January Character Creation Challenge, Day 6: The Fly-Bride (Mutants and Masterminds 3e)

Judith Winstead

"Punch a man on the nose, kick an old man downstairs, shoot somebody or any old thing like that, that's my job.  But argue with women in love ~ no thank you!” 
—Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

Judith Winstead grew up in Applachia, though not by that name.  Tennessee, specifically, and a rural mountain hollow at that.  Her family was poor, scratching into the ground to feed itself and only avoiding scratching deeper to pay its bills by the production of arts, crafts, and various herbal concoctions they found they could sell.  It was a hard life, and a far cry from the wealth they had experienced in generations past.  Their home, the largest in the hollow, was the only remnant of that luxury remaining to their name, the last thing Judith's grandfather Uriah had to bequeath to his sons Greg and Anton.  Neither were particularly Heavenly people, bless their hearts.

In truth, Greg had his rough edges, as do many people (especially people with lots of stressors in their life), but living with him was certainly possible.  It was only after his brother's death that those rough edges grew sharp and pointed, an ever-present possible explosion fueled by endless strange moonshines.  Judith and the spectre that was all that remained of Anton both blamed her for his death.  After all, she had seen him fall into that coal mine, had heard the bone snap and him cry for help.  Surely, she should have gotten someone to help her save him, but she was young and she was alone and Anton's own preacher had given a seron that very morning about God only helping those who helped himself.  Judith's nightmares still feature her standing at the mineshaft's edge, quoting the preacher's words at her uncle.  She still wakes up to the vision of wrath replacing fright in his eyes.

"I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love."
--Marilyn Monroe

Judith's life changed after John Hobbes and Gretta Milano were murdered by the Potsherd People.  After all, this tragedy brought FBI agent Matthew Winstead to her little hollow.  She was overjoyed when it finally came out that Matt had been smitten with her as soon as his eyes, saddened by the loss of his friends, first laid upon her, as she had him.  He often said that that first glimpse had reminded him that there was warmth in the world after losing John and Gretta. 

The Potsherd People had sacrificed Matt's friends to get the attention of Beelzebub.  It worked, too, but "attention" is far from the same as "service", "help", or even "approval".  They did earn a modicum of respect from the Lord of Flies, however, in their refusal to submit to his distracted destruction of these insipid little mortals.  Judith and Matt became embroiled in, caught up in the middle of, the collateral damage of, this conflict.  Beelzebub enlisted the aid of a mute, disfigured being Matthew dubbed Quilt-Flesh.  After some time, Judith realized why Quilt-Flesh seemed so familiar to her: it was the undead form of her father.  The whole thing came to a head in an epic three-way battle in Judith's family home, with predictably destructive results, not that Beelzebub really gave a shit.

"Never will he understand the sufferings of another, who has not experienced them himself, though he have divine Reason and the nature of a genuine devil!” 

—G.I. Gurdjieff, Beelzebub's Tales to His Grandson

Now homeless and only not an orphan by dint of her young but still adult age, Judith travelled across the country with Agent Winstead as he investigated cases of the strange and unusual.  It was on this journey, tackling various monsters and problems of the week, that the two revealed their mutual love, and before long, the two were married.  Both before and after their union, many of their adventures revolved around Beelzebub, whether because of sheer (un)luck, the two humans seeking vengeance against the Lord of Flies for one wrong or another, or eventually a reluctant demon prince seeking the aid of such insignificant people.  Unfortunately, marriages forged in the fires of not only travel, but conflict moreover, often prove more fragile than anyone involved imagines it could be.  So it was with the Winsteads' marriage, which began to fall apart after many harrowing incidents.  

Judith realized with horror that she had begun slowly developing feelings for the Lord of Flies.  Terror at the idea of loving a demon and loyalty to her marriage vows froze Judith for months in heart-pounding indecision.  Her uncle freed her from this mental cage, making a play to possess her husband so that he might punish Judith for his death.  The attempt failed, sending the FBI agent into a coma which killed him in time.  Distraught, Judith found a cold comfort in the arms of Beelzebub, and revenge in a favor the demon owed her.  To the Lord of Flies's continuing annoyance, Judith has followed him around ever since, calling herself the Fly-Bride and insisting the whole time that Hell had not purged his heart from him.  

"But would you kindly ponder this question: What would your good do if evil didn't exist, and what would the earth look like if all the shadows disappeared? After all, shadows are cast by things and people. Here is the shadow of my sword. But shadows also come from trees and living beings.  Do you want to strip the earth of all trees and living things just because of your fantasy of enjoying naked light? You're stupid.” 
—Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

Home Base:  Las Vegas
Gender:  Cisfemale
Sexuality:  Vanilla-leaning heterosexual masochist.
Romantic Identity:  Domestic romantic.

"Everything existing in the world “falls to the bottom.” The “bottom” for any part of the Universe is its nearest “stability,” and this stability is the point toward which all the lines of force from all directions converge.” 

—Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

Physical Appearance:  I can't draw, so I really like providing a few reference pictures and trusting in your imagination to build a good image of the Fly-Bride.  

Judith looks like some combination of these three pictures:

"But what can be done, the one who loves must share the fate of the one he loves.” 

—Mikhail Bulgakov, The Master and Margarita

The Fly-Bride (PC PL/Minion 5, NPC PL 3, Sidekick 15)
STR 0  AGI 2  FGT 2  AWE 2

STA 1  DEX 1  INT 0  PRE 3

Powers

Deflect:  Deflect 4, diminished range 3 • 1 point

Empathy:  Senses 3 (acute ranged detect emotion, acute, ranged, alternate skill usage: Insight) • 3 points

Knows How to Fall:  Movement 1 (safe fall) • 1 point

Mental Awareness:  Senses 1 (mental awareness) • 1 point

Mental Communication:  Mental Communication 3 • 12 points

Mental Detection:  Senses 5 (accurate acute ranged detect minds) • 5 points

Mind Reading:  Close Mind Reading 3, feedback • 1 point

Psychokinesis:  Subtle perception ranged Move Object 1 • 4 points per rank = 4

Advantages
All-Out Attack, Animal Empathy, Attractive 1, Defensive Roll 1, Diehard, Evasion, Inspire 2, Interpose, Luck 2, Ritualist, Set-Up, Teamwork, Tracking

Skills

Athletics 2 ranks (+2), Expertise: Magic 1 rank (+1), Expertise: Theology 2 ranks (+2), Insight 3 ranks (+5), Stealth 3 ranks (+5), Treatment 1 rank (+3)
Offense
Initiative +2
Unarmed +2:  Close, Damage 0

Defense 
Dodge  2 (+4)
Fortitude  1 (+2)
Parry  0 (+2)
Toughness  +1/+2
Will  1 (+3)
Size rank ‒2 (5'9"')
Ground speed rank 0 (2 mph)
Complications 
Compassionate:  The Fly-Bride is someone who has suffered much throughout her life.  There are two choices when you have so many cracks in your heart, she says: you can either wrap up your heart in unfeeling bubble wrap to protect it from any sensation or you can make the cracks into doors.  She has chosen the latter, letting her own pain teach her how to be open-hearted and loving, always ready to reach out and help those in need.  This generally annoys her love, but it has also on occasion brought the two into conflict.
Motivation ~ Love:  Simply put, Judith would do anything Beelzebub asked her to do.  Much of her involvement with the super community comes from this relationship, but it is not always because she is acting as his agent.  She has at times gotten herself entangled in various plots (or even initiated them!) simply in pursuit of some lover's surprise, gift, or attempt to show her love.  On occasion, these schemes have been to redeem the Lord of Flies, whether in the eyes of others or in his own heart, or even (in her wickedest moments) to force him to admit his love for her.

Power Point Totals:  Abilities 22 + Powers 28 + Advantages 15 + Skills 6 + Defenses 4 = 75

January Character Creation Challenge, Day Five: Warm Body of the Bedbugs Pack, Salubri antitribu (Vampire: the Masquerade 5e)

And now for a turn to the darker side of things!  I have been a World of Darkness fan since 1996 or so, and can’t believe it took me this long to make a WoD character!  The Sabbat has consistently been my favorite sect of vampires, even as my favorite clan has shifted and changed over the years.  In its origins, my love of the Sword of the Caine comes from my experience as a very alienated genderqueer child.  The idea of not being human felt very affirming to me, and in my time following the fandom that the sect attracted, I became very aware of the problems with 90s edgelord politics.  Saw some things I didn’t like in my own head as I did, too, and thankfully was able to change those things once I saw them.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy Warm Body of the Bedbugs, the last Sabbat pack left in Atlanta, Georgia.

