Cast and Crew Rehersal:

I am gratified that players are eager for their characters to get to know each and to be known.  So I am opening this thread for players to OPTIONALLY post here about their characters.

For now, I suggest:
Write just a paragraph or so about your character, what you think is important.
Don't worry about formal crew positions, just let others know what you are skilled at (or things you need help with).
Let me know what Connection to Other Players you are open to.  This is mandatory for some games but optional for mine.
Assume, for now, that, as a group, you have been fighting together for between a month to a year.  Any of you could have been fighting the Empire longer than that on your own.
In a sentence, your group is a combination of Rebel Agents and Rebel Sympathizers.  The closest real-world analogy would be similar to the French Resistance being aided by agents of the OSS or SOE during World War II.
The Rebel Alliance would like to secret the Jedi away on a remote world and let them train the next generation of Jedi.  But the Empire is so powerful that the Jedi have to be involved (they might fall to the Dark Side simply due to callous inaction) so the mobile academy is the best compromise yet.  Your characters are not necessarily members of the Rebel Alliance (even if you often work together), the Jedi believe that most Rebels (no matter how loyal) cannot resist the attention of a Sith Inquisitor for long.

You are not married to what you write here.  You can change it all later.  This is just to start crew bonding.

Let me start with a few NPCs...

DJ-3PO

DeeJay is a translator/protocol droid that served in a marketing and advocacy function.  She is polite, cooperative and utterly devoted to her crew.  She is unflaggingly optimistic.

She is owned by the Rebel Alliance but by the ship crew as a cover.  She has been modified and enhanced by the Rebels but, thanks to the same modifications, she couldn't tell you how except in an emergency.

One of her previous owners had a used landspeeder lot so DeeJay was designed with loudspeakers and flashing lights, a garish paint job and a few other loud modifications.  She does her best not to give in to her "Buy it Now, One Day Only!!!" impulses.

As far as Connections to Other Characters go, DeeJay is utterly friendly and devoted to her crew.  She feels particular empathy for those who cannot vocalize Basic as Humans do.  I would imagine she is fond of TwoOneBee as the only other droid on board...

Aalizaaryn  Hen'nin

Aalizaaryn ('Ali') is a Twi'lek who was sold into slavery along with her family after the Empire made such arrangements legal.  She has lost touch with her family and believes them dead.  Ali feels this makes her a pure instrument completely devoted to the destruction of the institution that destroyed her family and clan.

Ali has a modicum of Force ability but her main advantage is a quick wit which serves her well in interpersonal skills.  It is easy for Ali to have Connections to other Characters, she is quite approachable and cares about everyone.  She would have an affinity towards Shen as a fellow but familiar alien.  It is also good for a manager to be on good terms with a pilot.  She would also like the other aliens and the Jedi.

She does have one piece of special equipment, a 'gift' from a former owner.  It is a brief outfit made up of very tiny metal links that can to some degree deflect energy, it gives +1D of protection against blasters and lightsabers (only added when the damage roll is otherwise a mortally wounded or dead result) at no penalty to Dexterity.  The skimpy armor can be worn under clothing and is sized only for Ali or a similarly-sized female humanoid.  The slight ensemble brings back ambivalent memories for Ali and she wears it only when she might expect trouble.

(This is but one example of a piece of enhanced equipment each character is entitled to.  Feel free so suggest an imaginative item for your character if you wish.)

Zekk Vekarr

Zekk Vekarr meet Aalizaaryn Hen'nin over twelve years ago on Yelsain in the Minos Cluster. Twelve years is a long time to be on the run, and if it wasn't for Aalizaaryn 'Ali', Zekk would have been detained by the Imperials. He was having trouble 'smooth talking' his way out of a jam until Ali stepped in to help.

In Zekk, Ali saw someone that needed help to avoid Imperial entanglements. Afterward Zekk would reveal that he was an orphan. His uncle raised him and taught him all that he knows today. A bond was formed from the ashes the Empire left in its wake.

---

Zekk is a man with natural charm and reflexes. He has traveled with Aalizaaryn for the past twelve years, so anyone she meet would have also meet Zekk. He does withdraw for periods of time in the cargo hold. Ali knows that Zekk trains in the Force without prying eyes. Zekk would It is easy for other characters to have connections with him, especially those with sensitivity to the Force.

