[Agemegos]

Assigning the character parts was, as you will understand, complicated. I had to pass up on some of the best character suggestions because I needed the player elsewhere. Even so, I'm going to have to shove some concepts around, ask some players to play others' suggestions, etc. I'm sorry, but that sort of thing is inevitable: you wouldn't necessarily have got your favourite characters in through an open scramble either.

This remains a suggestion, a starting-point. I'm certainly open to discussion of this assignment and of the character concepts within it. The character thumbnails below certainly need adjusting to fit, and sir_pudding has some choices to make.

Cast List Suggestion #1

• jmurrell plays the Captain, the Counsellor, a quasi-rabbinical memeticist who doubles as morale officer, and a Very Young Marine named "'Bear' Karapyetchencko".
• Luke Bunyip plays the First Lieutenant, the Ambassador, an argumentative ecologist, and a marines commando to be specified.
• martinl plays the astrogator (or maybe astronomy officer), the Ambassador's aide, the Dean of Survey, and a marines commando to be specified.
• sir_pudding plays the Chief Engineer, the Press Secretary, the Military Intelligence Officer, the Marines commando section leader, and maybe a meteorologist/extreme sports fanatic.

Dramatis Personae

• NAVY
  
  • The Captain

    Name: Capt. Alastair Kemp-Ellis
    Origin: his family were Mayflower Space Navy when Tom Eichberger was an entrepreneur with bad business ethics.
    Elevator pitch: Reserved, undemonstrative, professorial, "British" officer.
    Thumbnail sketch: Stiff upper lip and master of understatement. Fences sabre, plays the violin. Fanatical Imperial, saw horrible events during Formation wars. Manners of a college professor usually (and sees teaching/mentoring as an important part of his leadership); icily sarcastic when annoyed with someone who deserves it. Will listen to subordinates' input until he makes a decision. Scarily cold and controlled in a crisis, will make Kobayashi’s Choice if he must.
    Player: jmurrell

  • The First Lieutenant

    Name: Cmdr ???
    Origin: Foundation Starships and Space Stations
    Elevator pitch: James Cook meets Jonathan Archer
    Thumbnail sketch: Formerly master of an Imperial Spaceways tramp merchant, ??? is a very able navigator and shiphandler, has experience of dealing with colonials on backward planets, and once managed to repair his ship and get home after a debris strike crippled it, from a system where the world was TL3. If he were real Navy he'd be commanding one of these missions. ??? considers the safety of the ship to be the absolute first priority, the sine qua non for accomplishing anything else, and whatever he will get his crew safely home.
    Player: Luke Bunyip

  • The Chief Engineer

    Name: Lt-Cmdr. Tomiko Eichberger. Yes, that's right, "Eichberger".
    Origin: Foundation Starships and Space Stations
    Elevator pitch: The heiress unsure of the legacy.
    Thumbnail sketch: Great-grand-daughter of the most famous engineer ever. It runs in the family. But she's not at all certain about the direction her grandmother (Laura) took the political legacy, and found the politics uncomfortable. She's on a Survey mission to escape.
    Player: sir_pudding

  • The Astrogator

    Name: Lt. Leah Brohn
    Origin: IDJ
    Elevator pitch: farmed-fur astrogator
    Thumbnail sketch: Idealistic in all things. Brilliant at her specialty, and strong in math and physics. Does not understand why the existing colonies contest with the obviously-benevolent Empire. Despite academically knowing the explored colonies won’t welcome the expedition with flowers and tasty cakes of welcome, she still expects something like that internally.
    Player: martinl

• IMPERIAL OFFICE
  
  • The Ambassador

    Name:
    Origin: Foundation Ships and Stations (pre-mink)
    Elevator pitch: Not a politician. A negotiator.
    Thumbnail sketch: Learned s/his negotiation skills not by working up through the diplomatic service, but working for Universal Import/Export. Count your fingers after you shake hands. This ambassador is very much aware that an important goal of this scouting mission is to find opportunities for lucrative trade and to make sure that they are available when the freighters come. And though he's absolutely scrupulous about his fiduciary duties, he sees no problem in benefiting personally from opportunities that don't interfere with his work. Besides, sometimes its advantageous to seem mercenary.
    Player: Luke Bunyip

  • The Counsellor

    Name:
    Origin:
    Elevator pitch: The sympathetic cynic
    Thumbnail sketch: A highly principled lawyer and loyal friend, but he always expects the worst of humanity ("at least this way I'm never unpleasantly surprised"). Voted "most likely to show up with half a litre of Scotch and a sympathetic ear after Life has screwed you rotten". Imagine "Bones" McCoy were a lawyer and not a doctor.
    Player: jmurrell

  • The Press Secretary

    Name: Specialist Ada Solaris 496
    Origin: Simanta
    Elevator pitch: The perfect parahuman propagandist, quietly fleeing utopia
    Thumbnail sketch: Designed from the genes out and trained from decanting on to work in the propaganda machine of Simanta, Ada possesses all the qualities of a perfect Press Secretary. Perhaps her fleeing the Social Organism to work for the Empire wasn't quite unplanned….
    Player: sir_pudding

  • The Ambassador's 'aide'

    Name: Ontego Angillos
    Origin: Todos Santos
    Elevator pitch: A Todos Santos… goon?
    Thumbnail sketch: A large, blocky man who looks like a Mafia goon, he is normally strangely inconspicuous but he can loom impressively when he needs to. His mind was crafted by the dark arts of Todos Santos to be the perfect bodyguard, and in his spare time he… plays bizarre, disturbing VR games and is writing an "heroic romance" fanfic?
    Player: martinl