593. How does your SC feel about their appearance and personality? Would they change anything about themselves?

Confused looks throughout the crew as they read the today's psychological evaluation questions.

Not really, most of them already look how they want to look and are happy as they are.

Since the Union provides general base/ground income and most people work for general high base minimum wages on top, it's not a problem to look or live like you want.
And since medical bills don't exist, because the Union grands general in depths medical treatment, everyone can afford genetic modifications for hair and eye color, like Arkham did for her green and blue hair.

For the crew: Everyone is happy enough, about their looks even Mondira who comes from a non Union world.
If you want a rocket leg go for it. If you want a tentacle arm instead talk with your doc or a body modder.

#PennedPossibilities 593 #StarRyde #GhozTarc #GhozTarcCrew #writing #SciFi #WIP

594. MC POV: What sort of temper do you have? Are you easy to anger?

Kira:"Not in general but I have my points that anger me easily. A long as Persons behave decently I don't see a problem. J. uses to call me Dragon Lady. I guess it fits all ia well as long you don't anger the dragon."

Arkham:"My Alliance Advisor used to say that I don't have anger issues it's only an issue if I'm not angry. I still don't understand what he ment.
I don't like hiding emotions or if emotions get hidden from me. It's complicated takes energy and leads to misunderstandings."

Ashlei:"I am sorry but this question can't be answered, a computational error occured. Sub core sub matrix cluster 4-HA sector L-3.8472/Delta. Hangardoors will be opened in 60 seconds to vent hostile bio mass.
Please grab onto something and remain calm.
15, 14, 13, have a nice day, 12, 11, 10, 8, 7, 6...

That was a joke."
#PennedPossibilities 594 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Arkham #Ashlei #writing #SciFi #WIP

@AnnaSaultron

... That was a joke."

ROTFLOL. 😂

595 How does your SC feel about your MC’s temper or lack thereof?

XO 1 L.Jenkins:"I respect the Captain, she & our former Captain Anika Johanson have a similar style, which is to be expected after all they where... Are sisters & where raised as such. Captain Knox seems to lack Captain Johanson's passion since we lost her. Before she was at least as passionate as Anika. I guess it has to do with her merge with Ashlei. Usually I would take control if the acting Captain is emotionally compromised but Kira doesn't seem unfit... It may be her training as a Shade. If she wouldn't show any signs of compassion, like for Arkham, Jennifer, Rose, Talisa, Mondira or any other Crew member, I would argue she is unfit for duty. However so far she really pulls us together like few other could & she didn't stopped the mission. Still I'm unsure if this is a good sign. But in case of emergency XO Troika & I stand ready to take over."

#PennedPossibilities 595 #StarRyde #LJenkins #writing #SciFi #WIP

596. How would you describe your MC’s facial features?

Ashlei: She is the Ghoz'Tarc despite being a spaceship with holographic & chameleonlike outer hull cloaking systems,she looks like a mix of the Normandy SR2 from Mass Effect & The Alliance Rex from Star Trek Online.
Which is a combination of the federations Defiant class & the Jem Hadar Bug Ships from Star Trek Deep Space Nine, plus a bit of the Pathfinder class, also from Star Trek online based upon the Voyager from Star Trek Voyager.

Thanks to her holographic cloaking she can look like a freighter or every other ship in SciFi/Fantasy (yes including the Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean).

For my Humanoids Kira has natural bright red hair that she dyed blood red, a scar over her left eyebrow down to her cheekbone that spared the eye her eyes are heterochromic one appears dark violet. Her hair is asymmetrical cut similar to fem V. (Cyperpunk2077)

#PennedPossibilities 596 #StarRyde #Ashlei #KiraKnox #writing #SciFi #WIP

597. Tell us about your MC’s style of dress.

Kira wears most if the times her standard issues command uniform. Privately she often just runs Tank top/T-shirt and comfy pants.

Arkham has modified her uniform to a lowest practical and inacceptable coverage of skin, since she can't stand it if her skin, especially the parts that transfer pilot seat information are covered. She o ly gets away with it because she is that damn good as a pilot and gets worse if she uses a pilot suit. She looks like Lara Croft was her clothing advisor.

