Cthulhutech - The times have changed

[ChaoticSky]

*snip*
(Honestly I don't fuss about it, as long as I don't have to read things twice to figure them out...But since you asked!)

I think I am going to bump up Lizka's Marksmanship anyway. It's not like throwing one more point in to make her Adept is a commitment that would somehow make her melee-incapable, it's just that the default ranged weapon on the Echo has one of the longest ranges in the game for Tager weapons. The Vampire (which two people in this game have shown interest in, although I am betting Retrokinesis will go for the Voidspeaker) is a single-shot/turn, +2 Dmg weapon with range 150 and the Echo has a 3-shot/turn +2 dmg weapon with range 200.

Thank goodness it's usable in the air, unlike sonar. >_>

Hizzah, thanks ^^

Also your a Echo, you should be chewing on people, not shooting them, thats half the fun!  ;D

[CarnivalOfTheGoat]

Also your a Echo, you should be chewing on people, not shooting them, thats half the fun!  ;D

I so totally agree. That limit attack doesn't work very well at 200m range. But it's nice to have someone who can keep an opponent pinned down at range while other people move up to surround/flank them sometimes.

Updated table:

CarnivalOfTheGoat	Echo
Darkling	Efreet
Jaded	Vampire/Spectre
Mnemaxa	Nightmare (Agility/CC)
Muse	Shadow
Retro	Voidspeaker/Vampire

[Mnemaxa]

First draft.  Well, 4th draft, technically speaking. 

Soliquy

  CONCEPT

Player: Mnemaxa               
Name: Soliquy                 Callsign: Pandora
Race: Nazzadi                 Allegiance: Eldritch Society (NEG)
Virtue: Imaginative           Flaw: Cruel

  PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Gender: Female                Age: 19
Height: 1.72 m (5' 8")        Weight: 67 kg (148 lbs)
Hair: Black                   Eyes: Red
Coloring: Ebony, with white tattoos; often uses metallic reds and golds for makeup.
Dist. Features: Short, wild hair; 'autopsy' scar
Birthday: November 23, 2068
Place of Birth:  Philadelphia Arcology

BIO

Soliquy was born into the Eldritch Society.

This is not a particularly unusual situation, since a murder of Tagers tend to form relationships within themselves or with other Tagers almost exclusively.  While pregnant Soliquy's mother took on less dangerous missions, but continued to work hard and tirelessly furthering the still nascent goals of the Eldritch Society.  When she was born, after a too short time Soliquy's mother and father allowed her to be raised by foster parents within the Society itself, allowing them to remain a presence in their daughter's life while giving her a semblance of normalcy as she grew older.  While the number of Nazzadi within the Society started somewhat low, over time the Society and its adherents grew larger in number.  Childhood within the Society was somewhat different than the rest of the world, but it was not the Eldritch Society which changed Soliquy's life.

During one of the rare convergences of astronomical phenomena that inevitably brought cult - especially that of the Children of Chaos - to a boil, the Philadelphia branch of the Eldritch Society was directly assaulted while most of the Tagers and more than a few support teams were attempting to keep the arcology intact and relatively safe.  The disaster was discovered quickly, but the damage was done - much of the Society was in shambles, and a large number of the members had been taken away.  Heroic efforts on the parts of the Tagers that could be spared and rank and file members of the Society, which included librarians, scholars, researchers, and other people not normally expected to enter real combat, allowed the Society to mount a successful counter attack.  A number of potential sacrificial victims were saved, and while the Society in Philadelphia was in tatters and ruins, the Children of Chaos were far worse for wear.  Unfortunately, young Soliquy was among the rescued victims; the scars she bears were not inflicted by cultists, but by the non-magical efforts necessary to save her life after taking several bullets during the firefight. 

The resulting damage to Soliquy's psyche is fairly obvious to anyone who looks past the haunted, quiet beauty she has grown into.  Every effort has been put into strengthening her body and mind, her skills are almost entirely focused on those necessary to combat the growing evil nestled within the NEG, and to this day she is haunted by the things she saw and experienced in that three day long sojourn into hell.  She seems convinced there are forces near her that she cannot entirely see or defend herself against, and her joining with the Ta'ge symbiont has not lessened that conviction.  Strangeness and weird happenings seem to follow her; and though the working of the symbiont upon her personality has actually helped her seem and act (perhaps even be) more human her head-space seems filled with things that she rarely shares.

Her unusual Nightmare symbiont makes her less of a ranged weapon combatant and more of a close combat specialist, which seems to suit the undertone of imminent violence she projects whenever actively on a mission.  Even when not on a mission, she has been known to stalk and hunt suspicious individuals and those whom seem to take an unhealthy interest in young men and women - though on occasion she seems to slip up and hunt young men or women whom would be targeted by unsavory types instead.  No one is actually sure if she's ever caught any of the people she stalks, but a great deal of the time, no one asks.  When unable to indulge this peculiar habit, she turns inward, and occasionally indulges in extremely intricate piercings or tattoos that she allows to heal over.

