Apex Arrows - A Soft Sci-fi Mercenary RP

"Welcome to Apex Arrows Mercenary Company, your skills, resume, and willingness to get paid big bucks has shown you to be a welcome addition to the company. Now if you will please take your bags and step onto the ship "First Response", yes the name isn't that great. No I don't care what you think about the name, this ship is staying with that name, you can join the fighter squadron for all I care!"

Hello and welcome to another RP I've made. This one was inspired by FTL: Faster Than Light, Space Engineers, Halo, and Shlock Mercenary. The idea is less serious overall story and more miniarcs constructed by the players as jobs, maybe with overarcing "arcs" of sorts. Players will be allowed to construct their own alien races, histories, and so on, beyond a set history for Earth and Humanity.

As for player made alien species, please include a minor section giving us a general idea of what the aliens are like so I can plan up future meetings for other members of the species.

We'll begin in a week and a half, though people may ask for a extension and I will postpone, but when the RP goes up I'll have a discord made.

It is the year 2684 and Earth and the Sol system have joined the Galactic Coalition, humanity sees various benefits arise as they have joined. Despite this, unrest and unease still exist in the Galaxy, and even with the Federal Alliance's major military presence, they can't be everywhere. In response numerous private military contractors have been formed, as always, some people prefer to pay more for fighters than worry about their own.

Apex Arrows is one of those companies, it has been operating for 5 years now and has just gotten it's first break for proper work.

• Name:
• Age: Please keep characters to a reasonable age, even if their species is long lived. This is a mercenary company after all.
• Gender:
• Species:
• Appearance:
• Personality:
• Feats: This is more or less "Resume" and "Military History", what has your character done that makes them notable enough to get hired on, this is also to give a idea of their skills
  • Examples go here
• Weapons of Choice: What is your character skilled in using? Is it kinetic weapons, lasers and plasma casters, melee, cqc, demolitions, what is their weapon of choice.
• Items: This covers body armor, personal belongings, and weapons, what does your character use?
• Other: Anything I might need to know for a character?

• Geneva Germi
• Ray
• Sergei Reznov
• Nari Nightprowler
• Sky
• Roger Finn Jr
• Hap
• Tama Nobel
• Kimberly Nomus

Edited by EchoingSilence on Apr 29th 2019 at 5:53:15 AM

Little interested, but can't promise anything since free time is not something I've had a whole lot of lately. What kind of posting pace were you thinking? Would only a post a day be too slow to participate?

A post a day would not be too slow to participate.

• Name: Geneva Germi
• Age: 24
• Gender: F
• Species: Human
• Appearance: Shown here ripping on her custom vape rig as always,◊ Geneva is short and wide at only 5'4. She wears a lot of rugged explorer's gear, leather and jeans made to last.
• Personality: Geneva became a mercenary to live comfortably how she sees fit, and she intends to maintain that. She's rude, greedy, and always looking for new people and things to enjoy. Living takes priority, but she can see enough of a long game to see her coworkers as long-term assets.
• Feats:
  • Responsible, coincidentally, for three of the "power driller killer" serial murders on Fornax IV
  • Infiltrated the Novo Lucro Concern's Central Datacenter and only got found out in the last 2 hours of the operation.
  • Passively seeds over five hundred different torrent lists live on servers stolen from that same datacenter.
• Weapons of Choice: Call it what it is, Geneva fights like a coward. Specialized in sneaking and stealthy attacks, and then making intensely credible threats when she gets in trouble.
• Items:
  • "Leverage" shaped charges that resemble normal pineapple grenades, but with blasts so precisely shaped that if you hold them right you can set them off harmlessly in your hand.
  • A "Termite" handheld power drill, a power drill with a heavy hip-mounted power pack that has a tendency to rapidly overheat and require its heads to be replaced. Capable of punching through bulkheads and combat armor, no sweat.
  • A "Procrastinator" silence field, a small handheld gadget that, for one minute on activation, traps soundwaves within its three-foot field until a later release at an enormous volume.
  • A vape rig customized to look like a classic paper stogie.

Approved, I love her amoral attitude and lack of empathy.

