Kismet Krew

From Axalon RPG

Contents 1 The Kismet Crew 1.1 Kismet (Predacon) NPC Summaries 1.1.1 Mandate 1.1.2 Malady 1.1.3 Swarm 1.1.4 Ravon 1.1.5 Pariah 1.1.6 Flare 1.1.7 Kraken 1.1.8 Gauntlet 1.1.9 QwertyDvorak 1.1.10 Genocide

The Kismet Crew

The Kismet is an aging battlecruiser, retrofitted with the latest weapons and modified with a cloaking device. Their attempted ambush on a Maximal colony ship (the Argos) went awry, pulled through a wormhole and crash landing on a strange planetoid, distinct from the surrounding asteroid belt only by virtue of supporting an atmosphere, water and alien life. The Kismet landed on the gray cliffs by the sea, impaling itself on the spears of rock.

They called the planetoid the Rock.

Since then, the Kismet has clashed time and again with the Maximals of the Argos, the aliens who guard the artifacts that dot this world, and the Enclave, a mixed-faction of Cybertronians who enslave aliens to harvest energon, and perhaps for more sinister ends. Their leader has made it clear that he could take over the Kismet at any time he wants, and make its crew puppets to his will.

The Kismet's commander and commissar, Mandate and Malady respectively, though they are constantly at odds they are both determined not to let this happen. They are proud Predacons, and will not bow down to the Enclave. Besides, if the Tripredacus Council knew about this place, they'd crush the Enclave in a minute. The Kismet's current goals are to bulk up their defenses, and to reach Cybertron with a message: call in the cavalry.

The Kismet has been knocked off its perch and hurled into the bay below. Most of the last few missions have involved salvage operations and attempts to repair their base. It seems unlikely that she will ever fly again, however.

Kismet (Predacon) NPC Summaries

These are the NPCs of the Kismet, approximately as they originally appeared on the Ultimate RPG. Non-Player Characters don’t necessarily conform to the same stat limits as Player Characters. They were originally created by Agent Rasp and modified by Tarantulas, unless otherwise noted. NPCs are listed here in deference to relative prominence in the current storyline. In advance, RoF stands for Rate of Fire.

Mandate

Male Predacon military strategist, rank: Commander.

Medium (9ft) Transmetal praying mantis, w/flight-capable third mode.

Excruciatingly polite, highly manipulative samurai commander of the Kismet, Mandate remains inexplicably calm and at ease at all times and in every situation. Perhap it’s because he’s a master of the sword (and most other weapons), and also classical poetry, oriental calligraphy and several forms of complex etiquette. He is learned, erudite and capable of some small degree of charm. Being as diversely talented as he is, it’s no wonder no one likes him. He is a Predacon, however, and has no qualms about doing anything he deems necessary to protect the interests of his ship. He has a perverse sense of honour: if Dinobot’s code was comparable to bushido, then Mandate might be called ronin. Mandate’s greatest asset is his phenomenal speed, both physical and mental.

• Theme Song: Debussy - Sunken Cathedral/Khachaturian - Sabre Dance.
• Quote: “Fail, and be punished. Attempt to cross me, and you will fail.”
• Skills: Melee Weapons: Swords/Fencing, Tactics & Strategy, Military History, Classical Poetry, Zen *Meditation, Diplomacy, Flight: Assisted, Stealth.
• Statistics: Str8, Sta6, Spd10, Skl 10, Aim2, Frp2, Int10, Dsp10, Luck5.
• Armament: twin katana (serrated on back of the curve, formed by beast mode foreclaws), serrated armour (sharp edges throughout outer shell), throwing javelins (formed by beast mode legs).

Malady

Female Predacon information specialist, rank: Commissar.

Small (5.5ft) mosquito beast warrior.

A commissar reporting to the Tripredacus Council, Malady is a fanatic. The Council is her lord and master, and she will serve it eagerly unto death. Malady wields considerable political influence and knows it. She is arrogant and brash, and tends to grate on most commanders' nerves. It is little wonder Malady is so unhappy on the Rock. Mandate treats her like little a doormat, distrusted and excluded. Though her mind remains powerful, the isolation of the Rock is slowly threatening to drive her insane. Her greatest strengths are her willpower, extensive neural safeguards, and talent for hacking into any information system- up to, and including, the Cybertronian neural net.

