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I'm Captain Arclight Errant.
My friends call me 'Arc.'
But, you? YOU can call me 'Captain.' |
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— Himself |
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Captain Errant is a captain in the Galactic Explorers Alliance Starfleet (GEAS), somewhere between James Kirk and Malcolm Reynolds in style. He'd retired from active duty and operated privately from his own small but scrappy starcruiser, the Artful Venture, but the recent encounter GEAS had with the Galactic Empire led them to entice Arc out of retirement. Since then, he's been made captain of the GSS Escapade, the flagship of the GEAS fleet. The rumor is that Arc isn't quite human, and he has some unusual abilities to match, but he generally doesn't talk much about that.
Personality
While the classic Myers Briggs personality breakdown is an arbitrary and fundamentally synthetic way of classifying personality types, it's also convenient as a way to quantify a personality. Given this model, Arc would be considered Extroverted Sensing Thinking and Perceiving: "As an ESTP, your primary mode of living is focused externally, where you take things in via your five senses in a literal, concrete fashion. Your secondary mode is internal, where you deal with things rationally and logically." The ESTP archetype has been called "The Doer," valuing action and seeing things clearly over contemplation or trusting their instincts. Of course, even Jung said that everyone is an individual, and therefore everyone is an exception to the rule--so these aren't strict rules, just general guidelines. Still, the end summary of the ESTP is fitting enough: "ESTPs are practical, observant, fun-loving, spontaneous risk-takers with an excellent ability to quickly improvise an innovative solution to a problem. They're enthusiastic and fun to be with, and are great motivators. If an ESTP recognizes their real talents and operates within those realms, they can accomplish truly exciting things." -- personalitypage.com
Background
Arclight Errant was born under odd circumstances. The details are vague, but his parents abandoned him on a small human agricultural colony when he was an infant. He grew up a happy child, adopted by a loving couple and their commune, but he always dreamed of the stars. As soon as he was old enough, he signed on to the first ship's crew he could, and from then on it was a spacer's life for him. In his early twenties, he became a GEAS officer and signed on to a deep space voyage. The life suited him. By his thirties, he was captaining starships. It was while captaining one such ship, the Starlighter, that Arc was lost for several months while on a scouting mission. When he returned, he had odd stories to tell about visiting a distant galaxy, but he was debriefed and little more was made of it. Later, while commanding a ship with the portentous name of The Albatross, Arc came to the world known as Planet X.
The catastrophe of Planet X is recorded elsewhere, but suffice to say, people awoke what should not have been disturbed, and the results were terrible. Planet X was quarantined, and few who were there escaped unscathed, if indeed they escaped with their lives at all. The encounter greatly enhanced Arc's psi-factor--what some might call awareness of the Force--thanks to touching the mind behind the catastrophe, and it took him years to recover. In time, though, he did recover, and he went back to the life of an explorer and a spacer. With a new ship, The Artful Venture, and a new crew, new adventures awaited. However, after some years had passed, GEAS made first contact with the Galactic Empire, and due to his past experience, they enticed Arc to return and take command of their flagship exploration vessel, the GSS Escapade, for a mission assess and understand this new, unknown faction from a distant galaxy.
SKILLS
Astrogation - Expert Level
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A veteran of space travel for decades, Arc is an exceptionally skilled astrogator. He can, with a little time and calculation, accurately plot Hyperspace jump coordinates in his head if pressed to do so.
Arc is an exceptional physical specimen, and he is highly capable of any kind of physical activity, be it running, jumping, swimming, climbing, swinging, lifting, acrobatics, EVA maneuvers, or just about anything else he might be called upon to do.
When it comes to armed or unarmed combat, Arc is an expert fighter. He's also an accomplished marksman, especially with a blaster, and is highly capable as a starship gunner. He is especially skilled, notably, with the use of his unusual photonic weapon, which was inspired by tales he heard of lightsabers.
Engineering - Competent Level
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Arc believes that a captain should know something of all the ship's systems, and engineering is no exception. While he lacks the ability of a dedicated engineer, he is able enough to serve and can keep a ship running smoothly.
