Quartz

[Metallix]

Name:
Quartz Clarkson Mechette. Captain Quartz, if you'd be so kind!

Age:
26.

Alignment:
Neutral

Sex:
Male, and very much so.

Species:
Echidna, spiny anteater, Tachyglossus aculeatus. They're all the same.

Appearance:
Quartz has two distinct looks to him, one for missions and general wear, and one for more discreet appearances within towns, cities and wherever else the law might be looking for a vain lilac echidna...
Captain Quartz in the usual white gear.
Dressed down and in civvies. Amazing, a fan character with a change of clothes?!?
Height: 5' 8"
Fur colour: lilac(often confused with purple or even PINK, which irritates the vain echidna somewhat)
Eye colour: green
Weight: 60kg(slightly underweight for his height)

A medium-build echidna, Quartz has slightly longer than average quills, that run down to the tops of his thighs. His lilac fur is well-groomed, as befits one as vain as he is. His muzzle is the usual beige colour. In terms of physical appearance, Quartz is quite plain.

His clothing can vary greatly, but usually goes along the lines of something flash, flamboyant and show-boating in style. On a typical day, the echidna can be seen wearing his favourite white robes. It is edged with a satin yellow, with a hint of gold laced in. The robes are white silk, but have no buttons. They are held closed by a vibrant red leather belt, which itself fastens with a simple clip mechanism, that releases with one touch. He wears gloves in a similar, yet harder wearing material than the robes.
Slung about his neck is a medallion, a gift to him from his mother as a child. It symbolises everything honest and pure about him, and was also the trigger for his insane vanity. It was smelted from the finest gold in Soleanna, and the symbol on it is written in an old tongue. It means 'Hope And Valour', the tenets of which Quartz lives his life by.

Atop his head resides his favourite accessory, his infamous black hat. This is made from stiff and aged leather, so flexes well when grasped and removed to greet people. It is also trimmed in the same satin-yellow edging as the robing. Neatly attached to the right hand side is a white plume, roughly two feet in length. Quartz specified such a silly length because he then gets an excuse to draw even more attention to himself by flicking it out of his eyes on a breezy day.

Adorning his feet are the only good thing his father ever bought for him - a pair of brown boots. They have a steel toe-cap in the tip, and owing to the age of the rubbed footwear(roughly five years old) the steel plating is visible in places. The boots look extremely well worn and to a degree they have been; ever since he was given them Quartz only took them off for hygene purposes, and playing the egg-and-spoon race on the decks of his ship.

Finally, whilst not technically an item of clothing, sitting on the left hand side of the lilac one's body in its sheath lies Daikatana, his faithful and trustworthy rapier. It was forged in Soleanna from folded steel, and is light with a distinct point to it. The guard is constructed from a mass of elegantly-bend metal, and if viewed from the side the letter 'D' can be seen in a swirly font. The grip is simply leather-bound and serves its purpose nicely.
Quartz sometimes talks to his sword, in the same way that one might speak to their car. He adores his sword. Whilst this should be placed in the Weapons section, he takes his sword off even less than his boots so has been included in the Clothing section.

Personality:
Confident. Loud. Abrasive. A good friend to have by your side.
Never afraid to be the first one to extend a gloved hand and say hi, the echidna has no qualms about being sociable. If anything, it could be the defining reason for acquiring his ship and crew - to be sociable and have good times with a group of people he can trust.

It's been hinted at above, and will be hinted at again, but a large part of Quartz is his sheer vanity. Anything that attracts attention to him in a derogative light is quickly cleaned and put back in place, before continuing like there's nothing wrong.
Which there usually is. If the item in question requires more cleaning than a quick brush with a hand or cloth, the vain one will moan at the offender(if one is there) lots, raise a fuss, kick up a tantrum, whatever. Just to make his point perfectly clear sometimes, he'll also storm off to try and make the dirtier of the item feel bad. Which never happens on board his ship, because his crew all know his tactics now.

Vanity aside, Quartz has a good moral heart. He never lies and will always uphold his end of a deal. Honour is a huge part of his persona, and will never do anything to slur his name. He also won't do anything to slander anyone - amongst his crew, his sheer bluntness and honesty is appreciated. To anyone else he may come across as arrogant due to his dress sense.
This doesn't mean Quartz is all seriousness however.

