diet, medical technology, and in some cases outright enhancement. It's also an archetype that tends to be more true for Dragons who engage, recreationally or professionally, in some sort of physical competition, which is far more common among Dragons than most other races.
Dragons tend to be rather hardy, again due to a combination of factors, and indeed sometimes their apparent muscles are more for insulation from damage than actually generating force. They also heal surprisingly well, being able to mend bones completely, regenerate complex structures such as the eye, and very seldom scarring. This is again partially due to enhancement, though such abilities have always existed in some form among sufficiently healthy and well-fed Dragons since the dawn of time.
Chivalry and Fun
Perhaps ironically, Dragons actually skipped a fair amount of the war and death stages many other races went through (see: all of human history), not so much because they were more peaceful or unified as such, but simply because they were too interested in crops to burn them, too covetous of peasants to have them butchered, too greedy for more soldiers to massacre the enemy's, too desirous of enemy royalty to nail their skins to the wall as a declaration of power, and so on and so forth.
The result, then, was that while they did indeed go through nasty bits of history, much of it was blunted into more ritualized agreements on what were acceptable ways to take someone else's stuff without damaging any of it. Consequently, the Dragons' history tends to read like romanticized fables to many other species, and even today their competitions are of great interest to many other peoples and great profitability to the Dragons themselves.
Research and Megaweapons
Purely on the basis of history and entertainment, most species tend to consider Dragons noble, chivalrous role models or pompous, inexplicable fools, but there's another aspect of them that often completely overrides this.
Dragons are, as it turns out, excellent researchers. This often comes as a surprise to people who's first impression is from their history or certain forms of entertainment- one might not expect, for instance, a species that still holds widespread arena duels using iron weapons and armor to be especially inquisitive or bright.
However, it turns out Dragons are rather bright, and, perhaps less surprisingly when one remembers how greedy they are, incredibly inquisitive. Dragons have coveted and hoarded knowledge like any other valuable since the dawn of time, and the present is no different. Indeed, the promise of new things has often been a driving force in pushing scientific discovery to new limits, sometimes regardless of the consequences.
Much of the Dragons' research is fairly standard, even trivial- they've spent inordinate amounts of time and effort perfecting the art of creating artificial gemstones, for instance. Every now and then, however, they either come up with something truly terrifying, or actually have the gall to build it- often not because they even intend to use it, but merely to have. A few are mentioned below as examples.
C-178: C-178 is a biological agent "designed" to merge all life into a single mass. It was originally conceived completely by accident, during efforts to produce a virus that could harvest and preserve countless genetic samples, allowing them to release it onto a planet, let it run, and then harvest the result, thereby saving a great deal of time and effort. Instead, this particular strain actually began using the samples coherently, which prompted further examination. The result was a virus that, in theory, would not just infect and amass life, but actually cause it to start intermingling into a coherent colony or mass. No large-scale testing has yet been performed, but in theory the military application of this substance could render the entire surface of the planet (and every living thing upon it) into a single living membrane. It's a good example of something the Dragons would never want to use but just can't stop themselves from researching.
The Planetcracker: The planetcracker is a rather boring doomsday weapon- an oddly-shaped, industrial looking ball of sorts with a visible glow along its firing axis. The concepts used to build it come from three primary sources- firstly, an attempt at a different type of power generation that led to interesting energy signatures. Secondly, theoretical testing for the practicality of a mining laser capable of operating on a planetary scale. Third, attempts at a high energy, burst-focused, long-distance communications relay, intended to serve as essentially jumpgates for information. The combination of these into a single installation was primarily due to the communications attempt- it was conceived as a prototype relay which could test other aspects as well. The result, needless to say, was essentially a giant energy cannon with variable output signatures, and while it proved infeasible for any practical application of the concepts it'd been built to test, it did soon occur to some people that it'd be theoretically capable of sundering the crust of some planets, and so was kept around as a deterrent and minor monument, as well as a continued testing ground. It's a good example of something the Dragons simply built too powerful and large not to have some horrible secondary function.
Pegasus: Pegasus is the codename for a type of hexagonal prism, black with numerous green lines running in patterns along its surface, in many cases being larger than some ships. It's an unorthodox weapon deployed in a very simple manner- they're fired onto a planet's surface. On impact, they completely and irreparably short-circuit power generation and transfer, blacking out the entire planet when used in (massive) concert. While the only time one has actually been deployed has been an accidental detonation on the Dragons' own planet, that particular incident confirmed their effectiveness, and they're currently slated as the primary antiplanetary weapons should they find the need to go to war with another world. Their exact manner of operation is unknown, but they're the result of constant research by the Dragons into ways to disable foes without killing them or damaging their possessions overmuch. It's a good example of something the Dragons intentionally made, which just so happened to be both unusual by other races' standards and effective.
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Topic: Rolling through space: A way to complicated RTD (6/10)(OOC/Discussion) (Read 64262 times)