Monotheism in Legend/RQ6

Now as every Gloranthaphile knows the western part of Genertela is full of Monotheists, people who believe in some variety or other of the one Invisible God whose existence was first deduced by Malkion, the First Man. I'd like to use this type of cult in Legend and RQ6, but just giving monotheist priests sorcery to play with, as they did in the MRQII Second Age material, doesn't feel right. I like the idea that Western cultures do things differently. While in Central Genertela there is magical and spiritual anarchy, in the West they are far more organised, with professional priests providing all the blessings anyone would need far more skillfully and with more oomph than the amateur practitioners of the barbarian lands.

Here is my suggestion as to how to handle it. In the notes below I will be using the terms Grimoire and Manipulation, the Legend skills, but for RQ6 just substitute the Invoke and Shaping.

Blessings (and Curses)

Monotheist communities are built around their churches. Ordinary worshipers donate magical power to magical professionals, Liturgists, to cast special sorcery spells that benefit the whole community called Blessings. These are very weak when used by just one person, but when a whole congregation gets together they can benefit many people across a wide area. The holy books of such religions are full of blessings (though in many religions the lowest clergy will learn a few by rote) and most will have a few proper sorcery spells as well. Most blessings are beneficial, but some religions also have curses, attacking spells that focus the ire of a whole congregation on one target.

To cast a Blessing the Liturgist uses his Grimoire (Holy Book) skill, just as would any other sorcery spell, and can boost its power using Manipulation as usual. But with a Blessing he can also add the Faith of his congregation to the Manipulation (see below).

Blessings last a lot longer than ordinary sorcery, 1 hour per POW point of the caster, not 1 minute, and can only be cast on people carrying the right holy symbol and the faith of the recipient can also affect the potency  of the blessing. Curses also have the extended duration, but can usually be cast on anyone.

Faith and the Chain of Reverence

A Liturgist leading a congregation adds 10% of his worshipers Grimoire skill in the appropriate book to his/her manipulation; this is their Faith score.

Father Umphred has Grimoire (Abiding Book) 60% and Manipulation 50%, but with his congregation of 10 souls each with Grimoire (Abiding Book) 30% praying along with him he adds 3x10=+30 Faith, giving him 50+30 = 80% Manipulation to apply to the blessing, enabling him to affect more people for longer.

In a Monotheist cult there are almost always several layers of clergy. A second tier cleric gets the benefit of half the Faith gathered by his subordinates, plus their Faith, and this can be transmitted across any distance.

Deacon Anslem is in charge of Father Umphred and two other clergy of like ability with similar congregations, He gets 30 x 3 (for the ordinary worshippers) x 0.5 + 6 x 3 (for the Liturgists' faith) = 45 + 18 = +63 Faith to his Manipulation skill. He reports to Bishop Cleeve, who gets half the Faith each of his Deacons gather added together, plus their Faith, the Archbishop above him gets the half the faith all his subordinate Bishops gather, and through the Archbishops the Ecclesiarch wields the Faith of a whole nation. 

Faith can only be applied to casting Blessings, it won't work on normal sorcery. At any given time most worshippers will have the benefits of at least one Blessing and there may well be further blessings on his village, guild, town or fields, regularly renewed in weekly services.

Mana TO Heaven

The magic points to power these mighty Blessings also come from the faithful. The only spell taught to ordinary worshipers by most monotheistic churches is Venerate.

Venerate

Sorcery, Concentration

Can only be cast while holding a holy symbol, this spell transfers magic points up the Chain of Veneration; from Worshiper to Liturgist, from Liturgist to Deacon (or whatever the title of the next higher ranked clergy is), from Deacon to Bishop and so on, and from the highest clergyman to the Invisible God itself. It takes 1 hour plus 15 minutes per magic point transferred to cast, the magic points are stored in the recipient's holy symbol, and it has no range limit. The maximum transfer per day is 1 mp per 10% Grimoire skill. A worshiper many miles away can make his private devotions and the magic points will be moved to his ecclesiastic superior. Occasionally the spell is used to move magic points back down the Chain. A congregation might send a dozen or more magic points to their Liturgist, who may then bless a member of his community, perhaps far away fighting a war, with these magic points for their personal holy symbol, if it has the capacity to absorb them. Magic points can never be passed horizontally to another person of the same standing in the church or sect.

At each level of the church there is a minimum required commitment of magic points per day or per week; worshipers usually have to provide 1 per week, though they often give more, Liturgists have quotas they must pass on to their superiors, and so on up the Chain of Veneration.

Holy Symbols

Different churches use their own unique form of holy symbol; many western ones go for Malkion's Holy Triangle in simple wood or a fancy precious metal job on the end of a staff for Bishops, the Lunar Cerise Church uses Moon runes of various kinds etc. but they all work the same. Each symbol stores magic points, amount varying, for one week. Magic points can only be put into a symbol by Veneration, and you can't transfer points to your own magic symbol. You cannot use a holy symbol that is not of the prescribed form for your sect.

