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Rosaline Xenati

Started by MarcoSkoll, May 14, 2019, 01:10:58 AM

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MarcoSkoll

Technically a Dark Heresy character, but The 'Clave could do with a little more activity, and this still ties in to The 'Clave's Carthax setting, so I'm not hiding it down in the Dark Heresy section where it would probably get missed.

I updated my character's dossier recently for the sake of the other players in the campaign, and as such I'm dropping it here should others be interested to look over my approach to character backgrounds.




FULL NAME: Rosaline Katherina Xenati

KNOWN ALIASES: Commonly known as "Rose".
Known aliases from St Torrian's operation: Alesia Kane, Regulator Captain Louisa Arnett

TITLE/RANK(S): Interrogator, Savant-Scribe

AFFILIATION: In service to Inquisitor [REDACTED]

PHYSICAL STATS:
Date of Birth: (6)257987.M41
Place of Birth: Hive Tertius, Ismene, Cuir Sub, Carthax Sector
Gender: Female
Height: 1.70 m
Weight: 55 kg
Physical appearance: Rose is ethnically equivalent to West African-East Asian mixed race.
Has very dark brown eyes, and black hair, usually styled in loose curled twists of approximately chin-length. (It has however been styled differently depending on mission requirements).

Rose is slightly soft-figured around the waist and hips, although not enough to be considered overweight; she is otherwise in fair physical condition, with some visible muscle definition.
She has a slightly small bust size, a deep set navel, very slightly short fingers, and has Fitzpatrick Type-III skin with moderate visible scarring (mostly concentrated on her back).

Her right arm is replaced from shoulder down with a bionic in dark grey/black finish - a reasonably sophisticated model using electro-muscle rather than servo technology.

Attire: Rose's style has become increasingly utilitarian during her Inquisition service. Although she historically preferred attire such as long skirts, relatively loose corsets and light shirts, she is now relatively unlikely to be seen wearing such things on duty. As such, her style has generally drifted closer to that of her ex-ganger mother, albeit on a slightly higher budget.

HISTORY/TIMELINE:
In 987.M41, Rose was born on level 121 of Hive Tertius on Ismene to Shun and Lavinia Xenati, respectively an archivist and a former ganger turned bodyguard.

Although Rose was steered towards and took her father's more legitimate career, she always retained a strong dose of her mother's blasé attitude to rules and structure. A precocious child, she often found herself in trouble with her tutors for going beyond or questioning the official answers, and on many occasions came away with knuckles sore from whatever object the tutor had at hand.
On the record, she won't admit any part in the incident where the faculty's recaf machine was spiked with laxatives, but will concede that it gave her an excellent opportunity to transfer to another academy willing to allow her in higher level classes.

Her second set of tutors were more impressed with her, despite her formal grades being middling at best because of her unwillingness to give the "correct" answers. She took most to history and legend, with a strong tendency to pick apart inconsistent records and accounts.

She continued as a scholar for a considerable time, progressing up the academic scale; in this role she was often directed by senior lecturers to investigate the more widely mistrusted historical accounts - work she was frequently capable of completing in far less time than allocated, leaving her time to carry out personal research with the benefit of the lecturer's credentials.

Amongst these restricted texts in the university libraries, Rose developed a strong understanding of Imperial history and legend, including many of the more heavily redacted parts usually spoken of only in vague reference and the metaphors of bombastic clergymen, and quietly published a number of treatises under various pseudonyms - frequently resulting in controversy within more conservative academic circles.

In early 011.M42, Rose first met Rivian Kinde, her later fiancé, during Saint Katherine's Day celebrations. Rivian's very drunk friend Ulric Kristiansen elected to grope Rose from behind, and in the ensuing anger and confusion, Rose mistakenly kneed Rivian in the groin. After the initial misunderstanding was resolved (mostly by Ulric pissing himself laughing), Rivian managed to convince Rose that she owed him and his bruised orchids at least the chance to take her for a drink.

Although Rose didn't immediately fall for Rivian, he still impressed her enough that it was her who at the end of the evening suggested that they meet again. The two continued to court until mid 013.M42, when they both exchanged the traditional Ismenean vow-keys.

