U.E.C.S.C. Camelot
The Camelot was built for one purpose – donating it to the Mars colony. As a result, the ship’s United Forces crew was staffed by a slew of European nations, all looking out for their country’s best interest and many varied individual opinions of what’s best for colonizing Mars. Only the colonists, some of whom also serve as crew, to cut down on weight, being the excuse, are actually there to make sure the community built on Mars will actually function.
The Crew
These are the brave men and women assigned to man stations on the ships, ferrying the equally brave men, women and children, who shall colonize Mars to their destination. Some are there for a round-trip to Mars, then right back to Earth. Still others are not just officers, but colonists, themselves.
Capitaine de le Camelot Emanuele Engleheart
He’s the hired gun of the French government. His assignment was supposed to be ensuring the German born Senator, Stacy Duncan, represented France’s best interests in exchange for campaign assistance. However when at the last minute the Duncans were bumped up to the Pioneer by American posturing, Engleheart’s response was to pay off a mercenary Swede to join his mission. The Swede’s job is to find a way to force control of the colony through medical means, on the French government’s behalf, of course.
Tenente Colonnello Carmen Neri
She is Italy’s “cleaner”. She’s the one who’s there strictly to find the colonists embroiled in nefarious dealings with people back on Earth. All so the the colony to be successful, is what she’s been told. She tried to obtain this job as a colonist, but it quickly became clear that the tests other colonists were flunking were not scheduled, not framed as tests and hard to pin down when they’d be given and what they’d be testing. This meant a Plan B, was in order. She resigned from the project only to reappear, with a different identity as Tenente Colonnello Carmen Neri, the first officer of the Camelot, the day of the launch. The only way she could obtain a job on the ship that would let her observe the functions of the entire compliment, both crew and colonist. She speaks six languages and therefore can easily communicate and eavesdrop on pretty much every officer and passenger of the Camelot and has the kind of chameleon personality needed to play any role necessary. She can be charming and elusive in public, while in private being the woman of limited emotions and cold calculated action that she is at heart. The biggest dilemma she faces is that her assignment as “cleaner” is supposed to be a permanent position on Mars, but the method with which she managed to get to Mars, has her slated for a return to Earth.
Doctor Dolph Borg
He’s a Swedish scientist and mercenary for the French. Although he’s strongly self-motivated by a contract for an all-types-of-weapons company called High Caliber that wants to perfect mind-control and artificial telepathy brain-chip technology, among many other high concept weapons. This means also developing a means for implanting the technology in their enemies without consent. Borg is ruthless and the type to medicate symptoms rather than curing the cause. He’s not supposed to remain on Mars, but his handiwork, in the form of those he may have succeeded in implanting chips in, might make it to the colony, lurking in wait until activated.
Ceanfort Katie Morgan
She’s the colony’s Royal Irish Regiment arms specialist and a woman frequently on active duty. So much so that her husband and daughter are frequently neglected in favor of her career. She’s smart and caring towards her daughter and doesn’t want her daughter to have to live the life of danger that she lives. As a result, she’s pawned off her daughter too many times on her husband, who decided to start a separation from her. While they did once love each other, the strain of their respective military careers has Jessica stuck in the middle. Until all three end up on the same permanent Mars assignment.
Antonino “Nino” Fasolino
He is an extremely skilled Italian chef. With his eyes on the future, he chose to take his food to Mars, knowing the necessity of having good quality food on such an important undertaking. He was selected for the project, because of his ability to work with new ingredients, rapidly. He chose to go to practice his art in new places and create a legacy for the future, bringing traditions with him to Mars. He runs his kitchen smoothly, but hides his feelings when interacting with others socially.
Leifteanant Daniel McBride
McBride is the Irishman who designed the flying saucers with their electromagnetic gravity and low fuel expenditures. He’s the Montgomery Scott of this fleet. Everything he does, he manages to get done faster and better than anyone else. He’s a great engineer with a knack for tinkering up new ideas. A little of Mr. Potts from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang there. And while his name is Danny McBride he is of no relation to the actor.
