Space Opera/Court Intrigue rp - Character creation

Sorry for being late in getting back to you. Yeah, if you want to do a custom magic path, I'm okay with that.

 

It'll still be a few days before we start. I'm a little drained by irl.

 

Alright. Like usual, my mind is always changing so I can't be sure if I won't do something different yet. Quite possibly, it's my innate desire to be contrary, that and I want to think of something that I don't feel I'll get too bored of doing too quickly. I'm inclined to alien pcs for a space setting, and I'm still weighing the Hive queen for a somewhat uncharacteristically evil character. I was also debating a machine race but I don't know how people would feel about that.

 

Changing my mind already I know, but I think I'll go a proper alien and save the dark elf for some fantasy setting. The coin flip told me to go with the blue one so....

Name: Vivian Allevra
Species: Vraill
Faction: Institute


Skills:
Engineering*
Energy Technologies* (Bonus to rolls repairing high energy based things or utilizing energy based weapons)

Spoiler: Army

Army/Retinue:
Institute Weapons Facility: Much of the civilization's most important and useful discoveries happen here and Vivian helps to ensure that they do. The facility she runs is largely geared towards energy weapons, though they have more than a few things they work on at once. Institute Scientists overall don't typically disprove of exchanging ideas with xenos and it helps even a few of the staff there already had a few of her species who were born there. If anything, the Terran native Vraill are more wary of the homeworld one than most of the humans.

Power Suit Troopers: While not by any means cheap and easy to replace, people think the Institute is nothing more than a bunch of lab nerds. While that has some truth, these are also people with access the most hi-tech gear in the Terran Empire and their soldiers are no laughing matter. While not quite permitted under acceptable technologies to share with the humans, Vivian had provided them with the plans for some quality power armor and while funding and training for just one isn't that simple, their only needs to be a few squadrons to raise absolute hell. Of course, while better than anything they were using, she wasn't going to give them the schematics for anything near her Vraill armor. The black suit of her own personal armor is a strange contraption that she refuses to leave any notes on that could lead to it being used against her, but it's agreed to be incredibly high class stuff. Unfortunately, they level of difference in tech is somewhat of a problem leading her to only maintain it with a patchwork job of what materials the Terrans actually had, still not developed enough to synthesis the components it actually needs. This leads to her own armor to be prone to overheating and leaving herself exposed during the time it takes too cooldown.

(One Use)Fallen Warship: Once. And just this one time. That was the deal and the warning, that Primus Televda had said. If she ever absolutely needed it, then they could dispatch a fallen warship to shred apart the problem before retreating back into hyperspace. This is not a favor handed out lightly and they only expect to be called.

d in for an actual emergency. When they do decide to actually do something, the amount of empires and fleets powerful enough to stand up against a Vraill warship can be counted on one hand.

Spoiler: History: Somewhat Updated

History: Deep within the reaches of the galaxy, a crevix far removed from most other systems exists. Only about three planets in size. The rest of the system and it's neighbours either tomb worlds too desolated to settle in or destroyed. An empire that once spanned nearly a third of the galaxy pushed into a single system, but one fiercely defended by legions of ships and technology far beyond the comprehension of other empires. They don't conduct studies of new tech like other civilizations simply because their is no need to. And it shows. It's said the only armor and sheilds that their lasers can't cut through, are Vraill shields. How true that is, is up for debate. What is recorded is the poor track record of races seeking to bother them. The warlike Tharzin had entered their space with about six thousand ships seeking to conquer them. When they left, they had five. The Vraill like to keep to themselves and for much of the galaxy, that's seen as a good thing.

At large, they allow empires to expand and explore as long as they don't get too close to their borders. The only thing to sufficiently make the Vraill willing to do something is to touch one of their buttons. Directly insulting them is not wise, refusing to share data is poorly recommended(There's a strong possibility they already know the thing they're after, and just want to see if empire will share it willingly), but above all, they aim to put a hard limit on what empires can and can't study. Feeling most empires of the age are basically children playing with matches, the Vraill only get particularly vocal if they catch someone doing what they consider studying the three big No-No's too heavily. Hyperspace, the Void, and AI that's too advanced. Given they and much more powerful empires of their era were nearly wiped out from digging too much into the wrong thing, they are incredibly paranoid when it comes to matters involving the like. If someone goes behind their back to delve into it in secret....it ends badly. That being said, they are directly supportive and every one in a while, even helpful, to species working on projects that are generally beneficial such as improving colonization and farming.

