Orichalcum Universe: Characters and NPCs...

[Johnny1A.2]

For the sake of those who were/are interested, I've been reposting some of
the stuff for my 'Orichalcum Universe' world. Since there's so much of it,
I've been trying to keep in contained to a handful of threads. Still, putting
all the ‘sidebar’ stuff in the ‘Basics’ thread is making it confusing and hard
to sort through, too. So I've created a few threads to organize certain categories
of things together, this one is for characters and NPCs, for people (of various
sorts) in specific and in general.


For more about the whole Orichalcum Universe, check out:

Orichaclum Universe: The Basics
----------------------------------------------------------------------

[Johnny1A.2]

A TYPICAL ATLANTEAN OF THE GOLDEN AGE OF ATLANTIS

The Atlanteans reached a plateau of personal power and ability during the
‘Golden Age’ period of their history. (This neglects the effect of Matrix/Flux
power, about which more later). Though their technology continued to
advance, their knowledge and social power increased, but the long, slow,
and steady increase in personal ability leveled off during this period.


IQ DX ST HT
11 10 11 11

(The high IQ, ST, and HT are the result of thousands of years of not
entirely intentional selective breeding. Atlantean culture put a very high
premium on intelligence, especially in light of their psionic powers. The
Atlantean culture also put a premium on physical conditioning and skill.)

Most Atlanteans have the following Advantages:

Alertness (1)
Attractive Appearance*
Autotrance
Danger Sense
Disease-resistance
Empathy
Fit
Less Sleep (1)
Literacy

Plus an additional thirty points of other general Advantages.

* This is relative to the general population of the Earth during this time
period, what was considered ‘average’ appearance on the Great Isle
was one level higher by world standards, generally speaking.

Additionally, certain physical and mental Disadvantages were less common
among the Atlanteans than the general populace, partly due to their ancestry
and partly due to the use of psionic techniques such as metabolism control
at such an automatic level as to be part of the societal background. Also, the
Atlantean society trained its members in techniques and mental disciplines
that made certain mental Disadvantages unusual.

The following Disadvantages are rare among Atlanteans:

Absent-mindedness
All Phobias are possible, but Will rolls to resist are at +2
Berserk
Delusions at Severe or higher level
Epilepsy
Fat
Skinny

However, most Atlanteans did suffer from a Disadvantage unique to them:
Isolation Syndrome. This resulted from deprivation of the constant psychic
connection with other minds that permeated their culture. It is recommended
to be worth about -25 points.

Most Atlanteans suffer from -1d/2, rounding down and minimum 1, from IQ
when cut off from mental contact with other Atlanteans for more than 1d days.
Additionally, such a character suffers from the Poor Sleep and general anxiety
and discomfort. Normally Quirk-level phobias and fixations may temporarily
become full-blown Phobias and Obsessions. In some cases the effects can be
much more extreme and continue indefinitely. The effect vanishes upon
restoration of contact, it fades away after 1d years of experience with ‘aloneness’.

All effects can be set aside _temporarily_ with a Will roll (roll against the
normal IQ+Strong Will/-Weak Will for this), this will free the character from
the effects for one day. A new roll must be attempted each day to resist, at -1
for each successive day with successful rolls, or -3 after a failed attempt the
day before.

Almost all Atlanteans have access to significant psionic Power, and a
variety of psionic skills to go with the Power. A typical Atlantean of
this age would have the following Powers:

Antipsi 1d+6
Biopsionics 1d+6
ESP 1d+10
Psychokinesis 1d+6
Telepathy 1d+10
Teleportation 1d-3 (minimum 1)


*Teleportation was the weakest psionic Power even among the ancient
Atlanteans, as a rule.

The psionic Power of an average Atlantean ranged from ~200-~300
points. Each skill would be linked to about ten-twenty points of psionic skills,
varying in detail. Assume at minimum that all Atlanteans have
Telescan, Telesend, Telereceive, Telekinesis, Levitation, Cryokinesis,
Pyrokinesis, Clairvoyance, Mind Shield, all at least at IQ. Most Atlanteans
will have more skills than that.

