Post by Castian "Stryker" Grey on Aug 17, 2013 20:59:26 GMT -5
_______________________________________________________________________________________
OOC[/u][/font]
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Alias/Name = Ronnie
Age = 27
SN for this character = Castian Grey
Email (if different) =
Tell us a random/odd fact about yourself. = My wife and I got married a couple of years ago, and when we were
driving from the wedding to the reception, she leaned over, kissed me on the cheek, and said, "You know this car is mine
now, right?"
Tell us about one of your favorite RP moments. = One of my most cherished moments in RP was in an old medieval group
when my character united a large group of other characters against an invading evil while the queen was away and drove back
the demons.
Describe your thoughts of this SL in five words. = Refreshing, player-driven, full of potential
Would you prefer a writing prompt (for the char you're applying for) from SL Members and/or questions? = I'm game
for either or both.
Did anyone recruit you?(What were they like?) = I was sort of recruited by a combination of a link in Rem's profile,
seeing a group playing, and playing a game of twenty questions with Rem.
Recruiter SN = Prodigal Aviator
_______________________________________________________________________________________
IC Info[/u][/font]
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Played By= Alec Newman
Category= Freelancer would probably fit best, though he did have a history as a raider before coming of age.
Name = Castian Grey
Alias/Nicknames = Stryker
Age = 24/25
Height =5'10"
Weight =190 pounds
Eye Color = Faintly-glowing blue, almost a neon hue
Hair Color = Brown
General Demeanor/Personality = Stryker is shy and untrusting of most people, but he will work with people if it is
necessary to get by. He walks with confidence, but he's always watching his surroundings for treachery. He always observes
people as much as possible before interacing with them, and with the exception of any friends he might make along the way,
he tries not to interact more than necessary.
Quirks = He is extremely untrusting of people bcause of one person in his past (Esilius). He will go out of his way
to avoid killing someone if there is a way he can. Finally, he suffers from constant, extreme headaches from the aural and
ocular augmentations, and requires a great deal of sleep (12-16 hours) or regular, small doses (twice daily during waking
hours) of Verdona to keep the headaches at bay. He's a terrible shot with firearms (handheld and rifles. He's also a
terrible shot when piloting. Finally, he still wears slave bangles. The control device for them was destroyed, but he fears
trying to remove them in case they shock him, as he had seen some of his fellow slaves shocked to death when trying to
damage their bangles. He'd like to remove them, but his natural distrust of most people prevents him from asking around to
do so.
Best Skills = Stryker is hghly skilled in melee combat with a quarterstaff or twin blades (single-edged, large
dagger-size).He is highly ingenuitive with repairing or rigging mechanical and electronic gadgetry of varying sizes. Though
he lacks firing coordination when piloting, he's very good at evasive maneuvering while flying.
General Skills =Stryker is skilled with small projectiles (throwing knives, cards, and darts). His high intelligence
and attention to detail allows him to read most people and what they are expressing through body language as well as what
they are trying to hide. Stryker is light-footed and good at sneaking in and out of places.
Reputation = He has been away for several years and had always lived a somewhat indescript life publicly before his
capture. Most people would not recognize him from those days. In seedier parts of Javos and from somewhat regular visits to
Midway, some might recognize him by his unnaturally-hued eyes as a former unnamed slave frequently fighting in the pits as
the undercard but almost always winning the fights.
Brief Bio (3 or more Paragraphs) = Castian Grey was born to Gavin and Marianna Grey, a raider pilot and an engineer
both working for Salvator Sokolov. To keep a low profile and low living costs, Castian's family lived slum-side on Midway
Station. It was the nicer part of the Underside, but it was still the slums. They made enough from Gavin's raids that they
could have moved elsewhere, but Gavin did not want to draw that kind of attention to them. In the slums, it was normal for
some people to leave and stay gone for days at a time before returning, but up top, he felt that would give rise to more
suspicion than he wanted.
Castian was a bright and resourceful boy with an insatiable thirst for learning in all fields. His greatest dream was to
follow his father's footsteps to become a pilot, but his mother had other plans for him. He was taught at an accelerated
rate in private sessions with his mother, apart from any formal education. With a natural aptitude for mechanics and
engineering, Castian was able to reassemble his father's revolver while it was apart for cleaning at age five. At seven, he
disassembled Gavin's energy pistol and reassembled it. Three years later, he helped repair the engines and turrets on
Gavin's interceptor. Afterward, he became an integral part of the engineering crew for Sokolov's raiders.
