Character Backgrounds

Naval Background

The war is over and a fragile peace maintained by the actions of diplomats, corporations, and the need for trade to be maintained. However, behind it all, every corporation carries the big stick of their Navy. Submarines capable of destroying cities, well-armed troops who are not afraid to shoot first and not bother to ask questions later, specialised soldiers who appear like ghosts from the gloom and bring devastation with them.

That though is just the projection of force, it isn't the whole of the Navy. There are people engaged in cyber-warfare, propaganda, research and development, engineering specialties, human resources, budgeting, and hygiene control technicians too numerous to count.

A character with a naval background can have a wide range of skills and accomplishments, and everyone has survived basic training. An officer might be a Warrior (p20), an Explorer (p27), or a Speaker (p30). The flavour chosen (p34) will depend upon the characters history and role. Note Magic Flavour cannot be chosen.

All characters with this background start with this skill:

Yes, Sir. No, Sir! (Amongst soldiers and Navy, you know how to act, what to say, to talk your way in and out of situations. It cannot be leveled up.)

Technical Background

So you didn't join the Navy, that's nothing to be ashamed of, no matter what your parents say. Somehow you weren't caught up in the draft for the last war, or you're just too young to have fought it in it. Either way, that's not your fault and many would say you had a lucky escape.

Instead, you decided to move into a technical job. You fix things that need to be fixed, whether that is computers, machines, submarines, weapons, and you're even capable of modifying them to perform better. A skill technician is creative too. They can build, perhaps from the scraps of other machines or, given time and patience (and money), a device or doohickey that performs a specialised function.

An Technician might be an Explorer (p27) or a Speaker (p30). The flavour chosen (p34) will depend upon the characters history and role. Note Magic Flavour cannot be chosen.

All technicians begin with the skill:

I think I see the problem! (It cannot be leveled up, but a technician stands a better than normal chance of predicting the actual fault with a machine, computer etc).

Security Background

You loved all those detective shows from the time before the flood. You've watched them on the Clips and even some of the newer ones enthused you about a career solving crime and catching the bad guys. Perhaps you decided to join the Corporations security force out of loyalty, out of desire to serve, out a of need for money. Either way, you joined up, and found out it wasn't like the Clips would have you believe. Nevertheless, this is where you are and you've picked up a few snippets of knowledge along the way.

The Security force is not the Navy. The role of security is to keep peace in the Domes and Boxes, to capture criminals, and to bash a few heads in along the way. However, there are other aspects, less seen, less well known. Undercover operatives work in secret amongst the gangs in the Boxes. Accountants track money and go after the big fish - the tax evaders. Cyber-crime is big business and there are departments which tackle that, sat behind a computer, safe, drinking coffee and squinting at screens and padds.

An Security background might be a Warrior (p20) or an Explorer (p27). The flavour chosen (p34) will depend upon the characters history and role. Note Magic Flavour cannot be chosen.

All security backgrounds begin with the skill:

I've seen it all before! (It is a cold world out there and not everyone tells the truth. Through training, experience, and upbringing you've learned to spot a lie better than an average person. This cannot be leveled up.)

Underworld Background

There's no two ways about this, you're a criminal. Maybe you've been lucky and haven't been caught, maybe you've spent a bit of time in jail, but luckily you've not been consigned to a waste barge yet... but if you carry on down this path, it is coming. You likely grew up poor, in the Boxes, and learned that the only way to survive was to bend the rules and not get caught. It has worked out well for you so far, apart from that stint in prison, but at least you got to make a few contacts.

Where you fit into the hierarchy of the underworld is hard to pin down. You might be a low level minion with delusions of grandeur, or a mid level boss with underlings who are plotting to stab you in the back at the slightest hint of weakness.

You're a dealer in narcotics, a pimp, a thug, or perhaps you are cyber-criminal who plays the City-webs looking for secrets and siphoning off credits.

A character with this background might be a Warrior (p20) or a Speaker (p30). The flavour chosen (p34) will depend upon the characters history and role. Note Magic Flavour cannot be chosen.

All Underworld characters start with this additional skill:

Me, I'm innocent! (You've learned to hide the truth, to lie, to obfuscate better than the average person. This skill cannot be leveled up).

Corporate Suit

You are the corporation. You embody its values and carry out its orders. You are soulless in its service. You worship profit and want nothing more than to climb the ladder and create your own little empire. Or, you hate it and have always wanted to leave, to escape, to gain your freedom and follow that creative spark you've always hidden in your heart.

Whatever you feel, the corporation has given you some training and skills you would never have learned anywhere else. You might have worked as a lawyer, accountant, project manager, administrator, or clerk. You've got some knowledge of the place you worked, you might even know where some of the metaphorical (and real) bodies are buried.

An officer might be an Explorer (p27), or a Speaker (p30). The flavour chosen (p34) will depend upon the characters history and role. Note Magic Flavour cannot be chosen.

All Corporate Suits begin with this additional skill:

Reading between the lines! (You've read so many documents, contracts, passive aggressive emails, that you can generally discern the hidden meaning in text better than the average person - as long as it isn't too technical, and you can read the language).