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[Avis-Mergulus]

The year is 2231, and you are sleeping in space. Your sleep is just a single notch above death.
Your blood has been replaced with nutrient fluid, and a machine is doing your breathing for you. It is cold, but you do not feel it, and your sleep is dreamless.

You are aboard the colony ship Horizon, along with seventy-nine other colonists. The ship resembles an early Space age rocket, but differs in several key aspects: first, it is much larger. It's not skyscraper-sized, but it's a good twenty stories high. Second, it's aerodynamic shape is broken by a cylindrical bulge near the middle - that is where the ablative capsules containing the colonists are.

You are fleeing your home's overpopulation problems: you remember spending your childhood in a place that was like a hive, with people - millions of people - scurrying about like insects. The colonization effort is sponsored by several governments and organizations, and you are part of the first wave - the second wave ships will contain thousands upon thousands, not a mere eighty. Your flight has been paid for by a multinational organization, and you are part of a multinational crew of specialists with diverse skill sets, off to create a new home for yourself in this new world.

The world is called Boreas, after the ancient Greeks' god of winter. It is remarkably Earth-like, as planets go. So what if the yearly mean temperature is somewhere in the region of -25? The alternatives were worse. The athmosphere is almost identical to Earth's, and research shows traces of Earth-like plant life, supposedly conifers. It has three large continents: you will be touching down on the largest one, close to the coast near a major river.

Horizon and her sister ship Jah's Home enter Boreas orbit on November 7, 2231 by Earth time. They update their maps with locations of other nations and companies' camps – apparently, a group of Slavic Coalition colonists have made camp some two hundred kilometers from where you'll be making planetfall. They call their town Yermakov Ostrog, and the river is apparently now called Novy Don. You will be landing on the other side, which they haven't explored yet.

Of the ships, now only the aforementioned bulging sections are left: the propulsion stages have been long since discarded, and the nose cones have been shot off to reveal semi-spherical snouts covered in thick ablative shielding. They point themselves down and topple slowly into the atmosphere.

In the upper  layers, Horizon unfolds like a flower, scattering ablative landing capsules away from its central cylinder, which will be using its main engines to decelerate. The hardware inside – hydroponics facilities, dry rations, tools, weapons, water purifiers, warm clothing, a small reactor, solar panels, and most importantly, a self-assembling manufacturing unit that can even make planes – can withstand the deceleration. Any humans, however, would be reduced to jelly, so your capsule will be descending on a parachute, after it clears the upper layers, of course. The storage section will be landing first, reorienting itself thrusters down and firing its massive engines just a kilometer from the surface. Then, if everything goes according to the plan, the capsules will land around it with a spread of a few kilometers.

The wind howls around you as you plunge towards your new home.

Spoiler: Players and info (click to show/hide)

So, I'm a bit new to this whole RTD business, but here's the way this is going to happen:
First, make a character. I'm planning to make this a bit text-heavy, so there will be six players in the first batch a waitlist. Include the usual things - sex, age, bio (I'm not gonna say "short bio": be as verbose as you like), with your character's background and occupation. It will be easier if you roll an engineer or a military-type character. If you roll, say, a geologist, you will be called upon to do geology magics, about which I don't know shit. However, if you do know shit about geology magics, by all means, go on.
Next, I'll roll for your landing and we start.
Oh, and one more thing: I want this game to be at least semi-serious, so no, you can't have superpowers, and I'm not going to roll for actions like going to the outhouse, and you will not get hemorrhoids for rolling a one on it.
So, here's the charsheet:
  Name:
  Sex:
  Age:
  Occupation:
  Background:
  Top stat:

User: Dwarmin
Name: Kathryn McGaw
Sex: Female
Age: 28
Occupation: Genetic Scientist/Doctor (+1 medicine, +1 genetic engineering)
Top stat: Intelligence

User: Gamerlord
Name: Sean O'Driscoll
Sex: Male
Age: 23
Occupation: Medic/Infantry (+1 sniping, +1 improvised devices)
Top stat: Dexterity