It was only shortly after that Rivian's orders came up for his deployment to Ilithyia. As the pair were unmarried on the Departmento Munitorum's records, none of the normal dispensations were made regarding families and the lengthy defensive deployment. (Several decades back, the Departmento Munitorum elected to allow registered families of Guard personnel to relocate to Ilithyia, in order to encourage the soldiers to stay after their mandated tour of duty was complete).

Without the support of the Munitorum, the cost of Rose's passage to Ilithyia was beyond their means. Disappearing for most of a day, Rivian returned with a pristine autopistol "to keep you safe while I'm gone", and promised to return and make good on his vow.

Unfortunately for Rivian, Rose's ability to stir up controversy was somewhat greater than just that. It was in Septimus 014.M42 that the dogmatic Obsidian Light cult finally pieced together the various pseudonyms on many of the "heretical" works they had taken it upon themselves to incinerate, and broke into her accommodations, hauling her away half-dressed into the night.

The next few days were a nightmarish experience - humiliated, denounced and eventually with her writing hand severed with a rusted chainblade and cauterised in open flame.
Curled up in a filthy cage, forced to listen day and night to the lamentations and screams of the other prisoners, what little sleep she could get was one night very abruptly ended by the sound of bolter fire.

Fortunately for Rose, the Obsidian Light had unwittingly taken the Inquisitorial agent Orriel Kane prisoner, and the  recovery team fell upon the cult with fire and fury, slaughtering the poorly armed cultists like wheat before the scythe.

Not all the prisoners were lucky enough to survive the rescue - many were found genuinely guilty of the charges the cult had laid upon them; others were considered potentially tainted by the knowledge they might merely have overheard in the dungeon. A few returned to their old lives, scarred and maimed but alive - but a rare few such as Rose were considered potentially useful to the Ordos, having proven both pure and resilient enough throughout their ordeal.

She was given relatively little choice in the matter, but as it assured her a bionic replacement well beyond her means to procure, Rose was (for once in her life) not particularly inclined to argue with the offer.

She was carefully tested and inducted over the next year, and by mid 015.M42, was sorted into the cell codenamed "Diablo Intercept" with the guardsman Jarec Tobin, bounty hunter Maya Shapiro and biologis-inclined tech-adept Dose Wynn.
As the cell developed, Rose's scholarly background saw her earmarked for additional training as a second medic for the team.

She has now survived five Inquisitorial investigations with body and mind intact, earning promotion to Interrogator status, and is currently serving on her sixth.

In 019.M42, she met with Rivian Kinde during leave from her duties, and the two were (finally) formally married.

OPERATIONAL RECORD:

Operation Brethren
-- Date: 015.M42
-- Location: Colossus V

Objective: Diablo Intercept was ordered to bring down the Church of the Terran Brethren without resorting to force.
Report: Team elected to destabilise the Haimona arms family supporting the active Pontifex, Rehanna, in order to allow another bishop to replace him.
Assessment: While force was used, Inquisitorial agents were not identified directly acting against the Church. Team did unnecessarily antagonise "Ulysses Rifling", associated with Bishop Carrasteas, potentially causing problems with future interaction.

~~~~~

Operation Stalwart
-- Date: 016.M42
-- Location: Maraks system

Objective: Diablo Intercept was ordered to remove Commissar Eramus Granta, an out-of-political-favour but populist Commissar attached to Ersenheima 12th Mechanised.
Report: Mission was a wild-grox chase ordered by a rogue agent of Inquisitor [REDACTED] acting in service to a rival Inquisitor.
Assessment: One team-member lost. High ranking rogue agent identified and removed from command structure.

