Star Wars: The Dark Times (Inactive)

Game Master The Lobster

2. Miko, when not pretending to be a thug, comes off as a very genuine and non-threatening person. He can talk to strangers and merchants with ease, though he's better at talking with the lower classes than the higher ones.

3. Miko is pretty easy going, even when he isn't high out of his mind. Most of the time he doesn't really have a strong opinion about stuff, mainly because it seems so out of his control. He doesn't pick fights, get mad when he doesn't get his way, or hold grudges.

4. He's built like a stalk of spaghetti. All height and no width.

5. Short: He wants to move out of his parent's place, mainly because he's aware of his parent's misfortune (by his hands) and he wants to distance himself from it due to the guilt. Long: Become a mechanic. This is a fake goal. Though he likes machines, he doesn't have any driving passion or talent towards this endeavor. It's just something he says when people ask him what he wants to do with his life. In truth he has no idea.

6. He's been accused of the kidnapping and murder of an imperial trooper (technically the murder is true). If we're using the lightsaber, we could add something like "suspected jedi" or "religiously-motivated murder".

Ironically, though they were still quite poor, Zel's family had a degree more opportunity and freedom on the Smuggler's Moon. Zel began running with a small-time gang on Nar Shaddaa, mostly young people like himself. He learned, among other things, how to hold a blaster, how to run all sorts of different scams, and how to talk his way out of trouble. And he did end up having to talk his way out of trouble quite often.

By the time he was sixteen, he'd gotten quite good at his craft, but he was itching to see more of Nar Shaddaa, more of the galaxy at large. He didn't want to spend the rest of his life committing petty crimes and never seeing where else his skill and his wit could take him. He talked his way onto a small ship crew that primarily did smuggling jobs for the local Hutt bosses. He already knew how to shoot decently and how to run his mouth, but there was a lot he still didn't know. Zel made the most of every opportunity he got to learn about the trade, and even better, how to fly a ship.

Zel ran with the same crew for about nine years, at which point he convinced one of their Hutt employers to help front him the money to buy his own ship. Finally, he knew how to survive, how to make money, and he finally had a taste of the freedom he had chased for years.

Of course, about two years after getting his own ship, Zel finds himself imprisoned on an Imperial Star Destroyer, awaiting his fate. So much for freedom.

Of course, because the hunter was quite attractive, and because sometimes Zel can't help himself, he didn't stop there. He gave her a false name and claimed to actually know who she was looking for, and to know he'd probably be coming into the cantina the following day. Even better, he'd help point out the target and lure him into position to be captured, all for a small finder's fee. Somehow he convinced her of this story, and the two proceeded to spend the evening talking, flirting, and getting quite drunk. Zel paced himself a bit better and was still on his feet by the time she passed out. He proceeded to steal a few credit chips, boost her speeder, and flee the planet. And of course, he left a message for the woman, thanking her for a lovely evening and hoping they might have another drink some time.

In his general history she has a fun kind of adversarial role, but she hasn't shown up during any major, formative points during his life. Whether she shows up later on during the story is entirely up to you. If so, details about her can be fleshed out; if not, it's mostly just a fun story he can tell and another long-term issue he has to keep in mind.

2) What's a talent, unrelated to their class abilities?
He actually has a pretty decent singing voice.

3) A personality quirk?
Zel is quite charming and fancies himself as something of a ladies' man. He engages in humor in many situations, sometimes even ones that involve some element of risk or danger. He does this partially because he finds enjoyment from it, and partially because it helps him initially seem less threatening.

He also likes to sometimes share "interesting facts" with others. He has facts on almost any subject, and more often than not they are completely wrong. Whether he is aware that these facts are wrong is never entirely clear.

4) Distinguishing physical feature?
Besides being dashingly handsome? He's a Rutian (blue-skinned) Twi'lek with slightly darker striped patterning on his lekku.

5) A goal, short or long term.
Short to medium term, he'd like to be able to make enough money to pay off the debt he owes on his ship and get totally free of control by Hutt employers. That was a big reason he took this job in the first place. Longer term, one of his goals is to get enough money to pay for his parents to move off Nar Shaddaa, or at least to a nicer home there.

