STAR ARMY

Sci-fi roleplaying and worldbuilding community

User Tools

Site Tools


guide:creating_a_nekovalkyrja_character

This is an old revision of the document!


Creating a Nekovalkyrja Character

This guide will aid you in the process of creating a young NH-33 Nekovalkyrja character to roleplay in Star Army of Yamatai. While going through this guide, you should have the Character Template page up in a separate tab so you can fill it out as you go along.

Overview

The Nekovalkyrja (pronounced “Nay-ko-wul-ku-ree”) are a collection of badass (typically flesh-and blood) gynoids created to support the Yamatai Star Empire through military service. Playing a Nekovalkyrja means being a member of the SARPiverse's most detailed, powerful, and most active organization, the Star Army of Yamatai. These slender young cat-eared women are well-trained and equipped to deal with any situation and they are inevitably put to the test as they are sent into the most dangerous battles and frontiers of the universe to defend and expand their mother nation. Warriors that survive and excel will rise to become starship captains and fleet admirals or retire in comfort and splendor.

The story of a Nekovalkyrja character is about life in the Star Army, usually aboard a starship that travels someplace new every mission. The crew is family. A Nekovalkyrja starts as a mass-produced weapon and over time she develops her distinct individual personality and grows to become something more through character interaction. Interested? This guide will help you build your Neko.

A Purpose

The Star Army of Yamatai

Main article: Star Army of Yamatai

In the year YE 21, the Yamatai Star Empire started building fleets of starships and consolidated its military forces into a combined force called the Star Army of Yamatai. Since then, the Star Army has been involved in countless battles, continually evolving its equipment and tactics. As a member of the Star Army, you are part of a powerful and widely recognized organization. Being part of the Star Army means acting like a soldier: respect should be given and orders must be followed. The Star Army places a lot of stock in being prepared, being smart, and doing what's right. Your crew mates will be depending on you. Don't let them down!

Additional Reading

Rank

Main article: Star Army Ranks

New characters typically start at Santo Hei; however, if you are a SARP veteran whose previous character died (permanently), you have the right to make a new one at a rank equal to the one you lost.

Occupation

Your character's occupation will determine the role she plays in your crew; please take this into account. Consider if you want your Nekovalkyrja character to stay on the ship most of the time or to be part of away missions to planets. A starship operator may stay behind during planetary missions, while a planetary infantry soldier would get to go on missions, but may have little to do other than damage control during starship combat. Most of the time, a medic will not have any patients to work on. If you have a particular plot in mind, look at the type of action in it and/or talk to the game master and let that help guide your decision. If you pick an occupation with higher-than-average downtime, you may want to make your character more sociable and eager to help other crew members with their tasks.

Available Occupations

The following occupations are recommended for new players with Nekovalkyrja characters:

Occupation Color Typical Work Area Notes
Soldier Any Unspecialized; allows you to choose your occupation later
Infantry Away Team Fights the enemy
Fighter/Bomber Pilot Starfighter For carrier-based plots
Medic Medical Lab/Away Team Helps injured characters
Scientist/Advisor Bridge/Away Team Researches and advises
Starship Operator Bridge Runs a starship
Technician Engineering/Away Team Installs, maintains, and repairs technology

For a full list of Star Army occupations, see Occupations in the Star Army of Yamatai.

Skill Areas

Because your character is in the Star Army of Yamatai, you can simply link to Star Army Common Skills instead of writing out your skill area descriptions. Here's the wiki code:

  * [[stararmy:skills:common]]

As you go through the roleplay, you will probably want to write out your character's skills to customize them and expand them, but it's okay to skip that part of your bio when you're just starting out.

You can find more skills and skill information here: Character Skill Areas

A Look

This section covers your character's appearance.

Physique

The typical NH-33 has the general appearance of a slender athletic young adult female human, but with catlike ears that lend them the “neko” (cat) part of their name. Nekovalkyrja tend to have slightly pear or hourglass shaped bodies. Because of their genetics and metabolism, they do not gain weight or get out of shape, or grow old. All NH-33 have bellybuttons, regardless of how they were created.

Nekovalkyrja height ranges from 145cm (4' 9”) to 170cm (5' 6”) tall. An average NH-33 Nekovalkyrja is 160cm (5' 3”) tall and weighs around 45kg (99lbs).

See also: Female Measurements

Skin Color

Nekovalkyrja skin generally comes in the following colors:

  • Pale tan, pink, cream, or peach colored (may include freckles) - Most common
  • Bronze, tanned, or olive
  • Various shades of brown (coffee, chocolate)
  • Pure white - these “Shiro” are common on snow worlds
  • Jet black - these “Kuro” are commonly stealth intelligence agents
  • Pale teal or violet

Eyes

Nekovalkyrja eyes generally come in the following colors:

  • Green or blue (various shades and combinations)
  • Red (various shades)
  • Black, brown or dark gold (various shades)

You may also want to describe the shape of your character's eyes and the length of her lashes, as well as if she wears (or has a permanent) makeup pattern for them.

Hair colors and styles

Nekovalkyrja hair generally comes in the following colors:

  • Black (most common)
  • Brown or red (various shades and combinations)
  • Blond or white
  • Green (various shades)
  • Blue (various shades)
  • Pink or purple

Facial Features

When describing your Neko character's facial features you may want to include details about her:

  • Eye size and position
  • Jaw size and cheek size
  • Chin width and length
  • Nose length, height; nose bridge width and height
  • Forehead and cranium shape
  • Overall face shape (wide, heart-shaped, etc)

Ears

Nekovalkyrja have cat like ears on the sides of their heads, positioned where a human's ears would normally be. The ears can be skin-only or furry.