In spite of Marianna's wishes, Castian had every intention to fly and worked hard in his free time through his childhood
and adolescence to learn about combat and flight through simulators and trainers Gavin hired for him. Gavin taught him to
use the weapons he had at is disposal; while Castian was barely adept with the firearms, he excelled with blades, staves,
and projectiles. From the first time he held a dagger in his hand, it was like a natural extension of his arm. Staves and
throwing knives were no different. He preferred the metallic telescoping staves he was loaned for practice to the blades,
but the large knives were infinitely useful in close-quarters when the length of a staff would hinder mobility.
Piloting came naturally to him as well. His ability to pay attention to and track multiple details as well as his spatial
coordination gave him a competitive edge in maneuvering over many of Sokolov's raiders, Gavin included. He lacked the
ability to fire manually targetted weapons effectively, but he was highly skilled at evasive maneuvering. Because of this,
he was never able to win against the other raiders in the simulated dogfights, but he was almost always one of the last
three pilots remaining.
At age twelve, Castian became Salvator's youngest raider. He was highly valued by Gavin's crew for his ability to repair
and rig their ships while they were away on raids. Sokolov carefully researched and selected targets for their raids--
always freighters with questionable contents and never civilians or military vessels. The raider lord was also careful
about his selection of those freighters--he never targetted any of the more prominent traders with connections to the
Underboss. This minimized casualties from retaliation against Sokolov's team.
By age sixteen, Castian had participated in many successful raids; they never set slaves free, but took them instead to be
sold at a premium. The thought of slavery still disgusted him, but he hid his distaste well. Raiding and trading was really
the only life his family knew. Castian believed himself to be a good person, despite the illegal activities he'd been a
part of for three years. Sokolov's group was small--four fighters and a lightly-armed skiff. As he aged and became stronger
and faster, he became a more integral part of the raiding crew.
Castian was light on his feet and thought quickly, and his skill with blades was now unsurpassed by the other raiders. He
often boarded the freighters and disappeared quickly after his presence was detected. He used his staff to silently disable
any guards he came across along the way, and left them bound and gagged. After eliminating all resistance, Castian would
transport the newly-obtained cargo to their own skiff. Rarely did the slaves resist--they typically held onto the belief
that they were being rescued from the slavers, only to be taken to the docks and sold off anyway. The other raiders took to
calling him Stryker, for his ability to infiltrate and quickly strike down resistance.
In 105WA, age sixteen marked the end of his career as a raider. Sokolov assigned Gavin, Castian, and the other raiders to
an unusual mark, along with a new raiding team Sokolov had put together in the weeks before. A man known only as Esilius
lead the new team. Castian had only met him twice before, but the man was clearly a killer. He was cold and cruel, and
there was a fierceness in his eyes that set everyone around him on edge--even members of his own team. Castian thought it
curious that Esilius and his crew wore slave bangles, but he never brought it up to his father.
This day's mark was to intercept a trade between two freighters. One carried stolen Alrutanium alloy and Verdona, while the
other carried a handful of stolen Alrutanium weaponry. Gavin was to lead one team against the supply freighter, while
Esilius intercepted the other and relieved them of their weapons. By the time Gavin's crew intercepted the supply-bearing
freighter, Esilius had already disabled the other freighter and sent the signal to Gavin that they were heading back to
Midway.
Like any other mark, Castian boarded the freighter. That was the moment that everything changed. The moment he boarded the
ship, he heard yelling and screaming all around him. It sounded as though something were happening outside, and the
freighter began to shudder violently as it was taking fire from an unknown assailant. His own crew couldn't be
responsible--they would not fire on the freighter unless he was killed or forced to evacuate. The crew of the freighter,
already on high alert because of some other threat that had been detected, apprehended Castian. He fought well and knocked
out several guards and crew members, but in the end there were too many coming at him at once. With his hands and feet
bound together as they were, he was unable to resist or even move much as they dragged him to the bridge to keep tighter
security there in case of more intruders. From the bridge, he watched the viewing screens in horror as his father's entire
crew was destroyed by unseen assailants. Afterward, the freighter began taking heavy fire and slowed to a crawl as the
assailants disabled the freighter's engines. One glimpse of the custom-outfitted fighter that seemed to be leading the
attack, and Castian knew. Esilius had betrayed them all. And for that, one day, he would pay.
