Futuristic NCQuest: Tactical Mech Action, Cast

[Windsock]

Previous character thread for posterity.

This is the characters thread for NCQuest: Tactical Mech Action, the continuation of the game I run, NCQuest. After retcons and a hiatus, it was determined that a new thread would be prudent; ergo, the existence of this thread.

This starter post will include the latest character sheet templates, for posterity. Expect the GM character spaces soon, to be posted below as separate entries.


MAIN CHARACTER SHEET TEMPLATE V1

Spoiler: Main Character Sheet: V1

Full Name: Full name of person, including nicknames.

Age: Age of person.

History: Personal history, such as childhood and previous jobs.

Personality: Description of broad personality traits, such as general disposition and mental quirks.

Skills: Generalized skills; personal, social, etc; overlap with linker aptitudes acceptable.

Linker Aptitudes: Aptitudes, abilities, and skillsets particular to NC piloting or related factors.

Appearance: Written description of their appearance.

Spoiler: Neural Combatant: V1

Production Number:Production number/base ID of the unit in question.

Name: Current name of the Neural Combatant.

Emblem: The unique heraldry of the Neural Combatant; an artistic patch or print somewhere on the machine. Not always present, but usually is.

Historical Record: Historical record of the NC, such as developmental quirks noticed during preliminary construction.

Construction: Basic values of the design; such as frame type, weight range, highly unique features, etc.

Capabilities: Unique capabilities of the design, such as high speed, stable firing performance, particularly good compatibility with energy weapons, etc.

Limitations: Unique limitations of the design; such as difficult maintenance usually resulting in irregular performance, or dexterity issues.

Aesthetics: General aesthetics of the design; such as sweeping curves, hard angles, aesthetic disposition; where everything is particularly set on the unit, so on.

Equipment: Equipment of the NC: weapons, particular sensors, support tech, etc.

Spoiler: Side Character V1

Name: Name of person.

History: Person's basic history.

Personality: Broad personality and general disposition.

Skills:Unique skillsets and aptitudes of the person.

Appearance: How the person generally looks.

Misc: Miscellaneous.

 

[Windsock]

GM Character List 1: MAVERICK personnel.
MAVERICK is the global organization that oversees, supports, and controls all regulated Linkers on the planet. The guild is made of three major parts, with further components each; the Board of Directors, Handlers, and the Linkers themselves.

Linkers, and their cliques.Linkers are divided into five 'ratings' by the board of Directors; with First-Rate being the most elite, with fifth-rate being the least hardened. Furthermore, the Linkers have created internal squads, gangs, and associations; generalized as 'Cliques' by the Directors for simplicity.

Spoiler: Linker Cliques

Spoiler: Clique: Crusaders, part 1

The Crusaders are an internal clique of MAVERICK Linkers, called so for their roughshod, if strongly moral character as a group. Founded by the same lineage that heired Henrique Dilan, pilot of the NC Dreadnought, the Crusaders trace their origins to the 'Century of Chaos', being one of the oldest Cliques in MAVERICK, with a high bar of entry; not of strength of arm, but of strength of character. Always rough, but consistently altruistic, the Crusaders also have a history of relying on salvaged or inherited NC parts, justifying a stereotype of exclusionary, goody-two-shoe busy-bodies who make do with hand-me-downs and battlefield acquisitions.

With the fact that the organization has always been lead by the pilot of the Dreadnought and a worrying tendency of only accepting students of previous members, the clan has come under-fire for being nothing but a personal army for the one in charge. Still, the Crusaders have maintained a long history of fighting some kind of good fight up to the present day, even if the particular definition has changed with the times.

Spoiler: Clique: Frogmen, part 1

'Frogwork' was an early, euphemistic term used in MAVERICK to describe even less scrupulous than normal contracts, such as fighting for particularly violent rebel groups, bandits, warlords, or full-fledged international terrorist organizations. Sympathizers to the causes, firehearts, and plain sociopaths who enjoyed that kind of often overly vicious work soon banded together to form their own gang in the MAVERICK organization, originally nameless. In reference to their surreptitiousness and their enthusiasm for wetwork, they were called Frogmen by others, and the name stuck.

The MAVERICK Frogmen are a group of highly professional, but amoral (if not sometimes utterly immoral) individuals who operate, in some sense, like a cartel or mafia cell. The 'Boss' of the Frogmen is currently one 'Butch Maranzeno', pilot of the Neural Combatant 'Wise-man'. The Frogmen are internally handled entirely by votes of confidence and of a somewhat warped sense of honor, with few internal rules besides keeping internal business internal and keeping each-other from going too overboard on the job, averting an excess of ire.

Spoiler: Clique: Blank Cranes, part 1

The 'Blank Cranes' are a fairly unique institution in the larger MAVERICK structure; a collection of Linkers noted primarily by intense anti-war disposition and peace-keeping attitudes. Entirely open-access, in some sense the only requirement to be a Blank Crane is to follow the ideals and call yourself one. Always considered in some sense hypocritical, the Blank Cranes are still respected for strong humanitarianism and austere, simple character.

