ã Name ã
Karen V. Troth
ã Alias ã
Bitch - A 'clever' name that Konrad will mutter in her presence and it is how he addresses her when talking to others. The nickname has grown, and it is how many of her peers will now refer to her when she is out of earshot. 'The Bitch' 'Bitch' 'Cold Bitch' and other inventive names.
Admiral Troth - The accepted name which people refer to her by. It is how she introduces herself, and she will expect them to refer to her as such if they desire to avoid issues.
Admiral - A suitable replacement for the above.
Karen - Only said if someone does not desire to live. Admiral Troth will not allow people to refer to her so informally and intimately, but it is one of the easiest ways to earn her ire.
ã Age ã
28
ã Height ã
5'10
ã Weight ã
164 .lbs
ã Hair ã
Dark Pink
ã Eyes ã
Indigo
ã Occupation ã
Admiral of 'Special Operations'
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
ã Skills ã
Mistress of Intrigue
Troth is widely renown among her fellow admirals for her... alternative take towards opposition. She strikes from the shadows, pulling upon invisible webs to force her opponents to dance to strings that suit her. Planning steps ahead of others, she often pits her enemies against one another letting them do the killing for her and grinding them down. It is said that if her efforts were more well-known, she would be one of the leading military officials within the Government, but most of her deeds go unknown and unnoticed which adds to her mystique, but as she would say, 'In her line of work, you know you have done well when not a soul can point the finger in your direction.'
Observant
Nothing escapes the Admiral's notice, she always seems to be able to take in everything before her down to the tiniest details and keep the information fresh in her mind until it comes of use. She is extremely good at reading people, and it has become something of a hobby, it is not unlike her to force people into precarious positions or to give them power to see what they will do with it. She is rarely caught by surprise by people or events, but when it happens, to call her elated would be an understatement. Nothing fires her up more than something that happened outside of her expectation because it means there is some small, little detail she has yet to have in her grasp.
Admiral
Despite her cloak and dagger nature, Troth is still an admiral and as such is still a master commander of the fleets able to pilot, command, and take control of whatever battle she is in with terrifying precision. She is often able to decipher the enemies plans when laid out before her and is one of the greatest Admirals in terms of using feints, ambushes, and other 'under-handed tactics' preferring stealth and cunning over firepower and brute force which often earns her ridicule from fellow admirals and even brave captains, but none can deny their effectiveness. Yet she knows there is a place for firepower and brute force and is not one to raise her nose at such options because pure force is, indeed, a mighty weapon.
Cooking/Cleaning
Something very few people know, but Troth is a skilled cook able to pull a meal from whatever sparse ingredients are laying around and is also well versed in keeping things 'tidy' able to remove stains from the stubbornest of spills, however, she refuses to clean and cook, herself, due to the fact her skill was not raised from enjoyment but through force as a slave for a sky pirate when she was a child. Preforming the actions reminds her of the beatings and the helplessness that once plagued her.
Combat
As an admiral, Troth is one of the greatest fighters on the planet. Many make the mistake of underestimating her because she prefers using her wits and plans over personally fighting and crushing her way through a battlefield and those that do tend to die. Despite her appearance and tactical preference, Troth is one of the greatest hand to hand experts within the Admiralty and her ranged combat prowess is nothing to scoff at able to hit a flying mark every time and be able to fit a single coin over the holes. She will often let the notion that she is weaker than her fellow admirals flourish as she much prefers opponents that underestimate her and will happily use such an advantage to her benefit, but it is safe to say that those who underestimate her rarely get a chance to repent that folly.
Writing
A skill as well as a hobby, and it is one of the few personal luxuries she allows herself. She keeps a detailed journal, and she also understands the amount of risk such a thing carries, but she does not speak of her plans or job, instead the journal is based more on her feelings and observations. It is the one place she allows herself to relax and be.. well... herself.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
ã Weaknesses ã
Risk Assessment
Due to her nature, she will often weigh things in her mind comparing threats and reward with people, groups, and actions, but this can, and has, made her blind to the power of the individual. Most of her attention is attracted to large groups with immediate destruction capabilities, and she will often scoff at the thought of a single man or woman being able to cause a major disturbance on their own. While she is very much a 'big picture' kind of woman, and loves details, she does not believe the tiny details are that great of an importance to the whole. If she replaces the tiny cog with another cog, the machine will still work and the cog will be forgotten, but she will often forget that not all cogs are the same shape or made from the same metal.
