Shamshiel Topazios

Shamshiel Topazios is a player character played by paladinrpg, and is currently involved in the YSS Anoiktos plot.

Shamshiel Topazios (Σαμσιελ Τοπάζιος)
reference pic
Species:	Caelisolan
Gender:	Female
Age:	27 (Born YE 10)
Height:	5'6“ (167 cm)
Weight:	90 lbs (40 kg)
Organization:	The Elysian Senate Scientific Studies Service (SSS)
Occupation:	Scientific Liaison / Engineer
Rank:	Civilian
Current Placement:	YSS Anoiktos

• Height: 5'6“ (167 cm)
• Mass: 90 lbs (40 kg)
• Measurements: 34C-26-34

Build and Skin Color: Shamshiel is a rather slender framed and supple woman, though she lacks some muscle considering her focus is usually not on the physical realm but rather stimulating mental pursuits. Her skin is a pale pearly white, which forms a good contrast with the bright and colorful jewelry that often rests against it.

Eyes and Facial Features: She has green eyes that shine with intelligence like a rare emerald. Her features are fairly typical of an Elysian, with an angular chin combined with slightly more round cheeks that make her appear a little younger than she is.

Hair Color and Style: Her reddish-orange hair is often worn in a short, natural style typical of a dynamic young woman, reaching to shoulder length and with a slight curl to it. On more formal occasions, though, she will wear a traditional crown braid wound around the back of her head with a few gem encrusted pins inserted at intervals to appear somewhat like a real jeweled circlet.

Distinguishing Features: Shamshiel has orange tips on the ends of her wing feathers, which are not dyed but rather an inbuilt customization she added to her Caelisolan body. She also is never seen without some kind of shiny, colorful adornment somewhere on her person.

Personality: Shamshiel is one of those rare former Plebians that pursues her personal passions vigorously and unapologetically, and only exemplifies this more with the transfer to a new enhanced Caesolian body. She is a quick learner and revels in acquiring new knowledge and experiences in life on a path to building great Kleos for herself and by extension her nation. Though generally a kind-hearted and hard working individual, her savant-like obsession in recent years with scientific research and study often times will cause other things in life to take a back seat when a big project comes up. Thanks to her being forced to grow up too fast and care for her family, she also can manifest a surprising amount of girlish capriciousness that was long-suppressed beforehand by her oppressive situation versus the world being a wide open playground to her now. However endearing her youthful energy is, this can also result in difficulties maintaining long term, intimate relationships, other than those amongst her working environment.

Despite being firmly rooted in the science of how they are formed, Shamshiel ascribes a particularly spiritual reverence when it comes to certain precious stones, considering them a small piece of the Elysian god's immeasurable grace and glory manifested on earth. They also have a deep connection to her love of her mother and her family's ties to the earth. As a result she often adorns herself and her workspace with their colorful presence in order to inspire and protect… or perhaps it's all just an elaborate excuse for “I like shiny things”.

• Likes: Discovering new worlds (and new opportunities to exploit them), crystals and gemstones, new ways to bake Psomi, berating her robot assistant Beryl
• Dislikes: Ignorance and solving problems through force (both of which Yamatai has in spades), losing loved ones, bland or boring Psomi recipes
• Goals: To help rebuild the destroyed and ravaged infrastructure of Elysia, and to one day administer her own stellar mining operation (similar to Veritas).

• Klephas (Father, deceased)
• Anemone (Mother, deceased)
• Straton (Oldest Brother, deceased)
• Euterpe (Older Sister)
• Miltos (Older Brother, deceased)

Like most Caelisolans, Shamshiel originally came from very humble roots among the Pleibian underclass. The youngest child of four, she was born into a hard working family. Her father Klephas was a brave trooper in the legions while mother Anemone tended the family farm in the local settlement. However, things changed drastically in YE 18, when The Heavens were ravaged in the Third Elysian War. Not only had Shamshiel's father been killed in the war, but her mother was also injured trying to protect her children from the invading Yamataiian soldiers. In the end that pastoral life was left behind, as they flew spaceward to an industrial future on New Elysia.

With an injury to both her legs that was difficult to treat, Anemone had to get a stay at home job as a bookkeeper for a mining company and increasingly relied upon her beloved children to handle the household duties and become the breadwinners. Young Shamshiel showed her vigor even at an early age by helping her mom cook for the family, while older sister Euterpe handled the rest and started performing as a dancer. Oldest brother Straton joined the military like his father before him, while the younger son Miltos got into the mining field directly. Things seemed to be going well for six years, as all found success in their chosen paths… Shamshiel in particular grew rapidly in intelligence and wisdom, and it would not be long before she would be recommended for placement in a prestigious university when she came of appropriate age.