Dedicate Holy Symbol

Sorcery, Autonomous

A ritual of variable length depending on how many magic points you want the maximum stored in a particular symbol to be. The simplest symbols, those worn by the laity, aren't meant to store mps at all, just to act as a conduit for mp to be passed up to the clergy and to enable the worshipper to receive blessings and take a few minutes to do, the whopping great golden jobs carried by Ecclesiarchs were prayed over for days by teams of Bishops and Archbishops. The maximum power storage capacity is one point per 10% combined Grimoire skill of the enchanting clergy and takes one hour per mp capacity to dedicate and costs 5 mp per point capacity. The enchantment process cannot be paused once started, though a group of clergy can work in shifts for the really powerful ones. The magic points stored in a holy symbol may be used for anything, not just Blessings.

Sorcerers and Wizards

An independent Sorcerer has only his own power to draw on, with maybe a few apprentices or assistants lending a hand, but a Wizard, a sorcerer who is also a liturgist in a monotheistic religion, can use his holy symbol to help power his spells. The disadvantage of being a Wizard is that as a clergyman you might find yourself with a church full of peasants to look after, the Churches often have serious restrictions on what spells you can use and you have to clutter up your brain with Blessings, which still take 1 INT point to remember.

Many wizardly orders have peasant liturgists to handle the casting of blessings and the accumulation of magic points from the laity, which are then passed on to a Wizard through his holy symbol to do something useful with. The peasants living on the orders lands and ministered to by their liturgists do not usually mind as long as the Order is a responsible landlord and blesses their crops and protects them from harm, but there are sometimes grumblings. On the other hand peasants on lands owned by certain nobles wish their landlord was a spiritually inclined Wizard who merely asked for their souls and not a greedy noble who took their food and goods to blow on feasts and tournaments.

The Western Caste System

In theory only those born into the Zzaburi (wizard) caste can cast spells, but this is usually held not to include Blessings so Liturgists of other castes do exist. They are not allowed to learn sorcery spells though, even if they are in the holy book (and The Abiding Book allegedly contains enough information, albeit encoded, to cast all known spells). Many lower caste Liturgists are nigh illiterate in any case and only know their few Blessings by rote.

The typical member of the Dronar peasant caste will know very little magic, or ought to know very little magic. Hardline churches like the Rokari regard all magic use by non-clergy, even weedy folk magic charms, as vile and evil Witchcraft. Other sects like the Hrestoli Idealists allow a few folk magics, if they are taught by a trade guild. In practice a peasant will know one or two common magic spells to a low level, and his priest won't be too bothered by it. There are underground religions practiced all over the west involving isolated shamen and occasionally theistic priests with small groups of followers. Needless to say these are prime targets for the local Inquisition.

Horals, the Soldier Caste, are likewise limited in their magic. They will know only folk magic and receive blessings and sorcery from their chaplains.

Zzaburi, as noted above, will know real sorcery spells, and are often bound by oaths never to use folk magic, or are so hoity toity about the pathetic little charms of the peasantry they won't lower themselves to use them.

Talars, the Nobles, are also theoretically banned from using any magic, but again often do, knowing folk magic charms passed down through their ancestors. They will also have plenty of personal chaplains on hand to cast magic for them and, depending on the region and sect, possibly sorcerers and wizards in the household as well.

The Army of Tomorrow

The Army of Tomorrow first appeared in the first edition of Hero Wars published in 2000 as a Hero Band. My version is a smaller and less powerful organisation, less well established in Dragon Pass and more desperate for work. The Army is an irruption of the equivalent of the Earthly 14^th century into a Bronze or Iron Age cultural milieu, an alien and sorcerous blot on the tribal landscape.

Who are they?

The Army of Tomorrow turned up in Rhigos in Esrolia about five years ago. They are a band of mercenaries originally from Loskalm in the far north-west of the continent, a country about which the inhabitants of Dragon Pass know next to nothing. They do know that they have many sorcerers and few gods, and that makes them figures of deep suspicion.

The Army has sort of prospered however. They provide decent soldiers at a very reasonable price and they are ideal for disputes where Heortling chiefs, Esrolian grandmothers and Lunar officials do not want to risk their own troops and calling in the Humakti or Yelmalios looks like expensive overkill. The Army has found itself doing all the really crap military jobs in the area – patrolling the Praxian marches and caravan routes, hunting down those bands of undead that make it past the Ducks, dealing with plagues of starving trollkin. evicting refugee squatters displaced by Lunar conquests – stuff no honourable Humakti and many Lunar troops would want to do.

These are all reasonable earners, but they do nothing for the military reputation of the Army; jumped up garrison troops sniff the Lunar officers, a pack of stickpickers who can march in a line scoff the Sartarite thegns.

Sir Malain the Slayer, the leader of the Army's outpost at the Monastery of the Rock in Rhigos knows better. Back in the west Army troops have fought Wolf Pirates, meeping chaos horrors from the Dilis swamps and have seen service against the fearsome trolls of Guhan. He needs one big glorious victory to make his name and his units reputation known in Maniria, and then perhaps he will start getting some real money in, and some better quality recruits. The Army brought a hard core of veterans from their various outposts in the west and have been following their practice of local recruitment in the Holy Country, but there is only so much good old Fronelan drill and discipline can do with the motley tribal outlaws and urban proles who have been signing up.

The Army is entirely ecumenical, they take anyone of any religion and do not proselytise, or try not to, though they do rather obviously favour fellow monotheists as sergeants and captains and the colonels are all followers of the Church of the Futurist. If they have a real prejudice it is against non-human sentients, Krjalki as they call them. Back in Fronela and Seshnela these beings are few and far between and they find it disturbing to see humans happily associating with such horrors as trolls, ducks and merfolk. However the teachings of St Dadivic are open to all, and some chaplains are coming round the idea that these monsters might have souls and might even be able to experience Solace and Joy.

