Shortly after you purchase your ticket, you will receive a survey filled with questions that will help our writers create a custom character just for you. We will ask what human variant you want to be, which other participants you want to play with, what Homeworld or colony you want to be from, and a bunch of other questions. The characters have plenty of material to play with, but also room for your own interpretation and changes. Check out the character sheet below to get an idea of what's included!
Name: M. Nett
Origin: Colonial
Variant: Baseline
Group: Colonial News Bulletin
Description:
As a child growing up on a colony world, the news was your favorite time of the day. Every afternoon, a Courier ship would drop insystem, transmit a huge burst of data, and vanish again. Other people cared about different things in the transmissions--a new episode of the latest Ottsalian drama, an article from a university on Baryos, things like that--but you only had eyes for the news. You read all the news you could get your hands, but mostly you cared about politics. Your family never quite understood it--why did the war matter so much to you? It wasn’t like the Commonwealth or the U.A.W. had any interest in your little planet. The only person who seemed to understand was your cousin, W. Nett. The two of you spent many nights debating politics over the table, much to the confusion of your respective parents.
But it did matter to you. Galactic politics is the most interesting thing there is. The clash of titanic forces, the changing tides of war, the tangle of information and misinformation… you love it all. You started off with a local posting writing for the hometown branch of the Colonial News Bulletin, but that was just the beginning. Within a few years, you made your way offworld and started writing at the Bulletin’s headquarters on Windrock, covering the postwar news beat. Life on Windrock suits you well, and has been your main home since you got there.
You made a name for yourself as a major investigative journalist, following up on issues of Gyra resettlement, Augment rights, and the fates of various noteworthy Agerran commanding officers from the war. For years you’ve had a friendly rivalry with O. Lysa, the Bulletin’s other top reporter--but Lysa focuses on the criminal underworld, while you keep your sights set on the world of politics. Sometimes the two of you even collaborate on projects, but you often play up your rivalry in public. It’s fun for both of you, and entertaining for your readers.
Three years ago, you got your most important assignment ever. For a full year, you lived undercover on Zé. You traveled aboard a Drifter trawler, you stayed with a Peakborn family, and you even accompanied a group of Sunken on one of their expeditions into the Haze. For a few strange and surreal weeks, you lived at the Windlock Commune, hanging out with artists and counterculture radicals. Your main guide was L. Eis, who had grown up in a Peakborn family that collaborated openly with the occupation. Eis, though, was sympathetic to the cause of Zé independence, and happily helped you stay undercover during your travels, using their family’s name and privilege to dissuade inspectors who asked too many questions.
Your assignment was to write as neutral a report as you could about life on Zé under Agerran occupation. The idea was that as a third party, being a colonial with no stake in the war, you’d be able to be objective. The more time you spent on Zé, though, the harder that became. You were careful to avoid letting Eis bias you unnecessarily, but the truth was clear. Under Agerran rule, the Peakborn collaborators grew even more powerful, while everyone else on the planet slipped deeper into economic and social ruin.
The one place you never made it to was the Stormgate Temple, where the Agerrans kept their political prisoners. You worked at half a dozen different schemes to get in, but in the end they all seemed too dangerous to actually attempt. An interview with a Stormgate inmate seemed like the perfect way to expose the Agerran occupying force for the danger they were, but you never pulled it off, and you’re still frustrated with yourself about that.
Of course, all this was complicated when you and Eis stumbled into a romance. This flew in the face of all your ideas on best journalistic practice, and was exceptionally dangerous, but you couldn’t help it. Eis was amazingly intelligent, a brilliant investigator in their own right, and dangerously charming. It all fell apart when the time came for you to leave. Eis wanted to come with you offworld, but there was no way. You were certain that bringing them along would just wind up with both of you locked in a cell in the Stormgate Temple. Eis understood that, and offered you a place to stay with them. The two of you could flee to the Windlock Commune.
But in the end, you chose the galaxy over Eis. You left them, and left Zé behind. You wrote your report, a scathing exposé about life under Agerran rule. It was one of the most-read articles of the decade, and you’re almost finished expanding it into a full-length book. You didn’t hear a word from Eis after that. You sent a few coded messages to them through various means, but they never responded. You miss them, of course, but you know that you did what you had to do.
