ataraxion

[mindsext]

❶ PLAYAH INFORMATION

YOUR NAME: Shaz
OOC JOURNAL: scissorbite
UNDER 18?: No (23).
EMAIL & IM: aim - shiny effin curls & plurk
CHARACTERS PLAYED: Hotssssssssspur

❷ CHARACTER INFORMATION

NAME:

Imogen Moore, codenamed Cambridge. But god help you if you call her Immie.

CANON:

Original.

ORIGINAL OR ALT. UNIVERSE:

Not applicable.

CANON POINT:

Not applicable.

NUMBER:

013 (second choice: 015)

SETTING:

THE ORDER
For the past four hundred years the governments of the world - the parliaments, the senates, the kings, queen, emperors, the fascists and the communists, the proletariats and the bourgeosie - have never really been the ones in control of their countries. Orders - clandestine society of superpowered operatives - have worked tirelessly to ensure the smooth running of hundreds of governments throughout the world. Selecting their operatives according to their own agendas the Orders continue to regulate themselves independently of any governmental involvement whilst maximising their involvement in national affairs at the very topmost political levels.

Each Order assigns its operatives codenames according to various cities within its country and in the UK it's no different: each seat in the Order of Great Britain comes with its own city-related codename and a particular power. The operative assigned the codename St. David's has the role of gifting each new city their superpower and removing it when their time comes to leave. As befits their city, the operative codenamed London is the presiding leader of the Order. With St. David's as their right-hand advisor and the precog Westminster as their left, London has the last word in any decision that the Order makes.

Things have not always run smoothly for the Order. In times past events have escaped their control and come to light to the British public - from the English civil war to Jack the Ripper, there have been times when disagreements within the Order have threatened to destroy them. Orders members have always been political creatures - not only at large and on a national scale but within their own ranks. None of them are strangers to drama - but when you gift some of the brightest men and women of the country inconceivable powers, who could blame them for meddling with each other as much as they meddle with their government? [ see the cast page ]

The world that Cambridge comes from is completely indescernible from any other 'normal' earth except for one crucial difference - the existence of superpowered, supersecret organisations called Orders that control the national governments of the world from behind the scenes. In the past they have been mistakenly called illuminati but agencies generally prefer the term the Order. The very word itself suggests just how operatives like to see the work they do: they move silently amongst the politicians and work tirelessly to bring cohesiveness and discipline to governments around the world who are largely otherwise engaged in bitter in-fighting.

After recruitment each operative is gifted with a certain power that goes with their codename and each Order assigns codenames based on major cities and towns within that country (with the operative with the codename of the capital leading the agency). Each power is carefully assigned to a suitable operative who then goes on to take a position somewhere in the political or judicial infrastructure of the country that best fits their power. As the technopath of the outfit Cambridges have always worked in surveillance capacities and when Imogen took on the job of the current Cambridge it was no different (see character history below).

HISTORY:

(1981) The young Imogen Moore didn’t have a very happy childhood. It wasn't as if anything spectacularly bad or traumatic happened to her but nonetheless it would always leave a bitter taste in her mouth whenever she looked back upon it. It was a constant struggle to define herself as something other than ‘just the middle child’ - her sisters had their own individual niche in the family and Imogen was left to drift unhappily between them. Her parents had ignoble roots: her father drove long-haul lorries across the continent for haulage firms and her mother slaved away for years in multiple cleaning jobs to provide for her brood of daughters in the long, penniless periods while her husband was away.

Striving towards Cambrid ge University and everything it stood for - intelligence, good breeding, class - was something that defined Isaac’s teenage years. She made a few friends amongst her peers but the friendships didn’t last beyond her acceptance to Cambridge (1999). As soon as she received that proverbial golden ticket she was off like a shot and left both her family and friends in the dust. Determined to make the absolute most of her time at Cambridge, Imogen threw herself in to student life from the very beginning. She purposefully lost her broad Sheffield accent in an attempt to fit in more with the classier (and mainly London- based) echelons of the student body at King’s College and applied herself as much to extra- curricular activities and hard drinking as she did to her studies.