He loves to have a laugh and a joke, and often plays tricks on people to relieve the tension. However there is a line that he draws. Quartz will treat others as he expects to be treated in return. If this is crossed, Quartz reveals another side to himself - a quick-to-flare anger, and a rage to go with it.
But he would never raise his fist. Shouting, screaming, huge gestures with his arms and stamping on the hat - yep. Fighting, no. That would be a last resort.

On the whole though, Quartz never really lets things stress him out. He always finds a way to chill out - be it a random game of chess, getting a tan or chasing Shao Aren around. He loves life way too much to let it get him down!


Family:
Kathryn Soraya Jakatta - echidna - mother
Quartz Topaz Emerson Mechette - echidna - father(deceased)

Transport:
Airship, named Matilda, but retitled The Threatened Silence. Gained its new name after they spectacularly blew their cover on their very first mission. Their privacy was on the ropes ever since.
The vessel is approximately the size of a warship from the days of the Pilgrim Fathers, in terms of length and width. Depth-wise it is a little lower-slung, with much smaller hulls. It is finished in a plain metal finish throughout, save one symbol on the side of each hull. A small skull, not dissimilar to that on Quartz's hat is painted in red.
The ship employs a twin-hull design, to allow for a hydro-foil effect when in the water. The best example of this kind of ship can be seen in Cowboy Bebop. Whereas that example has huge rudders on the back, The Threatened Silence has two more pronounced hulls.
The top decks look like any normal boat would - wooden planking, with the two hulls joined roughly in the middle with more planking. At the back rests the main cabin, aerodynamically sculpted to allow better airflow. Inside the big shutter lie stairways to either of the hulls, or to the crew quarters. Underneath this lie the engines, one per hull. They kick out enough power to propel the ship to speeds of up to two hundred miles per hour - not quite Concorde but more than enough to get them quickly away from a situation.
Equipment-wise, the vessel has the usual fitments - kitchen, mess hall, dorms, bridge, etc. It has no weaponry, the space saved being dedicated towards the cargo holds. The holds can physically hold a small herd of cattle each, and are usually partially filled with essentials for their often nomadic lifestyle - food, drink, rounds for their handguns, various spares for the ship that can be repaired on the move, amongst others. There is also a satellite hook-up on the top of the main cabin, to allow the crew to hunt for 'work'.
The newest feature is the VTOL(Vertical Take-Off and Landing) system. Four thrusters per hull give the airship the grunt it needs to lift off the ground, and have a submersible option for when the ship lands in water to allow the system to remain operational under the surface. The ship itself cannot be used as a submarine, however.
Added along the sides of the ship are various devices that could viewed as wings. These aerofoils aid with the manoeuvrability of the vessel. Whilst The Threatened Silence isn't the fastest ship going in a straight line, it can run rings around much larger ships and others in its class. When in the water, these run level with the surface and if angled correctly, lift the ship slightly clear of the water for its hydrofoil effect.

There are a number of flaws with the ship, however.

Other than its relatively lowly top speed(something both Quartz and his first mate Edward plan on rectifying soon enough, now the VTOL's been installed), the vessel has extremely low manoeuvrability in the water, due to a distinct lack of any steering angle from the crude rudders on the rear. It is also weaponless. Also it has a limited operational ceiling of 15,000 feet meaning if there are things like mountains in the way it had to fly around them. And repeatedly tossing and turning the ship about can cause havok with some of the structural sections... it's an old girl after all.

The Silence is operated using a combination of what would appear to be a VR helmet and the gloves from Minority Report. Strapped into a big comfy chair, the pilot(usually Quartz) has an external view - 3rd person - of the ship and its surroundings. A camera drone supplies a feed to the helmet and the ship has a large supply of these as the batteries run down on the drones fairly quickly. This is usually a battle mode though and used in extreme circumstances; usually Quartz does it properly with a big shiny wheel and a crank directing the engines to go at various speeds.


