• Age: 75 (the average lifespan of a human is 500)


  
• Homeworld: Earth (Tianjing Monarchy, formerly China)


  
• Languages: Fluent in ISL (Intergalactic Standard Language), Mandarin, swears in six other dialects


  
• Specialty: Pilot, hacker, shit-stirrer


  

  Fang is a born-and-raised Earthling, specifically from what used to be China—until the whole Tianjing Monarchy thing happened a century ago. The country rebranded under a dynasty-style rule (another flavor of megacorporate overlordship). Fang didn’t exactly vibe with it, so she ran. Ran fast, ran far, and now she runs ships for a living.

  

  
• 
  
    Personality: Fang is fast—fast talker, fast thinker, fast to shove the throttle when she shouldn’t. She’ll hack her way out of anything but prefers to do it with flair. She owes money to a lot of people, mostly because she believes in high-risk, high-reward investment schemes (they are neither high-reward nor good investments).
  
    


  
• 
  
    Notable Traits:
  
    
  
  
    
  • Can fly anything with an engine, sometimes even things without one.
  
  
    
  • Has a boyfriend, which shocks everyone because she’s usually more committed to caffeine than human relationships.
  
  
    
  • Once tried to get into Neural Bond Speculation and lost all her money. Everyone still makes fun of her for it.
  
  
    
  
  
    


  

  

  
• Age: 130


  
• Homeworld: Earth (Formerly Argentina, now under South American Federation)


  
• Languages: ISL, Earth Standard, Spanish, grumbling


  
• Specialty: Captain, muscle, grand champion of stupid plans


  

  Gravel is from what was once Argentina, back when it was still a country and not just a sector of the South American Federation. He did a stint in deep-space salvage, got into a few fights, stole a ship (or three), and ended up the de facto captain of the Black Fang just because he was the first one out of all of them to get himself a vessel. He didn’t exactly plan to be a career outlaw, but things just kept happening (mostly his fault).

  

  
• 
  
    Personality: He’s got big older brother energy, the kind that would let you touch an electric fence just to see what happens. Loud, confident, and morally flexible, but has a weirdly strong sense of loyalty—if you’re his crew, you’re family, even if he spends half the time arguing with you.
  
    


  
• 
  
    Notable Traits:
  
    
  
  
    
  • Cannot go five minutes without cracking a joke, even when getting shot at.
  
  
    
  • Despises corpo types but somehow keeps ending up in business with them.
  
  
    
  • Had a family once. Doesn’t talk about them. Ever. The only hint he gives is in the way he never shoots to kill first unless absolutely necessary—like some part of him still believes in a line he shouldn’t cross.
  
  
    
  
  
    


  

  

  
• Age: 128


  
• Homeworld: Haret (Earth’s so-called “sibling planet”)


  
• Languages: ISL, Earth Standard, Haret dialects, sighing deeply


  
• Specialty: Fixing broken shit, tactics, making sure Gravel doesn’t die


  

  Haret was humanity’s Plan B, discovered in the early 2300s orbiting Gliese 667 Cc—a super-Earth with just enough habitability to make colonization viable. In 2400, a bunch of people looked at Earth’s skyrocketing costs of living and said, “Screw it, let’s build a mega-billion spaceship and get off.” The first waves of settlers were desperate, stubborn, and willing to live in near-unbreathable air just to escape Earth’s corporate chokehold. Fair play to them, Haret actually ends up rather democratic at most places.

  Hunter comes from that scrappy, make-it-work lineage. She doesn’t believe in luck, only good planning and backup plans for the backup plans. She’d rather be in the wild than on a ship, but somehow, she bought it when Gravel invited her on-board. Not sure if she regrets it.

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• 
  
    Personality: If Hunter had a motto, it’d be “Fine, I’ll do it myself”. She’s practical, level-headed, and not amused by most of Gravel’s antics, but she’s still here, so that says something.
  
