Science-Fantasy McGuffin Hunt - Actively recruiting

[Hazy Sky]

Edit:

Character sheet has been removed as Chrystal has asked for some changes that require a rewrite.

[jeflint]

Skype, minor point. Women are blonde men are blond. I got all kinds of flak from my editor for that and tippy toes since it's supposed to be tippy toes. 😜

[Hazy Sky]

And I'm special, which is why I'm have a dispensation from being able to spell. :P
Joking I am.  I will adjust it on the final version.

[jeflint]

I just realized I said tippy toes twice instead of tippy toe. Probably autocorrect. 😝

[Hazy Sky]

Also I'm clearly Skyre and not Skype...

[jeflint]

Also I'm clearly Skyre and not Skype...

😭

[Hazy Sky]

😭

Joking I am. :P
Autocorrect is a monster.

[Dashenka]

Dibs on the engineer... I'll make a CS soon.

[Chrystal]

Hi Dasha.

As I've not heard from Noodlebloom in over a week and she has been active, I'm going to say that if you get your character sheet to me and it is approved, before she gets a character sheet to me and it is approved, you can have the role.

If I get two character sheets on the same day, (in other words they are both in my inbox together) then I will give the role to the better one!



In other news, my PC is playing silly buggers. It was fine on Monday Morning. Monday evening it just locked up and wouldn't do anything. I finally got it working Tuesday evening by crashing it in Safe mode and forcing it to run "Start-Up repair". But now it insists on running that every time I restart it and then I have to re-install Firefox for some reason. So I'm thinking it's not long for this universe.

Fortunately I have just had my Annual Bonus so I will be buying a new one this weekend.

Once that is set up and running, The game will start.

People who are still working on character sheets can finish them and join in at any time. There won't be much for people to do (except me, Eise and Becky) except hang on to something or some one for the first few posts anyway...

[jeflint]

Joking I am. :P
Autocorrect is a monster.

Yeah... in the Zootopia thread someone was typing my name, JEFlint, and it was ending up as something like Heffer or something. It was ridiculous whatever it was autocorrecting to and I didn't even see it till he pointed out that he'd autocorrected my name... I've spent  years using JEFLINT online, you'd think I'd notice when someone's talking to me and it's autocorrected to not my initals and last name. :P

[Hazy Sky]

Lars Bjornsson v2.00

Name: Lars Bjornsson

Player ID: Skyre

Position: Point man. Scout and sniper when required.

Rank: Corporal

Height: 178 cm

Weight: 85 kg

Hair Colour: Blond, faded by the harsh tropical sun.

Eye Colour: Blue,  calm and clear.

Build: Lean, hard, wirey muscled.

Modifications: None. He is not overly comfortable with the idea of technology being implanted into or altering his body. Honestly, it gives him the creeps. He knows that he has to work hard to keep up with those who see things differently and he does his best to do so.

Distinguishing marks: A few faded tattoos. Mostly lines of poetry or snatches of songs that he likes or significant dates. Only one is recent, which is the date of the death of his wife and unborn son.

Age: 38

Gender: Male.

Sexuality: Straight.

Skills: Cold blooded. Lars has no problem with seeing his target and the intimate little marks of their life through his scope and still choosing to pull that trigger.

Professional. He knows his job, he knows his equipment and what's expected of him. He has both the training and the experience to do it and do it well. He doesn't get bored easily or lose focus.

Marksman. He was a hunter before the military trained him. You want a bullet between someone's teeth from extreme range? He's your man.

Good judgement. Lars is an expert at judging strengths and weaknesses in opponents and making use of them. Expect him to spot old wounds, weaknesses in armour and alike. He's also not beyond trying to get a read on emotional weaknesses and using those too. Anything to get an edge.

Weaknesses: Frozen heart. He can be very cold and clinical when under pressure. He's also probably not going to be the guy to give you a hug and tell you it's going to be alright at the end of bad day.

Possessive. Don't touch his stuff. Just don't. It will not end well. Interfere with his stuff and God help you. See bad temper.

Bad temper. He doesn't lose it easily, but when he does people get hurt or things get broken. Or both.

Hubris. He thinks he's the best. He probably is, but this means he will not handle failure or being outmatched well.

Old fashioned. He's not a huge fan of new technology for its own sake and tends to shy away in favour of older and simpler alternatives.

