🌌 THE SETTING

This universe really isn’t as polished as it looks. Since this started more as just a background thing / character exercies, most of the world stuff were made up along the way to fill details in!

My major inspos for mood and feel of the setting include The Quad (SyFy Killjoys), future Mars (Carole & Tuesday), Night City (Cyberpunk 2077), Coruscant (Star Wars) and the city settings from Cowboy Bebop.

Aster Sector – made up of Planet Aster and 4 moons: Aster-1A/B/C/D

Aster the planet has both metropolis cities and green lands, but are divvied up by corporations.

The main setting is Aster-1A, which is the biggest of the moons, big enough to establish cities and trading hubs, with a monopoly held by Cabot Industries.
Spec & Kitty live in an apartment in the middle district. it’s a “safe” neighborhood – not as fancy & high-end as the Tower district but not as dangerous as the lower districts.

• Tower district has: C-Tower, Bryton twins’ residence, Edge’s flat
• Middle district has: Spec & Kitty’s apartment, Flux (Seps’ bar)
• Lower district: Rina & Granny’s diner, the orphanage

Aster-1B is big enough to have residents too but is mostly undeveloped, while C and D are smaller, empty satellites.

CHARACTERS

🦾 SPECTER

•  real name: Ash, early 30’s
• ace & bi, but his only actual official relationship was with lily
• former military, got experimented on, a lot of other fucked up shit, but he’s now left all of it behind and is living solo as a freelancer/bounty hunter
• experiments during the Fucked Up Shit era gave him: a cybernetic eye, implants (mostly deactivated), a mech right arm, and varying degrees of heightened physical senses. he doesn’t like any of these. he didn’t consent to any of this.
• has grown to be touch-averse as a side-effect of having chronic pain after failed experiments done to him. also experienced some memory loss. has mostly learned to live with these.
• cannot cook. might be cursed lmao 😭
• he likes reading! 📚 he collects “vintage” paper books, his one luxury.
• his other hobby is looking for bots and parts in junkyards and thrift markets. gives repaired bots away for the kids’ orphanage to use. the social workers who are mostly war vets treat him like family.
• worries a lot and is quite protective over Kitty, but he also tries to reign it in most of the time because he wants Kitty to be more independent after what Kitty has gone through with his original master.
• is still wary of his brother being around, but he’s trying to get used to it. This is his life now. 😮‍💨

😽 KITTY

• companion droid, doesn’t age, physically built to look like early 20’s, was deactivated for 80+ years
• unlike usual companion droids, he isn’t “programmable” so he’s actually closer to being a mechanized human rather than an artificial intelligence droid.
• doesn’t rly care about gender, mostly presents as androgynous, is used to being referred to with he/him so he sticks with it.
• decided on his name “Kitty” after his short stay at the neighborhood orphanage, the kids were calling him “Mr. Kitty” while they were playing and he thought it felt right enough.
• the ribbon on his tail is a present from one of the orphanage kids and it’s the reason why his favorite color is yellow. 🎗️
• can cook. 🍳 not necessarily into it, but sees it as another house chore on his self-assigned list. he’s a good cook once he learns a recipe, so he often cooks for Spec as part of his daily routine.
• likes creative stuff. enjoys romance and adventure books and movies. ✨
• his latest fixation is music! 🎶
• he also likes video games but is admittedly not good at them. doesn’t really care that he sucks, proudly plays in easy mode.
• knows he’s cute and will flirt and be charming for advantage. 😘
• loves cuddles. Sep thinks it’s part of his “cat” mods. Spec thinks it’s just Kitty himself.
• he likes being around people so Spec takes him on “safe” jobs that has to do with talking to people or keeping someone company.

👠 LILY

• early 30’s – same age as Specter
• professional informant & private investigator. can be hired to do undercover jobs too, if you pay high enough (thank u Mr. C!)
• from the same hometown as Specter and Edge, knows them since childhood
• her actual eyes are warm hazel brown. when with other people, she wears green or blue contacts. she likes that this still gives her some mystique as it throws people off when they can’t remember what color her eyes are. also it’s her leaning to the vivid-colored femme fatale image (she hates it, but it’s very profitable).
• 🐈 five cats: Cotton, Butter, Peggy, Dolly and Margaret (the newest addition, after Velvet’s passing)
• she is Spec’s childhood friend, teenage sweetheart and his only lasting romantic relationship. they had an on-and-off relationship after Spec’s Fuck Up Shit era, got to be stable again after sometime, then broke up as a mutual decision. they are still very good friends! 🫂
• thinks Edge is “a little shit”, refuses to call him Edge, but she does care about him. they look out for each other when they can.

⚙️ SEP

• “Septimus” but he doesn’t like that name, mid-30’s
• former rich kid, left the family and made his own way
• owns the “Flux” bar (not a very good bartender but that’s what staff are for), does repairs and mech stuff in the basement (only for friends and folks in the know)
• Spec’s tech guy, more a mechanic/engineer than a hacker, but is plenty capable in both
• “i go to bed with all my friends 😉✨”
• a self-proclaimed pansexual service top, is just a rly nice cool partner overall
• dotes over and likes cuddling Kitty (because who wouldn’t) but he thinks Kitty is more a kid under his care than anything (sep: “i was there when he was born!” / spec: “you plugged him to a charger, calm down.”)
• gets along with Spec because he’s good with boundaries and very chill and knows how insuferrable rich folks are. also, he just plain respects Spec’s Reduce-Reuse-Recycle motto on tech lmao

