Thomas Plisken

Gender: Male

Age: 70ish

Group: Security Dept & Ship Defence

Game: Blue Dwarf

Species

Human

Job

Guarding the Store of Biscuits

Physical Appearance

Plisken has dark green eyes set deeply into a weathered face. His face bears the marks of age and war, but looks young compared to his eyes. Those green eyes appear sad from everything Plisken has seen, all the battles and fighting he’s been through. His hair is long, usually tied back, and is white from age. His beard is white as well, a long mane of hair giving Plisken an air of wisdom.

Plisken almost always wears his military great coat, an almost constant companion though his adventures. It is a replica of a true officer’s coat, a replacement for one he lost many, many years ago. It is as worn and battered as he is, tore at the edges, burned, discoloured by mud and dust and sand. Its true colour wears once a grey/blue but it has been lost under the mud and dust.

His hat, a ‘souvenir’ from his 5 year trek through a time dilation field in the ship, is another seemingly permanent fixture in Plisken’s day to day clothing. Its original owner had little use for it, being impaled by a Huzzard spear in one of the gardens, so Plisken took it for his own. It is made of brown leather with a wide brim and a tall crown. A blue strand of ribbon sometimes hugs the base of the crown on special occasions. On even special-er occasions, like honouring the dead, a feather from an unknown bird is seen. The significance is lost to everyone, including Plisken. He vaguely recalls seeing it in a movie but beyond that his memory fails him.

A silver pocket watch rests within one of the pockets of his coat, a special memorial for his wife. Garth, one of Plisken’s most trusted friends, carried it while Plisken hid from Brittany. Plisken made it during one of his more overly dramatic days, the inscription ‘Never Forget’ carved inside. Of course, Plisken has long since accepted her loss, but he still carries out her last wish: to tell her death in a more exciting and horrific way. And so Plisken does, overly dramatising his wife’s death, but keeps the watch anyway- just in case.

Since he was captured by Time with No Boundaries, Plisken lost his left eye during torture.

Personality and Interests

Plisken has become more sociably in his old age, despite the fact his aging from 30 to 70 took a month at the most. But more than becoming friends with the rest of the crew, Plisken finds himself protective of the crew, a grandfatherly instinct. They are all a ‘damn sight’ younger than him and more liable to make mistakes, or at least in his eyes. Plisken feels it is his duty to look after them, even if it is from afar.

He, at one time, had issues with his anger. But, like his sociability, has dramatically changed since he aged. Rarely does Plisken even raise his voice or fight with other crew members over petty things.

Plisken has lived for a long time, much longer than the rest of the crew, and Plisken has seen a lot and done a lot. This gives him a wide range of knowledge to call upon (if he can call upon it) to use as advice for his fellow crewmates. But more than giving out advice, Plisken loves to tell stories from his past: great space battles and adventures or re-telling stories that his father told of his father.

Plisken once enjoyed reading about military tactics but discovered that the information was less than relevant when living on a near derelict mining ship with a crew where that half of them don’t know how to fight. But that aside, Plisken likes to read fiction, most anything.

His favourite, and most practiced, past time is smoking. Using a pipe that Garth gave him (a wooden pipe with carvings that depict the story of MacBeth- made during one of Garth’s stranger moods), Plisken smokes just about any tobacco he can get his hands onto. His favourite, and probably most lethal, tobacco is QuickaDeath. There are several varieties that give different colours of smoke and taste.

History

To say Plisken’s history is shrouded in mystery would be an understatement. But the only reason this is so is because Plisken either tells different versions depending on the situation or people rarely ask. But the truth (or at least some of it) is this:

Plisken was not born with the name Thomas Plisken and nor was he born into a family of accountants like his official record states. Where, when and to he was born to is not relevant. Nor is what his real name is. As Plisken would say: ‘What matters is my name is Plisken now’. So Plisken first signed up with the Space Corps when he was 17, taking the opportunity with his two friends, Duncan Idaho and Kate Gerhardt. While Duncan went to study the sciences and Kate went to become a Doctor, Plisken became an Ensign on the HMS Firefly, a ship under the command of Captain Reynolds.

Kate became a medical officer and completed her medical training 4 years later at the rank of Lieutenant. Duncan was sent to Mars to study various engineering and science subjects, emerging as a Chief of Engineering 3 years later. But by some luck, chance or divine intervention, all three friends were eventually signed onto the same ship, the HMS Firefly, under the command of Captain Reynolds.

Plisken, who had been on the Firefly the longest, had already been through several battles. Thanks to his exemplary skill at command, Captain Reynolds made him Junior Lieutenant. Plisken served as the Weapons officer on the bridge of the ship as his predecessor, Lieutenant Tuvoc, had been killed in the prior battle.