~~~~~

Operation Sierra
-- Date: 017.M42
-- Location: Pexir III

Objective: Investigate the disappearance of Sierra cell and recover their gene-locked secure case.
Report: Istvaanian Inquisitor was targeting assets of rival Inquisitors. Team recovered data-skull containing important encryption codes of said Inquisitor, and a high value infiltration asset. Further prosecution handed to agents of Inquisitor Rhodes.
Assessment: All objectives complete, and also recovered valuable information regarding black-market trade of stolen Militarium materiel. Unnecessary provocation of food riot as distraction.

~~~~~

Operation Angelus
-- Date: 018.M42
-- Location: St Torrian's Rock

Objective: Investigate disappearance of Commissar Bacchus Goldsmith.
Report: Team uncovered conspiracy between naval assets, private mercenary companies and an illegitimate heir to the throne of St Torrian's to carry out a coup, as well as unsanctioned production and public distribution of a failed combat anaesthetic. Team successfully exfiltrated ruling Duchess and her chief guard, and eliminated major conspirators, re-establishing governmental structure.
Assessment: Goldsmith was not recovered, but not due to fault of team (seemingly murdered prior to their arrival). Two team members were severely injured by a flame weapon - their prior records justify the authorisation of their reconstruction.

~~~~~

Operation Fulcrum
-- Date: 019.M42
-- Location: Sicarius/Tilkis

Objective: Team seconded by Lady Inquisitor Ramona DeGascoigne to recover abducted team-member "Tallulah" and resolve the "Silvertongue" matter.
Report: Abduction was carried out by traitors within DeGascoigne's organisation acting in service to rivals within the Inquisition, seeking to interrogate the team-member for the whereabouts of a data storage device known as the "Fulcrum". Team member was recovered, and the team assigned to recover the device in question. Recovery was carried out successfully, however a damaged stasis device on location resulted in the team suffering a temporal shift, completing their mission in 010.M42
Assessment: All mission parameters completed. Considerable evidence accrued against notable Xanthites in Carthaxian Conclave. In order to satisfy Ordo Chronos, team is variously placed in stasis/off-record for the next nine years. Rosaline Xenati is deemed to have acted capably under the field promotion to Interrogator (carried out by Inquisitor DeGascoigne), so the status is formalised.

~~~~~

Operation Kingstable
--Date: 020.M42
--Location: Phaeton

Objective: Team ordered to investigate the legendary "Alder King" creature on Phaeton, and reports of a unknown Deathwatch Astartes, "Zigmund". Political caution advised.
Report: Mission ongoing.


PERSONALITY/ BELIEFS:
Rose is a fairly forceful personality who doesn't suffer fools gladly; she tends to connect best with individuals with common sense and a willingness to be contrite. She herself will generally only apologise to individuals she likes, and is not in any way retiring about letting people know she doesn't get on with them.

Although still a follower of the Imperial Creed, Rose's history makes her wary around particularly dogmatic, sanctimonious or orthodox individuals.

ABILITIES:
Rose's primary strength is her mind - gifted with exceptional intelligence, near eidetic recall, an extensive education, and a very robust will (to the point she appears nearly immune to regular levels of telepathic influence). She is a highly capable medic and a keen scholar, and knowledgeable on a broad range of subjects - although military knowledge is something of a weak-point.
A highly articulate individual when she wants to be, the cell has frequently got by on her ability to charm, con or persuade individuals.

She is moderately competent in combat, through a combination of her mother's guidance, hiver instincts, introductory Inquisitorial training, more experience than she cares for, and a reasonably quick-footed nature.

WEAPONS / EQUIPMENT:
Rose's most treasured possessions are her vow-key and Raike & Claggan  R1a "Jaguar" autopistol, both gifts from her fiancé Rivian Kinde - the former as part of his proposal, and the latter shortly before his regiment was deployed to the Ilithyian conflict, in order to protect her while he was gone.

She has since added several other weapons to her armoury - frequently carrying a Tilkisian-made Magna-pattern bolt pistol, MkIV target laspistol and assorted grenades. However, she still prefers the auto-pistol in many situations).

She has various long-arms in storage for when more intensive combat is expected, such as a Herren & Katach Mk11 auto-rifle, Varan Pattern Lasgun or Urdesh pattern Long-Las.

Rose's bionic arm is a moderately sophisticated Solemne pattern, designed to use electro-fibre rather than servo motivators, and thus relatively closely imitate the movement of her organic limb.