User: Patrick Hunt
Name: Will Hazec
Sex: Male
Age: 16
Profession: Biocybernetics specialist (+1 Synthetic augmentation, +1 nanobiotics)
Top stat: Intelligence

User: USEC_OFFICER
Name: Jacques Beauchene
Sex: Male
Age: 37
Occupation: Outdoorsman/Prospector

User: DarkArtemisFowl
Name: Markus Calion
 Sex: Male
 Age: 14
 Occupation: Fisherman (+1 Fishing, +1 Melee)
Top stat: Dexterity

User: Urist Mc Dwarf
Name: Alex Shater
Sex:Male
Age:29
Occupation:Xenosurvivalist

User: Comrade P.
Name: Chester McLafferty
Sex:Male
Occupation: Survivalist, history enthusiast, former soldier (+1 to marksmanship, +1 to mechanics)
Top stat: Toughness

User: Aseaheru
Name: Everett Owen
Sex: Male
Age: 34
Occupation: Former "space builder" (+1 Engineering, +1 Zero-g operations)
Top stat: Agility


Waitlist:
Tiruin
Alexandria

Spoiler: Armory (click to show/hide)

Weapons:
H&K pistol
Singijeon S-10 SMG -fast rate of fire, pistol ammo. Manufactured in Korea.
VA "Saigon" assault rifle - this Vietnamese weapon is an incredibly versatile tool for killing people and breaking things. In addition to firing several types of specialized ammunition, like incendiary ammo, it also has mounts for optics and a bayonet, an under-barrel grenade launcher, and can be fitted with a targeting computer.
Doorbuster shotgun - the Doorbuster is standard SWAT equipment. It is full-auto capable, and its drum magazine holds eight shells. It can be loaded with slugs, shot, Dragonsbreath rounds, and flares.
IZHMASH GZ-3 anti-personnel sniper rifle - this fine piece of Russian engineering is durable, light, smart, and packs enough of a wallop to put a hole through your helmet, your brain, the other side of your helmet, and the knee of the sucker next to you.
HD "Desperado" handheld rocket launcher - the Desperado chucks mini-rockets at whatever you want dead until it aerosolizes. Can also fire flares and any standard grenades.
HT Mining Laser - manufactured by Adelaide Mining, this thing is not actually a weapon: it's designed to be mounted on a pintle and used to melt rock. If you are a bad enough dude or dudette, you can carry it in your hands, just don't expect to make any acrobatic leaps while doing so. When fired, it rapidly heats up surfaces in about half a meter from where it hits.
Toxin injector - this thing is a rather unconventional weapon. It fires tiny needles tipped with neurotoxin, using compressed air. The only sound it makes is a pop, and the needles dissolve in the bloodstream. It is here ostensibly as a non-lethal measure - and indeed, it can be used that way - but it was designed as an assassination weapon.
EMPA gun - the ElectroMagnetic Projectile Accelerator is, simply speaking, a railgun. It drives a metal-coated heat-resistant ceramic cylinder about a palm long at speeds of over 7 Mach. The EMPA cannot be safely fired without suitable ear protection. As for effect, it delivers intensely personal devastation when loaded with blocks, or intensely un-personal devastation when loaded with warheads. It can be fired at a visible target in any range, and with the aid of its targeter, it can even neutralize targets over the horizon.

Explosives:
Frag - pull pin, throw, enjoy.
Incendiary - draw a parabola. You are on one leg. On the other, shit be burnin'.
Contained antimatter - WARNING: DO NOT THROW. FOR LAUNCHER USE ONLY.
Cutting charge - for ridding the world of those pesky structural supports.

