The MercNet

[cats]

Our galaxy is a chaotic, very dangerous place. In dangerous places, people, particularly people with power, want security. Security in whatever form. Fast security. Effective security. Our job is to provide that security however the contracts say we should. Furtunately, those powerful people are often willing to pay quite a bit to ensure their own asses are kept high and dry when shit happens. If you're lucky, you might just make something of yourself here. Welcome to the 'Net, mercenaries.

Year: 2890 AD

The MercNet rides on the same bands as the Subnet that permeates the galaxy and links nearly every sub-capable electronic device. It's used by mercenaries and those who wish to employ them. Organizations make up the majority, or at least the majority of effective mercs, but there are smaller groups too, and plenty of lone wolves. There are several physical joint-owned locations provided by the 'Net and its organizations. Some are located in populous regions and serve as trading posts and recruiting centers. Most are secret. MercNet-owned locations are neutral; disputes and grudges between mercs are left outside of MercNet territory. Remember, it's only business.



Skills
Skills are leveled from 0-20 and are used to operate certain equipment, use certain abilities, and are a factor in deciding outcomes from dice throws. Your skill level is increased through successful completion of a task requiring the skill; training; or, in some cases, equipment.

Spoiler:

Social
-Haggling ability, peopling ability. Level can be increased through doing stuff like talking to people and shit.

Engineering
--The technical skill of the character. Increased through use, dissecting equipment, training, etc.

Pilotry
--The vehicle piloting ability of the character. Pilotry can be improved with training or use. Some equipment can increase this skill in certain scenarios.

Strength
--Physical strength of the character. Strength can be improved via training or activity until the limit is reached (limit depends on the species). Strength can be improved further by using equipment. Note that some equipment can cause a decrease in the character's base strength over time.

Agility
--Athleticism, speed, and physical maneuvering ability of the character. Similar to Strength, this skill can be increased through training, and some equipment.

Medical
--The art of healing and improving life forms. Higher Medicine level results in higher chances of success in things related to medicine. Some abilities require a higher level of skill.

Psionics
--Telekinesis and telepathy. Psionic skill can be increased with training and use depending on the Species. Higher leveling requires wetware.

Marksmanship
--Marksmanship is the character's ability to use ranged weapons. Some weapons require a higher marksmanship skill to operate.

Close-Combat
--The character's ability to use close-quarters weapons such as knives and swords and its skill in hand-to-hand combat.

Species

Spoiler:

*** In your application, you may add a total of 3 levels to any of the base stat categories (as long as Natural Caps are not exceeded)***

Human

-Social: 3
-Engineering: 0
-Pilotry: 0
-Strength: 2
----Natural Strength Cap 4
-Agility: 1
-Medical: 0
-Psionic: 0
-Marksmanship: 0
-Close-Combat: 0



Novan (GM Human)

-Social: 0
-Engineering: 0
-Pilotry: 0
-Strength:2
----Natural Strength Cap: 3
-Agility: 1
-Medical: 0
-Psionic:
----Roll 50%+ for starting: 1, natural cap 4
----Roll 50%- for starting: 0, natural cap 0, Social +2
-Marksmanship: 0
-Close-Combat: 0
Misc: Add 1 point to either engineering or medical base stat.



Kylathan

-Social: 1
-Engineering: 3
-Pilotry: 2
-Strength: 0
----Natural Strength Cap of 1
-Agility: 1
----Leveling 50%
-Psionic: 2
----Natural Cap 6
-Marksmanship: 0
-Close-Combat: 0
Misc:
----10% probability of contracting minor illness in public places every day
----1% probability of contracting major illness in public places every day.



Trackuul

-Social: 1
-Engineering: 0
-Pilotry: 0
-Strength: 3
----Natural Strength cap: 7
-Agility: 1
-Medical: 0
-Psionic: 0
-Marksmanship: 0
-Close-Combat: 2
Misc:Natural (light) Armor



Batii

-Social: 2
-Engineering: 0
-Pilotry: 0
-Strength: 2
----Natural Strength cap: 4
-Agility: 3
-Medical: 0
-Psionic: 0
Marksmanship: 0
-Close-Combat: 1
Misc:
---- -1 Strength, -1 Agility in low-oxygen environments
---- +1 Strength, +1 Agility in high-oxygen environments.

Rules/Regulations

This RP will be played on a 1:1 time scale with RL, but will shift when necessary. Players can make as many posts as they wish as long as they don't deviate from the timeframe.

Certain actions require a dice roll to decide the outcome. Since there is not yet a solid system, what the dice value means will pretty much be my call.

The GM will roll for the player if it is not stated that the player's own dice are used. (this is on the honor system, play fair.)

