Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Parsely]

Hopefully we get some character entries today.

[adwarf]

Spoiler: Captain Johns Marque (click to show/hide)

Name: Marque, Johns
Role: Space Captain Extraordinaire
Personality: Johns is a courageous, and determined man who does whatever it takes to complete his goal. At times he can be single minded, and obsessive and fearless when his target is in sight. He is understanding of the actions his crew take, but merciless in punishing those who put the ship, and crew in danger.
Biography: Johns Marque was born the sole heir to the fading Marque Trading Family, and practically grew up in space following his Father as he commanded one vessel after another in the hopes of restoring the Marque Family's name to what it once was. However shortly after Johns eighth birthday his Father was killed by a group of pirates who also stole the cargo aboard the TMV Pequod which had been his Father's last effort to restore the Marque Family, every ounce of wealth that had remained was poured into that one trading vessel which ended a complete failure. Penniless, and orphaned Johns was taken in by his uncle, a man by the name of William Marque who captained an in-system industrial transport vessel. William took him in, but put him to work as a foreman in the loading bays where he garnered a rather large amount of ire from the laborers who were hesitant to follow the orders of an eight year old child. However Johns persevered, he joined the laborers in loading the industrial equipment, helped out offloading ores at the foundry, and pitched in wherever he felt workers were lacking to instill a sense of trust in him throughout the laborers.

Johns ploy worked in the end, and he continued that method of leadership over the course of sixteen years acting as foreman on over thirty different industrial transports as he saved up money for one desperate bid at restoring the great Marque Family. Saving up every bit of cash he could scrounge Johns saved up for sixteen years of hard work until finally he had enough, finally he could buy his own merchant tug just like his Father had, and he could at last set out to restore the Marque Family at all costs. He would bring his family name back into the spotlight, or go down in a glorious blaze achieving what his Father had attempted to do his entire life.

I present to you a Captain that is totally not partially inspired by Captain Ahab, I swear.

[SOLDIER First]

PTW

[Draignean]

I'll put in a captain sheet when I get out of my last class.

[Comatose]

Hello all,
I really like the setting, to me it feels like a cyber-punky Firefly mashup.
This game definitely is interesting, and I'd like to participate. (Even as an observer)

Few questions to GUNINANRUNIN:
-Does the crew have extended lifespans or undergo cryo-stasis? (At 70% of c, it would still take over 6 years to reach the Alpha Centauri system, is that intentional?)
-What are the relative distances between Sol, Marlowe, New Hope, New London, Kulan and Shotel? (If that is covered by "GM Note: More on this later", just disregard this question.)
-Are there specific ethnicities that are associated with the various systems, or was colonization a U.N. free-for-all?
-Do the various systems have separate currencies, or are they all part of a stellar E.U. arrangement?
-Do we all collaborate to design our captain or do we submit our ideas individually?

[Parsely]

Few questions to GUNINANRUNIN:
-Does the crew have extended lifespans or undergo cryo-stasis? (At 70% of c, it would still take over 6 years to reach the Alpha Centauri system, is that intentional?)

-What are the relative distances between Sol, Marlowe, New Hope, New London, Kulan and Shotel? (If that is covered by "GM Note: More on this later", just disregard this question.)

-Are there specific ethnicities that are associated with the various systems, or was colonization a U.N. free-for-all?

-Do the various systems have separate currencies, or are they all part of a stellar E.U. arrangement?

-Do we all collaborate to design our captain or do we submit our ideas individually?

No, no gene modification shenanigans. I'm not a fan of biomechanical stuff, I'm mostly fine with implants and prosthetics though since there's a good amount of evidence today that they'd work. When it comes to inter-system travel the crew could just sit on their butts for 1-20 years to get wherever they need to go, but they have stasis (probably cryo or something) for that kind of thing. We took relativity into account so most of your adventuring is going to be happening in one system, that way trips will last only a few months at the worst and we don't have to worry too much about time dilation. I'm totally fine with you guys going wherever you feel like but if you need to jump system I'd have to take some time to plan for that in advance. Just don't get in trouble with the space navy and you'll be fine.