Haylee was an addict, plain and simple.  Some might have assumed that her addiction was to the anesthesia the surgeons gave her before they cut into her flesh, or the opiates she was given afterwards to deal with the pain of healing.  Those people would be wrong.  Haylee was addicted to both change and perfection.

At times, she wondered if she could be considered a 20th-century Knight of the Round Table, whose Grail wasn’t some moralizing cup but the supreme sexiness of a tailor-made body.  Or maybe she was a transhumanist of the sort that was so popular amongst people smarter than she was, rising above the mere limitations of flawed flesh.  Mostly, she just didn’t think about it, though.  Plastic surgery was fun, and that was all she really cared to know.  The joy of looking in the mirror and seeing a new self looking back at her, the exercise of control that came with molding her very physical reality ~ there was nothing like it, if she were being honest.

Haylee had the luck or unluck (depending on your point of view) to be a patron of Northside Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia.  The weather was warming in early June, as the Sabbat was preparing to kick off their Firedance, and the Blood Bubbles pack had just arrived in the city.  Its ductus, a Tzimisce by the name of Cactus-Drinker, had determined that they needed a few more members to throw away against the Camarilla forces.  Shovelheads, expendable little time-bombs of childer, in other words.

The Blood Bubbles descended upon Northside Hospital, slaughtering doctors and patients alike and pinning them up to the walls in a wide variety of demeaning, degrading, silly, and horrifying poses.  They were all the worse for their diversity, and the blood made the floors shine so much more brilliantly than the linoleum had.  Amidst all this terror, a neat pile of blood bags was stacked with a simple nurse-station Post-It stuck on them, reading only “You actually drink this shit?”

Haylee was laid up in a bed at the time, recovering from yet another modification, yet another installation.  To this day, she doesn’t know why Cactus-Drinker used one of his skin-needles to slice off Bugboy’s ear while Bugboy was fang-deep in her neck.  But it did do that, and Bugboy’s blood mingled with hers and she leapt out of her hospital bed giggling the way only opiate dregs can make you giggle.  In the next few weeks, she tore her way through the corpses of the Ivory Tower, unknowing and uncaring of why or what the repercussions would be.

Shortly after the Siege of Atlanta was complete, the Blood Bubbles planned to join the wave of Cainites headed north to push the Firedance against more and more Camarilla cities.  Warm Body found herself reticent to leave the city where once she had been human and loved to wash down Big Macs with deep paper cups of Coca-Cola.  Maybe she wasn’t as inhuman as she thought she was, as the Sword of Caine wanted her to be.  Not yet, anyway.

Ironically, it was the very place where she died that gave her succor in that confusing time.  She was finally interred on a refrigerated shelf in the Northside Hospital morgue.  Three days exactly she lay there, trying to remember what it was to shiver, before an assistant mortician got curious.  His blood boiled her icy throat, and it felt so good inside her as she stumbled out of the hospital loading bay in search of a new fate.

She found the pack that called themselves the Bedbugs.  

A decade later, the Second Inquisition and the Gehenna Crusade conspired to drain Atlanta of its Cainites.  Empty nighttime streets were safe for approximately one week before a new set of monsters moved in, calling themselves Camarilla and anarchs.  The Bedbugs decorated their haven with the bodies of any Sabbat who dared insist that they join this self-destructive Crusade, each of them carved with the words “Did the Tower’s Work For Them”.  This tells you how much the Bedbugs had to say about what those Cainites came to tell them, so you shouldn’t be surprised that the pack didn’t realize they were the last ones left until sometime in 2012.

Quickly doing the math, the Bedbugs realized they couldn’t survive on their own.  The Camarilla and the anarchs each outnumbered them a few times over, so they made the decision to reveal themselves to the binary power structure of the city.  “You cannot exterminate us,” they said to the vampires of both groups.  “We live in the mess you each made of this world and we are tenacious beyond your ability to know.  What is within your ability to know is this hard truth: you are as we are.  There is no need for us to exist in war, our siblings under Caine, and hiding from each other is distasteful.  We mean you no harm, for you and we are equal, and fighting for each other’s blood is a distraction from the feast this city represents.”

The Bedbugs thus bought themselves some amount of peace in Atlanta as the last dregs of its occupiers, and Warm Body was among them as they did so.  In truth, she was the mastermind behind this plan, the only Bedbug lacking in Obfuscate or much desire for stealth.  She likes the attention too much.

In truth, the pack relies upon Warm Body for her ability to get both the living and the undead to do what she ~ they ~ wants them to do.  She is their face, in Elysium, among the prey, and wherever the anarchs gather.  It helps that she is damnably hard to kill or even wound.

Nonetheless, she is not the pack priest.  Sure, she could probably easily become such, if she wanted, but she doesn’t want.  More than a lack of will, she lacks the desire to be in charge.  It’s so much easier and more fun to follow the group’s whims, only pitching into decision-making when she actually has an idea worth mentioning.  No, she’s quite happy letting the Nosferatu No-Tell hold the priesthood.

She understands her Gangrel packmate Itchy.  He may have gotten his money and power as a mortal despite his addiction, while she gained it from hers, but still their personalities were shaped by very similar forces.  Need, being the name of that force.  Warm Body needed to change, Itchy needed oblivion; Haylee sought perfection, Paul sought to de-stress.

No, it’s Dr. Gibran with whom she butts heads most often.  In truth, these conflicts are merely the last spasms of dying habits, and she knows it.  Everyone in her position has found themself having to push against a doctor’s ideas of what is rational or possible, has had to push these medical layabouts to actually innovate and serve.  Merely the fact that he still uses the title awakens these last inescapable mortal habits in her, and she hates him for reminding her that her breathing days are not so long ago and not so overcome as she would like.  One day soon, vinculum willing, she will remove the irritant from her world.

Since the Bedbugs announced themselves to the local power structures, Warm Body has found herself swirled into the Atlanta arts scene in a way she hadn’t been before, the darling of Toreadors both Kindred and lick alike.  The Toreador who calls herself Adélaïde Sault has particularly taken an interest in Haylee, the political outsider.  Certainly, the Camarilla elder must think Warm Body useful for some political scheme or a dozen, but she has also proved useful to Haylee in turn.  The two have built a relationship that may lack in trust but abounds in mutual aid.  

Warm Body has found herself caught up with a couple of mortals.  One is an author by the name of Kenneth Alves (they/them), who writes cyberpunk, post-cyberpunk, and transhumanist science fiction, imagining sprawling futures where anyone can be perfect in any way they wish, at the mere cost of a few dollars and a couple of hours.  Their works have revived something in Warm Body, something she dearly hopes can be incorporated into the vampiric experience ~ hope ~ and so has come under her protection.  Giovanna Roach, on the other hand . . . well that relationship is built on mutual confirmation of cosmology.  Giovanna is a sculptress in any medium that allows her to lay her hands upon the sculpture and possesses a wicked ability to scavenge herself those media for her to sculpt.  She thinks Warm Body loves her, and there might be some strange way in which that’s true, but Haylee mostly finds comfort against the cold nights in listening to Giovanna talk about her artistic process.  It might be the Blood Bond that makes the sculptress think that.

People so well-tuned into aesthetic ecstasy as the arts community is are ridiculously easy to seduce, and Warm Body has found that she enjoys making her body warmer by making theirs just that little bit less.  It’s the path of least resistance, if we’re being honest, and serves to not distract her from her goals.  They seem to have some sort of vinculum of their own, however.  Haylee is always shocked when she remembers the powerful bonding sex and love have for the living; she hasn’t been dead all that long, not nearly long enough to think of such things as “the mortals’ strange form of vinculum”, right?  Nonetheless, Kenneth resents what they see as Warm Body stealing their boyfriend, one Jasper Boyd, Jr., from them.  In truth, Haylee hasn’t fucked Jasper in well over half a year, but jealousy dies hard.

Don’t think Warm Body is a fool, however ~ she knows Kenneth wishes her ill.  She just hasn’t yet had the courage to do something about it yet.  Her addiction was ever about indulgence and pleasure, and not about the self-harm to be found in others’ scalpels.

