[This is the first letter directed at a specific PBEM Traveller game.
This is the first of four starting up. I'm going in order of receipt
and intend to answer each player in turn. Everyone on the Traveller
Mailing List is currently a listener, although a more restricted list
can be invoked if someone makes the request.]
Character Summary:
Melisa Johnsway, bright daughter of a Scout KIA while on active
duty, has reluctantly been completing a languages degree on
Astel Tine before obsessively pursuing the cause of her father's
untimely demise (Al Muller).
Hello Al,
Since you sent your character in first, we'll start with you. I'll
comment on your character sheet and then we'll get into the real
nitty-gritty.
> Melisa Johnsway
> UPP - 9A9B98
Strong, agile, very intelligent, well educated, from a middle-class
home. Oh, and you can't graduate from the Unified Academy with an
education of 9. Make that an A or B if she did okay and B or C if she
did really well in school. Also increase your social standing to 9.
Just graduating from this school is worth that. You're very
well-educated now, and if you go on to graduate school some day your
education should increase more. Please send an updated character
sheet when you've deliberated over this and made your decision.
> AGE 22, Single, Birthday = 127
Naturally, we don't know which year until we synchronize everyone's
calendar and start adventuring, after skill generation.
> Planet of Birth: Galen's Belt (Scout base location)
See the world detail that I have mailed out.
> HEIGHT 5'8"
> WEIGHT 160 lbs.
> Brown hair, currently short, but College ID shows it long.
> Blue eyes.
> College: Astel Tine : Unified Academy of Languages
See another world detail that I have mailed out.
> BA in Linguistics
> Swim Team
> Sky Diving Team
> ROTC, Navy
The BA in liguistics is not just your ordinary Bachelor of Arts. It's
like graduating from Harvard. Like Harvard, most graduates are expected
to go onto a higher degree. That doesn't have to be for a while,
though, and any place would admit a graduate from UAL.
You didn't mention how well she did in school. How do you envision her
scholastic performance? Potentially she should do very well, but in fact
her upset may have damaged her performance. However, this may mean the
difference between graduating Cum Laude (sp?) or merely with honors. :-)
> Family
> Father Michael, deceased, SCOUT
> KIA 2 years ago while on active duty
> Official report stated that his Voyager class
> scout ship was attacked by smugglers and destroyed.
> Mother Joan, 60, Ex-scout, Geologist.
> Brother Roman, 33, currently in active Scout service.
> Sister Emelia, 31, married to a Scout, two children.
> Brother Nicholis, 30, a birth defect prevented him from
> joining any service. Currently a ship electronics
> design engineer.
Scout city! That's to be expected in a system like Galan's Belt. One of
the reasons Melisa was able to attend the Academy (which requires a
passage ticket to Astel Tine (expensive!) as well as Tuition, books,
room and board, etc.) is that 1) there is a scholarship program at the
linguistics school for high achievers who are also Scout children
(founded by the Terran Imperium Scouts to foster studies in liguistics),
and 2) the relatively affluent society of Galan's Belt is very poor in
schooling (being a newer settlement and fairly low population), so
scholarships for higher education are often awarded to individuals with
proven need and high scholarship.
> Outline
> Originally Milisa had intended to join the Scout service as
> an Alien Contact Specialist. Milisa was totally devastated
> when her father was killed. She was ready to quit college and
> join the Navy immediately. Her mother and brothers convinced
> her to finish college and complete her degree. She decided to
> compromise and join the Navy ROTC while finishing college.
Apparently Melisa and her father were very close. I wonder if it was
the typical father-daughter closeness that tends to dissolve as the
child grows older, thereby reflecting immaturity in Melisa's character,
or just that the friendship was so close that the mature Melisa became
driven to right the wrongs of the criminal smugglers.
> Goal
> Milisa's only goal is to bring her father's murderers to
> justice. To this end she will volunteer for any tour of
> duty that she thinks will help in reaching her goal. This
> includes intelligence gathering and underground infiltration
> work.