Organisation

The Army is organised into Columns, as they call their companies, each with a different role. Each column has a Colonel, a Chaplain and two Captains and ideally has eight 12 man squads.

First and Second : Basic infantry units equipped with spear and shield or pikes with falchion/shortsword for close up fighting, 20% of the unit will be crossbowmen.

Third: Galleys, where seamen receive training in Seamanship and marines use crossbows, boarding pikes and axes

Fourth: Light cavalry – spear and shield, light crossbow. This unit is somewhat under strength after a series of disastrous encounters with Grazelander raiders.

Fifth: Heavy cavalry using lance and shield. The traditional juggernauts of western warfare, but this column is way under strength due to lack of suitable recruits and decent warhorses.

Sixth: Sappers and Siegers; A bit of a novelty for this part of central Genertela, where sieges tend to be drawn out affairs occasionally livened up by magical assaults and flying Orlanthi fanatics. They have yet to see action, but Sir Malain and their colonel Sir Willebord are confident that they could knock over one the silly little hill forts they have in these parts in no time. A quarter of the troops have pavises and heavy crossbows, the rest are trained in building a few basic bits of siege equipment like battering rams, galleries and siege towers and they have carts with the great sinew springs needed for onagers and ballistas and plenty of woodworking tools. Sir Willebord also knows how to tunnel and undermine, but doubts the flimsy forts of Dragon Pass will need it.

Religion

Sergeants must follow a Malkioni Religion. The Army has sergeants from a number of sects but all the Chaplains are members of the Order of St Dadivic. The Army follows the western practice of the Chain of Veneration, where lay members give magical power and support to a Liturgist who then casts spells that benefit the whole congregation, as long as they bear a sanctified holy symbol.

The Captains of the columns are all members of the Order of St Dadivic and their Chaplain-General Lostar Spellster is a former adept of the Order of Bardan's Book, which gives him a number of useful battlefield spells.

The Order of Saint Dadivic, also known as the Church of the Futurist, originated in southern Loskalm during the Syndics Ban when the whole of Fronela and the Janube Valley was cut into isolated units by magical barriers of mist. The Order is open to anyone who worships the Invisible God, though all the major sects of the west regard it as heretical to some degree. The Hrestoli Idealists regard them as worshipping the Demiurge as they cleave to the Abiding Book, Hrestoli Orthodox decry them as Progressives and Feminists, who make a mockery of ancient Caste Law, and the Rokari dislike their Hrestolism and belief in Joy of the Heart.

Nonetheless the Army includes members all these sects and more. Monotheists are a mistrusted minority in the Holy Country and Dragon Pass and in the Army's view they have to put aside their theological squabbles and stick together in the face of rampant paganism, and even welcome some pagans into their ranks as tools to serve the Futurist.

The doctrines of the Great Futurist involve a great deal of optimism about the World to Come, which will finally realise the plans of the Invisible God and see the Perfection of Man, but recognises that along the way there is going to be a bit of an Armageddon to get through. The Army of Tomorrow will lead humanity through that great war and set an example of honourable action, perseverance and tolerance. St Dadivic left a collection of poetic prophesies, called The Glimpses, which the Chaplains consult whenever the path forward seems unclear. One such prophecy rather unequivocally pointed at Dragon Pass as a place the Order ought to take an interest in, but now they are here no one seems to know what to do next nor fully understand the mix of contending factions. Some doubt that the Armageddon is going to happen here at all, just a petty squabble between two gangs of stupid pagans, and want to go back to Loskalm to fight the Kingdom of War.

Special Blessings from the Grimoire 'Glimpses of the Future'

Heal Futurist

Heals 1 HP per 15% of the casters Grimoire skill, plus 1 HP per 15% of the recipients Grimoire skill. Cannot heal serious or major wounds.

Steadfast into the Future

Adds the 1/10 of the recipients Grimoire (Glimpses of the Future) skill to their Persistence and Resilience, an affects one target per 10% of the casters skill. Extra targets can be added by Manipulation as usual.

The Ship of Life

Acts as a Mobility spell for an entire galley, plus one movement rate per 25% Grimoire skill.

The Future is Ours

Acts as a mass Fate spell, adding 1/5 the targets Grimoire (Glimpses of the Future) skill to their next skill roll and affecting 1 target per 5% of the casters Grimoire skill. Extra targets can be added by Manipulation as usual.

Another Known Space NPC

This bloke has just wandered into my Known Space campaign. He's a bit of an arse.

