Character Creation

I would like to play a navigator. Thinking Delve who knows the area well because she was involved with smuggling for the rebellion. Always on the lookout for new places to explore.

I'm thinking the ship definitely has to have some kind of submersible where we can store the more questionable cargo or to get away in dicey situations.

I am not at home at the moment, so sorry this is short, but I would be interested in creating the ship’s doctor/surgeon.

Edit: Alright, I am back home so I can be more specific:

Cordall is a mechanical nano who works miracles.
Background (nano): Forbidden Knowledge
Connection (nano): You served as an apprentice under a nano respected and feared by many people, and you now bear her mark.
Skill (mechanical): You’re trained in all actions involving identifying or understanding the numenera.
Sense "magic" (mechanical): You can sense whether the numenera is active in situations where its presence is not obvious. You must study an object or location closely for a minute to get a feel for whether the touch of the ancients is at work.
Inability (mechanical): You have a manner or an aura that others find a bit unnerving. The difficulty of any task involving charm, persuasion, or deception is increased by one step.
Connection (works miracles): Another PC quietly suspects that you’re a messiah or supernatural being. He is not aware of the suspicion.
Esoteries: Hedge Magic (mechanical), Onslaught (nano), Scan (nano), Healing Touch (works miracles)

General backstory: Cordall is a biomechanical hybrid that has no idea where he originally came from. Though Cordall was not part of the rebellion (too young), he was the adopted child/student of a nano-healer who was killed in a targeted attack by the Empire. Since that time, he has trained under another nano-witch to hone his abilities as a doctor. Cordy is against the idea of calling numenera 'magic' and sees it as science and technology that can be learned, and that it is meant to help people. He has joined this troupe to travel and extend his knowledge of the numenera, and learn the medicine of the previous eight worlds.

I think a wind-powered sailing vessel sounds nice! Would NPCs just be general NPCs that are thought up on the fly, or do we make suggestions?

I'll be dusting off my book tomorrow morning and having a look-see. It's been a few years since I last played in a Numenera game.

As usual, I can play any type of character, if we need something specific, or if one of you want something specific to act as a foil to your gem, say so and I can try make it work.

I am happy to have the captain be a PC, it can add an interesting element to games if done right.

I will need to hunt down my Numenera book and read it again, it has been many years since I looked at this.
Do I need the new book? I might be able to borrow it.

I'm thinking a Clever or Intelligent Glaive who Explores Dark Places.

Okay, thinking a bit more about it, I now have: Areen Sincos is an adaptable Delve who possesses a shard of the sun (Not really set on the focus though, so if we need something different, I can still change it)

Edit to answer all questions: I'm totally okay with having a player be the captain, just don't want to be a leader myself. As already described, Areen was involved in the rebellion as a smuggler. I think the PC roles should be what everyone likes best themselves, we're already set up nicely with a medic, a fighter type, a navigator. Don't know what vagueGM likes, maybe they want to be captain. We could probably use someone who handles cargo and someone who establishes contacts too (though having more of one type wouldn't hurt either), my suggestion would be for the NPCs to be average deckhands or one of the roles I mentioned if it doesn't get filled.

Refugees on board would be more of an exception than a rule I would think, passengers maybe (as a cover? People we know hitching a ride?)

I have not looked through the books yet. Is this 'Empire' something you cooked up (for the 'Firefly' theme) or an existing thing from the book?

I glanced at the start of the Destiny book, and was intrigued by the 'Enhanced' background option for the Arkus. Maybe I was made to be a leader for the empire, and served them?
Maybe I eventually fought for the rebellion, but also maybe not. For sure, I don't like them, and now oppose them, but may have been on the other (wrong) side for a while (possibly not voluntarily).
Part of the attraction for the Enhanced background is the need to find upgrade Numenera to Advance. This was spurred by how that might interact with Data's Nano's interest in using Numenera to help people (or help me install upgrades).

