Character Profile: Amelia Straffin

Amelia Straffin: Tormented Genius

"I have talked to many people about how we survive our exploits. Some believe we are skilled, while others believe we are simply lucky. My personal opinion is that when we screw up, we cause enough chaos that the universe forgets we were supposed to die in the commotion." -Amelia Straffin, in her journal, The Traveler Phenomenon

Amelia Straffin was born in 1078 in Valderon, an insignificant city on an insignificant mining asteroid (also known as Valderon) orbiting the planet of Mondas. She was the sixth of seven children in a poor family, and though her siblings and parents were kind people, she only ever bonded with her twin brother, Erik (the seventh Straffin child). Her parents were miners with no formal education and as such, expected the twins to begin working when they were still young in order to keep the family from starvation. Neither of them exactly took to it, and used their charm and wit (which both of them possessed in great supply) to get out of it whenever possible. Eventually, they reached a crossroads which would change Amelia forever.

In the year 1090, a freighter landed in Valderon. The jet black ship was well maintained, sleek, and clearly of the best make available in the Mondasian shipyards. Embossed upon the side in gold was a image depicting an orange star, surrounded by a spiraling torrent of light being pulled into it. Out of it stepped several figures, dressed in identical black suits, flanked by hulking marines wearing jet black armor. All of the figures wore the star symbol from the freighter. They were offering money for children, whom they said would be fed and trained to become the finest soldiers in the subsector.

To her surprise, Amelia's parents immediately volunteered Erik and her. While their motives were to provide a safe home for two of their children, while saving money for the rest, to the twins, it seemed like they were being abandoned. Erik took it especially hard. With the economic parental transfer (a contract designed to allow a parent to transfer legal guardianship of their child for money) signed, the twins were worried. While these contracts were deemed legal by Mondasian law, children had few rights in the asteroid belt and these contracts were often abused to allow Mondasian citizens to kidnap and brainwash asteroid dwellers in order to gain cheap labor.

Mondas was nothing like Amelia expected. While Valderon had been a small, dim, and dingy underground mining complex, Mondas City was a metropolis. It had layers upon layers of developments, some so deep and old they had been forgotten. This led to the creation of Undercity, a hive of criminals which existed underneath the steel ground of Mondas City. Unfortunately, this was where the ship was destined. Taken to a small processing station, where children bought by Mondas Ascendant (a group of Mondasian patriots that paid for the costs of their organization by selling children such as Amelia and Erik to the highest bidder) were processed and sorted based on their skills. Both Straffin twins got perfect scores on the exam they were given to test them, and were placed in the A group. Erik almost got bumped down to the B group due to exceptional physical frailty, but the slavers figured they would make more selling the twins together.

With their abilities, it did not take long for a buyer to emerge. A woman of exceptionally average build and appearance wearing a black suit (which the twins now recognized as the standard attire for a Mondasian businessperson) came to the building the twins were being housed in. She took one look at them, handed over a fair sum of money to the manager of the building, and left with the twins. After a long ride in a covered air raft, they arrived at a large building in a wealthy district of the city.

The woman, who refused to reveal her identity, declared that the twins were no longer to be enslaved by the economic parental transfer. They would be free to return to their parents, live at a reputable orphanage, or stay with her. The twins took one look at each other and decided to stay with their savior. They were 12 at the time and, for two years, they lived a happy life. During this time, they became increasingly interested in just how what their new mother (she would not reveal to them her name) did for a living to live in such comfort.

When they were 14, they found out. A short man in a (you guessed it) matte-black suit told them that she was a high ranking member of the Mondasian Mafia, a group that controls the planet's government and economy. Most people would have been horrified by this discovery, but not the twins. Idolizing their "mother", they decided to join (she did not approve, but supported their decision). Amelia became a scientist and Erik an Intelligence operative.

Amelia soon took to an eccentric mentor who referred to themselves simply as Professor and only contacted her through messages. They taught Amelia about DNA and genetics, which they referred to as "The Source Code of Life". Amelia took to it, and developed the techniques to perform genetic experiments over the course of two years, while assisting Professor with theirs.

