CORALINE SHARP showed up right on time for the end of the world. Even now, word is that they are OPTIMISTIC, but still get RECKLESS at the mention of how things used to be. They have been living in SALUS for TEN YEARS. If you go looking for them, you can usually find ANARCHY by BITING ELBOWS playing, or use THE DISTANT SOUND OF AN EXPLOSION & THE QUESTION OF ‘WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG?’ to narrow it down.
BACKGROUND.
Chaos is something Coraline knows well, thrives in, and creates in equal measure. Born to a single mother in the slums of Soteria, she spent the majority of her childhood getting in copious amounts of trouble, not least in part because of her particular talent for pyrotechnics. Once she'd figured the scrap pieces of tech occasionally scavenged could be rigged to ignite and bang and explode, there was no stopping her. More than once an angry mob would arrive at her mother's door, and every time she managed to smooth it over without breaking a sweat. She was good at that, Miss Sharp. Good at protecting her daughter.
Unfortunately that meant Coraline never truly learned how to take responsibility for her actions, nor did she realise that it was dangerous to play around with things you barely understand. Most of the time her tinkering was guesswork, and it was pure dumb luck that she hadn't maimed herself yet. Fortunately someone took notice of the spark of talent Cora showed for tech and took her under their wing, teaching her the finer points that she'd be working around for so long. But this is Soteria. Nothing comes without a price.
In return for teaching Cora and providing her with tech, she had to take a job at some company she'd never heard of building things she wasn't interested in. She did, without question, because it was not in her nature to ask questions first. The job allowed her to move her mother out of the slums and provide her with a little stability, her own form of payback for the years of fending off angry people with singed eyebrows. The only problem was that it made her miserable.
Working to someone else's vision and guidelines didn't suit her. She'd known freedom her entire life and now was shackled, by the job, by responsibility, by Soteria itself. In some ways her mother passing away was a relief. Cora was devastated but it was the only thing tying her to everything she hated, and so, seemingly overnight, Coraline Sharp disappeared.
Salus was where she ended up, as most lost things do. She had all of her freedom back and nobody to answer to, but for the first time she was alone. That didn't last long. Over her years in Salus Coraline has had multiple different occupations - scrapping, farming, bounty hunting, and recently she's started up as a mechanic. It allowed her to meet a surprising amount of people, some good, some bad, some weird. But variety is the spice of life, as they say, and Coraline has no intention of becoming bland.
HEADCANONS.
She loves to make things explode. There's just something about it that fascinates her.
Still has a few contacts in Soteria but doesn't advertise it and rarely visits.
Incredibly easy to get along with - Cora will do just about anything if you promise it'll be fun.
CONNECTIONS.
friends - these are numerous and can come in many forms. cora can get along with pretty much anyone, as long as they're not boring, but she can be a little... much.
enemies - cora was a bounty hunter for a few years and might have picked up some adversaries along the way. she probably doesn't take it too seriously but perhaps they do.
former mentor (soteria) - the one who taught her every fine detail she knows about tech and mechanics. they were the one who employed her and might still be looking for her today - either out of concern or anger.
former mentor (salus) - cora took up bounty hunting after she met this person and they agreed to teach her the tricks of the trade. i imagine they saw cora almost as a child and hoped she would continue the 'family business' so to speak. they might be annoyed that she abandoned bounty hunting or support her in her new endeavours.
ANDROMEDA CANNON showed up right on time for the end of the world. Even now, word is that they are AMBITIOUS, but still get INFLEXIBLE at the mention of how things used to be. They have been living in SOTERIA for ALL HER LIFE. If you go looking for them, you can usually find EVELYN by KIM TILLMAN playing, or use A TOO-BRIGHT SMILE THAT DOESN’T QUITE REACH THE EYES & THE CRUSHING PRESSURE OF A LEGACY TO LIVE UP TO to narrow it down.
BACKGROUND.