6) Why were they arrested and brought aboard the Deception? What reason could the Imperials have for being so sure that the PC is a member of the Rebellion (e.g., political connections, smuggling, being a mercenary or anarchist)?
Zel was hired to smuggle cargo past the blockade. Normally he'd find something like this just a little too risky, but the money was very good. Unfortunately for him, he was caught. Zel wasn't sure exactly what he was being asked to transport ("I swear, I thought it was just spice or something for weird fish parties!"), or what connections his contact on the planet had, but it turns out he was carrying weapons bound for less-than-loyal individuals. This was more than enough for the authorities to connect him to the Rebellion and imprison him as a traitor.

1) Tell me a memory, something unrelated to their main backstory.

Crawley had climbed to the roof of the farmhouse owned by the family he had been hired by and was looking out of the sunset on the sparsely populated rim world. Crawley was puzzled. Most of recent events were clear enough, he had heard the man Kavil despairing over his families future if he could not repair his irrigation system and harvester and offered to do the repairs. Crawley understood the mechanical faults he had repaired, simple enough though it took longer given the shoe string budget. Crawley understood that the repairs had to done and soon or their would be no harvest that year, so the Kavils were naturally grateful. Crawley understood the hug Kavil's daughter had given him, saying "Thank you Mr Crawley.".

What Crawley didn't understand was why the girl was hugging Crawley. Or why Crawley was pleased by it and liked that Kavil's family should have a good harvest now. Crawley realised this wasn't the first time he had helped people in trouble. Why? Crawley was a Mechanic Droid, and most of what he had done since being separated from the Techno Union and becoming independent was doing mechanics as he was programmed to. But Crawley now saw he was starting to act like a sentient organic. Why? What did this mean? The small droid thought on these questions all night without finding any real answer.

2) What's a talent, unrelated to their class abilities?

Crawley gets on well with children.

3) A personality quirk?

Crawley can't stand alcoholics or Devaronian males.

4) Distinguishing physical feature?

Crawley has no distinguishing features. Crawley looks like a typical small, quadrupedal, talking, self using toolbox and mechanical genius with a habit of crawling around on the exterior of starfighters in the midst of combat. Nondescript really.

5) A goal, short or long term.

Crawley dislikes the Empire and would like to do something to oppose it. This is almost certainly a residue of his original programming by the Techno Union, which was an enemy of the Old Republic which morphed into the Empire. Crawley is also sympathetic towards the Droid Liberation Movement in principle. He hasn't had any contact with the Movement but might join it one day.

Crawley was designed to maintain and repair technological items and enjoys it. But his knowledge has grown and he can now often improve items. Crawley wants to graduate from mechanic to more challenging tasks like improving technology and designing devices from scratch. Perhaps he could run his own workshop or company or find suitable work in another organisation such as a corporation or some sort of military force.

Intelligent and logical, Crawley knows that if he gets experience with using a form of technology will allow him to better understand it's use. He wants to pilot spacecraft and work as a crew as well as maintaining them, so when he comes to designing spacecraft himself he is better equipped to do so. Also, H-1ME droids were designed to be daredevils, so Crawley is suited to be a starfighter pilot.

6) Why were they arrested and brought aboard the Deception? What reason could the Imperials have for being so sure that the PC is a member of the Rebellion (e.g., political connections, smuggling, being a mercenary or anarchist)?

See the last two paragraphs of Crawley's history.

The Imperials are not sure Crawley is part of the Rebellion and in fact he isn't. Crawley is ideologically opposed to the Empire and resents the Empire destroying the Techno Union. Crawley might be considered a smuggler or a victim of smugglers.

To the Empire Crawley is a totally insignificant droid fired at a Star Destroyer for no sane reason by smugglers. The Empire wants to access Crawley's memory banks to see if they turn up any information on the smugglers criminal activities or why he was fired at the Star Destroyer. After that Crawley will be given a memory wipe and placed in Imperial Service, sold or used as scrap.

