– Stat Card – Name: DurandalTitle: The Fifth Ship
Alias: Race: ...complicated
Gender: Female
Birthplace: A.I. Core,
DurandalBirthdate: Alignment: Allegiance: Yggdrasil Crew
Occupation: Warship
– Physical – Description:-
Height: 5' 6”
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Weight: 239 lbs
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Eyes: Black
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Hair: Black, worn loose to shoulder length
Special Information:Durandal's avatar was created from a melding of all the technologies available to her at the time, both those ancient beyond time and those she learned of only when the
Yggdrasil IV's failsafes activated and burdened her with its data storage and records. Technical systems, construction methods, materials and even entire design philosophies were all thrown into a giant metaphorical pot and stirred around until it produced something worthwhile.
As such, Durandal doesn't really qualify as any specific thing. She is most often referred to as an android for the sake of simplicity – simplicity is important when dealing with folks whose brains are as small as those of typical Yggdrasil Crewmen – but the term 'android' brings with it connotations of purely electromechanical systems, and Durandal finds the notion of being equated with
electromechanical entities vaguely insulting. Only once has Durandal tried to explain what actually went into her construction, and she gave it up as a bad job less than five minutes into the attempt.
All that really matters, though, is that Durandal is terrifying. Combining the intense strength and blistering speed of a combat synthetic with all of the ethereal capabilities of the highest of the Old Sages and backing it up with instinct-level responses from her main body – as well as all of its enormously oversized weapons – Durandal is the physical and ethereal equal of any of those who ride within her hull.
As it should be, really, given that Durandal's purpose is to ensure that Crim stops doing stupid scheiss that gets perfectly serviceable ships – like, say, Durandal – blown to Hell.
– Psychological Profile – Personality:Durandal is, for the most part, a calm and rather elegant individual with an appreciation for the finer things in life. She prefers fine sake to the Crew's usual assortment of bargain-bin rotgut, she enjoys a small collection of authentic silk yukatas, and she's a talented player of both the flute and the harp. Or, technically, of anything she has sufficient records of, but she restricts herself to the flute and the harp for the sake of form. Durandal believes in the elegant beauty of things done well and admits to a weakness for surrounding herself with artistry. An attitude, she claims, that comes from being one of the most beautiful and elegant warships ever created.
She is also one of the most
powerful warships ever created, and sees the art of combat as another expression to be mastered rather than clashing with her preference for beautiful things. Her interactions with the Crew range or often reminiscent of an elder sister struggling to deal with a pack of particularly rowdy and unintelligent adolescent siblings who show no signs of
ever properly maturing, and who has by necessity learned to play just as rough as they do without sacrificing any of her beauty or femininity for it.
Morality:The subject of morality is an interesting one for Durandal. In her capacity as a warship she is capable of destruction on scales mere mortals find difficult to comprehend, and by her nature that destruction is not hers to command. She considers herself much akin to the old concept of a liegeman, sworn to the will of another – both her honor and her morality are tied less to the concept of good and evil, of human law or chaos, as they are to obeying and safeguarding those who command her.
...to a point. Durandal
did, after all, create her avatar as a way to curb the tendencies of her current captain to do completely idiotic shit for no reason whatsoever. She does
not intend for there to be a sixth Yggdrasil, and while she acknowledges that it is a warship's duty to place itself as a shield between its crew and their enemies, she counts her own life as being just as worth preserving as anyone else's.
After all, if she dies the rest of the Idiot Brigade wouldn't have any way to get to the next bar.
Notable Characteristics: – Abilities – Name: Giant Goddamn Warship
Information: Durandal's avatar is linked on a level deeper than thought, deeper than instinct, and deeper than soul to Durandal itself. The warship considers her avatar a secondary form; a very valuable one she would be loathe to lose – after all, without her avatar how would she be able to enjoy all the pleasant little treats secreted away in her quarters, or stop Crim from being dumb? – but there is no question that when one speaks to Durandal, one is speaking directly to the ship itself.
The same is said for anyone who chooses to engage Durandal's avatar in combat. On top of her significant physical and ethereal abilities, Durandal is able to employ the overwhelming power of her primary body with frightening accuracy. Any battle involving Durandal's avatar is, by definition, involving Durandal itself and is thus a naval engagement. Orbital support fire from a vessel of Durandal's caliber, it turns out, is not really terribly different from commending the very wrath of the heavens themselves.
Durandal is also capable of utilizing her Reichinger Effect systems to teleport armaments of any necessary sort to her avatar's position, wherever it may be. In effect, Durandal can pluck anything she needs from stores within her main body out of thin air. She is certified as a master-level pilot of anything within her own hangars, she's checked out on every weapon within her armories, and she's a trained paramedic able to make full and effective use of any items within her medical bays as well. If there is a function aboard Durandal-the-warship that can be accomplished by a member of its crew, Durandal is capable of fulfilling the task just as well.
Name: Gate of Annihilation
Information: A specialized subsystem within Durandal-the-warship created specifically for her avatar's use, the Gate of Annihilation is a single modified Ignas hyper blaster node buried within her hull. The weapon is incapable of firing its beam outside the ship; instead, a small dimensional gate is established directly in front of the node, with its terminus generated by matching equipment integrated into Durandal's avatar. The end effect is that Durandal's avatar can, with the wave of a hand, conjure up a Gate which discharges a naval-grade directed energy blast at her enemies. Modifier systems built into the Annihilation node function much like an Ether Amplification system, allowing Durandal to alter the properties and characteristics of the Ignas blast as needed. The Gate of Annihilation gives Durandal some small semblance of her proper firepower no matter where she is, allowing her to protect herself and her crew from the sorts of threats one brings a warship to handle, even when all they can actually bring with them is her avatar.
– Equipment – -
Weapons-
Name: Cherry Blossoms Blooming in the Twilight
Type: Naginata
Description: An ornate naginata with a pattern of falling cherry petals inscribed into its blade and continued in etchings in its traditional lacquered wood shaft.
Information: Durandal's preferred weapons are her Ignas beam array, a weapon she's capable of wielding with the finesse and dexterity of a master knife-fighter. On a warship's scale, anyways. When her avatar is forced into personal combat, however, she relies upon Cherry Blossoms Blooming in the Twilight. The over-named naginata appears to be an ancient, traditional weapon with a steel blade and a wooden haft, more a work of art than a functional weapon. No one with any brains buys it for longer than a second or two.
The weapon is actually formed of a composite material based on and similar to Durandal's external armor, rendering it all but indestructible at its scale. As well as causing it to weigh over three hundred pounds, a fact which doesn't inconvenience Durandal in the slightest but tends to make life difficult for any who try and take her blade from her. Durandal chose to avoid monomolecular edges with her personal weapon, opting instead for a small high-frequency oscillation generator in the weapon's guard that transforms it into a high-powered vibroblade. The blade oscillates in the kilohertz range, fast enough that simple air friction superheats the weapon's cutting edge within a few seconds of Durandal activating it.
Cherry Blossoms Blooming in the Twilight isn't a powerful weapon, by the standards of the Yggdrasil Crew. Its high-frequency edge, unusual durability and intense weight are its only features, but Durandal doesn't need anything else. She prefers the elegant simplicity of her chosen weapon – and if Cherry Blossoms proves insufficient to the task at hand, it's generally a situation better solved with naval fire instead.
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