After that, Amelia did her own genetic research, developing modified microbes that destroyed specific diseases (which the mob sold for profit). She also did research on Stem Cells, developing a modified version of human stem cells which could be directly controlled by their host, as well as turn back into Stem Cells once their purpose was served. They were considered "Interesting, but useless" by the mafia, who disliked them due to the incredible amount of energy they consumed.

Soon after she developed them, these Stem Cells found a use. Her brother, Erik, had been poisoned after mouthing off to the wrong person. All the doctors in the mob told her that he was a dead man and that she should give up. Instead, she replaced large amounts of his blood with he modified Stem Cells, hoping that he could direct them to heal him. In order to power them, she put the cells in liquid Phaezite, an material that emits immense energy. His body initially rejected the transfusion, but he controlled the cells to restructure his body, from his organs to his skin, to be compatible. When he awoke, he was a new person. His former frailty was gone, replaced with amazing physical ability. He also awakened Psionic powers, which he used to bend the laws of physics around him.

Sadly, Erik's mind was also affected. He became extremely ambitious and narcissistic, to the point that he pushed his sister away (even when she tried to help him deal with his new body's unsustainable energy consumption). As her brother used his new abilities to rise through the ranks, Amelia continued her research. One day, she received a call from her brother, who she hadn't seen in years. He wanted her to create a cell that would target cancerous tissues, destroying them and holding off the disease. After complying, she quickly realized that the cell was not being used for its intended purpose; other geneticists, including her professor, had modified it to target all flesh. The mafia used it as a biological weapon, inducing necrosis in the flesh of any who opposed them.

When she confronted her brother, he smiled and told her that she had contributed greatly to the organization. He hoped that she would not be troubled by this and would continue her research. She quit but, as she was about to leave, her brother shot her with a syringe gun containing the weapon. While she managed to get away, her muscles were severely damaged, impairing her physical abilities.

To survive and continue her research (hoping to undo her condition and those of the weapon's other victims), she hitched a ride with a Alex Movithi, a trader. While they became fast friends, Alex's financial luck turned and he ditched her on Balthazar to escape those he was in debt to. She stayed their for several years until, one day, she met Alex, as well as two other interesting characters, in a bar. Since then, they have traveled together, sharing their fortunes and misadventures.

Traits and Personality
Amelia is 5'2" with blond hair and grey eyes. She usually wears her lab coat, but keeps her black Mondasian dress suit (with the insignia ripped off, of course) for special occasions. She is very committed to scientific ethics, and to doing as much good as she can to make up for her past wrongdoings. She still is extremely curious, and she faces the world like a student; trying to learn as much as she can. As the youngest member of the group, Amelia is often naive and optimistic about the universe, but is keenly aware of how far people can go for power. Amelia is an multidisciplinary scientist, skilled in pretty much every intellectual field, but has very little physical or combat skill. Her likes include research, asking questions, and densitometers. She dislikes those who operate dishonestly, rule through force, and, most of all, use biological weapons.

In combat she uses her stunner, shock gloves, densitometer (she uses it for everything), and whatever she can build on the spot.

Character Profile: Daniel Warren

Daniel Warren: Oft-Forgotten Warrior

"Never trust a commissioned officer."- Daniel Warren, after being asked how he has managed to be the sole survivor of yet another mission. 

Daniel Warren was "born" on a small, unnamed ice-planet that had been abandoned by the Imperium for unknown reasons. Daniel never knew his biological parents, his DNA having been removed from his mother before she was even aware she was pregnant, and was instead brought to life in a vat in a secret laboratory in the year 1068. He grew quickly, and soon was removed from the tube he was born from and moved to a strict schedule of physical and mental exercises. However, Daniel quickly began to develop an incredible bloodlust, and was soon contained in a small room, where human contact was entirely removed from his life. Unfortunately for the lab, the power systems all fell offline due to unknown reasons, leading to the climate systems of the lab shutting down, and the lab quickly was abandoned, leaving Daniel to die in his cell from either frostbite or starvation. However, an old scavenger happened upon the lab, and saved Daniel from his otherwise inevitable death. Daniel, who had not been in the same room as another person for about 11 years, killed the old scavenger and stole his supplies. Daniel then wandered off into the icy wastes, where he continued to kill and steal to survive. Eventually, Daniel came across a small Imperial encampment, where he was captured, and after claiming to have great combat experience, was recruited to the Imperial Army. About two years later, the planet was destroyed due to it's sun expanding and swallowing the planet.