Ashlei/the Ghoz'Tarc is a space ship.
She sports a dark design with mostly black on missions, hints of red, blue, yellow and green are visible on occasion. At dry/port she sports the usual chearfull bright colors with white and grey of the Union. Since her outer hull is chameleonlike and she has a holographic system build into her shield/point defense system she can switch to everything in seconds.
Only smaller vehicles are hard.

#PennedPossibilities 597

598. Pick one of your favorite SCs. If they were to die, how would this impact the story as a whole? Would the plot change dramatically?

Don't know since the story is still a 10.000+ pieces here on Mastodon a evolving WIP on my phone and not much more.

#PennedPossibilities 598 #StarRyde #writing #SciFi #WIP #CatchUp

599 Antagonist/Villain POV: Is there a line that you’re unwilling to cross in order to get what you want?

1/2

Antagonists-
AI:"We shouldn't talk about lines one would not cross. You see survival is rarely honorable & your Terrans Geneva Convention only held 200 years before it turned into a checklist... There are plenty of lines in the sand, but in the end it's just sand & few lines in it remained, as the heat of battle glassed it."

AJ:"I do not discuss my moral code, I was raised by Union Standards that should tell you enough."

Villain(s):
The creature's eyeless head pointed towards the Terran as the hurt creature layed on the ground, for the severeness of the damage it was surprisingly quite, if it had eyes, it would probably have killed everything in it's view, an hissing, rhythmic 'breath' came from the giant insectoids body, it's 'mouth' drooling blue slime.

#PennedPossibilities 599 #StarRyde #AntagonistInfernale #AntagonistJunior #AJ #AJohnson #Eltaryn #writing #SciFi #WIP

2/2 A rattling hissing joined the sound of its 'breath' as the body started to dry up and turning grey. It's most outer carapace broke giving insight into a greyish, fast drying goo. The body looked like broken stone, before it completely turned into greyish sand that was carried away by the wind. Only the slight feeling of steering into an abysmal mind remained on the group of Terrans that had fought it.

#PennedPossibilities 599 #StarRyde #AntagonistInfernale #AntagonistJunior #AJ #AJohnson #Eltaryn #writing #SciFi #WIP

600. Growth: How exactly do you see your writing evolving?

🤷🏽(Shrug emoji)

#PennedPossibilities 600

Divider toot for the month February to March.
___________________________________

Above my prior answers.
Here you can go back to last months divider toot.
https://nerdculture.de/@AnnaSaultron/113928378800666607

Here is my overview toot for the month of March 2025 for all my prompt answers.
https://nerdculture.de/@AnnaSaultron/114084647182816482

And here it goes back to the mega threads first answers
https://nerdculture.de/@AnnaSaultron/110723765145059262
___________________________________
#PennedPossibilities
#StarRyde #SciFi #WIP
#writing #WritingCommunity and occasionally #GalaxyGlyde #SciFiParody

601. Choose one of your SCs you’ve never spoken about. How would you describe their facial features?

I rarely describe much most times it's the eyes and hair color maybe some noticeable features

L.Jenkins, he is in his early 30, is at average height, has black and white hair (colored asymmetrical) he has greenish yellowish eyes. They are shiny despite his very by the books behavior there is a bit of prankster energy in his look. His nose was broken several times & gives his otherwise almost soft look some remarkable contrast. He often wears glasses while reading or while working so its not the first thing you notice. If you look close enough you can spot a mark of an grown out piercing.

#PennedPossibilities 601. #StarRyde #LJenkins #writing #SciFi #WIP

602. Think back on the SC you discussed last night. How do they dress?

Jenkins on duty he wears a flawless pristine command uniform of the alliance. Off duty he looks like an average hip hop meets goth person.
Clearly comfort oriented and in bright colors and black. His favorite outfit is a bright pink baggy pants and a sleek black tanktop. He has a bit of war with his body hair. He is one of the few Terrans that can't be treated with genetic hair removal (body hair for Terrans isn't a big deal for most but some, especially in the army prefer not having much) so he goes to great lengths to use an epilator and laser therapy which grants him around 2 weeks of hairless perfection how he calls it.
At least the Doctors don't need to force him for genetic samples for medical testing. On occasion Dr. Kaiden even helps him with unpleasant and badly reachable areas. J. offered him help but he doesn't trust her in that regard.
#PennedPossibilities 602 #StarRyde #LJenkins #writing #SciFi #WIP

And yes their is an idiom for that called one back shaves another.