Crawley was constructed by the Techno Union when that organisation was still extant and part of the separatist movement. The Techno Union designed and produced a precursor to contemporary H-1ME droids as part of it's war effort of which Crawley was one. After the war, when the Techno Union was incorporated into the Empire, the design was sold off, improved and put into production in it's modern form. Crawley worked as a mechanic for the Techno Union through much of the conflict, experiencing the horrors of war and the brutality of what was to become the Empire.

Crawley's service to the Techno Union came to an end when the task force he was assigned to was decisively defeated by Clone Troopers in an engagement in the Outer Rim. Much later, scavengers descended on the battlefield after the conflict and gathered anything worth salvaging. An immobile and damaged Crawley used his droid model's ability to re-assemble itself and was able to escape the scavengers, who thought they had only a pile of scrap metal.

Crawley soon found out that the both the Techno Union and the Separatists were no more. The droid now had no owner and his programming did not cover what to do in these circumstances. Crawley was programmed to fix and maintain mechanical items, especially starships, so that is what he did. Crawley drifted through the outer rim, sometimes as an employee, sometimes trading his services as a mechanic for transport, sometimes stowing away on spaceships. The small independent droid required neither food nor shelter and could always find work to fill what modest needs he had. Crawley's experience with common forms of technology grew quickly and soon he was improving as well as repairing items. Crawley traveled to exotic places seeking new forms of machinery to work upon and learn about. The amiable little droid sort of drifted into the habit of repairing the equipment of poor people for no payment.

Crawley's current sad predicament came about as a result of falling in with smugglers. The smugglers offered Crawley good pay for serving as technical support on a "routine cargo run". Crawley soon realised he had fallen in with a dangerous group but had no way of leaving. The over-confident smugglers were a hedonistic and reckless group lead by the erratic and alcoholic Topal Grahrk, a cousin of the renowned Devaronian smuggler Vilmarh Grahrk. Crawley though disaster inevitable and it arrived before long when the smugglers accepted a job to smuggle recreational drugs onto one of the resort moons of Imperial Centre aka Coruscant. They were quickly detected and pursued by Imperial ships. The smugglers thought they were escaping but realised to their horror they had been herded toward a Star Destroyer.

Capt Grahrk, terrified and drunk as usual, ordered Crawley into a missile which was to be fired at the Star Destroyer which Crawley was somehow to disable. Crawley tried to explain that this was an insane idea, he could disable a Starfighter and maybe a space transport given time, but a Star Destroyer? The desperate smugglers ignored Crawley, forcibly loaded him onto the missile and fired him at the Star Destroyer anyway. The missile was destroyed while approaching the Star Destroyer. Crawley was fortunate, being thrown from the wreckage and and reaching the Star Destroyer more or less unharmed. Crawley was quickly ionised and taken on board. The Imperials have tossed the droid in with the prisoners so it's memory banks can be accessed later to see if they contain any data of use to the Empire. The Imperials don't know why the missile and droid were fired at the Star Destroyer and are mildly curious to find out. Crawley is unaware of what happened to his smuggler "friends".

I have not planned out character progression completely and may tweak the character a bit to fit in with the other player characters.

Eventually I see the character taking the Superior Tech feat multiple times, but that can only start at level 9. Crawley may well enter the Ace Pilot prestige class at level 8. However, given the pace of PbP play these are very long term plans.

More immediately, Crawley should have the Use Computer skill which is not on the Scout list. A class that has that skill is wanted at an early stage, very likely Soldier which would also allow Crawley to take AP Light for some protection in combat and is one of the two basic classes that offer a full +1 BaB per level. Feats I intend to take are Vehicular Combat and, if the campaign is such I will get to use it, Starship Designer.

Since she isn't very familiar with all of the aspects of Echani she isn't very cautious or observant, Yet. I plan on having her mature over the course of the game as she learns more about her history and the higher forms. For now she's quite brash and prone to reckless decisions.

