Rungholt 2.0 - The Expansion - Sign Up Thread

Mankind has fallen.

Earth has been conquered by the Zet, the final aliens to have responded to humanity foolish call into the vast Void. Having stormed the planet, they have overrun and wiped out the Ancient Realms, those empires of glory that once ruled over everything. Europa's Golden Age died under nuclear fire and chitin-blades.

All that was left was Rungholt, the last Fortress. The Mega-City designed to shelter the last pieces of humanity and have them weather the storm. For three hundred years they defended themselves against the relentless attacks of the enemy, growing lesser and lesser every day. Technologies were lost. Knowledge deteriorated. What once had been commonplace, became barely understood and even harder to repair. In time, humanity regressed from its age of scientific godhood, to cobbling together scraps and surviving in the sprawling urban nightmare it had created for itself.

But that is the past.

About thirty years ago, Adam Genski stumbled across a piece of lost technology in the ruins far out from Rungholt. In a stroke of unbelievable fortune, he managed to bring it back in one piece. It was an Exo-Suit.

Powered Armor from before the Invasion, the Exo-Suit allowed an average human to go toe-to-toe with Zets and even outmatch them. It was the turning point in what had been called the Long Siege. Soon, Adam Genski and his Wardens broke the lines of the Zet and drove them from the great walls of Rungholt. The battle was won...

But the war had just started. Because despite the Zet retreating and Rungholt finally relieved from its centuries-long torment, this was not the end of things, but merely the beginning. Humanity now faced a new challenge. Not one of survival, but of rebuilding.

For the first time, Humanity expands once more and sends forces out into the changed world that it once ruled. New foes arise, from within and without. And the Zet are far from defeated. In this new age of war, new heroes will arise and new legends will be forged.

Will this be a new Beginning...or merely yet another End?

Hello and welcome to the second iteration of Rungholt.

Its been a while since I first started this RP and it was one of my first here on TV Tropes. As such, it was still quite rough around the edges. Nevertheless, I did have fun creating this setting and despite the RP itself eventually running out of steam, it remained in the background of my mind for the last few years.

Now, with me hopefully being wiser and more experienced, I decided to have another crack at it. And I am asking you to join in on the fun!

Rungholt is a post-apocalypse/cyberpunk RP. Imagine a combination of Fallout, Warhammer 40K and Cyberpunk 2077. The style is very much Used Future, so think rust, recycling, lost technology, ruins and so on. Including neon-lights, cyber-prosthetics and lots and lots of metal.

The RP focuses equal parts on action, military warfare and story. If you are expecting a Sandbox however, this is probably not the right place for you. There will be a structured storyline and several Arcs/Chapters.

Another part of the game will be the aforementioned Exo-Suits, which players can design from scratch, modify and then wear in battle against the dreaded Zet and whatever else lurks out there. These Exo-Suits are basically Powered Armor in the vein of Iron-Man or Fallout. Heavy Suits, that can be customized and have a lot of different variations for various military use.

You will be playing newly minted Wardens, the soldiers that wear those Exo-Suits and that have become the main frontline pushing forward humanities expansion. You are new, having just finished your last trial, and are now sent out to join a new Operation to reclaim a critical piece of territory for Rungholt.

This RP plays about a year or two after the first Rungholt-RP and as such PC's and NPC's of that game will make re-appearances and cameos.

There are two threads, that contain all necessary and optional information for character-creation. Rungholt is a detailed setting, with lots of background information to all sorts of stuff, so feel free to read it to get ideas for your character.

Click here for the basic infos and click here for more detailed lore.

Lastly, here is the Discord-Chat. Please go here to discuss your character, before you post them here. Characters posted, without any feedback from me before, will not be accepted.

Lastly, this is an RP meant for 4-5 players. I can be persuaded to expand to six, but only if interest is big enough.

General RP Etiquette applies. Anyone who ghosts, powerplays or godmods will be kicked out. This is a long-term RP, so please don't join if you can't make that committment. And of course, prior experience with R Ps is encouraged, but not mandatory if your writing is good enough.

Edited by TheNohen on Feb 16th 2024 at 3:59:51 PM

Casual interest.