#PennedPossibilities 602 #StarRyde #Extra #LJenkins #writing #SciGi #WIP

603. How would you describe your MC’s handwriting?

1/2
Handwriting in the 24. Century has become rare at least as we know it. Digital writing often is done with the fingers or a fingernail on a holographic display. Usually with the middlefinger similar to how we hold pencils today or vus typing. As members of the alliance every soldier needs to master Silver Lining a cursive handwriting usually for ceremonies like signing of documents of significance.
Usually every one in a room including the guards have to sign it if it ever comes into legal question and for the accuracy of historical retelling. Like Union Standard Silver Lining has many influences from the member species and no one today would be able to read it. Silver Lining has a lot of similarities to Japanese Calligraphy. If done correctly every document with SL on it is a black piece with silver ink that's where the name stems from.

Kira's ...

#PennedPossibilities 603 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Arkham #ASHLEI #writing #SciFi #WIP

2/2 Silver lining is adequate but not very special, her usual Handwriting is done with a stylus and occasionally with her fingers. Since she started origami folding she also printed a permanent metal pencil.
She tries her best to keep it readable.

Arkham's mother forced her to undergo "proper etiquette" training so she had to learn writing with real ink, which she hated, her version of Union Standard looks more archaic than most others. Imagine it more like someone writing today's languages in a Nordic Runic style her Silver Lining in comparison would be considered Calligraphic Art.

Ash doesn't have hands but she can print and display all existing fonts and writings of every known civilization. And if atmospheric flight wasn't so problematic (the Ghoz'Tarc is 176 meters long) she could write beautiful cloud words.
Sadly gravity and other forces have something to say about this.

#PennedPossibilities 603 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Arkham #ASHLEI #writing #SciFi #WIP

604. Is your MC one to be confident under pressure, or do they struggle with it?

1/2

Kira: She trust's her gut feeling & decision making, so pretty much, of course she requests, reevaluate her decisions afterwards & there is a limit to it, but she isn't in a leading position for no reason. She can put the doubts away til it's time to handle them or they stash up to a giant pile in threat of collapsing.

Arkham: As a pilot and the Flight Commander of this ship, Arkham doesn't often asks herself about her decisions on the job. Left, up, right down, accelerate, brake sounds easy enough and to a degree it is but throw gravity streams/wells into the mix, space combat and material composition of a ship against bending and tearing and there isn't much time to think. On a personal level she is way less secure.

Ashlei: Ash isn't programmed to doubt her abilities, she is programmed to increase her efficiency.

#PennedPossibilities 604. #KiraKnox #Arkham #Ashlei #StarRyde #writing #SciFi #WIP

2/2 She isn't programmed to rewrite her memory log's either...

#PennedPossibilities 604. #KiraKnox #Arkham #Ashlei #StarRyde #writing #SciFi #WIP

XO1 L.Jenkins:"I shouldn't have send Arkham in a Shuttle down. We should have used the Ghoz'Tarc, opening the cargo bay & shooting everything down that did not wear Union color. Anika would be possibly still alive & Kira not merged with Ash. This Swexers killed the cptn because I made the wrong call. Kira said it was right to not risk the ship in an atmosphereric flight. That the Ghoz'Tarc could have been stranded or worse crashed, that the crew might have died if I did so, in know Kira long enough to know when her head & her heart talk differently. If anyone has to talk to their mother it's me because I was the commanding officer... You know Anika wasn't only a Captain she was a family member. She was the leader of this crew..."
He sobbed holding his hands folded in front of his face.

#PennedPossibilities 605. #StarRyde #LJenkins #writing #SciFi #WIP

606. Is your MC keeping any secrets? Can you tell us more without giving away any spoilers?

Kira has some secrets, one is a very large body tattoo that only few know to it's full size.
Why she wears dark make up.
Why her shoulders & neck are always under tension. She doesn't speak about what happened as she lost her troup on her first command mission. After all it's in the files accessible for the ones that are authorized to read it. She hides her pain very efficiently or how much she can influence Ashlei's system by now.

