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Entry tags:
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↛ the physical universe (info)
↛ epigone (stats/personality/history)
↛ the copper layer (info)
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STATS ⭟ NAME: Arliss Joshi ⭟ NICKNAME(S): Lissy (by mother), Prim (by Epigone) ⭟ AGE: 27 ⭟ BIRTHDATE: September 20th, 2315 (Earth) ⭟ ZODIAC: Virgo ⭟ HEIGHT: 5'5" ⭟ HAIR: Black ⭟ EYES: Brown ⭟ ORIENTATION: Pan ⭟ STATUS: Single ⭟ PB: Anna Akana |
PERSONALITY ⭟ Thoughtful: Arliss is enthusiastic and sharp, loving to have discussions concerning just about anything as long as the other person seems to be into it; ⭟ Shy: As someone who grew up isolated, she's found maintaining friendships to be difficult, and struggles to start conversations; ⭟ Passionate: Though she might not seem it at first, a wealth of passion lies just under the surface — for xenobiology, art, and music, but also making sure that truth and justice wins out; ⭟ Fearful: Arliss is particularly afraid of scary and unfamiliar situations, thanks to her recent experiences. She sometimes locks up completely, wheezes and gasps for air uncontrollably for a minute or two, or loses her voice for a little while; ⭟ Artistic: Her hobbies include sketching, painting with watercolor, and playing the piano. Arliss has an eye for design that extends out of these activities as well, often tweaking her environment; |
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HISTORY If Arliss had been born on Earth, the year would have been 2315. But Arliss was born on Mars, in the agricultural sector of Steno. She was born to Arjun and Akari Joshi — who decided to further the A tradition — who worked in textile production and watering systems respectively. There weren't many other children in Steno when Arliss was growing up, thanks to a problem with food scarcity, and her friends were either adults or much older children. This meant that Arliss grew up a little too fast, but she didn't mind it. She discovered a love for art early, her father teaching her to play the piano on his days off. Her love affair with drawing was something she picked up on her own, obsessed with watercolors of the Martian landscape. Arliss had a good relationship with her parents, though her mind was always inclined toward art and her mother wanted her to involve herself in fully "practical" activities. This meant that she was steered toward architecture and civil engineering when it came time to pick a college major. But as it happened, one of Arliss' watercolors won a scholarship contest and the requirement of the scholarship was going to the University of Oregon, on Earth. To her parents' intense displeasure — they wanted to see her in a Martian university — she headed off to Earth, eager to learn and to see the sights. But when she arrived and acclimated to the planet, Arliss immediately fell in love with the ocean. Or more specifically, the creatures inside of the ocean, and then creatures from the oceans of other explored planets. Arliss pretended and lied to herself for six months but, after that, fully committed and changed her major to Marine Xenobiology — she was hooked. Her parents were less than thrilled, but her scholarship would pay for most of the immediate cost and she decided to take out loans for the rest. Arliss did well in school thanks to her enthusiasm for the subject and good working/learning ethic. She devoured any and all information given, doing every single piece of extra credit she could and staying up late at night to read additional sources for all of her classes. As a Martian, though, Arliss was both a curiosity and a point of ridicule. She found it hard to connect to most of her classmates, who either shunned her or treated her as an oddity. Her best friend, Malcolm, was a fellow xenobiology major with a similar work ethic, and also more awkward than she was. Graduating summa cum laude, Arliss was pumped to start using her degree. Instead of returning to Steno, as her parents wanted, she stayed on Earth and was hired by a company that handled surveys of marine life and deep-sea exploration. The latter, obviously, was her favorite part. She lived in the same town the company was from, Willows, now on the California coast thanks to the rising of the sea. Several years later, the scientific community was rocked by a brand new discovery: a planet called Fortuna, dominated by a large ocean and teeming with life. Arliss put her name into the pool of xenobiologists hoping to go study it first and, happily, hers was one of those selected. The corporation in charge of space exploration, Erdell, hired her and informed her that it would be her job to initially survey and catalog life on Fortuna. After a crash training course in all of the technology needed for such an expedition off the coast of Australia, Arliss and the rest of the employees were off to Brunel Station, a pitstop and the closest human settlement to Fortuna. Arliss was so excited — even a week away — that she could barely sleep. And, as it happened, she didn't. Brunel was primarily a research station