STATISTICS

  ATTRIBUTES
All 6 cheats went to increase her attributes.

Attributes  |  Rating  |  Feat Level
------------|----------|------------
Agility     |    7/11  |     3/5
Intellect   |    6     |     3
Perception  |    5/7   |     2/4
Presence    |    6     |     3
Strength    |    7/10  |     3/5
Tenacity    |   11/13  |     5/6

  SECONDARY ATTRIBUTES

Actions:  1/3
Movement:  13 mph/32 ypt/8 ypt (19 mph/47 ypt/11 ypt)
Reflex: 6/8
Orgone: 13/14 (Effective 0)
Vitality: 14/16
Drama Points: 10
Damge Dice: +0/+2 Dice

  QUALITIES

Assets: Tager 2, Exceptional Tager 4, Alternate Tager (CC/Agility), High Pain Threshold 3, Alluring 1
Drawbacks:  Damaged 2, Duty (Eldritch Society) 3, Shadow Walker 3, Ineptitude (Savoir-fare) 2

  SPECIAL ABILITIES
+4 vrs Fear Tests when Transformed
Nightvision

SKILLS

 
SKILLS

Skill      |  Expertise  |  Attr. Base
-----------|-------------|------------
English    |   Novice    |   Inte
Nazzadi    |   Novice    |   Inte
Literacy   |   Novice    |   Inte
Reg. Know  |   Novice    |   Inte
Athletics  |   Adept     |   Spec
Fighting   |   Adept     |   Agil
Marksman   |   Adept     |   Agil
Armed Fight|   Novice    |   Agil
Survival   |   Novice    |   Tena
Medicine   |   Novice    |   Inte
Intimidate |   Student   |   Pres
Occult     |   Student   |   Inte
Dodge      |   Student   |   Agil
-----------|-------------|------------
Spec       |  Expertise  |  Skill
-----------|-------------|------------
Tager      |   Focused   |   Fighting
Tager      |   Focused   |   Marksman
           |             |
           |             |
           |             |
           |             |
           |             |
           |             |

NIGHTMARE

NIGHTMARE
Exceptional Heavy Weapon Tager
Requires the Tager, the Tager: Exceptional Qualities

Agility -/+4
Perception -/+2
Strength +2/+5
Tenacity +2/+4

Special:
Agility and Close Combat Variant

Melee:
Talons - (+2) – Vicious claws extend from the Nightmare's fingers.

Rend - (+4) – Taking two actions, the Nightmare can tear an opponent limb from limb with both sets of claws.

Ranged:
Depthless Strike - (+3) – Range 10/30/60, Shots 1, Infinite Rounds – This attack is a burst of energy that follows along flat planes.  It is capable of ignoring cover and going around corners.

Limit Weapon:
Mystic Blast -  (+10) – Range 30/75/200 – An eight foot tall, five foot wide swath of energy that damages everything in the path in a straight line.  It is the only action that can be used in a round and takes up all actions.

Armor: 2 / 2
Regeneration: 1 per Hour / 1 Die per Turn
Fear Factor: 16
Senses: Nightvision, Scan.
Movement: Climbing (38 mph/94 ypt/22 ypt), Jumping (Double), Land (19 mph/47 ypt/11 ypt)

TORMENT

Required Behaviors by Trait

Cold Temper
Menacing
Murderous
Nightmare
Symbiosis

Statistical Requirements:
Must have an Tenacity score of 8, unshifted
Must have an Strength score of 7, unshifted
Must have an Presence score of 7, unshifted
Must have at least an Expert level of expertise in Marksman
Must have at least an Expert level of expertise in Fighting
Must have at least an Adept level of expertise in Athletics
Must have at least an Adept level of expertise in Intimidation
Must be at least focused in the Menace Specialization
Must have at least a Novice level of expertise in Survival
Must be at least Focused in the Tracking specialization

Metamorphosis:

  INSANITY

Points: 1
Disorders:

  EXPERIENCE

Total:
Spent:
Log:

  POSSESSIONS
PCPU; Wireless Com Unit; Digital Vid Recorder; Standard Clothing, 3 sets; ;Medkit w/Bioscanner; One Fashionable Outfit; Knapsack
  ARMOUR
Sentrytech Mk V armor w/trauma plates +1/+1
  WEAPONS
Composite Combat Knife   +1 die
  WOUNDS

[Jaded]

I'm not actually sure what to make now.  I was thinking a perception/ranged Vampire, but I had the idea for a Stage Performer Mirage.  Hmm.  I may make both and see which I prefer (or wait to hear if Retro wants the Vampire role). 

[CarnivalOfTheGoat]

I'm not actually sure what to make now.  I was thinking a perception/ranged Vampire, but I had the idea for a Stage Performer Mirage.  Hmm.  I may make both and see which I prefer (or wait to hear if Retro wants the Vampire role).