Daniel quickly proved himself to be adept in combat, being sent on multiple missions during the war on Balthazar and returning alive after each one, despite being sent on the some of the highest casualty missions, although his superiors noted how many soldiers in the same squads seemed to die to accidents and being shot in the back by ambushers. It was during his time in the military that he met Anne Redman, who was a armored vehicle pilot, and was one of the few people to serve multiple consecutive missions with Daniel and be completely uninjured every time. She and Daniel entered a relationship, although Redman was transferred to Dessel due to the slow collapse of that front for the Imperials. Daniel continued to fight in the war, until General Hardcastle, the head commander of the Imperial troops on Balthazar, deemed Daniel too dangerous, and had his platoon sent on a suicidal charge towards enemy fortifications. Daniel's platoon was completely wiped out, except for Daniel, who had retreated once he realized the impossibility of his given mission. General Hardcastle, always scheming, used his retreat as a charge for disobeying direct orders, and Daniel was dishonorably discharged from the Imperial Army.

After being discharged from the army, Daniel wandered Balthazar for about a month, trying to find odd jobs, when he was approached by the Mondasian Mafia. He was informed that he could be of great use to the Mafia, and all he had to do was rough up some people who weren't paying their debts off fast enough. However, Daniel quickly found himself going against the Mafia after he killed his supervisor on his first job and stole his wallet. Daniel, who was at this point getting tired of constantly being shot at on sight, took the first opportunity to get off of Balthazar. It just so happened that said opportunity happened to be joining the Imperial Marines.

The Marines, who had access to his personnel files from his army days, were well aware of the havoc he could wreck, assigned him to one of their Breaching squads, who all wore heavy armor. Daniel took to the posting like a fish to water, and quickly proved his worth in combat engagements. Nonetheless, he had to be reprimanded multiple times for being too trigger happy, which all came to a head when he was sent on an operation and he opened fire on the enemy during negotiations, effectively killing any leads the marines could have gotten on possible Greycoat activity. The marines had to do something, and so they gave him his suit of combat armor, a shotgun, and some credits and sent him on his way. Daniel, not really caring where he went, simply boarded the first flight off planet he could. Unfortunately for him, the planet he was headed to was Balthazar. Daniel then decided the only way to avoid the constant trouble he had once had was to hide his identity, and so donned his combat armor and began walking to the nearest bar he could, hoping to avoid any trouble once he got there.

Traits and Personality
Daniel is 6' 1" in height, with blue eyes and short, brown hair. He is very determined in his beliefs, and is very unlikely to change his opinion on something once he has one. He is also pragmatic over most anything else, and will often break promises if it means he or the party will gain something. Daniel does have a code of honor, but he only applies it to himself, meaning that a promise from the rest of the party may not be a promise from him. He also will more often than not attempt to hide his personality at all costs, and has killed more than once to keep his privacy. Daniel is almost always wearing his combat armor, and his face is almost entirely covered when he's not. Daniel doesn't really like the Imperium, but also believes that it's opponents aren't much better.

Daniel primarily uses his Shotgun in combat, alongside his Blade, which is just a big knife. Daniel's biggest asset in combat however is his combat armor, which allows him to ignore most small arms fire, allowing him to both distract enemies for his team mates and to stop him from getting killed while charging his enemies in order to most effectively use his weaponry.

