Caroline Murphy

by on July 30, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

Caroline Murphy grew up in time. I forgot her entirely. I don’t think I even remembered that she existed. Dawn had to remind me who she was when we met in the Pleiades. But I don’t truly forget things. I just file them away in the dark recesses of my mind and forget where they are. I began recovering some of my memories of her as time went on. Her family had a nice pool, and they hosted lots of parties back in the day. The entire junior varsity cheerleading team would spend weekends lying out there, baking in the sun and going for the whole “no tan lines” thing. Ah the things that get the attention of a teenage boy. I should have spent more time with Caroline and her friends. I shouldn’t have passed them by because they were a year younger. I should have realized that her older sister had her sights on far more important men than I. And you know the really important thing? The more I remembered about Caroline, the more I realized that she never bought into all the Great Family nonsense. She left enough clues for me that I should have noticed that, amongst other things. But I was young and stupid back then.

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Dana Murphy

by on July 29, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

Dana Murphy was one of the most popular girls in school when we grew up. I found myself entranced with her many charms. And if I could have said it so well when I was that age, I might have actually gotten somewhere with her. Then we graduated and went to different colleges, and like high school classes all around the world, we drifted apart. I pretty much only saw her at Family functions until I was…invited to leave the Family. I even more rarely saw her after that. I grew up into the strapping young con artist most of you know from stories, and she became one of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Star Fleet’s premier Commodores. I followed her career path, and I knew she’d grown up, but the human mind is a fickle thing. The face that ever remained in my mind was the one I remember from our senior year in high school. It was quite the shock when the grown up version of her finally chased my Wolfenheim Project down. And me. She most certainly caught me, I assure you.

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A Primer on the Races of Humanity – Branan

by on July 28, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: The Races of Humanity

The Branan targeted the closest of Betelgeuse’s companion stars with their first interstellar, slower than light, rocket propelled colonization craft. It took decades to cross the relatively tiny interstellar gulf in sleeper ships carrying a few thousand individuals, but their crews found that interstellar space was far safer to navigate than that found in the depths of the Betelgeuse system. More colonization ships took to space in the decades and centuries that followed, until every major and minor rock in all six of Betelgeuse’s systems was colonized. More sleeper ships followed, filled with immigrants who wanted to live a new life under new stars, and their colonies thrived as time marched on. The total population of the dozens of small worlds, scores of moons, and untold numbers of asteroids in the Betelgeuse systems numbered approximately one trillion souls when we finally made Contact. That was more than every human being alive on every one of our 23rd Century Core Worlds combined.

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Caroline Murphy

by on July 27, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

I grew up with Caroline Murphy. Sort of. She was younger than me, so I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about her. Or being with her for that matter. She was simply the younger sister, always hanging around at Family functions or practicing on the field when I was out. She was part of the junior varsity cheerleading team, so I definitely saw her on a regular basis. I even remember rumors that she had a thing for me, but a year’s difference in age is an eternity to a teenager, and my mind was ever on her older sister. It was all or nothing with her, and to my teenage hormones, Caroline was nothing. Such is the infinite wisdom of youth. There are times I wish I could go back and kick some sense into my younger self. Though I was so hard headed back then that I’d probably break my foot if I tried. The point is, I remember Caroline. And the more I remember, the more I wonder what could have been had I the eyes to see.

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Dana Murphy

by on July 26, 2017 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Art, Character Profiles

I grew up with Dana Murphy. It is the way life is when your families are clients of someone as powerful as the Hurst Family. They give lip service to the idea that all well-bred people are equal, but when it comes to real life practice, some people or more equal than others. Our families were lucky enough to be part of their sphere of influence though, and that influence gained us access to the best private schools and vacation destinations. Dana and I were part of the same class from kindergarten all the way to our senior year of high school. We knew each other well and found ourselves navigating the same social circles. Just about every boy wanted her, and most of them got her if the rumors are true. I was not immune to that particular wish. She was the captain of the cheerleading team, and I was a not-so-star football wide receiver. I saw a lot of her over the years, and I was definitely not immune to anything that had to do with her.

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