Deus Ex Machina: The Xenogears Tale ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ PERSONA SHEET ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Player Information ------------------ Name or Alias: Irwin Kwan, or Arcana Age (optional): Sex: Male E-mail address: kkwan@globalserve.net ICQ/AIM/Yahoo! Pager/etc. (if applicable): ICQ: 2144277 AIM: Arcana_TxM Y!P: Arcana_TxM Character Information --------------------- -Name: Athena Elaine Belford. Her friends call her Elly, but everyone else refers to her either as Athena (as named after the Greek Goddess of War and Wisdom), or as Captain Belford. -Age: Eighteen -Sex: Female -Occupation(s): Kislev 2nd Gear Strike Commander. The 2nd Strike Team, nicknamed "Wrath of the Divine" by the members, consists of a total of six gears: two light gears, a medium gear, an anti-aircraft gear, an assault gear, and her own heavy gear. This mixed unit does various operations, ranging from raiding Ethos Excavation sites held by Aveh to scouting terrain to Search-and-Destroy missions. -Rank: Strike Captain -Substitutes which Xenogears Character? (if applicable): Elly. -Birthdate: August twenty-third, V-480 -Height: 5'8" -Weight: 149 lbs. -Eyes (colour and shape): Round, gem-blue eyes that seem to portray sadness. Despite her eyes being large, they have a narrow, tilted look that make them very distinct from her peers. Her eyes are usually full of expression, but the emotions portrayed within seem to border on melancholy and depression. Much of the time, the eyes appear clouded over, as if she was crying. -Build: Athena has a small frame, but from years of hard work and exercise, her upper body and her legs are well-built and defined. Her thighs are shapely and narrow, her hips are wide, and her arms are accented by her developed biceps and triceps. Much of her body mass is muscle. She has a flat stomach and a traditional hourglass figure. Her movements are graceful, but they boast strength and power more than lithe beauty. Generally, Athena looks very healthy and is in good shape. -Complexion: Pale. Although her cheeks are rosy, the rest of her looks light. She burns more easily than she tans, and tends to stay out of the sun as much as possible. Her complexion is clear and generally free of flaws, although she sometimes suffers from dry skin in bad weather. -Facial Features: Her eyebrows are light and narrow, framing her eyes gracefully. She also has a small upturned nose that curves up just enough to give it a slender, feminine look. Her features are very even and natural. At the base of her jaw, though, starting on the left side, there is an obvious scar that crosses over her neck. -Identifying Marks: A scar that crosses from the left side, starting at the base of the jaw, to the right. It crosses over her neck and ends slightly above the base of the neck. It is wide and white, but is easily hidden by a collar. -Hair (colour and style): Athena has long, auburn hair that falls to her waist. She has long bangs that she keeps back with a hairband, and often, she straps her hair up in a bun. Only in the most casual of moments will she let her hair drift freely. Those who see her hair are often in awe of how it is so soft, smooth, silky, and full of body. In fact, Athena is actually very proud of her hair (although she rarely lets the fact show) and she tends to it every day, brushing and washing it to make sure that it maintains its good, healthy condition. -Voice: Her voice is soft, but can be loud and assertive when necessary. It is in the range between low soprano and high alto. She speaks with a slight accent that is reminiscent of a British accent, which is a constant reminder to those around her that she is, in fact, not a native of Kislev. Her voice can be bitter and sharp at times, especially when she addresses those under her command. -Dress/Attire: Athena is usually seen in a Strike Captain's bluish- black, body-hugging uniform. The uniform consists of a skin- tight body suit, a bulletproof west, then an outer shell of pants and shirt. On the shoulder pockets, she keeps two grenades, while on her belt she always keeps a combat knife and a 9mm pistol along with two clips of extra ammunition. The entire uniform gives a rather dark intimidating look to the wearer. She wears black combat boots that are always kept clean and polished. In casual times, Athena will wear simple casual attire, like jeans or cordoroys, and tank-tops or tee-shirts. -Jewelry (if any): She wears no earrings (in fact, she has no piercings at all) and wears only a small pearl on a golden chain that is tight around her neck. She does not wear this in combat, and instead moves it to one of her pockets when she fights. -Weapons/Tools (if any): Two grenades on the shoulders, a combat knife, a utility belt knife, a 9mm pistol, and two ammunition clips. She keeps small needles in various places in her uniform that are minute enough to escape most regular metal detectors so, if she is ever disarmed of her conventional weapons, she still has a chance of defending herself or escaping. For example, she has three needles on the cuffs of her sleeves, many on her pants, two underneath her collar, and four in various places around her belt. The boots she wears are also equipped with removable heels. In one boot, she keeps a syringe of morphine, and in the other, she has a small Swiss Army Knife that is the size of her finger. -Armour (if any): The cat-suit of