---

Additional Developments
-Zekk learned to understand Lekku from Ali. In addition, they spent some time together practicing their understanding of the Force, but we unable to teach each other their particular skills since both were new.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:29, Sun 20 Dec 2015.

21B

TwoOneBee is a Medical and Surgical Specialist Droid that joined the Rebel Alliance to help heal the Republic.  His basic story, is that his penultimate owners were a wealthy ITHORIAN family on the mid rim world of MYRRAS.  The droid was purchased to take care of their daughter, whose illness required daily medical attention and supervision.  Unfortunately the family was arrested for refusing to surrender their medical research to Imperial forces.  TwoOneBee reluctantly became the property of the Imperial forces.  Being a competent Medic is always In demand, so he was sent to an Imperial frigate.  He cleverly escaped a mind wipe by careful equivocation and the fact that droids are not known to be untruthful.  Eventually the Imperials obtained a prisoner, a badly injured Rebel who they wanted healed enough so they could be interrogated/tortured for information.  The Medical Droid realized this was against his basic programming of "doing no harm" so he instead helped the prisoner to escape in a life pod.  He has been a member of the Rebels ever since.

He is currently owned by Captain Ali who has given him the considerable latitude to do as he thinks best as the Captain seems to trust him completely.  TwoOneBee is quite honest and has never lied to anyone of the crew.  He is loyal, amiable, courteous, often verbose, curious, astute, and committed to the belief that all life is important, including non-organic life.  He is a very competent medic and very knowledgeable about alien cultures.

The rebels have helped him to override his pacifist programming to some degree, although he will not take another life he will defend himself or other members of the crew, if circumstances warrant it.  He still blames the Empire for taking him from his Ithorian family and secretly would like to find them, or find out what happened to them.  For some reason he is fascinated with the card game called Pazaak.

He values his association with Deejay quite highly.

TwoOneBee is open to connections with any member of the other characters.  He could have met, healed, been repaired or assisted almost anyone during his long term of activation.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:48, Sun 29 Nov 2015.

Nate is a quiet man, who doesn't show much by the way of emotion normally. He has an odd sense of humor, and a bad sense of timing with it. He is extremely anti Empire, due to the massacre of everyone in his home system by an Imperial "Pacification" force. He became a bounty hunter, which is how Nate met Celes a few years ago, and they decided to become partners. It wasn't long after that when he was approached by the Alliance. He doesn't know why Celes joined too, because he never asked, but since it keeps their partnership intact, he's glad she did. Nate is a likable guy, but withdrawn. Those who get close enough to him find that he is actually a caring man, but does his best to keep his distance emotionally.

Nate was forced to hide under the noses of the Imperial forces on his home world, and survive without support, essentially behind enemy lines until they left the system. This experience taught him that silence, and staying out of sight is the best way to stay alive, and following your gut is the best way to stay unseen. What he didn't learn was that his "gut" is his sensitivity to the Force. Nate is not trained at all in the use of the force, and is unaware that he can learn to use it, however; force users near him would be able to tell that he can learn.

Nate's 3 favorite tools of the trade are his heavy blaster pistol, a spool of Flex-5 Detonite tape (Rules of Engagement Rebel Alliance sourcebook pg 69), and darkness.

Nate would likely have connections with anyone who has a connection with Celes, unless that person hasn't been actively in contact with her within the last 3-5 years. I'm open to other connections.

Thuk is a Borduvian Shambler (heavy-G arboreal quadrimorphs), looking something like a starfish covered in dense grey fur, with four arms equilaterally distributed around a central body and head. It has a strong pack loyalty to all of the characters, with the Captain receiving the lion's share. Thuk is enormously strong and very tough, functions as muscle and walking forklift and despite his contempt for personal weapons is a good starship gunner.

Akiri

Akiri's notability to the Rebellion began with her defection along with certain other Imperial personnel who would not do a lot of talking about what they saw.  Though skilled, her most recent service to the Rebellion has been on lower level operations to prove her commitment and worth.  Though the Imperial Officer's uniform she has bears the name of Valiant, she does not answer to that name.

She is often quiet while off duty, preferring to quietly contemplate things near her bunk.  While she respects the entire crew, she is warmer than not to Zane as he facilitated her defection by offering transit.

Her grasp of the Force is rather tenuous, as she has had little formal training and she is not entirely aware of her gifts.

