File #R9509: Angel Mauer. [Terra Nullius Lore]

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Subject's Name: Anton Mauer.
Subject's Alias: Angel Mauer.
Sex: Female (Born: Male)
Race: Deva
Age: 24
Height: 5'10"
Weight: 160 lbs.
Hair: Brown, Long.
Eyes: Gold.
Special Characteristics: Angel has experimented on herself with a number of biomedical implants; her most well known being her BREAST (Brachyoneural Repair and Electronic Arterial Surveillance Technology) implant.
Typical Garb: In the line of duty, Angel prefers urban camouflage, military fatigues, and tactical gear. She typically utilizes the universal symbol for healers and medics with her gear. Off duty, she prefers jeans and tank tops.
Status: Alive.

Combat Assessment:
Angel did not receive any formal combat training prior to reaching adulthood. At that point, Angel joined the Genesis Military as a combat medic. As per standard Genesis training for new recruits, Angel was put through boot camp and then into live combat scenarios. Genesis soldiers focus primarily on urban warfare, but as a result of of being a combat medic, Angel was deployed all across Terra Nullius to assist with Genesis efforts outside of Babylon and Ezra. Angel has a familiarity with firearms; preferring a specialized shotgun (known on the streets as a rail boomstick). It has a modified CPU to allow for auto-aiming and target exclusion. Beyond the shotgun, Angel utilizes special serums, drugs, and knowledge base to keep the team up and fighting; Angel acting in primarily a support role.

Skill Assessment:
Angel possesses above-average skills in a lot of fields  without formal training in thanks in part to a natural keen intelligence and wisdom, but also due to the natural inclinations possessed by deva. Many believe that deva are gifted in ways that other people aren't. Angel has studied arcane studies, nature studies, and religious studies formerly. Angel's official education and major was in medical studies; leading to a career choice as a combat medic. Naturally, Angel possesses an excellent insight into people via psychology studies and is very perceptive. Although not necessarily Angel's forte as a result of an introverted personality, Angel has taken steps towards diplomacy skills not only for patients, but with a possible eye on future world politics.

Background:
Angel Mauer was first born under the name of Anton Mauer. Genetically born a male, Anton struggled throughout his youth, teens, and early adulthood with his identity. But, that is getting ahead of ourselves a bit. Let's start with the basics.

Anton Mauer is born to a rather large family out in the Country--far from Babylon. His father worked as an Engineer for Genesis; overseeing mana reactor constructions and developments in mana-tech out in the field. Although Anton's family was large, he was different than his siblings. Born a Deva, Anton was heralded by his small community as a Chosen; someone meant for greatness sent to them by the Gods. If that's not a lot of responsibility to live up to, I don't know what is. Deva statistically have a high rate of suicide due to the pressure put on them by society as well as their feelings of isolation as being treated as holy or an outsider by the world at large. Luckily for Anton, his family was largely supportive and inclusive.

As per tradition for Devas, Anton was sent to a theological bordering school. He would visit home during breaks and summer vacations, but otherwise spent the majority of his time there. Anton was quick to latch onto philosophy, but also studied magic (arcane, divine, and primal) despite not having many magical inclinations himself. Biology, chemistry, and medical science all held interests for Anton as all--he'd eventually pursue a medical degree at a different school (one in Babylon upon his graduation from primary school).

As a child, he was introverted, quiet, and spent the majority of his time in fantasies. Art was a recreational interest of his and he even got in trouble for drawing 'medical' pictures in his youth; a fixation on large breasts (he had been caught drawing a realistic picture of a large chested schoolteacher of his). Anton was most happy when he was at school since he excelled there, and a close relationship with a professor of his (that he had a crush on) helped him with the eventual realization and transition into gender reassignment surgery (male to female). Anton took the name Angel (ironic for a deva) during the transitional process.

Upon returning from bordering school once in his late teens, Anton discovered that his family and hometown had been wiped out. Genesis Security was on hand; picking up the pieces of the wreckage. It seems that the country town had been turned into an example as a result of a conflict with the dwarven cartel (that had ties to the Mixtli Coatal). With family members either missing or dead, Anton returned to school and eventually went to the city of Babylon to receive his degree from medical school.

Anton made the acquaintance of Dr. Vesper Klein while in medical school. Klein often acted as an adjunct surgery specialist there for a legitimate source of income, though stopped volunteering there after her disconnect from Genesis. Klein assisted with the transition surgeries for Anton to become Angel (although that was not until their tenure with Genesis was finished) and even gave Anton a recommendation with Genesis.

With school finished, Anton pursued a career with Genesis. The company has some of the best training in the world along with career benefits and perks; it was a no brainier. With Genesis, Anton entered boot camp and became a combat medic. Although skilled, Anton had no particular missions that made him stand out during his time there. He had even met the acquaintances of Roan Mitchell at one point, although Roan did not recognize Anton after he had become Angel.