The course she had successfully gained entry to was the highly-esteemed and notoriously challenging four- year Masters course in natural sciences. Her third year was passed with the equivalent to a high first and she eventually graduated with her Masters and a specialisation in metallurgy (2002). During her time at university Imogen had hardly spared a moment's thought for her family back in Sheffield and the prospect of having to return to them post-graduation was physically sickening. Luckily Imogen procured a graduate placement with a certain internationally-reknown British arms manufacturer - a move that not only proved fortuitous for her short term happiness but would later bring her to the attention of the Order and thus secure her future career.

After having only worked as a resident consultant with the arms manufacturer for less than a year, Imogen was approached by Jemima Dunstan on behalf of the Order. Dunstan would later reveal herself to be Canterbury, an Order operative and force field generator especially selected to approach Imogen about joining their ranks. After a month of interviews and rigorous mental tests Imogen was inducted in to the Order to replace the previous Cambridge and was gifted with the extraordinary power of technopathy. After devoting her life to studying science - both theoretical and practical - the realisation that there was such a thing as superpowers was a stunning revelation, but a revelation that Imogen took in her stride. She took to her technopathy like a duck to water and threw herself in to experimenting with her powers. Soon it became an extension of her natural curiosity - even to this day she uses her powers freely and relies on them for a whole host of day-to-day activities as well as the important communication spy work that’s required of her as an Order operative.

But, most importantly, when Imogen Moore became Cambridge she knew she had found the real family that she felt she had deserved all along.

The heady world of working with the Order was an exciting - and often explosive (literally) - cocktail of spying on and meddling in the affairs of some of the affluent and influential men and women that ran British politics. In her role as Cambridge she was expected to deliver information on the thoughts and movements of the arms industry she was so deeply embedded in to. When her time in her placement ran out Cambridge's extensive knowledge of the arms trade made her an ideal candidate to take on an advisory position in the British government's Ministry of Defence. With a combination of her scientific know-how and Oxford's (the Order telepath) help to sweet-talk the human resources department of Whitehall, Cambridge aced all the job interviews required for the joband became a civil servant on the UK Defense Council (2007).

Being a high-profile advisor to the British government and a member of the secret Illuminati-esque Order that rules the country did nothing to relieve Cambridge’s already swollen ego. As far as she was concerned she had now truly made it in life - the unfortunate thing was that she obviously can't actually tell anyone about her involvement in the latter. But Cambridge has maintained both positions with admirable ease whilst also enjoying an active social life.

During her early years with the Order Cambridge formed a close friendship with Durham. Durham was the operative gifted with the power of mnemokinesis (memory manipulation) and charged with the solemn duty of wiping the memories of all operatives as they retire their powers and positions within the Order. Their friendship continued for a year before Cambridge began to drift towards a closer friendship with the newest Oxford operative, a woman called Eleanor Buchanan. Durham had as much of a lax attitude towards the liberal use of her powers as Cambridge and, motivated by jealousy and a dislike for Oxford, Durham didn't hesitate to manipulate Oxford and Cambridge's minds and wipe clean the memories of their first meeting... But Durham had grievously underestimated Oxford's skill even as a newly ordained telepath and was eventually found out. Whilst Oxford has taken to passionately despising Durham for her meddlesome jealousy Cambridge hates her a little less so; there's a little bit of Cambridge that can't help but be morbidly amused by the petty lengths that her old friend had gone to in trying to dissolve her friendship with Oxford. Unfortunately for Durham it was just one of the many things over the years that would cement Oxford and Cambridge's friendship.