Armor:
Adfiber coat - this loose-fitting garment consists of a strong armorweave outer coat, and a variable-rigidity inner carcass (not you, silly), which becomes rigid when something impacts the fabric of the outer shell. This results in you puffing up like a hedgehog, while the impact is hopefully absorbed. Note that the impact must be sufficiently strong to trigger it, and it's generally not very comfortable to fight hand-to-hand in. When not active, it looks like a loose cloak.
Service exoskeleton - this is not intended for military application, but tell that to the people you'll sock in the jaw while wearing it. Not much protection, though.
Military flak kit - this rather simple armor consists of a long armorweave vest with polymer plating over the vital areas, long armorweave boots and gloves, plastic guards for the joints, and a sturdy helmet. It will keep you from croaking in a fuss-free and uncomplicated manner, and is pretty comfortable besides.
Heavy infantry suit - this is basically an exoskeleton reinforced with armaflex and armorweave, with plastic plates to keep your precious guts from spilling. The closed helmet is virtuality-capable.
Esau suit - intended for combat in areas where biological or nuclear weapons have been used, the Esau is the definite answer to area-denial weapons all over the world - all over two worlds, now. It is an exoskeletally assisted suit of double-layered armaflex filled with complex insulating foam and fitted with metalloceramic plates over your most dear and needed. The suit is supplied with oxygen from a metalloceramic backpack source - no shooting that.
"Flugel der Freiheit" assault suit - this miracle of German military science stands at two and a half meters tall. The fully metalloceramic suit possesses two integral machine guns and a missile salvo pod. One of its main features is two powerful thrusters mounted on fins, with several maneuvering jets at the sides. The helmet is rebreather-equipped. The only drawback is the fact that due to the weight of it, the Flugel's muscle assists can't work off bioelectricity, and require an external power source - batteries. Well, the only serious drawback. It's also painted jet black, which is an inconvenience in the climate of Boreas - however, it looks mighty cool.

NOTE: This is only the armory of the Horizon. The other camps may have other armaments. Also note that there is no vehicle bay yet, but there will be.

[Dwarmin]

Name: Kathryn McGaw
Sex: Female
Age: 28
Occupation: Genetic Scientist/Doctor
Background: A peerless savant in the art of manipulating and research living DNA, Kathryn McGaw has spent most of her life in the service of the corporate conglomerate 'Bioglo'-She is, in fact, a near perfect clone of a former employee, who established by contract to have her services and knowledge preserved and reclaimed even after her death. During her youth, she knew no life except for the skills and careful indoctrination in one of Bioglo's numerous 'children creches', where she was raised apart-and above-of the sprawl of humanity. She spent most of her time afterward laboring in service of Bioglo, never dreaming of anything larger, but supremely devoted to her task of medical and DNA research-particularly biological extraction and utilization-ultimately believing whatever sacrifices were made in her creation were worth the resulting benefit to humanity...and the company, of course.

While most of her formers life is a mystery, Kathryn can only guess the woman was as devoted to her work as she is to hers. She has adopted some of the personal traits of her genetic source completely by chance, but considers herself different from that person. Of note, she did take one trait that was 'opted out' during her creation-restoring her natural hair color to a natural deep bronze red, instead of blonde. To date, this is the only genetic modification she has done to herself in defiance to her employers.

...

Bioglo was not going to be 'left out in the cold' during the ground floor planning of the expedition of Boreas, of course-connections and money changed hands to get McGaw a seat on the Horizon so the corporation could have an agent on planet, extracting and studying new, strange forms of life-and of course, her medical skills would be an asset in keeping the members alive. With laws currently murky, any research grant on Boreas is also quite expanded from what it would be on Earth. They have sent to pluck the world of it's secrets, so they may benefit-and as a corporate sponsor, they are entitled to exclusive rights from anything she may find.

Physically, Kathryn is 28 though looks far younger due to her genetic pedigree-a stunning physical figure, that nevertheless comes off as cold and aloof at times. She could almost be mistake for a machine, for those that do not know her well-and very few do. Raised to fulfill a singular purpose in life, she is fairly confident in her area of expertise-though often unemotional except in the presence of children (who she has a subdued motherly instinct for), she certainly displays a degree of arrogance most times. Still, her devotion is paramount-she is not needlessly cruel or heartless, and while it may be as much a product of her youth training as her innate sense of right and wrong, she genuinely believes in doing what is best for the greater good. Due to her status as a second generation clone, Kathryn knows she is both very unlikely to live past 40, or ever bear children of her own. She knows her life will be a short one, full of promise, but short on actually living-and in her own way she accepts this with the weary resignation of the stoic.

