Travellers #1

There’s a ‘character-a-day’ challenge going around on some social media channels at the moment, the idea being to create a new RPG character every day in January. Since it would be helpful to get a bit more experience with character generation in Traveller, and coming up with NPCs can be fun, I’ve been generating characters for Mongoose Traveller 2nd edition.

Each character is rolled randomly, and is ‘as given’. Which means that some are significantly better than others, and some might be a challenge to play as a character. However, they all could be interesting NPCs to slot into a campaign, either as patrons, passengers or adventure hooks.

I’ve only included the character’s personality and background here (the non-game mechanic side of things) – each has a link to the full character sheet with their skills and characteristics.

The first 6 are included here, the rest will follow in subsequent posts.

Akurla Akhar

Akurlua Akhar is a 34 year old Vilani woman with a thin build and short dark hair. She came from nothing, got a lucky break and squandered it. She feels that the universe owes her, but that she shouldn’t have to do much to get it.

Akurlua is from the world of Pichot (Trojan Reach / Tobia / 3015), who managed to catch a lucky break and managed to get to a University at Tobia.

However, she wasted her time there partying and ended up dropping out of university before she graduated. She managed to get a job as a journalist for a second rate news organisation on Tobia.

She was on the cusp of breaking a major corruption scandal, when her boss stole the story from her. When the story turned out to be a scam, the blame was nevertheless put on her giving her a bad reputation. However, she got a decent payout and was told to not make a fuss.

Akurla then got a job working for a legal firm, but she soon got bored with that, dropping out after wrangling a ship share for herself. She’s now looking for something more interesting.

Count Balir Biiguush Balhaka

Count Balir Biiguush Balhaka could have had a good life, but let himself be dragged into the real world with all its complications. He tries very hard not to care about anything over than taking the easy road and having a good time.

Balir was a lay about noble’s son on the world of Peshtorno (Reft / Vestus / 0208) who started off life with little intention to do anything. He tried to get into university, but was rejected even with his connections, so he decided to go on the party circuit.

Somehow he got noticed due to being in the right place at the right time, and became a minor celebrity, using that to try and boost his career by going into politics and putting his world’s politics ahead of the Imperium. He only upset people though, in particular Captain Diidagarda Ikhin Gakiike Zimka, a Navy officer on Pershtorno.

He soon become very good friends with Countess Amir Durnusgka Rimuur of Colony Five (a fact her husband would be very upset about if he ever found out), which boosted his career further, and brought him to the attention of a group of nobles trying to further his homeworld’s agenda. It failed, and there were assassination attempts against everyone. He survived, though lost his left arm. It was replaced by a cybernetic arm, and he decided to try and leave politics and rest up on his estate, learning to ride.

He tried to worm his way back into politics, but managed to make a rival of Baron Kudarsii Khar Aligikhar on Tobia. Soon after, he decided to bow out of the political life, wrangling himself a nice yacht in the process and a big payout from his business ventures (or bribes, depending on your point of view).

Clara Colbear

Clara Colbear is a chatty woman, she generally talks to try to hide the fact that she is often out of her depth in most things, and tries to prevent anyone from asking hard questions. If someone does ask a question she doesn’t know the answer to, she will generally try to turn things around and ask them what they think.

Not particularly clever or well educated, Clara grew up on a small asteroid in Serendip Belt (Reft / New Islands / 1323) and never developed physically either. She joined a tramp freighter, and though she did okay out of it, never learned much. The crew she was with went bankrupt, but she had managed to squirrel away ownership of a ship.

She spent the next four years trying to scavenge along the border worlds in the Trojan Reach, but ran into trouble when she tried to cross Kagkar Gaadima. She barely escaped with her life, and is now looking for others to team up with again. Though she owns a ship, she doesn’t even know how to fly it. In fact, she tries very hard to hide the fact that she has made it through life without learning much of anything.

Captain Dikiishgu Duzik

Captain Dikiishgu Duzik is a straightforward, no-nonsense person. He is serious when he is working, but is capable of relaxing and being sociable when needed. He is honest and loyal to those he works with, and despises anyone who seems duplicitous or untrustworthy. He expects everyone to do their best at all times, and can chew people out who he thinks aren’t pulling their weight.

Dikiishgu grew up on Ayldem (Trojan Reach/ Tobia / 3013), where he attended university to study science and engineering. He was on track to gain an honours degree, but in the final year one of his flat mates, Lokeni Riontev, emptied out his and his friend’s accounts and ran off with the money, leaving them penniless and without a home. The disruption impacted their course work, but Dikiishgu was able to scrape through with a pass.

