Character Creation

That works for me. I would like to add that tension isn't necessarily a bad thing because it adds substance so we don't need to avoid it completely

Agreed.

If we end up with both the captain and the first mate dead, maybe we should revisit the topic of 'refugees'?

Maybe there is a secret mission happening and suddenly we don't have all the facts?

Why were we where we were when we were engaged by a superior foe? Were we there to pick up someone (or something)?

Could be we were picking up some kind of special items in short supply?

... and we don't know for sure who we are supposed to deliver them to, or even where? Could need some careful probing at each port on our route... and, since this was secret, it might be destined for a port not on our itinerary.

Knowing why people want the Arkus as captain will help me decide what Descriptor and Focus to take, but I will jot down a few notes about the character to give you all something to work from:

I think their Might will be low, they were never very big-and-strong, but age is also catching up slowly, while the Enhancements built into their body make them still look young, those were largely cosmetic in focus. I will need your backing to take on the opposition, if things get physical I don't stand a chance. :)

Maybe I had the old captain's backing? And most know that, including the Dante, even if they won't admit it?

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I found myself shying away from options that give me mental defences, and was drawn to Emapthic (from Cypher System) largely because it gives me a weakness to mental attacks (lowers my mental defence). I sorta like the idea of being the big-brain in charge that is susceptible to mental takeover. This was possibly by design, the Empire was not big on giving powers they can not control.

There were some other Descriptors I am considering, Civic and Beneficent are high on the list, as is Gregarious. These depend a lot on how much time we want to spend with various communities, and what counts as a 'community', does our ship?. Some of the options require spending months with a community before they work, and I did not think we were aiming to do that often.

If I ignore the slight desire to be bad at mental defence (noting that I am high in Intellect) I might take Serene as that fits the fiction of the character (many of the Descriptors and Foci seem perfect while reading the fiction, and are then let down when the mechanics they offer don't support it):

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In terms of Focus, the only one I that has really stood out to me is Fuses Mind and Machine, again largely for the fiction (Enhanced) but also to play with manipulating machines as well as people, and dealing with the potential concerns people might have about such augmentation (in others, though, since this one is mostly hidden).

I have an Inability in Crafting, Salvaging, and Understanding Numenera (hence needing the Nano for my upgrades), so hope that such machines will not count as 'Numenera'. I sorta see this like people being able to use computers well, even though they don't understand (nor craft, nor salvage) them. Let me know if I am on the wrong track.

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Arkus Skills give me Persuasion, some of the Descriptors I considered also give me Persuasion --which is fine, the rules say getting Trained from two sources bumps it up to Specialised-- but it also says to choose "another interaction skill in which you are not already trained..." and list some that overlap with ones from the Descriptors.

How do we rule something like Empathic that gives "You’re trained in all tasks involving social interaction, pleasant or otherwise", and the 'untrained only' Skill choices from the Arkus list, which are all 'social'? Do I 'already have' anything that comes from the Descriptor? It is listed first, but selected later.

Okay, how do you like this backstory?

Areen Sincos is an adaptable Delve who possesses a shard of the sunShe was born and raised on one of the smaller islands with that had a very tight-knit community. Areen was always inclined to go explore the volcano-created cave system of the island and go poke things with sticks. Some days she managed to convince friends to come along but she quickly realized that they were less enthusiastic about mysterious materials and ancient machines (of which there weren't many because the island was not inhabited continously due to its size). She had a happy childhood wandering around the island but her community was very poor. She would bring food from her adventures if she found any and kept an eye out for other things that might help her family in everyday life.

When Areen was a teenager, the civil unrest began and her island was hit hard by empire sanctions. They had already struggled before but with the rebellion going on, it was nearly impossible to survive. Her parents hated to see her go, but they were in a dire situation as well. So, at 19 years of age, they sent her out with a small boat and the promise to return.