Gig is working on some detailed information about the colonies, but my impression is that each colony is in it's own respective system. More on that later.

My answer is slightly roundabout but bear with me: after the Screenshock genocide Mars took measures to ensure the security of the human race, one of them was pushing out the sleepers. At the time everyone was losing their shit over the 10 billion people who just died in the space of a day so the public was really behind the idea. The only problem was that people were far enough away from the danger that they were falling over each other to be put to sleep on a space ship for 100 years, so they encouraged civilians by offering the inhabitants of the sleepers independence. Whatever worlds they claimed they would govern, this was a pretty awesome and clever idea considering that FTL communications are not a thing. News only moves as fast as the Lightpushers; inter-system administration would be impossible. So Mars government put in a few clauses naming their world the seat of Humanity but otherwise just shot millions of people into space and ordered them to do whatever the hell they want.

Everyone uses spacebucks, everyone speaks English at least. There were standards put in place as part of the agreement to the Confederacy. The politics vary but the structure is the same wherever you go. Every colony has a space police and all the citizens get to vote.

All these chars are PCs. You can submit a sheet either for the Captain position or as a member of the crew. I pick my favorite submission for the Captain, then he gets to cherrypick from the crew submissions to form his team. You're absolutely allowed to make changes and tie your bios together, work on interconnected backstories in the thread and the like.

EDIT: I didn't answer your ethnicity question did I? Mars was a UN mission and the sleepers came from there so the colonies are going to be a healthy spectrum of races, though inevitably some places have a dominant ethnicity (Rule Britannia! Long live the God-Queen!).

[GiglameshDespair]

Right, time for me to come in there.

For Lightpushers, the crew only is in cryo once they've done accelerating and haven't started to decelerate. The fact that Lightpushers feel the flow of time much less than other people as a result of cryo and relativity time dilation means they often feel very isolated from the worlds they travel to. Lightpusher crew are often for life.

There is a general currency, and lightpushers carry data on the economies of other colonies to help collate it. There aren't Planet of Hats - each colony has a mix of different cultures. Combined with their relative isolation from each other, they're also developing their more individual cultures rather than being mere exports of Chinese or American culture, etc.

I need to talk to Gunin a little more on distances between colonies.

[Draignean]

Alright, here we are.

Spoiler: Captain Robert Raker, AKA "Blackjack Bob" (click to show/hide)

Name: Raker, Robert
Role: Once Honored Captain
Personality: Bright of eye and quick to laugh, it's a rare situation that can sober Captain Raker's attitude. With friends or close contacts, he prefers the nickname "Blackjack", or "Blackjack Bob" to his title or real name. A career gambler, Captain Raker navigates life through heuristics and gut decisions, trusting his intuition to put him on the right side of the table when the dice fall. There is method to his recklessness, and he's not afraid to break the rules of the game in order to win, but Raker's lifestyle has cost him as much as it has gained. Perhaps more.
Biography: With a strong beard, gambler's grin, prosthetic leg, and a distinct limp, Blackjack is a singularly odd looking man. Once, he was a lieutenant on a military peacekeeper. Once. Those days are years in the past, before Blackjack was dishonorably discharged for striking a warrant officer and consequently spent more than a year of his life in a martian prison cell. Now he's just a second-class citizen, with the specter of his past kept right beside him by the two pieces of silicon embedded in his head. One is a standard skull-drilled ID chip, constantly declaring Blackjack a dishonorable criminal to any who cares to look. The other is an old military VRO interlocked with a math implant buried in his occipital lobe, still overlaying firing solutions onto Blackjack's vision- though no civilized law would allow him to carry a weapon. Despite this, his good humor was and is undamaged, even if it can run a little black these days. It took a long time, and few old contacts in the corps, to get the TMV Wilhelmina recommissioned and signed into Blackjack's name, but now he's a Captain. An ex-con and an ex-naval officer, Captain Raker occasionally struggles for legitimate work, but his willingness to gamble on odd jobs, and the help of a few remaining contacts, has kept the Wilhelmina in business so far.