A pillar of the group is the private, veteran Linker 'Yoko', a Second-Rate who has tutored a large handful of many other Linkers to her piloting techniques and moral philosophy. Although she was the impetus of the organization, Yoko is interestingly not a member; the actual self-proclaimed leader of the organization being her most prized student, 'Katashi', a relative war-hawk in the collection of doves. Maintaining a disgust of senseless violence, Katashi is far more open to bashing heads for the good of humanity, but isn't always listened to for his more openly violent tendencies.

Spoiler: Clique: Bluebloods, part 1

A refuge for those of 'superior pedigree', the Bluebloods are, as the name implies, those in MAVERICK who come from lineages both related to the Linker career and also those influential dynasties outside of MAVERICK's mission statement. Highly exclusive, the Bluebloods take great stock in heraldry, ritualized combat, politeness, and tact. Of course, the court is also entirely amoral and well-understands the business they're in; treating NC combat much the same way as the nobility of ancient times considered the field of battle; an escape from 'courtly affairs', ways to attain wealth, glory, and more simply; fun.

The Bluebloods have a unique, courtly code of ethics where murder of fellow Linkers is harshly frowned upon; but demanding a king's ransom from an opponent after their defeat is expected and encouraged. Following the orders of the next highest in the pecking order, to the letter, is also integral to their sensibilities.

Lead by the First-Rate Linker, Elizabeth Leopold Christian Rosemary Salvador Rafael Hohenstein, acting as 'Grand-Queen', the Bluebloods have an intentionally disproportionate number of high-tier Linkers, all grouped up into an internal chain of ranks based on ancient nobility, of course.

Spoiler: Clique: Scrapcrackers, part 1

One of the most recent Cliques, the 'Scrapcrackers' are a loose gang of engineering enthusiasts who do independent maintenance work and blueprint out their own designs on their NC's. Little defines the clan besides that, discounting a noted proclivity to nicking everything they can after Linker-Versus-Linker operations. Helpful, but grabby, the Scrapcrackers are adored and hated for their collective idiosyncrasies. Named by their founder, Dennise 'Blowtorch' O'Hara, she organized the initial founding of the group entirely on-the-spot, and is utterly hands-free of the modern crew, besides being the first amongst equals, and an occasional mediator.

Spoiler: Clique: Wolfpack, part 1

A particular pack of brigands, the Wolfpack are a harsh, brutish gang of Linkers who respect only strength of arms and viciousness; obsessed with martial superiority and the exercise of such. In some sense descending from street-gangs and warlord groups from the "Century of Chaos", the Wolfpack are consistently considered the band of Linkers most likely to go Irregular, and one of the few internal squads inside MAVERICK who has been officially censured in the past for needless collateral damage.

Still, the Wolfpack are hands-down the meanest sons-of-bitches in the organization, both in temperament and in battle. A necessity to even join their association is getting beaten half to death with blunt instruments by every other member of the troupe in person, and then having to enter combat and kill another Linker in a fair fight during the week afterwards. One of their rare concessions is that anyone can volunteer for this, and as many times as necessary; furthermore, any target can be considered.

Only technically leading this merry band of lunatics is the First-Rate Albert 'Giggles' Parker, well-known for his tendency to, as his nickname suggests, laugh, chuckle, and cackle uproariously during battle, and encouraging this quirk to the rest of his unit.

Spoiler: Clique: Internal Affairs, part 1

The I.A. is an internal clique that answers directly to MAVERICK's Chief Director, and is primarily concerned with bringing in and taking out Irregulars, but is also eligible for whatever other purpose the Chief Director deigns to give them. With a list of members that is entirely classified, the I.A. is nonetheless believed to consist all but entirely of First-Raters, almost certainly those who are in other groups besides. Believed to also act as spies for the Director, the I.A. is something of a bogeyman for most Linkers, but for once is explicitly confirmed to exist.

Spoiler: Independents

Some Linkers maintain a distinct notoriety, but aren't part of a greater whole besides MAVERICK as an organization; these, of course, are noted as 'Independents' in MAVERICK records.

Handlers
Handlers are the direct support personnel attached to Linkers, or to bases where Linkers operate from. Somewhere between a secretary and information assistant, they act as liaisons between the Linker, MAVERICK as a whole, and the Linker's prospective contractual clients.

 

[Windsock]

GM Character List 2: Ruling Powers Personnel
'The Ruling Powers' is a catch-all term for the various polities that maintain an independence in the Post-Disaster Americas, ranging from self-proclaimed Corporatocratic super-giants to lonesome city-states. No matter the specifics, each of these polities necessitates a roster of notable persons to further their existence.

TBD