Sounds like a good candidate for the Speciality School of Intelligence
for the Menion Sector region of the Terran Navy. The task of dealing
with piracy, smuggling, slavery in other subsectors, etc. has fallen to
the Terran Navy because the Subsector Navies are too small to encompass
the whole problem, the scouts are too unrigidly structured, and
organizational politics between these frontier regions is still shaky
because of their recent incorporation into the Terran Imperium.
> Personality
> Somewhat spoiled, being the baby daughter by 8 years the youngest
> Fairly physical, but not obsessed with sports.
> Expert at bar darts and elbow lifts.
> Likes meeting new people (College minor is psychology).
> Does not like machinery, especially greasy oily ones.
> Average senses, but above average hearing, necessary for a
> linguist
> Has never met a knot she couldn't untie, given enough time.
A certain amount of spoiledness also arises from the affluent nature of
retired scouts in the high-technology Galan's Belt system. However, the
low population of the Galan's Belt system also contributes to a strange
small-town outlook on life that a large percentage of Galan's Belt-ers
grow up and live with.
Now down to the "nitty gritty".
Let me try to paint you a picture.
Melisa has been living in Academy housing during the past four years,
due to the high cost of individual dwellings in Port City on Astel Tine.
Port City is inhabited by roughly 10 million people, and has served as
the cultural hub of Astel Tine for the last four hundred years.
She's packed her few bags of personal belongings (you can't take much on
a tour of duty with the Terran Navy), including memorabilia from Swim
Team and Skydiving and her certificate of graduation.
Her roommates, Joey Caruthers and Tchin Li, banter playfully with Melisa
before she leaves, but deep within they all feel as Melisa does, a
characteristic feeling of emptiness, the end of a welcome chapter of her
life. But Joey is also a Naval ROTC candidate, and she will be
accompaning Melisa into the Terran Navy.
[Does Melisa have any love-interests she's leaving behind? Methinks she
seemed a little bit remote due to her preoccupation with her father's
death, so maybe no serious "Mr. Right," but probably a bunch of
handsome, intelligent, lucky friends? Only you can help me here....]
Melisa steps out of the house commons, crosses the street braved against
the crisp autumn wind. It's a pretty day, with the smell of wet leaves
and tantalizing odors from the student commons cafeteria joining the
strains of a loud stereo wafting through the thin air.
She walks deliberately on a couple blocks to the Student Union, enters
the building. This late in finals week there are few students left on
campus she knows, so she is unaccosted during her trip. She steps up to
the Post Office, buys a Galan's Belt XBoat Dispatch Stamp (grumbling at
the high cost of postage these days), and transfers her electronic
leaflet to the outgoing message database, validating the transaction
with her thumbprint. Her mother will be happy to get the last letter
sent before she enters the Navy proper.
Then she leaves the Union and heads to the Armed Forces Fieldhouse,
about three blocks away. As the sun casts its last ruddy rays through a
break in the clouds, Melisa enters the fieldhouse and checks in with her
CO.
Fifteen minutes later Joey shows up, characteristically there at the
last second. She rushes in, lays her baggage in the big heaps of grey,
blue, and tan luggage next to Melisa's, and rushes over as the officer
calls them all to attention.
They all march in squads into the small auditorium and take their seats
before the functional podium. A scattered but boisterous and happy
crowd of family members watches on from the risers behind. Melisa wishes
her family could be there and truly understand her decision to enter the
Navy.
The colors are presented with the Imperial Anthem and Pledge of
Allegiance to the Imperial Throne and Senate, and all candidates sit.
The speaker introduced is Commodore Erix Messin, an aging fellow with
brown hair speckled with grey and exuding fleet operations experience.
The candidates stand at attention and salute sharply. Commodore Messin
clears his throat and begins to speak:
"At ease, candidates. Please be seated.
"Well, candidates, this is it. Up until now you've been students and
academic excellence has been your greatest duty and service to the
Terran Navy. But starting today your duty is the application of that
knowledge to good of all peoples in your Imperium and their Allies.
