Travellers #3

The third set of characters from my ‘character-a-day‘ challenge. Michelle Mandeville has already made her way into one of my campaigns as an NPC, and Nigel Nikateema has been mentioned in passing.

Michelle Mandeville

Michelle Mandeville is a large woman, tall and well muscled. She is also passionate and outspoken, utterly convinced of the obviousness of her cause, and certain that those who argue against her are all part of the conspiracy. She never lets truth or logic get in the way of her beliefs.

Michelle was working in a fast food restaurant on Amondiage (Reft, 2325) when the truth suddenly dawned on her – the entire Imperium was a lie. That humans had populated the galaxy hundreds of thousands of years ago was such an obvious falsehood she couldn’t believe that others hadn’t seen it. If some so called alien species had taken humans from Earth, then why were there still people on Earth thousands of years later?

She argued with her family, her friends and her co-workers. She was laughed at, but she started to gain a following. Going out into the Islands she hitch-hiked to other worlds to spread the truth. The entire Imperium was a lie put about by the governments to keep people in line. Aliens were also probably just people dressed up in suits. Mostly they just looked like people in cat or dog suits.

She took the opportunity to visit all the worlds of the Islands, refusing to try and leave for Imperium space because she believed doing so would result in her being brainwashed. At some point she realised that there were some minor flaws in her arguments, but by this time she was beginning to get a following so decided to carry on, actually getting support from the government of Topas which found her views useful. This gave her some much needed credibility, but also made her an enemy within the Topas terrorist groups.

Over the last few years, she has made a number of rivals amongst both the scientific and business establishments, a fact she uses as proof that she’s on to something. A large conference on New Colchis was particularly successful for her, though she greatly embarrassed several scientists and government members who tried to debate her but were unprepared for the stupidity of her arguments.

Though she has pretty much alienated her family and original circle of friends, she can except to get an audience of hundreds, if not thousands, when she does fund raising events on worlds in the Islands. She is beginning to tire of the circuit, but has a number of donors who pay her a considerable salary to keep going. If she’s privately questioning her public beliefs, she’s definitely not showing public signs of it.

Her popularity is also beginning to make her enemies from her own side, and others who push the theory that the Imperium is a lie are also attacking her, calling her a shill who is planning to try and discredit the organisation. There has been some violence at her most recent rallies, and her Holovids are beginning to divide the community more than bring it together.

Nigel Nikateema

Nigel Nikateema is a tall, frail man with silver hair and beard. He can have an intense look, and can stop a conversation to just stare at a person. He knows that he’s famous because of his talent, and he thinks that makes him better than those who socialise with him.

Nigel Nikateema grew up in the Serendup Belt, and like many of those around him was tall, think and weak due to the zero gravity and low gravity conditions. He managed to enter the Merchant Academy, from where he graduated with honours and went on to join the Merchant Marines, becoming a pilot.

Within a few years he was advising on trade deals, especially robotics. He managed to grow quite a successful business, but it all came crashing down when a competitor managed to steal a deal out from under him. He’d invested all of his money at that point, so the loss caused him to go bankrupt.

Out of options, he tried settling on New Colchis for a bit, where he took up a management position at a small company. He was doing well, when the company was bought out and he found himself demoted and out of the bonuses that he’d been promised. So he quit.

Not sure what to do, he took up painting to relieve his stress, and turned out to be quite good at it. Though his style wasn’t technically great, it turned out he had an imagination which caught people’s attention. What he started as a hobby between careers turned into a life.

He became famous on New Colchis for his paintings of stark city scapes and neon night life. He did some work for the New Colchis Navy, where he did the interior art for their new line of warships.

Now into his fifties, he is famous through the Islands and a frequent invite to high status parties where he often spends the time in the arms of young women. He still hopes that his greatest work is ahead of him, and has no plans to stop, though is finding that time spent under normal gravity is taking a toll on his body.