Minutes passed and the freighter's security team, those who hadn't been knocked unconscious in the blasts from the
exploding fighters outside, began to scour the ship for more intruders. What felt like an eternity later, Esilius
approached Castian and clapped new slaved bangles onto his wrists, then proceeded to undo his bindings. Castian struggled
against the man as he was pulled up from the ground, but to no avail. Esilius was far stronger and faster. He ordered
Castian to bring the freighter's engines back online. The bangles produced a terrible shock that put Castian involuntarily
back on the floor when he refused. Knowing resistance would eventually lead to his death and that, dead, he would have no
opportunity for vengeance, Castian complied. Esilius took the freighter to Midway and traded the alloy for more Alrutanium
weapons.
Enslaved, Castian was forced into pit-fighting in seedier parts on the surface of Javos and slumside on Midway, as well as
continued raids against freighters. Twin knives of Saborian make were given to Castian for his new life. The fighting in
Midway was purely for passing time, and never to the death. Javos was different. When he was taken to a handful of sordid
pits on Javos, he was forced to fight against starved, feral Wingos or Harbingers, and always to the death. He managed
well, but his wrists were permanently scarred from the shock treatments administered when he tried to strike out against
Esilius. His back and chest were scarred from the fights and the numerous shots from Esilius's stun gun when he refused to
kill his opponents in the fight pits. Esilius took great pride in using his massive stores of Verdona to prevent Castian
from scarring his face and arms. He always stacked the odds against Castian by making him appear soft and then collected
massive sums of tek bits when he survived the fight.
Over those two years, Castian was augmented on two occasions. First, very early on, he was given glowing blue eyes capable
of seeing varying wavelengths besides the ultraviolet spectrum, not limited to just forms of light. It taxed him greatly as
he learned to filter out different wavelengths to learn to see normally, but it made him an invaluable asset in raids and
several of the pit fights he was subjected to. His hearing was augmented as well with aural implants; although it proved a
hinderance in some situations, it allowed him to excel in others. He suffered headaches constantly from the augmented
senses, but a constant supply of Verdona was kept available. They discovered he could reduce the headaches by taking small
doses of Verdona while trying to speed up his healing after fights. Reduced to little more than a tool, Castian had little
hope of exacting revenge against the man that killed his father.
Six years ago, age eighteen, while they were at Midway to barter away collected items from the recent winnings on Javos and
recent raids, Castian was taken to the pits for more fighting. He was given a telescoping Alrutanium staff much like the
ones he had trained with his father to use. The series of fights were easy for Castian--a breeze, compared to some of those
he had faced on Javos. And in the midst of one of the fights, the lights went out. Everything blacked out. Using his
augmented eyes to see heat signatures from those around him, he was able to free himself from the cage. Esilius heard the
staff when Castian struck his opponent, and immediately started calling to Castian for help. To belay the shocking
punishment that was sure to follow, Castian called back that he was coming. He followed Esilius's voice and then led him
away from the pit. Using his augmented vision, he avoided the clusters of people trampling one another to escape the
darkness.
While they ran, shoving into and past people, Castian thrust his hand into his master's jacket and withdrew the stun pistol
he always carried unnoticed. Even in the dark, he could remember the lessons with Marianna about various energy weapons. He
knew there were small flaws in them, the easiest of which to exploit being physically rewiring the energy cell to redirect
the augmented energy that would typically be discharged from the weapon back into the energy cell to overload it. Lying, he
told Esilius to wait for the people in front of them to pass by. Quickly and as quietly as he could, Castian rewired the
pistol. He had his back turned to Esilius and was crouched on the ground to do his work; before he finished, the power came
back on. "Treachery!" Esilius shouted when he saw that Castian had led them to a wall--a dead end. "There were no people
before us!"
