Name: Elise Kalinin
Call sign: Alchemist
Gender: Female
Age: 20
Strength: An affinity for piloting
Weakness: Very cryptic and doesn't socialise well with others. Is generally unable to act under pressure without orders and tends to place too much faith in her supposedly prophetic dreams (whether they are is questionable).
Home: Formerly the Io foundries in the United Republics of Jupiter. Currently the Gensokyo colony ship.
Visual Description: Has brown hair and eyes, and a rather average build. She prefers to wear white shirts and knee-length skirts of colours varying from the ordinary to the downright bizarre and preferrably a different colour every day. Wears her old URJ uniform when on duty.
Personality: Outside of battle Elise is cryptic and strange. She is capable of having normal conversations but often seems to be in a world of her own, embellishing her speech with old Terran allegories and references to strange legends that no one should really know. She loves wordplay and will verbally fence with anyone whom she perceives as challenging her even if she ends up losing. She also believes that her dreams are prophetic and devotes at least an hour of every day recording and interpreting them so that they might benefit people. On the other hand, Elise doesn't seem to realise that people might not want to be told when they are going to die especially if there is no proof or the prophecy turns out to be absolutely false.
In battle she is the perfect soldier. Elise is absolutely loyal to whoever her commanding officer is and never questions orders once they are given. Her biggest problem is her inability to function under pressure without orders. Without them she becomes confused and reverts to her (not-so-finely-honed) instincts, typically acting on the last order that she was given. Also, she is not too bright when it comes to seeing through certain deceptions and more than one friendly fire incident has resulted from people impersonating her immediate superior as a prank.
Partners: Gengetu, Mugetu
Co-pilot: Gengetu, Mugetu
Analyst: Gengetu
Engineer: Mugetu
History/Background: Elise grew up among the foundry workers on Io where she immersed herself in as many of the technical aspects of shipbuilding and mech design as she possibly could. She always told people she wanted to become a head designer one day and design the most powerful robots the galaxy had ever seen, but she was generally laughed at by her peers. She picked up the nickname Alchemist during this time for her lofty ambitions, after the people from ancient times who burned their lives out on absurd attempts to transmute lead into gold. In other words, it was a nickname for people who chase impossible dreams.
While there was nothing wrong with them per se, everyone knew that Elise did not have the vision or eye for detail necessary to become a skilled designer. She lacked initiative and could not think for herself under the immense pressure that designers were often under, whether it was to streamline the production system for a military grade mech or to complete a commissioned design from an exacting client.
The knowledge she gained did not help her become a good designer but it did help her become a good pilot. Elise spent a lot of time illegally accessing the military simulators when she thought no one was looking and felt an empathy for the machines that could not be explained with mere words. When she suddenly changed her mind and decided to become a pilot she was dismissed once again as a dreamer. She took this second rejection even harder than the first and became increasingly withdrawn, no longer taking the same pride and joy in her work. She did, however, redouble her efforts and became a model foundry worker by the age of 17. What she did not know was that she was not so clever when it came to breaking into the military training simulators and all her data had been recorded by the URJ armed forces, who headhunted her when she came of age.
Using her knowledge of the URJ machines' technical limits she was able to push the mechs ever so slightly beyond what they were theoretically capable of and sometimes this made all the difference. However, her superiors were constantly frustrated by her inability to take the initiative or command units and doubly so by the fact that she did not relate to the other pilots at all. In their eyes she was a loose cannon and a liability they could ill afford. Then, one day, she was simply gone. Commandeering a mech, she left Jupiter space and headed off in search of the colony ship Gensokyo, never to be seen again...
Fun Facts (optional): Gengetu and Mugetu act more like familiars or attendants to Elise than the working relationship that most other pilots have with their partners. They act as extensions of her will but at the same time try to keep her from getting into too much trouble, commenting that they do not know how she survived all this time without them.