The Cannon family is the sort you have to keep an eye on - especially Andromeda. Ruthless, cunning, and unafraid of stepping on a few necks to get what they want, the Cannons are ambitious to the core and Andromeda is no exception. Raised by a pair of brilliant scientists in the heart of Soteria, she has never known a time when life wasn't filled with tech and experiments. Mr and Mrs Cannon were cold and distant to all four of their children, too focused on work to be the parents they should have been. Andromeda was the one who strived to live up to the family name the most, seeking the slivers of approval that were occasionally granted for hitting their high expectations. They might have called her a prodigy if simple genius wasn't the baseline.
To further spur the Cannon children on to greatness they were encouraged to compete with each other, in every way, for everything. Andromeda spent most of her time in first place which did nothing to improve sibling rivalry, and even today she still sees herself as the frontrunner, the one who has to keep everyone else in line or risk their reputation. Growing up she had few friends in or outside of the family and it suited her just fine. Friendships were distractions, and distractions were not to be tolerated.
Biochemistry became Andromeda's focus, and she couldn't pretend it had nothing to do with her desire to know just how far she could go - if only she had a little help. As the years ticked by her career seemed to stagnate; where once she had been a notable force to be reckoned with her name was suddenly fading into mediocrity, and with it went all of her self worth. At the time she had a team of scientists working under her and one in particular stood out, one shining star who threatened to overtake her own career because they had what Andromeda lacked: creativity.
It was desperation that made her do it. Desperation forced her hand, forced her to murder and steal research that wasn't her own because it promised a pathway to something more. But once it was done Andromeda found herself not feeling much remorse. Not after publishing everything under her own name and clawing back to the top of the pile. No, dumping the body somewhere far and dark for the carrion birds to find didn't seem so terrible after that.
She rode the wave of popularity for a year, until the fateful day her parents were killed, both found shot in their home with no signs of a struggle. There was little anyone could do about it, and even less idea about who was responsible. The Cannon family was the sort that gathered enemies more easily than friends and so the possibilities were numerous and each impossible to prove. Andromeda became paranoid, for a time, that their murders were somehow retribution for her old colleague and that someone, somewhere, had found out her secret. But the only thing that came of her parents death was an influx of assets.
These days Andromeda runs her own lab, having used her inheritance and ill-gotten reputation to set it up and recruit some of Soteria's best and brightest. She's still well known in her circle but progress comes thick and fast in the city, and the ever present threat of being forgotten and overlooked has her itching for a breakthrough - one that will cement her name in history.
HEADCANONS.
On the surface and in the public eye, Andromeda is quite a pleasant person, even if her smile doesn’t always look genuine. But family and employees know that she is severe, unforgiving, and obsessive.
Wears only monochrome black or white.
She’s started a fund that supports up and coming scientists in the hopes of spotting the next great genius of Soteria - what the participants don’t read in the fine print is that Andromeda becomes sole proprietor of anything they produce during their time under her wing.
Has a budding fascination with becoming immortal, in one way or another.
CONNECTIONS.
blackmailer - someone who really does know about what she did to her former colleague and how she gained her reputation, and is blackmailing her with that information.
employees/fund recipients - andromeda is not tolerant of mistakes and those who work for her know that well. she’s not an easy woman to be managed by, but her lab is state of the art and she allows boundaries to be pushed where others might not. fund recipients see a slightly softer side of her, since she wants to get them on board at the company before anyone else can snap them up.
rival - someone who is perhaps in the same field or from a family of a similar standing and they’ve just always butted heads. andromeda is incredibly competitive by nature and would see them as constantly competing; whether they see it the same way or not is unknown.
siblings - andromeda has three siblings, one older and two younger. she’s very much the dominant one and the one who took their parents expectations most seriously. i imagine at least one of them is the black sheep of the family, maybe even going so far as to move out to salus.
‘friends’ - she’s not much in the business of making friends for pleasure, so any that she does have would be the mutually beneficial kind, and fickle enough to betray if the time is right.
ex - the one relationship that she started for love and not to further her own standing, it ended bitterly because she’s always too focused on work and couldn’t put the effort in. whether there’s still feelings lingering under the animosity remains to be seen.