Retro has confirmed on Voidspeaker (which has some pretty scary perception bonuses, +6 if I remember right), so if you want to go Vampire or Mirage, either is open to you.

[CarnivalOfTheGoat]

Updated table:

CarnivalOfTheGoat	Echo (Agility/CC)
Darkling	Efreet
Jaded	Vampire/Spectre
Mnemaxa	Nightmare (Agility/CC)
Muse	Shadow
Retro	Voidspeaker

[Jaded]

Hrm.  I made a Vampire, only to glance at the Voidspeaker and realize it is better in pretty much every way except maybe stealth and armour.   ???  Unless I am misreading.  Higher relevant stats, higher damage, same ability to fly, better range, more senses.

[CarnivalOfTheGoat]

Hrm.  I made a Vampire, only to glance at the Voidspeaker and realize it is better in pretty much every way except maybe stealth and armour.   ???  Unless I am misreading.  Higher relevant stats, higher damage, same ability to fly, better range, more senses.

Yeah, they're pretty crazy. I know that Retro is signed up for one.

Merashin, are duplicate tagers okay?

[Jaded]

Eh, I don't want to play one.  I'm just not overly impressed by the homebrew tager :P  Will have to see if I can come up with something unique/more useful to the party.

Eh, screw it.  Semi-finished sheet below.  The background thought I have is that she was (prior to joining the society) a UCH-70 Werewolf pilot.  I wouldn't be opposed to starting with one.   ;D  Well, maybe not. ;)  She is a standard Vampire except I took the increased armour 3/3 and lowered regen 1/3.

I wouldn't mind adding some equipment (silenced weapon, blacksuit, etc) but for the basics I just gave her a pistol, AR goggles, and some close combat weapons (even though she won't be in close combat generally, I figured it would link in with the Vampire's sadistic tendencies).

3 Cheats went to Tenacity I believe, 3 to Skills. 

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

  CONCEPT

Player: Jaded
Name: Elizabeth Balery Callsign: Bloodwing
Race: Human            Allegiance: Eldritch Society
Virtue: Self-Confident Flaw: Vengeful
Tager: Vampire

  PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Gender: Female         Age: 25
Height: 5'8"           Weight:
Hair:                  Eyes:
Coloring:
Dist. Features:
Birthday: April 6
Place of Birth: New York

  ATTRIBUTES

Attributes  |  Rating  |  Feat Level
------------|----------|------------
Agility     |  10/13   |    5/6
Intellect   |   5/5    |    2/2
Perception  |   8/11   |    4/5
Presence    |   4/4    |    2/2
Strength    |   4/6    |    2/3
Tenacity    |  10/13   |    5/6

  SECONDARY ATTRIBUTES

Actions: 3
Movement: 15 mph (37/9) or 19 mph (47/11)
Reflex: 8/10
Orgone: 12/14 (Access None)
Vitality: 12/14
Drama Points: 10

  SKILLS

Skill      |  Expertise  |  Attr. Base
-----------|-------------|------------
Athletics  |  1-Student  |  Special
Communicati|  1-Student  |  Intellect
Computer   |  1-Student  |  Intellect
Education  |  1-Student  |  Intellect
Medicine   |  1-Student  |  Intellect
Munitions  |  1-Student  |  Intellect
Observation|  2-Novice   |  Perception
Occult     |  1-Student  |  Intelligence
Pilot      |  3-Adept    |  Agility
(Combat Hovercraft, Large A-Pod Transports, A-Pod Personal Hovercraft)
Stealth    |  3-Adept    |  Agility
Surveillanc|  1-Student  |  Intellect
Survival   |  1-Student  |  Tenacity
Technician |  1-Student  |  Intellect

Armed Fight|  1-Student  |  Agility
Dodge      |  3-Adept    |  Agility
Fighting   |  1-Student  |  Agility
Marksman   |  2-Novice   |  Perception
Support Wea|  1-Student  |  Perception
-----------|-------------|------------
Spec       |  Expertise  |  Skill
-----------|-------------|------------
           |             |
           |             |

  QUALITIES

Assets:
  Acute Sight (2)
  Fast (2)
  Internal Compass (1)
  Peripheral Vision (1)
  Tager (4)
  Tager: Exceptional (2)
Drawbacks:
  Duty (3)
  Fanatical (3)
  Habit, Moderate Addiction, Bliss (2)
  Skinny (2) or Exaggerated Symbiont (2) (depending on if Skinny would be -1 to Exsanguinating Touch)

  SPECIAL ABILITIES
Vampire Tager
  Size: 8-9 ft Tall
  Exsanguinating Touch (+2)
  Barbs (+3) 25/50/150, 1, Infinite
  Limit: Bloodbath (+6)
  Armour: 3/3
  Regeneration: 1/3
  Fear Factor: 16
  Senses: Broadband Audio, Nightvision, Scan, Thermal
  Movement: Climbing (Double), Flight (Double), Jumping (Double), Land (Normal)

