User:Mutos

Skyrate Full Name: Mutos the Fox Call Sign: Mutos Age: 21-ish Personality: young and restless Previous Crafts: CR-4P (27 hrs), Mastiff (46 hrs), Excelsior (22 hrs), Cyclops (130 hrs) Current Craft: Lancaster Spirit in the Sky (1948 hrs at last edit)

Airfield Mascot
My parents owned a small tavern named "At the Brown Fox's" in Midgard, near the shores of Lake Elivagar. I then came to know many rock and blues bands that regularly played at the tavern, as Father was a former guitar player and would sometimes join a band on the scene. I also talked for hours with pilots and crews and was passionate about the yearly stunt air show. I soon began to play around the airfield and take minor errands, developing a real passion for flight.

Out of Fire and Sorrow
When around 11, my parents' inn burned down while I was on the airfield, taking them with it. The fire is rumored to have been started by a pilot by the name of LazyHog, inn regular and longtime friend of his parents. He was seen at the airfield less than an hour after, fire-scorched and walking as drunk or stunned. He made directly to his plane without a word and took off at once, never to be seen again.

After this, I became hopping along from skyland to skyland, first to find him and exact revenge, then only to drown in flight and maybe dream of finding what exactly happened. I was then a kind of mascot on airfields then, taking minor errands, learning the trade by helping bartenders, mechanics, traders and even sometimes pilots whenever possible, working hard to pay for travel and earning some small money in the process.

Dull School Days
But soon I began to realize that I would go nowhere without reporting to Flight School. Even a self-taught scoundrel like me, who the pilots told he was gifted, had to settle down - a little - ! At the School, I was the first at mischief and earned a reputation for being one of the most outward and scoundrel-like fellows in the class. Occasionally, mostly when drunk, at the anniversary of the fire or when too much provoked, especially by boars, a dark shadow would fall on me and I would become irritable and lonesome, sometimes even violent. But these moments never lasted long. On classes I was only average but I couldn't bring my attention to bear on them, because I longed to reach for the skies again...

So now I'm here, ready to hit the skies and maybe one day I'll find the old boar and really know what happened back in the day of fire...

The Motley Crew assembles
I recruited my first crew member ! Konstantin is the little brother of well-known stunt pilot Gregor Osipov, a dearly friend which I arrange to meet at various airshows. He acted as his agent when Gregor was still amateur and already talked about embarking as a diplomat, while he was still underage for such a position.

Now that Gregor has gotten pro, Konstantin decided to live by himself. That was just the time I got my Cyclops ready to fly and by chance I landed at Eltsina and visited them when he was beginning to seek an employment. So I took him with me and he's faring well, he really knows how to cut a bargain ! He also plays guitar like a pro and I'm coming back to singing and playing bass, which makes me say that we'll be soon become a real flying rock band !

The PartyCaster
Now at last I got my brand-new Lancaster ! I've set up a comfortable lounge in a side of the hold, for my friends to join me every time I land somewhere I know people. And believe me, that makes a lot of airfields !!! We would party during some time, before I at last decide to take off for new adventures. So don't wonder if you see a 'Caster lying on a corner of an airfield for sometimes days, with loud heavy metal, rock, blues and occasionnally some country, disco or jazz, coming from its hold !

Lastly, I also recruited Kyon Yi at Gonk, where I was recently. The old chap is a mechanical ace and a talented drummer, too ! He came at a party we had on board my new 'Caster. Jimmie Sung from Sharif played drums. When he bolted out to be on his plane on time for takeoff, he pointed to Kyon and told everyone : "HE should take over !" Taken at unawares, Kyon was first apple-red from head to toes. But his star-like nature quickly took over. He stood and proudly crossed the scene to seat himself at the barrels, took the sticks, and Bang!, the party was back, running wilder than ever ! After that, we discussed and as there was a free seat on the 'Caster, he took the job.

Distant Echoes of the Past
Also... Slowly, through contacts and various friends throughout all Skytopia, hints and bits of information begin to emerge of the time long ago when I was sent into the harsh world... It seems a plane looking like LazyHog's was sighted on some distant places, but I just can't get any logic about it.

Lately, as I landed on Midgard, I wandered a little. A former neighbour told me that, when the inn burned down, he saw a boar wearing a pilot suit get out of the flaming building, seeming groggy and holding his left arm, which seemed torn at a weird angle and was probably broken. As he was at quite a distance, already running towards the inn, he could say no more, save that the figure looked at him and disappeared under the cover of trees and bushes, and he never saw him again. Frightened with all the fuss that broke out when the Midgard police inquired, he never told anyone about that before that day.

Still, I don't know what it can mean... Was there a brawl inside the inn ? The more information I gather, the less I understand what happened...

Bad Times, Good Times
These last few days were hard to pass by. We had some bad flights, lost money in dubious trade and were shot down several times. I also chose a bad upgrade that reduced our firepower and made us vulnerable to pirates. When I realized it was so, we had no more cash enough to get back to the previous configuration. So during a few days all three of us were struggling hard just to keep the Spirit in the Sky up to its name ! It was wearing and morale began to steadily decrease. Yesterday, we failed a mission and that was a severing blow to our morale. It dropped at once to its lowest level ever and some dissent began to creep in. Last night, there was no music to be heard around the plane, as we argued fiercely about what we were going to do next.

Late at night, we settled the argument : we will tread safer paths for a while, and be overcautious in combat, until we can get the right upgrades back on line. We started a jam to lift our hearts again. We awoke late and saw the bright sun shining over Goldenrod and our good'ol' 'Caster shining like a steel jewel. Now we're proudly taxiing her to the runway, ready for take-off !