I like that I need to rely on the Nano, and don't want to be too good at finding or understanding Numenera due to the other two respectively being a Delve, and having Explores Dark places. An Arkus could help being them all together.
I am slightly inclined to focus on the PCs at the start rather than taking on refugees. Maybe we get to know us before we add too many non-crew NPCs? Especially if they will be around long-term rather than just 'covert transport'?
I am not all that keen on having a NPC in charge of us. I would prefer the captain to be one of us. But I don't feel strongly about this, it is just an unreasoned initial reaction.

I can imagine that the empire neglected a bunch of the smaller islands, people there were suffering so they tried to rise up (that could have also been when Areen became involved. She was disillusioned seeing her family struggle and took it upon herself to get stuff to the people who need/want it)

I’m not sure if I was able to answer the questions correctly, so please let me know if any clarification is necessary!
I’m not sure if Cordy has a definite ‘opposition to the Empire’ goal, but he is against them considering they killed his mother and he (as a biomechanical hybrid) would be considered a general outcast at best and a tool at worst to them.

That being said, Cordy is the opposite of an independent, moody loner. His personality is a bit more like Kaylee from Firefly. He’s a bit of a prodigy and focused very heavily on his desire to help people and further medicine, but he’s also got a very innocent/sheltered personality due to 1) still being pretty young and 2) never getting the chance to go out and explore the world before.

He’s both excited/determined, but also nervous and out of his depth. He’s far more likely to want to stick with someone than go off alone, which works well as a healer.
Generally a war orphan? The implication in his backstory is that the Empire committed (what we would consider to be) war crimes by targeting the rebellions healers/medics. This could tie into the overall Numenera setting having suspicions/fears about Nanos, which is why taking even the non-combatant nanos was a priority.

He was probably angrier about it when his mom was initially killed, but now his focus is more on helping others than taking down the empire. My impression was that our group would be similar to the Firefly group, in that they’re mostly trying to live their lives without Empire influence, rather than start a new rebellion, and any conflict with the Empire would require an inciting incident. If you would like me to rework that, let me know!
Doctor/surgeon was his intended role, but let me know if you meant something else by role.
I’m a fan of the idea of picking up refugees or passengers along the way, but maybe not start with them? Cordy would definitely be interested in helping those who retain injuries from the war, or whose cities/villages suffered illness as a result of the war.
It looks like we have a Navigator, Doctor, Fighter and Leader. I could see vagueDM’s Arkus being the Captain and Windyridge’s Glaive being a Zoe-like first mate potentially.

We’ll probably need a shipwright/carpenter (Wight?) as an NPC, maybe, though I think we’re well rounded otherwise. Any other NPC’s would be dependent on how many bodies it takes to sail the ship. We may assume NPC crewmen take over shifts/duties when the rest are sleeping.
Cordy doesn’t like to think about it, but he would probably be very angry if he ever found out who in the Empire ordered attacks against the medics. He mostly stays out of the Empire’s sights though, since he is a nano and partially mechanical, which could put him on their target list.
I’m also a fan of the Captain being a PC rather than an NPC. Since the Captain leads the group, it’s awkward for that to be a GMPC because the balance between having the character be a strong captain and it being a very one-sided adventure would be hard to navigate. When it’s a PC, everyone’s on the same footing and it makes sense to have a party-leader.

Oh, I like it, the crew has an identity crisis after their leader perishes. Though vagueGM's character sounds very much like a captain type, so we may have a PC captain after all

I like the wind-powered ship and the setting idea of an archipelago provides so much fodder for drama. The various islands could have different political bents, with some having loyalties to the rebellion, while others have ties to the empire or even a mix of both.

Having one of us be the captain vs an NPC feels better to me and I'm ok with Vague being that captain if everyone else is, and wants a player captain in the first place.

I'd like to see the PC's get established before refugees or passengers are taken on, but those would be interesting elements to introduce later.

For my part, my character comes from an island in the archipelago that is in a state of flux with some inhabitants being for the empire, and some against it. He is undecided as to who he supports when he finds himself on the ship, and the other PC's could convince him to support one side or the other. He might be a fighter type but he is thoughtful and doesn't feel he has enough information to make an informed decision and declare a side yet.

Function on board? He's a strong type so apart from his fighting prowess he could have something to do with cargo perhaps?

Why are we all on board in the first place?

