Sunday, August 5, 2007

A slight detour to a galaxy far far away!

I am taking my friends on a slight detour. We are on hiatus due to my son’s recent birth. I wanted to take a dip in some different campaign settings. So far Star Wars and Superheroes have had the biggest response. I am hoping this detour may lead to a new favorite campaign or make us appreciate our Palladium campaign and want to return to it.

After asking what race and class everyone wanted to play in Star Wars, I created the characters and their backgrounds. Here they are…


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Few wookiees leave their home world of Kashyyyk by choice, Jowrhynn is no exception. Trandoshan slavers often raid Kashyyyk to capture wookiees. Jowrhynn defended his clan bravely but in the end was subdued and sold into slavery.

For 2 years, he was a gladiator in a Hutt crime lord’s arena. During a gang war between his owner and another crime family he managed to escape. For the next 12 years he worked as a mercenary, body guard, and repo-man. As imperial oppression choked the galaxy it became harder and harder to make a living as an independent soldier.

During a mission to recover property from an aristocrat due to a delinquent debt, Jowrhynn had his first experience with the “real” side of the empire. The aristocrat called in a favor and an imp sergeant and his stormtroopers interrupted the repo job. Jowrhynn and his team were beaten and arrested for theft. Jowrhynn was going quietly hoping his cooperation would help him at trial. Then he overheard the sergeant tell the stormtroopers to load them up and take them to Orvax. Jowrhynn had never forgotten Orvax. It was the first planet he had ever been to after he was take from Kashyyyk. Orvax is the slave marketplace to the galaxy. Jowrhynn would rather die then be enslaved again and in a moment of desperation and rage he killed two stormtroopers and fled.

Now a wanted criminal by the Empire, Jowrhynn’s last hope for freedom and justice lies with joining the Rebel Alliance.
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Guy Devarian never knew his parents, Dad left before he was born and Mom died when he was young. He was raised by his Uncle Bellomi. Uncle Bellomi was an independent freighter pilot with his own Corellian YT-2400, The Lighting Nebula VI. He did mostly cargo transporting but from time to time would take on passengers.

Uncle Bellomi was always more like a best friend then an uncle to Guy. Uncle Bellomi never tried to hide his smuggling work from him growing up. When Guy was preteen he practiced a dangerous game of pick pocketing while at the different spaceports they would visit.

As Guy grew into adolescence, he became more attentive at Uncle Belome's "business" dealings. For years, Guy silently watched the intricate dance of negotiation between his Uncle and the "client". More then once, he saw his Uncle get the short end of a deal because he didn't see through the client's front. Finally, Guy couldn't take it and as he began to see another deal going in the direction of less pay, he spoke up. At first Uncle Belome, was startled and as Guy began to haggle with the client he started to become angry, fearing he was going to lose the deal. Then, all of sudden, the client caved-in and offered more money. Uncle Belome was overjoyed when they left the cantina. Soon Guy became invaluable at negotiations. His friendly laidback demeanor made even the hardest of underworld figures feel relaxed and willing to be reasonable. It wasn't long before Guy began working almost all of their contacts and brought in so much work they always had a "run" lined up. Work was steady and the times were good for them. They grew in popularity as sought after smugglers. They were even saving up for Guy to get his own ship.

Uncle Bellomi was approached by a hooded stranger in a cantina on Centerpoint Space Station in the Core. The deal seemed pretty straight forward, delivering some crates and the offer was fair, nothing suspicious, so he agreed. The dealing was so quick and easy he forgot to even mention it to Guy. They arrived on Vorzyd 5 on the Outer Rim three weeks later.

Guy headed to the casinos to drum up their next run and Uncle Bellomi heads to the drop off with the crates from Centerpoint. Two hours have past since Guy returned from the casino and Uncle Bellomi is still not back. Guy began searching the heavily urban area for signs of Uncle Bellomi.

It had been 2 days, Guy asked around, offered reward credits, and even made some bribes, but no one knew anything about his uncle. As the second day was ending, Guy spotted Uncle Bellomi’s jacket on a homeless person. Guy roughed up the bum but the bum told him he found it in a dumpster. Guy found Uncle Bellomi’s datapad, comlink, and his holo-recorder in the hidden coat pocket. When Guy returned to The Lighting Nebula VI, his uncle’s murder was all on the holo-recorder. He could see the face of his uncles attacker but it was a woman and she called her self the “Emperor’s Hand”. She ignited some kind of “energy sword” and cut Uncle Bellomi down. Guy didn’t know who she was, what that weapon was called, or what an Emperor’s Hand is, but if the empire killed his uncle they were going to pay. Guy sought out the rebellion and used all his skills and contacts to aid the cause.

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Remei has been working on droids since she was 7 years old. Her parents were deep space explorers. They would be out for months between ports charting new hyperspace lanes. Remi had no siblings or pets so she spent a lot of time with the ship’s R5 Astromech droid. R5C7 lead her to an old NR5 maintenance droid in the ships cargo bay. Under R5C7’s tutelage Remi began tinkering with the long disabled NR5. Her parents were so pleased when she repaired the NR5 they began to encourage her interest in droids. After a while, every port they stopped in, Remi would pick up droid parts, manuals, even complete but broken droids. By 18, Remi has more experience with Droids then most freelance droid engineers on any core world.