Leadership - Expert Level
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Having served as a successful officer in GEAS, as well as a captain in a private capacity, for many years, Arc is an exceptionally capable and effective leader. His style tends to be relaxed and informal, and he trusts his crew to do their jobs. Arc's golden rule is, "Don't cause trouble for your shipmates." He takes a firmer hand when his trust is poorly repaid, of course, or when it's clear that any of his crew need that from him. He is, on the whole, a compassionate and highly capable officer.
Piloting - Competent Level
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Though hardly the galaxy's foremost pilot, Arc is a capable one who can see his ship safely through most maneuvers. As a captain, though, he often relies on helmsmen who are true experts when it comes to piloting.
Psi-Training - Expert Level
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Arc has trained extensively to master his powers, which were amplified by his Planet X encounter. Some might call it using the Force, others call it a psi-factor, but either way, it's something Arc has worked to become an expert at using to his advantage. He's also fairly knowledgeable of the concepts and theories behind his abilities, making him a capable candidate to research them or teach them to others.
Survival - Competent Level
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Having spent his fair share of time in survival situations, Arc is solidly capable of surviving for extended periods under most conditions with only minimal gear or supplies, even on alien worlds or aboard a starship with limited life support.
Arc's mind is disciplined and, after plenty of intense experiences, including the Planet X incident, extremely well conditioned against any kind of mental invasion, assault, or coercion. Anything but weak-willed, he is exceedingly difficult to affect mentally, emotionally, or psychologically against his will.
ABILITIES
Power: Adaptive Defense - Supreme Level
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The Jedi have what they called "tutaminis," covering a variety of defensive techniques that allow Force-users to absorb or dissipate energy, such as blaster bolts or Force lightning. Advanced users might even be able to contain and suspend or redirect such energy, leaving blaster bolts frozen in midair for as long as the user could concentrate on them or throwing Force lightning back at the one who projected it. It may also be used on other forms of energy, such as absorbing and redirecting lightning strikes, and it can aid in surviving dangerous energy exposures, such as to radiation.
Arc's ability is similar, if slightly broader in scope. Not only can he absorb, dissipate, and redirect attacks such as Force lightning, but he can also resist harmful forms of energy such as radiation or the corrupting essence of the Dark Side. He can even counter effects like telekinesis against him as though his own telekinesis were Supreme, though he cannot otherwise use telekinesis beyond the Enhanced level. This power does not protect him from blaster bolts or lightsaber strikes, however, as those are not psi or Force-based abilities, nor are they ambient effects. For those, he must rely on other abilities.
Tech: Armor - Enhanced Level
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To offer defense against physical threats, Arc often uses a high-end set of environmental protection EVA armor. It houses an onboard computer that ties in with his ship's main system, a powerful sensor and communications array, and sealed life support systems capable of maintaining oxygen, temperature, and pressure levels even in the most hostile environments for an indefinite period of time. Designed for labor or combat use, it offers enhanced strength and toughness with no real loss of dexterity or agility.
Power: Awareness - Supreme Level
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What the Jedi called "farsight," this form of advanced clairvoyance allows the Force-user to see visions of other locations, even other times. This may include seeing a target in real time, witnessing the events happening to and around them, but it may also convey glimpses of the future, though these are seldom to be depended upon, as the future is always in motion, always changing. The more physical and emotional distance between the farseer and their target, the more difficult the feat becomes. Between two farseers, it's possible to achieve mental communication in this way, though usually such effects are limited.
Apart from reading thoughts, Arc also perceives psychic energies in a broader sense. This allows him to perceive the presence and location of intelligent minds, particularly those nearby. With greater focus, he can read auras, extend his perceptions over a great distance, or directly sense and interact with the Astral Plane itself. Narrowly focused, he concentrates on a single mental presence at a time and can perceive the "aura" the mind projects, which can reveal the identity and disposition of the mind. Broadly focused, he can sense the location of the minds around him, not unlike points of light in the darkness, but he must rely on a group profile rather than individual readings. He can pick out a group of alien, hostile, or other minds that share a common distinctive trait, but he cannot determine the specifics of individual identities this way.