  INSANITY

Points: 1
Disorders:

  EXPERIENCE

Total:
Spent:
Log:

  POSSESSIONS
Augmented Reality Goggles
Belt Holster

  SPELLS

  ARMOUR

  WEAPONS
CS-44 "Enforcer"
Composite Combat Knife
Machete
Steel Knuckles

  WOUNDS

[CarnivalOfTheGoat]

Updated table:

CarnivalOfTheGoat	Echo (Agility/CC)
Darkling	Efreet
Jaded	Vampire (Armored)
Mnemaxa	Nightmare (Agility/CC)
Muse	Shadow
Retro	Voidspeaker

And unless someone changes their mind, I think that's our team. :D

[Muse]

Oh god Muse, It's been so long since I've seen a My-Hime reference. Looking at Carn's post it appears that I am actually terrible at counting and there are 6 of you not 5. So, I guess the game's full up now. I'll post up the OOC thread soon, but, as I've said before, I'm away from all of my notes so I'll have to update the main post when I get home.

*laughs*  :)  You can have me as a player any time you want!  Mai Hime is priceless!

[CarnivalOfTheGoat]

All Cheats were spent on skill points. She's the most practical impractical little troublemaker ever.

I am swiping SEA-GREEN for her speech color.

Ylizaveta Petrovich Sheet

Concept, Characteristics and Attributes

  CONCEPT

Player:                Carnival of the Goat
Name: Ylizaveta        Callsign: Akula (Shark)
Race: Human            Allegiance: Eldritch Society
Virtue: Self-Confident Flaw: Rude

  PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Gender: Female         Age: 17
Height: 5'3            Weight: 125#
Hair: Bleached         Eyes: Blue-green
Coloring: Pale
Dist. Features: Mohawk, Russian prison tattoos
Birthday: January 19
Place of Birth: Archangelsk, Archangelsk Oblast, Russia

  ATTRIBUTES

Attributes  |  Rating  |  Feat Level
------------|----------|------------
Agility     |   9/12   |    4/6
Intellect   |    5     |     2
Perception  |   4/6    |    2/3
Presence    |    4     |     2
Strength    |   8/10   |    4/5
Tenacy      |   7/10   |    3/5

  SECONDARY ATTRIBUTES

Actions:        1/3
Movement:     19/23
Reflex:       11/12
Orgone:         3/4
Vitality:     13/15
Drama Points:    10

Skills and Qualities

  SKILLS

Skill       |  Expertise  |  Attr. Base
------------|-------------|------------
Appraisal   | Student (1) |  Perception
Athletics   |  Novice (2) |     ***
Criminal    |  Adept (3)  |   Agility
Demolitions |  Novice (2) | Intelligence
Dodge       |  Adept (3)  |   Agility
Fighting    |  Adept (3)  |   Agility
Lang.Russian|  Expert (4) | Intelligence
Lang.English|  Novice (2) | Intelligence
Lang.Nazzadi| Student (1) | Intelligence
Literacy    |  Novice (2) | Intelligence
Marksman    |  Novice (2) |  Perception
Misdirect   |  Novice (2) |   Presence
Observation |  Novice (2) |  Perception
Occult      | Student (1) | Intelligence
Pilot       | Student (1) |   Agility
Reg. Knowled|  Novice (2) | Intelligence
Security    |  Novice (2) | Intelligence
Stealth      |  Adept (3)  |   Agility
Streetwise  |  Adept (3)  | Intelligence
------------|-------------|------------
Spec        |  Expertise  |  Skill
------------|-------------|------------
Eldritch Society Ninjitsu - Specialized - Fighting
Black Market Contacts - Specialized - Streetwise

  QUALITIES

Assets:    Fast-2 (+1 Reflex, Movement Category +1)
           Natural Athlete-2 (+2 to Swimming)
           Tager-4 (Echo)
           Tager: Variant -1 (Agility Variant)
Drawbacks: Duty-3 (Eldritch Society)
           Exaggerated Symbiote-2 (Bitey and impulsive)
           Habit-2 (Alcohol)
           Ineptitude-2 (Computers - She's one of those people, her peek is constantly on the blink, and it is unwise to allow her near any high tech equipment you want to stay reliable. If she has to do lockpicking or sensor disarming work on heavily computerized systems (many of them are nowadays) she will need assistance from someone who is not cursed by the digital gods to be an avatar of static and power surges.)
           Misfit-1 (Red Punk)

  SPECIAL ABILITIES
Echo Tager (Variant) REGENERATES 1 vitality/hr in normal form
+4 vs. Fear Tests when Transformed