• Malady was originally created by Ahriman.
• Quote: “Hmph. Let them hate, so long as they also fear...”
• Skills: Interrogation, Communications, Computer Programming, Hacking, Electronic Warfare, Flight, *Autofire Weapons, Hand-to-hand Combat: Circuit-su.
• Statistics: Str6, Sta7, Spd8, Skl 10, Aim4, Frp7, Int10, Dsp10, Luck4.
• Armament: six legs (machine guns, like those of the Spiders; not very strong, but she tries to make her shots count by fighting dirty), wingblades (long knives formed by her wings).
• Tripredacus Kiss: The antennae from Malady's shoulders extend down to the sides of an unlucky bot's head. Malady will then interrogate the bot by attempting to hack into its central processor, like what Tarantulas did to Blackarachnia on the show. This is very draining and Malady needs a great deal of rest afterwards. It can only be used on a bot that is in stasis lock. Thus, the Preds must ambush and heavily damage a Maximal before Malady can interrogate it.

Swarm

Male Predacon biowarfare expert, rank: Subcommander.

Small (6ft) locust beast warrior.

“The Many As One.” Mandate’s most trusted underling, and one of several latecomers to the crew. Originally a Maximal protoform whose stasis pod suffered from one of the pods’ all-too-common glitches, Swarm’s scrambled scanners were barraged by locusts, a whole swarm of them, hence his name. His mind is fractured. Horribly, his voice is a chorus of thousands speaking simultaneously in cold, mechanistic unison. Most of Swarm is devoted to Mandate, and preserving his leadership; but every swarm, it seems, must experience some dissention. Usually when his voices differ it is merely on the choice of words- lately it seems they quarrel on a great deal more. Swarm’s gestalt seems rather desperate to conceal this.

• Swarm was originally created by Maelstrom.
• Quote: “We hear and we obey/serve/comply/defer/conform/submit...”
• Skills: Science: Biochemistry, Mathematics, Technical: Weapons, Flight, Autofire Weapons, Firearms.
• Statistics: Str5, Sta8, Spd8, Skl6, Aim5, Frp9, Int10, Dsp7, Luck5.
• Armament: Venom Bolt (low RoF, close range, medium damage; victims may also suffer temporary dementia and horrifying hallucinations), Leg-mounted Machinecannons (high RoF, medium range, medium power), Grenade Launcher (medium RoF, long range, high accuracy), ‘Scourge’ Grenades (inflict painful but superficial acid damage), Stun Grenades (fast-spreading cloud of superconductive gas, electrocutes and incapacitates), Claws and Mandibles.

Ravon

Male Predacon stealth fighter, rank: Lieutenant - Subcommander - Acting Captain - Acting Warlord.

Medium (8ft) Transmetal raven, stealth bomber in third mode.

The spectator, the observer. An ex-space pirate, competent in numerous fields, but more prone to standing on the sidelines and making snide commentary. He is perpetually unable to resist the occasional taunt. He is really pretty indifferent about the suffering of others, and does what he can to increase it for his part. His quiet observant manner masks a ruthless perfectionism, although he doesn’t seem to expect very much from his colleagues. He usually comes out on top. Most recently, he was promoted to Lieutenant in this man’s army, a fact that he finds endlessly amusing, considering that until he came to the Rock, he was a criminal. He’s got nothing but love for the pragmatism of the Kismet’s crew, Mandate in particular- he’ll give them that.

• With the deaths or disappearances of his fellow Predacon officers, Ravon has risen to the position of absolute power over the local Predacons. However, this was through no ambition on his part, and he seems apathetic at best when it comes to the exercise of said power.
• Quote: “Can’t win. Can’t break even. Can’t even quit the game...”
• Ravon was originally created by Chi Psi Upsilon. He is currently played by Tarantulas on the Predacon Base RPG.
• Skills: Firearms, Marksmanship, Flight, Piloting, Gravity Training, Stealth, Espionage.
• Statistics: Str5, Sta5, Spd8, Skl8, Aim10, Frp8, Int6, Dsp7, Luck6.
• Armament: Smoke Grenades (distraction item, hot flash, no damage apart from superficial charring), Razor Feathers (high RoF, long range, low damage; wide arc of knife-like feathers fired from wings), Energy Rifle (medium RoF, long range, high accuracy; settings for ‘stun’ and ‘maim’), Wingtip Machineguns (high RoF, medium range, medium power).

Pariah

Male Predacon engineer, rank: Science Officer.

Small (5ft) spider/stinkbug Fuzor.

He has a burbling, gooey upper-crust British accent, and is probably the ugliest entity on the whole Kismet. His opaque optics sit in either of his shoulders, while his extremely wide mouth is mounted across the middle of his torso. Most of the time, he’s covered in disturbingly organic ooze. Although he is the de facto engineer aboard, Pariah feels his true calling is biology. He has a passion for animals and the organic environment. Specifically, the part where you cut them open and look inside. He likes creatures screeching, squirming and alive while he examines them, or at the very least until he begins examining them. Unfortunately, at the present time he’s also the only real medic on board. He can often be found tinkering with the various abominations in his lab, torturing small animals and generally making attempts to pervert the nature of life itself.