Alpha Geek Omicron 1234 (Alec Lamplugh)

Homeworld: Scotland/EU/Earth, later Aquila/Aquila

Age: 39

Str:    7    +0

Dex   8    +0

End   10  +1

Int      11  +1

Edu   8    +0

SS    9    +1

Entertainer/Artist 5 terms, Rank 5

1 Found a patron, legendary punk artiste/label owner Harry Blackteeth (formerly of Bad McTatt and the Picts) +2 advancement

2 Criticise political leader – gain +1 in Investigate and an enemy

3 Gets a number one hit, +1 on any benefit roll

4 Need for more and more dubious implants leads into the criminal underworld, gain Streetwise

5 Become part of Aquila's celebrity circle, gain Persuade 1 due to ability to overawe the little people

Benefits – 160,000 Cr, 2 contacts, +2 Social, +1 Int

Skills

Persuade 0

Steward 0

Science (Cybernetics) 0

Art (Holography) 0

Carouse 0

Deception 1

Investigate 1

Persuade 1

Engineering (Electronic) 1

Computers 1

Streetwise 1

Art (Instrument) 4

Gear

Cybernetic implants – Cyber legs (advanced) Double speed, +2 to any athletics rolls involving legs

Enhanced Brain - + 1 Intelligence, computer interface, skill chip gives extra +1 Art (Instrument) skill

Radio Ears – pick up and transmit radio

Enhanced Eyes - general information chip, scleral surface veins rearranged in circuit board pattern to look Cybergothy

Moodaliser (as mood chip, but runs multiple programmes), with external surface update in the from of a glowing icon on his forehead

Cyberskin (+1 AP, resist cold/heat)

Depending on local law he will carry a monoblade and/or a laser pistol, though he has no idea how to use either properly and has a bodyguard for duffing over the disrespectful.

60% cybered, Sanity 0 (see Cybernetics notes)

Has a 200 ton yacht/tourbus, 'Ebonite Soul'.

Biography

Young Alec Lamplugh was Gothpunk Revival fan back in the 2280's (Gothpunk being the latest incarnation of Goth which had been revived every 50 years or so since the legendary Winter of Gloom of 1983, when hairspray supplies in Leeds were down to one half empty can and people made their own black lipstick with beef dripping and coal dust). He went on the local club circuit and was picked up by Harry Blackteeth, the front man for agit-thrash-celto-punk Bad McTatt and the Picts, who encouraged him in his latent obsession with cybernetics, turning him into a 'Cybergoth' and giving him the stage name 'Alpha Geek Omicron 1234'. 

Harry sensed that this distant, moody and nerdy young synth player needed only a bit of a kick to turn him into a proper rock and roll loon, reducing his career and probably lifespan but boosting his earning power. Alpha Geek Omicron was busted for being a wirehead (sending current directly into the pleasure centres of his brain), beating the rap by claiming it was the only way to control the weltschmerz and ennui brought on by inhabiting meatspace (well, Dundee). He led a failed campaign against the banning of mood chips in Scotland, though his fellow campaigners exposed the Scottish Home Secretary, Angus Davis, as using an Aggression Dial to up his vehemence levels during parliamentary debates ('Wee Angus goes up to 11' was one of Alpha Geek's biggest hits in his home country.)

He left Scotland and settled on Aquila, where though cybernetic enhancement was still banned, he was a bigger fish in a smaller pond, and became one of the planets biggest rock stars, going on interstellar tours back into the core sectors to play ever larger gigs and spend time at various dodgy and experimental clinics having yet more of his biological substance replaced by silicon, rubber and stainless steel.

Alpha Geek is an impressive looking bloke, seven feet tall (he has had the pale ginger Scottish legs he was born with replaced by springloaded metal ones a couple of feet longer), covered in black rubberised skin, with various bits of chrome stuck on in a rather obvious way, a big up yours to the many in Known Space who regard cyber enhancement as dangerous, uncool and very, very nerdy. He is also completely barmy, a manic depressive with more than a touch of megalomania, but a lot of people take this as side effects of being a rock star rather than of being mostly robotic. He leads a peculiar peripatetic life on his yacht/tour bus 'Ebonite Soul', sometimes arriving like royalty with full pomp and circumstance, other times slinking on and off a planet dressed head to foot in bandages like a burn victim. He spends a lot of his time in a sensory deprivation tank while a computer feed sends randomised signals to his moodaliser and records the resulting musical output from the synth and composition computer built into his brain and spinal column.

Every now and again he will spend some time 'dead', going into a low berth for way beyond the recommended time limits, as way of avoiding taxes and extending his lifespan. He has announced his intention to live forever several times and has (very expensively) downloaded a rough simulacrum of his personality into a number of computers he calls 'beta geeks'. He has sent beta geeks out to do gigs for him. He claims the performance was in fact better though several times when this has happened the audience demanded their money back.

He has a number of full time roadies, sycophants, cyberneticists and bodyguards who treat him as royalty, he might be be angling to become a cult leader of sorts. All his followers sport cyber enhancements, and unkind and paranoid types say he uses these to control his entourage.

He knows and can call on Harry Hurley, leader of the New Dorset Independence Party and current heir apparent to the Microsoft Corporate Kingdom (the CEOship has become hereditary since Microsoft became a constitutional monarchy in the revolution of 2216) Prince Louis Kimball-Gates XIV, who are both fans. (Note: The XIV is a serial number, the Kimball-Gates family clone themsleves then choose the sanest and least mutated to ascend the throne).

Aplha Geek is currently on tour and is stopping off at Annabel's Grave to organise the rescue of her poor misunderstood brain from the depths of a frozen sea.

More People of Known Space

A couple more of the funny folk of the 24th century.