Name:  Haylee “Warm Body” Maddok // Concept: Bimbo Plastic Surgery Addict // Clan:  Salubri

Sire:  Bugboy (of the nomad Blood Bubbles pack) // Grandsire:  Kervos (of the Talons pack of Montreal)

Greatgrandsire:  Thomas the Angry // Age:  1999 CE (neonate)

Ambition: // Predator Type:  Siren // Generation:  13th // Path:  Cathari

Conviction (Touchstone):  Perfection for the people, gatekeepers be damned! (Kenneth Alves)

Conviction (Touchstone):  How can control be real, if you can’t see it, touch it? (Giovanna Roach, sculptress in multiple media)

Strength 🩸🩸  //  Charisma 🩸🩸🩸  //  Intelligence 🩸

Dexterity 🩸🩸🩸  //  Manipulation 🩸🩸🩸🩸  //  Wits 🩸🩸

Stamina 🩸🩸🩸  //  Composure 🩸🩸  //  Resolve 🩸🩸

Health 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸 🩸🩸🩸  //  Willpower 🩸🩸🩸🩸

Athletics 🩸  //  Animal Ken  //  Academics

Brawl  //  Etiquette 🩸🩸  //  Awareness

Craft  //  Insight 🩸🩸🩸  //  Finance

Drive 🩸  //  Intimidation  //  Investigation

Firearms  //  Leadership  //  Medicine 🩸🩸 Cosmetic Surgeries

Larceny  //  Performance 🩸🩸 Stripping  //  Occult

Melee  //  Persuasion 🩸🩸🩸  //  Politics

Stealth  //  Streetwise 🩸  //  Science

Survival  //  Subterfuge 🩸🩸🩸🩸 Seduction  //  Technology

Feeding:  Charisma+Subterfuge 🎲🎲🎲🎲🎲 🎲🎲🎲

Auspex 🩸🩸 Heightened Senses, Obeah

Dominate 🩸 Compel

Fortitude 🩸🩸🩸 Resilience, Toughness, Defy Bane

Beautiful 🩸🩸

Eat Food 🩸🩸

Enemy 🩸

Mawla 🩸🩸🩸

Retainers 🩸🩸

Suspect 🩸 Anarchs

Suspect 🩸 Camarilla

 

January Character Creation Challenge: Sir Caron ap Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor, pagan Breton knight of Clarence County (King Arthur Pendragon RPG)

I really need to write up a unification of King Arthur Pendragon RPG’s Book of Sires and Book of Knights and Ladies sometime . . . .  Anyway, here’s my fourth character for the January Character Creation Challenge.

Sir Caron ap Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor is a new knight in the Kingdom of Logres in 480 AD, the son of a famous knight and banneret of Clarence County until he mysteriously disappeared five years ago.  The feeling of a sword upon his shoulders and his cheeks, wielded by the very same Sir Máel ap Laloecen who replaced Sir Caro’s father, has given him hope that soon he might discover his father’s final fate.  There are those who whisper that Sir Caron lacks a need for sleep, that he spends his nights in the lonely company of a candle, laboring away at his duties, his knightly discipline, his studies, the ever-quaking landscape of the court, and his quest for his father.

An expert with a spear or atop a horse, Sir Caron has honed his family’s expertise with games of all sorts into a skill feared in any court he visits.  He’s also an anomaly in his county, having been raised on the continent by a father pushed into his own mother’s paganism by his father’s Christian sectarianism.  It’s almost an uncanny valley effect ~ Caron fits in just fine, which only throws his Breton and pagan ways into greater relief.  Famed both for his wisdom as a lord and the force with which he punishes any who crosses him, ribald and hilarious stories are also told where he cannot hear of the stammering anxiety which so flagrantly marks his sexual attractions.

Sir Comgal, Caron’s father, was a hero of Aurelius Ambrosius’ march against Vortigern, having sailed with Gorlois in search of a fleet and even witnessed the duke’s first meeting with the mermaid he has now married.  Because of this, Sir Comgal ensured that his son knew his way around a ship.  Four years ago, on the anniversary of Comgal’s disappearance, Sir Caron found himself drunk on a ship off the Cornish coast.  He knows not what happened that night, recalling only the words and the ethereal tune of a mermaid’s song, filling his ears.  Caron’s croaked voice has a difficult time recreating that song, but he knows there is a magic there, akin surely to that of Gorlois’s Lady Ygraine.

Sir Caron ap Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor

Ancestral Homeland:  the Midlands of Logres

Grandfather’s Culture:  Cymru

Grandfather’s Religion:  British Christian

Grandfather’s Tribe and Homeland:  Dobunni of Clarence County

Grandmother’s Culture:  Cymru

Grandmother’s Religion:  British Pagan

Grandmother’s Tribe and Homeland:  Coritani of Lonazep County

Father’s Culture:  Cymru

Father’s Religion:  British Pagan

Father’s Tribe and Homeland:  Dobunni of Clarence County

Mother’s Culture:  Cymru

Mother’s Religion:  British Christianity

Mother’s Homeland:  Cornuailles of Brittany

His Culture:  Cymru

His Religion:  British Pagan

His Homeland:  Brittany

Liege Lord:  Banneret of Clarence County

Father’s Class:  Banneret

Current Class:  Vassal

Family Characteristic: Clever at Games (+10 Gaming)

Chaste 7/13 Lustful

Energetic  21/1  Lazy

Forgiving  4/16  Vengeful

Generous  12/8  Selfish

Honest  10/10  Deceitful

Just  16/4  Arbitrary

Merciful  12/8  Cruel

Modest  11/9  Proud

Pious  15/5  Worldly

Prudent  10/10  Reckless

Temperate  14/6  Indulgent

Trusting  11/9  Suspicious

Valorous  16/4  Cowardly

Directed Trait: Cowardly (terribly shy ~ whenever interacting with someone to whom he is attracted, he must make a Valorous -10 roll to avoid deep embarrassment, mangled speech, and an inability to make eye contact)

Directed Trait: Cowardly (in the presence of big fires) +6

Directed Trait: Suspicious (Roman Christianity) +2

Directed Trait: Suspicious (Sorestan Saxons) +6

Concern (my commoners) 7, Hate (Cambrian Tribesmen) 12, Hate (Non-Berrocinga Saxons) 11, Hate (Vortigern) 8, Loyalty (Lord) 9, Loyalty (vassals) 15, Love (Family) 12, Hospitality 12, Honor 10

SIZ 12; STR 13; CON 19; DEX 15; APP 15

Damage: 4d6; Healing Rate: 3; Movement Rate: 3; Total Hit Points: 31; Unconscious: 8

Distinctive Features: Braided beard, long fingers.

Awareness 7, Boating 10, Compose 1, Courtesy 5, Dancing 2, Faerie Lore 10, Falconry 3, First Aid 10, Flirting 3, Folklore 2, Gaming 16, Heraldry 10, Hunting 6, Intrigue 5, Orate 5, Play (harp) 3, Read (Latin) 0, Recognize 7, Religion (British Paganism) 4, Romance 0, Singing 4, Stewardship 4, Swimming 7, Tourney 0

Battle 10, Siege 7, Horsemanship 16, Sword 15, Dagger 5, Spear Expertise 16

Glory: 1445

Family Wealth: Rich

Decorated Saxon sword worth £4 

Warrior song (a faerie once whispered a song in your ear while you slept; a successful Singing roll grants all friends that hear it +3 to their Energetic and +3 to Valor.)

Chain mail and nasal helm (11 points); Shield (6); Sword, 5 spears, dagger; Charger, 2 rouncys, 2 sumpters

Squire: Cunobelinos (First Aid 6; Battle 1, Horsemanship 6; Play (Harp) 5)

Family Knights:  1 middle-aged knight, 2 young knights. 

Other Lineage Men:  11

Levy:  53

Timeline of His Family History

405 AD: The last Roman legion leaves Britain, never to return.

408: Neirin ap Ivor (grandfather) is born.

410:  The Supreme Collegium of Britain sends a letter to Rome begging for help as the invaders are back. Rome replies, telling them to “look to your own defense.”