Arc senses the physical world around him primarily in terms of form and shape. With greater focus, he can translate this into physical senses, such as sight, smell, touch, etc.; extend his perceptions over a great distance; or read the psychic imprints on nearby objects via psychometry. The most esoteric application of this power is Arc's talent for using it to detect elevated energies in other living creatures, such as the vast power held by many superhuman beings. That ability is limited to line of sight, it is not infallible, and not everyone is equally easy to "read."
Unfocused, his mind filters out the minutiae that might distract him. He tends to only sense clearly threatening or highly unusual objects, focused energy sources, sudden movements, etc. In tactical situations, this includes minor precognition, allowing him to anticipate an opponents movements before they act. He picks up on things like hidden passages, illusions, and so forth. Narrowly focused, he orients on either a certain location or object. Broadly focused, he scans a large area for particular things or happenings. The more subtle or "quiet" a thing or event is, the more difficult it becomes to sense at a distance.
Power: Mentalism - Enhanced Level
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As a telepath, Arc is capable of communicating with other minds, both by reading thoughts and projecting thoughts to them. Normally, he's limited to fairly close range and only a handful of minds at once, but with an effort he can extend this further. Full, lasting mental links can also be established. These must be consensual, and they extend the range greatly while reducing the effort required, but these also make it much harder for Arc to shut out those within them.
In addition to reading surface thoughts, Arc can to an extent also look more deeply into the mind of the target, reading thought and memory. The difficulty depends on the target's cooperation, willpower, and psychic resistance. This power can be used on one target, giving detailed information, or many at once, which results in a generalized group profile. He can pick up surface thoughts or emotions from an undefended mind with ease. Empathy is an even more basic application of this power, allowing Arc to sense the emotions of others as he would their thoughts. He tends to feel emotions, like strong surface thoughts, without actively trying to sense them.
While the most fundamental aspect of telepathy might be reading minds, for Arc it goes hand-in-hand with exerting influence over them. From subtle suggestion to overt mental domination, this aspect of telepathy allows Arc to tell others' minds what to perceive and think. He can create telepathic projections or illusions, intricate and immersive for a small group, or comparatively simple for a large crowd--perhaps a single image or command. The emotions may also be affected, adjusting or implanting feelings in the same manner as images. Creating an emotion that is not already present is much more difficult, while enhancing or dampening an emotion that's already active is fairly simple.
Tech: Photonic Weapon - Enhanced Level
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Resembling a metallic hilt that wraps around his hand and clasps around his wrist, this weapon could be mistaken at first glance for some kind of gauntlet. Most of it is, in fact, a gauntlet, which holds the unit securely in place, but the central component looks like a mid-sized handheld tool. The device can produce various weapons, each compose of "hard light" compressed photons. It can take the form of nearly any melee weapon, from a sword to an axe, shield, or whip. It can be set to inflict stunning damage, which causes pain and temporary paralysis but does no lasting damage, or to inflict lethal damage that can melt through inches of steel at once like a hot knife through butter.
Power: Physiology - Enhanced Level
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Many of Arc's abilities stem from his alien physiology. He has Enhanced-level strength, agility, and physical toughness. His body is highly adaptive, allowing him to survive in many harsh environments, even the vacuum of space. This capacity to adapt includes genetics, which is why Arc appears human, even to genetic scans. Arc can heal from nearly any injury, even regenerating his body from effective destruction, though this process could take weeks or months to complete (at the speed of Plot). To kill him permanently, one would need to eliminate his Astral essence. His nature renders him immune to being stripped of his powers or having his physical form altered against his will. This does not protect him from taking direct damage, however.
Power: Telekinesis - Enhanced Level
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Telekinesis is the well-known ability to manipulate physical reality, especially physical or kinetic energy. It is commonly used to push or pull targets, to levitate creatures or objects, to deflect attacks, to apply crushing force to a target, to throw objects at a target, and even to allow the user to leap exceptional distances without harm, to simply name some of the most common applications. Arc can exert up to sevral tons of kinetic force without strain, and with exertion he can increase his capacity even a bit beyond that. This ability can be used to manipulate, lift, shield, or apply force in any way he can imagine. Limited to range of perception, the power allows very fine precision if he concentrates fully.
