From The Mouth of Damnation || Signups and OOC Thread

[FeastOfPerversions]

OVERTURE

INTEREST CHECK THREAD

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Lore Thread

The year is 4237 and in the wake of a brutal three and a half year war across the stars, once again only empires remain standing; decadent and prideful atop the ruins of their enemies or crumbling and recoiling from the creeping spectre of obsolence. A fitting title for what is known as the Reckoning Of Empires. A vast expanse of worlds shattered, forged, and arisen from the aftermath of their brutality serves as a testament to the very cost of their existence. A cost offloaded onto their subjects and those who struggle amidst a new paradigm of interstellar power.

Gouged husks of former glory and burgeoning wealth of captured territories that span across systems define this age of ambiguity. Yet the course of empire creates the mechanisms for its destruction and the cost to be paid is steep and bloody.

From the wreckage of fallen worlds cast off of or revolted against prior masters, the Intranszjednota or simply the Intransigence has arisen as a revolutionary power uniting disparate worlds across the post-imperial spaces. A hegemon forged from the growing contradiction of imperial might, its roots lay in the years leading up to the Reckoning yet as its enemies slaughtered one another, it grew in power and now stands as a formidable entity on the inter-solar stage.



Amidst the wreckage of fallen worlds and teshattered dreams, you have been summoned to serve as their hidden knife against unsuspecting throats. Among your number insurgents, guerillas, rogue militants, pirates, mercenaries, even the defectors of empires - an unsightly morass of the dishonorable, scattered to the wind by the tides of upheaval and war. Now collected in the hand of the Intransigence, they form a network of hit-squads and deniable operation forces, answering through a fragmented network of communicators to the hidden powers of revolutionary leadership.

As the technocratic Black City Conglomerate, the corporate-expansionist Unified Celestial League, and the aging Yrrkradian Empire begin to heat up their power games, the Intransigence is caught amidst their scheming powers. Yet they are not aware of the envenomed blade grasped in its hands, of which you are nowthe spearhead and now plunging head first into their hearts.

In a line of work fraught with conspiracy, subterfuge, betrayal, and shifting tides of allegiance,
you are the living embodiment of a hidden war.
​

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Recap of Rules and Expectations

NOTE: A LORE PAGE WILL BE WORKED ON ONCE WE HAVE SUFFICIENT INTEREST IN THIS RP.​

From The Maw of Damnation is a military sci-fi roleplay focusing on a select team of "inconvenient" people who "don't actually exist" (on paper) sent in to do the dirty work of a revolutionary alliance. Your enemies - the Black City Conglomerate, Unified Celestial League, and the Yrrkradian Empire - may not be on the same but they definitely are not on yours. You will not necessarily directly combat them as much as mostly you will engage their various proxies whether against aligned-yet-indpeendent planet-states, state-supplied terrorist groups, contracted mercenary groups, and covert operation units of their own.

There is a lot of lore though it is being condense to fit in its own thread. If there is enough interest, then I will allow for members to contribute to it.

This is going to be a very violent roleplay that touches on messy Cold War/World War I style politics and themes of of colonialism, imperialism, revolution, atrocities, and even elements of the arcane and eldritch.

Yes, there is a "magical" element in a sense, similar to Warhammer 40000 and Mass Effect though it is understood frequently through a more scientific or even occult lens.

More importantly, this RP will feature quite a bit of graphic death and injury on top of grotesque mutations, intrusive biotechnology, flesh-meets-metal cybernetics, and so on. This is your only warning on the subject.

I am aiming for characters who have had either in the Reckoning Of Empires or the various civil wars, insurgencies, or proxy conflicts that emerged since. Experience in both is also fine. The war lasted from 4229 to 4233, with various smaller conflicts happening in the four years since.

It is not required your characters necessarily have a military background but I will ask that your character have a number of "secrets" or unpleasant, illicit, atrocious, or otherwise very "inconvenient" parts of their history that could be considered compromising material. Maybe they want to redeem themselves, maybe they're in it for hatred of the enemy, maybe they're genuine believers in the cause, or maybe they don't have a choice.

After the first mission, you will be given a private vessel with its own crew and have the liberty of choosing your own missions. There is a central over-arching plotline and you will be able to wildly change the course of both the story and in-setting history based on your actions.

This roleplay will demand fairly literate, complex writing both from myself and from you. There will be a good deal of detail and I advise anyone joining to be both very careful around said details whether to be wary of or to exploit in-character.

I am aiming for one to two posts per week though I can make exceptions and allow for turn-skips, even joint posts, if circumstnaces demand it.

Character Sheet Outline

Name: (Include nicknames as well. Your character may have a new identity to stay low; include their "new name" and their original one if so.)