Didier Perrault
A French metal-sculptor, who serves as the Camelot’s metalworker, he studied his craft in high school, but never pursued the types of occupations that would earn him enough qualifications to be hired in the French job market. Therefore, when the Mars mission appeared, Didier signed up in Switzerland, where the qualifications necessary to get on the list were far fewer than they were in France. He’s a brilliant young artist with a mind for problem solving on many levels, but no future in France, a disappointment to his family.
Fortuna Cavalcanti
Cavalcanti is the Camelot’s electrical technician, in charge of the entire ship’s wiring, filling the role that would typically be held by a United Forces officer. This is due to the fact she was on the construction team that wired the first spacecrafts back when these spaceships were new. Furtuna Cavalcanti is just the type of person to be invaluable when working with the unknown wiring needs of a brand new civilization.
Flight Lieutenant Samuel Rothschild
He’s a hotshot pilot, best in the business. Passed every challenge thrown at him, when it came to landing one of these giant ships on the tiny docking port that will exist on the colony. He’s a Shakespearean actor drafted into the R.A.F. during WWIII. He’s the kind to be ever the optimist, though without a role in as pilot on Mars, he’s likely to get a little lost.
Pilot Officer Jonathan Holbrook
Another Brit and Sammy’s backup during the day, he pilots the aft console. The team works perfectly together and can handle much variation in critical piloting scenarios. Holbrook is on the comedic side, certainly, but then again so is Sammy.
Ellery van Dijk
A man from the Netherlands disillusioned to the Netherlands’s government. He’s a plumber by trade and serves as such on the Camelot. He’s the kind of man who’s lost his family and is leaving all reminders of them to start life anew on Mars. However the loss still weighs on his mind.
Gianni Potestà
Informatics junkie and Star Wars lover, he applied for the job of communication specialist with ease, not wanting to to pursue a boring life on Earth with the shadow of death by terrible diseases. The lack of hygiene and primitive standards he’s entering no doubt providing much trepidation to someone who thought he was leaving the unhygienic world behind. Being constantly next to the communications system he ‘met’ Connie, the linguist of the Da Vinci’s ship and they become good friends because they share family similarities. He always keeps his conversations with Connie secret to everyone and asked her to do the same. Trouble is, in a fleet where all communications are monitored by every ship, there isn’t a soul who doesn’t know every aspect of communication made by anyone in the fleet.
Gordon Mulhare
Despite being in midlife, he’s the boy who never grew up. He’s the mad-scientist type. A big kid with a lot of responsibility, he treats his science projects with proper care and concern. As for his parenting, he’s more one of his kids than the parent to them. Divorced, he has custody and the decision to take the kids to Mars might be jeopardizing that. He has a tendency to act without thinking.
Majoor Tess De Vries
Tess De Vries until the Mars mission was a United Nations diplomat from the Netherlands. She was suddenly drafted by the Netherlands military, one week before launch, given the rank of Majoor and appointed as night captain of the Camelot. Sewn into the hem of her uniform, just hard enough to be annoying was a piece of card-stock, with the orders written on it to ‘be the colony’s liaison with earth’. How that’s possible, when she’s slated for a return trip that she’s desperately looking forward to making, is entirely unknown.
Tenente Nicola “Nico” Gigante
He volunteered after divorcing his wife because of the death of his son. He’s not very sociable, always silent, but nevertheless smart and prepared enough to gain the role of night pilot. He fills the third slot among the colonists for the four pilots that are required for the colony.
Fo-Leifteanant Colin O’Toole
He’s the Camelot’s assistant engineer and father of Jessica O’Toole. He’s separated from his wife, who is also going to Mars. The two only discovered this after Colin made the decision to bring Jessica to Mars, without consulting his wife. They were on the ship once they realized that their failing marriage was nothing compared to spending six months stuck with each other on the same ship. However, stuck without all the distractions of London England that drove them apart, this primitive environment might exactly what they need, when combined with their daughter’s efforts, to get them back together.