Atlantean culture strongly emphasized education and literacy, study and
self-discipline. Both physical and mental accomplishment were highly
regarded, and during this period if was a point of cultural pride among the
Atlanteans that even the equivalent of manual laborers had extensive and
broadly-based education in many subjects, with an emphasis on practical
skills. Childhood in Atlantis during this period was an intense time, but
the regimen did produce results, in that an average Atlantean on the streets
had a point value in the range of 275-350 points, counting the psionic
Powers and associated skills.

(Outside the Atlantean race, the typical H. sapiens of the age was more
of a standard 20-30 point character.)

Note that the occasional, very rare Atlantean was born with no psionic
Power at all, all abilities were totally latent. This was a very large social
and physical Disadvantage in Atlantean society, the victim suffered from
social discrimination as well as the direct consequences of the lack, and
opportunities for economic, political, and romantic advancement were
greatly limited by it. This ‘Mindblind’ Disad was worth -150 points in
Atlantean settings (and worthless outside them, since in most Homosapient
societies it is the default state).

(Families known to produce Mindblind children also suffered from social
penalties and other nasty problems, which sometimes led to nasty actions.)

[Johnny1A.2]

ARADEL'S PALADINS
---------------------------

The individuals who would become known, eventually, as the 'Paladins'
of the Avatar Aradel are a group of highly capable, highly skilled
individuals, almost entirely of Cyllellian extraction, of the human
subspecies H. sapiens atlanticus. She first organized this group in
the year 953 A.D. by the Gregorian Calendar, with the permission of
the ruler of Cyllellia, Zadatharion, for the purpose of serving her
interests in the outside world. The Paladins are personally loyal to
Aradel, answerable to her personally in both a legal and social sense,
though the overriding authority of Zadatharion remains in place even
among them. [1]

At no point in the history of the group have they been particularly
numerous, for a number of reasons. The Paladins, at their largest,
numbered no more than fifty or so, and often there were no more than
ten to twenty. This is partly a matter of policy, and partly due to the
high qualifications and effort necessary to become a Paladin, a
candidate must be both very capable, mentally and physically,
psychologically suited to the work, and highly motivated to master a
number of difficult skills and disciplines. Further, they must be
prepared to accept quite strict codes of conduct that apply to a
number of different aspects of their lives.

Aradel, as an Avatar possessed of thousands of years of knowledge and
experience, can and does provide specialized training to her Paladins,
in both the use of their own psionic abilities, their physical and
mental skills, and in their esoteric knowledge. Even by the standards
of the Cyllellians, the Paladins are highly knowledgeable in a number
of obscure fields of study.

Generally speaking, along with their specialties, the Paladins are broadly
educated, trained with the goal of creating a ‘jack of all trades’ able to be
useful and effective in a variety of situations. The details of this training
have changed with the passage of time, of course. The Paladins of the
Twelfth Century, for ex, did not train in electronics and nucleonics (as
should be obvious), but they knew a great deal about the technologies of
the time. Paladins in the Twentieth Century, in contrast, knew less about
Medieval farming and warfare and more about how to operate a variety of
vehicles and repair advanced machinery.

Given the very long lifespans of atlanticus humans, both natural and
psionically enhanced, it is quite possible for the mortal Cyllellians to
accumulate enormous amounts of knowledge. The Paladins, being highly
motivated and with access to unusual sources, show this tendency to an
even greater degree. Aradel encourages, and expects, her Paladins to
continue learning throughout their careers, and rewards such learning with
status and wealth, as well as recognition, which is a prime motivator for the
sort of psychology that makes an effective Paladin.

At times, Paladins have a high mortality rate. Those who do survive long
enough to ‘retire’ usually do so in Cyllellia, where they carry enormous
honor among the Avatar-centered culture of the descendents of the
Atlanteans. Some family lines in Cyllellia have a tradition of service to
one or another of the immortal Avatars who rule the Archipelago, and this
includes the Paladins of Aradel. [2]

A few, a very few, of the Paladins ‘retire’ from her service in the
outside world, which under their code requires her specific consent.
This is not always granted, the circumstances determine the case.
There are a number of reasons why consent might be denied even when
the request is made, some of them involving the well-being of
outsiders, some involving rules laid down by Zadatharion, some detail-
contingent.

