Discussion: FTL

[Visaru]

and another dude I'm talking with in PM.

I am that dude. *raises arms to receive praise*

 

So anyway here is the character I want to play:

 

Name: Zoss

Gender: Let's identify him with masculine pronouns, but scientifically he really couldn't be identified as either gender.

Age: Unknown, but biologically he is in the prime of his life

Species: Slug

Profession: Psychic Consultant

Skills: Excellent at telepathic communication and the slug ability of locating others' minds, and he also possesses their talent of limited mind reading.

Items: Portable holo-viewer, some rations.

Appearance: Like all slugs, he resembles an enormous terran slug. He possesses no eyes, only pale constantly waving stalks and two long appendages that hang from the front of his body, near his mouth, which he uses as arms. He is pale, with white and blue markings.

Personality: He is alienated from the humans he grew up with and his fellow slugs who he never lived with, although is obviously quite knowledgable and adept when it comes to dealing with human culture and their mannerisms. He possesses little positive feeling for his fellow sapients, remaining very self centered and prone to lashing out with criticism. Zoss feels very good when he can make others laugh, especially at people other than him, so he often employs humor to do so - it's a symptom of his desire to feel inclusion and love after a lifetime without it.

Biography: Humans found his egg (they claim it was abandoned, but Zoss has his doubts) and brought it back to their colony to raise as a useful telepath. Zoss was bred to make the most of his slug abilities, sharpening them to a razor sharp edge at the expense of learning to live with other people; although he has lived with humans all his life, they never truly accepted him due to his alien appearance and intrusive telepathic abilities, and this has had a profound affect on him.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Visaru

[Takuma Nuva]

Hm, I do believe Francis will take the hiring of such a "parallel" personally...

Takuma Nuva

[Alex Humva]

I say ok to the slug, awaiting some stuff on the Zoltans.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Strategist Alex Humva

[Visaru]

huzzah get to that place where he gets picked up soon guys

[Alex Humva]

So both Zoltans are a go, on the principal that they don't eat and they don't really sleep either so won't take up too many crew resources. We'll pick the lot of you up at the next station; this should include our Engi, our pirate, both of our Zoltans, and a slug. Also I am assuming that, for the sake of simplicity, all of these characters have Federation charters; the Engi is a bonified member of the Federation military, the pirate is a Federation privateer, the Zoltan ambassador is, well, an ambassador, the Zoltan adventurer probably bought himself aboard the ship, and the Slug is carrying a Federation charter from his days living amongst the humans, probably commissioned to the ship to help with the psionic stuff.

 

Because, well, at this point, actually hiring people to be part of the crew makes no sense. Our crew is pretty large as it is. And also, with the new characters, this brings the population up to 28. While I'm not going to ban secondary characters, please be considerate when thinking about making another one. Every new person aboard this ship makes it more difficult for a newcomer, who's just trying to make a new profile, and we have plenty of folks not within the immediate circle that started discussing the game, newcomers are surprisingly common. So, yeah, just be considerate from now on with the secondary characters.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Strategist Alex Humva

[Burnmad]

our pirate

 

Not pirate, privateer. =P

 

-

[Shadowhawk]

So... the Kestrel and crew are at the 'next station' now, right? Should I activate my character, or wait a bit, or what? Is there any IC knowledge in particular said character ought to know before I begin? Does the Kestrel's cap'n already know she'll be picking up these new crew members? What do I do to get things rolling on my part? Maybe I shouldn't even be posting this in the discussion topic; maybe this is more suited for a PM?

 

In other words, throw me a line, me hearties! I'm a-sinkin'!

[Alex Humva]

There was kinda a post that talked about this =P

 

You and, presumably, the others, are currently sitting in a bar on the station. The Colonel has been informed of your presence and will meet up with you folks soon. Feel free to post about your wait.

[Krayzikk]

Here's what's up folks;

 

The station has five floors. Most of the Kestrel crew are still in the upper two, if not the very top. Kestrel is docked up top. Fifty Mantis warped into the middle floor, and that floor is basically already doomed. Half of them are going up and the other is going down. Five fighters are attacking the outside, starting by sending a missile or two towards the hangars.

 

Now, I know some of you had engineers working on the ship; They're not dead. They're far enough away from the blasts. Wouldn't he nice to kill you outright, would it?

 

No godmodding, and for the most part, I'll be handling the NPCs. That said, you can use some of them a little, so long as you treat them with the gravity they deserve.

[Takuma Nuva]

Right, so, I had originally been under the impression we were all on one floor. Might I get an idea of how the situation is spread out so that I can be sure I didn't throw an oil slick down where fellow crew were about to come upstairs?