MICA showed up right on time for the end of the world. Even now, word is that they are CHARMING, but still get ARROGANT at the mention of how things used to be. They have been living in SOTERIA for TWENTY YEARS. If you go looking for them, you can usually find JUNGLE BY X AMBASSADORS playing, or use A BATTERED JEWELLERS MAGNIFYING GLASS & SECRET TUNNELS to narrow it down.
BACKGROUND.
Mica's story would be the heart-warming special feature of rags to riches shown on television in Soteria, if that was ever the sort of thing people wanted to watch, and if she ever told anyone more than bits and pieces. Born and raised in Salus, Mica and her parents belonged to a small and unassuming settlement, and like all small and unassuming settlements, one day it was overrun by raiders. Mica was seven when she watched her home burn, and her friends and family along with it. It was pure luck that the first person she ran into while wandering the streets afterwards was friendly.
She was adopted into another settlement, into another family, and over time the raw wound of her old life became a scar that she never liked to talk about. She was a weird kid, nicknamed Magpie because, instead of playing with the other children, she liked to pick through rubble and wreckage to collect shiny things. A lot of it was useless junk but once in a while she would find something good - usually a piece of jewellery, and she guarded those pieces with her life. Everyone knew how protective she was of her treasures, and Mica was surprised that the rest of the settlement expected her not to retaliate when they were stolen.
And retaliate she did. They died in the scuffle but Mica wasn't sorry about it, and that earned her a one way ticket out the front gates, away from her second home and into the big bad world for real. This time she was old enough to take care of herself and so she spent her days scavenging for trinkets, keeping well away from anyone she happened to find wandering around in case they wanted to steal from her too. The gems and rocks and jewellery were her ticket out of Salus, and once she'd amassed a collection that became too cumbersome to drag around, she made her way to Soteria and began selling.
Slowly, slowly, she clawed her way up to a respectable position. She started in the slums, buying and selling anything shiny that wanted to be bought and sold, until eventually she was in a position to open a shop. It's changed locations a few times since then but has remained close to the border with Salus; far enough away that she still gets the distinguished clientele looking for gems that helped her build the business, but not so far that her side business became difficult to maintain.
As well as selling jewellery and pretty rocks to anyone who wants them, Mica helps people get set up in Soteria - including those who might not necessarily be welcome in the city. She uses a network of secret tunnels to get them in, and depending on their need, passes them on to various others that can help them with identification, employment - even a new face, should one be required. She has also been known to send people the other way and smuggle them out to Salus under the nose of those who might be looking for them, but she has far less reach there than in Soteria, and would prefer to keep it that way. Either way, her services come at a cost.
HEADCANONS.
Mica doesn’t like going into Salus if she can help it. She feels that she’s worked her way up to a better position in life and shouldn’t have to go back to where things were bad. The furthest she’ll venture is The Diner.
Often thinks of herself as better than those who are struggling - her mentality is ‘if I can make it, so can they.’
She has always been quite content with loneliness and, as a result, doesn’t have very many close friends.
Makes jewellery, as well as selling it.
CONNECTIONS.
network - the others in her network of people smugglers, most notably those who can hack and create false identities and perform plastic surgery, but also other business owners who are willing to employ those who are brought in, and people on the ground with information.
suppliers - mica used to trawl through the rubble of salus herself for new things to sell but has gotten to a position where she can employ others to do that for her - they could be doing it because they like to, or because she has promised them a new life in soteria at the end of it.
clients - she has a few regulars who buy and sell often. some she gives a good price to, others not so much. she’s cheated a few people in the past.
[ alex høgh andersen, 28, he/him/his ] RORY TIBERIUS OSBORNE showed up right on time for the end of the world. Even now, word is that they are MAGNETIC, but still get OBSESSIVE at the mention of how things used to be. They have been living in SOTERIA for THEIR WHOLE LIFE. If you go looking for them, you can usually find ARSONIST`S LULLABYE by HOZIER playing, or use THE TENDENCY TO SEE LIFE AS A GRAND PERFORMANCE & THE INABILITY TO TUNE DOWN HIS INTENSITY to narrow it down.