Sultan Major Mikhail Al-Tazary

Homeworld: Orpheus/Aquila

Age 34

Str     9   +1

Dex   9   +1

End   7   +0

Int      2    -2

Edu   8   +0

SS    D  +2

Army/Infantry

Terms 4 Rank 03 Major

1 Life Event- Good Fortune, inherited father's title +2 to one benefit roll

2 Involved in the Orphean War, gained Gun Combat skill

3 More action in the Orphean War, injured, -2 DEX

4 Peacekeeping mission, gain Recon 1

Benefits: 32 000Cr, +2 Social, Armour

Skills

Animals 0

Comms 0

Drive (Wheeled) 0

Drive (Tracked) 0

Athletics (Strength) 0

Gun Combat (Slug Rfile) 1

Recon 1

Melee (Blades) 1

Heavy Weapons (Launcher) 1

Leadership 1

Tactics (Military) 1

Survival 1

Stealth 1

Languages: Kazakh 5, English 1, Arabic 1

Assets

Improved Flak Jacket (AP6), Ballistic Helmet (AP +1), Blade, Heavy Revolver, Assault Rifle

Biography:

Mikhail is from Orpheus, which was torn apart by a major war between the neo-Nazi state of Asgardia and the inhabitants of the rest of the planet. He was never the brightest of souls, a disappointment to his father, a prominent businessman who died when Mikhail was 19, giving him the old Kazhak title of 'Bay'. The Orphean War was a bloody nightmare, opened with a pre-emptive nuclear stake by the Asgardians. Mikhail did his bit, becoming battle hardened as the shattered armies of what become the Orphean League doggedly fought back over the irradiated wastes. Bolstered by supplies from the US and EU and an interplanetary volunteer force the League bottled up the Asgardians in a fortified corner of a minor continent. Mikhail's unit became part of a force occupying former Asgardian territories, a brutal job involving endlessly hunting down cells of Nazi diehards. He eventually became de facto ruler of the district, a military governor for the Orphean League government, and still has a lot of clout on his homeworld. He left home to do yet more Nazi hunting. He hasn't forgiven the bastards for nuking his hometown and knows some of the wretches have escaped their virtual prison state on Orpheus and they are probably plotting some kind of revenge.

Mikhail is a simple and brutal man, hardened by battle and used to having people jump and quake at his every word. Quite what the principles of the Orphean Humanist Party, in which he is apparently a Commissar, actually are he has no idea. All he knows is that he is a Sultan, a Major and basically the boss, and has a squad of battle hardened veterans who will extract information regarding the murderers of his people by any means necessary  And if tracking them down involves good old fashioned commando work, sneaking through the wilds and personally slitting their throats in the dark, so much the better. Mikhail is slowly dying of cancer, the legacy of the nuclear battlefield, and wants to take as many of the bastards with him as he can.

He has had a number of run ins with law enforcement on other worlds. They sympathise with his mission, but deplore his methods, though in a couple of places they have supplied information then looked the other way while his band of thugs disposed of some politically embarrassing people, some of whom might actually have been Asgardian Nazis.

Always travels with 2-7 infantrymen and usually hires of acquires the biggest, blackest, most badass looking armoured limo to cruise about in. He has Orphean League diplomatic documents, but these are out of date and it is debatable whether the current League government will take any responsibility for their kill crazy Commissar, though he usually manages to intimidate any real Orphean diplomats he comes across into giving money and arranging a meeting with local law enforcement and intelligence services.

Dr Laura Miles

Homeworld: Aquila/Aquila

Age 42

Str      9   +1

Dex    B  +1

End    2   -2

Int       8    +0

Edu    A   +1

SS      B  +1

Scholar/Physician

Terms 6 Rank 4

1 Made a breakthrough in gene therapy, +2 advancement

2 Attempted to fake a gene treatment on a rich client, lost advancement roll, 1 enemy

3 Advanced training course, but gained no skill

4 Did secret work in implant technology, gained Engineering (Electronics)

5 Did some dubious research into genetic engineering, gained in Genetics, Biology, gained a benefit roll, and 3 enemies

6 Got involved in a long drawn out legal case, gained Advocate 1

Benefits: 70 000Cr, Scientific Instruments, +3 Social

Skills

Animals 0

Carouse 0

Streetwise 0

Investigate 1

Life Science (Biology) 1

Comms 1

Computers 1

Diplomat 1

Engineer (Electronics) 1

Life Sciences (Zoology) 1

Advocate 1

Medic 3

Life Sciences (Genetics) 3

Assets

Mobile gene testing kit, heavy body pistol, Diplo vest (AP 3), Mutant ferret named Lulu, extensive wardrobe

Laura Miles is from the wealthy planet and sector capital Aquila. She started out well enough, finding a new surgical method for applying GM'd skin cells on burn patients, but fell into bad ways, joining Huntingdon Genetech, a private clinic that dabbled in some dodgy procedures for the right (rich) client. She faked a muscle boosting therapy for them injecting steroids, not gene modifying viroids and got caught out, earning her first enemy, a professional boxer on Aquila named Tessa MacGuire. Tessa was disqualified for drug use, but at least she kept the genetic treatment (even more illegal) quiet.

She briefly did a course in human genetic modification, but whole well educated she was no genius and gained little, except to restore her reputation somewhat. Laura worked on a modification that made nerve cells slightly easier to integrate into cyber-implants and then did an extensive project into using xeno-genes from certain alien life forms in human work. This skated so close to the edge of the law that she ended up spending years in court, and the enmity of the CEO of Huntingdon Genetech who she shopped as part of her defence, a Catholic Bishop who headed a campaign group against human gene mods and noted socialite and holo star Lucia Harley-Brown, one of whose children Laura had gene tweaked, which came out in the trial, much to her embarrassment.

