Alannis Delgaia

The UOH

Stands for Unidentified Offworld Hostiles. These are the bastards that blew up the shit out of Earth. We don't know what they look like, what kind of society they have, how many there are, why they targeted Earth, or if we have a ghost's chance in hell of wiping them out. But we know exactly where they are: K2-18b.

Near the start of 177 PS, Posthumous-V detected an anomaly from K2-18's direction. This was later identified as an object rapidly accelerating towards humanity's fleet. This war will not take place on their planet. Estimated intercept: 150-200 years.

Posthumous-V

Voyage, Vendetta, Victory, Vengeance, and Vindication of the Human Spirit. Posthumous-V is the mothership of humanity's counterattacking strike force. Currently hurtling through space at about half the speed of light towards the UOHs.

Although the daily lives of the Posthumous-V's inhabitants are governed by democratic bodies, civil liberties aren't equal for all, law enforcement is heavy-handed, and there is a clear stratification of society. The descendants of the space colony's original inhabitants, as well as those who descend from Mars surface colonies, enjoy full civil rights and live in the best areas within the habitat's rings. Despite being born well after the ship's departure, the people in this group call themselves 'Martians' and often boast stories of their ancestors who, at the time, accepted going on a one-way trip to a distant, inhospitable planet.

On the other side, those derived from the refugees of the Earth Cataclysm lack several of the same freedoms and are referred to as 'Spares.' The people in this group cannot vote, run for office, purchase property in the 'surface' of habitat rings even if they have the money to do so, receive higher education, or even reproduce without permission. They live in areas that were never meant to house people, many decks under the cities inside the habitat rings, and often take the worst jobs that the Citizens don't want to perform. Spares can freely come and go between the surface and the lower decks; they just cannot settle on the nice areas.

Children inherit the status of their mothers, and the only way a Spare can become a full citizen is by performing outstanding service towards the ship. Spare children attend the same schools as citizens but can only go as far as middle school. Spare women must apply for a permit to have kids, and if they become pregnant without one, they are forced to get an abortion.

Posthumous-V has two habitat rings.

• Ring 1 (Continental): Command HQ, Pilot Academy, administration.
• Ring 2 (Oceanic): Engineering and maintenance, shipyards for wingships.
• Both: Residential and agricultural decks. Self-sustaining in a pinch.

Humanity's Counterattacking Fleet

Consists of one mothership and dozens of smaller wingships. Physical traversal between the vessels via shuttles is rare. Ships in the fleet are nearly completely isolated from each other. Not all humans are part of the attacking force, some are back at Mars. Overall, the fleet's population is less than a million. The year is 189 PS (post-solar), 161 years since humanity began their voyage.

Wingship Gnome

Before the tungsten rod incident, Gnome was an experimental research vessel tasked with, among other things, practically testing a method to develop/sustain healthy human bodies in zero-gravity in a scalable, long-term, renewable, energy-efficient manner. This involves a combination of physical exercise, medication to reduce bone reabsorption, and devices to cause muscle stimulation/stress. Because of its directive, there's no artificial gravity aboard Wingship Gnome and a big focus on regular health checkups/bodily maintenance. Passive muscle stim devices are spread periodically throughout the facilities. There's not really an "up" or "down", the halls don't discriminate between walls, floors, and ceilings. Lightly magnetized footwear is common and it's generally considered a bit uncouth to float instead of walk in public spaces.

People from Gnome call themselves Gnomans. Gnoman culture is vastly different from that on Posthumous-V. There's no citizen/spare divide. It's a bit like a small/midsized town where people know each other. The economy is more of an open, free market, with hefty limitations only on manufacture/construction/waste. Gnome has a maximum sustainable population of 8,000. It's almost completely a closed-loop system, though many manufactured goods are shipped via unmanned shuttles from Posthumous V. These goods, along with generous research grants from the mothership, are the reason why Posthumous V's credits have become the default currency aboard the wingship. Since 177, Posthumous-V's governance have tightened their research focus and redirected their funds towards more 'useful' ventures. Alannis' easy life may soon be at risk.

