Pacific Rim - Jaeger Rising [Recruitment Thread]

[Karma]

I don't think that should preclude him being a standard pilot. The Immaculate Shogun is a sideshow at the moment, something to work on in the off hours. Any talented, vetted pilot should really be in the field as long as there's a position.

[Ember Star]

Name: Kaori Yamada
Age: 28
Nationality: Japanese
Rank: Ranger
Appearance:

Stats: Height- 5'4". Weight- 115lbs. Eyes- brown. Other- has a dragon tattoo on her back.
Positive personality traits: Extremely loyal. Dedicated. Driven.
Negative personality traits: Doesn't like "no" for an answer. Is easily annoyed. Has an unfortunate habit of threatening people with pocket knives.
Pre-PPDC experience: Trained in the arts of the Samurai. Pilot in the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.
Other skills: *Talented singer (the one feminine skill her mother managed to grind into her besides cooking).
*Good cook.
*Good English.
*Excellent knife/dart thrower
*Computer wiz (she's good at hacking, repairing, and programing computers).
*Gaming (not exactly a useful skill, but she's a hardcore video gamer).
General Backstory: Born smack in the middle of four brothers, two older and two younger, Kaori was never a girly girl despite her mother's efforts to force her into the traditional Japanese feminine role. Her father ran a samurai dojo in northern  Akita. Her mother was simply a house wife. Their entire village was very traditional, but Kaori wasn't one to cling to tradition. Luckily, her school did have computers and from a very young age she clung to a fascination with them. She also clung to a desire to join her brothers in samurai training with their father. Both her parents resisted, but Kaori wad never one to take no for an answer easily. Finally, when she was 9, her father begin her training. She excelled excellently, much to her mother's dismay.

When she left for college she went to a technology school in Tokyo where she furthered her computer skills. Straight out of college, she was recruited for the Air Force because of her skills both with computers and her samurai training. She excelled there as well, with her talent with computers and background with samurai arts, she was well suited for what was a modern warriors job. This of course drove her mother mad. But there was nothing she could do to stop her driven daughter.

It was there that she met Daigo, a young man in her squadron who quite frankly annoyed her somewhat with his traditional views. But she struck up a close friendship and bond with him anyway and found that they worked well together as a team. Able to almost predict each others train of thought at times.

But then there was that one Kaiju attack which they just couldn't take down. A damned Brit with a Jaeger did what they could not. While most of their squadron was dead and gone. She was angered, shamed, and frustrated. But never being one to give up, as soon as she and Daigo recovered, she went with him in hand to sign up to be a Jeager pilot. A new determination in mind, as driven as always, she wasn't going to fail.

Fail she did not, as she and Daigo work out of the Tokyo Shadowdom and pilot a Jeager together.

[Question Mark]

I don't think that should preclude him being a standard pilot. The Immaculate Shogun is a sideshow at the moment, something to work on in the off hours. Any talented, vetted pilot should really be in the field as long as there's a position.

True, but, hmm...

It doesn't seem right to me to have a researcher double-timing as a Ranger.  The only reason he became a Ranger before this agreement was because the Drift was pretty much good to go, and the PPDC no longer directly needed his skills.  So he tried for the Ranger spot and ended up getting it.

Now that he has this new project to occupy his time, I don't much like the idea of him being a Ranger in addition to all that.  Designing a Jaeger, even with a partner, is a full time job or two, never mind Ranger training and being on-call.  That's drifting a little close to Gary Stu for my liking.

What are your thoughts on the matter guys?

[Karma]

I think you may be overestimating how active the IS's development is, or at least how active I had intended it to be. It's not going to be combat ready tomorrow, or this week or this year (in game) most likely. The person best suited to completing it has been working on it for four years and it's still in a pretty questionable state... mostly because even if the best person in the world is working on it, it's still only one person, and only when no other duties call. Think of it like writing a novel by one sentence a day.

[Primarch]

Now that he has this new project to occupy his time, I don't much like the idea of him being a Ranger in addition to all that.  Designing a Jaeger, even with a partner, is a full time job or two, never mind Ranger training and being on-call.  That's drifting a little close to Gary Stu for my liking.

What are your thoughts on the matter guys?

I actually agree completely. Either position seems like it should take someone's full time if they are to maintain proper standard.

[Revenent]

Then what do you want to do about Toughie's character?

[SargentToughie]

Meh, I can wait until somebody else shows up, no big deal.

[Karma]

I'm not gonna say no, but it doesn't line up with what I had planned. If there's someone actually working full time on this, than IS's readiness and deployment will move way up.

[Question Mark]

I'm not gonna say no, but it doesn't line up with what I had planned. If there's someone actually working full time on this, than IS's readiness and deployment will move way up.

I thought this is what we agreed on in the PMs: Bo splits from the Drift research and joins Athena full time working on the Immaculate Shogun, designing it's user controls and pilot interface.  Thus they're able to get it running quicker, and it's out in the field at or soon after the start of the game.  And by out in the field I mean ready to do a lap or two around the Shatterdome without keeling over, not fighting Kaiju.  And since he designed the controls and she wants someone else to pilot it, Bo volunteers.

[Karma]

My only defense is that I was half asleep when I agreed to it! :P All's well.

[Revenent]

Code Name: Bushido Dawn
Launch Date: 2017
Classification: Mark III
Status: Active
Country of Origin: Japan
Height: 65 meters
Weight: 1700 tons
Appearance:

The Samurai Protector

Equipment:
Mach Katana - A Jaeger-sized katana made of the most durable alloys available, with the intent of cutting through even the densest of Kaiju exoskeletons. The backside of the blade is lined along most of its length with jet engines, to give added force to the more critical strikes performed. Fuel is limited, but Bushido can make a few of these attacks before running out.