Slow but Steady Progress
Since we took this new start, we've been gradually increasing in fortune and skills. Our 'Caster is still the same and we slowly climb the stairs to the point we'll be able to buy a total kit. Which one should we choose, we still don't know. There is still much time to ponder ! For now, throttle up and let's rock the skies !!!

The Wild Weasels
That's it, we've at last found a name for the band ! We're gonna be the Wild Weasels ! Why this name ? Uhhh... When we set out to playing loud, there isn't an audio pickup in the vicinity that will stand it. And that's all Wild Weasels are about, destroying sensors, ain't they ? Oh sure, Wild Weasels squadrons use to destroy AA platforms as well as sensors, but we're a rock band, so did you hear about something called artistic licence ?

Nearing the first Kit !
We've not given news for some time, but now we're nearing our first Kit. It'll probably be a Combat Kit, because Combat is the area where we lack the most. Anyway, as with any Kit out there, its primary function will be to vastly improve the Spirit in the Sky's Range

First Kit !!!
At least we have it ! Our Spirit in the Sky looks so bold and impressive with its brand-new Combat Kit ! We're now able to join more distant skylands while keeping our firepower intact. In the meantime, we gained some cargo space, so our valiant stallion is getting better and better !

Next is the Trading Kit, which will again improve our range and vastly augment our cargo space. Then we"ll be able to go for the next and last, the Perf Kit, and that'll be all because a triple-kitted 'Caster has not an once left for other upgrades...

Core Skylands belong to Flight School !
Recently some core skylands have fallen from Gold dominion and the 'Caster joined the golden fleet of goodwill flyers that endeavored to regain them and finally succeeded. There are still assaults on some core skylands, but they are mostly able to stay Gold. Now I'm concentrating on my Home, Midgard, as I never would want any other flag than Gold flying over it...

Truth and injustice
While defending Midgard from the other factions, we had time to investigate in the town and airground. In fact we found a curious story of a young lady and her boyfriend who disapeared at about the same time as the Inn burned. Following several leads, many of which vanished into open air, we tracked them at last to Earthbreach, where they fled by the time of the accident. From their mouths we heard at last the truth.

This fateful day, she had skipped from her work to join her boyfriend at the Inn. But he was late and when he arrived, a drunken pilot was annoying her. He had a heated argument with the pilot and found quickly himself about being knocked out. Father tried to defend him and was dodging a broken bottle when LazyHog broke in, also a little drunk. Seing his friends in danger, he charged head-on and the brawl became a furious melee with both pilots at the core and all other people trying to stop them. At one time, a lighted candle fell on some dropped whiskey and fire erupted. After that, the young couple always thought to have been the only one able to escape. They now think they got out of the flaming Inn seconds only before LazyHog, who was delayed trying to save my Mom and Dad. They were afraid to be taken by the police and held responsible for the fire and deaths, so they hid into the hold of a Leviathan that was loading stuff at the skyport and sneaked out at the next stop.

At first I found that hard to believe, but I nonetheless made further inquiries on this ground. We found other long-hidden witnesses whose stories fitted with the girl's, so now my mind is set. Poor old LazyHog is not the killer I thought but a mere victim of circumstances, just as my parents. So now my resolve to find him is firmer than ever, this time not to exact revenge, but to rehabilitate him and help him to regain his honor and former rank, if not too late.

Now we're traders !
We just got our second Kit, it's the Trading Kit that gives us another bonus on range and the huge cargo of a air lifter. Now we're making much more profit and can better play influence. We rock all skylands, stopping by airgrounds to make the air pound with metal ! And sometimes we still ask questions. For now the band knows all about LazyHog and we're all bent on finding him. For now, to no avail, alas...

Triple-Kitted !
At least the last Kit ! The Spirit is fully loaded with high-tech stuff and ready to fly long and proud ! And we're still searching the skies for any sign of poor old fellow LazyHog.

Mutos IRL...
Just discovered this game at the IGF 2008 site and I'm getting addicted ^-^

I'm a 40-years-old IT engineer in Windows system admin, working in France, at La Defense, near Paris. I live at 30kms from Paris in a nice 1850 house with my wife, her mother, our dog and two cats. For now no kids, maybe someday...

On the net, I host a site with encyclopedia, forums and blog, about my Sci-Fi universe, called Hoshikaze 2250. I also host a forum about Space Simulations, be they Elite-likes or RTS, and this one is in English. Speaking of forums, I also host the French Motörhead forum, all about the loudest band in the world, as I'm a heay Heavy Metal fan, as you should have guessed by now ! Headbangers Ball forever !

I usually commute by train and bus, but I also drive a '72 1303 VW, currently under complete overhaul at a garage I know for decades in the beautiful french region of Sarthe and I occasionnally ride a '96 Kymco Zing, a 125cc mini-chopper complete with ape-hanger and wagon footrests ^-^ Ride to Live, Live to Ride !

I'm a game developer wannabee... In fact, as I outlined before, I'm writing a Sci-Fi universe named Hoshikaze 2250, that you can find on the net, but in French. Currently, I proposed the gamedev of my Stars of Call project at an engineering school, EPITECH, as an End-of-Studies Project. It has been taken by 6 students who are working on it since December and are now beginning coding. They do C++ with Ogre and are faring well, thanks ^-^

I like the Skyrate spirit, this Crimson Skies meet Porco Rosso and FluffFriends look and feel ! Also, having the choice of playing small parties of RTS-like or arcade-style combat, depending on the mood of the moment, is quite refreshing. I like most the planning system, easy and fun to master...

Long live to Skyrates and may you Rate Sky High !!!!