C. Diane Mancini

Things are only impossible until they’re not.
―Captain Jean-Luc Picard, “Star Trek: The Next Generation”

C. Diane Mancini

Statistics
Age 39, Nationality: American, Birthplace: Mars Hill, Alabama 1986.
Song of Ghroth: Second Stanza, Ghroth Points: 12, Mi-Go Conditioning: POW 60.

Combat

Skills
Accounting 50%, Anthropology 20%, Appraise 35%, Archeology 1%, Art/Craft (Chess) 70%, Art/Craft (Creative Writing) 45%, Art/Craft (Knitting) 40%, Charm 15%, Climb 40%, Computer Use 50%, Credit Rating 60%, Cthulhu Mythos 1%, Drive Auto 50%, Electrical Repair 25% Electronics 25%, First Aid 35%, History 50%, Intimidate 45%, Jump 30%, Knowledge (Science Fiction) 50%, Knowledge (Space Flight) 75%, Law 20%, Library Use 65%, Listen 40%, Locksmith 5%, Mechanical Repair 45%, Medicine 15%, Navigate 10%, Natural World 40%, Occult 5%, Operate Heavy Machinery 25%, Operate Radio Telescope 60%, Paranormal Studies 10%, Persuade 65%, Psychology 35%, Psychoanalysis 1%, Religion (Catholic) 25%, Ride 25%, Science (Astronomy) 75%, Science (Astrophysics) 75%, Science (Botany) 15%, Science (Chemistry) 40%, Science (Mathematics) 75%, Science (Nuclear Physics) 55%, Science (Physics) 70%, Sleight of Hand 10%, Spot Hidden 60%, Stealth 25%, Streetwise 15%, Survival 10%, Swim 30%, Throw 35%, Track 10%.

Languages: English native; Russian 35%

Education
B.S. in Physics from University of Mississippi, 2008
M.S. in Nuclear Physics from Stony Brook, 2011
Ph.D. in Astrophysics from University of Alabama in Huntsville, 2015

Description

Dr. Mancini is sarcastic woman with a dry personality, a tart sense of humor, and the demeanor an easily exasperated intellectual who doesn’t suffer fools gladly. She has a thin, nervous frame whittled down by years of cigarettes and whiskey. She keeps her auburn hair long and straight, and wears a pair of glasses that look like relics from the early 1960s. She favors dark slacks and simple blouses, and wears a gold cross she received as a Confirmation present.

History
Charlotte Diane Mancini was born in Mars Hill, Alabama to a family with money and education to spare. Her mother was Diane Bradley, a wealthy socialite from Houston, and her father was Richard Mancini, an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. Her aunt was a data analyst at JPL, her great uncle worked on the Air Force Dyna-Soar project, and her paternal grandfather was an engineer at North American Aviation, one of the key developers of the (ultimately unsuccessful) Gemini paraglider program. Charlotte was raised in a loving household that taught her the value of independence and curiosity, and she was encouraged to pursue whatever interests she pleased. Surrounded by NASA engineers, she naturally developed a fascination with astrophysics and space flight.

Mancini grew up a geek, a die-hard Trekkie and Harry Potter fan. Becoming fascinated by the physics of space travel, she decided early that she wanted to study propulsion systems, and set her sights on becoming a nuclear physicist. She excelled in high school, and was president of the chess club and valedictorian of her class. Mancini was awarded a scholarship to Ole Miss and earned a B.S. in Physics, then began working on a Master’s degree in Nuclear Physics from Stony Brook University in Long Island.

In 2009 tragedy struck, and the Mancini home burned down in the middle of the night. Both of Charlotte’s parents perished in the blaze; but even worse, an investigation revealed it was the result of a home invasion—the intruder broke into the house, shot her father, and set her mother on fire. Completely devastated, Mancini took a year off before finishing her degree. During this time she traveled to the former Soviet Union to study Chernobyl, explore the Soviet space program, and take private chess lessons from a retired grandmaster.