Character Profile: Alex Movithi

Alex Movithi: Man Adrift

"This could be really good, or really, really bad." -Alex Movithi, more often than he'd prefer

Alex Movithi's story began in 1062, born on the asteroid mining planet Mondas to Alexei and Hilda Movithi, poor junk traders. From a young age he worked for his parents aboard starships, shuttling cheap metals throughout the Mondas system, always dreaming of being an interstellar pilot, seeking to escape the poverty and corruption prevalent throughout Mondas. As soon as he turned 18, he got on the first ship bound for planet Hightower, hoping to join the imperial navy and find adventure.

And adventure he found. When he enlisted in the navy, the subsector was embroiled in the Greycoat Insurgency war. The war was a footnote in galactic history, but to those who lived in the subsector, it was devastating and left lasting scars on everyone there. Others knew it as the Greycoat insurgency or the first Frontier war, the one that interrupted trade for a few years and was a mild inconvenience. Those who lived there knew it as THE war, the only one worth remembering.

The Greycoats were secessionist insurgents from fringe worlds, tired of the Imperium's oversight, fighting to leave and establish their own coalition of worlds. Not that Alex knew any of that. To him, the war was his chance to get offworld and find something to tell his grandchildren about. Young and reckless, he entered in the flight department, the small fighters that flew the most dangerous missions into enemy territory. Every day he flew off, escorting heavy destroyers, providing support in invasions on enemy territory, and engaging the Greycoats in the silent carnage of interstellar dogfights.

Those were the good times, the times he looked back on later and thought to himself, "Those were the good times," as one would expect when reminiscing about the good times. Through all of it he refused numerous commissions, wishing to remain in the thick of combat rather than stand back and order others around. His finest hour came during the Battle of Dessel when the capital ship he served with, the INS Thoth, was surrounded by Greycoat ships. As the dwindling Imperial forces held the insurgents at bay, the Greycoats sent an elite fighter squadron equipped with experimental high-power missiles to penetrate the Thoth's power station. Through a combination of brilliant maneuvering, hard reads on enemy ships and general incompetence from one Greycoat pilot, he destroyed the incoming missiles, allowing the Thoth to hold out until reinforcements came. His valor in combat against the rebels was noted and he was promoted instantly. Suddenly, younger cadets knew his name and asked him for autographs, senior officers tipped their hats at him, and just about everyone in the navy wanted to be his friend. Life couldn't get better for him.

And it didn't. In fact, life got significantly worse.

Alex, having found success in the navy, decided to move on to other things. He had served in the flight department; next to that, anything else would be a piece of cake. Thinking of making it rich, he left the navy, bought a small cargo ship, and sought out a living as a free trader. His ship attracted all types; immigrants and refugees, scoundrels and smugglers, it didn't matter so long as they could pay for their travels. One of his passengers, young Amelia Straffin, joined the crew to hide away from the Mondasian mob and continue her studies.

But times became hard. It turns out that having no experience in the real world outside of the navy had ill-equipped Alex to the rigors of interplanetary trade, and he soon fell upon hard times. He took to gambling, losing 10,000 credits in one night. With contracts being few and far apart, and no longer being able to pay for his ship, he became increasingly desperate. When the ship and its crew stopped at the starport of a small planet called Balthazar, he wrapped a bandanna around his face, stole away from his ship in the dead of night and left the planet aboard a raider ship, leaving his crew with no way off.

Joining the crew of the raider ship he became a pirate, preying on unsuspecting vessels in the darkness of interstellar space. The money he made wasn't much, but it was enough to keep him going. Not that it brought him happiness. Every night his thoughts were haunted by those he had left behind on Balthazar and the memories of his success at Dessel, and how far he had fallen. Once he was surrounded by friends, cheering him on and celebrating his victories. Now he was surrounded by cutthroats who couldn't care less about whether he lived or died. Not that he was exempt, he supposed. Once he was a shining example of the best the Imperium had to offer; now he was taking advantage of those good-natured enough to fall victim to the pirates' bait.