Weapons:
Rapier(short sword)
Antique gun(sniper rifle)
Sitting on the left hand side of the lilac one's body in its sheath lies Daikatana, his faithful and trustworthy rapier. It was forged in Soleanna from folded steel, and is light with a distinct point to it. The guard is constructed from a mass of elegantly-bent metal, and if viewed from the side the letter 'D' can be seen in a swirly font. The grip is simply leather-bound and serves its purpose nicely.
The weapon was acquired for the purposes of both vanity and showboatsmanship - he doesn't 'do' violence on the whole, but Quartz is all up for destroying someone's clothing with a few careful slices with his rapier. It is a one-handed weapon, and is constructed with embarrassing someone in mind, not killing people.
Either that, or it could make an excellent litter picker.

Also within his possession - but rarely on his person - the lilac one owns Llorenna, a sniper rifle, left to him by his father but rarely used until recently. Initially taken up as an opposite to the artistic and graceful close-quarters swordplay he is so fond of, Quartz found a new type of artform in extremely long-distance hunting, sometimes sniping fish out of a shallow stream for example. He's not as good with this as with his sword however, so practices with Llorenna whenever possible.

Biography:
Born and raised in the cave systems of Kingdom Valley, frequent trips to Soleanna were a regular part of Quartz's life.
His father, a miner by trade, was rarely at home. He was either working in the mines, extracting various raw minerals, or in Soleanna buying pointless items and drinking the remaining money.
Kathryn, his beloved mother, managed to scrimp and save what she could, the pink echidna often going hungry so that her precious child could eat. Life in the valley was tough enough without Quartz senior going out as often as he did.

There was no particular reason for Quartz snr going out all the time - Kathryn was in the dark about it all. They'd been married five years when they had baby Quartz. Perhaps that was what it was - their relatively simple, easy-going life had been ruined from his point of view, maybe, when the newborn arrived.
Kathryn's motherly instincts made her dote on her beautiful son, and the husband felt left out...
Of course this is speculation, and doesn't really have much to do with Quartz himself - well, not the beginning part anyway. As Quartz grew up, he began to notice that his father's cold attitude wasn't an act of the norm, and also sometimes spotted Kathryn crying softly in the corner.

As the years went by, Quartz junior often wondered why the purple echidna that claimed to be his father went off like he did. His mother had done a good job in educating him and instilling a strong sense of right and wrong. He'd even managed to gain a part-time job in a hardware store, and despite many offers from him, Kathryn never once accepted any rent from him.
On his eighteenth birthday, she presented him with two gifts.
The first was a small bag of money, enough for him to put a deposit on a home of his own so that he could find his own way in the world.
The second was a gold medallion, a present to her on her own eighteenth birthday from her mother. She felt odd at passing it onto her son, as it had traditionally been on the ladies side of the family. But she kept this from him.
On it was an engraving. She didn't know what language it was in, but knew that it meant 'Hope And Valour', a phrase that she'd adhered to.
It was partially because of this that she still stood by Quartz senior, as she was loyal to her marriage vows. A part of her wished that her husband would return.

And he did, completely out of the blue. As Quartz leant forwards to hug Kathryn in thanks, his purple father walked through the front door.
He was sober, and he had a box in his hands.
He walked up to the lilac one, and shook his hand.
"Happy birthday, son," he said before giving him the box. Upon opening it, Quartz discovered a darned expensive pair of boots. This was the first time he had seen his father make such a generous gesture, and hoped that this was the beginning of a new page in his life.

Come morning, the new 'man of the house', as his father had dubbed him, awoke to hear his mother screaming.
Bursting into their room, he discovered her holding the limp body of Quartz's father, crying her eyes out.
The autopsy revealed death by liver failure, something that had apparently been told could happen many a time. It turned out that Quartz senior had quit drinking, and spend the last couple of weeks working overtime in the mines to buy his son the boots. His mother was traumatised by it all. In his will, he had left the house and fittings to his wife, but all other worldly possessions to his son.

He looked through what was left to him. Documents - all sorted through and filed, ready for checking. Half-drunk bottles of whiskey.... Quartz shuddered. Vodka was much nicer.
Various items came and went, Quartz looking for something he could sell to raise some money for his mother.
Eventually,he decided to sell everything apart from one item. An old gun, it looked to be a sniper rifle. The barrel was partially wood, as was the stock. Ornate decorations were still present, despite the age of the thing. It even had a small engraving on it... Llorenna...