• Theme Song: The White Stripes - St James Infirmary Blues.
• Quote: “I laugh in the face of death and/or potential dismemberment! Bwuhfahahahahaaahukkk-ack! coffcoff* Guh...”
• Skills: Science:Biology/Chemistry, Technical:All, Medicine:General/Field Medic, Computer Programming, Flight:Assisted/can hover briefly in beast mode, Melee Weapon:Scalpel.
• Statistics: Str4, Sta6, Spd8, Skl8, Aim8, Frp10, Int10, Dsp6, Luck3.
• Armament: Cybervenoms (causing paralysis, palsy, general illness and other variations), Cyberwebbing (strength-sapping and sticky), Chemical Mist (a fast-spreading cloud of reeking fog used to conceal himself and distract enemies; can also be pumped full of acids, alkalis, organic plague agents, toxic gases, and of course, his patent-pending cybervenoms), Tongue (carries an electrical charge akin to a taser), Laser Scalpel.
• Cyberleeches: Not so much a weapon, Pariah controls legions of slimy leech drones that crawl all around his immediate vicinity, controlled by a mental link. They subsist on the energy drained from circuitry, engines and even Cybertronians. Frequently equipped with small tools, like drills or screwdrivers. they are capable of performing many routine maintenance tasks throughout the ship. Pariah’s supply is currently depleted, and he has had little time to replenish it.

Flare

Female Predacon fighter pilot.

Medium (7ft) housecat beast warrior.

An ace pilot, and a spoiled flirt of a girl. A cat in beast mode, she frequently rolls soft letters like Rs, Ls, Ms and some vowels as if purring. Unusually lucky, she often sulks and pouts when things go badly for her, simply because they so rarely do. She spends most of her time prowling the ship’s cargo bays with her loyal bodyguard and “pet”, Genocide. She sometimes acts like a big kid, like she never grew up, while in certain ways she is quite certainly an adult. She is overtly fond of violence. For her, every fight is a playfight, and as long as no one she likes very much dies, then it’s all in good fun. The C/R vats are like a second home for her. The only exemption to her sense of fun is Genocide. It worries her to see him in combat, even though he is practically invincible.

• Quote: “As a welll-spent dayy brrings happy sleep, a welll-spent life brrrrings happy death. Smmiile!”
• Skills: Piloting:Astral, Shiphandling:Astral, Astronavigation, Melee Weapons:Claws, Hand-to-hand Combat: Circuit-su.
• Statistics: Str8, Sta7, Spd10, Skl 10, Aim6, Frp3, Int5, Dsp4, Luck 10.
• Armament: Claws (can extend up to a foot in length, cut through heavy armour like polyester), Flare (white energy burst directed by her hands, detonates forcefully on impact; light damage, long range, high RoF), Lightweight Construction (Flare is extremely light on her feet, making her even more athletic).

Kraken

Male Predacon artillery hulk, recently demoted from Subcommander.

X-Large (15ft) Transmetal giant squid, attack submarine in third mode.

AKA Crackerjack, Krispy Kreme. The poster child for the frontal assault. Kraken has embraced his role as an unthinking strongarm, and he’s built for the part. He’s simply massive, with barnacles growing on his shoulders, long whipping tentacles and depthless staring optics that glow baleful yellow. On the rare occasions he deigns to speak, he speaks in short sentences, with words of no more than two syllables if possible. His voice shifts erratically between a low, quiet rasp, and an EXTREMELY HARSH AND LOUD SHOUT. Equipped with a sense of humor that is next to nil, Kraken has never been heard to laugh, and it’s hard to imagine what that might sound like. His temper is slow to build, but once he snaps there is little to do but take shelter and wait out the storm. Kraken respects strength, but he fears nothing. He is ‘cautious’ of Genocide.

• Theme Song: Queens Of The Stone Age - Six Shooter.
• Quote: “Less talk. More kill.”.
• Skills: Piloting: Aquatic, Diving, Heavy Weapons, Autofire Weapons, Firearms, Gunnery.
• Statistics: Str10, Sta10, Spd5, Skl3, Aim8, Frp10, Int4, Dsp8, Luck5.
• Armament: Gatling Laser (very high RoF, medium range, medium damage, high accuracy- he could paint his name on the wall, so the story goes, but would not know how to spell it), Hydrocannon- Firehose Mode (constant RoF up to 30 seconds, short range, strong enough to knock medium-sized bots on the ground), Hydrocannon- Railgun Mode (medium RoF, long range, high power, medium accuracy) Torpeoes (underwater only, high speed, high power, high accuracy), Diffusion Ink (sticky on land, medium range; spreads out in a flash underwater, long range).

Gauntlet

Male Vehicon heavy assault...ball.