She got off in the end, but finds herself cut off in mid career with no more wealthy private clients, no private clinic willing to take on a squealer and though there are some academic departments who would love to pick her brains, none that will give her so much as a lab assistant job. She loves the high life, and wears the most fashionable clothes she can afford that will still conceal the armoured Diplo vest she has taken to wearing, and she keeps a heavy body pistol in her designer handbag. She affects the manners and mannerisms of a B-list holo star, having hung out with (and treated) so many and been to so many fancy parties. People might find it hard to believe that this brassy, bossy, apparently shallow and ridiculously overdressed woman is in fact a real doctor and quite a talented surgeon.

She has a sizeable wad of cash put by and is now blasting through it wandering the space lanes looking for a suitably liberal and wealthy planet where she can set up shop. She had this lovely idea a few years back of creating and selling GM'd pets, mixing Earth species with some of the cuter xenofauna from the colony worlds. She has a prototype, Lulu, her ferret, which has attractive pink zebra stripes, whiskers fashioned after the irridescent antennae of a Aquilan Ground Moth and a long prehensile tail that mixes rat, spider monkey and Aquilan Jewelled Batsnake. It also has a concealed remote control explosive in its cranium and is trained to attack and hold onto a target on the word 'concatenation'. Lulu's sense of smell is extremely sensitive thanks to the moth antennae, and she can react badly to random odours, becoming happy or hostile almost at random, biting strangers or becoming besotted with them and biting them anyway. Laura is still working on a solution to this, and the intense ferret body odour, and in the meantime keeps spraying pricey French cologne at the poor beast. Well Lulu is only a prototype.

People of Known Space

A couple of guys who you might meet mooching round the Aquila Sector. I do like the events system in Mongoose Traveller character generation, certainly helps prompt the imagination.

Melchior Tzant

Homeworld: Epsilon/Neuland

Age 46

Str             3   -1

Dex           7     0

End           3     -1

Int              A    +1

Edu           6     0

SS            6      0

Drifter/Scavenger

Terms 2 Rank 0

Events: 1 Attacked by rival Belters, manage to avoid injury

           2 Severely injured – vacc suit blow out, suffered brain damage, lost 5 Dex, debt to hospital of 12 500Cr to get fixed.

Benefit: Contact - Knows a guy who drinks in Clive's Bar

Merchant/Free Trader

Terms 1 Rank 0

Events: 3 Bad deals force bankruptcy

Benefit: Ship Share - Managed to squirrel away a bit of stock under a false name

Drfiter/Wanderer

Terms 1 Rank 1

Events: 4 Forcibly drafted after some 'misunderstandings' on Aquila.

Benefit: Weapon: Got a Snub Revolver

Navy/Crew

Terms 3 Rank 1 Able Spacehand

Events: 5 Join a gambling circle on board ship. Lost a benefit roll.

6 Diplomatic Mission, got to wait on table. Gain Steward 1

7 Chance to abuse position for profit, gain one benefit roll. Got dishonourably discharged.

Benefit: 22 000 Cr and two ship shares.

Skills

Computer 0

Carousing 0

Art (Writer) 0

Pilot (Small Craft) 0

Zero G 0

Gun Combat (Zero G) 0

Deception 0

Streetwise 1

Astrogation 1

Vacc Suit 1

Pilot (Spacecraft) 1

Melee (Unarmed) 1

Gunner (Turrets) 1

Gambling 1

Steward 1

Mechanic 2

Languages: Neulander 5, English 3, French 3, Farsi 1

Assets:

Three shares in the Bloody Poppet, 9500 Cr, Snub Revolver with ID lock, wristputer (Computer/1), dog eared copy of the poems of Arthur Rimbaud, silver hip flask of something very alcoholic, knuckleduster, leather jacket that makes him look like James Dean' s grandad, extremely rank Merovin Navy Vacc Suit and Body Pressure Sleeve

Life story:

In his youth he worked as a belt miner in the notoriously rough system of Clive's Bar (or Harrison Drift as it was then), got into a few fights with rival belter crews. He ended up getting a blown vacc suit on EVA, and suffered brain damage from sucking vacuum too long. Got a job on a Free Trader, but the firm went bust, but left him 'looking after' a share in a ship as his boss dispersed what assets he could before the receiver got his claws on the accounts. Hit the bars on various worlds for few years after failing to get a job back home on Epsilon, got into a few fights, ended up in Merovin on Aquila facing either a jail term for various crimes or joining the Navy. Did twelve years, regretted not taking the jail term, and reached the dizzy heights of Able Spacehand in the Merovin Navy. Got some cash and came into two more shares in a free trader in return for selling Merovinese Naval supplies on the black market. Currently supercargo and odd job man on the Bloody Poppet.

Suffers mood swings and says he has mild Tourette's syndrome, knows many traditional bawdy songs in French and punk rock ditties in Neulander Baltic slang, has a taste for ultra-cheap French Navy-grade plonk, Neuland schnapps and a 'digestif' of Latvian origin called 'Black Balzam' which makes Jaegermeister look like Lucozade. Thinks he can play a mean hand of Texas Hold 'Em. He is pretty good with a spanner when you can tear him away from dictating his Bukowski-like memoirs into his wristputer in a drunken polyglot slur. When really sozzled he will weep about the gorgeous Persian lass he knew in the Eagle Caliphate, whose father tried to shoot him, and whose mother actually hit (fortunately only with buckshot, but it was in his bottle-clutching hand).