her standard military uniform draws sweat and moisture away from the body, keeping her warm longer than conventional clothes. She also wears the bulletproof vest on the chest that will protect against most small firearms. -Personality: Athena is a rather quiet person who will not speak unless addressed first in casual times. However, when it comes to work, Athena seems to turn into a totally different person. She is aggressive, strong, hotheaded, and alert. In work situations, and especially in combat, she is willing to state her opinion on something and is prepared to argue her point. She is actually a very good public speaker because she has such a loud, clear voice. She is rather tomboyish and is a rough-houser when it comes to someone challenging her on the job. In intense situations dealing with her war, she takes her position very seriously and always tries to show an example to her men. She believes in cooperation and teamwork on the field and will not hesitate to dismiss anyone in her unit if they do not wish to agree. However, she is not so arrogant that she will refuse to listen to other suggestions. However, once a plan is set and positions are assigned, she expects everyone to follow the outlined plan. Her skills in combat are very good, and she will not hesitate to lash out at anyone who proves themselves to be an enemy. She refuses to strike at unknown opponents without confirming that they are enemies first. She will not mindlessly obey orders just because they are given to her; she has to find a reason to fight. Usually, this reason is to defend national pride or another similar goal. Although this is a weak reason, Athena deems this to be good enough until she can find a better reason to fight, or, consequently, to not fight. She is very loyal to the few friends that she does make, though. However, she does not feel as much loyalty to her friends as she does to her job, and would have the potential to sacrifice her friends to attain the "greater good". However, when she can, she tries to avoid making a choice between her work and her friends. She dislikes hurting those she personally knows and tends to run away from intense personal situations. While at work she is aggressive and assertive, but at the personal level, Athena seems to always be troubled by the events of her personal life. Deep down inside, she thinks of her life as unfulfilled and unsatisfactory: that something is missing from in her heart. She looks at her job as the thing that is most precious to her. She works diligently as a way to "run away from reality", to seek a refuge from the world she refuses to see: her own mind. -Background and History: Athena was (supposedly) born on one of the smaller islands east of Kislev. Her native people were a combination of a fishing and mining village, and they emphasized dedication and hard work; from her childhood, she was taught to be strong and to face everything in life with a positive outlook. This is where she acquired the dedication to her job today. Athena was under a lot of pressure to do well in learning how to operate her father's Inn. Since she was young, her parents attempted to train her to be a proper hostess. She was the eldest of a family of four, and because the eldest son was autistic, she was expected to tend to the Inn while her two younger sisters cared for her brother. She never looked like her siblings, nor did she ever look like either of her parents, and there was a little joke in the village about how she wasn't really related to her parents, but was instead adopted. Athena did not argue with this rumour because she did not have a good relationship with her parents. Her tomboyish habits of wrestling with boys (and beating them in the process), hunting, and learning martial arts, along with other rough sports offended her father and mother and led them to think of her as an improper woman. In addition, Athena's dream of going to the Mainland some day conflicted with her parent's desire that she take over their inn. When she was around thirteen years old, something inside of her snapped during an argument with her parents and she told them right out that she was adopted; that her parents were not her true parents, and that she was really from somewhere else where everyone lived happy lives. Her father rose a hand against her and hit her, but in a surprising show of strength, she retaliated and struck back hard enough to stun them both. Without any regret for her actions, she ran away from the inn, ended up hitting two of her friends who got in her way, and then stole one of the villages' fishing boats and rowed her way to shore. The distance to the Kislev coast was not extremely far, and although it was a great effort for Athena, she eventually made it across, where she promptly went around the small villages looking for jobs. However, her outburst of anger at her parents and friends, and her running away, changed her inside. She started to bottle up about her past and she would not tell anyone else about her characteristics of a person. When asked, she replied with a simple statement, such as "You'll see what sort of person I am as you know me." In her earlier jobs, she was a hard worker but did not have pride in her skills. Her jump to glory came when a small group of Rebels rose up in the city where she was working as a farm-hand. One of the rebels broke into the barn she was hiding in, and she ambushed