The two groups of Vraill. Those who still remain their pride as having grown up in the civilization on their home planet, that love to refer to themselves as the "Pure Vraill" and the "Rags Vraill" who were born on other planets, typically from either their ancestors being captured slaves or refugees(In some places, still are.) As such, their presence is fairly widespread across space, though most adopt local culture and religion due to not knowing anything about their own.

A pure Vraill herself, Vivian was among a very small group that actually left the homespace on their own and willingly. To a degree, while many of the species would never care to admit it, they can't help but wonder how the rest of the galaxy developed without them around and what there is to see. After a good thirty years spent fighting with the Primus to get the greenlight, she had achieved it as being sent to the Terran Empire. A gift essentially forced on the empire at gunpoint due to the implications of refusing their offer to share one of their scientific minds with them, she was more or less pushed into the Institute, whether people liked it or not. The Institute after seeing her work, had to admit that the pros definitely outweigh the cons, though Vivian's secondary goal of being there to observe and bar anyone from touching technology they feel shouldn't be touched is often a point of tension. As far as pure Vraill go, for a species that seems to get off on being as unhelpful as possible, Vivian has definitely been the cause for a lot of rapid progression for the Institute when the mood strikes her superiors back home to greenlight her to impart some of their knowledge.

In general, while she has a lot of answers to questions that Terrans stumble about to solve, she mostly believes it defeats the purpose to give them too much information they aren't ready for instead of properly discovering it themselves.

 

@majus

The more I read over the two characters backstories the more I doubt that the two would know each other. Although I am toying with the idea of altering Yannika's backstory and having her a part of The Order of the Jade Moon too. Then the two would most certainly know each other, and could have a friendly rivalry. I'm not really in favor of writing homosexual sex scenes though. If others want too go right ahead, I just don't find them particularly appealing.

 

Take the scenario you will enjoy the most.

Take note, if your character would be a part of Jade Moon order, she would be brainwashed.

 

Good point. I think I'll stick with the Sect of the Sapphire Hearth.

 

Name: Dutches Elvira Vorbarra the First of The Elfhame sector

Picture/Appearance:



Age: 32

Class/Faction: Emperor's Aunt/High-Nobility

Skills:
Political Analysis
Socialization

Spoiler: Interpretive Summary

(Elvira can read any room and judge any political party or rally with a higher degree of accuracy than the vast majority of people, and then slide herself into that environment nearly effortlessly. Walking with crowds, but keeping her virtue, and standing with Emperors, but not losing the common touch; these sorts of things come to her as naturally as breathing after a lifetime of training in the art and science of political maneuvers.

Power Block:

Spoiler: Friends both high and low

Elvira is ranked among the most important nobles in the empire. Though she is of mixed blood, her father ennobled her mother as possibly the most important Dutchess in the entire empire. With dominion over the entire expanse of space formerly occupied by the Elven Stellar Hegemony, an ab-human empire that was conquered by the Holy Terran Empire during its early days of expansion: she holds little direct power, but, indirectly, wields authority second only to the Imperial throne in terms of the weight of fealty owed to her by her planetary vassals. Furthermore, she is seen as the hope of the entire abhuman population of the empire and can wield influence throughout Terran space by calling on the abhuman underclass of most worlds to serve as her agents and spies.

Personality:

Spoiler: A Mind: Honed and Whetted like-Unto a Scalpel.

