## Statistics
Galactic Age: ~130,000
Subjective Age: ~15,000
Homeworld: [[Sateen Kaari]]
Home Sector: [[The Sectors#Sundered Harmony (6)|Sundered Harmony]]
Affinity Groups
- [[Past Projects/The Plague Lords/Affinity Groups/War Dogs]]
- The Sundering of Harmony (Professionally Proud)
- Curing the Plague (For Sale)
- [[Past Projects/The Plague Lords/Affinity Groups/Scientists]]
- Displaying Genius (Technological)
- What is Science?
- Wondermaking
- "With a big enough mech and somewhere to stand, I can move the galaxy."
You are the wildly successful mercenary known as Operator Signus. You grew up in the Holding of [[Sateen Kaari]], but knew from a pretty young age that you weren't the "king and country" type. The Kaarite dynasty doesn't particularly bother you, but it's also never paid well enough to keep you sitting in orbit waiting for to repel the next invasion. As a result, you've spent the hundred thousand galactic years of your life wandering from one battlefield to the next, being paid more ridiculous sums each time. Quickly, that loop resolved itself into the thing which eventually made you famous; your mech suits. You've had a series of them, each more powerful and over-the-top than the last. Your latest, which is parked in orbit a distance from the Council session, is a magi-tech construction capable of going toe-to-toe with most capital ships without you so much as getting motion sick.
You want to fight exciting battles, get paid, and find the next ridiculous weapon to bolt onto a suit. You like to think of yourself as a pretty simple person, even if there are those who'd make a joke of that, and the thing you like most is pitting yourself against an enemy and proving your worth. Mech suits are a great way to do that, because they don't require the support staff and collaboration most warships need. Especially with your more recent, self-repairing models, a mech suit just needs you and your war fighting expertise.
You've come to the [[Plague Council]] because you're looking for your next job. You've been toying with the idea of returning home, but you don't think they'd be able to afford you. What you'd really like is to convince the Myriadic Council that they should give you resources of your own, then you'd be able to do all the *pro bono* mass murder you wanted. Given the number of factions and egos in play, and the number of wars ongoing and threatening to kick off, you figure you might just be able to get it done.
## Goals
1. Convince the Myriadic Council to give you a **really** big mech suit.
2. Find a new faction to support in the war (whichever war, really) and get rewarded handsomely for your services.
3. Participate in a battle worthy of your abilities.
## Character Notes
- In terms of characters with raw destructive potential, Signus is at or very near the top. While there are plenty of characters who can win a straight fight with the Operator, this character's superweapon more than levels the playing field. Not even a Sapient Plague is capable of overcoming such a significant advantage, though they're extremely unlikely to be killed. Regardless, this character's wild destructive potential is balanced by the fact that they're exactly as fragile as the next person (assuming the next person has a magi-tech mech suit). The blade-of-firmament is a tremendous weapon, but it's a single use weapon. Will it be the big stick, or the golden hammer?
- Signus is intended to inject some humor into the game. There are a lot of characters with deep, difficult questions, and Signus is able to participate in that if you want, but can very easily be on the edges of those questions offering such sage wisdom as "have you tried blowing it up?" Does this character have hidden depths, and if so, how will they reveal themselves?
- Despite being something of a blunt instrument, Signus isn't actually stupid. It's much more accurate to view them as the kid in the back of the class asking "when are we ever going to use this?" After that kid has spent a few millennia being really, *really* good at war. If something else captured their attention in the same way, perhaps they'd be just as talented at that. Will Signus remain the good soldier, or will the [[Plague Council]] see them make a change?
## Connections
1. [[Admiral Bomilcar]]
1. "The Admiral? I followed the Admiral once, and I'd be damn glad to do it again. Gave me one of my favorite mech suits."
2. When the [[The Sundering of Harmony|Sundering of Harmony]] first began, you were a free agent. You knew that [[Sateen Kaari]] was too small to be targeted in [[House Orman|House Orman's]] initial assault, and too powerful to fall easily in the war of attrition to follow. With that confidence, you happily suited up and marched off for the highest bidder, a tradition you've happily maintained since. You were assigned to the [[Fleet of the Final Miracle]], under the direction of a hotshot young Admiral. Bomilcar was a spectacular military leader; they seemed to have a supernatural sense of when and how to deploy your skills and weapons. You spent the first thirty thousand years of the Sundering wiping the floor with some of the Sector's most famous names. Left-hand Kiran, Uta the Bold, even the Golden Child of Pyrix 3, each of them stood against you, and each of them was broken. You wish you could claim total credit, but you acknowledge that Bomilcar set you up for success over and over again. You've not been able to stay in close contact over the millennia since, but rumor has it that Bomilcar has lost their taste for war. Will the [[Plague Council]] provide you another chance to work with the genius who kickstarted your career?
2. [[Governor Biru]]
1. "Which one? The one with the bees? Biru's great! Very reasonable opinions on mech suits."