Sadly all this once again was about to be wrecked by war. It was at that time in YE 24 that the Fourth Elysian War was in full-swing, and though their nation was triumphant in destroying Geshrinopolis, it came at a heavy price of blood – one of those sacrifices for the glorious victory was her brother Straton. Miltos was not spared either, unfortunately, as he perished in a savage Yamataiian counter-offensive on several sparsely defended Elysian industrial colonies. Stricken with grief at these losses, the eldest sister ran away from home to supposedly elope with a theater performer to find a happier life. Anemone was devastated as her whole family was disintegrating before her eyes. However, Shamshiel fought through the tears and refused to give up. She threw herself into her studies of the sciences for the next few years, and as a result of her hard work upon graduation she was granted an apprenticeship to work under one of the Patricians involved with gas giant mining in Veritas. Her and Anemone thus moved to the industrial colony to try to hold what little remained of their broken family together.

Things once again went smoothly for a time, as Shamshiel spent her days taking care of her ailing mother and dutifully doing all she could to master her chosen job. She developed quite the hands on skill in engineering and troubleshooting the equipment they used, as well as had a special knack for finding exploitable resources that may have been overlooked by others less thorough. This is also the time she began developing a great love of collecting bits of shiny metal and calcified gemstones that were sometimes considered waste products of their processes, which she then turned into pleasing home decorations for her and her mom to help raise their spirits. It was a simpler life but it was not to last.

War once again reared its ugly head in YE 31, but this time it was not from their old foes, but rather the alien menace of the Second Mishhuvurthyar War. The shipyards at Veritas were in their sights and even with the help of Yamatai's fleets in a hasty alliance with the Elysian Celestial Navy, its defenders fell to the combined assault of the Mishhuvurthyar's numerous infiltrator and zombie spies. In the chaos of that day, Shamshiel and several other workers in the industrial complex were able to narrowly escape capture and were (however begrudgingly) evacuated from the sector by the Star Army reinforcements. Tragically, her mother Anemone was not able to keep up with the group due to her age and limited mobility and remained there as it was destroyed, giving a final blessing to her daughter before she became stardust.

The youngest daughter, now 21, was all alone in a world that was much different than the one she knew all her life. With the defeat of the Mishhu hordes for good and the alliance of the two nations of Elysia and Yamatai, there was no more threat of war and loss. Peace was once again established, but would it last this time and at what price? After spending a year trying to discover what to do with the rest of her life, and making contact with her lost sister Euterpe – who was alive and doing quite well for herself in the entertainment industry – she ended up making the difficult but rewarding transfer to a new Caelisolan body. Shamshiel once again found herself seeking refuge and answers in the life of an academic, and sought out a subsidized higher education with the Scientific Studies Service (SSS) in YE 32. Without her previous family responsibilities upon her shoulders, she took the new last name of Topazios and completely devoted the next four years of her life to using her previous work experience in obtaining a respectable degree in Planetology, followed by a relevant degree in Astrochemistry, too. This led to new opportunities to participate as an unpaid intern in several system wide and planetary survey missions, which truly opened her eyes and spread her wings to the universe beyond the borders of her war torn nation.

However, ironically, just before she was about to formally enlist in the SSS in YE 37, she received a communication from The Elysian Senate informing her of the unparalleled opportunity that was arising with the christening of the YSS Anoiktos. If the Patricians of the Senate would go to the great length of summoning her to this ship, built from the ground up for exploration, Shamshiel had no choice but to comply. After all, why should she waste her skills and experiences on Yamatai when her nation and people needed her? This was a golden opportunity to finally put the past full of death and destruction behind her, and look forward to the future that with luck held the rebirth of a nearly lost dream.

Shamshiel is familiar with basic radio operation and procedures and can make transmissions to and receive transmissions from other characters through handheld radios, headsets, starships, power armor, shuttles, etc. She is well-spoken in her native Seraphim, as well as fluent in Yamataigo (邪馬台語) and Trade (language). She can speak and write both correctly and efficiently and can write scientific reports, fill forms, etc.

Since she generally detests the brutal way that most Elysians fight, Shamshiel instead chose to educate herself on her own in more unconventional and underutilized weaponry that doesn't necessarily kill but incapacitates, such as the Bola, and is especially fond of using her prized Pestris Pistol she obtained from a military surplus auction. She always carries a variety of standard and even customized payloads for it which can perform a variety of useful effects in addition to simple personal defense.

Since going on a deep space expedition as a Liaison could present unknown dangers, Shamshiel was required beforehand to take a crash course from the ECN in the proper operation and maintenance of her assigned Ke-M10 Modular Combat Armor System in a variety of space and planetary environments that she may encounter.

Shamshiel possesses a bachelor degree in both Planetology and Astrochemistry from the Scientific Studies Service (SSS), and is experienced in using them for the detailed analysis of stellar & planetary compositions and life signs. She has also recently been taking an interest in Biology, diversifying beyond just her inorganic roots.