Likes: Target practice. Weapons maintenance. Playing the piano. Poker. Swedish vodka. Hunting. Chopping wood. Guns. The countryside and being out in it.

Dislikes: Oversleeping. Thieves. Losing. Dud ammo. Missing a shot. Not taking a clean shot. Scotch whiskey. Weakness. Failure. Being cooped up inside.

Personality:
There is a sense of sadness and loss that permeates his entire being. He is calm, level headed, unflappable and almost always with a gentle, calm smile on his lips. The sense that somehow something is missing from inside of him is hard to shake. That being said he is always friendly and polite and doesn't seem to get wound up easily. He doesn't seem to laugh much though, and that little smile never seems to broaden.

His work and serving the greater good are currently his main focus and drive in life. At least that what he thinks.

History:

Lars was born on a farm on the edge of the woods far from the bright lights of the big towns and cities in Southern Sweden. His parents were rather older than normal. Lars was a very welcome, but unexpected surprise. Probably because they were a bit older and a bit more rural in their own upbringing, they were not great believers in the new technologies that were changing the world, preferring to rely on what they knew and trusted. From an early age Lars was involved in helping on the farm and spent many happy hours fishing with his father and hunting with his mother in the woods and streams that surrounded their little farm. Their attitudes and beliefs inevitably rubbed off on their son, who shied away from accepting even standard implants or enhancements, preferring to work and train to be the best that he could be without them. He found the sense of self knowledge that he attained from this to be deeply satisfying.

He completed his education at the local community college and settled into helping his now aging parents run the farm. A week after his twentieth birthday he received a letter calling him up in the draft.

He met his wife to be during his period of national service. Born in Stockholm to a wealthy, academic single mother, she was the cream of the crop, pushed to the point of perfection. Initially they were great rivals, but whilst she could outrun and outthink him, she could not outshoot or outfight him. He infuriated and intrigued her by turns and she had the most beautiful eyes and smile he had ever seen. Perhaps more importantly it made them both question a lot of things they had taken for granted. They learned a lot of from the friendship that blossomed from their initial rivalry.

They were married a year later in 2080. They both compromised; Lars helped his parents sell up and they bought a less isolated, but smaller farm closer to Stockholm, but still close to the woods. Her mother retired early and came to join the family group. Lars made a living on the land and in the woods and his wife in the university in City as an academic like her mother before her.

When the opportunity came up for her to take a trip to the Brazilian rainforest, to study the rare orchids, Lars was only to happy to agree to accompany her. It was on that trip that his wife broke to him the happy surprise of her pregnancy, which she had delayed with his agreement to further her career. Lars never got to meet his son. He was out in the forest, checking the path ahead and returned to camp to find it burnt, scorched and everyone dead, including his wife. It was whilst he was still in the jungle that he killed his first alien with a single, clean shot to it's centre of mass.

It took Lars several weeks to hike back out of the rainforest, killing aliens whenever he got the chance, and he emerged into a world at war and in utter chaos. He managed to make contact with a squad of American Marines and volunteered to act as a marksman for them. The commanding officer of the regiment refused his offer, but the squad he had made contact with, having seen him in action, simply allowed him to tag along with them and drew extra equipment and supplies from the quartermaster. In the chaos of war a blind eye was turned, especially when the quiet Swede proved to be a capable soldier and skilled marksman.

So he remained on the front line and as the war progressed, he was eventually posted to an International Volunteer Regiment working with the Marines and formally reinducted into the armed forces with the rank of Corporal. He refused to accept even a campaign medal or promotion and remained fighting his own quiet, lone war one shot at a time until the last alien left Earth.

He has volunteered for this new mission not out curiosity or a sense of vengeance, but because somebody with a calm head and touch of cold blood in their veins is going be needed to watch over the representatives of humanity and dispense death to protect them, and it might as well be him.

Other Info: His personal equipment includes both a bolt action and semi automatic marksman rifles and scopes, although he will generally only carry one, depending on his assessment of the upcoming mission. He also carries a standard issue bayonet, smoke, fragmentation and incendiary grenades and a semi automatic pistol. His firearms are all tailored to his personal requirements and preferences and whilst they seem a little anachronistic and behind the times, they are still lethally effective.

His ghillie suit is capable of shifting between preset camouflage patterns and concealing his heat and bio-electrical signatures when he is at rest. Moving rapidly for an extended period of time is more than it can handle though. It is atmospherically sealed to mask his scent. It's also quite heavy and not particularly comfortable if you're not used to wearing it and get the support webbing wrong.