Small (1.5ft diameter) prototypical Vehicon, rank: Commissar.

He is a floating silver ball. Yes, you heard me. A floating silver ball. No, I am not on crack. Yes, I seem to be talking to myself. No, I'm not insane. Yes, I... anyways, the suface of the ball is smooth, and has nothing on it. His audio and visual sensors are hidden. He has the diameter of around 1.5 feet. Ridiculous looking, but don't get him wrong. He has a lot of firepower. Extremely self-important and easily riled, Gauntlet is Malady’s fellow Commissar, a shiny, featureless, levitating silver sphere packing an improbable amount of weaponry and a bad temper, assigned by the Council to track down Calamari when she was originally kidnapped. He hates being called “Genocide Lite”, so don’t. Covered in concealed subspace hatches and panels, Gauntlet can fairly bristle with weaponry at a moment’s notice.

• Quote: "HA HA HA HA HA!!!!! PITIFUL FOOLS!!!!! NOW YOU WILL FEEL MY MIGHT!!!!"
• Gauntlet was originally created by Chi Psi Upsilon.
• Skills: Firearms, Autofire Weapons, Heavy Weapons, Interrogation, Expert:Languages.
• Statistics: Str1, Sta10, Spd7, Skl 5, Aim5, Frp10, Int8, Dsp10, Luck7.
• Armament: 4x autolasers (high RoF, medium range, low power, high accuracy), 2x flamethrowers (short range, heavy damage), 2x missile launchers (medium RoF, long range, high power, low accuracy), 1x pulse cannon (very low RoF (1 minute between shots), long range, high power, high accuracy).

QwertyDvorak

Male Predacon comic relief.

Medium (7ft) two-headed housefly Fuzor.

Argumentative two-headed Waspinator clone. It/they’ve got issues. Its/their heads, Qwerty and Dvorak respectively, don't get along and are constantly arguing. Their favorite topic of disagreement is whose name should come first. Qwerty won the argument by blowing away Dvorak, which was kinda dumb cause they're the same bot. Each head is only slightly stupid, however, so if they'd just shut up and parallel process, QD could actually get something done. Unfortunately, this is very very rare. They love rotten fruit, and are absolutely terrified of fly swatters. They despise Maximals with surprising passion.

• Quote: “...ooh, thizzz gonna hurrt BAAD.” “Izz all your fault, zzzztupid Qwerty!”
• Qwerty Dvorak was originally created by Ahriman.
• Skills: Endurance, Firearms, Demolition, Explosives, Science:Chemistry.
• Statistics: Str7, Sta7, Spd7, Skl 8, Aim8, Frp8, Int (5+5)=10, Dsp7, Luck1.
• Armament: toxic spray gun (their regular weapon, fires medium energy blasts or short-range bursts of highly corrosive acid) bio-grenades (when used, blow up into a cloud of multitudes of viruses, both organic and digital. The most likely effect seems to be a fit of electronic sneezing, though other reactions are not unheard of. Its effect on true organic lifeforms seems invariably worse, and is commonly fatal), explosive charges (some strategic value as a weapon, but normally used to blast through structural obstacles).

Genocide

Male Predacon one-bot army.

Ultra Large (25ft)Transmetal daddy-longlegs spider, weapons platform in third mode.

Eight-armed blank-faced gangly mute titan of destructive power, answering only to Flare. Nigh-indestructible and heavily, heavily armed. He functions as a shipboard watchdog, and rarely leaves its confines other than to protect it. Genocide has no personality per se, because he only has the most basic emotions. He usually sleeps in the cargo hold, hanging upside down. Should someone wake him up, Genocide immediately eviscerates that person (He's really grumpy when he wakes up). Genocide fears nothing, but will not attack unless provoked to. Provocation can be anything, from blasting him in the face, to something as small as stepping on his foot. Due to his size, he can often step on and crush most unwary Maximals. Genocide is known to like cats, usually as pets. He is fiercely protective of Flare. She fawns over him like a puppy, which he seems to like.

• Theme Song: Chumbawamba - Tubthumping
• Quote: “...”
• Genocide was originally created by Technomagus.
• Skills: Heavy Weapons, Autofire Weapons, Melee Weapons:Swords, Expert:Bartending.
• Statistics: Str10, Sta10, Spd10, Skl 10, Aim6, Frp10+++, Int1, Dsp1, Luck5.
• Armament: Rocket Launcher, Grenade Launcher, Flamethrower, Railgun, Gauss Rifle, Plasma Rifle, Double-bladed Sword (all Genocide’s weapons are extremely powerful- this is powerplaying in the extreme, and the perfect example of what not to do in your app. It will not be approved. The point here being, Genocide is tough. In the hands of someone a little more ambitious than Flare, he might be a real danger).