Takuma Nuva

[Alex Humva]

Kestrel's parked on deck five in the hanger, so yeah, probably made getting up a whee bit difficult.

[Takuma Nuva]

Is the hangar the only thing on deck five? Where approximately would the supermarket I just left be located 4 or 5?

Takuma Nuva

[Snelly]

I can see it now, pilots killed due to oil slick.

[Krayzikk]

There are basically five floors, with hangars on the very top and bottom. Kestrel's up top. The Mantis warped in on the middle floor, and the majority of the Kestrel crew are a floor above that, or in the hangar itself.

[Takuma Nuva]

Well if that's the case and I'm on level 4 same as you guys, I did state I threw at at the stairs the mantis were going to be coming up, so I wouldn't have cut anyone off at that point.

Takuma Nuva

[Krayzikk]

Yep, all works out pretty cleanly.

[Alex Humva]

 

This is sort of what the station looks like.

[avmatoran]

I want to join this.

 

Name: Errogaven

Gender: Male

Age: 35

Race: Rockman

Profession: Soldier

Skills: Attacking. Whether it is as part of boarding, as defense aboard the Kestral, or as an EVAC soldier. He is also rather skilled at engineering, moreso than expected from a hunk of living rock

Items: EVAC Helmet: it is a helmet specially fitted for a Rockman head. It has an oxygen tank attached to it, worn on the back. Due to the fact that rock is not abnormally affected by exposure to space, the EVAC helmet does not have a suit for Errogavern as well. He also has a weapon that fires regenerating shards of blue crystal. It looks like an automatic rifle, with at least 50% of the surface covered in the same type of crystal it fires. When asked about its origins and technology, Errogaven

Appearance: Errogaven appears like a typical Rockman, except for the fact that he is matte black, almost like obsidian that is not shiny.

Biography: Errogavern has always enjoyed being out in space, a preference not shared by most Rockmen, causing him to be ostracized by most Rock society. Eventually, he found his way out of Rock space, to where his talents can be appreciated.

[shadow pridak money gang]

Alright, I'm just gonna dive right in.

 

Skill: attacking? First thing that I have to point out that defending aboard the Kestrel is not attacking, it is actually what's commonly known as defending. Second, we're going to need something a bit more specific than that. It'd be one thing if you'd said 'cooking' or 'cleaning' because hey, any lout can vacuum or whip up some eggs benedict, even in space. Attacking is something different - you can't just be good at attacking everything, because that's what's called godmodding and you need to have some sort of thing that you're not good at. Second, how is he good at engineering? Is it just one of those things he did in his room while toying with model blockade runners because the Rockmen hate spaceships? Seriously, something actually tangible that can't be interpreted a billion different ways would be good here. It just opens up the door to potential godmodding if the Colonel could drop him anywhere and we have ourselves a victory.

 

It would also appear that your Items section has become Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense - hovering somewhere between life and death, with half of it totally missing and the other half very hard to take seriously. Normally I wouldn't be a prude about this, if it weren't for the fact that you're specifically not allowed to be a Crystal or meet up with a Crystal without it being an explicit staff reward beforehand. To build on that, you don't even list the origins of the technology or how he required it. It's probably just a copy/paste or oversight error but not only should you not have the gun without a pretty decent explanation (beyond Humva's approval; we've talked about this and he agrees with me on this) for its possession OOC, you really shouldn't have it IC either. For whatever reason.

 

If your Items section is Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense, though, then your biography must be the thimble-sized race from Gulliver's Travels. There's a lot of holes here that need to be filled up before I'm comfortable with accepting this dude is even a thing that exists, and the biography section corks exactly zero of them. How long ago did he find his way out of Rock space? How long has he had to meet up with the Crystals and hone his repertoire of attack? What is going to bring him to the Kestrel? I know some of this should play out IC of course, but the point of a profile is to clear a lot of this stuff up beforehand, and nothing's cleared up here.

 

-Tyler

[Alex Humva]

Also I feel it worth pointing out that the Rockmen have no real adverse reaction to space, they're pretty cool with it, loads of Rockmen exodus fleets still out there in the stars even, with Rockmen who've never stepped foot on a planet.

[Wyrd Bid Ful Araed]

 

Zokander knew it would soon get used to its new status as a tripod and would be back up and fighting...

 

OOC: That would be pentapod. =P

 

Or quintapod, if you prefer Latin prefixes to Greek ones. =P

Ah, but unless I've misunderstood how mantis stand, they walk about on four legs and use the other two as arms. Lop off one leg and they've got three left.

Mind you, only two of an octopus' limbs technically count as 'legs' it doesn't become a bipus so there's clearly some linguistic leeway...

