In the last post I waffled on about creating memorable NPCs so I thought I'd post an example of one of the charactesr who inhabits the Majestc Labour.
When it was clear non of the players were intending to run a Senschal I thought it would be worthwhile to have an interesting character as the High Factorum. To create him I used the modified Origin path from Into the Storm. Just glancing over it I came across the Unnatural Origin - "False Man" entry. Now I'd already established in my mind that our captain is a Xenophile and that he's had multiple dealings with alien races. He keeps a menagerie of alien flora and fauna and the ship is kitted out to host aliens ads well as containing Xenos components. My mind then flicked back to the Stryxis and their "meat" - how they can even vat grow humanoids to order....What if our captain felt he needed a completely trust worthy major domo to handle his affairs, someone "perfect" for the job? There were elements in the Imperium who would consider some of his activities "radical" at best and highly heretical at worst, it would be difficult to recruit a suitable candidate (perhaps he's tried in the past and had to have them "removed"...), so why not create one? He'd had no qualms about giving a detailed specification to the Stryxis and ordering a unique and capable "piece of meat". Thus Klyto began to take shape as a concept.
I wracked my head for comparable "major domo" characters in fiction, someone I could parody or act as a touch stone to help the players lock on to the concept. I'd already got Brian Blessed as my captain so his work in Flash Gordon was fresh in my mind - immediately I thought of Ming the Merciless' right hand man; Klytus. The imagery of the mysterious masked and robed figure with the sarcastic and ascerbic wit was ideal. The name was tweaked to reflect the origin and our High Factorum was "born".
As Klyto has only once removed his mask in the presence of the players (Session #18) his origin and nature was maintained as a mystery until then. All the players really knew was that he had the complete trust of the Captain and he seemed to openly dislike and try to inhibit, put down and back bite Darien. He even openly used Dungoff's complete lack of subtly and deciet to get full details of the Explorer's activities, rewarding him with "shiny" Ork weapons and trinkets. He's also alluded to Darien being the latest in a line of heirs, all of which have met with gruesome ends until now.
Klyto generally acts dismissvely towards the players, unless he can use or exploit them (in the case of Dungoff) or has to deal with them as part of his duties (Darien). In those cases he is critical, condescending and sarcastic. In short he's great fun to play :)
Klyto, False Man and High Factorum and Master of Whispers aboard the Majestic labour
Profile
WS 30 BS 40 S 27 T 30 Ag 38 Int 48 Per 40 WP 46 Fel 34
Movement: 3/6/9/18
Wounds: 10
Corruption Points:0
Insanity Points: 11
Skills:Awareness, Barter, Commerce, Common Lore (Underworld), Deceive, Evaluate, Forbidden Lore (Archeotech), Inquiry, Literacy, Navigation (), Pilot (), Speak Language (Low Gothic, Ship Dialect, Trader's Cant), Trade (Voidfarer)
Talents: Basic Weapon Training (Las, Launcher, Melta, Plasma, SP, Bolt), Pistol Weapon Training (Las, Launcher, Melta, Plasma, SP, Bolt), Ambidextrous, Autosanguine, Chem Geld, Rival (Rogue Trader, Nobility)
Traits: Charmed, Ill-omened, Void Accustomed, Loyalty, Seeker of Lore,
Role: High Factotum
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