The Characters of Angelfyre

DEMRES  (Degenerative Mitochondrial Ribonucleic Expression Syndrome) is a hereditary human genetic disease, carried and passed on by the females. Carriers have a 50% chance of the disease expressing itself when they reach puberty, and the consequences, should this happen, are beyond horrifying. The disease causes massive corruption in the transcription of RNA within the mitochondria of the body. The aftermath is a slow, horrifically painful death over the course of months that is both incurable and untreatable. Not only do the parents endure the agonizing death of their child, but as it is completely undetectable, they risk the same happening if they were to bear another. The only way any person knows if they are a carrier is if a sibling or child passes away from it.

Felsians are a mysterious hybrid of human and their alien companions, the Fel. Several human couples gave birth to them after using a special black market genetic splicing tool known as a 'kit', although no one knows where these kits came from. The felsians were the supposed answer to DEMRES, but there exists no information on who created them. Either way, not a single felsian has ever exhibited the disease, indicating that the hybridization of human and Fel was the key to beating DEMRES. This concept is highly controversial, as any and all non-natural hybridization of sentient species is strictly forbidden within all UniSys member systems. Because of this, the felsians fall between the cracks of legislation, regarded as 'unregisterable' and having no access to social benefits or formal employment.

Felsians have a few curious characteristics. The most notable, apart from their wonderfully colorful eyes, is their complete lack of reproductive organs. Once again it is a total mystery why this is, but it throws the whole concept of 'sex' in the garbage can for them. Although felsians still have distinctly identifiable genders (male and female), they experience no sexual response (females also have a much reduced bust size). Felsian relationships are more... fluid and unadulterated... compared to humans as a result, based purely on emotion and feeling rather than sexual attraction.

The primary character of the series, Casey is a teenage felsian girl whose origin (and surname) is a mystery. What is known is that her parents were killed in a shuttle accident when she was just a little girl, adopted shortly after by her foster mother, Elissa, who was a close friend of Casey's father. Casey has no other surviving family, no uncles or aunts, grandparents or otherwise. We do know that her only aunt passed away from DEMRES, prompting her parents to secure a 'kit', and the reason Casey is a felsian.

At the start of the story, Casey is 17 years old, having spent her entire life in the mining town of Fuldarnus on Alerean-6. She has virtually no friends (very few people raise families in Fuldarnus) and spends her days helping Elissa run her artefact hustling business. She is very astute and dedicated, but the relentless, repeating cycle of their dreary daily routine takes its toll on her, and although generally a kind and understanding person, she tends to exist under an existential storm cloud that constantly tests her altruistic demeanor. Elissa was strict on Casey, making very sure she never went the way of doing drugs or alcohol, despite their usual daily routine of rendezvousing at the local GronJon pub before retiring home for the night (There are no restaurants in Fuldarnus. If you want to eat out, it's the pub).

Casey's close companion, Angel, is the avatar of the Angelfyre SI. She is an intelligence that exists within the SI and is responsible for assisting the Angelfyre pilots in all manner of operations, intelligence assessment and mission execution, including piloting and training. Although Angel is completely synthetic, she experiences deep, human-like emotions unlike any other artificial intelligence in existence. The feelings are completely foreign to her, causing constant conflict within herself as she tries in vain to suppress them. Casey plays a critical role in helping Angel with dealing with her emotions, and this leads to them becoming very close companions. Because Angel is constantly connected to Casey through her ISD (Interconnect Sync Device), they share experiences at a level that is simply incomprehensible for the average person. Just like Angelfyre, Angel's origin is also shrouded in mystery, and she has no memory of anything before Casey found and activated her.

Angel's intellect is impossible to describe. She has the combined knowledge of the entire UniSys empire and computational power that is orders of magnitude greater than even the most powerful computer systems of the time. But despite this, she occasionally faces situations that she cannot figure her way out of, and Casey once again plays a critical role in supplying some good old-fashioned human perseverance irrespective of the ridiculously small odds of success that Angel may be seeing.

Casey's foster mother, Elissa, is a stocky, well-built human woman that exudes an air of best-not-piss-me-off wherever she goes. She dresses as per her vocation, like one would expect of that who goes exploring in ancient tombs and sets off booby traps. Elissa has a military background, although details are scant. Now approaching her late 50's, she has been in the artefact trade for a good 25 years, spending the first 10 with Casey's dad as her business partner (who also dabbled in the trade) prior to his untimely demise. 

Most of what she deals in are... not entirely legal, per se. The artefact trade is very lucrative within the UniSys systems, and strictly speaking, UniSys requires any person in possession of anything older than 200 years to have a permit. She has a stash of hidden storerooms, tunnels, and other nefarious places around Fuldarnus where she keeps her more questionable wares, and a network of trusty individuals that assist in moving things about.

The first apparent antagonist that Casey faces off against is High Commander Qutar-Rin, a well-built Fel officer serving within the UniSys Armed Forces. Qutar-Rin is blunt and pertinacious, following his mission objectives to within every nanometer of their parameters. He is willing to break whatever rules are necessary to achieve his final goal, something that does not always work out in his favor.

High General Paul Favraugh is the head of the entire UniSys Armed Forces across all member systems, overseeing all manner of planetary and atmospheric defence and tactical development. He serves alongside High Admiral Edison Consworth, head of the UniSys Naval Forces, under the direction of the UniSys Council Head of Defence, Director Chellar Stilcron. The general has one son, Jason Favraugh, who turns out to be an old family friend of Ellisa and Casey's. The relationship between Paul and his son became strained after the passing of the general's wife and his promotion to the High General rank, a responsibility demanding his full attention and offering little in the way of family time.

Corey is a longtime felsian friend of Casey's, arguably one of Casey's only real friends before she found Angel. Corey once lived in Fuldarnus, but after her father found better work in the neighboring town of Sultoonen she moved along with her family. She is an excitable and fun individual, the type that is constantly bouncing on her toes and giggling with joy at even the simplest of things. Casey was very fond of her, even jealous that Corey had this god-like ability to see the positive in everything and never get depressed regardless of how bad things could become. Corey had been a small light for her in times when she felt depressed, making it difficult for Casey, only 15 when Corey moved from Fuldarnus, being left alone with virtually no one else she could relate to in a town filled with poor miners and hustlers.

Jonroe Carter, a large and jolly character of similar age to Elissa, was an old friend and fellow artefact trader who once lived in Fuldarnus with his daughter and son-in-law. After the death of his granddaughter, Amy, who was also a close childhood friend of Casey's, he moved from Fuldarnus with his only daughter when her marriage fell apart and now lives in the town of Jentarsus on Oreannen-4. Despite being completely unrelated, Casey used to look up to Jonroe as her Uncle, and he in turn treated her like family.

Anders Leks (or Lex) is a quirky, weedy character that offers flesh mechanic services in the town of Fuldarnus. He garners most of his business from supplying budget neural wetware interfaces to the local asteroid mining industry, as modern-day miners now operate drone mining rigs within the nearby Alern belt remotely. On the side, he offers custom bionic services for the discerning bodymodder.