From a game in the 'Assignment: Vigilante' setting, run by Matthew Fitzgerald
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| Homeworld : Erakhuu [Diaspora 1708, B-89688C-C; G1II Star] |
DESCRIPTION
Pale skinned, blue eyed and fairly pretty with very long blonde hair in a bun, kept up with a hairband and a number of hairpins. Solid, muscular build. Moves deliberately. 5'9" tall. Weighs about 75kg.
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The woman who now calls herself Praetaria Jyvenna was born Narva Dellash on 296-1090, a citizen of the world of Erakhuu [Diaspora 1708, B-89688C-C; G1II Star] and the oldest of the two children of Dell and Tynna Dellash. Erakhuu has a dense atmosphere tainted with pollutants from the worlds extensive industries, a 3-way division of authority between the several councils that make up its civil service bureaucracy and a vaguely meritocratic system of law which is applied differently to each citizen (this tends to translate into being harsh on the lower classes and very lax on the upper classes). The high law level of Erakhuu means all private weapon possession is forbidden, no privacy is allowed and there are strict controls on the movement of all citizens. The general attitudes of the population are classified as Conservative and Stagnant, Passive and Neutral, and Harmonious and Aloof. The planet also has several notable local customs, the most significant of which are that no-one ever cuts their hair (apart from criminals, who have their heads shaved if convicted), all citizens live in communal housing apart from academic figures who live apart in groups and the lower social classes are required to move long distances at the whim of the government (this is a means the government uses to control unrest among the population - semi-random reassignment of unskilled labour to far away places supposedly prevents the build-up of organised anti-government groups; it does means that families can be unexpectedly split up, but this is not as serious a problem as it might seem due to everyone living communally).
From an early age Narva had enjoyed being moved around as her parents (who were of low social class) were reassigned to different places around Erakhuu. As she grew up this turned into near-wanderlust and almost inevitably she became involved with one of several groups of criminals on Erakhuu who, for a price, would prevent people or families being split up by substituting one of their members for the reassigned person - this was feasible because the system was corrupt enough that no-one really cared precisely who moved, as long as someone did. Because of her seemingly instinctive understanding of how things worked on the streets, and her natural ability to get on with people Narva soon became one of the best substitutes the organisation had, and she made a fair amount of money. Narva's brother Grayme didn't prove to have the same wanderlust as her, and joined the planetary defence forces as a member of the Erakhuu COACC. As far as she knows Grayme is still a pilot with them. As she passed the age of twenty-one in 1111 wanderlust struck for real, and Narva's eyes turned to the stars. Hoarding money she should have given to the substitution organisation she said farewell to her parents and smuggled herself off Erakhuu, never looking back. With her she took about Cr50000 and a gift from a grateful client - a gauss pistol (although at this stage she had no idea how to use it).
Working her passage she made her way from star system to star system, learning as she went how to use her gauss pistol, as well as the basics of how to maintain and repair electronic systems. She occasionally sent her parents letters saying how she was doing. In 1113 she ended up on the world of Mazuum [Diaspora 2402; D-A7A630-9; G0V star], and soon found work with a group of smugglers operating in a ship, the 'Starhopper', which found fairly lucrative business smuggling items produced under the liberal legal system of Mazuum to worlds with less liberal attitudes. Narva's knowledge of life on the streets proved useful to the smugglers, and from them she learned the rudiments of breaking and entering. As time passed she and the captain of the 'Starhopper', Charlemont Jyvenna, grew closer and fell in love. In early 1116 they were married. Life was good, and they made a lot of money. Narva also began to learn the ways of the upper classes, to be able to move better in polite society. Later that year came the news of the assassination of Emperor Strephon, and the start of the fighting between the various factions. At first little happened in their vicinity, but eventually the rebellion reached Mazuum in the form of one of Margaret's battlefleets, which took control of the planet. However initially there was little actual fighting, only occasional skirmishes with some of Lucan's forces.
As time passed the situation for Narva, Charlemont and the rest of the smugglers became worse and worse due to the increasing restrictions placed on ship movement by the occupying forces. In 1118 Narva learned that her parents had both been killed when one of Lucan's fleets raided Erakhuu. She was devastated, but Charlemont's love helped her to pull through and make her realise that there was nothing she could have done even if she had been there. As time went on the crew of the 'Starhopper' were forced into other forms of crime. Several times this led to serious injuries among members of the crew as they clashed with the law. Because of this Narva learned some medical skill in order to help them, as well as improving her intrusion skills and learning how to handle an SMG. In late 1119 a crackdown by the occupying forces on Mazuum made the situation untenable for the smugglers, and they decided to leave.