[avmatoran]

Thank you, Tyler, and Humva. I figured there would be lots of holes in the profile, given I only had five minutes to create it. I went ahead and posted it so other people could correct me on things that needed correcting. Also, I put the completely wrong age. It was supposed to be 53, not 35.

 

First off: the Crystal Rifle was intended to be an ancient family heirloom he uses. It was not intended to be given to him by a Crystal, one of his distant ancestors was a Crystal and passed down the Crystal Rifle through the family. So that's that explanation.

 

Secondly: for "attacking", I probably should have put combat. As to what kind, he is good at man-to-man combat, such as defense when the Kestrel is invaded, or attacking an enemy ship, whether it is by teleporting on board, or cutting through the hull. As for "engineering", I should have said "repairing". If you give him the parts, and tell him what is broken, and how it should be, he can fix it. That should clear up that section.

 

Third: Again, I cooked up the biography in about a minute and a half, and even I'm not satisfied with it, really. To answer your questions, though: he's been out of Rock-controlled space for about 18-20 years. He has never actually met a Crystal, as I stated above. The rifle is a family heirloom. As for being trained in combat and EVAC, he began his training somewhere around 37 years ago. So, he's had at least 30 years to get better. Bringing him to the Kestrel is... I was planning to have him just sorta floating through space on a boarding mission gone wrong, and have the Kestrel save him. He joins the crew, both from gratitude and the fact that there's nothing else to do.

 

Humva, when I was talking about the other Rockmen's reaction to space, I was actually referring to their reaction to his enjoyment and preference for being out in the cold vaccuum, without a spacesuit or ship or anything, as opposed to simply being on a ship.

 

Does that clear stuff up?

[Havelock Vetinari]

Suffering from a severe lack of inspiration at the moment, I should be able to get something up tomorrow.

[Krayzikk]

I know those days. No worries.

[avmatoran]

Name: Errogaven

Gender: Male

Age: 53

Race: Rockman

Profession: Soldier

Skills: He is skilled at personal combat, such as boarding an enemy ship or defending the ship he is on. He prefers to use his Crystal Rifle, though when it comes down to it, he is not adverse to clonking people on the head with his fist. He also can repair things quite well, as long as he understands how it should be. Once you tell him that, he'll do his best to get it working again. He is rather skilled at EVAC work as well.

Items: EVAC Helmet: it is a helmet specially fitted for a Rockman head. It has an oxygen tank attached to it, worn on the back. Due to the fact that rock is not abnormally affected by exposure to space, the EVAC helmet does not have a suit for Errogaven as well. He also has a weapon that fires regenerating shards of blue crystal. It looks like an automatic rifle, with at least 50% of the surface covered in the same type of crystal it fires. When asked about its origins and technology, Errogaven simply states that it is a family heirloom. It was handed down from a Crystal that was his distant ancestor. His third item is a personal cutting torch given to him as a graduation present from his parents. He uses it for cutting through enemy ships when he needs to.

Appearance: Errogaven appears like a typical Rockman, except for the fact that he is matte black, almost like obsidian that is not shiny.

Biography: Errogaven began attending a military academy on his homeworld at 16, specifically studying personal combat, boarding, and boarder defense. When he graduated at 23, he began working as a mercenary, defending ships or boarding enemy ships. His personal touch, so to speak, is cutting straight through the hull instead of teleporting on board. Due to his enjoyment of being out space without even a space suit, he was regarded as a weirdo by most Rock culture. Eventually, he left Rock space about 20 years ago to not have that stigma floating over his head. Plus, he gets more jobs that way.

This better?

[Geardirector]

So, I've been interested in joining this for a while, and I had a few things I wanted to clear up beforehand.

 

The Zoltan, as far as I can tell, are contained energy beings who are basically living power sources. Would it be plausible for a Zoltan to move around in a makeshit Iron Man armor? Not as powerful of course, but with the same principle.

[Alex Humva]

Assuming the suit was self-powering, in the sense that the motors are the things moving all that armor and not the Zoltan itself, the Zoltan is providing the energy, then yeah I could see that working. You'll need a good reason why, of course, but I would be interested in seeing how that goes.

Will respond to av later today.

 

Ok so Av, it's improved, certainly, though I feel like the bio could use some more meat. Other profiles have been approved with shorter bios but I think you should have a bit more story behind the rifle other than "my grandpappy three times removed gave it to me," something like that desires and indeed needs some sort of story behind it. Maybe he was part of an expedition to deep space and found a dying Crystal and looted his gun? Maybe that's how he got hooked up with the Federation, joined one of their deep space missions for a few years. Just make him more interesting of a dude and you should be good.