It wasn't long before he made enemies. A large yacht had answered a distress call the pirates had sent out, and Alex and his fellow corsairs were eagerly awaiting the chance to board and seize the ship's riches. As the pirates boarded the craft, they encountered heavy resistance; the yacht's owner hadn't come unprepared. After taking out the guards, the pirates discovered the identity of the ship's proprietor, Baeral, a well-known, high-ranking imperial noble with connections all over the place; Alex had known and served with his brother, a captain in the navy, and he was rumored to have connections to the mob on Mondas. The pirates jumped at the chance to humiliate one of the most influential men in the subsector, belittling him before his whole crew and making him lick their shoes.

Needless to say, this made Baeral angry, and a little sad too. He never forgot the pirates who made a fool of him, and swore his revenge. But then they were gone, and the best he could do was rant before the Duke about cracking down on piracy across the subsector.

Alex never really liked his comrades on the raider ship, and the feeling was mutual; after one disastrous heist, the pirate crew unceremoniously dumped him on the crappiest planet they could find.

Naturally, it was Balthazar.

Struggling to find himself again and looking back on all the mistakes he made, Alex wandered the streets, looking for work that didn't come. It didn't help that the planet was undergoing a civil war. Eventually he found a room, bunking in a crowded apartment with an impulsive noblewoman, a still-bitter Amelia Straffin, and a man he would have forgotten existed if his bulky armor didn't make him take up half the room.

Alex didn't know what he wanted. To make amends, perhaps, to pay back his debt to society and prove that he was still in the game, that he was still the hero that had saved the Thoth at Dessel. Maybe he wanted to find a place where he could do some good in the world.

Or maybe he was exactly where he wanted to be, surrounded by chaos.

Traits and Personality
Alex is 5' 11" with brown hair and two eyes. He usually wears a jacket in grey or brown over his old naval uniform and a bandanna or scarf covering his face. He has a strong sense of loyalty to his comrades, who he refuses to abandon. He is generally a stickler for the rules until somebody else breaks them; at that point he tosses them out the window. As the oldest of the group, he has the most experience, and is pretty skilled in numerous disciplines, a jack of all trades. Alex enjoys playing soccer, drinking and talking with friends, brooding, and sleeping. Things that anger him include the use of force on civilian populations, hypocrisy, and people who talk loudly on their phones at restaurants.

In combat he generally uses a cutlass or a Gauss pistol.

Character Profile: Dame Vanai Cordé

In this first of a series of four posts, we'll explain the backstories, traits, and game statistics for the four player characters in the Travellers' Raid Society. 

Lady Dame Vanai Cordé: Servant of the Imperium

"When I left the Navy, I didn't quite know what I would do next, only that I would hope to be of some service to the Imperium. And yet, after my time in the Navy and my knighthood, it seemed rather- mundane- to take up the family business or a teaching position. Much to the disappointment of my father and my aunt, I ended up becoming a Traveller rather than a more respectable occupation. They are correct in noting that my new career choice does have worse retirement plans, less workplace safety, and fewer opportunities to pay off college debt for my liberal arts degree, but the travel is excellent and the people I meet unforgettable." - Lady Dame Vanai Cordé, Personal Diaries

Lady Dame Vanai Cordé is the leader of this company of Travellers. She was born on the planet Aquitaine in 1068, in the city of Neidong (also known as the City of Scattered Coins) to a family of moderately prosperous means. Her parents, Nathaniel and Soraya Cordé, owned an independent free trader, and together ran the small company Cordé Mercantile, which specialized in transport of luxury and cultural goods to planets on the frontier. Vanai is itself a Vilani name, although her family is majority Solomani Human. Vanai attended the University of Kajaani, majoring in Interplanetary Economics. Upon graduation, however, the War (known to the inhabitants of the subsector as the First Frontier War, not to be confused with the other conflict of the same name), a massive interplanetary conflict extending throughout the subsector, began. This conflict, known simply as 'the War' to those who lived through it, was a four-year conflict between forces of the Imperium and various Loyalist worlds against the Greycoats, a force of libertarian rebels, who were supported by numerous disloyal planetary governments. A theory of involvement by a shadowy conspiracy led by the Kreynos, the militaristic alien species whose empire once included much of the subsector, circulates periodically in certain circles, but is officially denied by the Imperial government. During the War, the Aquitaine planetary government instituted a draft, and Vanai decided to enlist in the Imperial Navy so that she would have a choice in which service to enlist in.