Now you’re excited to be at the forefront of the next step of galactic politics, ready to report. Phaelos III is big--huge. What happens here could be the tipping point to a second Homeworld War, or it might move things towards peace. Whichever way things go, you’re going to be reporting on every second of it, and you’re thrilled beyond belief. You’re convinced that the Agerrans are here to get their hands on new Ancient technologies, and have no real interest in peace. You’ve seen telltale signs of military buildup, and will do your best to uncover the real truth of why the Commonwealth is coming to Phaelos.
You’ve got a pair of good contacts to start things off, too. Your cousin W. Nett is here as a representative of the Colonial Congress. They went into politics and worked their way up in the world. You haven’t seen them in a few years, but you’re looking forward to it. You also recently got a message from a person named I. Rraesa, who says they have a story for you. They claim to be a representative of a group of Gyra refugees, and want to talk to a reporter who might be sympathetic to the cause.
There’s one huge complication, though. Eis is here. You saw them aboard the colony ship. They’re part of the delegation from the Agerran Commonwealth, representing Zé. What does it mean? What are they doing here? You haven’t been able to bring yourself to talk to them yet, but you know you can’t avoid it much longer.
Light: You’re sympathetic to many civil rights causes, and care passionately about exposing the truth. You have a high standard of work, and genuinely love what you do. You have a firm belief in the power of journalism to make the galaxy a better place. Finding the truth isn’t just your job--it’s a moral imperative.
Dark: The story always comes first. Even if that means sacrificing other people, or your relationships with them. Sometimes you wonder if you have any real friendships, or if everyone is just another potential story to you. You’re also always eager to look out for your own skin, but that’s easy to justify--you can write an article if you’re dead, right?
Relationships:
W. Nett
O. Lysa
L. Eis
I. Rraesa
Recommended Reading:
Homeworld Zé
The Homeworld War
The Agerran Commonwealth
Recent Politics
Questions:
What is life like on your home colony? Do you ever miss it?
What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done in the name of getting a story?
Have you been involved with anyone since Eis?
What do you think of the Journal of Interplanetary Affairs?
Is there a story you’d drop anything to pursue?
Origin: Colonial
Variant: Baseline
Group: Colonial News Bulletin
Description:
As a child growing up on a colony world, the news was your favorite time of the day. Every afternoon, a Courier ship would drop insystem, transmit a huge burst of data, and vanish again. Other people cared about different things in the transmissions--a new episode of the latest Ottsalian drama, an article from a university on Baryos, things like that--but you only had eyes for the news. You read all the news you could get your hands, but mostly you cared about politics. Your family never quite understood it--why did the war matter so much to you? It wasn’t like the Commonwealth or the U.A.W. had any interest in your little planet. The only person who seemed to understand was your cousin, W. Nett. The two of you spent many nights debating politics over the table, much to the confusion of your respective parents.
But it did matter to you. Galactic politics is the most interesting thing there is. The clash of titanic forces, the changing tides of war, the tangle of information and misinformation… you love it all. You started off with a local posting writing for the hometown branch of the Colonial News Bulletin, but that was just the beginning. Within a few years, you made your way offworld and started writing at the Bulletin’s headquarters on Windrock, covering the postwar news beat. Life on Windrock suits you well, and has been your main home since you got there.
You made a name for yourself as a major investigative journalist, following up on issues of Gyra resettlement, Augment rights, and the fates of various noteworthy Agerran commanding officers from the war. For years you’ve had a friendly rivalry with O. Lysa, the Bulletin’s other top reporter--but Lysa focuses on the criminal underworld, while you keep your sights set on the world of politics. Sometimes the two of you even collaborate on projects, but you often play up your rivalry in public. It’s fun for both of you, and entertaining for your readers.