• Name: RAY-BrG4-NW007 (often called Ray when off-planet)

• Age: 27

• Gender: Female, but this is mostly meaningless to her species.

• Species: Tech-Spliced (Soldier Class). They are mostly humanoid, but their bones, nails, and the horns and spines that naturally grow from their bodies are all metal based. Similar to a rhino, they are bulky in size and have thick, almost leathery skin. They constantly wear special suits that sync up with the various cybernetic parts installed in them and allows them to perform physical feats beyond their normal limits by manipulating their own biological processes. This species was originally known as the Diceron, one of the few highly intelligent life forms on Planet Chalybs. Due to overuse of natural resources and rampant industrialization, Chalybs's natural environment became near toxic and hostile to the people that lived there. Most perished, but the Diceron survived and retreated into sealed off cities spread across the planet, connected by a vast underground tram network. Their technological prowess and foresight to prepare in case of this exact situation allowed them to survive under these harsh conditions, creating indoor farms and ranches for food, machines to keep the air and water clean, and medical techniques to both genetically and mechanically enhance their bodies. Their continued existence required a strict government and way of life, with names, birthrates, job assignments, education, and housing being controlled and organized to maximize efficiency.

• Appearance:

[1]

• Personality: RAY comes from a society of people that value efficiency, logic, and self-control above other traits, and for the most part that describes her well enough. All Tech-Spliced have emotions, but the older they are, the more effective they are at keeping outwardly calm and rational. RAY still has small inflections in her voice and minor body language cues when agitated, but she's otherwise very difficult to read. Speaking is only done when necessary, not just to break the silence. She has a strong sense of what is right and wrong, but when away from her home world, anything that benefits Chalybs is worth doing regardless of morality. If a job pays well enough, she will ignore her conscience and carry it out. If a client's job is accepted, she will complete it to the letter, no more and no less. Outside mission parameters, RAY has no interest in breaking laws or hurting innocents. Most decisions she makes aren't because she feels like doing it, but because they're one of the many pre-planned steps that will lead to her current goal. Doing things for fun when in the middle of a task is a foreign concept. Work and rest are completely separated in her mind, and doing them out of order is unacceptable. This constant strive to never waste time or effort makes her a bit neurotic when it comes to daily activities, always insisting on doing things her way. RAY is stubborn once she's locked onto an idea, and it takes a large amount of effort to convince her that there are other viable plans. Outside of work, RAY has a fascination with technology in general, and often takes apart unfamiliar machines to reverse engineer them later. As a side effect of her upbringing in a near sterile environment, RAY has a phobia about anything too "dirty" or can possibly infect others, and will always try to find a way to rectify the situation if she can't immediately leave.

• Feats:
  • Earned the nickname "The Exterminator" by hunting down and killing a large pack of rabid, genetically enhanced alien fauna that had taken over a government space station. The station was somehow completely spotless of any blood when it was later inspected by authorities.

  • After losing a dogfight in low orbit of the planet Argos III while pursuing a bounty, survived the crash landing and destroyed the other ship by repairing and hacking an anti-air cannon at an abandoned military base.

  • When a large pirate raid interrupted an ongoing peace treaty negotiations on a neutral, mostly unarmed planet, RAY and a small group of soldiers serving as bodyguards secured the building and held their position under siege for 4 hours until backup arrived, using nothing but their limited ammo supply and improvised weaponry.

• Weapons of Choice: RAY uses a combination of a high powered rifle with various energy settings and types of ammo, and built in blades that can extend from arm gauntlets to tear things apart at any range. Stealth engagements are a waste of time, so direct confrontations are preferred.

• Items:
  • Tech-Spliced Battle Armor: This is standard issue for all soldiers from Chalybs, providing an air storage and filtering system, airtight heat and cold protection, automatic medical assistance to patch wounds and slightly increase healing speed, and full control of all biological functions, but RAY has added to it over the years. It has a temporary kinetic shield that will block small arms fire, but lasts for about 10 seconds before it has to recharge. It can connect with existing comms systems and interface with/hack computer systems by touch, and it can scan people, objects, and substances to give the user a chemical and energy readout. The scanner can lock onto specific life forms and track them within a half a mile range by following their energy emissions.