Everything else would keep his mother's roof over her head for some time. The rifle would put one on his.
For as much as she was alone now, he felt a great urge to get out there and see just what was in the world. And she'd be okay for a while at least, she still managed to keep up an active social life despite being 'lumbered' with him for so long.

As they parted ways, Quartz silently vowed to get enough money to buy his mother a great house, and anything else she wanted. She had done so much for him, and it was finally time for him to repay that favour.
Shouldering the rifle, he took one last look around him before going out on his voyage of discovery.
Stopping in Soleanna City for a few days to pick up some supplies, he found himself an antiques store. Figuring the gun would fetch a good price he went in to get an estimate.

All ideas of selling the gun were forgotten, for upon walking in he spotted a sword.
It was a sleek, one-handed weapon. The guard was intricately detailed, with a 'D' just about visible if you imagined it properly throughout the mass of swirls. The shopkeeper told him all about it.
It was a rapier, designed not to kill, but to humiliate. An idea weapon for a skilled socialite. It was folded steel so it wouldn't snap easily, but could still cut if you needed it to.
Not even stopping to think twice, Quartz paid up for it.

Exiting the shop, he realised that he hadn't sold the gun. Thinking about it for a moment, he decided to keep it. He still had savings and what his mother had given him, so that would suffice for now. He'd sell the gun when he needed to. As a last resort, obviously.

So what to do now? He wasn't particularly well educated. Sure he could read and write and add up, but he didn't have much to prove it with, so high-end jobs were out of it for now.
He decided to head towards South Island, budgeting extremely carefully to ensure he still had a lot of money to weigh up his options. He wanted to send it all back to his mother.

Taking a pew in a tavern in a South Island town, he drank a beer whilst looking over the advertisements pinned on the notice board.
He spied one that he liked the look of.

"For sale: one airship. Medium size, no guns. Flys or sails well, needs caring home. Contact details..."
He grabbed the advert, and scoured it for information. Then he went to find a phone booth and made a quick call.

It turned out that this ship was a cargo vessel, an early version of what might be seen in use normally. It was about fifteen years old, a twin-hull design, and hadn't been used for as long as the current owner had owned it.
The main problem was its landing gear - an accident had occurred whilst journeying to its current place of port, it being blinded and spun out of control whilst passing through the dark clouds of a storm.
It was stranded somewhere near to the outpost of Madison on Christmas Island, and that was where the current owner was living too.
The main problem was money. Even though this was a great deal cheaper than anything else available, it still would cost more than what Quartz could get if he sold everything on his person.

Hitting the nearest transportation areas, Quartz soon arrived at Madison, and was directed towards the ship.
It could be seen a long way off. About the same size as ships of old from the Caribbean, it could hold a crew of about twenty. A small number, but most of the space was taken up with cargo holds.
The twin-hull was more apparent as the lilac one got closer, too. Initially it looked like two narrow boats had been welded together with a big box stuck on the back. When he got there, he realised it wasn't too far from the truth. It was filthy, and well and truly grounded.

The owner came out and introduced himself. The human's name was Edward Lonetrue, and as much as he wanted to keep a hold of the ship he was making a reluctant sale, as he needed money. A bit later after discussing the pair had come to a deal. They would use Quartz's current funding to repair the vessel, whilst a crew was sourced.

It took a few weeks worth of work, but it was at least ready to fly again.
At the tender age of eighteen, Quartz was about to become a captain of a ship - stemming from the thought of making sure his mother would have a roof over her head, and food to eat.
For now, they would take on legal transporting jobs, Quartz gaining the flight licenses and other qualifications required to undertake this.

As the years went by, the crew numbers went up from the initial seven to a full twenty. They all knew each other pretty well, and were a close-knit crew.
But since the beginning, they had all suspected that Quartz's objectives might lead him astray, move him over towards the dark side of life. They all knew about his mother, and were wise not to mention it in his presence.
The lads were all hard-working, honest men. They all knew that if it came down to it, Quartz would be alone if he went into the dark path...
That of Piracy.