Tentative interest

• Name: Diana Chanteau
• Age: 18
• Appearance: Rebellious, in a conformist sort of way. Stands at 5'4. Dynasty seal is an elaborate visage of a blooming rose, drawn in purple.
• Personality: Tenacious, fairly no-nonsense, and just a bit cranky, Diana lives by one motto: "spare me the bullshit". She prefers to cut straight to the point of the matter, and has little patience for those she views as fools. She can come off as aloof at best and outright rude at worst, but her heart's in the right place. Mostly.
• History:
  • Teenage rebellion manifests in many ways. For some, it's through constant arguing with your parents and doing the opposite of what they say. For others, it's graffiti, parties, and a forkton of alcohol. For Diana Chanteau of the Administratum's Chanteau family, it was growing sick of the petty politics that defined her family and striking out to join the Wardens.
  • She proved moderately skilled in camp—not enough to stand out—and her first run as a recruit was much the same: moderately well, with nothing standing out. Perhaps because of this, and some misguided desire to be special, Diana signed on to pilot SELENE, with the goal of eventually piloting the very new and very experimental EQUINOX suit. I can only see this ending well.
• Skills: She's gotten a fair deal of social acumen from her time living in the Administratum. Her bullshit detector is second to none, and she generally knows what to say to make people listen to her.
• Exo-Suit: SELENE Mk. II, a light stealth-focused suit that comes with a combat knife and a cloaking module for stealth purposes. (The knife has a molecular edge.) It's a fairly form-fitting suit, and black with silver accents. Some scoff at it and dismiss it as a lesser version of the renowned SNAKE suit, but that's in part because...
  • SELENE is actually one half of EQUINOX, an...experimental Exo-Suit, shall we say. With the help of a special module, EQUINOX can shift between two forms: HELIOS (white with gold accents) which comes with arm-mounted guns and boosted armor plates, and SELENE (black with silver accents) which swaps them out for a combat knife and a cloaking module. It's an Exo-Suit trying to do two different things at once, and it's never been debuted on the field before; whether or not it will succeed is unknown.
• Misc.: N/A

Edited by LilyTheLitten on Feb 16th 2024 at 8:48:00 AM

Simple, but effective. This character is accepted.

• Name: Czesława "Czes" Moździerz
• Age: 23
• Appearance: As a cat Hybrid, Czes◊ inherits black-furred feline ears and a dexterous tail, along with sharp canine teeth, a bristled tongue, and slitted amber eyes with greater night-vision than a normal human. She stands at around 5'8" tall, with a penchant for leather jackets and a general punkish biker aesthetic.
• Personality: Czes is rather boorish, cutting to the heart of the problem and not particularly caring about the feelings of others. Her intense demeanour rarely extends towards more than one person at a time, however, and she is quite shy socially—she would rather laze around in the corner than party with a group, only to sidle up to someone and make blunt observations about them whenever she gets bored. When she isn't being unintentionally rude, she is surprisingly quiet and pensive, tending to listen and think far more often than she speaks. Even her countenance stays relatively the same, barely changing expression unless something genuinely surprises her, and otherwise remaining carefully neutral. However, she tends to express herself more in her agility and body language, with flicks of her ears and tail revealing her true feelings even if she remains relatively blank in the face. Though quick on her feet, Czes can be rather lazy, experiencing sudden bursts of energy only to then crash as soon as she has a chance to.
• History:
  • Czes was born in the West-Quarter to a business-oriented family who had a long history of running a particular chain of nightclubs in the raucous urban sprawl that they called home. Because of her parents being primarily focused on keeping the main club running, Czes only barely got attention from them growing up, and as such developed an aloof personality that learned to judge the patrons who she believed to be intruding in what she perceived to be her house. While she had a surly relationship with the club's patrons, Czes was put to work by her parents as a bouncer as her father had been before her, and she was taught his methods of dealing with rowdy patrons who caused too much disruption to be permitted into the club. Her methods of handling said patrons tended to be excessive, however, at least in terms of collateral damage—while she would expertly handle opponents much bigger than her, she would end up accidentally damaging the club or scaring the other patrons in the process. Despite this, Czes stuck around out of a listless lack of purpose, finding a sense of satisfaction in beating up thugs and kicking them out of the club personally.
  • At one point in her early adulthood, however, the club that Czes worked at and lived at happened to be visited by a Warden, who bore witness to her taking out a violent patron with a flurry of palm strikes despite his clear size advantage over her. Noting her skill in fighting as well as how she had observed her target from afar beforehand, the Warden approached Czes to offer a recruitment into the Wardens, which she accepted after only a brief consideration after glancing over at her arguing parents paying no notice of her. While the paperwork was being filed, the Warden in question got a hold of a cat Hybrid already among the Rungholt ranks—a certain Stefan Söderholm—who agreed to help train Czes throughout her recruitment and oversee her progress because of their similar backgrounds and kinship as Hybrids. Because of this, Czes received specialised coaching from Stefan throughout her two years of military training, learning how to best pilot the specialised PAN-13R models of exosuits and how to most effectively incorporate her catlike agility into her techniques. Even though Czes' tendencies can be sometimes difficult to work with, her aptitude with the PAN-13R is noteworthy as she treats it like a second-skin with few technical problems.
• Skills:
  • Catlike Agility: Czes' most prominent advantage lies in her physical ability, as she is capable of going from a complete lazy flop to clinging upside-down on a ceiling in less than a second if she is properly motivated. Elaborate flips, scrambling up walls, and general parkourish behaviour all comes natural to her, to the point where she surprises herself. She is particularly adept at chasing, as she is a naturally fast sprinter, and she has a habit of crawling on all fours whenever she climbs or performs acrobatics. Nothing physical is particularly difficult for her, at least in terms of mobility, and even when caught off-guard she is able to inject a semblance of grace into her failures.
  • Contortionism: Along with her agility, Czes is exceptionally good at compressing herself into tiny spaces, or generally squeezing through tiny gaps or moving her body in ways that probably aren't healthy and are sometimes uncomfortable to behold. Her ability to contort her body has made her a surprisingly adept escape artist, as well as an excellent hider when she has to be. Her contortionism is also reflected in her exosuit, making her a particularly adept pilot of its particular model.
  • Quick Hands: Czes has a tendency to swipe things that she likes the look of, whether stealthily or blatantly—either way, her ability to snatch things is almost unmatched, and if met with resistance she'll dig her nails into whoever is trying to stop her with no hesitation. Though this can only generously be considered pickpocketing (unless she's in a crowded area where she can get away with it), this also makes Czes an excellent thief, as her swiftness is coupled with a precision that can make stealing items that much easier.
  • Fast Fighter: While not being particularly strong, Czes' swiftness carries over into an ability to catch her opponents off-guard with sudden strikes to their weak spots in order to quickly overwhelm and disable them from fighting back. This experience comes from her history of handling rowdy club patrons and other thugs without intent of permanently injuring them, though Czes can certainly turn up the intensity for more lethality if she has to. Czes' fighting style mainly consists of observing her target before countering their own attacks to assault them with a precise flurry of her own, though if she can't find an opening she'll have no choice but to flee by outmanoeuvring her opponent with her acrobatics.
• Exo-Suit: The PAN-13R S3.15-P,◊ commonly nicknamed 'Puma' for the sake of ease, is an 8-foot tall prototypical Light exosuit designed as an offshoot of the specialised PAN-13R series, which are themselves variations on the basic COMET exosuit design. Adjusted for greater manoeuvrability, this particular model emphasises speed, stealth and agility; able to outpace most opponents or slink around in tight quarters while remaining relatively silent and difficult to spot. Fitted with clawed feet and hands in order to grip tightly onto climbable surfaces, an inbuilt gyroscope to keep itself balanced, and a long-ranged sniper rifle designed for precision shots from unusual positions and angles, the suit has outmoded the standard COMET as the pure speed option—albeit at the cost of more limited durability and a lack of strong melee weapons. Its status as a prototype (the 15th iteration, specifically) also means that it is less refined than the models before it, but its specialties still make it a useful support in battle.