Glossary

• PS: Post Sol/Solar calendar year.
• MPA: Mars Planetary Administration.
• UOH: Unidentified Offworld Hostiles.
• Posthumous-V: The mothership, the retrofitted Olympus-IV
• Command: The ultimate authority over Posthumous-V
• Wingships: Smaller auxiliary craft traveling alongside the mothership.
• Spares: Descendants of Cataclysm refugees, second-class citizens.
• Martians: Descendants of original Mars colonists and surface colonies, full citizens.
• Displays: In-development wrist-mounted ID/AI/smartphone.

Alannis

Name: Alannis Delgaia Age: 30 (physically 11) Status: Gnoman

Alannis is a test subject aboard Wingship Gnome. She was selected thanks to a combination of physiological compatibility and distant parents. The experimental treatment halts her development without affecting cellular growth, metabolic activity, or neuroplasticity. Now she spends all her free time (of which she has lots and all else on Gnome have little) in her room, in her underwear, on her smartphone, browsing social media, playing games, drifting wall-to-wall. She's above average when it comes to zero-g navigation through gnome's halls.

Her blood produces a chemical called Loxocyclin that acts as an accelerant for stem cell reproduction and stimulates bodily regrowth. Loxocyclin is near impossible to produce in a lab and refuses to remain intact for more than a few minutes. When Loxocyclin is taken into the body (e.g. orally), it's able to push the body to heal itself abnormally fast. A broken bone can go from completely fractured to intact-but-still-vulnerable over the course of a few hours. Serious side effects have yet to be documented, but the process is unpleasant (not painful) and so it's used mostly as a last resort. A few drops of blood are needed to reach the full effects. Any more than that is ineffective. And due to the limitations, it has to be drunk... pretty much straight from the source.

She lives a relatively frugal, easy life. Critic of the flashy/smooth/easy, appreciator of mundane, pretentious, deep, and novel experiences. The most difficult thing she endures is the monthly reports, where every inch of her body gets analyzed, scrutinized, measured, scanned, and recorded before she gets another dose of treatment injected into her. No amount of repetition makes them more bearable. It's just as unpleasant as it was 19 years ago. But she gets paid for doing that, plus she gets paid for doing her reverse-vampire thing.

She doesn't spend time beneath the artificial sun, she doesn't do her exercises, and she doesn't order much from other vessels. She isn't one to yearn, and that has allowed her to maintain her low-effort life for as long as she has. She still takes the pills, still exists near muscle stim devices, and that's enough to keep her body from completely falling apart.

Her skin is pallid, smooth, and immune to scarring. Even her wrist, where blood gets taken from, is unblemished. She's a normal height for an 11 y/o Gnoman (maybe even a little on the short side), but that makes her tall if compared to someone on Posthumous-V (which basically never happens). Thanks to her treatment she's in relatively good health in spite of her lack of exercise, though she's still frail and waif-like. Chaotic black hair, sparsely brushed and washed monthly, reaches well past her ankles. Blue eyes, thick eyebrows. No matter what anyone else says, she's proud of her appearance and doesn't want to change (though she wishes people stopped treating her like a child).

Alannis genuinely enjoys learning new skills. Cannot recall 90% of the content she's consumed in the past day. She's got plenty of niche tech, gadgets, and toys in her room, but spends all her time on her old-style smartphone instead. She has strong and specific opinions about most things and is unnecessarily judgemental towards whatever she arbitrarily decides is the lower choice (e.g. everything that comes out of Ring 2 mogs Command-sanctioned high-budget slop).

One can tell if Alannis is comfortable by how much shit she talks. If she's uncomfortable about a situation or a person, she doesn't complain or speak up about it. She bottles it up and tries to endure it (it still shows). She doesn't know how to process deep feelings (hers or others). Some days she's purely content with her life. Others, she feels unfulfilled. Most are somewhere between the two. Highly prone to social anxiety, fluster, awkwardness, and shame. She has low mindfulness, she can't detect/identify complicated or subtle emotions.

Alannis isn't completely isolated. She has friends her age (adult) who worry about her and invite her out. She likes her friends, enjoys the time she spends with them, but doesn't extend either courtesy back. On the rare occasions that she wants to do something aboard the ship, she doesn't even consider going with someone; not out of malice, the thought just doesn't cross her mind. When forced to don real clothes, she prefers something baggy (partially because she likes how they look, partially because there are more choices).