Heat-Seeking Stingers - Dozens of repurposed jet missile launchers are tucked away inside Bushido's shoulders and can release of a volley of small but powerful heat-seeking missiles. While not usually enough to kill a full-sized Kaiju, they are effective in distracting, staggering, or even blinding them.

Sora Oni System - This "Sky Demon" system is what grants the lighter, less-armored Bushido Dawn its exceptional maneuverability. While no Jaeger can dream of full-on flight at this point, the Sora Oni system allows Bushido to propel itself around the battlefield at remarkable speed for a Jaeger, and can even be used to very briefly glide if overclocked enough.

[Vaulera]

Yeah, see, some of the parts of the movie bothered me, seeing that mech of yours does my heart good. Seeing you say alloys, heartens me. When they said, "no alloys" I did a double take. "Iron, no alloys." I thought, wait, the fuck? Steel has a greater tensile strength than Iron and is lighter. The only time you would want solid Iron would be to make an unbelievably heavy Jaeger with more cost effectiveness. Also, Gipsy Danger's core wasn't a nuclear reactor, it acted in the way a fission rocket would.

[Karma]

Travis Beacham has his heart in the right place but he's not that great a writer.

[Vaulera]

The man needs to read a science textbook and I wouldn't want to slap him.

[Karma]

He's a bundle of cliches and buzzwords that also happens to like giant creatures. He did Clash of the Titans too, which was not compelling in the least. PR had del Toro though, which is absolutely what saved it.

[Vaulera]

Okay, let's be absolutely real here. You couldn't take the movie entirely seriously, or it would be pretty bad. The only acting I really hated was the dynamic/scenes between Mako Mori and Raleigh. It was soooooo tacky. You know, that time they had a sword the whole fucking time but only pulled it out when they were in the air. Or when they fought with staves for some reason, and they did the interplay of sex and violence.

[Karma]

There was a clear effort to emulate 80s cheese... the script wasn't the right kind of bad though.

[TheGlyphstone]

Name: Tane 'Tony' Maugatai
Age: 27
Nationality: Samoan Islander
Rank: Ranger

Appearance:

Positive personality traits: Determined, analytical, selfless
Negative personality traits: Bull-headed stubbornness, vengeance-driven anger, inexperienced

Pre-PPDC experience: None
Other skills: Expert fisherman, tattoo artist
General Backstory: Tane had never planned to be a warrior, but his plans changed abruptly when the kaiju Lugosi, on its way towards landfall in Chile, made an unexpected detour and tore through the Samoan capital city of Apia. His entire close and extended family had gathered there for a birthday party, and Tape himself had been on the way when Lugosi attacked. It annihilated the tiny 'city' in the space of an hour before continuing on its way and eventual demise at the hands of the Lima Strike Group, but in the process killed every living relative Tane had. He wanted vengeance, and found it in the Jaeger Academy, achieving entry on his seventh application and persevering more through raw willpower than natural talent. The core of anger that fueled him was also his biggest enemy, and it took a long while to master without losing himself in his own fury.

Even once he was deemed suitable to drive a Jaeger in combat, his sheer size - six and a half feet tall, and just under 300 pounds heavy - meant he needed a specially modified cockpit, which delayed his assignment until a new or refurbished machine was available for the refit. This turned out to be the Mark II Vasa Centurion, and he was paired up as co-pilot with the veteran Adam Sinclair in hopes the older Ranger's experience would help temper Tane - now accepting the Romanization 'Tony' of his native name. It didn't work out perfectly - Adam's impulsive nature resonated too well with Tane's hunger to get up close and violently personal, and their first few Drifts were rather tumultuous as personalities clashed, but it eventually smoothed out into an effective and single-mindedly driven command team.

[Karma]

Everybody's so angry! Haha.

[TheGlyphstone]

Raeg.

[Ember Star]

Kaori isn't angry, just easily annoyed and likes to threaten people with pocket knives :P

BTW, if she good, should I move her to the character thread? Also, shouldn't we move some of this chatter to the OOC since we have one?

[Question Mark]

When you think about it, the death toll due to Kaiju is something on par with the Sudan genocide, or both Iraqi wars, per Kaiju.  At least, for the ones that make landfall.

Entire cities are leveled, cultures are annihilated, and the earth's population drops by a significant percent with each successful attack.  One of my many complaints with the movie was the emphasis on "Kaiju culture," which, while an intriguing and valid idea, runs counter to the immensely horrific nature of the Kaiju war.  It lessened the impact of what could have been the emotional counterweight to the hero's struggles.

There are a lot of survivors looking for vengeance in the world.  The PPDC certainly never lacked funding or manpower, even after they were officially abandoned by the governments.

[Karma]

I think if the movie had taken place sooner to the initial attacks, that would have been the case. 12 years of constant death and destruction would have thoroughly worn away that kind of sensitivity. I'm not saying the anger is out of place, mind you, I'm just amused at how in concert everyone seems to be. A singular purpose makes for a more efficient organization.

[SargentToughie]

Except for the fact that it didn't take very long for the Kaiju to stop being threats. You guys all talk about these things like they're the Reapers from Mass Effect, when the movie explicitly states that for YEARS these things were basically just merchandise and film fodder.

[Revenent]

Daigo is just in it for national pride.

And I agree with Toughie to an extent, but considering how devastating the early Kaiju were, it didn't really make sense to have them turn into merchandise. Like making toys based off of a genocide.