One fateful day, not long after that -god knows what they were transporting, she just received a box with instructions to handle very, very, carefully- her cargo exploded and she was hit with shrapnel. Only she wasn't bleeding. Thousands of tiny bits had embedded themselves into her skin, so hot they seared the blood vessels closed right away. After recovering from what felt like being on fire permanently, Areen discovered that these shards had special powers relating to light that she could now utilize.

Everyone knows how the rebellion ended but Areen's community made it through thanks to her and the network of smugglers she managed to build. After it ended, Areen was recruited into the crew of one the networks' members, and she sailed with him until the untimely death of her friend, the captain. Now in her late 30's, she's not sure what to do, stay and give the admittedly talented crewmate a chance at captain (because she sure as hell isn't supporting Dante, never liked that guy), or leave and start her own operation?

I think that's a difficult question. She's still not entirely opposed to a new uprising and solving the issues that lead to the previous one once and for all, but I think at the time she's just trying to live her best life. She could go back home but after having seen so much of the world, being confined to her tiny island will make her feel like a caged animal. The freedom and potential for adventure is something she sought since she was little and working on a ship makes that possible.

[quote="NABO"]... She could go back home but after having seen so much of the world, being confined to her tiny island ...[quote]

We can turn your home into an important community that we go back to from time to time.
You could be working --out in the world-- to make their lives better, using the skills you have? Maybe something happened to the island during the war that needs a particular fix that we are helping you are look for?

Maybe there's a natural change that threatens the island's existance that I'm trying to find a way to avoid (with numenera) without moving the whole community. Sea level rise? The volcano is showing signs of becoming active again? Plant disease threatening food supply?

Resalon grew up in Maelock, one of the poorer northern islands. Not being on a regular trade route contributed to its poverty. Resalon is strong and of solid stature who would keep his incessant hunger at bay by keeping busy with exploring the strange and dark recesses of his island. One day, on one of his exploratory hikes, he saw an organized fight and decided to find out more. There was a newcomer's bout where anyone could challenge anyone else. He picked the biggest fighter and won handily. He impressed an onlooker who became his mentor and took him on, training and teaching him to hone his skills and become a better fighter. During this time the rebellion was going on and his mentor was killed by an empire soldier. He harbored some resentment towards the empire from then on. His mentor was replaced by a shadow jack who he met one day when delving in some caves. They became fast friends and went out exploring together. He learned about stealth and climbing and basically all tier 1 superb explorer stuff. His starting cypher might have been found on one of these cave or spelunking adventures.

Areen and Resalon could easily be from the same island and met either exploring, at a fight, or some other way.

Resalon is submitted.

Without a clear answer about the interaction of the overlapping Training between Emapthic and Arkus, I will skip the Empathic Descriptor and go with Curious, though Intuitive does have some appeal --mainly the ability to speak first and try to calm things before others get to act. Curious fits the character more, I think, what with their need to study and explore and understand in order to upgrade themself.

I could use a little input from the rest of you about my Arkus' second Precept (Ability) choice.

I am almost definitely taking Understanding as my first. It is boring, but will come up all the time. It is what an Arkus does.

I am thinking about Babel --which lets me understand languages. But I worry that everyone else might get left out in the cold if we spend a lot of time dealing with peoples we can not otherwise understand. Without this we are all in the same boat, and can muddle through, taking it means we will probably find ourselves in more situations that require languages. I will only take this if everyone else is actually interested in playing with language barriers.

Given my history, I would like to have a Connection with the Empire. Do we like that idea? It affords me access to knowledge about what they are up to, but also helps us in all our dealings with them. It does mean we are more likely to end up dealing with them. Fictionally, this one is slightly harder to add later, but I would have this anyway, just without the mechanics. :)

Babel and the Empire connection sound good to me. Leaving us out is less of a problem in pbp than live and it might lead to some interesting situations

For ship names I like the idea of naming it after a legendary creature or deity connected to the sea. The link has tons of suggestions and I like a lot of them, check it out

Just throwing out some ship possible names:

Defiant Envoy
Proximus
Nauculip
Nautilne
Pinnacle

I like the deity connection idea too.