Character Notes for "In the Depths of Your Grief"

Here are the character notes for "In the Depths of Your Grief."

Ozarks Technical Community College is in Springfield, Missouri.  This mid-size two-year community college provides undergraduate programs in practical careers along with some transfer programs. It has an open admission policy available to all high school graduates and anyone with a GED.  It has 5,826 full-time students and 7,434 part-time students. In-state tuition for 2016-2017, excluding room and board, was $3,564 plus fees of $600.
Emergency Medical Technology/Technician (EMT Paramedic)
http://www.collegesimply.com/colleges/missouri/ozarks-technical-community-college/

In Terramagne, the EFA-Basic class at Ozark Technical College is a six credit hour class which students complete in 16 weeks during the school year, or 8 weeks in the summer intensive.  Emotional First Aides are trained to help people with emotional injuries or illnesses.  This training covers mild to moderate issues, some of which can be treated in the field and others that may require transport to a mental clinic or hospital.  Students who successfully complete the program will qualify for the National Registry practical and written examinations. Successfully passing the exams will qualify the applicant to apply for licensure in the state of Missouri by the Bureau of Emergency Medical Services and by the National Registry of EFAs. Like paramedics, the EFAs often work in an ambulance, community clinic, or first aid station.

The OTC EMT-Basic program is the first course to complete and is a six credit hour class which students complete in 16 weeks (8 weeks in the summer). Students who successfully complete the program will qualify for the National Registry practical and written examinations. Successfully passing the exams will qualify the applicant to apply for licensure in the state of Missouri by the Bureau of Emergency Medical Services and by the National Registry of EMTs.

In Terramagne, Ozark Technical College offers the EFA-Advanced program as a certificate program or a degree program. The program consists of classroom lectures and completion of clinical and field internships.  This training prepares Emotional First Aides to deal with serious psychological emergencies in the field and transport people safely to a Shock Room.  Students who complete the degree program will receive an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) from OTC and qualify for the EFA-Advanced certification exam through the National Registry of EFAs and licensing through the Missouri Department of the Bureau of Emergency Medical Services.  Like EMTs, the EFAs often work in an ambulance, community clinic, or first aid station.

OTC offers the Paramedic program as a certificate program or a degree program. The program consists of classroom lectures and completion of clinical and field internships. Students who complete the degree program will receive an Associate of Applied Science (AAS) from OTC and qualify for the paramedic certification exam through the National Registry of EMTs and licensing through the Missouri Department of the Bureau of Emergency Medical Services.

EMS Paramedic Preferred Course Sequence -- Spring Start AAS Degree
Preadmission Requirements: Anatomy BCS 165 (4 credits), EMS Essentials EMS 150 (3 credits), Physiology BCS 205 (4 credits), Contemporary
Mathematics MTH 128 (3 credits)
Spring Semester: Paramedic I EMS 201 (12 credits), Clinical I EMS 211 (3 credits)
Summer Semester: Paramedic II EMS 202 (5 credits), Clinical II EMS 212 (2 credits), Clinical III EMS 213 (2 credits)
Fall Semester: Paramedic III EMS 203 (9 credits), Internship EMS 214 (8 credits)
General Education Courses: Composition I ENG 101 (3 credits), American Govt. & Politics PLS 101 (3 credits) Communications Elective (3 credits)

AAS Degree -- 64 Total Hours
Course Title: Community Paramedic WDH-145, Price: $2526
ROLE: Community Paramedics (CPs) are members of a distinct community and they play an important role by assessing and evaluating community services and systems to identify gaps between the community and healthcare systems and services.

In T-America, community paramedics are usually funded by town and/or county resources, much like community clinics.  They just move around more.  So the service tends to be free at the point of contact, or at most it has a sliding scale, because it's funded mostly or entirely by taxes.  Most rural areas have some community paramedics to reduce pressure on hospital-based ambulances.

St. Louis Center for Family Development’s Trauma-Informed Training Initiative is designed to help participants understand the process of creating a paradigm shift in their organizational or personal practice by providing the knowledge and skills necessary to help individuals make changes. Each training program offered in this series focuses on one aspect that is important to building your trauma-informed practice, with multiple trainings for each topic. Our menu includes the study of trauma, the application of trauma theory, trauma informed approach and the implementation of a trauma informed approach.