Castian glanced behind him while finishing the reassembly of the gun; Esilius eyed him suspiciously. Esilius groped for his
stun gun and realized it was no longer on his person. At the same moment Esilius reached for the transponder that activated
Castian's shock treatment, Castian spun around with the stun gun aimed at his master's chest. "I'm a terrible shot, but I
can't miss when you're this close." When Esilius produced the transponder in his right hand, Castian swiftly struck it from
his hand with the end of the staff he still carried at the ready. The device visibly shorted itself and started smoking as
it fell to the ground. Castian cursed, knowing that without it his cuffs would be difficult at best to safely remove. It
also meant, however, that he could no longer be tortured into submission. "You are no longer my master." He tossed the gun
aside and attacked Esilius with his staff, quickly overpowering him. He struck the man down with the staff and knelt on his
chest. "Fear for the rest of your days. You owe a debt of blood to me, and I will one day come to collect it from you. You
will curse the day that you took my life from me. You will curse the day that you crossed paths with Stryker." Esilius
groaned as Castian stepped off and struck his sternum with the staff.
Castian turned and fled from Esilius then, but his former master had already struggled to his feet and grabbed the gun from
the ground. He fled through the chaotic remnants from the trampling crowds and the massacre from the blackout, with Esilius
not far behind. Finally, he felt a bittersweet satisfaction when Esilius tried to fire the gun at him and the burst of
energy overloaded the power cell--the gun exploded. Though the explosion was not as large as it would have been with a
newer or larger power cell, it was enough to mutilate Esilius's face and chest and take his arm off. Castian--now choosing
to take on the alias Stryker--left his former master for dead. A small nagging part of him--the part that valued life above
all else, taught to him by his father--hoped that Esilius would survive. Death was too easy a punishment for him, anyway.
Stryker tried to find Marianna in the midst of the chaos, but his old home had long been abandoned. He spent a month trying
to track her down, but the only trace of her he could find was a rumor that she had remarried and moved to Javos just
months before. He hid in the cargo bay of an A-Class passenger freighter and traveled to Javos. The planet was large, and
with his limited resources, he did the only thing he knew. For nearly six years, he searched for her while fighting in pits
and bounty hunting to earn coin and the Verdona that had become so precious to him. Never able to reconnect with Marianna,
Stryker finally turned back to the stars. He slipped onto a passenger freighter and journeyed back to midway to search for
work as a freelancer, if anyone would take him on.
(Note: If anyone's willing to or interested in playing Esilius or Marianna at any point in the future, that would be cool.
I left both of their fates open for that reason.)
OOC[/u][/font]
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Alias/Name = Ronnie
Age = 27
SN for this character = Castian Grey
Email (if different) =
Tell us a random/odd fact about yourself. = My wife and I got married a couple of years ago, and when we were
driving from the wedding to the reception, she leaned over, kissed me on the cheek, and said, "You know this car is mine
now, right?"
Tell us about one of your favorite RP moments. = One of my most cherished moments in RP was in an old medieval group
when my character united a large group of other characters against an invading evil while the queen was away and drove back
the demons.
Describe your thoughts of this SL in five words. = Refreshing, player-driven, full of potential
Would you prefer a writing prompt (for the char you're applying for) from SL Members and/or questions? = I'm game
for either or both.
Did anyone recruit you?(What were they like?) = I was sort of recruited by a combination of a link in Rem's profile,
seeing a group playing, and playing a game of twenty questions with Rem.
Recruiter SN = Prodigal Aviator
_______________________________________________________________________________________
IC Info[/u][/font]
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Played By= Alec Newman
Category= Freelancer would probably fit best, though he did have a history as a raider before coming of age.
Name = Castian Grey
Alias/Nicknames = Stryker
Age = 24/25
Height =5'10"
Weight =190 pounds
Eye Color = Faintly-glowing blue, almost a neon hue
Hair Color = Brown
General Demeanor/Personality = Stryker is shy and untrusting of most people, but he will work with people if it is
necessary to get by. He walks with confidence, but he's always watching his surroundings for treachery. He always observes
people as much as possible before interacing with them, and with the exception of any friends he might make along the way,
he tries not to interact more than necessary.
Quirks = He is extremely untrusting of people bcause of one person in his past (Esilius). He will go out of his way
to avoid killing someone if there is a way he can. Finally, he suffers from constant, extreme headaches from the aural and
ocular augmentations, and requires a great deal of sleep (12-16 hours) or regular, small doses (twice daily during waking
hours) of Verdona to keep the headaches at bay. He's a terrible shot with firearms (handheld and rifles. He's also a
terrible shot when piloting. Finally, he still wears slave bangles. The control device for them was destroyed, but he fears
trying to remove them in case they shock him, as he had seen some of his fellow slaves shocked to death when trying to
damage their bangles. He'd like to remove them, but his natural distrust of most people prevents him from asking around to
do so.