Distrusted
Few, if anyone sane, trust Troth. Most of the other admirals outright dislike her on a personal and professional basis and her aid or presence is rarely welcomed, and the higher echelons merely telling them she is 'special operations' which does little more than irritate them further when they make inquires of her and her actions. She has become something of a pariah that other admirals and captains will rarely speak of because it has become something of a social stigma this often leads many younger officers to have little idea as to who she is. While she claims it does not bother her, it does pose a rather large problem. Should she ever find her back to the wall with her plans failing, no one would come for her. She would be left to the wolves because she has not made 'friends' merely collected debt from those she thought would be useful. She has no one to call on for help should the worst occur.
Favoritism
A weakness spawned from her observational skill, it is not unlike Troth to develop fascinations with certain people where she will watch them closely, and put them into situations (often beneficial for their careers) in order to see what happens and this has lead to a certain type of favoritism that often annoys her other subordinates. It can also be detrimental to her plans because she leaves a greater leeway for those individuals even if it would alter the plan for worse. One such 'favoritism' is for William Konrad where she will meet with him personally when able instead of sending someone to speak for her as she does for the other hunters, mercenaries, and assassins working for her.
Personal Combat
While extraordinarily proficient at it, she does not like dirtying her own hands as to do so would imply that she failed. If she has to personally deal with something, it means her plans failed, and in turn, she was not capable of dealing with the issue effectively. This mindset means it is extremely rare for Troth to throw the first punch, and she will generally be less inclined to start blasting her way out of situations even if doing so was the better option.
ã Appearance ã
A woman who has never worn a dress in her life, Troth is often described as a hard, strong woman but that is truly just the aura and feeling she gives off with her fierce spirit and personal strength. Beneath the exterior and uniform, Troth is very attractive by any standards. Her thin face is defined by her high, sharp cheek bones, thin pointed chin, small nose delicately centered, and plump pink lips give her a very feminine glow when she allows it. Her smooth, unblemished pale skin is like silk when the outside world is graced with its appearance. Her thin shoulders, small breast give her a very lithe visage that is accented by her wide hips and long legs combine to give her the appearance of a regale noble woman yet who moves with a fluid grace that is reminisce of a feral cat on the prowl.
It could be said that Karen Troth has two faces: the woman and the admiral. Normally, her face is hard, her eyes sharp and piercing under expressive, thin arching eyebrows, her jaw set and chin raised. Her expression is often cold even when she allows smirks to skitter across her face, and she exudes strength of purpose to all those around her giving off an aura of someone twice her size. Her sharp, high cheek bones give her the illusion of glaring down at anyone who catches her attention even if they tower over her physically. Her natural beauty is hidden behind the cold exterior and ruthless professionalism that Admiral Troth is known for.
The other face is as rare as it is precious. When truly happy, when lost and confused or when truly surprised, all of which are rare occasions, the Admiral slips from her face and the softer woman shows. The cold, sharp exterior slides off, her eyes soften, her shoulders relax, and her harsh aura dissipates leaving in their wake an incredibly beautiful and vulnerable looking woman whose soft eyes seem to draw people in and beg them for unknown assistance and love. This side of her, the face beneath the walls, is something that rarely, if ever appears, and it only does so for a few precious moments. Some of the oldest men and women she has working for her can scarcely remember the times when this has happened, but every time it has, it has captured their attention for even they know that to see this side of her, even for a moment, is one of the rarest things they will see in their lifetime.
ã Transportation ã
The Shadowsun is Admiral Troth's personal warship. Her personal ship is smaller than many others of her station who prefer larger, massively armed 'battleships' or 'carriers' compared to hers which would be closer to a destroyer class designed for direct firepower and gives her more maneuverability. The Shadowsun, as befitting an Admiral, has numerous retrofits that make it far superior to most other airships in service including a large communications relay that allows commanders to better coordinate with nearby airships and maintain battle coherency. The heavy reactive armor has 'dampening' systems that absorb various frequencies making it near undetectable by anything besides the naked eye.
The large destroyer has a crew of a little over one hundred including combat personnel. The destroyer, fittings its name, is heavily armed with five flak cannons to provide anti-light airship and is effective against personal airships (also very good for 'ground support'), it has two on the top of the ship allowing limited firearcs above and in front of the destroyer, one on either side with a large radius to swivel and turn to cover its flanks, and one on the very bottom of the ship that can swivel and turn to provide support beneath the airship as well as to fire upon the ground should the need appear. The main weaponry, however, are two 'Reaper Cannons' jutting out from the front of the ship. The cannons cannot turn or move thus they can only fire what the ship is directly facing, however the cannons are very powerful firing mass-reactive shells designed to puncture armor then explode after penetration causing maximum damage to enemy airships. It is incredibly deadly to warships, however, at close range against light warships, it has the tendency to 'over-penetrate' and so not explode until after it has passed through to the other side greatly diminishing its stopping power.