Orion Pax is running from something. He has an intense fire that burns in him like a candle that burns to quickly towards its own self destruction. He has a haunted look about him of a man that has seen too much death. Even so, he is still quick of wit with a certain aristocratic air about him.

His skillset suggests that he is just on of the many guns for hire that litter the galaxy with their presence. He is very quiet about his past. He claims that he has no one left that were his family or closest friends.

He is a recent member of the crew. Joining shortly after the destruction of the Death Star. Captain Aalizaaryn knows of his mysterious past saying that he is known to her since he was young child, but so far she has honored his past by saying no more.

He has been heard to say when asked about his past, "Let us not dwell in past, but talk about the future when the Empire is destroyed."

Folks, I am a little behind but I am glad to see you all making links to both my NPCs and your PCs.  This is something I love in games, the emergent game that is greater than the sum of us.

For now, let me say that I approve of all links I have seen so far, especially for my own NPCs.

I look forward to reading more... :-)

Shira is a teenage Ghostling girl. Born and raised on Datar, Shira was kidnapped from her homeworld by slavers to be an enslaved dancer. She was soon rescued by <a party member>. Once they were able to inform her family that she was all right, she stayed around, partially to help and partially for the chance to explore the galaxy.

Shira finds galactic society fascinating, and is very curious. Datar is well outside the galactic mainstream. Her inexperience with galactic society can make her naive sometimes. She is alert, graceful, good at talking and beautiful, but anything but a soldier (She isn't a pacifist, but is fragile and unsuited for battle. She gets a little embarrassed that she tends to dive for cover whenever a fight begins). She is force-sensitive, but unaware of it.

Shira is not ideologically committed to democracy (Datar is a monarchy) but is naturally in sympathy with the Rebellion.She is a free spirit with an instinctive sense of fair play. More to the point, she hates slavery, which the Empire tolerates and even encourages.

TwoOneBee sees a lot of Shira; ghostlings are fragile beings, and 21B often tends to her latest bumps and bruises.

(I also considered having Shira be a stowaway instead. Her character doesn't chance too much.)

Celes comes from colonial types. Meant to expand the Republic's reach further into the Outer Rim. The War didn't stop the plan, but it did mean they couldn't rely on outside help. Pirates raided supply ships. Then they raided towns. Celes's parents hid her, then died. She was taken in and raised by aliens. Peace returned to the Galaxy with the coming of the Empire.

When she was old enough, Celes joined the Imperial ranks. Wanted to make the Galaxy a better place, make sure the same thing that happened to her didn't happen again. Didn't work out that way. She left, and took to hunting bounties. That didn't work out serving justice either, thanks to monsters like Boba Fett and his kind ruining the profession. So now she's working to restore the Republic. While she's at it, she plans on restoring the Bounty Hunters' Guild to what it used to be. Maybe bring a little peace to some people who need it.

---

Celes could easily have made ties with any Empire-connected crewmembers during her time as an Imperial pilot, particularly Akiri. She met Nate when she took to hunting bounties. It's likely the pair of them went after the slavers to took Shira and ended up bringing her home, and then along with them. Whether it was because she's very persuasive or because she stowed away is an interesting question.

For some semblance of a timeline, Celes is in her late 20s now, and was in the Imperial military from ages 18-22ish, so she's been a bounty hunter for some five years. Associated with the Rebellion maybe six months or so.

Personality: A rebellious young man feels alive when he is living on the edge. A trickster, he loves to match his wits against whatever the universe has to offer. But for all his wild ways, deep down Vanz is seeking something to believe in, something that matters, something that makes sense of the universe the way computer code makes sense.

Background: Having grown up on Coruscant, Vanz has been under the oppressive thumb of the Empire his whole life. While life on Coruscant appears almost unchanged since the fall of the Republic, that is a lie. Anyone who opposes the emperor, even by resisting being a cog in his machine is in danger. Vanz learned early that to be free, he had to learn to live outside the system. Technically gifted, Vanz mastered the skills of a slicer at a young age and eventually made his way into the criminal underworld, and a chance to taste a bit of freedom.

Vanz has been recruited as a fledging Jedi. For the first time in a long time he has found some peace. He has always battled against the tyranny of the Empire, but now he sees a way to do it without becoming as bad as the evil he opposes.


Open to connections of all kinds.