So! I like both writing and Role-playing games. This is from a campaign ran by a friend of mine using the Warhammer 40k universe and the Only War system with some light thematic inspiration from the XCOM: Enemy Unknown turn-based game. I have not completed this story, nor do I plan for it to go beyond maybe 30k words, but might if the response is positive. M for gore, I think?
While these chapters are written about each real-life session, I hope the story is primarily character driven, rather than action/plot. We'll see how successful I am with that. Each chapter/excerpt is written from the perspective of one of the two characters I was playing that day. I'd like to also state here that I am not super familiar with all the terms and tech from the Warhammer: 40k universe, and if I misname anything, let me down gently. This story is, again, meant to be character driven.
The campaign we played was focused on two twin planets, Luxon and Korsk. Korsk has declared independence from the Empire, and are considered rebels. They have been at war with Luxon for many years now. However, recently a new development has been uncovered- there are a number of regiments among the Korskian Rebels who seem to have human-tyranid hybrids among them. A spec-ops regiment referred to as Xenoform Combat or XCOM has been deployed to investigate the reports of xenos activity. Among them are Maine Ockmann and Coyne Bjerke.
This chapter just contains the character biographies- you can read them, or not. They might give you some insight to the characters motivations that my writing might lack, or you can just try and glean their characters from my story alone. Your choice.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the character names, and that's shaky at best.
Lieutenant Maine Ockmann
Born and raised on Luxon, Maine Ockmann never considered herself a fortunate sort. Outside of her perfect test scores, she had never seemed to really have anything go her way. Plain and ungainly throughout her adolescent years, it seemed sure that she was destined to apply her sharp mind to a research role somewhere reasonably prestigious and live quietly on her own. But she drew the conscription tithe, and was shipped off to the Guard. Initially, those who knew her mourned the loss of such a smart girl to war, but it came as a surprise to everyone (perhaps herself most of all) when she excelled there beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Maine, friendless for most of her life, knew she had found her calling. Her skills in medicae were top-tier, and her kind manner made her beloved of her squad. She found herself a decent shot with a good lasgun as well. Maine felt she had come home.
However, near the end of her third deployment, her unit was wiped out nearly to the last man fighting rebel guardsmen. She herself was left for dead, her chest struck by a devastating bolt from an overpowered lasgun shot. Somehow, though, when reinforcements arrived, they found her trying to tend and protect the few comrades left to her, despite having rather more than one foot in death's door herself. Indeed, her heart had to be wholly replaced, and her entire body had been covered in deep scars from the energy of the bolt. It was a miracle she was alive at all, and Maine always remarked afterwards that she felt all the luck in her life had been used up to live through that one moment. Afterwards, she was showered in medals, promoted, and reassigned. She was never quite the same, jumping at small sounds and sleeping as little as possible. An almost debilitating paranoia had taken hold of her. However, she dedicated herself ever harder to preserving the lives of her new unit, knowing they too would all too soon leave her in turn. A recent brush with a genestealer infestation along with her medical expertise has resulted in her recruitment into the XCOM regiment. She has never heard of the undercover regiment, but is determined to help her squad see the unlikely end of the mission.
Maine never regained the weight lost after her injury, and is fairly slight, and nearly every visible inch of her skin is covered in harsh scars like gaping cracks in dry ground. However, she has a smile ready for her squadmates, and is incredibly compassionate for those she considers allies. She has no mercy, however, for betrayers- her hatred for the rebels of Korsk in particular increased tenfold after her catastrophic engagement. Her hands have healed wounds many would simply write off as fatal- and are nearly as deadly with a lasgun in them. She has an unswervingly Loyal demeanor.
Lead Sergeant Coyne Bjerke
Coyne Bjerke would be the first to admit he suffered from small-man syndrome. Five foot eight inches isn't all that short, you may say, but his friends growing up were always taller, many nearly six foot by their teenage years. So he compensated by being the strongest, the fastest, and the smart- well, no, not the smartest. Coyne was never so thrilled as when he learned he was joining the Imperial Guard of Korsk- before the rebellion, of course. He walked into basic confidently, demanding to be put where the fight was hottest. They laughed at him, of course, put a pistol in his hands and assigned him to a regiment. Coyne proved to be both a constant issue and asset for every unit he was a part of. He was boisterous with his squadmates, disrespectful to his superiors, and had at best a passing disgust for orders he considered, in his words, "about as useful as a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest." However, no one could deny his stellar performance and drive to be the best.
His rank constantly fluctuated as he was repeatedly disciplined and promoted. This was caused in part by an additional oddity: every squad he was assigned to invariably seemed to be wiped out. Catastrophe after catastrophe occurred, once even wiping his entire regiment out, and time and again Coyne's friends were ripped from him, leaving him with barely a scratch. Indeed, the worst injury he suffered was a broken rib from a point blank hand cannon shot- which he replied to by taking the sword off of his fallen commander's belt, and sticking it in the bastard who had shot him. Coyne dourly claims that his best trait had always been his luck. He became an experienced point-man, and excelled in stealth-intensive situations. However, he rarely gets close to squad-mates anymore, knowing to do so is only to get hurt when they are killed in their turn. The flashbacks are bad enough without adding more faces, and the medals on his uniform are over-heavy with old friends' sacrifices. After an encounter with genestealers resulted in another decimated squad, Coyne's covert expertise got him sent back to his homeoworld of Korsk to aid the XCOM regiment. He is looking forward to the near-suicidal mission.
Coyne is a short but solid man, with thick arms and a broad back. His dark eyes peer out from underneath a deep-set brow, and his mouth is constantly fluctuating from scowl to laugh with little warning given by his thickly bearded visage. However, despite his boisterous nature, he does not interact much with his squad, and tends to be unpredictable at the best of times. Every now and then, he seems to pause against his will, and is assaulted by visions from his violent past. He is most comfortable ahead of his regiment with just one comrade at his back, mono-knife in hand, scouting for danger and quietly deleting any straggling foes. He has a Loose Cannon demeanor, and his greatest wish is to die gloriously, where he will be honoured and remembered.
This is only the bios, but feel free to review if there's anything that stands out.