Kinunir - The Professor

The professor was introduced in session 1, basically taking one of the rumors and making it also a patron. Realizing I need to create the actual character, I started rolling up. Oddly, my 1st set of rolls worked out well: 543CAA, so really smart and educated but not a great physical specimen! 

Using the Mongoose rules, he went to the University of Tryonas in the League where he got more educated, especially after graduating. Though he did not get honors. Joining the scholar career as a scientist, he spent 5 terms there and got a fair number of skills as well as exercising regularly. Mustering out went well, getting Cr60,000, +1 social to become a knight, the lab ship 3x so it is 75% paid off, 14 years old so 15% cheaper as well. And as I mentioned the University is also helping out, so we will not have to worry about some payments at least due to an educational stipend.

Professor Victor Cosmosis

563CDB age 47, 5 terms Scholar, rank 6

Language (Vilani-0), Drive (Grav-0), Medic-0, Science (Linguistics-0, History-2, Planetology-2, Archaeology-3), Engineer-2, Investigate-2, Admin-2, Computers-1, Diplomat-1,

Graduated University of Tryonas

Cr60,000, Lab Ship (75% paid off, 14 years old)

Graduating from the University of Tryonas, Victor immediately started working for the university itself. Bureaucracy created a mess after his first few years, and Victor learned to weave between the administrative jungle with aplomb. He met with Thomas Plutonis, a very eccentric scientist whose ideas of the Chirpers and how they related to the Droyne created a rift in the scientific community. However, those years taught Victor the value of diplomacy. Not long after that, Victor had his first breakthrough on the correlation of planetology and history and transferred to Montca to further his ambitions. His investigations lead to his first published paper. On Montca he took some advanced training on planetology. His next breakthrough on ancient cultures came not long after, and his publication on Planetological Explorations of Ancient Cultures was well received by the scientific community. The last few years of working with the University on a secret project furthered his planetology studies. 

After 20 years, Victor decided to work on his own. His years of service got him a Lavalier class lab ship which, thanks to both his years of service, is 75% paid off. He has spent the last several years on Montca, but is ready for the next leg of his journey to Xyman as he believes, based on his investigations and research, that the belt may well be the remains of a pre-human culture that destroyed its home planet. 

Victor Cosmosis

Lab Ship

Based on the Mongoose book, as I have that open at the moment, the lab ship costs MCr135.9018 (though the Wiki says MCr158) taking 15% off that gives MCr114 (we'll round for simplicity) and then 75% paid off gives a balance of MCr28.6. Operating costs are Cr11,325/month. With his Cr60,000 he can cover operating expenses for a bit, but I'll make the backstory be the Montca University of Enris is also supplying 3 scientists that also want to do some research in the Xyman system, so they are going to pay the monthly maintenance for at least 6 months, as well as the mortgage to cover the expenses. The professor is still on the hook for fuel, and who knows who the scientists really are (okay, not going to go bra-hah-hah-hah and twirl my mustache, but if the game needs something like that, well, there we are!) But that will simplify the accounting aspect of things as my players really do not enjoy that part of Traveller. 

We also need some NPC crew as the players only fulfill a couple of the positions. The professor, having had this ship, and having engineering skill, will be one of the 2 engineers it needs. The navigator also acts as a backup engineer in case the professor gets busy. And really, outside of setting up jump plots, what does the navigator do the rest of the time?

• Pilot: Tyrell Adanac, ex-Space Patrol (pilot-2) [Player]
• Navigator: Sir Wor Weura (Navigation-1, backup engineer-1) [NPC]
• Medic: Pascal Esperan, ex-Belter (Medic-2) [Player]
• Engineer: Professor Victor Cosmosis (Engineer-2) [NPC, also owner and lead scientist]
• Engineer: Bevin Cramer, ex-Belter (Engineer-2) [NPC]
• Ship Security (new roles): Jake Rockwell, ex-police [Player]
• Ship Communications (new roles): Moses Cook [Player]

And as these are paid positions, what do they get paid? Again, with the rates from Mongoose which I think match classic) this is the monthly rate:

• Pilot: Cr6000
• Medic: Cr3000
• Ship Security (same as gunner or marine): Cr1000

To be honest I always thought it odd that the medic did not get paid as much as the pilot, but that position is not a doctor. And I will add that the medbay will have one of the Krim high-tech auto docs. 

Two of the NPCs are characters from the character challenges I've done in the past, as is one of the player characters who changed his mind about his initial character. And he may know of Bevin Cramer, another belter. Or not - the universe is a huge place. I'll have him roll a reaction roll when they eventually meet and if it is high, say 9+, then they know of each other. 

And using a Vilani generator, we'll go with naming the ship the Shu Nidurninni which we'll say translates to Planet Culture Search. Because Victor only has linguistics 0 it may not be correct!

I'll have to roll up or find 3 scientists (I know I have a few from those character challenges) and why they want to go to Xyman - perhaps anti-matter research or belt gravitational theories.