The player must keep and update a character sheet that contains the character's stats.

GM's word is law.

Usual RP rules: no goddmodding, metagaming, etc.

Blank Character Sheet:

Spoiler:

Skill Levels
Social:
Engineering:
Pilotry:
Strength:
Agility:
Medical:
Psionics:
Marksmanship:
Close-Quarters:

Misc Stats:

Owned:

Equipped:

Cash: 250 Credits

(Remember, you're a rookie and don't have much more than the clothes on your back and a few hundred credits.)


Application

Name:
Species:
Base Character Sheet: (spoilered)
Backstory:
Appearance: (image or description.)
Song: (not necessary)

[cats]

Accepting applications now. We'll get started in a day or so.

[Error]

Name: Ajax Makaan
Species: Novan
Base Character Sheet: I assume I have 3 total points to split between these?

Spoiler:

Social: 0
Engineering: 1
Pilotry: 0
Strength: 1
Agility: 1
Medical: 0
Psionics: 1 (rolled 16 on 1d20)
Marksmanship: 0
Close-Quarters: 3

Misc Stats: +1 Engineering

Owned: Uniform (CSN, insignia, rank, and ship patch removed; replaced by Novan flag), x2 Monodagger (almost-not-quite monomolecular), X-3 Laser Sidearm, M47 Lance Rifle (7.62 battle rifle), light armour (protects against melee), x3 shuriken, x4 small throwing knives.

Equipped: Uniform, Sidearm, all melee weapons (hidden about her person).

Cash: 250 Credits

Backstory: I shall fill this is as we go (likely via chatting with other folks).
Known: Former CSN technician and anti-boarder ("corridor-commando"), and spent her time in the Navy fixing things and embedding sharp objects in boarding teams.

Appearance: 167cm height. Exceptionally pale. Redhead. Has blue clan tattoo over right eye (image later). Visible utility augmetic (think sleeker mecha-dendrite) attached at right shoulder blade (can be removed). Low-visibility cybernetics; small quantum matrix (no QI) within left lower arm. Nanite swarm canister under the ribcaye (left).

Song: (Have one in mind, will find later.)

[Professor Fenway]

I will be filling out an application later, right now I am busy.

[Professor Fenway]

Ok, here we go;

Name: Jovian Hagr
Species: Kylathan
Base Character Sheet:

Spoiler:

Social: 1
Engineering: 3
Pilotry: 3
Strength: 0
Agility: 1
Medical: 0
Psionics: 3
Marksmanship: 1
Close-Quarters: 0

Misc Stats: +1 added to psionics, Marksmanship, and Pilotry

Owned: NR Captain Uniform (Stripped of everything except the identifying NR insignia), 1x SPPC Sidearm (Small Photonic Plasma Cannon, standard NR officer sidearm), 1x Quantum-Psionic Interface (Interface designed to allow him to interact psionically with electronics and machines, permanently grafted into his upper-right arm). Nothing else very important, except clothes.

Equipped: Uniform, SPPC, and interface all equipped.

Cash: 250 Credits

Backstory: Jovian is a rare breed of Kylathan; he has no split personality, and a very high affinity for local civilizations. He left his small community and joined the NR military in 2870. He rose through the ranks of the increasingly corrupt organization, free to watch the organization as it corrupted itself, free to watch as the nation began to hemorrhage to death. He had a front row seat, as a captain. The military ended up taking over while he was a captain, began instituting draconian laws on the populace. Backroom deals and bribery became all-to common, and the military order began to dissolve. He merely did his job until, several years ago, he was arrested in connection with a crime he didn't commit, in a conspiracy against a non-existent government. He managed to escape custody and evaded capture for over 5 years before he was finally cornered on Raloch IV, a heavily polluted industrial world. Rather than arrest him again, they tortured him. They pulled off his skin and watched him bleed. They ran him through a centrifuge for hours. They stretched him until his skin cracked and bled. They twisted his arms around poles, shattering their flexible supports. And then they left him for dead.

The torture left Jovian a amnesic hulk. He forgot who he was, what he did. He forgot his skills, some of them, and his heritage. But something changed, because he could control his psionic potential now, he could shape it. It was no longer random energetic bursts. And they instilled rage in him, and he wants revenge. Better to start small, no?

Appearance: Jovian appears a very standard Kylathan: 152cm tall, scaly reptilian skin, four arms. Two of the arms are heavily scarred, and a very long, partially healed scar still runs across his face. His eyes are mismatched-one is violet while the other is a deep crimson red. His skin is dark grey and black, having lost all pigmentation a few years ago. His scales are flatter than usual, leaving his body almost smooth to the touch. And his tongue is half-missing, ending not forked, but in a cut stump. It doesn't affect his speech.
Song:

[cats]

Only two? Well, I'd like to get at least one more, but if there aren't any takers by tomorrow night I'll go ahead and launch

[Archduke Daynel, PhD]

I'll join once I have the time to figure out how this stuff actually works, but my mom's decided that this weekend/week/month/year will be the Grand Millennial Cleaning so I'm not actually even allowed to touch my computer...

