Enoch wrote: ↑Thu Jun 10, 2021 8:42 pm
Our roll on HORRORS suggests ghosts, undead or something supernatural. The rulebook section on Eidolon Travel (p. 60) talks about "horrifying visions or visitations among the drifts" and talks of "eidolon ghosts", and wards and rituals to keep them at bay.
If that's true, there are probably characters out there whose job it is to ward off or defend against eidolon ghosts during travel. In our setting, maybe a BLADEMASTER with blessed blades, or people with a mystic Path- a DEVOTANT to exorcise the spirit, or a FIREBRAND to burn it with holy fire.
What would these wardens against the spirits be called? Eidolon Wardens? Something else?
I'm going to embrace this concept - they're called
Wardens.
I'll borrow Enoch's format for the steps...
Step 1 is only for using the physical book.
Step 2: Choose 2 Paths. I'll choose FIREBRAND and SLAYER. Leaning into the idea of Eidelon Warden, having her focused on hunting down dangerous creatures (like Eidolon Ghosts) and having pyrokinetic fire to destroy them seems pretty awesome as a start point.
Step 3:Create Your Backstory. She is a vow-swearing Warden with literal fire issues who is devoted to hunting down dangerous things to keep others safe. We're going to start from "You were on your own for as long as you can remember" - I want to leave it open-ended if this Warden life includes some mystical longevity, but she believes her lifestyle is too dangerous to have others be close. She lives her job. She has taken the callsign Valkyrie as "chooser of the slain." We'll tie in some Norse references as we go.
Step 4: Write Your Background Vow. But, "I've always been a loner" is lame by itself. She of course lapsed. That lapse resulted in the birth of her daughter, Kara. Which then resulted in her bugging-out because her life is too dangerous for a child. She has sworn her vow:
I will keep Kara safe from this life, whatever it takes. She longs for the child she fears to see, lest she bring calamity to her. (
Kara is a Norse reference - a reincarnation of a Valkryie, but which literally translates as "the wild, stormy one." or "curly one", so... picture.)
- Kara-small.jpg (13.97 KiB) Viewed 396 times
Step 5: Board Your Starship. I get a starship, which she has named
Valhalla, keeping in theme. I'll roll for its origin -
Percentile [1d100]=11
"Built out of re-purposed scrap"
So, given her longevity on the job, she has blown up and/or rebuilt the ship to the point that it is unrecognizable. It also tells me that she values function over form - it is hard and utilitarian, which are qualities she wishes to project.
- Valhalla Starship-small.jpg (93.77 KiB) Viewed 396 times
"Envision the Starship": I already have a vision above, but I'll see what we get on the tables.
Percentile [1d100]=50
Old bloodstain in the airlock reappears even when painted over
...that's awesome. We'll add that for flavor!
Step 6: Choose Your Final Asset. I always pick an image to embody and inspire the character first, and the one I picked has some form of bio-mechanical enhancement, so I'm considering bringing that in to her look, if not her asset. Also, I like the idea of extended lifespan weighing upon her, and something that forces her not to retire but continue her role. I considered VESTIGE (Being the last of enhanced beings/Valkeries) but decided to avoid the one that Enoch took and be different.
Instead, I settled on
SYMBIOTE. She is enhanced for her role by some form of bio-mechanical interface integrated fully into her biology. This can support a lifespan story, provides an actual sentient urge to remain on-task in spite of her desire to raise a daughter, and provides a physical edge to perform the Warden duties. She can't quit - she's literally not built that way.
Step 7: Set Your Stats. I think the core of this character is
Heart (courage, willpower, loyalty) so we give that +3. Slayer points me to the importance of tracking and finding the threats, so we will put a
+2 Wits. I don't see her as sneaky so
Shadow +1 is easy. That means I need to decide if she's a close-quarters or ranged fighter (and strength or agility, respectively). Especially influenced by the "Swordsman school" motif of the setting, I will go with "strength, endurance, aggressiveness and prowess at close quarters" which means
Iron +2 and
Edge +1.
When she's doing her job, the Paths modify that highly anyway:
- +1 to investigate, track, or stalk a hostile creature (Slayer)
- +2 when aided by this energy (literal fire?) to attack or overcome obstacles
- +2 to make aggressive moves while giving yourself to the symbiote’s power
...direct approaches will carry a lot of oomph. The only thing she will truly suck at is anything deceptive, sneaky, or non-firy/aggressive.
Step 8: Set Your Condition Tracks. Health, Spirit, and Supply get set to +5. Momentum gets set to +2, max Momentum to +10, and Momentum reset to +2. The Symbiote is set to Health +2. The
Valkyrie's integrity gets set to +5.
Step 9: Envision Your Character. Here we set the look, act, and wear of the character.
Look: I always start with an image.
- Kaela-brazos-small.jpg (39.35 KiB) Viewed 396 times
She has a timeless middle-aged look but a thousand-yard stare in her eyes. She is athletic, a utilitarian style to her long dark hair which is usually pulled back in a ponytail. The bio-mechanical enhancements woven throughout her body are never able to be completely hidden.
Act: Driven and pragmatic, particularly when on-the-job. She tries to hide her wistfulness and loss over the choice she had to make for her daughter, and the underlying loneliness of ages which led her to that lapse.
Wear: Simple dark-colored spacer clothes - comfortable pants, tank-tops (for hot engine rooms), jackets (for cold space corridors). Always armed with her blade - the mark of her vow-sworn status and school.
Step 10: Name Your Character. Chose these above... Kaela Brazos (from a generator) is how she was born, but only her daughter and daughter's father call her that. The rest of the universe knows her as
Valkyrie, Warden of the ways, hard as the iron she wields.
Step 11: Gear Up. By default you get a spacer kit, which contains:
- Sealed environment suit
- Flashlights/headlamps
- Toolkit
- Medkit
- Personal communicator
You also get to set up to 4 or 5 pieces of specific gear that represent important aspects of your character's "approach, capabilities, or background". The setting prizes swordcraft and makes vows upon blades - her blade is integral to her, and we'll go with the imagery and make it a sci-fi katana with a monomolecular edge. As a monster hunter, she needs a good ranged weapon for planetside problems, so we'll make it a big-ass sci-fi cannon that is capable of channeling her psychic firepower as well, part of her Warden gear. Next, something from the symbiote - I want it to provide long-term (multi-generational?) memories that extend back to colonization and the founding of Wardens. Going with the Nordic theme, we'll call it the
Edda, the symbiote's deep database which she can access. Finally, what from her daughter? Let's go with 'drawings of a little girl.' This is the priceless piece of physical memory she brought from the last time she physically saw her daughter, who by now is much older than the girl who drew them...