Infermiera Valeria Mancini
She’s a nurse with a vast knowledge of radiations related deceases. This is why she picked for the Camelot, as a colonist who understands the dangers of radiation, one of the primary dangers faced on Mars, given its lack of protective electromagnetic field.
The Passengers
These are the colonists who have much to offer on Mars, but have little to offer when it comes to running a spaceship, aside from an ability to adapt rapidly and learn.
Jemima Zilhardt
The African-French fashion designer, who’s high fashion was the crème de la crème of fashion, until she suddenly went out of style. But with creativity and ingenuity, as well as resourcefulness, she earned herself a spot on the Mars colony project, designing uniform clothing that was different from all nationalities and easily handed down from one colonist to the next. Though she is frequently asked to mend existing fashions rather than dole out more of her unique just-for-Mars creations.
Ewan Farquharson
The agriculturalist for the Camelot. He’s a farmer from Scottland with many years of practice under his belt and the one who pointed out the necessity of having oats on Mars. He’s laid back and calm, but with a Scott’s iron will behind his placid nature.
Emma Ingelthorp
She’s London born and raised, from aristocratic stock, possibly some royal ancestry, however she’s a mechanic for a reason. Not the kind to be satisfied with aristocratic parties, she’s the one who prefers to set her own schedule with a more adventurous side. While skilled in her trade, she’s been largely ostracised by her elitist family. Mars, to her, is an ample challenge and the kind of place where her family name is less likely to carry as much weight. However, that’s not to say that her family have no sway over her, they do, emotionally. She’s always hoping to get their approval, even though it’s likely never going to happen.
Giulia Ferraro
She’s from a family that runs a survival training camp. But when she heard of the Mars colony project, she chose to apply, knowing that on Mars, much of the skills needed for natural survival on Earth would be valuable on Mars. She researched Mars, to improve her chances of being selected and was recruited during the application process because of her survival skills as well as teaching skills.
Roshad Pullam
Roshad Pullam fought hard to get on the first wave and ended up displaced, with his wife, to the Camelot, by the shuffling of the Duncan family to the Pioneer. An indie filmmaker, he sold Sanka Doug on the fact that improvisation is what’s necessary when working with virtually no resources, something an Indie-Filmmaker faces on a daily basis. Not enough money, not enough supplies, a high concept to compensate, that requires a lot of turning X into U. A man of indomitable spirit, Roshad’s focus is on securing the ‘real feel’ of colonizing Mars. All to maintain his first mega-bucks contract with a huge conglomerate studio that wants to shoot a feature on location – a sci-fi set on Mars.
Shayna Pullam
Roshad’s wife and the unwilling participant in this colony. She’s vain, with a fixation on her appearance, being Hollywood elite. She’s the most frequent of Fleur’s clients and the on struggling the most to adapt to this new explorer’s life. She’d give anything to get back to Earth and is therefore one of the most dangerous pro-Earth and pro-short-cut-hazards colonists on this journey.
Eric Kellan Aillard
A man of partial French descent, he used to be the boss of a small group of criminals specialized in hacking and ‘problem solving’ of many types. He was recruited by Darice for Mars due to his hacking skills and problem solving abilities. His compassion is what set him apart from other criminals of equal intelligence, earning him a trip to Mars.
Carmine Gennari
A mathematician, he seems consistently half-asleep, yet when push comes to shove, his knowledge of old technology and methods allows him to improvise simple solutions to complex problems. He doubts his skill with a ‘no one can always be the best’ philosophy. Yet in reality, the fact he is on the first wave proves that, when compared to other candidates, his skills are higher than his own perspective allows him to realize.
Zara Strömberg
She’s a single young woman from Sweden, adventurous and with a lot of wanderlust. The kind who finds any new experience exhilarating, she’s one of the most rash colonists. She applied for the project, knowing that many people did not know how to recycle on Mars. Her personal mission is to keep Mars from becoming the newest and largest landfill. She helped to create a list of safe-burning supplies, the only types of flammable substances allowed on the mission.
