Captain Hesperus
Harbinger of the End Times and Apostle of Ghan
Cecily Keiko van Heulen
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Vitals
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Age: 22
Race: Human
Affiliation: Ex-Yakuza, Ex-Mercurian Free Army
Gender: Female
Sexuality: Heterosexual
Theme Song:
Appearance: Cecily is a short (5’0”) woman of Asian-European extraction. Despite her age, she looks exactly like a 12 year old girl, a mixed blessing of her Turner Syndrome (see below). Her body is slender but toned, like a gymnast’s and she has long hair down to her hips which she regularly recolours and restyles as she sees fit. She tends to wear young girl fashions (if only because finding mature-looking outfits is almost impossible without a bespoke tailor), but when she has the funds she does splash out on racier, more adult attire.
Birthplace: Caduceus City, Mercury
Profession: Freelance Marksman/Sniper, Fugitive
Psionics or Cybernetics: Cecily has only one Cybernetic enhancement, an implanted nano-medical factory. The device was implanted into her sternum where it branched out to connect to her cerebellum so it could monitor her body’s pain receptors. From there, it is able to deploy millions of nano-machines to actively repair injuries to her body. However, the nano-machines have several limitations. Firstly, they are only able to counteract physical harm to her. Bullet wounds, cuts, stabs and even having a limb cut off can be repaired, however the nano-machines are ineffective against poisons or other chemicals that do not cause damage to bodily tissues nor do they have any effect against damage caused by asphyxiation. Further to this, the nano-machines cannot work at their maximum possible efficiency as they cause a significant amount of heat while they work. At best, they can work for five minutes before they risk damaging the surrounding tissues with the heat produced by their activity. To this end, the nano-machines tend to prioritise damage. They will stem bleeding and restore blood supply to isolated tissue, then repair damaged tissue, then repair damaged bones. As a result, open wounds will be stabilised before broken bones. Damage to nerve tissue always gets prioritised based on the nerve system. Nerves related to primary life functions such as breathing and the heart get repaired first, those for limbs tend to have a lower priority. Even then, the fragile nature of nerve tissue means that the nano-machines will take their time repairing them.
Equipment:
Acutech SR-19S semi-automatic sniper rifle with 8x scope.
The Acutech SR-19 range has been perennial favorite for snipers for over twenty years, especially considering the company's 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it' attitude to weapon development. That's not to say that the weapon hasn't undergone changes since the SR-19A was first released. The company constantly revisited the design as new technologies and weapon characteristics were developed and carefully integrated only those that made the SR-19 the most effective weapon of it's type in existence. The SR-19S is modified for use in non-Earth environments. The outer casing is coated with chemically inert materials that reduce the risk of corrosion in adverse atmospheres while the barrel has an iris that seals it between shots. It has an integrated suppressor that reduces muzzle flare by 92%, exhaust gases by 99% and report volume to a mere 90dB. Additionally, it is made of carbon fiber and non-metallic composites and is collapsible for transportation. Functionally, once dismantled, it's almost invisible to any scanning devices short of manually searching the container.
The weapon chambers standard 7.62x54 rounds in a removable, low-profile 20-round magazine. The weapon can also be breach-loaded and can also accept clip-fed rounds.
B-DOG 'Top Dog' 9mm caseless machine pistols
Cecily carries a pair of these machine pistols on a low-visibility body rig. B-DOG are a company operating out of Chicago, Earth, who produce top of the line firearms with roots to the old gang culture that once dominated Chicago (and in some regions of the now immense city, still proliferates). The Top Dog is their first foray into the realm of caseless ammunition, their normal pistol and machine pistol fare being standard brass-cased rounds, and thus far it's a successful move. The Top Dog has a clean, uncluttered design, with the shot-selector being integrated into the front of the grip and the magazine release being a small lever above the trigger, it was a great departure from their usual 'over-complicated' aesthetic. The gun has no firing pin, instead using an electrical discharge in the breach to fire the caseless round's internal fuel supply. This means that the weapon periodically requires a new battery fitting, a quick, but skilled task for the operator. It has a good fire rate, but hot as good as more popular standard round MPs and can be modified to carry an underbarrel tac rail and a suppressor.
Custom Strength Enhancement Exo-suit.
View attachment 302299 As part of her role as an officer of the FMA, Cecily was required to lead patrols and, where necessary, engage in live-fire combat. Due to her young age and lack of physical strength, she had an exo-suit constructed that would assist with lifting, carrying and running. The device consists of a chest rig containing the power and control systems and a set of limb actuators that transfer power to her arms and legs. The rig can be compacted down and can take some time to set up and don, but it can be worn over any clothing, including a standard EVA suit. The net strength gain offered to Cecily is four times her own strength, allowing her to be able to tote and fire most man-portable heavy weapons as long as she is properly braced for the recoil.