  • Neutron Pulse-Rifle: This collapse-able weapon fires concentrated energy bursts either rapidly, or can charge and shoot a larger and more explosive projectile. It comes with stun, lethal, and armor settings. Armor mode allows it to damage small ships and ground vehicles, but very quickly drains the rifle of energy. It must be plugged into an energy source to recharge after long engagements. It can also accept multiple kinds of more "primitive" ammo if it has no energy to shoot lasers.

  • Tech-Claws: These blades extend from either arm to create razor sharp claws to use in melee range. The blades are reinforced by the armor to make them difficult to tear off, but they can be blocked or shattered. The claws can be heated up to burn away any flammable material stuck or covering them.

  • Magnet System: The armor is lined with electro-magnets, allowing RAY to climb up smooth metal surfaces and walk up walls and ceilings.

• Other:
  • RAY eats and drinks special packets of nutrients that can be fed into her armor, but she can also remove her helmet's visor if she runs out and there's regular food around.

  • By manipulating her brain and controlling the specific chemicals in her bloodstream, RAY can enter a temporary Battle Haze, dulling pain, fear, and hesitation in exchange for faster reflexes and bestial, almost predator-like behavior in combat. This is usually done after locking onto a specific target and lasts about 5 minutes in total before it wears off.

Edited by ScorpioRat on Apr 19th 2019 at 3:28:20 AM

Alright, I think this is done.

Ray is approved, but you don't need to doublepost to alert me. Still, looking forward to the idea.

Also, meet the commanding officer.

• Name: Sergei Reznov
• Age: 56
• Gender: Male
• Species: Human
• Appearance: Body armor is the best defense.◊
• Personality: Sergei is a old soldier, that means he's either tough enough to survive this long or wily enough to keep ahead, it's the latter really. Sergei's as dirty and underhanded as it comes as a fighter without crossing any major lines that would involve a tribunal, something he justifies with "I lived this long by those rules", despite this he's deeply concerned about the troops under him and tends to make sure everyone does their best. For the most part he plays dumb to get others to underestimate him as his most basic move.
• Feats:
  • Tavin Rising War - Sergei served with the Federal Alliance's Orbital Drop contingent, a organization known for holding only the most fearless troopers as the pods are often rocketed right into enemy territory with no concern for return. The Tavin Rising was a bloody afair involving a band of insurgents who had overtaken governmental position on the planet's colony, Sergei and his team were launched in with orders to retake key positions. The mission quickly went FUBAR but Sergei got his team together and out alive within 76 hours, even if officially the retaking of Tavin was a failure.
  • Capture of Advent Intervention - Sergei's team was fired directly at a dreadnought class supership owned by the Prime Order of the Grakos, a extremist sect of the Grakos society who had declared all other life "heretical". 24 hours and Sergei lead the entire 501st Drop Contingent to overtake the ship, completing it with only 25 of the original 40 who had been assigned the mission, Sergei regrets not being able to keep more alive though has been assured by Federal therapists that sometimes people die and you can't stop it.
  • The Abyss - trapped in a asteroid station, Sergei spent 5 days laying low and rationing his supplies and taking out key opponents of a Prime Order contingent before stealing a service fighter and rocketing out, destroying the asteroid's hangar and spending another 3 days awaiting rescue. The event has left Sergei a little afraid of isolation in the void.
• Weapons of Choice: Sergei prefers good old kinetic weaponry citing a long service history with little issue using good old bullet spitters.
• Items:
  • Drop Armor - A set of semi-powered armor used by Federal Alliance drop troopers, comes with basic EVA outfit and resistant to most small arms, helmet comes with standard HUD and targeting computers.
  • XE-42A Pulse Carbine - Standard assault rifle model of the Federal Alliance Drop Contingent (FA-DC), holds a 45 round magazine and fires standard 6.95mm pulse rounds. Sergei has attached a holographic sight to it.
  • M99 Pulse Pistol - Standard sidearm of the Federal Alliance military, fires .45 pulse ammo from a 12 round magazine, modified with a suppressor and targeting computer.
• Other: N/A

Edited by EchoingSilence on Apr 19th 2019 at 2:02:04 PM

Figured I'd go ahead and use my species from New Horizons since that game is so slow as to be practically dead.