Paladins are permitted to marry, with the consent of Aradel, and in fact
most do so, though it usually comes later in life (there are actually very
few female Paladins, and the fertile period lasts longer in atlanticus
humans than it does in sapiens sapiens humans). Usually, marriage
comes when a Paladin is ready to retire to Cyllellia, though this is not an
iron rule. In a handful of cases, Paladins have married outsiders, but this
is genuinely rare and permission is by no means guaranteed. [3]

MORE LATER.


[1]The word 'paladin' is obviously not the native word, it is an
English approximation, though many of the connotations are different.

[2] Not all of Aradel’s Cyllellian servants are Paladins, however.

[3] Ironically, in the late Twentieth Century, Aradel herself would
marry a mortal from the outside world.

[Johnny1A.2]

LATER.

In GURPS (modified 3e) terms, all Paladins must meet the following requirements:

MINIMUM ATTRIBUTES:
IQ 13
DX 13
ST 13
HT 13

The candidate must possess all six standard psionic Powers at the
following minimums:

ANTISPI Power 10
BIOPSIONICS Power 10
ESP 15
PSYCHOKINESIS 13
TELEPATHY 15
TELEPORTATION 2

(Note: While strength at this level or higher in any given Power is
not unusual in atlanticus humans, having all six Powers at those
minimums or higher is quite unusual.)

The candidate must master a number of psionic skills to go with the
powers, to a minimum of skill level 12:

Autoteleport
Clairaudience
Clairvoyance
Cryokinesis
Healing
Metabolism Control
Metashield
Perceive Aura
PK Blast
Psi Sense
Pyrokinesis
Telekinesis
Telereceive
Telescan
Telesend

The candidate can not suffer from a significant physical disadvantage (in
GURPS terms, anything over -5 points after whatever compensation is
available is used) without a special dispensation, which would only be
granted in very unusual circumstances. (For ex, a candidate who
was otherwise very desirable, for whatever reason, might get a
waiver on a manageable physical Disad, but that would be very unusual.)

(Some common sense should apply. For ex, color-blindness might not
disqualify an otherwise suitible candidate, where extreme uncorrectable
nearsightedness would.)

Along with the above, all Paladins must master at least 75 points
worth of ‘mundane’ skills relevant to such things as Thief/Spy, Combat
and Weapons, and Social skills, including mastering at least three
‘outsider’ languages to full fluency.

In light of this, it can clearly be seen that any of Aradel’s Paladins is going
to be a high-point character, even allowing for the various limits and enemies
they suffer from. A really experienced, motivated Paladin can at times reach
the range of 450-500 points of power and skill.

[Johnny1A.2]

HENRY SHERIDAN McCORD
a.ka. ‘The Collector’, ‘Iron Henry’.

CHARACTER SHEET CIRCA ~1926
NICKNAME: ‘The Collector’

BORN: October 12 1870
HAIR: Gray
EYES: Brown
HEIGHT: 5’11”

IQ: 13
DX: 10
ST: 12
HT: 9

APPEARANCE: Average
WEALTH: Filthy Rich
REPUTATION: successful businessman (to most), greedy capitalist exploiter (to some), obsessive collector of esoteric items (to a few)

ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES
Alertness 1
Charisma 1
Common Sense
Strong Will 1
Ally (‘James Davis’, almost all the time, very capable)
Ally Group (Personal ‘operatives, 10 men, almost all the time, capable)
Favors/Contacts (multiple, from many people) (about 50 points worth)
Bad Back (lesser)
Bad Sight (nearsighted, correctable with glasses)
Code of Honor: (personal hybrid, businessman/pirate)*
Greed
Intolerance (1/2) (unionists, socialists, most academics, pacifists, social democrats, free marketers)
Agoraphobic (minor)
Stubborn
Enemies (many, some secret, some very capable) (about 75 points worth)
Secrets (illegal actions during career, affairs, some ‘esoteric’ secrets) (about 50 points worth)

QUIRKS
1. Night owl, prefers to sleep by day.
2. Always carries a hidden knife.
3. Refuses to travel by plane (or other means of flight).
4. Keeps emergency reserves of cash hidden in various places.
5. Sleeps in hidden bedroom (concealed door) in mansion.