He wears a biometric weapons lock built into his wrist watch. His guns won't work for anyone else.  Although in an emergency he knows how to override the lock manually.
He carries a rather bulky and old fashioned bioscanner that can sweep the surrounding area for life signs or complex mechanical signatures like drones or explosive devices. It is heavy and rather shorter ranged than the newer models, but makes up for that in robustness, accuracy and reliability.

He still wears his wedding ring and is likely to refer to himself as married, at least to start with.

Face Claim: Daniel Craig

Link to player Ons / Offs page

[Chrystal]

[bhttps://elliquiy.com/forums/onsoffs.php?u=39648][/b][/spoiler]

Code Select Expand

[url=http://Paste link here][bhttps://elliquiy.com/forums/onsoffs.php?u=39648][/b][/url][/spoiler]

When I said "Paste link here" I meant replace the words "paste link here" with the link...?

Code Select Expand

[url=https://elliquiy.com/forums/onsoffs.php?u=39648][b]Link to player Ons / Offs page[/b][/url]

Link to player Ons / Offs page

[Hazy Sky]

Whoops. Got my paste the wrong side of a bracket thing there... That should fix it.

[Chrystal]

Whoops. Got my paste the wrong side of a bracket thing there... That should fix it.

Nope... You might want to try clicking your hyperlinks to see if they work? (That goes for everyone!)

Just replace the code you have with the code in the second "code box" in my post above. That's why I put it there!

[Hazy Sky]

Definitely fixed and working now. Sorry about that...

[Chrystal]

No worries. You are not the first and won't be the last... Which is why I said it applies to everyone.

Click the preview button, and test links, check formatting, etc...

And yes, I know I'm as guilty of not testing stuff as everyone else!

[Hazy Sky]

Honestly I did... Only I was a bottle of beer up and half asleep... Fail. 

[Chrystal]

So, are we all raring to go?

I will be opening threads this weekend in the following sequence:

Approved Characters - This is where I will post all the character sheets to keep them all together in one place, with a nice little index at the top. NPC characters will also find their way in here somehow...

OOC Thread - This will be the place to chat, to post stuff that is possibly irrelevant, but also, to discuss what is going on in the game, to ask the GM specific questions, to negotiate relationships between characters, etc... Note that I actively discourage "permanent pairing up" in my group games.

Technology Thread - This is going to be a special thread for recording the future-tech stuff that we invent to make the game work. Most of it I will do, but other players are welcome to offer suggestions for devices as well. There will be a "Device Sheet", similar to a character sheet, to fill in and submit to me for approval.  Note that I am not going to approve teleportation devices, mind control devices or ridiculous devices!

IC thread - This is where the game will play out. The game will start with everyone aboard the ship, which is in Low Earth Orbit, within the Planetary Shields (Something of a recent  development) awaiting clearance to depart. My opening post will have us begin to run the blockade.

.... Yes, I'm kind-of breaking a rule of my own here. I have a rule that states, In any group game where you want the characters to arrive at a place, start the game with them at that place. I am so so tempted to start the game with the ship dropping out of hyperspace at their first port of call, but it would mean skipping an entire and important scene... A small scene, but an important one! (*Looks at Becky significantly*).

So I'm trusting everyone to go along with the LEO start-point. There will be no "meet and greet" scene, because those are fatal!

[jeflint]

As the occasional GM and oft times player I'm well aware of how often intro's kill a group. I prefer to organically introduce most players but I've had some just absolutely refuse to meet others until they met in the seedy tavern/bar. I'm not one of those players. I prefer to be introduced to my fellow players from behind bars. :P

Anyway... How long, canonically, will we have been on ship? Couple hours, couple of days?

Doing it this way gives us enough time to know the characters names and jobs, maybe get settled in but we won't know everything about a character. That probably won't come up until shore leave. I've had buddies on subs and they say there are no secrets in a sub. I'd imagine a ship's pretty similar. Since we can't go out and interact with people just willy nilly we're going to really know one another.

[Chrystal]

Heh. Behind bars... good one!