Edited by Enirboreh on Feb 17th 2024 at 12:42:07 PM

Detailed and well balanced. Character accepted.

Casual interest.

Casual interest.

• Name: Ursa Bern
• Age: 23 (Roughly 28 in Bear years)
• Appearance: Beary hairy. Wears bear-gloves to give her an edge. Stands at 8'5 ft.
• Personality: Ursa isn't hard to figure out. She's calm and confident, cool and collected, speaking with action over words. She's a big eater, always searching for another meal,She's incredibly curious, literally poking her nose into anything that tickles her fancy. If she wants you to know you care, you'd better expect a hug. Warmth and affection are her specialties, but she has her boundaries. The more she knows someone the easier it is to cuddle, but she tends to keep her distance. To total strangers she can come off as a classic introvert, but get to know her and she's the best friend you could ask for. She's a clumsy slob, but this doesn't stop her from being friendly. She's generally pretty chill, but threaten her friends or piss her off and you're in for a world of hurt
  • Under the surface she's not as confident as she seems. She loves her job, but wonders if she should. According to her parents she was born to defend the wall and nothing but. If she's not defending the wall, what good is she? This uncertainty has bled over into her politics. Growing up she was as red as crimson flame, but speaking with her fellow Wardens led her to moderate her views. She's not on the best terms with her parents. She loves them dearly, but every reunion tend to turn into a shouting match. All of this is a noticeable chink in her armor, but she won't let it stop her from doing what she wants to do. She refuses to bend, both a blessing and a curse. She has a strong will, but that same stubbornness can make her inflexible.
• History:Ursa's early history wasn't too different from other Bears. Grew up near the wall, was trained to defend the wall, spent her first few years of adulthood defending the wall. There was no reason not to. Her family's politics were red as scarlet, their family tree dating back to the Bears' creation. Compared to her parents she wasn't so rigid, but such sensibilities were hard to shake. They were born to the wall and would die on the wall. That was well and good, but she wondered if there was more to it. Combat was her forte, but surely there were other ways she could use it?
  • It was after another attack on the wall that she saw her chance. She'd always been strong, but her strength and initiative were enough to impress the wardens. She wasn't so sure. A change of pace would be nice, but the Bears didn't have the best history withthe Wardens. More importantly, defending the wall was her purpose. What would her parents think? She was sure what they'd say, but she asked them to be sure. Couldn't hurt, could it?
  • As a matter of fact it could. It went even worse than she'd feared. Her parents berating her, insulting her for even considering the possibility. She was a proud Bear, defender of the wall! To become a Warden would be nothing short of sacrilege and she'd be a fool not to think so. This was enough to tip her over the edge. After years of putting up with her folks there was only so much she could take. Her training went well, as did her first mission. She was a strong and experienced, a perfect combination. Her comrades weren't so lucky. Most of them didn't pass. If this had been real, they'd be as good as dead. It wasn't a big deal, but not everyone was as strong as a bear. How much death would she see before this was over?
• Skills:
  • Bear Claw: As a bear, Ursa is incredibly strong and tough, She has enough stamina and girth to take several hits without breaking a sweat. When in battle she serves as a tank, letting the enemy exhaust their options before moving in for the kill. Her nails are as sharp as claws, serving as a decent weapon when unarmed. Can see in the dark.
  • Defensive Warfare: Ursa may not be as red-blooded as her folks, but she's a stickler for tradition. She knows her people's tactics in and out, making her skilled at defensive warfare. She's a stickler for details, but her resouce management is second to know. When faced with an overwhelming assault, she's the first person to turn to.
  • Bear Necessities: Not every Bear can rough it in the woods, but Ursa is an exception. Every year when she was little her family would brave the terrors of the wilderness, clawing their way through with nothing but the clothes on their backs. (If that.) Some of these adventures were traumatic, but they honed her instincts. She can track her prey and forage for food with ease, scooping fish out of ponds or river with litled difficulties. Drop her in the forest or the mountains and she will make it out in one piece, but she can hunt down enemies or comrades without needing fancy tech.
• Exo-Suit: GRI-L1 MKIII, 'Grizzly' for short. The Grizzly's nothing fancy. As a Heavy suit with Extra-Plating it's slow and clumsy, but strong and tough. Equipped with thick claws and a rocket launcher, it can take a punch and dish it back out. It's treaded feet give it some extra maneuverability, but it can't compared to models built for speed. It's not fast or sleek, but its durability and low energy cost make it efficient. 10 feet tall, 400 kilos.