him, letting her informal martial arts training serve her. She stole the rebel's assault rifle and managed to hold the Rebel leader at gunpoint while the Kislev Army charged into the town to restore order. Although she was targeted as a rebel at first, the young girl was cleared and she was hailed as a hero. Seeing the makings of a strong soldier, the commander recruited her into the army. From then on, Athena vowed to keep order in the country of Kislev and felt strongly for her new country. From there, Athena found a new calling and worked hard to better herself. She was one of the few female Kislev recruits and often came under criticism, but she simply defended herself when necessary and worked diligently to gain respect. By the time she was fifteen, she was sent to the front lines as a capable gear pilot, and through exemplary work, she managed to move herself up the ranks of Kislev. Her pride in her career heightened as she proved herself many times over and over in battle, an exceptional feat for one so young. She made a few close friends in the Kislev Gear Strike Forces and became dedicated to protecting not only the industrial cities such as Nortune, but also the small rural farms that dotted the countryside. She attained her rank of Captain only a few months ago when her former Captain, Captain Achilles, died. She dutifully plays the role of a commander well in the border skirmishes against Aveh. -Birthplace: The Seaside Village of Covens (or so she is told). -Mother: Vanessa Elizabeth Belford/Elsbur. However, Athena always believed that she was adopted. -Father: Benjamin Jonathan Belford -Siblings: ->Johann Williams Belford, age twenty. He is an autistic child, and when Athena last saw him, he was doing well. ->Mary-Anne Belford, age sixteen, a young ladylike sister. ->Amanda Jessica Belford, age fifteen. Athena always thought of her as a little snot who went out of her way to bug her about how she was not her real sister. Athena, though, always wished she had an older sister, instead of the little brats that she had to grow up around for years. -Mate: None. -Children: None. -Other relations: Her three best friends, two of which are a part of her Strike Team, and the rest of her strike team. She also has much respect for her C.O. Jason Orestes is the pilot of Argo, the Anti-Aircraft Gear in her unit. He is a calculating, analytical man who thinks similar to how Athena thinks when it comes to co-ordinating attacks. He sits back with Athena in the back lines, covering the others with his rockets and missiles. Cassandra Lee is a sly, fun-loving, rather sadistic type who pilots a Light Attack gear, Oracle. She loves ripping her opponents apart limb-by-limb. The others of her group are Bellerophon, pilot of Pegasus, a light gear, Bryhild Sigri, pilot of medium gear Valkyrie, and Odinnson Warhammer, pilot of assault gear Sleipnir. -Secondary Skills: Athena, in addition to being a good infantry soldier, is an excellent gear pilot. She is able to pilot all range of gears, from her artillery weapon, Arachne, to the bipedal gears that are often seen on the battlefield. However, more superior than her piloting skill is her gunnery skill; her ability with aiming large weapons is amazing. She is also good at arguing her point. She can also cook, but dislikes doing so as it reminds her of her childhood life. -Abilities/Disabilities: Athena can really get into her job and it is sometimes difficult to make her get in touch with everything else. In addition, once she has set her mind into focus, there is little that anyone else can do to change it. Athena does have unique Ether Powers, but she does not use them often and as a result, her abilities with Ether are about average. * Microwave: Athena emits a pulse that disables all electronic circuitry for a limited amount of time. * Magnetic Field: Athena sends forth a wave that makes metallic objects too heavy to use properly. This can also cause buildings to collapse if she amplifies her Ether Power using her Gear. * Capacitor: A bolt of electricity heads toward the nearest negatively-charged source. This ability is rather dangerous to use; once, Athena once fried a power generator using this. -Hobbies: Researching electrostatics and magnetism, thinking, writing poetry. To her, her job itself is a hobby. -Current residence: Nortune, Kislev Strike Team Barracks. In peacetime, she usually rents out a place with Kimberly. -Current Life Conflicts: The war with Aveh and her inner turmoil that seems to plague her mind when she is not working. -Other notes: Athena has her own command-gear, Arachne, but she does not object to piloting other gears if the situation calls for it. She will usually pilot other Arachnid-class gears if she has the option, but is also capable of using two-legged gears to good efficiency. In general, Athena prefers heavy and assault gears over lighter gears. -More notes, mainly on Athena's Strike Force members. Kislev Second Strike Force: Wrath of the Divine --- Captain Athena Elaine Belford, Pilot of Arachne -See P-sheet for history notes. -Allusion: The classical Greek Goddess of war and wisdom, and featured in many stories. In one story, Arachne challenged Athena to a spinning contest, and her weaving was flawless. In her rage, Athena turned Arachne into a spider, doomed to spin thread from her body. --- Commander Jason Orestes, Pilot of the Argo. -Jason is the oldest of the Second Strike Force. On a