415: British leaders convene the Supreme Collegium to elect a High King.  Guided by Archbishop Guithelinus, the Collegium offers the crown to King Aldronius of Brittany, the son of Emperor Maximianus, who defers it to his younger brother who is crowned Constantin II of Britain.  Constantin sails from Brittany with 2000 soldiers.  He marries a British princess (the daughter of King Coel Hen of Eburacum), and becomes the High King of Britain.  High King Constantin gives his sister, Severa, in marriage to King Vortigern of the Ordovices and the Silures in Cambria, and makes him the Dux of Gloucester, too.  He summons the best men of each tribe to his service and ennobles them as knights, in return for their promise to fight for him when he calls upon them.  Thus, High King Constantin manages to bring peace to Britain, for a while.

429: Neirin ap Ivor has his 21st birthday at the end of the year and is knighted, inheriting 200 Glory from his father and gaining 1000 Glory from the ceremony and the new rank it grants.

430: Sir Neirin ap Ivor marries Muadnat ferch Bedwyr, a Cymru British-Pagan Coritana from Lonazep, resulting in 250 Glory from the marriage and 8 Glory from his knightly activities (total: 1458).

431: Sir Neirin ap Ivor gains 7 Glory (1465).

432: Sir Neirin ap Ivor gains 12 Glory (1477).

433: Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor is born; Sir Neirin gains 20 Glory (1497).

434: Sir Neirin gains 12 Glory (1509).

435: Sir Neirin gains 20 Glory (1529).

436: Sir Neirin gains 19 Glory (1548).

437: Sir Neirin gains 11 Glory (1559).

438: Sir Neirin gains 12 Glory (1571).

439: When an army of invading Irish lands at the mouth of the River Severn, Sir Neirin ap Ivor joins King Constantin ap Macsen Wledig’s army of professionals and mustered local armed forces for the Battle of Carlion, where he fights well, gaining 150 Glory (1721).

440: Although King Constantin ap Macsen Wledig is murdered by one of his own guards, an Atrebates knight, and the Irish take advantage of the resultant confusion, Sir Neirin ap Ivor serves garrison duty, seeing little to no combat.  He is not happy about this.

441: On his way to London, Dux Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui travels to London, passing through Sir Neirin ap Ivor’s lands, in what will become Clarence County in the future.  Sir Neirin joins his entourage for the journey.  Once there, Dux Vortigern summons Prince Constans ap Constantin ap Macsen Wledig, Constantin’s eldest son, from the monastery.  They discuss the situation and Constans reluctantly agrees to his uncle’s demand that he take the crown.  Sir Neirin plays witness to the elevation of Prince Constans ap Constantin ap Macsen Wledig to be the King of Logres, gaining 25 Glory (1746).  The Supreme Collegium receives a summons to convene to select a new High King, but due to the intertribal raiding and feuding, they are not able to gather this year.

442: The Supreme Collegium meets.  At the urging of Dux Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui, the Supreme Collegium chooses Constans ap Constantin ap Macsen Wledig, as High King; Sir Neirin attends the coronation, earning 50 Glory (1796).  Pirates attack Coritani, devastating and depopulating the marshy coastal areas (Sorestan), and sending raiders deeper inland, too.

443: Young High King Constans ap Constantin ap Macsen Wledig is murdered by his Pictish bodyguards, whom Dux Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui executes immediately.  The nobles of Logres hastily assemble at Silchester, and after much debate, select Dux Vortigern to be the next King of Logres.  Sir Neirin ap Ivor attends the coronation of King Vortigern to be High King, gaining 50 Glory (1846).  King Vortigern splits his own Cambrian kingdom between his two eldest sons: the Kingdom of Silures to Vortimer and the Kingdom of Ordovices to Katigern and appoints Eldol to be the new Dux of Glevum.  The younger brothers of King Constans disappear, presumably killed by somebody.

444: The Picts and Brigantes stage a massive invasion, with their armies occupying much of Coritani lands, and bands of raiders penetrating all the way to Glevum.  Numerous skirmishes result between the invading raiders and the defenders, as the tribes defend their homes; Sir Neirin ap Ivor gains 20 Glory fighting in them (1866).  Word arrives from London that the sons of Constantin are alive and well in Brittany.

445: The Pictish raids deeper into Logres increase in intensity, and the Coritani continue to suffer under the Brigantes’ yoke.  King Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui orders his armies to muster, but most do not answer the call, staying at home to defend their families against the raiders, or at least that is their excuse.  King Vortigern scolds the nobles of Logres to no avail.  He also summons the Supreme Council, which sends replies that they are unavailable as the country is so dangerous.  Needing more troops to fight the Picts, King Vortigern sends emissaries to the continent to try to hire mercenaries.  Grandfather fought in various skirmishes with the Picts and Brigantes, gaining 30 Glory (1896).

446: King Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui scolds the lords of Logres, to no avail, and summons the Supreme Collegium, which sends replies that they are unavailable as the country is so dangerous.  His western flank secured against Pictish raiders by his sons and their Cambrian tribesmen, he marches the Glevum army east along the Thames, gathering local troops as he goes, including Sir Neirin ap Ivor, as well as (in London) the Iceni and other eastern tribes and Saxon mercenaries under led by chieftains Hengest and Horsa.  Thus reinforced, the Briton army marches north against the Picts and Brigantes.  Battle is met near the city of Lincoln, and it is a great victory for Vortigern as his forces drive the enemy across the Humber.  Later in life, Sir Neirin will blame his apprehension about the alliance with the Saxons he had witnessed for the blandness of his fighting at the Battle of Lincoln.  He gains 90 Glory (1986).

447: As a result of the impressive victory in the preceding year, the Supreme Collegium meets and elects Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui as High King.  Vortigern gives the Saxons the Isle of Thanet as their own property, as foederati.  Also this year, a prelate from the pope, the saintly Germanus, returns to Britain to condemn and combat British Christianity.  Words come north that he healed the crippled leg of the son of Elaphias, praetor of Winchester.  Sir Neirin ap Ivor and his family become more intolerant of the other sect, gaining Directed Trait: Suspicious (Roman Christianity) +2.  Serving garrison duty, he sees little or no combat.

448: Sparing his own army, King Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui uses the Saxons to drive the Picts back to the north and defeat the Brigantes in their own land, prompting their king to swear loyalty to King Vortigern.  Beautiful and charming, Rowena Hengestsdottir swiftly becomes a favorite at Vortigern’s court, staying long after others leave.  Vortigern settles a group of Saxons, led by Beorhtric, Hengest’s cousin, on the marshlands of Sorestan, which had been depopulated by pirate raids and the recent invasion.  Despite rising discontent among some Cymric nobles over the favor thus shown to the Saxons, Sir Neirin ap Ivor’s life stretches into a second boring year.  Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor squires with his maternal uncle, Sir Deiniol ap Bedwyr.

449: The Saxons do indeed keep the lands safe around Cantii and Coritani.  Hengest gets more Saxons to join his force and becomes more and more a trusted advisor to High King Vortigern  ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui, to the detriment of loyal Cymric advisors.  And where Hengest is, his daughter is not far behind.  In all councils, she attends personally to Vortigern.  Sir Neirin continues to lack for excitement and Glory.

450: High King Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui, impressed with the battle prowess of the Saxons and even more with the talents of Rowena Hengestsdottir, marries her this year in a lavish celebration.  Hengest receives half of the lands of the Cantii (called Kent in the Saxon language) as her bride price; its main fortress of Canterbury is the new center of Hengest’s power.  The leader of the Cantii protests and is swiftly executed by Vortigern for high treason.  A fourth year without an opportunity for heroism drives Sir Neirin ap Ivor, quite selfishly and vainly, to throw his hat in with the Dissidents.  However, he maintains the even emotional keel for which he is known ~ seriously, he’s had four or five opportunities to randomly gain a passion or directed trait and not gained any of them.

451: The Huns led by Attila invade Gaul for pillage and plunder, causing the commander in Gaul, Aetius, to send for help from all who will send it.  High King Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui sends a contingent.  The allied army meets the Huns at Chalons, where the Huns are defeated and driven from Gaul.  The survivors, all of whom were knights dissatisfied with Vortigern’s policies, return to Britain with great Glory (Sir Neirin ap Ivor, getting what he was craving so strongly, gains 480 Glory, for a total of 2466); Vortigern welcomes them with honeyed words, but a bitter heart.

452: The Coritani and the Sorestan Saxons continue getting along well; there is even intermarrying going on between the two tribes.  The Midlands are peaceful, or “boring” in Sir Neirin ap Ivor’s words. 

