Endless Sea (Alaki Nuva)

The Inika were absolutely wild for me as a kid. No gears, no functions, just fantastic armor and articulation. G2 also repeatedly impressed me with how consistently good its first three waves were. (The last was something of a letdown...)

Name: Taylor Gull Species: Human Gender: Male Age: 53 Appearance: European descent. Graying brown hair cut short for easy maintenance. Gray eyes with a constant thousand-yard stare. Scarring from decades-old blast wounds and surgery across left side of face/torso. 173 cm tall. Relatively small frame for an adult male. Rank: Gunnery Sergeant Personality: Though brash and impulsive in his youth, decades of military service and a brief experience with the brutality of ODST training have mellowed Taylor out into a quiet, contemplative, and respectful soldier. Something of his early stubbornness remains, however; hit him with a sufficiently traumatic experience, and he’ll throw every fiber of his being into making sure it never happens to him again. He has a fondness for both mental stimulation and working with his hands, and he can sometimes be found fiddling with model kits or writing down joking observations when other people are talking. Rather atypically, Taylor has no hard feelings about having been RTU in the past; on the contrary, he’s quite insecure about his second chance at becoming an ODST, being fully aware that he was only reaccepted for training due to humanity’s dire need for elite soldiers in the wake of the Battle of Reach. He feels uneasy around fellow ODSTs, worrying that on some level he doesn’t truly qualify by their standards, and is uncomfortable with taking a command position even over a single fireteam despite his rank and seniority. As Spartan-IVs are both commonly former ODSTs and, y’know, Spartans, he feels even more uncomfortable around them in particular. His attitude towards allied ex-Covenant soldiers isn’t much better, what with his having spent over half his life fighting their peoples. Background: Eager to defend his home against THE ALIEN MENACE, Taylor signed up for the UNSC Marine Corps the year the Human-Covenant War broke out. Exemplary service during his first few years enabled him to qualify for ODST training, but an accident in physical training (involving two particularly clumsy fellow recruits and a frag grenade) resulted in a two-year removal from active duty and a sharp lesson in humility. Over the course of the next two decades or so, he stayed with his old crew, slowly working his way up to becoming a platoon sergeant and explosives specialist in the 12th Marine Regiment. Reach was not kind to Taylor. Out of his entire platoon, only he and six other marines made it out alive, barely finding their way off-planet before it was completely overrun. Haunted by the experience, Taylor volunteered a second time to become an Orbital Drop Shock Trooper; due to the staggering losses humanity had sustained at Reach, he was accepted. When the Fleet of Sacred Consecration invaded the Sol system, he was briefly returned to frontline service long before his training was completed to temporarily replenish the depleted ranks of the 103rd Shock Troops Battalion. The only major combat he saw before the war’s end was at the Battle of Voi, where his fireteam briefly operated in concert with an Sangheili spec-ops team, much to his consternation. After finally finishing ODST training in 2553, he would return to the 103rd to join for real. Equipment: ODST/UA PPE close-quarters combat dress, standard-issue combat knife, M6D magnum (saved his on Reach, and he’s kept it ever since), M45D shotgun, M363 sticky detonator, Type-1 plasma grenade (kept from the Battle of Reach; it’s being saved for a rainy day) any two of following: TR/9 antipersonnel mines, Type 14 magnetic/anti-tank mines, M168 demolition charge, satchel charges, thermite-carbon cords Skills: Specialized in close-quarters battle and explosives use; decent marksman; very minor experience with Series-8 jetpack Flaws: Taylor’s getting on in years; his bones are starting to creak, and his hearing isn’t what it used to be after decades of explosions going off next to him. Taking a grenade to the face in his youth didn’t do his body many favors either. He’s not exactly a cripple, but next to a bunch of Spartan-IV supersoldiers and a fully-kitted Elite, he comes up short every time. He’s also unwilling to act on his own initiative when on a team with anyone more elite than your average Marine due to his insecurities (unless explicitly told to start making his own friggin’ decisions, seriously, are you twelve or something), and being frequently reminded of those securities can get him distracted by his own perceived inadequacy, even in a combat scenario.

Ha! Well, the arc's in wrap-up, at the very least. Incidentally, I did some catching-up in the discussion thread, and noticed there's a Discord! Assuming it's open to all players, any chance someone can throw me a link?

After years of absence I decide to pop in on a whim, and from the looks of things the RP is finally winding up. Never thought I'd see the day. =P Come to think of it, I've still got two different character intro posts in various degrees of construction... I'm almost tempted to write them up anyways. Beginnings can be endings too. It'll be weird writing Joskander again, six years after I made him as a test character... I wonder if the guys he fought alongside are still around?

I sent a PM to the Glorious Puffin Empress a couple weeks back about my failed attempt at the 2017 exchange and I still haven't gotten word back... =(

Ah, there was an exchange this year as well! It never showed up in the news, and it never occurred to me until now to just go and look in the Short Stories section again.

...I swear I've seen something that looks a lot like that before, but I can't place where. Ah, well. It's cute, and that's what counts.

Huh. For some reason I'm reminded of the Vex from Destiny. Can't just be the monoeye, right?

Stylish. Love the scarf and how smooth the legs are.

Its torso is a face wearing lipstick and I cannot unsee that. >_>

Is that a wing membrane being used as a fleshy covering for the upper torso? Dang, that's pretty clever.

That face creeps me the heck out.

That's a lotta chunk. I like that. Also, tuuuuuuuuuuubes

Takanuva's looking a bit bare-bones there, but I like Dume.

Love that oldschool Technic feel.

That's a super distinctive style you've got there. I dig it.

Pictures are kinda small, but I can make out a really nice mechanical look you've got going on there. The keetorange in back kinda clashes, though.

The abdomen's a bit long and the top of the head's kinda blocky, but the overall aesthetic's pretty solid. I really like the eyes.

The concept is really inspired and the size impresses me, but the legs just don't look right to me.

I actually miss the old black-orange-silver-red color scheme, now that I think of it.

Pictures are too blurry for me to really get a good feel for the li'l guy, but that's some really nice usage of classic Tarakava teal.

d'awww

Half an hour left and I'm still low on ideas. Looks like I'm passing this one up after all. Good luck to everyone who entered!

Always been rather fond of the stick figure look.

What time on the 25th does the entry period end?