I'll probably flesh this out better when I get the OOC thread up later this weekend (three-day weekend here btw, we have Monday off), but I would imagine the sequence of events to be something like:

Arrive at the base by whatever means - most likely a naval base as these were not attacked.
Briefing in a briefing room.
Taken down to the submarine pens where the ship is
Board the ship get strapped in, launch the ship. (underwater)
Ship breaks the surface and takes off, gets to LEO.
Maybe a half-hour delay between getting to orbit and the shield being opened to let the ship out.

So they've probably been aboard maybe an couple of hours and met each other for the first time an hour before that?

And aboard a space ship is the same as aboard a submarine!

[jeflint]

That's kinda what I figured. I watched Spaceship Yamamoto! :P

I know the ships as big as we want, but is there going to be like a generic deck plan? Like forward is the ships dorms aft is the mess sorta thing?

I also used up all I know about ships right there. :P So Amilya will probably honestly be like "You vant me to go vhere? Left or right? Argh! Speak English!"

[Hazy Sky]

Yep. I'm raring to go.

Hmm... Lars is probably going to be fussing over his guns or trying to scrounge for food. He has a one track mind about those sorts of things. ::)

[Chrystal]

That's kinda what I figured. I watched Spaceship Yamamoto! :P

Not seen it.

I know the ships as big as we want, but is there going to be like a generic deck plan? Like forward is the ships dorms aft is the mess sorta thing?

I'll work on one, but I'm not promising anything. It will likely take me an entire day to do something I'm happy with, involving twenty or thirty false starts. And I'm sure everyone would rather I spent my time getting the game running...?

I also used up all I know about ships right there. :P So Amilya will probably honestly be like "You vant me to go vhere? Left or right? Argh! Speak English!"

Port is left, Starboard is right. Except on a space ship you navigate in three dimentions, X, Y, and Z. Fun times ahead for our pilot!

[eiselmann]

Port is left, Starboard is right. Except on a space ship you navigate in three dimentions, X, Y, and Z. Fun times ahead for our pilot!

Ah yes the XYZ of flying

Comprised of moments of Xtreme, followed by moments of  'Y did you do that?' in between long periods of nothing happening  ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ


Looking forward to it :-)

[Chrystal]

Sorry, folks, I totally missed this discussion...

I just realized that the captain was Catholic... And there was a mention in her back story of the Pope killing himself.

How did other major religions take this? I never really thought of this, being an odinist in RL, I just sorta figured Amilya would be whatever the largest religion would be in Germany at the time.

I know our European brethren are more liberal in certain things so it's entirely possible that they're all happily agnostic by 2096.

Funnily enough, the official position of the Catholic Church is that aliens probably do exist and are probably hostile.

In the current day: parts of Germany are Catholic, parts are Lutheran.  Not sure where or how it's trending though.

For many there would be a crisis of faith , this would be especially true for Catholics with not just the loss of the pope but also in the fact that he killed himself.....if the Vatican were able to elect a new pope as they normally would ,that might be able to retain the bulk of their followers but this is unlikely to happen in a world under attack. More likely the church will shatter and the various parts of itself will be less than the whole was.

For others ,the aliens will be proof of God , they will be sent by God to punish humans for straying from the truth.

Expect all faiths to lose numbers (thou they will also gain new converts as well) expect those that remain to be more zealous than ever before

The generally accepted belief amongst all major religions is that mankind is unique in the eyes of whatever god they believe in. We are created by god to serve god. The existence of extra-terrestrial intelligence throws the whole point of Christianity into doubt: Mankind is born into original sin and is unable to earn god's forgiveness, thus god sent his only son as payment for our sins, and those who believe in him will inherit eternal life.

If there are aliens then are they born in original sin too? Are they in need of god's forgiveness? Did Jesus die for them? It is far easier to simply say, "Nope, no aliens!"

My entry in the history states "The news that Mankind is not alone in the universe shakes the world. The Pope commits suicide. There are mass riots and religious uprisings."

That is a very shorthand way of saying "Massive turmoil"! I know the evangelical Christian view on Aliens. I think that the Catholic view amongst devout believers is likely to be similar. The pope killed himself because with undeniable proof that aliens do exist, something he had always denied, his entire faith is shattered, he realises he's been living a lie his entire life and can see no point in living!

I would imagine that most mainstream religions would suffer greatly, but obviously the kooky fringe religions would multiply!

And with the arrival on Earth of the invaders, there would of course be those who would worship them, those who would want to preach to them and convert them, and those who would want to "cast them out by faith"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJAVFZxNgAA&list=RDyJAVFZxNgAA