[Gamerlord]

Reserved, sheet incoming.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Name: Sean O'Driscoll
Sex: Male
Age: 23
Occupation: Medic/Infantry
Background: Sean O'Driscoll dropped out of medical school at 19, enlisting in the armed forces immediately. When asked about this 180 in temperament by a recruiter Sean only said that with the death of his mother what she wanted for him no longer mattered; only his wishes had any pull over him.

Burying himself in the military lifestyle for 4 years following a falling out with his father and siblings, Sean clocked hundreds of hours in simulators, on shooting ranges and in combat medic training. His psych profiles indicate a remarkably strong willed individual, but stubborn. Driven, yet narrow sighted. From start to finish his three year tour of duty was filled with individual commendations and recommendations for special recognition, but every squad, every platoon Sean was placed with eventually demanded that he be reassigned. Suffering from an almost terminal case of exclusion from his fellow groundpounders and a ridiculous amount of respect/expectations from superior officers, Sean cracked. On a routine mission into enemy territory, Sean sabotaged the vehicle, forcing his fellows out on foot. Then, armed only with a rifle stolen from an enemy, he picked off of his team one at a time, making it appear as though the enemy was to blame. Sean finished the mission singlehandedly, returning to base to the acclaim of his commanders. Feigning distress at the 'unfortunate' deaths of his team, Sean applied for a transfer to the Horizon, hoping to leave behind the pressure and stress that drove him to murder.

To this day his COs still think him a hero, a man who took the deaths of his friends in stride and finished the mission. On the base where he was trained an entire barracks is named for him. His squad leader's - who Sean left to last and executed with a bullet to the back of the head - wife named her unborn son after the man who 'avenged' her fallen husband.

About 6 foot tall with dark brown hair and green eyes, Sean tries not to stand out in any situation, hiding away from attention in the hope that he would not 'fall' again.

P.S. Looking forward to this a lot; concept seems really awesome.

[Avis-Mergulus]

-snip-

Well, this is cool. It seems to me that we will all be writing the lore for this verse together (and that is awesome). So, can I say that Bioglo is registered either in the African Commonwealth, or in the Turkic states? The Slavic Coalition, the PRC, and the European Union do not allow human cloning and general human research.
Note: FTL communication is possible in this verse via quantum-entangled transmitters, but they're the size of a house and require metric buttloads of energy, so Dr. McGaw will have to just collect research data until you build a QE transmitter to send it back to Earth, for which you need an efficient fuel source.

[Gamerlord]

How is my bio?

[Dwarmin]

Well, I habitually create lore when I play forum games, ask any GM. I like to flesh out the world.

And yeah, it would be in one of those places-whichever one has looser restrictions, really...or is more generally wealthy, where people can maybe afford things like genetic hair transplants...Bioglo is probably big enough to have branches in the whole world, though-they just do the human stuff where it's not illegal.

[Gamerlord]

Really looking forward to RPing with you again Dwarmin!

[Avis-Mergulus]

How is my bio?

Oh! It was spoilered, so I didn't notice you had posted it. I like the concept a lot, there are tons of opportunities for character development here, and the bit about the unfinished medical training gives it all a nice sense of versatility. Plus, possible mommy issues. One question, though. The military of which country did Sean serve in?

[Dwarmin]

Really looking forward to RPing with you again Dwarmin!

I'd imagine this time it's going to be mostly me asking you please not to shoot my character. :V

[Gamerlord]

How is my bio?

Oh! It was spoilered, so I didn't notice you had posted it. I like the concept a lot, there are tons of opportunities for character development here, and the bit about the unfinished medical training gives it all a nice sense of versatility. Plus, possible mommy issues. One question, though. The military of which country did Sean serve in?