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Character Skills/Flaws
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Character Skills: (Advantageous Skills not related to your powers)
- Major Skill 1: Gun Specialist – Cecily is skilled and experienced as a sniper and support weapons operator. If it’s a long gun, she knows how to strip it, clean it, modify it, calibrate it and, most importantly, fire it. Not only that, but she is a talented marksman, able to independently calculate all variables that might affect a shot at extreme range (wind speed, precipitation, target motion, even relative rotation in an orbital station) and take her shot.
- Minor Skill 1: Urban Parkour – Cecily’s athleticism comes from her training in Parkour and Free-running. She has good stamina and hand and foot strength, allowing her to perform feats of climbing, jumping, hanging and sprinting most people her age wouldn’t be able to achieve.
- Minor Skill 2: Forgery – Cecily has developed the ability to create seamlessly perfect physical and digital documents of all kinds, from birth certificates to ID cards and datafiles. Her best work to date is the creation of her alter-ego, Keiko Kusanagi, a high-school student and musician.
- Minor Skill 3: Performing Arts – Cecily is a talented actress, the better to portray a girl ten years younger than she actually is in every way and mannerism. She is also able to play the Japanese koto.
Character Flaws: (Things your character is unskilled in, things that are ether their weaknesses or limitations.) You need to have 3 minimum flaws but you can have more if you want.
- Disadvantage 1: Turner Syndrome – Cecily is afflicted with the genetic developmental disease, Turner Syndrome, which is typified by stunted growth and development of primary and secondary sexual characteristics. As a result of the disease’s development, she has the physical appearance of a 12 year old girl. Additionally, she is infertile and she must take a cocktail of drugs and mineral supplements to stave off a host of malabsorption and mineral deficiencies.
- Disadvantage 2: Ex-terrorist – While not actually a terrorist, Cecily was brought up by a high-ranking officer in the ‘Free Mercurian Army’, and had been trained to lead a squad, even as a young girl, but had been quickly shipped off-world when the actual coup was due to take place. As such, she escaped the fate of her comrades, death or capture by the UEF and has been on the run ever since.
- Disadvantage 3: Hunted by the Yakuza – Following her association with the Hanzuku Yakuza and their annihilation at the hands of their rivals, the Kissaki Clan Yakuza, Cecily has a significant bounty on her head, as well as a significant advancement in prestige for the Yakuza who brings proof of her death to the Kissaki Clan’s leaders.
- Disadvantage 4: Child-like – The most trying part of Cecily’s Turner Syndrome is the fact that she will look forever like a child. As a result, she is most often treated as a child: prevented from going places and seeing things not appropriate for ‘her age’, disallowed from drinking alcohol or smoking, swearing and most certainly not allowed to dress or act in a sexually provocative manner. It’s enough to piss her off.
- Disadvantage 5: Shopaholic – Life with her aunt had been a whirl of shopping and partying, burning all the money her father had saved for her future in the process. As a result, Cecily now has an insatiable desire to spend money. She can become distracted from her current assignment when she sees a sale sign in a store and she can become grouchy when she is denied the opportunity to go and spend money. She is also quite often nearly broke as a result of her addiction.
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Personality
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Fears: Being captured (by the Yakuza or the UEF), being broke, losing her weapons.
Optimism vs. Pessimism: Cecily tends to be optimistic, despite her difficulties. She can be prone to bouts of dark moods, but they are rarely long-lasting and she can easily be pulled out of them when someone mentions shopping.
Introvert vs. Extrovert: Previously, Cecily was an extrovert, but the current state of affairs makes her tend to keep more to herself. Her alter-ego, Keiko, is easily the most extrovert 12-year old in the galaxy.
Justice vs. Mercy: Cecily follows justice over mercy. She is a professional killer whose previous employers were Japanese mobsters.
Feelings on the Union: Cecily has a quite-justifiable distrust of the Union, stemming in part from her father’s indoctrination and anti-Union propaganda, and in part from her own experiences following the failed coup and it’s bloody ending.
Common Mannerisms: Cecily habitually tends to her weapons when she is in private or among trusted allies, stripping, rebuilding, cleaning, modifying them and even restocking her weapon magazines. When she is among others, or when she is in her Keiko persona, she is regularly seen with her phone in hand, updating her social media, browsing online clothing store and fashion websites or taking random selfies.
Interests & Hobbies: Cecily was an avid koto player when she was younger, before and during her time tending her Yakuza boss. Since then, she’s been far less interested in her music, but she still travels with her customised koto. Additionally, she has gained an appreciation for travel and seeing new places.