From there went on to join the Imperium Navy as an engineering officer, specialising in Jump Drives. he demonstrated his competence and quickly climbed the ranks, being promoted to Commander by the age of 34 after proving his loyalty to his ship and crew when he very publicly turned down a bribery attempt. From that point he realised he couldn’t betray those who trusted him.

Soon after, he was involved in a major battle against pirates along the border on the Trojan Reach, where he was noted for his bravery under fire and was given his own command as Captain of a light cruiser.

However, on a routine patrol there was a high velocity collision with a rock that penetrated the hull and killed several of his crew. He was severely injured, but survived. Looking for someone to blame for the loss of the ship, the Navy discharged him.

He has a small pension and some savings, and is looking for a crew to take him on. He’s quite had it with being the one responsible for everything, at least for now. He does want to find Lokeni though, and pay him back for what he did all those years ago.

Everilda Erato

Everilda Erato portrays a cheerful, somewhat dim exterior. She’s happy to play at being ‘easy’ target, especially if high quality food and accommodation are being promised. She’ll hang on to people for as long as she needs to, all the while trying to find a way to get money and gifts.

Everilda Engel grew up on Neubayern, the daughter of a rich businessman with lots of connections in high places. It became clear pretty quickly that she didn’t have the aptitude for academic study, so her parents wrangled her a job in the Neubayern intelligence service. During her training, she had a sexual relationship with a superior, Hans Fischer, which became quite intense and lasted during her time there.

During preparation for a deep cover mission she was provided with combat implants (for emergency use only), but accidentally came across information that would embarrass several high ranking members of the service, in particular Assistant Director Johan Krimler, who for a short time had a shoot to kill order placed on her.

She escaped, vanishing into the underworld and changing her name to Everilda Erato. Her luck was soon to run out though, and after a botched attempt to blackmail some Joyeuse diplomats was forced to flee Neubayern in a stolen shuttle. She managed to get passage aboard a ship as a Steward (though she spent more time in the Captain’s cabin) and made her way out of the Islands.

For a few years she worked on large star liners, managing to steal and con money out of the passengers. Then she ran into Hans Fischer again, who was on his own engagement. She managed to persuade him to let him help her, though in retrospect that was probably his plan all along, since he betrayed her and left her to take the fall as part of his getaway plan.

She feels betrayed and let down, and is now struggling to find another job to keep her in the style to which she wants to live. She can still barely speak a word of Anglic or Vilani, but that is part of her cover that cause people to underestimate her.

Fernando Fabian

Fernando Fabian is somewhat overconfident about his abilities and tends to see the positive side of new endeavours, assuming that he can just deal with any situations that come up. This isn’t always true, but he always has an excuse ready and an exit plan prepared.

He grew up on Esperanza (Reft, New Islands, 0926), the fourth son of a middle-class family who weren’t too interested in what he did. He wasn’t cut out for school, so instead bunked off to try his hand at breaking and entering, or simple pick pocketing. He got overconfident though, and was caught.

Fortunately an uncle of his, Morales Lorca, was a lawyer, and managed to get him out of a jail sentence in return for some favours. Rather than learn his lesson, he fell in with a local crime lord who introduced him to more lucrative jobs via, Djau Branwen, a corrupt starport official who could get stolen goods off-world. He met up with another thief, Julieta Garcia, giving up a sizeable windfall in order to keep her out of jail.

They worked together for a while, Julieta would work on the inside and allow him to get in from the outside and do the thieving.

Unfortunately one job went badly wrong and he was crippled for several months, a situation that took a large chunk out of his savings in medical bills. By this point he was getting tired of always looking over his shoulder, and decided to try to go straight, getting a job as a delivery driver for a while.

During that time he got to know people working to overthrow the oppressive government, and by now feeling the need to ‘get back in the game’ helped to plant explosives. However, the entire operation was foiled before it began, and he had to quickly move city, taking jobs in less affluent areas. He thought things were getting back to normal, when one of his ex-conspiracists spotted him and blamed him for their failure. An attempt was made on his life which almost killed him, but again he survived.

By the time he was out of hospital, he was starting to feel his age, so decided to leave Esperanza for the first time before it was too late. From his connections and investments he managed to get a share of a ship and collected savings and headed out into the Islands.