Echo Tager, Variant

  ECHO: Agility and Close-Combat Variant
Size: Medium (6' tall)
Attribute Modifications: Agility +1/+4, Perception -/+2, Strength +1/+2, Tenacity +1/+3
Armor: 2/2
Regeneration: 3 vitality/turn
Fear Factor: 12
Senses: Acute Sense of Smell & Taste, Nightvision, Scan, Sonar, Thermal
Movement & Speed: Climbing (Double), Jumping (Double), Land (Double), Swimming (Nine Times Normal)

  MELEE WEAPONS
Bite (+2+1) – The Tager’s mouth opens wide to bite down on foes and tear out chunks of flesh with its sharp teeth.
Claws (+2+1) – The Echo’s claws have developed into vicious weapons.
Electrified (+1) – Anything that physically strikes the Echo takes one die of damage, which can be reduced by armor. This also adds one extra die of damage to the Tager’s close quarters attacks. (This has already been added to the listing for Lizka's Bite and Claws so I don't forget it.)

  LIMIT WEAPON
Frenzy (Special) – Once an Echo has smelled fresh blood, it may Frenzy for the next one to ten turns (one die). The Tager’s speed is doubled for the duration and it may take up to three Actions each turn at no Multiple Action Penalty, but each of these Actions must be used to attack (or move into position to attack). The Tager’s Bite damage is increased to +4 for this duration as well. If underwater, the froth the Echo generates during its Frenzy partially obscures sight in a three-yard radius around it. The Tager may come out of its Frenzy at will, but while it Frenzies it must continue to attack.

Status - Experience, Insanity, Wounds

  EXPERIENCE

Total:
Spent:
Log:

  INSANITY
Points: 1
Disorders:

  WOUNDS

Gear - Possessions, Armor, Weapons

  POSSESSIONS
PCPU; Wireless Com Unit; Digital Vid Recorder; Ratty Clothing (various); Halogen Light; Old Overcoat; Various small B&E Tools and Lockpicks*; Swiss Army Knife

  ARMOR


  WEAPONS
IZHMAZH 585 RMU revolver* (shhhhhh, it's a CS-32 pretending to be a wheelgun with a 5-round cylinder) in a concealable holster and with a laser sight bolted beneath a barrel sawn-off so short that it's practically a belly-gun.


* Same stats as CS-32, just 5-round magazine. She keeps her spares in moon clips so it reloads just as quickly as reloading any semi-automatic. Any of you who are gun-nuts probably noticed that 15mm is close to (ohgod) SIXTY caliber. It's a pretty insane bore diameter. Unless you are a REALLY big individual, you could probably stick most of your fingers down the barrel of one of CT's "15mm" handguns. Well, one at a time...I figure a Russian-manufacture 'homeguard' revolver made on the cheap under troubled times would be a big, clunky mess, something like a cross between the (real prototype) IZHMAZH MP-412 and the Samaritan. Since I'm making the weapon weaker, not stronger, by just reducing its magazine, I don't imagine this is a problem. The lockpicks and other tools (I imagine short jemmies, probably a foot-long crow's beak prybar, shims of various sorts including inflatables, etc.) have no real mechanical effect since CT doesn't run to 'must have a toolkit to do a skill' but I figure it's in keeping with who she is and what she does and one more reason to get in trouble if she's picked up with them in pocket.

Ylizaveta Description

Short and brutal. She wears the somewhat shredded, repurposed-military surplus gear common to the so-called "Red Punk" movement of what was once known as Russia. Her hair is trimmed and teased up into a wide, white-bleached mohawk which she occasionally frosts with faint traces of sea-green. Her default expression is a somewhat cruel and unpleasant-seeming moue - not quite a frown. She is restless, almost never still.

Her skin is the sort of pale that is common to certain north-eastern Europeans living near the arctic circle, which makes her tattoos strikingly visible. She has quite a few of them, some crude, some moderately well-done, but none done with the sort of precision one would expect from modern computer controls (or even good tattoo equipment). Only her face is unmarked...Well, except for a single black dot high on her cheek below her right eye.

Even in cold weather, she tends to wear coats and shirts with the sleeves torn off so that her tattoos are visible...Not to mention her well-developed arms. The girl clearly works out, and despite her small size moves with audaciously contained power. Her favorite coats are an archaic, powder-blue, Cossack cherkesska, on the back of which someone has stenciled a relic of a bygone era, an old ballistic missile submarine, and a fur-lined black naval greatcoat with a WW1-era Tsarist eagle adorning the back in white paint below the old Stalinist label "штрафбат" - "Penal Battalion". Lizka inevitably has a weathered telnyashka beneath her coat - the old Russian navy blue-and-white banded shirt - and any of several pairs of variously shredded military trousers, most of which have been so savaged that they barely reach the tops of her many-strapped-and-buckled, cracked, black leather boots.