That was the impression I got, and why being Enhanced and needing exactly such a medic who understands Numenera, sounded like fun.

While the Arkus in this scenario would also have some mechanical implants, the contrast between how people treat an Arkus versus how they treat a Nano could be interesting.
I will take you under my wing and keep you safe. :)
Fortunately I believe I was not involved in that. I am from before that time. My 'Enhancements' have kept me looking younger than I am, so I only look middle-age.

Even if we do have a PC captain, it does not need to be me just because I proposed playing a 'leader' type (which is not fixed in stone, just first in the book:). An Arkus could just as easily be a diplomat type --or something like that-- following the lead of our real captain (who could be one of you).

I am happy to be the captain if we want that. I will then lean into that role (maybe with a descriptor like Beneficent, Civic, or, Empathetic, depending on how much we want to play into communities and such).
Feeling a little worried about being captain, right now. :)
What is this Poison'd? Lasers and Feelings? :)

I just glanced at the table of contents on Discovery, I see that Empathetic is not there, it is a Cypher System Descriptor (Numenera does not have many!).

Are the Cypher System options available? (Only the ones that still fit the theme, of course.)

Discovery doesn't have all the descriptors. The Player's Guide does, it's a combination of Discovery and Destiny

Thanks, I will look into that tomorrow.

I do like the idea of the captain dying and the ensuing drama unfolding but will defer to the majority on this one. Either works for me, but my character is probably not the captain type so he wouldn't fill that role should a vacancy arise.

I don't mind, so long as I only become captain after that happens. :)

Well of course! We need you in the game! xD

Hey, wait! We are only talking about killing my character right? I can survive that. :)

I’m not entirely sold on the previous captain just died/power struggle hook - simply because I like the United ‘troupe’/crew angle. But, I wouldn’t mind the Captain dying and the first mate having to take over - making it a new dynamic - but, I think any mutineers who would cause a power struggle ought to be NPCs.
From the game desc, I got the impression that everyone is on the ship as a means of having some measure of freedom from the Empire - whether it’s because they have their own goals outside of what the Empire would want for them, or because they are actively against the Empire. For example, I’m not sure how well an Empire loyalist would work in this scenario, but most other PC ideas could work well.
Honestly, I just really like your character concept - it’s a good and complex backstory for a leader character. If we do go with the previous captain dying in the skirmish they just got into, the Arkus could have previously been the first mate/ambassador of the group who now has to suddenly take on the responsibility of captain.
Yes! I love it! Cordy needs a mentor figure since he’s still so new to the ‘real’ world. I also like the contrast of a Mechanical Nano being around a diplomatic Arkus, since they definitely give off opposite first impressions.

Cordy would get along well with any exploratory group - and our Navigator Delve and Glaive who Explores Dark Places, sounds like they would all be keen on exploring dangerous places to uncover secrets and Numenera.

I mean, the captain might not have been killed by mutineers. He might as well have died by bonking his head, falling overboard unconcious and drowning, or Malaria, or being killed by the husband of a woman he slept with while on land.

Also, yes, Areen is super curious and loves finding new secret corners

Yes, agreed. My guy, who probably needs a name, would be very much into exploration.

Yes! All suitable deaths, my favs being falling overboard or killed by a jealous husband.

No love for Malaria? How sad LOL

Heh. Only because it's slow and not as dramatic as the silliness of falling off the ship or being chased by an enraged husband.

The game description mentions:
So I was assuming the original captain died in that skirmish. The power struggle deal is what Qralloq suggested:
I think rather than having the PCs be in various internal parties, they should all be in one and be in support of the first mate. But that’s only if we’re going with that as the opening hook.

That's a good point, I hadn't connected those dots.
I think it doesn't necessarily have to be as extreme as deferring to mutiny. I was thinking that Areen maybe was a personal friend of the captain's in addition to being in his/her crew. In that case she might struggle with the power change as well, because she feels someone is trying to replace her friend, not because she's planning on backstabbing.

I like it!

Me too

I'm good with that too!

If it is me, then here is one possible --off the top of my head-- way I see it:

My character knew that captain from the war (which suggests the captain was also an Empire soldier?!). When they decided to put together a jolly crew the old captain recruited me to help.

