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fangrrl_squeesDescendant is just a working title. I vaguely remember having come up with something better over the weekend, but I think the boozing I did on Friday night killed those particular brain cells.
FYI: booze does not make you a more creative person.
Who's Who
I'm sticking with the initial crew makeup from Way Back When (aka WBW) - Avon, Vila and two others. The two others are going to be women mostly 'cos I'm keen on gender balance. Stag ships might be great for the slash-fiend lurking within most female fanacs but, meh, I don't need to write it myself. Besides, as mentioned before, I'd stink at it.
The jury's out re: Orac, but at most, it's going to be something like half of him, crammed onto the 1980s BBC space opera equivalent of a jump drive - Avon's smart enough to do backups.
As I re-used the main female character's name for someone in a Star Wars RPG many years later (yes, I'm a gamer, big surprise) that means I pretty much have to change her name in Descendant or else I'm going to get their personalities all mixed up. Hotshot pilot/smuggler chick does not want to get stuck in political dissident/MD-of-dubious-repute chick's 'verse1, and vice versa. So, my nominally-in-charge chica is now Kara. There's more to her name, but I'm still banging on it with my keyboard to make it a little more aesthetically pleasing. Kara, alone, suffices for now. I dug it up from some website of babynames and I can't tell you what the derivation is supposed to be. I just liked the sound of it. I nearly went with Yanamai but tell me that doesn't sound like someone who should have a theme tune by Puffy Ami Yumi.
Andriss remains Andriss, as I didn't re-use her name, elsewhere. Well, I did, but I just deleted the one web page where it was mentioned (I needed an NPC name in a hurry) and that's that2.
But that's about where the similarities to the characters' previous incarnations end. I'm not messing with Avon and Vila - much - and I'll have things to say about them, shortly.
Kara
...is an MD - a psychologist who used to work as part of the Federation's inevitably socialized health system. Her speciality was chemical pathology, and most of her time was spent "fixing" people with chemical imbalances. Over time, as the Federation's policies got nastier and nastier in regards to treatment (and subsequent rights) of people who can't help being born with bad genes and having imbalanced brain juices (to be a bit facile), Kara became dissatisifed with the powers that be. Providing treatment was one thing, providing chemical lobotomies - a lot of them - was another.
Kara started treating some people "off the book" - individuals who couldn't or wouldn't partake of the official health system. The Federation were aware of this, but tolerated it for two reasons. Firstly, she wasn't embezzling Fed resources to provide treatment (yet). Secondly, this treatment was a very occasional activity on her part and didn't distract her from a sideline course of study of which the Federation approved - whilst pretending they didn't know about it. Whilst in medical school, Kara developed an interest in the telepaths of Auron and, by extension, into the possibility of inducing telepathic abilities in (apparently) non-TPs. Naturally, she tackled the matter from a chemical perspective, particularly as all studies available suggested that there was nothing (detectably) different in the physical makeup of the humans that colonized Auron3. This sideline study took up most of Kara's free time - all theoretical stuff, of course, as she didn't have funding for full-blown research, and suspected that the Feds would have certain ideas as to how they'd like any research funded by them to be directed - ideas that she wouldn't like.
I've more about all this but I wrote it down somewhere else and can't be bothered to re-type it from memory. Long story short: after a couple of nasty encounters, which included threats of blackmail and not a little physical violence, Kara went on the lam - taking her notes with her - and hitched a ride aboard the Tenebras, a ship owned by Andriss,an erstwhile patient of Kara's.
Andriss
Andriss is an unperson. Her parents were part of a colony that failed spectacularly badly, because of Federation mismanagement. Never send your colonists to the edge of Beyond in a slowboat far past its prime (some of the stuff leaking out of the ship's engines has yet to be identified by physicists, let alone named) and upon discovering that the terraforming satellites are past their prime, too, don't do the bureaucratic equivalent of "Oops, sucks to be you.". Rather than admit fault (and liability) for the colony's failure, the governor in charge of the project arranged for an "accident" that should have wiped out the few hundred people still extant on That Planet That Bean Still Has To Name.