The nature of Russian prison tattoos is such that she has much of her history written on her body, there in plain sight for anyone who knows the old codes to decipher. A meticulously carved spider resting in its web covers most of her right shoulder and upper arm. Wrapping the broad expanse of her left bicep is what looks to be a traditional Russian Orthodox iconic painting of a saint - if saints played cards and were in the habit of discarding an ace-high straight in clubs. On her forearms are entwined expanses of rose-studded thorn-vines...A heart is tangled in the left bramble, transfixed by a syringe. The three outer knuckles of her left hand each have a small orthodox cross on them, and the outer three fingers of her right hand are tattooed with decorative 'rings' just below the knuckles. A small scarab graces her left palm, and the word "мир" her right. Someone with expert knowledge (or the right database and plenty of time) could deduce that she has served three tours in the Zona, two as a youth offender, that she was the only underage criminal in her ring of thieves, was a drug addict, was convicted for armed robbery, and is both an orphan and an Anarchist.

...And there are bound to be more tattoos on her that aren't showing.

Another Orphan of the Aeon War

Little Ylizaveta was born in the old city of Archangelsk, by the Dvina on the edge of the great White Sea. She remembers looking out across the frozen ocean as a little girl, and the long, white nights of summer when the sun never truly set...And the tall, imposing figures of war machines, striding around the city and being built in the massive factories beside the ancient harbor.

The bugs came when she was barely six. The bugs came, and her father left. A few days later, she and her mother were uprooted in a panic, swept away in a human tide with all the others. She remembers the pressure of the crowds, the constant crying, and the scent of railcars filled with fear.

Where she truly grew up was in the terrible old city, Volgograd. Once Tsaritsyn, once Stalingrad. The city of desperation. The city of forlorn hope. The eater of men. It was overwhelmed with refugees. Tracers snapping up into the night sky, the looming shadows of mechs around the feet of the great statue atop Mamayev Kurgan. And the people. The people filling the streets, sleeping on every step of every stairway, carpets of people huddled together for warmth at night, rising in the morning to twist into long lines seeking rations or escape from the embattled city. The city of terrible hunger. It ate her mother soon after they arrived, and Ylizaveta never saw her again. Aleksei, the man who rented them a tiny space, barely a closet, never seemed to remember to turn her out into the crowds and snow.

In time, the threat became a bitter joke. He would come and go, bringing small crusts of food and tea. Never speaking of what he did. Only sometimes, sometimes, telling tales of what the city had once been. He left each night, returning with the dawn, then spending much of the day staring out the narrow window towards the distant sussurus and faint thunders of the war on the horizon. He never told her what happened to her mother. In time, she resented him, and she stole out on her own into the terrible city.

Within a year, she was arrested with a group of older girls and boys who had somehow burrowed and wriggled their way into back of an old building being used as a military warehouse. The medical kits they had tried to sell on the black market had serial numbers that were easily traced. The others were shot, but Ylizaveta was deemed too young, and sent off to what passed for a youth internment camp on the icy edge of the Volga. The children were put to various tasks, day after day. Carrying buckets of earth and rock up from where older children were digging new emplacements; sorting spills of glittering brass, which they pressed into magazines until their fingers bled; cleaning and repairing clothing and blankets for the city's massive refugee population...It never stopped.

After two years, she escaped, back into the nightmare city, simply running like all the rest when a Migou projectile somehow breached the air-defense and destroyed one of the buildings fronting the fence in the youth compound.

She had her first tattoos already, and they marked her way into another small and desperate gang of young criminals. She was free for almost as long as she had been imprisoned before the politsiya snapped her up again. As before, she refused to confess or to blame the others, and despite being a repeat offender, she was still too young to be executed. Little Lizka returned to the youth camps.

Her second escape was by more traditional means. Someone on the outside had made a deal with the guards and the warden. Slavers. Lizka spent a few weeks on the drugs she was given, and then, dimly, remembered yet more fires and explosions.

She dreamed in the drug-haze. Monsters, and fire, and her mother and father.

And she awakened in the tiny room with its tiny window through which the lights and guards along Lenina Prospekt could barely be seen between two other buildings. Aleksei's room. He brushed the spiderweb mark on her shoulder, the tattoo which was a life commitment, and stared at her soberly, before finally pronouncing the only judgement he would ever give over the time she spent missing.

"If you are going to be sneaking about, you had best learn to do a better job."

Aleksei trained her. She ran messages and small packages for him, sometimes to customers, or compatriots, other times secreting them in places that only someone who knew where to look could possibly find. Loose bricks that did not look loose. Corroding statues with holes chiseled in places that were reachable, but invisible from any angle. Gargoyles whose downspouts connected to no gutter. He taught her to steal, and to avoid being noticed, and to memorize and report back what she saw. He was doing something, she began to realize. Something very important to him, that had little to do with simple goals like wealth, or comfort. Perhaps, she decided, it was revenge.

She was willing to help with revenge. He had hurt the slavers (killed many, she later learned). He had rescued her. He was not her father, but...