Your choice so long as it isn't USA or it's equivalent.

Really looking forward to RPing with you again Dwarmin!

I'd imagine this time it's going to be mostly me asking you please not to shoot my character. :V

Just don't get too 'demanding' of him.

[Avis-Mergulus]

How is my bio?

Oh! It was spoilered, so I didn't notice you had posted it. I like the concept a lot, there are tons of opportunities for character development here, and the bit about the unfinished medical training gives it all a nice sense of versatility. Plus, possible mommy issues. One question, though. The military of which country did Sean serve in?

Your choice so long as it isn't USA or it's equivalent.

Then I'll say it was the EU's military force. They had a bit of a scuffle with the African Commonwealth upon their unification. Basically, the EU military moved in with intervention forces, but the whole thing stalemated and the EU pulled out and now both Africa and Europe are pretending very hard that this war didn't happen.
It ended several months after the Horizon took off, but keep in mind that you have been traveling for almost seventy years. Things may have changed back on Earth.

[Dwarmin]

Really looking forward to RPing with you again Dwarmin!

I'd imagine this time it's going to be mostly me asking you please not to shoot my character. :V

Just don't get too 'demanding' of him.

Please don't shoot my character. :V

[Gamerlord]

How is my bio?

Oh! It was spoilered, so I didn't notice you had posted it. I like the concept a lot, there are tons of opportunities for character development here, and the bit about the unfinished medical training gives it all a nice sense of versatility. Plus, possible mommy issues. One question, though. The military of which country did Sean serve in?

Your choice so long as it isn't USA or it's equivalent.

Then I'll say it was the EU's military force. They had a bit of a scuffle with the African Commonwealth upon their unification. Basically, the EU military moved in with intervention forces, but the whole thing stalemated and the EU pulled out and now both Africa and Europe are pretending very hard that this war didn't happen.
It ended several months after the Horizon took off, but keep in mind that you have been traveling for almost seventy years. Things may have changed back on Earth.

Works for me.

Really looking forward to RPing with you again Dwarmin!

I'd imagine this time it's going to be mostly me asking you please not to shoot my character. :V

Just don't get too 'demanding' of him.

Please don't shoot my character. :V

Don't worry, I won't!

[Dwarmin]

I dunno, team killing would be in character for you

You have a license to troll

[Patrick Hunt]

Reserved, sheet coming.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

  Name: Will Hazec
  Sex: Male
  Age: 16
  Description : Will is 5 ft 4 with spiky blue hair and a muscular body from working on machines all day. He has a series of tattoos on his body and very soft facial features matched with his deep blue eyes.
  Occupation: Prodigy in mechanical engineering, Theoretical physics, Human anatomy and AI programming. (( Basically he's a scientist and engineer who's focus is in those fields. ))
  Background: Will is the adopted son of the DR's Hazec, scientists who were world renowned in the field of creating mechanical parts to augment or replace human limbs and organs.
His mother died during labor unable to get to a hospital in time but not before making her friends promise to take care of Will for her.
Shortly after his birth it was discovered that having been oxygen deprived for several minutes will had received substantial brain damage. Seeing an opportunity in this his new parents took the unprecedented step of implanting a small computer directly into his brain which when combined with specially designed nanites injected throughout his body repaired the.damaged tissue, the treatment however worked better then intended not only repairing but enhancing his ability to learn.
By the age of 10 Will was recognised as a prodigy in his parents field and beyond largely because nobody knew what had been done in his brain.
At 16 he was both renowned and thrown out of the scientific community for experimenting on human beings to further the science that had made him so gifted.
At 17 his parents were able to get him a place on the ship so he could escape from his reputation and find a place to continue his work in peace.

Will is a cheerful and kind hearted boy who sees the pain he caused his test subjects as a necessary price to enable his work to save countless future lives. Oh and the computer in his brain includes a VI that passed on his parents knowledge to him and interacts with him based on limited personality data..