I think the captain wanted me as first mate, but I turned that down. Now both the captain and the first mate were killed in the aforementioned skirmish and people are just assuming I will take over.

Maybe I was (unofficially?) second mate? But maybe I was an 'ambassador' or equivalent as suggested, merely there to smooth over trade relations and negotiation hiccups? Maybe I controlled the money as well, which I insist is not a good reason to put me in charge!

Friends of the old captain (like Areen) know the captain trusted me, so would be happy with me as the next captain (removing inter-PC tension) even if they would --obviously-- prefer the old to be be with us. Some other (NPCs?) may be less pleased if we want to add some tension?

I think people also assume the old captain was my superior officer in the war (they were a 'captain' and I look younger than I am), and don't realise that it was the other way round. That I don't really like 'being in charge', but keep having responsibility thrust upon me. :)

Similar to Firefly --where Mal and Zoe (but mainly Mal) were the only ones with strong feelings about the 'rebellion' bit-- not everyone on the crew needs to care about the Empire. It is possible the new captain is not as militant as the old, and that might be an issue for some who signed on to resist? I assume the Empire will insert itself directly into all our lives and become the enemy eventually.

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.

I think a language barrier would indeed be pretty restrictive for the rest of us.

As for the understanding ability, it makes sense to have it. It's almost like notice in Savage Worlds which you increase as high as you can because you'll use it a lot.

I like your connection with the empire idea.

I do like that name. It is so stupidly 'in your face' towards the empire that my character would hate it, but they are inheriting it and changing it would cause too many waves, rock the boat too much, even if it does make our job of flying under the radar so much harder. :)

I will take a look at the deity page and see if anything else stands out.

Yeah, let's skip that one.
I really don't like that mechanic. :) It is regularly my counter argument in other games where I contantly find myself saying "this not like 'notice', you already see everything you would reasonably see, this is about gathering more information from what you see". But, yes, there are similarities: I spend an action to ease my next action; boring but constantly useful.
It is probably my first choice, if the GM is happy with it.

We can come back later and finish filling this in. I also need to allocate my 6 Pool Points, though most of them are probably going into Intellect. I will find a portrait, a gender (any preferences, anyone?) and a name (often derived from the portrait) and then post later.

Alright, absent any objection I will assign that portrait and with it a gender-neutral persona to Adil.

Feel free to PM me if anyone has trouble with it. I found a whole lot of Baldur's Gate portraits coming up when I searched for 'Numenera', and thought that it might be disconcerting to see Minsc or Viconia here. (Yes I am dating myself, that is one of the most recent games I played... when it was new.)

Regarding gender, I think that is one of the things the Empire stripped away in their efforts to remove barriers and broaden appeal. Everyone sees in Adil what they find attractive or non-threatening, as appropriate.

I'm not really familiar with a lot of published WOTC content so I wouldn't mind

Me neither. I don't know who Minsc and Boo are but I'll have a gander on the internet. The only WOTC content I know is Magic The Gathering playing cards.

WOTC are even less relevant to my portrait that is apparently associated with Cyberpunk 2077. :)
But if no one knows it from there, then I guess there is no problem.

So that's why they were showing up, a new book. I thought it was just due to the Monte Cook era based associations. I did wonder why they were such high quality. :)

I'm happy with Areen, no changes necessary

I wanted to throw an idea out there though: if we're going to be playing parallel a lot (which I suspect might happen because our occupations are pretty different), it might be smart to have separate threads. One above deck and one below for example. Not set on this, just an idea, let me know what you think

Windy is happy with Resalon as is but very impatient to get her cyphers! xD

I technically still have to pick a Skill from Arkus, it is a tossup between Negotiation and Public Speaking. Negotiation seems more useful but I am leaning towards Public Speaking because it seems more amusing.

I have not looked deeply into gear. I did not see much in the book. I am supposed to start with a Light Weapon, and I figure a visible --though mostly decorative-- 'pistol' can help with being taken seriously.

I think I'm good with Cordell! I do need to get a better reference image for him but I'm bad at looking up images so I'm going to end up drawing it eventually.