Age: (Those recruited for this covert action group are at least 20)

Species: (Other than human, there are a variety of alien species, of which you can create your own. Robotic, biosynthetic, and other "artificial" forms of life are also allowed).

Appearance: (Describe how they look and/or use reference images to do so).

Background: (How did your character end up working for a deniable black ops group? What lead them to this point in life? How were they involved the Reckoning Of Empires and its aftermath, even the events that lead up to that if possible?)

Character Evaluation: (How does your character typically act, behave, and otherwise go around their daily lives? What do they believe in and what do they feel towards this line of work they find themselve sin?)

Skills: (What is your character good at doing? Engineering, reconnaissance, infiltration, leadership, piloting - things that it makes sense for one to have given their Background but don't be afraid to throw in few curveballs to spice things up.)

Etherealism: (OPTIONAL part of your character sheet. Is your character capable of manipulating the unearthly currents of the Abyssal Chasm? How does this typically manifest? What are its limitations?)

Loadout: (What armor, weaponry, equipment, and so on is your character carrying? You do not need to list *every* single piece of equipment as things like spare ammo, medkits, flashlights, personal communication devices, and so on are fairly ubiquitous. The "signature" items you are equipped with however should be fleshed out especially if they will see prominent or notable use throughout their deployments.)

Actions Of Interest: (What are some controversial things your character has done in the past that stain their history? Do note that after you finish your sheet, I will ask that you directly message me at least ONE particular unpleasant thing your character has done in the past that they do not want becoming public knowledge. Perhaps you committed an atrocity, deserted your allies, fought alongside some sketchy people, were associated with *another* black ops unit, and so on - something you keep close to your heart and don't talk about unless you absolutely have to.)

 

[Fetzen]

I'm quite intrigued by this.

 

[FeastOfPerversions]

I'm quite intrigued by this.

That makes two so far! I'm thinking a group of four would be a good start before I start putting up the lore and the IC threads.

 

[tilucki]

i'm definitely interested!

 

[FeastOfPerversions]

i'm definitely interested!

Hop onto that discord

 

[FeastOfPerversions]

Lore thread added to OP!

 

[FeastOfPerversions]

An overview of the species as well as setting history is up in the lore thread! Remember, you can create your own species or play as a robot or other construct too!

 

[tilucki]

Name: Vera "V" Rocha
also known as VR, or Victory.

Age: 31, born 4206.
Species: Voidhanger

Appearance:

5'10"
146 lbs without any armour

Background:

Brought up on a nomadic Voidhanger cruiser by her parents, she had always been accustomed to not belonging anywhere. But the fleet she grew up in was split in half during the Veiled war. The cruisers that her family lived on broke off to the Black City Conglomerate in hopes of better trade and more advanced technology. This newer, smaller fleet gained just that- but they had to adapt to live within the Conglomerate.They became what was described as a pirate fleet, already having done raids even before joining the Conglomerate in an attempt to gain power, but it was only when joining and working with the faction that they began to grow infamous. They became close quarter specialists and stealthy agents because of their ethereal augmentations. Because of their success with such high stake raids and their newfound infamy, the now pirate fleet that Vera belonged to caught the attention of the Conglomerate's armed wing- the Carnazir .

The raids they once went on for technology and economic gain turned into undercover, stealthy, hard hitting attacks on whatever the Carnazir asked of them. It was around this time that Vera had grown old enough to join these raids. She had grown up just as apathetic as most Voidhangers, completely uninterested in the wars and conflict happening around her- but she was excited by the action and danger that came with raiding. Not only was she excited by the danger, she had always been intrigued by the multitude of different viruses that existed in space. Raised by her mother who was a virologist caused her to grow obsessive with the seemingly invisible, unstoppable, deadly infection- so much so that Vera had begun to collect samples. With each raid she went on she took samples, anything she could get her hands on to study back on the fleet until the next time they were called on another mission. Most of her fellow raid-mates thought of it just as an odd hobby, but when the Reckoning of Empires had begun, she would rise to an even higher level of infamy because of her 'hobby'.