NAME: Rory Tiberius Osborne.
NICKNAMES: Ty, Oz.
AGE: Twenty-Eight.
BIRTHDATE: July 23.
BIRTHPLACE: Soteria.
GENDER: Cis-male.
PRONOUNS: He/Him/His.
SEXUALITY: Pansexual.
FACECLAIM: Alex Høgh Andersen.
OCCUPATION: Performer Salesman.
POSITIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS: Creative, resourceful, charming, strategist and magnetic.
NEGATIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS: Violent, obsessive, self-centered, unreliable and self-destructive.
Act I. In another universe, his story would’ve started on a stage. The reverence of a standing audience, applause causing a shiver to go down his spine, adrenaline making it hard to shake off the remnants of who he had been for the night. An actor. Taking a bow on a famous theatre, drugging himself senseless to find the way back to sanity. The unbecoming of Rory Osborne, he would've called it. The end of his own play unravelling before his eyes. Grand, self-destructive, obsessive, intriguing, violent, magnetic. The words he would've conjured. The proof he wasn't only alive, but had left a permanent mark on that world. A kind of drug, really. To be able to imagine it all so vividly; to want something so much, the unreality of it was barely noticeable.
Act II. Mother used to tell him this would be his death someday. The creation of narratives, their embodiment. This is a dangerous world to people who think outside their boundaries, she had said. But when Rory asked who were they, she had only smiled. Like it was a secret, as if he was never meant to ask, only to know. It exhausted him. This feeling that he was eternally about to grasp onto something important, just to fall short seconds before. After all, in this corner of his own universe, to understand looked like urgency. Specially when Rory learned to perform on a different scale, outside a theatre. And once the applause was only in his mind, he realized his perspective of the world was almost a self-congratulatory trick, offering a sadistic kind of pleasure when he was the only one in the room to realize it was always an act. A complicated, savage, unbound, act. His favorite kind. The one his mother warned him about and he never really understood.
Act III. In every way that mattered, mother was always the brightest, quickest, of the two Osbornes. The woman bred in Salus who decided to make a life for herself in the very heart of Soteria. To whomever asked, Clarissa would say she was a performer. One who could offer a brand new kind of experience. It wasn't only sex. It came with enacted memories, with virtual reality, with the best combination technology, crime and physical desire could offer. To Rory, she was an artist, if there was ever one. And the modest fortune she built was nothing but proof of that. Money, prototypes, contacts, secrets, latest tech, favors; it all came as gifts or payment, promises or threats. She was the queen of everything sordid. The embodiment of a narrative herself. To the point where, one night, her art became too dangerous; her price, too high; her existence, an impossibility. To the point where she never made it home.
Act IV. If there was ever a turning point, a moment where his mind went quiet, it was in the morning after. The strange woman declaring herself Clarissa's safety policy. The delivery of money, secrets, memories, passwords, codes, safe houses, gadgets. At fifteen, Rory was alone for the very first time. At fifteen, there was no standing audience overwhelming him with applause as he performed the screams and the tears and the violence. There was only silence and a decision: he would not leave this world the same way she did. He would not perform quietly, secretly. He would be the king of sordid and chaos. Regardless of the cost. Pointless if this would be the death of him too.
Act V. And so he took on the mantle with a twist. The new Osborne would sell the valuables, not be the product himself. If anything, Clarissa's death taught him there had to be another kind of safety policy. Another perspective. And Rory made sure to turn it into an entirely different experience. A form of art in itself. Contraband, sex, memories, tech, identities, prototypes, secrets, drugs, experiences, services, debts, contracts, knowledge, weapons. If the price was right, so was the sale. They came in private if needed, or they were performed in grand, underground, expositions that changed locations every time, functioned with an invite-only audience, had each a particular theme. Rich and poor, Soteria and Salus, moral and imoral; nothing was beyond his limit. As long as it was loud, unforgettable, one of a kind, Rory was in. As long as his mind didn't go quiet again, he would perform whatever needed. Savagely. If ever.