Within the Shadowsun is a small docking bay that allows for one small airship to enter and leave, this is Troth's personal airship that is used when she wishes to go somewhere without alerting the entire populace to her large destroyer. Much like the shadowsun, it 'absorbs' frequencies and waves to block it from anything save for human eyesight. It is large enough for four people to sit comfortably in.
ã Standard Equipment ã
Needle
Her personal sidearm is a vicious weapon that she had personally crafted for herself and at great expense. Comparing the cost of the weapon and its ammo, she could have had a custom built personal airship for the same price. The weapon is a long, thin, elegant looking white pistol with silver carvings running along the metal, but its beauty is only beaten by its lethality. The pistol only has enough power and ammo for a very limited number of shots, five to be precise, before she has to have to bring it in to the artificer who crafted it for reloading as the pistol is far too advanced for anyone else to tinker with and the ammunition far too dangerous.
The Needle is powered through an archaic system that uses highly compressed air and electricity to propel the 'needles' out from the weapon at extraordinary velocity allowing them to easily puncture and penetrate whatever stands in their way. It is said that if Troth were to ever replace the normal needles for solid metal spikes she could impale people to the walls, but the needles she uses are far more dangerous. The needles are crafted from Cho'tosa Crystals in the Mesa Todkin mines, extremely dense and expensive gems that are hollowed out for her purpose. Each needle is extraordinarily thin being no thicker than a strand of hair and little over four inches long, in the hollow needle is a distilled toxin from the korpin toad of the zantos marsh, the toxin is something few people know about, but it is one of the deadliest in the known world and is incredibly... revolting in its use. The toxin causes the blood vessels in the target to start to rapidly expand until they burst, which in an animal or human, causes them to quite literally burst spraying viscera and gore around them. The process is extraordinarily painful, but luckily, brief as the body part bloats and 'burst' in seconds, but as even Troth admits, it is a gruesome and revolting process and, in truth, Troth hates using it, but she cannot deny its effectiveness.
For it is not the killing potential that she favors, it is the dread the Needle causes. Once someone has seen the effects of the pistol, few will ever stand before her again, and many that are doing so will throw down their arms or flee rather than risk such a fate. The Needle is a powerful tool capable of cowering potential foes before they launch their attacks. The Needle does have its draw backs being the small clip size, extreme cost to reload and time required, and it has the tendency to over penetrate the target. It is designed to penetrate in that start to 'shred' its layers and deliver the poison as it moves through the body, but at close ranges, it has simply blown a small hole through their body before enough layers were 'shredded' and the poison was not delivered.
Rapier
When one hits admiral, they are often gifted with a custom, high quality blade as a reward and badge of station. Troth was no different and when asked what kind of blade should be forged for her, she requested the Rapier for she prefers the quick, accurate lethality of it over the hacking and slashing blades preferred by other Admirals. The blades are forged with the strength and raw power of Admirals in mind, as such, they are incredibly resilient and will not chip or break unless under extreme duress that... well, suffice to say if an Admiral was in such a situation that a sword that can be shot with leaving a mark shatters, they are more than likely dead already.
While she has the Rapier, it is very rare for her to use it, and should she draw the blade, it is a sign of respect as it means they will get to face her when she is no longer holding back and is now going for the kill. No one she has drawn the blade on in combat has survived.
ã Specialist Equipment ã
As an Admiral, and a wealthy woman with plenty of connections, there are few things that she could not get her hands on if she so desired. She generally doesn't need anything as she rarely gets her own hands dirty because she has people to do that for her.
ã Wealth ã
Admiral Troth has amassed a fair amount of wealth over the course of her career. Her job pays rather handsomely, and she augments that with underworld dealings and tradings to further expand her spy networks and to grease palms when it is required. She is not one to gloat or flaunt her wealth, and few people know the extent of her money as Troth does not own a single building, not even an apartment, nor does she have any money in any banking system.
ã Family ã
None to her knowledge.
ã Personalityã
{Proud || Refined || Professional || Resolute || Patient || Distrusting || Individualistic}
Karen Troth is a very proud woman, and she has much to be proud of. One of the youngest to ever become an admiral, she already holds numerous commendations... as well as reprimands that surpass more than a few of her senior admirals. She knows, rightly so, that her abilities are rare, in high demand, and make her extremely powerful in her own right, and she takes such knowledge of her worth in stride, however, she will not abide insults to her person. She can tolerate nicknames, snickers, or snide comments behind her back, but Troth will never allow direct disrespect to go unpunished because not only is it a blow to her pride to attempt to force her to 'accept' such comments, but it is a deadly blow to her reputation which is something she simply cannot abide. Insulting her is one of the few ways to force her into personal combat which ends fairly badly for whoever does it. Because of her pride, Troth refuses to accept anything less than perfection from herself and others, this does make her very demanding of her subordinates and very hard on mistakes. She will often leave such mistakes alone until it has grown into a large problem, and the person who caused it comes to her and falls before her and seeks forgiveness as that is the best way to learn as they will not forget it then. Due to her pride, she will refuse to bow her knee or admit when she cannot do something on her own even if she must pretend to be in control then she will, her pride simply cannot allow her to show weakness or vulnerability.