453: The Irish are expanding their holdings in Cambria, but Sir Neirin ap Ivor’s life has returned to a damnable serenity.

454:  High King Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui continues sending warriors, usually those who have spoken against his policies regarding the Saxons, against the Irish in Cambria.  Sir Neirin ap Ivor, for example, earns 15 Glory (2481) in the Battle of Aberstwyth, as he is sidelined by his commander.  The Irish expansion continues.  Comgal ap Nerin ap Ivor has his 21st birthday at the end of the year and is knighted, inheriting 248 Glory from his father and gaining 1000 Glory from his new status (1248).

455: High King Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui moves tribes around to improve his defenses and invades Ireland.  After defeating them, he has his daughter marry the son of the High King of the Irish to stop them from being an enemy.  News is that warriors from the north, the Votadini, have been moved to Cambria, and that Saxons were settled in their land there to replace them: Nohaut, under Hengest’s son Octa.  Another tribe, the Parisi, are made subjects of Saxons on their own land, as Deira is established under Horsa’s son Eosa.  Sir Neirin ap Ivor’s Dissident friends complain about the resultant influx of Saxons, but King Vortigern doesn’t listen.  Nothing much happens for Sir Neirin ap Ivor, but his son Sir Comgal fights the Irish in Gomeret alongside the Votadini warriors, gaining 25 Glory.  Upon his return from that campaign, Sir Comgal marries Mari ferch Yann, a Cymru British-Christian from the region of Brittany that will become Cornuailles, gaining 260 Glory therefrom (1535).

456: Vortimer ap Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui and Katigern ap Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui lead a Rebel army against the Saxons of Kent.  Two battles follow, with the Rebel forces victorious, even though Katigern dies in a mutually fatal duel with Horsa.  Neither Sir Neirin ap Ivor nor his son Sir Comgal fight in those battles however.  Impatient for Glory, Sir Neirin dies in combat with beasts, while Sir Comgal serves garrison duty, earning 10 Glory by trying to break up a brawl between local Dissidents and Loyalists (1545).

457: High King Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui summons his army, with the Saxons, and marches against the Rebels.  The Rebels are crushed in a great battle at Crecganford.  Further south, the Dumnonii revolt, are defeated in battle and are exiled to Brittany.  Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor once more finds himself serving garrison duty, only this time he sees little or no combat.

458: Instead of tribes which can be spread far and wide, High King Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui splits the tribes up into smaller parcels, called counties.  He starts in the east with the Rebel tribes.  Many Dissident and Rebel Britons, including Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor (his son Caron in Lady Mari ferch Yann’s belly at the time) depart the island, moving with their families and possessions to Brittany.  Sir Comgal thanks the gods that his wife is from there, and is able to secure them some comfort there.  The Western Roman Emperor Majorian builds a fleet in Italy and hires many mercenaries.  He successfully arranges for King Budec of Brittany to reinforce the Romans as Aquitainian King Theodoric II marches his army against Arles, a strategic city on the Rhône River.  The Bretons led by Aurelius Ambrosius filii Constantini filii Maximiani and Riothamus, Majorian’s army defeats the Aquitainians; Sir Comgal earns 295 Glory (1840) in the battle, charging under the leadership of Gorlois and smashing into the enemy.

459: Aurelius filii Constantini filii Maximiani journeys to Aquitaine and seeks permission to join them on their upcoming campaigns, as required under the treaty from last year.  Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor accompanies him in Galicia against the Suebi under General Nepotianus, earning 120 Glory (1960).  He almost dies in the battle, but survives.  The experience leaves him terribly shy; Caron will inherit this trait.

460: The Roman-Aquitainian army, Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor among them, under General Nepotianus and Sunieric defeats the Suebi in a battle.  Once again charging under Gorlois to smash into the enemy, Sir Comgal earns 205 Glory (2165) in the Battle of Lugo.

461: On his return to Italy, Emperor Majorian is deposed and killed by Ricimer, who then installs Libius Severus as a new Emperor.  Aegidius rebels against Ricimer and Emperor Severus, visiting Brittany to ensure that its leaders will back him against the usurper Severus if necessary.  King Budec, Prince Aurelius filii Constantini filii Maximiani, and King Riothamus agree to ally with Aegidius.  Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor serves garrison duty, seeing some combat for 10 Glory (2175).

462: Aquitaine, although friendly along the common border, campaigns against Soissons.  Even without the defensive alliance concluded last year, Kings Budec and Riothamus realize that if Soissons falls, Brittany will be next.  They muster an army, led by Prince Aurelius Ambrosius filii Constantini filii Maximiani and King Riothamus, to go and help Soissons stop Aquitaine’s expansion.  Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor is much happier to serve a combat-less garrison duty, as he does this year, than his father ever was.

463: To bring an end to the bloodshed, High King Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui and King Hengest call for all British nobles to meet at a feast of peace on Salisbury Plain.  Through treachery, the Saxons kill over three hundred of the ruling nobility in the “Night of Long Knives”  before seizing the High King as their prisoner.  Having rendered the British people effectively leaderless, Saxons freely plunder and raid where they will.  Even Brittany’s coasts are not safe from the ravages of these barbarians.  As a result of the Saxon perfidy, Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor gains Passion: Hate (Non-Berrocinga Saxons) 11, and blaming Vortigern for this treachery, becomes a Rebel with Passion: Hate (Vortigern) 8.  With the Western Roman Empire fatally weakened by internal bickering, civil war, and general chaos, Aquitaine feels the time is ripe to expand its borders even further.  The King decides to move further north into Gaul, where they meet a coalition of Roman, Franks, and Bretons at the Battle of Orleans.  Many Briton expatriates remember Constantin’s sons and beseech Prince Aurelius Ambrosius filii Constantinus filii Maximiani to save Britain from the Saxon hordes and reclaim his birthright.  Sir Comgal happily serves a peaceful garrison duty for the second year in a row.  

464: The kings in Brittany find themselves arranging marriages for several of the British refugee knights.  Unfortunately, heiresses with manors are not abundant.  The Breton lords introduce the idea of giving lands to knights who do not have manors of their own, in return for that knight’s service and fealty to the lords.  This will become known as vassalage.  Aegidius dies en route to a peace conference and Theodoric II launches a new campaign on the Loire River, at Angers.  Nonetheless, Sir Comgal serves a third peaceful year at garrison duty.

465: Aurelius Ambrosius filii Constantinus filii Maximianus, having heard the pleas of his father’s countrymen, and together with the aid of his brother and his Breton cousins, plans in earnest to return to Britain in force.  Riothamus and Gorlois eagerly offer their support.  Gorlois, Aurelius’ trusted companion, sails to port towns in Northern Gaul to seek help from Syagrius of Soissons and possibly the Franks, organizing a fleet for the next year; Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor accompanies him, among other knights.  Alas, Gorlois and his ship with all aboard are thought lost in a storm in the British Sea.  Sir Comgal awakes on a rocky shore and finds himself with some others, including Gorlois, who was staring dumbfounded out to the sea.  Sir Comgal saw what Gorlois saw: a beautiful young lass rising from the waves.  Gorlois rushed to her, and Sir Comgal gained 50 Glory for observing the first time Gorlois and Ygraine met (2225).  Entertained by the ruler of the island for the next year, Gorlois explained to Ygraine’s father the dilemma of raising a fleet (and his wish to marry his fair daughter).

466: Finally, Ygraine’s father agreed to support Aurelius Ambrosius filii Constantini filii Maximiani’s claim and loaned his fleet to Gorlois.  Alas, for now, Gorlois’ suit for fair Ygraine’s hand is declined; Gorlois still needs to prove himself in wars to come.  Gorlois and his knights, including Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor, sail back to Brittany in the spring under Gorlois, bringing a marvelous fleet to help ferry Aurelius’ army across to Britain.  Comgal gains 50 Glory (2275).  It takes some time to load all the troops and one of the last items loaded on Aurelius’ personal ship is a long rectangular box over twenty feet in length.  They cross the British Sea from Brittany and land in Totnes, Cornwall, with an army of Bretons, Britons, and mercenaries from Aquitaine and other locations.  There, Aurelius brings out the box and from it, unfurls a glorious battle standard that looks like a magnificent red dragon in flight as it flutters in the wind.  Some ten thousand people, horses, and their equipment arrive, although only three thousand of them are knights.  A Saxon army led by Prince Æsc of Kent tries to block his way to Logres at Exeter, but the Saxons are defeated and flee back to Kent.  Sir Comgal famously defeats a Saxon berserker in the Battle of Exeter, claiming 370 Glory and a decorated sword worth £4; he earns another 200 Glory in the continuing battles thereafter (2855).  Aurelius then marches across Cornwall and Southwestern Logres, gathering supporters to his banner and subduing Vortigern Loyalists in minor battles.  