Blackjack doesn't talk about his past much. When asked about his reason for striking a warrant officer, he'll shrug, raise the bet, and say "Sometimes you just need to break a man's jaw", with the kind of smile that has made many a man fold. The crew Blackjack hires on tend to be, politely, misfits. Less politely, they're a collection of ex and not-so-ex-criminals and pariahs. [Section For Crew Inserts When Hiring] They're mostly people like Blackjack himself, damaged goods to most of society because of the things they've done, but still some of the best at their respective trades. Blackjack doesn't throw his trust out freely, but he's always willing to give someone a chance to make good. That's honestly all Blackjack wants for himself- the chance to make good on life's gamble.

[~Neri]

Alright, here we are.

Spoiler: Captain Robert Raker, AKA "Blackjack Bob" (click to show/hide)

Name: Raker, Robert
Role: Once Honored Captain
Personality: Bright of eye and quick to laugh, it's a rare situation that can sober Captain Raker's attitude. With friends or close contacts, he prefers the nickname "Blackjack", or "Blackjack Bob" to his title or real name. A career gambler, Captain Raker navigates life through heuristics and gut decisions, trusting his intuition to put him on the right side of the table when the dice fall. There is method to his recklessness, and he's not afraid to break the rules of the game in order to win, but Raker's lifestyle has cost him as much as it has gained. Perhaps more.
Biography: With a strong beard, gambler's grin, prosthetic leg, and a distinct limp, Blackjack is a singularly odd looking man. Once, he was a lieutenant on a military peacekeeper. Once. Those days are years in the past, before Blackjack was dishonorably discharged for striking a warrant officer and consequently spent more than a year of his life in a martian prison cell. Now he's just a second-class citizen, with the specter of his past kept right beside him by the two pieces of silicon embedded in his skull. One is a standard ID chip, constantly declaring Blackjack a dishonorable criminal to any who cares to look. The other is an old military VRO interlocked with a math implant, still overlaying firing solutions onto Blackjack's vision- though no civilized law would allow him to carry a weapon. Despite this, his good humor was and is undamaged, even if it can run a little black at times. It took a long time, and few old contacts in corps, to get the TMV Wilhelmina recommissioned and signed into his name, but now he's a Captain. An ex-con and an ex-naval officer, Captain Raker occasionally struggles for legitimate work, but his willingness to gamble on odd jobs, and the help of a few remaining contacts, has kept the Wilhelmina in business so far.

Blackjack doesn't talk about his past much. When asked about his reason for striking a warrant officer, he'll shrug, raise the bet, and say "Sometimes you just need to break man's jaw", with the kind of smile that has made many a man fold. The crew Blackjack hires on tend to be, politely, misfits. Less politely, they're a collection of ex and not-so-ex-criminals and pariahs. [Section For Crew Inserts When Hiring] They're mostly people like Blackjack himself, damaged goods to most of society because of the things they've done, but still some of the best at their respective trades. Blackjack doesn't throw his trust out freely, but he's always willing to give someone a chance to make good. That's honestly all Blackjack wants for himself- the chance to make good on life's gamble.

This would fit very well with a couple of the ideas I have in mind for roboticist. I like.

[GiglameshDespair]

Alright, here we are.

Spoiler: Captain Robert Raker, AKA "Blackjack Bob" (click to show/hide)