Power: Telekinetic Speed - Enhanced Level
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Using a combination of applied telekinesis and his own alien physiology, Arc is able to accelerate his speed considerably, moving at up to hundreds of miles per hour, but this usually only lasts for a few seconds before it becomes physically harmful to maintain. While accelerated in this fashion, Arc becomes not only physically faster, but his agility, thoughts, and perceptions are similarly enhanced, the world seeming to slow around him and enabling greater accuracy in attacks or making it easier to defend against them. To safely avoid harming himself, after using a burst of speed Arc must rest for at least as long as that burst of speed lasted.
Arc is able to increase his agility to perhaps twenty times that of a normal human, able to catch slower-moving projectiles, such as primitive arrows, or to dodge blaster fire with a bit of luck. In this state, he can run at up to 250 miles per hour. He can maintain this state for up to thirty seconds at a time before doing himself harm, though he usually uses it for far less time than that at once, using it instead in tiny increments during a fight or for a momentary burst of acceleration when he needs it most.
Power: Willpower - Supreme Level
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As a result of his psychic abilities and past encounters, Arc has transcendent level willpower and mental defenses. In terms of mental stamina and resisting conventional means of influence or attack (including technological or psychic), his resolve is unfaltering. While he does not have "mental shields" such as telepaths often do, his strength of will and mental complexity allow him to filter out unwanted foreign thoughts and endure even potent mental attacks, be they of psychic, mystic, or other origin. Further, reading his thoughts against his will is exceptionally difficult due to the structure of his mind.
ADVANTAGES
Having lived as a spacer most of his life and as a captain for a number of years, Arc has developed quite a long list of contacts that he can go to if he needs something. They aren't all friends or allies, though some are, and there are those who would demand favors of payment from him before they would give him the time of day, but even so he knows many people, and the odds are that in nearly any situation he has someone he can go to consult, perhaps even receiving aid in a difficult situation.
Arc typically carries standard equipment for a spacer or explorer. These may include items such as communication and sensory equipment, portable computers and interface devices, tool kits, survival aids, diversionary gadgets or other such standard gear that is available to others in his position.
Arc holds the rank of captain in the GEAS fleet, and he was considered a valuable enough asset to bring back out of retirement and return to command the GSS Escapade, the flagship the GEAS exploration fleet. It is also notable that, as a result of his experiences in the Planet X Incident, Arc carries an exceptionally high security clearance, since by virtue of just having been alive and been there, he ranks among the foremost experts on the event.
While lost in a distant galaxy, Arc encountered a creature called a vulptex. Arc helped the little guy escape being sold to a wealthy collector to be put on display, and they bonded to become friends. Arc ended up giving him the name Quartax, often shortened to "Tax" or "Quarty," and they have been companions since. In fact, Quartax was with Arc on Planet X during the Incident, and as a result, Quartax has been physically changed. He has Supreme-level physical and mental resilience, especially against any form of psi or Force-based energy, and Enhanced-level agility. His senses are naturally Enhanced-level, and he seems to have considerably higher intelligence than a typical animal, though he does not speak or communicate in any known language.
While Arc is not the wealthiest man, he does make reasonable profit at what he does. Most of that profit goes to paying his crew and maintaining his ship, but as Arc is good at being frugal with his money otherwise, he has managed to lay aside a tidy nest egg. This is enough to overhaul or repair his ship a few times over, to disappear from society and start a new life, or to pay off a very large bribe or bounty if it came down to it.
The Artful Venture isn't an old rustbucket that somehow outperforms most other ships, in the order of Serenity or The Millennium Falcon. Instead, it's a craft that looks deceptively plain on the outside but is actually kept in tight, efficient working order at all times. The Venture doesn't hold together, just barely, at the critical moment and barely manage to pull off some impossible maneuver thanks to the skill of its pilot. No, it's a standard hull that's been stripped bare inside and rebuilt from the wiring up, reinforced with high-end military armor and defense systems. Most of Arc's money is sunk into keeping his ship in absolutely top condition, so he doesn't just perform because of luck or the pilot's audacity. She's legitimately one of the finest ships in the galaxy.