467: Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor fights at the Siege of Carlion, earning 60 Glory and Passion: Hate (Cambrian Tribesmen) 12, and 100 Glory in the continuing battles thereafter (3015).

468: Aurelius Ambrosius filii Constantini filii Maximiani and his army pursue Vortigern and besiege him in his new castle on Mount Snowdon.  A battle ensues, and a priest calls down fire from the heavens and this, once it takes hold, continues on blazing until it burns up the tower and Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui with it.  His army scatters.  Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor is present at the battle, earning 30 Glory and Directed Trait: Cowardly (in the presence of big fires) +6.  Aurelius Ambrosius summons the Supreme Council, and they elect him High King; Sir Comgal earns another 100 Glory as he is honored by being allowed to be present for the coronation (3145).  He takes the title of Pendragon (“high dragon” or “head dragon”), derived from his great battle banner.  Aurelius orders and compels the cessation of hostilities between those who wish his governance.

469: Hengest gathers his Saxons and marches from Kent towards Cumbria to join with Octa and Eosa in Eburacum.  Aurelius Ambrosius filii Constantini filii Maximiani marches with his army and catches up with Hengest.  Two major battles occur.  Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor earns 225 Glory for great deeds in the first, the Battle of Maisbeli.  He survives that battle, but is too wounded to continue on to the Battle of Conisbrough.  Aurelius thanks his foreign allies and British and Cymric subjects for their loyalty and willingness to see the tyrant, Vortigern ap Vitalis ap Vitalinus ap Gloui, defeated and the rightful king ~ himself ~ crowned.  He disbands the army back to their homes, rewarding those who deserve it.  Having caught the new High King’s eye, Sir Comgal is appointed as a knight banneret, receiving the gift of an estate worth £100 and the responsibility to maintain and lead an eschille (10 knights).  This results in an additional 300 Glory (3670).  He settles back in Clarence County with Lady Mari.

470: Prince Uther, Aurelius’ younger brother, and Merlin invade Ireland.  The Britons are met by an Irish army led by King Gillomanius, but the Irish break and flee quickly as the knights charge them.  Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor earns 120 Glory in the battle.  After the Cymric army fails to dismantle the ring, Merlin does it himself.  The huge stones are stored on board the ships and brought to Britain.  The stones are re-erected at the Giant’s Dance on Mount Ambrius as a memorial for those killed in the “Long Knives” treachery.  Aurelius reorganizes the tribal nobility into landholding barons with widely scattered landholdings, and appoints six dukes to oversee the regional defense of parts of the realm (called dukedoms).  Sir Comgal gains another 100 Glory simply by dint of his gifted estate (3890).

471: Continental Saxons and Frisians continue to come over as reinforcements.  Incessant raids continue on both sides allowing some to achieve great Glory, but no major set conflicts occur.  Nonetheless, enough does happen for Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor to gain 50 Glory.  With the annual 100 Glory from his estate, Sir Comgal is now a famous knight (4040).  Prince Uther makes a name for himself as a great warrior in countering these raids and leading picked warriors on raids/battles into enemy territory.

472: The raids and counter-raids with the Saxons continue, earning Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor another 50 Glory beyond the annual 100 estate Glory (4190).  Prince Uther seems to always be where the fighting is thickest, with Baron Ulfius at his side.

473: Æsc of Kent, reinforced by continental Saxons and confident of victory, marches his army into the Thames Valley.  High King Aurelius Ambrosius filii Constantini filii Maximiani raises an army to resist, but loses the battle in a major Saxon victory.  Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor earns 45 Glory beyond the annual 100 estate Glory in the battle (4335).  Many feel the battle was lost because Duke Gorlois was not there, but Sir Comgal and others wonder if Prince Uther had some blame due to Duke Gorlois’ and Prince Uther’s rivalry, each trying to outdo the other.  Sir Comgal shows his support for Cornwall by squiring his son Caron to Gorlois’s household knight Sir Emrys ap Steffan.

474: The Saxons of Kent roam and pillage the land.  Only fortified places are safe, and the peasants suffer greatly.  Cambrian tribesmen use the chaos to their advantage and start raiding Logres.  Duke Edmyg of the Marche coordinates the defense against the Cambrians, while Corneus Duke of Lindsey and Eldol Duke of Glevum concentrate on countering Saxon raids.  A large-scale seaborne Saxon raid ravages Linden and Lonazep . . . but seems to avoid Sorestan!  This further enflames Duke Corneus’ and other (Lonazep and Linden) Coritanis’ mistrust of Sorestan Saxons.  The former relationship of trust becomes one of mistrust.  Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor serves garrison duty, defending his post against the raiders for 15 Glory beyond the annual 100 estate Glory (4450); he also gains Directed Trait: Suspicious (Sorestan Saxons) +6.

475: In addition to the smaller Saxon and Cambrian raids, the Cambrians send a large raiding party to Wuerensis.  Duke Edmyg harries them with his forces, preventing them from looting and pillaging at will.  Sir Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor disappears mysteriously.  As his father’s estate was a gift, Caron ap Comgal ap Neirin ap Ivor does not inherit it.

479: Player-knight is knighted, inheriting 445 Glory from his famous father and 1000 Glory from the knighting ceremony (1445).  

 

January Character Creation Challenge, Day Three: Dr. Silphium Noseclearer, wandering doctor and skunk (After the Bomb)

 Today’s character is for the sadly obscure Palladium title After the Bomb, originally published as a post-apocalyptic supplement for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Other Strangeness.  It’s another very old-school system based on very random generation.  In this case, it spat out a wandering healer who also happens to be a skunk!

Silphium Noseclearer had the remarkable and remarkably common unluck to be born in the Contested Territories ~ what was once known as southern New Jersey.  It was a rough life in those days so shortly after the Crash, as mutant animals scrambled to build themselves a society from the scraps left behind by the humans so quickly banding together to hate those very same mutant animals.  Factions jockeying for power and groups just trying to figure out wtf life even was now that the humans had largely killed themselves off twice over settled into territories and diplomacy, but Silphium’s homeland bought its independence with fierce in-fighting and a delicate geopositional strategic value.

Ten years ago, while Silphium was still a small cub, the humans seeded the area north of these lands with a new kingdom, full of canines stupidly loyal to the humans who gave them food and attention and scritches and toys.  It was called New Kennel, and it quickly tried to claim the land which had given birth to the mutant skunk, repelled only by the nation of Cardania.  Cardania didn’t want to control the area, certainly, but it would be damned if anyone else brought their threats to its front door like that.

Pranks played on all of these factions, petty warlord and invading nations alike sprinkled Silphium’s childhood, all in good, if brutal, fun.  Until one day eir slow speed and weak strength caught up to em.  The Rodent Cartel of Filly was not fond of humor at their expense, but the mutant mouse who had imprisoned Silphium was suffering from a medical ailment.  Some half-remembered folklore Silphium had picked up at eir mother’s tail proved life-saving, and saving a lieutenant’s life proved valuable.

A favor for a favor later, and Silphium was apprenticed to a Cartel doctor.  Once e learned everything e could about patching people up, e found a way to disentangle emself from the cartel’s grips ~ e never really liked young Cakeblade, anyway, if we’re being honest ~ and returned home to offer eir services as doctor to any who needed them.  Free of charge, which would have been sacrilege of the highest order in Filly.

Silphium maintains a home base in the automotive city known as the Cam-Bridge, growing crops of food and medicine in giant rusted pots, multicolor paint still showing in flakes, that once were cars.  Cam-Bridge huddles just outside the borders of Filly, free of its control in the Contested Lands.  From there, the doctor makes frequent roaming trips, wandering throughout the realm.

