Second Dawn:Captain Ivy Pearce
From EryriWiki
This is a reference document for the LARP The Second Dawn.
Contents |
[edit] Ivy Pearce
Player: Rachel O. Union Army Captain; Spaceship pilot
Age: 20s
Additional Information:
[edit] Background
You grew up in the upper Hudson valley, a child of factory workers in Albany County. Life in a mid-sized industrial town was too slow and boring for your youthful fancies; you wanted adventure, action, a chance to get away from the assembly-line manual labor of your parents. You busted your ass to get into the old academy at West Point, doing your damnedest to get yourself someplace higher than a mere infantry grunt. Well, you certainly succeeded at that- you’re going to go higher than any human being in over three hundred years.
In West Point, you read old tales about the Air Force, a whole division of the armed forces just for flying machines. Such machines are rare and experimental in modern times, but the military does have a small handful, secret weapons retrofitted around Ancient chassis of ultralight metals. Such things captured your wonder and excitement, and you angled your career path to take you to them. You drove automobiles both Ancient and modern, the small fast boats that comprise most of the modest Navy, fusion tanks and stranger experimental vehicles produced by Tinkers. Once you established yourself as the best young pilot in the officer corps, you got your transfer to the small and secretive Flight Division about three years ago.
The Flight Division holds only 20 officers, since there are less than a dozen of the airplanes in service at any time. Two years ago, there were tests and competitions for the big obvious prize: the chance to fly the Second Dawn. The skills were highly specialized, working with strange new equipment provided by the Tinkers, which gave you young pilots an advantage over the old experienced officers. In the end, you won the top spot, with your colleague Amber Donoghue as your co-pilot.
You’ve spent the last two years back and forth between New Hudson and New Providence, countless hours spent flying airplanes and working with mock-ups of the controls in training for tonight’s flight. The Dawn is unlike anything else you’ve ever driven, sailed or flown, but you’re as ready for it as you could ever be. You’ve even gotten accustomed to the “navigation box,” a strange device of the Tinkers’ that will supposedly help you negotiate the Shroud. They say the Shroud is made of pieces of Ancient devices that shattered above the earth, and the box will observe and keep track of those moving pieces, helping you plan your route and even adjusting your course instantly if need be. Sounds like a demon to you, but you’re willing to take any help you can get.
Which is the problem, really. The more you’ve heard about the Shroud, the more worried you’ve become. You’re the best of the best, and backed up by the best equipment available. But if there are thousands and thousands of tiny fragments of metal flying around the earth at supersonic speeds, how can you ever avoid them? The Tinkers who designed the navigation box, the “programming” team, assured you that the fragments are more than far enough apart for the ship to fly between them. But how responsive will you be, moving all these tons of steel? You can’t be certain how hard it’ll be, of course; but you can’t imagine how they could possibly be certain either. There’s no way to know for sure until you’re up there, and that’s the problem.
Despite your doubts, you are a soldier, and you will do your duty. You will put on a confident face, impress upon the world’s dignitaries how great you and your ship are, then fly into space. Even if you don’t succeed at navigating the Shroud, making it up to that height will be a feat unaccomplished since Ancient days. Still, you aren’t above finding any means possible to discover or improve the real odds of getting this ship into space alive. You’ve heard stories recently about the “Star Brothers,” an Old Faith religion that believes in powerful celestial beings beyond the earth. You want to know more about them and their teachings, maybe gain their blessing; you have nothing to lose, and a lot to gain.
Finally, there’s your girlfriend. With all your nervousness about this mission, you’ve asked her to marry you, to give you one more source of inspiration and confidence before you fly. The problem, of course, is that she’s the Minister of the Army. You met Kara Atkinson after you won the honor of the pilot’s seat, and you found her intensity and nobility fascinating. You had a few more meetings, ostensibly to discuss the mission, but soon enough the two of you were romantically involved. Having a relationship with a superior officer definitely violates military codes of conduct, so you’ve been keeping it secret so far. Unfortunately, that also means she isn’t willing to marry you. It’s not even the marriage itself you really care about (though you would like that)- you just want her to be willing, to make this promise before you put your life at risk. You know it’s a bit irrational, but the plain truth is, you will be more confident out there on the launch pad if she’s said those words and meant them.
[edit] Roleplaying Notes
You have to project an air of confidence and success tonight, but it’s going to be a challenge. You normally are a self-assured and confident person, a top-notch officer for one of the most secretive and prestigious military programs, but these doubts have been weighing you down. You’re a well-trained soldier, committed to the Eastern Union and the ideals of an officer, though deep down inside you do it all because you love adventure. You’re a principled woman, but you’d do almost anything short of betraying your oaths to see a few hours into the future tonight.
[edit] Goals
- Make sure the Second Dawn will be able to pass the Shroud successfully.
- Promote and ensure the launch of the Second Dawn.
- Convince Kara to prove her love for you before you fly the Dawn.
- Learn from, and gain the blessing of, the Star Brothers.