Three years ago, you got your most important assignment ever. For a full year, you lived undercover on Zé. You traveled aboard a Drifter trawler, you stayed with a Peakborn family, and you even accompanied a group of Sunken on one of their expeditions into the Haze. For a few strange and surreal weeks, you lived at the Windlock Commune, hanging out with artists and counterculture radicals. Your main guide was L. Eis, who had grown up in a Peakborn family that collaborated openly with the occupation. Eis, though, was sympathetic to the cause of Zé independence, and happily helped you stay undercover during your travels, using their family’s name and privilege to dissuade inspectors who asked too many questions.
Your assignment was to write as neutral a report as you could about life on Zé under Agerran occupation. The idea was that as a third party, being a colonial with no stake in the war, you’d be able to be objective. The more time you spent on Zé, though, the harder that became. You were careful to avoid letting Eis bias you unnecessarily, but the truth was clear. Under Agerran rule, the Peakborn collaborators grew even more powerful, while everyone else on the planet slipped deeper into economic and social ruin.
The one place you never made it to was the Stormgate Temple, where the Agerrans kept their political prisoners. You worked at half a dozen different schemes to get in, but in the end they all seemed too dangerous to actually attempt. An interview with a Stormgate inmate seemed like the perfect way to expose the Agerran occupying force for the danger they were, but you never pulled it off, and you’re still frustrated with yourself about that.
Of course, all this was complicated when you and Eis stumbled into a romance. This flew in the face of all your ideas on best journalistic practice, and was exceptionally dangerous, but you couldn’t help it. Eis was amazingly intelligent, a brilliant investigator in their own right, and dangerously charming. It all fell apart when the time came for you to leave. Eis wanted to come with you offworld, but there was no way. You were certain that bringing them along would just wind up with both of you locked in a cell in the Stormgate Temple. Eis understood that, and offered you a place to stay with them. The two of you could flee to the Windlock Commune.
But in the end, you chose the galaxy over Eis. You left them, and left Zé behind. You wrote your report, a scathing exposé about life under Agerran rule. It was one of the most-read articles of the decade, and you’re almost finished expanding it into a full-length book. You didn’t hear a word from Eis after that. You sent a few coded messages to them through various means, but they never responded. You miss them, of course, but you know that you did what you had to do.
Now you’re excited to be at the forefront of the next step of galactic politics, ready to report. Phaelos III is big--huge. What happens here could be the tipping point to a second Homeworld War, or it might move things towards peace. Whichever way things go, you’re going to be reporting on every second of it, and you’re thrilled beyond belief. You’re convinced that the Agerrans are here to get their hands on new Ancient technologies, and have no real interest in peace. You’ve seen telltale signs of military buildup, and will do your best to uncover the real truth of why the Commonwealth is coming to Phaelos.
You’ve got a pair of good contacts to start things off, too. Your cousin W. Nett is here as a representative of the Colonial Congress. They went into politics and worked their way up in the world. You haven’t seen them in a few years, but you’re looking forward to it. You also recently got a message from a person named I. Rraesa, who says they have a story for you. They claim to be a representative of a group of Gyra refugees, and want to talk to a reporter who might be sympathetic to the cause.
There’s one huge complication, though. Eis is here. You saw them aboard the colony ship. They’re part of the delegation from the Agerran Commonwealth, representing Zé. What does it mean? What are they doing here? You haven’t been able to bring yourself to talk to them yet, but you know you can’t avoid it much longer.
Light: You’re sympathetic to many civil rights causes, and care passionately about exposing the truth. You have a high standard of work, and genuinely love what you do. You have a firm belief in the power of journalism to make the galaxy a better place. Finding the truth isn’t just your job--it’s a moral imperative.
Dark: The story always comes first. Even if that means sacrificing other people, or your relationships with them. Sometimes you wonder if you have any real friendships, or if everyone is just another potential story to you. You’re also always eager to look out for your own skin, but that’s easy to justify--you can write an article if you’re dead, right?
Relationships:
W. Nett
O. Lysa
L. Eis
I. Rraesa
Recommended Reading:
Homeworld Zé
The Homeworld War
The Agerran Commonwealth
Recent Politics
Questions:
What is life like on your home colony? Do you ever miss it?
What’s the worst thing you’ve ever done in the name of getting a story?
Have you been involved with anyone since Eis?
What do you think of the Journal of Interplanetary Affairs?
Is there a story you’d drop anything to pursue?