In T-America, the STLCFD program is similar to the one from CCETIC. Kendrick has taken 25 classes out of L-American 37 or T-American 45.  He has earned a Certificate in Advanced Trauma-Informed Care.

California Center of Excellence for Trauma-Informed Care in Santa Cruz, CA
Most of these are 1-2 day training sessions.  A few are partial-day or 3-day ones.  In T-America, the CCETIC offers a summer intensive during which sessions of all their trainings are offered.  Students can earn a Certificate of Completion for each individual class, or a Certificate in Trauma-Informed Care for 10 classes plus a weekend practicum and final exam.  They can earn a Certificate in Advanced Trauma-Informed Care for 20 classes plus a practicum of 1-4 weeks and a final exam.  CCETIC has an arrangement with the University of California in Santa Cruz to credit a minor in Trauma-Informed Care for students who complete all 45 classes plus a set of courses on the UCSC campus.

L-American Classes (20)
Trauma Informed Services
Trauma Informed Rules and Polices and Procedures
Overview of PTSD and Complex Trauma
Substance Abuse and Trauma
Self-Care and the Impact of Trauma
The Neurobiology of Trauma
Domestic Violence and Trauma
Addressing Self-Harm and Self-Injury
Adverse Childhood Experiences Study
Advocating on Behalf of Survivors
Children and Trauma
Domestic Violence, Trauma, and Substance Abuse
Female Offenders and Recently Incarcerated Women
Human Trafficking
Sexual Assault Survivors
Suicide and Trauma
Trauma-Informed Client Interactions and Trauma-Informed Communication
Trauma-Informed Homeless Shelters & Services
Trauma-Informed Program Design & Assessment
Trauma-Informed Services for Children, Youth, & Families

Additional T-American Classes (5)
(Kedrick took Communal Trauma, Evolution of Terms for Traumatic Stress,
Flickering, Funding Options for Trauma-Informed Care Generational Trauma, and Politics and Trauma)
Communal Trauma
Evolution of Terms for Traumatic Stress
Flickering and Other Manifestation Issues
Funding Options for Trauma-Informed Care
Generational Trauma
Politics and Trauma
Superpower-Assisted Healing for Trauma
Superpower-Related Trauma

See the front, back, and interior of the Ava City Fire Department ambulance.


Ema Dunst -- She has fair skin, brown eyes, and long straight brown hair.  She worked at the Umsetzung Complex as an orderly.  During the raid, she tried to escape through a window and sustained a large slash across her left cheek, along with smaller cuts on her hands and arms.
Qualities: Good (+2) Keeping Her Mouth Shut, Good (+2) Organized, Good (+2) Strength, Good (+2) Thrifty
Poor (-2) Risk Assessment

Sparsamkeit, translated as austerity or thrift, is a classic Prussian virtue.