Tattoos

Tattoos are generally unheard of unless they are genetically imprinted in the skin due to a creator's specifications but generally, it is unheard of because of the body's ability to quickly heal and generally reject the ink. Older models of Nekovalkyrja had their model number, creator and names genetically tattooed on them. Thus with the newer models, they dislike tattoos for this reason; they do not want to be marked as property. In spite of this, factory-made Nekovalkyrja will often have a small serial number tattoo on the top of the right buttcheek or (since YE 32) on the bottom of their right foot. After all, their bodies are government property…

Randomly Generating An Appearance

If you like, you can use the Random Nekovalkyrja Generator to generate a basic appearance to build off of.

An Identity

This is the most important section of this guide and it will probably take you the longest to complete. It requires imagination and consideration to answer this question: Who is your character?

The Nekovalkyrja

Main article: Nekovalkyrja

Nekovalkyrja are typically created by the Star Army. After initial programming and 98 days of training on everything from the SPINE interface system to being polite, the Nekovalkyrja is sent to her first assignment.

As a race, the Nekovalkyrja are instilled with bravery, although this can be manifested in different ways for Nekovalkyrja with different personalities; one soldier may be bold and fearless, charging into combat with a howl, while another may be ice cold, grimly going about her duties in a detached and robotic fashion. There is nothing rare about most Nekovalkyrja. They are just as common as civilian Yamataians and are spread throughout the empire. Within the Empire, there is no stigma attached to being born a Nekovalkyrja. The vast majority civilian populace respects these warriors and the sacrifices they make to ensure civilian safety. Outside of Yamatai, some people treat Nekovalkyrja with fear or hate. These ignorant foreign barbarians think that Nekovalkyrja are warmongering harlots. Watch out for them.

Like the rest of Yamatai, the Nekovalkyrja are flavored with Japanese warrior culture. They are influenced by honor, tradition, courtesy, respect, and a sense of being a small part of the greater whole. Traditions include respect for guests, eating quietly, and being silently tolerant of hardship rather than complaining.

All Nekovalkyrja are able to transmit and receive data via a secure form of telepathy. They can use this ability to browse the web or to instant message one another. Telepathy is generally reserved for communication out of voice range. If two Nekovalkyrja are in a room together, they will usually speak vocally.

Name

Main article: nekovalkyrja_names

Nekovalkyrja names generally follow two main patterns:

  • Japanese traditional name (Clan name, individual name)
  • Norse traditional names (individual name, parent name)
  • Mixed named (individual name, clan name)

Often, Nekovalkyrja names are chosen for their meaning.

You can also randomly generate your name using the Random Nekovalkyrja Generator.

Age

For the purposes of this guide, your fully trained Nekovalkyrja may start out with an age between 99 days and 3 years old. Younger is probably better. If she's older, it makes writing her character history more complicated. For example, NH-29 model Nekovalkyrja born earlier than YE 29 will probably have inhabited a different model body than she does now and would have transferred her mind over at some point. Keep in mind that at birth a Nekovalkyrja has a mental age some somewhere around sixteen.

Family and Creators

Nekovalkyrja are typically created by the Ketsurui Zaibatsu or the Star Army of Yamatai itself. In the uncommon instance that they might have a family they might only have a mother (nekos can asexually reproduce). Occassionally such a neko will have a second contributor to creator their young that may or may not help raise her.

Gender

Nekovalkyrja are all female, at least physically. It is possible for a man's mind to be transferred into a Nekovalkyrja body.

History

A Nekovalkyrja's history should not be long. Basically, she is created, given her three-year enlistment contract, programmed, and then sent to 30 days of socialization training and testing where she develops the first bits of her personality. Nekovalkyrja are created as adults and it is common for them to receive training for a year after creation before being assigned to a regular military service. See Star Army Training Methods and Times.

Personality

Try to describe what you you imagine your Nekovalkyrja is like. Is she friendly? Shy? Cool and collected?

Nekovalkyrja might generally be manufactured but they do have very real and human personalities. Emotional disorders caused by stress of being at war (i.e. Anxiety during conflict or depression after being brought back from a back-up are common) or from abuse do occur but it is rare that a newly created NH-29 Nekovalkyrja is a mindless, heartless being bent on only destruction. Incredibly disturbed personalities are very rare in newer Nekovalkyrja.

Goals

Just because you're young doesn't mean you can't have big dreams. Maybe your neko wants to become a starship captain. Perhaps she only longs to die in glorious battle. Maybe she wants to start her own family. It's up to you!

Nekovalkyrja goals tend to be advancing their careers, obtaining their ships or furthering their quest for knowledge. They also tend to have fairly human goals, although the ideal of monogamy might be lost on them, since they do not need to mate for life if at all to advance their species (but they may like the idea of having a life partner being as they are generally living in a state of war).

Likes and Dislikes

In the “likes” and “dislikes” sections you can list some of your character's most and least favorite things. Perhaps your Nekovalkyrja has an aversion to certain foods or a passion for a certain type of music. This is up to you.

Gear

Standard Issue

As a member of the Star Army of Yamatai, your character will receive a set of Standard Issue Items that they keep as long as they are in the military.

Personal Possessions

It is likely that your Nekovalkyrja will have few, if any, personal belongings. If you want to include some in her biography, put them here.

Other Extras


Quality:
guide/creating_a_nekovalkyrja_character.1335705727.txt.gz · Last modified: 2023/12/20 15:49 (external edit)