Built from the hull of an old freighter, though with the armor of a military cruiser, he doesn't look like the most graceful ship, but as the man once said, he's got it where it counts. His engines are top of the line, though they're usually calibrated for efficiency and clean running rather for bleeding edge speed, while her maneuvering thrusters are always set for both high speed and precision movement. The ship's sensors and other systems are all high-end or top of the line. The standard light plasma cannons of a freighter are mounted on her bow, but Arc has added heavy dorsal and ventral gunnery turrets, each featuring dual heavy plasma cannons, as well as a ventrally mounted fusion missile launcher.
The ship features a retractable long-range communication array, fully Hypernet capable, as well as serving as a signal jammer and sensor dish. A backup unit may be deployed from the ship's bow, though it has a shorter range without a Hypernet connection nearby. Its interior amenities include two decks, offering extensive crew quarters, full cargo bay, a high-end medbay equipped for both humans and various alien species, a workshop, galley, lounge, hydroponics bay, and other ship's systems.
WEAKNESSES
Arc is highly attuned to Astral energies, which can have a strong impact on him. This means that when something affects the Astral Plane, it affects him. Any event that causes a sudden shock to, for example, the Astral Plane will impact him in much the same way. For example, if a large group of people were to suddenly die, he would feel it like a physical blow. The more people involved, the stronger the effect on him. In the case of large-scale violence, such as being in a war zone, where lives are being lost in large groups or in rapid succession, it would manifest as physical pain for him. If his mind is overwhelmed by these negative effects, he may be rendered unconscious for up to several hours.
The Planet X incident is one key example of a brush that Arc has had with dark powers. These encounters with whatever powers exist beyond the edge of known reality are something that very few people have experienced, but it's a burden that Arc bears. He has been touched by dark and alien powers, and while he is better than most at resisting them, the fact remains that he has touched a darkness that few have ever known. That leaves an impression that does not lightly fade, and while he has learned to live with it, the encounter still haunts Arc to some degree to this day.
Arc has seen some shit. Much like his brush with darkness at the Planet X incident, he has found himself more than once in situations that might utterly break another man. He seldom speaks of what he's seen, but whatever it is, this knowledge drove him to isolate himself and spend long years sorting out his mind and his life--until GEAS enticed him to come back. Now, whatever it is Arc knows drives him--political squabbles and corporate power struggles are petty concerns against the much larger threats out there, but they cannot be ignored. So, Arc will confront mundane dangers head on, if only to try to better prepare the galaxies to stand against the true darkness.
Given the struggles of Arc's life and his strength of will, he can be very stubborn. When he makes up his mind about something, he will follow the course almost obsessively, which makes him very difficult to deal with at times. When he and another strong will clash, the results are seldom pleasant for anyone involved. This also affects his willingness to ask for help. Confident in his powers and his ability to use them, Arc tends to be too certain of his own ability to handle things, such as tending to step into harm's way to protect others instead of allowing himself to be protected. He does not so much overestimate his ability as he believes any obstacle can be surmounted, and he seldom hesitates to try.
As noted in his other drawbacks, Arc has seen and been through a lot. These experiences have left many marks on him, and he's struggled in the past to come to terms with the various events of his life. These days, he has found new balance in life and come through his trials stronger than before, but the result is that Arc can be a difficult man to truly get to know. Behind a roguish, even rakish façade, he's a man whose past has left deep impressions. He is, in so many ways, far older than he looks.
Since his exposure to extraplanar energies, Arc has picked up a strange and often inconvenient sort of personal magnetism. He seems almost to be a nexus for reality to bend weirdness around. In a crowd full of people, if something truly bizarre is going to happen to one of them, the odds are it will be Arc. He attracts strange happenings like a magnet does iron, and strange creatures seem to find him interesting. It does not seem to be strictly quantifiable for either purely scientific or mystical reasons, but the whole thing can be quite a damned nuisance.
