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.