1890s Investigator: Naval Lieutenant

[Vynticator]

Here's my draft of a character I am planning to play in an 1890s setting Investigators/Cthulhu type campaign. I'd appreciate any thoughts people have on fleshing this guy out in a *fairly* historically plausible way; if I've missed any skills etc. Bearing in mind it's a game with 240 points, so it is not gritty realism but no super powers or exotics or cinematics.

Background: British Naval Lieutenant, age 22, stationed in the South China area. Born and educated in England, joined the Navy at 14. Spends his time split about evenly between interdicting piracy and smuggling at sea, and engaging in diplomatic endeavours for Her Majesty's Government.

ST11 DX14 IQ12 HT10
Code of Honour, Duty, Curious, Honest, Quirks (-35)
Appearance (Handsome), Cultural Familiarity (Far East), Fit, Languages: Greek, Latin, Mandarin, Cantonese, Patron (Navy), Penetrating Voice, Military Rank 3, Status 5, Sure Footed (Naval), Style Familiarity (Wing Chun), Talker 3, Voice, Wealthy, Weapon Bond (Cutlass) [108]

Admin -12; Area Knowledge (China Seas)-12; Boating (Sailboat and Unpowered) -13; Carousing-10; Criminology (Triads)-11; Diplomacy-15; Dancing -13; Detect Lies -13; Fast Talk -16; Gun (pistol)-14; Intelligence Analysis -10; Karate -13; Knot Tying - 14; Leadership-14; Navigation (Sea) - 11; Observation -11; Riding - 13; Savoir-Faire (Military; High Society) -15; Seamanship -12; Shiphandling-12; Shortsword -15; Singing -12; Soldier -11; Sports (Cricket)-13; Strategy (Naval)-10; Swimming -10; Wrestling -13; Writing-11

Any thoughts very gratefully received!

[The Colonel]

Might want some Gunner (Naval Ordnance) and/or general mathematics - the RN made quite a fetish of gunnery (in theory at least, we found out at Jutland that theory and practice weren't the same thing). Rifle and/or shotgun might also be useful for an English gentleman of the period and maybe something to do with cyphers - at the very least he would need to be able to read morse and interpret coded naval flag hoists.

[weby]

At status 5 you are a greater noble likely, most of those families were gross bred with the other high European aristocracy and you home language might not even be English!, but in any case knowing German and/or French is very likely, with lesser probability of the other languages.


I would definitely take:
Climbing

Possible skills missing: (None of these is necessarily critical, but a list to think about)
Search
Streetwise
Throwing

[chimchim]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Might want some Gunner (Naval Ordnance) and/or general mathematics - the RN made quite a fetish of gunnery (in theory at least, we found out at Jutland that theory and practice weren't the same thing). Rifle and/or shotgun might also be useful for an English gentleman of the period and maybe something to do with cyphers - at the very least he would need to be able to read morse and interpret coded naval flag hoists.

You may have the gunnery thing the wrong way round lol. The victorian navy objected to gunnery practice on the grounds it ruined the brightwork on the ships.

Nb british gunnery at jutland was fine ranging techniques on the other hand..... but thats a different thread.

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by chimchim

You may have the gunnery thing the wrong way round lol. The victorian navy objected to gunnery practice on the grounds it ruined the brightwork on the ships.

Nb british gunnery at jutland was fine ranging techniques on the other hand..... but thats a different thread.

That's what I meant about the theory - they were top notch on ballistics and suchlike but very rarely fired the wretched things.

I missed the alarming high status - yes, we're probably talking a peer of the realm at that status, which might explain a diplomatic role, but might make any clandestine activity a little tricky. Might want to add "Heir" to that status - the British aristocracy is actually very small compared to many historical European examples. Native language will almost certainly be English, especially in the High Victorian Era but yes, other European languages, especially French might be expected and Latin and Greek were a big part of education at the time (although he might have avoided this by being packed off to the far more practically inclined decks* of Dartmouth at 14).

*...they had no halls. The place was literally aboard a ship until 1902.

[jason taylor]

Tactics(guerilla) would be a good bet. The Victorian navy spent most of it's time as a gold-plated coast guard, doing small wars, pirate hunting, slaver chasing and operations-other-than. Much of it would be on land as the Victorian navy often made landing parties. Survival skills would be appropriate.

Some skills appropriate to rescue work, charting, and so on would fit the normal missions of the Victorian navy.


Quirk: Hates slavers

This is a very palatable quirk by modern standards but it is plausible in a Victorian character and would go over quite well in polite circles of the time if he did not dominate the conversation with it.

Quirk: romanticizes natives.

This is also a plausible quirk and if it is a kind of prejudice it is easier to stomach then the more straightforward type found in some circles.

Wing Chun would probably go with Unusual Background; probably not many Victorian officers would have been familiar with oriental styles of unarmed combat, though a Shanghai or Hong Kong cop might have a rough and ready familiarity.

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

That's what I meant about the theory - they were top notch on ballistics and suchlike but very rarely fired the wretched things.

I missed the alarming high status - yes, we're probably talking a peer of the realm at that status, which might explain a diplomatic role, but might make any clandestine activity a little tricky. Might want to add "Heir" to that status - the British aristocracy is actually very small compared to many historical European examples. Native language will almost certainly be English, especially in the High Victorian Era but yes, other European languages, especially French might be expected and Latin and Greek were a big part of education at the time (although he might have avoided this by being packed off to the far more practically inclined decks* of Dartmouth at 14).

*...they had no halls. The place was literally aboard a ship until 1902.

It was not unknown for people of high status to go spying in border regions.

[thrash]

Originally Posted by jason taylor

Wing Chun would probably go with Unusual Background; probably not many Victorian officers would have been familiar with oriental styles of unarmed combat, though a Shanghai or Hong Kong cop might have a rough and ready familiarity.

Or substitute Bartitsu for that Arthur Conan Doyle flavor.

[jason taylor]

The South China area is a good place in many ways as the Malay Islands were a notorious hangout for pirates.

He might also have some familiarity with Chinese rivers. As China was collapsing through domestic and foreign strains, it's inland waters were often patrolled by foreigners. These both will give him experience in the intrigues and wars of various factions.

[Phantasm]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

maybe something to do with cyphers - at the very least he would need to be able to read morse and interpret coded naval flag hoists.

Pretty sure the latter of that covered by his Seamanship skill, and Morse Code would probably be a Perk (One-Way Literacy: Understands Morse Code?). Code-breaking, however, would be Cryptography, which I can see for someone working for Her Majesty's Naval Intelligence.