Edited by kkhohoho on Feb 19th 2024 at 10:01:11 AM

Character accepted, as well.

• Name: Viktor Nordberg
• Age: 25
• Appearance: Viktor◊ sports one hell of a sleeper build, with a physique that hardly betrays his strength, though his height of 6’7” makes him stand out quite notably anyway. He’s long since given up on taming his messy hair and bushy tail, though he does at least take care of them. His right arm is his last remaining natural appendage, with his entire left arm replaced, and both legs disarticulated at the knee - he’s bothered to upgrade the arm to an arguably decent model during his training, but still uses stripped-down south-quarter replacements for his legs, since they work just fine. Furthermore, his torso, remaining arm and upper legs is covered in a multitude of scars, documenting brushes with death in the pit, though his face has mostly escaped this fate, boasting only some subtle nicks here and there.
• Personality: Viktor, though he used to be loud and brash, has long lost that spark. In calm, he is now often quiet and contemplative, and, though hardly open to making friends by any stretch of the imagination, surprisingly open to others for someone of his nature. However, when adrenaline flows, and the battle-rage takes hold, his old energy returns in force, becoming almost a different person as long as the bullets are flying and the blood is flowing - though not quite the snarling beast he once was in the arenas, he hits a point where there is simply nothing but the fight, and all that wrath he never shows is unleashed on whatever poor enemies he’s aimed at.
• History:
  • Born at his kind’s home along the Red Wall, Viktor’s childhood was spent as many a contemporary, active wolf-hybrid youngin’s life would be - martial arts, amateur Wall-War, and of course, bearing witness to the overcrowding and deteriorating conditions at his home. When he was in his mid-teens, his family made the hard decision to abandon their home and their clan, moving north towards Centre hoping to start a better life there.
  • Their move, however, left them no better off, stranded in the southern quarter, impoverished and hardly less crowded than before. No promised land, it’d been, and soon enough, as the most able sibling of four, Viktor was forced to work to help feed his family. Odd jobs and manual labour, at first, toiling away for food and clothes. But eventually, around the age of 18, he was offered an opportunity from a savvy, shady recruiter from the RFC’s more hush-hush endeavours - one that would not only keep his family afloat, but earn them real marks, to one day rise above the south quarter…
  • He’d been naive to take the offer, but it’d be long before he knew. He became a rising star, sponsored by a well-connected gangster who saw potential in him - a desperation and tenacity that was seldom matched. Within two years, he was the Hound, the Ghost of the Red Wall, a money-maker for his sponsor and the breadwinner for his family. Beating the odds, he would spend upwards of five years in that environment, being pushed further and further with every fight - by the end, he was fighting twice or thrice a month, complementing his scrap-built exo-rig with every drug his sponsor could get away with giving him.
  • Allegations of match-fixing bogged down the last year or two of his career, but his downfall came after several incidents where his aggression spilled over - when one of his techs was mauled after a bad outburst, he was officially deemed a liability, and within a month, he’d been gotten rid of - spared from an execution only by a savvy gangster suggesting that it’d be easier and cheaper to simply rat him out to the police, instead.
  • It was six months of hell he spent in prison, going through withdrawal and the immense guilt and self-hatred that came with reflecting on his actions in a clearer state of mind - not just his last, self-destructive act, but everything that led up to it. It was only then that he realised - he had never brought honor to himself, or his family, but shame and ruin. So, when he was approached by a recruiter for the Wardens, he saw his second chance, to find real glory on a true battlefield.
  • Over his training, he excelled at matters of physical combat and endurance, though at first chafed against the more rigid discipline and formality that came with being a Warden-to-be. Despite this making him somewhat disliked among instructors, his pre-knowledge of exo-suit piloting and high physical form made him undeniably effective, even as he insisted on specialising into something aside from close combat, distancing himself from his old way of fighting.
• Skills:
  • Wolf-Warrior’s Strength: As a wolf-hybrid, Viktor is of course quite strong compared to your average human, and with the addition of his lifetime of physical training, he is in indisputably excellent condition, boasting above average strength and athleticism, though he isn’t setting any speed records any time soon.
  • Hand To Hand Expertise: As a pit warrior, Viktor had to know how to scrap to survive, and scrap he does - while he doesn't particularly stand out as far as weapons use goes, Viktor sports a hard-earned mastery of hand-to-hand combat, knowing how to leverage the strength of an exo-suit quite well indeed.