Admiral Troth is anything if not refined. She moves with pose and purpose, her movements graceful and direct. When she speaks, it is with authority and elegance.. if not condescending at times. It is rare, if not impossible, to catch her with 'bed hair' or other such dreadful moments because she takes good care of her appearance as it is a weapon as much as her blade is. Her clothing, unless otherwise desired, is immaculate and usually very masculine as femininity has little use in her line of work. She will almost always speak with a certain level of civility even when burning with rage and will 'kill with politeness' as well as get her point across, no matter how deadly the point may be, without breaking her demeanor. Many who have met her link it akin to meeting a far older, and wiser, noble matron who seems to know far more than she lets on.
In fact, not breaking her demeanor is a major point in her nature as Troth is incredibly professional. She is very much the admiral first and the woman second, her duty and job come before anything else, and she does not let anything get in the way of that. She will not condone 'relations' between her subordinates as it decreases proficiency and when it is time for business that is all there is time for. While 'on the clock' any half-smiles she offers, deadpan jokes she lets slip, or mused pondering are focused on improving or solidifying her power and her career. Troth has always been extremely successful in separating her personal feelings from what she needs to do to the point where she can become 'robotic' and cold to the world around her, less 'human' and more 'admiral'.
This separation of her psyche allows her to be extremely resolute in her decisions. Some actions, no matter how cruel or terrifying, simply must be done, sometimes there is no decision besides the hard one, and Admiral Troth never backs down from such things. If she must kill one hundred, to save a thousand, if she must sacrifice an officer to take down a sky pirate, if she must burn a city to save a nation, then so be it. What makes her an effective admiral is that she never shrinks from these moments, she will raise her chin, straighten her back, and walk through hell if it is necessary and she respects others who can do the same as she firmly believes a 'monster' can do far more for the world then a hero could ever hope to do. It is... almost sad that Troth, while not enjoying harm others or killing, will do so, will bury her heart and hardened her resolve to do what must be done.
With her profession and specialization comes a certain level of patience, and Troth considers herself to be a woman of great patience willing to plant a seed, watch it grow, sprinkle water and sunshine on it waiting for the opportune time in which to harvest her investment. This does help her in dealing with people she may not necessarily like, and she has no problem sitting in the same spot for hours and simply waiting for a single moment to come. This incredible patience can be very unnerving to others as even in the tensest of situations, she will radiate a calm and poise as she simply waits for whatever is to happen to happen. However, there are a few actions that will shatter her patience near instantly and when that happens, Troth is a terrifying woman indeed.
Trust is something Troth has learned is simply not allowed in her line of work. While it may seem she 'trust' people, she never truly does. No matter how 'noble' or 'honest' someone is, they will always have a hidden agenda, at some point or another, they will betray her and hurt her if given the chance. She will always try to have plans in motion to 'ensure' loyalty to her, but even then, she always half expects betrayal and deception from her own subordinates even those closest to her. This distrusting nature also causes others to distrust her as she never allows them close enough to get to know the woman and not the admiral and coupled with her actions and job makes it near impossible to ever fully trust her motives, and she would call them foolish if they ever fully trusted her. This has led her to be fairly isolated and alone in the world.
However, it isn't all bad as Troth is a very individualistic woman. She tends to prefer her own company and considers other people to be either tools or amusing distractions that she can 'study'. While, at times, she will crave true human interaction where she can just be Karen instead of Admiral Troth, she crushes such feelings quickly as said feelings is how people die. No matter the situation, she forces herself to be emotionally closed off, and island in the middle of the sea. She is at the top of a pyramid, commanding those below her, but with no one with her. A lonely, but safe lifestyle. It could be said that Karen has never had a single friend in her entire life, and it wouldn't be far from the truth. She would not even know where to start on such a thing, and if her walls ever came down, she would be vulnerable and weak to the world, easily crushed and that is one of her greatest fears, letting someone in and what time has proven will happen. She can survive as a lone island in the sea, and she will survive.
ã Origin ã
Despite being an Admiral, not much is known about her past before her military career which does not help with the distrust the other military officers show her. There are rumors and whispers that she used to be a slave to a sky pirate, what sky pirate or even if this is true is largely unknown, how she started her military career or what has happened over it is largely a mystery which suits Troth as the lack of information on her is just as much a weapon as anything else.