Assistente Capo Coordinatore Lucia Elefante
A police officer in one of the worst criminal areas in Italy, Lucia does her job following strict moral rules that her mentor taught her. She was touched by corruption, during her first year. This motivates her her while on the Camelot is to stop the flow of corruption from Earth to what should be the new world. She’s not religious, not spiritual, but believes in karma.
The School Children
These are the children of colonists, several of whom are indeed the reason their parents got to go to Mars. They have the innocent vision necessary to see life the way it is and are the motivation needed to keep the adults dedicated to the colony’s survival.
Ophelia “Lia” Becconero
She’s the aggressively half Scottish smart young lady of the Camelot. She was Ewan’s apprentice after she finished university. She always had a thing for nature thanks to her grandfather who used to give her lessons in their garden and, at the moment of his death, left her some books about trees, medicinal plants and ethic agriculture. She’s especially good with the care of medicinal plants. She is a catholic green witch, and likes to dress in a particular witchy style that makes her look like to be kind of fae; nevertheless, she was a boxer. A career she pursued for a short time, after her grandfather’s death. This path led her a little into the criminal side. Partly to make amends, she decided to start her new life on Mars. Her intelligence and physical athletic and combat skills mean she’s likely to be recruited for police use as well as farming.
Margot Dunwich
Assigned last minute to a ship with insufficient children. She only got there the day of take-off with her siblings. Margot Dunwich is just an alias she chose for herself, because it’s both tough and feminine, whichever she needs it to be. Barely an adult, young enough to pass for both a woman and girl, she’s a fighter who’s tough as nails. She and her siblings were orphaned in one of California’s brush fires that got out of control. With too many proof-of-identity documents burned in the fire, their very existence went up in flames. Refugees with no way to prove themselves as Americans authorized to exist in America, their one hope is Mars, something Margot’s younger sister suggested. Margot fought, shot, wheeled and dealed and even killed those who would kill them first, to get them to the launch sight compromising many of her morals except family first. She’s one of the students on the Camelot, for she understands the need to know about their intended destination. Her siblings are her responsibility and she’ll go to any lengths to protect them. She never got the chance to mourn and has hardened herself to all emotion on their smuggled journey to the Mars launch, making her the deadly quiet one, withdrawn inside herself and wanting to get back to the world of life, but too closely linked to death for it to be an easy journey.
Gregory Mulhare
The oldest boy of the Mulhare family, he is also the most responsible. He feels his father is foolish for being as childish as he can be. Gregory is the exact opposite of his father, determined to be the proper British, worthy of royal parentage, possibly even to such an extant as to be having his young sights set on becoming King of Mars.
Gael Dunwich
Again, an alias, Gael is the reason for the family’s fictitious last name Dunwich. A self-taught, real-life witch, but not like what you see in T.V. She first started studying witchcraft when it became clear she’d never excel in the sciences like her parents and so tried to distance herself from them as much as possible. After that she learned a variety of things online about how to cast spells and other aspects of witchcraft better known to others as “positive affirmation”. That’s right. Witchcraft is mostly psychology with a little mystique thrown in. While Margot took credit for getting them to the launch, Gael’s skills helped, too. For the most part, real witchcraft Gael teaches us is boring and tedious, but nevertheless effective.
Jessica Morgan-O’Toole
Jessica is the daughter of Colin O’Toole and Katie Morgan. She’s bright and inquisitive, as well a girl who loves both her parents, differently. Her mother protects her, her father lets her have her way too easily and Jessica is always the type to put herself in danger, just for the sake of adventure. That’s how she ended up talking her father, whom her mother left her with for safety, into applying for the Mars mission, too.
Seth Dunwich
Taking his alias from the Egyptian god, he thinks his sister is loony for thinking she can talk to the dead or be a witch. He’s perhaps the most dangerous person on the colony, despite being the youngest, because his parents were both scientists who never had time for their kids. But as the youngest, Seth believed that when he was older he’d have their attention. And as a result is trying to recreate their legacy on Mars, a legacy that’s actually dangerous to the colony, for amateur scientific experiments in an environment that’s so restrictive as the colony could kill them all.