Name: Kora Neverwinter

Nickname: Red, she's generally referred to as that to avoid any confusion with the ship. Genrrally she's only referred to by her full name if things are serious.


Age: 29

Role: First Mate

Personality:
Kora is a little difficult to get along with initially. She suffers from the upbringing double-whammy of being from a family who were both rich and entitled, and had a charming love of violence.
She's rather arrogant and caustic, and has a tendency to push into situations without thinking. She has very much a 'might is right' attitude to authority, and is happy to follow a person so long as they can prove themselves her superior in a physical sense rather than mental or emotional. If she doesn't respect authority, she with habitually act up and challenge them.

As a result of these traits, she often ends up getting into fights....especially when alcohol is involved. Banning her from drinking has been discussed on the basis that she's got into punch-ups with so many random bar-goers...and on one occasion...a mannequin in the window of a clothes' shop.

While quite clever in the tactical sense, Kora was never the most academic of folks, and tends to be a bit disparaging of learned people.
Beyond all this bravado and temper however, Kora can be quite a decent person. She has a good sense of humor, not seeming to take herself too seriously, and being one of the first to joke about things, even in grim situations. She is quite talkative and sociable, easily slipping into conversation with others.

Above all she is extremely brave...to a degree most would would call 'suicidal'. She seems to be totally unconcerned about danger or personal safety, and is happy to leap into potentially lethal situations to help or protect her crewmates....even if the odds make it incredibly ill-advised. Perhaps as a result of her almost kamikaze mode of crisis-management, she never panics, no matter how dangerous things get.

She has a considerable degree of loyalty toward Captain Murdock and would follow him on near enough anything, though such loyalty isn't necessarily accompanied by reverence. She is happy enough to make light of him or criticize him when she sees it as necessary, though her military background means she'll generally follow orders, even if she does not agree with them.

Likes:

- Sugary Food
Sugar wasn't widely available when Kora was growing up on Sigyn, and acquiring some was quite rare, even for the comparatively rich families, as it had to be imported. Very little would grow on the icy moon. As a result, candy for Kora makes her rather nostalgic of the parties her family used to have during her childhood.

-Dogs
Kora loves dogs. They were extremely important on Sigyn, both as a mode of transport, and as a means of guarding property. She owned dogs throughout her childhood, and often slept with her face buried in the fur of a malamute or husky. She was quite bereft to find that during her tour of duty, her favourite dog, Ushi ("Ox"), had had to be put down when his legs had given in.

She often can't resist petting or making a fuss of dogs she comes across.

-Games
Kora likes games, sports and such. Few people who know her play with her anymore however, because they know she's very competitive, and also a pretty bad loser...and bad winner...especially a bad winner.

Dislikes:

- Excessive Heat
She grew up on an extremely cold moon, and got very used to the weather. As a result, Kora is not at all keen on too much heat. As a redhead, she gets easily sunburned, which means she prefers to cover up in the sun if she possibly can.

- Expensive/Fancy clothing.
Kora invariably dislikes having to wear anything intricate or expensive. More often than not it makes her feel like one of those small dogs that the owners dress in tuxedos and ballet tutus, overdressed, forced into it, and resentful of every second of it.

- Feeling Weak
Kora is proud. Extremely proud, and she hates to end up feeling weak or inadequate. This often means that she'll actively repel people from trying to help her if she is hurt or unwell, will often take on tasks she's not really equipped for an not ask for help, and'll keep any problems she has from people until they're....really big problems.

History:

Kora was born on the lonely, backwater moon known as Sigyn. The moon possessed a harsh, frosty climate despite the terraforming, and as a result conventional farming as many outlying worlds resorted to, was extremely difficult. Most of the occupants took to farming reindeer or fish instead. What Sigyn did have going for it however was its minerals, with large numbers of valuable compounds being available in the rocks of the small moon. Claim to the resources by the various families that resided there, Kora's being one of the biggest and the best connected. As far as Sigyn society went, the Neverwinters were pretty big news, being the owners of the largest mine, the largest employer on the moon...and being staunchly pro-coalition. Most of their trade was with Coalition, who would use their exports on The Core.

Nearly every fit member of the family had done a term of military service on The Core, Kora had been no different, and had loved the military service. Certainly Coalition work was often dangerous, and some things she had done had been a little suspect...but at that point in her life, Kora had seen no reason to question her superiours. She was every bit a good little Coalition guard dog.

Things changed however a few months after Kora's return from duty on The Core. Some new folks arrived on Sigyn...some folks that certainly didn't have the best interests of the residents in mind. They were a bunch of no good types who had their eyes on the mine...and enough men and guns to take it. Fearing they would be overrun, Kora's father Ren sent out a call to the nearest Coalition ship, assuming they would rush to their aid...but they were met with refusal, and a statement that the troops had orders to remain on board until further notice.

With aid denied to them, it went as badly as could be expected. Even with military training and weapons the family and their workers were vastly ill-equipped and outnumbered. They were overrun by the invading force in a bloody conflict that saw Kora’s father killed, and Kora herself badly injured. She took a hit which smashed her ribs and collapsed one of her lungs, something that was extremely serious, especially given the limited medical facilities on Sigyn. It soon became infected, and Kora was slated to die from her wounds, but surprisingly, she managed to recover herself.

While she'd managed to cheat death, the fever had lost her weeks, and by the time she was herself enough to speak with her family about the disaster, she was horrified to discover that they'd surrendered the mine and their lands to the invaders in exchange for somewhere to stay, effectively becoming tenants to the men who had killed her father. The woman was horrified and frustrated at the decision, though had little choice in the matter.

For a few weeks, while she recovered, she struggled to try and reconcile with her family's decision...that was until Coalition men returned to Sigyn to trade. She came across them doing business with the new owners of the mine....much cheaper business than the Neverwinters had offered. As she heard that...it all slid into place. The Coalition had left them to get battered so they could get cheaper goods.

She wanted to go in there and smash their smug faces in. She wanted to blow up to whole damned mine so nobody could have it. She wanted to see the local Coalition commander get mauled by a pack of rabid dogs....but even Kora knew that this was too much for her to handle.

Her family was happy to lie down and get dirt kicked in their face...but Kora couldn't live the rest of her life that way...and so, after rather unceremoniously breaking the nose of one of the Coalition men, she found the nearest ship off that lonely moon. A month of so afterwards she found herself in one of the trading hubs on the outer planets, and shortly after a rather ill-tempered fight in a bar there she ran into a man by the name of Naliff Murdock.

Most captains might have hesitated at allowing a woman on board who had just recently committed assault and battery on an Coalition Lieutenant despite having her chest bandaged and arm in a sling, but that sort of attitude proved to act in Kora's favour on ship. There weren't so many who could take on three guys one handed, and it seemed that this skill in combat coupled with apparent lack of sense in regard to danger won her the post of first mate. She soon proved herself to be very good at her job, abandoning her former identity of rich girl and coalition grunt. Kora and Captain Murdock faced numerous adventures together. He never talked about himself, and she never asked. It made for a very favourable working relationship.


Extra: Kora has a tattoo on her shoulder, with the Chinese characters for 'Ox' and a stylized representation of a dog, a tribute to her favorite pet. She doesn't tend to admit that though out of fear of being called sentimental, and tends to make up alternative stories....ones she had trouble keeping straight.

She has a large amount of scarring on her ribs on the left side, something that she is not in the least bit self-conscious about.