Arkham keeps some minor stuff for herself, and makes a big deal out if her project in one of the containers.

Ashlei is not programmed to lie to the crew. She wasn't programmed to rewrite her logs & their is a core program she isolated away, even from Kira.

And then there is the sub core "the driver" between Ash and the Ghoz'Tarc.

#PennedPossibilities 606 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Arkham #Ashlei #writing #SciFi #WIP

607. Antagonist / Villain POV: Where are you in your life right now? What are you most pleased with?

Author_ity here.
Today is a weird day (mood swings) and for the life of it I don't feel like answering this question today. If I try to find AI or AJ in my thoughts I just get headaches. So I skip this ...

#PennedPossibilities 607

0.43 How does your MC best recharge their spirit?

Kira: for her it has to be fitting for her current drain.
On some occasions it's simply punching her punching back til it almost bursts other times it's sex or cuddling, it can be real honey toast from that antique toaster (who some claim to be a demon or spirit watching over her) or cooking for the crew. Sometimes it's remembering her biological family or the good times with lost ones, shooting practices, a good portion of sleep, dancing or just chilling with the crew in between shifts folding some origami to sneak it into someone's cloth or belongings (as a minor reminder that she can be sneaky and now's how to reach unexpected locations).

Arkham grows to enjoy time with Kira alone, just talking to others, tinkering with her pet project in one of the containers or to her horror later on dancing.

Ashlei 'loves' to improve her filing of data.

#PennedPossibilities 0.43 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Arkham #Ashlei #writing #SciFi #WIP

608. Does your MC have any nicknames?
Including Ranks here

Kira Knox: Commander, Captain, K., Kay (yeb even with a four letter name people shorten it), Sis, twin, twinsis, child, love, hun, Imzadi, Dragon.
That SWEX redhead. Cyberdragon, clamp, clench, iron grip, mean left hook.

Abbishek Pakthi: Arkham, FC, Flight commander, the almost naked one, dream dancer, sky dancer, meanie, ice, blue rose.

A.S.H.L.E.I.: Ashlei, Ash, AI, Computer, Ship Computer, Ghoz'Tarc, Ghoz'Tarc AI, Ghoz'Tarc Computer.

#PennedPossibilities 608 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Arkham #Ashlei

609 Can you tell us about a secret that your Antagonist/Villain is willing to take to the grave?

I could but I rather not cross the line of AI and hi's/her's/them's/it's henchfolk.
AI hasn't set up this whole spiel about themselves and only operating through agents and devices to have that spoiled before I even have written the story.

And for AJ they most likely wouldn't remember anyway and are still alive so it could be made a case for they don't seem to have one.

The Eltaryn don't speak any language we know of or that is translatable so nope either.

#PennedPossibilities 609 #StarRyde #AntagonistInfernale #AntagonistJunior #AJohnson #Eltaryn #Writing #SciFi #WIP

610. What are the most significant sounds we hear in your WIP? For example, it could be the sounds of nature or the noises of a bustling town.

The Hum. Each ship has its own tune combined front the frequency the engines vibrate, the energy reactor or the magnetic restrictions sound. Space itself it's not entirely silent. There is material out there in what we call the vacuum and it can transmit sounds but it's not enough to be heard easily. The constant hits on the hull and the shields give the hull a vibe too. Usually you get used to this low frequency sounds quickly, if the dampeners don't work it can become distracting however usually it is overwritten by the noises of the peop inside the ship.
Somwa Ovate Ra'inbo had a group of musicians make music onboard of dampening ridden ships. It was quite eerie and unworldly.

#PennedPossibilities 610 #StarRyde #WorldBuilding #SomwaOvateRainbo #writing #SciFi #WIP

611. Have you ever been able to relate to your antagonist/villain? If yes, then how so?

1/2
I can relate to all of my characters.
On different levels & on different angles, but even my cannibal in Fallout 76 has relatable attributes for me. I'm a vegan & so I project my feelings of eating animal products onto her + a bit of madness from the Cthulhu Mythos, Harley Quinn from Batman, Jynx from LOL/Arcane (or at least what I red/looked up) & my anger from the days a s a victim of organized mobbing.