[Professor Fenway]

What's happening?

What's happening to the RP Section?

There should be at least... 2 times this number of participants!

[Shadowcatbot]

It's Christmas break, Il let you extrapolate what that means.

[cats]

Okay, current apps are fair enough, but everyone applying later will have to go easy on the weaponry. Use the skill level as a guide; if you have level 1 marksmanship you probably won't have a Sooperdooper X-45million-A-BS PhotoPlasmaBolt Antimaterial Electro X-Ex-Ehx Repeating Rifle, you buy those later when you can actually operate them. We'll keep the 250 credit (since I forgot to specify what "a few hundred" is).

Also surprised no one has any kind of personal computer.

=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+==+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=

A beaten-up, slightly rusted service drone suspended above a vacant information desk repeats its audio loop. "Welcome to MercNet Interstellar Hub Nine! The largest Hub within twenty-three lightyears! Here, you can find shops, armories, band recruitment centers, restaurants, vehicle dealers, inns, training centers, long-range transportation, and much much more! For details on those or anything else, I'm here to help, just ask! Please donate to the 'Net to show your appreciation."

[Professor Fenway]

Jovian's quantum-psionic interface kinda doubles as a personal computer, permanently grafted into him. It's basically a psionic computer, designed to input his psionic commands into quantum and electronic data. So it is his computer.
___________________________________________________
Jovian neared the information desk, ignoring the odd looks from those around him. Kylathans were rare enough in most of space; a Kylathan in a place like this was unheard of. He also considered that some of the looks were from the NR uniform he wore, which was stripped of rank and designation. Only the insignia remained.

He noted the drone, looping its slightly distorted message off to anyone who would listen. He approached it. "Recruitment centerss, pleasse," he asked, with a slight emphasis on the 's' sound.

[cats]

The drone rotated to face Jovian. "Ah, hello! Recruitment centers are located toward the middle of the station along with shops, pubs, and eateries. There are currently two bands actively seeking new recruits: the Ravagers, known for scavanging, treasure hunting, and piracy as well as contractual mercenary work; and the Black Sun's Breath, which is an organization comprised primarily of experienced pilots and drivers. Please donate to the 'Net to show your appreciation."

[Luna]

Name: Karrik Rakoro Arrok
Species: Trackuul
Base Character Sheet:

Spoiler:

Skill Levels
Social: 2
Engineering: 0
Pilotry: 0
Strength: 3
Agility: 2
Medical: 0
Psionics: 0
Marksmanship: 0
Close-Quarters: 3

Misc Stats: Natural (Light) Armor

Owned: Standard issue Laruthian combat suit, 30 cm tactical knife.

Equipped: Suit, Kinfe.

Cash: 250 Credits

Backstory: (To be done)
Appearance: 288 cm, well muscled.
Song: (Might happen)

[Professor Fenway]

"Thank you." He folded three of his arms behind his back, leaving the upper right arm out, and brought the interface in front of him. He sent it a small pulse and the screen lit up. It shifted before displaying a snippet of information on the Black Sun's Breath. The device wasn't powerful enough to send psionic signals, only receive them. He left the drone behind as he read the snippet, headed towards the center of the station.

As it said, they were primarily pilots and drivers. He brought up the list of the most wanted in each government sphere; he only found one who was known to belong to the Black Sun's. So they seemed to be lower profile than most. His face still stared back at him from the top of the NR list. Most wanted fugitive #3. He checked for further database entries on the Black Sun's Breath as he approached the center station, but he found few entries. Hardly surprising, but still disappointing. He preferred to know a bit more on what he was getting himself into.

He found their center and began approaching it. He paused for a second. He looked to his left and his right, eyes narrowed, before continuing. He had caught a snippet of activity behind him. Someone had followed him here, and wasn't too keen on covering their signature anymore. Jovian kept one of his hands on the pistol as he neared the center.

[Error]

The quantum matrix implanted in Ajax's left arm is essentially 'PC meets omni-tool meets ECHO'.
________
Ajax glanced around, disregarding the drone for now. Usual merc fare; dingy, smells bad, psychotics everywhere. She frowned, hearing her augmetics whirr behind her back. Flicking open her QM, she checked the local database; not enough data. So, no change from usual.

She turned to the drone. "Recruiting mercenaries or hiring ships, please?"