Obviously, Andriss survived (and other survivors might come up a a plot point) but discovered that not only was she Officially Dead but, as far as the Federation was concerned, she never existed. The governor (who, of course, got out of Dodge intact) followed orders from above and the very existance of that tiny colony on the edge of Beyond was wiped out. It didn't exist, it never existed.
Andriss tackled the challenge of being an unperson quite well. Eventually, she acquired a ship and works as a "freelance freighter" which might as well be read as smuggler in big neon letters. Hey, when you don't exist, you don't owe taxes, right?
Unfortunately, the legacy of the leaky slowboat and the toxic atmosphere of TPTBSHTN is that Andriss' cranial wiring leaves a bit to be desired. She's not mad as the proverbial hatter, but Kara (from whom Andriss sought treatment after her previous doctor was busted) has to keep Andriss on a rather complicated treatment program to ensure that she doesn't hurt herself or several dozen others. Whether or not I give Andriss the obligatory icky-past/killing spree has yet to be seen. It's a bit Mary Sue-ish, ain't it? On the other hand, a few homicides in one's past provides fertile ground for plot points.
98% of the time, Andriss is perfectly functional and reasonable. It's that 2% you have to be wary of...
The Kara/Andriss Dynamic
Unlike the first incarnation of this silly thing, Andriss is the street-smarts, the brawn (up to a point) and the money of this outfit. It's her ship and her business that keeps her and Kara fed. Andriss is extremely grateful to Kara for her help and, in fact, is quite scared of letting Kara get too far out of range. Some of you know how it is when you finally find a good therapist that you trust and appreciate. It's like that. Besides, Andriss likes the company and Kara's learned enough about the biz to be quite useful at times. More on that in a moment.
Kara is the book-smarts, and the wannabe revolutionary. She progressed from mildly-dissatisfied to steamed to outraged by the status quo, as her relationship with the Feds got worse and worse. She needs Andriss, not only for the shelter she provides (conveniently mobile, no less) but also because Andriss' street (er, space) smarts are a vital bit of knowledge that Kara lacks.
They've become good friends and, like good friends, they occasionally want to kill each other. The chemical whackiness in Andriss' head does not help.
The Twist Which I'm Sure You Saw Coming Paragraphs Ago
Kara's research continued after she fled the Federation and, inevitably, she did the classic thing and experimented on herself. Better that than "volunteers" provided by the Federation. The practical upshot is that Kara has some abilities that could be classified as ESP, but only on a good day and when the wind is in her favor. Short-range empathy (twenty feet or so) has come in very useful when haggling contracts with someone - hence Andriss' willingness to take Kara on as a junior partner - and a very limited ability at "telempathy", but all actions carry an associated risk - from gushing nosebleeds, to severe migraines. Kara is a little concerned that if she "pushes" too hard, she could blow a blood vessel in her brain, so it's very much a life-or-death type thing to use. She's reasonably certain that if she tried to do a River (ie, kill someone with her mind) she'd be dead before her target hit the floor. All this is a sad disappointment compared to what her theory suggested would happen but, oh well, that's theory-versus-execution for you. Kara has since learned that she can temporarily "boost" her abilities with a chemical cocktail but that, of course, also has attendant risks of unpleasantness - chemical psychosis, seizures, that sort of thing.
Yes, the above was in the original version of the story. Yes, it's a bit silly but, duh, it's space opera! I've got enough limits on the abilities to prevent it from being a Deus Ex Machina-type crutch and besides, if Kara and Andriss can't have a kewl alien spaceship or the Federation's Most Wanted Rebel on board (well, not at first...) then they've gotta have something that keeps 'em on the run and, go figure, I think they deserve a bit of a carrot to go along with that stick.