If there was one thing the city had taught Ylizabeta, it was that you made do with what you had, and didn't cry over what you lost.

After the first year, Aleksei became more withdrawn, suddenly. He went out at night alone more often, leaving her little work other than instructions to stay put.

Ylizabeta was terrible at staying put. Of course she followed him, snuck out past the sensors and the wire and into the old fortifications that were no longer held. And that was how she learned that Aleksei was an Oборотень - a werewolf. Or something. A monster.

But the monsters he was attacked by were worse. They had waited for Aleksei to take something from one of the hidden spots he had taught her about, out here beyond the walls. Perhaps they had not know where he kept it, and had been waiting, stalking him. Perhaps it was coincidence that they ambushed him after he took out the package. But it was no coincidence that he killed five of them. None could keep up with him. The sixth, now. That one managed to get him from behind, while he was busy tearing the fourth and fifth apart. And then it was over as suddenly as it started.

The team of Tagers who had come to meet Aleksei arrived only minutes too late, finding the young girl crying over his body. A body which they could not leave lying.

That was the first time Lizka punched a Tager.

The recovery team didn't have what they came for, but they did have their cohort's body, and they did have a witness. They questioned her for an hour, but she knew that when captured the one thing to never do was talk, especially about what someone else was doing.

When they left, she followed them. Out into the ice, and the deadly realm of the invaders.

They were taking Aleksei.

Eventually, they realized she wasn't going to give up, and she had come too far. She would freeze if they abandoned her this far out. After a quick council, the Tagers decided she'd already seen more than enough...And if she had been Aleksei's ward, well...Then there was one final thing they could do for him.

The Eldritch Society absorbed the young, rebellious girl into its ranks. She was not the most problematic trainee they had ever had...But she was far from the least. They taught her, as best they knew, the truth. And eventually, when they had gained her trust, they learned from her. Learned about Alexei's movements, his tricks, the tiny fragments of carven stotne he had been assembling from the ruins - things which had once been buried under the cornerstones of churches a thousand years old to prevent them from rising again. Things which the war had released.

Eventually, their trust extended into a test. They released her out into the world again, with a job to do.
They released her back into Volgograd.

(FFFFFfffffffffff I just woke up with my face on my keyboard. I will finish this tomorrow.)

[merashin]

Alright, I've posted up an OOC thread. https://elliquiy.com/forums/index.php?topic=202256.0

I've still got to wait for Retro to finish application before we get started.

[merashin]

Duplicate tagers are fine by the way.

As long as you can explain how your character has that equipment then you can all of that excess equipment except for the blacksuit Jaded. That's a little harder to come by.

[ChaoticSky]

Mmm, does Real Cooking count as Art?

[CarnivalOfTheGoat]

Mmm, does Real Cooking count as Art?

I'm personally inclined to say 'Yes' if we are talking 3-4 star chef. Unless it's teppanyaki, in which case it is probably Performance instead. ;D

[merashin]

I feel like Carn understands my wavelength as she keeps answering questions how I would.

[CarnivalOfTheGoat]

I feel like Carn understands my wavelength as she keeps answering questions how I would.

Excellent, the hypnotic suggestion is working. As may be, I'm still going to be careful to say 'I think,' or 'I believe,' and be damned sure it's not worded in any way that suggests 'I think Merashin would say...' ;)

[Teo Torriatte]

Is there still room for another player?

[Jaded]

Some changes.  More equipment, I added the Agile variant, and I dropped Medicine so I could take the Variant Tager asset I had forgotten. 

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

  CONCEPT

Player: Jaded
Name: Elizabeth Balery/Bathory
Callsign: Bloodwing
Race: Human            Allegiance: Eldritch Society
Virtue: Self-Confident Flaw: Vengeful
Tager: Vampire

  PERSONAL CHARACTERISTICS

Gender: Female         Age: 25
Height: 5'8"           Weight:
Hair:                  Eyes:
Coloring:
Dist. Features:
Birthday: April 6
Place of Birth: New York

  ATTRIBUTES

Attributes  |  Rating  |  Feat Level
------------|----------|------------
Agility     |  10/14   |    5/7
Intellect   |   5/5    |    2/2
Perception  |   8/10   |    4/5
Presence    |   4/4    |    2/2
Strength    |   4/6    |    2/3
Tenacity    |  10/13   |    5/6

  SECONDARY ATTRIBUTES

Actions: 3
Movement: 15 mph (37/9) or 21 mph (52/12)
Reflex: 8/10
Orgone: 12/14 (Access None)
Vitality: 12/14
Drama Points: 10