Due to compounding frustrations of his unremarkable time there and a soul searching trip that revealed Anton's desire to transition, the man left Genesis on and became the woman we know today with the help of Dr. Klein. Once transitioning into Angel, she began to pursue her own interests at the fullest, which lead her to my door as a Runner...

Runner History:
Angel eventually sought out the Middleman for reasons similar to most others. She has questions and heard that he had answers. I dug into her background during her recruitment phase and was impressed with what I saw. As a result of her skills as a combat medic and her knowledge base, I only assigned her high-risk missions (with the intent that she would get her team through it). Her first mission required the extraction of a high profile target; a Genesis executive's family had been kidnapped and ransomed. If it got out, it would ruin his career by making him look weak and easily undermined. Angel and her team effectively got out of there with no causalities on their end.

The second mission involved protecting an asset while it was transported out of the country. The team met with heavy attacks; outside forces that were interest in the acquirement of the asset. Angel puzzled together that the asset was a genetically modified monster from Project Rebirth being sent to the Pharaoh of Ramesses; a regal gryphon. Genesis was hoping that it would buy them good will for the creation of a mana reactor in the elves' desert.

She ultimately left the team as a result of morality differences. Most of the members were stone cold, battle hardened mercenaries who didn't care much whether or not the mission was completed. They were mostly in it for the killing.

The final mission involved her reassignment to the Runners. As I knew they would be facing the Olympians, I figured they would need a skilled medic to make it out of there alive. Sure enough, I was right. The danger facing the Runners increased exponentially. While Angel ultimately had no vendetta or ties to the mission at hand, she performed her duties professionally and effectively which resulted in the elimination of the Olympians, the extraction of Prometheus, and the retrieval of Pandora's Box for Rickenato.

While on the mission, Angel formed strong bonds with Setter and Managirl (Heather). She had good relationships with most of the others in the group with, perhaps, Kembu being the exception. My insight tells me that she formed a partnership with Setter out of all this and may serve in a mentor roll for Managirl in the future.

The answers to her Middleman questions were rather direct. I gave her a lead towards the largest known library of ancient knowledge in the world in Ramesses. I then told her the truth regarding the disappearance of her family and her town; that the dwarven cartels had a hand in it. Killing those that had caused them trouble and recruiting the rest for their slave trade. This likely influenced her decision to go with the Runners and execute the Mixtli Coatal cartel.

Motivations:
Angel's motivations are primarily a result of her own self-interests, though there is some nurturing aspect of her that could apply her goals to the world at large. Her long term goal is to explore the nature of Devas and other manaborn. An admirable goal; one I can support given my own nature as Genasi. I gave her the information as to where she could make some headway in her research. Genetic modification, genome research, ancient bloodlines, distinct pure races of old... its a complex issue. In that regards, her specific interest seems to be the manaborn's sterility. Its a modern phenomena, to be sure. It is for her own interest though as she desires to start a family.

From what I've seen of her, Angel also has an interest in the welfare of the world. A future in politics might be in the cards for her. Angel is working on her book of philosophy based off of her studies and world experience. She believes in an absolute morality (that none have found yet) and good will (good intentions, or having good in your heart as you act).

My assessment of Angel is that she is a capable person. I would not underestimate her in any scenario. She will go far. I hope to utilize her in several future affairs...

END REPORT
WD

File #S5318008: Death Otter [Terra Nullius Lore]

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Subject's Name: Vivienne Edgars.
Subject's Alias: D3@TH_0TTER.
Sex: Female.
Race: Human.
Age: 20.
Height: 5' 6"
Weight: 121 lbs.
Hair: Red.
Eyes: Green.
Special Characteristics: First Generation SEED implant, augmented with Athena base code and unique individual modifications.
Typical Garb: Otter prefers to dress in garbs that invoke a Goth or Punk vibe. Many would just call her style crazy as she often wears a mish-mash of whatever speaks to her in that moment. Typically, she wears a "stealth suit" that was stolen from Genesis to protect her and keep her out of view in most situations.
Status: Alive.

Combat Assessment:

Physically, Death Otter is unremarkable. She is a decent shot with a handgun, but is far more dangerous utilizing effects from her SEED. She appears to recognize her vulnerability, and uses a thermo-optic camouflage suit ("stealth suit") to avoid notice until she's found an advantageous position to operate from.

Her SEED makes her dangerous, especially when she has support from allied individuals. She is capable of interfering with enemy movement and actions, making them vulnerable to the attacks of others, or rendering their attacks less effective. Death Otter is in particular fond of altering the perceptions of others to her own amusement and/or advantage.