[edit] Opinions
- Second Dawn: Your ship, your baby. The fact that you’ll be flying it still gives you a thrill. But you can’t shake the fear that the Shroud might be too much for it and for you.
- Black Science: You’ve spent all your life learning to fear it. You can’t help but think that some of these exotic systems on the Second Dawn use it, especially the navigation box. Nevertheless, if it’s going to help make this launch happen and work, you’ll swallow your doubts and look the other way.
- Tinkers: Trusting them has taken work, but the entire ship is their design. They’re very secretive, which worries you; if nobody else knows how that navigation box works, there’s nobody to double-check things if the “programming team” make a mistake. You do believe they’ve done their best, though.
- Religion: Your family believed in Natural Theology, but you haven’t thought about that in ages. If these Star Brothers can provide real wisdom or aid, they might make a believer out of you.
- Union Government: You’re a solider, you don’t pay attention to politics; you follow the orders of whatever government the Minister of the Army serves. However, you can and should voice some approval for the whole Second Dawn project.
- El Dorado: Those Zeppelins were a shock- such a different way of flying! So slow, though. You haven’t yet had the time to meet the white-robed people who came on them.
[edit] Key Information
- Your engineer Roithridh [ROY-ree] Tinker has not come to the party; she prefers to sleep before the mission.
- You don’t know whether or not you’ll be able to fly the Dawn through the Shroud, even with the help of your navigation box. Potential ways to improve the ship’s performance might include: a better pilot (which may not exist), a better navigation box, or exotic science devices.
- The Flight Division has been a national secret, though your personal existence has sparked rumors. Still, you shouldn’t confirm it publicly without an okay from above.
[edit] People (in approximate order of importance)
- Kara Atkinson, Minister of the Army (Hillary K): The top of the military totem pole, and your lover. She’s not always the most expressive, but you know she loves you (and you do her), but the coming launch has made you nervous. You just want her to commit, to take a stand; it would give you so much more confidence. Your relationship does violate military codes of conduct, though.
- Jonathan Grant, President of the Eastern Union (Ted M): You’ve had a few occasions to speak. He really cares about and loves the Second Dawn project, and he’s made sure everything is the best, from the smallest bolt to you. You like and respect him, though in the past months he’s seemed increasingly mentally distant.
- Eleanor Truman, Premier of Congress (Alison H): As head of the opposition Capitalist party, she’s worked on cutting funding for the Second Dawn project. You haven’t really met her, but you dislike her petty partisan practices.
- Mario Patriarca (Paul S): Manager of the construction team, his people have done damned good work. The ship’s a beaut, isn’t she? You’ve met only briefly.
- Isaiah Whittaker (Joey B): A prominent citizen of New Providence, and known to be a leader of the Star Brothers. He might be the right person to approach about their faith.
- Eugene Kennedy (Simon M): The Chief of Staff’s son, he supposedly left home to go join the Star Brothers. You could talk to him about their faith first, if you didn’t want to go straight to the top.
- Franklin Kennedy (Matt W): The Chief of Staff has been doing more of Grant’s legwork over the past year; you’ve met many times, but never more than briefly.
- Artair Tinker, Minister of Sciences (Jed S): Quite pleased with the project, and very confident in his Tinkers’ work. You’ve shaken hands but not really met.
- Luther Gaines, Minister of the Watch (Kyle R): He’s inspected the ship a few times, but the Tinkers have definitely succeeded in giving him the run-around on some issues. You’ve never met him.
- Malamhin [MAL-uh-veen] Tinker (Abrihette Y): A member of the engineering team, she did a lot of work on the cockpit design herself. You’ve met her a few times, though you don’t know her well; she seems a nice enough person.
- Beathag Tinker (Sue B): A Tinker in charge of the design team in New Hudson. You met her briefly, she came across as fairly cold.
- Julia Dyer (Serin H): A Watch agent; you don’t really know much about that internal-security organization. You hear she got stuck with the whole party’s security, poor woman.
- Jackie Drake (Sheyna G): A famous spelunker and adventurer, you’ve heard tales of her exploits. She might know whom to talk to about buying exotic sciences? Her knowledge might not be local though.
- Russ O’Malley (Santo S): One of the ship’s construction workers, rumor says he might know whom to talk to about exotic sciences.
[edit] Stats
[edit] Ratings
- Pilot: 3
- R: 0
- D: 1
- G: 2
- ID: 6543
[edit] Nametag Symbols
R, E, H
[edit] Attributes
- Physical: Defense 3 Pool Rating 4 [] [] [] []
- Mental: Defense 3 Pool Rating 3 [] [] []
- Social: Defense 4 Pool Rating 3 [] [] []
[edit] Recoveries
- Meet in secret with your lover (+3 points, 1/hour)
- Hear someone express awe or amazement about you (+1 point, 2/hour, once per person)
- Let your air of confidence crack noticeably (+2 points, 1/hour)
[edit] Abilities
- penetrating insight
- charm
- attack
- Freeze!
- survivor (x1)
- authorization
- stick and wheel
- very important person
[edit] Items
- Pistol
- smoke bomb
- piece of jewelry
- good luck charm