  • Feel No Pain: As a consequence of his life in the Pit, Viktor has developed an absolutely staggering pain tolerance, capable of pushing through discomfort and pain, up to just about anything short of mortal wounds to keep fighting. Even without the adrenaline of a battle-rage coursing through his veins, he’s distinctly tolerant of pain compared to his peers.
• Exo-Suit:
  • The ATLAS-E9/FS EN70◊, a branch off the venerable ATLAS lineage that, while not dissimilar to its base model, has made a name for itself all the same. Usually known as the ENYO, this suit sacrifices some of the ATLAS' usual armor, being one of the less thoroughly well-protected heavy exo-suit models. Instead, the suit is built as a versatile war machine, aiming (and not entirely failing, one could argue) at bringing some of the adaptability of medium suits into the big leagues, able to move a little more nimbly than is typical. Though its design carries hardpoints nominally for mounting over-the-shoulder weapon pods, they are typically instead filled with utilities, as the suit, with its pneumatic recoil compensators and generous power and ammo reserves, is largely built around carrying a single heavy weapon in its arms.
  • The EN70-C, used by Viktor in particular, is largely an oddball design, with few models in circulation, due to an egregious design flaw. Built to carry the Mk.3 Heavy Support Weapon, a bulky machine gun with serious recoil but a heavy punch, the C model required considerable amounts of additional recoil compensation to function. Fitting this in the legs where it had to go meant either bulky, cumbersome shin assemblies, forcing the user to waddle around... Or the removal of all internal space below the knee, making it only operable by those who have gone through an amputation above the knee. Though this problem threatened to end its production before it even began, a few late pre-production models made it into circulation with the Wardens, where its use by Viktoria Blomqvist, a Warden of the 1st Order, gave it a new lease on life as a niche but effective model for those who fit its odd profile. Typically, it's issued without any utility or weapon pods at all, relying entirely on its recoil management systems and higher-end targeting software.

Edited by QuirkyTurtle101 on Feb 19th 2024 at 4:12:34 PM

Very good character sheet. Accepted.

Also, we now have more than enough applications and I will be closing this sign-up for now. Anyone who has joined on discord beforehand and is still working on their character-sheets can still post, obviously, but no new player-applications will be allowed for now.

If a spot opens up again, I will open this sign-up again. Thank you so much for your interest, everybody.

Edited by TheNohen on Feb 20th 2024 at 9:06:09 PM

• Name: Irae
• Age: 20
• Appearance: Standing 6'5" and being quite muscular, he is an imposing specimen even without factoring in his mutations. With black chitin-skin, large red eyes, clawed hands, and fangs hidden behind rigid lips, Irae has often been compared to the devils of ancient lore.
• Personality: Irae is seemingly a stern and military-minded individual when in the field, brusque and dispassionate, yet this is an obvious persona he puts on when focused on a mission or in unfamiliar company. To those that actually get to know him, he is a civil, compassionate person, who enjoys reading and learning new things. His outward switch between these moods can appear jarring, but in truth are facets of the same man, who is kind, yet willing to kill for what he believes in. He's fairly easy to get along with, having long since grown tired of caring about people's differences.
• History:
  • An uppity child of the Ruin Wall, troublesome from a young age, even more so once he reached his Naming and proved he would not go gently into that good night. His thirst for adventure started early, and while by day he apprenticed as a carpenter under his mother, by night he dabbled with underground fist-fighting and petty theft. Fortunately, his criminal past never caught up with him. Unfortunately for his parents, his desire for freedom never went away.
  • No one in his community was surprised when he went to join the Wardens. The Wardens, however, were quite surprised to find an overachieving mutant who casually shrugged off any hatred sent his way with a smile, who constantly pushed himself and impressed at every opportunity. Even his first mission went spectacularly well, ensuring people would be keeping an eye on him. Fortunately, Irae was never the type to break under pressure.
• Skills:
  • Combat: A crack shot and an expert in hand-to-hand, Irae possesses great talent for violence. His particular style is direct and forceful, owing to the brutal bloodsport he learned from.
  • Scavenging: Like most mutants, he's used to making use of what he can find. Survival is easy for him, and he doesn't mind being without modern comforts.
  • Handyman: Though he never actually finished his apprenticeship, he is nonetheless decent with a hammer, saw, or drill.
• Exo-Suit: D43-M0N, or 'Daemon', a Medium suit with a good balance of speed, durability, and power, effective at short-to-medium ranges. Armed with a heavy machine gun and two retractable, curved blades extending backwards from the wrists. Sleek and black, with two antenna sticking out of the head. By chance, the previous pilot was also a mutant, so Irae likes to think the antenna are honoring her memory.