She suffers from a reckless nature and lack of patience in many cases though, which can provoke her into unwisely revealing herself, or otherwise putting herself at risk.

Skill Assessment:

Death Otter's skill-set is highly focused, and exceptionally well developed within her area of expertise. When it comes to illegally gaining access to a person, place, or digital object it's very hard to find better. Beyond this she is very intelligent, but rarely has the patience or discipline to apply herself to other fields of study. In most situations she relies on either being able to coast through situations on sheer intellect or luck, or on being able to gain whatever knowledge she needs via wireless network connection. Her physical skills are lacking, though she can get by through manipulating the machines and technology around her to her advantage. 

Background:

The daughter of wealthy upper-middle executives in Genesis, she wanted for very little as a child. She was technically minded from the start, perhaps inspired by her father's work in electronics and computer technology. In school however she suffered social anxiety and had difficulty connecting to peers. She retreated into online friendships to compensate, and began following the then-brand-new technology of SEEDs obsessively. Her parents, wishing to encourage their daughter, let her purchase one of the early models. Drawing on knowledge she gained from online friends, and contacts she'd made with her online persona, she learned how to bypass various safety features in the SEED; significantly improving its performance but at the cost of altered mental function and possible trauma.

It was at this point that the online persona of 'Death Otter' superseded her original identity. She hacked her father's accounts and used his authority to delete or alter her records, stole as much money as she could manage, and vanished underground; resurfacing a few months later almost unrecognizable from how she'd been. From shy to flamboyant, from timid to reckless, she now lived in real life with the same wild abandon that she'd only known from the safety of online avatars before. Unfortunately, this included a zealous disregard for rules and laws that ensured she could never return to her 'real' life.

Runner History:

For reasons that should be clear, the Middleman has never sought contact with Death Otter. Most of her clients hire her via online interaction with an avatar and never see her again; receiving the data they wanted, or software, or whatever, via electronic transfer. She has worked however with a few small teams in the past. Mei-Xing, a hengeyokai assassin, has worked with her on several occasions when she needed muscle that could perform infiltration.

When Mei-Xing teamed up with a group of my Runners, Death Otter was called in for her expertise. It was there than Death Otter's 'friendship' with individuals like Heather Morrisson (Managirl) and Aria Nacht began. She partook in the bringing down of the Olympians, primarily Athena, though that was a result of Death Otter's own vendetta rather than helping the Middleman.

Motivations:

Death Otter seems to take perverse pride in being difficult to ascribe consistent motivations to. However, there are patterns to her behavior, if one makes allowances for an unusually high number of outlier events. First and foremost, she resents any form of authority over her, and takes vicious pleasure in punishing any such entity in ways both small and large. Second, she has expensive tastes in hobbies, and is very mercenary in her outlook as a result. Finally, she appears to be a creature of whim, who acts immediately on whatever impulse she experiences at the moment. It is not quite fair to say that she fails to consider the consequences of these actions. Rather, it appear she considers them, and continues anyway, confident she can either deal with those consequences or avoid them entirely.

END REPORT
WD

Playtest Character Creation Information

AMP - Year One:
Character Creation (PG 38)
-Fill out the concept lines (childhood, adulthood, gender/sexuality, ethnicity/race, demeanor/appearance). Make it one-two sentences. It'll be longer if we play this as a campaign. Assume your character is college age, class-mates, and you don't know about your powers prior to our first session.

-Loyalties: You get 10 points. There are eight different Loyalties to choose from. Your loyalties can have anywhere between 0 to 5 ranks. Loyalties confer different bonuses.

-Affilations: Pick Unaffilated (16 BP). I may open it to other Affilations for an actual campaign.

-Skills: You get 35 skill points to spend between 22 skills. I am putting a cap of 5 on each skill. You can choose specialities if they make sense for your character. I can veto specialities that don't make sense or seem cheap.

-Powers: I'd prefer each player pick a different Strain, but won't require that you do. Be aware that if you pick a secondary or teitary power outside your core Strain, its harder to level up as a campaign would go on. You get 6 points and can choose a primary, secondary, and teitary power, then spend your points amongst your powers. For every 2 points in a power, you can pick an augment or trick. It is important to note that you can just choose one power (primary) and put 6 points in it. Or you can just pick a primary or secondary power. Essentially, you can make your power options look like this...

6
5/1
4/2
3/3
4/1/1
3/2/1
2/2/2

-Bonus Points: Because you're unaffiliated, you get 16 bonus points. You can spend these in different ways (Gifts, Skill Levels, Power Levels, Specialties, Augments, and Loyalties).

-Drawbacks: This is an optional, but you can take drawbacks (up to 10 BP's worth). By taking a drawback, you gain additional BP and can spend it on the aforementioned stuff.