PERSONALITY:

It's not that Cambridge is a particularly mean person - but she certainly seems to have trouble being nice. Outwardly Cambridge is a caustic, impatient woman disinclined to suffer fools gladly; all who fall under Cambridge's acerbic eye are immediately judged and very few are ever seen to pass muster. After working so hard to achieve so much in her own life Cambridge cannot help but deem those who haven't achieved as much as her as comparatively useless - or even worse, stupid - and unworthy of both her time and her pleasantries. The end result is that she comes across as a rude, judgemental, loud-mouthed woman - and Cambridge never seems to particularly care that she comes across in such a way.

Cambridge’s overly-judgemental personality mostly stems from her upbringing - before she knew anything about the Order. As a middle child in a lower-middle class family from Sheffield young Imogen Moore knew that she would have to prove herself to be above and beyond her peers in order to get anywhere in life. With a largely absent father and an overworked mother Imogen was forced to look to her brothers for any real sense of family and quickly found that there was none to be found. An active resentment of both her older sister's sporting successes and her younger sister's popularity fuelled a chronic competitiveness and from an early age she pushed herself to continual self- improvement. Her naturally sharp and quick-witted mind made her unpopular with her sisters who in turn resented Imogen'sconstant one-upmanship and attempts to put them down in order to better herself. Imogen never really understood why her sisters didn’t like her - even now they live estranged lives and Imogen still maintains the delusion that they just never really ‘understood’ her. This was just the first chapter in a life of chronically denying culpability - a theme that runs throughout all aspects of Cambridge’s personality, be it in fouling relationships or elsewhere. The speed with which Imogen lost her Yorkshire accent in favour of a more cultured and refined (or so she thought) Southern accent exemplified how keen she was to distance herself from her ignoble upbringing. It wasn’t so much that she ever wanted to forget or ignore her roots but rather show just how far she had come.

It was through hard work and sheer force of will that the young Imogen Moore managed to send herself to one of the most prestigious universities in the world and it’s this core work ethic that still defines her to this day. With the rest of her family never making it beyond the city limits of the much- resented Sheffield, Imogen thought herself incredibly accomplished. She knows she's a vain and proud creature but as far as she's concerned she's got a hell of a lot to be vain and proud about. The fact that she could play just as hard as she worked and still ace all of her exams only served to heighten the smugness - as an Order operative, Cambridge prides herself on being able to drink and socialise (that is, for a given level of being sociable) whilst still being an accomplished and talented agent.

Cambridge’s attitudes towards her colleagues vary. On the one hand, every single operative has, at one time or another, been seen worthy of becoming an agent and that in itself distinguishes all of them from the usual plebis of society. Yet Cambridge still judges her colleagues harshly - if anything, she reasons, she’s justified in judging them by harsher standards because more is to be expected of them. Never mind her hypocrisy, Cambridge is often prone to making scathing remarks in public about the conduct of her fellow operatives - both in regards to the professional and their private lives. Cambridge isn’t afraid of making enemies amongst her fellow agents; she’s perfectly confident that she can handle any enmity from anyone who challenges her. If anything, she’d like to see other people talking back to her because then at least she could respect them more for having the backbone to stand up for themselves.

In extension of this Cambridge often prizes confrontation and provocation above appeasement and being ‘nice’. Nice, to Cambridge, suggests being boring and easily pleased whereas conflict and confrontation can only serve to push one on to better oneself; complacency, in Cambridge’s eyes, is a terrible thing.

Because Cambridge is so proud of having achieved so much there are several things that she really hates in other people: slothfulness, ignorance and dishonesty. All three are things that she strives to continually keep at arm’s length and if she sees it in other people then she will likewise keep her distance from them as well. Cambridge prides herself on being an honest individual but, as her associates will acknowledge, Cambridge has a terrible habit of being too honest. Blunt and often rude, Cambridge will say things exactly as she sees them and won’t skimp on dishing out her opinions at every opportunity. Likewise, when it comes to general ignorance and stupidity in others she won’t hesitate to point it out and make a scene about it - in some deep level of Cambridge’s subconscious it’s a way of pushing that person on to bettering themselves, but really it just makes her look like a rude cow. Whoops.