Best Skills = Stryker is hghly skilled in melee combat with a quarterstaff or twin blades (single-edged, large
dagger-size).He is highly ingenuitive with repairing or rigging mechanical and electronic gadgetry of varying sizes. Though
he lacks firing coordination when piloting, he's very good at evasive maneuvering while flying.
General Skills =Stryker is skilled with small projectiles (throwing knives, cards, and darts). His high intelligence
and attention to detail allows him to read most people and what they are expressing through body language as well as what
they are trying to hide. Stryker is light-footed and good at sneaking in and out of places.
Reputation = He has been away for several years and had always lived a somewhat indescript life publicly before his
capture. Most people would not recognize him from those days. In seedier parts of Javos and from somewhat regular visits to
Midway, some might recognize him by his unnaturally-hued eyes as a former unnamed slave frequently fighting in the pits as
the undercard but almost always winning the fights.
Brief Bio (3 or more Paragraphs) = Castian Grey was born to Gavin and Marianna Grey, a raider pilot and an engineer
both working for Salvator Sokolov. To keep a low profile and low living costs, Castian's family lived slum-side on Midway
Station. It was the nicer part of the Underside, but it was still the slums. They made enough from Gavin's raids that they
could have moved elsewhere, but Gavin did not want to draw that kind of attention to them. In the slums, it was normal for
some people to leave and stay gone for days at a time before returning, but up top, he felt that would give rise to more
suspicion than he wanted.
Castian was a bright and resourceful boy with an insatiable thirst for learning in all fields. His greatest dream was to
follow his father's footsteps to become a pilot, but his mother had other plans for him. He was taught at an accelerated
rate in private sessions with his mother, apart from any formal education. With a natural aptitude for mechanics and
engineering, Castian was able to reassemble his father's revolver while it was apart for cleaning at age five. At seven, he
disassembled Gavin's energy pistol and reassembled it. Three years later, he helped repair the engines and turrets on
Gavin's interceptor. Afterward, he became an integral part of the engineering crew for Sokolov's raiders.
In spite of Marianna's wishes, Castian had every intention to fly and worked hard in his free time through his childhood
and adolescence to learn about combat and flight through simulators and trainers Gavin hired for him. Gavin taught him to
use the weapons he had at is disposal; while Castian was barely adept with the firearms, he excelled with blades, staves,
and projectiles. From the first time he held a dagger in his hand, it was like a natural extension of his arm. Staves and
throwing knives were no different. He preferred the metallic telescoping staves he was loaned for practice to the blades,
but the large knives were infinitely useful in close-quarters when the length of a staff would hinder mobility.
Piloting came naturally to him as well. His ability to pay attention to and track multiple details as well as his spatial
coordination gave him a competitive edge in maneuvering over many of Sokolov's raiders, Gavin included. He lacked the
ability to fire manually targetted weapons effectively, but he was highly skilled at evasive maneuvering. Because of this,
he was never able to win against the other raiders in the simulated dogfights, but he was almost always one of the last
three pilots remaining.
At age twelve, Castian became Salvator's youngest raider. He was highly valued by Gavin's crew for his ability to repair
and rig their ships while they were away on raids. Sokolov carefully researched and selected targets for their raids--
always freighters with questionable contents and never civilians or military vessels. The raider lord was also careful
about his selection of those freighters--he never targetted any of the more prominent traders with connections to the
Underboss. This minimized casualties from retaliation against Sokolov's team.
By age sixteen, Castian had participated in many successful raids; they never set slaves free, but took them instead to be
sold at a premium. The thought of slavery still disgusted him, but he hid his distaste well. Raiding and trading was really
the only life his family knew. Castian believed himself to be a good person, despite the illegal activities he'd been a
part of for three years. Sokolov's group was small--four fighters and a lightly-armed skiff. As he aged and became stronger
and faster, he became a more integral part of the raiding crew.