• Name: Nari Nightprowler.

• Age: About 24 Earth years old. (Considered older by their standards, as they are a bit shorter lived than humans and hit puberty a bit earlier too.)

• Gender: Female.

• Species: Nisi.

• Appearance: Stands at 4'10" measuring to the top of her head, has a silvery fur color with faint stripes of gray, red eyes, and as a Nisi-In, has narrow, tall ears a lot like a rabbit's. When not in combat gear, she prefers slim sun dresses.

• Personality: Somewhat detached, somber, and serious, Nari does not like to talk about her past, and is especially touchy about being asked why she is alone rather than with her family like nisi women are supposed to be. Combat is an escape for her, among the few times she starts to feel alive. Secretly depressive, almost hinging on suicidal.

• Feats
  • Definitely was not born into and raised aboard a nisi pirate vessel. Definitely didn't take part in many raids on shipping vessels as a fighter craft pilot or as part of a boarding crew.
  • Definitely didn't take part in a botched raid that turned out to be a trap, getting the pirate ship destroyed, and the rest of the crew including her family killed, nor did she barely make it out as the lone survivor. Definitely didn't have to start her life anew after finding herself far from Jotun with no job and no contacts.
  • Has been doing mercenary work and nude modeling for the last year or so, while definitely not stabbing anyone who brings up- I mean- accuses her of the above information. Because she definitely didn't do any of that. Yep. Totally.

• Weapons of Choice: She can use just about any gun and any kind of bladed melee weapon, preferring her own custom ones. Also skilled at flying fighter craft.

• Items
  • Customized nisi pilot armor: A standard choice among the Savages military and nisi pirates- not that she would know anything about the latter- Basically a mostly form fitting suit with a skirt that allows for high mobility and dexterity; physically it's much like kevlar, though it also comes with a personal shield that will deflect all fast moving projectiles and shrapnel, along with energy. The shield is not the strongest however, being easily overwhelmed at which point it would forcibly shut down to undergo a ten second reset; it is a crutch to keep the user from getting killed suddenly while they get to cover, but does not allow one to fight standing in the open. The suit can be environmentally sealed, and hooked up to a ship's life support system or some other external air supply; without either of those however, the suit on its own cannot support the user for long. Nari's is black, with patterns of red 'claw marks' colored over it by hand, and a stylized 'shark tooth grin' over the black helmet plate. She also has a small, personal air tank to hook up to it on the back, with about a 30 minute supply.
  • "Ripper and Lighter" twin machine pistols: Custom built machine pistols. "Ripper" is a kinetic machine pistol, chambered in approximately 9mm with a 30 round magazine, and is colored blue. "Lighter" is a laser pistol, with either a semi-auto mode or a continuous beam mode, and is colored green; it shoots yellow lasers. Both have been modified so as to be nearly the same shape and weight, allowing for easier ambidextrous use.
  • "Management" short sword: Basically a gladius. Made with space-age materials and techniques to make it lighter and more durable than a mere steel sword, but it holds no special function. Nari nicknamed it after hearing humans saying things along the lines of, "take it up with management."

• Other: Spoiler alert, she used to be a pirate. That's certainly a big surprise, right?

Edited by FirockFinion on Apr 21st 2019 at 10:41:40 AM

Approved, love the details on the species bit, and I like the former pirate angle.

The details is actually me having to hold back and leave it to the broad strokes as best as I could.

Since I came up with the nisi and Savages years ago for another game and have been expanding on them intermittently ever since; if I had included everything I could think of that folder would've been at least three times larger, and I didn't want to subject other people to that much reading just to have the gist of them.

When I get the Discord running we'll have a section for alien life.

