<span style="color: #FFFF00">The Special Exploration Team: </span>The Special Exploration Team is where each of your characters has been assigned. In short, the Special Exploration Team is simply the first group to step foot on each island and evaluate the risk to reward value of landing, as well as perform preliminary resource gathering and exploration. Typically, those placed on the Special Exploration Team have scored highly in self defence tests, problem solving and, to an extent, teamwork. Most of those assigned also have some form of scientific or magical expertise that has been deemed useful for the purposes of exploration and the recovery of useful tech or magic items. There are some rumours that the Special Exploration Team is the placement given to those that the government would rather not come back, as it is, potentially, one of the most dangerous placements, but these claims are based entirely on speculation and should not be taken seriously.<br/><div style="text-align: center;">--------------------------</div><br/><br/><span style="color: #8000BF">Cassius:</span>Cassius the artist, an anomaly on this ship of science and exploration. She observes, while she herself is observed. She seeks to aide in the world's rebuilding, but what can a sculptor offer when it is engineers that are needed? Has she been included on this voyage because she has earned the right, or exactly the opposite? Is she considered a waste of resources, sent to die out on the sea? Could the planners possibly be so callous?<br/><br/>One of the men clambering about in the rigging swings himself down upon the deck, shouting out orders regarding rope storage as he walks across the deck. For a moment he stand in the centre of the ship- a tall man of twenty something with olive skin and well defined musculature. While he certainly has the build of a sailor, he does not wear the garb usually associated with them- instead he wears what appears to be a wide bolt of cloth wrapped strategically about his legs to form an approximation of a pair of pants- the cloth dyed royal blue and embroidered with hundreds of little pictures in gold thread. He turns slowly, arms crossed, surveying the sailor's efforts with a slight frown on his face- a frown which deepens when he sees Cassius in her corner of the deck. He quickly approaches her.<br/><br/>"Hmpf- You the<span style="font-style: italic">artist</span>?" The man says- intoning the word artist with the same mixture of contemplation and mild derision that is usually reserved for addressing naive men in expensive suites when they have ventured into the wrong neighbourhood alone and on foot.<br/><br/>As he speaks, an odd change comes over him. The voice is where it first becomes noticeable; slowly at first, but then with increasing rapidity, the deep voice deepens, then starts to crackle like an old record. A thick beard sprouts from the man's face, growing white at an alarming speed as it reaches down towards the deck, the man sweeping the meters long facial hair around his body and out of the way with practised ease. He grabs a specific fold of his 'trousers' and pulls it upwards, transforming the garment instantaneously into a toga to complete his transformation into the very picture of an elderly denizen of ancient Greece.<br/><br/>His eyes bore into Cassius'; twin orbs of brown so dark as to be almost black, set in a face so weathered that the skin could be mistaken for tanned leather. "Why are you here, artist? This journey is for sailors, scientists and warriors; sculptures are for temples, not the sea, nor the lab, nor the battlefield."