Castian was light on his feet and thought quickly, and his skill with blades was now unsurpassed by the other raiders. He
often boarded the freighters and disappeared quickly after his presence was detected. He used his staff to silently disable
any guards he came across along the way, and left them bound and gagged. After eliminating all resistance, Castian would
transport the newly-obtained cargo to their own skiff. Rarely did the slaves resist--they typically held onto the belief
that they were being rescued from the slavers, only to be taken to the docks and sold off anyway. The other raiders took to
calling him Stryker, for his ability to infiltrate and quickly strike down resistance.
In 105WA, age sixteen marked the end of his career as a raider. Sokolov assigned Gavin, Castian, and the other raiders to
an unusual mark, along with a new raiding team Sokolov had put together in the weeks before. A man known only as Esilius
lead the new team. Castian had only met him twice before, but the man was clearly a killer. He was cold and cruel, and
there was a fierceness in his eyes that set everyone around him on edge--even members of his own team. Castian thought it
curious that Esilius and his crew wore slave bangles, but he never brought it up to his father.
This day's mark was to intercept a trade between two freighters. One carried stolen Alrutanium alloy and Verdona, while the
other carried a handful of stolen Alrutanium weaponry. Gavin was to lead one team against the supply freighter, while
Esilius intercepted the other and relieved them of their weapons. By the time Gavin's crew intercepted the supply-bearing
freighter, Esilius had already disabled the other freighter and sent the signal to Gavin that they were heading back to
Midway.
Like any other mark, Castian boarded the freighter. That was the moment that everything changed. The moment he boarded the
ship, he heard yelling and screaming all around him. It sounded as though something were happening outside, and the
freighter began to shudder violently as it was taking fire from an unknown assailant. His own crew couldn't be
responsible--they would not fire on the freighter unless he was killed or forced to evacuate. The crew of the freighter,
already on high alert because of some other threat that had been detected, apprehended Castian. He fought well and knocked
out several guards and crew members, but in the end there were too many coming at him at once. With his hands and feet
bound together as they were, he was unable to resist or even move much as they dragged him to the bridge to keep tighter
security there in case of more intruders. From the bridge, he watched the viewing screens in horror as his father's entire
crew was destroyed by unseen assailants. Afterward, the freighter began taking heavy fire and slowed to a crawl as the
assailants disabled the freighter's engines. One glimpse of the custom-outfitted fighter that seemed to be leading the
attack, and Castian knew. Esilius had betrayed them all. And for that, one day, he would pay.
Minutes passed and the freighter's security team, those who hadn't been knocked unconscious in the blasts from the
exploding fighters outside, began to scour the ship for more intruders. What felt like an eternity later, Esilius
approached Castian and clapped new slaved bangles onto his wrists, then proceeded to undo his bindings. Castian struggled
against the man as he was pulled up from the ground, but to no avail. Esilius was far stronger and faster. He ordered
Castian to bring the freighter's engines back online. The bangles produced a terrible shock that put Castian involuntarily
back on the floor when he refused. Knowing resistance would eventually lead to his death and that, dead, he would have no
opportunity for vengeance, Castian complied. Esilius took the freighter to Midway and traded the alloy for more Alrutanium
weapons.
Enslaved, Castian was forced into pit-fighting in seedier parts on the surface of Javos and slumside on Midway, as well as
continued raids against freighters. Twin knives of Saborian make were given to Castian for his new life. The fighting in
Midway was purely for passing time, and never to the death. Javos was different. When he was taken to a handful of sordid
pits on Javos, he was forced to fight against starved, feral Wingos or Harbingers, and always to the death. He managed
well, but his wrists were permanently scarred from the shock treatments administered when he tried to strike out against
Esilius. His back and chest were scarred from the fights and the numerous shots from Esilius's stun gun when he refused to
kill his opponents in the fight pits. Esilius took great pride in using his massive stores of Verdona to prevent Castian
from scarring his face and arms. He always stacked the odds against Castian by making him appear soft and then collected
massive sums of tek bits when he survived the fight.
Over those two years, Castian was augmented on two occasions. First, very early on, he was given glowing blue eyes capable
of seeing varying wavelengths besides the ultraviolet spectrum, not limited to just forms of light. It taxed him greatly as
he learned to filter out different wavelengths to learn to see normally, but it made him an invaluable asset in raids and
several of the pit fights he was subjected to. His hearing was augmented as well with aural implants; although it proved a
hinderance in some situations, it allowed him to excel in others. He suffered headaches constantly from the augmented
senses, but a constant supply of Verdona was kept available. They discovered he could reduce the headaches by taking small
doses of Verdona while trying to speed up his healing after fights. Reduced to little more than a tool, Castian had little
hope of exacting revenge against the man that killed his father.