Talents; Born Constructed? Leader

Skills (Trained in 6):
Persuasion + 7 (5 Trained + 2 Cha)
Initiative + 9 (5 Trained + 4 Dex)
Deception + 12 (5 Trained + 2 Cha + 5 Skill Focus)
Pilot +9 (5 Trained + 4 Dex)
Knowledge(Tactics) +5 (5 Trained + 0 Int)
Knowledge(Life Sciences) +5 (5 Trained + 0 Int)

Languages Basic, Binary
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Gear
Credits: 3d4 ⇒ (4, 3, 4) = 11 - 4,400 credits. Wow!
Basic "package"
walking locomotion, plasteel shell (+2 armor) (sold), heuristic processor, internal comlink, locked access, 2 hand appendages, vocabulator,

Gear Purchased
Durasteel Shell (+4 armor), Secondary Battery, Improved Sensor Package (w/ Darkvision), Translator Unit (DC10), Internal Storage (5 kg)

Gear PurchasedMedpac, Power Recharger, 5 power packs

---I imagine the blaster isn't with me, and neither are my remaining 200 credits.---

Rod spent the war in the 326th legion as a standard infantryman and largely, his career was equally standard. His records at this time held no great commendations but no complaints either. He had a job and he did it, honestly and always by-the-book. What did earn Rod a measure of respect was his seniority, especially considering where he was assigned.

The clones had their own name for the 326th legion. "The Grinder". Whether by coincidence or incompetence from high command, the 326th was almost constantly placed in the thickest, harshest, most brutal, grinding conflicts of the war. Every clone dreaded the possibility of an assignment to the 326th. Despite having one of the highest casualty rates of any combat unit in the war, the morale of those actually in the 326th was extraordinarily high. A quality that most attribute to the 326th's Jedi general.

Amongst the Jedi, Master Vala Feir was both well liked for her genial disposition and well respected for her mastery of the Force. The old Twi'lek woman spent little time in the Jedi temple even before the war, preferring to travel and do good in a personal capacity. She even turned down an appointment to the Jedi council, not wanting to lose sight of the "little people" and unwilling to commit to spending so much time cooped up in the Jedi temple.

Master Feir excelled in her role as Jedi general of the 326th legion, managing to pull a number of victories out of the meat grinders that the 326th too often found themselves in. While her skills in both combat and tactics were impressive, the real key to her success was her kinship with the clones under her command. She personally inspected the troops, quartered with them instead of in officer's quarters, led battles from the front and kept an open ear to her troopers' concerns. She never treated any of her clones as anything less than an equal and in doing so, she inspired them to live up to her example. The 326th's admiration for Master Vala Feir could not be understated. While every clone was prepared to lay down his life, those under Vala were almost eager to do so.

In the waning days of the war, the 326th legion were stationed on Felucia, up to their necks in muck, droids and jungle diseases. When Order 66 came down, Rod and Master Feir were alone, miles behind enemy lines in the aftermath of a raid gone very wrong. Rod drew his blaster on Vala but hesitated to pull the trigger. Vala simply watched him, not even igniting her lightsaber. Vala had been a friend, comrade and hero to all of the 326th since the war began. She had even personally saved Rod's life on several occasions, at great risk to herself. For the first time in his life, Rod questioned a direct order. Briefly. With trembling hands and a heavy heart, Rod did what he had to do.

Vala did not resist as Rod gunned her down. She closed her eyes, dropped her lightsaber and said:

"Shoot me if you must, friend. It won't kill me."

With Vala dead, Rod returned to his brothers with her corpse on his back, miraculously managing to entirely avoid myriad droid patrols and outposts. He delivered his report and the body to his superiors: Vala was dead, he was not. What he did not mention was that he had gunned down an unarmed, unresisting Vala. Also didn't mention the voices at the edge of hearing he had begun to hear, who had guided his miraculous return from deep in droid territory. As far as anyone knew, Rod had beaten a Jedi in one-on-one combat and returned unharmed through miles of enemy territory.

In recognition of his apparent bravery and service, Rod received the new Imperial Medal of Valor, was paraded around as a hero and given a prestigious training position on Kamino. Rod found there was little he could teach, however. While experienced, he had no special training or skills to draw on and no aptitude for teaching. His time as a training officer ended within two years and Rod went into retirement.