So How Do These Crazy Kids Get Together?
Simple: Kara was trying to rescue Blake. She had picked up enough information here and there to conclude that Roj Blake had had a number done on his head - again - by the Feds, but if some high-minded dissident type (ahem) could get their hands on him and get him to a competent doctor with lots of experience in rebuilding (and, okay, demolishing) memories and psyche, then the rebellion could be kickstarted once again.
So, off Kara rushes to Gauda Prime (I think it was) with Andriss somewhat warily in tow. The plan's high risk, but simple - snatch Blake out of there before he's used as bait in some trap to lure in his former compatriots and get out of there. Spend a few months rehabilitating the lad, and then let him loose on the Federation once more. Did I mention that Kara's developed a bit of a saving-people thing?
Andriss and Kara arrive a day late and a dollar short. Oops.
The B7 gang have, indeed, been gunned down - but Sleer's orders were to stun the lot of them for reasons to become apparent, later. With one thing and another, when Kara and Andriss ambushed the Bunch O'Bad Guys hauling the Sort-of Good Guys to a waiting ship, they were only able to grab two people: Avon and Vila. And there you have it.
Kara's motives have completely changed from the first version of the story. Well, they weren't really all that well-formed in the first place. Andriss remains largely the same, but is more important to Kara and to the plot in general, 'cos when the ship's yours and ditto the bank account, well, you kinda matter. Kara and Andriss' personalities will finally diverge from each other, and with the entire re-writing of Kara's backstory, I've removed the honestly inadvertant but nonetheless undeniable resemblance she had to being some sort of Dayna/Soolin hybrid. Mind you, that would have been interesting from a physical point of view, at least...
Anyways, this entry's getting a bit long. I'll get into "So What?" in my next post.
Footnotes
1 - Can't stop the signal!
2 - As you might have guessed, H. Bean isn't keen on too much overlap between this patch of the web and any others. Not just yet.
3 - gotta find me a continuity guide and make sure that Aurons are descending from human colonists, and not just humanoids conquered by the Federation. Not a major oopsie, either way.
FYI: booze does not make you a more creative person.
Who's Who
I'm sticking with the initial crew makeup from Way Back When (aka WBW) - Avon, Vila and two others. The two others are going to be women mostly 'cos I'm keen on gender balance. Stag ships might be great for the slash-fiend lurking within most female fanacs but, meh, I don't need to write it myself. Besides, as mentioned before, I'd stink at it.
The jury's out re: Orac, but at most, it's going to be something like half of him, crammed onto the 1980s BBC space opera equivalent of a jump drive - Avon's smart enough to do backups.
As I re-used the main female character's name for someone in a Star Wars RPG many years later (yes, I'm a gamer, big surprise) that means I pretty much have to change her name in Descendant or else I'm going to get their personalities all mixed up. Hotshot pilot/smuggler chick does not want to get stuck in political dissident/MD-of-dubious-repute chick's 'verse1, and vice versa. So, my nominally-in-charge chica is now Kara. There's more to her name, but I'm still banging on it with my keyboard to make it a little more aesthetically pleasing. Kara, alone, suffices for now. I dug it up from some website of babynames and I can't tell you what the derivation is supposed to be. I just liked the sound of it. I nearly went with Yanamai but tell me that doesn't sound like someone who should have a theme tune by Puffy Ami Yumi.
Andriss remains Andriss, as I didn't re-use her name, elsewhere. Well, I did, but I just deleted the one web page where it was mentioned (I needed an NPC name in a hurry) and that's that2.
But that's about where the similarities to the characters' previous incarnations end. I'm not messing with Avon and Vila - much - and I'll have things to say about them, shortly.
Kara
...is an MD - a psychologist who used to work as part of the Federation's inevitably socialized health system. Her speciality was chemical pathology, and most of her time was spent "fixing" people with chemical imbalances. Over time, as the Federation's policies got nastier and nastier in regards to treatment (and subsequent rights) of people who can't help being born with bad genes and having imbalanced brain juices (to be a bit facile), Kara became dissatisifed with the powers that be. Providing treatment was one thing, providing chemical lobotomies - a lot of them - was another.