• Name: One-Who-Cleaves-The-Sky-In-Twain (But please, call him "Sky" if that's too long. He doesn't particularly mind.)
• Age: 50
• Gender: Male
• Species: Aellan

• Appearance: Sky is pretty short, being only four feet tall and all that. He has long black hair that he ties in two low pigtails and yellow birdlike eyes. He wears a long grey tunic with a red sash around his waist and baggy black pants gathered at the "knees." Most notably, he has a pair of wings that humans might vaguely recognize as a falcon's, with legs to match, and a long, sinuous tail tufted with feathers all along its length. He has two pairs of black horns that point straight up from the middle of his head—the ones in the back are 5 in. long and the ones in the front are 3 in. long. When he is feeling strong emotions, the bands on his horns light up with a bluish light. When in daylight or other bright places, he wears his red headband as a blindfold.
• Personality: Sky is quite a jokey and roguish fellow, but is seen as likable because of it. He often acts stupid only to shock with some pithy comment later. Rarely does he show his vulnerable side, as he's learned quickly to never show any weakness as a mercenary. He is the type to have a personal code of honor and sometimes go out of his way to help people for free.
• Feats:
  • Scammed a warlord ruler by helping to fake the death of his brother, who was the rightful heir of the kingdom and whom he was contracted to assassinate. Later killed him and installed the not-dead brother as the rightful ruler, who was also paying him to do it. Got to keep the money, too.
  • After one of his fellow Aellan was tortured for information and killed by a ship full of space pirates, he and some other Aellan banded together and cleared out the pirates' ship. He bit the captain's face off in his rage.
  • When he was ambushed by some other mercenaries during a job, he defeated all of them using nothing but a long piece of shrapnel in broad daylight, when an Aellan's vision is significantly hampered. He himself has said that he could not repeat this feat again.
• Weapons of Choice: Sky favors speed and a handful of dirty tricks to gain the upper hand in battle and to make up for his small size. He is skilled in the use of blades, small pistols, and when all else fails, his talons, horns, and teeth.
• Items: A backpack, several spare changes of clothes, various survival tools/supplies (including several swords and small guns), several medkits, and some carved wooden scrolls on various scholarly topics
• Other:
  • Sky can play flutes and panpipes very well, as well as sing.
  • His name comes from his ability to fly so fast it looks like he is "cleaving the sky in twain" according to his peers.
  • (See "Species" section for details on his other abilities)

Edited by JumpingFruit on May 2nd 2019 at 10:25:54 AM

Sky is approved.

Sorry, I had to edit the Other section a bit because I realized that I forgot a few things about Sky. I hope you don't mind.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Apr 21st 2019 at 3:30:49 AM

If something is a problem I'll let you know.

@Jumping Fruit Maybe I'm missing something, but I can't tell from either the description of the species, or the description of the character, what the aellan look like in general terms. What their general body shape is, and number of limbs and such.

You're right, I forgot about that. I added a section on what they look like and also sections on their clothing and language.

Edited by JumpingFruit on Apr 21st 2019 at 3:30:54 AM

Is it fine is if I try to have someone not entirely combat-specialized?

@Jumping Fruit Alright, cool.

Speaking of edits, I realized I used slightly wrong wording in a couple of places in my own signup, and have edited those.^note Nisi minorities being based on ears corrected to nisi ethnicity being based on ears. Nari was technically doing nude modeling, not nude photography.

So, I wanna run an idea by you.

A character dea of mine is a situation similar to Fry from Futurama - He accidentally froze himself in a cryogenic tube and stayed that way for years until the timer broke when they moved him onto the ship after some sort of job. He wakes up at the beginning of the RP with nothing but a bottle of expensive booze, a lab coat, some slacks, and a big iron on his hip.

Sounds also like a Gav situation, I'm all for that. Means we have a character who can react to the weirdness.