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Once you've done all that, you kind of fill in the rest of your sheet with the following information...

-Integrity: This is the amount of damage you can take. You begin with intergrity equal to 10 + your Fortitude.

-Juice: This fuels your powers. Tricks and augments often cost juice. You start the day with 3 juice, but can't have more than 10 juice at a time unless you have an ability that allows you to ignore this limitation. You can take a rest (30 mins) to regain 3 starting juice. You can gain or lose juice through your actions (up to the DM's whims though). There is a list of actions that might earn juice for players.

-Movement: Figure out your different movement speeds. On foot, your movement is Athletics + Speed + 5 feet (1 square) per round. You can run and move your movement x 15 feet (3 squares) per round.

-Jumping: You can jump Might + Athletics + 4 feet horizontally or half this value vertically. You can add 50% to a horizonal distance with a running start of at least 10 feet. You can also make a Simple (10) Might + Atlethics jumping check to add 4 feet per boost.

-Climbing: You make Athletics + Speed checks and can travel at a rate of (Movement / 2) while climbing.

-Swimming: Accessible only with 1 rank in Athletics. In calm waters, no checks are needed and you can move at a rate of (Movement / 2). In harder waters, you may need a Might + Athletics check.

-Chase: Chasing another character is an opposed movement check (1d20 + movement vs 1d20 + movement). The difference between the checks reflects the number of feet gained or lost.

An idea of combat...
It seems more involved that most systems. Its always opposing dice rolls (Fighting vs Dodge for example). Initiative changes from round to round. The system actually uses an interesting aspect--you combo your skills together (adding them together) for checks where it makes sense. When it doesn't make sense, you get to add your 1.5x your normal skill modifier. There's no stats like in D&D, that's kind of covered in your skills instead.

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NUMENERA

-Basic: This game works under this concept: "I am an adjective noun who verbs." An example, "I am a Rugged Glaive who Controls Beasts."
The adjective is your descriptor (character descriptor).
The noun is your character type (class).
The verb is your focus (character foci.)

Stats: You have three stats (MIGHT, SPEED, INTELLECT). Each stat has two components (POOL and EDGE). Pool represents your raw, innate ability while Edge represents knowing how to use what you have. A third element ties into this concept: Effort. When your character really needs to do something, you apply effort.

Character Type: This is like your class. You pick from Glaive, Nano, and Jack. Your stat pools are pre-determined by your class, but you're given additional points to customize and spend how you want between your stats. To think of it in simple terms, Glaive is a Warrior, Nano is a Wizard, and Jack is a Rogue.

Tiers: Basically levels (1-6). We're playing in First-Tier, so you get the abilities under the First Tier of your classes.

After you picked your character type, you pick your descriptor (from a list of 12). These give your characters additional perks, so you want to look each of them over.

After that, you pick your character focus (from a long list of options). These give your characters additional perks, so you want to look each of them over.

The character type is sort of the core of your PC. The descriptor is generally used to enhance your character type (eg. Strong is a good choice for a Glaive). The character focus is really your chance to make your PC stand out; it'll be what helps make you unique to other PCs. For example, Howls at the Moon makes you a werewolf basically! They're all cool stuff.

I'd prefer you each pick different character focuses, but won't require it.

And that's it for character generation. Pretty straight forward as you read through the chapter on it. Rather than HP, it looks like combat damage hurts your stat pools. Damage is generally always a specific amount, though there can be modifiers. Most stuff is done with a d20 roll it looks like. Armor is damage reduction. When a pool reaches 0, you move down one on the damage track (hale, impaired, debilitated, and dead). Hale is your default state.  Players make the majority of rolls. If you're attacking, you're trying to beat a DC. If you're defending, you're trying to hit a DC.

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DEADLANDS (SAVAGE WORLDS)

*Race: You're all humans, since this takes place on Earth. Feel free to pick any ethnicity, many people immigrated to the US. All humans receive 1 free Edge for their racial traits.

*Traits: Defined by two things (Attributes and Skills). Attributes are like your stats in D&D, Skills are similiar, but encompass more (attack rolls, dodging, etc). Each stat (Agility, Smarts, Spirit, Strength, Vigor) starts at 1d4. You have 5 points with which to raise them. For each point you spend, you raise the die for it by 1. (Eg. d4 -> d6 -> d8 -> d10 -> d12). An attribute can't be higher than d12.

For Skills, you have 15 points to spend. For each point you spend, you increase the die associated with that skill by 1 (starting at d4) as long as the skill is equal to or less than the attribute it's linked to. If you exceed the attribute, the cost becomes 2 points per die type. No skill may be increased above d12. We're using all the standard skills presented in the Core Rulebook.