2. You've fought for just about every side in this war, some of them more than once. Biru is one of your favorites. They have slightly stranger mannerisms, true, but the Governor pays well and on time, and often in upgrades for your suits. You've generally been called in when they've needed you to chase off one of [[House Orman]]'s expeditionary fleets, and Biru has always been unstinting in their support. Once, they even gave you direct access to their Holding's power grid! You'll remember that fight for the rest of your life; it's the only time you've ever had the resources necessary to use your [[Blade-of-Firmament]]. At least, the only time before today, that is. With the many powerful figures attending the [[Plague Council]], including the representatives of [[House Orman]], it seems likely that you're going to find work. While you do generally seek to help and protect your home Holding of [[Sateen Kaari]], it's not as much of a priority as being well-compensated. Will you find yourself working more closely with the mysterious, wealthy Governor, or will the twists and turns of mercenary life see you turn your weapons on them?
3. [[Speculator Mahlah]]
1. "Which one? The old one? Oh yeah, right, Mahlah... Does Mahlah like mech suits?"
2. You've been informed that the Speculator is not to be trusted, that they're some kind of super spy or something like that. You think that's pretty damn cool. A super spy? Friends with you? Add to that the fact that Mahlah is supposedly millions of years old and you've got an overload of badass. You ran into Mahlah early on in [[The Sundering of Harmony]], and you've seen them from time to time since. Every time you run into them, they're gathering and spreading information, paying people off and hiring them on. You don't really get what it is they're about, but you suspect they might be a good source of work -or funding for your next suit. Can you find a way into the Speculator's good books?
4. [[Holy Reflection]]
1. "The religious one? Super creepy. Very weird opinions on mech suits. Not bad... just weird."
2. You met the Holy Reflection not long after you parted ways with [[House Orman|House Orman's]] forces, something like seventy thousand galactic years ago. You spent five or six millennia working for some-now dead Voidsinger who wanted their rival's homeworld invaded. That Voidsinger was a minor player in the larger war, but they paid *phenomenally*. Unfortunately, that job did end with you killing an awful lot of pretty important priests. It was mostly self-defense, especially after they started firing nukes at you, but when you got word that you'd been "invited" to visit the most powerful figure in the entire Voidsinger faith, you didn't expect that argument to do you much good. Instead of being killed and sent to wherever bad Voidsingers go, you were given a decent drink and asked a whole bunch of deeply philosophical questions on topics you'd never bothered to consider with any depth. You've been "invited" many times since then, whether you'd been working with Singers or not. Each time, you've found yourself trying to grapple with questions you didn't even know a person could ask. How the hell should you know if "Mech suits are a form given function or a function given form"? Is that even a question, or some kind of poem-slash-tongue-twister? It's deeply frustrating. At the same time, you can't help but feel like this connection to the galaxy's holiest figure makes you much more important in some intangible way. You don't really enjoy being asked to think all those sideways thoughts, but you love the access it brings. On this occasion, things are a bit different. It's not just the two of you, but a whole slew of powerful figures. Will this be an opportunity to get to know the Reflection better, or will you spend the entire Council wrestling with some brain-destroying puzzle?
## Mechanics
**Asset:** [[Swarm Happy]]
As an [[Operator]], you're a key part of any advanced military operation. You aren't pounding ground with the landing forces, or sweating in a transport with a thousand other void jockeys. You pilot capital ships, mech suits, or drone fleets, nothing in between. You are able to participate in [[Combat#Regional|Regional]], [[Combat#Global|Global]], or [[Combat#Fleet|Fleet]] Combat Scenarios. In Global or Fleet scenarios, you also grant one advantage to the side on which you participate. If a character attempts to engage you in a Local Combat Scenario, you can automatically change it to Global. If that character cannot participate in a Global Combat Scenario, they automatically lose.
**Special:** [[Blade-of-Firmament]]
You possess a superweapon. Specifically, you possess a weapon about two meters long, shaped like a ceramic broadsword. This weapon is completely indestructible; if cast into the heart of a star, it can later be retrieved unscathed. It's also impossibly sharp, if sharp is even the right word. The blade passes through solid matter, any solid matter, without resistance. You can cut through osmium as casually as fog, and with exactly as much effort. This, however, would not be anything like enough to qualify as a superweapon. No, what makes this blade so powerful is only revealed when it's fully powered. You've only used it that way once, but when you did, an entire fleet was vaporized in a single sweep. You don't know exactly how the weapon works, but some tech nerd once told you that it's not actually cutting the thing it's cutting (???). Instead, it's cutting space itself. Apparently space always counts as empty, so it's easy to cut? You don't get it. Anyway, the truly wonderful news is that you managed to get your hands on a power source. You don't think it'll last more than a single use, but you can't imagine needing two.
*Effect: The superweapon effect of a Blade-of-Firmament is usable once per game. If used in a Combat Scenario, you win unless a superweapon is deployed on both sides, in which case combat is resolved normally. If used against a static target (e.g., a planet), that target is destroyed.*
**Lien:** [[Fractured Perspective]]
A life spent viewing the galaxy through the multitudinous sensors of a warship or cloud of drones is a life spent making yourself just a little bit *other*. You struggle to connect with people who aren't themselves [[Operators]] or at least people with a military focus. Whenever you participate in a [[Negotiation]], your side loses one advantage automatically. As well, you find it difficult to talk about topics other than your combat platform. In any conversation longer than a few minutes, you feel compelled to bring the topic back around to your mech suits.