HEADCANONS:
Rory has a not so secret obsession with the end of the world as it was. Between theories and wild ideas, he has been known to buy relics, conduct unorthodox research and spiral into whatever reading material he can find about it. If asked, he'll say it's a fun hobby to have, the sort of riddle no one can solve, the mystery left forgotten. A challenge, maybe. Eccentricity, if not. But the truth is, no matter how many dismissive laughters follow that statement, he still feels like there's more to learn. How can an entire civilization, a way of life, disappear like that? And how can he not be a victim?
He doesn't appreciate guns. Yes, he sells them. And sure, he knows the basics of handling them. But at the end of the day, Rory still see a gun as a rather impolite way of hurting, threatening or killing anyone. The performer in him always favors the physical side of violence. The grand opening and the grand finale. It has to be worth it. It has to get his hands dirty and blur his limits. Otherwise, it's just pointless.
[ Alexander Skarsgard, 41, He/Him ] JAREK NOVAK showed up right on time for the end of the world. Even now, word is that they are ASTUTE, but still get FLIPPANT at the mention of how things used to be. They have been living in SOTERIA for HIS WHOLE LIFE. If you go looking for them, you can usually find PURPLE HAT by SOFI TUKKER playing, or use THE UNMISTAKABLE SMELL OF A WALKING ASHTRAY & STOLEN VALUABLES to narrow it down.
Known by acquaintances as ‘Jarek’ and rivals as 'Novak’, his most colorful names are often reserved for his late night escapades as he aims to swindle every grounder and gutterpunk out of every cent of scratch on them. From being called ’shitpit’ to ’grifter’, Jarek has heard it all.
Born and raised in Naya Minor’s red-light district, Jarek spent his youth conning and smooth-talking his way out of trouble–– until he attempted to steal from the wrong man; a man whose power and influence was sure to have him targeted. That was until, he was presented with an alternative–– joining the militia, a group called ‘Salvation’. With no way to weasel out, he enlisted. But for all the infantry did teach him, there was no stopping Jarek from reverting right back to his old ways.
Given the skills he’d come to develop, it isn’t much of a surprise Jarek began to seek out the kind of work that would allow him to line his pockets quickly and easily. And unglamorous as it was, he figured a reputation as a bounty hunter was bound to have the jobs come rolling in. The only problem? He soon discovered the big paydays for delivering his victim’s severed heads weren’t nearly as lucrative as he thought. Broke and intermittently homeless, he’s since resorted to stealing from anyone he can, but most especially from suits, who often have more than enough creds to fund Jarek’s week-long benders.
A man with bad tableside manners, he isn’t beneath telling it like it is. However, for all his scheming and conning, Jarek rarely holds onto anything he makes, and owes a substantial debt to just about everyone.
HEADCANONS:
Without a doubt, Jarek Novak’s skills on the field are incredible. His ability to turn anything into a weapon, even something as simple as a paperclip is, quite frankly, impressive. Has he ever killed someone with one though? That has yet to be seen.
The man is a chain-smoker. He will go through several packs a day, and will smoke even in places he’s not allowed. Indoor, outdoor, bathroom, rooftop–– you name it, he’s there, cigarette in hand.
Jarek is always in the market for quick cash and has been involved in multiple ponzi schemes. However several of Soteria’s seedier crowd have quickly caught on to his tricks, causing him to be banned from several establishments. If you see Jarek flat-out on his ass drunk in some alley way, it’s because he’s done it, again. While many have a bone to pick with him and he’s received many death threats swearing to ‘take him offline’ that hasn’t stopped him from continuing to try.
CONNECTIONS:
NYX GREAVES » After working with Nyx to modify his tech to better track his bounties, Jarek began to exclusively reach out to Nyx for all his hacking/spying needs. This of course led to the pair joining forces, scheming up ways to turn a profit. Unfortunately for them with Jarek’s brain (or lack thereof) and Nyx’s willingness to always tag along, often means finding themselves in a stickier situation than they’d planned.