Saffron (Lina Craddock) -- She has bisque skin, luminous turquoise eyes, and long straight yellow hair streaked with peach. Her body hair varies between peach and yellow too; in the picture you can see that her eyebrows are kind of a dark peach color and she's using heavy eye makeup to cover the yellow lashes. Her heritage includes Welsh, Scottish, French, and Arabic. She pronounces her surname "KRATH-ock" while everyone else says "KRAD-ock." Following incidents of child sexual abuse and abandonment, she grew up in the foster care system, so she has no real family support. The results of that have not been very good. She is about 17 years old.
One time when Lina ran away from her foster parents, she fell prey to human traffickers. That got her into prostitution. Eventually they sold her to a mad scientist whose disturbing experiments gave her superpowers. A lifelong pattern of victimization and revictimization has left her with disorganized attachment and serious boundary issues, making it difficult for her to connect with people. Lina carries herself like a victim. Sometimes she lets people violate boundaries that she doesn't even realize she should have, while other times she pushes them away in a panic. She also tends to "fade" under stress, as the dissociation reflexively activates her Phasing. She has been mistaken for a ghost, more than once.
Saffron's abilities lend themselves well to the underworld. Her Neural Manipulation leans more toward pleasure than pain, although she can deliver an unpleasant jolt if distressed. Her skill with pillow talk means that she knows what's going on around her, and can sometimes tease out secrets that people don't intend to share. She can Phase away from trouble if cornered, and also tends to use it for stealing things.
Origin: Mad science torture. The supervillain Carl Bernhardt locked Lina in a strange metal chamber and bombarded her with mysterious energies that caused his body to warp. She escaped when she finally manifested Phasing. Now she works as a prostitute and occasionally as a thief.
Uniform: Street clothes. Often she wears dark or neutral colors to hide her body. When hooking, she dresses to display her assets, usually in warm tones. She is particularly fond of shot silk with yellow/pink or yellow/orange combinations.
Qualities: Good (+2) Agility, Good (+2) Pillow Talk, Good (+2) Poker Player, Good (+2) Prostitute, Good (+2) Versatile
Poor (-2) Boundary Issues
Powers: Average (0) Cryptid Shifter
In Saffron's case, the metapower of Cryptid Shifter includes Average (0) Neural Manipulation, Average (0) Phase, Average (0) Regeneration, Average (0) Shapeshifting, Average (0) Yellow Hair, and variable enhancements to vision.
Her alternate forms include felydd, horse, rabbit, squirrel, flame-colored tanager, and albino lavender ball python. The felydd has a catlike body, paws with retractable claws, and a long fluffy tail like a snow leopard. The coat is mostly shades of yellow and peach with darker leopard spots plus a white ruff, belly, and tail tip. The yellow eyes are slitted like a cat's, but the face looks more like a fennec fox with a tiny muzzle, although the enormous ears are set on top of the head instead of the sides. In felydd form, Saffron has musk glands with a pronounced musky-spicy scent, which is less intense but still present in her other shapes. It is not quite a superpower unto itself, but it definitely contributes to her sex appeal. She has the ultraviolet vision that sometimes comes with exotic colors, plus enhanced night vision which is Average in human form and Good in felydd form.
Vulnerability: Saffron has difficulty controlling her superpowers. Shapeshifting screws up her body in ways that can leave her disoriented and shaking afterwards. Sometimes she has problems remaining solid, and other times she loses bits of her body or gets foreign objects embedded inside her. However, she can heal the damage -- anything that doesn't kill her instantly probably can't kill her at all. Phasing can leave her confused and twitching from misconnected nerves, or scrambled inside, or all of the above.
Motivation: To feel safe. She has an unfortunate habit of pursuing this goal by clinging to a protector, and she often chooses bad ones.

A civet is a catlike animal which produces a strong musk once used in perfumery. The smell has been described as musky, fecal, and animalic; when diluted it becomes very sensual. Currently synthetic civet musk is preferred instead; T-America has much better production values than L-America in replicating animal fragrances. The felydd produces a musky-spicy scent similar to civet.

In Gaelic, felydd can be translated as "fancy" or "saucy" although pinning down references is difficult. The name is pronounced "FEL-ith." It also riffs on felid, a general term for cats or catlike creatures.


Nebuly (Darian Cormac) -- He has pale skin and gray eyes. His hair is short and white on the sides of his head, while the top has a row of long black dreadlocks. His body hair is patched and swirled in black, brown, and white. He is tall and strong. He has a stretched lobe tunnel and upper lobe piercing in each ear. He has bridge, both nostril, and septum piercings in his nose. He has a labret, snakebites, and two pairs of corner piercings in his lower lip. Nebuly uses the occasional pain from piercings to break through the numbness of depression and remind him to take good care of himself.
Darian grew up in a happy, healthy family until he and his parents were attacked by human traffickers when Darian was 10. His parents fought ferociously to protect him, and managed to kill at least one of the attackers. Due to all the blood spilled, Darian suspects that his parents were also killed, and doesn't really want to find out the truth. He is about 21 now.
Origin: Mad science torture. The supervillain Carl Bernhardt locked Darian in a strange metal chamber and bombarded her with mysterious energies that caused his body to warp. He escaped when he finally manifested Vaporous Form. Now he works as a rennie and occasionally as a hacker.
Uniform: Street clothes. He usually wears black. Sometimes he lightens up with white, gray, or brown. Rarely he wears brighter colors like blue or purple. He also has some medieval garb.
Qualities: Good (+2) Fortitude, Good (+2) Leader, Good (+2) Hacker, Good (+2) Historical Re-enactment, Good (+2) Tall
Poor (-2) Depression
Powers: Good (+2) Cryptid Shifter
In Nebuly's case, the metapower of Cryptid Shifter and variable enhancements to vision. Good (+2) Control Electricity (Signature Stunts: Average EMP, Average Lightning Bolt, Average Neural Disruption), Good (+2) Regeneration, Good (+2) Shapeshifting, Good (+2) Vaporous Form (Signature Stunt: Average Liquid Form), Average (0) Merle, and Average (0) True Sight. His alternate forms include myrstag, liger, blue tricolor merle border collie, western spotted skunk, black-and-white tegu lizard, and snowy owl. His night vision is Average in lizard form; Good in human, myrstag, and dog forms; Expert in skunk and liger forms; and Master in owl form. The myrstag's distinctive musky scent carries over into other forms, but only the skunk's is strong enough to function as a bioweapon.
Motivation: To put his life back together.