Shamshiel has no formal degree but rather a large body of on-the-job experience in the designing, building and maintenance of resource extraction and other industrial equipment from her time working on Veritas before it was destroyed. She can apply these principles to other areas such as erecting basic shelters or building simple machines with available materials. Additionally, with the launch of the YSS Anoiktos she was called into service to maintain the Engineering section of the vessel, and has been making good progress learning the complexities of the position at the starship-scale level.

Shamshiel is fully capable of using both the standard Kessaku OS systems, as well as the Mnemosyne computer system in Elysian ships. This includes basic troubleshooting, entering and retrieving data, and a rudimentary level of programming. She also has direct work experience in launching, communicating with, and manipulating interstellar and planetary survey probes, such as Variable Configuration Mission Adaptive Drones, as well as the more common personal use EM-J5 Flying Assistant Robot Series (FARS) units.

Shamshiel has received basic mathematics training including algebra, trigonometry and up to calculus. She enjoys applying these principles in her scientific work, especially in efficiently compiling data and statistics, and is also an excellent accountant and bookkeeper.

Shamshiel spent much of her formative years taking care of her injured mother, and one of her primary duties was preparing meals for the family. Though those times have faded, the knowledge has not and she can be considered quite capable in the kitchen if given the right ingredients and tools. She likes to try to keep inventing new ways to bake and prepare the traditional Plebian staple, Psomi, so it is more interesting and flavorful. Not all of these “experiments” turn out so well, but some can be quite delicious.

Shamshiel Topazios has the following items (she generally uses Elysian faction and SSS gear):

• Assigned Ke-M10 Modular Combat Armor System
  • Core: M10 Paladin Core
  • Armor: Ke-M10-A3301 Anthedon Organic-Ceramic Armor
  • Helmet: M10 Ranger Helmet with built-in Star Army Science Scanner, Type 31
  • Arm 1: Mindy Forearm Weapons
  • Arm 2: Ke-M2-D3000 Forearm Ellipsoid Shield
  • Shoulder 1: Ke-M2-W2905 Shoulder-Fired 50mm Gauss Cannon
  • Shoulder 2: Ke-M2-G3000 Shoulder Capacitor (for experimentation with electric fields)
  • Leg 1: Ke-M2-W2907 Countermeasure Augmentation Pods
  • Leg 2: Ke-M2-G3001 Leg Capacitor (for experimentation with electric fields)
  • Dorsal: Ke-M2-W3000 General Equipment Pack containing her specialty ammo for the Pestris, Bola, and FARS parts that can be swapped out.
• Pestris Pistol, with holster that holds a full variety of cartridges, including:
  • Fluroantimonic acid - Standard ammo; corrosive acid against people or objects.
  • Cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine - Standard ammo; explosive blast mixture.
  • Plague - Standared ammo; can infect the target with a variety of biological agents.
  • Micronova - Custom ammo; sudden blast of light and sound similar to a flash-bang grenade.
  • Nitroclathrate - Custom ammo; a quick deep freezing agent.
  • Piezoelectric - Custon ammo; induces an electric charge in the target.
• Bola, useful for capturing targets or disabling machines with radio burst. Can also be a melee weapon.
• Star Army Science Scanner, Type 31 with various scanning attachments.
• EM-J5-3a - FARS SSS, which she has nicknamed Beryl. Its emoticon pack has been modified to look and act like a bubbly NH-33m mini-Nekovalkyrja with green hair and eyes, and fair skin. (The irony of ordering a Neko to do her dirty work is, of course, the whole point and entertains her greatly.)
• An EM-J5 Flying Assistant Robot Series (FARS) accessories pack to customize Beryl's four hardpoints for specific missions.
• A EM-G11 "Explorer" Field Communicator with attached EM-G13 "Kuromegane" Communications Visor, and EM-G8 Type 33 Datapad.
• A belt that holds her technical equipment, along with a padded pouch containing vacuum sealed soil and rock sample tubes.
• Large jewelry box and vanity for organizing her extensive collection of necklaces, earrings, rings, brooches and hairpins, most set with various types of colorful precious and semi-precious stones.
• A padded storage crate containing rough crystals of varying shapes, sizes and colors that she uses for decoration and enhancement of her quarters and workspaces.
• A very worn book of homemade Psomi recipes built up over the years, some of which are hand written and painstakingly indexed.
• Personal attire, toiletries, etc.

Shamshiel Topazios is currently a Civilian, and receives no formal salary.

• Her name, Shamshiel, is that of the angel of the day, and Topazios is the Greek name for 'hidden island' where rare gems were mined.

In the case paladinrpg becomes inactive:

• Can this character be used as an NPC by a GM or FM? Yes
• Can this character be adopted after I've been gone for a year? Yes