Additional Information/Background/History:
Also, describe your startup mech: It is humanoid in shape only. Whatever model of mech the Faust originally was is lost under a maze of metallic threads and wires that coil together to form an approximation of muscle and bone that is surprisingly strong. The network of armour gives the Faust a skeletal appearance with skull faces decorating the forearm guards, pauldrons and shin guards. Thanks to the...unique...mutations brought about by the installation of a Mana Core the machine has gained a form of self-repair system that allows it to recover from extensive damage across its entire body, given enough time. Combined with its penchant for close range combat and the numerous gun ports concealed among the "bones" of its body, the Faust truly is a machine born of the most beautiful dreams...and the most terrible nightmares.
Mech Name: Faust
Mecha Type: Heavy
Equipment
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Right Hand:
Left Hand:
Holstered Right Hand: Solid Katana [2WP] (Author's note: Oh god, what have I done...? Oh screw it, Katanas Are Just Better.)
Holstered Left Hand:
Right Arm: "Raigoue" Laser Submachine Gun [1WP]
Left Arm: "Raigoue" Laser Submachine Gun [1WP]
Right Shoulder:
Left Shoulder:
Backpack: Alchemical Drive High Powered Booster [2WP]
Chest: Self-repair System (Comprehensive) [3WP]
Head: "Raigoue" Laser Submachine Gun [1WP] (in a concealed gun port in the "mouth" area)
Left Leg:
Right Leg:
WP Pool: 1
Extra Background Materials
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[a short burst of static opens the recording]
"This court is hereby called to order. Bring forth the accused."
[footsteps]
"State your name."
"Victoria Kyme. Lieutenant First Class. A-032588."
"Lieutenant Kyme, you stand accused of desertion and cowardice in the face of the enemy. You have been brought before us today that we might determine your guilt or innocence. How do you plead?"
"Not guilty."
"Very well. We have read your after-action report and, taking into account both the standard symptoms of combat fatigue, subsequent psychic injury, and battle data taken from your unit, we have decided that your account of the situation was altered by extenuating circumstances. Therefore we will permit you to submit a new account, in a state of sound mind. Tell us now why you chose to flee the engagement area in direct violation of your orders."
"My squad and I were on routine patrol through Sector C-2. Our short-range scans detected an unidentified unit coming towards us at speed. The unit did not respond to our hails but the speed of its movements was consistent with a mid to heavy frame using a boost drive. Approximately 7 seconds later the unit responded with an auditory only communique, no visuals. She...it...broadcasted only a single message."
[subject's composure falters. 31% increase in abnormal brain activity.]
"What was this message, Lieutenant?"
"'Dark...the world of endless illusions...no one will hear your screams.' There was laughter and then nothing."
"Commlogs taken from the retrieved units have recorded no such message and this was not mentioned in your report. Omissions or fabrication of vital information from after action reports are a breach of military code article 17."
"Damnit, you think I don't know that?! I know the regs but what do you think would happen if I had? Huh? Recommendation for psychiatric evaluation followed by a quiet retirement in a 4x4 white room? Or maybe on the off chance that someone believed me it would be an operating table as fresh meat for Project IRIS!"
"That project does not exist, Lieutenant. Please restrict these proceedings to known facts."
"With all due respect sirs, there are things out there you couldn't begin to comprehend. When I looked into the eyes of that unidentified unit I saw...I saw..."
[subject hesitates, apparently unable to continue speaking]
"What did you see, Lieutenant?"
"The face of death."
[The questioning continues for several hours and features repeated and varied reference to nightmares given form, or to skeletons and other images of death.]
"I think we have heard enough. We find the Lieutenant guilty on all counts. You are hereby sentenced to death by firing squad. Sentence is noted as at 2345 hours and will be carried out at 0500 hours. As of this moment, Lieutenant, you no longer exist. This court is adjourned.
- Transcript / Court Martial / Lieutenant Victoria Kyme / A-032588
[Addendum: Of all the subjects that came into direct contact with codename Faust, this is the only one that proved impossible for us to secretly retrieve. Nonetheless, the data gathered by a live subject is of utmost value to Project IRIS and must be recovered at all costs. Delay the execution, pull as many strings as you have to. We need her alive.]