Thank you and accepted.

• Name: Vakarė Astrauskas

• Age: 24

• Appearance: Don't go anywhere without oozing style. And fur highlights.

• Personality: Vakarė is something of a rebellious punk, hating being subjected to authority he never agreed to listen to. This was one of the major issues behind his washing out at military academy as a child. He puts up a cold, stoic front, and in some part it's the truth. Although, beneath that surface is a boy that's bitter over the legacy that's weighed down upon his shoulders, struggling with the dissonance of wanting to be free of his family name in the Matta incident and anger at himself for disappointing his family. Beneath that though, something that shines through in his casual moments with those he trusts, or on a subject he really enjoys, is an earnest, genuine man, however muted the smiles and laughs he may give may be. Despite the fox mentality of pragmatism and function over all else, Vakarė has a flair for the stylish, and often likes to spruce up whatever equipment that comes into his possession, a holdover from his gangster days.

• History: Vakarė was born in the Prague segment of the East Wall. The start of the Astrauskas name's legacy stretches back to the Matta incident during the first century of the Long Siege, with the name "Violeta Astrauskas", one of the heroes in the battle against the corrupt police chief turned would-be dictator. A legacy that Vakarė wishes he could do without, as the eldest of his siblings. Early on, as a child, Vakarė engaged in the usual Hybrid pasttimes and traditions with earnest, playing Wall War, where he excelled as a Spear-Runner, and being prepared for a life in the military ahead of him as the next scion of the Astrauskas name.
  • As he grew older, the expectations finally began to weigh down upon his shoulders more and more, the anxiety souring his maturing brain and independent thought from the future that had practically been planned for him. This culminated in Vakarė going AWOL and dropping out of military academy not even a year after he began attending. Practically disowned by his family, Vakarė eventually ended up in the South Quarter, joining up with one of the gangs there that caught his attention using his military training to entice them into taking him in. With his skill, he quickly rose to the level of enforcer, even becoming a personal bodyguard for one of the top authorities in the gang.

  • But this too was not forever. One bad day, one precise sting operation on the headquarters, and Vakarė found himself in cuffs. With jail time looming ahead for his long rap sheet, Vakarė did something he would dread doing. He called his parents.

  • One icy meeting later, where but a little reconciliation was made, Vakarė made a logical choice to avoid his fate, by following down the fate originally handed down to him. He would join the Wardens. After all, he was simply a soldier of the streets for several years before this, although he wasn't looking forward to answering to an authority enforced upon him, one who hadn't earned his respect.

  • His two-year stint in training camp went about as regular as one might expect for a Fox Hybrid with both pedigree behind their name and practical experience from the streets. Tactical, precise and surgical, with a surprising ability to think on his feet, yet rebellious and prone to insubordination were many of the words used to describe Vakarė by his instructors and commanding officers during Initiation and first mission. Vakarė set himself apart with bold manuevers and propensity for shock and ambush tactics, scoring decently on his marksmanship tests. As much as he was a problem student in terms of attitude and respect for superiors, he undeniably had efficacy and skill to become a Warden, and his demeanour slowly improved over the two years, though he's kept his vicious independent streak.

Skills:

• Fox-Hybrid Physiology: Like all hybrids, Vakarė is physically adept, though with more a focus on agility compared to their Wolf Clan cousins. He's not winning a wrestling match against any Hybrid other than a Cat or maybe another Fox, but he's still got that natural advantage. His time as a Spear-Runner in Wall-War and a ganger on the sometimes war-torn streets of the South Quarter has meant that he's pretty mobile too.

• Street/Urban Combat: Naturally, as a former gangster, Vakarė is very familiar with brawling and firefights within urban environments. While he never focused on actual hand-to-hand combat, he's still better than your average civilian at laying down some pain with his fists.

• Analytical Skills/Perceptiveness: A classic skill associated with Fox-Hybrids, Vakarė is much more selfish with this skill than most. He's able to notice small things that others might not, able to then form a plan taking it into account. This extends to non-combat situations from his time as a bodyguard.