ABILITIES, WEAKNESSES & POWER LIMITS:

Abilities:
A quick-minded and confident woman, Cambridge can (and will) argue her way out of any given situation. She's honest, independent and determined: if you give her a task or get her to promise to do something then you can bet your ass that it will be done - and it will be done pretty bloody well. She's not any more afraid of hard work than she is a challenge - in fact, these are both things that she relishes. Her determination combined with her athletic mind make her quite a formidable person to go up against, in any kind of situation.

Weaknesses:
Cambridge is incredibly tough to get on with at times. She's terrible judgemental and has very high standards that she holds everyone to as much as she does herself. Disappointing or failing Cambridge is not an option as she tends to hold a hell of a grudge; she can be rather petty at times and will find the most unreasonable of excuses to dislike someone.

Power:
When Imogen took on the role of Cambridge within the UK Order four years ago she was gifted with the power of technopathy. At its most basic this power allows Cambridge to directly interface with any kind of electronic device only using her brain. If that device then has access to the internet then Cambridge has virtually any kind of access and control over all kinds of electronic systems; within the Order this is mainly used for tracking communications (email, internet banking, coded transmissions, etc) and breaking through various systems (firewalls, encoded databases, security programs) but Cambridge has been known to abuse herpower greatly. Outside of the Order she's prone to curiously going through people's personal emails and social networking accounts for the hell of it.

When she first took on her technopath powers Cambridge's range was limited but over the years that have passed Cambridge has improved to the point where her access to any kind of electronic databases seem to be nearly entirely unlimited - the only person that could possibly keep her from going through your texts and emails is another technopath with greater powers.

Cambridge's weakness is that power outages will also affect her - without an electrical current Cambridge cannot hope to be able to interact with the wider technological planes. Her level of dependency on her powers - she uses it for everything - is also her greatest weakness; even being left bereft of her powers for a few days leaves her a withdrawn wreck.

Proposed power nerfing:
On board the Tranquility I will propose that her power be nerfed a considerable amount - not necessarily because she's got a powerful ability that could infomod over other characters but because it would affect how she interacts with the technology on the ship (ie. MINDFUCK ALL THE COMPUTER SYSTEMS!).

I propose that Cambridge still have enough of her powers for her to be able to sense the movement of information through technological conduits around the various systems of the ship but not necessarily access it; basically, to be able to see and feel the technology that makes up the ship but not be able to do anything with it. If it's okay with the mods I'd still like her to be able to do things with the comms device system - such as write text transmissions with her mind, or turn devices off and on without touching them - and things like light switches and other really basic computer systems (electronic cabin locks, for example). I think it would be an interesting (read: hideously maddening and disempowering) learning curve for Cambridge to have to adjust to living without her power in such an environment that is nearly completely composed of technology. Cambridge would be able to detect all the delicious technology but not be able to do anything about it other than watch it go past completely entouched (it would all be terribly frustrating for her to not be able to meddle and pry).

Perhaps over the course of her time in the game she could adapt and adjust her powers to work harmoniously with the ship's technology, but this would only be with mod permission.

INVENTORY:

1. HER CLOTHES (to be requested ASA-fuckin-P) - because good grief, there isn't a chance in hell that she's going to want to wear that frightful little black number, darling. Her clothes comprise of one black Italian cut-style lady's suit blazer, one black bodycon above-knee dress, one pair of black stilettos.
2. HER PURSE (in locker), patent leather, containing: a sleek silver cigarette case complete with eight cigarettes; a thin lighter; her diary/filofax; various credit cards; £37.56 in cash; nail file; fountain pen; mirror and lipstick (Tiger Orgasm); and a large pair of black sunglasses.
3. HER BLACKBERRY MOBILE PHONE (in locker) - Now sadly unable to pick up any signal but still well-loved as her most prized possession.