Dr. Silphium Noseclearer, mutant striped skunk villager/towny

Intelligence Quotient 21, Mental Endurance 14, Mental Affinity 11, Physical Strength 7 (6)

Physical Prowess 12, Physical Endurance 13, Physical Beauty 14, Speed 6

Hit Points 14, Structural Damage Capacity 25, Unprincipled Alignment

+7% to all skills, run at 360 fpm/4 mph (or 120 fpm/1⅓ mph if upright) for 13 min.

Dig 3 feet per round/0.136 mph

Carry 70 lb. for 52 min. or 26 min. while running or fighting, lift 210 lb. for 13 rd./3¼ min.

See clearly within 5 feet, as a blur out to 22 feet, and not really at all beyond that

+1 parry

During the Day:  -2 initiative, -1 strike and dodge, -5% skills

Apprenticeship:  Healer

Sign Language 47%

Main Skills:  Biology 82%, Herbal Medicine 62%/52%, Internal Medicine 90%/80%

Core Skills:  Animal Husbandry 50%, Basic Mathematics 85%, Brewing 62%, Chemistry 72%, Computer Operation (specializing in medical computers, gene scanners, and auto-med units) 62%, Identify Plants & Fruits 37%, Literacy 52%, Language (Spanish, Chinese) 62%, Surgery 81%, Weapon Proficiency: Knife (Scalpel)

Medical Skills:  Dentistry 62%, Paramedical 65%, Pathology 62%

Pilot Skills:  Motorcycle 76%, Truck 71%.

Primary Skills:  Antiquarian 52%, Automobile Mechanics 62%, Botany 42%, Cook 42%, Farming & Gardening 51%, General Repair & Maintenance 47%, Preserve Food 52%, Prowl 37%, Weapon Proficiency: Revolver, Weapon Proficiency: Shield, Weapon Proficiency: Shotgun

Secondary Skills:  Land Navigation 47%, Boating 71%, Public Speaking 42%, Radio: Basic Communications 62%, Barbering 80%, Card Shark 35%, Astronomy 42%

Medical Familiarity:  Mutant Skunks, Mutant Turkeys, Human Mutants, Mutant Rabbit, Mutant Bat

12,000 bucks, well equipped with clothing & traveling equipment, 2 weapons

3% chance of running into someone from same hometown while visiting other mutant animal communities

Size Level:  5 (2 feet 2 inches long, 35 lb.); Build:  Short

Human Features:  Full hands, partial bipedal stance, no speech, partial human looks

Animal Psionics:  Cell Reader, Psychic Diagnosis

Natural Weapons:  Stink Spray of Butylmercaptan 

Mutant Animal Powers:  Extra Limb: Fluffy Spray Tail, Digging, Nightvision, Extra Physical Beauty

Vestigial Disadvantages:  Nearsightedness, Nocturnal

January Character Creation Challenge, Day 2: The Most Honorable Marchioness Sal Paradise, 42-year-old controversial author

 For day two of the Character Creation Challenge, I’m thinking I will do the obligatory Traveller character.  It’ll be for Aduality{0≠2;100=108}, my space-fantasy setting (which was originally created in conversation with Traveller).  The name is some pretentious over-wrought reference to fringe religions; it has meaning but that meaning doesn’t really matter.

In this setting, interstellar travel is achieved by means of the noetic drive, which transmutes a ship from normal matter into story-stuff.  Storytellers called noopilots steer these drives by telling variations of the Casey Jones story to biological elements that used to be people (and still kinda are, even if they are really, really high on drugs).  The variations in how they tell the story of Casey Jones determine to which world they travel, everything from their word choices to their plot structures to characterizations and side characters and even some of the events in their stories connect the memetic ecologies of one world with those of another, allowing the transmuted ship to jump between them.

Only orgone energy (real weirdness by rogue real-world psychologist Wilhelm Reich) can power the noetic drive’s transformation, so the (again, very real-world weirdness of) New Messiah is required for any starship.  Also known as the Electric Jesus, it has been developed and expanded and improved upon from the instructions originally given to the real-world Spiritualist leader John Murray Spears.  To translate:  starships in this setting may be driven by storytelling, but they are powered by sex.

90s-style men in black used this technology to fight off an invasion by the Greys, which kickstarted the Interstellar Empire.  There’s more, of course, but let’s get on with the challenge!  This character, unexpectedly, could easily serve as a ship’s advocate (lawyer) and general face.

OK, so let’s start with a simple and exceedingly old-school method of rolling characteristics ~ no assigning, just roll them in order!  We get a character with Strength 9 (+1), Dexterity 9 (+1), Endurance 4 (-1), Intellect 8 (0), Education 7 (0), and an ever-exciting Social Standing A (+1)!  That means our character is just shy of knighthood ~ maybe we can change that during character creation!

We get three Background Skills and, since I’m doing the old-school thing of finding out who this character is by means of the character creation, rather than coming to character creation with a character idea, I’m gonna choose them randomly . . . .  So, at the end of childhood, this character shows up with Art 0, Carouse 0, and Mechanic 0.

For some reason, this brings to mind a space-Kerouac ~ someone still fairly well-mired in “traditional” masculinity such as being a “car guy” but with a deeply artistic soul and a love of the party.  The Beat Generation is honestly a perfect archetype for Traveller, I daresay, and possibly only prevented from having a stronger influence on the game by virtue of its generally being more English in its publication history than USian ~ after all, Ginsberg was the Third Great Defining American Poet™ after Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman.  All three of those poets being queer is an oft-ignored important thing.

Kerouac’s history, of course, was more working-class than aristocratic.  While I might throw in a touch of his friend William Burroughs, the heroin-addicted chaos magician who was the moneybags behind the Beat Generation in a lot of ways, I feel like this character might be more along the lines of the wealthy imitators of the Beat Generation that have littered the last three-quarters-of-a-century, the legions of hipsters who desperately want to capture the media-created cool of those mid-century artists.

This qween is definitively gonna try to go to college, so let’s see if they get in . . . . With a 3 on 2d6, not even their social standing can save their application.  Scrambling for a career with every ounce of their eighteen-year-old body, they will try to get an early start among the literati, and handily succeed at becoming an artist.  Basic training gives them Deception, Drive, Persuade, and Steward at 0.

During these early years as a writer, they are invited to take part in a controversial event or exhibition.  They just barely manage to do well, pushing themselves to learn how to perform almost any function and figure out how to enact almost any skill (Jack-of-all-Trades 1), impressing not a few impressarios and gaining that knighthood!  Truth be told, impressing all those critics took a decent amount of work and verbal tapdancing (Persuade 1).  It is shocking just how many supposed intelligentsia need to have texts exhaustingly broken down into bite-sized pieces for them to easily digest . . . .  Nonetheless, they do make their name and break into the artistic community!  They seize this immediate rush of recognition as a chance to perform their writing before an audience, gaining Art (write) 1

After turning 22, this character ~ you know what?  Let’s just name them Sal Paradise; I was always a fan of that name (it’s the name Kerouac gave his self-insert character in On the Road) ~ was sorely tempted to try to return to school, their (no, let’s actually choose pronouns: let’s do a she/her, using “Sal” as an alternative to “Sally”) her cocky insults directed at the not-so-intelligentsia hiding a sneaking worry that all her persuasion is just bullshitting to make insipid writing look historic.  She swallows back these self-doubts, however, and pushes forward with her writing career.

In terms of powergaming, her decision was a brilliant one!  She picks up another level of the god-skill, Jack-of-all-Trades, as she pushes herself to shatter the limits of art and writing in her efforts to prove herself.  Many times she is faced with a desire to achieve some particular thing or effect with her writing, something she has no idea how to achieve.  Every time, that desire drives her to further hone her incisive mind toward the advancement of her trade.

Certainly, she seems to be on the rise, as she soon achieves one of the greatest marks of appreciation an artist can receive ~ one of her pieces of writing is stolen between her 22nd and 26th birthday!  The investigation brings her into the criminal underworld.  Quite eagerly, if we’re being honest, but a win is a win.  Sal quickly learns her way around, building contacts and learning etiquette.  However, these clandestine pleasures soon prove an untenable distraction for Sal, costing her (by a single point on the die!) any advancement in his career.

Approaching her Saturn return after his 26th birthday, Sal continues grinding away on that bohemian milestone.  The strange chemicals and iffy situations Sal’s new friends offer her further sharpen the blade of her thoughts, increasing her Intellect by 1.  That’ll help with career advancement!  (Sal gains a DM of +1 on Intellect rolls, like the advancement roll for her career assignment.)  It also teaches her the wit and skill to use her writers’ mind in dicier situations, increasing her Deception by 1.  This is when Sal writes her first major popularly successful text, a fanciful exploration of life beyond the rigid limits of normal lawful society.  Especially well-received, it makes her a minor celebrity. 