• Marksmanship: He's not exactly sniper material, but Vakarė is certainly able to make his shots count at longer ranges than average, a holdover from trying to conserve ammo as best he could while as a street enforcer.

• Tinkering: Vakarė actually has a small passion for mechanics, often working on cars in the gang's garage when he could. He knows his way around wrenches and spanners, even though he's not a professionally trained engineer by any means.

• Exo-Suit: The AB-3L is a variant model of the ever-popular and dependable EVA suit. It's a Medium Suit, much like it's parent model, though trending towards the heavier end with more armour plating in exchange for less speed. A much more specialized suit that trades the versatility and ease of use of the base EVA model in return for a higher reward for skill with its use. It's a solid, dependable model, despite its age. As the saying goes "If it ain't broke, don't fix it.". It comes equipped with a grapple line for allowing its user to reach higher elevations for a superior firing position, and the one Vakarė is designed to be Rookie-friendly with a targeting computer for acquiring targets and correct minor flaws in aim. Vakarė has gone to lengths to make this one "his", featuring a coat of war-paint and some adorning bits of cloth as tassels and cape. Absolutely no pragmatic use, but he likes how it looks, it's as simple as that. His AB-3L wields a powerful battle rifle, again a variant of the assault rifle that most EVA models carry, meant for solid mid-to-long range engagements with a slower fire rate but more stopping power.

• Misc.:

Very nicely done, good backstory. Character accepted.

Pretty sure I expressed interest in the first version of Rungholt back when I was younger and flakier, but it never actually went anywhere. Regardless, are signups still open?

Edit: never-mind I counted

Edited by Yayakuza on Mar 7th 2024 at 10:49:22 AM

Actually, a spot just opened up. So, if you want you can still join.