  SKILLS

Skill      |  Expertise  |  Attr. Base
-----------|-------------|------------
Athletics  |  1-Student  |  Special
Communicati|  1-Student  |  Intellect
Computer   |  1-Student  |  Intellect
Education  |  1-Student  |  Intellect
Munitions  |  1-Student  |  Intellect
Observation|  2-Novice   |  Perception
Occult     |  1-Student  |  Intelligence
Pilot      |  3-Adept    |  Agility
(Combat Hovercraft, Large A-Pod Transports, A-Pod Personal Hovercraft)
Stealth    |  3-Adept    |  Agility
Surveillanc|  1-Student  |  Intellect
Survival   |  1-Student  |  Tenacity
Technician |  1-Student  |  Intellect

Armed Fight|  1-Student  |  Agility
Dodge      |  3-Adept    |  Agility
Fighting   |  1-Student  |  Agility
Marksman   |  2-Novice   |  Perception
Support Wea|  1-Student  |  Perception
-----------|-------------|------------
Spec       |  Expertise  |  Skill
-----------|-------------|------------
           |             |
           |             |

  QUALITIES

Assets:
  Acute Sight (2)
  Fast (2)
  Internal Compass (1)
  Peripheral Vision (1)
  Tager (4)
  Tager: Exceptional (2)
  Tager: Variant (1) (Agile, Armoured)
Drawbacks:
  Duty (3)
  Fanatical (3)
  Habit, Moderate Addiction, Bliss (2)
  Exaggerated Symbiont (2)

  SPECIAL ABILITIES
Vampire Tager (Agile/Armoured)
  Size: 8-9 ft Tall
  Exsanguinating Touch (+2)
  Barbs (+3) 25/50/150, 1, Infinite
  Limit: Bloodbath (+6)
  Armour: 3/3
  Regeneration: 1/3
  Fear Factor: 16
  Senses: Broadband Audio, Nightvision, Scan, Thermal
  Movement: Climbing (Double), Flight (Double), Jumping (Double), Land (Normal)

  INSANITY

Points: 1
Disorders:

  EXPERIENCE

Total:
Spent:
Log:

  POSSESSIONS
PCPU
w/Stylish Armoured Carrying Shell
w/Holo-Interface Unit - All-in-one
Augmented Reality Goggles
Belt Holster
Concealed Holster
Back Holster
Clothes (Jumpsuit.  Tank-top/Shorts.  Business Suit.)

  SPELLS

  ARMOUR

  WEAPONS
CS-44 "Enforcer"
M-65 Double-Barrel Shotgun
Composite Combat Knife
Machete
Steel Knuckles

  WOUNDS

A quick and dirty background, hopefully it fits with the world history.  Not happy with it, but brings together most of my thoughts for the character.


Elizabeth joined the NEG Army at the age of seventeen (2079).  She excelled in training, going through basic before being accepted for flight training.  She spent several years supporting operations out of Juneau as a UCH-70 Werewolf pilot under the callsign Razorwing.  She was covering the evacuation in 2085 when she was shot down, after several days evading capture and attempting to reach friendly lines, she met up with a group of what she thought were refugees. 

The refugees turned out to be rather less than human, and between the crossfire from a Tager ambush and an Elib trying to take a piece out of her, Elizabeth was left on the verge of death.  She woke, several days later, in a hospital in NEG territory, a strange man standing over her bed with an offer.

A long period of training and preparation followed.  When she entered into the Rite of Sacred Union she was chosen by a Vampire, a symbiont that spoke to her love of the sky and bloodthirsty nature.  Her own love of raining death upon her enemies was magnified, leaving her a bit on the crazed and sadistic side.  Still, fiercely loyal to her comrades and her race, she is more than prepared to give her life in the line of duty. 

Elizabeth Balery was edited in NEG databases, her biometric profile switched to a false identity known as Elizabeth Bathory.  While she still regrets going AWOL, and leaving her previous identity as MIA, she knows she has found her true calling.

If Elizabeth doesn't have one of her licensed weapons visible, it is a good chance she has one of them concealed.  She feels naked without a sidearm, even able to transform.  She prefers direct and violent action, but when in combat prefers to take the roll of armoured scout and aerial support.  She prefers to sneak up on and ambush her enemies while others distract them.

[CarnivalOfTheGoat]

Head is a bit too achey to permit the writing muse, so Ylizaveta's background is still unfinished, but I did put her Tager in and cleaned up her character sheet a bit so it's easier to locate/only look at what you need.

...and yes, her Ineptitude - Computers has everything to do with her symbiote's third CQ weapon (*Snap, crackle, pop*).

Yesterday, I was briefly bemused to note that we have an Elizabeth and an Ylizaveta, but it's easy enough to sort out: Liz is NOT Lizka (and definitely not Lizenka or Lizochka).

[Mnemaxa]

Damn it, I didn't realize there was an asset cost for variant tagers. I'll take care of it when I get home.

[Muse]

  Ack! 

  Still need to do the new draft! 

[Muse]

   This campaign calls for a lot of travel, right?  Makes a day job inappropriate. 

[Mnemaxa]

Fixed Soliquy, merely dropped a point of skill in Intimidate to cover the alternate tager cost.