Synthesising ways to use these collected viruses as a weapon, the next time they were sent out as undercover pirates for the Carnazir it was under wartime issues. But this time Vera hadn't just followed orders, she had snuck a deadly airborne virus into the oxygen system of the League ship they had raided. They had already killed everyone but Vera knew the ship was going to be found by the rest of the League's military, so she kept her eye out for news of a virus spreading through the ranks of their military. Just like that she had infected more people in a few weeks than she had killed in years. Her first attack was brushed off as a simple wartime effect, rotting bodies on a ship was bound to create a virus- but after the second spread of the same virus on a Dominion ship, she was the biggest suspect. Morbid curiosity and a serious lack of empathy had turned Vera into a biological terrorist, wanted not only by the UCL and Dominion, but also of the Black City Conglomerate. By the end of the war she had cut ties with the Carnazir, her Voidhanger fleet and went into hiding somewhere in the Black City controlled space- continuing to experiment with viruses on a much quieter scale. Though a part of her will always yearn and miss the kind of power she had during the Reckoning of Empires…

Character Evaluation:

Vera has never been someone who is easy to get along with. She's extremely intelligent, but in a way that she feels superior to others, also apathetic to the world around her and has a distinct lack of empathy. People who work with her would say she has a lack of personality, but Vera just doesn't bother showing interest in anything or anyone that doesn't interest her, so most of the time she's very quiet. With her intelligence comes a morbid curiousity that's only sparked by the subject of viruses, extremely intrigued by how such a thing can devastate millions. From her studies she developed a bit of a god complex, along with a serious phobia of viruses- but she'd never admit it outloud to anyone. Because of her behaviour she quite enjoys the line of work she's found herself in. It gives her a chance to play god once more and feel the adrenaline that comes with it.

Skills:

The skill that launched Vera into infamy is her ability to weaponize viruses. Because she is a Voidhanger she's immune to a good amount of the viruses she works with, which gives her free range to handle and reproduce whatever samples she finds. Most of the time she loads viruses into gas canisters as deadly bombs, or shoots them out of dart rifle specialised to infect singular targets, but she can also hijack ventilation systems to infect a whole ship full of targets. Her skills in piloting and her adeptness in both stealth, infiltration and close quarter combat come from her background as a Voidhanger pirate. Along with this she is also quite proficient with technology, being able to hack into things because of her raiding experience.

Etherealism:

Being a Voidhanger, Vera is very capable of manipulating the ether of the Abyssal Chasm. Even when not using the ether in any offensive or defensive way the tendrils that hang off of her arms, legs and head float- almost as if suspended in water. These tendrils are also able to stretch out and grab smaller objects like ammo and hand grenades, acting as another appendage. Most of the time when Vera manipulates ether she uses it in a defensive way, hiding from scanners if she focuses on sending out a void-signature jammer, and if caught in a bad situation she can dissipate into the chasm for seconds at time. Doing this lets her escape from enemies, or instead expel a strong pulse of ether and globs of void-disease when exiting the chasm to cause massive amounts of damage around her- but Vera isn't extremely proficient at doing this, and it saps her energy so she tends to stick to defensive moves.

Loadout:

-Light armour with life support specialised for Voidhangers.
-High powered dart rifle for deploying her viruses.
-Grenades, some loaded with viruses.
-Virus injectors in her armour that she can deploy during close combat.
-An assault rifle and handgun with different specialised ammo.


Actions Of Interest:

Vera Rocha's name is known as a biological terrorist in all factions of space. Not only had she gained infamy as a Voidhanger pirate, but during the Reckoning of Empires she became a wanted terrorist for spreading diseases and viruses throughout space during wartime, causing thousands of casualties.

 

[Fetzen]

Name: Venarijstaaz (often just shortened to Venari)

Age: 38

Species: Celaderaka

Appearance

Background
Venari's life started on Glacius VII, a small world in a star system whose sun has turned into a white dwarf millennia ago. Below the surface, the Celaderaka had erected a small colony utilizing the remaining heat from inside the planet. It consisted of a couple of civilian installations, but these were mainly for the families of those working in the material testing facility. Keeping the latter a high secret had been the reason for chosing such a remote and inhospitable site in the first place.

Unlike his parents, Venari had not that much to do with the science conducted there, but there was a high demand for security and counter-intelligence for Glacius was not exactly located in the heart of Celaderakan territory. The possibility of someone figuring out the truth behind the harmless blatancy and managing to send in spies or even raiding parties by hijacking one of the transports was always there. A long-lasting and no less well paid job that would prevent him from suffering the fate of boringness for, of course, noone could just leave from Glacius VII and tell everybody what was going on. The threat of being ambushed and ransacked ? Hardly more than a very theoretical issue, the place felt very safe despite being a high value target.

Until it wasn't. In their fear of someone stealing knowledge and equipment, Celaderakan security and local administration had somewhat failed to see that someone could just try and massacre the whole colony just for the sake of settling some weird old score and without even knowing what gem he or she was destroying. It was exactly that what happened when Venari had been about halfway through his training: a full-on, blunt force assault against the entire planet. He could barely escape while watching how things were turned into slag and rubble by what seemed to be a ragtag, but very large fleet of mercenaries and hired killers probably having the backing of one of the larger states, empires or whatever else had dared to raise its ugly head.