for the Erdell Corporation and one of their projects, Chrysippus, had a critical malfunction during a test. Chrysippus was a device they hoped would help them traverse space even faster, a new prototype engine for starships. Instead, it ripped a hole straight through itself and reached into the void, yanking every living thing's essence through and pulling what was on the other side through them. One person ripped their skin and muscle from their own body, screaming nonsense. Another slowly metamorphosized into a grayish, large creature that took over the Station's engine room. Another started speaking a language never heard before that caused intense pain in all who heard it. Every effect seemed at random. Arliss woke up staring at a ghostly version of herself, a person who looked identical but called herself Epigone. Epigone inhabited a dimension she called the Copper Layer, but Arliss could see her as though she were standing in front of Arliss. Furthermore, some of the other people could also see Epigone — who was now in the place of her shadow and reflection — and hear her, if she was 'close' to them. They were now connected. Putting their heads together, they theorized that the Chrysippus device had connected Arliss' physical world and the Copper Layer, and her fellows had been dragged through beings much less suitable than Epigone. Epigone in turn had been given Arliss' appearance, which didn't seem to bother her that much. The creature in the engine room caused an immediate crisis for the two of them to solve, forcing two very different beings to work together for the first time as they figured out how the two dimensions were connected. It became immediately apparent that Erdell was going to try and smooth things over, offering Arliss a huge lump sum of money in exchange for her signing a nondisclosure agreement. Arliss refused, smuggling herself on a ride back to Earth as she tried to figure out how to tell everyone what had really happened — and how to hide Epigone from Erdell. |
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ABILITIES 🗷 Marine Xenobiology: In addition to general knowledge in regards to biology, Arliss is well-studied in marine forms of life both on Earth and on other explored planets. She was hoping to work up to a Masters and a Doctorate, eventually, but her accident nixed that in the bud. 🗷 Piano: Arliss is an intermediate-to-expert level in terms of her piano playing, which she's kept up as much as she can. Sitting down and reading music is one of the activities she likes to do when she's stressed. 🗷 Sketching/Watercolor: Of all of her skills, Arliss is particularly gifted in her sketching and her techniques in watercolor paintings. Sketching is something she likes to do all the time. She'll doodle on any piece of paper she can find. Landscapes are her favorite subjects. 🗷 Languages: Arliss speaks English (well), Japanese (well), Hindi (intermediate), Spanish (beginner), and Mandarin (beginner). |
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2342
Earth and its Martian colony are somewhat chaotic in the year 2342, always in some sort of financial or utility crisis, but have conquered the solar system and are spreading into the rest of the galaxy. Corporations rule both planets with an iron fist, massive superpowers who have superseded all remaining governments on Earth. Places retain their older names, but countries have been long bought by corporations and their politicians are only voiceboxes. Erdell Corporation, which owns North America, has a massive hold on space exploration, using other discovered planets for resources and research purposes. Thus far, no other forms of sentient life have been found, though it seems like signs of life are on the horizon.
For the upper class, sightseeing the galaxy is a now-popular and do-able vacation pastime, with the Reedson Corporation having a dominating hand in space tourism. Luxury ships with all the amenities steer the upper class (and some upper-middle-class) to exotic new planets and their corporate resorts to see and sometimes interact with brand new forms of life. Life on the lower end of the totem pole is considerably less glamorous, but hunger isn't an issue anymore, in contrast to a few hundred years previous. Corporations keep their employees fed and off the streets. The problem, now, is the feeling of being owned in everything but the name.
Despite the fact that everyone knows that the corporations own the worlds, the stations, and their people, the corporations are light-fingered about it. Saying anything concrete would be bad for PR. They even let some politicians lobby against them, or encourage it, in order for the average citizen to think there's a degree of separation. But there isn't. The Tavi corporation owns most food production. The Soyo corporation owns industries concerned with furniture, chemicals, and other commodities. The Decker corporation owns most technological companies. The Blesch corporation owns most media outlets and production. The Erdell corporation, the biggest of them all, owns the space travel industry (and other forms of travel, as well).
