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.

The Nekovalkyrja (pronounced “Nay-ko-wul-ku-ree”) are badass super-soldiers 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 young 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.

This section deals with your Nekovalkyrja's job and role.

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!

• Military Role-play
• Star Army Creed
• Star Army Regulations
• Code Of Conduct

Main article: Star Army Ranks

New characters typically start at Santô Hei. This is standard.

You may also apply to start your character as an officer beginning at the rank of Shoi Kohosei. Only officer applications of a high quality level are accepted.

If you are a SARP if your previous Star Army of Yamatai character died (permanently), you have the right to make a new one at a rank equal to the one you lost.

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.

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
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.

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.

Nekovalkyrja are universally fluent in Trade (language) and Yamataigo (邪馬台語), and learn new languages easily.

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

This section covers your character's appearance.

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

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

Nekovalkyrja skin generally comes in the following colors:

• Pale tan, pink, cream, or peach colored (may include freckles)
  • Historically this has been the 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
• Red, blue, or purple

Skin should be solid colored without patterns such as stripes or dots.

We're trying to promote more red, blue, and purple skinned nekos, please consider making one.

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.

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

If your Nekovalkyrja has fur on her ears or tail, it can be a different color than her hair.

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)

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

Tattoos won't stay on Nekovalkyrja skin because of the body's ability to quickly heal, but they can be genetically imprinted with skin patterns. Some Nekovalkyrja have facial patterns that are solid blocks of color, like triangles on the cheeks or lines running down from below the eyes.

For more information, see Nekovalkyrja Facial Markings.

Factory-made Nekovalkyrja since YE 32 have a manufacturer and serial number on the bottom of their right foot. Naturally-born Nekovalkyrja do not. Note: There's a random generator for Nekovalkyrja serial numbers on this page: Random Star Army Of Yamatai Character

Older models had their model number, creator and names genetically tattooed on the top of their right butt cheek as well as a serial number marking their body as government property. This practice was discontinued in YE 32 as the Nekovalkyrja made their way toward becoming a “species” instead of “equipment.”

It was common, until YE 33, for Nekovalkyrja to have hands that had 3 fingers and no fingernails. This has started to disappear as the standard NH-33 has human-type hands. We recommend using human looking hands because the older style ones tend to confuse character artists.

As of YE 37 (2015), tails are back! If you want you Nekovalkyrja to have a tail for a more “catgirl” look, go for it!

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?

Main article: Nekovalkyrja

Nekovalkyrja are typically created by the Star Army. They are fully adult when created, both physically and mentally. 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.

The Nekovalkyrja are flavored with a 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.

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.

There's some naming ideas in this forum thread: What Are Some Of Your Favorite Ways To Name Characters?.

For the purposes of this guide, your fully trained Nekovalkyrja may start out with a calendar age between 99 days and 3 years old. Mentally and physically they're basically 21 years old, due to programming and faster minds. For character creation purposes, a younger age is probably better because if she's older, it makes writing her character history more complicated. You also want your character's biggest adventures to be ahead of them and not behind them.

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.

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). Occasionally such a neko will have a second contributor to creator their young that may or may not help raise her.

The most common places would be Kyoto, Yamatai (Ketsurui Zaibatsu) and Star Army Fleet Depot, Nataria (Star Army), most nekos are made in one of those two places. Nekovalkyrja can be made on a smaller or individual scale at any Star Army base or larger ship.

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

You can find historic events on the timeline and the list of events. The current year (2024) is YE 46.

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.

Cadets will have trained for three years at Kyoto War College or another school.

Try to describe what 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 the 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.

Here's one of the various character archetypes Nekovalkyrja are programmed with for their “starter” personality:

This Nekovalkyrja archetype is a powerful, ruthless killer who is cold as ice. When fighting, she has zero sense of fear, fairness, pity, or mercy, and will use any tactic necessary to ensure victory. This is a woman without qualms about violence or pain who will sacrifice whatever is necessary to complete her mission. She is fiercely loyal and follows her orders unquestioningly and unflinchingly. Among her peers, she will never demean, betray, or exploit her fellow soldiers. She is incredibly disciplined and is constantly obsessed with making herself the best she can be, and expects the same of her peers, training constantly. She is not subtle or evasive in her communication. She is a master of combat who moves with machine-like precision. Socially, she is distant and although she has a deep passion, this passion is not for pleasurable things, but for the science of war; she rarely shows emotion and when she does, it's subdued, meaningful. She is intelligent and articulate. She understands how to be strong and in control without being threatening, and she carries and conducts herself with a natural grace and professionalism at all times.

Other Nekovalkyrja archetypes include, but are not limited to, Berserker, Inquisitive, and Nurturer.

Here's some neat (off-site) resources you can use for inspiration:

• Random Character Personality Generator

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).

You could also roll for some random goals: Random Character Motivation Generator

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.

• Random Character Interests Generator

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. A link to the standard issue page will suffice. Here's the wiki code:

  * [[stararmy:standard_issue]]

Using this may actually be better, as the standard issue can change over time as new items are added and old items fall out of use.

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

All characters start with 3,000 KS or the equivalent. In the roleplay, this is your character's enlistment bonus. If you want to start with additional possessions, their value should be deducted from your starting funds.

• See Star Army Pay for monthly pay amounts.
• You can also apply for LACY, a basic guaranteed income program. See Yamataian Economy for details.

Tip: Don't get lost surfing the wiki trying to find stuff to buy! We suggest that you keep the cash and purchase items later, once your character is approved and you're already posting in the roleplay plots.

• Placeholder Art