Effectively having been 'fired' from his job quite literally, Venari had to search a new profession. He pretty much completed his training on his own while on the hunt for those who were responsible for the death of many he liked or loved. He turned into a mercenary himself, but only so much as to make a living while comitting himself to the hunt.


Character Evaluation
The psychology department has discovered that Venari's hard shell is not only physical, but very much covers a lot of his soul also. They have tried to drill through it in order to get to the soft core, but only to discover that their whole assumption of there being such a thing might be wrong in the first place. He is ruthless, but at the same time trying to be efficient to the bone. Interestingly, it is considered that this combination might actually make him a lot easier to handle from an operative point of view than many of the gunslingers. Or, to put it in Venari's own words: "Blowing up the whole building in order to eliminate the target might be effective, but it is abhorrently wasteful if one considers all the additional casualties not related to the target and that the building itself might have been put to good use for civilian purposes afterwards. Let me do it instead, I promise less ammunition spent and more of the target's skull on your desk as proof that the job has been actually done!"

Verani has never been hesitant to voice his concerns and general opinion even without being asked, but apart from straining any superior's nerves that way he doesn't ask for much else. One 'just' has to get used to the fact that there's a beast reading more like 'unidentified anorganic compound' than 'lifeform' on most scanners roaming around. And don't touch his food, no matter how hungry you are and how late it is in the night. He's seemingly always hungry no matter what's on the plate, but the other way round it's prone to turn into a medical emergency.


Skills
Reconnaissance and infiltration. Years of living based on improvisation have forced him to pick up some engineering skills as well, but he has never studied that so it's rather limited.


Etherealism
Venari, like most of his kind, holds an unusually deep connection to that wicked realm outside of realspace, and primarily employs it to spare himself from having to wear expensive, bulky, loud and maintenance-hungry equipment that would do the same job otherwise.

He can actively project a sort of forcefield into and onto his carapace in order to actually make it somewhat proof against small and medium calibre projectile or energy weapons. The downside lies in the word 'actively': Armor does protect you as long as you wear it or, if more modern, does the job of reacting to events for you. He has to do it himself and that takes away a bit of his attention, so he can't do it all the time. And when he doesn't ? Well, the moment things hit him it is too late. It allows him to survive jumps from almost ridiculous heights rather unscathed, too.

Interestingly, these force fields are not limited to himself. He can project them on pretty much arbitrary objects including other people, but huge problems arise if these start moving because then these fields are no longer exactly where the other person wants to be. In the best case the movement is just blocked, in the worst case the poor victim's own muscles and augmentations start tearing it to shreds.

Moving smaller objects around in a controlled manner is also possible, a process commonly referred to as 'telekinesis' in daily language. It requires a lot more concentration not to make the object drift away and fall off from its invisible platform while moving it around however. Even just throwing the hot coffee into somebody's face takes some effort in guessing trajectories and required angles of attack and surfaces properly.


Loadout

• A set of holo-emitters and false signal generators attachable to his outer 'skin'. If he wants to look like a rock, a wall or a large crate, he can very much make himself look and scan like one. Unless one bumps straight into him or has some other, specialised means of course.
• Claw enhancers: A not so uncommon item unique to the Celaderakan market. Basically they are mechanical 'gloves' that warp over their claws and attach themselves to their outer capapace for support. Features are massively increased strength and durability of, well, the claws, allowing him to ram them into surfaces like concrete or not heavily armored metal. Perfect for ripping someone's heart out in a melee or climbing a building without ropes or any more complicated means.
• Blowtorch: Basically being more of a civilian construction tool than a weapon, Venari very much used it as the latter when escaping from Glacius VII. It is not just any blowtorch, but actually comes from material research facility once located there and as such is rather experimental. As long as it's having a good day and doesn't decide to cease working for some obnoxious reason, it can cut through reinforced bulkheads, armor and other material like people while not being larger than a thick walking staff, for example.
• Handheld scanner that can provide a rough image of one's more immediate surroundings.
• Small set of medical supplies: Useful for providing first-aid to himself as well as torturing others for information.

Actions of interest
One of Venarijstaaz' 'hobbies' in order to make some money after the indicent on Glacius VII was pit fighting. Brutal, barebone clashes of random individuals willing to have their bloody struggles broadcast to many millions of viewers watching. These events are despised or outright illegal on many worlds who want to market themselves as more 'civilised' places, but you know how it is: More often than not it is the snobs, the rich and the educated people who watch these shows while at the same time they pretend to be those individuals most disgusted by these things. There probably are quite many people who could remember his look and how he demolished his opponents to the point of near death right in front of the camera.