SKILLS:
Animal Handling 12
Riding (Horse) 10
Teamster 12
Swimming 10
Writing 13
Brawling 12
Gun (TL6) 10
Knife 10
Accounting 14
Administration 14
Fast-talk 13
Merchant 14
Savoir-faire 12
Detect Lies 13
Streetwise 13

AREA KNOWLEDGES
New York City 14
New York State 10
Brent, KS 12

HIDDEN LORES
Atlantis and the Antediluvian Age and Antediluvian Artifacts: 8
Organized Crime (NYC area): 11
Bootleg Alcohol Business: 11
Social and Business Secrets (NYC community) 12

Henry Sheridan McCord was born on October 12th, 1870, on a farm outside the small town of Brent, Kansas. His parents named him after his maternal grandfather and also general Phil Sheridan, under whom his father had served during the American Civil War. He grew up on a cattle farm, learned to ride a horse at the age of six, learned to use a gun by the age of nine, and developed a reputation as something of a local
‘hellion’ by the time he was fourteen.

At the age of sixteen, he left Brent after the death of an acquaintance of his own age, supposedly as a result of a misfired accident with his own gun. Suspicion fell on McCord, though there was no proof of anything untoward, in part because of the locally well-known fact that both young men were courting the same girl at the time. McCord stoutly denied any involvement, but left his home town shortly afterward.

(In actual fact, McCord had been involved, though the death was accidental. The two young men, as well as some of the other local teens, had been out riding, and an argument had broken out while McCord and his rival were out of sight. A scuffle ensued, and in the struggle the gun of the other young man discharged, killing him. McCord was horrified, but the circumstances and his quick mind enabled him to make the matter look like an ‘ordinary’ accident with no involvement on his part.)

McCord joined the U.S. Army (at the age of 16), and spent the next seven years in the military, much of it assigned to the western frontier. He took some limited part in the last stages of the Indian Wars, and he also discovered that with cleverness and care it was quite possible to ‘supplement’ his pay by various means, some of them even entirely above board, many of them shadier. When he left the Army in 1893, he traveled (on a whim) to New York City, and there, over the course of ten years, he went from near-penury to success in three different business ventures.

By the time McCord was forty years old, in 1910, he was a millionaire several times over.

To Be Continued...

[Johnny1A.2]

Continued...

McCord was a skilled businessman, a good judge of people, and a perceptive, intelligent man, and he used all these assets in accumulating his fortune. He was already wealthy when he began investing heavily, and very successfully, in Texas and Oklahoma oil, just in time to ride the emerging automotive age to a whole new level of wealth. Although his fortunes could not compare to the wealth of the true highest tier of the ‘robber baron’ age, men like Rockefeller and Morgan, he was certainly one of the top five percent of wealth in the United States by 1910.

It would not be true to say that McCord acquired his wealth illegally...exactly. His purely legal businesses and investments would have been fully sufficient to make him extremely rich. That said, McCord was by no means averse to using illegal means to his ends. He used bribery, what a later age would call ‘insider’ information in investment, and various forms of intimidation and extortion in dealing with labor organizers, politicians, and local governments. He never took any direct hand in actual murder, but he was involved, albeit indirectly, with such things as arson, theft, and fraud. He was not the worst of the ‘robber barons’ of his age, but he was not the best, either.

McCord got married at the age of 38, to a 22 year old former actress and singer, but retained liaisons with numerous other women before and after. His reputation was somewhat scandalous in his social circles at the time, but nothing particularly more than some of the other successful barons of the time. It was through one of his mistresses that McCord discovered a new interest, in his middle forties: collecting.

This is actually not quite accurate, McCord had already been something of a collector before this time, but his previous interests were relatively mundane. McCord, as his wealth had advanced, had collected jewels, ornate art, fine swords and other antique weapons and armor, horses, and a number of other things, partly out of a desire to ‘show off’ his wealth, partly out of a pleasure in possession for its own sake.