She was originally scheduled only for a hand replacement, although the attending surgeon decided with the typical  sensibilities of the Adeptus Mechanicus to carry out replacement of the entire limb. Suffice to say that she was not impressed with the tech-priest's initiative.
She occasionally complains about the difficulties it causes with finding clothing that fits well.

She also carries other assorted equipment - most of which is to assist her in more intellectual duties, such as a Andros D M37 pattern Dataslate, Mars M35 combi-tool, a customised med-kit, and an Urdesh Variant R Pict recorder, although some items such as the Mars M38 auspex may also double for more directly military purposes.

In more recent times, she has been seen to wear an armoured bodyglove on operations, supplemented by a reductor field. She is however believed to have a suit of custom-fitted carapace for any situations where combat is inevitable.

RELATIONSHIPS:
Rose is married to Corporal Rivian Kinde (originally Guardsman on his proposal) of the Ismenean 4572nd.
Rivian is currently deployed to the Ilithyian conflict, but the two have been doing their best to maintain a (very) long distance relationship within their means (admittedly now much greater than before...)
Rivian is aware that Rose is now working for the Inquisition, in spite of the fact she isn't permitted to provide any specifics of what she is now doing; he has become quite competent at guessing many of the missing details from the clues provided from news feeds. Naturally, he is mistrustful, but is in little position to object. 

Rose is generally careful about who knows about this relationship, largely to avoid the risk of rival factions threatening Rivian; while she normally wears her vow-key openly, most non-Ismeneans tend to miss the cultural tradition.

She maintains a strong friendship with Ulric Kristensen, at least after he apologised profusely for his inebriated fondling, as it did lead to her engagement; he is however carefully watched for other possible indiscretion.

Rose struggles to connect with the various members of her cell:
- She gets on reasonably with Dose Wynn, although his distant mechanical nature and insistence in referring to himself in the third person makes any proper connection impossible.
- She is finding it increasingly difficult to know what to make of Maya Shapiro; although she got on reasonably well in the past, the bounty-hunter's intrusive narcotic habits notwithstanding, her fracturing mental conditioning has thrown that into doubt.
- Gaenor Madigan's blunt attitude and fairly narrow-minded original meeting (immediately evaluating Rose on whether she was any use in combat by dragging her off to target practice) have never set a great tone with Rose, even before the guardswoman was severely maimed and cybernetically reconstructed.
- Tallulah Belle is a similar challenge to Maya - while she thought reasonably well of the infiltration agent, the agent's fracturing mental conditioning (and current abduction) means she is not currently sure if the individual she knew still exists.
- She thought reasonably of Lionus Dorn on their first meeting, but the Arbitrator's erratic behaviour, lack of respect for personal space, and apparent block-headedness regarding both of the former have recently caused her opinion of him to nose-dive.

She has thus far got on reasonably well with Lady Inquisitor Ramona De Gascoigne as part of the Silvertongue operation, appreciating working for an Inquisitor who finally seems to have some measure of respect for her.

QUIRKS/NOTES:
- Fairly heavy sleeper, although will often elect to sleep largely undressed to prevent clothing tangling in her bionic.
- Gets horrendous hat hair. Some times considers straightening her hair.
- As a hiver, values personal space when she can have it.

QUOTES:

- "While flattering, my considered critique would be that your poetry could benefit from a wider range of subject matter than just my arse."
Rose responding to one of Rivian's characteristic attempts at rhyming.

- "Fortunately for you, I'm actually good at what I do."
Origin not recorded.

- "How did the Guardian come to weight the pendulum?"
Rose talking with the semi-sane "Servant Alpha" during one of his cryptic prophetic sessions.
(Within Servant Alpha's metaphor, "Guardian" is noted to refer to Commissar Granta, and "Pendulum" to the concept of fate).

- "This is not the Duchess you are looking for."
Rose referencing a popular holo-pict shortly after having bluffed a mercenary checkpoint.

- "Oh God-Emperor, Dorn, what the frak have you done to the kitchen?"
On returning to the mission safe-house to discover Lionus Dorn's attempts at cooking.

File images:

S.Sgt Silva Birgen: "Good evening, we're here from the Adeptus Defenestratus."
Captain L. Rollin: "Nonsense. Never heard of it."
Birgen: "Pick a window. I'll demonstrate".

GW's =I= articles

Dallo

Thank you for sharing.

It was nice to see your thought process for making a character. I liked how you grounded her character with "real" traditions and names. I think things like the proposal vow-keys were a nice touch.

Dallo

scabbs