RukaReport
English：Ruka · Characters
A Shek warrior woman whose horns were sawn off and whose status was stripped from her. One of the best-value free recruits in the game — combat skills of 10, asking price 0 Cats.
Looking at my horns, flatskin? [...] Because I can still prove my worth in battle without them... I have a question for you, flatskin. What do you do if you are outnumbered on the battlefield?
Ruka is a hornless Shek warrior woman, and one of the entirely free unique recruits in the game. She turns up in the bar of a Shek Kingdom town — specifically one of Admag, Squin or Last Stand.
A battle she should not have survived
If the player's squad contains a human or a Hive member, Ruka will open the conversation herself by asking whether they are staring at her horns. After the (obvious) denial, she gives her own history:
She once charged at the front of a battle, was knocked unconscious, and lay on the field — and then survived. By Shek standards she should have died there. When she returned to her people, what she received was not relief but the treatment given to a coward; her horns were sawn off and her status was stripped from her.
This is the most naked demonstration there is of the Shek honour system: coming back alive is itself the crime. All she has wanted since is one more chance to go to war and prove herself, which is why the player does not have to pay — a fight is the payment she is asking for.
Her personality tag is Brave, entirely consistent with her own account.
The best value in the opening game
Ruka's practical worth comes out of a very simple comparison. In the same bars in Squin and Admag:
| Character | Fee | Combat skills |
|---|---|---|
| Rane the Giant | 7,500 | 20 |
| Kang | 6,000 | 20 |
| Oron | 3,500 | about 8 |
| Ruka | Free | about 10 |
Her skills are better than Oron's and she costs nothing, which makes her the only option in this area that gives double-digit combat skills without payment.
| Item | Value |
|---|---|
| Strength | 4.4 – 6.6 |
| Toughness | 0 – 2.4 |
| Dexterity | 7.2 – 8.8 |
| Perception | 9 – 11 |
| Katanas / Sabres / Hackers / Blunt / Heavy Weapons | 9 – 11 |
| Melee Attack | 10.8 – 13.2 |
| Melee Defence | 9 – 11 |
| Athletics | 7.2 – 8.8 |
(±1 random variance.)
Her starting equipment is a Plank (a crude but enormously damaging heavy weapon), a dark leather shirt, drifter's leather pants, plated longboots and one basic first aid kit. The armour is fixed at [Shoddy] grade (5% chance of [Standard]), and the weapon is of Ancient manufacture.
The name
"Ruka" means "hand" in several Slavic languages. It also corresponds to a common Japanese female given name, 瑠花, which literally means "bright blue flower". The game does not say which is the source of the name.