In his forties, however, one of his lovers introduced McCord to a more esoteric subject: the Antediluvian World. Fascinated to discover that advanced ancient civilizations had existed, thousands of years before the beginning of officially record history, and that artifacts of that Age still existed, here and there, in the modern world, McCord began to quietly work of learn more, and obtain those artifacts. [1]

McCord was wise enough to keep this interest very quiet. He quickly learned that his new ‘hobby’ was not only expensive and eccentric, but could be quite physically, legally, socially, and economically dangerous. There were other people engaged in the same searches as McCord, some of them very powerful, very well-connected, and utterly ruthless. If he made a mistake, he could find himself facing physical danger, legal assaults (albeit by pretext and through false fronts), social damage, or bankrupting threats to his business empire and personal wealth.

McCord, however, was hardened and skilled at dealing with threats, and not without some resources in such matters himself. As time passed, McCord began to amass his own ‘collection’ of rare, ancient artifacts and information about a long-passed Age. He had his own small crew of ‘expediters’ and field agents who carried out his work in secret, and a web of connections in obscure places.

By 1920, McCord was recognized, in select circles, as one of the ‘players’ in a very dangerous and secret game that spanned the world. Not all the ‘players’ knew each other, or even who they were, but they knew of each other through fronts, indirect links, and by rumor.

Far too intelligent to keep his ‘collection’ in his residences, any of them, McCord constructed a well-hidden facility to conceal them, located upstate New York, in 1922.

To be continued...


[1] The woman who introduced McCord to this interest is a story in herself, but one for another time.

[Johnny1A.2]

MICHAEL ASHTON KELLEY
This character sheet was previously posted a few years ago, on another thread, I'm reposting it here (with a few corrections) to keep it all together. This character sheet would apply to Mr. Kelley in roughly 1936.

He's about a 250 point character, give or take a little, streetsmart and educated, and he knows the difference between courage and recklessness.


NAME: Michael Ashton Kelly (circa 1936)
BORN: January 13th, 1892
HEIGHT: 6'0"
WEIGHT: 177 lbs.
HAIR: Auburn/Red
EYES: Blue

IQ 13
DX 14
ST 15
HT 11

APPEARANCE: Average
WEALTH: Comfortable
REPUTATION: (honorable, stubborn, reliable, professional)

ADVANTAGES
Alertness [3]
Combat Reflexes
Empathy
Strong Will [2]
Contacts and Favors (15 pts worth)

Patron [Jones-Bingham Group] (appears often, useful gear, contacts)
Ally [Captain Samual Channing] (sometimes)

DISADVANTAGE(S)
One eye (war wound, not obvious)
Code of Honor (private investigator)
Intolerance [Germans]
Lecherous
Dependent [ex-wife, competent, appears sometimes]
Duty [Jones-Bingham] (occasional, dangerous)
Sense of Duty ['innocents']
Sense of Duty ['the Brooklyn Vets']
Enemy [Federal prosecutor, corrupt, personal]
Enemy [George Delanis, organized crime, competent]

QUIRKS
1. Dislikes ocean travel
2. Always carries a lucky silver piece
3. Embarrassed about war scar
4. Night owl
5. Always carries a small sharp knife, 'just in case'

SKILLS
Writing 14
Swimming 14
Brawling 15
Fast-Draw 14
Guns (TL6) 15
Knife 14
Speed-Load 14
Cooking 15
Auto Mechanic 13
Language(s)
English 16
German Spoken 12
German Written 12
First Aid 14
Accounting 12
Law (U.S./NYS./NYC) 13
Criminology 15
Research 14
Area Knowledge(s)
New York City 16
New York State 14
Chicago 13
Carousing 11
Diplomacy 12
Fast-Talk 17
Leadership 13
Savoir-Faire 13
Tactics 14
Detect Lies 15
Disguise 13
Escape 12
Interrogation 13
Lip Reading 13
Lockpicking 15
Stealth 14
Streetwise 17
Driving 14

Michael Ashton Kelly is in some ways a classic 'noir' private investigator. However, as an associate of the Jones-Bingham Group, he has contacts and sources greater than the usual in genre, and has received some training in useful specialized skills. Born to an Irish immigrant mother and a second-generation Irish-American father, he grew up in a low-income neighborhood of New York City, where he became a police officer for a short time before the American entry into the Great War.