Returning to the States in late 2010, Mancini discovered that her interests had changed. Nuclear power no longer held the same appeal. After finishing her master’s degree, she enrolled in the University of Alabama’s astrophysics Ph.D. program, where she specialized in high-energy astronomy. Her doctoral dissertation concerned terrestrial gamma-ray flashes, a.k.a. “dark lightning.” In 2016 Mancini accepted a position at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. After three years of frustration with government bureaucracy, Mancini left NASA for a position at the University of Texas in Austin. In 2024 she accepted the Lowell Fellowship at the Great Plains Cruciform Array, a one-year program that allows her to explore her burgeoning interest in cosmology.

Name Change
Dr. Mancini has always published under the name “C. Diane Mancini,” but was known to friends and family as Charlotte. After the death of her parents, she began calling herself Diane, and takes umbrage at being addressed by her childhood name.

Scientific Work
Mancini’s work spans several different fields from nuclear physics to astrophysics, and many of her papers focus on the role of high-energy light in matter/antimatter relationships. Lately she’s developed an interest in cosmology and active galactic nuclei, shifting her focus to the lower frequencies of the spectrum and studying cosmic background radiation and AGN phenomena such as quasars, BL Lac objects, and blazars. Mancini is also fascinated by dark matter and dark energy, but she has a complicated relationship to string theory. On one hand, she co-authored a widely circulated attack on string theory; on the other, she’s published speculations about brane theory. She’s best known for her recent work on “radio loud unification,” the principal reason she was awarded the Lowell Fellowship.

SETI
Mancini is very interested in SETI, but considers it a career dead end, so rarely involves herself in the subject professionally. She firmly believes that extraterrestrial civilizations (ETC) exist; but she also shares Stephen Hawking’s view that alien contact may not end well for humanity.

Personal Life
Dr. Mancini privately identifies as bisexual, but she’s never had a relationship that survived prolonged contact with her only true love—work. A few years ago she gave up dating altogether, and she’s been happier ever since; although she occasionally picks up a man or woman in a bar for a once-night stand. She owns a small house outside of Austin which she’s currently subletting to her nephew, a math student at the University.

Mancini’s hobbies are knitting, creative writing, and chess. She’s an excellent chess player, and has entered numerous competitions and tournaments. Although she’s not good enough to survive the first few rounds, she enjoys the challenge. Mancini remains fascinated by the history of manned space flight, and has spent a considerable amount of money collecting NASA memorabilia. Her passion for science fiction remains an important part of her private life, and she occasionally attends Star Trek conventions dressed as a science officer. Dr. Mancini has posted several well-regarded pieces of Expanse fan fiction under the name “Artemis Sinister,” and she’s—slowly, painstakingly—working on a hard sci-fi novel about first contact tentatively called The Drake Dilemma.

Notable Possessions
Mancini drives a battered 1985 Ford Bronco she’s repaired more times than she remembers, but she loves it dearly. After her father was murdered, she began taking shooting lessons. She owns a Beretta M9 she keeps in a lockbox in her dorm room. Once a month she drives 50 minutes to the Devil’s Gulch Range in Custer to practice her marksmanship.

Reactions to Nemesis

Dr. Mancini was imprinted with a colophon soon after arriving in Hayden—it happened when she was sleeping off a whiskey drunk. She’s only begun hearing the Second Stanza recently, soon after one of Jenny Hooper’s sonification rituals.

Mancini’s Delusions
Aside from her inability to think rationally about the Nemesis signal, Mancini has yet to manifest a particularly strong Ghroth-related delusion. She remains lucid enough to reject Neal’s belief the brown dwarf is actually Nemesis, and like Ruth Swann before her, wonders if CASS 21162066+68152480 contains some kind of ancient, extraterrestrial relic. As Mancini continues to lose Sanity, she’ll become more convinced that Nemesis is an alien megastructure, perhaps a Dyson sphere sent to monitor the Solar System.