AI has my innerst wish of staying anonymous, my feeling of something has to change & my point of view that "if you want to have something changed, do it," which I unshackled from my ethics.

AJ relates to me on a different level.
Not for my GI but for my memory which works very selective. Car crash? Almost erfect recollection of the events. Telling a loved one something close & personal. Repeated 8× & don't remember 1.

#PennedPossibilities 611 #AntagonistInfernale #AntagonistJunior #AJohnson

611. 2 of 2 (I can only count to foooour! Sorry...)

The Eltaryn are also relatable for me from my time as an mobbing victim.
At least that I channel my anger and rage I felt back in the day into their destructive capabilities.
If you never had a mental break down in which you crashed everything that you liked you probably can't relate to this primal anger, this guttural rage that burns behind your eyes, drives your blood pressure up to record heights. That moment when just something snaps inside you, all the pressure that threatened to let your eyes pop out of their sockets, suddenly stream lines into pure, liquid, burning rage, that nothing has to stand in your way if it doesn't want to be smashed into pieces...
#PennedPossibilities 611 #StarRyde #TheEltaryn #Eltaryn #writing #SciFi #WIP #psychological

612. Has your SC ever snooped in a friend or partner’s house?

Absolutely if not the house at least the lockers of crew members but to her/thems defense. Silas is a mother in her private life with a chaos gnome of daughter and the security chief onboard the Ghoz'Tarc.
Sometimes you need to confiscate smuggle goods like " real Lightsabers*"

*Which is a common phrase for non accounted food or restricted private stuff onboard Union and Alliance ships. Something has to stand on the papers even if someone sneaks on their private Sex toys or a box of restricted ale for cooking or getting boozed.

#PennedPossibilities 612 #StarRyde #GhozTarcCrew #SilasCrosby #writing #SciFi #WIP

613. How do you feel about the world or universe you’ve created within your WIP? Are you satisfied with it thus far?

I struggle, the 6 Core worlds of the Union and the Eltaryn are quite good developed as far as it goes or seems necessary.
Mondira's home planet has a clear vision but still lacks a name.
The 66 associated members aren't as far developed as I want them to be and I thinking of using them on occasion only as a joker card to have some Alien no one expected. While few already have a concept (one are sentient plants and another sentient Fungi)

Same with Rimworld Societies (if you need an Idea on how different the worlds are, look for a map of Germany, look for Bundesländer and than for Landkreise as a map, or American Districts). I have plans for some region and factions in the Ghoststars and beyond. But for now I focus more on the 6 core members and their societies, clothing, worlds and languages.

#PennedPossibilities 613. #StarRyde #writing #WorldBuilding #SciFi #WIP

614. SC POV: What is one phrase that you would really like to hear right now?

Ketchup

Rose:"Smooth not a single thorn left."

Talisa:"Well you surely now how to beshave yourself."

#PennedPossibilities 614 #StarRyde #RoseDraken #TalisaDraken #writing #SciFi #WIP

615. What is the best time of day for you to write? (Early or late morning, midday, afternoon, or nighttime?)

Ketchup

Nighttime mostly but I shifts drastically from time to time atm I'm not writing at all and try more getting into drawing again oh and of course not getting mad with the world. So plenty of old school media consumption on VHS and DVD/Blu Ray or 2000-2015 games.

#PennedPossibilities 615 #StarRyde #writing #SciFi #WIP

616. Name a bizarre and hyper-specific detail that you know about one of your characters but is completely irrelevant to the story.

Ketchup

Can't tell story isn't evolving so plenty of details but can't tell if they will become important.

#PennedPossibilities 616 #StarRyde #writing #SciFi #WIP

617. Random: If you’re also an avid reader, what’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever used as a bookmark?

Ketchup

That's a tie between a opened condom package (without the condom obviously) and a single uncooked Spaghetti (Spaghetto?).
Followed on second place from a scissor.