"The quality of the work you do will have a direct impact on every
citizen in every community of our far-flung Empire. As you are aware,
the greatest task standing before the Terran Imperium in our Sector
today is to protect all the peoples of the Imperium by armoring our
society against those who would damage its organization. To this end
the Terran Imperium has its greastest directive -- to unify the Imperial
and Menion Allegiance worlds and to protect all worlds besieged by the
frontier villainy of piracy and exploitation."
This speech goes on for a while, and is concluded with a recommendation
by the Field Officer of each military organization that each of his
(enumerated) candidates should recieve their own commission. Each
candidate approaches the podium in turn an a manner reminiscent of
college graduation, except that each individual's commission is read
aloud.
Melisa watches rather detachedly until Joey is called to approach the
podium. Joey's deep azure eyes are bright with controlled excitement as
she stands, her short, braided dark hair blending well with the dress
blacks. She approaches the podium measuredly, her stoic expression
barely restraining the eagerness of her emotion. "This is the
culmination of years of dreaming!" she thinks, as she lets her mind revel
in the experience. She salutes the Commodore perfectly and stands
smartly at attention, looking directly into the Commodore's eyes.
"Joey Caruthers of the Far Moon system. You are charged to defend your
Imperium by accepting the rank of Ensign and by following your desire
to attend the Hoskin Naval Medical School at the Astel Tine system."
She responds immediately with the formal reply, "Sir, I accept my
Imperium's challenge. Thank you, sir!", and takes her place in the
growing assembly of newly-commissioned officers.
Melisa knows it is her turn next. "Melisa Johnsway, please approach the
podium."
"Melisa Johnsway of the Galan's Belt system. You are charged to defend your
Imperium by accepting the rank of Ensign and by reporting to Basic and
Advanced Officer Training at the Astel Tine system."
Okay. Your turn now to paint a picture as best you can, and flesh out
stuff that comes to your mind from the above stuff. Think of it as
Free Association time. Please answer any questions I either posed
directly or alluded to.
Do you have High Guard (book 5)? Do you want to use it? Regardless of
which book we use, I view skill generation very laxly. Sure, the
character shouldn't be over-skilled, but should be able to decide a
number of the experiences she will encounter (and skills she would gain)
throughout her career (naturally she would have a few experiences she
will be dragged through that she may not think are that great...).
I envision the future course of events in this way: She will enter the
Navy in any branch she wishes (High Gaurd or no, I'd like to know your
choice between: Technical Services, Line, Engineering [seems unlikely],
Gunnery [Also seems unlikely], Flight or Medical. If she wants to go to
Flight or Medical School I need to know now!) and will try very hard to
enter Intelligence School. She is likely to work herself into a number
of Shore Duty (actually Intelligence-seeking adventures) and as advisor
for Strike missions (where Pirates/smugglers are rooted out and
eradicated/brought to justice/etc.) Probably spend some time on Patrol,
too.
This could be a good opportunity for adventuring in the framework of an
ongoing military career. However, I have little (read zippo) military
experience to draw on for source material, so I'd have to make a pile of
this stuff up (I've been told I'm okay at this, though). Also, if
you've been in a military organization, I may not be at all convincing,
and it would probably be better for us to send her through her whole
career with the military and toss her out the other end before
adventuring.
I also need to know how emotionally mature she is. I am assuming she is
planning to go on a life-long quest of eradicating smugglers if she
needs to to find her father's killers, and that she's pretty mature now;
but I could be totally off-base. It could take 5 years or fifty, but
presents an opportunity for adventuring that I'm unlikely to resolve
quickly, at least until something better comes up. :-)
What do you think? Try to help me out with this, the continuing story...
[And to the list... Comments, anyone? Feel free to post it to the list
unless it's a flame].
_ ___
| | / _ \ James T. Perkins, [email removed], 629-1149
| |__ | |_| | Tektronix Logic Analyzers, DAS System Software, Display
|[address removed]
Killed processes never die... They just go to the big Bit Bicket in the sky.