Kara started treating some people "off the book" - individuals who couldn't or wouldn't partake of the official health system. The Federation were aware of this, but tolerated it for two reasons. Firstly, she wasn't embezzling Fed resources to provide treatment (yet). Secondly, this treatment was a very occasional activity on her part and didn't distract her from a sideline course of study of which the Federation approved - whilst pretending they didn't know about it. Whilst in medical school, Kara developed an interest in the telepaths of Auron and, by extension, into the possibility of inducing telepathic abilities in (apparently) non-TPs. Naturally, she tackled the matter from a chemical perspective, particularly as all studies available suggested that there was nothing (detectably) different in the physical makeup of the humans that colonized Auron3. This sideline study took up most of Kara's free time - all theoretical stuff, of course, as she didn't have funding for full-blown research, and suspected that the Feds would have certain ideas as to how they'd like any research funded by them to be directed - ideas that she wouldn't like.
I've more about all this but I wrote it down somewhere else and can't be bothered to re-type it from memory. Long story short: after a couple of nasty encounters, which included threats of blackmail and not a little physical violence, Kara went on the lam - taking her notes with her - and hitched a ride aboard the Tenebras, a ship owned by Andriss,an erstwhile patient of Kara's.
Andriss
Andriss is an unperson. Her parents were part of a colony that failed spectacularly badly, because of Federation mismanagement. Never send your colonists to the edge of Beyond in a slowboat far past its prime (some of the stuff leaking out of the ship's engines has yet to be identified by physicists, let alone named) and upon discovering that the terraforming satellites are past their prime, too, don't do the bureaucratic equivalent of "Oops, sucks to be you.". Rather than admit fault (and liability) for the colony's failure, the governor in charge of the project arranged for an "accident" that should have wiped out the few hundred people still extant on That Planet That Bean Still Has To Name.
Obviously, Andriss survived (and other survivors might come up a a plot point) but discovered that not only was she Officially Dead but, as far as the Federation was concerned, she never existed. The governor (who, of course, got out of Dodge intact) followed orders from above and the very existance of that tiny colony on the edge of Beyond was wiped out. It didn't exist, it never existed.
Andriss tackled the challenge of being an unperson quite well. Eventually, she acquired a ship and works as a "freelance freighter" which might as well be read as smuggler in big neon letters. Hey, when you don't exist, you don't owe taxes, right?
Unfortunately, the legacy of the leaky slowboat and the toxic atmosphere of TPTBSHTN is that Andriss' cranial wiring leaves a bit to be desired. She's not mad as the proverbial hatter, but Kara (from whom Andriss sought treatment after her previous doctor was busted) has to keep Andriss on a rather complicated treatment program to ensure that she doesn't hurt herself or several dozen others. Whether or not I give Andriss the obligatory icky-past/killing spree has yet to be seen. It's a bit Mary Sue-ish, ain't it? On the other hand, a few homicides in one's past provides fertile ground for plot points.
98% of the time, Andriss is perfectly functional and reasonable. It's that 2% you have to be wary of...
The Kara/Andriss Dynamic
Unlike the first incarnation of this silly thing, Andriss is the street-smarts, the brawn (up to a point) and the money of this outfit. It's her ship and her business that keeps her and Kara fed. Andriss is extremely grateful to Kara for her help and, in fact, is quite scared of letting Kara get too far out of range. Some of you know how it is when you finally find a good therapist that you trust and appreciate. It's like that. Besides, Andriss likes the company and Kara's learned enough about the biz to be quite useful at times. More on that in a moment.