*Derived Statistics: You have a few other stats that you'll need to fill in including CHA, PACE, PARRY, and TOUGHNESS.

--CHA: Your character's appearance, manner, and likability. This is normally 0 unless you have an Edge or Hindrance that modifies it. It gets added to Persuasion and Streetwise rolls and determines how NPCs react to your hero.

--PACE: How fast you move in a combat round. You walk 6" in a round, and can move an additional 1d6" if you run.

--PARRY: This is equal to 2 + half your character's Fighting skill, plus any bonuses for shield or certain weapons. This is the Target Number to hit your hero in hand-to-hand combat.

--TOUGHNESS: This is your hero's damage threshold. Anything over this causes him to be rattled or worse. Toughness is 2 + half your hero's Vigor, plus Armor. Vigor over a d12 is calculated just like Parry.

--GRIT: This is specific to Deadlands. You receive 1 point in Grit for each level you are (novice, etc.). Each point of Grit adds +1 to Spirit rolls.

*Edges and Hindrances:
A Hindrance is kind of like a "flaw". You pick one Major Hindrance and two Minor Hindrances. A Major Hindrance is worth 2 points and a Minor Hindrance is worth 1 point.

For 2 points, you can raise an attribute one die type or choose an Edge. For 1 point, you can gain another skill point or gain additional starting money ($250).

You can choose from Hindrances presented in the Core Rulebook or the Deadland's PDF.

You can choose from Edges presented in the Core Rulebook or the Deadland's PDF. Take ones that make sense; I may veto ones that aren't campaign approriate. For those looking to play a "caster", this is how you do it. You take the edge Arcane Background and pick the one for your archetype (eg. magic, miracles, shamanism, chi mastery, weird science). Psionics/Super Powers aren't allowed, same with the Mentalist, Soul Drain, and Wizard edges. You can also only take one Arcane Background edge per PC.

*Gear:
You start with $250 with which to buy your equipment with and a set of clothes. Use the Deadland's PDF for your equipment (PG 55-57).

*Languages:
You start out with English. If you wish to know another language, you'll need to put some effort into the Knowledge skill.

*Background/Worst Nightmare:
Background is just fluff; so figure out your character's backstory. Worst Nightmare ties in specifically to Deadlands. Figure out what your character is afraid of. Choose one thing. Try to pick different concepts (see PG 23+) for your characters, just so y'all are unique and fit into the setting.

*CAMPAIGN NOTES:
The Deadlands PDF refers to a Guts Attribute. We're not using that. When it refers to Guts, we're instead using the Spirit attribute.

Next Campaign Finalists

Terra Nullius - The Crucible
-System: 4th Edition Dungeons and Dragons
-House Rules: Utilizing the same House Rules used in the first Terra Nullius Campaign.
-Setting: Terra Nullius (Homebrewed Science Fantasy.)

-Premise: Old and new Runners alike band together to root out the Cabal. This faction is said to pull the strings of the world from the shadows. From an ailing, dying dragon that hides itself in the ruins of an ancient civilization to a powerful undead necromancer buried underneath the sands of the elven deserts, the Cabal is an alliance of ancient, extinct creatures who long ago defeated any and all adventuring heroes. The bad guys won long ago and have been in power since...

Now, those who've learned about the Cabal's existence seek to bring them into the light and destroy them in order to free the world from their influence. Band together and work with people like Dr. Vesper Klein, Watchdog, the Middleman, and Gwen Morrisson in hopes of making Terra Nullius a better place for everyone.

Zeitgeist - The Gears of Revolution
-System: Pathfinder Dungeons and Dragons
-House Rules: TBD.
-Setting: Zeitgeist (Picture a Fantasy world that entered into the Industrial Revolution. Victorian England inspired.)

-Premise: You serve the Royal Homeland Constabulary (RHC) for the nation of Risur. You protect the country, the citizens, and the king from foreign threats lurking within Risur's borders. During missions of espionage and assassination, your duty will be to root out hostile spies and pursue international conspiracies. As you learn more of your homeland’s own secrets, however, your loyalties may be tested, may even be turned, and you may find that it is you whose hand controls the gears of the turning age.


The World's Largest Dungeon - Heaven and Hell
-System: Pathfinder Dungeons and Dragons
-House Rules: TBD.
-Setting: Terra Nullius (Fantasy)

-Premise: You wake up in the cold darkness. Your eyes slowly adjust. You seem to be underground in a dungeon and you have no idea how you got here. There seems to be no obvious exit--other than going forward and hoping you find a way out. Luckily, you're not alone; you'll have to band together with a small team of other people in your position. You will have to confront deadly denizens, tricky traps, and weave through the complex ecosystems and social groups that have risen down here. As you attempt to survive, you begin to uncover the truth about what this place is...