• Name: Sabik Sommerland
• Age: 27
• Appearance: Patchwork, almost, with a flair for grunge.◊ Not pictured are his several cybernetic implants which actually make it quite uncomfortable to wear clothing over the upper half of his body. Among these implants are a full replacement of his right arm, shoulder and pectoral muscle, a built-in respirator located in his throat for ease of function at high altitudes, a spinal insertion for increased balance and strength and, most importantly, the wires in his head marking him as a tinkerer. He’s also covered the entirety of his organic body in chaotic tattoos similar to a stained glass window. He claims the tattoos do mean something, though he’s got no real idea what that is.
• Personality: To those unacquainted with tinkerers, the whole lot of them have a tendency to come off as raving maniacs obsessed with all things metal and electrical. Sabik, through a life above what is generally considered ‘safe’ altitude, has compounded this off-kilter demeanor into a genuine and often frightening abnormality. Unaware of many societal norms, the electrician often finds himself facing difficulties fitting in with most people. His sense of humor and unorthodox sensibilities make him unable to truly adjust to life on the ground, and the biggest factor contributing to that fact is Sabik’s relationship with risk. In short, he is addicted to it. Whether it be gambling or tightrope walking, Sommerland is borderline-dependent on placing things of value on the line, up to and including his own body. One particular example had him betting his left hand on a dice roll…only for the other party to pull out because that was totally insane.
  • This is tempered with a strong sense of responsibility. Such a sense was drilled into Sabik from birth, and it’s only grown stronger as he’s come to be a husband and father. He’s regularly guilty about his addiction due to this obligatory sense of duty, but he tends to not have the will to resist pushing the envelope just a bit further. His habits are ultimately self-destructive, and he’s lost limbs to them. Funnily enough, when he made the jump from electrician to Warden, he acclimated rather well to the high-stakes environment after the initial shock. Just another hit to the pleasure receptors, watching those bullets whiz by. That’s why they came to him for the BAREBONES in the first place. You’d have to be crazy to use it.
• History: Born in the sky to a woman he never knew and a man without a name, Sabik grew up on the outside of an Administratum Tower which, at a frighteningly young age, he began to work at as an electrician. His father served as a tough, rather emotionally unavailable parent and fostered within the boy an early lack of self-esteem. This gave rise to a stupid streak wherein he’d undertake progressively more risky jobs partially for the rush, but mostly to garner concern and pity from his icy role model. This relationship never truly got any closure, as one of these risks eventually ended in Sabik’s arm getting mangled beyond repair, and while he was recovering, his father also fell. Unfortunately, that one killed him. Now an orphan, the boy spent his formative years growing increasingly self-loathing, falling deeper into his tendency towards risk as he developed a gambling addiction and accrued several more injuries.
  • At the age of 20, a group of tenants moved into the newly furnished Floor 103. Among them was a girl named Jocelyn, whose beauty and habit of singing on her balcony caught the eye of several on the maintenance team. With Sabik, however, she seemed most engaged. It was hotly debated among the men what she saw in the quote, ‘crazy motherfucker,’ but regardless, it wasn’t long before he moved into the building. Well, until he tried, at least. Turns out 20 years of sleeping on a hammock suspended 500 feet off the ground didn’t translate well to regular beds, and he found himself waking up in the middle of the night in terror believing himself to be falling. This minor roadblock hardly dissuaded him and Jocelyn from their devotion to each other, however, and they got married about 2 years after first meeting. She fell pregnant shortly after, and gave birth to twins. There was apprehension from her as to whether or not her children were to be tinkerers, as she wasn’t. They eventually decided that they had to risk it, and their two children underwent the surgery to install Mental-Cables. Only one survived. Devastated by the loss, Sabik began underperforming at work, and when a group of kids about as young as he was when he started were cycled in, he was phased out. Now without any means to keep himself occupied, he fell deeper into his depression, slowly becoming a similar figure to his father.
  • It was around then that his violent streak started, and after a series of bar fights he found himself incarcerated for a night. Nothing major, but his background and circumstances drew the attention of some Warden recruiters who offered him a job he wasn’t in a position to reject. Jocelyn hated it. She came from wealth, and the money she pulled in from her family’s club was more than enough to provide for the three of them, but for Sabik it went deeper. The monotony of it was unbearably boring, and he had to force himself not to fall into mindless gambling to satiate his restless mind. Having joined up with the Wardens, he clashed with the rigid nature of military training, and his several disciplinary issues caused the general consensus on the man to be that he was unreliable. Then came his first mission. It was basically agreed upon that if anyone failed, he’d be the first. And then…he didn’t. In fact, he managed a success so absolute that, inwardly, he began to wonder if all those years scaling walls were just a waste of time. Maybe this was his calling, instead.
• Skills:
  • Gambling Demeanor: Sabik has a striking disregard for his own safety when it comes to anything that can feasibly be considered a ‘gamble.’ He’s downright addicted to the rush he gets from being in danger, and this translates directly to combat. The high-stakes knowledge of Warden expeditions means there’s basically perpetual risk out there, and the genuine enjoyment of such risk allows Sabik to pull off genuinely insane feats when combined with the specialized nature of the BB.
  • Rabid Combatant: What the former electrician loses in formal training, he makes up for in pure fervor and unmatched ferocity. He has a somewhat alarming talent for reckless violence, and in a combat scenario it’s a mix of that natural inclination to inflict damage alongside the training he received upon entrance to the Wardens that gives him an unpredictable fighting style as he uses the instantaneous momentum-shifting of the BB to pivot and shift in eclectic ways that confuse adversaries and set up devastating kicks. Also, he has a laser gun strapped to his arm, which definitely helps.
  • Laborer’s Physique: Having lived his life lifting himself up and around scaffolding, typically without support, Sabik has developed a very strong body. He’s got basically perfect balance and immense core strength.
  • Electrical Mastery: A tradesman of 20 years, the man got damn good with all things electric. Generally speaking, if it’s got a current running through it he can figure it out eventually. This extends to his own suit, which he will occasionally fiddle with in idle time just to see if he can make it work just a little bit better. He doesn’t tell anyone he does this, probably because they’d tell him to stop, but it hasn’t seemed to mess anything up yet.
• Exo-Suit: From the very beginning, the M-2000 line of Exo-Suits garnered a meager reputation as something of an oddball series, what with it’s imitation of the human form in most of it’s iterations. As far as examples go, the M-2200, nicknamed the CROSSBONES by the few who used it, is probably the best one. The armor plating of the suit seemed almost molded to the users’ muscles, and the close fit (marred by the unavoidable fact that you couldn’t tailor the damned thing and as such it was never quite as close-fitting as was preferable) made for uber-maneuverability. This combined with the frame, which heavily resembled the human skeletal system, made the CB an effective, if essentially unfinished and overly-ambitious, tool of war that unfortunately never saw much popularity due to its comparatively low firepower.
  • Then someone ripped all the armor off. Created as a mere thought experiment, the M-2240 BAREBONES was never intended for actual use in a combat setting. The idea behind it was that by stripping the CB down to its bare essentials and upping the speed, a functional ‘Mobile Shotgun’ could be created. The most glaring issue, of course, was that getting hit would be near-guaranteed death. There really wasn’t any answer to this. The armor was paper-thin and the frame was the very same skeletal make of its parent suit, so the only real protection the BB could offer would be minor shock dispersal which would do nothing against direct hits. As far as practicality went, the suit was a failure. But wait, some intern said, if the only problem is that the thing can’t take a hit, why don’t we just make it super good at dodging? Suddenly interest was revitalized as several options were pitched. Thrusters, retractable wheels, a flight-module similar to the MERCURY of years past. Finally, an anti-grav system installed in the boots of the suit became the widely accepted solution. The BB was redesigned to specialize it into shifting momentum instantaneously which allowed for extremely fluid and erratic movement. This combined with an arm-mounted Stub RC made the M-2240 a glass Gustav Cannon capable of destroying most adversaries in a single direct hit while also equally capable of total destruction under the same level of punishment.

Edited by Yayakuza on Mar 24th 2024 at 12:45:56 PM

I like the backstory, in particular. Character approved.