Now entering into his 30s, Sal continues plucking away at her writing, further developing her mind, increasing her Intellect by another level.  She begins to suspect that her friends on the freer side of the law might have been stringing her along for more nefarious and less friendly purposes, as another of her pieces is stolen.  This time, the investigation teaches her the importance of a quick eye and a quicker tongue, giving her a level each of Recon, Investigate, and Deception, as well.

In her mid-to-late 30s, Sal finally finds her way back into university, not as a student or a professor, but as a translator of foreign religious poetry.  She is starting to turn more Gary Snyder or even Allen Ginsburg than Jack Kerouac, now ~ actually, definitely Ginsburg, as censorship or controversy pushes her out of the literati, blacklisting her among publishers and booksellers.  Her Ferlinghetti was not as lucky or amazing as Ginsburg’s, it seems.  I would normally be inclined to have her pre-game end here, but the mishap specifically gives her an easier time to qualify for her next career, and I don’t wanna waste that . . . .

Before her next career, however, Sal gets several benefits from her two decades as a writer.  Six rolls, one of which gets a +1 bonus on the roll.  It might be foolish, but artists don’t have a great cash benefits table, so I’m gonna use all those rolls on the other benefits table.  That might have been a mistake, as the roll I give the bonus to is a 6 (thus equalling 7)!  She could have gotten 80,000 credits, but instead she receives a marquesal subcontract and an education, as well as four contacts.  Does the count approve of Sal’s controversial writing, or did they make her a marchioness as a means to silence and sideline her?  I doubt Sal herself knows . . .

I think Sal is going to try to find out by leaning into her new title and trying her hand as a noble.  It’s one of the harder careers to get into, but with a high social standing and a +2 bonus on the roll, I think Sal has a good chance.  She also rolls an 11 on 2d6, so easy-peasy-pudding-annd-pie-kiss-all-the-girls-and-make-them-cry she manages to nestle herself among the subcontracted nobility, ruling over a whole star system.  Well, she doesn’t really know or care about governance ~ she’s here to party and patronize artists like she was once.  Can’t help picking up some knowledge of how to rule, however.  She quickly picks up Diplomat 0, Admin 1, and improves her writing.

She met someone while partying her way through her 41st year.  A whirlwind romance strangely full of witty chattering suggestion of conspiracy, hedonism, and life beyond the power of the Emperor or Company to limit.  On Sal’s 42nd birthday, this mysterious wealthy woman gifted her a yacht and 10,000 credits, whispering to her that Sal should find her own freedoms along the spaceways.  Through her headache the next morning, Sal learned that her marquesal contract had been changed, using some small-print to alter a few things here and there without Sal’s permission.  She still held her title, and the powers thereof, but was no longer restricted by its duties.  The count had decided to rule her system directly.

She left on her yacht, with some new friends, that very day, feeling age weaken and grow heavy her limbs.

Sal’s yacht ~ let’s call it the On the Road Again (there’s a Muppets theme in how I name starships in this setting) has 1d6 quirks . . . and she rolls a 6 XD  Sal’s yacht has double maintenance costs, sensors upgraded by one type but also damaged (giving a -1 penalty), is severely damaged (10% Hull), a library computer full of erroneous information, and a -1 penalty to all repair attempts.

Just for shits and/or giggles, let’s throw together an idea of Sal’s homeworld.  Wikipedia’s Random Article function generally names worlds for me, so let’s call it . . . Josephine (after Josephine Connolly MP, evidently).  Josephine is the size of the moon, with a trace atmosphere like that of Mars.  Completely unshockingly, it has no surface water (there was only like a one-in-twelve chance of there being any), but it does have a rather moderate temperature, with an average between zero and thirty degrees Celsius.  On this tiny, dry rock, tens of millions of people live.  Considering that the surface area of the planet is only somewhere around 33 million square kilometers, I daresay Josephine is quite a crowded place.  

It’s governed by feudal technocracy, which no doubt is intended by Traveller to be the kind of elitist government Asimov depicts in the Foundation series wherein whoever has “more” or “better” or “higher” technology rules.  I, however, remember what “technocracy” actually means (“rule by the skilled”) and hate it.  Society is not an engineering problem.  My setting’s empire is founded ultimately upon two things which have recreated feudalism in pursuit of technocracy ~ two things that took capitalism’s dying breath and used it to turn human society back a notch on the Marxist teleological dial ~ namely, subcontracting and the post-ownership society.  Rolling a feudal technocratic government for Josephine means that it is ruled directly by its subcontracted baron, who builds the apparatus of government by further subcontracting titles and duties.

Sal now holds that baron’s contract.

That baron, like Sal herself if we’re being honest, is more interested in partying and socializing than in actually governing.  He has assembled several of his subcontracts into an impersonal bureaucracy to govern without his oversight.  Recently, that bureaucracy has begun to metastasize, rivaling the baron’s position of power on Josephine.  Still just a fringe power, with few explicit supporters, it nonetheless is starting to break free of his control.

Deeply religious, Josephinean culture houses many outposts of the Unionists’ Guild, which is simultaneously the engine which empowers the noetic drive to connect the galaxy and the Spiritualist center of interstellar society.  Many a medium connects Josephineans to the Associations of Spirits on the Other Side, and the ghosts with whom they talk have given their blessing (as has the count) to Josephine’s war with a nearby world known as Wapiti Station.  Anyone who has traveled by means of the noetic drive are highly and explicitly privileged under Josephinean “law” (“policies”, “practices”, or “regulations” are perhaps better words in a feudal technocracy like this).  Unionists sit above interstellar travellers in this hierarchy, whether mediums or not.  All other citizens ~ including mediums not of the Guild ~ are considered equal, beneath these two classes.

Speaking of Josephine law, it is considered moderate among the Empire’s worlds, as is Josephine’s local starport.  Notably, Josephine plays host to both a base of the Emperor’s Own Scouts (EOS) and a research station.  I’d determine what they were researching, but I’d wanna do a whole, long process of world creation based on MegaTraveller’s massive expansion of the system.  I might do that at some later time, though.  This post is already too long.

Josephine can produce basic starships, sitting just shy of the Empire’s average technology level.  It’s a bit of a backwater ~ a metropolis, certainly, but still slightly a backwater.

The Most Honorable Marchioness Sal Paradise, 42-year-old controversial author

Strength 8 (0), Dexterity 9 (+1), Endurance 4 (-1)

Intellect A (+1), Education 8 (0), Social Standing D (+2)

Admin 1, Art (write) 2, Carouse 0, Deception 2, Diplomat 0, Drive 0, Investigate 1, Jack-of-all-Trades 2, Language 1, Mechanic 0, Persuade 1, Recon 1, Steward 0, Streetwise 1.

Rank 3 Artist, Rank 1 Noble

Josephine

Size 2, Atmosphere 1, Hydrographics 0, Population 7, Government 5, Religious, At War, Unusual Customs: Travel, Law Level 7, Starport C (Berthing Cost 400 credits, scout base, research base), Tech Level A, Non-Agricultural

January Character Creation #1 ~ Lumpen Peebles (D&D 5e)

 I think I'm gonna try the January character creation challenge, creating a new character for every day in January ~ I've never actually finished a monthlong challenge like this before XD (tried NaNoWriMo, National Poetry Month 30/30, and I think a few others a couple of times), so I'm looking forward to completing this one!

Anyway, my first character is the character I'll be playing in JUST FIVE DAYS on Lost Caravan RPG's Christmas-themed D&D 5e PvP 4shot. Nix name is Lumpen Peebles (nay/none/nix/noneself pronouns), and nay is a coal genasi who once worked in Santa's Workshop, growing the lumps of coal that were given out in stockings. You can read more about nix background after the jump break, but the long and the short of it is: Lumpen found compassion and class war in the image of coal given to the naughtiest of children, and so put nix own name on the naughty list one night.

I hope my copypasta from Google Docs works out right XD If not, you can take a look at Lumpen at this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XfOR_A6qQiN9wvzKOyq8m0zbhFtH4FetRuoqkkcn_SI/edit?usp=sharing