Edited April 10, 2014 by Strategist Alex Humva

[avmatoran]

To be clear: you are suggesting that Errogaven looted the rifle, instead of it being handed down in the family, right?

[Alex Humva]

Well I mean if you feel that isn't good for the character maybe the dying Crystal gave him the gun, species kinship and all that.

[Havelock Vetinari]

"Tank by itself is fearsome. Fast tank is even more fearsome. Fast tank flying through air and trailing dust, flame and entrails of slain enemy is like hand of god ripping swath through the advancing horde of enemies. They falls to their knees and weep for their sins and beg for forgiveness, and that is when you rip them apart with coaxial machine gun."

— Captain Dmitri Arkadeyevich Strelnikov

Edited April 10, 2014 by Basilisk

[Burnmad]

Tank beats everything.

 

Edit: By the way, Humva, Ojeda was just wishing for an anti-personnel drone, and I was actually considering making a drone engineer for my second character, earlier today. So, I might as well run it by you now: do you want drones on the Kestrel, or no?

 

-

Edited April 10, 2014 by Burnmad: Toa of Emoticons

[Alex Humva]

More offhand comment, and I'd prefer we avoid secondary characters without good reasons for the moment.

[avmatoran]

Name: Errogaven

Gender: Male

Age: 53

Race: Rockman

Profession: Soldier

Skills: He is skilled at personal combat, such as boarding an enemy ship or defending the ship he is on. He prefers to use his Crystal Rifle, though when it comes down to it, he is not adverse to clonking people on the head with his fist. He also can repair things quite well, as long as he understands how it should be. Once you tell him that, he'll do his best to get it working again. He is rather skilled at EVAC work as well.

Items: EVAC Helmet: it is a helmet specially fitted for a Rockman head. It has an oxygen tank attached to it, worn on the back. Due to the fact that rock is not abnormally affected by exposure to space, the EVAC helmet does not have a suit for Errogaven as well. He also has a weapon that fires regenerating shards of blue crystal. It looks like an automatic rifle, with at least 50% of the surface covered in the same type of crystal it fires. When asked about its origins and technology, Errogaven simply states that it is a family heirloom. It was handed down from a Crystal that was his distant ancestor. His third item is a personal cutting torch given to him as a graduation present from his parents. He uses it for cutting through enemy ships when he needs to.

Appearance: Errogaven appears like a typical Rockman, except for the fact that he is matte black, almost like obsidian that is not shiny.

Biography: Errogaven began attending a military academy on his homeworld at 16, specifically studying personal combat, boarding, and boarder defense. When he graduated at 23, he began working as a mercenary, defending ships or boarding enemy ships. His personal touch, so to speak, is cutting straight through the hull instead of teleporting on board. Due to his enjoyment of being out space without even a space suit, he was regarded as a weirdo by most Rock culture. Eventually, he left Rock space about 20 years ago to not have that stigma floating over his head. He joined the Federation after a year, specifically the deep-space division. When he heard about the Kestrel and its mission (because nothing is ever truly secret), he volunteered to join it. He began hopping Federation and non-Federation ships in an attempt to catch it at a station it was supposed to stop at, the Galaxy's End.

How about that? On that note, how should I get aboard the Kestrel itself? Should I just arrive at the station now, or have been on it the whole time and not realize the Kestrel was here yet?

[Alex Humva]

I don't think this station is too good a place to be, it's doubtful we'd actually be able to meet up with you at this point. You could show up next disaster, though.

[avmatoran]

Why must everyone not post in the RPG and delay my entry? Why, world? Why

[Krayzikk]

Why must everyone not post in the RPG and delay my entry? Why, world? Why

I wonder why everyone is embroiled in this massive conspiracy to not post, delay the RPG, and thus drive you to complain in the discussion topic, passive aggressively, even though it won't have any effect.

 

In all seriousness, it's April. Easter just happened, for one thing. For another, April is often when schools start kicking into exam mode. People may just not have had much time.

[avmatoran]

I'm telling you, they're out to get me!

 

In all seriousness, I'm trying to remain patient. I'm simply getting bored of the internet (which is a very odd thing) and I'm looking forward to one thing that will relieve my boredom of it.

[Snelly]

I'm telling you, they're out to get me!

 

In all seriousness, I'm trying to remain patient. I'm simply getting bored of the internet (which is a very odd thing) and I'm looking forward to one thing that will relieve my boredom of it.

 

My suggestion is...find more than one thing to relieve your boredom. It could be anything really, tv, video games, books, going outside....playing another rpg....

[avmatoran]

Yeah, I'm making do. I just am looking forward to actually playing this RPG.

[Some Random Phrase]

Are there any spots left?