Overall Personality: In everyday life among trusted people, Cecily is fun and easy-going, quick to smile, laugh and crack jokes. In her Keiko personality, she is the very image of a trendy, excitable teenage girl. When she is on-mission and behind the scope of her rifle, she’s a calm, collected operator, ready to engage any threat that manifests. -
History
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History:
Cecily was born on Mercury in Caduceus City, a massive subterranean metropolis. Most of her early years were spent surrounded by activists and warriors of the now-defunct ‘Free Mercurian Army’. Born to Hector and Kaneka van Heulen, who were one of the senior commanders and chief propaganda officers of the FMA respectively, Cecily was quickly hailed as a ‘Child of the Future’. She was used as an example of how Mercury would be once the planet had shaken off the shackles of Union rulership. Throughout her early childhood she was subjected to many photo ops, eating picnics with other children in one of the city’s simulated open-air parks, sitting in classrooms studying Mercurian history and, most importantly, learning weapons skills with prominent members of the military arm of the FMA.
At the age of 10, she was enlisted into the FMA, first as an Ensign, a purely figurative rank that was as much a mascot as it was a commissioned officer’s rank, then a Third Lieutenant. She was placed in charge of her own squad of the FMA’s Rangers, which she would lead on patrols out into the sun-blasted wastelands surrounding Caduceus City. This continued until a few months before her twelfth birthday, when she was quietly and swiftly bundled into a fast courier ship and carried out to Mars. It was only once she’d arrived safely at her aunt’s house, that she learned the FMA had attempted to overthrow the Union government of Mercury. The result of the uprising had been catastrophic, massive casualties on both sides of the fight, along with thousands of civilian casualties. The Union’s own news service made claims that the FMA had deployed chemical and biological weapons within the enclosed city, causing the great majority of the civilian casualties, while the FMA’s undercover news sources had made counterclaims to the same effect. Regardless of who had done it, the outcome was inevitable. The Union was able to land reinforcements and overcame the FMA’s defences, capturing and summarily executing anyone affiliated with the terrorist movement. Not a single member of the FMA ever saw the inside of a courtroom, and not all the bodies were recovered or identified. Leaked footage from the interior of Caduceus City somehow made it into the public arena and citizens saw first-hand the dangers of attempting to secede from the Union. These visceral images affected Cecily and she fell into a fugue from which only the heady whirl of shopping and consumerism offered anything like an escape. And Cecily’s aunt, herself an inveterate shopaholic fed that addiction. Cecily’s father had sent with her a small fortune to see her safely into her adulthood, but the two women recklessly squandered every dollar until the accounts were empty.
Then Cecily discovered her aunt’s callous side. With no more money to spend, Cecily found herself suddenly homeless. Her aunt cast her out with nothing to her name. While most might have fallen into despair, Cecily did not. While her father had sent he with money, Cecily’s old patrol had given her a number of much more practical gifts. A sniper rifle and a pair of suppressed machine pistols, along with a strength-enhancing bodysuit. The body suit had previously allowed her to keep up with the grown men of her patrol despite the heavy armor and weapons they had needed to carry and the weapons had been built specifically for her in mind. With these gifts, she turned her hand to contract assassination. She proved herself to an underworld ‘fixer’, a man who made connections between people who wanted shady things done and the shady people who would do them for the right price. She worked this career for a few months before she came to the attention of the leader of the Hanzuku Yakuza, a small and rising gang who were primarily in the protection and prostitution rackets, but had a desire to branch out into more lucrative fields. Again, Cecily had to prove herself, first to the boss and then to his underlings, that her youth and apparent inexperience would not be a barrier to their plans. She did not disappoint. When her precise and deadly shots protected one of the gang’s most popular lieutenants from the guns of his rivals during a drug deal gone wrong, life in the Yakuza was decidedly more comfortable for Cecily.
She remained with the gang for a few years, becoming closer to the boss until she regularly shared his bed and the secret of where his emergency stash of currency and gold was located. This knowledge turned out to be useful all too soon as the gang came into possession of a shipment of rare and highly sought-after Blue Lotus opium. The opium turned out to belong to the fear Kissaki Clan and, when the Hanzuku’s boss attempted to cut a deal with the Kissaki over the return of the opium, a violent and bloody fight broke out. Boss Hanzuku was killed, along with several of his lieutenants and the rest of the Yakuza were hunted relentlessly by the ruthless Kissaki gang. Cecily, already sensing the way the wind was blowing, had already raided the Hanzuku boss’s cash reserves and fled Mars.
Now, she’s in the wind, keeping her head down by using her Keiko alter-ego as a cover to find somewhere safe from the Kissaki gang’s hunters and the UEF’s own military.
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