#PennedPossibilities 617 #writing #reading

618. Is your SC prone to jealousy? How might they handle any envious feelings?

Ketchup

Not really most of my characters have experience with poly relationships, they are relatively good at spotting their own insecurities and problems on behavior of others and talk about it before mistrust takes root. Also most of them so not have any thoughts about a person being theirs or belonging to them. They belong together for as long as it works but not to each other.

#PennedPossibilities 618 #StarRyde #writing #SciFi #WIP

619 Booyakah Booyakah.

What type of “accent” does your MC have? Tell us about their voice. Discuss speech patterns, vocabulary, slang, or their way of speaking, if you like.

It's a complete different language. Or basically two in Union Space/Terran.

Union Standard and Terran Standard.
Both languages are composed from the shortest words in each environment (several trillion people and societies in the Union) and all of Terra's people's but in both cases it's the shortest possible words from all the different languages on Terra or all of the Union.
It's short and melodic and no one today would understand much or even recognize it as words since our brains are very flawed with stuff that consists of 3 or fewer letters of which this languages have a lot (or their equivalent because not all species use tonal communication).

And of course some local and Person coloring, words people find fancy or useful as en example.

#PennedPossibilities 619 #StarRyde #writing #SciFi #WIP

620. What do you like about writing your antagonist / villain?

When I write on AI and AJ it's quite different.
Since AI is more of an Shadow, who still needs a good name or title, I can pull of "magic tricks" without breaking immersion, I don't need to describe it's appearance because no one else knows who is behind the whole charade, hear it's voice on am empty room oh clearly some speakers are somewhere.

AJ real started to grow on me, they was a means for me to have a challenger for Kira and Crew on the same level and for me in learning to use non binary lingo (I think I started to find a food hold with that even in German). I love the idea that AJ and Kira have so similar life's but one lost almost everything and the other even more yet still they reacted to the losses completely differently. I hope than AJ will make sense to the readers in the end.

#PennedPossibilities 620 #StarRyde #AntagonistInfernale #AntagonistJunior #AJ #AJohnson #writing #SciFi #WIP

621. What was the bravest moment in your MC’s life? Were they known to be courageous from then on?

I don't think that applies to Kira at all. She was raised to be social, empathetic towards others and stand up for what is right in her opinion. Both families had this approach even the ice queen. It got a harsh damper as her first family died but there wasn't a moment where she "became a hero" she always stood up & faced challenges after a time. Yes Anika helped her as a child but Kira moved & got really good at mastering challenges, she also has quite some temper which she had to learn to handle & is kinda stubborn on giving up.

For Arkham it was as she decided to flee her home, to get away from her dragon helicopter mum, which didn't worked out as she hoped in the 1. place.

Ash as an AI makes decisions differently.
Courage isn't really a thing for a ship. It's do or do not based on calculations.

#PennedPossibilities 621 #StarRyde #KiraKnox #Arkham #Ashlei #writing #SciFi #WIP

623. In theory, what would be your SC’s weapon of choice?

There isn't much space for personal preference in the military.
Onga Technologies is the main manufacturer for most of the Alliance & Union weapons. Their Troubleshooter & Problemsolver Series are fairly common choices for the flexibility that their modular designs allow.
The docs prefer their stun configuration for obvious reasons.
J. favors the grenade attachment that allows to deploy emp charges, glue charges that hull in enemies in strong enough to glue anything it touches to anything else. Some blast charges for the case that Eltaryn are around.

Rose is the only one that uses a personal Draken Industries Challenger. Which is produced for Special Forces by her Families Company (Draken has its hands in all kind of tech & science stuff), the weapon is a handheld 5mm high Impact capacity model she modified. The weapon is cleared by command, which is rare.

#PennedPossibilities 623 #StarRyde #RoseDraken #writing #SciFi #WIP

624. Are there any mental health issues that run in your SC’s family?

With +/- 40 people on board their is most likely someone with a family member that has mental health issues.
That said what is a mental health issue in the future differs drastically from what is one today.

Lack of Empathy is considered one even if it is more a character flaw nowadays.

#PennedPossibilities 624 #StarRyde #Writing #SciFi #WIP