Six years ago, age eighteen, while they were at Midway to barter away collected items from the recent winnings on Javos and
recent raids, Castian was taken to the pits for more fighting. He was given a telescoping Alrutanium staff much like the
ones he had trained with his father to use. The series of fights were easy for Castian--a breeze, compared to some of those
he had faced on Javos. And in the midst of one of the fights, the lights went out. Everything blacked out. Using his
augmented eyes to see heat signatures from those around him, he was able to free himself from the cage. Esilius heard the
staff when Castian struck his opponent, and immediately started calling to Castian for help. To belay the shocking
punishment that was sure to follow, Castian called back that he was coming. He followed Esilius's voice and then led him
away from the pit. Using his augmented vision, he avoided the clusters of people trampling one another to escape the
darkness.
While they ran, shoving into and past people, Castian thrust his hand into his master's jacket and withdrew the stun pistol
he always carried unnoticed. Even in the dark, he could remember the lessons with Marianna about various energy weapons. He
knew there were small flaws in them, the easiest of which to exploit being physically rewiring the energy cell to redirect
the augmented energy that would typically be discharged from the weapon back into the energy cell to overload it. Lying, he
told Esilius to wait for the people in front of them to pass by. Quickly and as quietly as he could, Castian rewired the
pistol. He had his back turned to Esilius and was crouched on the ground to do his work; before he finished, the power came
back on. "Treachery!" Esilius shouted when he saw that Castian had led them to a wall--a dead end. "There were no people
before us!"
Castian glanced behind him while finishing the reassembly of the gun; Esilius eyed him suspiciously. Esilius groped for his
stun gun and realized it was no longer on his person. At the same moment Esilius reached for the transponder that activated
Castian's shock treatment, Castian spun around with the stun gun aimed at his master's chest. "I'm a terrible shot, but I
can't miss when you're this close." When Esilius produced the transponder in his right hand, Castian swiftly struck it from
his hand with the end of the staff he still carried at the ready. The device visibly shorted itself and started smoking as
it fell to the ground. Castian cursed, knowing that without it his cuffs would be difficult at best to safely remove. It
also meant, however, that he could no longer be tortured into submission. "You are no longer my master." He tossed the gun
aside and attacked Esilius with his staff, quickly overpowering him. He struck the man down with the staff and knelt on his
chest. "Fear for the rest of your days. You owe a debt of blood to me, and I will one day come to collect it from you. You
will curse the day that you took my life from me. You will curse the day that you crossed paths with Stryker." Esilius
groaned as Castian stepped off and struck his sternum with the staff.
Castian turned and fled from Esilius then, but his former master had already struggled to his feet and grabbed the gun from
the ground. He fled through the chaotic remnants from the trampling crowds and the massacre from the blackout, with Esilius
not far behind. Finally, he felt a bittersweet satisfaction when Esilius tried to fire the gun at him and the burst of
energy overloaded the power cell--the gun exploded. Though the explosion was not as large as it would have been with a
newer or larger power cell, it was enough to mutilate Esilius's face and chest and take his arm off. Castian--now choosing
to take on the alias Stryker--left his former master for dead. A small nagging part of him--the part that valued life above
all else, taught to him by his father--hoped that Esilius would survive. Death was too easy a punishment for him, anyway.
Stryker tried to find Marianna in the midst of the chaos, but his old home had long been abandoned. He spent a month trying
to track her down, but the only trace of her he could find was a rumor that she had remarried and moved to Javos just
months before. He hid in the cargo bay of an A-Class passenger freighter and traveled to Javos. The planet was large, and
with his limited resources, he did the only thing he knew. For nearly six years, he searched for her while fighting in pits
and bounty hunting to earn coin and the Verdona that had become so precious to him. Never able to reconnect with Marianna,
Stryker finally turned back to the stars. He slipped onto a passenger freighter and journeyed back to midway to search for
work as a freelancer, if anyone would take him on.
(Note: If anyone's willing to or interested in playing Esilius or Marianna at any point in the future, that would be cool.
I left both of their fates open for that reason.)