    


  

  

  
• 
  
    Notable Traits:
  
    
  
  
    
  • Collects limited-edition soda cans from across galaxies. Drinks maybe half of them. The rest? Stored in pristine condition, labeled, and cataloged like museum artifacts.
  
  
    
  • Has pen pals all over the solar systems. Some are old friends. Some are criminals. A few might be royalty. No one knows how she keeps up with all of them, but she does.
  
  
    
  • Has a personal vendetta against vending machines. Claims she lost a small fortune to one on Haret as a kid. No one’s sure if she’s joking.
  
  
    
  
  
    


  

  

  
• Age: 147


  
• Homeworld: Kestris-9


  
• Languages: ISL, Orkashi, Karami, Earth Standard, and the languages of 5 distinct races


  
• Specialty: Corporate Standard, subtle threats


  

  Born and raised on Kestris-9, a mid-tier corporate-controlled planet in the Vei Accord system. Known for its dense, smog-laden cities and rigid corporate hierarchy, Kestris-9 breeds professionals who are as sharp as they are cutthroat. People don’t ask how you got to the top—only if you can stay there.

  She’s a Daskari—a human-like race with subtle differences: slightly heightened senses, a faintly iridescent sheen to their skin under UV light, and a biological resistance to certain toxins. Most Earthlings wouldn’t notice unless they were looking.

  

  
• Notable Traits:
  
    
  
  
    
  • Ex-Corporate Operative: Used to work for McPherson Dynamics, climbing the ranks through competence and adaptability. Good at reading people. Even better at making sure they don’t read her.
  
  
    
  • Hates inefficiency but somehow ended up on the Black Fang. She has accepted her fate. Mostly.
  
  
    
  • Unnervingly still when thinking. Can sit in absolute silence for hours, barely moving. Freaks people out.
  
  
    
  • Terrible at casual conversation. Ask her about interstellar trade policies, and she’ll monologue for an hour. Ask her how her day is, and she malfunctions.
  
  
    
  
  
    


  

  

  
• Age: 228


  
• Homeworld: Vorlun Prime (A mixed human-alien colony)


  
• Species: Half-Human, Half-Vorlani (yeah alien races all start with V here)


  
• Languages: Too many, but doesn’t brag about it


  

  Priest isn’t fully human—he’s half-Vorlani, a species that coexisted with humans on Vorlun Prime, a planet colonized centuries ago. Vorlani are biologically compatible with humans, but they have a few quirks:

  

  
• Higher neural processing speeds—Priest can process data like a computer.


  
• Darkened sclera & silver irises, a Vorlani genetic trait.


  
• Extends lifespan, meaning at 228, Priest is still considered early middle-aged.


  

  Priest should’ve been a scientist, a diplomat, or something important, but he chose to become an outlaw strategist instead because of circumstances. He thinks in probabilities, but no matter how much he claims he’s just “running the numbers,” it’s obvious he actually cares about the crew.

  

  
• 
  
    Personality: Priest is calm, calculated, and probably the only real adult in the room. He doesn’t raise his voice—he doesn’t have to. His dry humor cuts sharper than a knife, and his patience is staggering (except when dealing with Gravel).
  
    


  
• Notable Traits:
  
    
  
  
    
  • A walking supercomputer. His Velkarii heritage gives him near-perfect recall, and his cybernetic enhancements only make it worse. Good luck lying to him—he remembers things you said five years ago, word for word.
  
  
    
  • Deeply pragmatic, annoyingly unbothered. You could tell him the ship’s on fire, and he’d probably just say, “Expected. Vent the lower decks.”
  
  
    
  • Has no personal ambition. Lives by probabilities and logic. Everything is just a game of odds to him, which makes him both the best and worst person to ask for advice.
  
  
    
  • 
    
      Was backstabbed twice—once by Sloan when they worked together on Kestris, once by a partner back in Vorlun. Remembers every single detail of both betrayals but doesn’t hold a grudge. “People act in self-interest. It’s unreasonable to take it personally.” (Gravel thinks this is the coldest shit he’s ever heard.)