Deadlands - The Weird West
-System: Savage Worlds
-House Rules: TBD.
-Setting: Deadlands (Wild West with Steampunk and Magic.)

-Premise: On July 4th of 1863, Earth's history diverted. Mysterious beings called the Reckoners have given life to monsters and magic. The South has won its independence, California has shattered into a labyrinth of flooded sea-canyons, and a mysterious super-fuel called “ghost rock” has spawned as much war and strife as it has “steampunk” devices. Players are steely-eyed gunfighters, card-slinging sorcerers called hucksters, mysterious shamans, savage braves, mad scientists, and more who battle against evil and attempt to prevent the “Reckoning”.

 AMP - Year One
-System: AMP
-House Rules: TBD
-Setting: AMP (Modern 'normal' times.)

-Premise: Generations ago, your family members were involved in a top secret project. The purpose of it? To create a serum that would result in extraordinary powers (the birth of super soldiers). These experiments were deemed failures and the project was shut down. However, one day, the descendants of the volunteers involved in the project spontaneously developed supernatural powers. Some can control the elements, others can shapeshift into animals, others can control minds or utilize telekinesis. You are one of these descendants. We are in the first year of this new phenomenon, full of secrecy, conspiracy and danger for everyone involved. As humans begin to notice these new and often terrifying people with abilities, not everyone reacts accepting. This is not the supers game of tights and capes, but instead of shadows and choices.

Numenera
-System: Numenera
-House Rules: TBD
-Setting: Numenera (The far future; where technology is indistinguishable from magic.)

-Premise: One billion years in the future, the Earth looks like a very different place. There have been eight previous worlds; you now live in the Ninth World. Built on the bones of these old worlds, the Ninth World fears a similar fate. You explore the remnants of these ancient wonders of the world not for their own sake, but as a mean to improve the present and build a future.

More often, however, when you find leftovers of the old worlds—the devices, the vast machine complexes, the altered landscapes, the changes wrought upon living creatures by ancient energies, the invisible nano-spirits hovering in the air in clouds called the Iron Wind, the information transmitted into the so-called datasphere, and the remnants of visitors from other dimensions and alien planets—they call these things the numenera. In the Ninth World, the numenera is both a boon and a bane. It makes life very different from any other time on Earth. Carve out a life for you and your people--explore the world of Numenera.

File #S22359: Aria Nacht [Terra Nullius Lore]

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Subject's Name: Aria Nacht
Subject's Alias: Aria Jager
Sex: Female
Race: Human
Age: 16
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 115 lbs.
Hair: Black, Short (Natural Color: Red.)
Eyes: Green.
Special Characteristics: Aria has a 'MC' tattoo on her lower back. The winged snake design with it is a mark that the Mixtli Coatal (a Dwarven Cartel) put on their slaves. She received it when she was just a child and was held captive by the cartel.
Typical Garb: Private school uniform - skirt, stockings, blouse, boots, and tie. Aria likes to wear arm warmers and a baseball cap with it. (Previously utilized tactical gear suitable for an assassin.)
Status: Alive.

Combat Assessment:
Aria's previous strengths were good hand-eye coordination, athleticism, and limberness. She possessed great dexterity and constitution; having a high tolerance for pain and the ability to keep up a strong pace over extended periods of time even after sustaining severe damage. Her physical strength was below average, but she overcame that through intense training so that she would be able to quickly scale buildings either through climbing or jumping. Her intelligence, wisdom, and charisma were either average or slightly above average. Her talents rested in reading people and deceiving them when necessary.

Kyou, a skillful hengeyokai monk, trained Aria in hand-to-hand combat as soon as she was freed from the cartel as a child. While at first it seemed like simple self defense lesson, Kyou was actually training Aria in the ancient art of ninjutsu. He was instilling in her the skills that she would need to evade trouble, but to strike swiftly and without mercy if it became necessary. Aria is skillful with weapons like the ninja-to, shurikens, and the kursari-gama. She is also familiar with more modern weapons like pistols, sniper rifles, assault rifles, and shotguns.

Since the accident in the final run that she participated in, an explosion that left Aria with severe nerve damage in her legs, she has been slowly attempting to regain her skills through physical therapy. She is at the point where she can walk for extended periods of time, but she can't yet fight at the level she used to. It is unsure if she will ever be capable of that again, and as a result, she is pursuing other avenues for her skills. She's looking for a tutor to teach her how to become a Freediver... and rumor has it she found one in the infamous Death_Otter.