During the course of the Rebellion, a war in which the systems on the Outer Rim rose up against their rulers from the Core and would last 10 years, Plisken showed great skill and was soon the First Mate and with the rank of Commander on the Firefly. Kate also gained the rank of commander and had become the Chief of Medicine. Duncan had taken a year out of service to train as an officer, returning as a Chief of Operations – command of everything technical on the ship (Master of the Technical Stuff, as Plisken would call him). However, perhaps the most important of all these events was the marriage of Kate and Plisken. But during the final battle of the Rebellion, a battle that which would either give victory to the Rebellion or end the war once and for all- The Battle of Serenity Valley. There were many Valleys with the same name but this battle took place in the biggest of them all. Serenity Valley was a sector in space where 10 planets, 5 aside, were lined in exact parallels, creating a Valley. Fleets numbering in the hundreds took places on either side of the Valley. The fighting was fierce but the battle was ultimately one and the Rebellion was crushed. It was not, however, without loss. The HMS Firefly was lost, a direct hit from an Ion Cannon taking out decks 3 through 25. Few of the crew survived the initial impact and those that did escaped. But Captain Reynolds stayed behind, guiding the ship at full speed into a Rebel Carrier. Kate was too lost. Plisken found it hard to accept her loss, not getting over her death for another ten years.

Many years later, Commodore Plisken, now 51, was offered a desk job but refused. He retained his command of the Equinox and given the mission of exploration. The Equinox was sent to beyond the Outer Rim to chart the stars. For the next 5 years, the galaxy was at peace. But Plisken was not. He missed his wife, who had died 20 years ago. Garth tried to have Plisken evaluated but Plisken refused every time. Plisken was eventually got to the point were he was giving the order to dig up his wife. He had read, while on leave on Arcadia, that there was a method of bringing the dead back to life. When he received Kate’s body, he attempted the method. Despite help from Garth and Duncan, the operation was a failure. It was then that Plisken finally accepted his loss and moved on. Without disrespect to Kate (and in fact honouring her last wish), Plisken used her in stories that he used to scare new recruits on his ship. He changed the story to add more blood and fear but the same plot was kept.

And now because I can’t be bother to edit it, the full story of Plisken’s last command:

Plisken stood on his ship, alone save for the lab mice in the science labs. The others, the crew, the droids, the snack dispensers (who had a much better union than the lab mice) had been evacuated on the escape pods and Starbugs. The HMS Indefatigable had been through a lot with Plisken, being the third ship he’d served on and the second he’d had command over, and Plisken felt perfectly safe behind her strong metal bulkheads. Ahead of the Indefatigable were three ships under the command of Brittany. One of the ships lay wrecked and drifting, warm plasma leaking from the engine drives. The other two were in perfectly good condition, which was much better than the Indefatigable was. Brittany, who had got command of Plisken, had order the Commodore to retrieve the Genesis Ark, a legendry device built by the ancient civilization of sentient Pepper and Salt Shakers. The Ark had been lost when the Pepper Shakers went to war with the Salt Shakers several thousand years ago. The Ark granted the gift of youth, reducing the age of the user to any desired number. Brittany wanted it for obvious reasons but it was always beyond her grasp. The captains under her direct command, although strong and brave, were unbelievably stupid. They had never been able to find the Ark. But Plisken, with his average intelligence, was able to locate the Ark easily. The only problem was that the Ark had been secured deep with the Arcadia: a city on one of Heartfall’s moons, Ulysses. Arcadia was a huge facility that housed many books and much knowledge. Plisken was order to sack the city using one of Dr. Pritchard’s latest weapons: the Q-Bomb. Of course Plisken had used the bomb before and he knew its destructive abilities. But he had little choice: he was 68 and had been serving for 51 tours. He wouldn’t be able to defend against a knife in the dark anymore. So the bomb was dropped and the Ark recovered. But Plisken couldn’t give it to Brittany, she’d live for ever. He declared that he would keep it form himself, out of reach from Brittany. She didn’t take to kindly to that. And now he was here, sailing with a Q-Bomb laden hold into the heart of the Medusa Maelstrom. The Medusa Cascade, once known as the Medusa Maelstrom, was an area of space above the Planet Heartfall. It was so call because of the violent storm of strange green vapours that resembled snakes. It was perfectly harmless and very beautiful. But unknown to everyone, the Medusa Maelstrom was a location of where the fabric of reality was weakened. Plisken fired the Q-Bomb, hoping to destroy the Brittany ships. He of course did, it’s kind of hard to miss with a bomb that can take out a large asteroid. But the bomb ripped open the Maelstrom and sucked the Indefatigable in, sending it back 300 years. The Maelstrom (sealed from the after explosion of the Q-Bomb) calmed down and became the Medusa Cascade. Plisken arrived at the sight of the Maelstrom as it was 300 years ago. It was rather docile, a simple nebula. But the ship began to malfunction and the warp drive went into over time, self destructing. Plisken had enough time to escape on the Captain’s Yacht and jettison the Ark into space. The explosion from the ship, the warp drive and several Q-Bombs, caused a rip in the fabric of reality and the space time continuum and created the Medusa Maelstrom.

For the next 300 years, Plisken used the Ark to live on until he could re-emerge as himself in the future. Fearful of Brittany and the STCP, Plisken avoided using the Maelstrom to travel in time. But he did not count on the stasis leak on the Blue Dwarf. With only a couple more weeks until he could resume his position as himself, he was caught in the disaster on the Blue Dwarf. The Ark was safe within the Ship, quiet and unused for 3 million years but whether or not the Genesis Ark still functions remains to be seen.

Favourite Sayings

Fortune Favours the Brave
Who Dares, wins

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This character is owned by: Mobius64