Okhegn

Okhegan is small, even for a Vargr, with a light build and slight patchy fur and walks with a bit of a limp. She has been the runt of her pack since she was born, and is used to it. She expects to be treated badly by everyone she meets, but is determined to survive.

Okhegan was born on Ozngenra (Tuglikki, 3038) as the runt of her pack, smaller and weaker than everyone else she lived off the scraps of others and struggled to make herself useful to those in power, doing anything they wanted. Soon after finding a position serving her pack leader, she was set upon by her rivals and almost killed.

She survived, and slunk away with a scout crew, learning to pilot the ship from watching the others. Before long though, the ship was raided by Corsairs, and the rest of her crew were killed. She pleaded sufficiently though to be allowed to join the Corsairs. After an unfortunate accident befell their pilot, she offered to take up the position and survived in the role for several years, even though she was still treated as the lowest member of the group.

Now she has left the Corsairs behind her, and is stuck in the Trojan Reach with her share of the loot and seeking another pack to join.

Paul Peterson

Paul Peterson is a disillusioned young man who suffers from bouts of depression which he tries to cure with alcohol.

Paul Peterson grew up on New Colchis (Reft, 1327), where he entered university but failed to graduate. Soon after joining the police force he was almost killed by a car bomb. The explosion killed his friend and partner, and left him in critical condition in hospital for over a month whilst they regrew his legs. When he returned, he tried to find out who was behind the bombing but didn’t get any help from the force. They also refused to cover his medical expenses. Though they promoted him, he reckoned that this was just to shut him up, so heavily in debt and disillusioned with the force, he quit.

Already in debt to shady lone sharks, he is being forced into working for crime gangs, using his knowledge of the local police to now work against them. He blames his ex-colleagues for what happened and for not supporting him afterwards, so wants to see them brought down.

Quilla Quartermaine

Quilla Quartermaine is an enforcer for a local street gang. She is hard and cold blooded, and will hurt anyone without thinking twice if it is necessary.

Quilla grew up on the streets of Colchis (Reft, 2026), learning to find her own way in the world. After being on the wrong side of the law too many times, she decided to reverse the situation and join law enforcement. She was noted for her bravery and willingness to work hard to get the job done.

Unfortunately she worked a bit too hard, and uncovered corruption in her department. Rather than keeping it quite she decided to do the ‘right thing’ and took it to the top – where it was immediately covered up and she found herself out on the street, taking the blame for what had happened.

She still wanted to be part of something bigger than herself though, so signed up for the military, joining the Colchis infantry. Once again she found herself uncovering dirt – this time a weapon smuggling operation being run by her commanding officer Captain Jack Whitby. Having learned her lesson, she offered to help and keep it quiet. That worked well for a while, until it was uncovered and she found herself discharged.

Having decided that whether she worked for or against the law, she’d end up on the wrong side of it, she embraced fate and became an enforcer for Marsus Waste Disposal, a gang near the starport. She may not look menacing at first, but she has no qualms about hurting people and has been very good at convincing people of that.

Ronald Reed

Ronald Reed is a 34 year old man from New Home in the Old Islands sub-sector with dark skin and a bald head. He is normally smartly dressed and has an aura of competence. He works aboard the A2 class Far Trader Electric Blue.

Ron grew up on the streets of New Home (Reft, 1925), living with his girlfriend Anna Yelstead. They managed to avoid most of the hardships of their neighbours, but eventually fell into a life of crime. Unfortunately, just a few years later, Anna betrayed him on a big job, running off with a sizeable amount of cash and leaving him to be caught by the police.

Given that he’d been left with nothing, he was able to argue that he had only been involved on the sidelines, and gave up her details in exchange for his freedom. Since that time, neither have forgiven even other.

Ronald tried going straight, and managed to get a job working as a steward on a star liner. With a bit more experience and confidence under his belt, he joined with a few colleagues to begin their own company, working on the ship Electric Blue which has been converted to a passenger liner, they ferry people around the Islands in reasonable comfort. He has part ownership of the ship, some savings and a steady job, so his life in his opinion is going well.