Goofy 'Eddie' McKinley

Homeworld: Kanaloa/Disneyland

Age 32

Str      8    +0

Dex    7    +0

End    7    +0

Int       5     -1

Edu    9    +1

SS     A    +1

Noble/Administrator

Terms 2 Rank 2 Clerk

Events: 1 His command of the sub-sub-department of merchandising in charge of Mickey Mouse Ear production is wise and just. Gain one enemy, a sacked employee who ran off to Free Kanaloa to become a Kahuna so he could curse him in the name of the Loa.

2 Tried to oust the Minister of Finance for Easter (Bunny) Island and nearly got buried under a concrete Moai shaped like Goofy's head for his troubles. Gained Deception 1, Streetwise 1 and gained a contact in the upper Disneyland management, but forced to leave his position with the company.

Benefits: one ship share, 60 000Cr

Merchant/Broker

Terms 2 Rank 1

Events: 3 Gain Social Science (Anthropology) 1 from dealing and trading with the neo- Polynesian tribes and other oddbods of Kanaloa

4 Disneyland trade restrictions forced Eddie out of business and to relocate to another world

Benefits: +1 Int, 40 000 Cr, Free Trader

Skills

Carouse 0

Flyer (Grav) 0

Athletics (Endurance) 0

Comms 0

Diplomat 0

Investigate 0

Advocate 1

Persuade 1

Broker 1

Deception 1

Streetwise 1

Social Science (Anthropology) 1

Admin 2

Languages: English 5, Italian 1, Chinese 1, Hawaiian 2

100, 000 credits, 6 shares in the Bloody Poppet, surfboard, Light Autopistol, Hawaiian print 'Protec' shirt

Life story:

Born into one of the founding families of the Disney corporation colony on Kanaloa, Goofy McKinley pretty much walked into a job in the lower echelons of the company/government and did well for himself. He did make a bit of nause-up of a boardroom takeover of one of the other business units though, and Finance Director Minnie Huntley had to be seriously persuaded that if the fact she'd buried her business rivals alive under fake south seas idols got out it would probably put the tourists off. Still, Goofy had to clear his desk and become a mere subcontractor to a footling franchise of the mighty corporation that he was born into.

Goofy began buying and selling 'ethnic' knick knacks from Free Kanaloa to offworld merchants; carved coconuts, canoe paddles, shrunken heads, that kind of thing, and changed his name to Eddie when he realised the name 'Goofy' didn't have quite the same social cachet and respectability in the ears of off-worlders. Finally Disneyland authorities realised the Free Kanaloans were becoming a real threat to profits and closed down Eddie's Tiki-bar supplies company. He has bought into one of the firms that he used to trade quasi-Polynesian tat with and now owns six shares in the Bloody Poppet, and is looking for a world he can set up an office base and cargo brokerage on.

He is an irrepressibly cheerful, squat, suntanned goitre of a man permanently clad in the traditional Kanaloan Hawaiian shirt (though the sandals, Bermuda shorts and Mickey Mouse ears are proving a bit impractical as he mooches round a cold and wet galaxy looking for a good rental deal on a 500sq foot serviced office space). He still thinks of grass skirts and leis as formal wear though, which can cause misunderstandings. He does love his corporate catchphrases, and what with the 'inspirational' quotes from Walt Disney, Sun Tsu, Mussolini and Scrooge McDuck (all done 'in voice'), he can be utterly incomprehensible at times. Still, you don't get an Employee of the Week award from DisneyCorp for nothing, the guy obviously knows his way round a spreadsheet and a tax return and is probably too dumb to be too dishonest.

What is in your Ship's Locker?

In every Traveller starship is the famous Ship's Locker, a cornucopia of emergency equipment regularly used and abused by players to make up for lack of forethought when purchasing miscellaneous equipment. 

It ought to be there, from a 'simulationist' POV a starship is going to have a room full of emergency gear and from a game POV given the incredible variety of possible challenges a GM can throw at the players at the drop of a hat it seems fair to have some kind of system to cope other than buy one of every single item in the game universe and write it on their character sheet.

Ship's Locker

Any vessel is automatically assumed to have one, no tonnage need be assigned for a crew and passenger total of up to 20, 0.5 ton for 21-40 people and 0.5 ton per 20 people thereafter.

Option 1

Players always have the option of going through in detail and itemising every widget and doodad

Option 2

Assign a budget and take off the cost of each item when it gets rolled up. This budget may be added to the cost of their starship and paid off as part of their installment plan. As a rule of thumb, well equipped starships will have 6000Cr per crewman and 2000Cr per passenger, typical ones have 4000 and 1500, poorly equipped ones 2000 and 500Cr. How often inspectors come round and give the captain a wigging for not having enough tent peg mallets is up to the Evil GM.

Option 3

As above, but 750Cr gets you one roll for one item on one of the tables below. If the price of the gear is under 750Cr then tough, it will cancel out the times you get a good deal, or blame the captain for being a mug and buying a job lot of alleged 'survival gear' out the back of Honest Ernies Tramp Trader without looking in the carrier bags. Minimum spend is 3750 per 100 tons of ship.