Name: Raker, Robert
Role: Once Honored Captain
Personality: Bright of eye and quick to laugh, it's a rare situation that can sober Captain Raker's attitude. With friends or close contacts, he prefers the nickname "Blackjack", or "Blackjack Bob" to his title or real name. A career gambler, Captain Raker navigates life through heuristics and gut decisions, trusting his intuition to put him on the right side of the table when the dice fall. There is method to his recklessness, and he's not afraid to break the rules of the game in order to win, but Raker's lifestyle has cost him as much as it has gained. Perhaps more.
Biography: With a strong beard, gambler's grin, prosthetic leg, and a distinct limp, Blackjack is a singularly odd looking man. Once, he was a lieutenant on a military peacekeeper. Once. Those days are years in the past, before Blackjack was dishonorably discharged for striking a warrant officer and consequently spent more than a year of his life in a martian prison cell. Now he's just a second-class citizen, with the specter of his past kept right beside him by the two pieces of silicon embedded in his skull. One is a standard ID chip, constantly declaring Blackjack a dishonorable criminal to any who cares to look. The other is an old military VRO interlocked with a math implant, still overlaying firing solutions onto Blackjack's vision- though no civilized law would allow him to carry a weapon. Despite this, his good humor was and is undamaged, even if it can run a little black at times. It took a long time, and few old contacts in corps, to get the TMV Wilhelmina recommissioned and signed into his name, but now he's a Captain. An ex-con and an ex-naval officer, Captain Raker occasionally struggles for legitimate work, but his willingness to gamble on odd jobs, and the help of a few remaining contacts, has kept the Wilhelmina in business so far.

Blackjack doesn't talk about his past much. When asked about his reason for striking a warrant officer, he'll shrug, raise the bet, and say "Sometimes you just need to break man's jaw", with the kind of smile that has made many a man fold. The crew Blackjack hires on tend to be, politely, misfits. Less politely, they're a collection of ex and not-so-ex-criminals and pariahs. [Section For Crew Inserts When Hiring] They're mostly people like Blackjack himself, damaged goods to most of society because of the things they've done, but still some of the best at their respective trades. Blackjack doesn't throw his trust out freely, but he's always willing to give someone a chance to make good. That's honestly all Blackjack wants for himself- the chance to make good on life's gamble.

Nice.

[mastahcheese]

Nobody has been wanting the EVA specialist idea?

I'll get to making that, then...

[Parsely]

I like that hook at the end of Draig's sheet for his crewmen. Adwarf takes a hit for his char being a foreman of adult workers at 8 years old, that's pretty unbelievable. I'm liking both of them a lot right now though.

One thing Draig: only ID chips are drilled directly into the skull. Other implants like VRO and math aids would be cognitive implants, so those would be placed in the brain.

[Draignean]

I like that hook at the end of Draig's sheet for his crewmen. Adwarf takes a hit for his char being a foreman of adult workers at 8 years old, that's pretty unbelievable. I'm liking both of them a lot right now though.

One thing Draig: only ID chips are drilled directly into the skull. Other implants like VRO and math aids would be cognitive implants, so those would be placed in the brain.

Fixed.

[mastahcheese]

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Name: Jackson, Cromwell
Role: EVA Specialist
Personality: Although rather cynical most of the time, Cromwell tries to enjoy the small things in life, and just wants to live a happy life. Although this is made difficult by his lack of patience with people. He tries to be methodical, and prefers routine, and being able to be trusted to do his duties on his own.
Biography: Cromwell grew up in a middle-class family, and went to college in the hopes of becoming a great scientist, and discovering new methods of space travel. The reality found him doing maintenance on laser satellites for multiple years, causing him to spend more time in the void of space than on solid ground.
The pathetic wages that he earned wasn't enough for a person to reasonably live on, and he knew that that would never change, and wound up doing less-than-reputable things in order to make it through life, from selling information that passed through the satellites, to stealing and selling the spare equipment aboard them.
He ended up getting caught, and his position terminated, and his name blacklisted. Unable to get an honest job anymore, he turned to whoever would still give him a chance. Surely, someone would have a use for a guy who's used to living in the middle of desolation.

Dis good?

[Shadestyle]

Spoiler: Redshirtsheet (click to show/hide)

Name: [Ramreys], [Kurtus]
Role:  [Janitor, Commodity Maintenance.]
Personality: [Old Kurt Tries to live an easygoing life, happy with what he gets, and ok with what he doesn't, Quick with a Inappropriate comment, but mostly keeps to himself.]
Biography: [Kurt was looking for a bit of excitement, job security, and the good old cashola. So when an offer came up to join a crew of intrepid explorers, He jumped at the opportunity. He just wants enough money under his savings to retire easy as he gets on in years. His skill with any tech short of essential makes him perfect for keeping the crew's TV's, Radio's, Air cleaners and Floors, Happy and healthy.]