And five years later, on the anniversary of his father's death, Quartz figured it would be as good a time as any to announce the move.
His reasons were clear; he wasn't a bad furry, and wanted to make the world a better place. If that meant going into a base belonging to "certain well-established villains that want nothing more than to turn us into robots," and emptying them, then so be it.
They asked who would dare buy such goods? Quartz gave them all the Robin Hood routine, about how stealing from bad guys to help those that had helped them was actually a good thing, dynamically explaining things.

Quartz's speech seemed to have some effect, as his crew remained loyal to his cause.
On the first job, they were rumbled.

Attempting to raid a weapons depot without any weapons was a bad idea. The ship got hit a few times - taking away its ability to float on water - and a couple of the lads were injured to boot.
But they'd managed to gain a crate of handguns at least. Enough to cover a raiding party, whilst a select core stayed back to keep the ship prepped for an immediate departure.

Over time, they gained money. As they were ID'd on their very first raid they had little choice but to keep a low profile.
During the last four years however, they built up a loyal core of people across Christmas Island and South Island, and particularly at Madison. As time passed they repaired, upgraded, repaired, destroyed and repaired just about every single component on the ship. The ship was in a vastly improved form - still no weaponry, but fast and agile, and now capable of VTOL.
Edward was now First Mate, and in charge of the electrical side of things.
Quartz was now looking rather splendid in his finest robes, as befits the captain of his ship. And over the many journeys, he'd rescued a few animals from certain... endings. Mostly, they'd found good homes. one, he kept for himself. A tiny cat, that had suffered from malnutrition and various forms of pain as a kitten, it was two years old and wouldn't grow to be any bigger than the palm of his hand. Shao Aren, a sleek white cat with elongated ears and tail, was a frequent sight on Quartz's shoulder. More often than not however, he could be found in the hat, playing with the plume happily.

Shao Aren was a symbol, a reminder that what they were doing was for a greater good. As long as the cute cat was around to play with everyone, they would remember that they weren't monsters.

At the beginning of this adventure, Quartz is moored up in his secret dock, due east of Madison by. The crew are making final preparations to the ship's new VTOL system, replacing the older version.

Skills:
Pilot: Quartz has learnt all about flying his ship, having gained the requred paperwork for it all during their legal days. He understands what his ship can do, and what to do to get it to perform the task needed. Under pressure, Quartz knows what to do too.
Leader: the echidna possesses great leadership skills, as proved during his turn to piracy. He can instill great confidence and respect within people,not only from huge speeches, but also from the way he interacts one-on-one, listening to problems and issues and being friendly with those he meets.
Close Quarters Combat: Quartz has had some training(and practice for real) with Daikatana, his rapier and also in unarmed combat. He is capable of fighting up to two enemies at once, but any more and he'll be swamped.
His style of fighting relies heavily on his own momentum. This is simultaneously the strength of his combat prowess, and also his greatest weakness.
If he gets stopped mid-move, he'll be thrown greatly off-balance unless he can reuse that altered momentum and redirect it in some way. As a strength, once a sword is lashed out or a punch thrown, he can once more use the momentum to string together a combo attack, overall striking a foe much harder. Alas, the more moves he puts into a combo, the more likely it is that he'll be thrown off-balance at some point during it.
Sniping: whilst not greatly skilled just yet, Quartz is good enough to take out a moving opponent if he takes his time and concentrates on the shot. This takes two turns to aim, and a third to eventually fire. This represents his lack of familiarity with distanced combat, but also that he's at least had some practice.

Strengths:
Can fight without being distracted, in other words can focus on the task at hand.
Has high stamina levels.
Can mix and match melee and sword play.

Weaknesses:
Is incredibly vain and dislikes to either dirty or damage his clothing.
Relies way too much on technique and not strength or speed to fight.
Much prefers to run away and shout as opposed to fighting...
Sometimes does not know when to shut up; his mouth as such can and will get him into trouble.

[Nokame]

+2 Approved

[Yolanda Riona]

Add his reaction to the time rip and +1ed.