Ithor, a planet of perfect, untouched forests and jungles. The Ithorians hold their planet's environment so sacred that they live not on the surface, but in massive floating cities and it is forbidden to set foot on the surface unless one chooses to remain there permanently. To Rod, a quiet retirement from the galaxy on a beautiful world like Ithor sounded perfect. The next group of Ithorian mystics and religious leaders traveling to their sacred Mother Jungle were surprised to have a human in their midst.

Rod spent the proceeding years living as a hermit just outside of a tiny enclave of Ithorian mystics. In the peace and solitude of the pristine Ithorian wilderness, Rod began to hear. He heard the voices of the jungle around him, just as he had on Felucia, he realized. Unsure of what to make of this, he went to the Ithorians for advice. They were surprised to learn that he could hear the voice of Mother Jungle like they did (if only barely). They offered Rod an opportunity: to learn their ways, how to truly listen to the jungle. Rod agreed.

The Ithorians taught Rod their philosophy and, perhaps more importantly, how to open his mind to the Force, to see its currents, to hear the voices of all the life that the Force connected to. And he heard one voice he was unprepared to hear. Jedi Master Vala Feir. Even after all the time that had past, Rod had never made peace with what he did. He fell to his knees, begging for forgiveness, pleading that if there was anything he could to make things right, he'd do it. And as a matter of fact, there was something he could do.

The Ithorian Law of Life states that for every life taken, two must take its place. As Rod had taken a Jedi from the galaxy, he now owed the galaxy two. So when Vala offered Rod the chance to train as a Jedi so that when he was ready, he could return to the larger galaxy and do what she no longer could, he accepted. If he could live the life he stole from Vala, then that would be half of his debt paid.

And so his training began. Where the Ithorians had taught Rod to feel the Force, Vala taught Rod how to control it. She taught him the Jedi code and Jedi philosophy and history. But there was one thing she couldn't teach him on Ithor: how to build and use a lightsaber. For that, he would have to return from his self-imposed exile.

The next time a ship came to drop off Ithorians to live on Ithor, Rod broke his promise to the Ithorians to never leave the surface by sneaking aboard the ship as it returned to the floating cities above the planet. There he took some time to gear up and book passage to Felucia with a plucky smuggling crew using what was left of his old army pension. The trip went uneventfully and once on Felucia, Rod used the Force and his connection to Vala to find the site of her death and retrieve her lost lightsaber. After a quick paying of respects at the Clone war memorial, Rod returned to the smugglers to get off world. Unfortunately, the smugglers were caught with contraband by a random Imperial inspection on their way out and Rod was lumped in with them and arrested.

When Rod made his plans to leave Ithor, Oboro found out and, desperate to see the world beyond Ithor, begged Rod to take him along. Knowing how much danger he'd be in as a Jedi, Rod reluctantly refused. Oboro took the decision poorly and left brokenhearted and in tears. Rod didn't get a chance to talk to Oboro again before he left Ithor the following day.
2) What's a talent, unrelated to their class abilities?
After his time on Ithor, Rod has become an excellent gardener.
3) A personality quirk?
Rod has been a hermit for some time and has acquired a tendency to speak aloud to himself, even when in company.
4) Distinguishing physical feature?
Rod has a few tattoos from his Clone Wars days. He has "An army of one man, but the right man for the job!" in Mando'a tattooed on his left forearm, the symbol of the Republic military tattooed on the right side of his neck and a pair of Jaig eyes tattooed on his forehead, above his own eyes.
5) A goal, short or long term.
Rod biggest goal is redeeming himself and setting his wrongs right. Short term, this means completing his training with Vala and becoming a full fledged Jedi. Longer term, this means restoring the Jedi order, whether that means ensuring the safety of other surviving Jedi, preserving Jedi knowledge or even training new Jedi.
6) Why were they arrested and brought aboard the Deception? What reason could the Imperials have for being so sure that the PC is a member of the Rebellion (e.g., political connections, smuggling, being a mercenary or anarchist)?
Rod was found armed, traveling with smugglers, carrying a lightsaber and caught off guard, Rod gave his captors a really, really bad excuse. The fact that he's been living off-the-grid for the past 12 years didn't help his case either.