Skill Assessment:
Aria's physical skills were at the peak of human level when she was at her best. She was capable of easily scaling walls and buildings, leaping from place to place, and avoiding attacks right before they hit her. As mentioned previously, Aria trained in deception, deceit, and misdirection. She was poor at diplomacy and intimidating, but knew how to redirect things in her favor. Either she could turn someone against someone else with her words, or convince her to help them by redirecting their anger.

Like her sister, Aria possessed keen eyes that were capable of picking up miniscule details in her environment or reading a situation; often with the goal to determine how someone might react to a certain course of action. This allowed her to anticipate threats and control the situation as necessary. She also had a fine understanding of computers, traps, and locks that allowed her to to get in and out of places she wasn't supposed to be. To top it all off, she knew how to utilize stealth tactics to go about undetected; from the shadows to a crowd, Aria was hard to detect. She made for a perfect assassin when all was said and done with.

Background:
Aria Nacht is a young woman with a torrid past; born into sex trade of the dwarven cartels. Her father is the infamous Leonhardt Nacht while her mother is Hannelore Steinway. Nacht had been assigned to infiltrate the dwarven cartel scene and act as a double agent on behalf of Genesis. As part of his duties, he was required to acquire prisoners for the Mixtli Coatal's human trafficking services. The cartel used women as sex slaves.

One of the women kept entrapped by the cartel was Hannelore Steinway. Nacht made the mistake of getting too close to a mission that he was supposed to harden himself from. During his tenure with the dwarves, he became attached to Hannelore and fell in love with her. Nacht seemed to be Hannah's one point of light in her dark world, and as a result, grew closer to him. The two eventually consummated their love which resulted in the birth of Aria and her sister, Kara.

When Aria (and Kara) were born, they were taken away from their mother early on. It was a common Cartel tactic to shuffle girls around different hideouts. Nacht would often watch out for Kara and Aria, and report what he knew of the girls to Hannelore when he could. However, it was mostly up to the girls around the hideout that Aria was kept in to lookout for her and keep her safe. Although Aria was shielded for many things, the horrors that went on among the cartel and their sex slaves no doubt left an impression on her mind for years to come.

Nacht would eventually get Genesis to agree to the extraction of Kara, Aria, and Hannelore. When Aria was a child, she was transported in one of the cartel caravans to a new hideout where she would finally begin her life as a true sex slave. Her caravan was hit by a Genesis Extraction team lead by Leonhardt Nacht. His team was able to rescue Aria safely. He had received word that Hannelore had been rescued as well, but Kara was missing in action as a result of the intervention of a hengeyokai swordsman (a fact that Nacht would not learn until he came into my service as a runner briefly).

Aria and Hannelore were brought to the city of Babylon by Nacht. At that point, the three family members were able to start life semi-anew in a mansion. Using the wealth he had acquired from his tenure at Genesis, Nacht acquired the life that he had always promised Hannelore. It was there that the Nacht family attempted to rebuilt, but the scars of the past ran too deep.

Aria had a relatively normal life; her mother watched over and sung her songs. The two bonded, and Aria knew the love of a mother. Nacht's friend, Kyou (a hengeyokai martial artist), along with another sex slave that had escaped with Hannelore (Jennifer), lived with the Nacht family. Jennifer helped take care of the family day-to-day while Kyou began an intense training regiment with the home schooled Aria.

However, through Aria's childhood and transition into her teenage years, Nacht became obsessed with locating Kara. At first, he was optimistic and pursued the goal at all cost. However, he became worn down overtime when all of his leads became dead ends. Both Aria and Hannelore would ask about Kara. At first, Nacht gave them hope--but as time went on, he soon turned his frustrations upon the pair. Every time he was asked about Kara, it was like being stuck with a knife.

Over the years, the turmoil in the house of Nacht grew worse and worse. Hannelore grew frustrated at Nacht's inability to locate Kara and his growing distance and anger turned into resentment towards her. What is worse, Nacht's old handler in Genesis who was attempting to extract him from all cartel business had died suddenly, and was replaced by the ambitious Gwen Morrisson. Looking for results, Gwen refused Nacht's request to withdraw from cartel business.

This pushed Nacht into a corner--he vowed to save what was left of his family. Hannelore hoped that by getting away from Genesis and the city, that their family would be healed as well by the growing turmoil and stress caused by the loss of Kara along with the continued business with the cartel. However, upon their attempt to escape the city, Genesis intervened and help the family captive.

From there, well, the rest gets blurry, as you'll find in Aria's Runner History...

Runner History:
Aria was never an official runner of the Middleman. I had kept tabs on her as a result of her connection to Leonhardt Nacht, but beyond that, I did not have much interest in her as she grew up. However, upon seeing her sister, Kara (Kembu) on the news during the skirmish between the runners and their doppelgangers (courtesy of the Olympians), Aria left her cushy home life to seek her out at all costs; thinking that she was doing her father a favor by finding their long lost sister. In her heart of hearts, she knew that it was her sister when Nacht had not been able to piece it together yet; blinded by rage as he was.