Unfortunately, as the 'Starhopper' was moving out from Mazuum towards 100 diameters one of Lucan's battlefleets came out of jumpspace around the planet and the 'Starhopper' was sandwiched between the attacking and defending forces. The 'Starhopper' was heavily damaged in the attack and although Narva was not physically hurt Charlemont died in one of the hits on the ship. Unsurprisingly she was deeply traumatised by this. As the battle died away, with Lucan's forces barely being repelled, the 'Starhopper' drifted into interplanetary space. As it did so, and the crew struggled to get the ships essential systems working again, they picked up a faint distress call, to which they replied. Eventually the two ships were able to move close and dock. The other ship was a civilian ship that they had detected passing through the system just before the battle, which proved to be carrying several highly placed members of the Travellers Aid Society. Separately each ship was useless, but eventually the remnants of the two crews were able to jury-rig them together into something vaguely jump-capable, and leave the Mazuum system. Narva helped in the jury-rigging like a zombie. When they reached a civilised port the TAS people offered their rescuer's jobs in gratitude for what they had done. As the 'Starhopper' was completely written off most of the crew accepted these offers. Still in shock over Charlemont's death Narva was one of these, and received additional medical training, eventually becoming a TAS med-tech. She slowly got over the trauma of losing Charlemont by helping others. As an additional means to do this she began to record everything she did on film, and keep a diary; as time passed this evolved into a desire to document the oncoming Hard Times of film.
Narva worked directly for the TAS for several years, recording as she went. She was involved in several incidents where TAS people were rescued from doomed and failing worlds. After one particularly heroic incident where she almost single-handedly saved the mission and several lives she was rewarded with TAS membership. As part of her recovery she pulled herself together and managed to improve her ability to move in polite society. The interstellar situation deteriorated further and further as time passed and in late 1122 the situation became bad enough that the TAS was no longer able to keep her employed, and she was let go. At this time she changed her name and identity from Narva Jyvenna to Praetaria Jyvenna and moved on.
She hired on as a medic with a merchant ship, both her medical and non-medical skills making her useful to the merchants who employed her when it came to things such as finding cargoes. As time passed the situation deteriorated further and incidents of combat became increasingly frequent. Because of this Praetaria developed some ability to think tactically which enabled she and her comrades to survive, although several times she only narrowly escaped serious injury or death. She met several groups of Starmercs during this time, usually when they were acting as convoy escorts, and gained experience in treating Vargr, who formed part of the crew of one of the merchants she worked for. This period proved fairly lucrative for her, and enabled her to further increase her social standing.
In mid-1125 Praetaria was laid off when the merchant she was with went out of business after severe damage was done to the ship in a battle with pirates. This was on the world of Promise. Looking around for another job she signed on with the Promise medical service and started work on an orbital casualty transfer shuttle out of the Promise orbital starport. This was used to transfer seriously injured people from ships to the medical facilities on the starport. However this was only done with known registered ships as there had been occasions when pirates using decoys had made off with both small craft and medics for their own nefarious purposes. Although during this time she didn't make much money, Praetaria learned the basic use of a vacc suit, and the rudiments of shuttle piloting. She also did a variety of other things, enabling her to round out her skills and become generally more proficient, as well as improving her social standing. At the same time Praetaria was recording her work on film. Because of the attitude of many of the medics on Promise (who are generally somewhat selfish expatriates from other worlds, who came to Promise because it was safer) she had to learn to use stealth in doing this. Unfortunately she wasn't stealthy enough and in early 1129 was caught while taking pictures. Despite her protestations of innocence she was summarily sacked, and blacklisted from the Promise medical profession.
After looking around for a few weeks she became aware that the Riviera's Vigilantes Starmerc group were looking for a medic for their new ship, the 'Gunslinger'. She applied for the job, both because there wasn't anything else going and because she hasn't yet recorded any Starmercs from 'inside'. After an interview, which included psionic probing by Colonel Riviera's wife to make sure she had no secrets which would endanger the 'Vigilante' or allow it to be blackmailed, she was accepted, and joined the crew of the 'Gunslinger'.
Despite her somewhat dubious background Praetaria retains some sense of honour and would never steal from or cheat a comrade without good reason. She takes her duty as a medic seriously, and will treat enemy personnel once any injuries on her side are attended to. Although she has killed people in the past she always felt somewhat guilty about doing so, even more so since the start of the Hard Times. Because of this she tends to use tranq rounds except in the most extreme circumstances. However she doesn't try to persuade others to this view as she knows it usually won't work. Although she doesn't believe in paranoia as a way of life Praetaria does believe in being prepared and not taking stupid risks. Praetaria doesn't talk about her past in detail, although she is generally fairly open and friendly (she has a good medical bedside manner for this reason). Although several men have come close Praetaria has never found anyone to replace Charlemont, and so has remained celibate since his death.
CAREER HISTORY
Term 1 (Base Skill : Streetwise-1)
Carousing-1, +1 Dex, Streetwise-2; Benefits : Weapon, 50000 Cr
Term 2
Electronics-1, Handgun-1, Intrusion-1; Benefits : +1 Soc, 100000 Cr
Term 3
SMG-1, Medical-1, Intrusion-2; Benefits : TAS Member, +1 Soc
Term 4
SMG-1, Medical-1, Tactics-1; Benefits : +1 Soc, 100000 Cr; Aging : -1 Str
Term 5
Ships Boat-1, Jack-o-Trades-1, Stealth-0, Vacc Suit-0; Benefits : +2 Soc
NOTABLE EQUIPMENT