Option 4

A combination of the methods above, some detailed by players, a budget to cover the rest and maybe a pot luck of random crap with the spare change.

Numbers of each item

Ship's Lockers are not legally required to cover all of the personnel on a ship. Low passengers are often left out of any calculation as they usually die if the ship gets into any serious power plant trouble and unions might demand owners have enough gear for every crew member but they don't always get. Assign a C and P number to your ships locker depending on how much you are willing to spend.

If you taking option 3 you get one of each item, but have the option of spending other rolls on multiples up to the maximum given – eg Bert has rioting passengers running wild all over B deck and dives into the Ship's Locker looking for a weapon. His vessel has 10 rolls left for the locker. He gets 9 – shock baton and riot shield, just what he wanted... he spends another two rolls so as to have a set of three (his ship has six crew so he could have had up to six) and passes them out to Sid and Jeff. So the whiny bastards thought the profiteroles weren't defrosted properly did they?

Each locker must contain at least one item from each table. Roll 1d8 if the TL of your ship is 9 or below, 1d10 if it is 10-11, 1d12 if it is 12-13. Add your own TL 15 gear, don't have any in my campaign. All gear can be found in Supplement 4: Central Supply Catalogue

Weaponry

Roll		No#	Cr/item
1	Swiss army knives (20% have widget for getting stones out of horses' hooves)	C	5
2	Hatchet	C/2	25
3	Survival Knife (With bayonet fitting for survival rifles)	C	10
4	Machete	C/2	100
5	9mm Autopistol + 2 mags	C	220
6	Survival Rifle + 25 rounds each for rifle and shotgun	C	100
7	Varmint Rifle + 60 rounds	C/2	300
8	Snub Derringer +10 rounds ball, 10 rounds HEAP	C/2	145
9	Shock Baton and riot shield set	C	400
10	Boarding Shields	C/2	150
11	Accelerator Carbine + 5 mags	C/2	800
12	Laser Carbine + power pack	C/2	3500

Clothing and Vacuum Gear

Roll		No#	Cr/item
1	Cold weather clothing	C+P	200
2	Filter Mask and Goggles	C+P	30
3	Environment Mask	C+P	50
4	Environment Suit	C+P	500
5	NBC Suit	C/2	250
6	Desert Suit	C+P	1000
7	Life-Support Mask	C	1000
8	Rescue Ball	C+P	150
9	Vacc Suit Emergency kits	C	500
10	Rescue Bubble	C+P	600
11	Thrust Pistol	C	1000
12	Emergency Softsuit	C+P	2000

Survival kit

Roll		No#	Cr/item
1	Ice Terrain Kit, Snowshoes, Backpack	C	125
2	Desert Kit	C	75
3	Parachute	C+P	250
4	Flare launcher and 20 flares	C/2	125
5	Pressure Tent+2 Sleeping Bags	C/2 + P/2	2000
6	Microturbine, + 100 litres of hyrdocarbon fuel (includes (C+P)/2 camp stoves, lamps etc)	(C+P)/20	1200
7	Reflector Tarps	C+P	400
8	Emergency Beacon (comes with (C+P) number of TL 8 rescue transponders at 50Cr ea.)	(C+P)/50	750
9	Inertial Locator	C/2	1200
10	100m cargo cable, small hand cranked winch	C+P/ 20	1200
11	Grav Parachute	C+P	2500
12	Protein Tap	C+P/5	1000

All ship's lockers will have 1 week of emergency rations per crew and extra at 25Cr per pack each passenger.

Medical and Rescue

1	Medikit (TL8)	C/5	1000
2	Antirad drugs	C/2	1000
3	2x Spray-on Bandage + clotting aid drugs	C/2	300
4	Field surgery kit + instruction book	C/50	1000
5	Imp. Purification tabs x 100	C+P	150
6	Water Distillation kit, 1 month use	(C+P)/4	100
7	Rescue Toolkit	C/10	2000
8	Laser cutting gear and portable airlock	C/20	5000
9	Medikit (TL 10) + Trauma Pack	C/5	3000
10	Emergency Radiation Applicator	C	250
11	Solar Vaporator	(C+P)/4	1250
12	Five dose pack of Fast Drug	C	1000

What Looked Like a Good Idea at the Time, Was Left Unattended at the Starport, or Was Left Behind By Previous Captain

1	Marine Cutlass	C	100
2	Electric Stun Pistol (Taser)	C/2	300
3	Handheld Geiger Counter	C/2	250
4	Oxy-Acetylene Cutting Torch	C/2	500
5	Big box of 50 rolls of duct tape and/or wonderglue	C/5	250
6	Squirrel Suit	C/2	400
7	Spare manual Iris Valve opener	C/5	2000
8	Advanced Climbing Kit	C/2	500
9	Cold Light Lantern	C	20
10	Pressurised Survival Raft with inflater and paddles	C/5	500
11	Motion sensor (in a box marked 'Ppen in case of Aliens)	C/2	1000
12	Biohazard Alarm	C/2	1000

Does it work?

I imagine stocktaking the Ship's Locker to be one of those dull as ditchwater jobs that gets continually put off, and is given to the most junior and/or least liked crewman. We will assume it gets done with routine maintenance. Roll 2d6 per item when used and on a 12+ it is broken, out of date, batteries are flat etc, +1 per month maintenance has been skimped or skipped.