Her parents’ ship went missing a few years back. Remei knew as deep space explorers it was a hard truth that one day they would get lost or worse out there in the black. She made a life for herself on Muunilinst on the Outer Rim. She opened a small droid repair shop with her old astromech R5C7. Then the imperials came. They asked her a lot of questions about her parents, the work they did, and their connection to the rebel alliance. When she didn’t know anything about them working for the rebels, they got rough and wrecked her shop. Then they learned that R5C7 was her parents’ droid, they confiscated him.
It was months and no one could tell her what happened to R5C7. The day before she was leaving Muunilinst, at the spaceport she saw a black and white imperial R5 unit but imperials don’t manufacture R5 units. That night before her ship took off, she shot the R5 unit with an ion gun and dragged the unconscious droid on board. It was R5C7, his memory had been wiped. Luckily, she had backup-ed his mind 6 months prior to the imps showing up. Now there was only one course action seek out the Rebel Alliance and find out the truth about her parents.
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Tekba was a legitimate freighter pilot. It wasn’t glamorous but it paid well and he enjoyed the constant space travel. Imperial inspections were nothing new to him, in fact it would be a surprise if the imp officer didn’t crack open a crate and “confiscate” a couple of bottles of Corellian wine, pair of clothing, or whatever he was hauling. He loved the raw material loads, almost guaranteed nothing would be “confiscated”. But things with the imperials starting getting worse, a bottle or two became a case or two, and then they started taking full crates. Soon Tekba was paying more in lost cargo fees then he was getting paid for the run.

He remembers the morning he got up to go to his new job as a pilot on a personnel transport ship. It meant better pay, same route everyday, cleaner, safer, and best of all no lost cargo fees. He put on his uniform and turned on the news. He was half way through his morning coffee when he heard, “Mon Calamari secedes from the Empire.” He was shocked. The news said Mon Calamari had released an official statement explaining their actions, “To the citizens of the Republic…” the news feed went dead. Tekba found himself paralyzed in front of the screen. He had to know why, why his home world would take such a dangerous course. 3 minutes, a whole 3 minutes had past. What is happening?

Suddenly, the news came on with a different anchorman. He wasn’t any reporter Tekba had seen before and he was wearing a military press uniform. The stern face human explained that Mon Calamari’s government has been infiltrated by terrorist. He read a statement from the Emperor’s high command vowing to rescue the Mon Calamari people from this false regime. He went on to say the statement that was about to be read was interrupted because imperial intelligence suspects it is a coded message meant to activate terrorist cells throughout the Empire.

As the broadcast ended Tekba’s new job called and told him not to come in, he was fired. Later, he learned Mon Calamaris all over the empire were being laid off. Then the hate crimes started, every Mon Calamari was a suspected terrorist. Within weeks of that broadcast, they started rounding up Mon Calamaris in the core and taking them to a secret relocation camp for their safety. Tekba was hours from reporting to the spaceport to be taken to the relocation camps when a friend of his came to his apartment and told him he heard from a rebel agent that the “relocation camp” is in fact the mining prison on Kessel! Tekba decides to put his piloting skills to use for the Rebel Alliance in hopes of saving his people.
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Manfando was a famous and well respected doctor and surgeon. Later in his career he led a non-for profit medical team of some of the most brilliant doctors in the galaxy. They provided vaccines, surgeries, and physical therapy to beings throughout the galaxy for free or little cost. When Manfando wasn’t making house calls to over a dozen planets, he was gathering support and funding from wealthy core worlds. Thanks to the generous contributions from noble families on core planets such as Alderaan, Manfando’s work was possible. Out of no where the imperial government contacted Manfando and his team to find a cure to the disease that has ravaged the people of Altora for over a decade. They assured full funding in exchange for this being Manfando’s primary project.

As an Ithorian, he looked on in painful disgust as the signs of the wholesale rape of the planet’s natural resources were everywhere. This once lush world had been mined and polluted to the brink of destruction. The worst was yet to be revealed. Manfando and his team arrived at the central “hospital” to find a filthy house of the dieing being run by a handful of incompetent imperial medical interns. They explained that the disease only affects the Altora people and after months of agony it turns fatal.

Three years later, a cure is eminent though not yet found. The treatment has brought the death toll down considerably. For the first time since his arrival Manfando has hope that the Altora people will survive. Suddenly, the planetary news reports an earthquake on the southern continent at the site of the main mining facility, millions die in the first moments of the quake and hundreds of thousands more are missing in the rubble and collapsed mines. Manfando and his team ready themselves to deploy for disaster relief when they are ordered back to their hospital to continue research on the cure.

Months pass as the news increases the number of dead by the hour. Manfando is told by some Altora locals that imperial ships have been decommissioning mining facilities all over the planet. As the mines shut down, the Altora people are being sent home and residential areas are becoming quickly over populated. Manfando knows the situation is ripe for a fresh outbreak of the disease. As Manfando attempts to ask for additional help, the empire informs him that his funding is being cut. He is told plainly that the empire’s long-term investment in Altora has come to completion now that it is no longer economic to mine there.

Without the necessary funding for research, a cure is impossible. Manfando and his team leave to seek private funding from the galactic community. However, educating the imperial citizens on the Altorian people’s plight takes time. Once the funds were finally raised, imperial red tape slowed their return further. It was 18 months before they return.

Manfando’s ship touched down on a planet size graveyard. He and his crew spent weeks searching for survivors. What they found instead was that the disease was a direct result of the imperials strip mining this planet and like a well planned murder they left no witnesses.

Several of Manfando’s team left to show their findings to the imperial senate but their ship had an “accident” while entering orbit on Coruscant and all on board were lost. Manfando went into hiding then joined the Rebels swearing justice for the death of his friends and the Altora people.

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