trip to the south, he was nearly captured by Aveh forces but was rescued by a sly woman named Medea. They went back to Nortune, and on Athena's prodding, they eventually got married. -Jason is somewhat of an adventurer, but he is also extremely responsible and conscious of his position as an elder of sorts. He helps not only Athena, but Cassandra and Bellerophon in their training. -Allusion: Jason was the Greek Hero and the leader of the Argonauts. He faced many journeys, including the task to acquire the Golden Fleece. In his journeys, he met a witch named Medea, who betrayed her own father to help him attain his goals. --- First Lieutenant Cassandra Lee, Pilot of Oracle. -Flirtatious, fun-loving, free spirit. -In her past, she was sexually abused by her father. When she ran away, she lived on the streets by herself. Although Cassandra was very intelligent, and had powerful Ether abilities, she was ignored by almost everyone she encountered. -Her abilities are somewhat psychic in nature. Her ether skills can predict things like weather, and she has a way with looking into people's emotions; however, most people don't think this when they first meet her. -Allusion: Cassandra, of classical mythology, the daughter of the Priam, the King of Troy, and Hecuba, his wife. She was born with the gift of prophesy but she was doomed to be ignored by the god Apollo. She correctly predicted the fall of Troy and the trickery of the Trojan Horse. When she sought refuge in Athena's temple in Athens, she was raped, and the goddess took revenge by punishing the Greeks on their way home. --- First Lieutenant Odinnson Warhammer, pilot of Sleipnir (wielder of the Gungnir). -A wise young man who is thoughtful, but merciless in battle. He would do anything to acquire knowledge, including giving physical pain. -Allusion: Odin, the Norse/Germanic god of wisdom and war, and also patron of the slain. Sleipnir, which means "Glider", is his gear. The gear uses the lance Gungnir, named after Odin's lance which never missed its mark. --- Second Lieutenant Bellerophon Corin, pilot of Pegasus. -A loud, large man who is brave in battle. He is somewhat reckless and is slightly arrogant at times. -He used to have a very hard time with gear piloting, but was helped by Athena to learn. Now, he loves piloting his gear, Pegasus. Although he is not an expert, he is rather good at it and is not hesitant to show off his abilities. -Allusion: Bellerophon, from Corinth, was a Greek hero who rode his winged horse, Pegasus, into battle. The horse was tamed with a golden bridle given to him by Athena. However, his story ends in tragedy as he is thrown off of his mount and lamed for life as he tried to fly to Mount Olympus. --- Second Lieutenant Brynhild Sigfri, Pilot of Valkyrie -A beautiful woman who loves nature. She also likes sleeping, and is somewhat of a romantic. She is young and somewhat submissive, but is determined to do something if she really wants it. -Brynhild came from the North. Once, her brother betrayed the family by associating with their family enemy, a merchant who competed with their own business. Her father imprisoned him and was about to have him killed when she rescued him and ran away. -Allusion: Brynhild, the Vaklyrie, was under the command of Odin. Against his command, she helped her brother, Siegmund, but was punished by being sent to sleep inside a ring of fire. The hero, Sigurd, eventually rescued her. ----------------------------------------------------------- -Gear name: Arachne: Arachnid Class. Occasionally, she will pilot other gears when Arachne (being an artillery gear) is inappropriate for the job. Much of the time, in fact, Elly does not pilot the gear herself, opting to man the large turret on the top of the gear. -Gear description: Her gear is a six-legged machine that moves along the ground like a daddy-longlegs spider. The legs come out from the sides of the body, extend into the air and come back down again (forming a triangular peak). As compared to the legs, the body is rather small. The body of the gear is equipped with one 260mm turret on the top and a long-range pod launcher just above the cockpit. On the rear of the gear is a large barrel that sticks straight up into the air: this is the artillery weapon. Arachne uses aturret laser in the front if she needs shorter range attacks. The entire gear is painted black and has a foreboding, dangerous look to it. It is a very intimidating gear, as it looks like a moving claw over the ground that rises menacingly over smaller gears. -Class: Heavy-Attack Gear: Heavy Artillery and Support Fire -Primary function: All-Terrain Artillery Weapon: long-range bombardment on heavily-defended outposts. Her gear is packed with powerful weapons, but their slow rates of fire and the large radius of damage force her to stay out of close-range combat. Athena usually softens up her opponents from long- range as her Strike Team charges in and finishes them off. The gear is not meant to be a "Mercenary Gear", or a gear that is strong all-round and can be used in long, extensive single-gear battles. It was built as a deadly war machine and was meant to work in tandem with other Strike Groups. -Weapon(s): (** I got a lot of this information from a Compendium of Tank, Self-propelled artillery, and heavy-artillery weapons based from World War II to the Moderm Times. Of course, I scaled them to be larger to match the immense size of a gear (to a gear, a 100mm cannon is probably a simple shoulder rifle). The characteristics of the cannon and artillery are based off of modern weapons: their power, in relation to other gears, is not exaggerated.) Athena uses a mounted 260mm turret, two medium turret lasers on the front and back, and a 309mm artillery piece. The turret is a large, 260mm turret which fires a large slug that is capable of penetrating a whopping 1280mm of armour. On average, this is enough to destroy an equivalent- weight gear with a direct shot, or, at least, to severely damage the opponent (the gun will easily knock off a gear's arms or legs, and it will certainly knock a gear off of its feet with no trouble at all). Athena can get a relatively decent rate of fire from the weapon (she gets off about a shot every five to seven seconds) and its range is good. The problem is that to get any effective aiming from the turret without a properly timed shot, an additional gunner is required; usually, this isn't a large problem. In addition, due to the natural fact that it is harder to hit a moving target, and that a computer cannot track it from the range at which the cannon is usually fired, lessen the gigantic cannon's effectiveness. It has an extremely difficult time hitting small gears, and thus, Athena tends to focus on eliminating heavy and assault gears (or ships and other slow moving targets). The recoil of the cannon is also extremely heavy, and cannot be easily fired if Arachne is missing more than two legs. The artillery piece suffers from the disadvantage that it requires an external crew to reload it; it is not a self- loading weapon and Athena does not use it in most battles. If she chooses not to use it she can detach it from her gear. However, if she does use it, she usually has a small team of light gears tagging behind her, reloading the weapon. It is an extremely long-range weapon and has massive destructive power; its explosive range will destroy light and medium gears with little trouble at all, and it will certainly put a large dent in the smooth operation of larger gears. However, if the cannon's hit percentage is considered average at best, then the accuracy of the artillery piece is extremely pathetic; but being a long-range weapon targeting densely fortified outposts, accuracy is not of the largest concern. As with all heavy artillery, this weapon is used to soften heavily-defended areas from long range before the mobile strike forces move in. In close-range combat (which she tries to stay out of), she uses either her front legs (which can pick up average-sized gears and throw them while she balances on her four other legs) or her laser. Compared to the other weapons, the laser is quite useless and are meant as a last resort should she be nearly defeated. -Abilities/Disabilities: The gear is actually rather agile for its size, and can not only move forwards and backwards, but also left and right without having to turn. Being six-legged, it has a much easier time moving over rough terrain like hills and deserts. It is also heavily armoured, being a command gear. A part of cockpit is equipped with wheels, and it can detach itself from the rest of the gear and move around like a car, but this leaves Arachne totally unusable. This feature is only put in place to protect the life of the commander. However, the gear lacks close-combat ability and is tuned only for long-range support fire: if any gear closes in on her, Athena usually stands no chance in defending herself. However, there are different configurations of the Arachne's chassis (the chassis is known as the Arachnid) that are equipped with close-combat weapons. Athena prefers this configuration, however, because of its power and usability: the combination of large artillery-scale weapons, combined with smaller, faster gears is often deadly against unprepared foes. Arachne has poor Ether Amplification, as her Ether Powers would not be able to stretch as far as her other weapons do. If Athena wishes to use her Ether (and she usually doesn't), then she uses another gear. The body houses only the engine, the fuel tank and the cockpit, and although the gear's body is relatively small as compared to the area of a regular gear, the legs are not as heavily armoured as the body. The legs are prone to damage if they are exposed to too much firepower. Although she can still move after losing up to three legs, she cannot fire her cannon or artillery piece because the recoil is too great and would likely rip the rest of the legs off. In more than one instance, Arachne's legs were damaged and she was rendered unmovable; she had to rely on the rest of her Strike Team to get her out of the mess. Alone, Arachne is not a very powerful gear, but when combined with the power of assault gears, the maneuverability of the light gears, and the all-round usefulness of the medium attack gears, Arachne rounds out the group with its ability to attack from behind her allies. -How your character acquired the gear: Athena started piloting regular two-legged gears at first, but as a volunteer to test a new type of six-legged gear, she grew rather attached to the idea of using six legs in battle. Arachne is the first of the Mass Production units and although it is configured for command and support fire, the general chassis of the gear, Arachnid, remains the same and it would not be surprising to see more gears like it from Kislev in the future.