Captain Houston Pratt
Sons of Ether
Team Plerionites
Ethernaut 1st-Class
Master of the Breath of Tiki
Captain of the Vanguard
Commodore of the 2nd Solar Fleet
Description
Height: 5'8"
Weight: 211 lb.
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Short simple brown
Clothing: Blue casual
Comportment/Cadence: Confident
Distinctions: Overweight yet swaggers; well-known among fellow Ethernauts and other such space cadets
Supernatural Qualities: Tends not to stand out; vigorous energy and charisma
Accoutrements: Sunglasses (almost always), small knife, shotgun if expecting trouble
Traits: Appearance 2; Arcane 1; Reputation
"That's right, keep shooting at me instead of the colossal soul-crushing planet-eating squid just off our bows. Morons."
History
Date of Birth: August 2nd, 1954
Home: Oxnard, California, United States
Family: Ted and Margie Pratt (parents), Hilary (younger sister)
The Awakening: Preordainment (his drunk of a father was a cropduster and taught his son how to fly a plaine; he Awakened after his very first solo flight, warping across the Oxnard Plain), 1972
Mentor: Nimh Frahul
The Test: Trial by Wit (his special flight was detected by the Etherites in the area, who reeled him in after landing and schooled him in technomancy)
Comrades: Mary Lee Best, Han Tohn, Grove, Stan "The Man" McAllister, Iris Butler
Key Event #1: Awe & Wonder (he spent another decade in training and Etherite schooling, receiving the equivalent of advanced astronaut preparation as well as development of his applied enhanced sciences)
Key Event #2: War (his first post for the Ethernauts was as a co-pilot of a small patrol ship, the Nephele, in the Tellurian well off Earth; during this long mission, he saw little serious action but once, during which they clashed with a Technocratic ship that was bigger with better weapons; his pilot Stan was killed, but he took control and beat the Techies by out-flying them)
Key Event #3: War (all-out war with the Union soon followed, the Second Lunar-Martian War, during which Houston captained an Etherite destroyer called the Ixion, and he was responsible for multiple kills that helped turn the war in the Traditions' favor)
Key Event #4: Awe & Wonder (Houston was honored after the war and made an instructor of apprentices and cadets for a solid decade, during which time he re-acclimated to Earth-life)
Key Event #5: War (but another conflict soon dawned, this time with the Nephandi assaulting the farthest Shard Realms, in a long and arduous war called the Third War of Ascension that took place largely in space; this time, he commanded an entire fleet of Ethernaut vessels from the chair of his a starship frigate named the Vanguard, and he destroyed many Nephandic vessels and their demonic allies, occasionally even allying with Technocratic captains to achieve victory)
Key Event #6: Awe & Wonder (Houston stayed deployed in the farthest reaches of the solar system, patrolling for enemies of life and humanity, and saw many Bygone things, continuing to maintain a neutral attitude towards Technocrats while guarding against horrors from beyond)
Transition: Victory (Houston continued to fly, but remained on stand-by for a renewal of war, aware of the rising tensions both in space and back home)
Talismans
Vanguard (Ethernaut Space Travel Vehicle of the Titan Class)
Appearance: A large and well-armed frigate spacecraft of sleek and shapely design; photon cannons: 6, torpedo tubes: 4, crew: 177)
Origin: Gift
Effects: The Vanguard is fully capable of all forms of aerial flight and it is fully sealed against environmental hazards, including the vacuum of space; it could even travel underwater or through the pressurized atmospheres of gas giant planets like Jupiter. Its armaments are devastating military-grade advanced weapons that use lasers and computer-guided missiles, designed to battle both organic and inorganic targets in the depths of hostile space. Escape pods included. Ether fuel (Quintessence) required.
Activation: The Vanguard cannot be optimally flown without a skeleton crew of at least 17 (and at least one of those must be Awakened, as the captain's chair connects to internal Quintessence). Technically, one person can fly the ship, but would find it very difficult to carry out any maneuvers, never mind engage successfully in dog-fights.
Engineering Deck (L3) of the Vanguard (Sanctum)
Location: The entire engineering deck of his spaceship, the Vanguard, which is typically flying in the horizon lanes of Neptune, Uranus, and Pluto.
Structure: Otherworld
Stock: Advanced hypertech tools; sterile steel walls, floors, ceilings, and shelves; hermeneutically-sealed containment with Etherite insignia
Traits: Arcane 5
Significant Others
As the commodore of the Traditions' 2nd Solar Fleet, Houston has gleefully met many beautiful young women who may or may not be at the disposal of a hero like him.
Star Wars
Weakness
Roger Wilco
Captain Houston Pratt knows himself, knows his crew, and knows the mettle of his enemies. He may not underestimate those foes, but neither does he consider reconciliation. One of these days, he will blunder himself and his crew into an inescapable and unbeatable doom.
Likelihood of Corruption
Low.
He's confronting the demons that would corrupt man head-on in their own turf. With very, very big lasers. How can they corrupt him when he's burning a hole the size of a mountain through their disgusting bloated bodies?
Links
More Problems, Houston
Character Profiles
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