Kara is the book-smarts, and the wannabe revolutionary. She progressed from mildly-dissatisfied to steamed to outraged by the status quo, as her relationship with the Feds got worse and worse. She needs Andriss, not only for the shelter she provides (conveniently mobile, no less) but also because Andriss' street (er, space) smarts are a vital bit of knowledge that Kara lacks.
They've become good friends and, like good friends, they occasionally want to kill each other. The chemical whackiness in Andriss' head does not help.
The Twist Which I'm Sure You Saw Coming Paragraphs Ago
Kara's research continued after she fled the Federation and, inevitably, she did the classic thing and experimented on herself. Better that than "volunteers" provided by the Federation. The practical upshot is that Kara has some abilities that could be classified as ESP, but only on a good day and when the wind is in her favor. Short-range empathy (twenty feet or so) has come in very useful when haggling contracts with someone - hence Andriss' willingness to take Kara on as a junior partner - and a very limited ability at "telempathy", but all actions carry an associated risk - from gushing nosebleeds, to severe migraines. Kara is a little concerned that if she "pushes" too hard, she could blow a blood vessel in her brain, so it's very much a life-or-death type thing to use. She's reasonably certain that if she tried to do a River (ie, kill someone with her mind) she'd be dead before her target hit the floor. All this is a sad disappointment compared to what her theory suggested would happen but, oh well, that's theory-versus-execution for you. Kara has since learned that she can temporarily "boost" her abilities with a chemical cocktail but that, of course, also has attendant risks of unpleasantness - chemical psychosis, seizures, that sort of thing.
Yes, the above was in the original version of the story. Yes, it's a bit silly but, duh, it's space opera! I've got enough limits on the abilities to prevent it from being a Deus Ex Machina-type crutch and besides, if Kara and Andriss can't have a kewl alien spaceship or the Federation's Most Wanted Rebel on board (well, not at first...) then they've gotta have something that keeps 'em on the run and, go figure, I think they deserve a bit of a carrot to go along with that stick.
So How Do These Crazy Kids Get Together?
Simple: Kara was trying to rescue Blake. She had picked up enough information here and there to conclude that Roj Blake had had a number done on his head - again - by the Feds, but if some high-minded dissident type (ahem) could get their hands on him and get him to a competent doctor with lots of experience in rebuilding (and, okay, demolishing) memories and psyche, then the rebellion could be kickstarted once again.
So, off Kara rushes to Gauda Prime (I think it was) with Andriss somewhat warily in tow. The plan's high risk, but simple - snatch Blake out of there before he's used as bait in some trap to lure in his former compatriots and get out of there. Spend a few months rehabilitating the lad, and then let him loose on the Federation once more. Did I mention that Kara's developed a bit of a saving-people thing?
Andriss and Kara arrive a day late and a dollar short. Oops.
The B7 gang have, indeed, been gunned down - but Sleer's orders were to stun the lot of them for reasons to become apparent, later. With one thing and another, when Kara and Andriss ambushed the Bunch O'Bad Guys hauling the Sort-of Good Guys to a waiting ship, they were only able to grab two people: Avon and Vila. And there you have it.
Kara's motives have completely changed from the first version of the story. Well, they weren't really all that well-formed in the first place. Andriss remains largely the same, but is more important to Kara and to the plot in general, 'cos when the ship's yours and ditto the bank account, well, you kinda matter. Kara and Andriss' personalities will finally diverge from each other, and with the entire re-writing of Kara's backstory, I've removed the honestly inadvertant but nonetheless undeniable resemblance she had to being some sort of Dayna/Soolin hybrid. Mind you, that would have been interesting from a physical point of view, at least...
Anyways, this entry's getting a bit long. I'll get into "So What?" in my next post.
Footnotes
1 - Can't stop the signal!
2 - As you might have guessed, H. Bean isn't keen on too much overlap between this patch of the web and any others. Not just yet.
3 - gotta find me a continuity guide and make sure that Aurons are descending from human colonists, and not just humanoids conquered by the Federation. Not a major oopsie, either way.