• Name: Roger Finn Jr.
• Age: 25
• Gender: Male
• Species: 2019 Human
• Appearance: Basically Kaneki Ken if he wasn't a heccin demon◊, Roger stands at an average height with a thin, yet toned build and snow white hair, a pair of golden eyes completing the look. He begins with a lab coat, slacks, and boots, but changes into something more reminiscent of the picture soon after.
• Personality: Roger is a laid-back, snarky guy with a love for jabbing at old pop culture references. Of course, to him, they're not that old, some even being from the hot new thing! Needless to say, this is somewhat of a cover for the the absolute awe and bewilderment of the future and what it has in store. He's more of the curious type, and is a bit hardheaded but ultimately good-natured at the end of the day.
• Feats:
  • Managed to get his dumb ass cryofrozen, and his tube moved on to the First Response.
  • On a more serious note, he's a pretty good marksman with a good weapon, and practically a one-man army... in a place with 2019 technology. Not to shortchange him one bit, but he's a tad over his head here.
• Weapons of Choice:
  • Razor Hell: Roger is good with both knives and razor wire, and can use them interchangeably.
  • Big Iron: When the above option doesn't work, Roger also has a big iron on his hip (a big iron on his hiiiiiiiiiip) to just shoot the damn guy.
• Items:
  • Literally Nothing: This dude has possibly nothing he can use, at least in the beginning.
• Other:
  • This guy is definitely a fish out of water, just saying.
  • Roger is eclectic, and will listen to whatever he sees as good.

• Name: Cameleius Diondror Ribbagocho is his birth name. Most people just call him by his nickname, "Hap."
• Age: 25
• Gender: Male
• Species: A Hoovoid.
• What the heck's a Hoovoid?: Hoovoids are a species of bipedal, red-furred, anthropomorphic camels that live on the small desert moon of Hoovton 4. Known for their ability to go long periods of time without drinking or without resting, they are otherwise mostly identical to humans' biology. They tend to stand between six to eight feet tall and there aren't any noticeable differences between males and females. A simple people with a small population, they do have a small army that is notoriously fierce but tend to favor isolationist policies. However, if their sense of honor is appealed to, they can be persuaded to lend aid to others. If Hoovoids want to find work offworld, their best chance is to hitch a ride with at trade caravan or to join up with a mercenary group.
• Appearance: Turns out it's actually kind of difficult to find a picture of a Space Marine camel. Basically, he's a red-furred camel, who typically wears desert camo pants, military boots with steel toed boots, and various fun T-shirts.
• Personality: Hap is relentlessly cheerful and optimistic, to the point of irritating others. Though he's always been happy-go-lucky (hence his nickname) since even before becoming a fighter, he now uses it as a coping mechanism to work through all of the violence he sees on a regular basis. Why spend the day upset at the people you just killed when you could instead be enjoying the nice weather that day? To his detractors, he's seen as annoying, overeager, and easily excited. To his friends and fans, he's seen as a cheerful morale booster who always tries his best to get his job done.
• Feats:
  • Veteran of the Hoovton Defense Force during the Skaldag Conflict - When a band of marauders began harassing trade vessels around Hoovton, Hap served faithfully with his fellow Hoovoids in driving them back. He was appointed his squad's designated marksman for his sharpshooting.
  • Private Contract Work - After the war's end, Hap quite liked the taste of battle and enlisted with a private security company. Assigned to bodyguard an important political figure offworld, Hap personally killed four assassins in an hour with only a pistol and got his boss to safety, earning him recognition making him a hot commodity for all mercenary companies.
  • Runner-up of Hoovoid's Annual Under-Twelve Kite-Flying Competition - Hap is really good at flying kites and has been since he was a boy. He would have won that year if the stupid refs had been paying attention.
• Weapons of Choice: Laser sniper rifle. Functions like an Earth sniper rifle but it shoots out a solid blue beam of laser.
• Items: In the field, he takes with him his laser sniper rifle, his laser pistol sidearm, and two plasma grenades on his belt. He mostly likes to stay light on the field. Out of the field, he has a large assortment of kites he's collected, a deck of cards, a colorful T-shirt collection, and a bunch of old army manuals about various ships and artillery that he occasionally reads in his free time.
• Skills: Hap is a devastatingly accurate sniper and not too shabby with close-quarters combat with his trusty pistol. His hand-to-hand combat skills are honestly a bit shaky but he can throw a decent punch if it comes down to it. Though he is familiar with a lot of artillery, tanks, and military vehicles, he doesn't know much how to drive most of them. Like most members of his species, he can walk for 12 hours straight without needing to rest and can survive up to two months with no water. Apart from being a good kite-flier, he's also an excellent gambler and is always ready for a card or dice game.

Both are approved.