Heraldry defines nebuly as a wavering line meant to resemble clouds. It comes from the Latin word nebula referring to a mist, vapor, or cloud. See pictures of a line nebuly and a shield emblazoned Barry nebuly of nine azure and argent.

The myrstag form has sharp antlers for defense, a heavy coat which sheds rain, hooved paws for walking on soft ground, and the ability to digest almost anything. The outer guard hairs are coarse and wiry; the middle hairs are silky; and the woolly undercoat is soft. In Swedish, myr means a bog, moor, or wetland. Caribou and reindeer have large cloven hooves which help them walk over marshy ground or swim through open water; the myrstag enjoys similar features.


Hagatha Vener -- She has fair skin, brown eyes, and short hair streaked in lighter and darker blonde. She works for Carl Bernhardt, taking care of the livestock. Hagatha has a cruel streak and sometimes takes trophies from dead subjects. Among them is a pink fur coat from one of Turq's cohort.
Qualities: Good (+2) Livestock Nurse, Good (+2) Logical-Mathematical Intelligence, Good (+2) Methodical, Good (+2) Reliable
Poor (-2) Ethics


Coral (Perdita Relesh) -- She had pale skin and deep blue eyes. Originally her hair was dark, but after mad science torture it turned pink with streaks of white and cream. Her heritage was Britannian and American. She was the daughter of Hermione, a Shakespearean professor and Rience, a Britannian history professor; the older sister of Juliet and Lennox.
As a young girl, Perdita was abducted by a pedophile and kept in his basement until she grew too old for his tastes. When she began puberty, he sold her to a flesh peddler, and from there she wound up in a mad science lab. Because she couldn't talk, nobody knew her name; Turq and the rest of their cohort called her Coral for her pink hair. Agile and funny, she did tricks to amuse the other captives. She was among the youngest and weakest of her cohort. The others tried to protect her, but they couldn't do much. Eventually Coral was murdered by Hagatha Vener, who skinned her and turned her fur into a coat as a trophy.
Origin: Mad science torture. The supervillain Carl Bernhardt locked Coral in a strange metal chamber and bombarded her with mysterious energies that caused her body to warp.
Uniform: She was kept nude much of the time, occasionally clothed in a shapeless lab smock.
Qualities: Good (+2) Agile, Good (+2) Funny, Good (+2) Kinesthetic Intelligence
Poor (-2) Timid
Powers: Poor (-2) Cryptid Shifter
In Coral's case, the metapower of Cryptid Shifter included Pink Hair, Shapeshifting, and Super-Constitution. She only had one alternate form, the lepa, a fluffy pink-and-cream creature like a cross between a rabbit and a cat, but with two tiny horns. She never developed much power or control compared to other members of the cohort. It attracted the attention of the mad scientists, who kept testing in hopes of identifying why she was such a disappointment, and that eventually cost her life.
Vulnerability: Coral had difficulty controlling her superpowers. Shapeshifting sometimes screwed up her body in ways that left her disoriented and shaking afterwards. She was prone to muscle spasms.
Motivation: To make people laugh.

This pink fur coat is made from one of Turq's cohort, Coral, and kept as a trophy by Hagatha Vener.