Elvira has been raised in the political wrangling that is the Emperor's court from a very young age. Subtly resented by the previous Emperor, who saw her mother as having usurped his own mother's place in the affections of his father, she has learned to say little while speaking much, and listen to all, but repeat nothing. Her veins run hot, or icy cold, at the behest of her iron-banded will, where matters of emotion are being considered. Though she has five children by her dead husband, (another casualty of the crushing defeat of the Imperial expeditionary forces at The Battle of Zorro's Sun which cost the previous Emperor his life), she has set her sights higher than a mere Duke this time; she means to seduce her nephew and become the Empress her mother was never actually able to be. Though almost twice her nephew's age, she has high hopes that she impeccably maintained "MILFy" looks and Political acumen will allow her to seduce the young man, and, in the exceedingly rare moments when she can completely let the facade drop and explore her true feelings, she is perversely excited by the thought of enticing her nephew to enter into the incestuous relationship that is demanded by the ancient noble bloodlines of the elves and then cramming that relationship down the throats of the empire just like she's going to be cramming her nephew's cock down her own.

History:

Spoiler: A Lifetime In The Shadow of Her Own Legend

Born in the latter days of her mother's life, long after the initial stages of menopause began*, she was dotted on by Emperor Ozymandias IV, whose Royal wife had turned distant and cold to him for reasons of State that have not been revealed in all the years since. Her mother became Empress in nearly all but name, Empress Glorianna III serving her husband now only as a political show-piece, trotted out for state balls and dinners and the like, then returned to her quarters in the Imperial Palace, quarters that her husband no-longer visited the vast majority of the time. It has long been an issue of intense interest to Elvira what exactly was the cause of the rift between her father and his wife, but thus far she has no idea what happened, despite a lifetime of digging into the matter.

Her father died only just over five years after her birth, and his son Emperor Agamemnon II took a dim view of the woman who had usurped his mother's place by their father's side. Eventually, he, or perhaps governmental partisans who knew of his resentment, arranged a situation where her mother could be implicated in an act of espionage by one of the neighboring empires and had her executed by firing squad. However, for whatever reason, her half-brother, though he had NEVER liked her, and said so to her face during an unguarded private moment, some years later, chose not to oppose the passage of her mother's title as Dutchess of the Elfhame sector to Elvira, a fact that she is very glad of all these years later.

Taking the mantle of The Dutchess of Elfhame Eleven years ago when she was barely 21; she has adapted to her role with some difficulty, but ultimately great success. She has become a major mover, and shaker in the Imperial Senate's "House of Lords", a body that holds the overwhelming majority of the limited powers which are entrusted only with the Senate and cannot be overridden by the Emperor. Now serving as the leader of the "Humanity United" party, which has been working as part of the governing coalitions for the latter part of her half-brother's reign, she is a figure both respected and feared within the government's halls of power. Though she is very careful to keep her hands scrupulously clean of direct involvement, more than once a disgruntled person with an ax to grind against one of her opponents, has heard her urging to "remove this cancerous tumor from the body of the Senate", and such-like, then decided to "... deliberately misinterpret my words as a call to commit murder."
Though these scandals have lost her the respect of many moderates within both senate and the general population, her political ideology has always been somewhat radical compared to "the middle of the road" for imperial subjects: and her real base of supporters find such tactics 'a refreshing change of pace from spineless bureaucrats that refuse to take a stand'. All-in-all she is a controversial, but politically successful, Senator.

Shortly after taking her ranks and titles as "The Dutchess of Elfhame", Elvira was married off to another Duke of the realm at the urging of Emperor Agamemnon II, to help bind a somewhat rebellious sector more tightly to the Imperial throne. The marriage was of course an arranged one, but Elvira had always expected to enter such a union if she was ever permitted to be married at all. Though driven by political convenience, she and her husband, Duke Jennorian Falcata of The Coreward Reaches, proved a surprisingly good fit for each other. There was not any love between the two at first, but a certain amount of mutual lust and shared advantage from the Union for their domains provided fertile ground for such seeds to be planted, then nurtured into growth by an ample watering of creative sexual escapades proposed by both parties. One thing led to another, as it will be known to do, and they were delivered of a total of five children by the time of Duke Jennorian's untimely death. Each of the children has or will be invested with the rule of at least one planet in their respective sections of the empire, by her husband's hand in the case of their two sons, and her own for their three daughters.