Given that I was fully aware of the delicate home life that she came from, along with the interest other parties had in the girl, I decided to intervene and make myself known to her. I provided her with the details necessary to locate Kara; which Aria managed to at the Bulette's Brawl. From there, Aria assisted the runners with the take down of the Olympians and the acquirement of Pandora's Box for their client Rickenato.

Aria proved herself to be a useful asset on the team; initially utilizing the hand-to-hand combat she was trained with, but once her memories unlocked of her other skills, she truly became a deadly force that specialized in one-hit kills...much like her sister. Aria was primarily motivated by reuniting her family, so she had little stake in the mission. She did grow a dislike towards Gwen Morrisson for her assumed role in 'ruining' her family as more of the 'details' came out about the situation from various sources (both reliable and unreliable).

After the mission, when I was giving the Runners their 'rewards', Aria pressured me into providing her insight into her unique situation. As a favor to her for the service she had performed for the Middleman, I decided to oblige her and unlocked the memories that I had discovered within her mind. The memories that I viewed in her mind detailed Aria's life growing up in Babylon under the care of Hannelore (her mother), Nacht (her father), Kyou (her training instructor), and Jessica (her maid and caretaker).

I saw that upon trying to flee the city in order to escape the pressure of Genesis, Nacht and his family were captured by Gwen Morrisson. According to the memories that I read, Gwen Morrisson utilized the Freediver known as Athena to wipe Hannelore's memories and keep her as a hostage to force Nacht to do what Gwen wanted. Beyond that, it seemed that Gwen also used Athena to mind control Aria and use the girl to assassinate high priority targets within the Genesis infrastructure that were in Gwen's way. To be frank, these memories seemed suspect to me, but I couldn't find anything within Aria that out-right contradicted it. Her mind is quite wounded and damaged, from both physical and psychological trauma over the years. An untrustworthy narrative, if you will, possibly because of Aria herself, but also likely because of tampering from another source. My money is on Athena.

Beyond that, she had also learned that Leonhardt Nacht had acted as a Runner for me in the past. In exchange for his services, I gave him information regarding Hannelore and Kara. He unfortunately did not ask the right questions that would lead to Kara, but it gave him an idea on how to rescue Hannelore. Additionally, he had me 'lock' the memories Aria had within her own mind in an attempt to give her a normal life. You saw how well that worked when the bleeding effect began when Aria encountered Kara.

Moving on... Aria snapped upon learning the information that I shared with her, finding it difficult to accept. Driven by revenge, and a desire to reunite her family still, the girl agreed to go with the group to take down the Mixtli Coatal. On her own, she began making plans that would allow her to rescue Leonhardt Nacht (captured by the cartel), rescue her mother, and kill Gwen Morrisson. Let it never be said that Aria was not ambitious...

Aria was the driving force behind the execution of the Bronzeknuckle Brothers (a crew that Setter Blackpaw wanted dead for their role in the destruction of his Caravan Team). She at times displayed her sister's impatience, but she was often tempered by her training and kept in control of the situation. Things went wrong for her at the final confrontation. She had attempted to jury-rig a suit of KNIGHT armor to explode with C4; a self-propelled rocket to kill the cartel leaders should negotiations go south. However, a wire was crossed at the wrong time, and Aria found herself faced with the choice of ruining the negotiations by launching a preemptive missile at the dwarves, or attempt to disarm it.

Rather than risk her father being killed if the negotiations went south, Aria tried disarming the bomb she created, and failed. She managed to kick away the bomb at the last moment, but it left her legs shredded and useless when it detonated. Her team (Angel in particular) was able to save her, and salvage the chaos that unfolded soon after... in the end she was successful in reuniting with her father, and introducing her father to her sister. Whether or not the Nacht family is truly reunited with the mother remains to be seen...

Motivations:
Aria is primarily motivated by family and friendship. She grew up with an absent father who doted on her, a mother that that babied her, and servants that catered to her whims. Her master, Kyou, managed to keep her grounded on some level with the result being that Aria puts a big stake in her family and friends. In her early years, she was obsessed with finding her long lost sister. Upon finding her, the two seem to have a strong relationship, even if they disagree on somethings.

When that family was shattered and torn apart, Aria put all of her effort into healing it. Now that she has her father and her sister, she will likely pursue her mother. From what I know of the situation, I am unsure if Aria will be successful in her goal of reuniting her family. I wish her the best of luck with it, and I can see her becoming increasingly interested in the well being of this city. She, like many runners, may become a major player in the politics of this city down the road...

END REPORT
WD