🕹️ BRIX

• mid-20’s, younger twin, tech conglomerate heir
• his birth name is NOT Brix that’s just what he tells people to call him bc it sounds cooler lmao
• og platinum blond hair is dyed pastel icy blue.
• his eyes are still blue, but enhanced so they’re always glowing just a little bit… it’s mostly cosmetic but it’s also protection for his eyes.
• a gamer and a collector, basically just uses his rich kid money to enjoy his hobby
• opposite of his brother: laidback and happy-go-lucky, but quite in tune to people’s moods/emotions
• despite his lack of interest in the business side of the family, he is supportive of his older brother’s involvement in it and shows up when Aeric needs him.
• he is primarily drawn to Kitty’s aesthetic. basically sees and treats Kitty like a video game character he really likes and wants to spoil and give nice things to. he and Kitty like each other more as fun-and-games companions than as romantic or sexual partners.
• he thinks Spec is super cool, but doesn’t think it’s worth the trouble to his peace to mess with him. 😅

👔 AERIC

• mid-20’s, older twin, tech conglomerate heir
• his birth name is Aeric but Brix & Kitty will call him “Aero” sometimes as an affectionate nickname
• platinum blond hair worn natural and always neat
• keeps his blue eyes untouched by mods, but wears glasses. it makes him look more intimidating.
• the responsible twin, involved in the family business & politics
• opposite of his brother: normally serious, but knows when to be casual and friendly
• is happy to just leave his baby brother happily spoiled and unbothered, just makes sure he is protected.
• he thinks Kitty is cute, but mostly sees him as Brix’s person. he will join them sometimes (to play, or to bed) to de-stress, or because they asked.
• he is usually the one Spec has to deal with when they need his services. he thinks Specter is attractive as hell and flirts with him. Specter is too grumpy to flirt back, but Aeric enjoys seeing him riled up (BRIX COME GET YOUR BROTHER HE’S UNHINGED 😭).
• a funny snippet i thought of is Spec having to take a job to escort Aeric somewhere, with Kitty tagging along and having his first experience of weird uncertain jealousy bc he is not used to people flirting with Spec more than with him hfkjshdfsal

🌱 CABOT

• looks 60 but real age unknown
• mysterious CEO of Cabot Industries, quite hands-on with the company
• has been around FOREVER it’s difficult to get real info on him, it’s just super protected.
• he has a residence + the main Cabot Industries hub on Aster (the planet), but he seems to prefer staying in a smaller hub (C-Tower) in Aster-1A (the moon).
• is he good? is he evil? NO ONE KNOWS. but Spec, Lily and other freelancers do accept jobs from him because he hasn’t asked them to do anything too shady or that violate their own morals/code.
• Kitty reminds him of an old companion droid that he was very fond of, so he invites Kitty over for visits, just to chat and hang out.
• seems to spend his leisure time in his indoor greenhouse (or maybe it’s just where he chooses to receive Kitty and his guests, WE DONT KNOW 🫣).

🍳 RINA

• mid-20’s
• diner waitress, runs the business with her Granny, lovely, kind, girl-next-door type
• was among a group of girls that got taken by a syndicate, got saved by Spec, but she lost a leg during the ensuing skirmish when they were being rescued
• her prosthetic leg is a repurposed droid part from one of Spec’s junk yard trips
• has a big crush on Specter, but also genuinely cares about him and Kitty
• she calls on Kitty to take shifts in the diner when they’re busy or missing some staff

🎶 EDGE

• real name: Sky, late 20’s
• was about to enlist in the military with a promising career, but didn’t get in due to health reasons. fell in with the wrong people for a while, got out and is now using his hacking/tinkering skills to help the little guys (like,, Leverage style yup)
• has implants that help with his hacking/tinkering (a bit like Lucy and other hackers in Cyberpunk!).
• he still has part of military/combat training tho so he can throw hands if he has to
• he is a good cook, grew up an indoor kid so he was always helping out mom in the kitchen
• contrasting against Spec’s defined silhouette of straight lines and defined/fitted clothes, Edge’s layers are flowy/draped clothing over his more practical clothes
• loves movies and music. enjoys going to shows and performances. he takes Kitty to the ones he thinks Kitty might enjoy.
• he initially “kidnapped” Kitty really just to get Spec’s attention for his lockbox, but he was also curious bc Specter really never was the type to get a companion droid. he was just playfully flirting at first, but he grew to like Kitty the more they spent time together and shared interests.
• Kitty is the one who brought up being boyfriends, because he was getting teased by the orphanage kids. Edge looked at their whole situation and promptly goes “ah shit I think we are” lmao
• he cares about Spec but avoids him because they both have so many issues and stuff piled over each other specially during their respective Fucked Up Shit era. they’re doing the “it’s too late to fix things so we just don’t talk about it”-slash-“maybe we’ve healed a bit and can be around each other” dance.

❤️‍🩹 THE LOVE INTERESTS!

In the original fic I “wrote” this universe for, the Project ASTER-1A game has Specter as the main character, and he had love interest options. Of the named characters, these were romanceable NPC’s:

• Kitty – omg they were roommates, his cute assistant/sidekick
  the fan-favorite (bc it’s Kitty!!!)
  in the game, if Spec doesn’t pursue Kitty, Kitty gets together with Edge (like boyfrieeeends~)
• Lily – lovers to exes to lovers, best friends, childhood friends
  i think she and Spec do see each other as soulmates (platonic or otherwise)
• Aeric – the spicy route, that hot guy who hires u for jobs who is into u oh my~
  idk they’re the sexual tension ship
  flirty confident Aeric vs. flustered but grumpy Spec
• Rina – the girl u rescued, crush-turned-romance
  wholesome route tbh
• Sep – the hot dorky mechanic, who is also ur very chill friend
  lbr sep is a dream guy ok,, A DREAM GUY