APPEARANCE:

PLAYED BY: Anna Friel, London Boulevard.
Thirty year old caucasian female. Five foot six inches with a light build. Pale blue eyes that will often get treated to a heinous amount of dark eyeshadow to make them seem even bluer. Long brown hair that's prone to frizz when it gets damp, although rarely does Cambridge allow this to happen.

Cambridge carries herself well and with an natural upright confidence that makes her appear much taller than her comparatively average height (and the stilettos don't hurt, either). Her face is animatedly expressive and will often betray her emotions (especially negative ones) before she even has to open her mouth.

She prides herself on her appearance and will make a huge amount of effort to look presentable. She's fond of fashion and designer labels and is rarely seen out of her vast collection of sharp suit jacket and dress combinations. Cambridge likes long, sleekly cut suits and would rather die than be seen in 'casual' clothes.

❸ SAMPLES

LOGS SAMPLE:

Thank god for the sunglasses.

When Cambridge’s thin fingers had closed around their cold form as she ferretted around in her handbag she had sworn with delight, instantly scrabbling at the hinges and slapping them on in haste. Retrieving the handbag from the locker had been the first thing she’d done after forcing herself in to the shapeless horror of the black jumpsuit and the sunglasses had been an absolute blessing: now she could hide her confusion behind the beetle-black oversized glasses.

No, the outfit didn’t exactly work. The black fitted jumpsuit was an entirely different shade of black to the oversized patent leather handbag she crooked in her elbow and the sunglasses didn’t quite give Cambridge the Audrey Hepburn-esque look she was going for. And yes, she was painfully aware of it. But at least she had some semblance of dignity as she stepped away from the locker with her head held high.

Being kidnapped without so much as a by-your-leave or a moment to pack a proper suitcase was bloody bad form, as far as Cambridge was concerned... But what was increasingly becoming her real worry was the oddly numb feeling that was beginning to set in - not a physical numbness, like a dead leg or an anaesthetised hand, but rather a horrifyingly sly kind of dull blurry numbness that had her leaning back against her locker with a groan.

There was something terribly, terribly wrong.

It didn’t take a technopath’s senses to know that this was a ship crammed full with a veritable buffet of delicious technology - which was a bloody good thing, considering that her technopathic senses didn’t seem to be working correctly in the first place. She could feel the infrastructure - all the networked wires meshing and parting and weaving back together again - pulsing with light and information, buzzing with data streams that pulsed with life, all around her - running dizzying patterns along the walls and floors of the little locker room. She knew it was there, full of vitality and bleeding rivers of data, but it was all so strange and alien. Irrefutably intangible, it was as if there was a thick layer of smoke, dense and cloying, obscuring what should have been a technopath’s playground. She closed her eyes, concentrating briefly and trying to push little tendrils of querying thought in to the network as if to catch a fish in data stream, but all that Cambridge came away with was a headache and a feeling of unnameable dread.

She opened her eyes, once again thankful for the sunglasses; they were now an extra layer of protection against whatever it was that had drained her powers. She had a feeling she would need all the protection she could lay her hands on.

COMMS SAMPLE:

[ Hello, fellow crewmembers. If your device wasn’t on before it certainly is now as Cambridge, still nursing the mental wounds of her powers being so rudely culled and impatient for answers, mentally shoves an transmission your way. ]

if somebody doesn’t tell me exactly where the fuck I am then I am airlocking the whole bloody ship so help me god

[ An idle threat, don’t you worry. If she had been at full strength then she might have attempted to slip her way through the ship’s systems but as it is she can barely switch a light off, let alone override the hundreds of security precautions that would undoubtedly stand between her and an airlock. Still, the impulse behind the threat is very real: uncertainty and fear mingled with a desperation to check that she wasn’t going mad and dreaming it all... ]

unless this is some hideously unfunny prank in which case you can all go to hell

bad form, you bastards