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STATS ⭟ NAME: Epigone ⭟ NICKNAME(S): Stabby (by Arliss) ⭟ AGE: ?? ⭟ BIRTHDATE: ?? ⭟ ZODIAC: ?? ⭟ HEIGHT: 5'5" ⭟ HAIR: Black / Pink ⭟ EYES: Brown ⭟ ORIENTATION: Pan ⭟ STATUS: Single |
PERSONALITY ⭟ Chaotic: Epigone is largely unpredictable, having sudden and intense leaps of mood for no reason, often in the middle of a conversation or an activity but not always. Some of these moods are innocent enough, but occasionally she'll feel the need to kill something, and that's when people should flee; ⭟ Hard-Edged: She will not do anything she doesn't want to, the only exception being life-or-death situations, because she's had to rely on herself her entire life and doesn't trust anyone else to do it for her; ⭟ Intense: There aren't any bland moods here. Epigone is "go hard or go home." If she's ever distant or quiet, it's a sign of bad things; ⭟ Sarcastic: In contrast to Arliss' kinder sense of humor, Epigone is a drawler who often rolls her eyes and comments snidely on the situation. ⭟ Determined: As self-serving as Epigone can be, she's also a pillar of strength who doesn't give up. And, oddly, if she can help someone else survive (and she isn't in a homicidal mood herself), she usually will. When Arliss locks up in fear, Epigone will always pull her out. |
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HISTORY Epigone is a now-human-shaped entity which came into being in a dimension that she came to learn was called the Copper Layer. The Layer is a transitory, surreal world with logic that doesn't make much sense, and it's a world that Epigone had to learn to survive in very quickly. She had to be ruthless in order to survive both predators and the social order of other sentient beings in the Layer, and has built a fearsome reputation for herself as a result. Many beings now run from her in terror. But not all. She still has to defend herself quite a bit. Her life was a dance of alternating carnage and exploration before she suddenly found herself twisted through a different dimension entirely. The process was highly painful and when she was able to process things normally again, she discovered that her essence had been tied to a weird creature (to her) in that dimension, Arliss — who she could now see as an incorporeal being in the same general area as her, as if they were in the same space. And she could see Arliss' dimension in reflective surfaces, now, too. Epigone didn't understand any of what she was perceiving. It was a world far too different from her own; it freaked her out. But as they puzzled the situation out, it became clear that it had happened to other creatures in the Copper Layer. And that the engine of the 'ship' Arliss was on was being compromised by one of these stretched, melded beings. The two of them began a tentative partnership. Epigone didn't think she could stomach how fearful Arliss was, but found herself enjoying the company of someone who was clearly intelligent — and having company that didn't want to kill her was a new and interesting thing. They discovered that if Epigone manipulated the doors and mechanisms of the Copper Layer, it would do the exact same thing in Arliss' dimension. Utilizing this knowledge, they got Arliss into the engine room. But the creature in the room attempted to kill her, and Arliss had no experience with combat, and the two of them made another discovery: that Epigone could pierce the membrane between their dimensions and cross over, though it was painful to do so. Defeating the creature, Epigone was tempted to kill Arliss and see if that might separate them, but Arliss shoved her back through the bloody membrane opening and it closed behind her. Things were slightly rocky after that, but help finally arrived to secure the space station Arliss was on and Epigone decided not to hold a grudge about her shove. In addition to Arliss wanting to blow the story open about the accident, she insisted that the the two of them would need to figure out how to separate themselves. Peaceably. And that crossing over was only going to be done in life or death situations. Epigone, with a sigh, agreed. |
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ABILITIES 🗷 High Strength/Stamina: Epigone is tougher and stronger than a creature from Arliss' physical dimension, able to easily bend tough metal or run without stopping for a long period of time. It's a survival trait, where she lives. 🗷 Copper Layer Manipulation: She can use the surreal and strange facets of the Layer to affect Arliss' dimension, including: opening locked doors or other such barriers, moving or breaking objects, and manipulating signals to be audible to anyone. 🗷 Combat: Epigone isn't trained, but she's experienced with using her strength and stamina to best others in a fight. And she fights mercilessly, usually going for the kill immediately. 🗷 Minor Shape Changing: This wasn't always how she looked and, with her traumatizing jaunt through dimensions, Epigone has become somewhat flexible in appearance. She can't change the bulk of her form, but she can change the color or general appearance of how she now looks. 🗷 Dimension Shifting: For a brief period of time, Epigone can cross into Arliss' dimension. Epigone is a naturally hostile and otherworldly creature, and her appearance changes slightly to reflect that as she does so. She arrives feral, bloody, and usually wielding some kind of weapon. But it takes a lot out of her and she can't do it very often. Plus, she and Arliss have a verbal agreement that she only does it during life and death situations, and Epigone honors her word. |
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THE COPPER LAYER
A parallel dimension, the Copper Layer is a surreal and usually horrific place that reflects aspects of Arliss' dimension in general terms. If there's a door in a wall, for example, there will always be a door in the same place, it will just look much different. The Copper Layer is inhabited by many sentient beings, and though none of them can say for certain how they were born — they've always been in the Layer. There is a complicated social pecking order in the Layer, with some beings superior and untouchable. All others beneath them are lawless, and anything goes; there are no limits to what you can do to others.
Though the Layer does generally reflect its parallel dimension, the Layer has no true open spaces. Even massive rooms have a ceiling to them. Everything in the Layer seems to be underground — the concept of a sky is foreign and terrifying to a denizen of the layer, and it scared Epigone the first time she saw it in the reflection of Arliss' world. Sometimes even pieces of the Layer are living creatures. There are no rules to the Layer; beings can look like anything and be the size of a skyscraper or the size of a mouse. Notably, however, the Layer doesn't have "wildlife" of any kind. Every creature in the Layer is sentient, even the plants.