One of the girls, her youngest, (Stella Lunaria Kawasaki Governess-in-waiting of the world of Drazon), has forcefully declared an intent to enter the priesthood when she is finished with her primary schooling, though, and her mother will be forced to strip the title of planetary governess from her if she remains insistent after puberty. Since the order of priestesses which she wishes to join require vows of absolute celibacy, and the title of Governess of the planet must be passed down along the female bloodline per the patients of nobility bestowed upon her mother, making it emphatically unacceptable for the holder of such a title to be celibate, her daughter can't be allowed to both be a priestess and remain in possession of planetary rulership at the same time.
*(Though, in fairness, full Elves live almost twice as long as normal humans, and menopause is a similarly extended process.)

 

I would like to confirm that I'm still working on my character; he's just taking a while.

 

I altered Yannika's skills, reducing seduction by one and adding diplomacy/negotiation. I think that'll fit/serve her better.

 

Hey guys, sorry it's taking so long. The first post should be out in a few days.

 

Well, you’ve been running games for the past...how long. Exhaustion is bound to happen.

 

It occurs to me that I never specified Eanne's age or her family name. For Age I'll go with “Appears to be in her twenties, but might be older than she looks” and for family name Winterwood, if that's alright. Character sheet updated accordingly

 

No problem!

 

Name: Xavier von Azurrose, fleet-admiral of Centauri

Age: 29
Class/Faction: Military (Admiral) / (Roll Bonus - Combat specialty: +5 to all combat rolls, +10 to space or ground battles)

Skills:
* Naval Strategy and Tactics (Bonus to space combat)
* Bionic Eye (Bonus to perception/scanning people and objects)

Retinue/Planet/Army: Centauri home fleet, stationed at Proxima Centauri. 5 capital ships, 30 support and fleet defence ships, hundreds of fighter and bomber craft. The closest military fleet to the Church-administered Sol system, the Centauri fleet protected and policed Humanity's earliest colonies within the Terran Empire. While not the biggest fleet in the Terran Navy, the fleet's reputation for excellent conduct, discipline and efficiency was proven time and time again during war games and minor conflicts with rebellious systems or external enemies.

Personality/History: Younger brother of Viktor II, the ruler of Centauri, Humanity's first colony outside their native solar system. A cousin to Emperor Carius I, Xavier was 12th in line to the Terran throne after his father Gaelys' untimely death. At birth, Xavier's path was set in stone, the younger brother of the ruler of Centauri was traditionally destined to become the commander of the local fleet. Xavier excelled during his time at the Naval academy and quickly established a reputation for quick wit and tactical aptitude, graduating at the top of his class. Continuing his training under his uncle Adalbert, the admiral of the home fleet at the time, Xavier learned the intricacies of command. In an unfortunate incident, admiral Adalbert was killed by a separatist suicide bomber, thrusting Xavier into command, the youngest Centauri admiral ever at only twenty-five. Though treated with suspicion and apprehension at first, Xavier's command turned out to be competent, though lacking in the qualities that come with long years of experience.

Recently, disaster struck again. Gaelys, Xavier and Viktor's father, was a close confidant of Emperor Agamemnon II and in that capacity attended the Emperor's grand new campaign aboard his flagship. He perished when the Emperor's flagship was destroyed, making Viktor the ruler of Centauri. Xavier's detachment of the home fleet to the Emperor's personal fleet, protecting the fleet's left flank, could only watch as the grand flagship was destroyed. In the wake of the turmoil, Viktor II sent his younger brother to the Imperial court, to act as Centauri's ambassador.

 

And so the Imperial council is no longer a harem... Character accepted, welcome aboard!

I'm a bit under the weather, so I'll do his introduction tomorrow, since I like to make introduction posts a little lengthier than most.

 

NNNNNOOOOOOOOO!!!

 

I'll just point out that you appear to have given him no skills other than combat, since it looks like you used both skill picks to reinforce his class skills.
Also, hello other male admiral-playing person.

 

Hi there, well, I didn't want to give him magic powers and I don't see him as a schemer or particularly silver-tongued. And a higher bonus to combat rolls can't hurt, right?

 

Understandable. I'm merely pointing out that he seems rather inflexible. Of course, that does make him supremely skilled in his chosen areas...