Violet wants to play in the game that Ingham is running. She settles with him that her character's concept is going to be Professor Tetsuryuu's Daughter, named Michiko. She was always a capable test pilot, but didn’t join them earlier because the Professor kept trying to stop her.
Before setting down on Attributes for Michiko, Violet asks Ingham what the existing PCs are like. The group so far has the bases covered pretty well, with Jeff and Blade as the tough athletes and Maria as the tactical and more sociable one.
She decides to rearrange the numbers from the Prodigy array to give Michiko 6 Intellect and Awareness, 3 Charm and Resources, then 2 Fitness and Willpower. A semblance of a personality forms in Violet’s head - Michiko is going to be the well-learned straight man... Or woman, as the case may be.
She decides to complement this side of her personality with some Science and Electronics, but doesn’t quite know wheth-er to Specialize or not so she moves on to Traits. A cursory read through the selection of Traits makes three of them stand out in her eyes: Common Sense, Jack of all Trades, and Genius. Ingham brings Comrade to her attention, figuring that she could use her relationship with Tetsuryuu to her benefit. Violet argues that Michiko isn’t the kind of person to resort to nepotism, and that the Professor would try to make her get out of the robot rather than help her anyway.
Back to Michiko’s choice of Traits, they cost 25 CP total, so she can’t get all of them if she also wants to have some Skills.
Fortunately, Ingham informs her that the characters are at a Power Level of 1. That means VIolet has 30 more CP to spend on Attributes, Skills or Traits she can use however she wishes.
Violet finally trains her PC as follows: She takes Electronics and Sciences at the generalist levels for 10 CP each, then she spends the 25 on her Traits of choice. With 15 CP left, she decides she’ll bump up some Attributes. Fitness and Willpower go up by one each, spending 6 CP, and Resources goes up by 2 Ranks for 9 CP - Her dad might be out of the question, but the Research Institute has her back.
Since Michiko is done in regards to spending CP, Violet will calculate her Defenses and Plot Armor now. Her Awareness is 6, plus 5 that makes her Defense a 11. Michiko’s Willpower is 3, so every Layer of Plot Armor can take up to 3 points of Damage for a total of 9 before she is out.
Choosing Themes is comparatively faster, she has to get three and exactly one of each category. Her choices are Knowl-edge, Independence and Pride. Violet decides Michiko was going to be one of the scientists in her father’s institute but she changed her mind the moment she saw the destruction the Outsiders were capable of with her own eyes.
Michiko still yearns to know more about the function of the Outsiders, and she would definitely know more if she had stuck for a few more years of university, but she is too conceited to go back on her word. The core of Michiko’s story will be about questing to learn more about the Enemy, to get the Professor to stop meddling in her business, and trying not to bite off more than she can chew out of stubbornness.
Ingham tells Violet that she’ll score Genre Points when either Michiko’s desire to know more, to not have to rely on her father’s influence, or to not go back on her word add some conflict to a Scene or help advance the plot.
Finally, Violet has to choose one Genre Power for Michiko. She is a fighter, but she relies more on her smarts than raw power, so Michiko goes for My Pain is your Pain because it suits her style. Violet already figured out most of Michiko’s details on the way, so she has no need for the questionnaire.
In one of the many islands dotting the Far West Archipelago is a test-ing facility for new technologies in the war effort, the Gygravagnite Research Institute. It is one dark and stormy night about the otherwise
relatively quiet peace of the enclave that is this scientific fortress.
Maria DeSir made her way through a dimly lit hallway and punched a code into the keypad at the end.
The blast doors opened with the puff of cryogenic gas exiting the con-tainment chamber, and a chill went down her spine, but she did not en-ter. She simply stood there, for seconds that seemed like an eternity.
Then she said out loud, "it is rude to spy on others, Jeff."
The younger man left his hiding spot behind a corner, rubbing the back of his neck "...Sorry, Chief." Maria simply crossed her arms, clearly awaiting an explanation. It took a while until her stern gaze forced
some words out of her bumbling subordinate.
"...Um, you dropped this." An old and rugged envelope, unopened, ad-dressed to one Ruby Heinlein. Maria stepped forward and took it from
his hands, swiftly but not forcefully. "Thank you." While her tone was anything but scornful, it was evident she was expecting more out of him,
but if she had to stand for another tense silence before he continued it would be the death of her. "You know who the Heinleins are?"
"The aristocrats that used to govern a considerable part of the Space Colonies?" He risked, omitting the rumors about them being psychics, transhumans, or something more sinister altogether. "And what do you
make of me being in possession of this ten year old envelope?" She waved it around and flicked it in front of Jeff, pointing at the date.
"...That you're some kind of... Space princess?" This was starting to sound like a horribly clichéd or contrived plot, he just wasn't sure which one
it was. Thus, and Just to be on the safe side, he decided to bet on both.
"Atta boy." At that she simply turned to enter the mysterious room, leav-ing a confused jeff behind, who sprinted behind to catch up before the
blast doors locked him outside "H-hey Chief! What's this all about?"
She led him across a metallic catwalk over a shaft neither of them could see the bottom (or top) of. "The Professor." she explained, to which Jeff understandably blinked in confused response. Maria did not
turn around "The Professor was a friend of our family, and my father gave him this letter, detailing that when I was ready I should see what
they both have been constructing down here."
This sounded rather personal, and made Jeff start to feel self-conscious "I... Should probably leave you to see this for yourself, shouldn't I?" Of course, he was curious too, and thus he was not going
to leave unless she asked him to.
"It is fine." She said "I already know what is down here. I didn't drop the letter, Jeff. I threw it, I already knew all of this." Maria halted her walk and turned her face upwards. Jeff did the same, wondering what it was that caught her eyes. And What they saw had the power to let a human be
a God or a Devil.