Kelly is a veteran of the Great War, where he led a company after rising from private to field-commissioned second lieutenant, and where the flash from an explosion damaged his right eye to the point that it is effectively blind. (He can perceive light/dark, but that is about the limit of the sensitivity. His other eye remains undamaged, the external appearance of both are normal.)

Returning to the States after the Armistice, Kelly resumed his police career, having concealed the damage to his eye, and in spite of this limitation proved successful. However, a case involving what _initially_ appeared to be a relatively routine assault and battery let to a complicated series of events that pitted Kelly against both an influential organized crime boss (George Delanis) and a corrupt but slick and smart Federal prosecutor by the name of Reid Davis.

An attempt was made to frame Kelly for accepting bribes, which he managed to defeat, but in the ensuing political and administrative chaos, Kelly found himself forced to choose between leaving the police force voluntarily, or being dismissed in disgrace for events completely beyond his own control. If not for the intervention of an old friend of his in the police force, then-Lieutenant Samual Channing, it would have been worse. Lieutenant Channing managed to arrange for a legally honorable separation, but even this was a miscarriage, Kelly had done nothing wrong. This incident also cost Kelly his marriage to his wife Mary Anna.

More than a little bitter, Kelly went into business as a private investigator, and it was then that he was approached by Zachary Bingham, of the Bingham-Jones group, which was basically an association of private investigators, who worked for high-paying clients, with discretion, on sometimes very esoteric and strange matters. Mr. Bingham was always on the lookout for talent, and he recognized potential in Kelly.

Kelly accepted the employment offer, and after training, went to work for the Jones-Bingham Group, first as an apprentice to an experienced associate, then on his own. He proved to be skilled at the work, exceptionally so, and found that it was quite profitable. As the Great Depression fell across the United States and the rest of the world, Kelly moved back to New York (after apprenticing in Chicago), where his newfound skills, together with what he had learned as a police officer and soldier, proved lucrative. In a time when gainful employment was desperately hard to find, Kelly was comfortable.

NOTES:

1. His quirk-level dislike of ocean travel stems from an incident in his childhood, and is entirely irrational. At any time when travelling by water, if he _realizes_ that he is entirely out of sight of land, Kelly must make a Will roll. On a failure, he suffers -2 to all IQ based skill rolls for their next hour as long as he remains in sight of water, and -1 if he goes ‘inside’ to avoid seeing the water. He gets another chance to make his Will roll after an hour, but the Will roll is at -1 if he can _see_ the water. This is entirely unnecessary as long as he can see land, no penalties ensue. He still dislikes water travel, but the irrational aversion and associated penalties only come into play when _out of sight of land_.

2. Kelly in still in love with his ex-wife Mary Anna O’Shaunnesy, who divorced him believing him to be guilty of what he had been accused of during the end of his police career. She is a competent dependent (about 50 pts) and definitely remains conflicted about Kelly, but he can usually count on her as an ally in the ordinary sense. She does not like his current line of work, however, considering it dangerous and uncertain, which has been one reason for their failure to get back together as of 1936.

3. Kelly retains a close personal friendship with now-Captain Samual Channing. Channing sometimes calls on Kelly for the occasional favor when it is not politically or legally convenient for the police to act, and serves as a useful contact for Kelly as well. On at least two occasions Channing has kept Kelly out of prison in some complicated cases.

4. The ‘Brooklyn Vets’ are a group of survivors from the Great War, who fought alongside Kelly. They grew up together in New York City, joined the Army together, and managed to stay together in the service. By 1936 some of them are dead, some fallen (like so many) on hard times, a couple are successful, and one went seriously bad, working with George Delanis. Kelly retains a personal sense of duty toward the Vets, and will be there if any of them need help.

5. Kelly also feels a sense of duty toward ‘innocents’. Kelly has an iconoclastic definition of an ‘innocent’, however, it covers most but not all children, and it _can_ cover millionaires or beggars, but does not necessarily cover either.