Episodes
Like all the scientists of the Nemesis Team, Mancini has become emotionally detached and less empathetic towards her fellow humans. She’s only experienced a few significant episodes; mostly extended periods of anxiety, irritability, or confusion, like something is clouding her brain. The worst incident occurred in early March, when she awoke from a fugue state to discover that she’d written an unplanned “new chapter” of her novel. The chapter introduces a female astrophysicist who discovers that a nearby brown dwarf is really an ancient AI dispatched to “xenoform” the earth!

GPCA Relationships
Dr. Mancini thinks that Gerald Neal is a sexist asshole, but she knew that when she accepted the Lowell Fellowship. She thinks highly of C.T. Guest, who she’s met previously in professional settings, but she’s barely spoken with Harlan Bennett—the man seems off in his own private world. She has no strong feelings about Freddie Pike or Jay Osman, finds Mason Dauterive an unserious young man who’s reached the peak of his career, and believes that Jackie Bernard-Wu is a privileged douchebag who’s wasting a genuine talent at mathematics. She’s puzzled by Jenny Hooper, however. It’s clear the young woman is brilliant, and if Mancini is being honest, she’s a little jealous of her—everything comes so easy to Jenny, and she’s lived a life untouched by adversity. But there’s something else about Jenny, something Mancini doesn’t trust, something that Jenny seems to be hiding. Still, her sonifications are interesting, and even though Mancini doesn’t really enjoy music, she finds them strangely compelling…

The Role of Diane Mancini

As the most recent member of the Nemesis Team, Dr. Mancini’s only been hearing the Song of Ghroth for a few months. A headstrong and self-aware person, Mancini’s been subconsciously resisting both Song and colophon; but in her most private moments she worries that something “not good” is happening to her. So far she’s only considered natural causes. A brain tumor, like Ron Parise? Incipient schizophrenia, like Ruth Swann? Early dementia, like her aunt Helen? So far, lengthy periods of lucidity—and a generous tumbler of bourbon before bed—enable her to tamp down such unthinkable speculations. This unstable balance between worry and suppression of that worry has made Mancini almost as irritable and snappish as Neal.

Mancini is not an easy scientist for the player characters to befriend. She doesn’t react kindly to far-fetched stories or wild accusations about alien contact—at first. However, if she’s presented with compelling evidence that the GPCA received an alien broadcast, or that the Nemesis signal is behind the horrors unfolding around Hayden, she may be persuaded to listen. She’s already poorly disposed against Neal, and being a science fiction fan, she’s more comfortable entertaining such notions than her less imaginative peers. But Mancini needs proof.

If Mancini can be convinced about the danger of the Nemesis signal, she can be a powerful ally. She’s only hearing the Second Stanza, so has the potential to “snap out of it.” An allied Mancini would be interested in having more people examine the Nemesis data, and if push comes to shove, she’ll defend herself with her Beretta—the murder of her parents is a specter that’s never been laid to rest. However, if Mancini loses her patience with the player characters or simply snaps, she can become a dangerous opponent. At best, she’ll pressure Neal to restrict them from the GPCA. At worst, a deranged Mancini might turn her marksmanship skills against the player characters.

Notes and Inspirations

Although Diane Mancini appears in the original “Music of the Spheres” scenario, I’ve based Bible Black’s version of the character on Margo Madison from For All Mankind, brilliantly portrayed by the actress Wrenn Schmidt. I conder Mancini an “alternate universe” version of Margo, born four decades later and deciding to study astrophysics instead of engineering. Anyway, Margo Madison is one of my favorite television characters, so forgive me for taking the opportunity to swap Ross’ frumpy Golden Bear for this waspish Longhorn!

Bible Black > NPC Profiles
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Author: A. Buell Ruch (Based on work by Kevin A. Ross)
Last Modified: 2 November 2025
Email: quail (at) shipwrecklibrary (dot) com
Bible Black PDF: [TBD]