Vanai was accepted into the Imperial Navy's Logistical Branch thanks to her experience in interplanetary trade and economics. She was assigned as a Quartermaster onboard a series of naval space stations in the Aquitaine system, and then onboard the INS Zhang Fei, an Imperial Navy destroyer, having an uneventful first term in service behind the lines, being given a commission and promoted to Ensign for exemplary service. When her ship was deployed towards the front lines in order to fight rebels such as the Greycoats and suspected Kreynos commerce raiders, it stopped on the planet of Guanyin to pick up supplies. She was stranded on the surface when planetary rebels known as the Army for the Liberation of the People, along with offworld mercenaries, overthrew the democratic Republic of Guanyin. She saved the life of Rahul Mishra, a high-ranking diplomat at the Imperial Consulate on the planet, and played a major role in the ensuing evacuation of the diplomats on the surface, including helping the diplomats escape via a smuggler's spaceship, and playing a major role in the Battle of Erlang Station onboard the space station of the same name.

Following this adventure, Vanai was reassigned to the INS Defiance, an Imperial Navy cruiser, as Quartermaster. The ship saw intense action along the frontier, participating in at least six space battles. Ensign Cordé was injured at one of these battles, but continued in service. While traveling through what was believed to be an uninhabited system, Defiance encountered a Kreynos warship, which was apparently guarding a covert Kreynos colony in the system. Vanai was impressed by the Kreynos's martial discipline, and her ship left the system around two weeks later, after reaching an agreement to gather needed fuel and supplies from the Kreynos colony world.

In her third term, INS Defiance continued fighting in the War, taking part in numerous actions against Greycoat commerce raiders. When the ship was assigned to investigate a suspected Greycoat base in an otherwise abandoned system, they found that the base was destroyed. She was part of the landing party which investigated the base for clues. They were attacked by a party of Kreynos marines, where Vanai was nearly killed by a Krey rifle round. Forced to escape into the wilderness with their commanding officer killed, they were evacuated by a shuttle from Defiance, only to find that a Kreynos cruiser had jumped into the system in order to prevent word of the attack from getting out. The ensuing battle was long and brutal. Although a flight of Imperial missiles were able to destroy the Kreynos ship's jump drive, Kreynos railgun rounds penetrated the bridge of Defiance, causing major damage and killing many of the Imperial ship's bridge officers, including the captain. Vanai and the other junior officers continued the fight from the auxiliary bridge, with Vanai staffing the tactical officer's console. Despite taking dozens of casualties and severe damage, Defiance was able to escape out of the system.

The Imperial government and Duke Harris ultimately decided to deny all knowledge of the battle, judging that they would be unable to fight a war against the Greycoats and the Kreynos at the same time. However, Defiance was retired with full honors, and many of the surviving personnel were promoted, including Vanai, who became Lieutenant Cordé. Vanai was also knighted for her service to the Imperium, becoming a Honour Knight, having no lands or inheritable title. Dame Cordé left the Navy soon after. On a whim, she took a middle passage trip to the planet Balthazar, where she first met the people who would form the core of her future party of Travellers.

Traits and Personality

Vanai is 5' 5" tall, with black hair and brown eyes. She typically wears plain, utilitarian clothing, although she does enjoy dressing up on formal occasions. Personality-wise, she is determined but also stubborn, with a strong sense of duty. She sees herself as the long-suffering voice of reason in her band of travellers, as well as its moral conscience. Politically, she is strongly in favor of the Imperium, and a member of the Social Democratic party on Aquitaine. She's cautious, and prefers to make plans beforehand instead of leaping into action. She enjoys drinking tea, reading, writing in her diary, and overcoming logistical and bureaucratic challenges. She doesn't suffer idiots. Things that anger her are corruption, apathy, and inequality.

In combat, Vanai uses an autorifle, an automatic pistol, and her Navy-issue rapier for fighting in vacuum or on a spaceship.