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Old 01-08-2019, 10:01 AM   #58
Icelander
 
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Join Date: Mar 2006
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Default Captain of the Penemue

As examples of the kind of write-ups I plan to do for every NPC and am shamelessly trying to steal names and ideas from forumites to do, here is Captain Gus Starr of the Penemue, who was not actually featured in the first official session when the PCs stepped aboard the Penemue. Captain Starr has been in charge of Penemue since 2008, when his predecessor George P. Higginbotham (b. November 23, 1948; Port Arthur, TX) retired in the wake of Hurricane Ike.

Because of the Christmas vacation when play started, there aren't actually many people on Penemue for the first adventure, with even Captain Starr away on a much needed vacation, but a certain minimum crew is always carried and due to Kessler and a few sad people spending Christmas aboard, there was also a kitchen crew.

This write-up might be on the long side to serve as an example, as anything forumites feel like contributing would be nice, but, after all, he is the Captain.

Captain Augustus 'Gus' Starr
b. March 27, 1963; Houston, Texas.
Gus Starr is a rare beast, in that after joining the Navy as a cadet out of Texas A&M, he was a hard-charging, snake-eating SEAL Officer who laterally transferred to Surface Warfare once he was out of his twenties and actually managed to reach the lofty height of a Captain's rank and warship command. After having to leave his beloved USS Bonhomme Richard for the command of a desk ashore as a staff officer, however, Captain Starr eventually accepted that he was not meant for the political pursuit of flag rank and retired from the Navy in 2008.
As the billionaire J.R. Kessler was a friend of CPT Starr's grandfather, it is not so very surprising that upon leaving the Navy, Starr should find a job with him. Retiring as a full Captain of the USN, however, the command of a billionaire's plaything yacht, however fine her lines and elegant her appointments, seems to most everyone who knows Starr almost an insult and certainly a waste of a brilliant mind and exceptional leader.
In actual fact, of course, Captain Starr is not only the captain of the yacht Penemue, he is the CO and Chief Operating Officer of all monster hunting activity funded by Kessler, having ultimate authority over not only the crew of the Penemue, but any contractors and consultants from such companies as IYR Inc., Sentinel Risk Managment Inc. and ISHIM Ltd. Although his authority as CO is theoretically unrestricted and in practice, absolute in tactical situations, when it comes to longer-term strategy, Captain Starr confers extensively with Kessler's right hand, Jean-Michel Alexandre, and selected subject matter experts, as well as making sure that the owner, J.R. Kessler himself, has no objections to any projected course of action.
Gus Starr married his high school sweetheart in 1984, but the union was not a happy one. He was divorced in 1994. The couple had one child, Felicia Starr, born in 1992 and currently a Lieutenant in the US Navy. Starr married again in 2001, to forensic anthropologist Amelia Kane, with whom he had a much happier marriage despite their lack of children together (Amelia had three children from a previous marriage), but Amelia died under tragic circumstances in 2012. Bowed by grief, Starr has not been known to seek the company of women since then and he seems content enough to remain a widower.
As the captain of a civilian yacht, Gus Starr is careful not to wear anything remniscient of naval uniform. He tends toward khakis and Polo shirts, clean, well-pressed and professional. His naval background is evident in smaller things, coffee cups with vessel badges and a plaque in his office reading " Strength Honor Courage", the motto of the USS Hurricane, Captain Starr's first warship command.
Starr was raised Baptist, but identifies as a non-denominational Christian today. He is committed to Christian values, which inform his style of leadership, but while Captain Starr will not hesitate to tell men under his command how to act, he believes that preaching at them on what to believe is not his place. Starr struggles with the theological implications of the paranormal and reads extensively in moral philosophy and Christian ethics, searching for answers that resonate with him. Aside from reading improving literature and keeping up with naval science, Starr spends time off watching football, following high school football in Houston and East Texas, as well as Aggie college football and the Houston Texans, as well as other NFL games, particularly those featuring his second favorite team, the Denver Broncos, and rival teams like the Cowboys and Saints.
Though he would rather not admit it, Gus Starr is a sucker for sports dramas and emotionally manipulative sport underdog stories with stirring music. He was a devout fan of Friday Night Lights during the show's run and only hesitates to hang up a poster with Coach Taylor's catch phrase 'Clear Eyes, Full Hearts, Can't Lose' on the bridge of Penemue because he thinks that people might mock him. After the end of 'Friday Night Lights', Starr's favorite guilty pleasure TV entertainment is probably Netflix's 'Last Chance U'.
One story that perhaps sums up Gus Starr is that he was the second-string QB behind Gary Kubiak as a sophomore at Texas A&M in 1982. When phenom Kevin Murray arrived next year, he leapfrogged Starr as starter, despite Murray's freshman status and Starr's leadership role on the team. Starr remained supportive of Murray and unfailingly positive, never letting anyone on the team see a hint of discontent and concentrating on being ready if the team ever needed him to back up the younger standout. When Murray broke his leg against Arkansas State in 1984, Gus Starr got his chance. After he rocky start as QB1, Starr led the Aggies to a winning season, concluding with 'the most important win in Aggie history' over overbearing archrivals Texas Longhorns.*
Captain Starr is always calm, even in the worst of storms, and radiates confidence and authority. He is a tall, strongly built man, with a bald head and neatly groomed beard. He would be played by Egill Ólafsson.

*Deepest apologies to Craig Stump, whose real heroics my fictional character unfortunately usurped. Rest assured that in my campaign, the freshman Stump was the loyal and selfless third-string QB in 1984 and that his very respectable later career remains unchanged.
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Last edited by Icelander; 01-09-2019 at 12:41 AM.
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